Prologue part 2

The boy in the grey coat laughs. 'You really think that was the detonator? That was the jamming device preventing a beacon I planted in the centre of this facility from signalling to the Police and the Titans.' He looks at his watch. 'In three, no two minutes Titans East and the cops will be through your security systems, as I already sent them the email with your access codes five minutes ago.' He shouted. Throwing his head back he laughed again. The encroaching mob faltered in their advance. Some just gritted their teeth and kept their attack stance, others looked to Slade for guidance.

'He's bluffing. If the cops or the titans find him here they'll execute him or jail him permanently. He's lying.' said Slade.

The students this time resumed their advance

The boy pulls out another electronic device, identical to the on the ground. And presses the button, a light on the side glows green a split second before a bolt of energy destroys it.

'That on the other hand was a remote detonator.' He said before laughing again, 'Slade is right you guys are dunder heads.' In the background a rumbling could be heard. Suddenly warning klaxons were sounding, most of the students and staff fled the chamber, as the rumbling continued. Those that stayed were the ones smart enough to know that the mysterious intruder, Slade's former pupil had planned an escape, which they fully intended to use.

'Scaring children are we, Eyclone? You were far bloodier when you executed your brother Alpharius.' commented Slade. 'Al got what was coming for him, you ordered it. But what he got is gonna' be paradise compared to what I'm going to do to you and the others.' Eyclone replied.

Glancing at the fleeing mob and at the few who had chosen to remain in the auditorium, keeping close to the exits Slade shrugged, he jumped the podium in a single bound, landing ten feet short of his former pupil.

'You know what they say, if you want anything done you've gotta do it yourself' with that Slade charged Eyclone. Eyclone shifted into a combat stance and readied himself for impact. Slade had halved the distance between them in split second, before his right fist could connect with Eyclone's body, Eyclone simply sidestepped and reached out with his right hand and grabbed Slade by the neck. Wrapping his other arm around Slade he tried to flip Slade, But Slade shifted in Eyclone's grip and landed on his feet. Eyclone's grip on Slade had been reversed and now Eyclone was forced to twist himself awkwardly to get out of Slade's throw. Landing on his back a few feet away, Eyclone jumped to his feet and returned to his fighting stance. This time Eyclone charged Slade this time, his right fist connected with Slade's gut, cracking the metal armour. Slade lashed out with his left knee, ramming straight into Eyclone's groin. Eyclone staggered back hunched, Slade came at with his left fist, missing Eyclone's head by the fraction of a hair.

"You can't stop us now Eyclone. Our plans are closer to fruition then you think." Taunted Slade. Eyclone just grunted with his teeth clenched, he advanced on Slade and they engaged in fisticuffs.

Slade was wining, but that wasn't what was on Eyclone's mind.

NINE

Slade landed a devastating right punch to the left side of Eyclone's head; the blow was definitely going to leave a black eye.

EIGHT

Eyclone's left hook left a crack on the black side of Slade's mask.

SEVEN

Slade's knee once again made contact with Eyclone's most sensitive region, but this time he held his ground.

SIX

Eyclone sidestepped one of Slade's punches and elbowed in the kidneys with enough power to force him back a step.

FIVE

Slade landed another devastating punch, badly bruising Eyclone's left eye.

FOUR

Slade ducked under one of Eyclone's punches and landed one of his own on Eyclone's nose.

THREE

Slade is forcing Eyclone back with the sheer fury of his blows; Eyclone can barely dodge with eyes swollen and his nose streaming with blood.

TWO

Slade's uppercut throws Eyclone's head back, almost fast enough to break it. Eyclone backs of nearly blind from the swelling and the blood from small cuts all of his head and almost numb to everything bar the pain, he backs off from Slade

ONE

Slade is standing over Eyclone. Eyclone is down, on the ground. His face cracks into a smile…

ZERO

Special demolition explosives that were planted in the top of room detonate…

BOOM!

The room starts to shake; a huge piece of rock falls to the floor below. Its shadow is wide and it completely covers the two figures standing alone in the centre of the room. Slade looks up to see the giant rock coming towards, unstoppable in it's descent. 'Funny I never figured you for a martyr.' He comments to the prone figure. He turns and tries to outrun the indoor meteor. Eyclone jumps to his feet, he looks up to the large rock above him, following the laws of gravity. He smiles and stands there. When the hard rock is just a foot above his head, his shape seems to flicker and then suddenly all that's left is a cloud of grey smoke.

CCCCRRRRRAAAAASSSSHHHHHH!

The falling rock hits the ground and crushes everything under it, including the lower half of Slade. The hole where it had been is now open to the sky and police in SWAT uniforms, with abseiling gear are clustering around it readying their gear to make a descent through the newly made access shaft. Rock dust billows like smoke and a cloud of it starts to spin in front of Slade's eyes. When it reaches top speed it suddenly changes into Eyclone.

'Ahhh, your mist form, I should've known you'd use that as part of your escape plan.' Slade said weakly. Eyclone simply reached behind Slade's head and felt around till he found a button and pressed it. Slade stopped moving. Yanking hard on Slade's neck, he removed his entire head. A few wires dangled underneath, sparks jumped from the stump where the interface circuits had connected with the head. The real Slade was of course dead, but this android was one of many, that were now active, some five months after Slade's death. Slinging the robot's head over his shoulder he once again became a cloud of smoke and mist and flew out of the hole, ignored by the assembled police.

Cruising around the bottom of the crater, Bumble Bee located a body lying half buried in the rubble. When she got closer, she noticed that it was the headless body of some sort of robot. Reaching down the exposed throat she removed a small circuit board the width of her thumb puzzled she turned it over looking for any symbols of who manufactured it. When she saw the strange S shape on the bottom she almost dropped it in surprise. 'It's not possible. The others killed him ages ago, he couldn't have survived the lava.' She gasped, she signalled to the other members of Titans East. They assembled around her, showing them the symbol on the circuit board they all showed expressions of shock and disbelief. It wasn't possible; no one can survive falling into a lava flow.