Chapter 9- Crash Landing
The T-ship tumbled through the air, smoke trailing from the wound that the energy cannon had left. It was only through sheer force of will that Robin managed to keep himself from vomiting long enough to ask Cyborg for a damage report.
"It's not looking good, man," the other Titan said. "Both our engines are out, and we've lost a wing."
"Think you can still land us?"
"I don't know," Cyborg said, "but I'm gonna find out!" There was a clicking sound from Cyborg's end, and then the auxiliary engines kicked on with enough force to knock the T-ship back. Robin did his best to ignore the various (and disgusting) sounds coming from Beast Boy's pod as Cyborg manually directed the lurching aircraft towards the ground.
With a sickening crunch and a jolt, the auxiliary engines gave out as well- apparently they had taken at least some damage as well. Fortunately, the craft was now only a few dozen yards above the rocky ground. The T-ship fell into a sharp nosedive and slammed into the rocks, wrecking what remained of its systems, but the Titans on board were safe from major harm.
Robin attempted to open his cockpit, but found the large quantity of rock lying on top of it made this job rather more difficult than it should have been. Sighing, he removed a low-powered explosive from his belt and affixed it to the glass, pulling himself as far back as he could into the cockpit. With a muffled boom the canopy sprung open, sending the rocks flying, and Robin scrambled out, battered and bruised but whole.
He saw Beast Boy first, leaning against the side of the wrecked T-ship and looking decidedly greener than usual. He looked up at Robin with eyes that might have been furious if they weren't so woozy. "Please tell me we're never going to do that again," he managed to say.
"Well, I'll try to ask the bad guys nicely not to shoot at us next time until we're safely on the ground," Robin snapped. "I didn't mean for this to happen."
A calm hand touched his shoulder. "We know, Robin," Starfire said. "It is the General Immortus who is doing this- and we must stop him."
"I know," Robin replied.
From the other side of the ship came an agonized shriek. "My ship!" Cyborg wailed.
"Well, just look at it this way, Cy," Beast Boy said, "Now you can build an even better one!"
Cyborg shot Beast Boy a look that rivaled Slade for shear menace. "You're not helping."
Robin saw Raven glide silently out from behind her pod, and nodded. The team was all here- it was time to move out. "Come on, Titans," he said, motioning with one hand. "We're walking from here."
"Or maybe," a thickly accented voice said, "you'll be staying here and answering our questions. Cooperate, and we'll let you live."
Robin looked up and saw a dozen men in grey Brotherhood uniforms perched on the rocks, beam rifles pointed down at the Titans.
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Red X looked up as his door hissed open and a pair of Immortus's soldiers stood in the opening.
"What's the old man want now?" the thief asked irritably. "I've been having so much fun sitting here doing nothing."
The two men ignored X's sarcasm. "General Immortus," one of them said, emphasizing his superior's title, "wishes your company in his command chamber."
"Well, who am I to refuse the Forever Soldier?" X stood up and stalked out of the room, taking the guards by surprise. He looked over his shoulder at them. "Coming?"
Accompanied by the two Brotherhood soldiers, Red X marched through the winding halls of Immortus's fortress and came at last to the secluded command chambers. The old man was waiting inside, accompanied by a soldier holding a video camera that was hooked up to a control panel on one of the walls.
"It is time, Red X," Immortus said with a grin that wouldn't have looked out of place on a shark. "My new order begins here. I thought that you might be interested to witness the dawning of a new age."
"Thrilled," X muttered under his breath. If Immortus heard his sarcasm, he gave no notice.
"Are we ready, soldier?" the old general asked the man with the camera.
"Yes sir, Genera Immortus," he replied. "You are live- now."
Immortus stood straight and stared into the camera with a look of aristocratic disdain. "Peoples of the world," he rasped, "I am General Immortus, the Forever Soldier. Many of you may have heard of me, and most of you have dismissed me as no more than a myth, a fantasy. They are wrong. I was born before the pyramids of Egypt rose, and have lived through the rise and fall of empires. In my life, I have come to the realization that war is the driving force of humanity- only through conflict can we progress.
"But in this world today, that is not what is happening. You people have created a world where wars are fought not on the front, but in laboratories and conference rooms. Today, that changes. Today, I will remake the world into what it should have become since ancient days. Today I strip away your toys and your power, leaving you all at the mercy of any man with a gun. You must fight to survive, and you will grow strong- or else you will perish. Starting today, there will be eternal war."
Immortus made a chopping motion with his right arm, and the soldier lowered the camera. The old general turned towards a man who stood by the control panel. "Was the broadcast successful?"
"Yes, sir," the man said, studying his monitors. "We successfully hacked in to major networks around the world- your broadcast will have been seen by hundreds of millions already."
"You're announcing your plans to the whole world, just like that?" X asked, unable to contain himself. "Do you know you're acting like some Bond villain? And that those guys always get beat? Now everyone in the world knows where you are, and they'll all be coming for you."
Immortus smiled. "It will take them some time to trace my signal. By the time they do, it will be too late." He walked over to the control panel and removed a communicator. "Lieutenant General Smithson- is the weapon prepared?"
"Yes sir," Smithson businesslike voice came clearly from the other end. "We're fully charged from the Brain's power generator- it's carrying enough juice to wipe out every electronic device on the planet three times over. We're loading it onto the missile now."
"Excellent," Immortus rasped. "When the device is secure, you may fire."
Red X smiled tightly, the expression hidden by his mask, and ran a finger lovingly along the side of one of his X-shaped blades.
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"Drop your weapons," the lead soldier said, gesturing at the Titans with his gun. "Put your hands in the air."
"Sorry," Robin said, "but we're kind of busy right now, and you're in our way."
"Why you insolent little-" the officer began, but before he could finish his sentence Robin somersaulted up onto his rock, knocked the gun out of his hands, and pulled both of his arms behind him. The other soldiers raised their weapons but did not fire, apparently afraid that they might him their leader by mistake.
"Titans!" Robin shouted, "Go!"
The other soldiers whirled back towards the Titans, but they were too late. Cyborg raised his sonic cannon and fired off a powerful blast- not at the soldiers, but at the rock shelf they were standing on. The shelf gave way, sending a handful of grey-clad figures plunging to the ground in varying stages of hurt.
"You robot filth, I'll-" another soldier raised his beam rifle and aimed carefully at Cyborg's backside, but was unprepared for the green hawk that swooped down and raked across his face with its talons. The man fell back, cursing loudly in several languages, while the hawk wheeled around and seized the rifle, lifted it into the air, and tossed it off the cliff.
The man scrambled to his feet, pulling a pistol from his belt and aiming at the bird- only to find that it had vanished and a very large and very nasty-looking Tyrannosaur had taken its place. The man fired repeatedly, but the bullets simply bounced off of the dinosaur's thick hide. Finally the weapon ran out of ammunition, having done no appreciable damage. The soldier tossed it aside, shrugged, and looked up at the Beast Boy with a pleading expression. "I surrender!" he managed to gasp out.
The T-rex morphed into a green gorilla which regarded the soldier with sad, dark eyes. Then it lightly tapped him on the head, sending him crumpling to the ground in blissful unconsciousness.
Robin, meanwhile, had cuffed the commander's hands behind his back and left him lying helpless on the rocks while he took on the lesser officers. He held his staff in one hand, twirling it expertly as he struck rifles from the soldier's hands and then landed the well-aimed blows that brought them to their knees. With his free hand he hurled birdarangs, using them to keep the others off his back.
Behind Robin, one of the other Brotherhood men raised his beam rifle, preparing to take the Titan leader from behind. Before he could get off his shot, however, he was struck by what at first looked like a furious green and orange streak and slammed into the cliff wall, where he lay unmoving. Starfire stood over him, her hands and eyes glowing brightly. "You will not hut my Robin," she hissed.
One of the men had fallen back, and was hiding in the shadows of the rocks. "Not possible," he muttered to himself. "This can't be happening! Have to get back to the fortress- warn the General!" He turned to run, but found his way blocked by a girl in a dark cloak who leaned casually against the cliff face.
The soldier raised his gun threateningly. "Get out of my way, or I'll shoot!" he ordered.
The girl looked at him with a flat expression. "You just haven't been paying attention at all, have you?" she asked, and made an almost lazy motion with one hand. The soldier stared in awe as his rifle rose out of his hands and struck him in the forehead, sending him spiraling down into darkness.
Raven looked down at the man and shook her head. "That was too easy."
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The Titans gathered all of the soldiers together near where the T-ship crashed and bound them with rope from Robin's utility belt, secured by Raven's magic. "What now?" Cyborg asked.
"What we were doing before," Robin said. "We're going to the fortress, and we're taking Immortus down."
Suddenly a loud bang sounded from the direction of the citadel. The Titans spun and saw a missile rising from a cloud of smoke and bright light, flying on an unerring path into the sky. One of the soldiers who was still conscious looked up at the receding form and smiled.
"You're too late, kids," he laughed. "Nothing can stop the General now."