Chapter 19 (Part 3): An Eye for an Eye…

"Oh, God, that men should put an enemy in their mouths, to steal away their brains."

William Shakespeare

"What do you mean, he's not here?" said Bo Cade. He, his brother Earl, and four other ASP members had been the ones selected for this mission. And everything had seemed to fall into place: the defenses were off and the Tower was empty.

The problem was, their target wasn't there either.

"Well, the door's locked, the windows won't break, and besides, we're not reading anything on that fancy doohickey the Grand Dragon gave us. Looks like the nigger skipped town." Said another ASP member, a large man by the name of Rudy Blake.

"Shall we call the Grand Dragon? Ask for new orders?"

"No…we will just modify our plan…" Bo Cade said. "We have the nigger whore, we'll use her as bait. Bring the coon to us."

"Just as bait?" Earl said. He was also a large man, more in a bulky sense, and with a pair of eyes too close together that had a constant look of dull cruelty.

Earl's smile would have done a shark proud.

"I'm sure the Grand Dragon can think of something to…occupy us." Earl said, as he looked at the teenage girl tied up in the back of the car, her eyes filled with fear.

It gave him a charge.

So, you're probably wondering, if all the ASP men are there and they don't know where Cyborg is, who was shooting at him?

Cyborg was about to find out, as he instinctively dropped the flowers.

"Cyborg!" came a voice. Cyborg looked up.

"…GIZMO?"

Indeed, it was the short tech genius, who was floating down on his jet pack, a small laser pistol by his side. Strangely not aimed at him, but Cyborg didn't much care, as he growled and armed his sonic cannon.

"Wha…WAIT! NO NO! YOU DON'T…!" Gizmo yelled, and then dodged aside as Cyborg fired. "WAIT WAIT! DON'T SHOOT!"

"Yeah, right, like I'm going to listen to YOU." Cyborg growled.

"I don't-ACK!" Gizmo yelled, flying up. "I don't want to fight!" he finished, and he actually, to Cyborg's great surprise, threw his gun down.

Didn't surprise him enough to stop though, as he fired one last time. Gizmo flew up again, and Cyborg switched to his grappling hook to follow him, yanking himself up to the roof.

"Cyborg, really! Peace! Serious! Scout's honor!" Gizmo protested. He had actually landed and was holding his arms up, showing he was unarmed.

"Yeah right. I know you Giz. You're just trying to trick me!"

"Not this time!"

"Prove it."

The look on Gizmo's face was so alien to Cyborg he actually scared him a little. Gizmo's usual naughty, malicious grin had been replaced by a look of deadly seriousness as great as Robin had ever worn.

"I swear that if I am lying, whoever gave me my intellect has every right to take it away right now."

And as corny as it was, something in Gizmo's tone worked. Though Cyborg kept his cannon trained on him.

"If you REALLY don't want to fight, why did you shoot at me?"

"To get your attention! That was a light stun blast! And I fired to miss! I wanted to grab you before…wait, if you're here…maybe…"

"Hurry it up! My girlfriend is probably waiting back at the Tower, steaming and thinking of new ways to emasculate me!"

"…Girlfriend?" Gizmo said.

"Yeah! What is it!"

"Oh god…oh god…" Gizmo said, actually putting his hand on his forehead. By now, even Cyborg was beginning to think Gizmo was sincere. He wasn't a good enough actor to fake something like this.

"What's going on?"

"I think I may have done something terrible." Gizmo said.

Let us flash back about an hour.

The temporary headquarters of the Troika. They have just gotten back from another H.I.V.E mission, one that for once did not involve the Titans. Rather, it was a final test for the next bunch of graduates, in which the previous group provided aid. The same thing had happened when the Troika had done the test. The mission had gone well, and the Troika had been give some leisure time. Mammoth was working out, Jinx (who has by now recovered from her part in the Murdercrow incident) is lying on a couch, reading a newspaper, and Gizmo is walking in, chortling and looking very pleased with himself.

"Hope you're hungry!" he said.

"Not really. Why?" Jinx said, not looking up from her newspaper.

"Because we're going to be eating well tonight!" Gizmo said, flashing his newly acquired wad of cash. Jinx lowered the newspaper in appreciation.

"Nice work. Where'd you get that? Rob a bank?"

"Please, that would be too easy! No, I sold some information. And arranged a headache for the Titans at the same time! Oh, I feel good!" Gizmo said, and began dancing.

"The Titans? Giz, WE need to be the ones to defeat them. I hope you didn't just rob us of our revenge." Jinx said.

"Nah! It was specific info! They wanted me to set it up so that Cyborg was alone in the Tower. I guess they have a specific grudge. I'm sure that even if he doesn't make it, they'll be plenty of…" Gizmo trailed off. Jinx had a certain shocked look in her eye. "What?"

"Cyborg?"

"Yeah, they were very specific on that. And I did a nice hack job if I do say…"

"Giz…these people who you arranged this with…do you know who they were?"

"Uh…no. It was all arranged through the computer. Why do you-ASKKKKK!" Gizmo yelped, as Jinx had suddenly sprang up and off the couch, grabbed Gizmo by the collar, and lifted him up.

"YOU IDIOT! DIDN'T YOU READ THE NEWS TODAY!" she yelled.

"What? No! Why?"

Jinx picked up the paper and shoved in Gizmo's face.

"There's a fucking white supremacy group who's shown up in Jump City!"

"WHAT?" Gizmo said. He took the paper, and being a speed-reader, was able to scan the article detailing the arrival of the ASP and their possible link to the murder of Curtis Green very quickly.

"What do you want to bet you sold the information to them?" Jinx said coldly.

You're probably wondering why Jinx cares. The Murdercrow incident probably had something to do with it, but her reason is pretty much the same one that resulted due to the feeling that was now sweeping over Gizmo.

Now, you must understand, Gizmo did not like Cyborg. He didn't like any of the other Teen Titans either. Heck, it could be said he HATED the Teen Titans, and if they all died, he wouldn't shed a tear. Even if he had a hand in it.

But that was because they were the Titans. Nothing more. Gizmo, himself, would have destroyed Cyborg…but that was because he was Cyborg. No other reason.

But killing him because he was black?

To Gizmo, that was absurd, asinine, idiotic. Hating someone because they were black? Gizmo barely even noticed Cyborg's skin color. The kind of thinking that fueled racism belonged back in the Dark Ages that spawned it.

As mentioned, Gizmo had just gotten back from a mission where he had been with four of the next set of graduates from the H.I.V.E. Two of them had been black. Gizmo had worked with them, watched their back, and they had watched his. And while it couldn't be said that they had gotten along famously, they had worked well enough. They had been a team. Fellows. Humans working together to solve a problem, even if it wasn't the most legal of ones.

For all his flaws, and possible hypocrisy, Gizmo was not a racist. And the idea that his info had been used for a hate group suddenly made him feel ill. Some supervillain, yes, he could live with that. A criminal of some kind? Fine. But as mentioned, that was going for Cyborg because he was Cyborg, a Teen Titan, a superhero.

Going after him because he was black? No. That was disgusting even for Gizmo.

"My god…" Gizmo said, dropping the paper. "What have I done?"

At least, that was the flashback. Gizmo had just settled for telling Cyborg that he had arranged him to be set up for the ASP. And that was as far as he got as Cyborg stormed over and yanked him up.

"YOU DID WHAT?!?!?!?!" Cyborg bellowed.

"I didn't know! I thought it was just a villain! Not a bunch of racists! This is Jump City! I didn't think we had racists!" Gimzo replied, squirming.

"You stupid little…" Cyborg growled.

"Look, hit me if you must, I probably deserve it! But if you're here, then your girlfriend may be in danger! The ASP was going to your Tower!"

And a cold chill ran through Cyborg.

"TISH!" he screamed, letting Gizmo go. He nearly jumped off the roof to his bike, until he realized that would probably hurt more then it helped.

"Cyborg!" Gizmo said, and Cyborg turned to see Gizmo offering him his backpack.

"Use my jets! They'll get you there faster!"

"WHAT? You expect me to put that on? How do I know you're not really in league with those fascists?"

"You want me to ride along with you? The extra weight will just slow you down!" Gizmo said. The cold logic of the point sank in. Cyborg thought it over, then grabbed the backpack and slapped it on.

Almost immediately, the rockets activated, throwing Cyborg into the air. He weaved for a bit until he got the balance and flew off. He was actually heading for the Tower. Gizmo was telling the truth.

Gizmo watched Cyborg fly off. He knew this was really out of character for him, and he knew that the next time that they met, he and Cyborg would be enemies again.

But he genuinely felt repentant. The idea that a group like the ASP was setting up shop outside Jump City…god dammit, those people were sick. Even to Gizmo.

And he'd helped them. He felt dirty. He ground his teeth as his regret turned to anger. Reaching down, he pulled a cell phone out of his boot.

He had to make some calls.

The camp was charged and ready. This time, the men weren't wearing hoods. Dunagan had, in a mass at their church, said they would look their enemy in the eye this time, not hide behind a shield so that they would be protected by the corrupt and persecuting laws of the failed government that claimed to rule them.

The campfire had been lit, and the "box" had been flown back in. This was another great tool that modern technology had brought to their crusade. It was a small hovercraft-esque vehicle that had a great deal of storage space, hence it was called the box. You put something into it and programmed in some coordinates, and it flew there until you called it back. It was where Dunagan and his men had hidden all the evidence of the previous night, the evidence that cops couldn't find. But they had brought it back now. They needed it.

The weapons were out, including all the special weapons that Dunagan had purchased at great expense. He had hoped that their brother, Savior, a true beacon of purity in appearance and deed, would be able to turn some of his fellows to the truth. But it appeared he was alone. So be it. Dunagan had prepared for that as well. Each of the weapons would deal with those demon teenagers. Including the nigger who was surely on his way. That weapon was the closest to hand.

But his scouts hadn't seen anything yet, so until then…

"HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Latrisha wailed from the cross she was tied on. This couldn't be real. This had to be a nightmare. This stuff didn't happen any more.

Wrong. It was too bad Latrisha hadn't seen any news or read a paper that day. She might have known about the ASP and been more cautious. But cruel fate had not allowed that.

It did that at times, and woe be you if you were selected.

The jetpack turned off a few feet from the ground. Cyborg hit the ground running, not even noticing the pack removing itself and flying off, presumingly back to its master.

"TISH! LATRISHA!" Cyborg screamed, running around the Tower.

And he found was her car.

That was bad, but as he started for it, he saw two other things.

Another set of tire tracks.

And Latrisha's purse on the ground.

Slowly, Cyborg walked over to it and picked it up.

"No….no…." Cyborg said.

Then his anger exploded.

"GOD DAMN YOU YOU FUCKING ANIMALS! I'LL KILL THE WHOLE LOT OF YOU!" Cyborg roared, as he ran for the Tower.

Latrisha wept as Dunagan, who had approached her, surrounding by his rabble, all of them nearly foaming at the mouth, ran his knife over her body, cutting away her clothes.

"Please…please…"

"Shut up you fucking nigger whore." One of Dunagan's lackies said. Robin had, when he had first seen Dunagan, reflected on how horribly ordinary he looked. Not any more. His hatred and his rage had come out, burned onto his features, the passion of a zealot and the rage of a fool.

"Please…I never did anything to you…"

"Yes you did." Dunagan said. "You were born."

Then he gestured, and Latrisha saw the man with the whip.

"NOOOOOOOO!"

The whip cracked, and Latrisha's scream rang through the whole forest. But there was no one there who heard it who didn't enjoy it.

The garage door exploded outward as Cyborg drove the T-Car through it, not even bothering opening the door or caring if he damaged the car. It was a car. It could be fixed.

Latrisha…oh god…

Cyborg had sent a distress signal to his comrades, but he didn't have time to wait for them. And what he didn't know was that his signal was being blocked. One last trick of Gizmo, which even the remorseful midget had forgotten. In fact, at the moment the Titans were arguing with another group of people who had shown up, both groups claiming to have tickets to the same seats.

Maybe that was better. Robin might want to use caution, even with them holding Latrisha, try and stay within the boundary of the laws…

Fuck the laws. Fuck all the lawyers and judges if they tried to charge him with anything. Cyborg wasn't going to let these KKK-wanna-be pieces of shit hide behind them. He was going to drive straight to the camp and smash every single face he saw.

God damn the consequences.

The camp was filled with noise: yelling and shouting and chanting and stomping, and above it the terrible cries of a female.

But above that rose a certain sound: a loud bell. So the scouts had spotted someone coming.

"Ok, get ready boys!" Dunagan ordered.

"SIR YES SIR!"

"Our time has arrived! WE WILL SMITE OUR ENEMIES! GIVE ME A HALLEHUIAH!"

"HALLEHUIAH!" all of the men roared.

"Put the finishing touches on our welcoming present." Dunagan said, indicting the severally injured and weeping Latrisha.

The man put down the whip and, walking over to the fire, removed the branding iron, the cross-shaped metal glowing red hot.

The T-Car was twenty feet from the makeshift camp when the sentries opened fire on it.

The bullets bounced off, as the roof opened and a super-sized sonic cannon popped out, blowing the ramparts apart with two quick bursts, sending the scouts falling with a scream.

A battering ram slammed down over the grill, and a second later the T-Car exploded through the front gate, shards of wood flying as ASP members dove for cover.

More of them opened fire on the car, but Cyborg yanked on the wheel and spun the car in a powerful donut, his on-car computers picking out targets and blasting them. As the car spin, the sides opened and released smoke grenades and DD's (Distraction Devices, non-lethal devices that combined 170 decibels of noise with 2.3 million candlepower of light, roughly the equivalent of a space shuttle engine going off in your face). Dark shields slammed over the T-Car's windows as all the devices detonated, throwing Cyborg's attackers into stunned disarray.

The door opened, and Cyborg stepped out. The first ASP member got a punch so strong it nearly separated his jaw from his head. The second got punched in the gut and then thrown headfirst into the side of the T-Car. Twin sonic cannon shots took out two more members, and as Cyborg approached the last one, a man-mountain that was even bigger then him, he laced his hands together and brought them down on the giant's skull. The man crumpled with a whimper.

Cyborg spun around, waiting for his next target.

Only to find…there was none. All his attackers were disabled.

Impossible. He'd taken out ten at most. There were at least several dozen! Where were they?

An eerie quiet descended on the camp, as Cyborg, his sensors going full bore, carefully walked forward, looking everywhere for snipers, ambushes, traps. Nothing.

Then the campfire came into his field of vision. As did the cross. As did the figure crumpled at the bottom of it.

"LATRISHA!" Cyborg cried, running over. He reached her, and pulled her over.

His eyes widened in shock and horror.

Latrisha's lovely looks were gone. Half of her face was scorched and melted away from where the branding iron had been pressed. Her body was covered with bloody scars from where the whips had ravaged her.

And she didn't have a pulse.

Forgetting the ASP, Cyborg laid his girlfriend down and began administrating CPR. He did that for seemingly an eternity, but in reality it was about two minutes.

All for naught. He had been too late.

She was dead.

Cyborg let out a shuddering sobbing noise, as tears began to leak from his one human eye.

"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…so sorry…" he cried.

He heard footsteps behind him.

"I guess her heart gave out."

Cyborg knew the voice. Slowly, he closed Latrisha's eyes, forever frozen in an

expression of pain and horror, and stood up, his back to Dunagan, who didn't seem all too worried. In fact, he looked mighty pleased with himself.

"Pity. It would have been delicious, everyone looking at her like the freak she was. But in the end she showed she was little more then trash, like the rest." Dunagan said.

Strangely, there was no immediate great explosion of anger for Cyborg. Yet. No, he felt remarkably calm, as his hand reconfigured into his sonic cannon.

"You know…" Cyborg said. "It's strange how those who so insist they are righteous and just…often have the most blood on their hands."

Then it came, as Cyborg turned with a scream and charged at Dunagan.

Dunagan just smirked.

As the still unnamed man who had done the whipping emerged from behind Dunagan and aimed a gigantic rifle at Cyborg, whose barrel lit up in a blue glow.

Cyborg didn't even bother dodging, he just continued his charge, hoping to make it there before the weapon fired.

Again, for naught.

The blue blast enveloped him, and Cyborg stopped, falling face first into the dirt as all his systems shorted out.

"Modified EMP cannon. Even deals with the safeguards you probably had. To put you down in the dirt where you belong." Dunagan said.

Cyborg was frozen. All his mechanical parts had gone dead, and his backup safety systems had been shorted out as well. He was completely helpless. He could hear the whoops as all the ASP came out of hiding, hear the thunder of their steps as they gathered around him, and he raged and cursed and thundered and promised God anything, even an eternity in hell, if he could just get up and avenge the death of Latrisha, who hadn't deserved what she suffered at the hands of these animals.

No, they weren't even animals. They were devils.

Cyborg felt his legs being lifted up and then he was being dragged, his face being pulled along the dirt, stones cutting the flesh part, as he was pulled into one of the buildings. It appeared to be some kind of meeting hall. Cyborg was dragged to the front, and ropes were wrapped around his arms, legs, and neck, as he was hoisted up and tied to something, probably another cross. It appeared the whole camp was here, a sea of green and angry, vicious faces, all of them filled with the delight of the bully, the sadist, the breed of man who found joy in harming those weaker then them.

"My brothers, we have won!" Dunagan said. The crowd roared. Cyborg couldn't turn his head, but he could make out that things were happening in his peripheral vision.

"God have delivered unto us our hated foe, and in his glorious name, we will use his gift well! We shall judge him as he deserves! Is the jury ready?"

"YES SIR!" Said a group of voices off to Cyborg's left.

"The charge is defying god's natural order, first by being a nigger, and next, by replacing your human parts with cold mechanical ones! You are doubly a freak!" Dunagan said.

"Do I even get a defense?" Cyborg asked.

"SILENCE! You deserve none! You are a descendant of Satan! Your entire disgusting breed is! You seek to destroy our country and our birthright! But you will not succeed! This city will become a stronghold for us! We will stand tall in the face of Armageddon! We will FIGHT!"

"FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!"

"We will fight those who will deprive us of our natural heritage! We will fight the infidels who tarnish our land! We will fight the demon warriors and freaks that stand in our way! We will bring to earth the New Nation, founded by our toil, our sweat, and our blood, and we will bring death to all others!"

"DEATH DEATH DEATH! KILL KILL KILL!"

Cyborg couldn't believe what he was seeing. This was impossible. It was too fast, too surreal. No one could have so much hate. No one could be so devoid of conscience.

Could he attribute it all to mob mentality? Groups were easier to control then individuals, and Dunagan clearly had this group eating out of his hand.

No…not just that.

They were people. And these people had embraced a terrible flaw in their species and raised it up until it had become a holy crusade to them. They couldn't live without their hate now. It defined their lives, their families, and their legacies. Without it, they crumpled up and became nothing.

They hated him because his skin was black. But their hearts and souls were blacker then his skin ever could be. They yelled to the throbbing beat of their own hearts of darkness.

"Jury, how do you find?" Dunagan said.

"We find the nigger guilty of his sins, and of trespassing, assault, attempted murder, and other crimes against the master race, SIR!" One of the men said.

"What is your sentence?"

"Death, sir!" they replied. The crowd roared.

"It is done! By the will of God and the great Aryan race, I sentence to death by purification! We will give you a sample of the flames that await you in hell." Dunagan said.

Another ASP member stepped into view, igniting a blowtorch. In another corner of his eye, Cyborg could see fuel cans, brought in during Dunagan's rant, piled high, waiting to be used.

"FOR BLOOD!" Dunagan bellowed.

"BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD! DEATH DEATH DEATH! KILL KILL KILL!"

"CAN YOU GIVE ME A HALLELUIAH!"

"HALLELUIAH!"

"My brothers, it is done! This city, and this world, will be OURS!"

And then a tremendous cracking noise ran through the room, louder and more vicious then any normal whip could be, stunning the crowd into silence, as they all turned to see the figure now standing in the door.

"I'd like to test that theory." Savior said.