Young Titans part VI: Rat in a Cage
Title: Young Titans part VI: Rat in a Cage
Author/Artist: fullmetal_cute
Fandom: Amalgam (Kind of)
Characters/Pairing: Teddy Logan, William Rook
Rating: PG
Table & Prompt number: Table 4 | 4. There’s no chain, no cage that I won’t break.
Summary: In which we have Teddy putting his powers to good use.
Author's note: Finally getting back to working on this story, yay! So yes, part 6 of my Young Titans series.
Disclaimer: Y’know, this is kind of a weird area. The parent characters for this lot aren’t mine, but I’m the one putting them together like this… hrm.
I’m sorry guys, Teddy thought, sparing one beady eyed glance for his friends and teammates as he scampered through the bars of the cell. It wasn’t like he could help them, anyway; Red Vision and Cassie were doing their best to fix Elijah, and they were probably better off in the cell until they finished the job. Bart and Katie were probably still loose somewhere… he hoped… but William…
William needed him, and once Teddy got out of there, he could actually help him.
Now if I were a demon bent on taking over reality, where would I keep a super-powerful reality warping witch boy? he asked himself, tiny rat-claws scraping against the stone. Stophelies had already begun reshaping San Francisco to his taste, raising a great and terrible fortress in the middle of the city and sending forth his minions to bring William to him.
And they’d succeeded. In spite of everything they’d done, Stophelies was winning.
Where the hell are the Justice League Avengers when you want them?
***
William fingered the collar around his neck, tracing the spells forged in with the iron with his mind. Compulsions layered over protections woven together with enchantments. He couldn’t break the spells even if he wanted to. And thanks to those very spells, he didn’t want to. He lived only to serve Stophelies.
The spells were the only things that kept him from screaming until his throat was raw. He knew, in that tiny part of him that was still free, that was still him, that the spells that bound him would soon drive him in to utter madness. A mind just could not deal with being subject to those compulsions for more than a few days at most. William’s training could keep him from being completely lost to the spells for perhaps a week, but not much longer.
Giving in to the madness actually looked better and better. At least then he wouldn’t have to watch the horror he was doing with Stophelies’ every order.
William was so caught up in his own dark thoughts that he didn’t notice the green rat that skittered around the chain connecting William to Stophelies’ currently empty throne. If he had, he would have killed it with a word. His lord and master had seen to that.
He also didn’t notice the rat twist and shift, and noticed only too late the two huge green hands that came down on his head. And then there was only the blackness.
***
Teddy snapped the chain connecting William to the dark and twisted throne, then gently picked the boy up. The collar around William’s neck seemed to be a solid piece of iron, so tight around his neck that Teddy could see that it was leaving a mark. “Sorry about that,” he whispered to the other boy, “but I really didn’t like that look on your face. That was your ‘I’m going to zap you in to next week’ look, and… y’know, I didn’t wanna take any chances.” He touched the collar, yelping as blue sparks leapt from it to his fingers. “Hooo-kay. Think, Ted. It’s not like you haven’t been in situations like this before. You’re an old hand at this. But first, we get out of here.” He stood, cradling William carefully in his arms. “And second, I gotta learn to stop talking to myself.”
***
“I am so, so sorry,” Teddy said, not for the first time. He dabbed at the blood running from William’s slightly smashed nose before turning his attention back to the collar. Despite all his efforts, despite all his strength, it refused to break. And every time William swam back into consciousness, Teddy had to knock him back out, since the boy kept trying to kill him.
At least he knew now that he’d been right to do so the first time.
Teddy sat back on his heels, studying the collar again. There were times when he really, really hated magic, and this was certainly one of them. What I need is a file or something… He flexed his fingers, feeling claws pop out almost of their own volition. Teddy stared down at them, and suddenly it was as if a light had gone off in his head.
He shifted his fingers, making them thin enough to slip between the metal and William’s flesh. Careful, he thought, shaping his fingers into something sharp and hard and not unlike sandpaper in texture, trying to keep the worst of it away from William’s skin. He winced as the edges scraped against the metal, but it felt like maybe he was cutting through a little.
“This is too slow,” he muttered out loud. “There’s gotta be… Ah.” Teddy ran a tongue over his teeth as they lengthened and hardened, then lowered his mouth to William’s neck.
Author/Artist: fullmetal_cute
Fandom: Amalgam (Kind of)
Characters/Pairing: Teddy Logan, William Rook
Rating: PG
Table & Prompt number: Table 4 | 4. There’s no chain, no cage that I won’t break.
Summary: In which we have Teddy putting his powers to good use.
Author's note: Finally getting back to working on this story, yay! So yes, part 6 of my Young Titans series.
Disclaimer: Y’know, this is kind of a weird area. The parent characters for this lot aren’t mine, but I’m the one putting them together like this… hrm.
I’m sorry guys, Teddy thought, sparing one beady eyed glance for his friends and teammates as he scampered through the bars of the cell. It wasn’t like he could help them, anyway; Red Vision and Cassie were doing their best to fix Elijah, and they were probably better off in the cell until they finished the job. Bart and Katie were probably still loose somewhere… he hoped… but William…
William needed him, and once Teddy got out of there, he could actually help him.
Now if I were a demon bent on taking over reality, where would I keep a super-powerful reality warping witch boy? he asked himself, tiny rat-claws scraping against the stone. Stophelies had already begun reshaping San Francisco to his taste, raising a great and terrible fortress in the middle of the city and sending forth his minions to bring William to him.
And they’d succeeded. In spite of everything they’d done, Stophelies was winning.
Where the hell are the Justice League Avengers when you want them?
***
William fingered the collar around his neck, tracing the spells forged in with the iron with his mind. Compulsions layered over protections woven together with enchantments. He couldn’t break the spells even if he wanted to. And thanks to those very spells, he didn’t want to. He lived only to serve Stophelies.
The spells were the only things that kept him from screaming until his throat was raw. He knew, in that tiny part of him that was still free, that was still him, that the spells that bound him would soon drive him in to utter madness. A mind just could not deal with being subject to those compulsions for more than a few days at most. William’s training could keep him from being completely lost to the spells for perhaps a week, but not much longer.
Giving in to the madness actually looked better and better. At least then he wouldn’t have to watch the horror he was doing with Stophelies’ every order.
William was so caught up in his own dark thoughts that he didn’t notice the green rat that skittered around the chain connecting William to Stophelies’ currently empty throne. If he had, he would have killed it with a word. His lord and master had seen to that.
He also didn’t notice the rat twist and shift, and noticed only too late the two huge green hands that came down on his head. And then there was only the blackness.
***
Teddy snapped the chain connecting William to the dark and twisted throne, then gently picked the boy up. The collar around William’s neck seemed to be a solid piece of iron, so tight around his neck that Teddy could see that it was leaving a mark. “Sorry about that,” he whispered to the other boy, “but I really didn’t like that look on your face. That was your ‘I’m going to zap you in to next week’ look, and… y’know, I didn’t wanna take any chances.” He touched the collar, yelping as blue sparks leapt from it to his fingers. “Hooo-kay. Think, Ted. It’s not like you haven’t been in situations like this before. You’re an old hand at this. But first, we get out of here.” He stood, cradling William carefully in his arms. “And second, I gotta learn to stop talking to myself.”
***
“I am so, so sorry,” Teddy said, not for the first time. He dabbed at the blood running from William’s slightly smashed nose before turning his attention back to the collar. Despite all his efforts, despite all his strength, it refused to break. And every time William swam back into consciousness, Teddy had to knock him back out, since the boy kept trying to kill him.
At least he knew now that he’d been right to do so the first time.
Teddy sat back on his heels, studying the collar again. There were times when he really, really hated magic, and this was certainly one of them. What I need is a file or something… He flexed his fingers, feeling claws pop out almost of their own volition. Teddy stared down at them, and suddenly it was as if a light had gone off in his head.
He shifted his fingers, making them thin enough to slip between the metal and William’s flesh. Careful, he thought, shaping his fingers into something sharp and hard and not unlike sandpaper in texture, trying to keep the worst of it away from William’s skin. He winced as the edges scraped against the metal, but it felt like maybe he was cutting through a little.
“This is too slow,” he muttered out loud. “There’s gotta be… Ah.” Teddy ran a tongue over his teeth as they lengthened and hardened, then lowered his mouth to William’s neck.