Fan Fiction ❯ Anything, Anytime, Anywhere, For You ❯ Operation Defeat Duamathrax ( Chapter 43 )

Anything, Anytime, Anywhere, For You

 

Chapter Forty-Three

“Operation: Defeat Duamathrax”

 

A/N: This chapter I dedicate to a good friend: AGodofIrony!

I am SO sorry for the delay. Since Halloween I've had surgery twice, and have been in the hospital for a eight day stretch on a separate occasion; so it has really effected my writing time, and most recently of all I was sick on Christmas.

 

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Duamathrax looked out at the Titans who stood in his spaceship and he growled loudly. However, this growl was not one of anger or rage; it was a growl of laughter. He was amused that they had destroyed all of his Dark Ones, and he was amused that they attempted to destroy him. The gigantic black demon looked at them with each of his eight yellow eyes, and then he scoffed.

 

“You do not have the power to defeat me.” Duamathrax announced.

 

“We've heard that rant before.” Robin informed him, no fear in his voice as he held the bo-staff in one hand and glared at the monster that stood in front of him.

 

Duamathrax's black skin was as tough as diamonds, but as shiny as silk. He laughed a cruel, thunderous laugh, and then he drew himself up to his full height. In a flash, without warning or any kind of evil taunt or monologue, his scorpion tail flicked out and soared towards Robin, who quickly jumped back and threw up his bo-staff to block it; however the staff was severed neatly in two, and Robin only narrowly escaped from the tail's enormous knife-like end.

 

“You are skilled indeed, for a human, but do not think it will save you.” Duamathrax bellowed with his mighty voice; but Robin retaliated by throwing a freezing disc right into Duamathrax's mouth as he spoke; it exploded and covered his head in ice.

 

“Titans, Go!” Robin gave his trademark battle cry and all of the Titans swarmed Duamathrax at once. Beast Boy became a Tyrannosaurs Rex and used his massive jaws to bite the end of Duamathrax's tail off - or at least he tried. Duamathrax's skin was much too powerful, and Beast Boy reverted to his normal self and holding his jaw and howling in pain.

 

Terra was up next; she concentrated hard and a great spike of rock shot up from the surface of Tamaran below them, broke through the bottom of the spaceship and impaled Duamathrax in the back. Unfortunately his diamond-like hide shattered the rock into shards as it hit him; and what's more, the ship burst into flames and began to plummet towards the planet's surface.

 

“Whoops.” Terra sweatdropped.

 

“Let's get out of here.” Raven stood up, even though she was still wounded severely, and she used her powers to transport the Titans, Jinx, Starfire's Parents and Blackfire out of the ship in the form of a giant black raven. As the raven landed on the ground, the Titans and their company all looked up to watch the ship crash into a nearby mountain and explode with a gigantic flash of flames and smoke.

 

“Well, at least we stopped him.” Terra said with a small smile gracing her lips.

 

Then, all at once, Duamathrax flew out of the wreckage and hovered in the air above the titans. He was bleeding thick globs of blood that was as black as the night sky, and it smelled like rotten meat.

 

“Do you think you have defeated me?” Duamathrax asked, and then he coughed and a great puddle of blood oozed out of his mouth and down his throat and chest, blending in with the natural dark color of his skin and giving a creepy effect as if his skin was becoming liquid.

 

“Usually when folks spit up blood, it means there done fighting.” Raven's sarcasm cut in again, but then she grunted and fell to her knees, holding her shoulder. During the explosion, a piece of debris had slashed her shoulder open, and added only another injury to her growing resume. Beast Boy hurried and ran to her side, throwing an arm around her back and allowing her to support her weight on him.

 

“I am far beyond your usual foes.” Duamathrax announced; and then his body exploded. Pieces of his rock-hard skin flew in every direction, blood and bone splattered the ground all around and each of the Titans and all of their company were drenched in black blood.

 

“Eww, it's getting in my gears!” Cyborg complained.

 

“Dude, it's in MY mouth!” Beast Boy snapped.

 

“It's in my cuts.” Raven said very quietly, her voice filled with pain. The black blood of Duamathrax was indeed oozing on her open wounds, and it felt like someone had just drenched her in salt.

 

“Okay, she wins.” Cyborg agreed.

 

“Hey dumb asses, we have another problem.” Blackfire rudely butted in, pointing her finger to where Duamathrax had exploded. Where there had once been a gigantic, eight-eyed demon; there were now eight small versions of Duamathrax. Each had only one eye on their head.

 

“That's just wrong Sparky.” Bumblebee noted.

 

“Foolish Titans,” The first tiny-Duamathrax grinned sadistically. “I am beyond death. I am beyond any of you!”

 

“And I shall prove it.” The second tiny-Duamathrax announced.

 

“I shall go to the Tamaranian Capital City and slaughter everyone I see.” The third of the eight declared with glee.

 

“This planet shall be covered in an ocean of its inhabitants blood!” The fourth Duamathrax snickered; and then all eight of them took off running in the direction of Tamaran's Capital City. King Myand'r gasped out loud, and the Queen clasped a hand over her mouth.

 

“You led them here!” Myand'r shouted, turning on his daughter Blackfire. “How could you do this to your own people?”

 

“Spare me the lecture.” Blackfire flipped some hair over he shoulder and rose up into the air. “See ya later, pops; or not.” She grinned and began to fly away; but Starfire flew at her and threw a vicious punch into her sister's stomach. Blackfire doubled-over in mid-air and coughed in pain. Then she glared at her sister.

 

“You're going to regret that Star!” She leapt at her sister and grabbed her around the throat, trying to strangle her; but Starfire blasted Blackfire with her laser eyes, and Blackfire flew backwards.

 

“Robin! You must stop those creatures, I will handle my sister.” Starfire called to the man she loved, then without any time for debate or hesitation; she flew towards Blackfire and threw another punch. Robin was worried about her, but he did not have time to argue. He knew that stopping those Duamathrax monsters was their prime concern; or hundreds of thousands of people would die.

 

“You heard her; Titan's Go!”

----

 

“I. See. Mr. Slade. You. Have. The. Device. I. Requested?” The Brain's broken, hallow voice filtered in over Slade's communicator. He was on his way back to earth now, taking the stolen ship from before and talking to the leader of the Brotherhood.

 

“I do, and I will bring it to you - provided our deal still stands.” Slade said carefully over the channels.

 

“The. Deal. We. Made. Will. Be. Honored. Once. I. Have. The. Device. And. The World. Bows. Before. The. Brotherhood. Of. Evil. You. Will. Be. Given. That. Which. I. Promised. You.”

 

“Good, then I'll see you in Gotham.” Slade said, and he switched off his communicator and laughed to himself. Everything was going exactly as he had planned. Now he just had to wait for his daughter to kill off the Titans on Tamaran, and get the device to the Brain; and his goal would be accomplished.

 

----

 

The Titans were following the eight Duamathrax spawns as closely as they could; there was just one problem. Each time one of the Titans got anywhere near one of the demonic creatures, that Duamathrax would spray a vile mist into the air; a green, putrid spray that would melt the ground around where it had been sprayed. Raven, as injured as she was, was levitating the entire group to follow the eight horrendous beasts.

 

“How do we take those things out?” Jinx asked the others. She was ignoring the fact that she did not like them, and they did not like her. Right now this `Duamathrax' character, or characters, it seemed, was getting on her nerves. She wanted to kill those eight freakish creatures and if that meant working with the titans, that was alright with her.

 

“Good question.” Cyborg replied, he was looking at a scanner on his arm. “These things have some MASSIVE levels of power. Off the scales! And I can't detect any kind of weak point in their bodies.”

 

“Well whatever we do, we have to do it soon.” Myand'r, King of Tamaran, who was also coming with the Titans declared. “We are nearing the city! If we do not hurry, they will decimate my people!”

 

“Relax, we have this under control.” Robin informed the King, and from the confidence in his voice you'd never be able to tell how dire the situation really was. As they zoomed on the barren countryside, riding on black mental energy in the shape of a giant bird, the Titans soon saw the eight scurrying fiends below them.

 

“Rae, can you do anything?” Beast Boy asked. He sat in the middle of the bird's back, next to Raven and Terra. His hands were on Raven's shoulders and his face was leaned in close to hers.

 

“Beast Boy, right now I can hardly stay awake. It's using everything I have to make this levitation platform. You're on your own.” Raven told him in an irritable voice.

 

“Right, okay, so . . . umm . . . Bee, you got any ideas?” Beast Boy looked up above him to where Bumblebee was flying above the rest of them.

 

“Not a one.” Bee sighed.

 

“Well, I do.” Terra said, looking down at the ground below. “But I'll need someone to distract them while I do it.”

She turned away from the ground below them, and looked directly at Beast Boy as she said this. He sweatdropped and hung his head.

 

“Why me?”

 

“You're the only shape shifter.” Cyborg reminded him.

 

“Feh. Fine.” Beast Boy jumped off the side of the raven and transformed into a dinosaur. Instead of the usual tyrannosaurs rex, he instead became a much bigger, long-necked brachiosaurs. He landed right in front of the eight demons and swatted at two of them with his tail, while he knocked another two backwards using his neck. The other four, however, managed to scamper between his legs and keep going.

 

The four that had been stopped, however, suddenly felt the ground beneath them shake. A fissure had opened up beneath them and they fell into the earth. Terra grunted as she forced the ground closed again using her powers. She had to do it fast, because the Duamathrax spawns had tried to get out. One of them was halfway out of the hole as it closed up again, and it was severed in two.

 

Beast Boy made a face and transformed back into himself; but as he did the half of the Duamathrax that had been decapitate exploded and showered him in green sludge. Beast Boy screamed and fell on the ground, unconscious.

 

“Damn it.” Raven kept flying.

 

“Aren't you going to go back for him?” Terra asked, frantically.

 

“We have to stop the other four or millions of Tamaranians will die.” Raven snapped bitterly. “He'll have to wait a minute.”

 

“Unbelievable.” Terra shook her head, jumped off the black raven, and caused a chunk of rock from beneath them to fly up to her feet so she could use it as a floating device. She hurried down to Beast Boy's side and jumped off. Raven wanted to scream. She knew Terra still had feelings for Beast Boy, and as shallow as it seemed, she did not want Terra to be the one to save Beast Boy. However; she knew at the moment they had bigger fish to fry. Millions of lives depended on her, so she just had to accept that Terra would probably make a move on her man.

 

Fantastic. Raven thought sarcastically.

 

----

 

A rockslide had started, from the impact of Blackfire hitting the mountain as hard as she did. Her sister had thrown her into the Cliffside as the two Tamaranian princesses continued to battle back at the crash site of the Dark Ones' ship. Starfire threw a barrage of starbolts at her sister; but Blackfire's pink starbolts cut through them and caused them to explode in mid-air.

 

Blackfire flew up and through the smoke, smashing her sister in the face with her fist and knocking Starfire backwards. Starfire tumbled through the air and landed on the ground in a cavern on the side of a mountain. Her nose was bleeding, and her head throbbed with pain; but she refused to give up.

 

A second later Blackfire was on top of her, holding her wrists and pinning her to the ground. Starfire grunted and tried to throw her sister off; but to no avail. Blackfire pinned her down and blasted Starfire in the face with laser beam eyes.

 

“You two have mastered the eye lasers?” Starfire asked her sister.

 

“D'oi. You think you're the only one Star? Hah.” Blackfire head-butted her sister, and the back of Starfire's head hit the cave floor hard. Starfire yelled out and pushed up with her knees, knocking her sister off of her and sending Blackfire falling down deeper into the cave. Blackfire hit a rock and tumbled down into a small abyss. She grabbed onto the side, but something grabbed onto her foot and began pulling her down.

 

“Gah! Get offa me you korkbore!” She shouted at the beast that had her. A black, slimy tentacle was wrapped around her ankle, trying to drag her down into the darkness to a horrific fate. Below, in the unseen darkness, a monster snapped its jaws and licked its lips.

 

“Star, help me!” Blackfire cried to her sister.

 

“You ask me for help? After what you have done?” Starfire looked insulted at the very idea.

 

“You'd actually let your own sister die?” Blackfire asked, her voice suddenly afraid for the first time in a long time. Of course, Starfire could not watch her sister die. She did not have that in her; so she flew over and took Blackfire hand, pulling her up and breaking her free of the monster's grasp. They landed on the ledge of the abyss, sitting right next to each other.

 

“Thanks . . . dumb ass!” Blackfire pushed Starfire on the back and knocked her forward. Starfire screamed as the tentacle of the monster wrapped around her throat; but a second later something slashed the monster's tentacle in half. Then Starfire felt herself being pulled up.

 

When she opened her eyes, she saw a woman with long dark hair.

 

“Are you alright?” The woman asked.

 

“Yes.” Starfire replied; then she looked around wildly for her sister - and found her lying a few feet away, unconscious. “Who are you? What has happened?”

 

“I knocked her in the head, and saved you. Now quickly, let's go help your friends.” The mysterious woman explained. She helped Starfire to her feet, and then put a silver sword away on her belt. Starfire had a feeling as if this woman was familiar; but the idea of Robin and the other Titans in danger pushed it away, and she followed the woman out of the cave - leaving Blackfire alone, but unharmed.

 

She had no idea that this dark haired woman was Rose Wilson, daughter of their greatest foe.

 

----

 

“Beast Boy, wake up!”

 

Beast Boy's eyes opened and he looked up to see a worried Terra looking down at him. He sat up, still covered in the disgusting slime from the Duamathrax spawn that had died on him, and he rubbed his head.

 

“What happened? Where's the others?” Beast Boy asked, wiping goo from his eyes and looking around for their friends.

 

“They wouldn't stop to help you.” Terra said, bitterness for Raven in her voice. She neglected to mention the fact that millions of innocent lives were on the line. Terra was jealous of Raven; she had been for the last two years since her revival in the Metropolis Laboratory of Lex Luthor. Now that jealousy was festering into something else. Part of her hated herself for saying such things, but part of her refused to stop it.

 

“Oh.” Beast Boy was silent for a minute, and his face was looking down at his boots. He was silent for a moment, unknowing how he should respond to these things. Then a moment later, they heard a voice, and both of them looked up to see Starfire and an unknown woman. Starfire had the woman's hand and was flying her, when they noticed them on the ground; they stopped and landed.

 

“Beast Boy! Terra! What has happened?” Starfire asked, running towards them.

 

“We ran into some trouble.” Terra informed her with a sigh, and then she looked over towards the unknown woman. “Who's that?”

 

“A friend,” Rose replied, still hiding her identity and intentions. “We don't have much time to stop that alien from destroying Tamaran. We have to hurry.”

 

Terra nodded and used her powers to create a rock for them to fly on, raising it out of the ground and using it like a flying craft. None of the three Titans on board knew the trouble that would be caused from Rose Wilson's presence being here. Nor did they know that soon the conflict between Terra and Raven that had been slowly rising to the surface would burst; and that too would be a disastrous situation.

 

----

 

The four remaining Duamathrax spawns were just outside the city now, and the Titans on back of Raven's projection knew it. They flew as close as they could without being hit by the foul smelling green goo that the Duamathrax spawns would spit at them, but none of them had any idea how to stop these vile beasts.

 

“There's gotta be something we can use against `em!” Cyborg called to the others, looking down as the four horrific beasts covered even more ground.

 

“We haven't had any luck with our weapons.” Bee reminded him. So far they had shot the Duamathrax's with Cyborg's cannon, Robin's bird-a-rangs, Bee's blasters and Robin's bombs; to no avail. Raven's powers probably would have worked; but if she stopped using her powers to transport the Titans on back of her giant black bird, then they would all fall to their dooms. The King and Queen had no weapons that could reach the enemies from this distance, and that only left Jinx.

 

“I could stop `em.” Jinx suddenly said, breaking the silence she had been keeping for a long while. Robin, and the others, rounded on her in an instant.

 

“You can? How?” Robin asked, his voice calm, but worn from stress. Stress over the Planet's fate, stress over having his fiancée missing; stress over this entire situation.

 

“Same way blondie did; I can use my bad luck powers to start an earthquake. If I hit a fault-line with my hexes, those critters will go down.” Jinx informed the leader of the Titans.

 

“Then what are you waiting for?” Robin asked, his voice frantic.

 

“Hello? Villain, remember? Look, I'll be honest with you birdy-boy, when I thought Cyborg was on the level, I would have helped y'all. I'd have already blasted those ugly bastards . . . but fact is, robo-man isn't on the level. He's a smug, two-timing S.O.B., and I really don't feel like helping you.” Jinx was perfectly honest; she crossed her legs and folded her hands in her lap. Robin turned on Cyborg with his eyes thin slits.

 

“Talk to her, see what you can do.” Robin ordered him.

 

“Now hold on slick!” Bee buzzed up into Robin's face. “You gonna trust HER? She's a dangerous psychopath!”

 

“And you're an ugly bitc—” Jinx started to say, but Raven's words interrupted her.

 

“Bumblebee; shut your mouth until this is over. If you want to fight Jinx, do it on your own time. Cyborg; just keep your big mouth shut. You haven't seen a woman's wrath till you've seen mine. Jinx; you help stop those things right now or so help me God I'll make you suffer an eternal damnation in a dimension of demonic suffering.” As Raven spoke, her eyes seemed to be as red as the blood flowing from her wounds, and none of the Titans had the courage to look into those haunting red orbs.

 

“Don't think I'm afraid of you gothy.” Jinx snapped.

 

“You will be.” Raven replied in a voice so cold and monstrous it would have made Slade cringe. Jinx did gulp, and she suddenly looked less relaxed. Raven had a genuine frightening look about her when she was mad; one of the only good things she had ever inherited from her father.

 

Jinx stood up and extended her arms out to her sides. She closed her eyes, and then opened them as they burned with a pinkish flame. Waves of light extended from her fingertips and burst into the ground in front of the Duamathrax monsters. The ground broke and crumbled, but there was no earthquake; the monsters did not plummet into the earth and die as Jinx had predicted.

 

“What's wrong? Why are you doing it?” Robin demanded. “If this is your way of getting back at Cyborg -”

 

“Calm down Wonder Boy; it's not my fault!” Jinx snapped back aggressively. “There are no fault lines! I need one to make a quake; it's not my damn fault I can't find one!”

 

“You, girl!” King Myand'r suddenly approached Jinx. “Cease this instant!”

 

“What? Your highness, we need her to stop them!” Robin jumped up and approached the King; but Myand'r shook his head.

 

“There IS a fault line near here; but if she hits it, the Earthquake will be devastating and will destroy the very city we fight to protect.” The King of Tamaran informed Robin gravely. Jinx shook her head and stopped her assault on the ground; and the monsters charged forward even faster without her interference.

 

“So now what do we do?” Cyborg asked, biting his lip.

“We find another way!” Robin shouted; unable to accept failure or even the notion of it. “There IS another way; we just need to look harder.”

 

“Well you better look ahead first.” Bumblebee said, pointing out in front of the monster's path. “Cause I think I see the city.”

 

Robin looked up and gasped; The Tamaranian Capital City was ahead of them, just visible in the distance. They would be there within a few minutes, and if a successful way to stop Duamathrax was not found by then . . . the city, and everyone inside, was doomed.

 

“We find another way!” Robin shouted; unable to accept failure or even the notion of it. “There IS another way; we just need to look harder.”

“Well you better look ahead first.” Bumblebee said, pointing out in front of the monster's path. “Cause I think I see the city.”

Robin looked up and gasped; The Tamaranian Capital City was ahead of them, just visible in the distance. They would be there within a few minutes, and if a successful way to stop Duamathrax was not found by then . . . the city, and everyone inside, was doomed.

It was then that Robin decided something. If they could not destroy the Thrax spawns in one large attack, they would have to do so by a smaller, melee combat approach. Robin looked down below them and saw the closest of the Duamathrax Spawns. He stood up and flipped his cape over his shoulder, and then he turned to Cyborg and Raven.

 

“I've got an idea.” He announced, a slight change in his voice. “If it doesn't work, do whatever it takes to stop them; got it?” Robin gave the order to his fellow Titans, and they realized there was something very wrong with this line of thinking for him.

 

“Robin, what are you gonna do man?” Cyborg asked.

 

“Whatever I have to.” Robin replied; and he jumped off the back of Raven's astral projection in the shape of the bird she was named after. Robin plummeted through the air and landed on the back of the nearest Duamathrax spawn. At once, the spawn turned its ugly head around and roared at him; but Robin threw a small device off his belt and at the monster's mouth.

 

Duamathrax shot eye beam lasers at the device; but the second they hit the small, round ball; it ricocheted the beams right back at Duamathrax's head. The eye beams hit Duamathrax's eyes where they had come from, and at once the spawn's eyes exploded into pieces. The acidic blood of the beast sprayed everywhere, and Robin had to roll off the side of the hideous sibling of his dear friend, and he landed on the desert ground. A moment later, the spawn screamed and hit the ground, burning in its own acidic bodily fluids and melting into a puddle of burnt flesh and hot body fluids.

 

Raven's blackbird stopped and flew down next to where Robin lay. The boy wonder sat up, his clothing slightly burnt as was part of his skin. He quickly jumped back onto the blackbird of energy and then they continued their flight towards the other three Duamathrax Spawns.

 

“Can you do that to `em all?” Cyborg asked, hopefully.

 

“I wish.” Robin grunted. He looked down at his belt and sighed. “I only had one ricochet ball with me. We'll need a new approach for the other three.”

 

“Well, then leave the next one to me. I got an idea.” Cyborg said.

 

“What?” Jinx and Bumblebee asked at once, and suddenly their hostile, argumentative voices they had used all day melted away and were replaced by one voice; a voice of fear. At that moment, Jinx and Bee stopped and looked at each other, suddenly realizing they were both afraid of the same terrible possibility - that Cyborg could be killed by doing whatever he was about to try.

 

“I thought you two were mad.” Cyborg grinned from ear to ear, and then he jumped off the blackbird of energy and landed on the back of another Spawn. Cyborg's heavy metal body pinned the beast down at once, and when it twisted its ugly head around, Cyborg fired both of his sonic cannons at once and smashed the ugly creature in the eyes; its eyes exploded as they had when Robin killed the first Spawn. Cyborg climbed off the back of this beast and boarded the blackbird again; and they all understood now.

 

His eyes were his weakness.

 

“Well, at least we know how to kill them.” Raven announced, but it was clear that her mind was not thinking about the two remaining Spawns or the millions of Tamaranians whose lives were hanging in the balance of the outcome of this mission. She was thinking about Terra, and Beast Boy, and what he must be thinking to have Terra, not Raven, coming to his rescue.

 

Ahead of them on the ground, the two remaining spawns suddenly stopped and turned around. They both roared with fury at Raven's flying blackbird of energy, and began firing eye lasers at the Titans above them. Myand'r was almost struck by a blast, but Robin knocked his future father-in-law down away from the yellow laser ray. Raven could not retaliate, but Bumblebee and Cyborg did. Both of them shot their own unique attacks at the two remaining spawns, but the beasts closed their eyes before either Bee or Cyborg's attacks could reach them.

 

“Well, that's no good.” Cyborg sighed.

 

Suddenly, to the amazement of the Titans on the flying blackbird; the ground opened up in front of the last two spawns and they fell inside. A moment later, the ground crunched down on them from either side and they were smashed flat. The group turned to see Starfire, Terra, Rose and Beast Boy flying towards them on the back of a gigantic rock. Raven's heart skipped a beat at seeing that Beast Boy was okay, and her face fell seeing the green teen sitting next to Terra on the rock.

 

“What's wrong with you Raven? You know he has no feelings for her anymore. Stop this nonsense.” Raven insisted to herself mentally, but still, she could not shake the feeling that there would be trouble brewing. Then her eyes set on Rose and she got another feeling of grave danger, but she ignored this feeling because a split second later Beast Boy jumped from the back of the rock and threw his arms around her. Raven was so relieved for this reaction, that she forgot all about her foreboding feeling with Rose.

 

Robin and Starfire hugged too; and Starfire introduced Robin to Rose, claiming that Rose had saved her life. That was enough to win the respect of both Robin and Myand'r, who was now hugging his daughter, thanking the Titans for helping to save Tamaran's capital city, and telling them it was time they returned to the palace for the wedding preparations.

 

And as the Titans all headed towards the Palace, Rose smiled; her father's plan was coming together beautifully.

 

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

 

I swear the next update will be faster than the previous ones. Again, I apologize for the long, long wait.

 

In much better news, the next chapter “The Day Before” will feature a TON of romance, some drama, and the big confrontation between Raven and Terra. I can hardly wait, can you?