Oh boy. Complicated fight scene. That I first wrote seven years ago, ~~Hera give me strength~~. Hope I did alright and it isn't too confusing ^^"
Chapter 10~ Overwhelmed, Definitely Overwhelmed
Renegade's POV
The pain in my head spiked like a nail hit by a hammer, driving out rational thought. Everything had been going fine, I'd snuck into Wayne Tech without issue, carefully infiltrating the mainframe like second nature, downloading the data seamlessly. I'd gotten out similarly unscathed and was set to return to the penthouse when I had seen her, the redheaded Batgirl sat atop the tower watching the sky like nothing could trouble her.
The idea stirred in my head then, my mentor's words like an echo. Not to hesitate, I could prove to him now that I was more powerful than the Martian's mind control and take revenge for my lost memories in one fell swoop. I'd attacked, toyed with her, watched as she tumbled off the roof and into free fall.
A memory flashed then, a circus tent, two people- my parents, a snapped wire- It was overwhelming, the sound of them hitting the ground, the smell of the blood. My body had moved on its own, whipping out the grappling hook as I dove, catching the nearest roof as I slammed into her, wrapping an arm around her waist. The added weight snapped the line taught, retching my shoulder as the arch changed and I'm forced to release it, momentum carrying us to another rooftop where we toppled over one another until coming to a stop, my wrist shattering under the stress.
She demanded to know why I saved her, echoing my own thoughts, a cacophony of voices screaming in my head- screaming something was wrong, I made a mistake- something, something, something! I drew my gun, determined to stop it, to quiet the noise, to silence the Martian's influence, to prove to Deathstroke I was wholly dedicated to being his apprentice. She had looked at me then, a grim determination to her jaw as she stared me down, daring me to carry though.
"I still don't know who you are." Wrong, wrong, wrong.
"I can live with that." No, no, no! I pulled the trigger, and the storm rolled in with a vengeance. It was like a lightning strike, each flash being another snippet of memories- the redhead's smile, her laugh, the two of us sitting under a gazebo in the rain-. I realized I was screaming, on my knees as my hands dug into my skull, desperately trying to claw out the lies- they had to be lies- the crushing wrongness and remorse. It's then I noticed Batgirl getting up, another botched shot, the conflicting emotions of rage and joy like a hurricane threatening to drag me under.
She reached out toward me and I forced myself back, whirling around and diving off the roof, remaining grapple shooting out. I had to get away, find somewhere quiet to try and shift through the fragments of my mind and try to figure out the truth.
I moved in the shadows to get back to the alcove where I had hidden my bike, taking a moment once reaching it to check my alerts. My eyebrows rose in surprise, Slade had sent the training bots he had purchased from Professor Ivo on the attack, not too far from here. Curiosity stirred and I did a quick hack, taking over the sight of one of them. I got a flash of red, yellow, and black, the bright R of the Robin suit before the feed was cut. I kicked the stand of my bike up, pushing aside my thoughts of the attack. It had nothing to do with me, there was no reason why I would intervene.
So why did I feel so guilty?
Kid Flash's POV
The ship descended faster after Batgirl's startling observation of the roof's state, Aqualad's orders delivered in a clipped tone as Miss Martian set up a mind link. I shook the jitters from myself, still readjusting to the adrenaline rush of hero life, and pulled my googles down as the ship touched down. Before I'm able to run out Artemis caught my hand, ashen eyes shining with worry.
"Stay safe." I smirked, trying to pull up my old cocky attitude, to pretend it hadn't been eroded by the tragedies and deaths that plagued the team and driven us away from this life to begin with.
"Always babe." I gave her a quick kiss on the forehead before zipping out of the ship, anxiety coiled like a snake in my stomach at the carnage before me. At first glance it looked worse than the aerial view had shown, torsos halved and limbs strewn haphazardly around. I swallowed the bile that threatened to rise, kneeling beside the nearest corpse to investigate. The figure was clad entirely in black, the only color being a half moon of orange on the mask. Their neck was twisted at an odd angle and as I went to check for a pulse I noticed instead of blood or skin a mass of wires stuck out.
"This one is just a bot." I relayed to the others mentally, doing a quick check on the other bodies, confirming the same. "They all are, but I don't see any sign of Robin and the others." By then the others had gathered around me, M'gann's eyes flaring white with a glance from Kaldur.
"I can sense them, but they're just out of range." As if on cue our communicators rang, Beast Boy's panicked voice coming through the static.
"Aqualad? Miss Martian? Are you guys there? We need help, Superboy and Robin just went down!" His voice was pitched high in fright, the sounds of the fight audible in the background.
"What's your location?" Aqualad asked, his voice a deceptive calm trained into him since we first started the team.
"Down in the subways, Robin told us there was a zeta beam here but he was taken out before we could find it!"
"BB we need you down here! Bee is down!" Impulse's shout can just barely be made out, the sound of an approaching train nearly drowning him out.
"Guys, please hurry we can't-!" The feed is cut with his shout, leaving static in our ears.
"Gar? Gar!" M'gann shouted into the communicator, desperation edging her voice.
"M'gann calm down. They're going to be okay." Aqualad ordered, reverting back to the mind link. "Kid Flash, scout ahead and try and either get the injured to the Bio-Ship or the Zeta Tube." I nodded, speeding off as he continued to give orders. "M'gann bring one of these bots up to the ship, see if Batgirl can identify a way to disable them and who may have sent them."
I shut out the rest of the conversation, focusing on the task at hand as neared the sounds of battle. Rounding the platform I'm nearly knocked over by a flying bot, the other half of the team- at least those still standing- locked in combat. Wondergirl was in one corner, fighting to protect a downed Robin, while Rocket held her shield up in another to defend herself and the unconscious forms of Superboy and a de-sized Bumblebee from another swarm of the robotic attackers. At the center of the platform was the rest of the team, a limping Impulse trying to carry Beast Boy as Guardian and Lagoon Boy did their best to distract the hulking form of Cinderblock from everyone else.
Before I'm able to decide who to help first, Impulse is caught on the backend of Cinderblock's swing, sent skidding against concrete. Beast Boy's prone is sent flying, directly onto the rails as the horn of an approaching train sounded. I'm not given time to think, dashing into the tracks and lifting Gar as the rails shook from the force. I'm forced to push myself up the far side of the tunnel to avoid collision, kicking off the side in a flip as the train passed by a hair. I tucked myself around Garfield as we crashed back to the platform, trying to protect him from further harm as we rolled to a stop.
In my short absence the battle had taken a turn for the worst, Wondergirl going down in a slump beside Robin, Rocket gathering another ball sphere around them, even as her own began to break.
"We need help now, please tell me you're almost here!" I shouted frantically into the mind link, barely dodging as one of the robots swung a sword at me, others crowding around to cramp my room.
"We're almost there, hold out for another minute."
"I'm not sure we have another minute!" Cinderblock managed to catch Lagoon Boy with his next swing, knocking the Atlantean into Guardian and sending them both flying into a wall. Robots instantly swarmed them, cutting off my view. I had to focus on myself again as my own attackers pressed closer, several swords swung in my direction. I dodged as well as I could, focusing on keeping Beast Boy's prone figure safe, but it cost me as I tripped on a deactivated bot. I fell back, blade swinging down after me, and braced for impact.
Totally cut that fight scene up in a 'fun' way and added Cinderblock because… gotta? Now I ~~realized~~ know that YJ Slade shows no inclination towards robots- that being a Teen Titans original- but I came up with some ~~bullshit~~ kinda explanation for them that I'll y'all hopefully caught because it bothered me lol. Anyway, feedback is always appreciated so if you're so inclined please leave me a little review 3
~ Fate