Chapter 4
Conflictions
"Ok Bravo 1 you're cleared for departure."
"Roger that, we're making our exit."
The smell of gasoline hung in the air as gas pipes were removed from an armored transport. The transport roared as its twin horsepower engines sprang to life. The transport was a dull gray color and looked like a long caterpillar that had swallowed a cardboard box. A few engineers finished bolting the cargo compartment on the side of the transport and gave the driver a thumbs up.
The transport accelerated out of the garage and turned onto the exit ramp that would lead them back to them through an abandoned neighborhood and into the heart of Jump City. Two bulky Humeves with jet black paint speed out of the garage after the transport. One took up a position three car lengths behind the transport. The other pulled ahead of the transport and took up a position in from of it.
Moments later a woman in a black and white police uniform lifted herself body out of the roof of the rear Humeve and slung the strap of her energy rifle around her shoulder. She flipped the safety on incase she was spooked and by accidentally fired at into the roof of her vehicle. A few second after that, a man, who was also dressed in a police uniform, lifted himself body out of the Humeve positioned at the rear of the formation and manned a long barreled particle cannon that was recently fitted onto his car.
The particle cannon, bearing a large resemblance to an old 50 caliber machine gun, was the newest addition to the law enforcement arsenal's and operated much like the energy rifles were standard issue in the United States military and law enforcement. But those weapons cost thousands of dollars per rifle, not to mention the cost of the ammunition they took, and ate through their chemical power cells like acid through paper. The biggest draw back to the standard energy weapons was that when they fired a round it would overheat the gun and possible melt it from within. So the original design was scratched and now they fired super cooled energy rounds, which acted basically like glowing metal slugs.
The particle cannon would be the first of a new generation of energy based weapons that were supposed to not only give the operator unimaginable accuracy at a high rate of fire but recycling the excess energy, giving the user an almost unlimited supply of ammunition, not to mention saving millions of dollars on ammunition.
This weapon harnessed the power of light, literally. It would capture energy from the sun, or any other light source, and compress it inside a small vacuum chamber. Once it had reached critical capacity the weapon would fire it out the barrel at the speed of light. At first there were problems with the barrel overheating, like its predecessors, but an addition to the weapon was added that would revolutionize energy based weapons, if it worked. A chemical would be introduced into the chamber so that when the gun fired the blast would give off a coolant in the form of a gas in its wake that would equalize the temperature along the barrel.
Needless to say the man couldn't wait to try out his new weapon even if this was its Maiden Voyage. He waved at the drivers of the transport, both of whom were looking nervously at the particle cannon from their side mirrors, to assure them they were in good hands. If someone was to meet him for the first time, they'd notice he had a partiality for weapons, a very discomforting notion.
The officer tapped the side of his helmet and his ears were filled with the sound of static. "So what's in the truck anyways?" he said over the radio.
The officer heard a grunt from his commander over the radio. "That's none of your business Hudson, now man that blasted gun before I come over there and give you a reason to other than protecting that transport!"
His commander was the stereotypical army sergeant in ever conceivable way. He was cleanly shaving, his left cheek bearing a few scars from his career in the army, which might explain his army sergeant attitude, and had no toleration for wise guys or anyone from Wisconsin. Unfortunately for Hudson, he was both.
Hudson leaned against the roof of the car and rolled his eyes as his commander droned on about keeping a lookout and the importance of the mission they were undertaking and other useless crap. Hudson was glad his red bubble visor hid his face from view, or his commander would have had his head on a spike for all the times he rolled his eyes or made ill-mannered faces at him. It gave him a way to vent his emotions without anyone knowing.
"DID YOU ROLL YOUR EYES AT ME SON?"
Or so he thought.
"Uh no sir, not at all sir," Hudson quickly responded. He grabbed the handles on the cannon and looked down the sights.
"Good, that's what I like about you Hudson, always on task."
"Yeah…thanks commander." Hudson wiped a bead of sweat from his brow, a difficult task considering he was still wearing his helmet, and continued to scan the road for signs of trouble. The convoy reached the outer edge of Jump City and the road began to fork up ahead. Hudson eyed his gun with passion and rubbed his faceplate against the barrel of his particle cannon while running his hand down it. "Oh yeah, this one's gonna kick some-"
"Don't swear Hudson," came the voice of Hudson's driver over the com, Christian. "You're not good at it."
"Yeah says you," Hudson replied.
"That's right says me."
Christian and Hudson were always paired together on the squad. Though they got on each others nerves more often than not, they were best friends and no matter what they had each other's back.
"Would you two knock it off?"
"Victoria you're not in this!" Christian shot back.
Victoria was the only female member on their squad and one the best marksman in the academy. She could hit a soda can from two hundred meters away with one shot from a horrible inaccurate law enforcement energy pistol. The only reason why she wasn't the one manning the new particle cannon was that she had an uncanny ability of breaking new and expensive equipment without even trying. Sometimes equipment that was supposed to be 'unbreakable'. She went through about three energy rifles and roughly five energy pistols week, not counting her bad days. Christian always teased her that if they were to kick her out of law enforcement it would cut the defense budget by half. Obviously the two didn't get along very well and Hudson had a hard time choosing sides. So he usually stayed out of their confrontations.
"Well I am now," she snapped.
She turned around in her turret so she was facing the Humeve in the rear. Hudson merely shook his head and gave her the signal to ignore him. She nodded and gave him short wave and returned to scanning the road for signs of trouble, making sure to check every darkening corner twice as the outskirts of Jump City became closer.
Hudson felt his leg being tapped and he ducked down into the interior and his vehicle. The Humeve swerved to the left as they turned onto another lane so they didn't by accidentally take the turn off.
"What do you want?" said Hudson.
Christian depolarized his faceplate so Hudson could see his smiling face. He was grinning from ear to ear. "Have you asked her yet?"
Hudson cocked his head. "What?"
Christian motioned towards the lead Humeve and Hudson quickly realized who he was referring to.
"Why are you asking me this now, we're on a mission!" Hudson griped.
"Well have you?"
"No not yet."
"Well you better hurry up, she won't stay open forever?"
"SHUT UP!"
"Who are you guys talking about?"
Hudson and Christian instantly snapped their attention to the lead Humeve where Victoria was looking back at them with her energy rifle slung around her shoulder. They had forgotten to secure their com link.
Hudson and Christian looked to each other, then back to Victoria. Christian re-polarized his faceplate so Victoria couldn't seem him.
"No one," they said in unison.
Victoria gave them both a suspicious look and returned to her duty.
Hudson slapped Christian on the head causing their Humeve to make a quick honk. "You idiot, you almost blew-"
Before Hudson could finish his sentence an explosion rocked the Humeve and sent it swerving off to the left while the rest of the convoy went right. Hudson smacked his head on the roof and fell into the backseat while Christian fought to steady the car.
"JESUS WHAT WAS THAT!" Hudson shouted, while rubbing his cracked helmet.
Christian merely gave him a shrug and Hudson climbed back up to his turret. He looked back to the road they had just come off of and saw a large blast crater still fuming in the center of the road. The Humeve repositioned itself on the right side of the road and continued down the abandoned street.
"Commander, come in commander," Christian called over the radio. "Are you alright?"
"We're fine," the commander replied. "The only problem is we're under attack."
The men in the Humeve could hear the faint whines of discharging energy weapons a few streets down. The commander sounded unusually calm for someone coming under fire, but then again the commander usually was calm about anything.
Hudson continued to scan the street as Christian tried to lay out a plan with their commander. "Commander we need to link back up."
"Ya think!" cried Victoria.
Christian ignored her.
"Agreed," said the commander. "I've already plotted a course that should link us back up, head to the following coordinates."
The onboard computer inside the Humeve snapped to life and began plotting a course to the coordinates the commander had provided.
"Roger that, we'll be there within a few minutes," replied Christian.
"Uh Chris," said Hudson.
"What?"
Hudson swiveled his particle cannon on its stand so that it was facing the silhouette of a man standing on top of a roof down the street. "WE GOT COMPANY!"
The man on top of the building fired a stream of red energy projectiles at the Humeve and missed Hudson's head by a few inches. Hudson fired the particle cannon, sending a burst of blue and red energy at the man. The man attempted to dodge but was to late and his body was shattered by the blast. The Humeve swerved left and Hudson was showered by a hail of robotic parts. Well there was one good thing: the cannon worked.
They're robots? Hudson thought in surprise. He shoved an arm that had fallen onto the Humeve off the roof and held on tightly as Christian made a tight turn around the corner.
As they rounded the corner, a dozen drones dropped onto the road and began firing streams of energy at the Humeve. Christian swerved right and left, trying to avoid a direct hit, and ran over three of the drones as he sped the car up to fifty miles per hour. Hudson swung around in the turret and picked off the remaining drones with his cannon. Each one he hit was blasted into a shower of loose mechanical parts, turning a few feet of street into a miniature junkyard.
Christian made a sharp right turn, lifting the Humeve off two of its wheels for a moment, and sped down another street. Two dozen drones fired their weapons from rooftops on either side of the Humeve, causing it to nearly crash into the old apartments lining the street as it continued to avoid being hit. Hudson ducked into the Humeve before one drones hit him then jumped back up and swept the rooftops with a continuous burst of plasma. The drones were instantly vaporized by the blast, but several gutters and chimneys caved in as a result of the indiscriminant firing.
"Alright we're almost there!" Christian shouted over the radio.
"Good," Hudson replied, relieved that their battle was almost over.
"Don't worry; I'll get you back to your girlfriend!"
The mention of her name caused Hudson's thoughts to turn to Victoria for a moment. He imagined them walking through a field hand in hand talking and laughing as they went. They stopped by a lake and turned to each other, her hair flowing the gently in the breeze.
His daydream ended abruptly as a stream of red stream of energy struck the side of the Humeve and cut the front axel in two. The front bumper of the Humeve slammed into the road sending sparks across the hood and Christian battled the broken vehicle for control.
"DUDE THAT ONE WAS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU!" Christian shouted.
Hudson quickly turned and fired on the drone but it escaped down an alley. The Humeve began to pick up speed and Christian was finding it harder to control the runaway vehicle. Hudson tried to steady himself in the turret but Christian's erratic driving was making it increasingly difficult.
"Christian come in, we're almost at the rendezvous point." said the commander of the radio. His voice was extremely garbled; the radio had been damaged by the hit.
Christian knew that the vehicle was lost and slammed the brakes on the Humeve trying to force it to come to a stop. There was no change in speed, when the axel was hit it also cut through the tank holding the braking fluid which was now spilling out across the street. Christian looked on in horror as he realized the rendezvous point was the intersection speeding towards them. They were going to collide head on with the rest of the convoy.
"Commander," Christian shouted. "Stop the convoy, I repeat stop the convoy!"
"WHAT!" the commander shouted.
Apparently the damage done to their radio was affecting any outgoing transmissions as well. Christian and Hudson could hear discharging energy weapons coming closer and knew that the commander was having a hard time hearing them over the background noise.
"Stop the convoy!"
"STOP THE WHAT-!"
A set of headlights illuminated the street as the transport neared the intersection.
"STOP THE CONVOY," Christian screamed, tears were now pouring down his face. "STOP THE DAMN CONVOY WE'RE GOING TO CRA-!"
Hudson was flung from the turret as the crippled Humeve slammed into the cab of the transport. Hudson slammed into a light pole and fell to the ground. His vision began to darken but struggled to stay awake. His body felt as though to was beaten by a sledge hammer and hundred times over. The only thing that saved him was his combat armor which was now damaged beyond repair. It had cracks lining the length of it and had burn marks crisscrossing his shoulders and chest.
Hudson rolled his head to the side to see what had become of his Humeve. Its front end was imbedded into the side of the transport and Hudson noticed that the second Humeve had crashed into the rear end of the transport. There was no sign of any of the drivers and the vehicles were engulfed in a magnificent orange flame that rose up to the sky. Hudson wondered if they were still trapped inside, alive and unable to get out. His question was answered as a secondary explosion as the particle cannon ignited the half of the convoy in a blue and red flame. The two flames mixed together, illuminating the street in a majestic spectrum of colors.
There was a sparkle in the corner of Hudson's eye and he turned to it. Victoria was laying just a few feet away from him, her helmet was cracked and now revealed her delicate face that he so adored. Hudson wanted to reach out to her but found he didn't have the strength. He let out a small grunt but she didn't respond, nor would she ever.
A set of footsteps approached him from behind and Hudson barely had the strength to turn to it. One of the drones towered over him, glaring down at him menacingly. It held two crescent moon shaped energy pistols in both hands and seemed to stand much straighter than the others. Hudson squinted for a clearer view and noticed two hazel blue eyes staring down at him from beneath the mask, both looked empty and devoid of life. Hudson tried to call out to him but the words were lost in his throat. For the last seconds of his consciousness, Hudson saw the drone before lift his foot above his face and bring it down on his face.
The drone looked over Hudson with a sense of wonder. This man had looked at the girl in a way he did not recognize. He was perplexed by the look of…affection. The drone brushed these thoughts aside kicked him in the ribs to make sure he didn't get back up. The drone left him, satisfied that he'd be of no further trouble, and ordered the other drones to open the transport. It was inside the transport where the supercomputer they had been sent to fetch lay. Then the lead drone placed its hand to where its ear might have been and relayed the message that the computer was ready to be picked up. Only moments later a tiny silver pickup truck screeched to a halt just to the left of the transport where the supercomputer was being hauled out of a newly formed hole in the side of the transport.
The lead drone stepped over to the pick up examined the condition of the computer. Aside from a few scratches on the surface of the computer, it was in perfect condition considering the battle it had just experienced. Slade would be pleased with him. He would prove with this victory that he could become more than just Slade's apprentice, but his successor.
The drone ran his hand across the sleek surface of the computer. It towered over him, the fire and moonlight giving it the looked of a man-made crystal. The drone's hand hit one of the scratches and suddenly snapped his hand back as if the computer had bit him. The drone saw a blur to his right and looked to see what had attacked him. Imbedded into the asphalt was a hooked red and yellow device, one that the drone recognized immediately.
There was a piercing whistle behind the drone and he quickly spun around while pulling out his energy pistols and fired. Two loud thumps echoed as the two blasts from the energy pistols connected with two exploding disks in midair. As the dust began to clear, the lead drone could barely make out single silhouette standing on a rooftop several meters away. The drone's eyes narrowed in anger as the silhouette became clearer though the smoke.
The drone raised his arm to fire but a much larger robotic arm snatched his in its iron grip. He was then thrust to the side and dropped his other pistol. The arm was far bulkier than his and was laden with blue and white mechanical gears and computer chips.
"Don't even think about," said Cyborg as he squeezed the drone's arm tighter.
The drone turned to face Cyborg but halted when he saw the rest of the Teen Titans coming up behind him. The drone and his team were surrounded.
"What should we do with this one Robin?" Cyborg asked.
Robin leapt off the roof of the building he was perched on and met up with the rest of the Titans. "We'll take this one with us, from the way he was giving orders to the others makes him the leader."
"Which is odd," Raven stated as she surveyed the area for any remaining enemies they had not already disposed of. "Slade's drones never showed any sign of leadership before."
"Maybe they're a new model?" Cyborg put in.
As the Titans conversed amongst themselves over the new dilemma of the drones' behavior, the lead drone scanned the area for the rest of his team. He saw motion in the corner of his eye and instinctively looked to it. He saw two of his drones huddled around the pickup waiting for his orders.
The lead drone nodded and the pickup roared to life as the drones started it. The Titans simultaneous turned to the sound, temporarily forgetting about their captured drone. The drone jabbed Cyborg in the gut and swept his feet out from under him, knocking him to the ground and grabbed his fallen weapon. The lead drone wretched his arm free and leapt into the air, rebounded off of Robin's shoulders and landed in the back of the pickup. The drone banged his fist against the rear windshield, the signal to go, and the pickup sped off down the street.
"Terra," Robin pointed towards the pickup. "Stop them!"
The earth mover quickly raised her glowing hands in the direction of the pickup. A wall of stone broke through the asphalt and blocked the street off. The pickup screeched as the driver slammed on the brakes and quickly pulled a 180 before it crashed into the wall.
"Leaving so soon?" Raven said in her usual monotone voice. Only this time she added a hint of a challenge to it. A black aura in the shape of a raven's claw leapt from the ground and the pickup barely escaped its grasp.
The lead drone leapt out of the back of the pickup and soared into the air. He drew his two pistols and they began to glow with yellow energy. He swung both arms diagonally and squeezed the triggers. Instead of firing in a straight line the beams cut through the air, one bisecting the other so that they sped forward in the shape of a deadly X.
Raven quickly put a shield around her and her friends and the attack harmlessly dissipated against the shield and only the tips of the beams engraved themselves in the surrounding area.
Raven quickly let the shield down so they could see past it. As she did she was almost ran over as the pickup quickly sped through the gap. There was a rush of air as Terra flew over Raven head in pursuit of the pickup. Her pursuit was cut short as the lead drone landed directly between the Titans and the pickup.
The drone twirled his pistols in his hand and began lashing out at the Titans with them. Waves of yellow energy cut through the air and the Titans were forced to take cover behind anything they could find.
Robin pressed his back against the brick wall of a building for cover. He poked his head out and barely ducked in time to miss a blast of yellow energy. He knew that this was only a delaying action but could they do? They were pinned down and if they made themselves visible for even a moment they'd torn to shreds.
Just then a light bulb went off in Robin's head. They didn't have to make themselves visible to bring the drone down.
Robin pulled out his communicator and flipped it open. "Terra, come in Terra."
A few seconds later Terra's imaged appeared on the screen. She had her arms over her head and was taking cover behind a quickly disappearing BMW.
"Terra, I need to hit him from below."
Terra looked confused. "What do you mean?"
"Sweep him off his feet."
It took a full three seconds for Terra to understand. When she did a smile spread across her face. "You got it."
Robin looked to Terra's position across the street. Terra was lying on her stomach for cover. The remains of the BMW barely rose above her head. Before she lost the last bit of her cover, she made a quick motion with her hand and the firing instantly stopped.
Robin dashed from his cover and ran straight for the drone. The drone was in mid-fall and both of his arms were out to his side. The drone instantly saw Robin as soon as he left cover and was now aiming in his direction. The sights lined up on Robin's head and the drone pulled the trigger. Robin ducked and the blast shot over his head, clipping his hair slightly. The drone seamlessly followed Robin's movement and slowly began to squeeze the trigger. Robin was flat on his stomach and had no time to roll out of the way.
Just then a football sized stone flew out of nowhere and knocked the drones aim off and the shot fired a few feet above Robin's head. Terra flew in on a stone platform and was readying another strike when the drone fired with his other pistol and shattered the platform. She tumbled off and unintentionally body slammed him.
They rolled across the ground until the drone finally eased his legs under Terra and kicked her off. Terra hung in the air for a moment and the drone used this time to let off a final shot at her, and missed. Terra landed back on her feet and charged at the drone and gave him a quick punch to the face. The drone was unfazed by the attack and brought his own fist around for a punch of his own. Terra narrowly ducked the blow and brought her arm forward and sent a hail of stones into the drone's face.
At first there was only the sound of rock scrapping metal. Then an almost inaudible click as the mask detached itself from its master and the mask clattered to the ground.
The Titans gasped.
Slade's Lair…
What?
Mindcheat gripped the edges of her chair. Even she couldn't believe what she was seeing and she was supposed to be in on the plan.
Was that supposed to happen? What's going on?
Mindcheat looked to Slade, hoping for some sign that he was just as disturbed by these turn of events as she was. But instead of seeing him shocked or infuriated, he seemed as calm as ever. In fact he looked, at least from his posture, like he couldn't be more pleased.
"Slade, what is going on? What's going to happen to the-?"
Slade held up his hand, silencing Mindcheat. Then rested it on the back of her chair and continued to watch the screen. Mindcheat was about to speak up again but thought better of it. He knew what he was doing but she was still unsure of what.
Mindcheat gave him one last suspicious look and returned her attention to the screen. Somehow, though near impossible to read him, she knew if she could see through his mask…
He'd be smiling.
Jump City
Abandoned Neighborhood…
"No…way."
Beast Boy's words seemed to describe what everyone was thinking at the moment. It was unthinkable, no impossible what they were seeing. Admittedly Terra had had doubts about what she saw the night before but she wanted to keep it secret before she gave her friends an answer. But seeing this, seeing his face put her doubts to rest.
There before them, wearing a black and gray combat suit, the ones that Slade's drones were accustomed to wearing, was Terran. The Titans stared from Terran and then Terra, wondering what would happen next.
"Is this what you were hiding?" Robin asked.
"I…I," Terra stumbled over her words "I didn't know what to think before…I couldn't-"
Before she could finish her sentence, Terran quickly drew his pistol and fired. Terra and the other Titans instinctively ducked out of the way. Terran snatched up his mask and holstered both his pistols onto his belt. He then raised his arm and a rush of heated air washed over the Titans.
One of the drones had flown back using the boaster engines implanted into their feet and snatched Terran up into the air. Terran and the drone disappeared into a cloud of smoke and the Titans quickly tried to regain their bearings.
"TERRAN, WAIT!" Terra cried.
Terran didn't respond. Robin tried firing his grappling hook at him but every time Terran dodged. He continued firing until it refused to go any farther.
"Cyborg can you track them?" Robin asked as he lost sight of the escapees.
Cyborg brought his left arm to chest height and activated his radar "I got a lock on both Terran and the car, they're…" Cyborg stopped mid-sentence. He tapped his arm once, then twice. He then scratched his head with his free arm. "They're gone."
"What do you mean 'they're gone'?" Robin replied frustratingly.
"They were heading south and I had a good lock on them but then they just disappeared."
"Did they leave your radar range?"
"No, far from it," Cyborg shut down his radar and he shrugged. "They just disappeared."
Robin clenched his fists. This was the second time Slade's drones had gotten away and now it was revealed that Terran was their leader. This was becoming more serious by the minute. Dealing with either Terran or Slade alone was bad enough, but both of them together. They still had no leads as to where they might be operating but there was someone who might know more than they were letting on. Robin turned to Terra and folded his arms.
"Terra, we need to talk."
Slade's Lair
One hour later…
"Marvelous."
Slade's voice echoed throughout the empty chamber. The only light came from a single lamp hanging loosely from the ceiling, illuminating Terran in the center of the room.
"Truly marvelous…" Slade continued. His highly acute eye gazed at the large cylinder shaped computer at the far end of the room, now wired into several smaller but no less complex devices. Their task was to bring down the encryption safeguarding the computer's mainframe and given time, learn its secrets.
"Now that we possess the super computer, our plan can move forward." Slade stopped circling and nodded in Terran's direction. "And all thanks to you."
Terran opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. Only empty air escaped his throat.
Slade eyed him and moved closer. He examined Terran as he tried to talk, but to no avail. "Perhaps it is time I allowed you to speak?"
Slade wrapped his hand around Terran's neck and pressed with the knuckle of his thumb against where Terran's Adam's apple would have been. Terran began spitting out garbled noises and moans until words finally began to form.
"Whuh…why…?"
Slade gave him a look of support and Terran forced himself to finish the sentence.
"…Why did she call…mu…me…Tear…Terran?"
At first Slade looked disappointed at his apprentices' naivety, but then a smile spread beneath his mask. He placed his hand on Terran's shoulder and led him to another room. It was only a few strides away and the door opened automatically to allow them access. This room, besides being far smaller, was bare except for the small monitor and desk that sat in the center. The monitor was left on and gave the room and dizzying static feel.
"That's right…you don't remember do you?" Slade stated, knowing Terran hadn't the slightest idea of what he was talking about. Slade sat Terran down at the desk and pressed a button on the bottom of the monitor. The monitor suddenly snapped from its sleeping stance and began projecting images into the eyes of Terran.
"Here…everything will become clearer shortly."