The Titans patiently waited as Cyborg continued his reconnaissance of the area believed to be Blood's Academy. Though, to the naked eye, as well as the naive one, it appeared to be a long-abandoned church that was ready to collapse upon its own weight. Surrounded by a gothic iron fence, and the addition of a decrepit graveyard amongst the rolling hills behind it, the scene proved to be rather unsettling to those who laid eyes upon it in the dead of night.
"I swear," B.B. whispered, "this is straight out of a horror movie. Old, creepy church, graveyard, full moon, fog upon the ground. All that's missing is a couple of zombies, maybe a monster or two."
"Quiet," Nightwing ordered, changing his focus back over to Cyborg. "What do you see, Cy?"
"Well, everything looks pretty normal, well, for this place anyway, but there are two adequately armed guards outside the front doors. Nothing we've seen from Blood before either."
"In what way?" Nightwing requested, knowing that Cyborg wouldn't mention something if it wasn't important, even necessary.
"Full body armor," Cyborg began, looking through his built-in binoculars, "integrated helmet display, breathing filters, the works. They look like mercenaries to me, man."
"Just have to play it safe then, now won't we?" Nightwing smirked, turning to the others, finding that even on the eve of their planned assault; Star had managed to find a caterpillar to entrance herself with, while Terra was using her powers, playing with several small pebbles. Beast Boy was still focused on the church, much like Nightwing and Cyborg were, truly proving that he was able to mature himself somewhat over the years.
"Guys," he announced while in secrecy still, "come on, focus." Nightwing managed to get their attention from that.
"Sorry," Terra apologized, dropping the rocks, Star finally losing interest in the insect, allowing it to crawl away.
"I really wish we had more time to plan this and everything, but this may be our only shot. Blood knows we're coming, he's got men armed to the teeth, not to mention we don't know what awaits us on the other side of those doors, so let's keep it simple, got it?"
They all nodded in agreement, awaiting orders from their fearless leader.
"Good. Cyborg, you're going with me, we're giving these guys the Sonic Boom."
A devious smile crept across Cyborg's face at the mere mentioning of the technique they had used over and over again in the past.
"Star, watch our backs from the air, anything looks like its threatening, I want you to let them have it, ok?"
"Yes, Nightwing, I will let them have it."
He merely grinned at her innocent, yet fierce attitude towards things.
"Terra and B.B.," Nightwing finally mentioned, "you guys are running interference."
"What?" Both of them said in surprise at the same time.
"Trust me," Nightwing assured, "just listen. This is a school to turn those with powers into villains, right?"
The two of them nodded in unison, still unable to follow Nightwing's logic at the moment.
"You two are going to walk up to the door, acting like your students, these guards more than likely don't know who's who, so just tell them you forgot your I.D. cards or something. While they are checking for you guys in their database, we'll nail 'em. Pretty cut and dry, rather simple really."
"Simple?" B.B. unbelievably questioned, "Nightwing, it's like 2 in the morning, these guys won't buy it. They will probably blow us away if we get anywhere near the door."
"I assure you, nothing will happen," he continued, "we're doing our parts, you do yours, and this will get us in without a hitch. If Blood already knows we're coming, we might as well solidify that notion of his."
"Whatever," Beast Boy reluctantly agreed, "how do you want us to do this?"
"Why does Blood always put us on door duty?" One of the guards questioned his similar counterpart, leaning against the wall, his weapon propped next to him.
"Don't know," the other replied, sitting in an old chair, feet propped up on what used to be a headstone. "That psycho is just strange all in his own. Only reason I do this is for the money. How can you complain anyways? Door duty's the easiest thing. No one's dumb enough to try to get in."
"I guess your right," the first agreed, shrugging his shoulders, "can't argue with the paycheck. Blood's buying the best out there, and it's all being wasted."
"Heh, true that, true that," the latter chuckled, looking up as his visor picked up two heat signatures approaching them up the path. "Look alive, got two unknowns coming this way."
No sooner than he mentioned that, his counterpart had already raised his weapon, shouldering it as he unlocked the safety mechanism. The guard who sighted them aptly stood as well, but not grabbing his weapon, as he felt the other had him covered.
"Present identification," he gruffly ordered, watching a blonde-haired young woman approach him, an oddly green dog in tow. "What's with the mutt?"
"I'm sorry, sir," she apologized, "I left mine inside, but I assure you, I do go to this Academy. He's…a use of my powers. I can project things from my mind. I just felt like making a green dog."
"Number then," he continued, cocking an eyebrow underneath his sealed helmet, lifting his arm as he prepared to punch them in on his wrist-mounted computer.
"Uh…1…7, 3, 5, 6?" She guessed, not knowing how many digits were in the identification numbers given to students of H.I.V.E. Academy.
"I'm getting an invalid," he informed, looking up at her, "either you've forgotten a number…or you're a spy."
"I don't like the looks of this, Sir," the one with his rifle raised approached, continuing to line up his sights upon the young woman.
"No, no, I do go to this school, please, don't do anything brash," she pleaded, attempting to contain her fear, but it would only take her so far.
"Restrain her, we'll have Blood verify it," he ordered, his counterpart approaching, weapon still trained on them.
Just as he lowered his rifle to brandish the restraints, two figures came leaping out of the darkness, a disc flying through the air from one, a blast of blue energy from the other. Before any kind of reaction could be made, Terra and B.B. were already on the ground while the deafening noise and blinding light took its toll on the guards. They pronounced in pain, even with their visors, the light was too much. Nightwing leveled the higher ranking of the two with a simple kick, knocking the doors down as his body went crashing through them, unconscious. Cyborg handled his in a similar fashion with a punch, his crashing to a heap after making severe contact with the wall of the church, crumbling concrete and breaking old boards.
"You guys ok?" Nightwing asked as he lifted Terra to her feet, Cyborg with B.B.
"Peachy keen," Beast Boy quipped, holding his head, just as Starfire landed, the group whole once more.
They entered the church, stepping over the unconscious guard, being sure to take all his weapons from him and place them somewhere else, just in case he were to awaken. The building looked even worse than it did from the outside, even though moonlight filtered in from the holes in the roof, it was still dark. Various sounds of animals, from the scurrying of rats, to the flutter of bat wings, drew their ever vigilant attentions as the cautiously walked up the center aisle. Surprisingly enough, the aisle was clear, and had evidence of repeated use, unlike the rest of the church, as pews were far broken down due to decomposition, even some rafters had long since collapsed.
"Ok, I definitely verify that this place is straight out of a zombie movie," B.B. commented, looking around while the team continued slowly up the aisle.
"Enough with the jokes," Nightwing ordered, knowing how serious the situation was.
"Not to be a wisecracker or anything, but this doesn't look anything like an egotistical megalomaniac's definition of a school," Terra informed, continuing to look around as she picked cobwebs out of her hair.
"Blood's gotten a little smarter since the last time we busted up his school," Cyborg commented, "I guess this is to throw off any curious intruders. Well, guess what? Those intruders are us."
"We aren't so easily thrown off of the trail, are we not?" Star inquired, getting an agreeing nod from Nightwing, smiling upon that revelation.
"Are you suggesting there's some kind of secret entrance or something?" Terra deduced, scratching her head in confusion, or possibly a spider, either way, it was troubling her.
"Exactly, my little rock'n'roller," Cyborg smirked, "matter of finding it's the problem though. I guess we just start looking, the quicker we find it, the better."
"Couldn't agree with you more, Cy," Nightwing stated, motioning for them to oblige, "you heard him, split up, search for anything that will get us into Blood's Academy. We know it's here, we just have to find it, even though that sounds rather…stupid."
"We get it," B.B. couldn't help but chuckle, even at a time like this.
They continued moving about, lifting objects in an attempt to find anything useful, even out of place in this hobble that was once a house of worship. Time was of the essence, the longer they took, the more prepared Blood's soldiers, even students, would be for their arrival. While Terra, Starfire, and Nightwing looked around the walls, Cyborg was scanning various suspicious objects, but all results turning up negative thus far. Beast Boy, on the other hand, was rummaging about the altar, where a podium, probably once used by a pastor to give a sermon, found a closed book atop it. It was bound in black, embossed by a red insignia, a rather strange one at that.
"What's this?" He commented to himself as he approached it, looking at it closer.
His green hand gently tried to open the cover to see if it had any identification whatsoever on, but it wouldn't budge. He tried harder to force the book open, causing it to finally open, but it opened about halfway. To his surprise though, was not the text, but a large red button inside of it, the pages having been cut out for it to fit, as well as glued together to form a concealed location for it.
"Hey…uh, guys? I think I found something," he called out, immediately getting their attention through the silence.
"What did you find?" Nightwing requested no sooner than he approached, B.B. pointing at the button within the confines of the book that he had found.
"Should we press it?" Cyborg deduced, "I mean, it's our only lead and all, but for all we know, it could be a trap."
"Friend Cyborg is right, Nightwing," Starfire agreed, "we could be walking into the trap, are sure there is no other means of entrance?"
"We've already searched everywhere else though," Terra informed, "this is the only thing we have to act on. I say push it."
"What's it going to be?" Beast Boy finalized the discussion.
Without a word, Nightwing depressed the button.
"Only one way to find out," he informed, "so be ready for anything."
Yet, as soon as he pressed it, only a small part of the raised platform of the altar parted, the floor sliding away, revealing a recessed area, and a small control panel.
"Well," Cyborg commented, "that's one heck of a way to hide an elevator call button."
"They know we're coming, stay focused," Nightwing warned.
"Alright, man, just calm down," Cyborg replied, "we can handle it. He may know we're coming, but won't know what hit him."
"Even though that sounded extremely stupid, Cy," Beast Boy commented, getting an icy glare from him as they boarded the lift, "he's right, besides, Blood's never faced off against Terra before, so this should prove rather interesting."
"Don't count on it," Nightwing continued being cautions, knowing that an over-abundance of confidence often led to downfall. "Blood stays on top of things. Well, guess what? So do we. As soon as that door opens down there, we are going to give them a little welcoming gift."
"Oh yeah, definitely liking the sound of that," the cybernetic added, the whine of his Sonic Cannon growing in frequency as he charged it.
"Showing of the mercy to our foes, I will not," Starfire stated, her eyes glowing green, ready to strike, much like the others.
"I got something that will make this a little more…interesting," Nightwing informed holding up a small device, all of them immediately knowing what it was.
"Move, move, move!" The guards apparently in charge ordered his men, pushing them along, "get on that door, now!"
"Yes, Sir!" They all replied, taking up position behind whatever cover they could find, training their sights down upon the elevator doors.
With the simple combination of a sequenced code, the guard activated the wall turrets, training them on the lift door as well.
"As soon as those doors open," he began, pointing down the short corridor of a hallway, "fire at will. Blood wants them stopped here and now."
"What's the situation, Sergeant?" Blood's voice squawked over his headset in his helmet.
"My men are in place, the wall turrets are online, Sir," he replied into his radio, "it will be a miracle if they get past us. Even if they do, they have a lot more to deal with."
"I've put much trust into you and your men here don't fail me."
"Yes, Sir," he replied, closing out the conversation.
The sound of the lift coming to a halt echoed in the high-strung silence, the guards able to hear one another's labored breaths of anxiety over their helmet COM links, even thought they were designed to filter out such noise. Seconds seemed like ages as nothing happened. Just about the time that the sergeant was about to send a few of his men to investigate, a thunderous blast ripped through the doors, sending them skidding down the hall out of a plume of thick smoke.
"FIRE!" he ordered, him and his men releasing countless blasts of laser energy through the billowing smoke, any living thing on the other side would cease to be from the seemingly wall of projectiles coming in their direction. One after another, the guards emptied energy packs, reloading, but the sergeant gave a hand signal to cease fire, as well as one to send two to investigate, seeing how it was impossible for anything to survive such a malicious barrage. No sooner than the two inept guards entered the blinding smoke, their bodies came flying out of it, skidding into several other of the positioned guards, out cold.
"Titans, GO!" Nighwing's voice was heard, emerald orbs of energy, blue sonic blasts, and several discs came flying out of the cloud as well, easily finding their targets. The remaining soldiers opened fire once more, but the Titans aptly dodged them, in doing so, causing some of the more novice amongst the guards to panic and retreat. It wasn't long before witnessing half of his ranks that the sergeant in charge finally gave an order.
"Fall back!" he commanded, his men immediately following his order, but keeping weapons aimed downrange at the Titans, but their advance was unstoppable.
"Sir! We can't hold them, we need reinforcements!" A corporal informed, changing energy packs on his rifle. "We can't hit them, they're too fast!"
"Hold your ground!" The Sergeant barked, still squeezing off trios of laser blasts at various Titans, going back and forth between targets as they kept leaving his sights.
Though, a brave act indeed, it was futile, as the final H.I.V.E. soldiers fell prey to the Titan's various attacks, the sergeant being the final one, and receiving a most-deserving kick by Nightwing that forced him against a wall with tremendous force, dropping his rifle. Before he could recover, he was already gripped by the collar of his armor, lifted off of his feet, and pinned against he wall he just collided with.
"Where's Blood?!" Nightwing ordered, staring into his visor, even though he struggled against the Dark Knight's former protégé.
"Go to hell," he gruffly replied, only to receive another slam against the wall, and a rather painful one in his current state.
"Start giving me answers or I'll turn you over to Cyborg, he doesn't play nice," Nightwing threatened, the solider glancing over at Cyborg, watching him seem to crackle his mechanical knuckles.
"Bottom floor in his lair," he aptly informed, fearing for his life, "it doesn't matter though, we're nothing compared to what you'll face on the way. Best choice you could make is turning right back around and getting the hell out of here."
"You're right about one thing," Nightwing stated, throwing him down hard enough to knock him unconscious, "you are nothing."
"You heard him guys," Cyborg stated, turning to the other Titans, "gotta find the lift to take us down."
"Lead the way," Beast Boy gestured with a motion, "like you know you're way around here, do you?"
"Matter of fact, green bean," Cyborg calmly replied, holding up his arm, showing him a map that he took off of one of the soldiers' computers, "I do, it's down this hall, to the right."
No sooner than he pointed out the direction, Nightwing was off, bolting, nearly leaving his teammates in the dust.
"What's his deal?" Terra questioned, taking chase, as they all did.
"I think he Nightwing is wanting to catch the Brother Blood in hopes of stopping the senseless killing of our fellow Titans," Starfire managed, her vocabulary growing more eloquent in use, "the sooner of the catching, the sooner the killing stops."
"What Star said," Cyborg added, "but he shouldn't do that, he doesn't know what's waiting for us down that hall."
As it played out, Cyborg managed to state the obvious, Nightwing quickly ducking back behind the wall of the corner, numerous bolts of bright blue light peppering the wall, leaving scorch marks in their wake.
"As I said," Cyborg finished, stopping next to him, "he doesn't know what's waiting for us."
"Too close for me," Beast Boy added, wanting to peer around the corner, but knew it to be an extremely bad idea at the moment.
"It's more of those guards," Nightwing managed, catching his breath with his recent run-in with being on the business end of a rifle, well, several of them.
"If it's just the lasers," Cyborg informed, "I can handle it. Several of them actually hit me back there, but their too weak to penetrate my armor. I'll take care of it."
"Are you sure?" Nightwing continued, not wishing to put his friend and teammate into danger if he could avoid it.
He knocked against his armor plating.
"Positive," Cyborg boasted with a smile.
Cyborg rounded the corner rather quickly, the crescendo of laser fire picked up again, but quickly subsided.
"Rifle mode!" was all that was heard, and the sound of Cyborg's feet sprinting back. All of a sudden, a flurry of small explosions, that of the bark of an assault rifle sounding off in quick succession, creating a deafening hums or sorts, all together, followed by the sound of shell casings falling upon the metallic floor. He slid around the corner even faster than Nightwing did, several small holes in his metallic body, some even with hydraulic fluid leaking forth.
"Bad idea," Cyborg managed, his human half giving him the feeling of pain, "very bad idea."
"Nice to find out they have real guns as well now," Beast Boy added, "well, kinda."
"Any suggestions of a course of action, Nightwing?" Starfire requested, looking concerned for both the team, as well as Cyborg's condition.
"Yeah," Nightwing formulated, "Cy, you ok?"
"I've been worse, but yeah, I'm good," he replied, climbing to his feet, feeling one of the holes, "yup, 5.56 mm, those will definitely hurt if you get hit."
"Point taken," Nightwing added, looking in Beast Boy's direction "I've got a plan, rather simple one, but it should work."
"Orders, Sir?" A guard requested, smoke still rolling from the barrel of his rifle, putting a fresh clip into his weapon.
"Hold," he ordered, "we've got a superior line of fire, as well as position on the intruders, no sense in risking the loss of it."
"Yes, Sir," the guard replied, keeping his sights downrange.
No sooner than he completed his conversation with his superior, his visor picked up a small heat signature, a rather small one at that, scurrying across the floor towards them. He magnified his view upon it, finding it to be a green mouse.
"Uh, Sir? Mouse in range, suspicious," he informed, still slightly profounded by seeing a green-colored rodent, as it wasn't an everyday thing.
"Target practice," the superior guard huffed with a chuckle, "first one of you to hit it get's a field promotion or something, I don't' know."
"Hell, yeah!" the guard ecstatically announced, attempting to sight the quick rodent.
Before they knew it, all of them were squeezing off rounds at it, but missing with their mediocre accuracy. Caught up in their stupidity, Nightwing tossed a number of his Birdarangs, sticking them in the walls by the guards. An electrical pulse emitted forth from them, electrocuting them enough into unconsciousness, dropping all of them simultaneously. No sooner than they fell, the green mouse transformed back into Beast Boy, gripping his heart, eyes wide with fright.
"You alright man?" Cyborg questioned patting him on the shoulder.
"Am I alright?" He replied, "Am I alright?! I just got shot at for a distraction, I nearly died! Of course I'm alright."
"Is that your's too?" Terra pointed to a small trail of yellow liquid across the floor.
"Gross, man," Cyborg chuckled, B.B. in no mood to be joking around at the moment.
"Enough," Nightwing ordered, managing to find a key from one of the guards that would unlock the door that would lead them into the deeper recess of the complex. "We don't have time for immaturity."
"Calm down, man," Cyborg motioned, while he appeared to be making a quick repair or two upon himself. "We've got this."
"No, Cy," Nightwing confronted turning around, "we don't "got this". We have no idea on what lays ahead of us, or even what Blood has planned. As a group, we don't need the distractions, or…this, so stay focused. I don't….I don't want anything to happen, ok?"
"I understand," Cyborg replied, "but seriously, relax, I assure you, all of us are more than prepared for what Blood has to throw at us, trust me."
"Yeah, Nightwing," B.B. spoke up, "besides, if he was going to stop us, he'd have done it by now."
Nightwing said nothing, knowing his team was indeed more than prepared to face an adversary like Blood, but it was more him than them he feared. After losing Raven, something…changed inside of him. He was more cautious, more protective, and less forceful on various things. Nightwing still felt like it was entirely his fault that Raven died, and he could have done something, anything, to prevent it, but he had failed. He failed him, his team, and worst of all, her. No matter what way he looked at it, he was the cause, even though it was by Slade's hand, he could have stopped her, someway, somehow. Every single waking moment from then on has reminded him of that fateful day. There isn't a day him, or the others don't go by remembering Raven, or even feeling like they could have done something to save her, yet, it all leads to one question that is asked over and over again:
"What if…"
"You alright?" Cyborg queried, waving his hand in front of Nightwing's face.
He shook his head quickly, finding he had managed to slip off into space sort of speak. They were all in the elevator, B.B. pushing the button to allow them entrance to the lower levels.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Nightwing assured, even though he was being only partially truthful in his statement.
"You sure? You were like spacing out there for a second."
"I'm fine, Cyborg," Nightwing repeated, becoming slightly irritated, even though his friend had good reasons to continue to question.
Cyborg merely shrugged, turning back towards the doors of the elevator, waiting for them to open.
They parted in the middle, sliding open with a pneumatic hiss, revealing a darkened hall. The guards were anticipating them after hearing the ruckus above, so it was quite obvious they had killed the lights in hopes of having some kind of advantage.
"Watch it, guys," Cyborg halted, "let me switch to infrared."
"Infra-what-a?" Beast Boy quizzingly replied in a whispered.
"Infrared, genius," he replied, "I can see in the dark, as well as pick up heat signatures."
"Oh"
"Shut it, all of you," Nightwing warned, "action, front."
Before the Titans could mouth a reply at Nightwing's brash statement, several flashes in the darkness erupted, causing them to scramble for cover.
"Any bright ideas?" B.B. requested over the thunderous sound of the erratic gunfire, a mixture of laser and lead-based projectiles peppering the area around them.
Nightwing brandished a Birdarang in each hand, preparing to throw them as he had done many times before.
"Report," Blood ordered, as he heard the echoing sounds of battle throughout his facilities, becoming rather agitated at his mercenaries of an army as he so dubbed them.
"They have breached our first line of defense, Sir," one of his many soldiers informed the sounds of battle behind him. "We're trying to hold them, but they are too powerful, Sir, we need reinforcements, ASAP."
"I assure you," Blood replied, becoming frustrated at his men's blunders and incompetence. "Your reinforcements are on their way as we speak. You will hold the Titans."
Before the soldier could reply, a bright flash erupted, the screen turning to static. Out of sheer rage, Blood slammed the communicator down upon the marble floor, shattering the device, echoing throughout the expanse of a room he called his lair. It was void of any objects, excluding his throne upon the three-tier steps, as well as various electronic arrays upon the walls at intervals that played the control center of the facility. Absent of anything else, besides the lighting fixtures, as well as the blood-red tapestries that hung from the high ceiling, each bearing the H.I.V.E. crest, as well as Blood's own personal insignia, the very same that was integrated into his own armor design. The room was indeed a lair, not appearing to be one of a school headmaster of his caliber, but that of a madman hell-bent on domination of something. Truth is that he was both one in the same.
"Blundering idiots!" He exclaimed, still enraged by the current situation. As he sat idle, contemplating the situation, the Titans were well on their way, so time is of the essence. "I know Chang informed me to run a complete diagnostics after he completed my…upgrade, but I haven't the time. My excuse for security is failing me, so it appears I will be taking care of this little problem myself."
Brother Blood's lips curled into a devious smile.
"Just an opportunity to test this new technology though, as the Titans will make excellent test subjects. Their destruction will be in the name of science, as well as Brother Blood."
The Titans had easily cleared the second wave of defenders as they did the first, things were going as planned thus far, maybe to closely to the plan.
"Are you sure we're going the right way?" B.B. queried, watching the tail end of the group as they cautiously advanced through the wide corridor.
"From the schematics," Cyborg informed, looking at the screen built into his arm, "we're on the right track. Blood's lair or whatever he calls it is down this hall."
"The sooner we find it," Terra commented, "the better. This place gives me the creeps; I got a bad feeling about this."
"I agree with friend Terra," Starfire added, "I too have the feelings of the bad. Something does not seem right."
"I assure you," Nightwing replied, turning to each of them on either side of him as they continued, "everything's fine. Everything's went according to plan so far."
"That's the problem," Beast Boy quickly stated, "something…anything usually messes up our plans by now, it's almost like an unwritten rule or something. I think Blood isn't stopping us because he wants us to come."
"There he goes again with the conspiracy theories." Cyborg said under his breath, knowing that only he could hear him with his enhanced animal hearing.
"I'm serious, Cy," B.B. pleaded in a sense, "think about it. When have we ever got into a place or caught a bad guy without something bad happening, or a change of plans or course of action?"
Cyborg, as well as the others was silent for a moment, contemplating all of their past encounters with the villainy of the world they had faced.
"Exactly," Beast Boy announced, "never. Something always happens."
No sooner than he finished his statements, several figures dressed in black, encased in streamlined, silver armor with glowing bands, and bearing the same helmets as the previous guards, yet, the visors were shaped in the ominous hexagonal "H" that was synonymous with the H.I.V.E. Academy.
"You just had to open your mouth, didn't you?" Nightwing flatly stated, preparing to throw his standard Birdarangs at the new opposition.
The guards quickly snapped into martial artist stances, ready to strike out at the Titans. Nightwing quickly threw his Birdarangs, but the guards simply knocked them away with their superior reflexes. The apparent leader of them simply caught Nightwing's device, crushing it in his hand, and allowing the particles simply fall to the floor.
"Ok," Cyborg commented, "that's definitely not human. Those armor suits their wearing must have some kind of cybernetic enhancement or something."
"You're telling me." Nightwing quickly replied, brandishing his staff, "guess I'll just have to take care of it the old-fashioned way."
"Sounds like a good plan," Cyborg agreed, his hand quickly changing into his Sonic Cannon.
"Titans, GO!" Nightwing announced, as it seemed the usual battle-cry of sorts for them as they combated evil and the forces of villainy, as well as anything that obstructed justice in any way, shape, or form.
Nightwing was the first into action, striking with his staff, only to have it aptly parried by one of the guards, who then went on the offensive. He reacted, using his staff to block the incoming attack, then countered with his own by sweeping his opponent's feet out from underneath of him. The guard fell to the ground, but was quickly on his feet again, ready to continue fighting Nightwing. Starfire had her sights on one of the guards as well, releasing numerous Starbolts, all missing their intended target because of superior agility. Just as the guard was ready to make his own attack against the Tameranian, Starfire's eyes quickly ignited with their jade-green fury, attacking with a powerful blast from her eyes. It hit the guard dead-center, knocking him down with ease. Terra was fairing rather well against these mysterious attackers under Blood's rule, as she used her own powers over earth, summoning the rock beneath the floor, as well as all around them, erupting forth from the walls, and striking her intended target, while another simply evaded her attack, and focused on B.B. The guard went to strike Beast Boy, but he morphed into a monkey, and started crawling around on the guard, being more of a nuisance than anything. While the guard struggled to get him free from his back, another went to strike in hopes of helping his counterpart in need, only to have the changeling merely jump off as the guard was struck by another, knocking him down. Cyborg finished off the remaining guard that had just clocked his ally with a small blast from his Sonic Cannon. Just as the sounds of their seemingly quick struggle with the elite guards died down, the group re-gathered, preparing to continue on their way.
"That was easy," Beast Boy commented with a laugh, looking at the incapacitated guard that was struck by his own ally.
"You just had to open your mouth," Cyborg added, ruffling his hair.
Nightwing quickly put an end to the merriment, forcefully motioning for his team to follow.
"For some reason," Blood said to himself out of pure disgust for his "security," "I'm not the least surprised that my soldiers failed to stop them, yet, they didn't even perform up to my expectations. As much as I paid for them, as well as the funding I supplied Chang to improve them, I consider them an utter failure."
Out of the silence, something peculiar sounded just outside his large, arched chamber doors. Mere moments later, a small sound, much like a muffled explosion, resounded, followed by a deafening crescendo of rifle fire.
"It appears they are quite close," Brother Blood lulled, slightly amused as he arched his human eyebrow.
No sooner than he uttered his statement, the sounds of battle, several he had come to know from the Titans, such as Cyborg's Sonic Cannon, even Starfire's Starbolts, ceased, only to be immediately followed by a thunderous blast that ripped the large, metallic doors from their mechanisms, sending debris and shrapnel in all directions. Said debris scattered across the smooth floor, while others flew through the air with smoke trailing them. A few even came near Blood, yet he remained erect, unmoved by the violent action taken against his door. Silence once again enveloped over the cavernous chamber, all but the sound of smoldering debris, and the occasional crumbling of the doorway of course. From the destroyed archway, smoke continued to billow forth, and as Blood had predicted and awaited, the Titans finally showed themselves.
"I see you are more punctual than ever, children," Blood sneered from beneath his robed hood.
"Stuff it, Blood," Nightwing ordered with the snap of his arm, pointing a finger at him, "your sick, little plan ends here."
"Oh, does it now?" Brother Blood toyed, only crawling underneath Nightwing's, as well as the entire teams', skin. "How do you suppose that to be true?"
Cyborg stepped forward, more than ready to combat the cybernetic psychotic.
"Before or after we send you to prison for good?" He challenged.
"Ah, Cyborg, it's been awhile," Blood reminisced, remaining still, as the Titans didn't present a potential threat to him, or he thought anyways. "On the contrary though. You see, your coming here was all in vain. Do you actually think you have what it takes to defeat me? No one defies Brother Blood."
"Big talk for such a small man," Terra quipped, immediately getting Blood's attention.
"You're a new face, Slade has talked about you and the power you posses quite frequently," Brother Blood said in his usual slither of a voice, "but no matter, you and your friends are no match for me. Besides, the real threat or "danger" that your feeble minds would finally process has already vacated the premises. You are too late to stop the true danger from solidifying."
"What are you babbling about?" B.B. confusingly requested, but still tense, as the standoff could erupt at any given moment.
"Babbling? I think not," Blood smirked, "the stupidest one is always first to question."
"Enough, Blood," Nightwing stated in defiance, "you're coming with us, one way or another. You will pay for the atrocities you and your students have committed against the Titan order."
"You and your team have seemed to forget one crucial thing though, Robin." He devilishly informed, "You are mere children, and children are enrolled in a school. All of you have been lacking in your studies lately, and I think it's time that Headmaster gives you a…refresher course."
"How about the school of hard knocks instead?" Cyborg defied, raising his arm as it changed into his Sonic Cannon.
"Ah, ah, ah, students," Blood calmly informed with the shaking of his finger, "When will you ever learn that you must do research and study your tests before you take them."
"Is it just me," Beast Boy began, "or is he more annoying than ever with his school puns?"
Brother Blood ignored him, beginning to pace back and forth upon his raised platform where his ornate chair played host to.
"I know you came here thinking that I would be easily defeated," Blood began, continuing to keep his eyes trained on the alert Titans, "I will admit, you fared quite well against my new soldiers, as they failed me miserably, but no matter. In any case, I am quite different. Not only in my confidence, it's mechanically impossible for you to win. Cyborg and I are extremely similar, but there still a difference that will spell disaster for all of you if you wish to fight me."
"You went down before," Nightwing boldly stated, "you'll go down again, just as hard, too."
"For someone to be a leader, you are quite dense," Blood snapped, stopping, and facing the group before him. "Through the sheer magnitude of today's technologies, I am nothing short of a cybernetic god."
In the blink of an eye, he cast his Headmaster robe off in dramatic fashion, allowing it to flutter to the marble flooring below his platform. The body beneath that was revealed beneath it was very similar to his previous model, yet, there were extreme changes. Not only did his armor appear to be made of a different material, but there were a series of razor-sharp edges upon his forearms and shoulders. The biggest distinguishing factor was his lower body. From his waist down was human the last time the Titans met Blood, but it too was completely cybernetic, as well as incased in the similar armor upon his arms. All highly polished, from the rusted-blood red to the extremely reflecting chrome, Blood's body was indeed new, but the exterior was only the beginning.
"You can say I've had an…upgrade." Blood informed with a devious smile, more than confident in his newly-acquired body, well, components for that matter. "Now, do the intelligent thing, children…and submit yourselves to Brother Blood. Even I too can be forgiving for past insurgencies. Swear allegiance to me and I'll bury the hatchet, sort of speak.
"You can take your offer and shove it, freak," Cyborg snapped, "not in this life or the next."
"You're making a grave mistake, Cyborg," Blood cautioned, slowly stepping down from his altar of sorts, his metallic-clad boots sounding with each step. "All of you are. Let bygones be bygone, and I'll take you under my wing and…educate you in the finer aspects that H.I.V.E. Academy has to offer. There is an alternative though, but I highly doubt you'll enjoy the outcome."
"You and this academy have one thing in common, Blood," Nightwing boldly informed, brandishing his staff, "you amount to the same thing: nothing."
"I'll show you nothing, you insolent pests," Blood growled, becoming visible angry, but he remained composed about himself. "If you think your capable, then do it. I assure you, Titans, this is one test that you will not pass."
"I'm getting sick of these school puns," B.B. growled, seeing that no one was paying attention to him, and rightly did.
"Titans, GO!" Nightwing ordered, leaping into action, his team following.
He went head-on to fight Blood, raising his staff, hoping one fell swoop would eliminate whatever threat Blood presented, but things never were easy for them. Brother Blood simply elevated his arm, quickly blocking the blow, sparks igniting off of the metal-to-metal contact between Nightwing's staff and his armored limb. Attempt after attempt in quick succession ended in the same result, Blood even taunting Nightwing by merely yawning. Nightwing, though still on the attack, was slowing as he was beginning to become fatigued, and Brother Blood seized the opportunity. He struck his foe sqarely in the chest with an open palm, sending him flying backwards, right into Cyborg, but not before he managed to get a shot off. Blood showed his agility with his new body, leaping vertically into the air, Cyborg's blast from his Sonic Cannon easily missing his intended target, and destroying Blood's throne. Blood himself came down from the air, Beast Boy already having his sights upon him, morphing into a rhinoceros, and charging. Instead of avoiding the beast, Blood ran directly towards him, and latched onto the animal's horn. Blood then dug his heels into the floor, breaking up the smooth marble in doing so as the trails dug deeper and deeper, finally stopping, but the inertia from the beast continued, and flipped B.B. over. The momentum continued, as Blood had predicted, and he flipped once more, and vaulted high into the air towards his next target: Starfire. Off guard, as well as surprised, Starfire had little time to react, but Brother Blood still found his way to her in the air. He tightly gripped her arm as he went by her, using it as a rounding position, and swung her around, rocketing her towards the floor below. On the way down, she clipped Terra's rock she was flying up on, sending it and the rider in different directions. Both Terra and Starfire crashed into the floor, Terra receiving the worst of it as Starfire's fall was broke by the newly-risen Nightwing and Cyborg, only to have all three of them find themselves on the floor again. Blood merely landed, taking a knee, and leaving a small impact crater from the force. He looked up as he stood erect once more, smirking in his usual fashion.
"I warned you," he said in a sing-song type voice, "now you must be punished for your insubordination. Headmaster will deal with you personally."
The Titans regrouped, Terra the last to join them, holding her head.
"Anyone got any bright ideas?" Terra questioned, "That wasn't too pleasant."
"No kiddin'," Cyborg added, watching Blood closely, "he's nearly impossible to touch. All those upgrades Chang did for him has made him nearly invincible."
"That's just it," Nightwing replied, "nearly invincible. Blood's still partly human, and has weaknesses. Even with all of those so-called upgrades, he still has a weakness, we have to find it."
"I don't know," Beast Boy stated, dusting himself off, "he seems pretty tough to me."
"I'm waiting, children," Blood quipped, watching them seem to huddle in an attempt to come up with a strategy to defeat him. "The clock is ticking, you are running out of time."
"Alright, I'm open for suggestions," Nightwing admitted to his team, "the whole head-on thing isn't going to work against him, he's too fast."
"Someone run interference," Cyborg suggested, "it's never failed us in the past."
"Who will be running the interference?" Starfire queried, noticing that everyone's eyes had shifted towards B.B.'s direction.
"You've got to be kidding me, guys," he pleaded, "why am I the one that always gets shot at or draw attention?"
"Because," Cyborg informed as their "huddle" broke apart, "you run a lot faster scared than he does angry. Just do what you do best."
He huffed a sigh, though under the dangerous circumstances, he still felt the humor between them.
"Are you ready to fail miserably again, or shall I give you a few more minutes?" Blood taunted, merely looking at his hand.
"Beast Boy, go!" Nightwing ordered, staff still in hand.
Sure enough, the changeling followed accordingly to the hap-hazard plan that was only formulated moments ago. He morphed into a cheetah and took off towards Blood, hoping their plan indeed would work. Brother Blood steadied himself for the charging animal, and doing what the Titans had hoped: falling for the trap. Even though B.B. was easily caught and slammed viciously as he lunged by the cyberneticly-enhanced embodiment of Blood, he left himself vulnerable to the others. Terra was the first to strike, using her powers to launch pieces of the broken marble floor, hitting Blood squarely, causing him to stagger. Before he could recover to retaliate in anyway, Starfire continued where the geomancer left off, releasing numerous Starbolts, as well as a short blast from her eyes, all finding their target. Brother Blood continued to stagger from the impending blows, even shielding himself, but it was all a farce. He quickly recovered, just as Cyborg's blast of blue sonic energy came his way, he outstretched his arm, his metallic palm making contact with the beam. Instead of doing what Cyborg had intended for it to do, it merely diffused, and seemed to absorb into his body. The electronic panels upon the surface glowed intently in their blood-red color, accompanied by a grin only a madman could posses.
"Nightwing, stop!" Cyborg yelled, but it was all in vain, as he was too late.
Nightwing came down with his staff, hoping to deliver an incapacitating blow that would allow his apprehension. His dreams were quickly shattered as the feigning Blood quickly grabbed his staff, easily snapping it with his superior strength, no thanks the seemingly supercharge that Cyborg and Starfire had just given him with their energy attacks. Before Nightwing could react, Blood went on the offensive, hitting Nightwing with his own staff portion he had broken off, followed by a kick that sent him rolling across the floor, sprawling out. Cyborg helped his leader up while they seemed to make a loose regrouping again.
"I'm not running interference again," B.B. protested, "I think he cracked one of my ribs."
He noticed blood running from Nightwing's head where he was stuck with his own staff.
"Keeping quiet now," he added, still holding his side.
"What the hell was that?" Cyborg questioned them, "his body just…absorbed our attacks, like we were recharging him. Every time we hit him with something, he hits us back tenfold with it."
"So no more energy attacks then," Nightwing finally stated, regaining his composure "Raw strength, all physical. Time to get our hands dirty."
"0 for 2, Titans," Blood announced, immediately getting their attention as he approached them, "you know what they say, three strikes you're out. Oh, and if you didn't already notice, I've rendered most of your attacks useless. Anything Cyborg, or the alien send my way, my circuits will only absorb and power my own body. Thanks for the recharge by the way, I needed it."
Starfire didn't even wait for Nightwing's signal to attack, as she quickly darted from the air, drawing her fist back in the process, and unleashing a blow on the surprised Blood, cleanly connecting, and sending him through the air off his feet.
"Nice shot, Star," Beast Boy congratulated, giving a thumbs up, only to be stopped by Cyborg.
"Don't celebrate yet," he informed, pointing towards Blood, who quickly rose to his feet while sliding, the inertia causing him to continue to slide on his feet to a stop.
No sooner than he did, it was quite clear that he was angry by now, especially after having a Tameranian girl with super strength knocking him down. Blood jolted, taking off, his hyper-enhanced abilities clearly showing themselves as he ran towards the Titans. He was within striking distance before they could react, and exercised that advantage rather efficiently. Blood first stuck out at Star, in vengeance to a degree, delivering a similar blow that she dealt him only moments before, sending her skidding across the floor. Nightwing managed to throw several of his discs in hopes of slowing Blood, but he quickly evaded, and the discs found another unintentional target: Beast Boy. They struck him, the minute explosions clearly affecting him, causing him to stumble backwards. As Blood landed though, Cyborg took a huge swing at him, only to have his fist aptly caught and stopped dead in its tracks. Before Cyborg could even contemplate the retracting of his fist, Blood bore down upon it, using his own strength to apply immense pressure. The metal of his hand finally gave way as Blood snapped it, the broken pieces of armor falling to the floor. With a swift backhanded fist, Cyborg went skidding across the floor in a similar manner that Star had only mere seconds before. Blood's spur of aggression didn't end there, as he was quick to go after Nightwing no sooner than making contact with Cyborg. Nightwing reacted, dodging Blood's attack, countering with an uppercut kick, easily lifting the Headmaster of the H.I.V.E. Academy off his feet and into the air. Before Blood landed, Nightwing added a roundhouse kick to his assault, sending Blood's surprised state flying through the air, and crashing into machinery that seemed to run his school. Circuitry and electrical sparks flared as his metallic body destroyed it, caving in the sophisticated array. Blood wasn't as quick to rise this time, and Nightwing clearly noticed. As he did come to his feet, Blood's movements were erratic, very jerky as opposed to his nearly fluid movements before.
"What did you do to him?" Cyborg managed, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth while looking at his nearly crushed hand.
"The machines, Cy," Nightwing deduced, "when he hit them, they must have disrupted his circuits or something. I don't think he has all that great superior shielding against EMP."
"I do, and he used my schematics to turn himself into that though," Cyborg informed, "it has to be those upgrades of his. If we can slow him down like that, man, he's ours."
"So are you suggesting that we keep frying him like that?" Nightwing questioned, seeing that they had clearly found a weakness of Blood's.
Cyborg pushed a series of buttons on his arm, his built-in missle pods in his shoulders activating.
"Don't get any clearer than that."
Nightwing nodded, focusing on Blood once more as he pushed his way out of the debris, furious, knocking pieces of equipment out of his way with his brute strength.
"You insolent whelp!" Blood cursed, narrowing his stare, "your defeat is inevitable, you can't possibly hope to defeat the likes of Brother Blood!"
"Oh, I beg to differ," Nightwing motioned, pointing to Cyborg just as he launched his missles.
Blood managed to evade two of the projectiles, but the last one found its way to its target, delivering a high-voltage electrical shock that coursed through his body, letting out a held-back scream of pain in the process. The machine hybrid fell to his knees, his body smoldering from the intense heat created by the electrical contact with his metallic body.
"Hit him, Beast Boy!" Nightwing ordered, signaling for his team to go on the offensive.
Sure enough, Blood was caught completely off-guard in his vulnerable state, and was leveled by the changeling's form of a T-Rex. Blood's cybernetic body ground into the marble floor as he flew across it, crashing into a wall, and imbedding into its surface with tremendous force. Before he could even conceive the thought of removing himself from it, a blast of sonic energy washed over him, pinning him even further into the wall. As he fell out of the hole his body created, Nightwing was there, gripping him, and throwing him with all his might, and threw him through one of the draping tapestries, ripping it down in the process. He came to a stop in the center of the room, the Titans encircling him, ready to apprehend him, hoping that Blood was indeed finished and would comply with apprehension, but hope only goes so far. Like a spark that ignites a wildfire, Blood erupted with rage as he jumped to his feet, sending out an archaic shockwave of blood-red energy, crackling the ground around him. The blast hit the Titans with tremendous force, sending them sprawling in all directions. Blood's expelling of energy shattered several light fixtures, darkening the room greatly, as well as slamming each of the heroes across the hard, marble floor. Needless to say, after the concussive force receded, Blood was the only one upon his feet, as the Titans were easily 50 feet of more away, laying injured upon the floor, unstirring.
"I warned you, all of you" Blood growled, beginning to walk to the nearest of the Titans, which happened to be B.B. "there will be severe punishment for your resentment towards Headmaster."
With a swift kick, he lodged his metallic boot deeply into Beast Boy's stomach, knocking the wind from him, as well as sending him sliding across the floor even further, finding it hard to catch his breath. Yet, out of the corner of Blood's eye, he noticed something interesting.
"You…will do no such thing, Klorbag," Starfire cursed in her native tongue, attempting to rise to her feet, but her own injuries playing against her, only to fall back to a knee from her weakened state.
"Even after all I've done in giving you chances to acquit yourselves in your quest for my capture," Brother Blood growled, immediately going in Star's direction, clearly having an incentive on his mind, "you resent me. You will be the first of your friends to pay for what you've done this day."
Starfire thought his threat to be idle, but just as she powered her hand up to attack, Blood gripped her by the throat, causing her to struggle. Starfire quickly quelled the energy she had built up to use the power in hopes of freeing herself from Blood's ice cold grip as he lifted her off the ground, allowing her feet to dangle freely in the air.
"What a beautiful specimen," Blood toyed, running his free hand down her contoured face, causing her to jerk away. "'Tis a shame really."
"Release me…this instant, you vile creature," Starfire ordered, still struggling, but like the others, Blood's energy attack affected them greatly.
Nightwing was coming to finally, his vision focusing on the two figures not far from him, one holding the other threateningly. It donned upon him as he heard Star's exasperated voice reply, but he couldn't make out the words, as his hearing seemed to be impaired at the moment from Blood's previous attack.
"Star…" he weakly said as he began to stir, knowing it was her in Blood's clutches.
"Oh, I don't think so, my dear," Blood quickly stated, drawing his free hand back, flattening it out, his fingertips clearly forming a keen razor edge. "I don't know how resilient your…species is, but I do plan to test it."
Starfire saw his hand, mainly the bladed edge his sharp fingertips formed when he put them together, and began to struggle more vigorously, gripping at his grasp around her neck, but still too far weakened to do anything about it.
"Don't worry," he informed with a devilish grin, drawing his hand back while holding her, "your friends will be joining you soon."
"No, Blood, don't!" Nightwing managed, rising to a knee, holding his side, but it was all in vain.
As if he didn't even hear Nightwing, Blood's hand went forth with lightning quick speed, easily finding his target of Starfire's abdomen. He ran the edge across her stomach in a slashing manner, digging deeply into her flesh. Crimson fluid flowed violently from the wound, gore traveling with his hand as it exited her person, causing a shriek of pain to come forth from her. Blood merely smirked as he watched Starfire bleed before him as it splattered on the floor, as well as dripping from his fingers. Starfire began choking up blood, her body beginning to go limp in the cybernetic's icy grip. Nightwing watched on in horror, as well as Blood release her neck, her body dropping in a heap to the floor as she clutched at her body, crying out in pain as tears feel down her cheeks, continuing to cough up profuse amounts of blood from her grievous wound.
"One down," Blood smugly said to himself, watching her blood pool before him as she began the throws of life began to leave her vessel.
Nightwing was on his hands and knees, watching this take place before him, shocked. He gritted his teeth, intense anger and hatred fueling him. His eyes darted towards a broken half of his staff that lay between him and Blood, who was slowly making his way towards Beast Boy, who was struggling to get up himself. As leader, he wasn't about to allow it to happen again. With renewed vigor, Nightwing took off, scooping his partial staff up in the process, leaping into the air, and prepared to deliver a punishing blow to Blood. His grip tightened upon the staff as Blood turned to face him, but it was too late. Nightwing brought the remaining staff across Blood's face with all his might, sending him crashing into the floor with enough force to cause his head to bounce violently off of it. Nightwing landed, only mere feet from the man that just severely threatened Starfire's life with a swipe of his hand. His blood boiled as Blood continued to stir out of defiance, attempting to rise, holding the cybernetic half of his head, the plate covering it greatly damaged, as well as his blood-red eye cracked and inert upon that half of his head. Yet, he restrained himself, as much as he possibly could.
"Ah," Blood quipped, still on a knee, pulling a piece of armor plating from his head when he touched it, "I seem to have stirred anger inside of you. Did I…hurt someone you cared about, hmm?"
That was it. Nightwing could take no more. Another quick strike brought Blood down again, but instead of allowing his adversary to rise once more, Nightwing straddled his body, and buried the metallic staff into Blood's head and face repeatedly with every ounce of strength he had. The first several strikes did nothing more than bend, warp, or break his cybernetics, but his blows found their way to exposed flesh. The staff's disgusting sound that resonated as it made contact was extremely unsettling, but Nightwing had long lost his humanity, as rage consumed him, blinding his judgment. Blood's debonair persona quickly subsided to one of concern, then pain, as he begged for Nightwing to stop, even surrendering, but it was far too late for that. Even as Blood's body grew still, Nightwing continued his brutal onslaught; his adversary's face long lost its recognition, turned to nothing more than a bloody pulp from the repeated blows.
"Nightwing!" Cyborg called out as he jogged up to him, still injured as the others were, but seeing what had taken place. "Nightwing, stop!" STOP!"
He finally took hold of his arm as it came back to strike once more, then his other hand. Nightwing struggled for a second, and then was pulled free of Blood's body. He finally saw clearly again, and was appalled by what he saw. A pool of dark blood mixed with cybernetic fluids pooled from what remained of Blood's head, his face so badly disfigured that areas of his skull were protruding, a frozen emotion of extreme agony remained. He looked at his own person, immediately noticing the gore splattered upon him, as well as the blood dripping from his own hands, even his staff. He staggered backwards in dismay, wide-eyed at what he committed in blind rage. For lack of a better reason, Cyborg quickly checked his pulse, and found nothing reassuring.
"He's gone man," Cyborg informed, turning away from the mess. He noticed Nightwing's seemingly dumbstruck state over what had just happened in a matter of mere seconds. "Nightwing, come on, snap out of it, Star's in trouble."
Nightwing immediately came to upon hearing that, remembering what had happened. The two of them joined the rest of the group as they were huddled around Star. Her orange glow seemed to fade, and looked rather pale, amplifying the blood that lay present upon her skin in terms of definition. Shock was beginning to set it, but she continued to fight it, a warrior even in times of great personal peril. One hand was clutched upon B.B.'s, though quite painful to him, he bared it for her. The other held her abdomen, her wound still profusely flowing with her vital crimson fluid. Tears were plain as day in her eyes, as well as upon her cheeks, but as Nightwing's person filled her view, a small smile came to her face. He knelt down, taking her head off of the floor and into his head.
"I'm…sorry, Nightwing, I-"
"Shh, don't waste your energy," he warned, attempting to mask his great concern in front of his team, almost on the verge of tears, "just relax; we'll take care of you."
She continued to smile, as she knew she was in good hands; the hands of her friends. Her smile was quickly quenched by several coughs, followed by a small amount of blood from her mouth, Nightwing quickly wiping it away, concern and worry clearly in his mind, as well as the heinous act he had committed in revenge, all of it jumbled up into one disconcerning thought as he lulled over what had happened.
Within a matter of mere hours, special thanks to a certain Dark Knight, the Titans found themselves within the protective walls of Titans East Tower in neighboring Steel City. Cyborg knew that Titans East's Tower was the only facility within hundreds of miles that possessed the medical technology that he required to heal Starfire, as the medical bay was among the highest quality and sophisticated technology of the world, especially that dealing with the Tameranian's alien anatomy. Daytime had already signaled itself, but it seemed much later in the day as the sky was overcast with clouds of varying shades of gray, a gentle breeze whipping them about. Beast Boy was sitting against one a wall, slumped over, asleep. Terra's head lay upon his lap, exhausted as he was. Nightwing on the other hand, was gazing out the window, unmoving, the worst possible thoughts running through his mind as he watched the waves lap the shore. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was on his mind.
"Hey," Bumblebee called, coming over to him, "you look like hell, you need to get some sleep." She motioned to B.B. and Terra, "They have the right idea."
"I-I can't," Nightwing replied, still looking out the window, paying no heed to her, "not until I know….I know Star's ok."
She merely smiled at his dedication, wrapping a blanket she had brought with her for him upon his shoulders, patting him on one as she left.
Though thankful, he was far from showing it. All he could focus on was Star. Nightwing glanced down from the window at his hands as he lifted them. Though his gloves were black, the blood upon them was quite apparent, long staining the material a dark crimson. Not only was his hands to his mid forearms covered, but his uniform also bore many small spatters and sprays of lines from the horrific action he committed, forever reminding him of what he had done.
"I don't know what happened," he thought as he studied his bloodstained hands, "I saw what happened to Star and I….I just blacked out. I don't remember anything; all I remember seeing was Blood on the ground, dead, and my staff in my hand. No matter how Cyborg put it, I…I just don't remember. I…killed someone. I took another human's life. Though the soul of that life was tainted, it doesn't justify it. I took it out of revenge…pure hatred and anger, things that I have never done before. My feelings for Star corrupted my judgment, but it was more than that. I…I didn't want to lose another. I already blame myself for Raven's death, and I wasn't about to have Starfire's blood on my hands too. Not a day goes by I don't blame myself for that, and probably never will. I failed her as a leader, as well as a friend, I can never make reprimands for that. I just feared that I would have a repeated situation on my hands. If I ever lost Starfire…I don't know what I'd do. Blood threatened something that I held dear, and I had to protect it before I lost it too. I fear I may have made an error in my choice though. No matter how much reasoning I put behind it, I still did something that I shouldn't have and could have been completely avoided."
As Nightwing was lost in thought, Cyborg appeared from the hallway, all eyes diverting to him, awaiting a verdict upon Starfire's condition.
"How is she?" Nightwing quickly questioned, worried, and hoping for the best as he walked up to him as he entered the room.
"She's tough," Cyborg admitted, clearly fatigued, "if it would have been anyone else, I don't think they would have made it."
"So she's ok?" Nightwing hoped for, as it was apparent upon his face, "Any complications or anything?"
"No, she's going to make it, man, but she's still in critical condition though," Cyborg both solemnly and gladly informed at the same time.
"Don't tell me she's on life support," Nightwing feared, his voice clearly giving way to his thoughts.
"She isn't," Cyborg relieved, "you can see her if you want, but keep it short, she's gotta get some rest."
"Will do," Nightwing replied, stopping, turning back to his friend, "Cyborg?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."
"No problem, man," he informed, "It's what I do, and I do it for any of you."
Nightwing acknowledged, continuing down the hall to the medical bay. It was almost like a second home, as the Titans East Tower mimicked that of theirs in construction, same general layout and principles at work, so navigation of the state-of-the-art facilities was rather easy. He let out a breath as he entered the room, the door opening with a pneumatic whoosh, revealing the pristine cleanliness that was envied by many world-renown hospitals. In a bed on the right, closest to the window lay Starfire, many medical apparatuses of different degrees and functions sat at her bedside, wires, tubes, an other instruments collecting vital data or giving her needed nutrients for her recovery. Even before he was at her bedside, Nightwing could clearly notice the extreme paleness of her skin, opposed to her usual orange glow. She just looked frail and weak in her current state. His eyes were focused upon the bag of blood hanging that was to replenish her lost supply, and then quickly realized something as he looked at his hands. As he knelt down beside her bed, he peeled his gloves off, stuffing them into one of his pouches upon his utility belt, not wanting Starfire to find out what he had done. Even though she was conscious at the time, she had to have been in blinding, excruciating pain. Just as he took her hand, she gently rolled her head over to see who was there.
"Nightwing…" she managed, weakly.
"It's alright, Star, I'm here," Nightwing assured, laying his other hand atop hers. "I'm here for you and I won't leave your side."
"It hurts so much," she winced, "I have never experience this kind…of pain in my life."
"I'm sorry," Nightwing attempted, his voice breaking, "I should have prevented this from happening."
"Nightwing, do not blame…yourself," Starfire corrected, looking into his masked eyes. "It is a risk factor that we all take as Titans, and that risk was clearly exercised upon me. It could have happened to any of us."
"But it didn't," he replied, fighting back tears as the vicious thoughts of what could have happened came forth. "It happened to you. Star…you're all I got in this world, and I don't want to lose that, or even risk it. I already lost Raven; I didn't want to fail you too. You have been there for me always, and I didn't want to feel like I wasn't there for you when you needed me most. If I lost you, I couldn't go on. Watching Blood do that to you caused me to...lose it.
Starfire attempted to sit up upon the completion of his statement, perplexed to a degree.
"Whatever do you…mean, Nightwing?"
Nightwing took a long, hard swallow, preparing himself to force the words to come forth.
"I…Star, I…I killed him. I killed Blood, Star. I just…lost it; I don't even remember what happened. All I know is when I could recognize my surroundings again, he lay dead, and I was covered in his blood. I took a life, Star, and the worst part of it is I don't even recall doing it. I was blinded by intense fury and rage, and I couldn't stop it."
Starfire was devastated. Even though she was nearly killed by Blood, the fact of the matter was that Nightwing had promised her that he wouldn't do any such thing under any circumstances. In her innocent, and often naïve mind, he had broken a contract of agreement between the two of them.
"You…killed him? How could you, Nightwing?"
"Star, I-"
"You promised me, and you failed…to live up to your word," Starfire continued, despite the pain from her healing wound. "Even though he was a vile creature, you slaughtered him like an animal."
"Trust me, Star," a guilty Nightwing managed to get a word in her scathing exposé "I would take it back in a heartbeat if I could. I have to live with this on my conscience, knowing I killed, and did it out of vengeance. We all stand for truth and justice, and this act defeated the purpose of that. Starfire, there is no possibly way to justify what I done, and never will be, but I am sorry for what I have committed, and I know no amount of apologies will ever grant me forgiveness, but it is all that I can do."
Starfire could clearly hear the emotion in his voice, as well as the mere sight of the tears in his eyes, yet to fall upon his cheeks.
"Please, there is no need for this, Nightwing," she attempted, running her free hand across his cheek, "You do not need to plead your case to me…" Starfire added, her voice quivering as well. "I know you wouldn't do such a thing under normal circumstances, and that it all that I need to know."
"Our lives aren't normal," Nightwing stated, getting her attention. "It isn't normal that we fight for truth and justice everyday, injuring our selves, risking our lives."
"This is all that I have come to know, Richard," Starfire cautiously informed, "ever since I arrived upon the planet Earth and called in home, this is the only life that I know and partake in."
"There's more out there, Star," Nightwing replied with a weak smile, "a safer, happier, and simpler life. It may not be as…exciting if you were to put it that way, but I could safely know that both of us could be together and not risk losing one another to something like this. Starfire, I know I couldn't live without you, and I think you feel the same about me. What I'm going to suggest will be the only way to guarantee a peaceful, safer life for both of us."
Starfire meekly smiled, despite her condition, truly knowing that Nightwing's words were true.
"Whatever could you suggest that would bring about a seemingly perfect life for you and I, Nightwing?" She questioned, anxious to hear an answer.
"To ensure your safety, and mine," Nightwing began, bringing her hand to his lips, giving it a gentle kiss, "is for us to retire as Titans, and live normal lives."
"Retire?" She immediately questioned, "retire is awfully close to the word quit, is it not?"
"Not really, Star," Nightwing managed, surprised by her command of the English language, especially at a time like this. "Think about it. You and I could live peacefully in our own little place, never again bothered by any sort of threat that we now face on a daily agenda, and even plan out our future that lay ahead of us. That is what…normal people of Earth do, Starfire, and you have longed to be normal, have you not?"
She slowly nodded, slightly confused by the situation.
"Are you saying that I was never normal?"
"No, I'm merely saying that it isn't right that you and I live like this and plan to be together for the rest of our lives, Star. The fact that you are different is one of the things I find interesting about you. Please Starfire; I will only go through with this if you will join me, as you are in my future as well."
"I trust in your judgment, Nightwing," Starfire reasoned, smiling, "and if you yourself think this is the right thing to do, then I will gladly join you in it."
Even though he was still far from showing it, Nightwing was ecstatic in her decision, as they could now be free of danger, and plan their future, which he hoped to include children in. Only problem that remained was finding a way to break it to the others, as Nightwing knew it was going to take more than a little coaxing to get them to agree to such an action on their part. It was going to take some time, at least until Starfire had healed, and for him to at least put back these feelings, thoughts, and emotions he was experiencing over the brutal killing of Blood by his hands. After a kiss upon the forehead, Nightwing left Starfire to recuperate and gather her strength once more, his heart not as low that he finally knew that she was going to be okay.
"This will possibly be the most difficult thing I have ever done in my life," he thought, swallowing hard. "My friends and teammates will feel betrayed, but they must understand. Not only did I almost lose Star today, but I killed someone out of anger, and I fear I will do it again. I cannot have that upon my conscience as I try to save others, it will only cloud my judgment and cause me to hesitate. Hesitation leads to disaster. Disaster leads to death. I will not be responsible for another's death, whether by my hand or my fault. I don't care what the others think, it must be done. The only one's opinion that truly matters to me would be Raven's, and I think she'd understand what I'm going through right now. Until then, I might as well make the best of the time we have left together as a team when we get back to Jump City, because it is very soon that the Titans will have to recruit for our replacements."