Chapter 5: The Commando's Arrival
Recon wasn't in a happy mood at all when they had all returned to the tower, by foot no less. Recon insisted no air transports take off from the tower to pick them up. He also ordered Raven, Starfire and Beastboy not to fly at all. Something was wrong and it definetly had something to do with that blimp. The Titans decided to find out. Recon was by his giant map of the city when they approached him.
"Mind explaining the huge blimp." Robin asked
"It an old Mutentican war relic upgraded with more modern weaponery," the Raptor told him "somehow they managed to sneak all the parts they needed for it here and conceal its construction in the stadium. Now that zeppelin is our biggest problem."
"Dude, what the deal?" asked Beastboy "Its just a big balloon filled with air and stuff."
"That big balloon," Recon responded "is armed with more anti-air weapons then you shake a stick at. The helicopters can't fly anymore, which means my men have no air cover out there. I can't call them back or the Mutants will retake everything they lost already, I can't attack the blimp because I have no weapons that can destroy. And those bombs at the bottom are there to take out anything that the mutants see fit."
"Don't you have a missile or something?" Cyborg asked
"This isn't an invasion it a peace keeping mission. I have nothing that can get close to that thing and nothing that can take it out."
"Then let us do it." Robin suggested "We can get on board that blimp and shut it down from the inside."
"Its too late," Recon told them "I already informed the major of the situation. He called high command and they're sending over someone to take out the blimp."
"Who?" Robin asked
Recon suddenly turned to the window and stared out at the water. He looked somewhat worried, possibly even scared out of his wits.
"We don't usually use him for these kind of operations, but we have no choice in the matter now."
"Who is he?" Robin pleaded
"A myth, a legend, someone who is famous to every crinimal underground member. He's almost as big a legend to us. He's what you could call Raptoria's greatest hero."
"You don't sound like he's a very good one." said Robin looking at the Raptor who now spoke in a soft and rather calm voice. Possibly trying to hide the small bits of anxiety that we're leaking out.
"He'll complete the mission, he always does. He'll infiltrate that blimp, blow it up and send it crashing to the ground."
"Blow it up!" Robin shouted with surprise
"That how he works." Recon told him
"If he blows that blimp it'll crash into the city with that explosive payload of bombs you say its carrying," Robin yelled "people could get hurt!"
"Its war Robin," Robin said looking over his shoulder "thats what happens."
"Call him off." Robin ordered
"What?" Recon asked
"I said call this guy off, if you know this is what he's going to do stop him. I'm not letting some explosion nut just come here and do whatever damn well pleases!"
"You can't just call this guy up and tell him that his mission is cancelled. You can't call him off period. Theres no do over, no restart button, no time out. This is the real world Robin and in the real world things like this have to happen."
"So this one guy is just going to show up out of nowhere and blow up the blimp from the inside?" Beastboy wondered "Is he like some sort of Special Forces or something."
"He's a commando." Recon told him
"Whatever he is," Robin began "I'm not letting him endanger my city. I'm going to get on that blimp and take control of it."
"There's no time," Recon explained "HQ is already sending him. He'll be here within the hour."
"What, is he coming on a jet?" Cyborg asked
"Actually he was just off the coast on the carrier that is giving us support." Recon answered "He wanted to watch how things were going when he heard what was happening."
"So why don't they use the airplanes on the carrier?" Robin asked
"I told you, that blimp is a certified air fortress. Anyone who gets near it is going to face more firepower then they can handle. Gattling guns, heat-seeking rockets, flak cannons and anti-air defences. It even has some long range ground guns to fire at anything that comes near it on the ground according to scout units."
"The T-Ship can handle anything thrown at it." Cyborg boasted
"Besides," said Robin in a commanding tone "you may be in charge of this terrorist situation but its our job to protect this city. Whether it from that blimp or the commando you're sending to make it crash into the ground."
Recon just lowered his head and sighed then looked back up at the Titans
"Very well," He said "you have one hour to take over the blimp. I can't give you anymore. If you can't take control of it you must get out of there. I can't stop him once he gets inside the blimp. He'll destroy it, with or without you on it."
"Understood." Robin complied as he turned to his teamates "Alright team, we have a lot to do with no time to do it. We need to get on that blimp and take control of it before this commando shows up."
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On the Raptorian Carrier several miles away. A large hulking figure steps into the ship's armoury and walks to the end of the hall. When he reaches it he turns on a light, revealing two pistols, a grenade launcher, a double barrel shotgun, an M60 and a case that holds something very personal towards this Raptor. He places slides the shotgun and machine gun into holsters on his back. He then takes the pistols and grenadce launcher and secures them on his belt. Then he takes the case and walks out of the armoury and back to the top deck.
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The T-ship approaches its target at full speed.
"Okay team, it took us awhile to get this thing ready to launch." Robin said over the intercom "Especially with all the Raptorian Helicopter's on the roof landing and needing refueling before take off. So that just means we'll have to work fast. Cyborg, how much time do we have?"
"Forty-five minutes." Cyborg told him
"Plenty of time," Robin commented "all we need to do is land the ship on the blimp and get inside."
"But what of the commando?" Starfire asked "What if we are unable to take control of the blimp before the hour is out?"
"Relax Starfire," Robin assured "we'll get in the blimp's control room and steer it towards the ocean where we can land it safely. The commando won't take down the target if the ship is already taken down."
"With the way Recon descirbed him how can you be sure?" Raven asked
"Yeah," Beastboy added "I mean he's going to break into a blimp and blow it up from the inside and then somehow get off it before he explodes it and then survive the thing falling from the sky. Not to mention he's going at it alone. What makes you think he isn't gonna blow it up anyway even if we get it to the ocean?"
"He's a soldier in the Raptorian army," Robin explained "I'm sure he has to follow orders like the rest of them."
"I fear that this Raptor is not as kind or friendly as the rest of them." Star lamented
"What makes you say that?" Cyborg asked
"I looked into Captain Recon's eyes as he spoke of him." She explained "He seemed fearful, worried and frightened. Almost as if he didn't want the commando to come. It almost as if his own species fears him."
"Why would they keep someone in their army if he scares them?" Beastboy asked
"I don't know," Robin answered "but it just another thing to talk about with Recon when we get back."
"Unless the commando kills us first when he blows up the blimp." said Raven in her gloomy voice
At that moment the alarm sensors started pulsating through the ship.
"We have a missile lock!" Cyborg shouted
The team saw two missile heading straight towards them at tremendous speed. The T-ship turns sideways and moves out of the way.
"Forget about the commando," Beastboy shouted "worry about the scary blimp that shoots stuff at us!"
"The missiles are coming back." Cyborg shouted as the lock on alert continued to blare.
As the Titans neared the blimp however the ship's guns opened up on them and more missiles launched at them.
"Cyborg, status report!" Robin ordered
"The missiles I can handle," He said "but the guns are doing their fair share amount of damage without them." Cyborg winced as a nearby panel exploded "Were pretty much outmatched here."
"Anybody have any ideas?" Robin asked as bullets hit his windshield
"Put our heads between our knees and pray." Beastboy suggested
"Don't worry I got it." Cyborg stated as he continued through the field of missiles and guns firing at them. Eventually they had a total of 15 missiles chasing them after what seemed like an eternity of flying around avoid the projectiles. Then Cyborg enacted his plan by head up to top of the blimp and landing. He opened the ship's hatches and shouted "Everyone out! Now!"
The Titans jumped from their ship and ran from it just in time for the missiles to collide with it and explode. While the explosion rocked the blimp, it did not damage it. The blimp was apparently armoured platted to decrease the chances of fire blowing it up. So the good new was the Titans were going to die just yet. The bad news was pointed out by Beastboy.
"Dudes our ride! How are we going to get off this thing now!"
"I hadn't really figured that out." Cyborg admited
"It doesn't matter," Robin stated "we'll get the airship to the water and land it there. What's our time table Cyborg?"
The the cybernetic teen checked his arm clock
"30 minutes."
"Then we have to move now." Robin told them
A gun turret on top of the blimp turned to them. It was a small glass dome with a mutant armed with and anti-air gun aiming at them. He wasn't aiming at air planes but the bullets would do the job just fine. Raven shielded her friends from the bullets while Cyborg lept into the air and fired his sonic cannon at the gun creating a hole down into the inside of the ship.
"Come on." Robin ordered
He ran into the hole and his friends followed
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Back aboard the Raptorian Carrier, the hulking Raptor marched onto the osprey that was to fly him to the blimp. He passed by two saluting Raptorian officers at the osprey's platform and took his seat as the door closed up behind him. The osprey rose up into the sky and started heading towards the city.
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Inside the blimp the fighting was fierce. The Titans made their way down the various scalfolding while fighting the numurous mutant terrorists along the way. Beastboy was going ahead of the group onto different section of the catwalk, mostly using his flying bird method to switch from cat walk to catwalk when he ahd cleared the area of all badguys. Cyborg fired his sonic cannon at the opposing forces. He punched the mutants who got to close. Most of the time he sent them flying off the catwalks. Starfire flung her starbolts at the mutant soldiers as they approched, knocking them down. Raven was doing what she always did when she encoutered them, shielding herself and lfiting the guns right out of their hands and crushing them. Anyone stupid enough to continue the attack was thrown off the side of the catwalk. Robin was having an easy time since his friends were covering his back and he really only needed to worry about close quarters combat. He and the others managed to cut a swaff through the opposing mutants as they made their way to the lower levels of the blimp.
"We're almost there guys" He said "All we need to do is get into the chassis area and find the controls for the blimp."
"Were running out of time Robin," Cyobrg told him "We have less then 15 mintues left and that Commando will be showing up soon."
"We can make it." Robin told him
Starfire busted down the door to the lower levels of the blimp, the chassis area where most of the reel operation was run. They needed to get to the front of the blimp's chassis to find the pilot and take over the blimp. But things still weren't getting easy. As more and more Mutants continued to impede their progress. The minutes ticked away as the Titans fought the mutants through the corridors as they passed the various sleeping quaters and kitchens trying to make it past them all. But every corner and every room held more mutants. They easily took most of them down without trouble but the Titans soon found a more dangerous opponent as they nearted the bridge of the blimp. As they exited through another door they came upon a mutant with four arms holding two large machine guns in his hands. He smirked as began to fire upon them. The Titans ducked behind a corner to avoid getting shot by the mutant.
"Were wasting time." Robin said
"Four minutes Robin," Cyborg reminded him "we have got to move if we wanna make it."
Robin's faced showed his frustration. Suddenly he barreled around the corner and threw and explosive disk at the mutant causing him to fall backwards onto the ground.
"Move!" Robin demanded as the Titans ran to the bridge of the airship. But as they got there they saw the doors slam shut and several other lock in front of it.
"No!" Robin screamed "Everyone, break it down!"
Cyobrg and Starfire punched it as hard as they could, Beastboy charged at it several times as a pygmy rhino and Raven tried to pry it away with her magic. Nothing worked it was too well sealed. Robin in desperation pounded on the door over and over again.
"Listen," he shouted through the door hoping the Mutants would hear him "The blimp is going to explode unless you let us steer this ship to the ocean. The Raptors are sending in a commando to blow this place up you got to-" Robin was cut off by a sudden beeping noise. He turned to Cyborg who was staring at arm clock who only said one thing.
"Time's up."
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Overhead the osprey was flying high above the blimp and inside it the Raptor was arming himself. He stuck on some ear phones and plug the wire into a small mp3 player on his belt. Then he placed a helmet on his head and knocked it around a few time. After this ritual was completed he went over to the case he had carried on. He opened and took out a large yellow chainsaw and held it in one of his hands. An inscription on the blade of the chainsaw said EARL in big letters. The door to the back of the osprey opened and a rope swung down from the top of the ceiling. The Raptor pressed a button on the mp3 player and song 'Let the Good Times Role' began to play. The Raptor saw how far above he was from the blimp and grabbed onto the rope. He slid down it all the way and then let go dropping the rest of the 10 foot drop. When he landed on the top of the blimp the raptor reved his chainsaw and stuck it into the top of the blimp. He cut his way through the armoured plating and jumped down through the hole.
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Robin was frantic.
"We can't quit, we have to break through, we have to-"
"Robin, there is nothing we can do now." Starfire commented
"Maybe the guy is late." Beastboy said optimistically
An explosion was heard at the back of the ship
"Doubtful." Raven immediately commented
"I'm not letting him endanger innocent people." Robin shouted
"We can't do anything man." Cyborg told him "Unless you actually want to go up to this guy and tell him to stop."
"I can try and move the ship out of the way of any civilian homes," said Raven "but we have to get out of here now."
Robin knew that there was nothing he could do and he knew that if his team died on this blimp it would be his fault for voluntering them in the first place. He nooded his head at Raven in defeat.
"Do it." He said
With that Raven used he powers to teleport them to a nearby rooftop and away from the blimp.
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The Commando lurched through the halls of the lower bay. As mutants tried to stop his advance. He fired his shotgun at the opposing foes and watched as they went down. A mutant raced up to him with his knife drawn, but the Raptor grabbed his arm and punched the mutant in the face. He took the knife from him and grabbed a Mutant that came out of a nearby corner with his gun drawn. He lifted the terrorist up and stabbed him in the belly. The mutant let of a string of aimless fire as he fell to the ground. A few more mutants kicked open a nearby door and were met with a grenade to their face as the Raptor lauched it at them. The exploded in a firey blast. Next another Mutant came swinging his gun around and the Raptor kicked him back. While the Mutant was dazed the Raptor took his chainsaw off his back and away from his other weapon and reved it. He swung at the mutant and cut a clean path straight through from the Mutant's shoulder to his belly. Next he saw the door to the engine room and blasted it open with another grenade from his grenade launcher. The explosion took out anyone near the door. They were the lucky ones the remaining engineer cowered for life as the Raptor approached.
"Please, no!" He screamed "I'm just an engineer! I'm unarmed!"
"It doesn't matter to me," The Raptor spoke in a hard shrill rather detached and scary voice "you work for the enemy and therefore you must die."
"Please, have mercy." The engineer pleaded
"Not for you."
The Raptor grabbed the engineer by his shirt threw him into the engine pistons screaming all the way. The Raptor then planted the bombs he had taken with him on the engine. Knowing that their explosion would cause the ship's entire destruction with the bomb racks inches below. The Raptor began to sing along with the final chorus of the song playing through his mp3 player as he walked away from the engine room calmly with detonator in hand
"Come on baby let the good times roll
Come on Baby let me thrill your soul
Come on baby let the good times roll,"
The Raptor pressed the button and sung the last line rather happily
"ROLL ALL NIGHT LONG!"
The explosion rocked the entire chassis and he could barely make out his own lyrics, but he smiled all the same.
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The Titans watched in horror as the Blimp's rear end exploded and the airship was engulfed in flames. The airship began to fall towards earth, flaming and falling apart all the way. Raven did as she promised and tried to magically steer the ship away from any possibly civilains but she could not maintian the concentration on the fast moving ship. She managed to get to stay in the air long enough to fall the squar near their pizza parlour hang out and away from any civilians. All that was left of the blimp was a pile of smoldering ass. The Titans approached the burning carcass of the wreck
"I didn't see anyone get off." said Cyborg
"You think that commando is dead?" Asked Beastboy
"No he's not," Said Raven "I sense something, alive and..." She suddenly stopped and clutched her head in pain
"Raven what's wrong?" Robin asked
"Can't...concentrate...too much...too much...pain...the pain...I can't take it! Make it stop! Make it stop!"
Although the Titans could not hear it, Raven was hearing a thousand screaming voices in her head all at once all. Accompanied by gunfire and cries of pain
"Please I beg you!"
:"Dear god! No! I'm sorry!"
"I know how much suffering I have caused, please don't do it!"
"I can pay you."
"I give you a position in my regime."
"Why not join me! I'll make it worth it."
"I so sorry, please, I can make it up!"
"You can't kill me! You can't kill me!"
"You'll never stop me! I'll have my revenge!"
"KILL ME AND YOUR SOUL WILL BE AS CURSED AS MINE!"
A final shotgu blast rang out in her mind and Raven collapsed onto the ground.
"Raven!" Her friends shouted
Beastboy ran over to her and brought her to her feet, supporting her with his shoulder
"What happened?" he asked
"I couldn't break contact." She said "I wanted to but I couldn't. So many screams, so many people, so much..." She couldn't go on. She felt like crying but she would not want to give anyone the pleasure of it.
At this moment the burnt out chassis of the blimp broke open and out stepped a Raptor. The Titans finally saw the commando Recon had told them of. He was wearing a helmet with the straps undone and a leather strap vest with two guns, a machine gun and a shotgun on his back. He had shorts on and wore glasses. He was barefoot and holding a chainsaw in one of his hands. He was smiling a toothy and disturbing smile. But his eyes were the scariest part of his appearance. The looked as if they were bloodshot and spirialing around. In fact thay looked like the candy cane stripped. The Raptor looked behind him and saw the burning blimp. And he began to laugh. He laughed a joyous and happy laugh but something was different about it. His laugh sounded sinister and maniacal. Robin had heard such laughter from the Joker during his Gotham days. It made him wince. Starfire was afraid of this knew kind of laughter. Laughter was suppose to be a sign of happiness. But this laughter did not sound that way. The Raptor in front of her was laughing at the destruction he caused. Beastboy, Raven and Cyobrg were all wide eyed with shock at the Raptor's actions. If they didn't know any better they'd say this guy was a new villian they had to stop. The Raptor suddenly stopped laughing and turned to the Titans. He marched towards them and saluted, still with that snister smile on his face. He spoke in his gruff and frighting voice.
"Lieutenant Ryan the Raptor of the Raptorian Special Forces" He said "but you may call me the Insano Commando. My card." The Raptor passed Robin a small card that read:
Ryan The Raptor
Insano Commando
Cleaning the World up, One Scum Sucker at a Time
Robin was going to have a lot more questions to ask Recon when they got back.
So what were all those voices in Rae's head. I'm sure you can guess on your own, but I'll confirm those beliefs by the next chapter. Please review and tell your friends about me. I love constructive criticism.