"Teen Titans: Future Storm"
Story: "Hell Trigger"
Chapter 3: "The Newcomer Falls"
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters present in this story, nor do I claim ownership over any of the locations, either. The characters are largely the property of DC Comics and Capcom. Most of the primary Titans characters are created by Black Panther's Knight, while Nightstar is solely DC, and Mercury is co-owned by Marvel and DC as part of their Amalgam imprints. Dante, Trish, Lady, and any other Devil May Cry characters and locals belong to Capcom of Japan and of the USA. I'm just borrowing them – in the case of BPK's Titans, with permission – to tell this story to you, the reader(s). And for any reference, I'm pretty much going to copy and paste this thing for future installments, because I really hate writing disclaimers.
Author's Note: This story was written with the consent of Black Panther's Knight/Whatever penname he wants to go by in the future, and uses his characters and continuity, and is set in the 'missing year' period that was left up to our imaginations when we read it. Keep reading…you may be pleasantly surprised.
It was just another day in Fortuna…well, another day since the original state of affairs turned into what it was now – while the people still dressed the same, and still believed in the legends of Sparda, they no longer obeyed the Order of the Sword, which was now defunct, the remaining untainted knights going into the service of their city, helping in the construction. It had been a month since Dante arrived, a month since he, with help, had saved the world, and things had been hell to get back to normal.
The person who had helped Dante was, at that moment, walking down one of the mostly-empty streets, passing the occasional parked car. The young man was named Nero, and part of what made him so special was his right arm, called the Devil Bringer. The fingers and palm were a glowing blue, surrounded by red armored-like hide plates, up to the elbow, ending slightly above the point that his red-cuffed blue sleeve was pulled down at. He wore a deep blue jacket with red trim and lining, blue pants, brown boots, a red vest, and had short silver hair. Slung on his back was a sword with an motorcycle accelerator on the handle, and at his side was a double-barreled revolver. The sword was called Red Queen, and the gun was Blue Rose. And at the moment, he was heading to a café in the city centre to see his sort of girlfriend, Kyrie.
However, he soon found his way bared by a man in a dark cloak, a late-teens looking young man wearing a red sleeveless top with red fighting gloves with white bandages around his hands and forearms, and tight red pants, and heavy red and black boots, with pale grey skin, medium length black hair, and indigo-colored eyes, and a young woman with short black hair in a bob wearing a bustier, gloves leather pants, and fishnets under the top (all black), the woman grinning evilly at him as she raised a hand up in the air, as though she were about to punch the air.
"Hey, uh, mind getting out of my way, folks?" Nero asked, politely. However, he soon found a fist striking him in the face, and knocking him on his backside. "Ow! What the hell?!" He looked up, rubbing his chin, and saw…the hand that struck him belonged to the dark haired woman, though the arm it belonged to was elongated outwards, like elastic. She smirked at him, and cracked her knuckles, before rushing at him, her fingers sharpening into claws as she swiped at him, while the other two watched, the cloaked man with a frown on his face. The other young man was grinning wickedly, licking his lips lightly.
"Damien, I don't see the point of this…"
"Oh, be quiet, Uriah…let Gemini have her fun…wait until Vergil gets here…she could use the exercise…" the one called Damien said, still wearing that grin as he watched the villainess attacking the amateur devil hunter.
"Doesn't she get enough exercise with you when you two are mating?" The red-skinned devil rolled his eyes, while Gemini knocked Nero back down, drop-kicking him in the chest and rolling into a ball, attempting to ram into his face. However, he reached out, forming the energy part of his Devil Bringer, which formed another, larger hand similar to his, though without the armored forearm, and caught Gemini in the outstretched 'hand' and threw her into the air, hard. "Looks like she's beginning to lose."
"Ah ah ah, Uriah…she's not that easy to beat…" Damien chuckled, watching as the metahuman unfurled, and stretched out her arms, grabbing two streetlights in her hand, and, when she had stretched taut, was launched into Nero, slamming her booted heels into his chest again and breaking a rib or two. However, soon enough Gemini was on the run, as Nero drew his sword and began slashing at her – while he was still swinging the sword, revving it up to send fire along the blade, which did weaken the villain, she was still relatively unharmed from the attacks, and about to level a counterattack when a blue energy sword impaled the ground between them, causing Gemini to back off, cursing up at the figure on the roof overlooking the fight. "Looks like playtime's over…too bad…she was getting my blood boiling…"
"Damn it, you freak! You nearly hit me! Goddamnit, we're on the same side!" She shook a fist up at him, growling, while the blue figure leapt from the roof, and landed behind her, pushing her aside. "You--!" before Gemini could say anything else, Damien approached her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her back against him, kissing her neck and chuckling softly, biting lightly on her elastic flesh and making her groan softly. "Mmm…Damien…"
"Don't start a fight with Vergil right now…otherwise he won't give us back the sword when he gets his own back…" her apparent lover said to her, in an amused voice, stroking her hips as he cupped them, and pulled her away from the half-demon, who held his stolen sword at his side, still in the sheath, as he usually fought.
Gemini made a sound not unlike a giggle, rare for her, and allowed Damien to pull her away, as his left hand went up to rest on her left breast, lightly. "I haven't forgotten the…commitment…I made to you, Damien…and I haven't forgotten what you've given me…so I'll listen to you, for now…as long as you hold up your end of the deal…"
"Of course, my dear, of course…I wouldn't dream of denying you your revenge…" He said, purring softly, as they rejoined Uriah, who gave them a look – not that demons had any decency, but for a demon to cavort around with a mortal (a human, no less) and treat that mortal as an equal was rather unknown to most of the demon groups, save for those that weren't so evil, or were more sympathetic to the humans; however, Uriah and Damien were of Trigon's blood, and Trigon had never taken a human as an equal, or as a consort, but only as a means to enjoy the weaker sex…and in one instance, to produce a child. That, Uriah and his relatives considered a serious mistake, that breeding with humans would only produce more muddied blood and possible betrayers…but Damien was the head of the group, and if any defied him, even though his power was not enough to come near matching Trigon's, they would find themselves suffering for all eternity in a specially reserved part of Hell, or worse, Purgatory.
Nero, for his part, was wondering if helping Dante and becoming a Devil Hunter meant having nutcases attacking him every which way. However, he noticed that the man across from him now looked very, very familiar. He looked like Dante, but with spiked up hair and blue clothes. There was only one explanation for this… "So you're Dante's brother, huh? I thought you were dead."
"The rumors of my demise were greatly exaggerated…" Vergil replied, approaching Nero slowly. "I'm going to offer you this one chance…hand over Yamato, and I'll spare your life…resist, and I'm going to pound you into dust…it's your choice." The devil grinned, evilly, drawing the blade, which was now glistening red from all the energy it had been absorbing from combat, an ominous and evil energy radiating from it, sending shivers down Nero's spine. However, he revved up his blade, until it was completely glowing red, and drew his gun, taking aim at the older, more experienced swordsman. "So I see you're going to do this the hard way. Very well…you may make the first move."
Nero rushed forward, swinging the sword in front of him, a trail of flame coming off the sword as he attempted to strike Vergil, who merely jumped over the swinging blade, and pushed off Nero's chest, knocking the younger man back, and twirling his own, smaller sword around, before rapidly slicing at the air, sending out waves of energy with each slice, energy that cut whatever it struck, slicing up the light poles and building fronts, as well as tearing into Nero's jacket, though he held up his Demon Bringer, the energy arm blocking most of the attacks, before Nero grunted, and began glowing a bright blue, before crying out and practically exploding, his eyes glowing blue, and a large, demonic figure forming about him. The figure lacked legs, and looked rather similar to Vergil's original Devil Trigger, right down to the sword's sheath attached to the arm. As Nero pointed his blade at Vergil, the avatar creature pulled its own blade, and much to the older demon's annoyance, the blade was HIS…Yamato.
"How annoying…that is my blade…how dare you use it against me…" the Son of Sparda spoke, lifting up his own blade before rushing at Nero, 'stabbing' the younger man with the sheath of his blade, which was also gathering energy, and had become 'harder', as evidenced by how hard it struck Nero, knocking him back a few feet, before tossing the sheath, which began spinning around, similar to Dante's sword-toss maneuver, which smacked Nero in the face, stunning him and causing his concentration to falter for a moment, before the younger man began firing his weapon, curved blades firing off from around the avatar, annoying Vergil further. "That's my move, boy!" Vergil formed his own blades, flinging them off and matching each of Nero's, the swords shattering on impact, though unlike Vergil, Nero needed to be channeling his avatar to be able to use them…meaning that as soon as he had temporarily had used up the demonic energy he had stored himself, he would lose the ability to create energy swords. At the same time, Vergil deflected any bullets that came near him, cutting them in two and knocking them away with ease. "However, you don't have any skill with your powers yet…and because of this unfamiliarity, you will lose this battle."
"Bring it on, freak," Nero said, his voice echoing and distorted, before pausing, drawing his sword up slowly, his avatar doing the same, until both slashed twice, rapidly, sending out an X-shaped energy blast at Vergil, who responded by cleaving it in two, causing the wave to move around him and towards Uriah, Damien, and Gemini. The woman's eyes widened a bit, and she looked at Damien, who merely smirked, before waving his hand, disapitating the energy with ease, and absorbing it into himself. As he did, he noticed his hand began to glow blue for a moment.
"Interesting…" the demon smiled, evilly, and watched as Nero continued to swin his sword, the avatar doing the same, both blades clashing against Vergil's one, before finally, Vergil transformed as well, assuming a blue and black, 'caped' form that, as mentioned, resembled Nero's avatar, with a silver head, glowing eyes, a swordsheath attached to his left arm, with the Bloodbringer nestled in it, and tails like a coat trailing along his back, as the whole thing still retained Vergil's basic look. "Now let's see how you handle a real demon…" Vergil snarled, drawing his blade one more, and rushing Nero.
The two traded blows violently, their swords clashing against one another and sending out sparks and flashes of blue and red energy, moving at a rapid pace that most normal people would have a hard time following. Even Gemini in the past would've had a hard time keeping up with the blades, but now, after her demonic 'enhancements', she was able to easily watch the fight, an amused grin on her face. Uriah, however, chose that moment to spoil the fun his relative and Gemini were having by speaking.
"We have company…"
The Titans had, after a fairly long flight, arrived at Fortuna, landing outside the city proper and walking in, even the fliers. Dante was taking the lead, the briefcase still slung over his shoulder, a grin on his face as he motioned to the mess. The Titans could see, in the distance, a large headless statue that had a number of broken gems on the arms, chest, and legs. Then, after they had entered the city, the Devil Hunter spoke.
"Alright, I'm not usually the type to say this, but let's try to keep things low-key…these people have suffered their own demonic invasion recently, and while it wasn't on the scale of what happened in your home city, it was still pretty bad. If the kid and I hadn't have stopped it, it would've been a world tour."
"Whatever…let's just look for those freaks so we can find Samara…" Inferno grumbled under his breath, looking about the toppled buildings and cars. He was getting ahead of the others, and turned a corner, looking about suspiciously, when he felt a strong hand grab his shoulder, and spin him around. Before he could react, a fist struck him in the face, knocking the pyromancer down onto the ground, skidding back into view of the others. Spitting out some blood, he looked up, and groaned. "Not you again…"
"That's right…me." Standing there, cracking his knuckles, was the demon dragon – in human form at the moment – Kiryu, who had been one of Samara's 'suitors' some time ago, before she chose Inferno…something that never settled with the demon dragon. And now that Inferno had failed to protect Samara, the demon was going to be quite happy kicking the crap out of her consort. "Get up!" He kicked at Inferno, the Titan rolling back and avoiding it, before the two found themselves being restrained by dark energy, an extremely pissed – for her - look on Raven's face.
"Both of you…knock it off! We don't have time for this screwing around!"
"Rather to the point, isn't she?" Kiryu said, as he and Inferno were let down, the latter rubbing his sore jaw.
"You would be too if it was your daughter in trouble…can't say it's nice to see you again, scaley…" Dante said as he walked between the two, heading into the city, before narrowing his eyes. "Damn…he's here…and the kid's losing. Come on!" Raven nodded, and with her chant, leviated those that couldn't fly. Kiryu stood next to Dante on the platform Raven had created, not wanting to give himself away. The Devil Hunter gave him a curious look. "So, why are you here, exactly?"
"Besides my promising to do just this if the human failed Samara? Rumor has it that one of the demons behind this plot…whatever it is…plans on breaking our law and making Samara his consort, regardless of the fact she already has one."
"That's bad…" Dante whistled, before giving Inferno a look. "Calm down, kid; I'm sure that's not really the case…demon law's pretty strict on this stuff. Doesn't mean they won't try anything, it just won't be permanent."
"Oh, that's reassuring…" the Titan said, sourly, prompting Dante to shrug.
"Hey, I tried," he said, falling silent for the rest of the trip, while Nightstar flew overhead, rolling her eyes a bit at her friends and allies.
When they got over the city, she gasped, and promptly dived, Dante looking down, groaning, and jumping off the platform, falling after her.
"What got into them?" Inferno said, before Cipher spoke up.
"I believe it has something to do with…that."
Down below, Vergil kicked Nero into a car, the devil hunter dropping his weapons and falling limply to the ground. The Yamato fell from his Devil Bringer's grasp, and slid towards it's former master, the demon picking it up and tossing the blade he had before to Uriah. "Take this trash…I don't need it anymore." The red-skinned demon caught it, carefully, giving Vergil a sour look.
"This sword isn't trash…it's a vital part of our plan," he commented, somewhat stiffly, while Damien gave him a look of his own, quieting him down. Then the leader of the pack glanced over to Vergil, grinning for a few moments.
"Now, I trust you're coming back with us, Vergil? You haven't received your payment yet…"
"No, I haven't…" the swordsman agreed, sheathing his sword in its own sheath, which he had under his coat, while Gemini tilted her head, a puzzled look on her face as she heard something strange.
"What's wrong, my love?" Damien tilted his head, before hearing the noise as well, and promptly struck Uriah in the shoulder. "PUT UP A SHIELD, NOW!" The startled demon did so, and with a resounding boom the energy shield cracked, and Damien extracted himself from Gemini, growling as he leapt up into the air. "They're here! The children are here!" He roared, flying through the air, fists outstretched…colliding into Nightstar.
"Give us back our friend, demon!" She growled herself, eyes flashing brightly, as she and the demon began exchanging punches in mid-air, most of the time their fists ramming into each other, like out of an anime, though one would occasionally land, knocking back the unlucky fighter – Nightstar landed the first one, driving Damien back, before he lashed out with a backhand covered with energy, striking her across the face and leaving a red mark, and drawing some blood.
"Never!" He said, laughing evilly. "Her blood is needed for the sacrifice!" That was when Cipher came in range, leaping from the platform Raven had formed, and struck Damien in the back of the head, stunning the demon enough to cause him to fall out of the sky…though not before gripping the telekinetic tightly, dragging him down with him, smirking. "Was that really supposed to hurt me, boy?" The demon spoke in a dark voice, a voice that sounded as old as Time, and laughed, before releasing Cipher, leaving Nightstar to save him. "Hmm…perhaps we overestimated these mortals…" he said, thoughtfully, before a telekinetic ram struck him from behind, sending him spinning through the air, righting himself after several moments…and locking eyes with his attacker, Raven. "Well, well, well…it's been a long time…" he said to her, icily, before grinning cruelly. "I missed you, Raven."
"And how exactly do I know you?" the older woman floated several feet across from Damien, in a bit of a showdown, her hands at her sides, dark energy surrounding them.
"I think my friends and I will keep that our little secret…" He tapped his nose, laughing as Raven suddenly felt something strange approaching her…something dark, evil, and twisted. She had time to gasp before a black ball struck her, and began wrapping around her.
"Agh! What in the name of Azar…" she grunted, trying to pull herself free. A head began to form, that of Gemini. Raven's eyes widened for a moment, before narrowing. "Gemini…what are you doing with these demons?" Then, sensing a familiar dark energy about the shapeshifter, her eyes widened. "You didn't…are you insane?!"
"You're one to talk," Gemini purred, before wrapping an arm around Raven's mouth and nose, forming an airtight seal around them, and causing Raven to start gagging from lack of air. "Not so smart-mouthed now, are you, Ravey-poo?" She said, mockingly, before being hit by a blast of fire. Startled, though still holding onto Raven, she turned, and her eyes widened as a fire construct flew towards her, in the shape of a Chinese dragon. "Aww, crap." She managed to say just as it hit, exploding and causing her to release Raven, who was significantly paler, coughing and trying to get as much air as she could in her lungs, while a partially melted Gemini fell to the ground below. An ominous glow appeared on her left breast, at which point she began to recover rapidly, fully restored and able to spread herself and floated down to the ground, without taking another scratch. However, Damien was looking rather run-down at the moment his lover restored herself…as she was drawing on his power to heal herself, and taking it away from him. He smirked softly as he felt the energy rush back to him, and gave her a knowing look. She winked back at him, and laughed rather insanely. "Mmmm…guess I should thank you, stranger…you just made my night more interesting…" She purred, seductively, as Kiryu and Inferno landed in front of her. They eyed her suspiciously, and she knew why. She lifted a hand to rest on her chest, chuckling softly. "Ahhh, I know that look…it's the same look Damien's sychophants had when he marked me…"
"So you're his consort…" Kiryu snorted, prompting Inferno to blink for a moment.
"Exactly," Gemini continued, wagging a finger slyly at them. "That means I'm badder, stronger, and a lot more resistant to fire, demon or otherwise. Care to try me again?"
"Great…so the crazy bitch also got crazier…" Inferno sighed, rubbing his forehead a bit, before Dante appeared behind him. "Ack!"
"Don't lose site of the objective, kids…I'll check on the kid." He waved a finger, and blocked a magic bolt from Uriah with ease. During all this time, Dante had observed the battle searcher for his brother…who had seemed to vanish from the scene. As he moved to check on Nero, as he said, he found himself almost blind-sided by his brother, who dashed out of the shadows, drawing his blade and striking at Dante, only to be deflected by Rebellion. Dante responded by swinging his briefcase, and dropping it on the ground and then standing on it, the case opening and a bright light emerging from it, knocking Vergil up into the air and away, stunning his brother. "There you are…sneaky move, Vergil…but not sneaky enough."
"I'll have to keep that in mind, brother…"
"I see you got your sword back. I hope you had your fun with it… because I'm taking it back," Dante closed the case, kicking it up into the air and catching it, before lifting it up, the case changing shape until he slammed it down on the ground crouching, now in the form of a bell-shaped energy weapon, that began charging up, before releasing a massive laser-like blast at Vergil, who slid to the side, but found that the force of the blast was enough to knock him aside, grunting as he held his side, a new kind of agony working his way through him. "Looks like that hurt, bro. Care to give up now?"
"Nnnph…not on your worthless, human-loving life…" Vergil gasped, releasing his side as it began to knit together, before growling and dashing forward at rapid speed, slashing at Dante and knocking him back with the flat of his blade, sending the case-weapon flying and landing in Cipher's arms, startling the telekinetic.
"Hey! Don't lose that, Raz!" Dante barked, drawing his regular guns and opening fire on his brother, Vergil spinning through the air, and using his blade to deflect any projectiles that came near him. "I seriously need that thing!" He threw his sword at his brother, while raising a fist as he ran, the blade striking Vergil's and knocking it aside for the moment, allowing Dante to punch his twin right in the nose, knocking him back as well as breaking it.
"Agh!" Vergil's hands went to his nose, which hadn't started healing yet, and looked at his brother with a dangerous look on his face. "That was completely immature and unbecoming of a warrior…"
"Well, I've never been one to follow all the rules, bro…" Dante grinned as he cracked his knuckles, then launched a kick to Vergil's unguarded mid-section, knocking the wind out of him just as his nose began to knit back together. At the same time his sword came spinning back to him, and he caught it, using the flat of the blade to hit Vergil like a baseball, the sword glowing red, which resulted in the demon swordsman's flying back through the air and colliding with a lightpole, warping it to wrap around him.
"Damn…when did you get this strong…?" Vergil coughed up some blood, wiping his mouth and flicking the spare blood aside, a soft grin on his face. "You may just be the worthy challenge I was looking for after all…Come then, brother. Let us have one last battle before I prove that I am the better Devil."
"Being a Devil never much occurred to me, Vergil…I always wanted to follow in Dad's footsteps. Your way got you trapped in the Demon World, where you became a slave to the freak who killed Dad. So you tell me…which one of us is the smart one?"
Vergil growled as he walked around his brother, drawing his blade once again. "I'll make you regret those words, Dante…you arrogant fool…"
Cipher dodged one of Uriah's blasts, still carrying the Devil Arm with him, making sure to be careful with it, until finally getting sick of being on the defensive, and throwing the case at Uriah, surprised to see the case shifting into the form of a throwing, three edged blade, that spun through the air and bit into Uriah's flesh, causing a smoking wound, before it returned to Cipher, and once again became a briefcase.
"That's something you don't often see…" the Titan mused softly.
During the fight between Inferno, Kiryu, and Gemini, Damien decided to get involved, striking Kiryu from behind by punching him in the back of the neck with an energy gauntlet – however, this gauntlet seemed to be made like a Green Lantern construct, an actual gauntlet formed of dark energy. While the hit did affect the demon, the gauntlet also shattered on impact, causing painful feedback to arc through Damien's nervous system, causing him to cry in pain. "AGH!"
"Coward…striking me from behind…I'll make you regret that…" The black clad demon dragon cracked his knuckles, and took up a stance, Damien doing the same when he had recovered, the two beginning to trade blows, starting from simple punches and kicks and moving up to more complex martial arts, the moves flowing seamlessly together, and would astound anyone who saw, especially when they began using the more dangerous and powerful attacks, culminating in Damien charging his fists with his dark energy, and battering Kiryu's forearms…but to no avail. The dragon responded by lashing out with a spinning kick, hard enough to knock Damien away, rolling along the ground until coming to a stop where Nero had fallen. Coughing a bit, Damien reached up to touch his forehead, which had been cut but was healing already, and eyed the approaching Kiryu. "I don't normally lower myself to brawling…but you were an interesting opponent…therefore I shall kill you quickly."
"Arrogant dragon…" Damien spat, before noticing Nero's Devil Bringing. Not seeing any other option, he grabbed Nero's right arm with his own right hand, and began drawing power from the seemingly-cursed youth. In a sudden explosion of light, Damien's right arm transformed into a Devil Bringer, glowing purple with black armored hide. "Let's see how this works, shall we?" With a smirk, he created the energy hand, and stretched it out, catching Kiryu and lifting him up into the air, tossing him up, and as the demon spun and turned upright, falling back down to the earth, Damien balled the energy hand into a fist, and punched the dragon demon in the face, knocking him into Nightstar and Raven, who had been preoccupied by Uriah's spellcasting, keeping the demonic mage from unleashing a spell that would most likely destroy the entire city they were fighting in. If they had been in the United States, they would've gotten in quite a bit of trouble for causing this much damage. As the two Titans and the dragon fell to the ground, Damien barked an order at his cousin. "URIAH! Get us out of here! I don't care if it takes all your remaining power!"
"Of course, my lord," Uriah nodded, chanting softly in a demon tongue, and forming a shadow gate beneath him, stepping through it and maintaining it on the other side. Damien took off running, avoiding Dante's gunshots and leaping above Raziel's head, crying out to Gemini.
"Gemini! We're leaving! The battle is pointless!"
"But I was having fun!" The villain pouted, one hand extended and wrapping around Inferno's entire head, trying to suffocate him as she had tried with Raven, only for him to respond by striking her with a bolt of his enhanced fire, causing her to melt partially, and loosen her grip on him. "Damn!" Inferno stood, coughing, and formed fire constructs around his fists, rushing at Gemini and beginning to punch her, each blow melting her form where it struck. Panicking, Gemini attempted to tap into her consort's power, only to find she was being blocked. Looking back, fearing the worst, she saw a large energy hand reaching for her, finally grabbing her and yanking her into Damien's arm, the demon carrying her as he ran, and jumping into the shadow gate, Gemini clinging to his neck tightly, a twisted grin on her face, and a lovestruck look in her eyes.
"Looks like my ride is leaving…another time, Brother…" Vergil ran past his distracted twin, darting through the Titans who attempted to stop him, and leapt over Kiryu's head, landing in the gate, just as it closed, Inferno skidding to a halt just above the spot where the gate had been, swearing in frustration.
"Damnit! They got away!" he punched his hand, Raven sighing as she pulled her hood down, and eyed her son-in law.
"Calm down, Jeremiah…unlike last time, I think I can trace their energy…but I need to get back to my home to get to work…" she spoke, calmly, Nightstar flying up behind her and giving Kiryu a look, the demon dragon returning it with an icy glare. "The only problem is now we aren't working together like a team…this was much harder than dealing with Blood …"
"I'll say..." Dante whistled as he walked up, Cipher tossing the case to him, catching it with one hand. "Thanks, Raz."
"Don't mention it," came the response.
Nightstar sighed in frustration, and looked at her friend's mother. "Mrs. Wilson…what are we going to do now?" She was worried that they hadn't found out anything, but found herself relaxing when she saw the confident look on the older woman's face.
"We're going to go back to San Francisco, regroup with the others, and call in some backup…maybe the entire old Titans team…maybe the Justice League…anyone we can get to help out."
"Sounds like fun…mind if I stick around?" Dante grinned, twirling Ebony – the raven-black gun – around one finger, chuckling softly.
"We're going to need all the help we can get…" Raven looked to Kiryu, sighing softly. "I know I'm going to regret this…but we're going to need you too."
"Anything for Samara."
"Well, now that that's settled…let's get back…" Nightstar motioned as she flew up in the air, heading in the direction of their transportation, everyone using their own unique ways to either get their under their own power or to help the others.
End Notes: And here we are, another cliffhanger. I hate these things, usually, but it's just fun to write sometimes. I hope you're all enjoying this.
Nero and the events mentioned by Dante early in the story are from the most recent entry in the DMC series, Devil May Cry 4, for those who are unaware of this series, or are only casual fans. All the abilities presented in this chapter, as in the last two, are largely adapted from the actual games, with some variations added in for good measure.
If there are any other questions, just email me and I'll be glad to answer them. Thanks for the time, and I hope you stick around.
Next chapter features the other half of the team in their efforts to find Samara and relocate Dante's effects to another safe location, as well as their own recruitment efforts, and the following chapter the secondary cast gets even bigger.