Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans 2003 this is a work of fan fiction please support the official releases.
Author notes:
So first alternative universe story. Been looking forwards to this one mainly because, well I can do what I want. Very few limits here, so this will be an exploration of the Titans if they went down different routes with different origins. It'll also be an area I can explore a prime universe characters history as well. This will likely be revisited again. This is inspired by many different concepts of multiverse stories
Instead of giving character bios I'll let the story play out and place them in the notes after the story.
So, this is an alternative version of the episode 'Divide and Conquer' let's see if anyone enjoys this one hopefully. I am hoping to revisit this universe again at some point. Ok here we go I hope someone enjoys!
Divide And Conquer ALTERnative
The universe is so large some can't even try and imagine it; the idea is too absurd. A planet with life in the grand scheme is merely dust, drifting on cosmic winds. There are some things out there that defy our very notion of understanding, things that have been around far longer than most planets were formed and sometimes… they stay around.
The Night air in Jump City was restless, off almost. An unsettling calm was hovering around, the guards of the cities high security facility could feel it. No one wanted to say it however.
A complex like this was already a target for various criminals looking for useful 'muscle', break ins were not uncommon, the guards were trained for it, though sometimes that's not enough and they knew it.
A long road stretched out from the facility entrance, making it easy to spot oncoming ambushes. Armoured vehicles usually come up with scheduled drop offs daily, the one approaching now wasn't.
"Anything else on the listing today?"
"No…"
"Then what's that?" The guards watched the sight of a large blue armoured vehicle accelerate towards the entrance. A typical sight for the guards though not at this hour.
"Lock it down" The head guard made his way from the entrance to greet the on comer, whilst the second locked down the entrance doors. The first guard had his blaster ready in hand. Now only did he see the vehicle was not stopping.
"It's not slowing down! Move! Move!" The guards ran the avoid the impact as the sound of the armoured trucks engine blared close. Each took a dive as the doors were smashed open by the speeding van. The guards inside the facility ran to avoid the crashing doors roll across the yard. The van's momentum was lost from the impact and skidded into the yard creating a field of dust.
The guards surrounded the vehicle with raised blasters.
"Get out of the truck, now!" The guards moved in closer, no answer came. They looked around at each other, a group approached the vehicle door. They were nervous anything could happen. The guard at the head grabbed the door handle, he hesitated for a moment. With a quick motion he pulled the door open and swung back swiftly. The other guards closed in, though were created with nothing. No one at the wheel and no visible sign of a driver. The group of guards looked at each other again in confusion.
"What is this?"
Steam shot out underneath the van as its body started to shift and rearrange itself. The guards moved back in a panic, not knowing what was going on. Some of the younger ones fired pre-emptively, the shots bounced off the moving metal. The vehicle started to settle into its new form, the elements of the van had shifted into a humanoid machine that loomed over the guards. Its body shape was slightly off for a human, rather gangly. The object the guards took for its head was staring back at them with glowing red eyes. For a few moments the guards stood frozen trying to process what had just happened.
The machine crouched rather animalistically and lunged directly upwards, it landed behind several of the guards, they turned only to see a metal arm smash into them. A swift series of swipes and the guards were being swatted like flies. The machine seemed to be enjoying it.
"Little bugs…" it snickered, casually crushing every guard under the weight of its feet. It was relishing in the carnage.
"Well, what are you then?" A voice called out behind the machine.
"Some kind of secret weapon run amok? Well, we've got five ways to bring you down!" a second voice added. The machine turned and saw a green humanoid wearing a black and blue jumpsuit with a hood land on the ground. The suit had bright red X's on its shoulders.
"One!" the young green man yelled. The machine looked confused. A slender looking dark haired young woman landed next, she was wearing an armoured skirt and tank top draped in segmented armour and purple jewels.
"Two!" she yelled. Next a very young man jumped down wearing a red, black and yellow trimmed outfit with a mask covering his eyes. A small tattered cape hung behind him.
"Three!" he shouted. A girl glided down wearing a reddish pink cape and a black tunic like skirt and black socks that reached her things leaving a small gap. She had large red boots much too big for her and long hair some of which was tied behind in a bow. Her skin was a light grey.
"Four!" she smiled. Finally, a robot roughly the size of a large human landed behind the other four. Its body was white with blue details, peering through glass like sections on its body. Its eyes were a blank red.
"Five!" It spoke it a very modulated voice. The five young heroes 'The Teen Titans' stood facing the transformed machine who just felt befuddled by what it was seeing. It just started laughing. The heroes looked at each other annoyed.
"Just more bugs to squash…" The looming machine waltzed over and wound up its arm over the young woman who was second to arrive. With a heavy thrust it slammed its arm down expecting to hear a satisfying crunch. Instead, it felt a resistance sharply like something was pushing back against the weight of its arm. He looked down under his forearm and saw her holding up it up with a single hand. She was smiling confidently.
"What? You thought I'd break so easily?" The woman clutched the machines arm with her other hand and swung it across the yard into the prison wall. The crash was loud and violet against the concrete. The machine couldn't believe her strength.
"This isn't what mother promised…" It muttered. The transformed robot lunged back over towards the five heroes like a falling toddler, it tried to smash down one each of them but it's clumsy blows were quickly avoided.
"Titans attack!" The green young man barked. The pink caped girl raised her arms. Her hands became wrapped in a dark energy that wrapped itself around the machine pulling him up into the air. The girl smiled but the magic quickly began flickering, the dark energy let go and dropped the machine on the ground landing near the green Titan. The girl looked embarrassed; the green young man looked at her frustrated.
"Raven?! A little warning please?!" he growled.
"Sorry my bad Gar, Gar" She chuckled nervously. Gar looked even more annoyed.
"My name is Garfield, Raven" He glared at her. Raven looked rather nervous and sheepishly chuckled.
"Right… Garfield" she glided back and landed on the ground with a nervous smile. Garfield turned back to face the machine. It stood up trying to make sense of what had just happened to it.
"Humans should not have these powers! Mother said so!" the machine whined. It felt a tap on its shoulder, instinctively it turned left to try and spot the culprit.
"What makes you think all of us are human?" The young woman was floating behind the machines head and with a quick wind up she landed a heavy blow into its face sending it flying across the yard again.
"Nice one Blackfire!" The young man in the mask cheered on the black-haired alien. The machine looked directly in his direction; eyes glowing brighter. With a flash a string of heated light cut through the ground towards his direction. There was little time to react, the masked boy felt a force pull him out of the way as the heat from the beams passed by. The ground exploded behind the trail of the beams.
"A little more awareness please Robin, dear? Blackfire snarked letting go of his arm.
"Right! Right..." Robin replied still delirious from moving so fast. The machine got to its feet and prepared itself for another attack. Its ambitions were short lived as a powerful sonic blast collided with its body. The blast came from the white robot below him. Annoyed the machine tried to smash it with its larger size.
The robot quickly dodged underneath the giant machine with a set of well-timed rolls. Regaining its footing it scanned the machines legs.
"Weakness identified" The robot threw a heavy jab at the machines lower left leg. The pain and imbalance had it fall to the ground hands down.
The robotic Cyborg then came around for a swift punch to its head sending it rolling across the ground. Now the limit was being pushed. It's scrambled about almost like a tantrum.
"Leave me alone!" The machines eyes glowed and shot beams again cutting randomly around in a frenzy. The five heroes moved around to avoid the blasts. The green Titan went to move in.
His body shifted and morphed into a large almost mythical beast of some kind, carrying many different animal traits and a massive size. A monstrosity. The machine looked on in horror.
"...Mother..." It murmured. Garfield crunched down on the transformed vehicle with at least four different heads and swung it around flinging it up into the air.
Blackfire launched herself upwards ready to knock him back down.
Seeing his teammates potential mistakes, Garfield morphed back to shout up at her.
"Blackfire don't!" The alien didn't pay attention to his cry and wound up delivering a powerful blow that knocked the machine over towards the city. Even she was surprised where he was going to land.
"Ooops" she gulped.
"Titans come on, into the city!" Garfield morphed into a large cat like creature large enough to carry the Robot Cyborg, Raven and Robin. Blackfire flew behind as the shape shifter sprinted into the city.
The damage visible where it has crashed was rather devastating. Several buildings had holes ripped right through them. The emergency services were already on the scene. The worst part was the machine had disappeared, skulked away in the confusion. Garfield and the others arrived at scene head on into the commotion with the citizens.
Morphing back into his human form Garfield surveyed the scene with his hands clutched behind his head in frustration.
"Great, just great!... What part of team don't you understand Blackfire?" Garfield growled.
"Excuse me?" The alien girl landed beside him scoffing as the other three Titans looked on.
"You heard me, I don't know how they do things on Tamaran but here, a little decorum would be nice perhaps?"
"On Tamaran we'd have smashed that thing to bits before it even got a chance to move around. She seethed back at him.
"C'mon guys don't fight please?" Raven cut in.
"Arguments waste potential time requiring the threat in question, I suggest we plan a course of action to re-establish and recapture the target before the loss of more property and lives" Cyborg droned.
"Huh, I might have known, always the fight first asks questions later play with you, eh Blackfire?" Garfield taunted back at her ignoring the others pleas.
"Look the bot got away let's not throw blame around?" Robin tried to defuse the tension with little success.
"Always the clever one? Eh Chimera? Strong too, so why do you need me I wonder?" Blackfire remarked snidely.
"Good question" Chimera seethed. Blackfire came up close to him.
"Well, here's your answer... I'm done" Blackfires words cut through the others like a knife. The Tamaranean took to the sky as the others watched her disappear from there sight. Chimera held his head down, regret felt rather heavy.
The machine had swiftly made its getaway after landing, shifting bank into armoured truck form it made its way down right streets, out of sight. It's came to a dingy back road outside the city, abandoned and run down.
Heading full speed, the vehicle disappeared into a large sewer tunnel. The path was long. Headlight beams were the only thing against the dark. The tunnel became more open, approaching up ahead was the entrance to a chamber. The sight of large machines moving around could be heard, massive and old.
The machine transformed back into its humanoid form. It looked rather nervous. The chamber felt big even to him. The weight of his footsteps echoed as he approached. He could see no one else yet. Up ahead he saw a large object, almost like a throne mangled together. Sitting on it he could make out a silhouette, one standing up beside it as well.
"Renzar, son... I've been waiting for you" A sly, sinister voice called out from near the forged throne at the back of the chamber. The lack of light blocked the upper body of the speaker from view. They were also machine, a body gleaming with fine gold metal. Hidden in the darkness their own bright red eyes could be seen.
Beside them stood a much larger machine, bulkier but lean and graced with a green finish.
"You have, mother?" Renzar hesitated as he slowed down his approach feeling her gaze upon him. The gold machine pulled herself up. She was not as large as her partner beside her but her form was sleek and regal looking, the metal looked more like a royal attire than armour, parts even formed a sort of cape falling behind her. Upon her head the sculpt forged the shape of a crown.
"Yes, I've been looking forward to your explanation for tonight's events..." His mother slowly paced down the light stairs from down the chamber end towards him. He did not respond
but just stood there frozen. He felt the soft press of several thin fingers clutch his face lifting it up towards her own. He dared not make eye contact.
"You were told to stay hidden, not draw too much attention. Bring back someone useful. Now... you've let these... creatures see you. So now you'll need a new form. Again" his mother softly said. Her voice was like a blade in his mind.
"I... it's not my fault! I was ambushed by these? Mutants! They were not hum..." Renzar was cut off by his mother's finger on his mouth.
"I didn't want excuses, I wanted results..." Her eyes remained fixed in his almost hypnotically. Another machine approached from out of the darkness. Like the mother, this one looked regal and proud looking. Tarnished with a vibrant red finish.
"You should have sent me mother; this one can barely think straight since the transfer" It remarked.
The gold machine did not acknowledge him, she only kept looking at her son.
"I need to trust him to do what I need; it's just us now... we can't afford mistakes"
"I'll try harder mother! I promise!" Renzar pleaded. His mother held his face tightly and smiled eerily.
"I know you will... now go find a new form and get out of my sight" She pushed Renzar back causing him to slam on the ground with a large clang. Without even thinking he shifted back into the armoured van and quickly accelerated out of the chamber.
The large green machine paced over coming behind the mother.
"He wasn't lying, there was a resistance of some kind, one of them is clearly not of this world" he explained, his head shared the same red eyes as the others yet on the right side their bright scopes like powerful googles were where the eye should be. His palm was held out displaying a hologram of the team in question.
"I don't care. These 'heroes' can either step aside or step forth for the cause. Nothing else matters" The mother paced back over towards her throne before noticing the sight of another machine skulking in the dark.
"Don't be shy Melina, these are things you need to be aware of" The mother raised her arm out to call her over, the smaller rather frightened looking machine backed up not wanting to come out into the light.
"You can't rely on little Melnox there, what has she ever done for any of us?" The red machine taunted coming closer to his mother.
"My name is Melina! Rayzor, Melina!" she called out defensively.
"Melnox, Melnox, Mel..." Her brother's taunting was cut off by his mother's quick grab cutting him off.
"You need to learn daughter... one day this planet, these people it'll all be yours" The mother came up to her daughter who was still whimpering in the dark. Her form was a light purple with regal looking armour like the rest yet much smaller.
Her mother grabbed her by the head gently and looked down at her with her bright red eyes staring into her own.
"I don't want this planet mother, I want to... I want to go home...?" She whimpered quietly. Her mother gripped her head tighter with her gold claws.
"You think I don't want to go home too? Our home is gone, we are all that's left and we need to rebuild, here" she said softly.
"I hate being like this... I can't look at myself anymore..." Melina shuddered in disgust.
"Ungrateful brat, this was done for you. For all of you! So, we could take back what we lost. They thought they could end us but we survive and now we've become what most of these worthless creatures can only dream of. Immortal. Everlasting. You will outlive the universe Melina and that will be my gift to you" Her mother finished.
"...Please, mother... I don't want to... " She begged.
"Enough..." Her mother let go causing her to momentarily lose balance. She backed up and stared at her.
"My daughter, heir to our dynasty. I've put up with your weakness long enough, you'll come with us on our next outing to the surface and become someone worthy of our name..." She stopped and looked over to the tall green machine.
"...Metani? Find a spot somewhere out of sight. I'd like to meet these would be heroes..." The mother walked back over to her throne stepping over a small orange and black mask on the ground stained with dry blood. She sat down with a sharp clang.
"... First hand..."
Situated in the middle of Jump City Bay was a rather peculiar Tower. Rather advanced with large glass windows along its structure making the shape of a large 'T' standing upright on the island. Inside the now four Titans were taking in yesterday's events.
Chimera had not left his spot all morning. He was looking out across the bay in front of the massive glass window spread out across the lathe living room space which made up a kitchen as well as an entertainment centre.
Robin entered the area through the two sliding doors at the back of the room. Instantly he was greeted by the smell of heavy baked goods as the kitchen area was set out like a warzone. Raven was cooking. The pink caped girl was covered in flower and baking ingredients, she didn't seem to have taken noticed.
Ok staying clear of that Robin thought.
The masked young man waltzed casually over towards one of the side panels where Cyborg was working on some of the Tower systems.
"So Blackfire leaving? Crazy huh?" Robin remarked nonchalantly. The robot did not turn to acknowledge him.
"Given her fighting style, personality type and history it is surprising she remained with us for so long. I calculated a 42% chance of this event occurring within the first year" Cyborg droned. Robin just nodded.
"I see, I see..." The baking aroma grew stronger, In front of Robins face was a steaming hot place of confectionery goods, looking rather crude.
"Here Robin! Try one it'll make you feel better, I promise!" Raven grinned. Her hair was even messier from clearly a long morning of this.
"Eh I'm good Raven really..." Before he could argue, Robin felt a warm sweet enter his mouth. Raven had practically shoved it in. Surprisingly the taste was actually rather blissful.
"Oh my god, Raven these are amazing! What are they?" The masked man grabbed a few more and Raven grinned in satisfaction.
"Pony tear truffles"
"White chocolate?"
"Why wouldn't there be?" She smiled.
"Oh, so good..."
"I may have been practicing last month" she said rather smugly.
"Oh, if only you could taste these Cyborg!" Robin remarked with a full mouth. The robot turned and quickly scanned the food.
"My scans indicate a 89% chance of successful flavour based on ingredients and baking time" he droned.
"He says thank you in the best way..." Robin snarked. Raven noticed Garfield at the end of the room still in thought.
You can do it! she thought to herself.
Rather than risk her powers flying she walked over slowly trying to get a read on him through the reflection. Nervously she approached. Her heart was racing, a few pillows popped on her way through her powers whilst making her way over. The sensation made her jump but Chimera still did not look back.
"Hey Gar? Garfield!" She quickly corrected and blushed becoming flustered. She pushed the tray of goods up towards him.
"Would you like one?" She asked. Garfield didn't answer, he didn't even turn around. Raven grew even more tense.
"Listen I'm sure Blackfire didn't mean..." She began.
"We don't need her" he growled. Raven backed up a little, she wasn't sure what the right words were. All she knew was the boy she liked was hurting and she wanted to do something about it.
"If you ever need to... to talk you know? I'm always here?" Raven tried to offer. Garfield let out a heavy sigh much to her surprise, he started to lightly nod.
"I know, but I'll be fine Raven" Chimera turned around and walked past the pink Empath.
"This team is strong enough on its own" he finished moving along the living room area. Raven looked over concerned, control over her powers was something she struggled with but sensing his regret was easy.
Chimera moved along the bare hallways of the Tower reliving that moment in his head.
I'm done
The green Titan stopped at the door to the gym, the doors slid open and the empty room was bare for him to see. He remembered the first time he witnessed her strength properly, how he saw a taste of what the universe could really have in store out there. His mentor had shown him a little bit of that but she was truly the first big shock to the system. There were dangerous things out there, Luckily this one was on their side.
The memory faded as he moved away from the door slowly, the shape shifter returned to his room to take in the day alone as he usually did, social interactions were always a weakness of his.
The afternoon went on without much incident, the atmosphere in the tower would be descried as tense if you asked Raven. Garfield would give anything for a distraction right now, didn't matter what.
In his room, the shapeshifter soon got his answer, the blaring Red of the alarm rang through the tower. Trouble.
The abandoned outskirts of Jump City had an odd stigma surrounding them. Criminals by their very nature are a superstitious group. Ventures to these old buildings and factories often have parties describe strange sounds and sightings of large shadows lurking around. It was a place most enterprises avoided if possible, so the Titans couldn't understand why the alarm had been triggered here. No one came here.
The Four Titans arrived in a street situated at the centre of the district, abandoned cars and buildings littered all around. Newspapers from decades before any of them were born.
"I don't like this… This place gives me the heebie-jeebies" Raven shuddered, the Empath tried to bring herself in closer to Garfield and grabbed his arm, her heart began fluttering. The influx of emotions caused a discharge in her powers sparking against a nearby rusted car which promptly exploded. The noise jolted the three Titans, whilst Cyborg remained still.
Garfield glared at Raven who just let go his arm with a sheepish grin.
"Hehe… sorry" She stepped back and looked away.
"Focus up, Titans. We don't know what could be out here?" Garfield declared.
"Who's gunna be out here anyway? Do you think its that thing from yesterday?" Robin questioned.
"I don't know? we just need to be on guard…" Garfield replied.
"I recommend a wider search individually to cover more of the immediate area" Cyborg suggested.
"Good call, Cyborg… alright each of us take a street, Robin the north, Cyborg the west and Raven you take the east. I'll head south" Garfield barked pointing to each of them as he carried out his order, the Empath looked rather worried.
"Wait?! Are you sure this is a good idea?" She asked nervously.
"It could take hours to do a full sweep, this way we'll cut it down… Just keep in touch" Garfield said.
"…Okay…" Raven replied quietly.
The four Titans spilt off along each of the streets down the four-way intersection they arrived at. The night air was rather misty and quiet.
Robin's street was the more rural area, empty houses with boarded up windows, oddly unsettling. The vehicles around here were old and rather worn down, the masked young man paced through on guard, staff at the ready.
Cyborg marched along the industrial area of the district, large machines and discarded refineries were visible from every angle. The noises around made the area feel alive with some kind of presence; The robotic Titan ran a scan hoping to find any source of the alarm. Each result came up blank and each time moved on further.
"Ok Raven, it's alright stay calm, you're in control…" Raven inhaled sharply trying not to stare around at the abandoned factories around her, each with broken windows filled with nothing but darkness. She walked rather nervously through the street.
"In control, in control, in control, in control, in control…IN CONTROL?!" Raven jumped at the sound of a set of explosions behind her, her familiar black magic could be seen sparking on the left cars out on the street.
"Come on stay in control! STAY IN CONTROL!" Raven thought she heard something behind her and quickly darted her head around and saw nothing. She thought her mind was against her and quickly ran across the street further east.
Garfield arrived at the famous site of the district. The abandoned power plant, the same that had failed and caused the evacuation of the area. One of cooling towers was partially destroyed having collapsed onto the main building. With his heighted senses Garfield had the advantage, though apart from the odd stray cat and family of rats nothing out of the ordinary could be heard. The Titans leader soldiered on towards the plant itself. He then noticed something odd. Atop the main facility building was a strange object. He couldn't make it out so he moved in closer.
He had never seen anything like it, whatever it was it didn't look man made. It was an odd thing, gold and rather dangerous looking. Like something one would call the government about witnessing.
"So, are you this planets 'hero' little one? Come to bring us to a swift end?" The voice seemed to come from no clear direction, he looked up to see the gold object had now gone. He darted his head around to try and spot it again, turning casually he saw his target floating just a few meters off the ground in front of him. Now that it was closer he saw the alien like structure that made up its body.
"You're not like the rest of these… creatures… you're different?" the voice seemed more concentrated now it was definitely coming from the object in front of him. Without a clear sound the bizarre craft began to change. Garfield backed up as the form of a looming golden machine, regal and slender floated above him. It was similar to the one they had fought earlier.
"What are you? who are you? And what do you and your kind want hear?!" Garfield shouted at her. The machine didn't answer straight away, she ominously just hovered closer to the shapeshifter staring down with her piercing red eyes.
"Quite the fire in you're heart. I could use that" she spoke down softly.
"Here I'll show you!" Garfield morphed his body into a large dragon-like creature that outgrew the machine in size. He now towered over her, though she did not flinch at this display. With a powerful roar he went in for swipe against the machine and swung his arm down with a furious rage. Garfield felt his claw collide with the ground. The dust blew up from the impact. Yet he didn't see what he expected to. The machine was floating there, unmoved and unphased. She was still looking directly at him as if he had not done anything against her. He couldn't figure it out, he hadn't seen her move.
He tried a second swipe and tried to land a blow from the side, to his shock he saw his strike completely pass through her body, like she wasn't there. She didn't move still. Garfield decided to try something different and brought the heat in his core to a boil and with a mighty breath flames erupted straight from his mouth striking her directly. The shapeshifter kept this up for several seconds until the heat dissipated. As the smoke bellowed and the flames subsided, there she was still without a scratch on her.
Garfield couldn't understand it and didn't have time to process it as she quickly closed the gap in front of them and came up face to face.
"Are you finished?" the machine slowly raised her hand and twiddled her claw like fingers in front of his transformed head. With the slightest and lightest of taps she pressed a finger on him.
Garfield then a felt a force he had never experienced in his lift push against him. It was so strong it knocked him out of his current form and back into his human one as he was thrown through the plant behind him, the force smashed through what was left of the old building, Garfield rolled across the ground kicking up dirt before slowly coming to a stop.
The others heard the noise from their positions.
"Guys what was that?!" Robin yelled through his blue communicator. Another crash came not to far from where he was standing. One of the buildings towards the end of the street came crashing down as something drove its way through them. Out of the dust a large dark navy armoured tank rolled forward crawling over debris In front of it. The vehicles turret twisted aiming its two barrels in the masked young man's direction.
Robin quickly jolted forward and ran for cover along a nearby alley. The small explosion of the turrets firing filled his ears before the powerful blast rang through his skull as the shots collided with the road he was just standing on. The shockwave knocked him to the ground, all he could hear was a powerful ringing blasting through his brain. His limbs felt like jelly; he could barely move. His own weight was too much for him at the moment.
Robin felt something strong and flat grip his ankle, the force of it was enough to break it. His body was slowly pulled up by this grip until he was dangling in the air. He felt the grasp on his foot turn him around. Before his eyes he could see the familiar form albeit upside down of the machine that they had fought yesterday, the details were different but it was definitely the same one.
Cyborg attempted to run a scan over towards the area where Garfield was though the mechanical Titan was about to have his own problems, a trail of bullet shots started to swiftly approach his direction. He quickly bolted away with his powerful legs. He turned to seethe form of a red military gunship whirling towards him. It fired again and Cyborg took a dive through sections of the industrial complex. The copter gained height and fired a small volley of missiles. Cyborg felt the explosion propel him to the right a little, he quickly regained his balance and turned transforming his arm into a powerful looking cannon. With a quick lock on he fired and landed a direct hit at the gunship. The vehicle began to shift its form into that of a humanoid, one that clumsily landed on the ground almost toppling over. Cyborg fired again and the machine moved back and fired its own blaster back at him from out of its arm. Cyborg took cover behind a large structure of pipes; he couldn't make visual contact for the moment.
"Gar?!" Raven watched the plant collapse from the air, she couldn't make out what was happening but she could sense something was wrong. The empath felt a sharp electric pain jolt through her body, the sorceress fell towards the ground with a light thud. She groaned trying to pick herself up. She looked up and saw a machine similarly to the one she and the others fought yesterday standing over her. This one was far smaller, clad in a purple and light violet finish.
Raven felt a sense of unease and uncertainty radiating off of her. It was powerful. Raven could swear she could see a hint of hesitation in its face. The machine pulled out its arm allowing a vibrant purple bolt to travel along it. The charge seemed to be aimed towards Raven, the empath quickly lifted up her arms in a defensive position. She felt something strong blast past her then a loud crash. After a few moments opened her eyes and looked. The machine was laid out on the ground with Raven's dark magic sparking around her.
Garfield's entire form hurt; he tried opening his eyes but he couldn't get them to focus.
"Get up" the gold machine floated over towards him and stopped looming over him. Garfield's eyes began to focus as she came into his view.
"If this is the best this planet has on offer it might be better if you all just kept out of our way…" She said softly. Garfield groaned and tried to pull himself up.
"W… what do you want?" he muttered in pain.
"I am the Archon, Ra'malum Rel'Nay and this planet is now mine… it will be the first of an empire reborn. You and your people now belong to me. You can make this a comfortable transition or you can resist and die. The choice is yours" She continued.
"That will be an easy choice for most of us" Garfield groaned rising to his feet.
"Think for a moment about that choice 'hero'. You protect these people and we will bring them a new meaning to what they think life is. What they have now is barely an existence, we can give you so much more"
"I think I speak for most of us when I tell YOU, no thank you" Garfield growled back at her defiantly.
"It's a pity you choose such a typical conclusion so quickly; make no mistake this will happen and your planet can either accept it willingly or be dragged towards it" Ra'malum responded. Garfield chuckled slightly with a twinge of confidence.
"We'll stop you" he looked up and stared up at her. The machine gave the tiniest hint of a smirk on her face.
Raven floated over towards the violet machine, she could feel a great amount of fear coming off her, as she glided closer the machine backed up crawling along the ground. As it reached the wall of one of the old buildings it raised up its arms defensively just as Raven had.
"P…please don't hurt me, please I didn't want to, she made me!" The machine was practically shaking. Raven could sense genuine emotions off this creature. It wasn't a machine in the sense she was used to, it was alive. Raven held up her hands as she landed softly and came up closer.
"It's okay… It's okay" the empath pressed her palm on the freighted machines form and felt the surge of emotions even greater than before.
"My name is Raven and I promise I won't hurt you anymore, do you have a name?" the Empath asked lightly. The machine lowered it's arms down slowly revealing a soft looking face displayed on its sharp looking metal head.
"Me…Melina, Melina … Castier Rel'Nay" she spoke nervously. Raven smiled empathetically.
"You don't sound like you're from around here, Melina?" Raven asked. Melina slowly shook her head and looked down.
Robin was trying desperately to free himself from his predicament. His awareness had come back but the machine Renzar had him helpless.
"Why are you struggling, bug? You can't win" Renzar chuckled.
"No but I can" Renzar wasn't sure where that voice exactly came from. He turned his form around and tried to find its source. Neither direction was anything visible, until he turned back around to face forward and saw the black haired Tamaranean that knocked him around yesterday. His red eyes widened as blackfire wound up to deliver a killer blow to his face. The force sent him across the road and promptly dropped Robin from his grasp.
Blackfire quickly caught the masked hero who was so happy to see her, went in for a tight hug in her arms.
"Ha! I knew you'd come back!" Robin smiled, Blackfire smirked back at him.
"Don't be too shocked I had nowhere else to go"
"Aww come on don't ruin it"
"Ok fine" she chuckled. Renzar clambered back up and looked over towards the two heroes as the landed on the ground.
"No, no, no, no, no!" Renzars eyes began to heat up as the familiar beams flashed from his head digging into the ground making there way towards the two Titans. Blackfire quickly shoved Robin out of the way as her own purple eye beams collided with Renzars. The collision brought on powerful flashes that illuminated the whole street. Blackfire could feel herself struggling, she raised her fists which began glowing a vibrant purple. She brought them together and released a burst of energy directly at the machines face. The knockback was impressive and the sound of him collapsing to the ground could be heard across the whole district.
Garfield noticed Ra'malum's head turn slightly away from him like her attention was elsewhere, he registered the sounds he was hearing in the distance and wondered.
Rayzor was still hiding from cyborg, though the sounds he heard did not fill him with reassurances.
"Renzar?! Melnox?!... Mother?! What's happening?!" The transformed gunship felt a powerful blast strike him through the wall knocking him back. Cyborg had sneaked away and caught him off guard.
Ra'malum turned down to face Garfield directly again.
"Think about your future little, Chimera. You and your pathetic friends… until we meet again" Ra'malum swiftly changed back into the object he had seen earlier and propelled itself away from him without a single sound bar the wind created from its movement. It was soon out of sight.
Cyborg approached the knocked down machine with cannon held high. The machine glared at him as thick black smoke erupted from its body shrouding it completely. Cyborg tried to change his vison to scan for him. He heard the sound of shifting metal through the cloud of smoke as the gunship reappeared and exited out of the black cloud and disappeared into the sky. Cyborg looked on and quickly started to make his way over towards where Garfield had headed.
"I have to go" Melina spoke up, The Empath stood back as the machine rose to her feet and swiftly transformed into a rather elegant looking vehicle with features she had never seen on any car on Earth. Its odd wheels spun and the smoke sept up from the road. It quickly picked up speed and roared out of sight. Raven took to the air after watching her leave and flew towards Garfield direction.
"You! I'll swat you to the ground! I will!" Renzar had gotten back up in a rage as he marched towards the Tamarean now floating at the end of the street in front of him. Blackfire noticed him stop as his head began turning as if his attention was on something else.
"But?! But Father?! I can beat her?! No! that's not fair?!... yes… I will" Blackfire was confused at what she was hearing. With a growl the lanky machine shifted and folded back up into its dark blue tank form. The vehicle sped off crashing through a nearby building leaving a cloud of dust in it's wake.
"Should we follow him?" Blackfire asked. Robin checked his communicator.
"Nah, Chimera wants us where he is, come on" Robin tried to walk only to nearly forget about his crushed ankle. Blackfire quickly caught him before he lost his balance and pulled him up next to her. His heart was racing.
"It's ok to ask for help cutie?" She smiled confidently. Robin just blushed.
Cutie?!
Before he could process the comment, he was already in the air on his way over towards the others with the Tamaranean.
The other Titans gathered at the plant to discuss what at happened and a certain members return.
"So, you came back?" Chimera smiled.
"I knew you might need me… besides I didn't say goodbye or whatever" Blackfire lied trying to come up with a believable excuse.
"It's okay I'm happy to see you… I'm sorry about the other day…" Gar admitted.
"I know, me too… me too" Blackfire replied turning away almost embarrassed.
"Well, I'm just glad you're back too! I didn't want to be the only girl on the team… ooh I have some truffles you have to try" Raven hugged her alien teammate tightly.
"Sounds delish, dear" Blackfire snarked. Robin came up and whispered in her ear.
"You probably won't regret it this time…" he whispered.
"It seems we all encountered a member of this new 'species' during the mission, based on the data collected they each seem to be able to take on alternate form and possess a varying degree of abilities a strange mix of biological and mechanical, Blackfire have your kind encountered any such creature? Cyborg asked.
"None that I've ever seen, dear"
"Regardless, this is a threat unlike anything we've ever seen, they are powerful and they'll be back and we have to be ready. For anything" Garfield stood with his team as the night sky gleamed above them. They were whole again, ready to take on the next challenge whatever it may bring.
Back in the hidden chamber the family of machines were busy taking in the events of the evening.
"I had them?!" Renzar whined.
"You had nothing…" his father Metani strolled by him inside the chamber, Ra'malum had returned to her throne with her two other children not far standing beside her.
"But I?!..."
"Not another word" His mother cut in, Renzar chocked on his own words and quickly stopped his sentence.
"Well?..." She looked over towards Metani who had made his way over to her with a display of the five heroes with vitals and readings displayed next to them.
"It's a rough idea; more data would be needed. A threat to our plans is unlikely however. We can move ahead" Metani switched off the projection and placed his arms beside his large body. Ra'malum nodded then turned towards Melina with a vicious glare.
"Don't think you're lack of action will go unpunished daughter, you will learn the value of our name whether you want to or not" Melina did not speak back to her mother, she just retreated further backwards hiding under the dark. Her brother Rayzor smirked down at her and scoffed.
Ra'malum stood up and spoke up to her family, each looked over towards her and listened to her words.
"The universe has known life without us for long enough, it's time to remind them we never left"
Okay there we go, hope you folks got something out of this
So, these are the bios for this universe. I'll be as vague as I can to keep the content for future stories in this setting. This is just to give a vague idea.
Chimera (Alternative Beast boy) Garfield Mark Logan, granted powers from a rare disease lost his parents in a territory dispute in Africa. After searching for his parents' murders before he could take his revenge he was taken in and found by J'onn J'onzz who taught he to master his shapeshifting abilities. After many years at the Martians side, he left to find his own way, eventually founding the Teen Titans as it's leader.
Cyborg (Alternative Version) Victor Stone lost his body in an accident during his school day, leaving only his brain intact. Not wanting to lose him his father built a robot body to house him in. As years went on Victor eventually lost more and more of his humanity, becoming more like the machine that kept him alive. Cold and Logical.
Robin (Alternative Version) Dick Grayson grew up a member of Haleys Circus and came to idolize Gotham's caped crusader, Batman. Using his skills from the circus the young 'Robin' attempted to join the Dark Knight as his sidekick. When he would not take him in due to his reckless nature, Robin left to try and prove himself to him elsewhere.
Raven (Alternative Version) Raven born of Arrella was conceived under strange circumstances, after her mother was lost, she moved from foster care to foster care, unable to control her mysterious strange powers. Wishing only to accepted she eventually made her own way in the world hoping to find the family she had been looking for.
Blackfire (Alternative Version) Komand'r was first in line for the throne of Tamaran before being exiled for high crimes. Wandering through space the rouge princess came to land on Earth feeling from bounty hunters, she was saved by Robin and the heroes that would eventually become the Titans and agreed to remain on Earth to repay them for saving her life.
So, since I've managed to churn out these rather quickly, I'll either churn out the next stories early or work on some BBRae week stuff it depends, you'll now my decision if another story pops up, we'll see I'm fickle. I could be back next week or next month with the next chapter who knows.
Alright till next time!
Please leave a review if you have the time.