Fight Makes Life
Psimon observed each and every face off. The breakdown of each fight had gone one of two ways: according to plan and random. Take for example Ravager. While he was to engage with the Titans, who didn't really matter. So his battle with Wonder Girl was acceptable, except he wasn't to be fighting that one alone. With numbers on their side, it should have been two on one there. The fighting between Sac and the Titan's Beast Boy was acceptable, perhaps even preferable. Based on what he was reading, Sac was being pushed to his limit, which would mean he would have to stop holding back. That was perfectly acceptable.
The Tamaranean was occupied by both Ridge and Pantha. He would have preferred Ridge to be one of his, but there was only so much he could sway in his favor. Still the alien was kept busy. So was the earthmover with See-More. Herald was left to handle Raven, which was not ideal. There needed to be two, if not three handling that one.
Which left the speedster who was surprising him. Three of their number was fighting against that one and so far the speedster had the advantage. While such an ability like that belonged to one of the rank and file of the Justice League, Psimon could grasp that there was greater power there than mere speed.
Nevertheless, "The plan is proceeding apace." It was a simple remark, one that he did not need to voice, but with Private Hive at his side, some companionable synergy might not be a waste. "We shall draw this out a little longer, allow our enemies to invest themselves fully, then achieve the true objective. Be sure to not mess this up, Private. The only failures tolerated are the ones we plan so let's take advantage of this opportunity to measure the effectiveness of our teams."
Because it was also a unique opportunity. Success, while preferred, had the insidious habit of luring you into complacence. An actual challenge put you to your limits and either you triumphed or faltered. This planned fight would be very useful into improving his team. He would learn whereas the once vaunted HIVE Five had not.
Psimon would keep out of sight in the meantime and make sure the gung-ho Private Hive didn't figure out how to seize defeat from the jaws of victory. Time was on their side, after all.
It wasn't as if the police would be charging in, even with the hostages practically gift wrapped to them courtesy of Herald. A few psychic suggestions to hold back and call in the Titans tended to go a long way after all.
Oh yes, time was indeed on their side.
Raven was starting to run out of things to throw. Picking up the same objects again and again added in wear and tear; even tools had their limitations, and once reached they tended to break. Trying to then use the smaller, broken pieces put unnecessary strain on her.
It wasn't helpful that this Herald was using a different type of teleportation on her. She had learned through experience that teleporters were a unique challenge. The one known as Wykkyd—yes, even the Ys were noticeably pronounced—could get past any defense she brought up. Herald was teleporting any of her offensive attacks right back at her. If he wanted, there was the possibility to get past her defenses too, though he had not done so yet.
It would be a matter of time, the empath figured. She needed to figure out a plan of action to bring this to an end, and to do so now.
So far, Herald had not been allowed to get too close; Raven had no idea what his hand-to-hand combat skills were and frankly, even with Starfire's classes, her physical combat abilities were still below par. Keep him at a distance, yes, but for how long?
Jagged pieces of broken wooden boards were her next volley and another portal changed their trajectory. This time, a portal opened above her, but her shield bore the brunt easily. Dismissing the barrier, and allowing a rain of splitters to fall around her, Raven quickly searched for anything else to use offensively.
Hmm, seems she had used everything that wasn't nailed down. No, she was not about to compromise the building's structural integrity by tearing its skeleton apart. Her remaining options were to use pure demonic power then, blasts of it, but that would draining, too much so. So long as this Herald could redirect them, then she would be firing on herself. She would have to then take those portals out of the equation, but how?
Her eyes fell on the trumpet. Though it was still within the hooded male's grasp, there was no reason she couldn't take it…
It was a simple change of lighting that tipped her off. Eyes widening abruptly, she swung her head around and found a large orb barreling down on her, a large opening much like a mouth which sought her as its target.
Backwards, quickly, and unfortunately straight towards Herald. She didn't have much choice; up might have her head ramming into the ceiling, left and right would not get her out of the way in time, and down required a use of her powers that time again would not allow. The opening in the large orb snapped shut, much like a jaw, but now this orb gave off the impression it was an eyeball and was staring right at her.
Not the creepiest thing she had ever seen. Not by a long shot.
"Almost had you!" The voice, that voice, wasn't Terra suppose to be dealing with that one. "Next time, you won't get away! Nothing escapes my eye!"
She wouldn't say this out loud or too anyone, but the puns there were making her miss Beast Boy's sorry attempts.
Unfortunately, that was proving to be too much of a distraction. Two hands caught her by her upper arms—Herald! How could she have allowed bad humor to forget! From the holds, the arms then snaked around and wrapped around her torso, pinning her body up against a very solid torso.
"Get your eye ready," Herald ordered.
The large orb formed a horizontal slit, and that opening grew wider and wider. There was no way she was going to be put in that. Unfortunately, Herald possessed physical strength that she didn't. This meant options were even more limited, and with so few choices available, Raven was going to have to tap into reserves.
First to clear the mind, "Azarath," focus and channel, "Metrion," select the spell and release, "Zinthos!"
Demonic energy flared from her body, releasing a shockwave of force the broke Herald's hold on her while slamming into the orb that sought to swallow her whole. Into the opening it went, the sphere distorting as it struggled to retain its cohesion. See this, Raven held up both of her arms and released a blast of her power directly into the sphere, putting its might to a real test, one it failed when it was unable to hold in her dark powers.
Retain control, do not let those energies obtain free reign. She could feel the power wafting throughout the immediate area, begging to truly allow itself to wreak havoc, but no. No. It belonged to her, would obey her, and obey it would as she pulled it back into her body.
Her feet hovered over the floor, her cape suspended in the air, the hood wavering as it fought to remain upright, and through eyes discolored by her birthright, Raven took in her surroundings. Ahead, she could see the one, Seemore, laid out on his back and pushing himself onto his arms. Behind her, she sensed Herald, some physical distance between him and her.
Well, they hoped to overpower her, did they? Perhaps she would not hold back as much if that were the case.
There had been no choice but to go onto the defense. When facing two opponents at the same time, it had to be your enemies to expose an opportunity to remove one from the fight.
Starfire flew between the steel beams, arms held up defensively to protect from the various attacks directed towards her. The creature called Ridge was more than capable with his offense, lashing at her with forceful punches that caused her arms to tremble, kicks that tried to slip past and into her torso though thankfully blocked, and the tail that would strike without warning and almost break through.
Sometimes she would have to physically withdraw herself, other times fly up above, but when she did so, Pantha would attack with savage viciousness. Compared to Ridge, however, the signs of her attacks were easier to predict yet held the same amount of force. The technique was also different, favoring hands and arms.
It was always close quarter combat with the mask-wearing human. Grappling was Pantha's preference, holds and grips through could easily change to pins and throws were common enough. Whenever a throw occurred, Ridge would resume his attack, trying to take advantage of the Tamaranean's lowered guard.
She tried defending with the Starbolts, and while one had struck the reptilian creature, Ridge was quick to adapt and evade all following bolts. Their environment sustained more damage than did her opponent.
As Starfire continued her struggle, deflecting what she could while trying to discern a flaw in her opponent's defense, she noted how Pantha was rushing towards her. It was a very inconvenient time for the masked human to do so.
Concluding that a mistake committed by Ridge would not occur spontaneously, the Tamaranean chose to force a mistake. Slipping past a large fist, she reached up and clasped her hand onto the thick wrist. With her other hand, she threw forth her fist, one that Ridge attempted to catch. He did not anticipate the feint for what it was, her punch angled so that it slipped past the awaiting hand. Her fist uncurled and gripped onto the muscled arm, then with her strength, she pulled forth both of Ridge's arms.
Once the limbs were hyperextended, she swung both of her legs up, pulled her knees close to her chest, then kicked out, striking the heels of her booted feet into the broad chest of the malformed creature. Releasing her grip of Ridge's arm, she allowed her enemy to be propelled back.
From behind him, Pantha leapt over the powerful creature and was it an illusion, but did she see Pantha intentionally kick Ridge in the face? Nevertheless, Starfire readied herself and waited, caught her masked opponent, then allowed herself to fall back while using her legs to swing up and propel Pantha past her.
The Tamareanean's arms then whipped back and placed themselves on the floor behind her, and with a push, she flipped over herself to land back on her feet and catch the incoming fist that Ridge attempted to counterattack with.
Ridge slid around her, despite the status of her captured limb, but it did not matter as he landed a kick to her side with his taloned feet, causing the Tamaranean to cry out in shock. Her feet skidded against the floor, Ridge's fist freed as a consequence when her grip broke. She did not have time to recover as a knee was incoming towards her. An unconscious flinch wasted time, time she could have used to counter.
Fortune unexpectedly smiled on her as Pantha intervened, shoulder tackling Ridge from the side and changing his trajectory. Claws scrapped against the floor and Ridge gave a snarl. "What do you think you are doing?!"
Pantha snarled, "She is mine. Do not interfere!"
"You were happy enough to let me weaken her," Ridge retorted, glaring at his ally.
"I was not. Remove yourself and leave the alien to me," Pantha responded.
"We have a job to do. Forget your vendetta," the creature argued.
This was interesting; her opponents appeared to have a conflict in their goals. She could wait and allow them to address their problem or she could seize advantage of it.
Forming two Starbolts, she brought them together and allowed their energies to meld. The bolt she fired was stronger and more concentrated as a result, but its glow reminded her enemies that they were in the midst of a battle. The detonation blocked the view of Ridge, and Pantha spun around to face the battle-weary Tamaranean.
Surprisingly, there was a smile on the female exposed portion of her face. "My thanks. Now the two of us may settle this."
"I do not understand your preoccupation for me," Starfire confessed, falling back into a defensive stance.
"We are warriors," Pantha declared. "The thrill of battle is what we seek. To better and improve ourselves, to seek new strength and skill, and to test our might against worthy foes, that is what makes warriors like ourselves. You have challenged me with your strength and I seek to answer with the same. Now come, show me your might, alien, and I shall do so in kind!"
There was no time to consider those words for Pantha was initiating her attack. Powerful, stomping feet propelled her opponent forth, and Starfire waited. The charge shifting into a tackle and the Tamaranean took hold of the human female so as to not lose her balance. Backwards was she pushed until the momentum was ended by impact with a beam.
Muscled arms wrapped around her torso, and pressure was exerted on that portion of her body. Physical conditioning could strengthen a body, but it could not truly replicate invulnerability. Starfire raised a hand to strike and hopefully disrupt the hold on her, but then Pantha hefted her up into the air. Suddenly, she was pulled forward, her upper body arcing through air with the floor rushing up to greet her.
She tried to bring her arm to her front to try and cushion the impact while protecting her head. It did not stop pain from radiating all over the upper portion of her body, but it could have been much worse.
Pantha slipped around her and now towered above. Hands latched onto her arms, pulled up and took the rest of her body with her limbs, and this was followed by a throw that sent her flying without the use of her inherent ability to do so. She crashed through equipment and materials, which slowed her down until her kinetic energy ended with another impact with a steel-based beam.
Starfire was feeling sore, but she was not finished yet. Pantha was already closing in, and now she could see Ridge lurking nearby. His interference was almost guaranteed. Using the beam to steady her and regain balance, the Tamaranean studied the movements of the approaching female, observing every movement, every twitch and contraction, and ferocity of which the opponent possessed.
An arm was lashing out, a palm racing through air to strike her, and Starfire ducked under it. Flesh and bone met with reinforced steel, and the metal dented from the force of the blow. Starfire seized this chance and uppercutted Pantha, her fist meeting with the masked female's chin. With her other arm, she cocked it back and landed a blow into the torso, forcing Pantha back.
With a small push of her legs, she jumped while curling her legs inward only to kick out with both of them, her attack true and her might throwing back her enemy to the location of the lizard-like creature. Ridge leapt up, jumping over Pantha and doing what Starfire had been hoping for him to do.
In an instant, she lit up her hands with her life energy and fired multiple Starbolts at the airborne creature. Unable to evade, Ridge could only try to shield his body with his arms while curling his body inward to minimize how much of his body was impacted.
With one last forceful bolt, Starfire returned her attention to Pantha, saw how her masked opponent was returning to her feet, and then took to the air, racing her way to launch an offensive of her own. Pantha was off balance, and it needed to be taken advantage of, hopefully to incapacitate so that she could then devote the rest of her energies to doing the same to the creature.
Unable to hold it back, the Tamareanean unleashed a warcry as she barreled down on her foe.
"Will you quit doing that?!"
Kid Flash held up a hand, one finger extended. "Hold on a sec."
The speedster left behind a disoriented Bumblebee, ran up the side of the building still under construction, and made his way to the side of Hotspot. Snatching the flamehead with the lava-like skin, he moved the guy off his perch, raced back down to ground level, and deposited him next to a recovering Bumblebee.
Then he took position several, um, feet—right, that was the measurement units they used in this era—away and eyed the two bad guys. Seemed like not even Hotspot was immune from being moved at supersonic speeds; he looked like he was going to fall over, vomit all over the place, or do a combination of both. At least Bumblebee seemed to be getting used to—oh yeah, she had asked a question, hadn't she?
Hand back up, index finger extended, he pointed at the bee-themed bad guy and answered, "Probably not!"
Okay, relocation was complete! Now they had all the space they needed to have a nice little rumble without worrying about blowing something up. See, he had his moments!
Whoa-ho! Bumblebee just tried to deck him, but he moved out of the way at the last second and got to see the dark-skinned bee girl moving past him almost in slow motion. Hmm, she looked like she worked out, really knew how to keep fit, but hey, where was the stinger? Shouldn't that be located…actually, that would probably be a bad spot for a human to have a stinger, natural or not. Wouldn't you be poking your legs with it with every step you took—unless it was retractable!
As Bumblebee stopped her forward movement, Kid Flash took a few steps, stopped in front of her, and asked, "Hey, do you have a stinger and is it the retractable kind?"
Bumblebee blinked. "What?!"
"Oh, you know, since you're a bee, or trying to look like a bee, and you want to be as close to a bee, right? So where's the stinger? Don't tell me you aren't trying to be anatomically correct, because that's for amateurs and you're not an amateur—" took a step to the left to dodge the punch, "—since you know how to fight—" two steps to the right for the kick, "—probably have some powers that I don't know all the details to—" back up a few steps for the overhead punch, "—but I bet they're insect related somehow—" standing now to her left again, "—and you had to have some training, which by the way—" now he was to her right after a slicing roundhouse kick missed him by a lot, "—who's been training you and can I get in touch? I think all the 21st century living has been going to my hips."
"Will you stand still for a second?!" Bumblebee snarled.
"Why does everyone keep asking me that?"
Kid Flash had taken his eyes off of Bumblebee for a second, even though a second was a huge amount of time for him so he wasn't too concerned about anything happening, however in that same second, the bad guy—or girl—just vanished. You know, there one second and gone the next? So when he turned his attention back to her, imagine how surprised he was when he didn't see her.
Before thoughts of teleportation crossed his mind, he was nearly bent over double from something hitting him, his head going left and right, and then his whole body skidding back with his feet digging into the ground. Okay, what was up with him getting hit lately? It had been happening a lot, more than it typically did. He couldn't be getting slower, could he?
There was movement, and he zeroed in on it, pushing through the pain to…to…what was he trying to find—there! No, there! No, not there, right—oh, move!
The speedster did the one thing he knew he was great at, and that was running. It made everything fall still so he could really focus on what was happening…ah, now he saw! Bumblebee hadn't teleported! She had shrunk! She was small! Really small! So she could manipulate the matter in her body and change size! And pack a punch! Now it was all making sense! You couldn't dodge what you couldn't see, even if you could move faster than sound but not quite light. Needed help with that last one.
Anyway! Now that he knew what the problem was, he could do something about it! What he did was keep moving until he placed himself right behind her, reached out, and took hold of both of her thin and small arms. Didn't grip too tightly; he didn't want to break them and broken bones were totally breaking the mode.
"So I—" Both of his arms were pulled forward and then his hands were slamming into his face, cutting off what he was about to say. His arms jerked to a side, and then he was spinning around and not by his own choice. Then his grip on those tiny arms broke and he was being thrown, his body landing on the ground and rolling until coming to a stop.
Kid Flash found himself staring up at the sky, wondering what had happened, and then groaning out loud. It had been one of the nature documentary things that BB watched every once in a while to learn something about a new animal who he wanted to use. Insects had some strength to them, and so did Bumblebee. Amateur mistake there. He felt like slapping his hand to his face—you know what, let's do just that and his face was officially slapped.
Huh, now he had an idea. It was just crazy enough to work!
Faster than you could say "back in a flash!", the fastest teen on Earth was back on his feet, second wind in his lungs, and he was running out of the construction site. Leaving only a yellow blur in his wake, Kid Flash enacted his search, looking for the one thing that was going to help him win this one, but where was it, it had to be somewhere around here, but where in all of Jump City would one be—oh, back up, there was one! Borrowing it with the full intention of returning it, Kid Flash returned to the construction site, found where Bumblebee currently was, took aim, and then used his weapon to let her have it.
Not even a second later, Bumblebee was back to her regular size but she was bouncing off the ground once, now twice, and then coming still. After a bit, she pushed herself back on her arms, gave him an incredulous look, and summed up what had just happened.
"Did you hit me with a fly swatter?"
"And it totally worked!" the speedster confirmed cheerfully, holding his borrowed fly swatter like it was the most powerful weapon on the planet.
Then he wasn't. Fire tried to engulf him, but he was fast enough to move out of the way, but not fast enough it seemed to keep the swatter. It caught on fire itself, and now he felt so bad because there was now a citizen of Jump City that needed a new one. He was going to get them a new one, just not right now. Had to fight bad guys, you know.
"Hey! That wasn't mine!" he yelled at Hotspot. For his reprimand, he got a fireball for his trouble. So totally not crash there.
So fire had a habit of expanding, so that meant needing to move farther out to avoid any of the flames. But that was no issue for him, and what was an issue was avenging that fly swatter, thank you very much. No more playing around here.
He vaguely heard Bumblebee yell out, "He's coming for you!" What was that suppose to do there? He was faster than—
Hotspot erupted into flames, surrounding himself with a bonfire that pulled the speedster up short. Okay, need to think, was his suit fire resistant? He knew it was somewhat friction resistant but fire, was it fire resistant?
A stream of flame was blasted at him, but he ran out of the way. A second stream hit his new location, but not him, then a third, but at least he was figuring out that Hotspot here could only move in real time. Not Speed Force time. Hmm, was he fast enough to move through flames without being caught on fire? Idly, he ran out of the way of a large fire ball and stopped next to some metal barrels.
You know, maybe he should test this out. Let a hand stick itself into a fireball or a firestream and see what happened. Then he would know the answer to this most pressing of questions. Alright, new game plan and…huh, what was that word there? It was printed on each of the barrels he was standing next to and it said…flammable.
Oh.
Looking to Hotspot, he tried to say, "Wait—"
Hotspot was already in action, a massive fall of fire zeroing in on the speedster's location. You could guess what happened next. Just to make sure you understood, the barrels exploded when the fireball made contact. There was probably some force there, heat, some other explanation, though there had been a few second delay between the fireball hitting the barrels and the explosion that followed. So it wasn't immediate.
The flames around Hotspot vanished, and the bad guy was watching the explosion that had surely consumed the speedster from the future, but that's where you were wrong and so was Hotspot.
There in a flash, Kid Flash landed several blows all over Hotspot's body, torso, arms, head, anything to cause disorientation, and he finished it all up by taking an arm, rapidly spinning Hotspot around, and then throwing him into the side of a large cement mixer. The bad guy's body dented the large, oblong back of that truck, the one that just now stopped rotating thanks to some unseen damages that happened because Hotspot's body had dented it. No wait, it was still turning, just slower now. Lucky for Hotspot, he wasn't stuck in the dent, his body falling down onto the ground.
Alright, looked like he wouldn't be getting up for a hot minute—no pun intended—so now he could take care of Bumblebee next.
Now, where could he find another swatter?
So there he was, powerful tiger surrounded by a swarm of incoming spiders, and with no place to go. Whatever should he do? When you found yourself surrounded by a ton of little, moving things, hitting them wasn't going to work out for you, right? Sure, the shapeshifter wasn't known for being brainy here, but he did at least understand this!
So what was Beast Boy here going to do? It looked like a tight spot. Since this was all trying to pretend to be a nightmare situation, he bet if he got himself a pair of wings then these spiders were going to group up and be like some kind of blob spiders and try to snatch him out of the air. He could see it playing out in his head too. He could try going bigger, but if the floor wasn't sturdy enough, he'd go falling through it and the last thing he wanted was raining spiders. Too big, might do too much damage to the building and then everyone could be in danger.
With bigger looking like it wasn't going to be better, then he'd have to go small. Real small. Well, maybe not too small. Then these spiders would be huge and there would be an army of them. Seconds were ticking by too quickly and he was running out of time. Nothing for it, let's do this.
Through the eyes of a large feline, the shapeshifter stared down the asshole in his stupid green trenchcoat, growling as he did so. His body lowered, all four legs building tension in them, then leapt, jumping over the incoming swarm of arachnids—what, why wouldn't he know that word?—that then did exactly as his imagination thought they would. The spiders closed ranks then started getting on top of one another, blobbing up and trying to grab at him.
But good luck with that! One second he was in mid leap as a mighty tiger and then in the next second he did a disappearing act. Okay, not really, but asshole there didn't need to know that part. Kinda wished he could see his face now, but Beast Boy had gone small but not too small.
Kinda hard for these spiders to go after him when he looked just like them! Plus! Spiders didn't have the same kind of vision as humans did so them seeing a green spider would mean nothing. Also, how would asshole over there pick him out from the bajillion of spiders running around?
He had his moments. Here was another one. He had started with your typical, everyday kind of spider, but through his eyes which kept some of the human parts, he really started to notice the details in the spiders. Tiny shifts let him try to get as identical as he could, changing through who knows how many hundreds of species to get the right one. Had to be quick; even at this level, those spiders might be able to pick up on the rapid changes.
Eventually, he got to the Sac spider, and yes, he knew some names. He wasn't that uneducated. Anyway, whoa. Whoooa. What the? What was that?
It was like he was hearing another voice, and feeling another…will? Was that will? Wait, hold on, it was trying to tell him something. Find the green idiot? Well, he was green and—hey, he was not an idiot, don't you believe anything of what Raven said!
Okay, okay, why would some voice with no body want to find him? Well, there was the asshole over there…was that voice his? Was he talking to spiders? Who would want to do that? Well, other than to have a nice chat with Fido, but still, why spiders? What was next, talking to fish?
Keep it together, BB. Let's just say the voice and asshole here were one and the same. What was he going to do about it? Hold on, he just had a thought!
Scurrying on his eight spider legs, the shapeshifter weaved through the other spiders who paid no attention to him whatsoever. How many were there? No, focus, focus. Just make your way over—why did it take so long for a little animal to cross a short distance? He'd go for a bug with wings, but he didn't want to find himself screaming "Cecile!" anytime soon. So it was the long, slow way.
At the very least he still saw like a human. No thank you to spider vision. He'd never make out anything despite all the eyes.
His patience was tested, but so was asshole's. That voice of his? It was getting more insistent, demanding, and impatient. There was also a lot of curse words—ooh, that was a new one. Gonna hold onto that one for later.
But finally, finally, he was moving past a pair of boots that were gigantic to the small, green spider. It felt like forever had passed when he was past them. Keep going forward, get yourself into position…maybe a little more to the left? A little more. A little…went too far, back to the right and…another inch or two forward wouldn't hurt, right? Okay, he was in position. Now to pull this off.
He shifted, asshole's voice no longer trying—and failing, he added—to make him do what the prick wanted, and in the place of a sac spider was a donkey, one that balanced on its forelegs while its hindlegs were pulled back.
It didn't take a thought to throw both hooved feet back and hit asshole right in his back, and throw the guy halfway across the room—ooh, right into a beam face first! That had got to hurt! The spiders were going crazy, but they didn't come after him. Scattered more like, though some stuck around, skittering all over asshole's body. That was…kinda gross to be honest.
Beast Boy shifted back into his normal, handsome self, crouched on the floor and looking over his shoulder at his handiwork. He couldn't help the smug grin on his face because damn it, he had earned it. Huh, asshole wasn't moving…but there was some groaning. Okay, just in a lot of pain. Alright, let's see if he couldn't find something around here, tie asshole up, and then find the others and help out. There was a bunch of bad guys running around and so they needed to bring their A game here.
Psimon says freeze.
That sounded like a voice right there, and how did he know there was a P there? Forget about that, why couldn't he move? His body had frozen up—oh, now he got it. Who was doing this and was there an animal he could shift into to break whatever this funky mojo going on here was?
"You're doing much better than expected. I suppose I'll have to get my hands dirty for once."
Now that was an actual voice. Kinda sounded like that second disembodied one. Fight this, Beast Boy, you can do this.
"Then again, hand-to-hand isn't my specialty, but when it's people like us, who needs to know that much? Now, let's continue our game and Psimon says—"
Everything became black.
In spite of everything happening, Raven had still been keeping track of the minds of her teammates. Even with Kid Flash appearing at random locations, she kept the strain of monitoring everyone under wraps.
When Beast Boy's mind vanished, she automatically knew something was wrong. The last she had sensed of him, the shapeshifter had moved downwards to another floor. That was where she needed to go. First, she needed to end her two-on-one.
Her left arm extended while her right reached back. The demonic powers she had inherited acted, a short blast of it fired at Herald while simultaneously seeking out and acquiring a new blunger. Herald scrambled out of the way of the blast, not responding fast enough to use his trumpet. While he found his bearings, she used the blunger.
The blunger was the eye-themed comrade of her opponent, her demonic energy embracing the criminal tightly and swinging him into Herald. See-More was screaming, the screams muffling when his body encountered Herald's. Both were now knocked away, and with them distracted, Raven summoned a portal of her own beneath her and sank into its depths.
Its depth led to the floor beneath, one that had less lighting, was further along in its construction, but there was still enough visibility that she could spot the prone form of Beast Boy a ways off. What had the idiot gotten himself into this time?
She glided her way over, but the empath brought herself up short when she sensed another mind. Her cape billowed before her, until falling back down, draping over her shoulders. Her eyes scanned the area from under her hood. Someone had tried to psychically probe her mind. Perhaps this was the one responsible for her teammate's current condition?
There. He stood amidst the steel beams, almost blending in had it not been for the dark greens he wore. The purple seemed to absorb more light, which would have made it harder to spot him. However, he could not hide from her.
Slowly, Raven drew closer and observed more details about the new one. The most obvious was his head, how the majority of his cranium was transparent and exposing the brain within. If there was anything that declared him to be a wielder of some kind of psychic power or intellectual ability, then that was an eyesore of a red flag.
"My, my, my, you appeared faster than I anticipated," the man greeted her as he took several steps of his own. This brought him closer to Beast Boy which set her on edge.
She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing of her worry. "What did you do to him?"
"Incapacitation, but that can be rectified," the man answered casually. His lips curled into a satisfied smirk. "Psimon, at your service. You are Raven, correct?"
He knew she was on guard, his words were acting as a verbal probe, hoping to find an opening. He wasn't a brute like the Kalanorians were, which meant she needed to be more cautious. This type of foe was more dangerous than the ones who charged in head first. This one had a plan.
"I see no need for formalities. You've been watching us, haven't you?" This Psimon was not the only one who could use words as weapons, and though barbed, hers were as probing as his.
"You've been making quite a splash. News coverage won't ignore you. Of course we've been watching. Why wouldn't we? I will admit, the politicking does grow old after a while. What better way to learn about you than through the heat of battle when all poise and pretense is stripped away?" Psimon spoke casually, as if he was speaking about the weather while waxing lyrical.
"You could have tried e-mail," Raven responded dryly.
"Wit," Psimon chuckled, waving a hand with a flourish. "I am sorely tempted to let this go further, but I have a task to complete so regretfully, I will have to draw this short. I can imagine how far we'd go with this, but alas, a forgettable regret and nothing more." From his hand, two fingers curled while two others remained extended, the thumb curling over the lowered two. The extended fingers placed themselves against a temple—
Black power washed over her, taking on the brunt of the psychic attack. He had tried to force his way in, but she had been prepared. His verbal attacks were to lull her it seemed, but apparently Psimon had a brutish side.
The brutish psychic merely smirked. "Within parameters. Still, enough time has been wasted, and if you want to continue this, well, I cannot guarantee the safety of your changeling…"
The threat was obvious, but it did not stop her eyes from flickering downward at the comatose Beast Boy. He had remained unmoving and she could not definitively tell if he was still alive.
"He still breathes," Psimon remarked idly, giving the impression that he could read her mind though in truth it was a good guess. "I did not see a point in killing him just yet, not when I could lure you to me first. Now, he has fulfilled that purpose, and a simple game of Psimon Says can make his current state permanent."
It wasn't an idle threat even if his tone of voice was lackadaisical. He would follow through, of that Raven knew without needing to return the telepathic favor. However, while she may not know the extent of Psimon's powers, the same could be said of him and her powers. She gave a chant, the three words of Azarath, Metrion, and Zinthos passing through her lips as she summoned her demonic powers to act on her orders.
That order encased Beast Boy's body and dragged him down into the floor. She already knew where to transport him and the vicinity of Kid Flash would be the destination. She felt the surprise in the speedster, followed by concern and then determination. The annoying speedster would make sure the unconscious shapeshifter would be safe.
"My, you are far more capable than anticipated," Psimon remarked, impressed. "You removed my only leverage before I could act. I will give you that credit—"
"And I don't accept it," Raven interrupted, glaring the psychic down. "I am many things, things you would never imagine in all of your life, but if you think I would allow any harm to come to my team when I have the power to protect them, then you are gravely mistaken."
Psimon's face hardened. "I do not make the same mistakes twice."
She would not let him have the time to learn in the first place. Killing may be off the table, but there were so many things worse than death. Life tended to be the greatest torment a soul could endure. This Psimon had confidence in his abilities, and so his confidence would have to be broken first. Everything else that he prided himself on would come next. Then shattering whatever belief he still had in himself would ensure a long lasting downfall.
Life could have what was left of him and do with him what it willed.
Once more, she summoned her heritage in all of its demonic glory. Psimon's eyes began to glow along with his brain, small purple bolts of psychic energy crackling about his head. This would be the first attack, the first true offensive between the two of them. It would be the last one if she had it her way.
It was the last one, but not in the way she had anticipated. Despite standing before this new enemy, this man who was given to whimsy and dialogue, with the greater extents of their powers now in the open, Raven had not anticipated on the physical blow that struck the back of her head.
Concentration was disrupted, her powers no longer lacked a target, her will was already drawing it back unconsciously, and pain exploded throughout her head. Raven fell to her knees, and hands catching her before the rest of her body could land against the floor. Then a second hit struck and she knew nothing after.
To see the young, proud Raven collapse as she did was surprising, but a second surprise brought Psimon up and he reigned in his psychic might. Now whatever could this be?
As Raven fell still, standing behind the fallen Titan was another. Thin, blonde hair, and levitating a rock, it could only be the geokinetic, the one he knew to be Terra. Curious. Why would she strike down her teammate as such?
Blank eyes turned to him, and Psimon went on his guard, watching the earthmover. What was she planning now, he wondered.
Terra spoke, but the voice he heard was one that he recognized immediately. He did not understand why, not initially, but the pieces began to fall into place as his Queen made her declaration.
"The Titan is incapacitated," Queen Bee spoke through Terra's mouth. "Recover her and return to base."
He had told Raven that they had been watching, but even he had not been granted the privilege of knowing just how right his statement had been. To think, the Queen was on the inside the whole time, watching, observing, listening, and who knew what else? So many pieces were starting to fall into place.
Bowing, "As you command, my Queen."
There was nary a twitch to the young girl's face, no tensing of the body, and so no warning when the Titan's body abruptly crumpled to the floor, the levitating rock mimicking the youthful metahuman. It was like watching a puppet's strings be cut.
Rising up to his full height, Psimon gazed at the sight of the two female Titans, contemplated the details before him, including the multiple objectives, the primary one, and of course the Queen's order to him. Then he shrugged his shoulders and placed two fingers to his temple. Telepathically, he reached out to the members of his personal team, seeking the mind of one in particular—ah, there we were.
A grimace emerged but for a second. Well this was disappointing; his team hadn't fared as well as he had hoped, even with the reinforcement of Private Hive's team. As a consolation, neither was the self-named Ravager. Refocusing on the task at hand, with his mind, he gripped onto Herald and voiced his order. "We have accomplished our primary objective. Begin extraction and evacuation if you would, Herald. As per instructions, leave no one behind."
Next, he expanded his psychic reach to the rest of the operatives in the field. "The primary objective has been fulfilled. Disengage and use Herald's portals as your exits. We are leaving now."
Removing his fingers, Psimon crouched down and scooped the unconscious Raven into his arms.
A hand strike was evaded with the tilting of the head, an elbow jutted out to deflect the counterstrike, twisting her lower arm from parallel with the floor to perpendicular resulted in a somewhat weak backhand that snapped Pantha's head to the side, and that would be followed by the masked human throwing a punch to her head. Mimicking the earlier evasion, Starfire retaliated by forming a Starbolt in one hand, yet not firing it until after she jutted her palm forward and blasted her opponent back, ending the latest grapple.
Pantha's boots skidded against the floor, the human female panting while pressing a hand to her torso. The remnants of the scorching her Starbolt had caused to the masked foe had damaged the costume she wore though had not inflicted a much more incapacitating result. Still, Starfire found her breathing more even, though her body was starting to feel sore. Her physical condition was not as worn or taxed as Pantha.
This fight would be ending shortly. One more grapple, perhaps. A second in case of stubbornness.
Surprisingly, Pantha grinned. "You are strong."
A compliment? It was strange to have an opponent do such, especially in the midst of combat. Still, she need not be inconsiderate, and so she replied, "You are very resilient."
"Strength is all I know. Strength is what I need to survive," Pantha responded. "Only through strength do I feel alive. I will continue, until there is nothing left, until my life is spent, and when it does, I will at last feel happiness. Do me the honor in allowing me this."
This was disturbing. Starfire could admire the persistence and the burning soul of the warrior before her, but to learn that only through combat did her opponent feel life? She had met such individuals before, on Okaara, and within the darkest corners of the Citadel. Such people had lost much meaning to their lives, beaten, broken, and stripped of fulfillment. The battlefield was where they found the one pleasure that could not be taken from them.
What had brought Pantha to this?
"Is there not more?" the Tamaranean asked. The lull in the fighting was allowing her the modicum of rest that could grant her decisive victory, but perhaps her next attack would accomplish more if it utilized the spoken word instead of the uncaring fist. "Do you not yearn for anything else?"
There was a response that was about to be uttered, yet Pantha paused, the masked and unmasked portions of her face hardening. The human female abruptly shook her head. "No. No, I am not finished. I will not leave. Not until it is over."
Starfire frowned. "What do you speak of?"
Her answer would not come from Pantha. It would come from the absent Ridge who emerged from behind her opponent, powerful arms wrapping around the masked female from behind. "You heard him," the creature grunted as he lifted Pantha off of her feet. "We're leaving."
"You will do no such thing!" the Tamaranean protested.
"Release me!" Pantha roared, struggling against her ally's strength. It was a testament to the exhaustion that was no doubt burning within that she had not broken the hold in which he gripped her. "I am not finished!"
Distantly, the sound of a horn bellowed.
"You, maybe," Ridge said as a distortion formed behind him. "But you heard that creep. We're going one way or another."
"NO!" Her voice was so raw, so desperate, and her struggles grew in their panic. It was not enough as Ridge leapt backwards, entering the distortion. Both of them vanished within, and Starfire cried out before throwing herself at it.
She stretched out an arm, hoping to shorten the time until her interception and perhaps entrance, but the distortion began to close, and before she could arrive, it was too late. All the Tamaranean passed through was air.
The horn continued to sound out, and only after it fell silent did Starfire find herself processing what she had witnessed. They had escaped, had they not? But…did that not mean that the rest…?
Starfire spun around, searching her immediate area but only finding the destruction left in the wake of the battle. None of her friends were in sight, which induced an anxiety response within her. To the air did she take, quickly searching for any sign of her friends.
In time she would find them. She would learn how the rest of their enemies had escaped. That her friends Beast Boy and Terra would need medical attention.
And the despair when Raven could not be found.
