Chapter 28
Attack on Polybius...
The mute Titan quickly rushed down to the garage. He quickly spun around the corner and laid eyes on by far the most hilarious sight he had seen in a long while.
There was Cyborg in a rain suit, Starfire in an ugly Christmas sweater, Robin with his hair done nicely, Beast Boy in a pink bunny suit, and Raven in one of the most hideous dresses he had ever seen.
There was a long moment of silence and registering as Polybius studied what was in front of him.
"Now, now, children." The voice of an elderly woman spoke up, "Are we now all ready to go?"
Polybius looked over and saw the ugliest witch he had ever seen. She had green skin, along with purple and black clothing.
"Now, who is this!?" The witch asked as she looked over at Polybius.
"That's our friend Polybius!" Raven answered, "He's mute, so he can't talk."
"Is he!?" The witch said, surprised, "Well, maybe he would like some pie!"
Suddenly a pie appeared in front of the mute, and he lost it.
Polybius began to have a silent laughing fit at what he was seeing. This was too funny for him, regardless of how much danger he was in.
"Mother?" Beast Boy asked, "Why is he laughing at us?"
Just then, Polybius's communicator went off. A second crime was happening elsewhere on the outskirts of the city.
"A second crime!" Robin said, "We have to get going!"
Polybius held up one finger before he pulled out his phone and texted Robin.
'I'll deal with the second one. Y'all have fun with this old hag.' Polybius texted before running out.
Quickly making his way towards the outskirts of the City where the second alert went off, Polybius slowed down. His communicator was pointing him in the direction deep in the forest. A place Polybius knew all too well.
About three hundred meters out from where his communicator was pointing him towards, he suddenly heard what sounded like M2 Browning 50 cal machine fire. This was almost immediately followed by a massive kick up of dirt, sticks, leaves, and wood chips as one bullet hit Polybius in the head.
Knocking his hat off his head and skidding right over the top of it, the force of the armor-piercing round was enough to knock Polybius off his feet. He hit the ground hard, and the round split the top of his head open in a deep cut.
Blood quickly began to pool out of his head as Polybius laid on the ground in shock. He touched the top of his head and examined his hand. It was dripping blood red.
The armor-piercing round didn't hit Polybius in the head. Instead, it just skid across the top of his head. And while Polybius would definitely survive this injury with no permanent damage, the immediate aftermath of the attack was going to keep him down.
As his sense came back to him, Polybius realized that he was still wide open and, without even thinking, quickly crawled into a nearby ditch. As he did this, another barrage of 50 cal rounds opened up on him, but missed the mute Titan.
Pulling out his phone, he quickly and desperately texted Robin in a plea for help. He blew up Robin's phone by repeatedly texting 'Help' over and over, but no answer ever came.
As he was looking around in his contacts, Polybius was then sent flying into the air and phone out of his hands by a massive explosion. Polybius flew up more than forty meters into the air and came crashing down through the trees.
Hitting the ground, Polybius rolled down a hill and into a creek at the bottom.
The mute Titan was breathing heavily, but this time not in shock. He felt hurt, but not downed. However, as he tried to pick himself up, the true extent of the damage showed itself as Polybius fell over with a sharp pain in his leg.
Looking at it, Polybius saw a piece of metal sticking out of it and a lot of blood pouring out of the wound.
"He's over here!" Polybius heard a man shout.
Looking up, Polybius saw what looked like special forces guys wearing full suits of armor quickly rushing down the hill towards him, guns leveled at him.
"Capture him." The leader ordered, "The Administrator wants him alive if possible."
Walking down the hill towards him, Polybius quickly grew desperate and looked around for a solution. However, he wouldn't need one as one came to him.
Landing between himself and the special forces guys stood a person Polybius hadn't seen in a long time.
Donna!
"Get out of the way, missy." The leader of the team ordered, "You do not want to mess with us."
"Try me." Donna replied with a smile on her face.
The team then opened fire upon the girl. However, using her bracelets, Donna blocked all of the bullets.
"This is 4 Tailed Hawk, requesting backup!" The leader called over his com as the team began to pull back.
"Not so fast!" Donna said.
Launching herself off the ground, she flew towards the group and hit the leader with a hard punch. This sent him flying a good fifty meters away as the rest of the team began to panic.
"Kill that bitch!" One of them shouted.
Polybius got angry when he called her that and took that anger out on him.
Using his back tentacles, Polybius quickly grabbed two of the special forces guys by their necks and threw them off towards their leader.
"Fuck me." The last man standing said.
Donna was then quick to use her lasso and capture the final man. Polybius meanwhile, got the metal out of his leg and stumbled over to Donna.
"Who are you!?" Donna demanded.
The man let out grunts of resistance before hitting a button on his arm and said, "Not today."
The next thing that happened shocked both Polybius and Donna as the man's head, as well as his three comrade's heads, exploded.
After whipping the blood off his face, Polybius then turned to Donna with a confused look on his face.
"Hi!" Donna happily greeted the mute "Okay, so you're probably wondering what I'm doing here, so let me explain, but first!"
Donna then gave the mute a massive hug with a huge smile on her face. Polybius was more than happy to return the gesture with a smile of his own. This hug lasted for a long minute before the two broke off.
"I've missed you so much!" Donna said as she broke off.
The mute Titan couldn't help but nod the same. However, he still wanted to know why she was here.
"Okay." Donna started, "So earlier today, I snuck out of the house and off the island. After all of the training Diana has done for me, I felt ready to test my luck against some baddies. So I headed out towards Athens, and there I ran into this militant group. I engaged them, but I was easily able to drive them off. However, one of them dropped this paper with a long list of names on it. And one of them was you! And since I had no way to get in touch with you, I decided that I had to come to warn you myself, so I flew all the way over here as fast as I could to warn you that this group."
Polybius then pointed to the body of the soldier.
"Yes, he is part of the same group I fought in Athens. I can tell by that patch on his right shoulder." Donna said, looking over at the headless man.
Polybius then walked over to the body and ripped the velcro patch off his arm. The patch was a shield with a white outline, two black strips at the top and bottom, and a white middle. In this white middle was a cage with two hands on the bars. Standing to the left and right of the cage were two guys with guns looking at the cage.
"Do you have any idea what it means?" Donna asked.
Polybius shook his head. He had never seen the symbol before.
"Well, shoot." Donna said, "I was hoping you knew something about this."
This raised a lot of questions for Polybius. Why were these people attacking him and targeting him? Who else was on that list? What was going to come next?
"They also seemed to have some heavy weapons." Donna added as Polybius turned back to face her "Just over that hill, I saw what I think is a 50 cal machine gun. And then a grenade launcher to I think."
Polybius now knew that this group had to be at least somewhat well funded. Or really good robbers to steal this from a military post. Either way that didn't answer any of his questions. And searching the bodies didn't give him any answers either.
"Well, this sucks." Donna said, "Athena, give us wisdom."
"Only if you can beat me!" A familiar voice suddenly came out of nowhere.
Polybius turned back in time only to see Red X launching himself through the air at him. He used the suit's powers to create razor-sharp Xs on his hands and attacked Polybius. The mute Titan was quick to block this with his modern ax. Polybius was then quick to put a boot in his stomach and sent him back a couple steps.
"Who are you!" Donna demanded.
"You don't know already, honey?" Red X asked, "You mean, this monster hasn't told you."
"Don't call him that!" Donna spat back.
"That's what he is!" Red X said, "He and I both know it."
The mute Titan knew Red X was right in that he was indeed a monster. Raven had made that very clear when she found out he had been eating the little aliens.
"So what?" Donna then asked, "That doesn't define who he is as a person."
"Then why don't we put that to the test!" Red X shouted.
Red X then used the suit's power to shoot a sticky X at Polybius. The Titan then proceeded to swing his ax at the oncoming attack and split the x in half. This was immediately followed up by Polybius shooting his flare gun with a stick fire flare at Red X. The attack caught Red X off guard, and he barely dogged it.
"Looks like you're good." Red X said, "But let's see how she does."
Turning on Donna, Red X was quick to launch himself at her. He attacked her with a series of punches, which Donna was easily able to block and dodge. She did try and counter, however, Red X anticipated this and did a flip over her.
Trying to move in for an easy attack, Red X held up a razor-sharp X in his hand and got ready to strike before Donna could respond. However, Polybius intervened, and body-slammed Red X with all three hundred plus pounds of his body.
Red X was sent flying back into a tree and hit it hard. Polybius meanwhile, stayed on top of him and attempted to smash Red X's face with the blunt side of the ax. Red X slid down the tree and dogged this, only to get caught up in Donna's lasso and slammed into another tree and then the ground.
Rolling for another seven feet, Red X, with his free left hand, was able to throw an X at Donna, causing her to drop the lasso, freeing him as she barely dodged the attack.
Polybius quickly responded to this by throwing his modern ax at him. Red X barely managed to get away, but his cape got caught up in the ax, pinning him to a stump.
"Not bad." Red X commented as Polybius drew his flare gun, "But not good!"
Shooting another X at Polybius, like Robin had over a year ago, the X wrapped itself around the barrel of the flare gun, rendering it useless.
Donna was quick to pick up for Polybius as she flew at Red X and batted his hand aside when he tried to adjust his aim. She then took him by his collar, tearing his cape.
"Who are you!" Donna demanded.
"That's for a few of us to know, and you're not one of them!" Red X said.
Red X then quickly piped up and kicked Donna in her shin, causing her to lose grip on her. As she stumbled from the attack, Red X used the opportunity to make himself disappear. After taking a moment to register what had happened, Polybius turned his attention to Donna.
"Ow." Donna said, rubbing her shin as Polybius came to her side.
Polybius looked and saw that she had a nasty bruise forming on her shin. Polybius was quick to try and treat the wound as best he could, but Donna stopped him.
"Don't worry about me, Polybius." She insisted, "You're in worse shape than I am."
Polybius had totally forgotten that he was bleeding, had a reverse mohawk on his head from the bullet of the 50 cal, and metal shrapnel from the grenade.
The mute Titan just waved it off as Donna looked at the top of his head.
"You're lucky." Donna said, "The bullet just grazed your head. It barely hit you."
The mute Titan smiled as he stood up.
"Are you gonna be alright?" Donna asked.
The mute Titan nodded. He knew he was just going to shrug this off easily. He had been hit with far worse before.
"Well then, I guess I can tell you the other thing I wanted to tell you." Donna said.
The mute Titan looked at her with an expecting look.
"I have heard that Robin wants to go global with the Titans. And now I am here to join your ranks and fight by all of your sides!" Donna declared, "As Wonder Girl!"
Polybius smiled happily. He then pulled out his communicator only to remember what kind of trouble the Titans were in. He then slowly put it away.
"Something wrong?" Donna asked.
Polybius shook his head. The Titans were capable enough without him, and he had a lot more on his plate to worry about right now. He then looked over at where his hat was a couple dozen meters away. Macuraciously, it didn't get destroyed by the 50 cal. Instead, it looked as if it hadn't even been touched and had just fallen off his head.
Picking it up, Polybius put it on his head to cover his wound and looked back at Donna. He then extended a hand towards the girl. Donna didn't even hesitate to take it as the two took off.
Polybius took them to the library, ironically the same one Raven had taken them to not long ago.
"The library?" Donna asked "I don't think we're gonna find any answers here."
The mute Titan shook his head as the two entered the building. Quickly making their way over to a computer, Polybius began looking for the symbol on Google. However, after a long and lengthy search, nothing came up.
"I don't think we're gonna get anywhere with this." Donna commented after looking through endless results for an hour, "Maybe we could find something elsewhere?"
The mute Titan nodded. Taking out his phone, he snapped a picture of the patch and posted it online, asking the people of Reddit if anybody knew anything about this. While he knew he was going to get a lot of dead ends, there was always the chance of truth hidden in there. He would just have to shift through the results later.
With that, Polybius dropped the search and leaned back in his chair. Red X accompanied by an armed escort. That couldn't have been a stroke of mere luck. Red X had to have known something about them beforehand. Either that, or it was the other way around, and the team used Red X to lure Polybius out.
Either way, somebody clearly wanted Polybius dead.
"So now that that's all taken care of…" Donna started nervously, "Maybe you want to hang out a little bit before I have to go and in process with the Titans?"
Polybius smiled. He eagerly nodded, both of them fully knowing the risk they were about to take. If Donna's mother found out she was going to be in for a lot of trouble. And by extension, Polybius would assume he would have a bounty on his head from the queen of the Amazons for 'corrupting Donna.'
Polybius didn't care. He knew that if all of the Amazons were women scored, and he walked into a forest, he was by far the scariest thing in there. Hell may hath no fury like them, but it wouldn't dare even show itself to him. It would run and hide from him. Making him the scariest thing in the forest.
"Well, come on then!" Donna said, taking his hand, "We don't have much time, and I don't want to waste a second of it!"
Running out of the library, the two-headed out to the park. There, the two began walking the trail, and Donna started talking.
"Gosh, how I've missed this place, this world, so much." Donna started as the two set forth on their trail "I know that there is a lot of bad in it, but it's people like us who make it better."
The mute Titan smiled as he knew she was right. If it weren't for them, the world would be a horrible place.
Donna continued to talk to him about her time away from him and man's world. She went on about everything she missed, talking extensively about how she missed him.
"And I hate how I just can't pull out a cell phone and text you whenever I want." Donna commented, "Always having to go through Diana is really annoying. Or better yet, when my mother uses the new 'Well of Athena' as she calls it to show us what's going on in the outside world. All she ever uses it for is to paint you like a monster."
The mute Titan raised an eyebrow.
"I mean, she showed me things that I could believe you doing." Donna said, "Like the thing that comes out of your mouth."
Polybius then went wide-eyed and quickly put a hand over her mouth. Her muffled speech promptly stopped as he looked around. Seeing nobody anywhere near them with a camera phone, Polybius decided to see where she went with this.
"What was that for?" Donna asked.
Making double sure nobody was around them, Polybius then let out a silent sigh of relief. However, Donna then connected the dots.
"Is that true?" Donna asked.
The mute Titan knew he couldn't hide it from her. He then pulled out his cell phone and used his notepad app to text a message and show it to her.
'Promise not to tell anybody?' Polybius entered.
"Of course!" Donna said, "I see the Titans as more of a family, so you can count on me like a sister!"
The mute let a small smile slip as he put his phone away. He then proceeded to show her his stomach rising up and out of his body. The long stomach talon flying freely.
"Woah." Donna said, looking at his stomach.
Polybius let it out for only ten seconds before quickly putting it back inside his body. He then looked down at the ground a little ashamed, but mostly embarrassed by doing that, and Donna could tell.
"You don't have to be embarrassed, Polybius!" Donna assured him, "It's not like you can control that."
That didn't help the mute Titan. He wasn't proud of it, but if Donna had found out about it, then trying to deny it was only going to make things worse for him. And he didn't want to hurt his relationship with Donna.
Pulling out his phone, Polybius then explained how he digested food externally. How he was raising his stomach out of his body and ejecting digestive enzymes to turn the food into essentially a slushy. He would eject these enzymes from the talon on the end of his stomach and then use it as a straw to suck in the food. He also glossed over the pain it caused him as when he had to do this, he couldn't breathe but could hold his breath for an extended period of time.
"Interesting." Donna commented as she finished reading Polybius's explanation.
The mute Titan shrugged his shoulders after he got his phone back from her. He couldn't help but still feel embarrassed by it.
"Don't be ashamed of it, Polybius!" Donna asserted, "Just like I said earlier, you can't control that! And people who don't like you for that are morons! Just as you taught me, physical appearance doesn't define people. It's who they are as a person who defines them. And that should be the only reason why we hate people!"
Polybius looked at Donna. He couldn't remember when he ever said anything like that, but that was his line of thinking. However, for him, it applied to how he saw people, not how they saw him as he knew they didn't think the same way as him. Therefore, he knew he had to maintain an excellent physical appearance for people to like him.
But if Donna had picked up his line of thinking, then he was grateful for that. At least he knew one person would never judge him for the way he looks.
"Come on!" Donna said, "We've still got a few hours before the I have to go and in process with the Titans. Let's go and have some fun!"
The Amazon then extended a hand to the mute. He looked at it and eagerly took it as the two continued their walk.
And there you have it folks! Chapter 28. I hope you enjoyed this and have a good rest of your day!