The Enervator Room…
"What the freaking HELL…?!"
"Holy COW…!"
"What in the name of the GODS…?!"
"X'HAL…!"
As the four conscious trapped Titans watched wide-eyed, a cackling laugh echoed from one set of stairs as a familiar — yet very STRANGE! — figure in soft gold and brown charged out, making an impossible leap to land right in the middle of a large group of milling H.I.V.E. agents, a burning SWORD in her hand. Seconds later, heads started to LITERALLY fly! "FIGHT SCENE!" Terra bellowed. "C'MON IN, EVERYONE! LOADS OF SAMES TO DELIVER RIGHT TO HELL!" Then she made a gesture with her free hand.
The whole base rocked violently as a LAVA VENT exploded in the middle of the crowd, burning dozens of the helpless agents alive while the trapped Titans watched with a mixture of horror and awe at the sheer level of power and panache the current incarnation of Yiziba's Sculptor of Granite was demonstrating against her targets.
Not to mention her ruthlessness!
"YIZIBAJOHEI! SHE IS YIZIBAJOHEI! BROTHERS, DEFEND YOURSELVES!"
As many beyond Terra's immediate reach drew out futuristic firearms — which made some of the other H.I.V.E. personnel fleeing from the madwoman in their midst pause to stare at them — a power-staff went off to kill one! "Uh-uh!" Deathstroke snarled as the agent in question shook before he began to disintegrate. "I don't know what you are or why you're here on Earth, but you leave MY PARTNER alone! Got it?!"
"Thanks, Slade!" Terra whooped as she attacked the next group.
As the trapped Titans watched Deathstroke and the woman they still wanted to believe was one of them go to town, all were quick to notice something. "Wait a minute!" Donna Troy (Troia) gasped. "Why are they only killing SOME of them…?!"
"Dire Wraiths…!"
Eyes locked on Koriand'r/Kory Anders (Starfire). "Who?!" Victor Stone (Cyborg) barked.
"Dire Wraiths, friend Victor!" the former crown princess of Tamaran declared. "A race so unspeakably evil, they even sicken the Psions that gave me my starbolt powers! They once attacked a planet named Galador on the other side of the galaxy, forcing many brave warriors to become CYBORGS to chase them off! One of them — a great woman named Landra; she was known as Starshine — came to Tamaran and waged war on the Wraiths that infiltrated our society! It's an epic tale that we learn as children! But…!"
"Looks like these things are here now," Garfield Logan (Changeling) stated as he watched spellbound as Terra — moving with a beautiful grace that only experienced martial artists like the Batman could demonstrate — weaved and dodged around killer bolts of energy pouring her way from many of the H.I.V.E. agents standing their ground and trying to strike her down. "But why would they be mixed up with the H.I.V.E.?!"
"It's their way, friend Garfield!" Starfire responded. "Infiltrate a society to make it serve them by any means possible! They're shape-changers like the Skrulls; the Warlords of Okaara believed they're actually mutant offshoots of the Skrulls!"
"Well, they don't seem too tough!" Cyborg snarled. "If we could only get free…!"
"Victor-san, do you want some help?"
Everyone perked on hearing that young voice, and then they looked down…
…before they gaped on seeing a GIRL of about TWELVE standing at the main controls to the Enervator, dressed in a uniform of a similar cut to Terra's new outfit, though it was soft gold overall with a sideways "C" with lightning bolts insignia. As the Titans — yes, even Cyborg! — all nearly gushed on seeing how gosh-darn CUTE she was, said girl started tapping controls. Instantly, energy feeding the units that were sapping their powers and trapping them inside the Enervator began to fade. "ALRIGHT!" Cyborg whooped as he felt his systems come back on line. "You ROCK, girl! DO IT!"
"Cursed human! You will not…!"
A dark form landed on top of the H.I.V.E. agent moving to shoot Prodigy. "Uh-uh, bub!" Wolverine snarled. "No shooting cute kids in the back!"
The claws plunged down to rip off the agent's head…and then the Canadian hunter back-flipped off as his body disintegrated. "DAMN! That's STINKS!" he growled as he tried to not vomit on sensing that brimstone-and-meson laced stench. "Where the hell IS our friendly neighbourhood spaceknight, anyway?! We can use him here!"
"Infinity! Go get Rom-san!" Prodigy called out.
"Okay, Chiyo-chan!" And with a flash, Infinity vanished…
…as Prodigy and Wolverine ducked on hearing the ceiling of the dome collapse, allowing very powerful figures to dive down from the overcast sky above. "YAY! FIGHT SCENE!" Warwind whooped as she dropped down to literally CRUSH a H.I.V.E. agent with her body, and then she started lashing out with a storm of punches that sent bodies flying everywhere!
"Damn, darlin'! Save some for US, huh?!" Wolverine called out before he leapt into the fray, claws splayed as several side doors exploded in to reveal the other X-Men, not to mention Soul Searcher, Cremisi, Carcajou and Caltrop, her pistols blazing.
"'Flower! Help Prodigy bust the Titans out!" Rampage snapped. "I'll seal the exits!"
"Right!" Wildflower whooped as she dove right at the Enervator.
"YIZIBAJOHEI!" one of the disguised magical shape-changers amongst the panicking H.I.V.E. agents screamed out as Rampage flew out of the room. "STOP THEM! THEY WILL TAKE EARTH FROM US!"
A flash of light then exploded from above, revealing an ominous firebird-like image. "Sorry, boys!" Phoenix whooped, her voice booming with power, as she and Marvel Girl dropped in. "This planet's already ours! You'll have to go somewhere else!"
As multiple types of energy bolts, flying fists, ki-claws, machine gun bullets, pulse blasts and lava-powered soulswords began to hack through the large crowd of people, Prodigy keyed the final controls to shut down the Enervator. "Okay, we're done!"
With a scream of rage, starbolts exploded from Starfire's arms as she leapt out of her manacles to charge into the battle. "I want them! I want them all!"
The other Titans — including a revived Raven — burst free of their own manacles as they leapt into the fray. "TITANS TOGETHER!" Changeling whooped.
And the fight was on…
In the director's office…
"Yizibajohei…why are they here…?"
"Does it matter?!" the director of the site demanded as he glared at his immediate subordinates. All of them were disguised Dire Wraiths. "You KNOW all the known prophecies of the Chaos Bringer! If he is allowed to succeed…"
A cold laugh then filled the darkened space. "Such pathetic sames…"
One of the other men gasped on hearing that English-accented voice as the others looked around. "Who's there?!" she barked out. "Show yourself!"
"As you wish…"
The shadows then MOVED to reveal a raven-haired woman in a cloak and black jumpsuit, runes of power laced all over the mesonium-hardened cloth that now covered most of the body of one Pansy Isabella Parkinson. "Well, well, well…Dire Wraiths," the Seamstress of the Shadow Realm said as she gazed intently at them with eyes as black as pitch. "Tell me…WHY did you try to hurt us all like you did…?"
"You are a threat to us!" the director snarled as he and his friends all transformed themselves into minotaur-like monsters, they then moving on Shadow Weaver. "You cannot be allowed to merge Earth with the Great Forge! This world is OURS!"
Her eyes narrowed. "Oh, really…?"
All the transformed Wraiths then tensed on hearing a cold cawing sound. "No…!" one of the sub-directors then gasped. "No…what have you done…?"
Shadow Weaver smiled. "Foolish little sames. You don't understand a damn thing about the Shadow Realm! But that's understandable. Two thousand seasons ago, all you wanted was power to conquer the rest of the Skrulls and subjugate the Andromeda Galaxy to your will. So you tried to STEAL the Shadow Sun, the CORE of the Great Crystal of Power…which was and has always rightfully been OURS!" She smirked. "You only succeeded in taking a small fragment of it…and because you didn't understand a THING about how to properly use ebony meson, look what it transformed you all into.
"A fitting fate for your kind, indeed…"
The cawing noise picked up, joined by the rumbling growls of dogs. "No…!" the director croaked out. "Those are OURS, Yizibajohei…how dare you…?"
"Boys," Shadow Weaver purred out. "Sic 'em!"
And a whole pack of dogs with glowing eyes leapt out of the shadows, transforming themselves into humanoid forms as the Hellhounds moved to feast. The director — who was fortunate enough to be the farthest away from Shadow Weaver when the magically-transformed Doberman pinschers had attacked, moved to flee…
…as a screaming bird-like sound echoed right in his ears.
"Deathwing…"
As a pterodactyl-shaped shadow consumed him, Shadow Weaver laughed.
Damn! It was so much FUN being a heel at times!
The Enervator Room…
"Deathstroke! Duck!"
Hearing that, the mercenary obliged…
…as a hardened throwing disk slammed into the head of one of the H.I.V.E. agents that was about to shoot Deathstroke in the back. As he dropped, a wild scream echoed from the air. "CANNONBALL!" Warwind howled as she landed on the man's head with such force, she CRUSHED it on the floor before she swung around to plough her fist into another's gut, hitting with such force that her fist went THROUGH his body!
"My God…!"
Deathstroke — who had gaped in shock on seeing his only surviving SON with the man he knew was Richard Grayson, the former Robin — spun around as his power-staff sent a bolt of energy through the heart of another H.I.V.E. agent; with those who had fled now clear of the room, all that remained were these shape-changing aliens he didn't really know about…but would find out about. "Get with the program, Grayson! These things are here to conquer us! It's either fight or die! Start fighting!"
"Ah, give Dickie some slack, Slade!" Terra cackled as she beheaded another alien with her lava-charged soulsword. "He's been too brainwashed by Batsy to be nice to heels! Oy! Kory! When you finally marry the guy, make sure he loses that bad habit, huh?!"
"So I shall, friend Tara!" Starfire snarled before she sent a killer bolt of energy at two aliens, burning them alive. "DIE, WRAITH SCUM!" she bellowed out. "THE NOBLE WARRIORS OF GALADOR ARE NOT HERE TO BE MERCIFUL TO YOU! THIS WORLD WILL NEVER BE YOURS!"
A door from a side room then exploded inward. "Reinforcements!" Cyborg warned.
"Caltrop! Suppression fire!" Soul Searcher — who was staying close to Jericho as his powers would put him at a terrible risk when dealing with Dire Wraiths — barked.
"Since you asked so nicely, Yomi!" the Deadliest Woman Alive whooped…
…as she yanked out — much to Deathstroke's wide-eyed shock — an M134 MINIGUN from somewhere on her person! As the Titans and X-Men in firing range of that deadly weapon ducked clear, she whooped as she shouldered it — it had a butt stock made of composite materials mated behind the miniaturised motor that drove the six barrels and fed 7.62 millimetre NATO rounds from a box magazine into it — and squeezed the trigger built into the pistol grip under the motor housing; her other hand was holding the forestock grip midway down the barrels. A rumbling chainsaw-like sound then echoed through the room as a storm of tracer bullets firing at THREE THOUSAND ROUNDS PER MINUTE ripped apart the attacking Wraiths like some inhuman scythe tearing apart wheat. As bodies flew apart, Carcajou snarled as she impaled one Wraith on her ki-claws, which were merged together to form a lethal foot-long shank, "Hey, Michi! Save some for us, huh?! I ain't finished killing these twerps!"
"Neither are we, darlin'!" Wolverine warned as footfalls echoed from the very corridor the X-Men had used to charge into the room. "Incoming!"
"They'll be OUTGOING soon enough, Comrade Logan!" Colossus snapped as he, Marvel Girl, Storm and Wildflower charged at the new group of Wraiths coming in…
Elsewhere in the complex…
"What the hell's going on here?! WHAT were those things Terra was killing?!"
"I dunno…and I'm not stickin' around to find out! Let's go!"
"Going someplace, gentlemen?"
The small group of H.I.V.E. agents that had been fleeing for the main hangar bay and possible escape stopped on seeing the man clad in the off-grey jumpsuit standing in their way. They then took note of the burning KATANA in his right hand as he gave them a smile. One that didn't have any humour in it at all.
"Now…before you get the chance to leave this place, let's have a little discussion about kidnapping beautiful girls and trying to KILL them," Ataru snarled.
"Yizibajohei scum! DIE!"
As the agents screamed out on noting one of them drawing out a quite high-tech laser pistol, Ataru smirked as his free hand shot up, ki burning in the palm.
"SEISHIN-HASAI HI-KŌSEN!"
The Killing Curse-green bolt of energy lashed out to slam into the agent, making him howl with pain as the magics his body was infused with were burned away by the Spirit-Breaker Fire-Light. That caused his control over his shape-shifting powers to fail and his body to revert back to its proper original form, that of a somewhat reptilian being shaped distantly like a gorilla with a beak-like mouth and a long, snake-like tongue with a drill-tip end. As the creature collapsed to the floor, all the human agents around her screamed out as they backed away while Ataru calmly walked up to her, dispersing his soulsword as he moved to kneel beside the shivering Wraith. "Hey, pretty girl…looks like you're in a bit of trouble…" he said.
The creature blinked as it heard those words, and then she — Ataru knew female Wraiths always preferred their natural forms over the quasi-humanoid forms male Wraiths often took when they dropped their disguises — blinked. "Pretty…I am pretty…?"
"All girls are pretty to me," he whispered as he moved to gently press some shiatsu points on the Wraith's back. "Now that we burned all the ebony meson out of you, let's give you some ruby meson to let your body go back to where it SHOULD be…"
With that, he bit hard into his tongue, allowing blood to flow. He took some of it with a finger, and then allowed the blood to be placed on the Wraith's tongue tip. The creature automatically allowed it to be drawn back into her mouth…and then she cried out as her whole body began to glow with deep red energy. "Relax…let it come to you…" Ataru gently soothed as the body began to shift back into humanoid form. "For two thousand years, your race has suffered for your ancestor's stupidity and greed. No sense in allowing you to continue suffering for the 'sins of your mothers.' I never did believe in that sort of nonsense…"
"Hey!" one of the watching agents gasped. "She's a SKRULL…!"
"That's impossible!" another one snapped. "Skrulls are GREEN! Not WHITE!"
"Normal Skrulls are," Ataru cut in. "These beings were once known as 'white Skrulls.' And they were treated far worse than what normals here on Earth treat naturally-gifted metas like." Noting their confusion at that odd term, he hissed out, "Mutants."
Noting their nods of understanding — no doubt, some of them had the bigoted thoughts that drove idiots into joining the Friends of Humanity and other like organisations, but Ataru really didn't want to waste time dealing with such morons — he then moved to help the dazed alien woman back to her feet. As he used his own ki energy to morph her robe into something more proper for a Yizibajohei, he added, "They fled Skrull space and came to our galaxy to find a new place to live. They eventually settled on Yiziba and were welcomed by the first generation of metas there. But then their leaders — who were dabbing into black magic at the time — noted the Shadow Sun and they tried to steal it. The results…were, as you just saw, ugly." He then smiled at the transformed Wraith girl, who was quick to notice this as her cheeks turned into a dark grey shade. "And you're not ugly at all. You've quite beautiful, in fact. Wouldn't you guys agree?"
He turned to look…and then blinked on seeing them shuffle away. "Figures," Ataru muttered under his breath. «Yomi! We needs some memory-wipes here.»
"Oh, please, Master Moroboshi…there's no need to make her do such things."
That was the Wraith girl, a raven-haired person with blue eyes twinkling with both mirth and malice. "Allow me to handle them," she said as she waved her hand.
The other H.I.V.E. agents all screamed out as magic exploded all over them…
The Enervator Room, ten minutes after Terra killed the first one…
"Is that it?! Any more of these stupid sames?!"
"Nah! I think we got 'em all, Tomo!"
Hearing that, a panting Warwind snorted. "Fuck! I was just getting into my groove, Jess!" she snarled as she gazed on Rampage. "How come there were so few of 'em?!"
"Unfortunately, Tomo-chan, there are few Dire Wraiths on Earth," Prodigy said as she moved to play with the Enervator controls. Her tricorder was tied into the device as she analysed the great machine's central programming. "After the Spaceknights chased them off their home planet, they dispersed all over the Milky Way. A lot of them would be in Limbo right now, given the Spaceknights' policy of not killing them."
"Limbo?!" Colossus asked. "You mean the realm my sister was once in, Comrade?" Since the young Japanese metahumans seemed to know a lot about the X-Men, he didn't feel he had to explain about his sister.
A nod. "A different part of that dimension, Pyotr-san, but the same general place."
"Could they hurt Il'yana?!" Wolverine then demanded.
A shake of the head. "I don't know…"
"Doubtful, Master Logan," a voice then called out as people turned to see Shadow Weaver walk into the room, a black bird-like creature perched on her shoulder and a small pack of hunting dogs around her, all with glowing eyes. "We watched what happened to your friend's sister from the Shadow Realm. The place where the Galadorians banish their enemies is quite far — in relative distances — from Belasco's former realm."
Hearing that, Colossus breathed out. "Thank God…"
"Um, Frau Parkinson, what is that thing on your shoulder?" Nightcrawler asked.
A smile. "A Deathwing…as the Wraiths call it. It's actually the resurrected spirit of a Yizibajohei hunting bird; they all went extinct at the time of the Dawn of Power. Beautiful, isn't he?" the transformed Pansy mused as she gazed on her new pet.
The Deathwing cawed in return. "And those dogs?" Wolverine asked as he tensed.
"Hellhounds. Native Earth dogs magically mutated by the Wraiths to be literal watchdogs for their bases and field units." Shadow Weaver gazed down as all the dogs looked up to her, all cooing. "It'll take a while to cleanse them of the taint of the Shadow Sun and turn them into something less threatening. But it can be done."
Prodigy sighed. "We're lucky Sakaki-san isn't here! If she saw them…!"
"Nah!" Caltrop nearly laughed as she started to field-strip her weapons. "Sakaki's a cat-person, Chiyo-chan! She doesn't take well to dogs."
"She liked Tadakichi-san!"
Relieved laughter filled the room. As the X-Men began to chat away with each other and their new friends from Japan, the Titans all stood back before they turned as one to gaze on the girl they had hesitantly but eventually welcomed into their ranks. And who had ultimately betrayed them…though their leader had just told them all that Tara Markova had been expertly manipulated — he hadn't said by who; he was STILL trying to contemplate what THAT revelation would mean for the Outsiders — into becoming a psychopathic killer. But after seeing what Terra had done now…?
"You okay, Tara?" Cyborg then asked.
A sigh as Terra lit up another cigarillo. "Yeah, Vic, I'm fine. First time in a year that I have been fine. And in full control of myself."
"I sense that," Raven then stated as she gazed intently at the Markovian-American. "Yet there is still considerable darkness within your heart, Tara…"
"Raven, stop letting that stupid philosophy you learned in the Temple Azarath govern your every decision," Terra snarled as she glared at the half-demonic empath. "There's a little heel in everyone, even the most pure face. I'm just more honest about my heel side. I'm not a hero and I won't pretend to be one. I'm a mercenary. A professional assassin." As the Terran-born Titans all gasped on hearing that horrid revelation, she waved to Deathstroke, who was standing close to his son. "Slade here asked me to infiltrate your group to exploit your weaknesses so he could fulfil the contract he picked up from his son Grant with the H.I.V.E. At that time, I was totally tripping on my waves, so I went along with it. Believe me, the way I acted when you all woke up in the Enervator is NOT what I'm really like…but I can't be a face like you are."
"'Face?' 'Heel?' What are you talking about, Tara?!" Changeling asked.
"She's Yizibajohei…!"
That was a wide-eyed Starfire, who had a shocked, putting-it-all-together look now on her face as she gazed in awe at the geo-kinetic. "Wha…?" Terra began…
…before she moaned as the Tamaranian princess dropped to her knees and prostrated herself before her. "Oh, Great One! Forgive me for not recognising you…!"
"KNOCK IT OFF, YOU IDIOT!"
A rock in the back of the head caused Starfire to yelp. "You big-breasted dork!" Terra snarled. "What the hell is the matter with you sames and norms?! You either can't make yourself say our race's name or our planet's name…or you think we're livin' fuckin' GODS OF WAR and worship us?! Don't you all get the hint finally?! You're all fuckin' WHITE NOISE to us! So will you please STOP that?!"
"Tara! Stop picking on her! She never lived on Yiziba, so she can't judge!"
Terra perked, and then she grinned. "ATARU!"
She then — as the Titans all gaped in shock — leapt through the air to land into the outstretched arms of the man who had saved her life and sanity years ago. As she warmly kissed him, Cyborg chuckled before he gave Changeling a look. "Man, Gar! You got yourself some serious competition there!" he commented before walking off.
"Yeah…" the young man born Garfield Logan breathed out…
Watching this from nearby, Deathstroke felt a pang of guilt rip through him. Damn! I am getting too old for this, the mercenary mused to himself as he shook his head. Since when did I care for my target's love-life of all things?
A tap on his shoulder made him turn to gaze on his son. [Father, you can't let this go,] Jericho then signed with his hands. [Yes, Grant DID die in part because of them…but he made his choice to become the Ravager. You have to remember that.]
Deathstroke sighed before he moved to slip off his hood. "I failed to protect you…and you lost your voice because of it, Joseph," the weary voice of Slade Wilson answered his mute son. "I vowed I wouldn't let it happen again…"
"So it was vengeance that made you fight us."
He turned to see Starfire — who looked a little embarrassed by what she had done to Terra — standing nearby. "The Ravager was my elder son Grant, Miss Anders. I didn't learn of his submitting to the treatments that gave me my heightened abilities until after the fact. When I watched him burn out after he tried to fight all of you…"
The Tamaranian nodded. "You are forgiven, Deathstroke. You are a worthy opponent…and clearly a loving father. Does your wife still live?"
"We're divorced now," Slade answered. "Joseph's living with her now."
Jericho smiled at her, which she returned. "You became Dick's friend, so you are my friend as well, Joseph," she said. "As is your father."
"You flatter me," Deathstroke stated before he turned to gaze on Terra.
Starfire looked. "Is Tara your new wife?"
The elder mercenary gargled before he coughed to clear his throat. "No, she's just a friend and working partner," he confessed as his cheeks reddened. "Still…"
"What?"
"What can you tell me of these…Yizibajohei, you called them?" Deathstroke then asked. "These aliens acted as if they were the Devil Incarnate, but you…"
Starfire smiled. "They are warriors of legend…"
And as she began speaking of what the Warlords of Okaara once told a wide-eyed young girl from Tamaran named Koriand'r of the Children of the Seekers' Forge and their battle prowess, we now…
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(Posted Sat, 07 Apr 2012 05:35)
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