Teen Titans Fan Fiction ❯ Coil ❯ A Knight Reborn ( Chapter 8 )

 

“Coil”

Chapter 8: “A Knight Reborn”

Disclaimer: Teen Titans, both the comic and the cartoon, does not belong to me; it belongs to DC Comics and Warner Brothers. Any characters you recognize from the Justice League (either comic or cartoon) do not belong to me, either; they too are owned by DC Comics and Warner Brothers.

Author's note: If anyone was bored by the last chapter, I apologize for that. However, for a plot to advance the story can't be nothing but action; the characters need to interact with each other in ways other than beating the crap out of each other, particularly when they're supposed to be friends. Nevertheless, I promise you action, I promise you guest stars, and I promise you . . . the dawn of a new hero. Or an old one with a new name.

Go time.

The Titans, Red X, and Blackfire found themselves amidst chaos when they entered West Heights. Homes were burning, windows had been smashed in, and cars had been tagged with graffiti.

“Holy crap,” Red X remarked. “They could have just swiped the car. They didn't have to wreck it.”

“Those poor babies!” Cyborg exclaimed.

“Yes, the babies inside those homes must be very frightened,” Starfire mused sadly.

“I meant the cars,” Cyborg corrected. “But you're right about the real babies.”

“There's ten of us,” Bumblebee stated. “Cy, Aqualad, Star, Blackfire, you're going to help me rescue the people in the burning mansions. X, Speedy, Mas y Menos, Beast Boy, you track down the guys vandalizing this neighborhood and stop them.” She aimed a glare in Red X's direction. “Don't hurt them.”

“I'm a thief, not a killer,” Red X said.

Cyborg, Aqualad, Starfire, Blackfire, and Bumblebee went to a burning mansion, Starfire, Blackfire, and Bumblebee flying and Starfire carrying Cyborg as Aqualad surfed on a tidal wave. Once inside the mansion, Aqualad ruptured the water pipes and the water that burst forth from those pipes extinguished the fire.

“It's ok!” Bumblebee shouted up the stairs. “It's safe to come down now!”

The family that had been living in the mansion came down the steps. “The Titans?” the mother asked.

“The Titans!” the young son exclaimed happily. “Thank you!”

“Yes, thank you so much,” the father said.

“You are welcome,” Starfire said with a smile.

“We'd like to stick around, but there are other people in this neighborhood that are still in danger,” Cyborg said. “You'll be safe in here.”

“Yeah, and I'd get the pipes replaced if I were you,” Aqualad added. “I had to break them to put out the fire.”

The five proceeded to depart from the mansion and go on to save someone else from their burning mansion.

Meanwhile, Red X, Speedy, Mas y Menos, and Beast Boy were hunting down the hoodlums. They found them ready to throw a firebomb into another mansion. Red X threw an X-shuriken at the hoodlum holding the firebomb and the aforementioned hoodlum dropped the firebomb when the X-shuriken struck his hand.

“Now, now, now,” X remarked. “It's not nice to incinerate people's homes.”

“Stupid Titan!” a hoodlum yelled and opened fire on Red X, who just stood there and let the bullets hit him.

“X, why the hell are you letting them shoot at you?” Beast Boy asked.

“Relax, Beast Baby,” Red X replied as he finally started dodging the bullets. “The suit's bulletproof.” He kicked the gun out of the hoodlum's hand with enough force to also break a finger or two. “By the way, ass-clown, don't ever call me a Titan again.”

Speedy put on a rebreather and nocked an arrow. “Get out of the way, guys.”

Seeing what Speedy was up to, Mas y Menos, Beast Boy, and Red X got out of the way. Speedy fired the arrow at the hoodlums' feet and it released knockout gas on impact. Fortunately, Red X had a rebreather built into his mask along with the voice distorter and thus he was protected from the gas. Mas y Menos and Beast Boy were keeping a safe distance away from the gas.

“That takes care of them,” Speedy remarked, removing his rebreather once the gas had dissipated.

“Yeah, but didn't the report say gangs of hoodlums, as in more than one?” Beast Boy asked.

“Uh-huh,” Speedy replied. “Split up and canvass the neighborhood. We need to make sure that no one else is out there vandalizing this place.”

Mas y Menos touched hands and zoomed off in one direction while Beast Boy transformed into an owl and flew in another direction. Speedy and Red X took off on foot in separate directions.

In another neighborhood, a gang of skinheads was tagging a Jewish neighborhood with swastikas and the word “kike.” In addition to that, some skinheads bashed various cars parked in the streets with baseball bats.

“Yeah!” a skinhead yelled. “Tear it up! Tear up this goddamn kike neighborhood!”

The bashing of the cars had set off their alarms, which drew out the people who normally drove those cars.

“What are you doing?” a woman asked.

“What do you think we're doing, kike bitch?” a skinhead asked with a sneer in his voice. “We're tearing up your hood.”

“Stop it!” a man shouted.

“Shut up, old man, or you're gonna get it!” another skinhead yelled.

The man ran to them and tried to stop them from damaging his car any further, but two skinheads grabbed him by the arms while a third began punching him viciously in the stomach.

“Stupid kike!” the skinhead yelled.

“Get away from my husband!” the woman yelled, running at the skinheads only to be tripped by one. She fell to the ground hard, bruising her hands when she used them to brace herself. Another two skinheads pulled her up by her arms while another came up to her with a switchblade.

“You're gonna die, bitch,” the skinhead rasped cruelly. Just as he was about to slit her throat, a black-and-blue vaguely birdlike shuriken knocked the switchblade out of his hand. “What the hell?”

“Nothing like neo-Nazi bashing to kick off the night, huh?” a young male voice remarked sardonically.

“Who are you?” a skinhead asked as he drew an Uzi. “Show yourself!”

“What's the matter, scared?” the voice asked. “Is it no longer so thrilling to intimidate people when there's someone more intimidating than you waiting for you?”

“Mother -” the Uzi-holding skinhead yelled, the rest of his curse cut off by the sound of gunfire. Despite his efforts, the thud of a body falling to the ground was not heard. “What the frig?”

“Racist with a trigger finger and crappy aim,” the voice remarked. “Not a very good combination.”

“Who the frig are you?” the skinhead asked.

Another vaguely birdlike shuriken knocked the Uzi out of the hand of the skinhead holding it.

“Quit hiding in the shadows, you freak!” another skinhead yelled.

“Isn't that what you do?” the voice asked. “I never heard of a skinhead beating on Jews in daylight.”

“Shut up!” a third skinhead yelled. “Shut up and die!” He pulled out a semiautomatic weapon and opened fire, screaming with rage as he pulled the trigger. As with his companion, the thud of a body falling to the ground was not heard. “Where the hell are you hiding, you bastard?”

“Oh, you want me to come out?” the voice asked. “Fine.”

A dark shadow descended upon the skinheads, fists and feet smashing into faces, ribcages, and stomachs. One skinhead tried to tackle the shadow from behind and was repelled by an elbow to his nose. Another skinhead retreated some distance from the shadow and threw a knife at him, but the shadow moved out of the way of the blade. The rest simply attempted to escape, but the shadow would not allow it.

A skinhead crawled away in terror but was grabbed by the ankle by the shadow and hurled into a nearby car.

“What are you?” the skinhead asked in complete and utter fear.

The shadow stepped into the light of the streetlamps, revealing that he was a black-haired young man dressed in form-fitting black with a vaguely birdlike domino mask concealing his eyes. A navy blue bird emblem covering his chest and pieces of silver-white armor at his shoulders, knees, and feet accented his suit. In addition, silver-white bracers around his wrists connected to white caps on his knuckles and rectangular navy strips covered the outsides of his legs. Three buckled straps wrapped around each upper arm and a silver-white belt completed the ensemble.

“I'm Nightwing,” the young man stated. “Now get the hell out of here unless you want me to make your punishment worse.”

The skinheads scattered in fear for their lives and the couple they had menaced before looked at their mysterious rescuer.

“Thank you,” the woman said.

“You're welcome,” Nightwing answered with a ghost of a smile on his face. Then he disappeared into the shadows once again.

Back in West Heights, Red X had stumbled upon a rather horrifying sight. That sight was the hoodlums that had been vandalizing the neighborhood getting the crap beaten out of them by the private security officers hired by the residents. Some had been beaten to the point where they were unable to offer any further resistance, but the rest were trying their best to fight back. The ones that fought too hard ended up with bullets embedded in their brains.

“What the hell are you doing?” Red X asked as he bound some of the officers in an X-web. “You're supposed to be the good guys!”

“We're just taking out the trash,” one unbound officer answered callously.

“If you don't mind, we'd like to get back to doing that,” another unbound officer added.

“You mean beating and murdering human beings?” Red X asked, his sense of justice and righteous anger awakened for the first time in years.

“You call this scum human?” an officer asked. “They're just animals that prey on law-abiding people.”

“Would you say that about all lawbreakers, or just the ones that happen to be poor minorities?” Red X asked.

“Get out of our way, kid, or else we'll have to hurt you,” another officer answered.

“You asked for this,” Red X muttered before shooting red energy bolts at the remaining unbound officers, knocking them unconscious. He crouched in front of the officers he had managed to bind. “I'm going to find a phone and call the real police. That way you can go to jail for brutalizing and murdering people when you're just supposed to arrest them.”

Red X proceeded to do exactly that, sneaking into a mansion and finding a cell phone in a teenage girl's large pink bedroom. He pulled the charger out of the cell phone and walked downstairs without making a single noise. He pulled off his mask and dialed 911.

“This is the Steel City Police Department,” the operator greeted him.

“I'm calling to report a crime in West Heights,” Red X stated in his natural voice. “Several officers in the private security force hired by the residents of this neighborhood beat and murdered several people who came in to tear it up.”

“Don't worry, sir, the police are on their way,” the operator said.

“Thank you,” Red X said and closed the cell phone. Pulling the mask back on, he sneaked back up into the girl's bedroom and put her cell phone back in its charger. Then he left the mansion and stood watch over the bound and unconscious private security officers.

“Good work, X,” a familiar voice remarked. “Didn't know you had it in you.”

“Thanks, Robin,” Red X answered without really thinking. Then he turned to face “Robin” and found himself face to face with a masked young man dressed in a black-and-navy costume accented by pieces of silver-white armor. “Who the freak are you?”

“I was Robin, but you can call me Nightwing now,” the young man replied.

“Cool name,” Red X remarked.

“So what brought about this new heroic attitude?” Nightwing asked.

“I just got mad seeing people abuse their power like that,” Red X replied. “Using it as an excuse to thrash other people, treat them like they're lower than dirt . . . that's the whole reason I stole this suit.”

“So you could take power for yourself instead of letting people with power lord it over you?” Nightwing deduced.

“Basically,” Red X confirmed.

The police soon arrived, followed by several ambulances. “Red X!” an officer shouted, pointing a gun at him. “Turn around and put your hands on your head!”

“Wait, officer,” Nightwing said. “Red X was the one who stopped those security officers from doing worse to those guys. They were vandals and hoodlums, but they didn't deserve to be beaten and shot.”

“True,” the officer admitted. “But that doesn't change the fact that Red X is wanted for numerous thefts.”

The officer's partner turned to him. “Right now, we have worse to worry about than one petty thief. We've got people in need of medical care and people who are gonna have to go to the morgue, not to mention people we're gonna have to arrest.”

“Damn,” the officer muttered. More audibly, “It's like everyone's losing their goddamn mind.”

The police and paramedics loaded up the security officers into the patrol cars and the hoodlums into the ambulances. After they'd gone, Nightwing turned to Red X.

“We'd better find the other Titans,” he said to the skull-masked thief.

“Sure,” Red X answered and he and Nightwing went to find the Titans. The duo found Cyborg, Bumblebee, Aqualad, Starfire, and Blackfire fighting off the attempts of yet another gang of hoodlums. They looked drenched, as though Aqualad had given them a bath with his hydrokinetic powers. The impromptu bath hadn't seemed to calm them any, though.

“You think we oughtta give `em a hand?” Red X asked from his perch on a nearby mansion.

Cyborg was doing his best to protect the other four, as his armor was bulletproof.

“If this goes on, one of them's gonna get hurt,” Nightwing mused from beside X. “And yes.”

The two black-clad fighters descended on the hoodlums and from that moment on it was sheer pandemonium. The hoodlums opened fire on Nightwing and Red X, who flipped out of the way of the bullets in opposite directions. Nightwing reached for one of the strips on his leg and pulled it, revealing that it was the opening for a weapon compartment. He pulled out a narrow piece of black metal and blue-edged black wings popped out of it. He threw the winged object at a hoodlum, knocking the gun out of his hand and lacerating the aforementioned hand.

Red X clogged their guns with X-shuriken that exploded into red goop a few short seconds later, permanently jamming their weapons. He proceeded to sock one hoodlum in the face while jamming his elbow into the nose of another. He flipped backwards into the air and landed with his foot in the face of a third hoodlum, proceeding to use him as a launching pad to smash a fourth's jaw.

“I recognize Red X, but who's the dude in the black and blue?” Cyborg asked.

“I do not know, but his fighting style is quite familiar, as are his weapons,” Starfire replied.

Nightwing and Red X finished off the last hoodlum with a double kick to his chest.

“That should take care of them,” Nightwing remarked.

“Robin?” Starfire asked. “Is that you?”

“Yes and no,” Nightwing replied. “Yes, Robin was my name, and no, it is no longer my name. Call me Nightwing.”

“It is . . . just like my vision of the future,” Starfire uttered.

“Ooh, come to mama, gorgeous,” Blackfire purred.

“Some time later,” Nightwing answered, mouthing the words, “When we're alone.”

Starfire was quite irked by Blackfire's flirtation with Nightwing as well as Nightwing's response to her. She did not like the fact that “her boy,” as she thought of him, was apparently falling for her wicked older sister's charms.

“So where'd the new costume and gear come from, `Nightwing'?” Cyborg asked.

“It's something I whipped up recently,” Nightwing replied.

“Ok,” Cyborg said.

“We'd better find Beast Boy, Mas y Menos, and Speedy,” Nightwing said. “No telling what trouble they might have found themselves in.”

To the relief and astonishment of the Titans, Blackfire, Red X, and Nightwing, there was no trouble to be found on their friends' end.

“It was easy,” Mas remarked in English.

“Too easy, maybe?” Menos mused in Spanish.

“Maybe,” Bumblebee agreed.

“Dude!” Beast Boy exclaimed when he saw Nightwing. “That you, Robin?”

“Yeah,” Nightwing replied, “and it's Nightwing now.”

“Cool name,” Speedy complimented. “Heh, makes me think about updating my own costume and arsenal. Arsenal . . . that's a cool-sounding name.”

“Yeah, Quickie, we know,” Bumblebee snorted.

“I'll have you know, Bumblebee, that I can last a very long time,” Speedy rejoined. “I ain't a one-minute man.”

“Speedy!” Bumblebee yelled. “Not in front of Mas y Menos!”

The hyper-fast twins scratched their heads in confusion. Just what is Speedy talking about? they wondered at approximately the same time.

“Why do you have to turn everything I say into a perverted joke?” Bumblebee asked.

“Because it's fun to see you get all riled up,” Speedy replied with a smirk. “Besides . . . you're cute when you're angry.”

“Is this what passes for flirtation between you two?” Nightwing asked dryly.

“Yup, just part of the twisted game of love we play,” Speedy answered just as dryly.

“Shut it, Speedy,” Bumblebee snapped. “We have more important things to worry about.”

“Oh, yeah, the apocalypse,” Speedy uttered in remembrance.

“Wait,” Nightwing said, holding up a hand. “Raven's in trouble.”

“How do you know?” Blackfire asked.

“We have a bond,” Nightwing replied softly before jumping on the Night-Cycle, which used to be the R-Cycle until he replaced the R-symbol with the symbol of a blue bird, and revving it up. He drove away from West Heights like a bat out of hell, heading straight for East Titans Tower. Aqualad followed him on a tidal wave while Bumblebee, Starfire, Beast Boy as a pterodactyl, and Blackfire flew. Starfire carried Cyborg, Blackfire carried Red X, and Beast Boy carried Speedy on his back. Mas y Menos held hands and zoomed ahead, just fast enough to keep up with Nightwing but not pass him.

By the time they reached East Titans Tower, it was a scene of chaos. Creatures made of fire and bone were attacking Raven and Raven was doing her best to fight back. To the surprise of the Titans and their allies, Raven had help . . . in the form of a black-haired girl who was fighting back the creatures with a strength that couldn't possibly belong to a normal human.

The girl wore a black V-necked top with a star-field pattern decorating the front and red spandex pants with black-and-white boots similar to those worn by Wonder Woman. Golden bracelets covered her wrists and a golden lasso hung on a golden belt with a flowing eagle emblazoned on the buckle.

“Who is she?” Beast Boy asked.

“We'll worry about that later,” Cyborg replied. “Right now, we gotta fight those things.”

“Get them out of the infirmary!” Nightwing ordered as he grabbed one fire creature and disintegrated it with his black flame. Another fire creature shot a stream of flame at him but he dodged it and pulled another winged throwing weapon out of his bracer, hurling it at the creature. The object embedded itself inside the creature's skeleton and detonated, disintegrating it.

Starfire and Blackfire flew at the fire creatures, assaulting them with a barrage of green and purple starbolts. Cyborg shot at them with his dual Sonic Cannons and Beast Boy fought them back in his Werebeast form. Mas y Menos zoomed at a fire creature, vibrating their molecules so quickly that they passed through it. This had the effect of exploding the creature, as they had not perfected their vibration enough to keep from exploding whatever they passed through. Aqualad summoned water from the pool to douse the fire creatures, but that was an ineffective attack due to the fact that the fire that composed those creatures was not earthly fire.

Bumblebee and Speedy shot the creatures with stingers and arrows, respectively, while Red X blew the floor apart underneath some of the creatures, sending them plummeting into the room beneath the infirmary.

“That ought to take care of them,” he remarked smugly.

Raven telekinetically blasted several more creatures into the hole Red X had made. The girl grabbed another creature with her lasso and the lasso emitted a backlash of divine lightning that shocked the creature out of existence.

The creatures that had fallen through the hole were about to go back into the infirmary to grab Raven when they were grasped by an invisible force and scattered into the walls.

“You will not touch her,” an ominous feminine voice stated.

The fire creatures glared at the source of the voice, a robed figure with a hood concealing her face, and flew at her. The robed figure waved her hand and the creatures were slammed into the walls once again but with even greater force than before.

“Do you think I am playing with you?” she asked.

The creatures surrounded the robed figure and advanced on her all at once, only to be completely dissipated by her psychic attack this time.

In the infirmary, Nightwing shaped his black flame into a whip and lashed the fire creatures with it, dissipating them.

“I've got an idea,” he said as he turned to Cyborg. “A Sonic Boom? For old times' sake?”

“You know it,” Cyborg answered as he and Nightwing got into position, the latter pulling out an explosive disk from his belt. The two ran to opposite sides and up opposite walls, Cyborg firing his Sonic Cannon and Nightwing throwing his disk once the two were in position. The cannon's sonic blast amplified the force of the explosion of Nightwing's disk and the resulting blast completely wiped out the fire creatures. “Holy crap. I never knew our Sonic Boom could be so powerful.”

“I increased the explosive power of my disks when I modified them,” Nightwing explained. Then he turned to the girl with the lasso. “Who are you and how did you get here?”

“Evil sought her life,” the girl replied. “All I did was prevent it from reaching her. I'm Wonder Girl, by the way.”

“Nice meeting you,” Nightwing said. “Thanks for saving Raven's life. I'm Nightwing.”

“There is someone else here besides us and Wonder Girl,” Starfire mentioned.

“You mean the weirdo in the robe?” Blackfire remarked.

“I object to being called a weirdo,” the robed figure stated. “My name is Omen.”

“That explains where the fire creatures went after I blew that hole in the floor,” Red X said. He looked at Omen. “Thanks.”

“You're welcome,” Omen replied.

“Dark Angel must have sent those creatures after Raven,” Bumblebee stated. Catching the slightly puzzled look on Wonder Girl's face, she added, “Well, you did say evil was after Raven's life.”

“Yes, but I was unaware of the exact nature of the evil,” Wonder Girl answered. “Who is Dark Angel?”

“A very bad woman who summoned the Horsemen of the Apocalypse and is now using them to destroy the world,” Starfire replied.

“So how did you get here?” Aqualad asked. “The last we heard, you were helping Wonder Woman in North and South Kasnia.”

“I was,” Wonder Girl replied. “Then Wonder Woman told me to leave because the League had received intel warning them that Dark Angel's creatures were coming after Raven at this place.”

“Ok,” Speedy said. Adding with a flirtatious smile, “I suppose you know who I am?”

“I know who you all are,” Wonder Girl replied with a friendly smile. “Although no one told me about a Nightwing.”

“That's . . . because I went by the name Robin before,” Nightwing explained.

“So what made you change your name?” Wonder Girl asked.

“I wanted to start over,” Nightwing replied simply.

Omen floated up to the Titans and their allies. “Dark Angel is still after Raven. Her creatures have already found their way to your stronghold. Do you think Dark Angel herself will not be able to enter?”

“There is a way of keeping her out,” Nightwing answered.

“Are you going to say that we should start tagging the rooms with spirit wards?” Speedy asked.

“Something like that,” Nightwing replied.

“I will aid you,” Omen stated.

“In the meantime, we have to stop the Horsemen and Dark Angel,” Aqualad added. “People are suffering and dying by the hundreds thanks to them. We should find and stop them.”

“Nice idea, Aqualad, but you forgot something,” Beast Boy said. “Like, how the hell are we going to stop them?”

“I'll think of something,” Aqualad answered.

“You think Shayera would let us borrow her mace?” Blackfire asked. “I mean, if the metal it's made from can really disrupt magic, it'd enable us to really hurt Dark Angel and the Horsemen.”

“There's an idea,” Nightwing remarked.

“While we're thinking of ways to persuade Shayera to give us her mace, let's cook up a protection spell,” Raven suggested.

The Titans and their allies had drawn a pentagram in the soil of East Titans Island with the Tower in the center.

“Now take your positions,” Raven commanded.

Nightwing positioned himself at the fire point of the pentagram, Aqualad positioned himself at the water point of the pentagram, Bumblebee positioned herself at the air point of the pentagram, Beast Boy positioned himself at the earth point of the pentagram, and Raven took the spirit point of the pentagram.

“We unite the five elements of magic,” Raven intoned.

“We call forth fire,” Nightwing intoned.

“We call forth water,” Aqualad intoned.

“We call forth air,” Bumblebee chanted.

“We call forth earth,” Beast Boy chanted.

“We call forth the Spirit,” Raven chanted. “Earth, air, fire, water, and spirit - make this tower a sanctuary, protect it from all that would seek to harm those within. In the name of the Spirit, we invoke your protection!”

The pentagram glowed and the light within rose into a pillar that covered the entirety of East Titans Tower.

“That should do it,” Raven said.

“Yes, but if you wish to defeat this Dark Angel and her Horsemen, you will need to do more than simply keep her from your sanctuary,” a voice stated from above them. “You will need to fight her. Fortunately, I can help you do that.”

“And who the hell are you?” Red X asked.

“Forgive my rudeness,” the voice answered as its owner floated down to their level. “I am Zauriel.”

End Notes: What a cliffhanger! In one chapter, I've introduced Wonder Girl, Omen, and Zauriel. You wanna know who he is? Read the next chapter.

I wish to use this space to address a reviewer who was worried that I was making Robin/Nightwing go soft because he wanted to redeem himself. Wanting to redeem yourself is a natural response after realizing how badly you've messed up, especially when one of your friends has been harmed as a result. Only a psychopath wouldn't care about the harm his actions caused and Robin/Nightwing is certainly no psychopath. However, I can assure you all that Nightwing is not going soft by any means. He will still kick ass and take names, but he won't be doing it with the same brutal abandon hinted at in previous chapters.

As for the Starfire/Raven/Blackfire confrontation, that is coming. That will most certainly come. Who will win, though? Or will no one win at all?