Disclaimer: By this means, I rightfully claim ownership to this FanFiction story and my original character within it, by my trademark signature T.M.O at the conclusion of every update. Any other characters that may appear in this work and are new, these are the rightful properties by their creators as well and cannot be reproduced, or duplicated without their individual consent. I do not own anything within the DC Universe, from Warner Brothers, or on Cartoon Network. The only original character and the name that I created for him; that I accept half ownership on is Falcon from this telling. Scififanfreak222 owns the second half of him as well, for drawing him upon a collaboration of various new designs and sketches within the year of 2010; and cannot be knowingly placed into another literary document, writing community, comic book series, and or televised broadcast without either of our written or verbal consent in front of legal consultants. TheForceIsStrongWithThisOne, Scififanfreak222, xSaffire55x, Novus Ordo Seclorum, and RavenxIsxAxBlackxRose; each of these fellow writers have helped me to press onwards with this story, every-time I have come across writers block. Without their outstanding guidance, the updates would have taken me even longer to complete.
Chapter 21 is done! The call to action leads The Teen Titans out of their downtrodden stupor, the full cost of being a hero is weighed, while the plot thickens on all fronts. "Our deeds determine us as much as we determine our deeds." -George Eliot (1819-1880)-
Chapter 21 - Fortitude Of The Fallen
The Gold Depository was well guarded on countless fronts; as everything of incredibly high value would be. Cameras would scan back and forth along the corridors and hallways, thick steel doors and brick walls created a dizzying labyrinth for any would be thief to navigate their way into. There were also searchlights that brought illumination to any movements along the outer perimeter.
For anybody with the intellect and gymnastic skills to somehow manage to sneak beyond the barriers and towering walls, the next most obvious hindrance was the well trained and heavily armed National Guardsmen on patrol. These fail-safes were numerous and close to impregnable. These brave soldiers were a challenge to confront, while the tanks and armored Humvee's parked nearby would deter a menacing invading army.
Then there were the layers of defenses with barbed wire across the top of the outer perimeter. Everything noticed on each side of the super structure had plenty of features to keep hardened criminals at bay.
The military barracks were stationed within the inner-perimeter of the sealed off area. Every conceivable angle had armed men placed at the entry points and upon the imposing guard towers. The shining search-lights were constantly moving back and forth, scanning for any potential threat.
To any wandering adventurer that could get a glimpse with binoculars, the appearance of this fortification was like The Berlin Wall which had divided this famous city in two for decades.
Everything that could be expected to happen had a contingency plan. The security forces would rotate out to swap shifts, so that somebody was always at their post. It was done to keep the troops rested, and that everything was functioning at one hundred percent.
The canine units would constantly go on patrols, while there were various security key-cards that could only access one way in, and a separate way out that was logged and monitored by the cameras like it was 1984 from the famous George Orwell novel. Every single detail was covered that is . . . except for what was beneath the main building.
The security network had an extensive, rather an over abundance of cameras that recorded everything. From people entering the facility, to the guards and even the workers themselves that maneuvered the pallets and material from any shipments coming in or leaving.
It was not too difficult for Slade to make quick use of his technical know-how, to interfere with this critical component regarding the cameras. This most fundamental feature, had become compromised where any footage inside was distorted, and the network had been playing a loop of an earlier recording of the previous day. Those watching the monitors did not even notice the sudden glitches.
A few of the dogs were barking up a storm, and the men on watch had no clue as to why the Doberman's were so uneasy this night.
Inside the main vault, there was an army of Robot Commandos maneuvering about the impressive fortress. They were the silent foot soldiers that worked without question, without mercy for Slade, and they had been busy all night.
Their fast work had negated every security feature that shielded the surroundings. Unbeknownst to them however, one of the sladebots had triggered a silent alarm that was directly connected to The Teen Titan's Communicators.
Oblivious with what had happened, they continued working with their repetitive tasks.
They picked up the gold bricks, and then they lowered them onto a wide platform, re-stacking them. From here, the sturdy lift would descend into a hole that was drilled into the concrete foundation, once the massive pallet was ready. Four Robot Commandos would constantly rotate out, as new ones would take their place in the time-consuming task, of emptying the contents of the massive vault.
BOOM!
In a disorienting moment, the front doors were blasted clean open as the ear splitting shock-wave forced smoke to rise and spread about the inner chambers of the thought-to-be impregnable castle. This disruptive force caused the Robot Commandos to halt their efforts, and to turn and look at the three superheroes.
A great hole had been created, and the shadows of three of the Jump City saviors were spreading far.
"Slade." Robin spoke as opened his bo-staff, and he twirled it behind his head. "I should have known."
The infesting army that were the Robot Commandos, were unmistakable in their black and silver armor attire. These adversaries were battled countless times by the local heroes, and every time the emotionless drones were soundly beaten.
"Looks like this party is just getting started!" Cyborg cracked his knuckles, and he stood in one of his many tiers of his jujitsu lessons.
The two young men exchanged glances at one another, and then they resumed their attention back to the flabbergasted robot army before them.
"Luckily we got here when we did." Raven rasped with her hood covering her face, as she hovered behind her male teammates. "If we waited a little longer, who knows how much they could have gotten off with?"
Blaster fire erupted from six of the sladebots standing along the catwalk high above their heads. The Titan's shock and awe tactic had ended just as abruptly as it began.
"Titan's, Go!" Robin unleashed his battle-cry where the dauntless three parted ways, and they leapt into their individual actions.
Raven was using her dark enchantress powers, to generate a black force-field in front of her with one hand in order to deflect the incoming fire, and with her other she picked up the random pieces of equipment, and hurled things at her opponents.
Some of the drones were instantly crushed from a forklift that had been telekinetically utilized by the Grey Sorceress, while a few ducked and they hastily made for protection behind pillars on the other end of the room.
Robin dropped a smoke grenade at his feet and he darted around the obstacles, slapping his weapon into the masks of the faceless enemies. The brute force caused some of the silent thieves to collapse onto the floor, with their inner circuitry being exposed.
The sparks sizzled and popped, where most of the ninja foot-soldiers ignored their fallen allies and they splintered into various groups. Others got back up and continued the attack by themselves.
Cyborg charged valiantly into three of the Robot Commandos, like he was a wrecking ball. Using his shoulder and the incline of the ramp to give him more velocity, he easily plowed into and knocked over all of the combatants that were too stubborn to get out of his way.
A crimson laser blast singed across his left knee, where the Titan's Technician howled in pain! After picking up an enemy, he twirled him over his head and he threw him at two more in the corner.
"We shouldn't be doing this at half our strength!" Raven sighed as she crouched behind a pillar, to protect herself from the incoming shots.
The alarm started to whine, and the security forces around the perimeter finally rushed into the battle, shooting at the sladebots with laser rifles of their own. Robin smirked as the reinforcements cut off the only way out from the main door.
"Who said we were outnumbered?" Robin quipped back, as he saluted to a commander of the National Guard, and the fierce onslaught was turning in their favor.
"Well alright!" Cyborg cheered next. "Looks like I can open up now too!"
The overzealous gear-head tapped onto his right wrist, transforming this arm into the iconic Sonic Cannon. In a matter of seconds he began to fire the blue blasts at the snipers shooting down at them. In realizing the original plan was compromised, the numerous thieves slowly started to fall back towards the opposite end of the room, as the larger and more formidable Robot Commandos began to descend onto The Teen Titans.
The far bigger and deadly droids were too much of a struggle for any one person. Their armor was grey and black, where the metal straps formed an 'X' letter across their chests. Instead of hands they had claws for appendages, and the tank-like soldiers began to beat back the security.
"Dang-it!" Robin shouted, as he slashed down another foe with his trusting and iconic steel weapon. "It looks like this fight is going to be up to us."
"Isn't it always?" Raven rolled her eyes. "Azarath, Metrion . . . ZINTHOS!" she encased the dark energy bubble around the legs of one of the attackers, and she tripped him up as it hurried forwards.
"There are too many of them!" Cyborg continued to fire away. Another red laser crashed into the pillar that he was leaning against. "Damn! What are we supposed to do now?"
Glancing behind him, Robin observed the national guardsmen of the depository, grappling to suppress the enemy fire with their own. It was a back-and-forth match, and the goal of everything was still very confusing. What exactly Slade was trying to accomplish?
"We fight!" Robin tossed four Bird-A-Rangs against the Robot Commandos, hitting them in their chests while they were creeping up behind Raven.
The Grey Empath peered at the platform in the middle of the room, and she watched as a pallet of golden bars was being lowered.
"Over there, look!" she finished off two more enemies and then pointed at the platform. "It would seem that that's how they found a way in."
"We need to push them back!"
"I couldn't agree more." Cyborg replied over the chaos. "We need to stop these guys from taking anymore of their prize to Slade!"
A terrifyingly loud roar forced everybody and everything to instantly become mute. The enemies of both sides paused while out from the darkest corner that the sladebots had retreated to, Cinderblock trudged forwards.
"Oh come-on!" Cyborg bemoaned. "Why did it have to be ol-block-head?"
The scars and recent scuff marks of his encounter with the green changeling were clearly visible, where three distinctive claws had slashed against his chest, and along the side of his face. This reminded the heroes that one of their own had taken this deadly behemoth on, all by himself.
"Well this is just great." Raven rasped as the security forces were of no match against the deadly juggernaut. "Now we have Cinderblock to deal with!"
"Fall back!" one of the National Guardsmen cried out, as his buddies were pummeled left and right. They were being tossed about the room like they were rag-dolls.
"Pull back to the main gate!" chimed in another.
"So much for Jump City's finest." Raven quipped, as her attention was distracted by the terror that was sweeping over the troops.
"Well Raven what can I say, we ARE Jump City's finest!" Cyborg bantered back, in a boasting manner to conceal his own fear.
"Ooooh. Lucky us then."
"Knock it off you two." Robin scolded them. "We need to come up with a plan, and we need to do something fast!"
"And to think our little grass stain managed to take on Cinderblock, all by himself!" Cyborg quipped. "Still, the odds are in our favor as we are not alone."
The mighty foe looked at Robin and his two allies cowering behind the columns that supported the roof, and he howled in vehement anger! It was the shapeshifter of their team, that had bested the behemoth and now, the powerful adversary wanted revenge.
He picked up some of the golden bricks and began to throw them at the retreating forces, pelting them in the back as their blaster fire ricocheted clean off of him without having any effect.
"I'm open to suggestions." Raven's gravelly voice caused her allies to turn, as she deflected stray shots coming from the Robot Commandos. "I mean it, absolutely anything!"
The Boy Wonder winced from a bit of debris being kicked up at him, "Raven, I need you to take out those guys on the second floor to allow us some cover!"
"I'm on it." The Empath nodded her head, and she soared past the many robots on her path heading to the higher levels.
"While she is busy with those goons, what are we going to do about Block-Head? Or the others taking the gold?" Cyborg asked as he cowered a little, to protect himself from another loud shot that nearly missed his left shoulder.
The ground began to vibrate beneath their feet, and The Boy Wonder understood that his options were limited. He was the team leader, and he had to make the tough calls where it was strange that his Second-In-Command was being entirely supportive after everything.
"Robin!" The gear-head cried out. "We can't stay here, and we can't let them get away. Not to mention Slade's number one henchmen over yonder, that is going to be our biggest obstacle to deal with."
The encroaching identical drones drew closer and closer around these three heroes. Raven continued to dart through the air, dodging the persistent attacks and unleashing her powers. Cyborg fired his sonic cannon and the blue beam knocked down all that it came into contact with.
Robin tossed Bird-A-Rang after Bird-A-Rang, there were also explosive disks to disorient the enemies surrounding him, and flash grenades that confounding the whole bunch of criminals.
"Cyborg, flank to the far right of that corner. I have an idea."
"Robin what are you-"
The Team Captain took a deep breath, and after unleashing four smoke grenades in front of him, the heavy fog expanded and combined with the others concealing the room within a blurry cloud.
Luckily Robin was trained in the shadows and darkness from his previous mentor, and in realizing his Second-In-Command had various sensors built into his left red eye, to see through the smoke, the brave leader made his move!
"Dang-it." Cyborg grumbled to himself, as this attack pattern was one he was still not familiar with. "A little head's-up would have been nice!"
Zig-zagging left and then right, Robin was able to swipe the unsuspecting drones off their feet using his primary weapon the bo-staff. He even pushed some out of his way, through the dissipating fog he had raced into, to become easy targets for his marksman teammate to finish.
Cinderblock was completely baffled at this. He roared louder this time, swinging his arms uncontrollably and violently at the moving blur.
He was hitting nothing but the air, everything except the shadow of the Teen Titans Leader. His punches and swipes of his massive concrete arms, they were tremendous with great amounts of energy but he was very sluggish. He paused to look at the palms of his hands, empty of catching anything.
Raven's now white eyes glared furiously at the four snipers on the opposite end of the catwalk. After reciting her mantra, she encased the dark energy around a manual jack on the floor below them, and she slammed it into her targets. Two of the shooters were pulverized and smashed to bits, where a third was cut in half from the long blade and the fourth turned and ran.
As she resumed her attention back to the struggle down below, she saw Robin fighting every single combatant that approached him with a raw unbridled rage. Only once before had she seen this, and it was during the battle at the dockyards when they were in search of Slade's device to permanently stop time, the Chronoton Detonator.
Her leader was still taking the helm, he was a little slower from his normal and more fluid self, which was from the overtime they had all been putting in. They were feeling it, but he was defeating the hoard of opponents that surrounded him like they were part of an obstacle course.
Cyborg unloaded his weapon at the other targets to keep them pinned as The Boy Wonder charged forwards. He was totally unaware of the greatest threat picking up an empty pallet, and making himself ready to unleash it at him. The juggernaut heaved it back, and in one swift motion Cinderblock threw the oversized pallet towards the gear-head.
"Look out!" Raven cried.
As both young men turned to look at what The Empath was pointing at, Cyborg's right eye became wide with shock as the object suddenly smashed into the pillar, and he tumbled to the floor. Dust slowly rose about him, and the blaster fire continued to erupted in every direction.
"I've had it!" Cyborg grumbled. "That's it, you clumsy and oversized oaf of a villain!"
The gear-head rushed directly into Slade's most dependable and formidable soldier, and their hands became locked in a grappling struggle. It was a wrestling maneuver as whoever had dominance against the opponent's wrists, they would be unable to counter things with their hands.
Following a fast take-down against four of the larger commandos, Robin turned and saw his year-older comrade taking on the biggest foe that he wanted Cyborg to flank.
"I'm coming Cyborg, just keep him distracted!" Robin called out.
"Just hurry up already!" Cyborg bantered back with a few beads of sweat dripping down his forehead. There was an itch driving him, and it would not leave until the victor was left standing.
The very same large sladebots that Robin had taken down, ten new ones approached Raven, five on both sides of the catwalk as she stood in the middle. She squinted her eyes, and removed her grasp over the railing. The bitter fight within the vault was a fierce struggle, and the heroes were fighting valiantly, unprepared but carrying out their work as superheroes.
It was a move that their greatest enemy had unleashed, and they all knew it. The motivation was still a mystery to them, and they were becoming fatigued.
Cyborg was pushed to the floor as his right arm was twisted in an unnatural thrust downwards. The world began to feel like it was slowing down, and his breathing was heavy. His typical high levels of energy were severely strained over the limit, and he had a cramp in his side that would not leave him.
Cinderblock towered over him, and he unleashed a deafening roar of hatred at his fallen opponent! The Teen Titans had carried on with their assault like so many times before, but it was becoming apparent that this new attack, was driving them each much harder than what they were accustomed to dealing with.
With everything becoming a giant mess, the team's mechanic observed that the platform had a manual control panel, and both he and the behemoth of a villain looked at it, and then their eyes met.
Cyborg revealed a smile, he did not like his chances but a new strategy was needed. While Robin was racing to attack from behind, and Raven was cornered on both ends of the walkway, Cyborg found a way to break the deadlock. The idea came to him, like a light-bulb was going off.
He was going to destroy the panel, where he and the much bigger enemy would plummet into the depths. What awaited them was a mystery, but it would bring an immediate end to the fighting up here.
"Cyborg! I'm coming!" Robin cried out. The desperation to reach his friend was felt by everyone, the now panic rising in his voice startled Raven to look back again.
Does he know what I am thinking? The gear-head smirked before talking out loud.
"Once more into the fray . . . Into the last good fight I'll ever know. Live and die on this day . . . live and die . . ."
Cinderblock raised his fists over his head, he was about to slam his deadly sledgehammer weight against the Teen Titan's cranium. The whole world felt like it had stopped, and in this crucial moment of hesitation, Cyborg raised his arm and fired at the control panel.
The platform shook and everybody turned to look at the struggle taking place in the middle of the room.
All eyes were focused on the dueling party that had been a true statement of brute power, of an unstoppable force running into an immovable object. In an instant the platform was heard to creak as the control panel was obliterated, then the clamps that held it in place uncoupled, causing the lift to collapse into a vast crater that had been drilled by Slade's menacing army.
Robin and Raven were horrified at what was happening. At the same time they both shouted; "CYBORG!"
(~)
Starfire was looking down at the blonde haired Geomancer, asleep and resting in her hospital bed. There were countless more questions to be answered, and now she felt that everything was dropping to her shoulders to sort through the mess.
Three of her friends were preforming their duty, to serve and protect the good people of Jump City. The fourth member of their team was in his own hospital room, where the unfortunate information about Robin's plan, the ploy and counter-measures to dig into who exactly Falcon was, the deceitful nature was heartbreaking on multiple levels.
Beast Boy had severe injuries that would clearly take time to heal, but that is not what troubled Starfire presently. It was the much deeper wound, the betrayal unlike anything that her friends had experienced before, that they all had a part in playing.
That was what had hurt her the most. The Tamaranean Princess felt as though her guilt, was like the mighty anchors of a battleship attached to her feet and she struggled to reach the surface for air. This compromise she agreed to earlier in the week, this uncomfortable issue was constricting her as she was pulled down, down, down, into the cold dark depths of her emotions. It felt like she was unable to breathe or escape to the surface, and she did not know how long she could last.
It was a very rocky start to the new dawn.
She sighed briefly, all of the conflict and stress upon her family and the death of Falcon, there were multiple slices into her typically cheerful attitude. Now she did not feel anything of joy or grace. It was supposed to be Beast Boy's birthday, and that celebration had been tainted by the heartbreaking news.
Any sort of recompense on all of the afflicted parties would have to wait a little longer, as the Titan's Communicator's initiated the famous and unwanted crime alert. Starfire was trying to remember why she was even in the room with her old friend to begin with, where Terra had only been a brief part of their lives and yet, the blonde had left profound effects upon the entire group.
Beast Boy wanted to be left to his thoughts, while Cyborg had asked that somebody to be ready in their place, should the Geomancer awaken. There were so many places pulling her to be in right now, and in her heart she longed to be out in the city with her family doing her part.
"I suppose I am just going to have to wait here until they return." Starfire spoke quietly in the dark room.
The ceiling light was off, and the blinds to the world outside were parted from her fingers as she sat in the wheelchair looking at the view of her city. The sun continued to rise and cars were noticed driving about. The job of being a protector of the metropolis, of rushing head first into harms way in order to secure a brighter future for the citizens, was a truly demanding occupation.
She often thought of what other careers or paths she might look into, where being a crime fighter had its perks but it was something that could not last forever.
So many sacrifices had been given on her account, and over the course of her time since she had made Earth her home, a great deal was gained. In her mind, it was worth it all. Yet with the steps that were taken, of how the trust in being an adamant and fervor supporter of Robin, qualities that the Teen Titans held so strongly before, it was quietly slipping from her grasp.
Just as Cyborg was vying for his own role, as a potential commander and his open display of jockeying for power against Robin, the Titans Technician had become drastically changed. Raven appeared to be much the same as she always was. Quiet, secluded, and keeping to her meditation and books. However there were traits, subtle but becoming more apparent that the Empath was also unhappy with the state of affairs in the group as well.
Robin was still in charge as the Team's Captain but, the full cost of everything was very evident to be taking its toll on him too. He was not as energetic, or proud as he would be, where the interruption during the reunited friends felt to be a reprieve from everything going on. Normally, the Boy Wonder would confront whatever obstacles they came across in the respective order, lately he appeared to be burying things, and he was even pushing her away.
Beast Boy was still the youngest of the Teen Titans, but that factor was fading quickly. With his birthday today, everybody seemed to have aged with him. The gags and practical humor of his childish nature, of his earlier teenage years was something he appeared to be putting behind him.
He was growing up, just as they all were.
Starfire looked up and stared at her reflection in the mirror across the room. And what is it about me, that has changed?
The female Titan understood that nothing stayed the same forever, and that nothing could. The growth on an individual level was only the constant part of life itself. The Teen Titans were not the same as they were when they had first formed, certainly not after dealing with the loss of Falcon. It had hit them and they were each caught off guard.
The Tamaranean Warrior still carried deep feelings of admiration for her beau, yet she also realized that the foundation of their personal relationship was becoming unstable. He had promised her in Tokyo, that things would be much better. The romance was being tested again, however the stunning redhead was not about to give up on what it was that she still believed in, when she looked into his domino mask that covered his eyes.
She knew in her heart, that he was a great suitor, and the future was what they could make together.
I haven't given up on us yet Robin. Starfire said in her mind and she smirked. We shall make it through this.
While the super-heroine felt a warm sensation back in her chest, the glow of the positive energy and memories of Robin holding her hand, of just the two of them eating ice-cream and cotton-candy together, and of him explaining things at various destinations, these feelings of love had been rekindled in her. Like a warm fire expanding as a new log was tossed into the pit, and the roaring flames would rise up and brighten the darkness.
The countless memories came spinning back and all at once. Everything from their very first encounter, to her going to give counsel outside of his room at Titans Tower just the other day rushed across her mind. From the very first kiss they had shared when Starfire had arrived on earth, in order for her to learn the language of the local population, to the powerful kiss that they had shared in the rain while they sat in the streets of Tokyo.
All of these moments overflowed within her, and when they held each-other tightly and their lips would meet, these memories brought a great warmth to her crestfallen heart. She breathed in while her eyes slowly reopened.
"We have come so far, and I will not give up on us."
She shifted her gaze from the skyscrapers, away from the world of the concrete jungle and the mass of people going about, to look at the clouds in the now morning sky. The bright sunlight brought more warmth and a spellbinding effect to the people busy with their errands and many tasks so early in the day.
Her emerald eyes eventually fell back to the teenager asleep in her hospital bed. Her light Caucasian skin of her arms were above the covers, and her golden blonde hair was partially covering the right side of her face. Terra's breathing pattern was calm and hypnotic, as the beeping of the nearby machine that monitored the girl's vital organs, echoed a simple pattern by the nearby table.
Starfire wheeled herself to the bedside, and she looked down at her previous comrade.
"Oh dear friend." Starfire was chocked up a bit. "What happened to you? For what purpose was it, that brought you to the dam?"
Beast Boy's explanation did not make much sense. Apparently, Terra was a hostage and being held against her consent by the ruthless criminal mastermind Slade. The Geomancer had fooled her before, the teenager had tricked the entire team into thinking they could trust her. Then she played their sympathy as an open invitation to deactivate the security at Titan's Tower, and while they slept, Slade unleashed his army into their home.
"No." Starfire shook her head. "I do not believe you would have gone back to that, after you fought so hard against it." The Tamaranean Princess clasped her hands together, and she then reached out to place her right hand onto Terra's wrist. "You were and shall remain, our friend."
The Tamaranean Warrior thought and thought, the rational explanation was that Terra was in fact kidnapped at some point, and Slade decided to use her as an extra piece of his elaborate chessboard. Something deeply unnerving was causing an irritating itch in the back of Starfire's mind, and the more she focused on this entire ordeal, the pieces did not add up to any completed picture.
"Slade is methodical, driven, and above all else, he has a great deal of patience when it comes to carrying out his plans." Starfire gently spoke while leaning back in her wheelchair. "He has attacked the very infrastructure of the city, we have divided our forces to stop him and with every strike he makes against us, he only grows more bold."
A sharp sting in her left leg interrupted her concentration, and she rubbed her sore ankle.
"His stratagem is still very much the same as it always has been, to divide us, and to wear us down. But what is most troublesome is that with every counter move we make against him, it only gives him a new place to hit us with our attention concentrated onto something else, and not at what is in front of us." she placed her delicate hands back onto Terra's wrist before continuing. "We must be strong now. We must be united and unbroken in our objective from the start. We must not falter."
As she bowed her head, the Geomancer's eyebrows slowly twitched, and then a light moan of an unpleasant awakening came to her ears. Starfire's eyes became wide from this startling revelation, and in a slow buildup of suspense, the blonde was looking up at her.
"St . . . Star-fire?" Terra's voice cut through the dead of silence.
"Terra!" The Tamaranean Princess exclaimed with an abundance of glee, as a bright and burning jolt of happiness that she had not experienced in some time, came rushing through her.
"Beast Boy, where - where is he?"
Terra tried to sit up, but the potent feeling in her chest, almost like a boulder was pressing against her lungs forced her to collapse backwards. Starfire also aided in soothing the teenager, to not push herself too much.
"Rest friend. You must rest." Starfire said with a smile. "You've had of the busy day."
Terra's entrancing blue eyes darted about the room, as the chopped-up words that the alien princess tended to cobble together, was something that she had all but forgotten. The hospital quarters were still dark, and she soon realized that she was patched up and in bandages, while she ran her fingers along her chest to feel a big white pad, covering the near fatal wound next to her heart.
She raised an eyebrow at the Teen Titan. "Starfire, where are we? What happened? Please, I-I need to find Beast Boy!"
"Be still Terra, you are safe." Starfire replied with a new heartfelt smile. "We currently are within the hospital of Jump City Central. You were attacked and left for dead, but luckily friend Raven was able to find both you and Beast Boy, and bring you each here."
A few seconds of the horror at being left in the unknown, had slowly receded. The view of Starfire in a wheelchair was awkward enough, and the mentioning of the Grey Empath was even more unexpected. Raven had been so distrusting of her from the very beginning, now to hear that she was rescued by Raven, it all was rather unsettling.
"Starfire, please. Where is he?" Terra's voice sounded desperate once again.
The last thing she remembered, was of the green changeling reaching out to her, as he lay crumpled and broken on the cold floor within the hydroelectric dam. He could be heard crying out her name, and then everything turned to blackness as she collapsed in front of the boy, like a folding chair.
"Where is Beast Boy?"
The redhead realized the importance of what had just happened. This would indeed be a golden opportunity in Starfire's mind, as a way to bring the green shapeshifter back from the brink. He had received enough bad news for one day, this could revitalize something within him again, to find trust with his friends that was lost within a few hours.
As she turned to look at the door and then back at her old teammate, the feelings of care, of hope and affection began to expand within her heart. She had forgotten what this felt like, as things were so distressful these past couple of days.
"I shall bring him to see you now." Starfire exclaimed with the utmost of happiness, having returned in her spirit.
The caring and most compassionate member of the Teen Titans went out the door, she spun the wheels of the contraption in the chair with a tenacity and boldness, that she did not expect to experience. As she approached the green shapeshifter's room down the far end of the hall, the happiness of what she was about to explain that dominated her actions, for some reason it was quickly fading.
Terra was awake, this was good news and the sudden jolt of joy had returned. She could not delay, and the whirlwind of this surely would bring her good fortune over the bitter feeling of betrayal when the team departed. It was a conflicting bitter-sweet taste, where after everything that had occurred and she had been apart of, there would be no guarantee at all that things could turn in her favor.
She had to try, and she was not going to give up.
The door was thrust open and the occupant of the room was flabbergasted by her return.
"Starfire?" Beast Boy asked as he looked at his teammate. He noticed she was panting heavily, while a strand of her hair was brushed away from her face, and a bit of perspiration was spotted across her forehead. "What is it?"
The Tamaranean Warrior Princess breathed in a few deep gasps of air, to reorient herself. The changeling had not even opened a single present, and the food with other delectable treats were still untouched from the instant everybody rushed to answer the call.
Beast Boy's eyebrows popped upwards. "Um Starfire . . . are you okay?"
"Beast Boy!" Starfire felt the words coming to her at last.
"E-yeah, that's my name." He chuckled lightly. "What are you all out of breath to come racing back here for? I thought Cyborg told you to wait in Terra's room until she-"
He stopped himself in the middle of his sentence, as the image of his previous romantic interest was seen in flashes across his memory, in a black and white reel crashing to the floor within the dam. The knife was sticking out of her chest.
"It is about Terra!" Starfire said at last.
The changeling sat upright and he pushed aside the blankets. His body was still very tender and it ached, but the mention of her name, a quickening fear of death began to slide over him, almost like he was sinking into quicksand and he hoped it was anything but that.
"What is it?!" Beast Boy reached out to her shoulder with his free arm. The quivering in his rasping voice was easy to detect, that fear was taking over him. "Is she in a worse state? Is she awake?"
The expression that the alien princess gave him, it was of a complete contrast to his own. He noticed that she was smiling, and the wide grin only made him conflicted with what he should be feeling. Dread, joy, elation or defeat?
"Terra has awoken!"
Beast Boy's eyes became wide open at this point, as his mouth hung agape. From the pain of his injuries, to the shock at the revelation, upon hearing of Falcon's parting from their company, to how the entire team he called his family, had plotted to use him in a secret ploy, everything was still colliding against his brain's processing of the details.
"Thank you Starfire." He bowed his head after speaking during this long lull, where a reprieve in his downtrodden days of late, he had found a highlight at long last. His sister teammate had rekindled that spark, that there was strength left in the group, that not all had given up on their friendship just yet.
The female superhero shook her head, trying to go into why she was so out of breath. The urgent mission that drove her to speedily get back to his room. "There is more."
". . ." Beast Boy tiled his head, a bewildered and confounded expression had formed wrinkles across his brow.
"She wishes to speak with you."
He turned his gaze back to himself, his right arm was in a cast all the way to his collar bone, as his left leg was propped up in a sling from his knee downwards. The liquid morphine was hooked into an IV line, directly plunged into his wrist to dull away the pain. Still, any sudden jerky movements or strain of any kind, and lightning shocks would course through his extremities.
Beast Boy looked at the closet near the bathroom, as an idea quickly flashed into his brain. Just as rapidly that his sister teammate had come back, and now a bold plan had formed.
"Starfire, would you be so kind as to open that door behind you."
"But I do not know what you hope to accomplish by-"
As she pulled the door open, a wheelchair that was folded and had been tucked neatly inside. She resumed her attention back onto her comrade that was rubbing his battered leg. He had taken it out of the sling that was hanging from the ceiling, with great care where a nurse would be required, however this was not just any typical hospital patient. This was Beast Boy, the brave shapeshifter and brawler who never quit on himself, the birthday-boy had done this all by himself.
Following a short disbelief in his own quick actions, and the short burst of pain in his movements, everything was now starting to make sense.
"Now if you will be so kind to bring me that wheelchair." He pointed to it, and his fanged toothy grin formed across his lips.
(~)
Fingers slowly moved along the bed-sheets. The wounded and badly beaten drifter had survived far deadlier and much worse fates before, where the frustration and anger at the abandonment by so many people that were close in his life, the hatred of his own pitfalls kept him going. It allowed him to collect his thoughts and to remain focused.
He had been unconscious and incapable of sight and sound in the physical form, yet slowly the deep slumber began to part. Within his mind, a blank void had encompassed him, where he did see himself almost as if he were looking at mirrors all around and reflecting his image.
The young man was sitting in a ray of blinding whiteness, and he was meditating for what felt like years. His red cloak swirled about him, as he hovered with his legs crossed and his hood pulled over his face.
The bumps across his upper chest and the dryness upon his lips, the pain of his entire body that was not felt was gradually becoming noticeable and uncomfortable. These things caused the silent chamber of his mind, the other worldly plain that felt like the in-between stages of life and death, to allow fissures and cracks to seep in more and more. The strange echoes of voices, and the scents and sounds of the hospital began to be noticed.
I am not dead. I was . . . pulled out of that rubble.
The numerous voices of doctors and nurses, the machines and the outside world pitter-pattered like raindrops on a window within his head. It was faint, but it was in the background and he could deduce that he had lived when in all odds he should have perished.
They . . . no . . . she got to me.
He felt the many stitches in his chest, his head increasingly carried a burning sensation, and his back was arched. He wanted to remember who it was that got to him, and he could barely make out her face. He was still very much alive, but for some reason he could not wake up.
One after another, the many screams of the past were clouding his memories, as he began to leave from this empty white void. The incoherent mess of people and faces, everything blurred like a thick purple shroud over his brain, and the flashes of his childhood, of the cramped little cell, of the bitter cold of the long winter snow that chilled his very spirit, all of these nightmares flowed over him.
The roaring heat of a fire, of the burning house he had grown up in, as the powers he had been granted were the very curse that had caused his own misery. A terrible price had been paid, in the vain efforts to rectify something that could never be done. To use the dark arts a book to force open a portal of another plain, there would be no way of going back.
His family was all gone, and the very person who had warned him against such a fruitless attempt, to bring back a loved one from the dead was the very person who delivered him to a new hell. The sorcery had rebounded, and the cost was more than he could bear.
Falcon understood from that point on, that the dead could never return to the world of the living. As a child it was so horrifying the experience, so demoralizing trying to grasp what exactly death was, but the naivete', temperament and innocence of his youth, the questions being left unanswered it blinded him with frustration, which in turn transformed into ambition.
He was six years old when his father had died, and a full year had passed before he decided to look into the mystery that surrounded death. It was at this funeral, where the close confidant and devoted member of the military, from the same DELTA Special Forces that had fought alongside his dad was also present. The man with silver white hair, the black eyepatch over his right eye had been a pallbearer.
The Necromancer squeezed the sheets, he could feel the soft satin texture upon the bed he rested. He could feel himself pulling towards the surface, reaching upwards as the tiny circle of an opening, from the lotus position in the room of mirrors that was gradually leaving him.
Still he could not float or reach the exit. His powers were of no avail in this predicament. In order to jolt himself awake, he would be required to hone into the power of a truly dramatic experience. In a similar method that one wakes up from a very potent dream.
The screaming of a little girl brought a tightness within his stomach. It was that of his young sister, he knew it only too well. It played over and over, whenever he was in a long and deep trance. He closed his eyelids tightly, and the screaming caused his hands to tremble as the blinding white that enveloped him turned pitch black.
-Flashback-
The dark tome that he had come across in the decrepit library, it was all a lie.
He was beginning to realize it but there was nothing more he could do. It was entirely a foolish children's game, but for some, even after the deep grief and strife, a person may not wish to accept death as the final destination. The mysterious sorcery that was tapped into had to deal with level of Equivalent Exchange, and the portal of truth being brought forth, the powers and abilities that he had never dreamed possible were bestowed onto him, but everything carries a price.
He kneeled on the floor of his father's study, and as he looked at the transmutation circle expanding like an eyeball becoming wide. The seven-year-old was frightened beyond anything he had ever expected to experience in his life.
He did not know what to make of things, as he was entirely on his own. He had to hold firm and not break from the trance as the book so pointedly explained, but he was only a child and the bitter cold of the gateway gripped him without letting go. Like the snow that fell outside, the chilling atmosphere caused him to see his breath.
His body trembled as he wished he wore a coat, and now out from the portal of rising smoke, something else held his attention.
The sheer power within the spiraling vortex was intense. It was unlike anything he had ever experienced.
Out of the floor in the very center of the transmutation circle, he had outlined in white chalk which now turned blood red a crest to cast the spell. Black tendrils rose up from the markings, and a strange sulfur smell caused him to wheeze. Blood from his right index fingertip drip, drip, dripped onto the floor, where in order to open the seal to the other side, human blood had to be given and he had used his own.
Black tendrils and shadows picked him up and twisted his very body, turning him and clamping him down to keep him in place. He was unable to fully move or look away.
He screamed, but no words were able to escape him as his throat was constricted by one of the shadows that formed a talon of a hawk's claw, and his very image upon the wall wrapped about him, imprinting a red gem across his forehead and the normal skin color of a light Mediterranean was transformed into an ashy grey. From his reflection that he could observe from the mirror attached to the wall, he understood that the ancient tome was marking him, once his gateway had been opened from his side.
Now the other side had breached into our world, and through the shifting blur of blinding colors, a solid beam of white enveloped the middle of the ring he had drawn.
Along the edges of this seal, the shadows continued to expand and rise like weeds. This pathway through the text in the book revealed, that within every living person, when a dark magic was embraced the portal affected people in different ways. Now that he had accepted these elemental powers to manipulate the shadows, and he had opened the portal to another dimension, a forbidding shade with red eyes broke through the blinding white.
"You opened the gateway to summon me?"
"Y. . . yes."
"You seek the truth?"
"Truth?"
The red eyes flared.
"You seek something that cannot be obtained, and now that the gateway has been opened, you must give something in return."
The young child was dumbstruck with anything he had of value, where he clutched at the talisman draped about his neck, and he thought and pondered over his father having given him this very gift on his last birthday. He knew it would not be enough, something else would need to be handed over. The pictures in the book went over some sort of sacrificial offering on an alter, but the boy did not fully think much of it at the time.
The thing with red eyes, whatever that forbidding entity within the portal was . . . he did not know, even the book did not say. It was summoned for a reason. In order for a life to be rectified, the creature within the vortex would only be satiated, through a transfer of another living force.
"Equivalent Exchange child." The dark and demonic voice bellowed. "The first rule of Alchemic Transactions, that in order to obtain anything, something of equal or greater value must be given."
"But I don't know what you could want of me?" The seven-year-old asked while looking at the red eyes that stared back, where his voice cracked a little.
"You are indeed a naive and foolish alchemist. No matter, I will take what I seek is payment enough. A life for a life."
The boy's brown eyes became wide in horror. There were only two others that he knew of being his own mother and little sister, and he was determined to not let that happen.
"What!? No, please, if anything take me!"
The manifestation within the portal remained silent for a moment.
"You have opened the gateway, now for the doorway to remain opened, a payment must be given."
"I just want my father back! I don't have anything else!"
The shadow within the bright light, the beam expanded into a fit of rage. "Another has been found, and it is . . . acceptable."
"What . . . no! Didn't you just hear what I said?" the boy sputtered in vein. "I-I am done with this whole thing! Just go away!"
"Quiet boy!" The demonic entity snarled. "You decided to practice this, you were the one who opened this portal and summoned me!"
As his mother screamed and kicked on the outside of the door, begging to be let in, the door was swung open by a black tendril and it took her as the payment!
"Mom, no! Mom . . . Please!"
She was taken by the many long arms of the shadows, which were like claws protruding out from the great seal. In a flash of mere milliseconds where the young boy could only reach out for her and their fingers briefly touched, the woman was pulled into the light, and she was gone!
"M-o-m!" He sputtered in fright. "NO!"
When he realized what the true cost had been to even open the gateway, he decided at that very instant, to break the agreement and he ordered for her to be brought back. It was to no avail, as the red eyes squinted seeming to smirk, and the unknown entity remained silent.
"This . . . this is all my fault!" The young boy wept. "This is wrong. THIS ISN'T WHAT WE WANTED!"
But the great mysterious beast would not let him just abandon the bargain he was pledging. "You opened the gateway for truth, now you shall see."
"See . . .?"
A long sharp claw struck his right eye, and the child screamed in horrible pain. His brown eye was turned white, and he was dropped to the floor clutching at his inability to fully embrace everything that was happening around him.
His mother was now absorbed as the creature took her as an offering. The boy lost his right eye, in order to learn dark knowledge that he could not otherwise have gained, and the stinging sensation felt like his cornea of his eyeball was on fire.
"What have you taken?!" The seven year old cried in an abhorrent agony while clutching his face.
"No, no, no, no! I don't want it! I don't want it!"
"Foolish child. The toll has already been collected, there is no turning back."
As he squirmed his body and squinted his eyes, he fought and struggled to break out from the constricting vice-like grasp of the entity within the center. His efforts proved useless, and he succumbed to the void he had opened. He suddenly went limp.
The horrific shock of what had happened to his mother, being enveloped into the void as the crimson eyes flashed through the brightness of the portal, and now he felt such a profound sadness that he just wanted to die.
To join her wherever she had been taken. He felt his body tumbling, rolling and free-falling without end, without a bottom through the complete white glow. He strained out of thought and time, there was nothing to feel or see or smell, only an empty pit of white that enveloped everything.
-End Of Flashback-
His eyes suddenly cracked open, and he found himself panting heavily in a room within a hospital.
This horrific nightmare was buried deep inside of his skull, but it had been steadily growing more and more potent and earth trembling than he had ever wanted to relive. It was such an awful part of his childhood, entirely heart-pounding to experience all over again. It was how he lost his right eye, and it reminded him of what happened to his mother.
The burning rage at everything he had done, and with no respect for the steps of dark sorcery he so eagerly looked into, he had no grasp then for what he had unleashed. Now that he was older, if he could go back he would tell his younger self to let go, to be thankful for the life he had with those still around him who loved him. Greed and a lust for power corrupted his heart, and he lost the only remaining parent and sibling he had left.
Everything compounded into a potent concoction, and this roaring fire of anger was tapped into. It was able to break him out of the void then, as it did now. Tragically, it was through the very same sorcery that he tried to get out the first time, which had caused his house to burn down to ashes.
His eyes focused onto his fingertips, where his blood once so precariously dripped to the bottom of the ravine when he was inside the train station. He was startled as he tried to locate the Titans Communicator that he had been given, but the image of it dropping into the pit and smashing to pieces had forced him to roll his head against the pillow.
The javelin-like piece of rebar that slammed into the upper left side of his chest was gone, yet his entire body was incredibly numb from the morphine and pain suppressants that he had been given. His right ankle was bandaged and elevated in a white sling, where the battle against Slade within the tunnel had been a bitter struggle.
For all that Falcon knew, his friends were waiting for him outside of his hospital quarters.
As the minutes ticked away, a part of him felt that his friends were not in the hospital. Without his communicator and not knowing how else to reach them, it quickly dawned on him that might have to make it back to Titans Tower on foot.
The city outside revealed a very different and noisy location, with no sight of the waterline or even Titans Tower in the bay. The helicopter ride, and the strange girl that got to him were revelations that he in fact, was not in Jump City after all.
"You were right about one thing Slade." Falcon whispered as his brown left eye burned with intensity at his reflection, and it revealed a black eye-patch over his right. "This fight isn't over, not yet."
{{End Of Scene}}
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Nobody reviewed Chapter Twenty, so . . . that will end things here. Ouch, that hurts. Can I get a little feedback on this one?
~~T.M.O~~