The Roles we Play
Pride
To all those who read, review, favorite, or follow… a huge thank you from me to you.
***I no own! ***
"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." – King James Bible
***TRwP***
Two days had come and gone in no time with nothing exciting occurring for either the main group of Titans or the two undercover agents.
This also meant that there had not been a repeat performance of their 'quality time' together. Both Beast Boy and Raven figured that it wouldn't help the situation at all to be emotionally confused before such a confrontation and agreed to deal with their change in relationship after everything had settled down again.
This only served to infuriate the emoticlones, who had been whining especially hard since their shared experience.
Finally it came time to depart for the ceremonial area though, and the various cult members gathered before making their way to a condemned church several miles from where their hotel had been situated.
Raven had sent the coordinates to Cyborg before they had left, ensuring that backup would be in position when needed.
***TRwP***
"Don't you think this is a little bit cliché? You know the whole 'ending the world in a church' thing?"
Berith chuckled at Mark's question as the two carried various boxes of supplies into the ceremonial chamber.
"I suppose it is a bit huh? Oh well I suppose it is just because demon's love their irony as much as the next super villain." The man responded.
The changeling merely shrugged before setting his weight down and glancing about the room at the various other members who had been given jobs to perform.
"Let me guess, we are waiting for the planets to align or the stroke of midnight or some crap like that?"
"Both good guesses, but no, we just need one more core ingredient and then unending power shall be ours."
"Good times, so when are we expecting the final delivery then?"
"It should be here in about an hour, I am anticipating it's arrival just when the last of the secondary parts arrive."
Beast Boy nodded before going off to unload some boxes, and to send the new information to the waiting heroes.
***TRwP***
"I think we should move in now Robin." The voice of the largest Titan rang out through the commlink system.
"Negative Cyborg, we wait until the other players arrive. We can't afford to spook them and lose this opportunity."
"What about Raven and Beast Boy? They will be in more of the danger when the other fish of largeness arrive."
"Yeah what Starfire said." The pinkette muttered in confusion.
"Beast Boy and Raven will be fine don't worry about them. They know what is at stake here."
The Cybernetic teen angrily muted his communication device before turning to his pale girlfriend and backup for the mission. "Maybe he needs to worry more about them…"
***TRwP***
The final members of the cult arrived along with several large coffins, before placing them in what appeared to be a pentagram shape.
"Brothers and sisters, thank you for joining us on this most eventful occasion!" A white haired man called out, gaining the attention of all the others in the room. "We stand on the brink of victory and soon all shall bear witness to the coming of our lord. We shall assume power over this pitiful world and be as kings! We need only the final piece of the puzzle."
The man gave a slight gesture and one of the coffins was opened up, revealing a very panicked teenage girl who had been bound and gagged.
Berith hoisted the girl out of the container and threw her onto her knees in front of his leader, gaining a sick sadistic smile as he did so. Moments later he tilted the girl's head back so that she was staring straight up at the ceiling.
Abaddon presented a ceremonial dagger to the man while a cloak was draped across his shoulders and the book that Raven and Beast Boy had stolen was placed in his free hand.
"Achtun veera nuveli miren ulton feroot wijal!"*
Placing down the book the man raised the dagger with both hands, preparing to thrust it into the girl's exposed throat.
Just as he thrust down the dagger was encased in a black aura, and ripped from the man's grasp.
The various cultists looked on in shock as Raven and Beast Boy had dropped their disguises.
"It's over Baphomet, give up and surrender peacefully."
"M-Mark, Rachel what…" Amy stuttered out, alongside a thoroughly confused Tommy.
Before an answer could be given a slow and methodical clapping was heard from the ritual area.
"Well well well so you finally decided to show your true colors. I was wondering how long you were going to let this continue before you stepped in." The cult leader mused, as his hands slowed and he slowly brought out a small medallion looking object from his cloak.
"Drop the act, you are all under arrest." The empath commanded, while her companion dropped into a fighting stance, already sensing something wrong with the situation.
"But why would we surrender when you have just guaranteed our victory? The final part of the ritual was not a human sacrifice after all, it was you my dear. We needed raw demonic magic which we sadly do not have access to."
Raven's eyes widened in horror as she realized that they had been fooled from the start, before a crimson light emanated from the small jewel in the man's hand and began sapping the strength from her.
Her cries of pain immediately alerted her companion who went to her side to try and help, only to be forced into combat as Berith commanded the various cult members to attack.
***TRwP***
"NOW can we go in!?" Cyborg practically shouted, although the question was completely unnecessary as he was already half way across the street, intending on using his body as a battering ram on the reinforced door.
Jinx was struggling to keep up with him, before noticing that an enraged Tamaranean and a somewhat reluctant Robin were coming in from their positions on the opposite side as well.
***TRwP***
A loud booming sound from above alerted the various cultists to the other Titan's intervention.
"Seal the room, and deal with that pest while I finish the ritual." The leader commanded, continuing to draw upon the demonic powers of his victim
Beast Boy had charged forward to try and attack the man, only to be countered by a dozen other cultists.
Even with his enhanced abilities and training the changeling was having a bit of a difficult time, the men were clad in tactical armor which severely dampened his ability to harm them, along with their numbers which stopped any attempt for him to perform the more complicated bone shattering moves.
Not to say that he hadn't already dropped four of them.
Moments later a large banging sound emanated from the sealed entrance, as a roar of anger came from the other side.
'Looks like Cy is pissed, that means the door should be off its hinges in the next minute, at most.'
The green shapeshifter pondered, as he snapped another arm backwards unnaturally, eliciting a shout of pain from his victim.
Finally he had made it past the various goons and reached the cultists officers, when Baphomet shouted out in triumph.
"FINALLY POWER OVERWHELMING SHALL BE MINE!"
A crimson light emanated from the man's necklace as a dark vortex appeared in the center of the pentagram.
"Who dares to summon me!?" A deep demonic voice called out from the swirl of energy.
"It is I, your loyal subject. I have brought you forth as promised and now I humbly request the power to complete the ritual and open the gateway as you direct my lord Shaitan."
"So shall it be! Do not fail, I have no use for weakness."
Seconds passed before the cult leader cried out in pain, before his screams became laughing as he was consumed with a deep crimson energy.
"Now all shall see me and despair!"
"You are truly magnificent my lord! Please give me the power to aid you in glorious…." Berith was interrupted though as his leader's hand wrapped around his throat, crushing it instantly and causing the man to fall to the ground limp.
"Wha- but why!?" Abaddon asked, shocked that his leader could have killed one of his followers so casually.
"Because I don't need you anymore, and it will be one less person to share power with when the true Lord of the Earth returns!"
Before the other man could react the newly empowered cultist backhanded him, snapping his neck instantly.
"Now then, where were we? Ah yes, I suppose my first act should be to kill you and your…"
The door exploded, flying several feet from where it had previously been and landing with a heavy thud on the ground.
"Titans Go!"
"…friends" the half demonic man finished with a sinister smile.
***TRwP***
'Must get back control, I need to help the others, to help Beast Boy.' Raven chanted, trying to wrestle control of her demonic abilities back from what was ripping them from her.
'Easier said than done Raven. It looks like this bastard was waiting for this opportunity, we should have known better than to come ourselves. A half demon infiltrating a demon worshipping cult? Yeah that was a brilliant idea.' Brave scolded.
'The logic was there but I do agree that hindsight does suggest the large possibility of this being a trap, our initial infiltration was far too easy for it to be legitimate.' Knowledge added.
'At least something good came from this though, we can stop the bad guys and we got to make amends with Beast Boy.' Happy chimed in.
'Hopefully we can continue making amends with him after this is all over…' Affection replied, her eyes in an almost dreamy state.
'Focus! We need to get control of this before he can cause any more damage than he already has!'
'I don't see that happening, quite frankly this was your stupid fault for waiting this long, you should have gone in as a team rather than trying to stop everything with just you and Beast Boy.' Rage countered, receiving an annoyed growl from the desperate empath.
***TRwP***
While Jinx and Starfire were mopping up the few cultists the boys charged in towards the leader, intending on dealing with him quickly, only to be treated like rag dolls for their effort.
A backhand sent Cyborg flying into a nearby pillar, cracking it in the process.
Robin managed to dodge a few sloppy blows, but was caught when the man let out a burst of red energy, sending him sprawling to the ground as well.
Beast Boy had been the only one who was still upright at this point, weaving through blows with practiced ease and ignoring the damage that could be caused by any demonic powers.
"Impressive boy, you really should join with me you know. I can feel the anger and hatred within you. True you hide and suppress it well but it is there."
"Sorry not interested, I've seen how you treat your followers."
"They were weak. You on the other hand are strong, you have the will and power of a fighter and a killer. This new world that I will help forge is the perfect place for a predator like you."
"I doubt that" the changeling responded, after dodging another haymaker launched by the man who simply began circling the boy slowly.
"Ah but it is true. Imagine it, anything you want can be yours due to your strength. Women, power, wealth, all of it yours for the taking. I will spare your friends, turn the men into your servants and the women into tools for your pleasure. We can rule this world!"
"Sorry, as hilarious as it would be to see Robin dressed up in a butler outfit I think I will pass."
Just as the man charged forward, intending on wiping the smirk off of his opponent's face, a powerful cybernetic fist smashed into his face, throwing him into a nearby wall.
"Booyah"
"Nice punch Cy"
"Heh, I was hoping to punch that jerk's face in at least once during this fight."
"Oh my my my, apparently you do still have a bit of fight left in you." The cultist replied, as he stood back up, cracking his back in annoyance.
"Perhaps this will be more entertaining than I originally thought."
"Hey Rob, if you have any bright ideas, now might be the time." The changeling muttered out, assuming a combat stance once more.
"Oh don't you worry Beast Boy, I have plans upon plans." The leader declared, as he threw a small device that wrapped the man up in an incredibly strong and dense metallic rope.
The boy wonder's grin faltered, however, after a quick burst of demonic energy evaporated the binding.
"Okay then fine, Titans Plan B!"
***TRwP***
Plan B failed spectacularly, apparently the man's demonic power also prevented him from being frozen for anything more than a few moments.
Plan C also paid no dividends as the 'Sonic Boom' combo revealed no damage that had not been immediately healed.
The Titans, had then continued on to Plan D, which by this point included Jinx and Starfire as well since the other cultists had offered nothing beyond slight combat training in terms of resistance. This had fizzled out due to the lack of effect that the pinkette's abilities had on the empowered man.
Plans E, F, and even G had then been attempted, and all had yielded little to no results, the last of which was dubbed "Bury the jerk in as much rubble as possible" by Cyborg.
***TRwP***
Slowly the Titans were being worn down, due to exhaustion and injuries.
Jinx had been taken out early on, a slight miscalculation on her part had earned her a power blast of energy which had broken her arm and severely fractured both of her legs.
Robin had managed to stay in the fight considerably longer, due to his various tricks and training. But he too had used up his luck and a wave of demonic power sent the boy flying into a pillar, doing enough damage to his entire body that he was barely able to stand.
Raven had attempted to heal them both, but with her powers still being slowly siphoned, and unwilling to tap into any more than was necessary for fear of speeding up the process, the recovery was proceeding too slowly for them to be of any use.
A furious barrage by Starfire and Cyborg had brought no results, and allowed for the man to emerge from the smoke and utilize a vicious charge to separate the changeling from the rest of his teammates, forcing him to take a moment to rest and heal his own injuries, while he watched on as the possessed man began adding wounds to the remaining two Titans.
***TRwP***
Starfire had finally been removed from the fight, having taken a massive burst of energy that was intended for Raven and Jinx, thereby protecting them from harm.
By this point, over a half hour into the fight, the only two left fighting were Cyborg and Beast Boy, but both were showing signs of exhaustion.
The green hero had resorted to removing his gloves, shocking his teammates with wicked looking claws that were able to slice through concrete and steel as easily as he could flesh.
This had lead to some rather disturbing scenarios where the cultist had been left without arms, only to regenerate them moments later in a swirl of crimson energy.
"I gotta say BB this guy is seriously starting to get on my nerves, we need to figure out a way to drop him." The cybernetic man commanded, after launching the man into a nearby wall, thus buying them a slight break.
"Alright, I have an idea… how do you feel about going all out on him though?"
Cyborg knew what his best friend was subtly asking.
'Are you willing to kill him?'
"We need to take this guy out before one of us doesn't walk out of here. I'll deal with any emotional issues later."
The green skinned boy nodded before charging towards the newly recovered psychopath.
Dodging a vicious right punch he spun around the man from behind, before grabbing his shoulders and using his new leverage to launch the man into the air.
Where the mechanical teen was waiting, having understood what was about to happen and leaping up in preparation, all while charging his sonic cannon.
The hero slammed down, launching Baphomet into the ground and releasing all of his strength and energy into one blow.
The sonic shockwave cratered the ground, releasing a wave of energy that tore what little was left in the room to pieces.
Thankfully the defeated cultists had been removed by Raven during the initial fighting.
"Boo… yah" The man declared, panting before he leaned over, his hands on his knees to catch his breath.
Twenty seconds later an arm laced in crimson energy shot out of the rubble, grabbing ahold of the mechanical man's arm before crushing it like cardboard.
The cry of pain alerted the others, most of which could only watch on in horror as their enemy once more rose from the ruins he had been smashed into.
"That's not possible…" Raven muttered out, her eyes full of horror.
"His bones should have been completely destroyed by that." Robin finished, his mind trying to figure out how to help his comrade.
Fortunately Beast Boy was still standing, and immediately sprinted to behind the man, before kicking the back of his leg in, forcing him to bend backwards and release his hold on the now destroyed limb.
A sickening snap filled the air as the emerald skinned hero snapped the leader's neck, before dropping the body to the floor.
***TRwP***
Raven glanced over at the fallen man, while still working on healing Starfire's wounds.
"Finally it's over" the girl muttered out, taking in the status of her various teammates.
Suddenly she felt the burst of demonic energy, as the man's neck healed and he lashed out with a burst of demonic energy, throwing the green changeling into a nearby wall.
"You have got to be kidding me…" Jinx gasped out in shock, "what the hell does it take to keep this guy down!?"
For once Raven had no answer for her fellow sorceress.
***TRwP***
Baphomet brushed the dirt from his tunic, growling in annoyance at the rips and tears that it had received from the battle. He would need to acquire a new one after summoning his lord into this world.
Glancing about he took note of the lack of opposition that now opposed him.
Their leader was far too injured to launch any sort of attack at this point.
The cybernetic man no longer had one of his arms, along with what appeared to be a substantial lack of energy from his last attack.
The pink haired brat had never been a threat.
The orange skinned girl was down for the count, no longer even conscious at this point.
The shapeshifter was now firmly planted into the wall.
This only left his original target, the half demon.
He needed only to rip the remaining demonic energy from her body, and use it as a catalyst to keep the portal to Hell open long enough for Shaitan to rip a permanent gateway open. Then he could lay waste to any resistance that the earth might be able to put up.
Then he would be the demon lord's right hand, his second in command who would receive power and prizes beyond compare.
All would kneel and despair.
***TRwP***
Jinx looked on in horror as the demonically powered man strode calmly over to Raven, who had attempted one last attack, levitating a nearby pillar that had crumbled and launching it at the man.
Though it didn't impact and slam him into the ground it had bought the girl only a few seconds of relief before he once again emerged, completely unharmed and grabbed the pale girl by the throat.
"Now then, let's see if we can't hurry this process up a bit hm? After all I do have thing to do, nations to conquer and such. The nice thing is that I don't need you to use any special magic words, so crushing your windpipe is completely acceptable, especially to shut you up."
The pinkette tried to do something, to distract the man or launch some kind of attack.
But with Raven so close to him, and her vision still blurry from a mild concussion, she wasn't even sure she could hit him without hurting her friend in the process.
The man's triumphant laugh was interrupted though, as his arm was sliced into pieces by a pair of green claws.
He watched with a mixture of shock and fascination as the gothic girl was dropped to the ground, and scrambled away before the changeling appeared directly in front of him.
"Let's see you regrow this."
A second later his head was separated from his body.
Another second and his heart was ripped from his chest cavity. Followed by his lungs, liver, kidneys, intestines, and what remained of his spinal cord.
A swift kick launched what little remained of the man's body across the floor as the green hero turned to the still gasping girl.
"Are you alright Rae?"
***TRwP***
She had frozen in fear when the psychopath began choking her, then came relief when Beast Boy had, once again, saved her life.
Horror took over a second later though when she witnessed the boy so casually tear the man apart, his claws slicing and ripping as if there was no resistance.
Then he turned to her, and she saw the same look in his eyes that she always remembered.
Concern, compassion, and love.
Even with everything that he could do Beast Boy was still the same fun loving man she had fallen for. Through all the bloodshed, death, and doubt he still was concerned for her.
She knew at that moment that she was hopelessly in love with him.
***TRwP***
"Hey Rae, are you okay?"
The girl nodded slightly.
"As much as I would love for this to be over, the slow swirling of energy over there means that this jackass still isn't dead yet…. So if anyone has any bright ideas I would be more than happy to listen." The changeling called out to the Titans.
"Raven, get Jinx, Starfire, and Cyborg as far back as possible, I don't want them getting caught in any more crossfire. Beast Boy, I might have a solution over here." Robin commanded.
While Raven began with her task, allowing Cyborg to slowly drag himself away due to his weight, Beast Boy approached his team leader.
The masked boy looked ready to fall over at any moment, but managed to reach into one of his larger utility packs and produce a small dagger, before hesitantly handing it over.
The shapeshifter took one look at it, before his eyes narrowed at the boy standing in front of him.
"You realize we will be having a conversation about this when we get back to the tower correct?" the green hero growled out.
"I just want everyone to make it back."
"You know what you are asking me to do correct?"
"I will take responsibility." The boy wonder replied.
Beast Boy nodded, before glancing back at the now revived cult leader.
"Go wait with Raven and the others if you can, despite our problems I don't want you getting hurt."
The masked teen nodded before slowly walking away, often using the wall to hold himself up.
***TRwP***
Beast Boy sprinted toward his opponent, dodging two attempted energy blasts by the man, before making a last second spin to his right, although still taking a deadly blow to part of his torso and free arm for his trouble.
Not a second passed before he slammed the dagger up to the hilt into the man's side, passing between two ribs and into the man's heart.
"Stupid boy, I finally got you." the white haired monster declared
"Yes you did, and I got you."
"It doesn't matter! I will heal from…" but before he could finish blood came oozing out of his mouth, as he fell to his hands and knees.
"Wha-what did you do?"
"I shoved a dagger into your heart."
"But that shouldn't…."
He never finished his statement, as the crimson energy that had protected him thus far faded away, leaving him to die in a pool of blood.
***TRwP***
"Y-you did it…" Raven whispered out, as the changeling approached her and the others, limping slightly while his left arm fell uselessly at his side.
"Heh, yeah I guess so. At least this time he won't get back up."
"Let me see your arm."
"Don't worry about it Rae, the others are in worse…"
"LET ME SEE YOU ARM!" The girl practically shouted, feeling her demonic powers returning now that the previous container was dead.
"Uh sure whatever the doctor orders." The boy grinned sheepishly before slowly sitting down and allowing the girl to work her healing magic.
Meanwhile the others gazed at him with awed expressions, Starfire having recovered moments before the final blow was struck.
"So how did you do it BB? How did you finally…" The cybernetic man trailed off, not wanting to think of his 'little brother' as a killer.
A slight glance towards his leader told the shapeshifter that they should wait for a more private environment.
"Kind of a long story Cy, tell you what I can give you the play by play when we get back to the Tower…. and then the bragging will commence. I shall awe you all with stories of my valiant heroism, my incredible strength and skill, my ability to…"
"Continue babbling on about how amazing you are without pause?" The empath finished sarcastically as she smacked the boy in the back of his to make him hold still.
"Awwwww comeon Rae…."
"So it's 'Rae' now is it?" the pink haired Titan questioned, a smirk forming on her face.
"Sure, it's always been 'Rae'." The boy nodded, as if the answer had been obvious.
Cyborg laughed as Robin was muttering something about how unfair Karma was.
***TRwP***
"So are we going to do this here, or with the others so you only have to explain yourself once?"
"I would rather leave them out of this."
"And I would rather be cruising up the coast on my awesome moped, with my own gang of biker girls at my disposal and you sitting in a sidecar next to Cy but we don't always get what we want."
Robin let out a sigh of defeat before nodding.
"Alright let's get the others and do this now, otherwise I am more likely to try and avoid this which will only make it worse."
Beast Boy nodded before helping the still badly bruised boy into the common area of the tower.
Moments later the other Titans arrived after they had been summoned via commlink.
Cyborg in particular looked quite perturbed.
"What's the deal now bird boy? Jinx and I were….. uh…. recovering…"
Robin just rolled his eyes at his teammates badly disguised attempt to not reveal their activities.
"I need to talk to all of you about what happened during the battle today also congratulations are in order for both Raven and Beast Boy. Without them this mission could have turned out much differently and as such I…"
"Get to the point Robin." The half demon commanded, wanting to spend some time meditating to figure out what her next move with her green skinned teammate would be.
"Uh yes of course, right. So I imagine that some of you noticed the various plans we had thrown at our adversary had failed correct?"
"Yes of course, but that does remind me Beast Boy, how did you finish of the bad man who was leading the cult?" the Tamaranean inquired.
"Simple, I used this." The boy replied, before pulling out the weapon that Robin had given him.
"Wait, I smashed the guys bones to dust and all you did was stab the guy and he dropped? How the heck does that work?" the mechanical man inquired.
"The dagger is made of Nth metal." Beast Boy replied, earning a silence throughout the room.
"How did you get that?" Raven whispered out, the feeling in her stomach turning to nausea.
"I gave it to him." Robin responded, drawing attention back to himself.
"Wow, I gotta admit Rob that you do think of everything. So you figured that we might run into some kind of magical crap on the mission and had this made in preparation?" Cyborg complimented, but received no reply from either the team leader or the one holding the dagger.
Instead Beast Boy was staring at the masked teen in an accusing manner.
"That is what happened… right Robin?" Starfire muttered out, hoping that it was not what she feared.
"Nth metal is extremely rare, it isn't something you can just go out and buy. Plus this is high quality work. I doubt it was made recently." the changeling growled out.
"Robin… what have you done?" Jinx asked, horror filling her face, as it slowly passed onto the other Titans as well.
"It isn't what you think…. Batman has developed emergency protocols on every member of the Justice League, should one of them go rogue. We are too powerful to not have these in place." Robin replied, with his eyes focused on the floor.
"So you created methods to kill us…" Raven gasped out.
"Yes"
The room fell into silence once more, no one making any attempt to move or speak.
"So you don't trust us." The dark skinned man accused, finally finding his voice amidst his thoughts.
"It's not that I don't trust you. I do, but the fact of the matter is that if Superman can go rogue, if I can go rogue then obviously there needs to be safety procedures in place. You all saw what happened when both Terra and I…."
Beast Boy let out a low, but menacing, growl at the mention of the blonde's name.
"….Sorry, I know she is taboo in the Tower but it is the exact point. If one of us were to turn for whatever reason, even beyond our choice there has to be a way to stop us. We can cause too much damage, not only to the team but to civilians as well." the boy wonder finished.
"I don't know man this is a lot to process, knowing that you devised kill switches for all of us…" Cyborg shook his head as he stood and left towards the door, followed closely by his girlfriend who had only glared at the boy before departing.
Raven silently passed through the floor with her magic, refusing to look the boy in his eyes.
Starfire gave a huff, tears evident in her eyes as she turned and walked away, no longer having the happiness to fly.
The remaining Titan stood to leave before his name was called out.
"Beast Boy wait… you were a member of The Doom Patrol, you know what we are capable of, maybe better than anyone. Do you at least understand why I did this?"
A moment of silence passed before the shapeshifter turned back to face his comrade.
"Of course I do. We had the same procedures back in my first team. But that was one of the reasons I left them Robin, I couldn't stand being with a team that called themselves a family and then did something like this."
With that the boy departed, leaving Robin to sit by himself, pondering what he would do next.
***A/N***
*This doesn't actually mean anything I just typed out words that sounded mystical….
So that ends the 'Cultist Arc' as I have come to call it. I hope everyone enjoyed the climactic battle and victory.
A few more loose ends will be tied up next chapter but most are minor.
Since quite a few people have mentioned this I feel like I should address it now, I am not trying to make Robin into the 'bad guy'. I see him as a younger, more foolhardy version of Batman, who did the exact same thing with the Justice League as I stated. Superheroes have turned evil before, and having precautions against beings that can destroy cities with a single word seems like a decent idea…
Other than that I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter!