Robin's team immediately recognized the Mark-III Slade-bots. They were the first ones they ever encountered and were easily recognizable by their slouching, ape like posture which Slade eliminated from latter designs.
"Why would Slade be attacking us with those old clunkers?" Beast Boy asked.
Starfire's eyes glowed as they narrowed. "I do not believe that Slade is attacking us."
"Star's right. Slade probably sold his old androids to the drug cartels. At least we know how he's raising funds." Robin opined.
"Did Slade sell them those weapons too?" Bumblebee asked.
"No, he didn't." Rachel interjected. "Those are US military grade weapons. Artillery has never been Slade's style." She remarked as shells continued to hit the tower.
"They were stolen from military bases. San Antonio has several." Speedy remarked.
"So where is the military then? Why aren't they here stopping them?" Raven asked.
Cyborg tapped on his arm console. He frowned when he saw the results. A holographic projection of a local TV broadcast appeared above his arm. A grim faced news anchor delivered the bad news.
… and repeating the breaking news: about 20 minutes ago thousands of robots raided every single military base in the greater San Antonio area, overwhelming MP's and taking control of the bases before any resistance could be mounted. The government has since been able to recover the bases, which were stripped clean of their weapons by the robots, some of which were destroyed by the troops who recovered the bases … just a moment … we have an update … the androids are using the weaponry to attack the still unfinished Titans South complex that is north of the city …
Robin frowned. "We're surrounded and no one can help us."
"The Tower can handle whatever they shoot at us. We can wait here until the run out of shells, then go out and fight them." Cyborg remarked. "We could …"
The cybernetic Titan was cut off by a thunderous explosion that rocked the entire tower.
"Dude! What was that? I thought you said they didn't have any nukes!"
"That wasn't a nuke, salad head." Cyborg snapped as he checked his arm console.
The Tower itself began to groan and the sound of rivets popping could be heard, which was followed a metallic ripping sound along with the sound of metal grinding on metal.
"What is happening?" Starfire asked in a worried voice.
The sounds of metal and concrete rending themselves suddenly stopped. The Titans looked at each other with perplexed faces during the relative silence that followed.
"I don't know what's …" Robin began, but was interrupted by the sound of a loud crash just outside their den of safety. Looking out of one the transparisteel windows they could see that the top of the tower had been severed and came crashing to the ground.
"The Tower is supposed to be impervious!" Rachel howled. "How did they do that?"
A grim faced Cyborg answered her question. "They're using bunker busting bombs."
"We have to get out of here, we're sitting ducks. Another one of those bombs and we're done for." Robin exclaimed. "Cy, can you bring the T-Ships down here?"
"I could, bet they'd be sitting ducks too. We need to take some of their artillery positions out, but I can't do that via remote control. We need live pilots in those jets!"
"I can teleport to my T-Ship." Rachel remarked.
"So can I." Raven added.
"I can fly up to mine." The winged Titan proclaimed.
"Do it!" Robin barked. "Star, can you cover Bumblebee?"
The princess nodded.
"Good! After you clear out enough artillery, come down for the rest of us. We'll separate the ships into individual fighters and take out the rest of the Slade-bots." Robin ordered. "Go!"
The two sorceresses turned into their spectral birds and took off, flying through the tower's outer walls as if they were made of mist. Starfire and Bumblebee flew up one of the tower's stair wells, planning on exiting through the top of the tower, or whatever was left of it. Meanwhile, Robin located a ground level door that would open and found one. It would be their escape route when the T-Ships landed.
The bombardment continued unabated outside, and an occasional missile hit the tower. Raven and Rachel were soon in the cockpits of the orange and red T-Ships, and not a moment too soon as they had to evade some missiles that were shot at the signature jets. Cyborg had already moved Titans East blue T-Ship to a safe distance where it waited for Bumblebee.
Raven and Rachel wasted no time in attacking the invading horde of robots, firing blasters at them from the air, focusing on the artillery positions first. Bumblebee soon joined them and Starfire remained airborne and using her starbolts she joined the fight. It was a laborious task as there were hundreds of artillery positions around the tower. The proud structure was covered in scorch marks and looked wounded. It was now "I" shaped as the horizontal "T" section lay in ruins at its feet. The area around the tower looked like a moonscape as it was pocked marked with craters from shells that missed their mark.
After a few minutes they cleared out enough artillery on the north side of the tower to safely land. The window of opportunity would be narrow as the droids were already moving reinforcements to that side of the tower.
Robin had his communicator open. "Rachel, you come down first and pickup Pantha. Then provide cover for the other T-Ships." Robin barked into his round radio.
The pickups went without a hitch. The orange T-Ship, with Raven at its helm, was the last one to pick up its crew. The rescue was perfectly timed, as another bunker buster bomb hit the tower's base just moments after the orange T-Ship pulled away. Like a tree succumbing to a lumberjack's ax, the tower began to lean until it finally collapsed, falling on its side.
With the exception of Rachel's jet which lacked a full crew, they split into individual fighters and began to attack the Slade-bots below. The process was tedious and fraught with danger as the androids were now firing all of their missiles at the Titans. As Robin dodged a missile with barrel roll, his radio (and all the other radios in the other fighters) crackled to life.
Titans, this is Lackland Air Force Base command. A strike force is due at your location in 2 minutes. You are ordered to retreat and all of you are to return to your base in Jump City and wait there until we contact you.
"We have this under control." Robin protested. "We can finish it."
You have your orders, Titans. Go home.
"We aren't the military; we don't take orders from you!" Robin challenged the disembodied voice.
The orders come straight from the President. You are ordered to retreat immediately. The President has also ordered that Titans East and South also retreat to Jump City. Once there you will wait until contacted.
Robin's heart sank. That was an order he could not refuse.
"Titans! You heard the orders. Plot a course and return home."
As the unified team retreated and reassembled their T-Ships, the strike force arrived and began to carpet bomb the already destroyed campus. Within minutes not a single Slade-bot remained standing.
-( scene break )-
Robin watched the morning news grim faced on the giant TV while Cyborg and Beast Boy dished up the breakfasts they had prepared for the combined teams. Robin wasn't the only one who was unhappy about the Tower's loss in San Antonio. They had clearly underestimated the drug cartels who had spared no expense and nearly wiped them out in the process.
Robin had an all news channel playing on the TV and while the anchors yammered away, repeating the same information about the San Antonio attack every few minutes, he stewed in his own juices. He stared angrily at the screen and didn't notice when Starfire approached him and places a breakfast plate on the coffee table in front of him. With a slightly bewildered expression he looked up at her.
"You must eat." She gently chided him. "Unlike for me, it is your only source of energy."
He nodded and as he reached reluctantly for the plate of bacon, hash browns, eggs and toast she placed before him the news switched to a different segment: Reporters on the street in Jump City, who were interviewing the "man on the street" in their home town,
Much to Robin's dismay, the reporter was asking people if they still felt safe with the T shaped tower in the middle of the bay. Even more disturbing were the answers. Only a minority of the interviewees expressed confidence that the Titans could still effectively protect the city. Even more disturbing was a view that almost half expressed: that having the Titans ubiquitous tower in their city posed a safety risk, as it might attract a similar attack to the one in San Antonio. Some even opined that the Titans should pack their bags and leave town before they were attacked again.
Robin snarled at the screen. "We're not running from any drug cartels."
The Teen Wonder shoved a forkful of egg into his mouth. He was so upset that he couldn't taste his food. Raven sat down next to him.
"Relax, Robin. In a few weeks this will all be forgotten. You know how short of an attention span the public has."
Robin didn't reply as something in the distance caught his eye.
"What is it?" The sorceress asked.
"I don't know, but it's coming this way."
The teen heroes congregated at the giant windows. Using his cybernetic eye, Cyborg was the first to discern what it was.
"It's an Air Force helicopter." He remarked.
The giant TV screen switched to an incoming call. A serious looking military officer with four stars on his shoulders addressed them.
"I'm General Nathan Raskey. The president has sent me to speak with you. We will arrive in a few minutes. Raskey out."
Without even waiting for a reply the General severed the connection.
-( scene break )-
Robin and Cyborg rushed to the helipad on the Tower's rooftop and arrived just as the helicopter touched down. The General and three aides emerged from the chopper. Robin extended his hand to greet him and they shook hands.
"Is everyone here, from the three teams?" The General asked.
"We followed the President's order." Robin replied in a monotone.
"It's a good thing you did. Take me to them. What I have to say is for everyone's ears."
Robin and Cyborg led the four soldiers to the common room, where the extended team was waiting. The aides were carrying briefcases, which they opened. They pulled out several folders, which each had a Titan's name on it, and handed them out. Raven opened hers and saw that it had a debit card, and a driver's license with a picture of her with black hair and Caucasian skin. There were other documents in the folder as well.
"What is this?" Raven asked in an irritated voice.
The General cleared his throat. "By executive order of the President, The Teen Titans, Titans East and Titans South are dissolved, effective immediately. The government is taking possession of both Towers, for which you will be compensated financially. We have also created new identities for you, and we expect you to disguise yourselves to match your new identities. We can provide assistance with that, though I understand that Mr. Stone has holographic technologies to perform that task."
"Now wait a minute!" Robin protested.
"You may return to serve with the Batman in Gotham, Robin. But the others are forbidden to engage in any vigilante activities."
The other Titans all began to protest loudly.
"This is not a request!" The General thundered. "We will not have an encore of what happened in San Antonio."
"Hey, listen pal; it wasn't our fault that your boys got jumped by all those Slade-bots!" Cyborg shouted.
"And when Slade conquered Jump, where were you guys? We had to take it back ourselves." Beast Boy snapped.
The General snapped his brief case shut. "I'm grateful for all you have done in the past, but the President has determined that you are now a security risk. You have until the end of the week to vacate the towers, upon which time we will take possession of them."
"You cannot remove us from our home!" Starfire protested.
The General picked up his briefcase. "As I already said, you will be generously compensated for the towers. You will each also receive an indefinite monthly stipend of $40,000 per month, which you can access with the debit cards in your folders. You should be able to remain hidden and out view with that income."
The General and his aides marched off to the elevators. While they waited for the lift he turned and addressed the stunned superheroes. "You'd better hurry up and start packing, you won't be granted an extension. Also, there will be a press release in an hour, announcing your resignations. Also, when we said that the teams are dissolved, we mean it. It doesn't mean that you have to break off all contact with each other, but the teams are forbidden from staying together."
"But Robin is my fiancé!" Starfire howled.
"Couples and relatives may remain together, but those are the only exceptions. And non citizens are to leave the country, except for Starfire. It's all in you packets."
The elevator doors opened.
"I'm sorry Titans." He announced in a monotone before boarding the elevator.
-( scene break )-
I'll be you weren't expecting that!