Mist clung to the streets like twisting vines. The morning was bitter in taste and feel, and the silent city nearly quivered from the cold. But the ground shook, with a force akin to an earthquake beneath the cemented skin of Jump City.
A large shape, a twisted figure of metal and wires flew from the curling tendrils that shrouded the city in a blanket of white. Over a few hundred metres tall, it hung over the buildings like a parasite. Sleep-ridden citizens slipped from their homes, only to dive back inside at the sight of the giant. Fires licked the clouds around them and buildings crumbled as the giant swung its arms, swiping at invisible things around it, only proceeding to crumble the city.
Across from the city, an alarm blared in a tower of glass and metal clockwork. A large 'T' structure, built high into the sky, blared with red warning lights. But below, a sleek build of a car thundered down towards the city, with three shadowed fingers following silently overhead; a girl in purple and silver, another cloaked in dark violet and a hawk with lime green feathers across its body.
They hit the road of Jump City, a swift curve sending the car onto its side wheels as they followed a path of destruction and fire. Inside, a boy with black hair and a mask to match gripped the arm rests, though a grin curled across his lips. He turned to the driver, a man riddled with machinery across his body, who stared uneasily at the screens that littered the dashboard of the car. "What've we got, Cyborg?"
Cyborg grunted in reply as his large fingertips skimmed across the glowing screen, searching endlessly whilst still keeping an eye trained skilfully ahead. "N-Nothing! I got nothing, Robin! This thing isn't in my database or any of the ones I'm hacking!"
A curled fist slammed against the seat as the car skidded to a stop, teeth gritted in an annoyed snarl. His fingers dug into his belt, snatching a circular communicator out of his pocket, and flicked it open with a snap as they got out. Growling into the communicator, it buzzed to life. "Starfire – I need you, Raven and Beastboy to the front of this thing; we need to know what we're dealing with first." A static reply filtered through the receiver, and Robin pushed the communicator back into his belt, before turning to Cyborg. A long, nimble finger pointed upwards, towards the rooftops, and he received an excited grin in return, as a large hand curled around the scruff of his neck and they shot into the air.
In front of them, Starfire, Raven and Beastboy landed a few two hundred metres from the lumbering mass. Starfire, her fire-red hair waving around her head in a dizzying mass of curls, stared upwards towards the looming shape that would soon arrive before them. She turned towards Raven, a girl with chopped purple locks, and blinked, tilting her head innocently. "Friend-Raven, how will we be doing the 'recognising' of this villain?"
Raven, now used to the naivety of Starfire, spoke with an even tone laced through her words. "We need to try to figure out what this thing wants and why, use its weaknesses against it."
Before Starfire could blurt out another question, a metal foot, the size of a curled swimming pool, landed before them, cracking the ground and splintering the world around them. Debris and dust flew up from the crater it had created, and the three fell back. A collective groan fell through the group as they blinked away the pain that blossomed under their skin. From her side, Starfire could hear Beastboy gasp. "An alien robot!? Cool, I want one."
Red blinded their vision, as light blared from circular eyes. A creaking jaw roared in anger, sending them flying back into the ground at the pressure. As the roar ceased, Raven screeched in anger, flying upwards and throwing her hands into the air above her hooded head. Her familiar chant escaped her lips, and around them, as the robot straightened, the windows darkened and quivered, before a hail of broken glass erupted into the robot's face, blinding it as her hands clasped together. Starfire lurched into the air beside her as it stumbled back, the ground rattling beneath their feet.
Above, Robin smirked at the sight and his hand spun the elongated metal staff in his hands. With a cry, the lithe teenager burst from the rooftop, and threw his staff into a cleft between the back of the robot's rounded and jagged head and it's curved back, littered with dust and broken debris, finding purchase there. His eyes searched for any weak spots, before noticing a small, pencil thin crack running down the curve of the dome-like structure. Turning to the rooftop to his left, he lifted a curled fist, a signal to Cyborg.
As Robin dropped from sight on the robot's shoulders, Cyborg grinned, and waved his arms wildly around his head. Across from him, the robot turned its head slowly, movements almost sluggish. With a laugh, Cyborg's left arm flickered and flipped into a blaster. "Time to turn up the heat! Booyah!"
The blast reverberated off of the robot's cheek, sending chunks of scorched metal to the ground as the left side of its face disappeared. As Cyborg cheered, the robot crowed in heated anger, and as its large hand lifted to swipe angrily at Cyborg like he was a speck of mud on his windshield, the ground was lifted from beneath his metal toes. Cyborg gave a small screech at the feeling, before looking upwards, finding a feathered face glancing down at him. If hawks could smile, Cyborg was sure Beastboy would be grinning at the sound.
On the ground, Robin joined Starfire and Raven, the staff broken in half with jagged corners, but it hardly seemed to bother him as he twirled it between white knuckles. Starfire's eyes glowed a sickly green, energy balls surrounding her clenched fists as she aimed at the legs of the robot. But its eyes were no longer pressed on them or the two titans that had taken flight among its head. Red orbs turned to the ground between its feet, and the titan's eyes followed.
A body weaved between the large, metal columns of the robots feet. Short in stature, with a bouncing mane of black across its shoulders. Bursting from the seams of mist around the ankles of the robot, whose fingers swiped downwards to somehow snatch the stranger, was a girl. Sweat clung to her face and any other sight of skin they could see, showing her exhaustion. Her brown eyes were wild, and a large cut swept from her temple to the hollow of her cheek, waves of blood running down the side of her face. It matted into the pale blue overalls that covered her entire body; much like a prisoner would wear every day, with the absence of the orange.
Their eyes widened at the sight and Robin turned to Raven at his right. "Raven, go save the citi-" but suddenly, before Robin could finish his words, a sharp screech ripped through the chaos as Beastboy and Cyborg landed behind them. A clamp, curved into a claw, gripped the girl around the waist. A petrified screech broke through her chapped lips, fingers clawing at the metal that dragged her back towards the beast. It hauled her upwards, quickly into a compartment in its chest, slamming its opened hatch closed as she disappeared behind the metal body.
Jaws slackened and Starfire landed beside Robin, gripping his arm in shock. "That poor girl! Robin, we must rescue her from that beast!"
"We will, Starfire, I -" behind them, the robot seemed to vibrate violently. Enraged shrill screeches escaped through its metal teeth, large, broken fingers clawing at its chest where it had trapped the girl. From the cracks between its armour, a red glow pierced through the air. It seemed to shimmer and cause more cracks to ripple through the armour like snakes across its metal body. Then, the world collapsed into a kaleidoscope of broken and burnt metal.
As the dust settled around the five heroes, they turned their gaze's skywards, and standing on the wobbling legs of the crumbled giant, was the same girl that had been trapped into the belly of the beast. Angry red rings circled her body; fists clenched and eyes wide, glowing red, the rings resembled much like the ones that circled Saturn. She stood tall, proud and stable, but that image soon cracked as the red dripped away, and her eyes returned to the same dark brown. Her frame wobbled, before her eyes slid closed and she dropped from the legs that fell to a pile beneath her.
Before a command could even hit the air, Raven was hovering beside the girl in mid-air, her arms sliding beneath her bent knees and shoulders. She re-appeared beside the others in seconds, supporting the girl against her chest with a blank look, startling Beastboy into clinging to Cyborg's arm. The others curled into her, to peer down at the girl, unconscious in her arms. Innocently, Beastboy peered upwards at their leader in red. "What do we do with her?"
Four sets of eyes turned to the teenager, whose brow crumpled in wonderment as he stared down at the girl. Her chest heaved with broken breaths, her fingers curled around nothing and she seemed to flinch, even in unconsciousness. Moreover, she was incredibly thin, and the gash on the side of her face was deep, as well as the burn marks that littered her blue overalls had seemed to burn into her skin with the force of her destructive powers. Robin's lip curled, before his decision was made and he turned to his team.
He nodded towards the tower. "We'll take her home and bandage her up, then, when she wakes, we'll find out why the robot wanted her. Cyborg, you stay here and help the police clean up and tell them what happened. Raven, you teleport to the tower and get her comfortable," the team broke, and Robin thundered to the car, leaving Cyborg in his wake, who saluted him, and following Starfire and Beastboy as they flew overhead to the tower.