The Next Generation

"Woah woah woah woah", Neal said as he passed through the portal which he hadn't seen forming in front of him. To be in the middle of the park to suddenly walking into Time Square was just a strange feeling. He shook his head for a moment in order to get his bearings. He heard Raven's explanation and gave a quick nod. "Well glad to hear that we could get here so quickly", he remarked as he looked around to see the disaster that this area was.

"Damn it Faust you coward", Fade said as he looked around the area to see everyone that was under attack. "Alright Nightwing, we're on it", he said as he moved towards Zatanna. As he moved Neal used a bit of his power to cause fire to erupt between the zombie creatures and those that were still alive. It wouldn't ward them off for long, but it might buy just a bit of time for some of the slower runners.

"Can you sense Faust nearby Raven?", Fade asked curiously. Since this was a much larger well he was hoping that Faust would need to be nearby in order to keep it working.

"He is nearby," Raven affirmed. "But I cannot pinpoint where. There is too much... pain." Though she was trying to keep a level head, this amount of tortured souls in one location was causing her mind a great deal of distress, so much that her nose was starting to bleed, and her face was sweating bullets.

"I'm on it," Cyborg stated, monitoring his arm scanner. It took a few minutes, but eventually it started beeping like crazy. "Got a reading. Over there, on top of that building." He pointed to one of the nearby buildings lining Time Square. Get us up there Raven, fast."

Though it took a great deal of effort, Raven opened a portal at their feet, dropping them up onto the top of the appropriate building. When they arrived, however, she could barely remain on her feet and ended up falling against Neal for support. "So much... torture," she uttered, breathing deeply. Her mind was starting to become overloaded with the pained souls.

In front of them, a massive soul well, much larger than the one in the park, surged. And next to it, monitoring its status, stood Felix Faust himself. "Ah, Titans, good of you to show up. I see you finally realized my diversion. And Zatanna, what a pleasant surprise. It's been a while hasn't it?"

"Not long enough," Zatanna said, rolling up her sleeves. "By order of the Sentinels of Magic, Faust, you are hereby under arrest for crimes against humanity and abusing magical forces."

"Ah yes, I've heard this speech before," Faust said, waving a hand flippantly. "I'm under arrest, blah blah blah, we fight, blah blah blah, you take me into custody, blah blah blah. Haven't we been there already?"

"Too many times." Zatanna then raised her hands. "Yfirt-!" But her voice caught in her throat before she could finish the word. She brought her hand to her throat suddenly, grasping at it and coughing. Falling to her hands and knees, she heaved and vomited up a wad of blood.

Faust tsked at her and shook his head. "Zatanna, Zatanna, when will you learn? You are mighty, yes, perhaps greater than I, but you rely too much on your words. If you cannot speak, you cannot use your magic. Quite a big weakness, wouldn't you say?"

"Well shit," Cyborg said, raising his blaster. But he didn't aim it at Faust this time, instead pointing it at his feet. He fired off a blast that exploded the portion of roof in front of sorcerer. Faust flew back through the air but righted himself just in time, floating in midair and coming to a safe landing.

"Must we do this again?" Faust said, snapping his fingers. Cyborg then suddenly launched backward like he'd been hit by an invisible truck.

Fade waited as both Raven and Cyborg tried to locate Faust. Raven was going to do it, but the amount of pain in the area was too much for her mind to deal with. There was too much emotion and suffering going on because of the attacks. This likely wouldn't lighten up given the amount of numbers of Souless that Faust had made. Thankfully Cyborg's scanner seemed to be good enough to located where Faust was. It was only a minute later that Raven conjured up a portal that lead them face to face with the sorcerer himself.

Fade quickly moved and caught a hold of Raven before she fell over and hurt herself. "Come on Raven we got ya, everything will be fine", he said. Raven had always been kind to him, and he couldn't help but worry whenever Raven got like this. She used her power to help others, even when it meant that she put herself through a great deal of pain to see it done. He had to respect her for that attitude.

Fade's hopes quickly began to fade after Zatanna gave her speech only to have the ability to say words removed from her. She had to speak in order to use her magic!? It sounded like Faust cut off that ability altogether! Shit, things weren't going anywhere near as Fade had expected them to. Cyborg was also blasted back like he was a feather, and Raven was still in too much pain in order to help. That left Neal as the only person left for the time being. He turned his head to Faust, trying to use his illusions to create a swirl of color in front of his eyes, hopefully causing his brain to not locate where everyone was. Fade needed a plan, and right now he needed time to figure it out. He had the colors disappear from Faust's vision, only to have an image of Raven casting one of her spells directly at him.

Last time Faust had seen right through his illusions, Fade hoped that he wouldn't be able to tell this time.

The sudden illusions did catch Faust slightly off guard. Not because they were too troublesome to deal with, but because they were more powerful than the last time. Leaps more powerful. His mind worked through them gradually, sifting apart the annoying colors that bombarded him like he'd fallen face first into rainbow ice cream. At last, the colors dispersed, and just in time, because Raven was taking the opportunity to make an attack. He raised a hand to counter... but then stopped.

"Wait..." he muttered, frowning. He shouted angrily and waved his hand, causing the illusion to ripple away. "Enough of your parlor tricks!"

Fade couldn't help but feel his heart drop as Faust didn't even seem to be bothered by what was happening. It seemed like he could see through it like it was nothing more than light smoke! Fade had to remember what Raven taught him, sometimes to fool someone else's mind you needed to do something they didn't expect. It was than that Fade decided to launch an insane idea, he just hoped that it didn't get him killed.

He began to make multiple copies of everyone, Zatanna, Cyborg, Raven, and even the Titans who weren't present. In front of him he created the illusion that he was still holding onto Raven, when in reality he laid her down. As illusion after illusions kept forming Fade dashed forward with his baton, aiming to deal a powerful blow to Faust in the face. He didn't bother hiding himself, he was hoping that Faust would see it as another trick and suspect it of being an illusion. If this didn't work, Fade was going to be in some serious trouble.

Hell, even if it did work he still might be in trouble.

"I said enough!" Faust yelled, swiping at the illusion. It disappeared, but then another appeared. He swung at that one, and it vanished, replaced by another. He was growing extremely impatient and annoyed. He kept spinning around and dispersing illusion after illusion. They kept coming at him like rapid fire. "I will rip the flesh from your bones, I swear!"

When finally he'd had enough, he started charging himself with magical energy and expelled it, causing all the illusions to disappear in a hurry. This was just in time to see the Titan running at with the baton. He reacted instantly, holding a hand up to counter... only to suddenly have a white flash of light appear out of nowhere and blind him. He held a hand up to shield his eyes, but as he did, the baton connected with the side of his face and sent him reeling.

Faust growled in annoyance and righted himself, clambering back to his feet. He looked over to see Zatanna on her knees, her fingers covered in the blood she'd spat up and that kept leaking from her mouth. On the roof, she'd written, in her blood "Dnilb". She then wrote electrify "Yfirtcele", causing a massive orb of electricity to form in front of her and shoot directly at Faust. She hoped Fade would have the sense of mind to get the hell out of the way.

Fade moved forward and felt his baton make impact with Faust's face. He was amazed by that, for it seemed like only a moment ago that he was looking right at Fade as if he was to strike him down. At the last second something impeded his vision and caught him off guard though. Fade knew that it was going to take a lot more strikes and attacks in order to take down Faust once and for all, but at least they were on a good start.

Fade suddenly heard something from behind him, he moved in time just to see what it was that Zatanna was doing. She was writing the words with her own blood, damn she was badass. He didn't even know that she'd be capable of such a thing. As the lightning shot forward Fade quickly leapt out of the way, thankfully his reaction time was still pretty damn good due to Nightwing's training sessions. Fade quickly turned to see if Faust was affected by the attack or not. Fade tried to create another flash of light in front of Faust's eyes, similar to how Zatanna had done for him.

Faust did what he could under the circumstances. The lightning ball hit, he knew it would. There wasn't enough time, and his senses were still loopy after the hit to the face. he prepared himself, charging his body with magical energy. It dulled the blow to a point where he could withstand it, mostly. The resulting blast did, however, launch him through the air and into one of the large neon letters that made up the sign on top of the building. The neon letter exploded in a shower of sparks and flickered out.

When everything settled, Zatanna felt her throat free up. She spit out one last glob of blood and then stood up. The soul well suddenly vanished into thin air, along with all the souls it had taken. "Coward," she said, hurrying over to the point of impact. There was no body to be found. Faust was no longer there. The only explanation was that he had survived the attack and fled, as the coward Zatanna stated him to be.

A short moment later, Raven came back to her senses, mind cleared. She sat up, looked around, and pulled back her hood. "They're gone," she said in a hoarse whisper. "The souls... he's taken them all with him."

"Mommy... I want flapjacks for breakfast..." Cyborg uttered, lying halfway over the edge of the building. Apparently he'd been hit so hard that he didn't even know where he was. "Extra syrup..."

"Now that is what I call a hit! Take that you bastard!", Fade shouted as he saw the explosion of sparks of what Faust crashed into. Seriously, that was like right out of a movie or something. That was just so badass! Fade's victory celebration would be cut short as suddenly the large soul well next to them suddenly disappeared. "Woah.......what just happened?", he asked as he looked from where the well was back to the rest of the group.

Fade moved over to Raven and offered her a hand to help her stand back up. He wasn't sure if she wanted to get up quite yet, but he figured that he should at least offer after all that she'd been through. "Sorry guys, I guess I'm still nowhere near powerful enough to help him", he said as he looked around to the group.

At last he saw Cyborg who seemed to be completely out of it. He didn't even realize that Cyborg could be capable of being delirious. "Is......he gonna be alright?", he asked Raven curiously.

"He'll be fine..." Raven said, pulling herself up by Neal's hand. "So long as he gets his extra syrup..."

Zatanna, meanwhile, was investigating the area where Faust had been blasted into. "He should not have survived that... he could not have. Not with his power."

"I already told you," Raven started, wiping sweat from her brow, "Faust is not the same. His power has grown, somehow. He must be stopped before he gets out of hand. Before something like this happens again..."

Back on ground level, the rest of the Titans were working to clean up what was left of the attack. The soulless had all suddenly dropped motionless, as if they'd just decided it was a good time to keel over. It made things easier, though, especially considering how many there were. There had to have been thousands of people throughout Time Square at the time. Thousands more souls for Faust... for whatever his goals were.

"I feel... sad," Starfire said, looking around at all the shriveled husks. "So many people... gone."

"Sad... I think that's an understatement," Sarah said, her stomach twisting into a knot.

"Well I don't care how he's changed or how much stronger he's gotten. He can be tricked, he can be hurt, therefore he can be stopped", Fade said as he looked around to the group. "We've failed to stop him twice now, and he just abducted probably thousands of more souls", he said as he looked to Raven and Zatanna. "What is it that we have to do to make sure that he's stopped? I don't know anything about magic, so what does it take to kill a guy like him?"

Fade was just pissed now. They had gotten closer to defeating him but Faust still managed to avoid being defeated at every turn. How were they supposed to stop someone that could kill so many people so quickly? It was all messed up, he seemed unstoppable.

"With great difficulty," Zatanna said, sighing. "If you cannot beat him with straight magic... then you must find a way to remove his own magic. I will... look into that. Until then, we should rejoin the others.

The Titans remained behind for a while after the initial chaos to help the police and the ensuing ambulances and firefighters clean up Time Square. They worked well into the night, making sure that everything and everyone was taken care of. After all, what kind of heroes would they be if they just bailed after the fight? None of them were much in the mood for talking or anything like that, though. Faust had beaten them again it seemed, and thousands more had fallen to his power.

When the local authorities finally had everything under control, the Titans finally returned to the tower. Though they had been beaten again, they couldn't sulk. They had to formulate a new plan, and make sure they were ready for their next encounter.

Fade spent what time he could helping the police in whatever ways that they needed. It was a painful experience, as only some had gotten away. Many had been killed in the initial strike that Faust had launched with his souless. There were now kids who didn't have fathers, mothers who had lost their daughters. There were too many sad stories to tell about what had taken place. Fade watched, hoping that he'd never have to see something like that again. He supposed that it was the price that all of them paid. They tried to help, but sometimes they had to see their own failures.

As they returned to the tower Fade moved over towards Raven who was being her quiet self. "You alright?", he asked as they kept walking. She had to experience the pain and fears of thousands of people. The least that he could do was check in to make sure that she was alright.

"I'll be fine," Raven said, though her voice sounded distant. "I just need some time to... gather my thoughts. Meditation should put my mind at ease. I would suggest you do the same, if your mind is scattered. After tonight, I wouldn't blame you."

Raven hung her head a bit as she moved towards her bedroom. Her thoughts needed a lot of clearing. At Time Square, she had sensed another presence in addition to Faust. But she had not said anything. After all... it was impossible. That man was dead. She was certain that it had been a mere hiccup in her senses, as a result of the negative emotions overloading her mind. She just needed to meditate and sleep it off.

Meanwhile, Starfire sat on the edge of Sarah's bed. She looked at the ground sadly, kicking her feet slowly back and forth. "I do not like this Faust person. He causes so much pain... He is cruel and vile. I only wish I could get my hands on him, I would... I would..." She didn't finish her sentence, instead making a choking motion with her hands.

Sarah pursed her lips, thinking back on the night. It had been a terrible night to say the least... horrifying. "I don't like him either," she said finally. "For all those reasons you mentioned and more. That's why we have to stop him... he's an evil, evil man who deserves justice. Or at least a swift kick to the balls."

Starfire let out a sigh, then grabbed Sarah's hand after she'd undressed and pulled her into the bed. "I need to sleep now," she said, holding onto her friend and falling back against the pillow. "My thoughts are on too many sad things."

"Alright, well you just take care. We've all been through a lot today", he said before watching her head to her room. He let a small sigh escape his lips before turning and walking away. He had no idea what to do or say. They had him, and they lost him. Was dealing with stuff like this what it meant to be a Titan? Fade just wasn't sure if he could handle losing that many lives because they weren't strong enough.

Fade moved back to his own room, thinking that maybe he could try meditation again. He sat down on his bed and took a deep breath as he crossed his legs like Raven would. It wasn't the most comfortable feeling in the world, but it was good enough for now. He just stared forward, allowing his mind to slightly wander. His power kicked in, helping to create everything that was on his mind. He saw the team, he saw Faust, and he saw the faces of those that they had lost today. He kept looking at them as each one seemed to gain more detail with each passing second.

Fade focused on the image of Faust for a moment before imagining a blade piercing the man's chest and watching him die in front of him. It was what he deserved, if not even less. He was scum that targeted anyone for his own selfish goals. He stared at the bleeding image of Faust for a moment before getting up and punching a nearby wall and letting out a yell of annoyance. He quickly left his room and made for the gym. Nightwing still wanted him doing his workout plan, and Neal didn't want to see the images anymore.

"Very good," Starfire said, several days later. "You are becoming most resilient. You did not even collapse this time!"

Sarah stood, though barely, wobbling on her feet. She was doing her best to stay up, still wanting to continue the training. But Starfire was brutal and pulled no punches. If Sarah was going to become a true wrecking ball of a fighter like Starfire was, she was going to have to learn how to endure, and so far she was doing well. Each day she was lasting longer and longer against the Tamaranian, who had natural freakish stamina and strength. Sarah had to build hers up over time, and it wasn't easy.

"Thanks," Sarah said, taking in a few deep breaths. "Let's keep going. I can keep going."

"I admire your determination," Starfire said, flying over and putting a hand on her shoulder. "But I do not wish to put you through anymore while you are in this condition. I fear that you have reached your limit for now. You should let your body recover before we continue tomorrow."

"Right... recover." Sarah let out a long breath and fell forward against Starfire, who caught her and started carrying her off to not the showers, but the hot tub that they had near the gym.

"This will help a lot," Starfire said, while starting to remove Sarah's clothes for her, since she was a bit out of it at the moment. "There is a special healing solution in the water, great for restoring your body. And the bubbles feel most wonderful as well!"

Within moments, the two of them were both relaxing naked in the hot tub. Sarah just let her head fall back against the edge and let out a heavy sigh. God this felt good...

"Focus your mind, if you are to trick your opponent into believing that this world is real than you must make it real", Raven said as she sat across from Neal in her own meditative stance. They had been working all morning on improving Neal's illusions. He was good at creating small things, and she was trying to work him so that he could distort everything around him. It was a taxing experience, but she hoped that he'd be able to do it.

Neal had his eyes closed, visioning the world that Raven was trying to get him to create. He could feel sweat coming from his forehead as he worked his mind to try to make Raven see what he was creating. He made the entire world upside down, making the ceiling appear as the floor while the floor was vice versa. Along with that he was gradually making the entire room spin, hoping disorienting anyone that was caught in Neal's illusions. Along with this he had tried forming several attackers out of nowhere to distract Raven. It was a good shot, but she had more mental training than anyone.

"A good effort, the idea to mess up and distract someone's mind is not a bad one, but you really need to focus more on your detail. Otherwise they'll know that your world isn't real. Besides, when you make your illusions look real, to your enemy they will appear real. Faust needed to dispel your illusions that blocked his vision, that was how powerful you were.........we need you to be better though", Raven said as she floated in her seat. He was improving, but he still needed more discipline to improve.

Fade finally broke his concentration and grabbed onto his head. Prolonged exposure to his own illusions made his head hurt. Normally he just made the enemy see it, but he decided that he would use it on himself in order to see what he was creating. It was a great strain on his mind, but he believed that it helped him improve at an even greater rate.

"Try again, keep going. Don't let yourself stop", Raven said as she could sense the strain on Neal. The more he pushed though, the more resilient he'd be next time. He had to keep pushing himself in order to discipline his powers. "Come at me again, with all you've got", she said.

Fade closed his eyes and focused all of his mental power on Raven this time, not sending the images to himself. He hoped that by focusing perhaps he'd be able to make his one illusion even better. It was worth a shot at least.

"Very good," Raven said, as Fade attempted his illusions again. They were getting much better, much more realistic. Granted, Raven could still see through most of them just fine, but then very few had the kind of mental control that she had, and even still there was the occasional image that fooled her for a moment.

Their training continued for quite a while, until they had expended as much mental energy as she thought fit for the day. "That will be enough for now," she said, folding her arms. "You are doing well." She then got into a meditation pose, preparing to relax her mind. She motioned for him to do the same; after all, it was always good to put the mind at ease after working it so hard. The meditation continued for a half hour, the usual length.

When they eased their minds back awake, Raven stood up and breathed outwardly. "That was good," she said. "You are free now, if you wish."

Fade took a deep breath as Raven said that it was going to be enough for the day, she said that he could relax his mind. He calmed himself and wiped the sweat from his brow before entering into his meditative stance once again. He continued the process for the next half hour with Raven, feeling the pressure ease off of his mind as he allowed it all to unwind. His mind continued to stop hurting as he allowed the meditation to take hold.

Fade looked at Raven as she praised his ability, even if it was only lightly. Any compliment from Raven meant that it was truly earned. "Thanks, what are you going to do now?", he asked curiously as he continued to sit on the floor across from her.

"I don't know," Raven said, turning to her bookshelf next to the bed. She surveyed it for several moments before selecting a particularly large black tome. She opened it, flipping the first few pages and pacing away from the shelf. "Perhaps I will read for a while..." She then sat on the edge of her bed, one leg crossed over the other, and focused on the pages, saying nothing else. She enjoyed peace and quiet with a good book. She had simple tastes.

Meanwhile, back in the hot tub, Sarah had fallen asleep with her head back against the edge. Starfire, too, had nestled in, leaning against her friend with head resting on her shoulder. The two of them were gone, napping in the bubbling hot water/healing solution. It was about this time that Beast Boy came strolling around the corner, face buried in a comic book. he almost didn't notice the scene as he walked by, but of course he did at the last moment for the sake of comedy.

Stopping suddenly, Beast Boy looked up, walked away, and returned a moment later with a camera. Snapping a shot of the two asleep in the hot tub, he whistled innocently and marched off to show Cyborg.

Fade just stared for a moment as Raven decided that she would merely read. She really wasn't the type to hang out with others it seemed. "Alright, well if you need me you can always call me", he said as he got up and stretched out his back. He lost track of how much time they had spent here, and he felt his muscles cracking from the pressure of sitting still for so long. "Take care Raven", he said before seeing himself out of her room and walking away.

He really wished she'd open up to him more. Fade couldn't really be surprised though, everyone always said she was the Titan that kept mostly to herself.

Sarah awoke with a start. She thought she'd felt a pinch... but maybe that had just been in her head. A bad dream maybe? Blinking herself back to clarity, she yawned and stretched her arms finding herself to feel amazingly rejuvenated. Whatever this healing solution was, it seemed to really work. Just one long dip in the hot tub and she was good as new. Glancing down, she noticed Starfire still napping against her. Apparently she wasn't the only one who'd been tired. Maybe that meant her own attacks were finally starting to do some damage?

"Hey, Starfire," she said, nudging the Tamaranian. "Wake up."

Starfire blinked her bright green eyes open suddenly. "Oh, I must have fallen asleep. How silly of me," she said, with a quiet laugh. She then stretched her arms out and sat up straighter. "I feel most wonderful now."

"Yeah... me too," Sarah responded. "Whatever this stuff is, it really works."

A moment later, Starfire stood up and stepped out of the hot tub, while grabbing a towel for the both of them. Sarah followed, taking the towel and wrapping it around herself. The two then marched back to her room to get dressed.

The other Titans, meanwhile, were back in the kitchen, preparing lunch. Cyborg was busy cooking up some real burgers for everyone, while Beast Boy slaved away on his tofu. He really wished they'd all give the stuff a try... it was good, honest.

Fade sat at the couch, watching the television mindlessly as he let his mind drift out of sync. He didn't know why but he just felt like he had a lot on his plate lately. He knew that he didn't have it any worse than the other Titans, but he was still starting to feel the stress of the situation. He slowly pushed himself off of the couch and stretched out his back before it gave a tiny pop. He was working his body with Nightwing, and his mind with Raven, it was just starting to add up on his exhaustion.

He moved over towards the kitchen and watched as Cyborg cooked the burgers. They definitely looked good, Cyborg probably had some perfect chef app installed onto his hard drive. He smiled as he saw the juice that the burgers were dripping with, his favorite part of a burger. A dry burger was just........wrong to Fade.

"Hey Nightwing", Fade asked as he moved over towards his fellow Titan. "I had a quick question. Has Raven always been so secluded from everyone on the team?", he asked curiously.

Nightwing glanced back at Neal when he asked the question. He didn't answer right away, contemplating on how he should answer. After all, there was a lot about Raven that the newcomers didn't know... a lot that he was sure Raven wouldn't want them to. Eventually, he let out a small breath and shrugged. "Pretty much. I guess you could say she's always been a bit... withdrawn. She's been through a lot, more than most, and some stuff that no one should ever have to experience. She really does have a caring heart, though, she just... well, she prefers her solitude. She cares for her friends, even if she doesn't always show it."

A moment later, Starfire marched in, leading Sarah by the hand. "We have returned!" she exclaimed. "And we are most hungry. I could smell the wonderful aromas of your cooking from all the way down the hall."

"Why thank you," Beast Boy said, marveling over his tofu. "I think it's the seasoning, makes it just right."

"Actually, I was talking to Cyborg," Starfire replied.

Beast Boy blinked and sighed back down at his tofu, muttering under his breath.

"Forgive me if I'm being too forward about this, I'm just worried about her as of late. Last time she got around Faust she was bleeding just from being around his destruction. I guess I just want her to know that I have her back like she has mine", Fade said as he looked down at the counter. He really didn't mean to pry, he just wanted to help out someone that he had considered a friend from the beginning. "If I ever am about to touch a nerve just let me know, at the very least I don't want to make things any worse for her"

Fade quickly turned as Starfire and Sarah entered into the room, claiming that they were quite hungry. He only laughed at Beast Boy's reaction, he was amazed that the guy kept on trying to convince everyone that the food was good when everyone made it clear they wanted nothing to do with it. "He's determined I'll give him that much"