249. Break the Circle part 9
Robin panted.
"Well, I'm starting to run out of juice on this thing. But besides that….I-I think we're doing fine!"
"……….," I looked icily at him in mid-blur.
He shuddered and glanced over his shoulder.
"Could use a little less company, though…."
VRMMMMMMMM!
The police in their two squad cars, Robin on his bike, and I on my murking feet soared like bullets into the industrial district of the City's North end.
Factories, warehouses, and smoking industrial plants zoomed past us.
Smokestacks and haze.
Towers and complexes.
Brown beneath the red.
And behind us….chasing at full speed…..
VRMMMM!
Four jeeps.
VRMMM-MMMM!
Two hummers.
FW-FW-FW-FW-FWOOOOSH!
And a HIND helicopter taking up the rear.
The closest vehicles on our tails fired volley after volley from the expert marksmen on the rear-mounted guns.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
Bullets ricocheted and exploded around us.
Sparks and ashes and flashes.
Robin and I—at the rear of the speeding caravan—'swerved' left and right to avoid the blasts. I on my feet. Robin on his harley. We redirected the fire away from the squad cars so that the police could take us to the ambiguous 'HQ' and….well….stay alive.
P-P-PING! P-PING! CLANK!
"Augh!" Robin uttered as the last bullet flew off the rear chassis of his bike.
I gasped.
"I-I'm all right!" he uttered loudly and gripped the handles of the bike tighter. "I just don't know how much more of this sprint we can take…."
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
I ducked my smoking head as bullets whizzed past me.
Panting, I glanced back.
I strategically eyed the six vehicles and the helicopter.
I looked for a weakness in the formation--
"I know what you're thinking, Noir," Robin suddenly said.
He had to shout over the noise of flight.
"No going Rambo! We gotta stick together!"
I looked at him.
P-P-PING!
The two of us flinched.
"I-I'll think of something….," he shuddered.
One of the squad cars slowed down just enough for a cop to shout out the window in a way that we could hear: "We're almost there! Just hang tight!"
"We have too many creeps on our tail!" Robin shouted from his bike. "We need to lose them somehow! Another alleyway or something..!"
"NO! Just stick with us!"
"But what possible good could—?"
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!
P-PING!
A bullet or two splashed under my leaping feet, bounced up, and impacted the aluminum frame of the squad car…making the police officer flinch.
He merely grit his teeth against the biting December wind and shouted: "Just trust me, Robin! Your return from the dead is a big surprise for us! Now let us surprise you!"
The Boy Wonder shuddered. "Yeah….cute."
PFTOOOOOOOOSSSSSH!
"…….?"
"………?"
Robin and I exchanged glances….then looked back.
His eyemask rounded.
I gasped.
The HIND had launched a hot, hurdling hellseeker that burned towards us over the tops of the jeeps and hummers.
Robin's teeth showed. "So much for waiting…."
I panted. I looked at the incoming missile. I glanced at the squad cars just ahead of us. CHIIIING! I panted and waved at Robin in mid blur.
He nodded and slowed the harley some. "Alley-Oop!"
I held my breath.
I pulsed murk through my legs.
I vaulted up from the concrete, flew in the air, flipped, and landed with my feet in the rear of the harley.
Robin braced my impacting weight.
Nnnngh!
FWOOOOOOOSH!
I shot myself up with an explosion of smoke energy.
In mid-air, I twirled about and met the incoming Hellseeker.
I twirled my blade-Th-Th-THWISSH!—and struck the belly of the missile fiercely with the murk-laden sword. CLANK!
PFTOoOoOoOSSS-SSSSH!
The missile streamed off from my impact, twirled aside, and zoomed left of us.
I descended…and found myself flailing because the ground below me was speeding at over seventy miles per hour.
Shit!
"Noir! Here!" Robin decelerated his harley.
I winced…but angled myself with a twirl and my legs spread.
Good thing this doesn't hurt me much.
TH-THWUMP!
I landed, saddling the back of Robin's harley.
I teetered…nearly fell back…and slumped forward against him, a desperate black hand wrapped around his waist.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT!
Bullets impacted all around us with blazing sparks.
P-P-P-P-P-PING!
Robin twisted the handles—VRMMMMMMMMM!—and accelerated us forward out of immediate bullet range and back alongside the police squad cars.
In the meantime….the hellseeker….
PFOOOOOOSH!
…it spiraled and spun over a factory….exploding into its rooftop.
BOOOOOOOMMMM!
Two smokestacks groaned, cracked, and fell over so that they landed flat across the street.
CRUNNNNCH!
Only three jeeps managed to swerve around it. The other three vehicles and the HIND had to freeze or maneuver to avoid the sudden barrier.
As for the vehicles that still pursued us….
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
I flinched against Robin as bullets whizzed past our heads.
He panted: "I-I don't think that made them happy!"
I nervously nodded.
"HERE!" one of the cops shouted. "THE HQ!"
"Huh?"
SCREEEEEEE-EEEEEEEECH!
The two squad cars stopped at a line of warehouses at a turn in the road.
Robin and I were forced to come to a burning stop as well…nearly falling off the harley.
SCREEEEECH!
Robin couldn't help but cackle: "Wh-What the Hell?"
Four of the bruised cops jumped out of their vehicles and formed a solid line with shotguns and pistols.
"Hold positions!"
Cl-Clik!
Clak!
Robin and I looked at each other.
"………..….."
Robin kicked the stand of his bike down.
I leapt off.
The Boy Wonder prepared a fan of birdarangs. Chiiiing!
I twirled Myrkblade into a ready position. Fw-Fwoosh!
We stared as the jeeps and HIND bore down on us.
VRMMMMM!
FW-FW-FW-FW-FWOOOSH!
Weapons aimed.
Pilots zooming straight toward us.
"…………………………………….."
Then from behind us….
Claka-Claka-Claka-Claka-Claka-Claka!
Claka-Claka-Claka-Claka-Claka-Claka-Claka-Claka!
I spun and looked.
Three warehouse garages rolled their wide aluminum doors open and inside I saw--
"Get down!" the cops shouted.
Robin and I were surprised, and yet….we somehow understood.
We dove down to the ground and flattened ourselves in front of the doors yawning behind us.
And out from the shadowed interiors…. RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
BL-BLAM!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT!
Machine gun fire.
Rifles.
Pistols.
Military issue….
Well over two hundred U.S. soldiers unleashed a hail of sweeping ballistics out of the warehouses, over our heads, and straight at the oncoming phalanx of Dagger's vehicles and HIND aircraft.
There were jeeps and hummers of green camouflage inside the warehouses, no longer concealed.
Mounted gunmen with assault rifles unleashed slug after slug of lead outward.
The air was a thunderous cauldron of projectile and flame.
To say the least….the henchmen's vehicles didn't last long.
CL-CL-CL-CLANK!
The first two imploded from the shattering wave of bullets.
They burst into flames and shattered apart.
The third jeep swerved madly to the side, only for two dozen shots to slam into its fuel tank and cause it to rupture.
BOOOM!
The hummers and jeep in the background screeched to a stop and tried to turn around.
Two army men rushed out of the warehouse at our right, armed with a bazooka.
PFTOOOOOOOOOSSSH!
The explosive soared straight out across the burning street and flew through the windshield of the middle hummer.
CRASH! KABOOOM!
The terrorist vehicle exploded brilliantly.
The resulting concussion blast sent the jeep and other hummer by its side tumbling off in opposite, shattering directions.
"The Army?.!.?.!" Robin exhaled, stumbling to his feet. "What are you doing here---?"
"Staging an ambush," an aged voice said.
Two figures marched out into the red night glow from the shadowed warehouse. Lieutenant Smith was there, looking as alive as ever. And standing by his side was a tall, well-stocked man in his late fifties. Uniformed in deep green. Bearing a helmet with four stars on it.
"General Timothy L. Calvin. Robin, pleased to see you alive. Sorry if I don't act surprised. We're a little preoccupied at the moment."
"Aren't we all…," the Boy Wonder nodded.
FW-FW-FW-FW-FW-FWOOSH!
We all looked.
The HIND was bearing down at us.
Locking a pair of hellseekers into place.
"Here she comes!" a soldier shouted.
General Calvin—a newcomer to my senses—narrowed his gray eyes and shouted aside: "Sergeant!"
"Yes, sir?"
"Have the birds been called in?"
"They're in intercept as we speak!"
FW-FW-FW-FW-FWOOOSH!
FW-FW-FWOOSH!
Suddenly, two swift shadows joined the HIND's.
Robin and I watched in shock as a flaring noise shook the air and thundered over us.
PFTOOOSHH! SWOOOOOOOSH!
Two missiles flew in from out of view beyond the warehouses and slammed into either side of the HIND.
POWWWWW!
As the debris of the terrorist aircraft fell and fanned out, a pair of green-armored apache helicopters soared overhead in nimble coordination.
A few seconds later….more beating sounds…..and ten more apaches swarmed overhead.
Thundering towards the far side of the City…..
Armed to the teeth, and all bearing the insignia of the U.S. Air Force….
The cops in our caravan cheered mightily.
Robin too was sporting a wide grin. "I…..I………..h-h-how?"
"Dagger, you bastard…," the Lieutenant smiled. "We were ready for you…."
I gazed helplessly at Smith.
The acting-City-Commissioner looked at us.
"We anticipated the invasion just hours before the first attack. We relocated as many people we could underground and instigated a curfew. The army came and it's taken till now to situate themselves for a counter attack."
So that's why the City's been so 'dead'……
Praise Hecate………
Er…
General Calvin adjusted his helmet. "My boys have been stationed outside of this County for the last three weeks in anticipation for something like this. We're over four thousand strong, Mister Titan. I don't know who it was who said that this 'Dagger' scrub is the most powerful man in the Western Hemisphere, cuz that sure doesn't work in my damn book!"
A high-ranking soldier walked over, saluted, and reported to the General: "Our signal's been given! The other locations are on the attack!"
"Let's let 'em have it!" Calvin marched to the bulk of troops inside the warehouse and shouted orders.
In the meantime, Robin and I crept to the Lieutenant's side.
"B-But….how did you know Dagger was going to strike tonight?"
Smith took a breath. "We…g-got a very important phone call."
"A phone call?"
"An informant clued us in. I had no reason to doubt him whatsoever."
"……," I looked at Robin. I mouthed: 'Messenger?'
Robin looked at Smith again. "Who?"
"Get this….," Smith actually half-smiled. "Lex Luthor."
"………………"
Robin and I were deadpan. Still.
"Hey…," Smith shrugged. "I don't like it either. But that means one extra ally….if even an ugly ally."
"Ugliness doesn't even begin to describe this night…"
The cops from the squad cars walked/hobbled over to our area. "L-Lieutenant, sir!"
"Jiminy Christmas….what happened to you?"
"We tried patching in to the radio HQ. But we were under attack at the time."
"First Killer Croc, now these walking monsters of rock…."
"Couldn't have picked a better time to have the army bail our asses out, sir."
"W-W-Wait!" Robin waved his gloved hands. Breathless, he glanced at Smith and uttered with his eyemask thin. "The Titans….."
"……………."
"Have you heard from them?"
"……………," Smith took a deep breath. "We….tried and tried and tried to contact them…"
"And there was no response to our visitation at the Tower," one of our cop friends said. "We haven't heard any word from them."
"Not even since the Tower exploded?"
"……….."
"……….."
"……….."
Robin shuddered. He gazed aside….then glanced at me.
I stared back at him, my throat sore.
He clenched his fists. "This night is far from over….."
I nodded.
Smith uttered: "With these monsters, we will need all the help we can get. After all…." He managed a weak smirk and pointed at us two. "Three armies are better than one."
I would have chuckled if I hadn't felt like throwing up….
"All right! Move out! Give the final order to all stations to attack!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Move! Move! Move!"
"Let's kick some ass, boys!"
T-T-T-T-T-T-
Across the City….along the shipyards….
Warehouse doors opened.
Army jeeps and hummers poured out.
Flanked by infantrymen.
They took a pair of Daggerite vehicles by surprised and mowed them down in swift, suppression fire.
Three monsters of glowing gold ran suicidally into the line of fire and disintegrated long before they could so much as touch the soldiers.
Four apaches flew overhead and chased away a cargo helicopter with blazing assault rifles mounted on their hulls.
T-T-T-T-T-T-
Flying over the Bay from the South, a squadron of U.S. cargo helicopters flew with jeeps and troop carriers hanging from steel cables.
They touched down on the beach south of the Bayside Plaza.
As the vehicles and troups landed, two of Dagger's HINDs attempted to intercept.
Just then and there, a pair of thunderous F-16s flew by and unleashed a missile each into the belly of the air-beating aircraft.
They exploded in brilliant heat and landed hard in the streets…burning.
T-T-T-T-T-T-
A line of abram tanks rolled along the Suspension Bridge and poured onto the main land.
Their turrets whirred, pivoted, aimed, and let loose hot shells into a dozen golden golems.
The rock monsters shattered brilliantly, their ashen innards spilling everywhere.
Gray pieces of granite littered raw on the streets.
The tanks rolled over and crushed them.
They tore their way towards the center of Downtown.
General Calvin's army thusly ate its way into the center of the City, engaging every monster and terrorist in sight.
T-T-T-T-T-T-
Inside the sewers.
Beneath the heated, burning streets of the City surface above….
Hundreds….thousands….
Over a million citizens huddled.
They lined the extensive, bulky train track tunnels.
They sat in dead-still cars.
They rested on platforms and sat on benches and leaned against walls.
The entire police body of the City were given duty downstairs where the monsters couldn't reach.
With guns armed—and assisted in every other quadrant by heavily supplied soldiers—the brave men and women guarded the citizens.
The families.
The elderly.
The children…..
They sat in an awkward silence that hushed across them all.
And they gazed at the ceiling…as dust and dirt fell from the vibrations and the quaking of the battlefield above them.
Many of them praying.
For their homes.
For their lives.
For those putting themselves into the face of danger.
The army.
The police.
The Titans…..
Renee and Daniel huddled in a north platform.
Daniel held her from behind, clenching his muscles in determination as he stared up at the imaginary war scenes overhead.
She panted….tirelessly holding onto the little life she was bearing.
They clung to each other.
Lisa, her older sister, and the two young neighbors Ashley and Greg sat on a bench in a platform somewhere further south in the Subway system.
The orphans—their fears and memories resurfacing—squeezed their faces into Lisa's tummy and cried.
She held them both and gently stroked their shoulders. Her one eye thin and concentrating. Her breath calm…determined.
In a dark tunnel far to the west, Lindsay sat with her family.
She cradled Phil on her knee as she bowed her head alongside a thick crowd of families and friends who were praying in the dark.
Her father—the pastor—stood in the midst of them.
He raised his hands to the ceiling and exalted God in a fervent voice that summoned murmurs of confirmation from the rest of the passionate crowd.
At one moment, the bowing teenager opened her eyes and glanced worriedly across the dark. Her stringy brown hair dangled before her brow and she tried to envision dark eyes beneath the water breathing…breathing….breathing.
T-T-T-T-T-T-
In the East Side of the City….
FW-FW-FW-FW-FWOOOOOSH!
A sudden squadron of helicopters soared overhead. Apaches.
"NNNNNNGH!" Starfire sailed her fist into Metalo's chest and sent him falling off a four-story building side.
SWOOOOOSH-CL-CLANKKK!
Starfire stood….panting….panting….panting.
At the sounds of the added aircraft, she looked up.
With a gasp at first….but then with bright green eyes of hope….
The airforce choppers dipped down and fired thick volleys of explosives and machine gun rounds into the streets below.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
PFTOOOOOSH!
PFTOOOOOOOOSH!
The golden golems flailed and hissed as the volleys shattered them to bits, one by one.
POW!
P-POW!
CRACK!
BLAM!
Bits and pieces of thermal bodies flew and littered the streets in a solid wave of fire.
Starfire flailed her tattered arms in the air and shouted a Tamaranian warcry. Smiling wide.
FWOOOOOOOOSSSSSH!
The apaches soared overhead, and soon American jeeps and tanks were rumbling through the streets…cleaning up more and more of the chaos.
Metallo recovered on the ground below. He took one look at the chaotic entrance of the Army and Airforce and gasped.
"Bloody Hell….that's impossible! THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE! NOBODY KNEW! NOBODY!"
All the while, Starfire took a deep breath…still grinning numbly. "G-Glorious……"
T-T-T-T-T-T-
VRMMMM!
VRMMMMMMM!
FW-FW-FW-FW-FWOOOSH!
Jeeps and transport vehicles roared down the road of the northern district while apache helicopters and other U.S. equipment roared overhead.
General Calvin climbed briskly into an armed jeep and gestured towards Robin and I.
"The war ain't over, kids. I suggest you sit this one out, unless you're ready to risk your neck in urban combat. I tell ya, it ain't pretty."
Robin bore a slight grin. "With all due respect, sir, we're with you every step of the way."
I smiled crookedly and 'saluted'.
"Hrmmm….heh….," Calvin smoothed his gray hair back and placed his helmet back on. "Just be sure that when you show off….it's while kicking ass."
He then motioned towards the vehicles around him.
"Let's roll!"
The vehicles sped forth after the first wave.
Smith finished giving orders to a group of officers.
He turned and spoke to us: "We're arranging a team to go and investigate Titans' Island as soon as possible. The soonest a path through the invading forces is cut through, we'll send our men in to check on—"
"Lieutenant," Robin said breathily. Jaw tight. "The Tower's gone."
"…….," Smith averted his eyes some.
Robin pointed: "Do what you can at the moment to protect those who still need saving. The people of this City are counting on you."
"As for you…..?" Smith smiled weakly.
Robin hopped on his harley. "We'll keep in contact. Noir and I still have communicators. We'll alert you if the action gets too close to the subways."
I gripped Myrkblade and stood besides the Boy Wonder, readying to blur along with the military convoy…
"Oh, and Smith?" Robin spoke.
The acting-commissioner looked directly at the Gothamite.
"If you come across something…..something Red……," Robin took a breath. "…………….Run."
VRMMMMMMMMM!
Robin screeched down the road.
SWOOOOOOOSSSSH!
I blurred alongside him. The two of us escorted the military convoy, zooming side-by-side with the front jeeps as we carved our way back into downtown to decimate the Daggerites.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
From atop Kobayashi Tower…
Dagger watched.
His brow was furrowed.
His deadpan expression was a little tighter….a little edgier.
Not so much perplexed or surprised as he was…..
Challenged.
Standing in the cold, elevated air of the thunderous City, Dagger stared down at the Army lines filing in from all sides of the City.
He saw the apaches flowing just below the next ten stories beneath his face.
The U.S. Air Force going toe-to-toe with the despot's HINDs and cargo choppers.
The missiles that flew.
The bullets and the explosions.
The inevitable decrease of his golem army and his hired elites under the pressure of the ambushing defense.
"Nnnngh…..intriguing….," he murmured.
A beat.
Dagger's lips parted.
A hiss slithered through his teeth.
"Luthor………"
Fl-Flik!
With the ease that Dagger would unsheathe a throwing knife, he produced a small collapsible walkie-talkie of sorts and spoke into it.
"Attention. Implement Tier Two. Implement Tier Two immediately."
Silence.
No response.
No change in the course of action among Dagger's squads far below.
Dagger took a breath and repeated:
"Repeat. Implement Tier Two. Suppress the opposing forces, now."
Nothing…..
"…………"
Dagger held his communicator up and squinted his cold eyes at it.
The device was crackling back at him illegibly. A frost of sorts had covered the face and short-circuited the inner circuitry. Some sort of magical ineptitude spontaneously hampered the range of the handheld unit, and it was dead and useless. Muted.
Dagger suddenly became aware of how bone-chillingly cold it was.
A nippy December night had suddenly turned into a deathly freeze.
Vapor swam from the despot's lips, and he sensed the redness in the air intensifying, as if the night sky was bowling down to grasp him.
"Hckkkk….clik-clik-clik-clik-CLIKKKksnkkkttt……."
"………….," Dagger didn't bother turning around right away.
He pocketed the communicator.
He reached under his vest of body armor.
Chiiiiiiiing! He twirled two large, mini-machetes out in his nimble fingers.
"…….nnkkktt…..you'rrrrre quittte the attentionnnn-gettttterrrr…Daggerrrrr……"
"Slade….you noticed my beckoning…..," Dagger twirled around with both machetes expertly poised.
With a deadpan calmness, he gazed into the strobing eye of the Reaper meters across the smooth, sloping rooftop of Kobayashi Tower.
"I was beginning to wonder if I'd have to destroy the Titans myself to get you to face me."
"Snkkkt…..," Deathstroke stood.
Vapor dripping out of his chest, face, and orifices.
He held his two-edged sword in one hand and a shotgun in the other.
The stark white satellite dishes rested above the two villains…shadowing them slightly from the starlight but keeping them bathed in red all the same.
Slade's red.
"I oncccce thoughttttt you were a rationalllll man, Daggerrrrr. But now that I see you herrrrre contessssting me, you seem awfullyyyyy readddy to die…..snnkkkt!"
"I have every intention of living forever," Dagger droned. "However, I have no intention of keeping you in that eternal picture." Th-Thwissh! He twirled the machetes and slowly paced around the Tower top. "Your masquerade ends here."
"SNkkkt….you truly need to worrrrk on how big yourrrrr head is, Daggerrrr……," Deathstroke paced opposite him, dragging his sword and shotgun barrel. "I wouldddddn't forrrrrget about whattttt I, the Parasite, have thrrrreatening your organization right as we speak. Yourrrr very existence is at stake, or have you forgotttten….?"
"Two-Face and Luthor were the paranoid ones, Slade. Not me," Dagger uttered back. "Besides…I seriously doubt that you are quite as concerned about Triangular as you are about the Titans you keep harassing. Was that you back there trying to kill Raven? And Beast Boy? You could have truly wasted them if you wanted to, but you chose not to. Even when I laid them right out in the open like lost lambs for you. You want something else, Slade. Or rather, you want someone else…and you're ripping your way through the Titan's wrists to get there….and leaving them lying around to bleed so that they might attract him or her. But who? My hunt succeeded in capturing you. But just where is your prey?"
"Snkkkt—Hckkkk! You disappoint me, Dagger. I've never seen you this inquisitivvvve—snkkkt! Is this yourrrr way of begging on yourrrrr knees? You askkkk me—Hckkk!—of my motivvvves….do you seek to appease me?"
Dagger frowned.
"You can devour the Titans all you want. They are here, Slade. All of them. From the Black Eyes to—"
"RRRRobinnnn……," the Parasite hissed.
Red vapors.
Freezing air.
"I sensssse him. I can—Snkkkt—almost taste him!"
"Then consume him. And have done with it," Dagger came to a stop and pointed his machetes. "You're as obsessive in death as you were in life, Slade. Though I have every intention of surviving in the case that I defy you….I'd rather not deal with the frustration. That's one thing I've learned from you."
"Snkkt…..flatterrrring, Dagger. I've learrrrned a lot—hckkk!—from you too. That's why I've come up here to kill you."
"Predictable," Dagger glared. "You will not succeed, of course. At least keep in mind….with whatever ragged heart you may still have pulsating in that corpse body of yours…..Remember that I gave you an opportunity to paint the streets red. Regardless of whatever threats you may hold to my organization, you are still of little consequence to me."
"Isssss that's—snkkkt—SO, Dagger? Then why arrrrre you so nestled in body armor?" Deathstroke's red eye strobed. "I am notttt the mortal despot I once wassss. I am Red Aviarrrry. The Terminator. Nothing living can escaaaape the red destruction that flowssss through me. You are no exception—snkkt!"
Dagger twirled his machetes and got into a fighting stance. "I do not fear death."
TH-THWISSSSH!
Deathstroke raised his double-edged sword up and posed to fight.
Dagger nimbly coiled his limbs.
"NRAAA—CKKKTT!"
Red Aviary streaked at him.
Dagger flipped, landed in a slide, and met Red Aviary's sword swing atop Kobayashi Tower with his machetes slicing.
FWOOOSSSSH!
Sw-Swissssh!
CLAAAA-AAAA-AAANG!
And the battle raged on around and below them….