Chapter 28: The Achilles Heel
"Come and meet your death Titans!" Achilles shouted, taking aim at the charging heroes. The barrage of starbolts exploded almost harmlessly against his thickened armoured hide, not even disrupting his aim as he fired his hand cannon. Blackfire, the target of Achilles first strike, was only spared the full-brunt of the energy blast thanks to Kid Flash's intervention, pulling her out of harm's way.
As Achilles tried to shoot down another Titan, a well-aimed explosive shuriken struck the Legionnaire general in the hand. Though not crippling in any way, the blast managed to knock the weapon out of his hand. Undiscouraged by his lost weapon, Achilles was about to charge in for fisticuffs except a section of floor he stood upon was targeted by Jinx's hex. One foot fell straight through the floor, catching the general by surprise and leaving him immobilized for Jacqueline to strike. Moving right to point-blank range, Jacqueline struck the lowest chords of her guitar, creating a powerful shockwave that slammed full-force into Achilles. Letting out an angered howl, Achilles was blown straight out the window and disappearing from sight.
"Zank you! Zere shall be no encores unfortunately but I'm here all week," Jacqueline boasted with a joyous chuckle.
"Titans go? What the hell were you thinking Blackfire?" Jinx remarked as she turned to her friend. "That was one of the dumbest things I've ever heard you say."
"Well, I thought it would add a sort of dramatic flare to the fight," Blackfire defended, though not really believing in her side of the argument either.
"Dramatic flare? You're talking as if there's an audience out there watching us. Promise me you'll never say that again."
"Yeah. It was kind of stupid to say wasn't it? It sounded better in my head," Blackfire nodded in agreement, feeling a bit foolish just for saying it too. She wasn't the type to make cheesy one-liners either - she'd leave that to Kid Flash or Jacqueline.
"Not to spoil the mood or anything but I don't see our big angry friend anywhere," Red X spoke up, pulling the other's attention back to the still lingering danger. He stood at the very edge, peering down the side of the tower where he found no sign of their enemy. Considering Achilles could fly it was not a surprising find but it still left the heroes feeling uneasy. There was little chance that Achilles was scared off by their coordinated attack and it was just a matter of figuring out where he was going to strike from next.
When it came, Achilles struck hard and fast. Bursting through the floor, the armoured juggernaut rammed Kid Flash with a shoulder check, carrying the hero until they both came to a halt by colliding with the ceiling. With a terrifying crash, Achilles landed in front of Jacqueline and Jinx. Jacqueline didn't have any time to get out of the way as a swift backhand that propelled the heroine across the room. Jinx was so stunned by the sudden display of ferocity that she failed to get out of the way when Achilles struck at her. His burly hand wrapped tightly around Jinx's lithe frame, hoisting her up into the air and squeezing her tightly. When Blackfire tried to fly in to rescue her friend, Achilles hurled the sorceress right into her, sending both heroes to the ground.
"Ow…I don't remember him kicking this much ass the last time I fought him," Blackfire groaned as she rolled Jinx off of her.
"We never got him this pissed before," Jinx replied, taking a moment to rest while her bones knit.
Launching a surprise attack from behind, Red X jumped onto Achilles back and planted a explosive charge before jumping down in front of him. As Achilles tried to attack, the charge detonated and knocked the warrior off-balance. Red X took his time to wind up when delivering a powerful roundhouse kick straight to his opponent's face, toppling the mighty general over. The thief leapt into the air, both wrist blades extended, and just as he was about to come down atop of the general, Achilles launched a surprising counter-attack. Spinning around quickly, the general's spear extended in one hand and swatted the hero out of the air.
"Jacqueline, are you okay?" Blackfire called out.
"Nothing a bit of acetaminophen and a margarita won't fix," Jacqueline replied as she picked up her guitar.
"Then follow my lead."
The two heroines charged towards Achilles with Blackfire taking the lead. Serving to distract Achilles, Blackfire ducked low when he swung his spear and then grabbed hold of his weapon when he swung a second time. The set-up between Achilles and Blackfire made it a perfect opportunity for Jacqueline. She charged right in and delivered a hefty swing with her guitar, separating the warrior from his weapon. Armed with a spear now, Blackfire pressed the attack in conjunction with her comrade. With precisions swings, both girls scored a direct blow straight into Achilles' face, sending the warrior bouncing across the room.
"Please let him stay down this time," Blackfire muttered to herself.
"When does he ever?" Jacqueline promptly retorted, keeping her guard up just in case. As Achilles was about to get back up, a ring of pink energy appeared on the ceiling above him. The section caved in, dropping a large computer mainframe right on top of the general and pinning him to the ground temporarily.
"Go check on the others, I'll keep Mr. Invincible busy…"
Jacqueline nodded in acknowledgement, letting her friend rush headlong into battle while she hurried over to see how Kid Flash and Red X were fairing. Since she hadn't seen much of Kid Flash since he got hit, he was the first that Jacqueline checked on. She found him beneath a pile of debris from the wall and ceiling, semi-conscious and severely dazed but not seriously harmed overall. He just needed a bit of time to regain his composure. "Come on, let's get you someplace safer…" Jacqueline muttered as she started dragging his half-conscious body across the room. She figured he'd be safe for the time being so long as he was kept out of sight, so she let him rest behind the kitchen counters, far away from where Blackfire was currently duking it out with the general.
"Okay now where's Red?" Jacqueline mused as she scanned the area from the kitchen area. Thank goodness her reflexes were sharp, as she ducked her head just in time to avoid being hit by Achilles spear, which had been sent flying across the room. "Zat was too close." Unfortunately, her moment of looking back to where the spear had impaled into the wall made her oblivious to the fact that Blackfire wasn't too far behind the spear. The Tamaranean collided right into the back of Jacqueline's head, almost knocking the French girl senseless.
"Ow…heads up," Blackfire groaned, getting back to her feet with the assistance of the kitchen counter-top.
"A little more advance notice next time," Jacqueline added, though unable to get back to her feet at the moment.
"Slipped my mind." The Tamaranean was still trying to get her sense back in line when a computer mainframe came crashing into her position, burying the three heroes beneath piles of metal, plastics, and circuits boards.
"That takes care of those two," Achilles muttered angrily as he turned about to find the remaining two heroes. He didn't have to look very hard as Red X was already in his face with his wrist blades whirling. Red X lashed out repeatedly, creating showers of sparks as the blades skipped across the armour plates, barely leaving a dent in their wake. Since Red X wasn't accomplishing much more than just being a pain in the arse to the general, Achilles grabbed the thief by the wrist and proceeded to slam him hard into the ground. "Your persistence amuses me little human but you are only succeeding in annoying me!"
"Then this is really going to piss you off," Red X quipped as he aimed his free hand at Achilles' face and fired a mass of red goo right into face. The robot growled in rage as his vision became completely obscured, promptly hurling Red X across the room so that he can attempt to peel off the goo. Fortunately for the heroes, though, the goo was exceptionally durable and Achilles couldn't even get it to budge. Finally, for the sake of vision, he simply popped open the red transparent faceplate he wore.
"Insolent fools, you're weapons cannot harm me!" He shouted at the semi-conscious Red X from across the room.
"Yo!" Jinx's voice called out from behind Achilles. As he gradually turned about to face the sorceress, instead of seeing a weak, magic-wielding teenager like he expected, he saw the young girl holding his gun with both hands. "How about your weapon?" She merely smirked before pulling the trigger, which sent a condensed package of highly charged plasma straight into the Legionnaire's unarmoured face. His head snapped back like a Pez dispenser before the general toppled to the ground…now completely motionless.
"Guess that all that firearms training back at the HIVE came in use after all," Jinx mused as she shouldered the hefty weapon.
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"Can't believe I just let him blindside me like that," Kid Flash groaned as he held an ice pack to his forehead.
"As I recall your ability is speed not precognition or x-ray vision...it's not like you could've seen him coming," Blackfire crudely reassured him as she pulled up a half-broken kitchen cabinet to use as a seat. The recovering heroes made a clearing in the center of the room and were using large pieces of debris or broken furniture as seats while they figure out their next plan of action. In a surprisingly bold move, Jinx was sitting comfortably upon the chest of her 'kill', keeping the gun close to her just in case they were presumptuous in assuming Achilles was dead. Most of his face was missing though…so it was likely he wasn't going to get up in the near future.
"Do I get extra points for killing him? I mean the guy was pretty much invincible, that should count for something," Jinx commented, eliciting a few chuckles from the others. "Should have guessed that there was at least one kink in his armour…I mean nobody is invincible after all. You think we could use the armour to make something for ourselves?"
"Ze stuff is six times heavier zan iron. Ze only person who'd be able to carry anything made out of it would be Blackfire," Jacqueline sighed lightly. "Besides, I don't zink we have ze equipment needed to recast zat metal. It might make a good tank but zat's about it."
"I never would've pictured you as the type to use a gun," Blackfire commented as she glanced to the firearm that sat at Jinx's side.
"Neither did I but I suppose it might be nice to keep on hand. It certainly works a lot faster against those robots than my magic would…though it somewhat lacks the finesse I'm used to," Jinx replied with a slight disappointed sigh, patting the side of the gun. "Plus it is kinda on the heavy side. Thing weighs like twenty pounds."
"I could probably build a lighter version of it...maybe make it bit more manageable to your size. It'd probably take me a few days to do it zough."
"Maybe another time then – worry about it after we get this ugly mess finished with."
"Speaking of ugly messes, ze Titans are going to be real pissed when zey see what we've done with their place," Jacqueline commented as she just looked at the number of holes and dents they put into the room along with almost every piece of furniture or equipment being broken to pieces.
"Hey, they should be grateful we didn't just let the military make this whole tower a pile of rubble. Besides, that's still assuming we can find the Titans – all the computer equipment has been smashed and our Titans have been reduced to an even smaller pile of scrap than before."
"On the contrary my alien friend," Jinx interrupted with her tone accentuating the facts overlooked by her friend. "We might've lost previous lead but perhaps our new friend can give us directions."
"Hey you're right," Jacqueline replied with a hopeful grin. "All I need to do is get ze head to a working computer and I should be able to get something out of it."
"Well we all know who's good at separating bodily parts from one another," Blackfire chuckled as she hopped to her feet and strut over to the fallen general. She cracked her knuckles in anticipation and planted her feet to both sides of the general's head. "Okay, just need to get a good hold on it…" she muttered while squatting down and gripping the head along the jawline.
"You sure you can even get it off? Ze guy was built like a tank after all."
"Something put his head on so that means it can be taken off!" Blackfire grunted as she began pulling as hard as she could. When she started pulling the whole body across the ground, she repositioned her feet against Achilles' shoulders. "Come on…off damn you! Zolworg tuback pizing zardbarker!"
"Hey, keep it clean," Jinx quipped.
"Then help me dammit!"
"Fine," Jinx shrugged as she snapped her fingers. With an immobilized target, it was easier to focus her magic to the exact points needed to cause a decoy of the metals holding the head in place. Since Blackfire didn't actually expect any help, when the pink aura loosened the head, the Tamaranean went flying across the room with the head. "Way to put your back into it."
Blackfire didn't dignify the remark with an answer and instead just tossed the head over to Jacqueline. "Think you'll be able to get something out of that?"
"All I'll need is a decent computer and something to hook zis zing up to it."
"Cyborg's room will have all that stuff," Blackfire said as she and Jacqueline headed off to find some answers. "The rest of you can just stay here and…um, clean up I guess." The others weren't too happy to be left with the hard work but didn't voice any objections before Blackfire left. It was a short walk to find Cyborg's room, which, like most of the Tower, has been left untouched for the past several days. Since most of the recent fighting was confined to the living room and upper floors, they didn't have to worry about any damaged equipment. Jacqueline headed over to Cyborg's bed and lowered it into a horizontal position so she could work on hooking the head up to the computer, which Blackfire began working on.
"You realize zat even if we find ze Titans, wherever zey're being held is going to have even more robots guarding zem," Jacqueline commented as she started attaching cables and wire between the head and the computer. "No doubt zey'll know zat Achilles is dead and will start doubling security everywhere."
"Come on, we just beat the guy that kept saying he was invincible…I think we can handle a couple dozen little robots who aren't invincible."
"You just love getting into fights don't you?"
"It's a Tamaranean thing."
"You crazy aliens," Jacqueline chuckled lightly as she walked over to join Blackfire at the computer. The Tamaranean stepped aside for Jacqueline, who began to type quickly on the keyboard. "Now hopefully Jinx's headshot didn't frag his entire hard drive."
"It took a shot straight to his face just to knock him out. I guarantee you that his head is like a vault." The computer screen began to come to life with hundreds of lines of code scrolling across, all of which made absolutely no sense to Blackfire. "Please tell me you can make some sense out of all that gibberish."
"Not yet. It's not surprise zat zere's about a hundred layers of security in zis guy. Fortunately, if I know Cyborg, which I do, he's going to have a hundred more different programs zat I can use to break through zis security shit." Windows and applications just began to pile onto the screen as Jacqueline. "A little deciphering here, a bit of bypassing zere, and a whole lot of decrypting everywhere. Now for a bit of…oh shit!" The flashing red screen was an immediate indicator that something was going wrong, to which Jacqueline began to type frantically at the keyboard.
"Red lights are bad…why are there red lights?"
"I just tripped a bunch of security counter-measures. It's trying to piggyback onto ze data stream. It's got a bank full of computer viruses zat'll be shoved down our computer's zroat is I can't stop it."
"Just pull the
plug!"
"I've only decrypted a bit of it if we pull ze plug
now I won't be able to get back in without frying ze computer! Ah
shit, it's establishing its connection!"
"To hell with this then," Blackfire muttered before blasting the severed head with a starbolt, sending it bouncing across the room. The red lights immediately ceased and all the activity on the computer screen ceased. Jacqueline simply sighed lightly to herself as she watched the head come to a rest against the wall. "You should start searching through what you managed to recover."
"You better hope I got enough cause you just blasted our only lead," Jacqueline bitterly replied. She figured she could've handled the situation…but instead Blackfire just took matters into her own hands.
"At least we have some data. If that head had established its connection, it would've fried our computer and left us with absolutely nothing to work with. Now find me something we can work with." Jacqueline began to type away again, scrolling through the recovered data files. A bulk of what she found was just old records and information about the Titans and other heroes in the world. There were a few pockets of useful information, though, which Jacqueline was able to isolate from the rest of the mess of data.
"I zink I found somezing," Jacqueline announced as she brought up an incomplete map of the city. "I found several references to a building called 'ze factory', which is located in zis sector of the old industrial parks. I zink it used to be an old automotive facility but most of ze industrial park has been converted in processing and refineries."
"How did we miss something like that?" Blackfire muttered as she looked at the red dot on the map.
"Zere's a lot of chemical plants around it. Ze amount of chemical residue put into the atmosphere would've made it hard for ze Tower's sensors to notice anyzing out of ze ordinary. Ze factory isn't ze only interesting location I found." A second red dot appeared along the shoreline of Jump City and about several miles from the Tower itself. "Very little information but it was referred to as ze shipyard. I zink it might be where zey're building whatever it is zat required all the ze stolen goods."
"Two places…both of which could be holding our Titans, if either. Hitting either one will tell them that we might know about the other. Which means we're going to have to hit both of them at the same time. Red X and I will blitz the factory while you, Jinx, and Kid Flash go after the shipyard. We'll catch them with their pants down."
"Except zat both will likely be heavily guarded. If zey are building somezing at the shipyard, it won't be able to go anywhere so long as we have ze parts zey need to complete it," Jacqueline reminded her. "I say we hit ze factory first, zen ze shipyard."
Blackfire took a moment to think about Jacqueline's suggestions. Just then, Jinx came rushing into the room with an urgent expression on her face. "Bad news! While we were too busy getting trashed by Achilles, the Legion just raided the police headquarters…more specifically their evidence locker. They've stolen everything that we stopped them from taking this afternoon."
Though Jacqueline was surprised by the news, Blackfire's expression didn't change at all. The new turn of events just reinforced her original plan. Now the Legion had the parts they needed and would be able to complete their plans if left undisturbed for too long. "Find the shipyard and find whatever it is that they're building and put it out of commission. Red X and I will go to the factory to find out what it is they've got hidden there…if I'm lucky, that's where the Titans will be."
"Good luck zen."
