Categories > Cartoons > Teen Titans > A Dish Best Served Cold
The Power Inside
0 reviewsAfter the dust clears and the Titans recover, Slade and Blood arrive, ready to do their worst. Crunch time...
0Unrated
Disclaimer: The Teen Titans do NOT belong... to me.
A Dish Best Served Cold-Chapter Eighteen
(The whole fic so far, Sub-Zero has kept his head through thick and thin... but have you ever wondered what happens when he REALLY loses his temper?)
By the time the robot-commandos and the H.I.V.E. thugs exited the missile, the entire hall had been completely evacuated except for the Titans and Sub-Zero.
"Well... about seventy to seven... I can't say these are fair odds." Robin murmured calmly.
"Yeah... almost makes you feel sorry for them, doesn't it?" Zero hissed icily, his face cold and emotionless.
With a shout, the baddies charged the Titans.
Zero glared hatefully at the encroachers, and though he was struggling to stay calm... he felt almost as if there were... something else within him...something angry and bloodthirsty. Finally, he could keep his cool no longer.
"GRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!"
Loosing a berserk, animalistic scream, Zero began to... change.
Wintery gusts of wind whipped up around him, causing his hair to snap out of it's ponytail and flow wildly around him; his eyes suddenly blazed a pale, glowing, frozen blue; they looked like angry spheres of reflective ice.
"How DARE you defile my homeland and treat my people with such disrespect!"
Sub-Zero, screaming with cold fury, was the first to attack. The sight of his castle being attacked by outsider thugs seemed to have provoked him into a rage; the Titans had never seen him like this.
He drew his sword with his right hand, while using the other hand to hurl a freezing shot at his attackers. The white, glowing bolt hurtled towards the assailants and exploded into a blue nova of ice and snow, freezing several of the cronies into statues that quickly evaporated into a cloud of frost...
A Slade bot attempted a flying kick on Zero, but the knight whipped his Eviglasere around and sliced of it's legs... it fell to the ground as a malfunctioning stump with arms and a head, right before Zero sliced off it's head, finishing it off.
He grabbed a H.I.V.E. soldier and threw him into one of the large, blue-flamed torches decorating the hall to burn him alive, and when another one of Slade's commandos tried to grab him around the neck, he ducked it's arms and ran it through with his sword. With a wicked grin, Zero kicked it off his sword's blade with his boot, and then blasted it's head off with an ice ball.
At this point, Sub-Zero sheathed his blade and held out hands, his normally red eyes glowing a pale, ice blue.
"Now... my specialty." He snarled with grim satisfaction. "... WINDS OF THE NORTH!"
At first, there was only a slight whistle of an eerie breeze and a faint white and blue glow at Zero's hands, and the baddies ran toward Zero undaunted. But it quickly grew to a howling maelstrom of winds and snow, and Zero roared angrily and shot it at them as a huge blizzard.
They had absolutely no time at all to retreat.
As the blizzard swept over them, they were instantly turned into ice statues and blown back into one of the castle walls; they shattered loudly into a ream of little, bitty pieces.
Now, only about a dozen attackers were left. The H.I.V.E Soldiers fired with their laser guns, and the Slade Commandos charged Zero at once.
"Now... time to carve you mechanical bastards up like a pumpkin..." Zero growled, drawing Eviglasere and going into a fencing stance...
He hollered and leapt at them while avoiding H.I.V.E. laser fire with ease, drawing back his sword for a powerful swing... and when the first robot reached him, he preformed three quick slices with surgical precision; it's arms, legs, and head were cut off, destroying it utterly.
He dodged every punch and kick the mecha-soldiers attempted, retaliating with sword attacks and, indeed, cutting them up like pumpkins all the while dodging laser blasts from the H.I.V.E. troops.
Sub-Zero was moving to fast to be seen... all his stunned friends could see were a few robotic limbs flying through the air and ice rays shooting about...
After a couple minutes, all that was left were cowering H.I.V.E. soldiers and a pile up sliced up mechanical parts from the Slade bots.
Several laser shots actually hit Zero, but they ricocheted off of his armor without even damaging it; he wasn't harmed at all... it only served to anger and enrage the young warrior further!
He turned to the H.I.V.E. troops and sheathed his sword.
He screamed with righteous fury and ran at them, weaving in between their barrage of laser beams, and pounced upon them and started beating them down bare handed.
He grabbed one by the neck and snapped it, grabbed two more and bashed them into each other with more than enough force to break their helmets and crush their skulls.
He dodged more laser gunfire and kicked another so hard that his foot went totally through the poor fool's chest punching a hole in him. He lifted up the final remaining soldier up by one leg and hoisted him up high enough to look dead him in the face.
"You get your damned, dirty Asses off my island..." he threatened, almost demonically, with his eyes still shining a reflective, frozen blue.
With a sickening 'rip', he tore the goon's brainless, helmeted head right out of the shoulders, spinal cord still attached, and hoisted it triumphantly while letting the body slide lifelessly to the ground with blood spurting out of the neck like a busted fire hydrant. After a gruesome moment of victory, he carelessly tossed it over his head like a basketball, while smiling with cruel pleasure the whole time.
Sub-Zero fell to his knees, overcome with exhaustion and diminishing anger... he panted with fatigue and propped himself up on his sword; his eyes still hadn't stopped glowing.
The Titans hesitantly poked their heads above the overturned table behind which they'd been ducking for cover. They would have helped Sub-Zero, but... from the looks of the moves he had been pulling off, he didn't need it. And his enraged state made him seem even more dangerous to be around than the enemies!
"What in the name of Azarath...?" whispered Raven hoarsely.
"DUDE! He just tore that guy's head off!" Exclaimed Beast Boy looking ill.
"What has happened to his eyes? They look... frightening." Whimpered Star.
"I... think he lost his temper." Robin said, looking like his masked eyes were about to bug out of his head.
"Naw, ya think?" snorted Cy. "He lost a temper; THEY lost a Hell of a lot more than THAT..."
Jinx stayed silent, looking at Zero with wide eyes. She had never actually seen him get angry... much less THIS angry. To see him like this after he was normally just a kind hearted, gentlemanly, joking around guy... it scared her. After a moment's hesitation, she got up and began to approach him slowly and cautiously.
"...Zero? Zero, are you all right?" Jinx asked urgently, trying to get him to respond.
The knight looked back up at her, and she was relieved to see his eyes back to normal... but also concerned by his loud panting.
"...Jinx?" he moaned softly, as if a little disoriented.
"Mm-hmm, it's me... are you hurt?"
Zero blinked a few times and shook his head slowly.
"I.... I'm not...sure... I don't think so...I'm just so tired..."
She helped him to his feet, and the others started to make their way over to him as well.
"Wow... you really cleaned up back there, bro." Cy said, looking over at the remnants of the attackers.
Zero nodded weakly and said: "I... I guess.... I don't know what was wrong with me, though... I shouldn't have lost control of myself like that..."
"Who cares? You took care of those rejects, so what does it matter?" Beast Boy laughed trying to cheer Zero up... but to limited effect.
Jinx and Robin helped the exhausted Knight stumble light-headedly down a hall way toward his room...
An Hour and a Half Later
Zero lay in bed covered up, sound asleep. The others stayed in the room with him. Jinx sat in a chair near the side of the bed, watching him glumly. They had confirmed he was uninjured, but still, there seemed to be something wrong... he was horribly tired, and had fallen asleep as soon as he had gotten to his room.
"Perhaps friend Sub-Zero is ill..." Starfire sniffed looking at him with concern.
"No... I've checked, there's nothing wrong with him. Not physically, anyway." Raven said, shaking her head.
"Do you know what might be wrong with him?" Jinx asked her.
"No. But I do know that it probably had something to do with the way he was so... different back there."
"Zero? What's wrong?" Jinx said suddenly, getting everybody's attention. She was referring to Zero, who had all of the sudden started to groan and twist around in his sleep.
"Zero, wake up!" Jinx insisted, shaking him lightly... and a moment later he opened his eyes, sat up, and yawned widely.
"Oh, man.... What hit me?" he asked, not really remembering what had happened earlier.
Then everything came back to him.
He looked around at his friends. "Are you guys all right?" he asked urgently.
"Yeah, we're fine... we didn't even fight. You took them all out by yourself." Robin reminded.
"Oh...right." He mumbled sheepishly.
He looked at them strangely.
"Guys... what... happened to me back there?"
"Well, we were hoping you could tell us." Jinx said softly. "You were... different back there... I didn't like it." She sounded almost frightened.
"She's right." Raven nodded. "I could sense something... darker, about you."
"Darker? What do you mean?" Zero asked nervously.
Raven sighed and explained.
"The only thing I can come up with... to explain the glowing eyes, the berserk fighting, your behavior... is maybe they were a physical manifestation of your anger... a similar thing has happened to me, before..." she added softly.
"So...basically, what you mean is... Zero got majorly pissed, got powered up into by his anger, kicked major ass, and then turned back?" Cy asked. Raven nodded.
"Well... I'm just glad I'm back to normal... I don't like being unable to control myself." Zero said with relief.
At that moment, the door burst open to reveal a panicked guard.
"M'lord Sub-Zero! They have arrived! The outsider Slade, he has arrived in a metal whale! We must prepare to defend the castle!"
The guard ran back off.
"Slade..." Robin whispered venomously.
"Wait... what did he mean 'metal whale'?" asked Star in confusion.
"Probably a submarine... but that's beside the point, we have to go help them!" Cy reminded.
Zero got up and stood resolutely. After a moment, he spoke:
"This is it... the time has come."
A Dish Best Served Cold-Chapter Eighteen
(The whole fic so far, Sub-Zero has kept his head through thick and thin... but have you ever wondered what happens when he REALLY loses his temper?)
By the time the robot-commandos and the H.I.V.E. thugs exited the missile, the entire hall had been completely evacuated except for the Titans and Sub-Zero.
"Well... about seventy to seven... I can't say these are fair odds." Robin murmured calmly.
"Yeah... almost makes you feel sorry for them, doesn't it?" Zero hissed icily, his face cold and emotionless.
With a shout, the baddies charged the Titans.
Zero glared hatefully at the encroachers, and though he was struggling to stay calm... he felt almost as if there were... something else within him...something angry and bloodthirsty. Finally, he could keep his cool no longer.
"GRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!"
Loosing a berserk, animalistic scream, Zero began to... change.
Wintery gusts of wind whipped up around him, causing his hair to snap out of it's ponytail and flow wildly around him; his eyes suddenly blazed a pale, glowing, frozen blue; they looked like angry spheres of reflective ice.
"How DARE you defile my homeland and treat my people with such disrespect!"
Sub-Zero, screaming with cold fury, was the first to attack. The sight of his castle being attacked by outsider thugs seemed to have provoked him into a rage; the Titans had never seen him like this.
He drew his sword with his right hand, while using the other hand to hurl a freezing shot at his attackers. The white, glowing bolt hurtled towards the assailants and exploded into a blue nova of ice and snow, freezing several of the cronies into statues that quickly evaporated into a cloud of frost...
A Slade bot attempted a flying kick on Zero, but the knight whipped his Eviglasere around and sliced of it's legs... it fell to the ground as a malfunctioning stump with arms and a head, right before Zero sliced off it's head, finishing it off.
He grabbed a H.I.V.E. soldier and threw him into one of the large, blue-flamed torches decorating the hall to burn him alive, and when another one of Slade's commandos tried to grab him around the neck, he ducked it's arms and ran it through with his sword. With a wicked grin, Zero kicked it off his sword's blade with his boot, and then blasted it's head off with an ice ball.
At this point, Sub-Zero sheathed his blade and held out hands, his normally red eyes glowing a pale, ice blue.
"Now... my specialty." He snarled with grim satisfaction. "... WINDS OF THE NORTH!"
At first, there was only a slight whistle of an eerie breeze and a faint white and blue glow at Zero's hands, and the baddies ran toward Zero undaunted. But it quickly grew to a howling maelstrom of winds and snow, and Zero roared angrily and shot it at them as a huge blizzard.
They had absolutely no time at all to retreat.
As the blizzard swept over them, they were instantly turned into ice statues and blown back into one of the castle walls; they shattered loudly into a ream of little, bitty pieces.
Now, only about a dozen attackers were left. The H.I.V.E Soldiers fired with their laser guns, and the Slade Commandos charged Zero at once.
"Now... time to carve you mechanical bastards up like a pumpkin..." Zero growled, drawing Eviglasere and going into a fencing stance...
He hollered and leapt at them while avoiding H.I.V.E. laser fire with ease, drawing back his sword for a powerful swing... and when the first robot reached him, he preformed three quick slices with surgical precision; it's arms, legs, and head were cut off, destroying it utterly.
He dodged every punch and kick the mecha-soldiers attempted, retaliating with sword attacks and, indeed, cutting them up like pumpkins all the while dodging laser blasts from the H.I.V.E. troops.
Sub-Zero was moving to fast to be seen... all his stunned friends could see were a few robotic limbs flying through the air and ice rays shooting about...
After a couple minutes, all that was left were cowering H.I.V.E. soldiers and a pile up sliced up mechanical parts from the Slade bots.
Several laser shots actually hit Zero, but they ricocheted off of his armor without even damaging it; he wasn't harmed at all... it only served to anger and enrage the young warrior further!
He turned to the H.I.V.E. troops and sheathed his sword.
He screamed with righteous fury and ran at them, weaving in between their barrage of laser beams, and pounced upon them and started beating them down bare handed.
He grabbed one by the neck and snapped it, grabbed two more and bashed them into each other with more than enough force to break their helmets and crush their skulls.
He dodged more laser gunfire and kicked another so hard that his foot went totally through the poor fool's chest punching a hole in him. He lifted up the final remaining soldier up by one leg and hoisted him up high enough to look dead him in the face.
"You get your damned, dirty Asses off my island..." he threatened, almost demonically, with his eyes still shining a reflective, frozen blue.
With a sickening 'rip', he tore the goon's brainless, helmeted head right out of the shoulders, spinal cord still attached, and hoisted it triumphantly while letting the body slide lifelessly to the ground with blood spurting out of the neck like a busted fire hydrant. After a gruesome moment of victory, he carelessly tossed it over his head like a basketball, while smiling with cruel pleasure the whole time.
Sub-Zero fell to his knees, overcome with exhaustion and diminishing anger... he panted with fatigue and propped himself up on his sword; his eyes still hadn't stopped glowing.
The Titans hesitantly poked their heads above the overturned table behind which they'd been ducking for cover. They would have helped Sub-Zero, but... from the looks of the moves he had been pulling off, he didn't need it. And his enraged state made him seem even more dangerous to be around than the enemies!
"What in the name of Azarath...?" whispered Raven hoarsely.
"DUDE! He just tore that guy's head off!" Exclaimed Beast Boy looking ill.
"What has happened to his eyes? They look... frightening." Whimpered Star.
"I... think he lost his temper." Robin said, looking like his masked eyes were about to bug out of his head.
"Naw, ya think?" snorted Cy. "He lost a temper; THEY lost a Hell of a lot more than THAT..."
Jinx stayed silent, looking at Zero with wide eyes. She had never actually seen him get angry... much less THIS angry. To see him like this after he was normally just a kind hearted, gentlemanly, joking around guy... it scared her. After a moment's hesitation, she got up and began to approach him slowly and cautiously.
"...Zero? Zero, are you all right?" Jinx asked urgently, trying to get him to respond.
The knight looked back up at her, and she was relieved to see his eyes back to normal... but also concerned by his loud panting.
"...Jinx?" he moaned softly, as if a little disoriented.
"Mm-hmm, it's me... are you hurt?"
Zero blinked a few times and shook his head slowly.
"I.... I'm not...sure... I don't think so...I'm just so tired..."
She helped him to his feet, and the others started to make their way over to him as well.
"Wow... you really cleaned up back there, bro." Cy said, looking over at the remnants of the attackers.
Zero nodded weakly and said: "I... I guess.... I don't know what was wrong with me, though... I shouldn't have lost control of myself like that..."
"Who cares? You took care of those rejects, so what does it matter?" Beast Boy laughed trying to cheer Zero up... but to limited effect.
Jinx and Robin helped the exhausted Knight stumble light-headedly down a hall way toward his room...
An Hour and a Half Later
Zero lay in bed covered up, sound asleep. The others stayed in the room with him. Jinx sat in a chair near the side of the bed, watching him glumly. They had confirmed he was uninjured, but still, there seemed to be something wrong... he was horribly tired, and had fallen asleep as soon as he had gotten to his room.
"Perhaps friend Sub-Zero is ill..." Starfire sniffed looking at him with concern.
"No... I've checked, there's nothing wrong with him. Not physically, anyway." Raven said, shaking her head.
"Do you know what might be wrong with him?" Jinx asked her.
"No. But I do know that it probably had something to do with the way he was so... different back there."
"Zero? What's wrong?" Jinx said suddenly, getting everybody's attention. She was referring to Zero, who had all of the sudden started to groan and twist around in his sleep.
"Zero, wake up!" Jinx insisted, shaking him lightly... and a moment later he opened his eyes, sat up, and yawned widely.
"Oh, man.... What hit me?" he asked, not really remembering what had happened earlier.
Then everything came back to him.
He looked around at his friends. "Are you guys all right?" he asked urgently.
"Yeah, we're fine... we didn't even fight. You took them all out by yourself." Robin reminded.
"Oh...right." He mumbled sheepishly.
He looked at them strangely.
"Guys... what... happened to me back there?"
"Well, we were hoping you could tell us." Jinx said softly. "You were... different back there... I didn't like it." She sounded almost frightened.
"She's right." Raven nodded. "I could sense something... darker, about you."
"Darker? What do you mean?" Zero asked nervously.
Raven sighed and explained.
"The only thing I can come up with... to explain the glowing eyes, the berserk fighting, your behavior... is maybe they were a physical manifestation of your anger... a similar thing has happened to me, before..." she added softly.
"So...basically, what you mean is... Zero got majorly pissed, got powered up into by his anger, kicked major ass, and then turned back?" Cy asked. Raven nodded.
"Well... I'm just glad I'm back to normal... I don't like being unable to control myself." Zero said with relief.
At that moment, the door burst open to reveal a panicked guard.
"M'lord Sub-Zero! They have arrived! The outsider Slade, he has arrived in a metal whale! We must prepare to defend the castle!"
The guard ran back off.
"Slade..." Robin whispered venomously.
"Wait... what did he mean 'metal whale'?" asked Star in confusion.
"Probably a submarine... but that's beside the point, we have to go help them!" Cy reminded.
Zero got up and stood resolutely. After a moment, he spoke:
"This is it... the time has come."
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