169. Hand and Dagger part 6
Footsteps.
Painful moanings.
Sloshing, cascading water.
Over two dozen citizens standing about casually by the tracks of a subway turned and gasped as over two dozen more ran down, shadowed by Tempest with his wall of protective water stretched behind them.
Antoine and Jack helped a limping, bleeding Bonnie across the tile. Her ragged ankle leaked red on the pale tile of the underground interior.
"Oh my god…."
"What in God's name is happening above ground??"
Lillian shuddered, hugging herself. "P-People….People with guns…."
A throng of confused faces.
Those that ran down under Tempest's protection slumped against walls, panting.
Tempest gently let go of Lindsay and lowered his wall with a flicker of purple eyes.
SLOSH!!!!!
"Is anyone here a doctor?!?!"
"…………."
He clenched his fists. "Is anyone here a doctor?!?!"
"I-I'm a nurse…..," one woman stepped forward nervously.
Tempest pointed. "Her foot. Examine it. I'm Atlantean. I know nothing of surface dweller muscles…."
Antoine and Jack set Bonnie down against a wall.
The woman knelt and examined the writhing girl's foot. "Dear Lord…..what h-happened to her?"
"Bullets happened," Tempest grunted. "See what you can do." He spun looked around the Subway. "Is there any other way out of here besides the entrance through which we descended?"
"Just the Subway Tracks!" a teenager in the corner panted. "We've been sitting here for nearly thirty minutes waiting for the next train. It's late for some reason!"
"There's gotta be another path…r-right?" Lindsay stammered. "Like….a maintenance tunnel or some other thing?"
Antoine looked up from the writhing Bonnie. "There could be a control center? Ya know…for tracking the movement of the trains."
"Like a network?" Tempest asked.
"Yeah," another nodded. "There're always workers coming in and out of those things."
"Then maybe we should look to see if it acts as a junction to another subway," Tempest said. "There's no going back up to the Courtyard. And I'm not about to move people through these tracks."
"Excuse me, sir….," a middle-aged man in a business suit walked over. "You're a Titan, right?"
Tempest swallowed. "S-So far, so good."
"Will you care to tell us what in the blue Hell is going on in the City??"
"………," Tempest's lips parted, hesitated…and he uttered: "I have no clue."
The people shifted nervously.
"Sh-She's going to need medical attention…," the woman kneeling by Bonnie said. "Professional attention."
"L-Like a hospital?" Lindsay panted.
The woman nodded.
Jack leaned forward: "I-If we're goin' through that network they have a first aid kit?"
"That'll only delay things for a while," the woman said. "Her leg is bound to get infected."
"Then I'm taking all of you to the surface somehow…," Tempest paced across the subway and rose his voice among the fifty or so occupants. "Do you all hear that?? As the only Titan here….I'm guiding you all to somewhere safer! And it's not up those stairs…and it sure as Hades ain't here!!"
"I-I think we're pretty safe h-here….sir….," a teenager nervously shook.
A few people nodded.
A beat.
Lindsay blinked. She gasped. "D-Do you…..Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Lillian asked.
A beat.
"Th-That!" Lindsay hissed.
Tempest's dark eyes narrowed.
A whining sound picked up in the subway.
"?????" people craned their necks.
"…………," Tempest slowly turned his head.
Everyone looked where he did.
The train tracks….
Scraaaa-aaaaaaaa-aaaaaaaaaape………
A lone subway car rolled to a sparking stop from the dark tunnel and before the pale tile of the lit underground.
"…………..," Tempest breathed. "Didn't someone say that the train was remarkably late?"
"Y-Yes…," stammered a nervous citizen from behind.
Tempest gulped. "Actually….I-I think it's right on time."
Shadows inside the subway car shifted.
Tempest's gaze flew up.
Metal pipes equipped with fire sprinklers stretched above.
The doors to the subway car flew open.
"EVERYBODY!!!" Tempest fiercely grabbed Lindsay by the arm and tossed the freckled girl behind him. "GET DOWN!!!"
A line of green-eyed gunmen.
Panting.
Writhing.
Taking aim…..
Shrieks and gasps.
Everybody dropped.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!!
A river of bullets streamed in and bounced madly around the interior of the underground.
"AAAAAAAH!!!" Tempest let loose a warcry and—with glowing eyes of purple—raised his hands to the ceiling as bullets grazed either side of him.
CRKKK-CRKKKK-CRAAAAAK!!!!
Lindsay gasped and looked up as the pipes in the ceiling burst from their holding and yanked out towards the gunmen in the subway train. They spewed forth high-pressured steams of liquid fury.
SPLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!!!
Tempest exchanged hose-spray for lead bullets in a thunderous storm.
Water shimmied everywhere from the skewering bullets.
The gunmen fired.
The Atlantean stood his ground.
Citizens shook and shivered as bullets PINGed and CLANKed all around them.
Tempest's eyes flared purple. He gnashed his teeth…and shoved his hands further out into the air.
A wall of water formed from the spray and slammed mercilessly into the screaming gunmen.
Their green-eyed faces were drenched and their guns went flying.
SPLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Nnngh!!" Lisa rolled to the side of the apartment hallway.
"RED!!!!" Mr. Knight slammed the bat down where her head was.
She clenched her teeth and slammed her leg up into his groin.
His whole body shuddered and tumbled to the side.
She panted and tried crawling away.
GRIP!!!
"Yaah!!" she looked behind.
The man feverishly grabbed her ankle.
His nostrils flared.
He hissed through clenched teeth.
Eyes flaring.
Green.
"Nnngrhh…..RED!!!!!!!!" He shrieked and bit down on her foot.
"Rrrrrgh!!!" Lisa wince, shook….shook….shook her foot.
YANK!!!
She kicked her shoe off.
He bit through leather, snarling like a dog.
Lisa scrambled…scampered…stumbled to her feet.
Her one eye wide.
She found herself running straight into the Knights' apartment.
She ran over the bleeding corpse of Mrs. Knight.
She streaked right towards the shivering children on the kitchen floor.
A shriek behind her.
Shuffling feet.
Mr. Knight was back on his feet and thumping after her.
Lisa took one breath and stretched her arms out.
YANK!!
She scooped up Ashley and Greg.
The two middle schoolers gasped as Lisa dragged them hurriedly into the bathroom.
She practically tossed them into the tub, spun around, and had a face full of Mr. Knight's howling face just seconds before she slammed the door close.
WHAM!!!
She locked it---
THRUMP!!!!
THRUMP!!!!
THRUMP!!!!
The door rattled on its hinges as the man pounded on it animalistically from the other side with a baseball bat.
THRUMP!!!!
THRUMP!!!
"REDDDD!!!"
Lisa stumbled backwards.
Panting.
Sweating.
Her dark hair tangled.
Ashley and Greg clutched to her from behind, sniffing and shivering.
"L-Lisa…what's wrong with him??
"Wh-What's wrong with our D-Daddy?!?!"
Lisa slowly shook her numb face. "I have no clue…..I have n-no clue whatsoever…."
They sobbed.
"St-Stick close to me…," she murmured.
THRUMP!!
THRUMP!!!
THRUMP!!!
Lisa's eye glanced over across the bathroom.
A bright window shimmered sunlight in from the thundering world outside.
"……..," Lisa looked at the rattling door. "…….." She looked at the window again.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Is he…Is he…Is he…."
"He's dead, Renee…," Daniel muttered. Feeling the scant amount of skin left on the bullet-riddled customer's neck. "Very…very dead."
One of the two customers hiding with Renee behind the counter hissed: "Okay! You know it now!! Get over here before those madmen in the jeeps come back!!!"
Daniel looked up at the shattered storefront, shaking. Sounds of distant gunshots and explosions and sirens filled the air floating coldly in from the broken Autumn world outside.
"I….I don't think the madmen in the jeeps are all there is…"
"The Hell are you talking about??"
"Get over here!! Please, Daniel!! I'm scared!! Don't get so close to the outside world!!"
"The people next door….the Fillmores….," Daniel blinked.
A beat.
He started crawling out towards the shattered doorframe.
"What's he doing?!?!" another customer behind the counter squealed.
Renee gasped. "Danny!!!" she tried crawling her pregnant self over the counter. "Danny!! No!! Get back!!!"
The two customers quickly restrained her.
She shook and grunted…tears flowing.
"…….," Daniel slowly pressed himself to the side of the Pawn Shop's entrance and craned his neck out. "………….." Panting…shivering a little….he gazed out. One eye at a time.
There were tire marks in the screech. Scorched asphalt where grenades had landed. Bulletholes and…..splotches. Red splotches. Red splotches and—two bodies having halfway out of the shattered window across the street.
Daniel winced, his eyes instinctively clenching shut. He took a few heavy breaths….and opened them again. Peering out across the street.
There were a few more dead bodies. And smoke. Smoke rising over the city skyline just above. He could see flickering flames if he just turned his neck so….
And he realized.
"Dear God…."
"Wh-What is it??" one of the two customers stammered.
"The shop next door!!" Daniel panted. "The Fillmores!! Their place is going up in smoke!!"
"No……," Renee shuddered.
Daniel's eyes squinted. He craned his neck some more.
Then his eyes widened.
The first story of the next door building….the shop…..it was burning. With smoke billowing out.
But the second story….
"The fire hasn't crept up yet…," he muttered.
And then.
He saw movement.
Panicked, desperate movement.
In the second story window.
And his breath left him.
"Oh no…."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Groaning.
Coughing.
Stirring limbs.
Stirring debris.
"Nnnngh……," the Lieutenant stirred. He moved his aching body. He stood up, tossing planks of splinters and crumpled furniture pieces off of him. Ash sprinkled to the floor as he stood up and rubbed his head, groaning. Other bodies in the now-charred remains of the Police Department office were standing up around him.
Others….
"…………..," the Lieutenant glanced down.
The blackened body of a police officer lay beneath him. Where his head should have been, the Lieutenant's feet were.
"………..," he shuffled back. Swallowing.
A hand on his shoulder.
"!!!!" he spun with a fist.
Another officer flinched. "L-Lieutenant….S-Sir….are you allright?"
The Lieutenant nodded. Shuddering. "Yeah…..wh-who else made it."
"I did sir…," the man gestured. "Chapman. Rookie…..a few others did too."
"Abbey!" another figure waved.
"J-Johnson!" another wheezed.
"Vann!"
"Shaia…"
The Lieutenant took a deep breath, fists clenched. "N-No one else?"
"They're too injured, sir…." A woman's voice.
The Lieutenant glanced over.
A blackened secretary knelt besides at least a dozen people leaning against a wall with their arms and legs in ghetto bandages and splints. They groaned and twitched in pain.
"Everybody was at the wrong place at the right time…," she winced. "W-We still haven't found all the bodies."
The Lieutenant walked over. He looked at the injured. He took a deep breath. "Good work Miss Wilson. But they're going to need special attention."
"How can we get them to the hospital??" Shaia gestured. "The streets are lined to the teeth with marksmen!!"
"Have any idea who?"
"No more than you do, sir."
The Lieutenant blinked. "'Sir'?"
Vann cleared his throat. "You're…the highest ranking here."
"……..," the man gazed out the window. "Commissioner Decker…..?"
"No sign of him, sir."
A chill ran over the Lieutenant's body.
"S-Sir??"
"We're going out….," the man exclaimed with a deep breath.
"But—"
"Out there is where we should be," the Lieutenant walked over to the elevator. "Every man here standing…follow me."
"What do you have planned sir?"
"First…the armory. Second…the streets. And any murdering creep we find, we'll take out. Lethal force if necessary. Whatever it takes to pave the way to the hospital. Once there…we can set up camp and send groups out to rescue the injured and bring them back to safety."
"You talk like this is a warzone, sir."
The Lieutenant paused and turned around. "That's exactly what this is."
"……."
"If I'm going to give orders around here for the time being….I'll need you to cooperate. And in order to cooperate…you must trust me. I think I know the evil behind all this."
"Yeah? Who?"
"Does it matter at this point?" the Lieutenant sighed and pressed a button on the elevator.
Abbey shifted nervously. "It's not…working, sir."
"What?"
"The elevator. The RPG knocked it out."
"…………right. We'll take the stairs, then."
"Ten-four."
"Follow me…," the Lieutenant burst the door to the stairwell open and rushed down. "Abbey! Chapman! Shaia and Vann! Johnson……let's move!!"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Starfire panted.
Her left shoulder throbbed.
She dragged herself…dragged herself…dragged herself down the sidewalk.
Panting.
Eyeing the huge mound of dust, ash, and debris where the street in front of the Police Department used to be.
Explosions and gunshots ringed throughout the City in her ears.
She winced.
She stopped.
The bandage was starting to become seeping wet with green…
"R-Robin….," she murmured, gazing into the debris.
SHATTER!!!!!
"?????" she spun and looked.
A building's entrance across the way broke open.
Six men dressed in worker clothes stomped out. They had flaring eyes of green. Shotguns were in their grasps.
"REDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!"
Starfire gasped.
They took aim.
BLAM!!! BL-BLAM!!!! BLAM!!!
Starfire shrieked and painfully ducked her head.
Lead shot flew into the building side behind her.
Steam hissed against her body from the impact points.
She shuddered.
They marched forward.
Pumping their shotguns.
She summoned strength.
Her left shoulder throbbed excruciatingly.
She ignored it, glowed her eyes a hot emerald, and—
ZAAAAAAAAAAP!!!!
Two eyebeams shot out and melted a pair of shotguns instantly.
The men screamed animalistically as their hands burned.
The other four shrieked and ran at her.
She flinched.
"HIYAAAAAA!!!!"
A dust-covered Robin swung in and slammed his boots into two men at once.
WHAM!!! THWAP!!!
They fell down hard.
Starfire gasped.
Robin landed.
Two other men aimed shotguns at him.
He gritted his teeth and twirled his staff. TH-TH-THWISH!!
BL-BLAM!!!
BLAM!!!
He leapt over the asphalt-shattering lead. He flipped. He landed between the men, spun his body onto the floor like a break dancer, and tripped both fiends.
TH-THWUMP!!!!
He rolled up to his feet, twirled his staff, and gave both men knock out blows in their chest cavities.
The first two thugs with burnt hands ran at Robin furiously. "REDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!"
He coiled. He hopped back once…twice…he sprang forward: "Waaaa-TA!!!"
TH-THWACK!!!!
He practically sent their heads spinning from the single staff swing. A tooth or two flew bloodily.
Robin panted.
He spun around.
"You are….undamaged?" Starfire murmured.
"I told you I'd be back…," he uttered. He ran down and hoisted her up.
"Nnngh!!" she winced.
"Sorry," he grunted. He hobbled down the street with her. "We gotta hurry. I gotta get you healed!!"
"A…A h-hospital?" she shuddered.
"If we must…but we also need backup. It won't be much longer until—"
"REDDD!!!!!"
The Two Titans gasped.
They glanced overhead.
From a rooftop, green-eyed men with uzzis took aim and--
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
Starfire gritted her teeth. She pulsed forth a tiny ounce of strength. As much as she could muster….and it flew the two of them ten feet out of the bulletfire and behind an abandoned, commercial bus.
CL-CL-CLANK!!!
The gunshots ricocheted off the opposite side of the bus.
Starfire clung to Robin, panting. "I am sorry, Robin. I am far too damaged to be of my usual service to the City!!"
P-P-PING!!!
Robin shouted over the fray: "T-Take it easy, Star!! I'm calling for backup!!"
"Noir…Beast Boy….d-did they suffer the same fate as the Commissioner??"
"I don't know, Star. I hope not. I'll try and contact them too."
"It is Dagger's men, is it not??" Starfire panted. "We were blind to the reality of the threat!!"
CL-CLANG!!! PING!!!
"Biggest understatement of the day…," Robin panted. "And guess what else?"
P-PING!!!
She looked at him, shivering.
He swallowed: "I know where all the Dragonflare went…."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
click.
The light flickered on in the Police Department's Armory.
The Lieutenant marched in, followed by at least a dozen surviving police officers from the lower floors.
He pushed a key into a green, metal locker and pulled them open.
CREEEAAAK!!!!
Rows of shotguns.
"Lock and load!!!"
Johnson, Vann, Shaia, and other officers grabbed the heavy rifles.
Some for the first time.
Some like casual veterans.
They pumped the shotguns and flocked to other lockers for more rifles and pistols.
The Lieutenant grabbed his own weapons, chose a company of men, and rushed out towards the first floor of the Department.
He was quickly followed.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
ZZZZZZZTT!!!
CRKKKK-VRMM-MMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!
The T-Car roared to life.
Raven spoke into the communicator, a thin curtain of her usual calmness drowning out the urgency in her voice.
"Robin. Robin. Come in. This is Raven. Please respond."
"Snnnktkkkkespond…skkktktkkywhere and thekkkttkkkkttsscrkkfire is shot. Raven, we neskskktkkkktt………"
Raven took a deep breath.
Cyborg jammed his hand over a button on the dashboard.
The door to the Tower's garage opened up slowly, bathing the two roadsters in bright white sunlight.
WHURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR-CHTUNG!!!
"Robin……there's a lot of disturbance. Can you tell us your condition? Can you tell us what's happening in the City??"
"Snkkkkktsnnnnkktt—There's barely a City where we're at!! We've lost contact with Beast Boy and Noir! There're gunmen and pyromaniacs everywhere!! Many casualties!! Need backup!! We need your healing touch, Raven!!"
"I can only heal so many people, Robin—"
"It's Starfire, Raven!! She's been shot!!!"
Cyborg glanced over, human eye wide.
Raven's lips parted.
"She's been shot!! It's pretty bad. I'm trying to get us to safety and we're under fire as I speak!! Please…get here……on the double!! That's an order!!!"
"Tell him we'll be there ass-crazy fast…," Cyborg gritted his teeth.
"Robin. Hang on. We'll be there ass-crazy fast……," Raven blinked at the words coming out of her mouth.
The android Titan shifted gears.
He slammed his foot over the gas.
SCREEEEEEEECH!!!
Raven pressed back into her chair. She lifted a hand and gripped the Jesus bar.
VRRRRRRRMMMMMMMM!!!!!
The T-Car barreled down the land ridge connecting Titan's Tower to the main City. The vehicle streaked straight towards the smoking skyline….
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
P-P-PING!!!
Bullets bounced around cars, building faces, and sidewalks as Robin rushed across the City streets with Starfire in grasp. His arm beneath her whole shoulder held the communicator. His other hand periodically produced a birdarang which he flung at the source of gunshots on nearby buildingtops and street corners.
"Nnnngh!!!"
SW-SW-SW-SW-SWISH!!!
CLANK!!!!
Green-eyed thugs shrieked and gripped skewered wrists in pain.
Robin hobbled with Starfire around a corner—fleeing the ricocheting projectiles. Starfire shuddered as he stretched his arm out from beneath her and shouted into the communicator: "Beast Boy!!! Noir!!!"
RAT-A-TAT-TAT!!!
CL-CLANK!!
CLANG!!!
Robin and Starfire ducked.
"Please tell me you're doing something constructive!!!……..And Alive!!!"
"Just that, dude. We've got things covered here!!!"
PING!!!
Robin gritted his teeth. "Where's 'here'?!?!"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Inside a luxuriantly polished hallway of marble, eight huge vaults stretched open with giant, circular doors.
At the heart of the City's Central Bank, dozens upon dozens of people were being guided inside the spacious vaults. They panted and shivered in nervous fright. People of all colors, occupations, and ages. A few of them were injured and were being tended to while on the move. A scant policeman or two were present and assisted with the flood control.
I directed the entire movement. Silently. Like an usher with a sword. Four bank guards—cooperating with the effort—followed my gestures and divided people into each vault safely.
Beast Boy gazed at all of this as he spoke into the communicator: "The Central Bank!! There's enough steel down here to protect people from Dagger dropping a nuclear bomb!! This is Dagger we're speaking with, right??"
"Beast Boy, now you listen to me. There are still plenty of innocent people out there on the streets!!"
"You think we don't know that, dude?!?! Noir had me rounding up as many as we could to get them down here to begin with!! We're about to go out and help the others around Downtown! Beyond that, though…..—"
"Look! Tell Noir to focus on any creeps you guys can find!! And do what he says while I'm not there!! Got it??"
"Yeah….if he can give a word."
"This is no time for damn jokes!!"
"I concur, Robin!! Sheesh!! I'm doing my part!! Let you do your part and get Star safe!!!"
"That's where Cyborg and Raven come in!! As soon as I'm free, I'm joining you guys in the streets!! We must take out as many thugs as we can!!"
"Where'd Dagger get so much men???"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Starfire winced as she and Robin pressed up against a mound of rubble from a smoldering grenade site.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
Bullets landed around them.
P-P-PING!!!!
"They aren't his men!!" Robin panted into the communicator. "They're everyday citizens!!'
"Say what?!?!"
"Th-They've been infected…"
"With what??"
Robin gulped. "D-Dragonflare.
"You've got to be kidding me……"
Robin shuffled along with Starfire towards a pile of smoking vehicles………aluminum shells that were burning from recent explosions.
"It acts as a hypnotic controlling agent!! Some sort of bloodlust formula!! It's practically metaphysical!! And it's giving all of these men the desire to do nothing but kill and destroy everything that moves but themselves!!!"
"Yeesh!! Why'd they ever give in to take the crap to begin with?!?!"
"That's just it….I don't think they did it willingly!!!"
"Th-They were poisoned???" Starfire murmured.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"They were exposed," Robin's voice filtered through the speakers of the T-Car.
Cyborg and Raven listened in.
The T-Car swerved and screeched around fleeing citizens and vehicles as it bore its way deeper and deeper into the charred Center of the City.
Robin's voice continued: "Decker mentioned something earlier this morning about apparent 'strikes' taking place at a few industrial complexes and shipyards. People weren't showing up for work. A LOT of people. I think the Dragonflare never disappeared after all. The Messenger was mistaken to a point……in so much as we found no Dragonflare. Because Dagger had already used the Dragonflare. He exposed it to the blue-collar workers of this City."
Beast Boy: "Dude! Zombies!!!"
Raven shook her head. "No. Not zombies. Hostages against their will."
Robin: "Exactly, Raven! Keep to the code!! Keep casualties at minimum!!"
Beast Boy: "Easy for you to say. They've frickin' burned Children!!! People are dying!! INNOCENT people!!"
Starfire: "Th-These people are innocent too, are th-they not???"
"God, this is crazy…," Cyborg muttered.
Raven leaned towards the vehicle's intercom. "I think we're dealing with a lesser and greater of two evils here."
Robin: "Understood. Protect the cognitive citizens at all costs. Do you hear me, Titans?!?! At all costs!!"
Beast Boy: "You got it, dude……"
Cyborg spoke towards the intercom while driving. "What about Decker?? What's he doing to give us backup?"
Robin: "Decker is dead."
Raven gasped.
Cyborg's human eye was wide.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"……….," Beast Boy gazed up from the communicator at me. "G-Guess it wasn't our imagination….huh, Noir?"
"………," I slowly shook my head.
"Cyborg. Raven. Get here now. Noir……you and Beast Boy start taking the heat off the rest of us!!"
I nodded and entered a morse code response of concurrence.
"Good."
"Hey!! Everyone wait up!!" Beast Boy panted. "Anyone heard from Tempest?"
"Flipper?"
"Our dear Atlantean friend!! Where could he be???"
"Take
it easy, Star. I haven't heard from him. How about you two??"
"He
left to visit some……friends of his in the Bayside Plaza."
"There's smoke coming from that end of the City too, dawg!! I think the Hell has spread outward from Downtown!!"
"It might as well be the whole City now, Cyborg. That's why we gotta counteract this Insurgency NOW!"
I sent a morse code message: 'We are on it.'
Beast Boy took a shuddering breath and pocketed the communicator away. "No time like the present, man…."
I turned around. I pointed at the security guards and policemen. I pointed then to the vaults through of people….and blurred myself towards the top lobby of the Central Bank building.
"Uhm…..you heard him!!" Beast Boy simpered and pointed as he ran after me. "Guard those vaults with every inch of your asses!!"
The men shifted anxiously, but stood in a straight line across the marble floor with guns raised and breaths steady as we left the people in their protection….
And headed to the blazing surface world.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"……………," Tempest panted. His arms outstretched. "………………"
Water dripped and dribbled from the ceiling and bathed the tile floor of the subway.
The entire side of the subway train ahead of him had bent inward from the force of his manipulated expulsion of water from the bent pipes above.
The once-green-eyed gunmen were lying in an unconscious, soggy pile in the train ahead of the Atlantean.
Tempest slowly lowered his arms, panting.
"……….," Lindsay was the first to stand up.
The other citizens hobbled up from being pressed into the floor.
Jack, Antoine, and the nurse sat up with the writhing Bonnie.
Lillian trembled.
"Well……," Tempest shuddered. "….I s-suppose they needed a bath…."
"What were they doing here??" a man exclaimed panickedly. "Wh-Who are they?!?! They look just like average joes to me!!"
"Why were they trying to kill us?!?!"
Lindsay crept over by Tempest's side. "The Titans….d-do you suppose someone's after them?"
He took a deep breath. "Hardly. The City is the meat of this."
"Yes…but who's the ravenous creep at work here? Slade?"
"Slade's dead!!!"
"So's that damn creep Dagger!!!"
Tempest winced. "I'm…..n-not so sure…."
Lindsay gazed up at him. Blinking.
"Huh??" Jack made a face.
Tempest spun and gestured: "We need to move!! Carry those who are injured!! I'll lead the way and take point if someone can just tell me where the path to the network is!!"
"Over there!!" a teen wandered over and pointed at a slate metal door. "That should lead to it!"
"Good…," Tempest marched towards it.
"B-But…it's locked!! Only employees can open it up!!!"
Tempest's eyes glowed purple. He held out a finger and droplets from the floor rose up and morphed into a liquid 'key'. "Here's my application…."
He condensed the water tight, slid it into the keyhole, and twisted.
Cl-Click!!
"Now let's go…single file……," he turned.
Lindsay looked at him. She simpered. "A-After you…."
"…….," he smirked slightly. He ducked into the dark corridor.
The rest of the fifty-or-so nervous people quickly followed.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"……….," the Lieutenant was the first to sneak out the first level of the Police Department's parking garage. He held a pistol up. He gazed out onto the rubble-strewn street…still smoking from R.P.G.s "…………."
A beat.
He gazed up at the rooftops.
"…….."
He motioned to the man behind him.
He was handed a riot shield.
He held the bulletproof plastic in front of him like a shield with one hand and crept forward with the gun in the other.
Like a snake, a line of cautiously armed police officers crept after him.
They hugged the concrete border of the parking garage and the buildings beyond down the street.
Once about ten of them had exited, they broke up the group. The Lieutenant marched with his company till they could duck down another alleyway.
They pressed themselves to the dark walls within.
The Lieutenant took a few deep breaths.
He gazed back out into the streets.
"………"
The distant sounds of gunfire and explosions lit his ear.
"……."
He looked down to the exit of the parking garage.
The next officer looked at him.
The Lieutenant gave a few hand-signals.
The officer several feet away nodded….then emerged with riot shield and gun.
The Lieutenant and his company covered them….simultaneously eyeing the long path ahead of them.
Towards the City Hospital….
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!!
Robin held Starfire tight as the two hid behind an overturned van….which was being pelted by bulletfire.
CL-CL-CLANG!!!! P-PING!!! CLANK!!!!
"Stay with me, Star….," Robin shook her good shoulder. "Help is on the way….."
She shuddered. "You should….sh-should endeavor to h-help the truly helpless people instead of m-m-me…"
"Not on your life….do you hear me?!?!"
P-PING!!! CLANK!!!
The two winced.
Robin panted. "Besides…..Noir and Beast Boy….they can hold the fort…."
SWOOOSH!!!
Cl-Clank!! A grenade landed before them.
Starfire shrieked: "Robin!!! Look out—"
"I got it!!!" Robin dove. He snatched the grenade, twirled his body, and threw it back over the van with a grunt.
POW!!!!!!
The blast shook Starfire into Robin. "Nngh!!!" THWUMP!!!!
A nearby lamppost wobbled and shook from the blast. GROANNNN!!! It teetered over.
Robin grunted and rolled himself and Starfire over.
CRUNCH!!!!!
The lamppost smashed straight through the van and sent shards of aluminum and glass showering over the two teens.
They flinched, having barely rolled out of the fall of the lamppost.
"M-My shoulder….," Starfire shivered. "N'gatta de X'Hal…."
Robin whipped his communicator out: "Will somebody get his or her ass here….NOW?!?!?!"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
The human traffic thinned and the dead traffic increased.
Cyborg clutched tightly to the wheel and activated the T-Car's intercom with another.
"We're getting there as fast as we can, Robbie. There's a question of rubble and crap in our way though—"
"No, there is NO question!!! Starfire needs help now!! Get Raven here!!!"
Cyborg big his lip. "Wish I could help you sooner, dawg…."
"Cyborg….," Raven droned. "It may still be possible."
"Say what?"
"Just speed up as fast as you can…," she said and meditatively brought her fingers up to her temples. "I'm going to give the T-Car added strength."
"Meaning…."
"Your 'baby' can plow through the 'crap'."
"Hoo boy….this will be fun."
SCREEEEEEEEEECH!!!!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!!
CL-CLANG!!! PING!!! P-PING!!!
"Scratch that!!!" Cyborg gritted his teeth and swung tightly on the wheel. "It just got a whole lot 'funner'!!"
Three black jeeps swerved in from a side street and sped alongside the T-Car. The gunmen in the back pivoted the mounted guns and took aim.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
Bullets flashed and bounced off the bullet-proof titanium body and glass of the T-Car.
Raven took a fuming breath. "Granted….it would be nice if I could concentrate."
"What's going on?? A setback????"
"Uhhhh….," Cyborg shifted into higher gear.
The jeeps followed immediately after him, firing like mad.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!!
P-P-P-PING!!!
Cyborg winced. "I'll get back to you on that, dawg!!!"
"……………"
"When I tell you….hit the nitro…," Raven said.
"Whatever you say, cutie."
"And when we drive by Robin and Starfire's location, I'll teleport out of the car."
"H-Huh?!?!" Cyborg's eyes bulged.
"I'll join them and help them while you distract these pathetic creeps on our tail."
"Uh uh!!! No, ma'am!!" Cyborg shook his head while swerving around smoldering rubble and abandoned cars. "We ain't splitting up, Rae!! Not on a day like this!!!"
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!
She winced, trying to concentrate. "It's the only way. We must work together. And sometimes….being a 'team' means splitting up."
"Not now, it doesn't!!! You forget, I'm second in command!! I'll outrank you if I have to!!!"
She closed her eyes and meditated. "You can't order me around and you know it."
"…………damn….girl….."
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos……Azarath Metrion Zinthos…."
Cyborg gripped the wheel to the T-Car tightly. Sighing. Glancing worriedly at the dark girl in the passenger seat.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
On quiet, smoking feet….I hopped out of the glass doors to the Central Bank's lobby.
I sneaked forward towards the sunlit City, but remained under the dark overhang of the building's granite arches bordering the sidewalk.
I craned my ear and heard the upcoming roar of engines.
I pressed my back up against the shadowed side of an arch's pillar.
Beast Boy crept up, saw me, and pressed himself to a pillar a few arches away.
Vrmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm……
The car engines sounded louder and louder.
I glanced at Beast Boy.
I took a breath.
I motioned 'running' with my metal hand, pointed out at the street with a thumb, gestured a 'vehicle' with my flat palm, then held up five titanium fingers.
Beast Boy nodded.
Vrmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!
Four fingers.
VRMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!
Three fingers.
The T-Car soared by.
Two fingers.
A beat.
The jeeps came up.
One finger.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
VRMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!
I formed a fist with my metal hand….then took a breath.
Beast Boy morphed into a panther.
SWOOOOOOOSH!!!!
I blurred out into the street.
Beast Boy thundered behind me.
I pounced onto the first of the three black jeeps chasing after the T-Car.
Beast Boy leapt as a panther—morphed into a triceratops in mid-air—and slammed his dinosaur horns mercilessly into the second jeep. CRUNCHHH!!!! The green-eyed drivers and gunmen went flying with unearthly screams as the dinosaur slammed their vehicle into a building front, causing brick and glass to fly. SMASH!!!!
In the meantime, I clung to the side of the first vehicle with my sword.
"REDDDD!!!!" The two gunmen in the back of the jeep screamed at me and aimed the mounted gun point blank at my figure.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
My body blurred into smoke, allowing the bullets to stream through.
I snarled and yanked my blade out. SWOOOSH!!! I twirled my body around from the side of the jeep and slammed my feet into the gunmen.
WHAM!!!!
One collapsed onto the 'bed' of the jeep's rear.
Another fell off and went rolling hard across the asphalt.
I twirled my sword and stabbed down at the last remaining gunman.
He snarled and kicked up at me.
I dodged his blow.
His foot struck the mounted gun.
The weapon spun on its fulcrum, firing on its own….madly and blindly.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
A spiral of bullets swam across the asphalt, bounced off the hood of the jeep's front, and back onto the asphalt.
The thug jumped up.
I caught my balance.
He pounced on me across the moving vehicle.
WHUMP!!!
I struggled with him for control of Myrkblade.
His weight pressed down into me.
Green eyes flaring into lenses covering black eyes.
"REDDDDDDDDD!!!!!"
I winced.
Shut the Hell up!!!!
I kneed him in the special area.
He barely winced.
I kneed him an even specialer area.
He howled.
We tumbled across the bed of the jeep.
Our bodies slammed into the mount of the machine gun.
THWUMP!!!
The weapon fell off its support and across our lower bodies.
CL-CLANK!!!
BL-BLAM!!! Two shots fired into the driver's compartment.
The vehicle lurched as blood splattered across the front of the vehicle.
SCREEEEEEEECH!!!!
The jeep swerved to the side.
"R-R-REDDDD!!!"
Our wrestling figures tumbled to the side.
VRMMMMMMMM!!!!-THWUMP!!
The jeep sped up and over the median and smashed through a string of newspaper vendors.
CRUNCH!-CRUNCH!-CRUNCH!-CRUNCH!-SMASH!!!!
Glass and shreds of paper rained around us.
I finally kicked the man off me and slashed Myrkbalde.
SLIIIIINK!!!!
I cut a thin river into his chest.
He tumbled back on the bed, writhing. Screaming.
I panted.
BUMP!!!!
The jeep ramped over the rear of a truck.
SWOOOOSH!!!
We went airborne.
I gasped.
My body blurred.
I leapt off the flying vehicle, soared ahead, and tumbled to a stop against a building.
WHUMP!!!
I winced.
CRACK!!! The jeep landed from its sideways leap. Upended, it slid towards me with sparks flying against the asphalt.
SCRAAAAAAAAAAAAAPE!!!!
I winced and held Myrkblade vertically in front of me.
SCRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPE-GROAAAAAAN-CLUNK!!!
The vehicle lurched to a stop a bare inch from my body.
"……..," I exhaled. Blinking. I looked up.
A green elephant with its trunk attached to the axle of the stopped vehicle loomed over me….then morphed into a green elf. "Well…that plan went smoothly," he simpered.
I simpered back.
VRMMMMMMMM!!!!
The third and surviving black jeep screamed past us.
"…………………"
"…………………"
Beast Boy and I looked at each other.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
P-P-P-P-P-P-PING!!!!
Bullets from the last pursuing jeep clattered and rained off the back window of the T-Car.
Cyborg gritted his teeth and zoomed down the ruined streets of Downtown.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos…..Azarath Metrion Zinthos…."
"Where the Hell are you guys?!?!"
Cyborg uttered: "We're almost there, Robbie!! Be a little frickin' patient!!!"
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos…."
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!
Cyborg swerved the vehicle again…and found a mountain of pure rubble ahead of them.
"………," His face fell. "End of the road."
"Is it the rubble, Cyborg?"
"Yes, Rae. Blocked."
"……….," Raven's eyes popped open. Glowing hot gray. Her teeth gnashed: "Hit it."
Cyborg's titanium palm slammed over the nitro button.
PH-PH-PH-PHWOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!!
The ring of blue fire emanated out the rear of the T-Car.
Raven let out a gasp and flicked her wrists with glowing-black hands.
FLASH!!!!!
A bubble of flickering obsidian coated the hood of the T-Car.
"Brace yourself!!!!" Cyborg shouted as they flew straight into the debris--
SMASH!!!!!
Rubble, brick, and mortar exploded.
Dust flew.
The debris cleared.
A breath of air.
Then.
Another solid wall.
Cyborg tensed.
Raven kept concentrating.
PHOOOOOOOOOM!!!
SMASH!!!!!
They plowed through the second wall.
Debris flew in fountains on either side.
The Black jeep followed haphazardly behind them at break-neck speed.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
P-P-PING!!!!
PING!!!
Wall after wall.
SMASH!!!
SMASH!!!!!!
SMASH!!!!!!!!
"We're cutting on through…we're cutting on through!!!"
"We haven't cut through anything yet…," Raven hissed.
Cyborg blinked. "Huh?"
SMASH!!!!
Another wall of debris….this one crawling with green-eyed gunmen.
"RED!!!!!!"
Cyborg scrunched back into his seat. "Son of a—"
WH-WH-WH-WHAM!!!!!
Deranged bodies went flying as--
SMASH!!!!!!!
Debris and guns and explosives went flying.
They rained down along with the unconscious thugs behind the raging, black T-Car.
The jeep and its gunman swiftly followed behind.
And then---
The sight of a line of gunmen circling a turned-over lamppost and a smashed van like a crescent moon.
And there were two huddling Titans….
"Here's your stop, cutie!!!"
Raven gasped. "Later…."
FLASH!!!!
In a black portal, she dropped out of the T-Car….
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
…and splashed over towards Starfire and Robin.
"Somebody call for a medic??"
"Raven…I call for a miracle….," Robin pointed at Starfire. "Work. Now!"
Raven knelt down, her blue eyes squinting.
"F-Friend….," Starfire weakly smiled. She shivered against the wall, clutching her bandaged shoulder. "I-I am elated to s-see you…"
"Shhh…lie still."
VRMMMMMMM!!!!
Robin peered around the van.
The T-Car swerved by, the nitro cutting off. It spun three-hundred-sixty degrees. The driver's side window pulled down. "Hey!!! Buttwipes!!! Come over here and get a taste of some Titanium whoopass!!!" Kl-Kl-Klack!!! Cyborg aimed a free hand out the window as a sonic cannon.
"What the Hell is he doing?!?!?" Robin panted.
Raven applied glowing hands to Starfire's shoulder. "Being Cyborg."
"P-Providing a d-distraction??" Starfired winced all over.
"Something like that….yeah….," the dark girl droned.
Robin whipped out his communicator: "Cyborg!! Don't get too out of hand!! We need you!!"
"Yeah, but they need some medicine more!!!!" Cyborg shouted.
ZAAAA-AAAA-AAAAAAAP!!!!
He shot a blue stream of sonic energy out the window. "RAAAAAAAUGH!!!!!"
The jeep swerved around the blue blast and returned fire. RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!!
P-P-P-PING!!!!
CL-CLANK!!!
Bullets ricocheted all around the spot.
Robin and Raven flinched.
Starfire panted.
SCREEEEEEEECH!!!!
The T-Car donutted and then rocketed down the road. "Follow the leader, crap-for-crap!!!!"
VRMMMMM!!!!!
The armed jeep soared after the blue vehicle.
Gunmen on the other side of the van and street aimed and let loose barrage of uzzi fire and shotgun blasts too.
Robin peaked out from around the side of the van and produced a fan of explosive birdarangs. "Hey!!! Morons!!!"
The green-eyed berserkers looked over, panting.
Robin flung the explosive projectiles: "Wake up and smell the coffee!!!"
SW-SW-SW-SWISH!!!!
The birdarangs exploded in the sidewalk, shattering a fire hydrant to shrapnel and sending a rupture down into the pipelines that caused a resounding shockwave to bubble up and explode half of the street in water and unearthed concrete. And it was the half of the street beneath the gunmen.
BOOOOOM!!!!
Bodies went flying and fell hard…unconscious.
Surviving gunmen circle-strafed the sight and fired.
BL-BLAM!!!
BLAM!!!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT!!!
Robin hid behind the van and readied regular birdarangs this time.
"Raven!! Some cover would be nice!!!"
Her temple pulsed. "I'm a little busy healing your girlfriend, Robin….."
The Boy Wonder ignored that. "As soon as you're able…we gotta take these people out!! We need to work our way to the others!!!"
"Ten-Four."
Starfire winced and glanced at her shoulder wound, which was slowly healing. "Th-Thank you kindly….Raven…."
"Thank me once the holocaust is over….."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
CRUNCH!!!
Tempest burst a door open and peered inside.
"……………," his dark eyes narrowed.
Lindsay and Jack crept up beside him and peered into the large room.
A series of desks and computer consoles ran up the room in tiers like an indoor amphitheater. They all faced a wall where a huge grid of the City subway hung. All the lights on the grid were blinking solidly. Not moving.
"The subway trains…..," Lindsay murmured. A streak of fear crossed her face. "Th-They must be stranded!! The p-poor people!!"
"Poor us…," Jack muttered. "Where are we?"
"The network that one of our people mentioned…," Tempest glanced over his shoulder at the crowded underground corridor through which he was leading the caravan of people. "….all walkways from the subway stations must lead here."
Another citizen crawled up and peered inside. "Wh-Where are all the workers?"
"Good question…," Jack nodded.
Lindsay gasped. She pointed: "L-Look!!"
Tempest's white-on-black eyes narrowed.
A hand dangled limply…still…over one of the computer consoles. And there was another arm over a console a couple spaces away.
And there was blood.
"The workers…..," Tempest slurred. "….they are here after all."
Lindsay put a hand over her mouth.
"Then….Th-Then that must mean….," Jack stammered.
"REDDDD!!!!!!!"
Three men with shotguns ran out from behind a console and charged at the congregation.
Lindsay shrieked and hid behind Tempest.
Jack and the other citizens backed helplessly into the corridor.
Tempest gritted his teeth. "Neptune almighty…"
The men charged, shotguns pumping.
"Get back!!!" the Atlantean shouted and ran forward--
BL-BLAM!!!
BLAM!!!
BLAM!!!!
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
The Lieutenant ran across the abandoned street and pressed himself against an empty sports car. He looked ahead.
The hospital lay.
Silent.
Void of people criss-crossing the usually busy avenues ahead of it.
He spotted a barricade of sorts set hastily in front of the doors.
Another officer crept up behind the Lieutenant. "Th-There must be people inside. They must have fled in and set up a defense perimeter. The place has got its fair share of guards and police forces, right?"
"Yup…," the Lieutenant nodded. "The Commissioner made good use of them."
"God rest his soul…"
"Somehow this seems too easy."
"Speak for yourself sir. This day is Hell."
"No…I mean the trip here….uncontested…"
"Yeah….that……"
"………..," the Lieutenant looked over his shoulder. He motioned with a quick hand. "Vann!! Johnson!!" he hissed.
The rest of his company slithered over. They all crouched behind the sports car.
"What is it??"
"The hospital already? Why aren't we going in?"
"Something doesn't smell right…," the Lieutenant uttered. "Where're the other two companies??"
"Right on our tail. Just as planned."
"Jeez….this REALLY doesn't smell right."
A shuffling sound.
"???" the Lieutenant glanced over the sports car.
Seven green-eyed men in grungy workers clothes were shuffling in a quiet line. Trying to set up an ambush. They looked like deer caught in the headlight.
"Oh for God's sake…," the Lieutenant cocked his pistol. "Head's up!!!!"
"REDDDDDDD!!!!"
BLAM!!! BL-BLAM!! POW!!!
P-PING!!!
THUNK!!!
"AUGH!!!" one officer fell.
"Shaia!!!"
The Lieutenant gritted his teeth. "Let 'em have it!!!"
The men shouted and took aim.
BLAM!!! BLAM!!!
BANG!!! BANG!!! B-BANG!!!
Two thugs fell down, seeping red.
The others ran for cover behind lampposts, fighting like intelligent little zombies.
The other two companies kicked newspaper vendors and trash cans over and crouched behind them as barricades.
Other policemen squatted behind cars and took aim beneath and around them.
The Lieutenant and two members of his company snaked out from behind the sports car and found a concrete divider to shield themselves with.
A brilliant firefight of streaking bullets exploded between the two factions as more and more thugs poured out from the nearby alleyway.
BLAM!!! BL-BLAM!!!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!!
POW!!! P-PING!!!!
"I NEED SOME COVER OVER HERE!!!"
CL-CL-CLANK!!!
BLAM!!!
"Augh!!! Sons of a bitches!!!"
"Aim for the truck!!"
"L-Lieutenant??"
"By the intersection!!! Someone hit the fuel tank!!"
"I got it!!"
"Waste it!!!"
"Eyes up!!!"
BANG!!!
BOOOM!!!!!!
A few green eyed thugs fell from the blast's concussion.
Others ran for cover.
And then a few gunmen appeared on a rooftop above.
Two of them shouldered what looked like a bazooka and--
PHOOOOOOOM!!!!
"Dammit!!!"
"R.P.G.!!!!"
"RUN FOR COVER!!!!!"
Members of the second company dove out from behind a truck.
"AAAAAA—"
BOOOOM!!!!!
The Lieutenant aimed and fired up at the rooftop.
Two other cops' joined him in aiming.
One fell from a thug's bullet, but--
POW!!!!
The gunmen with the bazooka were hit.
They lost grip of a grenade which teetered over the side, fell, bounced off a flagpole, and landed behind a nest of green-eyed thugs.
Cl-Clank!!
BOOOOOOOM!!!!!
Bodies flew.
The Lieutenant winced…reloaded…
And the firefight in front of the hospital went on.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Danny?? Danny…wh-where are you going??"
The man stripped to his white tank top and gathered some rope from the pawn shop's stockroom. "The Fillmores are in deep…deep trouble. They're going to burn to death up there. You know how th-they don't have a back door and stuff!!! Bloody fools…"
"Speaking of bloody fools…the last thing we need right now is a crazy hero!!" the wife pleaded.
"Renee….," Daniel placed his hands on her shoulders. "You know as much as I do that I gotta do this if I can….It's the Fillmores……"
"…..," the woman shuddered. She fell into his arms.
He hugged her.
The two rocked together in the dark stockroom while distant sounds of gunshots and explosions lit the air.
The two customers holed out with them gazed at the floor.
"Honey….wh-why did this all have to f-follow us…," Renee shuddered into her husband's shoulder. "Wh-Why couldn't it all stay back in Gotham??"
Daniel stroked her hair and sighed. "To those who are given….m-much is required."
"………..wow….that actually sounded intelligent."
He smiled down at her. "Kinda makes me want to try college out again…..this time not as an art major."
She simpered, a tear running down her cheek.
He lowered his lips to hers and practically breathed into her as he gently stroked her womb. "But I can think of far better things to live for…."
She sniffed.
He kissed her. He stepped back. "I gotta climb to the roof…and see if there's a way of getting the Fillmores out from their upper story."
"Sound dangerous…."
"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock."
The one customer smiled. He stood up. "I'll go with you."
"You sure, pal?"
"Yeah. You're gonna need help. Especially with a whole family."
"Or what's left of them…," the other customer muttered.
Renee bit her lip.
Daniel took a deep breath. "Let's roll."
The man nodded.
The two rushed to the back door where an alleyway rested. They took a breath. They rushed out.
Renee stepped forward, panting. "D-Danny…."
He looked in at her. He smiled his goofy grin. "You be careful…," he winked. And he was gone.
Renee wrung her hands…shuddering. "Y-You too…"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Sounds of the battle-strewn City echoed down the alleyway and dripped over the two men's shoulder.
Daniel led the way, climbing up the rusted metal ladder behind the two-story line of shops.
The once-customer followed swiftly after him.
Smoke billowed out of the space just next to them.
A stream of blackness started to fill the once-pure-blue sky from many spots throughout the City.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
THRUMP!!!!
"NNNRGH!!"
Howard Knight—possessed—slammed the bloody bat against the bathroom door again.
THRUMP!!!
And again.
THRUMP!!!
And again.
His wife lay dead in her own pool of red behind him.
THRUMP!!!!
The door rattled more.
The hinges started to give way.
"REDDDDDD!!!!"
SWOOOOSH-THRUMP!!
CRAAA-AA-AACK!!!
The door shattered into splinters.
He dove in.
Panting.
Slobbering.
Green eyes twitching.
The bathroom was empty….
He panted.
He sweated.
He swung the bat into the tile and shattered it, screaming.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"REDDDDDD!!!!"
Outside the bathroom window, Lisa panted.
She swallowed and looked down the fire escape at Ashley and Greg. "Don't listen to his voice anymore. Your dad's sick. We gotta move…so move!!!"
"B-But---"
"Do as I tell you! Run down! Run down as fast as you both can!! I-I'll get you somewhere safe!! I promise!!"
The two children nodded. Hiding back sobs, they clamored down the rusted fire escape.
Lisa followed them, her black hair streaming in the autumn wind.
The sounds of explosions and gunfights dwindled in the background…and lessened as something else swallowed it up.
Something monumentously louder.
"……," Lisa slowed to a stop.
The kids did too.
Slowly, the girl gazed up. Her one, unpatched eye blinking.
A loud, beating sound seemed to fill the air.
Like a giant dagger spinning through the atmosphere.
"Now what the Hell could that be??" the teenage brunette muttered.
Ashley and Greg swallowed lumps down their little throats.
-T-T-T-T-T-T
SW-SW-SW-SW-SWISH-CLANK!!!!
Robin tossed birdarang after birdarang at the wrists of faraway gunmen across the streets.
He led Raven and a hobbling Starfire down the sidewalk and away from the smoldering decimation as much as he could.
Starfire's strength was slowly regaining…but not quickly enough. Her shoulder was still patched up, and she was leaning on Raven's petite shoulder.
Raven was the first to stop and tilt her head up, eyebrow raised.
Starfire noticed it second…panting.
Robin was sweating all over…but in the middle of downing distant gunmen, he too tilted his head up and listened.
A loud…..
Beating sound.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
The gunfight was drawing to a close.
Dozens of green-eyed thugs lay wounded and wheezing.
A dozen more cops were writhing on the ground, being attended to.
The Lieutenant panted and glanced aside as two ambulances sped over from the hospital and swerved to a stop.
The back doors spun open and two cops popped out amidst paramedics.
"I hope we came just in time!! Pile them in!!!"
The Lieutenant nodded. He started shouting and motioning people to help the wounded into the vehicles.
And then….
The beating sound.
Those with guns looked up, panting.
Out of breath, the Lieutenant spun around.
His eyes wearily floated up to the sky.
The beating sound increased.
Swishing.
Thundering.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
SWOOOOOSH-SLASH!!!
I howled mutely as I blurred across the sidewalk and ripped a thug's shotgun to shreds.
He shrieked.
I kicked him fiercely so that he collapsed into another thug.
Two more lay unconscious by their side.
Beast Boy ran over in bear form from having escorted two dozen citizens safely under the awning of a building. He walked up to me as an elf and managed a crooked grin. "Well……m-maybe we have a hold over this Hell after all!!"
"………….," I was staring up at the sky as a loud beating sound emanated through the streets around us.
"…………," Beast Boy blinked. He swiveled and faced the same noise. "Or not."
The beating sound increased.
Deafening.
It carried with it an intense, unnatural wind that heatedly chased the Autumn away.
Over the nearest row of rooftops, the spinning blades appeared first.
Then the nose.
Then the body.
Huge and hulking.
Armed to the teeth with 12.7mm Barrel Machine guns, twin barreled cannons, rocket pods, hellseekers, and a hidden payload.
A glaring and desert-colored Mi-24 HIND helicopter. Over twenty meters in length.
There was no insignia on the hull….but judging by the dark figures in the double cockpits and the even darker beat of the blades….I knew…
It had 'Dagger' written all over it.
I swallowed.
I gripped tightly to the hilt of Myrkblade.
Beast Boy muttered: "Dude….no way…."
I exhaled shudderingly.
Yes way……
The thundering HIND pivoted towards us…tilted forward…and….
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!!!