Chapter 8-Plans and Traps

(Jump City Southside of town)

It wasn't surprising that Slade would choose an abandoned building for a hideout for his operations. All thugs, criminals, and psychos did when they needed a place to put their plans into action when doing evil deeds on a city. Gotham City as well as Metropolis has their fair share of them with guardians that protect them from this evil. Jump City was no exception to such things even though most of its citizens would never compare their fair city to Gotham City or Metropolis. Batman and the other Titans made their way to the warehouse Slade had setup shop in thanks to the information David Knox gave them.

David had revealed to them that he had been hired and paid by Slade for a minor hacking job into a Top Secret folder in City Halls mainframe that held the blue prints to Titans Tower. It was how Slade was able to infiltrate and sneak into the tower on the roof from the very beginning. David was also paid for creating a code breaker for the roofs door as well as the Titans sleeping quarter security.

Cyborg did later admit the weakest area of security in the entire tower was in fact the roof. The reason was he didn't believe anyone would attack from the roof much less infiltrate it from that entry point. "There is no easy way in. The building and the area around it are heavily guarded on all fronts. There is no blind spot that can be used to sneak into the place," said Cyborg as he scanned the area around the building complex.

"Slade has been busy in the time Robin has been away from the city. He obviously knew that his base of operations was going to be found sooner or later so he beefed up security," said Batman as he looked through is binoculars to see countless Slade bots guarding the area in and out of the massive building.

"What do we do knight of the dark?" said Starfire who was got a menacing look from Batman.

"Star it's the Dark Knight. Not...whatever you said," said Beast Boy who shook his head over the fact Starfire was saying things with the meaning of words in their opposite form.

"A direct attack on the complex is out of the question because the sheer number would defeat us almost immediately...unless..." said Batman as he started planning.

"What? You're planning something I can tell. Your brain's burning up a plan isn't it?" said Beast Boy who tried to sniff near Batman's mask only to get the back of Batman's fist to is face.

"Sorry. Force of habit," said Batman as he calculated the chance of his plan working.

"What's the plan?" said Cyborg who wanted to know what it was.

"I'll be right back. I have to contact someone before we move in," said Batman as he got up and left the spot he was kneeling down on.

"Who?" said the three Titans at the same time.

"Someone you know," said Batman before he disappeared into the shadows.

(In the building complex)

Slade was watching the security camera's video feed of the Titans spying on his complex and the man he hated so much walk away into the shadows. "So you finally found me haven't you...old friend? Not surprising really, I suppose it was bound to happen since I beat his dear little bird of a son within an inch of his life. Even now he plans to attack me in a way that catches me off guard. Well I say go ahead former comrade from the League of Shadows...come get me!" said Slade in his eerie voice as he continued to watch s Batman returned to the three remaining titans.

(Outside not far from the building)

"Who did you call?" said Cyborg wanting to know more.

"Trust me. The less you know...the better. All I can tell you is that no matter what under any circumstance...you must not struggle if captured," said Batman calmly.

"What are you talking about?" said Beast Boy confused.

"Do you trust me?" said Batman staring at all three titans.

"No," said Cyborg immediately.

"No way dude! Your crazy," said Beast Boy.

"I am unsure. Your tactics for fighting do resemble something Robin would do, but only as a last resort," said Starfire politely, but somewhat nervous.

"Regardless...you must trust me. Just as you would trust Robin," said Batman seriously.

"Fine! What do we have to do?" said Cyborg realizing that whatever the plan was Robin would probably do as well in the same situation.

"Simple. We fight our way through them. Cyborg will go left, Beast Boy will go right, Starfire will attack from the air, and I will engage the enemy in the middle. We have to fight with everything we've got. Understand?" said Batman who saw their surprised faces.

"That's it? No big strategy with backup contingency plans and stuff?" aid Beast Boy who finally spoke up.

"Yeah won't Slade be expecting that?" said Cyborg next.

"No. He thinks I'm planning something more cunning then this. What we need is a plan that will surprise him and catch him off guard. Sometimes you find that the most obvious of plans are the most surprising to an enemy who expects the least of such things," said Batman as he had a hint of something in his voice.

It seemed to sound like there was a surprise coming in the long run that told the three titans to trust the Dark Knight. "All right. Let's do this," said Cyborg reluctantly.

Almost immediately the three titans and the dark knight struck hard and fast upon the building complex as they attacked with everything they had on the Slade bots. Starfire's aerial assault from her star bolts from her hands and eyes did significant damage to Slade's robot army. Cyborg used his two sonic cannon's to do double the damage to the army that his first one did. Beast Boy's transformation into a Tyrannosaurus also was a big help as well.

However, it was Batman's skill, speed, and cunning that did the most damage as he plowed through the army that though was much larger were robots with limited reflex time. "So the Titans and the Batman think they can plow right through my army on all sides do they? Well their in for a big surprise!" said Slade as he watched from his metal throne as he flipped a few switches and activated the buildings external defense systems.

As Batman and the Titans got closer to the building they found themselves stopped in their tracks by different traps that captured all of them. For Starfire it was a high-tech energy net designed to neutralize her powers. For Cyborg it was an EMP wave turret that shut down his cybernetic systems causing him to fall over. Beast Boy fell through a trap door underneath him and was hit with knock out gas. Batman himself was taken down by the now overwhelming army of Slade's robots and was soon subdued by them. 'I hope they get here soon,' thought Batman as he thought back to the call he made before the attack.