Fan Fiction ❯ Nightwing: A Dark Beginning ❯ Ultimate Battle ( Chapter 8 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Another day, another chapter. So let's start out with the thank yous. Kylefighter1; as said previously Slade won't be coming back, sorry. I'm sure it will be alright though. Lady of Faerie; I'm pleased you still enjoy the realm of darkness joke. There won't be much humor in this chapter however. Coldfiredragon; I agree, we need more dark Robin fics. I took special care to make sure Rich/Nightwing were definitely two separate personalities while Jax/Red X are about the same. As per the finding out the secret identities, that's still another chapter or 2 away. However, that Starfire/Nightwing/Beast Boy throw down may happen sooner than ya think. There's also The Desperado; I'm glad the laughing was a good thing. I will continue to keep my work going strong, but only because you insist. Now, onto the fic.

So everyone knows, if you see "~" before text that means it's a conversation over phone/communicator. Apparently the phone convo's and stuff were confusing. That's how you know. Thank you.

Disclaimer: Lawyers suck, I hate writing disclaimers. I don't own a thing.

Chapter 8

It had been a few weeks since the Johnny Rancid incident. Other than a few small crimes that Nightwing and Red X handled, nothing big had gone down in the city in a while. The Teen Titans didn't mind, left lots of time off for them. Especially for Raven and Terra to be with Rich and Jax. The two couples had gotten really close in the short amount of time. Tonight found Rich and Jax hanging out with their girls plus Cyborg and Bumble Bee. They were chatting over a pizza.
"So, how's business going for you guys?" Cyborg asked.
"Really good, making a lot of progress," Rich replied.
"A bit on the slow side recently though," Jax added.
"Isn't that a good thing though?" Bumble Bee asked.
"Only if we wanna be poor," remarked Rich.
"At which point our girlfriends would dump us," Jax said with a smirk.
"Ya got that right, buddy," Terra returned the smirk.
"You guys could always join us," Raven said with a smile.
"Join the Teen Titans? I don't think so," Rich said shaking his head. Everyone frowned at him. "We're good, but there's no way we're that good."
"This is true, Rich. But we do have mad skills," Jax puffed out his chest with that comment.
"You two are hopeless," Raven said as Rich put his arm around her.
They continued to talk and joke like they'd known each other for years. It wasn't to last though, as the Titan's communicators suddenly went off. They all flipped them open to reveal Beast Boy.
~"Guys, that giant fight we knew was gonna happen sooner or later is here. Blood is sending everything he's got including himself carrying the kitchen sink towards the Tower. I've contacted the rest of Titans East, they're on the way. Get back here quick.
"We're on the way," Cyborg said. "Sorry, guys. It's fun to hang out but duty calls."
"Yeah, that's cool. You all be careful," Jax said.
"Especially you," Rich said to Raven as he gave her a gentle kiss. "For luck."
The four Teen Titans took off. Rich and Jax looked at each other, then took off to their bikes and burned out heading back to The Pit.
"Shit, that wasn't supposed to go down for another couple of days," Rich said as he gunned his bike hard.
"Blood must have gotten impatient," Jax said.
"We gotta get to The Pit fast and get over there. Not even all of the Titans combined stand a chance against the coming army. They have no idea."
"Who's gonna be there?"
"Plasmus, Cinderblock, Overload, Jinx, Gizmo, Mammoth, Brother Blood, and too many of those damn Cyborg wannabes to count."
"God help them."
"For their sake, hope so."

Across the bay, Cyborg and the girls had just gotten back to the Tower. Titans East had just gotten there.
"Cyborg, man are we glad to see you guys," Speedy said.
"Yeah, this is gonna be one rough fight," Aqualad joined in.
Mas y Menos zipped into the room and started talking at the same time.
"Somos espantados." (We're scared.)
Everyone just stared at the small heroes.
"Los hombres malos son demasiados." (The bad men are too many.)
More staring with additional head scratching.
"¿Qué es nosotros LOS gonna hacemos?" (What are we gonna do?)
"We gotta learn Spanish or get them some kinda translator," remarked Bumble Bee.
Suddenly, the alarm went off in the Tower.
"Alright, they're almost here, everyone outside. It's time to get it on," Cyborg ordered.
The Teen Titans ran outside to face the oncoming army. They stood outside the Tower awaiting their arrival. In a few minutes, they couldn't believe what was coming.
"Dude, there has to be over a hundred of those Cyborg clones," Beast Boy said.
"221 to be exact," drolled Cyborg.
"Ahh, so good to see you again, Cyborg." Brother Blood said. His eyes suddenly glowed red. "Now it's time to die though. Everyone, ATTACK!!!"
"Titans, GO!!!" yelled Cyborg.
The ultimate battle had begun.
Cyborg was trying to fight his way over to Blood. The clones jumped in front of him with their sonic cannons armed and blasted him backwards. He smashed into the side of the Tower leaving an indention before falling to his knees. The clones began to rush him. Cyborg got to his feet and charged his sonic cannon. "I ain't going down that easy." He blasted at them with everything he had taking out a few before the rest made it to him. He knew he was in trouble when he heard three words he thanked God existed.
"Azarath, Metrion, ZINTHOS!!" The black aura surrounded the clones and destroyed them.
"Thanks, Rae."
"Thank me when we live through through this."
More clones charged but the ground beneath them suddenly swallowed them up. Terra joined now stood by her comrades. "There's too many."
"Keep fighting. Don't give up." Cybord rallied his friends as they yelled and ran into the frey.
Bumble Bee was standing with Aqualad and Speedy fighting off more clones.
Speedy was rapid firing as many arrows as he could. Bumble Bee was blasting them with her electric B's. Aqualad was shorting them out with the water that surrounded the island.
"Where are they all coming from?" asked Speedy.
"I dunno, but there's an endless sea of the things." Aquald said.
"Just keep fighting. We're dwindling them down." ordered Bumble Bee.
Further away, Starfire and Beast Boy were fairing just as poorly as the rest. Beast Boy was shifting between every animal in his arsenal to attack the hoard of robots. Starfire was shooting eye beams and star bolts as fast as she could.
"Beast Boy, there are too many of them. What shall we do?"
"Fight harder Star. We have to stop them."
Cyborg, Raven, and Terra were starting to gain the upper hand, so they thought. Suddenly, Jinx blasted the three of them with a hex blowing them backwards. Mammoth then started to fight hand-to-hand with Cyborg. Jinx kept hexing the girls who were throwing everything they had at her. Because of all the fighting, Cyborg was already fatigued and Mammoth quickly gained the upper hand punching Cyborg unmercilessly. Cyborg was getting dented from all the blows and the ground he kept hitting.
"Damn, no amount of buffing is gonna help me after this is over."
"Especially since you'll be dead." Another vicious blow to Cyborgs face sent him flying through the air again.
Raven and Terra were suffering the same fate. The hexes were throwing them around, knocking them into each other and the ground.
"We gotta stop running into each other like this," Terra joked.
"I'd laugh if it didn't hurt so much," Raven remarked.
"You haven't seen any pain yet," Jinx said as she threw another volley of hexes towards them.
As Aqualad was throwing water at the robots, suddenly electricty ran up the water and zapped him. Overload and Gizmo were heading towards them. Speedy started shooting arrows at Overload while Bumble Bee and Aqualad tried attacking Gizmo.
"Damn, my arrows aren't doing anything to this guy."
"Hold still you little geek," yelled Bumble Bee.
"No chance, booger-face."
"You should always listen to a girls request," shouted Aqualad.
Speedy then got zapped by Overload causing him to smoke slightly and cringe in pain.
Bumble Bee got blasted by a laser from Gizmo and Aqualad was tied up by one of his inventions.
Starfire was fighting alongside Beast Boy when she was suddenly slammed from behind by Cinderblock.
"Star!" Beast Boy turned around to face Cinderblock when Plasmus hit him with a giant blob of goo. Star rushed to help but just got caught up in the stuff too.
Cyborg was getting hammered. Finally, Mammoth picked him up and tossed him at the ground by Brother Blood.
"Well, Cyborg. It appears you weren't much of a challenge for my new criminal syndicate."
"Go to hell."
"Sorry, you first." Brother Blood raised his hands and they glowed red as he prepared to thrust them into Cyborg's chest.
Raven and Terra saw what was about to happen. "NO!!" they both screamed as they ran to Cyborg.

"Fuck! We gotta move faster, X."
"This is as fast as we go, Nightwing. We'll make it. They can hold out until we get there."
"No, they've gotten soft. They're probably already dead."
'He has no faith in them. I'm sorry this has happened to you, man,' Red X thought.
The dark duo flew as fast as they could to the Tower.
"There it is. We're almost there, Nightwing."
Just then, they saw Cyborg get tossed in front of Brother Blood. They then heard faintly as the girls screamed and ran to save him.
"No," Red X said.
"Stop, dammitt," pleaded Nightwing.
Their hearts sank as they saw Brother Blood turn on them and hit them full force, propelling them back against some rocks. They lay lifeless on the ground.
"NOOO!!!!!" the boys screamed.
Nightwing's vision blurred. He wanted revenge. He wanted to taste the blood of his enemies that glistened fresh upon his hands. To be able to watch as their lives drained from them.
"X, land and use the palm blasters to wipe out all of the robots. You take on Plasmus, Cinderblock, and Overload. I'll handle the H.I.V.E. rejects. Leave Brother Blood to me." Nightwing spoke in a tone of voice that terrified Red X.
Brother Blood kicked Cyborg so he lay next to the fallen girls. The other Titans ran to join their teammates and prepared for the battle. What happened next, none of them expected.
Two black-clad figures landed hard in front of them. The held out their arms with their hands open.
"Suck on this, assholes!" Nightwing yelled as a blue beam of energy shot out of each of his hands destroying the robots in it's path. Metal debris flew in all directions, still glowing hot from the explosive force of the blast.
"Die!" Red X screamed as red blasts erupted from his palms.
Raven and Terra awoke as the boys screamed. They watched as they repeatedly fired the weapons destroying all the robots. A mountain of twisted metal surrounded them. The boys then lowered their arms. Nightwing clenched his fists, popping his knucles.
"Let's fuck them up, X. I want their blood to flow."
"I'm ready, Nightwing."
With a battle cry the young heroes took off after their respective targets.

Nightwing charged the three H.I.V.E. agents. Jinx threw hexes at the hero that he easily side-stepped and jumped over.
"Gonna have to pick it up a bit, little girl," sneered Nightwing.
Jinx got pissed and started getting sloppy. She wildy threw hexes out at Nightwing not caring who got in her way. She ended up blasting Mammoth by accident sending him flying backwards. "Oops, sorry," she said before getting nailed with a heavy boot to her face sending her to the ground.
Gizmo saw his chance and swooped in with his robotic wings out and lasers ready. He fired continuous shots at Nightwing, who dodged them with a smirk permanently on his face. "Hold still ya snot-nosed punk."
"Now where would the fun be in that?" Nightwing jeered. "However, this is getting rather boring. So I think I'll kill you now." Nightwing then disappeared.
"Huh?! Where did that barf-for-brains go? Come out you lo-," Gizmo was cutoff. The Teen Titans looked puzzled at the villain. He just floated there in midair, his jetpack wasn't even running. It was then they noticed that the pack was sparking like it had been damaged. A small trickle of blood began run down an invisible object from Gizmo's stomach. Nightwing then reappeared with his bo staff in his hands. He had extended a blade from the end and shoved it into Gizmo. The two did not move, Nightwing in a fighting stance holding his bo proudly and Gizmo impaled upon the pike-like object. A feral grin adorned Nightwing's face that could only be described as raw pleasure at the torture he was causing. He twisted the staff causing Gizmo to cough up some blood. Nightwing than with a flip of his wrist sent Gizmo flying into a rock head first. The sickening crack of his skull and the snapping of his neck resounded in the ears of the heros watching helplessly.
"Who's next?" Nightwing motioned with his arms open at Mammoth and Jinx. Mammoth was still a bit dazed from the hexes Jinx hit him with, leaving Jinx for the charge.
She ran at Nightwing throwing hexes. Rocks blew up all around, sending shrapnel at him with blinding speed. He dodged the larger pieces, while the smaller pebbles ricocheted off his armor. A few pieces managed to give him a few light scratches to his face, further enraging the vigilante. He reached into his belt with both hands pulling out exploding disks. He threw one handful at the pink and black witch. She saw them coming and used her hexes to destroy them before they got close, which was exactly what he wanted. Nightwing then unleased the second wave of disks that flew by her hexes before she could react. Jinx stared wide-eyed as the disks hit her chest, sending her towards the ground. She staggered to her feet just in time to find a metallic fist being driven towards her face. The force of the impact shattered her nose spraying blood from both her nostrils. She tried to scream but the blood poured into her mouth and she only gurgled. The sound was music to Nightwing's ears. He then rapid punched her chest, breaking several ribs, before grabbing her arms and swinging her around to jerkingly let her go. The pop of dislocating shoulders and a blood curdling scream rang out. Tears streamed down her dirt-crusted cheeks as she stood on wobbly legs. Nightwing then appeared behind her with his right arm around her neck in a choke hold.
"So much pain, it's so delicious," he sneered. "But, like all good things, it must come to an end. Goodbye, Jinx."
With that said, Nightwing brought his left arm up and reached across her face. He then spun her head sharply to the left. The sickening sound of snapping bone and tearing sinew resounded. Jinx's body jerked before hanging limp in Nightwing's arms. He then dropped her on the ground like a rag doll.
Mammoth awoke in time to watch her grizzly end. The death of his teammate at the hands of someone so vile yet claiming to fight for good boiled his blood. Mammoth ran full speed at the dark hero, waiting to release his battle cry until the last minute. A sudden scream of rage met Nightwing's ears and he spun around just in time to find a massive and hairy fist hurtling into his chest. The blow landed soundly and forced Nightwing to fly backwards 20 yards. Nightwing did a flip and landed on his feet sliding back a few feet. Mammoth charged again.
"I'll kill you for that!" Mammoth yelled.
Nightwing smirked. "Not if I kill you first." He pulled out his bo staff and extended and charged after Mammoth. The two men collided and a flurry of punches and kicks. Mammoth used his immense strength to swing his fists at an impressive speed, only to be blocked by Nightwing's bo staff. Nightwing fought the large, hairy man with a permanent smirk on his face. He was just waiting him out.
'Keep swinging, neanderthal. You'll get tired long before I do.' Nightwing thought.
The constant swinging was taking it's toll on Mammoth. He was getting slower, the sweat was running down his face, and he was panting hard. He stopped swinging to catch his breath, just the moment Nightwing was waiting for. It was time to put his plan into action. Nightwing then went on the offensive. He started swinging the staff at Mammoth. His speed and agility quickly gained him the upper hand. Mammoth tried in vain to block. If he put his hands up, Nightwing swung low. Mammoth would block low and find the bo staff screaming towards his skull. Mammoth found himself covered in bruises, his ribs were sore, his eye was swollen, and blood dripped from his nose and mouth. He wasn't at the top of his game.
"I tire of this. Time to end it." Nightwing said reaching into his belt. He pulled out a small black object and then rushed forward punching Mammoth in the stomach. The blow knocked Mammoth back ten feet and Nightwing jumped back a good twenty feet away himself.
"That wasn't too strong," Mammoth teased.
"I wasn't hitting you. I was planting that explosive charge on you."
Mammoth looked down and saw a small black device clinging to him, with a small red blinking light on it. Mammoth looked over at Nighwing to see him holding another black object in his hand with a glowing red button. A sinister grin crossed Nightwing's face just as he pushed the button. A small charge went off and Mammoth gasped for his last breath of air. Red blood and bits of meat cascaded to the ground in a small cloud. Mammoth then fell to his knees before falling forward into the pool of his own blood.
"That was fun. What's next on the agenda?" Nightwing remarked.

Red X was having little difficulty with his three. Overload was the first to attack. He tried zapping Red X but he kept side-stepping him at the last minute. Red X pulled out some freeze disks hoping the water in them would make Overload short out. He threw them capturing Overload in a prison of ice. Red X was enjoying his small victory when a blow sent him flying sideways. He used his flight abilities to stabilize himself and realized that it was Cinderblock that hit him.
'That's just what I need. Time to test out my new cement disks.'
Red X charged his palm blasters and started firing them at Cinderblock. It was the only way to hit him hard enough to get him in a favorable position. The blasts weren't having much effect, except at making Cinderblock more angry. He picked up a large rock and tossed it towards the black and red hero. Red X blasted it with both his blasters disintegrating it into dust, but Cinderblock was right behind it and landed a rock solid punch to the chest of Red X. He flew back and hit against Titans Tower hard, cracking the stone structure before falling to the ground.
"Right, let's not let him try one again," Red X stated as he got to his feet.
Cinderblock charged again, but this time Red X reached for his belt and took out the cement disks. He threw them and they contacted with the rock giant exploding into a thick grey paste that instantly hardened. Cinderblock was immobilized. Red X then went for his last opponent, Plasmus.
'Freeze disks or massive sonic explosion. Let's try palm blasters then the disks,' thought Red X. He charged after Plasmus and began to fire his blasters, but there was a problem. His left blaster was only putting out 75% output and his right was hardly working at all. 'Damn, that blow against the building damaged my suit.' Red X continued to blast Plasmus with his left hand while throwing exploding disks at the creature. He was successfully knocking him back and doing some damage, but the injuries he'd sustained were taking their toll and he needed to end it soon. He reached for his belt and found his last two freeze disks. 'Gotta make these count.' Red X rapid-fired his palm blaster getting Plasmus as small as he possibly could and then thre the disks, freezing the giant walking zit.
"Oh, thank god that's over," Red X panted as he bent over and put his hands on his knees.
Brother Blood wasn't about to have any of this, he'd just watched his best students be murdered and his three giants stopped in their tracks. He pressed a small button on his arm and Overload, Cinderblock, and Plasmus combined into their giant form. "Now, the game is upon us," Brother Blood sneered.
"I can't catch a break," sighed Red X. The large combined creature lunged for Red X. Red X dodged him as best he could before being grabbed by the monster. "Nightwing! Help!"
Nightwing heard his friends cry for help and looked over to see the combined monster hurl Red X into the Tower once again. "No. No more will be hurt unless it is at MY HANDS!!" Nightwing screamed as he charged towards the creature. He positioned himself between Red X and the monster. "It's time to turn it up," sneered Nightwing as he reached for his belt buckle and turned the dial. His emblem and all the blue accents on his suit began to glow. A small message inside his mask showed that he'd reached pull power. The monster ran towards the supercharged Nightwing. Nightwing placed his hands in front of himself and braced for the coming blast. He squinted his eyes and unleashed the blast at it. Everyone covered their eyes from the blinding light. Nightwing was slid back slowly as he force of the blast pushed him. The beam died down and there on the ground lay the burnt out chip of Overload, the sleeping human form of Plasmus, and the severely cracked and chipped Cinderblock.
"It appears I've underestimated you, Titans. Your new friends are quite powerful indeed," remarked Brother Blood.
"We aren't their friends. Now prepare yourself, Blood. You're about to join your students in Hell," Nightwing said with a feral grin.
"Another time, Nightwing. It seems you are quite the powerful warrior and I look forward to future battles." A bright flash of light from Brother Blood's eyes blinded everyone allowing him to dissappear.
"Bastard! He won't get away next time," Nightwing said through gritted teeth. "X, you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm gonna need some help getting back though."
"Figures," Nightwing mumbled under his breath. "You're so fucking training your ass off when we get back."
Red X just groaned and looked to the Teen Titans.

The Teen Titans stood staring at the back of the dark vigilante known as Nightwing. The same questions kept rolling through all their minds. How could he kill them like that? Is he really on our side? Do we even stand a chance from stopping him if he isn't? The silence on the island was shattered by a piercing voice.
"Nightwing, you have returned to us!" screamed the Tamaranian as she flew towards him.
Nightwing tensed his muscles and clenched his fists. He felt her coming closer to his back. He waited patiently for his prey. She was finally upon him when he spun around and delivered a crushing kick to her face. The attack sent her flying to the side and skidding across the ground leaving a small trench. "Pathetic," Nightwing said in a monotone and manner that would make Slade ashamed.
"Star!" yelled Beast Boy. "How could you do that, man?"
Nightwing turned to look at the small green hero. "How couldn't I? She was attacking me from behind, it was self-defense." That same town horrified all who listened. "If you weren't so weak you could do something about it. Any animal you can change into, I can counter. I've been training for this fight. The only remote chance you have, is if you can bring out the Beast. Then, and only then, you may stand a chance against me. Your girlfriend however won't be able to save you."
Beast Boy gritted his teeth and clinched his fists. The anger was building inside him. His girlfriend lay limp on the cold ground, he had to stop Nightwing alone. He knew his friends wouldn't help. He began to see red and felt the transformation he was searching for. A primal roar came from deep within Beast Boy as the green and black Beast came to the surface and he transformed. Drool ran down his chin as he snarled at Nightwing.
"Ahhh, at last. We can finally battle each other as our most primal selves. Your Beast against my Nightwing."
The taunting worked exactly as planned. The Beast roared and jumped into the air planning to land on Nightwing. Nightwing just smirked and activated his gauntlets bringing two bird-a-rangs to his hands. He threw them up towards the Beast and went invisible. The weapons sliced the left thigh and right bicep of his opponent deeply. The Beast landed and blood spurted out of the leg wound. He growled in pain and sniffed to try and catch the scent of the invisible opponent. Before he could find it though, a heavy boot plowed into the Beast's nose breaking it and causing the blood to fill it. This meant he wouldn't be using it to find Nightwing.
Nightwing became visible again behind the Beast and tapped him on the shoulder. As the Beast turned around he met with a crushing punch to his eye followed by a round house kick to the other. The Beast now had trouble seeing. Nightwing pulled out his bo staff and extended it. He charged the Beast and began to swing it forcefully. He was striking at the Beast unmercifully. The bruises were already apparent and the Beast was breathing ragged thanks to a few broken ribs. Nightwing stepped back as the Beast fell down on a knee. Nightwing just smirked and extended the blades on the bo staff.
"Time to get serious," he sneered and charged again. He swiped at the beast cutting his chest. He brought it back and cut his abdomen. The Beast would swing and Nightwing would use the pole to block then counter by slicing at him with the blades. Cuts covered the Beast and his hair was matted with his blood. He fell to his knees gasping for breath as Nightwing stood unharmed before him. Nightwing grinned a feral grin and laughed. He then drove his knee into the face of the Beast and sent him flying backwards to the ground. He lay unconscious and reverted back to Beast Boy.
"What a waste of my time. How useless you are to the team. It amazes me that you were part of this team at all. Pathe-," but Nightwing didn't finish as a huge starbolt hit him from behind sending him flying forward. He flipped over and landed, sliding back a few yards and glared at the girl who attacked him.
"You will not say such hurtful things to him," claimed Starfire as her hands and eyes were glowing green.
"Well, if it isn't the betraying bitch herself. Attacking from behind, right where that knife would was at too." Nightwing turned the dial on his belt again and powered up. "Let's see who's power is greater."
"Yes, let us." Starfire then blasted a beam from both her hands and her eyes. Nightwing countered with his own palm blasters and the blinding light from the combined blasts was blinding. It was apparent that Starfire was pouring everything she had into the blast. She began to sweat with concentration.
"What's the matter? Trying to hard I see." Nightwing jeered at her. The blast center was coming closer to Nightwing. 'Guess it's time to stop playing and take the whore out,' he thought with a smirk. "Voice-command activate," commanded Nightwing. His display showed it was now active. "Initiate turbopower." Upon this command the blue on the suit began to glow a bit brighter and electrical surges ran up and down his body. The Teen Titans stared in horror. They realized that meant he was powering up further. "Try this one out, whore!" Suddenly the beams from his palm blasters tripled and quickly forced the blast center towards Starfire. It overtook her and sent her flying away.
A battle cry erupted from Nightwing as he plowed forward, his suit still turbocharged, and began to punch and kick the deceiving girl. He grabbed her hair and slung her around, smashing her face into the ground. He followed this with a knee to her back leaning down to whisper in her ear. "I expected more from you, Starfire. You disappoint me. I thought you would be a challenge." She began to retaliate and he jumped away. She stood to face him, hands and eyes once again glowing. "You once told us that rightous fury is what drives your powers. Let me show you how blood rage drives mine!" Nightwing then blasted her again his his palm blasters and as she flew backwards he got behind her and delivered a spinning kick to her back sending her rolling and skipping around the ground.
"I grow tired of kicking your asses. It's time to rid the world of one more bitch and bastard." Nightwing reached into his belt and pulled out a folded bird-a-rang. He unlocked it revealing blood-stained blades.
'That's the one he used in the depository,' thought Raven. 'No, don't do it. Please, Nightwing.'
Red X saw this too. 'I gotta stop him.'
Nightwing brought his arm back ready to throw it through the air in an arc to slit both their throats with one swing.
Raven found her voice at last, "NO! Please don't do it Nightwing. They aren't worth it. They've hurt you, they've hurt us all. We'll kick them out. We'll make them leave the planet. Don't do this, I beg you." Tears streamed down her face.
Nightwing turned to face her. "Nothing will stop my revenge. Not even you." He then focused on his targes once again.
Red X switched over to his comlink to talk with Nightwing privately. "Don't do this. Look at Raven." Nightwing looked at her. "Rich, you're hurting her. She loves you, don't do this."
Nightwing's eyes suddenly went wide. 'What? I'm Nightwing! Who is Rich?' Nightwing dropped the weapon and grabbed his head as pain shot through it making him scream. In a dark place in his mind, the figure calling himself Nightwing stood before a mirror looking at his reflection. A copper and black armor and full face mask stared back at him. He looked down and realized it was really him wearing it. 'What's going on?'
'We need to talk, get X back to The Pit first,' came a voice from behind him. He spun around but could only see a dark outline of a figure.
'Who are you!?'
'Later, your friend and partner needs you right now.'
Nightwing suddenly came back to the real world and picked up the dropped bird-a-rang. He collapsed it and put it back into his belt. He walked over to Red X and picked him up then started flying off towards their base without saying a word.
The Teen Titans didn't understand what had happend.
"He stopped," Speedy said.
"I thought for sure he was gonna kill them," came Aqualad's comment.
"Si," both Mas y Menos said.
"I can't believe he did all this," Bumble Bee said as she surveyed the carnage around them.
"He's gone through hell more times than we can imagine. He's been broken finally. I have a feeling this is mild compared to what he is truly capable of."
"Poor, Nightwing," Terra said as tears rolled down her cheeks.
Everyone waited for Raven to comment, but she never did. When they looked, they realized she was gone.

Raven took off shortly after the boys had left. Her powers were almostly completely drained. She was using everything she had to keep up with them as they flew home. 'It's time we talked, Nightwing. I'm gonna bring you back however I can,' she thought as she followed Nightwing with Red X clinging to his shoulders.




Jacketslacker: DAMN!!! That took a while to write. I won't be updated either story for a while. It's finals week, so this week is off limits for writing and summer is still unknown. I'm hoping to get something up for the Inuyasha story next week sometime. Sorry everyone, I know that sucks. Well, there it was, the ultimate fight scene. Sorry if it sucked. The next chapter will be mainly in the mind of Rich/Nightwing as they come to terms with who they are. That's all. Hope you enjoyed. R&R so I know how it's coming along. Thanks for playing.