Strike Thrice
Insert the disclaimer I probably should've put in this story at the beginning about how I don't own Teen Titans, that Savior belongs to LegendMaker, Gauntlet belongs to Bobcat, Scalpel & Sophie belong to Jedi-And, and that I own Pride and characters close to those mentioned characters are owned by their respective authors. 'Cept Kiyami. She's half mine, half Pickles12's. Make fun of the name and I'll kill you til you die.
Titan's Tower...
"Okay, J'onn. The Titans West have attacked the Wyvern. Their comm's been cut off. When they report, I'll report. Any news on the other fronts?" Robin asked.
"None so far. The others have not yet reached their destinations." J'onn answered.
Den of the Wyvern (Minutes ago)...
Savior raised up a Shimmer strand that said 'one'.
Beastboy was fully focused on the Wyvern. He blocked out everything else. The Wyvern was all that mattered...
Savior's Shimmer strand morphed to say 'two'.
Scalpel's grip on his glaive tightened and his eyes narrowed, glowing more and more brightly.
The Shimmer strand morphed again. 'THREE!'
Instantly, Starfire shot out her eye lasers along with her Starbolts, all of them slamming into the Wyvern. The mighty Dragon roared as it woke up to a really bad night. Savior's Shimmer strands tried to dig into the Wyvern, but for all the good they did, he might as well have poked it. The Wyvern rose to full height and looked down on the battle-ready heroes. It whirled and breathed fire directly into Starfire, grabbed her, and finally slammed her into the cave wall.
It turned back to the others, who were already on the attack.
SHUNK.
The glaive stuck in the Wyverns side. It screeched and shot fire at the group, causing them to scatter. Except for one being, which had now changed. The Wyvern whirled around to see another, almost exactly like itself. The difference? The other Wyvern was green.
Beastboy lashed out his tail, barbed tip and all, into the Wyvern, who jerked back, but was still hit. The barbed tip dug deeper in the skin, but the Wyvern had had enough. It grabbed Beastboy's tail and swung him as high as it could, knocking him into the cave ceiling. Beastboy got up, shrugged off the pain, and shot out a claw that sliced across the Wyvern's face.
Angered, the Wyvern blew fire at Beastboy, who extended a wing in front of himself. The wing took the damage for Beastboy's torso, so he survived, at least. The Wyvern then slashed out his own tail, but Beastboy was smarter than that. He grabbed the tail's barb, broke it, and sliced into the Wyvern's tail.
The two then backed away from each other and started circling one another, examining each other, trying to formulate a plan.
Titan's Tower...
"There's another Draconic energy in the Wyvern cave. It's Beastboy." Pride said aloud.
"That would figure. Fight fire with fire and all that." Robin replied, only half-paying attention.
"Hey, Robin." Pride said.
"Yeah?" Robin asked, turning around.
"The Invasion is almost here." Pride said, darkly.
Robin turned around and reactivated the communications with the Watchtower. J'onn appeared, concentrating on something.
"J'onn, the Invasion's almost here. Is the Cannon ready?" Robin asked.
"Yes, Robin. The Cannon's ready. Although, I do not see the Invasion. Are you sure of it?" J'onn replied.
"Yeah, I'm sure, J'onn. I can sense that massive amount of Draconic energy coming. They should be maybe a mile away from the Watchtower." Pride answered.
J'onn nodded and minimized the contact.
Den of the Wyvern...
Beastboy and the Wyvern stared each other down, pacing on the edges of the cave. Beastboy's tail flicked out towards Raven, who understood. The stalactites snapped and shot for the Wyvern with incredible speed. The Wyvern smashed a few with his claws, but a few pierced his back, one tore off his left wing. The Wyvern howled in pain, but it managed to grab out for Raven.
This, of course, drew out Savior, who charged at the Wyvern, Shimmer strands surrounding him. They kicked him off the ground and swung him to the Wyvern, when he shot out a few strands that pierced one of the Wyvern's eyes. It sliced through the Shimmer strands and sliced a large gash in Savior's gut, causing him to fall. Raven cast her usual chant, causing Savior to be let down gently.
The Wyvern squeezed harder on her as Beastboy charged for it. Raven was unceremoniously dropped by the uncaring Wyvern, who charged for Beastboy, roaring ferally. Scalpel shot between the two as fast as he could. He dodged, ducked, and rolled until he was behind Beastboy, onto whom he leapt upon. The Blacktrinian hastily climbed up the changeling's neck until he was on top of his head.
The Wyvern and Beastboy grappled, each trying to dominate the other. Beastboy, however, was weakening faster. He had been in this large form for a long period of time. Pretty soon, he'd be spent and that'd be the end of it.
Hardly.
Scalpel leapt onto the Wyvern's head and dug his claws into the Wyvern's nostrils, causing blood to spray and the Wyvern to scream a Draconic screech. Scalpel cried in anguish as he covered his over-sensitive ears and tried to keep on the Wyvern's head. Beastboy lashed out with his tail and sliced into the Wyvern's side, allowing blood to flow freely.
The Wyvern sucked in air, and Beastboy's eyes widened. Scalpel climbed hastily to the Wyvern's neck, his ears bleeding. The Wyvern shot fire, only to miss. Beastboy had transformed back to save himself. He was on his knees, panting heavily. The Wyvern looked down and grabbed the changeling with his tail.
"You were a challenge, you little runt…" the Wyvern growled.
Beastboy's eyes widened. It could talk?
"But now, you bore me." the Wyvern finished, tossing Beastboy lightly to the ground.
"HOW BORING IS THIS?" a voice shouted from somewhere in the caverns.
Before the Wyvern could react, bombs exploded all around it. It raised its undamaged wing to protect itself, but they were soon torn off by the heavy fire. Assault and Artillery rushed into the room, armed to the teeth with a wide array of heavy weaponry.
"Scalpel! Aim for the area of no plating! It's right where his neck and head meet!" Assault ordered.
The twins tossed away the grenade launchers, which were now no use to them. Hastily, they hefted up the large cannon-like guns strapped to their side. They aimed it up at the Wyvern and lasers tore from it, slicing into the cave wall behind the Wyvern. It let out a fire ball, that caused the twins to roll out of the way. The lasers were let loose again, but only for a few seconds. They stopped and the twins discarded them as well.
"Poor battery. Shoulda' charged it more," Artillery muttered, pulling out two large guns.
His twin mimicked him.
Scalpel was forced to dig into the scales with his claws in order to get a good grip. He looked about for an area with no plating. It was hard when he was constantly getting jerked around. Even when it stayed still, there wasn't one that he could see.
"There isn't an area without plating!" Scalpel shouted to Assault.
"It just looks like that! The scales are weak at the mentioned place! ATTACK IT ALREADY! KILL THAT LIZARD FROM HELL!" Assault shouted.
This caused the Wyvern to jerk its head more wildly, almost forcing Scalpel to dislodge and hit the cave wall behind him.
"Put up heavy fire on both sides of its head. If we can get it stop, Scalpel can kill it." Artillery muttered to Assault.
"Can do!" Assault replied, aiming for the right side of the Wyvern's head.
The twins let out a burst of bullets, all of them narrowly missing the Wyvern's head. Its eyes widened and it perfectly stopped.
Scalpel aimed and with all his might, slammed his right claw down into the softest scale he could find.
SHUNK.
It struck hard and blood sprayed like a jet stream for a few seconds.
ROAAAAAAAAR.
The Wyvern jerked all about, and this time, Scalpel was sent flying into the cave floor. Darkness consumed his vision, but the last thing he saw was the Wyvern holding its head up high, letting one last jet of flame.
Assault walked over to Beastboy and shuffled through his belt, finally picking up the communicator.
"Yo, Robin. This is Assault, from the Gun Gang. The Wyvern's dead. Scalpel just killed it." he reported.
Why the hell are you reporting, then? Robin demanded.
"Because he was knocked out in the process. I think he was, anyways. He ain't movin', that's for sure. The whole team's out cold. Lucky thing we showed up, isn't it?" Assault answered.
You expect amnesty, I suppose. Robin sighed.
"That'd be nice, considering we gave you back the money and didn't do any actual harm other than destroy a few cameras and disrupt a work day," Assault replied.
You better give it to 'em, Robin. They do deserve it. Pride said.
Fine. The Gun Gang is granted amnesty, as the other four have been reported to going after that new Dragon. Robin said.
"Good. But seriously, I doubt you'll see much of us after this. We may go over to Uberton. Sounds like a nice place. I'd like to ask Marmot Man a few things..." Assault muttered.
"We should get our own city. Meh. The decisions are left to Gat. Now, let's get outta here. Hey, Robin, should we take the Titans out with us?" Artillery asked.
Take them out of the caves. I'll pick them up. Pride ordered.
Dammit, Pride, shut up! I give the orders. Robin snapped.
"Okay, what should we do?" Assault asked.
There was silence on the other end.
"I'll take 'em out of the caves. Pride'll pick 'em up, right?" Assault finally broke the long silence.
Yes. Robin said, grinding his teeth.
Assault cut off the comm and picked up Beastboy, then picked up Scalpel. Artillery picked Starfire, Raven, and Savior. They quickly navigated through the cave system and reached the outside.
Pride appeared in front of them.
"Hey, I ain't got much time. Robin's got me on the clock. Some device that'll screw up my powers. So, I got time for this: thanks guys. You were great. Now, I'll take them." Pride applauded.
The twins dumped their cargo at Pride's feet.
"Thanks for helping us at the Corporation, Pride. We even now?" Assault asked.
"Yeah. We're even. See yah." Pride said, disappearing.
"I hope not. There's always a problem whenever we see him. It's happened twice, hasn't it?" Assault said.
"The first problem we caused. This one… who cares? Let's get back to base. The rest should be there in a few hours." Artillery replied, walking off.
Titan's Tower…
Pride appeared with the dispatched Titans at his feet. He walked back into the cage and closed the door.
"J'onn, the Wyvern's been taken care of." Robin said.
"Good to know. The Invasion is visible. I will fire soon." J'onn replied.
"What of the others?" Robin asked.
"Wonder Woman is ready to take on the Invasion. She dispatched her Dragon a few minutes ago. She'd been there a while. Argent had to depart from the group heading for the South African Dragon, in order to aid the anti-Invasion force. The group lead by Deathstroke did the same." J'onn reported.
"Not entirely good news, but good enough for now. I've just gotten report that Metatron and Viridian have taken care of their Dragon as well." Robin reported.
"All's going well, then. Good. Taokii's as good as dead." Pride muttered.
Unknown…
A voice sighed.
Hardly. You know this, Pride. Bah. I have my plan, you have yours. It just so happens that they're one and the same.
Rainforests of South America…
A familiar figure padded virtually silently through the rainforests. His gold and black mask glinted briefly in the darkness before fading back into the shadows. Slade Wilson, aka Deathstroke the Terminator, was hunting. However, his prey was elusive. He had glimpsed it once, maybe twice.
This Dragon was swift.
He snuck about from tree to tree, eyes darting rapidly about, taking in everything. His prey would elude him no longer.
Not that it wanted to.
A jaguar-like roar echoed through the forests. Any man would shrink in fear or commit suicide as quickly as possible, had they heard the roar.
Slade Wilson merely looked in the direction of the roar and unclipped the pistol on his belt. He could hear light crunching, like a cat walking through a path covered in dead leaves. He focused on the area and saw it.
A green and brown leopard-like creature. He focused harder and noted that it had scales and fur. The head was that of a Dragon, true enough, albeit with a third eye. No wings that he could see. Its claws were much larger and longer than any jungle cat for sure. They were more akin to a raptor.
The very image of a perfect hunter.
Deathstroke raised the gun and aimed at the beast's head. A jaguar-like screech later and it was gone. He looked around and saw it once again. It was getting steadily more difficult to see it, though. Along with its fast movements and camouflage, the rainforest was getting darker by the second, it seemed.
He finally had it in his crosshairs. The shot made no sound, but it connected with the Dragon's right hind leg. It growled a feral growl and shot for Deathstroke, its speed seemingly undeterred by the shot. It leapt for the mercenary at an incredible speed. Deathstroke soon found himself pinned, with his suit slowly being sliced through. Putrid breath met his senses.
Deathstroke peered into the Dragon's center eye of three. The two stared down. The Dragon backed off of him and knelt before him. The hunter acknowledges its superior.
Deathstroke got to his feet rapidly and walked around the creature.
"You could be of use to me." he murmured.
He pulled out the communicator with the Justice League he was given to report success.
"The Dragon has been dealt with. I expect my payment soon." Deathstroke growled.
"It will be sent to you shortly." J'onn responded, cutting the link.
Deathstroke crushed the communicator and took apart the parts. A tracker, as suspected. He tossed the tracker onto a tree and examined the parts, which he then pocketed.
"A very useful hunt indeed." he muttered.
Deathstroke walked through the rainforest, the Dragon beside him.
Unknown…
Very good, my pet. Leave with him.
Southern African Diamond Mines…
Bushido silently walked into the mines, followed by four people, all carrying guns. They should look familiar. It's Gat, Gunner, Scope, and Snipe.
The samurai urged them to go faster, and they complied, trying desperately to make no noise. The five finally reached a large opening which bore a multi-headed monstrosity, awake and aware of their presence. Bushido pulled out his communicator and held it up so Robin could see the Hydra.
"I'll report this ASAP." Robin said when Bushido pulled the communicator back to face himself.
"Let's rock." Gat said, causing several guns to materialize.
Watchtower…
J'onn was at the computer, looking at the view screen. There seemed to be a cloud of nothing but vicious Dragons. He pressed several buttons and one button started blinking.
The Dragons flew steadily closer and closer. Their menacing presence drew ever closer…
J'onn felt he needed an Oreo as his finger pushed the button.
REIGN
