These Black Eyes Chapter 137: Mortuana part 6, a teen titans fanfic

137. Mortuana part 6

"What is the struggle of life? What is its purpose? What inspires those bestowed with the warmth of light to preserve that very same warmth in spite of the inevitable collapse of all things beating, breathing, and dynamically changing??" the pale man glances around at the emaciated crowd.

The emaciated crowd stares back.

A pause in music.

Then......

Rising. Violins and flute.

The man's arms dance before the fire: "It may not be understood, but it certainly can be witnessed. The fighting cause of the lightsiders is great. It is majestic. It is a testament to the fact that—piercing out from an eternal plane of darkness and absolute cold—there is something far greater than the laws of destruction. Construction—it would seem—is the brave soul of the universe. And for all we know, it defines existence."

The man smiles.

He adds:

"The sacred daughter's friends......they are brave, brave souls indeed......"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Ooof!!!" Cyborg exhaled as the two of us slammed thoughtlessly onto the concrete floor of the pipe below.

My black eyes spun. I sat up wincing next to a dizzily upright Cyborg.

"Nnnnghhh...," the android Titan rubbed his half-metal skull and squinted at me. "Plan to save me to death, dawg?"

I simpered.

CrrrrRRKkkKCKkkrrrrrkkrrrrrCccrrrkkkk!!!!!"

We glanced up. Cyborg's halo of a floodlight shimmered up the vertical junction in sewer pipes through which we plummeted. And now something else was also plummeting. A squirming, calcium clattering, twenty-foot-long blood-thirsty something.

A pulsing, screaming nub of human and animal skulls lunged down at us with a mane of twitching vertebrae and fins of stabbing ribcages and scapulae. "CRAAAAAHAAAAAAAK!!!!"

Cyborg sweatdropped. "Where's He-Man when you need him?"

I jumped up, pulsed murk through my limbs, and swiftly yanked at Cyborg's shoulders. "!!!!"

"Aack!! Okay!! Jeez! I'm running for my life already!!!"

SLOSH!!!! The shifting blob of bones surged down into the concrete cylinder and slithered violently after us, the razor-sharp joints scraping sparks against the curved walls. CrrrrKKKrrkkkkkrrrrCCrrkkkk!!!! "CRAAAAAHAK!!"

"Okay...REALLY running for my life!! Shit...go go go go go go GO GO GO GO!!!!"

My android partner and I dashed down the concrete passageway at horrendous speeds. I was blurring my limbs. He was firing his rear thrusters.

We came to an intersection and decided in coincidental unanimity to turn right. Like Keystone Cops on foot we skidded in a curve, fought the friction of our momentum, and dashed on down the right corridor.

SWOOOOOOSH-CRUNNNNNNCH!!!! The mass of writhing bones slammed sickeningly into the flat wall of concrete. It surged, pressed into itself, pulsed, and launched three calcium 'tentacles' at us that congealed together with branching femurs just in time to reconnect and reform the Bonewyrm into one again as it pursued us ravenously.

"CRAAAAHAAAAAK!!!!"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Robin wasn't running.

"Rrrrrrrrrghh!!!" the Boy Wonder stood precariously balanced atop the bulbous face of a wire wraith. His staff was stuck a good two feet deep into the creature's serrated baby mouth. Two pale eyes thinned across the meaty landscape of the creature's face as it bit down harder and harder on the staff. Robin gritted his teeth, attempting to pry his weapon loose.

"Rhhhhhhhhhhhhskkkk......"

The Boy Wonder glanced over.

On mannequin torsos and arms, the second wire wraith came gliding over the red copper strings beneath the 'shopping plaza'. "Rhhhskkk!!!"

Dimitri called down from above: "Now would be a good time to flee, my friend!"

Robin grunted. "I don't need a coach!!!" He whipped out a bundle of metal cord and an electrically-shocking throwing disc.

The wires shook as the second wraith scurried over. Two mannequin heads tilted the Titan Leader's way and opened their mouths.

SWIIIIISH!! SWIIIIISH!! Two sharp, leathery tentacles lashed at him.

In a span of five seconds, Robin tied one end of his string to the electric disc, the other end to the top of his metal staff, and acrobatically flipped off the teething monster while flinging the disc by its cord around the weapon like a tetherball. The disc spun two or three times around the metal cylinder and struck it—dink!

Zzzzztttttzttt!!!

"Rhhhhhhhhhskkkkkkk!!!!!!!!!!" the one wire wraith shook and twitched as burning electrical bolts of blue soared through it. The mannequin bodies twitched and smoke echoed out of their howling mouths. A pair of pale hands was all that held onto the red cables and kept the poltergeist from falling into infinite nothingness below.

And in the meantime.........Robin was airborne.

"!!!!!!!!"

He flipped, descended, and gripped onto a wire with two hands at the last second. "Nnnghh!!" he swung his body down and up and flipped into a precariously balanced position on the descending wire. He panted and looked directly downward.

The second wire wraith was rushing at him....a foot per second.

"RHHHHSKK!!!" Two tentacles flew at him. SNAP!! SNAP!!

Robin jerked, ducked, and jumped to another wire behind him. He landed with his boots positioned at an angle.....and slid down the wire like a banister straight back towards the center metal nub beneath the plaza platform.

Th-Thump!!

Robin landed. He took a breath. He rushed towards Starfire's coiled body--

TH-THUMP!!!!

The electrocuted wire wraith landed meatedly in front of him. Smoke and fresh embers sizzled across its bulbous skin. "RHhhhhskkkkkk!!!" the huge baby mouth spat the staff out and hissed at the Boy Wonder.

Robin picked the charred, drool-covered weapon back up. "Gee...thanks," he winced.

SWIIIIISH!!! Two mannequins spat tentacles at him.

Robin spun his staff. CLANK!!! He deflected the blow and flipped forward.

SWIIISH!! SWISSSH!! Two more tentacles shot up at his flipping person.

He spun in mid-air and twirled his rod beneath him. CL-CL-CLANK!!! He landed where the metal stalk stretched down and met the metal nub of the upside tower. He jumped in reverse, planted his boots backwards into the stalk, and shoved off. "Nnnngh!!" he soared at the rear of the meaty poltergeist with a heavy downswing of his staff.

SWOOOOSH-THWAP!!!!!

A mannequin's body was cracked in two. It twitched and gushed out purple slime.

Robin fumbled for a half-second. "Ah jeez...."

THWOOOSH!!! GRIP!!

"Snkkkt!!!" Robin suddenly found himself being strangled by a leathery tentacle from a mannequin mouth. The middle of the limb's length was wrapped firmly around the Boy Wonder's neck while its serrated keratin end rose above the 'knot' like a snake's head.

Robin struggled for breath.

The wire wraith hissed and constricted the tentacle more and more.

Robin's eyemask thinned. He warily, wearily eyed the sharp brown tip of the tentacle aiming at its face like a kamikaze worm. A beat. It struck. SWOOOOSH!!!

"Nkkkktt!!!" Robin wheezed and lifted his staff up with two arms.

CLANG!!!!!

Sparks flew as the Boy Wonder stopped the sharp jab just an inch shy from his nose. His upper arms shook and strained to hold the sharp tentacle 'head' back. The wire wraith kept applying more and more force, while at the same time the mannequin torsos dragged its meaty center closer and prepared to launch additional tentacles.

"Snkkt....snkkktk......snnk....," Robin hissed. At the end of his breath, he found the structure of his staff—and his strength fading. He bit his lip and flexed his muscles just right---

SNAP!!!

The rod broke in two.

Robin yanked them out and shoved the shattered shards back together in the blink of an eye. They stabbed bloodily into either side of the thick tentacle head until they met in the center.

CHUNK!!!!

"RHSSSSSKSKKK!!!!" the huge baby mouth howled.

The keratin head cracked. Brown mush and deathly-blue ooze leaked. The tentacle's length loosened from Robin's neck.

The Boy Wonder gasped and landed on his knees....but not once did he relinquish pressure on the two rod shards. Once poised, he stood up straight and yanked over his shoulder with all of his force.

Snkkkt-SNAP!!!

The tentacle was ripped clean out from the mannequin's mouth closest to him. The pale torso twitched, shrieked, and vomited spurts of blue ooze as if having a seizure.

The entire wire wraith slumped down with two of its mannequin torso-'legs' gravely injured. It convulsed and the baby mouth sobbed in pain: "Rhhskkkkkkkkhhhh...."

"Nnghh!" Robin yanked the two rod halves out of the tentacle, dropping the severed appendage—twitching—to the floor. He spat. "Take a nap..."

"The other one's coming, friend!!!"

"Rhskkkkkttttkkk!!!"

Robin spun around.

The other wire wraith slid down the wires, mannequin limbs and tentacles flailing.

Robin's eyemask darted to the coiled bodies.

He ran directly towards the one with the green glow.

"RHHHSKKK!!!" the baby mouth of the second poltergeist shrieked as two mannequin torsos vomited a tentacle each at Robin.

SWIIIISH!!!

CLANK!! Robin deflected one with a rod half.

SWIIIIISH!!!

"Nnghh!!" Robin leapt over the second one. In midair he tossed both rods at the creature.

TH-THUNK!!!! One rod embedded itself into the monster's forehead. The other slid bloodily into the baby's eye.

"RHSKKKKKK!!!!!!!" it shrieked and all its mannequins quivered to a stop on the wires right before the metal nub.

Robin panted, jumped, and grabbed Starfire's floating body. She brought her down and whipped out a birdarang. Chiiing!! He held the pointy end of the projectile out and sliced the metal cord to her body loose.

SNAP!!!

He swiftly hoisted her under his left arm and whipped out a grappling hook with the other hand. POW!! CLANK!! It struck the bottom of the rusted metal platform. He leapt off the metal nub, swung over the wire web, and up towards the thin surface of the supernatural shopping plaza above.

CLANK!!!

Robin sailed up through a loose shingle of rusted metal and flipped into a kneeling position safely atop the metal floor.

He panted, cradling Starfire's metal cocooned body in his grasp.

The body beneath the strung wire stirred a bit, making a warm—but soft—sound.

Robin's lips curved somewhat.

"Lightsider!" Dimitri rushed over with Raphael and Victor. "You're safe!!"

"Take her," Robin handed the bundle to the flutist.

The man cradled the thin form. "I...I-I don't understand—"

"There're others down there," Robin pointed through the metal floor. "I can't just leave them behind."

"Your fellow citizens, I take it?"

"Keep her safe!!" the Boy Wonder practically snarled. He retracted his grappling hook and stood over the black gap in the metal floor. "I'll have to make a few trips!"

"It would be easier to just bring the wraiths to us," Raphael said.

Dimitri nodded. "If I am to serve my purpose in aiding you, the poltergeists must be close enough for me to consume them."

.................................sh-shuffle..................

All four men freezed.

"...............," Robin craned his neck and peered below them.

The metal shingles started to vibrate.

...........................shuffle..................clank...............cl-clank!........

The Boy Wonder grunted: "Unless of course they cut it short by coming to us ahead of time....."

CRACK!!!!!!!!

Mannequin arms punched upwards, blowing a metal panel between Robin and the Mortuanans sky-high.

Robin jumped backwards.

CRACK!!!!!!!!!

More pale arms. Another panel...this time just to the Boy Wonder's left.

He let out a shout and dove forward across the rusted expanse.

CR-CR-CRACK!!!!!! Three panels exploded in a trail behind the Titan leader.

The wraiths were pissed....

"Wait for me to return!!!" Robin shouted above the speedy chaos. "I'll be back with another body!!"

He said this just as—predictably—a panel exploded in front of him and the Titan's body fell heavily through to the darkness below.

Dimitri and his two guardians gasped.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

TH-THWUMP!!

"!!!!"

Cyborg landed.

Th-Thwap!!

"!!!!"

I landed.

The two of us spun around from the wide tunnel we had jumped down to. We glanced up at the tiny juncture pipe.

"....................."

Silence.

Then---

CrkkkkCRKKKckkkkkrkkkk!!!!!!!

The disjointed form of the Bonewyrm slid through and exploded out from the ridiculously small tunnel with flying skulls, ribs, femurs, and fingers galore that rejoined in mid-air and morphed back into the familiarly gargantuan cucumber of bloodlust.

"Awwww man!" Cyborg exhaled with a sinking expression. "It just won't give up!!"

Not only that, it was soaring at us hungrily again with shrieking skulls: "CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAK!!!"

"You know the drill," Cyborg grunted and pulled at me.

I gathered my breath and blurred ahead with the android.

While surging after us, the white mass of calcium lurched back...then lurched forward with a WHIP!!!! SWIIIIISH!!! A tentacle of over two dozen vertebrae laced with razor-sharp tail bones lashed at us.

CRUNNNNCH!!!! They sliced a ribbon of concrete out of the tunnel wall just a foot above Cyborg's head.

"Whoah!! Son of a....," he gritted his teeth, twisted his upper body around, and—Kl-Klak-Ka-Klak!!—aimed a sonic cannon backwards while sprinting. "Show a little backbone to someone ELSE!!!"

ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!!!!!!!!

The blue stream of energy pummeled its way mercilessly into the mass of calcium. Bones shattered and crunched and cracked, but the rest of the wyrm morphed appropriately to compensate and the speed of the pursuing creep was not deterred the slightest.

Cyborg sweatdropped. "Guess he takes his vitamins..."

I gritted my teeth.

SWIIIIISH!!!

The tentacle struck again.

I leapt instinctively.

The vertebrae whip shattered the ground ahead and beneath me.

CRUNCH!!!!!!

I leapt over it and blurred through the flying debris. I landed

ZAAAP!! ZAAAAAAAAP!! Cyborg shot a few more times in a vain attempt to hold the pursuer at bay. He glanced ahead, gasped, and swallowed. "Look!!"

I darted my black eyes forward.

There was a fork in the tunnel.

"Split up!!!" the android Titan shouted.

Uh.........sure!

Cyborg ran right.

I ran left.

CRrrrrrrkKkkkkkkkkkkk!!!!

I glanced back.

The bonewyrm's body surged, warbled, pulsed, and—CRKKKKKKKK!!!!—split into smaller yet significantly large masses of murderous calcium. I was conveniently experiencing a flight down a smaller tunnel before with only my own devices to fend off the sub-wyrm. It's also only fair to mention that we both neglected to remember that only Cyborg had the light and I had my black eyes at best to help me down the shadowed interior.

Ah ha ha ha ha ha......hoo boy...here we go......

I let out a frustrating sigh as I hopped, blurred, and side-jumped in mid-sprint in anticipation of attacks from the rear.

And I anticipated right.

SWIIISH!! SLASH!!!!

I darted left and right down the tunnel, bits of concrete exploding on either side of me from the lashing vertebrae.

CRUNNNCH!! CRUNCH!!!

I glanced behind me, breathless.

A solid wall of ribcages was forming at the front of the charging train of bones. The ribs congealed together like huge knuckles and soared at me. SWOOOOSH!!!

I gritted my teeth.

CHIIIIIING!!!

The ribcages came upon me.

I let out a silent scream. Everything went in slow motion as I blurred my feet, leapt directly up in the air, and spun a complete three-hundred-and-sixty degree sword slash while being throttled forward by my momentum. SLAAAAAAAAASH!!!!! I split the wall of ribs so that they shattered safely on either side of me.

CLAMP!!!

I landed. Time resumed. I hopped back into the sprint and only lost two and a half feet between myself and the surging monster behind. I panted and panted, my black eyes wide to see every curve of the pitch-black tunnel bare yards ahead of me.

"CRAAAAAHAAAAAAAK!!!"

I glanced back again.

Pelvises were collecting and—THWOOOSH!!—being launched at me like cannonballs.

I bit my lip.

SWOOOSH!! I ducked one of them. CHIIING-CRACK!! I ripped a second in half.

Three more launched at me like serrated dodgeballs. THW-THW-TWHOOSH!!!

I blurred my legs into pure smoke. While running, I dashed up the curved wall of the pipe, across the ceiling, slashing back at two calcium projectiles with Myrkblade—CR-CRACK!!—and back down the other side of the pipe.

I panted.

The bonewyrm came closer.

Closer.

And then...

My black eyes squinted.

A light was forming at the end of the tunnel. Literally.

I gasped.

Daylight??

The Mortuanans??

The light intensified....then took on a bobbing motion.

"!!!!!!"

I skidded to a stop.

"!!!!!!"

Cyborg skidded to a stop.

We stood...panting....facing each other in the middle of the tunnel.

A beat.

....

Oh shit.

"CRUD!!!"

We both spun around.

"RAAAAAAAAAUGH!!!!!!" Cyborg let loose a wild sonic pulse at the wyrm-half closing in on him. ZAAAAAAAAAAP!!!!!!!!

SL-SL-SL-SL-SL-SL-SLASH!!!!!! I swung, stabbed, struck, and jabbed Myrkblade with blurred ferocity.

In such berserk manner, the two of us simultaneously fought back the two halves of the bonewyrm attempting to sandwich us together in the tunnel from either side.

CRUNNNNNNNNCH!!! A wall of white bone crumbled and shook from Cyborg's punishment.

CRACK!! SMASH!!! CRUNCH!!! Ribs and skulls and joints were knocked back by my sword.

Cyborg heaved.

I sweated.

The two halves pushed and pushed.

The android Titan and I stepped hesitantly in reverse until we were back-to-back.

ZAAAAA-AAAAAP!!!!

SL-SL-SL-SLASH!!!

Cyborg's human eye dashed to the side. While unleashing what was left of his sonic cannon blast, he struggled to talk to me over his shoulder. His voice was like a feather landing on the floor in the center of a band practice. I strained to hear him.

"Noir.....on the count of three....I....I want you to hug me...."

"?!?!?!?!" I looked at him strangely.

"Don't give me that look!! When I freakin' count to one, you freakin' hug me!! Got it?!?!"

I glanced at what I was repeatedly stabbing.

Maybe death by bone skewers isn't so bad......

"Got it?!?!?!"

I groaned and nodded.

"Okay...," Cyborg intensified his sonic blast. "Three........."

I took deep breaths, slashing at every lunging vertebrae and shrieking skull I could find.

CR-CR-CR-CRACK!!!

"............two........."

ZAAAAAAAAA-AAAAAP!!!"

A beat.

"ONE!!"

I lowered Myrkblade, spun around, and clutched hard to Cyborg's shoulder.

In one jolting motion, the android Titan pulled his sonic cannon back—Kl-Klak-Klack!!—switched it back into a fist—"RRRGHHH!!"—and thrust it forward again. POW!!!!! His arm ejected with a length of cord slacking.

CRUNNNNNNNNNCH!!!!!! The titanium fist ripped straight through Cyborg's half of the wyrm and—CLANK!!!—gripped with sharp fingers a piece of wall on the far side.

"HOLD ON!!!" Cyborg shouted...and retracted on his arm.

SWOOOOOOOOSH!!!!!!

I winced as we sailed directly through the mass of writhing, squirming bones. The steady stream of Cyborg's sonic cannon had properly shredded a miniature tunnel through it...giving us easy access. We tumbled awkwardly across the floor on the other side.

TH-THWUMP!!

"OOF!!"

"!!!!"

We rolled apart separately.

Cyborg sat up immediately and aimed his free hand into a sonic cannon. "YAAAAUGH!!" with a warcry he blasted a blue stream at the tunnel in a circular fashion before the two wyrm-halves.

CRAAAAAAASH!!! The pipe walls collapsed and formed a pile of rubble, effectively sealing the bonewyrm away from us.

I panted and gave Cyborg a thumb's up, smiling weakly.

"Don't get any ideas, man...," he exhaled.

Too late.

CLAMP!! He retracted his titanium arm fully and stood up. "That'll just buy us some time..."

WHAM!! WHAM!! WHAM!! The monster pounded from the other side of the rubble. "CRAAAAAHAAAAAAK!!!"

I glanced at Cyborg, panting.

Time to do what??

He started jogging down the tunnel. "If we're lucky, poltergeists have a line of jurisdiction that we can cross!! Come on!!!"

I shrugged and sprinted after him with Myrkblade in grasp.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Robin plummeted.

POW!!!

Robin fired a grappling hook.

SWOOOOSH!!

Robin swung.

And while Robin swung—arching down towards the metal nub—he became aware of something.

"........," the Boy Wonder blinked under his mask.

The wounded wire wraith wasn't there anymore--

SWOOOOSH-WHUMP!!!

"AUGH!!!" Robin grunted as a meaty mass sailed into him from behind in midair.

WHANG!! The Titan bounced off the metal platform, rolled, and flew over the side.

"!!!!"

The Boy Wonder flung a gloved hand up and gripped the edge of the platform at the last second. He hung loosely from their, his boots dangling above a huge air of pitch black nothingness.

"Nnnnnnngh," Robin gritted his teeth. He stretched his other hand up and gripped the edge. He then flexed his muscles and pivoted his lower body up till his boots contacted the underside of the metal nub. With a grunt he shoved and twirled himself upwards arobatically into a perch on the side.

The Titan leader barely had a moment to regain his breath. A blue-bleeding wire wraith was clamoring towards him, dragging two mannequin 'limbs' limply behind.

"Rhhhhsskkkk!!!" Two tentacles streamed violently at the Boy Wonder. Th-Thwisssssh!!

Robin clenched his teeth and—"HA!!" He leapt the two whipping appendages. SNAP!!! He flew high into the air, spiraled, and came down with a spinning drop-kick. "HrrrrrRAUGH!!!"

THWACK!!!

The baby face of the wire wraith teetered back.

Robin handplanted behind the wire wraith, leapt up, flipped, landed on his feet, and ran towards the nearest coiled prisoner--

WHIP!!!! GRIP!!!

"!!!!" Robin was yanked back by his ankles and forced into a collapsing dive. THWOMP!!! He landed hard on his chest with his outstretched hands barely a foot away from the hovering victim. A second tentacle wrapped around his other ankle and he was dragged backwards across the rusted metal towards the writhing mass of the wire wraith.

Robin twisted his body so that he slid on his back. He looked down past his legs.

Two mannequin heads were drawing the tentacles back into their mouths. They groped and grabbed hungrily with pale arms as they reeled Robin in closer.

"Rghhh!!" Robin reached two hands into his utility belt, whipped out a birdarang in each, and stuck them backwards into the thick metal. CL-CLANK!!!

YANK!!!

Robin held himself in place by the grip on the birdarangs while the mannequin mouths struggled desperately to yank his lower limbs into the wraith's meaty grasp. It was a tug-of-war and Robin felt like he was on a medieval stretcher.

"MMmmmmmmm....," Robin winced. He took a deep breath. "This is....gonna hurt you....more than it does me....," he blinked under his mask. ".....I hope."

Swiftly, the acrobatic Boy Wonder pulled his legs out into a gymnastic split—held it—and fiercely brought his steel boots back together. Clap!!

The tentacles wrapped about his ankles pulled tight and--

CL-CLUNK!!! Both mannequin heads collided like coconuts. They shook and shrieked in pain. The tentacles loosened from Robin's limbs and retracted into the pale things' mouths.

The boy exhaled. He gripped the birdarangs tighter and reverse-somersaulted his lower body up and over. He yanked the birdarangs as he stood up, twirled them, and flung the projectiles murderously at the meaty backside of the wire wraith.

SW-SW-SW-SW-SW-SW-SW-SW-SWISH!! THUNK!!!

"RHSSSSKK!!!!"

Robin turned and sprinted from the bleeding scene. He jumped and practically tackled the first dangling body he could find. He and the coiled victim swung out into the black expanse. Once stretched out to the extent of the eerie wire's length, Robin fired a grappling hook towards the platform above. POW!! Clank!! Robin and the body were suspended by both cords. The Boy Wonder took a breath, flipped out another birdarang in the hand of the arm hooked around the victim, and snapped free the copper cord holding the hostage's end up.

CRACK!!!!

Robin carried the body now as they swung out from the center, down, and up in an arc towards the metal sky.

"Rhskkkkk!!"

Robin gasped.

The other wire wraith—the one blinded bloodily—crawled a webbing of wires and blocked the Boy Wonder's high-wire act.

Robin gritted his teeth. His gloved thumb wrenched over a button on the grappling hook launcher and pressed down hard.

-click-

With a buzzing sound, the cord retracted in mid-swing. Robin swung up now above the wraith, and he took the opportunity to let go of the launcher, leap through the air with the body in his grasp, and plant his feet squarely over the bleeding baby face of the poltergeist. THWAP!!! He leapt up, flipped and--

CLANG!!!

--dove up through the metal platform. He rolled onto the ground nearby with the body, panting.

From a distant huddle, Dimitri, Raphael, and Victor looked over. Victor and Raphael ran over. "You've got another??"

"It's certainly not deli meat!" Robin coughed. He struggled to get up. "Here, take him!!"

Raphael was the first there. He hoisted up the wired man's legs while Victor gripped his other half.

"You need some rest, no?" Victor suggested.

Robin stood up on the metal floor, panting. "Not in the mood." He glanced over at Dimitri. The pale mediator was halfway through his task. Robin saw the metal coils giving way to familiar peach-colored skin and a violet two-piece. "Though when the opportunity presents itself—"

CLANG!!!!

The platform between the three exploded upward.

Robin grunted. "Here we go again—"

Two tentacles soared up out of the fresh hole.

"....oh."

SLAP!!!!! The two tentacles slammed into Robin's body. The Titan leader tumbled off and landed with his back against a mutated storefront showing hair products.

Raphael and Victor ran off towards Dimitri with the victim's body. "Come on!!"

"Hurry!!"

Robin groaned. He looked through a thin eyemask.

The edge of a shrieking baby face peered up through the empty panel. "Rhsskkkkk......"

"Coming up for air?" Robin sneered.

The wraith face dropped away, and the tentacles too slid down and under.

"?????" Robin looked around.

..................shuffle...............

Robin nervously planted his hands down onto the platform where he was seated.

............sh-shuffle......clang......CLANG!!

"Wouldn't you know it," he groaned.

CRACK!!!!

A tentacle shot up beside him.

Robin took a breath and rolled to the side.

CR-CRACK!!!!

Two tentacles trailed where his back was.

Robin panted. He somersaulted.

CRAAACK!!!

The panel he rolled off of shattered and fell away into oblivion.

Robin got onto his knees and dove forward.

CRAA-AACK!!!

A tentacle sliced up and down like a buzz-saw, barely missing the hero's legs.

Robin rolled again and came to a stop.

A beat.

"........"

He spontaneously spread his legs.

CR-CRACK!!!!

A tentacle sliced up between his thighs.

He sweatdropped.

"Right....gotta move..."

Robin dove forward again, rolled, and jumped up to his feet. In his desperate sprint, the metal laced toes of his boots clanked and clapped loudly against the flimsy metal tiles.

Giving him away....

.........shuffle shuffle shuffle shuffle-C-C-C-CLANG!!!

CRAAA-AAA-AA-AAACK!!! Tentacle after tentacle ripped upwards like spiked deathtraps, trailing the Boy Wonder's heels. Shards of metal flew each way, smashing into glass 'storefronts' and knocking over rusted clothing racks and other nightmarish fascimiles of a 'shopping mall'.

Robin found himself running helplessly towards the glass display of a hollow electronics store. There were bottomless gaps on either side of him. He took the liberty of pulling his muscles tight, crossing his arms over his head, and leaping forward—SMAAASH—and through the glass. Shards littered the floor on either side of him as he rolled to a stop on a huge iron plank and landed against a cracked, high-def television.

"Oof!!!"

SMASH!!

SMASH!!!!

Three tentacles soared in after him.

Robin flipped to his feet, kicked one sharp tip away, and ducked the lunges of two other tentacles. He side-stepped and hid behind a stereo system as the tentacles converged on him.

CRAAAACK!!!

The speakers, plastic, and metal fasteners of the stereo were shattered into utter dust.

Robin backflipped and ran down a row of grimy, broken televisions.

CRUNNNNNNCH!!! The tentacles rushed after him like anacondas, smashing every hardware unit in the way.

Robin panted. He was about halfway through the store when he slipped on dvd cases.

"Snkkkt!!" he gasped as he tumbled and rolled into a stand of PS2 demos.

SWIIIIIISH!!! The tentacles lunged.

Robin grunted and rolled out of the way.

SMASH!!!!

A gaming stand shattered apart.

Robin hobbled up to his feet and stepped back.

The tentacles rosed to meet him.

Robin looked to his left, gripped a metal stand full of Xbox software, and batted away the tentacles.

They merely gripped the metal out of his grasp, wrapped around it, and snapped the thing in half.

Cornered, Robin desperately reached back behind him. He grabbed two N-Gage boxes and flung them hard. "Nnnghh!!"

Incidentally, the N-Gages knocked the tentacles back into a rusty fire extinguisher...which exploded on contact and sent the tentacles reeling in pain.

Robin sweatdropped. "Guess those things are good for something......." The Boy Wonder shook it off and jumped over the writhing tentacles. He dashed through a hole in the electronics store and ran across the rusted floor of the mall. He found half of a broken escalator stretched over a precipice. From there Robin envisioned a good dropping point for swinging down onto the metal platform again.

"Good thing I gave up shoe laces...."

Robin was halfway up the escalator and reaching for his next grappling hook when--

"RHSSSSK!!!"

RUMMBLE!!!

The limp wire wraith suddenly rose up at the end of the shattered escalator, its baby face scowling.

Robin came to a sudden hault, his fists clenched.

From behind: "RhSSSKKkkk!!!"

He turned to look.

The half-blind wire wraith crawled up below. It retracted its tentacles into the mannequin mouths and growled.

".........," Robin looked back and forth at the oppressor on either side. He took a deep breath and dashed his hands into the far sides of his belt. He waved them back out and held a sparkling taser in either grasp. "All right...," he sneered. "Who wants to break his neck first?"

"Rhskkkk......"

"Rhhssssskk........."

The Boy Wonder readied himself as both wraiths slowly converged on his figure from either side.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Cyborg and I dashed out into a vertical cavern in the sewers. Four levels of huge pipes dropped open above us, and rusty metal lattice work clung walls on opposite sides and stretched upwards towards the brickwork ceiling high above.

It felt like a labyrinth....as if it hadn't already.

I glanced around.

Where's the minotaur??

"Okay....um.....," Cyborg gestured blindly with his titanium fingers, sweating. "We are SO not lost. We are....uhm...." He glanced around. "You think North's that way?" he pointed and looked at me funny.

"..........," I lightly smacked Myrkblade across his forehead. Whack!!!

"Ow!!! Hey, man!! I---"

"CraaaaAAAHAAAAAaaak!!!"

"............"

We both blinked.

"Chiropractor's back in office."

CRRrkkkkrkrrrkkkkkkRRKKK!!! The familiar rushing sound echoed outward from deep within the tunnel where we emerged.

I looked around....across....up.....

A blink.

I tugged Cyborg's arm and pointed 'up'.

He stared at the ladders and the metal platforms rising upwards. "Yeah, dawg!! Let's get moving! You first!!"

He didn't need to ask.

I dashed up the ladder, my limbs blurring. About twenty feet up, I got to the first rusted platform. I knelt on the side and reached a hand down...helping Cyborg up.

The next platform's ladder was retracted upwards. So Cyborg knelt down beneath it and held his palms together.

I stepped a foot onto his grip.

He hoisted me up.

I pulsed murk through my legs and vaulted up the rest of the way. I gripped onto the edge of the platform with one arm and dragged myself up with Myrkblade. I kicked the ladder loose. It slid down for Cyborg to climb up. As he did so, he glanced downward at the tunnel beneath us.

I gazed as well.

SWOOOOOOSH!!!! CRrrrrkkkkkkk!!!!

The mass of morphing and pulsing bones shot out onto the concrete floor of the sewer cavern. It throbbed, glared at us with black skull sockets, and tried slithering after us on the platforms. But no matter how much the bones surged and lunged, it couldn't slide up after us.

"Hah hah hah!!!!" Cyborg beamed. "That's just great, man!! The thing's got nothing to grip too!!"

I smirked.

The bonewyrm shook and quivered. It slithered backwards. It oozed into a pool of shifting calcium in the center of the cavern floor. One seconds....two.....

CRkkkrRRRkkk!!

The center of the bonewyrm quivered. A ring of vertebrae opened up—CRAAACK!!

Three white forms shot up at us like mortar shells.

Cyborg and I flinched.

SWOOOOSH—CL-CL-CLAMP!!! The three white figures landed on my platform and 'stood up'. They turned out to be hastily constructed humanoids of cracked and worn bones. Three cherub-sized skeletons paced around me, each equipped with a ribcage for a shield and a clavicle for a rapier. With crooked, creaking joints they all approached me as one.

Cyborg climbed up to the platform and was halfway through pulling himself to his feet. He took one look at the bone-cherubs and blinked. "Whoah....no thank you."

I held Myrkblade out at the three creeps.

They're only drones. How good could they be at swordfighti--

SWOOOOSH!!! The skeletons twirled at me, clavicles blurring.

I gritted my teeth.

Awwww you mother f--

SLASH!!!!

CL-CLANG!!! I knelt down and deflected two clavicles from the first two.

The third swung low at me.

SWISH!!

I rolled to the side. I leaned precariously on my right and jabbed Myrkblade out to block a dual lunge of the creatures.

CL-CLANK!!!

I kicked one back.

The third rushed forward and tossed its 'shield' at me.

SMACK!!!

I exhaled and fell stretched-out on my back from the blow.

WHUMP!!!

One bone cherub landed on my chest, hissed, and stabbed the clavicle down---

SMACK!!!

Cyborg's boot smacked mercilessly into it.

The creature went spiraling and smashing apart against the brick wall of the cavern.

Kl-Kl-Klak!!! "Scatter!!!" Cyborg aimed his sonic cannon and took potshots at the remaining two skeletons.

ZAAAP!! ZAA-AAAP!!

Calcium dust littered the far side of the metal platform.

Cyborg rushed over and stretched his whole hand down. "Like frickin' popcorn, I swear..."

I simpered and grabbed his arms.

CrrrkkkKKkrkkkkk!!!

Cyborg helped me up. We both looked down.

The bonewyrm wobbled, shook, and---CRAACK!! CRAACK!!!

Two larger white forms this time soared up, flipped in the air, and landed on the metal catwalk next to us. They were unnaturally large. Two vertebrae with two sets of ribcages each. Four arms—precipitated by femurs as upper limbs. Extra pairs of carpals on the hands gripped tightly two double-jointed scapulae. In effect, two skeleton giants circled Cyborg and I with eight arms wielding serrated calcium nunchaka. Skulls laced with horn-like tailbones glared down at us.

"Hmmmmm....were those pipsqueaks friends of yours??" Cyborg grumbled. He aimed his sonic cannon at the two. "Allow me to pop you too, punks!!!"

ZAAAAA-AAAAP!!!

The blue stream shoved the giant skeletons backwards. They stumbled momentarily...cracked their limbs...and gradually glared at us.

"...........," I bit my lip. I looked at Cyborg.

"Uhm....eheheh...," the android Titan sweatdropped. "Guess you're acoustically sound."

With a loud clatter of armor-heavy bones, the two creeps charged us.

"Plan B!!" Cyborg shouted. "Uhm....'KILL'!!!" He charged forward. "RAAAUGH!!!"

I took a shuddering breath and dashed forward too.

Cyborg slammed into his opponent and the two scuffled....titanium against calcium.

I found myself running straight into a quadruple-buzz-saw fan of expertly twirled shoulder blades.

"!!!!!!" I panicked at the last second and morphed into smoke form.

SWOOOOOOSH!!!

I teleported through the rotating joints and solidified—trembling—behind the skeletal giant's back.

I took a breath--

SWIIISH-CHUNK!!!

I stabbed in reverse with my blade. I snapped a rib free from its cage and twisted the sword into the monster's body.

SW-SW-SWISH!!! Three separate shoulder blades were twirled back at me.

I took a breath and vaulted my legs up with a pulse of murk and out of the blades' reach. I pinned myself upside-down to the vertebrae of the creature....took a deep breath....and teleported back through the skeleton to solidify in front of it.

CRUNNNNNCH!!!!

The skeletal giant snapped vertically in half from the force of my teleportation. With a crumbling noise, the two halves crumbled to the floor. It was a remarkable feat...especially considering that I was upside down when I solidified in mid-air.

THWUMP!!!!!

I winced and toppled over into a limp position across the metal platform. I shook my head and sat up. Blinking my black eyes. I looked to the side and saw Cyborg in an arm-wrestling match with his huge opponent. I stumbled to my feet, rushed over, and dragged Myrkblade along the metal floor beside me. Skkkkkrrttttttttt!!!! Sparks flew. I blurred over, ran up the monster's backbone, and leapt off with an expert swing at the monster's cranium.

CRAAACK!!!

The beast's skull flew off.

Cyborg stretched a metal palm out and caught the skull securely. He gritted his teeth and shouted at the monster's torso. "Head's up, punk!!!"

CRUNCH!!!! He slammed the skull into the creature's sternum. The disjointed vertebrae crumbled. Cyborg shouted a warcry and rose his knee into the skeleton's center of gravity. THWACK!! The beast lumbered back and teetered off the edge of the metal platform.

I let out a sigh of relief--

"Look out, man!!!" Cyborg shoved me back.

"?!?!?"

CLANK!!!! A shoulder blade slammed down sharply over where my ankles would have been.

The torso of the skeleton I ripped in half had crawled towards me to make its strike.

Cyborg roughly kicked it off the platform to join the rest of the poltergeist below.

"CRAAAHAAAAAK!!!" the monster's voice hissed in anger and frustration.

Cyborg exhaled: "I dunno about you...but I'm all for getting out of Dante's inferno." He pointed upwards.

I nodded. In smoking agility, I climbed furiously up the ladder to the next metal platform above us.

Cyborg followed.

The entire time we ascended, the stirring sounds of the bonewyrm below increased more and more. But we couldn't see it at this point. Instead, our eyes caught sight of a huge doorway in the brick wall besides the platform.

A huge doorway cealed by a concrete pylon.

"Awww man...," Cyborg ran up and performed a quick sensor sweep. A beat. "I-I can get us through! It'll be our ticket out of here...but it's gonna be a belated ticket!! Hang on!!" He switched his hand into a red-hot tool of flame and started burning through the surface of the concrete seal in a circle. "We must get through this thing at all costs!! If Mr. Bone Jangles down there decides to crash our party...I'm gonna need you to poop it for me, Noir. Got it??"

I nodded.

CrkkkkkRkkkkk!!!!

I twirled Myrkblade at ready and faced the edge of the platform.

"............"

Nothing.....

Until......

CRkkkkrkkkRKkkkk!!!!

A skull rose. Then two. Then three. A virtual pyramid of skulls lifted upwards and leered at me above the metal platform like a cobra's head. The look was complemented by the fact that the pyramid of skulls rested atop a bulbous bundle of ribs stretched outward on a stalk of multiple vertebrae twisted and fused together. The huge 'snake' of bones drifted around, 'eyeing' me threateningly.

"Craaaahaaaak........."

I bit my lip.

The rib cages yawned open with a creaking noise. Eight tiny skulls stretched outward on tentacle-like vertebrae while four strings of femurs stretched out and rose above me with scythe-like clavicles on their ends. The skulls clattered and shrieked and snapped at me while the four bone 'scythes' twitched hungrily.

I regripped the hilt of Myrkblade and pumped smoke through my upper limbs.

In the middle of his work, Cyborg glanced back at me. He blinked. "Uhh.........," he returned to his concrete-cutting. ".....y-yeah....sucks to have your job."

I gritted my teeth.

Love you too, Cyborg.

"CRAAAAHAAAAAAK!!!"

The eight tentacle skulls and bone scythes lashed out at me all at once.

SWOOOOOOOSH!!!!

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Rhhsssskskkk!!!" the half-blind wire wraith lunghed upwards at Robin. SW-SWIIIIISH!! Two tentacles soared at him.

Robin leapt, twirled in mid-air, dodged the two limbs, and landed nimbly on the escalator rails. He took a breath and slammed a taser into the broad-side of one of the lunging tentacles.

ZZZTTTTTT!!!!!

The creature shuddered and slammed baby-face first into the bottom end of the escalator.

CRUNCH!!!

The structure shook.

Robin struggled for balance.

The limping wraith slid down from above. "Rhhsssskkk!!!"

Robin performed a one-armed hand plant. He vaulted himself upward, flipped through the air, and landed past the lashing tentacles onto the back of the poltergeist's meaty center. He grunted and slammed both tasers at once into the rubbery hide.

ZZZZ-ZZZZZZTTTT!!!!

The creature shrieked. Tentacles thrashed everywhere. And the mannequin arms--

GRIP!!

"Ack!! Wha----?!?!" Robin glanced down.

A pale mannequin extending from the creature's body hissed as it pulled and tugged at Robin's cape.

"Nnnnghh!!" the Boy Wonder struggled to keep his balance AND his pressure of the tasers on top of the monster. !!! Yaaugh!!!" he lost it. He fell backwards from the mannequin's yanking grip. The Boy Wonder toppled until he hung limply over the edge of the precarious escalator. Utter darkness yawned beneath his dangling legs.

"........."

And then the mannequin let go of his cape.

SWOOOOOSH!!! Robin plummeted.

"!!!!" the Boy Wonder gasped. He twirled in mid-air and fired a grappling hook. POW!! Clank!! It embedded into the center stalk of the tower jutting down out of the platform's bottom.

SWOOOOSH!!! Robin sailed down. The red wires webbing down into the metal nub came into view.

The Boy Wonder positioned his feet just right.

CLAMP!!! He landed with his boots on the upper, angled end of the wires.

He panted.

SMASH!!!!

He looked over.

Both wraiths ripped their ways through the floor sheets and were spider-crawling towards him, hissing. "Rhhhskkkk!!!!"

Robin panted. "Do you guys have a fetish for living meat or what???" Robin pulled taut the grappling hook cord and pushed his legs into action. With his agile body positioned almost horizontally, he 'ran' from wire to wire in graceful stride while anchoring himself to the centermost stalk of metal. The wraiths crawled ravenously after him, lashing tentacles at his heels. SNAP!! SN-SNAP!!! Robin grunted and flung birdarangs and exploding discs at the pursuing poltergeists in mid-sprint. BLAM!! POW!! BOOM!!

Robin glanced at the metal nub through the edge of his eyemask. There were two more coiled figures.

The Boy Wonder took a deep breath and launched a freezing disc.

SWOOOOOSH-CRKKKKK!!!!

A chunk of ice formed on the wires, trapping the two demons by their mannequin toes. They struggled, yanked, and hissed to get free.

Robin yanked at his cord. Responsively, his body yanked too and he lost momentum. He repositioned his boots and slid agilely down a copper wire till he landed on the metal nub below. Right as he was about to uncoil the two bodies, vibrations shook violently down the cords attached to the structure.

"Rhskkkkkk!!!!"

"RHSSSSkkkkk!!!"

SNAP!!!! The ice shattered.

A huge, quivering shake thundred down the wires and wracked the metal nub.

"Nnnghh!!" Robin braced himself as the structure literally wobbled beneath him.

The wraiths got the idea and began shaking the metal webbing mercilessly.

More vibrations. More thunder. The metal tower stretching downward started to teeter and groan like it could snap off its rusted support any second.

Robin fell helplessly—chest first—to the metal structure's floor. "Ooof!!" he winced. "Exactly who's the home-wrecker here??"

The wraiths hissed and shook and thrashed about with wide-open baby mouths of hate.

Joints in the metal structure started to crack and fracture.

Robin gritted his teeth. He struggled to his feet and scrambled for the coiled bundles. He didn't give a thought as to whether or not he could save both—much less one victim. He whipped out a birdarang, snapped the cords free, and started gripping them--

CRACK!!!!!!

The tower shattered.

The metal nub lurched downward...and dangled dangerously on the ends of the copper cords attached to it.

GROAAAAN!!!!

Robin gasped, tumbling with the metal-cocoon bodies. He struggled to keep him and the two forms balanced on the wobbling nub as the cage of wires became an even steeper spindle.

"Not good....," he grunted. He looked over and found himself peering down the endless pit of black. "Not good!!!"

"RHSSSSkkkkKKKkkk!!" the wraiths hissed. They shook the wires some more.

Clanging thunder warbled down the taut strips of rust and--

SNAP!!!!

One flew free.

SNAP!!!!!!

Then another.

SN-SNAP!!!

Two more.

The metal nub lurched downward with each break. Only a few more wires to snap off...and there'd be nothing to hold the Boy Wonder and his two rescuees anymore---

FL-FLASH!!!!!!

Glowing green bolts slammed down onto the wraiths from above. They shrieked and burned.

Robin looked up.

SWOOOOSH!!!!

A red-haired goddess lowered before him.

The Boy Wonder exhaled. "Starfire. Just in time. Could you---"

SWOOOOSH-THWUMP!!!

She soared over hugged him fiercely.

"Erp!!!" Robin struggled for breath.

She shivered against him. "I.... do.... not.... like... absence... of.... nightlights!!!"

The Boy Wonder wheezed. "Y-Yeah. Um....y-you and me b-both, Star. Now....how about—"

"Eeep!! My the bad!! 'Keep your equine under opposable pressure'!!" The Tamaranian gripped Robin by the cape in one hand and tethered the two victims by their coiled copper ends in the other. SWOOOOOOSH!!! She airlifted the three souls up and out of the bottom of the lurching spindle.

SNAP!! SN-SNAP!!! SNAAA-AAAP!! The last of the wires broke free from the heavy metal and the nub descended endlessly into the obsidian oblivion below.

Robin couldn't but shudder at least once. He focused his attention on the thin metal floor of the plaza rocketing violently down towards them......and winced.

CRACK!!!!

Starfire smashed the four of them through the metal shingles. She drifted them over and landed them gently in the midst of Raphael, Victor, and the other recently 'unwrapped' victim.

"Are those the last of them??" Raphael asked.

"Yes," Robin nodded as he dropped down to his boots. "But as for those creeps—"

SM-SMASH!!!!

The five conscious people spun around and gasped.

"Rhhskkkk!!!" the wire wraiths emerged upwards from the black expanse. They crawled on mannequin arms towards the group. They bled and hissed and sneered.

"Allright....time to finish this...," Robin whipped out two explosive discs.

Starfire frowned and readied a huge starbolt.

The two monsters crawled closer.

Raphael and Victor raised their fists. The citizen cowered.

And.....

A flute played.

"...........???" Robin's eyemask twisted.

"Huh???" Starfire looked over.

The thin melody wafted through the black air. It drifted over the two monsters and seemed to hold them at bay. Soon, Dimitri's peacefully pale figure marched into view with the musical instrument. He played it gently......serenely. He soon stood between the two creatures. They waved their tentacles...mesmorized.

"It....is beautiful...," Starfire blinked her green eyes. She looked over. "But I am afraid I do not understand what—"

"Shhhh...," Raphael hissed. "It's his job. He's a mediator."

"Huh?"

"He consumes the dead," Victor explained. "Robin may have ripped those two poltergeists apart in saving you, but only Dimitri can truly quench their anguish."

Dimitri waved the flute as he played. After a lullabye-like ensemble, he gently lowered the flute. He took a deep breath, meditated momentarily, and stretched both hands out towards the leathery baby-faces of the wraiths.

Starfire gasped. "He shall be damaged!!!" she was about to fly over when Robin gripped her forearm. She looked at him.

The Boy Wonder gently shook his head.

"........," Starfire watched pensively, biting her lip in concern.

Dimitri took another deep breath. He tilted his head back. He strectched his fingers apart.

The baby mouths of the wraiths opened wide. A slight whining sound...then...

Red vapors streamed out through their lips...and into Dimitri's nostrils.

The man's eyes pulsed pale for a moment and then a huge surge of red light gasped out of his inner being.

FLASH!!!!

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

CLANK!!!!

I slid back from the heavy contact of Myrkblade to bone scythe.

I gritted my teeth, twirled my sword, and rushed back into the fray.

"CRAAAHAAAAAK!!!" The menacing snake of bone launched three biting skulls at me and two slashing scythes.

SWIIIIISH!!!!

I blurred, ducked, slid, stood upright, and swung up mightily.

CRUNNNNCH!!!

I shattered three layers of bone.

I twirled Myrkblade and stabbed inward.

CRKKKK!!!!

I pulsed murk in an explosion outward from the blade's wooden tip.

SNAP!!!!!

I yanked out harshly.

CRAAAA-AAAACK!!!!

Five skulls and a bone scythe were lopped off and fell free from inside the yawning ribcages.

"CRAAAHAAAAAK!!!"

The other scythes remaining slashed down at me.

CL-CLANK!!!

I deflected two and sidestepped the last before jabbing back, countering, stabbing, side-stepping, and then pacing myself at a safe distance away from the leering creature.

I was hoping that this was enough effort for Cyborg to acquire his much-needed distraction. And apparently it was. He was already three fourths of the way through his concrete slicing.

"Almost there!! Just a little longer, man! You're doing good!!"

I took a deep breath. I fanned Myrkblade in a side-lunged, deflecting three skull strikes at once. CL-CL-CLANK!!! I stabbed forward. The creature drew back. The pyramid of skulls shrieked. Then the entire head of the bonewyrm lunged at me.

THWOMP!!!

I tumbled back. I landed on my shoulders.

SWIIIIISH!!! Two scythes sailed down at me.

I parted my legs just right to miss the strikes. I then morphed into smoke form, drifted up in a blink of a black eye, and solidified in a standing position above the two scythes.

SLASH!!!!!! SN-SNAP!!!! I severed both bony limbs.

"CRAAAHAAAAAAK!!!!"

The creature reared its huge 'head'. One last scythe was leering and twitching.

I sweated.

This isn't right. I can't kill the creature. I'm only making it hurt more.

I panted.

Hurt......

"Got it!!!" Cyborg shouted. He stood up from his handiwork and kicked at the concrete seal with his boot. CLAMP!!!! "Nnnghh!!!" CLAMP!! CLAMP!! "Come on!!!" CLAMP!!!

The severed piece began to give way some.

I glanced back at him. I gripped Myrkblade. I glanced back--

SLAAAASH!!! The scythe came down before I could counter.

SLIIINK!!! A stream of blood flew from my shoulder.

"!!!!!" I howled mutely in pain, clutching my upper limb.

Cyborg gasped. "Noir!!!!" he rushed over in an instant and covered my wounded body with his titanium bulk, deflecting whatever striking limbs of the skeletal wyrm remained. CL-CL-CLANG!!! "Back off from my friend, shitheads!!!" he aimed a sonic cannon at the skulls. ZAAAAA-AAAAP!!!!

Calcium dust flew and the huge snake-head fell back some.

Cyborg spun around with me in his grasp. "And you!!!" he growled at the door. "Crumble sesame!!!" he slammed his boot into it one last time.

CRUNCH!!!! CRKKKK-THWOMP!!! The freshly cut concrete circle fell without a hitch.....and beyond it in the tunnel was a solid wall of water.

Cyborg and I winced.

But the water was standing in place.

".................."

"...........uhm....," Cyborg blinked. A beat. He suddenly gasped. "Down---!!!"

SPLOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!!!

Cyborg slammed himself and my body down onto the metal platform at the last second.

A torrent of pure water gushed magically out and slammed into the writhing mass of the bonewyrm.

SPLAAAAAASH!!!!!

"CRAAAHAAAAAK!!!!" the beast writhed and twitched and fell down hard to the cavern floor below.

The android Titan and I panted. We stood up—myself wincing—and looked down the open tunnel.

Tempest stood with his hand outstretched. He had a bandage on his left wrist. Behind him—partitioned around magical cubicles of solid water—nearly a hundred people were gathered and gazed helplessly, nervously out at us.

The Atlantean's eyes were glowing purple as he calmly uttered: "Don't surface-dwellers believe in knocking?"

"H-How long have you been here, man??" Cyborg panted.

"Since Dr. 'Dark'—or whoever the genius was—sealed us away in this living cemetery," Tempest grunted. "And might I add that I've been providing these good people with quite a bit of safety till you and black eyes there had to summon another ghoul to harm us all!!"

"Well excuuuuse us, Flipper!! We came down here looking for warm body signatures like yours. And the least you can do for Noir and I is---Noir?? NOIR!!!"

Tempest's purple eyes narrowed. He and the immediate people behind him gazed beyond Cyborg as the android Titan rushed over to the edge of the metal platform, panting. "Noir!!! What are you doing, man?!?!"

During the altercation, I had descended the ladders and now stood knee-deep in sewer water before the collapsed bonewyrm. I limped towards the creature. The wound on my shoulder was just a graze...but it still hurt. I winced with every step I took, leaning on Myrkbalde once or twice.

The bonewyrm recovered slowly, its skulls and ribcages forming a cohesive 'neck' that regarded me.

I took a deep breath.

All right......

CHIIIING!! I sheathed Myrkblade.

Here we go, Jonas......

I held my hands unthreateningly behind my head.

The grand experiment.........

The bonewyrm didn't make any attempt to rip me apart anymore.

The black sockets eyed my black eyes.

I started to exhale visible vapors.

A connection was formed. Like clockwork.

"Noir!! Get away!! Now!!"

Don't worry, Cyborg.

For Raven...or for me...

Don't worry......

The neck of the bone mass leaned down towards me.

I'm gifted.........

The calcium parted ways. Unfolded. Split apart.

So very gifted......

The bone kept spreading.

Ribcages yawned open like russian dolls, revealing smaller ribcages.

And something dark inside—concealed and hidden until now—pulsed and twitched.

I panted. My breath was frozen. Chills ran down from my metal prosthetic.

The last ribs parted ways.

My black eyes twitched.

A hairy fetus shuddered inside. Twin, beady eyes flew open.

Black on black.

No......

Stubby arms reached out for me.

N-No............

Red vapor from squealing frog lips.

And....

"Noir!!!!"

I consumed.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Ready!!!"

"Aim!!!!"

"Fire!!!!"

POW!!!!!!

BLAM!!!!

BLAAA-AAAM!!!

Musketfire.

Puffs of white and blue smoke.

Hot lead shot screaming through the air in every direction.

The meat wall staggers.........

TH-THUNK!!!!

THUNK!!!!

SPLAT!!!

"AAAAAAUGH!!!!"

"GAWWWWD!!!!!"

"Form ranks!!!!"

The soldiers in blue stood in an orderly phalanx.

A solid wall of raggedy-gray men charged towards them. Yelling. Howling. Crying.

Bodies twitched half-open on the green grass.

The sun was out.

"Reload!!!"

Moses trembled.

"Ready!!!"

Moses shook.

"Aim!!!!"

Moses shuddered.

"Fire!!!"

BLAM!!!!!!!!

BL-BLAM!!!

POW!!!!

White mist shot out from the barrels.

But the gray bodies still charged on through. And they had bayonets.

"RAAAAAUGH!!!!"

"YAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!"

SLIIIIINK!!!!

THUNK!!!

RIIIIIP!!!

"AAAUGH!!!!"

"ATTACK AT WILL!!!"

CL-CLANK!!!

THWACK!!!

SLASH!!!!

"AAAAUGH!!!"

Moses trembled as he stood on his knees. And that's when the blade struck him through the spine from behind.

THUNK!!!!

"!!!!!!!"

He lurched.

He fell on his chest.

The world turned black.

Grass.

Soil.

Red soil.

Bodies on either side of him.

Ragged pieces of flesh hanging out.

Fingers clutching.

"Momma......it hurts............"

A trumpet sounding off in the distance.

The battle proceeds beyond the green hills.

"Momma.................."

A brand of fire shooting up Moses' spine.

"Momma!!!!! AaaaAAAAUGHAHAHAAHAAAAA-AAAAAA!!!!!"

And dark again.

Shuffling.

Wheelbarrows.

Carts.

Black workers.

Sobbing women in the field.

A pair of calloused hands stroke over Moses' face.

"Is he alive?"

Silence.

"No. This one's dead too."

Gurgling.

A throat that refuses to work.

"Cart 'em."

"Yeah."

Hoisted by arms.

Carried to the cart.

More gurgling.

A bright sun.

The same sharp pain.

A half-gasp.

And......

Darkness.

"!!!!!!!!!!"

Gasping.

Flesh and bloody clothing against his mouth.

Legs moving.

Heat.

Squished.

Limbs.

Body parts.

"Mmmmfmfff!!!!"

Moses squirmed.

Faint daylight.

The red aura of a barn.

A stack of bodies.

A stack of dead bodies.

A stack of dead, bleeding bodies.

Moses was at the bottom of the pile.

"MmmmmMMMFFF!!!"

Twitching.

Gurgling.

Hot pain.

He shook his caked mouth free of the obstrusive limb.

He howled.

"HEY!!!!!"

Muffled silence.

Heat.

Flies.

"HEYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Nothing.

Caked blood.

More flies.

"NNGHHH!!! I'M ALIVE!!!!!! MMMFHHHELP ME!!!!!!"

The stench.

The stench............

"SOMEONE!!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!! HELP ME!!!!!!!!!"

Maggots crawled into his mouth.

Bodies shifted from his struggling and crushed his lungs.

"MMmmmfFFFF!!! GAWWWD!!!! AAAAAUGHHHHH GAWDDDD HELP ME!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!"

Hours......

Hours.....................

Hours......................................................

...........................................................................

................................................darkness.........

Clawing.........

Clawing away at the flesh.

Ripping through into the bone.

Nothing but bone.

Bone and heat.

A mother's womb.

A crowded grave.

Congeal.........congeal.........congeal.........

".................................crrrr...............crrr-rrr......crrrraaaaAAAHAAAAAK!!!!!!!!!!!"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"!!!!!"

I gasped and sputtered for breath.

Strong titanium arms were holding me from behind.

"Shhh!!! Easy, Noir....easy....."

My black eyes flew open.

I panted.

I raised my flesh and metal hands up in front of my foggy gaze. I flexed my fingers. Shuddering, I ran my palms over my face. I shook back into the frame of Cyborg. We were both sitting in the shallow water at the bottom of the sewer cavern. He had me in a strong grip. And though I wasn't freaking out like the 'first time', it still felt........soothing.

I exhaled and leaned back. Dazed.

"Man....why do you keep doing that???" he uttered worriedly from behind me. "This is not your land!! This is Mortuana!! You weren't built for this!! Don't you know that?!?!"

I swallowed.

I don't know what to 'know' anymore......

I looked lethargically across the floor of the cavern.

There was no sign of any monstrosity.

"He's gone, dawg......the damn thing faded away as soon as you 'consumed' it. You've got a death warrant, man. I swear....."

I ran a hand through my long, black hair.

I was thinking about Kara's smile right about then.......

Tempest lowered slowly down from the people-filled pipe above on a pillar of self-supported water.

"I hope you don't mind," he uttered. "But I had to....erm...'borrow' the Downtown's water supply in order to best protect these people."

"So that's where all the water went," Cyborg smirked up at the Atlantean as the android Titan helped me up to my feet. "We're all thirsty on account of you."

"Speaking of accounts," Tempest's purple-glowing eyes blinked. He was maintaining an awful lot of magical water at once. "What in Poseidon's name is going on with this Town of ours??"

"It's a long story," Cyborg rubbed his human head. He glanced at me. "As you can see, we're pretty stressed out—holy crap....NOIR!!!"

I jolted, startled.

Cyborg reached a hand to my shoulder, dipped a titanium finger in my wound, and held it up. Liquid dripping from his hand was.......glowing. A bright ivory.

My black eyes bulged.

Cyborg's lips quivered in shock and concern. "That....th-that bonewyrm thing!! It must have done something freaky to you!! Come on, man! We gotta get you back to Jonas, Raven, and the Mortuanans! We've got to—"

"Nothing bad has happened to Noir," Tempest lethargically groaned. "Nothing more than a mere cut."

I looked horrifically at both Cyborg and the Atlantean.

"What do you mean??" Cyborg's human eye narrowed.

Tempest took a deep breath. He undid the bandage on left wrist. "When we bleed down here in the blackness....," he held his hand up. "....it glows." Indeed, a moderate cut in Tempest's hand was leaking blood...a blood that glowed silver.

Cyborg's mouth hung open. He glanced at back and forth between the Atlantean and myself. "Man.....what....wh-what the Hell??"

"?!?!?!" I looked helplessly at Tempest.

The dark-haired young man exhaled. "Don't you see? It's 'life'......and this apparent 'land of the dead', life burns."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Robin shook his head. He snapped out of it. He slowly turned around and was shocked to find himself inside....a shopping mall.

A normal shopping mall. Pitch black, yes. But void of copper wires or rusted metal framework or missing floor tile. He pulled out his flashlight and shined it around. The illumination swept over three stirring, safe citizens, Raphael, Victor, and a trembling Starfire.

"............," Robin placed a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder.

The girl fluttered her green eyes open. She clutched ahold to Robin's side. "The l-light....it is nice....."

Robin simpered. "Glad you like it." He glanced at the two guardians. "Hey..."

"Y-Yes, lightsider?"

"How come everything's back to normal?"

"The wire wraiths...," Raphael spoke.

"They've been consumed," Victor added. A beat. "For now," he smiled.

"..........and Dimitri?" the Boy Wonder asked.

The two pointed.

Robin spun the flashlight about.

The pale figure of the young man crouched besides his flute, panting as if suddenly exhausted.

Robin took a deep breath and stepped towards him---

Starfire's hand was on his shoulder.

He froze and looked back at her. "Huh??"

Starfire bit her lip. "Robin....I must thank you for your brave attempt at rescuing me and—"

"Thank me later, Star," Robin curtly said. "Right now, we must make haste and—"

"But I am always having to 'thank you later'...," Starfire uttered.

"...............yeah....well.....," Robin cleared his throat. "Ahem......let's make 'later' be...um...when everything is light again."

"...............," Starfire looked aside depressingly.

Robin ignored it....for then. He marched over and knelt by Dimitri's side. "Hey.....you all right?"

The man shuddered. "Y-Yes....I just....," he ran a shaky hand over his face. "I-I must meditate....is all.....it's....it's always....hard.....you must understand....it's always hard...after the task is performed...."

Robin slowly nodded. He gently patted the man's shoulder and managed a smirk. "Nice job."

"The same goes for you and your attractive companio—"

"Teammate."

"Oh?"

Robin sighed. "Let's go."

Dimitri smiled and picked up his flute with slightly calmer hands. "You certainly display quite a bit of acrobatic pathos for rescuing a mere 'teammate'---"

"LET'S GO!"

Starfire floated over, smiling. "The pale one does have a remarkable opinion to express, Robin—"

"Grrrrrr...."

Raphael and Vincent chuckled. They helped the three frightened citizens up and soon the group was exiting the shopping plaza.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

And as they did so—shuffling into the dark, shrouded parking lot—a green shape lowered with a flap of leathery wings.

"!!!!!" Raphael and Victor pounced the creature.

THWOMP!!!!

"YAAAK!!! Get 'em off!! Get 'em off me, dude!!!!"

"It's okay!!" Robin dove in and shoved the two guardians back. "He's one of us!!!"

Dimitri panted. "A changeling in the world of light?? How remarkable!"

"Yeah...well...not really," Robin grumbled.

Beast Boy sat on his derrier in the parking lot. He dizzily rubbed his head and groaned. "Nnnghhh......I'd be seeing stars if I could only friggin' see the sky, dude..."

"Beast Boy!!!" Starfire sailed out from walking alongside the citizens and hugged the changeling fiercely to her chest. "Ooooooh I did so worry about you!!!"

Beast Boy wheezed. "Okay.....it's enough that I get pounced on by the technical consultants of Nightmare Before Christmas....can't you at least lessen the strangulation??"

Starfire held the elf at arm's length. "How did you travail upon descending upon us just now??"

"I was patrolling the area in bat mode," Beast Boy said. At that, he winked suggestively in Robin's direction.

It didn't work. "You heard the commotion and decided to investigate...right?"

"Right-oh-rooney," Beast Boy grinned. "Though—to be honest—I was just looking for more citizens to add to my collection."

"Citizens??" Starfire inquired.

"Yup!" Beast Boy cracked his knuckles. "I've got at least three dozen safely under my wing!"

Robin frowned. "You'd better not be just saying that. We all know how much you like to boast—"

"Dude!! Believe in me for once, will ya?!" the changeling pouted. "Fine! If you're so doubtful, I'll show you!! Follow me. Sheesh!! And you'd think reunions would be a tad bit more friendly......."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Well what do you know...," Robin folded his arms and smirked. "So YOU'RE the group at the train station......"

Beast Boy had led the Boy Wonder, the Tamaranian, the three Mortuanans, and the three citizens to the central station of the Downtown's L-Train track. Inside the hollow interior lined with benches—under the illumination of eight bright torches—a lively cluster of City dwellers were safely gathered, obviously protected by the changeling's security. It was a remarkable feat in and of itself...especially considering that the emerald Titan had accomplished such on his own.

"Beast Boy...," Robin slurred. "See to it that I promote you for this."

"Woo!! At last!!" the changeling jumped with a cheer. "And to think the last time was at Westhaven!!"

"Actually, that was not Robin," Starfire smiled and gestured. "That was the fair Ms. Cartwright."

"Oh right. I forgot. Robin doesn't wear stockings."

The Boy Wonder glared for a second before facing the crowd and uttering loudly: "Don't any of you worry! More of us are here now! We're going to get you back to the real world soon enough!!!"

Dimitri smirked. "Careful what you call the 'real world', my friend."

Robin retorted with a smile: "Oh....go dig a grave."

A citizen or two meekly walked up.

Robin gazed upon them.

"W-Will we be okay, Mr. Titan?" a preteen girl murmured. Her older sister hugged her. "We can't stay in this p-place much longer......"

Starfire cupped her hands together with a sad look on her face.

Robin took a place. "There comes a day when we all must die," Robin said. A beat. He leaned forward and gazed firmly. "Today is not that day......."

Murmurs amongst the crowd.

Raphael and Victor exchanged glances.

"Right! Enough with the poetry!!" Beast Boy paced between the crowd and Robin. "I suggest we take the L-Train!"

Robin raised an eyebrow above his mask. "Excuse me?"

"Er...not the train itself. But the tracks!! Think of it! They're elevated. They're high above all the monsters and crap. And they can take us out of this big blob of blackness thingy!"

Robin rubbed his chin. "Or maybe they could bring us to a short-cut....."

"Er.....huh?"

Starfire leaned in. "What is it that you have planned, Robin?"

"I'm not sure yet...," the Boy Wonder smirked. "But it's beginning to hammer itself nicely in my head as we speak...."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Outside the hollow train station, something shifted in the corner of the torchlight.

A silver outline emerged momentarily in the darkness.

It was the figure of an adult human.

Atop his head was a crested helmet.

Dark eyes narrowed.......resentful.

A bearded face tensed.

A beat.

The figure dashed away like a fleeting shadow and disappeared into the blackness.