Night of the Cursed

by A-LionGleek

The titans have finally returned from Tokyo, but before long they end up at work once again to foil the newest plot cooked up by their arch nemesis, Slade, and his new compatriot Vandal Savage. And to make matters worse, if they don't stop this plot, then there will literally be Hell to pay! Rated T to be safe.

17. The Devil's Gate

Hey there everybody! I hope you're all ready for yet more Teen Titanic awesomeness, because here's a new chapter! In this chapter, with the previously deceased Titans now back alive and well like they should be, Robin soon has them resume the original mission to stop Savage from opening the Alpha Devil's Gate. But will they make it to the Alpha Afterlife Portals in time to stop this from happening? And if they don't, could an unexpected game changing element allow them to yet turn the tide in their favor? Find out, in this amazing new chapter! Here's to hoping you read, enjoy, and leave plenty of feedback!

First, just to remind you all in case any of you have forgotten in the amount of time it's taken for me to post this, I do not own Teen Titans or anything else related to the DC universe. Now that that's out of the way, let's continue on with the story shall we?

Chapter 16:

The Devil's Gate

As it turned out, the newly resurrected Titans had in fact been starving. And on that same note, Robin himself hadn't realized just how hungry he was until he took his first bite from the dehydrated food packet that Nehreezah had chosen for him, which just happened to be a surprisingly spicy barbecued pork sandwich. But at that moment, he didn't care how spicy it was, he was hungry enough right now to eat practically anything at that point.

At first the other Titans had been suspicious of where the food and rehydrator device had come from. But they had all managed to buy onto Robin's excuse that he'd secretly packed them along in the T-ship for if they were still out on their mission at lunchtime, and had promptly given into their own hunger and started eating their own food. Cyborg was heartily chomping up a sizable triple bacon cheeseburger, his facial expression clearly stating that he was not going to forget the taste of it in a hurry. Raven was far calmer in eating her own lunch, which consisted of a simple fruit salad. Beast Boy, on the other hand, was ravenously laying into his tacos (which Nehreezah had been considerate enough to make sure were made out of tofu and likewise vegan friendly material) like a dog, even going so far as to pull at them in his jaws much like a wolf (complete with hungry snarling and slavering as well). Starfire, meanwhile, was almost dreamily consuming what had turned out, judging by her comments on its taste, very likely to be a zorkaberry pie.

When all five of the teenage superheroes had finished their lunch, all four of the more subordinate members of the team looked straight at Robin. "Alright Robin," said Raven. "You were right, we were all hungry after that battle we just went through a while ago, but now that we've had our overdue lunch, we need answers."

"Understood," said Robin.

The other Titans nodded. "Care to explain just what happened after we all blacked out?" Beast Boy asked.

"Well how much do you remember?" Robin asked. Now was the time for a brief test in just how much of his friends' memories had been restored by Nehreezah.

Beast Boy thought to himself, and then said, "Well, how far back are you asking?"

"Around the time in which you blacked out," Robin clarified.

Beast Boy nodded, thought to himself again, and then responded, "Well, I remember Samael grabbing me by the throat and then lighting his hand up to incinerate me like he did when he grabbed my trunk while I was in elephant mode. Then I remember Samael briefly stopping long enough for me and Raven to lock hands, and then he started cooking me up again, and I remember my vision from within my closed eyes turning completely red, and then I blacked out."

"I was electrocuted by Azazel," Raven stated. "For some reason, he was merciful enough to allow me to grasp onto Beast Boy's hand," she blushed slightly and then thought confusedly to herself as to why she'd done that. Then she shook her head as if to clear her thoughts and continued, "He let us have some peace for a few minutes after we locked hands, and then he started to zap me again. I remember closing my eyes, howling along with Beast Boy, and my vision from within my closed eyes turning completely white. And that was when I blacked out."

"I could feel the acid from Asmodeus inside me melting me down," Cyborg began. "I remember seeing Starfire get possessed, and then getting a brief reprieve after that whole business with Raven and BB, and then Asmodeus resuming his acid flooding on me. After that, at one point I saw BB and Raven just slump over as if they had died. I actually could have sworn that they actually were dead. But then I shut down and I can't tell for certain what may have happened after that."

Then they all looked at Starfire. Unknown to the others, Robin was now feeling slightly more nervous than before. He already knew that it would be relatively easy enough to briefly convince Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Raven of the counter story he'd come up with due to their already being dead by the time Samael had made his 'radio silence' comment, and thus they wouldn't have known about that in the first place. Starfire, however, had still been alive at that particular moment. Granted, she had been possessed by Lilith at the time. But still, Robin had heard enough stories and read enough material on the matter to know that the hosts of demonic possession were sometimes said to be 'awake' at certain times, and that when they were in this state, they were able to see, hear, and remember what was happening while possessed by the demon. Needless to say, if Starfire had been 'awake' in the midst of her possession when Samael had dropped the news about the 'radio silence,' then Robin would be in a real fix.

"I remember being about to take off to rescue you," Starfire began, making sure to indicate Raven, Beast Boy, and Cyborg when she spoke. "Then I remember these large icy spears rising up from the ground and pinning up against my arms to keep me from flying off. Then I remember Lilith coming up before me and stating that she was about to get to know me on a more . . . 'personal level,' as she put it. Then I remember just having enough time to realize what she likely meant by that when she turned to smoke and started to slither into my mouth. I then felt a sensation very familiar to the one that I often felt whenever the Mad Mod tried to hypnotize me, but then I eventually blacked out right as the last of the smoke entered my mouth; and I do not believe I remember anything that may have happened after that."

Robin mentally let out a sigh of relief after hearing this. "This will make the job easier," he thought to himself. Then the other Titans looked directly at him, their facial expressions now clearly asking him to get on with telling them what had happened to them over the course of their 'blackouts'. Robin took a deep breath, and mentally prepared himself for the now very surprisingly difficult task ahead of him. In fact, he was now about to do something that he'd very much hoped he would be lucky enough to avoid ever having to commit again after Daizo's defeat in Tokyo; lying to his friends. And indeed he very much hated having to lie to his friends; but at that particular moment, he had no other choice.

He needed his friends to be on their game and to maintain full focus on the mission. And if he told them the full truth about what had happened, then they'd be so worried about the matter regarding his soul, surprised about the lengths he'd gone to rescue them, and likewise distracted that they would be far more vulnerable over the course of the very dangerous activities that they would need to be involved in over the remainder of the mission. Granted, he had every intention to slowly break the true story to them after they'd finished saving the world, but now, he could not afford to give them any reason for distraction. And so, he soon decided on a sufficient cover story.

"Well," Robin began. "I was doing battle with Savage. And over time, I actually had gotten the drop on him and had the upper hand. But then, at around the time that you guys were all tired and worn out just before your opponents chose to unleash their final strikes against you, Abaddon threw me away from Savage with his telekinesis, pinned me up against a tree with it, and forced me to watch as his fellow Knights of Hell proceeded to attempt to finish you off."

He looked at his friends. "As you guys remember, Samael grabbed you by the neck," he then said while pointing at Beast Boy, "and both strangled and incinerated you simultaneously."

He turned to Raven. "You were electrocuted by Azazel."

He turned to Cyborg. "You got acid secreted into your inner workings by Asmodeus grabbing onto the open ends of both your sonic cannons and causing acid to flow from his hands and directly inside you in an effort to melt you down from the inside."

Robin then turned to face Starfire. He took a deep breath, and then exhaled. It would be far more difficult to talk about what had happened to her, for unlike with the others, he would have to slightly alter the details. "Well Star," he soon began, "you're certainly on the right track in describing how you were briefly feeling as if Mad Mod were attempting to hypnotize you. And as you likely were suspecting, Lilith did indeed possess you."

The Boy Wonder took another deep breath, exhaled heavily, and then continued, "After taking possession of you, she just stood there inside your body and watched as Azazel, Samael, and Asmodeus had their way with Raven, Beast Boy, and Cyborg. And then, after her compatriots had finished their work, she then manipulated you from within your body into clenching your hands around your own neck and squeezing it in an attempt to cause you to kill yourself through self strangulation."

Starfire's eyes widened at the sound of these words. "That . . . that sounds horrifying," the Tamaranean admitted. She then thought to herself. "I am confused, wouldn't such an action have harmed her as well?"

"Not necessarily," said Raven. The other Titans all looked at the dark sorceress. "Demons are capable of surviving a vast majority of injuries or other actions that would either cause serious injury or be fatal to humans and the majority of the other things they are capable of possessing. Self strangulation wouldn't affect the demon, but it would be capable of causing the soul of whatever being or creature they're possessing to lose its grip on life and be capable of exiting upon the departure of the demon . . . possibly even before then."

Robin nodded, pointed towards Raven and said, "What she said. And I guess she chose to do that kind of thing because she wanted both for the experience to be all the more painful for you to experience as well as all the more agonizing for me to be forced to watch." Robin took one more deep breath, exhaled, and then continued, "But anyway, after a while, she finally stopped, and then after saying goodbye, she left your body, and upon her departure, you collapsed from exhaustion and lack of air.

"After all that was over and the four Knights who'd attacked you had left, Abaddon was about to kill me, but then Savage had him stop and leave. Then Savage told me that he'd spared me only because he thought it would be better and more appropriate for him to leave me alive to suffer from how you'd apparently been killed due to my choosing to respect your wishes and leaving you to deal with the Knights of Hell on your own instead of staying to help you and worry about Savage later. And in his own way of rubbing my apparent loss in my face, combined with his believing that he would no longer need them for some reason, he discarded the Infernal Tablet and Fallen Tools, throwing them down right at my feet."

At the sound of this information, Raven raised her eyebrows, "Why would he think he wouldn't need them?" Raven asked. "Doesn't he know that he needs those objects as well as the Infernal Key in order to guarantee that all the demons will listen to him when they leave Hell?"

"From what he told me when I asked," Robin explained, "he thought that since A: he'd spent enough time with the tablet in his possession to reportedly commit all the spells and stuff within it to memory and B: that he'd also spent enough time working with Lucifer and the Knights of Hell for them to be willing to put in a good word for him to their underlings, he would no longer need them anymore."

At the sound of this, Beast Boy grunted, rolled his eyes at Savage's apparent stupidity, and then grumbled, "Either he's super confident, or super stupid."

"Took the words right out of my mouth," Cyborg agreed. The bionic teen then looked back at Robin and said, "But now there's one more thing I still don't understand."

"Do tell," said Robin.

"Like I mentioned," said Cyborg. "I saw Beast Boy and Raven just slump over and relax in position so abruptly right before I went unconscious. Heck, I actually thought they were dead. And as far as I can tell, all five of the Knights of Hell were more than willing to kill us. Therefore, the next logical question for me to ask would have to be . . . well . . ."

"How are you four still alive?" Robin finished for him.

"Yes," Cyborg confirmed.

Beast Boy and the two girls joined Cyborg in his gazing towards Robin, the same question in their eyes. Robin took a deep breath, exhaled, and then said, "Well, at first I thought you were dead too. But when I in the end chose to come down to the valley to properly show my respects for you after Savage left, I managed to notice that you four weren't quite dead just yet."

Beast Boy raised his eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You were on your last legs," Robin clarified. "And I do mean last legs. You were practically at death's door and just barely holding on."

Raven's own eyebrow rose. "But that still doesn't explain how we're alive," she then stated. "I mean, sure we might not have been dead yet at that point that you've mentioned, but the wounds we were inflicted with, particularly the ones inflicted upon Cyborg, Beast Boy, and myself were so serious and critical. You . . . no one can just patch up wounds like that without some sort of bizarre healing ability."

"A valid point," Robin admitted. "And to be honest, I at first didn't think it would be possible to save you either." The young caped crusader then took a deep breath, exhaled once more, and continued, "But I was desperate, and I was not about to give up on you, and so, I proceeded to try my absolute hardest. And after about a couple minutes . . . well . . . I guess I must have been better at medical work then I originally thought or even dared to consider giving myself credit for."

Beast Boy's eyes widened. "You're serious?" he then asked incredulously. "You were able to patch us up and heal us?"

"Yeah," Robin said quietly. "Apparently so." He then directed a weak smile towards his four friends. "I guess the first aid training I received from Batman must have chosen just the right time to kick in."

Starfire placed her hand on Robin's shoulder. "And thank X'hal that it did. We are eternally grateful to you Robin."

Robin blushed, hung his head briefly in embarrassment, and then responded, "Um, thanks Star, and you're welcome."

The other three Titans nodded their heads. "Well, I'm not gonna state it as eloquently and dramatically as Star, but thanks," said Cyborg.

"Yeah dude, totally," said Beast Boy. "I mean, I'm not typically the type for getting all touchy-feely, but yeah. Thanks . . . I guess." Raven simply nodded her head up and down with closed eyes, not saying a word. But of course, with Raven, no words were needed.

Then Beast Boy seemed to think of something, and a 'wait a minute' look came on his face. He then looked at Robin again and asked, "Hold on, the Knights of Hell . . . if you were able to notice that we were all just barely alive, then they almost certainly were able to tell with all their advanced mind reading and similar demon mojo. If they wanted us dead that badly, why let us remain on our absolute last legs just barely alive? Why didn't they just finish the job?"

At the sound of this surprisingly valid question, at least considering the fact that it had come from Beast Boy anyway, Raven and Cyborg proceeded to direct similar looks as the one on their verdant green friend's face towards Robin. Starfire winced at the sight of this, almost as if she were praying for her friends to just let the matter go. She quite honestly didn't care at that moment, for she was much more willing to just be relieved that she was alive and not parted from Robin and her friends.

Robin, however, was perfectly willing to give his friends a proper (relatively speaking) answer to this question. He nodded his head, returned the gaze of his three friends that were now appearing to be one guard and acting suspicious over the matter, and responded, "Well, like as we've all now made quite clear, you were on your absolute last legs. You were probably only about a couple minutes or so from death by the time I returned to the valley. And besides, I myself didn't think at first that it would be even remotely possible for me to save you; and if I didn't believe it at first, then the Knights of Hell almost certainly wouldn't have expected for my old Batman first aid training to choose that particular opportune moment to kick in."

Robin then got back up on his feet, spread his arms and hands out to the sides in a noncommittal gesture, and continued, "That being said, I guess they must have thought it was all over, that you would just die on your own anyway at that point, and decided that it would be perfectly safe for them to just depart the area and leave you guys for dead."

At the sound of all this, Beast Boy, Raven, and Cyborg briefly looked each other in the eyes as if considering what Robin had told them. "Please buy the story, please buy the story," Robin thought to himself nervously without letting any outward signs of it show. Starfire, however, seemed to have a feeling that he was far more nervous at that particular moment then he was letting on, as she raised her eyebrow at the sight of him looking at their three friends. About a minute later, before Starfire could voice her newly arising worries, the two chromatically challenged teenagers as well as the cybernetic young adult nodded their heads in mutual agreement before looking back at Robin. "I guess that makes sense," said Beast Boy.

"What he said," Cyborg agreed.

"Ditto," Raven droned.

Robin nodded his head, silently relieved that his friends' suspicions had for the moment been allayed.

But then Starfire asked yet another question with an answer that would require serious explaining. "Friends, forgive me if I am interrupting something, but what time is it?"

Robin cursed mentally when he heard this question. "Darn it, I forgot about that," he thought to himself. "I'd really better think carefully about this."

Sure enough, Cyborg apparently must have decided to check his internal clock after Starfire asked what time it was, because he then said, "It's about 5:45 pm or so right now."

"Wasn't it around 1:00 or so when we fought the Knights of Hell?" Beast Boy.

"Yes," said Cyborg.

All four of the resurrected Titans looked at Robin. "Anything you have to say on that?" Raven asked.

Robin nodded, cleared his throat, and then replied, "Like I said, you were very close to death, and it was only through sheer luck that I was able to get you all stable and healed in time to save you. My best guess is that due to how very close to death you guys were, your body just really needed some serious time to recharge. And besides, I tried to wake you up a couple times, but you were out cold."

The other Titans looked each other in the eyes. Then Beast Boy shrugged. "I guess that makes sense," he then said.

Then Raven's eyes uncharacteristically widened. "What about the . . . ?"

"No need to worry," Robin stated before Raven could finish. "I took care of the Infernal Tablet and Fallen Tools while you were still unconscious."

Raven's eyebrow rose, but Beast Boy beat her to the question. "How?" he asked in a tone that almost sounded like a growl.

"I carried them all the way back to where we landed the T-ship," Robin replied, "and then I made my way over to a nearby cliff that happened to be conveniently located nearby, and threw them into the ocean. At this point, I think it will be safe to say that it will be a long time before anyone ever gets their hands on those things in the future. And for that matter, I got out the rehydrator and food packets from the T-ship while on my way back to this valley after that."

Raven and Beast Boy thought to themselves. "Well, it certainly won't be a permanent way to dispose of them, but it should work for now," said Raven.

"It will certainly be out of reach of any mundane humans who want to try to get their hands on them," Beast Boy agreed.

The two chromatically challenged teenage heroes then looked back at Robin. "So what now?" Beast Boy asked.

Robin nodded his head, pointed up at the cliff area where he'd battled Savage, and responded firmly, "You know what we need to do Beast Boy; now that you guys are all better, we're going to resume our chase after Savage. He told me that he needed to wait until 7:00 pm local time at the earliest before he'd be able to call on the power of the Infernal Key and open the Infernal Gate; and considering how long it's been since the Knights of Hell almost killed you, he's probably made it to the area where the Alpha Afterlife Portals are located by now. We've now got about an hour plus another five or ten minutes to catch up to him."

Robin then turned around to face the cliff, a determined glare on his face as he stared like a hawk in the direction that the immortal caveman had traveled. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm definitely more than willing to get our butts over there ourselves A.S.A.P. The entire world depends on it; and if we all go down in flames, then so be it." He turned back to face his friends once more. "Heck, as far as I'm concerned, I'll even be willing to accept miraculous unexpected assistance from the angels at some point or other at this point over the course of this mission."

At the sound of that last bit, Beast Boy suddenly seemed to act as if he'd had an epiphany. He hurriedly raised his hand and grunted and squeaked like a preschooler trying to get his teacher's attention. "What is it Beast Boy?" Robin asked.

Beast Boy lowered his hand, took a deep breath, and then said, "I know that this might potentially sound off topic, but what you just said about angels reminded me of something from what I think might have been a dream I had while I was 'blacked out'."

Robin raised his eyebrow. "And how would this be important?"

"Well it's still rather fuzzy right now," Beast Boy admitted. "But I remember at one point sitting in what looked some sort of antechamber for a temple or something, Rae, Cy, and Star were with me, and there was this strange dude with wings on his back, I think maybe an angel, sitting nearby us. He called himself Gabriel."

At the sound of all this, Robin found himself feeling both annoyed and slightly worried. He now had a feeling that this supposed 'dream' was actually an altered memory of his time in the afterlife before Nehreezah had resurrected him. "If there's anything important about this matter," Robin stated, "I'd highly recommend that you just say it real soon."

"Well near the end, the lights started flickering, rather odd considering the lights were all coming from stars and braziers, and then Gabriel said goodbye and also something about expecting a package to arrive at our location at some point in the near future. And then after that, before we even had a chance to ask him what he was talking about, we all suddenly just fell backwards and seemingly got sucked into some sort of endless mass of black."

At the sound of all this, Cyborg's human eye widened as well, and so did the eyes of the two girls.

"Friend Beast Boy," Starfire said, "I know that this may be rather difficult to believe, but I do believe that I had a similar dream, and I also remember that at one point in the dream we happened to walk through some sort of strange dazzling white and yellow gates."

"I had that same dream to," Cyborg stated. "And I also remember that I was all alone within this large mass of clouds at one point before I then happened to meet up with you and Raven, and then Star joined us, and we all ended up walking towards some strange light as well as an unusual noise that sounded like some sort of church hymn or something."

"I can't believe I'm saying this," said Raven. "But all that stuff happened in a similar dream that I had while I was blacked out. All those details, and also the fact that Beast Boy was the first one of you to find me and that he even . . ." she then looked at Beast Boy with a half confused and half embarrassed look on her face before saying, "hugged me."

Beast Boy blushed, rubbed the back of his head, and chuckled nervously before saying, "Uh yeah, now that you guys mention it, I do remember all that other stuff now."

At that point, Robin was very much intrigued by what his friends had just now been talking about. However, there was one element in particular that he was currently more focused on then the others. "You said something about a package?"

"Yes," Beast Boy responded.

"This package," Robin then stated. "Did Gabriel say anything about what it was, or a specific time or location to expect it to arrive?"

"Robin, you are acting very strangely right now," Starfire stated.

"I have to agree Rob," said Cyborg. "I'm not sure if I'm seeing what's so important about this."

"Just trust me," Robin stated. "Beast Boy, I want you to really think hard on this. Did Gabriel say anything about these matters?"

"I don't . . ." Beast Boy said hesitantly. "No wait . . . I think he might have said to expect it to arrive around this area sometime around 6:00 pm or so?"

Seconds later, as if on cue, all five of the teenage heroes suddenly heard what sounded very much like the noises used to convey magic spells in most children's cartoons, and they all looked in the direction they heard it coming from just in time to see a large pillar of light come down from the sky at a slant and illuminate a small portion of the ground much like a spotlight before then proceeding to brighten considerably at a surprisingly fast rate. Eventually, the light got so bright that the five teenage heroes had to raise their hands and arms in front of their faces to shield themselves from the light, even having to close their eyes when their arms and hands didn't prove effective enough at shielding their eyes.

After what seemed like an eternity to the five teenage heroes, the light finally appeared to fade, and the overall brightness of the area seemed to return to a bearable level. But even so, the Titans waited a full five seconds before daring to open their eyes and lower their hands and arms from their faces. When they looked at the area where the mysterious light had been, they were both surprised and confused to see what appeared to be a small snow white gemstone.

Beast Boy walked over to the object and picked it up without hesitation. "Huh," he then stated. "Aside from the fact that it's white, I'd say it looks almost exactly like the Infernal Key."

"You certainly got that right BB," Cyborg agreed. "Paint it red, and it would be as if we'd gotten ahold of a carbon copy of that doomsday device."

"Pity it isn't the Infernal Key though," Robin then stated before then turning his head towards Raven and Starfire and saying, "Don't you . . . ?"

The remainder of the question died unspoken when the Boy Wonder saw the wide-eyed looks that had just come on the faces of the two girls. It seemed as if they had just had a major epiphany. And in fact they indeed had realized an important detail regarding this mysterious gem's close resemblance to the Infernal Key when it came to shape.

"Guys," Raven stated, "remember how I said that there were three Keys of Dante? One for each Alpha Afterlife Portal?" The three boys nodded in the affirmative.

"How does that help us?" Robin then asked.

"Friends," said Starfire. "Do you not also remember how she said that each of the three Dante's Keys were a different color?"

Robin was just about to reiterate his earlier question as to the relevance of these details when Beast Boy's own eyes widened and he said, "Oh yeah! I do remember that!"

"Do you remember which colors each of them were?" Raven asked the changeling.

"Yeah," Beast Boy replied. "The one for Hell is red the one for Purgatory is black, and the one for Heaven is white."

"Would you just tell me what this has to do with . . ." Robin began to yell before he too finally realized just what Raven and Starfire were getting at. He immediately took a closer look at the white Dante's Key shaped gemstone in Beast Boy's hand. "You're saying . . ."

"I don't know how," said Raven. "But somehow or other, that dream that the four of us shared somehow appears to have been a premonition of some sort. And if that is true, then I have a very good feeling that this strange gem that just now appeared to us might very well be the Paradisiacal Key."

Scarcely daring to believe this apparent stroke of good luck, Robin delicately extended his hand towards the gemstone in Beast Boy's hand. "Can I take a look at that?" he quietly asked. The changeling handed the Boy Wonder the gemstone. Robin carefully grasped onto the brilliant white gem and lifted it up to his eye level. Even as he continued to examine it, he could hardly believe that the Titans had now miraculously gotten ahold of the one thing that could very possibly help them turn the tide against Savage if they failed to stop him from opening the Alpha Devil's Gate.

Lowering the apparent Key of Dante, Robin looked straight at his four friends with a half stunned and half euphoric look on his face. "Guys," he slowly stated. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but now I'm definitely certain that the angels are trying to actively help us win this time." He looked at the gemstone again. "If this is truly Dante's Key to Heaven, then I think we could very well actually stand a fighting chance if Savage manages to open that gate before we make it to the area where the portals are located."

"I wouldn't give up on attempting to prevent that from happening just yet," said Beast Boy.

"Agreed," said Starfire. "But nonetheless, this fortunate gift from the angels should prove a powerful ace to have up our sleeves . . . that is how the phrase goes correct?"

Robin smiled warmly at the Tamaranean. "Correct indeed Star," he responded happily. He then turned his head to face the direction leading towards Savage and the Alpha Afterlife Portals. "I guess we might as well start on our way then."

"Hold it," Cyborg yelled right as Robin and the other minors among the founding Titans were about to stampede off down the path. After having gotten his friends' attention, Cyborg cleared his throat, pointed at the Paradisiacal Key, and said, "You do remember how it said in that file how Dante's Keys only work in the hands of a human right?"

"Pretty hard to forget at this point," Robin responded.

"Well that being said," Cyborg continued. "Then as far as we can tell, considering how you're the most physically human out of all of us, you might very well have the best chance of successfully activating that Key if the situation demands it. Heck, you might very well be the only one among us that that Key will even work for at all."

Robin, Beast Boy, and the girls looked each other in the eyes. They had not thought about that. They then looked back at Cyborg. "What are you saying?" Robin asked.

"I'm saying that the demons might also likely be thinking the same thing if they find out about our having the Heaven key in our possession. And that being said, they might end up placing particularly high priority on eliminating you from the equation. And as unlikely as it might be, what if they succeed?"

Beast Boy gulped, and turned his head to look at Robin, his eyes now fearfully asking the silent question as to how to handle that possibility. Raven and Starfire also looked at Robin, but with their facial expressions nowhere near as fearful as Beast Boy's. Robin thought to himself for a brief few minutes. But then a light bulb went off in his head, and he quickly extended his hand with the Paradisiacal Key back to Beast Boy. "Could you hold onto this for a moment?"

"Um, sure dude," Beast Boy replied as he hesitantly reclaimed the Key. "Why?"

Robin turned his head to Raven and said, "Raven, could you quickly teleport me back to the T-Ship? I have a feeling that if the Dante's Keys work the way I think they work, then I might know just the way to allow you guys to activate this particular key without having to rely on me being around to do so."

. . . . .

As it turned out, Raven indeed was both capable and willing to do exactly that. Upon receiving this information, Robin only paused long enough to ask Raven if she knew what he needed to say in order to activate the Paradisiacal Key. Raven, somehow sensing that he didn't want her to speak them out loud if she knew, proceeded to implant the knowledge in his mind through her mental link with him. After receiving the information and carefully committing it as firmly to his memory as possible, Robin gave the signal for approval, and was promptly teleported to the T-Ship through a vortex of shadows.

After about a minute or two, Raven's communicator went off. It was Robin, and he was telling Raven that she could now go ahead and summon him back from the T-Ship. Raven proceeded to summon back the shadowy portal, and Robin jumped through it back to the valley where his friends were. Upon arrival, Robin had patiently asked for Beast Boy to return the Paradisiacal Key to him, slipped it into his utility belt, and then given the order for them to get moving. Not needing to be told twice, the other Titans promptly began to stampede down the path in the direction of the Alpha Afterlife Portals once more with their fearless reader not too far ahead of them. Now, they were once again truly on their way to save the world.

As Robin continued to dash down the path leading away from the T-Ship and towards their intended destination, Robin couldn't help but smile as he felt the wind blowing through his hair. "I may be Hell bound, but at least now I'll be able to have a higher than 0% chance of saving the world tonight."

As Robin thought about this, he also heard a distinctive metallic clanging from behind him, and he smiled. He briefly turned his head to look behind him; as expected, he saw none other than Cyborg running along right behind him, his metallic feet clanging and banging loud enough to wake the dead. Robin's smile continued to widen when he then looked upward to his right and saw Raven effortlessly levitating through the sky. Then the Boy Wonder heard a strangely familiar series of noises that sounded like some sort of reptilian mixture of barking and screeching coming from his right on the ground. He looked in that direction just in time to see Beast Boy in velociraptor mode running directly next to Robin. Seemingly sensing Robin's gaze, the feathery green dinosaur turned its head to face the Boy Wonder, letting out another reptilian barking screech. Robin chuckled, and then looked directly upward, his smile reaching its fullest length when he saw Starfire soaring through the air directly above him.

Robin couldn't help but feel a major boost in confidence as he watched the Tamaranean effortlessly fly above him with her long crimson hair billowing through the wind and her eyes and hands blazing with the distinctive venomously green energy for her star bolts and laser vision. If there was any friend of his among the Titans that was always able to make him feel good during times like this, it was Starfire. Momentarily placing that particular thought in the back of his mind, the Boy Wonder turned his head to face the area directly in front of him once more and proceeded to place his focus back on the task at hand.

"We can do this," he thought to himself as he and the other four Titans continued to make their way down the path towards the large valley that very likely was the location of the Alpha Afterlife Portals. "We're gonna make it," he thought to himself before then proceeding to let out a burst of speed that allowed him to momentarily surge forward farther ahead of his friends. And it seemed that his friends agreed with him, for they all silently nodded in the affirmative motion, Beast Boy even letting out another series of reptilian barks in accompaniment, before they surged forward as well. They were all thinking the same thing now; they were going to make it to the valley where the Alpha Afterlife Portals were located, and they were going to save the world that night, one way or another.

. . . . .

Vandal Savage smiled as he checked the positioning of the moon. He remembered quite clearly how he'd so carefully learned to tell time through positioning of the sun, moon, and stars during the lessons taught to him as a child during his time in the village of his old tribe. And now, as a result of those lessons, he now could tell from one glance at the moon that it was now 7:00 pm local time. The time had come to open the Devil's Gate.

Smirking victoriously to himself, the immortal caveman walked confidently up to the area where the archaic mechanism designed for opening the Devil's Gate was located. The device in question oddly enough looked both intriguing and intimidating. It looked as if it shaped like a clock or sundial complete with the frame resembling a sliced up pie. The only difference within the frame from a sliced up pie was that there was a tiny circle in the dead center of the metallic ring just big enough to place the Infernal Key inside.

Meanwhile, not too far away from the mysterious device, was what appeared to be a large hole. This very hole, was what the mysterious rod within the machine was pointing at. The entrance of it was blocked up by what appeared to be a strange door very similar to the kind that were very similar to the circular hatches consisting of half-crescent shaped blades that converged together at the center point often found on spaceships in several different sci-fi movies. This intimidating appearance combined with the rather hellish runes inscribed on the machinery next to it as well as the outer boundaries of the hole made it very obvious to recognize as the Devil's Gate. In fact, in the same valley, were two other similar machines to the one nearby the Devil's Gate. However, each of them had a different type of runes engraved around them and also were located nearby rather different landmarks. One of the other two machines was located nearby a massive tangled cluster of thorny vines. The other one, on the other hand, did not appear to be located all too closely to any specific landmarks, but appeared to be positioned so that it would have a glaringly obvious clear view of the sky.

Chuckling in amusement and arrogance, Savage drew out the Infernal Key, took a deep breath as if to savor the moment, and then placed the Infernal Key within the appropriate hole located within the machinery nearby the Devil's Gate. After placing the Key within its destined spot, Savage lifted his hands upwards, raised his head to face the sky, and calmly stated, "Key of Dante, hear my call. Open this gate, and unleash the world's downfall."

The blood red gemstone glowed unnaturally bright red, and then a large beam of red light sprang out from the tip of the Key and struck the very center of the hatchway like barrier blocking the large hole in the ground. As the beam crackled and sparked in its contact with the barrier, Savage grinned wolfishly at the sight. He had succeeded. "The world is now mine," he thought to himself.

Then the beam faded away, the hole and hatchway continued to glow, and then a large mass of red energy began to erupt from the top of the hole and barrier in a form that allowed it to take on the appearance of a fiery geyser. As Savage continued to watch in awe at the spectacle, the hatchway-like barrier began to slowly open up. The glow from the light bathed Savage's face in red light, making him look especially demonic in combination with his malicious grin. Then, after what seemed like an eternity, the Devil's Gate finally opened up all the way, and the geyser of flame shaped red energy faded away into nothing.

For a few minutes more, Savage continued to stare at the now completely uncovered gaping hole, counting silently in his mind as if anticipating something. Before long, there was a slight rumble in the ground; and then, with an almighty banging noise, massive plumes of multicolored smoke began to rocket up from the hole. Savage's already wide grin grew immense at the sight of this, and as the countless streams of red, blue, green, purple, yellow, and black smoke sped rapidly through the sky and in circles over the valley, Savage lifted his head up towards the sky, spread his arms out to his sides, and let out a triumphant evil laugh. "Behold!" Savage roared euphorically. "The end of the world is nigh!"

. . . . .

Meanwhile, at around the same time that the geyser of red flame-shaped energy had begun to spout up into the sky, the Titans caught sight of it from around 20 yards or so away from the valley that it was coming from. At the sight of this, their eyes widened, and they briefly skidded right to a stop. As they stared in shock at the mysterious energy pillar, Robin found himself stating in half shock and half despair, "No, no, no. . ."

Then, when the energy pillar faded away, and the large mass ocean of demonic smoke appeared, Robin stomped his right foot and swung his right fist downwards in a fit of anger. "Damn!" He yelled. "We're too late!" Beast Boy snarled and barked in apparent agreement, his now chartreuse velociraptor eyes narrowed in fury.

"Not yet we're not," said Raven. The other Titans turned their heads to face her. "We may have failed to arrive at the valley in time to stop Savage from opening the Devil's Gate, but we can still fight them off as much as we can; or at least try to keep them busy long enough for us to summon help."

"Help!? What do you mean summon help?! There's no one out there who could possibly come to help us out here now!"

"Actually Robin, there is," Beast Boy said, having immediately reverted backing to human form upon realizing that there in fact was something they could summon to help them. "We still have the Paradisiacal Key remember?"

Robin's eyes widened, for he had completely forgotten about their own Key of Dante in the midst of his panic at the sight of the massive amount of demons that were now appearing in the sky above the valley they'd been heading towards. "You're right," he yelled in half relief and half excitement. "Of course; we can still open the Alpha Stairway to Heaven and summon the angels!"

"Exactly," said Beast Boy. The changeling then pointed towards the valley of the Portals and stated, "And if we hurry, we can still make it there in time to come up with a proper plan of attack."

Robin looked at Cyborg and the girls, who all nodded in agreement. "You heard the man," said Cyborg. "If we want to get there in time to stop those Godforsaken fiends from traveling any further outside Hell than that valley, then we need to get our butts over there A.S.A.P."

"Agreed," said Starfire.

"What they said," Raven added.

"Right," Robin grunted, he turned to face the direction of the valley, pointed towards it, and shouted, "Titans move! Double time!"

As if fired from a cannon, all five of the teenage heroes resumed their breakneck running down the path towards the valley, Beast Boy even making sure to transform into a velociraptor once more right as his friends were on the verge of beginning to move again. And as the Titans once more hurried off towards the valley of the Portals, all five of them were thinking the same thing; it was now truly time to save the world.

. . . . .

Thirteen minutes later, after Savage was just starting to find the worst worries of doubt enter his mind as to why the demons still hadn't landed and assumed their corporeal form, every single one of the Hellish streams of smoke crash landed 'headfirst' on the ground in front of him. They all reverted to their corporeal forms mere seconds later, revealing themselves to now be positioned so that they would have their backs facing the Devil's Gate and would be staring him face to face.

As the immortal caveman and the massive army of demons stared each other down, Savage found himself silently counting them, only to find himself giving up when he soon realized that he would soon manage to take account of them all without losing count. In fact, there were currently only 195 demons present. His eyes narrowed at this realization. "There's supposed to be every single one of the demons in Lucifer's form of Hell aside from Nehreezah and Agramon present here," he thought to himself. "Why haven't they all come here yet?"

"We are merely the first advance party," said one demon that was at the very front of the group now standing before Savage. "We have been sent to establish connections between you, and once our positions in military hierarchy for this mission have been established, we shall make the signal for the rest of our kin to follow."

At the sound of this, Savage found a light bulb going off in his head as he remembered that he and Lucifer had indeed decided upon this not too long ago. "Right, of course," Savage stated. "Very well then," he continued. "Let us take care of this."

The demon who'd spoken nodded, his purple eyes flooded with a stern, no-nonsense, glare, and then he bowed, making sure to spread his feathered purple wings out to the sides like a bird so as to attempt to be as respectful as possible to his potential new superior. When he straightened back up, he gave a low warble of acknowledgment from his serrated beak, and then stated, "I am Regulus, captain of the Omega Squadron of the 666th Infernal Legion! At your service sir!"

"And I am Vandal Savage, associate of his Malevolence, and soon to be appointed sixth main leader for this mission."

Regulus nodded, and turned his head to face his subordinate soldiers. All of them growled, snarled, and hissed in acknowledgement of what had just occurred. Regulus turned his head to face Savage once more. "My soldiers are willing to accept you as their native leader from the realm of the living, and so am I. All you need to do now is to show us the items from the Crypt, and you shall be accepted in full as a worthy human to serve as our leader."

Savage nodded, took a deep breath, and then pointed towards the Infernal Key, which was even now still lodged within the machinery designed for opening the Alpha Devil's Gate. "I present to you, the Infernal Key."

As one, Regulus and the rest of his squadron looked intently at the Dante's Key. Then they all looked back at Savage in unison, all of them with the same eyebrow raised in half confusion and half suspicion. "Is that all?" Regulus asked.

"I have proven to you my possession of the Infernal Key," Savage replied. "I believe now we can begin our partnership in full?"

However, much to Savage's surprise, Regulus responded to this by glaring at him. The other demons, likewise, did not look very happy either. "Perhaps you aren't quite taking this seriously," Regulus stated bluntly. "I said you must show us all the required items from his Malevolence's Crypt, yet you have now only showed us one of them. Where are the others?"

"Others?" Savage asked. "What do you mean?"

"The Infernal Tablet and Fallen Tools," Regulus growled. "What else?!"

"Oh those," said Savage. "You're saying I still need them?"

"Did you not hear me?" Regulus snarled. "Or course you do. What makes you think that you wouldn't?" The other demons in the irate Luciferian wind demon's squadron snarled and glared in apparent agreement.

Savage thought to himself, clasped his hands together awkwardly, and then looked back towards the entrance of the valley from out of the corner of his eyes before saying, "Well, you see . . . I . . ."

"Where are they?" Regulus growled.

"Well I do have them here on the island . . ." Savage began.

"Then present them to us right now and we shall place this bit of unpleasantness behind us," stated Regulus.

"Well right now, I am not quite able to present those items to you just yet," Savage admitted awkwardly.

"And why is that?" hissed a Luciferian earth demon that appeared to be Regulus's second in command.

Savage turned his head to face the hissing green demon, and said, "Well to answer that . . . what is your name?"

"Sicklebough," hissed the demon.

"Well Sicklebough," Savage continued, "while I do have those items here on the island, I do not have them present here in this valley at the moment."

"So you do not have them?" Sicklebough asked.

"Well sort of, but I know where they are and it won't take me very long to hurry back and bring them to this valley from where I left them . . ."

"Do you have the Infernal Tablet and Fallen Tools or not?" Regulus growled, clearly starting to lose patience.

Savage grimaced, clearly not enjoying the current pressure he was being placed under, and stated through gritted teeth, "I do not have them on my person at the moment but I just need a few minutes or so and I can guarantee that I will . . ."

"This is no time to play games and make things complicated," Regulus snapped. "Do you have them? Yes or no?"

"No," said Savage. "But again, they are here on the island and it shouldn't take me too long for me to bring them here . . ."

"Then where are they?!" Regulus roared, flapping his wings up and down in pure outrage while his taloned feet dangled about a foot off the ground and the feathered tip of his tail remained pressed up against the smooth grass of the valley.

Savage gulped, pointed towards the entrance to the valley of the Portals, and responded, "On a cliff overlooking that other valley about a mile or two away from this one in that direction, but again, I need only go back and get them, and I can guarantee you that I'll have them here real soon to be presented to you if you truly still need me to present them."

"Have you learned nothing from your time spent working directly with his Malevolence?!" Regulus shrieked incredulously with fury. "The rules clearly state in every source that you needed all of those very specific items from the Crypt, or else you will not be accepted as a human leader of our kin, and yet here you are with only one third of this collection on your immediate person! Have you lost your mind!?"

"Well I had them in my possession for so long that I was able to commit all the spells and the majority of the other important information within the Infernal Tablet to memory," Savage began. "And I've also been working alongside his Malevolence for such a large amount of time now that I thought that he and the Knights would be willing to put in a good word for me so that I wouldn't need those particular items anymore . . ."

"You truly thought that our king would be that careless?!" Sicklebough howled. "Why would you think his Malevolence would even make those rules in the first place if he were willing to just turn a blind eye to them and just let us take such unseemly risks at such important times as these?!"

"Well you never follow the rules," Savage began.

"Enough," Regulus growled, lifting his left wing in a motion that clearly served as a gesture for silence. "There will be no need for further discussing of this matter. It is now clear that, despite our high hopes, those of his Malevolence's inner circle, and even those of his Malevolence himself, you are unfit to serve as our leader. As of now, you are dismissed."

Savage's eyes widened, and he hurriedly extended his right hand towards Regulus and the other demons in his squadron before shouting, "Wait, you don't have to do this, I can still bring those items here . . ."

A single shadow demon among Regulus's squadron snapped his fingers, and Savage shrieked as he found himself falling straight down into a shadowy vortex that appeared under his feet without warning. No sooner had Savage's head completely entered the vortex when the demon who'd summoned it caused it to close shut with a second snap of its fingers. Then the demon looked up towards the sky, lifted its hand, and snapped its fingers a third time. In a flash, a large vortex of shadows appeared in the sky with a bang, and Savage went rocketing out of the vortex and straight through the sky in the direction of the mainland United States, howling in horror.

Before long, the flying immortal caveman had long vanished both from sight and hearing range of all the demons, and Regulus nodded. "It seems that we were not meant to have a mortal man leading us alongside the Knights of Hell for this mission after all," he then stated solemnly before turning his entire body around to face the entirety of his squadron. "Alright men, as we have now learned, it seems that Vandal Savage will not be joining us. But nonetheless, we must give the signal for the rest of the army to join us. Imbix!"

"Yes fath . . . I mean sir?" Imbix squawked.

"Return to the chamber where the rest of the army is waiting," stated Regulus. "And upon arrival, you must work to complete the following two errands; one, inform the Knights that they are now to serve as the sole overall mission control leaders for this mission, and two, sound the all clear for everyone else aside from the Knights and the two absentees to join up with us here in this valley."

"Will do," Imbix screeched before he then took off into the air, reverted to his incorporeal form, and zoomed back down through the open Devil's Gate to fulfill his newest commands. After Imbix had departed, the other demons in the squadron looked to Regulus and Sicklebough for further instruction.

Regulus took one look at his second in command, and then nodded his head up and down. Sicklebough grunted in acknowledgement, looked straight at the underling soldiers of the squadron, and stated, "For now, we shall stand at ease until Imbix comes back with the remainder of our forces."

Meanwhile, Robin and the other Titans had managed to arrive at the entrance to the Valley of the Portals at the exact same time that the squadron of demons had begun their chat with Savage and were now unobtrusively peeking through the entrance into the valley. As the teenage heroes proceeded to observe the demons currently present in the valley as well as the three portals, they soon found their eyes narrowing when they saw just how far away each of the portals, particularly the machinery designed for opening the Alpha Stairway to Heaven, was from the entrance to the valley, and thus how very little options they had for hiding places and similar ways to avoid getting spotted by the demons.

"Hmm, this could be pretty difficult," Robin whispered.

"Wow, what gave it away?"

For a moment, Robin and the other Titans gaped at Beast Boy in shock. Granted, it wasn't so much that someone had made this comment that shocked them as it was the fact that it had been Beast Boy who'd said it. Beast Boy directed a look that said, 'Why are you looking at me?' towards his friends, and then they all got themselves back on task.

Robin raised his eyebrow as he continued to watch the currently casually relaxing demons. "Considering how they're mind readers, I'm surprised they haven't already discovered our presence here by now," he whispered.

"Yet here they are, not even bothering to try to examine the area for intruders," Raven whispered back in agreement.

"I guess they must have thought that they wouldn't need to," said Cyborg. "After all, I highly doubt that either they or Savage were expecting you to come anywhere near this place after what happened back in that other valley we just left."

Robin thought to himself, and then nodded. "That does make sense. I mean, Savage certainly didn't appear to know about our presence here before his summary dismissal." He then looked back at the demons. "Heck, if I wanted to, I could probably go right ahead and give the order for us to attack, and we'd probably be able to take out a fair chunk of this little squadron before they even have the chance to fully realize that they're under attack."

"While very true that would also be most unwise," said Starfire. "And likewise, attempting to sneak our way through the valley will be near impossible with nowhere to hide if they were to look in our direction."

"Maybe we won't need to sneak our way to the Heaven Portal," suggested Beast Boy. The other Titans turned their attention to the changeling. "Maybe you could go ahead and walk right in here and announce your presence to them," he then said while pointing at Robin.

The Boy Wonder's eyes narrowed. "While I admit that would very likely not be the first thing these demons will be expecting, how is just going ahead and yelling to them that we're here going to help?"

"I didn't say we were going to announce our presence," said Beast Boy. "I said that maybe you could announce your presence."

Robin raised his eyebrow. "And how would going in there with them on my own be any more helpful?"

"We have the element of surprise," Beast Boy responded.

Robin glared, and was just about to state a sarcastic retort before Beast Boy then continued, "And yes, I do know that they will be expecting neither for you to be here, nor for you to have the Paradisiacal Key in your possession, but there's also one other thing that they will be find equally unexpected."

Robin thought to himself. "And what would that be?"

"Hello," Beast Boy whispered. "They think that we're dead remember?"

Robin's eyes widened as he finally realized what Beast Boy was getting at. "You're right," he stated. "Of course, they don't yet know that you guys are still alive."

"Exactly," said Beast Boy. "That being said, if we plan it just right, then I think that we might be able to seriously take these guys by surprise, take them out, and still have enough time to get the Stairway to Heaven opened before the rest of the demons arrive."

At the sound of all this, Cyborg, Starfire, and Raven looked at Robin, nodding their heads in agreement.

"I hate to say this," said Raven. "But right now, I think we can safely call you a genius."

"I have my moments," said Beast Boy.

"Alright team," said Robin. "Get ready. I have an idea now, but I'll need you to listen carefully right now so that it unfolds the way we need it to."

. . . . .

About five minutes or so later, Regulus found himself grunting in anticipation when he saw a small hellish gemstone on a chain around his neck begin to brightly glow in an alternating fashion. This event could only mean one thing. "I've received the signal," he then stated. Sicklebough and the present subordinates turned their heads to face their captain, standing to attention in the process. "The rest of our forces will be on their way real soon, so get ready."

"Well too bad they're gonna miss the show."

Caught off guard, all 194 of the demons in the valley turned to face the area where they'd heard this unexpected voice coming from, only to then find themselves smirking and chuckling smugly at the sight of none other than Robin standing in the valley a couple feet in front of the entrance. With his body positioned so that he was standing fully upright and erect, his arms folded across his chest, and his usual emotionless pokerfaced expression on his face, the Boy Wonder looked as if he meant business.

Smiling with a hint of arrogance, Regulus gazed intently at the caped crusader and stated, "Well, well, well, I must admit, I was not expecting you to show your face here Boy Wonder."

"Sorry to disappoint you," Robin replied nonchalantly with a straight face.

Regulus chuckled, shook his head side to side, and then stated, "On the contrary, it would have been a real disappointment if you hadn't shown up."

"Well then I'm glad I didn't disappoint," Robin responded without missing a beat.

"Indeed," Regulus stated with a chuckle. "After all, it seems all the more fitting that a hero like you stand in our way one last time before the end of the world."

"Who said the world would end tonight, let alone that this would be the last time someone like me would stand in your way?" Robin asked cockily.

"Well I doubt it really needs to be said," Regulus responded. "After all, you're here all alone against 194 of us, plus his Malevolence knows how many others soon to arrive. Your friends are up in Heaven and all the other living heroes are unable to enter this island. Therefore, I daresay that your chances of stopping us are looking pretty bleak for you."

"Maybe they are, maybe they aren't," Robin stated. "Maybe I'm alone, maybe I'm not. Maybe I'll win, maybe I'll lose. Maybe the world will end tonight, and maybe it won't. But whatever happens here tonight, I'm not going to let the world end without a fight." As he said the last part, he got into what could clearly be recognized as an attack stance. At this point, the demons all looked intently at him with clear interest. And then, right as all the demons had their attention focused on Robin, the Boy Wonder noticed a flash of dark energy briefly surround the demons before then fading away to reveal a small circle of smoke sticks around the entire group of the Hellish beings. Robin smirked at the sight of this, for due to how all the demons had been distracted by their being focused on Robin, none of them had noticed the sudden appearance of the smoke sticks or shadowy energy that had allowed them to appear.

However, it would not have been reasonable to expect the demons to never catch onto Robin's smirking towards them. Sure enough, Regulus managed to notice the smug look that was ow on Robin's face. Eyes narrowing, he stated, "Something funny you'd like to tell us about?"

"Yes," Robin stated. "As a matter of fact there is." As he said this, he heard the sound of his friends, who were currently still hiding by the entrance to the valley, preparing themselves for entry. He smiled to himself as he thought of this matter, for the time would soon be right for the plan to fully be put into action. Chuckling, Robin then said, "You know how my kin consider ourselves the dominant race in this world?"

"How could I not?" Regulus responded. The demon chuckled, his amethyst colored eyes agleam with smug arrogance, and stated, "Honestly, my kin and his Malevolence are quite aware of this matter due to how much close attention we pay to your kin when looking for sinners to stake our claims on. And to be honest, there are some among your species who act so arrogant about the matter that it surpasses even us." The other demons promptly nodded and grumbled in agreement.

Robin nodded his head with his eyes closed in agreement. "I will not deny it, you certainly speak the truth this time." He then stared directly back at the demons once more. "And on that same note, have you also noticed how, as a result of this, my kin, much like any apex predator among animals, rarely ever feel the need to look up?"

"You can bet on your tights we have," said Regulus. "Honestly, it seriously boggles my mind how you lot can possibly consider yourself the dominant race when the majority of you are too stupid to ever bother looking up anymore." At this, Regulus, Sicklebough, and all the subordinate demons in the squadron started laughing their heads off.

Robin grinned wolfishly at the laughing demons. When the demons finally stopped, they finally noticed the smirk, and found their eyebrows rising in suspicion. "Too true," Robin stated enigmatically. "Too true."

Regulus glared at Robin, for he was starting to get a feeling that something was up. "Is there something you're hiding from us?"

"Not above you there isn't," Robin replied. He then stepped forward, his left hand behind his back as if he were reaching for something. The demons noticed this, and they crouched as if in preparation for lunging at him to attack. Robin only continued to grin, and he stated, "However, as important as it is to look up, it's sometimes equally important to look down."

At the sound of this comment, the demons all looked confused. "Huh?" asked Regulus.

In that instant, Robin made his move. Before the demons had a chance to react, Robin drew his left hand back in front of him, drawing out one of his explosive fire disks in the process, and then threw the disk down right at the very front of the ring of smoke sticks surrounding the group of demons. Within seconds, the fiery blast caused all the sticks to burst into a massive cloud of thick black smoke that engulfed the demons and blocked their sight. Even though he could no longer see them now, Robin smiled as he heard the sound of all the demons coughing and sputtering within the thick smoky mass he'd cloaked them in.

The demons themselves, on the other hand, were quite displeased with this. In fact, they were so caught up in coughing and trying to wave away the smoke, that they paid absolutely zero attention to the metallic clanging from outside the smoke; a particularly loud clanging that sounded far too heavy to come from Robin's steel tipped boots. Over time, the demons managed to catch their breath in spite of how there was still smoke in the area around them. Regulus turned his head to face the direction where he'd originally been staring at Robin, and though he couldn't see the spiky haired boy through the veil of smoke, he still snarled in the direction from which he'd last seen the teenage caped crusader. "You have won nothing from this Boy Wonder!" Regulus squawked. "You may have managed to catch us off guard with that clumsy trick, but you will not stop us from fulfilling his Malevolence's dream tonight!"

"That's what you think!" shouted an unexpectedly familiar voice coming from the right of the assembled squadron of demons. Their eyes widened at the sound of this particular voice, one that they'd earlier been told to have been permanently silenced hours ago, and they all turned their heads to look in that direction, just in time for the smoke curtain on that side of them to be parted by a large metallic fist that came flying right towards them.

Within seconds, Cyborg's blindingly fast right hook pummeled Regulus right in the beak, and the purple demon was sent hurtling backward by the force of the blow. The smoke then vanished entirely, and all the demons managed to get a clear full view of Cyborg, standing there with his fists still clenched, the look of a battle-ready warrior in both his human and cybernetic eye, and looking very much alive and well.

The demon's' eyes widened, and they involuntarily took a step back in shock at the sight of the heavy built bionic teenager that they'd been told to have been dead. "Impossible," Sicklebough hissed. "Lord Asmodeus . . . he said you were dead . . ."

"Ya'll think this isn't enough of a wakeup call!?" Cyborg yelled. "Well how about this then?!"

No sooner had Cyborg shouted this, when he proceeded to trigger a massive shockwave of ultrasonic noise waves from his entire body. The unexpected attack sent the entire remainder of the squadron flying backward right towards their already knocked over captain. They didn't even get the chance to get back on their feet after landing before Cyborg jumped up in the air, did a single front flip, activated his right sonic cannon, and opened fire at them from the air.

The blast fired from the sonic cannon was so large and powerful, that it blasted a large number of the demons it hit to dust straight away. By the time the sonic blast faded away, and the remaining 120 demons still alive (Regulus and Sicklebough included) had managed to finally get back on their feet, Cyborg was already on the verge of landing right in front of them with his fists raised up and coated in electricity. Then the cybernetic teenage hero landed, slamming his electrified fists on the ground at the same time. In a flash, all the demons screamed in agony as they were engulfed in the massive shockwave of electricity that was sent bursting across the ground from Cyborg's fisted. Within seconds, all 20 of the remaining shadow demons among the squadron burst into dust, and the 20 wind demons were left barely alive.

When the electricity faded away, the demons still alive all glared as one at the now very smug looking bionic teenager. Growling, Regulus angrily squawked, "You may have survived Lord Asmodeus's attack you infernal piece of scrap metal! But you and your spiky haired comrade will not stop us from enshrouding your entire world in the darkness of his Malevolence!"

"You want dark?" growled another unexpectedly familiar voice, but this time coming from not too far above the demons and in the direction from which Robin had been standing. "I'll give you dark! AZARATH, METRION, ZINTHOS!"

The demons had just enough time to look up and see Raven hovering right there with her now shadow cloaked hands pointing towards them before a tremendous maelstrom of massive shadowy lightning sprang down from the sky and plunged down on the entire squadron of them. The storm of shadow lightning struck the demons with such force that it both blasted all 20 of the water demons and 17 of the remaining wind demons to dust, and severely winded the 63 demons that survived.

Panting and growling, the demons that remained of the squadron all got up on their feet, shook their heads side to side in a mixture of pain and annoyance, and then growled angrily. "You may have managed to survive Lord Azazel's attempt to eliminate you daughter of Trigon," Regulus stated in a tone that sounded as if he were spitting out the title 'daughter of Trigon'. "But you and your two lucky friends will yet fail to . . ."

Right as he'd been saying this, Regulus, Sicklebough, and the other demons had happened to turn around to face the area where Raven had been hovering over just in time to see Raven slowly hover down to the ground and land smoothly on her feet. However, it wasn't the sight of the sorceress landing on the ground that caused Regulus to pause in his speech or for his eyes as well as those of the other demons in his squadron to widen in shock. The reason behind that action, was the sight of the massive green t-rex that stomped right over to the area directly behind Raven.

As the demons continued to gape in stunned horror at the scene, the massive green dinosaur growled, leaned its head so that it could directly stare the demons straight in the eyes, and directed a predatory glare of such fury towards them that even Regulus found himself feeling as if Lucifer himself were glaring at him in disapproval. At the sight of the terrified look on the faces of the demons gathered in front of him and Raven, Beast Boy's eyes narrowed further. "You think you're so scary?" he thought to himself, an ominous rumbling growl beginning to rise out from his throat and tightly clenched jaws. "I'll give you something to be scared of." No sooner had Beast Boy had this thought when he growled, swiftly lowered his head so that his lower jaw was literally centimeters away from the back of Raven's head, and unleashed an earthshaking, "RRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR!"

The awe-inspiring roar of fury that now poured from Beast Boy's gaping t-rex jaws was so loud and full of power that it seemed as if the Earth itself was roaring. In fact, the roar turned out to be so powerful that five of the twenty thunder demons among the group promptly burst into golden yellow dust. "How is this possible?" Regulus asked himself incredulously as he and the remaining demons involuntarily began to step backwards in fear. "I could certainly accept the possibility of one or two of them surviving, but three? There's no way that could possibly have happened without . . ."

Beast Boy roared at the demons again, took a step back, and then charged headlong towards the pack of demons, taking great care to step over Raven without letting any part of him touch her. The more fainthearted demons among the group screamed in fright and started to run away. Regulus, Sickelbaugh, and the other 39 demons that were braver stood their ground. "Stand together men," Regulus growled. "On my command . . . !" In a flash, with a swing of his head, Beast Boy sent one half of the group of braver demons to their right, and a second swing in the opposite direction knocked the remaining half to their left. No sooner had he effectively removed this last obstacle in his path when he roared at the 17 demons that were trying to flee and proceeded to further increase his pace in his headlong charge towards them.

Within seconds, the two subordinate wind demons had just enough time to look behind them and shriek in terror before Beast Boy's gigantic right foot slammed down on them and plowed them firmly up against the ground, causing them to burst into dust seconds after he lifted that very foot to continue his running. The 15 thunder demons that were also fleeing not too far ahead of the two luckless wind demons fared no better. Right as they were seconds away from reaching the open hole that would lead back to the safety of Hell, Beast Boy managed to take a massive leap forward, and the force of his landing caused a powerful enough shockwave to both instantly kill five of the demons and knock the remaining ten off their feet so that they went sprawling on their bellies inches away from the hole.

Beast Boy grunted, and turned his head to face Raven. The sorceress nodded, and opened a shadowy portal directly next to Beast Boy. A large spout of sand came pouring down on the ground to the verdant dinosaur's right. Beast Boy grunted in an apparent gesture of thanks, turned into a woolly mammoth, and sucked the sand up into his trunk before pointing it at the 10 prone demons and sending all the sand pouring out at them much like water from a hose.

The makeshift sand storm plowed into the demons and caused all but one of them to explode into dust. When the buffeting maelstrom of sand finally ended, the remaining thunder demon was barely alive. Groaning and wheezing in pain, he got on his hands and knees and attempted to get up. However, he suddenly shrieked in shock and terror when he felt something grab him by the tail and drag him backwards. Beast Boy had walked over to the demon and wrapped his wooly trunk around its tail before then dragging it away and lifting it skyward.

The demon could only scream in panic as Beast Boy the mammoth proceeded to spin him around in the air and then send him flying straight into the wall of one of the cliffs that formed the entrance boundary for the valley. The demon coughed and wheezed, and attempted to get back up. But Beast Boy was too fast for him, and he soon picked the demon up by the tail with his trunk once more.

Seconds after lifting the demon up in the air a second time, he reared upward, trumpeting angrily, and then proceeded to slam the demon down hard on the ground again and again in quick fashion. The demon was powerless to resist s Beast Boy repeatedly slammed him down on the ground over and over and over again. When Beast Boy pounded him on the ground for the 27th time, the luckless thunder demon burst into dust.

The large green woolly mammoth turned around to face the remaining demons, who'd all managed to get up and regroup at this point, trumpeted in triumph towards them, and then shifted back to his human form. A wolfish grin on his face, the changeling stated smugly, "Your low and puny Knights of Hell may have attempted to kill me and my friends, but as Ian Malcolm so eloquently put it, life found a way." Raven, Cyborg, and Robin promptly rolled their eyes at the sound of their friend's not entirely opportune timing for choosing to make a pop culture reference.

At this point, Regulus found himself beyond furious, and he pointed his right wing accusingly at Beast Boy before shouting, "I don't care how many of you miraculously turn out to be alive tonight, but mark my words! By the end of this night, the world will be enshrouded in the eternal darkness of villainy forevermore!"

"Then let the world remember this light!"

At the sound of this fourth unexpectedly familiar voice that was coming from directly above them, the demons all looked up just in time to see Starfire floating right above them as she slapped her green glowing hands together. With a massive flash and bang, the energy on her hands explosively expanded into an omnidirectional blast of green ultraviolet energy that promptly expanded down towards the ground, immolating the demons almost as if they'd been caught in a solar flare. In fact, 19 of the poison demons had just enough time to howl in agony before they burst into flames and exploded into dust.

When the ocean of star bolt energy was gone, the remaining demons all managed to weakly get up, and then they all glared straight towards the Titans, growling in fury. Then, right as they were about to attack, they all found themselves under attack from a mass onslaught of distinctive blue disks hurled at them by Robin. However, what the demons didn't expect was that, instead of the sub zero frosty air that usually came out of these disks, circular blasts of water were released. And within seconds, all 20 of the fire demons were reduced to soggy heaps of red dust, whereas Sicklebough and Regulus were left quite bedraggled.

Robin smirked at the sight of this, for now he could never have felt more confident in the Titans' chances of succeeding this evening. But then the two remaining demons growled and started to move as if attempting to get up. In a flash, all five of the teenage heroes got back into a battle ready position.

Sicklebough was the first of the two demons to get back on his feet, and he snarled lividly before abruptly teleporting out of sight. The Titans barely even had a chance to notice that he was gone until they heard the sound of him reappear from somewhere to their left, or in Starfire's case, right behind her. Robin turned his head, saw Sicklebough standing there with his tail positioned as if about to sting the Tamaranean in the back, and his eyes widened.

However, right as Robin was on the verge of pointing behind Starfire and shouting a warning, Sicklebough sent the barbed tip of his tail zooming towards Starfire's back. Robin was just about to lunge towards Sicklebough in a desperate attempt to save Starfire when the Tamaranean committed an action that left him even more shocking. Right as Sicklebough's tail was inches away from jabbing into her back, the Tamaranean warrior princess reached backward with her right hand, quick as a viper, and grasped tightly onto the demon's tail right at the area where the barb connected to the tail. And she did it without even turning to face the demon.

Sicklebough had just enough time to briefly grimace, and then gape in shock at what had happened, before Starfire turned her head to face him, a livid glare on her face. Seconds later, before Sicklebough could do anything, Starfire rapidly turned her entire body around to face the demon, twisting the barb on his tail in a clockwise direction at the same time. Sicklebough howled as he felt his tail get painfully twisted, only to then find himself gaping in clear horror at the sight of Starfire proceeding to grasp onto the barb with both hands and positioning herself as if about to push it downward. Robin also had a very good idea what Starfire was about to do, and he was quite surprised. The other Titans, strangely enough, didn't seem to think anything different about Starfire's current behavior.

Seconds later, Sicklebough opened his mouth, and seemed to be just on the verge of speaking when Starfire growled inarticulately and thrusted her makeshift spear downwards until it jabbed him right in the area where his heart would have been located if he were a human.

"RRRAAARRRGGGHHH!" Sicklebough roared as he felt himself get stabbed by his own tail. But the worst was yet to come for the luckless demon, as Starfire then proceeded to twist the barb around clockwise. Sicklebough stiffened in a completely upright position, snapped his jaws open, and howled in agony as he proceeded to go up in green crackling lightning. After what felt like an eternity to Sicklebough, the demon managed to unleash a final despairing roar before he then burst into a cloud of green dust.

Starfire turned around to face her friends, only to find that Robin was staring at her in clear shock at the unusual brutality she had just shown. Then they were all brought back down to Earth when they heard Regulus shout, "WHY YOU! I'LL KILL YOU FOR THIS!" The Titans turned to face the area just in time to see Regulus swoop towards them.

Acting purely on instinct, Robin summoned his sword and thrust it straight at Regulus. The tip went right through the demon's open beak and jabbed out through the back of his head. Regulus shrieked in pain as he was engulfed in purple lightning before then exploding into a shower of purple dust.

It seemed as if only seconds had passed before the Titans heard a voice from in front of them say, "I've done what you asked father, the others are on their way . . ." The five teenage heroes looked in that direction in time to see Imbix now standing agape a couple feet away from the still open Devil's Gate, clearly surprised at the sight of the five teenage heroes standing around before the hodgepodge of dust that remained of his father and the other members of the squadron he'd been assigned to. With a squawk of fright, Imbix turned around and proceeded to fly back towards the Devil's Gate once more in an attempt to both escape and sound the alarm.

However, fate had other plans for Imbix that night. Raven extended her hand towards the fleeing wind demon, and in a flash, a ring of shadowy energy clamped itself around the tip of Imbix's tail from thin air. Imbix had just enough time to shriek in surprise before Raven then caused the energy ring to rapidly move towards her, dragging Imbix along with it. Only when Imbix was within reach of her hands did Raven finally dismiss the shadowy energy ring, and the demon didn't even get the chance to hit the ground before Beast Boy turned into a spinosaurus, grabbed the demon by the neck with his jaws as well as both of his hands, and then yanking upward in a backwards arc, snapping the demon's neck.

Robin had just enough time to find his eye widening in both shock and horror at this unexpected brutality from both Raven and Beast Boy before the giant green spinosaurus threw the corpse away. The dead demon came to a crashing land a meter or two behind Robin. No sooner had Imbix's dead body come to a complete stop on the ground and burst into dust when Beast Boy proceeded to get down on all fours, snap his jaws at the empty air, and then rear his head upward while unleashing a high pitched warbling roar that soon made Robin feel as if the earth itself were shaking beneath his feet.

This time, even Cyborg and Starfire weren't entirely unphased by the display of brutality. Whistling nervously, Cyborg directed a slight glance at Beast Boy, and then whispered to Robin, "Remind me not to piss him off." Robin could only nod slightly in complete stunned silence. He was beginning to wonder just how much they actually remembered about their earlier deaths without realizing and whether or not these same memories were now potentially causing them to subconsciously feel the need to be extra brutal towards demons in general as a sort of vengeance.

Beast Boy then reverted back to his human form, looked around the now momentarily empty area around them with a smile on his face, and said, "Huh, with those guys out of the way, we might actually just have enough time to close the gates right now without even needing to use the Angel Key."

Unfortunately, right after Beast Boy said this, the ground started shaking violently beneath the feet of the five teenage heroes. In the midst of their struggling to stay on their feet, the Titans managed to glance towards the still open Devil's Gate and realize with a jolt that the noise seemed to be particularly loud within that area. Realizing instantly what was happening, Robin looked over to Beast Boy with a glare. "You just had to say that didn't you?" Beast Boy had just enough time to direct a sheepish look towards Robin as if silently saying 'oops' before a massive geyser of multicolored smoke erupted from out of the Devil's Gate.

And just like that, another chapter done! I hope you all enjoyed this! And do feel free to comment on whatever element you wish in your feedback. I especially hope you found this chapter exciting with all the action that's occurred. And for the sake of all, let's hope that things sail smoothly in regard to Robin's eventually letting the other Titans know the truth. Then again, you can never be entirely certain how well things will work out for situations like this. Oh well, again, here's to hoping you all enjoyed and will leave a respectable amount of feedback. ^_^

Coming up next: With all Hell's worth of demons now on their way out of Hell to initiate the second attempt at the apocalypse, the Titans now have to fight harder than ever to save the world. Will our favorite teenage heroes be able to fight off the demons long enough to summon some now very much needed help from the angels? Or will the forces of Lucifer win in the end? And what about Robin's deal? Just how long will the Titans have to wait before they learn the full truth about what happened in the valley where they battled the Knights of Hell? And for that matter, from who will they learn this information? Robin? Someone better? Or someone worse? Find out next time, on Night of the Cursed!