Chapter 7
Unknown location
In an unknown part of Jump city, nine Slade bots were out searching for something. Their master had ordered them to scour this location for someone that he was looking to hire. This someone was a relatively recent addition to the criminal underworld, having only been around for several years. Despite this, he earned a reputation for being quick and efficient in his jobs. The only reason he wasn't hired much was because he was difficult to find, but it seems that will change today as the Slade bots were closing in on an abandoned garage. They entered slowly and cautiously, creating a circle among themselves. As they surveyed the area, guns at the ready, they suddenly heard a noise. They immediately turned around and pointed their weapons to where the noise originated from, only to see that it was a rat that caused a can of paint to fall to the ground. The Slade bots then lowered their weapons and resumed their search. After a few minutes of searching, the Slade bots heard another noise. They turned around and saw a door leading to another room. Several then went in to investigate while the others were aiming at the door in case something hostile came out. As soon as the Slade bots went through the door, gunfire erupted and blasted the Slade bots to bits. Seeing this, the Slade bots opened fired, peppering the room with holes and blasting apart the concrete around the room. After a few minutes of blasting the room to bits, the Slade bots stopped firing and marched at the door, wanting to confirm that the hostile was dead. Once one was near the door, a shotgun was fired, blasting the Slade bots to bits. A shadowy blur then charged at the remaining bots.
The blur stabbed one in the head with a hook on one of its arms before shooting two with a shotgun. The remaining two then opened fired at the shadowy figure, only for the figure to laugh as a shield took the damage. The figure then ripped his hook from the Slade bot it was imbedded in, creating a large slash mark on its head, before shooting the last bots in the chest, creating large holes in their chest. The figure then looked at the carnage, satisfied at how it did against it's intruders. The figure was about to leave when it heard clapping.
"Bravo." Said Slade as he emerged from the shadows. "You handled yourself quite well. I expected my bots to handle you better or at least score a hit on you. Oh well, it just proves how deadly you are." The mysterious figure then aimed his shotgun at Slade. "Oh, there's no need for that. I have a job for you."
"If that's the case, then why did you send your bots against me?" Asked the figure, suspicious on Slade's intention on wanting to find him. He only heard rumors about him. Most that weren't exactly helpful in determining his personality. All he knows about him, was that Slade was cunning and had a strategic mind.
"I merely wanted to test your skills. See if you're as skilled as the rumors make you out to be. Though I will admit, destroying simple machines are not as comparable as destroying actual meta-humans. You have destroyed some before, correct?" Asked Slade.
"A few of the weaker ones." Said the figure, still pointing his weapon at Slade.
"Good, then you wouldn't mind doing a job for me." Said Slade.
"Depends on the job." Said the figure.
"I need your help in determining the strength and skills of a recent associate of mine. Do this and I'll offer you whatever you want." Said Slade. The reward and job specifics raised an eyebrow as the figure lowered his weapon.
"Whatever I want, eh? Sounds extreme. If I may, why me? You can easily get another, cheaper, mercenary or bounty hunter to do that. And why do you this associate of yours to be tested, anyway?" Asked the figure.
"What I intend with my associate is for me, and only me, to know. As for you. I want to see if you're as capable as I believe you are. Plus, you're the only actual competent mercenary in Jump city that's worth anything. And I need your help in case the mysterious hero comes into play. I take it you know about him, correct?" Asked Slade.
"…Of course." Said the figure after a moment of silence. "Alright, tell me what you want me to do." Slade then smiled.
The next day
Park
"It's great to see you again, Jake." Said Raven as she and Soundwave were sitting in the shade of a tree as they saw the other titans play soccer with a bunch of fans. Upon seeing that Robin was becoming too obsessive with finding Slade as well as finding the mysterious hero, now known as Soundwave, and determining if he was friend or foe, the team decided to have a break from crime-fighting and play at the park. It took a lot of convincing to have Robin come, especially since he said that he was close to getting a lead on Slade, but he eventually relented when Starfire pulled the old kitty eye look on him. So, the team went to the park to have some fun. While on the way, Soundwave decided to contact Raven to see if she wanted to spend time with him. She said that she can if Soundwave wanted to be at the park with them. He agreed and speed to the park. Upon meeting the titans, he introduced himself as Jake Miller, the guise he made for his holo-avatar. The six eat some food, played a few games, and had a great time together, though Soundwave wished that he didn't do such activities because he wanted to just have a conversation with Raven. Still, it was nice to get close to the titans, so when the time comes to establish relations with them, this meeting with them will help influence their decision on what to do with him.
"Likewise, Raven." Said Soundwave as he observed the soccer match. During this whole meeting with the titans, Soundwave decided to speak with them, albeit with an artificial voice so that they can't identify him as the mysterious hero, to better improve relations with them. After dealing with the initial shock at hearing him speak, Soundwave then made a lie that he only spoke with people he trusted due to personal reasons that he doesn't like to talk about. Fortunately, the titans bought that and never asked him why he never spoke during his first meeting with Raven. "Why are you all here, anyway?"
"Personal reasons." Said Raven simply. She trusted him, but not enough to tell him about the personal problems they had, particularly about Robin's obsessions. And his obsession went into overdrive after Slade contacted him personally after they stopped him from stealing an experimental chip, which was stolen along with another one by a mysterious criminal called Red-X. This, along with finding the mysterious hero, now known as Soundwave, and confronting him, was worrying her and the team. Soundwave, upon hearing her response, just grunted.
"Very well. If I may ask, would you like to do this again? Just the two of us?" Asked Soundwave.
"Sure." Said Raven with a small smile. "It's better than listening to Beast Boy's jokes." On that, Soundwave agreed. A few hours passed and the six had to leave. They all said their goodbyes and parted ways. As they were walking, Beast boy had a grin on his face.
"So, Raven. You like that guy?" Asked Beast Boy. Raven, getting what he was implying, glared at him.
"I do not like him that way." Stated Raven with a monotone voice. Beast Boy, however, just grinned more.
"Classic denial." Said Beast Boy. "Admit it. You like him." The other titans were either smiling, squealing, or giving of a small laugh. Beast Boy was about to sing about Raven and Jake sitting in a tree, when Raven enveloped his mouth with her powers. As he was protesting this, Raven was marching down to the tower with a small blush on her face.
"You kinda deserved that, Beastie." Commented Cyborg as he and the other titans followed Raven. Beast Boy just sighed before walking with everyone else. Meanwhile, after departing from the Titans and ground bridging back to the Sovereign, Soundwave was reviewing the security footage from his drones that caught the mysterious thief, Red-X, doing battle with the Titans. As he was reviewing the battle footage, he noticed that Robin was not around during these fight, aside from that one instance when he was trapped by Red-X and he ordered the team to leave him and to go catch Red-X. They did so, but Red-X still managed to escape. However, he noticed that Red-X saved Beast Boy when he was about to be run-over by a train. Now, this could mean that Red-X didn't want anyone killed or that he didn't want the press to be all over him, creating more attention to him than he would have liked…or that he was really Robin. The last theory he had was some merit. During his two fights with the titans, most of Red-X's attacks were non-lethal to the titans. He was also able to shut-down Cyborg with ease. Robin was mostly never around when Red-X appeared and that one instance could have easily be done with a hologram. The fact that Slade attempted to steal one chip before. The final piece of evidence he had was his obsession with Slade. What's to say he wouldn't go so far as to break the law he supposedly upholds, so he can catch a criminal. He had to commend Robin if that was the case. He was willing to break the trust of his team, if the team didn't know his plan, and break his, so called morals just to catch a criminal. It was something he did before during the Great War on Cybertron. Nevertheless, this theory was simply be a theory until proven otherwise. And he can't do that until he catches Red-X and unmask him. To do that, he needed to know where he was going to strike.
He then brought out the two chips that Red-X stole. Both were experimental chips that were able to process any sort of data almost instantly. Theoretically, they would be able to power the most data-intense machines, such as the Justice league watchtower, with ease. Of course, given the watchtowers extensive security systems, one would need more than one chip to gain control of it. Perhaps, Red-X contacted Slade that, in exchange for the chips, he pays him a large amount of money, or, if Red-X was Robin, information about his plans. Soundwave then realized that there was one more chip left that was similar to the ones stolen. He then brought up the security feeds, only to see them deactivated. Seeing this, he then attempted to get the feedback online. After a few seconds of work, the feed was back online. What he saw shocked him. It wasn't Red-X attempting to steal the device, no, that was obvious. It was the person with Red-X that shocked him.
"Impossible. He was confirmed dead after the exodus." Thought Soundwave as he saw the most feared bounty hunter of Cybertronian history fighting Red-X in a one-sided battle.
Few minutes earlier
Red-X was silently approaching the last chip that Slade wanted him to take. Beneath the mask, Robin was smirking. His plan of posing as a thief in order to fool Slade to tell him about his plans was paying off. Deep inside him, though, he was feeling a bit regret on doing all this. He was crossing the line of good and evil by doing this. He was forgoing the lessons Bruce taught him, just to catch Slade. Not only that, but he was risking the trust of his team for doing this. All these thoughts were then squashed aside. This had to happen, otherwise he'll never find out what Slade's planning. With that, he grabbed the chip and held it, observing it. He was so caught in his thoughts that he almost didn't hear something being fired. He dodged in the last minute, barely dodging the hook that was launched at him. As he landed, he looked to see the hook being reeled back to someone in the shadows. Narrowing his eyes, Robing brought out a red, X-shaped boomerang.
"I take it you're a hired gun to protect this chip." Said Robin as he got ready for a fight. To his surprise, the person in the shadows just chuckled.
"Not really. I was hired by Slade to test your abilities…Robin." Said the shadow as he marched toward him. He enjoyed the look of surprise coming from Robin when he heard him say his name. "Don't be surprised. It was painfully obvious that it was you beneath the mask. You stealing the same chip Slade stole, then contacting Slade right after you stole it. Then you saving that green kid from death. Next time," The person was then revealed to Robin, whose eyes widened even more at seeing that it was a machine. "If you're going undercover, don't make it so obvious who you actually are." The machine other arm then transformed into a shotgun. "The names Lockdown. In case you wanted to know." The machine then fired his shotgun at Robin, who barely had enough time to dodge as the pellets missed him. One, however, grazed his abdomen, which erupted in pain as the pellet sheared his flesh.
"Molten metal, kid." Commented Lockdown as Robin held his abdomen. "Strong stuff." Lockdown then charged at Robin, readying his hook to rip off chunks of his flesh. Robin, despite his injury, got up and dodged Lockdown's attacks. He then threw several X-shaped shurikens at him, but they only bounced off when they hit his shields. Lockdown then fired his hook arm again, but to his surprise, Robin used it to his advantage. By using some sort of quick drying liquid, he managed to stick his hook to the floor.
"Impressive." Said Lockdown as he observed Robin do this. "No wonder, Slade's interested in you," He then smirked. "But you gotta do better than that!" With that, he retracted his hook back, surprising Robin as he didn't think that Lockdown could do that. Lockdown then attacked Robin with a jump kick during his moment of surprise. While the young hero was down, Lockdown then slammed his foot down, cracking ribs. As Robin spurted out blood, Lockdown received a transmission from Slade.
"Don't worry, Slade, I won't kill him." Said Lockdown after hearing what Slade had to say. "You pay me to test him and I'm testing him now. Besides, some cracked ribs and spilled blood won't mean that he won't go back to being in tip top shape. Also," Lockdown then got off Robin and aimed his weapon at the shadows. "Your mysterious hero is here." With that he cut off the transmission and looked at Soundwave's approaching frame. Seeing him, Lockdown smirked. "I got to admit, Soundwave, never thought I ever see another Cybertronian, aside from my crew, again. That, and I never thought, you of all people, will be fighting for the good guys. After all, what you did in the Great War, can prove disastrous for your hero career if anyone found out you're history." Soundwave remained silent as Lockdown continued to talk. "*Laughs* Right. Forgot about your whole silent vow thing. C'mon, Soundwave, never talking after what happened to your other cassettes. That's just a bit extreme. Besides, they probably deserved it. Those useless piles of sla…" He didn't get to say more when Soundwave was right up to his face and punched him. He stumbled a bit, but he regained his balance soon. Lockdown then smirked as he spit out a bit of Energon.
"Struck a nerve, didn't I." Said Lockdown as he saw Soundwave's tightly clenched fists. "Now, before we go and fight each other, I want to know how you got the technology to shrink yourself. I needed to steal some human tech for that. And since, I heard no-one stealing any of that particular tech recently, I take it you made it yourself or got it from a wrecked Cybertronian ship." Seeing Soundwave tense, made Lockdown smirked. "Don't be surprised, Soundwave. Actually, be surprised. For some reason, a bunch of wrecked Cybertronian ships made here to this dimension. I took it upon myself to…salvage their remains and crew. After all, one needs anything they can get when they're stuck in some unknown place. I would speak more, but I monologued enough. Let's just fight." With that Lockdown jumped and began to fire his shotgun at Soundwave, who returned fired with his subsonic repeater. After running out of ammo in his gun, Lockdown launched an E.M.P. grenade at Soundwave, who transformed out of the way before it detonated. He then fired some rockets at Lockdown, who shot them down before they could get too close. Lockdown then fired his hook at the direction Soundwave was going, who transformed and dodged the hook. This was Lockdown's plan, however, as he jumped and crashed into Soundwave and proceeded to smash his fist into Soundwave's visor. After taking three punches, Soundwave grabbed Lockdown's fist and headbutted him. As the bounty hunter was dazed, Soundwave grabbed him with his tentacles and threw him away. Lockdown skidded on the ground, creating sparks, before gaining control of himself. He then fired his hook again, this time latching onto Soundwave's arm. He then pulled Soundwave toward him as he got ready to fire a shotgun blast at his face. However, Soundwave got out Laserbeak, who fired several laser blasts at Lockdown. Though his shields took the damage, the drone managed to distract Lockdown, giving Soundwave the chance to slice the wire attaching the hook to Lockdown's arm. He then fired repeater at Lockdown, taking down his shields and pelting him with shots. Lockdown growled as he set up a barrier in front of him, preventing him from taking more damage. Seeing the stalemate, Lockdown placed his remaining hand behind his back, and after a few seconds, he threw a grenade at Soundwave. There was a flash and Soundwave was blinded at the resulting flash. Lockdown used this and fired several rockets at Soundwave, who took the full burnt of the attack, damagining him significantly As Soundwave looked at Lockdown, who was approaching him with a pincer weapon, he tried to summon a weapon, but Lockdown shot it with his weapon, which shot a laser at his transforming hand. Laserbeak tried to help, but Lockdown fired at hit, expertly hitting the bird and knocking it out of commission. When he finally stooped walking, Lockdown looked at the defeated Soundwave. The two then stared at each other. As he was about to plunge his weapon at Soundwave's spark chamber, the ceiling exploded.
"Titans go!" Yelled Cyborg as he and the rest of the team, san Starfire, dropped down. Seeing that the titans were here, Lockdown threw down a smoke grenade and used the resulting smokescreen to escape. As soon as the smokescreen was gone, the titan's eye widened at the sight they saw.
Meanwhile
Slade's hideout
"I must admit, you proved exceptionally well." Said Slade as he reviewed the footage of the fight between Lockdown and Robin as well as his fight with Soundwave. "Better even. Thought I will admit, I was disappointed that you injured Robin to such an extent."
"Relax, Slade. He'll recover." Said Lockdown, annoyed that he was being criticized.
"Hmmm…fair point." Said Slade as he finished watching. "As for your payment, what do you desire?"
"I'll send you a list." Said Lockdown as he was beginning to leave. "Call me if you ever need me again. I'll even bring some muscle with me as well." As soon as he left, Slade broke a smile.
"Oh, that won't be necessary." Said Slade as several head lights lit up somewhere behind him. He then turned toward the light. Upon seeing the massive machine monster, he smiled more. The machine had was yellow on the chest with an arrange of colors for it's other limbs. The left arm was yellow and red with a wing attached to the shoulder. The right was blue and yellow with extensions. The legs were either yellow with purple or blue with red. The machine had claw-like arms and had razor sharp teeth. It was chained down as it had violently attacking anything it saw when his drones uncovered it. As he walked closer to it, it growled, but remained immobile.
"Once I learn how to control this being, I won't need your services, Lockdown." Said Slade as he left the monster alone, intending to figure out a way to control it.
Most of you guessed it was Lockdown. You were all right. To be honest, it was rather easy to guess cause I based his appearance on his animated look. Some of you guessed Swindle. Sorry, but he's not appearing...yet. That's right. Swindle and his team may appear. Who knows. Anyway, before I go. Lockdown and Soundwave will likely face each other again. Also, who can guess that transformer Slade has in his possession. I'll give you'll a hint, it's a combiner, but its one of the more obscure ones.
