Project Redemption

Chapter 1: Betrayal

It was a hellish day to work the night shift. Although the sky was perfectly clear, a bitter wind howled through the city, bringing a biting chill along with it. People clung to their coats and hats, fearing that they might be stolen by the wind. Regardless of the weather however, it was a perfectly peaceful night, much to the gratification of all security personnel within the FISCO Labs building. The building was oddly in the shape of a cross. It climbed up to the dizzy heights of around five-hundred feet, and had enough space left over on the roof for a small private helicopter to land on. The roof was larger of course, but the space was taken up by numerous other things, such as vents and the like.

There was a single double door leading to the inside of the building, with a pass code required to enter. It was guarded by two men each night. The position was considered to be just about the worst one you could get, so the men and women of FISCO Security had agreed to take it in turns. Steven Barnes and Kevin McFarlain were the unfortunate ones for that particular night. They had already braved the bitter cold for many hours already, trying their very best to keep warm by pacing back and forth. The full body armour they had been issued not long ago provided very efficient protection, but it did little to keep a man warm.

A movement in the shadows caught Steven's attention and he instantly went to inspect with pistol in hand. Kevin remained at the door, his pistol drawn also. But they were a little out of their league on this night. Steven was away from his post and failed to notice Kevin being dragged off and knocked out. When he next wheeled about his partner was already gone. The panicked guard instantly reached for his walkie-talky, but another movement brought his hand back to the Colt's handle. He watched as a man dressed in tight fitting attire stepped out. He looked like some sort of Special-Ops character. Before Steven could react again, a faint blue wave forced him off his feet and into the wall behind. He could have sworn it had come from the man's hand...

As opposed to the outside, the inside of FISCO Labs was relatively warm. One would expect otherwise due to the long, empty, hallways. This was just the top floor of course, though it could be considered as the most important. All "Top Secret" experiments, projects and research took place there. At the time however, there were only a handful of late working scientists and around the clock security. Unbeknown to the employees of FISCO, an intruder had infiltrated their facility. Their target was the west wing of the top floor. There you could find one of the many large safes within the building.

At its entrance were two guards, who were idly talking about a long list of trivial matters. They barely even noticed another guard approaching.

"Steven?" one of them queried "What the hell are you doing down here?"

"Yeah," added the other "You're meant to be on roof shift tonight."

There was a brief silence between the three, until Steven finally broke it.

"Oh...ya know...it was cold up there..."

"Damn it Ste..."

Before the guard could even finish talking he was struck in the face and sent to the ground. The other man attempted to draw out his handgun, but the intruder was too fast. He grabbed the man's arm, twisted it harshly, then slammed the guard's head against the safe door, the full face helmet doing little to save him. Both were quite badly hurt, but neither were dead, just as it had been ordered.

No time was wasted as the man picked up one of the guards. They were not quite unconscious and put up a struggle, but were overpowered quite easily. Taking off their helmet and right hand glove, he forced the guard's eye open, placing it at the eye scanner, while putting their hand in the appropriate place upon the hand scanner. After a few seconds of scanning, a mechanical voice sounded;

"Main vault opening."

And with that, the huge steel door opened itself inward. The entire vault was empty, save for one thing. A small black box sat upon a plain square pedestal. He had seen the buildings security details. The vault had many security lasers installed. He hadn't much time, so the man removed the white full face helmet. However, his face was still covered by a balaclava. Removing a pair of Infra-red goggles from a pouch that was upon his belt, the intruder placed them firmly about his head. Switching them on instantly revealed all the present security lasers. He hadn't much time left before the security personnel reacted, so the man quickly began the painstaking dodging and weaving.

It was no easy feat, but he eventually made it. Sighing to himself, the man finally grasped the black box. It was a curious object. He hadn't been told anything about, only that it was necessary to obtain. Even as he slipped it into his pouch, a voice called out from behind him.

"Requesting...backup...at the main vault," came the weak voice of the guard "Vault breached..."

The intruder slowly turned about, removing the goggles as he did so. There in a kneeling position was the defiant guard, who had dropped his communicator and replaced it with a standard issue side arm. With a shaky hand and unsteady sight, he tried raising it up to fend off the aggressor. But the man reacted in turn. Darting forward he discarded any concern for the security lasers. The alarms were sounded and whined throughout the complex. Reaching the guard, a lightning kick was shot out by the man, disarming the guard, before quickly knocking him out completely.

He had to move quickly, but simply could not escape quick enough. Even as he dealt with one guard, a number of others rounded the corner. They came prepared with high powered semi-automatics. The man scrambled for the pistol dropped by the other guard and let off a number of charges, their light whizzing down the corridor and giving some guards a few nasty flesh wounds. It was enough of an attack to force the guards into cover. This would be a difficult situation to get out of. But he had two potential hostages at his side. Picking up one of the men and holding them in front, he raised the pistol to their head.

An instant and obvious reaction came from the others.

"Stand down," shouted the groups leader "Stand down damn it!"

The intruder took careful steps forward, keeping his eyes fixed upon the guards in front. They backed off as he approached and were helpless to do anything except watch in frustration. The man took a turn and started heading for a nearby, clearly showing his intention to head to the roof. Reaching the set of stairs, he threw the guard forward and bolted through the metal door before storming up the steps two at a time.

There was instantly the sound of his purser's footsteps coming up the same stairs. Reaching the same door as before, the man punched in the required code and pushed opened the door. A harsh lash of cold wind swept across him. Slamming the door shut he destroyed the keypad, hoping that it would slow down the guards if only for a while. The high pitched alarm echoed through the night, piercing the calm. And the distant sound of police sirens joined it. The man frantically searched the skies with a mono-sight, packing it away after spotting the black helicopter. It was still a few minutes away. He just had to hold off the guards for as long as he could. But fortune took a turn for the worst and another voice caught him by surprise.

"Looks like you've got nowhere else to run, huh?" the confident voice of a young man.

This time the man spun about instantly, raising the gun up as he did so. A few paces away stood the costumed hero Robin. The Teen Titans had arrived. And things had just gotten complicated for the man. He hoped for to just be the Boy Wonder. His superiors had advised against engaging the entire group head-on. And he knew from the vids that he couldn't possibly taken them on.

"You going to make this easy," Robin started "Or are we going to have to take you down?"

The man remained perfectly silent, using his glaring eyes to speak for him. He saw no choice but to fire and went to squeeze the trigger. But the thought was ripped from his mind just as the gun was ripped from his hands. It now floated in mid-air surrounded by a strange black energy. There it stayed, pointing at him now. Then it was slowly dismantled and crushed right before his eyes.

"Guess we're doing this the hard way. Titans, go!" the young man shouted, drawing out his bo-staff.

Nothing happened for a few moments, but a loud bird-like sound brought the man's attention upwards. But there was no bird to be found. Instead a large Rhino was hurdling downwards, right at him. The man's eyes widened and he jumped to the side, tumbling on the ground and rolling onto one-knee. Robin was on him in a split second, sending out swift blows with his staff. The man found himself in a situation where he was outclassed in speed and technique. The differences between the two in hand-to-hand fighting were clear, with Robin taking the advantage. Some swings were dodged or stumbled away from, but most met their mark, knocking the man further and further back. A messy attack gave the man his chance. Grabbing the bo-staff, he tore it from Robin's hands and threw it to the side. He quickly grabbed the Boy Wonder by each shoulder and gave him a similar treatment. The Teen Titan leader was quickly back on his feet however.

A shifted Beast Boy came at him in the form of a cheetah. The ground between the two was covered with ease and the man found himself set upon once more. On the ground with a big cat on top, he fought furiously to regain the upper hand. A number of punches and kicks were sent Beast Boy's way. The green Titan eventually caved into the relentless attacks, rolling off from the man and shifting into a grizzly bear as he did so. A joint attack was sent this time by both Robin and Beast Boy. The changeling charged forward while the Boy Wonder sent a few well aimed projectiles. A few of them were dodged, while other ones found their way and caused further damage. A clumsy paw swipe was ducked away from, but the following backhand hit home sending the man off his feet again. He couldn't hold out much longer, but knew that his salvation was close at hand.

The two Titans stood triumphantly as they allowed the man to stumble back to his feet.

"You've still got plenty of time to change your mind and just hand yourself over," reasoned the Titan.

But the offer did not seem to reach the man, and he stood to his feet again in a fighting pose. With a heavy heart, Robin gave a signal to keep fighting. Instantly the man found himself in an iron grip. Two massive mechanical arms wrapped around him and lifted the man off his feet. He struggled helplessly, trying to wriggle free from Cyborg's bindings. It was only a sudden blast of blue energy that saved him from the cybernetic Titan. Being free from the trap wasn't the end however. From high above the alien Starfire rained down upon the criminal with a fury of green bolts. The same blue energy provided the man with a shield this time. Though the bolts had been shrugged off, he let down the shield too soon and was greeted by a bone crunching punch from the alien.

Again he was sent flying backwards, only to collide with a set of steel pipes. The metal gave his back an unfriendly welcome as he connected with them, though they did provided him with something to steady himself. And as a useful piece for the black energy to wrap itself around. The pipes were ripped from their placing and used to bind him. They were wrapped right around him a number of times. Finally the man gave in, falling to both knees and hanging his head. He was exhausted.

Robin was the first to approach, and yanked the balaclava from the man's head. Rough jet black hair fell from underneath, covering parts of the man's face. But his grey eyes were still visible, and they looked on with a glare. Blood ran from the man's noes and mouth. Something about his appearance spoke of experience beyond his years, though he only looked to be in his early twenties. His face was quite gaunt, but not overly so, and his skin was plainly pale, though nowhere near to the extent of Raven's.

And then, salvation came.

A great whirring sound came as the helicopter reached its destination. It hovered down slowly, coming level with the rooftop. Just as it did, the guards breached the door and stormed outside with guns at the ready. There was now a group of around seven guards facing towards the helicopter which held just three armed men. However, one man was armed with a rather large mounted gun. The other two jumped off and without any audible orders began opening fire, as did the man on the heavier gun. Their full body black armour definitely wasn't military issue. Neither were their weapons. Energy weapons were fired off from each side and the guards were forced into cover once more while the Titans were forced to defend themselves.

The two men who had jumped off ran over to their fallen comrade and picked him up, before falling back shooting as they went. The third man helped with heaving their agent onto the helicopter before they all settled in and the helicopter started off again. The heavy gunner made sure to keep up the pressure as they went, sending a few shots at the roof. Once the black helicopter had turned away, the guards jumped out again and ran to try and stop them

"Open fire! Bring it down!"

But it was pointless. The helicopter was faster than any other they had seen and was gone. Both the guards and the Titans were left dumbfounded and the roof, the balaclava their only lead.

There was utter silence amongst the people in the helicopter. Three others were in there, not counting the pilot and his navigator. The three men were wearing an incredibly complex suit of full black body armour. Their faces couldn't be seen. They simply stared through green tinted visors. One could only hazard a guess as to what their expression, or even thoughts were. The silence continued as the pilot announced their final approach to the Facility.

They had been flown out into the middle of the desert where seemingly nothing could be found. As they came to a massive mountain formation, the very tip of the largest mountain began to shift. Just as it finished opening up, a platform raised to the top. The helicopter landed neatly upon this platform, and soon after it began its descent . After it had gone down some bit, the mountain top closed back up. They now found themselves in some form of cylinder, with many lights going about it.

It seemed to take a eternity to reach the massive helicopter zone. The room was truly massive, containing at least seven helicopters, each on their own pad, and each with another large cylinder above it. As the platform stopped and the crew piled out, engineers approached to check on the helicopter. Many other engineers, soldiers and even scientists busied about the place, going about their own tasks and duties. All the helicopter platforms were situated on a gigantic circle, which led right down to the Facility's bottom. Many bridges branched off from this circle, leading to various other places, and even above there were more rooms with yet more fascinating things. And though the man had been there for almost his entire life, he had barely seen any of it.

As he stepped out from the helicopter, he was approached by a large, middle-aged man. He was a Master Sergeant who the man had seen now and again. His hair was almost all grey, except for a few patches of brown that held on. The soldier's face was scarred and slightly wrinkled. His brown eyes gave the feeling that he had a story or ten to tell anyone who would listen.

"Did you get the item?,"he asked.

The man replied with a nod and handed over the strange object.

"Excellent," the man said in a stern voice. He took the object and handed it over to a nearby scientist "Smith says he wants to see you in the main hangar."

The main hangar was like a huge metal hall. It would take nearly fifteen minutes to walk from the furthest end to the other. On the day in question however, many of the large lights were off, and all but a few of the various equipment and vehicles were left. Most notable was the lack of people. Much like the helicopter pad, the main hangar was usually bursting with activity. At the centre of the far end was a large hangar door, big enough to fit three heavy tanks side-by-side, and at each side of it were two significantly smaller doors for infantry or other personnel.

The man's footsteps echoed through the empty hangar, before he eventually came to a stop underneath one of the lights that was on. He didn't try calling out to anyone, but simply stood at attention in silence. After some time, one of the side doors in front of him opened, and in the door frame stood a figure, their features shadowed by the bright light behind them.

"I hear you were successful," the person said.

"Yes," came the simple reply.

"Good. That Energy Pack shall come in use."

There was a long pause.

"However, I...have some bad news," stated the person "It seems knowledge of your existence has been leaked. This could be very dangerous to our whole operation."

"I...I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about..."

"This is the end. We can't allow this risk to continue. You must be terminated."

"Termin...but...!"

But the man had already left, and the door closed. The young man now stood alone, in utter silence. For a few moments nothing happened. Soon enough though, he felt a great tremor and heard a loud crashing sound. He gave it no second thought after guessing what had been planned. The madman was going to blow up the entire hangar with him in it! The man instantly dropped the black box and made a headlong run for the side door at which the man had stood. He rushed up the long metal ramp as fast as he could. By the time he reached the door and burst through it, the explosions were already charging through the hangar. The room he was met with was an airlock of sorts, created for making sure the Facility was not contaminated. It was completely round, and all white, with lights going about the top. But he had no time to stop and look. Charging through, he tackled the other door, crashing through it. Now the metal stopped and earth began. A similar tunnel could be found at the other side door. They weren't the most stable of parts, but were necessary. The man sprinted down the tunnel towards the old elevator, which was thankfully at the bottom. As he stepped into it, and furiously pressed the up button, the explosions began ripping apart the decontamination room.

Now it was the final stretch through the "abandoned mine." The elevator finally reached his goal, and the man leapt out, running at full pelt for the exit. It was plainly insight, barred only by a few wooden planks. As he ran down the long tunnel, the explosions started catching up behind him. The elevator was now gone, and he was almost caught. Reaching the wooden planks he desperately started ripping them away.

It was too late. Even as he took one step outside, he was caught by the last and largest blast. The last thing he remembered was being sent hundreds of feet into the air, before coming crashing down.

And then, there was nothing.