When Robin makes a mistake, one of our team-mates gets kidnapped or a particular villain beats us several times Robin becomes obsessed. Scary obsessed. Once he became Red X just to get a chance to take out Slade. Thankfully nothing like this has happened since, but we've had a few close calls…
: T : T : T : T :
Previously: A face appeared onscreen, glasses and outrageously red hair. "Alright my duckies!" Mad Mod in the flesh… or possibly a hologram. He pulled back from the screen, bizarrely he was wearing an English Royal Navy's officer suit. "You Americans won't join the British Empire peacefully? Then I'll just have to take it by force!"
The screen went blank.
"What was that about?"
We looked at each other. Robin began shouting orders. "Cyborg, find out what he's planning, Star, B.B. and Raven search the city for signs of anything amiss. Void, get ready for a stealth mission. You're with me."
Starfire, Beast Boy and Raven immediately flew for the windows. Cyborg moved over to the super-computer and started to type away. Bringing up different cameras around the city, we quickly discovered the insane Brit. was not publicly in the city.
"Void, when we find Mad Mod, we're going to try to sneak up on him before he tries anything to threaten the city, ok?"
"Gotcha."
: T : T : T : T :
Starfire flew over the city in search of any sign of Mad Mod's presence.
In a different part of the city a green hawk cast its eyes over building after building.
Another part of the city and Raven searched, fruitlessly like the other two Titans.
: T : T : T : T :
Through a partially opened window a bulky rifle aimed at a flying Titan above. Robotic eyes targeted, taking a few seconds to calibrate for movement and wind speed. Robotic joints tightened the grip onto the trigger, ready to fire. … waiting for conformation …
: T : T : T : T :
Cyborg typed away at his keyboard, searching amongst the airwaves for any trace of Mad Mod. Meanwhile Robin was briefing me on Mad Mod.
"Watch out for hypno-screens, they are one of Mad Mod's greatest weapons, they're pretty much what they sound like. Screens and they hypnotize you. Best way to get past them is simply to blow them up. His robotic henchmen are pretty tough too although your suit should make short work of them."
Cyborg frowned for a second, as three simultaneous messages were sent to separate parts in the city. Tapping furiously he tried to trace the transmission, but didn't manage to get anywhere.
Trying a different tactic he followed where the messages were headed. He frowned again and checked where our three Titan scouts were.
: T : T : T : T :
BANG! Receiving the conformation message, all three robotic soldiers fired. At the last second Beast Boy morphed into a humming bird and dived, having seen something on the floor. A net flew high over his head.
Ignoring the cat he had seen stuck in a tree Beast Boy morphed into a pterodactyl and flew at the assailant. CH-TUNG! The robot had reloaded and took aim once again.
SMASH! Beast Boy crashed through the window right into the mechanical soldier. Morphing into a bear he took a swipe at the robot, making a hole in it's London guard uniform. He morphed into a tiger reared above the robot… CRUNCH!
The robot's head came apart in the green feline's jaws.
Beast Boy leapt up, as his green self and radioed back to the Tower.
: T : T : T : T :
"It's Mad Mod alright, got attacked by one of his soldiers just now," his voice took on a arrogant tone, "Naturally, I dodged it's first attack and took it apart in seconds, no need to worry about me . Heh heh! I guess I'll see what I can find here to bring back to the base, I bet we'll be able to find everything about him, and it'll all be down to me. Heh… I bet all the chicks will be wanting my autograph or my paw-print. Hmmm… I wonder which will be the best? I mean obviously a lion is pretty impressive, but it might not fit on the paper, I guess I should maybe just have a different one depending on the size of paper, although… hey dudes are you even listening? Dudes? DUDES?"
None of us were listening. We were all watching the main screen, which up until now had been showing a map of the city with Starfire, Raven and B.B. being represented by flashing dots.
Two of the dots had disappeared.
This meant that the communicators, which all Titans have with them at all times, were either off or destroyed.
Robin reacted fast, "Void, go to where Raven last was, I'll find Star. Cy, get Beast Boy to bring back the remains of the robot." He said this as he ran towards the exit, and his R-cycle.
I flew as fast as I could out of the window.
Beast Boy had continued on, oblivious. "-on the rest of 'em is what I say, isn't that right guys? … Guys?"
: T : T : T : T :
Robin roared down the streets towards where Starfire had last been. He kept checking a screen in front of him, which displayed a map. He checked the speedometer and with a snarl went even faster.
: T : T : T : T :
I flew above the city, pushing my suit to its limits. I checked my communicator, which was currently displaying a map. Raven was supposed to be around here somewhere. I was above the warehouse district. Pretty typical place for super-villain base of operations.
I went directly down, towards where Raven was last positioned. There were definitely signs of a struggle, a scratch along the side of one of the warehouses, a sign of Raven having used her telekinesis.
On closer inspection there was a small plate of red metal. I picked it up and placed it in a bag. It probably wouldn't help that much but we might be able to tell if it was definitely Mod's robots that had attacked her.
: T : T : T : T :
When I returned to the Tower I found Cyborg and Beast Boy both checking over the robot. The Boy Wonder was nowhere to be found. On the main screen, the map was still there, with Robin's location flashing away, still near to where Star had been taken.
Outside it began to pelt the Tower with rain.
The screen displayed INCOMING TRANSMISSION.
"Looks like I have to teach you kiddies a little lesson in respect!" Mad Mod, still in his British Navy uniform. "You shouldn't be tryin' to find me, soon enough I'll be comin' to you! Oh, and if you do try and find me, you're little mates 'ere won't last long!" The camera panned over to Raven and Starfire, who were tied up, and apparently tranquilised. "Goodbye!" the screen went back to the map.
Beast Boy turned to Cyborg for orders. The space next to him was empty as Cyborg had already moved over to the supercomputer and started to find where Mad Mod was hiding.
: T : T : T : T :
Robin finally gave up looking for his missing friend and returned to the Tower. Soaked through he still managed to help Cyborg trace Mad Mod's transmission.
After a few minutes work he decided Cyborg would do just as good a job by himself. Still wet from being outside before he went back to search the streets. "B.B., Void, wait here with Cy, so we can strike quickly if either of us finds anything." And with a swish of his cape he was gone.
After perhaps 10 minutes, Cyborg came up with a rough location for the transmission. A high amount of electricity also implied Mad Mod's presence there. After radioing Robin we set off.
: T : T : T : T :
Raven's eyes opened slowly, to the horrible visage of Mad Mod. Yellow, wonky teeth grinned at her. She looked around her to see herself in a wooden chair, similar to the ones they had been in last time Mad Mod had captured them.
"Good Morning chum!" Mad Mod spun his walking stick, the ruby in it's end reflecting the light in red flickering strobes. "Look who's in the hot seat once again! Don't you damsel's in distress learn? You can't beat old Moddy!"
Raven's eyes turned grey. "If memory serves 'Moddy' we beat you both times we fought you. And I am not a damsel in distress!" With this, black telekinesis enveloped the chair tearing it to pieces.
"…Shit."
Raven rose up into the air. A robot guard marched over, but Raven merely sent a lash of telekinesis at the automaton's neck and its head crashed to the ground.
"Ah well!" Mad Mod stopped twirling his stick and pressed a button on its ruby end. The hologram of him disappeared.
Raven took stock of her surroundings. She was in a grey room with only one exit, the walls were blank and there was little else in the room, practically nothing to use as a weapon. As she had no idea where she was, she couldn't use her powers to transport herself elsewhere.
The doors burst open and a dozen or so of Mad Mod's soldiers tried to walk in to the room. Raven used her powers to shut the doors with a flick of her hand. She then reinforced them with a shield of obsidian.
She looked around the room, Starfire was snoozing next to her, and there were a few windows high on the room's walls. Choosing these as her exit she made a quick plan.
She turned to Starfire, waved her arms, breaking the bonds holding the alien girl. Kneeling down in front of the girl Raven tried to wake her. However, Starfire merely leant forward and enfolded Raven with a hug, mumbling. "…yes, I would enjoy a hug Robin…"
Raven tried to shake her off but to no avail. "Star? Time to wake up… We have to leave here now." And then added, "And I'm not Robin."
The doors at the end of the room broke under sustained fire from the robot soldiers, now only Raven's magic was holding them back. "Starfire! Wake up and get off me!"
Starfire's eyes opened wearily, and then suddenly widened as she realised that she was hugging Raven. "Apologies friend Raven! I was dreaming about Ro- Not that it matters… where are we?" Spying the robots at the end of the room she charged up two starbolts, her eyes growing green.
Raven started to frown as the barrage against her barrier reached a crescendo. "Star, we have to get out of here now!" As they began to fly towards the windows the robots broke through the magical barrier.
CR-CR-CRACK!
Twelve shots were fired towards them. Raven telekinetically dragged a table in front of them, blocking the shots. More androids marched into the room, bringing their long guns from their shoulders and took aim.
"We must fight our way out!"
"There are too many Star."
Starfire powered up her starbolts, her eyes glowing green. "You depart for the windows, I will hold them back." The table began to crumble under the bombardment from the robots.
"We'll fight th-" Above them one of the windows smashed inwards, as a roaring red bike broke through it.
Snarling, the Boy Wonder leapt off his bike letting fly several bird-a-rangs. BOOM! Robin earned his title as several of the robots exploded as the projectiles hit weak points in their armour.
"Robin!" Following their leader's example Raven and Starfire leapt up to join the counter-attack.
Starfire flung green orbs, managing to destroy a mechanical warrior as well as helping to confuse their sensors.
Raven split her time between blocking shots and lashing out with tendrils of darkness.
Robin fought like a monster, bringing down robot after robot with projectiles.
However, the numbers of soldiers were too great and eventually the three Titans were forced into a corner, dodging when possible and blocking when it wasn't.
Eventually the fusillade of shots stopped, and Mad Mod's minions took up a firing line.
Robin, Starfire and Raven took up defensive positions ready to make a last stand.
Robin whipped out his bo-staff, "On my signal… Ti-"
"Titans! Go!" PHHWIIIIISH! A sonic blast demolished a few of the mechanical soldiers as they were all thrown up into the air. The rest of the Titans had arrived.
I opened a black hole under some of the robots and Beast Boy flew in and threw a couple more into the void.
As the remaining robots climbed unsteadily to their feet, the Titans ran in to finish them off. Starfire swooped in with a green encased fist too demolish their skulls.
Robin tripped over two and then with two deft movements of his bo-staff incapacitated them.
B.B. morphed into a gorilla, beat his chest, roaring and smashed two heads together.
I opened a hole behind a couple of the robots and flying kicked them so they stumbled backwards into it.
Raven used telekinesis to mash several of the machines into a puree of metal and plastic.
Finally, with a "BOO-YAH!" Cyborg stomped on the head of the android he had just felled.
Panting, we came together. Starfire immediately swooped over and enveloped Robin in a rib-crushing hug. When he had caught his breath he addressed us. "Good work, Titans. Now we just have to find where Mad Mod is really hiding."
Exhausted and yet triumphant me and the Titans made our way back to the Tower. As it was still raining, I decided to take the T-car, as did Raven and Beast Boy. Starfire, unwilling to let go of Robin clung to him on his R-Cycle.
: T : T : T : T :
When we returned to the Tower, Cyborg immediately went back to his computer unit, to continue his search for Mad Mod. Robin went to the map to think about where Mod might be hiding.
Suddenly, Cyborg stood up. "I know what Mod will be going after! The local signal booster for the city would be an easy way to transmit his hypno signal to all TV screens in the area." A location on the map was circled, presumably the signal booster. "But I've also found two locations for where Mad Mod himself might be hiding. One will probably be a decoy, like where Rae and Star were being held."
Robin considered this for a couple of seconds, closing his eyes he obviously came to a decision he didn't want to make. "We'll have to split into three teams. So we can tackle Mad Mod on all fronts." He paused, considering the best way to put the Titans into teams. "Cyborg and Star, you look after the signal booster. Rae and B.B. go after one of the possible Mod locations. Me and the newbie will go after the other."
"…Void…" I muttered.
"What was that noobie?" Beast Boy smirked, enjoying his role as a veteran.
"Forget it."
"Titans GO!" Robin shouted, and we all went for the separate targets.
: T : T : T : T :
I soared through the streets with Robin on his R-cycle below me. Above the roar of his engine Robin prepped me on what the mission should entail.
"… then we sneak in, take out Mod, hopefully without too much hassle. Mod is a tough one to beat, although once you find something he hasn't taken into account then it's generally quite simple to take him down."
And we roared onwards towards the Bay.
: T : T : T : T :
The T-car came to a skidding stop next to a tall metal tower, at random intervals a satellite dish or aerial would stick out into the night. The tower looked similar to a smaller version of the Eiffel tower, one difference being that the only way up was a ladder, or by climbing rung to rung.
Cyborg and Starfire climbed out of the T-car. Cyborg looked at the ladder and then at the dish at the top of the tower. He started to walk towards the tower, but Starfire grabbed him under his arms and flew upwards.
: T : T : T : T :
"…why did I get paired with you?" Beast Boy had cracked another joke and was already getting on Raven's nerves.
"Because Robin didn't want Starfire to be going into the base of Mad Mod, so she was sent to the signal booster, where Robin thinks if we attack the base nobody should go, Cyborg has to go to the signal booster in case he needs to hack it or something, the noobie needs looking after by Robin, aaaaand that leaves me and you dude!" Said Beast Boy, all in one breath.
Raven sped up, the ground below her beginning to blur past. In response Beast Boy increased his wings flaps. "I didn't actually need you to answer me…"
: T : T : T : T :
Robin skidded to a stop, above him, I stopped mid-flight. We were on a pier, looking out towards the bay. "Mad Mod is supposed to be …" Robin studied his communicator, where a small dot blinked steadily away. He pointed out to sea. "That way." He took a small cylinder out of his belt. He pressed a button on the end VRRMMM! There was a light roar beneath us.
"Say hello to the R-Speeder!"
: T : T : T : T :
Mad Mod sat on a throne, surrounded by technological instruments, a hum filled the room from the many computers. Wires seemed to be growing there in his lair like weeds. He turned to a figure at one of the machines and said, "Within a few days, the British Empire will be great once more! Order the attack!"
To Be Continued…