Soldier Part 2: Alliance

Raven woke up early the next morning and went to check on their guest Bob. The computer consol was on and displaying the NSA file the requested, she smiled to herself and pressed the intercom button; 'your buggered now you cocky sod, the NSA have given us your file.'

No answer.

'Hey, you asleep in there?' she looked at the CCTV cameras but they were blank. She opened the door and looked into the empty room; he was gone. Shit, she slammed the emergency button, but the alarms didn't sound. Bastard has taken out the alarms and other security. Raven typed franticly on the keyboard bringing all the downed systems back online, the alarms soon began to ring out. She began to read the NSA file on the screen but she soon noticed the other one behind it; from the British MoD.

She skim read the NSA file; Columbian facility 'The Maze', try to make perfect soldier via use of Nano bio-technology and enhanced weaponry and body armour, Xana lead scientist current location unknown, funding for facility unknown and missing, 'Soldier 17', lead mass break out, believed to be hunting Xana, current location unknown.

She moved on to the MoD file and read this with greater interest. Rank; Sergeant Major, Unit; Ghosts. Service history;

Passed training with flying colours, attached to red troop, Columbia 2003 troop ambushed only him and Trooper 'S' survived after spending 2weeks on the run. Then on to; Ireland, Serira Leone, and Rep. of Congo, Zimbabwe, Bosnia, and Kosovo, Afghanistan and... Russia. Over this time rose to rank of SgtM and commander of Echo Squadron and Red Troop. MIA suspected KIA Columbia, August 2006.

He was a man of the world, although most of it dark and seedy. Raven thought to herself, slowly beginning to respect him.

Raven finished reading just as the others burst in. 'He's escaped.' She stated.

'What how?' Cyborg asked.

'Hacked the network somehow, turned off the cameras, alarms and opened all the doors on his way out. Oh and left us these files on himself, one from the NSA and the other from the British MoD; his service record.' She commented, 'we have an RV location and a time as well'

'Ok we wait and move out in time to reach the RV with Bob or Soldier 17 whatever his name is.' Robin said.

Bob half sat on the bonnet of his car, a Toyota Celica GT4 TRD. The sun hung low in the winter sky and did little to fight off the cold of the wind. He didn't feel the cold anymore or extreme heat. The full armour suit that he stole from The Maze, along with a lot of custom weapons, kept him warm or cool or dry, depending on the situation. It may have looked like something out of a videogame but it was very real and it worked. His helmet on which he had retracted the visor and bottom section of his helmet (the bit that covers your chin), it fully revealed his face so he could eat and in this case; have a smoke. He had his proper pistol strapped to his leg and his rifle was lying across his lap, right hand on the pistol grip and index finger over the trigger guard and thumb on the safety catch.

He took a long draw on his cigar and let the smoke coil out of his mouth and out into the winter air. 'Smoking is a bad for your health.' Raven had appeared at his side.

'So is sneaking up on people like me.' He replied.

'How did you figure that one out?'

'Cause people like me are usually armed; we'll shoot first and ask questions later. I gather you got my note then.' He took another draw on his cigar.

Raven moved so she could see his face, it matched the photo on the MoD file. 'Your picture doesn't do you justice, your better looking in real life.'

'That because the photo was taken before I'd aged a life time in hell. But I'll take that as a compliment, you're not bad looking yourself.' He mused, 'where are the others?'

'I came alone.'

'Really now? Considering Starfire has been hiding in the glare of the sun for about half an hour, the Boy Wonder is about 50ft down the cliff, Cyborg is hovering somewhere to my 4 o'clock in the trees, stealth is not his strong point and Beast Boy, well he's off to my 8'oclock cause I can basically smell him. Dude needs to take a shower!' He smiled to himself.

Raven grabbed her communicator, 'relax guys, he knows where you're all hiding,' she flipped it shut, 'so why did you escape, instead of just talking to us?'

'Well first of all, talking wouldn't be as much fun as breaking out and I wanted to get you guys a something that will hopefully prove that I'm not such a bad guy.' He got off the bonnet and flicked his cigar stub out into the snow, he tapped the side of his helmet and everything slid back into place, his rifle hanging by his side. Raven waited as he opened the boot of the car and dragged something out.

'There you go a little something to show you that I'm on your side for the moment.' He grunted as he dumped a bound and hooded figure on to the ground. Raven looked under the hood; it was Dr Light.

'You caught him by yourself, impressive.' She looked at his leg, it had been bleeding; 'did you shoot him?'

'Just a flesh wound; enough to stop him running away. I did want to bring him in unharmed but he wouldn't stop running away. The villains you have over here are all the same, they wimp out when someone comes at them at gun point. Now British villains, they are tough bastards. Point a gun in their face and they don't even flinch, proper hard old school criminals, none of this jumped up superpower crap.'

'You shot him, we're meant to think you're a good guy. By your own admission you're here to assassinate someone, Xana I assume?' Bob nodded, 'you're dangerous, violent, and arrogant and out of control. And you think we're just going to let you work with us?'

'Yes, because your Slade and my Xana are working together, Xana is a scientist who works for the highest bidder as you said the Nano-bots in my body are similar to the ones that Slade implanted in yourselves a few years ago. That's because Xana made them for him and sold them on to him. We can take two birds with one stone, I can give you Slade on a platter, all I want is for you to leave me alone to do what I want with Xana.' He answered.

He was far too reckless to work with, he had a violent streak in him, he had no problem with killing people; but it's all he's trained to do. For the good of the Titans they shouldn't agree to work with, but she knew Robin wouldn't pass up a chance to grab Slade and he wasn't afraid to blur the lines between right and wrong.

The rest of the Titans appeared, they had to discuss this; a chance to take Slade down once and for all. Robin was all for it, but he knew that Bob couldn't be trusted fully. He had unorthodox methods, he worked with extreme prejudice, but they worked and got the job done. Not everyone was happy, but they all agreed on one thing; no live ammunition. The risk for collateral damage was far too high.

'We'll work with you on a trial basis for the moment. Condition one; no live ammunition. Condition two, a better name than Bob' Robin spoke frankly.

'Compromise; I use my stun rounds mainly, but I have at least 3 mags of live rounds, for emergencies; last resort situation. I will keep them separate from the other magazine of stun rounds so there is no mix up.' Bob countered, 'and I'm sure we can think of something better than Bob.'

Robin and well Bob but not Bob, shook hands. 'I may not seem it, but I am a man of my word. A handshake means a lot in my life we have an agreement and I will honour it as long as I'm alive. Now down to business, he needs locking up.' Looking at Dr Light on the floor.

'That shouldn't be hard. Star will you take him?' Robin asked, she nodded and happily picked him up and flew off.

'Boy owes me a car. You trashed mine.' Cyborg shouted.

'Fine, I can either buy one or we can build one from scratch, assuming you have a decent scrap yard around here or impound lot.' Bob but not Bob replied.

Cyborg looked shocked, he was expecting an argument with him but he just conceded. Cyborg called up the T-ship. The four remaining Titans went to get on before Bob but not Bob spoke out, 'Erm I need help getting back into the Tower, I don't know where the underground access road is.'

'But how did you get off the Island in the first place?' Beast Boy asked.

'I swam.' Bob but not Bob replied flatly, 'now Raven; would give me the pleasure.' He asked opening the passenger door of the Celica.

She looked at Robin who nodded, she knew Robin wanted her to delve into his mind, see what made him tick. 'Gladly' she replied forcing a small smile.

The T-ship roared off into the sky and headed towards Titans Tower. Bob sat in the driver's seat and locked his rifle into a rack, just behind the driver's and passenger's seats. He flicked a set of battle switches (like the kind you find in a jet fighter, switches with big covers over them) and then pressed in and turned a black key and the engine growled into life. The deep throbbing bass note from the exhaust system shook Raven to her very soul through the racing seats that cocooned her and held her in place.

A computer display flickered on in the centre of the dash; it displayed their current location on a large map that occupied most of the screen, with other options and data displayed on it. The dashboard behind the wheel lit up, speed, revs, gear, boost pressure, oil level and temperature, fuel level and range he had everything he needed in front of him. Bob but not Bob put the car into reverse and accelerated rapidly before making the car spin violently through 180˚ and sped off towards the main road.

'You need a better name than Bob, Bob.' Raven said finally.

'I know it was the first thing to come into my head. You were lucky; when I want to say something random I normally say popadom. Now that would have been weird.' He chuckled.

'What's your real name?'

'The person I was died in The Maze. I came out different, the person you see now. I never thought of giving myself a name. I didn't need one; I want to stay in the shadows.'

'When you escaped why didn't you return home?'

'They wouldn't let me have my revenge; they'd lock me up and do their own experiments on me. No, I want him to suffer what he did to me, he took everything from and I'm going to go the same to him.'

'So there is now way we're going to use your real name, well if you're going to work with us your name will have to be cool, sassy and intimidating.' Raven said looking straight through the window, she noticed he wasn't going that fast.

'Since when did you become a media mogul?'

'I'm not, but I read the papers and watch the news, and Bob is not a good name neither is popadom.' She giggled.

'Let's stick to something simple, I'm not going to be called something I'm not either.'

'I agree you're a man of simple pleasures and not a Bob.'

'When people didn't know who I was, especially the higher ranks, I just got called "soldier".'

'Did you answer to that?' she asked glancing at him.

'Yeah, everyone did. You were never sure who they meant by "soldier".'

'Fine, you shall be called Soldier. It's simple and what you are and impersonal.' Raven said.

'I'm happy with that. What do you mean impersonal?' Soldier asked.

'I get the feeling you're going to start trying to hit on me sooner or later.' She smiled slyly.

'The reports or you were right; you're good. Very good,' Soldier glanced at her, 'would you mind if I did?'

'Depends.' She replied flatly.

'On what?'

'How badly you've fucked me off.' Raven replied looking straight out the window.

She allowed herself to smile a little, maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all. After sneaking her way into his mind, she found nothing that would lead her to think he would double cross them, he wanted one thing and one thing only; Xana. And he would do nothing to compromise reaching that target. 'Take a left here and I'll open the entrance.'

Soldier steered left and was faced with what seemed like a road that led to nothing but a dead end. He was soon proved wrong as a huge metal door slid back to reveal that a steady ramp down under the ground and then out to sea and into the Titan's subterranean garage complex.

Now 18 year old boy, tunnel and a high performance car. You can kind of guess what happened next cant you? Yes, it was time for a spot of 'tunnel blasting'. Soldier pressed the throttle down hard and flew up the gears accelerating faster and faster.

'Ok that has to be them coming now, can hear the rumble from the exhaust and the dump valve from the turbo charger.' Cyborg said standing in at the end of the tunnel. He looked out into the gloom that was soon illuminated by the headlights. By the time he arrived in the garage Soldier had slowed right down and reversed into a clear space. He turned off the lights and killed the engine, the throbbing bass subsided.

Cyborg took time to study the car properly. It was sprayed black with matching window tints and 19inch rims. An aftermarket body had been fitted and allowed for the installation of a massive radiator, intercooler and air intake systems. He had fitted a rally style headlight unit to the bonnet with four high powered bi-Xenon bulbs and another 2 in the normal light fittings. It was a beast where form followed function, the creases in the bodywork either fed air into the engine, into the wheel arches to cool the brakes or towards the oversized rear spoiler or front splitter that kept this machine glued to the road at high speeds.

'Does the outside mach what's under the hood?' Cyborg asked.

'Pop the catches and take a look.' Soldier replied, Cyborg opened up the bonnet and his jaw dropped. 'Am I right thinking I can see 2 turbo chargers?'

'Yes, 2 TRD rally specification turbos and intercoolers to match. High flow K&N induction kit, a Cat-back exhaust system, Eibach springs, Brembo carbon ceramic brakes, Pirelli P Zero Rosso tyres, rebuilt pistons and crank shafts, custom ECU remapping. Pretty much everything you can do to a car engine I have done on this thing.' Soldier and Cyborg continued to discuss car bits whilst Robin went off with Raven to discuss what she had found out about Soldier.

'Undoubtedly he's on our side. Yes he may be driven by anger and revenge, but he will do anything to get it. I don't think he'll double cross us, he needs our help to get close to Slade as he can't do it on his own and from Slade he can get Xana.' Raven explained.

'Good work. Stick with him though; he seems to like you more than the rest of us. He's your responsibility, keep him in check.' Robin said.

Raven sighed she really didn't want to be paired with him. It wasn't that she didn't like him as such or he infuriated her, it was she was just a lone spirit and liked to have her own space.

Alarms rang out for the second time that day. The four Titans and Soldier charged to the command room. Robin worked away on the consol trying to find the source. He got his answer; 'Hello Robin.' It was Slade.

'Slade, what have you done this time?' Robin growled.

'Well your new friend has upset my old friend. I staged the little fight last night so he could get away unharmed. Now we're levelling the playing field.' Slade chuckled cruelly.

'No doubt your computer system will be telling you that there is a bomb placed on the Jump City Bridge. It is a Singularity Bomb and it will make a small black hole for a short amount of time. It will take out the bridge and everything in a half mile radius and within that half mile is someone very important indeed...' he sneered and the transmission ended.

Robin managed to get a video feed on the bridge and the bomb. Right next to it, in fact clamped to it was Starfire. They all froze in terror, Soldier turned and headed back down to the garage as fast as he could.

'Where are you going?' Raven asked chasing after him.

'To disarm that bomb.' He replied as he sprinted through the halls of the tower.