Scaled jaws snapped the femur in half. The sound of the bone cracking was followed by the scraping of the razor-like teeth working to scrape the marrow out of the middle. The noise interrupted the almost eerie silence of the ill-lit room in the Titan Tower. Save for the bone munching, there wasn’t much available for the average senses of sight or hearing. The only sources of light were a few turquoise crystals jutting from the jagged stones that emitted a dim glow and a pair of luminescent irises of the same color. No clocks ticked, no electrical devices emitted their low hum, the rocky walls glistened with humidity, but no water dripped.
There was another loud crack as the creature worked its way down the behemoth leg bone followed by what could only be described as a soft purr as the process was repeated and a forked tongue lapped up some of the now-exposed marrow.
Out of nowhere, a boom sounded far off in the distance followed by the subtle shake of the surrounding environment; the noise and the movement both muted as though contained in a bubble. The teeth hovered around the next bite of the femur for a moment before dropping the osseous matter completely. Dry scales rustled over one another as the quadruped stood and there was an audible sigh before the creature stepped forward, going from four legs to two as the form became humanoid.
Just one night off. That was all he had needed. Raven had agreed to let him skip the nightly rounds in order to eat. Properly eat, not the weird snacking thing that the other Titans did. But based on whatever had caused a mini-earthquake, it sounded like Luka, Coyote, and Screech Owl had found something to blow up.
Could they handle it on their own? He mused for a second over the amount of paperwork he’d be stuck with if he let them face potential death without even spectating...and immediately walked through a small opening between the stones in front of him.
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Nostrils flared as the masked figure took in the night air from the roof of the Titan Tower. He could smell the ozone, but there was something else, something almost familiar. From this vantage point, he could see the crater and ruined infrastructure. People were running away from the scene, but he was too far away to hear their individual screams. They looked like ants from here.
Stepping back into the shadows, he disappeared, only to suddenly manifest in the shadows of a warehouse across from his original location.
☆ ☆ ☆
Aquamarine eyes peered out from the pitch-black shadow of a collapsed building, intently watching the scene through the mess of the fleeing crowd. Through the smell of the debris, sweat, and fear, there was that almost familiar scent again.
Was that…ichor?
The realization hit him right as he saw what had created the crater - a young human in traditional Hellenic armor had his spear trained on some faces that he recognized and others he didn’t.
A fucking Olympian. Luka had taught him that expletive. He liked the way it rolled off the tongue, even mentally.
He should have just stayed in. This was going to mean paperwork either way.
Watching a few large spiders bob and weave through the crowd, a ghost of a smile touched his lips as he saw Luka also take notice of the arachnids.
'Afraid of a few extra legs? You have seen worse monsters.' He pushed his words into her mind, the fact that he was enjoying her panic wasn’t lost in his tone.
A familiar-looking hero seemed to be trying to reason with the boy. He remembered the figure from studying past Titans. Nightbird? Nightbat? Something like that. Then a new figure somersaulted between the Olympian and old hero, responding to the armor-clad boy in what could only be Ancient Greek. The crowd had all but completely dispersed, leaving only a few hysterical citizens to scramble on their own...but he was still too far to hear the conversation. The inconvenience of hindered senses in this meat suit was something he would never get used to.
Should he check in with the team and let them know he was there? More than likely, yes.
But it appeared as though the situation was somewhat under cont- his deliberation was cut off as Screech Owl dove at the Olympian, aiming for his weapon.
Mortals, he mentally shrugged as he leaned back against the shadow-covered brick behind him. Who was he to interrupt the show?
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Koriand’r circled around Jump City, taking in the aerial view of the disturbance below. A crater marred the grid pattern of the streets and a few nearby buildings had collapsed from the initial impact. She moved closer, her glowing eyes and flaming hair providing a wild contrast against the darkening sky behind her.
There was no longer unusual weather activity, but instead of the starship or monster she had expected to come crawling out of the hole...was a boy. A boy with a long weapon and full-body armor, but a boy nonetheless.
Lifting her wrist to her face, she touched the side of the sleek metal communication device.
"Currently assessing situation. Will communicate if action is needed." A low-pitched blip sounded, signifying that her communication had been received.
A single standing streetlight flickered to her left, making a desperate buzzing as it tried to fulfill its purpose despite being cracked and bent at a 45º angle. Starfire floated beside the broken apparatus.
By now the crowd had evacuated. The last few civilians left were heeding Raven’s instructions and frantically moving out of the area. Looking at her old friend, it momentarily felt like no time had passed...like they were back in the old days. The feeling made her hands emit an even stronger glow as she momentarily closed her eyes and beamed at Raven.
Snapping her attention back to what was happening on the ground, she hovered closer, trying to recognize anyone else in the scene in front of her, but only seeing unfamiliar faces. Except one.
Nightwing.
Kori’s virid eyes soaked in the details of the figure before her. Even with the mask, he looked older. Had she given any more thought about it, she would have realized that the observation was a ridiculously obvious one - over a decade had passed - but seeing him in any other way than was preserved in her memory, forced the feelings of Rekma to resurface. The unexpected influx of negative emotions caused her to falter, her glow momentarily imitating the street light next to her.
X’hal help her. Her emotions had not affected her so strongly in years and this was not the place or the time for such displays of weakness. With a steadying inhale, the hero pushed the longing, the pain, and the betrayal she felt down into her ninth stomach. She would deal with that later. Or not...
Prioritizing the matter at hand, Kori realized she did not want to act without checking in - something she had not had to worry about in quite a long time. The gold-skinned being quickly closed the fifty-meter distance between herself and Raven.
"Greetings, Raven!" Her voice was barely above a whisper and she offered a quick glance at her comrade before retraining her eyes on the interaction below. Despite the uncertainty of the situation, Starfire resisted the urge to launch herself at her previous teammate and take up her personal space with what the humans called a ‘bear hug’. She had never witnessed bears hugging, but they must be very affectionate creatures to have an embrace named after them.
"How can I help? Is the small armored one our enemy?" The princess was clearly hoping that was not the case, but she had been wrong before.
Out of nowhere, a large owl-esque body dove at the armor-clad boy, snatching away his weapon. Despite how the situation had been appearing to deescalate, the opposite was now true. Judging by the reactions of the others, they knew this being. The familiarity probably meant she was on the same team as Raven and Nightwing, but Starfire couldn’t help but want to protect the boy. Despite his current aggression, she recognized the fear and determination in his eyes. That had been her in her past life here on Earth. The alien had arrived on this planet afraid for her life and ready to fight any that moved.
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