Chapter Two: Holding The Line
The T-Rex sniffed the air, 'tasting' the smell of its food through special receptors on its tongue. There was a group of Iguanodon nearby; more than enough to sustain the beast for today, and if it was careful, all through the next week as well. The T-Rex crouched as low as it could, its reddish-orange hide streaked with black stripes; exactly like a tiger's, and just as effective.
Suddenly, there was a rumbling in the distance, and the T-Rex jerked upwards, thoughts of stealth the last thing in its mind. Subterfuge would have been useless anyway; the same thing that had attracted the T-Rex's attention had spooked the Iguanodons. The Rex was a young beast, but even in its youth, it recognized the all-too familiar sound- except, now that it could concentrate, the sound was augmented by something else-
The T-Rex sprinted to one side as a herd of running brachiosaurs flattened the plant life where it had been standing. That wasn't what scared the T-Rex though; that was what was chasing the brachiosaurs- an eighty-foot tall, bipedal, reptilian beast, with arms in similar proportions to its body like a human's, and with a row of ferocious spikes running down its back.
In fact, such was the beast's intimidating appearance, that any observer would have been hard pressed indeed to notice the helicopter flying above it- although once they did, it would be equally difficult to not notice the man standing in the doorway, held in place by a simple harness. His shock or red hair, equally crimson moustache, and huge nose being almost instantly recognizable to audiences around the world.
"And here we see the beast known as 'Gojira' hunting Isla Sorna's brachiosaurs!" he shouted over the noise of the helicopter's rotors, his clipped English accent slightly spoiled by his trademark nasal tone. "Amazing to see that this creature, such a magnificent beast, was once responsible for the near-destruction of an entire city!"
He motioned for the camera to follow the beast as he continued. "Viewers at home need not worry that this noble creature will come stomp their cities, though- thanks to the generosity of several Earth-based corporations and a few alien governments, this noble beast will be transplanted to another planet, where it may live the rest of its life- and we may live ours- in peace."
There was another roar from below, this one a roar of pain, as Gojira managed to catch up with a brachiosaur, with the expected result. "I think we can cut the tape now, Maryanne!" Nigel Thornberry told the blond woman holding the camera. "I don't think the sight of a disembowelled Brachiosaurus would be conducive to anyone's lunch but Gojira's!" he said with snorting, yet curiously appealing laugh.
"Can't argue with that!" Maryanne Thornberry replied, switching off the camera. "We'll come back when he's done. Or is it a she?" she asked, turning to the cockpit.
"Godzilla's a bit of both, actually," the pilot replied, using the colloquial name for the beast below. "At least, that's what she told me, right Rae? I mean, nothing got lost in the translation, right?" she asked, pointing to the strange runes carved on her specially made helmet. When powered by Raven's dark energies, the helmet allowed her to communicate with Godzilla to a far greater extent than even she normally could.
Raven nodded. "It's near-impossible," she said. "Telepathy is the closest anyone can come to a universal language, and combined with Eliza's understanding of animal languages, I don't think there's anything she can't understand."
"Thanks, but seriously, you deserve some credit too," Eliza said, grinning widely. Though barely out of her teenage years, she was already a relatively experienced helicopter pilot, though her real talent lay in her ability to talk to animals, which didn't really help much with Godzilla though, as "Godzilla's spoken language was way difficult; I mean, it's like you're hearing several different words with a similar meaning all at once. This helmet really made things easier, thanks."
"Don't thank me, Batman made it," Raven shrugged, and Nigel guffawed.
"Hear that, poppet? Batman! You're wearing a device made by none other than the Dark Knight himself!"
"Good thing Debbie isn't here to hear that; she wouldn't let you hear the end of it," Maryanne said, referring to her eldest daughter, now in college. "Eliza's had a crush on Batman since she was fifteen," she explained to a bemused Raven.
"MOOOM!" Eliza protested, and the rest of the helicopter's occupants burst into laughter- Raven included, secure in the knowledge that her own arcane safeguards were in place. It felt good to know that there were people who cared for you, people you cared for in return; the Thornberrys had each other, as did the Titans.
Raven's eye caught sight of Gojira outside the helicopter, and her laugh subsided, to be replaced with a slight grin. Family was not something the giant lizard had now, but with Earth's newfound importance, Wayne Enterprises had managed to negotiate Godzilla's transport to another world, where s/he would be free to breed- Raven had been confused about that for a moment, but Godzilla was apparently able to reproduce asexually. It was an ability that the Wolfe Conglomerate's scientists had removed, but was easy enough to reintroduce chemically, giving Godzilla a chance to have a family of its own.
And according to Eliza, Godzilla thought that was something well worth leaving the planet for.
Raven wondered if that was what Blackfire felt, and as she did, her mind filled with thoughts of Blackfire and the rest of the Titans, stuck in Jump City, more than a thousand miles away…
(scene change)
Jump City's police force was among the world's elite law enforcement organizations. Unlike Gotham City, or even Metropolis, where the police forces were mostly the same, blue-coated (though no less heroic) people as any other regular American city, Jump City's massive technological prowess and capable leadership ensured that its policemen were better equipped in both raw materiel and training than even the US Army.
True, this made them more attractive to supervillains wanting to make a name for themselves, but the city had the Teen Titans to handle those. For more everyday criminals and crimes, the JCPD actually had a largely better success rate than the national average, and the sight of trained troops in light power armour, wielding non-lethal (though highly painful) energy weaponry was often more than enough to cow most people.
Today, however, was a different case.
"We really appreciate your help today, guys," Sgt. Bolivar of the JCPD said, as he and his men stood behind the Titans, though not by choice. Robin had insisted that the Titans take point, as it were, forming a barrier between the pitifully small number of policemen, the star port being constructed behind them- and the protesting crowd.
Three Titans, a hundred policemen, more than thirty of them of them new recruits, and a wire-link fence were all that Jump City managed to muster to protect a Three hundred and fifty-million dollar project. "The rest of my men are either too scared to come- and who can blame them?" Bolivar said, his communicator carrying his voice to the earpieces he gave the Titans- it was the only way to make himself heard through the crowd's shouting. "Though I have to admit that some of my boys support Earth First!, more's the shame. Hell, for all I know they're in that crowd as well."
"I know Tanner is, sir," one cop said. "Saw him while we were driving here, holding up a sign as big as day."
"Well, so's the citation I'm going to give him-" Bolivar growled, when Robin cut him off.
"Sorry Sergeant," the Boy Wonder said. "But whether we like it or not, it's a citizen's rights to protest, and as long as they're doing it peacefully, that's what we'll let them do."
"And if they stop being peaceful?" Blackfire asked, poker-faced, her eyes fixed on the crowd. The Titans wore full-face gas masks from Robin's armoury. Not only would they protect the Titans in case the cops had to resort to tear gas, it allowed them to hide any verbal communication- the noise made it too loud for anyone to hear them, even if they shouted to each other, but lip reading was more common than most people thought.
"Then… try to take them down as painlessly as possible," Robin said grimly. "Cyborg, you got your cannon calibrated?"
"Blaster set to stun, just as you asked, Robin," Cyborg said. "I also set the beam spread set to wide; worst physical damage people are going to get is a mild sunburn. That being said…" he added with a tone of warning.
"I know," Robin replied. "Let's just hope there're no old ladies or young kids in the crowd."
"You know," Blackfire added, leaning in slightly. "If we were up against some supervillain, or at least patrolling with Beast Boy and Starfire, we won't have to worry about something like that."
"Getting tired of it already?" Cyborg joked.
"Pfft, hardly," Blackfire replied, grinning under her mask. "If I left you guys high and dry, and something bad happened, Raven's going to roast me alive- and no, I don't know whether I'm joking when I say that," she added, before going quiet for a moment.
"I just can't stand the waiting," she said, more to herself than to tell her comrades.
"Who could?" Sgt. Bolivar said ruefully.
"I agree with the Sergeant," Robin said, "but Starfire and Beast Boy were all I could spare for patrol, you know that. Even if they were both here with the entire JCPD, I don't think we'd be able to hold this crowd off. I need to be here to show the Titans are on the city's side, Cyborg needs to be here for firepower, and apart from Cyborg, you're the only one in body armour. Besides, if things get dirty, I need someone who can fight dirty."
"You said that back at the Tower, Robin," Blackfire admonished. "I haven't forgotten."
"I know you haven't," Robin sighed. "Let's just say we all have our own ways of keeping calm."
Blackfire glanced at Robin a moment, then turned her eyes back to the crowd. Someone had brought musical instruments; the Earth First! unofficial anthem 'My Land Ain't Your Land' began to be heard, the thundering percussion accentuating each verse. "Yeah, I guess we all need something like that."
(scene change)
Inside a second floor room of an abandoned building, the sniper crouched in the darkness, and a long breath escaped him. Several hundred meters in front of the window was the crowd, and directly beyond them, the Titans and the cops.
There were others in the room with him, but they knew that their duties paled in comparison with the sniper's. Each of them were similar in height, build and exactly alike in clothing. Each of them carried a large guitar case, but only the sniper's case held a non-musical instrument.
One of them remarked that perhaps they should have all picked fedoras and pinstripe suits instead of the dirty hooded jackets and jeans they were using as their disguises. It had got a laugh out of them then, but they knew that though they had been selected due to physical similarity, each of them had joined Earth First! out of their shared desire to keep Earth free.
That being said, there had to be a line; after all, 'The Ends Justify The Means' was a saying only used by bad guys, right? I mean, Hitler used it, right? And, yeah, so did the Communists, I think, right? We're not bad guys, right? We don't go for that kinda thing, right?
Those were the thoughts that ran through the mind of one of the decoys as he watched the sniper, a hideously scarred man. He had become so during the Thanagarian invasion, and lost his family when the Imperium attacked. Ever since then, he harboured a burning hatred for anything not human, and the decoy was afraid he'd let that hatred run away with him.
The sight of the high-powered sniper rifle didn't help either, and the addition of a flash suppressor and silencer only made it look more sinister. Okay, so maybe the potato ("the poor man's silencer," the sniper had said with a grin, adding, "Because every bit helps.") toned the scare factor down a bit, but not much.
"Hey, Mr. Lee, sir?" the decoy asked. "I'm not, uh, interrupting anything, am I?"
"Hey, like I said," the sniper replied, his tones as gentle as his smile. "Call me Jimmy- heck, call me Jimbo if you want. I'm not picky. And no, you're not interrupting- ask away."
The decoy grinned nervously; the sniper had been nothing but nice since they met- however, there was a sense of something darker beneath the surface, and the decoy wasn't sure he wanted to find out what it was. That being said, he had to know…
"Uh, nobody's going to get killed, right?" he said in a quiet whisper. "I mean, nobody human, right? I mean, you're only going to, to, you know, wing someone with that gun, right?"
The sniper sighed, and fell silent for a moment. "…I'm sorry, but I cannot make any promises. I will wing one of the cops, don't worry, but once they start firing into the crowd, it's anybody's game. I'm sorry. Look, it's not too late to back out, if you like."
"No, no," the decoy said hastily. "I understand that," he said, trying to find the right words. Unsuccessful, he resigned himself to the wrong ones. "The ends justify the means, right?"
The sniper fell silent again. "Words… words mean nothing," he said at last. "When the Thanagarians came, their words made them seem like friends. When a human dictator comes into power, his words are the same. What truly matters is what's in your heart. Why did you join Earth First!, tell me?"
"Huh? Well… it's 'cos I lost my job, thanks to those alien machines doing all my work. My friends lost their jobs, too… my best friend 'special, he lost his kids on account of not being able to pay his alimony, and he lost his visiting rights…"
The decoy trailed off, before adding with a hint of quiet emotion, "Killed himself after that; said he couldn't take it anymore, that nobody was willing to hire him, nobody wanted a guy who had to drop outta high school."
"And you joined Earth First! after that," the sniper added nodding lightly.
"Of course I did," the decoy said, the memories making him as angry now as they did half a year ago. "I want justice for my friends!"
"And that's what we're going to get," the sniper said. "If those are the ends…"
"…I don't mind the means," the decoy said, his heart and mind clear, as the band reached the chorus, drums and trumpets sounding at full blast. "Take the shot when you want to."
(scene change)
The first indication that anyone had of trouble was when one of the cops went down, clutching his shoulder. Before Bolivar could give the order to hold fire, another group of cops started blazing. Though their lasers were set to stun, just like Cyborg's, the effect was immediate; screaming civilians fell beneath a barrage of light. Even so, the situation was still controllable, as the civilians ran from the painful lasers, and for a moment, it seemed that the protestors would just run away as the situation heated up.
If it were not for what happened next.
Blackfire desperately scanned the crowd, looking for some sign of the shooter. Seeing nothing, she bent her knees slightly, preparing to take off, when she heard someone shout from behind her. Robin had fallen, blood flowing out from his forehead where a large, thrown rock had struck him- but what worried Blackfire was the amount of clear fluid mixing in with the blood.
"I have to get him to a hospital!" Blackfire shouted; there were a few ambulances nearby, but the close proximity to the crowd made it just as unsafe as throwing Robin to them.
"Go! I'll hold them off!" Cyborg shouted, when the call came from the crowd.
"Death to aliens and alien lovers! Earth First! Earth First!"
And as the rain of projectiles grew steadily heavier, a heavy-hearted Blackfire took Robin in her arms, and promised Cyborg "I'll be back, don't worry…"
(scene change)
None of the Earth First! agents stayed behind to watch their handiwork; leaving the building just as the sniper had finished his shot and splitting up, each taking different routes through the city. The sniper, for his part, made his way to a dumpster in an abandoned alley, where he changed his clothes one more time and put on a new disguise and makeup, as per the plan. He came out looking like an Asian Kurt Cobain wannabe, with a painfully obvious dirty blond wig and a layer of makeup over his scarring making him look like he had severe psoriasis.
Not that he really needed the disguise for very long.
He booked a room in a low-rent motel in Jump City's slums, and in the privacy of his cockroach-infested room, changed for the last time.
Caked makeup fell like a mask, as the sniper's face shifted into its true form. Looking in the bathroom mirror, the sniper saw his true form take shape, a form he loathed, one that looked like it was caught in mid-morph between a human face and a snake's, an effect enhanced by the small patches of scales here and there. The clothes he wore tore apart as his true clothing came into being; a ragged grey coat, from which water dropped incessantly.
He watched as these changes slowly changed him, dreading the last part, and he grit his teeth when it finally came. His eyes dissolved into smoke, leaving two empty sockets that trailed an endless stream of smoke. His sight, however, remained undiminished, so that he could see the consequences of his previous failure. The dripping water, the blasted eyes- all were essential to the pain that would spur him on to success in his Master's and Misstress's name.
He felt himself becoming weaker, and the sniper knew it was time. Around the city, two policemen in stretchers, one shot in the shoulder, another wounded by a protestor he had shot, unseen by the harried medical workers around them, crawled behind an ambulance and turned into a dark cloud that quickly dissipated. A protestor who threw a rock with uncanny precision at a hero's apprentice climbed into a dumpster and dissolved in black smoke. A drum player, whose seemingly over-enthusiastic thumping had precisely masked the sound of a bullet, walked into a toilet and didn't come out.
Legion felt the essences of his clones flow back into him, and took a deep breath, silently thanking his mistress for her foresight. Legion had used people before, true, but only a true child of Great Trigon could come up with a plan to use humanity against itself. How easy it was to manipulate them! Mere words could change their minds and set them to action, that was all! Just look at that fool decoy! How easy it was to change a good man's mind! Praise Trigon! Praise Madness!
His mouth curled up in a snarl as he remembered Madness, and by extension, Raven. Though merely an aspect of the Titan's mind, Madness was far more a daughter of Trigon than Raven would ever be, and Legion felt himself privileged to serve her as he did her father. And one day, after she was done with her plans for Raven, she would be Trigon's real daughter, in far more than name, and sit by her father's side.
Of course, this destiny never mentioned anything about the fates of the other Titans.
"But I'm sssure I can make sssomething up," Legion hissed to himself, grinning savagely as he ran his fingers around his empty eye sockets.
Author's Note: For those of you who haven't figured it out yet, Godzilla's the beastie unleashed by Cassius Wolfe in 'Judas Kisses'.