There was so much stored on the LexCorp servers, it was incredible. Trying to find anything of relevance was going to take a lot of time. It meant refining searches over and over again, narrowing them down until you had to widen the search criteria because now you weren't getting anything.
Cyborg was doing this while keeping a physical eye out on the black skyscraper that was the headquarters for one of the largest multinationals on Earth. No one said this was going to be easy, but they never said it was going to be this hard either.
However, he was never one to shy away from a challenge—for the most part, because everyone has their off days, or off years, but that was beside the point. He and the others were in Metropolis for a reason, and it had to do with the big cheesy in that big building right there. Batman wanted as much information as they could get their hands on, and damn it, Cyborg was going to do just that.
Give it more than one hundred percent. His coaches always yelled to do more than his best. It helped with football practice, not so much the games, and this here was perhaps the biggest game yet, not counting Starfire's crazy sister.
Hopefully this wouldn't include the rest of the Justice League.
Well, so long as no one found the hack, they would be golden—
And there came the loud crash that had him falling back on his metal ass. It had come out of nowhere, completely unexpected, and right in front of the crouch he had kept his body in. It would be easier for people to see a cyborg man like himself if he was standing up on his two legs and not crouching as he was. So his metal ass didn't have far to fall before scrapping against the rooftop gravel.
Jerking his head up, his human eye widened when it saw the massive, gray…what the hell was this? It was shaped like a humanoid, but was really, really stocking, like it made a guy as bulky as he was look trim and fit. Dull eyes stared down at him, and Cyborg scrambled back up and away from whatever this was.
Wait a sec. Don't tell him. This was one of the robots that Green Bean had told him about.
Then as if to further throw him off his game, the big robot said, "Hello."
Cyborg blinked his single human eye. Had…had that thing just said something? Wearily, he regarded the robot before cautiously saying, "Uh…hi?" He angled his body away from the robot, keeping his right arm out of sight.
The big robot said nothing, and just stood there, watching him, killing time while the cybernetic teen tried to think of what he could do here. Sure, the robot spooked him by showing up out of nowhere, but did that mean it was a threat? So far, it wasn't fitting the part of killer robot, you know, since there was a lack of killing and all.
"So…" Cyborg began, but trailed off. What could he say? Was there anything he could say? Man, this was getting so awkward.
"Is that your arm?" the robot suddenly spoke, raising a hand up so it could point a finger at the teen.
"Uh, yeah?" Where was this going?
"It's pretty. Can I say hello to it?"
Now this was moving from awkward and into weird territory. He wasn't liking it.
His right arm morphed, becoming a cannon that he swung out to aim at the robot. "Sorry, dawg, but my arm is spoken for." An energy blast fired and slammed right into the robot, detonating into an explosion. A really loud explosion. Hell, it had to tip off everyone in the area that something was about to go down. Man, and it had to happen on his watch.
The explosion faded into smoke, then the smoke dissipated until there stood the robot with not even a scratch on it. In fact, it didn't even look like the robot was even fazed.
"What the hell are you?" It was a question that slipped out of his mouth, and he hadn't intended to say it in the first place.
He got an answer anyway. "I am Lead."
Lead? Hold on a sec, let's do a scan…holy cow. This robot was lead! Like, entirely, one hundred percent lead! Now how did that happen?
Never mind; a walking, talking, pile of lead could not be good for anyone's health, and so Cyborg transformed his right arm again and fired a sonic blast, one that caused the very air to shimmer and Lead here was pushed back. Large feet dug into the rooftop, the robot not going too far, but still showing no sign of any kind of damage.
"Oh. I'm supposed to fight you," Lead said.
Okay, now Cyborg was having to wrap his processors around that statement, but then he didn't have the time to as Lead began to rush him. Because of its size, and most definitely its weight, Lead here wasn't the fastest runner, though it did tear up the roof even more with each step. The stone it was made of crunched and broke, jagged pieces pointing up as they surrounded each foot as they stomped down.
Allowing his arm to return to its default form, Cyborg waited, then slipped out of the way, balling a hand into a fist and slugging it into Lead's back. Lead kept charging forward, and Cyborg's titanium arm was trembling, reverberating as the force of his blow went back into his arm. Lead managed to stop itself as Cyborg got his vibrating arm in check, wondering what the hell that had been.
Maybe the back was tougher. Guess he might as well try the front.
Bending his legs, Cyborg took his turn and charged. Lead was just about to fully face him when the cyborg collided with the larger robot. There was no budging it, and so Cyborg began throwing punch after punch, striking wherever he could, be it the torso, the arms, the head, just anywhere. Lead didn't even try to block.
Blow after blow landed, and with each one, the titanium arms began to shake, like they were starting to come loose. Well, that wouldn't do. As if to prove his masculinity, he landed three jabs into the robot's rib area, if it had ribs, swung up an uppercut into the nearly nonexistent chin, then leapt back, transformed his arms and fired another blast. An explosion erupted where Lead stood, engulfing him in flames and smoke.
Once the smoke cleared, Cyborg clenched his teeth in frustration. The robot still stood there, no sign of anything. Not even a chip! What the hell!
"You're not nice," Lead stated, its eyes starting to glow yellow. Hell, there looked like some kind of yellow aura covering the huge body.
The shaking began, but it wasn't something huge like an earthquake. Below, and out of sight, there was the sound of loud cracks, soon followed by crashes, then two large boulders rose up into sight. For a few seconds they hovered there, Cyborg staring at them as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing. Then both of the boulder lunged forward with incredible speed.
With a yelp, it took all the speed the cyborg could muster to fling himself backwards, barely just dodging as the two humongous rocks crashed into one another and the very spot he had been standing on. The loud crashing of rock against rock against asphalt was loud and jarring, and the fact that the boulders broke apart, the debris continuing forward only had Cyborg scrambling back.
Erupting through the destruction was Lead, a massive fist swinging and aimed right for a certain handsome Titan who was in no way a good spot to defend himself. The best he could do was cross his arms in front of himself, and the huge fist clanged against titanium.
Also, the force behind the hit sent him flying off of the rooftop and over the city of Metropolis, though not too far. A couple streets passed under him for sure, then he was falling. He somehow landed on another building, going into a roll as he began rolling over himself. He kept going until he nearly sliding off the edge of the new roof. It was a spontaneous, last second grab onto the ledge that kept him from falling off altogether.
As alert popped up in his robotic eye. Oh great, now what? Huh, that couldn't be right. There was damage inside of his arms, but how could that be? He was comprised mostly of titanium, one of the strongest metals on Earth! Sure, it wasn't some of that harder stuff, whatever their names were, but it was definitely harder than lead!
Unless…it couldn't be, right? Then again, he had been hitting Lead with all the force he could and got nothing for it. What if he was using too much force? What if that force was ricocheting back up and into his arms? What if he was hitting so hard, and that equal force happening repeatedly and in a short period of time…
That would have to wait for later because right now he had the equivalent of a hyperextended arm, just that close to a dislocation without having an actual joint to dislocate.
The building seemed to shudder, and Cyborg wrenched his head up. Oh great, there was Lead and he had a bunch more boulders with it. This was going to suck.
Starfire's body was tense as she observed her opponent. The attack had been sudden, but she had evaded successfully. Now she was staring down the dark gray man that did not quite look like the average human, even with the bipedalism and general shape.
"I do not know who you are, or why you have chosen to attack me," the Tamaranean said. "I suggest that you reconsider your decision and take this opportunity to leave."
The dark-colored individual shook his head. "No can do. I have a mission, I gotta complete it, and that means fighting you." The pseudo-man gave a chuckle and took up a defensive stance, indicating some martial prowess. "The name's Iron, and I want a little action."
Her green eyes narrowed and Starfire fell into her own stance, "Is there no other way to resolve this without violence?"
A shrug of thick shoulders answered her. "It's a mission and I am programmed to complete them. No hard feelings."
Programmed? Could this be one of the robots that Beast Boy mentioned? Iron was a metal, so that may mean that a large part of the body comprised of it. Very well then.
"I ask that you forgive the grievous bodily harm I am about to inflict upon you."
Rocketing forth to take the offensive, Starfire alight her hands with her life energy and began firing Starbolt after Starbolt to give herself cover. Bolt after bolt struck the dark gray hide, Iron taking each hit without flinching. Flashes of green obscured the large robot, and when she was in striking distance, she pulled back an arm, fist readied, then swung with all her might.
Despite the smokescreen caused by her Starbolts, her aim was true and her fist slipped under the robot's arms and impacted the stomach region. The Tamaranean's teeth clenched as she felt her arm tremble from the strike, pain blossoming in her fist, but at an acceptable level.
Iron took the hit, then the robot swung its fist. Her head tilted to a side and evaded the blow by the smallest of measurement increments. With her other arm, she lashed out and struck the offending arm. In retaliation, Iron attacked with an uppercut, Starfire pulling back to avoid the blow, then jabbed her elbow into the inside of the more recent outstretched arm. A small, shocking sensation traveled up and down her arm, distracting, but not enough to overcome her reflexes as she evaded the following backhand.
Ducking, she struck out with a hand engulfed with life energy, hitting the torso. She slipped to her left, a descending fist missing her, a follow up jab went into the robot's side, another backhand was evaded, she attacked from the front and landed another blow to the torso. Back and forth it went, evasion and attacking, Starfire managing to avoid every attack. Iron continued to miss, and the assault ended at her discretion as she ascended up into the air.
By now, she was starting to feel the punishment in her hands. Iron was hard, thought she had left dents behind. That did little for the soreness she was feeling. Yet again she faced a highly durable and strength-enhanced opponent. Fortunately, she had learned a number of methods to deal with such a type. However, all previous encounters had been biological and lacked the ratio of metal that Iron possessed.
Iron made a very human gesture, raising a hand up to wipe at its chin. "You're not half-bad."
"And you are proving to be very durable," Starfire complimented.
Fascinatingly, /iron gave a cocky smirk. Somehow, metal was contorting to express human emotion. "I can take a hit or two, but I can't show you what I can do if I can't hit you, can I?"
Starfire nodded at this truth. Iron was not overestimating its skills and was casual in describing the current state of affairs. While she knew little of the robot's origins, what little she did know was that there was a sinister purpose behind it. There was more than mere strength and durability, there had to be.
Until she could identify what other abilities it had, she would have to change her tactics. "It is my apology that I will need to end this fight quickly. I fear your allies will be trying to engage my friends." That she did know from Beast Boy's descriptions. There was more than one, and there was a chance her friends were being attacked as she spoke. Bringing both of her hands together, she combined two Starbolts together, concentrating the energy.
Her eyes flared with green, and then she fired the blast of her life energy. The area lit up in green, and Iron vanished into the detonation, the boom of the explosion deafening. Starfire hadn't, however, stopped, continuing to pour more and more energy into a continuous beam until she gave out, stopping the attack and breathing loudly for her effort.
Now for confirmation. You did not leave until you knew for certain that your opponent was incapacitated. Green continued to shimmer in the air as the smoke dissipated…why was there still green light? She was not readying a Starbolt…
It was a barrier that had formed around Iron, one that resembled the type of construct that a Green Lantern was capable of. Where had it come from? Immediately, she searched the area for any sign of a Lantern for they would be the source of the construct—
Violet flashed in her periphery, and Starfire threw herself back. Eyes wide, she slowly followed the trajectory back to Iron where the green construct was unraveling and a bright violet light was fading away.
"Sorry, but you were wide open there. I had to take advantage," Iron chuckled. "You really shouldn't do that."
The lesson was accepted.
"You are behind the constructs," Starfire stated, trying to calm her rapidly beating hearts. She needed the time to compose and the use of words would purchase her the time to do so.
"It's part of my programming," Iron replied. "So, will you come down here so we can make things interesting?"
"I would prefer to remain up here," the Tamaranean answered.
There was another chuckle. "Alright. Then I'll go up there."
The sight of Iron levitating itself into the air succeeded to stopping the rapid beating of her hearts, but it replaced anxiety with dread. The green glow of possibility lit up both of Iron's hands while violet glimmered from the robot's forehead.
Dread transformed into adrenaline-fueled action as Starfire began flying out of the way green and violet blasts as Iron fired them. Retaliation were Starbolts that were fired back, and her foe changed his green blasts into a green shield. The bolts detonated harmlessly against the shield, then a small hole opened up to allow violet blasts to shoot out without obstacle.
Choosing distance to serve as a defense, Starbolt broke away and flew deeper into the city. From behind, blasts of green and violet gave chase, behind them the robot Iron who followed. The beams either harmlessly hissed through the air, or struck the tops of buildings. Some boards of ads were enflamed by being in the wrong locations. To prevent herself from suffering the same fate, Starfire moved in any direction, to her left, her right, up, down, and intercardinal, all to make it harder for her to be hit.
She fired back Starbolts when she could, and Iron copied her evasion maneuvers, one stopping his blasts to shield itself once more.
Escape did not seem to be an option, so offense had to be her next tactic. The Tamaranean turned to her left, continuing her turning trajectory until she was flying towards the robot once more. She fired more Starbolts knowing the maximum they were capable of would be obscuring vision.
However, the shield construct changed, taking on the shape of a wall of bricks that abrupt charged towards her. It was simple to veer to her right, then downwards to avoid the two hand-shaped constructs that tried to capture her. A construct of netting was the following capture implement, next an odd instrument she had been told was called a "fly swatter," then multitudes of chains streaked out.
When evasion was not possible, she resorted to her bolts. Chains were knocked away, hands slipped out of before the fingers could grip, and—into her back!
She fell, struck right out of midair and only stopped when she crashed onto a roof, skidding across it. Her back stung, and she knew that a beam had struck it. Green or violet, it did not matter. Only the pain did, and it helped to focus her mind as she pushed herself up. Bits of gravel stuck to her check, and with a hand she wiped them away, wincing at the scrapes left behind.
Her arms gave another push, this one with some strength that sent her up into the air right before hand-shaped constructs slammed down where she was. Her body spun, and Starbolts rained at Iron who shielded itself once more. Throwing herself forward once more, the Tamaranean was able to reach the shield where she landed a punch into the construct. Without surprise, the barrier held, and a second and third strike did nothing to change that.
Sensing the presence of incoming constructs, she broke her offensive and flew up, the hand-shaped constructs slamming into the shield. Noticing how the shielded Iron wsa pushed back, Starfire circled around, picking up as much speed as she could until she was behind the robot.
Clasping her hands together, she mustered what strength she could and slammed her next blow into the shield. This sent the robot, constructs and all, straight ahead and into the side of a building. Debris scattered from the impact site, falling down to the streets below.
Summoning two Starbolts and combining them again for another beam attack, Starfire fired another blast into the impact site. Teeth clenched and she kept up the stream of energy, determined to defeat this latest foe.
"You have got to be the leader. I don't know, there's something about you, but I know that you are the guy in charge. I'm a leader myself. It's easy to spot another when you know what to look for."
Red Robin regarded the gold-colored man who had to be one of the Metal Men. It fit with Beast Boy's story of vats of metal and Cyborg's description of the Project Metal Men. Now the problem was how he was going to handle the situation.
This was a robot, obviously, unless some other unfortunate LexCorp employee had an accident involving gold. He was a teen armed with some sophisticated tech and equipment that was designed more for fighting flesh-and-bone criminals. One of them was soft and the other wasn't. He was by himself, cornered on a rooftop, and would need to buy time to get one of the others here as backup. This meant being able to use his earpiece and the comm link without drawing too much attention.
"The name's Gold," the robot introduced itself cheerfully. "I'm the guy who leads the Metal Men. What's your name? I gotta know, you know, one leader to another."
Also, one of them was chatty and the other wasn't. Of all the kinds of robots out there, he had to get the one that couldn't stop talking or bragging.
"What do you want?" the teen vigilante asked as he took a step to his right.
Gold here copied him, beginning the circling of the two. "Don't be like that. So serious! But I get it. You're in mission mode, and you think there's going to be a fight. Well, there doesn't have to be. You can end this right now. Give up and surrender, and it'll be over. Smooth. How about it?"
Nah, that did not seem like a good option. "Let me guess, if I don't, then you'll force me," Red Robin responded, continuing the circle.
"I won't hurt you too bad," Gold shrugged his shoulders. "It doesn't have to be this way."
Oh yeah, it did.
One hand slipped to his belt and withdrew three birdarangs. Swiping his hand out, he threw the throwing projectiles at the robot. His expectations were met as each of the birdarangs bounced off Gold, the robot not even flinching, or doing anything to protect itself.
Scuffing a heel into the gravel, Gold said, "So we're doing it this way, huh?"
The answer was obvious, but Red Robin gave a different response in the form of an explosive birdarang. This got a reaction from the robot that wasn't friendly or pitying. No, this got a cry of surprise.
Props to the guy who made this guy…robot, because it was a little hard not to think of it as another person right now. There was some real talent here. Accolades could be given later, right now it was go time.
From a slot in his belt, Red Robin removed the latest addition to his personal arsenal. It started as a small baton, but pressing on either end simultaneously caused the expandable bo staff to extend to its furthest extent. Sure, this was creeping into Huntress' gimmick, but all the training with Starfire at the Tower had helped to expand his fighting skills.
He couldn't always rely on his birdarangs and his fists, and right now seemed like a good chance to try out the staff. As Gold was waving away the smoke, Red Robin went on the attack, swinging the staff into the robot's side.
While Gold didn't stumble or lose balance, the masked ten could see how the staff pressed into the metal hide and successfully hid a smirk. Withdrawing the staff, he jabbed it into the torso, then brought it up to block the incoming gold hand. The robot grabbed hold of the weapon, but a simple twist and spin tore it out of the iron—ahem, golden—grip easily. From that, he moved into another swing, landing the hit into an arm.
Spinning on his heel, he built up momentum in the next swing, though that succeeded in knocking aside an attempt to grab at the teen. Shifting his hands further down on the staff's length, he brought the weapon up and into the robot's face, pulled back and aimed another blow into the stomach region.
Reading the robot's body language, a skill he had learned painfully through Starfire's classes, and another testament to the creator's skills here, the vigilante ducked beneath two metal arms and slid one end of his staff between the wide-open legs. Pushing forward, he caught the staff behind a knee, and pressed forward with his legs.
"Whoa!" Gold cried out as the support offered by his limb was disrupted. Down the robot went into a painful looking split, one leg stretched out in front and the other behind. Spinning his staff, Red Robin swung and landed the next hit into the back of Gold's head, the struck appendage snapping forward.
Pulling back, Red Robin took in his handiwork. Wherever he had hit or landed a blow, he could see how the robot's body dented. Each dent was shaped as if a rod, much like that of his staff, had been struck harshly into it, some dents going deeper than others.
"Whoever chose to make you out of gold made a mistake," the masked teen remarked, holding his staff at the ready. "Gold's one of the most malleable metals out there. It's soft. Maybe too soft for a fight."
Unsteadily, Gold got back onto its feet, and when it was able to turn to face him, only then did Red Robin lose enough control to smirk. He could see the indentation where his staff had hit the robot in its face. A long, deep crevasse that carved its way from just about right of the chin and ending above the left eyebrow. Not bad, not bad at all.
It was subtle at first, but the face crevasse was the giveaway that something was happening. The indents began to push out, the damage was being undone, the sight of a face extending out of the skull was kinda nightmare inducing, but then everything settled and Gold didn't look worse for wear.
"You got some skills," the robot praised. "But you know a little bit about me. I mean, gold. Not bad. But you want to know something else about gold? It's easily the most conductive metal there is."
Already on guard, the masked teen raised his staff up enough that it could guard his face. What else could this robot be capable of?
It started with a crackle, and then a small curving bolt flickered about the robot's torso. You could almost say it was a trick of the eyes. However, there were a few more bolts that flickered into existence, and when Gold raised up an arm, the bolt of electricity that was fired nearly stopped the vigilante's heart.
Reflexes kicked in, and he was barely able to throw himself out of the way. Eyes wide, the masked teen stared at the gold-colored robot that had electricity dancing all around its body. When a hand aimed right at him, Red Robin took off. Kicking with his feet, he went into a sprint just as a bolt struck the very spot he had stood on.
Not looking to see what the results of that was, the teen vigilante kept running, bo staff in one hand while flinging birdarangs with the other. The intention was to distract long enough so that he could try to call in some help. Thankfully, Gold targeted the throwing projectiles first, but unfortunately, it completed the task quickly and was firing another bolt at him.
Activating the rockets in his boots, Red Robin changed his direction from straight ahead to up in the air, the latest bolt missing by a mile. However, his quick escape quickly became a big mistake. He was now up in the air, little maneuverability, and a robot that could shoot electricity doing just that.
Adrenaline was flooding his body, and without thinking, he reached to his chest and turned on the electric current to his cape. From a flimsy fabric to a tough and ready shield, he crossed his arms, and therefore the cape in front of him just as the bolt struck.
He had no idea if this was going to work, if the robot's attack could affect the circuitry or how the cape functioned. At the very least, his costume had some insulation, but not the kind for this kind of voltage. His cape did withstand the electrical discharge fired at him, and as he flung his arms out, he went into a glide, speeding right back for Gold.
Air buffeted around him, and he spun from side to side as bolt after bolt was blasted towards him. When he could start making out various physical features, like the face or musculature of the robot's body, Red Robin thrusted his arms out and forward, letting momentum propel his controlled fall until he rammed into the robot.
His hardened cape sliced into Gold and the robot cried out as it fell back. For a split second, the vigilante was right over his opponent, then with a push of his arms, he continued to use his momentum to flip over and away from his foe, landing on his feet and his arms outstretched.
Immediately, he spun around so that he could see the fallen Gold, all the while reaching with hand to his ear to try and call for help.
"Guys, I'm under attack, someone get to my location, now!" he yelled, taking a couple steps back as Gold began to pick itself up. Much to his frustration, he received no answers. What was—don't tell him, the others were under attack too, weren't they? But that didn't explain why there was no answer…
Pulling the ear piece out of his ear, he eyed it and groaned. Barely there, but he could spy out small, black scorch marks. He hadn't avoided all of the electricity as he hoped. The communication device was damaged, shorted out. That meant no help would be coming.
"What was that?" Gold called out. "Did you stab me with…whatever the hell that was? Is that your cape? Why is it like that?"
Right, robot, no silly limitations like endurance and stamina. Maybe batteries, but this one was generating its own electricity. Tiring it out was not an option, especially since the teen himself would tire out sooner than the machine.
With his arms raised and his cape still hardened, Red Robin prepared himself for a long fight.
Wonder Girl was frowning, less from anything like anger and more from confusion. She had shared many looks with Terra, but the sight in front of them hadn't changed at all.
"I-I'm s-s-sorry, b-b-but I-I-I am s-s-supposex to fight you and I-I-I don't want to s-s-so if you could st-stay here, it would be best, I hope, I-I'm sorry."
At first she thought it was some guy, but the lack of clothing was a tip off and then how the sun gleamed on metal confirmed that this was a robot. Was it one of the ones that Beast Boy had saw? If so, the armored blonde was so…disappointed. This was one of the new killer robots that Luthor had whipped up? This was the one that she was going to end up fighting?
There was a bad joke here and whoever told it needed to be punched.
"Why are you here?" she barked, planting a first into an open palm.
The robot flinched back. Seriously. It flinched. "I-I-I was just told what to do! I-I-I don't want a fight, b-b-but if you try and fight me, then I-I'll have to fight, and I don't want that, so can we not fight?"
Another glance was sent to Terra who returned it. "Do you think this one's the only one?" the earth-moving blonde asked.
Good question, and if this one was out and about, the others had to be. That meant the other Titans could be in trouble. Or confused. Didn't matter which at this point.
"Think you can handle this one?" Wonder Girl asked, jerking her head in the direction of the robot. "I'm going to see if the others—"
Distantly she heard explosions.
"—on second thought, they're already fighting. I'm going to back up the first one I find," Wonder Girl corrected herself.
Terra looked back to the robot, then back to her. "It looks too easy, but yeah, I'll handle this one and do the same."
"Right." Giving a sharp nod of her head, the armored blonde started marching, deliberately heading right for the very skinny robot that seemed to cower in front of her.
"I-I-I know I-I'm not valuable or st-st-strong, like Iron or Platinum, and I-I'm only tin, b-b-but please just st-st-stay here," the robot pleaded.
"Not happening," Wonder Girl stated, mere feet away from the robot and closing.
Did it just swallow? Didn't know robots could do that, but who cared? She was reaching out with one arm, her intent to push the robot out of her way to complete her dismissal of this underwhelming experience, when the robot just disappeared.
There hadn't been any time to process that when she felt a shove from her side and she stumbled, managing to catch herself in time. There had been no expectation for that; however, there was no real damage so her armor didn't act up and try to cover her. Whipping her head to a side, she found the robot at her three o'clock and still simpering.
"Please don't. Just stay."
Wonder Girl shook her head. Distantly there was another explosion, this one green in color. "I don't have time for this," she snapped as she made to head for what was obviously Starfire's location when she found the robot in front of her again, hands now pressed to her shoulders.
"I-I-I don't want to do this!" the robot pleaded.
"Then get out of my way!" she snapped and now her frustration was starting to get the best of her. She slugged an armored fist and found only air and no robot anywhere. Okay, how was it doing that and why was—
"He's behind you!" Terra called out.
Twisting her waist, Wonder Girl attempted to backhand this simp and once again met nothing but air. Again, there was a shove from her right, and the armored blonde stumbled to regain her footing.
Once balance was regained, she spun on her heel and shouted, "What is your problem?!"
"I-I'm just following orders!" the robot cried.
No seriously, with the shaking and heaving of shoulders, this robot was crying. Somehow. Now Wonder Girl was starting to feel bad about this and—fire was blazing that way and electricity crackling over there. Pity was now being put aside because it seemed like all hell was breaking loose; the other Titans could be fighting for their lives and she was literally being pushed around.
"Terra!" Wonder Girl called out sharply.
A shadow fell over the armored blonde and robot. Then a large rock slammed down on top of the robot, missing Wonder Girl by inches. The blonde, for her part, stood there without blinking.
"Thanks!" she called out. Starting to step around the rock.
A shove came from right behind her.
"Oh, come on!" she shouted and she turned on her heel to glare at the robot who should be trapped under a rock.
"I-I'm just—"
"Following orders, yeah, yeah, we know," Wonder Girl interrupted. "You might not want a fight, but you found one!"
She put some strength into this punch, was waiting the few seconds it took for her fist to cross the distance between them and could almost revel in her armor striking the metal flesh. All of that didn't happen because one second the robot was cowering right there and the next it was gone, a shove from her side pushing her right into Terra's rock.
"We don't have to do this," the robot protested.
The rock that she was now leaning against began to crack, then break apart, becoming a swarm of smaller rocks that hovered menacingly. Standing straight, Wonder Girl regarded the robot and said, "Yeah, we do."
The rocks rushed around her, only blowing her hair over her shoulders as they went on the attack. Because she was watching now with her full attention, she was able to pick up the small movement the robot made before it vanished again. The rocks continued on their way, but Wonder Girl was already searching for this annoyance.
Instinctively she brought an arm up and to herself, her gauntlet catching the pair of hands trying to push her. The robot looked surprised then vanished again as Terra tried to hit it. Alright and—her waist twisted, an arm swung out, and nearly caught the robot who once again disappeared.
But not really. Now she was figuring it out. The little bastard was fast, like Kid Flash fast. There was superspeed at work here. And damn it, where was Kid Flash to handle this? Hold on, she needed to make a call.
"Kid Flash! We could use you over here," she said, a hand up to her ear to use the comm link.
"Little busy over here! I'll try to be there—whoa! Hot, hot, hot! I'll be—hey, you can't do that! It's gonna be a bit."
Huh. Well that wasn't ominous. Lowering her hand, her blue eyes became sharp as she searched for where their own little problem was. Terra's swarm of rocks was zipping about, but none were making any kind of contact. You couldn't even see where the pathetic menace was, but it was here, running and not getting hit.
Time to change that. Wonder Girl cracked her knuckles as she began her approach. If nothing else happened to today, she was going to hit that robot at least once.
It had started so quickly, which for Kid Flash meant something, because one minute he was bored with this whole stakeout while Beast Boy was catching a nap. Staying up so long was not good for a growing body, you know, and they intended for the shapeshifter to get back into LexCorp and continue his covert spying that was second only to Invisible Kid, and then with no warning—which was not crash by the way—they had some cackling red stretch toy show up.
So TLDR, one of the Metal Men had shown up, got Kid Flash on alert, and Beast Boy woken up.
Naturally when BB had gotten out of that fog that came with waking up, he identified the robot who called itself Mercury, and now they were fighting with it. BB was going with some heavy-hitting animals because they were assuming this robot was made of metal so you needed to hit hard, and that left Kid Flash wondering what he could do.
Yes, he had superspeed, 'cause you know, Speed Force, but what would pounding his flesh and bone fist only covered in a thin glove designed to not burn up due to friction and air resistance, with little to no padding in it, do against something as hard as Mercury?
"Stupid little humans, mercury is the only metal that exists in liquid form at room temperatures!"
Not a lot since it turned out punching this robot was like punching water. No damage to his fist and no damage to the water, or mercury in this case. However, hearing about mercury had Beast Boy pulling back and trying to move away from the long, stretchy body that was weaving a web of itself all over the place. This caught Kid Flash's attention and he had to check up on his fighting buddy.
"Hey, what gives?" he asked as the green shapeshifter resumed his human form. "You're supposed to be hitting Mercury over there, and there, and over there too."
"Didn't you hear? He's made of mercury!" Beast Boy exclaimed, gesturing with a hand to, well, whatever part of Mercury was in that direction at that time. "That's the stuff that gets into fish, and if you eat that fish, then you get poisoned by it!"
Huh, didn't know this era had that kind of problem. Well, the answer was simple enough, wasn't it? "Then I'll just eat no fish," Kid Flash answered honestly, then took off into a run. He ran around, ducked under, and sometimes leapt over whatever stretchy parts of this robot happened to be in his way, his eyes darting from side to side until, over there!
Like he was lording over the whole rooftop, Mercury had the upper torso-shaped part of his body high up in the air, looking down at the two teens. Since the speedster didn't have super amazing jumping powers, he did the next best thing. Coming to a part of the robot's outstretched body, Kid Flash leapt onto it and began running his way up and around and around, wherever this body led.
Sure, mercury was a liquid at room temperature, but a guy like him with the Speed Force was fast enough that he could run on a liquid surface and not fall in. Or in this case, through. In no time at all, he was right next to the one part of Mercury's body that resembled something vaguely human, and gave a nice little pat to the side of the robot's face.
Mercury didn't give into chitchat, which was a shame because the speedster from the future was hoping for a shocked reaction, like "how did you get up here?" or "how did you do that?" or…couldn't think of a third one right now because he was too busy planting his hand on top of Mercury's head to flip over the robot and dodge the arm that swung at its recently vacated location.
However, there was no part of Mercury's body on the side Kid Flash was flipping to, so he sent his legs into a swing until they could latch onto and around the robot's surprisingly solid torso, because wasn't it supposed to be in liquid form? He rapidly tapped a middle finger into the nearest cheek and as Mercury swung his, or its—or you know what, let's keep calling it a he because that was different enough—head around, Kid Flash went into action.
One hand slapped against one cheek, then the other slapped onto the other cheek. Back and forth and rapidly, this caused Mercury's head to really begin warping, kinda like that gelatin base dessert he had been seeing around this era. Jello! Kinda like that, but without any sexual predator advertising it.
Mercury threw out his arms then tried to wrap them around the speedster, but Kid Flash planted his hands on the robot's shoulders, unwrapped his legs, and was now doing a ten out of ten handstand on mercury-based shoulders. Letting gravity take over the rest, he let his legs lean back and fall, using his hips to curve in and land his feet right into the robot's back.
Maybe there was too much force, or maybe that was the liquid form stuff coming into play, but his feet went right into and through the robot's torso. Kid Flash blinked at the sight, then grimaced. Eww, his legs were covered in mercury now, and look, it was dripping off his feet and everything! Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew!
Unnaturally, Mercury's body twisted around, two mercury-based hands latched onto the speedster's upper arms, and a red face sneered at him. "Gotcha now, you annoying human! Fun fact, you don't need fish to eat mercury!"
Well, that couldn't be good.
Beast Boy had some good timing. From above the shapeshifter dropped and cut in between the two. Thick bear arms wrapped around Kid Flash, and heavy bear weight tore him out of Mercury's grasp. Then fell down a few feet, Beast Boy shifting into a bird while Kid Flash finished the drop, doing a sweet superhero landing while he was at it, then putting a little distance between himself and the stretchy robot while said robot pulled himself back together.
"Okay, that hadn't worked out as I thought it would," Kid Flash said, rubbing the back of his head.
"You think?" Beast Boy agreed, landing on his shoulder and flapping his avian wings. "So any bright ideas?"
Kid Flash shrugged his shoulders, and caused the shapeshifter to spread his wings out to maintain balance. "Beats me, but I think I'll be able to pull something out of my ass."
"That's so very reassuring," Beast Boy grumbled.
"And I rather it not be me. I don't want to see that part of a human any time soon," Mercury agreed. The Metal Man was lowering himself from on high, and that included bringing much of his body back into a more central location instead of spread out anywhere. The robot held its arms out, bent at the elbows, and hands ready to…do something; what exactly, Kid Flash didn't know. "Let's mix things up a bit and try something different. I can always do with finding new ways to kill humans."
The two teens leaned closer to one another without taking their eyes off Mercury. "Is it me, or is that one of the 'kill all human' type of robot?" Beast Boy asked in a hushed voice.
"He hasn't even mentioned anything about kissing his shiny metal ass," Kid Flash agreed and disagreed at the same time. "I think he's a poser."
Mercury was smirking, his right arm beginning to expand and lose the shapely features of a human arm. The left arm was shrinking and shriveling, and that was just gross to look at. Even as he watched, Kid Flash wondered what this was going to add up to. He was just changing what his arms looked like—
From the big, malformed arm, fire ignited, and from the small, shriveled arm a cold mist formed. Suddenly, blasts of fire and ice were heading right for the two teens, both of them letting out yells as it became every man for himself.
Flames tried to bite at his yellow and red bodysuit, but that's all they could do—try. BB had to deal with the ice, which was much more narrow and focused while fire tended to expand and spread out.
Coming to a stop in a spot he felt was safe, the speedster considered how things stood. So Mercury here could do more than stretch out all over the place, he could use fire and ice, and not the two hot ladies that were now part of the Justice League. This made things complicated, the least of which was how did this work? How can a person, or a robot, use both fire and ice when those two powers were like opposites or something?
The stream of fire was heading right for him, but Kid Flash remained where he was, thinking until about the last two seconds before moving already. Take away the fire, and the ice, how were they going to beat Mercury here? There was no point going through all of this without beating the robotic menace. They had to pull a win because of principle.
Say, he just had a thought, or a mercury-filled light bulb. Wasn't mercury the same stuff in those thermometers he had been seeing around? They didn't have those in the future, but ever since he had been in the past, they were in very unexpected places, usually on the sides of doors. The red stuff, that was the mercury part, and it expanded and contracted based on temperature, right? So how about doing something with all this fire? Maybe make a tornado around the robot and let the heat boil him away? Sure, mercury in the air in all, but one problem at a time.
Okay, new game plan!
"Kid Flash! We could use you over here!"
Huh, Wonder Girl? What was she doing calling—
Ice coated the rooftop in front of him, and now there was a sudden absence of friction. One foot slipped forward too far, Kid Flash tried to stop, but his other foot wouldn't cooperate. His back landed on the ice, and good ol' momentum carried him ahead until he nearly slid off the building. Reaching out with one hand, he managed to grab the ledge, his body jerking back and slamming into the side of the building.
And that was his shoulder burning, must have pulled something, if not dislocated…nope, no dislocation 'cause he was still able to bend his elbow and slowly pull himself up. Once his feet were back on the roof, but not on ice, he reached up to his ear and answered the call.
"Little busy over here! I'll try to be there—whoa!" A ball of hot, sizzling flames nearly got him had he not flung himself to the side, nearly fell off the ledge again, but this time made sure he had both feet on the rooftop when he stopped. "Hot, hot, hot! I'll be—hey, you can't do that!" A second ball of fire nearly seared his head and almost ignited his hair. He raced to another location, avoiding ice as he did so, before giving a final reply. "It's gonna be a bit."
Not waiting to hear what Wonder Girl had to say next, he started to take a step, but then everything went cold real quickly. His whole body was covered in ice, and the world distorted somewhat. Huh, what do you know, Mercury did something that Captain Cold hadn't. He was on ice, and covered in it, and held by it, and you know, it was really cold.
Oh, and suddenly he was aware of how little air there was in here. Not good. Okay, think Bart. How were you going to get out of this one? What would Grandpa Barry…never mind. Um, oh hey, what would Wally do?
There was an idea.
The good thing about the Speed Force was that you didn't have to make a lot of large movements in order to tap into it. In fact, the smallest movements could be a lifesaver, such as, oh, don't know, vibrating his whole body at the molecular level. There was nothing immediately, but vibrating that fast, and against something as solid as the ice entombing him, well, that creating friction.
Friction is what kept you from going too fast, slowing down, but it also produced heat. Get enough heat in a small amount of space, that happened to be icy, and sure enough, you were going to start melting it. The teeny tiny amount of space between his body and the ice was flooded, but the speedster kept at it, heating the water up. Water, if heated up enough, became steam.
That made things interesting. It also let get some oxygen into his body, though the hydrogen was a bit much. Alright, it felt like he had built up enough friction, let's try going forward. It was slow going, but his leg started moving, the upper leg rising up, lower leg pushing forward, then going down as his over leg repeated the motion. The rest of his body began to follow, and it seemed to be taking forever. It was tough keeping up this vibration and doing gross motor movements, but this would be his best shot at getting out of this.
Freedom came suddenly, fresh air rushed around his face, oh so cool, and Kid Flash took in a sweet breath of it. Whipping his head while ending his vibration, he cleared away the water from the protective eye gear, and soon enough spotted Beast Boy not having a great time.
Taking a second, he looked behind himself, admired the Kid Flash shaped hole in the block of ice behind him, then took off in a dash that ended with him sweeping BB out of the way and in the nick of time too. The shapeshifter nearly got flash frozen.
Stopping, the green teen crouching on the rooftop still, but now with wide eyes while Kid Flash partially shielded him with his body, he gave a nice little smirk to Mercury who looked surprised to see him.
"But I thought…" the robot trailed off, turning to the ice block and staring at the sight.
"It'll take more than a little ice to lay me down," the speedster boasted. Then to Beast Boy, "Hey BB, think you can get another wind in you? We need to start kicking some serious robot butt right now and I need you in the game."
Blinking, Beast Boy looked at him, wide eyes losing their surprise and becoming serious, a nod of the head included. "Just need a minute."
"Think you can speed it up?" Kid Flash now stood in front of his fellow Titan, ready to continue the fight "Might not have that long."
Without waiting for an answer, he dove right back into the action, fire and ice and all.
The fact that she couldn't sense anything gave away the nature of her opponent. Raven regarded the humanoid machine warily. You could say it was silver, but no, not with that kind of sheen.
For someone who dealt with the mystical side of things, the empath knew how important silver was in warding away all kinds of evil and malicious entities. That meant coming to know a lot about silver, especially its look. It's how you could tell the difference between the metal and sterling.
No, based on Cyborg and Beast Boy, this was a different metal altogether. Platinum if she had to guess. Why there were feminine characteristics, she did not know nor did she care.
There was only one way how this was going to go.
"I will not surrender, and you are here to either kill or capture me. We're at an impasse and there's only one way how this will end. Save your words and either leave, or be prepared to fight," Raven stated, his cloak hiding away her body while her dark eyes peered from under her hood.
"Is there no other way?" the robot asked.
Raven's answer came in the form of three words. "Azerath Metrion Zinthos!"
Black wrapped around the robot, covering every inch and restraining every limb. It was over without a struggle, and Raven regarded the cocoon she had created. There had been initial struggling, but against supernatural forces like this, no amount of inhuman strength would help.
Eyeing her handiwork, Raven turned her attention to the rest of Metropolis. Concentrating, she felt out her teammates, and began detecting the various emotions of panic, determination, and anger. They had all come under attack, and simultaneously. A mistake had been made and they had been found out. The only explanation for the sudden appearance of this robot, this Metal Man, or Woman in this case, was that Luthor had sent them out to ambush them.
Luthor knew they were staking him out.
That implication could wait. For the time being, she needed to find who needed help the most and beginning evening the odds in their favor.
Abruptly she stopped, sensing a disturbance with her power. Looking back to the black cocoon, she could see it start to bulge, beams of light leaking out. Eyes widening, she formed a shield in front of her right before the cocoon was torn apart with white-colored energy. Her shield bore the brunt of it all, but what hit it she did not know or could identify.
There was no mystical nature to it, supernatural or psychic either, so that left physical. Energy, pure and simple. It held force, so it was an explosion of some kind. It held power too, and a lot of it.
As vision cleared, both from the lack of light and her shield being relinquished. Raven found that the rooftop she had been standing on was flattened in every direction. There had been A/C units, a roof entrance/exit, gravel, and now it was all gone and flat. The sole exception was the robot that stood there in the middle.
Warily, Raven asked, "What are you?"
The robot gave a small smile. "I am Platinum. I am an artificial intelligence designed for the purpose of rescuing humans and going into places where no human could survive. I do that which they cannot, and I have been informed that you pose a threat. I do not want to hurt you, but I will not allow you to harm others."
It was difficult to hold in the wince. This Platinum may not have known it, but its words had struck a bit of a cord. Nevertheless, she figured that she had been judged a threat and would be subdued in whatever method Platinum deemed sufficient.
The hooded empath rolled her shoulders, moving her cape to part and held out her hands. Her eyes became solid black, glowing with the same color. There was no need for a chant for this. On adjacent buildings, her power covered exposed A/C units and tore them out. Bringing her hands to her torso, the units responded in kind, though their target was not her but Platinum.
The robot was knocked to a side by the first unit, then in the opposite direction with the second. The robot whipped out an arm, white light flaring and obliterating the third A/C unit in an instant. The robot's other arm repeated the same action in reverse and accomplished the same feat with the fourth hurtling unit.
From above, the first two units came down and slammed onto the automatron. A vertical blast of the light tore through the units, Platinum standing back up onto its feet. Two thin arms crossed in front of a not-silver-colored body, and everything around the machine shimmered with the white light, warning of the impending detonation.
Raven took flight, rising higher and higher into the air. With hands that were surrounded with a black glow, she summoned another shield, but continued to grow it until it became a massive bubble, one that covered the destroyed rooftop.
Almost immediately, she felt a violent force slam into her barrier, and her mental strain increased tenfold as she struggled to hold on. The black bubble shield started rumbling, ripples spreading out until they ran into one another. Her jaw was beginning to ache from the tension in it, her eyes began to squint, her head lowered as the strain within became more intense.
Finally, Raven could not hold on any longer, and her shield gave way, torn apart by the energies it held within. No sooner had that happened, the explosion it had held lost its energy and dissipated.
Fatigue washed over her, and she mentally groaned. She had overexerted herself, and so early too. This was not good. Her altitude slowly decreased, her body falling though completely controlled.
Platinum was still there despite all of that raw power. What was it? How much more could this robot do? More importantly, what could this weakened empath do to stop her foe? Considering her current state, she did not have many options except…
…except going all out, no inhibitions or restraint.
It was like going through a cold shower. Already, she could feel the specter of Dr. Fate watching her, waiting for a slip like this. No, that option was out of the question. Yes, it could defeat Platinum, but would there be anything left to save when victory was achieved?
There had to be another way.
There needed to be another way.
And she needed to find it before Platinum completed its objective.