I pulled my cape around me just as I heard the footsteps of the two behind me. Running in the darkness allowed me to appear back into the world running at the backs of the two guards. They, of course, expected me to appear behind them, but they were unable to turn due to the two teens that were barreling towards them from the front. With a fierce battle cry, Jinx threw both arms out in front of her, pink waves of energy shooting outwards at her command. With nowhere to go but up, the two guards took to the air. I caught Red-X kicking off from the ground before pulling my cape over myself again, narrowly avoiding the pink energy that missed the guards.

I reappeared across from Red-X in the air, the two guards in between us. He was attacking the one without the helmet's front while I went for the back of the one with the helmet. I did not have time to see what his plan of attack was as I focused on the back of the helmet. 

My claw attacked instinctively, faster than I could control it. It reached out to grab the alien's helmet. As I had hoped, the alien noticed me before it could strike, spinning around and holding out his spear to hit me with the back swing. The claw, having no choice, halted its advance on the alien's head and instead grabbed the spear by the pole, stopping it from chopping me in half. While I still had the momentum, I made to smash the guard into his unexposed face, but what I didn't expect was the guard to suddenly drop his spear.

I fell through the air from the sheer weight of the weapon. As I fell, I could see the guard pointing both hands towards me. I vaguely noted the missing presence of Red-X and the other guard before the purple energy began to rain down like bullets. I found my cape just as the claw released its hold on the spear, allowing me to pull us both back into the darkness.

Back on solid ground, I stood facing the guard just as he caught his spear in one hand, his eyes glowing purple in the darkness of his helmet. I clasped my cape again, in preparation to vanish once more, only to have the guard fly through the air at break-neck speed towards me. 

I didn't have enough time to react the way I wanted as the spear was suddenly thrust in my direction. All I could manage was to pull the cape in between us like a shield, with just enough room to be able to watch the spear tip make contact with the cape before it sunk into it like an open doorway.

While the maneuver saved me from dying, there definitely wasn't enough cape space for the guard to fit through along with the spear. But, just before that became a problem, a pink blur came soaring from beside us, sending two well placed boots against the side of the guard's helmet. While the impact was solid and enough to release the grip the guard had on the spear, (allowing it to harmlessly fall the rest of the way into my cape) the guard himself only slid back several feet, the well-dented purple helmet still securely placed on his head.

"Well. that could have gone better," Jinx grumbled to herself. It had been so long, I had almost forgotten how limber she was. Jinx caught me staring and our eyes immediately averted.

"Ah, that was, uh, a close one there, Kyd."

I nodded. Out of the corner of my eye, she seemed to be looking anywhere but at me, a strange shade of red on her face. Finally, her bright pink eyes looked up at me again, that strange red color growing redder. "You know, I've never seen you without your--"

She was cut off when the helmed guard charged her, attempting to send a flying kick to her head. Although distracted, Jinx managed to duck away from the kick and then twirl away from the subsequent kick that the guard attempted with his other foot as he spun mid-attack. The hex master performed those tell-tale back flips of hers to build some distance between them as the guard then began shooting out those energy bolts at her retreating form. Though, before she even stopped flipping, the guard was already on top of her again, having flown in her direction before allowing all his energy to make contact. Still on her hands, Jinx was forced to push herself off into the air to avoid getting smashed by the guard's fist. She landed back down several feet away only to have the guard already on her again, throwing punch after punch into her.

Despite my own eyes having trouble keeping up, Jinx seemed capable of maneuvering her body away from the punches, though the close proximity was keeping her from distancing herself any further from the alien. I also couldn't help but notice how close to the wall the two were getting. In fact, Jinx just hit the wall with her back.

Damn it.

Wasting no more time, I gripped my cape and pulled it around me. The cold darkness greeted me for its not even half a second before I reappeared back into the world, a solid kick sinking into my gut.

Wait, what?

I only had time to look up at the guard's glowing eyes before I was blown backwards, sliding for a ways on my back. I clenched my stomach in my good hand, a burning sensation threatening to spew up from my mouth. Trying to sit up only managed to get me to my elbows, but it was just in time to see Jinx jump on the unintentional distraction I gave her.

The guard turned from attacking me, fist already at the ready, only to have Jinx's hand calmly place itself at the face of his helmet. Jinx's eyes glew a menacing shade of pink, just as pink energy sparked from her hands. An instant later, the guard jerked away from her, his hands on his helmet as he seemed to struggle with it. Jinx immediately moved away from the wall as the guard turned away from her, allowing me to see that his helmet had 'unluckily' crushed itself around his face and neck, keeping him both from seeing and from taking it off. 

Still, judging the strength of these Tameranian's, I assumed it would only take him a matter of seconds to just rip the thing off. But, as I watched him seem to struggle with all his might to pull off the now offending piece of metal, I could only assume that these guard's armor was especially tough.

"Hey, Kyd, you alright?" someone asked me. Jinx was now standing before me, hand extended in my direction.

I nodded in response to her question. The burning sensation was still in my stomach, though it wasn't threatening to spill out my mouth anymore.

 I hesitated in accepting her hand. Jinx quickly took note of my hesitation as her hand threatened to fall back to her side. With a silent grunt of effort, I released my good hand from my stomach and gripped her's. She looked taken back for a moment, but quickly composed herself with a smirk before helping me stand back up. My good hand quickly released hers and went to back my stomach when I was back on my feet, the burning feeling returning with a passion from the sudden movement.

"You sure you're okay? That guy really got you with that kick, didn't he?"

I only shrugged, forcing my hand to my side to not make it look like it was all that bad. Jinx seemed to study me for a second, but when her eyes drifted to the claw I reflexively put it behind my back. She glanced away almost immediately.

"Well, anyways, I don't think he'll be a problem anymore," she commented as we both looked at the guard who was still having trouble with removing his helmet. He had resorted to trying to blast some of that energy against his own head, only to have the bolts bounce harmlessly off the helmet. "Weird, it's almost like that armor was made to defend against their own people. Why do you think they'd have something like that?"

Probably to take care of Starfire. I thought this as I remembered the orange Titan shouting at me and See-More about her own people attacking her when she got here. By the way she had looked then, and how those guards didn't appear to have a scratch on them, they seemed to have done the job pretty well.

I looked around for Starfire, suddenly curious about her condition, but it appeared that her, and most of her people, had managed to escape through a door at the back of the room before the cave in from the ship buried it in rubble. I gazed around the room some more while we had a moment to breathe. 

The green beast managed to break free from his captors encirclement sometime ago, but now it seemed all he could do was stay on the run as the small group of Tameran warriors flew after him. 

At the altar, Robin was having his own personal duel with Number 26. It seemed he was more capable at close range fighting than See-More was, though I knew one good punch from the alien was all it would take. After all, he was only human. Even from my distance, I could see how tired he had become. How weak...

The claw twitched, breaking me from my trance. I quickly shook my head to clear the sudden desires. A hand on my shoulder immediately made me flinch away from the contact, though all there was attached to it was Jinx. Her hand slowly returned to her side.

"Are you okay? You look kinda pale," she asked, though it was more like a whisper. Her pink eyes were wide and her lips were slightly parted. She looked scared.

Twitch.

My claw slowly rose itself until it hung in the air between us. Jinx stared at it in silent amazement. I expected her to gasp, to back away, or even maybe attack me, but she just stared at it. No, not only stare at it.  She raised one of her hands until it was level with the claw. 

My eyes caught her pink ones. There was no fear in those eyes, all I could see was wonder. A question that needed no words to ask. Not that I could give any words as an answer, either way. Her eyes lowered again as if she had an answer, fixing themselves on the claw, her hand inching slowly towards it—fingers outstretched.

But instead of the twitch I had all but expected from that claw, I felt something much more unexpected. A heavy heartbeat. A dull throbbing that started somewhere deep inside my chest. Had that beating thing always been there? And was it always this loud?

The throbbing of the thing in my chest filled my ears as her pale fingers suddenly were mere inches from the pointed tips of the claw's fingers. And, just as she was about to touch it, instead of trying to strike, instead of attacking another poor unsuspecting victim, the claw instead flinched away from the contact less than a second before her fingers touched it. The breath caught in my throat as Jinx looked back up into my eyes.

We stood there for only a second, neither knowing what to say or do to the other. So many of those questions filled up inside my head in that simple second, so many things that I wanted to—needed to ask her, but knowing there was no way I ever could. And in that second, Jinx seemed to be able to make some realization of her own. Her eyes grew wide again and even opened her mouth as if to say something, but whatever that something was was quickly interrupted by a sudden dark figure that almost fell into us as he stumbled backwards, trying to keep balance.

"Hey, uh, I don't mean to interrupt this little intimate reunion you two got going here," Red-X greeted after he managed to keep himself from falling down. Standing between us, he pointed at something to my right. "but I kind of got a situation I might need a little help with."

Jinx and I both looked over to where he was pointing to see the "situation" to be little more than the helmetless guard—fists clenched, eyes glowing, and flying towards us at a dangerous speed.

"Sorry for thinking the master thief would be able to handle himself. I'll remember not to make that mistake again," Jinx said, holding her arms towards the guard in a defensive position while shooting Red-X a very mocking grin.

"Whoa there, Pinky. This call for help is just for Kyd. Though. next time I'm out of windows to break or ladders to walk under, I'll be sure to give you a call," Red-X retorted, extending his own arms outwards as blades in the shape of red X's extended from his gloves, looking much like a pair of deadly claws.

 Jinx lost her grin as she glared heatedly at the master thief. "I told you not to call me-!"

"Heads up, Pinky!" Red-X shouted before sending an elbow into Jinx's stomach. A shocked expression came over her face as she hunched over and took a step back from the sudden blow. Though, that surprise only increased when an armored fist threw itself into the empty air that Jinx's head had been in only a second ago. 

Red-X took a step back after elbowing Jinx to narrowly avoid the blow as well, but he quickly moved back in to close the distance, his own, now clawed, hand already held back behind him. "Too slow!"

Red-X threw his own punch into the guard's face, only to have the guard use his non-fisted hand to block the blow, gripping it between the top two pointed tips of the X shaped claw. I grasped my cape and quickly moved in; preparing to slice into the guy with the hem of the cloak, only to realize that the guard had far from forgotten I was there.

Shooting me a particularly menacing glare, the Tameran flung Red-X into me. The thief's body hit me directly in the side, the mere weight of him sending us both into the ground as the guard released his hold on Red-X's fist.

"Sorry about that. Guess he was expecting another attack like that after I split his spear in half," Red-X grumbled as he moved from on top of me, allowing us both to stand. I was forced to grip my stomach again as another flare of heat threatened to rise.

I  pushed the discomfort aside as Red-X and I returned our attention back to the guard, his hands and eyes glowing a fierce purple color. None of us had enough time to act further, however, as sudden girlish battle cry resounded in the dungeon. All three of us looked over just in time to see Jinx unleash a rather large wave of pink energy—the energy soaring up into the still hanging pieces of rubble from the rooftop. An instant later, large shards of stone began to fall as if there had been a second ship that crashed through. The guard attempted to fly away from the avalanche, but it was simply too massive in scale. So massive, in fact, that I couldn't help but notice the rather large slabs of stone heading right for my head as well.

"Uh, Kyd, do that thing you do," Red-X commanded, gripping my cape and tugging it lightly as he looked up into the collapsing ceiling as well. With a quick nod, I grabbed my cloak once again and pulled it around the thief and myself.

"Damn that's cold!" Red-X shouted as soon as we reappeared, instantly leaping away from me and making Jinx jump in fright.

"Don't shout like that!" she shouted, slapping Red-X on the arm when he got too close. The thief whined a little louder than he really needed to as he massaged the assaulted limb.

"Man, you really did a number on that guy," Red-X noted after he had calmed down. I looked to where he was mentioning to see a rather size-able mountain of rubble that had taken the place of where the guard, Red-X, and I stood less than a second ago.

"Yeah, I guess I kind of got carried away," Jinx mumbled, scratching her cheek.

"Getting carried away isn't a bad thing. Turns out it's actually a pretty good thing. Kyd knows all about that, am I right?"

I shot him the worst glare I could conjure, which seemed to do the trick as Red-X held his hands up, laughing nervously. "No offense meant, of course!" he assured. I granted him a silent sigh as Jinx looked on at us with an almost peaceful smile.

We returned our attention to our surroundings. Now that the guards were taken care of, I wondered if should we focus on helping out that green animal or Robi-

It all happened too fast.

Jinx was hit from behind first. I could only watch as her emotions changed from surprise to pain in an instant before she was on the ground, armored foot on her back and armored hands holding her own arms up behind her. Despite the surprise attack, Red-X and I immediately tried to head towards them, only to be stopped by Jinx's screams of pain as her arms were pulled. 

The guard that attacked her then turned his face to us. It was the one that had the helmet smashed around his face, though, apparently, he had morphed it enough to allow just enough room for one glowing purple eye to shine through.

"Let her go you bastar-!" Red-X demanded, only to be cut off when a hand reached out from behind us and gripped his shoulder. Red-X turned faster than I could, so when I finally looked over, it was just in time to see another guard, one with long red hair, send his knee straight into Red-X's gut.

All the fight drained out of the thief at once as he slumped over from the blow. I tried to react, I tried to run at the sudden appearance of the guard I thought I had killed, but as soon as I took a step in their direction, the guard suddenly had one hand gripped around Red-X's throat before holding him up in the air. He then looked at me, and I froze completely.

Beneath the mess of red hair, beneath the mess of red blood, there was a face that was no longer a face. There were no features I could distinguish as a nose or even a mouth. But then, as I unwillingly looked closer, that was not entirely the truth. There was something that still stood out. One single glowing eye that glared maliciously from the mess of everything. I was broken from my horrified stare as the guard squeezed on Red-X's throat, the defeated thief only managing a weak grunt in response to the pain.

I tried to get my feet to work, my hands, anything. I couldn't remain frozen here. I had to act, and I had to-

The explosion of rock broke me from any concentration I had started to form. Even though I knew what was coming was inevitable, I still found myself turning towards the noise. Turning to see the guard who had previously been buried in rubble—armor beaten and battered, face scratched and bruised, but still very much alive. I reached for my cape even though I knew it was futile. The force of a train struck me on the side of my head as the guard back handed me, and while I expected to find myself flying through the air—fate, and the alien, wouldn't have it that way.

I let out a silent gasp for air as I was pulled back from flying away. I tried to move, even though my head was spinning like a top, but, try as I might, I couldn't. It was as if my cape had caught itself on something. That something then yanked my cape upwards and I was pulled up with it. Through blurry eyes I could see the orange and purple colors of the guard as he flew ever higher, holding me in the air by my cape. He stopped somewhere near the roof. I tried to look down, but then the world started spinning. So, instead, I opted to turn my focus to the young alien woman who had just begun laughing in triumph.

"Well, this has certainly been enjoyable, to say the least." Her voice cheerfully echoed in the dark and dead dungeon. "But I believe it's finally time that we shut down this little assault on our home world."

There was a green and red blur hanging by his cape as she held him in the air, similar to what was happening to me.

So, in the end, I didn't get to kill Robin after all.

I watched as she dropped the blur, the greens and reds all falling into a motionless heap on the ground.

A previously large green blur had shrunk down to a much smaller one that now lay on the ground as well, a small gathering of orange blurs forming a circle around it's lifeless form.

I couldn't make the Titans pay for what they did to my friend.

"And, while there have been far too many interruptions leading to this moment, it is finally time that I eliminate the challenge to my throne and begin this universe anew."

She landed on the ground as she spoke this and began walking. I turned my slowly clearing eyes to the pink blur that lay defeated on the ground. I couldn't tell if her arms were still attached to her sides or not.

I couldn't get her back for betraying us.

Number 26 stopped beside a strange green and white blur I could not recognize. I turned my attention away from that to look at the mostly black blur, with a hint of red that was being held up into the air by its neck.

I couldn't save any of my friends...

I couldn't save...any of my friends...

I couldn't...save...any...

All at once, the blurriness left my eyes. Every visual nerve in my brain went into overdrive as I turned my attention back to Number 26 who was now standing over See-More's still unmoving form.

No...

I tried to reach out and stop the guard from holding me, but he was too far up. I was too weak. I turned my eyes back to the two.

No...No...

"On this night, I hereby claim myself, Komand'r, as Tamaran's new Queen!"

No...See-More...

I desperately twisted and turned my sore and unwilling body in order to free myself. I even tried shouting at the guard to release me. Of course, I couldn't say anything. Of course, I couldn't do anything.

"And on this night, I declare galactic war on Earth and all of its allies!"

I felt that dull beating in my chest grow faster and press harder against me. It hurt for it to beat this way. It hurt so much I could feel something cold and wet begin to drip down from my eyes. I reached out a hand to catch it as it dripped down my cheek. But when I pulled back the hand, all I saw was blood.

Blood drenching one long, clawed finger.

I looked back to see that she was beginning to bend down, beginning to reach out towards him. I reached out with my bloodied claw. I screamed as loud as I could inside my head.

Why can't I do anything?

Why can't I stop anyone?

Why can't I protect anyone?

Why-

...

His body felt as stiff as a rock. He tried to move it, move the fingers, the toes, the hands, feet, legs, anything. But nothing would budge. Only his eye would obey his commands. Too bad it was cracked again. He tried to look around, but all he could make out were the broken floor and walls, all melted together into one boring grey color. He could hear sounds of some sort of battle going on around him.

This time, he tried to raise his head and, while it did not budge, it sent a searing pain that sunk deep into his brain, immediately forcing him to stop from trying again.

Man, I'm useless.

He wanted to say that out loud, but he couldn't get his mouth to work, either. The pain reminded him of that kick he took from Blackfire. That simple kick that ruined everything.

Giving up already, See-More?

It was a voice in his aching head. A familiar voice. And an oddly chastising voice, coming from him.

Yeah, man, I suck. He thought back in response, even trying to do that made his brain hurt. He let his broken vision settle back to focusing on nothing but the grey world he was forced to see.

I do not think you suck. You performed admirably.

He let out an unsatisfied grunt, kicking up dust that had settled on the ground around his face.

No way. We were supposed to beat her, man, but I screwed it up. I screwed it up bad and now everyone is gonna-

Everyone is fine, See-More. Because of you, everyone will be fine.

Even though he couldn't, he wanted to furrow his brow at these words. It wasn't like his companion to say lies to try and make him feel better. The obvious pity only made him feel worse.

Because of your actions, I had the time to contact Red-X. Because of your character, Jinx has come to your assistance. And, because of your hope, Kyd Wykkyd is here to rescue you. Do not think that you are weak, See-More. You are by far the strongest person I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.

To say See-More was stunned was an understatement. Fixit's praise aside, he was saying that Kyd Wykkyd, Red-X and...Jinx were here? They were here and they were fighting.

In a flas,h he remembered seeing Kyd. Saving him from that guard, right before getting hit from behind by Blackfire.

But Red-X and Jinx were here too? Why? How?

A smile slowly appeared on See-More's face. His mouth seemed to finally let him do as he wished.

He didn't care why or how. They were here. After all this time, all of his friends were together again.

If you will permit me to say this, See-More, it has been an honor to have worked with you and to have been a part of you. I am aware I have not been the kindest or most forgiving of individuals, and I here now apologize for everything I have done because of those faults. Blackfire may have brought us together to serve her own needs, and I may have accepted to serve for my own as well, but I would like to believe we remained together because of something more. I consider you my friend, See-More and I hope, despite everything that has occurred between us, that you think of me in the same light.

Fixit's tone was monotone as always as he said this, but even in his head See-More could pick up something in those words. Something that made his smile disappear completely.

Of course, man! Of course we're friends, but, why are you sayin' all this junk now?

There was silence for a moment, though See-More could faintly make out the sound of footsteps attempting to break that silence.

Because I believe this is where we part, my friend.

At those words, the footsteps came to a stop. See-More tried to call out to Fixit in his head, out-loud even, but everything fell silent as a strong hand gripped around his face. All words caught in his throat as the hand effortlessly raised his aching body into the air.

Faintly, he could hear the sounds of shouting all around him. She sounds of the person gripping him shouting. But it was all muffled, white noise in his head. He felt himself losing consciousness gradually, all noise becoming quieter and quieter in his head. Until, finally--

Never lose hope, See-More.

And with those final words, See-More's entire world faded into darkness.