Hey there everybody! I hope you're all ready for some more Teen Titans epicness, because here's a new chapter! In fact, I had actually planned to post this yesterday, but my home's wireless went AWOL. Fortunately, to make up for that, I am now posting the new chapter today! In this new chapter for A-LionGleek's epic Teen Titans season 6 premiere, the Titans have finally managed to reach the point that the Infernal Key is within their grasp. However, as they soon discover, they are not the only ones visiting Lucifer's Crypt. And before long, the battle of the century unfolds for possession of the most dangerous of Dante's keys. Sound exciting? It sure as Hell better! Here's to hoping that you all read, review, and enjoy! ^_^
AN: Just to get this out of the way and remind you all once more, I do not own Teen Titans, or any other elements of the DC universe. And if any elements within this chapter cause religious offense, I apologize in advance.
And now, onward with the story!
Chapter 12:
Dante's Key
The titans gathered around the small red gemstone, staring intently with wonder at it. There were no words they could think of that could hope to accurately described how they currently felt now that they were actually standing there, laying their eyes on the sight of this powerful and very dangerous magical artifact of biblical proportions.
Barely even thinking, Starfire reached out and touched the gem as if stroking it, an almost dreamy look on her face. "It looks so . . . beautiful," she stated. "It's almost impossible to even imagine how such an adorable looking object could be so dangerous."
"Don't let that fool you," said Raven. "Looks can be deceiving."
"You got that right Rae," said Beast Boy. "Skunks can look mega cute before they spray you with their stink, piranhas may look docile at first glimpse but are real nightmares at feeding time, and the yellow cone snail has enough poison in their sting to kill an elephant."
Raven nodded, "The One Ring may not look like much, but it's powerful beyond belief, and Riptide could transform from a simple ballpoint pen into a mighty sword, and don't get me started on all the gadgets that have been used by Alex Rider."
"And don't forget my explosives," said Robin. "Some of the charges I've got in my utility belt are only about the size of a Walkman, but are powerful enough when they explode that they can blow a hole large enough to qualify as a miniature crater within solid concrete."
The boy wonder pointed at the Infernal Dante's Key, looked straight at Starfire, and said, "Needless to say, this thing may look harmless, but in the wrong hands, it could destroy the whole world."
Starfire nodded, seeming embarrassed for a moment, and then took on a more serious and focused face. "Right," she said before looking at Robin and asking, "What shall we do with it?"
Robin took a close look at the key, seeming to consider what to do and think of all the options and notes to consider and go over. Then he nodded his head, looked back at his teammates, and stated, "For now, we go back to the tower. We've gotten the key, and Savage is still in the dark about the Dragon's Head Valley portal as far as we know. At this current time, with Savage and the demons all at the ready and actively planning to put this to use, it's too dangerous to go traveling anywhere with it. Therefore, the best option for us now is for us to take it back to the tower with us and keep it locked away in that safe room we designed for Raven last year. We'll keep it there until after the day after tomorrow. With the summer solstice having passed at that point, Lucifer and the demons should switch their sights elsewhere, and we'll have until winter solstice this year to find a more permanent way to dispose of the Infernal Key." The other titans found themselves nodding in agreement with Robin's plan. It sounded like a perfectly logical way to handle the situation from this point onward.
Unfortunately, fate would soon turn out to have other ideas when the titans heard a voice behind them say, "Well it seems I've arrived here just in time then."
. . . . .
Eyes widening, the titans looked straight at the area where the voice had come from, and saw what appeared to be a large well-built cave man dressed in a mixture of furs and a suit that could have easily looked appropriate on a colonial politician standing right on the other side of the bridge leading up to where the titans were standing. At the sight of this man, as well as his long hair and the scars across the left side of his face, the titans were able to recognize him within seconds.
Clenching his fists, Robin glared at the unexpected fellow visitor to Lucifer's Crypt. "Vandal Savage," the boy wonder snarled through his gritted teeth.
Savage chuckled, an almost predatory gleam in his eyes as he directed a wolfish grin at the titans. "I will admit, I've been looking forward to meeting you myself. Perhaps now maybe I'll be able to learn firsthand just what it is about you five kids that's gotten good old Slade to respect you so much."
Raven snarled, caused her clenched fists to glow with her obsidian colored energy, and proceeded to hiss, "Well you can go ahead and try to kill us again if you want, but we're not going down without a fight."
"Yeah," Cyborg stated. "You can try whatever you want, but it's not going to do you any good at this point in regard to searching for an entrance to this bloody place!"
"A fair point," said Savage. Grinning still, he then said, "But fortunately, I wasn't going to try to have you killed anymore. Not after yesterday."
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Beast Boy snarled.
Savage chuckled. "Silly changeling," he stated condescendingly before pointing at the massive Lucifer statue behind the titans. "After how you managed to survive against Abaddon and get ahold of the sources you needed to figure out just what it was that Lucifer was up to, his Malevolence was kind enough to decide that I would no longer need to kill you or even go to the trouble of convincing him to tell me the nearest entrance to this crypt."
Savage proceeded to intertwine his fingers, stretch his arms and hands forward as if preparing himself for battle, and then continued, "You're probably wondering why no more demons came after you today aren't you? Well I can tell you that I specifically made sure not to send any. Granted, my learning the news about your surviving against Abaddon did give me pause, but Lucifer was also instrumental in my ceasing my efforts at assassinating you lot. As he put it, due to how much progress you'd managed to make in attempting to figure out what he was planning, he decided that it would be far more useful for me to let you live and find out both what it was he was planning, and the information that I had hoped to get from him in exchange for your deaths. That way, when you traveled to that very same location to get the key for yourselves, I myself could get ahold of it by following you right here to the crypt."
Robin's eyes narrowed. "So that's why things went so relatively easily for us today on his front," he thought to himself. "I didn't take you to be the type to take the easy route," he stated aloud.
"Usually I'm not," Savage admitted. "But at this point, considering how you and your teammates have managed to survive three assassination attempts, which included setting a Knight of Hell of all things on you, and how very little time I have left at the moment for the current upcoming opportunity for using the Infernal Key; well . . . to put it simply, desperate times call for desperate measures."
Starfire gritted her teeth in a feral snarl, and lifted up her clenched fists, causing them and her eyes to glow dangerously green. "Well you may have made it this far, but we will be the ones who will have this depraved key in our possession when we leave this place!"
"You heard the girl," said Cyborg, "You're not going to lay a finger on that key. Not if we have anything to say about it." At the same time he said this, he activated his sonic cannon and pointed it straight towards Savage.
Meanwhile, Raven tensed herself for battle with her hands glowing with her black energy, Beast Boy turned into a wolf and crouched as if about to pounce, and Robin drew out his Bo staff, extended it, and struck a battle pose. "You want this key? Well you're gonna have to go through the five of us." Beast Boy snarled in agreement.
For a moment, Savage remained where he was, gazing intently at the five battle ready teenage heroes with his left eyebrow raised. Then he smiled, took on an attack stance of his own, and said, "Very well then. If it's a battle you want, then a battle you shall get." For a few tense minutes, the five teenage heroes and the primordial adult villain remained as they were in a standoff. Then Savage said with a grin, "Ready when you are."
Robin snarled, tensed up as if preparing himself to jump, and yelled "Titans go!" In a flash, the titans initiated the battle with Cyborg, Starfire, and Raven firing their respective energy blasts at Savage while Beast Boy and Robin lunged towards the immortal cave man. Savage calmly took a step back, grabbed onto Robin's staff right as the boy wonder was swinging it down towards him, and proceeded to propel Robin over his head and a couple of feet or so behind him. Only seconds passed after this before he sent Beast Boy the wolf flying to the side with a swing of his left arm. And even after that, he still had enough to jump backwards in a somersault to evade the star bolt Starfire had hurled at him, cartwheel to his left to dodge Cyborg's sonic blast, and rip off a small stone floor panel to use a shield against Raven's umbrakinetic energy bomb.
Savage lowered his shield, his infuriating wolfish grin still on his face, and took a look around at each of the five titan, all of whom had gotten themselves recovered from their recent attacks and were at the ready to unleash more. "Not bad," Savage stated. "Though surely you can try harder than that?"
Robin growled, drew out two birdarangs, and yelled, "Oh we're just getting started!"
Savage chuckled. "Good answer," he stated calmly before placing his makeshift shield back where he'd gotten it and drawing out what looked like two long poles made out of bones. "Very well then boy wonder!" He yelled. "Let us see if those toys of yours are as fast as your wit!"
"Gladly," Robin snarled before letting out an inarticulate yell and tossing birdarang after birdarang at Savage. Savage calmly swung his bone staves around and deflected each one of the projectiles away from him. Robin changed tactics, and rushed towards Savage with his right fist drawn back. With a yell, he thrusted his right fist at Savage, who leaned slightly to his right so as to avoid getting hit by Robin's punch. Then he proceeded to use one of his staves to parry a kick that Robin sent his way, and then lift it upward so that it sent Robin stumbling forward straight to the edge of the bank for the lava moat around the island where the Infernal Key was located.
Robin had just enough time to shriek, rapidly flap his arms, and just start to fall down face-first straight towards the lava before he suddenly felt two mysterious slender objects come up underneath his arm pits and halt his fall while a heavier weight came down on the backs of his feet. Robin turned his head to look behind him and saw that Savage had stopped his fall by using his staves to support Robin's arms and putting his own foot down on the backs of Robin's feet. "Perhaps you ought to pay more attention to the environment around you next time," Savage stated calmly.
However, before Savage could do anything else, the two bone staves suddenly became encased with shadowy energy, and lifted up seemingly on their own accord, sending Savage stumbling backwards. Robin, having prepared himself accordingly upon sight of the shadowy energy, jumped up over the lava moat with a quadruple front flip before landing on his hands and feet safely on the other side of it. He turned his head in time to see that Savage had managed to regain his footing and was now using his bone staves to knock away a small volley of shadow orbs that Raven fired at him.
Seeing that her shadow orbs were not making any progress, Raven proceeded to use her powers to telekinetically lift up chunks of the floor paneling before hurling them at Savage. Seeing that the floor panel stones were far too large to be deflected, Savage was forced to resort to dodging, but eventually ended up getting hit right in the chest by one lucky throw that sent him flying backward. The immortal cave man crashed right onto the floor in front of the foyer, his staves being jolted out of his hand and sent bouncing away back towards the lava moat.
Savage managed to get himself positioned so that he had his hands behind his back placed on the floor before he heard Cyborg yelling and turned his head in time to see the half robot rushing towards him with his right fist drawn back. Thinking quickly, Savage placed his right hand down on the floor and used it to propel himself up and away to his right, and Cyborg's fist swung harmlessly through the air right at the area Savage's face had been seconds earlier. At that moment, while Cyborg was off balance and Savage had managed to get back on his feet, Savage jumped up and gave a swinging kick at Cyborg's back, sending the bionic teenager stumbling forward and crashing right into one of the walls of the crypt. Upon crashing into the wall, Cyborg landed hard on his back, and groaned as he found stars briefly fluttering around in his eyes.
Savage didn't even have time to smirk at Cyborg before he was forced to do a series of flips and somersaults to avoid Starfire as she unleashed a raging storm of star bolts and eye beams. By sheer luck, he managed to land right by his discarded staves, and he quickly picked one of them up before hurling it at the airborne Tamaranean princess like a boomerang. But the Cro-Magnon immortal had underestimated Starfire's reflexes, and she managed to grasp onto one of the ends of the staff and push downward on it, sending the pole of bones rocketing right back at Savage like a javelin.
The staff end that was facing Savage plowed right into the cave man's chest, sending him rocketing backward. He only came to a stop when he painfully crashed right into the statue of Abaddon. He crumpled to the floor afterward, groaning in pain and discomfort, only to have to be yanked back down to Earth when he saw Beast Boy charging towards him in the form of a smilodon. Wincing and cursing under his breath, Savage hurriedly got back to his feet right as Beast Boy lunged at him with a savage roar.
Unfortunately for the changeling, Savage had encountered smilodons before over the course of his many years of life, and he knew just the way to handle them. In a flash, right as Beast Boy the smilodon was inches away from careening into Savage with his claws and iconic saber teeth of his smilodon form at the ready, Savage swiftly reached out towards Beast Boy and latched onto the saber toothed cat's eponymous teeth. Without even giving Beast Boy time for his paws to land anywhere, Savage let out a grunt, and started swinging him around in circles. After a couple minutes, he let go in time to send the mighty green saber toothed beast flying to its right. Cyborg had unluckily enough just started running straight towards Savage before Beast Boy ended up careening straight into him and sending him crashing right back into the wall of the crypt all over again.
At that moment, Savage heard Raven speak in an ominously angry tone, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" He looked in the direction he'd heard Raven's voice coming from in time to see the sorceress causing a large number of sharpened bone spikes sticking out of the floor in random areas to rise out of the ground and into the air. In a flash, she directed them all into pointing at Savage before sending them flying at him.
Savage was just barely able to avoid all the horrendously sharp bone spikes that Raven hurled at him. And to make matters even more difficult for both Savage and the titans, one of the bones managed to glance off of the Infernal Key. All of two seconds passed after that particular bone spike landed on the floor near the key's pedestal before the jewels that served as the eyes of the Lucifer statue suddenly glowed with brilliant red light and a hollow voice from within the statue said, "Defense mode activated." The seven heads of the statue reared up into position so that they were all staring straight towards Savage and the titans, and then opened their mouths, revealing the charging energy for breath attacks. The three heads on the right side of the statue had crackling sparks of electricity, the three heads on the left side revealed the distinctive orange glow of flames, and the head in the very center had what looked very ominously like the same shadow energy that Raven used in her attacks.
"Oh great," Robin groaned. He had just enough time to yell, "Run!" and jump away to his left before the seven heads of the statue unleashed their respective breath attacks all at once. And before long, the already chaotic battle became even crazier as both Savage and the titans found themselves attempting to juggle between fighting and avoiding the energy blasts from the unexpected guardian of the Infernal Key.
After a while, Savage found himself between a rock and a hard place when he ended up between Cyborg and one of the lightning shooting statue heads. And to make matters worse for the immortal cave man, not only did the statue head in question have its breath attack charging up, but Cyborg had activated his sonic cannon once more and was charging it up as he pointed at straight at Savage. Cyborg even found himself smirking as he felt his cannon charge up. "Say your prayers Savage," he thought to himself, for the villain now seemed to be very much a sitting duck.
However, Savage had learned over the course of several hunting trips he'd taken alongside his tribe back in his early days to make good use of his instincts; and as a result of those very instincts, he now knew something that the half robot teenager didn't. The information in question, was that the lightning breathing statue head would be the first to unleash its blast. Smirking, he waited until he heard the sound of the statue head discharging its electricity blast before immediately ducking out of the way. As a result, the lightning bolt fired from the statue sailed straight over Savage and right into the open barrel of Cyborg's sonic cannon right as the sonic energy within reached optimum blast power. Cyborg had just enough time to let out a pained shriek from getting electrocuted before the volatile combination of light and sound energy caused a massive explosion of light that sent the bionic teen flying backward, and he flew so far that he only came to a stop when he slammed into the back wall of the foyer area. He crumpled down to the floor on his belly, groaning in pain, the mechanical parts of his body crackling and sparking from the recent stress on them.
Savage smirked smugly at Cyborg before he then heard the sound of a feral feminine scream coming from his left. He turned his head in time to see Starfire zooming towards him with her fists at the ready to hurl more star bolts at him. Grunting and panting from the effort, the Tamaranean warrior princess hurled star bolt after star bolt at the cave man, who once again proceeded to carefully leap and somersault away to dodge them all. But this time, he made sure to carefully make his way straight towards the area where the Lucifer statue and the Infernal Key were located. The statue noticed this, and the center head lowered, preparing to fire a burst of shadow energy at Savage. However, right as the statue head was about to open its mouth and unleash its blast, Savage jumped up in a backflip in a way that allowed for his right foot to land right on the top of the statue head. Thus Savage was propelled up into the air towards Starfire when the surprised statue head lifted its head upward in an attempt to figure out where its target had suddenly disappeared, inadvertently firing its shadow breath attack straight at the lava instead of the area where Savage had originally been.
As Savage hurtled around through the air, he made sure to position himself so that when he began to head back towards the ground, his foot would be positioned directly at Starfire. And so Starfire found herself shrieking in pain and plummeting down towards the floor when she felt Savage's foot slam hard onto her back. She pounded down on the floor with a thud. Eventually, Starfire managed to open her eyes, groaning in pain. But she only managed to position her hands so that she could push herself back up before she felt yet another heavy impact come down on her back, and she screeched in agony as she felt herself get pushed back down onto her stomach. She turned her head in time to see Savage standing right there with his left foot pressing on her back and with his hands clutched around one of his bone staves from earlier, and the staff was raised up as if he were about to swing it downwards. "I've never had the opportunity to do battle with a Tamaranean before," he stated. "And this will be a good time to experience how physiologically resistant your kin are to head injuries such as the one I'll soon give to you with this staff. Any last words?"
Before Starfire even had a chance to say anything, the air was split with a furious roar. At the sound of the roar, Savage actually paled, and slowly turned his head to look behind him. He had heard that particularly type of roar before in his early years, and he was actually dreading the mere possibility of ever encountering the animal that he knew made that particular sound of roar. Sure enough, as he had expected upon hearing the sound of the roar, he saw Beast Boy in the form of a grizzly bear standing on its hind legs, its arms folded up almost like a mantis, and directing a menacing snarl towards him. At the sight of the angry glare in the eyes of the verdant green grizzly bear, Savage found himself struggling to stand his ground and not to show any fear. He had encountered a bear before, and unlike his encounters with most other animals, that particular incident had not left a happy memory for him.
Savage unconsciously found himself thinking about the time when he'd been a young Cro-Magnon teenager and had attempted to hunt a fully grown male cave bear alone. That particular battle had started out favorably enough for him in his mind. However he had barely even begun to start jabbing his spear at the bear to taunt it before the beast had roared, and slashed him across the left side of his face with a swing of its right arm, its sharp claws tearing into his skin and very narrowly avoiding direct contact with the young cave man's eye. Savage, then known simply at Vandar Adg, had never before been exposed to such pain on his face before, and he'd dropped his spear and placed his hand up to where the bear had struck him, screaming and howling in agony from the pain of the injury. Minutes later, he soon found himself drawing his hand away from his face when he felt an unfamiliar sticky sensation on his hand, and he became terrified when he saw that his hand was now covered with blood. He'd just managed to scream in fear at the sight of his own blood on his hand before a slap in the face by the bear's paw had sent him flying backward.
At that point, the young Vandar Adg had literally just managed to get himself into at least a seated position after having landed on his back before he heard a roar and saw the still very much angry cave bear charging straight towards him. Howling in fear, Vandar had hurriedly gotten up to his feet and ran as fast as he could through the forest, panting, screaming, and sobbing in exhaustion and terror in his desperate efforts to avoid getting mauled to death by the irate bear. In the end he had only managed to avoid becoming the bear's lunch by climbing up a tree so slender that the bear had no hope of climbing up to the top without its weight causing the branches to snap under it and cause it to fall. And even after escaping immediate death by the bear, he'd been forced to stay up in the three for nearly three hours before the bear finally decided to leave the area, allowing the boy who would later become Vandal Savage to finally come back down from the tree and rush off back to his village.
Now, as Savage found himself looking at Beast Boy in his grizzly bear mode, he found himself feeling the same deep rooted terror that he'd felt while being chased by that cave bear from all those years ago. The green bear stared hard at Savage, a combination of beastly rage and human-like smugness on its face. For both the bear's mind and Beast Boy himself could tell from instinct that Savage appeared to be afraid.
"Hmm, it seems I may have just found out a major weakness of his," Beast Boy thought to himself. Then he decided to test Savage to see if the immortal caveman was truly afraid of him. Thinking quickly, Beast Boy snarled, and he was both surprised and delighted when he caught sight of Savage flinching at the sound of the snarl. Beast Boy found himself smiling mentally, for it seemed that his instincts were again correct. "Still, just to be sure," he then thought to himself. He took a step forward with his left hind foot. Without even thinking, Savage took a step back. Exactly one second after making the movement, Savage realized what he'd done, and cursed himself mentally for the act of weakness before hastily trying to get his game face back on.
Unfortunately for the caveman, that single sign of weakness had not only confirmed to Beast Boy that the villain was in fact afraid of his grizzly bear form, but also triggered the grizzly bear's instinctive predatory protocol. Letting out a roar of challenge, Beast Boy got down on all four legs and charged at Savage. Savage cursed under his breath, jumped over Starfire, and ran as fast as he could, the verdant green grizzly bear quickly gaining ground on him.
Thinking quickly, Beast Boy jumped up onto the top of the statue of Abaddon, and then used it as a platform to propel himself through the air in a pounce. He landed right in front of Savage, got up on his hind legs, and turned his head to face the stunned immortal caveman. The caveman in question had fallen right on his back in shock after skidding to a stop as a result of Beast Boy the bear suddenly landing right in front of him.
Panting heavily, Savage quickly got back on his feet and ran the other way just in time to avoid getting slapped by Beast Boy's right front paw. Roaring in bloodlust, Beast Boy got back on all fours and proceeded to chase after Savage once more. Minutes later, Savage skidded to a stop when he found himself seconds away from crashing into a wall. Savage turned around in time to see Beast Boy skid to a stop about two feet in front of him. Savage cursed mentally. He was now trapped, and judging from the sight of the smug human-like grin that came on the face of the green grizzly bear, he had a feeling that Beast Boy knew it to.
Seeing no need to hurry now that he had Savage trapped, Beast Boy reared up on his hind legs, turned his head to his right, and roared in triumph. He then turned his head to his left and repeated the gesture. Then he turned his head to look behind him and roared in triumph yet again. Then he looked directly back at Savage and unleashed a fourth victorious roar. And then, savoring the moment, Beast Boy got back on all fours, snarled, and then let out a final triumphant roar. It was clear now that Beast Boy would very likely be the victor of this fight.
Unfortunately for the changeling, Beast Boy had chosen the wrong time to get back on all fours. Having been so focused on Savage and his apparent imminent victory, Beast Boy had failed to notice that while in the midst of his animalistic display of triumph, one of the fire breathing Lucifer statue heads had begun to charge up its breath attack. And right as Beast Boy got back down on all fours and unleashed his final victorious roar, the statue head had chosen that particular moment to shoot out its blast. If Beast Boy had still been on his hind legs at that particular time, the flames would have harmlessly rushed between him and Savage. However, since the changeling had gotten on all fours at that moment, he had unwittingly placed himself directly within range of the blast, and the resulting jet of flames that went pounding into him sent him flying away to the side.
Savage, panting in relief and exhaustion, hurriedly jumped to his left and ran towards the island where the Lucifer statue and Infernal Key were located. A couple minutes later, the fire blast came to a stop, and Savage moved back through the area where it had been rocketing through, gaining ground in the process.
Robin lunged over towards Savage, his bo staff extended to the fullest, ready to attempt to stop the immortal caveman from getting his hands on the Dante's Key. However, Savage's instincts kicked in again, and he quickly turned his head in time to abruptly reach out with his right arm like a snake in time to clutch onto the end of the staff and propel it so that he sent both Robin and the staff flying over him and straight towards the Lucifer statue.
Robin hurtled through the air, and only came to a stop when his fully extended staff became lodged into the open mouth of one of the Lucifer statue heads. As the boy wonder found himself dangling from the staff as a result, he noted that the particular statue head he'd just gotten thrown at was the one that had been carved with a face that looked as if half asleep. Upon realizing this, he found himself noting grudgingly that it now looked very much awake.
However, Robin was jolted out of his thoughts when the statue head lifted itself upward, yanking Robin himself upwards as well. As Robin found himself staring right in the face of the statue head as a result of this, the now very much angry and awake dragon statue head let out a groaning roar at the exact same time that a worrisomely distinctive orange glow appeared in its mouth.
Robin had just enough time to let out a shriek, hurriedly propel himself forward, and retract his staff before the statue unleashed its fiery blast. The burst of flames just barely missed the boy wonder as he sailed right over the top of the statue head's horns and landed right on the statue's back. Seconds after Robin landed on its back, the statue turned all seven of its heads to look at him, hissing and roaring in fury. Right at that same moment, Savage lunged through the air over the lava moat and managed to snatch the Infernal Key into his hand in midair. No sooner had he grabbed the key when he somersaulted thrice and landed right on his feet.
Unfortunately for Savage, the rightmost statue head had managed to see him snatching up the key from out of the corner of its eyes, and it snapped back to face him with a roar. In a flash, the other six heads snapped back to face the thief as well, roaring savagely. Savage cursed, and started hurriedly running away from the statue towards the foyer. Growling, all seven of the statue heads started unleashing rapid fire blasts of their breath attacks at once. Miraculously enough, even though he had to contend with both the near endless storm of elemental blasts from the statue and the attempts of the five teenage heroes to stop him from reaching the foyer, Savage made it to the foyer.
Wasting no time, Savage slipped the Infernal Key into one of the pockets of his coat, punched a stone on the wall that appeared to have a dragon's head engraved onto it, and the distinctive red portal that served as the exit appeared. Panting in exhaustion and relief, Savage turned his head to face the Titans and said, "Farewell Titans. It's been a real pleasure to meet you, but I'm afraid that I have some important business to attend to right now, so goodbye. And before I leave you to have some more quality time with that metallic clone of his Malevolence . . ." The immortal caveman drew out what looked like a large, jagged, flame-shaped cluster of black and red crystals and dropped it on the floor at his feet. No sooner had the mysterious object landed, when it suddenly glowed with an eerie red and black light.
Raven's eyes widened at the sight of the now glowing object that Savage had dropped. "A Hellfire bomb!" Raven thought. She had read about these objects in several of her demonology books. Hellfire bombs, also known as Luciferian flare gems, were actual flames from Hell itself frozen into crystallized form. However, if struck with significant force, they were capable of explosively transforming back into their flame forms. While the other Titans didn't know this information, the sight of the glowing gem cluster was still enough to cause them to gape at with mixtures of shock and fear.
But then Robin managed to pick up the information about the explosive from his mental link with Raven, and with his eyes widened he gestured for the other Titans to stay back. "Careful team," he stated, "that creepy looking crystal at Savage's feet is a powerful explosive from Hell itself. As long as we don't touch it while it's in that glowing state, the fire within it should stay safely contained."
Savage chuckled, and stated, "Correct you are." He then winked at the Titans, gave a small wave in farewell, and said, "So long Titans," before promptly leaping through the portal.
Robin growled at the sight, and he clenched his fist and stomped his foot before yelling, "Blast! He got away!" All of two seconds passed after Robin yelled this before the area directly in front of him was blasted by a bolt of lightning. At the sight of this, all five of the Titans turned their heads to see that the Lucifer statue was still active and trying to fire at them. Robin cursed under his breath, and then said, "We're gonna have to be careful team, we can't let that statue blast the crystal Savage dropped. If we can draw its attention and blasts towards us and as far away from that crystal long enough for it to settle down into a less volatile state, we should be able to run back through the portal and escape." The other Titans nodded, and positioned themselves as if preparing to dodge in their own respective directions.
However, this carefully thought out plan went straight out the window when they heard a hollow disembodied voice from above state, "Warning. Intruders still not eliminated and Infernal Key has been disturbed. Preparing for Code Omega Contingency protocol." At the sound of this, the Titans looked upwards in time to see what looked like a large obsidian crystal ball dangling from the ceiling. Within it was a small blood red spark that crackled and glowed. Soon after the Titans saw this, the spark crackled again as the disembodied voice stated, "Emergency lockdown initiating."
At the sound of this, the Titans looked each other in the eyes, then at the statue, then at the still open portal, then at each other again. With the Hellfire bomb still at high risk of being triggered if struck and the Lucifer statue still taking shots at them, it was extremely dangerous for them to try to leave, but with the whole crypt apparently about to go into lockdown with them inside, then the fate of the entire world very possibly rested on whether or not they were able to get out before the lockdown activated.
Seconds later, the disembodied voice from above said, "Full crypt portal shutdown sequence initiating."
In that moment, the Titans decided to throw all caution to the wind. Hellfire bomb, or no Hellfire bomb, they had to get out of the crypt as soon as possible. And so, right as all seven of the Lucifer statue heads prepared themselves to fire blasts at the Titans once again, the five teenage heroes prepared themselves for running towards the portal as fast as they could. Seconds later, the portal suddenly started glowing extremely brightly, and then they heard the skyward disembodied voice say, "10."
At the exact same time the spark voice said that number, the five teenage heroes leaped forward just in time to avoid getting blasted when the breath attacks from all seven of the Lucifer statue heads struck the area they'd been standing.
"9."
The statue blasted the area directly in front of the titans, causing the three boys to stumble and fall and the two girls to come to an abrupt halt.
"8."
The seven statue heads stared straight at the five teenage heroes, opened their mouths, and hurriedly charged their breath attacks.
"7."
The seven heads fired at the Titans at the exact same time that Raven managed to hurriedly throw up a shadow shield around herself and her friends.
"6."
Raven shut off her force field, transformed herself into what appeared to be a spectral energy figure with a raven's head, body, and wings and a long serpentine ghost-like tail before proceeding to engulf the other four Titans and glide hurriedly towards the portal.
"5."
The statue fired another round of blasts, which Spectral Raven dodged by flying upward, resulting in the elemental beams blasting the Abaddon statue to dust.
"4."
The statue fired upwards towards Spectral Raven, who hurriedly swooped downwards, thus causing the elemental blasts to strike the ceiling and cause a small cave-in.
"3."
Spectral Raven swerved to her right, thus avoiding yet another salvo of blasts. The blasts in question ended up striking the blood fountain and causing large spouts of blood to go flying in all directions.
"2."
Spectral Raven swerved to her left directly in front of the entrance to the foyer area with the portal just in time to avoid being in the line of fire for another series of blasts that ended up reducing the wall engraving of the demon holding a wooden stake impaling a baby to a smoldering crater.
"1."
Spectral Raven, with her friends in tow within the folds of darkness that her spectral form consisted of, zoomed straight through the portal, and a final series of blasts from the statue struck the Hellfire bomb right as the tip of spectral Raven's tail vanished through the portal.
. . . . .
All of three seconds passed after Spectral Raven emerged from the portal and back into the open 'jaws' of the dragon head shaped cluster of rocks before she was sent flying upwards by a sudden explosion that blasted out from the portal and caused the cluster of stones to blow to smithereens. Spectral Raven was sent hurtling upwards through the air, shrieking in surprise before then melting back into itself and reverting back to Raven's natural human form, and thus releasing the other four Titans from the folds of darkness that had engulfed them. "Whoa!" all five of the Titans screamed for another few minutes before they eventually all came hurtling down towards the ground about two or three feet away from the burning remains of what had once been Dragon's Head Valley's eponymous cluster of rocks.
Beast Boy was the first to land, and he landed hard on his belly right next to a smoldering rock that looked as if it had once been one of the 'fangs' of the destroyed 'dragon's head.' Starfire landed next about a yard away to Beast Boy's left. Cyborg was the third to land, and he landed directly to Starfire's left. Raven came to a crashing land directly to Beast Boy's left. And then Robin himself landed hard on the ground directly between Starfire and Raven.
For a few minutes after landing, the five teenage heroes remained lying down on the ground like that, groaning in pain. Eventually, they all managed to get up and look behind them. Only then did they finally get a good look at what now remained of the dragon head-shaped cluster of rocks.
Beast Boy whistled at the sight of the blazing ruins of the landmark that had formerly served as an entrance to Lucifer's Crypt. "Dude," he said, "how the Devil did that happen?"
Cyborg looked intently at the burning remains of Dragon's Head Rock, shook his head side to side, and then responded, "I'm guessing that the Lucifer statue must have blasted that freaky ass crystal thing right as we left. Well I guess it's a good thing we managed to get out, because we certainly wouldn't be able to exit through this particular Lucifer's Crypt portal anymore."
"Or any of the others for that matter," said Raven. The other Titans turned their heads to look at the dark sorceress, their eyebrows raised as if asking her what she meant by that. "The portal was still open when the Hellfire bomb went off. If it had been outside the crypt, it would have only destroyed the one landmark. However, since the bomb was both inside the foyer of the crypt and triggered while the portal was still open, then the explosion it caused was enough to damage the origin point for the energy of all thirteen portal entrances. And as a result, the resulting blast caused all thirteen of the locations containing portals to Lucifer's Crypt to explode."
The other Titans gulped, looked back at the burning wreckage of the dragon head shaped cluster of rocks, and then back at Raven.
"Raven," Starfire stated, "you said that the portal entrances for both this crypt and the Temple of Jehovah would be reborn in a new set of locations if all but one of the locations of the previous set were to be destroyed. About how long would one have to wait before the portals were fully reformed? And would the fact that all thirteen of the former entry points for this crypt have now been destroyed all at once have any effect on how long it would take?"
"Under normal circumstances, it would only take 24 hours for the portals to reform," Raven responded. "However, since this time the anchor point for the energy that makes up the portals needs to regenerate and recharge, it will take three times that much time now for a brand new set of portals to come into existence."
"So you're saying that if we'd still been inside . . . ?" Beast Boy asked.
"Yes," said Raven. "We'd have been stuck inside Lucifer's Crypt alongside that homicidal statue for three whole days."
"Then it is most fortunate that we were able to escape," Starfire stated.
"We may have been able to escape," Robin said, "but we still have other problems to worry about right now. Savage has the Infernal Key now, and who knows where he could be at this point. For all we know, he might already be at the Devil's gate right this very moment and working on getting it open as we speak."
"He isn't," Raven stated.
The other Titans looked at her in shock. Robin, in particular, was the most shocked. "How do you know that?!" he asked in a mixture of shock, incredulity, and fear.
Raven gazed intently at the Titans' fearless leader, her violet eyes hardened into a razor sharp look of absolute certainty. "While we were in the midst of reading all that information about Dante's Keys and Lucifer's crypt," Raven stated, "there was one other detail I was able to read silently while the rest of you were talking. And according to that particular bit of information, we still have a fighting chance to catch up with Savage and stop him."
. . . . .
"I see you have successfully managed to get ahold of Dante's Key to my realm."
Savage smiled, and nodded his head as he continued to hold up the distinctive red gemstone in clear sight of the fourteen crimson dragon-like eyes staring out at him from the fiery vortex. "Indeed I have, and as a special bonus, the Titans are now trapped inside your tomb and will be out of commission for the next three days."
At the sound of this, Lucifer made what could have qualified as a nervous chuckle, and then said, "Well you might not be entirely accurate about that 'special bonus'."
Savage's eyes narrowed, he lowered the crystal, and then he asked, "And what might that mean?"
"Well . . ." said Lucifer. "I'll admit, due to how hasty you were in summoning a portal straight to our usual meeting ground immediately after exiting my crypt, you weren't around to see exactly what happened at Dragon's Head Valley after you left the crypt."
"What happened?" Savage asked pointedly.
Lucifer raised his middle left eyebrow, glared at Savage briefly, and then stated, "It would seem that, much like that bumbling fool Professor Chang once did in regard to Robin, you underestimated just what sort of risks the Titans were willing to take. Not too long after you left, the crypt's security enchantments prepared to initiate the full portal shutdown contingency. And over the course of the countdown, the Titans were able to evade the attacks of the statue replica of myself long enough to successfully make it through the portal and back outside the crypt into Dragon's Head Valley in time to avoid getting stuck in the crypt when the lockdown activated. And on that note, even though the countdown was successfully completed, the lockdown never even had a chance to activate. And to answer any questions you might have as to how that happened, the statue managed to blast that Hellfire bomb that you left in the foyer of the crypt at the exact same time the Titans exited. And as a result, since the portal was still open and had only five seconds left before safely shutting down temporarily for the lockdown, combined with the fact that you were so careless as to place the bomb right there in the foyer while the portal was still active, the resulting Hellfire explosion that occurred damaged the origin point for the portal's essence. Therefore, the explosion was able to permanently shut down not only the Dragon's Head Valley portal, but also the other twelve portals within the current set all at once."
Savage gulped. After all that Lucifer had just now said, even Savage himself couldn't help but feel lost for words. "But fortunately," said Lucifer, "since in the end you were able to successfully get ahold of the Infernal Key, you can be forgiven for this major inconvenience."
Savage sighed in relief, exhaling a breath that he hadn't even realized he was holding, and then stated, "Thank you very much your Malevolence, I apologize for the inconvenience, and I promise I shall make it up to you immediately. Just open up a portal straight to Dante's Isle and I'll have the gate opened in a heartbeat."
"Ah that," Lucifer said in what could have almost qualified as a sheepish tone. "I'm afraid you'll have to wait a little longer than a heartbeat to even get to Dante's Isle, much less open the Devil's Gate."
Savage's eyes narrowed. "And. Why. Is. That?"
"Well," Lucifer, "much like with the keys, Dante's Isle can only be accessed on either of the days of solstices and equinoxes."
Savage considered this information Lucifer had now revealed, made a note of the current time, and then shrugged. "Well it's after midnight now, practically summer solstice already. So I don't see anything stopping you from opening a portal to that island right now."
"Well here's the thing you don't yet see," said Lucifer. "Even on a solstice or equinox, one can only access Dante's Isle at an 11th hour."
"So?"
"Well in this particular case," Lucifer explained. "11th hour literally means 11 of the clock. So what I'm saying, is that you now have to wait until exactly 11:00 am this very day, not a second earlier nor a minute later, before you can even hope to travel to Dante's Isle."
Savage gaped at the fourteen dragon-like eyes staring at him from within the vortex of flames. This was certainly the first time he'd heard of that information. "Can't you just open a portal to Dante's Isle and allow me to access it without having to travel manually to its coordinates and wait till 11:00?"
"The 11th hour rule applies just as much to portals as it does to physically traveling to that island by air or sea," Lucifer responded. "If you attempt to summon a portal to Dante's Isle so much as a second too soon or a minute too late, then it will not, and I mean will not appear no matter how skilled a mage you are at summoning portals. Not even my brothers and I can bypass that rule, much less my underlings or any mortal magicians. The only being who possesses the power needed to bypass this rule is my father. So unless you're willing to risk suicide by divine smiting by attempting to ask my father himself to grant you such a favor as to access the island without waiting till 11:00 am at the very earliest, you'll just have to wait here until that time."
Savage slumped, gaping incredulously at the eyes of the fallen arch-angel. "You're telling me that I have to sit around here and wait another 11 hours before I can even reach the devil's gate?!"
"Do I look like my father to you?" Lucifer responded.
Savage growled, clenched his fists, and then proceeded to angrily snarl, "Why you scaly son of a . . ."
"I'd watch my tongue if I were you," Lucifer growled ominously, his fourteen red eyes narrowing dangerously. Savage growled grudgingly, and reluctantly held back the corrosive retorts he'd been about to yell. He was not about to be so stupid as to risk angering Lucifer into stripping him of his immortality.
Lucifer snarled, took several deep breaths, and then stated, "I understand how much of a risk this places on whether or not this plan succeeds, and I am aware of how his makes you understandably angry at how your carelessly executed efforts to trap the Titans within my crypt have now turned out to be even more in vain than you originally thought. However, there is no need to worry. Hope still yet remains for this plan to succeed."
"But since the Titans are still physically capable of putting a stop to us and we now have to wait till 11:00 am this morning before I can travel to Dante's Isle to access the devil's gate, they still have a chance to catch up with us and foil this plan!"
Lucifer seemed to shrug. "So they do," he stated in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Are you mental?!" Savage yelled. "How can you be so casual about that!? I'm talking about a legitimate threat against this plan's chances of succeeding!"
"I am aware of that Savage," Lucifer growled. "And if they do manage to foil this attempt, then so be it. After all, unlike the majority of my escape plots, use of the Infernal Key is not a onetime deal. If my current attempt at this particular plot fails, then all I have to do is wait until the proper time that I can use it again."
Lucifer's eyes then seemed to take on a tremendously happy and proud look, and he continued, "And besides, if the Titans do succeed to foil me, then I'll have all the more reason to respect them."
Savage thought to himself, shrugged as he conceded with what Lucifer had stated, and then asked, "I guess you're right, but how is it that you can possibly respect the Titans so much right now. What is that you and Slade see in those children that I don't?"
Lucifer chuckled, raised his eyebrows, and then stated, "You may not be able to see it Savage, but there is quite a lot about the Teen Titans that is worth respectability. I may have only been keeping such keen focus on them as I currently am for three short days; but in that miniscule amount of time, I have come to respect and be impressed by them far more than I ever have been by the Justice League or any of the other adult superheroes, league affiliated or otherwise, over all the countless centuries I've spent watching them. Granted, from what I've managed to witness of them both now, in the very little glances I gave them before now, and all my perusing through my scrying of all their escapades, I can understand why the adults don't entirely view them to be on the same level as them when I consider the matter from their point of view.
"But nonetheless, whether the Justice League likes it or not, that does not in any way change the fact that the Titans have been able to do things that they have not. And as if that weren't enough, I've seen the way the world has acted in their regard, and I truly believe now that someday or other, the Teen Titans could very well either prove just as great as the Justice League, or even potentially surpass them."
Lucifer closed his eyes, sighed in content, and then opened his eyes back up before saying, "Yes, if there is truly a superhero team among the newest generation of heroes that truly has proven worthy of my respect, it is them. And out of all the heroes that stand to fight against my cause, there are none that now truly deserve the chance to prove their worth as my opponents more than the Titans. They may not have reached the point that the Justice League has reached in regard to superhero standards, but they have both earned my respect as well as that of my father and brothers, and have truly proven themselves to be just as much worthy opponents of mine as they have for Deathstroke. Whether or not my plan succeeds today or not, the Teen Titans now truly deserve the chance to prove themselves against me. And as much as I hate to admit this, I just know that this is something on which my father and brothers will actually agree with me for once."
And just like that, the chapter ends! Here's to hoping that you all enjoyed this chapter, and that you leave a nice healthy bunch of reviews! And definitely make sure to review, regardless of whether or not you're a guest! And please feel free to make your reviews as long and detailed as you wish! ^_^ Well anyway, coming up next, with the Titans still having a fighting chance of catching up to Savage and reclaiming the Infernal Key, the Titans waste no time in making their way to Dante's Isle, where they soon find themselves in an epic race throughout the island to beat Savage to the location of the Alpha Afterlife Portals before the immortal caveman can use the power of the Infernal Key to open the Alpha Devil's Gate and consign the world to a second apocalypse. Can the Titans stop Savage and get ahold of the Infernal Key in time to prevent Savage from releasing humanity's most deadliest enemy? Or will Savage successfully allow Lucifer the chance to finish what Trigon started? Find out next time, on Night of the Cursed!