250. Break the Circle part 10
"Snkkkt—We are now receiving satellite feeds of the City and we can confirm that there is indeed a horrendous battle taking place in the streets. There are lots of fires and structural damage to the buildings while what is assumed to be large yellow androids or battle machines are constantly marching through the avenues and courtyards of the metropolitan area. We are still unsure exactly what secret weapon the alleged Dagger is using, but it is quickly decimating all open spaces of the City. At this point, there are no confirmed deaths. And—as a matter of fact—there's no evidence that any citizens in the City are being subjected to the violence whatsoever. We suspect that a last-minute evacuation must have taken place."
In their Smallville, Kansas farmhouse….
Martha and John Kent sat by their fireplace with the radio squawking.
The emergency broadcast filtered across the country.
And it shook at their worried old bones….
"There are no signs of the Titans. In fact, the latest satellite feed—"
T-T-T-T-T-T-
"—does not show any remains of Titan's Tower on their island out in the Bay. With the sudden presence of the golden weapons marching the streets, we've made an assumption that something terrible has happened suddenly and instantly to the Tower, and that this has somehow marked the invasion of these mysterious entities."
The Daily Planet was typically abandoned that late at night, but suddenly reporters and writers and press workers were flocking back at a maddeningly rate. There was a flurry of typing and paper printing and cell phone conversations shooting back and forth as the sudden battle in the Titan's City had to be covered.
Lois Lane was sitting at her desk, attempting to write a headline. But midway through her typing, she stopped. She craned her neck along with everyone else and listened to the frightful announcements over the broadcasted radio. Jimmy Olsen was also there. And at the sound of the news he heard, he gasped and nearly dropped his camera.
"We repeat. We think something may have happened to Titan's Tower. It is no longer there……a-and now there are confirmations of a huge blazing fire at the former site. We're attempting to collect more data as the broadcast continues and----W-Wait! This just in!"
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In a waiting room of a Gotham City Hospital, a few citizens and orderlies alike were gathered around a radio positioned at the edge of a nurse's station.
They listened with great fervor at the words being given…
"The U.S. Army is in the City! They have announced an engagement of the enemy! Dagger's forces have been ambushed and the citizens evacuated underground! Ladies and gentlemen, we have confirmed reports from a subordinate to General Timothy L. Calvin himself! The U.S. Army and Airforce has a contingent in the City and they are working to beat back Dagger's forces with as little collateral damage as possible. This is welcome news—I am certain—to all who have suffered on November Fourth. There may be justice dealt tonight after all!"
A good number of the people mumbled and gestured in commotion.
From the hallway, Detective Bullock and Montoya heard the news.
They exchanged worried….slightly confused glances.
Then they gazed into an ICU room.
Barbara Gordon was lying in a bed. Heavily bandaged. Hooked up to a plethora of machines and wires. Commissioner Gordon still sat by her side. Silently. Seated in the shadows….
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"We promise a minute-by-minute update of these startling events. All the while, we can only hope and pray that the citizens of the City—and the Titans—come through in one piece."
Lexcorp H.Q.
The lofty office.
Lex Luthor sat with his hands together.
Fingers folded.
"Hmmmmm….."
He leaned back in his chair.
He lifted a glass of a warm, red liquid.
With a sly smile he whispered: "A triangle never stands on one end, you fool."
And he sipped….proudly.
T-T-T-T-T-T-
VRMMMMMM!
Robin's harley weaved in and out of the tight formation of U.S. Army jeeps throttling southward.
I blurred down the sidelines, streaking along sidewalks and teleporting through or around street lamps and abandoned storefronts.
General Calvin rode a few car spaces behind us. He shouted commands into a communicator and waved his arm forward, urging the convoy to accelerate.
Before us, the road heading towards downtown was starting to glow a brighter and brighter gold…announcing the proximity of the thermal golems.
I panted…panted…panted.
I gazed back behind me.
I saw the large army sent in to defend our City.
The forces that were combined to prevent a second November Fourth.
The determined young men and women ready—like the Titans always were—to lay their lives down on the line.
I took a deep breath. Half proud. Half mutually roused…
Ana……
Remind me to be a bit more patriotic next Memorial Day.
I turned and gazed at the more-and-more visible line of golden golems.
They stood—stretching across Main Street from sidewalk-to-sidewalk.
The monsters felt the rumbling of our massive advance.
They turned and 'gazed' at us.
Their thermal insides burned and flickered.
CRKKKK!
I took a deep breath.
Behind us, Calvin shouted an order.
At once, all of the jeeps rumbled to a stop.
Robin screeched his harley still and stood with it—ambling—between two of the front jeeps.
I leapt up, flipped, perched atop a lamppost, and watched with attentiveness….
Calvin shouted more orders.
The jeeps lined up. Wheel to wheel. A solid line of green aluminum.
In the meantime, the golems far down Main Street solidified as a thicker whole.
Random, stray jeeps and hummers belonging to Dagger's elite saw the inevitable conflict and swiftly dashed down side avenues bleeding away from Main Street.
"Present arms!"
The men on the mounted guns of the jeeps cocked and adjusted the assault weapons.
Cl-Clak!
Clik!
Claka!
"Hold!"
Robin took deep breaths. He produced a fan of explosive birdarangs. Chiiing!
I gripped Myrkblade….perched….watching the distant line of enemies.
The golems started marching towards us. A sold line of golden fury. CRKKKKK-KKKK! Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!
"Hold!.!.!.!" Calvin shouted, hand held up.
The golems shook their limbs furiously. Beneath the red night, they moved into a sprint and briskly charged us.
Ten miles an hour.
Fifteen.
A burning twenty….
Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!
The entire ground shook.
The asphalt burned beneath them and started to crackle and divide all the way over where we were positioned.
A few fleeting helicopters flew overhead, apaches and HINDs chasing each other. They were gone as soon as they appeared, and once again all we saw and felt was the immensity of the golem wall surging towards us.
STOMP! STOMP! STOMP! STOMP! STOMP!
Robin seethed.
I held my breath.
"Ready……!"
ST-STOMP! ST-STOMP! ST-STOMP! ST-STOMP!
Every soldier glared.
Every gunman aimed.
Barrels trained.
Eyes squinting…
"Aim…..!"
STOMP-STOMP-STOMP-STOMP-STOMP
We could feel the heat of their bodies wafting into us across the cold, red night.
And before they were within three bus lengths…..
"Fire!"
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!
Solid streaks of lead flew from our vehicular phalanx and plowed into the first line of onrushing golems.
TH-TH-THUNK!
CRKKK!
SN-SNAP! CRACKKK!
CRKKK-KKKK!
Golden-glowing limbs flew.
Fiery innards splashed.
Granite and ash and stone fragments shattered everywhere.
The hulking shreds of the monsters' rocky bodies fell forward, tripped on their severed selves, and collapsed in a thickening pile of molten rock.
Then the second line of golems rushed on, climbing and clamoring over the rubble of their wasted companions.
And still our defenders' onslaught persisted.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
TH-TH-TH-THUNK! The golems exploded and collapsed both ways.
A golden-bright blaze vomited upwards from where they clumped and melted together.
Even the lead was burning and melting inside of them.
The smell of deep, burnt earth filled the air.
Like sawdust and cigarette ash combined with something not quite akin to flesh but somewhat reminiscent of copper and rust….
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!
Robin watched, barely flinching from the noise of the gun barrels on either side of him.
I breathed deeply.
Gazing.
Fighting the urge to shiver…
Their Construction……
Their pulsing………strobing essences………
The Black in me is surging.
I must stay focused.
Help me, Ana.
Help me stay focused……
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
The gunmen fired and fired.
The golems fell and shattered.
The center of Main Street piled high with a volcanic hill of its own thermal fury.
And….finally….
Too sooner than any of us would have wanted…..
CLIK-CLIK-CLIK-CLIK-CLIK!
CLIK-CLIK-CLIK!
The mounted guns ran empty.
The men rushed to reload with their ammo crates.
A supply truck full of infantrymen unloaded.
They readied explosives and RPGs….
But I knew as much as Robin did that the golems weren't stopping.
A new wave was rushing in over the raw, ashen 'hill'.
With burning limbs flailing, they quickly began closing the distance between the center of Main Street and our phalanx of military friends.
Robin took a breath. He gestured at me.
I nodded. CHIIIING!
I got Myrkblade ready.
Robin held his breath….then throttled his harley forward, the front wheel rising and squealing in the air for the first few feet.
SCREEE-EEECH! VRMMMMM!
I inhaled sharply, pulsed murk through my body, and blurred down the streetlamp.
FWOOOOOOSH!
I charged the incoming wall of sprinting rock monsters head on.
Robin rode ahead of me.
VRMMMMM!
He clutched the fan of explosive projectiles in one hand while steering with the other limb.
He took a few deep breaths and swerved his bike just meters away from the line of golems.
"HAAAAAAUGH!" VRMMMMM!
While swerving, he flailed his free hand outward and tossed all the explosive projectiles out in a wave.
TH-TH-TH-TH-TH-TH-THWISSSSSSSSSSSH!
Robin's weapons sailed into the meat of the golem rock-things and engulfed them in a shell-splitting flame.
PHWOOOOOOMB!
And while Robin arced his bike back towards the phalanx…I blurred past him.
THWOOOOOOOOSSSSH!
With a bullet-like cocoon of smoke surrounding me, I dragged Myrkblade behind my blurring body and gathered the smoke and flame of Robin's igniting arsenal.
I snarled mutely, charged the flame around my flickering blade, and streaked so maddeningly quick through the thick crowd of gold that I shifted and teleported through their bodies while the sword itself remained solid, intense, and burning with the infernal charge.
SLAAAAAA-AAAAAAASSSSSSSSH!.!.!.!.!.!.!
A dozen golem bodies shattered and exploded in solid succession behind me.
CRKKK-CRKKK-CRKKK-CRKKKKK-KKKKK!
After I cleared a straight path, the golems parted and mixed back together to try and fill the smoldering gap and reform their charging ranks.
It was then that the harley gave its life.
Robin finished typing four explosives to the body of the bike.
He then gripped the handles with two gloves and propelled the bike forward.
SCREEEECHHH!—VRMMMMM!
Robin burned on his bike straight towards the reforming contingent of monstrosities.
He gritted his teeth, nimbly hopped up, and drove with his two feet planted atop the seat of the bike.
He steered, awkwardly bent over with his palms against the handles, and backflipped off the free bike at the last second.
TH-THWP!
VRMMMMMMMMMMM!.!.!.!.!.!
The bike took its ill-fated voyage into the center of the line of rock-beasts.
It collapsed to the side once, bounced, and flailed-flipped-flopped into a chest of a rock golem….pushing it back so that it sprawled on the ground, tumbled, and billowed flame—
KAPOWWW!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!
Landing in the street, Robin shielded his eyemask, teeth gritting.
A veritable mushroom cloud of flame and heat soared out from the thick of the rocky crowd.
TH-THWOOSH! I streaked over from a buildingside and solidified to a cold stop besides Robin, panting…panting….panting…
We stood side by side, staring into the hazy…golden-glowing oblivion. The line of jeeps behind us—reloaded by then—also stared.
"……….."
"………..."
CRKKKK!
A dozen remaining golems emerged from the smoke and ruin.
Weakened.
Limping.
But still furious.
Robin heaved.
Frowning, he whipped out his bo-staff and extended it.
Snkkkkt!
"Yaaaaaaaaaaugh!" he charged forward.
I snarled and blurred alongside him—CHIIING!—Myrkblade singing through the air.
Aaaaah!
General Calvin shouted, threw his hand forward, and commanded the jeeps into a brisk advance.
Robin ran up and twirled with his staff slamming into the first of many rock-beast chests.
CRKKKK! THWKKK!
He leapt up, vaulted over a creature, and slammed the torsos in of yet another.
In the meantime, I was dashing in and around creatures with teleporting streaks, Myrkblade slashing and hacking and ripping rocky shells parts.
CRKKK! SLASSSH!
The jeeps briskly coasted in behind us and the gunmen on the backs of them swiftly made an end of the golems reeling from our blows.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
CR-CR-CR-CR-CRACKKK!
One by one, the last of the company of opposing monsters crumbled and shattered to bits.
Robin and I continued running and charging and twirling with weapons at full swing.
The golems fell from our attack and were pulverized by the jeeps.
Until finally there was nothing but the hill of crumbled stone to navigate around….and Calvin's forces did just that.
Vrmmmmmmm!
Once we were in the clear, we had another stretch of Main Street to traverse.
I went into a brisk murk-blur along the caravan.
A jeep slowed down beside Robin.
The Boy Wonder nodded, leapt up, and perched onto the hood of it…his one hand grabbing onto the frame while the other gripped his bo-staff. He pointed forward, and the whole lot of us throttled once again towards the center of the City.
As the chaos thickened and thickened…
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In the subways beneath the City….
The people shuddered and shook as the world above shook more.
The foundation of the tunnels and loading ramps vibrated.
Dust settled and drifted over their heads.
Where Renee and Daniel sat…..Daniel was panting. He slowly smiled and half-stood up, pumping his arm and cheering: "It's the Army! They're fighting back!"
Commotion.
Murmurs.
Brightening faces.
"They're kicking Dagger's ass! They're saving the City!"
"Give 'em the what-for, boys!"
"Take them out!"
Cheers.
Hopeful shouts.
Renee smiled nervously, all the while wincing from the loud vibrations and shakes.
And Daniel shouted: "Woooohooo!"
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PFTOOOOOOOOOSHHHH! A hellseeker roared through the air and exploded just to the side of a careening army jeep.
POWWW! A lamppost shattered and a chunk of sidewalk flew three stories high, burning.
In another jeep speeding down the heated street, General Calvin shouted an order.
Two apaches swarmed overhead towards the launcher of the hellseeker.
The HIND spiraled about and flew loudly towards the far East of the City.
The apaches zoomed after it.
In the meantime, our herd of jeeps swerved maddeningly in and around rubble and demolished spots in the asphalt of Main Street. Bullets flew and golden golems all around us exploded and collapsed in fiery splendor.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
CRKKKKK!
CRKKK-KKKK!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!
CRKKKKKKKKK!
VRMMMMM! The jeep that Robin was mounted on skirted around a swarm of golden monsters tossing lava pellets at them.
CRKKKK! P-PING! CLANK!
Robin shifted on the jeep, pulled out a disc, and flung it hard as his vehicle blurred by the monsters.
SWISSSSSSSSSSH-TH-TH-THUNK! The projectiles flew straight through the torsos of all three golems, skewering their torsos at once.
VRMMMM! Robin's and another jeep sped along the left side of Main Street.
From a side alleyway, a hummer full of Dagger's men drove up. Two mounted gunmen aimed and fired at the Army vehicles up close.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
Gaping holes opened in the rear jeep and two soldiers screamed as bullets ripped through them.
SCREEEECH!
The army vehicle veered and slammed into a glass building front…smoking.
SHATTTTER!
The men in Robin's jeep shouted and fired back. RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT! BAM! BAM!
The bullets sparked and bounced off the thick body of the Hummer.
The Daggerite vehicle swerved left, ran on the sidewalk, and veered right again to ram into the side of the jeep.
VRMMMMM!—CLANK!
The jeep upended, drove on two wheels, and came back down with a shower of sparks.
CL-CLANK!
Robin struggled to hold his grip.
He snarled and leapt madly off the front of the jeep and over into the hummer with his bo-staff twirling.
The men on the mounted guns in the back gasped and attempted to pivot the high-calibre weapons to target the Boy Wonder--
"YAAAUGH!" Robin slammed his staff into the skull of one terrorist.
The man gurgled and flopped backwards off the hummer….tumbling across the blurred asphalt.
The other gunman kicked his gun so that the mounted weapon swiveled to lop Robin's head off.
THWOOOSH!
The Boy Wonder ducked the swinging barrel and kicked his legs out and up.
WHAM!
The man took it in the crotch. He grunted and bent over---
THWOK!
into the uppercut of Robin's green glove.
The man's body flew off the hummer and slammed into the blurring building side.
"Robin!" someone shouted somewhere. A random soldier. "Jump off of that! Now!"
PFTOOOOOSSSSH!
Robin instantly heard the missile and felt its heat.
Without looking, he leapt off and grabbed onto a gunman's hand at the back of an army jeep, swinging on board.
BOOOOM!
A missile flew into the Dagger vehicle and exploded it in a brilliant splash of flame.
An apache soared overhead in the opposite direction of Calvin's forces.
"We're rushing straight into the second wave of Dagger's forces!" a soldier shouted. "We must cut on through so their center of defense will fall!"
"What about the other brigades?" Robin shouted back.
"They're doing the same from the Southwest, East, and South! We're cutting at Dagger from all sides!"
Robin panted. He looked against the wind of the high speed blitz. "It's still puzzling me that he could not have possibly suspected this…."
"No single man is immortal, Robin!"
"Well…," the Boy Wonder managed a smile. "Aren't you a soldier?"
POW!
A section of the street exploded nearly beneath them.
The whole jeep jolted.
Calvin shouted something.
Robin and a few soldiers looked ahead.
Two supply trucks filled to the brim in the rear with soldiers occupied the street ahead of the jeeps.
They swerved left and right to keep the jeeps from advancing, meanwhile the men in the back armed and fired all sorts of machine guns, grenade launchers, and RPGs at the advancing army contingent.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
BL-BLAM! BLAM!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT!
PFTOOOOOOOOOSSSSH!
A jeep to the right swerved at the last second to avoid the flying explosive, but lost a tire in the process-- P-POW!--and had to stall behind the throttling force.
The soldiers fired back with their mounted guns. RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
But the supply trucks merely swerved out of the way and fired back with twice as deadly explosives.
PFTOOOOSH!
PFTOOOOOOSSSSH!
BLAM!
KA-POW!
Explosions rocked the asphalt of Main Street between the hurtling jeeps.
The soldiers grunted.
Robin whipped out a grappling hook and stood at the edge of the jeep.
"Keep distracting them! We'll handle this!"
POW!
He fired his grappling hook up at the nearest, blurring building top.
"Noir! Protect the convoy!"
CL-CLANK!
Robin 'flew' up on his grappling hook cord to the building rooftops above the madness.
The soldiers panted.
They glanced at each other in the jeep.
"Where is that 'Noir' anyways---?"
THWOOOOOOSH!
I blurred straight over the jeep in a black streak.
Even they had to gasp at that.
Teeth gritting, I forced my speeding self to occupy the street between the front of the jeeps and the rear of the heavily boarded supply trucks.
The Daggerites in the back shouted, pointed at me, and fired.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
I twirled Myrkblade in my right hand while streaking after the trucks.
CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!
They lowered the machine guns.
A terrorist from the leftmost truck instead tossed a grenade at me.
Clank! Thwooooosh!
I slashed Myrkblade up.
THWAK!
I deflected the grenade back towards them.
BOOM!
It exploded between the supply trucks, jostling them both.
They slowed a bit in their speeding rush down the lengths of Main Street.
A few more men fired shotguns.
BL-BLAM! BLAM!
I dodged one spray of shot and slashed Myrkblade into another.
THWOOOSH-CLANK!
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Meanwhile, above the heated streets…
Robin ran over rooftops.
Leapt over alleyways.
He ran parallel to the supply trucks swerving around debris in the roads with me and the jeeps trailing.
The Boy Wonder took a breath, whipped out a grappling hook in his right hand…..and another in his left. He gritted his teeth, tensed his muscles, and cartwheeled into a suicidal dive sideways into the open street….
T-T-T-T-T-T-
THWISSSSSH!
Cape billowing, the Boy Wonder dove above the speeding trucks that were gradually throttling ahead of him.
He took a breath, aimed his right hand up, and fired its grappling hook.
POW!
CL-CLANK!
It stuck unto the middle stories of a buildingside ahead.
THWOOOOOSH! Robin swung down and towards the first of the two trucks, but still not quite catching up.
He shimmered between the red-lit buildingsides.
And at the end of his upswing….as he came to the end of his cord….
POW!
He fired his left grappling hook towards a building ahead.
And he detached his right cord.
CLANK!
The left attached.
Robin swung down on it, gradually descending towards the blurring asphalt below and gaining on the two trucks.
All throughout the swing, he was retracting the cord of his right launcher. Thwppppppp-Schlunk!
He reached the end of his second swing. He was practically bulleting down Main Street after the trucks.
POW!
He shot his right grappling hook again.
He retracted his left.
CLANK!
Robin swung the final distance.
He hurtled—feet first—towards the rear of the rightmost supply train.
The terrorists in the back of him finally registered him. Dagger's elite shouted and fired volley after volley of bulletfire at the Boy Wonder.
BLAM! BL-BLAM!
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
Robin somehow twirled his body and avoided the shots.
As he zoomed again at the truck straightaway by one hand, he aimed his left grappling hook and fired into the rear.
POW!
The men gasped and parted ways.
THWISSSSH!
The grappling hook flew through the rear glass panel of the driving compartment.
SHATTERR!
It burst in and impaled the back of the passenger.
SLIIINK!
A scream.
Blood burst all over the driver and he swerved madly in surprise.
SCREEEE-EEEECCCH!
The men in the back gasped and jostled from the swerving.
Robin flew off his right grappling hook, flipped, produced his bo-staff in mid-air—Snkkkt!—and landed down onto the supply truck, swinging madly.
"YAAAAAAUGH!"
SLAM!
"HRAAAAUGH!"
THWWACK!
Two screaming terrorists flew off the truck and rolled bloodily along the blurred asphalt. Then three more toppled over and fell.
A burly man stomped towards Robin with a fist flying.
THWOOOSH!
WHAM!
Robin teetered back, dangerously close to falling off the back of the truck.
The man flew his foot this time.
SWOOOSH!
Robin deflected the man's kick with his staff, flew from the jolt, and jammed the end of it against the man's jaw.
TWHKKK!
Three or four teeth bloodily flew.
Robin kicked him off the truck—WHAM!—and spun to assault the final two gunmen.
They lifted grenade launchers and fired point-blanc in desperation.
P-POW!
POW!
Robin yanked his body back in a nimble dodge and shot his rod up, deflecting one and dodging the other.
CL-CLANK!
Both explosives flew up high in the air and came down where I was.
I gasped and blurred to the aside, avoiding the asphalt-flinging explosions.
BOOOM!
KAPOW!
Robin came back from his evasive stretch and produced a birdarang. CHIIING!
The men reloaded.
Robin launched the birdarang with a grunt.
THW-THW-THW-THWISSSH!
The men ducked.
The birdarang deflected off the train, soared right, and severed a stop sign down the metal stalk.
SL-SLINK!
The men aimed their grenade launchers again, fully loaded.
Robin had to bail.
He dove right off the side of the truck.
The men instead fired at the army jeeps trailing the vehicle.
POW!
POW!
I blurred back and deflected the grenades to the sides of the streets before they could damage any of Calvin's forces.
BOOOM!
In the meantime, Robin dove through the air.
With the aide of his cape, he glided towards the corner of the sidewalk where the severed stopsign lay.
In mid-descent, he produced a spare grappling hook and aimed at the truck.
POW! CL-CLANK!
The hook stuck into the top of the vehicle.
CLANG!
Robin's feet made contact with the stop sign.
SCRKKKKKKKK!
At the end of his grappling hook cord, he 'rode' the stopsign like a wakeboard against the blurring asphalt beneath him.
Sparks flew.
Burning metal filled the air.
Robin gritted his teeth and pivoted his body just right so as to slide his taut grasp of the cord left and sliding back towards the supply truck.
SCRKKKKK!
The terrorists saw him, but were a little too perplexed and shocked to register in their brains the urge to shoot at him.
Robin grunted….and leapt up high.
The stop-sign went sliding across the street under the chassis of the supply truck and between its tires.
At the same time, Robin spiraled in the air over the truck by his grasp of the grappling hook cord.
While spinning, he whipped out a disc and launched it into the compartment.
THWISSSSH-SHATTER!
The disc landed on the dashboard and exploded in a flurry of sparks.
ZZZZZZZTTT!
The blood-soaked driver inside screamed and convulsed to unconsciousness.
The truck veered to the right and into a building front.
CRNCCCHHH!
Before it did, Robin touched down and landed with his feet to the sliding, sparking stop-sign that also emerged from underneath the left side of the truck.
SCRKKKKKK!
The boy Wonder let go of the cord and slid freely, sparklingly towards the left truck full of Dagger's elite.
They shouted, cursed, and fired at him. BLAM! BL-BLAM!
Robin gritted his teeth and jabbed his bo-staff's end down into the blurring asphalt.
CLANK!
Using his rod like a pole vault, Robin and the friction-hot stop sign lifted up at an angle and soared towards the truck.
Robin grunted and kicked of the sign in mid-air.
THWOOOOOOOSH!—THUNK!
The sign skewered the neck of a gunman and plunged him off the side of the speeding truck, gurgling.
And Robin landed in the truck with a tornadic spin of his staff. "YAAAAAUGH!"
THWACK-THWACK-THWACK-THWACK! Four screaming thugs flew off the truck.
Two more besides the driving compartment fired shotguns at the Boy Wonder.
BL-BLAM!
"Nnngh!" Robin flipped over the shots…which landed and impaled bloodily the body of a man behind the Titan.
"Aaaachkkntt!" the man plunged off the back of the truck.
THW-THWISSH!
Robin landed between the two shotgun thugs and pivoted his body, jabbing, punching, slamming, and colliding his staff and elbows with various joints of the men up close.
Thwap! Whap! Smack! Thwack!
The men jolted and grunted.
The driver and passenger inside the truck panicked.
Robin glanced back through his mask, snarled, and jabbed his bo-staff end through the glass.
SHATTER!
He slammed the end of the staff into the base of the driver's neck.
CRKKK!
The man shook, convulsed, and fell against the steering wheel.
THWUMP! SCREEEEEECHH!
The truck veered left just as an onramp to the City highway appeared.
VRMMMMM!
The careening truck zoomed out of Main Street and up the onramp, mercilessly scraping the guardrail and jolting sparks.
SCRKKKKKK!
All remaining thugs atop the truck gasped and shook all over.
Robin maintained a firm grip.
As they ascended the highway and throttled up the raised concrete, he took a breath and dove over the truck's side.
He gripped the edge of the vehicle and dangled.
Hanging by one hand he retracted the grappling hook, produced a birdarang, and launched it at the front and rear tire on the other side from beneath the chassis.
TH-TH-THWISSSH!-THWUNK!
POW!
The tires popped.
The truck leaned to its damaged side….and the edge of the raised highway.
SCRAAAAAAAPE!
The men in the truck screamed.
The truck leaned…leaned….leaned right.
Robin dangled, then stood on the upturned side.
And just as the truck hit the guardrail—
NNNGH!
Robin leapt off.
He landed in a nimble slide on the median of the highway…panting.
CLANK!
The truck slammed sideways into the guardrail and flipped over in a spinning, plunging bottle-spin that sent it sailing out in mid-air and collapsing four stories down into a cluster of golden golems below.
BOOOOOOOOM!
The truck exploded.
Flames and bits of golem thermal gold flew high and rained back down on the carnage.
"…………..," Robin stood up.
A beat.
He found himself glaring to the side.
In the middle of the highway, three Daggerites stood besides a smoking, bullet-skewered jeep. They were in the middle of repairing their wartorn vehicle when they found themselves staring wide-eyed at the scene.
They eyed Robin.
They glanced at the fiery remains of the huge supply truck.
They looked at Robin again.
……..
The Boy Wonder's muscles tensed.
He clenched his teeth—Snkkkt!—and twirled his bo-staff into an agile fighting position.
"…….."
Cl-Clak!
Clank!
Clunk!
Their weapons and tools littered the concrete around their feet as their arms raised high to the red sky.
"W-We give up."
"T-Take us in…."
"……….."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
SLAAAA-AAASH!
The red blade swam through the air.
Dagger twirled, dodged, slid back, and twirled his machetes.
TH-TH-THWISSH!
"Snkkktkt-Hckk!" Red Aviary blurred at Dagger, raising his blade in a vapor stream of RED.
Dagger crossed his daggers.
CLAK!
He blocked Deathstroke's sword.
Red Aviary pressed his weight up against Dagger.
Single eye strobing and glaring crimson.
Dagger struggled to hold him back.
His face was calm and straight….but still sweated.
They struggled and wrenched with each other atop Kobayashi Tower's summit……
Until finally Slade pulsed a deep red fury through his blade and shattered Dagger's machetes.
CRAAA-AAA-AAACK!
Dagger grunted and stumbled back.
"HCKKK-Clik-Clik-Clik-SNKKKTT!"
Deathstroke spun his entire weight and brought the sword down to cleave Dagger in two.
The despot backflipped and perched on the undercurve of a small satellite dish.
He stood up nimbly and reached into his vest…producing two knives in either set of fingers.
"Snkkkt!"
Deathstroke stared up at him, sword raised.
"Nnngh!" Dagger flipped.
He soared over Deathstroke's body.
While upside down, he let loose a fan of knives singing their serrated way through the air at Deathstroke's figure.
TH-TH-TH-TH-THWISSSSSSH!
Deathstroke knelt and swung his two-edged sword up in a single crimson swipe…instantly shattering all of the flying knives.
SLAAA-AAAAASSSH!! CRKK-KKK!
Dagger landed in a slide barely at the edge of the Tower.
The fiery battle of the Army versus Dagger's elites and golems splashed and sparkled far beneath them.
Dagger reached into his vest and produced a pair of exploding knives.
He twirled them by the hilts and droned:
"What were your plans exactly, Slade? Even if you killed everyone you wanted on the continent—starting with the Titans—it would still be an empty rule. As powerful as death is, you still need the living to dictate power."
"Powwwwerrrr…..snkkkt!" Deathstroke twirled his shotgun and aimed at the cold man. "I am powerrrr, Daggerrrrr…." His single eye glared. "But even power bowsss-snkkktt!—to a greater energy. Pure Destruction…."
"Then what you desire is suicide?" Dagger paced himself away from the shotgun with both exploding knives posed. "For with pure destruction….you'll inevitably destroy yourself."
"Thingssss do notttt end therrrrre….," Red Aviary hissed. "Therrrre is a firrrre beyond death. It awaitssss me….and I shall-click-clik-clik—PULL the Titansss and this Cittty along with me! Thattt—snkkktt—will change the Balanccce foreverrrr…."
"A fanciful vision….," Dagger droned. "I didn't know that the dead dreamed."
"They wissssh they couldddd…." BLAM!
With a pulse of red, the shotgun fired.
Dagger slid, ducked below the flying shot, rolled forward, and came up just as Red Aviary was swinging his sword.
"SNKKKKT!"
THWISSSSSSH!
The crimson blade soared at Dagger's neck.
Dagger leapt up, flipped over the blade, and came back down in a backwards drift upon which he unleashed the two knives.
THWISSSH! THWISSSSSH!
Deathstroke blurred and dodged one.
FWOOOSH!
But solidified right where the second one landed—TH-THUNK!
"HRKKKCKK!"
Slade clutched his shoulder where the knife dug in.
To the explosive hilt.
Dagger landed in a sweaty crouch.
He took a deep breath and stood up, glaring through his sheen face.
"What's wrong, Slade? I thought you could no longer feel pain."
"Angerrrrrr…..," Deathstroke pulled and tugged at the knife stuck in his meaty muscle. "Snkkkt—Hckkk! Angerrrr….retributionnn…."
"How intriguing…," Dagger fingered a watch on his arm and pressed a button. Click! "Get ready to be really…really angry at me."
Beeeeeep!
"Snkkkktt!"
Deathstroke convulsed and pulled bloodily at the knife just as it started to pulse and blink—
BOOOOOM!
A puff of flame and smoke.
Dagger shaded himself.
The glass of the Kobayashi Tower summit cracked some.
The satellite dishes wobbled.
"………." Dagger lowered his arms.
He glared with thin eyes into the haze and smoke.
He paced around the far end of the Tower's top…speaking.
"This City is mine, Slade. It was entrusted to me long ago. I am what keeps it running. If need be, I'll be what pulls its plug. The Titans…they have to learn to respect me. Even if that means in misery. You shouldn't have gotten in the way, Slade. I would have killed the Titans myself. Yes…I would have eliminated the Titans in your place. But you had to be stubborn. You had to dabble in arts and energies that do not belong to you. The Spectrum is a strong, flexing, dynamic thing…Slade. The Red side may have its powers….its promises….and its passion. But too much wielding of the red will call forth a strong and savage revenge of the Black and White. Terra's essences are the Construction. And they are here to negate your powers while all the while aiding me. As for Black….he's the most important piece of the Experiment. And the Experiment was purposed—and still promises to combine the entire Spectrum into one. You think you have achieved true Power? All you've gotten is just a fraction of it, Slade. Try as strongly as you might to wield Death and Destruction….you will be nothing but a third of true…ultimate strength. Nothing has….and nothing will…..match the perfection of the Obsidian Trinity. But what would you know of that? The Experiment was a long time ago…and you weren't there. You're just a petty thug, Slade. A petty thug…..like me. The only difference is, I've been educated. I've seen the Experiment with my own human eyes…and I know how to run the world between now and the time when all the fated shades of the Spectrum come together. And I will—if I have to—end your pitiful charade."
Silence.
Fading smoke.
Cold, red night air….
Dagger's brow furrowed.
"I don't think it was Death or Power or any of your desired faculties that empowered you, Slade. I think it was simply…..cowardice."
"…………………Clik-Clik-Clik-Clik-Clikkkkt……"
"….!" Dagger spun, knives raised.
Deathstroke stood atop the rim of a satellite dish.
His gaping arm wound was billowing out red vapors.
He jerked and hissed…pointing a red blade down at the despot.
"You have sssseen a lot Daggerrrr…..butttt you sttttill haven'tttt seen everrrrythinng….snkkkt!….Whatttt ends of the Spectrummmm I canotttt possessss….I shall sssssoon consume…."
"Folly….," Dagger droned. He leaned his head to the side. "You've failed over and over again to destroy Black Eyes. And—"
"My 'seccccond apprenticccce' is already herrrre…..," Red Aviary hissed. "I can sensssse him. And as forr—snkkkt—the WHITE………sssssshe will be coming soon too…."
Dagger's jaw tightened.
"That is impossible."
"You
are a blind man, Daggerrrr….you have seen the Experimentttt with
mortal—snkkkt—EYES! I am the RED! Snkkkt—I SEE…THE
SPECTRUMMM! And the White is coming……she will fall intttto my
handssss…..but firsssst….I musssst consume Robin. And in orderrrr
to consume Robin, I musssst have an open path. Hckkk—And your
patheticcc army is in the way."
"……..," Dagger leaned back and twirled a fan of knives at the ready. "I won't let you be the one to kill the other poles of the Spectrum."
"Why notttt, Daggerrr? Snkkkkt—Afraid of true power?"
"………"
The single red eye narrowed.
"You arrrre far more invisible—snkkkt—clik-clik-clik….than you give yourself CREDIT!"
FWOOOOSH!
He blurred down at the despot.
Dagger leapt back.
CRACCCKKKK!
The red sword ate into the glass tower summit.
Spiderweb fractures spread and began to shatter.
Dagger slid back.
Hissing, Red Aviary stood up.
Dagger gritted his teeth and charged.
Deathstroke twirled his blade and ran forward.
Th-Th-Thwish!
THW-THWOOSSSSH!
CLANKKKK!