176. Hand and Dagger part 13 Final
FLASH!!!!!
Beast Boy's face scrunched and his torso tensed.
"………….."
He was still alive.
Panting, the changeling opened his eyes and gazed at Slug's smoking gun in his face.
Only, Slug's smoking gun was no longer in his face. Slug was no longer standing. He had collapsed across the rubble of Phaser Labs. A field of black energy cleared as he struggled to get up.
"!!!!" Beast Boy spun and looked to the left.
A bruised Raven sat up. She had her glowing hand outstretched. Her eyes a hot gray as she gritted her teeth and uttered: "You….You filth. What did you do to Cyborg and his Uncle??"
Slug struggled up to his feet, smiled, and twirled his revolver. "Better yet….what say I show you??" He sneered, stretched his titanium wrist out, and fired with blue charge:
BLAM!!!!!
Beast Boy gasped, dove at Raven, morphed into a panther, and tackled her out of the way.
CRUNCH!!!
An unnaturally huge crater formed from the hypercharged bullet's impact.
The changeling and dark girl rolled down a slope of rubble until they tumbled to a grunting stop.
Raven winced. She tried sitting up and uttered: "Jean-Luc Blair….and Rachel Mendez…."
"Yeah, I know. They made the Labs go boom or something," Beast Boy panted.
"No…th-they aren't themselves…," Raven hissed. "Something charged up their electronic parts. They're not in control of themselves…"
"T-Tell that to the bullets they're slinging at us!!" the changeling hissed.
Cl-Click!!!
"?!?!?!?"
He and Raven looked up.
Reload had two heavy barreled machine guns strapped to her wrists….and aiming down at the skulls of the two Titans.
She sneered. "About time someone threw you two into a river, gatitos bonitos."
Beast Boy frowned: "That's not fu---"
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!!
"AAAH!!!"
Raven held her breath, concentrated, and opened a black portal in the ground.
She grabbed a gasping Beast Boy and sunk them through the earth.
Reload divided the earth where they originally were lying with her huge caliber guns.
The dark girl and animorph reappeared behind her and scampered away, Raven leaning weakly against Beast Boy.
THWOOSH!! Slug jumped up onto a mound of rubble, took aim with his revolver, and—"HA!!!" BLAM!!! BLAM!!!
Two giant craters exploded at the heels of the Titans as they limped down the courtyard.
Reload spun and aimed her guns high. "AH HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!"
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!
P-P-PING!!!
CLANG!!
CL-CLANK!!
Beast Boy and Raven hid behind concrete plant holder.
Reload's bulletfire ate into a vehicle on either side of the hiding two, exploding them.
BOOM!!!!
POW!!!!
Raven and Beast Boy winced and covered themselves as bullets ricocheted off the urban landscape all around them.
Beast Boy panted.
Raven rubbed her aching ribs.
"R-Raven….," Beast Boy shuddered above the noise. "One of us has got to get back to the ground zero of Phaser Labs!!"
"Cyborg has got to be under at least two layers of rubble….," Raven shuddered. "Even I couldn't teleport his body out quickly enough with those two on our backs….much less locate it…."
Beast Boy winced as he said: "I-I'm not talking about Cyborg."
Raven looked at him.
Beast Boy jolted as a bullet splashed off the ground nearby, and he said: "It's the sonic concussion streamer silver bullet thingy…," he gasped, then continued: "It's set to go off. I gotta get the stupid thing up into the sky or else Hell's gonna extend itself for another glorious twenty-four hours!!!"
Raven gazed up at the sky. The fading amber on purple. The hue of red seeping through it all like a taunting shroud.
"Raven???"
Raven looked at Beast Boy.
The changeling gulped. "I'm going in."
"Beast Bo—"
"NO!! Don't say anything!!!" the elf barked.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!
PING!!!
PING!!! PING!!!
The two winced.
Beast Boy panted: "I know this is gonna sound all Douglas Fairbanks cheesy and stuff….but it has to be done, and I'm the one who's gonna do it!! This City is worth more than any single one of me!"
"……"
Beast Boy touched her shoulder. "Give me cover. Distract them, if you can. But whatever you do….don't get out there in the open! You took a nasty collapse when the Labs exploded!! You can't simply run away from them!"
"…….," Raven shuddered. She nodded with eyes closed.
"Raven…don't think about Cyborg," he said. "Not now. Not yet."
Raven took a deep breath. "I know how to repress, Garfield…."
"…….," Beast Boy blinked at that.
She added: "What are you waiting for?"
"Oh…uhm….y-yeah……..got it, dude," he turned and crawled towards the edge of the planter.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!
CL-CL-CLANG!!!
He peered around the concrete structure.
He looked for a blind spot of Slug and Reload. A spot where their guns weren't aimed.
And then….
He gazed at the rubble of Phaser Labs.
"………."
Smoke rose.
Dust settled.
A distant glint of silver metal.
"……….," Beast Boy took a deep breath. "It's a good thing for once you're made of stone, Terra…."
He threw that off, shook his shoulders, grew fur, and dashed out as a green cheetah.
Raven watched him zoom out. She yanked her head to the right, saw a motorcycle beneath the highway overpass, and flung her hand towards it.
FLASH!!!!
She lifted the motorcycle, flicked her wrist, and tossed it across the courtyard.
Reload laughed maniacally. She aimed her fire at the vehicle and let loose.
So did Slug.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
BLAM!!! BLAM!!!
The motorcycle danced in the air from the fire before exploding in the air.
POW!!!
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
POW!!!!!
The Lieutenant and his fellow officers watched the chaos from behind the pillars of the highway overpass.
Lisa and the two children flinched.
"What does he think he's doing?!?!" Abbey gasped.
"????" the Lieutenant craned his neck.
A green cat ran around the perimeter of the explosive action.
"I don't know…," the Lieutenant said. "But whatever it is…it must be important…"
Slug's head could be seen glancing left. Towards the running Titan.
The Lieutenant gritted his teeth. "He's gonna be seen……" He strapped an AK-47 lying against the pillar around his back and pumped a shotgun. "Watch over the kids!!"
Lisa looked up.
"S-Sir??" Chapman murmured from a pillar across a space of asphalt. "What do you have in mind—"
"I'm going in!!" the Lieutenant inhaled. "A distraction!!"
And he ran out.
"Lieutenant!!!"
Lisa gasped. She held tight to Ashley and Greg as they all watched in disbelief.
The Lieutenant ran sideways across the courtyard…diagonally towards the smoking ruins of the Labs.
Slug was slowly twirling his revolver and aiming at Beast Boy.
The Lieutenant aimed his shotgun while running and from long distance he--
BL-BLAM!!!
Shot spread wide across the courtyard. The tiny bits that managed to cross the space and contact Slug bounced off his titanium parts.
Slug turned. He saw the Lieutenant, he grinned.
The Lieutenant ran.
Slug twirled his revolved.
The Lieutenant pumped his shotgun.
Slug aimed out.
"!!!!" the officer dove sideways. He fired while in mid-air. BL-BLAM!!!
CLANG!!! Lead bounced off Slug's still skull with sparks.
The cyborg smirked and fired—BLAM!!!
The Lieutenant landed from his dive behind a dumptruck.
CRUNCH!!!
An upper corner of the dumptruck's rear dented inward from the charged bullet.
Slug twirled his revolver and reloaded.
The Lieutenant scrunched up to the side of the truck. He panted and reloaded his shotgun again.
Slug walked slowly towards the dumptruck, aiming.
"…………," the Lieutenant hid against the vehicle, panting.
Slug walked. He pivoted his upper body. He aimed at the fuel tank of the truck.
"…………," the Lieutenant's eyes thinned. "………." He gazed out the corner of his eyes. He thought. His eyes widened. "!!!!!" He gasped. He instinctively dove away from behind the dumptruck---
BLAM!!!!
BOOOOM!!!
The huge vehicle exploded in a fireball.
Shrapnel rained down.
The Lieutenant tumbled across the ground. He winced and felt his lower leg. A chunk of metal had been driven in from the blast. He bled heavily out of the ankle.
The officers beneath the highway gasped, but didn't say a word.
The Lieutenant hissed through his teeth in pain.
He heard heavy metal footsteps over the distant storm of Reload's gunfire.
Wincing, the Lieutenant dragged his way over to a pile of rubble and hid behind it.
Slug walked over to the blown up dumptruck. He looked around.
The Lieutenant panted, resting up against the pile of rubble.
Slug searched and searched and searched……and smiled.
A trail of blood.
Slug twirled his revolver.
He paced slowly across the edge of the courtyard.
His metal feet crunched over metal and shrapnel.
"Come out…Come out…Wherever you are…."
The Lieutenant took a deep breath. He held the shotgun to his chest. He bled. He panted. He waited….
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Beast Boy slid down the ravine of rubble in penguin mode. He landed, rolled as an armadillo, then ran as an elf towards the concussion streamer.
"Allright….special delivery…"
He pulled at the launcher.
"Nnnnnnnghhhh!!!"
It wouldn't budge.
He tried again.
"Nghhhh-hhhhh!!!"
The black launcher was stuck.
The rubble had forged it in place.
"Darn it…," he gritted his teeth. Sweating. He shuddered and started to grab the metallic, glinting missile instead. "Gotta do with just you, then…"
He yanked and yanked and yanked at the streamer, attempting to snap it free of the launcher.
"Come on…Come on!!"
Ten minutes……thirty seconds……
Beast Boy glanced at the countdown timer.
He took a deep breath. "Time to put the money where the mouth…w-will be."
He shrugged, bent over, morphed into a velociraptor, and bit over the end of the missile. His teeth carved into it. He twisted, he pulled, he yanked, and--
SNAP!!!!
The missile broke free from the launcher.
"RGHHH!!!" the green dinosaur lifted the missile up victoriously….and then went wide-eyed as the weight of the thing send him toppling over.
WHUMP-WHUMP-WHUMP-WHUMP!!!!
The dinosaur fell down the ravine in the rubble, broke through a wall of crumpled metal parts, and—
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
---THWUMP!!!
Landed smack dab in the courtyard.
"Nnnngh….," a dizzy elf shook his head, sitting up besides the missile. His eyes went wide.
CL-CLICK!!
Reload aimed her guns at his forehead and smiled. "Let's see a big green smile on your face, chico. Before I blow it off!! Ha ha ha ha!!"
Beast Boy sweat.
FLASH!! SWOOOSH-WHAM!!!
An uprooted tree slammed into Reload's side.
"OOF!!" she collapsed onto the courtyard.
"!!!!" Beast Boy glanced right.
Raven was hobbling out from behind the planter. She gritted her teeth and held out two meditatively posed hands of glowing black. "Get…that thing….in the air!!"
"Raven!!! Stay out of the open!!!"
"NNNNRAAAAUGH!!" Reload jumped up and waved her wrist-guns. She hissed at Raven. "I shall decorate this City with your liver, perra!!!"
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!
Raven floated madly to the side on twirling wheels of black energy. "Beast Boy!! Go!!!"
The changeling took a deep breath, grabbed the missile in green talons, and took into the air as a pterodactyl.
Reload looked up. "Oh no!!" she smirked. She kept firing at Raven with one hand while she produced an iron ball in the other with a splash of light. "No leaving the party just yet!! Coma la muerte, birdy!!!"
SWOOOOOOSH-CLANK!!!
The ball slammed into the pterodactyl's back. The changeling shrieked and plummeted hard through the back of a pickup truck. CRUNCH!!! Beast Boy lay dazed while the missile rolled off to the side.
Nine minutes.
Raven glanced at the sight. She gritted her teeth, twisted her black-glowing hand, lifted a lamppost with telekinesis, and launched it at Reload. "RAAAAAUGH!!!"
THWOOOSH!!
Reload jumped to the side, twirled with a grin, dodged the lamppost—CRUNCH!!!—and let loose a merciless barrage of bullets.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
Raven strafed on black currents. She flicked another wrist. She picked up a hot-dog stand. She tossed it at Reload. "NNNGH!!!"
SWOOOOSH!!!
Reload stopped firing with one hand, produced a heavy sword, and tossed it through the flying stand.
CRAAACK!!!
She sliced the structure apart and aimed both wrist guns at once.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
Raven bent backwards and ducked low, the hot bullets streaming over her chest and head.
Looking upside down, she spotted a commercial bus lying under the raised highway. She stretched two hands towards it with a gasp.
FLAA-AAASH!!!
The bus was cocooned in black energy.
"Nnnnnghhh!!" Raven pulled the bus towards her.
THWOOOOSH!!! It soared over her nose.
"NNNGHHHHH!!!!" she leaned back up and shoved her two hands forward. "Azarath…Metrion…..ZINTHOS!!!!"
The black energy exploded around the bus.
A wall of flickering shrapnel soared at Reload.
The woman laughed her head off and aimed both wristguns at the incoming mass.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
The relentless, high caliber stream of lead ate through the bus and telekinesis. Aluminum shrapnel and black tendrils spread as Reload's gunfire blazed through and gradually ate its way towards Raven's body and exploded out the rear of the bus.
POW!!!
"UGH!!" Raven was blown back towards the highway. She winced and curled up on the ground in pain.
STOMP!!
Reload stood over her, wrist guns smoking.
She smirked down at the dark girl. "So…you want to play catch?? CL-CLICK!! She aimed her guns down at her. "Hope you have a big enough mit."
Raven winced…helpless.
Reload pulled the triggers--
"RAWWWWRR!!!" SWOOOSH-CLAMP!!! A green panther slammed itself into Reload.
The woman gasped, her guns firing sporadically into the sky as she fell back across the courtyard.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!
Reload and the green cat wrestled and struggled across the courtyard.
Raven panted. She looked over at the missile…abandoned besides the truck.
Eight minutes.
She started to drag herself over towards it, wincing.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
The Lieutenant panted.
Slug stepped closer and closer.
"The blood of pure fleshlings is so….so prophetic…," the android murmured.
The Lieutenant held tightly to his shotgun.
"It's red…like the color of the sky….the color the sky will soon be…."
The officer took a deep breath. He tilted the length of the gun up. Beside his head. The barrel aimed towards the darkening heavens.
"….I can feel it in my circuitry. An endless scream. A thirst for blood….this City's blood…the Titan's blood…."
The Lieutenant's torso heaved. He ignored the pain from his skewered leg. He held his breath.
Slug stepped up. "It makes so mush sense now……"
A beat.
Slug leaned over the rubble mound. He stared down directly from atop the Lieutenant. "Hellllllllo."
The Lieutenant exhaled. "How ya doin'?" He jerked his head aside and pulled the trigger—
BLAM!!!
CL-CLANK!!!!
Slug's skull flew up from the point-blanc shotgun discharge from below.
The Lieutenant shot up to a standing position—half hobbled form his wound—popped the shotgun, and aimed it at the android's face.
Slug blinked.
CLICK!!!
"………," the Lieutenant's lips parted.
He was out of ammo.
"Heh heh heh….," the android twirled his revolver. "Touche." Slug aimed the gun at the officer's forehead with a blue-glowing wrist.
The Lieutenant winced.
CLICK!!!
"……….," Slug's eyes widened.
He was out of ammo.
A moment of hilarity…..
WHAM!!!
The Lieutenant slammed Slug's face aside with the butt of his shotgun.
The android teetered back.
The Lieutenant winced from the pain. He threw his shotgun aside. He reached behind him. He whipped out his AK-47, cocked it, and took aim. "AAAAAAAAAH!!!!"
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
P-P-P-P-P-P-PING!!!!
Slug's torso jolted and danced and drew back from the impact of dozens of bullet impacts.
The Lieutenant hobbled over the mound, teeth gritting, firing like mad.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!
The bullets shattered and ricocheted and clattered all across the android's metal surfaces. Eventually, he was leaning backwards and bent like a pretzel from the lead punishment.
The Lieutenant fired until his gun, the air, and Slug's body was smoking.
And finally—
Click-Click-Click-Click.
The AK-47 ran out of ammo.
The Lieutenant froze in place.
Slug froze in place.
"………"
"Reload….," Slug groaned while bent backwards. "Darling….a little help here??"
From where she struggled with a green panther, Reload grunted, whipped out a free arm, and tossed Slug her shotgun.
FWOOOSH-Clap!!
Slug caught it, pumped it, and leaned up till he stood upright with the weapon planted against the Lieutenant's throat.
"Nice show, pig….," Slug grinned drunkenly. "But now it's about time you share a honeymoon with your lovely Commissioner in Hell."
The Lieutenant gulped.
"HIYAAAAA!!!" Robin dove down with a swinging staff.
CLANK!!!
"AUGH!!" Slug's shotgun yanked aside.
BL-BLAM!!!!
A six-foot wide crater exploded in the courtyard a few steps away.
The Lieutenant was blown aside from the blast.
Slug leaned back--
SWOOSH!!! Robin landed, twirled his staff, and slammed, swung, and slashed his way against the android villain.
WHAM!! SMACK!!! CLANK!!! POW!!!
As the Boy Wonder drew Slug back, Reload got the better half of Beast Boy. She tossed the green cat off her, stood up, and readied two wrist guns with a snarl. "RRRRAUGH!!!!"
SWOOOOOSH!!! Starfire flew in with two starbolts flying. FL-FLASH!!!!
POW!!! Reload was knocked aside.
"The militaristic squadron of equine has arrived!!!" shouted the Tamaranian, and she started launching starbolt after starbolt at the stumbling android. FLASH!!! FLASH!!! FLASH!! FLASH!!
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
From the side, Raven panted.
She stared at the fight scene tiredly, then looked at the concussion streamer.
Six minutes and thirty seconds.
She struggled up to her exhausted feet, wrestled with the missile, lifted it up, and prepared to levitate skyward with it when—
"REDDDDD!!!!"
Raven blinked.
She glanced aside.
Violet eyes widened.
A thick line of green-eyed thugs numbering in the hundreds poured in from a side street waving bludgeons and guns.
"REDDDDDDD!!!!"
They rushed in like an undead army. Snarling. Panting. Wide eyed. Bloodlusting. And they--
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!
BLAM!!!
BANG!!! BANG!!!
Raven gritted her teeth and summoned a huge black shield in front of her and the missile.
FL-FL-FL-FL-FLASH!!!!!
The black field deflected the blasts and blows of lead.
Raven struggled.
She was pushed back telekinetically on sliding feet.
Her forehead tensed.
The forcefield bent.
She struggled and strained and fought to keep herself and the missile in tact.
From the courtyard, Starfire looked over. She gasped: "R-Raven!!"
SWOOOSH-WHAM!!! Reload plowed into Starfire.
"Ughh!!" The Tamaranian fell to the ground.
"YAAAUGH!!" Reload pounced on her.
The woman and the alien girl wrestled.
Cybernetic eyes flaring into emerald optics.
"Nnnnghh!!" Starfire looked helplessly at Raven.
"Show me that neck of yours!!!" Reload hissed. She produced a metal scabbard out of a sparkling hand and shoved it into Starfire's throat.
GRIP!!!! Starfire's hands gripped around Reload's arms. She fought against the android's force, keeping the sharp metal tip from her skin. She clenched her eyes shut and shouted: "R-Robin!! Help Raven!! Help Raven!!!"
"HiYAAA!!" THWACK!!! Robin knocked Slug to the ground with his rod. He turned, panting. His eyemask went wide. "Star!!!"
"RAVEN!!! ASSIST HER!!!"
Robin looked over. He saw the line of marching Dragonflare soldiers. "Shit….," he ran over, cape billowing.
The Boy Wonder slid across the courtyard, crouched, and clutched ahold of Raven's waist. "You ready?? H-Here we go!!"
But before he could tug at her--
"Nnngh!!!" she reverse kicked him with her heel.
WHAP!!
Robin stumbled back, confused.
"The missile!! Get the m-missile!!"
Robin looked down at the glinting streamer.
Five minutes thirty seconds.
"The Hell is that thing??"
"Our silver bullet!!!" Raven strained. "Take it!! Go!!!"
Raven shot an extra pulse of telekinesis in reverse that knocked the missile into Robin's chest.
"OOF!!" He caught it. He took a deep breath. He turned around, ran, jumped behind a pile of rubble, slid into the fresh trench, whipped out a grappling hook, and aimed it at Raven's body. "Not without you…"
She glanced over her shoulder just as her pelted force field started to fall apart. "R-Robin??"
POW!!!!
SWIIIISH!!!
The grappling hook sailed at her, serrated.
She winced.
SLIIINK!!!
It ripped through her robe and anchored itself by the cloth.
"RGHHH!!" Robin yanked back at the taut cord.
THWOOOSH!!! A gasping Raven was pulled back towards the trench. Tossed projectiles and heated bullets from the Dragonflare crowd chased her heels just milliseconds before she was pulled to safety behind the mound.
CL-CL-CLANK!!!
TH-THUNK!!!
P-P-P-PING!!!
Raven and Robin huddled safely behind the rubble.
"W-We've got to get that thing into the air…," Raven pointed at the missile. "Simon Stone said it will emit a frequency that can undo the effects of the Dragonflare in—"
"Yeah yeah…up into the air," the Titan leader nodded. He turned around, holding the streamer under his arm. "I'll go give it to Starfir—"
"RAAAAUGH!!!" Slug leapt down into the trench. He swung his fist.
WHAM!!!!!
He punched Raven to the ground.
"Ugh!!!"
He snarled and slammed both wrists together, uppercutting Robin.
WHACK!!
"Augh!!" the Boy Wonder fell back.
Cl-Clank!! The missile rattled down the trench, sparks flying.
Five minutes.
"NNGHH!!!" fire burned in Slug's eyes as he pounced down on Robin, grabbed his shoulders, and slammed the Boy Wonder repeatedly down into the ground. WHAP!!! WHAP!!! WHAM!!! WHAP!!!
Robin gasped, jolted, grunted, and exhaled violently.
Raven stumbled up. She gasped and pounced on Slug's shoulders--
"RAAAGH!!" he backhanded her.
WHAM!!
Raven fell back, wincing.
Slug slammed Robin's face with a titanium punch.
WHACK!!!
Robin spit blood, gasping.
SLAM!!!
Slug pushed him back down into the ground of the trench. He sneered…chuckled…and reached his fingers up towards the Boy Wonder's face. "Heh heh heh heh…."
Robin gritted red teeth. He reached into his utility belt. He pulled out a sharp birdarang that glinted in the sunlight.
Slug hissed: "Why don't we see….what's underneath that mask of yours??" His fingers slid to the corners of Robin's diguise. "I love to see the fear in the eyes of those I kill."
Robin muttered: "At least I have eyes, bastard."
SNKKT!!
Robin extended the sharp wings of the birdarang, lifted it, and jammed it into Slug's right socket.
CHUNK!!!
"AAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!!!" Slug stood up, clutching the projectile stuck in his sparking face.
Robin shouted and swept Slug's ankle out from under him with a kick.
WHAP!!!
The skewered android topple back.
Robin jumped up, raised his fist, and started pummeling the cybernetic fiend with uppercuts, high kicks, jabs and screaming punches.
WHAM!! WHACK!!! SLAM!!! THWACK!!
In the meantime, Raven stirred and sat up.
She looked at the fight. She looked at the missile. She started dragging herself over towards the streamer.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!
P-P-P-PING!!!
Bullets from the advancing line of hypnotized citizens deflected all around the trench.
Robin and Slug exchanged strikes and brawling punches. They grappled and wrestled and twisted and turned inside the trench. All the while, the thick sea of green-eyed fiends marched in a blurred line of massive obscurity behind them and beneath the reddening sky.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
The Lieutenant hobbled across the courtyard, wincing, clutching his bleeding leg.
He wearily looked past the wrestling Starfire and Reload…past the fighting Slug and Robin…and took in the solid line of green-eyed soldiers.
"……"
He panted.
His face slowly melting into a frown.
Hissing through his teeth.
Suddenly, Abbey wandered over. "S-Sir!! Let's go!! This is not our fight! Besides, you're injured!!"
Without looking, the Lieutenant growled: "The kids!! Where are they—"
"Chapman's with them, sir. They're safe under the highway. Come on!! Come with me!!"
The Lieutenant shook him off. "Rrgghhh….Decker wouldn't run away…."
"The Commissioner is dead, sir!!!"
"Exactly my point….," the Lieutenant hyperventilated. He limped towards the crowd. He reloaded his AK-47. "Any minute now…the Titans will be swallowed up…."
"Wh-What should we do, sir??"
The Lieutenant muttered. "This….." TWHOOOSH!!! He aimed his gun up. "BACK THE HELL OFF YOUR GOD DAMN SONS OF A BITCHES!!!!!" RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!!
The Lieutenant marched towards the crowd, firing.
Abbey sweatdropped, reloaded his shotgun, pumped it, and marched alongside the Lieutenant….firing.
BL-BLAM!! BLAM!!!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
The two officers did their best to fire warning shots at the green-eyed people's feet.
The 'soldiers' jumped back, screaming.
But as soon as a few of them lurched forward with guns raised--
The Lieutenant aimed.
Abbey aimed.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!
BLAM!!!
Red splotches.
Three people fell.
A surge of flesh drew back, snarling.
Others ran forward…only to fall.
The Lieutenant and the officer used up their ammo, gradually.
All the while, holding the surging crowd at bay.
As….
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
THWACK!!! Robin slammed his fist across Slug's cheek. Then uppercutted him. "YAAAH!!!" WHAM!!!
Slug stumbled back, the birdarang still stuck in his face.
Robin charged.
Slug grunted and backhanded the Boy Wonder.
WHAM!!!
Robin tilted back.
GRIP!!!
Slug yanked the Boy Wonder back by his cape, twirled him around, got a firm, titanium hold of his shoulder, opened his mouth, and bit in. CRKKKK!!! Drawing blood…..
"NnnnghhAAAAAH!!!" Robin screamed. He snarled and slammed his other elbow into Slug's face.
CRACK!!!!
The birdarang snapped out with a few airborne drops of blood.
Slug shuddered and stumbled back.
Robin limped aside, clutching his bleeding shoulder.
Slug spun around, whipped out his shotgun, and came about with it aimed at Robin. "An eye for an eye, Mr. Titan…or in this case a rib cage."
Robin tensed.
Slug pulled at the trigger-
"Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS!!!"
A wave of black-charged debris slammed into Slug. WHAM!!!!
The android fell.
Robin looked over.
Raven held the missile in one hand, her other fingers pressed to her tight temples…
SWOOOSH-WHUMP!!! Slug landed hard.
His shotgun landed hard on the ground.
It fired blindly.
BL-BLAM!!!!
Two hypercharged shots sailed out through the air, burned towards the highway overpass, and exploded through two pillars on either side of the concrete bridge.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
CRACK!!!!
CR-CRACK!!!!
The pillars shattered completely and collapsed.
The concrete overhang groaned.
Ashley and Greg gasped.
They looked over head.
So did Lisa and officer Chapman.
Cracks formed in the highway's belly. Dust and concrete snow fluttered down.
"It's going to c-collapse….," Lisa shuddered.
Chapman grabbed her and one of the children. "MOVE!!!"
CRKKKKKKKK!!!!!
The bridge collapsed.
The four ran towards the courtyard.
CRAAAAASH!!!!
The earth shook as a solid section of Highway road slapped down like a falling lever and slammed just at their heels.
They gasped.
They tumbled.
And when they finished tumbling, they realized they were only three.
Ashley, Greg, and officer Chapman.
"L-Lisa??" Ashley murmured. "Wh-Where's Lisa??"
"LOOK!!" Greg panted.
Chapman glanced aside. "!!!!" he ran over.
The two children followed him.
They knelt by Lisa.
She lay—twitching and wincing—under a pile of heavy debris at the lip of the collapsed highway.
"L-Lisa!!!" Ashley panted. She clutched Lisa's wrist. "Oh God, Lisa…n-no!!!"
"Do you feel any pain??" Chapman uttered.
"Besides my ego??" the one-eyed girl grunted. "I'm not crushed. I'm just stuck."
"Stuck??"
"Stuck like Hell!! I'm STUCK, OKAY?!?!"
Greg and Ashley tugged at her. "We gotta get you out!!"
"Ow…..OW!!!" Lisa batted them away. "It's not that easy!! I can't frickin' move—"
GROANNNN!!!
"…………," they all blinked.
GROANNN-NNNN!!!
They all glanced up.
Ashley gasped.
On the very edge of where the highway cracked dipped down, there rested a jackknifed petroleum semi-truck. Its cylindrical, aluminum body glinted reflectively in the red of the sunset. It was multiple tons and full of volatile fuel. And it was starting to lean, shift, and tilt down the ramp-like incline of collapsed highway.
GROAAAAANNN!!
"Well….," Lisa muttered. "That's certainly cute…."
The two adolescents gasped. They tugged harder at Lisa. "Come on!!!"
"Move!! Move!!!"
"We gotta get you out!!!"
GROANNN!!!
"Over!! Over!!" Chapman brushed the kids aside and grabbed Lisa's shoulders from behind. "Exhale!!!!"
Lisa breathed out. Her chest and tummy flatted beneath the debris.
Chapman pulled. He gripped lower on her torso. He pulled again. He strained.
GROANNN-NNNN!!!
The truck shifted over a bit.
Sparks flew.
Its wheels dangled.
"You can't move me….," Lisa stammered.
Chapman strained. "Just work with me!! Exhale and—"
"I said you CAN'T MOVE ME!!!" Lisa snarled.
GROAN!!!
The grill tilted down.
The tank trailer upended.
The truck pivoted and…
Began to slide.
SCRAAAAAAAPE!!!
"Get them out of here!!" Lisa slapped at the kids' feet. "Save them!! Save them!!!"
Chapman panted.
"GO!!!!"
The officer bit his lip, grabbed Ashley and Greg tightly by their upper arms, and dragged them away from the site of the collapse.
The kids screamed and reached out towards Lisa, tears streaming.
Lisa struggled and shook on her own in a last ditch effort to loosen herself.
And the semi truck came barreling down.
CRUNCH!!!
SCRAAAAA-AAAAA-AAAAAPE!!!
Lisa strained.
Sparks flew.
The whole concrete slab shook.
SCRAAAAAAAPE!!!
Lisa looked up.
She froze.
A glossy look in her one eye that quickly dried. As the sliding tank enveloped her vision, she shuddered and lay back: "Alan…you're a real dork….but I gotta say it…..I love you……"
SCRAAAAAAAPE!!!!
The truck was upon her.
She closed her eyes.
SWOOOOOOSH!!!!
Smoking hands seized her shoulders.
GRIP!!!!
Her eye popped open.
I panted.
My black shades moist with seat.
I snarled mutely, concentrated murk, and—
CRUNNNNCH!!!
--teleported the two of us a few feet away, upon which I cradled her in my arms and blurred into the courtyard.
The tanker behind us crashed—
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!
Officer Chapman, Ashley, and Greg stood shakily aside as I walked over, stopped, and placed Lisa gently down on her feet.
"Nnngh…," she rubbed her head. "Well…that's one more fantasy fulfilled." She smiled wearily at me. "Hello, you."
"……," I simpered at her.
"Hey? Is that a new scar? It looks kinda se—"
I looked over her shoulder. "!!!!" I shoved her to the ground.
"ACKIES!!!" THWUMP!!
I suddenly twirled Myrkblade. TH-TH-TH-THWISH!!!
CL-CL-CL-CL-CLANG!!!! I deflected a heavy stream of high caliber bullets from—
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!
Reload was firing my way, bruised and angry.
Starfire was flying away from her, flinging starbolts back at the android. FL-FL-FL-FLASH!!!!
Reload ducked, dodged, and kept firing.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
Bullets flew all around me and Starfire.
The Tamaranian twirled in mid-flight, grabbed the children, and yanked them safely behind a mound of debris.
I grabbed Lisa and dragger her over to the 'shielding' earth as well.
Officer Chapman backed up, firing a pistol. BLAM!! BLAM!! BLAM!!!
We all hid behind the debris, shielding ourselves.
P-P-P-PING!!!
CL-CLANK!!!!
The kids winced and clung to Starfire and Lisa respectfully.
I gripped Myrkblade, panting.
Officer Chapman reloaded his weapon and Starfire gulped.
"The gunswoman is surprisingly resilient!!"
P-P-PING!!!
Lisa shuddered: "Does the redhead always have a penchant for stating the obvious?"
Starfire glanced at her curiously.
I glanced over the mound.
I saw the flames of the collapsed highway truck. I eyed the Lieutenant and Abbey holding the surging crowd at bay. I saw Robin and Slug duking it out. Raven with a missile…
"……"
I turned to Starfire and whistled shrilly.
She looked at me, emerald eyes blinking.
I gestured 'running feet' and held my other hand flat over it. I mouthed: 'Cover me'.
The Tamaranian nodded, she charged a starbolt.
Chapman had his pistol ready.
I took a deep breath.
Don't ever think.
Just……
Blur.
SWOOOOOOSH!!!!
I blurred over and ran a streak of murk along the collapsed side of Phaser Labs.
Starfire and Chapman peaked over the mound of rubble and unleashed bulletfire and starbolts.
FL-FLASH!!! FLASH!!! FLASH!!!
BLAM!! BL-BLAM!!! BLAM!!
Reload ducked and produced a metal shield from bare hands, using it to block the projectiles.
In the meantime, I ran around the perimeter of her blind spot and towards the trench of rubble behind the android…
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Nnngh!!!" Robin side-kicked Slug.
Slug blocked with a metal forearm and raised his knee.
WHAP!!! Robin was struck in the chin. He hobbled backwards.
"RAAUGH!!" Slug dashed forward with a fist.
WHAM!!
He started punching, pushing, and knocking the hapless Boy Wonder back.
In the meantime, a weak Raven gripped the missile to her chest.
Panting.
She glanced at it.
Two minutes thirty seconds.
"H-Hey Rae!!!"
"???" she glanced up.
A green elf was perched atop a pile of debris beside her. He had his arms outstretched. "I'm wide open!!"
Raven nodded. With an added boost of telekinesis, she tossed the concussion streamer at him. "Nnngh!!!"
FWOOOOSH!!
CLUTCH!!!
Beast Boy hugged it to his chest, took a deep breath, and took off into the air as a pterodactyl and soared up into the reddening sky.
Bullets and projectiles from the surging crowd flew up at him.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!
He twirled and spiraled upward in the air, dodging their attack.
"…..," Raven gulped. She glanced down--
WHAM!!!! Robin's body ragdolled into her.
"Ooomph!!!" the two collapsed.
CL-CLICK!!!
Slug panted, bled, and aimed his revolver down at their figures.
"Killing two birds with one slug…," he spat.
SWOOOOOOSH!!!!
Kill this.
CLANG!!!! Myrkblade flew across his metal skull as I dove in.
"AUGH!!!" he stumbled back.
I snarled mutely and slashed, hacked, and swung into him with all my might.
CLANK!!! CLANK!!! CLANG!!! THWACK!!
Robin and Raven stumbled up as I took the battle across the courtyard.
"Where's Beast Boy??"
"Armed and ready….," Raven shuddered…sweating.
Suddenly, two bodies fell into the trench.
Robin and Raven jumped.
"…..," the Lieutenant panted, wincing. He leaned on Abbey who supported him by the shoulder. "We're out of ammo."
"Meaning?" Robin's eyemask thinned.
The Lieutenant gulped. "Th-They're coming."
"……"
"REDDDD!!!!"
Raven gasped.
Robin glanced over the mound at the stomping feet of the incoming horde. "MOVE!!!!"
He pulled at Raven and dragged her out of the trench and across the courtyard.
Officer Abbey tugged a limping Lieutenant.
The surging crowd of green-eyed madmen clamored at their heels.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Beast Boy's leathery wings flapped…flapped…and flapped.
His pterodactyl head angled itself agilely against the cold wind of the broken autumn night.
His specked eyes blinked.
He glanced down, beak fidgeting.
The missile glinted from red sunlight in his talons.
One minute thirty seconds.
"Skriiiii!!!"
The changeling looked up straight again and carried itself higher…faster….
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Robin and Raven and the Lieutenant and Abbey ran across the front of the collapsed lab.
Starbolts and gunfire flew overhead.
Reload stumbled back, grunting. She glanced right and looked at them. She snarled and re-aimed her wrist guns.
"Look out!!!" Lisa shouted from the sidelines.
Raven's forehead tensed. Her eyes clenched shut.
FLASH!!!!
A black shield formed.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
Reload's bullets splashed against the energy barricade.
Robin grunted and dove himself and Raven aside.
Abbey and the Lieutenant followed.
They all huddled behind a giant, concrete bulkhead.
Reload snarled and ate into the frame with heated, ravaging bullets.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
CL-CL-CL-CLANG!!!
PING!!! PING!!!
Robin jerked up and tossed a birdarang from behind the bulkhead with a grunt.
TH-TH-TH-TH-TH-THWISH!!!
"HAAAH!!!" Reload produced a blade in her left palm and severed the birdarang.
CLACK!!!
She aimed with her right hand and kept firing.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!
In the meantime, I duked it out with Slug. Sweating hard. Swinging Myrkblade.
SW-SWISH!!!
CLANG!!! He deflected with his metal forearm. Sparks flew.
He snarled, twirled his revolver, and aimed it into my skull. CL-CLICK!!!
I gasped and ducked--
BLAM!!!!
A hole formed in the distant debris of Phaser Labs.
I rammed his chest with my shoulder.
He stumbled back.
I jumped, spun, and slapped Myrkblade across his face twice.
CL-CLACK!!!!
He stumbled, dizzy.
I landed, gasped, and jabbed/slashed/struck at him mercilessly.
All the while, the advancing wall of green-eyed cretins filled the peripheral of my black eyes….
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
The urban world below spun like the altitude meter of a plane.
From a distance it resembled the face of some volcanic island.
Plumes of smoke rose from a dozen places.
A red city under a red sky.
Ambient in its complex horror.
And yet…
Silent….
…..
High above, a green streak soared.
Beast Boy took a deep breath. Wings flapping. He looked down at the missile once more.
Fifteen seconds……
He held his breath, Flipped. Tossed the streamer up with gnarled talons, morphed into a green elf, straightened his body, and plummeted…plummeted…plummeted…..
Down.
And the streamer….
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
The crowd marched upon us.
Reload aimed at Raven's and Robin's forehead.
Slug shoved me back and pointed the revolver into my chest.
Breaths left.
Triggers pulled.
Screams—
VROMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!
From above……
VRRRRRROMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The sky shook.
Our foreheads vibrated….our ears quivered.
The sane ones among us merely winced.
Reload and Slug froze altogether.
But the green-eyed 'soldiers'…..
"REDDDDDDD!!!!!" they howled in one last, bloody warcry.
They clutched their skulls.
They twitched.
They writhed and danced about in dramatic pain.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
On the rooftops bordering Bayside Plaza…
A throng of men dropped their shotguns and clutched their heads.
Screaming.
Falling down to the surfaces of the roof.
Twitching and exhaling.
Hissing.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
They fell down in the hallways leading down into the Central Bank.
A line of guards and policemen with guns lowered their smoking weapons and watched.
Blinking in shock.
The green-eyed thugs writhed and screamed on the floor.
The innocent civilians hiding within the vaults en masse started to breathe easier….curious….mesmerized….
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Thugs rolled on the ground beneath the L-Train tracks in the northeast.
They collapsed in front of store fronts.
Alleyways.
Burnt vehicles.
And slowly…gradually….
With deflating sighs….
The flaring green left their eyes.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
FWOOMP!!!
Almost as one solid wave, the marching horde collapsed outside the courtyard of Phaser Labs.
Reload and Slug remained standing.
But something was not quite right.
The vibration from the concussion streamer was affecting them too.
But only partially.
The blue glow of their titanium plating flickered.
On.
Off.
On.
Off.
They twitched and cringed.
The drunken smiles left.
And in their places were faces sheen with sweat.
Panting.
Long and sad.
Panic-stricken.
Reload shook all over. Her chocolate eyes wide.
Slug quivered. Bleeding. Bruised.
"……..," I stared at him.
He shook again. The blue faded.
I stepped towards him….
The blue returned.
His body jerked.
"!!!!" I swung with Myrkblade--
CLANK!!! He deflected with his fist and then slapped me hard. "NNNGH!!!"
WHAM!!!
I stumbled to my knees.
CL-CLICK!!! He aimed the revolver at my forehead.
I panted.
His blue light flickered.
He fumbled…he twitched.
Breathing hard.
Sweating.
Fear in his face.
And yet his finger twitched at the trigger.
"……," and so I remained on my knees.
Helpless.
Raven and Robin watched from afar, frozen solid.
The Lieutenant and Abbey were speechless.
"Nnngh…..Nnnngh….," Reload shook all over. The blue flickered across her features. "I….I….."
Starfire called out to her. "Concentrate, Miss Mendez!! Do not submit to the electronic perversion of your circuitry!!"
Reload's eyes flew wide. She growled with a sudden blue vigor and fired at Starfire's wall of debris.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!
Starfire ducked swiftly besides Lisa and Chapman as bullets ricocheted off the mound.
P-P-PING!!!
Reload shook and shivered. The blue flickering.
"I…I-I can't control it!! I'm….I-I'm reverting!!!"
"Concentrate!!" Raven uttered loudly, sweating. "Focus on your true personalities!!! Find your center—"
"These ARE our t-true personalities!!" Slug strained, aiming his gun at my forehead.
"……..," I stared up at him.
Slug shook all over. The blue light flickering. "R-Red……it must be all Red!! This City….the sky….the earth!! It m-must bleed!!"
"Why?!?!" Robin shouted. "Fight it!! You are yourselves!! Don't be Dagger's puppets!!!"
"Nnnngh!!!" Reload shook all over. "Dios me ayuda!! No puedo controlarlo!!!" Her trembling hands flicked to the side and started to spark. Two sharp blades formed in them.
Starfire gasped. "Miss Mendez!! Cease and desist!!!"
Tears streamed down the woman's face. She struggled. She stuttered.
SWOOOOOOSH!!!
CHIIII-IIIING!!!!
SLIIINK!!!
Starfire shuddered.
Lisa blinked.
"……….," Reload fell to her knees. The blades stuck out of her neck. She collapsed wetly onto the courtyard ground.
"Nnnnngh….," Slug shook. Panting. Flickering blue beneath his titanium plates. "R-Rachel……R-Rachel……."
"………," I stared up at him.
A flash of blue.
His nostrils flared.
GRIP!!!
He grabbed a handful of my long, black hair.
I winced. I looked up at him.
PLANT!!
He pressed the gun between the lenses of my black shades.
He sweated bullets.
He twitched his finger around the trigger.
The blue light stated to take control over him.
Jean-Luc fought Slug.
He shook.
He hissed: ….."
I breathed slowly. I stared at him.
And something in his remaining eye flared.
A blue light.
I exhaled.
BLAM!!!!!!!
A crater formed between us.
Slug's smoking gun was lowered.
For a split second, the blue light faded completely as he leaned forward with a face of horror and earnestly shouted: "Now, Titan!! Do it now!! DO IT NOW!!!!"
My black eyes widened.
The blue light started to return.
CHIIIIIIIING!!!!
I raised Myrkblade.
SL-SLASH!!!
THWACK!!!!!!
Slug's head came off.
I held my sword up high from where I knelt.
Panting….panting….panting….
"……," Slug's body fell back. THWUMP!!! And was still forever more.
I didn't even bother looking at the rolling skull.
A collective shudder fell through the bodies of the Titans and officers in hiding. They stood up on wobbly knees as an eerie silence fell over the City from all over.
The gunshots had ceased.
The explosions had ceased.
The autumn air returned to its chill over the red-stained earth.
"……," I stood up. Gripping to Myrkblade. I exhaled. I turned around.
SWOOOOSH!!! Beast Boy landed, morphed into an elf, and shoved me with a snarl.
WHUMP!!!
I stumbled back. I looked at the changeling.
Beast Boy shook, frowning. "Did you have to do it?!?! Huh?!?! Did you have to freakin' kill him when he asked?!?!!?"
"……………"
"Hasn't the day been full enough with murders as it is?!?!" the elf squealed. He hugged himself and backed off, shaking. "H-Hasn't there been enough blood…enough chaos….enough d-death??" He ran a hand over his face and shuddered. His voice shook: "God….why? Why….why….why……?"
"…………..," I merely stared down. Silent.
Robin drifted over on lead feet. His skin was bruised and cut in a dozen places—much like mine. His cape and costume was tattered from head to toe.
Raven hovered above the wreckage of Phaser Labs. Looking dazed. The meditative calmness sucked out of her. Tired blue eyes gazed through a mess of disheveled blue locks. Her robe was missing, and she merely hung in the air by a ripped and wrinkled leotard.
Starfire wandered out, slightly limping. Her two-piece shredded at the edges. Her bandage still hugging her shoulder. She gazed across the smoking, cratered landscape and highway underside with wet green eyes. Her lips were pursed.
Chapman wandered over by Abbey's and the Lieutenant's side. The late Commissioner's subordinate clutched a bleeding leg, wincing.
Lisa walked out, her arms draped protectively over the shivering shoulders of Ashley and Greg.
The two children looked out pensively….until they unanimously saw something, gasped, and ran over.
"D-Dad??"
"Daddy!!!"
Lisa gasped. He reached out for them. "H-Hey!! Wait!! Don't—"
But as they ran up to Howard Knight, the man was already sitting up along with a dozen other former thugs. He was dazed and….innocent.
"Nnngh….k-kids???"
They all but tackled him.
"P-Please say your back to normal, Daddy!"
"Please….."
He held them close, gazing dazedly across the courtyard. "Gladys….she………I…….," he gazed down.
A baseball bat lay beside him….stained red.
His lips quivered. "Jesus…..wh-what have I done??" Tears welled up in his brown eyes. "What have I d-done…."
He began to sob.
Ashley and Greg held him tightly….the last shred of sanity.
He clutched onto them and rocked side to side.
Lisa covered her mouth and stared down at the floor. Gazing away with her one eye.
The people—returned to sentience—stood up and started wandering around numbly. Panting. Panicked. Some mumbling incoherently. Others cursing. Others calling out for loved ones by name….
Beast Boy suffered from a chill. He sat down and hugged his knees…seeming to disappear.
Robin gazed at the people. The red sky. The dying day. His gloved fists clenched. He muttered: "Dagger….is this the City you built???"
A beat.
He sighed. He turned and started to march across the courtyard. "Titans!! Assemble!! We need to---" He froze in his steps.
"…………," the Messenger stared.
I looked up. My lips parted.
Starfire held her hands together.
Raven watched from afar.
"…………….," Robin stared back.
The Messenger gazed at him. Endlessly. Deadpan.
And as he stood there…so suddenly and haunting…….in his immaculate green sweatjacket and stone-gray pants……his face youthful and his black hair highlighted green….
There was not a single taste of pride.
Or smug scorn.
Or anything clinging to the condescending authority of a prophet or sage.
The Messenger merely stared at the Boy Wonder…willing to absorb any and all poison that certainly existed from the refuse of that dying day.
And Robin frowned. And his fists shook. And, with a heated exhalation, he turned his tattered, caped back to the ghostly teen.
The Messenger took a deep breath. Calmly, he said: "Robin, it's never too late to buy those flowers—"
SWOOOOSH—WHAM!!!! Robin punched the Messenger hard across the face.
I started.
WHUMP!!! The Messenger landed hard. He winced…but not like he was surprised…and he touched his hand to his bruised cheek.
Robin seethed, glaring down at him. "This is not your City…..," he gestured and shouted. "This is not YOUR BLOOD!!!!"
"………."
Robin pointed as he leaned forward. "GO BACK TO YOUR 'HOME'!!!!! LEAVE US!!!!"
"………."
Robin fumed. He marched across the courtyard.
"R-Robin….," Starfire floated over with a hand outstretched.
"Nnngh!!!" Robin shoved the Tamaranian girl away.
Starfire recoiled.
The Boy Wonder pointed and spat: "This is not over!!! This day!! This Hell!! NONE OF IT IS OVER!!!!"
"……," the Messenger watched.
I watched.
Raven watched.
Beast Boy's eyes were clenched shut, hugging his knees to himself.
Robin walked off into the smoldering background.
Starfire hugged a hand to her lips and clenched her eyes shut. She shuddered alone, and with a hiccup or two…the green tears started to stream down her face.
Silence.
Everyone seemed to have parted from each other…mentally, at least.
I knelt down slowly besides the Messenger.
He casually hugged one knee and stared up at the sky from the exact same position he fell from Robin's fist.
"'Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert'," the Messenger calmly uttered. "'And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes'."
I leaned my head to the side. Curiously. Gazing at him.
He looked at me with a soft smile.
"Isaiah. He had a lot to ramble on about in the Bible. Gotta hand it to those Hebrew Prophets. They're like the Jedi of Torah…or Old Testament. Whichever you prefer."
"…….," I blinked.
The Messenger sighed. His almond eyes stared through me. "This City has burned an awful lot today. And the Earth has bled its fill. But the sky need not turn red. Not so easily, Noir."
I looked away. Exhaling.
He said: "You may find this hard to believe…but I have not…and I shall not turn my back on the Titans. I care too damned much for this universe to do so…"
A beat.
"Do you remember the sound, Noir? Even now?"
I shrugged.
"Let it ever echo in your ears like the voice you lost so many years ago….," he said whisperingly. "Because my throat won't always be around to donate it to you." He stood up and dug his hands into his sweat jacket's pocket. "But then again….something tells me….you're quite used to working a lot on your own."
I raised an eyebrow.
Are you ever NOT cryptic?
He winked. "Try smiling soon, Noir. I promise you. It may be a week. It may be a month. But eventually….things will come full circle. Full circle….in the way you would wish it."
And in a flash of green.
He was gone.
I blinked.
I looked through him.
And I noticed Raven was missing.
It took half a minute for me to realize that she was hovering over the smoldering pile of Phaser Labs….frantically scraping and digging into the mass with black talons of energy.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
The ambulance purred to a stop at the hospital entrance.
Paramedics hopped out.
They hurried to the rear of the vehicle and tore the doors open.
In the meantime, cops and citizens alike were slowly pouring out of the hospital gates and peering out onto the silent city.
Their mouths were gape.
Eyes were mixed with fear and awe.
Lindsay jumped out the back of the ambulance. At bearing witness to the silence, she too froze. "…….," she gazed up at the sky. Her lips parted.
The paramedics in the meantime rolled out a stretcher with Tempest lying on it.
The Atlantean groaned and twitched on the movable cot, his leg bandaged and staining red.
"T-Tempest….," Lindsay murmured. "The fighting. The battles…th-they've stopped."
Tempest murmured something into his oxygen mask.
"????" Lindsay turned to him.
He murmured again.
She leaned down, her ear by his gilled neck. "Wh-What??"
He turned to her.
He softly exhaled.
"The sky……it is red……"
"……," she looked up.
Her pupils dilated.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Officers, surviving lab technicians, and sane citizens had burrowed their way into Phaser Labs. With streaming flashlights, they swept the areas of the half-collapsed interior. Medics rushed to the aide of bleeding workers and injured guards. Oxygen masks and first aid kits were applied. Men and women called for backup. Radios squabbled. The inner workings of an active City slowly clicked back into normal operation as the rescues went underway.
Raven was at the front of the spelunking pack.
She formed carving instruments of black energy that bore at the rubble and caved-in hallways.
A ready set of rescue workers hovered behind her with tools and flashlights.
Raven tore them through room after room. Corridor after corridor. Zeroing in on one location.
One location in her mind.
And when they reached the laboratory….
"Oh my god……"
"The place is still standing!!"
"Everyone…get ready!!!"
Beast Boy ran up from behind Raven, panting. He looked up at the dark girl.
Raven concentrated….meditated….chanted….and unleashed a wave of force.
FLAAAASH!!!!
She raised the collapsed ceiling.
She shoved the debris out of the doorframe.
And she opened the hallway into the spacious lab.
"Go!"
The men and women rushed in with flashlights.
Beast Boy too.
Slowly….Raven floated in.
Her violet eyes gazed across the room.
At the glinting effects of flashlight streams.
The shattered, charred computer consoles.
The bloody, bullet-riddled bodies in the corner.
And then.
The table….
Raven's lips parted.
"Azar….."
Cyborg lay.
On the bed.
His left metal arm still missing.
His titanium body just as scarred as before.
And yet.
No new scars.
No new scorch marks.
No damage added whatsoever.
And as Raven floated over towards him….
The android stirred.
"Nnnngh….," his chocolate brown human eye opened. He looked over at Raven. "R-Raven?? What….what happened?"
Silence.
Cyborg wheezed: "Slug and Reload…th-they went ballistic. I think Dagger was controlling them and…..R-Raven?"
Raven was biting her lip. Tears were streaming down her face.
And Cyborg's expression contorted. "Rae?? A-Are you….Are you crying???"
Raven sniffed. She hung her head. "How….H-How could you possibly….possibly be in one p-piece??"
Cyborg swallowed a lump down his throat. He simpered. "M-Miracles happen, cutie. Like…..like those tears for instance…."
She shuddered. She sniffed. Her face was still wet.
The weak android uttered: "Raven….are you sure that—"
"Let me cry, Cyborg…..l-let me cry….," she shuddered. She looked up at him. She droned: "My father has had his way with the world enough as it is today. In this City. With these people." She took a breath and quiveringly said: "There's nothing I can fear from him….at this moment…….so pl-please…." She leaned over and draped her face across his in-tact shoulder. She muttered: "L-Let me cry…..after this whole day….please….just l-l-let me cry….."
Cyborg took a deep breath. With his one arm, he stroked his metal fingers through her hair. "I'm here, Raven. Do whatever you want. Do whatever y-you want. I won't ever leave you again…."
She shuddered against him….and was silent.
Cyborg slowly closed his human eye.
And then….
From the other side of the room.
Beast Boy wailed.
"Nooooo!!!!!!"
A breath.
A deep breath.
"Noooo-ooo-ooo-oooo….," Beast Boy's voice wavered and sobbed.
Cyborg's lips parted. He strained to look over and see…..
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Robin sat on some lone rooftop.
Overlooking the smoldering plumes of the City.
Rising.
Dotting the landscape.
The urban sprawl was black, save for wandering lights like fireflies dotting the dark streets of the falling evening.
The menace of Dagger was dwindling. And in the cold silence that followed, people were rising up from the shadowed hiding places to inspect the ruins…rescue the wounded….do away with the dead and dying.
I'm not sure if Robin was aware of my arrival.
But I walked gently and stood behind him.
The world was darkening.
So I took my shades off.
And I gazed with naked black eyes at the back of Robin.
The little boy in the tattered suit.
His shoulders shook and he spoke with betraying firmness without so much as gazing at me: "Nobody…up until that point in my life…had ever called me 'Robin' with such intensity…."
"……???" I leaned my head to the side.
The Boy Wonder hugged his knees. A less-than-flattering stature for the brave icon of heroism. He knew I was watching…and he didn't care.
"Right when Clayface consumed her…..," Robin murmured. "….she called out to me. It was so….ecstatically loving and horrifically desperate all at once. Like….like a firecracker going off in the throat of a newborn kitten. I never felt so sick and yet so liberated in all my life. She saved me…and at the same time…she killed me…."
"……………..," I listened in silence.
Something in Robin's posture iced away into cold steel firmness. A touch of venom laced his words. "This City groans to me in the same fleeting voice. I hear my name in the cries and the sobs for loved ones. I smell it in the burnt air. Something has died and flown away all at once….and I feel like I did that very moment Clayface showed me what murder truly was when I was barely thirteen. I had failed. I had shown myself to be weak…imperfect….susceptible to loss and defeat."
A beat.
Robin slowly stood up, limbs shaking. Fists…..
"I failed this City….," the Boy Wonder muttered coldly. "We failed this City. The Titans failed. It's the damn red sky of Gotham all over again. I cannot escape it this time. And heaven help me…I have no idea what the Hell I'm going to do…."
I narrowed my black eyes. I sighed through my nostrils.
I knew by coming out West here that I couldn't escape it either, Robin.
But some of us know better than to outrun death.
I clenched my metal fingers.
A cold shiver ran up my limb.
Rrrrred Aviarrrry……
My teeth clenched.
Some of us have death living inside of us………
Robin's communicator chimed suddenly.
We both glanced a tit.
The Boy Wonder flipped it open with a dull sound. He ignored it. "Robin here. What is it?"
The voice on the other line hesitated. And when it came through, it was like a rusty, swinging saw.
"This is Beast Boy. Come to Phaser Labs."
"Phaser Labs??"
"D-Deep in the place Simon Stone worked. You……I-I want you to see this, Robin. WE want you to see this."
"What is it? What's so important?"
"……………"
"Beast Boy??"
"They took her, Robin!!!" the voice spat through the electronic feed.
Robin's eyemask narrowed. "Who??"
"Who do you think???" And the changeling's voice sobbed into a crackling sensation as the communication was cut.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Monday.
November 4, 2004.
7:37 pm.
The City.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
The world was a numb, dark place as Robin and Starfire walked through the courtyard to Phaser Labs.
The streets were filled with people.
Desperate, urgent people.
They ran left and right and shouted commands as they provided first aid to the wounded…the once-thugs….the victims.
A heavy cluster was at Phaser Labs.
Working under an impromptu erection of floodlamps.
They formed a line of men and women tossing debris in large, plastic buckets up and away from the crumbling crater of a building.
A rough tunnel led to the collapsed hallways beneath.
Starfire and Robin gradually marched down and inside.
"This City was founded on blood, Robin……," Dagger said. "And today, it shall be redeemed by blood."
The Tamaranian and the caped crusader strolled down the hallway. Flashlights were propped on top of empty first aid boxes and served as nighlights.
The two heroes had to make way for rescue workers and lab assistants rushing up and down the thing passageways.
Robin and Starfire remained affixed on a lit laboratory at the end of the dark hallway far down the line.
"I only want back that which was mine. That's what Triangular was made for. We regain that which was lost since the last time the Balance of Morals was challenged."
Raven and Cyborg hobbled down the hallway. Leaning against each other.
Cyborg weakly looked up, temporary skeletal limbs of metal replacing his missing titanium parts.
At the sight of Robin and Starfire, the two hung their heads. They turned and headed into a crowded infirmary.
Starfire turned and watched them pensively.
Robin kept gazing forward.
His brow furrowed.
Walking.
"This pretty world of ours must turn crimson some way or another. And for the sky to turn red……The Earth must bleed. I've got a lot of carving to do, you see."
Robin and Starfire entered the laboratory.
They paused.
They gazed around.
A circle of lights had been set up.
Streams of illumination shimmered through the settling dust and crumbling ashes of the partially collapsed ceiling.
And they all aimed at one spot.
And besides the spot, was a squatting Beast Boy.
Bent over.
His face in his hands.
Shaking.
Sobbing.
"What will it be, Robin? The hand or the dagger? It matters little which choice. The sky will turn red. The Earth shall bleed. Triangular will reclaim its precious meat."
Starfire floated….landed besides Beast Boy….then knelt at his side. She rested a gentle hand on his shaking shoulder.
Beast Boy merely sobbed louder, his agonized wails filtering through the halls of the bloodied chamber.
He was 'facing' something.
Starfire gazed up at where the lights converged.
And she gasped.
An amber hand clamped over her lips.
She shuddered.
And then….
Green tears flowed.
She shook her head in disbelief.
She gently hugged Beast Boy…and the two shook together.
Robin was silent. He walked past the crying Titans.
He stood before the convergence of lights.
His gloved fists clenched.
And he stared.
"I want the earth, Robin. And only the earth. Red Aviary can have the harvest. What's important to realize is…the harvest is only temporary. The earth may bleed and bleed forever……but there is always stone to be claimed."
Where the lights converged…there was a shattered transparent sheath of plastic.
A pedestal rested naked.
Flowers were scattered by the stalks and petals across the metal circle.
And Terra….
Terra was gone.