Chapter 49 Calling all titans
I do not own the TT. I own Kali, HP, Marcus, Robix, and a few others.
P.S. HELLO FROM IRAQ!!!!!!!!!!! (LOVES HIS ARMY!!)
Thick slabs of various meats rained down on an unsuspecting piece of bread, followed by several pounds of cheeze and another large layer of meat. Cyborg stood back looking at his sandwich, something felt missing. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully trying to find out what it was. He opened the fridge and began tossing things out of it randomly, landing on his four foot long sandwich. He came out of the fridge scratching his head. In his hands was yesterdays unfinished sandwich. He looked at todays sandwich. Dare he? Sure, why not. He threw the half sandwich in on his current snack. A bewildered Robin sat at the table watching Cyborg make his lunch.
"Cyborg, you realise you just put a sandwich in your sandwich as a topping right?"
"Yes! I have taken the art of sandwich making to a new level." An entire fish and chicken landed on the sandwich. He slammed the top piece of bread on top of it and used his great weight to compress the sandwich to biting size.
"It weighs as much as I do." Robin deadpanned from a few feet away, trying not to think of how unhealthy in was.
"So? Maybe if you ate more you wouldnt be a shrimp." Cyborg said casually as he sat down to eat, not noticing the squishy vein in Robins forehead sticking out. Just as he took the first bite there was a ring at the doorbell. He and Robin looked round confused; normally an explosion followed by witty banter heralded the arrival of a visitor, in fact they didnt think they had ever heard the doorbell before. "The heck?" Cyborg asked. "We expecting anybody?"
"Not really." Robin flipped his comm open and accessed a few of the towers video cameras, scrolling through them untill they showed him who was outside. "Oh hey." He said, it was by no means a costumed villain at all. Outside was a simple, plain looking girl of college age. She had dark ebony hair tied up in a high bun. She had a laptop bag slung around her. Her shirt, a simple blue button up covered her dark skin, and for some reason she wore gloves even on a day as hot as this one. Still, she was rather cute. "Cyborg, wanna field this one? Looks harmless." He looked at Cyborg and showed him who was outside.
"Im on it!" Cyborg made quick work of securing his sandwich to the table with chains and a padlock. "Make sure no one touches that." He said as he made a mad dash for the front door.
Robin watched the sandwich as something inside it quivered and begged for rescue. "Somehow Cyborg I dont think thats going to be a problem."
The girl outside jumped in fright as something very heavy seemed to hit the door from the inside. The big heavy doors were swung open from the inside and she found herself accosted by a very very energetic cybernetic creature, just as she had hoped. "Hello Mr.Cyborg?" She asked, hoping she had his name right.
"HI! MY NAME IS CYBORG, WHATS YOUR NAME? WOULD YOU LIKE TO COME INSIDE? ARE YOU HUNGRY? HOW ABOUT A NICE SANDWICH?" He screamed at her nervously. She eyeballed him for a short moment before she burst out lauging.
"Your funny. My names Iana, sure, not really but I'll have some of that sandwich anyway if your offering." She offered Cyborg her hand which he took and proceeded to drag her up several flights of stairs.
Iana was pleased to find that Cyborgs akwardness seemed to fade after a few minutes as they ate together. "Cyborg." She began, taking a drink of the soda he put in front of her. "Do you know why I'm here?" She asked.
"Fill out a vigilante application to the team?" Cyborg asked hopefully. Iana laughed. Cyborg decided to try again. "You want to get autographs from the team?" Iana shook her head 'no'. Cyborg let out a low groan. "Interview?"
"Sorta."
Cyborg slumped in his seat. "Then your probably here to see Robin, he's the leader, everyone thinks he's cool." He said in a low voice.
"Nope. I'm actually here to see you." Cyborg brightened considerably at this. "I go to tech college, I was really coming here hoping to learn from you."
"What do you major in?" Cyborg was interested now. She was the first tech-head he had met that was this cute.
"This and that, mostly its machinery that interests me."
"Then you came to the right place. I happen to be the most interesting machine you'll ever meet!" Cyborg said, stuffing the rest of his lunch into the fridge. Iana once again found herself being lead through the tower at an insane speed with Cyborg dragging her by the hand. She was fairly certain that her feet didnt touch the ground until they got where they were heading. "Here we go, behind this door is some of the most advanced machinery and tech that you can find without breaking into area 51. Ianas eyes widened in anticipation. Cyborg opened the door to reveal the titans garage.
"Ah, oh..." Iana said. Cyborg, who was already tinkering under the hood of his car, ready to teach her looked up when she sighed dissapointedly.
"Whats wrong?" Cyborg asked.
"Cyborg, its just... my major is actually in human prosthetics." Iana turned around. She had no doubt that this was a very touchy subject for the man.
"Oh. I cant help you there." Cyborg said quietly, trying to hide his dissapointment and pretending to be interested in something under the hood of his car.
"Are you sure Cyborg? Theres so many people out there you could help. You realise most people who lose a limb are fitted with hollow plastic and rubber prosthetics that have little or no functionality."
"I said no." Cyborg growled, his anger starting to seep into his voice. "Thats all personal, very personal. You can show yourself out."
Iana growled, leting her frustration be known. "Thats selfish!" She half-yelled. "I thought heroes helped people."
"We do!" Cyborg countered. "And believe me, by not sharing my designs I'm helping LOTS of people. Do you know how dangerous most of my hardware is?" He armed his sonic cannon and pointed it at the girl, who didnt even flinch. "Would you want just anyone walking around with one of these? Can you imagine any good use some back alley mugger would have for these?" His hand re-formed, thinking he had made his point.
"I wouldnt just go strapping cannons onto just anyone Cyborg." She said. "I just want to return some level of normality to alot of people out there." Cyborg turned around and sighed, his shoulders slumping in what seemed like defeat. She came up behind him slowly and put a hand on his shoulder. "Please." She said gently.
"I said GET OUT!" Cyborg yelled. He whirled around, and on his face Iana could see the torment he was in. He slapped away her hands when she tried to touch him again. Sparks flew from her right arm and her left clutched at it quickly after Cyborg slapped her hands away and she yelled in pain. Cyborg would have swore he heard metal on metal contact and backed away from her. Her right arm dropped right out of her shirt sleeve and clattered to the floor sparking. She was another cyborg! He realised, and he had inadvertantly damaged her. The stainless steel arm seemed very delicate on the floor, where it twitched. Iana let her 'arm' go and collapsed to her hand and knees. Cyborg went to help her. He hoisted her up and sat her in a chair where she breathed heavilly.
"Bucket." Iana croaked. "I need a bucket!"
Cyborg grabbed an oil pan and handed it to her just as her stomach contents came up. He sat back patiently until she was done and calm again. Strangely she didnt seem mad at him. "What happened?" He asked.
"I use a neural implant in my nervous system to control my prosthetics." Iana said quietly. "Sudden disconnection or damage sends a haywire signal through my system, it can cause anything from nausea to siezures." She used her teeth to remove the glove on her left hand and showed Cyborg her gleaming metal features.
"How did it happen?" Cyborg asked.
"When I was younger I was electrocuted. Electricity arced through my arms, pretty much cooking them. I was lucky my heart didnt stop. They had to be amputated afterwards." Iana saw Cyborg cringe. She unbuttoned her shirt, and without revealing much of herself showed Cyborg where her limb ended right at the shoulder. There were metal plates implanted into the joint and locking devices to keep the limb in place when attatched. "This is considered to be state of the art right now Cyborg. In truth it will be ten years before this kind of technology is really available to the public. I only have it because I'm both a student and guinea pig at my university."
Cyborg picked up her discarded arm and held it gently in his hands. It was badly damaged. "I'm sorry, I didnt mean to hit you, especially not that hard."
"You didnt hit that hard. They are very fragile. I can only do basic tasks with them like eating and opening doors. For actuall work and stuff someone else normally has to be my hands. They arent accurate or coordinated enough to be used for typing." She held out her remaining arm to the workbench to demonstrate this. On the workbench there was a large hammer. She tried to pick it up by the handle but the thing weighed too much and her fingers were not strong enough to grip it right. "This is what people will have in ten years, more or less. I came here hoping you would be able to make the wait that much more worth it."
Cyborg looked down at the tech. It was like comparing sharpened rocks to his sonic cannon to compare her arms to his. Surely, he thought, his tech when applied to something like this couldnt be harmfull. "Alright. You up for a walk?"
"Where to?" Iana looked up at him hopefully.
"My room. You didnt really think I worked on my own parts down here did you?" He smiled and held out a hand for her. "All that towing I did, dragging you around the tower, its probably what weakened the attatching clamps on these huh?" He asked.
"Yeah, but you didnt know." Iana smiled back at him. "If I had bothered to ask you to put me down we would have already been where you were taking me anyway."
"Come on grass-stain." Jinx said with feigned impatience. She had volunteered to bring Beast Boy to therapy today. The green wonder was a few feet away changing into swim trunks in a booth the doctor had built on the beach while Jinx nursed a cup of tea that was easilly worth the trip over here.
"I'm doing this the best I can." Beast Boy said from the booth. In his haste he had accidentaly put his trunks on backwards and had had to fix it. Pulling the string on them tight he stepped back out of the booth. He could hear the excited chatter from the water already and was eager to rejoin his new friends for a swim. He mad a b-line for the water without saying a word and left Jinx and the old doctor on the shore, laughing and hooting the whole way.
"He's a very special boy, that one." The old doctor said. Jinx cringed.
"Now when you say special..." Jinx mentally slapped herself. The elderly, she was sure, did not appreciate her brand of humor. "You really think he'll regain his sight?" Jinx asked seriously.
"I do. I examined him, the nerves in his eyes are dead right now. I dont think it would take much treatment to kick start the healing process. Once that starts he should just heal naturally." She cleared her throat and sipped on her own tea. "My experience with nerve damage is limited, but what I do know that the line between 'damaged' and 'damaged beyond repair' is quite thin. Sometimes it simply comes down to how motivated ones body is to heal."
Jinx pondered this over. "So, what are some signs we should look out for with him to tell if he's starting to heal?"
"If the nerves connecting his eyes and brain start to repair you'll know. When the eyes and brain reconnect he will be in tremendous pain for a good day or so, I can prescribe pain killers when this occurs. He shouldnt try to use his eyes for a few days after that, as he will need to slowly get used to recieving input from those organs. After that its just day by day, the images should become sharper as time goes on."
Cyborg had ammassed a large number of spare parts and dumped them on the work bench next to Ianas discarded arm. He was going to give her a crash course in cybernetics. He picked up her arm and began to point at the joints on it. "See this?" He asked, pointing to the shoulder muscle. "Its designed only to go up or down, front or back. Its very limited as far as opposability goes. You can only take it so far in any one direction at any given time." She nodded her head as he bent the artificial limb. He picked something up off of his bench. "This however is a ball joint." He twisted it about in every conceivable direction, showing how it moved with ease. "It would require a more refined implant to use it, but less maintinence."
"How do you get wires or electrical signals through it though?" Her own arm had wires threaded through the hollow alluminum tubes, it was another thing that limited the mobility of the prosthetics.
"Easilly. We dont. A seperate, flexible conduit of wires is sent down the length of the arm to each joint. It makes it easier to trouble-shoot this way and wont require complete dissasembly of the limb to work on it." Iana beamed as she started to understand his approach to Cybernetics. "Also, in your arm there are controll circuits at each joint. Thats no good. Too easy to smash them up."
"Then what should we do with them?"
"When building something cybernetic you should always treat it as if it were robotic until you get to the part where you connect it to a human." He picked up her broken arm again and pointed at the fingers. "From here." He said, and then pointed to the shoulder part of it. "To here, all we are working on is robotics. The only cybernetic part on the limb is the control circuit, one larger circuit can replace all these smaller ones and be well protected on the host side where it connects dirrectly to the nervouse system." Ianas jaw dropped. Such theories had never been explored, at least not for wide-spread use. "The system you use is an implant in you that talks to an implant in the arm that then sends orders to each control circuit. This makes the arm clumsy and slow. My systems use a master implant in me that talk directly to control units in my artificial parts. It makes for alot less stress on your nervous system this way."
"With everything here." Iana said slowly, pawing at various parts. "You could refit these arms into models more like yours?"
"No." Cyborg said. "I can make new ones from scratch. Its friday, if your willing to stay here with me for a few days I could send you back to your campus with new working models attatched to you. Theres only two catches."
"What are they?"
"You'll have to drop the other arm for a while, and be willing to gain about thirty pounds. The battery packs that power these are not light in any way."
"What do we do first?"
Cyborg rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Well first, uh, well. First you would kinda have to lose the shirt and drop the other arm so we can start on new implants. You do have something on underneath, right?" Iana laughed at him and began undoing buttons. With a little bit of work she wiggled out of the shirt and nodded at her remaining arm.
"Little help?"
Cyborg removed the remaining arm trying not to look at her bra, no matter how full and strained it looked.. He was quite glad his hands couldnt sweat and that he had some control of his human parts. He laid it down carefully on the bench and nodded over to his bed. "I need you to lay down for me to take your implants out, it might hurt a little." He picked Iana up and laid her down on the hard metal surface. He balled up a towel and put it under her head for her comfort.
The afternoon found Beast Boy wriggling naked on the beach. His 'session' had ended, and like the time before he had gone from dolphin to human only to find that his trunks had been torn by the transformation. He laid belly-down in the sand trying not to laugh at some of the cat calls he was getting from the dolphin population, who loved to mock him to no end about his human buttox. "Jinx, towel!" He yelled. He heared the scrapping sound of feet running across the sand and laughing.
"If you didnt transform you would still have swimming trunks on!" Jinx said bashfully as she threw the towel over him. The old woman up the beach was laughing at her! She groaned. "I'm never going to live this down." She said as Beast Boy managed to get the towel around himself.
"There wouldnt be any fun in that though!" Beast Boy cried defiantly. He stood up as he wrapped the towel around himself while Jinx verbally abused him for having no modesty. "Point me towards the changing booth would you?" He asked as if he hadnt heard a word she said.
Jinx growled at him and grabbed his shoulders to aim him and shoved him off in the direction of the changing booth. "I'd slap you over the back of the head but you wouldnt see it coming!" She yelled after him.
"I'd slap yours if I could find it!" Beast Boy hollared back.
"Are you two... alright?" Asked the nervous old woman.
"Peachy. We're always like this."
Starfire hurried to catch up with her sister in the crowded mall. High above her glass ceilings let the light of day in, and every now and then she would catch a glimpse of her sisters hair some meters ahead, the black hair seemingly swallowing up the sunlight. Blackfire trudged on through the throng of mortals. She refused to let them get to her, she wouldnt let herself go crazy over her food. A man bumped into her and as she muttered an appology he sneered at her. Blackfires features hardened; he clearly knew not who he was dealing with.
Starfire passed one of the indoor trees, noticing a human stuck high up in it she shook her head. Earth had many bizzare customs she had yet to get used to. "Sister!" She yelled into the crowd. She saw Blackfire turn into a goth looking store and followed, but her sister was already gone by then. Starfire looked around at all the black clothing and spikes, straps, and buckles and knew she was far too bright and cheery a person to be in here. This looked more like Ravens expertice. "Sister!" She called again. Finally she gave up and allowed herself to feel the energies around her to find her sister.
Blackfire tore through the bins of clothing unsure of what she was looking for. She had said she needed new clothes, but what? She reached the bottom of the clothing bin and came back up with a handfull of an awefull black little dress. It was torn across the midriff, and the sleeves were cut up. There were a few cigarette burns in it, dried blood around the collar, and several crosses stitched in here and there. Why, it looked like something her mother had worn- except this dress had been burried in peat for many years and used as a dog-bed after that from the look of it. Blackfire smiled and gave it a tentative sniff. It was clean, at least. Starfire came around the isle, earning hatefull glares from the local goth population. She spotted the dress her sister held.
"Of all the things sister, that?" She asked weakly. The only response she got was a manic grin as Blackfire dashed off to pay for the used dress.
"For the dress." Blackfire said gruffly as she slammed some dollars down on the counter. The teenager behind the counter scooped up the money and put it in the register with practiced skill without even looking away from the book he read.
"Blackfire, are we done now?" Starfire said as she rejoined her sister out in the main area of the mall. She felt a little shell shocked after going though that shop, and wondered if Raven always felt like this after trips to the mall.
"Not by a long shot." Was the answer she got. Blackfire was off again, moving through the crowd too fast for her sister to follow. She moved with no destination in mind, just looking for a shop that would catch her interest. She failed to find another interesting shop and slowed down enough for her sister to catch up. When she sensed Starfire beside her she held the dress out in front of her. "Isnt it great?" She asked.
Starfire smiled as though she might be ill. "Why yes... It looks as though someone spent some of the worst hours of theyre life in that dress sister." She said, trying to sound nice about it.
"I know. I love it. Think someone died in it?" She asked absently and Starfire groaned.
Starfire noticed the dried blood around the collar. "There are two types of dying sister. Which type do you refer to?" Her off-beat humor caught Blackfire offguard. The older girl laughed as they walked through the mall looking for the doors or an open window.
"You know." Blackfire said as they took to the air outside. "I think dying is the best thing that ever happened for our relationship."
Blackfire was quick to get back to the tower and to her room. Her cape was discarded quickly as she tore her normal outfit from her. The dress fit just a little large, and in the mirror she thought it made her look emmaciated the way it hung off her. Her cape; which she loved dearly; was quickly back on. She noticed her mother on the bed for the first time. Kali had been reading and had barely payd her daughter any mind when she came in. "You like it?" Blackfire asked, turning about.
Kali looked at her daughter over her book, an eyebrow going up in interest. "How deep did you have to dig to find that?" Kali asked inquisitively.
"I didnt, it was an above ground crypt." Blackfire stuck her tongue out at her mother and laughed. Kali just shook her head.
"Its you."
"Hands are the hardest." Cyborg explained to his new friend. "Articulating fingers is a grand nightmare. Giving them human like coordination requires alot of fine tuning, and makes a rolex watch look like a wind up happy meal toy." Iana watched over his shoulders as he worked with a pile of his own spare parts. Slowly the basic skeletal structure of a hand took shape.
"Amazing." She said nearly breathlessly as she watched him. "These hands will be just like yours?" She asked.
"Almost. They just wont have cannons in them." Cyborg stifled a yawn and looked at the clock. It was late, already eleven thirty. "Tomorrow we'll have the rest of this arm done. When thats done we'll attatch it and youll be able to help me building the next one." Cyborg re-attatched her old arm- the chips he put in her easilly adapted to the older hardware.
"I cant help with this arm?" She asked, dissapointed.
"Its too clumsy. Alot of this requires the skills of a watch-maker." She slapped him over the back of the head playfully.
"Alright, but where do I crash?"
"You can take my bed. I'll sleep on the couch."
Iana looked from Cyborgs bed, which looked like an operating table, to Cyborg. "I'm going with the couch if you dont mind. I'm a person, not an engine your rebuilding. Something about sleeping on hard metal surfaces is just a real turnoff."
"Alright. Fine, Its actually pretty good for my back." Cyborg showed her to his door.
"Whats your real name anyway?" Iana looked up at him. "I mean, we could call each other cyborg, its what we are."
A slow smile spread across his lips. "Call me Victor."
The earth night life was one thing Blackfire could never hold against this little blue planet. She had a special fondness for the underground concerts normally host to garage bands and teenagers that hated theyre parents. So many people in one place trying to get away from one thing or another, she felt she could easilly get lost in the dancing crowd. The rank smell of sweat, alcohol reached her nostrils as she and her mother entered the old factory. Strobe lights above flashed in her eyes and the music was loud enough so she couldnt hear herself talk, but did hear her mother.
"I'll be watching you. Behave." Kali whispered and was gone.
Blackfire saw a slip of a shadow retreating up into the rafters where she could not be seen beyond the bright lights. Kali was the wrong generation to enjoy something such as this. Blackfire stood there in the entrance, looking and feeling like the queen of damnation as many sets of eyes fell on her before owners of said eyes returned to what they were doing. This was good, she decided. This was fun. She walked out into the crowd and knew that several males were already following her. She slipped through the shadows of people around her, using quick bursts of speed and quickly lost those who had wanted to dance with her. "Who'll dance with me?" She asked herself. She had previously decided that the person she would want to dance with she would most likely have to ask first. She wasnt sure what kind of walking human disaster she was looking for, but had a fair idea that she would know when she found it.
The walking human disaster collided with her on the dance floor. Blackfire accidentally sent him flying. She ran to help him up. He was slightly taller than her, his skin a little too bronzed for the time of year. He kept his face impassive as he got up and observed Blackfire, adjusting his sunglasses. Blackfire took in the rest of him and thought he was dressed a little too well for the occasion. Wordlessly he left her and rejoined a group of others that looked suspiciously like him. Kali was by her again.
"Blackfire we have to leave NOW!" Kali whispered hotly. Her voice was full with worry and Blackfire found herself scared. Then above them a fire alarm went off and the sprinklers activated. People screamed, even though there was no sign of a fire anywhere.
"Whats going on?" Blackfire asked as Kali dragged her towards an exit.
"Hunters. We're leaving. Dont draw any unnecisary attention." The humans were filing out, but more and more of these other men and women were arriving, and they didnt look like they were interested in partying. They continued to come out of the woodwork, blocking off any exit Kali and Blackfire went to. Finally there were twenty or so of these hunters and Kali and Blackfire were alone in the club.
"Cant we teleport?" Blackfire whispered. She hated these people, the way they were looking at her.
Kali looked at the four walls around them. Complicated runes were carved into them or painted on them, looking more like graffiti than anything. She knew they couldnt teleport through them. "No. Blackfire, this is important. Kill anything you get your hands on."
"I think I can manage that. But why are they just standing there?"
Blackfires question was answered as the major entered. He was quite normal looking, unlike some of these hunters who had tattood faces. "Demons." He said. "Thankyou for joining us tonight. I think you know what happens here, right?"
"Yeah I kill you all." Blackfire yelled defiantly.
"Your in a room full of class five hunters, your going nowhere." He switched his attention to Kali. "Even you arent getting out of this." And at his signal the attack began.
It took half a second for the tower to go from a peacefull night to downright bedlom. The alarms sounded on all floors and the volume woke the dead all over the tower. Robin and Raven were the first to the main room to answer a distress call. Cyborg, Jinx, and Starfire were with them in moments. Robin hit the comm screen and the noise they heard when the link opened made the alarm system sound like nothing. On the screen was Blackfire, her face covered in blood and her eyes glowing fiercly. A long gash stretched from her temple to her chin but it was still obvious that not all the blood on her face was hers.
"Blackfire! Whats going on?" Robin demanded. Starfire made a small noise and covered her mouth with her hands.
"Tehk'a Nihlatha tu ist fur nagh fahr!" The tameranean yelled before cutting the link. Her face was replaced by the homing signal on her comm device showing them where to find her.
"Starfire! What did she just say?" Asked Cyborg as they ran towards the garage.
"Come and taste the fruits of battle!"
"Iana stay here!" Cyborg shouted as they left the room. Iana sat on the couch, a little spooked and ruffled looking. She nodded numbly as the titans piled out and laid back down.
Kali was scared. This was more scared than she had been in a very long time. She was not scared of hunters though, she was scared for her daughter. No matter how many she killed more kept coming. She would grab one by a limb, shake it and hit it against walls until the limb came off, and grab for another just in time to see two or three more enter the fray. She chanced a glance at Blackfire and was relieved to see that the hunters attacking her were more meta-humans than witches and that Blackfire could more than take care of herself.
Blackfire swung her arm back and brought it foward with a heavy bolt forming. When her arm was fully extended she let it go at the nearest person to her and it made theire head dissapear. Mumbo couldnt do a better dissapearing act. She kicked the still standing body into an advancing enemy and both were sent flying across the room, taking more soldiers with them as they went. Blackfire followed the path they cleared in the crowd trying to join her mother. Her way was blocked by her next opponent. It was a woman with knives. She scoffed at her as she tried to get in close, only to have a shuriken burried in her hand. She recoiled, kicking another hunter and grabbing one by the back and holding him close as a human shield as she walked him into a corner. The blade was in deep, the blade actually came out through her palm. She couldnt dislodge it with her teeth, so she decided she should use it. She whirled her shield around and planted the knife into his skull. She pulled her hand back, the knife stayed, its hilt widening the wound in her hand. She roared in frustration and hurled bolts in random directions in her fury. She targeted the knife thrower and dived at her. She picked up another human and used it like a large club to hit her with. She was sent flying. Magic blasts and arcs of electricity continued to rain down on her. It was nothing. Her rage wouldnt let her feel the pain. Her fury continued to build. She screamed madly as she flew the crowd. As she took blood she healed, and for her it was just a matter of making sure she didnt take too many injuries to heal quickly and slow her down.
Kali heard a motorcycle engine reving outside and knew reinforcements had arrived. This was good because most of the witches were attacking her instead of her daughter. Her body, though powerfull could only take this for so long. She parried and dodged blasts and fired them when she had the chance. She killed quickly, with precise moves and practiced strikes. Her fingernails, unnaturaly strong and sharp found purchase in the throats of many victims. Then, just as one of the entrances exploded inwards a new weapon was added to the battlefield.
"Kali!" Boomed one of the higher ranking soldiers. He held what looked like a ray-gun out of some cartoon. "A gift for you!" He fired it at Kali, a bright light came at her, washed over her, and nothing happened. She ignored it, there were only a few soldiers left.
"Retreat!" Called the major. He couldnt believe what had just happened, inside of five minutes a vampire and her fledgling had taken apart a crack company of witches and meta humans. The soldiers scattered, as did he. He took to the alleyway intent on dissapearing into the night. He couldnt let the order gain an enemy like the teen titans openly. He knew they could only attack its less likeable members one at a time and keep things quiet or else it might be exposed to the public. It was alright. The main mission tonight had been to stake out and field test a new weapon, which he believed worked. He took to the rooftops in his escape and was ignorant to the tameranean following him.
"YOU!" Blackfire screamed. She tackled him to the roof and pinned him beneath her. "What do you want with us?" She stopped. She let down her guard for just a second. She remembered this human! She had hunted him and cornered him in an alley.
"Its you." They said simultaneously. Major Singrifith used the moment she was distracted and delivered another fluttering dragon blow to her ribs, as he had when they first met. Blackfire was propelled off of him and he was on his feet instantly going after her.
Blackfire was an expert at martial arts, maybe not as good as he was, she knew, but the alien styles she knew of would be more than enough to give him trouble. She quickly got back out of the defensive and into the offensive using a defense that attacks whatever limb her enemy uses. His arm came at her only to be struck away painfully, followed by a foot. This style wasnt made for going after his body, but Blackfire wasnt concerned. She wanted to see what he was made of.
"You took my wallet." The major said in a flat voice. He went to kick and when Blackfire ducked low struck her downwards on the shoulder.
"I'll take more than that." Blackfire said as she took to the air to stay out of his reach. "What do you want with us?"
"Your destruction! Your everything thats wrong!" Speaking of wrong this girl was powerfull! His scanners told him that she wasnt even a year old but she was easilly more powerfull than him. He charged her with a jump kick. Blackfire caught the extended foot and swung him over her head, intent on smashing his head on the roof. Instead he landed on his hands and thrust both his feet upwards into her face. Blackfire stumbled backwards as Singrifith righted himself. He came at her with another kick which Blackfire blocked with he forearm. She grabbed the foot with her free hand and twisted. Here opponent ended up spinning and landing on his stomach. Blackfire lifted a foot in the air and brought it down, striking him in the kidney with the heel of her boot. This earned only a grunt from the man. He quickly rolled out of the way but Blackfire pounced on him just as he was standing when his balance was most vulnerable. She didnt think she could beat him stading, but by taking him to the floor she gained an advantage due to her strength and speed.
"You need to try harder than that." Grunted the soldier as he almost managed to get to his feet. No matter what she did Blackfire couldnt keep him contained on the ground. She couldnt keep him from weaseling out of every hold she knew. She only needed a few seconds to subdue him and drain the witch, an act she was looking foward to.
"Your men needed to try harder too!" She hrmp'ed as an elbow collided with her solarplexus and robbed the air from her lungs. It did not decrease her strength. She could go a very long time without breathing.
Down below several buildings over the titans tried half heartedly to contain the mysterious fire that had consumed the night club. Finally emergency squads arrived on the screen and the titans stood off to the side, waiting to see what happened. Raven looked to her mother, who's skin was so pale she could see through it almost.
"Kali wheres Blackfire?" She asked. Kali's forehead wrinkled together and she leaned against a street lamp to steady herself.
"Fighting still, not far from here. She's winning, dont worry." Kali began to sink to the street. A feeling of weakness came over her and she collapsed. Raven and Cyborg and Starfire were at her side instantly. "Starfire find your sister." Kali croaked. "Raven help me up. They tested some sort of new weapon on me. We need to get back to the tower and see what its doing."
"Cyborg! You go with them, this new weapon they might be science based. If it is I need you to find a counter-measure." Robin looked to HP, who was leaning in the shadow. "Your with me. If its religious fanatics we're dealing with your apperance might make for an excellent weapon."
The fighting on the roof top raged on. The combatants broke the engagement off and leapt to opposing corners of the roof to glare at each other as they regained some strength. The major stood to his full height, though it obviously hurt him to do so. "You fight well. Its only too bad that this is the last time we'll meet. I'm going to do something I dont normally do, but only because I admire you so."
Blackfire took to the air and spit out some blood. "And what might that be?"
The major took a small epipen from his belt and jabbed it into his chest, depressing the plunger with his thumb. "A shot of straight adrenaline to keep me going. I want to prolong this fight as much as possible. The martial art styles you use are alien to me, and the more I see them the more I learn."
Blackfire growled. "Coward! Using chemicals to augment your strength? What kind of pathetic warrior are you?" Blackfire flew at him as fast as she could but the adrenaline had an obvious effect on him. He lashed out with a punch to her head that sent her skidding across the roof top. Blackfire had no time to recover as he was on her instantly. She rolled out of the way to avoid getting her head stomped in but as she tried to take the the air she recieved a double fisted blow to the back that knocked her right back down. It occured to her that this fight had been lost from the start. He had practiced only hand to hand against her and held his own. She had yet to see what magic abilities he had in store. A kick to her ribs sent her skidding across the roof where she lay prone. She had a quick moment of inspiration and used her teeth to make a long gash across her tongue. She let the blood go out all over her face as the major approached. She tried to act like she was drowning in her own blood from internal injuries.
"Maybe I overestimated you." The major knelt down besides the injured vampire. "But still, your so young. How could you have been strong enough to last this long?" All he got in response was some gurgling noise. He sat down next to the dying vampire, still on his guard but more relaxed. "Is there any type of death you would prefer? I won't just beat the un-life out of you. You've earned this honor."
Blackfire hacked and coughed up more blood in an 'attempt' to speak. "What kind would you prefer... if it was you on the ground and not... me?"
"Truth be told? No death." He didnt notice Blackfire re-gash her tongue to create more blood flow.
Blackfire spit out a great deal of blood in another show of her impending doom. "Would I live if you left me?" As much as it hurt she bit again. She had to make it look like she would bleed to death.
"No. Even if you would, I cant let you live. I'm just giving you the choice of how you go out."
Blackfire whimpered. "Would you just hold me until I'm gone?" She closed her eyes and felt him ruffle her hair.
"I expected you to be stronger." He said skeptically as he picked her up to sit her in his lap. He was clearly displeased with her choice but would honor his word. He was caugth off guard as Blackfire spinned in his lap and in an odd move caught his arms behind him with her legs. He looked at her, shocked. She placed her hands on his shoulders to steady herself as he struggled.
"And I expected you to be smarter." Blackfire said coldly. She smiled. She leaned in towards him, intent on draining him but he only smiled back at her. She pulled back quickly and snapped his neck, thinking she had almost fallen for some sort of a trap.
Kali found herself stretched out on a medical examination bed by her daughter and friend. Her body sagged in the middle as they picked her up and a low moan escaped her lips. The blood was boiling in her veins, causing her no end of torment. "This is bad." She joked, though there was no humor in her voice. An akward numbness was quickly replacing the pain, seeping into her body from her fingers and toes and working its way up her limbs. It frightened her to no end, though she didnt let it show.
"Kali, whats this feel like? I need you to talk to me if I'm going to help you." Cyborg explained calmly. He knew it wasnt any of the many injuries covering her. He knew the old woman could take alot more damage than that and keep going if one of her children were in danger.
"Cyborg take a blood sample." Raven ordered from the computer. Her enhanced senses told her some odd kind of energy emminated from her mother on the table. She picked up a sensory device and made a pass over Kali's body with it. She plugged it back into the computer and her fingers flew across the keyboard quickly. "Cyborg I have something. Put a drop of her blood into a beacon of water, tell me if it floats."
"Raven I need help here." Cyborg was already busy trying to hook up blood transfusions, hoping it would help stabalize Kali's rapidly declining heart rate. When he opened the flow on the transfussion bag he could track the new blood on its way up to her heart through her nearly translucent skin. He looked to see if she was awake, she was not. He took a cotton swab and probed an injury on her arm, making sure to get a good amount of blood on it and then shook a drop off into a cup of water. "Raven it sinks like a rock."
"I have low levels of radiation coming off her body. It was probably from the new weapon. If her blood sinks that fast then its too much iron." Raven typed at the keyboard and a robotic arm descended from the ceiling. It lit up at the end and made a pass on Kali. "The radiations an unknown type, advanced scans can't identify it. It looks though like its causing the iron in her system to increase, but to what extent? "Cyborg use a metal detecter." Her friend did as she asked, and the loud electronic beeping told Raven all she needed to know.
"Theres so much in her system she wouldnt be able to go through airport security! This high an ammount must be poisoning her, damaging red cell membranes." Cyborg looked at the monitors. "At this rate her hearts going to stop."
"I've got this." Raven said. "Make sure we have more blood, we're about to need it." Before Cyborg could say anything Raven had taken on her soul-self. Black energy arced high into the room before aiming back down at Kalis chest. She convulsed terribly when Raven entered her body, and did not stop for ten minutes. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity for Cyborg Raven re-emerged, pulling a large ammount of iron through Kali's skin, causing more bleeding. Kali's vitals were further destabalised. "I damaged alot of internals filtering this out." Raven said. She held her hand out and let a redish slushy substance slide off onto the floor. It hit with a thud.
"I'm starting more transfusions." Cyborg said, calmer now. He attatched a second bag to Kalis arm, and went to put another bag on her other arm. Already her vitals were stabalising.
"Blood in a bag?" Kali said, letting them know she was awake. However she took blood, by mouth or by veins, it began to do her good immediately. "What was that weapon?" She asked, trusting that she was past the danger.
"From the looks of it they used a certain type of radiation to cause the iron in your body to begin binding together. Eventually the pieces got big enough to start damaging your internals, and without the iron dispersed the way it should be the blood in your system started to degrade." Cyborg kneeled and poked at the mushy blood on the floor. "This weapon would be dangerous against normal humans even, I'm the only one who wouldnt be affected by it."
Robin and Hp found Blackfire sitting with the major in her lap, and her mouth over his neck. The bizzare loll to his head told them his neck was broken, and the glaze in his eyes told them she was nearly finished with her grim task. She pulled away from him with a roar, her eyes widened in blood lust and nuzzled against the spot on his neck she had been feeding from. "You held very nice and still for me. No traps from you anymore now are there?" She shifted his limp body off of her lap and laid it on the roof. She smiled, which didnt hurt so much anymore now that she had fed and the wounds on her face were sealing up. Her tongue had stopped bleeding, but hurt still more than all her other injuries.
"Blackfire are you alright?" Robin tried to step foward but HP held him back, trying to protect Blackfire from herself in case she wasnt in her right mind.
"I'm fine. Just a little tired." It was over now and all she wanted was some sleep. Blackfire took a few shaky steps foward. HP tried to force Robin back but he would have none of it. Robin easilly skirted around his arm and ran for his other friend. "Just... Tired." Blackfire held a hand to her temple and collapsed to her knees. She looked up at her friends with wide blank eyes. "Its good though. We had our first head on encounter with these creeps, and I think I did alright." She began to pitch foward onto the roof and was asleep before HP even caught her.
"Get her back to the tower. Tell the others I'll catch up." The angelic vampire nodded his head and took flight, leaving Robin alone on the roof- or so he thought. Robin waited until HP was out of sight before turning around to face the shadows. "Who's there?" He asked. He didnt flinch as the familiar bone-white face of Red-x poked out of the shadows. One of his hands went behind himself to be ready for an attack, but it seemed as though that would not be happening tonight, as it had not happened any of the other nights he had caught the thief spying on him. "Not tonight huh?"
"..." The white skull in the shadows just cocked its head sideways, like a canine that had no idea what it was being told.
This 'stalking' had begun just a little over a week ago. One night as he and Raven laid in bed Robin had awoken from his sleep, and as his eyes focused he saw the mask in the corner of the room. He nearly jumped out of his skin but he remembered his training. Slowly, over the course of several minutes he began to reposition Raven in his arms so he would be able to spring from the bed. Unfortunately, whoever wore the mask knew he was awake and what he was up to. His daughter made an impatiet tapping sound on the wall with her fingertips. So he had stopped. The ghostly mask seemed to observe him for a few minutes, and dissapeared. When Robins door opened and shut again twenty minutes later he jumped to action, doing a full scan of the tower with devices made specifically to detect Red-x. Of course, she was gone. Every few nights now he had caught her spying on him. He had his suspicions that she was there every night, and that he was just not detecting her.
"I dont get it." Robin said. "You havent been violent, you dont say anything, what gives?" The face sank back into the shadows and was gone. It was un-nerving for Robin to know his daughter was spying on him, and that he couldnt stop her with all the detection and security in the world. Robin ran for the shadow and stood right on the border of it. He threw his staff back behind him. It clattered on the roof and rolled away. "Wait!" He called. In the pitch black he couldnt see Red-X, but heard her skid to a halt. "If you'll just listen to me for a second, please." He begged. "I dont know why your doing this, I dont even know your name, but you can come back with me. It would be alright. You dont have to go on like this if you dont want to."
"No, I could go on in jail. Is that your idea?" The cold sound of Redx's voice shook Robin.
"No. No damnit its not like that." Robin took a deep breath and stepped over into the darkness. He walked into the shadows of the larger building next door, and was now completely blind in the dark, his hands raised in the air in surrender. "We could help you." This was obviously the wrong thing to say. A foot connected with the back of Robins knee, forcing him to kneel.
"You think I need help?" Robix fumed, and resisted the urge to strike her father in the back of the skull. "Help is a fucking understatement!" She grabbed the collar of Robins shirt and pulled him to face her, even if he couldnt see. "I came into existence with the personalities, and memories of you and Jinx. All of your life experiences, your pain, your problems. Then, then it got even better. After a really traumatic first few hours of life I fall into the hands of Brother Blood, who just edits out most of the good in you two, leaves me with nothing but apple cores for a soul!" Her grip on his colar tightened and she fought back tears. "You dont know what its like!" She shrieked. "How easilly I come unhinged. You bore a heavy cross and I feel all the weight of it, plus Jinx's. Its too much!" She shook her father hard, and when he didnt reacts she picked him up by the collar and forced him against the wall. "I want to blame you!" She screamed in his face. "Life was so much easier back when I could blame you!"
"You mean you dont anymore?"
Robix dropped him and took a step back. "No..." She took a moment and collected herself. "Brother Blood is dead. Some of his brainwashing is wearing off the longer he's dead. I know you and Jinx didnt have me created."
"Whats your name?" Robin asked.
"Robix." She said quietly. "Not quite sure how I came across that name, looking back it seems pretty cliche'. I couldnt choose a name for myself so I just took parts of yours and my mothers."
"Could you turn the voice augmentor off?" Robin asked. "Your my daughter, I want to know who you are. I want to hear your voice."
Robix turned the augmentor off. "Is that better?" She asked.
Robin closed his eyes and smiled. "You sound like my mother." It had been years since he had heard a voice that could hold a candle to the sweet dulcet tones of his mother. "Robix give me a chance." He begged. "I want to help you." She didnt strike him for saying it this time. He ventured a step foward and could sense her tensing up. "Nothing about your life has been normal. I wish I could have found you sooner, I really do. All that damage thats been done, we could undo. Robix, if you would let me I would be a father to you. Theres still a chance you could have the life you deserve, you just have to let me in." Robin felt an all too familiar pull in his chest. A certain pink haired queen of destruction was closeby, but he couldnt tell where.
"I want to." Robix whispered. "Im too unstable, likely to hurt someone. I'm a mess."
"Thats what we could help you with!" Robin insisted. "Ravens a powerfull psychic, she could help you." Robin felt the pull again. His ribs were starting to feel a few sizes too small for his heart. "Go now, think on it." He told her. "You'll always be there in the dark right? Whenever your ready Robix, just let me see you." His daughter nodded and the suit began to dissapear.
"Thankyou." She whispered, and was gone.
With her gone Robin gave in to the pain in his chest and went to his knees gasping for air. He looked about for Jinx. He knew she was lurking in the shadows somewhere. "So? What do you think of our daughter?" There was some movement to his far right, and Jinx came stealthely out of the shadows. "We need to help her." Robin reminded her.
Jinx sat down beside Robin. "I know." She huffed. Robin could see a few stray tears on her face. "How can we help her though if she doesnt want it?"
"She does." Robin said. He got up, the pain was lessening. "We just have to wait for her. We have to let her do this on her terms."
Jinx got up and scoffed. "You dont have some kind of unrealistic expectations of a happy familly do you?" Robin gave her a mean look.
"I had one of those once. You know how that turned out."
"I'll do what I can." Jinx promised. "I just think your getting your hopes up."
Robin whirled on her faster than she thought he could. She felt him force the link between them open wider than she would have liked, and force something through it at her. It came barreling through the soul-link like a freight train forcing itself through a garden hose, even with the link fully open. It was all his darkness, his pain and anguish. It was greater than when he had showed her before, it was more than a human should ever endure. It hit her hard and forced her backwards, holding her head in her hands and resisting the urge to scream. She doubled over from it and finally, leaving her shaking on the ground in a scared heap. Robin stradled her stomach and forced her to look at him. "Damnit!" He cursed at her. "You might not need this, you might not feel connected to her, but I do damnit! She's the closest thing I'll ever have to a blood relation, to a real familly and damnit Jinx I need that! I dont care if you dont need it or dont want it!" He growled at her. "But I NEED THIS!" He hissed at her.
"Bastard." Jinx growled at him as he climbed off of her. Her anger left her when Robin sat back on the roof, the look of exhaustion evident on his features. "Dont you dare do that again." She said in a more calm voice. "Dont ever do that to me again. We dont know what this link is capable of. If we're not carefull with it, if we misuse it we could easilly end up with two people in our heads like our daughter." She felt something on her face, and realised she was crying. She tried to stand but her entire body was in shock from Robins assault. The residual pain was still with her and she wished nothing more than for it to leave. "You have no right to do something like that to me."
"She goes through this every day." Robin whispered quietly. "Every day for her is a struggle, more because of me than you. Everything I just put on you and then some, it was passed to her. I feel like I've passed on a disease."
Jinx's heart was eratic in her chest, her breathing mirrored it. She got to her knees shakily. What Robin had done, it wasnt going away! Her mind and heart didnt feel like her own. She had never felt so broken. "Why doesnt it go away?" She asked in a frightened, child-like voice. In her mind her voice sounded more like a nine year old Robin and she screamed in her own frustration.
"It wont." Robin told her without even looking. "Not until you promise me to give her a chance, I need your help for this."
Jinx launched herself at Robin and they tumbled about on the roof in a flurry of limbs. She quickly found herself outmatched by him. He stradled her once more and pinned her arms by her sides. He locked his legs under hers so she couldnt kick or buck him off. "Damnit!" Jinx screamed. "I dont owe her anything Robin!" She continued to struggle against him in vain. "She didnt come out of me, I'm not her mother!" She grunted trying to break free. "You cant fix your own past by making her feel better! Giving her a 'familly' wont bring your own parents back!" Jinx felt Robins grip lessen. He went stone cold and pale above her, and for a moment looked almost sick. Jinx didnt dare move beneath him. She had gone way over the line, and hadnt the slightest clue how Robin would react. The hurt he had given her left, and Robin got off of her. "I'm sorry." She said.
"Dont be." Robin said. "Your right, and you know what I've been through better than anyone except maybe our daughter."
Jinx cringed at the reference. "I feel it." Jinx told him. She came up behind him and embraced her friend, putting her chin in the crook of his neck. "I dont just know what you've been through, Robin. I was there with you. You have those nightmares still of watching them fall, and I'm there too. I'm watching it through your eyes and feeling it through your soul." She whispered. "I am there, in your shoes every time you have that nightmare Robin, and when you have it, we both wake up at the same time screaming our heads off."
"And so does she." Robin said quietly. "If she has my memories, then so does she. She shouldnt mourn my parents like I do, her parents are right here."
There it was again. Robin kept trying to put Jinx in the position of Robix's mother. She didnt like that, she hated it. Still, it seemed to comfort him to simplify things to that level so she allowed it this time. "She did have a pretty voice." Jinx whispered.
Robins mood changed. His lips turned upwards in a smirk. "Obviously I'm with the wrong woman. She couldnt possibly be yours." Jinx punched him in the ribs, and they laughed for a minute before climbing off the building together.