Disclaimer: All characters and locations, unless featured in the Teen Titans show or otherwise, are property of Mr. Bigg
LOCATION: The Sword of Damocles (Earth's upper atmosphere)
Adila was not one to panic. She stood stock still, listening intently to the cracking static that issued from her comm. The radio silence seemed to fan the fires of her doubt: Conary had been compromised. She quickly shut off the receiver, hoping that the guards wouldn't think there were multiple intruders.
She felt a small tingling in the back of her head, and she knew Hotei was instinctively trying to understand the situation. "He needs help, Hotei. I'll go on ahead, and you make sure he doesn't leave with them!" She grunted. Hotei nodded and silently sprinted back down the hall. Adila wedged open the elevator door and began the arduous climb upward.
"Check the vent. Make sure he didn't leave anything in there," The head guard snorted as he nudged Conary's limp form. He walked over the sliver puddle of nano-machines that seeped out of the vent, brushing the pool with his fingertips. The nano-machines quivered, crawling up his arm and disappearing into his suit.
"Patrol #2, report," spat the head guard's walkie-talkie.
"Tell the security chief to ready the guest room," The guard replied, "Because Doc's grandma decided to pay a visit." The other soldiers snickered, making their way through Conary's pack. "Cut that out! Anything he's got is contraband, so keep your damn fingers to yourselves! Now, get him out of here!" The head guard yelled.
The bickering ceased as the door flew open. Hotei stood in the opening, gripping his weapon menacingly. "He goes nowhere! Drop him!" He pointed the tip of the paper-wrapped blade at the guards.
The soldiers trained their guns on him. "Whadaya gonna do, kid? Give me a paper cut?" the head guard asked, leveling his fist with Hotei's face. Silver fluid seeped from his uniform, turning into a whip-like scourge. He raised his arm and brought it down, the flails cracking as they broke the sound barrier.
Hotei leapt, rising over a wall of bullets and metal. He landed squarely on one soldier, and then tripped another one, using his fist to hasten the fall. 'It's odd,' Hotei thought, 'but this... this feels somehow familiar...' Indeed, though this was his first taste of true combat, he fought with experience beyond his years. Nimbly dodging a spray of gunfire, he instinctively hurled the soldier into a wall.
"Get up, shoot him! For Christ's sake, he's a god-damned kid!" the head guard roared, lashing out with his scourge. Hotei raised his naginata, allowing the silver whip to wrap around it. He pulled hard, intending to disarm the man, but found his weapon moved through the lashes like jelly. He fell, hard, as the head guard moved in. "Nifty weapon, eh? It's the one thing that makes Doc useful. Light as a feather, hard as titanium, but also as soft as water," The guard laughed. As he did, the flails all merged, turning into a wicked blade, aimed at Hotei's throat. "Say goodnight, kid."
As he lunged, the blade seemed to disintegrate, falling to the ground like metal sand. The guard's features were racked with tension as his body twitched in an unnatural spasm. An acrid burning smell filled the room as the guard collapsed to the floor. Conary stood over him, holding a small taser in his outstretched hand. Blood ran down the left side of his face from an unseen cut under his dark hair.
"Goddamned bloody sucker-punching shit eaters!" Conary growled, delivering a kick into the guard's gut with each syllable. He looked around the room, then at Hotei. "Thanks for the help, man, but I could've handled it. Where's Adila?" he asked.
"She went on ahead. She told me to come back here. Is there a problem?" Hotei replied.
"Well, not if you consider that the crew knows we're here! We'll have to catch up with Adila. We can't stay here, at any rate," Conary said, nudging the soldiers aside.
The room filled with cold as Batholry emerged in a pale radiance. "The vessel's buzzing! These... these dark soldiers know we are here! They're heading this way!" she said. Her face changed from shock to concern as she noticed Conary's wound. "Conary! Are you ok?" she asked, placing a translucent hand on her teammate's head. Conary sighed as the cold numbed some of the pain.
"We must keep moving. Adila is at greater risk without support," Hotei said. Conary picked up his laptop and ran into the hall, as Batholry and he followed their friend into the lion's den.
She slinked into the room, barely existing as she stuck to the shadows and corners. With Conary MIA and the others gone, darkness was her only friend. And yet, it seemed natural that she was here. All her life she had trained to be the ultimate infiltrator, a completely self-reliant cell. Now that she stood alone, she realized this was the defining moment of her life.
Adila pressed flat against the wall, sneaking towards the door. She drew a small wire from her pocket, slipping it under the door. Camera showed the coast was clear. She took a breath and punched the large green button on the door panel. As it slid open, a fist lunged for her face.
Adila's knees instinctively gave way, forcing herself to the ground. The attacker leapt into the room, throwing herself on Adila. Adila caught the assailant, barely avoiding a blow to the abdomen. With all her might, Adila threw the attacker into the wall.
Both stood and faced each other. The attacker's porcelain face was alive with surprise and anger, violently pushing ebony braids out of her face. "You... where is he!? Where is he hiding!? I know he is here, I can sense his presence..." Kiyo cried.
Adila reached both arms behind her, unstrapping a pair of heavy, foot long rods from her back. As she did, wrist mounted cables locked themselves to the cylinders. "I don't know who you're looking for," Adila said, "But if you're looking for a fight, you found one!"
With that, she threw the weighted bars at Kiyo. The Asian girl dodged it easily, leaping onto the wall and rebounding off, aiming a kick at Adila. Adila swung the bars on their cables, catching Kiyo's arm. Using her momentum, Adila slammed her opponent into the ground. Adila smiled grimly, yanking her weapons back to her. Her ears tensed suddenly; a soft, whizzing sound filled the air.
Kiyo leapt from the pit, brandishing a sliver pole. Gripping the end, she charged Adila with sheer brute force. Adila stumbled as she retreated, cringing as the pole came down.
Shots rang out. Through the door a cadre of black-suited security officers stomped, led by a crimson giant. "Enough," Genocide said gruffly, leveling a massive pistol with Kiyo's face.
"Idiot! You order me nothing!" Kiyo said, taking a step toward the towering man.
"Stow it. Security's gonna need to interrogate her. Now put the weapon down," Genocide replied angrily.
Kiyo stepped back, then turned, preparing to strike the mercenary. As all attention on the room was focused on them, no one noticed a trio of green metallic spheres rolling into the room...
Lightning and thunder erupted as the flash-bangs went off, with Kyio and Genocide in their epicenter. Rushing wind followed the roar, as pressure leaked through a large breach in the hull. "FALL BACK! FALL BACK!" Genocide roared, shoving the troops through the door. Once he reached the other side of the door, he sealed it.
Amidst the chaos, Adila frantically clawed for a handgrip. She was being pulled by a huge force, threatening to send her falling several miles into the ice and snow below her. She soon found herself halfway out the ship as a hand clasped her wrist.
She saw Conary clinging to a wall, trapped in a tug of war between herself and the handhold. She also saw Kiyo step towards him. "Conary! Look out!" Adila yelled above the din.
Batholry closed in on Kiyo, her face filled with protective rage. Kiyo held the silver pole up, which morphed into an apple-sized ball in her hand. Bolts of electricity issued from it, stopping Batholry in her place.
"You'll... have to... do better... than that..." Batholry grunted, her face creased in pain. Still, she urged herself forward, reaching her frost hands for Kiyo's face. Kiyo remained impassive as the voltage increased. Batholry let out a horrible shriek, as her body flashed solid white, and slumped into unconsciousness. Her pearly body floated was pulled by the wind into the clear blue skies.
"BATHOLRY!" Conary cried, as Adila lunged for the ghost. For moments, her hand grasped the white body of her teammate, but the spirit girl's hand slipped through her fingers.
Hotei watched this all with wide brown eyes. Suddenly, his body shook in fury as he ran at the Asian girl. He would make this one suffer for harming his friend. The girl heard his roar of anguish and turned to face this new opponent.
Upon seeing his face, Kiyo's features went wide. Hotei's charge ended abruptly, as he gazed on her face. A small smile played on her lips, as a single tear rolled down her face. Her extended hand fell to her side, dropping her weapon.
They stood, facing each other for what seemed like an eternity, oblivious to their surroundings. Finally, Kiyo took a step forward. Hotei raised his weapon, maintaining his distance from the girl, the strange girl who seemed so... familiar.
As she stepped towards him, he found himself standing at the edge of the gaping rift. Besides him, he could see Adila and Conary holding onto the ship for dear life. Their grip was slipping.
Kiyo's smile had faded by now, and her hair waved wildly in the winds. As she took another step towards Hotei, one of the weights in her hair came loose, smacking Hotei in the chest.
He fell with a mix of uncertainty and confusion running across his face. As he began to slip into the blue, Conary's hand came free from the hull, sending both Adila and he plummeting to the ice below.
The ground rushed to greet them. Hotei saw everything fly past him with inhuman detachment.
'Is this is?' a voice asked in his mind. 'Have you come this far, just to fall?'
"No," Hotei answered. "The girl... she holds some significance for me. When I saw her, I knew something was beginning..."
'And will you let it end? Will you let it fall?' the voice asked.
"I can't... there are so many things left unfinished," Hotei muttered, almost lyrically.
'You are too late. You have already begun your fall!' the voice replied, becoming ominous.
"No..." Hotei said. "It can't end this way..."
'You are near, now! So close to your end, and you are powerless to stop it!' the voice laughed.
"I'm not... I'm not powerless!" Hotei cried. Strength ran though him as he roared, "I WON'T LET IT END THIS WAY!"
Blue light ripped from his chest, surrounding the bodies of the monk and his comrades. Moments before impact, they slowed to a crawl, as the orbs of azure light deposited them on the snow.
Immense fatigue filled Hotei. As he began to slumber, thoughts ran through his mind. He saw himself, yet each time his appearance and name had changed. He had lived a thousand lives, each one different from the last.
Not like her. She had lived a thousand lifetimes, maintaining her form and spirit, patiently waiting. Waiting for him. The startling realization struck him: the girl on the ship. Though he himself had lived under many names, she had only one.
Her name was Kiyo, and she was the key to his destiny.