Part 3: ...Or Give Me Death
Terrorist ninjas. You almost expected a group of robot pirates to show up.
In retrospect, their ridiculous concept aside, the ninjas were far more resilient and difficult to deal with than the minor Lanceheads. If they'd been those mooks, Gauntlet would have fallen asleep from boredom by now. Oh, the things you put up with as a superhero for some entertainment.
Gauntlet rolled in order to avoid the snake-themed shuriken thrown at him: it didn't much help, as he still found himself surrounded by the masses of Blackadders, as he'd learned they were called. One would wonder why Gauntlet even felt the need to run, considering his shield was more than enough to deal with a couple of bladed stars, but Rob probably enjoyed making things dramatic.
Scattering away from them, Gauntlet flipped back to his feet and yelped as several Blackadders stormed down on him, lashing out punches. He staggered back, a faint feeling of overwhelmtion (was that even a word?) in the back of his head. Maybe he was being TOO entertained, so to speak.
"ACK! Time!" He shouted, making a peace sign. Amazingly, the Blackadders DID stop. "Er… HAIL HYDRA! …Immortal Hydra! We shall never be destroyed!"
The ninjas stared for a second.
"Wrong comic company, man." Said one.
"Yeah, we're Kobra." Said another.
"Oh." Gauntlet said, looking somewhat irritated. "Why do we ALWAYS have to do a Marvel joke in every fic this hack makes? It's just stupid at this point!"
"Yeah." Most of the Blackadders agreed.
Silence.
"…FOR KOBRA!"
"EEP!"
Gauntlet twisted away from a punch and bent back just in time to avoid being sliced by a nunchuk (apparently, their arsenal wasn't limited to throwing stars). Okay. Time to start fighting back.
So of course he backflipped into the center of the ninjas and made a handsign.
"SHADOW CLONE NO JUTSU!"
Nothing happened. And though the ninjas were hardly surprised, they still stared at him oddly.
"Always wanted to say that." Gauntlet shrugged. "And you guys beat me to it anyway."
A Blackadder tilted his head in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"You are a bunch of identical clones." Gauntlet stated matter-of-factly. "Each one more identical than the next!"
The ninjas looked outraged.
"That's patently unfair!" One cried.
"Yeah!" Said a particularly offended one. "I enjoy collecting stamps!"
"And I speak Greek!" The first one added, looking rather proud of it.
Gauntlet looked ashamed. "I'm sorry… I had no idea. I just assumed…"
"Yeah well, next time you should consider our feelings before talking!" The first one hissed.
"GET THAT INSENSITIVE ASS!"
"Bugger." Gauntlet whined as even MORE ninjas randomly appeared out of nowhere and threatened to overwhelm him. Again.
Couldn't have that: Gauntlet avoided most of the following massive onslaught by ducking and dodging, weaving through the masses a bit before he seized one of the Blackadders.
"Hey!" He exclaimed. "You are the one that collects stamps!"
"You remembered!" The man said, delighted.
"YEP!" Rob grinned.
…And then he smashed him against his allies, using him as a shield to run through them, much like Cyborg had done with the T-Car, actually.
Sadly, the Blacadder was not as durable as an armored technological vehicle.
"Sorry about that, man." Gauntlet said to the twitching hobbyist as he put him down...and then stepped on his shoulders for a boost. "See ya!"
Rob jumped back, the enhancements on the gauntlet allowing him to leap a large distance, positioning himself roughly 15 feet over the ninja army. Shuriken and kunai came flying as expected, but by this point Rob had already forgotten about dramatics and they bounced off his shield harmlessly.
The Blackadders stepped back to see Gauntlet extend his arm, a giant mass of gold flowing out and solidifying into… a massive paperweight…?
Confused as they were, none of them missed the wild smile in Gauntlet's lips. And what it implied.
"…You are MAD!" One cried, shaken.
"Thank goodness for that," Gauntlet quoted, "'Cause if I wasn't it'd probably never work."
Only a few were able to escape mostly unscathed as the 'paperweight' collapsed upon all of them. And somewhere far away, Ben Hanson rolled in his grave upon reading Rob's line. Wait, he's not dead yet. Fine, he rolled ON his grave. He probably got muddy, but such was the curse of not being a POTC fan.
Rob landed on the gigantic mass of yellow energy, as the ones who had escaped the blow range struggled to their feet.
"Heh. Who needs the Green Lantern ring?" Gauntlet mused as he effortlessly evaded poorly aimed projectiles, jumping off the paperweight as it vanished and landed in front of the remaining ninjas.
"Yo."
"…KOBRA!"
Rob ducked under the first one's swing and kicked his back, sending him crashing forward onto his masked face. He then expanded his shield when two shuriken sank into it, causing them to ricochet back to the thrower and the one nearest to him. The fight had suddenly become quite easy. More evidence of this came when two jumped into the air towards him, and were swiftly seized by the ankles by a golden line and smashed against each other, each collapsing at one side of Gauntlet.
"They just don't make ninjas like they used to. Nice and Japanese."
The remaining ninja goggled.
"What the hell!" One protested. "How can we be getting our asses kicked so thoroughly?! We are the elite!"
"Wait!" Responded another. "This must be that Law of Inverse Ninja Effectiveness they mentioned in training!"
The first one look awestruck. "Of course! Hey! Everyone but me and Larry back off!"
"Aw crap." Gauntlet said as the two ninjas charged alone, with far more skill than he remembered. He barely dodged one when another punch crashed against his face, violently causing him to fall back.
"Great Scott!" He said, flipping back.
Just then a shuriken grazed his cheek, somehow getting past his nigh impenetrable shield.
"These ninjas are almost as skilled as I am!" Rob cried, forced to a full evasive maneuver. "There's no time to lose! I have to act, and fast!"
…Does this fight even make sense anymore?
A Copperhead drawing a bead on Raven suddenly found its main gun being crushed, backfiring and exploding, and as the small aerial craft lurched Raven smashed in its window with another thrust of black energy and flew on. Starfire's attempted attack had been repelled and she was now assisting Terra on other matters, but she'd cleared a path for Raven and the sorceress used it.
More cannons fired at her, but their attacks exploded on Raven's defensive shield as she flew up past them and onto the front of the gigantic deck of the main Kobra ship, flying past the two statues at the front as she found what she expected: lots of Copperhead helicopters being readied for launch, as well as lots of Kobra minions either preparing to fly or dive.
Raven gave them a new concern, as she seized the closest pair of Copperheads, enveloping them in her power, and hurled them to the side, as they smashed into the helicopters behind them and then the ones behind those in turn, turning the machines to scrap as the Kobra minions ran to get away from the shrapnel storm. Raven then reached out in another direction, seizing control of two of the mini-helicopter's systems and activating their weapons, sending a swarm of the mini-missiles out onto the deck and slamming into other Copperheads as well as fueling and arming vehicles. Explosions rocked the deck, and Kobra minions ran, flew, and screamed.
A few came out of a mass of fire, all aflame, and Raven pondered for a split second before seizing them with her energy, extinguishing the flames.
She then slammed them into the ground. She could only be so merciful.
Kobra, on the other hand, had no concept of gratitude or mercy, as dozens of troops recovered and opened fire on her. Raven threw up a shield, but the pressure was overwhelming, and she found herself being forced back.
As a Death Adder tore by, firing a stream of deadly rounds at her that missed her by mere inches. Raven hissed and retreated back: she needed to rethink her tactics…
Beast Boy's tactics were working just fine, as he kangaroo jump-kicked another Kobra Lancehead into the water and then avoided a laser blast by turning into a fly. Buzzing over, he became a tiger and pounced, slamming the Lancehead's head into the sand and knocking him senseless, then running over to a recovering one and smacking with a paw swipe to the face (no claws, again), knocking him out for good.
Two more Cottonmouth boats were heading for the beach, their twin gatling cannons opening fire at Beast Boy on the shore, and even as the bullets tore through the sand Beast Boy fearlessly charged towards the water and dove in, becoming a goldfish and then a dolphin as the water got deeper.
The Cottonmouths stupidly kept heading for the beach instead of turning back, and they paid for it, as massive green tentacles rose up and snagged the boats, shattering them as squid Beast Boy dragged the Lanceheads on board beneath the water and klonked their heads together.
And on the beach, another mass of Lanceheads reared back, the men and women screaming and grabbing their heads, as Cyborg stood up from where he'd been dog-piled.
The Lanceheads may have not truly have counted as typical and easily disposable grunts, but despite their training, they had very human limitations. And Cyborg had used one, arming his sonic cannon as he'd been pounced on and adjusting it so it emitted disruptive short range soundwaves instead of concentrated blasts of power. The effect drove off and crippled his attackers, and Cyborg had no problem abusing that fact as he proceeded to easily tear through the grunts, swatting them out of the way like flies and looking rather diabolical while doing it.
However, despite being a minor threat by themselves, and being hammered by disruptive sonic waves, Lanceheads did have firearms at their disposal, which were far more practical than, say, the stereotypical ninja gear Blackadders sported. And the Lanceheads at the outer periphery of the sonic attack had enough sense to retreat more and aim said firearms. Bullets ricocheted off of Cyborg, as he cursed and switched back to his classic blaster configuration, returning fire. But that let the closer attackers recover and resume attacking.
Cyborg wasn't caught by surprise this time, and hence fended off his foes with far better efficiency. But the sniping attackers kept doing so, and despite how effectively Cyborg was able to smash and throw his enemies aside, the numbers were starting to overwhelm him anyway, as more and more managed to get past his weapons and near enough to grab him.
"I cannot believe there are so many of them. Where the heck do villains hire..." Cyborg muttered through gritted teeth as multiple bullets sank into his armor. It was only a matter of time before they got lucky and damaged a life-support mechanism, or worse yet, managed to hit flesh...
"KOBRA!" Came the shout he was by now very familiar with as a gun was placed against his forehead.
BANG!
Cyborg punched the shooter into submission with his free arm, as his smoking hand let go of the barrel of the gun, the flattened bullet encased into his metal palm.
"Should've just fired." He muttered. "Screaming that constantly gives me a two second warning."
"The robot is holding his position more effectively then...expected." The Kobra minion said with some worry and fear, though the source of it was more the anger of the battle assault officer behind them than Cyborg's stand.
"It doesn't matter." The Organizer replied, as he looked with satisfaction at a computer screen. The animal-changer had been drawn off by the boats, which had kept him from noticing the considerably...larger threat.
And it was too late now.
"Anaconda! Your target is directly ahead! Leave no trace of his offensive body, flesh OR metal!"
A wordless cry of fanatical devotion was the only response. The Organizer grinned in satisfaction
And Cyborg couldn't get any, as he grabbed hold of another Lancehead and hurled him into a group of his fellows when his mechanical eye picked up a disturbance. He glanced at the shore, from where disturbance had originated, wondering what to expect.
Not what he saw.
As with a sudden roar, the water erupted anew, and Cyborg's lone eye nearly bugged out of its head as the massive vehicle drove up from beneath the waves and onto the shore. It looked like an APC…except about three times bigger. And with several glass domed gun turrets that immediately opened fire on Cyborg. And even as Cyborg sought cover from that, the front of it began to open, and Cyborg didn't need to be a genius to guess what was inside: more troops, a LOT more based on the size of the vehicle. This was the Anaconda, a specially modified underwater landing vehicle, and it was indeed filled with troops eager to ruin Cyborg's day even further.
I can't let those bastards get a beachhead, Cyborg thought as he shifted directions and ran towards the enormous vehicle. But the remaining Lanceheads of his original battle weren't about to be ignored as they rushed him from behind, trying to drag down and trample Cyborg.
Cyborg pressed on, smashing and slamming the men away, wincing as a bullet found its way into the back of his knee. He forced himself onward and knocked away the rest of his attackers with a spinning lariat that would have made Zangief proud, limping hurriedly forward...right into the new swarm of men that had emerged from the Anaconda.
Cyborg gave them a warm American welcome. The fact that it was a display of violence is a metaphor whose precise meaning I'll leave YOU to ponder.
"MOVE." Cyborg growled, aiming his sonic cannon directly to a particularly resilient Lancehead's face.
The man didn't budge.
"FOR KOBRA!" He roared and began to raise a weapon.
BOOM.
Cyborg grimaced as the smoking form landed some distance away. Suicidal terrorists were the worst possible enemy you could get: They couldn't be intimidated. And there might be more of them, as he turned to keep fighting...
As one of them jumped on his back.
"HEY!" Cyborg said, trying to shake him off. He heard and felt something slam between his shoulders as he finally managed to grab a hold of the man's head and pulled him off…
…And felt roughly 100,000 volts of electricity violently surge through his body.
Cyborg screamed, falling to his knees, his body smoking and his system haywire; he couldn't make sense of his readings and his brain was pretty goddamn scrambled. He was too confused to remember how to open his hand in order to let go of the man he had seized seconds before. Said Lancehead had also suffered from the shock, and there was no doubt that, unlike Cyborg, he was dead. All the more reason Cyborg was trying desperately to be able to open his hand. He didn't like being reminded of the lengths such men would go...
Why had it suddenly gotten dark?
Cyborg's human eye looked up in time to see he was surrounded. With a great deal of weapons aimed at him. And he was only barely started to regain control of his scrambled systems.
"…Oh hell…"
"FIRE!"
And they did, as Cyborg screamed once again.
Scalpel lifted a troop off his feet with a lancing blow, the metallic fist of the alien doctor forcing his target backwards in a buckling thrust so he could collide with two of his brothers and carried on going for a good few feet. Thus entwined, the fellow Kobra servants collapsed in a pile of aches and snake scales. Scalpel shot a leg out behind him to catch another Lancehead, before swinging his glaive to meet him head on: it was only because of Scalpel's twisting with the blade that he didn't take the man's head clean off his shoulders. This Lancehead also went for a slight flight and collided with one of his fellow soldiers as Scalpel continued to use the men against themselves.
Scalpel, for all his hidden past, was a soldier in a particularly nasty war. Blacktrinian willingness to fight and Tameranean propaganda hid how nasty it had actually been, but when passionate and strong willed races collided against one another, things never went smooth. Nigel had tried so hard to block out the memories, like of having to sew his commanding officer's intestine back into his stomach in the middle of what a human might call a fox-hole, but he did it and he lived through it.
He didn't aim to stop living now.
Scalpel lashed out with his claws as another Lancehead closed in with a tonfa baton, slicing the baton to shreds as he tried not to slip into an all too familiar mindset, just in case he folded away his glaive and placed it within the lining of his old uniform. The Lanceheads would be far better off if he kept his weapon out. Oddly, it kept him sane.
Though he didn't exclusively use it, as he brought his clawed hand back and backhanded the grunt away with little effort.
More were coming. Nigel's powers may not have been as fancy as the others; he could only fight with the strength of many men, but it didn't mean he couldn't do fancy things. Like his next move: Nigel tossed his glaive into the air and dove between two soldiers, throwing his claws out and slicing their legs with deep grooves, sending them to the floor. He continued his roll, using the momentum to forward flip to his feet and bring two interlaced claws down on a man in a hammer blow, momentum and strength causing a light hit to be more devastating than it should have been. As the Kobra grunt collapsed, Scalpel caught his falling weapon. Perhaps to prove a point, he promptly folded it up and pocketed it.
Maybe he should have picked a better gesture, as bullets raked his feet and he recoiled.
"MONSTER!" Some of the Lanceheads shouted as they charged towards the alien in an arc, at least five men all acting at once, the same training and the same mindset leading to the same action, working together as some form of hive mind.
But they weren't the only ones who knew how to work together.
"Aye, there be tygers here." A soft, though dark voice echoed as a cloud of bats formed in front of the alien doctor, merging into Morgue, as her hand threw out some orb shaped objects and then turned to Scalpel, extending her unique reality warping talent to him as both she and him transformed into an even larger cloud of bats and flew off.
The orbs fell short of their targets, bouncing along the ground. The Lanceheads just ignored them, thinking it to be a pathetic throw of a fat woman in too far over her head.
Shame they didn't realize the orbs were beeping…
As Morgue and Scalpel reformed in mid-air, the explosion rocked the ground, the force wave allowing them to hover in mid air for a moment. Scalpel nodded with a smile to his other half before beginning his plummet. Though the monstrous rate at which he was accelerating would have destroyed most men and sent their other half in to a blind panic.
Sophie just glided off using the wings in her uniform to aid her, using it to survey the surroundings to see where she was needed, while dropping the occasional bomb on the crowd below.
Nigel, on the other hand, wasn't most men.
Scalpel drew his glaive again and extended it in midair. This was an experiment that had happened before, when Gauntlet had been using his glaive without realizing the weight was all in the head of the weapon. Its folded form used an inertia-dampening weight management system that basically removed most of it. All the same, unfolded, the weight of the blade of this weapon caused the Blacktrinian to hurtle towards the ground at increased speed, as was his intention.
He hit the ground like a comet, scatting men below him as he did so, before getting up and getting to fighting again, a threat indeed to men.
Savior hadn't slacked off either, as he slashed off the ends of several Kobra guns with a Shimmer blade and then smashed them all aside with a Shimmer whip, and even as they went flying Noel formed a sphere of interlaced Shimmer lines and sent it flying up into the sky. It exploded through the floor of a Copperhead, and Savior yanked hard to the side, sending the machine slamming into another: both went down in flames.
But while doing that, the sound of a scream echoed in Savior's ears, and his eyes flicked in the direction of the sound. He immediately caught the sight of the massive Anaconda in the distance, and it's attackers blasting away at a near-defenseless Cyborg. His eyes narrowed.
"Scalpel!" Savior ordered, as the alien finished kicking a Blackadder out of his attempt to stab Sophie in the back and leapt over. "Cyborg's pinned down and no help is close! I'll watch Morgue, go help Cyborg!"
"All right. But you better damn well watch her." Scalpel growled, and ran towards his beleaguered teammate.
"Just us now?" Morgue said as she popped up next to Savior.
"Gauntlet's buggered off as he's wont to do." Savior replied tersely, having no idea where the annoying one had gotten off to this time.
"Better bring out the big gun." Sophie said, as she unholstered the large modified machine rifle on her back.
"You're sure you know how to use that thing?" Savior asked.
Smoke bloomed on the ground before them, and a new group of Blackadders leapt at the pair.
As Sophie shot them all out of their fancy acrobatics, the concussive-style bullets leaving them all down or moaning on the ground.
"You tell me." She replied.
Some distance away, Scalpel ran towards his target, as his eyes assessed the situation. Not only was Cyborg being hammered by the Kobra attackers, but the incredibly large vehicle that had landed had all their cannons trained on him as well. If Cyborg turned the tide, THEY'D start shooting, and they looked to have considerably more kick then the handheld weapons of the Lanceheads.
Having asserted the situation, Scalpel tensed as he prepared himself, and as the Anaconda came into range he crouched down and leapt, sending his body flying through the air as he raised his glaive.
The Lancehead in the upper right hand bubble-cannon never knew what hit him, as Scalpel slammed down on the Anaconda even as he brought his weapon down, smashing the pod and the laser cannons that protruded from it. With a snarl, Scalpel leapt away from that wrecked pod to the one in the upper center, grabbing the twin blasters and curling them up like pipe cleaners. Unfortunately, doing that made the gunner panic and pull the trigger, and as the pod exploded Nigel leapt to the next one, spearing out his glaive and impaling it through the pod. With another snarl, he ripped the pod right out of the vehicle in a massive surge of strength, and as the gunner scrambled out and fell into the ocean nearby Scalpel swung his weapon around and sent the weapon pod flying off and crashing into the backs of the Lanceheads all barraging Cyborg. Bodies flew, and screams rent the air.
Scalpel watched for a moment, as Cyborg jerked and then finally stood up, his body scoured and pitted by the shots he'd taken. But he seemed combat-ready...
As one of the remaining bubble-pods tried to shoot Scalpel off the Anaconda. But the weapon wasn't designed to fire at such close range, and a moment later Scalpel had impaled his glaive through it. This gunner, however, had a bit more guts, as he scrambled out and attacked Nigel as he tried to wrench the pod out once more.
As Cyborg's systems rebooted themselves and he stood, his body wracked with pain from the indignities hoisted on him. It took a certain kind of contemptible man to stand and fire away at an opponent and keep him alive to draw out his suffering.
Quid pro quo, as Cyborg's arm twisted and shifted. Forget the sonic cannon, the regrouping Lanceheads would get something better.
"My turn." He said. "FIRE."
And a gigantic whooshing noise filled the air as Cyborg activated the flamethrower, sweeping the burning mass over the Lanceheads as they ignited and screamed. Normally Cyborg would have only used this against non-human opponents. But normal had long taken a holiday. This was pure survival now, and besides, the Lanceheads could always run into the ocean.
And there was the fact this choice of tactics would keep Cyborg up at night. Could the reverse be said?
And so Cyborg blasted another sweeping gout of flame out, as Lanceheads burned and fled into the waters.
Even as Scalpel tossed his opponent to join his brethren and turned his efforts back to the gun pod, as he wrenched it out like its brother pod. A River Jack filled with reinforcement Lanceheads never made it to the beach, as the pod was hurled into their boat, sending more Lanceheads and Blackadders violently into the water.
"Situation is beginning to be stalled!" The 3rd minion at the banks of the computer organization center said.
"UNACCEPTABLE! INCREASE THE PRESSURE!" The Organizer screamed, furious at how quickly things had reversed. "Get the Naga elite down on the ground to aid their lesser brethren! And launch the Diamondback weapon systems! Bring the Divine Scar's main cannons online! Destroy our enemies, lest our master destroy us!"
Robin charged in with a yell, twirling his staff as he swung it at King Snake, only for the villain to catch it on his metal wrist protectors and deflect it. Robin spun away from him before he could counter and jabbed the staff again, but King Snake smacked it away from him with an open palm slap and with frightening speed turned the move into a backhand against Robin's face. Robin rolled with the blow, spun up, whirled his staff around, and then swung it down at King Snake.
The villain seized it and yanked Robin forward into a knee blow, driving the air from his lungs, and as Robin gasped King Snake did two light steps back and stood once more in a combat stance.
He's toying with me…and he's anticipating my moves perfectly…is he really blind…Robin said as he looked at King Snake. Let's test it…
And Robin reached for his utility belt even as he set his mask lenses to go completely black in four seconds, and then he hurled a Distraction Device at King Snake.
The powerful weapon exploded, the deafening noise only matched by the incredible flash of light: it shone brighter then the sun.
And when it faded, King Snake still stood there, unaffected: he didn't even seem bothered by the immensely loud noise. Damn!
Robin yanked back his staff and then swung it out as it elongated, the metal length now long enough to catch King Snake in the legs. But King Snake just did a small, graceful jump over it…even as another Birdarang went whirling at his head.
King Snake didn't just stop it. He spun and KICKED IT BACK AT ROBIN.
Robin nearly got brained by his own weapon, he was so surprised. He blinked at the master martial artist.
"Try again?"
Robin growled and raced in again, leaping and kicking at King Snake through the air, thinking maybe he was reading his footsteps.
Wrong, as King Snake's arm slashed out and deflected Robin's foot, and even as Robin's body began to twist from that motion King Snake's leg slashed up and kicked Robin the back, sending him flying back the way he'd come. Robin landed on his hands, flipped, and leapt back at King Snake, swinging his staff in a wide arc.
King Snake ducked under it, and even as he did his leg curled up and out from behind him, slamming his heel into Robin's face in a perfect scorpion kick.
Robin flew backwards once more and crashed to the ground, his staff clattering next to him. Blood began to flow from his forehead as he stared at King Snake, whose style he simply couldn't seem to crack.
"You're unworthy of your position. Unworthy of this all. I will turn it all to ruin, just for this insult." King Snake said.
Hot fury spiked through Robin, and he leapt to his feet and charged again, attacking rapidly with his staff. But King Snake deflected all the blows effortlessly, like Robin was moving in slow motion.
King Snake was doing no such thing, as he smacked Robin's staff down and seized him by the throat.
"And instead of rising to the occasion with such a challenge, you wallow in rage. Pathetic." King Snake said, and headbutted Robin. The teen staggered back, blood fountaining from his nose, and King Snake caught him right in the chest with a thrust kick before he could recover, sending him crashing to the ground again.
"I came expecting the best. Provide it!" King Snake snapped, his good spirits gone, as if he was offended by Robin's efforts.
"Be careful…what you wish for…" Robin growled, as he wiped his face, spun his staff behind him, and attacked once more.
Fire blazed through the air, and explosions rocked the earth, as the island defenses began to get overwhelmed by the sheer force being hammered against them and the Titans desperately fought to hold the tide…
And on one of the battlefronts...Gauntlet sat on a pile of defeated Blackadder ninjas, looking none the worse for wear save for some scuff marks from fighting.
"Wow, that was an AWESOME fight scene! I pity the fool who missed it!" Gauntlet said, as he produced a bottle of water from somewhere and took a drink. "Well, guess I'm done."
"AHEM." Came an annoyed voice behind him, and Gauntlet turned to see a new mass of ninjas at the ready, even more numerous then the previous group.
"...crap." Gauntlet muttered. "For crying out loud, are you SURE you aren't Hydra?"
The Blackadders stared, this new group unsure of what he meant.
"You know, Hydra! Cut off a limb and two more will take it's place?"
"...god, you are SUCH a nerd." One Blackadder said.
"And you're dead." Another added with strange intensity.
"Oh yeah? WELL YOU'RE A WOMAN! SO WHAT!" Gauntlet yelled, and smashed several Blackadders with a Gauntlet battering ram. Shrieking and slashing katana's, more leapt at him...and crashed into each other as Gauntlet jumped away.
He still found himself surrounded again.
"Can we talk?"
The Blackadders bumrushed Gauntlet, burying him beneath their numbers. Unlike Cyborg, Gauntlet didn't even have to fight his way out, as he popped up outside the attacking mass and looked with interest as the Blackadders pounded on nothing.
"My lord, they really don't make them like they used to-ACK!" Gauntlet yelped as the Blackadders heard him and swarmed once more.
"Okay let's try this. MY FIST IN YOUR FACE NO JUTSU!"
This "ninja art" proved itself considerably more effective.
As did Savior's dashing attack, as he ran up to a Lancehead and then UP the Lancehead, slamming a few quick repeated stomp kicks onto the Kobra grunt before he leapt off, the grunt collapsing behind him. A new group of Lanceheads charged, firing machine guns, and Savior cursed and cowered behind some Shimmer shields.
As a mass of bats swarmed onto the attackers, biting wherever they could find a hole, as the Kobra soldiers yelled and screamed. As the troops flailed about, Savior took advantage of the brief confusion and slammed his hands into the ground, as Shimmer lines lanced into the ground and back up into the air, balled ends slamming into Kobra faces and knocking them senseless.
The bats flew down and reformed into Morgue as Savior pulled his lines back to him...as a Copperhead strafed the pair.
Sophie introduced the helicopter to her own rifle, and she proved more accurate as the machine lurched away and then crashed as its main rotor broke off.
Sophie's gun clicked empty, and she tossed it down with a low curse.
"You only had one clip?" Savior said incredulously.
"You made me waste the rest in training yesterday!"
"I..." Savior said...as twin Copperheads came to replace the one. "Oops."
Savior threw up another Shimmer shield, growling as the heavy-caliber bullets slammed into it. As the Copperheads flew by and began turning for another pass, Savior saw more paratroopers on the way down...and a River Jack heading to a nearby stretch of beach with even more of them, guarded by twin Cottonmouths.
Savior glanced at Morgue, who blinked behind her mask. Well, they hadn't put the girl through said hellish training so she could cower when left on her own. Savior made a few quick hand signals and Sophie nodded.
"Try not to get killed."
"You too." Sophie said, as Savior seized the large girl and with a mighty heave hurled her skyward, directly at the attacking Copperheads.
As Sophie split into a mass of bats again, the keening creatures swarming around one of the helicopters, as the pilot yelled and tried to get away. The gunner pulled out a personal sidearm and began firing into the mass, and grinned fiercely as the bats flew off immediately. He was about to indicate to his partner helicopter to finish them off when someone tapped him on the shoulder.
A moment later Savior hurled both the screaming pilot and gunner out of the machine, having jumped aboard while Morgue distracted them. Seizing the main firearm, Savior opened fire on the other Copperhead and blew it out of the sky, as Shimmer strands streamed out of his body and seized the helicopter's controls. He didn't really know how to fly the machine, but he didn't need to fly it. He just had to crash it, as he lurched the aircraft towards the beach where the three boats were attempting to land, strafing at the Cottonmouths with his gun as best he could. The motorboats veered off, and Savior grinned nastily...and then yanked the stick of the Copperhead down.
The men inside the River Jack could only scream as the aircraft nosedived, crashing into the troop boat and sending both up in a ball of flame, as the Lanceheads aboard the Cottonmouths cursed and tried to find Savior.
One group found him almost immediately, as he landed on their boat. One Shimmer lash sent everyone on board flying into the water as Savior seized the boat's controls. Again, he had no real idea how to drive the thing. But he knew enough to aim it at the other Cottonmouth, as the motor boat completed its turn and found its brother boat lancing right at it.
The explosion of that collision sent Lanceheads flying and slamming into the water, as Savior landed back on shore. He grunted, cracked his neck, and then leapt towards new targets.
Morgue, on the other hand, swarmed towards the descending paratroopers, a fact they saw coming as they opened fire on her. Morgue attempted cover as she manifested on one, punching him in the face as she clung to him...and gasped as the troopers immediately turned their attack onto their fellow, murdering him in cold blood to try and get Sophie.
They didn't, and with hot rage at their callousness shooting through her veins, Sophie made sure they never did, as she leapt and transformed for a few scant seconds, just enough to get some altitude.
Then she turned back and plummeted downward, smashing through one Lancehead's parachute and landing on his body, and even as he went into freefall she pushed off and leapt to the side, shoulder ramming another paratrooper before she swarmed away, leaping between the descending paratroopers so they couldn't shoot her without hitting themselves. If she couldn't slam into her target, she made sure her passing left them with a hole in their parachutes. Within ten seconds all of their descents had been compromised, and as the last of them smacked into the ground Sophie flew up as bats and reformed in the air, looking down at her work.
She should have scanned for targets.
The Death Adder buzzed her so closely it was a miracle Sophie didn't get cut in half, but the slipstream smacked her like a giant whip and sent her plummeting towards the ground in turn. Tumbling awkwardly and her mind awash in vertigo, Sophie tried but failed to become bats to arrest her fall, as she thudded into the ground and battle-scarred sand of the beach, skidding a few feet before stopping.
A few seconds passed before Sophie pushed herself up, shaking her head. Maybe all that learning to fall stuff had merit...
As the returning Death Adder launched a missile at her fallen form.
"Oh damn..." Morgue cursed, as she broke into her best sprint. She couldn't turn into bats, she'd never get far away enough and the shockwave from the explosion would annihilate the bat's fragile bodies, she had to RUN...!
The explosion blasted behind Sophie, sending her flying as her spine wrenched painfully and hot sand and metal peppered her rear before she crashed back down to earth, or sand.
A few more seconds passed before Sophie rose, her muscles complaining as one as she did so. For a moment she envied the dead: they didn't have to worry about these things.
But such was life, and the worries kept on coming, as twin Lanceheads on jetpacks dropped from the sky, screaming the usual "KOBRA!" and swinging electrified nightsticks at Sophie.
Unfortunately, the main attacker flew too low. Which put his testicles right in line with Sophie's fist. As the poor Lancehead screamed in pain, Morgue darted around him, yanking him down and grabbing his tazer-wielding arm as she jammed it into the other attacker. As said attacker collapsed to the ground, twitching, Sophie chopped the first one in the throat, stole his tazer off of him, and gave him a taste of it as well. He joined his fellow on the ground.
And THIS time, Sophie saw the plane coming, as she dove down and hid behind some rocks as bullets raked the ground where she'd been. Looking up, she saw the plane fly out and begin to turn around, and her eyes flicked back to the fallen Lanceheads, and their jetpacks.
A few math equations whizzed through her head as she yanked off both jetpacks, even as the plane started heading back towards her.
"Your friends dropped something!" Morgue yelled, as she carefully aimed both packs with her arms...as a pair of bats emerged and flicked their ignition switches.
The packs blazed through the air, and without their riders, they served well as improvised missiles, as they flew up and into the engines of the Death Adder, the wings exploding as it flew over Sophie's head and crashed on the other end of the island.
"...I want to say they had a blast, but that's really too obvious." Morgue commented.
"It comes easier with practice." Savior said as he touched down by Sophie. "How about 'the bombs bursting in air'?"
"You're made of terrible."
"Yes, let's convince our enemies of that." Savior said, as more paratroopers began to land.
Then they landed again. On their asses.
And as her fellows fought furiously on the ground, Terra flew through the sky above them, manipulating the rock platform she was on, changing the shape into that of a stalactite with a ring of stones whirling around the top, where she and Starfire sat in a divot, providing cover from the gatling fire the latest batch of Copperheads were spewing.
Terra gritted her teeth and sent the orbiting rocks out, slamming into any nearby attackers, while Starfire fired at the more distant ones, trying to avoid blowing the copters up completely. More jet pack-equipped Lanceheads charged at them, dodging and weaving through Terra's rock defenses with alarming grace and agility.
As Raven weaved through the firepower of one of the defense cannons was spewing, but even as she tried to mount a defense she saw a missile heading for her. She barely managed to teleport away before the projectile slammed into the laser weapon, saving her the trouble. But Raven, even as she reappeared a few feet away, knew she couldn't keep chipping away at the main ship like this. She had to…
Concentrate on staying alive, as a Death Adder zoomed past her, the wing nearby cutting her head right off as she tumbled through the air. So fast…
But not invincible, as Raven saw the plane make a tight turn to take another shot at her, and Raven had an idea, as she flew backwards.
Her speed couldn't come close to the Death Adder though, as it screamed at her. A bead of sweat ran down Raven's brow…
Its cannons opened fire.
Bullets tore through the air around Raven and even punched a few holes in her cloak.
And she warped away, the pilot flying through a fading cloud of dark power…
And right into the shots of the second defense cannon Raven had baited, the friendly fire blowing the plane out of the sky.
Raven repaid the favor by smashing it with a dark energy claw. But she had to do more. She couldn't teleport inside: she'd already sensed the field (and she was somewhat surprised she was able to get this close: that aspect of the field must have been kept right beneath 'the skin', as it were). Maybe she should make another try at…
And then she heard it, and her skin suddenly grew cold.
"Oh no."
"I can't get them!" Terra shouted, straining to keep up what she was doing and trying to fend off the jet-pack wielding Lanceheads, and not having the presence of mind to add anything else to the equation for very long.
"Allow me!" Starfire braced herself against the side of the rock-bunker and blasted at them with a stream of eyebeams, catching several of the Lanceheads in their jetpack straps with predicable results.
But two made it past the twin streams of energy, and even as they did they each pulled a pair of grenades from their belts.
"For Kobra!" the one on the right shouted.
Starfire shouted something in Tamaranean, loud enough to hurt Terra's ears, then threw herself off the platform and smashed her fist into the face of one of the soldiers, then twisted sideways and kneed the other in the stomach. Both Kobra members dropped their grenades, which fell into rotors of approaching Copperheads below and exploded, even as the defeated pair fell towards the sea in another direction.
Starfire turned back to Terra and smiled, giving the Markovian a thumbs up…
Raven tried, but she was too slow…
As Terra's breath caught in her throat when a massive beam of teal energy slammed into Starfire from Terra's peripheral vision, blasting the alien princess across the sky, out of Terra's field of vision.
"KORY!" Terra screamed. She immediately turned, hurling everything she had in the direction the attack had come from, smashing up several attackers but not the one that had hit Starfire; to Terra's horror, she realized that the shot had come from one of the huge snake-shaped turret atop the main battleship.
The beam came again, and Terra dodged to the left, then juked to the right, retreating away from the Kobra mastership as she flew, heading down toward Starfire. Terra kept waiting for the next shot, but it never came. Out of range? Tara pondered.
In actuality, Raven was hammering away at the turret with powerful force energy blasts, but while she twisted and dented the weapon, she seemed unable to disable it, and before she could muster up enough strength to rip it from its moorings she found herself assaulted by dozens of Kobra defense troops, forcing her to retreat.
Terra was oblivious to this, as she swooped down towards the ocean, finding Starfire drifting against the floating wreckage of one of Kobra's boats.
"Are you alright!?" Tara shouted, using a swarm of tiny pebbles she'd scattered through the air as a radar to tell if anyone was sneaking up behind her.
Starfire climbed onto the rock platform weakly, shuddering as water dripped off of her. "I feel as though my lerquads were inserted into a mugford." The alien coughed up water and shuddered again.
Then her breath caught, horror filling Star's eyes for a split second, and even as Terra tried to react a Cottonmouth surged past them, the Lancehead on board aiming at the two…
Terra threw up a rock shield.
Which proved ineffective as the Lancehead fired the gas grenade, the noxious chemical mist exploding against the shield and washing over Starfire and Terra, and even as Terra tried to call out the darkness came, and then there was nothing.
The River Jack exploded into pieces as Beast Boy reared up as an extinct Megalodon shark and seized it in his teeth, shredding it and sending the Kobra troops swimming for their lives, as he turned and swam back towards his section of beach, which was seeing a few more stragglers trying to land.
Beast Boy butted one in the back as a mountain ram, then slammed into another one at crotch level as a tapir, stomping on their head before turning into an eagle and flying over another before transforming into a walrus and flattening the Lancehead beneath his bulk.
As a hatch on top of the Anaconda opened, and a Lancehead emerged to deal with the 'problem' on top of the vehicle that had wrecked it's offensive capabilities. Unfortunately for him, the 'problem' had big ears and was standing in front of the hatch when it opened.
The nearest Cottonmouth got a big surprise as the Lancehead "dropped" in on it, causing it to swerve and crash onto the shore, as Scalpel slammed the hatch down and dug his claws into the metal, wrenching the sides of the hatch opening and creating a makeshift lock. The Lanceheads trapped inside, Scalpel stood up...and cursed as a Copperhead blasted at him, sending him diving for protection.
Cyborg took care of it, as a sonic cannon blast blew the Copperhead into the ocean. But in that timeframe, a River Jack had landed, disgorging its contents onto the shore. Cyborg began firing at the new Lanceheads...as three more Copperheads zoomed in, forcing Cyborg to take cover as he was attacked on two fronts at once.
As Scalpel stood up, his eyes narrowing at the tactic. They wanted to play that way...?
Cyborg fired off a few quick shots, but he couldn't aim properly with all the firepower directed at him, and all he did was scare one of the Copperheads off, while the other two Copperheads were repositioning themselves to get around his...
As a Lancehead pilot screamed as his field of vision suddenly filled with Scalpel, who'd leapt off the Anaconda.
And was completing his baseball swing. The helicopter tore through the air sideways and crashed into it's fellow, both of them tumbling to the ground and exploding behind Scalpel as he landed.
Cyborg grinned wickedly, and fired two more shots at the landing Lanceheads, kicking the sand up in front of them before Scalpel dashed past, giving him a thumbs up. Getting the message, Cyborg returned it and turned to deal with the remaining Copperhead as it returned.
Only to find it had brought four friends with it.
"OHSHI...!" Cyborg yelled as he ran for it, as two helicopters blasted the ground with missiles before the remaining three chased Cyborg, their side guns blazing.
As the Lanceheads tried to recover themselves from the sand blast...as Scalpel's glaive swung out and sent two Lanceheads flying into the sea, causing a Cottonmouth to jerk violently to the side and almost collide with another River Jack, which swerved in turn...right into the eager "hands" of Beast Boy as he swooped down as a bluebird before turning into a hippopotamus and smashing through the River Jack.
Another glaive swing smashed a Lancehead back into the River Jack, knocking over his companions as another Lancehead charged at Scalpel with a knife. Scalpel just sidestepped him and backhanded him as he ran past, slamming him into the sand. Another tried to get his gun aimed at Scalpel: Scalpel cut the weapon in half and spun, kicking the Lancehead into the distance.
As a psychotically screaming Lancehead ran out of the River Jack, holding aloft two primed grenades...
As Scalpel spun once more and baseball-smashed him back into the landing boat, and with a muttered curse leapt away as the grenades went off inside it.
"Idiot." Scalpel muttered as he got up...and the three remaining Lanceheads came for him.
Cyborg was having less luck, as he took cover behind some rocks moments before the pursuing Copperheads raked them with bullets. He cursed under his breath.
"Keep him pinned down! Spread out!" One of the pilots ordered, as the Copperheads began to do just that. If Cyborg got one or two of them with his cannon, the others would just blast him to pieces then. Strength in numbers was the tactic of Scalpel's foes as well, as they all furiously attacked him with heavy clubs.
Out at sea, a dazed Lancehead in his Cottonmouth boat sat up, confused momentarily at the fact he was alone, before he realized all his fellows had flown out of the boat when that alien infidel had thrown two of their number at him. And who was STILL fending off his fellows, the Lancehead said, as suicidal craziness abruptly filled the fanatic's mind. He would make the heretic pay for his defiance, as he swung the Cottonmouth around...
As Scalpel caught all three clubs on his glaive, and with a fierce grin gave it a quick spin, knocking all the weapons out of the Lancehead's hands as he took a step back...
And tossed the weapon at the Lanceheads, the glaive falling horizontally into their confused hands...
As Scalpel ran and kicked the weapon, and the three went flying backwards, tumbling across the sand from the impact.
As Cyborg peered over his cover, trying to assess his combat options...and saw it in the corner of his eye: Scalpel walking away from the tide...as a Cottonmouth tore through the water directly at him.
"NIGE-!" Cyborg tried to scream, before a blast of bullets swallowed his words and forced him behind cover, as he cursed again and armed his sonic cannon...
Smirking to himself, Scalpel walked over and kicked his weapon back into his hand...as his ears twitched.
Cyborg reared up, aiming for the boat...as a missile exploded in front of him and sent him sprawling on his back.
As Scalpel whirled around, as the Cottonmouth hit the beach at max speed, throwing it up into the air...and down onto Scalpel's form. Cyborg screamed as the boat crashed down on the alien, the Lancehead flying out and slamming into the ground to meet his own messy end as the boat dragged itself along the beach even as it fragmented.
"...that is IT." Cyborg snarled as he stood up, as his mechanical eye whirred and scanned, locking onto the Copperheads as his sonic cannon transformed back into his normal setup.
"He's out in the open! Shred him!" One of the pilots yelled.
"Talk to the hand." Cyborg growled, as he aimed his right arm at the nearest Copperhead and launched, his forearm flying off as twin jets extracted from each side and ignited.
The Copperhead pilot abruptly found himself getting a good close look at Cyborg's fist. Which was giving him the finger.
And then it smashed through the cockpit and out the other end of the Copperhead, and as the miniature helicopter crashed the flying arm turned and smashed off the tail of the next Copperhead, then ducked and flew through the payload of missiles on the third, detonating them on the machine as the fist swooped back up and spun in a rapid rotation. The makeshift drill sheered through the main rotor of the fourth helicopter, as the whirling blades flew off and ripped through the last Copperhead, slicing it clean in half. The vehicles smashed down onto the beaches as Cyborg's arm returned to him and snapped back on.
"You bring it, I bring it bigger." Cyborg said, and then ran over to the broken boat, hoping that the worst hadn't...
The clawed hand erupted from the wreckage when Cyborg was a dozen feet away, and Cyborg felt great relief as Scalpel pulled himself out from beneath the shattered watercraft.
"Scalpel! Are you...hurt..." Cyborg said as he got close enough for the alien to look him in the eye...which was filled with blistering fury. Cyborg stopped, remembering the constant out of control rage one of Scalpel's enemies, the White Hole, an alien of his species, had been in. That same rage was now burning in Scalpel's eyes.
Kobra couldn't see it though, as bullets and laser blasts began shooting the pair's way: the Anaconda had managed to get one of its cannons working again, and Lanceheads had taken up positions up and around it to fire at the two. And damn, was that another door opening on the side? There were MORE troops inside? What the...
"I'VE. HAD. ENOUGH." Scalpel snarled.
Hell. Hell was in Scalpel's eyes, as he jerked his glaive up from beneath the wreckage and turned, his caustic blood splattering on the wrecked boat and hissing as he whirled the glaive and then hurled it through the air.
It slammed into the side of the Anaconda, the blade shearing right through the vehicle's armor and impaling itself a foot and a half into the side. Cyborg blinked. Had Scalpel been aiming to pin the new opening door shut and miss? Because...
"RAGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!" Scalpel bellowed, as he ripped through the boat's remains and charged full tilt at the Anaconda. Cyborg goggled at the suicide charge: what the hell what Nigel thinking? He'd get shot this way!
So Cyborg made sure he didn't, as he aimed and fired at the Lanceheads around the Anaconda, shooting them down before they could shoot Scalpel, as the alien dodged the combat fire like he weighed a few ounces instead of several hundred pounds and closed in on the Anaconda, smacking a Lancehead aside with a brief gesture...that sent said Lancehead flying nearly 20 feet as Scalpel reached his glaive.
And both grabbed and pushed it, shoving the weapon and his right arm all the way up to the shoulder into the Anaconda. Cyborg shot down another Lancehead as it tried to draw a bead on the alien and once again wondered what the hell Nigel was doing.
Then Scalpel bellowed again in sheer blood-crazed battle fury, and Cyborg knew.
"...no WAY..." Cyborg said.
As with one mighty wrenching motion, Scalpel actually LIFTED the Anaconda, hoisting the vehicle up using his glaive as a crude lever and bringing every single inch of his maddened superhuman alien strength to the fore as he hoisted the 70-ton vehicle up and off the beach as a few surprised Lanceheads fell off, screaming their horror.
As Beast Boy klonked two Lancehead heads together as a chimpanzee...and saw the hoist as well. His jaw dropped.
As with one final scream, Scalpel somehow found the additional strength to do two complete spins before he hurled the Anaconda through the air.
"...gah." Was all Cyborg could say.
As the machine crashed back down to earth, rolling and ripping itself apart as it tumbled, before it came to rest several dozen feet away, a smoking broken wreck.
"...duddddddddddde." Beast Boy said.
Scalpel lowered his arms, his glaive fallen broken at his feet, his shoulders slumped and the wind tossing his hair as his arms hung limp.
"...YEAH MAN! YOU'RE THE MAN! WAHOO!" Cyborg cheered. It wasn't the smartest move, but as a former football player and die-hard competitor Cyborg had to give the alien his props.
Cyborg's celebration was short-lived.
As Scalpel collapsed on the beach.
And as they suddenly came raining down from the sky, giant metal balls that slammed into the sand and rock, leaving craters the size of swimming pools.
"What the…!" Cyborg said.
And then they exploded out, giant robotic snakes, nearly twice as big as Cyborg himself, red blazing eyes over a mouth filled with giant metal fangs, as a robotic hiss issued forth from their mouths.
"Oh crud." Cyborg said.
"Diamondbacks are released. All operative."
"Good. MAXIMUM AGGRESSION!"
"OH CRAP! AH!" Cyborg yelled as he dodged away from the first attacking robot snake, the Diamondback...as another slammed into him, biting down on his torso as Cyborg screamed and brought his hand down, smashing through the thing's head and ripping it off of him. That gave the first time to come back around and lunge once more, as Cyborg turned and leapt back, the thing's head burying itself in the sand as Cyborg stomped on it. But as he did that, two more came, as their mouths opened and fire exploded from within, blasting Cyborg with twin blasts of deadly flame, Cyborg recoiling from the attack as he snarled, his shoulders snapping up and returning fire with a spray of mini missiles that blew the robot snakes to pieces.
As another came down from above, Cyborg's head disappearing into its gullet as its metal fangs sank into his chest, Cyborg's scream echoing in a muffled cry from within.
Rob was starting to get tired. While the Gauntlet greatly enhanced his endurance, he could only use it at full tilt for so long.
"Great. Now I gotta fight sensibly. DAMN YOU, MASSES OF FACELESS MINIONS! THIS FIGHT IS GOING TO GET BORING!" Gauntlet yelled.
"KILL HIM! FOR KOBRA!" Was the reply, as kunai flew and swords slashed. They didn't trouble Gauntlet much, newfound (and greatly begrudged) sense of frugality aside.
"Okay, so I gotta ask. Is there some sort of ninja academy, or do you guys come from a factory?"
"We are the elite deathdealers of the new world order! Your end will be agonizing for your disrespect!"
"Yes yes, blah blah blah." Gauntlet said as he smashed two Blackadders away with a Gauntlet fist. "Do you know how many times I've been threatened with death?"
"How often have you been threatened with death by an army of ninjas?" One of the Blackadders asked as he and four others came down from the air, their weapons slashing and spinning. Two seconds later they all crash-landed, victims of a spin defense that would have done Neji Hyuga proud.
"More often than you'd imagine."
"WELL THIS WILL BE THE LAST TIME!" Another yelled as he leapt at Gauntlet with a trident. Gauntlet grabbed him and threw him into some of his fellows.
"Really? You're going to talk to all of the other ninja hordes for me? That'd be swell! So, how do I get put on this 'do not attack' list?"
"KILL HIM! KILL HIM!" A random Blackadder screamed, and more attacking ninjas and thrown weapons headed Gauntlet's way.
"Rats. It was a long shot, but I could only hope..." Gauntlet said as he bashed the attackers away. "But y'know, I gotta admire your dedication, ninja hordes. I salute you! With punches!"
And more Blackadders went flying...as a lone kunai finally found the right angle and spot, slashing Gauntlet on the arm.
"HEY! OW! OW OW OW!' Gauntlet yelled, grabbing the injured area.
"NOW!" Came a cry, and a gigantic wave of deadly weapons was hurled at Gauntlet.
Boof.
There was now a Gauntlet yellow energy approximation of a piece of wood there, which had taken all the attacks.
LOGG'D!
"...that is not a substitution! He just stepped back and made a roundabout shield! You can see him through it!" One of the Blackadders pointed out.
Gauntlet looked at the speaker for a second...and then swung the Gauntlet log out on a yellow line and smashed it through the ninja hordes.
PLANK'D!
And speaking of planks, Scalpel felt like someone was slamming him repeatedly in the head with one the size of Kobra's main air-battlecraft. From the inside of his head, at that.
It was why he had always been disliked if not hated by his species, as Scalpel tried to get up, his whole body in even more pain then his head, if that was possible. He didn't like the red fugue, the insane battle rage. Maybe it let you do things beyond you (calm, Scalpel would have been able to turn the Anaconda over, at best), but it completely robbed you of any reason. And in his mighty toss, Scalpel may have destroyed the Anaconda, but he'd also destroyed himself, exhausting every bit of strength he had and ripping apart most of the muscles in his upper body.
And now the piper was calling, for while many Kobra minions had been disabled or defeated, not all of them had. And now the remnants were coming, pulling themselves from the water or the ground, smelling blood.
Scalpel looked up at their approach...and despite it all, he pushed himself to his feet, causing them briefly to recoil. And then, despite it all again, Scalpel gestured for them to bring it.
And they did, as they charged and attacked. Scalpel smashed the first several away and inflicted agonizing cuts on several more, but it was ultimately futile, as a tazer blast seized up his body. And then they were on him, raining down blows and shocking him again and again.
Scalpel still knocked three of them out before the blackness claimed him. And never once did he ask or show an iota of mercy.
He may have hated war, but for what he believed in, there was no finer soldier then Nigel Hastings.
The saddest part was, his opponents were too deluded to ever realize that.
As Morgue, shooting down two Lanceheads with her personal tranquilizer guns, suddenly felt a deep chill run through her.
"...what the hell was that?" She said, mostly to herself as Savior slammed another Lancehead into the ground.
"Knowing our luck, a terrible thing." He replied.
As the orb fell from the sky.
"GAH! What the hell was that?!" Morgue said as she looked at where the Diamondback had crashed down near her.
"Something else. Likely also terrible." Savior said, as Sophie aimed at it.
Only to have it rear up, the Diamondback uttering an alien robotic snarl. Morgue, despite herself, screamed.
And that made Savior act instinctively, as he dove and slammed into the robot before it could attack Morgue, struggling with the creature as it shrieked.
"AYYYYYYYYAHHHHHH!" Beast Boy screamed as the Diamondback that had landed near him leapt, fire exploding from its mouth. Beast Boy avoided being flambéd by turning into all things, a rabbit, as the fire and the Diamondback flew over him.
Beast Boy turned back into a human, looking ticked off.
"All right, you wanna jump me? Think you're scary?" Beast Boy said, and turned into a T-Rex. "SCARIER!"
The Diamondback blasted fire at Beast Boy again, but his thick hide mostly protected him, and Beast Boy ignored the pain in his rush of adrenaline as he lunged and seized the metal snake, crushing its mass beneath his teeth, and before it could spring some other nasty surprise on him Beast Boy pivoted and sent the Diamondback hurling through the air.
"Yeah!" Beast Boy said, turning back to human form…and spitting at the foul taste that filled his mouth…
As the Diamondback crashed into a passing Copperhead and exploded, and the flaming wreckage plummeted towards the island…
Directly at Beast Boy, who saw the shadow fall over him and jerked his head up.
"AYYYAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"
The wreckage crashed down on top of the changeling and exploded anew, burning fuel spraying everywhere, oily black smoke belching from a dozen places. For a moment, it was eerily quiet.
Then a form popped out of the wreckage and rolled away, as Beast Boy transformed back from a scorched armadillo, amazed he had escaped…but not without cost, as his dull eyes and slurred speech indicated.
"Hey mannnnn….no fare….I was…k'ckin but…" Beast Boy mumbled, and then fell on his face, unconscious.
As Raven tore apart another Copperhead, only to find three more coming, the damn things were endless, and she couldn't see Starfire and Terra anywhere, what was going…
And then she saw it, as the main cannons began to light up again. This time, it was both of them.
"NO." She declared, and flew forward, gathering all the power she could, ignoring the shots that streaked past her as she reached out and seized the three Copperheads, and with a scream she sent them all smashing into the snake cannons, the machines smashing and tearing through them…
But they did not stop, as Raven's eyes widened. She looked at them, and then looked back, roughly calculating their firing direction…
And realized they would shoot right in the middle of where Savior, Morgue, and Gauntlet were making their defense.
"NO!" She thundered, as she flew backwards. If she couldn't stop the cannons, then she'd damn well stop the shot, as she called upon all her power, forming the most powerful shield she could, because not one of her friends was ever getting hurt by her negligence and failings ever AGAIN…!
And the cannons fired.
A massive explosion rocked the sky, and a black streak flew back from it, as Raven's smoking form crashed into Titan Island like a bullet. She did not get back up, her cataleptic form impacted into the rock she'd hit, the remaining traces of her powers the only reason she hadn't been pulped into hamburger.
Robin's fist was brushed aside by King Snake's blocking forearm, as King Snake again rammed a knee into Robin's torso, sending him stumbling back. Robin gasped, and then charged in again, lancing his staff at King Snake. The master of Kobra slapped it aside and spun with the motion, slamming his elbow into the back of Robin's head. Strange colors exploded in Robin's vision, and he lurched drunkenly, trying to turn around and defend himself…as King Snake snatched the staff from his hands and then kicked Robin in the chest again, knocking him down.
"I grow bored of this." King Snake said, tossing the staff aside.
For a moment, Robin almost crossed the line, almost reached into his utility belt and pulled out one of his disc weapons. He doubted King Snake could deflect an explosion.
…but he didn't. Because Robin had no guarantee he would survive. And Robin could not take a life when it could be avoided. For all the ways the Titans had destroyed the attackers on their islands, they had tried their very best not to kill if they could. They hadn't succeeded, but they'd TRIED. And Robin wouldn't now, not this way. He'd be as bad as King Snake if he did, and worse, because he knew better.
So instead Robin took to his feet, trying to find his senses…as King Snake charged with a yell, leaping at Robin.
Robin started to dodge…
As King Snake abruptly tucked into a roll, hit the ground, rolled, and sprang onto his feet right at Robin's legs as he ducked and lashed out with a leg, swiping Robin's feet out from under him as Robin crashed painfully to the ground. Robin gasped, blood flecking the roof of the tower…and then jerked away as King Snake leapt up from his crouch and tried to stomp on Robin. Robin pushed himself back up, and then King Snake was attacking him, swinging his leg at Robin and then whirling and swinging his other, and even as Robin tried to dodge those King Snake closed in and snapped off a furious combination of punches. Robin blocked two before the third one slammed into his shoulder and disabled his arm: the next two were blocked solely with his face, which as you might have guessed, was not a good way to do it.
Robin hit the ground again, and as he looked up at King Snake the maniac grinned and licked Robin's blood off his knuckles.
The righteous fury surged through Robin again, and he leapt up and once again attacked.
A seemingly futile effort, as King Snake blocked every blow.
Savior wasn't much better off, as he was trying to avoid having his face chewed off by a giant metal snake.
"SUNNUVA…!" Savior cursed as he grappled with the Diamondback, as it reared back and lunged, its teeth going for Savior's shoulder and neck.
Shimmer lines sprang out and stopped the teeth mere inches from Savior's tender flesh, and he snarled as the creature writhed, trying to wrap around him even as it bit him…
Savior used its momentum against it, flipping the robotic creature over as he fell backwards onto the ground.
Only to find the Diamondback was even faster then he anticipated, as it recovered quicker then him and lunged its tail at him, as a whirring drill fired up and tried to perform some impromptu dentistry on the white-haired teenager, as he cursed and rolled furiously, trying to outrun the drill.
"Damn it! Why didn't I pack some explosive...!" Morgue cursed as she watched Savior wrestle with the machine.
As she heard the thuds behind her, and she whirled, fear blooming in her: if there were more of those devices...
There weren't. What it was was almost as bad, as the giant rose from his kneeling position, even as another giant landed nearby. The elite Naga troops had finally arrived on the field, so big and muscular they could be dropped without parachutes: their bodies barely seemed fazed by the impacts. The closer muscleman turned cold eyes on Sophie, as he extracted and ignited a plasma axe.
"...flesh and blood." Morgue said, and to the Naga's surprise she charged at it.
The surprise turned into amusement, as the giant swung his deadly weapon.
Into a cloud of bats, which swiftly flew up and reformed into Morgue as the giant looked up at the black-clad female...as she emptied a whole clip of tranqs into the Naga's face. The sheer amount of sedative hit the giant like a wrecking ball, as he lurched back and then fell, Sophie riding him down into the ground.
"You got something to say?" Sophie snarled as she turned to the other one.
The giant hefted a portable missile launcher at her.
"...that's actually a very firm argument."
Savior sprang to his feet, and then yelled and dodged to the side as a tongue of flame caught and scorched his jacket, and he snarled in renewed rage as the Diamondback landed nearby, immediately zeroed on him, and leapt.
Savior didn't dodge this one.
Instead he reached out and sent Shimmer strands firing out, the points lancing into the Diamondback and stopping it a foot from Savior, and while the machine seemed to briefly hover in the air Savior fired off a punch with his other arm, slamming it into the Diamondback's mouth as the Shimmer tore through the innards of the creature and ripped it apart from the inside.
"Too bad I can't make you into a pair of boots." Savior said, and turned around.
And walked right into the chest of the giant. He reared back, his eyes filling with alarm, as the giant laughed and swung out.
The blow knocked Savior backwards, but he quickly regained his balance as he glared at the Naga, clad in his vicious looking armor.
At least that Naga was unarmed. Sophie's wasn't, as it aimed at the woman...
As she ran for her life...towards the Naga. Like his fellow, the giant was caught by surprise, as Sophie turned into bats again...and swarmed through the giant's open legs. The Naga swung around, his finger curled on the trigger...
As Morgue reformed...right on top of his missile launcher. The sudden weight change caused the missile launcher to be abruptly pointed towards the ground.
It also caused the Naga to accidentally pull the trigger.
As Morgue immediately leapt off the weapon and turned into bats to fly up, just escaping the explosion's shockwave radius as the Naga flew backwards, his weapon bouncing away as he crashed backfirst onto the ground.
But even that didn't keep the giant down.
Morgue turning back and falling fifteen feet onto his face, feet first, did.
"So they're sending in the big ones now, eh? Fine, the bigger they are…" Savior said as he snatched up a hunk of rock and hurled it at the Naga.
The Naga punched it out of the air, and if that was a cue he roared to the heavens. Savior's eyes widened as he saw the giant's muscles bulging and shifting despite the armor, like the tissue was being charged with pure energy.
"That can't mean anything good."
The Naga charged at Savior.
"…the bigger they hit, damn!" Savior said, finishing his old line as he leapt backwards. He lashed the Naga with a Shimmer whip, but the giant barely seemed to feel it, as Savior again leapt backwards…
And was smashed into the ground by the giant club, his spine feeling like it was snapped in half as he impacted. Savior rolled over and saw he'd jumped right into the weapons range of another Naga…and another was coming. And another, and another.
Before Savior knew it, he was surrounded.
"…I hope the shrunken testes were worth it." Savior commented.
"KOBRA!" Yelled a Naga as he swung an energy axe at Savior. Savior leapt aside and fired off twin Shimmer bludgeons, crunching the knees of another Naga so Savior could leap over him and escape…
As another Naga aimed another four-tube missile launcher at him and fired all four.
The missiles struck the ground in front of him, the explosions blowing Savior several feet away as he crashed to the ground. And even as he started getting up, the Nagas once again surrounded him.
"Never did like snakes." Savior said, and lashed out with Shimmer lines, which were swiftly swallowed by the brutal pounding of the elite monsters.
"Oh no! Savior!" Morgue said, as she saw him get overwhelmed even as she slammed a new clip of ammo into her tranq pistol. "Hold on I'm coming...!"
A Naga not engaged with trying to subdue the white-haired teen cut her off, swinging a crackling electrified mace. And found Sophie wasn't as slow as she seemed, as she dodged under it and slammed her arm up, slamming her tranq pistol under the Naga's chin and firing a dart at point blank range, staggering the monster as she stole his weapon out of his stiffening hands and slammed it into his stomach, running onward as the monster crumpled...as another took aim at Sophie with a portable gatling cannon and opened fire. Morgue transformed and split apart, as the bullets shot down a few unfortunate Lanceheads and Blackadders, as Sophie's bats swarmed at the Naga's head, chewing at his eyes and blinding him as he staggered away, as the swarm collected and changed direction...
As the electrified net flew out and enveloped the mass of bats, the voltage slamming into their bodies and immediately convalescing them back into a screaming Sophie, who staggered around futilely trying to free herself before her brain was overwhelmed and she collapsed.
And as Morgue crashed to the ground, the Nagas split apart, revealing Savior's limp form at their feet.
"I've...got to say...I've...huff...never fought quite this many ninjas before...pant..." Gauntlet gasped as he looked as the seemingly endless Blackadders.
"KOBRA!" They all yelled, charging in.
"THAT'S IT! TIME FOR MY ULTIMATE TECHNIQUE!" Rob began to glow brightly, his force field's aura expanding.
The ninjas halted and staggered back, attempting to avoid the ever expanding force field. One of them gasped, "What have we unleashed?"
After a long moment, the field collapsed in upon itself and Rob was looking more normal again.
Except that the bulk of his force field had focused itself on his right foot.
"ATOMIC BOOT TO THE HEAD!"
KER-DEMENTO'D!
"Nyah nyah." Gauntlet said, looking at the masses of now fallen ninjas. "Ah, Ker. We meet again. Where else..." Gauntlet said as his eyes happened to wander onto a mass of gigantic steroid freaks...who happened to have Savior's broken form lying at their feet. "Oh hey Savior. I see you didn't do too well against your horde. Don't worry, I still have some gas in the old...Gauntlet tank..." Gauntlet said as his eyes fell on Sophie, netted and down as well. A quick scan of the battlefield brought no changes: every Titan Rob could see was down and out.
"What the...the whole team is down!? They lost to guys...that sucked too bad to be Cobra OR Hydra?" Gauntlet said, as his eyes flicked back and forth a few moments longer as he assessed. "No...NO! This can't be! Unless...they threw the fight? Yes, of course! It's the only logical explanation! This is part of some ingenious plan by Robin! We get kidnapped, granting us access to their deep inner sanctums of privacy! But wait...Occam's razor...isn't that overly complicated? But...the Titans wouldn't lose against these idiots! Therefore, the complicated plan is the simplest explanation! Hello Terrorist! I wish to turn myself in." Gauntlet said as he waltzed up to one of the Nagas.
You'd think the Kobra giants would have found this strange, but in reality the overmuscled lunatics were so jacked up on adrenaline and whatnot that Gauntlet could have recited a cookie recipe to them and they wouldn't have noticed, as the nearest one promptly smashed a club over Gauntlet's head, sending him tumbling down into the darkness with mental mutterings on how they really needed to teach villains some basic manners.
Diamondheads didn't have much in the way of manners, basic or table, as the robot snake tried to rip Cyborg in half.
Cyborg beat it to the punch, as the teen machine's hands reached up and seized each size of the jaw of the device, and with a furious yell Cyborg pulled, ripping the snake apart at the jaw and all along its length.
As another one attacked, spewing more flame. Cyborg took the blast, snarling as his systems screamed at him, but standing his ground caused the Diamondback to close in, as Cyborg armed his sonic cannon and fed it to the Diamondback, firing off the blast as the snake's mouth closed on his arm, blowing it to pieces. Cyborg reached down, seized up the drill end of the trail, and whirled and tossed it through the head of another Diamondback, and then stepped back as another one erupted from beneath the ground...as Cyborg slammed out his foot and introduced it to his lesser known 'pedal' sonic cannon...
As another leapt out, seizing onto Cyborg and wrapping around him before he could react, as he yelled and hammered at its head, smashing its metallic skill in...as the Diamondback erupted in crackling electricity, the gigantic voltage surging through Cyborg's systems as he yelled and fought to get the creature off...
But even as it went limp, another leapt and seized onto Cyborg, sinking it's teeth into his left shoulder, and seconds later another erupted from beneath Cyborg and wrapped around him. Cyborg thrashed, throwing wild blows as he fought for freedom.
As both snakes zapped him with their full payload. Cyborg spasmed and fell to his knees, but he kept up his struggles.
As two more leapt on him. The last group shock proved to be final.
The punch sent Robin staggering back, but this time he didn't fall, as he took a pained breath, his eyes beginning to swell shut, and assumed a basic combat pose, daring King Snake to continue to fight.
"Why do you even bother?" King Snake asked.
"You…wouldn't understand." Robin rasped.
"You've lost."
"I'M STILL STANDING!" Robin yelled, and charged once more, swinging for the fences…
King Snake knocked the blow aside with his right arm, as he snapped up his left and buried it in Robin's stomach so hard Robin was lifted nearly a foot off the ground, his breath exploding from him, bloody saliva flying from his mouth…
As King Snake, with a speed beyond anything a serpent could muster, took a step back, leapt, and slashed his foot up, catching Robin under the chin with a leaping snap kick even before his feet could touch down again, as Robin flew backwards and crashed down onto his back.
King Snake landed.
"Rectified."
And the master warrior ran and leapt into the air.
Robin could not find the strength in time to dodge.
As King Snake crashed down, slamming his palm directly into Robin's chest.
The shockwave of agony slammed through the form of Tim Drake, as he struggled mightily for one last time…and then faded, as he was consumed by the void.
King Snake withdrew his palm from Robin's chest, as he relaxed his fingers. It was done.
And yet it wasn't. Robin still lived. That was solely due to King's Snake magnificent blow. He could have easily snapped all of Robin's ribs and impaled his heart…but King Snake didn't want that. That would be too easy.
He had expected far more, and Robin would suffer for his disappointment. He and his whole worthless team.
King Snake's fingers traced up Robin's chest until he found what he wanted: the R symbol. With one quick motion, King Snake tore it from Robin's chest, standing and tucking it into his sash. The last of his many trophies. He would keep it close to remember that.
Titan Island burned, its defenses broken, its heroes crushed underfoot. It belonged to Kobra.
King Snake looked out onto the destruction, sensing its gloriousness despite his lack of sight, and he laughed, long and low.
On this night, such a state would become the world's natural one.