Chapter 13
Robin was most certainly NOT in a happy place.
The remaining Titans had finally managed to wrangle most of the Hive, with only Mammoth left. Gizmo had been fried when he got tossed into the power lines, Raven had finally managed to pin Kyd Wykyd with an unusual dome-like spell, and Billy Numerous had gotten some of his doubles out that would have to be caught later.
And now, THIS.
A massive gorilla skeleton had dropped in out of nowhere with someone in its hand. Mammoth had then taken advantage of the confusion to knock Raven out and Kyd Wykyd had managed to escape.
"Traitor!" yelled out the furious giant, "Get back here Kyd!"
He looked over at his apparent savior, quickly noting the kid suspended by his arm stumps inside.
"Thanks for the save," he said, "Name's Mammoth."
The kid in the gorilla skeleton only stared at him.
"Mammoth! Get away from that thing!" yelled Robin, "You have no idea how dangerous they are!"
"Well, duh! That's the point! Mammoth and… uh?"
"Beast Machine." It said with a voice that sounded like he was chanting it inside a metal bell.
"Right! Mammoth and Beast Machine will-!"
A gunshot rang through the town, clipping Beast Machine's metallic ribs and calling attention to a small girl with massive arms at the other end of the avenue.
"Strength! You have transformed!" called Starfire, eager to meet her newly-transformed friend.
"Starfire! That's not me!"
She looked back at the direction of the voice, noticing the person dangling from Beast Machine's hand.
"Strength? But if Strength is there, who is this Strength?"
The "Other Strength" merely looked at her host and snarled, "Let Yuu go!"
Beast Machine complied by throwing the small girl behind him as he did not want to get any fluids on himself as he smashed his fists together. Metal began shifting again as Strength pointed all four fingers at her opponent, raining a barrage of bullets upon him.
Beast Machine roared as a new head came out of the metalwork. Massive and perpetually angry, the skeletal tyrannosaurus rex took off across the road, dismissive of the bullets bouncing off its head and eager to sink its jaws into the smaller girl.
He ignored the green bird that suddenly flew into his face, only to regret doing so when it turned into another t-rex and bit down on its neck.
Beast Machine roared in pain, trying to bite down on its opponent's throat. It noticed a gleam of grey metal right before Strength punched it, shattering the construct's ribs and punching the otherself within out through the other side.
Strength leapt over the t-rex skeleton's remains and released a barrage of bullets onto Beast Machine. The now unarmed boy was helpless as he was pounded by the hellstorm.
A pained roar, however, made her pause.
Looking back, Strength noticed that Beast Boy had turned back into his human form and curled into a fetal position, moaning in pain.
She looked back at Beast Machine, noticing that his wounds were already healing. A look back at its host confirmed her suspicions. Beast Boy was recuperating as his otherself healed.
"Great," she moaned sarcastically as she jumped down to pin the mechanical changeling with her left hand, "sorry green dude, I'll try to make this relatively painless."
She formed a gun shape with her right hand and pointed the index finger at her victim. Beast Machine glared at her from under her fist, uncoiling his tail from around his waist, unbeknownst to Strength. Just as she was about to fire, Robin's voice caught her attention.
"Strength!"
Seizing its chance, Beast Machine whipped its tail across Strength's eyes. Blinded, she lost her grip on her captive, who took its chance to roll itself out from under her massive fist. The push set the blind otherself further off balance, which was made worse when he grabbed her ankle with his tail and threw down the avenue.
Looking back at her opponent, Strength couldn't help but wonder how Yuu was dealing with her pain.
Tara Markov had just about enough of Jump City.
An "incident" had resulted in the closure of all public events which apparently included movie theaters. Which meant they had to deal with Dionne.
"WHY!?"
"Dunno," replied the other two.
"I was so looking forward to that movie!"
"We know." Perfect sync.
"Why did those Titans have to pick here of all places to settle down!?"
"Who knows?"
"Why is that one flying this way!?"
"How should we- what?"
The two felt themselves be pulled back by their collars right as a blur of cloth and metal crashed into the store window they'd been walking in front of seconds earlier.
"Whoa, you've got a lot of power in that tail of yours," said the small girl as she crawled out of the window, "look at that! Three blocks!"
The small group looked down the street to see a massive spinosaurus skeleton form itself around a pale boy without arms.
"But your time is up!"
The three girls gaped as the girl's massive metallic hands shifted and changed, placing all four fingers into a radial formation. The fingers began to spin, and a torrent of bullets hit the massive mechanical beast.
Tara, Amber, and Dionne could only huddle behind a light post as they narrowly dodged the rain of piping hot brass casings.
"I hate this hellspawned city!" cried Tara as a shell managed to fall into her shirt, "HOT!"
She jumped out of her hiding spot, unknowingly catching the attention of the machine across the block.
"Stone?" it asked.
Tara looked up sharply, having recognized the voice that had called out. The skin color was wrong, not to mention the ears and teeth, but other than that…
"You again!"
"Terra! Get back!" called out a new voice, forcing Tara to notice the green-skinned menace behind the machine.
"Wha'?"
"RUN! Strength! Keep her safe!"
Beast Boy took the form of a torosaur and rammed into the skeletal predator. Beast Machine roared in rage and turned to grab onto Beast Boy's back with its teeth.
"She's MINE!" it roared, "Stone will not leave me again!"
With a roar, Machine finally managed to grasp Beast Boy's thick hide. With unnatural strength, the massive skeleton lifted the roaring ceratopsian into the air, and slammed him into the ground.
It reared up again and rushed towards Tara, heedless of the swarm of bullets that struck him.
"Shit," growled Strength, "Girl! Get over here!"
Tara's head snapped towards the Otherself just in time to see the massive hand wrap itself around most of her body.
"What the heeeelll!?"
She was helpless as Strength climbed the building with her remaining arm, making for a shaky ride since the blonde-white girl had to leap up with her left hand and grab onto the next handhold, though she often just poked her fingers through the brickwork.
"Oh screw it," she said as she reared her right hand back.
"What are you-?"
Strength launched the shrieking blonde into the air, pulled herself after her with both hands, caught Tara, and landed onto the roof with relative ease.
"There! Easy as pie!"
Tara shakily let herself down from the seemingly deranged girl's hands and began kissing the ground.
She was NOT fond of heights!
"Don't you EVER! Do. That. Again."
"Hey, I saved you from Gorillazilla didn't I?"
A gleam of blue caught her eye.
Who will you fight for?
A girl with a flaming eye jogged down the street towards the sound of battle. It was a familiar sound of gunfire and clashing metal that felt so unbelievably alien at the same time.
Why would such a thing happen?
She remembered having fought before, yet at the same time she remembered going to school. She remembered Blasting Long Range Maid's head off while she chatted away with Yuu. She remembered silencing Black Matagi while she argued with a girl whose name she didn't recall. She remembered the feeling of Yuu's soft lips on her own while she battled Dead Master at the exact same time.
It was so confusing for the two-minded girl.
She wanted to fight yet she wanted to run.
She wanted to go find her mom.
She wanted to join the battle.
She wanted to hide in the tower.
She wanted to cut something down.
It was the first time she had felt so conflicted.
As she kept running towards the sound of gunfire, she noticed Strength carrying a girl she hadn't seen before.
It mattered little.
She raised her arm, summoning her signature weapon in flashes of blue metal.
Like before, the cannon was defective and would likely only be good for two or three shots.
For her, all that meant was that she couldn't miss.
She wanted to hide.
She had to fight.
No one should suffer.
Everyone must die.
Strength barely dodged the first cannonball.
The second nearly hit her charge, but she'd been fast enough to shield her with her right gauntlet.
She managed to assess the situation quickly enough.
Mato had Black Rock Shooter's cloak and half-formed cannon over her regular clothes and body. Strength was surprised she'd managed to withstand the recoil of the massive cannon without breaking her arm.
She lowered her arm when the third shot never came, only to lean back abruptly to dodge the sword that peeked between her fingers.
Something was wrong.
Strength knew Mato when she saw her and knew Black Rock Shooter's fighting style better than most. Mato would have never tried to hurt anyone and Rock would have gone in for a swipe at her vulnerable back.
Her answer came when Mato aimed a frantic slash at her own throat.
"Mato!" she cried, "You have to take control!"
The blue eyed girl stumbled when her leg suddenly twitched to the left.
In response, Black Rock Shooter ran her sword through her own thigh, halting the twitching.
"WHAT THE HELL!?" cried Tara out in surprise.
"Yeah, we're weird like that," replied Strength as she gathered the taller girl back up, "Hang on!"
She leapt up to the next building, trying to put as much space between BRS and herself.
Ten blocks down, she was caught unaware by a third and final shot.
She had been foolish, she knew, to assume that the cannon had already dissolved just because Mato wasn't holding it anymore. She and Tara hit the ground painfully, with Strength getting the worst of it due to the injury on her back.
Tara stood shakily from her spot. She turned to run, but noticed the state of her savior as she laid panting on her back.
"Hey, uh, you!"
She chuckled. "You're a bit confused. Yuu's my host."
"Huh?"
"Inside joke," chuckled the construct, "you should run. I can't fight anymore."
"Oh, hell no!"
Tara stomped over to the fallen warrior, fury written across her face.
"You think you can just get away with groping me for half an hour without paying for it!?"
Strength raised an eyebrow.
"You can at least let me thank you for saving me."
She chuckled. "You should run," she said, "Black Rock Shooter will come soon, and I won't be able to hold her back for too long."
"Like hell," growled Tara as she knelt next to the other girl, struggling to roll her over, "you're not pushing daisies if I have anything to say abou- oh. Oh no."
"Yep," replied Strength, "not good, huh?"
"You're… hollow," gasped the blonde girl as she stared at the gaping hole in her savior's back, "how- how are you even alive? It looks like someone just cracked open a porcelain doll!"
"I'm not," replied the other girl as she sat up, "but I wanted to be."
She groaned as her arms turned back into their Gatling gun mode.
"You should run," she said, "Rock will send me back to the Otherworld and then you'll have Beast Machine to deal with. The Titans will protect you. Find them."
"I'm not getting close to that green-skinned creep again," she snapped, "especially not now."
"Hey, the kid's okay," she said, "don't be so rough on him. He really loves you. But not as much as you love him. Even if you don't remember."
"Not this again," she growled, "there's nothing to remember."
"You don't believe that Terra," replied Strength, "just give the kid a chance. Let Stone Hammer return."
"Who?"
"You'll see," she said cryptically, "Oh! Before you go, could you do me a favor? When you get to the Titans, look for a girl that looks like me. Her name is Yuu. I need you to tell her something for me."
She moved her massive gauntlet to beckon the girl closer. Tara obeyed and let Strength whisper into her ear. Once finished, Tara straightened up and stared at her guardians amber eyes, struggling to decipher the odd phrase.
"She'll figure it out," replied Strength as she stood, "now go. Rock's coming back."
Tara's head turned to follow Strength's gaze. As she had said, the blue-eyed girl was less than half a block away and was gaining quickly with her sword drawn. She felt the hum of Strength's guns before she heard the roar of gunfire aimed towards their hunter.
"RUN! Don't look back!"
She did.
Despite having been told otherwise, Tara could not remember ever having run as fast as she did then.
Strength peppered Mato's body with bullets.
From what she could see, Black Rock Shooter was gaining and losing control constantly.
Her clothes were a mess of holes and blue blood, threatening to bare the girl's skin. Her body was unchanged for the most part, save for her glowing eyes and her constantly paling skin. The cloak had been lost somewhere in the battle and her left arm had yet to heal.
The situation was also worsening by the second. The hole in Strength's back was debilitating her even as it healed, and she could hear the thundering steps of Beast Machine and its host approaching in the forms of a spinoraur and a t-rex.
She was doomed and she knew it.
She'd just have to take some of them with her.
She dodged the black sword for the third time right as Mato's body stalled, giving her time to swat her into Beast Machine's mouth. The construct snapped its jaws shut in an attempt to terminate its contents, only for the jaws to be pried open by the angered girl.
Seizing his chance, Beast Boy bit down on his Otherself's neck, snapping it off cleanly with a downwards twist. Now free, Black Rock Shooter dove into the construct's ribcage to finish off its controller. Unarmed, Beast Machine was helpless as it stared down the edge of the Black Blade.
A jab was aimed to its neck…
…Only for an errant twitch to sink the tip into a massive rib to its right.
It noticed that its opponent was not in full control of her body. If anything, she seemed to be fighting herself. She would aim the blade at it, only for her arm to suddenly change trajectory to her own throat. It was almost amusing to watch, but he knew for a fact that Black Rock shooter would regain control soon enough.
Seizing its chance, it swung on his arms and shot his tail towards the girl's navel.
She lunged once she recognized its actions, but it was too late.
The arrowhead found purchase and slid through skin, muscle, organs, sinew, and bone to reach air on the other side.
Blue blood stained its face as the girl writhed in agony, mouth agape in a silent scream. Beast Machine dislodged itself and dropped out of the collapsing construct, rapidly regenerating its arms as it fell.
It brought the still girl on its tail to its face and smirked, twisting the tail to bring further agony. Once satisfied that the girl would not become a threat again, it carelessly flicked her aside…
…Only to stare down Strength's eight rotating barrels.
The roar of gunfire echoed through the city as Beast Machine barely dodged the bullets.
She finally collapsed from exhaustion and ceased her hellfire, noting that Beast Machine had managed to get away as Mato stood shakily, the flow of blood had yet to halt but had slowed to a trickle. She eventually managed to stand steadily enough to try walking, only to collapse on her first three attempts.
She eventually reached her sword, and made her way to the girl that had saved her life.
Strength knew she was doomed.
Mato was likely a sobbing mess inside Black Rock Shooter's consciousness, too weak to intervene in her execution.
It was with a defiant look that she faced death.
This wouldn't end well, she knew. Even if she could do nothing, Mato could still see everything that was happening.
She felt somewhat guilty about being the corpse that would become responsible of the release of the Insanity into this world, but it was inevitable at this point. There was simply no fight left in her.
She was ready.
A flash of blonde hair caught her attention, and she noticed that her charge had disobeyed her.
From behind a mailbox across the street, Tara was watching with tears in her eyes.
Strength shook her head, hoping that she would leave.
She faced the front to see Black Rock Shooter in her host's skin leaning back to deliver the finishing blow.
She closed her eyes.
And the Earth shook.
Author's Notes: The original draft of this story featured Beast Machine's messy death at the guns of Strength before she was killed by Mato. I thought this was a bit unceremonious, not to mention that I could think of a few extra uses for them. This actually came pretty close to coming to pass. I had already uploaded them before I changed my mind right before hitting the Publish button. I came to the desicion to change it when I realized that my original AN said (i'm not too sure about this".
This is not the way I write. If I see an error, I correct it. I do not allow it to remain.
Furthermore, some of you may have noticed that one of the characters' name was changed. After looking it up, I found out that "Tara's" friends actually had names. In order to keep it cannon, I went back and corrected Dionne's from Shirley.