Jump City Cantata
A Teen Titans FanFiction by Jacob McDonald
Opening notes: This chapter is a little choppy. Sorry. It jumps around a lot between the different story lines until they all start to gel back together. Oh, and it's like, all action. No romance, no fluff, hardly any humor, and no fun for the Titans. Just straight ass kicking the whole way through.
As an additional note, it was pointed out in one of my reviews that I never gave a description for that Tim Drake guy. Being my typical silly self, I never thought there might be fans of the show out there that don't read the comics. It's a bad habit I seem to have. So here it is in a nutshell; Tim Drake looks like Robin, only younger. Black hair, blue eyes, same kind of build, same kind of hair style. There's a reason for all of that, and if you don't know it already, then I'm nottelling you here. You'll just have to read the next story to find out!
Standard disclaimers apply: I don't own Teen Titans, and I'm way too tiered to think of a witty line to put here.
Chapter 11: The End of Everything
Cyborg jumped from the top of one building and came down hard on the next one over, smashing the roof in a little. He didn't even slow down to inspect the damage as he kept running, then jumped right off the next ledge.
Slamming into the next building over, he kept running. There were no zombies to impeed his dash back to the Tower up here, and he was taking full advantage of that fact to move as fast as he could back to Sarah.
"Hold on Baby..." he whispered as he jumped the next building, "Hold on."
Tim Drake was a lot of things, but a super hero was not one of them.
Not yet any way.
And not if he didn't get out of this situation alive.
Looking down through the skylight of warehouse section of the factory from where he was on the roof, he saw Robin and the Joker talking. They stood between the two production lines that ran the length of the building on either side, near the walls. Stacks of crates, and a few piles of wooden pallets stood all over the place, giving the cavernous space a maze like quality. A few forklifts sat here and there, but they looked like they hadn't been run in a decade.
From his vantage, Tim could see several blinking lights, and squinted to see what exactly they were.
Reading the letters on the side of one of the bundles nearest the skylight he was looking through, Tim felt his heart begin to pound.
The whole place was wired with C4.
Robin said something and pointed, and the Joker laughed.
Frantically looking for a way to get down there to warn Robin about the bombs, Tim saw a hole in the rusty sheet metal that served as the slightly slanted roof. Walking over, he saw that it was thirty feet down to a hard concert floor from where he was. His eyes scanned the roof top until they fell on an old fire hose that was attached to the water tower that rose above the production line.
Running over, he started yanking coils of it off the spool to throw through the hole and climb down.
Raven kicked a zombie out of the doorway of an apartment building, five blocks from where Slade had stationed himself. The rest of her team had vanished into the horde of the undead, and she had been left alone to fight off the small army of them that were attacking a building full of living people.
Clearing the hall ways hadn't been to hard for her, really. It was keeping the damn things out that seemed to be the challenge. She couldn't bar the doors with her powers, and then leave to fight more zombies. She needed to concentrate to keep the barrier working.
So while she thought about a solution to her predicament, she stood in the doorway and knocked back any zombies foolish enough to try to get past her.
But because they were mindless and only craved human flesh, that was roughly all of them.
After another minute or so of blasting the Cursed Dead back or slashing them to bits with her daggers, Raven finally just cursed loudly and flew up over their heads. Lifting a garbage truck that sat across the street with her powers, she deposited it in front of the building.
"That'll hold 'em for a little while." Glancing up, she saw Beast Boy and Jinx flying up to confront Slade. She'd need to get the team over there to help. Pulling out her T-Comp, she prayed Speedy was still with Red-X, and that he was able to answer her call.
Speedy glanced down at his belt pouch as his T-Comp started blowing up. Taking another hack at the zombie he was facing, he took a step back, "Cover me, dude!" he called to Red-X who just nodded and slashed the head off of the monster in front of him.
Speedy pulled out the communicator and flipped it open, "Talk to me, Rae."
"Beast Boy and Jinx are on their way to try and knock Slade down to street level. Is Brian still with you, and can you make it there?"
"Yes and no." Speedy swung his axe one handed and took a healthy chunk out of the shoulder of one of the zombies that pressed in all around them, "We kind of got side tracked into the train station. There's hundreds of these things in here."
"Shit." Raven looked away from her T-Comp and then back to it, "I'm going to see about helping them. Please stay alive?"
"I'll do my best." Speedy nodded and grinned, "Speedy out."
The line went dead, so he put the device away and took his axe in both hands again, "Suggestions?" he asked Red-X as they started hacking away at the dead people around them with renewed vigor.
"Blow up the building. No wait... get more of them in here, then blow up the building."
Speedy thought on it for a moment as he yanked his axe out of the nearest zombie's skull, "Let's do it." he nodded.
"I didn't actually think you'd go for it..." Red-X laughed.
Sarah peered around the corner of a hall way on the residential level of the Tower. She had just come down the ladder in the elevator shaft and had moved out into the hall, past Cyborg's room, then past Robin's room. Around the corner, she could see Raven and Starfire's rooms on the right side of the hall, and Jinx and Beast Boy's rooms on the left.
She inhaled sharply when she saw that the door to Beast Boy's room was open, and heard sounds of someone moving about in it.
Swallowing hard, she took a deep breath and hefted her gun. Moving as quietly as she could, she walked over to the door of Starfire's room, not more than five feet down from where Beast Boy's door opened out on the other side of the hall.
Sarah didn't waste any time finding the manual opening mechanism at the side of Star's door and pulling the lever down. With a hiss, the pressure holding the panels shut released, and the two doors slid apart slightly. Taking her eyes off of the door way to Beast Boy's room for the first time since she'd come around the corner, Sarah quickly thrust her hands between the panels and pulled them open the rest of the way.
Glancing back to make sure whatever was in Beast Boy's room wasn't coming out yet, she dashed into Star's dwelling. Looking about frantically, her eyes landed on a pink, heart shaped back pack.
"That'll do." she muttered, more to hear her own voice than to confirm her discovery. She grabbed it, opened it, and dumped the few contents on to Star's bed. The blond girl then rushed quickly over to a large crib set up in the corner and reached in, cooing at the worm like creature inside.
"Come here, Silkie!" she said quietly, "Auntie Sarah is going to make sure the nasty zombie's don't eat you." Silkie squirmed a little, upset at being woken, but he knew the sound of her voice, so he didn't struggle too much.
Placing him in the bag so that his head would still be popping out, she quickly slung it over her shoulders, "Alright Silkie. Let's get out of here before-"
A moan from the doorway cut her off and she whirled around to pinpoint the sound. There, standing at the threshold of Star's door, was a young man wearing a suit. Half of his head had been blown off, exposing a bloody brain on one side. The tips of his fingers looked as if they'd been gnawed off by something, and just the bone remained, pointed into wicked looking claws. Gore was splattered down his front, and it looked as if he'd had more than one meal recently.
"Oh, Christ..." Sarah lifted her gun and aimed it with shaking hands, "Don't come any closer!"
The zombie just growled at her and started forward at a remarkably quick pace. It took Sarah by surprise; most zombie movies portrayed the creatures as being slow and stupid. This one was fast, and it was moving to flank her.
Silkie squealed in her ear, drawing her out of her dazed state, and forcing action from her. Screaming, she pulled the trigger.
For having never fired a gun before, she thought she did remarkably well. The bullet hit the Cursed Dead in it's chest, blowing most of it's arm off. The kick from the gun sent Sarah reeling back until she fell on Starfire's bed, electing a squeal of protest form Silkie as he was pressed beneath her. Sarah watched in horror as the zombie pitched over backwards and landed on the floor, quite dead, and no longer moving.
"Holy shit..." she breathed, and quickly sat up. Turning her eyes away from the corpse on the floor, and the blood painting Starfire's walls, she ran for the door. Out in the hallway, she looked back at the open doors of the elevator shaft and saw another zombie already pulling it's self up. It looked up at her and growled out an inhuman noise.
Sarah pointed her gun again, braced her feet, and pulled the trigger. This time, she blew it's head clean off it's shoulders, knocking it back down the shaft.
Whirling around, she dashed back down the hall way and to the elevator shaft she'd just come down from. Grabbing hold of the ladder once again, and being sure to not look down, Sarah started climbing, heading for the roof.
Starfire dodged to the side as Bruiser's fist slammed into the ground she'd been standing on half a second before. Lashing out with her foot, she caught him in the chin, flipping him over to his back with a solid thud!
It didn't seem to matter how many times she knocked him down; the huge metehuman always got back up. They'd been playing cat and mouse for several minutes now, and it was starting to wear on her.
"Can you please stay down this time?" she begged of Bruiser, even as he stood back up. Sighing, she flew in and hauled back a fist, "I asked nicely. Now I must use more force than is really nessis- omph!"
Bruiser's hand had shot out more quickly than she had seen him move before, and he caught her by the throat. His hand was so huge that it covered most of her head as well, and it gave him good leverage to heft her over his head and slam her face first into the ground.
As he pulled her up, she gasped for breath. The blow had knocked the wind out of her, and having her face pushed into the ground hadn't allowed her to catch it yet. Blood sprinkled off of her forehead from a small cut, and as she kicked and struggled to get away from him, he brought her back down into the ground again.
Several guards watched in horror as Bruiser began to mercilessly pound her face into the ground again and again.
Robin let the tension ease out his shoulders and legs as he faced the Joker. He needed to be loose. Needed to be ready for an attack from every angle. The crazy old clown wouldn't have run in here if he hadn't had it completely wired with all kinds of nasty traps.
"So," the Joker said with a grin, "Going to come pummel me?"
"No." Robin smirked, and hurled a freeze disk at his opponent, "I'm going to make sure you can't move first!"
"Oh!" the Joker jumped back as several flame throwers concealed in the manufacturing line incinerated the disk before it even got to him, "Well! Looks like you found that one!"
Robin scowled and charged. Jumping into the air, he ran across the tops of the flame throwers, closing in rapidly on the Joker. The Clown Prince of Crime back peeled until he was near a box set on a desk off to one side. From there he started throwing small bombs.
"You'll have to do better than that, Joker." Robin shouted as he dodged the bombs, "I'm a hell of a lot faster than I used to be."
"And a hell of a lot stupider!" Robin came up short as he found himself staring down the barrel of a .45. Jumping back, he threw his cape up.
The gun went off and Robin fell back. Hitting the ground with a grunt, he rolled over and gasped for breath. The bullet had gone through his cape at that range, but had lost a lot of velocity. The Kevlar his uniform was lined with had held, but he knew he had a busted rib. Spitting some blood, he rolled away and hid behind a stack of crates.
"Stupid, Grayson." he muttered, "Full on, amateur, stupid."
Tim saw Robin go down as the Joker pulled the trigger, even as he dropped the last few feet from the hose he was using to climb down into the warehouse. He quickly jumped from the top of the machine he was standing on and rolled when he hit the floor. Pulling out a small blast grenade, he crept along behind the production line, looking between the supports that held the line up so he could keep an eye on where the Joker was.
As he rounded the corner of the line, he saw the Joker sneaking towards the crates that Robin had rolled behind. Grinning, he tossed the grenade and watched it blow a small crater in the concret floor of the warehouse, right next to the mad man's foot.
"Whoh!" The Joker reeled back, "You're everywhere at once, aren't you?"
Tim heard Robin's voice, "Just because one of your nasty little toys backfired on you, doesn't mean you have to blame me for your misfortune!" and then the colorfully clad young hero dropped from the top of the stack of crates he had been hiding behind and kicked the Joker soundly in the chest, sending him to the ground and knocking the gun from his hand.
Robin was on him in an instant, "This ends now!" he shouted, and hauled back a fist.
The Joker laughed out loud as he held up a remote and pushed a button. Bottle rockets started to launch from every concivable part of the factory, and Robin was forced to dodge back in order to avoid the slightly larger than normal bangs they were making.
The Joker scrambled away, laughing the whole time, as he started dropping small bombs from his pockets. The noise and light was confusing, and Tim was having a hard time finding cover from the rockets. As he huddled down behind the line, he just hoped that Robin as able to take out the crazy clown soon.
Beast Boy flew up past the edge of the buildings roof, and Jinx leapt from his back as he did. She landed in a crouch, her sword at the ready, facing Slade. He stood only fifteen feet from her, book in one hand, and the staff in the other. As Beast Boy landed next to her, once again in his humanoid form, Slade spoke to them.
"Well, well. The changeling I expected to show up and annoy me, but you Jinx?" he shook his head, "I never thought one of my former employees would turn on me."
"Shut up, you psycho." Beast Boy growled out in a voice much lower than his normal tone, "You're going down."
"Oh am I?" Slade chuckled as he closed the Libris Mortis and set it aside on the edge of a smoke stack, "You're not still sore about Terra are you?"
"Don't you say her name!" Beast Boy shouted, and his form roiled for a moment, rage barely contained, "You don't get to talk about her! Not after what you did to her!"
"Calm down, Gar." Jinx leveled a glare at Slade, "We'll beat you, Slade. You know we will."
"In the past, conversion was always my goal with the Titans. Now, you're simply an annoyance. Now, I can simply kill you." Slade chuckled as he stepped forward.
Beast Boy screamed, and his scream became a roar as he morphed into a lion and pounced on their enemy.
Slade just kicked him aside.
"Now that wasn't at all a worthy attack. Care to try your hand at it Jinx?"
Jinx narrowed her eyes, "Yeah, sure."
She charged in fast and low, her sword strike a sweep at his knees. He jumped, which was really the only way to avoid the attack, and she imidietly changed direction and brought the sword up to follow him.
His foot slammed into her face, and she felt her hands go numb as her nose broke.
Hitting the roof with a grunt and a splatter of blood, Jinx rolled over and tried to focus through the pain. Blood streamed down her face, and her vision was blurred. "Bastard..." she muttered though the gore on her face.
"Such language!" Slade reached down to pick up her sword, but a greet gorilla stepped on it, bending the blade. Looking up, the masked villain narrowed his one visible eye, "That was a mistake, Beast Boy."
The gorilla flipped end over end into a skylight, smashing through it and falling down to the floor of the office below them.
Slade turned his attention back to Jinx in time to block her first punch. He retaliated with an open handed strike to her chest, knocking her back. His follow up punch took a chunk out of a smoke stack as she ducked it and lashed out with her own clumsy punch...
Which connected solidly with his face, sending him stumbling away.
Jinx just stared in shock for several seconds. He straightened up and she gaped at him. "I hit you." she said.
"Very good." Slade sounded sarcastic, "Care to try again?"
"I hit you... Robin can hardly ever hit you... but that weak punch did?" she narrowed her eyes, and took up a stance, "I see it now... the gap in your style... you can't defend like him..." she smiled an evil smile, "You're not Slade."
Slade narrowed his own eye, "Prove it." he replied, and took up a stance of his own.
Raven flew low over the zombie horde, slashing at their heads as she did. Every now and then a hand would reach out and snag her leg or torso, but the wounds they made were minor, and none of them managed to grab her.
Up ahead, she could see several cars full of people that had been trying to flee the city. One was already smashed, and the other three were quickly on their way. Even as she flew up, the Cursed Dead smashed out the windows of one of them and started to viciously tear into the people inside of it.
"No!" she screamed and lashed out with her powers, forming them into blades of pure darkness that sliced the zombies into chunks of meat. Landing, she surrounded the three cars in black light and lifted them from the ground. Guiding them to the left, she deposited them on top of a low building, out of the zombie's reach.
Her concentration was so intense that she didn't notice the zombie behind her until it was tearing it's claw like hands down her back, ripping her cloak off and drawing long bloody tears in her skin. Screaming, she stumbled forward and into the waiting arms of another of the creatures. It bit down into her arm and tore a chunk of flesh out.
With another cry of pain, Raven lashed around herself with her powers, using them like bladed whips to hack apart the zombies. She threw both of her daggers at another, killing it as they buried to the hilts in it's head.
Flying up, she panted as her blood rained down from her arm and back. Glancing over at the roof where she'd deposited the cars, her heart stopped.
Cursed Dead were already on the roof, having come up through the hatch. She'd just dropped the people in the cars into a small nest of the things, and it was like handing them a buffet. The screams of the people in the cars reached her ears as she watched in horror.
It was over in a matter of seconds, and the zombies were simply feeding after that. The wet sounds of flesh tearing and organs slipping out of dead shells made her sick, and she threw up the food she's eaten earlier with Speedy.
"No..." she whispered in a weak voice. Looking around, she saw a sea of the undead. Death at every turn. Destruction washing over Jump City.
Furry built inside of her, and she welcomed Rage with open arms.
"Let's end this, Dad." she said in a low, deadly tone, and opened her second set of eyes, all four of them now glowing red. With a primal scream, she let loose with her powers, bringing Hell to Earth in the most literal sense.
Cyborg slugged a zombie out of his way as he charged through the front doors of Titan's Tower. Looking around the entry way, he saw that they were everywhere.
"Damnit." he cursed, and aimed his sonic cannon.
At it's full power the sonic cannon packed enough punch to rupture flesh and break bone, which it did now quite well. Zombies literally blew apart as he advanced into the lower levels of his home.
"Hold on a little longer, Baby!" he shouted as his fist slammed another zombie's head into the wall, splattering it all over the place.
Stopping suddenly, he scanned the entry way and saw that none of the Cursed Dead were attacking him. They all seemed to be moving to the elevator...
They were going up. Sarah was up. If the power was down, she would have been smart enough to get as far from danger as possible. That meant the roof.
Growling, he started forward and grabbed the first zombie he came to. Ripping it's arm off, he flung it aside and continued forward. He'd just have to kill all of them on his way up to save his girlfriend.
Speedy glanced down at Red-X from where he was holding off the hordes of the undead, "You about done down there?"
X was working quickly, "Almost. This boiler should blow in about... five minutes. We have that long to get as many as we can in here."
"Right." Speedy stepped forward and lobbed the head off of another zombie as it got close to him. The bodies around him were starting to pile up, but his arms were growing tiered.
"After this one goes," Red-X flew up out of the service chamber he had been working in under the tracks of the train station, "it'll start a chain reaction. This whole place will blow in a matter of seconds. We'll need to be long gone." he lashed out at a zombie on Speedy's left and took it's arm off with his wrist spike.
"Yeah." the red and black clad archer looked up at the glass ceiling, "That's gonna make a mess."
"No shit. No how do we get more in here? You said you had a plan..."
"We use bait."
"I was afraid you'd say that." Red-X sighed, "Alright, let's get to the exit."
Bruiser dropped Starfire to the ground, laughing as her limp form made a thump. Looking down at his hand, he frowned a little, and wiped the blood that covered it on his pant leg, "Little gurl made a mess on ma' hand." he said.
"And now," Starfire said as she sat up and turned to face him, "I will make a mess of your hand it's self!" Eyes blazing green, she screamed and hurled a fully powered starbolt at the giant of a man.
Howling with pain and clutching at the stump of his wrist, Bruiser stumbled away. The bolt had seared the wound shut as soon as it had made it, so there was no blood, but Star knew it had to hurt like hell. She got to her feet, wiping blood from the numerous cuts that covered her face, and turned to face the other three guards that had been watching the fight.
Glancing at each other, they all shrugged and pointed SMG's at her.
As the opened up on her, Starfire blazed with green energy, incinerating their bullets as they neared her. She flew forward quickly and with a single punch each, took them all out. Turning back to Bruiser, she flew as fast as she could at him.
He grunted as she lifted him above her head and flew up into the night sky, "Hey! Lemme go!" he shouted, struggling to get away from the alien princess.
"If you insist." Star shrugged and hurled him with all her might at the water tower that sat in one corner of the compound. He hit the structure holding it up and then fell to the ground.
Sitting up and rubbing his head, he looked up just in time to see Star drop the whole top of the tower on him.
Dusting her hands off as she landed next to the pile of twisted mettle and broken wood, she nodded. Turning back to the factory, she wondered at Robin's progress. As police cruisers started pulling into the compound, she flew to meet them, intent on giving them all the information they needed before she went to help her boyfriend.
Jinx lashed out with her foot again, scoring a solid hit against the Slade look-alike's side. He grunted and fell to his left, rolling as he hit the roof top.
"You're really quite good." he taunted her, "But not nearly good enough for me."
"Really?" she sneered at him, "I'd say we're pretty evenly matched."
"We would be," he said from his crouched position, "but I have this." and he lifted the staff from the roof top.
Jinx gasped as he pointed it at her and shouted out, "Grazzat, Keldeir, Arcanmorties!" A beam of black energy slammed into her and blasted her back to the edge of the roof. She could feel where the dark magic had permeated her right shoulder, and knew that it was eating away at her. The only way to get rid of it, was to use it.
"Talligrania!" she shouted out her own curse and hurled the energy back at him. It took on the form of several poisoned arrows, and the look-alike was forced to dodge them. Jinx grinned and stood up, throwing her own pink energy at him, trying to knock him down.
It wasn't until it was too late that she saw he was dodging towards her. He was too close for her too block it when his kick came, and he knocked her off the side of the roof with no trouble. She grit her teeth as her hand shot out and grabbed the edge.
"Still clinging to life?" he stood over her and raised one foot in the air, "Why don't you join he Cursed Dead below? I'm sure they'd be happy to have you for dinner." he laughed as he brought his foot down, and Jinx prepared to have every bone in her hand broken.
The blow never fell though, and she looked up to see the Slade clone being held aloft by a huge green beast of some sort. It was hulking, and looked like a werewolf crossed with a monkey. The green gave it away as Beast Boy, but she had no idea how he had become a creature that was so un-natural.
With a howl of furry, the Man Beast hurled the Slade clone a fair distance and then pounced on him. Beast Boy began to slam his fists into the clone's face and chest, smashing it further down into the roof with every blow.
He apparently still had some form of sanity left about him, because he became himself again after just seven punches. His uniform in tatters, he continued to punch the look alike repeatedly as he shouted at it, "I wont let you take her from me again! I love her, you hear me? I love her and you can't take her from me! Stone, and flesh, and blood, and you can't take Terra from me again!" tears were falling down his face as he continued to hammer at his enemy.
Jinx could hardly believe her ears. Was he calling her Terra? Was she just... a stand in for the girl he really loved?
"Gar!" she shouted as she ran over, "Gar, he's down! You're going to kill him!"
Beast Boy, his bloody hand still raised over his head, dropped the clone back to the roof top. Reaching down, he yanked the mask off to reveal a bloodied face that was completely gray and featureless. Just two wide black eyes, a gash for a mouth, and a sunken hole where a nose should have been.
The face clicked with Jinx, "The Doppelganger. He was the one Brother Blood sold the Libris Mortis to. He used to teach stealth and disguise at the HIVE."
"So... he's not Slade?" Beast Boy stood up and backed away from the metehuman he'd almost killed.
"No, he's not Slade, but he still knew how to use the book and the staff." Jinx walked back to the smoke stack where the book lay, and picked it up. Flipping through it, she spoke over her shoulder to Beast Boy, "Call Raven."
"Why? Can't you-"
"I can't read Sanskrit." Jinx cut him off, "Call her."
"Hey, are you mad at me-"
"Yes."
"For what?" Beast Boy started forward, "Did I do something... I mean, I know I lost my head a little, but he's still alive, and-"
"And I'm not going to be a stand in for your petrified girlfriend." Jinx said coldly, "Call Raven. I lost my T-Comp while I was fighting that bastard."
Beast Boy looked stricken, but pulled out his communicator any way, "Beast Boy to Raven. We need you to break this spell."
Raven barely heard her T-Com. As the red glow faded from her eyes, she yanked it out.
"Repeat that Beast Boy." she looked around at the street, noting that she'd ripped most of it up, and leveled a few buildings. The Cursed Dead were nothing more than smears of blood now though, so her rage hadn't been wasted.
"We need you over here. Slade wasn't Slade, and we took care of him, but we need you to end the spell."
"I'll be there in a-" she was cut off as the train station blew up.
Looking over at the fireball that was reaching for the sky, she spotted two figures running from the shockwave, only to be bowled over by it moments later.
"The hell was that?" came Beast Boy's frantic voice.
"Speedy and Red-X just blew up the train station. I'll be there shortly. Raven out."
Sighing, she flew down to the street to meet the boys.
"That," Red-X stated as he pulled himself out of a small pile of rubble, "sucked lots."
"Agreed." Speedy sat a short distance away, inspecting a gash on his arm.
"Did you have to blow up the train station?" Raven asked them as she descended from the sky.
"It took out a whole bunch of the fuckers, trust me." X stood up, "Where are we needed now?"
"Head back to the Tower. I'm going to go end this."
"If you're going to fight Slade-" as Speedy stood up, she placed a finger on his lips.
"It wasn't Slade. Jinx and Beast Boy took care of it, and I'm going to go cast the counter spell. Go back to the Tower, and make sure Cyborg and Sarah are still alive."
Speedy sighed and nodded, "On our way."
"Good." Raven took flight again, "I'll see you there soon." and she flew off.
"Dude." Red-X plodded up next to Speedy, "You realize we both got our asses kicked by some dude that wasn't even the real Slade?"
"Don't remind me." Speedy shook his head and glanced at the gash in his arm once more, "Let's go."
Robin peeked around the forklift he'd taken cover behind to avoid the bottle rocket bombardment, and scanned the room for the Joker.
He spotted him just in time to duck as the Clown opened up on him with a tommy gun.
"Christ!" he shouted as he huddled down. With .50 caliber bullets flying over his head, he had no way of getting out. Yanking out a flash bomb, he slid it across the floor, under the forklift, and right to the ground in front of the Joker.
"Huh?" The mad man looked down in time for it to blow, and he stumbled back as the bright flash blinded him temporarily.
Robin dashed around the forklift and charged in with a battle cry. The Joker blinked his eyes rapidly and his vision cleared in time for him to see Robin's fist flying at his face.
As the clown tumbled back over a crate, his gun went flying. Robin pressed the attack, slamming a fist into the Joker's side, then kicking him several yards away. He landed half bent over another crate, and Robin stalked over quickly.
"You should have stuck to the traps, Joker. Now you're going down."
"Wrong again, Boy Blunder!" the Joker whirled around, and smashed Robin across the side of the head with a crow bar, blasting him off his feet. Stepping forward, he raised the bar above his head, "Too bad you have to die. It'll be a real drag with just Batman to chase me around now!"
His blow never fell though, because just as he was about to smash Robin's head in, Tim flew out of the shadows and shoulder blocked the clown away from the young hero.
The crow bar flew from the Joker's hands, and he stumbled back. Looking slightly suprised, he laughed a little, "Tommy! Why'd you go and hit your old Uncle Jay like that?"
"My name is Tim, you crazy fucktwit." Tim growled out, and hurled a tangler granade at the Joker, point blank. It exploded into a mass of sticky pink goo, and wrapped around him, forming a strong adhesive straight jacket.
"Ooo!" the Joker laughed like crazy, "A Bat Toy! You're with them!" he laughed again, and danced away, over to a computer that was set up on the far side of the room. Tim tried to head him off, but the Joker twirled and lashed out with his foot, catching the young man under his chin, and sending him reeling into a stack of crates, bringing them down on top of him.
The Joker leaned forward and slammed his head into a large red button next to the computer. The screen came on, and it started flashing numbers, counting down from thirty. Laughing like a maniac, he dashed for the back exit, and was gone in a matter of seconds.
Robin sat up, rubbing the side of his head. Pulling his hand back, he saw that it came away red, "Two times in as many nights that I've had that happen." he muttered, and looked around for the Joker.
When his eyes fell on the computer screen, they widened.
A quick change in the view settings of his mask and he was looking around the room for electromagnetic pulses. Counting easily twenty, he estimated that there wouldn't be much more than a crater when all the bombs went off.
Noting that he only had twenty seconds left, he started running for the large dock doors that opened out into the main grounds of the factory. He saw the lights of the police cars, and several officers running towards him.
"No!" he shouted, waving them back, "This whole place is wired! Hunt cover!"
Starfire was there suddenly and she started pulling officers back, "We must get back!" she shouted, "Robin says there is a bomb!"
"Robin..." a weak voice came from inside the warehouse. Whirling around, Robin saw that Tim was just pulling himself out of a stack of crates, "Robin... help me..." Blood painted the side of his face, and he looked dazed.
"Tim!" Robin shouted, and without thinking about what he was doing, ran back into the warehouse.
"Robin?" Starfire called after him, "Robin, no!"
The Boy Wonder dove for Tim, and wrapped his cape around both of them.
The computer counted down from one to zero.
The warehouse erupted into an explosion of such magnitude that every building in a half mile radius had it's windows blow out.
The zombies had been coming through the roof hatch fairly steadily for the past ten minutes or so, and Sarah was really getting proud of how her aim was improving. As another one came up, she blew it's head off.
Seeing that she was out of ammo again, she quickly ejected the clip and reloaded. Looking back up, she saw that one of the Cursed Dead was almost on top of her.
"Damnit!" she screamed and fired four times, blowing it away from her. They were invading the roof top now, and she didn't know how fast she'd be able to reload when this clip ran out...
"Stay away!" she screamed and fired again, hitting one in the shoulder. They advanced on her, and she began to pump off shots. Backing away, she found herself at the edge of the roof. "Oh no... no... no..." she fell to her knees and held her head in her hands, "NO!" she screamed as she felt the hot breath of a zombie just above her neck.
Then there was a thud and the presence of the zombie was gone. Another thud and a voice that she sobbed when she heard, "Get the hell away from my girlfriend you dead sons of bitches!" She looked up to see Cyborg hurl the last of the zombies off the Tower, then turn to her. "You okay, Baby?"
Sarah burst into tears and hurled herself into his arms. He held her tightly and sat down of the roof top, "Shhh... it's okay now, hun. I got all of 'em."
"What about the others?" she asked.
As Cy opened his mouth to tell her he didn't know, a black ring of energy erupted from the city, spreading out in all directions. He used his cybernetic eye to zoom to the shore, and saw that the Cursed Dead were falling to the ground, just plain dead once more.
"Looks like it's over." he lifted his arm and sent out a city wide call, "Titans, check in."
"Beast Boy, Raven, and Jinx, all alive and well." came Beast Boy's voice.
"Speedy and Red-X, beaten and bloody, but still breathing."
"And Sarah and I are okay too." Cyborg sighed, "Congrats, team, we made it."
"Everyone back to the Tower." Raven's voice came over the com, "We need to regroup and patch our selves up, then we can contact the city about how to help with the clean up."
Raven shut her T-Comp and turned back to Jinx, "I'll see you two back at the Tower, okay? Bring the book and the staff."
"Actually," Jinx sent a cold glare over to Beast Boy, who looked away, "I'd rather go with you, if you don't mind."
Raven looked back and forth between them for a moment, then sighed, "I don't know what the two of you are fighting over, but yes, I do mind." she motioned to her arm, "I'm injured Jinx. I can't carry you."
"Oh." Jinx shook her head, "I'll walk then."
"No, just go with Beast-"
"I'll walk." Jinx cut her off. Picking up the staff and the book, she walked to the roof hatch and down into the building.
Raven turned and glared at Beast Boy, "What did you do?"
"Nothing! I just... got a little carried away..."
"What," she growled out, "did you do, Gar Logan?"
"I... kinda forgot that she wasn't Terra... and I went off on the Doppelganger about it... how he killed Terra... except he didn't and now... now I think I've lost Jinx too." he sighed and turned away, "Let's just get back home."
Raven sighed and nodded. Lifting off the building, she watched at he became a sparrow, and followed her.
Starfire pulled herself from the windshield of the police cruiser she'd been thrown into by the blast and looked in horror at the smoldering remains of the warehouse.
"ROBIN!" she screamed, and flew forward into the flames.
The Joker dashed down the ally way between two other factories not far away. Laughing his head off, he sang a little song.
"Two Bat Kids Dead! I bashed in this one's head! He tripped and fell and I blew him up! His blood was so bright red!" the final word was high pitched and he held it until a dark fist flew out of the shadows and rendered him uncouncious in one blow.
Batman stepped from the darkness and looked towards the fire and smoke that was filling the night sky a half mile away with narrowed eyes, "Dick..." he muttered, "Don't be dead."
When he arrived on the scene, the first thing he saw was Starfire, sitting in the back of an ambulance, and being treated for several burns. Waiting in the shadows until they released her, he watched as she walked about in a daze, not quite sure what to do with herself.
"Kori." he said as she walked past the shadows where he was hidden.
She turned and looked at him, seeing him now that she knew where he was. She took two steps forward, and fell. Rushing up, he caught her, and held her against his chest.
"Starfire, I caught the Joker a half mile from here. He was singing a song... about Robin being..."
She burst into tears, and he knew then. The weight of the news slammed down into him like a ton of bricks and he fell to the ground with her, wrapping his cape around both of them.
It was almost midnight by the time they removed all the bodies from the Tower. It was unanimously decided that they would spend the next day cleaning up the blood and gore, and even Red-X volunteered to pitch in and help.
Beast Boy stared out the window of the living room, which had remained remarkably untouched. Jinx hadn't returned to the Tower yet, and he was starting to worry.
"She'll be back." Raven said as she stepped up next to him, "She wont just leave us because you're a bastard."
"Thanks, Rae. You're really helping here." he glared at her.
Raven shrugged and was about to say something when the main screen popped open and took up most of the windows in the front of the living room. She walked over to the control station and opened the com link that was coming in.
"Connected Watch Tower. This is Titan Tower West."
"Raven." the man on the screen was the Green Lantern. He wore a stern look, and she sensed anger boiling beneath his surface calm.
"Hello, Lantern. When can we expect clean up aid?"
"You can't." he replied with a degree of finality that told her something was very wrong.
"What? What are you talking about? We can't clean up a city full of dead bodies by ourselves! The Jump City officials can't handle this load! We need the League!"
"The League will be there. You wont."
"What?" Beast Boy stepped up next to her, and the rest of the Titans started to come in from the kitchen to see what was happening.
"We've just confirmed final numbers from your little adventure tonight, and-"
"Little?" Speedy's mouth dropped, "Sir, we all almost died out there!"
"Indeed. But you're still alive. Theeight thousand casualties of this fiasco weren't so lucky!" he shouted, "Over a billion dollars in property damage! More than half of the JCPD is dead, and the city isn't estimated to be back on it's feet for six years!"
"We were working with almost nothing!" Raven shouted back, "Where were you, huh? Where was the JLA when we needed you?"
"We dispatched several members, who worked damage control and round up. We hadn't found a way to bring those people back, and we wanted to be sure they were all contained."
"You can't bring the Cursed Dead back!" Raven shouted, "If you'd consulted me, than we wouldn't even be having this conversation right now-"
"Enough!" he roared at her, and she shut her mouth, "I'm sorry, Raven, but without your leader and with this fiasco on our hands, the JLA can't fund you any longer. You kids tried your best, but you're just too young, and too inexperienced for large scale attacks like this."
"What are you saying exactly?" Cyborg asked as he stepped forward.
"I'm saying that the Justice League is pulling it's funding of the Teen Titans. You'll recive severance packages to help get you set up in civilian life, but we don't think you should be doing hero work any more. Maybe when you're older, but right now, maybe you should all think about going to collage for a few years or something."
"You can't be serious." Beast Boy shook his head, "Dude, I'm green. I'm a freak out there."
"You'll learn to deal with it." Green Lantern shook his head once more, "I'm sorry kids, but that's it."
"What did you mean when you said we were without our leader?" Raven asked, a note of fear creeping into her voice.
Lantern stared at her for a moment, then looked down at his control panel, "I'll let Batman explain. Watch Tower out."
The screen changed suddenly, and they were looking at the tear streaked, slightly burned face of Starfire.
"Friends... I am afraid that I call... with most distressing news... Robin..." she trailed off and looked out at all of them hopelessly, "Robin..."
"Star... what about Robin?" Raven asked seriously.
The alien girl broke down and started to sob uncontrollably. A hand on her shoulder guided her away from the screen, and a moment later, they were looking at Batman. He wore a look of quiet, cold furry, and every last one of the Titans took a step back involuntarily.
"Titans... I just recived word from the JLA... you're being disbanded."
"We know." Raven said, fear lacing her voice, "Robin...?"
"The Joker... killed him." Batman said, a slight hitch to his voice. It was gone as soon as it had come, and he looked just as calm and deadly as ever, "I'm... sorry. I know he was a good friend to all of you." shaking his head, Batman looked around at them, "The details of your discharge will come tomorrow. I suggest you all get a good night's sleep, and read through the notes then. Batman out."
The screen went dead, and the team stood in silence for several minutes.
"So..." Red-X, his mask removed, looked around at the Titans, "That's it? Just like that?"
"That's it." Raven replied bitterly, "We beat back the zombies, and we saved the city, but we still lost." she shook her head, "The Teen Titans are dead."
Closing Notes: Wait for it. It all makes sense later. Trust me on this one, kids.
Reviewers get cookies!
Arezal - Looks like Tim's little run in with the Joker left him more than scared for life, huh? But you have to be able to see this plot line coming from a mile off, so shhh... don't tell anyone, kay?
seattleitegirl - You got everything you wanted in this chapter except Beast Boy's new name, which makes it's appearence in the next story. Tim's description was in my opening notes if you didn't read 'em, and I hope to hear from you on this chapter as well!
Nano - It wasn't the quickest update, but better than I've done in the past. Robin died. See? I said a long time ago that I would kill him, and I did. Heh.
Heaven's Angel -Yeah man, what was up with that? I think the website's e-mail alearts were down the day I posted chapter 10, so people just didn't know it was there. I expect more reviews for this one. Married? Sounds like fun. Wish I could get married some time soon, but I can't afford it right now. :) Oh well, we're happy.
goldfish demon -Tim is cool, or really, really hot as the case may be now. Look for more Timmy goodness in upcoming stories.
Whocares? - Superbeast wolf thing, check. Robin slicing up zombies? Not so check. He got blowed up. Sorry. :)
Grace - Actually, the whole Slade returning thing is a TT fanfic cliche if there ever was one, but I worked around that too, because my Slade wasn't really Slade. Make sense? Yah? Good. Review again!
StarryRavenFire - Good to go with your gut I guess. Robin did indeed get the big sleep. Then again, so did Tim, so I guess you were only half right. Anyway, thanks for the MONSTER of a review, and I hope to hear from you again soon!
robinstar - You know you wouldn't even read these stories if I didn't throw in the cliff hangers. :) Sorry about not killing off Cyborg. I figure he's the last one to ever die. He has the most endurence after all. Maybe I'll write a Cyborg death story just for you... that's a messed up idea... how would the team deal with that? Hmmm...
Firpi - I wanted to really convay the feeling that these 17-19 year old kids were the only thing standing between the city and destruction. I wanteda war of epic proportions. I wanted them to have to really blow people apart. Gallons and gallons of blood seemed like the best way to convay that. You don't really see many TT stories with just tons of gore in them. I just wrote two chapters full of it. :) This one was shorter by about 4,000 words, so your eyes shouldn't hurt so bad this time.
ChaosChampion - Jinx still has an important part to play, so sorry, she stays alive. As for the LJ... sorry about not getting to it, but I've been really busy, and I figured writing the stories is more important than writing about them. I'll attempt to get to it more this time. Semester ends ina week, thank God.
BeautyOfTheRose - The Joker got his, but not before Robin bit it big time.And poor Jinx... she has some rough times ahead for her, as her unlucky streak continues. Now hit that review button!
Thanks for the lot of you that reviewed, even though the e-mail update didn't go out. Hope to hear from all of you again soon, and I'll point out that I also just updated Falling Up, so read and review that one too! Thanks!
Next Chapter: The Titans prepare to move on as they leave the Tower, one by one. Jinx does something stupid, Red-X helps Cyborg, and Speedy quits Titans East.
In Gotham, Starfire finds herself at loose ends. Without the Titans,andwithout Robin, nothing ties her to the Earth. As she prepares to leave for home, Babs comes to her with a very interesting offer...
Nexttime: Epilog.