Rematch
The nuisances of human language did not disguise the direction that this conflict was going. Starfire was recognizing contempt easier in the present time, and the language of the body of Jinx revealed there was no intention to surrender.
Her eyes found Mammoth, and he was glaring at her with such hostility. There was no other way this would end. So, she would do her part and ensure the captive humans were not threatened any more than they already were.
Red Robin threw his birdarang and ran ahead, drawing attention to himself deliberately. Jinx unleashed a pink-colored bolt, and the Tamaranean countered with a Starbolt of her own, the two countering energies colliding and detonating against one another. The explosion shielding Red Robin from sight, allowing him to change his direction, and rush to his actual target.
She took to flight, rising above the budding chaos and speeding her way to Mammoth. The large male saw her approach, and with an expression of blood thirst. With mighty steps, he reduced the distance between the two of them, then gave a great push with his legs, leaping into the air.
An arm was held back, and just as she predicted, Mammoth threw a punch at her. All it took for Starfire to evade was the smallest of adjustments in her trajectory, the large fist missing by a small margin. She was behind him now as gravity reasserted its power over him. She made a turn reminiscent of the human letter U and flew back at her opponent.
Mammoth had landed onto the floor and spun his heel, sneering as he awaited her. Her hands lit up with her life energy and she fired twin Starbolts as the massive male's feet. Green flares of detonating energy masked her arrival, and she assumed a defensive stance just as Mammoth bodily tore through the dimming detonation.
He roared, already attaching with a fist. The Tamaranean tilted her body and let the attack pass her by. Both of her arms came down and caught the leg kicking at her. Her head was thrown back as a jabbing elbow attempted an overhead strike. Then she spun her body, swinging a leg out and kicking right into a muscled reinforced block.
Booted feet screeched against the tiled floor, leaving stretched markings of the boots' underside staining the flat surface. Instead of advancing, Starfire remained where she was, watching Mammoth who she believed would try to take control of the offensive once more.
She was again not disappointed. He gave another roar as he charged, jumping up and throwing another punch downward. The arch of the parabola was noted and she sidestepped out of the way. The large fist slammed into and then through the floor, sending small cracks throughout the landing area. Mammoth was turning his head, his eyes finding her, but she was moving.
Slipping down, she jabbed her fist under the floor impaling arm and right into his side, striking ribs. Her adversary gave an "oof!" which became multiple as she landed two more strikes. Her arm snapped to her right and up, snatching the approaching hand that was trying to grab her. Fingers intertwined with hers, indicating that Mammoth was not going to let her go. Her eyes narrowed and she exerted some strength through her hand.
Mammoth's small eyes widened, and Starfire recognized the sight of memory recall. Abruptly, he tried to pull his hand free, but she would not release him. She held his hand steady, but surprisingly the larger male's panic was not granting him the strength to rip his captured hand out to freedom. His eyes were on the two hands, and so she took advantage to use her free hand to uppercut into his chin.
The long-haired head snapped back and up, and his body rose upwards with it. The Tamareanean withdrew but did not relinquish her hold on Mammoth's captured hand. She pulled and swung the larger male while raising up her leg. Her shin impacted a muscled torso, and she released the captured hand which allowed Mammoth to fly through the air until he crashed into the empty, cavernous remains of what she once been told was a store.
Pursuit would have been her next choice, but she preferred to see her opponent coming to her. It was a change of tactics for her, but she had learned long ago these opponents were not to be underestimated. Caution was the rule here.
There was a small portion of her that was curious. The ease in which this encounter had progressed was considerable greater than anticipated. She was reading Mammoth's body language without fault and so far had not sustained any damage to her person.
This was a curiosity, but could not become a distraction. For now, her focus needed to be on the fight, and bring it to an efficient end.
Starfire had responded as quickly as he had hoped, and now Red Robin was barreling his way to the black-clad teleporter. He was reminded of how much this guy was stealing from Batman's image, even as the teleporter was evading the birdarang with a predictable teleport.
In such a wide amount of space, he could be going anywhere. This wasn't like the hallway he had last fought him.
Behind him, he heard Gizmo yelling out and the crackling of what he assumed was that pink energy that Jinx used. However, he heard the crunching of metal, and a snapping retort from Wonder Girl, meaning the broadside was in action. Now all he needed to do was—
He ducked under the fist that nearly decked him in the side of his head. A disembodied arm seemed to come out of nowhere and was pulling right back into it. That's right, Wykkyd could use that cape of his like that. But where the hell was he?
In his earpiece, he heard, "He's over by the fountain! Your left! About hundred feet!"
Cyborg to the rescue, but one teleport was hardly enough for the amount of data he was going to need. Whipping to his left, he found Wykkyd, cape draping off his shoulders and part of his gray-clad torso exposed. He was ready to start teleporting all sorts of attacks that way.
Not a full-body teleport, but it would have to do for now. Red Robin took off in a sprint, fully expecting what was to come and not disappointed. Fists literally came out of thin air and he spent much of the run blocking as many as he could, ducking and dodging those he couldn't, and getting clipped and grazed here and there.
The guy must have been getting desperate, because a booted foot switched things up. It was low, but because of all his dodging and catching, the masked teen was more in a crouch. His arms wrapped around what existed of the lower leg and he could feel the tug of Wykkyd trying to pull it back. He didn't have the best of purchase with his own feet, but he did have another option.
He vaguely recalled the story from Beast Boy, but if it had happened before, it could do so again. Cyborg better be scanning, because he doubted he would be able to do this a second time.
The boosters in his boots activated and up he went. The force was designed to send him up into the air provided his cape was hardened. This time, he dragged Wykkyd through whatever space-time manipulation he was doing and now both of them were in the air but in close quarters.
The burst had only brought them approximately ten feet in the air, so the fall wouldn't be too bad. The hard floor was begging to break some bones, though. There was a plan here, he knew he had one, and he was about to take the next step, but then Wykkyd's other foot rammed into his arm.
Grunting, he intertwined his legs with Wykkyd's captured one. He was not about to let the teleporter pull away. He caught the next stomp as gravity began pulling them down. Realizing his predicament, Wykkyd began twisting his body, more specifically his torso, hoping to fulcrum the teen vigilante into getting more damage. It was starting to work, but a jolt of current through his cape messed that up.
Deactivating, Red Robin reached back with one hand and grabbed the back of the teleporter cape, pulling back and giving him a clear shot of a black-covered head. Freeing Wykkyd's other foot, he gave a sharp rap to the back of the other male's head and right as they landed on the hard floor, the masked teen's landing cushioned.
He was breathing a little heavy because that had felt close, but he tensed up, waiting for the struggle to continue.
It didn't.
There was a groan from Wykkyd, and his squirming was pathetic. This had really taken a lot out of him.
"Damn, you didn't even need my help!" Heavy footsteps gave away Cyborg's approach. "I was starting to make something out from my scans too."
Red Robin did not take his eyes off the teleporter. It was still too early to call this, and he didn't trust this being an attempt to lull him into complacency. "We need to restrain him and make sure he can't do anything funny with his cape. I have some handcuffs on me, but can you make sure he doesn't try any funny business?"
"Right," his titanium teammate agreed, bending down to grab at the cape and try to pull it out from under the vigilante.
Maybe this was paranoia here, but this was going way too quick for his liking. It had also felt a little…too easy? That couldn't be right, though. These guys were tough. Tougher than them.
So what was happening here?
Wonder Girl kept her eyes on the…well, to be honest, she couldn't call Gizmo a prize here. Look at him! He was tiny! Like a little kid! Was he a little kid? Okay, this might be a little harder than she thought because despite solving her problems with fists, hitting kids was not on her to do list.
"Out of my way, flat chest! I don't got time for blondes!"
She might make an exception this time.
Long metal legs were carrying the small body in a green jumpsuit in Cyborg's direction. The little ass was trying to ignore her, but fat chance now. She went into a slide, moving across the floor, then swinging a leg right into a metal one that had just touched down.
The metal spider leg moved wildly, already trying to correct itself. Gizmo gave out a "Whoa!" and glared around to see what had caused the misstep. In one hand, he held—seriously, she was not kidding here—what looked like a toy laser gun you'd see on TV. It really made him look more like a kid, so ridiculous!
So she was back on her feet and crashing her hands on either side of the gun, crumpling it under her strength and getting a cry of surprise out of the little ass. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" the pipsqueak demanded, rearing back.
Okay, he had set himself up for this. "Huh. I thought you tech geeks were suppose to be smart." She clenched her fists and braced herself, ready for a fight.
Gizmo sneered back, "I'll show you smart!" Two of the front spider legs raised up then stabbed down. Their pointed tips were aimed at her torso, so that made reaching out and grabbing both legs easy to do. There was some slipping, but her grip tightened, and then there she was, leaning a little bit back while using the strength her armor provided her to keep from being shish-ka-bobbed.
The little midget gave a grunt, glaring at her. Wonder Girl smirked back, then began to push forward, the legs moving away from her body. Suddenly, she brought both of the legs together, metal clanging against metal, then yanked down, impaling the legs into the floor. A simple push of her legs had the armored blonde flipping over both bald kid and mechanical legs. When she was in just the right spot, she kicked her right into the little pack Gizmo wore and hopped off of it while the kindergartner here gave out a cry, his arms and (flesh) legs flailing about as he fell forward.
Armored feet landed gently, then spun about, fists were raised, and Wonder Girl waited as Gizmo picked himself up.
"You think you're really funny, snotmuncher?!" he snarled, two pencil thin protrusions slid out of the pack then fired thin beams.
Without even thinking, her gauntlets were up and blocking the laser fire. Wherever the ricocheted beams touched, they left burning trails behind them. Peering around her hands, she could see the guy who really needed some lessons in insults slipping something else out of his pack. Something tried to hit her in the torso, key word being tried.
Her armor responded, covering that important part of her body in golden armor, making whatever hit it next completely useless. Rotating her lower arms, she started directing the laser beams back to their source. It seemed the little guy wasn't paying too much attention, but he certainly was when the first beam started cutting into one of the joints on his metal legs.
The laser fire stopped, and Wonder Girl took the chance to slip out her lasso, gold and red shining from the mystical rope. Thanks to Starfire's encouragement, she had recently been practicing with it, and now it was time to see just how good she had gotten with it. There were stories about Wonder Woman doing some incredible lassoing, grabbing onto things that shouldn't be possible, but hey, that was the reason she was a superhero.
A lot of it had to do with how you flicked your wrists. Eyeing the newest weapon the bald midget over there had whipped out, she aimed for it as she lashed her lasso out. Maybe it was its mystical properties, but the lasso's loop seemed to widen as it approached its target, then as it arrived, it shrank in diameter and snugly grabbed the weapon.
All it took next was a tug, and another cry escaped Gizmo. However, he hung onto it, and then found himself being pulled along with it, metal legs flying behind him in his wake. While she hadn't expected this, the blonde bent her legs, stretched out an arm, then lunged forward at the last second, clotheslining the little guy.
Her arm angled down, and then Gizmo was slammed into the floor, air escaping though his mouth with a whoosh. Whatever little rifle weapon he had been holding, it went clattering away, leaving him almost defenseless. Time to change that.
Turning on both heels, she stomped them down on two of the legs, grabbed their ends, then began to pull up. Metal strained and tried to resist. Actually, it was doing a pretty good job of resisting. What was it made of?
By now, Gizmo was coming to his senses, and when he spotted her above him, "What are you doing?"
What a question to ask just as the legs gave out and tore apart, her straining arms going up with no resistance at last. Exposed wiring sparked and crackled, the inner working spilling out onto the floor, and Gizmo screaming in horror as one of his precious inventions was destroyed.
Well, at least he had his answer.
Rotating her wrists, she then stabbed the severed legs down into the unsevered ones, pinning them down. This got yet another scream out of Gizmo, his eyes wide at the sight. The pinned-down metal legs tried to move, but good luck with that. The grinding of gears and other mechanical parts were straining against one another, unable to free themselves, and keeping their inventor down provided he didn't take off his pack.
To make sure he didn't try to make a break for it, she put her armored foot down—not too hard—and now he was pinned.
"Get off me, you—"
He could stand to have his mouth washed out, though. If he thought calling her that was going to make her do what he wanted, he had another thing coming.
So naturally while she was starting to ride high, that was just when someone had to crash the party here. That someone wasn't one of the punks they were fighting here. No, it was the floor slightly caving in then exploding outwards, sending rocks all over the place.
Her arms were up, shielding her head, and where a few pieces of earth struck her, her armor reacted and covered
What was Terra doing?
It was hard to tell where things were underground. Sure, she could feel the planet around and typically under her, but that was rock and dirt and soil. Stuff like concrete and asphalt was something else entirely. She could tell where the building was, but trying to figure out how far ten feet was, much less a hundred, or even a thousand, was something else altogether.
She did her best. She tried. But you try tunneling underneath a mall with Kid Flash, and see if you don't hurry up.
"How much longer is this going to take?" the speedster complained, arms crossed and foot tapping a thousand times a second. "They should be fighting by now!"
Being underground made it hard to use any kind of communicator. Oh, if they were right next to each other, it was a go, but when one was above ground and the other below, that was a different story. That was why they were using a timer. Her most recent check (now) showed they had a little under two minutes to go.
"We gotta wait a little longer," the blonde remarked.
"But it's so long!" Kid Flash groaned. Behind yellow goggles, eyes looked around at their cramped surroundings. "And there's so little room!"
Terra bit her lip, and after what seemed like a good chunk of time had passed, she looked at her communicator. Twenty seconds gone. Was Kid Flash getting to her or was time moving that slow?
She blew air through her lips and looked up. Only earth faced her, but somewhere behind it was the ground floor of the mall. For a moment, she wondered if she had tunneled far enough. Or too far. It was so hard when buildings were involved. It was even harder when, well, someone was constantly antsy and complaining about how long it was taking and…
Fifteen seconds gone. It really was going so slow. She shook her head, needing to remain calm and…patient. Just…patient. They had their instructions, and the others needed time with the bad guys. Keeping them all focused on a fight meant none were paying attention to the hostages, that was the plan.
That didn't make the waiting suck any less.
Everything seemed to drag on, doubly so, but then finally, finally, her communicator started to beep, its alarm going off. All right, game time. Also recognizing what that meant, Kid Flash was right next to her, no longer fidgeting about and his head in the game as well.
Concentrating, she began raising the both of them up, earth pulling away above them at her command. Maybe her own desire to get into some action of their own influenced her, because their speed was picking as the two of them continued to go up and up, and then ground slid away from a ceiling of concrete.
Their rise stopped, and Terra frowned a bit. Her power was to control the earth, not manmade rock. However, she wasn't about to let such a little thing stop the two of them, not yet.
Her hands took on a yellow glow, a sign that the blonde was using more of her power. Earth crept back along the concrete, then began to exert pressure. Had it been muscle the two teens used, the gray slab could have resisted easily, but solid rock held no limitation such as strength. It could exert and withstand a lot of pressure, more so that something manufactured. Cracks broke into the concrete, and then she applied a little more…
The opening was sudden, and small pieces of debris rained onto the pair of Titans. Kid Flash was pushing her down, using much of his body to cover her, but that did not stop the very loud sounds of something crashing up above.
After a moment, the geokinetic and speedster stood up to their full heights, then Terra continued their rise so that they could poke their heads out.
She grimaced at what she saw. There had been a…slight miscalculation. Oh, they were in the mall, no worry about that. It was…well…she had come up right under the escalator. Unyielding earth had beaten manmade machinery here, had tore through the mechanisms that operated the moving staircase, and had dislodged the slanting path. The escalator ended up falling down, and had landed amidst all the fighting.
Yeah, not one of her best moments.
"Cool, we're in," Kid Flash remarked. Then he was gone, a yellow blur that was seeking out their targets and then he was back. "Found them! Safe and sound! Let's go!"
Before she had any chance to feel any shame, Terra found herself dragged off, not quite as unyielding as the earth she commanded.
Everyone had found a dance partner. The twerp that seemed to be the leader of the twerps had ran off to Kyd Wykkyd. The orange alien was having a rematch with Mammoth, something Mammoth was looking forward to and having no complaint. The girl in the hood was cutting off Shimmer, and all anyone could see was a lot of unnatural black in that direction.
But then there was the girl wearing armor and a red leotard. That one zeroed in on Gizmo, and she did not match the description of the cyborg that her technologically creative teammate of hers was biting at the teeth for. Speaking of, wherever was that cyborg? Over there, and he was standing there, looking ready to fight, but not actually fighting. What was he doing?
Hmm, looked like he was watching the fight between Wykkyd and their stupid-looking leader. Punches were constantly coming out of nowhere, the teleporter using his cape to great effect. But that kid with the cape wasn't slowing down. That didn't seem right.
Her golden eyes returned to the cyborg. Since she was still standing there, she might as well take on the sitting duck. She had no memory of fighting him, so this might be entertaining. If it all went right, he would tell her where she might find a certain green shapeshifter. There was a little matter of payback she was wanting to give that idiot, and all of it, shall we say, was bad.
With a smirk curving her lips, Jinx held her hands at the ready, eyes zeroing in on the cyborg that Gizmo wouldn't ever stop complaining about, and then allowed pink energy to crackle about. What kind of bad luck was she about to give him? They were all going to find out soon…weren't…th…ey…?
The disorientation was sudden and overwhelming. It felt like there was a headache and at the same time there wasn't. Her legs began to wobble, her body leaning to the left, then the right, forward and back, then back to the left with sharp correction to the right, and then the dizziness was really starting to hit.
Wh…wh…what w…was happ…pen…in…g? Why…wh…y w…as…it so hard…to…to…to th…ink?
Balance was suddenly compromised and down to a knee she went, her hands on her head. She wasn't clenching her jaw, not yet. The disorientation was getting greater and it…it didn't…it…ma…ke…no…s…sense…
"Heh heh."
Wh…wh…at? Wh…ere…?
"It's not easy, is it?" The voice was normal, pleasant, and commenting, like it was talking about the weather. "Really sucks when you have something buzzing in your inner ear. Not a lot of people know how your hearing helps with balance."
Now she was feeling like she was about to throw up.
Her mind was anchoring itself to the voice that had no observable source. It made it…easier…to think…but not by…much. Buzzing…inner ear…her ear drum. Something was…inside her…head. Her ear. Buzzing. Oh no. That's—almost chunked some cookies there—where that…green…brat…was?
"Has anyone told you you should really clean your ears out? You got a lot of wax up in here."
Oh…oh…thought he…he was smart…didn't he? Another wave of disorientation washed over her. A shaky hand was lifted up, and if she could…focus…fo…cus…and give some…some…
"I hope you don't try to use that freaky pink stuff of yours. I don't know what it does, but if it makes me change into, you know, something bigger, and since I'm in your head, I don't think it's going to end well for you. I don't know about me. Unless I get crushed. Why am I thinking about that now? Well, I don't know if bone can resist me getting big so I think for both our sakes you don't."
It was rambling but…but…
Her hand went down. Damn it. Damn it! He was right. If she hexed him, there's no telling what he would become, and if he became big while still in her ear canal…
Blood and brain and skull all over the place. The disorientation was now strong enough to keep that imagery from popping up inside of her head.
Her eyes were narrowed as she cracked them open. Closing them hadn't helped with the dizziness or nausea. She watched as the masked leader took down Wykkyd. Mammoth was thrown about and showing a lot more damage than the alien was. Who knew what was happening to Shimmer? And Gizmo just had two of his mechanical legs ripped off.
How…? This…this shouldn't…shouldn't be…hap…pening. And now…she…was about…to…vom…it up…her…break…fast….
Far away, the bottom of the escalator buckled, then tore out of the floor as large rocks erupted from beneath it. The rest of the escalator fell over and cut through any of the active fighting. Mammoth found himself underneath it when it landed on top of him. The blonde girl fighting Gizmo was shielding herself and her little teammate from any debris that flew their way.
And the noise—the noise—was not…not helping…her…head…
At some point, she was looking down, and then a pair of booted feet came into sight. It took a lot of effort, but slowly, Jinx raised her head up and through her agony, she found the leader of the twerps looking down at her.
"It's over," he told her. "It'll be over in a couple minutes. Give yourselves up."
Of course he would…would say that.
But. But! If he thought…if he thought it was…it was…over this…easy…
She could barely tell, but she knew his eyes were narrowing because she was still smirking.
"Who…said it's…over?"
That took a lot of effort, but while he was enjoying victory, she had moved one of her hands to a pocket. She had a nice little device of her own, a communicating and electronic hacking device that was standard for any and all H.I.V.E. members. She had been trained how to use it without needing to look at it. Within her pocket, she activated a trigger.
There was a loud—loud!—crash from above. A storefront was demolished there, and soon after the railing that lined the second floor. First and foremost coming out of it was a hexagon-shaped shield, an H featured on it prominently. Holding the shield was a tall, muscular guy in black and yellow who landed several feet away from them.
"Targets acquired," Private Hive declared, grinning with bloodlust as the rest of his team appeared from above.
One looked kinda like a cross between a fictional xenomorph and a lizard, brownish orange skin covered by a gray and black bodysuit. Large, muscular, and with a head that seemed to have no back to it, only a long, thick, and ridged neck, there was hair at the sides making it appear he had sideburns. A tail curled about legs that were bent like a humans, only in reverse.
The next looked like a kid, a white bodysuit covering his body with the icon of an eye prominent on his chest. A blue-green helmet covered much of his only exposing his mouth. Much of the front of the helmet was dominated by what looked like a singular eye, one that did not blink at all.
Beside him was a tall, muscular female, and much like Private Hive wore a tight-fitting black and yellow body suit with the exception that her arms and legs were bare, giving away their musculature. Long, dark red hair poured out from behind a yellow mask, one that had tiger stripes decorating it. Black wristbands supported the wrists, and black boots with yellow laces gave the impression that she might know some wrestling.
Lastly, there was another guy, one in black and red. The long sleeves ended just under his elbows, and whatever skin he had exposed was red, orange, and resembled lava. The air around him seemed to shimmer from the heat he was giving out alone. From this distance, it was hard to tell where his eyes were, but for some reason they almost appeared like white slits.
When you had a teleporter like Kyd Wykkyd, it was always so easy to sneak around. Or to sneak a whole other team in under the noses of everyone.
"Thanks…for springing…the trap," she managed to get out.
With a mighty yell, Private Hive led the charge.
