Well, I'm writing this now, cause I won't have time tomorrow (keep in mind this is being written several days at least before when you are reading it). So I may not be able to post this for a while.
Anyways, I'm kinda getting confused about how to do this story. The battle may turn out good… or it could suck goats.
So… Hopefully it'll work, but nobody hold your breath, since the battle is at the end of the chapter and I don't want you to pass out…
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Beast Boy stared at the girl. Had she just said Slade was going to kill almost every human?
Cyborg spoke to them hesitantly, "Do you want me to bring up battle maps?"
Raven looked to Beast Boy, then stood and walked to the room that had once been the living room. Beast Boy stood, shaking slightly, and followed her.
The living room was like nothing they he had ever seen. It was painful, because this room was so different; but it was still so similar.
All of the major furniture stayed in the same place it had been the year before. The tree, now withered, stood in a corner, the ornaments and lights hanging from its dead branches in a mockery of the season, just like the rest of this world.
That was as far as the similarities went, though. All of the electronic systems in the tower had been moved into this room, forming a makeshift control center.
"There wasn't much use in having a living room when it was just me…" Raven muttered when she saw his expression. She walked over to the screen, then said, "Bring up the maps on screen 1. Any live footage you can get on 2, and any predictions you can make on 3."
"Working on it," Cyborg said. The room heated as the computers started to work. They could hear the machines humming all around them.
"Coming up… now," Cyborg said. Immediately three images popped up on the largest of the view screens. These were fully 10 feet square, and had nearly perfect picture.
The first showed a map of an area of land about 10,000 square miles. The topographical image showed elevation, trees, and even had infrared and radar imaging, allowing them to see pipes and natural caves underneath. It was a mountainous, forested area, but they couldn't tell any more than that.
The second map was infrared scans of the same area, showing troops in the area. It was being updated about every 10 seconds, providing a type of slideshow video of what was happening. They saw one large force up on a high ridge, making what appeared to be some type of trench to hold of the impending invasion. The area to the east of this ridge was completely covered in enemy troops, almost all humans and robots. There were also three tags highlighting Overload, Cinderblock, and Plasmus, as well as several showing enemy human units.
The final showed the predicted human fortifications in blue, their stationary gun turrets (under hasty construction in the previous picture) in green, and their forces spread along them in a weak line in teal. The enemy was spread out in front of them, with the human units closest. Overload, Plasmus, and Cinderblock were in the back of the army; apparently they were least replaceable to Slade.
"Can you give us a visual play of the predicted outcome of the battle?" Raven asked, sitting to look at the screen. Beast Boy followed.
On the screen, the humans under Slade's control struggled up the hill, under heavy fire by the resistance force. Both sides suffered heavy casualties, but for this first attack, the humans were victorious. The stationary guns in particular made mincemeat of the infantry
Next, the main body, consisting of robots, moved up the hill. They didn't protect or join the now-retreating human forces. They merely crushed them. The robots quickly neutralized the big guns, then whittled away at the humans, suffering very few casualties.
Within an hour after this second charge (which was compressed to about 5 minutes of video), all of the humans on the battlefield were annihilated.
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After several minutes of shocked silence, Beast Boy spoke, "This is all my fault. All those people are going to die, and its all my fault!"
"That's why we're going to help them, Beast Boy," Raven said. She looked at the screens, then spoke to Cyborg, "Ok, I want you hear monitoring the battle and giving us updates, ok. I need you to report to us over the Tower's communication systems."
"I got it Rae… wait… who made you the general of this battle?"
"Well, seeing as I'm the only one that is still alive and isn't responsible for the deaths of 3 Titans, I think it makes sense."
"Oh… well ok then," Cyborg said, "I'm gonna send Robin and Starfire over there. A little visual contact could be useful."
"Amazing… a battle with a person who can change into animals, a half demon, a person who is now the computer system of our home, and two ghosts," Raven said, "I never thought I'd see the day."
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In the short time before they left, Beast Boy ran upstairs. He grabbed several items. One, a photo book from Starfire's room. He tried to not look at the body as he walked past. The blood had long since dried, and been covered in dust, but the stench from the corpse was unbearable. As he left, he noticed that Starfire's spirit had begun following him. He knew he would never get used to that.
Next he went to Robin's room. He looked at the newspaper-covered walls, and walked to the table in the middle of the room. He stepped on something half way there; looking down, he saw the dried, partly rotted remains of Robin's tongue. He quickly grabbed the staff and a couple of the boomerangs off of the table and left, not looking at the window. Robin's phantom waited in the hall, and both spirits followed him to his room.
Inside, he dug in the closet for a minute, finally coming out with a small box that had been wrapped about 15 months previously. The paper was covered with a thick layer of dust now, but as he blew it off, the green paper underneath shone through. Turning it over, he saw the simple yellow bow and the tag that said "To Terra" on it. Robin and Starfire looked at him questioningly for a minute, but he just threw everything in a bag and walked out. He stopped in the doorway and looked back.
"I had been planning on giving this to her, in case we freed her from the stone…" He said, looking at the ground, "But now I'm going to taunt her with it, and then kill her."
He walked out the hall, and the surprised ghosts of his murdered friends disappeared.
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Raven was waiting in the kitchen. As soon as he got there, Cyborg wished them luck, and he was once more encompassed in the oddly comforting blackness of Raven's powers, and he felt himself hurtling through space to the east coast. Within minutes, they were standing outside of a large tent on top of the battlefield they had seen on the maps.
"Take us inside," Raven told a startled guard. He had dropped his rifle. He gave a clumsy salute, grabbed his weapon, and escorted them inside.
Computers lined the walls of the tent. It reminded Beast Boy of the former living room in the Tower. People were rushing everywhere, giving orders to the troops. A man sat in the center, and he looked up at them as they entered.
"Who're you?" he asked them. He glared at the guard, who saluted and spoke.
"Sir, I don't know who the hell these people are, but I think we should listen to what they have to say."
"I'm Raven of the Teen Titans," Raven said immediately, "and this is Beast Boy. We're here to help you."
The man snorted, "What good do you think two teens could do against Slade? And besides, Beast Boy murdered all of the Titans, and then killed himself."
Raven calmly levitated the mans computer into the air, then slowly dropped it back down.
"Oh, magic," the man said, "I'm a general, I don't believe any of that crap. I admit that there were Titans, but you're just mimicking them for fame."
Beast Boy changed into a wolf and growled at the man, standing beside Raven, who tossed the general into the air and caught him just before he landed.
"Do I need to do anything more to convince you?" she asked him with a smirk.
The general pulled out a pistol and aimed it at the girl. Beast Boy quickly changed into a bear and jumped in front of her as the general spat, "Yeah… survive this."
The guard jumped back amazed as Raven quickly said something, but it was drowned out by a gunshot. The bullet hit a wall of black energy similar to that which they had arrived in, falling harmlessly to the ground.
The general laughed and lowered his weapon, saying, "Very well… we need some real help anyways."
He set the gun down and saluted, then walked forward to shake Raven's and the startled Beast Boy's hand. Actually, he shook Beast Boy's claw, since he still hadn't changed back to normal.
"We need your help to rescue as many of the humans as there are there. We're sending in a commando squad, and it would help a great deal if one of you would go with them."
"Beast Boy will do that," Raven said, "I'll help defend up here."
They all looked outside as they heard the thundering footsteps of Slade's army.
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Raven walked along the front lines. None of these people are soldiers, she thought, they'd fall quickly if I don't help them…
She looked out. Trees hid the enemy, and she didn't dare risk exposing herself by going for a look. Beast Boy would, and she was getting updates from Cyborg and the ghosts.
Now she could just wait, and hope that Beast Boy was successful.
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Beast Boy had left the commando squad of 5 men behind. They were waiting at the edge of the enemy encampment.
He had quickly spotted about half the humans, grouped together at the edge of the army. He needed a diversion to distract the robots so that he could "capture" them. He gave a nod up to the leader of the commandos, then changed into a rat and scurried towards the humans.
Behind him, he heard the artillery on top of the mountain begin to fire into the back ranks of Slade's army. That should be about enough of a diversion, he thought.
As soon as her reached the men, he turned into himself and grabbed one who appeared to be a ranking officer. The surprised man turned and looked at him.
"Who're you?" he demanded.
"I'll tell you later," Beast Boy answered hastily, "Get all the men to run up the just into those trees. Whistle and some commandos will escort you up to the resistance's base."
The man looked at him suspiciously, "Slade said he'd let us live if we helped him…"
"He lied," Beast Boy said bluntly, "Now go!"
He quickly morphed into a rat and ran down into the rest of the army, looking for more humans.
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Raven was surprised at how easily it had been. All of the humans had been recovered within an hour. It was almost as if Slade had counted on them leaving.
She sat, and waited for the battle to begin. She meditated, looking over the mountains. And she worried that they would be discovered too early.
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Somewhere in Japan, two young men walked through the ruins of what was once Tokyo. They jumped into the air, and disappeared.
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The battle started just before midnight. Raven was lucky; it would mask her powers.
The men around her screamed in pain as the relentless robots mowed them down. For every one man that fell here, though, over a dozen robots did. Raven hoped it would be enough.
In other parts of the battlefield, things weren't going so well. Beast Boy rushed back and forth, trying to lend help wherever things looked particularly grim, and things stayed fine until morning.
Finally, the men were only outnumbered by two to one… not counting Plasmus, Overload, and Cinderblock. Raven and Beast Boy had been forced to abandon the humans to defeat this threat.
Raven flung trees at Cinderblock, the first to come. Beast Boy changed into a rhino and charged it. That was the easy one. Physical strength alone had been enough to grind it down to gravel.
Overload had put up more of a fight, killing several hundred men and destroying several artillery guns before they destroyed him. The general had fired a lucky shot and hit the chip, destroying the creature.
They hadn't seen Plasmus. Cyborg reported he had retreated as soon as the other two fell.
In the end, all of the robots began to attack the very center of the defenses, where Raven stood. She tried to shield them as best she could, but the constant bullets and lasers were exhausting her, causing her shield to weaken. Beast Boy charged across the field with the commandos, destroying as much as they could. Their weapons ranged from handguns to heavy explosives to brute strength, and they were remarkably effective.
Raven collapsed from the strain as the robots began attacking more fiercely, and the shield collapsed. The men looked at her in horror, and watched as a bolt came and hit her square in the shoulder. With a scream, she collapsed onto the ground, smoke coming from the burned and bleeding wound.
Beast Boy felt the pain, and saw the shot. Ignoring everything around him, he changed once more into the beast he had known was still inside of him, and destroyed everything that got in his way.
The men had given up hope when they saw the girl fall. But seeing she was alive, and seeing Beast Boy's violent attacks, they began to fight back. With a shout of rage, the general jumped up.
"Come on, you idiots!" he shouted to his men, "They've given us a chance. We're outnumbered two to one, and we'll all die here if we don't take it! Lets give 'em hell!"
He charged out into the battle, rushing at the robots and firing madly into them. Dozens fell, and with a scream the rest of the men jumped up and charged in. Explosions and gunshots were everywhere, as the outnumbered humans fought for survival.
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By dawn, all of the robots were destroyed. The humans had suffered a 12 percent loss, but that was deemed more than acceptable under the conditions. Wild celebrations began as soon as the last robot had fallen.
"Raven, are you okay?" Beast Boy shouted over the chaos, rushing towards her. It was a stupid question. He knew she had been shot, he could feel her pain. He knelt next to her, watching blood flow from her shoulder.
She grimaced, then tried to stand slowly. After a moment, Raven slipped in her own blood, landing on her injured shoulder and shouting in pain. As much as Raven hated to admit it, even to herself, she knew she was about to black out from the pain.
A medic rushed over, panting heavily and lugging a small medical kit. He quickly stopped the bleeding, and wrapped a bandage loosely around her arm, then gave her a small dose of morphine and ran to a man with a broken leg about 10 feet away.
Best Boy felt the painkiller have a slight effect on him; he would never get used to their "uni-mind".
"How's the battle going, Beast Boy?" she asked him weakly. Her eyes were slightly glazed as she said, "Are we winning? Or are we all going to die?" Her words were slurred from the medication and the wounds, and the "or" sounder more like an "oh" or "ah"
The cheers that had been surrounding them rose louder, and Beast Boy smiled, saying, "Does that answer your question?"
He looked up. Many dead humans littered the field, but they were hard to see among all the destroyed robots. Despite the losses, it was the first defeat Slade had suffered in a year. Beast Boy felt his spirits rise. He had killed Cinderblock. Maybe he was worthy of seeing his friends again.
Raven moaned lightly, and the medic looked over at them. He looked exhausted. "What're you still doing here?" he demanded, "She should be on her way to an infirmary!"
Beast Boy nodded, and two teens came over. He morphed into a horse (to the great surprise of those who stood nearby, and who hadn't seen his or Raven's powers), and knelt next to her.
"What?" Raven slurred through the drugs, "You think we'd dress like this if we weren't superheroes? Or have you just never seen a green horse?"
The recruits hesitantly helped her onto Beast Boy's back, and then he stood and walked slowly away. The people watched, awestruck.
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The survivors had formed a massive parade-style block and were marching home. The general walked along side the horse, and a messenger ran over, the sun setting behind him. Raven began singing a song she remembered.
Well a man come on the 6 o'clock news…The messenger saluted. The general motioned for him to join them. Raven rubbed her aching shoulder as the teen began to report about the betrayal of the humans under Slade's command.
Said somebody's been shot;
Somebody's been abused…
They walked past a cabin that had been destroyed some time during the battle. From the remains, it had been a very nice cabin. A jeep full of celebrating soldiers drove past. The messenger spoke of two former commanders, Kyle and Nathan. They had willingly stayed with Slade's army in an attempt to destroy as much of it as possible from the inside. They were responsible for nearly an eighth of the destroyed robots. Unfortunately Nate had been killed while trying to escape. Kyle had rejoined the resistance.
Somebody blew up a building,
Somebody stole a car.
Somebody got away,
Somebody didn't get to far, yeah.
They didn't get to far…
The general spoke then of how Slade would pay. He spoke of the way justice had been "before the system got weak."
Grand pappy told my pappy,
"Back in my day, son,
A man had to answer
For the wicked that he done."
Take all the rope in Texas,
Find a tall oak tree,
Round up all of them bad boys;
Hang 'em high in the street
For all the people to see…
Raven patted Beast Boy's neck as he carried her. She did appreciate what he was doing. He gave a happy little hop, then began walking normally. She continued singing:
That justice is the one thing you should always find.
You got to saddle up your boys;
You got to draw a hard line.
As they continued, the haze from the battle finally cleared and the sun shined through. The men laughed and cheered like little kids. Some ran up and down with drinks and snacks of all different kinds.
When the gun smoke settles, we'll sing a victory tune.
We'll all meet back at the local saloon.
We'll raise up our glasses against evil forces,
Singing, "Whiskey for my men, beer for my horses!"The men laughed, cheering for the singer. One spoke to Beast Boy, saying something about him being underage, causing more men to laugh. After a moment, someone else began singing. A badge on his jacket showed he was a former policeman.
We've got too many gangsters doing dirty deeds.
We've got too much corruption, too much crime in the streets.
Another man spoke up now. Raven laughed appreciatively, and a nearby tree exploded. The people jumped, then laughed. Raven quickly calmed down to a controllable level.
Its time the long arm of the law put a few more in the ground.
A third man, carrying a Bible, sang the final words.
Send 'em all to their maker and he'll settle 'em down.
You can bet he'll set 'em down.
The people laughed, and about a dozen or so began to sing, plus Raven. Beast Boy hummed the song in his head.
Cause justice is the one thing you should always find.
You got to saddle up your boys;
You got to draw a hard line.
When the gun smoke settles, we'll sing a victory tune.
We'll all meet back at the local saloon.
Almost a hundred people sang the end of the song. Even the general joined in.
We'll raise up our glasses against evil forces,
Singing, "Whiskey for my men, beer for my horses!"They people clapped, laughing. They had won a battle. They deserved to celebrate.
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Well, the battle wasn't as good as I wanted it to be. It could have been worse though, I guess. Oh well.
Lol, so what'd you all think of the last part? Kinda pathetic though… a bunch of people singing Toby Keith songs after a battle, but I like that song. I'm the writer; I get to choose what they do! I stick my tongue out at you
Anyways, I'm going to have the last chapter posted on Christmas Eve. It may be 11:59 pm, but I'll have it on Christmas Eve.
And finally, I know I forget to mention it a lot, but this is a Christmas story. Sorry to anyone who doesn't celebrate Christmas.
Wait… one last thing. I know the first story was more of a sad-creepy one. This one will get more violent in the last chapter. That's when Terra, BB, Rae, and Slade all go into a bloody melee. The next chapters aren't central to the plot, just building on the BB-Rae relationship a little, but they're all (once more) songfics. They're set to Jimmy Buffett's "Trip Around the Sun", "Sea of Heartbreak", and "Playing the Loser Again". If you honestly don't want to read these, you can just go to the last chapter (once more, posted on 12/24). They should be pretty soon.