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ON WITH THE STORY!
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This desert night was just as majestic as the last time she had seen it. The heavens were a kingdom upon itself. It's nation, the skies themselves, an endless tapestry that spread so far and wide they overtook the sands below. The nature of the heavens was so vast that perhaps each star was a dot on a map that marked a city or a town. She thought then, that the Heavenly Kingdom was peaceful because they dared not invade the lands below. But maybe they were a bit afraid of the lights that burned so brightly on the surface of the earth itself. And so, a silent and yet humbling co-existence remained between the land and the skies above.
She smiled at her little fantasies, her thoughts a little lighter now as she had stood under the stars and imagined that the base behind her didn't hinder her view of the night sky with its various lights. She had dared to hope, as she did every night, since that fateful evening in Berlin, that the direction she took then, was the correct path to take for the future. She wanted to believe that what she had accomplished thus far, was what he had wanted her to find here. None of them ever gave her any true direction in this task, all that they told her was to rely on her training, her instinct, and she would come out on top. The task itself was daunting. And still, she had faith in them. And she could not lose their trust in her. She still had a mission complete.
Sariel was taught many things at a young age. How to handle and dismantle a rifle, how to shoot said rifle, how to take a life. Being a child soldier meant you could take orders and fire when ordered to do so. Simple, but terrifying when you're young.
But when he entered her life and saved her from that fate, things changed. She wanted to learn now, learn from him. And so, he taught her many things aside from what she already knew, although she did admit he did improve upon those skills as well. His teachings included self-defense, martial arts, theft, hacking, stealth, subterfuge, and espionage, how to create, fund, and lead a team, gain followers, they even entertained the possibility of training with her abilities, and so much more. She even remembered the day he taught her how to cook, how to change a tire, how to do any of the simple everyday tasks. She was so awkward after he saved her, but she recalled the day he held her hands, bent down to her level and looked right into her blue eyes, and said, "The day they find you and try to take you back, will be there last. You are brave beyond a doubt and smarter than any who will attempt to say otherwise, do you understand?" She remembered how she nodded, how she eventually gave in to the security he provided for her. They grew in time, and eventually, the two had found a unique bond.
When she came here, she found Jillian and was able to convince her to aid her in financing a project that could dismantle the ben Elohim. She gained funding through the network Jillian and her had set up, and then she began to form a team. A team that would work on the outside while she worked on the inside. Ironically the team on the outside had changed so much that she could only hope now that Robin would still be willing to give her a helping hand.
Things happened that she didn't expect, her and Jillian having a true family, grandmother and granddaughter, regardless of how false the titles were, for a while, it felt real. But then again, she was always told she was lucky. She could only hope the luck wouldn't run out any time soon.
"Sariel?"
Reality came crashing back to her as she heard the child's voice call her name. She turned from the majesty of the stars above her to Endora and the insufferable base behind her. "What's wrong?"
"It's late, why are you out here?" She smiled softly at the young girl and reminded herself that the same child possibly wasn't quite human, and had murdered handfuls of people, including Jillian. But if she was being honest, she couldn't help but feel a bit of pity for the girl. Would she be in the same position if she hadn't left the ben Elohim when she did? The thought plagued her, so she entertained Endora instead. "I'm just getting some fresh air." her smile remained, hoping to soothe the child. "Do you think they are coming for us?" Sariel watched the girl walk past her and took on a similar position she was in moments ago, and looked upon the stars. "Do you think they will try and kill us?"
"Who?"
Endora turned and looked up at her and smiled. "Your friend." She chuckled knowing who she had meant, "I don't know." Sariel didn't know why at that moment she thought she saw something in that girl, she couldn't acknowledge her own actions when she reached out for her. The Action simply overtook her. "If they do come, and if they win, I want you to promise me something?" The girl's eyes were wide, one could think they were full of innocent wonder, but one would be wrong. She knew then that the child shouldn't be here. "I need you to promise me, that if it comes down to it, if they do win, then you need to find Robin and you need to stick with him ok? He will keep you safe. Tell him I sent you."
"But that would be the enemy, tha-"
"Promise me!"
The girl was speechless and Sariel had hoped she wouldn't go back to Aurora and tattle. "I just want to see you safe, and if we lose-" The girl placed her hand over Sariels. "I promise." She could only nod. "Thank you."
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With a heavy heart, he made plans to leave Jump City behind that night. Within a couple of hours, after everyone had a chance to wash up and change out of their uniforms, the unit was making their way towards another private jet heading back to Metropolis. It was already so late and he and the team were exhausted, but they all thought it best not to dawdle in the city any longer. Leaving as fast as they could was their best option.
But he lingered for a few moments as the rest of the team boarded the plane. And for a moment the world was silent as he looked towards the city. He couldn't see the tower anymore, he never looked back on it when he left it behind hours ago, but now he wished he had taken one last glance. He had built that team, the ideology of the Titans. And together they made a home. And for a time, it was perfect. But now he thought back on the Titans with disappointment, how he left them there on the roof was proof enough that they were lacking in any form of the teamwork he had enabled in them. Their rage was logical, but their actions were not.
Each of them he single-handedly outmatched, each one he defeated. His mind envisioned Cyborg's still form after he had forced the mechanical man to deplete his power to attack Raven. How he broke Beast Boy's arms and knocked Starfire out in one shot. His old friend was probably now slowly losing his mind as he remained there, unable to move or help the rest of his team.
He sighed then and jailed the memories of his former friends into the darkest depths of his mind. He didn't have time to reminisce. He turned his back on his old city and looked at the new team he had made. From the looks of it, everyone was on board and Asif was waiting for him at the top of the stairs. He smirked when he saw his friend's look of concern and slowly he began to climb the passenger stairs.
"No Regrets?"
Robin shook his head. "No Regrets."
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Two days later Robin found himself in Slade's office enjoying his master's company and a coffee while he spoke of prior events. "Disappointing, is all I can say. For some reason, I thought that maybe the Titans would be more of a challenge. Especially after everything we had been through." Slade took a sip from his own cup as he took in Robin's frown. "They don't have a valid leader anymore." The boy shrugged, "They have Cyborg." And the mastermind nearly laughed at his apprentice's rebuke. "Cyborg is highly underqualified. The only thing keeping him stable is Raven being his co-lead. Without you, the team has withered away. The bigger question here Richard, is do you think they will walk away from this and never look back? Or will they reform their group?"
"You're asking if I startled them enough?"
"I watched the fight." Robin smirked and muttered, "Of course you did." The boy knew that his master wouldn't miss an opportunity to watch him defeat the Titans and while he didn't notice anything amiss, he was sure Slade had cameras in and around the tower. "I watched as you broke Beast Boy's arms, as you rendered Starfire unconscious in one blow, and as you used Cyborg as a tool against Raven. They were terrified of you. But will it be enough to take them out of the game?"
Robin gave a slight shrug. "I guess we'll see in time. I highly doubt they want a reminder." He took another sip before his eyes found Slade's singular one. "If you were watching then you should know about the message she left with them. Return to the land of Ash and Ruin. She could only mean that city in Yemen, the fires." Slade watched as the boy's eyes trailed off, and for a moment the boy seemed distant, as if he was back amongst those flames. It was a place of significance for them all, but it was there that the boy began to have a change of heart, one might say. "Yes, I've already had Will send out a team to investigate the city, they have yet to find anything of interest." Robin shook his head, "Probably won't be anything there until she wants to be found.""Aside from your quarrel with Titans, I do have some more interesting news I wanted to share, however." Another sip, "Oh yeah?"
"While we have been silently dismantling government facilities and organizations funded by the ben Elohim, we are beginning to see a shift in the world. Slowly, it's shutting down and when it comes close to that point I suppose we will have to reopen its doors. Our society as a whole has been a dysfunctional cesspool for quite some time. Hero's and the League are taking the brunt of the blame for a lot of the misgivings of the world, a scapegoat if you will, which has become a blessing in disguise one might say. It has given us time. And with it, we discovered something unnerving about the Legacy."
"Oh?" Robin sat up a little, his interest piqued.
"We know that the idea of the Legacy is forbidden knowledge and a large amount of wealth accumulated over centuries, which are the two key things one would need to rule the world. However, the bigger question remains, how did they obtain this, and why are a lot of files so incomplete? It would seem Sariel thought of everything. The team I had assigned the task of picking the Legacy apart had found another file within multiple others. And in it, she left a note."
"What did the note say?"
"For Robin."
"That's it?"
"Trust me when I say what was inside was much more interesting than the simple note. Richard, Aurora herself, is the Legacy." Robin leaned forward and looked in Slade's direction before asking, "What?" The older man stood and walked to his window, briefly taking a glance at the ongoings of the base below before turning back to his apprentice. "The true secrets are kept in blood, her DNA is coated with a variety of what I can only describe as nanoprobes, all with a variety of designs, allowing her an assortment of abilities, a full arsenal at her command. The blood is passed from one leader to another, and when it's complete, all knowledge and abilities are passed to the next in line. Aurora's blood is not natural, definitely more of the experimental type."
"Are you saying Aurora is just some sort of vault of knowledge?"
"The blood itself is what gives her the vampire-like powers and her immortality, it's designed so that the more she drinks the more she adds to the knowledge, the probes in her system are organic, which is not something perhaps even I can explain. But it would explain how she and her predecessors have remained in power for so long. Sariel made sure to include this one vital piece of information along with the rest of it. The only way to inherit the throne of the ben Elohim is to become like her. Only then will you have the power to keep that knowledge contained."
Robin looked to the floor, "If this is true, then there have been hundreds if not thousands of years of knowledge and variety of lives collected by Aurora and all those who came before her. The Legacy, the physical one was created, to keep everything on record. Maybe it was becoming too much for one person to handle, so they had to start storing the information another way?" Slade shook his head, "I don't know. All we are left with is an uncertainty."
"We need to kill her then. Spill her blood and then bottle it up. Make sure it doesn't get passed on to anyone else. "The mastermind clasped his hands behind his back as he watched Richard with intrigue. "And then what?"
He looked to the man then. "Then I guess we become the keepers of a magical bottle of blood." Slade nearly chuckled, "I suppose we do."
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Originally it was Starfire that was the first to wake up, the first to assist Cyborg, and then the others. She was distressed when she found that Victor couldn't move and more so when Beast Boy and Raven needed immediate medical attention. When she had called for help, when she had told him of what had occurred; what was done to them, Batman was at a loss for words. Even more upset when he found out that Robin had dismantled the entire tower, leaving them with no way to get the medical attention they needed at the tower. They would need to go to a public hospital and he didn't know what kind of aid they would receive there. The caped crusader wouldn't, however, leave them in this predicament. Soon after he had them transferred to a facility normally only dedicated to the Wayne family.
Two days later The Titans had an unexpected visitor from the Bat himself. The Caped Crusader was heartbroken with their state of affairs. Beast Boy had both arms in a cast, Cyborg was bandaged up from the multiple scrapes and bruises as he lay in a bed while he recharged. Raven he noted was in another room while she was within the depths of her mind, possibly battling whatever demons she normally kept at bay with her meditations. They all had hoped she would wake soon. That left only Starfire and she seemed to receive less of the beatings compared to the rest of her team. A mild concussion and a few headaches seemed to be all that she received from the encounter.
The team was stressed, perhaps beyond any help he could offer. So instead he would sign them up for therapy with a few of the Leagues best in that field. But the more he had someone speak with them, the more the therapist dove into their minds and their emotions, the more broken they appeared. Bruce was struck with an awful sense of guilt then. His son had done this to them, Richard had not only broken them, he shattered whatever structure they had left. But was it some sort of unwavering determination or feelings of responsibility that fueled their rage when he told them the Titans were now out of the game, he didn't know. They were broken and mangled, but still, they wanted to fight, they wanted to keep going, and it was wishful thinking on their end to even think they could.
"This isn't fair, what if he starts attacking the city with Slade?" Beast Boy was full of vinegar, and Batman doubted there was any way to calm him down. "I doubt that is a possibility at this time."
"Maaaaan." He frowned at the Bat before looking towards his friend. "Cyborg, tell him we gotta get at least the tower back up and running, there are things we got to do!" Cyborg just frowned, "I dunno BB, maybe... maybe we should just do what the Bat here is asking of us and lay low." Garfield was shocked, "But... But DUDE!"
"Look at us BB! Can we do anything like this!?" Garfield frowned and looked down on himself then, "Yeah, I guess you're right."
"What are we to do about the tower?' Starfire's eyes caught the Bat's own, "We do not have a home without it."
"I've run some tests on the systems myself, right now there is no foreseeable way to get the tower up and operational."
"Ever?" he shook his head, "I don't know. Perhaps once I have more time Cyborg and I can work on it."
"This isn't fair man, we can't just... just give up like this!?"
"You're in no condition to fight. What if he comes back? What will do you then? You couldn't defeat him then, you think you could do it now?" the mood changed then, and the three became quiet, timid like a mouse, frightened. They wanted to fight this to the end, he knew. But they couldn't, even if they physically could, he believed that their minds were too muddled at this time to be of any use on the field. "You're all on standby until further notice. I know it's not what you want, but it's what you need." The Batman left then, his orders very clear. They were to remain here and get better. Garfield leaned back in his bed and stared at the ceiling while Cyborg finally let the wave of relief fall off of him. "Friend Cyborg." she had moved to sit by his bed. "Yeah, Star?"
"Do you think perhaps, if we were to bring the tower back to life, that he would return?"
He smiled at her before he dropped his face, his eyes finding the floor. "Star." she could see the tears swell up before he wiped them away. "He'd return, and then he would hunt us down and kill us." she lowered her gaze. "But-"
"Star, we need to disassemble the other teams before anyone else can get hurt. I am not allowing them to get involved with this. I hate to say it but they may need to go into hiding for a while. I don't need their deaths on my conscious. Gotta do what we can to protect our own." He looked to Beast Boy then and found that he had passed out. 'We gotta do all that we can to make sure everyone is safe, at least for now." She placed a hand on his shoulder. "I understand." And she did, even though retreating felt wrong.
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Batman knew when he left the Titans that night, that they were never ready for any kind of engagement with Robin. And he had wished that they had contacted him instead of rushing off to meet their former leader. The team was run down, stressed out, and honestly ill-equipped to deal with Robin as he was now, and it cost them. Who knows what kind of training the boy had received since his betrayal? Knowing Deathstroke, it probably included a full arsenal of deadly constructs. And if he was truly being honest, he didn't know if the Titans would fight again after this. They had nearly gotten themselves killed, and from Cyborg's report, if they went back to being Titans, went back to the tower. He would return and possibly end them.
And what would happen then? Not even he knew. Fighting a battle against someone you once loved and called a friend was a difficult task. He knew how overwhelmed they must have all been. And in being in that moment, they had made some poor decisions. He shook his head, the silence of the Batwing had grown too comfortable and his thoughts were left to wander. Normally, the League would deal with a threat such as this, keeping the kids involved safe, but they were all spread so thin at the moment. Maybe it was for the best if they laid low for now, and if the Titans were to dismantle themselves, not only the core team but the other affiliates as well. Maybe it would keep them safe for long enough. Secure enough that Robin and Deathstroke would perhaps forget about them? But he knew that was wishful thinking. Robin targeted his team for a reason, and not only to make a statement regarding himself. No, there was another key element involved. He just didn't know what at the moment.
First, it was murdering League members, then beating his former team so brutally that they were within inches of their deaths. Only to leave them on that rooftop, he could not imagine the mental damage that must have done to Victor. It occurred to him that the team needed time, a lot of time. What they did after the time he would provide to them, didn't matter, from there on they would be on their own. But for right now, they were his responsibility. And maybe right now the Titans were not what the individuals needed. Right now, they needed one another, not a tower.
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-Fangy
