Thwip, Ch-chunk
Robin and Cyborg landed, perched atop a building.
"There he is," snarled the shorter of the two, "Ready?"
Cyborg stared down watching as Mad Mod floated down the street on a hovering sled, surrounded by a massive escort of his robotic minions.
"Yeah, let's do this……Man that's a lot of robots."
FWOOSH … FW-FW-FW-FW-FW-FWOOOOSSHHHH
The two Titans dropped to the roof as a squad of fighters roared overhead.
The lead craft sharply dove into an alley, they rocketed out, back in their direction.
Robin produced a handful of discs and drew back his arm to throw them at the leader, until it banked to the side, giving him a full view of the pilot, gloved hand raised in salute.
The Boy Wonder's face twisted into a smirk, "Shadow."
Said aircraft pulled immediately up into a loop, dodging fire from its pursuers.
The discs flew from the Titan Leader's hand, detonating against the nose of one of the pursuers, sending it careening into the distance.
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"Thanks Robin," I muttered to myself, "Five left."
I pulled out of the loop, diving straight for the road that Mad Mod and his escort marched through.
"Allow me to return the favor."
Bl-bl-bl-bl-bl-blam
Yellow energy laced out from my guns, tearing into the escorting machines, ripping about half of them to shreds.
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"RUN AWAAAAAYYYYYY!"
A screaming Beast Boy led Raven and Starfire; tearing through an alley and up a stairwell, headed for the top of an apartment complex.
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Mad Mod screamed out an order, and the remaining soldiers around him turned their weapons to the sky, firing at the rogue fighter that now spiraled away from them.
"Now, GO!" shouted Robin, throwing a handful of smoke pellets into the street, diving down after them, Cyborg in hot pursuit.
Smoke filled the street in half a heartbeat.
Wham, Slash, Blam…Bl-bl-bl-blam, BOOOM, Crunch, Clang, Z-Zap………THUD!
The smokescreen cleared to show Robin and Cyborg standing in the middle of the road, surrounded by the demolished remains of Mad Mod's escort.
Snnkkt, the Boy Wonder flipped out his Bo-Staff as Cyborg palmed his fist, "Boo Yah."
"It's over Mod, give it up."
In response all he got was laughter from the villain.
Robin snarled and leapt forward, bringing the Bo-Staff down in a heavy arc.
Swoosh—CLANG
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Thud Thud Thud
Three machines were dropped to the rooftop.
After a very short moment the three fleeing Titans bolted across the rooftop, headed for a fire escape.
"YAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
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Robin staggered forward, his staff having hit nothing but air, "A hologram?"
The image in question continued laughing. "Really my young chap, did you think I would parade about in the street like that with you youngun's still runnin around? Specially after what happened last time. Ha ha ha ha ha ha!
The holograms fizzled out as a veritable army poured out from buildings, alleys, and were dropped from aircraft.
Cyborg's shoulders slumped. "Great."
"Fight!" yelled Robin, raising his Bo-Staff.
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Beast Boy, Starfire, and Raven sprinted out from the alley, into the road…to be greeted by about fifty of the machines to their left.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
The three dashed straight out into the road, and turned, running full tilt.
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FWOOSHH, aircraft rocketing along, in hot pursuit, I sat in the cockpit of my commandeered aircraft, running quick scans in between dodging weapons fire.
I hauled right on the stick, dodging a burst of energy fire, 'Crap, I almost had it.'
My eyes flicked back to yellow, and I resumed the scan.
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A pair of the killer machines stood towering over two people, possibly a couple, the boy and girl clinging to each other.
The machines raised their rifles, aiming at the helpless pair.
The two flinched towards the ground, as a dark shadow fell across them.
Sl-Sl-Sl-Sl-SLASH!
A dark cloaked, blade-wielding figure launched himself back into the air leaving the machines lying as a pile of destroyed metal.
The two teens looked at each other, looked up, back at each other, at the machines, then back at each other.
The two promptly collapsed against each other, hugging and shaking all at once.
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AAAAIIIIIEEEEEEE!
A shrieking Beast Boy led the two girls down the road, scrambling over and around the stopped traffic.
Panting, Raven glanced aside at Starfire, "Doesn't he ever run out of breath?"
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The machines pressed in against Robin and Cyborg, the two heroes were fighting a losing battle, and they knew it.
Glancing around, Robin spotted an opening, "Cy, time to go!"
The android threw off one more attacker and followed Robin through the opening, breaking into a full run.
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Flying at breakneck speeds over the city, my eyes faded from yellow back to normal.
"Found it……I hope."
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Beast Boy darted towards a corner, "Quick, this way," he called to the two girls.
The three came around the corner to be greeted with the sight of Robin and Cyborg running towards them, full sprint, with an army of machines in hot pursuit.
"NOT THIS WAY!"
Reunited, the five Titans dashed down the road, fleeing from the robots.
Robin looked over at the other three Titans, "I thought I told you three to stay hidden."
"Yeah," Beast Boy retorted, "That worked, the robots found us about a minute after you left."
Starfire looked over to the Boy Wonder, "Have you heard any word on our friend Shadow?"
"Yeah, actually saw him a few minutes ago…he somehow stole one of Mad Mod's planes, and is flying it right now."
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'Alright, now that I found the problem, I just need to lose these last five bogeys.'
Now able to reapply my full concentration to flying, I banked hard to the left, and dove for the ground.
On the way, I glanced back, my eyes flashing emerald. The nearest plane's engine compartment erupted into flames from my spell, sending it spiraling down, just in time to clear the city and crash into the bay.
I sat in the cockpit and panted, all the spells I was casting had almost completely exhausted me.
The final four and I rocketed out over the bay, and I turned my nose to the open ocean, throttle all the way open.
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Five Titans and an army of rampaging machines raced down the street, all was silent except for the thudding and clanking of feet.
Somehow, something in the silence of it seemed to get to Robin, as he whirled around and chucked an explosive disc into the midst of the pursuers, vaporizing two of them.
Of course, the machines retaliated, raining energy blasts towards the Titans.
"Was that really necessary Robin?" Raven panted.
BLAM- BL-BL-BL-BL-BL-BL-BL-BL-BL-BL-BL-BL-BL-BL-BL-BL-BL-BLAM!
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P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-POW!
"Geez, these guys are persistent," I snarled out. "Leave me alone, would ya? Just cuz I stole your plane and shot down your buddies doesn't mean that ya gotta try and kill me!"
I paused for a moment, and chuckled in spite of myself.
"Yeah, there's 20,000 years of being out of touch with the physical realm for ya."
WHOOSH
I dipped to the side again, dodging even more weapons fire.
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Cha-chink
The Titans came to a screeching halt in the middle of an intersection as they were faced with a wall of gun toting machines.
They spun towards the road to their left.
Ch-Chink…more machines
To the right…Ch-Chink
They spread into a five-point defensive formation as the last squad of machines came up as well, completely closing off their escape routes.
Cyborg looked back over his shoulder at Robin, "Now what?"
Taking a deep breath, he replied, "No more running, we have to fight."
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THERE, that's it.
Looking forward, I spotted some floating dock-like thing topped with many satellite dishes and antenna. And it was big……really, really big.
'So this is where the signal is coming from'
'That thing has to be powered somehow'
Looking closer, I spotted what appeared to be large fuel tanks. 'Hmm, that'll do.'
P-P-P-P-POW
p-p-p-ping
The aircraft dipped violently to the side, and the entire control panel went red. I'd been hit.
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On an unspoken cue, all the machines began to advance; weapons drawn, but not in a firing position.
"They want us alive." Robin stated quietly, "Titans, stand down."
All four of them looked at him incredulously, their gazes all asking 'WHAT?'
"Knowing Mad Mod, he's going to have these machines take us to him. Once there, we have a better chance of taking him down. Take him down, and the robots go down too."
One by one, the Titans reluctantly raised their hands in surrender, and waited as the machines gathered, together picked them up in restraining arms, and carried them off.
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'Come on baby, hold together for a few more moments, I just need to get this shot off'
I continued to wrestle with the control stick as the dying aircraft wobbled and faltered in flight.
I managed to drop the crosshairs across the fuel tanks. A deep breath.
Click……….
Click, click, click.
It was no good; the shots I'd taken had damaged the weapons systems. I was unarmed, and didn't have enough energy to case a spell powerful enough to pierce the armor of those fuel tanks.
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Sitting in the basement of a smaller building just outside the city, Mad Mod laughed like a madman as he watched the 'triumphant return' of his machines, carrying the five Titans like trophies from a hunt.
"You see my duckies?" He chattered, "Your li'l escape only bought you a little bit of time, and this time I have all of you. And don't think I forgot about you new member, I've received word from my pilot bots that they have shot him down already."
"Ya see, this is further proof that you young un's need to respec' your elders, cause sooner or later, they'll turn around and out do ya."
"Now, just to make sure that yun's don't cause any more trouble…it's re-education time!"
As he spoke a large screen descended from the ceiling of the room.
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"NNGGHHH!"
I fought desperately with the control stick, trying to keep the wounded craft in the air. Suddenly a thought hit me, 'Why try to keep this thing up…it's not doing me much good right now.'
I repositioned the crosshairs over the fuel tanks, and pressed the throttle to full.
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A hypnotic black and white spiral appeared on the screen in front of the Titans.
The Titans began to struggle against their captors, trying to avoid the screen.
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I took one last deep breath as the floundering craft dove towards the platform. I gripped the hilt of my sword, and drove it through the glass of the cockpit.
Summoning the last bit of energy I could spare for spells, I fluxed gravity underneath me, hurling me clear of the aircraft.
A beat
KABOOOOOOOM!
The air around me shook violently as my former craft slammed into the fuel tanks. The tanks that it struck erupted into a ball of flame, triggering those next to them. Within half a heartbeat the entire structure had erupted into a pillar of flame.
I blinked my eyes, dazzled and thrilled by the massive explosion, then looked down at the water, some 40 feet below me. One thought hit me.
'This is gonna hurt.'
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Starfire struggled against the machine that restrained her; "No, please stop now," A second one stepped up next to her, and grabbed her head, forcing it in the direction of the screen.
Her eyes began to lock onto the screen then she blinked, something catching her attention. She felt a deep familiar burning inside her chest, glaring up at the screen, her eyes burned a hot, dangerous green.
"I said NO!" The Tamerainian warrior shouted, as a pair of eyebeams lanced out, obliterating the screen.
Mad Mod froze in his gloating…"Wuh oh."
The girl flexed her arms, tearing the machine in two, then turned her fury on the one that had grabbed her head. A barrage of starbolts reduced it to a hunk of charred metal.
Beast Boy, who had somehow managed to avoid the screen to this point, was the first to catch on; he morphed into a bear, and reduced his captor to many, many small pieces.
As it all clicked with the rest of the Titans, and they began to prepare to fight, all the machines suddenly went dim-eyed, and slumped over.
The Five, now re-empowered Titans, looked away from the lifeless machines, and at Mod. He whipped out his cane and clicked the top of it. Immediately six of the powered-down machines became reanimated.
Raven simply glared at the machines, "Azerath Metrion Zinthos!" All six machines were covered in black energy and ripped to shreds. The dark power immediately lashed out towards the shocked Brit, severing his cane in two.
Before Mad Mod knew what happened, Robin had him by the collar, and was pinned against the floor.
"H-hullo gov'nor," He stammered.
Robin smirked at him, then flipped him over and restrained his hands with a pair of handcuffs.
The Boy Wonder looked over at the rest of the Titans, "I think we may have Shadow to thank for the return of powers, but Mad Mod mentioned something about his pilots having shot Shadow down. Starfire and I will stay here and wait for the police. The rest of you, track his communicator, and go find him.
"Right."