Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans at all.
Gunsmoke and Black Roses—Chapter Sixteen
It was about lunchtime in Jump City, and most of the fast-food joints and fancy restaurants were opening up for business. In fact, one pair of women were just sitting down at an outdoor table with a tray of foot… when a red blur abruptly screamed by on the street, sending the food flying out of her hands and onto a nearby table… amazingly, nothing actually spilled…
The red blur was, in fact, the R-Cycle; it was being driven by none other than the Boy Wonder himself: Robin.
Taking one hand off the wheel for a moment, he reached quickly down into his belt and pulled out his Titan's communicator.
"Cy! B.B.! You there?"
Sure enough, Cyborg answered from behind the Wheel of the T-Car with Beast Boy riding shotgun.
"Yeah, we're still here."
"Have you found any trace of Myntull or Blackfire…?" Robin asked hopefully.
Cyborg sighed heavily and shook his head, his one real eye dimming sadly. "… No. We haven't found anything…"
"Keep looking!" Rob responded quickly "Myntull couldn't have gone far, no matter how fast he is."
"Will do!" Beast Boy said, poking his head onto the screen for a moment, before Cy pushed him away looking slightly irked. They hung up a moment later.
Groaning inwardly, Robin kicked the gearshift up a notch and started blazing down the street at even higher speed than before…
They had to find them.
Starfire was soaring frantically from rooftop to rooftop, looking around to get a wide view of the City. The last time they'd seen Myntull, he'd appeared suddenly as if out of nowhere, and sprayed Blackfire with some sort of gas from his chest… shortly afterwards, she'd collapsed unconscious…
They'd tried to help, but before they could even react, he'd grabbed her up in his tail and took of with his wings and jets…
And now, they had to find them… quickly.
Starfire didn't know what the mechanized madman had in store for her sister… or why he'd only been interested in her, not them… but regardless of the reason, he was going to pay.
Her eyes briefly glowed bright green for a moment, giving off a sizzling sound like crackling energy… then, they returned to their normal shade of emerald with a melancholy expression.
"Sister… where are you…?" She whispered sadly.
Grabbing her communicator, she spoke: "Smoke! Smoke, where are you? Have you found anything at all?"
A moment of static on the screen followed, before an image of Smoke fizzled to life before her. He answered, but she could barely hear him over the thunderous roar of his truck's engine.
"No… I'm looking, but I haven't seen anything!" He cried, frustrated and angry. A moment later, Star winced as he slammed his fist into the dashboard and bellowed angrily. "I don't believe this! He has to be SOMEWHERE in this damn city! It shouldn't be this hard to find a giant robot with guns all over it!"
"You must not be angry with yourself. We are all searching as hard as we can…"
"Y-yeah… you're right, it's just…" He trailed off for a moment… "If he hurts her, I swear…" He blurted out suddenly. "… I swear I'll rip him apart, wire… by… wire."
Starfire was silent. She didn't blame him at all for his anger, but… seeing him like this, it kind of… disturbed her. His intentions were good, she knew; but in this state of mind, he was probably capable of anything.
"Smoke… please. Do not be so…" Starfire searched for the correct word. "… Reckless. I am as angry as you are, but… you must try to remain calm. For Blackfire's sake…"
The gunner shook his head apologetically. "I… Sorry, Star. I lost control of myself for a minute there…" He sighed. "I'm gonna keep looking."
"I shall continue my search, as well." Star said with a nod. "Goodbye, Friend Smoke."
"Right… 'Bye, Star."
At Pretty Much The Same Time, Except In Castle Norblitz…
There was a sharp metallic clang as Sub-Zero knocked the lance out of a Black Rider's hands and spin-kicked it in mid-air, causing it to shatter into tiny pebbles.
The rider made a lunge for Zero with it's hands outstretched, but the knight retaliated by slashing in an upwards arc with Eviglasere, chopping off both of the hands.
Without skipping a beat, Sub-Zero did a backwards flip and landed several feet away. He looked up with a lopsided grin.
"Now… eat this!"
Stretching out both hands, there was the sound of a cold breeze, and blue and white energy began gathering at his palms. It charged upfor a moment, before a bright flash of light, and it launched forwards with an ice beam.
The hapless ash-golem was frozen right in place… and a moment later; it dissolved rapidly into a pile of snow, which quickly melted under the heat of the island.
Sub-Zero sighed and put away his weaponry, kneeling down and blasting his face with a cold breeze. He really hated this heat… and he wasn't sure how much longer he could take it without losing some of his edge.
About this time, a panting Jinx and Flake-Bane both ran into the corridor where Zero was kneeling. They stopped and looked around, seeing masses of shattered black armor and ash. Apparently, there'd been a battle…
"Zero! Why didn't you wait for us?" Jinx demanded in exasperation.
"Yeah, mate. We would've helped ya, but…you were running so fast, you left us behind!" Bane added.
The warrior sighed and slumped forward. "Sorry… I know. But… I was in a hurry! I want to get to this Hellwing guy, right now! It's time to put him in his place."
"I agree." Jinx said with a nod and she put a hand on his shoulder. She kneeled down, and put her other hand on his cheek. "… but you're going to have to slow down. We can't keep up with you, and besides, you've been fighting those things by yourself! We haven't even struck a blow…"
"She's right…" Flake-Bane admitted. He took out his hatchet and another from inside his cloak, making it a pair of them. "Why do you think I brought these? I ain't just along for the ride!"
"All right… I'll slow down. But we need to hurry! I don't know what else this maniac's planning to do, but… it can't be good."
"I heard that." Bane agreed. "But… the castle is huge! Where could he be…?"
"There." Zero pointed towards a large tower outside a nearby window, at least twice as tall as the rest, and fortified with cannons and archery placements on the sides. At it's peak was what looked like a small fortress mounted on top.
"It's the keep. My money says he's in there; it's the safest place."
"Then let's go!" Jinx said. "I want to take this guy down so we can go home…" She sighed sadly. "Zero… I'm sorry. This has NOT been the vacation I'd planned."
"No, I'm glad! If you hadn't of thought to come here… I wouldn't have found out about all this… and I wouldn't have been able to stop it. I love this place, Jinx… and I'm not going to see it destroyed by some second rate magician."
He put an arm around her neck and she blushed. They looked into each other's eyes for a moment… then, Jinx leaned upwards and Zero tilted his head downwards. They kissed each other deeply… they hadn't done so in a while, so it felt good to do it again.
Unfortunately, they were so caught up in the moment, they completely lost all sense of time… The next thing they knew, they were hearing someone clear their throat…
"… Ahem…"
They flinched and turned to see Bane standing their leaning against a wall, twirling an ice-hatchet lazily.
He shifted uncomfortably. "Er… Lord Zero, if we're going to go, then… we should go. I mean, you two have been doing that the last couple minutes, and uh…" His voiced wavered, and trailed off sheepishly.
They both blinked incredulously. A couple minutes…? Had it been that long?
Zero's pale face flushed somewhat and he cleared his throat. "Uh… right. Shall we?" He motioned forward with a sweep of his cape.
Later on, Back In Jump City
"We never found anything…"
Robin and the other's had all regrouped at the Tower after having scoured the city. They'd searched every inch of every street; they'd inspected every building from attic to basement; they'd walked down every alleyway and tunnel; they'd gone through the sewers, and they'd even spread out and looked around the surrounding countryside outside City limits…
… Yet, all their efforts were for naught. No sign of Myntull or Blackfire had been found.
Smoke was sitting Indian-style in a corner with his head in his hands. He wasn't faring too well… not at all. Starfire, although she wasn't in much better shape, was floating beside him, attempting to console him.
Beast Boy and Terra were talking, trying to figure out any area's they might have missed, and both Cyborg and Robin were at a monitor screen staring at a map of the City intently.
Raven was meditating… it was the only thing she knew to do, and besides that, it helped her think more clearly.
"I don't understand this… we searched everywhere." Terra mumbled.
Beast Boy nodded in agreement. "Yeah… and they couldn't have left the city, not that fast. He's got to be here in the city… somewhere."
Smoke continued to sit silently with Starfire staring worriedly at him.
"Terra's right…" Cy added. The map he was looking at displayed every area they'd searched in blue, and at the moment, the entire map had become blue. "… We didn't miss anything. So either he's long gone… or he's got one Hell of a hideout somewhere."
Robin sighed and walked over to Smoke, still sitting down facing the floor.
"Smoke… I know this is rough on you, but…" Robin paused hesitantly. "… Do you remember anywhere he would've gone…? I mean, any… secret military establishments or anything?"
Smoke looked up at him blearily, his eyes questioning.
"I know you destroyed the base. But… Is it possible there was somewhere else in the city that wasn't publicly known? A secret military area or something…?" Robin's abruptly fell silent. "Smoke… I hate to ask so much of you like this. But you know more about this guy and more about his operations than any of us… so is there anything, anything at all, you remember that might help?"
Smoke groaned and shook his head. His eyes were tired and glassy, but still, he seemed in deep thought. He cleared his throat and softly began to speak.
"There... There was another place… I dunno, it was… some kind of hangar or something. They just used it for storage most of the time, but... I was taken there a couple times for… tests and stuff… but… I don't know where it was."
Robin pressed on anyway. "Do you remember how they got you there?" He asked urgently.
Smoke nodded vaguely. "I think… no… I know how. There was a railway."
"A… railway?" Robin asked, surprised. "In the base?"
"Yeah… yeah, I remember. They stuck me in one of those capsules… put me in the back car on this, this… monorail thingy. And we rode for an hour or so… and then… we were there, at that hangar…"
Terra interrupted. "But if you blew up the base… wouldn't it have been destroyed?"
"No. No, they always kept it sealed off; there was lots of security there… locks, alarms, guards, the whole bit. I'm not sure what that hangar place was, but… It had to have been important. I don't think that the explosion touched it…"
"Yeah, but do you think we could still use it?" Robin asked. "Do you think we could go down in what's left of the base and find this railway?"
Smoke seemed hesitant. He looked as if he were on the verge of saying, 'I don't know'.
"It could be the only way we could get to Myntull… and Blackfire."
All the Titans were looking at him now. Robins masked gaze, Starfire's worried, but hopeful expression… Cyborg's one human eye focused on him, Beast Boy's curious stare, Terra's pleading look… even Raven had snapped out of her meditation and was looking at him in a way that seemed to cut right through him.
He searched his mind, trying to figure out if it would still be there…
"Guys… I don't know. But it's the only shot we've got, so…" Smoke's eyes hardened "Let's do it."
Norblitz…
The rocky walls of the transformed castle shook violently as the trio made their way up the floors and flights of staircases, fighting an army of Black Riders along the way.
"How much farther is it to the throne room in the keep?" Jinx yelled to Zero as she spun-kicked a Rider's head off, and blasted the headless armor with a hex that blew it away.
"Only a couple more floors until the keep entrance!" He responded, lobbing spheres of ice that punched holes in the bodies of the shadowy foes, allowing ash to spill out and thus rendering them lifeless.
"Then…" Added Bane, who was doing his best to keep up with the other two and hurl his icy axes at enemies upon which point they returned to him like boomerangs. "All we have to do is make our way up to the throne room! Von Hellwing's got to be there!"
After much fighting, they reached the end of a long chamber. In front of them was a grand staircase… formerly, it had been formed out of tightly packed snow in the shape of steps, but now it consisted of ash-covered red bricks.
Sub-Zero sighed heavily. He was getting tired of seeing such familiar sights in such an unfamiliar state…
"… The keep entrance is up that way…" He said after a moment of silence. "… Let's go. I don't know what this maniac has in store for us, but…" His red eyes flashed with a pallid blue color. "… We'll be ready."
That's the end of another chapter.
Again, I'm deeply sorry about how long this update took… but I've been out-of-state lately with no computer to use. However, the next couple weeks I'll be off a lot, so expect some quality updates!
By the way… for anybody who's digging this story so far, I've started work on an Alternate Universe fic containing my OC's and all the original Teen Titans characters, too. It's titled, "Moonlight Maelstrom", and I'll be writing it in tandem with this fic. Check it out; I need to know what people think of it.
As always, read and review! It helps me out a lot.
--The Mad Phantom…
