Teen Titans #54: "Rise of the Wildebeests" part 3

[arcalian]

Teen Titans #54
Rise of the Wildebeest, part three
Story by Jay McIntyre
Art by Rik Mertens

Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
-William Blake

When a man wants to murder a tiger, it's called sport; when the tiger wants to murder him it's called ferocity.
 George Bernard Shaw

[arcalian]

-1-

Although he'd never done a calculation on it in his own mind, Risk was about six times stronger and faster than the average human. The adrenaline rush that hit each time he entered combat was sweet nectar to him.

He charged straight at one of the Wildebeests and it matched him, head down, wicked horns extended. Were he not saving his breath for running, Risk would have laughed.

They collided with an audible thud that sent a shock wave through the ground for several feet around. Risk staggered but remained on his feet; the Wildebeest fell and did not rise.

Now Risk did laugh. He looked to his left and saw two more Wildebeest coming; he rushed to meet them.

[arcalian]

-2-

Raven teleported back and forth, terrorizing one here, incapacitating one with her soul self there.

It was as Pantha had said; there was a presence in the temple, something strong and fierce and alien. In some ways, it reminded her of the parasitic awareness that had been in the meteorite that had struck near New York, so long ago now. Not identical, but similar. Perhaps they shared a common heritage; remnants of the same destroyed long-lost alien civilization, perhaps.

But while the alien presence had learned to repulse Pantha's avatar, it could not repulse her, or any of the other Titans. Perhaps it sensed or realize this; Raven was not prepared to speculate on it's degree of sentience. But if so, then it was trying to use it's forces to fend them off, prevent them from reaching it's physical manifestation, whatever that might be.

They would have to bull their way through. Oh, they could send Wallace or Kory ahead, but it made more sense to take out the Wildebeests first.

Then again, with their numbers reinforced by Titans West...she telepathically sent the suggestion to Richard. Nightwing considered it, then rejected it. He pointed out that whichever one of them went on ahead, would be alone....and vulnerable to whatever innate defenses the thing had. Best not to take the risk.

Raven sighed, understanding his logic, and focused on her next enemy.

[arcalian]

-3-

Breaking mental contact with Raven, Nightwing ducked a punch from a Wildebeest, grabbed it by the horns, and fell backwards, and planted his feet in it's armored chest.

The Wildebeest let fly a bark of surprise as he sent it flying. Nightwing smiled to himself; metahumans were always surprised when he could fight them on even footing. Knowing how to fight metahumans had been early training for him.

He ducked two more swiping blows from the next enemy. Some of these Wildebeests had claws, others had fists covered in some kind of black felt-ish material. Perhaps their blows were more powerful. It wouldn't surprise him to learn that the intelligence behind them created different specialized versions.

He snapped a hard kick under it's armored chin. It grunted and staggered back, then grabbed his leg. It did not try to throw him; a tactical mistake many smarter enemies would have made. Instead it brought it's other elbow down, meaning to break the limb. Frantically, Nightwing twisted in it's grasp, narrowly avoiding the elbow, and kicked with his other leg. Not under the chin again, and not into the creature's free arm.

Instead, his boot tip connected with one of the Wildebeest's glowing, multilensed eyes.

The creature's eyes were much more strongly defended than the eyes of the human it had once been; the multiple lenses were part of that. But that didn't mean getting kicked in the eye was a free ride. It grunted and loosened it's grip, enough for Nightwing to squirm away.

Situational awareness was one of the things Nightwing had learned early, honed on many battlefields. Not that it was terribly hard to hear the Wildebeest he had flipped earlier charging towards his position with thundering, pounding footsteps. Dodging another blow from the Wildebeest in front of him, Nightwing somersaulted to the left at the last possible moment, and the first Wildebeest collided with the second.

[arcalian]

-4-

For once, Kid Flash's problem wasn't a shortage of enemies. Even at his speed, there were plenty of Wildebeest to go around.

Also, they were fairly resilient, and tended to get up quickly. His super speed punches and kicks needed to be delivered three, sometimes even four times before the enemy went down and stayed down.

He learned quickly to sweep the leg, then pummel the Wildebeest four, five times. Of course pausing that long left the risk that one of them would get hold of him.

Eventually, of course, one of them did.

It grabbed him by the back of the neck and lifted him up. It's other hand grabbed the small of his back, pulling at the flesh with long talons.

“No,” he murmured. “Not again.”

He twisted and writhed at super speed, and broke free. Landing uneasily, he stumbled around to face the enemy. It swatted at him, and he ducked back just in time.

He landed three quick strikes just to disorient it, then applied one of Barry's old tricks' he extended one arm and began spinning it.

Very, very fast.

A whirlwind started up, and blew the Wildebeest back into two of it's fellows.

Kid Flash laughed. It had been a long journey from his injury to his recovery to romancing Raven, but he finally felt back up to speed.

He took off again.

[arcalian]

-5-

Terra watched fondly as Beast Boy sprang off her rock and joined Cyborg in bull-rushing a trio of Wildebeest. She focused her attention on Rose and Jericho.

Normally Jericho was very protective of his sister (to the point where it annoyed her) and guarded her at all times. But he saw Terra approach and gave a nod.

Rose clambered up onto Terra's rock. Terra nodded back at Jericho. “Go do your thing, mute boy.”

Jericho raised a brow at her, then turned and faced the nearest Wildebeest. For a moment he was there, and in the next he had 'made contact' and was gone. The Wildebeest staggered, then turned, now under Jericho's control, to wade into it's fellows.

“Please don't call him that,” Rose sighed.

“I give people nicknames,” Terra said. “It's no big deal.”

“I know, just don't use that nickname for him.”

Terra felt a flash of irritation, but forced it down. Rose was one of the few friends she had, and this was meant to be a team up on the battlefield. Time to start acting like it. “Right. Batter up!”

Rose grinned and wielded her quarterstaff. Terra shot forward on her rock. Rose swung her staff with speed, skill, and the knowledge her precognitive abilities gave her. Combined with the forward motion of Terra's rock, the force of her blows were enough to put most Wildebeest down.

“Take me out to the ball game,” Rose sang.

Terra started; baseball was one of the things she had gotten into as a fan since leaving Markovia. It was an international sport, after all, even if the song wasn't. “Take me out to the crowd!” she sung in return.

“By me some--” abruptly Rose cut off her song and jumped, as her precog warned her of an incoming Wildebeest attacked.

The Wildebeest had shown some animal cunning; it had seen and anticipated Terra's rock and lunged at exactly the right moment. But Rose's perfectly timed leap meant it passed through the place where she had been, narrowly missing Terra, and landing hard on the ground beyond.

Rose landed shakily on the edge of Terra's rock and almost fell, but Terra reached out and caught her by the hand.

The Wildebeest was rolling back onto it's feet, so Terra imprisoned it in a rock dome.

“Warn me next time,” Terra said, somewhat shakily.

They shot off back into the battle.

[arcalian]

-6-

Beast Boy and Cyborg had hooked up with Bumblebee. Though they did not know it, they faced the prime Wildebeest; the one that had, in life, been Edwin Steel.

Bumblebee flew high, unleashing sonic disruptions and force blasts at the enemy. Beast Boy shifted to a monstrous form not unlike the Wildebeest itself, and waded in. Cyborg started out by blasting away with his white noise cannon, then moved in directly to assist Beast Boy.

The prime Wildebeest would rather have fought the Pantha guardian spirit or slaughtered helpless villagers, sparing a few to increase his numbers. But he was nothing if not adaptable. He had no ranged attacked per se, but as the oldest of the Wildebeests he was stronger and faster, and could take a lot more punishment.

He kicked Beast Boy away and ripped up a chunk of ground to throw up at Bumblebee. She dodged his throw easily, however, and this allowed Cyborg to close in.

Cyborg struck hard, and the Wildebeest staggered back, then lashed out with a kick. Cyborg wasn't significantly hurt, but he was sent tumbling.

Beast Boy took the form of a snake and wrapped himself around the Wildebeest, trying to choke him into submission, but this of course meant Bumblebee couldn't fire for fear of hitting him. With an effort, the Wildebeest pried Beast Boy's snake form off and tried to tear him in two, but Beast Boy shifted to insect and buzzed away.

Without the need for words, the three Titans realized about simultaneously that they needed to coordinate their attacks in order to win against this foe. Beast Boy shifted to a giant green gorilla, and the two of them moved together as one, synchronizing their strikes. Bumblebee, in turn, timed her shots between their blows.

But they weren't the only ones who understood the value of teamwork. The Wildebeest Prime could telepathically summon aid from it's followers. It did so now, bringing two of them into the fray.

But before they could arrive, Raven took down one and Kid Flash knocked out the other. And it knew that if it drew too many troops to it's side, the remainder would be taken down by the Titans.

What irony, it thought, that it's greatest threat would not come from the bothersome Pantha, after all these years.

[arcalian]

-7-

Pantha, growling and prowling just beyond the perimeter of the alien artifact's influence, was having similar thoughts. She was grateful to the Titans for the help, but did not trust them. Not entirely.

She wasn't sure of their motives. She certainly could sense ancient and terrible power in both Raven and Omen. That boy with the golden wings was in over his head, and the one they called Risk was a fool. But the one with the soul-searching eyes..that Jericho.....he was to be reckoned with. And Starfire, as alien to this planet as her enemies were. But she would have never known the details of that, if these 'Titans' had not come.

Pantha was created to be a solo operator. To rely on a group of stranger was....not in her nature.

It was most confusing,and frustrating.

It also gave her something to think about.

[arcalian]

-8-

Omen was not the most physical combatant, and she lacked Raven's transportation and soul self abilities.

But she was not without options.

She reached out and touched the nearest Wildebeest, startling and weakening it, but more importantly making a psychic link with it, seeing the person it had been.

The terrified villager had been forcibly converted seven years ago, She saw the terrible alien device—though she thought of it as an altar—saw and felt the conversion, a terrifying process. It explained many things to her, but most of all, she was able to show these same horrible truths to the creature itself.

The Wildebeest staggered, shrieked, and fell on it's knees shivering, out of the fight. She tried it again on the next Wildebeest, but this one resisted her wisdom, and tried to attack.

So she dodged it's blows and touched it's forehead....and put it to sleep. It slumped unconscious at her feet, and she stalked off into the battle.

[arcalian]

-9-

Golden Eagle swooped in, grabbed a Wildebeest by the arm and soared upwards, straining against the creature's weight. It reached for him with it's other claw, but he swerved and looped. It was hard; brutally hard. The creature was heavy and he was sweating inside his helmet. His arms ached, and he was getting light headed.

With a supreme effort, he swung the creature before letting go, throwing it towards the trees.

Gasping a deep breath, he floated on for a moment, massaging sore arms, then sank back down towards the battle.

[arcalian]

-10-


Scarlet Wing and Dagon were operating as a team. She was still unnerved by the vampire, but he seemed genuinely sympathetic to her situation, and was helping.

She flew low, with him in mist form just beneath her. She hurled her eggsplosives left and right, and he occasionally shifted out of mist and attacked a Wildebeest.

He had tried to feed on one of them only once; their blood was strange, and full of bile. He had spat it out. But he could still wreak havoc amongst their number, and that is what he did.

“Hey scarlet! Throw me!”

She looked down at him and blinked, then nodded her understanding. She picked him up and threw him into the nearest Wildebeest, which went down sprawling. He proceeded to claw and kick at it. It was stronger; but he was faster.

A Wildebeest grabbed Scarlet Wing's ankle, She shouted, the kicked it in the face with her free foot, three times.

One the second strike the Wildebeest tried to bite her foot, but only succeeded in losing a tooth. It let go, and she hurled three eggsplosives at it. The resulting explosion knocked it down.

Checking that Dagon was okay, she shot upwards and banked left. Seeing Golden Eagle coming back down, she went to assist him.

[arcalian]

-11-

Troia and Starfire had likewise paired up. They too were flying low, perhaps a little higher. Starfire's starbolts were theoretically unlimited, her stamina being the only limitation. And this was the sort of battle that she lived for.

Troia had never had any trouble with this sort of fight, and her battle with Circe had seemed to bring about an increase in her strength. Maybe knowing the source was cause enough, or maybe the battle with Circe had triggered it. In any case, she was now the most powerful Titan, and knocked down Wildebeest with aplomb, one shot each. She was, that day, the most effective Titan on the battlefield.

Starfire blasted one down, then another loomed over Troia; she turned and snapped a heel under it's chin with power, speed and grace. It fell unconscious.

Another grabbed her from behind; Starfire blasted it, but Troia didn't need the help, she simply bent forward and threw the creature into it's fellows.

[arcalian]

-12-

Beast Boy, Cyborg and Bumblebee were wearing the prime Wildebeest down. But his strength and endurance kept him going.

A straight shot from his right claw sent Beast Boy tumbling back; then he grabbed Cyborg by the throat and threw him at Bumblebee. She shouted and dodged, then tried to catch him; she managed it, but he was too heavy, and she sank under his weight.

Starfire came and caught Cyborg from below. Between her and Bumblebee they eased him down.

Sensing weakness, the prime Wildebeest advanced towards them. But at that moment Beast Boy was back, charging into him in the form of a rhino. The prime Wildebeest went down and Beast Boy proceeded t trample right over him. But still he got back up, bloody, bruised and shaken.

Beast Boy turned to face him, and was surprised when the prime Wildebeest lowered his head and charged. This was, of course, amusing to the changeling. “And here I thought I was horny,” he said, taking bull form and rushing to meet him.

They impacted with a massive thud, but while the prime Wildebeest did stagger back, Beast Boy slumped into unconsciousness and shifted back to human form.

Sensing weakness in the enemy again, the prime Wildebeest raced towards him, preparing to deliver a vicious kick. But before he got there, he suddenly found himself yanked into the air.

Scarlet Wing had him by one arm and Golden Eagle had him by the other. His cloven feet flailed wildly, six inches above the ground.

Before he could figure a way around the situation, Risk came in and struck once, hard. Then Kid Flash took his turn, pummeling the creature at super-speed, a total of thirty-seven times.

Now the Wildebeest was reeling. Risk came in for another shot, directly to the monster's face; and finally, Cyborg blasted him with a blistering left hook.

The Wildebeest prime sagged in the arms of Scarlet Wing and Golden Eagle, and they dropped him.

Looking around the battlefield, they saw Dagon, Terra and Rose finishing off what was left of the opposition. Jericho jumped out of his host, and the others took that one down too. Terra and Cyborg noticed Beast Boy's condition, and rushed over to him.

Raven's soul self flowed over him. “He has a concussion and has lost a few teeth. But he will recover.”

“Our dentist is gonna be busy,” Terra said, but there was relief in her face.

“So, is that it?” Rose asked, breathless and sweating.

“Not quite,” Omen said. “In one of their minds, I saw the source of all this.”

Jericho gestured with his fingers; sign language. “Yeah, Joey saw it in the mind of his host too,” Rose translated.

“It must be destroyed,” Omen said. “Raven, Cyborg; it will take all three of us to accomplish it.”

“I'll update Pantha,” Kid Flash said, and ran off.

[arcalian]

-13-

Raven, Omen, and Cyborg led the way into the ruined temple, through the damaged corridors. Cyborg carried Beast Boy on his shoulder.

They found the device, still pulsing with unearthly blue-green light, just as it had been when Edwin discovered it all those years before.

Each of them could feel the device's strange pull; and only the power of Raven and Omen prevented them from being affected by it. Indeed, three unfortunate souls were sprawled around the device, in mid-transformation.

“Cyborg,” Omen said. “Please scan the plinth.”

Handing Beast Boy over to Terra, Cyborg nodded and examined it. He muttered something about block transfer computations, then extended three wires from his right wrist. They plugged themselves into the base. After a moment he looked up at Omen and nodded.

Omen and Raven joined their left hands, and put their right hands on the glowing globe. They spoke no words, but bowed their heads in concentration.

Time seemed to spin out. After what was only about three minutes, but seemed much longer, the light slowly faded, and then went out.

“We should take it back to STAR labs,” Cyborg said. “But first.....”

Understanding his intent, Raven and Omen stepped back.

Cyborg smashed his fist through the globe. “Best to be on the safe side.”

Nightwing nodded. “I agree.”

“Yeah,” Bumblebee sighed. “Too dangerous just to leave it intact.”

“These three appear to be reverting to normal,” Scarlet Wing said.

It was true; their features were fading back to human.

[arcalian]

-14-

Pantha felt the weight of the darkness disperse. Cautiously, she prowled into the battlefield, finally free to do so. She saw what the Titans saw; most of the Wildebeest were slowly shifting back to normal.

Most, not all. Five of the Wildebeest remained as they were. These were the prime Wildebeest and his first four recruits. They were too old as Wildebeests; the transformation had happened too long ago. Their transformation was permanent.

Pantha wanted to kill them where they lay. The Titans wouldn't like that. She didn't care if they did; but they might try to stop her. And she knew she couldn't take on all of them at once.

Besides, they had done what she and the previous Pantha guardians had been unable to do; defeat the enemy, once and for all.

This struck her as somewhat odd; she was without purpose now.

The Titans came out of the temple. Cyborg was carrying the ruined machine.

“So, most of them changed back,” said Nightwing. “Good. There were three more converts inside; they're changing back too.

“Villagers, all of them,” Pantha said. “They'd been raiding the people—some of them my people—for some time now.”

“Do you want to help them back to the villages?” Raven asked.

Pantha hissed a sigh. “Want to, yes. Can actually do so, no. I'm not kind. And most of them will have been lost for years anyway. Things will have changed in their villages...those villages that still survive at all. I'm more interested in what you'll do with these that stayed in 'Beest form.”

“Well, we can't leave them here,” Nightwing said. “We'll take them back with us, hand them over to STAR Labs for study. They'll probably be weakened, but best not to take any chances.”

It would be safer to kill them, but Pantha decided not to argue the point. “Very well.”

“What about you?” Bumblebee asked. “No point in you staying here, if you can't help them.”

“Well, from what you've told me, there are still things I can do here. Scaring off the slash and burn loggers of the rainforest, for a start.”

“Or you could come with us,” Bumblebee said. “See more of the world. Help us fight the myriad evils of the world.”

Pantha considered for a long moment. “I will probably come back here eventually. But yes, I will go with you.....for now.”

[arcalian]

-15-

“We worked well together,” Nightwing said.

Bumblebee shook his hand. “Better than I expected, at first. I take it we have your official seal of approval?”

Nightwing smiled. “You don't need it. Besides, Rose and her brother being on your team pretty much seals the deal anyway. How did they find you?”

“That's a long story. Short version; their mother helped.”

They chatted a bit more, then boarded their respective planes.

In the New York team's plane, Terra was already fussing over a groggy, half-conscious Beast Boy.

“You think Pantha will settle in with them?” Starfire asked her lover.

Nightwing shrugged. “They can keep her in check; she can help them, and it's better than leaving her here.”

“We don't know that it will last.”

“No,” Nightwing agreed. “But it's a start.”

One by one, the planes took off.

End


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