Flashing Lights and Sounds
By Jedi-and
Disclaimer: I do not own TT, nor do I own Mr.Noel Collins but I DO own some of my own characters.
Authors note: I'd just like to take this opportunity to thank LM and Bobcat for helping me with my fics and stuff. With out them, this would be a drab and cliché filled thing indeed...
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Chapter 5: Hero of the Wrong Cause
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"Good morning all!" Nigel called, coming out of his under furbished room and into the dining hall. The others were already there, looking a little groggy from lack of, or at least a rather uncomfortable, sleep.
"Why are you so perky this morning?" Cyborg asked, pouring a large amount of coffee for himself as Beast Boy slept in the chair next to him.
"I'm always like this. You should know that by now..." Nigel replied. He folded his arms and sat down, waiting for this morning's breakfast. Which was scrambled eggs on toast.
"Chicken embryos again?" Starfire asked, as she lightly poked it before pushing it away.
"Its eggs Star." Robin corrected (again). "Not hungry?"
"Not really." She said, as she shrugged and just stared at the plate. Her actions were mirrored by everyone, who where eating slowly or not eating at all.
"By Izuna, you all act like someone has died." Nigel commented as Savior sat down with his breakfest, as he was the one making it that day.
"You act like nothing happened."
"When something like this happens on my world, we celebrate for five days." Nigel stated matter-of-factly as he held up his plate. "It's strange, this kind of meal on my planet is the signalling of a death. Here, it is the morning meal." He placed the eggs and toast down again. "And on the subject of strange foods, I really would like to eat that dried blood substance you humans eat."
"Black pudding." Savior corrected, who seemed to be immune to the other's troubles as he heartily ate his breakfast. Beast Boy, now awake, gave a look of disgust. Savior may have been the most awake, but at the mention of Black Pudding, Garfield Logan turned into the most alert person on the planet at this or any time of day.
"How can you eat that stuff?!? It's BLOOD!"
"So?" The doctor replied, placing some toast in his mouth. Star looked around a little, and then suddenly and quickly jumped from her seat and left, running, or rather flying, out of the room. There was silence for a moment or two.
"Did I say something wrong?" Nigel asked, looking around at the other, tired, faces in the room.
"I don't think so..." Raven said, speaking for the first time that morning, as she walked in from the direction which Starfire had just departed. Robin started to get up before he was stopped by Savior.
"Perhaps our resident GP should check her out? It might have been something she ate, or maybe some illness she has. Remember the time with the flu?" He said. Everyone nodded, not really wanting to remember that incident. Noel looked over to Nigel whose confused expression looked back at him. Oh right. He wasn't here. Nigel realized what he had to do and left, grabbing his hat on the way.
Starfire was actually waiting for him when he arrived at the lab; she was trying to work out what some of the drugs were and see what they did.
"Can I help you?" Nigel asked, brushing the crumbs from his suit. She spun around in surprise.
"Scalpel! Er, Nigel! I was just... I mean I was..." Starfire stammered. Walking over quickly, the Blacktrinian took the vials, chemicals and various drugs from her hands and placed them in their proper places. There was silence for a moment or two.
"Would you like me to check your health?" He asked quietly.
"Yes."
"Would you like me to check for anything in particular?" His tone was soft and gentle; more so than any other Blacktrinian could even think of managing.
"No, but please keep this discreet. I do not wish for Robin or any of the others to discover whatever is wrong." She replied in a quiet tone.
"Very well, if you would be so kind as to sit on the bed of examination." Nigel replied, as he gestured to the blue bed up against the wall. Starfire obliged.
The whole thing took roughly half an hour. Basic checks, breathing checks, in-depth views, blood samples, the whole nine yards. But nothing was found.
"I wish to know, what does my blood tell you?" She asked, pointing to the vial that Nigel had placed in the medical fridge. Turning back to the Tamaranean princess, he thought for a moment and then shrugged.
"Can't tell you straight up. I will have to do some tests. They should only take a few minutes, but I have a feeling about something...though I am not sure of what exactly." He said, as he stroked his chin lightly with one of his talons, he had had more of an inkling then he let on, and he was currently thinking and hoping it wasn't what he thought it was.
Before he could ponder any more on the subject though, the alarm went off, and the two had to rush upstairs to the computer room.
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"What's up?" Cyborg asked as Robin scanned through the information.
"Looks like our 'friend' from before has reappeared." He replied, the keyboard clicking away as he searched. Pictures of the man in the long coat started coming up.
"That nutcase who called himself the 'Sword of Justice'?" Beast Boy asked, letting out a sigh of pure exhaustion. What the heck was his malfunction? They didn't know what he wanted the first time, let alone this time.
"This time he's not alone though."
Another image came up, of a woman with some strange sort of handgun and large shoulder pads. This was just as Starfire and Scalpel came in, and the darkened image of both of them suddenly struck a chord of memory in Nigel.
"Hey! They where the ones who attacked me!" He pointed, tapping on the screen.
"Don't touch." Robin said, batting the doctor's hand away.
"Sorry."
"But I wonder...why has he waited so long to re-appear?" Robin asked, as it had been a few weeks since his first emergence.
"Probably licking his wounds from the beating we gave him!" Gar said triumphantly, flexing his "muscles".
"Not likely." Raven said, once again knocking Beast Boy down a peg. "He was probably waiting for us to be tired from the day we had yesterday before he struck again. And it worked. We're tired, lethargic..." she paused and felt her groggy stomach. "And still full of food from the night before." She regretted her actions now. Her small frame couldn't handle all the food they had eaten yesterday. "We're an easy target."
"Not really." Nigel, said, putting his hands behind his head and smiling his trademark grin. "I am used to eating that amount of food, and therefore I am not an 'easy target'."
"And we kicked YOUR butt..." Beast Boy replied, also attempting to knock someone down a peg. He failed.
"Cyborg snuck up behind me." Nigel said, glancing at the green teen, unimpressed.
"In any case, he's waiting for us." Robin said, as he called their attention back to the screen. Sword held up a sign saying. 'Come and get me Titans'.
"Trap?" Cy asked, prepping his cannon.
"Yep."
"A big fight?"
"Yep."
"I wouldn't have it any other way." He finished as they all left, in their own ways, or sponging off another people's way to get there.
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"You think they'll come?" Sword asked his sister, whose red eyes were scanning the horizon for their impending foes while they stood on the docks.
"How would I know? You where the one who asked them here." She spat back at him, obviously angered.
"Are you still angry with me?" He asked, looking back at her with a slight smile on his face.
"You ruined our Five Minute Rule!" She snapped, placing her hands on her hips. The Five Minute Rule was where one of them would rush in, fight until they won, and then rush out, all in less than five minutes. The attempted attack on the Titans saw the first time this rule had failed, and it angered her greatly.
"There were...complications." He responded quiet, not wanting to speak out loud he continued to watch the sea.
"...Very well." She knew he didn't want to speak and left it at that. This time, they would not fail.
"Here they come." She said quietly, preparing the enchanted gun she had pulled from her shoulder pad. Making it to land, the Titans looked up and saw the pair. Robin gave his default command.
"Titans! Go!"
And so they did. Nigel and Noel taking the lead, Starfire and Raven backing them up with Robin and the duo of Cyborg and Beast Boy at the back. But Scalpel was downed quickly with a shot from the enchanted gun, rendering him in a state of pain that rivalled Noel's when his Shimmer got cut. His race were wonderful hand-to-hand combatants, but they were weak against projectile weapons, as they left him nearly useless and wracked with pain.
Doing a double take at this sudden defeat, Savior launched the Shimmer from his hand, only to have it grabbed and the white-garbed Titan thrown from the battlefield with a curse. Starfire started up with her Starbolts, but the nausea in her stomach threw her off, and this cost her as she became distracted and was left wide open to an attack from their enemy's magic handgun, which was taken full advantage of, as it charged and shot her. But this wasn't the same projectile. This one made magic rings form around the target, forcing Starfire's hands to her sides, and she fell. Robin caught his other half and swung away, placing her down in a safe place as he tried with all his might to pry off the bands.
Cyborg had gotten into a hand-to-hand fight with Sword, and they were deadlocked until Sword shoulder barged Cyborg into a wall, making it crack and crumble a little. The grey skinned man drew back his hand for what looked like a hell of a punch, but Nigel and Beast Boy had other plans as Nigel snapped the arm out into Sword's side, and Beast Boy, as a gorilla, slammed into Sword's elbow, forcing it the wrong way. This was the opening Cyborg was looking for, and he rammed Sword back and out of the way. Shows that teamwork can pull it off after all.
On the top of one of the harbour buildings, Raven was throwing everything she could find at the sister of Sword. It wasn't working, as she blocked them with some form of magic screen.
"You wouldn't be called Shield by any chance would you?" Raven asked. The woman shrugged and lowered the wall.
"That's what Sword likes to think."
"You're a mage?" Raven asked, hoping she didn't find a copy of herself in this foe.
"Not exactly," She stated and raised the gun again. Its full magical power had been charged, as some form of lettering or characters circled it and the weapon started to glow at the barrel. The enchantments moved out and formed into a new barrel in front of it. "I can charm objects, giving them magical properties and I can create shield, but that's about it."
So it wasn't quite a copy. Unlike Shield, Raven could create barriers, move objects, read minds and do anything she saw fit with her powers, but giving a weapon magical properties... now that's a strange one. And she wouldn't have to wait long to find out the full effects of it, as a blast of dark magical power came from the barrel and slammed into Raven full force, knocking her off the edge.
Luckily Savior was there to break her fall, and they shot back up, Noel dropping Raven off and then swinging over to Shield. With a hand signal, they attacked, wrapping her up with the Shimmer while Raven started to pelt her with random objects.
"Argh! No wonder my brother couldn't beat you on his own!"
Speaking of her brother, he had his hands full with the three single gents who were doing their best impression of a three man tag team from the WWE. Nigel swung around a post and slammed his feet into the chest of Sword, knocking him back, as Cyborg jumped into the air and elbow slammed him. Beast Boy slammed onto Cyborg in what was known as a frog splash, putting even more weight on the torso of Sword.
But, showing an incredible amount of strength, Sword bench pressed Cyborg and Beast Boy off and stood up. Scalpel tried a Blacktrinian falkla kick, which was much like a roundhouse kick with the pointed toes going for the opponents head. It didn't work, as he was caught in mid-air, and then to add injury to more injury, was used as a bat to knock Cyborg and Beast Boy away. Finishing the swing, Sword threw Nigel towards the water's edge.
Fortunately, he didn't land IN the water. He landed hard, on the concrete, his head over the edge so he could see the water, but wasn't actually touching it. But to him, that was far preferable, and he rolled over on to his back and thanked his lucky stars. Quite literally: stars were dancing before his eyes.
"Too close, far too close. Thank you star of faith. And all your pretty coloured friends" Nigel babbled. It passed, and he quickly got back up and ran back to the fray.
Starfire and Robin had finally gotten back into the swing of things as Robin went for Sword and Starfire went after Shield. Shield had gotten out of the 'hug' that Savior had had her in, and was now firing off more magic rounds that cut straight through any of the barriers that Raven put up to defend herself as if they were tissue paper. Savior lashed out at the red- eyed girl, forcing her back...into an area that still had people in it. Not the best move, and the battle escalated even further, as Raven now had more ammunition to throw. Combined with Starfire's barrage, Shield's barriers that protected her beforehand couldn't withstand it: the onslaught of objects, Shimmer strands and Starbolts threw her back into an industrial chimney. That started to topple. While there were still people under it. Savior hissed and willed the chimney to stabilize. It didn't. Bloody hell.
"The people!" Starfire called, trying to rush to the rescue...only to have Raven try to stop her.
"Even if you got there in time you'll never be able to hold the weight!" She shouted after the Tamaranan girl. But it was too late: she was under the pillar and it was far too heavy to be stopped even by Savior or Raven's abilities. It must have been over a dozen tons of brick at least! And so it toppled towards the top of the building...
Until some sort of purple light appeared at its base, encasing everyone and propping up the pillar. And the source of this energy? Starfire looked around to see Shield holding up her hands, sweat forming on her brow as she tried to keep the monumental weight of this tower of bricks up.
"Aha! I knew she would save herself!" Savior called, getting in closer.
"No, she isn't." Raven said. She had noticed that if she just wanted to save herself, why create a barrier that protected everyone? Why not just a bubble around herself, with more shielding? 'She must be trying to save the others as well' Raven thought, going down and trying to save some of the people. But the shield seemed to be one-way: people could come out, but no one could go in.
"MYTH! HELP ME!" Shield shouted at the top of her lungs. No one knew who Myth was (well, not in THIS story anyway), but they hoped that whoever it was he/she got there soon: the glowing symbols on Shield's armour was becoming erratic, flashing as she fell down to one knee, sweat now pouring from her brow as the tower fell a little more.
The ears of Sword, Nigel and Gar pricked up a little at the voice. Sword turned to face its direction, the battle pausing with Robin in mid throw and Cyborg aiming.
"Sister!" He shouted, as he made his way full speed to the sound, followed closely by Beast Boy and Scalpel. The other two men looked at each other and shrugged, following as well. Soon enough though, they found out what was happening. Starfire was ferrying people out of the barrier area via waving her arms and pointing, since she couldn't carry everyone out by herself. Raven and Savior were trying to support the pillar, or at least keeping a bit of the weight so Shield's barrier held for a little while longer. Sword ploughed through the edge of the shield to help, and then to some surprise, so did Beast boy, but when Nigel tried the Blacktrinian just seemed to bounce off the surface and skid back across the floor, tripping up Robin and Cyborg.
"Watch where yer going!" Cyborg shouted from the pile.
"I wasn't expecting to bounce!" Nigel yelled in retaliation, eventually getting out from under the pile. Sword, who was now obviously Myth, had sprouted his dragon wings as he did before and started to hold the tower up with his hands, while Beast Boy checked the young woman. By now she looked nearly dead, so exhausted she was practically falling over. Beast Boy waved his hand in front of her face, to make sure she was still there. She looked up at him, her bright red eyes full of pain. It was clear she couldn't hold on much more.
"Come on! You're doing great! Just hang in there!" He encouraged as he ran forward, transforming into a T-rex and helping prop up the tower with his massive head. Shield smiled to herself, but she was all but gone, the symbols flashing wildly, like a candle flickering just before the wind blew it out... And then they were no longer there at all, and she fainted, bringing down the shield with her. Savior and Raven suddenly were jolted forward, having to support the majority of the weight now. And it wasn't enough, not even with the help of the others: the tower was going to fall and probably kill Starfire, Beast Boy and Shield. And there wasn't a damn thing they could do about it, as the top part started to break apart. A rain of brick pummelled the Titans, instinctively causing them to rear back, and with that the tower collapsed, crashing down on everything below it. An explosion of bricks occurred as they hit the floor, shattering and breaking. When the dust settled, there was nothing but ruin.
"STARFIRE!" Robin shouted at the top of his voice, rushing over to the bricks and searching through them.
"Robin!" Came a response. But it wasn't from the bricks, but from his right, and then Starfire was flying over and grabbing Robin in a death grip.
"Air Star! Air!" He begged, waving his arms around as much as possible. She blushed and let go. "How did you escape? I thought the bricks had you!"
Beast Boy popped up as well, holding the unconscious Shield in his arms as he walked forward, covered in dust but besides that fine. "Beast Boy! You also survived!?"
"Don't sound so surprised!" He laughed. "I now owe Scalpel big time!" Then something occurred to him, an idea he didn't like the sound of. "Where is he, anyway?"
"He came towards us at a swift pace, grabbed us and pushed us away from the falling structure." Starfire told Robin, looking around the wreckage site.
"But if he did that...ah bloody hell..." Savior said, as he looked at the rubble. Nigel was still underneath the ruined chimney and the others' eyes went wide, as they began to frantically search.
By the way, what Nigel had decided to do was to get Cyborg to shoot him in the back with the sonic cannon, sending him under the tower so he could grab everyone and throw them out. He had hoped to make it as well, but now it looked like he didn't.
The search continued as Beast Boy cradled the unconscious Shield. There was something about her that struck him: he didn't know what it was but it was definitely there. But...
His thoughts were broken by the shouts as Cyborg found Scalpel, half buried in rubble but still breathing. They continued to search a little for Sword, but all they found was a hole leading in to a sewer pipe.
Somehow, that seemed enough. And they had a feeling Sword would be showing up again.
Back at Titan Tower, once Scalpel was awake again and able to move as best he could, he wandered out of the lab with the results of the test (abet with a limp. A several ton tower hit him in the legs after all...)
Starfire was in the office, fiddling with the buttons on her shirt (She did have other clothes you know, just not many). The doctor made his grand entrance and limped over to the big chair behind the desk.
"What did you find? Please tell me as I am anxious to know."
Nigel sat down (painfully I might add) with the results.
"I don't know how I can really tell you this...but..."
"Tell me! What is wrong with me?"
"Kory..." He paused and sighed." You're... err..."
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Dum-dum-DUMMMM~~~~
A slight cliff hanger there. Will the young woman do something drastic to the serious news? Or will she deal with it sensibly... You know what? I have no idea myself... What could the serious news be I wonder?
By Jedi-and
Disclaimer: I do not own TT, nor do I own Mr.Noel Collins but I DO own some of my own characters.
Authors note: I'd just like to take this opportunity to thank LM and Bobcat for helping me with my fics and stuff. With out them, this would be a drab and cliché filled thing indeed...
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Chapter 5: Hero of the Wrong Cause
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"Good morning all!" Nigel called, coming out of his under furbished room and into the dining hall. The others were already there, looking a little groggy from lack of, or at least a rather uncomfortable, sleep.
"Why are you so perky this morning?" Cyborg asked, pouring a large amount of coffee for himself as Beast Boy slept in the chair next to him.
"I'm always like this. You should know that by now..." Nigel replied. He folded his arms and sat down, waiting for this morning's breakfast. Which was scrambled eggs on toast.
"Chicken embryos again?" Starfire asked, as she lightly poked it before pushing it away.
"Its eggs Star." Robin corrected (again). "Not hungry?"
"Not really." She said, as she shrugged and just stared at the plate. Her actions were mirrored by everyone, who where eating slowly or not eating at all.
"By Izuna, you all act like someone has died." Nigel commented as Savior sat down with his breakfest, as he was the one making it that day.
"You act like nothing happened."
"When something like this happens on my world, we celebrate for five days." Nigel stated matter-of-factly as he held up his plate. "It's strange, this kind of meal on my planet is the signalling of a death. Here, it is the morning meal." He placed the eggs and toast down again. "And on the subject of strange foods, I really would like to eat that dried blood substance you humans eat."
"Black pudding." Savior corrected, who seemed to be immune to the other's troubles as he heartily ate his breakfast. Beast Boy, now awake, gave a look of disgust. Savior may have been the most awake, but at the mention of Black Pudding, Garfield Logan turned into the most alert person on the planet at this or any time of day.
"How can you eat that stuff?!? It's BLOOD!"
"So?" The doctor replied, placing some toast in his mouth. Star looked around a little, and then suddenly and quickly jumped from her seat and left, running, or rather flying, out of the room. There was silence for a moment or two.
"Did I say something wrong?" Nigel asked, looking around at the other, tired, faces in the room.
"I don't think so..." Raven said, speaking for the first time that morning, as she walked in from the direction which Starfire had just departed. Robin started to get up before he was stopped by Savior.
"Perhaps our resident GP should check her out? It might have been something she ate, or maybe some illness she has. Remember the time with the flu?" He said. Everyone nodded, not really wanting to remember that incident. Noel looked over to Nigel whose confused expression looked back at him. Oh right. He wasn't here. Nigel realized what he had to do and left, grabbing his hat on the way.
Starfire was actually waiting for him when he arrived at the lab; she was trying to work out what some of the drugs were and see what they did.
"Can I help you?" Nigel asked, brushing the crumbs from his suit. She spun around in surprise.
"Scalpel! Er, Nigel! I was just... I mean I was..." Starfire stammered. Walking over quickly, the Blacktrinian took the vials, chemicals and various drugs from her hands and placed them in their proper places. There was silence for a moment or two.
"Would you like me to check your health?" He asked quietly.
"Yes."
"Would you like me to check for anything in particular?" His tone was soft and gentle; more so than any other Blacktrinian could even think of managing.
"No, but please keep this discreet. I do not wish for Robin or any of the others to discover whatever is wrong." She replied in a quiet tone.
"Very well, if you would be so kind as to sit on the bed of examination." Nigel replied, as he gestured to the blue bed up against the wall. Starfire obliged.
The whole thing took roughly half an hour. Basic checks, breathing checks, in-depth views, blood samples, the whole nine yards. But nothing was found.
"I wish to know, what does my blood tell you?" She asked, pointing to the vial that Nigel had placed in the medical fridge. Turning back to the Tamaranean princess, he thought for a moment and then shrugged.
"Can't tell you straight up. I will have to do some tests. They should only take a few minutes, but I have a feeling about something...though I am not sure of what exactly." He said, as he stroked his chin lightly with one of his talons, he had had more of an inkling then he let on, and he was currently thinking and hoping it wasn't what he thought it was.
Before he could ponder any more on the subject though, the alarm went off, and the two had to rush upstairs to the computer room.
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"What's up?" Cyborg asked as Robin scanned through the information.
"Looks like our 'friend' from before has reappeared." He replied, the keyboard clicking away as he searched. Pictures of the man in the long coat started coming up.
"That nutcase who called himself the 'Sword of Justice'?" Beast Boy asked, letting out a sigh of pure exhaustion. What the heck was his malfunction? They didn't know what he wanted the first time, let alone this time.
"This time he's not alone though."
Another image came up, of a woman with some strange sort of handgun and large shoulder pads. This was just as Starfire and Scalpel came in, and the darkened image of both of them suddenly struck a chord of memory in Nigel.
"Hey! They where the ones who attacked me!" He pointed, tapping on the screen.
"Don't touch." Robin said, batting the doctor's hand away.
"Sorry."
"But I wonder...why has he waited so long to re-appear?" Robin asked, as it had been a few weeks since his first emergence.
"Probably licking his wounds from the beating we gave him!" Gar said triumphantly, flexing his "muscles".
"Not likely." Raven said, once again knocking Beast Boy down a peg. "He was probably waiting for us to be tired from the day we had yesterday before he struck again. And it worked. We're tired, lethargic..." she paused and felt her groggy stomach. "And still full of food from the night before." She regretted her actions now. Her small frame couldn't handle all the food they had eaten yesterday. "We're an easy target."
"Not really." Nigel, said, putting his hands behind his head and smiling his trademark grin. "I am used to eating that amount of food, and therefore I am not an 'easy target'."
"And we kicked YOUR butt..." Beast Boy replied, also attempting to knock someone down a peg. He failed.
"Cyborg snuck up behind me." Nigel said, glancing at the green teen, unimpressed.
"In any case, he's waiting for us." Robin said, as he called their attention back to the screen. Sword held up a sign saying. 'Come and get me Titans'.
"Trap?" Cy asked, prepping his cannon.
"Yep."
"A big fight?"
"Yep."
"I wouldn't have it any other way." He finished as they all left, in their own ways, or sponging off another people's way to get there.
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"You think they'll come?" Sword asked his sister, whose red eyes were scanning the horizon for their impending foes while they stood on the docks.
"How would I know? You where the one who asked them here." She spat back at him, obviously angered.
"Are you still angry with me?" He asked, looking back at her with a slight smile on his face.
"You ruined our Five Minute Rule!" She snapped, placing her hands on her hips. The Five Minute Rule was where one of them would rush in, fight until they won, and then rush out, all in less than five minutes. The attempted attack on the Titans saw the first time this rule had failed, and it angered her greatly.
"There were...complications." He responded quiet, not wanting to speak out loud he continued to watch the sea.
"...Very well." She knew he didn't want to speak and left it at that. This time, they would not fail.
"Here they come." She said quietly, preparing the enchanted gun she had pulled from her shoulder pad. Making it to land, the Titans looked up and saw the pair. Robin gave his default command.
"Titans! Go!"
And so they did. Nigel and Noel taking the lead, Starfire and Raven backing them up with Robin and the duo of Cyborg and Beast Boy at the back. But Scalpel was downed quickly with a shot from the enchanted gun, rendering him in a state of pain that rivalled Noel's when his Shimmer got cut. His race were wonderful hand-to-hand combatants, but they were weak against projectile weapons, as they left him nearly useless and wracked with pain.
Doing a double take at this sudden defeat, Savior launched the Shimmer from his hand, only to have it grabbed and the white-garbed Titan thrown from the battlefield with a curse. Starfire started up with her Starbolts, but the nausea in her stomach threw her off, and this cost her as she became distracted and was left wide open to an attack from their enemy's magic handgun, which was taken full advantage of, as it charged and shot her. But this wasn't the same projectile. This one made magic rings form around the target, forcing Starfire's hands to her sides, and she fell. Robin caught his other half and swung away, placing her down in a safe place as he tried with all his might to pry off the bands.
Cyborg had gotten into a hand-to-hand fight with Sword, and they were deadlocked until Sword shoulder barged Cyborg into a wall, making it crack and crumble a little. The grey skinned man drew back his hand for what looked like a hell of a punch, but Nigel and Beast Boy had other plans as Nigel snapped the arm out into Sword's side, and Beast Boy, as a gorilla, slammed into Sword's elbow, forcing it the wrong way. This was the opening Cyborg was looking for, and he rammed Sword back and out of the way. Shows that teamwork can pull it off after all.
On the top of one of the harbour buildings, Raven was throwing everything she could find at the sister of Sword. It wasn't working, as she blocked them with some form of magic screen.
"You wouldn't be called Shield by any chance would you?" Raven asked. The woman shrugged and lowered the wall.
"That's what Sword likes to think."
"You're a mage?" Raven asked, hoping she didn't find a copy of herself in this foe.
"Not exactly," She stated and raised the gun again. Its full magical power had been charged, as some form of lettering or characters circled it and the weapon started to glow at the barrel. The enchantments moved out and formed into a new barrel in front of it. "I can charm objects, giving them magical properties and I can create shield, but that's about it."
So it wasn't quite a copy. Unlike Shield, Raven could create barriers, move objects, read minds and do anything she saw fit with her powers, but giving a weapon magical properties... now that's a strange one. And she wouldn't have to wait long to find out the full effects of it, as a blast of dark magical power came from the barrel and slammed into Raven full force, knocking her off the edge.
Luckily Savior was there to break her fall, and they shot back up, Noel dropping Raven off and then swinging over to Shield. With a hand signal, they attacked, wrapping her up with the Shimmer while Raven started to pelt her with random objects.
"Argh! No wonder my brother couldn't beat you on his own!"
Speaking of her brother, he had his hands full with the three single gents who were doing their best impression of a three man tag team from the WWE. Nigel swung around a post and slammed his feet into the chest of Sword, knocking him back, as Cyborg jumped into the air and elbow slammed him. Beast Boy slammed onto Cyborg in what was known as a frog splash, putting even more weight on the torso of Sword.
But, showing an incredible amount of strength, Sword bench pressed Cyborg and Beast Boy off and stood up. Scalpel tried a Blacktrinian falkla kick, which was much like a roundhouse kick with the pointed toes going for the opponents head. It didn't work, as he was caught in mid-air, and then to add injury to more injury, was used as a bat to knock Cyborg and Beast Boy away. Finishing the swing, Sword threw Nigel towards the water's edge.
Fortunately, he didn't land IN the water. He landed hard, on the concrete, his head over the edge so he could see the water, but wasn't actually touching it. But to him, that was far preferable, and he rolled over on to his back and thanked his lucky stars. Quite literally: stars were dancing before his eyes.
"Too close, far too close. Thank you star of faith. And all your pretty coloured friends" Nigel babbled. It passed, and he quickly got back up and ran back to the fray.
Starfire and Robin had finally gotten back into the swing of things as Robin went for Sword and Starfire went after Shield. Shield had gotten out of the 'hug' that Savior had had her in, and was now firing off more magic rounds that cut straight through any of the barriers that Raven put up to defend herself as if they were tissue paper. Savior lashed out at the red- eyed girl, forcing her back...into an area that still had people in it. Not the best move, and the battle escalated even further, as Raven now had more ammunition to throw. Combined with Starfire's barrage, Shield's barriers that protected her beforehand couldn't withstand it: the onslaught of objects, Shimmer strands and Starbolts threw her back into an industrial chimney. That started to topple. While there were still people under it. Savior hissed and willed the chimney to stabilize. It didn't. Bloody hell.
"The people!" Starfire called, trying to rush to the rescue...only to have Raven try to stop her.
"Even if you got there in time you'll never be able to hold the weight!" She shouted after the Tamaranan girl. But it was too late: she was under the pillar and it was far too heavy to be stopped even by Savior or Raven's abilities. It must have been over a dozen tons of brick at least! And so it toppled towards the top of the building...
Until some sort of purple light appeared at its base, encasing everyone and propping up the pillar. And the source of this energy? Starfire looked around to see Shield holding up her hands, sweat forming on her brow as she tried to keep the monumental weight of this tower of bricks up.
"Aha! I knew she would save herself!" Savior called, getting in closer.
"No, she isn't." Raven said. She had noticed that if she just wanted to save herself, why create a barrier that protected everyone? Why not just a bubble around herself, with more shielding? 'She must be trying to save the others as well' Raven thought, going down and trying to save some of the people. But the shield seemed to be one-way: people could come out, but no one could go in.
"MYTH! HELP ME!" Shield shouted at the top of her lungs. No one knew who Myth was (well, not in THIS story anyway), but they hoped that whoever it was he/she got there soon: the glowing symbols on Shield's armour was becoming erratic, flashing as she fell down to one knee, sweat now pouring from her brow as the tower fell a little more.
The ears of Sword, Nigel and Gar pricked up a little at the voice. Sword turned to face its direction, the battle pausing with Robin in mid throw and Cyborg aiming.
"Sister!" He shouted, as he made his way full speed to the sound, followed closely by Beast Boy and Scalpel. The other two men looked at each other and shrugged, following as well. Soon enough though, they found out what was happening. Starfire was ferrying people out of the barrier area via waving her arms and pointing, since she couldn't carry everyone out by herself. Raven and Savior were trying to support the pillar, or at least keeping a bit of the weight so Shield's barrier held for a little while longer. Sword ploughed through the edge of the shield to help, and then to some surprise, so did Beast boy, but when Nigel tried the Blacktrinian just seemed to bounce off the surface and skid back across the floor, tripping up Robin and Cyborg.
"Watch where yer going!" Cyborg shouted from the pile.
"I wasn't expecting to bounce!" Nigel yelled in retaliation, eventually getting out from under the pile. Sword, who was now obviously Myth, had sprouted his dragon wings as he did before and started to hold the tower up with his hands, while Beast Boy checked the young woman. By now she looked nearly dead, so exhausted she was practically falling over. Beast Boy waved his hand in front of her face, to make sure she was still there. She looked up at him, her bright red eyes full of pain. It was clear she couldn't hold on much more.
"Come on! You're doing great! Just hang in there!" He encouraged as he ran forward, transforming into a T-rex and helping prop up the tower with his massive head. Shield smiled to herself, but she was all but gone, the symbols flashing wildly, like a candle flickering just before the wind blew it out... And then they were no longer there at all, and she fainted, bringing down the shield with her. Savior and Raven suddenly were jolted forward, having to support the majority of the weight now. And it wasn't enough, not even with the help of the others: the tower was going to fall and probably kill Starfire, Beast Boy and Shield. And there wasn't a damn thing they could do about it, as the top part started to break apart. A rain of brick pummelled the Titans, instinctively causing them to rear back, and with that the tower collapsed, crashing down on everything below it. An explosion of bricks occurred as they hit the floor, shattering and breaking. When the dust settled, there was nothing but ruin.
"STARFIRE!" Robin shouted at the top of his voice, rushing over to the bricks and searching through them.
"Robin!" Came a response. But it wasn't from the bricks, but from his right, and then Starfire was flying over and grabbing Robin in a death grip.
"Air Star! Air!" He begged, waving his arms around as much as possible. She blushed and let go. "How did you escape? I thought the bricks had you!"
Beast Boy popped up as well, holding the unconscious Shield in his arms as he walked forward, covered in dust but besides that fine. "Beast Boy! You also survived!?"
"Don't sound so surprised!" He laughed. "I now owe Scalpel big time!" Then something occurred to him, an idea he didn't like the sound of. "Where is he, anyway?"
"He came towards us at a swift pace, grabbed us and pushed us away from the falling structure." Starfire told Robin, looking around the wreckage site.
"But if he did that...ah bloody hell..." Savior said, as he looked at the rubble. Nigel was still underneath the ruined chimney and the others' eyes went wide, as they began to frantically search.
By the way, what Nigel had decided to do was to get Cyborg to shoot him in the back with the sonic cannon, sending him under the tower so he could grab everyone and throw them out. He had hoped to make it as well, but now it looked like he didn't.
The search continued as Beast Boy cradled the unconscious Shield. There was something about her that struck him: he didn't know what it was but it was definitely there. But...
His thoughts were broken by the shouts as Cyborg found Scalpel, half buried in rubble but still breathing. They continued to search a little for Sword, but all they found was a hole leading in to a sewer pipe.
Somehow, that seemed enough. And they had a feeling Sword would be showing up again.
Back at Titan Tower, once Scalpel was awake again and able to move as best he could, he wandered out of the lab with the results of the test (abet with a limp. A several ton tower hit him in the legs after all...)
Starfire was in the office, fiddling with the buttons on her shirt (She did have other clothes you know, just not many). The doctor made his grand entrance and limped over to the big chair behind the desk.
"What did you find? Please tell me as I am anxious to know."
Nigel sat down (painfully I might add) with the results.
"I don't know how I can really tell you this...but..."
"Tell me! What is wrong with me?"
"Kory..." He paused and sighed." You're... err..."
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Dum-dum-DUMMMM~~~~
A slight cliff hanger there. Will the young woman do something drastic to the serious news? Or will she deal with it sensibly... You know what? I have no idea myself... What could the serious news be I wonder?