The first thing Beast Boy noticed as the T-Car rocketed into the city centre was just how many robots there were out there. There must have been at least a hundred of the things smashing everything in sight to pieces.
"Just how are we supposed to fight against THAT?!" Beast Boy cried out, pointing at the mass of metal before them with a severely panicked expression.
"The only way we know how," Robin's voice replied through the intercom. He was approaching from the other side on the R-Cycle, with Raven and Starfire in the back of the car.
"Ready?" Cyborg asked.
All three passengers nodded, Beast Boy wondering just what would be best to fight a horde of crazy robots. He was still thinking about this when Cyborg yanked the handbrake lever, and swung the car sideways to a halt. Despite severe nausea, the Titans quickly climbed out of the car, while Robin pulled up alongside them.
"Looks like Slade's been busy over the last few months," Robin remarked, putting his helmet on the R-Cycle.
"What's say we give him some more work to do?" Cyborg replied, his arm turning into the blaster once again.
Robin grinned. "Why not? Titans, go!"
The first, and last that the robot saw of the Teen Titans was when a large green lion leapt towards it, claws extended, roaring in anger. Its head then became detached, and the lion made light work of ripping the robot's body in half.
Elsewhere, Cyborg had blasted two of the robots into the ground and was aiming for his third, while Raven and Starfire unleashed a barrage of energy at a group robbing a jewellery store. Cogs and diamonds fell from the sky soon afterwards.
Robin, meanwhile, was fighting his way through a group of robots that had suddenly moved towards him. He was coping with the situation, but as he kicked one the robots into a trashcan, he couldn't help thinking that these were tougher than Slade's usual creations. The maniac had obviously been working hard on his engineering skills. The other Titans soon discovered this in a very different way:
"What the hell?!" Cyborg cried out as a blaster bolt rebounded off one of the robots and back at him. "When did Slade get energy shields?"
Beast Boy landed in a heap next to him. "The same time he got THAT," he replied, pointing at the large gun one of the robots was holding. Cyborg fired at the robot, but yet again the blast was deflected harmlessly.
"Move!" Beast Boy cried as the robot fired back. The red bolt of energy flew towards them...and was stopped by a wall of black energy. The two heroes turned, and saw Raven hovering above them, her hands pointed at the shield. Starfire flew past her, eyes glowing green with anger.
"You will not hurt my friends!" she shouted at the droid, firing her eye-lasers at the robot...before screaming and ducking as her own blast flew back at her.
"Raven, your assistance please!" Starfire remarked with some calm, before the robot tried to fire at her. Raven dropped the shield in front of Beast Boy and Cyborg, and flew level with the head of the robot.
"Azarath, Metrion, ZINTHOS!" Raven shouted out, in her usual chant. A street lamp glowed black, flew out of the ground, and smashed the robot downwards into the ground.
"Thank you!" the smiling Starfire shouted, flying off towards another robot.
"No problem," Raven replied.
Back on the ground, Robin hit the wall hard after one of the robots had blocked his kick and thrown him by his foot. Surveying the other Titans, and the new group of robots marching towards them, Robin could see that they were fighting a losing battle.
"Titans, regroup!" Robin ordered, slicing the last droid's head off with a Birdarang. The Titans split off, each pursued by a substantial number of droids. As Robin prepared to fight, he only hoped the others could cope.
As soon as the droids cornered her in an alleyway, Raven knew she was in trouble.
While the others had managed to gather together, and were managing to defeat the robots, Raven had been knocked back by one of the droids, and a number of them had broken off to face her. She was still able to block their blows with her powers, but there was a limit to how far back she could go.
One of the droids swung a blaster at her, but as she deflected the gun another one punched her backwards. She stumbled into a pile of garbage bags, and looked up at the droids crowding around her. Two droids pinned her arms down, and the lead droid pointed a gun at her head. She closed her eyes, and waited for the shot, hoping it would be quick.
The next thing she heard was the sound of metal slicing into metal, followed by an explosion. Raven opened her eyes, and saw that the lead droid now no longer had a head. The droids turned, and saw a young man standing on a balcony above. He was pointing a smoking weapon at the spot where the robot's head bad just been. Realising that the robots were now distracted, Raven slammed the two robots holding her down into each other, and stood up. The unknown man leapt off the balcony, and landed on one of the robots, before standing up and smashing two nearby droids with a staff. Raven picked up two garbage bags with her powers, and flung them at high speed into the cluster of droids. The robots fell to the ground, and the young man planted a bomb on them. He shouted for Raven to move, then dived behind the remaining garbage bags. The explosion incinerated the droids, and the young man quickly stood up.
"Saved by garbage," he commented wryly, before helping Raven up. "Are you okay?"
"Err...I'm fine, thank you," Raven replied quickly, still slightly dazed from the explosion. The other members of the Titans gathered at the entrance of the alley, looking a bit bruised but intact. Starfire, as usual, rushed down the alley to greet her friend with her bone-crushing hug, while the others stared at the young man standing nearby.
"Don't mind me, I was just leaving," he announced, noticing their stares. He took out something which resembled a grappling hook.
"Wait," Robin replied, stepping forward. He surveyed the broken droids. "I think we owe you our thanks. You helped one of our members."
"Just doing a job," the young man replied, firing the grappling hook.
"We would like to know the identity of Raven's helper," Starfire commented, ignoring Raven's glowering look. "What is your name?"
"My name isn't important. She's safe, you're happy, I'm...disgruntled, but my soul's a little cleaner." He fired the grappling hook, but before he could take off, Robin grabbed his arm and pulled him back down, a bemused look on his face.
"I'm going to give you one more chance to cooperate before we consider you an enemy. What's – your – NAME?"
The young man sighed, retracted the grapple, and removed Robin's hand from his arm.
"Fine, you want to know so much, I'll tell you," he replied. "My name's Ben Richardson, or Fury as I'm nicknamed. My parents were killed when I was young, and I was abandoned. I grew up on the streets, until I was caught and sent to an orphanage. When I graduated, I got a job as a mechanic. There. Happy now?"
"Err...why are you nicknamed "Fury"?" Beast Boy asked.
"Because I have a bad temper," Fury replied. "Is this going to turn into 20 Questions, or can I go now?"
"If you're so desperate to leave, fine," Robin replied curtly.
Fury fired the grappling hook, and flew up out of sight.
"Man, that guy had a real BAD attitude," Cyborg commented. "What was that all about? We're the good guys, aren't we?"
"We are," Raven commented. "But is he?"