Soldier Part 3: Meltdown
Soldier thundered down the halls towards the garage area. Raven had to fly to keep up with him he moved that quickly. He ran over to his car and went through the start up procedure once again; he tapped on the screen in the dash and changed the settings by selecting 'race' mode. Raven joined him and he floored it down the tunnel, leaving thick black marks on the floor where the wheels had spun.
He exploded from the end of the tunnel onto the mainland of Jump City; Raven felt her stomach go light as the car went over the edge of the ramp and left the ground for a brief period of time. She told Soldier to turn left once they reached the main road, they'd have to cut through the centre of the city to get the quickly. Soldier was in another world; with expert hands that had years of experience he piloted himself through the traffic. He did it with almost precognitive reactions, he'd change lane or his line through a corner and sure enough a car or lorry would be on the path they had been on.
The traffic thickened, Soldier flicked a switch underneath his steering column and blue lights and the sirens rang out.
'Is this legal?' Raven asked.
'No but at this current moment in time we might not be around to worry about it.' He replied, Robin signalled Raven on her communicator;
'We have 15mintues before that bomb detonates, and there is more bad news.' Cyborg said dimly.
'What?' Raven asked.
'Within half a mile of the bridge are the coolant pipes for the nuclear power plant and the control centre. If it goes off it will go into meltdown...'
'... and we'll have another Chernobyl on our hands. Best start evacuating the city now or we'll not have time.' Soldier finished.
'No can do, all other access routes out the city are closed. The Wayne tunnel is closed for repairs and we won't be able to get everyone out by ferry, the police have closed the bridge; it was the only way out.'
'Ok so if thing goes off we're all pretty much buggered, can you clear our way? We're 5mins out but if I had a clear run I could be there in half that time.' Soldier instructed.
'Already done, 2 intersections time you will have a clear road ahead.' Cyborg jumped in, 'and I'm leaving now to join you, be there as soon as I can.'
Soldier said nothing as he flicked back a small panel under the computer display, revealing a red twist key like the black one he used to start the car. He twisted it, Raven heard a hissing noise. The computer screen showed images of 2 tanks like what divers used; behind the wheel 2red buttons appeared and on the dash behind the wheel and red symbol flashed. It read NO2; Nitrous Oxide. It flashed red then turned green to indicate the system was primed and ready to use. They cleared the traffic and had empty streets ahead of them.
'Hold on tight, this is my party piece' Soldier said and he pressed one of the red buttons.
Raven felt like she'd been shot into hyperspace, she was forced back into her seat, the thundering bass underlined with a high pitched hiss. She glanced at the speedometer and thought she'd red it wrong when it said they were approaching 180mph and then shot past it the needle stopped somewhere in the vicinity of 195mph. The world had become a blur; nothing had focus as it flew past her. Soldier released his finger as he drained one of the tanks of its NO2 and they began to slow. She looked at the computer screen; it now told them they had 90seconds to their location. She could feel the car starting to decelerate as it came down from nearly 200mph down to a more sensible 80mph, if you can call 80mph sensible.
They soon came up on the bridge; they cut through the assembled press not knowing how big a disaster this could be.
'Bloody press, you go see the police and get them to shut the cameras off ASAP and no photos.' Soldier ordered. Raven got out the car and went over to the highest ranked officer; he nodded in agreement and ordered the press to turn cameras off and no photos.
'Ok your ok to come out now, they've turned them all off or are shooting the other way.' Raven said. Soldier got out of the car, the press jumped into life, the clawed at the blockade and howled questions at them like wild animals. He surveyed them with contempt, bloody press. Bunch of fucking animals if you ask me, he thought to himself. Then he caught sight of something at the back of the crowd.
'Everybody down!' he shouted pulling his rifle into his shoulder and fired one shot, the crowd had already ducked but the person at the back whom had froze with fear at the realisation he was aiming at her. The TV camera exploded and ripped in half as it flew off her shoulder and shattered onto the floor. 'Next person I catch filming me, or if I find a photo or video clip of on the net; get's it in the head.' He growled at the press. They soon submitted and backed off.
'Overkill?' Raven asked.
'No, show them you mean business from the start and they won't try anything funny.' He replied slinging his rifle onto his back and powering off towards where the bomb had been placed. Raven tried to calm down the now irate police officers, explaining that he may be a bit extreme but he's the best they have.
Soldier stopped at the centre of the bridge and peered over the edge, he could just see Starfire's hair blowing in the wind. He got out his magnetic grappling hook that was attached to an auto belay system on his belt and attached it to the metalwork of the bridge and hopped over the side. The wind was fierce and tugged and yanked at his body as he moved down the central support.
'Soldier what are you doing? Can you see Star, how is she? Can you see the bomb yet?' Robin shouted in his ear.
'I'm abseiling down to them now; hold your horses' lady. Star looks ok, but she's out cold by the looks of it,' he lowered himself closer and got a closer look at the bomb, 'ok Robin I'm sending you a video feed, I tell you this is a dozy of a bomb, ok I'll try and wake Star up, see how she is.'
He stopped level with Star and the bomb. He gently tried to wake Star up but she was out cold and wasn't going to wake up soon. Soldier turned his attention to the device threatening to destroy their day. He looked for an opening on the device and soon started to unscrew a panel on the main body, just below the timer display. He noticed some printed text on the underside of the panel he had removed, it read;
Note to disarmer. If the device is removed from the bridge it will detonate. If you remove the hostage from the device it will detonate. If you try to move a section of the bridge it will detonate. Any attempt to put a containment field, stop time or anything else similar it will detonate.
Soldier sighed typical of Xana to be a smug sod and leave something like this, but it saved him half a job. He now knew the only way to prevent disaster was to disarm it, no easy task. He noticed all the wires that concerned him were displayed in front of him; he just had to figure out which one to cut. The timer now read 7 minutes to detonation, 'ok you see the text on the inside of the panel Robin?'
'Yeah I saw it. What's your opinion?' Robin asked.
'Well unless I deactivate it we can all kiss our radioactive arses goodbye.' He replied coldly, 'so shut up and let me get to work.'
'What happens if you make a mistake and it goes off?' Beastboy asked.
'The same if we do fuck all; we all die.' He opened the front of his helmet again and lit another cigar. The smoke raced off in the wind, but the smell lingered in the air around him. 'So if I'm going to die, I'm going to die comfy and happy.' Star started to stir.
'Where am I?' she groaned.
'Strapped to the side of the Jump City Bridge and to a singularity bomb that's going to go off in 6 minutes. And if that happens it will cause the nuclear power plant to go into meltdown. But we won't have to worry about that; we'll be sucked into the black hole long before we have to worry about that.' He replied taking a draw on his cigar.
'Where's Robin?' she asked groggily, he tapped his helmet.
'Star are you alright!' Robin's voice echoed into the cold air.
'I have, as you say, been better. My head hurts, I want to see you.' She asked longingly.
'No can do lassie. If you move too much we'll both be buggered sooner than we'd like to be.' She looked back at him, he didn't know if Star was about to cry or do something stupid. Soldier put his hand on her shoulder, 'I'll get us out of this mess and back to Robin, but I need you to stay still and calm for me so I can deactivate this thing.' Star nodded slowly and he set about disarming the bomb.
Now Soldier had a trick up his sleeve, he placed his hand on the device and closed his eyes. The Nano-bots inside his system linked him to the bomb, just like he did with the security systems in Titan's Tower. He saw the timer flash in his mind, counting down to sure destruction. He felt himself moving through the systems of the bomb. Power source, timer, anti tamper devices, the GPS that told the bomb if it had moved, temporal sensor. Fuck why can't I find the detonator? He screamed in his head. Where the fuck is it? The timer read 1minute, Robin was bleating in his ear. He couldn't focus.
'Soldier; stay calm. You can do this.' Raven spoke softly in his mind.
'I can't find it! He's hidden it too well.' Soldier protested.
'If you don't find it, you won't be able to try and hit on me.' She teased.
'Wait, hang on I've got it! Bastard has split it across 2 wires not just one!' he realised. He snapped his eyes open and looked at the collection of wires in front of him. 'Wire cutters, I need another set!' he bellowed, the timer read 30seconds.
'Where?' Cyborg shouted in panic.
'Back of my car. Hurry or we'll all go to hell together!' he shouted back.
Raven didn't even bother to open the boot; she just delved straight in using her powers and ripped a set out. She flung it over the side into Soldier's waiting hand, but she missed. They shot past him; his out stretched grabbing nothing but snow. 'Fuck, no!'
'What happened?' Robin shouted.
'I didn't catch the wire cutters.' Soldier replied solemnly.
'But I did.' Star said, smiling.
'Quick, cut that wire now! At the same time as me, on three.' He shouted at her. He counted down from three and they cut the wires. The timer stopped the bomb then completely deactivated itself. He breathed a massive sigh of relief; he looked at Star, she smiled.
'Thank you Soldier you save us all!' she said freeing herself from the device. She hugged him tight and flew him back on to the bridge.
'Not really, if you hadn't have caught the second set of cutters, well we'd have all been smushed into a singularity.' He answered, still realising how close they all came to disaster.
He headed back to his car; Raven walked beside him Cyborg on the other. Soldier opened the boot and replaced the second set of cutters. Star decided to ride home with Cyborg in the T-Car, Raven reassumed her place in Soldier's car. The press swarmed all over his car as he tried to pull away. Flashbulbs cracked and shone around them as he forced his through, revving the engine in annoyance; they soon backed off. He drove back to the Tower, leaving the police to secure the removal of the device.
On the way back he made a stop at backstreet lock up and picked up 2 large flight cases and loaded them into the boot. 'What is in those?' Raven asked.
'Heavy firepower. If Xana and Slade are stepping up the game so shall we,' He looked across at Raven who didn't seem approving of what he was doing, 'look I know my methods are heavy and take no shit, but at the end of the day, its programmed into me and it's how you have to deal with these guys; they hit you and you hit them back harder.'
'I can understand even though I'm not a fan of your methods. I'm just curious as to what you class as "heavy firepower" seeing as your pretty well kitted up.'
'You'll see, and I hope the buoys out in the bay are up for lending me a hand.' He said smiling. He packed up and left, snow crunching under the tyres.
Slade was fuming, the device was not meant to have been defused, 'You told me that bomb was impossible to defuse.'
'I said it was impossible to defuse by anyone not in the know, 17 is clearly in the know.' Xana replied reassuring him. 'It however does not affect the long game plan.'
'Long game plan. Just what are you talking about?' Slade snarled.
'I'm afraid that there is another game being played that I regretted to inform you about, but I'm sure you'll enjoy it...' Xana smiled.
They assembled on the roof of Titans Tower; Soldier was loading very large rounds into an equally large magazine. One of the flight cases was open and a very large rifle on a bi-pod, similar to the Barrett was pointing out into the bay. Soldier stopped loading and set about swapping the optical scopes over. He attached the video scope that he took off the Barrett before he destroyed it.
'What are you doing Soldier?' Robin asked wrapping his cape around him to fight off the cold.
'Target practice. I need to keep my eye in, that and I have a new scope that needs matched to the rifle,' He grabbed a target and passed it to Beast Boy, 'Beast Boy would you take this target and set it out on that buoy in the bay?'
'Why do I have to do it?' he groaned.
'Because Star and Raven have had a rough day and you haven't. That and you look like your getting a bit of a belly on ya.' Soldier teased, the others laughed, and even Raven permitted herself a smile. She did enjoy Beast Boy being made a fool of. Beast Boy's face looked like thunder as he turned into an Albatross and flew off.
'Just how far away is that buoy you've selected?' Cyborg asked.
'Well if the range finder is correct; roughly 1.5miles.' he said letting a small smile come across his face hidden behind his helmet.
'You expect to hit that target from here?' Star asked shocked, in her normal half naked attire, clearly not bothered by the cold as her boyfriend was.
'I don't expect to hit it. I will hit it.' He got down beside the Rifle and looked through the scope, zooming in on the target that BB had put on the buoy. Soldier settled the crosshairs over the target's chest and waited for the built in range finder to work out the distance. It soon gave him a distance of 2460meters or 1.52 miles in old money. He adjusted told the sights that he was about 2500meters from his target and that the wind was blowing at a bit over 10m/s from right to left. After imputing this information the sight it adjusted the crosshairs. He would now be able to 'zero' the rifle and the new sights in.
Soldier set himself into sniper mode and slowed his breathing and heart rate down, Beast Boy had returned and stood next to his companions. Soldier fitted the magazine into its housing and he pulled the bolt up and all the way to rear then forced it back again, then clicked off the safety catch. Soldier lay still for a while, gently taking up the slack on the trigger, it seemed like a life time, and the bang scared them all; it was deafening. The muzzle flash was blinding; through the dimming cloudy light they could see a single point of light arching its way across the water into the snowy air.
The water erupted in a massive splash as the round hit the water wide and short of the target. 'Ha, you missed. Not so sharp now are you?' Beast Boy joked.
'The first round is never meant to find its target. It's to allow me to gauge how much the adjustment I need to get it to be on target.' Soldier growled, 'What do you think? About 3ft right and 4ft short?'
'I'd guess so, maybe 5ft short.' Cyborg suggested.
'Ok, let's try that, I think we might over shoot the target personally.' He adjusted the sight and took aim again; he heaved the bolt back and forth; ejecting the massive spent cartridge into the snow. He fired again; the Titans jumped again feeling the shockwave hit their bodies.
The round streaked across the bay again. It held its flight all the way to the target but was still wide. But this time it was too far to the left not the right. 'Nice call on 5ft short, which would have hit the poor sod's head if it I hadn't over compensated left.' He tweaked the sight again and fired. The Titans still jumped, but where fascinated at this mixture of man and machine. He was efficient and deadly but he had a heart and a sense of humour. He'd clearly shown that when he tried to calm Starfire down and on the other hand had shot the camera out the operators hands, he was an odd mix some might say a psycho, at least he's on our side, Robin thought.
This round found its home as well; he fired off the last 2 remaining rounds and had the same results. Happy he put the AW50F (big 0.50 BMG sniper rifle) away and opened the other flight case; it contained a M60 Mk43 Mod1 Assault Barrel (a Light Machine Gun in other words). Raven decided to stay with Soldier, for reasons she wasn't fully sure of, the rest went inside to warm up again.
'You staying?' Soldier asked.
'Yeah, why not?' She replied, smiling softly. He returned the smile, although she didn't see it.