Author: Chapter 9! I thought I'd go ahead and post it since I'm ahead. :P Don't really have much to say besides the fact that the Titans are introduced to San and Silvy, plus the fight is shown in better perspective (but not the other fight. That will be explained in chapter 10, the one with Ruba and Wintergreen). Enjoy! n_n Teehee.
Disclaimer: I only own Sari, Ruba, Silvy and San, the characters I've created. DC Comics totally belongs to the respective owners.
Sleep had been full of nightmares, but even still it was sleep at least. Sari couldn't have hoped for better in this time.
He'd gotten up early, around 5 AM, and had made breakfast. The Titans joined him around 6 AM, groggy from sleep.
He had planned to tell them the news and so he waited until everyone had settled into the living room. At 6:30 San and Silvy had arrived and he made the introductions.
"Guys, these are two like-minded people I met awhile back. Raven and Robin already know, so I'll give you other three a summary. I'm a part of a project that was illegal." He said, taking a deep breath. All eyes were on him and his two comrades stood to his side silently, like gargoyles overlooking a street. "We were injected with a chemical that enhanced our chi, coupled with our apparently rare and unique separate DNA strands, to create visible, colored energy we can manipulate. As you know I hold blue energy."
He paused, glancing to the female who was arching a brow at him curiously.
He gestured a hand toward her, a smile spreading on her face. "This is San. She holds white energy." He then pointed to the silver haired male. "That's Silvy. He holds grey energy. You know Ruba, who holds red energy. There are four others to make eight of us in the project."
Beast Boy stared with wide eyes, awestruck apparently. "So you're like.. experiments?" Raven elbowed him, glaring at the changeling. "Ow!" He rubbed his side. "I'm just curious!"
San tried to stifle a giggle, but failed. "Yeah, you could say that."
Raven leveled her always skeptic look onto the male, who glared back and Sari could feel the electrical tension between the pair before Silvy glanced to his blue energy friend.
The male stepped forth, taking charge as he cleared his throat. "You don't know me, but you can trust me. San here-" He glanced back to nod to her before sweeping his coal eyes over the sitting Titans. "-has the gift of visions. She can see things that can or will happen in the future. One of the things she saw involves Ruba, who is in Slade's hold, destroying this city by the end of the month or so. It's not certain, the course of the future changes, but to make sure this doesn't happen we must locate and retrieve her, split the two up. He can't have her. If she does this Sari and I will be killed."
Sari stepped forth and lifted a clenched fist. "I believe we should check the old Haunt. My instincts told me to check there, so I went last night." He lowered his hand to his side. "But I ran into Silvy and he told me this so I returned here."
He had almost forgotten that he'd been sick with the cold last night, but oddly enough it had passed when he woke up.
Raven stood, a blank look on her face. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go."
Sari smirked. "That's the spirit!"
"I have a bad feeling about this, guys..." Beast Boy mumbled, scratching his chin. All eyes peered at him curiously. "What if a trap's been set there?"
Sari smiled. "I-"
"I'll blow the wall down." Cyborg offered.
"And I will go in to see if the Slade is present." Starfire rose to her feet, hovering above the floor, her hands linked at her front.
"Alright. We'll form a line. If it's empty we'll just return here." Robin said from his seat, arm bent atop the back of the couch.
That had been earlier. They were now currently heading toward the Haunt. Robin and his team were in the T-car and Raven teleported with the three energy users.
Cy had parked a bit away and they'd ran on foot to where the four stood silently. They'd grouped and Sari pointed toward the wall. Cy grinned, stepped ahead, lifting his right arm. It shifted into a cannon and he took aim at the wall before them. He fired and the wall shattered like an open bag of bricks pushed off a roof. He yelled his trademark 'booya' afterward.
Starfire was up; she flew in and gasped, alerting them to trouble.
BB changed into a lion and they all charged in, forming their line.. with Slade directly in front of them.
The overhead gears clicked and turned, light illuminating the heroes and the villain, who stood calm and unafraid of the intruders.
Smoke was at the backside of them and Sari glared down the criminal, who was studying them all with vague interest and annoyance.
He threw out his arms, a mock greeting gesture, a chuckle following shortly. "Welcome to my.. humble abode, heroes."
Sari saw out of the corner of his eyes how his allies tensed, preparing for a fight they all knew was coming. It was evident because Robin, for one, was hard-headed when it came to Slade. The villain knew what buttons to push to start a fight.
On cue the Titan leader asked where Ruba was, pointing at Slade, to which the man in question gave a taunt, playing it off like he was in full control. Sari felt his fists clench and he bent lower, a scowl set into place on his young face.
Each of the Titans began to get ready. Star and Raven showed their powers on their raised clenched hands, BB growled as his lion self, tensed to pounce, Cy had his cannons out, but San and Silvy seemed casual.
Silvy moved forward, his step calm, his body still, his attitude neutral. "You have two options, Slade. You can go down in a fight, which I wouldn't mind-" His knuckles popped in a menacing way to give emphasis to the delivered, hinted threat, an eerie smile doubling the effect. "-or you just tell us where Ruba is and we'll be on our way, you can live out the rest of your pathetic life in peace so long as you stay good and quiet."
Slade didn't seem bothered by the male's attempt to intimidate him. He seemed amused.. and actually laughed. This made the line uneasy.
"You really think it so easy to use intimidation on a master of the tactic? How feeble minded."
All eyes turned to see an older male walk through a door with tea on a tray. "Cecil-" The male stopped as he realized what was going on. "Oh, we have guests. Lovely!" The tray clattered to the floor and what happened next shocked all in the line; the man was fast, but not inhumanly so. He was upon Robin before anyone could stop him. His hand jerked out and he used his momentum to lift the boy after he grabbed him, crashing him down onto the floor in a fierce slam.
Sladebots suddenly filled the room and they were outnumbered and surrounded, but they were focused, ready for combat.
It was time to get serious. To properly explain how the battle went it'll have to be broken down.
The older man had vanished into the metal army after his attack on Robin, who was rising to his feet, Bo-staff out and ready as he then stood by Sari's side.
Starfire hovered high in the air, throwing out bolts of green energy like ripe potatoes, robots sizzling from holes made by said alien as she dived, blasting her way through a group of them.
Cyborg launched a beam of energy in a horizontal arc, careful not to hit any of his teammates. Beast Boy had the older teen's back, clawing at a robot with his lion paws before shifting to a T-Rex to smack several with his tail, roaring as shots struck his sides.
Raven chanted and wrapped the dark energy around several Sladebots, chucking them into a wall before highlighting several gears above to send them crashing down to crush more.
Silvy was like an emotionless demon, hacking through them as if they were fish in a tank and he was a shark. Grey energy rippled around him, following his shifting trail like fog. He darted back and forth, kicking, jabbing, slicing any machines that dared to cross his path. San was no different, but instead of the blank way Silvy held himself she had a more gleeful spring to her step, making him wonder just what made her powers tick. She was much more focused on Silvy, being his defensive measure, than on the actual robots. She mirrored him, sprouting up walls of white energy to protect him and guarding his sides like a shield.
Sari and Robin were glaring down the unmoved Slade, the man standing there like some sort of frozen statue instead of a powerful villain.
"Yyyaaaaa!" The Titan took off, Bo-staff swishing like a dancing silver twig. Sari was hot on his boots, blue energy crackling around his clenched fists as he kept his cool about him. There was no use getting upset, he had to remain calm and collected. His power drew from that.
"You cannot win!" Slade laughed as he parried each of Robin's swipes like he was a practice doll instead of an angry teen pushing with all his might.
"We.." Sari started, sending a bolt of energy at the man, but it dissolved around the staff's frame as Slade blocked it. "Will.." Robin shifted back and Sari flipped over him, bringing his blue right hand down to smash the floor where Slade had been, having jumped back just those few seconds before he struck. The floor rippled like waves, dust shooting up. "Win!" Sari hissed. Robin ran forward and Sari grabbed his outstretched arm, spinning his own body to throw the teen at the villain, his momentum sending him flying like a rocket.
Slade had just enough time to side-step and Robin crashed into a bot, sent rolling with the machine and into the fray beyond. He'd gotten up, intent to go help Sari, but was surrounded by Sladebots so he was forced to fight them, spinning his staff to deflect shots, ducking, rolling, throwing explosive disks out to thin the numbers.
Sari was having a stare down with Slade, the man's masked face glinting from the blue light that shined brightly from the energy user's hands. The pair began to stalk around each other, matching the enemy's step with the opposite of their own. Finally Sari got fed up and charged.
He punched at Slade, trying to gain the advantage, but the arm was grabbed, bent down and a gloved palm slammed into his chest, forcing Sari back.
He staggered, but gained his footing, sliding forward to punch again to which Slade ducked to the side. Sari brought his leg up, intent on making the man grow wings, but the leg was grabbed and the man's own leg swept his standing one, causing him to be slammed into the floor.
He grunted and he felt a knee on his back, a whisper in his ear. "You think you can win? You are blinded, just like Robin."
Sari snarled, anger getting the best of him as he felt his energy fade. "I have no intention of winning. You're the arrogant one."
Suddenly the knee was gone and he rose, turning to see Slade darting away. Sari had a smirk on his face as the mercenary scanned the room.
The bots had been majorly reduced to a smaller number. Beast Boy was unconscious and Cyborg was protecting his body while Raven lifted him up, trying to wake him. Star was flinging a beam at a few robots racing toward Cy and she yelled something that was incoherent to Sari's ears.
Silvy and San were missing.
Sari recalled the plan that had went into detail:
"If Slade's just there we bring him down." Robin continued the planning, looking to each as he spoke. "If Ruba is there knock her out and we'll bring her here. Understood?" All heads nodded aside from San and Silvy, who shared a look. "Sari, you and I will take on Slade. There will be bots if a fight breaks out.. Star, Beast Boy, Raven and Cyborg will destroy as many robots as they can. Silvy, San, you two are the focal point of this mission. Slip away during the battle and locate Ruba. She is bound to be there."
"Do whatever you gotta do to bring her down, but try to be gentle, don't hurt her too much." The snowy haired older teen said with a stark glow in his blue eyes.
"What if she is not there?" Star asked hesitantly.
"Then they will return to battle and help bring the villain down. You guys agree?"
Nods fanned the room and a smile filled the leader's face. "Then let's go get Ruba back."
Sari gazed at Slade before him, kicking his body back into gear. He had to focus! He'd turn to face Sari, eye narrowed.
"This is a ruse.." The merc hissed in a controlled, yet dark voice.
"You bet." Sari returned, equally dark, but more amused than so.
Sari's communicator buzzed and he took it out as Slade slipped into the robots behind him, vanishing from sight. "Yeah?"
The three energy users had been each given a communicator temporarily for this mission and his was currently being contacted.
"Silvy here. We got her. Making our exit." Just then the building shook and Sari beamed a smile.
"Alright. Meet at tower." He replied back, putting away the device.
He focused on the Titans.
"Retreat! Pull back!" He ordered loudly and everyone began to do so. Only a handful of robots were left and Beast Boy was shaking his head, rubbing his neck as Raven practically dragged him after her. Cy ran, but shot blasts at the robots chasing him as Star helped; she threw bolts, hovering back toward the exit as she fired.
Robin ran along and Sari followed.
Raven vanished to go find San and Silvy, Beast Boy running ahead to the car. They all piled in, Cy, Sari and BB. Robin hitched a ride with Star, who flew him back to the tower with the T-car right behind.
They regrouped at the tower.
Situated on the couch, tired in rope, was Ruba, who was unconscious.
They all cheered, but softly, so as to not wake her.
"Now, I'll work on bringing her back mentally to us." Sari said as he sat beside her. It was starting to dip into the evening and the sun's glare brightened the room.
It wasn't long before Ruba roused from sleep.. and then the real work began.
Undoing whatever Slade had done to her.