Jinx held herself above the hallway, her left leg on one wall, her right on the other side of the narrow corridor. Her teeth grit, her muscles trembling. She was using her powers of luck to keep herself concealed from the guards below. She was waiting for her companions to reach her. A bead of sweat started running down her pale cheek.

: T : T : T : T :

Beast Boy flapped his wings, straining to keep himself moving at the high speed. Below him, Robin was swerving in and out of traffic in the packed out main street. Starfire was a green blur, making her way much quicker to the gaol. On either side of the road, people stared out of windows in their tall office blocks. Wondering where the three Titans were heading so fast.

The highway was on the wrong side of the city for a quick drive. The only way to get there from where the hijacking was to go straight through the city. And that was taking time.

Soon, even Beast Boy could tell that Robin was taking far too long to get through the traffic on his R-Cycle. Currently he was trying to get past a van, who seemed intent on keeping his exact position in the line of cars, despite Robin's best efforts, he wasn't going to let the Boy Wonder pull out in front of him.

Beast Boy's communicator came to life in his ear, and Robin's voice spoke, pissed off. "One of you two is going to have to carry me. The traffic here is too thick for me to get through."

Starfire replied. "It would be my honour to carry you, Robin!" Ahead of Beast Boy the green blur stopped, turned and headed at high speed towards Robin's position. Then the blur stopped, became Starfire picking up both Robin and his 'cycle and flew back again, at a much slower pace this time.

Starfire then put Robin's 'cycle on a shops rooftop. And she began to fly much faster again.

The trio made their way much faster now.

: T : T : T : T :

Another trio were also making their way to a destination. Well, two of them were making their way to the third, who was already there.

Gizmo burst out of a ventilation shaft, his mechanical spider-legs were out, as were dual lasers. He looked both ways and then ran down the corridor using the mechanical legs. He ran around a corner and two Omega guards looked up, they raised both their rifles and began firing. BLAM! BLAM!

Gizmo pressed a button on his control pad. An orange force-shield activated around him. The bullets fired by the armoured guards ricocheted off the shield, impacting the clinical metal walls around them. They kept firing not noticing as a pink and black, leather clad goth-girl landed behind them both.

She fired two bolts of hex at their guns, which stopped firing. The guards began to turn, having noticed the pink from behind, but as their guns came to a position where they were pointed at each other, the guns glowed pink again and fired.

BL-BLAM!

The two guards were flung into opposite walls, with chunks out of their armour and bodies.

Gizmo deactivated his shield. "You gonna finish the skuzz-balls off?"

"Killing wasn't part of the mission specs. Just start disabling that door." Gizmo walked to the door, muttering. It was a huge metal circular, safe style entry, it had one huge hinge and a control panel with a computer screen and keyboard on it.

"Just give me a second. Only an absolute nakk-brain wouldn't be able to get through this." He waddled over to the door and connected various leads from his backpack into the keyboard. He frowned. "Okay… this may take a little bit longer than I estimated, the pigs installed some sort of firewall."

Mammoth dived through the door at the end of the corridor, slightly singed. "Ran into a couple of the guards. We're gonna have a whole platoon here if we keep screwing up!"

Jinx spoke through gritted teeth. "Just. Complete. The. Mission." Mammoth could almost see flames in her eyes.

"R-right!"

: T : T : T : T :

The three Titans settled down just inside the walls of the Omega wing doors. Robin spoke, "Let's make it quick!" He slid a card through a swiper on the door and the door opened. He leapt into the clean metal corridor, beyond; all of the lights were out. Robin got out a torch, shining it down the walls. Metal doors with only a window and large locks on were on either side of the passageway.

Robin motioned for the other two to follow him and ran down the corridor.

He came to a skidding stop when he saw one of the doors was open. He checked the name on the door. "See-More." Behind him Starfire snarled and both of her fists became surrounded by green balls of energy. This lit up the corridor in an eerie green glow.

"You rang?" The H.I.V.E. student stood halfway down the corridor, his hand on his helmet from which a light emitted.

"RAAARGH!" Starfire let loose both of her starbolts, their light lit up the corridor as they traveled at high speed towards the villain.

See-More managed to duck one of the alien weapons but the other one caught him full on the face, knocking him over backwards. He scrambled to his feet, blasting with his one eye at Starfire, who was now flying down the corridor, one starbolt encased fist raised high.

Z-ZZAP! Z-ZZAP!

The sheer volume of the firepower caught the Tamaranian off-guard and she was brought tumbling to the ground. Robin leapt over her, towards the villain, blocking his lasers with his bo-staff. He landed and leapt high in the air, still blocking the shots.

Z-ZZAP!

He landed in front of See-More, in a crouch. He then somersaulted backwards, landing a kick on the cyclop's chin as he did so. THWACK!

See-More stumbled backwards and found the Boy Wonder's bo-staff at his throat, turning him around and slamming him against a wall. "I won't tell you anything!" He shouted before he could be questioned.

Robin gripped the criminals shoulders and fell back, placed a foot into his belly and pushed. See-More was sent flailing face first into the metal wall. THUNG!

Robin handcuffed him to a door-handle before continuing down the prison hallway. Starfire flew alongside him.

Beast Boy stopped by the unconscious student. "Dude… You must have pissed him off."

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Jinx paced back and forth as Gizmo tried in vain to open the door. Mammoth poked his head around the door sporadically, checking on the guards who were holed up on the other side of it. BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

He turned to Jinx. "Yup. They're still there." Jinx's eyes narrowed, but she said nothing.

"Gizmo, what the hell are you doing? You're taking too long." She gripped him by his backpack and pulled him away from the console. "Mammoth, help me with this. Gizmo, keep an eye on the morons out there."

Mammoth stepped up to the metal hinge and gripped it. Jinx began to charge a huge burst of Hex. "On the count of three, you pull."

Gizmo swore behind them. "Titans!"

Jinx frowned. "THREE! RRRGH!" and she unleashed the huge Hex bolt at the hinge as Mammoth pulled.

SSSCRRRCH!

With a sound of tortuous metal, the door came off the cell.

Jinx put a hand on the wall to steady herself. "Mammoth, help Gizmo with the Titans." Mammoth dragged the huge door and flung it through the opening at the end of the hall.

: T : T : T : T :

Beast Boy and Starfire were just about to get to Gizmo when Mammoth appeared from behind the door and threw the huge cell door at them. Beast Boy managed to turn into a triceratops but they were still sent sliding backwards into the Omega Wing Guards behind.

Robin leapt over the sliding Titans and onto the still moving cell door. From there he jumped to a sliding stop on the floor, flinging his smoke pellets at Gizmo and Mammoth.

: T : T : T : T :

Gizmo and Mammoth staggered back into the hallway, hacking, coughing and spluttering. But Jinx's eyes were on what lay in the room beyond where the door had been.

On a table in the centre of the room, inclined at an angle of about 45 degrees, lay the headmaster of the H.I.V.E. academy. Dozens of wires were attached to his limbs, torso and head. A screen with vital statistics, constantly altering by a couple of points, was by his head.

He had a mask over his face, and a machine nearby was forcing air into his failing lungs. The Omega wing had obviously thought any and all of his robotic parts too dangerous to keep active. So all of his systems had been shut down, and their own life support systems employed.

Before, Jinx had only seen the headmaster standing strong, even when he had half his body replaced with robotic parts he had been strong. He had not even had anesthetic, and he hadn't even flinched when Professor Chang had began cutting through skin and pulling out organs.

But now, he seemed … wrong.

Not because of his half missing limbs, from where Cyborg had torn off his arms.

Nor because the red glow which usually lit the toughened glass, covering his mechanics, had gone, replaced with a dull grey. Even his one robotic eye was dull and lifeless.

But that wasn't the worst part.

He just seemed like an…

Like an old man.

His cheeks were sunken, he had bags under his closed eye and he seemed to have gained dozens of wrinkles.

Jinx walked over to her mentor and put a pale hand on his ashen forehead. His one eye opened, and looked tiredly up at her. As it focused on her, it seemed to gain a little strength.

Jinx opened a panel, revealing a set of robotic parts in the cupboard beyond.

And a small smile grew on Brother Blood's lips.

: T : T : T : T :

Robin was now right in combat with Gizmo and Mammoth, and unfortunately for the Boy Wonder they were using the fact that there were two of them against him.

Mammoth leapt upwards and back, and underneath him swooped Gizmo, now using mechanical wings. BLAM! BLAM! He fired two lasers at Robin, who had to dive out of the way.

SW-SWSSSH! Robin threw a birdarang at the techno-geek, but Mammoth reached forwards and caught the projectile in one huge fist, smothering the small explosion.

He laughed, a deep booming chuckle. "You got nothin' on us bird-b-" A green rhino plowed into his chest, sending him struggling along the corridor. SCRRRCH! His boots gave off sparks from the friction.

Starfire flew into view, eyes blazing green. Her hands were charging starbolts, but not for long. FLASH-BOOM! "What th-?" Gizmo started, but he was cut off when he plummeted to the floor when a wing was blown off.

Mammoth reached down round the rhino's waist and strained, but Beast Boy morphed into a monkey and Mammoth was thrown off-balance as he threw the changeling high in the air.

Robin took advantage of this, took a running jump and plowed his metal-laced boot into the face of the muscled villain. CRASH! Mammoth fell to the floor.

Gizmo leapt to his feet, and with his hands on his controller aimed his lasers at Starfire.

: T : T : T : T :

Jinx stepped back from the table, grinning insanely. "Just give me one moment, child. Go and join your classmates." Came a voice from the table. With one last look Jinx ran back through the cell door and into the maelstrom beyond.

BLAM! BLAM! Starfire was dodging Gizmo's laser shots. Behind him, Robin raised his birdarang to bring the diminutive teen down.

Jinx flung a blur of pink at him.

Just as the birdarang came past his face to be thrown… A chance malfunction in the explosive core of the projectile… BOOM! It exploded, sending the Boy Wonder flying into a wall headfirst.

Starfire used her eye-blast to fight back against Gizmo. Now she was floating in mid-air, as Gizmo ran about on his spider-legs trying to escape the punishment.

Jinx flung a handful of pink above Starfire.

A metal ceiling tile… loosened by the battle, finally tumbled loose of it's mountings… CLUNG! fell from above her, connected with her head and plowed her into the floor.

Mammoth was wrestling with a green gorilla. Then the gorilla morphed into a snake and wrapped around Mammoth's neck, trying to make him lose consciousness in a choke hold.

Jinx threw her pink hex at Mammoth's feet.

…one tiny wet patch on the metal floor, Mammoth stepped towards it… THUNK! Mammoth slipped over and landed on his chest, crushing the snake into the floor. The snake morphed into a bemused Beast Boy.

Robin climbed to his feet.

"Titans! Together!"

Beast Boy stumbled over and Starfire dizzily floated over.

Robin pulled out his bo-staff. Starfire and Beast Boy shook the respective heads. The changeling got into a pose, ready to fight. Starfire floated, glowing starbolts charging in her hands.

Across the corridor from them Jinx shouted. "Formation Epsilon!"

They leapt into a group with Jinx on the left, her legs spread, keeping her low to the ground, her hands ready to throw hex. Mammoth was in the middle, arms folded, arrogantly smirking. And Gizmo was on the right, hands on his joy-pad, ready to start fighting.

Robin got out a fan of birdarangs. "On my mark."

The three HIVE students suddenly stopped preparing themselves for combat, and stood normally.

Robin frowned but shouted, "Go!" anyway. The three Titans began to run forward.

They came to a skidding stop as a red blur came from behind the HIVE trio and landed in front of them. Brother Blood stood, in all his mechanical glory. He wore his usual black trousers, but with no top, his red lighting could be seen illuminating his glass encased parts, energy running through his systems once more, spikes glistening in the dull lighting, and the skull shape on his chest seemed to be grinning. He took a step forward, hands by his side, neutral.

"Run along home, Titans. It's your only hope."

Robin snarled, and leapt forward, bringing his staff around to connect with Brother Blood's skull. Blood stood completely still, until the last second when he brought a spiked wrist up to block the metal rod.

He dropped into a martial arts pose, just for a second, before bringing his other fist forward to punch Robin in the chest.

The Boy Wonder flew back, landing on his back and sliding along the floor.

Beast Boy ran at the red cyborg as a rhino, but Blood leapt into the air and landed on one foot on the point of the green creatures horn. Beast Boy's hooves raised sparks on the floor, but unable to stop, slid into the wall. Brother Blood leapt off at the last possible chance, landing nimbly back in the centre of the corridor.

Beast Boy morphed back to normal, he tried to stand but was unable to get to his feet. He leant a hand on the now dented wall.

Starfire flew in, her eyes blazing with rage, and her fists encased with green energy. She flung her fists at the maniacal villain, but he just kept dodging with apparent ease.

The alien paused, for a second, and Brother Blood took advantage. He flipped backwards, planting his hands on the floor, but his feet in the alien's face.

She was sent upwards into the ceiling and landed on the floor in a heap.

Brother Blood landed back on his feet and took up a pose.

"Where are your other members?" He looked around, expecting a trap. When he saw nothing he turned his attention back to the fallen Titans. "You expected to stop us with only 3 of you?" With no answer, he walked towards a wall, paused and then, with an added red glow to his foot, he kicked through. The metal slab of the wall exploded outwards taking the brick and mortar outer layer with it. The bricks seemed to explode and sent a fountain of dust into the air, obscuring any view. "Give Cyborg my regards."

And all four members of H.I.V.E. disappeared into the smoke.

: T : T : T : T :

Flaming lorry wreckage lay everywhere on the highway, the fire flickering in the wind. Cyborg walked around, looking at a screen on his arm, scanning the area. "This Ravager guy seems to have got away cleanly. The explosions pretty much wiped any trace that I could follow."

Raven sat in mid-air, a vein visible on her temple, an obvious headache building. But she still managed to heal the minor burns of the lorry driver. Her shield had managed to save him for the most part, although it shattered halfway through.

Our own shield had held up thankfully, even as wreckage pummeled it.

So, all in all not a bad mission. No-one died.

On the other hand, with several thousand pounds worth of chemicals destroyed, along with a fair portion of the highway in need of repair. And we hadn't even managed to bring in the criminal responsible.

So not such a good day. Hopefully, the others had had a better one…