173. Hand and Dagger part 10
"RAAAWWWR!!!" a green panther slammed a thug down to the hard concrete, leapt over bulletfire from two other green-eyed fiends, blurred across the street as a falcon, bounced off a storefront as a kangaroo, flipped, and came down as a hippo between the gunmen. SLAM!!! The huge green beast formed a crater in the asphalt, and the two gunmen fell down unconscious from the proximity.
"………," Beast Boy morphed back into elf form. He stood, panting. A beat. He glanced across the street.
A group of seven or so innocent citizens stood in place, shivering in fright.
"What are you waiting for?!?!" Beast Boy uttered above the ambiance of the chaotic City. He pointed southward with a jabbing finger. "Head towards the hospital!! Now!! It's dangerous here!!"
The people nodded. They turned and ran down the road towards the large structure in the distance.
Beast Boy took a deep breath and moved to escort them—
VRMMMMMM!!!
He gasped.
He looked aside--
SCREEEEEEEEEECH!!!!!
A black jeep full of thugs swerved into him.
Beast Boy jolted and morphed into a grizzly bear. CLAMP!!! With long claws, he clutched onto the hood of the jeep and braced his sliding feet as he was pushed…pushed….pushed across the street and towards a guardrail bordering a huge drop towards a row of buildings below.
"REDDDD!!!!" the gunman in the back pointed the mounted weapon straight at Beast Boy's forehead.
The changeling gasped and swiftly morphed into a huge green triceratops. "RAAAARGHHH!!!"
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!!
The bullets ricocheted off of the hard leather of the dinosaur's crest. P-P-P-PING!!!!!
The changeling's greater weight and size took control, and soon the black jeep was burning rubber into him right in front of the guardrail.
The dinosaur snorted and thrust his horn up.
CRUNCH!!!
The jeep flipped up and over from the impact. Aluminum shards flew. Glass littered the asphalt….and the thugs tumbled out of the vehicle every which way. But not without the gunman in the rear managing to toss a single grenade--
Thwish!—Clank-Clank….
It rolled over to a stop in front of the dinosaur's legs.
The changeling's white eye widened. He gasped and shrunk into a turtleshell--
BLAM!!!!!!
The blast sent the green turtle slamming through the guardrail—CRACK!!—and plummeting three stories down into the loft complex of an apartment below.
CRASH!!!
THWUMP!!!
"Nnngh….," Beast Boy stirred, lying on splinters-littered carpet.
"Help us!!!"
The changeling jerked and looked up, gasping.
A family of five was scrunched up in the corner of the living room he landed in. They pointed with shaking fingers at a wobbling door.
"Th-They're breaking in!!!"
"REDDDDDD!!!!"
"REDD"
Beast Boy turned right and looked at a nearby door—
CRACK!!!!
The door broke down.
Two green-eyed men with shotguns rushed in.
They pumped their weapons and took aim at the shrieking family.
Beast Boy snarled and leapt up as a dog.
SWIIISH!!!-SNATCH!!!
The canine's jaws twisted the gun up in the first invader's grasp.
BLAM!!!!
A spray of lead shot exploded into the ceiling.
The dog picked itself up from its grip on the weapon, morphed into an orangutan, swung his lower body up, wrapped his hairy legs around the first gunman's shoulders, and spun vertically.
THWOOOSH!!!
The man was sent sprawling across the room and crashing hard through a glass table—unconscious.
SHATTER!!!!
The changeling landed on the floor as an iguana.
"REDDD!!!" the second man aimed his shotgun down at the lizard. BLAM!!!!
The iguana scurried out of the way, ran up the wall, kicked off as an emu, and started striking mercilessly at the attacker with its beak. THWAP!! THWAP!!! TH-TH-THWAP!!!!
The man winced and stepped back, his fingers around the gun and trigger being pecked to bleeding.
The family watched nervously.
Finally up against the wall, the thug grunted and kicked the changeling hard across the feathery chin.
WHAM!!!
"UGH!!" Beast Boy landed across the floor in elf form.
The man pumped the shotgun.
A little boy huddling in the center of the family members cried.
The man turned and looked.
Beast Boy watched wearily from the floor. His eyes widened.
The man aimed his shotgun straight at the family.
They screamed.
He pulled the trigger—
"SKRIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!" a green velociraptor soared in from the opposite side of the room.
BLAM!!!!!
The shotgun blast haloed the wall above the family's heads.
SWOOOOSH!!! The green dinosaur plowed the man through the balcony window.
CRASH!!!!!
The human and beast fell four stories, tangling in the air.
They slammed down hard with the velociraptor on top….and the dinosaur had found its sharp teeth around the man's neck so that when they landed he—
SNAP!
"…………," the man's body lay still.
"………….," the velociraptor stood up. It pranced backwards, blood dribbling from its jaws. Its slitted eye blinked once…twice….and then rounded as the scaly beast morphed into a shivering elf.
Beast Boy numbly felt the blood stains trailing down his neck. He gulped. He looked down at the man's body.
It lay still.
Beast Boy shuddered. He stepped back behind a line of hedges and sat with his back against the building front. Tears welled up in his eyes, and without noticing it…he hugged his legs to his chest and began rocking back and forth…..hyperventilating.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Lisa ran out into the street with Ashley and Greg in tow. She panted and looked around desperately…pausing for a moment in the middle of an intersection.
"Wh-What are we looking for, L-Lisa??" Ashley stuttered.
"Not what," Lisa swallowed. "Who."
"What are we g-gonna do about that missile thingy?"
"That's exactly why I'm running us in circles," the one-eyed girl grunted. She stepped forward towards a corner of the street. "Somewhere in this screwed-up City there's gotta be some half-moron who can do something about—"
VRMMMMMMMMM!!!!
The T-Car burned suddenly around the corner. Sunlight glinted off the windshield as it suddenly barreled down directly on the teenager and two adolescents.
"AAAAAAAAH!!!" Greg screamed.
"EEEEEEEEEEK!!!!" Ashley screamed.
"DAAAAAAAH!!" Lisa convulsed.
"YAAAAAAAAH!!!" Cyborg jerked at the wheel.
SCREEEEEEEEEEEECH!!!!!!
The T-Car spun two circles.
Lisa and the two kids squatted low, hugging each other for dear life.
The T-Car miraculously spiraled around them and jolted to a stop.
There were criss-crossing tire tracks haloing the three citizens.
Lisa shuddered.
The window to the T-Car rolled down. The android Titan stuck his head down: "Y'all crazy?!?! I almost ran you over!!!!"
"No…you think?!?!" Lisa frowned at him. And then she suddenly brightened. "Hey!! You're a Titan!! I've got something to show you---"
SCREEEEEEEEEECH!!!!!!
Five black jeeps with mounted guns and homicidal hitmen in the back screamed around the corner and all zoomed at them.
Ashley and Greg screamed again.
Lisa's eye went wide.
"Dammit all to Cairo!!!" Cyborg shook his fest. "ALL OF YOU!!! GET DOWN!!!"
Lisa tossed herself and the kids flat to the asphalt with a gasp.
Cyborg grunted and slammed his fist over a red button.
WHURRRRR-CHTING!!!
The T-Car's photon cannon rose up mechanically from a panel in the vehicle's roof. It clicked into place and glowed menacingly with hot energy.
"HEY, RAT PATROL!!!" the android Titan cackled. "SAY HELLO TO YOUR PROSTRATE GLAND'S NEW ROOMATE!!!!"
He hit the trigger.
ZAAAA-AAAAAA-AAAAAAP!!!!!
A bright gold beam of heat vibrated outward, burned through the air, and surged towards the oncoming throng of black jeeps.
Lisa, Ashley, and Greg cringed as the energy warbled over their crouched heads.
THWOOOOOOSH!!!!!
The phalanx of black jeeps drove right into the hellfire….and exploded brilliantly upon combat.
BOOOM!!!!
BOOOOM!!!
PHHOOOOOOMB!!!
Ashes and burning metal shards scattered every which way and bubbled about just inches before they could consume the three citizens.
Lisa let out a huge sigh with the borrowed breath of the other two escapees.
Cyborg panted, ran a hand over his sweating, human brow, and uttered: "That was definitely worth the extra hundred on mileage in under two hours…."
"A-Are they all d-dead??" Ashley murmured.
Greg griped: "Do we really care?"
Lisa stumbled up, yanked the kids in tow, and dashed over to Cyborg's car. "Mr. Titan!! We saw something! S-Something bad!!"
"Yeah, I know," Cyborg nodded. "It's called Armageddon." He lowered the photon cannon and re-gripped the steering wheel. "Now if you'll excuse me…I've just spent ninety minutes, two spare tires, and a migraine and a half wasted on those rust bucket jeeps and now I finally have the chance to rejoin my friends. So if you don't mind running along to some place safe like the basement of a Toys R' Us, I must be on my way—"
Lisa snarled, reached her hand in, and twisted Cyborg's human ear the wrong way.
"OWWIEEE!! Ow….ow…OW…ow!!!" Cyborg twitched and groaned.
She yanked his head towards her and hissed: "A missile, crap-for-brains!! A missile owned by the bad guys!! And it's aimed at the southern half of the City!!!"
She let go of Cyborg's ear.
The Titan jerked and rubbed his head the sore skin.
Lisa fumed: "If somebody doesn't do something about it soon, there won't be any somebodies in half the city left to do even half of a half of something!!"
"…….," Cyborg leaned forward, his eyes narrow. "You're pretty serious about this…are ya?"
"Are you doubtful? Or should I convince your other ear?"
"Sh-She's telling the truth, Mr. Titan!!" Ashley hopped.
"Y-Yeah!!" Greg panted. "A really HUGE bomb!!"
"Missile."
"M-Missile!! And it's on a launchpad and stuff and—"
"We gotta take it out…er…..," Lisa fidgeted. "You gotta take it out."
"I don't know where it is," Cyborg said.
"We do."
Cyborg didn't hesitate. "Hop in," he gestured.
Lisa nodded. She opened the rear doors for Ashley and Greg before dashing over to the front passenger side and leaping in.
"Head east!!"
"On it."
Cyborg shifted gears.
He slammed his titanium foot on the gas.
SCREEEEEEEEEEECH-VRMMMMMMMMMM!!!!
Ashley and Greg jolted in the backseat as Cyborg rocketed down the City street past the charred remains of the jeeps.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Shhh….don't reveal yourselves…," the Lieutenant hissed.
Chapman and the other officers nodded.
They snaked through an alleyway in single file, growing closer and closer to the beating sounds of spinning blades in the air.
They crawled swiftly up a fire escape and took it to the balcony level of a three story restaurant. They crouched besides abandoned tables and chairs and hid behind marble railings. They loaded and cocked their assault weapons.
They waited.
Waited….
Waited……..
"…………….."
The beating sounds increased.
The air turned hot.
A few of the officers swallowed nervously.
The Lieutenant signaled to them.
He whispered: "Remember….the payload…aim for the payload…."
They nodded.
More beating.
Then….
Sounds of gunfire.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
The men winced.
But the bullets weren't streaming in at them.
The weaponry was aiming elsewhere.
"What're they shooting at??" Johnson whispered.
"Whatever it is…we've got to stop it," the Lieutenant said. "That thing's keeping any of us from getting an edge back over this City."
"Here it comes."
"Wait for it….."
SW-SW-SW-SW-SW-SWISH!!!
The blades came into view first.
The men exhaled.
They aimed.
The metal body of the craft came in. Dented. Charred in some spots. It was firing down at a screaming, fleeing group of citizens.
The Lieutenant snarled. "NOW!! HIT 'ER NOW!!!"
BLAM!!!!
BL-BLAM!!!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
The men fired over the railing of the balcony with reckless abandon.
The shots ricocheted off the wings of the chopper. Sparks flew as the bullets slammed in closer and closer to the missiles on board. But just as soon as the impacts came so much as near to the explosives…..the HIND veered, rotated, and spun so that it faced directly towards the officers.
Johnson gasped.
Chapman stumbled back.
The Lieutenant gulped.
Whurrrrr---RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
The officers flinched.
SWOOOOOOSH!!!! I blurred in with a streak of smoke, slid myself across the rails, and twirled Myrkblade with all my might.
CL-CL-CL-CL-CL-CLANG!!!!
I gritted my teeth, absorbing the massive impacts of the deflections.
The HIND hovered in place momentarily. One of its hellseekers flared.
"Look out!!"
"HIT IT!!!"
Vann took aim.
SWOOOOOOSH!!!!!
The missile sailed through the street and right at us.
I gulped. I glanced aside.
Vann squinted one eye. He took a shot—BLAM!!!
POW!!!!!
It pierced the missile square on the head and exploded it at least fifty feet away.
The building shook.
I shaded my eyes from the bright explosion.
The helicopter seemed to shake as if in frustration. The pilots inside the dark cockpit bubbles pulled at the controls. With a heavy swish of the blades, the aircraft spun around and headed off towards the other side of the City.
"Nice shot, Vann."
"It's pulling off!!"
"They afraid of us or somethin'?!?!"
"It's just going to put more people in danger elsewhere…," the Lieutenant grumbled.
SWOOSH!! Robin swung up via grappling hook, panting.
I smiled. I saluted him.
"Y-Yeah…hey Noir…," he nodded. He tossed something large at the Lieutenant. "Hey there…look w-what I found."
The Lieutenant jerked, his arms stretched out.
CLUTCH!!
"…..," he found himself holding onto a bazooka.
Robin simpered. "By any means necessary. I don't know h-how to use one of those."
The Lieutenant smirked. "I'm flattered." A beat. He glanced at me.
I looked back at him. I held Myrkblade down low. There were obvious blood stains on it.
"……," the Lieutenant glanced up from staring at it. "You too, huh?"
Both Robin and I shared the same sigh and nod.
"It's g-getting away!!" Chapman shouted.
"Let's track 'er down!!! Move!! Move!!!"
The Lieutenant lead the way.
I blurred along with them as a super-powered escort.
Robin followed behind, fingering his belt and sides. "Dang it….lost my communicator when fighting Dagger….," he glanced ahead. "Noir!! Phone call!!"
I blindly tossed my communicator back at him as we scaled the buildingsides.
He caught it. "Thank you!" He flipped it open with a Star Trek sound and uttered while on the move: "Starfire! Raven! Report! Did you get them to the hospital!!"
"That is an affirmative, Robin! We are at the facility presently and are leading the citizens into safety."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Raven held the heavy barricades of the hospital entrance up with strong talons of black telekinesis. In the meantime, paramedics and police men were swiftly ushering anxious people in through the sliding doors.
Starfire stared at all of this in the background as she spoke into the communicator: "Might I add…it has been a considerable amount of time since any of us last seen or audibly heard from Beast Boy or Cyborg………T-Tempest even!!"
"Tempest is anyone's guess. I'll try and contact the others. We'll probably need Cyborg, since I wrecked the R-Cycle and the T-Car is all we have."
"Robin…my strength and health has returned. If you need transportation, I can swiftly come to your aide and—"
"No, Star. Stay with Raven for the time being. I want us all in pairs at least. No more splitting up unless we ABSOLUTELY have to!"
Raven lowered the barricades after the last citizen. CLANNK!!! She turned around and dusted her hands off. "Well…guess we're bosom buddies."
Starfire bit her lip and uttered into the communicator: "B-But when will I be able to see you again??"
"Soon, Star. I promise you. Soon."
The Tamaranian sighed and nodded her head. "I have faith, Robin. I d-do. In the meantime, Raven and I shall endeavor to locate more citizens."
"Yes. You do that. Robin out."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
The officers, Robin, and I perched atop a building top at the corner of an intersection. The helicopter was still in plain view, oblivious to our relocation.
The Lieutenant and another man readied the bazooka, leaning it over his shoulder and aiming just right….
I crouched and glanced back as Robin shuffled towards me, down low. "Well…at least half of us are alive. Now to check on the rest." He changed the signal, fidgeted with the controls a bit, then raised the communicator back to his face. "Cyborg?? Cyborg! Come in!!"
The Lieutenant muttered quiet commands. The officers assisting him helped reposition the bazooka.
I watched anxiously.
"Cyborg?? This is Robin. Respond!!"
"Snnnkkkt—Kinda busy here!!"
"We're all busy!! That's not an excuse!! I want a report!! Where are you??"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Cyborg grumbled. He fingered the switch: "I'm busy, Robin. And let that be the end of it. I'll report once I'm not speeding everywhere ass backwards!!"
"Now you listen he—"
Cyborg flipped the communication signal off.
"I bet he's pissed now…," Lisa folded her arms.
"This missile thingy better be real or else that spikey-haired Napoleon's never gonna forgive me," the android Titan grumbled.
"It's down this street!!" Ashley pointed. "Right over a mound of rubble!!"
"WHAT mound of rubble?? They've bred like jackrabbits since this day began!!"
"It's right at the intersection where the Metropolitan Bank building is…," Lisa droned.
"Ah…that helps…..," Cyborg nodded as he gripped the wheel. A beat. He glanced over. "Say…do I know you from somewhere?"
"Erm……depends. Do you dig through random people's trash at night??"
"Hey! I remember!! You're that goth artist chick that saved Noir back when he was paralyzed by Fang!"
"Uhm….."
"And there was that battle inside the parking garage!! Boo-Ya!! Man, I wish I was there…."
"I'm not goth…," Lisa's one eye blinked.
"Huh?"
"I said, I'm not goth."
"Could have fooled me."
"Look, do you want to stop the apocalypse or not?"
"Of course I do!!"
"Stick to the wheel or else soon you'll be sticking the pavement."
"Heh….touché…"
"What does that mean?" Greg asked from the back.
"It means that Mr. Cyborg here likes to flirt with teenage girls."
"Hey…."
"Look out when you grow up, Ashley."
"Hey!!!"
"Freakin' cradle robbers on D sized batteries, I swear—"
"Hey, I'm quite involved…thank you very much!!"
"Yeah?? With who?? Wonder Sprocket??"
"I'll have you know it's someone I haven't stopped thinking about since this whole bloody mess started!!" Cyborg barked. He grumbled as he gripped the wheel. "Haven't seen ANY of my friends in a while!! I like to think I'm doing all right considering. So sue me for trying to be a little bit social, Miss Cynacism!"
"…………."
"………….."
"………….."
"M-Mommy……," Greg sniffed in the back. "She's….sh-she's dead….."
"………….," Cyborg took a deep breath, staring out the windshield.
"Daddy….his eyes turned green….he got a bat and….a-and……"
"We're gonna find that damn missile…," Cyborg grunted. "Ya hear me?"
"………"
"I promise you. We'll find it….and we'll do something about it….."
"T-There!!" Ashley pointed.
"Stop the car," Lisa gestured.
Cyborg slowed to a stop. A mound of rubble rested before them. Smoldering.
"…………………………."
"It's….I-It's just beyond that pile….," Ashley trembled.
Greg gulped.
"Allrighty then….," Cyborg exhaled. He unbuckled and fingered the handle to his door. "I'll just step out and have a look-see for starts---"
POWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!
FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!!!!
The summit of the rubble split into two seas of red dust as a hulking warhead soared flaringly overhead. A heated vapor trail shimmered through the air like an amber comet as it roared above and shook the foundation of the street.
"Holy Apostle Paul on a Triscuit!!!!" Cyborg cackled.
Ashley and Greg shrieked and shrunk into the back chairs.
FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!
The rocket sailed off over the building sides.
Cyborg and Lisa looked at it through the back windows.
"Oh man….that is not good…," Lisa turned and looked out the windshield.
A dozen men with guns ran over the rubble and fired at the T-Car.
BLAM!! BL-BLAM!! BANG!!!
P-P-PING!!!
"Ackies!!" Lisa dove to the left and spontaneously hugged Cyborg, trembling.
"Mmmfmmmfmf!!!!" Cyborg's hands fumbled, found the shift gear, and accidentally drove the car forward.
VRMMMMM!!!
WHAM!!!!
The car struck the rubble. Dust flew and bodies fell down from the jolt.
"Nnnngh!!!" Cyborg shoved Lisa off him, breathed, frowned, and yanked the car into reverse.
SCREEEEEEEEECH!!!!
Under heavy gunfire, the T-Car drove backwards, spun, burned rubber, shifted into drive, and rocketed down the road in a direction that took it after the soaring rocket.
Greg murmured from the back: "I-I'm gonna throw uppppp—"
"Hush up!!!" Cyborg barked. He flipped the communicator back on through his dashboard and spoke earnestly as he sped after the burning image of the missile. "This is Cyborg!! This is Cyborg!!! Emergency!! Code red…omega….ultima…whatever!!!! We've got a huge-ass mother of a rocket headed towards the center of the City and it ain't lookin' good!!"
Lisa panted, being pressed back into her passenger seat from the acceleration.
The speedometer swiftly crept past one twenty.
"I repeat!! I repeat!! I'm on Vera Street crossing Seventy-First!!!—"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Robin and I listened to the communicator on the rooftop, breathless.
"---it's heading on a bearing of ninety-two degrees from the north axis!! Going at least two hundred!! Moving slow…but packing a lot of heat!!"
"That……that…..," Robin murmured.
I looked at him, my jaw agape.
He glanced at me, eyemask wide. "Th-That takes it straight towards the hospital…."
"Got it in sight!!!"
"FIRE!!!!"
SHOOOOOOOM!!!!
Robin and I flinched from the backblast as the bazooka let loose an RPG straight towards the distant HIND helicopter.
The cops watched anxiously through the brown smoke of release as the projectile soared over the rooftops, twisted a bit, and slammed into the side of the chopper.
CLANK!!! POW!!!!!
The helicopter took the hit hard.
It veered and veered and veered and veered.
Smoking.
The top blades wobbling.
The Lieutenant's officers jumped up around us, cheering.
"Woo hoo!!"
"Eat that!!!"
"Fall, you bastard!! Fall!! Fall!!"
"Crash, dammit!!!"
SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!
Then all of us—officers and superheroes included—flinched as a giant missile soared over head. Shortly followed by…
VRMMMMMMMM!!!!
The T-Car burned down the road in distant pursuit of the flying explosive.
"Whoah….."
"The Hell did that thing come from??"
"Better yet…where's it headed?"
"My God…you d-don't think……?"
We were all too mesmerized by the sight to notice the wounded helicopter pull itself off at the last second, summon a lasting, mechanical breath, and veer around westward and out of range.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
VRMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!
Ashley, Greg, and Lisa clutched to their seats for dear life.
Cyborg sped suicidally forwards. He swerved around heaps of burning rubble, skimmed through phalanxes of green-eyed soldiers, and madly pursued the burning target.
He shouted into the communicator: "Stick with me, Robin!! I'm performing an analysis!!"
"A what?!?!"
"I said stick with me, dawg!!" Cyborg crazily drove with only one hand on the wheel and opened up the dashboard computer with another. He typed madly with his right hand across a keyboard. "If I get…close enough….t-to the missile I might….SHIT!!—" SCREEEECH!!!!-VRMMMMM!!! "—I m-might be able….to t-tap into ….and infect….s-some of the systems…..with an overloading protocol!!!"
"You mean you can hack into the missile?!?!"
"I might, Robin!! But I'm not fast enough for it!! I need some of you guys to slow the damn thing down so that I can get close enough to weaken it!!"
"And then what??"
"I dunno. I'm doing this Caped Crusader, style, man!! I'm thinking as I go along!!"
"All right, Cyborg. I'll get you some help!! No matter what happens……STAY ON THAT MISSILE'S TAIL!! That's an order!!"
"No, Robin…that's an understatement!!" Cyborg spat and switched the communicator off. "Okay, folks. This is the real deal. The speed at which the missile I'm chasing is going, I have no time to make any stops….save for just one."
"What do you mean?" Lisa panted.
Cyborg jerked hard on the wheel.
SCREEEEEEEEEEECH!!!!
The T-Car swerved across an intersection, spun, and jerked to a stop…facing northwest.
Cyborg popped open a panel revealing four buttons. "Gotta do a drop off." He slammed his titanium fist down over three of the buttons. CLAMP!!!
CLANK!! The rooftop to the T-Car flew off.
The three citizens gasped as their seats shook and—
FWOOOOOOOSH!!!!
Lisa, Ashley, and Greg were ejected from the vehicle all at once. Their seats soared up into the sky on miniature rockets. Once they reached a certain height amidst the buildingtops, they unleashed brilliant white parachutes. FWOOOMP!!! FW-FOOOMP!!!
The three citizens shuddered, panting, as they slowly drifted back to the earth.
Lisa looked down, her eye wide.
Cyborg breathed: "Find shelter. Hide out till this whole mess is over!! It's not safe for a carpool anymore!!!" And he shifted gears.
"W-Wait!!"
SCREEEEEEEEEECH!!!
VRMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!
The T-Car, now a convertible, barreled northwest and swerved around another distant corner in pursuit of the rocket.
Lisa gulped as the three of them drifted towards the floor. "M-Mind the bumps…."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Snkkkt—Starfire!! Star! Come in!! Respond!!"
"R-Robin??" Starfire lifted the communicator.
Raven craned her neck.
"Starfire!! Raven!! We have a situation!!"
Raven raised a suspicious eyebrow. "What kind of a situation….??" she droned.
"A situation with over six thousand pounds of thrust, a plasma-tipped warhead, and that's heading straight for the hospital!!"
Raven's violet eyes widened.
"!!!!" Starfire gasped, holding the communicator to her chest. "All the p-people!! The p-people that we rescued!!"
"Mmmfmmmfmmf!!"
"Eep!" Starfire held the communicator up again. "Robin, what was that?"
"Cyborg's chasing the missile as we speak. He's trying to hack into it and sabotage it from as close as he can!!"
Raven blinked. "He's what?!?!"
"Fly up there and direct that thing off course!! I'm going to call Beast Boy too!! GET……MOVING……!!!"
"Come friend!!" Starfire exclaimed and took to the air with a visible wince but managed it. "We must make haste!!"
"Wait!!" Raven gestured. She levitated up. "Starfire…."
The Tamaranian looked down, hovering painfully in mid air.
Raven floated past her, concentrated, and lassoed Starfire gently with a back cord of telekinesis…steadying her. Giving the injured alien lift. "Now….let's go."
Starfire nodded. "Swiftly…."
They zoomed towards a flaring dot growing larger over the rooftops.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Beast Boy?? Beast Boy!!!"
The green elf hug his knees.
Shivering.
Staring at the corpse.
Staring…..
"……………"
"Beast Boy!!!"
The changeling gasped with a sharp breath.
"This is Robin!! Take flight immediately!! Raven and Starfire are tackling a missile that will be flying dead-center into a hospital full of people unless they get all the help they can in redirecting the trajectory!! Get over there…NOW!!"
Beast Boy clenched his teeth.
He forced his moist eyes shut.
He shook all over.
"Do you hear me?!?!?!"
"YES, ROBIN!!!" Beast Boy exclaimed, a little too loudly for his own good. He sniffed, stood up on wobbly legs, composed himself, and took to the air with a flapping of feathers. "I-I'm coming….."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
VRMMMMM-MMMM-MMMM!!!
"Come on…Come on….," Cyborg eyed the skies through his windshield and the missing roof above. Wind rushed in and kicked at his smooth face and titanium forehead. He drove with one hand and typed madly at the computer console with the other. "Come on………Come on!!!"
He veered around mounds of rubble and burning automobile remains as he rocketed down the roadway. Screeching the entire way.
He panted.
His eyes tilted upward as much as he could afford to.
"Show your ugly, metal ass. Show it!!!"
Slowly…gradually…the flaring jets of the rocket appeared over the rooftops alongside him.
"HA!!!" he swerved left to get a better view. He yanked his gazing face back and forth from the blurring road and the barreling missile above. He typed madly with his right hand, attempting to make a connection.
"Dammit….too weak….too weak….."
He tried a few more keystrokes.
The T-Car got closer and closer to the belly of the missile high above.
But still…no connection.
"Dammit…..need a greater oomph!!" Cyborg jerked his right hand over to another console, snapped it open, and danced ten numbers on a pad. The speakers of the T-Car's communicator system sounded an electronic dial tone….before ending up with a loud beeping sound and a woman's recorded voice uttering: 'Warning. Phaser Labs is Code Red Lockdown. Please contact proper authorities for evacuation isntru—'
"God dammit!!!" Cyborg barked and punched the speakers in frustrations. "I ain't no friggin' terrorist!! Answer the damn call, old man!! It's your nephew, for crying out loud!!" He performed another keystroke…a much more complicated one.
Dialing sounds.
Then.
"Snkkt---Victor??"
"Simon!!! It's me!! Look, I need a really big favor right about now—AH JEEZ!!" SCREEEECHH!!!! He swerved around a throng of gunmen and barreled on after the rocket again. "Whew…."
"Victor!! You're in one piece!! Everyone at Phaser Labs is preparing for a thermonuclear winter or something!! What in devil's name is going on out the—"
"Nuts to that!! Patch the T-Car through to your laboratory's satellite system!! I need a bigger, invisible antenna!!"
"Victor, you know I can't do that without a grant from the department of research as well as Phaser Labs' security team and—"
"Screw that!!! You're engrained into that damn laboratory's mainframe, aren't you?!?! Go in there, do your fenangling, and patch me the Hell through!!!"
"But Vic—"
"A lot of people are going to die, Victor. A lot more people than either you or I could count with our positronic nets. So you patch me through so I can stop a god damn missile in time! Got it!!"
"A missile?!?! Are you attempting a long ranged digital overload invasionary protocol??"
"YES!"
"Why didn't you say so?? Hold onto your britches!!"
Cyborg took a breath and momentarily gripped onto the wheel with both hands. He took a deep breath.
The road was practically fading by him on either side like twin mirages.
Heat from the burning tires rose up into the convertible's cockpit and wracked the Titanium Titan's senses.
"Keep it alive, Baby. Keep it alive….Keep it alive…"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
FWOOOOSH!!!
Starfire and Raven spiraled/flew their way up into the air and saw the incoming missile. The entire air shook with its proximity. The air heated up.
Raven's lips parted.
Starfire gulped.
FWOOOOSH!!!
A green pterodactyl flew up alongside them.
All three Titans hovered high over the City.
They looked at each other.
"……………."
"……………."
"……………."
They all faced the missile, took a deep breath, and converged on it.
FW-FW-FWOOOOSH!!!
CLAMP!!!
The pterodactyl bit onto the lid and held on for dear life.
CLANK!!!
"Nnnghhh!!!" Starfire gripped onto the 'wings' on the side.
FLASH!!!!
Raven positioned herself in front of the craft and drifted backwards at a heart-stopping pace, all the time shoving against the friction-heated tip of the missile with a fountain of black energy.
"!!!!!!" Raven's entire forehead tensed with a wave of strain running down her body.
The pterodactyl got a firmer hold, morphed into a giant sloth, and started pounding the hull of the missile he was riding mercilessly. WHAM!!! WHAM!!! WHAM!!!
Starfire pulled and pulled and pulled at the side of the missile.
But in spite of all three's efforts, the missile stubbornly refused to veer off course by so much as an inch.
The thrusters flared brightly and sent the hulking weapon sailing outward….outward…and outward….before its inevitable trajectory sent it barreling down towards the distant white splotch of the hospital below.
SHOOOOOOOOM!!!
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Vic! My boy!! I've got you patched through!!"
"Magnificent, old man!! I could kiss you!!"
"Now don't go that far—"
CLICK
Cyborg shut the communicator off and rapidly typed with flurrying left fingers across the computer console.
A tiny, green computer screen blipped and blooped as it attempted to lock onto the missile's computer guidance system with aide of the satellite frequency from Phaser Labs.
"Come to to Papa….," Cyborg hissed.
VRRRRRMMMM-SCREEEEE-EEECH-VRMMMMM!!!!
He jerked his left hand, swerving the T-Car around obstacles madly as he crept closer to the missile high above one avenue at a time.
"Click through…connect, dammit! Connect!!"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"We've got her!! We've got you both!!"
"I…c-can barely hold on…."
"Just a little more, man!"
"Nnnnghh!!"
The customer from the pawn shop and the Chinese Woman grabbed Daniel and Mrs. Fillmore. They pulled the two up and away from the rising smoke and flames.
The children rushed around their mother, hugging her to death.
Daniel lay sprawled on the gravel of the rooftop, clutching his one arm and wincing in pain. "Aahh….aaah….."
The whole building shook.
Cracks formed in the roof.
Heat vented through.
"It's gonna crumble!!"
"Move!! Move!!"
The man and woman hoisted Daniel to his legs.
Mrs. Fillmore and her children got up.
All six rushed across the rooftop, jumped a space, and landed awkwardly atop the Pawn Shop next door.
CRASSSSSH!!!!
The shop next door collapsed in smoke, ash, and splinters. Smoke billowed up intensely, eating its way darkly into the sky.
The six slumped down safely atop Daniel's and Renee's establishment. Panting.
Daniel was still clutching his arm.
"H-How….do you f-feel?" the man asked him breathily.
"Nnngh….," Daniel murmured. "D-Dislocated."
The man smiled tiredly.
Daniel gazed over at Mrs. Fillmore.
She sat between two sobbing children. Her dark face was wet. She shuddered towards him almost mutely: "Th-Thank you…..thank you….."
Daniel smirked crookedly. He raised his good hand and gave a thumb's up—
SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!
Everyone gasped and looked straight up as a missile tangled with three flying Titans zoomed loudly overhead.
"My god…."
The Chinese woman muttered in her own language.
The man's eyes narrowed. "Is that thing…heading towards—"
VRMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!
They shook again as the T-Car rocketed down the street in front of the pawn shop and zoomed after the airborne weapon.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Why aren't connecting??" Cyborg sweat as his fingers kept dancing across the keyboard. "Damn your ass!!"
Beep-Beep-Beep-Beep!
Ding!!
'Connection Successful.'
The android suddenly beamed. "Love your ass!! Love your ass!!"
He jammed his fingers across a magical set of keys.
The specs of the missile appeared in green wireframe models. Parts of it were highlighted. Cyborg drove himself deeper and deeper into the digital heart of the machine as he drove deeper and deeper into the City.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Tempest was running back to the subway entrance.
He had completed two successful trips of escorting people.
It was time for his third.
He huffed and puffed and pointed into the mouth of the urban cave: "Okay…you're going next!!"
Lindsay shook her head. "Uh uh!! I want you to get the other people to the hospital first!!!"
"I don't know how many trips I may yet have to take!! I don't want you getting hurt if the stakes keep rising—"
"I'm not any greater liability than anyone else here, right?"
"………," Tempest faltered.
"Right???" Lindsay panted.
Tempest pointed and was about to say something—
SHOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!
The rocket zoomed overhead.
The people cowering inside the mouth of the subway shrieked.
Tempest braced himself against a lamppost.
"The Hell??" he uttered.
VRMMMMMMM!!!!!
The Cyborg burned past him, kicking up dust and gravel.
Tempest gasped again. "The Double Hell!!!"
Lindsay gulped, clutching to the frame of the subway's entrance. "Better get going!!"
He finally gave in. "Right…..you, you, and you!! Let's go!!"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
VRMMMMMMMMMM!!!!
"Thruster protocols….Thruster controls….Thruster discharge…..GET MORE SPECIFIC ALREADY!!!" Cyborg panted.
Suddenly, the sound of his engine was being echoed.
"H-Huh??" he looked up, realizing he was momentarily too engrossed in the hacking process to notice--
"Shit almighty!!!"
The T-Car was barreling straight down a thin, brick alleyway at one hundred and thirty-five miles per hour. And two seconds ahead, the alleyway got twice as thin.
"NNNGH!!!" Cyborg slammed his right fist over a left 'arrow'.
PHWOOMP!!! Hydraulics to the T-Car's left wheels went off.
THWISH!!!
The T-Car leaned on its right tires. A forty-five degree angle. And in such an awkward position, it squeezed through the claustrophobic alleyway.
SCRAAAAAAA-AAAAAAA-AAAAAAAAPE!!!
Sparks flew.
The rear mirrors snapped off.
The paint job faded to dull titanium in an instant.
Cyborg winced, trying his hectic best to maintain momentum.
….and then the computer image of the missile specs started to fluctuate and fade.
In the thin alleyway, the signal was being cut.
"No…come on, Baby!! Reconnect, dammit!!!"
WHAM!! CRASH!!!
The scraping T-Car barreled through two trash cans.
"RECONNECT!!!"
SCRAAA-AAAA-AAAAPE!!!
The monitor flickered…flickered…..and faded.
Cyborg's human eye widened--
SWOOOOOSH!!!!
The T-Car suddenly exploded out into a T-Intersection of open, urban roadway.
"NNNNGH!!!" Cyborg swung hard left.
The T-Car spun on two wheels, aligned with the street, and collapsed back onto all four tires.
THWOMP!!!
Cyborg shifted gears, inhaled, and slammed the gas.
SCREEEEEEEEEECH-VRMMMMMMMMM!!!!
The wind picked up.
The speedometer rose.
"……"
Zzzt!! Zzz-Zzzt!! Beeeeeeep-DING!
The missile specs flashed back to life on the tiny monitor.
Cyborg gasped. "I love you, Baby!!!"
SCREE-EEEECH!!!
He swerved right onto a main straightaway and burned rubber down the open road.
Pursuing the missile.
He glanced up, panting.
He saw the three Titans clustered around the missile.
He gulped: "Hang on, guys. Just a l-little more…..thanks…."
He drove, typed, and tapped deeper into the thruster mechanisms of the weapon…
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
FWOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!!
"Nnnnnghhh!!!" Starfire pulled frantically at the craft. "It is being….a m-most stubborn bomb today!!!"
"Don't let go….," Raven winced, maintaining her position at the head of the giant missile. Black energy splashed all around her as she pushed and pushed and pushed against the burning nose. "Keep working…t-together……..for Cyborg's move. F-For Cyborg's move…"
Suddenly, Beast Boy gasped in elf form—"Watch out!!!"
"H-Huh??" Starfire blinked.
A beating sound.
A heavier beating sound.
"…….," she glanced around.
SW-SW-SW-SW-SW-SW-SW-SW-SWISH!!!!
The black blades of the HIND glinted as it rose up behind the missile and—
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!!
"HOLD POSITIONS!!!" Raven shouted above the chaos.
Beast Boy shrieked and ducked his head, clutching to the missile.
CLANG!!! P-PING!!! CLANK!!
The heavy caliber bullets flashed and sparked off the hull of the weapon. They bounced all around Starfire.
"Star!!!!" Beast Boy shouted.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!!
The alien cringed and shook, still in one piece.
And then…
CRACK!!!!
A metal panel was ripped off the front of the missile by bullet fire. It sailed off and slammed into Starfire's body hard.
WHUMP!!!
"UGH!!!" the Tamaranian girl flew off the missile and plummeted to the streets below.
"N-No…..," Raven shuddered. Her eyes actually panicky.
Beast Boy panted. He looked at the falling Starfire. At the HIND. Then at Raven. He gulped with apologetic, glistening eyes. "I'm sorry, Raven!!!" he shouted in the wind. "But I can't let that thing kill us!! As long as one of us is alive, the missile won't hit the hospital!!"
"Beast Boy….don't—"
"Hang tight, Raven!!!" the changeling morphed into a gorilla, sprang off the missile, screamed, and landed against the cockpits of the helicopter. CLAMP!! "ROAAAAAAAR!!!!!" The huge simian slammed his hairy fists into the bubble cockpits and metal hull of the craft. WHAM!!! CLANK!!! SMACK!!!
The HIND veered left…right…then dove. Its blades beat heatedly beneath Raven and the missile momentarily before lowering dangerously to building level with the changeling riding.
Raven gulped….holding the entire force of the thrusting missile with just her shielding alone. She sweat all over….her cloak and hair billowing in the wind.
"Cyborg…..do it…..d-do it soon….," she wheezed. She forced her eyes closed in instant meditation. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos….Azarath Metrion Zinthos….A-Azarath….." She winced. The force of the wind overtook her. The madness and vibration of it all. She shuddered. "Cy-Cyborg…..hurry….."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH!!!!
The HIND plummeted so low that it nearly hovered at street level. It continued to veer and jerk from side to side—quite used to having unwanted riders and now infinitely times as determined to lose them. It beat down the road thunderously, its giant girth and engines echoing against the buildingsides.
And…
In the silence behind it.
……..
SWOOOOOOOOSH!!!!
CRASH!!!!!
Starfire landed, rolled like a skipping stone and—
CRAAAAAASH!!!!
Ground a long, deep crater into the asphalt.
She winced, her Tamaranian body bruised and scuffed all over. She sat up and rubbed her head. Pieces of her skirt and tanktop had been tattered. She weakly opened her eyes and gazed down the street at the throttling HIND with Beast Boy clutching to it.
"………," Starfire frowned. Her teeth showed. An emerald fire burned in her eyes. She gnashed her teeth: "In'vrm delatta siul threatta cal'x mmty'r de X'Hal!!!!!" Snarling, fists clenched, she soared over towards the side of the road where a telephone pole lay on its side from a smashed, black jeep. She charged her laser eyes and hotly cut a long length of telephone wire loose. ZAAAP!! ZAAAP!! She flew down, scooped two bundles of taut telephone wire up, lifted them in her mighty hands, and began to tie knots together as she soared after the HIND.
SWOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!!
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
A green lion was now clawing and roaring at the cockpit windows atop the veering HIND. Its paws made sharp cuts in the glass, sending tiny shards sprinkling outward in every direction.
The helicopter dipped dangerously low, its bottom hull and wings clipping off the tops of three or four abandoned cars as it roared down the roadway. CL-CLANK!!! CRACK!!! CRUNCH!!
The impacts jolted the changeling, who suddenly found himself clutching on for dear life.
The HIND suddenly pulled up and pivoted to the right.
SCRAAAAAAPE!!!! The claws of the lion slipped and—
"ROAAAAR!!!" it roared, fell, and tumbled like a dropped bowling ball across the concrete.
The helicopter soared on down the road with a heavy beating of blades. It maintained its low altitude, as if the pilots were suddenly interested in a new prey ahead of them.
Beast Boy morphed into elf form, shook his head, and rubbed it.
SWOOOOOSH!!!!
An emerald streak of fury zoomed past him, trailing what looked like a bundle of black cords.
"………….," Beast Boy blinked. "Huh??"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Yes….Y-Yes….," Cyborg muttered.
He drove wildly with one hand down the street alongside the missile.
With the other hand he broke in further and further with infiltrating the codes of the missile's guidance system.
"Come on….show me those protocols….that's on….."
A piece of the missile diagram on his dashboard's computer screen highlighted.
A magnification.
Schematics of thrust settings.
Customability options.
A password.
"Th-There!!" Cyborg slammed his finger onto the enter key.
A sup-program went into play, buzzing through thousands of six character combinations….slowly unlocking the password one digit at a time.
Cyborg smiled.
A beating sound.
Cyborg frowned.
A louder beating sound.
Cyborg had no rear mirrors left. Somewhere in the blurred confusion and chaos, he managed to turn and look over his shoulder.
The HIND had dipped low and it was practically on his tail.
"Ah PERFECT!!!"
The cannons rolled.
Cyborg gripped the wheels and jerked hard—
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!!
The T-Car swerved left. SCREEEECH!!!
The line of bullets exploded asphalt to the right and beyond the vehicle.
Cyborg jerked the other side. SCREE-EECH!!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
A string of bullets flew across the blurring street, sliced off a corner of the T-Car's rear, and shattered a buildingfront to the left.
The password was at two out of three characters unlocked.
"Nnngh!!!"
Cyborg grunted and slammed his fist onto a black button.
WHURRR-CLACK!!!
A panel in the rear of the T-Car slid open.
A dozen black ball bearings fell, bounced across the blurring asphalt, lifted up, and exploded in corrosive puffs of acidic gas.
SWOOOOOOOOSH!!!
The HIND beated through it. The already wrecked aircraft was far beyond 'immune'. It rotated its cannons again.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
Cyborg swerved left and right around humps of wreckage and abandoned cars.
The impervious string of cannon machine gun fire exploded through the junk and blew them aside to either side, giving the HIND a merciless path to soar after the T-Car with.
Cyborg panted. He looked at the computer screen.
The console beeped.
Three out of six characters unlocked.
"Almost there….," he hissed. Kl-Kl-Klak!!! He spun around while driving and fired his sonic cannon at the T-Car. "YAAAAAAAH!!!!!"
ZAAAAAA-AAAAAA-AAAAAAAAP!!!!
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!
Raven strained and strained.
She pushed herself against the head of the missile.
Her black magic was gradually fading.
Her muscles giving away.
Her body weight demanding to give in to gravity and just….fall….
Panting, the normally meditative girl looked panickedly over her shoulder.
The hospital was in plain site. She could even see the thousands of figures crowded through the windows.
She was rapidly closing in on it….plummeting backwards…..
She took a deep breath. She faced the missile again and tensed her whole body.
"NNNNNGHHHH!!!!! AZARATH…..METRION……ZINTH—" she gasped before she could finish the last chant, for she had looked down and saw the HIND at the rear of the T-Car. The blue stream of a sonic cannon firing sporadically at the mechanical monster. The blades leaning forward and nearly slicing the tiny vehicle to ribbons.
"Be strong, Cyborg…..H-Hang in there….," she shuddered. "Everyone is depending on you."
SHOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!
The black tendrils.
The air rushing.
The blades beating.
The sonic cannon….
"Everyone….."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!!!!!" Cyborg unleashed stream after stream of sonic fury.
ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!!!!!!!!
"Come and catch me, you big, rusted, son of a bitch!!!!"
ZAAAAAAA-AAAAAAAA-AAAAAAAP!!!!!
The HIND veered left and right, avoiding the blasts. Its beating blades filled the air with a furious thunder.
Cyborg aimed at it again. Panting. His human eye squinting—
Beeeep!!
"???" Cyborg turned and looked at the computer console.
Four out of six characters.
"…..," he exhaled.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT!!!
Three bullets traced, missed, missed, and hit--
CRACK!!!! Cyborg's arm cannon exploded from the bulletfire.
"AAAAAAAH!!!!" he convulsed and slumped to the right against his sparking, cracked limb.
His left hand jerked loosely on the steering wheel.
SCREEEEEEEECH!!!
The T-Car veered right, ramped over a pile of rubble, and drove awkwardly over the sidewalk…slamming over a dozen street signs in succession.
CRACK!!! THWACK!!! WH-WHAM!!! CRUNCH!!!
Cyborg hissed in pain, sparking all over. With his one in-tact arm, he jerked left once more.
SCREEEEEECH-VRMMMMMM!!!
The HIND was catching up.
Cyborg panted, lifting his useless arm up….writhing.
SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH!!!!
"!!!!" Cyborg glanced back down the blurred road.
The HIND had gotten so close that the pilots decided to tilt the nose down so that the humongous black blades sliced closer and closer and closer to the rear of the T-Car.
The beating sound wracked Cyborg's titanium skeleton.
SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH!!!!!
Lamppost were knocked aside by the huge blade and fell down in splashes of sparks.
Newspaper stands shattered and helpless, abandoned cars ripped to aluminum noodles.
CRACK!!! SLIIIIICE!!! CRUNNNNCH!!!
Cyborg panted. He flicked his shattered arm.
CRKKK!!!
The cannon portion detached from his elbow. A light inside blinked.
Cyborg gritted his teeth and jerked his arm back. "From my mother with love, punk!!!"
KLA-AACK!! THWOOOOSH!! His shattered right arm flew off, twirled in the air, beeped, blinked, and exploded against the helicopter's blades.
BOOOOOOM!!!!!
The HIND shook. The blades wobbled, licking flames. The whole aircraft lifted and drew back a few more meters, still pursuing.
Driving madly with one arm, Cyborg panted. He lifted his right stub. He winced. He twisted his elbow.
THRICK-KK!!
A skeletonous, spare 'hand' of aluminum snuck out of his stub. Two bony metal finger stuck out, sparked, and were shoved straight into a slot in the dashboard.
A blue light flickered to life.
The nitro cannons in the back of the T-Car stuttered and struggled to come to life.
"Come on! Come on, baby!!" Cyborg panted. Sweated. He glanced at the computer console.
Still four out of six character of the password.
"Come on!! Work with me!! Work with me!!"
The nitro still struggled.
The HIND lifted some.
"…..," Cyborg glanced from steering back at the craft.
Two hellseekers started to flare.
"Not now….not after all this time!!!" Cyborg shouted.
The hellseekers shook.
The wing clasps released.
"Come onnnnnnnn!!!!" Cyborg yelled.
His skeletal fingers sparked in the slots.
The nitro flickered blue flame….sputtered…and vomited azure plasma.
PWHOOOOOOM!!!
The HIND launched the missiles--
FW-FWOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!
But just as it launched the two missiles, the entire HIND lurched, jerked, and fell back rapidly.
The two missiles were fired at an awkward angle.
One twirled, spiraled in the air, and slammed explosively in the ground.
BOOOOM!!!!
The other flew up from the explosion, evened out, blinked, found its target, and sailed out violently in pursuit of the distant speck that was the nitro-boosted T-Car down the long road.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
The pilots inside the HIND gasped and worked frantically with each other to recover their aircraft. They jerked at the controllers and did every thing they could to upright the helicopter.
But the vehicle merely lurched back and back, wobbling in mid-air, the blades rotating awkwardly. And--
CRAAACK!!!
The hull slammed into the asphalt of the street.
The metal of the helicopter grinded against the concrete.
The rotar blades suddenly worked against it.
The chopper spun a donut, its hind blades slicing through telephone poles, traffic lights, and abandoned cars.
Sparks flew.
Metal screeched and scraped.
The HIND rolled and rocked on the ground before eventually hovering back up three stories and slowly drifting in the direction of a bundle of telephone wires that had lassoed its long, metallic tail when it was unaware.
The 'lasso' of wires was being held firmly by a Tamaranian girl with gnashing teeth and burning eyes. "You shall learn to be tame, you murderous, oversized chlorbag!!!!"
The pilots signaled to each other. They grabbed the controls.
The beat-up HIND tilted its head down and rotated its machine gun cannons--
"RRRRRGHHHH!!!" Starfire screamed and yanked left with the wires.
SWIIIIISH-CRASH!!! The helicopter was slammed into the southern row of buildings.
"RAAAAAAUGH!!!" Starfire coiled the wires around her arms and yanked right.
SWOOOOOSH-SLAM!!! Sparks flew as the HIND hit the other side.
Starfire prepared to yank the helicopter mercilessly towards her super-strong figure with a mountainous fist raised--
SHOOOOOM!!!!! A missile was launched at her.
Starfire's eyes went wide. She panted, dropped the wires, leapt back, and deflected the missile upwards with two fists. "RRRRGHHH!!!" CL-CLANK!!! The missile spiraled upward, twirled in the air above the street, and---BAM!!!!
Ashes and trails of flame fell.
The HIND wasted no time. It rose up, aimed its twin machine guns, and—
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!!!!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
Starfire hissed, flared green in her eyes, and shot a steady beam of optic blasts that ate into the incoming streams of high caliber bullets. ZAAAAAAAAAAAAP!!!!! The projectiles exploded in mid-air gradually towards the source of their firing…until the HIND stopped firing and Starfire stopped unleashing her optic blasts with a gasp.
The helicopter's blades beat the air loudly.
"YAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!" the Tamaranian warrior screamed back, two fists glowing with blinding starbolts.
The HIND unleashed its entire arsenal.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!!!!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!!
SHOOOOOOOOM!!!!!
THWOOOOOOOSH!!!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!!
Starfire let warcry after warcry out into the vibrating air as she advanced on the craft, unleashing optic blasts, starbolts, and energy blasts with wild abandon. FLASH!!! FLASH!!! FLASH!!! ZAAAAAAP!!!
The HIND was actually backing away from the redheaded Titan, unleashing stream after stream of high caliber bullets and hellseekers in a desperate attempt to hold her back.
But she kept charging, unleashing stream after stream of hideous alien strength. Eating through the HIND's arsenal. The sharpest stings of Dagger.
The street was catching aflame in three dozen different places. Falling clouds of plasma and shrapnel caused cars and vans and other vehicles to explode and melt. Windows shattered and buildingfronts crumbled from the intense one-on-one battle.
And Starfire got so close that she was practically kissing the HIND's black rotary blades.
The pilots saw this, and suddenly jerked the craft forward.
SWOOOOOSH!!
Starfire gasped and shot up two palms of glowing energy.
CL-CL-CL-CL-CL-CLANK!!! She nakedly beat the blades back with her palms before leaping back, gasping. Her hands were red. Literally smoking. She thought of blowing on them--
SWOOOOOSH!!!
She looked up.
Emerald eyes widened.
Two hellseekers slammed into the ground at her feet and exploded.
"AAAAA—"
BOOOOOOOOM!!!!!
The HIND lifted up victoriously.
The alien girl was lost in the fire and smoke.
PHWOOOOOOM!!!!
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Come on!! Come on!!"
"You can see it from up here!!!"
The officers motioned from atop a tall mound of rubble.
The Lieutenant rushed up, panting.
Robin and I ran up last.
We watched—breathless—from atop the tall pile of junk.
A straight line of smoke and fire and ash stretched westward from the east side of the City towards where the hospital was located. We could see the missile with black splashes of telekinesis plummeting towards the hospital building. A blue-streak of a T-Car was rocketing after it with nitro fury. And nearly a mile away was a tall plume of flame where the HIND levitated.
But Starfire….
Robin's jaw dropped.
He dropped his metal staff.
Cl-Clank!!
"…….," I looked helplessly at him.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
VRMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!
Cyborg could barely keep his human eye open against the g-force and heavy wind of speeding with the nitro.
He fought to keep his spare right hand above the computer console while keeping at least half of his attention on the blurring road ahead.
The hospital was looming up swiftly into view beyond a row of imperious gates lining a canal.
"End….of the road….," he struggled to utter. He looked at the computer console.
Beep!
Five out of six character.
"Jesus of Nashville…………..."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH!!!!!
The HIND hovered around the street. Pivoting around. The pilots craning their helmeted heads from the inside.
Looking.
Looking….
Looking……..
For her body.
The helicopter pivoted towards the far side of the road.
It hovered over a plume of dark smoke and flame.
A beat.
A pair of hot green eyes glowed from within the plume of smoke.
The eyes glowed brighter.
"Rrghhhhh…..DE X'HALLLLLLL!!!!!!" SWOOOOOOOOSH!!! Starfire soared out.
The HIND pivoted around.
The Tamaranign girl skirted the cratered asphalt, fist outstretched and glowing.
The HIND tilted its head forward and fired.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!
Starfire soared underneath and past the offset stream of lead.
P-P-PING!!! CLANK!!! CR-CRACK!!!
The HIND lowered itself, tilting forward.
The beating black blades closed in on the street.
"Nnnngh!!!" Starfire flew low, her chest practically grazing with the concrete. SWOOOOOOOSH!!!
She passed under the helicopter right as the blades touched the concrete and spilled sparks. CL-CL-CLANK!!!
Starfire grunted, rolled, landed on her feet, and ran straight towards the building nearly touching the rear of the forward-tilted craft.
The HIND hoverted, untilting. Blind.
Starfire held her breath, carried herself on momentum, and ran up the buildingside. Her green-glowing feet made contact with the shattered surface of the structure. She ran up the wall towards the tail of the helicopter. She gasped. She leapt off…flew up towards the tail rotor…spread her limbs….blinked….and brought them together.
SLAP!!!
Starfire's arms and legs clasped over the helicopter's tail-rotor in mid spin, freezing it in place.
She hung upside down for a second…two seconds…
"RGHHHHHHH!!!!"
She twisted her body and---
SNAP!!!
SHATTER!!!!!
Broke the rear rotor and a hulking piece of the tail clear off.
She twirled and fell to the ground amidst a shower of shrapnel and debris.
The HIND lots counterbalance. Its hulking exoskeleton spun helplessly off its black rotor blades. It spiraled and spun down…down…down…across the street. It tilted. It groaned. The blades hit the concrete earth first, dug in, snapped off—CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRA-ACK-CRACKKKK!!
SWOOOOOSH!! Starfire fell. PLOP!! She landed in a full-body crouch, all fours holding her up.
The helicopter morphed into the earth behind her, ruptured, sparked, and screamed in flaming agony—
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!
PHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!
The entire street lit up from the fiery death of Dagger's aircraft. A plume of plasma and smoke ruptured up to the sky. Challenging what was turning out to be a sighing sunset.
Starfire stared, panting, the flames flickering against her glass eyes. Her hair tangled and knotted over her brow and tattered two piece. "……..," she collapsed against the asphalt with a groan. "Nnngh…."
The victorious hunter.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Cyborg panted.
The nitro sputtered to death.
The front panels of the T-Car were starting to peel off.
The last tires were wearing to their metal rims.
The fence…the last barrier….stretched before him.
Sweat ran down Cyborg's human brow.
His lips quivered. "Please….G-God…."
Beep-Beep-Beep-Beep!
Ding!!
Cyborg looked down.
He gasped.
'Password found.'
'Correct match.'
'Access to thruster protocols granted---'
SWOOOSH!!
Cyborg's right hand flew over and slammed on the keyboards.
He cut the thrusters to the missile off by remote.
All of them.
Completely and utterly off.
Beep-Beep-Beep-Beep!!
'Protocols overridden……'
Cyborg then flipped the communicator and shouted: "It's a go!!! Rae!! It's a go!!! Knock that thing out of left field!!!!"
The android Titan then yanked hard at the wheel to the T-Car for all it was worth.
"NNNNNGH!!!"
He slammed on the brakes.
SCREEEEEE-EEEEEEE-EEEEEEEECH!!!!!!
The T-Car spun and spun and spun and spun, forming a double-helix of tire burn marks on the road behind him as he maddeningly attempted to slow his insane momentum before striking the inevitable.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Raven gasped.
TH-TH-TH-THWIFFFFFTTTT-SNKKKKTTT!!!
The
flaring, amber thrusters to the huge missile cut off.
The white aura of the hospital's rooftop loomed in her peripheral vision.
Raven let out a scream, summoned a huge pulse of black energy, and pushed up at the missile.
FLAAAAAASH!!!!
The missile slowly…gradually….tilted up….
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
SCREEEE-EEEEEE-EEEEEEEECH!!!!!!
The T-Car spun and spun and spun and spun.
The fence barrier loomed.
The air heated up from the spiraling friction.
"AAAAAAAAAAAUGH!!!" Cyborg shouted.
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeechhhhhhhh……..
The T-Car spiraled two last times, rolled, tipped over—tapped against the fence, lingered, and fell back on its upended side.
Thwump!!
Cyborg gasped.
And he was still.
Dead still.
The convertible T-Car steaming on all sides of him.
He blinked, his titanium hands stuck to the wheel.
He panted…panted…panted….
"……"
He looked up.
He saw the missile sailing towards the hospital.
And Raven…..
Pushing it up….up….up….
At the last second.
Cyborg gasped and shouted: "Yeah!! YEAAAAAH!!" he raised his one whole hand. "Save the day, Cutie!! SAVE THE FRICKIN' DAY!!! HAAAA HA HA HA!!!"
SHOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!
"????" Cyborg looked ahead. His jaw dropped.
The HIND's hellseeker missile…….….left over long ago from when the T-Car went into nitro………....caught up with him. Its incoming nose glinted.
Cyborg's voice exhaled…
Like a deflating flower softly discovering itself……
"…………..Oh."
SWOOOOOOOOOOSH-KABLAAAAAM!!!!!
The hellseeker sailed into the cockpit of the T-Car.
The vehicle exploded from the inside out in a brilliant fireball that sent metal shards flying everywhere for the next seven blocks around.
And then the thunder.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Nnnnghhhh!!!" Raven struggled. Sweating. Panting. Her whole face looking like it was going to cave in. "Can't….p-push it!!!"
FL-FL-FLASH!! Her powers flickered. After the long haul, she barely had the strength to make the missile budge. It tilted upward and upward…but not enough. It momentum was still carrying it—and the dark girl—towards the top level of the hospital.
"Nnnngh!!! Azarath….M-Metrion……," Raven couldn't finish. Her limbs were giving out. Her body was throbbing.
The white surface of the hospital loomed. Inside, a few screaming citizens fled the window frames for some unsafe location elsewhere in the vulnerable building.
Raven twitched. She stated to slip from the nose of the missile. Her powers fading. Her limbs—
"SKRIIIIII!!!!!"
She gasped. Her violet eyes pulsed.
A green streak soared upwards from the City. An emerald pterodactyl. The changeling soared up at the missile in a gravity-defying, reverse dive.
SWOOOOOOOSH!!! CL-CLANK!!!
The pterodactyl's head slammed into the bottom of the missile, shoving the projectile upwards.
Raven was jolted with a gasp.
"SKRIIII!!!" Beast Boy swooped up, grasped her cloak by the talons, and swung her down and away to safety.
THWOOOOSH!!! The missile leap-frogged over the hospital.
Dangling from bobbing talons, Raven spun and looked over her shoulder at the weapon.
It flew up…up…up……..and grazed the edge of the building's roof.
CLANK!!!
Raven gasped, a hand over her lips.
CL-CLANK!!! The live missile skipped across the rooftop, slid across it, scraaaaaaaped its way over the gravel, flew off the other edge, and went twirling like an ill-swung cricket bat through the glinting sunlight and into a deep, man-made lake beyond where it plummeted into the hard waters and—
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Raven winced.
The pterodactyl lifted them both higher.
A huge vortex of boiling water lifted from the lake, fountained outward, and harmlessly drenched the windows and western building face of the white complex.
And then…all was still.
……
FWOOOOSH!!!
Beast Boy lowered Raven to the top of an office building across the street…then collapsed beside her in elf form, panting.
"………"
"………"
"………."
The two Titans slowly got up to their knees, dazed.
Raven shuddered.
Beast Boy gulped. "This day…..This day is Hell…..please….t-tell me it's over…..tell me th-that it's all over….."
"…………."
"R-Raven??"
The girl was staring at something. A smoking something. A hot smoking something that—at one time—was the T-Car.
Beast Boy crawled over, gazed out, and saw the smoldering ruins. His jaw hung wide. "Dude….oh no….oh God no….."
Raven's lips quivered. "Cyborg?"
No answer.
She blinked. Usually steady hands began to shake and convulse. "Cy-Cyborg??"
Still no answer….
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Lindsay came to a stop, trembling.
Tempest and three other members of the 'last hospital trip' froze in the middle of a brightly lit alleyway. A row of nervous pigeons nestled in the corner.
"What is it??" Tempest uttered.
Lindsay clasped her hands together. "The hospital. Th-There was a huge explosion. Did you hear it?"
The other citizens trembled nervously.
"It was nothing but water…," Tempest said, his ears craned. "The hospital's still standing."
"H-How do you know??" another person murmured.
Tempest smirked. "Trust me. I know."
Lindsay swallowed a nervous lump down her throat. She suddenly found herself leaning against Tempest.
"????" Tempest glanced down at her. He took a deep breath, stroked her hair, and said: "Come on….l-let's hurry…"
"Yeah…..," she shuddered.
He wrapped an arm around her protectively and led her ahead of the other three. "We're almost there. Don't worry—"
Then the pigeons scattered.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!!!
Suddenly,
the three innocent citizens behind the Atlantean and the freckled
faced girl danced in place as their bodies were riddled with
red-splotching bullets.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!
Tempest and Lindsay spun around.
Wide eyed.
The three people fell down in their own juices.
Lindsay screamed.
Tempest panted. He looked up.
Three shadows with guns jumped off the building top.
"LINDSAY!!" Tempest gnashed his teeth and tossed her into a brick-lain corner. "GET DOWN!!!"
She stumbled on all fours, watching fearfully.
"RRRRRGH!!!" Tempest charged.
The men aimed uzzis and fired—RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!
"YAAAUGH" Tempest flipped over them, slammed his feet into the chest of the middle man, jumped up off his body, spun, and side-kicked the other two harshly across their cheeks. THW-THWAP!!!
All three men collapsed.
Pigeons fluttered over the scene.
Two more rushed out from around a nearby corner.
An ambush…….
Tempest spun, snarling--
BLAM!!! BL-BLAM!!
BLAM!!
He ducked the shotgun blasts that slammed into the brick walls behind him. He rolled across the floor, grabbed the lid to a trash can, and tossed-shouting-like a Frisbee across the two men's faces.
WHAP!! WHAP!!
They stumbled back.
Tempest charged them, fists swinging.
THWACK!!
WHAM!!
Lindsay watched, trembling. She turned her head. She saw something. She shrieked--
"???" Tempest spun. He turned completely and looked---
TH-TH-TH-TH-TH-TH-TH-TH-TH-THWISSHHHH!!!
Tempest's white pupil dilated.
A dagger……
THUNK!!!!
It tore its way deep into Tempest's upper thigh.
"NNNNNGHHHH!!!" Tempest gripped the hilt. He slumped back against the alleyway's brick wall and fell onto his butt.
Lindsay shook.
Tempest panted. He tried to pull the blade out--
Step-Step-Step---THWUMP!!! Dagger's dark black boot slammed ont the hilt of the blade.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaHAAAAAGHHHH!!!!!" Tempest's mouth screamed to the sky, his dark eyes clenched shut in torture.
"…….," Dagger leaned in darkly. Coldly. He put pressure on his foot….which was propped up atop the hilt of the knife eating its way into Tempest's upper leg. "…..you're out of your element."
Tempest winced, shook, convulsed, panted….panted….panted….
He forced his tortured eyes open. He glared at Dagger from an angle. Shaking. His voice wavered like paper stretched to tear. "What….What….Wh-What do y-y-you want from m-me???"
The beaten thugs slowly oozed up to their feet. The pigeons settled back down to the alleyway rooftops. Peering down. Cooing. Normal-eyed gun men glared menacingly in a halo around Dagger with their guns aimed.
Lindsay trembled, breathless.
"Want??" Dagger icily said. "I never want things…Atlantean….." He put more pressure on his foot.
"NnnnnghhHHHHHAAA!!!" Tempest twitched and convulsed in pain. His thigh was on fire.
Dagger's eyes narrowed. "I get things. And you….you are going to get me the Titans…..right……here……"
Tempest panted….panted……panted……
Dagger pulled out Robin's stolen communicator from the rooftop battle. He held it out in the Atlantean's twitching face.
"Call….the Titans….here……"
Tempest writhed. He clenched his jaw, sweating bullets. Struggling to snarl.
"………..," Dagger applied more weight.
"NNNGHHH!!" Tempest tilted his head up. His eyes were tense. Tears streamed. He hyperventilated….hyperventilated….
"I've already stolen your ability to swim….," Dagger gestured at the Titan's torn leg. "Don't make me snuff out the rest of your mudsucking life." His lips hissed. "Call the Titans….here….."
"I….w-would never…be-….be-…be-….," Tempest struggled, sweat, bled, and spat: "…be-betray my FRIENDS….snkkt…..nngh…….."
More weight.
"NNNGHHH!!! GAAAAAH!!!" Tempest writhed all over. "NEPTUNE!!! NNNGHHH!!!"
Dagger leaned back. "Very well then…." He held his free hand out. He snapped his finger.
Two guards rushed over.
Tempest's eyes trailed them moistly.
They grabbed Lindsay. They hoisted her up to her trembling legs.
Tempest exhaled.
The guards forced the struggling teen to Dagger's side.
Dagger flicked his wrist.
SNRKKT!!
Tempest froze.
Dagger held a knife to Lindsay's belly.
The girl trembled, pale all over. Sniffing.
"Call the Titans….," Dagger droned, "…or I will kill your brand new friend."
"You……will not….t-t-touch her…..," Tempest hissed.
Dagger's expression never changed. He hissed: "I will carve a ravine from her vagina to her throat. And I will make you the first living thing to taste her entrails……"
Lindsay was breathless.
Tempest blinked.
"….unless……you do exactly….as I say…."
"……….."
Dagger pressed the blade to her womb.
She stiffened.
"Call the Titans…….."
Tempest looked at Lindsay.
He looked at the communicator.
He convulsed.
He shook.
Lindsay's lips moved.
Whispering.
'N-No.'
'Don't do it.'
'Please.'
"Call the Titans…."
Tempest shook.
He looked at Lindsay.
He looked at the knife.
He looked at the communicator.
He gulped.
"…..Now."