4.
Titans Tower
August 08
03:17 UTC
With Terra checking her arm to make sure it was not broken, and Cissie regaining her breath, Garfield found himself face to face with his sister. A large chunk of wall was then hurled telekinetically at him with no time to get out of the way. Why she would do such a thing, he did not know. This was not like her in the slightest and he just wanted things to go back to normal.
"Garfield!" Flying ahead of him, Raven rose her fisted arm in front of her to create a shield made of her black energy.
Plaster, metal, and wood spread over the barrier she created to keep herself and Garfield safe from the attack. M'gann was soon on them with her telekinesis backing up her Martian strength as she unloaded incredibly hard strikes to the black barrier. Raven knew what her leader was capable of and braced herself for every hit. They were so hard, they sent ripples throughout Raven's shield.
"Get up off your butts and move!" Dropping her shield and batting her attacker to the side, Raven grabbed Garfield by the hand and flew past M'gann. She created just enough of a distraction for the others to get clear when the wall between them exploded outwards.
A large arm reached out into the interior downpour and roughly grabbed Cissie by the back of her shirt. She was then yanked backwards as Terra continued forward. With a scream, the Titan archer disappeared into the darkness with her flashlight and crossbow clattering on the floor.
Stepping out from the hole he created, Conner angrily stared down the corridor as the three remaining Titans turned the corner. M'gann came up beside him as she too watched the last teen disappear. Holding her hand up, she had the sprinklers cut off. Flashing her eyes their bright Martian green, she went back into her camouflage mode as Conner let out a grow and stomped off in search of the others with her.
At the end of the hall, Garfield, Tera, and Raven burst into the stairwell. Using her powers, the Gothic Titan bent the door frame inward to at least buy them some time if they were followed. Regrouped for the moment, the three fought to catch their breaths while also trying to come up with a way to get out.
"Wha, what happened to, Kyle?" Garfield asked Raven who was leaning on the railing.
"Con, Conner got him." Raking a hand through her hair, she turned to see how far they were from the next floor down. "Is it safe it think the other exits are jammed?"
"Most likely." Looking to his right, Garfield saw Terra rubbing her arm. "How is it?"
"Doesn't feel broken. I can still make a fist." Demonstrating, Tera clinched her fist several times. "So what's the plan now?"
"We still get out," Raven told her. "How about the beach entrance?"
"Maybe," Garfield said. "You think you could get us out if we're on the bottom floor, Terra?"
"Yeah. I'll be close enough to the ground to do something. I just have to get out of here."
"Just breathe." Moving beside Raven, Garfield pulled her to the side. "Look, you're the only one who can actually hurt Conner. He can't take magic."
"What do you have in mind?" Crossing her arms, Raven looked back over at Terra as she tried to settle herself down from her claustrophobia.
"I say we clear the way for Terra to get to the beach exit. Sis doesn't look like she wants to use her telepathy on us, or else we'd all be done. You keep Conner busy while I distract M'gann as long as I can.
"Think that will work?"
"It's all I can come up with."
Reaching into the pocket of her sleep shorts, Raven produced the small pouch Kyle had tossed her and handed it to Garfield. "Here. Kyle gave me this before Conner took him captive. There's a few coms and a couple of extra flashlights in it. Don't know if they'll be of any use if they're listening to the frequencies, but it's your call."
"Wait, how did I become leader?"
"You have the most experience in the field," Raven told him. "And...you have been here longer than us so I think it's only logical."
"Really?"
"Just don't get us killed. Or I will destroy you."
Unzipping the bag with a grin, Garfield pulled out two flashlights and made sure they worked. After handing one to Terra, he pocketed the second and pulled out a third for Raven. The last one, he kept in hand as he pulled out one of the coms. "We just have to take our chances with the com-links, but keep them on manual where you have to press the button to talk. Terra, I need you to go out through the beach entrance. Once out there, contact the League or the black ops team and tell them everything. Me and Raven will lead Conner and sis away from you to buy you time."
Slipping the communicator in her ear, Terra gave him a nod and took a deep breath to steady her nerves. "I'll try my best, Gar."
"Okay," he told them, "here's what we're gong to do."
With the tower eerily quiet, the three remaining Titans almost tiptoed down the halls. As the only one who could not fly, Terra had to make sure she was light and silent on her feet. It would have been easier if the hallways were carpeted like the living area and it's main hallway where the rooms were located.
Skipping the next floor, since that was where Conner emerged from to capture Kyle, the three thought it best to not go after their captured friends as their pursuers would undoubtedly have a trap set for them. First priority was to throw Conner and M'gann off their tracks. Second was to provide a distraction of some sort to lure the two leaders where they wanted them to be. Third was for Terra to get out and call for backup. Finally, Garfield and Raven were to get to the outside after giving Terra a good head start to the city.
Before dividing up, Garfield told them to go to radio silence unless absolutely necessary, given Conner and Wolf's enhanced hearing. Thinking was also out as M'gann could pick up on that quite easily. Right now, there was no way to know if she were listening to their thoughts or not since they had been in so much of a hurry to escape her, they could not remember if they felt her mental touch or not. With no way to actually communicate, they had to depend solely on hand gestures.
Deciding on where their first stop should be, Garfield and Raven headed for the current floor's computer room. Every floor had one and was capable of maintaining the tower's security with a spot for Sphere to hook into the data frame if need be. With no knowledge of where she was, the two took the chance of breaking into the room as silent as they could be.
Covering the panel with her black energy, Raven gently, yet firmly, pried the electrical covering off for Garfield to use the manual override. Unlike the exit, this one was not damaged, allowing him to unlock the door by inputting a tumbler code and slide it open. Nothing was inside except the computer terminal and large docking area for the tower's resident living machine.
"You sure about this?" Watching the door, Raven waited for Garfield to see if he was right in his idea.
"Just give me a second." Searching for what he was looking for, Garfield remained as quiet as he could be. "It should be here."
"Did you check beside the docking port?"
"Yeah but, nevermind, found it." Opening a hatch beside the main terminal, Garfield uncovered an emergency override panel for the lone computer. Flipping a few switches, he succeeded in turning the machine on. "There. We don't have complete control of the tower, but we at least have cameras."
"And why can't we control everything from here?"
"Beat's me. At least now we can see where the others are and make some distraction from there."
Bringing up an infrared live feed of the hallways from where they were last attacked, Garfield kept an eye out for anything resembling his sister's camouflage mode, a fast moving animal, or someone sticking to the shadows. None showed up, prompting him to move on to the floor above them.
"See anything?" Raven asked from the door.
"Nothing. I'm going to check on Terra's position. Maybe she's nearly out by now."
Typing in a few commands, Garfield switched over to the passageway leading to the beach. There he saw Terra moving slowly with her holo-computer in front of her to check on any movements in the dark while keeping her flashlight in hand. Appearing to have heard something, she quickly turned to check behind her, but continued on a moment later.
"How far is she?" Joining Garfield, Raven saw the blonde girl nearing the end of the long corridor.
"Nearly there. She's almost to the turn and the door."
Seeing Terra near the last turn to the exit, Garfield was ready to make a distraction by morphing into an animal and roar into the hallway when he saw his teammate stop suddenly. She then took a step back as she switched off her holo-computer and had her flashlight trained on something before backing up rapidly, almost falling over, before turning and sprinting as fast as she could back the way she came with a hand to her ear.
"Garfield," Terra screamed over the communicator, "it's a trap! It's a-NAGH!"
Swooping into the view of the camera, Sphere, in her supercycle mode fired upon Terra. Her shots were not to meant to kill, but to slow her down. Just as the living machine was going to fly over her, she transformed into her pillbug mode and captured the blonde Titan. Both disappeared from sight immediately after.
"Terra," Garfield sadly said once he saw she was gone.
Placing a hand on his shoulder, Raven sought to offer her support when a growling came from behind her. Slowly turning, she and Garfield laid eyes on Wolf who looked ready to pounce at any moment. Even with the small amount of light they had, both could see the intensity in his eyes and bared teeth.
"Get ready to run," Garfield told Raven.
Keeping his eyes locked on the large animal, Garfield moved a few steps away from his Gothic partner, making sure Wolf's attention was on him at all times. Yelling at her to go, he morphed into a gorilla and pounced on the growling animal, making sure to stay away from his teeth.
No sooner had Raven flown out of the computer room, M'gann came phasing through the lower floor. Her eyes shimmered brightly in the darkness as she batted the flashlight out of the teen's hands, grabbed her by the neck, and threw her further down the hall.
Getting back to a sitting position, Raven had her eyes shimmer with her black power as she concentrated on striking back. The two met with M'gann rushing her, throwing a right cross Raven barely blocked before receiving a kick to her ribs. Winded, the younger Titan tried to get into the air when the veteran team member crossed her arms then sliced them through the air, sending an invisible force at the Goth girl to send her to the floor.
Before she hit, Raven used her shadow jump to disappear into the darkness and reappear behind M'gann. Grabbing her cape, the young Titan yanked her backwards, forcing her to the ground to deliver a knockout shot to the temple, but hesitated. That moment of non action cost her as M'gann phased through the floor. Before Raven could do anything, the ceiling shuddered as a loud crash echoed through the hall. All was quiet after that.