Flashing Lights and Sounds
By Jedi-and
Disclaimer: I do not own TT, nor do I own Mr.Noel Collins or Robert Candide but I DO own some of my own characters.
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Chapter 12: The Iron claw of the Empire always holds on till last...
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"Please send her in." A young man said. He was robed in a black and dark burgundy outfit, and he sat with others dressed like him in a circle, a large flame in the centre of the room and glowing symbols on the floor that matched the robes.
Moments later, a woman walked in, dressed in white clothing. Even her armour was platinum white. She removed her hat and bowed slightly towards the group, her dark hair fluttering. She was dressed in a suit like jacket with a metallic collar that rose over her chin and came to a point on her chest. Her skintight trousers were also white as was the armour on her shins.
"How may I help you?" She asked, not replacing her hat.
"Rebecalnatrac Styilnifanalan, we are in need of your amazing battle prowess for a mission." The first one said, speaking again. "One of the newest to the circle has heard that her brother, who was enlisted into the war against the Tamaraneans, has gone missing. Last reports indicate he was passing near the Terra-CX solar system."
"That's quite a way away. Why tell me this? Why not just tell the military?" She asked. When a White Hole asks to know something, it is not a question, but a demand that you must carry out.
"The planet we think he landed on is the planet known to its inhabitants as Earth."
This raised both brows of Rebecalnatrac, abet in a form of relaxed surprise.
"Then it is a matter for the prison office."
"We tried." A softer voice came from the end of the circle, a masked figure whose long silver hair came from the hat like object on her head. She wore the burgundy and black robes over the top of her lighter red and green ones. The leader's head snapped towards her, and she recoiled lightly. "My apologies for speaking."
"Remember, obedience is one of the founding markers of our society. You would do well to remember that."
"Again, I apologize." She whispered, falling from the conversation just as quickly as she had arose, a slight tear tracing its way down the side of her face.
"As I was saying, we have tried to organize something with the Prison office, but they refuse to look on the planet, which is why we have turned to you."
The figure in white folded her arms, an all knowing smirk coming across her features.
"You want me to go to the planet and search for this... Missing person?"
"That is correct. We will make it worth your while." The supposed leader said. A silver palm held out three large red coins, each worth roughly the equivalent of one million dollars if we translated Blacktrinian currency systems to ours.
"That...yet surely you realize...I make more than that just sitting at home!" She spat, her true arrogance showing through (or more so than before). Her head turned slightly as she rose in order to place on her hat. She had heard enough.
"Only if there is a war on, and at the moment, there are no conflicts that require your attention or effort."
She paused. It was true, the Empire was not expanding its territories (yet...) and after the conflict with Tamaran the Empire was recovering, as it had been a long a brutal battle. People don't like soldiers around in peacetime, and she would be out of a job as the Military police didn't do a lot in her society. She dropped her hat back down to the side.
"I'm listening." She said quietly. The leader nodded to his companions and they rose and left, including the weepy priestess. He stood to her level, an averagely sized Blacktrinian standing at approximately six foot one, and even though she had to look up to him, she was the one in control.
"His name is Nigicalnack Hastionfarlock, and we chose you for several reasons, one of which being that there are a lot of ex-convicts on Earth from the old empire, who are armed with human weapons and can be extremely dangerous." He paused as the flame in the centre changed colour from its previous fiery red to a more subtle blue, as did the floor markings with it. "The second is this. If you do find this man...kill him."
"Assassinations costs extra." She replied calmly. She showed not a wit of surprise at what he had just said.
"How true. A mercenary for hire till the last." He said. He pulled from his robe sleeve a blue coin, worth roughly half of the red ones. "The empire doesn't like loose ends. Those humans are stupid now, yes indeed, and they are weak and fragile. However they use guns." He threw the coin to the White Hole. "Big guns. And lots of them. It could be a problem for us as they are accurate marksmen, for the most part, and if they find out our weakness they could decimate the empire one day, when they get interstellar space travel up."
Another pause as he breathed.
"And the Empire doesn't want anyone telling any secrets, both in a military and a religious sense?" The woman said. A smirk came onto her face as she fiddled with the small blue coin. Of course the religion was nothing much more than a cover.
"You read my mind. If you do not return, I will assume that you have been killed and our transaction never took place." The leader said. He placed up his hood as she placed on her hat.
"Fine, I shall depart. But I will return. Have no fear of that."
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And so she had gone, and she found Nigicalnack Hastionfarlock, and at this very moment she has a blade stuck in his back, twisting his innards out to try and cause as much pain as possible before she grew bored and finally put a bullet in his brain. Unlike what would be logical, he had come to her to try and protect his friend, or at least his leader. She gathered that when more turned up.
"Yo, big shot! Let's see you fight all of us!"
And there stood the rest of these so called Titans. One was missing, a long haired young woman who was supposed to be able to fly. The Tamaranean girl. Rebecca shrugged. Looks like she will have to kill her later. But for now, here were the self appointed protectors of this 'fair' city, who stood there ready to give their life for a deserter. Idiotic sacks of flesh. She would enjoy destroying such stupidity.
"My quarrel is not with you, but with the man who I am currently gutting like a side of meat. Leave or share his fate."
"Get out of here!" Nigel shouted, only to claw at the roof in pain again as she twisted the pike-like weapon even more. The torture was becoming unbearable as he tried his hardest not to cry out in pure agony. He would NOT give her that satisfaction.
"We ain't leaving. You hurt our leader and you're hurting our doctor. It's time we hurt you." Cyborg said, with his cannon fully extended and ready. It had taken some work to get them out of the tower, but Raven and Cyborg managed to override whatever lock Nigel placed on the windows and doors. He may have been a doctor, but he was no computer expert. They had quickly tracked the pair to their present location, fighting this so-called law enforcer.
"You really should take his advice, it's not wise to fight me and..."
An air vent encased in black energy being thrown at her interrupted Rebecca.
"You talk far too much." Raven said, floating overhead, a few more bits of paraphernalia from the surrounding rooftops at the ready for throwing. Rebecca dodged out the way of the missiles being thrown at her, only to be batted away by some form of energy wall made by the ever-present Gauntlet. She stumbled back straight into Beast Boy, who, in ram form, knocked her back to the ground.
"I don't see why Scalpel worried so much! Heck I could take you on my own!" Gauntlet taunted, pulling back to punch her.
A glint was seen in Rebecca's eye as she caught his hand.
And snapped his wrist in three places just by twisting it, making a nasty crack and a bone or two appearing through the back of his hand, before she used the other clawed hand and batted him away, forcing a look of surprise on everyone around at her pure strength.
"Geez." Noel said. In non-combat situations he was always riding Gauntlet's ass, but this was business now, and Gauntlet was a team mate. And if you attacked ONE Titan...
Another projectile came at Rebecca, but she caught it and threw it straight back at Raven at such a speed she couldn't throw up a shield. Luckily Raven was going upwards at the time, because if that had struck her head, she wouldn't be waking back up. Instead, it slammed straight into her gut, forcing her to double over and fall to the rooftop, trying to breath.
Cyborg tried to fire at her (After all, if full power knocked Scalpel out, it should do the same to the White Hole! Or at least cause her serious pain! Right?) but she dashed forward as he fired, each shot missing her. Growling, Cyborg began to fire again...
Only to find that Rebecca had moved at such speed that when he fired, she had grabbed his arm and re-aimed his cannon straight at his chest. He blew a hole in his own torso and was thrown by the impact into Beast Boy.
Savior lashed out with the Shimmer, grabbing the White Hole's cape and pulling hard on it, trying to knock her of balance so he could set up another attack, but she retaliated quicker then he had anticipated and pulled her cape close enough to grab the Shimmer and slice it. The white- garbed Titan fell to his knees in pure pain.
"Goddamn, if it's not giant dragon men it's superpowered female clones!" Noel cursed, harping on the trouble Nigel had unwittingly attracted.
"Humans are always a fun race to pick on." Rebecca chuckled to herself. She didn't even have a scratch on her, and she had single handedly disarmed and disabled the protectors of this city. And it felt good.
All that had to be done now was to finish off Scalpel, as they called him, and she could go.
Her laughter was cut short by some green blasts that exploded off her cape, knocking her to the floor in pain. She turned and glared daggers at the attacker.
"Leave my friends alone." Starfire said. Against all orders and wishes, she had arrived on the scene. Although she wasn't in costume (unless maternity wear was the latest fashion choice for metahumans and Starfire had heard it through the grape vine first), you could tell she was angry and she wanted to help.
"Little Tamaranean whore!" The Blacktrinian barked, growling and pulling that strange black projectile weapon out again to fire, trying to aim through her pain and rage. She then finally saw Starfire's condition and re- aimed to cause as much pain as possible, which was straight for her stomach. The same sadistic smirk came across her face.
"STARFIRE! RUN!" Robin shouted from where he was, trying to get his other half to flee the battlefield before something terrible happened. Aggravated, the White Hole stopped her shot as she stormed over and kicked him hard in the face, knocking him back down. Starfire tried to fire more Starbolts, but this woman had obviously been fighting Tamaraneans in the Great 100 Year War, as she knew where they would be aimed, be it Starbolts or weapons, Tamaraneans aim mainly for the feet and torso, the first to disable and the second to kill, and she dodged them all with relative ease. Starfire raised her arms up to charge a larger blast, but the baby started to kick, distracting her and causing the blast to dissipate.
"Good night little one. I hope your mother misses you." Rebecca said, as she raised the gun again and aimed.
Starfire realized, in that sublime moment, that she had caused even more trouble than her worth, because if she was attacked, she would be far too heavy to dodge. She could not ascend to avoid the attack, and sharp abrupt movements were almost impossible. She was a sitting duck for the gun...
"I doubt that."
A pair of talons wrapped around her arms, sending the shot into the floor as they were pinned to her side. Scalpel was up, with the glaive still stuck in his back. And Beast Boy, still relatively unharmed, and in a brief moment of cold battle effiecieny rather then emotion for a friend in pain, turned into a kangaroo and used his huge feet to jump and ram the glaive's blunt end, sending it shooting through his friend and straight through the White Hole. She screamed, black blood spurting out the front of her as she looked in pure shock. The hero Blacktrinian, in a great show of testicular fortitude, pulled himself backwards and OFF the glaive before he grabbed the pole end of it, still slick with his own blood, and lifted the White Hole up, slamming her into the floor before he removed the weapon from her and backed up.
"YIKES." Noel said, thoroughly impressed.
The eyes of Nigel were glowing an all-familiar blue, this time in anger, as the rest of the Titans came up and lined up around him, but not too near as they didn't want any of his still flowing blood to splash on them and give them a rough equivalent of being sprayed with napalm.
"I have an idea. It may be risky, but it also might work." He whispered. Cyborg prepped his cannon, still feeling weak from where he shot himself, and fired, knocking the White Hole back to buy them some time.
"What is your plan?" Robin asked, for once giving him the respect he never gave him. Although that might have been due to the several blows to the head he had suffered possibly giving him a concussion.
He whispered into Robin's ear what he wanted. He nodded and signalled for Beast Boy, Savior, Raven and Starfire to go and do what they had to do, while the rest stayed and fought the White Hole to set her up.
"So how do you expect us to win?" Cyborg said, as he indicated the lack of people there facing this menace.
"I don't... I just want us to... Um..." Nigel paused, unable to think of the words.
"Just buy some time Cyborg, all we need to do is to fight her off and keep from getting killed for just a little while, and then we can put the plan into action." Robin finished, getting ready.
"Fine with me Fearless!" Cyborg shouted as he fired his cannon repeatedly in the direction of the White Hole. Apparently getting impaled had messed up her evasive abilities, as she was struck over and over.
"Let's get some action going!" Gauntlet shouted, jumping back into the battlefield, trying to block out the pain of his broken wrist.
"Let's hope we last..." Nigel muttered in his native tongue, a worried look coming from his harsh glowing eyes. Because if he failed, if they failed, they would all die.
"You are all fools." Rebecca hissed. Cyborg fired one more time, but this time it didn't hit its target, instead bouncing off into another direction, completely destroying the side of a high building. She smirked. "I think it's time I showed off a tool or two."
There was a bracer on her arm which they hadn't noticed before. Its colouring was green and white, with an orb in the same colour under some bands of armour. The orb shone out a brilliant light, almost blinding before it faded away again.
"A force field!" Robin shouted before jumping back, trying to put a little more distance between himself and the overpowered opponent before she gained the ability to launch a counter offensive. She was clearly angry now, and it was visible as her eyes started to glow a faint yellow. She drew her club-like weapon and regained her composure, her eyes returning to what a Blacktrinian would call normal.
"You bore me. How long do you expect you can last?" She taunted, as she raised her gun again and fired, the male Titans just managing to dodge to the side.
"Yo Scalps! Didn't you say that we'd be dead in five minutes if we met one of these things?" Cyborg asked, sitting painfully back up.
"You just HAD to bring that up now, didn't you?" Gauntlet replied.
"..." Scalpel didn't respond. Was this all it seemed? Or were they walking into a larger and larger trap? Rebecca, in all likelihood, should have killed at least half of them by now. Maybe she wasn't used to the atmosphere of this planet? Or was she just being lazy? Whatever it was, he didn't like the feeling of helplessness that was coming over him.
And he was right on the money, as she struck.
She dashed forward and sidestepped the cannon of Cyborg before grabbing his arm once again. Instead of re-aiming it at him, she just ripped it off at the elbow joint in a quick jerk and threw it away before taking his other arm and putting the club through it, completely decimating the delicate construction of the limb. Cyborg yelled, but without arms he was soon kicked away with a sharp heel blow to the mechanical side of his head, forcing the large Titan to skid across the roof top.
Gauntlet moved in, the yellow energy of his artefact forming a wall that pushed the White Hole towards the edge of the roof. However, it wasn't enough, as she jumped up and over the barrier, landing on Gauntlet's side of the 'wall'. He whipped up a bladed weapon and a shield from the Gauntlet's abilities to try and block and attack. But both were blocked before she did a long kick into his gut, forcing him to double over. She drew back to land a hard blow to the back of Robert's head with the club, but a disk spun and landed on the club, beeping down and then exploding, sending the White Hole flying through the air. She landed on the next building across.
The White Hole jumped back up and growled at the disc thrower, who was of course the man who had everything in his belt, Robin. Now even angrier then before at the impudence of humans, she jumped back across to the original roof with no trouble, skipping over and grabbing the Teen Wonder and throwing him through the empty air above the street and into a building. Which was quite shocking to all the staff in there who were watching the fight intently.
That only left the fugitive to be dealt with, and now his friends were out of the way, she had all the time in the world. She tuned only to receive a nasty left hook from Nigel.
It did nothing.
She retaliated with a right hook that nearly took his head off (in a quite literal sense) as he was launched across the roof and off it, going through the roof access stairwell. She casually made her way over and dragged him out from the rubble, prepping her second gun as she pointed it at him.
"Mission complete." She uttered lightly, her claw slightly squeezing the trigger of the weapon.
Then her ears twitched, and she just managed to duck down, dodging a piece of pipe that was thrown at her. A pipe that was encased in black energy. She stood back up and pointed the black gun at whoever threw it.
"Smile!" Savior quipped. He was standing next to a large, dark, object. As the sun was slowly going down, it was hard to make out what it was...until it was too late.
He flipped the switch and bright light appeared, blinding the young mercenary. The object happened to be a giant spotlight, the ones they use whenever someone decides to scale the outside of a rather tall building. And Blacktrinians liked incredibly bright lights being shone in their eyes about as much as humans did... Actually, worse. Remember she was from the home world, and remember what I said about their days? 1 out of 50 days where sun. Everything else was quite dark. She growled and tried as hard as she could to guard her eyes as she turned and ran towards the edge of the building to jump away. She reared back as she reached the edge, preparing to spring...
Starfire, and her grin, shot in front of her at a speed that she hadn't anticipated: it was too fast to be under her own power with the size she was, so something must have helped her. Rebecca's eyes, which were finally coming back into focus, noticed what it was: a helicopter. Then she noticed the mounted searchlight on the side with the expectant Star behind it.
"As I believe humans say, let there be light!" She said, as she flipped the switch and turned the spotlight on. The White Hole had a deer caught in the proverbial headlights look as her eyes dilated and her ears flopped down a little before she stumbled back and the helicopter rose.
"Make sure you stay on this side!" Starfire shouted in her headset to the chopper pilot.
"Sure thing Miss Starfire!" He shouted back, lifting it up out of the reach of the White Hole, but still low enough to have some effect. Two of her three exits were now covered, so there was only one way left, and that was from where she had come in: the office building across the street. She turned to jump...but once again she was stopped as Beast Boy (in pterodactyl form) lifted his other half Charm (who conveniently happened to be nearby, I guess) up to roof level. She was holding a fog lamp, and was chanting a little 'power' spell into it.
"Peek-a-boo!" Beast Boy stated.
"We see you!" Charm finished as the light, encircled by Runes, activated and shone forth. Now the White Hole was completely surrounded, blinded, and unable to do anything. They had her exactly where they wanted her, and she couldn't do a damn thing about it.
Well, at least that was the plan, but as we have seen so many times in the past, things don't always go the way they were planned, do they?
And they didn't, as Rebecca reached back into her cape and pulled out the white gun and started to fire randomly in all directions, in the hopes that she would hit something. The Titans (or all that could) ducked for cover, knowing that with her ears she could probably pinpoint their locations just by their breathing.
She fired the first few shots with little or no effect, and then things started to go pear-shaped. She hit Beast Boy's wing and caused him to let go of one of Charm's arms, forcing her to drop the light. Now with one side clear, she could start to regain control, and she turned, destroying the light that Savior and Raven had provided with a bullseye shot, forcing the couple to jump for safety lest the second bullseye be on them.
Starfire was all that was left. The chopper pilot moved the helicopter in front of Rebecca so the light was still in her eyes. She quickly dived down try and to get away, but what she hadn't anticipated was the fact the pilot carried a side arm, and he was good with it, as he fired down onto the concrete below.
Unfortunately for him, the lack of the two support lights meant he could not shine enough light at her to prevent her from returning fire. He had managed to get one round into her leg, that was all he managed as Rebecca returned fire and shot a hole in his hand AND in his engine from her gun. After the engine shot though, she ran out of ammo for both guns. Thank god for small favours. Or maybe not, as there was a small clatter and the White Hole was far too busy smiling at the turn of events that had played out for her to have come out the worse end. Not to mention the really nasty sound coming from the now damaged machine.
"Screw this! I'm outta here!" The pilot shouted.
"No! We have to stay!" Starfire tried to protest, looking back at the pilot.
"The only thing we have to do is land! Or we're both dead! I'm sorry Starfire!" He said as he flew away, carrying the Tamaranean with him, to try and land before the chopper ran out of fuel or exploded, whichever came first.
With all the lights gone, Rebecca turned back around to Nigel, who was fiddling with a handgun covered in human blood. It was actually the pilot's gun, which had conveniently landed near the Blacktrinian, but there was a problem.
"RAH! Come on!" Nigel cursed. He wasn't having an easy time, as he was trying to use a gun made for people who had four normal sized fingers. Nigel had two large talons in the place of four, which means his fingers were far too large for the 'small' trigger guard.
"Commendable. But a total waste of time." Rebecca said. The White Hole walked, in her ever so condescending way, towards the ill-fated young man, before grabbing and lifting him up with both her claws.
"Your friends have rendered my other weapons useless, so it looks like I will have to finish this with my bare hands." She said as she started to squeeze, trying to destroy his neck and windpipe with her claws. "I am going to enjoy this." Rebecca cracked a smirk as Nigel's thrashing grew sluggish and his breathing slowed and began to stop.
Nigel didn't know what to do, and he was rapidly going helpless. Remember what happens when he gets into trouble he can't handle? His eyes glow and the Blacktrinian survival instinct kicks in, doing something totally instinctual and hoping it works.
It was what made him reach up with his clawed hand and tear at her face quickly. A soggy ripping sound was heard, and he fell to the floor, trying to breath again as she screamed and bellowed, rolling on the ground clutching her face.
"What just happened?" Savior asked as he landed on the roof, trying to find his bearings and the other Titans. But all he saw was the most intact Titan, Beast Boy, alongside their ex-adversary, but something was different about her. Probably the look of pure horror on her face. Beast Boy had the same look, except he was focusing on something.
"Dude... He just... ripped her eye out..." Beast Boy whispered. He pointed forward at a black orb with a yellow centre on the floor. There was no doubt about it, it was an eyeball, and beyond a shadow of a doubt it was her eyeball.
The now one-eyed White Hole stood up, still cradling her wound and looking 900 shades of pissed, and looking like she wanted to pick up where she had left off in her strangulation.
"Hey, CYCLOPS!"
Rebecca turned as Savior lunged forward.
"TOOTH FOR A TOOTH!" Savior yelled as he kicked Rebecca across the face as hard as he could, sending her flying across the roof. Nigel had suffered enough: he'd gladly take a few blows to spare him more pain. Gauntlet thought the same, if his wrist was in one piece.
In the end he didn't have to, as Rebecca got up, snarled, and jumped away, escaping from the battlefield. The still-standing Titans probably could have caught her, but they had their own wounded to deal with.
Especially with Nigel coughing up his lungs trying to breath, and the others laying in pieces around the place trying to scrape themselves together.
And so they gathered up their injured and returned to the tower, but they had a feeling it wasn't over. Rebecca Styles was still out there, watching them with her one remaining eye.
An eye fixed on the idea of revenge.
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Nigel: Why do I not like the look of the next chapter?
Jedi: Nigel, you have ESP I swear. See you in the next one folks!
Nigel: Gulps
By Jedi-and
Disclaimer: I do not own TT, nor do I own Mr.Noel Collins or Robert Candide but I DO own some of my own characters.
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Chapter 12: The Iron claw of the Empire always holds on till last...
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"Please send her in." A young man said. He was robed in a black and dark burgundy outfit, and he sat with others dressed like him in a circle, a large flame in the centre of the room and glowing symbols on the floor that matched the robes.
Moments later, a woman walked in, dressed in white clothing. Even her armour was platinum white. She removed her hat and bowed slightly towards the group, her dark hair fluttering. She was dressed in a suit like jacket with a metallic collar that rose over her chin and came to a point on her chest. Her skintight trousers were also white as was the armour on her shins.
"How may I help you?" She asked, not replacing her hat.
"Rebecalnatrac Styilnifanalan, we are in need of your amazing battle prowess for a mission." The first one said, speaking again. "One of the newest to the circle has heard that her brother, who was enlisted into the war against the Tamaraneans, has gone missing. Last reports indicate he was passing near the Terra-CX solar system."
"That's quite a way away. Why tell me this? Why not just tell the military?" She asked. When a White Hole asks to know something, it is not a question, but a demand that you must carry out.
"The planet we think he landed on is the planet known to its inhabitants as Earth."
This raised both brows of Rebecalnatrac, abet in a form of relaxed surprise.
"Then it is a matter for the prison office."
"We tried." A softer voice came from the end of the circle, a masked figure whose long silver hair came from the hat like object on her head. She wore the burgundy and black robes over the top of her lighter red and green ones. The leader's head snapped towards her, and she recoiled lightly. "My apologies for speaking."
"Remember, obedience is one of the founding markers of our society. You would do well to remember that."
"Again, I apologize." She whispered, falling from the conversation just as quickly as she had arose, a slight tear tracing its way down the side of her face.
"As I was saying, we have tried to organize something with the Prison office, but they refuse to look on the planet, which is why we have turned to you."
The figure in white folded her arms, an all knowing smirk coming across her features.
"You want me to go to the planet and search for this... Missing person?"
"That is correct. We will make it worth your while." The supposed leader said. A silver palm held out three large red coins, each worth roughly the equivalent of one million dollars if we translated Blacktrinian currency systems to ours.
"That...yet surely you realize...I make more than that just sitting at home!" She spat, her true arrogance showing through (or more so than before). Her head turned slightly as she rose in order to place on her hat. She had heard enough.
"Only if there is a war on, and at the moment, there are no conflicts that require your attention or effort."
She paused. It was true, the Empire was not expanding its territories (yet...) and after the conflict with Tamaran the Empire was recovering, as it had been a long a brutal battle. People don't like soldiers around in peacetime, and she would be out of a job as the Military police didn't do a lot in her society. She dropped her hat back down to the side.
"I'm listening." She said quietly. The leader nodded to his companions and they rose and left, including the weepy priestess. He stood to her level, an averagely sized Blacktrinian standing at approximately six foot one, and even though she had to look up to him, she was the one in control.
"His name is Nigicalnack Hastionfarlock, and we chose you for several reasons, one of which being that there are a lot of ex-convicts on Earth from the old empire, who are armed with human weapons and can be extremely dangerous." He paused as the flame in the centre changed colour from its previous fiery red to a more subtle blue, as did the floor markings with it. "The second is this. If you do find this man...kill him."
"Assassinations costs extra." She replied calmly. She showed not a wit of surprise at what he had just said.
"How true. A mercenary for hire till the last." He said. He pulled from his robe sleeve a blue coin, worth roughly half of the red ones. "The empire doesn't like loose ends. Those humans are stupid now, yes indeed, and they are weak and fragile. However they use guns." He threw the coin to the White Hole. "Big guns. And lots of them. It could be a problem for us as they are accurate marksmen, for the most part, and if they find out our weakness they could decimate the empire one day, when they get interstellar space travel up."
Another pause as he breathed.
"And the Empire doesn't want anyone telling any secrets, both in a military and a religious sense?" The woman said. A smirk came onto her face as she fiddled with the small blue coin. Of course the religion was nothing much more than a cover.
"You read my mind. If you do not return, I will assume that you have been killed and our transaction never took place." The leader said. He placed up his hood as she placed on her hat.
"Fine, I shall depart. But I will return. Have no fear of that."
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And so she had gone, and she found Nigicalnack Hastionfarlock, and at this very moment she has a blade stuck in his back, twisting his innards out to try and cause as much pain as possible before she grew bored and finally put a bullet in his brain. Unlike what would be logical, he had come to her to try and protect his friend, or at least his leader. She gathered that when more turned up.
"Yo, big shot! Let's see you fight all of us!"
And there stood the rest of these so called Titans. One was missing, a long haired young woman who was supposed to be able to fly. The Tamaranean girl. Rebecca shrugged. Looks like she will have to kill her later. But for now, here were the self appointed protectors of this 'fair' city, who stood there ready to give their life for a deserter. Idiotic sacks of flesh. She would enjoy destroying such stupidity.
"My quarrel is not with you, but with the man who I am currently gutting like a side of meat. Leave or share his fate."
"Get out of here!" Nigel shouted, only to claw at the roof in pain again as she twisted the pike-like weapon even more. The torture was becoming unbearable as he tried his hardest not to cry out in pure agony. He would NOT give her that satisfaction.
"We ain't leaving. You hurt our leader and you're hurting our doctor. It's time we hurt you." Cyborg said, with his cannon fully extended and ready. It had taken some work to get them out of the tower, but Raven and Cyborg managed to override whatever lock Nigel placed on the windows and doors. He may have been a doctor, but he was no computer expert. They had quickly tracked the pair to their present location, fighting this so-called law enforcer.
"You really should take his advice, it's not wise to fight me and..."
An air vent encased in black energy being thrown at her interrupted Rebecca.
"You talk far too much." Raven said, floating overhead, a few more bits of paraphernalia from the surrounding rooftops at the ready for throwing. Rebecca dodged out the way of the missiles being thrown at her, only to be batted away by some form of energy wall made by the ever-present Gauntlet. She stumbled back straight into Beast Boy, who, in ram form, knocked her back to the ground.
"I don't see why Scalpel worried so much! Heck I could take you on my own!" Gauntlet taunted, pulling back to punch her.
A glint was seen in Rebecca's eye as she caught his hand.
And snapped his wrist in three places just by twisting it, making a nasty crack and a bone or two appearing through the back of his hand, before she used the other clawed hand and batted him away, forcing a look of surprise on everyone around at her pure strength.
"Geez." Noel said. In non-combat situations he was always riding Gauntlet's ass, but this was business now, and Gauntlet was a team mate. And if you attacked ONE Titan...
Another projectile came at Rebecca, but she caught it and threw it straight back at Raven at such a speed she couldn't throw up a shield. Luckily Raven was going upwards at the time, because if that had struck her head, she wouldn't be waking back up. Instead, it slammed straight into her gut, forcing her to double over and fall to the rooftop, trying to breath.
Cyborg tried to fire at her (After all, if full power knocked Scalpel out, it should do the same to the White Hole! Or at least cause her serious pain! Right?) but she dashed forward as he fired, each shot missing her. Growling, Cyborg began to fire again...
Only to find that Rebecca had moved at such speed that when he fired, she had grabbed his arm and re-aimed his cannon straight at his chest. He blew a hole in his own torso and was thrown by the impact into Beast Boy.
Savior lashed out with the Shimmer, grabbing the White Hole's cape and pulling hard on it, trying to knock her of balance so he could set up another attack, but she retaliated quicker then he had anticipated and pulled her cape close enough to grab the Shimmer and slice it. The white- garbed Titan fell to his knees in pure pain.
"Goddamn, if it's not giant dragon men it's superpowered female clones!" Noel cursed, harping on the trouble Nigel had unwittingly attracted.
"Humans are always a fun race to pick on." Rebecca chuckled to herself. She didn't even have a scratch on her, and she had single handedly disarmed and disabled the protectors of this city. And it felt good.
All that had to be done now was to finish off Scalpel, as they called him, and she could go.
Her laughter was cut short by some green blasts that exploded off her cape, knocking her to the floor in pain. She turned and glared daggers at the attacker.
"Leave my friends alone." Starfire said. Against all orders and wishes, she had arrived on the scene. Although she wasn't in costume (unless maternity wear was the latest fashion choice for metahumans and Starfire had heard it through the grape vine first), you could tell she was angry and she wanted to help.
"Little Tamaranean whore!" The Blacktrinian barked, growling and pulling that strange black projectile weapon out again to fire, trying to aim through her pain and rage. She then finally saw Starfire's condition and re- aimed to cause as much pain as possible, which was straight for her stomach. The same sadistic smirk came across her face.
"STARFIRE! RUN!" Robin shouted from where he was, trying to get his other half to flee the battlefield before something terrible happened. Aggravated, the White Hole stopped her shot as she stormed over and kicked him hard in the face, knocking him back down. Starfire tried to fire more Starbolts, but this woman had obviously been fighting Tamaraneans in the Great 100 Year War, as she knew where they would be aimed, be it Starbolts or weapons, Tamaraneans aim mainly for the feet and torso, the first to disable and the second to kill, and she dodged them all with relative ease. Starfire raised her arms up to charge a larger blast, but the baby started to kick, distracting her and causing the blast to dissipate.
"Good night little one. I hope your mother misses you." Rebecca said, as she raised the gun again and aimed.
Starfire realized, in that sublime moment, that she had caused even more trouble than her worth, because if she was attacked, she would be far too heavy to dodge. She could not ascend to avoid the attack, and sharp abrupt movements were almost impossible. She was a sitting duck for the gun...
"I doubt that."
A pair of talons wrapped around her arms, sending the shot into the floor as they were pinned to her side. Scalpel was up, with the glaive still stuck in his back. And Beast Boy, still relatively unharmed, and in a brief moment of cold battle effiecieny rather then emotion for a friend in pain, turned into a kangaroo and used his huge feet to jump and ram the glaive's blunt end, sending it shooting through his friend and straight through the White Hole. She screamed, black blood spurting out the front of her as she looked in pure shock. The hero Blacktrinian, in a great show of testicular fortitude, pulled himself backwards and OFF the glaive before he grabbed the pole end of it, still slick with his own blood, and lifted the White Hole up, slamming her into the floor before he removed the weapon from her and backed up.
"YIKES." Noel said, thoroughly impressed.
The eyes of Nigel were glowing an all-familiar blue, this time in anger, as the rest of the Titans came up and lined up around him, but not too near as they didn't want any of his still flowing blood to splash on them and give them a rough equivalent of being sprayed with napalm.
"I have an idea. It may be risky, but it also might work." He whispered. Cyborg prepped his cannon, still feeling weak from where he shot himself, and fired, knocking the White Hole back to buy them some time.
"What is your plan?" Robin asked, for once giving him the respect he never gave him. Although that might have been due to the several blows to the head he had suffered possibly giving him a concussion.
He whispered into Robin's ear what he wanted. He nodded and signalled for Beast Boy, Savior, Raven and Starfire to go and do what they had to do, while the rest stayed and fought the White Hole to set her up.
"So how do you expect us to win?" Cyborg said, as he indicated the lack of people there facing this menace.
"I don't... I just want us to... Um..." Nigel paused, unable to think of the words.
"Just buy some time Cyborg, all we need to do is to fight her off and keep from getting killed for just a little while, and then we can put the plan into action." Robin finished, getting ready.
"Fine with me Fearless!" Cyborg shouted as he fired his cannon repeatedly in the direction of the White Hole. Apparently getting impaled had messed up her evasive abilities, as she was struck over and over.
"Let's get some action going!" Gauntlet shouted, jumping back into the battlefield, trying to block out the pain of his broken wrist.
"Let's hope we last..." Nigel muttered in his native tongue, a worried look coming from his harsh glowing eyes. Because if he failed, if they failed, they would all die.
"You are all fools." Rebecca hissed. Cyborg fired one more time, but this time it didn't hit its target, instead bouncing off into another direction, completely destroying the side of a high building. She smirked. "I think it's time I showed off a tool or two."
There was a bracer on her arm which they hadn't noticed before. Its colouring was green and white, with an orb in the same colour under some bands of armour. The orb shone out a brilliant light, almost blinding before it faded away again.
"A force field!" Robin shouted before jumping back, trying to put a little more distance between himself and the overpowered opponent before she gained the ability to launch a counter offensive. She was clearly angry now, and it was visible as her eyes started to glow a faint yellow. She drew her club-like weapon and regained her composure, her eyes returning to what a Blacktrinian would call normal.
"You bore me. How long do you expect you can last?" She taunted, as she raised her gun again and fired, the male Titans just managing to dodge to the side.
"Yo Scalps! Didn't you say that we'd be dead in five minutes if we met one of these things?" Cyborg asked, sitting painfully back up.
"You just HAD to bring that up now, didn't you?" Gauntlet replied.
"..." Scalpel didn't respond. Was this all it seemed? Or were they walking into a larger and larger trap? Rebecca, in all likelihood, should have killed at least half of them by now. Maybe she wasn't used to the atmosphere of this planet? Or was she just being lazy? Whatever it was, he didn't like the feeling of helplessness that was coming over him.
And he was right on the money, as she struck.
She dashed forward and sidestepped the cannon of Cyborg before grabbing his arm once again. Instead of re-aiming it at him, she just ripped it off at the elbow joint in a quick jerk and threw it away before taking his other arm and putting the club through it, completely decimating the delicate construction of the limb. Cyborg yelled, but without arms he was soon kicked away with a sharp heel blow to the mechanical side of his head, forcing the large Titan to skid across the roof top.
Gauntlet moved in, the yellow energy of his artefact forming a wall that pushed the White Hole towards the edge of the roof. However, it wasn't enough, as she jumped up and over the barrier, landing on Gauntlet's side of the 'wall'. He whipped up a bladed weapon and a shield from the Gauntlet's abilities to try and block and attack. But both were blocked before she did a long kick into his gut, forcing him to double over. She drew back to land a hard blow to the back of Robert's head with the club, but a disk spun and landed on the club, beeping down and then exploding, sending the White Hole flying through the air. She landed on the next building across.
The White Hole jumped back up and growled at the disc thrower, who was of course the man who had everything in his belt, Robin. Now even angrier then before at the impudence of humans, she jumped back across to the original roof with no trouble, skipping over and grabbing the Teen Wonder and throwing him through the empty air above the street and into a building. Which was quite shocking to all the staff in there who were watching the fight intently.
That only left the fugitive to be dealt with, and now his friends were out of the way, she had all the time in the world. She tuned only to receive a nasty left hook from Nigel.
It did nothing.
She retaliated with a right hook that nearly took his head off (in a quite literal sense) as he was launched across the roof and off it, going through the roof access stairwell. She casually made her way over and dragged him out from the rubble, prepping her second gun as she pointed it at him.
"Mission complete." She uttered lightly, her claw slightly squeezing the trigger of the weapon.
Then her ears twitched, and she just managed to duck down, dodging a piece of pipe that was thrown at her. A pipe that was encased in black energy. She stood back up and pointed the black gun at whoever threw it.
"Smile!" Savior quipped. He was standing next to a large, dark, object. As the sun was slowly going down, it was hard to make out what it was...until it was too late.
He flipped the switch and bright light appeared, blinding the young mercenary. The object happened to be a giant spotlight, the ones they use whenever someone decides to scale the outside of a rather tall building. And Blacktrinians liked incredibly bright lights being shone in their eyes about as much as humans did... Actually, worse. Remember she was from the home world, and remember what I said about their days? 1 out of 50 days where sun. Everything else was quite dark. She growled and tried as hard as she could to guard her eyes as she turned and ran towards the edge of the building to jump away. She reared back as she reached the edge, preparing to spring...
Starfire, and her grin, shot in front of her at a speed that she hadn't anticipated: it was too fast to be under her own power with the size she was, so something must have helped her. Rebecca's eyes, which were finally coming back into focus, noticed what it was: a helicopter. Then she noticed the mounted searchlight on the side with the expectant Star behind it.
"As I believe humans say, let there be light!" She said, as she flipped the switch and turned the spotlight on. The White Hole had a deer caught in the proverbial headlights look as her eyes dilated and her ears flopped down a little before she stumbled back and the helicopter rose.
"Make sure you stay on this side!" Starfire shouted in her headset to the chopper pilot.
"Sure thing Miss Starfire!" He shouted back, lifting it up out of the reach of the White Hole, but still low enough to have some effect. Two of her three exits were now covered, so there was only one way left, and that was from where she had come in: the office building across the street. She turned to jump...but once again she was stopped as Beast Boy (in pterodactyl form) lifted his other half Charm (who conveniently happened to be nearby, I guess) up to roof level. She was holding a fog lamp, and was chanting a little 'power' spell into it.
"Peek-a-boo!" Beast Boy stated.
"We see you!" Charm finished as the light, encircled by Runes, activated and shone forth. Now the White Hole was completely surrounded, blinded, and unable to do anything. They had her exactly where they wanted her, and she couldn't do a damn thing about it.
Well, at least that was the plan, but as we have seen so many times in the past, things don't always go the way they were planned, do they?
And they didn't, as Rebecca reached back into her cape and pulled out the white gun and started to fire randomly in all directions, in the hopes that she would hit something. The Titans (or all that could) ducked for cover, knowing that with her ears she could probably pinpoint their locations just by their breathing.
She fired the first few shots with little or no effect, and then things started to go pear-shaped. She hit Beast Boy's wing and caused him to let go of one of Charm's arms, forcing her to drop the light. Now with one side clear, she could start to regain control, and she turned, destroying the light that Savior and Raven had provided with a bullseye shot, forcing the couple to jump for safety lest the second bullseye be on them.
Starfire was all that was left. The chopper pilot moved the helicopter in front of Rebecca so the light was still in her eyes. She quickly dived down try and to get away, but what she hadn't anticipated was the fact the pilot carried a side arm, and he was good with it, as he fired down onto the concrete below.
Unfortunately for him, the lack of the two support lights meant he could not shine enough light at her to prevent her from returning fire. He had managed to get one round into her leg, that was all he managed as Rebecca returned fire and shot a hole in his hand AND in his engine from her gun. After the engine shot though, she ran out of ammo for both guns. Thank god for small favours. Or maybe not, as there was a small clatter and the White Hole was far too busy smiling at the turn of events that had played out for her to have come out the worse end. Not to mention the really nasty sound coming from the now damaged machine.
"Screw this! I'm outta here!" The pilot shouted.
"No! We have to stay!" Starfire tried to protest, looking back at the pilot.
"The only thing we have to do is land! Or we're both dead! I'm sorry Starfire!" He said as he flew away, carrying the Tamaranean with him, to try and land before the chopper ran out of fuel or exploded, whichever came first.
With all the lights gone, Rebecca turned back around to Nigel, who was fiddling with a handgun covered in human blood. It was actually the pilot's gun, which had conveniently landed near the Blacktrinian, but there was a problem.
"RAH! Come on!" Nigel cursed. He wasn't having an easy time, as he was trying to use a gun made for people who had four normal sized fingers. Nigel had two large talons in the place of four, which means his fingers were far too large for the 'small' trigger guard.
"Commendable. But a total waste of time." Rebecca said. The White Hole walked, in her ever so condescending way, towards the ill-fated young man, before grabbing and lifting him up with both her claws.
"Your friends have rendered my other weapons useless, so it looks like I will have to finish this with my bare hands." She said as she started to squeeze, trying to destroy his neck and windpipe with her claws. "I am going to enjoy this." Rebecca cracked a smirk as Nigel's thrashing grew sluggish and his breathing slowed and began to stop.
Nigel didn't know what to do, and he was rapidly going helpless. Remember what happens when he gets into trouble he can't handle? His eyes glow and the Blacktrinian survival instinct kicks in, doing something totally instinctual and hoping it works.
It was what made him reach up with his clawed hand and tear at her face quickly. A soggy ripping sound was heard, and he fell to the floor, trying to breath again as she screamed and bellowed, rolling on the ground clutching her face.
"What just happened?" Savior asked as he landed on the roof, trying to find his bearings and the other Titans. But all he saw was the most intact Titan, Beast Boy, alongside their ex-adversary, but something was different about her. Probably the look of pure horror on her face. Beast Boy had the same look, except he was focusing on something.
"Dude... He just... ripped her eye out..." Beast Boy whispered. He pointed forward at a black orb with a yellow centre on the floor. There was no doubt about it, it was an eyeball, and beyond a shadow of a doubt it was her eyeball.
The now one-eyed White Hole stood up, still cradling her wound and looking 900 shades of pissed, and looking like she wanted to pick up where she had left off in her strangulation.
"Hey, CYCLOPS!"
Rebecca turned as Savior lunged forward.
"TOOTH FOR A TOOTH!" Savior yelled as he kicked Rebecca across the face as hard as he could, sending her flying across the roof. Nigel had suffered enough: he'd gladly take a few blows to spare him more pain. Gauntlet thought the same, if his wrist was in one piece.
In the end he didn't have to, as Rebecca got up, snarled, and jumped away, escaping from the battlefield. The still-standing Titans probably could have caught her, but they had their own wounded to deal with.
Especially with Nigel coughing up his lungs trying to breath, and the others laying in pieces around the place trying to scrape themselves together.
And so they gathered up their injured and returned to the tower, but they had a feeling it wasn't over. Rebecca Styles was still out there, watching them with her one remaining eye.
An eye fixed on the idea of revenge.
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Nigel: Why do I not like the look of the next chapter?
Jedi: Nigel, you have ESP I swear. See you in the next one folks!
Nigel: Gulps