"Teen Titans: Future Storm"

Story: "Hell Trigger"

Chapter 6: "Long-Lost Uncle"

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters present in this story, nor do I claim ownership over any of the locations, either. The characters are largely the property of DC Comics and Capcom. Most of the primary Titans characters are created by Rider Paladin, while Nightstar is solely DC, and Mercury is co-owned by Marvel and DC as part of their Amalgam imprints. Dante, Trish, Lady, and any other Devil May Cry characters and locals belong to Capcom of Japan and of the USA. I'm just borrowing them – in the case of RPs Titans, with permission – to tell this story to you, the reader(s). And for any reference, I'm pretty much going to copy and paste this thing for future installments, because I really hate writing disclaimers.

Author's Note: This story was written with the consent of Rider Paladin, and uses his characters and continuity, and is set in the 'missing year' period that was left up to our imaginations when we read it.

Author's Note #2: This chapter features additional crossovers and expansion on the history of Trigon, and the characters used from this crossover are the sole property of their original and current owners - what I can say is that the character(s) used are currently the propery of New Line Cinema and Time Warner, and are used without permission, and without making any profit off their appearance. In addition, the second crossover uses characters from Toei and Ishinomori Productions...namely, those of the Kamen Rider Franchise. I also claim no ownership over any of them, nor am I making a profit from this. Same as in all my fanfics. It's just for mine and your entertainment.

The world was black, and painful, when Samara Wilson awoke. As she stirred, she could feel chains around her wrists, and, when the spots and faded and color returned to her world, she could see that she was indeed chained to the wall of a dungeon, though a rather nicer dungeon than most. Standing in the corner was a shadowy figure, tall and imposing, looking at her with a cocked head. The smell of rot was in the air, coming from the figure, who was holding something in one hand...something large, and sharp. Samara attempted to use her magic to take care of the chains, when the figure lunged forward, and grasped her by the wrists tightly, nearly crushing them, the smell of must and rotting meat filling her nose. That was also when she got a good look at her jailer.

He wore a yellowed, battered old-style hockey mask with three red triangles, one over the eyes, and one over each cheek, a tattered, ratty brown jacket over a torn grey sweater and a blue undershirt, and grey sweatpants, black gloves, and black boots. One eye was gone, the other currently smoldering with rage and fury as he continued to crush her wrists, until she made a sound of pain and he released her. The lesson was learned - she shouldn't try to escape while this...thing...was watching her. That was when her cell's door opened, and in stepped the attractive young man in red leather, with eyes a familiar shade of purple - the same shade as her mother's, in fact, though his skin was more flesh-toned than hers.

"Hello, Samara...I see you've woken up...and made the acquaintance of your late Uncle," He said in an even, measured tone, smiling almost pleasantly, despite the aura of evil he was giving off at the moment.

"Uncle...? What the hell are you talking about? I only have one uncle, and he's certainly not very 'late'..." Samara growled, rubbing her wrists as best she could beneath the cuffs around them.

"He's...the first of Trigon's human progeny, of the 19th century. Born of an ill-advised relations with a woman not chosen by his faithful followers, which accounts for his...unfortunate state." Samara eyed the being that had resumed standing in the corner, a mix of apprehension and curiousity in her eyes. "No one knew about his true parentage, and, at a time when the great demon was distracted by affairs of the netherworld, his beloved, though admittedly backwards, son died in an unfortunate accident partly owing to a bad decision on the part of his mother. The poor woman went insane, and started to go on a killing spree when the camp that her son had drowned at re-opened, by posing as an ordinary woman...does the story sound familiar yet, young Samara?"

It did indeed...everyone, even in this day and age, knew the not-quite-urban legend of 'Camp Blood' - a mentally disabled boy drowned in the lack because the camp counselors were off doing stereotypical teenaged things, and, after the death of his mother, the boy proved to be not quite dead, killing the one who killed his mother, and then anyone else who went near the camp, or even the woods, and then, how the boy died, and came back...as a rotting, shambling corpse. Everyone knew the legend...of Jason Voorhees.

The mass murderer eyed Samara with his one good eye, the look of anger that had been there fading as he looked between her and the one speaking, noticing that whenever the undead creature looked at the young-appearing man, there was a look of almost...affection. Not romantic, but more like the look of an obedient child to...

As the thought dawned on Samara, her eyes widened in horror, and the young man's calm smile turned sinister.

"Ah, so you've figured it out, hm? I suppose I dropped enough clues...but this isn't about you, dear...though the inner demon in you is quite powerful, what I want is your mother...for she is my chosen Pride."

"Pride...?"

"Your mother has great evil in her as well...and when my seven chosen spawn are together, we will show this world the leadership it deserves...with its hate, and its callousness...isn't that right?" the last part was spoken to the living corpse, who nodded softly, a peaceful aura about it...no, him...as Samara couldn't deny that this...thing, was indeed a person...as buried as any human emotion was inside the still-beating heart of Jason Voorhees.

"Do you honestly this this is going to work?" Hex remarked as she stood in front of the San Fransisco branch of the Church of Sebastian - or at least, what it had formerly been, though it still housed a demon-worshipping cult of confused and lost souls, headed by madmen. Standing next to her was Raven, wearing a pair of shackles and attempting to look as helpless as possible...which was kind of easy at the current moment. Hex was being as quiet as possible, while Raven had earlier surpressed her magic ability to feign the illusion of having actually been captured. Zatara's sources indicated that there was a good chance Samara was still in the city, which was odd...but then again, when one considers the group's true goal was to get their hands on Raven, maybe not so odd.

"I'm hoping it will...it might help if you actually try to make contact, though..." Raven said softly, rolling her partially-shielded eyes for a moment."

"Oh, right...sorry." Hex took a deep breath, then started banging on the door, then began pressing the intercom button (yes, they had an intercom button), and began screaming, more or less. "Hey, jackasses! Let me in already! I know you idiots are in here! Thanks for leaving me behind! Of course, I got what the boss wants, so joke's on you! Hah!" She then cleared her through, and looked at Raven, releasing the button. "That good?"

"...Yes." was all the older magic user could say, just shaking her head at the pale girl's lack of subtlety. As they waited, the doors opened, and robed figures stood at either side of the entrance, as well as Panther, who was wearing a catty grin - of course - as she eyed her (former) teammate, who was yanking on the chain length connected to Raven's shackles. The blonde was more concerned with the witch's supposed captive than she was with Hex herself, which kept the pink-haired girl from losing her cool.

"Well well well...you actually did something useful for once, Hex...I'm impressed...now we've got a matching set..." That got both of the magic users' attentions, as it could be an implication that Samara was in that location...it never occurred to everyone involved, INCLUDING the villians and demons, that this was entirely a trap for all of them. "Well, bring the skank in already...her ladyship will be back at any time now." Panther said saracastically, implying Gemini, while Hex just nodded and softly dragged Raven behind her.

"I really hope your friends know what they're doing..." She whispered very softly back to Raven, who whispered back.

"I hope so too."

Outside the Church of Sebastian were two armored figures - one had what looked like a body armor, colored in dark blue, with a bisected mask of dark blue and sky blue, with holsters for various weapons added on, largely for large calibur small arms, with a broadsword slung over his back, and the other was in what looked like a full armored suit with a considerable build, with a silver and red chestplate, a silver right boot, a cuff around the left ankle, cuffs around the wrists, red gloves, and a helmet with the eyes sculpted to look like the wings of a bat, with a rather distinctive belt with what seemed to be an upside down bat-themed attachment - watching the events transpire below, before making their way down to the ground level of the building they were standing on, before moving behind the church and making their entrance through the back door, used for deliveries, the blue-clad man picking the lock with a set of specially made tools, before they entered the Church itself.

"This place...it feels...evil." The second armored person said, in a voice accented in Japanese, sounding younger and somehow less imposing than his outside led one to believe, his yellow 'eyes' looking over everything intently, not wanting to miss a detail of what was going on.

"Demon nests usually do, from my experience," the man remarked as they made their way in deeper, the knowledge they possessed guiding them to the cells. As they approached, they would occasionally have to duck into an alcove or shaded spot to avoid the passing cultists and guards, before, after consulting with the information they'd brought with them, they'd found the right cell. "Get ready...no doubt there's something in there that'll be out for our blood once the door's open."

As the body-armored man spoke, he placed explosive charges all around the door, then moved back with his associate, and then detonated the charges.

As Samara pondered her options, and the information she'd been given, her uncle watched over her intently. However, his attention was diverted once a massive explosion rang out, and caused the door of her cell to fly inwards, smashing into the zombified corpse and smashing it into the nearest wall. The two armored men rushed in, the bat-themed one breaking the chains holding Samara, and picking her up, handing her to the man in the Nightwing armor, who began to carry out the quarter-demon. "What the hell?" She managed to remark, only for the masked man to slap a hand over her mouth.

"Quiet, kid. You'll get us caught faster if you talk. Kurenai, back me up." He hissed, in an oddly familiar tone of voice, though the pitch wasn't quite recognizeable, nor was the somewhat amiable tone, despite the fact that he was basically issuing her an order.

"Of course, Strike-san." The young-sounding man nodded, looking behind them as the trio made their way up the stairs that led to the main hallway of the compound. The body-armored man continued to grasp Samara in the bridal carry, moving with trained expertise, not even bothering to look down more than once upon entering a new room, and giving everything a good once over.

As Hex brought in her prisoner, the rather loud sound of the explosion could be heard, and the cultists mobilized. Panther looked even more angry than usual, and began barking orders, though considering she wasn't very high up in the pecking order made that kind of pointless. "Find out what's going on, you damn idiots!" She hissed, a furious look on her face, while Hex looked to Raven, who nodded, and then snapped her fingers, causing Raven's shackles, and the enchantment on them, to dispell, which allowed the older sorceress to begin levitating various large objects, and hurled them at Panther and any cultists that saw the motion. "What the hell? A trick? Hex, you whore! I'll tear out your throat for this! With my teeth!"

The pink haired girl wore a disgusted look on her face, even as Panther attempted to remove herself from the remains of her object, a heavy wardrobe-like affair, while the cultists Raven had hit were out cold. As the two began to make their way forward, there was another explosion, this one radiating a wave of dark energy that was nonetheless non-malevolent, as the heavy door to the dungeons shattered in a flurry of wood fragments and shards of metal, and the man identified as 'Kurenai' burst through, his left boot now in the form of something red, with bat wings coming off both sides, landing on the floor in a crouch, with a stylized bat logo appearing where he'd landed.

"Okay, who's that?" Hex asked, completely lost, only to see the faux-Nightwing charge forward, Samara with her arms around his neck, a gun in one hand, firing a series of what had to be tranqulizer darts at everything in sight that was both human AND hostile, which included several rounds into Panther, knocking the human-animal hybird out cold...AFTER she'd been booted in the face by the Slade-wannabe. "And who's that?"

"Introductions later, fleeing now!" he responded, setting Samara down once she'd regained enough of her energy, freeing the man's other arm to pull out the other tranq gun, and start opening fire on the next wave of cultists. When a scatter few showed no signs of being affected by the heavy dosage of drugs, the Nightwing spun his guns around in his hands, and produced another pair of large handguns, opening fire with them, the sounds loud and harsh, like miniature detonations, bullets impacting into the demonically-enhanced beings, knocking them back.

"I'll look the gift horse in the mouth later...for now, let's get out of here," Raven replied, beginning to chant. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Once the chant was repeated two more times, the desired effect took place, as Raven shadow-teleported the five out of the 'lobby' of the church. As they made their escape, Damien burst forward, lunging towards the effect, though narrowly missing, while the zombified half-demon hybrid that had been guarding Samara emerged from the shadows, a great fury in his functioning eye as he surveyed the damage, especially angered that, because of outsiders, he'd failed in his appointed task.

"It's alright...calm down," Damien instructed the spawn of Trigon, though he himself was far from calm and relaxed, though refraining from showing his own rage and frustration. "Thanks to Raven, I'll be able to track them down...especially since they have Hex with them...you can avenge your failure there, my boy." The giant nodded, the look in his eye indicating he understood what he was being told. "Are you up to this?" Damien turned to look back at an armored figure who'd just appeared on the scene, wearing rather familiar (design-wise) armor colored in black, grey, and blue, adorned with the ocacsional skull emblem, and the mark of Scath on its forehead. "They ARE family, after all..."

"You don't have to worry about me, boss-man. Just point me at the little bastards and I'll tear'em apart." The man growled, a sadistic tone to his voice, prompting the hell-spawned being before him to laugh.

"Good...very good indeed. I'd like to see you keep that promise, dear boy...and you get what you want as well...revenge on Deathstroke and his family. Should keep you busy for some time."

"Oh, definately. So, I take it I'm the one going out this time with the runts, huh?" The man asked, still growling, though in a more 'friendly' tone now.

"Yes...and while you're out there, I need you to track down a certain...someone...besides Raven."

"Really? Who is it?"

"Listen closely..." and with that, the hell-spawn gave his instructions to his armored follower, who just chuckled darkly once his orders had been given.

"Oh, very nice...that should be fun. I have to thank you, boss-man. This second chance at life has been a blast so far."

"Well, that's what I'm here for. To facilitate the end of the world in the most amusing way possible." Damien said in a light tone, smiling himself as he watched his soldier and his consort's followers attend to their duties.

When the Shadow Teleport reached its destination, the unexpected passengers caused the whole thing to end up depositing the five onto the floor of the 'living room' of the warehouse the Titans and their allies were holed up in, in a tangled heap. They tried to extract themselves from it, but were stymied. Before anyone could lose their cool, the body armor-wearing man spoke. "Kurenai, change back...that might give us some space."

"You're probably right, Strike-san." with that, there was the sound of shattering, and in a burst of orange light, the imposing armored figure was replaced by an attractive, though awkward-appearing and oddly dressed, young Japanese man with floppy light orangish brown hair. With his decrease in size, the five were able to remove each other from the human pretzel they'd been in, while the Titans began to fill into the room.

"Samara!" Jeremiah rushed forward, taking his love into his arms and embracing her, the two clinging to each other tightly, before starting to kiss, while the faux Slade rolled his eyes. When he and the Japanese boy were noticed, looks of suspiscion were cast his way...but the moment of truth came when Rose entered the room, taking one look at the man...and lunging forward, crying out in fury, startling the Nightwing, who grabbed her by the wrists, rolled onto his back, and, using the leverage of his legs, sent her flying across the room.

"Calm down, before I have to hurt you." He remarked, drawing his tranquilizer gun. As Joh'n rushed forward to defend his lover, the man's partner took action.

"Kivat!" he cried, the seeming toy-bat from his belt appearing, landingin his right hand, while he outstretched his left.

"Bite!" The bat responded in Japanese, black veins appearing on the hand where the Kivat's teeth had sunk into the flesh, and in a flash of orange 'glass', he was again in his imposing battle form, taking up a defensive stance, before launching himself towards Joh'n, catching him in a headlock, though not doing much more.

"Calm down! This fighting won't get us anywhere! We need to tell the others where we are!" He responded, trying to subdue Joh'n as peacefully as possible, fixing him with a pointed stare, which could be felt even through the 'lenses' over his eyes. "We have to share what we know with you, and if you all start fighting us, we can't help you!"

"That's bullshit! You know who that is, right? It's SLADE! We can't trust him!" Rose barked, a furious look on her face, before being silenced by a hand motion from Raven. "What?"

"I think it's more likely he's an impersonator or something...he's certainly not our Slade, if anything. He was the one who saved Samara...and even our Slade wouldn't have the sheer gall to wear those colors...or didn't you notice what he was wearing?" Rose took another glance, then noted with surprise that the man before them was indeed wearing something out of character for him...and it didn't hurt that now, in bright light, the outline of the Nightwing emblem could be seen around the mask's exposed eye. As the tension began to die down slightly, this Slade-impersonator holstered his weapons, then removed said holsters from his tactical armor, to make himself look less threatening, kicking his weapons away into the corner of the room, while keeping his hands in plain view. "Would you mind explaining why you're wearing that, by the way?"

"Consider me the man Slade Wilson might have been if he didn't let his darkness eat him away inside. I won't say much more than that, of course...when the time comes, you'll know everything. Call me...Nightstrike."

"I can sense that you're not lying to us...though the uniform you wear does make it somewhat hard to trust you...we've had a lot of bad experiences with the man who wore the original."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that. Where I'm from, I'm no enemy of the Titans...and never have been. Like I said, I'll explain later. We're not just here to help you...we're looking for one of us."

"One of you?" Mar'i tilted her head, regarding this 'Nightstrike' with a curious expression. "What do you mean by that?"

"A member of my team was captured by someone who decided to join up with your demonic 'buddies' here, and took her as a kind of 'good faith' token. You know her, in fact." Now THAT took everyone else for a loop.

"We...we do?" Mar'i blinked rapidly at that, confused, as was everyone else. 'Strike nodded, and uncrossed his arms, placing his hands on his hips.

"Yeah, you do. She's your cousin, Rhiand'r."

End Note: And that's how this chapter ends. I thought it was a good, suspenseful moment, for me, and decided to end us off here. And in case anyone's wondering, or unclear on who exactly Kurenai is, he's Wataru Kurenai, the titlular character of the 2008 series Kamen Rider Kiva. And as for the mystery man, he comes from another story of mine that I was working on, and is crossing over into here, along with the rest of his team from that story, to help our heroes out in their trials against the demonic hordes of Trigon's children. If you all have any questions, please feel free to ask me, and I'll explain as best I can.