Been a while, hasn't it? I actually have another chapter lined up, but I wan't to see what you guys think first. All 14 of my reviews say I'm doing good so far, and actually my fan base has grown from 1 to 2, so I must be doing something right. Awesome.

Chapter 8:

What the hell was that?

Everyone rushed down to the bottom of the tower to enter various vehicles and prep for the "trouble," which Zero was already prepared for. He had already slammed a clip in and readied his sidearm and checked the levels and gauges of his mechanical self.

He checked his left arm, and the cells were up to par and all modes of operation were ready to be used. He was getting bored waiting for everyone, so he ran through the modes.

Magnetic Accelerator Cannon? He thought. Yep. Do I have enough depleted uranium? Yup, enough for ten 40mm shells. How about the Magnetic Accelerator Minigun? Yeah, it worked. He made the barrels wirr around a bit. He loved doing that, but he remembered what he was here for and stopped hastily. Enough depleted uranium for that? Yeah. In fact enough for roughly 5,000 rounds.

He never thought there the hell all this uranium went when he put it in his arm. Could be in his foot for all he knew. Maybe his stomach, or his spleen maybe. The doc always was a weird type, and didn't really say much about the storage, except for his leg, which held a med-kit and a few tools for repairs. Were they in his leg now? Yep.

"God DAMNIT they are taking a long-- shit they're gone…"

The door was open, and fresh rubber was on the floor. Raven stood at the door looking at him funny.

"You take way too long, Zero," she said.

She levitated a few feet off the ground and began to fly away.

"I'll show you slow…" He gritted his teeth, and began to walk, then jog, then run. He was at the door when he stopped and looked up; there was the tower. ""Fun time." He jumped, and bolted straight up the side of the tower. He waited for the apex of the jump, then planting both feet on the tower, and with a great effort, rocketed himself across the harbor. He passed Raven up with ease. She looked up, mouthed something that looked like surprise and then sped up. He killed the notion to smile.

When he met land, he had lost substantial altitude, so he engaged the special shielding in his boot and left foot. They were prototypes from some project called Spartan II he had heard of. They were SUPPOSED to stop bullets and various other projectiles, but, if used correctly (or incorrectly, depending on the point of view), these would eliminate friction between the user's feet and the ground. So, without stopping, he hit the street and streaked through the city. Traffic was a problem, but him arm took care of it. The cars were easily pushed out of the way, punched through, or otherwise taken out.

He spotted Starfire up above, so he fallowed her to the scene of the crime, or whatever the "trouble" was. She stopped suddenly in one sector, which took Zero by surprise. He disengaged the footwear and dug his left hand into the ground. The slide took a few yards, and certainly someone was going to be pissed about the tarmac, but he came to a stop grinding halt

Robin came roaring down the street on his tuner bike, and Cyborg's custom street machine came in a close second. Cyborg and Beast Boy jumped out the car, and Raven simply melted up from the street from a shadow. She looked beaten, like they were competing or something.

"Nice jump, Zero," she said.

He looked at her from the corner of his eye.

She gave a look at him, then the ground began to rumble, so he was unable to define the look as anything. He wondered if she was getting pissed from losing a competition he didn't know about, or what. But as he looked closer, she was startled too. Was this an earthquake?

"No…" Zero mumbled as he slowly drew his gun.

To his right, the street exploded, revealing a giant mechanical… something… with a rider on the back. The man on the back of what seemed to be a giant dog-type robot had jet black hair, black marks on his arms, sunken in eyes, black pants, black tank top, black pants; typical street punk.

"Rancid!" Robin yelled.

"Well, well, Bird Boy! Time for me to introduce my new hound, Rex V!" Rancid bellowed.

"What the crap is this?" Zero said. Raven looked at him funny. Everyone else was poised for battle, and he was slacking off.

Or maybe not…

Rancid laughed. "Shall I walk you through the new features over Rex IV? No! I think I start taking you-"

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

Three bullets hammered Rancid's head. One in the cheekbone, cracking the skull. Another plowed through the eye, deflating it and opening up the opposite end of Rancid's head. The last was right between the eyes; the perfect shot. His head exploded send what little brains he had everywhere.

There was a long silence in the time it took for the body to drop and the shell casing to ping the ground. In this time, Zero grinned demonically. His left eye faded away again.

Rancid collapsed on his dog, and blood pooled by his neck without a head. The three shells hit concrete and made the silence break, which signaled everyone to look back at Zero; his Desert Eagle raised, the barrel smoking a bit, and his eyes glued to his target. He looked down to his ammo belt, took out a new clip, let the old one slide out of his D. Eagle and slammed the new one home. Before the old one hit the floor, he caught it and put it in the empty spot.

Still no one said anything, just stared at their new addition to their team. But they all hit the floor when he armed his MAC.

The arm formed the three pronged magnetic slingshot as a depleted uranium shell slid into the chamber. The round began to spin, ensuring accuracy, and then it shot through the magnets and tore the air as it headed for the Dog, known as "Rex V." Exhaust spewed from the rear of his arm from the immense heat, and the mechanical dog was gone; obliterated from the shell.

Bits and pieces of scrap metal began to fall in the street as the Titans looked up.

"So, uhh… are we done here?" Zero said as his armed shaped from a gun to an arm.

Everyone one was stunned. They weren't used to this. And what people don't know, they fear, and that fear turns to hate, and Zero saw this in each of their eyes.

"Zero," Raven said emerging from a wall. "What the hell was that?"

"Yeah, that was not standard procedure by any means," Robin said, standing up.

"Dude, what are you doing?" Beast boy asked, growing back to original size.

"I was just neutralizing the threat—" Zero tried to explain.

"You were just screwing up everything!" Cyborg yelled.

"Fuck this," he mumbled. Zero turned and started down the street.

If he couldn't explain himself, leave it. Run it over in his head and if nothing is wrong, that leave it.

So he ran it over in his head. They were pissed, but he did nothing wrong in his book. He didn't understand a god damned thing yet. What was wrong with his tactics?

"Jesus I hate my job," He said, as he walked.