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 13: Unlucky for Some
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Here we see a city, but what do YOU see?
When we look out onto a city we see things...but what do we see? (I personally see stress and congestion, but I'm just writing this, not living it). Some may see opportunity, a chance to do something big, or just to earn a few bucks. Others might see a fun day out, going to all those big city stores. Others from other big cities could see just another day at the office. And usually for the Titans, it showed a place where they could usually save the day.
Usually.
At the moment, all that the Titans saw was a path heading to perhaps an inexorable death, a death with no remorse nor anyone to mourn for them. Indeed, it had just started to sink into the Titans what lay for them outside the safety of their island. A deadly foe was out there, almost a demon from hell, with enough vengeful hate to transform them from warm living beings to cold hard carcasses in one blow, if need be and opportunity arose.
"I have realized something." Nigel said, staring out of the window to what could only be described as the city of his nightmares, a place where the Empire he had tried so hard to escape from had turned out to be just a breath away, something that could get you in any corner, in any dark ally. It wasn't doom saying or idle dark thoughts either, just the merciless efficiency of the way SHE played this game.
All the pieces on the board were ready to take this queen, but somehow she had already decimated the ranks of the pawns, and was now eager to get to the rest of the board pieces.
"What would that be?" Noel asked. He had escaped the battle surprisingly uninjured, while everyone else was in ruins. Little comfort, as that just meant he'd be in the front lines for the NEXT battle, which his own grievous injuries most likely awaited him. Quite possibly, even his death.
"Would we even be missed?" Nigel replied, turning around from the rain- filled sky. Dark clouds crowded the skies over Jump City, ones that looked like they could rain for at least several hours, maybe even the whole day.
"Don't talk like that man. Its bad enough we got thrown around like tinker toys." Beast Boy snapped, not in the best of moods. Charm had left the group and gone home to heal her wounds and to try and calm herself down. She didn't like heights at the best of times, but when you get shot at while in mid-air, while being supported and then dropped by your boyfriend; it really makes you think about that fear even more.
"Indeed. We have more important things to worry about." Robin stated. Empty words, perhaps, as he was more banged up and bruised than any of them, even though Gauntlet may disagree to that fact, having been given a free open bone fracture of his arm courtesy of Rebecca Styles. "How can we beat this thing?"
"Don't you get it? She won't stop until one of us is dead. Your human restraints and systems cannot hold her. Not even her wound will slow her much" Nigel snapped. and turned his back on the group once more, trying to think. To beat Rebecca Styles, not just a White Hole but in a class of her own? This may well be an impossibility that no one could overcome.
"But how do we stop her?" Starfire asked, hoping there was some weakness they could exploit. There was a pause.
"Aha! We could drop her in a vat of molten steel!" Gauntlet declared. The Titans looked at him funny. "It worked to stop an unstoppable foe in Terminator 2!"
"And praytell, do you happen to have a vat of molten steel? It doesn't exactly grow on trees." Noel replied tersely.
"Errrrrr...no. Um...AHA!"
"We don't have an industrial press or a mini fusion reactor either."
"D'OH!"
"Stop arguing! It's a waste of energy!" Nigel said. There was silence. All that could be heard was the rain running off the windows, dripping down. It's funny: even though Blacktrinians don't like the water, they love the rain. That was one of the thoughts that Nigel had as he stared out, waiting for death.
Then it occurred to him.
"The water." He laughed. "Why did I not fathom such an idea before?"
"Yo! Dude! This is no time for laughing!" Beast Boy shouted, rubbing the gunshot wound he had suffered.
"Ok, he's obviously gone mad." Cyborg whispered lightly.
"And what makes you say that?" Raven replied.
"How is water going to help us? This isn't the Wicked Witch of the West!" "No...she's just a Blacktrinian! Remember, non-swimming, water disliking species of whom Nigel happens to belong to?"
"Whu?"
Raven shook her head at the fact it took him this long to figure out that the White Hole was of Nigel's race.
"She wouldn't dare cross the water to try and get us. As observed in the swimming lessons, all the Blacktrinians are petrified of water." Raven said.
"So as long as we stay here, we're safe?" Starfire asked, just double- checking to be safe.
"Right, all we have to do is wait until she shows up again. Until that time, we can plan a counter attack." Robin re-assured them, holding onto Kory, who was the only other one who was still in one piece. The only bruise she had gotten was from when she had gotten out of the helicopter and banged her head.
"All I want to know is why the hell a mass murdering psycho alien from your race is suddenly out there to kill all of us." Robin asked, making it sound a little more abrupt then it could have been.
"You make it sound as if it's his fault." Noel commented, rubbing his forehead as he gestured towards the newer alien.
"Well isn't it? After all he..."
"Don't even go there Robin." The white-garbed Titan said, as he cut off his leader before looking over sternly. "This has gotten out of hand. You've been against Nigel from the start, and it's getting VERY tiresome. What the hell's up?" He demanded, his expression never changing. Robin said nothing for a moment or two.
"Yeah Fearless, why have ya been putting him down as of late?" Cyborg asked, in a far more relaxed tone than Noel, as he leaned on the back of the chair, trying to repair his innards. Luckily, his armour had stopped the blast, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt like hell.
"It's my own business." Robin replied tersely. Nigel just shook his head. As tired as Noel might be of the treatment, Nigel, being on the actual end of it, was ten time so. Perhaps it would be better to just leave the Titans? But then where would he go? What would he do? He didn't know, so he continued to stand there and shake his head.
"Bull. Your business is rapidly becoming our business. You started blaming Nigel early on, and you're blaming Nigel again. You blame him more than you tie your boots." Noel countered, waving his arm out and accidentally knocking into Robert, who cringed and held his damaged wrist.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow!" He whined, holding the bandage, but by doing so he only made the pain worse.
"Quit complaining! It's your own damn fault for attacking her head on without knowing her physical strength! Fools rush in!" Noel barked.
"Yeah, you don't just walk up to someone who kicked around Fearless and say 'I don't see why they are so scared of you'." Cyborg added, finishing up the repair job as best as he could.
But before they could continue, the island alarm went off. Not in the best of moods, the Titans rushed, limped and floated over to the computer.
Before long, an image came up on the screen of a figure slowly walking towards the entrance. The view was from above, and only in black and white, but they knew who it was just by the look of the hat that they were wearing. Her head shot up as she stared straight into the camera, her one glowing eye shining out, the other socket filled with blankness as the other eye was now absent. Why? If you've forgotten, Nigel had gouged it out trying to prevent her from killing him. The other eye now rested in a test tube in the evidence room
Before any more could be seen, the camera exploded, forcing the picture into static.
"It's her." Cyborg said grimly.
"How'd she find us?" Rob asked, having not gotten much of a look at the image before it turned into static.
"How'd she... We live in a giant T for crying out loud! How can she NOT find us!?" Noel shouted at the 'almost-kleptomaniac' Titan. The sudden apparent danger, as well as the depleted troops and Rob's general "dunceness" had caused Noel's temper to be bordering on fever pitch. Luckily, Raven floated up in front of him and calmed him down before he could lash out at Rob.
"How the hell did she get over the water!" he yelled instead.
"Does it matter? She's here now. As they say on your world, we are all dead." Nigel said, pulling a tube from his jacket. It was about the length of a pencil and the thickness of Robin's staff. He pressed a button and it extended both ways before the sharp bladed end shot out and clicked into place. His glaive.
It's no surprise that the Titans seemed to step back from the young man after that.
"Well, she's at our doorstep. Any ideas?" Robin asked.
"We could pull the same stunt we did with Myth." Beast Boy said, remembering how he had pushed him into the water from the top of the tower.
"We could, problem being getting her up there." Raven said softly, considering her options. Whatever was going to happen, they needed to think of a solution fast: Rebecca was approaching quickly. "What do you think Nigel..."
The Titans turned to him. He was the authority on Blacktrinians at the moment, seeing as he was one himself.
Problem.
"Nigel?"
He wasn't there.
"Why do I feel he's done something stupid?" Raven asked, walking towards the centre of the room and away from the console.
"It wouldn't be the first time." Robin stated, folding his arms. In truth, he no longer cared what happened to the doctor. As long as he didn't get in his way he was fine.
The others gave him a little bit of a look as they waited for the command. Noel had a clear look of disapproval on his face.
"Fine! May as well save him, Titans, GO!" He shouted, as they ran downstairs.
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What is in the heart of man and alien alike?
Rage was in the 'guest's' heart. Each step was a step towards it, towards her goal, towards her own...satisfaction. And soon, soon she would have what she desired most.
She was unaccustomed to the way they treated Blacktrinians on earth. Usually, even the lowest is held in high esteem. Usually. But these humans hadn't even acted close to the way they should have acted towards her. They actually had the gall to show her no respect at all! No one disrespected her!
No one who wanted to live, at any rate.
But something was different. Most humans were weak and breakable. These humans were resilient and powerful, more so than even they imagined, and in some way, their willpower kept shining through, willpower and determination to overcome the odds.
And it frustrated her how a group of teenaged upstarts, a pregnant Tamaranean and a deformed weakling from her own race were able to defeat one of the Blacktrinian military police. Only one other person had kicked her around like this, and he was long gone. She was an elite, unbeatable, untouchable! There should have been fear, respect, worship!
Now there was only anger, pure unbridled hatred towards these teenagers. She was in their home now, and they will know her wrath.
Before she could think any more, twin machine guns emerged from the wall and started to fire at her, trying to hold her back as she ascended the stairs. It wasn't enough. Her race may have been vulnerable to bullets, but that point was moot as she used her force field to get close, then took them out with a single slice of her claws. She was in no mood to dodge and prance around, trying to not get hit.
But she had to dodge the next blow, as the person responsible for her new look came swinging in with his glaive to try and take her head clean off. She just managed to duck, but it took her hat off and imbedded it against the wall. Which to her was an even more grievous insult then if he had struck her: no weakling medic should have gotten the drop on her!
She roared and dived at him, tackling him down to the floor. She slashed at his chest, ripping it open and reopening the old wounds that had only just started to heal. He slashed back at her and pushed her off, but it wasn't long before she had him again by the ankle.
"Yo! I think she's on the floor below!" Cyborg shouted as he made his way down the stairs. His observation was proven correct as the floor seemed to explode in front of him, causing the man-machine to step back and try to reassess the situation. As the smoke cleared, the now dust-covered Scalpel was revealed to be in front of him. She had thrown him right through the ceiling by his ankle, and seeing as each floor was reinforced with concrete, it hurt a hell of a lot more then being thrown through a wall.
Time of the incident and time to react, however, are two different things, and Cyborg was still trying to figure out what had happened when the White Hole made her grand reappearance through the same hole, her shoulder length black hair slightly tinted with dust, much like the whole of Nigel.
"Now I will have my revenge!" She shouted in Blacktrinian, as she dashed forward. Before Cyborg knew what was going on she was lifting him off the floor with one hand. She drew back her long metallic talons.
"Whatever you said, not today!" Cyborg said, as he reached up, breaking her grip (he was strong too). He spun her around and placed his sonic cannon against her stomach. Lifting her slightly, he fired, and this time it was her that was sent hurtling through the ceiling and onto the next floor, onto the level where Starfire and Robin were.
There was silence, before the woman sat up and glared at Starfire. Obviously the sight of her just fuelled her rage, as Starfire, a warrior princess of Tamaran, was one of the few people in the tower who could actually kill her. Starfire backed up a little as Rebecca started to stand. Panicking, Starfire blasted open a window and flew out. A little too quickly, as still falling glass resulted in her cutting her stomach a little. This left Robin alone with the monster, but he didn't care: she was with his kid and he didn't want her fighting anyway.
"You stay away from her!" Robin shouted, trying to stare down someone who had single-handedly wiped out an entire civilization once. He pulled out his weapon of choice, trying to play fearless leader as usually, but in reality he was far too weak and battered to actually put up a good fight, and she just ploughed him through a wall.
Unfortunately, it was into Nigel's room, where he had on his wall the weapons that were given to him on his 5th, 10th and 15th birthdays. This, for a weaponless fighter, was like a gold mine, and she grabbed a sword, the Blacktrinian preferred weapon of choice. She felt along the edge: it was a fine weapon indeed. It shone out, its finish of a high polish, but the hilt was demonic, with what looked like veins wrapping up its edges.
"Still sharp." She smirked, as she leapt towards Robin. He was too slow to react, and as he howled she pierced his shoulder, pinning him to the floor.
"I told you toying with me was a mistake human. It looks like you have not only sealed your fate, but everyone's in this tower." She said, as she drew the sword from his shoulder again and raised it high to slice it down onto his head. She brought it down, slicing his skull in half.
Or at least that was what would have happened if a pair of hand held axes weren't suddenly in the way. Axes encased in black energy.
They clashed and both were thrown back. On the other side of the room, Raven was standing, her arms outstretched and her hands dark with the energy she was emitting. The axes both attacked as she commanded them to, slashing furiously at high speeds at Rebecca, actually making contact now and again with a slash that, although it had speed, had little or no attack power. Not to mention the whole "species laughed off bladed weapons" thing. In the end the White Hole just dropped the sword and grabbed both of the axes. The black energy fought for control, but eventually it was more tactical to just let her have the weapons she had grabbed. If she kept struggling, she'd exhausted herself, and Rebecca would probably get the weapons anyway. This way, she had mind energy for later. Good choice, right?
Wrong.
The White Hole noticed that Raven had stopped controlling the axes, and took the opportunity to, with some swiftness; throw them right back at her. Raven threw up a shield, just in the nick of time as they say... perhaps a bad choice of words as the Axes had imbedded into her barrier, stopping literally a fingernail's length away. She sighed a breath of relief, a sweat drop rolling down her cheek. The axes dropped as she regained her composure, and then she floated up another sword, this one much thinner and more rapier-like, abet not as thin as a fencing foil. Rebecca growled at this. How could she fight an enemy with no physical form for her to strike?
Raven lashed out with her arm, as if she was holding the sword, and the floating weapon mirrored her body language as it lashed out at her opponent, swinging wildly, hoping for a hit. Though less disciplined than her foe, Raven's mind power had the same strength as the White Hole's physical prowess, plus she had far more freedom with the weapon, and she able to block usually unblockable attacks because limbs didn't burden her.
"Little upstart! I will make you bleed!" Rebecca shouted, putting all her effort into a swing and knocking the blade back before rushing forward, but Raven wasn't stupid and she lifted the blades lying by her feet up again to try and stop her.
She was a little too late, as the White Hole ducked under the weapons, ripped open the shoulder of her costume and sunk her double fanged teeth into the bare patch of skin.
Raven's face could only be described as one of pure pain and shock. Her ability to think was virtually destroyed, as all that appeared in her mind was the pain of someone actually trying to eat her alive. She screamed, unable to do anything else.
The Blacktrinian pulled back, ripping a little muscle out of her shoulder before going back for another bite. Tears started to roll down Raven's cheeks. There must have been some kind of paralysing chemical in the bite, as she seemed to be paralysed from doing anything, and the pain was becoming unbearable, each sharp tooth piercing her flesh and nerves, and she could even feel one of the fangs scrape against her shoulder blade....
White rope-like objects came to save the day as they ploughed through the wall and did a repeat performance with the Blacktrinian, if you could call grabbing her through the wound in her chest that she has sustained while fighting Nigel that, wrapping around her torso and pulling her through the walls, leaving the goth lovely to try and recover from the transition from Titan to lunch.
On the other side of the wall was a very pissed off looking Savior, as he formed a sword in his hand from the Shimmer he just used to yank their foe through the wall. The White Hole didn't seem to perturbed, despite the blood flowing from he re-opened wound, as she righted herself. She didn't attack straight away; instead she licked the blood from her lips and smirked.
"What are you so happy about?" Savior snarled, holding up the Shimmer sword with a murderous look in his eyes.
"Pretty young girl, all she needs is a little sauce, but other than that it was a first class meal." She chuckled. Savior looked through the hole in the wall at his other half. She was holding her bloodsoaked shoulder, rocking slightly to try and dull the sharp edge of the pain. Savior's eyes narrowed even more as a low but keen snarling noise came from his throat. He turned and leapt at the attacker, his mind so enraged that the Shimmer strands lost their cohesion and fell apart from the sword shape as he lashed out wildly, tackling the intruder.
"DON'T YOU EVER..."
Whatever furious threat Noel had been tossing out was lost to time, as he was cut off when she smashed him across the face with the hilt of the sword she stole. She then grabbed his Shimmer strands and threw him around, dragging his body, and even sometimes (and he REALLY didn't like that) his face across the walls and ceiling before he finally hit the floor. And she wasn't finished there.
In a moment of curiosity, she placed her foot on his back and, with one of the Shimmer strands still in hand, pulled hard, trying to rip the strands out by their 'roots'. As you can imagine, this hurt like hell. It was probably the equivalent of someone trying to play 'operation' with your spinal cord. Noel squirmed, trying to get away. The White Hole just smirked and laughed as she enjoyed picking apart her opponents piece by piece. Cracking was starting to be heard from Noel's back (though it didn't sound like one big crack, like the ones where someone breaks their back, more like the type of crack that happens when you crack your knuckles, maybe that's not so bad, but if she kept going, who knows what will happen...).
Luckily, whatever was going to happen didn't. Before it could get worse, the alien was thrown off of the captive titan by a yellowish force energy and tossed back through the hole that was made beforehand.
"Never fear! Gauntlet here! Remember Savior, I just saved your life. I own you now!" Gauntlet declared, posing a little...before he was tackled down to the floor by a white blur. Rebecca then tried to do a "Gauntlet-ectomy" on the magical glove that was the hero's namesake weapon. He threw up a shield as quickly as he could, but it wasn't enough, as her claws were so sharp, they started to pass through the barrier.
The most relaxed Titan started to lose his composure, his subconscious mind kicking in and creating random shapes to try and throw her off. In the end he just created a large breezeblock shaped object and slammed her in the face with it. And even that didn't work as she kept her clawed hand in the barrier and kept going. In fact, she had now re-doubled her efforts by using her other hand to try and force her claw through the shield.
"Do I have to do everything?" Savior said. He had now recovered from the attempt at removing his spine through his shoulders, and he was now even madder, as he wrapped the Shimmer around her neck and pulled back in an attempt to rip her from the grasp she had in his companion's shield. Needless to say, this did not go down too well with the attacking alien and she turned to deal with the white Titan.
Unfortunately for her, this had been a set up play for the young doctor, who swung with all his might with the flat edge of his glaive, finally knocking her off, through another wall, and into a small room.
"Okay, we're even," Rob stated, a little relieved. A clank was heard as the White Hole stood again. A shot was heard.
"Ragh!" Rebecca screamed, pain shooting up her leg. She had landed in the storage room, or more precisely, on the weapons crate where the Titans had stocked a whole host of firearms. Unfortunately for her, Blacktrinian women had thin toes, one of which got had gotten stuck in the trigger guard of a handgun when the box had collapsed and the weapons had spilled everywhere. The end result was that she had shot herself through the ankle while trying to stand.
"You know, I've heard of shooting yourself in the foot, but that was ridiculous."
Trying to block out the pain, Rebecca turned towards Savior, who stood before her, a grim, angry look on her face.
"White Hole. Fitting. You've put holes in my building, my companions, and my girlfriend." Noel growled as he pulled a shotgun up from the crate and cocked it loudly. "Now I'm going to put a few dozen holes IN YOU!" The shotgun blast went wild as Rebecca demonstrated a remarkable ability to block out pain as she spun on her other ankle, kicking her leg around and knocking the shotgun up. The blast went into the ceiling, even as she pivoted and slammed the heel of her foot into Noel's chest.
He hit the wall hard. Now he was REALLY angry, and he roared as Shimmer stands shot forwards and grabbed handfuls of weapons and prepped them, aiming again. A murderous rage filled his eyes: he was through considering any possibility for mercy or surrender. For all she's done, most of all trying to picnic on his love, he was going to reduce her to bloody vapour.
"If at first you don't succeed, just BRING MORE GUNS!" he yelled, the Shimmer strands squeezing the triggers as the rest of the Titans made it over to see what he was doing.
"NO!" Robin shouted, but it was far too late. A blaze of bullets rampaged through the storeroom, ripping it apart. And while Noel had plenty of reasons to do so, there was one main reason why their leader did not want the white Titan to shoot at their foe.
She was surrounded by explosives.
Which became abundantly clear as detonations erupted all around her. But that didn't lighten Noel's "fingers" on the triggers, as she took more bullets. Even her shield was having trouble keeping the barrage out, as the sheer number of them was draining her Gauntlet-like armour incredibly. It didn't take long before the whole room exploded.
People on the mainland saw a pillar of flames erupting from the upper- middle of the tower, shooting out towards the water. It wasn't any form of picnic for the Titans inside, as they where thrown to the other side of the tower, and some even out. Nigel's claw dug deep into the side of the building as he and Gauntlet, who had managed to grab his clawed foot, hung, trying to regain their composure. Savior had caught the still-bleeding Raven and created a spider web to stop them from shooting out. Robin and Cyborg had moved behind some pillars so the blast didn't catch them...much.
"Everyone okay?"
"Been better." Savior murmured, standing back down and retracting the Shimmer. A harsh growl and some incoherent words were muttered as Nigel dragged himself up to the same level as the others, with Gauntlet in tow (or toe, depending.).
"Well, despite the utter stupidity of that tactical move, at least we got rid of her." Robin said as he approached the damaged room. The walls were scared and burnt, as were the crates behind flame-resistant barriers. Could have been worse. If all of the storage room had gone up, the tower would not be there.
Raven looked up, trying to see the full extend of the damage. Something wasn't right.
Then she found her fault. There was a big gaping hole in the ceiling. How big? Oh big enough for a person. Or to be more precise, a young woman who had just been catapulted through the rooftop by an explosion.
"I don't think we did."
And soon enough, the form of the young Blacktrinian woman came crashing back down on the roof of the tower, her shield generator finally giving up the ghost and frizzing out (it was luckily in mid air rather than amongst all of the previous events She thanked her gods for small favours). Her face now badly burned and her outfit in tatters and her body wracked with pain from the barrage of bullets, Rebecca was not a happy camper. She needed to leave and recover.
"What went wrong, what the hell went wrong?!" She yelled in her own language, staggering to her feet. The humans were weak, breakable, and pathetic! But she was defeated. How?! Why?! Was this a message? Was her time drawing to a close?
Whatever her thoughts were, they dispersed as a young Tamaranean turned towards her, her eyes full of shock at the scarred mercenary. Each of her wounds had been cauterized during the intense heat of the blast, meaning the only place she was bleeding was from her nose, and the only reason for that was because she hit it on landing. Needless to say, with her face scarred up like Leatherface, Starfire was near petrified. She had thought staying on the roof would keep her safe. Apparently she had been erroneous.
"Stay back!" She shouted, backing up a little and holding both her hands out in front of her, green energy glowing from them. She was ignored. The White Hole knew one thing and one thing only at this present moment in time. She needed to retreat and come back with a plan. The distance between the tower and the mainland was quite a way, but a normal Blacktrinian could make the distance (it was how she had gotten on the island in the first place). So she backed up a bit and then charged directly at Starfire, relying on the fear of the Tamaranean to make sure that she didn't shoot at her.
Another grave miscalculation on the part of the White Hole.
Starfire did as her name implies and fired away, taking out the rooftop from underneath the invader, tripping her and forcing her to falter on the last few crucial steps. Starfire continued with the barrage, hoping for anything that the others would appear soon to stop this creature. She couldn't fight in this condition...
I suppose what happened next was a cruel twist of fate.
The White Hole leapt up, but her last few steps were disrupted to the point where she could not longer do a super jump. Instead, when she leapt up, she leapt to grab something, and that something was namely Starfire.
Let me just put this into retrospect for you all. Kory was far, far too heavy for herself, in this condition, when she was trying to fly. She couldn't get up to high speeds, nor could she ascend on her own merit at any great pace. Now add the weight of a Blacktrinian onto that. Because of their metal claws, body armour and capes, they weight almost twice what a normal human would, maybe up to three times more, so this means you have a lot more onto Starfire than she could carry.
"Leave me be!" She shouted at her, trying to shake The Blacktrinian off, but she only managed to throw her off a bit before she grabbed hold of her leg again. She could feel the ligaments pulling, straining to hold everything together. It was starting to become painful.
"If I'm going to join Tempest in the underworld, I'll make sure I take one of you with me! Both is fine by my standards!" She shouted, getting a better grip onto the Tamaranean, sinking her claws deep in her to her calf and thigh.
"STAR!" Robin shouted, coming up onto the rooftop, a little worse for wear (I say a little, but within the last twenty four hours he had been beaten nearly to death, shot, stabbed and almost blasted into near nothingness. I think he may be a little annoyed at this point, as are the others who too had suffered some pretty nasty wounds).
Savior hopped up onto the roof and lifted the guns he had used before with the Shimmer. He spied Starfire, now floating over thin air off the edge of the building with Rebecca hanging onto her. His eyes narrowed, and then narrowed even more as he assessed the situation, and then he lowered them.
"I can't shoot, I might hit Starfire." He growled. They were off the deep end on this one. Starfire was too far away to attack with close combat methods and they were too far away to be 100% accurate with guns or projectiles. She had, essentially, taken Starfire hostage.
"We have to do something!" Cyborg shouted, arming his sonic cannon and aiming, hoping to maybe catch a part of her that wasn't blocked by Star. Unfortunately, as mentioned, this is easier said than done. And if this wasn't bad enough, it was getting worse.
Starfire turned slightly to try and blast her captor, only to have a row of horridly sharp teeth sink into her arm, taking a nasty bite and having her energy escape with a scream. The Titans, seemingly impotent, cursed and frantically looked around for something, ANYTHING to help her. Nothing. After all the events that had happened on top of the tower, you would think they would have a box labelled 'Smash glass in case of overpowered Super Villain'.
Nigel paused. And then reached into his pocket. His clawed fingers wrapped around a metallic object and pulled it out.
"The Pilots gun?" He said quietly. He remembered trying to use it beforehand, but his clawed talons were far too large to fit in the guard. He thought back to earlier that day.
"You make it sound as if it's his fault."
"Well isn't it?"
"It's my fault, and it's my problem to deal with." Nigel said, as he placed his thumb in-between the guard and the trigger and, with an incredible show of strength in his hands, ripped the guard clean off.
"Savior! Make a launch pad!" Nigel shouted as he ran for him at full speed. Noel was caught off guard, and shot up the Shimmer into a shield, unsure what he was going to do. The alien jumped up and landed on the Shimmer, before using it as a makeshift springboard, forcing him upwards, gun in hand.
"What the hell is he doin'?! You crazy freak!" Cyborg shouted as he dashed for the edge. He had shot upwards in such a way that he came down in an arc, aimed straight at the White Hole, his eyes glowing blue and the pistol armed and aimed. Raven, seeing this turn of events, pushed her own pain out of her mind and finally figured out a proper move, encased Starfire in black energy and held her still.
Nigel's jump was very accurate, his own talons sinking into the skin of the aggressor. This was a necessary, though unsure move as it put even more weight on the already struggling Starfire. She screamed out again as the aggressor's claws dug deeper into her. So much pain, she could feel the ligaments and muscles pulling even more, to the point that they started to rip apart from the inside, making their way up her legs and across her distended stomach.
And yet even with so much pain, there was a moment of silence.
Ktch.. BOOM
Nigel started to unload round after round into his opponent, hoping that she would let go before he ran out of bullets. Three rounds had gone into her when she finally let go of the expectant Star and plummeted towards the water's edge, taking Nigel for the ride.
Then the tables turned. In a blink of an eye, the White Hole had turned the weapon on her young foe and fired straight back, catching him in the torso and arms. But Nigel wouldn't break the grip. As they continued to fall, they still fought it out; all the others could do was watch as they both hit the water with a sickening crunch.
Starfire, who had landed on the ground by this time, looked very much worse for wear. Actually, now I read it. I'd say that was going for the understatement of the year award.
"Kory?" Raven asked lightly, floating down. The young Tamaranean was on all fours, a ghastly pale shade of her normal vibrant colouring as she tried to breathe, hacking and spluttering, her arm soaked in her own blood as her maternity jeans started to turn from denim blue to blood red. She looked as if she was going to be sick, her expression as if she was trying to hold back the inevitable. She looked up, dark rings under her eyes before she coughed into her hand.
"R-Raven?" She asked, holding up a blood soaked palm, thick and flowing as it dripped, or rather poured, off her hand. Her expression was one of pure fear. She didn't know what was happening, and people are always afraid of the unknown. "What is happening to..."
She started to be violently sick, but it wasn't just normal ejecta: blood was mixed in with it. Raven's calm exterior had a slightly sullen and alarmed look as she moved the alien's hair from her face. She hoped it wasn't what she thought it was, but there was no way to be certain. She would have asked their doctor, except he was probably drowning at this point in time.
Speaking of the doctor, under the waves it wasn't very calm either. The pair sank deeper and deeper, down into the dark void that was the bay, fighting, struggling. A pair of glowing eyes stared into a singular yellow blaze as the claws fought away at each other, clawing, scratching, tearing at each other's flesh. The White Hole landed a nasty slice across Scalpel's face, ripping it open before he returned the favour and attempted to gut her. Nigel knew he would die if he stayed here, so he tried to move away, however her claw was in too tight to his clothing and she wouldn't let go. Thoughts frantically dashed though his head, how could he get out?
She had said she wanted to drag one of them with her to the underworld, and by all the gods out there she meant it, she wasn't letting go for love nor money, and he was running out of time. It had been strange: here was one of the strongest foes they had ever faced, possessing so much power and an near-invulnerability to any and all of the Titan's attacks, but as Savior always commented, Operation Market Garden had come into play, an unexpected and unforeseeable turn of events that lead to the downfall of a powerful foe. First it was the arrival of Starfire on the rooftops an eternity ago, and against everyone's wishes, that caught Rebecca a little off guard. Then it was the time of day and her origins when they brought out the bright lights, and then it was the foolish leap of faith that Nigel had attempted. No Blacktrinian in their right mind would jump out and over the water to try and stop an opponent. It occurred to him the only reason they won against her was by chance, luck and the use of surprise. If it had been a straight battle like on the rooftops, they would be dead.
And Nigel would prefer that it stay that way.
"Sorry." He thought to himself. "But I actually need to live." And then he grabbed the pistol that was floating down with them and fired one last shot.
Right in the centre of her forehead.
Her eye went wide, filled with absolute disbelief. Then it glazed over, blood streaming from her damaged mouth as she continued to fall as her body stopped fighting. He tried to pull away, but her grip still clung onto his cape. In a fit of Blacktrinian Survival 'blood-lust' as some of the Titans put it, he pulled his Glaive out one last time and sliced off her claw from her. He didn't care, he just needed to escape. Using her body as a platform, he jumped for dear life and headed to the surface, his hopes relying completely on this one jump.
And he really hoped he'd make it, but darkness took him again. He was a regular for passing out at really inopportune times...
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"How many are there?"
Nigel started to hear things, a voice coming from the darkness. It was familiar, he could have placed it if it wasn't for the tone it was in, it was almost... harsh, cold, unwilling to ask such a question.
"Well the two I managed to get weren't too deep, however these last ones are. What are these? I've never seen bullets like this..." A new voice commented in a lighter tone, before a shooting pain shot through the Blacktrinian. His eyes shot open as his body visibly tensed up, a gasp escaping his lips.
"Looks like the morphine has worn off." Someone said. He looked over to see a man in a surgical gown and mask, scalpel in hand. The other was a lot more recognisable; it was Cyborg, also in surgical garb. Nigel tried to speak, but he couldn't manage it. The drugs may have worn off, but they were still in his system, dulling his mind and body.
"Don't worry, we got ya. We got ya." Cyborg said to him, patting him on the arm. His voice was sullen and weak, but to the drugged up Blacktrinian, it was good enough as he just cracked a weaker version of his toothy grin before he was pumped full of drugs again and went straight back into the darkness. Victor felt even lower now as he continued to assist the doctor. They said ignorance is bliss, and Victor knew now it was true.
"Report." A face came on the screen next to them, an angry tone of voice that accompanied it. It was the face of their leader, Robin.
"Scalpel woke up a moment ago; we doused him again and are removing the last few bullets now. He should come around in a couple of hours." Cyborg said, passing the doctor some 3.0 silk to stitch the wound.
"Tell me when it wakes up again. I want a word."
The monitor flicked off. The metal man could only curse as he continued to work. He knew Robin was angry.
He had referred to Nigel as 'it'.
Just as the doctor and Cyborg had predicted, Nigel Hastings awoke again roughly two and a half hours after the operation, his body sore and his mind numb. His eyes opened, then flickered a little, trying to focus on the ceiling, before another face came into view. It was hard to tell who, but when things focussed a little more it turned out to be two faces. Raven and Savior.
"H..." He tried to speak, but his voice was a little weak. "How long...as I out?"
"A day or so." Raven replied softly, checking the bandage on his face. It was getting hard to focus on them again, but even so he could see their emotions. Raven was Raven, but Noel had a slightly wary look on him, an almost worried expression on his features. But worry for what?
"Um... Tim wants to see you." Noel stated quietly. "You think you're up to it?" There was a pause, before the young alien tried to sit up. The room was becoming clearer, and he could see the bandage that covered the goth's shoulder. He also noticed that they were in more casual gear, and that Raven was actually wearing a strapless top so that her usual clothing didn't put pressure on her wound. She also wore a sling to stop her injured arm from moving. Everyone must have gotten beaten up pretty bad. The white Titan helped his friend to a sitting position and nodded. "I'll go get him." He said, wandering off. Nigel breathed a sigh of relief.
"I am alive?" He asked quietly as a joke.
"It would appear so." Raven responded in her usual manner, sitting down next to him. There was a moment of silence before he spoke again.
"Is everyone okay?"
"Well that would depend." Robin stood at the door, wearing some bandages with his own arm in a sling, much like Raven's. He also had stitches across his face and arms, including those little bits of tape that holds you together when you've had a large cut that was too large for a plaster. Following him was Gar and Noel; they surrounded the bed and waited. "How are you feeling?" Tim asked.
In retrospect Nigel should have gotten the indication this wasn't a mere question: Robin's fists were clenched tightly.
"I'm feeling better, thanks." Nigel replied lightly, smiling. This only seemed to make their leader clench harder.
"Good. Because when I'm done with you, you might not feel as nice!" Robin drew back and slammed his fist straight into the side of Nigel's face, nearly knocking him out of the hospital bed. This went down like a sack of lead bricks, and if he wasn't so injured, Nigel might have retaliated. But he was still groggy from the drugs. Luckily this dimmed the pain down. Again, small favours.
"What the HELL are you doing?!" Noel shouted, pulling Robin away.
"Oh, yeah. As if he didn't deserve it." Beast Boy spat. A tone the changeling didn't much use. He, luckily for him, was on the other side of the tower when all the fighting was happening and missed out on all the extra pain. But he had gained some emotional pain: his relationship with Charm had abruptly ended at his protests to stop her from fighting and her refusal.
"Maybe not, but he did it to save her." Raven said calmly, trying to get Nigel to sit back up with only one arm. Nigel sat there, staring at them, confusion very much the expression on his face. He looked up at Raven's harsh eyes. "You don't know, do you?"
"Know what?" He asked lightly, still trying to get over the shock of being attacked by his leader, after all he had done for him, protecting him, sacrificing himself for the good of the team on more than one occasion. Ok, that didn't sound right. Probably the drugs.
"Oh, just a little fact that YOU MURDERED MY SON!" Robin roared, grabbing hold of one of Nigel's clawed feet and puling him out of the bed and onto the cold hard floor.
"DAMN IT!" Noel pulled Robin off again and tried to fight him back. "STOP THIS RIGHT NOW! You'll pull the stitches!"
"I don't care! You've destroyed Starfire! You destroyed everything! You damn monster!" Robin screamed as he shoved Noel aside and stamped hard down onto the young man's chest, hurting the man badly. Noel grabbed him again, turning him around before going to slug him one, but Robin countered and threw him into Raven before continuing his assault. He had gotten three very hard hits in before a yellow barrier encased the newest Titan, and Robin's hand just bounced off.
"..." For once the owner of the shielding, Robert Candide, didn't have something to say. He just stared coldly at his so-called leader as he descended from the roof, ala Spiderman.
"You okay buddy?" He asked lightly, helping up Nigel back into the bed and to a sitting position. Nigel didn't know what was going on. After fighting to the death with someone who would gladly kill them all, he was being treated like a criminal himself.
"You know why the baby died? Huh?" Robin shouted at the now bleeding alien. "You doing that stupid move and jumping on Starfire to try and rip off the other of your kind. You Blacktrinians are all the same; you do nothing but maim and destroy!"
"And what would you have done in his place?" Raven asked, finally recovering and standing up, her shoulder now bleeding again and her sling on the floor so her arm hung loose. Noel had banged his head when Robin had thrown him and was trying to shake of the grogginess.
"I would have done something, something so that we all would have come out of it happy!"
"Any longer... and she would have... killed Starfire." Nigel spoke, wiping the blood from his mouth.
"Don't you dare speak her name monster!" Robin bellowed. He marched over to Nigel's jacket; it was a fresh one with no holes in, pressed and pristine. He reached inside and grabbed an object, small and round. He pulled it up and pocketed it. It was Nigel's comm-link.
"Nigel Hastings, from this moment on, you are out of the Teen Titans. You may not enter the tower, nor are you under insurance of our Super Hero group. You have twenty four hours to pack your bags and leave."
"That's it. BACK OFF ROBIN! What happened was a tragedy, but it's no more Nigel's fault then it's my fault for not being able to get a shot off at that bitch! You're letting your personal feelings blind your damn judgement!" Noel yelled, finally shaking the cobwebs loose. "He's a good fighter, loyal and honest! You stab him through one of his hearts and he keeps going!"
"He's also the only damn doctor we have who doesn't charge billions of dollars in cash each time we get a minute cut." Rob interjected, getting a glare from Noel.
"Look, all we are saying is that you are thinking too much with your heart and not enough with your head." Raven stated.
"I have to do what is best for the team, and as the leader, what I say goes! He is dangerous, absent-minded and suicidal! What more can I say! He killed an infant! He shouldn't even be going free! He should be in an electric chair!"
"Alright Mr. Judge, Jury, and Executioner! What about all the things you have done that wasn't in the most brilliant of moves?" Noel demanded, raising a finger at Tim. He heard a few "ow's" behind him and looked over at Raven, who was trying to put her arm back in the sling. "Looks like you pulled the stitches." Noel said softly.
"Hey Nigel, you think you can..." Rob started as he looked back to where the Blacktrinian was. Or at least he would have if he were still there. Rob stood up quickly and looked around.
His jacket had gone, so had his hat and himself. All that was left was the window, wide open to the midnight sky, the curtains fluttering and claw marks on the window sill.
Then there was silence.
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Jedi: FINALLY!!!!!!! GAH! FINISHED!
Nigel: that took too long. As usual please review.
Jedi: And don't worry, this isn't the last chapter.
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 13: Unlucky for Some
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Here we see a city, but what do YOU see?
When we look out onto a city we see things...but what do we see? (I personally see stress and congestion, but I'm just writing this, not living it). Some may see opportunity, a chance to do something big, or just to earn a few bucks. Others might see a fun day out, going to all those big city stores. Others from other big cities could see just another day at the office. And usually for the Titans, it showed a place where they could usually save the day.
Usually.
At the moment, all that the Titans saw was a path heading to perhaps an inexorable death, a death with no remorse nor anyone to mourn for them. Indeed, it had just started to sink into the Titans what lay for them outside the safety of their island. A deadly foe was out there, almost a demon from hell, with enough vengeful hate to transform them from warm living beings to cold hard carcasses in one blow, if need be and opportunity arose.
"I have realized something." Nigel said, staring out of the window to what could only be described as the city of his nightmares, a place where the Empire he had tried so hard to escape from had turned out to be just a breath away, something that could get you in any corner, in any dark ally. It wasn't doom saying or idle dark thoughts either, just the merciless efficiency of the way SHE played this game.
All the pieces on the board were ready to take this queen, but somehow she had already decimated the ranks of the pawns, and was now eager to get to the rest of the board pieces.
"What would that be?" Noel asked. He had escaped the battle surprisingly uninjured, while everyone else was in ruins. Little comfort, as that just meant he'd be in the front lines for the NEXT battle, which his own grievous injuries most likely awaited him. Quite possibly, even his death.
"Would we even be missed?" Nigel replied, turning around from the rain- filled sky. Dark clouds crowded the skies over Jump City, ones that looked like they could rain for at least several hours, maybe even the whole day.
"Don't talk like that man. Its bad enough we got thrown around like tinker toys." Beast Boy snapped, not in the best of moods. Charm had left the group and gone home to heal her wounds and to try and calm herself down. She didn't like heights at the best of times, but when you get shot at while in mid-air, while being supported and then dropped by your boyfriend; it really makes you think about that fear even more.
"Indeed. We have more important things to worry about." Robin stated. Empty words, perhaps, as he was more banged up and bruised than any of them, even though Gauntlet may disagree to that fact, having been given a free open bone fracture of his arm courtesy of Rebecca Styles. "How can we beat this thing?"
"Don't you get it? She won't stop until one of us is dead. Your human restraints and systems cannot hold her. Not even her wound will slow her much" Nigel snapped. and turned his back on the group once more, trying to think. To beat Rebecca Styles, not just a White Hole but in a class of her own? This may well be an impossibility that no one could overcome.
"But how do we stop her?" Starfire asked, hoping there was some weakness they could exploit. There was a pause.
"Aha! We could drop her in a vat of molten steel!" Gauntlet declared. The Titans looked at him funny. "It worked to stop an unstoppable foe in Terminator 2!"
"And praytell, do you happen to have a vat of molten steel? It doesn't exactly grow on trees." Noel replied tersely.
"Errrrrr...no. Um...AHA!"
"We don't have an industrial press or a mini fusion reactor either."
"D'OH!"
"Stop arguing! It's a waste of energy!" Nigel said. There was silence. All that could be heard was the rain running off the windows, dripping down. It's funny: even though Blacktrinians don't like the water, they love the rain. That was one of the thoughts that Nigel had as he stared out, waiting for death.
Then it occurred to him.
"The water." He laughed. "Why did I not fathom such an idea before?"
"Yo! Dude! This is no time for laughing!" Beast Boy shouted, rubbing the gunshot wound he had suffered.
"Ok, he's obviously gone mad." Cyborg whispered lightly.
"And what makes you say that?" Raven replied.
"How is water going to help us? This isn't the Wicked Witch of the West!" "No...she's just a Blacktrinian! Remember, non-swimming, water disliking species of whom Nigel happens to belong to?"
"Whu?"
Raven shook her head at the fact it took him this long to figure out that the White Hole was of Nigel's race.
"She wouldn't dare cross the water to try and get us. As observed in the swimming lessons, all the Blacktrinians are petrified of water." Raven said.
"So as long as we stay here, we're safe?" Starfire asked, just double- checking to be safe.
"Right, all we have to do is wait until she shows up again. Until that time, we can plan a counter attack." Robin re-assured them, holding onto Kory, who was the only other one who was still in one piece. The only bruise she had gotten was from when she had gotten out of the helicopter and banged her head.
"All I want to know is why the hell a mass murdering psycho alien from your race is suddenly out there to kill all of us." Robin asked, making it sound a little more abrupt then it could have been.
"You make it sound as if it's his fault." Noel commented, rubbing his forehead as he gestured towards the newer alien.
"Well isn't it? After all he..."
"Don't even go there Robin." The white-garbed Titan said, as he cut off his leader before looking over sternly. "This has gotten out of hand. You've been against Nigel from the start, and it's getting VERY tiresome. What the hell's up?" He demanded, his expression never changing. Robin said nothing for a moment or two.
"Yeah Fearless, why have ya been putting him down as of late?" Cyborg asked, in a far more relaxed tone than Noel, as he leaned on the back of the chair, trying to repair his innards. Luckily, his armour had stopped the blast, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt like hell.
"It's my own business." Robin replied tersely. Nigel just shook his head. As tired as Noel might be of the treatment, Nigel, being on the actual end of it, was ten time so. Perhaps it would be better to just leave the Titans? But then where would he go? What would he do? He didn't know, so he continued to stand there and shake his head.
"Bull. Your business is rapidly becoming our business. You started blaming Nigel early on, and you're blaming Nigel again. You blame him more than you tie your boots." Noel countered, waving his arm out and accidentally knocking into Robert, who cringed and held his damaged wrist.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow!" He whined, holding the bandage, but by doing so he only made the pain worse.
"Quit complaining! It's your own damn fault for attacking her head on without knowing her physical strength! Fools rush in!" Noel barked.
"Yeah, you don't just walk up to someone who kicked around Fearless and say 'I don't see why they are so scared of you'." Cyborg added, finishing up the repair job as best as he could.
But before they could continue, the island alarm went off. Not in the best of moods, the Titans rushed, limped and floated over to the computer.
Before long, an image came up on the screen of a figure slowly walking towards the entrance. The view was from above, and only in black and white, but they knew who it was just by the look of the hat that they were wearing. Her head shot up as she stared straight into the camera, her one glowing eye shining out, the other socket filled with blankness as the other eye was now absent. Why? If you've forgotten, Nigel had gouged it out trying to prevent her from killing him. The other eye now rested in a test tube in the evidence room
Before any more could be seen, the camera exploded, forcing the picture into static.
"It's her." Cyborg said grimly.
"How'd she find us?" Rob asked, having not gotten much of a look at the image before it turned into static.
"How'd she... We live in a giant T for crying out loud! How can she NOT find us!?" Noel shouted at the 'almost-kleptomaniac' Titan. The sudden apparent danger, as well as the depleted troops and Rob's general "dunceness" had caused Noel's temper to be bordering on fever pitch. Luckily, Raven floated up in front of him and calmed him down before he could lash out at Rob.
"How the hell did she get over the water!" he yelled instead.
"Does it matter? She's here now. As they say on your world, we are all dead." Nigel said, pulling a tube from his jacket. It was about the length of a pencil and the thickness of Robin's staff. He pressed a button and it extended both ways before the sharp bladed end shot out and clicked into place. His glaive.
It's no surprise that the Titans seemed to step back from the young man after that.
"Well, she's at our doorstep. Any ideas?" Robin asked.
"We could pull the same stunt we did with Myth." Beast Boy said, remembering how he had pushed him into the water from the top of the tower.
"We could, problem being getting her up there." Raven said softly, considering her options. Whatever was going to happen, they needed to think of a solution fast: Rebecca was approaching quickly. "What do you think Nigel..."
The Titans turned to him. He was the authority on Blacktrinians at the moment, seeing as he was one himself.
Problem.
"Nigel?"
He wasn't there.
"Why do I feel he's done something stupid?" Raven asked, walking towards the centre of the room and away from the console.
"It wouldn't be the first time." Robin stated, folding his arms. In truth, he no longer cared what happened to the doctor. As long as he didn't get in his way he was fine.
The others gave him a little bit of a look as they waited for the command. Noel had a clear look of disapproval on his face.
"Fine! May as well save him, Titans, GO!" He shouted, as they ran downstairs.
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What is in the heart of man and alien alike?
Rage was in the 'guest's' heart. Each step was a step towards it, towards her goal, towards her own...satisfaction. And soon, soon she would have what she desired most.
She was unaccustomed to the way they treated Blacktrinians on earth. Usually, even the lowest is held in high esteem. Usually. But these humans hadn't even acted close to the way they should have acted towards her. They actually had the gall to show her no respect at all! No one disrespected her!
No one who wanted to live, at any rate.
But something was different. Most humans were weak and breakable. These humans were resilient and powerful, more so than even they imagined, and in some way, their willpower kept shining through, willpower and determination to overcome the odds.
And it frustrated her how a group of teenaged upstarts, a pregnant Tamaranean and a deformed weakling from her own race were able to defeat one of the Blacktrinian military police. Only one other person had kicked her around like this, and he was long gone. She was an elite, unbeatable, untouchable! There should have been fear, respect, worship!
Now there was only anger, pure unbridled hatred towards these teenagers. She was in their home now, and they will know her wrath.
Before she could think any more, twin machine guns emerged from the wall and started to fire at her, trying to hold her back as she ascended the stairs. It wasn't enough. Her race may have been vulnerable to bullets, but that point was moot as she used her force field to get close, then took them out with a single slice of her claws. She was in no mood to dodge and prance around, trying to not get hit.
But she had to dodge the next blow, as the person responsible for her new look came swinging in with his glaive to try and take her head clean off. She just managed to duck, but it took her hat off and imbedded it against the wall. Which to her was an even more grievous insult then if he had struck her: no weakling medic should have gotten the drop on her!
She roared and dived at him, tackling him down to the floor. She slashed at his chest, ripping it open and reopening the old wounds that had only just started to heal. He slashed back at her and pushed her off, but it wasn't long before she had him again by the ankle.
"Yo! I think she's on the floor below!" Cyborg shouted as he made his way down the stairs. His observation was proven correct as the floor seemed to explode in front of him, causing the man-machine to step back and try to reassess the situation. As the smoke cleared, the now dust-covered Scalpel was revealed to be in front of him. She had thrown him right through the ceiling by his ankle, and seeing as each floor was reinforced with concrete, it hurt a hell of a lot more then being thrown through a wall.
Time of the incident and time to react, however, are two different things, and Cyborg was still trying to figure out what had happened when the White Hole made her grand reappearance through the same hole, her shoulder length black hair slightly tinted with dust, much like the whole of Nigel.
"Now I will have my revenge!" She shouted in Blacktrinian, as she dashed forward. Before Cyborg knew what was going on she was lifting him off the floor with one hand. She drew back her long metallic talons.
"Whatever you said, not today!" Cyborg said, as he reached up, breaking her grip (he was strong too). He spun her around and placed his sonic cannon against her stomach. Lifting her slightly, he fired, and this time it was her that was sent hurtling through the ceiling and onto the next floor, onto the level where Starfire and Robin were.
There was silence, before the woman sat up and glared at Starfire. Obviously the sight of her just fuelled her rage, as Starfire, a warrior princess of Tamaran, was one of the few people in the tower who could actually kill her. Starfire backed up a little as Rebecca started to stand. Panicking, Starfire blasted open a window and flew out. A little too quickly, as still falling glass resulted in her cutting her stomach a little. This left Robin alone with the monster, but he didn't care: she was with his kid and he didn't want her fighting anyway.
"You stay away from her!" Robin shouted, trying to stare down someone who had single-handedly wiped out an entire civilization once. He pulled out his weapon of choice, trying to play fearless leader as usually, but in reality he was far too weak and battered to actually put up a good fight, and she just ploughed him through a wall.
Unfortunately, it was into Nigel's room, where he had on his wall the weapons that were given to him on his 5th, 10th and 15th birthdays. This, for a weaponless fighter, was like a gold mine, and she grabbed a sword, the Blacktrinian preferred weapon of choice. She felt along the edge: it was a fine weapon indeed. It shone out, its finish of a high polish, but the hilt was demonic, with what looked like veins wrapping up its edges.
"Still sharp." She smirked, as she leapt towards Robin. He was too slow to react, and as he howled she pierced his shoulder, pinning him to the floor.
"I told you toying with me was a mistake human. It looks like you have not only sealed your fate, but everyone's in this tower." She said, as she drew the sword from his shoulder again and raised it high to slice it down onto his head. She brought it down, slicing his skull in half.
Or at least that was what would have happened if a pair of hand held axes weren't suddenly in the way. Axes encased in black energy.
They clashed and both were thrown back. On the other side of the room, Raven was standing, her arms outstretched and her hands dark with the energy she was emitting. The axes both attacked as she commanded them to, slashing furiously at high speeds at Rebecca, actually making contact now and again with a slash that, although it had speed, had little or no attack power. Not to mention the whole "species laughed off bladed weapons" thing. In the end the White Hole just dropped the sword and grabbed both of the axes. The black energy fought for control, but eventually it was more tactical to just let her have the weapons she had grabbed. If she kept struggling, she'd exhausted herself, and Rebecca would probably get the weapons anyway. This way, she had mind energy for later. Good choice, right?
Wrong.
The White Hole noticed that Raven had stopped controlling the axes, and took the opportunity to, with some swiftness; throw them right back at her. Raven threw up a shield, just in the nick of time as they say... perhaps a bad choice of words as the Axes had imbedded into her barrier, stopping literally a fingernail's length away. She sighed a breath of relief, a sweat drop rolling down her cheek. The axes dropped as she regained her composure, and then she floated up another sword, this one much thinner and more rapier-like, abet not as thin as a fencing foil. Rebecca growled at this. How could she fight an enemy with no physical form for her to strike?
Raven lashed out with her arm, as if she was holding the sword, and the floating weapon mirrored her body language as it lashed out at her opponent, swinging wildly, hoping for a hit. Though less disciplined than her foe, Raven's mind power had the same strength as the White Hole's physical prowess, plus she had far more freedom with the weapon, and she able to block usually unblockable attacks because limbs didn't burden her.
"Little upstart! I will make you bleed!" Rebecca shouted, putting all her effort into a swing and knocking the blade back before rushing forward, but Raven wasn't stupid and she lifted the blades lying by her feet up again to try and stop her.
She was a little too late, as the White Hole ducked under the weapons, ripped open the shoulder of her costume and sunk her double fanged teeth into the bare patch of skin.
Raven's face could only be described as one of pure pain and shock. Her ability to think was virtually destroyed, as all that appeared in her mind was the pain of someone actually trying to eat her alive. She screamed, unable to do anything else.
The Blacktrinian pulled back, ripping a little muscle out of her shoulder before going back for another bite. Tears started to roll down Raven's cheeks. There must have been some kind of paralysing chemical in the bite, as she seemed to be paralysed from doing anything, and the pain was becoming unbearable, each sharp tooth piercing her flesh and nerves, and she could even feel one of the fangs scrape against her shoulder blade....
White rope-like objects came to save the day as they ploughed through the wall and did a repeat performance with the Blacktrinian, if you could call grabbing her through the wound in her chest that she has sustained while fighting Nigel that, wrapping around her torso and pulling her through the walls, leaving the goth lovely to try and recover from the transition from Titan to lunch.
On the other side of the wall was a very pissed off looking Savior, as he formed a sword in his hand from the Shimmer he just used to yank their foe through the wall. The White Hole didn't seem to perturbed, despite the blood flowing from he re-opened wound, as she righted herself. She didn't attack straight away; instead she licked the blood from her lips and smirked.
"What are you so happy about?" Savior snarled, holding up the Shimmer sword with a murderous look in his eyes.
"Pretty young girl, all she needs is a little sauce, but other than that it was a first class meal." She chuckled. Savior looked through the hole in the wall at his other half. She was holding her bloodsoaked shoulder, rocking slightly to try and dull the sharp edge of the pain. Savior's eyes narrowed even more as a low but keen snarling noise came from his throat. He turned and leapt at the attacker, his mind so enraged that the Shimmer strands lost their cohesion and fell apart from the sword shape as he lashed out wildly, tackling the intruder.
"DON'T YOU EVER..."
Whatever furious threat Noel had been tossing out was lost to time, as he was cut off when she smashed him across the face with the hilt of the sword she stole. She then grabbed his Shimmer strands and threw him around, dragging his body, and even sometimes (and he REALLY didn't like that) his face across the walls and ceiling before he finally hit the floor. And she wasn't finished there.
In a moment of curiosity, she placed her foot on his back and, with one of the Shimmer strands still in hand, pulled hard, trying to rip the strands out by their 'roots'. As you can imagine, this hurt like hell. It was probably the equivalent of someone trying to play 'operation' with your spinal cord. Noel squirmed, trying to get away. The White Hole just smirked and laughed as she enjoyed picking apart her opponents piece by piece. Cracking was starting to be heard from Noel's back (though it didn't sound like one big crack, like the ones where someone breaks their back, more like the type of crack that happens when you crack your knuckles, maybe that's not so bad, but if she kept going, who knows what will happen...).
Luckily, whatever was going to happen didn't. Before it could get worse, the alien was thrown off of the captive titan by a yellowish force energy and tossed back through the hole that was made beforehand.
"Never fear! Gauntlet here! Remember Savior, I just saved your life. I own you now!" Gauntlet declared, posing a little...before he was tackled down to the floor by a white blur. Rebecca then tried to do a "Gauntlet-ectomy" on the magical glove that was the hero's namesake weapon. He threw up a shield as quickly as he could, but it wasn't enough, as her claws were so sharp, they started to pass through the barrier.
The most relaxed Titan started to lose his composure, his subconscious mind kicking in and creating random shapes to try and throw her off. In the end he just created a large breezeblock shaped object and slammed her in the face with it. And even that didn't work as she kept her clawed hand in the barrier and kept going. In fact, she had now re-doubled her efforts by using her other hand to try and force her claw through the shield.
"Do I have to do everything?" Savior said. He had now recovered from the attempt at removing his spine through his shoulders, and he was now even madder, as he wrapped the Shimmer around her neck and pulled back in an attempt to rip her from the grasp she had in his companion's shield. Needless to say, this did not go down too well with the attacking alien and she turned to deal with the white Titan.
Unfortunately for her, this had been a set up play for the young doctor, who swung with all his might with the flat edge of his glaive, finally knocking her off, through another wall, and into a small room.
"Okay, we're even," Rob stated, a little relieved. A clank was heard as the White Hole stood again. A shot was heard.
"Ragh!" Rebecca screamed, pain shooting up her leg. She had landed in the storage room, or more precisely, on the weapons crate where the Titans had stocked a whole host of firearms. Unfortunately for her, Blacktrinian women had thin toes, one of which got had gotten stuck in the trigger guard of a handgun when the box had collapsed and the weapons had spilled everywhere. The end result was that she had shot herself through the ankle while trying to stand.
"You know, I've heard of shooting yourself in the foot, but that was ridiculous."
Trying to block out the pain, Rebecca turned towards Savior, who stood before her, a grim, angry look on her face.
"White Hole. Fitting. You've put holes in my building, my companions, and my girlfriend." Noel growled as he pulled a shotgun up from the crate and cocked it loudly. "Now I'm going to put a few dozen holes IN YOU!" The shotgun blast went wild as Rebecca demonstrated a remarkable ability to block out pain as she spun on her other ankle, kicking her leg around and knocking the shotgun up. The blast went into the ceiling, even as she pivoted and slammed the heel of her foot into Noel's chest.
He hit the wall hard. Now he was REALLY angry, and he roared as Shimmer stands shot forwards and grabbed handfuls of weapons and prepped them, aiming again. A murderous rage filled his eyes: he was through considering any possibility for mercy or surrender. For all she's done, most of all trying to picnic on his love, he was going to reduce her to bloody vapour.
"If at first you don't succeed, just BRING MORE GUNS!" he yelled, the Shimmer strands squeezing the triggers as the rest of the Titans made it over to see what he was doing.
"NO!" Robin shouted, but it was far too late. A blaze of bullets rampaged through the storeroom, ripping it apart. And while Noel had plenty of reasons to do so, there was one main reason why their leader did not want the white Titan to shoot at their foe.
She was surrounded by explosives.
Which became abundantly clear as detonations erupted all around her. But that didn't lighten Noel's "fingers" on the triggers, as she took more bullets. Even her shield was having trouble keeping the barrage out, as the sheer number of them was draining her Gauntlet-like armour incredibly. It didn't take long before the whole room exploded.
People on the mainland saw a pillar of flames erupting from the upper- middle of the tower, shooting out towards the water. It wasn't any form of picnic for the Titans inside, as they where thrown to the other side of the tower, and some even out. Nigel's claw dug deep into the side of the building as he and Gauntlet, who had managed to grab his clawed foot, hung, trying to regain their composure. Savior had caught the still-bleeding Raven and created a spider web to stop them from shooting out. Robin and Cyborg had moved behind some pillars so the blast didn't catch them...much.
"Everyone okay?"
"Been better." Savior murmured, standing back down and retracting the Shimmer. A harsh growl and some incoherent words were muttered as Nigel dragged himself up to the same level as the others, with Gauntlet in tow (or toe, depending.).
"Well, despite the utter stupidity of that tactical move, at least we got rid of her." Robin said as he approached the damaged room. The walls were scared and burnt, as were the crates behind flame-resistant barriers. Could have been worse. If all of the storage room had gone up, the tower would not be there.
Raven looked up, trying to see the full extend of the damage. Something wasn't right.
Then she found her fault. There was a big gaping hole in the ceiling. How big? Oh big enough for a person. Or to be more precise, a young woman who had just been catapulted through the rooftop by an explosion.
"I don't think we did."
And soon enough, the form of the young Blacktrinian woman came crashing back down on the roof of the tower, her shield generator finally giving up the ghost and frizzing out (it was luckily in mid air rather than amongst all of the previous events She thanked her gods for small favours). Her face now badly burned and her outfit in tatters and her body wracked with pain from the barrage of bullets, Rebecca was not a happy camper. She needed to leave and recover.
"What went wrong, what the hell went wrong?!" She yelled in her own language, staggering to her feet. The humans were weak, breakable, and pathetic! But she was defeated. How?! Why?! Was this a message? Was her time drawing to a close?
Whatever her thoughts were, they dispersed as a young Tamaranean turned towards her, her eyes full of shock at the scarred mercenary. Each of her wounds had been cauterized during the intense heat of the blast, meaning the only place she was bleeding was from her nose, and the only reason for that was because she hit it on landing. Needless to say, with her face scarred up like Leatherface, Starfire was near petrified. She had thought staying on the roof would keep her safe. Apparently she had been erroneous.
"Stay back!" She shouted, backing up a little and holding both her hands out in front of her, green energy glowing from them. She was ignored. The White Hole knew one thing and one thing only at this present moment in time. She needed to retreat and come back with a plan. The distance between the tower and the mainland was quite a way, but a normal Blacktrinian could make the distance (it was how she had gotten on the island in the first place). So she backed up a bit and then charged directly at Starfire, relying on the fear of the Tamaranean to make sure that she didn't shoot at her.
Another grave miscalculation on the part of the White Hole.
Starfire did as her name implies and fired away, taking out the rooftop from underneath the invader, tripping her and forcing her to falter on the last few crucial steps. Starfire continued with the barrage, hoping for anything that the others would appear soon to stop this creature. She couldn't fight in this condition...
I suppose what happened next was a cruel twist of fate.
The White Hole leapt up, but her last few steps were disrupted to the point where she could not longer do a super jump. Instead, when she leapt up, she leapt to grab something, and that something was namely Starfire.
Let me just put this into retrospect for you all. Kory was far, far too heavy for herself, in this condition, when she was trying to fly. She couldn't get up to high speeds, nor could she ascend on her own merit at any great pace. Now add the weight of a Blacktrinian onto that. Because of their metal claws, body armour and capes, they weight almost twice what a normal human would, maybe up to three times more, so this means you have a lot more onto Starfire than she could carry.
"Leave me be!" She shouted at her, trying to shake The Blacktrinian off, but she only managed to throw her off a bit before she grabbed hold of her leg again. She could feel the ligaments pulling, straining to hold everything together. It was starting to become painful.
"If I'm going to join Tempest in the underworld, I'll make sure I take one of you with me! Both is fine by my standards!" She shouted, getting a better grip onto the Tamaranean, sinking her claws deep in her to her calf and thigh.
"STAR!" Robin shouted, coming up onto the rooftop, a little worse for wear (I say a little, but within the last twenty four hours he had been beaten nearly to death, shot, stabbed and almost blasted into near nothingness. I think he may be a little annoyed at this point, as are the others who too had suffered some pretty nasty wounds).
Savior hopped up onto the roof and lifted the guns he had used before with the Shimmer. He spied Starfire, now floating over thin air off the edge of the building with Rebecca hanging onto her. His eyes narrowed, and then narrowed even more as he assessed the situation, and then he lowered them.
"I can't shoot, I might hit Starfire." He growled. They were off the deep end on this one. Starfire was too far away to attack with close combat methods and they were too far away to be 100% accurate with guns or projectiles. She had, essentially, taken Starfire hostage.
"We have to do something!" Cyborg shouted, arming his sonic cannon and aiming, hoping to maybe catch a part of her that wasn't blocked by Star. Unfortunately, as mentioned, this is easier said than done. And if this wasn't bad enough, it was getting worse.
Starfire turned slightly to try and blast her captor, only to have a row of horridly sharp teeth sink into her arm, taking a nasty bite and having her energy escape with a scream. The Titans, seemingly impotent, cursed and frantically looked around for something, ANYTHING to help her. Nothing. After all the events that had happened on top of the tower, you would think they would have a box labelled 'Smash glass in case of overpowered Super Villain'.
Nigel paused. And then reached into his pocket. His clawed fingers wrapped around a metallic object and pulled it out.
"The Pilots gun?" He said quietly. He remembered trying to use it beforehand, but his clawed talons were far too large to fit in the guard. He thought back to earlier that day.
"You make it sound as if it's his fault."
"Well isn't it?"
"It's my fault, and it's my problem to deal with." Nigel said, as he placed his thumb in-between the guard and the trigger and, with an incredible show of strength in his hands, ripped the guard clean off.
"Savior! Make a launch pad!" Nigel shouted as he ran for him at full speed. Noel was caught off guard, and shot up the Shimmer into a shield, unsure what he was going to do. The alien jumped up and landed on the Shimmer, before using it as a makeshift springboard, forcing him upwards, gun in hand.
"What the hell is he doin'?! You crazy freak!" Cyborg shouted as he dashed for the edge. He had shot upwards in such a way that he came down in an arc, aimed straight at the White Hole, his eyes glowing blue and the pistol armed and aimed. Raven, seeing this turn of events, pushed her own pain out of her mind and finally figured out a proper move, encased Starfire in black energy and held her still.
Nigel's jump was very accurate, his own talons sinking into the skin of the aggressor. This was a necessary, though unsure move as it put even more weight on the already struggling Starfire. She screamed out again as the aggressor's claws dug deeper into her. So much pain, she could feel the ligaments and muscles pulling even more, to the point that they started to rip apart from the inside, making their way up her legs and across her distended stomach.
And yet even with so much pain, there was a moment of silence.
Ktch.. BOOM
Nigel started to unload round after round into his opponent, hoping that she would let go before he ran out of bullets. Three rounds had gone into her when she finally let go of the expectant Star and plummeted towards the water's edge, taking Nigel for the ride.
Then the tables turned. In a blink of an eye, the White Hole had turned the weapon on her young foe and fired straight back, catching him in the torso and arms. But Nigel wouldn't break the grip. As they continued to fall, they still fought it out; all the others could do was watch as they both hit the water with a sickening crunch.
Starfire, who had landed on the ground by this time, looked very much worse for wear. Actually, now I read it. I'd say that was going for the understatement of the year award.
"Kory?" Raven asked lightly, floating down. The young Tamaranean was on all fours, a ghastly pale shade of her normal vibrant colouring as she tried to breathe, hacking and spluttering, her arm soaked in her own blood as her maternity jeans started to turn from denim blue to blood red. She looked as if she was going to be sick, her expression as if she was trying to hold back the inevitable. She looked up, dark rings under her eyes before she coughed into her hand.
"R-Raven?" She asked, holding up a blood soaked palm, thick and flowing as it dripped, or rather poured, off her hand. Her expression was one of pure fear. She didn't know what was happening, and people are always afraid of the unknown. "What is happening to..."
She started to be violently sick, but it wasn't just normal ejecta: blood was mixed in with it. Raven's calm exterior had a slightly sullen and alarmed look as she moved the alien's hair from her face. She hoped it wasn't what she thought it was, but there was no way to be certain. She would have asked their doctor, except he was probably drowning at this point in time.
Speaking of the doctor, under the waves it wasn't very calm either. The pair sank deeper and deeper, down into the dark void that was the bay, fighting, struggling. A pair of glowing eyes stared into a singular yellow blaze as the claws fought away at each other, clawing, scratching, tearing at each other's flesh. The White Hole landed a nasty slice across Scalpel's face, ripping it open before he returned the favour and attempted to gut her. Nigel knew he would die if he stayed here, so he tried to move away, however her claw was in too tight to his clothing and she wouldn't let go. Thoughts frantically dashed though his head, how could he get out?
She had said she wanted to drag one of them with her to the underworld, and by all the gods out there she meant it, she wasn't letting go for love nor money, and he was running out of time. It had been strange: here was one of the strongest foes they had ever faced, possessing so much power and an near-invulnerability to any and all of the Titan's attacks, but as Savior always commented, Operation Market Garden had come into play, an unexpected and unforeseeable turn of events that lead to the downfall of a powerful foe. First it was the arrival of Starfire on the rooftops an eternity ago, and against everyone's wishes, that caught Rebecca a little off guard. Then it was the time of day and her origins when they brought out the bright lights, and then it was the foolish leap of faith that Nigel had attempted. No Blacktrinian in their right mind would jump out and over the water to try and stop an opponent. It occurred to him the only reason they won against her was by chance, luck and the use of surprise. If it had been a straight battle like on the rooftops, they would be dead.
And Nigel would prefer that it stay that way.
"Sorry." He thought to himself. "But I actually need to live." And then he grabbed the pistol that was floating down with them and fired one last shot.
Right in the centre of her forehead.
Her eye went wide, filled with absolute disbelief. Then it glazed over, blood streaming from her damaged mouth as she continued to fall as her body stopped fighting. He tried to pull away, but her grip still clung onto his cape. In a fit of Blacktrinian Survival 'blood-lust' as some of the Titans put it, he pulled his Glaive out one last time and sliced off her claw from her. He didn't care, he just needed to escape. Using her body as a platform, he jumped for dear life and headed to the surface, his hopes relying completely on this one jump.
And he really hoped he'd make it, but darkness took him again. He was a regular for passing out at really inopportune times...
-----------------------------
"How many are there?"
Nigel started to hear things, a voice coming from the darkness. It was familiar, he could have placed it if it wasn't for the tone it was in, it was almost... harsh, cold, unwilling to ask such a question.
"Well the two I managed to get weren't too deep, however these last ones are. What are these? I've never seen bullets like this..." A new voice commented in a lighter tone, before a shooting pain shot through the Blacktrinian. His eyes shot open as his body visibly tensed up, a gasp escaping his lips.
"Looks like the morphine has worn off." Someone said. He looked over to see a man in a surgical gown and mask, scalpel in hand. The other was a lot more recognisable; it was Cyborg, also in surgical garb. Nigel tried to speak, but he couldn't manage it. The drugs may have worn off, but they were still in his system, dulling his mind and body.
"Don't worry, we got ya. We got ya." Cyborg said to him, patting him on the arm. His voice was sullen and weak, but to the drugged up Blacktrinian, it was good enough as he just cracked a weaker version of his toothy grin before he was pumped full of drugs again and went straight back into the darkness. Victor felt even lower now as he continued to assist the doctor. They said ignorance is bliss, and Victor knew now it was true.
"Report." A face came on the screen next to them, an angry tone of voice that accompanied it. It was the face of their leader, Robin.
"Scalpel woke up a moment ago; we doused him again and are removing the last few bullets now. He should come around in a couple of hours." Cyborg said, passing the doctor some 3.0 silk to stitch the wound.
"Tell me when it wakes up again. I want a word."
The monitor flicked off. The metal man could only curse as he continued to work. He knew Robin was angry.
He had referred to Nigel as 'it'.
Just as the doctor and Cyborg had predicted, Nigel Hastings awoke again roughly two and a half hours after the operation, his body sore and his mind numb. His eyes opened, then flickered a little, trying to focus on the ceiling, before another face came into view. It was hard to tell who, but when things focussed a little more it turned out to be two faces. Raven and Savior.
"H..." He tried to speak, but his voice was a little weak. "How long...as I out?"
"A day or so." Raven replied softly, checking the bandage on his face. It was getting hard to focus on them again, but even so he could see their emotions. Raven was Raven, but Noel had a slightly wary look on him, an almost worried expression on his features. But worry for what?
"Um... Tim wants to see you." Noel stated quietly. "You think you're up to it?" There was a pause, before the young alien tried to sit up. The room was becoming clearer, and he could see the bandage that covered the goth's shoulder. He also noticed that they were in more casual gear, and that Raven was actually wearing a strapless top so that her usual clothing didn't put pressure on her wound. She also wore a sling to stop her injured arm from moving. Everyone must have gotten beaten up pretty bad. The white Titan helped his friend to a sitting position and nodded. "I'll go get him." He said, wandering off. Nigel breathed a sigh of relief.
"I am alive?" He asked quietly as a joke.
"It would appear so." Raven responded in her usual manner, sitting down next to him. There was a moment of silence before he spoke again.
"Is everyone okay?"
"Well that would depend." Robin stood at the door, wearing some bandages with his own arm in a sling, much like Raven's. He also had stitches across his face and arms, including those little bits of tape that holds you together when you've had a large cut that was too large for a plaster. Following him was Gar and Noel; they surrounded the bed and waited. "How are you feeling?" Tim asked.
In retrospect Nigel should have gotten the indication this wasn't a mere question: Robin's fists were clenched tightly.
"I'm feeling better, thanks." Nigel replied lightly, smiling. This only seemed to make their leader clench harder.
"Good. Because when I'm done with you, you might not feel as nice!" Robin drew back and slammed his fist straight into the side of Nigel's face, nearly knocking him out of the hospital bed. This went down like a sack of lead bricks, and if he wasn't so injured, Nigel might have retaliated. But he was still groggy from the drugs. Luckily this dimmed the pain down. Again, small favours.
"What the HELL are you doing?!" Noel shouted, pulling Robin away.
"Oh, yeah. As if he didn't deserve it." Beast Boy spat. A tone the changeling didn't much use. He, luckily for him, was on the other side of the tower when all the fighting was happening and missed out on all the extra pain. But he had gained some emotional pain: his relationship with Charm had abruptly ended at his protests to stop her from fighting and her refusal.
"Maybe not, but he did it to save her." Raven said calmly, trying to get Nigel to sit back up with only one arm. Nigel sat there, staring at them, confusion very much the expression on his face. He looked up at Raven's harsh eyes. "You don't know, do you?"
"Know what?" He asked lightly, still trying to get over the shock of being attacked by his leader, after all he had done for him, protecting him, sacrificing himself for the good of the team on more than one occasion. Ok, that didn't sound right. Probably the drugs.
"Oh, just a little fact that YOU MURDERED MY SON!" Robin roared, grabbing hold of one of Nigel's clawed feet and puling him out of the bed and onto the cold hard floor.
"DAMN IT!" Noel pulled Robin off again and tried to fight him back. "STOP THIS RIGHT NOW! You'll pull the stitches!"
"I don't care! You've destroyed Starfire! You destroyed everything! You damn monster!" Robin screamed as he shoved Noel aside and stamped hard down onto the young man's chest, hurting the man badly. Noel grabbed him again, turning him around before going to slug him one, but Robin countered and threw him into Raven before continuing his assault. He had gotten three very hard hits in before a yellow barrier encased the newest Titan, and Robin's hand just bounced off.
"..." For once the owner of the shielding, Robert Candide, didn't have something to say. He just stared coldly at his so-called leader as he descended from the roof, ala Spiderman.
"You okay buddy?" He asked lightly, helping up Nigel back into the bed and to a sitting position. Nigel didn't know what was going on. After fighting to the death with someone who would gladly kill them all, he was being treated like a criminal himself.
"You know why the baby died? Huh?" Robin shouted at the now bleeding alien. "You doing that stupid move and jumping on Starfire to try and rip off the other of your kind. You Blacktrinians are all the same; you do nothing but maim and destroy!"
"And what would you have done in his place?" Raven asked, finally recovering and standing up, her shoulder now bleeding again and her sling on the floor so her arm hung loose. Noel had banged his head when Robin had thrown him and was trying to shake of the grogginess.
"I would have done something, something so that we all would have come out of it happy!"
"Any longer... and she would have... killed Starfire." Nigel spoke, wiping the blood from his mouth.
"Don't you dare speak her name monster!" Robin bellowed. He marched over to Nigel's jacket; it was a fresh one with no holes in, pressed and pristine. He reached inside and grabbed an object, small and round. He pulled it up and pocketed it. It was Nigel's comm-link.
"Nigel Hastings, from this moment on, you are out of the Teen Titans. You may not enter the tower, nor are you under insurance of our Super Hero group. You have twenty four hours to pack your bags and leave."
"That's it. BACK OFF ROBIN! What happened was a tragedy, but it's no more Nigel's fault then it's my fault for not being able to get a shot off at that bitch! You're letting your personal feelings blind your damn judgement!" Noel yelled, finally shaking the cobwebs loose. "He's a good fighter, loyal and honest! You stab him through one of his hearts and he keeps going!"
"He's also the only damn doctor we have who doesn't charge billions of dollars in cash each time we get a minute cut." Rob interjected, getting a glare from Noel.
"Look, all we are saying is that you are thinking too much with your heart and not enough with your head." Raven stated.
"I have to do what is best for the team, and as the leader, what I say goes! He is dangerous, absent-minded and suicidal! What more can I say! He killed an infant! He shouldn't even be going free! He should be in an electric chair!"
"Alright Mr. Judge, Jury, and Executioner! What about all the things you have done that wasn't in the most brilliant of moves?" Noel demanded, raising a finger at Tim. He heard a few "ow's" behind him and looked over at Raven, who was trying to put her arm back in the sling. "Looks like you pulled the stitches." Noel said softly.
"Hey Nigel, you think you can..." Rob started as he looked back to where the Blacktrinian was. Or at least he would have if he were still there. Rob stood up quickly and looked around.
His jacket had gone, so had his hat and himself. All that was left was the window, wide open to the midnight sky, the curtains fluttering and claw marks on the window sill.
Then there was silence.
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Jedi: FINALLY!!!!!!! GAH! FINISHED!
Nigel: that took too long. As usual please review.
Jedi: And don't worry, this isn't the last chapter.