247. Break the Circle part 7
T-T-T-T-T-T-
T-T-T-T-T-T-
T-T-T-T-T-T-
'Apprentice. Did you steal the thermal blaster?'
"……………"
'Apprentice, you will answer me………'
"Yes…."
'Yes, what?'
"Yes, I stole the thermal blaster."
'And the Titans? Did they interfere?'
"Not until the end."
'Did you engage them like I ordered you to?'
"There was no need. I had my escape route. I left the scene without getting either myself or any of the Titans injured."
'………………'
"I got what I came for, Slade. I'm returning t-to your lair with the thermal blaster."
'You got only half of what you were sent for.'
"………….."
'No matter. This was only your first night, Apprentice. I shall make a soldier out of you yet.'
"Don't count on it."
'Hmmm……we'll see how long that attitude of yours lasts when we meet again in person. Come home, Robin. You have two hours. If you're so much as a half-minute late……your 'friends' will feel it.'
"……………"
'Is that understood, apprentice?'
"Yes, Slade."
'Good. And apprentice? Have a pleasant evening………You'll be needing the strength for the coming day of assignments I have for you.'
BLIP!
"………………," Robin stood perched on the rooftop edge of a metalworks factory in the City's northeast district.
In the center of the industrial smog and metal cobwebs, the 'Apprentice' blended in perfectly with his outfit of slate metal mesh….black and brown….
He lowered his left hand from cupping the communicator in his ear.
He took a deep breath, his sharp eyemask narrowing.
His left hand clenched into a tight fist.
His right held up the thermal blaster.
"……….."
He glanced down beyond the rooftop edge beneath his iron-buckled boots.
The bubbling, red liquid of melted metal warbled inside huge vats and thick-iron bowls.
Buckets of the steaming stuff traveled loudly…..jaggedly on quivering chains and conveyor mechanisms.
Robin considered with great fervor tossing the thermal blaster down into the consuming mire.
But he stopped in mid-toss of the device when the far more comforting idea of throwing himself in instead crossed his mind.
"……………."
The Boy Wonder sighed helplessly.
He looked up….up….up….
Towards the southern horizon of the City.
The Tower that stretched above the Bay.
The iron arms that stretched out in 'T' glory and welcomed any and all souls to justice.
Anyone but him.
"…………….."
He took a sharp breath.
He bit his lip…..
Then he looked at a small lcd screen built into the armband of his apprentice outfit's sleeve.
"11:43…..," he murmured.
He looked out at the faraway Tower again.
"Still an hour and fifty minutes left….."
Silence.
He pocketed the thermal blaster away, stretched his limbs, and leapt nimbly off the industrial complex's rooftop.
T-T-T-T-T-T-
Th-Thwp!
With a rustle of his yellow cape, Robin swung up and landed on the side of a water tower just north of Metropolis.
In the suburban outskirts.
Where the forested landscape rose up towards the mountains….
And the lone spot where he had just successfully attacked Metallo.
Noir was safe.
Red Aviary was outsmarted…..for the time being.
The Boy Wonder didn't have very long before he knew he'd have to make a quick bolt back to Gotham on his cloaked cycle.
He wasn't even supposed to be far away from 'sanctuary' to begin with, especially with Red Aviary out to rip his head off.
But something made Robin freeze. And instead of whipping out another grappling hook and swinging widely from the water tower to where his cycle was parked….
He stayed put.
And he stared southward.
Past the night-sparkling spires of Metropolis.
Beyond the clean, pristine towers of urban dreams.
To a dream of his own.
For the third or fourth time in his life…..a dream that faded away and floated beyond touch.
The forever-irony of the cycle of things…..
T-T-T-T-T-T-
"What's wrong, Bruce? Wh-What happened to Tim?"
The billionaire sat by a fireplace in a large den of the ever-expansive, Wayne Manor. He had his fingers held together. His dark blue eyes gazing into the fire. An iciness not quite melting….but softening in the embers all the same…..encapsulated in his breathy voice….a human part of him he shared with only a few lone entities in the world. Barbara being one of them.
"Tim……is growing up….."
The Commissioner's daughter walked past the hearth and sat down in a chair across from Bruce. A look of concern washed over Barbara's face.
"It was on your beat last night…..wasn't it?"
"………."
"Bruce, speak to me. This is Tim we're talking about here. Is he all right?"
"He will be."
"……….."
Bruce finally looked at her.
A cold gaze…but not a mean one.
"Barbara….the life we all choose to live is not a pretty one. There are dark things out there. Things we would rather not touch, much less look at if we had the sanity or choice. But if we are to persist in this career…..eventually the daredevil in each and every one of us must die. There are things far more serious in this world that call for…..a heart open to pain as much as to thrill."
"That's a way of looking at it," Barbara gestured. "But what does this have to do with Tim?"
"……….."
Bruce gazed back into the fire.
"Tim……saved a girl last night. A very innocent….yet helpless girl. Tim made it his entire night's goal to protect her and make her happy. But at the last second, everything he worked for met a bleak and unfortunate end."
"I h-heard that Robin was instrumental in apprehending Clayface. Did that have anything to do with it?"
Bruce nodded.
"The girl was a free-floating extension of Matt Hagan. A probe…."
Barbara made a disgusted face.
Bruce glanced at her.
"She…….achieved individual sentience…."
"Oh my…..one of Hagan's probes got far enough away from him…..," Barbara murmured. "And Tim thought--?"
"For all Tim was concerned, she was the same as any other girl on the street needing protection," Bruce said. "But when Clayface confronted the two of them in need of gaining a 'piece of himself' back….Robin was overwhelmed. He would have been undone at the hands of Hagan….had the girl not given herself over to Clayface………..to save Tim."
"Oh no….," Barbara held a hand over her lips. "Then she's—"
"Gone," Bruce nodded. "And as far as Tim's concerned, Hagan murdered her. He saw the whole thing up close. By the time I arrived on the scene, it was far too late for extraction. Clayface was apprehended….and the 'girl' Tim knew was forever lost."
"Poor Tim…..," Barbara shook her head. "He…..Y-You don't actually think he felt for her as--?"
"He's been locked up inside his room all morning and afternoon, Barbara."
T-T-T-T-T-T-
"I haven't seen him this reclusive and subdued since when he first joined us."
"The death of his father was a great blow to him, Bruce. In spite of how cruel Tim tells us he was, his father meant a lot to him while he was still alive. You should remember that, Bruce. It wasn't until a solid week after Tim became your ward that he started the training."
"Anyway, I haven't disturbed him. I know better than to bother him when he gets moody………which hasn't happened until just recently, I admit. Amazingly, he's starting to remind me of Dick."
"Dick? Really?"
"He's been getting more and more proficient in the fight against crime. Yet at the same time……his temper has risen. I think he's finding his edge. And it's far more bitter than ever I've seen it before. Almost……more bitter than any 'Robin' has ever been………"
"………I wonder if we should be worried, Bruce. This could be a very heavy time for Tim. And—to be honest—we know so little about the boy--!"
"I know plenty."
"Pfft! I was speaking in general, Bruce. Lord knows the World's Best Detective can't be in the dark about anything. But think about it……think about Tim. He's making himself into a mystery. As if he isn't one already. What happened last night—what you're not telling me about……it's terrible and all, but I wonder if there's something more to it? Perhaps……something specifically about the girl Tim 'lost' last night might explain why he's so……so cast off right now?"
"………………..," a thirteen-year-old Tim stood at the wide open windows of his room.
Dressed in a white shirt and tan slacks.
He had his arms folded and he stared onto the cold, breezy balcony.
Silence……….
Tim took a deep, shuddering breath.
He stepped towards the open windows.
The blinding whiteness and deceptive serenity of the Gotham air surrounded Wayne Manor.
His folded arms raised, wrapped about, and hugged himself.
And he shuddered……
T-T-T-T-T-T-
…..and he cried.
Crystal tears running down his small, four-year-old face.
Sitting outside the cruddy apartment.
Scrunching his knees to his chest.
Staring out at the frost-laden alleyways of grimy, winter-plagued Gotham.
Just a window pane away, his father slumped back in a chair…cleaning out the magazine of a gun. Mr. Drake spoke with a phone hooked under his chin.
"Yeah, I agree. They're really bad business."
………….
"No. They have no dirt on Dent. They're just sticking their filthy-ass noses where they shouldn't be. If I didn't know better, they're Cobblepot goons."
…………
"Oh yeah. The Penguin's still in the mix of things. You can bet your daddy's dick."
…………
"That's right. We're meeting tomorrow night. The boss should be there. Undoubtedly we're gonna talk about cleaning the bird's clock."
…………
"For good? I sure as Hell hope so. Dent's serious about things this time. There've been talks of him even accepting arms from Lexcorp and—"
………..
"What?"
……….
"You hear crying?………..Oh."
Mr. Drake looked over his shoulder at the fire escape window.
He sighed and resumed to examining his gun.
"She left me, Roscoe."
……………
"No, that's my kid you're hearing. Yeah….I got to take care of the little shit on my own now. Mmmmhmmm…"
……………
"How the Hell should I know about doing it? The kid was the bitch's job! Hell….I didn't even want the little snot bag! Nnngh…hold on…."
He lowered the phone and shouted over his shoulder: "Will you stop your filthy crying already?"
Little Tim only wailed all the louder.
"Nnnngh…." Mr. Drake stressfully rubbed his temple with the hilt of his gun. He repositioned the phone, sighed, and said: "Ahh…..he might be useful for a few extra bucks in the future. At least he's young. It'd be Hell to have a pimply-assed rebel on my hands. Especially now that I gotta cook and shit too."
……………
"What the Hell are you talking about? Of course my first duty is to Dent! What do you take me for, Roscoe? Pffft! I'm just thinking ahead for once! Just because you have five or six unnamed bastards running around the streets of Gotham right now doesn't mean I can be that reckless! If all else fails, he'll be a doughpusher like his dear old dad. Yeah……ain't that a sweet, friggin' Hallmark for ya? Assuming he lasts the damn winter, of course."
Outside….
On the fire escape.
Tim bravely bit his lip…
Fought back the tears from his youthful face…
Shuddered….
And stared out towards the bright gray horizon.
Touched with the pinkish-red of wintry Gotham.
The ever-Red……
"……………."
The boy shuddered.
"When I was really young, Messenger, I-I had this……this little 'prayer' of mine………"
T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Prayer?" the asian teen turned and blinked at the Boy Wonder. He smiled. "Robin! You never told me you were a Pentecostal!"
Robin didn't even register him…..
Three hours since they departed from the City….
The Messenger and Robin rested in the middle of a forest with the cold November air settling on their shoulders.
The images of the cemetery…..and the funeral for 'Robin's death' was fresh in their mind. Robin's mind, at least. The Boy Wonder's masked eyes lingered southward where the then-unseen City surely resided. And with it….the mournful sighs and hopeful eyes of a withered sextet of friends. Comrades. Teammates.
Robin wore the cloak covering his battered, torn uniform. The cloak he had grabbed from visiting Professor Chang's Observatory.
As the resting Messenger listened, Robin leaned against a tree and murmured against the cool sky filtered down through the leaves and needles….
"I said it when I was really young….and when my dad told me that my mother died. I prayed….th-that she would come back as an angel…."
T-T-T-T-T-T-
The four year old stood up on wobbly, juvenile legs.
He stretched a thin…shaking hand up.
Fingers outstretched….
And 'touched' the gray, wintry sky…..
"I prayed that she would come back. As an angel. I wished to god that my mother could just……fly down. With the wings that smelled like her perfume……arms as warm as they were when she hugged me so long ago that I can hardly remember anymore. I spent every night of my childhood years praying for that. That little hope h-helped me endure my dad. It kept me alive and ticking the winters I spent begging and robbing in the streets of Gotham."
T-T-T-T-T-T-
The thirteen year old stood on the balcony of Wayne Manor.
He took a deep breath.
He stopped hugging himself….and reached a hand out.
His blue eyes thin.
His fingers fanning outward against the red and gray sky.
And his lips quivered.
"But more than once……that prayer didn't come true. And so I changed it."
"How did you change it, Robin?"
"I just………asked for an angel. Any angel. It didn't have to be my mother. Just as long as someone……or something could swoop down and wake me from the nightmare that never-ceasingly climbs back to rip my heart out from the inside out……"
T-T-T-T-T-T-
Gazing past the spires of Metropolis, Robin sheathed his bo-staff and grappling hook away.
He took a sharp breath.
His eyemask thin, he stretched his gloved hand out.
The green fingers expanded.
He touched the southern horizon….
Reaching for home.
"And the day that angel comes for me, I won't have to fight anymore. I won't have to……pretend anymore. I can throw the mask away and be myself. I can cry. I can scream. I can kick and wither and die. Just to be free to be……to be human………"
"…………"
"All my life, I have dreamed and prayed and begged for that angel. Silently. In the shadows where no Titan—and not even Batman can lurk. I swore never to tell anyone this pathetic wish of mine. This childhood dream that won't die. Not while I was alive could I possibly deign to such a low point."
T-T-T-T-T-T-
The Messenger smirked. "But now you're 'dead'……..right?"
"…………," Robin took a shuddering breath. "I…..guess I am….." He drew the cloak around himself. He uttered to the Messenger. "We should get going. Before Slade gets any ideas….."
The asian teen nodded. "But before I take us off to whizzy-green-wonderland, Robin……I gotta ask you something. Or rather….Tim."
Robin glanced aside at him. "Hmm?"
The Messenger's face washed over to sincere solemnity. "Was that dream of yours…….answered in the end?"
"………………….."
T-T-T-T-T-T-
SW-SWOOSH!
Robin glided and landed with razor-edged gloves gripping to the walls of the Tower.
Muscles tensing in the metal mesh outfit of black and brown, the Apprentice climbed his way with intense focus and strain.
Up….up….up the huge steel 'T'.
He reached the middle levels. Sweating profusely. Shivering against the winds.
But when he reached the one particular window he was aiming for, he perched nimbly on the outer wall and stared in through the glass.
To his surprise, the pink curtains were parted. And he could see well through into her bright, cheery room……presently drowning in the shadows of gray and gloom.
"……….."
He saw Starfire sitting on her round, pink bed.
She was hugging a glork plushie to her chest.
Her emerald eyes gazing off towards the far distance.
The scuffs and slight burn marks of the thermal blaster still resided on her violet outfit.
She bit her lip.
A look of pain and confusion cascaded over her.
Eventually, she turned over….laid on the bed…..and curled up in a sighing limpness.
"………….," the Apprentice took a deep breath.
His eyemask round, he reached a gloved hand out.
He pressed it against the glass.
Towards her.
And fanned the fingers out.
Touching the horizon…….
T-T-T-T-T-T-
Robin………I……………………
W-Wait!
I………
After all of today…….I……I simply desired to…….t-to………………………
………………I do not want to lose sight of you again.
So much horror has transpired today, and it has shaken me more than I thought would be possible, Robin and—
……………I love you, Robin.
I love you so……
And there is nothing in this world…no power so great in the cosmos…no distance too huge in the universe that could ever keep me from loving you and adoring you.
Please………
…………………u-understand…
………………
………………
………………
T-T-T-T-T-T-
Somehow, the little sobbing boy on the fire escape saw it first.
And he also heard it.
He shuffled over and clung to the Thirteen year old.
The Thirteen year old shuddered……his feet knee deep in mud.
The mud covered his body and emerged black and brown.
The Apprentice was left over.
Balancing a thermal blaster in his hand.
He stood still in the spotlight.
While the Tamaranian pleaded with him from the shadows.
And Robin stared at the Tamaranian.
His fists clenched.
His mask frozen to his face.
"………………………"
………………
"………………Clik-Clik-Clik-Clikkkkktttt-Hckkk!"
The apprentice took a sharp breath.
"How very touching……,"Slade……Red Aviary……Deathstroke said. "But Robin doesn't need any friends." And Slade's finger came over the button.
Everything fell down, screaming.
Flashing spots of amber and yellow light beneath the skin.
In a lot of ways, it mimicked the vomit that came from little Tim's throat the nights his father neglected to feed him.
Similarly, it copied the cold swish of Robin's yellow cape as he turned away from Starfire in the crumbling basement of Phaser Labs……
And walked away to his 'death'.
Leaving her to the tears he was all-too-used to.
T-T-T-T-T-T-
T-T-T-T-T-T-
T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Don't you see, Robin? I'm not real."
"…………….," Robin was staring at the Tower.
And in the Tower's place…..flames spouted towards the sky.
Shimmering platinum comets flying every which way.
The Boy Wonder's eyemask was thin.
His nostrils flaring.
"This is the price for your disobedience, Robin. Now do as I command. Attack!"
"………………," but Robin's hands were not stretching out and forming the angel wings.
They instead were gripped tightly….tight…..tight…..around the handles of his motorcycle.
"We are your friends, Robin. We are not leaving without you."
Robin's teeth gritted.
VRMMMMMM!
"……..?" I flashed a breathless look at him.
He growled and threw his harley into suicidal gear.
"Try to keep up, Noir….."
VRMMMMM-MMMMMMMMM!
He screeched and burned his way down the fire-lit Suspension Bridge.
I gave the missing Tower one last shuddering look before blurring after him in a black streak.
Yes. Sir.
T-T-T-T-T-T-
SHOOOOOOOOOOOM!
SH-SHOOOOOOOOM!
POWWW!
POWWW!CRKKKKK!
CRKK-CRKKKK!
As Starfire hovered above the streets, the comets landed and exploded into the asphalt and concrete below.
Golems of stone and gravel came to life.
Burning with an intense, golden heat.
Ten feet tall and half-a-ton each.
They made roaring, rumbling noises of shifting….pebbly innards before marching off to the nearest building structures and plowing their fists into the fragile metal and mortar.
CRACK!
TH-THWACK!
SLAM!
A tumultuous thunder ran throughout the red-bathed City, echoing from the golems everywhere landing and coming to life and punching holes in anything they saw.
Starfire shuddered.
She gazed southward.
Titan's Island burned like a gigantic flame thrower.
"…….," Starfire bit her lip.
She gazed down beneath her.
Her teeth grit.
Her eyes glowed a hot emerald, and soon she was soaring down in a green streak of wrath.
"RAAAAAUGH!"
SWOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSH!
The Tamaranian slammed torso-first into the burning chest cavity of a lumbering golem.
WHACK!
The creature flailed its thick, burning arms.
Starfire shoved it across the street and straight into an abandoned garbage truck.
POW!
The creature collapsed and writhed in the aluminum 'flower' of wreckage.
Starfire stood over it.
She raised her hands up and prepared to smash them down into the body of the beast. "Infernal creature--!"
CRKKKKKK-KKKKK! Two golden golems stomped with ashen feet across the street and slammed their burning shoulders into her. FWOMP!
"Nnnn—augh!"
Starfire flew from the impact and rolled a few feet across the cratered asphalt.
She sat up, wincing, and clutched her shoulder where the pink shirt covering her skin was slightly scorched.
Scarlet hair disheveled, she looked up with a gaping mouth.
CRKKKKK!
The pounded golem rose up out of the smashed garbage truck, pivoted, and marched to join its two companions.
They bore down slowly….menacingly on the alien Titan.
She stepped back, rearing her fists.
A hot golden glow from behind.
"………," she turned her head and looked over her shoulder.
Four more golems had abandoned their demolishing of building faces and were steadily stomping towards her.
A ring of concrete, animated cretins closed in from all sides.
A circle.
Starfire took a breath, leapt up, hovered in the air, and spun with a flurry of starbolts launched intermittently at each and every walking rock monster in the circumference around her.
Flash! Flash! Flash! Fl-Flash! Flash!
"Haaaaaaaaa-aaaaaaaaaaaugh!"
She finished twirling in air, her hair billowing from the revolution.
She panted….hissing through clenched teeth.
Shock overcame her at the sight of the half-dozen or so monsters still standing upright.
In fact, they looked stronger and 'healthier' than before.
The thermal energy inside of them resonated.
They pulsed, shook their limbs, slammed their arms down, scooped up a clump of asphalt each, and launched them in a hail of rocky chaos straight at the Tamaranian's body.
CRKKKKK-KKKKK!
TH-THWOOOOOSH!
Starfire gasped and barely flew out of the way---
POWWW! The multiple rocky projectiles exploded together where she was just positioned.
The concussion sent her flying across the street in a sideways plunge.
"Nnnnghh!"
She twirled in the air, descended, and crashed through a street sign before collapsing still across a sidewalk.
"Mmmmffff…."
SHOOOOOOOOOOM!
SH-SH-SHOOOOOO-OOOOOOM!
POWWW!
Starfire weakly looked up.
Bruised and weary….
She saw more and more 'comets; plunging down through the streets of the City.
Rocketing towards the earth.
Some smashing through building faces and rooftops.
Others turning parks and courtyards into swiss cheese.
A golden aura bled from the earth beneath the red sky.
It drew a helpless shudder from Starfire's lungs….even as three….four…five golems absent-mindedly stomped into the nearby street from adjacent alleyways…stomping about and smashing parked cars and bus stops and other roadside detritus to bits. CRKKKK! CRKK-KKKK!
Starfire stood weakly.
Raising her fists.
Panting.
Strategizing…..
"Heh…heheh….ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
Starfire's eyes widened.
She spun and stared.
Metallo stood besides the rubble of a fallen building.
He was dented and scuffed up in numerous places.
His skull-like jaw looked crooked, and his right eye was flickering to stay 'lit'.
Regardless, he chuckled electronically, gazed at Starfire, and gestured while musing:
"Beautiful, aren't they? Turds have never functioned with such efficiency before…….or grace!"
"Nnnnngh!" FL-FLASH! Starfire aimed a pair of pulsing green wrists at the metal man. "Tell me the weaknesses of these abominations! NOW!"
"Oooooh!" Metallo cooed. "A little impatient, aren't we? Impatient and feisty. That's how I most loved the last women I went out with back in my flesh days………..until they actually took me to their flat and I had to kill them because their underwear was the wrong color."
Starfire sneered: "Do not attempt navigating around the situation at hand!" She marched towards him, starbolts throbbing to explode towards him. "How did Dagger destroy our home? In what manner did he acquire this banal army?"
"My dear freak….," Metallo half-bowed. "What good is it to lecture a corpse?"
"…………"
"A gift from…..the last lover of Slade….," Metallo hissed twistedly.
Starfire's face bent in disgust.
The metal fiend's right eye flickered as if it were a well-timed 'wink'. "Mother earth was rather giving in the end."
Starfire's lips parted. "T-Terra….." Her green eyes moistened for a moment and a sad breath escaped her. "X'Hal…..you poor child. What have they d-done to you…..?"
Metallo shrugged. "Hey…if Slade could get into her….anyone could, right?"
"……!" Starfire instantly shrieked at him. "Silence! I shall not let you disgrace—!"
"What?" he chuckled electronically. "The Second Apprentice was disgraced from the beginning……" He added with a sneer. "The day you Titans failed to go out after her……"
"…….." Starfire shook. Starfire convulsed. With optic blasts and starbolts charging, she soared at him with Tamaranian rage. "RAAAAA—"
CRKKKKKK!-WHACK!
A golden golem slammed her hard across the back of the head.
"Nnnngh!"
WHAM!
She flew hard into the sidewalk just meters from Metallo's feet.
Her body formed a crater and spiderweb cracks in the rock-hard surface.
"Heh heh heh…..," Metallo stepped back.
Starfire tried to get up—
STOMP! Another golem's foot planted down against the small of her back and pinned her down.
A third knelt over and gripped her shoulders.
Two more came at her rear.
Another stomped over….half shattered…..trailing ashes and clumps of lava……
"The esteemed Dr. Jace did a fine job making them quite hungry for the thermal energy of all beings….," Metallo waved. "Dagger, myself, and a few others excluded…..of course. Thermal enhanced programming. Fantasy technology yesterday. Devastating reality now. Your corpse………heheheheh…..tomorrow. And when I say 'tomorrow', I mean thirty seconds from now! Relative doom and gloom, love."
"Nnnngh!" Starfire pulsed and struggled under the weight of the fiery automatons piling up on top of her. "I shall annihilate each and every one of them to punish you, villain!"
"Heheheheh….noble, freak. Noble. But your energy bolts merely feed them. You have no chance of demolishing them."
Starfire clenched her teeth.
Her eyes strobed a burning green.
"We….shall……SEE!.!.!.!" She tilted her head back, flexed her green throbbing arms, and screamed: "RAAAA-AAAAA-AAAAAAAAUGHH!.!.!.!.!.!.!"
A sphere of pure green fury exploded from the sidewalk.
A crater dipped down in the street.
Nearby building fronts shattered and vomited their glass facings.
Metallo flinched and stepped back. 'Shading' his electronic eyes. Gritting his metal teeth….
FW-FW-FW-FW-FWOOOOSSSSSH!
Starfire exploded up ward in a horizontal spin.
The golems flew off of her like gnats off a flaming cow tail.
Burnt and exhausted of their golden energy, they flew every which way—slamming into buildings and street signs and lampposts—before crumbling into dull gray granite slabs.
PL-PLANT!
Starfire landed firmly on her feet.
She screamed and slammed her fist straight into the burning belly of a golem before her.
CRNNNNNCH!
She tossed it aside—crumbling.
She blurred forward and slammed two elbows into the mid-sections of two lumbering giants.
CR-CRAK!
"YAAAUGH!"
She tossed her arms up, yanked the golems aside, and floated up to swan-kick the head of a charging golem in splitting two.
THWKKKK!
She bolted forward through the stream of craggy gold bodies towards the distant form of Metallo.
She deflected incoming projectiles of burning rock with waving backhands.
She jumped, spun-kicked, and smashed in the torsos of two more golems before grabbing one, tossing it into a clump of crowding automatons, and then rushing through a last gauntlet—brushing them violently aside—in a maddening dash towards Metallo.
"Nnnnnnyaaaaugh!"
THWAP! CRACK! WHACK! WHAM!
Metallo merely stood. Folding his metal arms. Staring at her with a smug, clenched jaw.
"NRRAAAUGH!" P-POW! Starfire burst through the last 'curtain' of golem bodies, flew like a missile straight at Metallo, and raised her fist.
He didn't budge one inch.
And then….from behind his shoulder.
SWISSSSSSSSSSSSH!
Starfire's green eyes danced up. Her eyes twitched—
BOOOOM! A missile impacted the ground right before her flying figure.
"Nnnngh!" she flew back from the explosion, slammed through two crumbling golem bodies, and collapsed against a lamppost. Groaning. "Mmmmfnnghh…."
"You didn't seriously expect us to let the pets out without some attendance, did you?" Metallo pointed. her red head, Starfire glance up. "H-Huh?"
FW-FW-FW-FW-FW-FW-FWOOOOOSSSSH!
A HIND helicopter hovered behind and above Metallo's frame.
Its blades beat the air as it aimed its payload again at the grounded Tamaranian.
But instead of firing, it floated back and gave room for---
VRMMMMMMMM!
A jeep swerved and screeched around a nearby street corner.
With more helicopters and rock monsters ravaging the dead City in the background, the vehicle aimed its headlights at the Tamaranian, squealed its tires, and roared past Metallo to bear down on her.
A gunman in the back of the jeep stood up, aimed a swiveling assault rifle, and shot madly at her.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
Starfire gasped.
She rolled backwards, barely avoiding a string of bullets blowing up potholes in the sidewalk beside her. P-P-P-P-PING!
She gritted her teeth, jumped up to her feet, grabbed the lamppost, ripped it out of the ground—'Nnnnngh!'-CRKKKK!—and held the huge bludgeon as a metal shield which she expertly deflected the incoming bullets with. P-PING! PING!
But then the jeep slammed into her. Head on….denting the hood.
WHAM!
"Agh!" Starfire flew back into a building front. SMASSSH!
The gunman in the jeep's rear adjusted the assault rifle, aimed up, and fired at the second story of the building.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
CRKKKKKK!
The building face was pelted into shards…..and collapsed in a hot, heavy mound atop the grounded alien girl.
FWOOOOOMPP!
The nearby golden golems marched towards her buried figure.
CRKKKK-KKKK!
They raised their hot, burning limbs….hissed steam…and slammed down three pairs of brick-dense fists into the collapsed pile where the warm Titan lay concealed.
SMASSSSSH!
"Heh heh heh heh heh……."
T-T-T-T-T-T-
VRMMMMMM!-SCREEEE-EEEECH!-VRMMMMMMM!
"Ah Jesus…..Ah Jesus!"
"It's started! It's started and we're in the frickin' thick of it!"
"Pull yourselves together!" the driver of the rear squad car shouted at his weary companions in the passenger seats. He was also the ranking officer. "I'm gonna get us out of this mess!"
The two police cars and the six officers who had approached the Tower earlier that night were busily speeding their way north across the ruined landscape.
The streets before the two careening vehicles were being filled more and more thickly with all sorts of explosive chaos.
'Comets' landing in thunderous craters.
Fires blazing in thermal splashes.
Golden golems stomping their way across the lanes and waving their arms menacingly at the speeding pair.
Falling building fronts….and even a hummer or jeep or truck or two speeding by with nefarious henchmen huddled inside.
"Back to HQ! Hurry!"
"I know! What do you think I'm doing?"
"How're the others?"
"Jameson! Check on them!"
A bruised cop lying in the rear seat winced, struggled with his one good arm from Croc's thrashing, and shouted into his mic.
"HQ! HQ! Come in! Th-The City's practically on fire! The message was correct! Dagger's here---!"
"Try and get in contact with Smith!"
"I'm trying! Something's blocking me from patching through to the Lieutenant---"
"LOOK OUT!" the man in the front passenger seat pointed.
"Nnnngh!" the driver swerved at the steering wheel and slammed on the brakes.
The car full of police buddies in front of them was also braking madly as a three story building collapsed before them, blocking the road.
SMASSSSSSH!
The officers sweated.
Panted….
CRKKK-KKKK!
"Look! Two of those freaks!"
"What in God's name---?"
Two golden golems marched out of the mouth of the crumpled building and loomed above them.
Stomping their way down ashen rubble….they kicked up dust and made the whole streets vibrate with double the thunder as they closed in on the two hapless vehicles.
"Draw them back!" someone in the front police car shouted as he poked his torso out of the window, leaned out, pumped a shotgun, and fired into the chests of the golden beasts.
BLAM! Ch-Chtunk! BLAM! Ch-Chtunk!
The front passenger of the rear car leaned out and fired a pistol in cadence with the firearms of the front cops.
BL-BLAM! BLAM! BL-BL-BLAM!
The flying lead soared through the air and splattered into the fiery shells of the walking golems of concrete.
A few granite flakes snapped off.
A crater or two formed…but the golems were largely unhindered.
They marched towards the vehicles, limbs flailing to smash the aluminum apart.
"They're not st-stopping!"
"Back! Back!"
"Get back!"
SCREEEE-EEEEEEECCCCH!
The two police cars squealed and zoomed in reverse.
But soon….
CR-CRUNCH!
The rear police car slammed into a golden golem.
They were surrounded.
"Daah! Jeez!"
"Jameson! L-Look out—"
SMASSSH!
The burning limb of the rear golem shattered through the back windshield and groped for the injured police officer lying inside.
He gasped, dropped the mic, and fumbled for his pistol.
"Jameson! Dammit, Banta! Drive us out of here!"
"W-We're surrounded!"
"Nnngh! Get back you son of a—"
CRKKKKK!
The inside of the squad car started cooking.
The limb of the burning beast singed the injured officer's uniform.
The driver fumbled for the shotgun.
But suddenly…..
VRMMMMMMMMMM!
The officers gasped and looked from both cars.
A nimble body riding a harley zoomed in onto the rubble-strewn intersection.
Tires burning, it roared towards the golem reaching into the car.
TH-THWMPPP! PLANT!
The harley ramped up and hurdled off the backside of the rock monster.
The golem shuddered and collapsed against the rear of the squad car.
FWOOOOSH—CRKKKK!
Then a billowing black blade pierced its tip out through the chest of the creature.
Murk poured out, turned the burning gold innards to steam, and lifted the monster back with Spectral strength.
Nnnnnngh!
I strained, shook, and sweated as I levered the monster off of the back of the squad car and flung it—tumbling—onto the sidewalk.
TH-TH-TH-THUMPPCKKKK!
In the meantime….
VRMMMMM!
Robin sailed on his harley through the air, flew over the two squad cars, and came slamming down between the two golems on either side.
TH-THWOMPPP!
Right as Robin's cycle landed, he freed his hands from the tight handles of the vehicle and flung a freezing disc to both the left and right.
SW-SWISSSSSH!
CLANK!
CONK!
The discs struck dead-center in the golems.
And……
FL-FLASSSSH!
They froze into icy statues.
SCREEEECH! Robin spun a tire-tracking one-hundred-and-eighty on his harley and stopped just before the rubble pile that was once a building face.
In the meantime, I was blurring towards the golem I had grounded behind the cars.
Just as it 'growled' and stumbled to its burning knees….
Th-Th-Th-THWISSSH! I flipped, blurred, jabbed Myrkblade down, and sliced my way straight down so that I landed on its smoldering shoulders and---CRKKKKKKK! I stabbed mercilessly into its 'neck'.
Smoke filled the twitching beast, mixed with the inner fire, and---
POWWWWW!
The monster exploded into gray gravel and dust beneath.
I teleported up in a wave of smoke, clung to a solid building front, and murkingly glided dowwwwwwn……
Chiiing Across the squad cars, Robin had produced a birdarang. With a grunt, he flung the projectile at an angle. Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-THWISSSH!
The sharp object spun, spiraled, and simultaneously blazed through the frozen bodies of the two golems Robin had just disabled.
CRKK!
CRACCCCK!
And the thermal monsters shattered into thousands of glass-like shards of ice.
For a moment….there was immediate silence around the intersection.
Four of the six police officers managed to stumble out of their cars and gawk at us in awe. GAWK.
Oh yeah.
We've arrived.
"……..," I gripped Myrkblade. Smoking. I rested it aside so as to gesture something at Robin.
He nodded back at me. "Well done."
The driver of the rear car stammered loudly: "R-Robin?"
"…….," the Titan Leader looked over.
"THE Robin?"
"Where were you headed?" the Boy Wonder asked.
"………"
"Sir….wh-where were you and your men headed--?"
"OH….uhm….er….H-HQ!"
"'HQ'?"
I leaned my head to the side.
"R-Robin….this is a lot to digest. But—"
Another officer marched up. "This City's gone to Hell. We gotta get moving. We gotta get to HQ—"
"Wait wait wait….," Robin waved a gloved hand. "What's so special about this 'HQ'?" He frowned slightly. "Does anyone know what happened to the Tower? Where the Titans are?"
"We…W-We were sent to the Island to check on them."
"You weren't engulfed in the explosion?" Robin pointed at the burning horizon.
"W-We were already gone! There was a terrible, s-sudden attack by Killer Croc of Gotham and then some green-flashing kid appeared telling us to—"
I gasped, black eyes wide.
"Wait!" Robin loudly uttered.
"…………."
Robin pointed. "Was he Asian?"
"………….."
The cops exchanged glances.
They scratched their heads.
"……………," the Boy Wonder blinked under his mask. "……….and flamboyant?"
"That's him!"
"Who is he, Robin? What does he know? What do you know? What in the high-cultured-blue-Hell is going on here?"
"Dagger's invading—"
"We know that!"
I did a double-take.
Robin leaned forward. "You know? Did the Messenger tell you?"
"Who?"
"Did that Asian kid--?"
"The Lieutenant got a phone call! Look, can we talk later?"
I looked helplessly at Robin.
The sounds of destruction and chaos increased tenfold around us.
The red sky was burning streaks of gold…
"R-Right…," Robin took a deep breath and charged his harley. Vrmmm! Vrmmmm-mmm! "If anyone might have answers at this point……it'll be Smith."
I breathed raggedly.
What about the Messengers?
The Titans?
CRKKKK!
I spun and looked down the street.
Distant golems were clawing their way through building fronts and street corners.
The distant beat of homicidal assault choppers filled the air.
I took a deep, sharp breath.
A warzone, Jordan.
This is a warzone again.
Don't expect answers.
Expect victory.
"Drive to HQ!" Robin shouted at the officers. "We'll cover you!"
"S-Sure thing!" the cops leapt back into their squad cars. "Let's move!"
"I'll take the rear!" Robin said. He pointed at me. "Noir! Clear the path!"
I nodded.
Chiiiing!
I twirled Myrkblade and blurred ahead down the side street.
The two squad cars angled around, roared to life, and zoomed along the street after my black trail.
Robin drove behind….alone on his harley.
As the caravan through a Second Hell began……
The Boy Wonder gazed up.
Past the necks of the skyscrapers.
The red sky.
The streaming comets of gold and white.
The plume of fire where the Tower used to be.
He shuddered and throttled forward.
Face taut…..
The angel was nowhere to be seen.