Titans: Elemental

Chapter 115: The End, Part 4

We see the upper reaches of the cavern in which Dick, Jack, Rose, Bryan and Slade found the river of lava, and look down to show them on the landing. The boat has been pulled in close so they can board.

Dick, "so why did you do it? For money? Status? Those dark powers?"

Bryan, "revenge against us, most likely."

Slade poles along while Dick works the rudder.

Slade, "not everything is so cut and dry."

Rose, "with you, it usually is."

The boat sets off as we see the magma spouts set in the stone ravens.

Dick, "selling out our world for your own personal gain seems pretty cut and dry to me."

Slade, "with or without me, there was no stopping this."

Jack, "but you played a part. And just like everything else you've ever done, it's made people suffer."

Slade, "it's what I do best."

He brings the boat to a quick stop, and we see the wall. It shows why-many of the fire creatures he commanded are emerging from the flowing lava falls. More break the surface of the river to surround the craft, whose crew jumps in two different directions just before burning, tentacle-like arms shoot toward their position.

Dick whips out and extends his fighting staff as soon as his feet are planted firmly on an unstable rock. Jack uses his powers to make some slabs of Earth for him, Rose and Bryan to stand.

Dick is flipped over flat, nearly dumping him into the rapids as he lays about to dispatch several of the attackers. He jumps on one end of the rock to lever the other one sharply up; it is hit hard, but he clambers up and hops away just before the next strike pulverizes the formation into dust.

Jack starts forming a path for him, his brother and Rose to run along as they shoot fire and lasers at their foes.

Dodging or parrying a forest of lashes, Dick brings one boot sole down smack into a blazing torso before coming down on another rock and swinging his staff with renewed fury. One assailant after another gets a deathblow; the last one falls apart to show Slade at a distance, facing off against his own opposition.

He still has the pole with which he propelled the boat, and he leaps high and twirls it to deflect the appendages that hiss toward him. The jump brings him right back down to the same spot, after which he hops nimbly to another rock and bashes away the rest of this gang. Next, he plunges the end of the shaft into the lava and pole, vaults onto a high rock; Dick leapfrogs up to join him, as do Jack, Rose and Bryan as they reach them, and the survivors close in from all sides in a cacophony of hisses and growls. One huge swing of Slade's pole puts several down, and the heroes and villain back up toward each other.

Slade, "only a minor setback. Nothing some old friends can't handle."

Dick, "I'm not your friend."

Bryan, "I certainly ain't. I'm still mad about the whole cybernetic enhancements thing."

Lashes from every angle force them to jump for it. Slade comes down on a floating rock and blocks a strike only to have his pole wrapped up; a tug-of-war ensues, in which the attacker gets a second grip on the shaft. Slowly, ever so slowly, the armor-plated heels are dragged toward the molten rock that laps unhurriedly at the edge of his perch. Behind him, Dick's leap carries him to a wall and bounces him over the snapped-tight arms; he lands on one and runs back along its length toward the body.

Jack flies over the demons with Bryan and Rose clinging to him as he uses a small tornado.

Dick hurls himself toward the sky and brings one foot down for a killer flying kick that instantly disintegrates the creature, freeing Slade from its hold.

Slade looks in Dick's direction, perhaps showing a tiny gleam of genuine respect, but soon has to turn his attention to the squad moving in from down the river. Small stone pillars line both banks; the reluctant partners all hop up onto these and bound easily from one to the next before going up for an incredible leap and a series of swings that gradually shatter the blazing specters into little more than embers. When they come down, however, the next wave has already moved in, but a few deft strikes put them away. Shoulder to shoulder, Dick, Jack, Rose, Bryan and Slade race downriver and deliver a devastating combination that drops a singleton, then jumps away again.

This trajectory carries them to the riverbank, where they thrust their weapons into another line of demons. The ends are jammed into the cliff face for leverage so they can pull off a long string of side-by-side somersaults and come down to drive their boot heels into the ones still in one piece. Now, taking a page from Starfire's book, Slade seizes Dick's wrists and swings him around for a brain-busting roundhouse kick on one of them, driving it into the others and vaporizing most of them.

Jack digs his staff into the wall and shoots balls of ice everywhere. Rose stabs into the walls and swings Bryan around as he shoots the demons coming at them.

The staff, pole, sword and magic staff are yanked free of the wall where they lodged, and their users unleash a merciless string of blows to reduce the opposition to cinders.

When the brutal frenzy ends, we see the back-to-back fighters, and, as the last embers drop, we see them alone on a ledge, with not a single enemy left standing.

Far below, the fragments of one fire demon reassemble themselves from the lava currents and rise to attack. However, instead of pitching in to defeat it, Slade ducks to one side and lets Dick do the dirty work. The bits fall to the ground and extinguish themselves.

Dick, "I thought we had a deal."

Slade, "old habits die hard."

Bryan, "screw you too, old man."

Another one rears up behind Slade and lashes out, pasting him across the jaw and knocking his mask loose. The angle of the hit leaves his head turned away; we see the steel covering as it bounces across the stone, then to Dick. He throws his staff like a javelin, instantly ripping the creature apart, and Slade straightens up with effort as the fragments drop away. His back is still to us, but in due time, he slowly turns to look straight on.

For the first time since this story began, we can see the face behind the black/red-orange mask that has posed such a threat to the Titans. Or rather, what remains of it. There is only a fleshless skull, cracked and stained an ulcerous gray as if it had been buried for years. Its empty right eye socket glares meaninglessly at nothing, while a fleck of red fire shines in the left; the eye we saw on that side was perhaps only a dummy contact lens. Below the missing nose, the exposed teeth are set in a grimace of unchanging, unadulterated fury.

The Titans and Slade are face to face on their ledge. We see the loose mask as Slade reaches to pick it up.

Slade, "I'd rather you hadn't seen that."

He fixes the mask back in place, and the fake left eye reestablishes itself.

Slade, "it's really only a temporary condition."

Bryan, "and I thought you were ugly before. Rose clearly didn't get her good looks from you."

Now Dick has recovered his staff.

Dick, "what are you?"

Slade walks past the others, "let's just say I'm currently incomplete. Time is running out. We must keep moving."

Rose, "woah, we don't think so. Unless we get some answers…. You're on your own."

Slade stops and turns to face them as grating hisses float up from river level.

We then see a forest of arms rising from here; the fire demons are regrouping, it seems.

Slade flashes back to what happened….

….

We see Slade in his old lair. He stands over the slumped form of Terra, who wears the armored suit he provided for her.

Slade, "it seems my luck with apprentices is most unfortunate…. First with you two…. Then with Terra…."

Terra comes up with glowing eyes and fist, knocking him from their high rock perch amid an explosion. Down he goes, plunging toward the lava lake at the bottom of the cavern.

Slade, "Terra's betrayal should have been my demise."

Flames wash up from below, marking his splashdown, and we then see his loose mask slowly engulfed by the rising tide.

Darkness….

Then…. A fire blazes up.

Slade, "but I got lucky."

The light comes up to show him on a patch of rock, kneeling in the ring, and we see what is left of him. He has recovered his mask, whose lower half has disintegrated along with his gloves, and all the exposed flesh has burned away; he regards the bare bones incuriously.

Slade, "someone was looking out for me that day."

We see him cradled in Trigon's immense hand, held at chest level so that his head is out of view. However, Slade is now fully visible from the waist up, revealing that the lower half of his chest is gone to leave only the spine holding him together.

Trigon, "heed my command, and I will return what you have lost."

We see the four-eyed, malevolently smiling face, then look back to Slade's leftovers. Now a few holes can be seen under the armor plates on the arms. The demon's mark appears on the steel forehead and the ruined body straightens up, glowing white and orange. He is covered in new armor.

Slade, "it was a simple arrangement, actually. Do a few chores, and I get back my flesh and blood."

His mask regenerates itself as he stands alone in the darkness, flames rising behind him.

Slade, "and I must admit…. The fringe benefits were most enjoyable. A pity things didn't work out as planned."

Slade turns to face into the darkness, in which Trigon's eyes open to give him a hard glare, and is caught up in a shower of red sparks; the energy that stripped him of his powers.

We see his right hand, on which can be seen the ring of Azar he gave to the Titans, then look slowly to the frozen face as the mark disappears from its forehead. His eye pops saucer-wide and his entire image disintegrates. We now know what experience he was referring to when he gave the ring to Starfire.

Slade, "the moral of this story?"

….

The flashback ends as we see him and the Titans, making their way through a new cavern.

Slade, "never make a deal with an interdimensional demon without a little protection."

Bryan, "so you made a deal with Trigon to get brought back to life."

The Titans stop.

Dick, "you didn't bring us down here just to save Raven."

Rose, "we're also here to help save you…."

Slade stops as well and turns to them.

Slade, "a deal's a deal."

Jack sighed, "look, as much as I would hate to see this old basket of crap get a 2nd chance at life…. Raven is our top priority….", he glared at Slade, "make no mistake; as soon as Raven is safe and Trigon is gone, this truce is over."

Slade nods silently before the group continues.

….

We see a patch of rock and look up to show it floating in Jump City Bay; the Tower and the city proper are in the distance. From here, we zee a street in which Changeling is running flat out as his doppelganger, now a falcon, swoops down to land and resume human form. They race side by side for a moment, Changeling then jumps and comes back down as a wolf, and Nega Changeling copies the move. Both catch some air. Changeling turns into an armadillo; he freaks out, rolls into a tight ball, and is caught in Nega Changeling's lupine jaws. The latter comes down from his jump and worries the wad in his mouth before spitting it out. Turning into a woodpecker, he tries to use beak and talons to pierce the outer covering, but no luck, that tough hide stands up to the abuse. The gray/black bird is flung backward as the balled-up Changeling executes a quick change, ending up as a very large falcon and chasing Nega Changeling out of here.

The pursuit moves into the skies. Nega Changeling is now a pterodactyl and starts looking out for the green good guy, who gets above him, becomes a grizzly bear, and drops squarely on the prehistoric flier. As both plummet toward the ground, Nega Changeling turns into an elephant, just in time for both to hit a rock island and throw up a thick cloud of dust. The view clears to show the red-eyed pachyderm straightening up, but a quick flash of green drops near and Changeling appears as a mouse. Natural instinct being what it is, the demonic shape-shifter trumpets in panic and stumbles with a thundering crash and dust cloud. Both resume human form now, Changeling jumping up onto a handy outcropping as his counterpart gets up, rubbing his head.

Changeling, "is that all you've got?"

Those red eyes glare up at him with pure hatred before their owner leaps at him….

….

Meanwhile Sarah and her copy are in a sword fight, swinging at one another over and over again as their blades clash left and right.

Sarah, "when this is all over, I'm never picking up a sword again! I don't have the energy for hero stuff!"

Nega Sarah, "just as such; you won't live through this without your little robot boyfriend. Maybe I'll have him and his handsome copy all to myself when this is over…."

Sarah then caught a glimpse of something running at them.

Nega Sarah, "what's wrong? Cat got your tongue?"

Sarah, "nope…. But he has yours!"

Nega Sarah gives a confused look before Sarah ducks. Nega Sarah turns and screams as out of nowhere, Percy jumps onto her face and starts scratching it up as Silkie rushes up and bites her leg! Nega Sarah hops around as she is attacked by the Titans pets, who had managed to survive the carnage of Earth by hiding in Terra's cavern.

Sarah smiled as she got help from the tiny little helpers….

….

We now see a stretch of the bay, not far from the shoreline, and look to keep a distant streak in view as it arcs over the tumbled buildings. It is revealed to be Vic, who crashes down on a rooftop and then rolls over its edge; the patch he hits cracks from the impact and then collapses after him. At ground level, he pushes the mass away and starts to get to his feet, but a very familiar yell of rage is heard from above and we look up to follow his eyes. Nega Vic has launched himself as high into the air as his bionic legs will carry him, and he is on his way down to deliver a little more pain on top of the hit that landed Vic here in the first place.

The big gray man comes down with enough force to buckle half the street, but Vic manages to knock him away. A brief face-off gives way to a trade of savage blows, ending with the real Titan being knocked well backward to skid out on his face. As he gets up with a growl, he glances toward his left shoulder; we can see that the circuit panel has been partly broken away from the underarm. A few sparks crackle in the gap.

Nega Vic, "thirty-five. That's how many weak spots you have. That was number eleven."

He extends one hand, palm up, and flicks the fingers toward himself in the classic martial-arts gesture: "bring it on." Accepting the invitation, Vic leaps to his feet and instantly locks up in a close-quarters grapple; it comes to a quick end when he is slammed to the pavement and flung bodily into a building, screaming all the way.

….

We see Kom' hiding behind a slab of upturned pavement before she jumps out and shoots a volley of starbolts at her copy before flying to more cover. Nega Kom' laughs like a maniac as she shoots starbolts in pretty much every single direction possible.

Kom' groaned, "so this is what would've happened if I became evil like Aunt Ashfire!"

Kom' jumped out from cover and kept shooting at her evil doppelganger, the fire fight growing more and more fierce by the second.

….

We see Starfire in flight, throwing enough Tamaranean screwballs to strike out every batter in the National League. Nega Starfire follows a long, graceful curve that carries her neatly through the entire fusillade, and there is a blinding flash as their energized fists swing into each other. A few more blows cancel out, after which Nega Starfire slips in a sucker punch that drops her toward a gap between two rocks in the bay. As she charges, the green-eyed flier gets herself under control and stares fearfully up at the approaching duplicate; a few punches, which she dodges, and she is on the move again over the lava.

Red starbolts explode all around Starfire and clear to show her intact and preparing a counterstrike. Now Nega Starfire is the one who must take evasive action in order to avoid being shot down. A high-intensity eye blast lashes toward her and, after a slight aim correction, hits home in the gut, driving her into the bay. Smoke boils up from the lava as Starfire lands on a nearby rock, and then it clears to show Nega Starfire standing on one of her own, completely unhurt.

Nega Starfire, "are you worried about your Richard? Should I tell Trigon where he is?"

Starfire, "you will do no such thing!"

Both girls lift off at full speed and resume their brawl, which goes on at such a high altitude that they are visible as only a pair of bright streaks in the lurid red sky. As they zoom over Jump City, we look down to Vic and his twin, grappling anew. Nega Vic forces Vic's arms away and lands a punch to the weak spot under his right; the follow-up blow, a haymaker of an uppercut, throws him as high as the rooftops and dumps him at the end of the block.

Sparks crackle all over Vic's chest armor as he struggles to stand amid the fresh rubble. His enemy leaps incredibly high and unloads a burst from his own sonic cannon. The beam is red rather than the usual blue, and Vic hurls himself away just in time to keep from taking the hit. A couple of flips carry him down the street and out of range for the moment.

We see Vic's left shoulder; the circuit panel flips open to expose the missile launchers he used against Trigon. We see his other shoulder and chest panel do likewise, the damage under his arms repairing itself. He throws every shot he has down the block, completely hiding Nega Vic from sight due to all their explosions, and heaves a relieved sigh. The respite ends instantly when the two monochrome bionic arms launch out of the smoke clouds and rocket in. Vic barely has time for a small gasp before those ten fingers lock onto his wrists and bulldoze him spread eagle into a wall. The area fills with dust; we look down to ground level as the arms back away. The view clears to show Vic embedded in the masonry, and as he drops to his knees with a groan, Nega Vic's limbs reattach themselves. Thrusters built into the fingers have powered the return trip.

We see the half-knocked-out big man, doing his best to get vertical.

Nega Vic, "go ahead. Run crying home to Mommy. Oh, that's right, you don't have a mommy!"

That crack gets the Titan on his feet and moving in for a little payback. He reconfigures both arms into cannons, but Nega Vic just stands pat with a vicious half-smile. We see his left arm as he warms it up, after which the two heavily armed brawlers pace toward one another as if fighting a pistol duel in reverse. Nega Vic's right is now a cannon as well. In a long shot of the wrecked block, the glare from their shots floats up along with a dense wall of smoke.

….

Sarah is running down the street with Percy and Silkie close behind as Nega Sarah chases after them!

Sarah then suddenly gets an idea and quickly grabs a handful of rocks and Silkie. She pops some rocks into their mouth and starts using the little larva like a machine gun at her evil copy, hitting her over and over again before she runs out of ammo and starts running with the pets again.

….

We look up to the sky, where the streaks of Starfire and her evil twin mark their continuing melee. They are literally all over the place, a brilliant flash marking every one of their collisions. The last one is much more intense and marked by a sizable explosion that clears to show Starfire plunging unconscious toward the concrete crazy quilt far below. She comes down hard and tumbles away a short distance, and as she gets up to all fours, she finds Nega Starfire coming down on her in a headlong dive.

A flare of green fury at eyes and hands, and the authentic Tamaranean is off the ground, moving fast enough to heat the air just in front of her due to friction. She and Nega Starfire collide and are immediately lost within a cataclysmic explosion that fills the area with smoke. The red-eyed enemy hits the ground standing and skids backward a bit. Starfire's rebound is carrying her toward a building, but she pulls out of it with no room to spare and zeroes in like the world's angriest cruise missile.

A red eye blast flashes toward her and does not miss; she pulls clear of the smoke, rubbing her head dazedly, and does not notice the shooter curving back around her. She gasps in sudden shock, and we see that Nega Starfire has caught both her wrists behind her back. She struggles to break the hold.

Starfire, "you remind me of our Aunt…."

Nega Starfire, "I will take that as a compliment. Realize, with you gone, Dick will be all mine!"

(That's what she said!)

Starfire, "he will not!"

Her eyes pop open, blazing with every bit of righteous fury she can drum up. Starfire finally reverses Nega Starfire's grip and plants a boot in her back to catapult her toward the ground.

….

We see the Kom's bursting through building after building as with each collision, the shoe is on the other foot! Soon they crash right in front of the pizza place.

They both run for cover and start shooting at one another like a shootout in an old western!

Kom', "you ain't gonna win!"

Nega Kom', "we'll see about that!"

The two rush at each other for another attack!

…..

The Changelings are fighting it out; the good one as a gorilla, the evil one as a python trying to throttle him. The ape's staggering carries both behind a rock briefly; when they appear on the other side, both have resumed human form. Nega Changeling breaks his stranglehold in favor of an attempt at breaking Changeling's leg, but is interrupted when Nega Starfire's nose dive carries her toward them. The green hero is flung into the air an instant before she smashes into her partner flat.

Changeling becomes a falcon in midair and flies to safety while the dust clears from the crash. One boiling-mad changeling glares up after him, gets a running start, and becomes a pterodactyl to give chase.

Nega Starfire, meanwhile, is still trying to stand up and figure out who let the marching band practice in her skull. She accomplishes the former after a moment, if not the latter, and rises to dodge a couple of starbolts coming down at her.

Now Changeling, back in human form, stands ready for another bash.

Nega Changeling, "what's the matter? Had enough? No wonder Terra dumped you!"

The mother of all cheap shots, judging from the facial expression that shifts quickly from pure shock to tearful sorrow to blinding rage. He rushes straight at the enemy, who easily dodges his wild swings.

Nega Changeling, "aww. Did I hurt your feelings?"

He plants a hand on Changeling's head to keep him at arm's length, unable to hit anything but air. The standoff breaks after a moment, whereupon Nega Changeling breaks into a new run and turns into a pterodactyl for the third time. He wings his way toward the Tower, but Changeling soon takes the same form and gets after him.

….

We see a point somewhere up the walls of the vast cavern the Titans and Slade have been traveling through. The streams of magma that feed the molten river at its bottom snake down. We look down to a bend in the narrow trail as the five come into view around it. Slade, in the lead, gets dumped over the edge when a patch crumbles under his boot. He slides down the rock face and thumps to a ledge far below, at one end of a bridge over the lava. It takes the others only a second or two to make a more controlled descent.

Slade, "you must be overjoyed to see me like this. Desperate. Weak. Vulnerable."

Bryan, "I certainly am. We can call this payback for turning me into a cyborg."

Dick, "regardless, we're here to save Raven, not pity you."

Jack, "which way next?"

Slade, "I'm afraid this is where we part company", he points along a ledge, "you'll find your girlfriend along that path."

Dick, "what about you?"

Slade, "what I seek is in a somewhat hotter place."

He starts across the bridge.

Dick, "that's it? No double-cross? No cryptic threat?"

Slade stops, "I kept my word. How about a little gratitude?"

Rose, "this doesn't change anything, dad. If we ever see you again…."

Slade, "I wouldn't expect anything less."

He sets off again, toward a wide vertical fissure cut into the rock at the other end of the bridge.

The four Titans hike off along the path pointed out for them.

We go through a cave that glows with the same orange light as from the lava flows. We see them proceeding steadily along a stretch farther down.

We soon see just behind a patch of stone and loom up over its top edge to show the group's path. It reaches across an immeasurable chasm filled with jagged stone spikes; orange light glows faintly from deep below, and blazing torches set with distorted human face carvings line both edges. The sky or air or space above the whole scene has the same sick red hue as that in Jump City.

The last two torches they have passed become fire demons, the same as the ones they and Slade fought on the river, and slink up as best they can for a sneak attack. What they get is a strike almost too fast to follow; a wingding brought out and back to slash one arm clean off. It falls onto the path and disintegrates, and he now looks both apparitions full in the face.

Dick, "you guys again?"

Jack quickly makes a fist and freezes the next two torches before they can become fire demons.

Dick pulls out a throwing wingding, which he joins with the first to form a long sword and he charges like a crazed berserker.

Rose pulls out her sword as Bryan shoots.

Within seconds, they sliced, diced and shot the attackers and Dick flung his weapon into the chest of a it; leaping at it with a savage yell, he pulled the sword free and sliced the body open in the same motion.

The group sighs and continues as we see what awaits them at the end of this road: the remains of a once-imposing building, perhaps a cathedral or temple, whose walls have caved in to expose curving support beams on left and right. The overall effect is to give the illusion of a pair of hands reaching up from below to either cradle the structure or drag it into nothingness.

We see the interior; it is indeed a place of worship, in severe disrepair. We look to the doors, which are set with Trigon's mark and the same intricate ironwork as on the door that led them and Slade to the first stage of this long, strange trip. The doors creak open, giving the group a good view of the place from the threshold.

Their even footsteps carry them past the smashed columns and oddly intact stained-glass windows. They approach the end of the sanctuary. Dead silence.

Dick, "hello? Is anyone here?"

Rose, "ollie ollie oxen free!"

They all look here and there throughout the half-demolished space. Something white swishes past in the shadows at the opposite wall.

Jack, "Raven?!"

They set off running, and it zips by in a new direction through some collapsed rubble. Climbing over the jumble, the group does their best to keep up. Now we see a pair of legs clad in short white boots pounds out of view. Behind them trails the hem of a matching cloak. They slide in, watching their owner go.

We immediately see this person, who tumbles to the ground and huddles under the cloak. The group steps up, determined to end this game of catch-me-if-you-can here and now, Rose wraps a handful of fingers around the cloth.

We see the fallen form as she pulls hard to expose it in full light; a terrified girl, no more than eight or nine years old, whose face and hair would match that of Raven at this age. She wears the same outfit, but white, and her sleeves do not come down low over the backs of her hands.

All four Titans, "Raven?"

Young Raven, "who…. Who are you?"

To be Continued….

….

Reviews:

raven 2012: I'm very glad you enjoyed the chapter and how things are playing out.

Ushindi: it's okay. I understand. I'm glad you liked how I did the episodes. Stranded was fun to do. Billy Numerous DID join the HIVE 5 during season 5. Mother Mae Eye is pure evil, and so I thought it was better for her to be contained instead of pawned off on the HIVE 5. And yeah, I've been so excited to do my take on the Trigon arc.

pokemonking0924: indeed. Slade is a jerk. And I'm glad you're excited for more.

Canadude2029: yeah. Things are getting intense.

3bodyjaa: thanks.

….

What a cliffhanger!