11.
They called the Titans East, right enough, and they said they would be there as fast as they could. Presently, the Titans of Jump City were gathered around their giant view screen, trying to place a call.
"I don't know about this, Cy..." Robin said. He ran a gloved hand through his hair.
"Look, they said to call them if their was an emergency, something tells me this qualifies." An explosion in the distance shattered the night, confirming Cyborgs assertion.
"Ok...do it."
Cyborg punched at the keyboard, and a moment later the screen blinked to life. On it, was a green man, wearing a purple cape.
"JLA headquarters," he said, sounding like they'd just called a pizza place or a taxi.
"Hi J'onn," Robin said, with little joy in his voice.
"Titans," J'onn said, trying to be curtious.
"J'onn, we have a problem."
"What is it, Robin?" J'onn took a couple of steps toward his end of the screen.
"The prison here in jump city has had a massive malfunction, every single inmate is out, running the streets." J'onn's expression never changed, he merely looked at something on his side of the screen, out of the Titans field of view.
"I can send-"
"Send who you can." Robin said, "We're gonna need them all."
"Very well. They shall be mobilized and in Jump City within the half hour. What are you going to do in the mean time?"
"We," Robin said, "are going to war."
12.
"No one can stop Johnny Rancid!" He was still tooling around recklessly on his bike. Robin tossed his staff straight into the spokes of Rancid's bike, which sent it into an end over end flip, and sent Rancid flying into a lamp post.
"Titan's, go!" They all rushed into the sea of orange jump suits. Most of them were simple pick pockets or some other kind of petty thief, and so were ill prepared to deal with the Titans when they got there. All five of them were tossing villains left and right, felling them with surprising ease. It wasn't going to last, however. For every one they took out, two more took their place, it was a flood, and they were drowning. Raven elevated a group of them and sent them hurtling throughthe sky, while Beast Boy, in the shape of a Triceratops, bulldozed a path through the mob. It was fairly obvious to the Titans, however, that they were destined to lose this conflict. As they knocked more down, more got back up, and so the cycle continued.
"Any bright ideas, fearless leader?" Raven yelled, over the din of the battle.
"Yeah, fight harder!" Robin was kicking and punching and flying through the air, every blow connecting, sending people reeling. He was going to run out of energy soon, though, his knuckles were sore from all the punching, his muscles screamed at him. He noticed the ebb and flow of the battle was separating him from the rest of the team, and they were all being pushed in different directions. It didn't matter, though. In a few minutes they'd all be too tired to fight anyway.
Suddenly, a green arrow whipped out of the darkness, hitting one of the inmates in the shoulder and sticking him to the wall.
"Need some help, junior?" Green Arrow, protector of Star City and Justice League reserve Member, came running out of the night. He stopped beside Robin, who had managed to fight his way out of the mob.
"Nice shooting, Tex." He said, cocking a sarcastic smile in Green Arrow's direction.
"Kid, you ain't seen nothin' yet. Shall we?"
"Sure, but where are the others?"
"Don't worry, they're here." Green Arrow ran off and started to get into it with about 20 different baddies. That was Oliver Queen alright, always ready for a fight.
A big, big fight.
Without a thought in his head, other than perhaps a brief hope that Starfire was alright, he launched himself back into the fray.
It was going to be a long, damn, night.
13.
Beast Boy was coming up with every little trick he could think of to dispatch the oncoming throng, turning into every animal he thought would make any difference. Dinosaurs of every description, a wolf, a gorilla, even several varieties of snakes. And despite the odds, he was actually winning.
He was getting tired, though. All that changing stretched his body to its limits, and he could feel the strain in his bones.
"SKREEEEEEEE!" It was a shout...a scream, a horribly loud scream. It wasn't one spawned from anger or fear, it was like an eagles call, only a million times louder. Every pair of hands in the area, including his, shot to every set of ears, which is exactly what the originator of the scream wanted.
A woman, a beautiful woman as far as Beast Boy was concerned, came jumping off the roof of a one floor department store to his left, and started to take out bad guys left and right. Beast Boy took his hands from his ears, and watched her work, somewhat astonished.
"You ok, kid?" She yelled, while holding off several of the mob. Beast Boy ran to join her, staying as his own form, but managing to lay out several inmates with a few well placed punches.
"Yeah...uhhh, who are you?" He asked, not wanting to be rude, but knowing this wasn't time or the place to worry about that sort of thing.
"The name's Black Canary, pleased to make your acquaintance." She threw another punch, sending an ugly, tattooed man down to his back.
"Cool," Beast Boy said, turning into a ram and knocking over a small group of the mob.
"My name's Beast Boy." They continued fighting in a circle, quickly becoming surrounded.
"Well Beast Boy, I hate to say it, but we're outnumbered here."
"Any more of your friends gonna show up?" He asked her, but was in the middle of a fist fight, so some of the words came out jumbled.
"Yeah, they're here," she brought her fist back and drove it forward, laying another prisoner out, "somewhere." A blue streak came down out of the sky, and plowed into the crowd, driving much of them on top of each other and into a wall.
"They're closer than you think." Said the new fighter. Beast Boy's jaw dropped when he saw who it was.
Standing before him, was the Man of Steel, Superman.
"...can I have your autograph?" He said finally. It was the best thing he could think of to say.
"Maybe after this is all over. Now, we have work to do."
What a guy.
14.
Cyborg was a little embarrassed to say it, but he was actually enjoying this a little. Battle, for him, was always invigorating, and this was one hell of a battle. Plus he was getting to spend some quality time with a couple of big league super heroes.
"Flash, up high!" Cyborg spied one of the rioters trying to get the drop on the first one, the world's fastest man, Flash. Before Cyborg had even finished talking, Flash had somehow gotten to the top of the building and subdued the would be attacker.
"Thank's Cy!" He said jovially, waving.
"Stop messing around and get back down here!" Flash disappeared again, and before Cyborg could even think of how he did it, he was back on the ground, and standing beside the person who had just admonished him, the magician Zatanna.
"Z, you're always so negative." He said, in a playful tone.
"Well, we do have work to do down here, you know. This isn't a social visit." She said, and turned to face the enemies that were still standing.
"Ylf nac slanimirc!" She yelled, and waved her wand in the direction of a group of men in orange jumpsuits. They levitated into the air, screaming and flailing around like boated fish. Flash stood and looked at them reflectively, with his arms crossed over his chest.
"How long you gonna keep them up there?" She looked at him and smiled. Oh how she enjoyed tormenting those that deserved such treatment.
"Truh annog si siht!" And they all came crashing down.
Yeah, no doubt, Cyborg was enjoying this.
15.
Raven couldn't help but see the humour with who she'd managed to find over the course of the battle. It was the one man whose shadow she felt she'd been in for the longest time. He, who she'd been compared to her for her entire super hero career, at least in terms of temperament. Actually, they were comically alike. In a different universe, they might have been confused for family. According to Robin, even their faces were similar, though this guy wore a mask, and wasn't likely to take it off for her.
Secret identities and all that.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" A wave of black magic drove a group of the inmates down the street.
"Impressive." He said.
"Thanks," she replied.
"Ready for more?" He asked
"Always."
They started to run towards the next group of rioters, both of their capes were flaring out behind them.
"You got a name, kid?"
"It's Raven."
"Good. I assume you know mine?" He was at almost a full sprint but still managed to speak in a monotonous drone. Just like Raven was managing to do. His tone wasn't sarcastic in design, but somehow you got the idea that he was being just that.
"Of course, Batman." She smiled a little. They ran a little further, and were almost at their next target before he spoke again.
"Tell Robin I said hi."
16.
Starfire was managing quite well on her own, her green fire, her strength, and the ability of flight, all great assets in a fight against an unruly horde. Still, when Wonder Woman and Super Girl showed up, she welcomed the help.
"There sure are a lot of these guys!" Super Girl said as she plowed through a small group.
"Just keep going, we'll get it under control!" Wonder Woman yelled over the din. Starfire flew through the air firing green at anything that moved and wasn't dressed in brightly coloured spandex. Even with those two down there, it wasn't enough, they were being surrounded and slowly overpowered. Even those two were losing...definitely not good. Suddenly, someone shot a flare into the crowd, which was enough to disperse them, and allow the three heroes to get back to the fighting. As Starfire took out a few more rioters, she looked to the roof of a building across the street, and saw where the flare had come from.
It looked like Speedy...almost.
He jumped off the building and landed, just across the street from Starfire, and removed from his back a red bow and started firing arrows into the crowd. He was dressed differently...a black leather coat, and a pair of orange sunglasses rather than his usual mask. Starfire flew over to him, as Super Girl and Wonder Woman plowed back into battle.
"Speedy?" She asked.
"...Long story, Starfire. And call me Arsenal."
"Arsenal?"
"Don't repeat yourself." They both fought as they spoke, Spee...Arsenal firing arrows, Starfire firing her special kind of projectiles.
"But I do not understand...what has happened?" Arsenal looked distracted, still tracking targets and shooting down the criminals. Starfire noted that many of the arrows were catching the rioters in the legs, or when possible, going through their clothes only and sticking them to the surrounding walls.
"Let's just say there was a shadow I had to get out from under, forge my own identity."
"But where are the rest of the Titans East?"
"They're here and there. We got here as fast as we could."
"The help is much appreciated. We can not handle this by ourselves..." Starfire looked like she was getting tired.
"I know. Don't worry, we've got your back." Arsenal yanked some manner of gun out of a hidden pocket. He fired it into the crowd and a man fell, a needle sticking out of his neck.
Tranquillizer, Starfire thought.
Arsenal dashed off into the crowd and started throwing his fists, Starfire continued to fight and throw bolts of energy, and slowly they fought back. She watched the boy she once knew as Speedy run off into the crowd, and wondered...what happened to him?
