Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, or anything like that, because
I'm poor. ;_; I DO however, own whatever ideas I write/create. A small
victory for me ^_^
A/N: This chapter, I started BEFORE the last chapter, which is why I spoke about "Transcending the Physical," like it was nothing new. I entered some writers block, but I had a clear vision of what was going on after this chapter, so I began to work on that, hoping that as the pieces fell into place ahead of me (the later chapters), they would do the same WITH me (this chapter). So...yeah...just thought some people might be curious about that. "" = a character's speech ' ' = a character's thoughts
Also, in order to not screw with the story by having uber long A/N to explain anime clichés during the actual story, I'll put all of the ones I'm using in this chapter up here, and I'll do the same for all later chapters.
Eye Blackout: When any and all facial fetures above the nose are blacked out by shadow, usually triggered by extreme anger (the calm kind), or when a character is upset or in deep thought.
Before the Dream. **************************************************************************** ******************
"You know what these are, right?" John said, nodding toward the guns, still holding them in his hands. He said it while glancing at Starfire, thinking she would be least likely to know what they were. She was after all from a different planet, and a little naive at times. Not that that was a bad thing of course. Starfire slowly reached out, and took one of the silver guns from John's hand. She ran her hand along it slowly, as if it held some sort of religious importance. She felt the smoothness of the barrel, and the rough feel of the grip.
"These are devices to cause one to...Transcend the Physical...Correct?" Starfire had said, almost dreamily, looking at John with her green eyes, full of wonder. Yet also a small bit of understanding. She had similar devices, if you could call whatever gave her the ability to make energy form in her hand a device. Devices she had used them quite often. 'Although they're really some kind of organ probably...' John thought absently. 'Transcend the...Physical...' John began thinking about it for several seconds. He never heard someone use the word 'transcend,' but associated it with the word 'ascend'. 'Same ending...has to have some similarity in meaning...Ascend the Physical...Physical...The world...Life? Ascend life...' Then he realized what she meant. He never heard someone put it that way. It sounded almost like a good thing, if you said it the way Starfire did, like something you needed to earn, HAD to earn. Like some sort of great reward. Mystical, perhaps. 'To die...To enter the afterlife. Transcend the Physical.' John thought again. He slowly nodded, a small feeling of enlightenment filling his mind.
"Yes, these do cause people to.. Transcend the Physical," He began liking the way it sounded. 'I will remember to use it at every possible opportunity.' John thought to himself, still musing a little. "But only when I don't have any other choice, and I have never had to use them against a single living thing, nor will I unless in self defense of myself, or those I love. I pride myself on knowing that," He nodded again, eyes closed, as if to signify he meant what he had said. He then gave the other gun in his hand to Robin. "They're not loaded, so feel free to look at them, get a feel for them if you want." Starfire still held the silver gun in her hand, examining it. Satisfied that she understood how it worked, she passed it to Beast Boy, who took a momentary glance at it, and passed it back to Cyborg. All three boys, who were used to seeing such things, gave them back to John, not very interested.
"So why are you packin' heat dude? What's up?" Beast Boy said, lifting his right eyebrow inquisitively.
"Yeah man, most teenagers aren't exactly supposed to be carrying that kinda stuff." Cyborg commented, also curious about the reason John had them. John placed his revolvers in his pockets, barrels down, handles protruding out of the pockets, as if they were a pair of holsters. There was a pause before John responded, not sure how to reply.
"Well...I'm not sure WHY I have them, to be honest," John said, chuckling a little. "You ever have amnesia so complete you don't even know you have it, until someone forces you to remember that you can't remember? It's kinda like that I guess...I've had them for a while, they were my father's. I guess maybe when he died," Starfire looked hurt when John mentioned the death of his father, and quickly showed her sympathy, as did the rest of the teens in John's company. "Really, it's fine, I'm over it. I might have took them, just sort something to remember him by, but like I said, I'm not sure why I really did it, I can never really explain half the things I do sometimes," John chuckled again. Starfire's expression brightened a little, glad that John wasn't hurt by reflecting on something of that magnitude.
"If you're ok with it, could you tell us what happened? To your dad, I mean." Robin asked, biting his lip as he said it, hoping not to dredge up any bad memories for John.
"I am perfectly fine with it. You get used to not living with a father after a while, or any other member of the family. It's not the same as not ever knowing him though. Like being born blind, I guess. The born- blind person only has the most academic knowledge of what sight is like, so he wouldn't miss it. Unlike the person who goes blind later in life, whom will miss sight, but gets used to it. That's how I am, I miss my father, but I'm used to not being with him, and I've gotten over it. But I'm getting off track here. My father died, and so did my mother...when I was about...seven maybe....It all blurs together, so it's hard to tell. I was there when it happened..." John averted his eyes from contact with the others when he said this. "I saw men, or what looked like men, chasing after people. They looked like some sort of...primate or something, the way their arms were way too long compared to there bodies, and they all looked the same," 'Slade's androids...' Robin thought. "Buildings were in flames, people were dead on the ground...." Deep in thought, John's eyes became blocked out by an Eye Shadow, deep in thought as he reflected a part of his past he believed forgotten. John closed his eyes, and placed a hand on one of the revolver's handles, remembering his past.
Robin could relate to John (a/n: I THINK, I'm not sure, but I think the Robin in Teen Titans, is Tim Drake, the Robin who's father was killed by Two-Face [I think that was his name], so bear with me on this). Robin had lived without a father and a mother for a while, but unlike John, he at least had a father figure in his life. (A/n: BATMAN!1) Robin placed a reassuring hand-or, more accurately, what he hoped was a reassuring hand-on John's shoulder. John came out of his deep thoughts with a start, and looked up to Robin with solemn eyes. 'He says he's over it, but he's really not. It hurts him deep down, and must haunt him ever day.' Robin thought as John's eyes bore into his own. Then, Robin's heart skipped a beat. John's eyes-Robin could swear on his very life, that he had seen John's eyes as dark, chocolate-brown eyes. But now...Now John's eyes were a faded, gray- blue. 'Bombardier's eyes...' Robin suddenly thought.
"I...I gotta be alone for a while-get my thoughts straight...." John staggered to his feet, and quickly left the room, unknowingly going in the direction he had gone before while looking for Starfire.
At the exact same time as John began to get up and leave, Raven was in her room, finishing her meditation for the day.
"Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos...Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos..." Raven chanted, cross-legged, floating inches above her bed in her usual meditative pose and state. It had been at least an hour since Starfire had asked for advice on the new comer, John. If the violet-eyed sorceress could get in just a few more chants, she would be satisfied with her meditation for the day. "Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos...Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos..." Her meditation today had already lasted uninterrupted for quite the time, considering all the trouble Beast Boy and Cyborg could get in to, whether it be their shoddy attempts at cleaning, or their arguments about what to watch on the television, or what game to play. "Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos..." The hovering girl slowly lowered herself to the blue sheets of her bed, her meditation complete. She unfolded her legs, placed her fists into the small of her back and bent backwards, enjoying the sensation she felt as her vertebrae clicked into place. 'I can get so stiff from these uninterrupted meditation periods.' Raven thought, bending her neck to the right, then to the left. More cracking noises ensued. 'But it's better than having lessened control over my powers and emotions.' Raven walked over to the steel door of her room, raised a pale, gray hand, and willed it to open. Her hand glowed with a black light, and the door slid open. She left her room, and turned right, heading down the long hallway, and took another right, into the last hallway until she would reach the living room.
John reached the end of the hallway leading from the living room, his head was down, a hand placed on his temple, rubbing furiously at it, in hopes of quelling the memories that threatened to surface. He absentmindedly took a left, shaking his head slightly, eyes shut tight, as more memories played themselves out behind the eyelids. Memories of the deaths of his parents. He wouldn't tell his friends about these memories, not ever. The ones of innocent people dying in front of him, as he hid from the numbers of Slade's androids, looking on in horror. He remembered seeing his mother die, and shortly after his father, both charred and blackened horribly, eyes frozen open, and glazed over. They were the looks of death, the looks given after seeing the end. 'I can't take this...I don't want this. Not now at least, with-' John's thought was interrupted, severely, as his lowered head collided with the chin of a certain cloaked girl, who was rounding the same turn as him. John fell backwards, flat onto his ass, for the third time that day, with a loud "Umph!" when he hit. Raven winced, but kept her balance, rubbing her chin. The sharp pain caused by Raven's chin seemed to have scared away the demons of John's past, and he was thankful for that; John's eyes turned back to their normal color of brown.
"Ah, sorry, my fault," John apologized. He stood up, rubbing his head.
"It's alright. I assume you are John? Starfire told me a little about you, and that you will be staying with us,"
"Yeah, Starfire and the others say it's ok, and are happy to let me stay here, and I'm thankful for that. So, by process of elimination, you're Raven, right..?"
"Yes, but what were you doing wandering around here? You say they're happy to let you stay here, and Starfire seems to like you-" Then Raven paused, and John's eyesight blurred slightly at the mention of Starfire liking him, in a mixture of embarrassment and joy, but he was careful to not blush. Raven was reading the current thoughts in John's mind. "Yes, she does like you. She's confused, as are you, but the feeling is mutual, she does like you." John could feel Raven's presence in his mind, and put up as many mental barriers as he could, in surprise and fear.
"Get out of my head damn it! My thoughts, not yours!" John grabbed the side of his head, shaking his head wearily.
"Calm down, I didn't see anything private...although I could sense things. You're scarred emotionally, aren't you? Something happened, and you can't get over it. It haunts you, doesn't it? And you can't get over the feeling that it's your fault, but that's all I could sense....Do you need to talk about it?"
John arrived at the factory close behind the Titans, but neither John nor the group of teenagers knew of it. The factory was a large place, and the courtyard in front of it was something quite large also. John moved quickly to the main loading door of the factory, which was currently open; a loaded semi truck still in the doorway. He ducked behind the truck and peeked around the side of it into the factory. There were at least two of the long-armed androids roaming around aimlessly within the large factory walls, but were facing away from the door. John took the initiative, and ran as quietly as he could inside of the factory. There were large steel crates, filled with God knows what; a crane for moving these crates; several trailer-less trucks. There were large windows lining the upper portions of the walls near the ceiling, which was partially blocked by hundreds of crisscrossing rafters. John ducked behind one of the crates, and jumped up to grab the top of it. He pulled himself up, to get a better view of the situation. There were another three androids, about several meters left of the ones he saw from outside, they were carrying one of the crates towards the semi. John looked around more, and saw a ventilation shaft: a safe place to move around the factory. He took off the metal cover of it, and crawled inside, careful not to move too much and make a hearable noise. He crawled along the length of the shaft for several minutes, before finding himself above a room. He couldn't see much of the room, but could see one thing of importance, directly below him. The cover of the ventilation shaft was directly above a single android, which was just standing there. John couldn't hear any movement from below, and decided the robot was alone. He careful unscrewed the screws holding the cover in place, lifted the cover up, and placed it on the other side of the newly made hole. John carefully slid his way forward, swinging his legs around in the tight space. He moved into a sitting position, letting his legs droop down the hole in the shaft, several feet above the android, and pulled his revolvers out of his pockets.
John aimed both guns carefully, each one pointing at the left and right shoulders of the android respectively. He jumped down, fired both guns and hit the android in each shoulder. Two clean holes appeared where the shoulder blades would be in a normal human and sparks flew. He landed directly onto the android, thrusting his feet downward like pistons onto its shoulders, causing further damage to the joints in its shoulders. The android was caught by surprise, and couldn't retaliate; not sure where its antagonist was coming from. The combined force of the shots from the revolvers and John's weight slamming down into it caused it to crash to its knees, a loud metallic thud reverberating through the room. John bent backwards, bent his knees, and kicked off of the android, flying backwards and forcing the android to collapse onto the ground. John landed on his left side and fired two shots from his right revolver, hitting the android in the left leg. More sparks, this time accompanied by a small fire which erupted from the damaged armor plating and wiring. The flames licked and charred the leg of the crippled robot, blackening it. John sprung to his feet and ran towards the android, which was now coming to realize the state of danger it was in. It stood shakily, the damaged leg shuddering violently, arms hanging uselessly at its sides. It turned violently, the motion causing its arms to whip around violently. John was hit on his left cheek by the robots last effort at self defense, sending John flying to the right and into the wall. He let out a scream of surprise and pain. The force of the attack spun him around and through the air. John's right shoulder crashed into the wall, and he fell to the ground with a groan. He stumbled to his feet and pushed himself away from the wall and began to run towards the android again, jumping at it, revolvers pointed right at its chest. He fired once, then again. The shots pushed back the android, rocked it on its knees. It collapsed to the floor, its left leg finally breaking under the damage and pressure put on it. John moved to the left of the damaged robot, and pocketed his left revolver.
Now behind it, John grabbed its neck with his left arm, putting it into a kind of headlock. Unable to properly defend itself, the robotic abomination was easy prey. John pulled his revolver toward the head of the android; pointed it at the back of the head and pulled the trigger. The bullet tore its way through wiring, armor plating, gears and computer chips. The android went limp; its one good leg letting out a final twitch. John let it fall to the ground, a triumphant smile on his face.
A thought pushed itself into John's head. 'Oh my God I'm retarded. Why didn't I just shoot it in the fucking head in the first place?' John tapped his forehead with the butt of his gun. "Duh?" John sighed, and shook his head wearily. If he was going to do this, he might as well do it right.
Elsewhere, the Titans were making their way through the factory. They arrived on the opposite side of the factory, and at this rate they would meet up with John in the central room soon.
A/N: This chapter, I started BEFORE the last chapter, which is why I spoke about "Transcending the Physical," like it was nothing new. I entered some writers block, but I had a clear vision of what was going on after this chapter, so I began to work on that, hoping that as the pieces fell into place ahead of me (the later chapters), they would do the same WITH me (this chapter). So...yeah...just thought some people might be curious about that. "" = a character's speech ' ' = a character's thoughts
Also, in order to not screw with the story by having uber long A/N to explain anime clichés during the actual story, I'll put all of the ones I'm using in this chapter up here, and I'll do the same for all later chapters.
Eye Blackout: When any and all facial fetures above the nose are blacked out by shadow, usually triggered by extreme anger (the calm kind), or when a character is upset or in deep thought.
Before the Dream. **************************************************************************** ******************
"You know what these are, right?" John said, nodding toward the guns, still holding them in his hands. He said it while glancing at Starfire, thinking she would be least likely to know what they were. She was after all from a different planet, and a little naive at times. Not that that was a bad thing of course. Starfire slowly reached out, and took one of the silver guns from John's hand. She ran her hand along it slowly, as if it held some sort of religious importance. She felt the smoothness of the barrel, and the rough feel of the grip.
"These are devices to cause one to...Transcend the Physical...Correct?" Starfire had said, almost dreamily, looking at John with her green eyes, full of wonder. Yet also a small bit of understanding. She had similar devices, if you could call whatever gave her the ability to make energy form in her hand a device. Devices she had used them quite often. 'Although they're really some kind of organ probably...' John thought absently. 'Transcend the...Physical...' John began thinking about it for several seconds. He never heard someone use the word 'transcend,' but associated it with the word 'ascend'. 'Same ending...has to have some similarity in meaning...Ascend the Physical...Physical...The world...Life? Ascend life...' Then he realized what she meant. He never heard someone put it that way. It sounded almost like a good thing, if you said it the way Starfire did, like something you needed to earn, HAD to earn. Like some sort of great reward. Mystical, perhaps. 'To die...To enter the afterlife. Transcend the Physical.' John thought again. He slowly nodded, a small feeling of enlightenment filling his mind.
"Yes, these do cause people to.. Transcend the Physical," He began liking the way it sounded. 'I will remember to use it at every possible opportunity.' John thought to himself, still musing a little. "But only when I don't have any other choice, and I have never had to use them against a single living thing, nor will I unless in self defense of myself, or those I love. I pride myself on knowing that," He nodded again, eyes closed, as if to signify he meant what he had said. He then gave the other gun in his hand to Robin. "They're not loaded, so feel free to look at them, get a feel for them if you want." Starfire still held the silver gun in her hand, examining it. Satisfied that she understood how it worked, she passed it to Beast Boy, who took a momentary glance at it, and passed it back to Cyborg. All three boys, who were used to seeing such things, gave them back to John, not very interested.
"So why are you packin' heat dude? What's up?" Beast Boy said, lifting his right eyebrow inquisitively.
"Yeah man, most teenagers aren't exactly supposed to be carrying that kinda stuff." Cyborg commented, also curious about the reason John had them. John placed his revolvers in his pockets, barrels down, handles protruding out of the pockets, as if they were a pair of holsters. There was a pause before John responded, not sure how to reply.
"Well...I'm not sure WHY I have them, to be honest," John said, chuckling a little. "You ever have amnesia so complete you don't even know you have it, until someone forces you to remember that you can't remember? It's kinda like that I guess...I've had them for a while, they were my father's. I guess maybe when he died," Starfire looked hurt when John mentioned the death of his father, and quickly showed her sympathy, as did the rest of the teens in John's company. "Really, it's fine, I'm over it. I might have took them, just sort something to remember him by, but like I said, I'm not sure why I really did it, I can never really explain half the things I do sometimes," John chuckled again. Starfire's expression brightened a little, glad that John wasn't hurt by reflecting on something of that magnitude.
"If you're ok with it, could you tell us what happened? To your dad, I mean." Robin asked, biting his lip as he said it, hoping not to dredge up any bad memories for John.
"I am perfectly fine with it. You get used to not living with a father after a while, or any other member of the family. It's not the same as not ever knowing him though. Like being born blind, I guess. The born- blind person only has the most academic knowledge of what sight is like, so he wouldn't miss it. Unlike the person who goes blind later in life, whom will miss sight, but gets used to it. That's how I am, I miss my father, but I'm used to not being with him, and I've gotten over it. But I'm getting off track here. My father died, and so did my mother...when I was about...seven maybe....It all blurs together, so it's hard to tell. I was there when it happened..." John averted his eyes from contact with the others when he said this. "I saw men, or what looked like men, chasing after people. They looked like some sort of...primate or something, the way their arms were way too long compared to there bodies, and they all looked the same," 'Slade's androids...' Robin thought. "Buildings were in flames, people were dead on the ground...." Deep in thought, John's eyes became blocked out by an Eye Shadow, deep in thought as he reflected a part of his past he believed forgotten. John closed his eyes, and placed a hand on one of the revolver's handles, remembering his past.
Robin could relate to John (a/n: I THINK, I'm not sure, but I think the Robin in Teen Titans, is Tim Drake, the Robin who's father was killed by Two-Face [I think that was his name], so bear with me on this). Robin had lived without a father and a mother for a while, but unlike John, he at least had a father figure in his life. (A/n: BATMAN!1) Robin placed a reassuring hand-or, more accurately, what he hoped was a reassuring hand-on John's shoulder. John came out of his deep thoughts with a start, and looked up to Robin with solemn eyes. 'He says he's over it, but he's really not. It hurts him deep down, and must haunt him ever day.' Robin thought as John's eyes bore into his own. Then, Robin's heart skipped a beat. John's eyes-Robin could swear on his very life, that he had seen John's eyes as dark, chocolate-brown eyes. But now...Now John's eyes were a faded, gray- blue. 'Bombardier's eyes...' Robin suddenly thought.
"I...I gotta be alone for a while-get my thoughts straight...." John staggered to his feet, and quickly left the room, unknowingly going in the direction he had gone before while looking for Starfire.
At the exact same time as John began to get up and leave, Raven was in her room, finishing her meditation for the day.
"Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos...Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos..." Raven chanted, cross-legged, floating inches above her bed in her usual meditative pose and state. It had been at least an hour since Starfire had asked for advice on the new comer, John. If the violet-eyed sorceress could get in just a few more chants, she would be satisfied with her meditation for the day. "Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos...Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos..." Her meditation today had already lasted uninterrupted for quite the time, considering all the trouble Beast Boy and Cyborg could get in to, whether it be their shoddy attempts at cleaning, or their arguments about what to watch on the television, or what game to play. "Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos..." The hovering girl slowly lowered herself to the blue sheets of her bed, her meditation complete. She unfolded her legs, placed her fists into the small of her back and bent backwards, enjoying the sensation she felt as her vertebrae clicked into place. 'I can get so stiff from these uninterrupted meditation periods.' Raven thought, bending her neck to the right, then to the left. More cracking noises ensued. 'But it's better than having lessened control over my powers and emotions.' Raven walked over to the steel door of her room, raised a pale, gray hand, and willed it to open. Her hand glowed with a black light, and the door slid open. She left her room, and turned right, heading down the long hallway, and took another right, into the last hallway until she would reach the living room.
John reached the end of the hallway leading from the living room, his head was down, a hand placed on his temple, rubbing furiously at it, in hopes of quelling the memories that threatened to surface. He absentmindedly took a left, shaking his head slightly, eyes shut tight, as more memories played themselves out behind the eyelids. Memories of the deaths of his parents. He wouldn't tell his friends about these memories, not ever. The ones of innocent people dying in front of him, as he hid from the numbers of Slade's androids, looking on in horror. He remembered seeing his mother die, and shortly after his father, both charred and blackened horribly, eyes frozen open, and glazed over. They were the looks of death, the looks given after seeing the end. 'I can't take this...I don't want this. Not now at least, with-' John's thought was interrupted, severely, as his lowered head collided with the chin of a certain cloaked girl, who was rounding the same turn as him. John fell backwards, flat onto his ass, for the third time that day, with a loud "Umph!" when he hit. Raven winced, but kept her balance, rubbing her chin. The sharp pain caused by Raven's chin seemed to have scared away the demons of John's past, and he was thankful for that; John's eyes turned back to their normal color of brown.
"Ah, sorry, my fault," John apologized. He stood up, rubbing his head.
"It's alright. I assume you are John? Starfire told me a little about you, and that you will be staying with us,"
"Yeah, Starfire and the others say it's ok, and are happy to let me stay here, and I'm thankful for that. So, by process of elimination, you're Raven, right..?"
"Yes, but what were you doing wandering around here? You say they're happy to let you stay here, and Starfire seems to like you-" Then Raven paused, and John's eyesight blurred slightly at the mention of Starfire liking him, in a mixture of embarrassment and joy, but he was careful to not blush. Raven was reading the current thoughts in John's mind. "Yes, she does like you. She's confused, as are you, but the feeling is mutual, she does like you." John could feel Raven's presence in his mind, and put up as many mental barriers as he could, in surprise and fear.
"Get out of my head damn it! My thoughts, not yours!" John grabbed the side of his head, shaking his head wearily.
"Calm down, I didn't see anything private...although I could sense things. You're scarred emotionally, aren't you? Something happened, and you can't get over it. It haunts you, doesn't it? And you can't get over the feeling that it's your fault, but that's all I could sense....Do you need to talk about it?"
John arrived at the factory close behind the Titans, but neither John nor the group of teenagers knew of it. The factory was a large place, and the courtyard in front of it was something quite large also. John moved quickly to the main loading door of the factory, which was currently open; a loaded semi truck still in the doorway. He ducked behind the truck and peeked around the side of it into the factory. There were at least two of the long-armed androids roaming around aimlessly within the large factory walls, but were facing away from the door. John took the initiative, and ran as quietly as he could inside of the factory. There were large steel crates, filled with God knows what; a crane for moving these crates; several trailer-less trucks. There were large windows lining the upper portions of the walls near the ceiling, which was partially blocked by hundreds of crisscrossing rafters. John ducked behind one of the crates, and jumped up to grab the top of it. He pulled himself up, to get a better view of the situation. There were another three androids, about several meters left of the ones he saw from outside, they were carrying one of the crates towards the semi. John looked around more, and saw a ventilation shaft: a safe place to move around the factory. He took off the metal cover of it, and crawled inside, careful not to move too much and make a hearable noise. He crawled along the length of the shaft for several minutes, before finding himself above a room. He couldn't see much of the room, but could see one thing of importance, directly below him. The cover of the ventilation shaft was directly above a single android, which was just standing there. John couldn't hear any movement from below, and decided the robot was alone. He careful unscrewed the screws holding the cover in place, lifted the cover up, and placed it on the other side of the newly made hole. John carefully slid his way forward, swinging his legs around in the tight space. He moved into a sitting position, letting his legs droop down the hole in the shaft, several feet above the android, and pulled his revolvers out of his pockets.
John aimed both guns carefully, each one pointing at the left and right shoulders of the android respectively. He jumped down, fired both guns and hit the android in each shoulder. Two clean holes appeared where the shoulder blades would be in a normal human and sparks flew. He landed directly onto the android, thrusting his feet downward like pistons onto its shoulders, causing further damage to the joints in its shoulders. The android was caught by surprise, and couldn't retaliate; not sure where its antagonist was coming from. The combined force of the shots from the revolvers and John's weight slamming down into it caused it to crash to its knees, a loud metallic thud reverberating through the room. John bent backwards, bent his knees, and kicked off of the android, flying backwards and forcing the android to collapse onto the ground. John landed on his left side and fired two shots from his right revolver, hitting the android in the left leg. More sparks, this time accompanied by a small fire which erupted from the damaged armor plating and wiring. The flames licked and charred the leg of the crippled robot, blackening it. John sprung to his feet and ran towards the android, which was now coming to realize the state of danger it was in. It stood shakily, the damaged leg shuddering violently, arms hanging uselessly at its sides. It turned violently, the motion causing its arms to whip around violently. John was hit on his left cheek by the robots last effort at self defense, sending John flying to the right and into the wall. He let out a scream of surprise and pain. The force of the attack spun him around and through the air. John's right shoulder crashed into the wall, and he fell to the ground with a groan. He stumbled to his feet and pushed himself away from the wall and began to run towards the android again, jumping at it, revolvers pointed right at its chest. He fired once, then again. The shots pushed back the android, rocked it on its knees. It collapsed to the floor, its left leg finally breaking under the damage and pressure put on it. John moved to the left of the damaged robot, and pocketed his left revolver.
Now behind it, John grabbed its neck with his left arm, putting it into a kind of headlock. Unable to properly defend itself, the robotic abomination was easy prey. John pulled his revolver toward the head of the android; pointed it at the back of the head and pulled the trigger. The bullet tore its way through wiring, armor plating, gears and computer chips. The android went limp; its one good leg letting out a final twitch. John let it fall to the ground, a triumphant smile on his face.
A thought pushed itself into John's head. 'Oh my God I'm retarded. Why didn't I just shoot it in the fucking head in the first place?' John tapped his forehead with the butt of his gun. "Duh?" John sighed, and shook his head wearily. If he was going to do this, he might as well do it right.
Elsewhere, the Titans were making their way through the factory. They arrived on the opposite side of the factory, and at this rate they would meet up with John in the central room soon.