The Stone Chest
Chapter 3
"Some Explanations"
Connor walked cautiously across one of the most concurred streets of Jump City, his face looked quite and confident. However, many things were flying in his mind. The return of Zarth couldn't be taken as a minor problem and if what Connor knew was right, that event only was the prelude for a worse one. And, all those things made extremely necessary to take action at once. But, for doing that it was necessary to have some help because a major investigation should be done; fortunately, he knew who was perfect for the job. Finally, after a long walk, the young man arrived to a slipshod building in downtown; at first sight it looked like a mid class residence due to its multiple signs of deterioration. But for those people who visited the place frequently that appearance was only a facade made to keep out curious people. Connor entered to the place as usual and some time later he was in a waiting room surrounded by paintings and furniture. The waiting room of the Order of the Darkness' headquarters was welcoming; a fireplace kept a comfortable temperature and it was almost the only source of light present. A beautiful carpet painted with gothic symbols covered the floor, and, in front of him was an elegant Louis XV style desk, which combined perfectly with the whole contour. The young man didn't waste time beholding the place and went quickly upstairs looking for the only person who could help him in that time.
Something that made the place unique was the poor illumination seen in the entire building; candles and fireplaces illuminated almost all the rooms, only one or two rooms had the privilege of having light bulbs. Of course, for an Order whose members had supernatural powers the problems with lighting was not a nuisance at all, on the contrary, that characteristic gave the place a mysterious atmosphere pleasing everybody inside. A few moments later, Connor stopped in front of a door and then he knocked it carefully.
"Come in, it's open" – said a voice inside.
The young man entered and realized that the person he was looking for was there. Jessy was a beautiful woman who had the same age of Connor; her long black hair, dressed in a ponytail style, contrasted with the whiteness of her skin. Besides, those sapphires looking eyes she had and her top model like nose completed a very attractive picture to almost everybody around her. Not to mention her sculptural body, she was the fitness in person and her muscles were pretty defined. All of that gave her a strong but pretty appearance, specially her legs. Although, to Connor none of those sensual shapes in her existed, they both were friends since childhood and she was like a little sister to him and because of that he couldn't waste his time looking the what was obvious. Besides, in that moment there were more important thins to be worried about and that kind of distractions were a luxury he couldn't have.
"Well, well, you're surrounded by books… as usual" – said Connor smiling at her.
"Indeed, to many people the most important thing is practicing, but for me what counts is knowledge; and, to obtain that it's necessary to read… a lot" – answered Jessy while crossing arms.
"Considering that, the favor I'm about to ask you is going to make you very happy" – added Connor.
"Every time you say that I end with several weeks of no sleeping while reading papyrus and manuscripts" – sentenced Jessy while pretending boredom.
"As I can remember, you just said that you loved to read. Well, I think the only guy in here who actually helps you with that it's me. The others only ask you for vague references and trivial stuff; they are not a challenge for you" – said Connor trying to convince his friend.
"It is not necessary for you to use those bad tricks to convince me, you know that I'll help you… eventually; after all, you're the only one in here who can see me without lust" – answered Jessy.
"Well, actually I have a very sophisticated taste my dear friend, and of course, you are anything but a pair to me" – added Connor laughing.
"You are an idiot, you know".
"Me? You're the one who still came to this place knowing that everybody sees you as 'fresh meat'".
"In case you don't know, in this place I can find many priceless papers and publications which otherwise I couldn't even see. In the end, all the peeping thing is just a little price I have to pay in order to gain access to that information; after all, all they can do is undress me with their eyes".
"You'll never change… well, it has been a grateful chat, but I don't have much time; considering what has happened I suspect that things are going to become very tough so I need to be prepared" – confessed Connor changing his face into a very dark one.
"Now you're scaring me. What the hell is going on?"
"Don't you know anything?"
"Well, I know something really important is happening because people in here are being very active lately, especially the elder ones. But, as you said, for them I'm only 'fresh meat' and my powers are not even mentioned among us, so nobody has considered important to tell me what is going on" – said Jessy sighing sadly.
"But you can go to the meetings" – said Connor.
"And I've done it, but the elders only advice us to be more prepared and warned than ever, nothing else" – answered Jessy.
"I see; well, if it makes you feel better, the elders haven't have me in count considering that it was me who sew the apparition" – indicated Connor.
"The Apparition? What do you mean?" – asked Jessy fearing the worst.
"Zarth has been released" – answered Connor very calmly and slowly.
Jessy got shocked when hearing the last words of her friend, she knew very well Zarth's legend and understood perfectly the meaning of his return; and knowing that he was walking freely in the city was very frightening. Once the girl got a little air, Connor explained her in detail all what happened since the ritual, including the Titans part; the woman analyzed every words of her friend and she waited a while before speaking again.
"I guess the favor you just asked me is related to Zarth" – said Jessy.
"I'm afraid so my dear friend; I think his primary objective is destroying our Order. However, the elders only call me to explain what happened so I think they are not considering me to face the threat… But they never told me that I was forbidden to investigate Zarth on my own; and here is when you appear on the set. I need to know everything related with Zarth" – said Connor.
"Everybody in the Order knows Zarth's legend"
"The only information we have is that famous legend, beside of it, nobody knows much about him, which I consider very strange if you ask me. And considering that he's back and that we probably are the first targets in his list, I don't think it is crazy wishing to know what is written in our files about him" – indicated Connor.
"I understand what you said and I agree with you so I'm going to help you out, but I'll need some time; there are a lot of documents which contain information about him, although most of them refers to the legend. Nevertheless, there are certain scrolls which must have what you're looking for, in any case I'll need to make an exhaustive investigation"
"That's why I came to you, if there's anything capable to find that information, is you. Well, now I got to go, there are other things I have to do as soon as possible" – said Connor while leaving the room.
"What are you planning my dear Connor Blackwood? I'm sure that behind that story you just said you're hiding your real intentions… Well, right now I'll dedicate to search the information you want. But you'll need to give me a huge and detailed explanation if you really want to see the results of my investigation" – said Jessy to herself while standing up from her chair to walk towards a huge library located behind her.
PPPPPPPPPPPP
Two people dressed with black suits were standing in front of one of the most important museums of Jump City. The silence of the night hid and helped them in their perverse mission. So they walked stealthily towards one of the lateral walls in order to work without anything noticing them. One of them put his hand over the wall and almost immediately a door appeared allowing the two thieves to enter inside.
"The master does not want any mistake to be done so let's finish this as soon as possible"
"Right!"
In that moment, one of the guards came to the place while doing his routine walking and when he realized what was happening he tried to stop them. However, suddenly one of the intruders raised his arm and from it emerged a brilliant beam of light, which went towards the guard passing through his head and instantly killing him. After receiving the attack, the dead body of the guard fell to the floor.
PPPPPPPPPPPP
Beast Boy called everybody in the Tower to a meeting in the playroom; at the beginning, the titans thought it was another of his senseless jokes, but slowly they realized that something was just wrong with their partner who looked extremely perturbed, as if something really bad had happened. In fact, they all were thinking that indeed something really bad had happened just for seeing the face of the green one.
"Well Beast Boy, now you have us together as you wanted, can we know what is going on?" – asked Robin taking his chance.
"Actually I don't know how to explain this, I don't even now for sure exactly what happened" – answered Beast Boy making a big effort to stay calm.
"What do you mean with that?" – asked Raven trying to hide, behind her monotone voice, her truly desire to know what was about to say her green friend.
"I, well, I was making a short ride and suddenly I ended in the place where… where Terra sacrificed herself for us and well… when I get to the place her… well the statue was…" – The titan suddenly stopped talking while looking the floor.
"What happened then?" – asked Cyborg suspecting something was not right with the second apprentice of Slade.
"It wasn't there" – said Beast Boy almost in a whisper.
"What did you just say?" – asked Starfire after a huge gasp.
"The statue is gone; and whatever it happened, it should have been today. Yesterday the statue was right on its place" – answered a stunned Beast Boy.
"It can't be, this is very strange. Who could want to rob Terra's statue?" – asked Robin more to himself that to the others.
"It could have been Slade you know. After all, she left him in the end and maybe he's looking for revenge" – said Cyborg.
"More than a year has passed since then and after Slade's apparition when we fought Trigon, he hasn't shown any intentions to steal the statue… why now? why did he make the long waiting? If he really wanted a revenge I think it'd be already done" – said Raven.
"I agree. I don't think Slade had anything to do with this" – completed Robin.
"And what are we going to do?" – asked Starfire still shocked.
"Well, right now we have to go to the cave, maybe we can find some clues about what really happened" – answered the boy wonder.
Beast boy was about to tell the others that their effort would be useless because he already had checked every little place inside the cave without finding anything. However, the Tower's alarm started to beep way before he could even tried to open his mouth.
"Oh man! Why the bad guys always manage to be inopportune?" – asked Cyborg with anger.
"What is going to happen with Terra?" – asked Beast Boy.
"Right now, we have to go attending the call, later on we'll be able to focus on Terra" – cleared Robin while noticing the displeasure of his green friend – "Don't worry Beast Boy, I assure you we're going to bring Terra back, you have my word" – added the boy wonder while putting his right hand over Garfield's shoulder.
"Thanks" – replied Beast Boy while preparing himself to follow the others.
PPPPPPPPPPPP
Inside the museum, both thieves were ready to leave the place taking with them several pieces of Aztec art when they find their way obstructed by five people.
"I think you're too late for an exhibition" – said Robin.
"We really wish to stay a while for the chatting but right now we're in a hurry, so if you excuse us" – said one of the intruders while running towards the leader of the titans.
Robin blocked easily the attacks of his opponent who was not an expert on martial arts, but suddenly a big energy wave sent the titan many feet away. Near them, the other intruder extended his arm towards Cyborg and used the same technique that killed the guard some minutes earlier. However, this time, Raven managed to create a force shield around her metallic friend and it blocked the deadly attack. The magician wanted to repeat his killing act, this time using Beast Boy as a target, but Starfire, using a starbolt, could hit the intruder on time. After the red-haired girl's attack, the green titan morphed into a Bull and charged against the mage sending him against a wall. A few feet away, the other magician flew towards Robin in order to kill him taking advantage of the fact that the boy wonder was still stunned, but the intruder was intercepted by a shot of Cyborg's sonic cannon. Quickly, both thieves managed to regroup and a tense calm took over the place, this break was interrupted when one of the intruders created a huge energy sphere and sent it towards the titans.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" – yelled Raven while using one of her most powerful attacks in order to block the energy sphere.
Starfire used her optical starbolt technique to help her friend to block the attack; a few seconds later, the three forms of energy made contact and it was not clear which one was winning the fight. Because of that, the other intruder tried to use his deadly beam against Raven, taking advantage of her distraction. But way before he finished to hear his thoughts, a huge tiger went over him, biting him with ferocity. However, the mysterious guy got rid of the animal and a brilliant energy beam was thrown towards Beast Boy who avoided easily by morphing into a mouse. Just after that, Robin returned to the action by throwing several shurikens to the guy who used the killing attack; the mage could evade the metallic pieces but suddenly got caught by Cyborg who hit him hard right in the stomach, leaving him almost unconscious. Not very far away from there, Raven and Starfire made one last effort and their attack swept the other magician towards one of the cabinets from the room. The titans regrouped themselves and then they decided to get closer to the thieves to apprehend them, but in that moment, a blinding light emerged and filled the entire place, making Robin and the other to stop in order to protect their eyes. Once the light extinguished itself, the titans could realize with frustration that the intruders they were fighting, just a few seconds ago, had disappeared leaving all the stolen pieces of art.
"This can't be happening!" – yelled Cyborg very upset.
"Something here is just not right, that last attack didn't come from the intruder we were fighting" – indicated Raven.
"Somebody should had helped them, but who? And why he didn't try anything against us?" – asked Robin to himself.
"More question and less answers. I think I'm starting to miss Brother Blood, Jinx and the others you know; at least with them we always knew what to do. But, lately a lot of strange things are happening, too many if you ask me" – said Cyborg.
"Guys I'm sorry for the interruption but you must remember that Terra is still lost" – said Beast Boy while starting to leave the museum.
The other titans shut up, comprehending how their friend was feeling, and decided to make their way to the cave; anyway, there was nothing they could do but waiting for further attacks and until then it was obvious that Terra was the priority number one for the team. Nevertheless, Raven couldn't stop thinking about what just happened; she almost could swear that she had felt that aura before, but she was not completely sure about when and where. Although, considering that the intruders were wizards, a name came immediately to his mind like a flash, but Starfire interrupted her reasoning.
"Aren't you coming?" – asked the Tameranian.
"Eh… yeah… sure, please wait for me you guys" – answered Raven without stop thinking about a young mage and a french café.
PPPPPPPPPPPP
Two very confused wizards appeared several streets away from the place where they were fighting the titans; it was evident that they didn't know how they managed to get there, although that didn't matter at that time. The important thing was that they could escape in the last minute and their mission was accomplished; the master would be very proud of them and maybe He was the responsible of their spectacular escape.
"We must return as soon as we can, the titans must be close"
"I'm going right after you"
What the thieves didn't know was the fact that they were being closely watched for the person who actually helped them escape back at the museum. A black-haired guy, with emeralds looking eyes and a white skin that contrasted his other features, was following the mages very stealthily. Connor really didn't enjoy helping those criminals, but it was necessary; both wizards were members of the Order of Chaos, which remained inactive for several years by now, and its sudden appearing coincided with Zarth's return. So it was worthy to investigate if there was some kind of relation between both events; after all, was Zarth himself who created that Order. The young warrior continued his plan hoping to find something big, after all, he didn't remember the last time his intuition was wrong.
PPPPPPPPPPPP
Inside a cave, a crowd were standing around a statue well known by the titans, everybody in the place were grabbing torches and they were singing some canticles using Latin language while waiting something extraordinary to happen. In that moment, two people came from between the crowd gathered in there and stood beside the girl who was the sixth titan in order to start a speech.
"The time for us to accomplish our goal has come, we have waited for so many years and right now I can assure you with pleasure that our reward is near" – said one of the men who obviously was some kind of leader considering the fact that the others were hearing while making reverences.
"It is time to start our victory" – added the other while starting some kind of ritual that involved Terra who remained limp without knowing that her future was about to change in an extraordinary way.
What do those persons want with Terra? What is going to find Connor in his quest? Will the titans be able to find their friend on time? Will Jessy be able to find the information for Connor? Don't miss next chapter.
Author's Notes: There is no much to say; now we know more things about Connor (at last, he, he) and finally we had some action. Don't worry; I'm not planning to include several original characters, so if anybody is thinking that just forget it. Well thanks for reading, please review and see you in next issue.
