Author's Note: Hello, ladies and gentlemen! I'm happy to see everyone enjoying my story, thank you very much!
Now, just so you know, I did have a reason for not having Raven in the last chapter. And you are going to find out in the next chapter! I promise!
Hope you all enjoy it!
Your friend, Cody.
Everything was hazy. Nothing was clear to see except for a few blotches. Richard's head felt like it had gotten hit with a 2x4. A few moments later, his head began to clear, and could hear someone saying his name.
"Richard? Richard, are you ok?"
It was Kori, she was safe. Thank God.
Richard groaned as he sat up, "I think so. Are you?"
Kori nodded, "I am fine. Thank you."
It was then Richard realized that they weren't in the city. Instead, it looked like they were in a large armored truck. He could feel the truck moving, which bothered him.
"Where are we going?"
"Who knows." a voice spoke, turning both Richard's and Kori's attention to the dark-skinned cyborg sitting at the end of the truck across the double doors with his arms resting on his knees.
"Nobody really knows where they take meta-human's." he added.
"I heard they capture you, and then throw you into an incinerator, so you burn to death!" said the boy with green skin.
"That's just a rumor." the cyborg replied.
"How do you know? It could be true!"
"Who are you guys, anyway?" Richard asked.
"Victor Stone." said the cyborg.
"Garfield Logan." said the green-skinned boy. "But you can just call me Gar."
Kori smiled, "It is nice to meet you both. My name is Kori Anders."
"Please to meet you, little lady." Victor replied with a smile. "I'd shake your hand, but..." he raised his hands, where they could see he was clasped with laser-cuffs. The others looked at their hands and saw they were cuffed, too.
"It's nice to meet you, Kori." Gar replied as well. "Who's your friend?"
"My name's Richard Grayson."
Both Victor and Gar's eyes widened.
"Wait, 'Richard Grayson'?" Victor repeated the name. "As in, the Richard Grayson? As in, son of big-time billionaire, Bruce Wayne?"
"That's the one." Richard said, with the tiniest hint of a smirk.
"Dude!" Gar exclaimed. "What are you doing here? You're not a meta!" a thought then just occurred to him, "Wait... you aren't a meta, right?"
Richard chuckled, "No, Gar. I'm not a meta. Just a simple human. I was rescuing Kori from a squad of H.I.V.E. soldier's. I thought I had taken them all out, but I was wrong. Luckily, Kori here," he pointed to her, "Saved my life with a few surprises. We were on our way out of here, when we were hit with some kind of laser that knocked us out. And now we're here."
"How did you get captured by the H.I.V.E.?" Kori asked.
Victor went first, "I was running, until I got surrounded. I decided to fight back, and thought I was gonna make it. That's when the mech showed up. Of course, me being the over-confident guy I am, I thought I could take it. That's when it fired a missile and crashed my systems. The H.I.V.E. rebooted me, only after they cuffed me and stuffed me in here."
Then Gar, "I was hiding from the H.I.V.E. I though I was gonna make, but it turns out, they were waiting for me. I tried to fight back, only I got tazed, and wound up in here."
"I am truly sorry, friends." Kori sympathized, lacing her hands together.
"It's ok, Kori." Victor assured her. "So, why don't you tell us what you're here for?"
Kori hesitated, and looked to Richard for guidance. He smiled and nodded, telling her it was okay.
"Well, I am originally not from here. I am from the Island's of Tamaran. It was a beautiful place... once. The H.I.V.E. attacked our homes, and killed my family." she bowed her head, trying to block tears from the boys eyes. "I came to Jump City in hopes the H.I.V.E. would not find me. I was wrong."
"Why were they after you?" Gar wondered. Kori regained her composure, and replied as best she could.
"I am a meta. I have powers. I am able to shoot energy orbs, or starbolts. I, also, have the ability to fly, and I have super-strength."
Victor whistled.
"Nice." Gar said with a smile. Kori could only smile back.
"Thank you, friends. What about you? What powers do you possess?"
"I can change into animals." Gar replied.
"And I have super-strength, as well as built-in cybernetics that help me scan, hack and fight." Victor added.
"How did you become a cyborg anyway, Victor?" Richard wondered.
Victor sighed, this wasn't an east subject for him to discuss, especially with people he just met. He never really cared for his cybernetics, and the fact that H.I.V.E. didn't like them either, didn't help. But as long as the question was just hanging, he might as well answer it.
"My parents were scientists. They worked in S.T.A.R. Labs and were trying to figure out a way to enhance the human body with augmentations. Unfortunately, there was an accident. My mother was dead, and I was injured. Bad. My father, in order to save my life, replaced whatever parts of me that were broken with the cybernetics. He thought he was doing me good..." he bowed his head, "I thought he was a monster. So, I ran away. That's when the H.I.V.E. showed up."
They all were in shock. How could Victor have survived something that caused most of his body to break? How could his own father use him as a test subject?
"I am sorry that happened to you, Victor." Kori apologized.
Victor nodded, "It's okay, Kori." changing the subject, he looked to Gar, "So, how about you, little dude? What's your story?"
Gar's cheerful disposition quickly changed to somber. Like Victory, his story was a touchy subject. But he had to tell it someday, and he felt good about these guys. He thought they were cool.
"Well, I was born and raised in Africa. My parents were studying this rare green monkey, and searched every inch of the jungles to find it. They did, but... I was bit. I was sick, and my parents were frantically trying to find a cure. They did, and it worked. But it also gave me my powers, and changed my appearance."
"I was wondering why you looked like an elf." Victory joked, but found Gar didn't appreciate it.
"Anyway... my parents later died in a boating accident." that wiped the smirk off Victor's face. "And I was an orphan. Thankfully, I was adopted and brought to Jump City. Only, it didn't last long. My foster parents were killed by the H.I.V.E., and then tried to capture me. You know the rest."
"Hey, man. I'm sorry about the 'elf' thing." Victor apologized.
Gar nodded and smiled, "It ok. No problem." now it was tie for him to change the subject, leaving Richard the only one left. "So, Mr. Big-Bucks, Jr. What's your story?"
Deciding not to dwell on the 'Big-Bucks Jr.' comment, Richard was also vague on his story.
"I'd rather not. The only thing you need to know about me is what you already know. I'm the son of Bruce Wayne. I'm the heir to his enterprise, and I stand against the H.I.V.E., which is what led me to Kori, which is what led me here."
"Thanks for that." Victor grumbled, receiving a death-glare from Richard.
"Richard, why do you not wish to..." Kori's question was interrupted once the truck stopped, causing the teens to fall flat on their sides.
"You think they're letting us go?" Gar asked, rubbing his head as he sat up.
It was then, the doors opened up, revealing a trio of H.I.V.E. soldiers.
"Get out." the one in the middle spoke rudely. The four teens complied, and stepped out of the truck, shocked at first that it was now dawn, and the sun was beginning to rise, giving the sky a light blue color while the sun's rays shined through the storm clouds that were now beginning to fade. It may have looked spectacular to behold, but that was nothing compared to what they saw next.
The sight they beheld stepping out of the truck made the four teens gape in awe.
It was an arena, built exactly like the Roman Colosseum. Only, instead of rock and stone, it was made of steel, and colored in the form of a bee-hive, a mix of black and yellow. Yellow banners hung over every arch, marked with the H.I.V.E. sign at the center.
It was a marvel to behold. The sheer size of it was enough to freeze anybody in their tracks. If it were any bigger, it would probably circle the entire city, whichever city this was.
"Keep moving!" anther shout from a soldier brought everyone back to reality, and began sauntering towards the entrance. That is, until one of them grabbed Kori by the arm.
"Not you." the soldier roughly dragged Kori away from the group, which didn't go unnoticed by an angry Richard.
"Kori!" he tried to run for her, but a sudden punch to the stomach from another H.I.V.E. soldier stopped him.
"Richard!" Kori cried out for her friend as she continued to try and run from the soldier dragging her away.
Richard could only watch in anger as Kori was being taken away from him. He wanted to run after her, he wanted to help her. But the two soldiers pointing guns at him and pushing him back into line put that to no avail.
"Now get in there!" another soldier shouted.
The three boys entered the Colosseum through a dark hallway, the only source of light being the arc of sunlight shining at the end, like the light at the end of the tunnel. They could hear something getting louder and louder as they drew nearer to the exit. It sounded like... a crowd. A cheering crowd.
They finally made it to the exit, and the sight was nothing but amazing. Millions upon millions of people surrounded the three boys, cheering and booing. It was like getting ready for a big game, and everyone is just excited to see it. It took the boys a moment to let the whole thing sink in.
"Dude..." was the only thing Gar could think of to say.
"So this is where they put meta-human's." Victor deduced. You could say he was thankful Gar was wrong about the whole 'incinerator' thing. But he still got a bad feeling about this place.
Richard paid no mind to Gar, Victor, the people, or the soldiers releasing their cuffs, he was busy looking for Kori. Where could she be?
His thoughts were interrupted once the entire crowd cheered deafeningly loud, all paying their attention to the balcony set right in the middle of the wall where the boys were staring. A man stepped up from his throne-like chair, raising his arms in narcissism, basking in the roar of the crowd before signaling them all to quiet down.
There wasn't much to look at for this man, seeing as how he was garbed in a white, priest-like robe. The robe fell down to his feet, his shoulders were garbed in a black, yellow-trimmed capelet, emblazoned with a stylized animal head at the center. His facial features included a prominent chin, a narcissistic smile, a pair of sadistic looking blue eyes, and two tufts of hair on both sides of his head.
"People of Steel City!" the man spoke loudly. "I, Brother Blood, am happy to give you another rousing day of battle!"
The crowd cheered.
"Today, we have three new meta-human's to join in the slaughter!"
The crowd, this time, booed.
"Once again, these foul beasts shall never destroy our way of civilization!" the crowd cheered as he continued, "We shall rid the world of meta-human's..."
Something immediately caught Richard's eyes as this Brother Blood continued rambling. Two young women stepped out of the balcony entrance, standing across from each other at the doorway. One of them looked familiar to him. She looked just like...
"Kori!" she was safe, again! But something was different about her. Her face told that she felt restricted, which she appeared to be, clad in what looked like, full-body armor. Her clothes were replaced with a mid-riff top, a mini-skirt, and a pair of thigh-high boots, all in black. Richard was happy to see she was safe, at least.
Gar, on the other hand, couldn't take his eyes of the second girl. She was quite beautiful, even with her pale skin. Her shoulder-length hair and, rather emotionless, eyes were of the same dark purple color. He couldn't see anything else behind her blue cloak, which made him very curious as to what the girl was hiding. Whoever this girl was, he wanted to know.
"...And now," Brother Blood snapped both boys back into reality, "Let me introduce to you..."
As Blood continued on, everyone turned their attention to the large doors opening from across the arena.
"The team that shall destroy these worthless meta-human's..."
Coming out from the entrance, were five, very different, characters. The smallest one was, ironically, the one standing over the others, thanks to the mechanical spider-legs. He was about the same size as any five year-old kid, completely bald with no hair in sight, and a green bodysuit with a control panel on his chest, and a mechanical backpack that was protruding the spider-legs.
The tallest, and biggest, of the group was a very muscular man, but very hairy though. He was clad in a black sleeveless bodysuit, with gold-trimmed studs on his boots and across his chest and arm-holes to form an 'H'. His orange hair traveled down to his mid-back, and his mutton-chop side-burns could, very well, have been part of his caveman-like beard.
The third member of the group was dressed very mysteriously, almost like a bat, completely in black aside from his pale blue face and piercing red eyes.
The fourth member was clad in a red bodysuit from head to toe, aside from the black visor over his eyes and open mouth. His only insignia was a mathematical 'divide' sign inside a white circle.
The last member was dark-skinned, garbed in a white and teal green bodysuit, with a pair of gloves and boots the same color green, and a yellow eyelid with a black pupil. He wore some sort of bizarre green helmet that only had one eye, making him look like a cyclops.
Every single on of them was different, but the one thing they all had in common, Richard noticed, were the white wrist-braces they were all wearing on their right arms.
"I give you, Gizmo, Mammoth, Kyd Wykkyd, Billy Numerous, and See-More: the H.I.V.E. 5!"
The crowd cheered once more as the H.I.V.E. 5 sauntered over towards the boys. Richard, Victor and Gar couldn't believe what they were getting into. It was five on three, how is that fair?!
"And begin!" Blood shouted with a swipe of his arm, signaling for the fight to start.
The H.I.V.E. 5 only pressed a single button on their braces, and immediately charged, taking the boys by surprise. Mammoth tackled Victor halfway across the arena. See-More, with his helmet, shot giant eye-balls at Gar, who was frantically running away from the attacks. He tried to make a run for the exit, only to be stopped by ten Billy Numerous'. Richard was having trouble dealing with Kyd Wykkyd. Every time he saw the guy, and threw a punch, Wykkyd would be gone. Punch, disappear. Punch, disappear. He couldn't lay a single finger on him.
Mammoth, now mounting Victor, threw a fury of punches. Victor tried blocking him boxing-style, but the man was so strong, he was afraid each punch would break his armor into pieces. After numerous attempts at trying to punch Victor, Mammoth tried another tactic. He laced both of his hands together, and raised them his into the air to land one super strike.
That gave Victor an opening.
Gripping both arms in his hands, Victor sprung up and landed a vicious head-butt, right to Mammoth's skull. The mountain man stumbling back onto his feet to try to reduce the pain, which only meant good news for Victor. Unfortunately, Victor's legs were sweeped out from under him by a mechanical spider leg. A nazily, annoying laugh rang through Victor's ears, and all he wanted to do was pound that little shrimp, Gizmo, into a pulp.
"You stupid crud-muncher's!" Gizmo taunted. "You're idiot's if you think you can step up to the H.I.V.E."
Victor was about to speak, but felt himself being pulled up by his feet. Mammoth, with his crazy strength, swung Victor over his head in an arc-formation, and slammed him to the ground. His would repeat this move two more times before slamming him to the ground in a power-bomb maneuver. With Victor, Mammoth stayed his dominant claim by planting a big foot on Victor's chest, raising his arms in victory as the crowd cheered him on.
Gar tried running as fast as his cheetah legs could take him as he circled around the entire arena floor trying to find the exit, only every time he even came close, he was being tailed by a line of Billy Numerous'. It didn't help that they were taunting him, too, in that annoying hillbilly accent.
"Run, run, run, as fast as you can! You can't catch me... I mean, I can't catch... I'm Billy Numerous!"
Gar, having no other option left, tried running any which way he could to try and get away from Billy. He tried zig-zagging, circling, even square running, but he would always be stopped by Billy. Gar, soon, found himself completely surrounded by Billy's, who took full advantage of the situation, and dog-piled on the green teen.
Every miss from Richard meant a brutal punch from Kyd Wykkyd. Every time Richard would miss his mark, Wykkyd would land it on him. Richard knelt down on one knee, breathing heavily. He couldn't take much more of this. It wasn't until one final punch to the chin, did Richard find himself lying on his back, completely exhausted and beaten, as the crowd's cheering echoed in his mind before fading into mute. He looked around the arena, looking upon the many faces that hated meta-human's. He saw the pile of Billy Numerous' attacking Gar while See-More stood laughing. He saw Mammoth and Gizmo celebrating their conquest of Victor.
And then he saw Kori, standing from the balcony with a look of despair on her face.
Kyd Wykkyd knelt down at Richard's side, and picked him up onto his knees. He looked up at Brother Blood, and waited his command. The command that would signify either life, or death, for this man. All Blood gave was a simple nod, and he understood.
Kyd Wykkyd raised his arm, and out protruded three spikes, making the audience gasp and cheer, while making Kori gasp in horror. It was then something struck Richard.
He was about to die.
So this was it? Dying in front of a crowd of millions while Kori watched helplessly? Is this how it was going to end?
No.
No!
He was not going to die! Not like this! Not like an animal! He would win this!
Richard only had a second to act before his life was finished. He could sense the blades drawing closer and closer to him. Once they were, Richard finally ducked under the attack. With his opponent caught off-guard, he quickly spun around, and retaliated with a vicious uppercut to the chin that sent Kyd Wykkyd flying back.
Everyone stood in awe, even Brother Blood. Kori's heart filled with hope and joy. The other H.I.V.E. 5 members could only stare wildly at what just happened, which was a huge mistake.
Mammoth, overcome with shock, had stepped off Victor, which provided the cybernetic with an opening. With both hands, he gripped one Gizmo's spider legs. It was only until after Victor pulled did Gizmo realize he was in trouble, and screamed.
"Hey, what are you doing?!" Gizmo yelled as Victor, with all his strength, spun the little twerp in a full circle, colliding with Mammoth and sending both of them flying, only without Gizmo's mechanical backpack.
All the Billy's dog-piled on gar immediately asked, "Huh?" as they felt the small teen begin to grow, and grow, and grow, until he was a giant Tyrannosaurus Rex, his roar echoing throughout the arena. Gar took advantage of the situation, and with one swing of his tail, sent See-More, and every single Billy Numerous in the arena, crashing into the crowd, who were lucky enough to get out of the way just in time.
Nobody could believe their eyes. They had just watched three meta's take down the best team the H.I.V.E. had to offer! How could this be? Nobody survived the H.I.V.E. 5!
The three boys, now joined together again, took a moment to assess everything. They had just taken out the H.I.V.E. 5, and lived. They won! They were still alive! Richard was the first to laugh, with Victor and Gar afterwards. They laughed in pure joy and relief, raising their arms in victory, shouting 'yeah!' in celebration.
Pretty soon, the crowd began to cheer for them, which caught the attention of Brother Blood. They actually like them. And to be honest, he did too. He was curious as to what they possessed, and he learned very quickly. To be honest, he was very impressed, and also intrigued. With the crowd warming up to them, he wondered if he could possibly use these three for other purposes. Maybe they could be his Champion's. Yes, that sounds very good.
Brother Blood stood from his chair, and signaled the crowd to quiet down, as they did.
"People of Steel City! These three men, have bested the greatest team of soldier's the H.I.V.E. has to offer! Because of this... these men... these Titans... shall live!"
The crowd roared with joy, as did Kori's heart once more. Richard, Victor and Gar had another chance at life. That both relived them, and scared them. They barely lost this fight, and now they have to survive another? They put that thought in the back of their minds, and celebrated once more.
Gar was in the middle of celebrating, when he felt a strange aura flow through his body, like something was trying to speak with him. He would found out, instantly, that that was correct.
"Good job." the voice spoke, though somewhat emotionless. Gar looked in every which way to find where the voice came from.
"Uh, thanks. Uh, where are you?"
"Up here, with Kori and Blood."
Gar turned to immediately locked eyes with girl in the blue cloak.
"Thanks for congratulating me." Gar spoke in his mind.
"No problem, and please, call me Rachel."
Rachel. A large grin formed on Gar's face. Even though he had just met this girl, he could tell he was going to like her. His initial thoughts of Rachel were soon cast out by Victor picking him up on his shoulder's and running around as they both cheered and celebrated once more.
Richard's eyes locked with Kori's, and he could see the happiness on her face. Though they could not speak, Kori saw everything through Richard's eyes. Yes, he was going to win. He would defeat any challenger.
And he didn't know how, he didn't know when, but he would win back their freedom, and destroy the H.I.V.E., once and for all.