Renegade

Chapter 9

It was a calm, peaceful night. The moon was full and brightly shining. The city had already gone to sleep. There were only a few lights visible. The stars were emanating an aura of peace due to their light. It was the kind of night that made you appreciate all that life had to offer. Wraith loved the irony.

He sat there at his post waiting, going over the attack plan in his head. "Vincent can take care of Robin, the Marines will take care of the other Titans, and it's my job to take out the Renegade. I'm going to like this." The battle would be sixteen Marines versus Starfire, Raven, Cyborg, and Beast Boy, Robin versus Vincent, and Wraith versus the Renegade. He sat there meditating on every possible outcome and his gut feeling told him that the Renegade would run. If he did, he would case him. He lied there polishing his red stained blade, no doubt due to the blood it has tasted. He thought of all the unimaginable things that he would do to him. The unspeakable horrors that would make many wince in disgust put a simple sadistic smile on his face. They all sat there on the coast of Titan's Isle going over their plan one last time.

With him are Vincent and the Marines. They were in Czerka's Heavy Infantry Armor, a very unusual sight. They looked more like astronauts than soldiers due to their bulky powerful armor. The plating was some made of one of the hardest materials known to man. They were broad shouldered and held an advanced assault rifle; there was a glass dome over their heads. The dome was perhaps one of the most interesting parts of they're armor. They're weapon and the dome are wirelessly linked so that wherever they move a little pointer moved with them. It looked like something out of a First Person Shooter's HUD, displaying the area a bullet was most likely to hit. The gun itself was also a fascinating thing. It had two modes: an automatic mode where the aimer is wider and goes in a larger area; it is used when you want to spray an area with gunfire, the other mode was the semi-automatic mode. It was more reliable therefore it displayed a smaller, narrower target. Each mode had an on board armor piercing mode for tougher opponents. The problem was, that mode was loud as heck.

Vincent was clothed in a dark blue hooded cloak. He preferred it to his casual trench coat and hat. He felt it made him feel more…mysterious. He was preparing the team for the battle up ahead.

"Okay men, this is the moment of truth. The master's associate is inside the tower as we speak and is waiting to disable the security systems on my mark. Your job is to confront and capture the Teen Titans, don't kill them. We'll do most affective if we're they're separated so you should divide yourselves in half. Eight of you take the south entrance the others take the east. We are not going to botch this one up. Tonight we taste victory."

The Marines nodded in approval. With that pep talk they began creeping down the isle, just outside of what one could see through the tower.

The Titans were up late, talking, laughing and having general fun. They had almost forgotten about the coming battle, almost. Cyborg typed in a few keys on the computer and was activating the routine nighttime system lock-down. Everyone else was sitting on the cough getting ready for bed. Robin and Starfire sat next to each other. Robin nervously put his arm around Star's shoulder. The Tameraian didn't know what this gesture meant but was happy to have him by her side all the same. They both looked at each other and made a smile. They were feeling pretty good.

Beast Boy was in the middle of gloating his victory over Force at Super Monkey Fighter Four. Having lost the battle, Force swallowed his pride and walked over to where Raven was sitting and sat down. She put down her book to have a conversation with her guest. They talked about minor issues, current events and the like. They were both simply happy to be talking to someone who understood them, even though the conversation itself wasn't particularly deep.

Yes, they all were happen in that moment, until it happened.

"What the? Guys. Get over here." Cyborg souted. The alarm was beginning to sound. The Titans rushed over to the over sized Television/Supercomputer. Cyborg brought up the security signals of eight cameras. Three of them were blank.

"What is it?" asked the leader of the Titans.

"I've lost visual feedback with all the cameras watching the outside of the tower." Cyborg replied.

"What are you saying," asked Beast Boy. "Are we being hacked?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

"Then we should spilt up. If all the cameras are out it properly means someone's going to attack from multiple sides. Cyborg, Beast Boy, you take the east entrance. Raven, Starfire, you take the south. I'll go to the helipad to see if there is anything up there. Titans Go!" Robin gave the team their orders and they went through with them, each going to their respective location, only Force and Robin were left in the room.

"What do I do?" asked Force.

"You need to get out of here. They'll be looking for you and we're not letting them find you."

"But I-"

"No! Your heard me! We can handle ourselves but you gotta leave town."

Force knew that this was the best onion, but he still wasn't happy with it. Never the less, he went though with Robin's command and left the tower by going to the west. Wraith spotted him trying to escape and began to tail him.

Beast Boy and Cyborg were waiting in a type of pressroom, the same room where they first met their guest that is causing them so much trouble. A loud bang clanged from the door. The Marines were trying to break it down. The two sat ready for anything that might come through. The constant rhythm of the beating eventually bade a small hole in the door. Through it, they tossed a small cylinder that hit the ground. It sat there for a second and then began emitting a yellowish gas.

"C2 Gas!" Shouted Cyborg

"What?" Asked Beast Boy.

"Nasty stuff, if you breathe it for too long it'll knock you out. We need to get rid of it."

Beast Boy took that as a hint and transformed into a Pterodactyl and began flapping his wings to expel the gas outside. He was eventually successful. Seeing this, the Marines decided to take a slightly different approach. They began banging at the door again; the door got wider and wider until there was a larger opening. It still was not enough for a man to go through but it was enough to fit more gas tanks. Out of the door came seven more cylinders. Cyborg and Beast Boy both saw that it would be impossible to get rid of them all so they decided to retreat and face them at another location

Robin ran swift fully up the flight of stairs until finally reaching the top floor. He swung open the door but was too late. A dark hooded figure was standing in the middle helipad waiting for him. Robin quickly discerned the figures identity and addressed him by name.

"Vincent I presume."

"Robin, nice to finally meet you."

"Likewise."

"So will you give yourself up or will I have to take you down myself?"

"Looks like I'm doing it the hard way."

Vincent ran right at his foe with an impossible speed. He took his small teenaged frame by the shoulders and thrusted him into his knee, butting him hard in the gut. Robin was sent straight into the door and on his knees. He stood up and tried to locate his foe. Vincent was standing there in there middle of the helipad like nothing had happened. Robin drew a plan up in his mind. He took out his extend-o-pole and ran at him. He feigned to the left. Vincent just stood there. He feigned to the right. Vincent just stood there. He made it look like his pole but then at the last moment, he pushed it down like a pole-vault and launched himself over his head to do a kick from behind. Vincent stopped standing and kicked the fallen pole to his hand. He turned around with an agile grace and smacked him right in the head just before Robin would have kicked him. Robin went flying towards the edge, landed, and then began rolling, before it was over with, his hand was dangling from off the edge. Robin stood to attention. That last blow hit him hard. His vision was bleary for a moment and as it cleared he saw Vincent, just standing there. Robin shock off the pain of that last blow, he knew exactly what he was going to do. The only problem was, so did Vincent.

Ark finally made it past Titan's Isle and into the streets. Half of him wanted to go back and help the Titans; the other half wanted to keep on running. He went with the other half. Unknown to Ark, Wraith had been following him and every turn he made, every path he crossed, would only lead him closer to an inevitable battle. Ark kept running, a sudden flash of light came with every streetlight he ran across. The Illumination kept him sharp, alert.

The streets were abandoned, nobody went out or in of regularly busy intersections. Nobody was burning the midnight oil to get one last project done. It was like a ghost town. In the miles that Ark ran, he never saw a soul but then, at an intersection he saw a dark figure, a very familiar dark figure. The dark figure stepped into a streetlight to reveal a face, a face of Wraith.

Wraith was an ominous figure. He wore a black leather coat that covered over three fourths of his body. The parts of him that you could see were horribly scared, yet well built. On his back laid the hilt of a sword, a ninja blade. Unlike the Katana, a Ninja's weapon is straight, used for stabbing and assassination. It was more of a weapon of evil than a weapon of honor. It was this blade that was Wraith's weapon-of-choice. His hair was long and unkempt and its color was the same as his skin, pale white. But perhaps the most ominous future of this 'man' was his eyes.

There is a thing in our world called the eyes of the murderer. One with the blackest heart can only obtain them and most blood stained hands, by looking into these eyes you would see that the wearer had no value upon life, nor does he mind killing. In fact, you would see he actually enjoys it. This is what Ark saw. He saw the eyes of a man he would have been.

"Hello Renegade. Been a while." Wraith had a grim smile on his face

"Wraith." Ark said in a monotone voice similar to the voice that Robin uses when confronted with a certain man.

"Do you know what?" Wraith asked. "I long for the day where cowardice Renegade's like you would go to the abandoned rat-holes of towns where nobody would care if it's entire population just 'disappeared', Not at all like these cities."

He took out of his hand a silver fork. "This is the fork I used for breakfast this morning. It was at a little dinner. The people there were asking too many questions, and I began to count the possible ways to kill them all with only this fork, when I realized, I couldn't get away with it because you had to go to a heavily populated city. So instead of killing them I'll take my frustration out on you. First of all, have seen you my latest work on the news."

"I did."

"Did they show any pictures?"

"I'm sorry no."

"A shame. It really was quite a work of Art. The way he was hung, the position of his body parts, it was all...perfect. Imagine what I'm about to do to you. Yes your death is nigh, your destruction, imamate, your-" Wraith's sentence was cut off by Ark's fist.

"You really need to learn to stop doing monologues like that. It gets really annoying." Ark had an arrogant smirk on his face.

"First of all it wasn't a monologue it was a soliloquy, get it right! Secondly, you are so dead now!"

Wraith released his sword from hit's sheath. A slight glint of light was reflected that made it seem like poetry in motion, as long as the poet was Edgar Allen Poe. He rushed at Ark, put his sword parallel to his body. He struck. Ark dodged it but only by a hair. Ark clenched his hand tight and propelled it forward, sending a block of energy heading straight for Wraith. The energy hit Wraith like a brick. He flew backward and hit the ground. He jumped up like a reflex. Sword in hand, Wraith nimbly cut from side to side avoiding wave after wave of Ark's energy. "Rahh!" He shouted as he neared his prey. He quickly struck diagonally. Ark tried to avoid it but to no avail. It grazed his chest and tore apart his jacket. He then stuck with another attack barely hitting Ark's left cheek. Ark then jumped back to give him and his opponent some room. He quickly discarded the tattered jacket and both fighters formed offensive positions. Ark gathered a large about of energy at his figure tips. This was going to be harder than he thought.

Starfire was with Raven preparing for the coming attack. Raven pulled to pieces of wall out to form a primitive barricade in an attempt to hinder the Marine's entry. The girls had an easy enough time taking care of the early cylinder attack. Raven simply surrounded the smoke grenades with her black energy and threw them out. Each girl sat on opposite ends of the barricade, Raven on the left, Star on the right. The girls heard banging coming from the door. There was a banging, banging, banging, until eventually there was a hole large enough to crawl though. Three Marines climbed through, two stayed at the door the provide cover-fire, the rest went into various strategic positions. The three crept slowly in. The room was dark. To compensate for this the Marines turned on their Nigh Vision mode on their glass dome. One walked forward toward the barricade knowing someone must be behind it. He was right. Starfire flew up into the air surprising the soldier. They fired their guns at her. Star avoided these with the grace of an angel and as an angel, she unleashed a hail of Starbolts hitting all of them, but more importantly, their illumination caused the Night Vision to display an incredibly bright object, temporarily blinding them. It was then Raven struck. She used her powers in an attempt to grab a gun away from one of them. Feeling this tug, the Marine pushed back and struggled to keep his weapon accidentally send four bullets toward her, one over her head, two on either side. Starfire continued dodging her enemies attacks and responding with her own. She took one down after a while. A Marine ran to take his place switching his gun the Semi-Automatic mode. The Target displayed narrow and after three misses one finally made contact. It stunned her and sent her to the ground leaving Raven alone. Raven was behind the barricade when a circular object was thrown over.

"What is that? A fragmentation grenade!"

Raven quickly surrounded the grenade with a field of black energy barely, but safely detonating it.

They were charging down the tower. The Titans were under siege. The fight would continue on, and only one side could claim victory.