Greetings once more, true believers! As you have all probably gotten used to by now, I have to mention that all disclaimers apply to this fic; I do not own Teen Titans or Trigun. But this fic is all mine, and if any of you like it enough to want to put it on your personal web sites, please ask my permission first. Now, on with the show! Enjoy the Titanic Stampede!
Prologue
"Man, this is too
easy." Gizmo chortled as he stepped over another unconscious
security guard on the spidery-mechanical legs sprouting from the pack
on his back. He moved to the panel on the wall, next to the massive
lead door, and began to tinker with it, trying to hack the lock.
"Think the new
boss'll be happy?" Mammoth asked as he tossed the two guards'
he had been throttling aside.
"Of course he will.
With a trio like us, how could he not be?" Jinx said as she checked
her reflection in her compact makeup case. "He'll probably throw
in a nice, juicy bonus."
"He better. Dealing
with radioactive stuff gives me the creeps." Gizmo added as he
finished hacking. The door opened, revealing a smaller chamber
within, in which hung several radiation suits. Jinx, being the only
average sized one out of the three, sauntered ahead of her companions
and reached for one of the suits.
"Not so fast!" A
fourth voice shouted. The three Hive students swung around to reveal
a familiar sight.
"I was wondering
when you snotwads were going to show up!" Gizmo said, the legs
retracting into his pack, and a pair of wings sprouting in their
place, a jet flaming up beneath them.
"Stealing uranium
isn't like you" Robin snarled in response.
"What's the
matter, run out of Quickie Marts to hold up?" Beast Boy hurled.
"Who you jerks
working for this time? Lex Luthor?" Cyborg quipped.
"We don't deal
with spoiled rich boys" Mammoth snorted, "And we don't deal
with the likes of you!"
"Attack pattern
Beta, go!" Jinx instructed, and with that the three leapt into
action.
"Titans, go!"
Robin shouted, and his companions also leapt into combat.
The battle unfolded,
fast and furious. Jinx somersaulted through the air with acrobat
grace, avoiding the birdarangs and laser blasts from Robin and
Cyborg, but was thrown to the ground when a green buffalo slammed
into her. Starfire threw several bolts at Gizmo who dodged them and
returned fire with a pair of small weapons that were mounted on his
shoulders. Mammoth charged at Raven, a massive fist drawing back.
"Azarath, Metreon,
Sinthos!" Raven said softly, and a black glow appeared around
Mammoth's fist, freezing it in place. His body was thrown out from
under that fist by sheer force, and he was sent sprawling onto his
back. Jinx rose back to her feet and looked up toward one of the
large light fixtures overhead, which promptly fell loose from its
place, landing right on top of the green buffalo, which morphed back
into Beast Boy with a large bump on his head. But then she was
caught by a bolo that wrapped around her, pinning her arms to her
side.
"Yes!" Robin
shouted, throwing his fist in the air. Jinx smirked, and the knots
came loose, the rope falling to the ground. "No!" Robin snarled
as he leapt forward and launched a series of kicks and punches at
Jinx, all of which she ducked and dodged with expert skill. She slid
down under one extender arm as he punched, came up right in front of
his face, and planted a tiny kiss on his nose.
"See ya, stud!"
she winked and with that somersaulted away from him, landing right in
front of the door, which then made her escape through. Robin groaned
in disgust and rubbed his nose as if it would remove the germs he was
sure he had gotten from her.
"Titans, stop..." Robin started to
say when he was jolted on the spot by the twin blasts Gizmo fired
toward him. He leapt out of the way as more shots came.
"Ha, take that
snotburger!" Gizmo chortled, but stopped when the orange-skinned
arm wrapped around his neck and tore his pack away from his body.
Starfire dropped him, and he promptly landed flat on his butt while
she tossed his pack into the air and blasted it to pieces.
"Boo-yah!" Cyborg
shouted, but was then knocked to the ground by Mammoth. The two
grappled for a moment when a small, green insect landed on Mammoth's
shoulder, inserted its stinger into him, and a few moments later the
bullying behemoth slumped down into a deep sleep.
"Dude!" Beast Boy
shouted when he morphed back into himself, "Someone, get me some
mouthwash, some disinfectant, anything!" He stuck his tongue out
and began wiping at it, as if that would somehow remove the taste of
Mammoth.
"No time for fooling
around" Raven interrupted his ranting, "We have to go after
Jinx."
Jinx huffed as she ran
down the streets, the twisting alleys and bowels of the buildings.
She ran straight past a man playing a saxophone on a street corner.
He watched her pass, his eyes narrowing in amusement, and then turned
his attention back to some of the young women attracted by his
lyrics.
She continued to run,
so distracted by her thoughts of escape that she had no idea she was
being watched through the scope of a remarkably long sniper's
rifle. Its owner crouched on a building ten blocks away, watching
her curiously.
So distracted, she did
not notice the click noise, and nearly ran into the woman who seemed
to appear in front of her. She yelped and stumbled back for a
moment.
"Hey lady, watch
where you're..." her words left her when she looked up into the
single eye of the woman, her other eye covered by a strange patch.
Jinx struggled for something to say, and then remembered her
pursuers, and quickly resumed running.
She ran a few more
streets when a black glow tossed a garbage can from its place against
a building out in front of her, and she tripped across it, falling
flat on her face. As she regained her senses, she heard the
footsteps coming up behind her. "Man, I'm calling Knives..."
she murmured and reached for her own Hive communicator.
Robin snatched the
device away from her hand and leaned in close, bringing his
intimidating eyes close to hers.
"Who is Knives?"
he demanded.
In a highbrow hotel on
the far side of the city, in the pent house level room, the Hive
Mistress addressed the current client. He was a strange looking man,
with short blonde hair and cold blue eyes. He sat at a table, a
bottle of fine wine and a strange looking gun set on top of it. He
swirled some of that wine in a crystal glass, and then sipped slowly,
savoring the taste.
"I assure you sir,
such failures are not tolerated within The Hive. When the student's
are retrieved from the authorities, they will certainly be expelled
for this poor performance." She waited to see his reaction, but he
totally ignored her, taking another sip of his wine. After several
seconds of silence, she went on. "If you are still interested, we
have other students, even more gifted, who I am sure will be able
to..."
"A generous offer,
thank you." He interrupted, placing his glass on the table, not
even turning his head to address her. She watched his hand, waiting
to see if it reached for his gun, but it simply rested on top of the
table. If only she knew the gun was not what she should fear. "But
I'm quire sure my people can take care of things from here. What
do you think?"
The Hive mistress
suddenly found her own hands around her throat, their grip tightening
painfully. She blinked in shock and tried to send the command from
her brain to her arms and her hands to stop, but there was no action
in between. Her fingers only tightened their grip. She tried to say
something, but it came out a hoarse croak. From behind her, though
the quickly gathering haze, she became aware of another presence in
the room.
"I assure you
master, I shall not fail as these pathetic humans have." the blue
haired man said as he came up alongside her, and then walked past her
to stand next to the table. He and the blonde haired man continued
to talk, completely ignoring as the Hive Mistress dropped to her
knees, gasping and choking for air as her vision grew dark, and
finally she fell to the floor, her body twitching for a moment before
going completely limp. "You are certain this plan will work?"
"Of course it'll
work. I thought of it, didn't I?" Knives said as he took another
sip of his wine. He held his glass up toward one of the windows,
looking out over the twinkling lights of the city. "To kill
vermin, you wipe out the nest before they can spread. I should have
thought of this a long time ago." He chuckled and took his final
sip.
"And if these Teen
Titans attempt to interfere?" Legato asked. Knives threw his hand
in the air dismissively.
"What do you always
do with trash? Dispose of it."
Legato bowed and left
the room.
