60. Full Circle part 7

!!!!

Gritting my teeth, I unsheathed Myrkblade and deflected three sets of uzzi fire away from my torso in three and a half swings.

SWISH-SWISH-SWISH—CL-CL-CL-CL-CL-CLANG!!

I vaulted my legs up off the floor, backflipped, and landed in a crouch upon which I swirled my blade in front of me and created a blurred shield of smoke that shattered the bullets apart.

CR-CR-CR-CR-CRACK!!!!

My whirling sword of destruction absorbed the energy and expelled it at my feet, forcing me back in a dusty slide across the cold, hard floor of the laboratory and towards the door on the other side.

And then one bullet slid through my shield and streaked past my right ear. I gasped as I felt tufts of long black hair rise towards the ceiling and fall again from the close proximity of the projectile.

Summoning a desperate pulse of strength from my limbs, I jerked myself forward into a stiff lean and slashed Myrkblade downward. A warbling line of destruction swam its way over the floor and impacted with the feet of three, dark suited assassins. Typically such a burst of my inner murk is enough to ground a room full of ordinary men. But it only just set these thugs off balance for a second or two.

My eyes under my goggles widened.

The Hell???

Nevertheless, there was a split second delay in their gunfire.

I teleported backwards, took a breath, and ran towards the opposite doorway.

SMASH!!!!

The thing kicked open and a large man in a black suit emerged, pumping a shotgun and aiming in my face.

I gasped and ducked.

BLAM!!!!!

Shot flew hot over my head. The men on the other side dodged miraculously.

Crouching to the ground, I spun my body and lifted it up in a spiraling uppercut. My sword slashed vertically at the man's right side.

With speed comparable to the Flash, the large thug shifted his weight and deflected my smoking blade off with the thick side of his shotgun's hilt.

CLUNK!!!

My jaw dropped in slow motion.

How did he---

CHU-CHTING!!! He pumped.

Crud!!

He aimed.

My leaping body twisted into an awkward, horizontal dive.

He fired.

BLAM!!!!!!

I spun in my dive to the ground with Myrkblade smoking along the length of my body. In such absurd fashion, I deflected back half of the shot and barely avoided the second half which shorn my skin through the metal mesh.

THUMP!!!

I landed on the ground.

Time resumed to normal.

I gritted my teeth and swung Myrkblade along the floor ahead of me.

I managed to trip the man to the ground—although I honestly meant to rip his damn ankle off.

The sound of marching footsteps and cocking guns reminded me of the three other men behind me. I spun on the ground, pivoted, and leapt barely to the side as machine gun fire ricocheted off the tile where my legs barely streaked away.

RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!

I rolled three more feet, jumped up into a standing position, and backed up with Myrkblade raised to defend.

Two pairs of arms grabbed me from behind.

How many men are in this room now?!?!

I immediately clenched my eyes shut, tensed my muscles, and teleported through the limbs encasing me. I materialized on the shoulders of the two extra assailants and vaulted off…causing them to lumber forwards and trip into the other four.

As I came down, I flipped backwards, reached into my pocket, grabbed a handful of razor sharp playing cards, and tossed them at the opposite side of the room upon landing.

SWIIIIIIIIIIIISH!!!

What I saw was just freakin' wyrd.

All four thugs who were standing leapt up like swan and pivoted in mid-air—the likes of which only caped crusaders from Gotham could do. In extraordinary grace, they pivoted their flailing limbs to avoid the streaking cards and landed safely out of the slicing projectiles.

I blinked.

Who were these guys?!?!

They all got up at once. As a result, they all held up their guns at once.

Crud…

BLAM!!!!

RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!

I deflected a wall of hot metal and twirled to the side. Bullets ricocheted off the floor, ceiling, walls….and the encasement of the chronotonic core.

I winced.

Double crud…

I had to get out of there.

I stared ahead of me with my back to the core. I saw nothing but a computer station and a solid wall.

I blinked.

Just then, the two extra assailants rushed in from either side of me…grabbing opposite arms.

I gritted my teeth and struggled with their grip on me as the four gunmen rushed around the core to get a shot of the prone figure.

I couldn't let myself get in that predicament. So I charged up murk energy into my limbs, jumped up, planted my feet against the chronotonic encasement, and flexed my forearms inward with as much fervor as I could muster.

I succeeded in dragging the two men grabbing me into each other. Their skulls slapped like coconuts. I flipped over them, flew free from their grasp, twirled Myrkblade, and ran full force at the solid wall as bullets leapt, ricocheted, and danced at my feet.

At the last second…I jumped---

SMASH!!!!!

--and shattered through the wall to land in a roll on the other side.

It wasn't until the end of my roll that I realized I was on the edge of a metal catwalk.

I gasped as I suddenly fell into open air.

I reached a hand out while falling and grabbed a handful of chains attached to some pulley in an unfamiliar ceiling.

CL-CL-CL-CL-CL-CLINK!!!

I descended along the chain in a rickety fashion. I looked around. Through my goggles I saw the interior of some sort of crash-test-center. Unpainted vehicles of gray aluminum were parked in different spots across the concrete floor. And in between them were about a dozen men…..all aiming guns at me.

RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!

I let out a silent scream and flipped backwards off the descending chain.

While falling, I slashed Myrkblade all across the air before my torso. It was incredible. Everyone's aim was perfect. Every single bullet from every single gun from every single of the dozen men shooting at me would have struck me between the eyes had I not defended myself so swiftly. In fact…it almost seemed too good. All the bullets were streaming in right where I could deflect them. One crucial point.

I landed on the ground and blurred to the side. I crouched with my back to a pile of metal oil drums.

I panted…sweating.

My world turned into thunderous chaos from the loudness of the ricocheting bullets against the hollow drums behind my head. I was soon overcome with the horror that the suited men's ammunition was quickly eating through the very structure of my blockade. Not only that, but I looked straight up at the catwalk and saw the four gunmen and the two attackers from the laboratory emerging, looking down at me, and taking aim.

No time to breathe…

I leapt forward as bullets rained down at me from above and sang after me through the destroyed oil drums.

I streaked a serpentine path through the car testing facility. Sparks and flashes from impacting bulletfire made a comet tail behind me. I leapt over a car that soon turned to swiss cheese, then vaulted over a computer or two that exploded from the projectiles' impact.

I looked an exit amidst the blurred, heated chaost. I glanced up.

There was a platform with a set of stairs leading up to a wide glass window and a clear doorway.

I rushed, jumped, flipped, and blurred up it in a twirling fashion to miss the swarm of bullets streaking up from behind me. When I reached the window, I gasped. There were five men in dark suits on the other side, aiming at me.

RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!

CRASSSHH!!!!!

The glass shattered in a rain of shards.

I teleported ahead five feet, coming up behind the first round of air-searing bullets. I held my breath, dashed to the side of the shattered window frame, and blurred up the side of the wall in sheer momentum.

As I entered the Phaser Labs hallway, the five before the window pivoted around to aim at me.

A trail of bullets followed my feet against the wall. From a vertical playing field, I stretched my sword behind me and swung like mad…deflecting the following projectiles more-or-less back at the gunfiring fiends.

As the bullets streaked back at them, I barely caught sight of the thugs jumping backwards, diving, and twirling with great finesse to avoid the fire.

It was insane….like ballistic ballet. They dodged and jumped and swayed with the grace of Jinx….I could swear it….

I ran around the wall of a corner, leapt sideways, spun in the air, and landed on the ground…upon which I blurred straight ahead towards the distant elevator doors beyond. Just before I reached them, though, two ceiling panels disappeared above and two men in black slinked down. They stood up and faced me with raised fists.

Are they crazy?!?!

I gritted my teeth, held up Myrkblade, and brought it down as I reached them.

SLASH!!!!!

Both bent backwards, dodging. When they came up—both had a simultaneous fist to my face.

WHAM!!!

I was punched hard in the chin. I landed with my back to the tile and slid till my feet contacted the elevator doors.

I wheezed.

Both men spun and came down at me with their fists.

WHAM!!!

WHACK!!!!

Their knuckles slammed into the tile as my head blurred and dodged. I pivoted a leg up and kicked the 'down arrow' button of the elevator's console. I then spun around with Myrkblade stretched out. Both men tripped, but flipped in mid air to slide back on their flat feet.

I jumped up, twirled Myrkblade, and faced them.

They spun like dancers, glided over, and shoved their fists towards my gut.

I leapt up, split my legs in mid-air, and uppercutted both of their chins.

When I landed on my feet, I spun around with Myrkblade outstretched.

Both ducked, flexed their lower muscles, and literally tackled my midsection straight on.

DING!

Ironically, the doors to the elevator opened behind us.

I was shoved back four feet and into the elevator itself.

They must not have counted on the sudden space between me and a wall, for they literally collapsed with their bodies stretched merely halfway up mine.

I had no problem in kicking them off and vaulting up to my feet. However I did have a problem when they jumped up to their feet just as quickly and crowded around me as the elevator doors shut and we descended claustrophobically to the floor.

I gulped.

WOOOOSH!!

They leapt.

I stabbed with Myrkblade.

One dodged but the other grabbed my sword arm.

I pivoted about and elbowed him in the chest with my free limb.

He stumbled back.

I spun and slashed low at his abdominal muscles.

He side-stepped, barely avoiding my blade.

The other rushed at my neck.

I teleported behind him, kicked him in the butt, and slashed down hard at his rear legs.

The other man deflected my slash with a fist beneath my downcutting wrist. A split second later he wrangled his two arms around my slashing limb and tossed me over his shoulder and backwards into his partner's arms.

I struggled as I was gripped tightly from behind. With whatever mobility I had left with my wrist, I jabbed straight down at his foot.

SWOOOSH—CLANK!!

He deflected with the side of his boot and kicked at the wooden sword.

It broke from my grasp and spun awkwardly on its tip for a second and a half like a top.

The other man rushed at me, fist raised.

I teleported to the side, grabbed Myrkblade's hilt before it could fall down, backed up against a wall, summoned murk, and blurred forward in a dive at the punching man.

WHAM!!!

I hit him in the side, but he effortlessly gripped me, spun, and tossed me into the corner.

WHUMP!!

My body winced. My eyes blinked….and as soon as the lids under the goggles were open again, I saw two pairs of fists coming at me.

WHANG!!!

The two men's punches hit the metal wall as I slumped to the ground, whacked them both hard in the legs with Myrkblade, and forced them to the floor.

DING!!

The elevator doors opened.

I took a breath and leapt forward.

THRUMP!!!

Both men tripped me at the same time.

The floor of the bottom story hallway flew up into my chest.

WHAM!!!

The breath was knocked out of me and I could barely wince as I slid a good ten feet across the cold tile. Looking up, my eyes widened at the sight of four men—waiting for me—and armed with shotguns.

BLAM!!! BLAM!!! BLAM!!!

I let out a silent scream and twirled Myrkblade three times in front of me, deflecting all three swarms of shot.

The fourth man fired.

BLAM!!!

I leapt up from a fresh crater in the tile, pivoted in mid air, planted my feet diagonally with the wall, and vaulted off. I sailed towards the lower body of the man on the far right just as he fired a second round.

BLAM!!!

I literally teleported in smoke form through him and his gunfire. Once on the other side, I jumped up, rear-kicked him into two of the other gunmen—and dashed towards the distant, bright exit of Phaser Labs.

The last man tossed away his shotgun, reached under a trenchcoat, and pulled out a huge launcher of sorts. He pumped it, took aim, and fired four loud shots.

CHUNG!! CHUNG!! CH-CHUNG!! CHUNG!!

While running, panting, sweating, and all that other good stuff…my goggled eyes glanced left and right.

Four glowing discs flew into the framework of the entrance's doorway. They blinked with green-to-yellow-to-red lights.

Timed grenades……

I had a sudden fury of smoke trailing behind me as I leapt with all my might and burst through the row of glass doors.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

SMASH!!!!!!!

Shards showered in a spray.

I landed on the concrete courtyard in front of Phaser Labs and shadowed by the highway.

My metal-laced boots scraped loudly against the ground as I slid to a stop.

I panted. And….

FLASH!!!!!

"FREEZE!!!!"

My black eyes burned.

I stared torturously into a blinding blueness emanating from the barrel of Cyborg's laser rifle.

He and the other Titans faced off at me from about twenty feet away. While Cyborg aimed his rifle, Starfire charged up two bright starbolts, Robin held up a fan of birdarangs, Raven telekinetically charged a levitating lamppost, and Beast Boy morphed into a razor-clawed velociraptor. Behind the five heroes, a police squad car or two joined the standoff.

My jaw dropped. I panted….

"You've got nowhere to run to, Wyldecarde!!!"

One second….two seconds…

I swallowed.

I had nowhere to go….but….

Murk swarmed through my legs as my whole body tensed. Gripping hard to Myrkblade, I leapt straight upwards…..

BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!

The entire front entranceway to Phaser Labs bowled outwards in a churning wave of fire, glass, and metal debris. Up, up, and up my body vaulted over a wall of orange plasma and chaos that surged outward underneath my airborne figure and towards the five unwitting Titans.

Half of them sweatdropped…the other half's eyes went white.

Within a split second, Raven whipped out a black shield of telekinesis, Robin covered himself with his polymerized cape, Beast Boy shrunk into the green shell of a sea turtle, and Cyborg rushed over with his titanium girth protecting himself and encircling Starfire.

PHOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

The wall of fire splashed underneath me.

….And I started falling down.

My body flailed. My body sweat from the incoming heat.

I looked down, silently praying.

Come on……come on……

My body plummeted. My boots' soles started melting.

Come on………come on!!

Smoke erupted from the blast.

YES!!

I absorbed myself into the smoke, blurred, and darted my half corporeal body forward in a brown and black streak. The speed of such propulsion was a little sudden to me…for in half a second I was about to kiss the concrete layer of the highway's overhang.

I lifted Myrkblade at the last second.

CHUNK!!!!

It embedded halfway to the hilt.

I gritted my teeth, wheezed, and vaulted my body upwards. On the uplift, I yanked Myrkblade out of the concrete with a CRACK! and flipped up and over onto the side median of the interstate.

RUMMMMMMMBLE!!!!!

I slumped to my knees and hands and panted as the structure of the entire, raised interstate shook from the proximity of the blast.

Cars streaked blazingly fast past me a few feet ahead. Some of them honked and screeched in surprise reaction to the explosion. Otherwise…traffic was mostly unaffected (and unaware) of the fire brewing far below in the lot in front of the Labs.

Down under, it wasn't quite so pleasant….

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Cops ran from smoking squad cars.

Distant pedestrians shrieked and cowered behind building sides.

The fire died down and ashes littered the courtyard.

Five shielded Titans rested where they were for a split second.

Slowly they stood up and uncovered themselves from their shields, shells, and protective capes.

A green turtle hopped up into a green elf. He stuck a finger into his ringing ear and dizzily uttered: "Dude…was that God farting or what??"

"It wasn't the chronotonic core going off!" Cyborg exclaimed. "Unless of course, fire is flammable."

Robin ran over and looked through the flaming entrance. "The building's still in tact! It was a localized explosion!"

"One of Wyldecarde's tricks, not doubt…," Raven spat.

"In speaking of our familiar villain, where is he??" Starfire peered around and shrugged. "I do not see him! Did he escape unharmed?!"

"He disappeared with the fire!" Beast Boy exclaimed. A beat. "Whoah…you think he's toast, guys?"

"Hardly…," Raven muttered. "I would have sensed it if he perished."

"Then he got away somewhere!" Cyborg exclaimed. "We must go after him!"

Robin looked around. He clenched his fists. "Where exactly?! We gotta help put out this fire first!!"

"Right…," Cyborg nodded. He ran over to manhandle a nearby firehydrant. Raven flew after him to assist with telekinesis.

"I shall go summon a truck fire!" Starfire said, soaring away.

"Firetruck!!" Beast Boy called forth after her. He shook his head. "Awww forget it." He looked at Robin. "What'd we do now?!"

"Figure out why on earth time hasn't stopped…," the Boy Wonder said.

Beast Boy watched him run off to help Raven and Cyborg.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

I lay on the side of the highway….panting.

I wheezed and turned over.

The sky stretched blue and partly cloudy over me.

Innocent.

Quaint.

I swallowed.

Those men……who were they?

I closed my eyes and panted some more.

How were they so……so…

I struggled for breath.

……badass?

"Ahem…."

My heart stopped.

I opened my eyes.

Jinx's pink face smiled and waved down at me. "Hi!" She suddenly gritted her teeth like a demon and slammed her platform shoe straight into my side.

WHAM!!!

"!!!!" I exhaled painfully. I rolled towards the center of the highway.

A semi slammed on by.

I stopped one inch from the pavement as nine semi-truck wheels flew by so close to my body that it literally kicked a strand or two of black locks away.

SWOOOOOOOSH!!!

I gritted my teeth and jumped up to my feet.

Halfway in doing so—however—Jinx blurred up and elbowed me right in the back.

I flew into traffic.

BEEEEEEP!!!!!

SWOOOOOSH!!!

I barely flew past the front bumper of a seventy-mile-per-hour minivan, rolled on the ground, and came to a murk-warbling stop before I could slam into the side of a sports car's door that was in front of me and then gone in half a second.

There was a maniacal giggling.

Between lanes, I spun around and saw Jinx acrobatically flipping towards me. At the end of her leap, she twirled around with a high kick blown straight across my face.

WHACK!!

I spun from the blow.

WHAM!!!

My body bounced off the speeding side of a pickup truck. I teetered towards Jinx.

Casually leaping across a lane, Jinx came down, grabbed my the collar, growled in girlish wrath, and flung me over two lanes of cars. I flew for a few seconds before slamming hard against the concrete divider between the opposing sides of traffic.

Every inch of my body wracked with pain. I winced and squinted through twitching eyes as Jinx landed in the median and girl-stepped towards me with a frown.

"How does it feel, Ghost Boy?! Huh?! How does it feel?!"

I strained to listen to her over the roar and whistles of traffic zooming on either side of the divider.

"Do you like being tossed around like a rag doll?!" she marched over and leered down at me. "Do you like being disregarded as nothing more as a piece of meat?! Huh?!"

I winced and reached slowly behind my back to the hilt of Myrkblade.

Jinx grinned. She slammed her platform shoe down hard.

WHACK!!

I bit my lip.

She pinned my wrist to the concrete girder and leaned her head nimbly down to Cheshire grin in my face. "What did I tell you, moron?!?! Nobody intervenes in Slade's plan! Now…smile and enjoy the wrath of fate!! HAAAA!!!"

Shrieking, she hoisted me up by the shoulders, charged up pink hex, and flung me around and straight into the traffic hurtling by.

In mid air I gasped and summoned a desperate impulse of coordination. I spiraled my body around and tried to land somewhere in between the lanes of the highway. The closest I got was skimming over the top of a pickup truck and landing in its empty bed.

WHAM!!!

I groaned…lying chest first between the wheel-wells of the rattling vehicle.

WHUMP!!!

The rear of the pickup truck hobbled as Jinx landed on top of me. She leaned down and gripped my head. With a cry, she kicked the hatch-door of the bed down and shoved me practically halfway over the edge.

SLUMP!!!

I gasped. Concrete and asphalt blurred wildly past my dangling face.

Jinx sat on top of me and gripped my skull. Her eyes glowing and her grin glistening evilly, she gradually forced my head further and further down past the rear bumper of the truck. The highway shredded the increasingly thinner pocket of air between my tensed nose and the ground.

"You know what happens when rubber meets the road, Wyldecarde?!" she slurred. "I have no idea myself, but it's not going to be anywhere near as messy as what's going to happen to you!! Ah ha ha ha ha!!"

I gritted my teeth. My legs and wrists beneath Jinx's body charged murk. In the blink of an eye, I flung my arms out from underneath her and gripped the sides of the truck bed. WOOOSH!! I flung myself into a forward flip. Jinx gasped as she was catapulted straight off the rear of the vehicle and dead-straight towards the front of a semi truck.

She flailed in the air for a half second before summoning pink energy and gracefully perching herself on the roof of the truck.

In the meantime, I landed with my feet on the highway.

HONK!!!! HONK!!!!

I looked up.

The glistening front grill of the semi truck reflected off my goggles.

I took a breath…and literally fell back flat against the concrete.

WOOOOOOOOSH!!!!!

The engine and trailer of the semi truck soared over half an inch above me.

As the rear came over head, I blurred an arm over, unsheathed Myrkblade---CHIIIING!!—and stabbed up it into the back door of the trailer. CLANK!!!

SWOOSH!!

I was yanked up like a marionette. My two legs flickered like black flags for a split second. I tugged at Myrkblade and balanced my bottom half on the rear of the truck. Highway sped beneath me. I panted and held on tight to the speeding hulk of metal until---

"HAAAA!"

I looked up.

Jinx had scurried back across the top of the trailer and was now sliding down the rear with a platform shoe aimed at my skull.

WHAM!!!

I was knocked off the truck. My feet landed on speeding concrete. Naturally, I couldn't hold my balance.

I dove immediately forward and directly at the flat, missile-like front of a commercial tour bus. I tele-blurred to the side in mid air just far enough to stretch Myrkblade sideways and tear into the center of the commercial bus' left flank. Aluminum shredded loudly in a long trail as the friction slowed me down just enough for me to swing my legs about, kick off the bus, and fly back with Myrkblade yanking free.

I landed safely-balanced on top of the concrete divider.

But not for long.

WHAM!!!!

Jinx flew in like a pink comet and kicked me into traffic beyond the divider…..going back towards Phaser Labs.

I bounced off the top of a car—blurring—and got entangled in the metal cobwebs of a semi truck trailer in the next lane carrying two stories of sports cars to some nondescript sales lot. I got my footing on the shaking supports, panted, and looked towards the rear of the vehicle for Jinx.

She was pursuing me. She was about three cars back, hopping from rooftop to rooftop in an inconspicuous lighter-than-air grace. She was grinning.

I didn't want to fight. I just wanted to get away from her.

I spun around, climbed up through the metal beams, and ascended the hood of the top most automobile just a foot or two behind the semi truck's engine. From that vantage point, I took my bearings. I was about three lanes away from the East side of the interstate. A few strategic hops and I'd be off the highway.

Just as Jinx was gaining on me, I spotted a cement truck in close proximity. I made a leap for it.

SWOOOOSH-CLANK!!

I stabbed Myrkblade into the cement turret on the truck's left side. Luckily, it was rotating towards the right side of the highway. I let it carry me up…and down. I then tried to spot either a vehicle or a clear spot in the road to take advantage of in my progression.

A giggling sound haunted me from above.

I looked up and saw Jinx rise above the horizon of the cement truck's turret.

"Going down!" she smirked with folded arms…then proceeded to jump, fall, and kick—WHAM!!

I flew off into the next lane and got entangled in metal chains. Gasping, I looked up and realized I was caught in the pulley system of a large pickup truck. My arm hooked around the chains coming from the crane in the rear. Concrete flew a foot or two beneath my dangling legs.

THWOMP!!

Jinx landed on top of the crane and glared down at me. "There's room for only one apprentice in this City!!" she shrieked. "Slade and I let you wear sheep's clothing for one day!! But the game's over and it's high time we hung you out to dry!!"

With that said, she flung a wrist at the mechanisms locking the crane into piece.

FLASH!!

CLUNK!!

The crane swung freely.

She planted a platform shoe on it and happily winked. "Bon Voyage, Ghost Boy! Give my regards to Henry Ford!!"

SHOVE!!!!

The metal crane creaked and swung me directly into the path of an SUV's rear end.

I struggled, jerked at the chain, kicked at my feet—anything to get loose.

No use.

The SUV's license plate became readable.

The crane groaned.

Jinx giggled insanely.

I gritted my teeth. My black eyes squinted.

I reached a free hand into my pocket. I pulled out a razor sharp playing card. I flung it at an awkward angle.

SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-CLANK!!!

The card bounced off the top corner of the SUV's body, lost momentum, spun in the air, and soared straight back at my body.

I grunted and strategically pivoted my body with a pulse of murk.

SWOOOOOSH---CLUNK!!!

It snapped the chain suspending me completely.

I reached a hand up and grabbed the crane before I could fall. I swung my body up on top of it and stretched foot out, meeting the SUV's back end gently and shoving myself off. With a loud creak I swung—riding the crane—back towards the truck and slamming smack into Jinx's body on the main hulk of the vehicle.

WHAM!!

The girl let out a cry and flew into the next lane. Her body smacked into the side of a van and went tumbling down between lanes.

I gritted my teeth, jumped, raised myrkblade in mid fall, and came down on her.

SWOOOOSH!!

SLIIIINK!!!

Some blood flew as I grazed her shoulder through the metal mesh.

"AUGH!!!"

She cried out and—with pink eyes—shoved me back with a platform shoe.

I slid in reverse along the white, dotted line, twirled Myrkblade, and dashed towards her.

We fought in between speeding, honking lanes of traffic. I advanced on her with swings of my sword and she dodged, ducked, and jumped back. At one point she let out a cry: "HAAA!!" and lunged at me with two hex bolts aimed at my feet. FLASH!! FLASH!!

I jumped back and jabbed at her. She literally jumped, stepped onto the blade in half stab, and leapt off it towards me with a flying kick.

I ducked, grabbed her leg, and tossed her straight into the next lane of traffic.

She barely flew by before she could have been hit by a huge van.

She gracefully landed and stood perfectly still on a white line.

I twirled Myrkblade into a pose and faced her.

We glared at each other with a lane between us.

Cars soared by, separating our fight.

At one point, a dark gray limousine cruised by. We spotted each other's glares in between the blinks of the multiple, blazing windows. Cold. Black. Apprentices on either side of the glass.

A breath or two later…the limousine had passed. The asphalt was momentarily open.

We went for it.

"HAAAAAA!!!"

SLASSSSSSH!!!!!

Hex met blade met pink met black.

FLASH!!!

We froze in the middle of the lane from the cascading impact of our powers. Strength warbled back up to our torsos and we immediately spun with smoking serration and pink wrists aimed high.

FLASH!!!!

Again, a deflection. Again a crater of chaos. Again the inevitable rebirth of energy and spiral…

Jinx broke the cycle by tossing hex at my feet.

I broke it even more by jumping over her, flipping, twirling, and coming down her back with Myrkblade outstretched.

She blurred to the side, spun like a ballerina—giggled and—SMACK!!!

Her platform shoe—outstretched--hit me hard in the chest.

I flew over a sports car, past the concrete divider, and again into an opposite movement of traffic on the highway's west side…

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Come on! Come on!!" Glover groaned, rattling his fingers against a leather armrest inside his limousine. "As much as I want that chronotonic detonator to stay safe and all, I'm being rather annoyed by time right now…"

Avery sat across from Glover with his ear to the phone. "Word is that there's been an explosion at Phaser Labs," he nodded to Glover. "The Titans are already at the scene."

"Heh," Glover smirked and folded his arms. "What else could a day like this toss a journalist?"

SMASH!!!!!!

The men cowered from a shower of glass shards as I sailed in the left window, flew through the inside compartment, and smashed my way out the right.

CRASH!!!!!

Startled, the driver at the limousine's wheel in the compartment ahead swerved hard to the right. The long vehicle screeched to a stop along the median, scraping up against the guardrail and showering sparks. Everything came to a sizzling halt.

Avery and Glover panted. Slowly they looked up at each other.

A beat.

"Ahem…," Glover brushed the shards off his coat. "Over twenty years in journalism and I still never know when to stop having a big mouth."

"Look!!" Avery pointed out the rear window which was still in tact.

Glover turned around and gasped. "Tell the boys to stop!! Never mind Phaser Labs…the action's going on right here!!"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

I got up, wincing.

I brushed the shards off me, picked up Myrkblade, and looked around.

A beat.

I blinked under my goggles.

Now just where exactly did she—

SWOOOOSH—SMACK!!!

A pink streak soared up at me, upon which I was soon uppercutted.

I slammed back into a guardrail and gasped.

Jinx clenched her teeth and dove at me.

I leapt back, took the brunt of her weight, fell to the ground, and launched her over my reclined head in a flip.

She twirled upright and landed with a slide. I jumped up, spun Myrkblade around, and ran at her.

She grinned, her eyes glowing a bright pink. She stretched a hand out and launched a hex bolt to the side. "HAAA!!"

I ran at her but was suddenly deflected back by a pink-charged guardrail that ripped out of its foundation and coiled at me.

WHAP!!!!

"It's true!!" she chuckled menacingly. "Guardrails kill!! Care to watch?!" She flung another bolt. "HAAA!!"

A long length of metal to my left and bordering the side of the interstate glowed pink and warbled. In desperation, I took a deep breath, raised Myrkblade, filled it with murk, and flung it straight down into the metal.

WHAM!!!

Black energy warbled through the metal, chased out the pink, and exploded just to the side of Jinx, throwing her back.

FLASH!!!

"Augh!!"

She landed hard and awkwardly on the median. An outstretched hand shot a random burst of hex.

ZAP!!!!

It popped the front right tire of a minivan traveling in excess of seventy-miles-per-hour. A mother at the wheel gasped and fought for control of the vehicle as it careened towards the median and bore down on us. Jinx quickly jumped to her feet and leapt over the edge of the interstate, clinging onto the side of the concrete for dear life.

I merely leapt straight up with an outburst of murk.

While in mid-air, I watched in horror as the minivan swerved directly towards the smashed section of guardrail.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Several feet down the interstate, the news van stopped behind the smashed limousine. Per Avery's and Glover's directions, two camera men were already filming as the scene unfolded.

"Who's that person Wyldecarde's fighting?!"

"I have no idea."

"She looks somewhat familiar—Oh my god!!"

"Holy crap!!"

"Look at that minivan!!"

Glover's eyes widened.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

SMASH!!!!

The van snapped through the shattered railing and teetered over the very edge of the elevated interstate.

Whatever was left of the front wheels spun in mid-air. The van tilted back and forth, trying to find its balance. If it tilted forward, it would collapse well over twenty-five feet to the city streets and concrete below. If it tilted back, it would roll into the nearest lane. Over time…it seemed increasingly and increasingly likely that it would plummet to a crushing fall. Inside of the vehicle, a mother panicked. She scrambled desperately to calm down her shrieking little girl in the front seat as the two danced dangerously on the edge of death.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Shit!! There's someone in there, man!!"

"Come on!! Let's help!!"

"Hurry!!"

Avery and two of the cameramen ran desperately towards the scene while Glover and two others remained behind, filming.

The old journalist bit his lip…sweating.

There was no way the three could reach that spot in time….

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

I panted. I looked at the van…at the flailing bodies inside.

I turned around.

I looked towards the other edge of the interstate.

The Northeast side.

Freedom.

Jinx was hanging on the side of the hallway. She was incapacitated. I could have run away….I could have run away…

Freedom.

I looked back at the van.

Flailing limbs and screams.

The front wheels stopped spinning.

It started to tip over.

The guardrail groaned.

I took a deep breath…tensed my limbs…and blurred forward.

SWOOOOOOOSH!!!!

Jinx barely began to climb up the side and take a peek at the situation.

I streaked towards the van.

It teetered downwards.

I gritted my teeth. The van began to slide.

I raised myrkblade overhead.

Screams shot out.

I let out a silent yell, reached the van, and stabbed downwards.

CHUNK!!!!

Myrkblade slashed through the side door, down through the floor, and into the concrete siding of the median below.

The van jerked to a momentary stop.

The woman and daughter inside gasped.

I had pinned the vehicle down.

I clenched my teeth and just about wrenched the driver's side door opened.

The mother took one look at me and shrieked. Her eyes bulged as she desperately clung to her daughter at the sight of me.

I panted. I forgot I was a villain.

I reached a hand out.

She looked at it…trembling.

I pointed at her daughter, furrowed my brow, and reached my hand forth further.

The mother blinked at me…..slowly nodded…and passed her little girl along.

"Mommy!!!!"

"I-It's okay, honey!! J-Just take the boy's hand!!"

"He's scary, Mommy!!"

I all about yanked the girl out of the car. Before she or the mother could protest, I dove back in, grabbed the adult woman, and tugged.

THUNK!!!

She was still in her seatbelt.

The woman shuddered against me as I whipped out a playing card in a flash, pressed it against the seatbelt, and jerked.

RIIIIIP!!!

The belt gave way.

With an exhalation, I dragged the woman out safely onto the median.

The van lurched.

I took a deep breath, let go of the mother, and reached for the hilt of my sword to yank it out.

"NOOO!!!" she shrieked and grabbed hard to my shoulder. "My baby!!!"

I panted and looked at her. I raised and eyebrow and pointed at her daughter.

"No!!" the woman trembled and all about leapt over me towards the van. "My other baby!!!"

I spun around. My eyes bulged under the goggles.

There was an infant in the back, strapped inside a toddler's seat.

CREEEEAK!!

The van lurched.

The little girl sobbed.

The mother reached in.

Gritting my teeth, I shoved her back and dove into the driver's seat of the teetering vehicle. I crawled my way in like a giant worm in an aluminum, Vietcong tunnel, and grabbed ahold of the tiny seat. The toddler inside wailed and swung his chubby limbs wildly as I tried to get him free. I yanked and pulled and jerked at the seat. But it wouldn't budged.

I sweated.

CREEEAK!!!

The van lurched.

Myrkblade wobbled as the weight of the vehicle began to tear it loose from its holding place.

The two ladies outside screamed.

Sun filtered in and cooked the minivan like an oven.

I yanked and yanked and yanked at the child's safety seat. I fumbled for controls to unlatch it. I sweat.

The toddler wailed.

CREEEEEEAK!!!

I took a deep breath. I flung the black hair out of my eyes, dove forward, and encircled the child in my arms.

1….

The aluminum around Myrkblade snapped.

2….

The metal tore through. RIIIIP!!! My sword shot straight up into the blue heavens. PTING!!!!

3….

The van gave way. It fell over the railing. The whole vehicle plummeted like a ragged meteor towards the concrete below. As it smashed apart and echoed throughout the nearby, urban landscape…My body could be seen streaking upwards in the form of smoke, materializing with the toddler in my arms, and falling hard to the concrete on my back.

WHUMP!!

I lost my breath. My black eyes squinted. Something was spinning towards me from up high. Something black and spinning.

I gasped as I realized that my sword was coming straight down.

I pivoted to my side on the asphalt and shifted the toddler in my grasp.

SWOOOOOSH—CHTUNG!!!

Myrkblade's hilt wobbled after the blade embedded mere inches between my chin and the baby's head.

I wheezed.

"Oh thank gawd!!!" the mother came and practically tackled me in the process of scooping her wailing child up into her arms. "Oh thank gawd thank gawd thank gawd thank gawd!!" She knelt down and shared a deep, sobbing embrace with her two trembling offspring.

Snarling, I sat up on my butt and kicked the length of my wobbling sword with my foot.

Bad sword!!

I took a breath, gripped the weapon, and jumped to my feet.

Yards away, I was oblivious to a hideous grin on Jinx's face. The Third Apprentice hopped up and slowly charged her hands pink.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Did you see that?!?!" one cameraman gasped.

"Not only did I see it….I got it!!" the said, squinting through the viewfinder and pointing at the lens.

"Same here!! Damn…they almost bought it!! The mother AND her kids!!"

Glover's lips parted. He thought aloud: "Why would a villain want so bad to save ordinary people??"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

At Phaser Labs, Robin looked overhead and caught sight of Starfire's return. She flew over the distant streets in a green streak. Flashing lights of a firetruck rose in the distance.

The Boy Wonder smiled. He gestured towards Cyborg and Raven. "You can relax now!" he exclaimed. "Here they come!!"

"Okay!!" Cyborg nodded. He had manually unscrewed a side pipe of a fire hydrant while Raven guided the spurting water towards the flame-engulfed entrance of Phaser Labs. As the firefighters came to do their specialty, Raven glowed her eyes gray and sealed the water back into the hydrant, allowing Cyborg to close the lid tight.

"Guys!!" Beast Boy ran up while Starfire landed to join them. "I just got done chatting to one of Decker's men to update them!! Turns out they had an update of their own to give us!!"

"What's that??" Robin asked.

"The Commish and at least ten other squad cars and two SWAT Teams are heading north!!"

"North?" Raven raised an eyebrow.

"What is there??" Starfire asked.

Beast Boy shrugged. "I dunno. But they're sure in a hurry! Whatever it is that's got their attention, it's bigger than what's going on here! If you can believe that…"

"I'm not sure I can…," Robin uttered, scratching his chin. "Slade specifically made his threat about the chronotonic core. It showed that way on the live feed!"

"Then we're staying here?" Cyborg asked.

"Some of us are," Robin smirked.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Wyldecarde left this place in a hurry. I bet the gig's up. But just to be safe…Raven, you and Beast Boy and Starfire investigate the labs. Cyborg…let's you and I go and see what's up with where the police are going!"

"Right on," Cyborg gave a thumb's up. "Better see where this leads to! Is it just me, or does it seem like this whole thing was a diversion?"

"No doubt Slade is trying to give us a run for the money!" Beast Boy nodded.

"Whatever the case…we're about to outrun him!" Robin palmed his fist. "Come on. Let's move!"

He and Cyborg ran to the T-Car and were off.

Raven looked at the remaining Titans. "Is it just me….," she droned, "…but did Wyldecarde seem his cheerfully evil self when we confronted him this time?"

Starfire shook her head slowly. "No…he seemed terrified."

"I dunno about 'terrified'…," Beast Boy scratched his neck. "'Stressed' is most like it."

Raven and Starfire stared at him.

The changeling rolled his eyes. "Fine fine. 'Terrified'. Whatever. Sheesh…why do I even bother talking?!"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Ma'am!! Are you allright?!" Avery and the two other men rushed up besides the smashed guardrail on the interstate's median.

The shaken mother looked tearfully up from her family's huddle to thank me…but I was gone.

I ran down the side of the highway, panting.

I came to a stop when I heard a familiar-sounding engine.

My eyebrow raised.

I looked across the lanes of traffic. I saw a lamppost. It looked like a strategic spot to look from.

When there was enough of a clearing, I blurred across the lanes, ran up the lamppost, and perched at the top.

I squinted my eyes across the sunlit urban landscape and spotted the T-Car just then passing under the overhang of the interstate and heading northward.

North….

I gasped.

Were they really going towards the apartments?

How had they heard about Slade's true scheme---

I froze.

I winced.

The police…of course.

Birds of a feather…

After all I had sweated and done—encountering completely unexpected obstacles—the Titans were still going to fall into some dreadful trap. I now had to do the one thing I was hoping to avoid the entire day.

I had to confront some of the Titans one-on-one.

I pulled out Myrkblade, took a deep breath, and was about to blur down off the interstate and jump the T-Car when---

"Ohhhhhh Ghost Boyyyyyyyyy!!"

I spun around.

Across the lanes of traffic, perched atop solid guardrail, Jinx smiled up at me. She giggled then asked: "Forgetting something?"

I stared at her, panting.

"No?" she cocked her head cutely to the side, then evilly grinned. "Well…allow me to give you something to forget!!" She looked over and aimed her wrist at a tall hotel building stretching up over the interstate a half-block away.

FLASH!!!!

A stream of pink energy flew out from her limb and straight at the side of the hotel facing east. There was a huge, vertical groove—a hollow column of sorts—that served as an outside elevator shaft. A cylindrical, tube-shaped elevator encased in glass was slowly rising up to the top floor. There were at least seven innocent tourists standing inside. When the pink struck the platform, the whole tube shook. The people inside gasped and lost their balance. Then all Hell broke loose. Jinx's hex snapped the elevator cords loose. The tubed elevator plunged straight down the groove. The tourists inside—staring at over two hundred and seventy degrees of sunlit world flying up past them—plunged towards the hard concrete fifteen floors down. After two floors of descent, the breaking clamps of the elevator tube went into action. Sparks flew as the tube grinded to a halt high up in the groove. The seven people inside—panicking—tried pressing all the buttons. They even pulled out the red phone on the compartment and sobbed for help. They were full of fear and horror. Rightfully so too…for Jinx was still aiming her hand of sorcery at the column from afar.

I went pale.

"Amazingly resilient those elevator breaks are," Jinx grinned at me. "Able to resist innumerable forces of gravity to keep the occupants of that glass-laden sarcophagus alive and kicking!! Though I bet you a lifetime supply in strawberries that the thing's not built to resist my magic!!"

I sweated. I turned and looked at the T-Car.

It grew distant and distant.

I gulped and looked back at Jinx and the endangered elevator beyond.

"With one flick of the wrist!!" she shouted above the traffic soaring below and between us. "That thing comes crashing down and everyone inside dies!!"

I looked back and forth from the elevator to the T-Car to the elevator and to the T-Car again.

"If you try and save them….," she slurred, "…those Titans will go and meet the destiny Slade has for them!" She grinned a cheshire cat. "Your former friends will fall into the trap you've been stressing all this time to prevent! All your work will be for nothing!!"

I was sweating bullets. I glanced back at the T-Car. It was growing fainter and fainter. It rose a hill in asphalt four blocks away. As soon as it dropped, it'd be out of my sight for good.

"So you want to be the Bad Boy, huh?!?!" Jinx cackled. "So you want to wear that outfit?! So you want to look like Slade, talk like Slade, and act like Slade in front of your former teammates as if that'll somehow break the laws of Fate and grant them an easy future?!?!" She narrowed her cat eyes and jeered: "Wise up, Ghost Boy. Even if you are to live two lives, you must die two deaths!!"

I looked back at the elevator. Some of the tourists inside were family. They huddled together and shivered.

"This is it!!" she exclaimed with glowing, pink eyes. "The ultimate conflict!! The final choice you've been taunting yourself to make all these days!! Are you the hero?! Or are you the villain?! Better think quickly with the hand dealt you, Wyldecarde!! Cuz I'm tired of all this bluffing…."

With that uttered, she released a strong stream of pink hex. It flew through the air, echoed magical thunder, and slammed into the body of the elevator. The brakes shattered, and the tube hurtled straight down the groove in a halo of descending screams.

Jinx laughed, and her laughs morphed into warbles as everything went into slow motion.

I jerked my head over.

The T-Car was on the crest of the asphalt hill.

My whole body blurred.

Teeth gritting, I spun and faced Jinx. I streaked down the lamppost.

Cars and trucks and vans streamed ahead of me.

I flew through them like clouds. I ran the width of the interstate. I reached into my pocket.

Jinx kept laughing. The elevator kept screaming. The T-Car kept disappearing.

My lungs heaved. Sweat ran down my lips and into my mouth. I turned into an almost-burning smoke in mid sprint.

My hand emerged from my pocket with a razor-edged playing card.

My boots slapped against the asphalt.

I streaked straight at Jinx.

Her cat eyes rounded as her laughter died out and she blinked for an eternity.

I leapt towards her.

The wind kicked at my long black hair.

The elevator's metal frame sparked against the sides of the groove.

The T-Car was a distant speck.

I reached the last lane.

I streaked past the screeching body of a dumptruck.

Tires squealed.

Everything was screaming.

Everything was crashing.

Jinx gasped.

I exhaled.

I solidified, ran up her body like I weighed nothing, and jumped off her pink head. I vaulted up, spiraled in the air, and charged up the same wave of smoke energy that had streaked down the lamppost on the opposite side warble through my shoulder, up my elbow, along my forearm, and explode at my wrist…flinging a murk-encased playing card Northward like a patriot missile.

SWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!

A disoriented Jinx—recoiling from my springboarding off her—squinted her cat eyes to see.

A bullet of a playing card sailed through the air, cut against the wind, barely missed power lines and lampposts, and sunk into the back left tire of the T-Car.

POW!!!!!!!

Two Titans inside the vehicle didn't have a time to gasp. The car spun out of control and slammed sideways into a storefront.

Glass shattered. Noise emanated…shook in the air…and sent an intense wave of concussion that shook through the city blocks, skirted up the interstate, and plowed into my head with a rush of air that popped my eardrums and spun the world like a toy and resumed time to normal.

SWOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!

I backflipped off of Jinx, spiraled around, flew off the interstate, and glided with murking limbs towards the hotel's side.

Jinx spun around—dizzy—and watched.

I descended faster than the hurtling elevator.

Eleven stories….ten stories….

I flew into the groove. Sparks showered over me.

Nine stories….eight stories…

I took a deep breath. I spread my legs.

The metal of my boots were encased with smoke energy as they grounded into the sides of the groove. Sparks flew and concrete shards went rattling off into the air.

I twirled Myrkblade, took a breath, and stabbed my weapon straight up into the base of the elevator car.

CHUNK!!!!

People inside gasped and parted to the sides of the falling compartment as a black sword stuck up through the middle of the floor.

Seven stories….six stories….

I strained…gritting my teeth. I pulsed wave after wave of murk and smoke through my blade, into the elevator, and let it all warble back down into me and through me and ending in my boots.

The elevator needs brakes, huh? Well, I am the brakes…

Sparks flew from my boots and the elevator as a loud screeching noise ran out from the side of the hotel and reverberated among both the nearby buildings and the overhang of the interstate.

Five stories…four stories…

The people inside weren't screaming anymore. They just held to each other, stared at the blade, and panted.

I gnashed my teeth. My muscles stretched to the breaking point.

Jinx watched breathlessly from above.

Three stories….two stories….

I tilted my head back into a large, silent scream.

Sparks fell into my mouth and singed my tongue.

My goggles pressed into my skin as my eyes clenched tightly shut.

The grinding lessoned.

The shield of murk took over.

The elevator slowed drastically.

And…

TAP.

The heels of my boots barely touched the bottom of the groove's elevator shaft.

Everything stopped.

I took one deep breath…two deep breaths….three--

WOOOSH!!

The elevator lunged as my body popped out, flipped, landed, and jabbed forward with Myrkblade in time to skewer the bottom floor of the elevator to the shaft.

The people fell onto their butts…but besides that, they were fine.

They were on ground floor.

I took a deep breath. I yanked Myrkblade out, lifted my foot, and kicked the glass casing apart.

SHATTER!!!!!

The people jerked and looked at me fearfully.

I pointed firmly down the road.

All of them nodded fervently and hurried out.

Just as the last person stepped out, I jerked my sword out.

CREEEEAK!!!

The elevator tube fell over—empty—and shattered completely.

CRASH!!!!!!

The people ran off to safety.

In the distance, a myriad of sirens filled the City. I couldn't tell what they wailed for—if it was the elevator, the crashes on the highway, or the fires at Phaser Labs.

I didn't care.

I looked up. I glared at Jinx through my goggles.

The sorceress gritted her teeth as she looked back down at me. Her fists clenched and shook.

I sheathed Myrkblade…stared at her for a few seconds, then spun around and blurred down the dark alleyways of the city under the interstate's overhang.

The Third Apprentice slammed her fist into the guardrail with frustration, sighed, and streaked a pink path her own way before the authorities could possibly catch up with her.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Glover leaned against the side of the interstate, staring at the hotel's side and breathing in awe. He swallowed and looked at the two cameramen. "Did y'all get that?"

"Yes. Sir."

"Good…..good good good good…..," a beat. "Good God."

"You said it."

"But what does it mean….," Glover whispered to himself. A beat. "Boys…we're taking this footage back to the station immediately. I want a cut by the end of the evening!! You hear me?!"

"Loud and clear."

Glover spoke under his breath. "Not everyone's given up on you, my mysterious-eyed friend. Not everyone…."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Cyborg and Robin stumbled out of the T-Car, wincing.

The Boy Wonder stepped gingerly through a sea of glass from the smashed storefront.

The android Titan wandered to the back of his baby and spotted the playing card stuck into the obliterated rear tire.

Cyborg let out a huge growl and slammed his titanium fist into the sidewalk.

"RRRghhh!!" he grumbled. "This just isn't my week!!"

"You're not alone…," Robin brushed himself off. "Looks like the cops are alone on this one."

"Man, we can still get there!"

"Now…," Robin sighed. "We can't."

"…..rrrrghhh!!" Cyborg growled again. "Wyldecarde?!?! What are you thinking, man?!?! What do you want from us?!?!"

Robin folded his arms and looked at the smashed storefront. He sighed. "Same thing Slade wants."

"Who cares what Slade wants anymore?!?!" Cyborg shook. "It's Noir that's beating our asses!"

Robin blinked behind his eyemask. "Y-Yeah……very true, Cyborg." A beat. He looked off, thinking. "Very true…."

Cyborg looked at him, curious.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

An emergency vehicle screamed its way down a street towards Phaser Labs.

I hid in a dark alleyway, my body pressed to a wall.

I panted…waiting to collect my energy and use powers of stealth to retreat 'home'.

And that's when my butt vibrated again.

I blinked…rolled my black eyes…and yanked the cell phone out of the pocket. I held it up to my ears in a jerk as if to frustratingly utter: 'what?!'

"Noir, it's me…," said the Messenger's unmistakable voice.

I tried hanging up.

"No!! Please!! Listen!! I-I'm not calling you to rebuke you f-for whatever you're doing or whatnot. Noir…p-p-please!! Just listen to me!! This is urgent!"

I raised an eyebrow. My heart froze. I had never head the Messenger sound so…….panicky before.

"He knows where you are!!"

I blinked.

"Dagger!! Dagger knows where you are!! H-He always knows where you are!!"

I looked around me.

The alleyway was dark and claustrophobic.

I got the chills…

"Don't ask me how! But he does!! I've been doing some studying. It makes perfect sense!! Did you almost bite the dust, Noir?! D-Did something inexplicably dangerous happen to you!! Something like running water or clockwork?!"

I looked absent-mindedly in the hidden direction of Phaser Labs. I thought of the men in dark suits. The machine gun ballet. How fluid they moved and seemed to expect and counteract my every move.

I got more chills….

"Imagine a dark Tao if you will!! And Dagger's got it!! Either he's way ahead of Slade or th-they both got it!! It's something just about as mysterious and tr-transient as Dagger's conspiratorial legend itself!! And on top of that, he somehow knows where you are at any m-moment of the day!!" A beat. "Noir!!"

His last exclamation sounded so pleading and desperate through the phone.

I pressed my ear closer to the plastic.

I panted.

"If Dagger knows where you always are……then he knows where you've always been!!"

A beat.

I squinted.

"I repeat……," the Messenger breathily. "If D-Dagger knows where you are, he knows where you've been as well!!"

I gasped. My heart stopped.

"Now Noir, don't d-do anything desperate---"

I hung up.

I spun around.

I blurred madly southwestward.

Straight towards Renee's and Daniel's pawn shop…..

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Dagger…..," Slade growled through his mask and shook his fist at the face on the t.v. screen in the dark cabin. "Why isn't he dead?!"

"I've told you before…," Dagger spoke. "I can't have my men kill him."

"Why not?!" Slade uttered. "Your men now have the power to defy rules of fate on the fly!! Could you at least show me a little thanks by eliminating this threat??"

"Happy as I am to give the stuff a test run…," Dagger said, "…I must hold true to principals I've sworn to protect in the dark, dark past."

"You're hardly a man of ethics, Dagger. You do not need me to remind you of that."

"Not ethics, Slade," Dagger folded his hand at his table. "Preservation. The boy stays alive. End of argument. But just because I can't kill him doesn't mean I can't teach him a lesson."

"Like….."

"Like a punishment for his intervention. A punishment worse than killing him…"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

I blurred through the City.

The sun was setting.

Everything was on fire.

Burning with amber like my lungs as I heaved and gasped for the next ounce of strength to blur my legs forward.

Ahead of me, the commercial district stretched.

The streets seemed barren.

My heart ached.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Wyldecarde is very conflicted at the moment, Slade. He's stretched between being a hero and being a villain. You and I both know that there's no go-between. But as strong and valuable to my past as the swordsboy is, he still has lots of room to grow. And growth must come with both the stretching of skin……as well as the spilling of blood…"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

I came down the final stretch.

I blurred past storefronts and lampposts and parking spaces.

My black eyes squinted through the goggles and spotted two black vans in front of the pawn shop.

I gritted my teeth.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"He thinks he's helping save friends of his from your precious 'Experiment'. But just like any over-achiever, all he manages to do is hurt those around

him. It almost surprises me that a vigilante of his caliber isn't familiar with the concept of……'risk'…yet……"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

SMACK!!!

Daniel fell back from the thug's punch.

"Stop it!!" Renee shook in the grasp of a dark-suited crook holding a knife to her throat. "Please!! Just leave us alone!!"

The leading thug—a sparsely haired man in a brown suit—rubbed his knuckles and walked towards her. He grinned. "You're not used to City life, are you sweet cheeks? I think I'll turn that face of yours blue like your husband's is about now…"

"Don't you touch her!!" Daniel growled and tried to rush the man. Two more thugs rushed over and grabbed him from behind. He struggled. "Just take what you want and leave!!"

Six of Dagger's men were accosting the two owners in the front room of the pawn shop.

"Sir…," the brown-suited one chuckled. "What we want….who we want, is not here. I think we'll just have to settle for your young blood instead."

Renee sweated, panting.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"You are a despicable man, Dagger…," Slade's emblazoned eye narrowed. "I may find something to salvage from our partnership yet."

"I do not think you'll be so tolerant once you receive this 'power' of yours you keep bragging about."

"Honestly, Dagger….haven't I shared enough with your men?"

A chiming sound erupted from a blank t.v. screen.

Slade growled. "What is it now?!" He pointed his remote at the screen. A picture of one of his robot henchmen atop the abandoned apartment rooftops stood beside a missile launcher and saluted the camera."

"This had better be good….," Slade slurred.

The robot pointed over the side of the roof. The camera image panned to show a long line of police cars and two SWAT Trucks cruising up the road towards the destination.

Slade's eye widened.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"This Commissioner Decker!" the Commissioner said into the radio of the squad car his lieutenant was driving. "What do you see?!"

A helicopter soared low overhead, its rotary blades spinning and chopping up the air.

The voice of the copilot replied: "Nothing at the moment sir. No sign of---wait!! Holy crap, it's the mother of all payloads up here!!"

"Come again??"

"Slade's henchmen and three missiles!! They seemed to be aimed at Downtown, sir!!"

"Mother of God…," Decker mumbled. He switched frequencies. "One Eight Six to Dispatch!! Tell everyone to hold back!! Repeat!! Hold back!!"

He looked up at the bug-eyed lieutenant. "We're gonna need the military if this day's gonna go anywhere near well…"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

On the screen in Slade's cabin, a helicopter circled the missile site.

Slade took a deep breath.

"How unfortunate…," Dagger droned. "I assume besides pirating your broadcast…the Boy also had a hand in this…"

"As far as I'm concerned…," Slade muttered as he turned and walked down the length of the cabin. "…now that he's touched it, it's unclean."

He clicked the remote.

A cylinder of a computer console rose out from the floor.

Dagger's face squinted from his screen. "Slade……what are you doing?"

"Covering my tracks…"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Well, boys?" the brown-suited man leaned against a rack of pawned items and eyed Renee hungrily. "Should we just get it done with or have fun with them first?"

Chuckles.

Daniel struggled. "Let her go!! You want to know stuff about Wyldecarde, I'll tell you!!"

"Danny….," Renee stammered.

"She doesn't need to be here!!" Daniel gritted his teeth.

"Pfft…why? Because you 'love her'?!" the thug leader rolled his eyes. "Save it for someone with compassion, pal…"

"She….s-she….," Daniel desperately sweat and blurted, "She's with child!!"

Renee flushed and looked away, trembling.

The brown-suited thug blinked. "Oh, is she?"

"Two months. P-Please…just let her go. I'll tell you everything you want. But Renee means the world to me."

"I bet she does…," the brown-suited one smirked and wandered over towards her.

She watched him with twitching, wet eyes.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Slade opened a compartment on top of the cylinder.

A hand-shaped console appeared before him.

He placed his glove over it.

It read his heat signature, beeped, and uncovered a red switch.

"Is that really necessary, Slade?" Dagger's voice interjected. "You know you do not have too much carbonite left."

Slade nodded without looking. "As I do not have much patience left…..."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

CHIIING!!!

The lead thug pulled out a dagger and held it to Renee's breast.

"So….," he practically drooled. "Got a junior inside you, eh?"

She shook….she nodded.

"Gonna make it reallllll fun tearing you open," he smiled.

She gasped.

Daniel was about to yell.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Slade lowered his helmet.

He flipped the switch.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

CRASSSSSH!!!!

Glass flew in a spray as I blurred in and rammed into the brown-suited man.

"OOF!!"

He fell sideways and hit his head hard on a metal rack, leaking blood.

His dagger went sliding.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

BOOOOM!!!!

The center missile launcher exploded on the rooftop.

Soon afterwards, the ones flanking it joined in.

BOOOOM!!!!-BOOOOOM!!!!

Three fireballs flew up into the sky and then consumed the apartment downwards in a fiery implosion.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

The other five henchmen gasped.

The brown-suited one looked up through trickling blood coming down his forehead.

A black-eyed demon tossed off his goggles—smoking—and stood up with a black sword flickering.

One thug raised a pistol.

I jerked towards him. I rushed with a high sweep of Myrkblade.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

The ground shook.

Thunder resounded through the north of the City.

The helicopter jerked from the distortion in the air and flew back sharply to avoid the climbing plumes of fire.

Robot limbs and bodies melted as the building collapsed in on itself like inside out plasma.

The squad cars screeched to a stop.

The lieutenant and Decker stepped out and stared wide eyed.

"Hollllllly shit!"

The fires climbed higher and higher and higher…

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

SLIIIIINK!!!

Blood flew from a huge gash in the one thug's shoulder and splattered across lawn equipment.

The man screamed but was silenced as I kicked his lungs tight with a boot to his chest.

The thugs holding Daniel whipped out uzzis.

I spun around and unleashed two playing cards at once.

SWIIIIIIIIISH-SWIIIIIIIISH!!!

TH-THUNK!!!

The sharp projectiles literally pinned the thugs' wrists to the wall with a spray of red. They shrieked in pain as they let go of Daniel, who stumbled forward into the arms of his wife.

I glared…smoke dancing out of my eyes.

These men weren't the phantoms I fought in Phaser Labs. They were different. They were normal.

I was once again a god amongst insects.

I marched towards the last two standing thugs.

One panickedly picked up a baseball bat and ran at me.

I effortlessly twirled Myrkblade into the wooden object.

SHATTER!!

Splinters flew into his face, cutting his skin.

He gasped and clutched his face.

I gripped him by the collar, flung him over me, and kicked him through the storefront.

SMASH!!!!!

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

As the smoke and fire merged into one…a chime came to one of Decker's special communicators.

He was too mesmerized by the blast to take notice.

He blinked.

He snapped out of it and picked up the communicator.

"H-Hello?"

"Commissioner??" Robin's voice uttered. "What's going on up North?"

Decker stared at the flames. He squinted and smirked slightly. "Some really nice shit, kid…"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

The other standing thug aimed a pistol at me.

He aimed a pistol at me.

I rushed forward knocked his arm up.

BANG!!!

A hole smoked in the ceiling.

I slashed Myrkblade at his chest, snarling.

A shallow red line formed through his shirt and skewered his pectorals.

Tears formed in his eyes.

I slammed into him. He went tumbling over the shopping counter and fell hard on the other side, dropping his gun.

The man with the gash in his shoulder clutched himself with one hand and aimed a pistol at me with the other.

"Look out!!" Renee shouted.

I turned around.

BANG!!!

Blood flew as the bullet grazed my shoulder.

I jerked slightly from the impact…but then slowly—unphased—turned to glare smokingly at him. With a jerk I slashed Myrkblade and knocked the gun from his hand.

The man's lip quivered. He turned and ran out the smashed storefront.

The brown-suited thug struggled up to his feet.

In the meantime, the two uzzi-bearers ripped the cards---and their wrists—out from the wall and stumbled in pain.

I marched over towards them and slashed both guns out of their grasps with Myrkblade.

One ran off while the other—bleeding—tried to kick me.

I grabbed his leg, summoned murk, and flung him into the air.

"YAAAH!!" he shouted.

In mid air, I let go of him, spun around, and kicked him square in the back.

His body went flying out the storefront and slammed into a lamppost so hard he actually dented it.

WHANG!!!

The man behind the storefront got up, panted, and ran directly out the rear of the store.

All that was left was the brown-suited thug.

I marched towards him, bleeding and bruised. Frowning. Eyes dancing smoke.

Renee and Daniel watched, trembling.

The thug leader had picked up a shotgun and was in the furious process of trying to pump it. His eyes twitched and his hands fumbled as I got closer and closer. Slowly pacing his way.

He panted. He saw how close I was and simply held the shotgun up, cowering.

I gritted my teeth and slashed.

CRACK!!!

Shot flew out in a waterfall of lead.

I blurred forward and literally head-butted his chest.

WHUMP!!! He flew out the storefront, struck the concrete, rolled backwards, and slumped with his back against the tire of one of the black vans.

I marched quickly towards him.

He squirmed.

I twirled Myrkblade.

He struggled to get away. I lunged. He gasped.

SWOOOOSH-STAB!!!

POP!!!!

The tire blew out.

"AAAAAUGGGH!!" the man screamed as my sword skewered his shoulder and pierced the tire on the other side.

"Noir!!!" Daniel exclaimed.

I jerked a firm finger up, silencing them. Not once did I stop glaring at the man.

Though I seldom did it….I knew how to pierce the body and not inflict a mortal wound. Yes, I knew how to inflict pain.

The man squirmed and moaned as blood leaked from where Myrkblade licked its smoking way through him.

I could have let him go.

I could have given him a break.

But I wasn't a hero anymore…

I leaned forward. My smoking eyes were inches away from his tearing ones.

I frowned and mouthed: 'How?!?!'

He squirmed. "I……I-I……"

I twisted Myrkblade.

"AAAAH!!! AAAA-AAAH!!"

Renee and Daniel hugged each other from inside, wide-eyed.

'How?!?!?!'

"Dagger….Dagger knows….h-h-he knows everything!!" the man wheezed.

I leaned in forward. I could practically suck his blood. Hell, I probably would have.

'………how?!?!' I mouthed.

The man struggled.

I surged smoke into his body.

Pulsing….

He gasped.

He twitched.

He arched. "CHIP!!!!!!"

My eyebrows raised.

"Ch-CHIP!!!" he stammered. "Look…ch-ch-check yourself!! Arm….ARM!!!" he shrieked. Blood splattered in a small pool beneath us. "Check for it!! A chip!!!"

I exhaled. I looked back at the pawn shop owners. I looked back at the man. Not removing Myrkblade, I clutched his head hard.

"Wh-What?!?!" he panted.

I forced him to stare at the couple.

He panted. "I….I…."

I twisted Myrkbalde.

"AAAAAGHH!!" he shouted. "I'm….I'm sorrrrrry!!"

I twisted more.

I bore my teeth. I could have had fangs.

"I-I-I'm sorry!!! T-T-T-To your wife!!"

I twisted one last time.

"AND CHILD!!! I'M SORRY TO YOUR WIFE AND CHILD!!! I-I AM SO…SO…SORRY!!! AAAUGH!!"

YANK!!!

I pulled out Myrkblade….

WHAM!!!!

…and kicked the man harshly in the cheek with my boot.

WHUMP!!!

His head impacted hard with the sidewalk. A bloody tooth fell out.

He wheezed and looked up at me with wide eyes.

I glared down at him. I pointed Myrkblade.

The man hobbled up. Bleeding from his shoulder and mouth and forehead, he hobbled off into a black van that was taking off with the other conscious thugs.

I took a deep breath. I sheathed Myrkblade.

A beat.

I slowly turned around.

Daniel and Renee stood—in the store amongst broken glass—staring at me while in each other's arms.

I blinked.

They continued staring at me. Their faces were a queer mixture of awe, fear, and admiration.

I didn't know if they wanted to hug me or exorcise me. I honestly wouldn't blame them if they chose just one—or neither—of those two.

I took a deep breath.

I turned towards the street and walked away.

"N-Noir!" Renee stepped forward.

"Wh-Where're you going?" Daniel asked.

I didn't answer. I didn't look back.

I had been playing this game so…so passionately. I hadn't stopped to think about the risk.

I had to accept the fact that I was a villain. Not just playing the part. If I was to live a life by my own impulses, I had to live a life alone. Not something that would threaten the innocent.

And yet…that felt so paradoxical that it confused me all the same.

All I knew was that I couldn't be there anymore. I couldn't use them. Renee and Daniel were too good to me. I had to leave them to save them.

Much like the Titans…

Much like the Titans…….

Two blocks down and in stealth mode, I sighed depressingly to myself. I stepped into an alleyway and put my goggles back on.

The words of the Messenger and the brown-suited lackey of Dagger rang through my head.

Somehow……my greatest enemies knew where I was. And what's more…they could launch an impregnable army to take me down.

I had to find answers.

But I no longer had any tools available to myself to assist in that.

But I knew where I could find them.

So—as night fell—I gradually made my way Southeastward….towards the Bay.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"You bl-blew it up??" Jinx gasped.

"Yes, apprentice," Slade spoke, sitting in a metal throne of sorts erected besides the circular window looking out onto the bow. "I had to."

"But why???"

"If the police found the carbonite in tact…they might find the nanoprobes we've been trying to infect the Titans with. I could not allow our schemes to be rooted out. Just because of the rebellious antics of the former Noir…"

"H-He can't do anything!!" Jinx exclaimed. "H-H-He's as weak as the other Titans!!! Surely both you and I—with Dagger too—can outsmart him!!"

"Outsmarting is one thing, Apprentice…," Slade stared down at her with his mask's eye. "But Wyldecarde has proven to be very….remarkable in his art of understanding fate. Almost a match for you, even."

Jinx frowned. She clenched her fists. "That's not true!"

"Then how is it he predicted the exact scheme I was plotting today?!?!" Slade growled and slammed his fist down onto the armrest of his 'throne'.

Jinx winced.

"How could he have known I was making a broadcast?! How would he have known about the missiles or---"

The evil mastermind froze.

Jinx blinked at him. "Wh-What?"

He slowly stood up.

He walked towards her.

Jinx blushed. "Um….M-Master? Why're you looking at me like that?"

"Not at you, dear child….," Slade said, gently cupping her chin. "But rather…a part of you." He jabbed two fingers forward.

Jinx jerked, frightened.

Slade reached into her ear and pulled out the communicator.

His eyes narrowed on the object. "Of course….," he whispered. "Surely Noir would have studied the earpiece Robin had leftover from the First Apprenticeship. He must had devised a way to pick up our communications!"

Jinx gasped. "How….H-How long do you think…."

"Since Wyldecarde stepped among us….that's how he knew everything. Everything!" Slade slammed the tiny earpiece down and crushed it underneath him with his boot.

Jinx stared into nothingness.

Slade took a deep breath. "Thus far….Wyldecarde has tempted your fate, outpaced Dagger's precision, and annoyed my patience." He turned around and faced the window. "It looks as if I may have to get a lot more personal with the boy if I am to dissuade him from pursuing the rescue of the Titans any further."

"The Experiment….it m-must go on, right?"

"And it will…," Slade nodded. "Poor Dagger…he will just have to have his heart broken."

"Wh-Why's that, sir?"

Slade turned around. He hissed: "For I know how to kill the boy…"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

I paused.

The wind kicked hard at me.

While my other three limbs murked/clung to the surface, I reached a free hand down to my pocket and pulled out the disemboweled radio. I held it up to my ear. I shook it.

They had caught onto me…

I sighed and let go of the radio.

It flew past my face, down the length of the structure, and smashed into the bluffs and sea surf below.

I continued my upside-down climb on the underside of the 'cross' of the Titans' Tower. Soon I would reach a crevice that I could teleport through and—hopefully---avoid the primary security systems.

To do a little bit of homework…I had to go into the lion's den.

There'd be no sleep that night.