Its ingenius, thought Morris to himself. Yet how simple. Some kind of pulse
wave that knocks out electronics. It shuts down communication. It shuts
down transportation. It makes it so that no one can move, communicate,
nothing. It practically incapacitates us.
He looked around him in despair. The scene was quite humiliating, at least for a member of the police force. Boats weren't running. People were yelling into cell phones and walkie talkies, and then swearing at the fact that their previously functional devices no longer worked. Searchlights weren't shining anymore, making the entire area a lot darker.
"They're probably behind this too," said Richard.
"Probably."
"Why though?"
Morris chuckled. "Well isn't it obvious. They want their Tower back. They drew the majority of our forces out to investigate these explosions, and then knocked out most of our equipment, so our people back at the Tower couldn't get reinforcements.
Richard gulped. Morris was right, the forces that were back inside the Titans Tower were no doubt suffering from the electronic shortage that all the other forces within a mile+ radius were. The teams inside the Tower were mostly special operations forces and scientists. The scientists wouldn't be able to put up much of a fight against the Titans, and the SpecOps' equipment was almost completely electronic. Their firearms, their other weapons, their communications, their body armor . . .they too, would be helpless.
It was not a pretty thought
It was not that difficult for the Titans to reach the island, especially with all of the Coast Guard's radar and such incapacitated. Of course, this didn't mean that they would be able to get to the Tower without a fight.
It was just a short fight, that was all. There were of course guards set up around the perimeters, but without their guns (which had electronic mechanisms) they were just as well off shooting spitballs at the Titans. Raven grabbed four of them simultaneously in a telekinetic hold and literally tossed them into the water. That left seventeen more guards to deal with.
Cyborg cut that number down to twelve with a sweeping concussive burst from his sonic cannon. A few well placed starbolts shortened that down to only six, which were easily taken care of by a green elephant falling from the sky on top of them. Seriously.
Even without electronics, Cyborg knew that the troopers inside the Tower had to know that the Titans were on the island. While he knew they were practically defenseless, he still had a plan that would enable the Titans to take complete control of the Tower.
Before this recent turn of events, the Titans would never have imagined that they would be fighting against the law. Regardless, certain contingencies had been made to prevent another takeover the likes of which they had suffered at the hands of the HIVE. Cyborg had an encoded remote access link to the Tower's air filter system. He could, if the situation required it, cycle a harmless, yet powerful sedative that would have any and all occupants snoring like babies in a matter of seconds. Of course, He could also remotely dissipate the gas once it had had time to take effect. It was perfect for this situation.
So Cyborg did just that, furiously tapping keys on the keypad built into his arm.
"You get it yet?" asked Beast Boy nervously.
Cyborg responded a few seconds later once he was through initiating the proper sequence. "Yep. We should only have to wait a few seconds."
To everyone else's great annoyance, Beast Boy began orally counting them off. "One, two, three, four, five, six ,seven, eight, nine-"
"Shut up already," Raven growled. "Its probably done its job by now anyway."
Cyborg cocked his sonic cannon. "One way to find out for sure," he said.
The Tower was eerily quiet in the absence of a running television or the hum of the overhead lights. All four conscious team members looked around for visual confirmation that the knockout gas had worked.
Like a charm. There were unconscious forms in black suits or blue lab coats sprawled all over the place. At first, Starfire suffered a quick intake, for the scene looked as though the sprawled bodies were dead. When she calmed down however, she was able to see that they were quite alive, breathing in fact. She looked down at the boy in her arms, and her throat almost involuntarily constricted. She fought back a tear. "We'd better hurry and get Robin to the medical ward," she managed, trying not to sound choked up.
Cyborg nodded. "Beast Boy, Raven, find all of the scientists and SpecOps people that are lying all over the place, and get 'em outta here. Make sure they aren't hurt. In fact, why don't you send them out to see on a lifeboat or something. Anything to safely get them out of the way."
Beast Boy nodded. "Gotcha Tin Man," he said with a smart salute. In an istant, he had turned into a Gorilla and easily slung five of the unconscious bodies over his shoulder.
Confident that it was being taken care of, Cyborg started up the stairs with Starfire trailing close behind. Five minutes was the length of time it took to get into the medical ward, and by then, Cyborg was worried that too much time had elapsed for them to be able to find Robin. Carefully, he took his teammate's limp form and put it on the medical table, once again summoning the medical tools built into his arm. He remembered Starfire was there right before he was about to start operating. "Look," he addressed her, "I don't know if you wanna be here to see me. . .uh . . ."
Starfire cur him off with a raised hand. "It is OK. I will wait outside. She took one lat, longing look at Robin, and then walked out of the sterile room letting the steel sliding doors shut behind her.
Cyborg took a deep breath, and set to work.
"That's the last of 'em I think," Beast Boy said, changing back into his regular form and wiping his hands together. "Yep, that about does it.
Raven surveyed the pile of unconscious bodies haphazardly arrayed in one of the Titans' spare lightweight watercraft. She nodded her head in silent agreement and then gave the boat a little telekinetic nudge towards the spot about two and a half miles out that most of the Coast guard and police were temporarily stuck in.
"Bon voyage," Beast Boy called after it. "Hate to see you guys leave soon, we didn't even get to show you the entire place.
Raven sniffed contemptuously and turned to walk away, only to be stopped by Beast Boy's voice.
"What, what is it?" he asked. When he got no answer, he ran to catch up with the departing Raven. "What?" he asked again.
Raven finally stopped and looked at him. "Can't you ever be serious?" she asked. "I mean, just once, could you not act like a two year old? Do you see those police boats out there? Have you been paying any attention whatsoever to the situation we're in? It is NOT the time to make stupid jokes and silly comments, and I every time I hear you do it, with all the crap we're in right now, it just ticks me off so much."
Beast Boy was speechless for a few seconds. Finally he said. "You know, I don't get you Raven. You always walk around all dark and gloomy, and you think that's the only way to be. Do you really think its going to help if I act like you, Ms. Pessimistic, and mope around about the fact that we've got the whole city after us for stuff we didn't do?! For you information, I'm just as worried as you and Cyborg and Starfire, but wallowing around in negativity and self-pity won't make things better!" Beast Boy paused, realizing his voice had gotten loud. "I'm just-I'm just trying ease the tension, that's all."
Raven eyed him dead on. "Don't," she said, "because you only make things worse."
With that, she walked away.
Starfire looked up hopefully when the door to the Med. Ward opened. "Well?" she asked, "is-is Robin going to make it?"
Cyborg grinned. "I think I'll the guy tell you that himself." He stepped back to reveal Robin standing behind him.
"Hey, Star," Robin managed. He was appalled at the way the words sounded when coming out, as if he'd said them while chewing on a cookie. He knew that the catalyst had taken some of energy, but he'd thought his mouth would at least work.
He did not have the luxury of contemplating these thoughts however, for he was nearly bowled over by Starfire, who wrapped him in a squeeze so tight he could barely breathe. He had just gotten the message to his brain to reciprocate the embrace (after all, it wasn't everyday that he got the privilege of hugging Star, which was starting to feel very enjoyable) when she finally let go, pulling back so that her hands were resting on his shoulders. She searched his face. "Robin," she said softly. "Oh robin, you- you're alive."
"That I am," Robin agreed. He paused. "Think you could fill me in on some things. Like why Cyborg here keeps saying I was shot?" He winced just then in response to some of the internal pain associated with such trauma to the body.
Worriedly, Starfire propelled him out of the room and to the next, where there was a simple couch available.
"Star?" Robin repeated.
"Yes, um, you were fired upon when we were escaping from the PTV."
"Oh." Robin wracked his brain for the memory of that moment. For a brief second, nothing came up, but then he remembered the laser targeting dot, and then a brief flash of pain as the Teflon coated round tore through his body armor. He gulped, gaining a new appreciation for cyborg's advanced medical expertise. "So how did we get back into the Tower?" he finally asked.
Starfire grinned. "It was actually rather simple," she began. And so for the next half hour, she told him all of the details of all of the events that had transpired since Robin's near-fatal injury. It was nice, Robin thought, just to be able to spend a little time with Star, despite the deep trouble that the Titans were in. Perhaps things would be resolved quickly, perhaps not.
Only time would tell.
***
"Any ideas? Anyone?" asked the Madam Director. Her piercing eyes scanned the group of stranded law enforcement officers.
Morris tried to think up a solution. The Titans no doubt had their Tower back now, and given the means by which they were willing to reclaim it, he doubted they would give it up so easily again. He knew very little about EMP's but he doubted their effects would be lifting anytime soon, leaving hundreds of the city's best lawmen, detectives, scientists, and SpecOps forces helpless in the water with nary an electrical device.
Richard was the first to spot it, and when he did, Morris naturally took notice too. There was a boat of some sort approaching. It had no apparent driver, but seemed to be stuffed to the drim with so much luggage that it was just barely staying afloat.
Morris would have liked to be able to say he was the first to realize it, but that role fell upon the Madam Director, who stared impassively at the slowly drifting boat.
"What is it?" Rishard asked.
"The correct question would be, 'Who is it?'," The Madam Direstor stated. She waited until the boat finally reached them to make her point.
Inside the boat, piled up on top of each other and clearly unconscious lay the sentries, the scientists, everybody that had been stationed at the tower.
"Are they dead asked Richard?"
"No, just unconscious," confirmed the Madam Director.
Morris took off his glasses and cleaned the already spotless lenses, wondering how much farther this would go before the Titans were stopped.
It wasn't often that Garvy Winter, the official head of the counter- terrorist network HACTA received a call in his office. So when he did receive one, and at a time when no one in this time zone should have been awake. He picked up the phone and pressed it to his ear, foregoing the customary 'who is it?' and opting to insteadl let the unknown party on the other end identify themselves.
"Mr. Winter," the voice chirped. It was more a statement than a question.
"Yes, who is this?"
Madam Director of District 75-23 SpecOps."
"Ah yes." Winter knew quite well that District 75-23 was the veritable hot zone of the time, what with those superpowered kids running amuck. "I was going to contact you tomorrow. Tell me, what exactly is going on? I hsve received several reports that our forces down near the island have been incommunicado for some time now."
"I wish I could answer that," said the woman on the other end. "It appears to be some kind of anti-electronic device."
"Then how are you able to contact me?"
"I'm on shore?"
"Why is that? Shouldn't you be with the other local law officers?"
The woman sighed. "yes, but I received a report that was later revealed to be false. I had come ashore to check it out, and now I'm stranded here on shore. They're mad sir."
"The titans?"
"Yes sir. About a minute ago, I saw Starfire emerge from the Tower and attack our defenseless ground forces. She sunk a good dozen ships, causing God knows how many casualties. Sir, we need shock troops, we need trained, die-hard counter-terrorist units, SEAlS, anything that will end this madness." Winter was shocked. The lack of urgency in the Madam Director's voice had certainly belied the situation. That many dead? It was hard to believe.
He knew what she was asking for, and as reluctant as he was to give the command, he didn't see any other options. The KomBATS as they were called would have to be deployed. It was a new government project, combining state- of the-art tech with specially breeded warriors to create a deadly new addition to the ranks of uncle Sam. The suits themselves gave the wearer twenty times normal strength and speed, flight, craploads of armaments both heavy and small arms, plus tons of other stuff that Winter couldn't even remember. They had been designed to defeat the likes of Superman should he ever go crazy, and it seemed like a waste to try them out on a couple of puffed up teens with mangy little superpowers. Simply put, it was overkill.
With a sigh and a hope that this whole thing would just go away, Winter gave the command.
The KomBATS were a' comin'.
The 'Madam Director' smiled as she watched the events unfold from her cozy little spot a thousand feet up in the sky. Sometimes, Raven's levitatintg abilities could really come in handy, she thought. At least she hadn't had to waste energy taking on the Madam Director's entire appearance, the voice did just fine for her purposes.
The sun was just beginning to come out over the horizon, Megan realized. It was actually a beuatiful sight, made all the more sweeter by the knowledge that the KomBATS were coming. And they would kick the Titans all the way back to the mudhole from whence they came.
She chuckled. 'Whence'. That was a nice word.
He looked around him in despair. The scene was quite humiliating, at least for a member of the police force. Boats weren't running. People were yelling into cell phones and walkie talkies, and then swearing at the fact that their previously functional devices no longer worked. Searchlights weren't shining anymore, making the entire area a lot darker.
"They're probably behind this too," said Richard.
"Probably."
"Why though?"
Morris chuckled. "Well isn't it obvious. They want their Tower back. They drew the majority of our forces out to investigate these explosions, and then knocked out most of our equipment, so our people back at the Tower couldn't get reinforcements.
Richard gulped. Morris was right, the forces that were back inside the Titans Tower were no doubt suffering from the electronic shortage that all the other forces within a mile+ radius were. The teams inside the Tower were mostly special operations forces and scientists. The scientists wouldn't be able to put up much of a fight against the Titans, and the SpecOps' equipment was almost completely electronic. Their firearms, their other weapons, their communications, their body armor . . .they too, would be helpless.
It was not a pretty thought
It was not that difficult for the Titans to reach the island, especially with all of the Coast Guard's radar and such incapacitated. Of course, this didn't mean that they would be able to get to the Tower without a fight.
It was just a short fight, that was all. There were of course guards set up around the perimeters, but without their guns (which had electronic mechanisms) they were just as well off shooting spitballs at the Titans. Raven grabbed four of them simultaneously in a telekinetic hold and literally tossed them into the water. That left seventeen more guards to deal with.
Cyborg cut that number down to twelve with a sweeping concussive burst from his sonic cannon. A few well placed starbolts shortened that down to only six, which were easily taken care of by a green elephant falling from the sky on top of them. Seriously.
Even without electronics, Cyborg knew that the troopers inside the Tower had to know that the Titans were on the island. While he knew they were practically defenseless, he still had a plan that would enable the Titans to take complete control of the Tower.
Before this recent turn of events, the Titans would never have imagined that they would be fighting against the law. Regardless, certain contingencies had been made to prevent another takeover the likes of which they had suffered at the hands of the HIVE. Cyborg had an encoded remote access link to the Tower's air filter system. He could, if the situation required it, cycle a harmless, yet powerful sedative that would have any and all occupants snoring like babies in a matter of seconds. Of course, He could also remotely dissipate the gas once it had had time to take effect. It was perfect for this situation.
So Cyborg did just that, furiously tapping keys on the keypad built into his arm.
"You get it yet?" asked Beast Boy nervously.
Cyborg responded a few seconds later once he was through initiating the proper sequence. "Yep. We should only have to wait a few seconds."
To everyone else's great annoyance, Beast Boy began orally counting them off. "One, two, three, four, five, six ,seven, eight, nine-"
"Shut up already," Raven growled. "Its probably done its job by now anyway."
Cyborg cocked his sonic cannon. "One way to find out for sure," he said.
The Tower was eerily quiet in the absence of a running television or the hum of the overhead lights. All four conscious team members looked around for visual confirmation that the knockout gas had worked.
Like a charm. There were unconscious forms in black suits or blue lab coats sprawled all over the place. At first, Starfire suffered a quick intake, for the scene looked as though the sprawled bodies were dead. When she calmed down however, she was able to see that they were quite alive, breathing in fact. She looked down at the boy in her arms, and her throat almost involuntarily constricted. She fought back a tear. "We'd better hurry and get Robin to the medical ward," she managed, trying not to sound choked up.
Cyborg nodded. "Beast Boy, Raven, find all of the scientists and SpecOps people that are lying all over the place, and get 'em outta here. Make sure they aren't hurt. In fact, why don't you send them out to see on a lifeboat or something. Anything to safely get them out of the way."
Beast Boy nodded. "Gotcha Tin Man," he said with a smart salute. In an istant, he had turned into a Gorilla and easily slung five of the unconscious bodies over his shoulder.
Confident that it was being taken care of, Cyborg started up the stairs with Starfire trailing close behind. Five minutes was the length of time it took to get into the medical ward, and by then, Cyborg was worried that too much time had elapsed for them to be able to find Robin. Carefully, he took his teammate's limp form and put it on the medical table, once again summoning the medical tools built into his arm. He remembered Starfire was there right before he was about to start operating. "Look," he addressed her, "I don't know if you wanna be here to see me. . .uh . . ."
Starfire cur him off with a raised hand. "It is OK. I will wait outside. She took one lat, longing look at Robin, and then walked out of the sterile room letting the steel sliding doors shut behind her.
Cyborg took a deep breath, and set to work.
"That's the last of 'em I think," Beast Boy said, changing back into his regular form and wiping his hands together. "Yep, that about does it.
Raven surveyed the pile of unconscious bodies haphazardly arrayed in one of the Titans' spare lightweight watercraft. She nodded her head in silent agreement and then gave the boat a little telekinetic nudge towards the spot about two and a half miles out that most of the Coast guard and police were temporarily stuck in.
"Bon voyage," Beast Boy called after it. "Hate to see you guys leave soon, we didn't even get to show you the entire place.
Raven sniffed contemptuously and turned to walk away, only to be stopped by Beast Boy's voice.
"What, what is it?" he asked. When he got no answer, he ran to catch up with the departing Raven. "What?" he asked again.
Raven finally stopped and looked at him. "Can't you ever be serious?" she asked. "I mean, just once, could you not act like a two year old? Do you see those police boats out there? Have you been paying any attention whatsoever to the situation we're in? It is NOT the time to make stupid jokes and silly comments, and I every time I hear you do it, with all the crap we're in right now, it just ticks me off so much."
Beast Boy was speechless for a few seconds. Finally he said. "You know, I don't get you Raven. You always walk around all dark and gloomy, and you think that's the only way to be. Do you really think its going to help if I act like you, Ms. Pessimistic, and mope around about the fact that we've got the whole city after us for stuff we didn't do?! For you information, I'm just as worried as you and Cyborg and Starfire, but wallowing around in negativity and self-pity won't make things better!" Beast Boy paused, realizing his voice had gotten loud. "I'm just-I'm just trying ease the tension, that's all."
Raven eyed him dead on. "Don't," she said, "because you only make things worse."
With that, she walked away.
Starfire looked up hopefully when the door to the Med. Ward opened. "Well?" she asked, "is-is Robin going to make it?"
Cyborg grinned. "I think I'll the guy tell you that himself." He stepped back to reveal Robin standing behind him.
"Hey, Star," Robin managed. He was appalled at the way the words sounded when coming out, as if he'd said them while chewing on a cookie. He knew that the catalyst had taken some of energy, but he'd thought his mouth would at least work.
He did not have the luxury of contemplating these thoughts however, for he was nearly bowled over by Starfire, who wrapped him in a squeeze so tight he could barely breathe. He had just gotten the message to his brain to reciprocate the embrace (after all, it wasn't everyday that he got the privilege of hugging Star, which was starting to feel very enjoyable) when she finally let go, pulling back so that her hands were resting on his shoulders. She searched his face. "Robin," she said softly. "Oh robin, you- you're alive."
"That I am," Robin agreed. He paused. "Think you could fill me in on some things. Like why Cyborg here keeps saying I was shot?" He winced just then in response to some of the internal pain associated with such trauma to the body.
Worriedly, Starfire propelled him out of the room and to the next, where there was a simple couch available.
"Star?" Robin repeated.
"Yes, um, you were fired upon when we were escaping from the PTV."
"Oh." Robin wracked his brain for the memory of that moment. For a brief second, nothing came up, but then he remembered the laser targeting dot, and then a brief flash of pain as the Teflon coated round tore through his body armor. He gulped, gaining a new appreciation for cyborg's advanced medical expertise. "So how did we get back into the Tower?" he finally asked.
Starfire grinned. "It was actually rather simple," she began. And so for the next half hour, she told him all of the details of all of the events that had transpired since Robin's near-fatal injury. It was nice, Robin thought, just to be able to spend a little time with Star, despite the deep trouble that the Titans were in. Perhaps things would be resolved quickly, perhaps not.
Only time would tell.
***
"Any ideas? Anyone?" asked the Madam Director. Her piercing eyes scanned the group of stranded law enforcement officers.
Morris tried to think up a solution. The Titans no doubt had their Tower back now, and given the means by which they were willing to reclaim it, he doubted they would give it up so easily again. He knew very little about EMP's but he doubted their effects would be lifting anytime soon, leaving hundreds of the city's best lawmen, detectives, scientists, and SpecOps forces helpless in the water with nary an electrical device.
Richard was the first to spot it, and when he did, Morris naturally took notice too. There was a boat of some sort approaching. It had no apparent driver, but seemed to be stuffed to the drim with so much luggage that it was just barely staying afloat.
Morris would have liked to be able to say he was the first to realize it, but that role fell upon the Madam Director, who stared impassively at the slowly drifting boat.
"What is it?" Rishard asked.
"The correct question would be, 'Who is it?'," The Madam Direstor stated. She waited until the boat finally reached them to make her point.
Inside the boat, piled up on top of each other and clearly unconscious lay the sentries, the scientists, everybody that had been stationed at the tower.
"Are they dead asked Richard?"
"No, just unconscious," confirmed the Madam Director.
Morris took off his glasses and cleaned the already spotless lenses, wondering how much farther this would go before the Titans were stopped.
It wasn't often that Garvy Winter, the official head of the counter- terrorist network HACTA received a call in his office. So when he did receive one, and at a time when no one in this time zone should have been awake. He picked up the phone and pressed it to his ear, foregoing the customary 'who is it?' and opting to insteadl let the unknown party on the other end identify themselves.
"Mr. Winter," the voice chirped. It was more a statement than a question.
"Yes, who is this?"
Madam Director of District 75-23 SpecOps."
"Ah yes." Winter knew quite well that District 75-23 was the veritable hot zone of the time, what with those superpowered kids running amuck. "I was going to contact you tomorrow. Tell me, what exactly is going on? I hsve received several reports that our forces down near the island have been incommunicado for some time now."
"I wish I could answer that," said the woman on the other end. "It appears to be some kind of anti-electronic device."
"Then how are you able to contact me?"
"I'm on shore?"
"Why is that? Shouldn't you be with the other local law officers?"
The woman sighed. "yes, but I received a report that was later revealed to be false. I had come ashore to check it out, and now I'm stranded here on shore. They're mad sir."
"The titans?"
"Yes sir. About a minute ago, I saw Starfire emerge from the Tower and attack our defenseless ground forces. She sunk a good dozen ships, causing God knows how many casualties. Sir, we need shock troops, we need trained, die-hard counter-terrorist units, SEAlS, anything that will end this madness." Winter was shocked. The lack of urgency in the Madam Director's voice had certainly belied the situation. That many dead? It was hard to believe.
He knew what she was asking for, and as reluctant as he was to give the command, he didn't see any other options. The KomBATS as they were called would have to be deployed. It was a new government project, combining state- of the-art tech with specially breeded warriors to create a deadly new addition to the ranks of uncle Sam. The suits themselves gave the wearer twenty times normal strength and speed, flight, craploads of armaments both heavy and small arms, plus tons of other stuff that Winter couldn't even remember. They had been designed to defeat the likes of Superman should he ever go crazy, and it seemed like a waste to try them out on a couple of puffed up teens with mangy little superpowers. Simply put, it was overkill.
With a sigh and a hope that this whole thing would just go away, Winter gave the command.
The KomBATS were a' comin'.
The 'Madam Director' smiled as she watched the events unfold from her cozy little spot a thousand feet up in the sky. Sometimes, Raven's levitatintg abilities could really come in handy, she thought. At least she hadn't had to waste energy taking on the Madam Director's entire appearance, the voice did just fine for her purposes.
The sun was just beginning to come out over the horizon, Megan realized. It was actually a beuatiful sight, made all the more sweeter by the knowledge that the KomBATS were coming. And they would kick the Titans all the way back to the mudhole from whence they came.
She chuckled. 'Whence'. That was a nice word.