Divine Intervention
Disclaimer: Blah blah blah, i own nothing but this story
and one of the Characters in it!
Jump City was being ravaged by the winter weather, snow and ice faling everywhere. The night was cold and gloomy as the moon shone through gaps in the clouds. Trafic was minimal, the odd police patrol car driving though the empty streets. As the snow fell a figure wonders though the street, his leather trenchcoat tightly fastend to repell the icy cold winds, his coller pulled up around his neck, his cowboy style hat pulled tightly over his ears. His black leather covered hand gripped on the handle of a black leather breife case tightly he hurried along the street. It was just after midnight now and the winds were merciless. The man quickened his pace. He reached a tall building named 'Medteck Biological And Genetic Research' and entered it. As the wind slammed the door shut he removed his hat and was greated by a security guard on the reception desk.
"Good everning Dr. Hillman, Burning the midnight oil?" he asked.
"Yeah, sommet like that" replies the doctor, in a slight London accent.
He produced his I.D badge and security clearance pass for the secuity guard . The Guard nodded and pressed a button that released a door to the right. Dr Hillman quickly walked through the door into a long corridoor.
'At least it's warm in here' he thought to himself as he stops at a door labled 'Dr.R.Hillman' and swiped his I.D pass through a card reader.
The security machine bleeped in acceptance of his pass and the strong magnetic locking system released the door and he entered. Inside, the doctor took off his long, wet trenchcoat and hung it up and placed his briefcase on the counter. The lab was set out with stainless steel units with several wooden work surfaces, most of which were covered in scientific instruments, some filled with liquids of all sorts of colours. The doctor walked over to a computer and brought it to life with the flick of a switch. The doctor begins to review some test data in silence.
'These results look highly promising. I only need some Tetrathane 8 and the syrum will be ready, then all i need now is...a test subject. Mr Wilson will be pleased with the progress thus far' thinks the doctor, with a slightly un-nerving grin in his face.
The cold eerie silence was suddenly shattered when the phone rang.
'Who could that be at this time of night? God damnd them! I'm close to completing my lifes work...the key to imortality' he thinks to himself, slightly annoyed that he had left his cell phone switched on, which was against company policy,
"Yes who is it?" asked the agitated doctor.
"It's Mr Wilson, I was wondering if we could meet up and discuss a few...issues that have arisen?" said a cold menacing voice on the end of the phone.
"What issues would that be?" enquired the doctor.
"Meet me in one hour exactly at Northgate Subway station, we shall...iron out these issues for good" said the voice.
"But, but I have work to complete, important test data to analyse, modification's to make!" shouted the angered doctor.
"One hour"
"Ok, I'll be there, but you phoning me up all the time asking for progress reports is only hindering my work, slowing me down. And on top of that, there is a vital biogenic compound that I need that our lab does not stock, so that is going to slow work down further"
"We will resolve all issues in one hour"
The phone goes dead.
'One hour, one bloody hour! How am i supposed to get any work done if I keep having to go to meet Mr Wilson all the time? Why can't he just wait until the syrum is ready?' thought the very agitated doctor.
Resuming the work that he was looking at, he grinned devilishly.
'Yes, Tetrathane 8 looks like it will completely change the DNA pattern. This should be...interesting to see how this would affect a test subject' he thought to himself.
As the hour approched, the doctor pulled on his leather coat and gloves, put his hat on and left the lab. As he entered the lobby the security guard called him over.
"Dr Hillman, are you leaving?" asked the guard.
"Yes, I have an issue of a personal nature that requires my immediate attention" replied the doctor, slightly agitated that the guard had stopped him.
"Ok, will you be comming back, It's just that I would like to lock the door's; the wind is blowing them open, and it's getting quite chilly in here now" the guard reasoned.
"Yes, I have a lot of work to do. Such little time, and i have a presentation on my finding's about geneticly inherited disease's in the morning that I need to prepare. I'll be back in an hour" said the doctor.
The doctor looked at the security guard carefully
'He would make a excellent test subject, he looks healthy and fit, yes he would do nicely' he thought sinisterly.
The security guard stood about 6 feet 9 inche's tall with a muscular stocky build.
"Would you like a coffee bringing back from that 24 hour cafe from round the corner?" asked the doctor
"Mmmmm, go on then, I could do with a caffeine boost" chuckled the cheerful guard
"Ok, I'll see you later"
The winds hadn't gotten any better. In fact they had gotten worse. There was a record-breaking 13 inches of snow on the ground. The snow plough's were franticly driving through the street's trying to clear the snow and lay grit down to prevent the snow turning to ice, or even worse, black ice. Everywhere was covered in snow, and Titans Tower was no exception.
The five Titans were all gathered in the common room, with the heating on full. It was warm and cosey. Starfire was sat on the comfy chair reading a book and eating her favourte food, 'The Dreaded Pudding Of Happiness'. She was deeply engrossed in a novel which she had borrowed from Raven. Beast Boy and Cyborg were in the middle of one of their usual arguments over a particular game, 'Megga Monkey's 4'. All arguments that ensued over this particular game was of a regular occurance in the tower. Raven was floating in her usual spot, medatating and Robin trying to relax by his usual methods, sat at the comlink, reading though recent crime reports, criminal profiles, always looking for something to crop up, in particular, he never missed an oportunity to interfear with Slade's criminal activities. He just couldn't help himself.
"You're a cheater BB, and you know it!" shouted Cyborg
"Dude, your the one who attacked me from behind!" Beast Boy retorted
"Well you shouldn't have stolen that powere up!"
"Blah blah blah blah..."
The slanging match between Beast Boy and Cyborg got so bad that from a distance it sounded like a mass of loud voices, the words completely non-understandable.
'They are at it again?' thought Raven to herself. 'When will they ever learn?'
"Will you two please keep it down, i'm trying to concentrate here!" Robin shouted, trying to over power the combined voices of Beast Boy and Cyborg.
Starfire gleefuly floated over to Raven. Raven had her eyes shut and had a stern look on her face.
"What do you want?" she asked Starfire.
"I have come to return your book to you. I found it most enjoyable" replied Starfire with a very big grin on her face.
"I'm...glad you enjoyed it" Raven said slightly surprised.
"Yes, I really liked how it describes how some forms of magic come from simple illusions and slight of hand" gleefuly remarked Starfire
"Yes, the hand is quicker than the eye. Now would you leave me alone so I can continue meditating please?" Raven replied, her eye's still shut and with an even more stern look on her face.
"Of course, I see you in hopefully the not-to-distant-future."
The ensuing argument between the two computer game fanatics had faded away as the continued playing the game.
'At last, peace and quiet' thought Robin, as he returned from the kitchen. He sat back at the comlink and resumed reading though the crim reports.
The Subway was dimmly lit. Several lights flickering on and off, litter skewen across the floor. The sound of rats squeking and sneaking around, scavaging for food could be heard in the distance. There was a pungent smell of rotting food in the air. Garafeti sprawled all over every available inch of wall. One read 'Phone for pleasure, 0800-642-EAT-ME'. Other's were gang marking's, some were names or even sketches.
'What a place for a meeting; It's filthy, it stinks...I can't really complain though. Mr Wilson is funding my project, and he pays well. I just hope he can get his hands on some Tetrathane 8. If not, this whole project is screwed' thought Dr Hillman.
"I see you made, excelent" said a cold voice from the shadows, almost as cold as the icy winter winds howling above in the streets.
"Yes, now do you mind telling me why we are here? What are these...'issues' we have to 'iron out'?" asked the doctor mockingly
"Very well, let's down to business. I would like to know when the 'Syrum' will be ready?"
"Well, I have found a compatable biogenetic agent that will bridge the missing gaps in the DNA sequence. Not only that, it completely reforms that person's DNA structure, which I believe may give them some sort of super ability, but it will quite litteraly make the user immortal. All wounds healed instantly, no fear of disease or death." said the doctor excitedly.
"Excellent, when will you have the first batch ready for me?" asked the voice.
"See that's the problem; the biogenetic agent, Tetrathane 8, the only one I found to be compatable, is an agent we do not stock, so unless you can..." the doctor was cut off mid-sentence
"Not an issue. Do you know where you can,'acquire' some?" asked the voice
"Yes, but it's a highly guarded item, we woun't be able to..." again he was cut short mid-sentence.
"Like I said, not an issue."
"Oh really?" replied the doctor sarcasticly.
"You will take a group of my minions to where ever they keep it" said the slightly agitated voice.
"You mean you are going to steal one of the most dangerous Biogenetic agents known to man!" said the doctor, in complete disbelief of what he was hearing.
"Yes Doctor, WE are going to steal one of the most dangerous Biogenetic agents in the world, and you will make the syrum. Understood?"
"I...but...you, I'm not theif" said a very shocked doctor.
"You are now. Now leave and prepare what you need. I will make all the nessacary arrangements. I will call you when everything is ready and in place. Remember Dr Hillman, this is your lifes work. You do want to complete it, don't you?" asked the voice with a slightly goading tone to it.
"Yes, of course."
As the sun began to rise, the wind had died down to nothing more than a slight chilling breeze, and the snow had stopped. Cyborg and Beast Boy were outside thowing snowballs at each other. They had decided to enjoy the snow while it lasted. Beast Boy changed himself into a huge gorilla, grabed a large amount of snow and lobbed it at Cyborg. It hit him square in the face.
"Hey that's unfair, you cheated again!" shouted Cyborg.
"No it's not, besides, you have implants that allow you to throw things much harder than the average person! Anyways, I'm just making things fair" Beast Boy grinned mischieviously.
Thinking about it, Cyborg decided that BB was right. Cyborg was strong because of the implants. He was just morphing into something to match his strength.
"Yeah, yeah, OK you're right." replied cyborg, who sounded like he was hating to have to agree with Beast Boy.
The pair of them resumed the snowball fight. Some time later Starfire floated down to war zone, and unaware of the ensuing snowball fight, didn't see the snowball coming from behind. It hit her in the back of her head.
"Eep!"
Beast Boy and Cyborg ran over to her almost instantly.
"Star! You okay?" asked Beast Boy.
"I am not hurt. What is the pourpose of throwing frozen balls of liquid at each other?" she asked.
"Star, it's called Snow, and we were having a snowball fight. Here, see how it's done" said Cyborg.
No sooner had he finished his sentence he grabed a large amout of snow.
"What you do is push all the snow together to form a ball, then you throw it at someone" said Cyborg
"But why?" asked Starfire
"Dunno why, we just do. Anyway, how come your out here? I thought you and Robin were making breakfast?" enquired Beast boy, with a puzzled look on his face.
"Friend Robin has gone back to the comlink, some thing about a disturbance at a house ware" replied Starfire
"Errr, Star, it's warehouse" Cyborg corrected.
"Oh, well Robin asked me to come and get you and take you to the common room" she replied.
Cyborg and Beast Boy followed Starfire to the common room where they found Raven and Robin looking at the information that was shown on the monitor.
"What's up dude?" asked Beast Boy
"There's been a break in at Medteck Biological And Genetic Research storage facility on the old east docks. A police patrol was passing by when they found two guards out cold on the floor" replied Robin.
"Do we know what was stolen?" asked Cyborg.
"Tetrathane 8" replied Raven.
"What is this Tetrathane 8?" asked Starfire.
"A very dangerous biogenetic compound that is used in genetic engineering" replied Robin.
"I shall start searching the computer for Scientists in Jump City who specialise in biological and genetic engineering" said Starfire.
"Right, Beast Boy and Cyborg, go to the storage facillity, find out what you can from there. Me and Raven will head down to the Medteck's labs and see what we can find there."
As usual, the 4 Titans under Robin's command did what Robin asked to the letter. Cyborg and Beast Boy went to the storage facillity to see if they could find anything that would point out who it might have been, Robin and Raven went to the labs to find out who knew that Medteck was storing Tetrathane 8 in the wearhouse and who would want it so badly.
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Two hours later...
Robin and Raven were entering the lobby to Medteck's building. It was quiet. Too quiet. The security guard on the desk looked and smilled at them.
"Can I halp you?" asked the guard.
"Yes, we are investigating a break in at the Medteck storage facillity last night. They stole a very dangerous biogenetic agent." said Raven
"And how can I help again?" asked the guard, with a slightly puzzled look on his face.
"We think someone who works here, or know's some one who works here arranged to have it stolen. We want to know who would are qualified to use this particular agent." replied Robin.
The guard took a few moments to to think over this request.
"Sure thing, it'll take a few moments to print off the list" said the guard.
Moments later the list came back.
"There's only 4 people here on the lsit" said Robin.
"Who is in the building now?" asked Raven.
"Ummm, Dr Hillman is in his lab, the rest have been on a business trip for the last week" replied the guard.
"He's our man."
"Let's go"
Elsewhere, as the city moved swiftly into darkness, doctor Hillman was working away in his lab.
'Humph, last night's raid on the storage facillity went exceptionaly well. I didn't think we were going to get away with it' the doctor thought to himself.
The doctor was holding two beakers full of liquid. Carefully he began to pour one into the other. As they mixed he noticed that the colour began to change, from a cloudy white to a acidic yellow green. The doctor set both beakers on the counter and reached over to his left, grabing a tool, and taking a sample of the newly mixed compound. He placed the compound on a slide and began to examine the mixture carefully. The doctor grinned.
'At last! My greatest work is complete!' thinks the doctor.
The doctor didn't have a chance to bask in his own triumph when the door burst open. Robin and Raven entered the room.
"Dr Hillman, we would like a word..." Robin cut his sentence short.
Something had caught his attention from the corrner of his eye. A silver barrel, no more than 4 feet tall was stood in the corrner of the room. It had a lable on it.
'Danger! Biohazard: Tetrathane 8, Handle With Extream Caution'
"It was you. You were the one who stole the Tetrathane 8. Why?" asked Robin
"I needed it to complete my life's work! Without it, all my work, all my research would have been for nothing" retorted the doctor.
"What research?"
"The key to immortality. Imagine a world where people didn't have to fear disease, a world where people didn't have to worry about sustaining an injury that would take weeks, or even month's to heal!" the doctor jabbered insanely.
"Your mad. You can't play God!" replied Robin
"I can and I will"
Robin had decided that he had heard enough and lunged at the doctor. In an atempt to escape, the doctor stumbled backwards into the counter that shelved the syrum.
Crash!
The doctor had knocked the syrum all over his own body. At first nothing happend. As the doctor stud up, he looked in a mirror and noticed that his skin had changed from it's usual pale pink colour to a light shade of green.
"No, no, no, noooooooooooooooooooooooo!" shrieked the doctor.
"Look at me! Look at what I've become! A freak!" he yelled
Robin and Raven stood there, in a daze, not knowing what to do.
"Doctor, you're coming with us. You'll be charged with theft, and we'll get a doctor to look at you" said Raven in her cold single toned voice.
The doctor droped to his knees and craddeled his head in his hands.
"My life's work, ruined! I'm ruined! Everyrthing has gone wrong" he whispered in a low moaning voice.
Robin grasped the doctor round his upper arms and helped him to the waiting police vans.
"Well, I don't think he's going to be doing any more experimentation now."
Raven looked at Robin.
"I don't even think he'll want to be in public anymore" repied Raven.
Several Weeks later
Robin was lying on his bed. He wasn't asleep, he was...well...he was thinking. He had seen on the news that Dr Hillman, the man he and Raven had captured several weeks earlier, who had disfigured his own body through genetic experiments to make him immortal, had been sentenced to prison for 3 years for corporate theft.
'Did he really deserve what he got?' though Robin to himself, 'After all, he wanted make the wold better, cure all diseases'
After mulling over what had happend, the teen fell asleep.
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Author's Notes
this is the first in a 3 part story...watch this space for the rest I hope you all enjoy it.