Chapter 11: Babe.
The Jackal was worried. Raven could feel it. She wasn't sure why he had suddenly had an anxiety attack, but she knew she would be worried too if she was the focus of the cold, visceral fury that was pouring from Slade like a tsunami. The more specific reason for his worry became apparent when the computer banks simultaneously died, the security around the cages along with them. Even the infernal gadget clutching remora-like to her head dropped off. She grinned. Karma was with her again. With a wave of her hand, their cage was ripped from the floor and hurled unceremoniously at a guard. She turned to Cyborg with a smile, only for it to whither and drop to the floor as she saw the panic in his eyes.
"Uh oh. My power's died. I'm gonna go off line any second."
Raven frowned, trying desperately to see a way to recharge her companion, but was distracted by the twin threats of approaching soldiers, and a rapidly heating floor.
Wait…a heating floor?
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"Wahoooo!!!" Killowat had grown tired of wandering through corridors, and when he'd discovered that all the elevators were offline, he had decided to take a more direct route. Smashing through the floor, he positioned himself in midair so that he could get a good look at the surroundings.
"Killowat, isn't it?"
"The one and only, babe." Killowat grinned. He knew Raven's reputation enough to know that riling her like that was rarely a good idea, but right now he didn't care. Right now he was on top of the world.
"I'd kill you for that if I didn't need your help. Can you recharge Cyborg?"
"No problemo, babe."
"Call me that again and I'll reverse your polarity."
Killowat gulped. "You can do that?"
"Do you want to find out?"
Wordlessly, Killowat gripped the cable attached to Cyborg's chest. Immediately, the blue sections of his body glowed, and Cyborg leapt to his feet.
"Alright, now that's the stuff!"
"Indeed. Now, shall we help our friends?"
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Beast Boy surveyed the scene, and grinned. Everything was coming together. Killowat and Jericho were getting the others out of their cages, and the number of conscious guards was much lower than earlier. He saw one, a giant of a man, clearly a meta. Quickly, he shifted into a rhino and thundered towards him.
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Robin gave Jericho a short smile and a nod when he was freed from his bonds, and surveyed the scene. The Jackal had moved to another spot, surrounded by his guards. Starfire was still safe, and was flying towards Robin. Slade was still hammering his was through the hapless minions.
There. A green rhino, charging towards a large metahuman. Robin inwardly groaned. That man was obviously strong enough to make a direct assault foolhardy in the extreme. Beast Boy was due for a beating. What happened next surprised Robin, although in retrospect it shouldn't have. The boy had been trained by the Doom Patrol, after all.
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The green rhino lumbered towards the man, noting his smug grin as he shifted his stance, arms spread, legs too, shifting his centre of balance. Excellent. Seconds before he connected, he shifted back into a human and lay down, using all his built up momentum to slide between his adversaries' legs. Taking full advantage of his foe's confusion, he turned into an orang-utan, using the simian's long arms to grab the man's neck and send him toppling backwards.
"Nicely done, little man."
"Cyborg! Alright, let's finish these bozos."
"With pleasure."
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The Jackal cast his eyes around nervously. The ground was littered with the bodies of his mercenary army, in various stages of consciousness, none above 'wisely faking catatonia'. If he just edged to the left slightly, then he could-
No. He was the Jackal, and he would not run. At least, not until he settled the scores with his old friend. The Jackal sighed. In the end, he had always known that this was how it would end, from the moment he'd seen that damn one-eyed freak walk through the door. Picking up a blade from one of the guards, he tossed it to his nemesis, who caught it without looking.
"Come on, Deathstroke! You and me, just like old times! It'll be fun!"
