AN: Hey guys, I'm back again. Two hospital visits and a new job later and you get chapter 30. Hope you guys enjoy and don't forget the review.
Alienvspredator5- Thanks for teh review, and see if you can glimpse at what's in store for our heroes now. Dastardly plans are afoot, I assure you.
DonCossak- Yes, unfortunately the story must draw to a close at some point. But rest assured there are still quite a few chapters left of insanity for me to pen, so keep a weather eye on the horizon for the next chapter. Thanks for reviewing and enjoy the show.
Defiance, true in it's purest form. It's face that carved of stone. It's body beaten and scarred. Will to stand against the gods and turn the tides of hopelessness. It's name Jake Arius.
Artemis toyed with her thoughts, as a kitten would a ball of twine, while looking over the embers of a fire long since burned out. The middle of fucking nowhere, where better to find oneself? But she was here for more than just that, she'd been waiting for a specific visitor, by the name of Robin, for just over a day now. The sunbaked sand was cooling as the evening breeze swept over the dunes, driving the desert towards the shore only to be turned back as it met the city's steel walls. Her camp was long since torn down, the only remainder were the smoldering embers of a firepit in the dirt before her.
Ever since Silver sent that dammed invitation to the Titans she'd counting the odds in her favor. They were few in number. They needed the Titan's cooperation, the local authorities weren't properly equipped and dusting their tracks would be a hell of a lot harder with all those records that they keep. Unfortunately the vigilantes occupying that tower were slow to trust, and that meant a new, more direct, approach was necessary.
So here she sat, waiting on the masked hero, and counting the seconds until the entire city went to hell. She need not have waited long. Muffled footsteps in the sand before her sounded her prey's arrival. It seemed as if he was willing to at least talk, though she'd be a fool to believe he wasn't prepared for trickery on her part. A shame then, that she had none planned but then again, she wasn't here to test him.
Artemis continued staring at the sand until two black boots stomped their way into her field of vision. Casual as ever she leaned back, planting her hands into the sand behind her whilst craning her neck to look upon her visitor. "Robin." She greeted, "Your early."
"And your not the woman from the message." He stated, arms crossed. She noted his posture, hands poised to draw a weapon, feet positioned to charge at a moments notice. A far cry from her relaxed posture, sprawled out in the sand.
"Sorry to disappoint, Silver had… prior engagements. She'll not be joining us this afternoon." She lied. In truth Sylvia was listening in on the entire conversion from a concealed location. She was her backup plan if things went to shit.
"So who might you be then?"
She flashed a toothy grin, "Why my name is Artemis, a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Robin rolled his eyes behind his mask. He was here for answers, not to make friends. "I was told you knew the location of a Hive cell."
Artemis locked eyes with the masked hero, staring through the material and into the green depths concealed behind them, "You've come an awfully long ways for your answers, but I wonder. Do you even know the questions behind them, have you even glimpsed the big picture yet?"
Robin's stance shifted, more aggressive than he was before. He detested games, they reminded him of all those years wasted chasing Slade. "Do you have the location or not?" He growled.
If Artemis noticed his tone and stance she hid it well. "So much at stake and yet you don't even know what your looking for."
"I'm looking for Brother Blood, what I'm here for is a means to find him." Robin stated, hoping she'd just give him what he was here for.
He should've known better than to expect anything remotely close. "Then you came here for nothing!" Artemis spat, eyes narrowing. "Open your eyes to the larger scheme. Blood is but a figure head, the power of the Hive lies deeper. We are on the verge of war and here you are, chasing shadows. You need to focus on the real threat and we need your cooperation." She sat up and pulled a sealed envelope from her pack. "Read these reports and see for yourself."
Robin snatched the parcel from her outstretched hand and tore it open. Within lied a stack of papers half an inch thick and every one with the DMC insignia stamped on it. His eyes scanned over the first two sheets before halting to look back at the blue haired girl. "This isn't possible." He stated.
"Oh but it is dear Robin. This is what the Hive has been pushing for these past months, and it's about to reach it's final stage."
"Damn it, alright. The Titans will look into-"
"You mean the Titans will assist us in bringing down the Hive cell." Artemis interrupted.
"No I meant the Titans and us alone. We'll take you in to protective custody with your friend until this is taken care of." Robin responded.
"No deal. We've followed this from the start and dragged you up to date, now your team works with us and assuming all goes well we part ways afterward." Her tone brokered no room for negotiation. This was how it was going to happen should she be involved. And Robin hated every bit of it.
But she had information that he needed, and needed now if what she said was correct. So a choice was presented, either work with the entirely unknown, or risk a full on war in the streets of Jump. Suppressing a sigh he looked at the reports once more and then back to her. "Fine, you'll have our support in this operation. Now what did you have in mind?"
Artemis clapped her hands together, "Alright, here's the plan-"
The entirety of the Teen Titans, sans one Jake Arius, stood gathered around a 3-D render of what was once a sealed off Cold War fallout shelter who's roots stretched far and wide beneath the streets of Jump. The tunnels for the most part had been integrated into Jump Cities Utility lines and maintenance tunnels. But the deeper constructs that had supposedly been "sealed off," was where their targets lied in waiting.
Robin stood at the head of the holographic projection, reciting word for word plans given to him just a day prior by an electric blue haired girl. "The plan is simple, The Titans enter via an emergency access hatch from the 2nd Ave. Metro tunnel. It's a bit of a drop but will put us right on top of the power generation plant." The map panned until a massive underground tower was highlighted in blue. From it branched thousands of tunnels, like spindles of glass branching out into the earth. "Intel suggests it's an enormous underground, geothermal plant that fully isolates the the facilities power grid. We take it out and then mop up any resistance until the facility has been fully purged."
All the eyes around him took the plan in stride. The normal premission banter absent. Replaced by a heavy solemn silence, born of uncertainty. Their supposed allies had yet to even contact them after Robin's encounter, and the grey areas in the so called plan were enough to raise serious concerns.
Robin planted both hands on the table the projection was on and leaned forward. "We attack tomorrow just after sundown. Be prepared for any and everything." And with that, the meeting was done. Everyone stood and moved off to prepare, each with doubts brewing just below their troubled faces.
Raven for one, no longer able to silently observe and wait for orders, decided she would make plans of her own. Shutting the door to her room behind her she reached out with her powers and brought forth another of the tomes from the shelves of her room. With all the caution of scholars a thousand years her senior she set about drawing the complex glyph on the bare floor.
That task under way she lowered the walls of her empathy and welcomed the torrent of information at her fingertips just from the thoughts of those around her. A little filtering and she came across the calmest of the bunch. Jake, ever since he miraculously managed to meditate successfully he'd spent the better part of a week wrapped up in his thoughts, and the other part of that week wrapped up with her.
Softly she spoke to him through her empathic senses, "Jake, the time has come. We must act now, come see me as soon as you can."
"Of course." Came the response.
Minutes past and the glyph was nearly its completion when Jake cracked open the door. He spared a glance at the ritual being drawn over the floor before shutting the door behind him and moving to stand beside Raven. "You've a plan I'm sure." He asked.
"Maybe, but right now we need some backup we can rely on." She turned and took his hands in hers. "Robin doesn't hold all the cards this time around and I fear we may be needing the extra help soon."
Jake looked into those blue depths that he so often lost himself in and squeezed her hands, "It'll all work out in the end." Then, dropping the solemn attitude he flashed his careless grin, "But some help along the way might be nice to."
Raven gave a grin of her own but said nothing. The glyph was complete and the power with it was starting to stir. Giving Jake's hand a slight tug, Raven stepped into the glowing emblem etched into the floor with Jake following not a second later.
Jake stepped aside and watched Raven close her eyes and begin to chant. " Azarath Metrion Zinthos." He could feel the air charge with energy, and the glyph focusing that energy into… something. Almost a portal in form but not quite, come to think of it, it almost reminded him of… of his return to earth from his little hellhole. His smirk grew wilder, 'This outta be fun.'
Blood grinned as the experiment log scrolled up the screen before him. The reports coming in were nothing if not promising. Subjects Alpha One through Delta five were retaining the new DNA and already showing developments towards their implanted traits. "All thanks to that accident known as Jake." He surmised.
He closed his laptop and took in his new office/quarters. It was a spacious layout, full office and bedroom suite. A bit brighter than he was used to but all would be rectified soon enough. Once the city was purged he'd have a permanent staging ground and wouldn't have to keep relocating his resources. And that day was fast approaching if these lab results were anything to go by.
Recent reports read improvements in meta-specific traits across the board, a seventy percent higher retention of implanted traits and only a fifteen percent washout rate. There were well over three hundred students he had ready to augment. Assuming the rates stayed the same that left two hundred and fifty fully augmented super soldiers ready to fight and die for him if need be. 'Oh yes, his day was dawning.'
He stood and moved for the door keeping his quarters from the rest of the facility. The wooden door blended seamlessly into the delicate wood paneling that lined his walls. A look he was more than fond of. But outside in the corridors of steel and concrete it clashed in a most ineloquent manner. One didn't just settle a log cabin type lodge into a cold war fallout shelter without some clash in decor. But it mattered not, he'd be out soon enough.
The guards outside his door didn't so much as twitch as the door swung inward. Blood took their presence in stride as he hung left and pressed on towards the augmentation lab. Leon was still proving quite the septic but Blood needed his mind. So he was alloted his freedom… for now. The next batch of soldiers were entering the final stages of surgeries and injections. These would be the vanguards of his army. The beginning of the end.
The scent of the sterile halls hit him first as he crossed the threshold into the wing, the stench of antiseptic and fresh blood clung to the air here. Then the full view of the steel walls of the corridor, broken by oblong glass windows into the various augmentation chambers. Rooms barely large enough to hold the bed, and above the patients a large spider looking apparatus with tubes branching off delivering chemicals to the unconscious souls entwined in their webs. He paid them no mind as he marched to the far side of the wing, to Leon's personal laboratory, secretly dreading having to seek out the crazed man. If ever there was a mad scientist, Leon was him.
At long last the steel door isolating the lab swung open to light the darkened room and reveal the activities to the rest of the world. Test tubes and beakers full of various, foul smelling substances sat before him at a bench overlooking his bay of equipment. Mumbling incoherently to himself he grasped at vials of liquids and mixed them with an almost absent minded recklessness that no proper student of chemistry would ever possess. Blood watched at the concoction began to turn a vile black and boil away.
Then the he crazy old bastard did the unthinkable. He took the vial and downed it with only the traces of a grimace on his lips. As if reading Blood's own mind he spoke, "Keeps me sharp, and the shakes away. But I doubt you came to watch me take my medicine."
"No. No I did not." Blood stated. "How soon will they be ready?"
Leon waved him off, "Patience brother. Perfection cannot be rushed, lest it become tainted. You will have your army soon enough."
Blood was not so easily sated however, "And what of the new subjects?"
"The non-metas?" Leon confirmed. "They are taking to the serum as well as the first phase subjects. Assuming their nervous systems can handle the extra sensory input then we should have no trouble breeding you your army."
"Good. Good. And the washouts?"
"Brain-dead shells. Their neurons fire off in endless feedback loops and fry their nervous systems. But since we sedate them for the entirety of the process there'll not be another Mathews incident." Leon explained as he walked to a computer holding his archives, essentially notes and drabbles understood only by him, and brought up the data feeds from all the currently occupied augmentation chambers. "So far we're green across the board. Final serum injections are loaded." He looked up at Blood before he hit the execute command, "Here, brother, is your army."
AN: Alright, maybe a long wait but look at what you got. That be a lot o' plot stuph in one chapter, no? So yea, don't forget to review and allow me to thank my good friend Hitotsune-Kozo for all his help.