168. Hand and Dagger part 5
"So, in short, I don't think it's too late to venture to the prison and do a thorough examination of the Omega Wing," Commissioner Decker said. He smoked his last cigarette and flicked it off into the street in front of the Police Department. "After all the chaos and distractions that have molested my career over the last few days, I frankly don't care how long we take now. As long as we at least peruse the site, put our collective heads together, and come up with some sort of possible avenue of exploration to pursue. It can take a day…or a week for all I'm concerned."
"Wow….," Beast Boy scratched his head. "If only all school assignments were that vague. I'd never be stressed over homework."
Robin's eyemask narrowed at him. "Who are you to dictate about school?"
"Hey! I learned on the road!"
"Uh huh…."
"Seriously! Algebra in Liberia! Calculus in Zaire! Human anatomy in Madagascar….!"
"Human anatomy…," Starfire blinked. She glanced Robin's way. "I feel that I am sorely lacking in that subject area."
"Erhm….."
"Perhaps there is a school somewhere nearby for myself to attend, Robin?"
"It's okay, Star….," Robin simpered. "You're smart enough for your age as it is. I don't think you need the enslavement that is high school."
"Heh…," Decker rolled his adult eyes.
I smirked.
"Yeah…dude….besides," Beast Boy shrugged. "If anyone can teach Starfire about human anatomy, it's Robin!"
"…….," the Boy Wonder glared.
"Is this true, Robin?"
"Ahem. Let's just……get this show on the road, Star."
"We are to traverse the avenues of the City with a show of human anatomy?"
Decker shook his head, chuckled, and walked to his car a few spaces away. "You kids….I swear to frickin' God. Better not let me run over y'all on the way to the prison…"
"Hehehehe," Beast Boy giggled.
Robin smiled and saluted. "See you at the Omega Wing, sir."
"Goodbye, sir."
"Yeah, smell you punks later," Decker opened the door to his car and got in.
I held my hands behind my back and walked along with Robin, Beast Boy, and Starfire down the sidewalk towards the R-Cycle.
"Shall we make haste?" Starfire asked.
"Nah….we can take our time…," Robin exhaled. "Besides….you heard the Commissioner. He isn't too anxious as it is."
"Yeah…," Beast Boy nodded. "Considering yesterday, he wants a walk in the park. Literally."
"I wonder if the Messenger's erroneous mission has produced a need for an unofficial restraint?"
"You mean some sort of….I dunno….mental vacation, Star?"
"I suppose you can interpret it as such."
Robin chuckled. "Heh heh heh….nah, there's no vacation. Especially when we all need to get to the Omega Wing and—"
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!
The Commissioner's car exploded behind us in a brilliant fireball.
We lost our breaths as the echoing concussion of the blast sent us flying across the street.
Starfire and Robin tumbled over against a lamppost.
Beast Boy and I collapsed besides a manhole cover.
Nearby pedestrians across the sidewalk gasped and cowered.
I winced.
Beast Boy panted.
The four of us glanced up in time to see aluminum debris falling like ashes from a giant, burning ceiling.
A flickering inferno was all that was left of the Commissioner's vehicle. A halo of charred concrete surrounded it. Our breaths were still gone, so none of us had the capacity to gasp at the sight of Decker's skull fragments on one side of the road and his smoking entrails on the other.
And that was probably why we were too numb until the last second to notice the red-hot bullets streaming through the air of the heated City street.
THWIIIISH!!!
TH-THWISSSSSH!!!
THWISSSSH!!!
Tiny potholes in the asphalt shot up between Beast Boy and I. P-P-P-PING!!!!
"Augh!!" he rolled into me.
The bodies of three pedestrians behind us jolted and fell with red fountains of blood.
We both panted, wincing.
From somewhere….
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
TH-TH-THWISH!!!!
One crimson bullet streamed further than the others and--
THUNK!!!!
The Tamaranian Titan's shoulder exploded in a green splash. "AAAIEEE!!!" She fell down.
Robin's mouth exploded: "STARFIRE!!!!!"
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
There were shadows in the shattered windows of a buildingfront across the way. And beneath each shadow there was a single flowery splash of yellow gunshot.
P-P-PING!!! PING!!!!!
Beast Boy grit his teeth.
I held my breath, grabbed the Elf by the scruff of his neck, and blurred across the street.
"!!!!" he gasped and looked between his feet as bullets trailed at his heels.
P-P-P-PING!!!!
I snarled mutely and tossed Beast Boy behind a newspaper stand.
Bullets ricocheted all around me.
I inhaled sharply, blurred up a lamppost, flipped off, and positioned my body towards the loudest of the machine gun noise. I blurred Myrkblade and deflected an endless barrage of bullets.
CL-CL-CL-CLANG!!!!
I landed on the ground in a crouch and blurred over towards a sidewalk full of screaming pedestrians.
In the meantime, Robin was bending over, hoisting a wounded Starfire by her good shoulder, and dragging her to a little alcove behind the steps of the police department.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!
P-P-PING!!!
"Nnnnghhh…," Starfire groaned, her eyes clenched shut. She squeezed her right hand around her bleeding arm.
Robin shouted above the thunderous noise: "Noir!! Beast Boy!!! Save the citizens!!! Save the citizens!!!"
CR-CR-CRACK!!! Beast Boy huddled behind the wilting newspaper stand. Relentless bullets ate into and through the wooden framework of the structure. "I'm having a difficult time saving myself, dude!!!"
"GO OUT THERE AND DO IT!!!"
RAT-A-TAT-TAT!!!
"O-Okay!!!" Beast Boy gritted his teeth, peered around the stand…..shook…..tensed….and morphed out as a cheetah. He skirted in and around the bulletfire towards me and the citizens.
I was swiftly putting myself between the pedestrians and the bulletfire….only…..I couldn't tell exactly where the bulletfire was coming from.
They gasped and twitched as I panted, twirled Myrkblade, and deflected everything I could.
CL-CL-CL-CLANG!!! TH-THWISH!!!
A few bullets flew through my 'shield'.
I panted.
THUNK!!!
One citizen was shot in the ankle. She slumped to the sidewalk, screaming. Two other citizens grabbed her shoulders.
SWOOOOSH!!! A green cheetah morphed into a giant gorilla and engulfed five citizens at once in a mammalian hug. The changeling snorted and stomped his way out of range of the bullet fire before depositing the citizens behind a turn in the alleyway where frightened motorists had stopped.
I panted.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT!!!
"!!!!" I spun around. SW-SW-SWISH!!! CL-CLANG!!!
I deflected more bullets.
My black eyes twitched.
I again saw shadows through a buildingfront across the way. Shadows with gunshots.
And between me…..
Two panicked Citizens jumped up from behind a post office box and ran towards me, screaming for help.
I gasped. I pointed and mouthed: 'Get down!! Get down!!'
Their eyes were blazing. They kept running.
I moved to blur towards them--
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
Their backs exploded in fifteen different places. Riddled with bullets, the two citizens slumped down before me.
"……"
SWOOOOOOSH—CL-CLANK!!!
Something at my feet.
I looked down.
A grenade…
I gasped and teleported to the side---
BOOOM!!!!!
The blast flung my smoking body across the street and into the collapsing front of an antique store. CRAAAASH!!! My body was buried under rubble, glass, and soot.
The autumn wind was cut off.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
The upstairs office floor of the City Police Department was brimming with shocked workers and officers crawling out of their seats and flocking to the windows looking out onto the fiery street.
"Gunfire!!"
"Do you hear it?!?!"
"Holy shit!! People are dying!!!"
"Where's the Commissioner's car?!?!"
"Oh god….oh god…"
"????" The Lieutenant craned his neck from the back of the office. Flanked by two other officers, he walked towards the huge group at the windows. "What's the big congregation for? What's going on out there?"
"It's….It's….It's unbelievable Lieutenant…take a l-look for yourself!!"
The subordinate marched over. He stared outside. His eyes narrow.
He saw a collapsed buildingside. In the center. To the left, streaks of rapid machine gun fire streaking out of another building. To the far right, stranded vehicles and frightfully fleeing citizens. And straight below….
"The Hell??"
Where Decker's car used to be, there was a huge black spot burning in the center.
"The Commissioner……"
"Hey!! What the Hell is that?!?!"
"Huh??"
"Look!!"
"???" the Lieutenant looked up.
Something in the distance glinted in the afternoon sunlight. Something moving. Something moving fast.
Towards the police department.
The Lieutenant's eyes widened.
The 'something' was flaring yellow and trailing steam.
"R.P.G……"
"Wh-What??"
The Lieutenant desperately grabbed two nearby workers, spun around, and dove forward: "GET DOWN!!!!!"
"Oh my god—"
"Aaaaaah!!!"
SWOOOOOOOOOOSH
The thundering explosive shattered into the office through the windows and--
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!
Cubicles and furniture shattered.
Bodies were flying.
Bodies were burning.
Flame and collapsing ceiling bits and--
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
BOOOOOM!!!
A bleeding Starfire gasped and looked up.
Robin shot his face up as well.
The crumbling face of the Police Department was sailing down towards them with a sea of glass and flame.
"X'Hal…..," Starfire shuddered.
Robin gritted his teeth. He hoisted Starfire up to her feet.
"Come on!!!!"
She yelped in pain as she limped alongside his scrambling figure.
"Go Go Go Go Go Go!!!"
The Two Titans hobbled out of the way of--
CRASH!!!!!!!!
Glass and brick and mortar splashed across the front entrance of the Police Department behind them.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
Four different machine gun rounds flew at the two.
Robin struggled to drag himself and Starfire out of the range of the bulletfire.
The projectiles ricocheted off the wall and sidewalk around them. PING!!! P-PING!!! P-P-P-PING!!!
Something silver and glinting was tossed out by a shadow across the street.
Swoooosh!!
CL-CLANK!!!!
A grenade landed and rolled under a nearby SUV.
Robin tossed Starfire protectively around the cornerstone of the building and dove too--
BOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!
The grenade exploded. Its fiery flower of destruction ate into the fuel tank of the SUV, setting off another explosion. POW!!!! The aluminum body of the vehicle shot straight up four feet and sent aluminum shrapnel showering down onto the two quivering Titans.
Robin flung his body over Starfire. As the flames dissipated, he used the corner of the building as cover from the machine gun fire and started tending to her wound.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
P-P-PING!!!!
"Who are they?? Wh-What is going on??" Starfire panted, bleeding.
Robin tried to cool his shaking hands. He placed a thick bandage from his utility belt over Starfire's gaping wound as temporary blockage and wrapped tight gauze and bands around her shoulder above the bullet hole.
"I don't know….I-I don't know, Star…but I'm going to find out…."
"Robin….d-don't leave me….," she winced. She clenched her teeth and shut her eyes in pain. "X'Hal venru'vm!!"
He cupped her cheeks with his gloves. "I….will….be….back….Star…."
She looked at him. Eyes wet and pleading.
"I promise…," he whispered.
She gulped.
The sounds of gunshots and cries of pain erupted in the air.
Robin took a deep breath, whipped out a grappling hook, and shot for the top of a building across the way. POW!!! CLANK!!!
He flew up by the cord. SWOOOOSH!!!
Starfire rested her back against the wall, wincing. Waiting….
Beads of sweat ran down her amber temples.
Listening…..
"Aaaaugh!!!"
"My arm!! My arm!!"
"Where are they?!?! Jesus, they're everywhere—"
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!
"Snntkktaaaugh!!!"
"………"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
SCREEEEEECH!!!!
Car after car came to a screeching halt at the nearest intersection of Main Street.
Motorists stepped out—wide eyed and curiously surprised—as they saw pedestrians on foot running down the street and between their vehicles in the hundreds.
The sounds of gunshots and small explosions echoed down the road from the Police Department.
Over the heads of screaming citizens, a green albatross drifted.
Beast Boy flew until he was over the center of the blocked up traffic in all six lanes.
He morphed into elf form, fell, and landed nimbly atop a minivan. He stood up and shouted towards the motorists: "All of you!! Go back!! Turn around!! Get out of the Downtown District!! This isn't a joke!!! Order of the Titans and stuff!! Move it!!!"
The pedestrians who were at first standing around the nearby vicinity of the green Titan were now doing their damnedest to turn and run away from the chaos.
Beast Boy shouted and directed them.
Motorists in the rear started backing out first and taking detours away from the center of the City.
And then…
SCREEEEECH!!!
VRMMMMMM!!!
Beast Boy caught them first in the corner of his green eyes. He slowly turned and gazed. His jaw dropped more and more and more.
VRMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!
Three black jeeps with dark figures inside sped up out of nowhere. In icy coordination, all three came to a sudden stop at the intersection behind the blocked-up traffic.
And as soon as they stopped, Beast Boy and everyone in the right mind saw thugs in the open rear of each vehicle get up….
"Oh no….."
….prop up mounted assault guns….
"…no no no no no NO!!!"
….load the, and take aim at the river of motorists.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!!!
Three streams of red hot bullets soared past and around Beast Boy.
The elf flinched.
The bullets pelted into the vehicles—PINGPINGPINGPING!!!—ripped apart a few bodies of drivers and riders inside….before eating their hot way into a fuel tank or two.
BOOOOM!!!!!
KAPOW!!!!!!!!!!
Pedestrians running down the sidewalk shrieked and flew as flaming concussion blasts from the exploding vehicles erupted around them.
Bones broke against buildingside and limbs were lopped into glass fronts. SHATTER!!!!!
Beast Boy stopped flinching, his teeth gritting.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
The three jeep gunmen swept the bulletfire across the street full of cars. Vehicles were turned to swiss cheese. Citizens shrieked and dove for cover under flying shrapnel and glass. A solid line of pedestrians met their fate when one stream of bullets met them head on and mowed them down into a river of read.
"RRRRGHH!!!" the elf pounced off the back of the minivan and landed on the ground as a wolf. He ran on all fours, skimming between jammed vehicles, leaping over aluminum shards and collapsed passenger doors, and bursting straight out into the open.
All three gunmen converged on him.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT!!!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!
Beast Boy leapt up, morphed into a snake, coiled himself expertly to avoid the bulletfire….before slamming into the ground as a huge gorilla that picked up a nearby lamppost—CRUNCH!!!—growled, and flung the hulking object at the jeeps.
SWOOOOSH!!!
"ROAAAAAR!!!"
SCREEEEEECH!!!!
The black vehicles burned rubber and sped off.
VRMMMMMM!!!!
CRASH!!!!
The lamppost formed a crater in the ground behind them.
Beast Boy glared after the three vehicles, panting.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
The tables in the courtyard rattled.
Lillian and Lindsay gasped.
Antoine and Jack removed their arms from the table top, blinking.
"……….????" Tempest's dark eyes narrowed.
Bonnie was the first to step up, her lips agape. A few other pedestrians outside the theatre and storefronts did the same.
Everyone in the Bayside Plaza gazed northwesterly.
Their ears pricked.
"My goodness….," Bonnie murmured.
Lindsay stood. "Were those….e-explosions?"
Tempest stood. "They were."
Everyone nervously fidgeted.
"What's….what's going on?"
"Sounds like it's coming from Downtown!"
"A bank robbery or something? Some criminal on the loose?"
Tempest sensed something. The telepathic part of his brain fluctuated.
He glanced up.
On the rooftop of the theatre, a row of black figures appeared. They appeared to be aiming--
"!!!!" Tempest shouted: "Get down-!!!!"
BLAM!!! BLAM!!! BL-BLAM!!!
Shotgun blasts flew down in storms of pellets.
Shrieks.
Screams across the courtyard.
Four pedestrians fell down in random spots, gurgling blood.
More screams.
Tempest yanked Lindsay and her friends to the ground.
BLAM!! BL-BL-BLAM!!! BLAM!!!!
More bodies fell.
Pounding noises as citizens fled and--
SWIIISH!!!!!
A hot row of shot flew down.
SP-SPLORCH!!!
"AAAAAUGH!!!" Bonnie shouted, her shoe exploding to the white bone from a wave of lead pellets. She bled and slumped to her knees.
"Oh god!! Bonnie!!!"
"Nnnnnghhh!!!" Bonnie clutched her limb and screamed.
Tempest clenched his teeth. "RrrrrghAAUGH!!" his eyes pulsed purple and he flicked his wrist towards a fountain in the center of the Bayside Plaza.
SPLOOOOOSH!!!!
A worm of water rose up from his manipulation and surged through the air towards him.
Antoine and Jack rushed over to Bonnie's twitching form.
Lillian and Lindsay wrung their hands.
In the meantime, Tempest spread the water out into a wall and gathered as many tabletops from the courtyard that he could. He spread the aquatic wall out further and dispersed the tabletops as evenly as he could. Soon at least three dozens panicked citizens were being shadowed by a half permeable 'shield' of floating wood and marvel.
BLAM!!! BL-BLAM!!!
CLINK!!!! CL-CLANK!!!!
The tabletops temporarily managed to block the downwards spread of lead shot from the theatre's rooftop.
"Everyone!! Move!!!" Tempest shouted. He glanced over his shoulder, panting. He found the exit. "To the subway!! Everyone move to the subway!!! NOW!!!"
Some citizens mumbled. Some sobbed. All of them—pale as ghosts—crouch-ran their way towards the sewers as Tempest spread the 'wall' more and more.
He looked over his other shoulder. "You two!! You got her???"
Antoine and Jack shakily nodded. "Yeah…b-but she's bleeding badly!!'
"Carry her!!"
"You got it!!"
"Nnnghh….," Bonnie winced, tears streaming, as the two boys hoisted her by her shoulders and shuffled her away towards the sewer on desperate feet. Lillian quickly scrambled after them.
Lindsay stood stock still, staring at red pools and still bodies beyond the wall of water.
BL-BLAM!!!
CRACK!!!!
A tabletop shattered into wet splinters above her.
She flinched and shrieked.
GRIP!!!!
Tempest's left arm held tight around hers.
"Come on!!!!" he shouted. He backed them up, his right hand outstretched and glowing purple. Under merciless shotgun blasts, he back the two of them down via the watery shield and ducked them down and into the underground subway.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Distant explosions.
The windows shook.
"………," a customer looking at a row of lawn mowers at the front of the pawn shop gazed up. "What….is that?"
Renee and Daniel stood frozen at the counter. Two other customers were in the middle of selling them a toaster or two, but now they too were gazing curiously…numbly towards the front of the store.
"F-Fireworks??" Renee blinked.
Daniel scratched his head. "At this time of year?"
"Hey….I-I think I hear screaming….," said a man by the toaster.
"Wyrd….," the faraway customer walked over towards the glass front of the store and gazed out on the street. "Hey…people are running. What in the world??"
"M-Maybe you should step away from the window—"
"L-Listen!!"
VRMMMMMMMMM!!!!!
Renee and Daniel blinked.
The two customers by the counter fidgeted.
The man by the window took a shaky step back.
SCREEEEEEEEEEECH!!!!
Three black jeeps swerved by outside.
And….
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!!
A crimson string of machine gun bullets soared in through the store, shattered through the glass window, and exploded through the one customer's shoulder, neck, and forehead.
CRAAAASH!!!! CL-CL-CL-CLANK!!! TH-THWUNK!!! P-P-P-PING!!!!
The man's ragdoll body danced from the bullets and fell wetly down. THWUMP!!!
Bullets flew and clattered across the interior of the store. T.V. screens shattered. Appliances fell apart. Lawn equipment were pelted full of holes.
P-PING!! PING!! CLACK!!!
Daniel threw Renee down to the floor and covered her.
The other two customers dove down and covered their heads.
"AAAAAH!!!" Renee screamed.
Daniel panted.
The bulletfire stopped.
Daniel peaked over the counter, sweating.
Buildingfronts across the street were identically pelted with bulletfire just like the pawnshop.
Each gunman from the jeeps suddenly pulled something out of their combat pockets and tossed them at random building fronts.
Daniel's heart skipped a beat.
Cl-Clank!!
He heard something small and metal land in front of the store front just to the side of the pawn shop.
BOOOOOOOOM!!!!
A grenade went off.
The lights flickered.
A wave of heat soared through the walls.
Crunching sounds of collapsing floors and rooms next door echoed hauntingly into the occupants' ears.
The husband knelt back down and clutched his wife, panting.
The two started to hear tortured, burning screams through the muffled walls.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
CRUNCH!!!!
Myrkblade broke through the fallen dust and debris.
Face tense and shades foggy, I pulled myself out of the rubble.
I panted….black smoke trailing off my limbs.
I heard continuous gunshots and explosions.
Even the sounds of screeching tires and jeep engines.
"…….," I looked directly up.
The entire building face of the Police Department had crumbled. Like some horror scene out of Oklahoma City or Dresden.
"…….."
SWOOOOOSH!!!
"?!?!?!" I looked to my side.
Something bright and flaring was shimmering at me. With a trail of smoke.
My black eyes widened.
R.P.G.!!!
I gasped and blurred out of the way--
BOOOOOOOOM!!!!!
I barely ran past the wave of fire and shattered asphalt.
I panted, streaking down the road on smoking feet.
I came to a stop, turned around, and panted.
"……"
I noticed two red streams cutting through the fading trails of my smoking body from above.
"……..!!!!" I glanced up.
Two red flashes from rooftops.
Blinding.
I gasped and jerked aside--
POW!!! POW!!!
High caliber rifle bullets slammed into the asphalt where I was a half-second ago.
I gritted my teeth, spun, and blurred across the street.
POW!!!
POW!!!
PING!!!
PING!!!
Bullets fired singularly behind me.
Red beams flickered through my trailing smoke.
I panted.
Snipers!!
POW!!! P-POW!!!
They're on the rooftops……
P-PING!!!
But who are they?!?!
SWOOOOSH!!!
I blurred up a buildingside towards one of the bulletfire sources.
Dagger……
My brow furrowed in mid-vertical sprint.
Dagger is here.
In this City.
He's eating it alive.
I bit my liip.
He was right. The Messenger was right.
CHIIIING!!!
I readied Myrkblade.
The roof's ledge came.
One breaths….two….
A glint of silver.
A rifle was tilting over.
SLAAAAASH!!!!
I dove 'up', Myrkblade first.
CHTINK!!!!
I ripped the barrel of the rifle clean off.
A shadow stumbled back.
SWOOOOOSH!!!
I ran up off the ledge, flipped, came back down, and perched with Myrkblade ready to strike like a demon samurai.
"………….."
I sweated.
I saw eight men on the rooftop.
Six men on another rooftop two blocks down.
Eight on yet another rooftop near the Western District.
All were dressed in work clothes.
All looked like they were about to explode out through their eyes first.
Green eyes..
And they all were aiming machine guns at me.
Cl-Click.
"…………………………………….."
I jumped--
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!!!!!
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
SWOOOSH-Plant!!
Robin perched on a building ledge across the crumbled Police Department.
He slowly snaked himself across the rooftop until he was parallel to the spot in the ground from under which the first group of machine gunners were still unleashing lead punishment across the lengths of the City streets.
Rat-a-Tat-Tat-Tat-Tat-Tat-Tat-Tat!!!
He took a deep breath.
CLANK!!
He stuck a grappling hook into the ledge's surface.
He pulled tight. He bundled a long length of black cord around his gloved arms.
He took a deep breath.
He turned his body around.
He held tight to the cord.
He kicked off the edge of the building.
The Boy Wonder's body drifted down till the cord pulled taut at his bundle.
Robin braced himself with legs planted against the building side.
He gave the cord some slack.
His legs kicked.
He shimmied down further down the buildingside.
Quietly.
Like a spider.
The machine gun noise got louder as he descended.
He squinted his eyemask and could see the hot-red streaks of bullet tracers flying through the air.
TH-THWISSSH!!!
TH-TH-THWISSH!!!
Robin gave more slack.
He took a deep breath.
More slack.
An even deeper breath.
He kicked off the buildingside with a grunt. "Nnnngh!!!"
His body bounced off.
He flew down and outward in a huge arc.
He extended his staff—Snkkkt!!—and twirled it.
Swinging like a mad pendulum straight down, between the machine gun fire, and suicidally in through the shattered windows of the gunmen's roost.
SWOOOOOOSH!!!
-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Thwump!! Thwump!!
Pounding.
Screaming.
A yelling voice of bloodlust.
"Mmmmph….," Lisa stirred on the couch in her living room. She slowly sat up, her black bangs tangled. Her one eye blinking.
Thwump!! Thwump!!
She had been napping.
But then…the pounding sounds had disturbed her.
"Ugh….not again….," she rubbed her eye and ran a tired hand through her hair as she yawned. "I wish they'd friggin' seek counseling…."
Thwump!! Thwump!!
More shouting.
"………..," Lisa's brow furrowed.
She was used to domestic squalls in neighboring apartments.
But this….
And the windows were rattling.
And distant thuds outside her alleyway windows were growing more and more numerous.
"The Hell??" she stood up.
A beat.
She walked hurriedly towards the front door of her apartment.
She unlocked the door.
She wandered out into the hallway.
She glanced both ways.
Empty.
Thwump!!
Thwump!!!
"Daddy!!"
"Stop hurting Mommy!!"
"What's wrong with y-you?!?!"
"Dadddddy!!"
Lisa gasped.
She looked across the way at the door to the Knight's apartment.
Thwump!! Thwump!!
"Rrrraaaugh!!"
She rushed over.
She pounded her fist against the door. "Hello?!?! Hello!!!"
She tried the doorknob.
It was locked.
Thwump!! Thw--- The pounding stopped.
"What's going on in there!!!" Lisa frowned. "Should I call the cops or—"
CRACK!!!!
"AACK!!" Lisa fell back as the door exploded outward in a wave of splinters.
Lisa stumbled into the apartment hallway's wall.
She looked up, panting.
Howard Knight stood, heaving in the doorway.
In his hand was a metal bat. Blood and tiny scraps of brain matter were hanging off it.
Lisa's eye widened. She looked past his heaving form to see Mrs. Knight lying bloodily on the ground. Little Ashley and Greg were huddled in the distant kitchen, holding each other and shivering.
"Mister….," Lisa trembled, panting. Her eye drifted up from the bloody bat. "M-Mister Knight?!?!"
SWOOOSH!! His head spun and stared at her.
Eyes exploding wide.
Two green eyes.
Flaring green.
Lisa's jaw dropped.
"REDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!" the man howled. He was upon her with the baseball bat.
"Ah…Aaah…AAUGH!!" Lisa stumbled backwards and fell.
SWOOOSH-CLANK!!! The bloody bat formed a crater in the wall.
Lisa struggled on the ground.
Howard shrieked like a banshee and swung the bat straight down at her.
She flinched: "AAAAAH!!!"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
SWOOOOSH!!!
Robin dove into the front atrium.
Six bodies carrying smoke machine guns spun, panting.
"RRGHHHHH!!!" Robin shouted and spun a ballet with his twirling rod.
SM-SM-SMACK!!!
THWACK!!!
WHAM!!!
He slammed three skulls, broke two legs, and uppercutted a chin.
Three men fell down hard to the ground.
The others convulsed.
TH-TH-THWISH!! Robin spun his staff and took a battle pose. He pointed with a gloved hand, panting. "FREEZE!!! You are all under arre----" He stopped. His eyemask went wide.
The men were in worker's clothes. Straight out of every conceivable blue collar job under the Sun. They all looked at Robin, panting…..with flaring eyes of green.
Robin's lips parted.
So did theirs….with exploding mouths:
"REDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!"
"REDDDD!!!!!"
"REDDDDDDDD!!!!!"
They all dropped charged Robin, screaming.
Bloodlusting.
Faces pulsing.
Robin gritted his teeth and backed up, swinging his staff.
THWACK!!!
He knocked one berserker aside.
Two others charged him, hyperventilating, arms groping.
"NNGH!!!" TH-THWISH!!! CONK!!!
He struck another hard across the skull.
The third was upon him, grabbing.
Robin slid down between his legs, jumped up the other side, and reverse kicked him.
TWHUMP!!! The man slammed into a wall.
Robin spun.
The man spun. "REDD!!!!" He charged Robin.
Robin whipped out a birdarang.
The man charged.
Robin threw his projectile.
SW-SW-SWISH-THUNK!!! It stuck into the man's shoulder.
He stuttered once…but kept charging.
Robin stepped back and tossed another birdarang. "NNGH!!!"
CHUNK!!!
It skewered the man's ankle.
He panted—eyes flaring—and kept charging.
Robin prepared a third—
"RED!!!!"
The man collapsed onto the Boy Wonder.
"AUGH!!" Robin was pressed against a wall.
The man tried to pummel the Titan.
Robin struggled with him, kicking his bloody leg, slamming his staff into his hips.
The man swung the two over. "NNGH!!"
THWAP!!!
The two slapped against a wall.
Robin wrestled with the man.
He dragged the Boy Wonder's arm up. He opened his mouth. He bit into Robin's glove. CRKKKK!!!
Robin hissed: "NNNRRAAAUGHHAAAA!!!" His whole face tensed. He yanked one hand free, twirled his brave, and slammed it straight into the man's face.
CRA-ACK!!!
The man's nose broke off.
Robin kicked him off him.
SLUMP!!!
The Boy Wonder stumbled back, clutching his twitching arm.
The man on the ground convulsed. He whimpered. He sweat. He pulled open his blue-collar jacket and revealed two solid rows of grenades attached to his chest.
"FREEZE!!" Robin aimed his staff with one hand.
The man panted. His finger fumbled across the grenades.
"Don't do it!!"
The man fumbled.
Robin shouted: "Don't you do it!!!!!"
Clink! Clink! Clink! Clink! Clink! The man desperately yanked out the pins to ten grenades and simply….lay there.
"Sh-Shit…," Robin spun and ran out the alcove—
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
--for his life.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!
Robin covered his head and gasped as he ran and ran and ran through the street, hopping over a body or two of dead citizens.
The explosion inside was massive…but grew even larger as a chain reaction thundered through all of the enflamed thug's grenades.
BOOM!!!—BOOM!!!-BOOM!!!-BOOM!!!
The Boy Wonder dove behind a charred SUV and sheltered himself the best he could as---
CRUMMMMMMBLE!!!!!!!!
The entire foundation of the building across from the Police Department gave way.
The supporting pylons of the building's inner structure lost…and the weight of the height pulled the upper levels down like a pancake.
CRUNCH!!!! CRUNCH!!! CRUNCH!!!
The nine story building toppled. Smoke and burning ash billowed out, blanketing the gasping Boy Wonder.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
From the studios and offices of Kobayashi Tower, workers felt a rumble shake through the floors.
People started rushing over to sunlit windows and gasping.
Pointing.
Gazing out at a tall, rising mushroom cloud of dust and burning smoke from just a few blocks away in Downtown.
"Oh my god!!"
"Look!!"
"Sweet Mother of Mercy."
"The Hell is going on?!?!"
"Was anyone in that?!?!"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
FWOOOOOOOOM!!!!!
Smoke and ash floated through the streets.
Citizens ran and darted into alleyways for their lives.
A wounded Starfire remained resting up against the wall of the police department.
She coughed, wheezed, and forced her tearing emerald eyes open.
"Robin!!!!!" she shouted. "Robin?!?! ROBIN!!!!"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Move!! Move!!!" Beast Boy shouted, running down the street. "Out of this District!! Go!! Go!! Everybody!! Now!!"
People jumped out of their cars in the middle of jammed traffic and ran where the changeling pointed them. Families, businessmen, tourists…everyone formed a surging, screaming crowd.
"Man…what do we do?!?! What do we do?!?!" Beast Boy wrung his green hands.
And then I fell on him.
WHUMP!!!
"OOF!!!"
"!!!!"
We both tumbled from the ground.
My body was still trailing with murk from my desperate leap off of….some rooftop or another. I lay on the ground—panting—for a while.
"Dude!! You're alive!!" Beast Boy yanked me up. "Man…what do we do?!?! Psychos are everywhere!! These people can't be safe anywhere!!!" A beat. He glanced at my combat fatigues.
I stood, panting. I looked down at my clothes too. There were solid lines of ripped cloth all around, exposing pale skin beneath. I had been grazed quite a few times by bullets. I simpered.
"Seriously…dude….you're Number Two….," Beast Boy pointed. "Got any bright ideas??"
"…….," I blinked.
Number Two……
Robin and Cyborg aren't here.
And Robin……could he be……?
I shook that off.
I glanced at where we were.
Signs.
Thirty-Six and Main……
I ran out into the intersection.
I glanced down Thirty-Sixth street. I pointed at two buildings down the way.
Beast Boy exclaimed: "The Central Bank?"
I nodded. I hand-gestured 'bars' and 'turntables' in a finger-full charade.
Beast Boy blinked…..then beamed. "The gold depository!! Of course!! All the steel vaults!! It's like a frickin' bomb shelter! Fort Knox incarnate!! I bet a whole bunch of people will be safe there!!"
I nodded.
I whistled loudly.
People glanced my way in the middle of their panicked running.
I pointed furiously down Thirty-Sixth Street.
I then kicked Beast Boy in the butt.
"Ackies!! Er…ahem…EVERYONE!! LISTEN!!! HEAD TO THE CENTRAL BANK!!! FOLLOW US!! FOLLOW THE TITANS!!! HEAD TO THE CENTRAL BANK IMMEDIATELY!!!"
People panted. They looked at each other. They looked at the rising smoke in a few places. The rubble. They hastily agreed. Eighty percent of the populace responded by surging past us and towards the building.
"That's right!! Follow us!! Follow us!! Quickly!!!" Beast Boy shouted. He panted and glanced at me. "Man…who's doing all of this?" He blinked. "Dagger??"
I glared at him.
Welcome to the Food Chain.
Shrieks.
"?!?!?!" we both glanced aside.
Two yellow schoolbuses were stuck in the middle of traffic. They were full of elementary students. The kids were screaming and sobbing inside. The bus drivers and chaperones inside were telling all the kids to duck their heads….but they weren't emptying the busses in the middle of the traffic jammed street.
Following some god damn protocols or something.
I pointed firmly at them, panting.
"YO!!! YOOO HOOO!!!!" Beast Boy waved his arms wildly.
I whistled.
"GET THOSE KIDS OUT OF HERE!!! TO THE CENTRAL BANK!!! HURRY!! HURRY!!!"
The adults inside the bus glanced at us panickedly. The children kept sobbing.
And then….in the background.
VRMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!
Beast Boy sweatdropped. "Uh oh."
I gritted my teeth.
Three black jeeps surged into the intersection.
CHIIIIIIING!!!! I blurred towards them.
The gunmen with the mounted guns in the back aimed at the schoolbuses.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
SWOOOOOSH!!! I blurred over, dove sideways, and twirled Myrkblade while 'in flight'.
CL-CL-CL-CL-CLANG!!!!!
I deflected the streams of bullets off and back towards the line of jeeps.
P-P-PING!!!
CLANG!!!
One gunman was hit in the shoulder.
He groaned and collapsed in pain into the backseat while the other gunmen took over.
SCREEEEEECH!!!!!
The jeeps roared off.
The gunmen let loose a barrage during the vehicular escape down the road and out of sight.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
I knelt and madly swung Myrkblade, deflecting the bullets away from the schoolbuses. CL-CL-CLANG!!!!
The jeeps were gone.
I panted…sweating like mad.
Beast Boy exhaled and ran towards the schoolbuses. "Stay tight!!! I'll get you all out!!!! Just—"
SWOOOOOOOOSH!!! A random R.P.G. soared in from one of the rooftops and--
BOOOOOOOOM!!!!!
Beast Boy was blown back.
I tumbled across the asphalt.
FWOOOOOOM!!!!
"Nnnngh…..," Beast Boy looked up. He gasped…his green eyes wide.
The schoolbuses were in flames. Whatever torturous 'things' could be alive inside were flailing about like lantern bugs.
Before either of us Titans could rush in to drag out corpses—
SWOOOOOOSH!!!
SWOOOOOOOOOSH!!!
Two more rocket propelled grenades from above.
And…..
We went airborne.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Wrii! Wrii! Wrii! Wrii!
Schwisssh!!!
Cyborg and Raven ran out of the elevator.
They froze to a screeching halt halfway through the alarm-lit Main Room.
Gasping.
Eyes wide.
Both of them.
The huge map of the City was splashed across the large Computer Screen. And it was flashing red in at least thirty different places.
"…………," Raven held a hand over her lips.
Cyborg stumbled forward. "Sweet Jesus Almighty….."
Beyond the computer screen, columns of smoke started to rise from the silent skyline….accompanied by urban thunder.