266. Break the Circle part 26
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SMASSSSSSSSSSS-SSSSSSSSSSSH!.!.!.!.!
In space, the ion cannon ruptured and burst straight down the center.
It exploded into two flaming, plasma-streaking splashes of bright amber and green as the energy core shot out in every conceivable direction.
And shattering through the twin solar panel 'wings'….
….trailing sparks of burning green….
A tense and seething Supergirl soared.
Her fists outstretched.
Smashing the satellite into irreparable shreds….
…..Before plummeting earthward…
And burning an empty-lung lunge into the atmosphere.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Shooooooom!.!.!.!
Over the City.
In the red-tainted sky….
Streaks of burning green satellite pieces fell.
Cascading.
Plummeting.
At the former site of the Crunch, the soldiers and Wildebeests stood stock-still between mounds of debris.
Staring up from the streets…..
Murmuring and grunting in apprehension and wonder.
The green comets seared through the air…burning up….
Fizzing out.
Turning to tiny green trails of gravity-throttling pellets.
Soon, a practical fireworks display of emerald chaos splattered across the sky.
Streaking through the red.
Hushing the quiet agony of the battle-weary City.
The Justice League and subsequent heroes stood in a weary circle.
John Stewart with his cast. Bruised and panting.
Henry Irons. Eyes narrow on the sky as he held his battered helmet.
Black Canary and Green Arrow….leaning breathlessly against each other and gazing upward.
Catwoman against a building front. Her whip dangling by her side.
Wonder Woman. Her arms folded. Her lips parted.
Batman in a tattered cape. Holding Superman up…..a worried and breathless Superman.
The Flash panted. His eyeslits twitched at the sight of the splashing green. He glanced aside at Martian Manhunter.
"Kara was successful," J'onn droned. Gazing heavenward. "The satellite has been stopped."
"Yeah….," Flash gulped and gestured wildly. "B-But did Supergirl make it?"
"………"
The League members looked at the alien.
Flash frowned. "Well?"
"…………" J'onn turned his head. He looked at Flash. "……………." He smiled…..
Flash blinked.
FWOOOOOOSSSSH!
In a blur of blue and red, Supergirl touched down.
"Supergirl!" Irons uttered.
"Thank Hera…."
"She made it….."
"…………..," in the middle of the League………...the Girl of Steel collapsed to her knees with a groan.
Superman gasped. He fought his way out of Batman's hold, stumbled forward, and knelt in front of her. "K-Kara……..Kara, look at me…."
He brought a strong pair of fingers forward….and tilted her head up.
Kara gazed up at him. Tiredly. Breathless. And when she did…..her eyes were watering. Tearing. Sapphire streams from sapphire eyes. She smiled ever so painfully and whispered: "Gee, Clark…..I…..I-I forgot wh-what that felt like………."
He smiled warmly at her. Superman engulfed the Girl of Steel in a strong hug.
She fell into his chest…hugging him back. Shuddering.
"Well done, girl…………"
And the League huddled around them.
In the center of the Street.
In the ravaged Downtown.
Where all was still…and all was silent…
Under the green-flashing aura of streaking satellite comets.
Shooooom!
Sh-Shoooom!
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Sh-Shooooom!
The green trails fell and streaked over the pink head of Jinx as she limped down Main Street on her own.
Panting.
Looking all about the rubble and urban mayhem.
Swallowing, cupping her petite hands around her lips, and calling out: "Hellllllllllo?"
Silence.
"Is anyone therrrrre?"
Silence.
"Is the battttttle overrrrrrr?"
Silence.
"Where in Hecate's name is everyone?"
Silence.
"Hrmphhh…..does anyone care?" she planted her hands on her hips and pouted. "You think someone would have lost an eye by now…."
She gazed over….
And her cat-eyes exploded.
As did her jaw drop as she gasped and ran over. "LESLIE!.!.!.!"
In a pink blur, Jinx slid over and knelt around a freshly steaming crater where a bruised and singed Pulsade lie limp.
Her blonde hair tossed.
Her usual, scowling face melted in a numb pantomime of pain.
"Leslie…..LESLIE!" Jinx panted….shaking her shoulders…stirring her upper body. She bit her lip. "N-No….Leslie…..P-Please….PLEASE!"
Silence……..
………
Jinx hyperventilated. Her pink eyes watered. She brought a wrist up to her lips and bit down. Grimacing. Sobbing. "N-No……" Her eyes clenched shut. Her thin form shook and shivered. "No, Hecate……..not her…..not Leslie….."
She deflated.
She shook….choked…..
She buried her face in Pulsade's tummy.
"…..she m-means more than the world to me…..I-I couldn't stay alive without her……Nnnngh….Leslie….I love you…….I love you so much……"
……..
…….
"……..nnnngh……enough with the bloomin' mush already….."
Jinx gasped.
Her eyes popped wide….cat orbs twitching. "L-Leslie?"
The blonde winced, rubbed her blonde head, and sat up with a groan. "Nnnngh….so dramatic, I swear."
"You're…..Y-You're not dead?"
"Hell no. It'd take a herd of radioactive elephants tap-dancing twenty-four-seven over my arse to usher me into the grave! Pfft…you should know that, love!"
"But….B-But what were you doing lying here so still—"
"I was pissed tired!" Pulsade waved a hand. "Took out three damn jeeps on my own and nearly lost my hard skull in the process! Wouldn't that shag your fighting spirit rotten too?"
"Nnnngh—Rotten BITCH!" Jinx hissed and shoved Pulsade to the floor. "I HATE YOU!.!.! I wish you WERE DEAD!"
Leslie stumbled on the broken asphalt. "Heheheheheh….," a painfully awkward smile barely traced her lips. "….Do you, now, love?"
Jinx folded her arms over her petite chest. Pouting….pouting….pouting…..seething…..
"…..nice to see you made it too, Jean."
"………nnngh………yeah….."
"Yeah……"
"…………………….f-forgive me for calling you a bitch?" Jinx put on a puppy-dog face.
Pulsade shrugged and stood up. "You never ask me to in any other circumstance---nnngh…" She stumbled.
Jinx gently helped her to her feet. "Well how about this one?"
"I-I'd rather worry over where Terra is at the moment…."
Jinx took a deep breath. Nodding her head with a calm expression. "I know where she is…."
"Hmmm?"
"I've sensed her……r-resonating……"
……
And both girls turned….
….and gazed at the spires of the City beyond the satellite shards.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Sh-Shooooom!
Shooom!
North along Main Street, the comets descended overhead.
Breaking the red.
Disturbing the stillness.
…….
WHAM!.!.!.!
SWOOOOOOSSSSSSH!.!.!.!.!
Dagger's white-shimmering body….
My black-smoking self….
We entangled in mid-air….
Twirled….
And plummeted hard from a high skyscraper and down…down….down….
Towards a broad warehouse rooftop below.
FWOOOOO-OOOOO-OOOOOSSSSH!.!.!.!
WHAM!
I struck—bouncing with an agonizing splash of murk energy.
TH-TH-THWUMPP!-THWUMP-THWUMP-THWUMP!
I rolled across the warehouse, grunting mutely and wincing all over in pain.
SP-SPLASSSSSH!.!.!.! Dagger landed—one armed—in a curtain of bright white steam. With bastardized Construction, his eyes pulsed a brilliant platinum and he twirled the knife of strobing ivory in his only right hand.
And---
FWOOOOOOSSSSH!
He blurred at me.
I knelt…struggling to get up—
SLASSSSSSSSSH! A swing of his knife.
I grunted and rolled aside—
CRKKKKK-KKKKKK! The burning heat of the Construction slash ripped up a line of warehouse shingles.
I gritted my teeth and somersaulted backwards—
CRUNNNNCCCCCH! A burning jab straight down exploded a crater in the warehouse structure…knocking me back so that I tumbled across the rooftop.
THWUMP!THWUMP!THWUMP!
He stood.
Panting.
Bleeding.
Twirling the knife and pulsing the gold-bright essence of Terra through his arteries and limbs and throat: "You run away too much, Jordan. Just because you're Balance doesn't mean you have to always be speed."
TH-THWUMP!I leapt up to my feet. Snarling at him. Myrkblade raised and dancing with black vapors.
He marched towards me. A stream of hot green satellite comets surging down past his silhouette. "Thatta boy, Jordan. Now…..where were we?"
THWOOOOOSSSS-SSSSH!
He streamed at me with a white cloud exploding outward from his flimsy knife.
A wall of solid white power screamed at me.
I gritted my teeth, twirled a murking blade, and streaked at him for all I was worth.
THWOOOOOOSH!
Aaaaa-aaaaah!.!.!
FLASSSSH!.!.!.!
And in the background….
The green comets sailed towards the towering spires of the City…
Kobayashi Tower….and Wayne Enterprises…
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Terra slumped to her knees atop the summit of the City.
Panting…..her eyes a fading golden fire….
Her arms rested numbly to her sides.
Her silken gold hair blew in the wind.
And she sniffed….shook…..and exhaled a shudder that eventually cracked through her vocal cords and let loose a choke and a sob or two…..
And then she heard….
Scuffling….
Shuffling…..
Feet and limbs and fingers clawing…
Terra blinked her wet blue eyes opened.
She sniffed…bit her lip….
…..and gazed down over the edge of the building.
Gasping.
"Nnnngh………nnnngh!" a sweating, shirtless Changeling was desperately clawing up the surface of the buildingside.
Terra's lips quivered. She gazed over further and breathed: "B-Beast Boy?"
"……..," he panted. He looked up at her. Dark green eyes weak.
"…….." She gulped. "Garfield?"
He shuddered. He reached a hand out. "Terra…."
"Garfield!"
He held his breath. He leaned back. He prepared to stretch his arms out and splice them into wings—
SHOOO-OOOOO-OOOOOOM!.!.!.!
Terra's blonde hair whipped wildly in the air.
She gasped. Eyes wide….exploding.
She glanced up.
So did Beast Boy. He shouted---
FWOOOOO-OOOOOO-OOOOOSSSSSH!.!.!.!
A green, burning satellite shard plummeted murderously close to the Tower and shot towards Wayne Enterprises.
The earth maiden gasped, wobbled, and fell on her rear atop the summit of the Tower.
Kobayashi Tower…..which was shaking and wobbling from concrete base to pinnacle.
And it shook Changeling clean off his grip.
"Aaaaaugh!"
Th-Thwoooosh!
The green animorph plummeted down a tier of building floors and glass.
Terra looked over. Panicked. Wide-eyed—
WH-WHAMM!.!.!
Changeling landed hard like a sack of heavy vegetables on a balcony several meters below.
"Nnnnnngh………." He was still.
Very……very still……
Terra shrieked: "BEAST BOY!.!.!.!"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"……………………"
Eyes.
Green eyes.
Batting open.
Weak and twitching.
Pain…..
"Nnnnnnnghhh….."
Starfire stirred.
Starfire sat up.
Wincing with each twist and turn of her muscles.
A straining….
A shuddering….
No sooner was she 'sitting upright'….Starfire spat forth an exhalation of pain. She clutched her chest. Fingers squeezing at caking….drying green blood.
Tears squeezed out of her eyes.
And her crying didn't decrease any when she gazed up towards the sky….
….and saw nothing but red.
The same hue that swallowed Robin forever.
The Robin that could never live with her.
"………," she shuddered. Tears falling hotly from her curved optics. "……….wh-why did you not finish me, Slade?"
Silence.
Cold…drifting air.
Starfire winced.
Choking back a sob or two….she hobbled up to her scarred feet.
Clutching herself.
Limping….limping…..limping across the rooftop…..
Shuddering breath.
"…….I……I-I am nothing now…..more than ever I was….."
Starfire hobbled towards the stairwell at the top of Wayne Enterprises. Surrounded by rubble and glass. The shattered remains of the huge, electrically-lit letters of the skyscraper summit.
She paused in the middle of her movement…..
Her eyes gazed into the rooftop.
"………"
She slowly turned around.
Heaving.
Green eyes narrow as---
Shoooooo-oooooooom!
Then her optics widened.
Starfire gasped.
SHOOOO-OOOOOO-OOOOOM!.!.!.!.!
The next wave of green comets screamingly hurled themselves into the top levels of Wayne Enterprises.
SHATTTTTTER!.!.!.!.!
The huge white letters exploded and spread everywhere.
The rooftop shattered and divided in two….in three….four….
Slabs of tar and concrete splattered through the air.
Metal cobwebs…steel-string supports ruptured, swam through the green fire, and expanded everywhere.
"AAAAA-AAAAAAAAH!.!.!" Starfire was screaming. Starfire was flailing. Bloodily tossed betwixt the shattering impact.
CRASSSSS-SSSSSSSSH!.!.!.!.!
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Atop a burning building across the City.
Surrounded by a ring of flame.
Tim sat up straight.
Gasping.
His blue eyes wide.
Twitching against the flame.
"……..!.!.!"
He spun around…
….gazing westward.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
FWOOOOOOSH!
Starfire plummeted.
Starfire fell.
She twirled and tossed and flipped through the spiderweb of exposed steel wires and crossbeams.
Panting….twitching…
Reaching a bloodied arm out—
CLUTCH!.!.!.!
Starfire lurched…..gasping…
Dangling weakly above the mess of skyscraper destruction.
She panted….panted….panted….
And gazed down past her feet.
The top ten stories of Wayne Enterprises had shattered completely from the heated impact.
Green fire traced the scant remaining supports of steel that stretched and bird-fingered upwards into air-slicing claws of serrated metal.
Starfire tangled above the gash made from the impact. And beneath her were well over seventy stories of plummeting death.
A shoe slipped loose from beneath her jean's ankle cuff and fell, flip-flopping, twirling madly to a crushing concrete doom imperceivably far below.
She twitched….winced….and struggled to summon the energy of flight…..
…..but failed.
From where she dangled, her one arm twitched and strained. She panted……a panting that turned into a sobbing….and a sobbing that turned into a shaking….
Loosening her grip one finger digit at a time…..
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Tim panted.
Tim's fists clenched.
His face was pale and his eyes moistened into sweet sea holes.
"……..St-Starfire….."
……
Thwooosh!
He jumped up.
He ran.
He sprinted.
He snarled, dove his body forward, and leapt clear through the curtain of blazing fire.
"Nnnnnnngh!.!.!"
FWOOOOSH!
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
FWOOOOO-OOOOOSH!.!.!.!.!
Dagger blurred at me. Snarling: "Raaa-aaaAAUGH!"
SLASSSSSH!.!.! His white-glowing knife sliced through the air.
I gritted my teeth, slid back, and raised Myrkblade just in time.
CL-CLAAAAK!
Sparks flew.
Black against white.
He grinded against me.
I fought with all I could with waves of murk. My legs buckling underneath me….shaking and shivering against the warehouse rooftop.
"Nnnnngh…..you
can't fight…..Construction….with just your powers alone,
Jordan!.!.!" Dagger hissed at me. Sweating. Scraped and bleeding
all over. "You know this! Stop depending on the superficial and
TAKE……TAKE WHAT IS YOURS TO ADAPT!"
I hissed.
Murk screaming out through the corners of my eyes.
I shook and quivered.
The corners of my obsidian cornea danced a foreign color.
A touch of crimson……
"You can't defeat my STRENGTH!.!.! Adapt, Jordan! ADAPT!"
I sneered mutely up at him.
That is not your Strength, Dagger.
That is TERRA'S!.!.!
FWOOOOSH!
I teleported, blew through him in smoke form, and materialized behind him with a downswing of my blade.
SL-SLASSSSH!
He spun—and with so much as a tiny swipe of his blade—knocked me back with a splash of hot white fury. FWOOOSH!
Nnnngh—God!
I twirled, flailed, flipped, and landed in a reverse slide to the very edge of the warehouse.
STOMP-STOMP-STOMP-STOMP! With Construction heavy steps, the one-armed Dagger charged me with his blade raised high. Twirling. A cyclone of kaleidoscopic white FLASHING-FLASHING-FLASHING!.!.!.! "Nnnnnngh!"
I was blinded.
So….
I closed my black eyes.
SLASSSSH! His knife stabbed down.
THWOOOOOSH! Myrkblade flew blindly up.
CL-CLASSSSH!
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Tim hurled himself from rooftop to rooftop.
Running as quickly as his bruised, bloodied limbs could carry him.
His eyemask shredded off.
His dancing yellow cape in tatters.
His tunic shredded and exposing the upper parts of his chest and back.
His gloves ripped and flimsy green scraps.
He panted….panted…panted….
Leaping.
Climbing.
Scaling balconies and buildings and rooftops.
Gliding across streets and rolling across buildingtops just to jump up and resume running.
Streaking.
Westward……towards the shattered site of the Wayne Enterprises building.
"St-Starfire…….," he panted.
Running.
Running.
Running…
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Nnnnngh…..!" Starfire struggled.
Dangling.
Her quivering-struggling hand tensing in its hold to the sharp steel beam-end.
She shuddered.
She shook all over.
She stretched agonizingly her other hand up to grab ahold of a piece of the steel beam further up the stalk.
Struggling against the pain of the cold December air against the cuts across her palms.
Tearing….whimpering—
GROANNNN!.!.!.!
The steel beam lurched.
Starfire lost her grip.
"AAAAA-AAAAH!"
She fell…plummeted off the skyscraper—
SNAG!
Only to grab ahold at the last second of another sharp beam. One that cracked and lurched with her meager weight. Shaking and threatening to break.
Starfire clenched her teeth….
She squinted her eyes shut….
Green tears squeezed out and flowed down her cheeks.
She shuddered and exhaled in a shaking….choking breath…
"X'Hal……meledriet sul'm cassata muni……membrett'r thriel Robin, X'hal……senkatta m-membrett'r th-thriel Robinnnn…X'halllll…."
She wept……..
Dangling……
Dying………….
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Terra panted….sliding…..gliding….
Down the face of Kobayashi Tower.
With the aid of levitating, golden pebbles.
She slid and ran down the tier of glass panels…
Eyes wide….wetly quivering….
As she descended towards his wilted figure.
Murmuring….
"B-Beast Boy…."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"NNNNGH!"
SLASSS-SSSSH!.!.!
"HRRRGHHH!.!.!.!"
SWOOO-OOOOSH!.!.!.!
Dagger swung and swung and swung with the Construction waves given him by the vial of Terra's essence.
I panted….sweated….and rolled, side-stepped, and leapt over each powerful swing of Life-strong immensity.
I leapt over a platinum-hot burst of steam from his blade and forearm….
…..twirled Myrkblade….
….and blurred at him.
SL-SL-SL-SL-SLASSSSSH! Myrkblade sliced in a vicious circle, focusing in on Dagger at the center.
He reared back, raised his knife wrist, and flung his arm forward at me with a burst of white.
FW-FW-FWOOOOOOOOOSH!.!.!.!
A hot searing wave hit me.
I closed my eyes against the blinding lava as—
CRKKKKK!.!.!
--the golden wall seared the joints apart in my shades and shattered my black eyepiece completely.
CRACK!
With naked eyes clenched shut, I plowed directly into Dagger's battered body.
WHAM!.!.!
"Nnnngh!"
Drrghh!
We tumbled, tumbled, tumbled, and exploded in a double-helix of mixing black and white on the far side of the warehouse.
FWOOOOOOSSSSH!
I flew off across the buildingtop.
FW-FW-FWOOOOSH! With a guiding glide of synthetic Construction, Dagger angled himself towards the Earth's center and landed upright in the center of the building.
P-PLANT!
I awkwardly landed….balanced.
I took a deep breath.
Dagger sneered.
….
FWOOOOSH!
FW-FWOOOOOOSSSH!
We blurred at each other.
Him spinning his steam-spitting knife like a white buzz-saw TH-TH-TH-THWISSSH!
I dragging Myrkblade with sparkling vapors of black into his throttling form. CHIIIII-IIIII-IIIIIING!.!.!
I snarled.
My black eyes wide and spitting black tendrils.
And the corners danced a momentary flame of responsive…knee-jerk red.
CLASSS-SSSS-SSSH!.!.!.!
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Tim climbed and climbed apartment complexes.
Commercial buildings.
Scaling rooftops.
Jumping up to his feet.
Not so much as pausing to breathe.
He ran straight towards a skyscraper's rooftop ledge…across the street from Wayne Enterprises.
He gazed up.
Panting….
Watching her dangling.
"…….."
He clenched his jaw.
He stared forward.
He sprinted.
He bolted to the rooftop's edge and leapt off….
….flying over the impossible distance.
Arms spread….like a bird….against the red….
"Hold……"
Fwooooosh!
"………on……"
FWOOOOOSH!
"…………STARFIRE!"
FWOOOOSH!.!.!.!
TH-THWAP!.!.!
Tim all but slammed into the glass face of the tower.
"Nnngh!"
He toppled.
Fell.
Glided towards a deathly plummet.
He clenched his teeth, growled, and stabbed two birdarangs at once into the blurring cold surface of the building.
SNKKKKT-SNKKKKKT-SCRAAAAA-AAAAPE!.!.!.!.!
Robin splashed sparks and ashes and slowed…slowed…….slowed to a friction-hot stop.
About forty-stories up.
He panted….panted…..
Gazed up…..
Winced….
……
….and started to climb.
Thwack!
Crack!
SNkkkkt!
Crack!
Cr-Crack!
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Terra landed on the balcony.
Pausing…
Taking cold…..lingering steps….
Stopping.
Slumping down.
Kneeling over Changeling's still….battered body.
"……..," her lips quivered.
She leaned over.
Her frail hands reached down….
Gently….
And pulled his scarred torso up.
Limply.
She………cradled him.
Sapphire eyes wide.
As she brought one hand up…..and shakily traced the gash on the left side of his head…..
Where the ear was missing.
And his sternum…..
Where Killer Croc's claw marks ate their way in.
And across his lips….
….that were still. Pursing.
Like hers….
Then her eyes thinned.
And as soon as the tears started to flow out…
Terra bowed her head with a whimper….
Nestled her quivering face into the nape of his neck….
Held him close with her silken blonde threads cascading over his wounds….
And gently….quietly cried…
Rocking him.
Absorbing him…..
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
SLASSSH!.!.!.!
Myrkblade swung.
Dagger blocked.
FWOOOSH!.!.!
A splash of Construction.
Heated white mist exploding in every direction.
Dagger pressed down into me.
I pressed up into him.
Icy eyes to black eyes.
He gritted his teeth….sweating…bleeding.
His eyes flashed an unnatural white that blinded me….
And yet I gritted my teeth and sneered up at him. Black vapors splashing out of my optics and cascading over his sheen skin.
"Stop being a stubborn coward…..," he hissed at me. "Stop hiding, Jordan…."
I shook….quivering all over….
Struggling a losing battle against the Construction in his body and knife. As fake and impromptu as it was….
Balance can't stand against it.
It can't……
He kept snarling: "Stop hiding, Jordan…..stop running away….."
He gripped his knife tighter and pulsed a hot strobe of white into it.
My legs buckled.
My eyes clenched shut as I mutely groaned and nearly fell to my knees…..
"As long as you run away…I will keep coming back…..the circle will keep closing in on itself until you give in. And you have no choice, Jordan. Because if you die…………If you die….there will always be another to fall back on. And you know who I'm talking about."
My black eyes popped back open. Wide. And flickering….
Flickering red…….
Dagger's icy optics thinned. "Yes……Yes, Jordan…..don't let him have it…..don't let him become the Obsidian Trinity! Even your foolish…..masquerading beliefs in JUSTICE is all you need for motivation! Your journey may have freed Terra and given birth to Red Aviary….but he….he will rip open a hole in the Balance of Morals so huge that GOD HIMSELF…..COULD JUMP THROUGH!"
Nnnnnngh-AAAAAH!.!.!
FWOOOO-OOOOSSSH!
I shoved against him, seething. Eyes flickering black – black – red – black – black - black – RED!.!.!
"That's it….Jordan…..the Experiment lives….," Dagger stepped back, twirling his blade and deflecting my angry swings of Myrkblade.
CL-CLACK!
CLANG!
CLASSSSH!
I seethed.
Heaving.
Sneering.
Marching towards him and slashing Myrkblade with a mute snarl each time—Nnnngh!—SWOOOSH!
CLACK! He deflected with more and more intensity, his white knife searing the air to collide with mine. Construction warbling unnaturally through him.
"Come kill me, Jordan…..you know you want to…..come kill me and break your endless marathon run!"
Shut up and STOP BREATHING!.!.!.!
FW-FW-FWOOOOSH!.!.!
I screamily blurred towards him with Myrkblade sailing hard—
SLASSSSSSSH!.!.!.!
………….
…..red…..
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Tim ascended the skyscraper.
Panting.
Muscles straining and body tense.
He came within a dozen stories of Starfire's dangling…quivering figure.
Tim took deep breaths.
He hung by one arm stabbing into the glass face of Wayne Enterprises.
He tensed his body, took a deep breath, and stuck his other hand down into his utility belt.
"………….."
He froze.
He glanced down, blue eyes round.
Horrified.
He was out of grappling hooks.
The one he had used to end Slade….was his last.
"………"
He gazed back up at Starfire.
He took a deep breath.
Teeth gritting, he stabbed upwards with the two birdarangs and determinedly climbed the last stretch.
Crack!
Cr-Crack!
Thrack!
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Terra knelt on the terrace of Kobayashi Tower.
Cradling Changeling's battered body.
And sobbing.
Quietly…
Subdued weeping….
Her tears running over his forehead and staining his quiet…still face.
"……………"
There was a gentle glow of light.
Hot-white….and fluctuating-pink.
Soon….Pulsade and Jinx both stood behind the huddled Terra.
The two looked exhausted. Battered as much as everyone else in the City. And yet as they gazed at the earth maiden and the animorph entwined…..they looked all the more shattered.
Pulsade was at a loss for words. Her tough exterior deigning to look long. Her blue eyes gazing aside. "……."
Jinx was the one to take a deep breath….girl-step over….and gently lay a hand on Terra's shoulder.
"He spent the whole night fighting Slade's and Dagger's evils, Terra…..," Jinx gently said. "I……I am certain that….h-his sacrifice was not in vain…"
"N-No….," Terra firmly uttered.
Jinx and Pulsade raised eyebrows.
Terra sniffed….lifted her red, sobbing face from nuzzling the limp boy. She said: "He's alive……he's j-just unconscious……"
Pulsade was silent.
Jinx managed a breath of relief. "Then….Th-Then…..what---?"
Terra swallowed, gazed at Changeling's bloodied crown, and breathed: "I'm not crying because Changeling is hurt." She closed her eyes tightly. She took a sharp….painful breath. "I'm crying…….because I know what I must do." She opened her moist eyes…turned….and gazed woundedly towards the two roguish girls. "……I want us all to live up to the offer."
Jinx bit her lip….but gradually nodded her head.
Pulsade stepped forward and spoke with detached seriousness: "It is the good choice, Terra. The right choice. For your child….for more stakes in this world than even the three of us can imagine…."
"I know….I-I know…..," Terra gently….quietly laid Changeling down on the Terrace. "The Gaia Sphere…..Helga Jace…."
"We will figure it all out in time," Pulsade pointed. "All we ask….is for your trust."
"And you have it…..as long as you can believe in it," Terra shuddered. She stood up straight and brushed a shaking hand through her golden threads of hair. "…..The Titans…..they believed in me in the end. And all I managed to do was hurt them. No matter how much a hero I can be……I shall always be exploited. And this……this is the result……"
She gazed down at Changeling.
His battered body. Breathing gently….and yet—even in sleep—wracked with tense twitches of pain.
Her lips quivered: "He was the best friend I ever had….."
Silence.
"……….and….a-and he still is….."
…..
"T-To protect him…..to protect all of them…….I……I-I must leave them……..I must let them live their lives….outside of the sick c-circle of me….."
Jinx walked over and placed a hand on Terra's shoulder. "Terra…..you don't have to say good-bye….."
"Saying 'hello' means 'good-bye' to me…..," Terra sadly confessed. "With everyone and everything I've ever known…."
She slowly turned.
She gazed at the two girls.
She smiled painfully….sniffed…and tearfully said. "H-Hello……"
Pulsade managed a wry smirk.
Jinx's cat-eyes flitted forth a tear or two. She smiled….leaned forward…and gently, warmly hugged Terra. "We'll help you, Terra. We promise. For your child…."
"M-My child………," Terra hugged her back. She gazed back over Jinx's shoulder at Changeling. "……..f-for the future….."
Pulsade took a sharp breath.
Silence…….
The hug ended.
Pulsade said something to Terra.
Terra nodded.
Jinx pointed towards the summit.
Terra summoned a golden-hot aura…..and formed the platform of conjoined rock that they three would need to fly far….far…away from there….
Westward.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
SLASSSSH!
SL-SLASSSSSH!
SW-SW-SW-SWISH-SWOOOSH-CLACKKK!.!.!
Myrkblade grinded blackly to a stop against Dagger's white-laced blade.
We struggled against each other.
Waterfalls of black smoke and white mist running down our bodies and cascading over the warehouse rooftop.
The red sky boiling…quivering…
Reflecting off the corners of my warbling obsidian optics.
Reflecting.
Flickering.
Fl-Flash! FLASH! Fl-Fl-Flassssh!
And yet black won out.
Encompassing me.
Frothing out of me….and hissing in onyx vapors ever ravenously towards Dagger's putrid face.
"Stop…..HESITATING…..JORDAN!.!.!" Dagger snarled. "For the Experiment to gain ground…you have to push forward….you have to seize that which has been given to you! When the School was re-written! When the Spectrum was pulled to a higher level and you and your eyes along with it!"
I pressed my sword against him.
Hissing.
Sweating.
Boiling on the inside….
"How quick you are to forget—Jordan—that your life is not your own! It has never been! From the School to the Experiment to the Tower…..you have been the most versatile aspect we ever invested in! The Obsidian Trinity throbs inside of you! I know it…..I can FEEL it!"
FL-FLASSSSH!
His white knife shimmered and burned against me.
I recoiled from the blinding heat.
Black eyes twitching.
Struggling against red curtains that screamed out of my extremities.
Cold.
Hacked apart.
The same god-damn chill that plagued me during Red Aviary's reign once again assaulted my quivering figure and I felt the sawgrass being shredded apart and Ana gasping and the Master shouting as he lost control and lost control and lost control again and again and again and again and again!
"Stop holding back! Make the sacrifice….leap frog the gaps in the spectrum with that selfless black SOUL OF YOURS!"
And he jerked the knife to the side and sliced hard into the joint of Batman's black 'glove' and my metal disc-stub.
CLACCCK!
ZZZZT-ZZZTT!.!.!
The obsidian prosthetic sparked and twitched and fell limp.
Surging hot chills and jolts through my body.
Nnnnnnngh—ASS!
SWIIIIIPEE! I slashed a deep-red cut across his chest.
SLIIINK!
He stumbled back, shuddering.
I leapt and made to cleave his head in two—
CL-CLACKKK! He collided his knife with Myrkblade and—SPLASSSSH!
A burst of white exploded.
Loosening my grip on Myrkblade.
TH-TH-THWISSSSH!
My blade flew off to the side.
I recoiled, snarled, charged my one right hand with murk and flew a blurring fist into his face.
WHACCCK!
A fountain of blood flew from his lips.
WH-WHAM!
I karate-kicked him in the side.
He spat…gurgled…and dropped his white-pulsing knife.
Cl-Clank!
I pounced on him.
He gritted his teeth and whitely uppercutted me.
WHAMM!.!.!
I stumbled back.
He stumbled sideways.
I recovered.
He recovered.
His one right hand…
My one right hand…
Both surged forward…..
Hands outstretched…
Palms exposed---
FWOOOOO-OOOOOOOOO-OOOOOOOOOOO-OOOOOOOSH!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!
WHITE met BLACK.
Two exploding pulses of the spectrum.
Surging….
Boiling….
Murking and misting and murking and misting….
In between our two flat palms.
The air turned into a tornadic rush of Spectrally disturbed air.
Heating and freezing and spinning all the same.
The red sky turned to thunder above us.
Light and dark divided.
Hissingly….
Our bodies turned to iron.
The warehouse rooftop panels around us curled and shook loose.
I wincingly glared at him.
He gritted his teeth and focused on me.
Our palms shaking…quivering….exploding murk and steam and WHITE and BLACK together in a universal focal point of calamity.
FWOOOOO-OOOOOO-OOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSH!.!.!.!.!.!.!
My long black threads blew in the unnatural wind.
His eyes narrowed icily against the cold rush and thunder as he shouted above the tumult: "Do you see it, Jordan?"
Fl-Fl-Flasssh…….Fl-Flassssh!
A bolt of spectral RED shimmered like a crimson lightning bolt between our palms.
Dancing.
Entering existence….
….and just as quickly disappearing.
Fl-Fl-FLASSSSH!
I winced.
My black eyes responding.
Jolting RED and BLACK and RED and BLACK again.
"It is yours to seize, Jordan!.!.!" Dagger howled freezingly above the storm and tempest. "Show me the Equalizer!.!.! Show me the Adept of Destruction that gave birth to Red Aviary the night when you stabbed Slade through the heart……FIVE….MONTHS….AGO!.!.!.!"
Nnnnn-Nnnnnngh!.!.!
I screamed on the inside.
I couldn't push myself any further.
And I couldn't pull myself back.
I remained locked their….fused to the red lightning bolts. Anchored by Construction. Pushed by Balance.
Destruction……
Destruction……entreating……
"TAKE
IT!.!.!.!.!.!" Dagger screamed, his whole face tensing in
an artery-pulsing yell. Haunting. Demonic. "TAKE IT,
JORDAN!.!.!.!.!"
The red bolt flashed and flashed and flashed—REDDDDDDD!.!.!.!.!
"TAAAAAKE ITTTT!.!.!.!.!"
I tilted my head back.
My 'X' scarred neck burned.
My flickering eyes….
N-NO!
FLAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSH!.!.!.!.!.!
…..I released my charge of murk.
PLOWWWW!.!.!.!.!
The whole brunt of the thundering tumult exploded into me…
….and I was blown back violently…..
……flailing….
…..and landing atop the cracked, warbled warehouse rooftop besides Myrkblade.
TH-THWAP!.!.!
I jolted.
Coughing.
Sputtering.
Twitching and flickering with all manners of colored tendrils of the spectrum rivering around me….
….and fading away.
"……….," Dagger stood stock still. His straight face returning to the cold iciness. And in so doing, it announced—in whatever deadpan power he could muster—a queer expression of disappointment. Massive….inevitable…..disappointment. "Mmmmm……" He reached down, picked up his knife, and twirled it with whatever remaining waves of synthetic Construction he still had coursing through his vessels. "………."
I coughed.
I sputtered.
I gripped Myrkblade with a weak, struggling right hand.
I pushed myself slowly up….up to my knees….
With my black prosthetic sparking….uselessly dangling.
Bleeding.
Beaten.
Sucked dry of Balance….of everything else I was trained to understand and master.
Locked within the constraints of Black.
Alone….
"………….," Dagger took a deep breath. Lethargically observing the curves and points of his platinum-glinting knife. "……….it makes so much sense now, Jordan……you are the exact opposite of the Red Eyes…..your passion died a long, long time ago….and for that, you lack the drive to become the Obsidian Trinity. But in due time….that will all change…."
I panted.
Looking up at him.
Eyes weak….
Dagger's eyes thinned. Bitterly. Venemously.
He spoke: "You refuse to evolve. You refuse to change. You're the same helpless…aimless detritus of a ruined Experiment from four years ago. That's why you're here. That's why we're all here. It's because you keep resisting the future, Jordan. And why is it? What's anchoring you?"
I started to fume.
My wounded muscles tightening……
My naked black eyes glaring from where I painfully knelt….
"It……..is her…..isn't it?"
I glared. Teeth showing. Clenched.
Don't………you………go………there………………Dagger………
"It is her!" he uttered. Not so much with shock as it was with condescension. "She is the center of your circular life. Of your pathetic existence! Not me! Not Red Aviary! Not the experiment! It's her!"
My right hand tightened around Myrkblade's hilt.
My whole body hyperventilated.
Be quiet………!.!.!
"What is going to wake you up, Jordan?.!.?.!" Dagger spat at me. Eyes flaring. His usually neutral complexion transformed into something demonic. Destructive. An antithesis to the white pulsing from his center. "Did you think joining and becoming a Titan would distract you from the pain?.?.?"
I panted…panted…panted…
Black eyes murking.
Rising….
Shut up!.!
But he yelled, knife raised: "Stop obsessing over these endless, spinning distractions, Jordan! Start looking back! You know as well as I do that there is nothing….absolutely NOTHING….that can make Ana rise from the dead!.!"
CHIIIIIIIIIIING!.!.!.!
SHUT UP!.!.!.!.!
I snarled and blurred at him in a wave of murderous murk.
SHUT!.!.!.!.! UP!.!.!.!.!
STOMP-STOMP-STOMP-STOMP-STOMP-FWOOOOOOOOOOSH!.!.!.!
AAAAAAAA-AAAAAAA-AAAAAAAAAAAAH!.!.!.!.!
I rocketed at Dagger….
….and Dagger was ready.
Th-Th-Thwish-SPLASSSSSH!.!.!
An exploding pulse of white construction from his limb and blade shimmering out at me.
Blinding me.
And I gasped—
Your blonde hair as ice.
Your pale skin.
Your blue eyes glazed over gray.
Decaying.
Ana………
Ana, you're—
SLIIIII-IIIII-IIIIINK!.!.!.!
Dagger's blade cut across my left shoulder.
I screamed through the wall of pain.
WH-WHUMP!
A knee to my chest.
TH-THRUMPPP!.!.!
Two agile arms steamingly hoisting me up and tossing me through the air….
….and off the edge of the warehouse—
THWOOOOOOOOSH!
---and tossing me—flailing—through a row of fire escapes and towards the cold rubble of the alleyway below.
CRASSH!
CR-CRASSSH!
CRAAACK!
SWOOOOSH-CLANGGGGG!.!.!
Silence…….
……..
"……….," Dagger stood alone. Bleeding. Trailing white energy…..on the rooftop
With that same straight face…..of disappointment.
He took a deep breath.
He sheathed his knife.
And swiftly bounded away towards the far end of the warehouse.
And in such fashion…..the evil despot escaped his very own Holocaust….
Alive….and unbroken.