I hate it when villains use distractions. For example where they might set a bomb somewhere. What do you do? Fight the villain and hope that you can force them to stop the bomb, or that the bomb is a hoax. Or do you go after the bomb, hoping that it is the major part in the plan or that it is important enough for your foe to try and protect it personally? Luckily for the Titans, we can just split in two.
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The day after Rose left and everybody was still feeling a bit down. We had had a message from the Titans East, telling us that Rose had arrived safely. But it still felt wrong that she had gone away. We were all sitting around the main room waiting for something to happen.
As usual when you wait for something to happen… Nothing did.
Eventually, it was lunch time and Cyborg suggested we go out to try and raise our spirits.
We decided to go to the Bayside Plaza for pizza. Soon the Titans were swapping war stories, some of them I'd heard before, almost all of Beast Boy's, which seemed to have got more fantastical and involved him even more than last time. Robin and Raven as always were pretty quiet. But then-
"Robin, do you not have any stories to share?" Starfire smiled at Robin and his composure seemed to melt like a piece of butter in a saucepan.
"I- uh… umm."
"Please Robin?"
"Yeah, dude you never tell anybody anything from your Gotham days!"
"C'mon dawg!"
"Fine." He paused for a second, thinking of a story to tell. "Okay. Well it all began when Batman had almost caught Penguin, in the natural history museum. He was there to steal…"
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In a darkroom with only a circle of light in the middle of the darkness and a screen giving any light. On the screen was a man with shoulder length hair and glasses, the top of a yellow armor vest could be seen on his chest. He spoke with a British twang. "We could do with an extra set of hands with this."
"Why should I help you?"
"You will be paid. And of course because so far your little exercise has been a complete failure. Every crime you have tried to organize has failed miserably. The Titans have seen to that. Not even a blip on the radar of the underground."
"… What did you have in mind, Murphy?"
"Something for which, if you're good enough, you can beat the Titans as well as making a splash in the pool of crime. All you have to do is cause a distraction downtown."
"Is it that simple?"
"Without being too obvious."
"That goes without saying."
"We taught you well." 'Murphy' on the screen smiled. "Then do we have a deal, Grant?"
A figure walked into circle in the middle of the room. He wore a light blue skintight costume, with the bottom half of his torso and right arm a darker blue, he also had a yellow utility belt and thigh length boots. Over his shoulder he had a long sword and on his hips he had two long knives.
"I will give you your distraction… and I'll bring the Titans to their knees too."
The figure on the screen spoke one last time before the screen went blank. "Long live H.I.V.E."
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"-and then the Joker slipped on his own oil slick and managed to knock himself out." The Titans stared in open-mouthed amazement. "What?"
"Dude. That was amazing!"
Suddenly, parts on everybody's costumes started to light up. Robin flipped open his communicator. "Titans, there's been a car-jacking, the suspects on the highway. Go!" He had already started running for his R-Cycle.
Cyborg ran for the T-Car, Beast Boy quickly following. "I'm not gonna be able to keep up if we're going on the highway." He strapped himself into the passenger seat. "Let's roll!"
Raven, Starfire and I flew in a V shape with Raven at the head.
We soon arrived at the highway. It was obvious which car had been jacked, because it was swerving in and out of the traffic, both over taking and undertaking. It was a red sports car, but its sides were scratched. Plus it had two cop cars, sirens wailing, vainly trying to keep up.
Beneath us three flying Titans, the R-cycle and T-Car swerved onto the highway from one of the feeder roads. Robin immediately gunned the engine and quickly caught up with the police cars trailing the jacked car.
Cyborg was more conservative, having to be more careful with the large T-Car. Luckily people eventually took notice and started to try and make way for the blue car.
The driver of the hijacked car obviously decided to take an easy route and turned onto a practically empty bit of highway. The two Titans on wheels followed, along with the two police cars and us three flying Titans.
Suddenly one of the police cars swerved, and BOOM! A plume of flame lit up the side of it. Whoever was in the stolen car, he had firebombs.
Robin's voice rang out on the communicators. "Star, Void get to the police and try and protect them from explosives and possible gunfire. Raven, try and get a grip on the car, or its brakes. Try and slow it down. Cyborg, Try and get close, but don't let yourself get by whatever the driver tries."
A group of affirmative responses replied him.
The V formation broke as we went for our separate targets.
I pushed my suit to it's limits but managed to catch up with the speeding police car. To save my suit, I landed on the roof and activated my wrist voids. PHVISH! I raised my arms in a cross over my chest, ready for action. I became acutely aware of the rushing ground beneath us, and I decided to keep as far away as possible.
On the other car, Starfire had done a similar thing with her starbolts, charging them.
Between us Raven flew, muttering to herself, either her magic words or something to calm her down. She was flying with her arms backwards, making herself as streamlined as possible, but as her muttering increased she reached one arm forward towards the red sports car.
The car was engulfed with black telekinesis for a second but it immediately shattered., without affect. Raven frowned, concentrating again.
FLASH! Starfire fired a starbolt at something. BOOM! A fireball, from the firebomb, soared beneath Raven. In mid flight she twirled, caught off guard by the flame and tumbled through the air.
Luckily, the T-car drove right underneath her, with the sun roof open and Beast Boy caught Raven in his arms. He deposited her in the back seat, before sitting back in the front. Raven lay still for a second, hyperventilating.
On his motorcycle, Robin snarled and went full-throttle, he managed to get closer to the car and he reached into his utility belt. But the driver of the stolen vehicle had other ideas, he swerved to the left.
Thinking ahead of the game, I took flight again. As fast as I could I caught up with Robin, just in time to catch the thrown fire-bomb in one of my wrist-voids.
Robin nodded his thanks. I saluted and then slowed down enough to land back on the cop car. Robin brought back his hand, now holding a birdarang. He threw his weapon, aiming for a wheel.
However, the driver of the car managed to swerve out of the way, and the birdarang stuck into the road and was quickly lost to sight behind us.
"Starfire, bring him down!"
"Affirmative Robin!"
Starfire leapt into the air. For a second she didn't move, but seemed to go backwards, and then she was flying forwards. At a high speed she flew upwards to gain a better position to fire.
Then she snarled and began to unleash her starbolts. FL-FL-FL-FLASH!
Somehow, the driver managed to dodge the fusillade, swerving this way and that. However, Starfire managed to get one shot on target, melting part of the roof of the car.
Starfire spoke of the comm.. system. "The driver appears to be wearing a costume of some sort. Thusly I expect him to be a professional villain rather than a normal citizen in search of cash."
"That explains his skill at driving and his weapons. Okay Star, pull back. Cyborg, try and get the T-Car closer, I have an idea…"
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The prison of Jump City was quiet, as all of the prisoners were indoors. There were a few guards around, patrolling the walls. These guards wore body armour, helmets and carried rifles, they were the Omega Wing Guard. Trained to protect the prison in the case of criminals escaping. The prison itself was pretty standard high security gaol, high walls, the odd lookout tower one gate.
In a nearby forest, a yellow and black hovercraft settled down. Two HIVE guards jumped out, checked the area and waved out the occupants.
First a green jump-suited, bald kid with a controller on his stomach and a backpack behind him. On his head he had a pair of goggles.
Then a giant, red headed monster. He wore a black sleeveless jumpsuit with yellow bolts. He began cracking his joints.
Finally a leather clad, pink-haired goth stepped out. Her tight outfit had blue frills around her collarbone and about her neck she had a locket.
Gizmo, Mammoth and Jinx.
They walked to the edge of the trees, looking for anyone who might be able to see them. Spotting a security camera, Jinx flung a pink wave of pure unluck at the things mounting. It continued to turn, but never went far enough to spot the HIVE trio.
Gizmo looked at his watch, waited a few seconds then nodded to the other two. Jinx and Mammoth ran over to the walls. Mammoth stood hands clasped together low, Jinx took a running jump, landed on his hands and was catapulted high into the air and onto the prison walls.
She looked around, checking the area and then said into her mouthpiece. "Area clear."
Gizmo activated wings from his backpack and flew up to meet her on the walls. He then dropped a rope over the side and attached it to the floor with a clawed grip. Mammoth then pulled himself up, using the rope, and pulled himself onto the floor.
Jinx nodded to the other two, and they all ran off down a corridor.
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The almost empty highway stretched before us, empty except for the hijacked car, us pursuing him, and in the distance a Wayne Corp. lorry.
The T-Car had got quite close to the stolen car now, a firebomb was thrown, but it was quickly encased in Raven's black magic and was taken apart.
Robin rode his R-Cycle directly behind the T-Car, using it as protection.
He revved it for a second, pulled a wheeley, and used the back of the T-car as a ramp. He sailed over the T-Car, over the stolen car and landed, swerving slightly as he regained control.
From this new position, he looked back. "Pull over! This is your last chance!" He shouted to the driver. The masked villain merely snarled and tried to give the car even more speed.
Robin reached into his utility belt and his hand came out holding a handful of smoke pellets. He threw these directly backwards, breaking through the windscreen and into the car, filling it with smoke.
The driver, for his part didn't even falter. He must have known that the road was straight, and didn't even slow down.
However, a sword smashed through the remains of the windscreen, smoke began to pour out.
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Mammoth was on his own now. The other two had separate missions, and he had to accomplish his. But he heard footsteps around the corner, so he jumped up to the ceiling, arms and legs outstretched, holding him in position.
An Omega Wing Guard walked underneath him, paused and looked up.
CRACK!
Mammoth let go of the walls and just fell onto the guard. Leaving the guard in a supply closet he continued towards his target.
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Jinx was in the Omega wing itself, where they kept the worst villains. She danced past various different holding cells, avoiding the cameras and various security equpiment.
Cinderblock, hanging in the air, unable to move, in a zero gravity room.
The central card of Overload was in a room made of plastic.
Control Freak, in a room filled with various screens, watching some Star Trek re-run.
The old man who became Mumbo Jumbo sat sadly in a room, playing with a pack of cards.
Jinx stopped. In the reflection of Mad Mod's glass cage, she could see a guard walking down the corridor. She thought fast, turned to the cell containing a sleeping man, suspended in liquid. And flung a hex wave at the controls.
The man in the cell stirred, groaning as he came to. Hearing this, the Omega Wing guard came running round the corridor, calling into his communicator. He then started tapping at the console attached to the liquid cell. "There's something wrong with Plasmus' holding cell. It seems to have… send a techie down here, it's okay now, but something went wrong. Over."
Jinx was already running, with various acrobatics to avoid cameras, down the corridor towards her target.
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Gizmo was crawling through the ventilation system, on his hands and knees. He checked a screen on his wrist, and obviously had reached the point he needed. He looked through a panel, the control room for the cells.
He grabbed his controller, readying his lasers and then waited. The time reached 13:08. He spoke into his communicator. "Time to go Scuzzwads."
The responses came back.
"I am in position."
"Me too."
"Okay then. Team leader says go!"
Gizmo leapt through the ventilation cover and landed in the control room. BLAM! BLAM! The two guards in the room fell to their knees. Gizmo leapt to the computer and started typing, behind him the metal computerized door shut.
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Mammoth smashed through a door into the security room. The prison had two different ones, one for the cells and a separate one for the prison itself.
He grabbed the two guards who were at computers, and tossed them over his shoulders into the wall. He sat down at the computer and began to type. If he and Gizmo went wrong then the alarms would go off. And all of Omega Wing would know they were there.
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Jinx sat outside one of the cells, waiting for the door to open.
WRIIIII! WRIIIII!
The alarm. Her eyes shot open in panic, but she quickly narrowed them. She leapt up to the ceiling, tore the cover off a vent and pulled it back on behind her.
She spoke into her communicator. "You idiots! What have you done?"
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A drop of sweat ran down Gizmo's face. He could only hope that Mammoth would be able to shut down the alarms. One of the guards in his room had somehow managed to press the panic button to start the alarm wailing.
"Don't worry Jinx! The Titans aren't gonna be here, we fucked with their Tower, remember?" He started typing again, continuing his mission. "Mammoth? Wanna shut the alarm off for us?"
The alarms stopped.
"No problem, little man."
Gizmo snarled. He had done all he could here. If he stayed in the room much longer he'd be swarmed with guards. He had loosened the security system around the target, so he began to make his way back through the ventilation system.
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One of the policeman poked his head through an open window to talk to me, I was still on the roof of the car.
"Aren't one of you Titans going to check out the Omega Wing?" I heard him shout over the wind.
My eyes widened. "What! The Omega Wing?" I looked at my communicator. Usually if the police send a message, then the communicator goes off and various parts of the Titan costumes start lighting up. Strange.
I relayed the message to the rest of the team.
Robin spoke first. "This can't be good. We have to check this thing out."
"What about the car thief, dawg? The police don't stand a chance without us."
"Good point. Okay Cy, you, Raven and Void bring him in as quickly as possible, then meet us at the prison. B.B., Star and I will go there now."
"Okay."
"Titans Go!"
Robin veered off at the next exit, followed by Starfire and Beast Boy morphed into a hawk and flapped after them as fast as he could.
Cyborg spoke over the communicator. "Okay new plan-" But he cut himself off when he saw the sports car veer in front of the one other vehicle on the road. The lorry. The thief jumped out, leaving the car on cruise control.
We watched in amazement as he stood on top of the car and executed a backwards somersault, landing on the lorry's load.
"No way…" I could hear Raven gasp inside the T-Car. Then Cyborg spoke again. "Dawg, take him out. But be careful!"
"Don't worry about me."
I flew towards the lorry and the waiting swordsman. I landed on the lorry's load, with both of my wrist voids ready to slice apart anything he threw at me. I studied him for a second, he wore a blue jumpsuit. I shouted to him from the back of the lorry. "Whoever you are, give up now!"
"Give up, what good would that do me?" He took a step forward, and brought his sword up, towards me. "And you can tell your leader, The Ravager beat you."
He ran forwards, swinging his sword around. I took three steps forward as I brought my wrist voids up, to cut the weapon in half.
PHVSH!
Somehow, they didn't manage to cut through. And I was thrown backwards. I landed on my back but immediately got to my feet again.
That wasn't right…
He swung his sword through the air again, this time I tried to block with only one of my voids. Again I felt the impossible contact, but this time I was spun around. I jumped backwards, towards the front of the lorry now, trying to gather myself.
Perhaps my wrist voids were designed not to be used against living things; the suit probably had a safety mechanism. Oh well, I'd just have to do this the hard way.
He ran at me again, his sword sailing towards me head. SHLINK! I jumped back and he embedded the huge weapon into the trailer's roof.
PHVIISH! I swung my wrist voids at his legs, but he just jumped to avoid them.
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Cyborg got the T-Car as close to the truck as possible. He turned to Raven in the back seat. "Rae? Wanna see if you can convince the truck driver to stop?"
She nodded. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"
Her bird soul self enveloped her and she flew through the T-Car roof and into the seat by the young driver of the lorry.
"Holy shit!"
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The lorry swerved and both the Ravager and I were thrown off our feet.
Then as we climbed to our feet, it began to slow down. I saw Raven's bird form move from the lorry into the sports car, and then that slowed as well.
The Ravager snarled and leapt at me, somersaulting in mid-air. CRSSSHHH! He brought his sword down hard and I only just managed to block with my wrist voids. He swung his sword again, this time to the side, and I was knocked to the floor, winded, as I blocked it.
I opened a black hole directly beneath him, it shut off as soon as he began to fall through it, but it removed part of the trailers roof, sending him falling into the trailer.
The truck came to a stop and Cyborg climbed up onto the roof of the trailer. "Where is he?"
I pointed towards the hole in the trailer.
Cyborg sighed, and jumped into the gloom.
He was surrounded by boxes labeled as dangerous chemicals. "I have a bad feeling about this…"
A voice replied out of the darkness. "You should."
Then the half-human saw a blinking red light, something lodged in between two boxes. Bleep. Bleep. Bleep-bleep-bleep. Bleeeeep
"Ah, shit!" He turned and fired his sonic cannon at a wall and ran out of the trailer. "Rae! A shield!"
A black dome surrounded me, Cyborg, Raven and the two police cars. I said through my winding. "The lorry driver!"
Raven frowned, "I'm thinly spread, but I'm trying…Azarath Metron Zin-"
BOOOOM!