Titans: Elemental

Chapter 112: The End, Part 1

We see a large round skylight, seen from below, through which the clear blue sky can be seen. The sun moves into view and Trigon's deep, grating voice begins to speak.

"The time has come. The prophecy shall be fulfilled. Tonight at dusk, when the planets align…."

We look down from the skylight to see the spacious underground chamber the Titans discovered. The demon's four red eyes shine on a sculpted head, and electricity crackles between the fingers of the stone hand on its central pillar.

"... the portal will be opened."

We look down through the floor and stop in the underground cavern where we last left Slade. He is kneeling before a solid sheet of flames.

"Finally, I shall be free from this fiery prison, and the Earth shall be mine."

We look across the river of lava before which he is genuflecting; behind him is the monolith with Trigon's blazing crest, also known as the Mark of Skath.

Slade, "I will make sure that Raven realizes her destiny."

Trigon's eyes gaze at him above the fire.

Slave, "and for bringing you your precious gem…. I expect you to keep your part of the bargain…. And return what is precious to me."

A row of Marks appears on the cavern wall behind the four eyes.

"You bring me the gem…. And you shall get what you deserve."

Slade, "deal."

He stands up as the walls tile themselves with the Mark, we circle around him to show the ring of jagged S's stretching around the entire perimeter.

Slade, "it's a beautiful day for the end of the world…."

….

We see Raven's room in Titans Tower and look to her bed as the sun begins to rise over the Jump City skyline framed in her window. She is sleeping peacefully and starts to wake up at this first light. What snaps her up with a terrified gasp, though, are the burning red runes that appear all over her body, the ones that Slade laid on her.

Raven, "no…"

….

We later see Raven on the roof, watching the sunrise. She has donned her cloak, which she did not wear while sleeping. The breeze toys idly with her hair and cloak, but her concentration is focused on her marked forearms. The brand across her forehead has faded out.

Dick, "what are you doing up so early?"

His voice startles her into covering up both arms; now he walks up from behind.

Raven, "I could ask you the same thing."

Dick, "I love the sunrise. The promise of a new day, anything's possible."

Raven, "you always so cheery this early?"

Dick, "pretty much. Looks like it's going to be a beautiful day."

Raven, "yeah. Hungry?"

….

Jack is standing in front of a mirror in his room. He takes a deep breath as he holds something in his pocket.

Jack, "you can do this, Jack…. Ask her if she wants to go out on the town tonight. Have a good time. Then ask her…. Y'know…. Sigh, okay, let's do this…."

….

We later see some nameless brown glop, five puddles of it, smoking and bubbling angrily on the kitchen stovetop, then see Raven staring worriedly at the lot. Her markings have subsided. She might be trying to make pancakes; if so, the experiment appears to be a complete failure. One of them pops up a short distance and is regarded with some unease by Dick when he pokes his head out from behind her. Finally, she pulls out a spatula and flips up one serving with considerable effort; the edges have burned and stuck to the surface. It sails across the counter toward the gape-mouthed Dick, who sidesteps just in time to catch it with his plate instead of his face. However, it is so heavy that he is pulled off balance and down to the floor, and he stands up with his arm still shaking.

Dick, "nice flip."

Kom', Bryan, Rose, Changeling, Vic, and Starfire pop up behind him and peer cautiously toward the weird brown mush. Briefly giving the group a funny look over her shoulder, Raven carries over a dish piled high with the food and smiles.

Raven, "morning. Pancakes?"

Changeling, "uh…. Thanks?"

Starfire, "what is the occasion?"

Kom', "yeah, did Jack propose or something?"

Bryan laughed. That's right when Jack entered.

He asked, "what's that smell?"

Rose, "Raven made…. Pancakes?"

Jack, "really, how come?"

Raven blushed, "c-can't I just do something nice for my friends?

Vic, "um…. Yeah, but…."

Changeling, "... you never have before."

Raven aims a squint-eyed grimace.

The eight nervously beaming diners at the counter each now have a full plate.

Changeling, "guess there's a first time for everything."

He voices a little chuckle, whereupon they begin to chow down. The crunching sounds from within their mouths tell right away that her experiment not only looks like a failure, it tastes like one as well. We see Starfire's flushing face at one end of the counter, looking along its length. Jack tries to give a polite smile, Dick's eyes narrow to points, Kom' looks seasick, Vic loses his fork with a gummy-mouthed shudder, Bryan cringes, Rose looks like her only eye might pop out of her skull and Changeling's utensil just hangs between his teeth. After a long moment, he lets it drop and his cheeks bulge out of all proportion as he struggles to keep from tossing his cookies on the carpet. The next things to happen, all in the space of about one second, are the fainting of Vic, Dick's cheeks similarly bulging out in revulsion of the taste, and he, Bryan, Rose and Changeling ducking under the counter to eject their stomachs. Jack desperately tries to keep down the food after swallowing.

Raven turns away, crushed. Changeling slides down to the floor almost immediately to continue vomiting, while Vic struggles back up. Dick manages to get back into his seat and noticing Raven's sadness, immediately attempts to argue Raven made a valid effort.

Dick, "don't you think it's nice of Raven to make us breakfast?"

Jack, "y-yeah. Tastes…. Great, babe."

Vic lifts one arm from behind the counter, bringing up a bottle of maple syrup, and proceeds to drown his breakfast in it.

Vic, "even though the girl has no clue how to cook…."

Rose elbows him angrily and points across the counter.

Vic gives a thumbs-up, "oops, did I say that out loud? Yum!"

Starfire and Kom' are eagerly packing it away. The fork is in one hand, a bottle of mustard; Starfire's favorite beverage, is in the other, and she has one bite to go.

Starfire, "burnt on the outside, yet runny on the inside. Just like the incinerated glorka roaches of my home world."

She eats it and holds out her plate.

Kom', "now THIS is a home cooked meal."

Starfire and Kom', "more, please!"

Everyone reaches into view and deposits their "pancakes" on their plates.

Starfire, "what a glorious way to start the day!"

The sound of gurgling causes Raven to direct a puzzled glance over her shoulder, looking sidewise at the other Titans. Starfire loads her second helping up with mustard, Kom' is already gobbling his food down, Vic is busy shooting syrup into Changeling's open mouth: the gurgling was his, and Dick is pumping his fist to cheer him on. Bryan is gulping down a glass of water as Rose goes over to the couch. Jack is inspecting his staff for a moment.

We see this whole display of mealtime silliness. Raven's fist thumps down on the counter. However, it and her voice are rather more casual, or at least her best effort at it.

Jack, "so, Raven…. Anything planned today?"

Raven, "actually, I was thinking…. After breakfast, you guys wanna, maybe, you know, hang out or something?"

She forces a huge grin onto her face, the crackling of her cheeks revealing just how great a strain this is for her, and the others are all VERY confused. Something starts to beep; Dick reveals the source by pulling out his communicator and opening it.

Dick, "it'll have to wait."

Jack gave a light groan.

Dick puts the device away and peels out. We see the living room door, which opens to let everyone but Raven and Jack charge out. They are left alone at the kitchen counter.

Raven uses her powers to raise her hood, which has been down to this point.

Jack, "um, Raven? Do you mind if we talk after we do this mission?"

Raven, "um, sure…."

The couple goes after the rest of the team….

….

We see a radioactive hazard symbol. A grating screech is heard as a large purplish hand digs in and drags the whole thing up. Wheels are seen underneath during this movement; we pull back to show the symbol on the side of a tanker truck and the hand as belonging to Plasmus. The setting is a street in Jump City. He tips the rig, directing the tank's liquid waste into his mouth, while the driver and his coworker jump free and run for it along with a couple of onlookers. The empty truck is then slammed into a building and thrown to the street, filling the area with smoke and flame from its skid along the pavement.

We see a blast spreading upward from ground level, and then see the Titans make the scene. Starfire is carrying Vic, Kom' is carrying Rose, Jack is on a slab with Bryan on it, Dick is being towed by Changeling as a pterodactyl, and Raven brings up the rear. A quick rove through the streets brings us back to Plasmus, who screams just before the attack begins: eye blast, laser blasts and sonic cannon shot, Vic, Rose, Bryan and Dick being dropped, the latter hurling a disc. Raven is left alone in midair for the moment.

Raven, "Plasmus? It's just Plasmus."

The shape-shifter is hurled back into view as a rhinoceros and crashes into a building. He then tumbles to a lower rooftop and sits up in human form, rubbing his head.

Changeling, "yeah, but he's still ugly as ever."

Jack powers up an ice attack and says, "I think he keeps getting uglier…."

The walking slimeball drags up the tanker truck and gets ready for another flying Starfire/Dick charge.

Dick, "put down the tanker, you big glob of goo!"

The vehicle is thrown at him upside down; Starfire lets go of him so he can run along its undercarriage and leap clear at the end. Out comes another disc, which rapidly freezes Plasmus' entire body upon striking the chest. Jack throws in his own ice beam for good measure. The world's nastiest Popsicle is then shattered by Changeling's rush from behind as a tyrannosaurus rex; an instant later, though, Plasmus reforms himself and screams in fury.

Jack and Dick, "Titans! Go!"

All charge in, Changeling having become a pterodactyl again, and the leader pulls out his fighting staff for a twirl as he goes. As Starfire and Kom' strafe with eye blasts, he tries a swing only to be swatted away and go flying past Raven.

Raven, "Nightwing!"

Exerting her powers over his body, she brings him up just short of a rather inconveniently placed building and lowers him to the street.

Dick gives her a thumbs-up, "thanks. I owe you one."

He dashes across the road to rejoin the fight, and for the second time in thirty seconds, she is alone and unsure of what to do with herself.

Raven, "yeah…. Sure."

She moves in. Now Vic digs his fingers into the corner of a street lamp and heaves with all his might to uproot the entire thing. Once he has torn it free of the foundations, he swings it around and smashes Plasmus squarely across the face; the aggressor suddenly finds himself airborne and hurtling over the rooftops. He crashes through two buildings, disappears into the roof of a third, and finally slams down in a distant street. The area fills with dust from the impact, after which we see a scrawny, shaven-headed, bare-chested man lying amid the rubble. Liberally, festooned with ribbons of purple slime and clad only in a pair of ragged trunks, he is asleep and breathing fitfully. Recall that this is Plasmus' human form-prisoner 385901, which he assumes only when sleeping.

The Titans gather at the edge of the crater to check him over; Changeling has resumed human form. 385901's face scrunches up and his eyes pop open, and in an instant he has become Plasmus again and rolled himself into a ball in an attempt to flatten the heroes. A fire blast from Jack rips him apart into gobbets of sludge that fall every which way, but in no time, they have flung themselves at the wizard and completely buried him. The mass reconstitutes itself into Plasmus, whose gut bulges slightly due to the Titan trying to fight his way out. Starfire swings around to the front and dives in for an eye-beam strafe; he tries to swat her down, but she dodges and zeroes in on the distended abdomen. Her full-throttle charge smashes her deep into the slimy body and out the back, carrying Jack a short distance before both tumble to the street. Both are liberally doused with green muck from the monster's innards.

Starfire, "that was most unpleasant."

Plasmus' shadow throws itself over them both; now he fixes himself up, and he lets off a fresh howl of rage and sends a mass of gooey tentacles from his body toward the prone pair. Just in the nick of time, Raven arrives and throws up a shield that stretches all the way across the street to block the strike, so that the disgusting material piles up in a purple swamp. Realizing that he has been aced out, Plasmus breaks off and melts himself down to flow over to a tanker truck parked nearby. He then reforms, yanks the whole thing up with too many hands, and breaks it in half; this one is also carrying nuclear waste, and he drinks his fill. However, Changeling swoops in as a falcon and starts digging his talons into any body parts that present themselves easily. The truck's remains are flung aside; as the Titan bird of prey streaks away, he is seized and yanked close to the double-wide mouth.

Plasmus sniffs at Changeling, who resumes human form while clutched in that huge fist, and lets off a violent sneeze that propels the would-be snack away in a flood of snot. Phlegm and the dripping teen fly in all directions down the block. Changeling bounces to a stop, his legs sticking up in the air.

Changeling, "ewww! Only one thing worse than goo."

Raven, "sneeze goo."

Changeling, "gross."

Down the way, Vic backs up and keeps his cannon going full tilt as Plasmus looms over him. Now properly cleaned up, the big man shifts his aim to a different spot on the torso, revealing the hole he has already blasted through it. Plasmus, however, will have no more of this and grabs Vic's right arm to slam him up against a building. Above drops a sheet of black energy like a guillotine blade; the purple forearm is neatly severed, and the barrier then plows its owner away as Vic falls free. Down comes Raven from the rooftops, the set of her jaw showing that she has no good nerves left for Plasmus to work.

Raven, "let's just finish this!"

The disgusting beast tumbles across the street and temporarily liquefies upon hitting the ground; a second later, he is back on his feet and roaring mad. Floating high above the street, Raven assumes her mediation pose.

Raven, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

Her "soul-self" emerges, taking on human form and hurdles straight at Plasmus. We see the broad mouth as the projection disappears into it, then pull back to show the entire upper body rapidly expanding as if someone had just hooked an air compressor into it. This leads to a spectacular explosion of maroon muck that splatters the entire block and leaves 385901 to drop on the sidewalk, after which the "soul-self" returns to Raven's body. The blowout has made a mess of both her and the prisoner, who has again fallen into an uneasy slumber, and globs of slime hit the ground near the other Titans before she touches down. Now, like Vic, Changeling, Jack and Starfire have cleaned the mess off themselves. Rose is squeezing some goo from her hair.

Dick, "uh…. Nice work, Raven."

Raven pushes her sodden hair back and smiles.

Raven, "who wants pizza?"

….

We see the Titans at their favorite pizza joint.

We see a single slice left on a serving dish. Several hands slam down on it at once, with Vic's at the bottom of the pile. We see the accompanying face-off; they have withdrawn their hands, Raven has hosed herself down, and Silkie pops up with Percy at the table.

Vic, "I deserve the last slice! I was covered in goo!"

Rose, "my hair was covered in that gunk! Give it to me!"

Changeling, "no way! I totally deserve the last slice! I got sneezed on!"

Starfire, "I flew through the goo. This slice is mine."

Kom' and Bryan didn't really have an argument.

Starfire brings her fist down hard enough to shake the table; not to mention the entire block, and Silkie and Percy are jolted out of their seats. The dish slides over to her and, as Raven watches with some shock, she pulls out a bottle of mustard and squirts it on the pizza. We see the pie-eyed girl, whose face quickly rearranges itself into a tranquil smile as the sound of munching drifts over to her. Vic and Changeling turned away with tears running down their cheeks.

Jack, "Raven? You okay? You're awfully quiet."

Raven, "just enjoying hanging out with my friends."

Jack held her hand and said, "you can talk to us, sweety. About anything…."

….

We see a stretch of forest, where the Titans are out for a little hike and visible as silhouettes. Changeling, at the rear, pumps his arms back and forth; his face is now the only one smiling as Raven leads the way. He carries on like this for a moment longer, then stops suddenly and recoils in shock.

Changeling, "DUDE!"

We see the lead hiker's face, whose eyes narrow to panicked points. She wheels to face back along the trail, raising a hand in preparation to use her powers, and we see a penny lying in the grass. Changeling reaches into view to pick it up; this is what brought him up short, and he straightens up and holds it triumphantly on his palm.

Changeling, "find a penny, pick it up…. Uh…. Something, something, something…. Good luck. It's my lucky day!"

Bryan, "dude, it's, 'find a penny, pick it up. All day long, you'll have good luck.' How can you forget that?!"

Raven relaxes her guard and smiles, and Changeling shrugs and goes into a victory dance that involves repeatedly pumping the hand with the coin in the air.

Vic, "anyone up for a game of Extreme Stankball after lunch?"

Rose, "nope. Last time we played that, a dirty sock got lodged in my socket and I got sick for two weeks! I am NEVER playing that game again…. Unless I'm wearing proper protection."

Vic holds up a wad of filthy, fuming laundry, and a few flies are heard buzzing nearby.

Raven, "yeah, sure."

She moves ahead, not noticing the totally dumbfounded looks on Bryan, Rose, Changeling and Vic as the latter lowers the ball. Dick, Kom', Jack and Starfire match it when they pop up nearby; Changeling is the first to get over it.

Changeling, "but you hate anything extreme, or stanky."

Raven, "maybe I never gave it a chance."

Starfire flies to her.

Starfire, "Raven, would you still have time to join me in the painting of the toenails later today?"

Raven, "sounds like fun."

Dick slides up, now very suspicious.

Dick, "okay, Raven, what gives? Pancakes? Pizza? Stankball? Toenails?"

Changeling, "yeah! And she hasn't called me stupid all day. Did someone replace Raven with a Raven robot?"

Kom', "I'd check for batteries, but I value my arms…."

To test this hypothesis, Bryan whips out a metal detector from his arm and moves toward Raven, intending to run the thing over her, but she floats hastily backward out of reach and turns away.

Raven, "I just want everyone to have a nice day today. Come on. We have a lot to do before sunset."

Jack, "well, um, hopefully I could take you out for dinner tonight."

Raven, "I'd like that…."

The sun shines warmly down on them, but with no warning it begins to darken as if the moon were passing in front to cause an eclipse. However, neither the moon nor any other heavenly body is visible in the sky; the event is happening of its own accord. The sky dims into twilight as the sun is blocked out, and once it has disappeared except for a corona around the edge, the blue deepens even more from the horizon up. Raven is pushed back and forth by some unseen force and ends up facing the team with genuine fear in her eyes.

As she struggles against the influence that has seized control of her body, we look to the incredulous teammates.

Changeling, "what's going on?"

Dick, "Raven!"

Jack, "Raven! What's going on?!"

Raven is now falling slowly backward, both arms raised to expose the shining characters that have emerged, and hits the ground on her back. The others run to her side. She is once more thoroughly covered with Slade's marks and is semi-faint, but Dick's hand pulls her partway up and shakes her out of it. We see her blurred perspective of the other four Titans.

Dick, "why didn't you tell us?"

Raven moans and focuses her eyes.

Bryan, "oh no. It's happening, isn't it?"

Starfire, "please, Raven. Today is the day? It is…."

Raven, "... the end of the world."

Tears fill her eyes, which she squeezes shut in a fruitless effort to hold them back. Jack, Bryan, Rose, Dick, Changeling, and Starfire kneel nearby while Vic, Bryan and Kom' remain standing; fear, uncertainty, and concern for the supine Titan play at top volume across all their faces. We look up into the deep blue sky and stop on Trigon's eyes, which shine in the highest reaches of the heavens.

….

We see the Tower, with lights blazing from all the windows in the premature nightfall. Inside, Dick leads the team to a closed door at the end of a hall; it opens to reveal a second door beyond, which in turn opens to admit them into another passage. Vic is carrying Raven, whose runes have faded from her body.

Dick, "okay, everyone. Just as we planned."

Rose, "we've been preparing for this day."

Raven, "where are you taking me?"

Jack, "you said there was nothing we could do. We didn't agree."

Bryan, "so we've been preparing for this day."

Reaching yet another closed door, Dick places a hand on the adjacent palm reader panel and has it scanned. From here, we see inside a large square room whose walls shine with a thick ribbon of blue circuitry, and whose floor is marked with a large, glowing white circle. In the center of each wall is a similar, smaller circle with a rune inscribed in the same shade of blue. A door in the far wall slides up, revealing the Titans in the hall; this is the other side of the spot Dick reached, and Raven stares in disbelief.

Raven, "you did all this for me?"

Dick, "we're ready to take on Trigon."

Raven, "no. You can't be. Just go. Save yourselves."

Jack, "we're not giving up. Neither are you."

Dick, "our plan is simple."

Kom', "Raven, you are the portal. Trigon needs you to take over the Earth."

Vic, "but if Trigon can't get to the portal, then he can't take over."

Starfire, "so all we must do is keep Trigon from getting to Raven."

Raven, "you can't."

Dick, "we will."

The heroes enter the space: a safety room or emergency bunker, and gather in the large white circle. Vic sets Raven on her feet.

Vic, "you'll be safe in here. Everything's ready."

Bryan, "we got help from Fixit and Spike to develop this. We've installed all the latest state-of-the-art technology. Nothing alive is getting in here."

Starfire points out the rune on one wall, "and these symbols should keep out everything else", she holds up an open book and blushes, "we took them out of your books."

Pages fall out; Changeling pops up.

Changeling, "just in case you need some extra mojo."

Kom', "we got some help from Jinx and Zatanna for this."

Raven, "this is all great, but it's not gonna make a difference. Today the prophecy will be fulfilled. Trigon is coming. There's no stopping him."

Dick, "there's never been a villain we couldn't stop before."

Raven, "Trigon isn't a villain. He is the incarnation of evil, the source of all darkness. The-"

Changeling, "okay. Bad dude. We get it."

Raven, "no. You don't. You don't know Trigon."

Rose, "and Trigon doesn't know the Titans. Stay here. We'll be watching from up there if you need us."

Dick points at a broad window or monitor set high on the wall in front of Raven. She eyes it for a moment, then turns worriedly away, and everyone else heads for the door. Changeling and Jack the last ones out, the former tops just short of the threshold and glances at something in his hand. A moment later, he darted back across the room and caught her right wrist.

Changeling places an object in Raven's hand, "for luck."

He runs out and she inspects the curled fingers with some puzzlement. She opens them to reveal his offering: the gleaming good-luck penny he picked up during the Titans' hike.

Raven, "all the luck in the world won't help us now."

Jack kissed Raven's forehead and said, "when all this is over, I've got something important to ask you. Okay?"

Raven gave an unsure nod as Jack left the room….

….

We see Trigon's cavern. Slade kneels at the bank of the lava river, with the Mark-inscribed monolith behind him. The ones that appeared on the walls earlier on have disappeared.

Slade, "the hour is approaching. The army is ready."

Trigon's eyes gaze at him from high on the wall.

"You had best perform."

Slade stands up, "I'll do my job. You better have my payment when I get back."

He turns away from the wall and raises both hands.

Slade, "rise!"

We see a bare patch of stone floor, which disintegrates as smoke and fire belch up from below. Two burning appendages snake up and latch on to the lip of this new hole, followed by a huge, yowling, birdlike head made entirely of flames. Within seconds, many more have burst free of the rock; their thick, tentacle-like arms taper to points, as do their legless lower bodies, similar to that of a ghost. These apparitions fall into marching formation and gather around Slade.

"Bring me the portal!"

Slade steps to the front line, "warriors! March!"

He moves out, as do they.

….

Reviews:

pokemonking0924: I thought the original ending was funny, but kind of messed up in hindsight. They basically sentenced the HIVE to get eaten by Mother Mae-Eye. And they don't have an alien with multiple stomachs to save them. It's kind of evil. So that's why I changed the ending. And yeah, since I don't like pie, I thought it made sense for at least 2 of the Titans to not like pie. I'm glad you liked Jack's reaction to Raven in the dress and all the additional dialogue I added in. Thanks and happy Father's Day.

3bodyjaa: thanks.

DaV1nc136: yeah, Mother Mae-Eye is a very strange episode. I'm glad you liked how I adapted the Max 7 episode and it's moral. And yeah, I always crack up in the episode where the characters get stranded and how dumb Changeling acted in it. And I'm glad you like how I had Rose, Kom' and the others partying on Earth, the romance with Dick and Starfire playing out, etc.

raven 2012: well, I'm very glad you liked the chapter and what happened in it. And cool pastry likes.

Bailey Radcliff: Thanks so much. Glad you're so excited. And happy early birthday!

GreenD109: yeah, I've been so eager to get to the events if the Trigon arc!

Canadude2029: thanks. And actually, I plan for Mother Mae-Eye to never come back after this. I'm glad you're so excited for the 6-parter!

….

Oooh. Here we are! The big 3 part, or in this case, 6 part finale to this season!

The fight against Trigon and his forces.

This is gonna be a big one.

And see if you guys can guess what's gonna happen by the end of this arc….