Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. Oh well. At least I own Kirae.

Layer of Darkness Ch.3 "Urban Assault Vehicle" or:
-First Response-

1834hrs Zulu, (6:34 PM), Kirae's room

Kirea had retired to his room, having completed his 'initiation'. He'd just begun looking up posters for his room online, and still had endorphines in his system from the frantic activity that had occured downstairs... and upstairs... and outside too, actually. But he was able to laugh at himself, and the endorphines made him feel all the better.

Night had fallen, and Kirae sat at his computer with just the screen's glow illuminating the room. Outside his window, the din of Jump City was seen through the thin ocean haze and Kirae's open blinds. His printer had just gotten to work when the Tower's alarm system fired up, filling his room with pulsing red light that came from panels in the ceiling. An electronic klaxon could also be heard down the hall, synchronized with the pulsing lights.

He was confused for a moment, then fished the yellow and black communicator out of his left cargo pocket.

"Robin, what's going on?"

"Trouble downtown. Get to the garage!" Robin made the order quick, not wanting to waste a single second.

"Wilco!"

Kirae jumped to his locker, keyed open the lock, and flung the doors apart. He rushed into his tactical vest, and only clipped together three essential buckles; the belt, and one strap on each leg holster. He slung the M3-S90 shotgun over his left shoulder, shoved the loaded Glocks into the leg holsters, and grabbed a small black duffel bag to toss everything else in. He quickly zipped the bag shut before putting it over his right shoulder, slamming the locker closed, snatching a lightly insulated combat uniform shirt from the other locker, and bolting out the door, down the hall, and into the elevator.

On the way down he shrugged out of the vest and put on the black top, then got everything secured properly; two small chest buckles, the belt, the leg straps of the rapelling harness, and the two straps on each leg holster. He attached another two holsters to the bottom half of his vest, to the outer side of the front. Towards the center he attached a shotshell pouch on one side, and a quadruple pistol magazine pouch on the other. The top half was already loaded with four vertical, bottom-opening pouches sized for assault rifle magazines; they contained weapon tips for his chain, and a total of four blacked-out throwing knives with silver-plated edges. Kirae holstered his tasers in the vest, and filled the shotshell pouch with varied types of ammo from the duffel bag. Four extended-length Glock magazines went into the vest, plus each leg holster had a pocket for one more mag as well. He attached a large pouch to the back of his belt, which contained some explosives and some detonators in a small armored case. Finally, just as the elevator was reaching the garage floor, Kire got his communicator secured to the top of his right shoulder, and plugged his throat-mike into it.

The doors slid open, and Kirae hustled through the shadowy, sparsely lit garage to the T-car, noticing that he wasn't the last person there. A second elevator that ran parallel with the first reached the garage floor just seconds after Kirae did, and Cyborg emerged. Kirae realized that all of the racing-style bucket seats were taken, except the driver's.

"There's fold down seats in the back, they're mounted on the sides." Cyborg explained as they neared the car. Kirae entered through the left-hand backdoor, and squeezed by Beast Boy, carefully edging in shotgun-first. To Beast Boy's left was Starfire and Raven, with Robin in the front passenger seat, and Cyborg driving. They all gave him a disapproving look.

"What is that for?" questioned Raven. Instead of monotone, her voice was serious.

Kirae slammed the pump back, which opened the breach of the M3-S90 with a loud, metallic clank.

"World's a dangerious place," he said nonchalantly, holding a fistfull of black shotshells, and preparing to load them.

Robin quickly resolved the situation with a simple order.

"You aren't authorized ot use lethal force. No - killing..." he said slowly.

"No problem," Kirae positively replied. He put away the black shells, pulled out some that were a flourescent orange color, and proceeded to start shoving them in.

Beast Boy immediately spoke up. "You're still gonna shoot that thing?"

"These are Oleoresin-Capsicum Slug rounds," Kirae said smoothly. "They'll just give someone a very, very, bad day."

"Everyone, hold on!" Interrupted Cyborg, as the garage bay door opened, and he pinned the throttle, accelerating up the ramp. Kirae swiftly got positive control of his shotgun in his lap, with the muzzle facing the back of the car.

Kirae struggled to twist his head and look out the front window, very impressed by the large car's performance. The car jumped at the end of the ramp, then Cyborg punched the brakes so that he could use weight-balance-oversteer to stay on the driveway, make a right turn, and drop into the under-bay tunnel. The car reached speeds well over 150 miles-per-hour as it barrelled down the well-lit tunnel.

'Woah.' Kirae thought. 'It would take at least 850 horsepower to push six passengers this fast. He's gotta have a turbocharger the size of a damn toilet sitting under the hood. And he drives like a Formula One racer. Way cool.'

Beast Boy finally looked back at Kirae, who was wearing a manic smile. Kirae loved the ridiculous speed that they were traveling at. Cyborg had to brake sooner than if the road was flat, because the next turn would be right-hander after exiting the tunnel, and the car's balance would be shifted to the rear. These were technical things about racing that only Cyborg and Kirae probably understood.

"So now you're going to shoot slugs at the bad guys?" Beast Boy asked. Kirae had returned to loading shells as Cyborg wove through the dark city streets.

Kirae buried his face in his armor-gloved hand and muttered back, "Something like that."

Also misunderstanding, Starfire began to describe an alien organism.

"Capsicum Slugs are a very dangerious insect on planet Oleoresin. They are responsible for several deaths per year when the larvae devour the host that they were implanted in. The adult slugs secrete a powerful sedative that allows them to crawl down a sleeping victim's throat and lay the eggs."

This time, everyone in the car looked at Starfire.

"Hey, I'm trying to drive here Star! Man, that's gross!" Cyborg commented.

Kirae frowned then said, "Ech, nothing like that."

The final three shells he loaded had black bands on them in addition to the flourescent orange, signifiying that they contained pure Capsaicin powder that was delivered via a rocket-like rubber sleeve. The Capsaicin-filled rubber nose would burst open on impact, allowing longer-ranged shots.

Capsaicin itself is the chemical compound responsible for the burning sensation in spicy food. It stimulates pain receptors, rather than actual taste buds. Kirae himself couldn't have said it simpler, without delving into detail, so he said nothing. They'd see soon enough how effective it was... non-lethaly.

They'd driven to the most high-powered business section of the city. Skyscrapers of various styles and construction stood shoulder-to-shoulder, covering several city blocks. Cyborg slowed to a stop, parking on the sidewalk of an intersection corner. Light traffic continued to flow through this well-lit section of city, leaving the wide boulevards well under capacity. As could be expected when there were monsters rampaging just down the street.

The Titans quietly bailed from the T-car. Kirae popped open the rear hatch and jumped out, actually beating Beast Boy, Starfire, and Raven out. Cyborg and Robin were already standing a few yards out in front of the car, around the corner in the middle of the six-lane street, getting a quick look at the situation. Kirae hustled up to them in a silent, low slung trot, with his massive shotgun pointed down and to the right. He took a wingman's position behind Cyborg, who was to Robin's left.

They gazed down the street, immediately noticing the gothic-looking man that was on the right side of the street, calmly watching as three nine-foot tall demons tore apart the first floor of a corporate skyscraper. The creatures were reminiscent of Satan himself. Their powerful, furry legs had reverse-joints, with huge cloven feet. Their bodies and golem-like faces were covered in fur, and they also had massive bat-like wings folded on their backs. They didn't have horns, but they did have raptor-like claws.

Kirae quickly sorted through his theories of demons and supernaturals, picturing the possiblities in his mind as he thought of each name. His sixth sense became slightly audible as he laid sight on scene.

'Balrog? Imps? Golems? Oh crap. No, these are... -Gargoyles! And that creepy dude, he's gotta be the controller!'

All this flitted through his mind in less than a second. He'd left the chamber of his shotgun open and empty, so that he could chose his first shot. In an instant, his hands had worked without a thought, shoving in a Capsaicin Rocket.

At that instant, the rest of the team had caught up. And Robin was prepared to give the order to capture the gothic man and stop the monsters.

"Titans! -" He began, pointing to the scene.

-clack!-

-BOOM!-

The gothic man had seen the Titans approach. He'd also seen the one in black combat gear drop to his knee and take aim through his weapon's scope. But the self-taught Necromancer was prepared for projectile attacks, having created a psychic barrier around himself that would stop anything with high enough velocity. So he thought.

The Capsaicin rocket hit the barrier, but the payload of Capsaicin powder turned into an extremely effective cloud. A single gram of pure Capsaicin was tastable even when diluted into over 5,000 gallons of sugar water. The rockets contained three grams each.

The Necromancer's senses were instantly fried, and he hit the ground disoriented. His world was nothing but pain, and he suddenly wished he didn't have eyes, a nose, or lungs. Kirae aimed a second rocket into the prone Necro's center of mass. The Necro could no longer devote even a single thought to his barrier, and the spell died. The rocket hit him in the shoulder and exploded into another orange cloud of Capsaicin powder. The pain of the blunt impact drove him into complete sensory overload, and he fell into a debilatated state.

The gargoyles were acting on the Necromancer's previous orders to destroy the huge building. With no regard to their own lives, they were tearing apart the building's internal supports. But the Necromancer's feelings of hate towards whoever had hurt him filtered through the telepathic link to his gargoyles, and now they were set on tearing the Titans apart before they'd continue their first order.

Robin turned to Kirae violently, and shouted in his face, "What do you think you're doing! You wait until I give the orders around here, remember!"

Kirae gestured towards the advancing gargoyles, and replied off-handedly, "Behavior mod." Glancing back at the building, he continued in a more urgent tone.

"Had to drop him before he could do any serious damage." He kept his weapon low and quickly continued- "I'm sorry alright? Let's go!"

"Alright. Titans! GO!" Robin answered.