AN: Along with the new chapter, I have also posted another Tiyan on my Tumblr page. Link is in my profile if interested.
Ben A - You may never know. The light does seem to have plans within plans on top of plans after all.
Omac001 - Hmm, interesting guess. Care to take a shot at the others?
Eric - Sorry you might be getting sick of te boomerang secret but trust me, it'll all make sense later on for what I have planned. As for The Light, it seems they always have their hand in the perverbial cookie jar, so to speak.
Reliy 000 - I was thikng the same thing too with not many people writing about a team backing off for a bit to avoid disaster whaen dealing with an enemy. It seemed as if that would be something Batman would do and lecture about with a newer recruit or team leader.
ZabuzasGirl - Okay, I'll update. The rest will be posted on Sundays with a few chapters on Thursdays to get things really moving or if I get far enough ahead.
4.
Blood Temple
May 3
15:19 UTC
Since leaving the area overlooking the gathered members of the Blood Cult, Aqualad, Blue Beetle, and Wonder Girl remained silent as they made their way back out of the temple. Using the same tactic for getting in, the trio placed the pendant where a trap would begin, have two cross, then toss the pendant to them to deactivate the trap so the last could go. It was time consuming, but necessary to avoid setting off the ones they did not deactivate and risking injury or death, or quite possibly alerting those inside.
"Can you believe it?" Wonder Girl asked as she removed the pendant from it's housing after all three were finished crossing another trap. "Those cultists didn't just kill Eddie, but used him as a sacrifice to a demon god to complete some kind of riddle. We should be in there busting heads for what they did."
"Really. We have surprise on our side and they're only wearing cloaks. We should have taken them out and searched for more clues," Blue Beetle agreed. "They killed one of us and we-"
"Now is not the time for revenge or vendettas. We only came here to acquire information on if this cult is indeed active down here and because it is, we are to report back to Batman immediately." Placing the pendant into the next slot to switch the trap off, Aqualad looked back at the other two. "And once outside, we shall attempt to contact the others and see how they want us to bring this temple down for Eddie."
Sharing a grin, Blue Beetle and Wonder Girl grew excited at Aqualad's words and could not wait to bring a little justice to those who killed their friend when the sound of metal scraping against stone caught their attention.
"I take it we've been caught." Sighing, Wonder Girl took position at the rear of the group with Blue Beetle forming his arms into his serrated blades and Aqualad taking the front. "And to think, this mission was going so well. Boring, but well."
Looking into the darkness, Wonder Girl was the first to spot one of the hooded cult members appear from the blackness like he was a part of it. A sword like the ones Wally and Artemis acquired from their excursion was held in his right hand, its tip scraping along the stone of the wall beside him when another scraping sound came from the front.
With his water bearers ready, Aqualad waited for the newest cult member to appear when yet another scraping sound became apparent behind the group. It was not long until another, and another cult member made their presence known by scraping their swords against the walls as they surrounded the three heroes.
"How did they know we're here?" Wonder Girl asked.
"How did they surround us?" Blue Beetle asked.
"It does not matter," Aqualad said as more and more cult members came out of the darkness with their weapons scraping the walls to a near deafening level. "They killed our friend and are keeping us from regrouping with the others. We will show them not to underestimate what we are capable of."
Titans Tower
May 3
15:23 UTC
With training over for the day, the four younger members of the Titans were more than glad to hit the showers. Not one of them were not aching from what they had just went through. Four rounds of sparring with their holographic doubles, four more rounds sparring with each other, then came the running. Three minutes of non-stop running around the gym to work on cardio. In fact, they would not have had to do the last part if a certain archer had not complained how she had never seen the Titan leaders work out like that. Needless to say, both veterans outran the group just to show them they still train, only at different times.
As the team was busy washing up, Conner, with a human formed Carter in an arm, was going over different missions he and his wife were putting together for a special exercise the four junior members would be responsible for. A map of Jump City was displayed on the large TV screen across from the couches with a holographic keyboard formed in front of him. Several red dots with white lines connecting them were placed in different areas of the city along with small blue flags marking gang activities. Over the course of their time as a team, fewer and fewer flags were being displayed, something accredited to them from routine patrols.
Hearing the chid give a laugh, Conner looked down at him and grinned before lightly bouncing him. A flash of images entered his mind, giving him an idea of what Carter wanted.
"In a minute," Conner told his son as he added two more dots to the map and removed one from earlier when a few more images flashed in his mind. "Nearly done."
Receiving a raspberry as a response, Conner looked back down at his son and smiled when he saw the pout he gave. It reminded him of himself when he was angry nearly all of the time, only it was different with the chubby cheeks, extended bottom lip, and full red eyes staring back at him.
"Fine, you win. Again."
Canceling out the city map, Conner grabbed the remote to his side and switched the TV to the channel meant for children. A young hispanic girl came dancing on screen asking the viewer to help her with finding a ridiculously easy to find path on a talking map so she may get to her grandmother's house when a talking monkey bounded on screen and excitedly spoke of their next destination. Rolling his eyes, Conner heard his son let out a laugh at the animal's antics.
"How can you even like monkeys?" He asked and only got a smile in return.
Recognized, Zatanna, two five.
Appearing from the bright light of the Zeta Beam platform, Zatanna Zatara entered the Titans base and immediately found one of the two she was looking for sitting on the couch watching cartoons, featuring a monkey, with his son. He was supposed to hate monkeys and yet he was watching a singing monkey of all things.
"Hey, Zatanna," Conner said with a look over is shoulder. "Here on business?"
"You can say that." Looking around, the dark haired woman shrugged her jacket off and draped it over the back of the couch. She then rolled up the sleeves of her light, white shirt then hooked her thumbs in the pockets of her black skinny jeans. "I need to speak to you and M'gann about something. In private."
Entering the living area, the mentioned Martian carried with her a tray of sandwiches and a pincher of lemonade with several glasses floating behind her along with something for Carter.
"Hey, Zatanna," M'gann greeted. She set the food and drinks meant for the team on the living room table then went to hug her friend. "So glad you came by finally."
"Thanks, M'gann. Wish I could say this was a pleasure visit but," Separating from her friend, Zatanna looked back at Conner then at her. "I have to tell you both something in private and it couldn't wait any longer."
"Of course. Just let me get Carter his bananas and apple juice and we'll talk in the conference room."
Handing her son a sippy cup, M'gann watched as Carter began drinking from it while handing Conner a bowl of sliced bananas.
"Um, M'gann?" Zatana said. "How, how can Carter drink from a sippy cup and hand feed himself at such a young age?"
"Well, Martian's develop mentally faster than humans, so he understands how to use objects faster than human infants. And Clark has told us Kryptonians learn faster than humans as well. It wasn't long before he could use a cup and feed himself."
"A-PFFT!" Jerking his upper body back with his eyes wide open, Carter looked up at his father with twin trails of mucus exiting his nose. His skin was a bright orange and was slowly returning back to its tan coloring as he laughed after sneezing on Conner.
With one eye closed and his face scrunched up, the powerhouse of the new team turned to look up at both M'gann and Zatanna. A combination of apple juice, chewed banana, and mucus covered his chest and the right side of his face. "He may know how to use a sippy cup, but he still can't cover his mouth when he sneezes...yet."
Both women only laughed with Carter giggling along with them.
Blood Temple
May 3
15:24 UTC
Within the Temple of Blood, metal clanged against metal, fists collided with chins, and feet connected with torsos as the three man black ops team was engaged with dozens of hooded figures from the Cult of Blood. Few lay on the floor from being knocked out with others slumped against the walls after having their heads slammed into the stone. Weapons landed at the hero's feet from disarming the cloak wearing cultists with a few of them being broken and tossed to the side. It was an all out free-for-all as the cultists sought to end the lives of the trespassers.
"Man, these guys just won't quit!" Avoiding being skewered, Blue Beetle struck back with an uppercut from his left hand, which was in the form of a sledge hammer head. He then fired a staple at another one attempting to sneak up on him and pinned him to the wall.
Taking the fallen cult member's place, another hooded individual took a swipe at the armored hero's head. His blade was blocked and twisted out of his hand from Blue Beetle's own serrated weapon. The cult member was then tossed behind him, hitting his head on the wall and landing upside down with his rear high in the air.
"Don't you know not to hit girls? Or try to at least?" Using her bracelets to deflect the incoming sword swipes, Wonder Girl countered with a spinning back kick to the cultist's head. "Next."
Charging forward, two hooded men tried to go for the double team only to see their weapons cut nothing but air. With their swords hitting the stone ground, they had no time to recover as their target came down on them and slammed their heads into the ground from above. A third wasted no time in coming after her but was flipped onto his back as the blonde Amazon fell to her back and used her legs to send him flying over her. Flipping back to her feet, Wonder Girl stood over his head, knelt down, and delivered a knockout shot to the side of his head.
With both of his water bearers in hand, Aqualad was dispatching cultists left and right. Using his left water weapon as a whip, he kept those attacking him at a distance while using his right weapon as mace. "The first chance you get, head to the entrance!"
Bringing his whip formed weapon over his head, Aqualad snared an incoming cultist around the neck and pulled him off balance. He was quickly knocked out by a punch to the face when another of the hooded men grabbed the Atlantian from behind. With a growl, the dark skinned team member triggered his electrical powers, shocking the man off him before kicking him away.
Fighting off four cult members at once, Wonder Girl found herself going on the defensive as none would allow her to strike back when one connected with a back hand to her face. Before she could recover, another of the men planted his foot in her stomach. Landing on her arm, Wonder Girl had just enough time to move the hair from her face when one of the cultists leapt on top of her and attempted to bury his sword in her chest.
Holding him off, she managed to take him of balance by flying into the air, knocking the weapon out of his grip, and throwing him into the other three he was with. Before she could land and get back in the fight, she saw her boyfriend, Blue Beetle rise up and slam a cult member he was fighting into the ceiling. Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, another cult member managed to slam his sword into his back, knocking him a few feet away from where he was.
"GRAH! There's too many of them and not enough space!" Blue Beetle shouted as he fired several staples at five incoming cult followers.
"Then we have to make a run for it, now!" Reforming one of his water bearers, Aqualad had it fire a glob of water where he last placed the pendant to deactivate the trap they were near. The result was the pendant shattering and the trap activating.
With a rumble, a large stone slab began to lower from the ceiling, putting a momentary stop to the fighting and cutting off a deal of the cultists coming from the chamber where they had gathered in. Looking toward the top of the slanted slab, the three heroes saw a round-spiked spherical stone as large as the corridor they were in roll into place. All felt deja vu as a certain movie scene popped in their minds.