Author's Note: All right I'm back with another chapter. I wanted to try and get this one up as soon as I could. And I've done just that. So here it is, the conclusion to the Soldiers of Fortune storyarc. Hope you guys like it. enjoy.
Teen Titans All Stars
Chapter 14
Soldiers of Fortune, Part 2
As Beast Boy and Starfire were about ready to head out they received a message from none other than Dr. Sarah Charles.
"Hello? Titans is anyone there?" she asked on the computer screen.
Beast Boy and Starfire stopped and went to the computer.
"Uh, this is the Titans…what do you want?" he asked.
"If you have time there's something I need to tell you about the cyborg program." She said.
"Uh we're kind of in the middle of something right now." He told her.
"I'm sorry but this really cant wait. If you want to know more about our role in the Soldiers of Fortune, come to S.T.A.R. Labs right away." She told them.
Kori and Gar looked at each other not sure what to make of it.
"What do you think? Should we?" he asked.
"If she says it's important then we have to come." She reasoned.
"Yeah but what about the guys?" he asked.
"It's all right, we can handle them. You go go see what Dr. Charles wants." Terra told them.
The two Titans reluctantly agreed to the plan and set off for S.T.A.R. Labs. Arriving at the facility a while later the two walked through the doors into the lab where Dr. Charles was waiting for them.
"Are you the Titans?" she asked.
"Yeah I'm Beast Boy and this is Starfire." He said.
"It's pleasure to meet you." Star said.
"What seems to be the trouble?" Beast Boy asked putting his hands on his hips.
"Come this way, there's something I need to show you." She said.
Back in town the rest of the team arrived at the city park where the attack was taking place. Terra came sailing in on a rock and tore up the earth sending a tidal wave of dirt separating the two factions. Blindman was able to see through the dust and dirt and came barreling through tackling Nightwing to the ground as the Titan leader struggled against him. Red Robin drew his sword as he took on Blend. The soldier called forth the blades in his forearms and did battle with the young Titan, while Terra fought Mauler. The Earth Titan flew towards the human tank as he opened fire on her. Terra hurled a chunk of earth at him that blew apart on impact. The soldier growled as she came out and kicked him in the face. The cyborg staggered back trying to keep his balance before falling over. Aggravated he fired off his cannon in the open air as Terra showed up behind him.
Red-X did battle with Projectile or rather the other way around as the rocket launching soldier set his sites on the former thief and fired his rockets at him as X did his best to dodge the attacks before throwing himself in the air at Projectile.
Back at the lab Dr. Charles led Beast Boy and Starfire to a secret lab where she was conducting what she thought was her greatest experiment.
"You see I wasn't originally involved in Project: M. But I was trying to save something that was just as important." she said swiping a clearance card into a slot.
The doors opened and she led the duo in. As the fog cleared out of the lab a chill came over the two. They weren't sure if it was the temperature or if it was their nerves, as they walked into the lab their questions concerning Dr. Sarah Charles would soon be answered. Lying on a table was a young woman that seemed to be in stasis, but there was something else about her.
"This is my niece LaTonya Charles, she'd been taking an illegal drug known as Tar that was completely ravaged her body. The drug rotted her from the inside out, in order to save her life. I experimented on her using Cyborg's technology to replace her damaged organs. The drug spreads through the body like cancer and literally causes organs to decompose with her insides melting I had no choice than to take drastic measures in preserving her life. The final stages of usage is when the damage becomes apparent externally as you can plainly see." She told them.
Indeed she was in the last stages of the all-consuming disease having a left eye and arm already replaced with prosthetics.
"How much time does she have left?" Beast Boy asked.
"Gar!" Starfire scolded.
"No it's fine, by all accounts she should have died. But I hope that these…improvements will have extended her life for several years if not decades. She's been placed in an induced coma to help her body recover…and that's when he found out." she said.
"He who?" Beast Boy asked.
Dr. Charles sighed before answering.
"Robert Orr." She told him.
"The Director of the Defense Department?" he said.
"Yes, as me and my husband found out there's an entirely different side from what he shows the public." She told him.
"Why would he be involved in this?" he asked.
"The Director made an unexpected visit to the lab and when she came across LaTonya. He wanted to know if the same technology could be applied to soldiers and keep them fighting. I didn't want any part of it, but he said if we didn't comply not only would he have us sanctioned for engaging in an unapproved experiment he'd use the technology to resurrect soldiers so they can keep fighting the war for as long as needed." She told them.
Kori and Gar could scarcely believe what they had heard.
"That's horrible!" she said.
"And I thought Slade was a monster. You think he'd seriously go through with that?" asked Gar.
"I wouldn't put it past him, that's why he had me create the Soldiers of Fortune. So he wouldn't do the same to those that died. If I could I'd take him out myself." She said squeezing her fist in anger. Gar and Kori looked at each other.
"Then we're dealing with one seriously f#cked up individual." He said.
"And if what she's saying is true, then that means that the soldiers are unwilling pawns in this battle. We have to tell the others." Said Star.
"Dr. Charles is there a way we can turn off these guys?" he asked.
"You mean deactivate them? Yes I suppose we can, but more than likely Mr. Orr has the control." She said. The Titans sighed realizing this until the doctor's eyes lit up.
"However, there should be a backdoor program I can use to disengage their weapons systems. Since the programs are based on Cyborg's blueprints I should be able to bring it up. Though it may take some major hacking to do so." She said going to her computer.
"But if you hack into their systems wouldn't that in turn hack into Vic?" Starfire asked.
"Oh that's right damn." She said turning in her chair.
"Well there's got to be something else we can try." Gar told them.
"There is." She said getting up out of her chair and walked across the room.
Back at the park the battle continued. Roy broke away from his battle with one of the soldiers to take on Mr. Orr. The director looked up as he saw Harper descend upon him.
"Your going to pay for what you did!" he said.
Deng stood infront of Mr. Orr has he deployed a series of robot arms from his chest and back and grappled Roy in midair. The Titan struggled with the robotic arms as Deng struggled to keep him from going anywhere. As he continued to struggle Deng tossed him aside like a ragdoll. Arsenal tumbled across the grass drawing his bow and shot several arrows at Deng and Orr. As Deng did his best to protect his boss from the explosive arrows, the Titan raced forward through the smoke at Deng as the mercenary went to grab him with his robotic appendages. Roy got the drop on him and grabbed all four arms by the wrist. With the arms securely in his gasp he turned and threw Deng into the air the Sudanese soldier yelled as he sailed through the air before landing on his back. With the Soldier of Fortune disposed of Roy turned his sights and his pistol on the director who seemed unphased by the firearm. When Mr. Orr vanished from sight.
"What the…" before he could finish it Orr appeared behind him with a sword across his throat.
"Didn't think I had superpowers too did you?" Orr replied. Roy scoffed and closed his eyes.
"So we're back to this song and dance." He said before elbowing Orr in the chest and drove his boot into the man's groin.
Orr staggered back as Arsenal whipped around and fired a shot. Orr disappeared again as the bullet whizzed past and nearly struck one of his teammates. Orr appeared behind him a second time, but was countered by Roy's laser sword unsheathing it at the last minute before he could strike.
"Your pretty good, perhaps I could offer you a position in our ranks." Mr. Orr said.
"Thanks but I've dealt with your kind before. Let's just say I wasn't impressed by it." He told him.
"That's a shame, you would have made a valuable addition to the team." He said charging.
"I'm sure you say that to all the guys." Roy said before crossing swords with him again.
While this was going on Projectile and Mauler did an all out assault on Cyborg firing massive volleys of firepower at the Titan. The blast sent him and several other Titans flying backwards as Vic crashed into a tree as the two soldiers lumbered towards him. Blindman continued his battle with Nightwing who proved to be a very proficient martial artist as he attacked the Dark Knight's son with a fierce barrage of kicks and punches. Nightwing barely had time to react to any of the attacks and could only defend himself from said attacks. Slowly the tide began to turn with the Titans on the ropes it seemed, as through there defeat was imminent. The Titans weren't willing to destroy any of the soldiers knowing that they were only victims themselves. That knowledge combined with their advanced cybernetics gave the soldiers not only a physical advantage but a psychological one as well.
"Why are you guys doing this? Why do you serve him? Your heroes!" Nightwing said being choked by his own nightstick. Blindman struggled through his programming trying respond.
"We…have…no choice!" he said pressing down harder on Dick's windpipe.
"You always had a choice…part of you is still good…fight it!" he strained.
"I cant!" he said.
"Fight it!" Dick said. The Titan was starting to lose consciousness.
"For the sake of yourself and others…. keep…fighting." he said.
Grayson's eyes rolled into the back of his head, his hands went limp and fell to the ground. Blindman looked on in shock, as he lay there lifeless.
"No…. NOOO!" he yelled standing up.
The rest of the Titans looked up and saw him standing over Nightwing. Blindman clutched his head screaming in agony and thrashing around. The shock and trauma of what he'd done was overloading his computerized brain. It was then they discovered what had happened a look of absolute shock washed over all the Titans.
"Dick!" yelled Roy. The Titan yelled and slashed off Orr's arm at the shoulder.
The director screamed in pain clutching his stump as Roy punched him in the face and chest before kicking him in the stomach as hard as he could and knocked him to the ground.
"You bastard!" Orr yelled as Roy came down and punched him again.
"You son of a bitch I'm going to kill you!" he yelled as he continued pummeling the Director until Tad and Lonnie managed to pull him away.
And struggled with his teammates as he tried to get in another beating at the man that sorely deserved it. As he thrashed to get free of his teammates he noticed electrical sparks emitting from the severed arm of the Director.
"He's a robot?" he said.
But this only spurred him to want to damage Orr even more and kept struggling with his teammates.
"Easy bro!" said Anarky.
"Let it go man, he's not worth it!" said Nite-Wing.
"He's totally worth it! Because of him my best friend's dead!" Roy screamed as Orr struggled to get to his feet.
Beast Boy and Starfire arrived shortly there afterward. It was the last thing they expected to find.
"Oh my God!" Starfire said as she rushed towards her husband. Enraged Blindman turned to his superior.
"You did this! This is all your fault! We were doing fine until we came up against these guys. Because of your blasted programming a man's dead!" he yelled.
"Wouldn't be the first time." Orr stated.
"Don't you dare belittle this! They were doing their jobs just like us!" he yelled coming at him.
By this time Mr. Orr was already back on his feet while Kori started administering CPR to Dick.
"Come on Dick." She said as she started doing compressions on his chest.
"I gave you guys another chance at fighting if it wasn't for me you guys wouldn't even have lives beyond your injuries." Mr. Orr told him.
"What you did was turn us into killing machines for your own profit." Blindman said getting closer to him.
"Stand down Hale!" he told him.
"Blow it out your ass Orr! I'm not taking this horses#it anymore. And I don't care who you send after me, as far as I'm concerned your dog meat. " He said as he got closer to him.
Orr staggered back a look of genuine fear washed across his face as Blindman ran and jump in the air. A trio of tentacles appears from his stump as he went to take on the leader of the Soldiers of Fortune. The tentacles wrapped around his left arm as the soldier descended and punched him in the face knocking him back a step. The director struggled with him as Blindman kicked him in the chest and spun with another well-placed kick to the face wrestling himself out of the Director's grip. The soldier slid back on his feet facing down his former boss.
"You're going to pay for this betrayal!" Orr told him.
"I don't think so, Soldiers of Fortune new orders attack Director Orr." He said.
"Don't- don't even think about it. I made you!" Orr said.
"Sorry but we side with our boy everytime." Mauler said as the rest of the soldiers attacked.
Robert's left arm transformed into a sonic cannon similar to Vic's and opened fire on them as Blindman went on the offensive throwing himself in the air once again. Orr fired his cannon; Blindman dodged it at the last second and used his laser vision on the Director hitting him in the left shoulder before nailing him once again with his body. As the battle went on Kori continued to work on her husband.
"Come on breathe!" she said as she pressed on his chest and breathed into him for the umpteenth time. When he didn't respond she continued treatment.
"I'm not giving up on you Dick." She said as she continued pumping until finally he started choking.
"Kor?" he said weakly.
"Dick! Oh I was afraid you were down for the count." She said hugging him.
"For a while, so did I." he said as he tried to get up.
"What did I miss?" he asked sitting up.
With all the Soldiers of Fortune gaining up on Orr it was obvious who was winning the battle. Mauler fired his cannon as his former boss as he once again had Blindman ensnared in his tentacles the blast went off at the Director's feet and launched the two of them into the air. Projectile fired his rockets as soon as the Director landed and was caught up in another explosion. The blast ripped away articles of clothing revealing armor underneath his tattered trench coat and suit.
"When did you do this?" Blindman asked.
"When we first started Project: M and created the cyborg known as Homicide and let him loose on a country. I learned first hand just how destructive we made him. At first I was impressed by this and ordered that more of you be experimented on and outfitted with even more unique and powerful weapons as I saw how much of a threat you posed to others I realized that you may one day want to turn on me. To make sure I wasn't ill prepared should you go rouge I had the doctor outfit me with a couple weapons of my own to defend myself. It was then I realized that this was the pathway to immortality and so made myself into what you see now." He said.
"So you made yourself into a weapon out of paranoia." Blindman said.
"How I came to possess this form is unimportant what matters now is that I have the power. I also have the power to shut you guys off, it's been great working with you but I'm afraid I'll have to terminate our contract." He said as a remote trigger appeared in his hand.
"No hard feelings though." He said. Before he could press it a Sonic Cannon beam hit him in the chest. The guys looked back and saw Homicide standing behind them with a whiff of smoke coming from his cannon.
"None taken." He said.
"Ron? H-how did you?" Cyborg asked.
"Dr. Charles reprogrammed me, now I'm my own man. I guess she's not so bad after all." he told him.
"I thought I'd seen the last of you!" Orr growled clutching his chest.
"Your going to wish you had. Right guys?" he asked.
"Right!" the Soldiers of Fortune yelled.
"By the way I got a little present for you guys, courtesy of Dr. Sarah Charles." He said broadcasting a feed from an antenna on his helmet.
"What, what's going on?" Blindman asked as he felt new information coming into him.
"It's a program designed to cancel out Orr's deactivation option now he has no control over us whatsoever." Ron told them.
"I like where this is going." Said Mauler.
"It's over Orr, surrender or be destroyed." Blindman said.
"Sorry guys, I'm not very big on losing." He told them.
"Then you give us no choice." He replied.
"You think you can take me? Come get some!" he yelled.
'Let's do this guys, for our country and that Titan." Blindman said as the team rushed forward.
Orr fired his sonic cannon at the team as they raced past the blaze and launched his tentacles at several of the soldiers. Mauler fired his tank cannon blowing off one of the tentacles as the rest of the guys went after him. And was overwhelmed in seconds by his former soldiers. As each of the soldiers got in one good hit, ripping out his remaining tentacles while Blindman smashed his Sonic Cannon. Robert fought them off as best he could but it was no use there were too many of them to fight. In desperation he tried to energize his damaged cannon.
"Orr don't do it, if you fire the cannon will self destruct!" Blindman told him.
"If that means taking all of you out, so be it!" he said activating it.
Beams of brilliant blue light poured from fractures and the mouth of the sonic cannon as it began to overload.
"Raven!" Nightwing yelled.
The sorceress raised her arms as dark energy flowed about her; a bright blue flash of light overtook the soldiers and vanished in a brilliant explosion. The Titans shielded their eyes from the blinding light. What they say next took their breath away. The soldiers all of them were in one piece including Orr as they laid about unconscious.
"I don't believe it." Said Vic.
"How did that happen?" Gar asked.
"I managed to put up a force field around each individual member at the last second. I was going to send them into another dimension to protect them from the blast but there wasn't enough time." Raven explained.
"What matters is that you managed to save them. Now the question is what to do with them?" Nightwing asked as he walked towards them.
"Think I got just the thing." Cyborg said.
After learning the truth from Sarah, her and Vic teamed up to replace the weapons most of the Soldiers had with ordinary prosthetics. The very first of which was Mr. Orr. With his cybernetic weaponry taken from him Orr was court marshaled by the government and sentenced to life in federal prison. The soldiers were later elect to turn themselves into the military but were later exonerated having been the unwilling pawns. Some of the soldiers such as Projectile elected to have their weapons re-replaced and continue to serve in the Iraq War to this day. Blindman now leads a team of Army Rangers in Afghanistan while others such as Blend and Deng had their cybernetics removed, especially the blades in Blend's arms. However Deng may consider redeployment to continue working in the medical field. Today the former members are each persuading their own paths with their mobility and their humanity completely restored to them.
Author's Note: All right so what did you think of that? Hope everyone was satisfyed with this chapter. I know I was. A while ago I couldnt decide on what the soldiers final fates should be, if they should die heroically or allow them to live. Fortunatly I found a suitible ending so that all those involved would be able to live the lifes they'd want. I hope you guys liked this chapter. I'll be in Chicago all day tomorrow. Let me know what you think.
P.S. After being gone the entire day, I noticed that I'm hardly getting any hits on this chapter. I dont mean to complain, but is there anything you think should be edited or corrected further on this chapter? Maybe the language or perhaps it was the way it was set up? Let me know your thoughts. This is part of the reason I was looking forward to ending this, I dont think this was a very popular topic among readers but then again I dont know without your imput. The next chapter will be an original storyline titled Titans NY. I've been looking forward to it for a while and hopefully will bring some life back into the readership. Once again let me know if you think anything needs to be fixed or edited besides any grammar. I mean it, your imput means a lot and that way I'll be able to write a better story for you the reader.
Please review.
Green Gallant.