Disclaimer: I do not, never have, and never will own the Teen Titans or any other registered trademarks of DC Comics
Chapter 8
"Starfire to Robin, I have searched the land of garbage, and have found nothing unusual. Except for the smell that greatly resembles the rear end of a Zorbian Glorshnork."
"Hey Robin, its Cyborg. The industrial sector is clean to. Well, at least clean of bad guys. I may place a call to the EPA, there's some rancid stuff down here."
"Nothing to report here either." said a dry voice.
"Explain to me again why I had to check the sewers?" said a high pitched, hyper voice.
All the Titans had reported from their search locations that they had been assigned to that morning. Just like every other day, they had come up empty. Robin was getting tired of this. It had taken them only one day to find the warehouse where Kevin and Slade had been working out of. It was obvious they had been there because of all the tread marks on the floor and the discarded scrap metal, plus the droppings from Bucepalus over in a corner where he apparently had been penned. The two seemed to have moved to a different location though long before they got there.
Since that day though, they had been unable to find their new hideout, and it was driving Robin nuts.
"Ok, everybody come on back, we need to think of a new strategy. Besides, it's getting late and I'm hungry."
"That's the best idea I've heard all day." Cyborg said over the communicator.
Cyborg closed his communicator and was about to get in his car when he stopped for a second. He looked over to a parking lot that was full of dozens of solid white semi trucks. There were several men walking around them talking to each other. They all wore solid black uniforms and combat boots with the same short haircuts. A few had side arms strapped to their waist.
Cyborg shut the car door and walked over to one of them.
"Excuse me, may I ask what all of these trucks are carrying?"
The guard looked puzzled and shouted something in German to another one. After some muffled conversation a different guard came trotting over to talk to Cyborg in broken English.
"Ah, these trucks here, they for boss." He said gesturing to the row of trucks.
"Ok fine, what's in them?" Cyborg said crossing his arms over his chest.
The other man blinked for a second and then continued.
"They carry, ah, what is word? Metal, yes metal and machines for employer."
"Fine, I'd like to have a look at them." Cyborg said as he pushed him out of the way.
"Stop, you are not allowed to look in them without-"
"Pal, I don't care what I'm allowed to do, I'm gonna look in there whether you like it or not."
The guard stood there for a minute and shouted out some German to the rest of the guards. Suddenly sub machine guns popped out of nowhere, with the barrels all pointing at Cyborg.
"Wait! Stop! I can handle this." yelled a man running over to Cyborg. He had a black jacket on over his shirt and tie. His ID tag identified him as a customs agent.
"These men and their equipment are here under the protection of the Federal Government. They have been granted diplomatic immunity from any search and seizer."
"Diplomatic immunity for whom?"
"That sir, is classified. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave now."
Cyborg looked back at the guards, who had not flinched a muscle.
"Fine, I'll go. You'all behave now, ya here." Cyborg said as he left the parking lot and walked over to the car. He then sped off down the street.
One of the guards waited a second and took out a radio.
"Ya, zey Indianer hez left, ya, understood." he spoke into the radio and put it away.
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Kevin finished assembling his pistol and holstered it. He then sheathed his sword and put on his gloves. Bucephalus snorted and whinnied, shaking his head up and down.
"Don't worry, I've got a plan. Far from foolproof, but it will work."
He then mounted Bucephalus and trotted out the door. He emerged on a balcony over looking a vast underground building. It was nothing more than a giant shell made of steel reinforced concrete. On the floor was what looked like a disturbed ant's nest. Thousands of sladebots swarmed here and there. Vehicles of all shapes and sizes rolled into their assembly area.
Kevin rode over next to Slade who was also standing on the balcony.
"Magnificent, isn't it?" lade said watching the androids hurry about.
"I'll be honest, they look good, but how well can they fight?"
"They are no substitute for flesh and blood, but against the local authorities, they will suffice."
They both stood there for a minute and watched the scene below them.
"Whenever you are ready apprentice."
"Very well." Kevin then slowly picked up his helmet and placed it on his head, like he was crowning himself king. As the helmet went on, his face disappeared from view under a shadow of darkness, even though there where lights shining directly in his face.
He trotted down a ramp to the ground floor and stood in front of the mammoth door that lead up into the forest near the city. The door slowly opened with a groan as the metal doors were slid to the side. He raised his sword above his head.
"Units! Forward!" with the last word he dropped his sword to his side in a swiping motion. The entire army jerked forward at once.
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"Who's up for a game of twister!" Beast Boy said as he ran into the main room with the game in his hands.
Raven looked up from her book.
"How come we always end up doing whatever stupid idea pops into your head?"
"Because they may not be the most brilliant ideas, but they sure are more exciting than a book."
"How would you know? I bet you haven't even read a book that doesn't have pictures in it."
"Yeah, so?"
Before Raven could respond, every body in the room froze when the ground trembled slightly.
"Is it an earthquake?" Cyborg asked as he stood up.
"Wait, listen" Starfire said as she raised a hand.
For a second nothing happened. Then the ground trembled again, but this time they heard a rumble coming from the other side of the city. Then there were more rumbles and vibrations, becoming more frequent. Then they heard sirens, and saw smoke rising.
"That sounds like gun fire." Raven said as she walked over to the window.
"Big guns." Cyborg said.
Then the alarm went off.
"Titans, trouble!" Robin yelled and they all went for the door, except Beast Boy. He was still staring out the window.
"Uh, hey guys."
"Not know Beast Boy! We have to go-"
"Yeah, but you may want to come take a look at this."
The rest of the team ran over to the window.
"Uh-oh" was all that Cyborg said.
The bay around the tower was full of vehicles. Black boats, hover tanks, and amphibious vehicles were slowly moving towards the island's shores.
Cyborg held his hand to the metallic side of his face, activating his night vision. He scanned the incoming force, made entirely of sladebots. Except for a human figure poking out of the hatch of a hover tank, with a horse that had glowing red eyes standing on top of the turret next to him.
"Guess what, our friend is back." he said dryly.
"He is most certainly not my frie-" Starfire was interrupted by Robin.
"Quick, everybody out front!" and with that they all dashed downstairs.
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The tank shuddered slightly as it left the water and moved onto dry land, but it kept moving. Behind him the armored personnel carriers stopped at the shore line and sladebots came pouring out of them. Heavy transports unloaded heavier silver androids that had steel pincers for hands. They reminded Kevin of the robot from "Lost in Space".
He picked up his night visions binoculars and scanned the tower. He saw the front door open and the Titans stream out of it. He smiled slightly and went into the turret to talk to the sladebot who was acting as his gunner.
"Designate targets Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta and Echo. Priority one, all units, fire at will."
He waited till the main gun went off before he popped his head back over the hatch. He looked through his goggles to see what was happening.
Raven had thrown up a black barrier to stop the incoming shells that were landing all around the base of the building. This was working until one landed behind her, the force blowing her flat on her face. Starfire was hovering above the bombardment, but could not shoot her starbolts because she had Robin in her hands. Beast Boy was nowhere to be seen, probably turned into a bug. Cyborg was taking cover behind a rock, until it shattered into a million pieces after a direct hit.
He saw Robin mouth something before all the Titans suddenly ran into the tower.
"Cease fire! Al units cease fire." he yelled into the comm. system.
He rubbed his chin for a moment and told his gunner to give the turret controls to him. He looked through the sights and aimed the main gun at the third floor of the building. He fired off one main gun round and watched it impact the building with an explosion. When the smoke cleared, it had not made a scratch.
"Load an armor piercing round."
After he heard the breech close, he fired off the gun again. Still no effect.
"Guess we'll have to do this the hard way."
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The Titans felt the tower shake and tremble with each impacting round. They stood waiting in the lobby, expecting it to come crashing down around their heads any minute.
"Don't worry, this baby is built out of solid titanium. It could survive a nuclear blast." Cyborg said patting the walls.
"It's only a matter of time before they stop bombarding us and come surging through that door, and then we will be overwhelmed." Robin said leaning against the wall.
"Don't forget, there's still another force out there attacking the city." Beast Boy said.
"But we can't get to the city because of the army at our front door. We would have to defeat them and Kevin just to get through-" Raven stopped.
"Unless… we can sneak out." she said with a hint of a smile on her face.
Everybody was looking at each other now.
"The T-sub!" they all said at once.
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The door blew open and sladebots pored in. They met no resistance though, and spread to the top of the tower. But the tower was deserted. Kevin came through the door atop Bucephalus and surveyed the scene. He went downstairs and saw the empty rack where the sub was normally stored.
"Guess I let that one slip by me, no matter I know where they are going." He then pulled out a radio and spoke into it.
"Notify surface vessels, be on the watch for submersible craft, and attack on contact."
He turned to one of the sladebots.
"Place the charges. I want this building cleared and ready to blow in ten minutes."
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The sub crept along the bottom of the bay. The Titans weren't sure if Kevin knew they had it, but they were going slow to give off less noise in case he was searching for them. Nobody said a word.
Beast Boy looked through the glass and saw a barrel floating towards the bottom.
"I knew this city was dirty, but jeez. Can't people at least take their trash to the garbage dump." he said looking at the barrel getting closer.
Raven turned her head and saw it to.
"Uh, Beast Boy, that's no-" her sentence was cut short when the barrel exploded.
At first all they saw was a flash of light, then the loudest noise any of them had ever heard. The sub, and the teeth inside their skulls, rattled.
"Depth charges! Robin, step on!" Cyborg yelled over the comm. link.
Robin throttled the engine to full and they speed away. The charges kept coming though, they could see the wakes on the surface of the speed boats keeping up with the sub. Blast after blast rocked the sub, cracks formed in the glass, and water began to seep in at places.
"I don't know how much longer she can hold together, you had best try and get to dry land quick, or surface. Cause in a minute this things gonna fall apart!" Cyborg barked into the comms.
"If we surface, they'll gun us down." Raven said.
"Hang on, I've got an idea." Robin said and pushed what little juice was still left in the engine to maximum. Warning lights went off indicating engine overheat, the sub began to shudder from the speed alone. The shore was now just over fifty yards away. It was not shore line, but the commercial sea side, which was nothing more that a vertical wall leading out of the water. Then Robin suddenly pulled back on the stick, causing the sub to rise at nearly a fort five degree angle. The surface came at them with an incredible speed.
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Kevin was riding in one of the boats heading away from the island. He was watching the sladebots throw depth charges over the sides. He noticed they were getting awfully close to shore when out of the water erupted an orange submarine. But this sub flew. The momentum from the speed it was traveling when it breached the surface carried it half a football field through the air. It then crashed into the street that ran alongside the bay, but it didn't stop there. It continued skidding down the street, sparks flying from its smooth hull as it rubbed against the pavement. It went about seventy feet before crashing into the side of an office building. A cloud of dust erupted from the impact and obscured all vision.
He lifted a radio to his mouth.
"Get a team over there ASAP and search for survivors."
He already knew that they wouldn't find anything, his prey was already loose in the city, probably after Slade.
"Is everything going according to plan, my apprentice?" Slade's voice loomed through the radio.
"The Titans have been purged from their tower and the charges are set. However, you should be made aware of the fact that they evaded me and are now loose in the city."
There was a brief pause.
"You disappoint me. You were supposed to finish them off in the tower. You know what must be done. Do not disappoint me again, apprentice."
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Slade put down the radio and returned his attention to the matter at hand. So far the city had fallen like a stack of dominos. The local authorities were helpless against his onslaught. There were still a few pockets of resistance left, like the one he was at right now. He was laying siege to the police station where most of the more heavily armed police were holed up, but progress was being made, it would only be a matter of time before it fell.
He ordered the driver of his tank to move on, he wanted to see how other areas of the city were faring. He drove two blocks down when he heard an explosion around the corner and saw sladebots flying from that direction. He ordered the tank to a halt. Just as he expected, five superheroes emerged from around the corner.
"It ends here Slade, were going to take you down." said Robin, standing ant the front of the group.
"End? Oh it will never end, especially now. Even if you could defeat me, however unlikely that scenario is, I now have my apprentice to take my place. A truly loyal one, for a change. Strike me down, and he will rise up."
"I don't care who you have working for you, we will take them down just like we do you. And there is nothing you can do to stop it."
"That's where your wrong." came a deep menacing voice from behind them.
They all turned to see Kevin behind them at the front of a dozen tanks and hundreds of sladebots.
"You could barely beat him, and can't beat me. Together, we are invincible. Because of these overwhelming odds, you get a choice. I have managed to convince Slade to give you the option of leaving this city unharmed, under the condition that you never return." Kevin said.
"Why would you even think that we would consider that?" Robin said.
"I don't expect you to, it's just an offer though." Kevin said shrugging his shoulders.
"We'll pass" Robin replied.
"Suite yourself" Kevin said. He then unsheathed his sword. Bucephalus reared back on two legs and then charged forward. He held his sword at his side ready to strike anything or anyone that got in his way. In this case the first person to do so was Starfire.
He swung his sword down at her, and she blocked with her wrists. The metal grieves on her wrists were forged from Tamaranain iron, five times as strong as the type mined out of earth. But even this could not stop his blade, it sliced through her grieves and cut the top part of her wrist, causing her to drop to the ground with a short, high pitched scream.
This sent Robin into a rage. He ran screaming at Kevin and jumped at him, knocking him off Bucephalus and onto the ground. The two rolled all over the ground, wrestling with each other to try and gain dominant hold on the opponent.
The other Titans began to inch closer when Slade raised his hand.
"I'm afraid you can't interfere with my apprentice's little fight." and with that sladebots began to advance from all sides. Cyborg and Raven began taking them on while Beast Boy ran over to Starfire. He examined her wound, it was bleeding. The cut had missed the main arteries so she seemed to be ok, but she was losing consciousness.
"Please, Tamaranians do not have as much blood as humans. Get me to the tower and I can heal myself." she half whispered. Beast boy looked at the battle around him. Robin was still wrestling with Kevin and Raven and Cyborg were occupied with Sladebots.
Then four hooves walked in front of him. Beast Boy slowly raised his head and looked into the glowing eyes of Bucephalus. The horse snorted and pawed the ground.
"I'll get you out of here Star, but first I gotta whoop some demonic horse butt."
He stepped over Starefire and morphed into a bull. He snorted, and pawed at the ground vigorously.
Bucephalus looked at him for a minute and then reared up on two legs, hooves kicking in the air. It let out an ear piercing whinny, and two foot long flames flew from its nostrils. When it landed back on all four hooves the ground trembled slightly.
The green bull froze for a second, and then turned around and ran. Bucephalus ran right after him.
Robin was growing weary, but Kevin showed no sign of giving up. Robin was on top now, and about to deliver a punch to the face when Kevin placed his foot on his chest and heaved him off of him. Robin flew a couple of feet and skidded to a halt on the pavement. He jumped up and pulled out a bird-a-rang. Kevin slowly walked over to him, sword in hand.
"You know you can't fight me with that, I'll cut right through it" Kevin said.
"Not if you don't have anything to cut it with." Robin said as he threw the bird-a-rang and ran at him at the same time.
Kevin swiped at the bird-a-rang in midair, slicing it in two. However, it was a downward stroke, and after the move he was pointing the sword to the ground. This allowed Robin to grab it before he had a chance to raise it for another strike.
The two then engaged in a kind of tug of war over the weapon, each had both hands on it, straining with all their might.
"You know, I could probably win this test of strength, but that would mean I couldn't do this." Kevin said as he reared back his head. He then brought it forward with all his might, his Kevlar helmet smashing into the forehead or Robin. Robin then crumpled to the ground like a wet piece of cardboard.
Kevin turned around to survey the scene before him. Starfire was still passed out on the ground, while Raven and Cyborg where being held by two of the giant silver sladebots. Bucephalus then trotted over with the unconscious form of Beast Boy hanging from his teeth.
Slade was clapping from his atop his tank. "Excellent work apprentice. I couldn't have done it better myself. Now lets end this shall we. Kill Robin, and show who is the new master of this city."
Without even saying a word, Kevin walked over to Robin, who was now slowly coming to. He picked him up by the cape and held his sword to his neck.
"Wh-, wait, you-, you can't do this." Robin mumbled, barely conscious.
"Don't you even think it buddy! Or you will get a world of hurt you can't even begin to believe!" Cyborg shouted from the claws of the android.
Raven simply hung there, eyes closed, looking at the ground.
Kevin looked at Robin for a minute, then dropped him on the ground.
"What are you doing! Finish him!" Slade screamed.
"Um, how about, no." Kevin said and began to walk over to Bucephalus.
"What do you mean no! You are my appre-"
"No, not really. You see, I've been doing some thinking. Your whole conquer the city thing is a little insane, and I want no part in it." he said as he mounted Bucephalus.
Slade stood there for a minute. "Very well, if you wish to perish with these fools, then so be it. You will be destroyed by the very army you have lead."
Kevin raised his index finger. "Oh yeah, about that grand army of yours."
At that moment an explosion engulfed one of the tanks. Machine gun fire erupted from windows up and down the street and the hiss of anti-tank rockets could be heard. Attack helicopters approached from the distance as sladebots began to drop like flies. The two holding Raven and Cyborg dropped their captives after receiving automatic weapons fire to their backs.
The sladebots and tanks scattered, trying to find cover in the open street. Out of alleyways came soldiers dressed in black and speaking in German, pouring fire into the sladebots.
Slade looked around him in what seemed to be confused state at the sudden reversal in fortune.
"You seem to forget the secret weapons I have." he said and pulled out Control Freak's remote. He pressed a button, nothing happened.
"Oh yeah, I switched those out last night." Kevin said crossing his arms in front of his chest.
Slade now looked like he was truly panicking. He reached into a pocket and pulled out a remote. "Surrender now, or your precious tower will be destroyed." he said with a finger hovering over a button.
Kevin then raised a hand "About those charges I had set in the tower, I sabotaged them last night too."
Slade didn't move for a second, then he pressed the button. Nothing happened. He pressed it over and over again, still, nothing happened. "Why you ungrateful little-"
"Save it, I've been called a lot worse by much bigger men." Kevin said cutting him off.
Slade threw down the remote and jumped out of the tank. Before anybody could react, he ran over to Starfire and grabbed her by the collar. He then pulled out a pistol and held it to the side of her head.
"Make any sudden moves and she gets it." he said slowly baking towards the water's edge.
Cyborg raised his cannon and Raven's hands began to glow. By this time Robin was a bit more coherent and raised his head.
"Starfire! Please, stop." he yelled while extending an arm like he could touch her.
"Oh I'll stop alright, but only after I'm far away from here." Slade said as he continued backing towards the sea.
Kevin slowly drew his pistol and, holding it with both hands, took careful aim.
Slade saw this and stopped. He raised the Tamaranian's head next to his and held the gun even tighter.
"You wouldn't endanger her now then, would you?" he hissed.
"You don't now me as well as you think you do. See, just because I fight with the good guys, doesn't mean that I'm one of them." Kevin said.
He then squeezed the trigger. The gun went off, and they all heard a metallic clang as the bullet hit Slade in the forehead. His head snapped back, causing him to drop Starfire and do a black flip over the edge of the railing and down into the sea, but there was no splash.
All the Titans came running over to the edge and looked over the railing into the water. There was no ripple or disturbance of the waves that gently crashed into the wall below.
Robin hobbled over to Starfire, where Raven was healing her with her powers.
"She'll be ok, we'll just take her back to the tower and get some more blood into her. There's no hurry though, Tamaranians can last much longer without it than humans." Raven said, not even looking up from her work.
Robin then turned to Kevin. "You! You could have hurt Starfire! What were you thinking?" he yelled at him while pointing a finger.
Kevin stood there, unmoving. "That was a risk I was willing to take. Like I said, I'm not a good guy."
Before Robin could respond one of the soldiers came running over to the group. He yelled something in German at Kevin while pointing his gun at him. Kevin said something back in German and then for a second neither moved. Then the soldier began to laugh and walked over to Kevin.
Kevin started laughing to and took off his helmet. The two hugged for a second and patted each other on the back. Kevin guided him over to the rest of the Titans.
"Titans, there is someone I want you to meet. This here is Carl Muller, commander of the Bavarian Dragoons, the best mercenaries money can buy. He owed me a favor, and this seemed like a good time to call it in. Right now, his men are wiping up the last of those androids."
Cyborg stood there scratching his head "So let me get this straight, you've been planning this all along? Then why did you go so rough on us? I mean, look what you did to Starfire! Robins probably got a concussion, and you scratched up my Tower!"
"Well about that, I just enjoy fighting you all, I don't get that kind of competition very often. If I told you, you probably would have gone easy on me. Besides, Raven knew all along, isn't that right." Kevin said gesturing to Raven.
She looked at the ground and kicked a pebble. "Uh, yeah, I kind of read his mind and saw what he was going to do, I figured it would work best if I kept my mouth shut." she said kind a sheepishly.
By now Starfire was awake again and propped herself up on one arm. "So, now that we have united against a common enemy and have emerged victorious, will you now be our friend?" she asked.
Kevin just sighed and placed his helmet back on. He walked over to Bucephalus and mounted him.
"Sorry, but no. I work alone, and this town is too small for the two of us. My skills are probably best put to use else where. So until next time, se ya around." He began to trot off into the night when he stopped and wheeled his horse around.
"Hey Raven! One last thing!" he shouted and then just sat there unmoving, but with his head slightly bowed like he was deep in thought.
Beast Boy was about to say something when he stopped. He was looking at Raven who had turned her back to them and put up her hood.
"Uh, hey Raven, are you …blushing?" he asked.
"Oh, uh, n-, no it's just, I mean, nothing." she said and walked off.
Cyborg stepped forward "So tell me, Kevin, are you-"
Kevin interrupted him "No, Kevin was my name when I was still human. I have become something else since Trigon took my soul. Call me, Horseman." He then turned around and disappeared into a dark alley.