Re-Educating Miss Roth
A Teen Titans Fan Fiction by Jacob McDonald
Opening notes: This was an easy chapter to write. It's all coming to an end now, and I'll be posting the Epilog right after this chapter. Everyone... and I mean everyone who reviewed demanded that I update again quickly. So here it is. I was also surprised by the number of death threats. You'd think you people had never read a cliffhanger before. Sheesh.
Standard disclaimers apply. I don't own Teen Titans, or any other DCU characters.
Chapter Thirteen - Under the Gun
Team Leaders Log - February Fifteen
I've never had such a long night in my life. There was so much fighting it all seems like a blur now. All I can really see is her blood... all that blood...
The League of Assassins made their move last night to correspond with the Valentines Day dance at the school. Shrike and his band of ninja mooks tried to get in the back way of the gym where the dance was being held and attack from behind. They would have succeeded if it hadn't been for Jinx.
She held her ground against twelve trained killers and fought Shrike to a stand still, even after suffering several injuries. She took four bullets to protect over a hundred students and faculty members in the gym.
She held her ground.
And we'll never forget that.
"It was fun, cutie..." Shrike grinned.
"Bite me." Jinx muttered, spitting blood as she did.
BLAM! As Shrike's gun fired, a razor sharp bird-a-rang slammed into his hand, wedging it's self in the bone, and severing his index finger.
"GRAAA!" Shrike jerked the gun down as it went off, and Jinx slammed back against the door she was leaned against, the bullet pounding into the left side of her chest. The ninjas around Shrike all looked up in terror as a resounding shout echoed around them.
"JINX!" Robin descended from the top of the gym and landed fist first on Shrike. The yellow and red clad assassin went down in one blow, and Robin whirled around and hurled four explosive disks at the ninjas left standing.
As the four he'd been aiming at flew back from the force of the non-lethal explosives, the remaining three turned to run from Robin's wrath. Bolas took one down, a net flew over the next one, and the final ninja simply got a fist to the back of the head. Slowly, the Boy Wonder turned back and looked to the doors.
Starfire knelt next to Jinx, concern written plainly on her face. Robin dashed over and stooped down next to his girlfriend, handing her a gauze pad he pulled form his utility belt as he did, "Jinx? Can you hear me?"
"R-robin..." a weak hand reached out and grabbed his shoulder, "Deadshot... inside..."
"Oh no..." as he went to stand, her grip tightened. Looking back down at her, he saw a faint grin on her face.
"Happy... now?" she whispered.
"Good work, Jinx. Rest now."
"Holy shit!" Cyborg and Beast Boy came running up as Robin stood again. Cyborg's human eye widened and he quickly knelt next to the fallen Jinx, "No... not her... not like this..."
"Cy, call an ambulance and take her to it. Then get back in here." Robin started for the gym, "Star, Beast Boy, you're with me. Deadshot is inside, and-"
"Robin." Beast Boy grabbed his arm, "Hold on."
"We don't have time, Gar-"
"Rose Wilson is Slade's daughter."
Robin stood stock still for a full five seconds, then shook his head, "Then she can take care of herself. We need to stop Deadshot."
"I shall go with you. Would it not be prudent to keep Beast Boy out here, to assist Troia?" Starfire stood up as Cyborg lifted Jinx off the ground. The blonde haired girl moaned in pain.
"Fine. Let's go." Robin nodded to his team and they broke up. He and Starfire ran into the gym, Cyborg started moving as fast as he could to the nearest wall, and Beast Boy took flight as a hawk.
Rose kicked in the wreckage of her door and stepped into her room in the dorms. Most of the first floor had been destroyed in the blast Ravager had set off, but it hadn't compromised the structural integrity of the building overly much.
Striding across the room, the white haired girl pulled the broadsword down off the wall and hefted it. "Well Dad... looks like I get to bring a piece of you to this fight after all." Looking back over her shoulder at the cracked mirror that hung on the wall, she stared. Pushing her hair back behind her ears, she lifted on hand and covered her right eye with it.
After a moment, she shook her head, and dropped her hand. Rushing over to her desk, she opened a drawer, pulled out a 9mm hand gun, and tucked it into the waist of her pants. She then rushed out the door and back towards the cafeteria, where she knew her prey would still be lingering, waiting for her to come back.
Speedy and Merlyn both jerked their heads to the side as each other's arrows skimmed their cheeks, giving them identical wounds on the sides of their faces. Both reached back and grabbed new arrows at the same time, and both strung them and fired.
It all happened in less than two seconds, and when they fired the second round, they became opposites once again. Speedy's arrow was a non-lethal particle detonator, while Merlyn's was a barb tipped hunting arrow. The point blank expolsion blew them apart, and diverted the course of the deadly arrow into Speedy's shoulder, rather than his throat. Merlyn fell back off the building, and Speedy landed hard on his back a little ways away.
Groaning, he sat up and crawled over to his prone girlfriend, "Raven?" he gently slapped her cheek, "Come on, babe... wake up." His blood dripped on her face.
"Pfft!" Raven suddenly sat up, spitting out a little bit of his blood, "Okay, ew." rolling her neck, she lifted a shaking hand and wiped the gore away, "I love you, Roy, but I don't want to drink your blood."
"Some vampire you are..." he smiled weakly.
"You're hurt..." she scooted forward and inspected the arrow, "This is going to hurt."
"Just hurry. I dropped Merlyn off the building, but it'll take more than that to kill him."
Raven nodded and grabbed the arrow. Speedy cried out as she shoved it the rest of the way through his shoulder, then broke the shaft off. Working quickly, Raven took the barbed tip in her gloved hand and pulled the rest of the shaft through. Speedy grit his teeth and clenched his fists in pain.
"Almost done." Raven muttered, and gripped the bleeding wound. White energy surrounded it for a moment, then she slumped back. "I healed most of the damage, but I need to save my strength for other things tonight. You'll live."
"Thanks, Raven." Speedy kissed her briefly, "We have to find Merlyn. He's going to start killing people to get to Becka."
"He already has. The Chemistry teacher is dead down stairs."
"Fuck." Speedy stood up, "Can I get a lift down to the ground?"
"Of course." Raven took his hand and lifted off the roof, flying them off to find Merlyn.
Becka stood up from the prone form of a girl laying with the wounded in Janice's makeshift MASH unit in the gym. Tears slid down her face as she erased the girls name from the wounded list on her pad of paper, and added it to the deceased list.
Crouching next to the girl, Janice closed the still open eyes, and stood up, "We'll have Paul and Mike move her."
Ami padded over on bare feet, having long ago kicked off her four inch heals, "I'm worried about Jenny... she hasn't come back yet."
Becka wiped her eyes, "It's not safe to go out looking for her. We'll just have to trust that she can take care of herself."
"I'm going to check on Greg." Janice put a hand on Ami's shoulder, "She'll be fine."
"Still... I'd like to just take a look in the back hall. Just a peek to see if-"
A booming voice echoed throughout the gym, "Attention students!" Deadshot walked in from the back of the building, his arm gun raised and pointed at the room in general, "You have one minute to give me Rebecca Pullman, or I start executing you one by one."
Some of the students screamed, others started backing away from the assassin. Several people near Becka looked over at her with confused expressions.
"Don't even think about it." Ami shot a glare at a young man who was walking over with a determined look on his face. He paused as she scowled at him, then turned away.
"What do we do?" Becka asked her two friends, "We can't let him shoot any more people-"
"We do what we have to do." Ami smiled in a gentle manner, "Everyone needs the two of you here to make it through this. So I'll see ya' around."
"Ami, what are you talking about?" Becka looked frightened.
"Stay put." Ami smiled again, then dashed off quickly.
"She's not going to..." Becka watched as the red head ran towards Deadshot, then started forward, opening her mouth to shout.
A hand held her back. Looking over at Janice, Becka saw the tears in her eyes, "Don't."
"No... it can't... Ami..." Becka looked back to where the students were parting and letting Ami walk up to the large man in the red and silver suit.
Troia set Hanna and Ginger down on top of Westpost Hall and landed next to them. Ginger quickly sat down and held her wounded side, and Hanna stepped next to the older girl and spoke, "Donna, these guys are all over... they blew up part of the gym, and Becka's in there, and-"
"I know. I'm headed back to help Rose though... Robin and Starfire have the gym under control."
"Are you sure? What about Cassie and Jenny? Are they-"
"Raven informed us that the gym was secure for the time being, and that Jinx was staying there. Becka and the others will be fine." Troia touched her shoulder, "Now why do you have a sword?"
"Oh... uh..." Hanna quickly moved the weapon behind her back, and grinned sheepishly, "I was going to... help?"
"Hanna." Troia gave her a serious look, "I retiered from this line of work when I got pregnant. You shouldn't be risking your life or that of your child."
"Holy shit..." they both turned and looked at Ginger who was sitting and staring with wide eyes, "You're pregnant?"
Hanna rolled her eyes, "Christ. Thanks, Donna."
"Oops." Donna covered her mouth, "Sorry..."
"It's okay... just... go help Rose. I'm sure she'll need it against that Ravager guy."
"Okay. Stay safe." and Donna flew up into the starless night.
Hanna sighed and walked over to where Ginger was still staring at her, then sat down next to her. She leaned back and stared up at the cloudy sky for a few minutes, then spoke, "I was raped a few weeks ago when I snuck off campus to meet a guy. I got pregnant."
Ginger blinked once, then touched Hanna's arm, "Are you... I mean... I'm sorry, Hanna. For all the shit I've put you through recently."
"It's okay, Ginger. In light of recent events, it's a fairly forgivable offence."
"Still..."
"What ever happened to you, anyway?" Hanna asked as she lifted her sword and inspected the edge of it, "You were so nice and friendly when we started here four years ago..."
"I dunno." Ginger looked down at the rooftop, "I guess things just went to my head... this huge attack is all so big, and it's really... I've almost died three times tonight, and it's really made me realize what a bitch I've been... just because I'm rich."
"Well, you are pretty too, and you have a nice body... that probably didn't help you become less vain." Hanna smiled over at her.
"No, not really. I was going to go into modeling when I graduated you know... but now..."
"You still should." Hanna nodded, "You'd be good at it."
Ginger blinked, then smiled, "I guess. What are you going to do?"
"Fashion design, if I can... maybe I'll be a chef." Hanna placed a hand on her stomach, "A lot of my future is up in the air right now. This baby..." she trailed off and the two of them sat in silence for several minutes. After a time, there came the sound of foot steps behind them, and they both turned and looked with frightened faces.
A gunman had scaled the side of the building, and had a sniper rifle slung over his back. He had his SMG aimed at them, and a grin split his face while he walked over. "This whole mission is going to hell," he said, "but now I have two pretty girls who can tell me where I can find Rebecca Pullman..."
Rose crept silently through the cafeteria, her sword held low. She stayed close to the wall of the dining area, and kept her eyes wide open, taking in every detail of the place. The tables were still set up for the large dinner that had just been served, and the candles on them still burned. The lights had been shut off, so the small flickering flames were the only illumination in the room.
As she passed the last row of tables, she saw one of the servers that had been hired for the night laying on the ground in a puddle of blood. He'd been shot in the head, and she only had one guess at who had done it.
Blinking suddenly, she got a premonition and ducked. The wall where her head had just been exploded in a rain of plaster as she rolled forward, avoiding another gun shot as it came just a second afterwards. Coming up, she charge across the room, where Ravager was already pumping off another shot at her.
"Hnn!" she brought the sword up and caught the round on the blade, deflecting it to the side as she jumped up on a table, then out into the air, coming down at him with a lethal chop. Ravager held up his gun and blocked the blade, and Rose got right up in his face, "Give up, Wade. I can see your moves before you even make them."
"I know." Ravager pressed down on her, trying to aim the gun at her skull, "So keeping you close is the best way to kill you."
Rose let go of the sword and grabbed the gun. Flipping the safety on, she quickly pumped it three times, ejecting the last few shells that remained in it.
"Clever." Ravager wrapped a leg around hers and shoved back, knocking her to the floor. Rose grunted as she hit the ground, but reached behind her hand yanked out her gun as she did. Aiming it up at him, her eyes went wide.
Ravager had retrieved her sword and he swung it at her hand as she pointed the gun. She only got one shot off that went wild before he sliced the weapon clean in half, skinning her knuckles as he did. Rose back pealed, then flipped over on her hands and up off the ground, landing on a table.
Just as soon as she landed, she jumped again. Ravager was there a half second later, and he chopped the table in half. Rose landed in a crouch and glared up at him.
"This looks like one of my brother's collection... you haven't been stealing from your daddy now, have you Rose?"
"It was a gift. Wintergreen brought it to me when he got me out of the orphanage you put me in when you killed my foster parents."
"Hmm." Ravager looked at the blade, "The first Ravager used a sword a lot like this one. I think I'll keep it. Doesn't it just irk you to no end that I used your dead brother's name, and now his fighting style too?" His face was covered so Rose couldn't see it, but she was sure he was smirking.
"I never even knew Grant. Or Joey." Rose scowled, "Dad never let us see each other."
"Is that bitterness I hear in your voice?" Ravager walked towards her slowly, "Do you hate your father just as much as I do?"
"No." Rose stood up, "No one hates Deathstroke as much as his little brother. You're such a third stringer... hell you're a fourth stringer. If someone can't afford Dad, they call Merlyn. If they can't afford him, then call Deadshot. If they can't afford Deadshot, then they call you." she smiled in a nasty manner.
"I'm still good enough to kill you, Rosie." Ravager darted in and sung at her again, and she dodged to the side. He lashed out with a kick and slammed her back across another table. She rolled off of it as he chopped through that one as well, then kicked her full on in the face.
Rose stumbled back, then fell down the hallway that led to the bathrooms. Rolling backwards, she came up on her feet in time to catch his shoulder as he charged into her, slamming her the rest of the way down the hall, and through the door that led into the maintenance closet.
"Ow..." she gasped as she lay amongst the splinters of the door and the smashed cleaning supplies. Ravager was charging her again, the sword up above his head, ready to end her life.
Dazed, she reached behind her and grabbed for something... anything that she could used to deflect the blow. Her hands landed on two hilts, and she yanked out two long daggers. Crossing them in front of herself, she caught the slash and kicked out with both feet, slamming Ravager back out into the hall.
Quickly getting up, she glanced at the daggers and saw they were Damascus blades. Arching an eyebrow, she smiled, "Don't know where they hell these came from, but... nice."
Ravager was back on his feet as well, and he was ready for her as she came at him again, this time with spinning daggers and a deadly glint in her eye.
Speedy crept along silently, arrow strung and pulled taunt. As he moved away from the admin building, he sighted around for any hiding spots. A nearby tree looked like the only viable one, so it was most likely that Merlyn was there.
Breaking into a sudden sprint, he dashed a full revolution around the tree, then pointed his arrow straight up into the branches. Seeing nothing, he backed against the trunk, cursing under his breath for giving his position away so easily for a false lead.
Having trained around bows since he was just a small boy, Speedy was very aware of the sound of a speeding arrow. He ducked suddenly as another barbed tipped projectile buried its self in the tree where his head had just been. Cursing out loud this time, he followed the arrows trajectory and saw Merlyn changing position from one of the bushes that lined the path that led back towards Westpost Hall.
Breaking into a sprint again, Speedy started drawing and firing as he ran. Merlyn picked up the same tactic, and soon the air was full of explosive arrows, freezer arrows, and deadly sharp arrows.
Both archers knew their game wasn't going to last, so they closed the distance between them quickly. Then began a dance of close quarters bow combat.
Speedy fired an explosive into the ground, kicking up dirt and dust to obscure vision. Merlyn fired a tazer arrow that Speedy ducked and came back from with a sharp head aimed at the evil archers knee. That arrow was sidestepped, and as the dust began to clear, Merlyn drew an explosive of his own and fired it right at Speedy's feet.
More dirt and dust flew into the air, and the younger man was hurled back and to the ground. Rolling up, he dodged to the side just in time to avoid Merlyn coming out of the dust cloud with one of his sharper arrows in his left hand. The stab missed Speedy's throat, and caught him in the shoulder instead. He fell back and Merlyn pinned him with his slightly larger body.
"Got you, punk." the black archer dug the arrow in deeper and Speedy winced.
"Name calling... real professional."
"If the shoe fits, Speedy."
"I have a better name for myself." Speedy grinned up at Merlyn through a pain stressed face.
"Really? What's that?"
"Bait."
Merlyn paled as the area around them suddenly turned black as night. From the pools of darkness rose a blue cloaked demon with four red eyes burning form inside her drawn hood. Raven's cloak billowed out and covered the dark archer, who screamed as he was sucked away into her soul self.
"You shouldn't have threatened my friends." Raven's voice was dark, and rumbled with a hint of Trigon. "You. Will. Pay."
"MAKE IT STOP!" Merlyn's voice echoed from inside the folds of Raven's cloak, "PLEASE! NOOOOO!"
Speedy stood up and yanked the arrow out of his shoulder with a wince. As Merlyn's screams continued to grow fainter and fainter, he stood and watched his girlfriend slowly become herself again.
"I think that's enough." he said quietly.
Raven nodded and backed away, revealing a shivering Merlyn, his bow shattered and his arrows missing. He lay on the ground in the fetal position, eyes wide and brow wet with cold sweat.
"God damn, Rae... what'd you do to him?"
"Nothing more than what he deserved. We may not be able to kill these bastards, but we can leave them in a psychiatric ward for the rest of their lives with a clear conscious."
Speedy just nodded, "Whatever gets the job done. Now come on, we still have work to do."
Deadshot looked down as the petite form of Ami stepped up to him. Her belly was still bare, and she'd shortened her skirt by almost a foot from ripping bandages off of it. Her feet were bare, and without her heals she barely came up to his chest.
And she stared him right in the eye when she spoke, with a glare that could kill people.
"Becka Pullman isn't available just now. If you try back in a few hours, we might be able to arrange a meeting."
Spunky red heads were a favorite of Deadshot's, and this one looked to be about as spunky as they came. If he hadn't been working, he might have hit on her, even if she was young. Still, he had to admit she had more balls than all of the guys in the room put together.
"You got guts, kid." CLACK! He aimed his arm gun at her bare belly, "But you don't really deserve the glory of fighting with me. Simply solution? No guts, no glory."
BLAM! Ami dodged to the side before he even fired, and ducked in closer to him. The floor where she'd been standing blew apart into bits of wood, and she winced as she got splinters in the backs of her legs.
He was fast, and really, really strong. She could tell by the way he moved. Her experience with the street fighters had taught her a lesson though, and she was ready when he moved quickly enough to have his gun trained on her again. Shoving out her hands, she pushed the shot up towards the cieling, blowing out one of the lights and sending sparks raining down on them.
"This little toy of yours isn't very fair!" Ami spun around so her back was to him, and hugged the gun assembly he wore on his arm, "Let's even things up a bit!"
She yanked with all her might, pulling the gun down towards the ground, being sure to keep her legs and feet out of the way. He fired twice, and her arm was burned as the shells ejected from the side of the weapon. Gritting her teeth, she pulled harder, and felt several muscles in her arms and shoulders rip.
With a scream, she yanked the gun off of his arm.
Deadshot was surprised to say the least, but reacted quickly by slamming a metal clad fist into her face, sending her sprawling and splattering her blood across the floor. She rolled out of the fall, but came up dizzy and disoriented. Deadshot pressed his advantage.
A quick dash forward and he kneed her in the stomach. He followed with a downward chop to the back of her head, slamming her back to the ground again. Nudging her prone form with his foot, Deadshot growled and reached into one of the holsters on the back of his belt. Pulling out a 9mm GLOCK, he pointed it at the nearest person.
Which happened to be Maggie, still clutching Greg to her chest.
"Becka Pullman. Step forward now, or this girl dies."
A voice rang out "Okay! Fine!" Two girls came stumbling out of the crowd, the slightly taller darker haired one in the shimmery blue dress trying to hold the other girl, who wore a baby blue gown and had brown hair, back.
They struggled for a moment, then the brown haired girl who he now recognized as Becka Pullman shoved her friend away, "Get off Janice!" she said, and walked forward quickly. She stopped in front of Deadshot and looked up at him, "I'm here. Just stop... don't hurt anyone else."
"Fine." he aimed the gun at the middle of her head, "You're brave for doing this. I'll let you die on your feet."
"Hey!" Under his mask, Deadshot's eye twitched. Turning and looking over his shoulder he saw the red head back on her feet. She was slumped forward a little, and slurred her words as she talked, blood dribbling down her chin, "You don' get ta' cap heer 'till we go anuthher round, ass wipe..."
"For the love of God." Deadshot tucked his gun back in the holster and charged Ami. "You're going down for good this time!"
"Don think so." Ami grinned as she fell forward and ducked, covering her head.
From behind her, Robin came soaring out of the darkness, and slammed his foot into Deadshot's face, shattering the aiming device that covered his right eye. The assassin fell back with a grunt, but rolled back up quickly, pulling the gun as he did.
"Everyone get down!" Robin shouted, and dodged the bullet as Deadshot fired. He dashed in close faster than Deadshot could react and kicked the gun away. Blocking the assassin's clumsy defensive punch, Robin scowled, "You're pathetic, you know that Lawton?"
"That's Deadshot, you snot nosed punk!"
"Floyd Lawton! Age 31! Never married, no kids. You've served three times on the Suicide Squad, but you've always come back alive." Robin blocked another punch, then kicked his opponent in the knee, knocking him to the ground, "Wanted for at least thirty-seven counts of murder, with several more suspected." Grabbing the metal mask Deadshot wore, Robin yanked it off, "You're going down, Floyd."
Deadshot's hand suddenly shot up, and he had a snub nosed .38 he kept as a holdout strapped to his leg pointed at Robin's nose, "Yeah?"
The gun was blasted from his hand by a green flash of light, and Starfire floated down, her eyes glowing and another starbolt charged on her hand and aimed at him head.
"Yeah." Robin replied in a grim tone, and slugged him in the temple. Deadshot went down without a sound.
Robin turned to Becka, "That was very brave of you." she smiled weakly as he grinned, "Never do it again."
"Right."
Janice was there then and hugging her friend, "Don't scare me like that! Holy shit! Ami!" and she dashed over to where the red head was trying to sit up, "Are you okay?"
"Do I look okay?"
Starfire floated over, "I have contacted the police. They are already here, and are rounding up the few remaining gunmen and sword wielding warriors still roaming the grounds."
"Good." Robin raised his voice, "Everyone! Stay calm! Help will be here shortly!"
An ambulance pulled up in front of the Westmarch Apartment building and two EMT's jumped out.
"Get the stretcher." the taller of the two said.
"On it. Do we even know what apartment this is?"
"No, but the report called in multiple gunshot wounds. Someone inside will know where to direct us."
"How many is multiple?"
"Four from what I hear. One in the chest."
"Damn."
"Yeah."
The wall that surrounded the school across from the apartment complex exploded out and both EMT's jumped and almost dropped the cot they were pulling from the back of the ambulance. As the dust cleared, the hulking form of Cyborg came striding towards them, his arms covered in blood, which was leaking from the wounds of the blonde haired girl he carried in his arms, "Don't just stand there!" he ordered, "This is your case!"
"Holy shit." the shorter one stated, and pulled the cot down the rest of the way. As Cy laid Jinx down on it, the two men checked her over quickly and then started to work. She looked up at him, remarkably still conscious, and whispered, "Go on. They need you."
"I'll be by the hospital as soon as this is over, Jenny." he gripped her hand briefly, then turned to the paramedic, "Save her man."
"We'll do our best, Sir."
"Please." The EMT looked up and saw the strain on the metal Titans face and his resolve doubled.
"Count on it. We've got her now."
Cyborg nodded, then turned and ran back through the hole he'd made in the wall.
Hanna and Ginger were backed all the way to the edge of the roof on Westpost Hall. They were staring over at the sniper who had scaled the building, who had his SMG trained on them, and an evil grin on his face.
"Come back over here. You two are my ticket out of this place, and out into freedom."
"Go to hell." Hanna spat.
"Uh, Hanna? Maybe we should just listen to him?" Ginger glanced behind herself and looked away from the three story fall quickly, "It's a long way down this way."
"I wont be helpless again. Not to this fuck, and not to any man, ever again." Hanna brandished her sword, "I'll knock both of us off this roof before I let him take us."
The man pointed his gun at her head, "Then you die, and I use her."
Hanna tensed, and prepared to jump off the building. She paused when a shadow appeared over the gunman. He looked up and his eyes grew wide.
A four hundred pound green mountain gorilla slammed down into him from where it had been a falcon just moments before. The man hit the roof and moaned, but didn't stir.
Beast Boy became himself again, "Heh. Got the saving bit right this time, huh?"
He was bowled off his feet as Hanna threw herself into his arms. She pressed her lips to his, then burst into tears.
"Hey... shhh..." Beast Boy kissed her cheek, then her forehead, then hugged her close, "I'm here now. It's okay."
Ginger limped over and looked on in awe as Beast Boy sat up and cradled Hanna to him, letting her cry into his neck. The blonde haired girl he held sobbed and choked out words, "Oh Gar... I was so scared... but I tried to stand up for myself... I tried..."
"You did a great job, Hanna. You stared that guy down, and I could see you were ready to jump. Robin is barely that brave."
"You... know him?" Ginger looked a little flabbergasted, "How do you know all these people?"
"Through me." Ginger whirled around in time to see Raven materialize from the form of a dark bird of prey. The black haired Titan had her hood pulled down, and she glared.
"Cassie?" Ginger fell back to her rear.
"No." She pointed at herself, "Raven."
"Holy shit."
"Actually, it's pretty unholy." Raven walked over to Beast Boy and Hanna, "How is she?"
"She's fine." Beast Boy replied, "She's one hardcore bitch, I can tell you that." Hanna giggled through her tears, and held on to him tighter.
"Good." Raven turned to Ginger, "You're wounded."
"Yeah. I got shot trying to help Hanna take out one of those gun toting creeps."
Raven blinked, "I see. My opinion of you has just gone up slightly. I'll take you to the medics. Garfield?"
"Yeah?"
"Get Hanna to the gym. Becka and Janice are still there."
"What's the situation down there?"
"We're cleaning up. Have you seen Rose or Troia? Both are still MIA."
Hanna looked up, "Rose is off fighting some guy called the Ravager, and Donna went to see if she could help."
"Where?" Raven asked, pulling out her communicator.
"The cafeteria."
Flipping open the device, Raven spoke into it, "Robin. Rose is at the cafeteria, and Troia should be there too."
"I'm on my way there then."
"Be careful. There may be a hostile around as well."
"Noted. Have you found Beast Boy?"
"He's here with Hanna. You can tell Becka and Janice to rest easy."
"They heard. Robin out."
Raven snapped her T-Comp shut, then turned to Ginger as Beast Boy helped Hanna to her feet, "Come on. Let's get you patched up."
Ravager blocked another dagger swipe, then swung the sword around and slapped one of the blades from Rose's hand. She came in at him with the other one and he was force to fall back to gain the advantage of the broadsword's greater reach again.
"Give it up, Rose. I'm just a better fighter than you."
"I don't think so." Rose scowled, "We've been at this for almost ten minutes now, and I seem to be forcing your retreat."
"Shame you didn't see this one coming then." Ravager sounded amused as he swung the sword up and cut down a large sash that was attached to the wall as decoration for the dinner that night. The heavy cloth fell down on Rose and she slashed through it quickly. By the time she'd freed herself though, he was already on her.
The other dagger was slapped from her hand with the flat of the blade, then he had the tip of her own sword pressed against her throat. "I've waited a long time to take one of my brother's kids away from him... too bad for you you're easier to find than Jericho."
A shout drew their attention away and Troia came flying across the room. Ravager swung the sword around at her, but she deflected the blade with her silver gauntlets. Grabbing hold of him, the dark haired heroin hurled him across the room, "All yours, Vic."
Cyborg was standing in the path of the flying man, and used both of his hands to slam him in a different direction and into the wall, which caved halfway in when he hit it. Ravager moaned and tried to pull himself out of the small hole.
"Damnit!" Rose struggled to her feet and walked to where he had dropped her sword. Picking it up, she glared at the two heroes, "I would have been fine. This is my fight. Go away."
"We can't let you kill him." Troia stepped in front of her, "And I'm betting you'll have a harder time fighting me than you had fighting him."
"We'll see." Rose lifted to sword.
"Okay... lets all just calm down now, and-" Cyborg didn't get the rest of his sentence out. A metal disk slid into the room in the middle of all of them, and exploded out into a burst of yellow smoke.
Cy checked the read out on his arm display and his human eye grew wide, "I'm getting high levels of Halothane! Everyone hold... your... breath..."
Rose dropped her sword as she fell to the ground, and Troia collapsed a second latter. Cyborg staggered forward, but he too fell to the knock-out gas with a resounding crash.
A dark figure wearing a gas mask walked through the yellow smoke, and stopped next to Rose. Leaning down, it picked up the sword and slid it into a sheath on it's back, where the blade fit perfectly. Lifting Rose from the ground next, the figure slung her over it's shoulder, then moved over to Ravager.
It seemed to consider something for a moment, then lifted him off the ground as well.
Robin dashed across the grounds of the school, but slowed to a stop when he saw the gas pouring from inside the cafeteria. As he watched, a dark figure carrying two other forms stepped out of the building. It looked over at him, and one eye glinted from the nearby lamp that lit the path.
"I wish I could stay and talk, Robin, but I have things to do." The Boy Wonder narrowed his eyes at the dark man, "Another time, perhaps."
"If you've hurt any of my team, Slade-"
"They're fine, Robin. Now, I really must be going." And he turned and dashed off into the darkness, vanishing before Robin could follow.
With a grim look on his face, Robin pulled a re-breather out of his belt and put it in his mouth. He dashed into the building to see if his arch enemy had been telling him the truth.
Becka walked through the small army of medics and police officers, and straight to where her boyfriend was sitting, getting his arm wrapped up. "Hey." she said as she came up to him.
Chad looked at her, and his face fell, "Becka... I..."
"What's wrong?" she took another step forward and he frowned at her.
"I... I'm sorry."
"For what? Chad, what's-"
"I can't do this."
Becka paled, "What?"
"This whole thing... I don't want to die, Becka. I like you... I really do, but-" he winced as the medic clipped the temporary bandage shut, "I just... I'm sorry. I can't see you anymore."
With that, he turned and crawled into the ambulance he was sitting on the back off. The medic closed the doors, nodded to Becka with a solemn look on his face, and walked to the drivers side.
As the vehicle drove off, Becka stood stock still, tears streaming down her face.
Speedy leaned over Cyborg's shoulder as the robotic Titan sat in the T-Car. They were staring at a computer screen as Cy typed away.
"So... you found it, right?" the archer asked.
"Yeah. The searches I had going finally traced the path of the bounty posting back to Sivana Industries. They've always been a bit shady, but this is big even for them. Their assets have already been frozen, and a Federal strike team from the FBI already raided their HQ upstate."
"Sweet. So the mission is over."
"Yeah. The Senator better be happy. A lot of kids died tonight."
"Because we didn't act fast enough." Robin walked over and stood next to Speedy, "We got pantsed."
"We were hit by surprise by highly trained killers, Robin." Speedy rolled his eyes, "We're lucky to be alive."
"Yeah, well those kids that are being carted to the morgue right now weren't so lucky, were they?"
"Dick..." Speedy rubbed his eyes.
"Come on, Robbie." Cy stood up out of the car, "I know we screwed up. And people died. But we saved tons more."
"Doesn't make it right." Robin shook his head, "I'm headed back to the Tower. I need to start my report."
As he walked away, Speedy rubbed the back of his head, "He'll never change."
"Let's hope not." Cyborg replied, and looked down at his friend. Speedy looked back up for a moment, then sighed, "Yeah."
Raven stood with Janice, Hanna and Beast Boy as they crowded around the cot Ami was reclining on, "I can't believe you disarmed Deadshot." Raven shook her head.
Ami winced as she tried to laugh, "He broke three of my ribs, if it makes it any more believable."
"Only kinda." Hanna waved a hand from side to side.
Janice leaned down and kissed Ami's forehead, "You're the bravest person I've ever known, Amelia."
"Thanks." Ami held her best friends hand and looked past her. She frowned, "Hey... Becka, what's wrong?"
Becka had walked up behind them, and sniffled as they all turned to see her. She wiped the tears from her eyes, and shook her head, "Don't worry about it. I'll tell you later." Raven stepped next to her and touched her arm. Becka saw the knowing look in her eyes and smiled a watery smile. "It's okay, Cassie."
"We'll talk later." Raven said, and turned back to the group at large, "Ami has to get going to the hospital now. Cyborg is on his way over to see Jinx soon, so if anyone wants a ride, he can take you."
"I think we'll all be going." Hanna leaned against Beast Boy, "Wonder if they'll have any extra beds..."
"You're getting a full once over when we get there." Raven told her firmly, "You're pregnant, Hanna. Stress like this can do bad things to babies."
The blonde sighed a long suffering sigh, "Fine... I guess I'll have to get used to being treated like I'm made of glass."
They all chuckled (except Ami, who just winced as she tried) and let the medic take Ami away. As they walked towards the T-Car, Janice poked Raven in the side, "So... now that you're done serving and protecting Becka... what's up with you and Speedy?"
"I think we're going to try for a relationship." Raven blushed lightly, "He might even move out here."
"That's be cool." Beast Boy nodded with a grin, "Someone else I can thrash in Super Monkey Ninja Battle Seven."
"Please," Hanna pinched his side, "don't mention ninjas."
Robin sat at the main computer, typing away at his after-action report. He hit the keys a little harder than he really needed to, and scowled every time he had to write the word 'casualty.'
He was so absorbed in his work that he didn't sense the presence behind him until two hands rested on his shoulders. Robin jumped a little and looked up. His face relaxed when he saw his girlfriend floating above him, "Hey Kori. You surprised me."
"Richard... you did the best you could."
He sighed and peeled off his mask. Looking back up at her with naked blue eyes, he frowned, "There's always more, Kori. We could have done more."
"At great personal cost." she frowned at him, "Richard, those young men and woman who died... they were innocent victims. Innocent, but still victims. You did not pull the trigger."
Sighing again, Robin looked back at his report. After a moment, the doors to the room opened, and Donna flew in. She looked upset, but when she saw the two of them, she calmed down. "Oh good. I was coming here to beat some sense into him, but I see you've got things well in hand, Kori."
"I do. Thank you for your concern though, Donna."
"Yeah, yeah." Donna smiled a little, "Carry on."
"Donna!" Robin stood up and smiled at Starfire, then turned back to the dark haired girl as she paused at the door that lead out of the room.
"Yeah?"
"Even if we dropped the ball out there, one undeniably good thing did come of this mission." He walked over to her.
"What's that?" she arched an eyebrow.
"The Titans gained a great new member." and he handed her a shiny new T-Comp, "It's got all the full functions your temporary one didn't have."
Donna stared at it for a moment, then took it from his with a grin, "Alright. I accept."
"Oh, joyous!" Starfire flew across the room and hugged them both together, "I am most elated that you will be joining us here at the Tower, Friend Donna!"
"Star!" Robin choked out as Donna gagged, "Can't... breath!"
Somewhere, in a dark room, Rose woke up. She stayed perfectly still until she became aware of another two people breathing in the room with her. After a moment, she opened her eyes and looked around.
She couldn't make out much detail, but what she did see right away was a man with a white head of hair and a neatly trimmed beard to match it. His right eye was covered by a patch, and he wore a light smile on his face. "Hello, Rose."
"Dad?" she sat up and winced. With the adrenalin out of her system, she was starting to feel her minor injuries, "Where are we?"
"A safe house of mine in Jump. I didn't want to move you too far." he turned and looked across the room, "That and we had some extra baggage."
Rose followed her father's gaze and saw the Ravager, his mask removed, tied to a chair under a lamp on the far side of the room. He was slowly coming awake.
"Wha... where am I?"
"In the one spot you never wanted to be in, Wade."
Wade's eyes shot over and grew wide when he saw the two Wilsons, "Slade! What are you-"
"Shut up, Wade." Slade snapped, then turned back to his daughter, "Rose... I've never been a good father to you... to any of my children. Joey is lost to me now, Grant is dead..." he looked away, "You're all I have left."
"I don't understand." Rose shook her head, "What are you saying Dad?"
"That I want to start making it up to you. I want to train you, Rose. I want you to work with me."
"What?" Rose's eyes widened, "I... Dad, I can't, I'm not an assassin!"
"Neither am I." Slade reached out and handed her a handgun, "We can erase the memory of the Ravager's, Rose, and start their legacy over with you... we can be a family."
"I..." Rose stared at the firearm, then up at Slade, "I don't know what to... I..." she looked back to Wade, and her eyes suddenly grew cold, "I... can't."
Slade's eyes widened, "Rose, please-"
"I can't use the gun. Give me your sword."
Slade looked surprised for a moment, then set the gun aside. He drew the sword from his back and handed it to her.
"Good." she started to walk over to Wade, "I want this to go slow."
"No... Rose, I'm you uncle!" Wade's eyes grew wide with fear, "Rose! ROSE!"
Janice, Hanna and Becka were all seated in the back of the T-Car as Cyborg drove to the hospital. Speedy sat in the front seat, and Beast Boy and Raven both flew ahead of them. They chatted quietly for a few minutes, then Hanna spoke up, "So... what ever happened to Rose?"
Speedy looked over at Cyborg, who didn't look away from the road. "Someone came and took her and the Ravager. Used gas to knock out Donna and me, then scooped them up and left."
"So... they just knocked you out and took off? Why'd they only take those two?" Becka looked curious, "Do you have any idea who it was?"
"Yeah." Cyborg glanced at Speedy, "I think that's pretty obvious."
In the darkness of Slade's safe house, Rose stood in her father's embrace. Slade held her close to his chest, and smiled over her head at the still form of his half brother.
They stood in silence, the only sound in the room coming from the blood dripping off the tip of the sword that protruded from Wade's back.
"I just want to be loved..." Rose murmured.
"I do love you Rose." Slade held her tighter, "And we're a family now. Now... and forever."
Closing notes: All loose ends tied up in the Epilog. Keep reading!