As bullets were continuing to fly by, Gar felt a pat on the shoulder and turned to see Muhammad and Rachel right in front of him. Looking to his right, he saw Shae firing next to Grant. Turning to his left, he saw the same with Jaime and Cass. A brief smile appeared on his face as he turned back to his two teammates in front of him.
"Glad you could join us."
Rachel smirked and Muhammad laughed before handing him an M4.
"Figured you could use some help. What's the plan?"
Gar risked a peak at the terrorists again and noticed something. There were now 12 terrorists firing at them, but there was a flaw in their position. Their vans were all parked next to each other and the terrorists were using them for cover. Seeing a group of four in between two vans, and another in between another two, Gar got an idea.
"Muhammad, can you teleport to two different locations?"
Muhammad nodded his head and Gar smirked. He turned back to where the terrorists were and pointed.
"You see how they're positioned?"
Muhammad squatted next to him and nodded. Just like Gar, he saw the flaw in their attack. They were too bunched up and could easily be taken out.
"I want you to teleport me behind one group and you take the other."
Gar then looked over to the last four. Seeing that they had also taken cover behind the van, he turned his head to Grant and Rachel.
"I want you two to keep firing on them. Keep them distracted and we can eliminate three of them."
Quirking her eyebrow in confusion, Rachel spoke.
"But there's four of them over there."
Gar smirked and looked at her smugly.
"I know, I can count sweetie. But I'd like to take one into custody so we can question him."
Rachel playfully rolled her eyes and positioned herself next to Grant. Grant turned to Gar and gave him a playful smirk before speaking.
"Don't get shot. We put in too much effort to get your ass over here for you to get killed."
Gar laughed before smacking him on the shoulder.
"You worry to much. Just sit there and watch and learn."
Turning towards his girlfriend, Gar saw that she had kept her eyes on him the whole time. Grabbing her hand, he kissed it before leaning down closer to her.
"Be safe and keep your head down."
Smiling, Rose reached up to play with one of his earrings.
"You do the same babe."
He gave her a nod, then turned his head towards Muhammad. He gave him a nod as well, and a portal formed right underneath them. With one last look to Rose, Gar jumped into the portal, quickly followed by Muhammad.
He popped out right exactly where he had planned to be, as well as Muhammad. The terrorists' attention were still on the group behind the barrier where they had just been. Seeing that they were distracted, the two men took aim and fired at their targets. In seconds, 12 had been eliminated to just 4. Seeing that the plan had worked, Gar made his way to the back of the van that had the last group on the other side. Peaking around, he saw one go down from a bullet.
Gar took a quick breath and pulled out his pistol. As quick as a flash of lightening, he pulled out from behind the van and fired off two shots quick shots at a terrorist that was furthest away from him. This caught the attention of the last two as they had finally noticed their predicament. A bullet flew right through the forehead of one of them, leaving one last remaining target.
Gar dropped his pistol and morphed into a fly. Watching the terrorist look around frantically trying to locate him, Gar flew up to him and transformed back into his human form. A quick and hard kick right to the knee bent the man's leg backward with a sickening snap. Before he could even scream in pain, Gar grabbed him by the back of his head and brought it down directly into his knee. Falling to his knees, the man grunted in pain. With one last spinning kick to the temple, Gar knocked the man into unconsciousness.
Taking a brief look around, Gar took assessment of the situation. All the terrorists were down, and to make things even better, they had taken one in still alive for interrogating. Seeing that the fight was now over, the rest of the team and the two remaining security guards made there way over.
Grant, being the friend that Gar was really taking a liking to, let out a hoot and came over to his friend.
"Damn man. We're gonna have to start calling you Billy Badass from now on."
Chuckling, Gar raised his fist up for a bump and Grant reciprocated. Turning to Muhammad, Gar gave him one as well and a pat on the back.
"Good job dude. Guess we're making good progress on the whole foxhole buddy thing."
Muhammad chuckled and gave a nod. Rose walked up to her boyfriend and started checking for any injuries that he might have sustained.
"Are you okay?"
Turning to her, his smile changed from joking to one of warmth. He nodded his head and wrapped an arm around her.
"Of course mamas. I took your words seriously."
They shared one last look with each other before Gar turned to the security guard walking up to them. The man stuck out his hand to shake and Gar took it.
"Thank you for helping us. Without you here, things could have gone differently."
Nodding to the man, Gar gave him an easy going smile.
"That's what we're here for. Let the President know that the situation has been handled and he is safe for now."
Turning to the unconscious terrorist, Gar pointed at him and spoke to Shae.
"Put him in handcuffs and tie him up. When Rose and I get back, me and Grant are going to have a brief chat with him."
She gave him a nod and did as he had asked her. Turning back to the security guard, Gar's face turned somber.
"I'm sorry for losing those two men. Unfortunately, you rarely get the jump on an attack like this. If we had any clue that they'd be here, we could have stopped this."
The man nodded and waved his hand.
"It is alright. You are correct, no one knew this was going to happen. What's important is we are all alive and the President and his family is unharmed."
Agreeing with the man, Gar gave him a nod and a pat on the shoulder before turning to see Jaime walking up to him.
"Your observation was correct. These men are from the Fist of God."
Handing a piece of paper to Gar, Jaime informed him of what he found.
"A special message written by Mateef himself. It's instruction on what to do, who the target is, and coordinates for where they were to go when the job had been done."
Gar read the message over. Sure enough, Jaime was right. He looked at the lower part of it and saw something written in Arabic. He read it over and his eyes widened.
"Shit."
This caught the attention of the group and they immediately reacted.
"What is it?"
Showing the paper to Grant, Gar told him what it said.
"It's a jihad message. There's more coming and they'll be here within the next few days."
Handing the paper to Muhammad, Gar gave him his instructions.
"Take that back to Slade. As far as I can tell, you're the only one here who can read Arabic besides me. Tell him what it says and we'll make a plan on how to address it."
Muhammad nodded his head. Folding the message up, he placed it into his pocket. Hearing the sound of vehicles, Gar turned to see the police and ambulances. Turning to Grant, he smirked.
"Can I trust you to give the statement?"
With a mock look of hurt, Grant gasped and placed a hand over his chest as if he was wounded.
"You think I don't know how to handle myself? I'm hurt man."
Gar chuckled and rolled his eyes. He walked away from Grant, taking Rose's hand, and went over to Rachel and Cass, who were taking assessment on the damage to the vehicle.
"Any scratches on it?"
Turning to the sound of his voice, Rachel smiled at the couple and gave them what she found.
"Nope. Surprisingly, the vehicle didn't get hit. Grant's going to be happy to know his baby isn't going to be out of commission."
Gar smirked and shook his head in amusement. It was short lived, as he noticed camera crews and news reporters pulling up to the scene. He pulled the keys out, unlocking the doors. Grabbing Cass, he opened a door and pushed her inside.
"Stay here and stay hidden."
Confused at his behavior, Rachel and Rose gave him odd looks.
"What's the matter?"
He turned to Rachel and pointed towards the area where the news crew had just arrived.
"If a camera catches her, the Titans and the League will know where she's at. They'll be on their way here to try and bring her back to them."
It dawned on them that he was right. While he was disguised, Cass wasn't. If she were to be spotted, it could be trouble. This attack would be worldwide news and would be spread all over, including to America.
As they were beginning to realize why Gar had reacted like that, Rose's face turned into one of horror.
"Jaime!"
Realization dawned on Gar and Rachel too and both reacted as she had. Pressing a button, Gar waited for his friend to answer.
"What up Gar?"
Not bothering with pleasantries, Gar immediately went into leader mode.
"Get over here. There's news crew and camera men at the scene."
Within 2 seconds, a portal was opening up next to them. Jaime stepped out and was immediately ushered into the SUV by Rachel. Closing the door, she turned back to the couple.
"Who's going to be go talk to them?"
Gar and Rose turned to each other and smirked. Turning back towards her, the smirks were still spread on their faces. Realization dawned on Rachel that she had just volunteered herself and she visibly deflated.
"Walked right into that one, huh?"
Smiling, Gar placed a hand on her shoulder and gestured to where the reporters were.
"Think of it as a favor for us. I can't do it, because once they air the interview, the Titans will hear my voice and know it's me."
Walking up beside her, Rose gave her a smile.
"And I can't do it because we have a date to get to after we drop off Jaime and Cass back home."
Giving the two lovebirds annoyed looks, Rachel gave a sigh and shook her head.
"You're lucky I care about you two."
She walked away and over towards where the reporters were. Gar and Rose looked on as she was immediately swarmed by desperate reporters, as if she was a food for a pack of animals. After a few moments, Gar turned to Rose and smirked.
"I think she likes me."
Rose smacked him on the arm and laughed as they made their way into the SUV. Putting on their seatbelts and giving instructions to Jaime and Cass to stay hidden, they made their way out of there and headed back to their base.
Back at Titans Tower, things were starting to look bleak. Not one clue could be found about where Beast Boy had gone. They searched the entire city and even the ones surrounding Jump. So far, they had nothing besides a morale that was dipping every minute.
In the Common Room, Raven was positioned at the window appearing to be meditating. Things had gone so wrong so fast, she was having a hard time coming to terms with everything. When she had returned to the Tower the night before, she went straight to her room to shower and then try to get some sleep. It was pointless though. For hours she sat staring up at the ceiling, trying to think of how they could've stopped this from happening. As she sat there, Beast Boy's words kept echoing in her head.
"Things change Raven. You should have thought about your words more carefully."
She had desperately wished she could have changed the way she treated him. She'd give anything to see that smile on his face and the gleam in his eyes he got when he'd talk to her. But all she did was push him away and call him degrading names. She'd insult him at every possible moment she could. And all he had wanted from her, was to see her smile.
Inside her mind, things were very astray. Happy looked tired and weak. Timid was constantly crying. Brave no longer had the strength to be strong. And to make matters worse, Love had started to become depressed. Walking around inside Knowledge's library, she sought out her emoticlone. She had a lot of question for her and she'd like to find some answers.
She finally found the person she was looking for with her nose buried in a book. Walking closer so she wouldn't have to yell to get the emoticlone's attention, she waited until her presence was acknowledged.
"You seem troubled."
Stopping in her tracks, Raven watched as Knowledge shifted her attention from the book to her. She held in a gasp as she took in her appearance. Bags under her eyes showed that she was no better than many of the other emoticlones in her mind. She looked exhausted, as if she hadn't been able to get any rest for some time.
"I could say the same thing about you."
The emoticlone shrugged her shoulders in indifference. Waving her hand, she opened a portal, sending her book through it to somewhere in the library. Standing up, she walked over to Raven, stopping a few feet away from her.
"You have some questions?"
Raven nodded her head and let out an exhausted sigh.
"I just wish I could figure out a way to fix this. Do you have any ideas on how I can?"
She was surprised to hear her emoticlone let out a laugh. It sounded dry and humorless, much like the way the Tower sounded without a certain green hero around.
"You really think there's any possible chance to get him back here?"
Raven looked dumbfounded. She thought coming here would end up with Knowledge giving her some ideas that she could share with the team. Instead, it was like she was mocking her.
"What do you mean?"
Rolling her eyes, Knowledge stared at her hard.
"Let's forget about the whole incident at the bank and turn the clock back to a few months ago."
Raven almost flinched at the tone coming out of the emoticlone's mouth. It was cold and very sharp. She could tell, that she was about to get a very stern lecture.
"All those times you put him down, along with the rest of the team. All anyone ever did was constantly berate him and tell him how useless he was."
Glaring at the object of her rant, the emoticlone pointed a finger at her and continued on.
"You must have forgot a very important thing about Beast Boy. His hearing is impeccable."
Immediately Raven knew what she was talking about. All those insults behind his back from her or Robin or anyone else, he probably heard all of them. Her stomach immediately sank at the realization and guilt started to swallow her up.
"Let's also remember the fact that he was the only one to show us affection."
If at all possible, her glare seemed to harden even more.
"He was the one who came to our door to invite us to join any game or movie nights. He was the one who was there to make sure we were okay after we were foolish enough to fall for that dragon. He was the one who would try to make sure that at the end of the day, we were okay and that we were happy."
Stepping up to Raven, she could feel the anger radiating off of her. But at this particular moment, she just didn't seem to care.
"He loved you, and you practically spat in his face."
This time Raven did flinch. She was right. All he ever did was want to make sure that she was happy. He did all he could to make sure that Raven didn't feel alone and like an outcast. Sure, he called her creepy, but he took it back and had basically begged for forgiveness. Not one time had she ever apologized after insulting him, much less felt bad about doing so.
Seeing that her words were starting to take affect, Knowledge reared back a bit. She took a step back for Raven to process her words. After a moment of silence, she continued on.
"What Robin said wasn't what started his thoughts about leaving, but it definitely was the straw that broke the camel's back. The point of the matter is that you all had a hand in pushing him away."
Tears had started leaking out of her eyes. She could feel a flood of emotions running through her. Sadness at the fact that he was no longer here. Regret at the way she had treated him. Guilt for all the times he looked like he needed someone to talk to, but she was to prideful to do it. Anger at the way her and the team pushed him away. And hate, for how the one person in the world who truly showed love to her, walked out on her.
She lifted her gaze up to her emoticlone, who was starting to come down from here emotional outburst. Her eyes began to droop and she looked like she would pass out at any moment.
"So there's no way to bring him back?"
Releasing an exhausted breath, Knowledge shook her head.
"It would take a miracle, that I particularly don't see happening."
Dropping her head, she released a quick sob. She couldn't believe at how wrong she had been. Her heart felt like it was shattering into a million pieces. All those times she had told him to leave her alone, she'd give anything to have him close to her.
Seeing how Raven was taking all of this, Knowledge softened her features. Yes, she knew she needed to hear this, but it was still her master. If she were to continue to go down this road, she may never recover. And the emoticlones would start to go one by one.
"My advice to you is to learn from this. Make sure this doesn't happen again if you don't want to lose anymore friends."
She nodded her head and left the library. Brought back into the real world, she opened her eyes to see her reflection in the window. Her eyes were bloodshot from crying and her cheeks had trails of tears that had yet to stop. Hearing the door open, she pulled her hood up to hide her face.
As Cyborg walked through the doors, his eyes landed on Raven. He saw her by the windows and his face softened. He watched as she walked by him, mumbling about needing to meditate. He knew that she was taking this hard. They all were. No one could find anything and he had felt useless. Shaking his head, he made his way into the kitchen to start breakfast. As he was doing so, his mind could only think of how much he wished he could go back in time to fix whatever wrongs he did. Maybe, if he had acted better, his green buddy would still be here.
