Fan Fiction ❯ Anything, Anytime, Anywhere, For You ❯ Combat and Cliffhangers ( Chapter 11 )

Anything, Anytime, Anywhere, For You

 

Chapter Eleven

“Combat and Cliffhangers”

 

A/N: Welcome back to AAAFY, home of the crab-wing. On today's menu, we're starting with an entree of Robin/Starfire soufflé. That not your thing? Try our action-packed Bruce-and-Galfore combat crumpets; complete with a hearty helping of our Slade & Trigon Sauce. Still hungry? Then eat Beast Boy on a bun.

 

---- ---- ---- ---- ----

 

The mood in the infirmary was light-hearted and cheerful; a pleasant change from the usual ominous cloud of threats, foreshadowing and terror that had clung to this trip so far. Beast Boy and Raven's reunion wasn't filled with many words, and aside from her emotional hug when Gar had first woken up, neither Raven nor Beast Boy had shed any tears over what happened. It was an unspoken agreement; it had happened, and it was over now. The who's, why's, how's and where's were unimportant. With that in mind the young lovers who'd been both blessed and cursed thus far lay next to one another in Beast Boy's bed, refraining from speaking or sleeping; merely holding hands and staring off into space. Each was deep in thought about different things; things much too dark to discuss with other people - but they had found some level of happiness and weren't in a rush to ruin it.

 

Robin and Cyborg had both been there and had seen the reunion, and neither of them questioned it in any way. They hadn't spoken then and found no reason to speak now; and so they slowly drifted off to their own important tasks. Cyborg was still on his bed and he was preoccupied with his arm canon. On their last trip by, he had asked one of the nurses for a tool kit so he could get to work on his repairs, and now he was doing just that. Tamaranian tools were small, effective and downright fun to use. It was evident that Cyborg would be sneaking a lot of the advanced technology home with him when this entire ordeal ended and it was time to return to Earth.

As for Robin, he did as he expected too - he sat on the edge of Starfire's bed and worried about her. It was his responsibility as her friend, boyfriend, and fellow Titan to do this; and he did it quite well. He had not reached a level of worry that made him obsessive, and yet the emotion remained in his eyes clear for anyone who was looking for it. Starfire was a warrior, and a superhero. She was also a naïve young woman who had stolen the heart of Dick Grayson. Right now, she needed him; and he was here. It was simple. He wasn't sure if she'd stay like this for hours or days; but he'd be here all the while.

 

Then, as suddenly as everything else that seemed to happen, Starfire began to stir. Robin could hear her moan softly and by the time his eyes had refocused to her face she was scrunching up her nose and awakening. Her mouth opened in a yawn, and once she had finished with that, her emerald eyes finally opened and Robin found himself staring into them.

 

“Hey.” Robin said calmly and simply, in a soft voice. He offered her a smile that was warm and inviting; but she did not return it. Instead, she dropped her eyes down to her lap to avoid his face, and her lips curved into a frown. She skipped the `hellos' and asked him, in a voice filled with dread, the obvious question.

“What happened?”

 

Robin's voice remained the same; warm and inviting. He recalled everything from the time she had last been awake until now. She did not say a word about anything until Robin informed her of the “Old Trials”. When he told her that it was, in both his and her father's opinion, up to her to decide; that's when she found her words.

 

Although the words she found were as unexpected as her sudden recovery.

 

“Is it worth it?” She asked Robin, biting back despair.

 

“Is what worth it?”

 

“The Trials. Robin, so many people have died. So much has happened. All of it because of the Trials . . . because of me. If I had turned Shadarias down on Earth -”

“Starfire, stop it. You cannot change the past and worrying about it is pointless. Yes, things could have been different. Yes, some people who died may not have. Yes, you and I are to blame for certain things; but don't say it's because of you. Slade and Trigon are more at fault here than anyone; and we can't change it anyway. Don't cause yourself more pain by stressing over things that have already happened. Instead just tell me one thing; do you still love me?”

 

Starfire finally returned her eyes to his. “Yes I do.”

 

“Do you want to attempt the trials?”

Again, Starfire's answer was the same: “Yes I do.”

 

“Then we will.” Robin responded, thinking that would settle the issue. It did not however.

 

“Do you want to, Robin? Or at you just doing this for me?” Starfire's eyes seemed to become transfixed on her hands rather than his face, as they so often did in awkward moments like this.

 

“I'll do anything, anytime, anywhere for you Star.” Robin responded without a shred of hesitation or doubt in his voice. “Whether I want to or not; but in this case, yeah, I want too.”

 

This time it did settle the issue. Whatever fears, doubts and worries she had left were either disposed off or locked away by his answer. Starfire was the classic definition of `hopeless romantic' and she could do nothing more than throw her arms around Robin and pull him into a kiss. Not a bone-breaking hug, or a kiss like the one they would have had before. This was a kiss. Too much of a kiss, perhaps, by the reaction of their fellow Titans.

 

“Eh hem. You're not in private.” Raven pointed out.

 

“Seriously, what's the legal age on Tamaran?” Beast Boy asked Cyborg while trying not to laugh.

 

“I don't know but I'd find out before we let them keep on like that.” Cyborg responded, the act of fixing his canon forgotten.

 

“We get the point, and you're exaggerating anyway.” A red-faced Robin responded after he and Starfire broke apart, turned away from one another and began reflected on why all of their romantic moments always seemed to be ruined by something like this.

 

Everyone had a good laugh. Despite embarrassment, impending doom, secret-agendas and everything else, this was just one of those moments when you have to laugh. One of those times, that always seem to end sooner than you'd like . . .

 

---- ---- ---- ---- ----

 

In the infirmary of the underground bunker the five heroes our of tale were sharing a laugh; but in the deserts of Tamaran not far away, five others were far from cheery. Among those five were Batman and Galfore; leaders of the search team. The other three were all high-class Tamaranian soldiers who had volunteered for this special assignment. The assignment? Find Slade and Trigon.

 

With Raven's mental verification that her father was still on Tamaran, and somewhere close to the Royal Palace no less; and the heavy suspicion that Slade was still with him, they had formed this search team. Bruce Wayne's skills in tracking were legendary, and while he may not have the home field (or in this case, planet) advantage; neither did his prey. Galfore did have the advantage and his own skills in finding things that preferred to stay lost were equally impressive to Batman's. The others were trained in recon, search-and-rescue and seek-and-destroy missions by Tamaranian Military standards; and one of them had an award for all three. There was no reason to believe there would be a problem.

 

So naturally, there was a problem.

 

“Alright, this is the location.” Batman announced at last as the ground treaded over the sandy ground. “Apparently a farmer on his way home spotted a giant red demon in this immediate vicinity. Spread out and keep your eyes open. If you see any sign of Trigon or Slade contact the others. Do not under any circumstances attempt to contact or engage them alone.”

 

“Move out!” Galfore finished and the team did as they were ordered to do. Each of three commandos split up in a different direction, silently hovering across the surface of the ground and keeping their eyes moving as much as they could. The leaders did the same; Galfore floated to his right and made an even more impressive spectacle then the lesser soldiers; while Bruce took to his feet on the left, unable to fly but still managing to leave no trail of any kind.

 

None of them found a thing; but something found them.

 

--

 

“Chief! We have found dogs of the military crossing into our domain!”

 

There were cliffs very close to the search party, and they were home to many things. Some of Tamaran's vicious local wildlife made their nest there; and so did the Bandits of Vis'mount, as they were known within the underworld. The Bandits were mostly ex-military, or hardcore thieves who had been united by a Tamaranian war criminal named Vis'mount. Vis'mount himself was dead now; but no one had bothered to change the name of the gang. Now the role of leading them fell to their two meanest members; an ex-colonel in the military named M'stang; and his counterpart, an infamous thief and murdered called Ch'mera.

“Dogs of the military?” M'stang asked the lesser bandit. M'stang was small and skinny for a member of the Tamaranian race. He was tall; almost seven feet; but his muscles and fat were almost none. He wore clothing he'd sewn together himself from the finest fabrics - fabrics he'd gotten by stealing them off the dead bodies of the richest, fattest and noblest people he could find and kill.

 

“Indeed.” A second bandit voiced. “We counted five; they have split up. One of them is an off-worlder, three dress as the military do, and the final is Galfore.”

 

“Galfore?” Ch'mera spoke this time. He was the exact opposite of his partner. M'stang was smaller and skinner than the others, while Ch'mera was a giant even by this planets expectations. He stood almost nine feet tall, and his frame was solid muscle. M'stang had become a leader because he used his brains in battle and could always manage to strike a fatal blow; Ch'mera had become a leader because he simply did not lose fights. He killed everyone who came up against him; either with his muscles or his starbolts. It was not that no one could kill him - for of course, they could - he simply believed in never giving them a chance.

“Yes sir, I recognized him.” One of the lesser bandits hissed proudly. “I do not know the others, but I know him. Maybe when we kill him I can -”

 

“I will kill him.” Ch'mera announced. “I care not for his belongings, only his life. I will kill him alone. The others and their belongings are nothing to me.”

 

Not even M'stang would have argued with him now. Ch'mera had a presence to him that told everyone else his word was final; and no one changed his mind. His demeanor told them the time for talk was over; now was the time for action. The discussions on bloodshed had ended, and the actual combat was about to begin.

 

--

 

Galfore was bent low over the ground inspecting a possible clue. The impression of a demon's hoof was visible, and while it was only one, it was proof that Trigon had been here not long ago. One of Tamaran's famous violent sandstorms was blowing in the south and moving this direction - another problem. The sandstorms would make tracking the fiends impossible; the wind was too fast for flying and the sand would cover any clues still here. Besides, the debris blown around by the massive winds could tear a man to shreds. Time was of the essence.

 

“GRAH!”

Galfore's ears picked up the noise fast enough for him to move aside as Ch'mera came smashing down into the ground. The bandit had tried to land directly on Galfore's back; which would have smashed him flat. Galfore was safe, but upon turning to face the massive form of Ch'mera he knew that was about to change. Ch'mera had already recovered from his missed assault and was staring down at Galfore.

 

“Bandits!” Galfore cried out as his eyes flared green and he flew forward to meet his new enemy. Ch'mera did not move, he merely extended his arms and caught Galfore's punches. Then he squeezed his fists overtop of Galfore's. Despite his great strength, Galfore was nothing beneath Ch'mera's superior might. Galfore fell to his knees and his squinted his eyes closed.

 

The others had all become involved in the fighting by now. The three soldiers had all turned upon Galfore's cry of “Bandits!” and had flown back to meet their leader; and each of them had instead met two bandits on their path. There were two bandits for each solider and each of the bandits was roughly the same size. The soldiers had attacked with starbolts and punches; and the bandits had responded by doing the exact same thing - they did not do it any better, they just did it twice at once.

 

As for Batman, he had found himself confronted with three of the bandits. He however had proven to be more of a challenge than his human frame made him appear. The first of the bandits had merely shaken off any danger Bruce could have presented and charged forward stupidly and loudly; Bruce had thrown a handful of smoke-bombs at his enemies chest; blinding and confusing him and making him the perfect target for an explosive bat-a-rang to the follow the smoke bombs on the same path. While the first bandit went down and the other two were still confused and partially blind, Bruce threw two more bat-a-rangs and watched in satisfaction as both bandits joined the first on the ground.

 

However, M'stang had been watching. He was unimpressed by the human's appearance on the battlefield but had learned quickly that it was a stroke of luck. Watching three of his fellow bandits fall was delightful - he had been jealous of Ch'mera hogging the good battle, and now he had found a foe just as tempting as Galfore. M'stang did not wait; speed was his greatest advantage over everyone else.

 

He flew towards Bruce; who turned around and whipped another explosive bat-a-rang right at the secondary leader of the bandits. M'stang's eyebeams destroyed it in mid-air and Wayne was caught off-guard as M'stang's superior speed allowed him to fly through the smoke and drive his fist into Bruce's stomach before the smoke has cleared. It was enough to send the Dark Knight to his knees.

 

The three soldiers were unconscious or dead, Galfore and Batman were both on their knees. It looked as if the battle was assured. M'stang need only deliver a killing blow with his fist, and Ch'mera was merely toying with Galfore. The greatest bandits on Tamaran had defeated the team that had set out to find two of the most dangerous criminals in existence.

 

--

 

“We could always let the bandits finish them off.” Slade pointed out as he surveyed the scene from atop the nearby cliffs, his single eye watching in a mixture of delight and disappointment, as Batman was so easily overpowered.

 

“No, we need them kept alive. At least until Beast Boy delivers the message. Remember, we don't change the plan.” Trigon responded with sarcasm that made his daughter's look weak.

 

“Bitten by my own bullet, I see.” Slade responded with a laugh. “Well then we'll just have to save them, won't we? You take the oversized redhead; I'll make sure the Dark Knight keeps breathing.”

 

--

 

Batman was not completely out of tricks. His body was failing, but his mind was as vigilant as ever. Reaching a shaky hand down to his utility belt, he hit the distress beacon built into the buckle. The distress signal being broadcasted would be heading directly to a corresponding beacon that Robin carried on his belt. True, it had been many years since Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson had actually been partners - but the signal still worked. Wayne had long ago made one universal signal that was sent to many different people at many different locations whenever that button was pressed. The only person on Tamaran who could receive the signal was Robin, of course; and Bruce was praying it would reach him fast.

 

However, the sandstorm that had worried Galfore earlier was on the move. Moreover, the signal would not be able to broadcast until it moved out of the way. Time was not on their side.

 

--

 

“I grow tired of these toys.” Ch'mera griped, turning to face M'stang and the other remaining bandits. “Let us just kill them now.”

 

Apparently, the fun of beating the unconscious bodies of the search party was gone, and it was time to snuff the last traces of life from the fallen, ransack their corpses, and then wait for the next group of unlucky souls. M'stang looked up from where he had been watching Batman and nodded his head.

 

“Yes, it is a good time to finish them off; and begin the looting.” M'stang's horrible face twisted into a sick grin at the idea of looting. It was his favorite part; he loved getting new toys, and from what they had seen in the battle, the defeated hero beneath his foot had plenty of those.

 

Ch'mera placed one of his massive feet on the side of Galfore's head. He planned to crush the smaller Tamaranian beneath his boots; an age-old way of humiliating those you kill. His foot never got the chance to smash. Flames flew like a burning whip, striking and engulfing Ch'mera and sending him sprawling backwards onto the ground. The other bandits, M'stang included, could only watch in shock and awe as the biggest and strongest of their ranks uttered his final scream as his life burnt away.

 

The bandits had no real love for one another, and loyalty was based solely on fear. No tears were shed over the loss of Ch'mera's life; but fear was created. In the eyes of his fellow bandits, Ch'mera had been invincible; he had never come close to losing a fight to anyone, save Galfore. Now someone had killed Ch'mera in a single blow; and that someone was Slade.

 

None of the bandits moved. They all saw this new addition to the battlefield and they all knew he was dangerous. Should they attack Slade and attempt to destroy him? Would they be able too? Why was he attacking them, perhaps he was an ally to the people the bandits had tried to rob? None of the answers would matter.

 

Trigon's sinister sets of eyes glared as they emitted laser beams. The beams were multiple in color and single in purpose; they were meant to kill. Two of the lesser bandits caught beams to the chest. The reaction was the same by both; death, instant and clean. The third bandit had been lucky to have stood between his friends; those on the right and left of him were dead and he was not - yet. Trigon didn't wait, he squeezed one of his fists together and it exploded in flames a moment later; then he hurled his own fireball at the final nameless bandit. Unlike the events with Slade and Ch'mera, the final bandit was killed too quickly to scream.

 

Now only M'stang was left; and he knew he was going to die. He wasn't sure whether it would be as he ran or as he fought; or which of these two new faces would kill him, but he knew it would happen. The very thought had frozen him on the spot in fear; his only movement now was the shaking of his knees. Slade turned his head to look M'stang in the eyes. Slade's eye then did to M'stang what it had done to Beast Boy - only this time Slade didn't hold his newest power back at all. When the beam of electricity struck M'stang it fried him with such a fury that the thinnest of the bandits disintegrated into a substance like dust.

 

“That was boring.” Slade noted as he looked down at Batman's fallen form. “I'd expected more of a challenge.”

 

“I didn't.” Trigon replied as he stooped down over Galfore's broken form. “What should we do with these two?”

 

Slade turned to look at Galfore's body. They needed these two to survive a little longer; that was clear. If things with Beast Boy proceeded as they were planned, - which Slade was certain they would - then Galfore and Bruce Wayne were of vital importance.

“Exactly what we planned. Use them.”

 

---- ---- ---- ---- ----

 

The all-important distress signal - the one Batman had sent with the last doses of his consciousness - had not reached Robin. That did not mean it would not or it could not; it simply had not. The sandstorm was blocking the signal and Robin was blissfully unaware of the danger his former mentor and Galfore were in.

 

The kissing incident was still fresh in everyone's minds, but the laughter had died down and a certain level of silence had fallen into the infirmary. Starfire and Robin sat beside one another on her bed, the two now consumed in the task of finding a keepsake for the Old Trials. They needed to find something small enough to fit through the cracks at the top of the cavern; and it had to be something that represented them. Their bond, their love, their friendship - just something about them being together.

 

It was harder than it sounded.

 

Cyborg was once again working at his arm cannon, and once again, he was happy. His systems were all running at ninety-percent or better, his human-side was feeling well enough that he didn't need any form of medication or hospitalization, and he had an excuse to use the fancy alien technology; why should he complain?

As for Beast Boy and Raven; they were lying in bed together, not speaking and no longer holding hands. Occasionally they would start a conversation about something, but it quickly slipped into silence. They both seemed to be more interested in their own thoughts. The ironic difference was who was thinking what.

Raven was lost in her happiness; an uncommon event for Raven. Not that she wasn't usually happy, she just didn't think about it too much. In addition, in all fairness, whenever one of her emotions overpowered the others and consumed her mind; it was rarely happiness. It didn't matter now, though, since she was happy and she didn't have a reason to be anything but happy. At least not a reason of which she was aware.

 

Beast Boy, however, was lost in thoughts of depression, despair and worry. He was often sad; that was nothing new. Whenever he lost at video games, or whenever Cyborg was too busy for a good round of stinkball, or whenever Raven was mad at him, or whenever he tried Starfire's cooking; he was sad. However, genuine depression and despair was another story. A story he was familiar with; and one he hated. Yes, he knew true heartache. Yes, he had been manipulated before. Yes, he had even gone against the other Titan's before. This was different. This wasn't like the past. This was crystal clear.

 

He could betray his friends, or lose Raven. Either way in his mind, he was no better than Slade.

 

The waiting was the worst, though. That little spark of hope inside him kept repeating that maybe he could fix this. He didn't know what Slade's orders would be; maybe there would be a way he could warn the Titans - warn Raven - and make all of this work out.

 

Suddenly Beast Boy felt a sharp, burning pain in his head. Before he could stop himself, he sat up in bed and grabbed his stomach as he sank his teeth into his lower lip. He was seconds away from transferring his hands from his stomach to his head when Raven spoke up.

“Hungry?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

 

“Huh? Yeah, yeah I am.” Beast Boy might have caught his first lucky break all day. “Think I'll head to the kitchen, now that you mention it. Uh, you want anything?”

 

Raven hadn't been suspicious before; but she was now. “Are you okay?”

 

“Yeah, sure I am. I mean, I'm hungry but other than that I'm just peachy.” Beast Boy responded, flashing a huge fake grin.

 

“Right. Well go get your food.” Raven was becoming more apprehensive by the minute. “Just be careful, okay?”

Beast Boy had already hopped off the bed and started towards the door when he heard her calling out `be careful' and whipped around, sweating a bit from his brow. “Why would I need to be careful? I'm just going to the kitchen Rae.”

 

Raven was really chary now. “Because you almost got killed last time you were in the kitchen. Is something wrong?”

 

“No, I just don't worry as much as you do.” Beast Boy responded, feeling the pain in his head kick in again and knowing his time was running out. “I'll be fine Rae, and I'll see you soon.”

 

Beast Boy turned around and exited the infirmary after that, his eyes closed as he tried to bite back the tears as he realized the full impact of what he was about to do. Slade was calling him; probably to give him his first orders. That meant this was it. This is where he chose between allowing himself to be used as a pawn in Slade and Trigon's scheme; or condemning Raven's existence.

 

He still had no choice.

 

Beast Boy hurried back up the underground passageway and came out of the underground bunker in the kitchen. Of course he wasn't really headed to the kitchen - he needed to be someplace more private for when his soul-self was taken back to the astral plane. So he moved faster, out of the kitchen and quickly to the closest bathroom. Once inside he slipped into one of the stalls, locked the door and before he could ponder as to what would happen next his soul-self was taken from his body and he found himself, once again, in the barren emptiness of the Astral Plane.

 

“Good work on getting here.” Slade congratulated him as both he and Trigon appeared in the same fashion as last time. “That was much easier than you expected, wasn't it?”

 

“Cut the crap.” Beast Boy snapped, determined not to put up with a single ounce of their taunting more than he had too. “You have something for me to do or not?”

 

“Somebody got up on the wrong side of the bed today, I see. Here I thought having Raven to cuddle up with would improve your mood. Or does she make it worse? We could always replace your Raven with an even better one; a soulless mass-murdering one, would that help?”

 

Beast Boy's patience was wearing thin; but he had no choice. “What is it you called for, Master?” He asked through gritted teeth. Slade and Trigon seemed pleased enough to give him orders now.

 

“This will be a simple task; we're merely shuffling the deck before we deal. There is a beacon on Robin's utility belt; you are to disconnect it. If you can't, you are to destroy it. How you do this is up to you; as long as that beacon loses the ability to receive signals.” Slade's so-called simple task seemed complicated to Beast Boy.

 

“Why?” Beast Boy asked.

 

“Batman and Galfore are lying in the desert dying. Batman sent a distress signal to that beacon; a signal that has not arrived yet because of a sandstorm. We do not want it to arrive, so you are going to make sure it does not.” Slade explained without hesitation.

 

Beast Boy was horrified. His eyes widened as the full-impact of his “simple task” became chillingly clear. His choice was anything but simple. If he did as they said, Batman and Galfore would die and he would be assigned a new, probably worse, assignment. If he did not, Raven would be destroyed and her body used to kill everything around her - starting with Robin, Starfire and Cyborg as her first victims.

 

How was he supposed to live with himself, either way?

 

“This is merely the first task, Beast Boy. Don't let me down so soon.” Slade taunted, stepping closer to the green titan and reaching a hand out towards him. Beast Boy jumped backwards and snarled.

 

“Get away from me you sadistic freak!”

Slade's amusement only grew. “My, my, such a temper. Of course, you realize any attempt of yours to attack either myself or Trigon -”

“Yeah, I know, I know. You'll turn Raven into a soulless killing machine and finish off my friends. We both know I have to obey you; that doesn't mean I have to like it.” Beast Boy was glaring and barring his teeth.

 

“Well, if you understand everything so clearly then perhaps it's best you hurry up; we wouldn't want a sudden change of heart, would we?” Slade turned to Trigon next. “Send him back.”

 

Trigon grinned and waved one of his massive hands; the next thing Beast Boy knew he was back in his own body - which was still sitting on the floor, leaning against the toilet.

 

“Dude, this is just overkill.” He sighed to himself as he pushed up from the bathroom floor.

“What's overkill? And what are you doing in the bathroom anyway BB? I thought you were headin' to the kitchen?”

Beast Boy froze. The voice belonged to Cyborg, and it was coming from the next stall over. Could he know something? Was that possible, and if it was, did it bode good news or bad? What should he say, or do?

Beast Boy stopped this random thinking. Of course, he did not know anything. Beast Boy had been in the Astral Plane, not here. The only thing Cyborg could have possibly been aware of was the fact his friend was recently sitting on the bathroom floor.

 

“I am heading to the kitchen Cy, but I had to come here first. As for why, dude, should be obvious.”

With those final words, Beast Boy exited the stall and headed towards the kitchen. His heart was heavy, his head his still, and he had no clue how he would be able to disconnect or destroy Robin's beacon in time. All he knew was that he had no other choice.

 

Did he?

 

---- ---- ---- ---- ----

 

A/N: Someone called me “evil” because of how I ended chapter ten - which yeah, I guess chapter ten's ending was evil; but if that was evil, what's this one? Hmm… if anyone has the answer to that question; or a question of their own; why not answer/ask it in a review? Feedback's always appreciated, Chapter Twelve will be up ASAP, until next time . . .

 

Peace Out,

Brandon Rice (Golden-Sama)