The throne room stood in eerie silence when the elevator opened. On the opposite side of the huge room, Titan stood with his arms crossed in front of him. As usual, he was staring out of the giant window, but turned when he heard their entry.
"My young heroes," he greeted, lowering his head to them. "Very nice outfits. Vibrant." Their suits illuminated in each specific color. Fortification mode had been switched on, initiating the armor to form around their bodies like plates.
"Hello, Titan," Sam answered. "You've gotten smaller since our last meeting."
He almost laughed. "I only want to help the humans, like you," responded Titan, armor clattering on the floor. "My destiny lies in spreading the Justification throughout the universe. We do not need to be adversaries."
"And you will find our destiny will always lie in your path," Johnny retorted.
"Is that destiny something you discovered on your own, or has it been told to you?" Titan shot back. "Do not try it, Sparks. Pain is something everyone must endure."
"Trust me, buddy, you will feel pain," Ryan replied, smashing his fists together.
"We know you want Earth," Johnny accused.
"So, Sonovan told you everything, did he?"
"Yes," Johnny retorted. "And he taught us more than you ever could."
"Impressive! I cannot wait to see how much you have learned and retained."
"Yeah, just like you said. 'Come and see.' Come and see, Titan. Let's do this." Johnny backed into a fighting stance, ready to sprint at a moment's notice. This time, he did not fear Titan. He hated him.
"Slow down, Sparks. There is much for you to know before you throw yourself into the heat of battle."
"All right, let's start from the beginning," Jane coolly cut in. "What do you want Earth for?"
"If I told you, it would not be much of a secret, correct?" His voice cut off. "My oh my! I sense something with you. Your minds are resilient. I-I have not seen this kind of will for a long time." Uncharacteristically, Titan had stuttered.
"Glad we could give you déjà vu," Johnny replied.
Justice surveyed the situation but then walked to stand with Titan.
Titan continued, "I know you want to fight me, but please, patience! I am sure Sonovan had taught you that from the outset, did he not?"
"You're right," Ryan replied. "He did. But he also taught us something else. Knowledge."
"Of what? How to be morose and depressed every second of life? Was he not? I shall be greatly disheartened if he was not."
"Let's just say we have given him a reason to live."
"But do you not see? I will bring mankind to the pinnacle of creation! They will be unstoppable!" he bellowed. This might be his last opportunity to turn them to his side. "You, too, can be by my side, with me."
"No, we won't," Sam replied.
"What you say might be true, but we believe in free will."
"Free will," Titan sneered, shaking his head at the comment. "There is no such thing as free will. I learned that many years ago. Your destiny is already inscribed in the annals of time. The future exists at the same time as the past and present. Fate is already written." With those words, Titan frowned. The last two sentences he had spoken resonated within his mind, but he was unsure why. A clue.
"Our destiny is to never back down from you," Johnny responded, head held high.
"And Rose will be ours again," Ryan added. "No matter what, we're getting her back."
"You will be greatly disheartened, then." As they watched, Titan bent low onto one knee. The rest furrowed their brows at this. Similar to his action on Hallux, a blue orb formed, emerging from his cranium. Out of nowhere, the orb exploded, sending a shockwave of energy through the throne room. Only Sonovan Lung remained unaffected, but his greatest fear had been realized. Their minds were taken over.
* * *
The team opened their eyes. Each lay on a wet, spongy ground. The atmosphere around them was dreamlike, a light blue. The surface extended infinitely.
"What . . . what happened?" groaned Johnny, rubbing his head. He pushed himself up.
"Where are we?" Jane asked. She wobbled on the spongy ground.
From seemingly everywhere, a voice resonated. "You are now mine. This is my mind. The genesis."
"What?" retorted Ryan. To his right, he saw Justice standing. She did not move a muscle and stood like a soldier.
"What are we going to do?" Sam exclaimed.
"Did we just lose?" Dustin added. "No, we can't!"
"Oh, but you already have," the voice answered. The ground beneath shook violently, and they fell like dominoes. Peeking up and rubbing his eyes due to the strange blue colors, Dustin made out a small light. It expanded until legs began to form—and arms—before Titan fully materialized. "Now you see, don't you?" he asked them, feet stomping onto the ground. "Your gifts are minor compared to the power of the Titan."
"I will kill you!" roared Ryan, pushing himself up. Before he advanced, the surroundings vanished. He turned in fear. Blackness overwhelmed as light died. "Guys? Johnny?"
"Mr. Slade, it is only you and I." At once, the blackness was altered, bathing his surroundings in the blue aura from before. Looking around, he could see the others in some sort of transparent cage.
He ran toward their location, but slammed into a transparent wall. "What?" he growled. He stood up again, placing his hand on the invisible barrier. "Oh God." In a fit of anger, he punched with all his strength, but nothing could free him.
* * *
Johnny was in his own predicament. When the darkness enveloped him, Titan appeared, but he could only make out the bright crimson eyes of his enemy. "I hope you see the truth now, Johnny Sparks." The eyes circled him, speaking into his ear like a serpent. Johnny tried his very best to keep the voice away—to shake it off—but to no avail. "You are not fast enough," Titan whispered as he circled. Being unable to see his form made this real nightmare all the worse. "You never will be."
Johnny swung his arms around, attempting to grapple Titan. But the eyes had disappeared, replaced by a large holding cell with invisible barriers. While peering out, he saw Ryan trying to burst out of his own. Johnny banged on the cell. "Let me out of here!" But the worst had not yet passed.
Johnny turned at the sound of crying behind him. The atmosphere around him faded into darkness. In its place, he could make out a single city light. The rain fell sadly. Underneath the lamp's feeble gleam stood a girl with her arms wrapped around herself, shaking in the cold, bleak weather. Johnny sprinted towards her, her weeping chilling his heart. Upon his arrival, the girl looked up to him. "J-Jane?" he asked. "What happened?" The rain had him soaked and shivering.
Still crying, Jane answered, "You couldn't. You weren't fast enough. You will not save us." Johnny began to shake his head, tears forming in his eyes. "Face it, Johnny! We cannot beat him! He is more powerful than we are together! His armies reach into the billions!"
At this comment, Johnny stared intently into Jane's eyes. He narrowed his own. "After everything Sonovan has taught us, you say that?"
"It's the truth!"
Johnny shook his head. He stood over her, glaring into her eyes in a way he wished he would never have to. "Get out of my head, Titan." At once, Jane vanished, fading away like a mirage. Out of nowhere, a large fist contacted his chest. He was punched into the ground. Yet, its support went out from under him. He felt himself falling and falling, to a place so deep, so dark.
Without warning, his body landed on a hard surface. He pushed himself to a standing position and quickly looked around. He had landed inside some sort of ancient corridor. The walls were constructed of gray bricks. He walked down its passage, but there was nothing on the walls except a single flaming torch. Gathering it in his hand, he examined the area.
"Where am I?" he shouted. The echoes served as the only reply, reverberating down the alley. "Deep breaths Johnny. Deep breaths. This isn't real. He's trying to scare you. I'm not afraid of anything you throw at me!"
Turning a corner, the flames' light illuminated a chair with a large skeleton on it. Johnny jumped. Upon further inspection, he realized that the chair was a throne. He squinted to make out a gold-plated label adjacent to the skeleton's head.
Johnny Sparks.
His heart almost stopped beating. "Ugh . . . argh! Come out! Face me!" Turning, he bolted down the dark corridors, desperately trying to escape the sight. After many turns and non-stop running, Johnny came to a dead end. Across the blockage was a horrendous sight. There were dead bodies—Sonovan, Dustin, Sam, Ryan, Jane . . . and his parents. He backed up, clearly unprepared.
He thought frantically. What had Sonovan told him? How could he conquer this fear? "Just remember, Johnny," he told himself. "Remember what he said. Remember." Then he recognized the perfect inspiration had been with him all along. "Do what you do best. Be the hero. Be the hero, Johnny. Be the hero. Be the hero!" He screamed, rushing towards the wall, only envisioning one outcome: his breakthrough. And he did. The wall, including the bodies, burst open as he rammed straight through.
He did it. On the other side of the superficially impenetrable divide, he found himself inside a dark and dingy room with a small blue light in the corner. It was very Earth-like. There was a ghostly whisper. "Extraordinary," it said.
* * *
Despite his desperate attempts, Ryan could not break free from his entrapment. "You couldn't save me," said a voice. He gulped, dreading the figure he knew he would see. Before him was Rose, not Justice, wearing the same clothes as when he had first met her on that fateful day.
"Rose? I know. I couldn't save you. But I will. I don't know when." He walked closer until he was hovering over her body. "But I will save you if it's the last damn thing I ever do."
"You can't."
"I will, Titan. My desire makes it so. Just like how, uh, Zydok had done. Sonovan told me about him."
From seemingly everywhere, Titan growled, "And where is he now, Slade?" Rose vanished. Ryan could feel his own psychic power increasing. Maybe, just maybe, he could prevail.
* * *
Sam and Dustin were both kept far apart. Despite what Titan had put them through—the exact events Johnny had gone through—they remained resilient. Out of the entire team, including Jane, they had been the strongest. Anything Titan threw their way had been pushed aside. Not even their parents proved to be a threat to their mental strength. But then Titan found their weak spot.
"Dustin, do you see that?" asked Sam, pointing through the blackness towards two elderly people standing huddled together. For once, the twins were together. "Is that . . ."
"Grandma? Grandpa?" finished Dustin. They both ran toward them and hearts hammering. They looked exactly the same as just before their deaths.
"Dustin. Sam. You abandoned us. You were selfish then! How can you expect to prevail when you abandoned your own family?"
Sam glanced at Dustin. "Don't let him get to you. Don't." Nevertheless, Dustin approached them, clasping his grandmother's hand.
"I'm sorry we couldn't save you," he croaked. "I miss you so much."
"We miss you, too," responded his grandfather. "We love you always, no matter what you do."
Sam, now next to his brother, brought their grandfather into a hug, and he reciprocated. Speaking into his ear, Sam said, "We will prevail. For you." He then backed away, as did Dustin. The elderly couple smiled sweetly, but their eyes shifted into hellish red. The brothers moaned in fright.
"You won't," was the low, hoarse reply. Titan had spoken through the fake bodies. Both vanished.
* * *
Jane could not see a thing. Panic and distress began to settle in. "Where are you?!" she screamed, dreading the moment of his appearance. "Come on! Show yourself!"
It became apparent that there would be no answer. Her heart-pounding anxiety rose the more time elapsed. She began to worry an escape was impossible. Tip-toeing through the blackness, she tried to feel her way, though there was no wall to fall back upon. She felt like she was drifting, alone, in the middle of an ocean, with no bottom or barrier. She could faintly hear the sounds of multiple voices, but each so low in tone and pitch they were indecipherable. The sounds would fleet through her hearing and then out, taunting her.
Without warning, a light turned on in the distance, illuminating one small spot in the dark, sodden wasteland. Two people stood erect in the beam of light. A dog sat between them.
"Mom? Dad? Mom! Dad!"
She rushed to their location, but smacked into an invisible barrier. Upon collision, she bounced off and onto the sodden, muddy terrain. From the ground, she looked up at them. Both were dressed in casual attire but totally expressionless, eyes fixed ahead.
She got up and placed her fingers on the barrier, despite neither person nor dog making a move. "I love you . . . but none of this is real," she realized.
A voice spoke in her ear. "You made it real." At once, the scene vanished, leaving her more alone than ever.
* * *
Suddenly, the cages each was secluded in opened and faded away. Brushing off the dust, Johnny, Jane, Dustin, Sam, and Ryan walked out of their prison.
"What the hell?" said Johnny. "Guys? Is this really you?"
"Johnny . . .?" she replied, delirious. She was crying, the tears staining her cheeks in the dark blue ambience.
"Jane?" he responded. He ran over to her. "Are you all right? Are you OK?"
"No," she replied, shivering. Had she been in ice? "I-I'm not. He s-s-showed me e-everything I've lost."
Johnny sighed and brought her into a hug. He nearly got lost himself for a minute, just standing there, holding her, as she cried into his shoulder.
"I hope that was a good appetizer," said Titan. The being materialized again, except this time, he was not alone. Fifty Titans appeared around the team. The heroes backed into a small circle. "Many of me, and so few of you. It's a foreshadowing, really."
"What are we going to do?" Ryan whispered.
Sam and Dustin remembered what Sonovan had taught to them. This was why. This very moment was why he had taken them aside.
"We don't fight," Sam directed. "We just don't fear."
"What?" questioned Johnny. "What do you mean?"
"It's like Sonovan said," Dustin replied. "We overwhelm him with our desire. This can be the only way out of here." The brigade approached closer still, boxing them in. He had the team cornered right where he wanted them.
"You're mine now," Titan taunted. The contingent of Titans prepared to eliminate the team.
"Do whatever you want. I do not fear you," countered Dustin.
"Neither do I," added Sam. The brothers faced Titan down with deadpan expressions, unafraid.
One by one, twenty of the fifty opponents disappeared. Their heads collapsed into their necks and they simply vanished. At the same time, Dustin and Sam faded away. Johnny and the others gulped.
"Uh, was that supposed to happen?" Johnny said.
"I think so," Ryan answered. "They made it out."
"Argh!" roared Titan. "You must be the strongest I have ever come across. Who are you?!"
At once, the remaining three were separated into jail cells again. The walls were soaked in blood, with bones and skeletons scattered around each cell like features of the terrain.
"You will kneel," said the voice.
* * *
Back in reality, Dustin and Sam were freed from Titan's mental grasp. Somehow. They had grown very strong.
"We did it!" Dustin exclaimed as if he just scored a touchdown. Around them stood the static bodies of the others, including Titan. All of their eyes gleamed a demonic black.
"But we have to get them out too," Sam replied. "Let's not celebrate yet."
Sam's white hair was strewn across his face, so he paused to fix it. Dustin channeled his power. He focused a vortex of wind on Titan's body. In one swift motion, the air whisked Titan into the glass with such ferocity that it seemed even the stars shook.