Part 8: Brimstone

The alarm blared and the lights flashed red. Mortuary looked around in confusion. Robin checked the computers and said, "Titans, trouble."

The Titans arrived at the scene, the local supermarket. Police were everywhere and doing crowd control, hanging police lines to keep the civilians out. Reporters were doing the same old thing, reporting what was going. Mortuary decided to tag along as the Titans didn't trust him enough to leave him in the Tower alone. Terra and Draco trusted him, but that was still 2 out of 11 Titans, not a good number.

Robin dismounted from his R-Cycle while the others either got out of the T-Car or dismounted from their own vehicles. Shadow and Raven were riding the Shadow Basher, Pluto was riding the Motor Majin and Jinx and Draco were on the Dragchaser. Beast Boy had been riding his new B-Ped that Pluto had given him.

"Robin, you and the others cover the outside," Shadow suggested, "If this is what I think it is; it's best if I, Draco, Pluto, Jinx, Blackfire and…" he eyed their 'guest', "…Mortuary check out what it is. We'll contact you if we need any help."

Robin nodded, "Got it."

"Be careful friend," Starfire told Shadow.

"I will Koriand'r," Shadow smiled at her.

The 5 Titans and one Mortuary entered the supermarket. To cover more ground, Shadow split the group into small groups of two. Shadow with Pluto, Jinx with Blackfire…and Draco with Mortuary. Jinx eyed the former Templar suspiciously. The guy had previously tried to ice her boyfriend, so naturally she didn't trust him. Despite Terra's assurance that Mortuary was an okay guy, time changed people…and sometimes those changes weren't so good. She wasn't empathic like Raven, but she did feel that Mortuary still heldl hatred for ALL Orphenochs. She could see it in his eyes when he held that gun of his.

"Alright, search the whole area for this monster. Whatever that attacked this place was fast…really fast…and caused a lot of panic. When you see or find it, call for backup. Do not, and I repeat, do not try to fight whatever this is alone. The last thing we want is another repeat of the 'Plasmus incident'," Shadow told them all seriously. "And no cowboy stuff," this comment was directed to Mortuary. The team nodded and split up.

Blackfire and Jinx went to the left, Shadow and Pluto went straight ahead and Draco and Mortuary took the right.

Shadow and Pluto were in the pet food aisle. Pluto was drooling at all the dog food and dog biscuits. Shadow ignored him in favor of talking to Robin on his SNK-Phone.

"What do you got Robin?" he asked. Robin's face was on the screen.

"Well, from what we got from the supermarket's staff, they said that the thing was black and looked like a dog. Sound familiar?" Robin looked like he knew something and Shadow did too.

"Yes, it does," Shadow nodded. "I'll check in again, soon, alright? Shadowcobra out." He flipped the phone close and saw Pluto still drooling at all the dog food. Shaking his head and groaning, he took his friend by the collar and pulled him away.

Mortuary and Draco were walking by the frozen food aisle. There were wall to wall refrigerators with frozen food inside. While looking for anything suspicious, the two were in deep conversation.

"What did your friend mean by 'Plasmus Incident'?" Mortuary inquired.

Draco stuck his tongue in disgust. He told the story, "Well, 4 days ago we heard there was a break in at a toxic waste purification plant. So, 5 of us being me, Pluto, Shadow, Jinx and Blackfire went to investigate. We split up and Shadow told us all to call for backup incase we ran into trouble. Being the stupid idiot I was, I ignored his advice."

"Then what happened?"

"I found the culprit…it was Plasmus."

"Plasmus?"

"Imagine a big oozing pile of puss with arms and legs…you get the idea," Draco looked ill.

"Okay…that sounds gross," Mortuary grimaced.

"No kidding," Draco nodded. "Then, since I could freeze, I decided to freeze Plasmus."

"Did it work?" Mortuary prodded.

"For about 10 seconds…and then he melted the ice and went after me. If it wasn't for Jinx…" Draco swooned. "I would've ended up as the booger's dinner."

"She saved you?"

"Actually, she blew Plasmus up with a hex. It took us days to get the smell out of our hair." Mortuary laughed. "I'm so glad you find this funny."

"Sorry, but it is." Draco tensed up. "What?"

Draco shushed Mortuary. "I think I hear something. Follow me."

Jinx looked over her shoulder anxiously. This did not go unnoticed by Blackfire.

"Okay," Blackfire placed her hands to her hips. "Out with it," she demanded.

"What do you mean?" Jinx said innocently. Blackfire rolled her eyes.

"Don't play innocent with me, Jinx, I perfected the art." She asked, "What's wrong? You keep looking back instead of forward."

"I'm just worried about Draco," she admitted.

"Because he's with a trigger happy psycho with necroplasm running through his veins?"

"A trigger happy psycho with necroplasm running through his vein, who happens to hate all Orphenochs," Jinx added. Blackfire shrugged.

"So? He seems decent enough."

"I'm just worried. Ryuki's been through a lot. He's lost friends, killed people, joined Slade…the list goes on. Now he has a guy who hates him for what he is."

"I can relate," Blackfire nodded in understanding, "Being the ONLY black haired and purple eyed Tamaranean didn't win me many friends."

"Me too…Back in India, I was deemed as an 'untouchable' by the people in my village. My dad was an American and my mom was Indian. When I was born, bad things happened and some of the villagers reacted badly to my appearance. My parents and I moved away and ended up here in America."

"Draco's the best thing to happen to you for a very long time, isn't he?"

"I don't want to lose him," tears were forming in her pink eyes. "I don't know what I'd do without him."

"Relax, it's not like he's gonna be attacked or…" they heard Ryuki scream, "Forget everything I just said."

"I'M COMING BABY!" Jinx panicked and ran towards the sound, followed by Blackfire.

"Come on mongrel!" Shadow shouted as he ran towards the direction of Draco's scream with Pluto lagging behind him.

"Hey, wait for me!" Pluto cried.

They regrouped and arrived at the meat section where Mortuary was just standing there. There was meat on the floor. Jinx grabbed him by the shoulders. "Where's Draco?" she demanded. Mortuary had a dumbfounded look on his face. He did, however, point behind her. The others looked and they gasped, leaving their jaws wide open.

Draco was on the floor thrashing and…laughing? Yes, he was laughing. On top of him was what looked like a dog…or a small wolf cub at least. Instead of fur, it had charcoal black skin and had what looked like red ancient runes on its body. It had big yellow eyes and small sharp teeth with a pair of short stubby horns on its head. The thing didn't look vicious but strangely adorable. Shadow knew straight away what it was…a Kaiser…a Kaiser cub. The little thing was wagging its small tail and licking at Draco's face.

"Hey," Draco chuckled, "That tickles!" he noticed the others had arrived, "Oh, hey guys."

"What happened?" Jinx asked. "We heard you scream."

Draco picked himself up, "Oh that was nothing. This little guy just took me by surprise." He picked the little baby hellhound up to his face, "Isn't that right boy?" the little cub barked.

"What is that?" Blackfire asked.

Pluto stated the obvious, "Looks like a naked dog with black skin and a bad skin condition."

"It's not a dog," Shadow said seriously, "It's a breed of hellhound that we encountered on Azarath. This thing is a Kaiser cub." He flipped his SNK-Phone open and called Robin, "You better get in here."

"Is it serious?" Robin asked anxiously.

Shadow eyed Draco who was cooing at the little Kaiser cub. "Seriously weird…"

The rest of the team came into the supermarket to see what was going on. Surprise didn't come close to what they were feeling.

"Isn't that one of those dogs we fought back on Azarath?" Cyborg asked, pointing at the little cub.

"Isn't he cute?" Draco was still hugging the little demonic dog.

Raven said to him, "Draco that is a demonic hellhound, not a cute little puppy."

"But look at him, he's so cute…"

Starfire's eyes went wide. She stared at it. "It is simply adorable!"

Blackfire admitted, "It's kinda cute, in a creepy kinda way."

"Don't call it cute," Terra blanched at the memory, "Those things tried to have us for lunch."

"I still have nightmares about that," Beast Boy shuddered.

"But how did it get here?" Robin questioned.

Raven answered, "Portals were opening up like crazy on Earth. Maybe this…thing...hitched a free ride here." She didn't like Kaisers that much. These things were used as guard dogs by Trigon. Brought back some really bad memories for her.

The thing hung out its tongue and wagged its tail. It licked at Draco's face. The others looked at him worriedly.

Robin asked, "Draco, you're not thinking of keeping that thing, are you?"

Draco's eyes sparkled, "Can I?" the thing licked his face. "That tickles!"

"Seriously weird," Mortuary said.

"Tell me about it," Terra greed.

Robin said, "We are not keeping that thing!"

"Why not?" Draco asked.

"Count the reasons," Raven rolled her eyes.

"We already have Silkie," Robin began.

"Not to mention Beast Boy and Pluto," Shadow added jokingly.

"HEY!" the two exclaimed.

"Plus that thing is a demon dog!" Robin finished. Draco thrust the Kaiser cub in Robin's face.

"How can you resist that face?" Draco said. The baby Kaiser's wide yellow eyes were sparkling and it whimpered in a cute way. The girls, except for Raven, went, "Awww…"

"Robin," Starfire floated and pleaded, "We cannot simply leave the adorable little animal."

"But Star…" but then his resolves were broken when Starfire administered the dreaded 'Puppy-Dog-Pout' that Kim Possible had taught her. She even went so far as to whimper and trembled her lips in a pathetic manner. No man could resist THAT. Robin let out a sigh/groan of defeat, "Fine…you can keep it."

"Yay!" Draco exclaimed, throwing the cub in the air and catching it. "Thanks Robin."

"I think I know who's wearing the pants in that relationship," Mortuary whispered to Terra. Terra giggled. Robin ignored him.

Robin then spoke like the responsible leader he was, "Remember, it's now your responsibility Draco that means you have to make sure to keep it out of trouble." Draco nodded.

"Don't worry baby," Jinx cooed (Mortuary laughed when she called him 'baby') "I'll help you take care of him."

"Thanks Jinx," Draco smiled. He shifted his attention to the Kaiser cub. He looked like he was thinking, "You need a name…how about…Brimstone?" the cub yipped. "You like that huh? Then Brimstone it is." Brimstone barked happily, licking Draco's face again. Draco laughed.

Cyborg asked Robin, "What're you going to tell the cops?"

Robin answered, "Dunno. We don't want people being scared if we tell them about a baby hellhound."

"I think I cam make up a very plausible story," Shadow said.

Beast Boy looked at Brimstone, "Y'know…he is kinda cute." He tried to tickle the cub's chin, but it snapped at his finger. "Ouch!"

Raven smirked. "I like it already."

"Well, now all we need are groceries," Draco said.

"Why?" Mortuary asked.

"I checked the fridge. We're running low on food. We need to stock up. Besides, we have an extra addition," he was referring to Brimstone. Draco volunteered, "I'll pick up the groceries, kay?"

"What about Brimstone?" Jinx asked. He handed Brimstone over to Jinx.

"Take him home. I have shopping to do," Draco said.

"I'll help," Mortuary volunteered, earning suspicious glares from most of the teens. "What?"

Robin then relented, "Okay then…let's go home guys."

Later, both Draco and Mortuary were walking out of the supermarket holding all the groceries that they needed to pick up. They were given free groceries as thanks for taking care of their little problem. They carried two large grocery bags each without any trouble.

"So, that's everything," Draco said as he went over the list in his head.

"Wow, you guys get a ton of stuff, but with how many of you guys there are in that Tower, I guess this is just enough," Mortuary stated.

Draco smiled. "Yeah." Draco then asked, "So, why did you decide to stay and help me?"

"It's simple really. I wanted to see if I could still trust you. Honestly, I really want to trust you."

Draco was happy with what Mortuary just said. Draco was an Orphenoch, which was everything that Mortuary hated, but he was willing to give Draco a chance. This was simply because he didn't want to take Draco away from everybody that loved and cared so deeply about him. Sure, Mortuary was kinda harsh with words and all, but he was still a very honorable and respectable guy.

"Hey, Mortuary," Draco spoke up.

"Yeah?" Mortuary asked.

"Thanks for trying to trust in me. Even though I don't really know you, you're already a good friend."

"No problem, kid. If I did kill you I'd have to face Terra's wrath and trust me, you don't want that."

Draco shuddered at the thought of what Terra could do, "Yeah, I can imagine." He had seen the geomancer angry…it wasn't pretty even without her powers.

"So, how did you and your girl meet?" Mortuary asked with a smirk

"Oh Jinx? I kind of arrested her," Draco admitted honestly.

Mortuary decided to laugh at that, "You're kidding me."

"I'm serious!"

"That's crazy!" The two shared a laugh.

Draco decided to ask Mortuary, "So, you got a special girl Mort?"

Draco then noticed Mortuary's smile quickly turn into a frown. Draco then thought it was bad idea to ask that.

Mortuary replied, "I used to, but we broke up months ago. It was basically my fault that we did."

"Have you ever thought of calling or getting back with her?"

"No, I don't think it'd be a good idea. Don't get me wrong, I still love her and there's a part of me that always will. I just think that we both can only move on and I'm fine with that. Like they say, "there are other fish in the sea". I'll just see what happens."

Draco decided to change the subject, "So, what do you think about the rest of the team?"

"They seem alright, I just hope that they'll get over the fact that I tried to kill you." Draco smiled.

Suddenly, they both heard a scream coming from behind the building. Both Draco and Mortuary decided to see what the problem was. When they got there, they saw a teenage girl getting mugged by a guy with a Mohawk.

"Let her go!" Draco ordered, putting down the groceries. Mortuary put down the ones he was holding as well.

The mugger brought a knife up to the girl's neck. "Leave or I'll kill her!" he threatened.

"No you won't," Mortuary said, "You're gonna let her go or I'll tear you apart!" Mortuary's hand was already close to his gun.

The mugger pushed the girl aside, "You know, I don't really like cocky people." As soon as the girl ran away the mugger showed his true form, he was an Orphenoch that possessed the physical traits of a wolverine in his grayish armored appearance.

"An Orphenoch!" Mortuary exclaimed.

At the sight of this, Draco decided to take out his Zodiac Deck and transform. "ZODIAC FORCE OF THE DRAGON! HENSHIN!"

After Draco transformed he stood side by side with Mortuary and waited for the attack. The Wolverine Orphenoch charged toward his opponents and started swiping with his claws. Draco and Mortuary jumped over the Wolverine Orphenoch and each hurled a fireball and necrobolt at him, hitting him directly. He was knocked down, but quickly got back up. The Wolverine Orphenoch then jump-kicked Mortuary and knocked the necromancer down. As Mortuary tried to get back up he was slashed in the back by the Wolverine Orphenoch.

"You son of a bitch!" Mortuary yelled out in pain.

"Not so cocky now are you?" the Wolverine Orphenoch retorted.

The Wolverine Orphenoch was about to slash again till Mortuary activated his necro shield. The Wolverine Orphenoch was forced back but then set his eyes on Draco. Draco was able to dodge and block every strike.

"Please stop, I don't want to hurt you!" Draco yelled, ducking under a furious slash.

The Wolverine Orphenoch didn't listen and kept attacking him so Draco decided to restrain him the best way he could, by freezing him with his ice powers.

"That should hold him," Draco said.

"Good. That gives me enough time to finish him off," Mortuary said as he walked towards the Orphenoch with his gun drawn out.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Draco demanded shrilly.

"You heard me, it has to be done," Mortuary said simply. As Mortuary was about to pull the trigger, Draco pushed Mortuary off to the side. "Hey! What the hell?" Mortuary exclaimed.

"I won't let you do this!" Draco said angrily. He wasn't going to let Mortuary kill an Orphenoch while he was around. It just didn't feel right with him.

Mortuary then walked up to the Orphenoch again. "The hell you won't," Mortuary stated.

The Wolverine Orphenoch suddenly burst out of the ice and grabbed Mortuary by the neck. Draco then punched the Orphenoch out of instinct, but he didn't realize that he punched the Orphenoch though the heart with his Dragauntlet.

Draco's eyes widened, "Oh my Kami!" The Orphenoch's body then slumped to the ground and turned to ashes. Draco fell to his knees and grabbed his head, shaking it in disbelief, "No, not again…" His armor disappeared.

Mortuary then put his hand on Draco's shoulder, "Hey, it wasn't your fault. You were just trying to help me."

Draco started to cry, "Mortuary, please tell me I didn't just..." He had killed, but didn't want to believe it.

"I can't lie to you kid," Mortuary said sympathetically

"I didn't want to do that…I didn't want to kill..."

Mortuary got Draco back up on his feet. "I know. Please just try to pull yourself together. Let's just head back to the Tower and I'll help you deal with it there."

"Please don't tell the other Titans," Draco pleaded. Mortuary nodded.

"I swear it. Now come on, let's go"

Draco and Mortuary picked the groceries back up and headed for the Tower. On the way back Mortuary only had one thing on his mind, 'Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.'

To Be Continued…

This chap was written by me and Zombi 138