DCU Fanfic: Puppetverse - Aut Vincere Aut Mori
Title: Aut Vincere Aut Mori
Fandom: DCU
Character(s): Teen Titans (V3)
Pairing(s): slight background Gar/Raven
Word Count: 1953
Genre: General/Drama/Angst
Rating: PG-13/T
Notes: Say hello to my new pet monster. Follows Out In The Open. So what happens when the trigger is triggered? Next part of this particular monster will feature the Outsiders as well.
Link: N/A
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It had a been a few weeks since Tim had deactivated this trigger in his brain, but Kon still felt twitchy about it. Luthor must not have tried to use it yet, or he would know and be trying something else, Kon was sure of it. He just wish he would try this trigger already, so he could get it over with. Kon just wanted to know if he really was in control of himself.
They had backup plans if he was not. Tim really had not want to carry the kyrptonite in his belt, but Kon had insisted. Eventually, the Bat instincts kicked in, and Tim eventually agreed with him. The rest of the team knew where they could get a hold of kryptonite if they needed it, though most were reluctant to carry it with them in a lead pouch at all times like he had talked Tim into doing. Kon was sure Batman would approve.
Kon snorted at that thought as he entered his room, only to hear a high frequency sound wave emitting from his laptop, like the watch Jimmy Olsen had to call Superman. Kon clutched his head, wondering if this would be it, the attempt to activate the trigger. Kon hoped it would fail, but at least his friends would have a good chance to contain him if the trigger happened anyway.
“Hello, Superboy,” the voice spoke from the laptop, a distorted sort of voice that Kon was sure must have been Luthor's at one point. “My how you've grown.”
Kon growled at that line. “Don't act like I'm your son,” he hissed, in hindsight thinking, perhaps keeping quiet would have been a better idea.
“My greatest invention,” the voice continued, which made Kon believe that Luthor was not listening, and it was just a recording. “Aut vincere aut mori.”
The latin words caused Kon an immense pain in the back of his skull, like when Tim had shocked him weeks ago to get rid of the trigger. The pain subsided quickly, but he could hear commands in his head. He would not follow them, but he could hear, see all of Luthor's plans for him. Squishing Beast Boy like a bug, dismantling Cyborg, snapping Raven's neck, shocking Wonder Girl with her own lasso, breaking Kid Flash's legs, and the gruesome images finally ended with burning Robin with his heat vision.
Kon could not take the images anymore; he screamed in agony, falling to his knees, hands gripping at his head as tears ran down his face. In under a minute, the rest of Teen Titans heard his screams, rushing in to see Kon on the ground in the fetal position.
“Kon! Kon!” Tim yelled, kneeling at his side.
Bart sped to his other side as Cassie pulled Kon's head into her lap, rubbing his back in hopes to sooth him, even if just a little. Mia hung in the back, not sure what to do since she had not known any of them for very long.
“What happened?” Vic questioned, but Kon only curled up more.
“No, no, no, no,” Kon chanted to himself.
Cassie ran hand through Kon's hair. “No what, Kon? Please, tell us what happened, so we can help you,” she pleaded, tears pricking her eyes.
“His mind, it is very distorted right now,” Raven spoke up, trying to sooth him with her powers, only to be shot across the room.
“Raven!” Gar called, running to her side.
“The trigger... Luthor tried to activate it,” Kon finally got out, before screaming in pain. “NO! I won't... I won't hurt them, dammit!”
Those last few screams were enough for Tim. “Vic, get him down to the lab. We need to find a way to stop the pain,” Tim ordered, before turning to Mia. “I know you have no idea what's going on, Mia, and I'm very sorry about this, but can you get a hold of Superman?”
Mia nodded as Vic hurried out of the room with Kon. “I'm on it,” she said before turning to leave.
Everyone quickly followed out of the room, Raven leaning on Gar. Mia ran past Gar and Raven as they headed towards the lab, and she towards the communications room. “We'll fill you when you come back, Mia!” Gar called to her before they parted ways.
Mia smiled to herself before putting on a grave face to contact Superman. She felt like one of the team, even though there was crisis happening. Crises must pull teams together, she thought as she called up Superman to come to the Tower right away.
---------------------------------------------------
Cassie stood on the sidelines as she watched Tim order Bart and Vic around to hold Kon down to help him. Gar was with Raven on the other side of the, room whispering softly with her, checking if she was all right. Cassie bit her lip as she watched the boys, afraid of what might be happening. She would have helped hold him down, but Cassie did not think she could. Kon was thrashing in pain, and she could not bear to be near him. He needed her, all of them, and she could not get close to him after they had left his room.
She swallowed as Tim ordered Bart to sedate him while Vic held him down. Kon was still chanting 'no, no, no, no' as he blacked out. “Will he be okay?” Cassie spoke up, tears pricking at her eyes as Tim quickly typed away on his computer console.
“We definitely have the trigger deactivated, but it seems that Kon was still getting the messages that Luthor was sending him, what he wanted him to do,” Tim stated in completely in Robin-mode, glancing over to Raven and Gar. “Raven, are you all right?”
“I will be fine,” she answered. “It seems the trigger must have had a defense against magic. I sense it is gone now.”
Before Tim could ask for Raven to check Kon's mind a little more thoroughly, the screen flickered red, revealing the images the trigger was showing in Kon's head. Kon's hand tearing Cyborg limb from metal limb, followed by snapping Raven's neck before she could use her powers to protect herself, and they just kept coming. Tim quickly shut down the monitor just as he saw his spine get crushed in Superboy's strong hands.
The room was silent when Mia walked in. Just when she was feeling like part of the team, she felt like an outsider again. “Uh, I guess it wouldn't be a good time to mention Superman isn't picking up?” Mia asked, wincing on the inside.
“It's all right, Mia. I shouldn't have expected him to care about Superboy,” Tim bit out bitterly. “Luckily, we don't need his assistance; I was going to fill him in on the situation, but if he doesn't care, neither do we.”
Bart nodded in agreement, knowing what it was like to have neglectful 'mentor.' Wally was no Max, that was for sure. Cassie bit her lip when she thought of her own mentor, who might not have neglected her, but Donna was still gone. Not that Cassie could blame Donna's death on Donna, but she felt she could start blaming Superman again.
Raven slipped out of Gar's embrace to make her over to Kon. Everyone watched as Raven slipped her hands over Kon's head, to rid him of the vivid imagery that Luthor was showing him. Raven groaned in pain as she finished. Gar rushed to her side, but she held up a hand.
“The messages should not be received any longer,” Raven stated calmly. “When will the sedative wear off?”
Tim calculated how long the sedative would work for a normal human, then took Kon's half-kryptonian blood into account. “A few minutes, tops,” Tim replied as Kon began to stir. “I think we should give him some space. I'll stay with him, but the rest of you should go.”
Cassie felt anger flare up in her chest. “Why should yo-”
“He needs someone who can tell him, rationally, that he could never hurt us,” Tim cut her off, before softening his voice. “Cassie, I'm sorry, but he doesn't need the emotional roller coaster you'd drag him on right now.”
She still felt angry, but she knew Tim was right. It did not mean she was not going to storm out angrily. The others followed her, all but Tim and Bart. The two stood there as Kon slowly stirred. Tim gestured for Bart to leave.
“I'll take care of him,” Tim promised.
Bart nodded before zipping out of the room. “Ugh...” Kon groaned. “Did anyone get the license plate number on that bus?”
Tim chuckled lightly. “No bus, Kon,” he replied.
Kon rubbed his face with his hands before noticing he was in the lab. “What happened? Did I-”
“You didn't hurt anyone, Kon,” Tim stated calmly. “You were in a great deal of pain, though.”
Kon nodded, as bits began to float back to him. “Oh God,” he groaned, burying his face in his hands. “Those visions in my head...”
Tim sat next to Kon, a comforting hand on his shoulder. “That's all they were, Kon,” he soothed.
Kon looked up from his hands, pain clear in his eyes. “What if those puppets hadn't shown up? What if we had kept this secret? What if you-”
“There's no point in thinking about what ifs. What happened is what matters,” Tim stated firmly. “I know you don't want think about what you saw in your head, but was there anything that Luthor was showing you that would tell us what he's up to? If he tried to set off the trigger, it must have been part of some bigger scheme.”
Kon closed his eyes, nodding. He tried to remember, sifting through all the horrible thoughts of killing to one flicker of a LexCorp building, Brainiac, and a chick he recognized from the Outsiders. Kon's eyes snapped open. “We need to warn the Outsiders. That blue chick is being controlled by Luthor.”
Tim's eyes widened as he and Kon scrambled upstairs to warn the Outsiders before it was too late.
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Tim slammed his fists on the computer once he realized he could not get in touch with the Outsiders. Kon winced as the other watched, not knowing what was going on. Tim turned away from the monitor, looking at the other Teen Titans.
“We have a mission. The Outsiders are in danger, and with communications down, we need to do something to help them. Luthor has control over their teammate Indigo, but I have no idea if she has struck there or not,” Tim paused. “I'm too close to this situation because of Nightwing, so I'll take suggestions on our next move.”
“Where did we get our intel?” Vic asked, moving to the computer to see what the connection problem was with communicating with the Outsiders.
“Luthor detailed a good part of his plans in my head,” Kon answered.
“What if they're fake?” Mia spoke up, and everyone turned to her. “Um... I mean, what if Luthor is trying to throw us off what he is really doing?”
“That's a possibility,” Tim conceded, looking at his teammates. “Where's Cassie?”
“She stormed out after we left the lab,” Bart answered, rubbing the back of his neck. “She threatened to use her lasso on me if I followed her. She seemed really angry.”
Tim shook his head. “Unfortunately, we don't have the time to go af-”
An explosion interrupted their conversation. The smoke cleared to reveal Luthor in some sort of green and purple super suit of armor. Tim nodded to everyone. “Titans, together!” he yelled.
And the fight began.
Fandom: DCU
Character(s): Teen Titans (V3)
Pairing(s): slight background Gar/Raven
Word Count: 1953
Genre: General/Drama/Angst
Rating: PG-13/T
Notes: Say hello to my new pet monster. Follows Out In The Open. So what happens when the trigger is triggered? Next part of this particular monster will feature the Outsiders as well.
Link: N/A
---------------------------------------------------
It had a been a few weeks since Tim had deactivated this trigger in his brain, but Kon still felt twitchy about it. Luthor must not have tried to use it yet, or he would know and be trying something else, Kon was sure of it. He just wish he would try this trigger already, so he could get it over with. Kon just wanted to know if he really was in control of himself.
They had backup plans if he was not. Tim really had not want to carry the kyrptonite in his belt, but Kon had insisted. Eventually, the Bat instincts kicked in, and Tim eventually agreed with him. The rest of the team knew where they could get a hold of kryptonite if they needed it, though most were reluctant to carry it with them in a lead pouch at all times like he had talked Tim into doing. Kon was sure Batman would approve.
Kon snorted at that thought as he entered his room, only to hear a high frequency sound wave emitting from his laptop, like the watch Jimmy Olsen had to call Superman. Kon clutched his head, wondering if this would be it, the attempt to activate the trigger. Kon hoped it would fail, but at least his friends would have a good chance to contain him if the trigger happened anyway.
“Hello, Superboy,” the voice spoke from the laptop, a distorted sort of voice that Kon was sure must have been Luthor's at one point. “My how you've grown.”
Kon growled at that line. “Don't act like I'm your son,” he hissed, in hindsight thinking, perhaps keeping quiet would have been a better idea.
“My greatest invention,” the voice continued, which made Kon believe that Luthor was not listening, and it was just a recording. “Aut vincere aut mori.”
The latin words caused Kon an immense pain in the back of his skull, like when Tim had shocked him weeks ago to get rid of the trigger. The pain subsided quickly, but he could hear commands in his head. He would not follow them, but he could hear, see all of Luthor's plans for him. Squishing Beast Boy like a bug, dismantling Cyborg, snapping Raven's neck, shocking Wonder Girl with her own lasso, breaking Kid Flash's legs, and the gruesome images finally ended with burning Robin with his heat vision.
Kon could not take the images anymore; he screamed in agony, falling to his knees, hands gripping at his head as tears ran down his face. In under a minute, the rest of Teen Titans heard his screams, rushing in to see Kon on the ground in the fetal position.
“Kon! Kon!” Tim yelled, kneeling at his side.
Bart sped to his other side as Cassie pulled Kon's head into her lap, rubbing his back in hopes to sooth him, even if just a little. Mia hung in the back, not sure what to do since she had not known any of them for very long.
“What happened?” Vic questioned, but Kon only curled up more.
“No, no, no, no,” Kon chanted to himself.
Cassie ran hand through Kon's hair. “No what, Kon? Please, tell us what happened, so we can help you,” she pleaded, tears pricking her eyes.
“His mind, it is very distorted right now,” Raven spoke up, trying to sooth him with her powers, only to be shot across the room.
“Raven!” Gar called, running to her side.
“The trigger... Luthor tried to activate it,” Kon finally got out, before screaming in pain. “NO! I won't... I won't hurt them, dammit!”
Those last few screams were enough for Tim. “Vic, get him down to the lab. We need to find a way to stop the pain,” Tim ordered, before turning to Mia. “I know you have no idea what's going on, Mia, and I'm very sorry about this, but can you get a hold of Superman?”
Mia nodded as Vic hurried out of the room with Kon. “I'm on it,” she said before turning to leave.
Everyone quickly followed out of the room, Raven leaning on Gar. Mia ran past Gar and Raven as they headed towards the lab, and she towards the communications room. “We'll fill you when you come back, Mia!” Gar called to her before they parted ways.
Mia smiled to herself before putting on a grave face to contact Superman. She felt like one of the team, even though there was crisis happening. Crises must pull teams together, she thought as she called up Superman to come to the Tower right away.
---------------------------------------------------
Cassie stood on the sidelines as she watched Tim order Bart and Vic around to hold Kon down to help him. Gar was with Raven on the other side of the, room whispering softly with her, checking if she was all right. Cassie bit her lip as she watched the boys, afraid of what might be happening. She would have helped hold him down, but Cassie did not think she could. Kon was thrashing in pain, and she could not bear to be near him. He needed her, all of them, and she could not get close to him after they had left his room.
She swallowed as Tim ordered Bart to sedate him while Vic held him down. Kon was still chanting 'no, no, no, no' as he blacked out. “Will he be okay?” Cassie spoke up, tears pricking at her eyes as Tim quickly typed away on his computer console.
“We definitely have the trigger deactivated, but it seems that Kon was still getting the messages that Luthor was sending him, what he wanted him to do,” Tim stated in completely in Robin-mode, glancing over to Raven and Gar. “Raven, are you all right?”
“I will be fine,” she answered. “It seems the trigger must have had a defense against magic. I sense it is gone now.”
Before Tim could ask for Raven to check Kon's mind a little more thoroughly, the screen flickered red, revealing the images the trigger was showing in Kon's head. Kon's hand tearing Cyborg limb from metal limb, followed by snapping Raven's neck before she could use her powers to protect herself, and they just kept coming. Tim quickly shut down the monitor just as he saw his spine get crushed in Superboy's strong hands.
The room was silent when Mia walked in. Just when she was feeling like part of the team, she felt like an outsider again. “Uh, I guess it wouldn't be a good time to mention Superman isn't picking up?” Mia asked, wincing on the inside.
“It's all right, Mia. I shouldn't have expected him to care about Superboy,” Tim bit out bitterly. “Luckily, we don't need his assistance; I was going to fill him in on the situation, but if he doesn't care, neither do we.”
Bart nodded in agreement, knowing what it was like to have neglectful 'mentor.' Wally was no Max, that was for sure. Cassie bit her lip when she thought of her own mentor, who might not have neglected her, but Donna was still gone. Not that Cassie could blame Donna's death on Donna, but she felt she could start blaming Superman again.
Raven slipped out of Gar's embrace to make her over to Kon. Everyone watched as Raven slipped her hands over Kon's head, to rid him of the vivid imagery that Luthor was showing him. Raven groaned in pain as she finished. Gar rushed to her side, but she held up a hand.
“The messages should not be received any longer,” Raven stated calmly. “When will the sedative wear off?”
Tim calculated how long the sedative would work for a normal human, then took Kon's half-kryptonian blood into account. “A few minutes, tops,” Tim replied as Kon began to stir. “I think we should give him some space. I'll stay with him, but the rest of you should go.”
Cassie felt anger flare up in her chest. “Why should yo-”
“He needs someone who can tell him, rationally, that he could never hurt us,” Tim cut her off, before softening his voice. “Cassie, I'm sorry, but he doesn't need the emotional roller coaster you'd drag him on right now.”
She still felt angry, but she knew Tim was right. It did not mean she was not going to storm out angrily. The others followed her, all but Tim and Bart. The two stood there as Kon slowly stirred. Tim gestured for Bart to leave.
“I'll take care of him,” Tim promised.
Bart nodded before zipping out of the room. “Ugh...” Kon groaned. “Did anyone get the license plate number on that bus?”
Tim chuckled lightly. “No bus, Kon,” he replied.
Kon rubbed his face with his hands before noticing he was in the lab. “What happened? Did I-”
“You didn't hurt anyone, Kon,” Tim stated calmly. “You were in a great deal of pain, though.”
Kon nodded, as bits began to float back to him. “Oh God,” he groaned, burying his face in his hands. “Those visions in my head...”
Tim sat next to Kon, a comforting hand on his shoulder. “That's all they were, Kon,” he soothed.
Kon looked up from his hands, pain clear in his eyes. “What if those puppets hadn't shown up? What if we had kept this secret? What if you-”
“There's no point in thinking about what ifs. What happened is what matters,” Tim stated firmly. “I know you don't want think about what you saw in your head, but was there anything that Luthor was showing you that would tell us what he's up to? If he tried to set off the trigger, it must have been part of some bigger scheme.”
Kon closed his eyes, nodding. He tried to remember, sifting through all the horrible thoughts of killing to one flicker of a LexCorp building, Brainiac, and a chick he recognized from the Outsiders. Kon's eyes snapped open. “We need to warn the Outsiders. That blue chick is being controlled by Luthor.”
Tim's eyes widened as he and Kon scrambled upstairs to warn the Outsiders before it was too late.
---------------------------------------------------
Tim slammed his fists on the computer once he realized he could not get in touch with the Outsiders. Kon winced as the other watched, not knowing what was going on. Tim turned away from the monitor, looking at the other Teen Titans.
“We have a mission. The Outsiders are in danger, and with communications down, we need to do something to help them. Luthor has control over their teammate Indigo, but I have no idea if she has struck there or not,” Tim paused. “I'm too close to this situation because of Nightwing, so I'll take suggestions on our next move.”
“Where did we get our intel?” Vic asked, moving to the computer to see what the connection problem was with communicating with the Outsiders.
“Luthor detailed a good part of his plans in my head,” Kon answered.
“What if they're fake?” Mia spoke up, and everyone turned to her. “Um... I mean, what if Luthor is trying to throw us off what he is really doing?”
“That's a possibility,” Tim conceded, looking at his teammates. “Where's Cassie?”
“She stormed out after we left the lab,” Bart answered, rubbing the back of his neck. “She threatened to use her lasso on me if I followed her. She seemed really angry.”
Tim shook his head. “Unfortunately, we don't have the time to go af-”
An explosion interrupted their conversation. The smoke cleared to reveal Luthor in some sort of green and purple super suit of armor. Tim nodded to everyone. “Titans, together!” he yelled.
And the fight began.