Ravaged

This was wild! He had never been involved in something like this before! So many bodies in such little space, and then you added in the guns and superpowers and this party was getting off the hook here.

Bunker had thought he knew what to expect by now. From some of the action he had taken part of with the Titans, a confusing melee of a street brawl is what he had been expecting. This was closer to the first time he had met the crimefighting team, except that time had nothing on this. These weren't invading monsters or a single assassin, but a whole army they were fighting.

He was adjusting, he felt. Doing both offense and defense from maintaining a wall of psionic bricks to arming his fists with them, he was keeping his back covered while forcing anyone that tried to come at him from the front to deal with a pair of overly large purple fists.

He wasn't alone, though. Any time someone got too close, Kid Flash would race in and take care of them. Sometimes the Hispanic male would catch a glimpse of the speedster rapidly punching a guy, and other times a person would disappear only to reappear further down the hallway with their face slammed into a wall.

His heart was pounding from everything; the action, the excitement, and every single close call. Between the two of them, they were leaving behind a whole hallway of unconscious people, though there seemed to be more, always more. Where were they all coming from?

Beams of energy, whatever they were made of, struck his wall of bricks. His psionic construct held true like it always did. He had yet to meet the person or the thing that could break through it, and today did not seem like it was going to tell him what could. However, he directed more of his attention into maintaining the wall, not wanting to leave an opening.

Something—no, someone—was coming from the front now. Bunker's eyes flickered forward and he crossed his arms in front of himself. Because his lower arms and hands were encased in purple bricks, those were what took the bullets that were fired at him. Peering through the transparent constructs, he could see new arrivals, more of those men in the yellow armor. They were the only ones armed with guns, some kind of rifle that looked a little futuristic, but still used present day ammunition.

Swinging out one arm, he fired the brick-made, fist-shaped construct down the hall, and before any of these new arrivals could get out of the way, they were all taken down by a virtual wall of bricks. He was quick to create more around his naked arm, once more arming himself again. There were more impacts from behind, and a glance over his shoulder informed him that these orb-shaped projectiles that resembled eyes were the culprit.

Always from the front and behind. Which direction should he focus on? Well, Kid Flash made the choice easier as he ran through the throng and found the one currently responsible for the most recent attack. It looked like a kid in white with an eye symbol on his chest and some green-blue helmet. Kid Flash spun the kid around rapidly, making him very dizzy and wobbly as a result.

"That's rude. You don't hit on a guy when he's busy with someone else," Kid Flash admonished, waving a finger in front of the helmeted kid's face.

To this eye kid's credit, he seemed to recover from his spin faster than expected. "Not my fault he didn't see me."

"No excuse!" Kid Flash chided. The raised finger curled back into a fist. "Now how do you want to do this? Me rough you up a bit so you get a nice little nap or one big hit that keeps you out and gives you a bad headache?"

"What about the third one?" eye kid challenged.

Bunker couldn't see Kid Flash's face, but he did imagine the look of confusion on it, even as he himself was dealing with another enemy, this time a very big guy who looked almost eighteen, was showing off a muscular torso, and had some headgear on his own head. The bod looked nice, but he didn't like how those meaty fists were trying to cave in his skull.

Forming out of thin air, a large eye projectile appeared behind Kid Flash and swallowed him up. It happened so fast that Bunker found himself distracted, almost got a fist to the face, but a mid-sized block of bricks forced his attack back and allowed him to slap his brick-encased hands together, crushing the guy.

"Ha! Bet you didn't see that one coming! You're so blind to everything!" the eye kid crowed. His little celebration, though, was short lived as a look of concentration hardened what facial features of his were visible, his lips part to reveal teeth tightly clenched together, and a slow keening that might have been multiple grunts strung together slipping through his teeth.

The eye construct seemed solid, that is until it began to vibrate, then tremble, shudder violently, look like it was losing its solidity, and finally had Kid Flash burst out the front of it where he landed rapidfire blows to the front of the eye kid's helmet. This was followed by the speedster bodily slamming the eye kid against a wall, then the opposite wall, then back to the first wall again, and finally tripping and slamming the near ragdoll body onto the floor.

"I think a combo of choice one and two," Kid Flash quipped. He practically blinked out of existence as two wings clapped into the space he once stood in.

Bunker raised his gaze up, found a girl with angel wings hovering in the air and looking pissed. Not quite at the level his Madre got when someone recorded over her shows, but with some practice she could get there. Unfortunately for her, she wasn't going to get more practice because Kid Flash had run up the wall, passed her, and now was falling down onto her from above.

He didn't wait to see where that was going to go since it was practically a foregone conclusion what was going to happen. Right now, he had another challenger, some guy in a green trenchcoat holding a sickle-like knife and a flood of spiders that were swarming out of his coat.

Bunker raised an eyebrow, not in the least bit intimidated. He knew what he needed to do here. Up in the air, he formed a large block of purple, psionic bricks and swiftly brought it down, crushing the army of spiders in one fell swoop. Not all of them since a bunch were still coming out of that green trenchcoat, but even from here and through the translucent bricks, he could see how even the spiders themselves stopped themselves short.

Allowing the block to deconstruct and despell, he regarded this latest challenger who looked like he had just realized he had tasted something most foul.

"How…how did…?" the guy croaked out.

Bunker gave a shrug of his shoulders while raising one of his arms over his head. "Who do you think the hermanas call when they need spider extermination? Spiders freak them out." His arm fell, the guy in the trenchcoat seemed to pick up on that and looked up. The hand-shaped construct of psionic bricks slammed down on the guy, crushing him under its might.

Lifting the brick-made hand up, the trenchcoat guy was twitching there on the floor, not even a threat anymore.

Alright, who was next?


There were small buildings in this place, and Wonder Girl was too busy crashing through one. Concrete and mortar created a cloud of dust in her wake and temporarily blinded her. Giving a cough because not even magical armor could protect you from dust particles, the armored blonde launched herself upwards and through the shabby roof, getting the highest high ground you could get.

It gave her a view of what was happening now. Her part of the fight had led her charging into the building in the first place. Ravager hadn't pressed on because Terra had decided to take a bigger part. Large rocks slammed against the ground while others were torn out of it to also be used as throwing projectiles. Ravager was dodging everything thrown at him, not even being touched once.

Two sheets of rock rose out of the ground on either side of the assassin and Terra's will had them clapping together. Ravager had proved faster though, jumping upwards and getting some distance. He couldn't have had that kind of leg strength, otherwise he would have shown it earlier. Regardless, he landed on two pressed together slabs of rock and quickly threw what looked like a grenade in Terra's direction.

Terra was quick to raise another slab of earth, one that acted as a shield for her and took the brunt of the explosion. To do that, though, meant that the geokinetic had blocked her own sight of Ravager, which he was using to dash his way to her location, sword held aloft.

She could guess where this was going, and so Wonder Girl took off after him. Because he had gotten a headstart, the asshole was leaping onto the top of Terra's quickly raised shield and then hopping off of it to land behind the thin blonde. To Terra's luck, Ravager lashed out with a kick, one that sent the girl into her own rocky shield.

Now the sword was being held parallel with the ground and was in the beginning motions of thrusting forward when Wonder Girl caught up, breaking through the top of Terra's shield and causing chunks of it to rain down on Ravager. One piece hit the flat of the sword and threw off its aim.

Wonder Girl continued with her momentum, crossing her arms in front of herself so that she could use the blunt sides of her gauntlets as a ram. She succeeded, running into Ravager and throwing him off his feet, both of them continuing forward until another slab of earth tore out of the ground and stopped the two of them completely. Ravager bore most of the sudden stop, and Wonder Girl tore back one arm to try and throw a punch.

She threw it, but Ravager jerked his head out of the way so her fist only impacted rock. The asshole's red gloved hand snacked around to the back of her helm, clamped down, then pulled, slamming her face first into the rock. He slipped out from her, swinging his sword only for it to strike harmlessly against her armor. As she yanked her head back and glared at him, she noted how he was smirking, as if he didn't care that he hadn't caused real damage to her yet.

That was aggravating, more than she cared to admit.

From under Ravager's feet, a pillar of rock jutted out and up he went, jumping off of it. Alright, time to see how he could move midair. Wonder Girl flew after him, throwing a punch that he blocked with the flat of his blade.

Somehow, he used his sword to swing himself upward and practically balance on her fist. With acrobatics she hadn't thought him capable of, the assassin swung one of his booted feet down and landed an axe kick into her back. Yes, her armor cushioned her body, but she still felt the force of the blow.

She had to crane her neck back to keep Ravager in sight, and that was the only reason why she was able to see him complete a flip and drive his other leg down, rebounding off of her while she plummeted back down to the ground below.


The bitch was falling and Ravager was enjoying every second of this. He was getting quicker, stronger, and more agile. Everything in the last few seconds had been improvised, but it had still amazed him.

He could do this. He could kill them. He could do it anytime he wanted. These two girls were hardly putting up a fight now!

His heart was beating in his chest, and it felt like the most incredible thing ever. Even in his ears, he could hear the rhythmic beating, pounding, overwhelming.

But he wasn't done. Far from it. As gravity reasserted itself, he flowed into the descent, angling his sword straight down. With the momentum of his fall combined with how high up he was, maybe this would be the strike to penetrate that armor. It had weathered everything so far, but now he was curious. What would it take? How hard did it have to be hit before it cracked open like an egg?

With his strength, with this power, he had the time to figure it out. So he would, and maybe he would find out in the next few seconds.

Even with the pounding of his heart growing stronger in his ears.


The bodies of various individuals were redirected from their course of entering the distortion in space and time as Starfire emerged through it along with her human passenger who refused to release her. She heard the exclamation of surprise from the group of enemies who had been preparing to enter and so she altered her flight path to engage the grouping while using Pantha as a buffer between them and herself.

Bodies fell to the left and right of them, and the multiple impacts jostled Pantha's legs enough to weaken their hold. Finally, Starfire was able to break free of it while throwing her opponent off of her and into the assembled army.

At this moment of time, the Tamaranean could see what forces she was facing. There were so many, each in their own costume, custom made, and now observing her, standing off and waiting for the first and last mistake she could make. She could see where she had entered this room, how a male in a blue costume and cape and holding an Earth-based instrument stood next to the distortion in space and time. The sight of a male perpetually in flame stood next to that instrument-wielding male, and she only recognized him from the few encounters in which both of them had participated. The rest were unknown, meaning she had no idea of what they could do.

Any mistake could be her last…

"Move aside! Coming through!"

A distraction in the form of her green-colored teammate and friend was diverting much of the attention towards the open portal and the creature known as Ridge following after him. She did not let the feeling of horror consume her, instead allowing her life energy do such to her hands and then clapping them together to cause a mighty flare of light.

There were cries of shock and anger, but the blinding spectacle was serving its purpose. Starfire made sure to face away from it, knowing her own eyes were not immune to the intensity. The sight of the army below was also taken from her, but she did not need to see them to target them.

They were so closely gathered in the first location.

Starbolt after Starbolt was flung from her hands, and the detonations caused many cries of pain and surprise. She allowed herself to drift from her current location so as to provide some protection from any retaliation.

Perhaps that was not as good an idea as she had hoped. Maybe the attack did not come from below, but the angle of the fireball meant that someone far enough away was able to make out her hovering form. The distortion of green light to red had been her only warning, but it had been warning enough to evade. The heat from the flames were lovely, but that did not mean that she was immune to fire.

She quickly found the one attacking her, the male whose visible head was aflame. He was firing off another blast of flame, one she was quick to evade while retaliating with a Starbolt. She was unable to press for an advantage as a bolt of electricity barely missed her, her hair standing up from the voltage.

More long distance, energy-based attacks began to fill the air around her, making maneuverability difficult, too difficult. She fired off what few Starbolts she could to try and lessen the pressure, but it was only a matter of time until she was struck. If they all began focus, perhaps even herd her, then any hope of surviving—

There was a loud cry, and then several more. There was a lessening of the energy-based assault, and the Tamaranean found herself curious about this. It did not take long to figure it out. Moving through the throng was Pantha, striking down as many as her allies as she could while declaring "the alien is mine!" to whoever demanded to know what she thought she was doing. From another direction, there was another disturbance, one that had the enemies looking downward when one of their number abruptly dropped. When this happened, the creature called Ridge pounced on the area, bowled over those who did not get out of the way in time, then swear as he searched for his elusive prey.

What was happening? Whatever it may be, its occurrence was most fortuitous.

It was also quickly lived. The flame-headed male was attacking once more. Fire ignited the air, and so the Tamaranean flew, lapping around this large room until she could identify the safest path she could that would take her to her destination.

This meant using a stream of fire to hide her movements, first going above it and spiraling around it until she was close enough to fire a Starbolt aimed for the fiery male's feet. The detonation unleashed a flare of light which gave the male pause.

The distraction complete, Starfire adjusted her course to collide with the fiery male's torso, knocking him off his feet. He did not land on the floor, she carried him forward and only stopped against the wall itself. The male gave out a cry of pain, his tense body going limp. While she wished not to use too much force, the current situation made such preferences difficult. The faster she could incapacitate, the sooner she could do the same to his allies.

His allies wished to do her grievous bodily harm. If she were to be reunited with her friends, she would have to do what it took to preserve her current physical condition.

As she turned away from the slumping, fiery male, she found the one with the Earth-based instrument facing her, the very instrument he held aimed at her.


There had been an emphasis on the two of them hanging back, allowing Jinx and her teleporting friend to take the lead. It made sense to allow the pink-haired girl to be ahead of them; no way did Red Robin trust her that much, and she knew the layout of this place better than either he or Cyborg did.

That's not to say Cyborg wasn't trying to do that himself. For now, allow this pair to think they had some control over the situation.

Of course they were running down these hallways. Speed was their friend here and acting fast was in the cards. Of course, this meant if there were any cameras surveilling them, it made it look like the two Titans were chasing Jinx and her friend, or she was leading them into a trap. Covering her ass no matter which way it went.

The possibility of a trap was high. Both of them needed to be on guard. There had been too many encounters with this girl, her and Kyd Wykkyd—ah yeah, that was his name. How he was able to pick out that it was Y's and not I's…

Everything seemed to be working out so far, so that meant something needed to go wrong. He was practically counting on it and he wasn't proven wrong. Appearing up ahead was a girl, one who was dressed in what looked like a bee costume. How appropriate for a place like this. Really should have expected it.

He wasn't the only one to skid to a halt. Nor did he have to see the look on Jinx's face. If anything, there was only one expression it could be.

"Great. Just great. And here I was hoping those twerps were dealing with everyone," their "guide" grumbled.

Red Robin had a feeling they were the twerps in question.

"My, my, my, you seem to have company," the bee girl remarked, tilting her head to a side while one of her hands fiddled with an odd-looking weapon. "Are you running away from them, Jinx? What would everyone think if they saw you like that?"

Pink bolts crackled around a pale hand. "Depends on if you live long enough to tell the tale," Jinx growled.

"Now why ever would you think of something like that," bee girl continued, her gaze falling onto the two Titans. It felt as if she was scrutinizing them. "You'd think you've been here too long."

Jinx's body tensed up. "Are you here by the Queen's orders?" Queen? There was a Queen here? Like a queen bee? This was starting to get a little ridiculous…well, more than it already was.

"Don't think I didn't notice just how convenient it was for that hallway to block all access off once it crumbled. There's bad luck, and then there's helping out. The only real bad luck here is that I was on the other side, the same side you were on, waiting on those two to break away. Color me surprised when you helped with that."

Sounded like an ambush then. Not that they would have been able to predict it but…he didn't remember seeing anyone else in that corridor. Where had she been hiding? Don't tell him that her outfit let her blend in with the walls.

"Is this going to be a problem?" he interrupted. While he wasn't holding a birdarang in hand, he could fix that in a second, but first he needed to know just how dangerous this new face was. In this place, it wasn't a question of who was a threat, only how much.

The bee girl cocked a hip, placing a hand on it. "The name's Bumblebee, Titan. And yeah, there is a problem."

"You always know how to ask the right question," Cyborg muttered.

Ignoring his teammate, "You have one chance. Step aside and let us through. A fight here is not going to go your way."

This Bumblebee blinked at him. Then she barked out a laugh. "You're funny. A regular comedian. I'm not here to get in your way."

"Then what are you here for?" Cyborg demanded.

Strangely, she gave a smile. "I'm gonna help you chumps, that's what I'm here for."

You could hear a pin drop. You could hear a thousand of them if you wanted. Cyborg shot him an incredulous look, obviously not believing her. Truth be told, Red Robin didn't either.

Giving a sigh, "You asked if there was a problem, and I said yes, there was one," Bumblebee stated. "The people here, no matter what they tell themselves, aren't good people. They've been doing a lot of shit, most of which you and the outside world knows nothing about. The least of which, all the kids here. You know, that small army of superpowered, mask wearing, wannabe killers? Yeah, not all of them are here by choice. A lot of them, if given the chance, would love nothing more than to tear this place a new one."

"Are you still trying to pull that shit?" Jinx growled. "Do you have a death wish? It's a miracle you haven't already been weeded out! When are you going to give up?"

Obviously there was something coming to a head here. From the sounds of it, it had been going on for a while. Their arrival here seemed to be dragging it out into the light. That or to the breaking point. Beside him, Cyborg asked from the side of his mouth, "Why do I feel like this is some soap opera we just ran into?"

Maybe not a soap opera, but definitely melodrama. "Keep your eyes peeled. We might be able to use this," he whispered back. Aloud, and with a higher volume, "Does this really matter?" Singling out this Bumblebee, "Are you going to stand in our way, get out of it, or do something to help? Either way, we don't have the time for an argument so make your minds already."

It sounded like Bumblebee muttered, "A little rude," but then raising her voice, "You want something juicy? Follow me. I'll take you to the heart of this place."

But wasn't that…? Wasn't that what Jinx was trying to do here? Was this Bumblebee trying to steal her thunder? It wasn't like he or they owed Jinx anything, not with their history. Frankly, the fastest way of resolving this was what he preferred. Maybe this was another trap, but waiting around and debating was not an option.

Without waiting, a pair of thin membranes began to flap behind Bumblebee, lifting her off the floor, and then she was zooming off straight ahead. Holy crap, those were wings. Those were actual wings! And they actually functioned! Not the craziest thing the teen vigilante had ever seen but it was worth the time recognizing.

"Move it or lose it, Teen Twerps," Jinx called out to them.

"You think we can trust her?" Cyborg exclaimed, incredulous.

"I don't trust her, but she's always been weird. Now that I think of it, you might actually get along with her." The foe turned uneasy ally began to run after the bee-themed girl, her teleporter following her. Looks like all choices were being removed here.

It was a gamble, but Red Robin picked up the pace and chased after them, Cyborg tromping in his wake. There were a few turns, some sprints here and there, a few flights of stairs, but the chase did end with a large room filled with who knows how many terminals and monitors, memory banks, workstations, you name it. It was like some kind of command center, complete with a large screen that took up most of one wall. They had a view of all this from what looked like a side door; opposite of the large screen was a set of shut doors that appeared solid but could slide open at any second.

"This is where they coordinate everything," Bumblebee announced to them. "It's connected to every device, every henchman, every sector, everything. You want quick control, well, here's the brain. Take it."

It seemed legit. Maybe too legit. Still, it was lucky Cyborg was with him because the cybernetic teen would be able to figure out what this was pretty quickly. A simple look had the cyborg moving in and seeking out the first terminal he could get his hands on.

"I'm patching in. I'm willing to bet they got firewalls out the wazoo. Keep your eyes peeled; I don't think it will take long for them to know someone's messing with their system," Cyborg told him.

Red Robin gave a nod, knowing his teammate wouldn't see it, then took a few seconds to really look around. This was the command center, the proverbial brain of this place, incredibly important…so where was everybody?

"Shouldn't there be people here? Why leave it empty?" He directed his questions to Bumblebee.

The bee-themed girl returned his look. "I got a pair of eyes, you know. I notice things. Things like Jinx splitting her crew up, and some of them heading this way. I figure between Gizmo, Mammoth, and Shimmer, they handled the normal crew that should be here. In fact…" With wings buzzing, Bumblebee glided about the room before stopping over a row of terminals, looking at something hidden behind it. "...and there they are. That definitely looks like Mammoth's work."

So Jinx was serious about scratching their backs? In a short period of time, he had encountered two very confusing girls and it had only gotten more complicated after that. At the very least, he should verify…

Red Robin whipped his head around. By his count, there were at least three conscious people in this room, and probably a pile of dead ones he hadn't gotten visual confirmation on. But there should be five of them.

"Where's Jinx?" he demanded. She had been in front of him, them, this whole time and somehow pulled off a disappearing act.

Bumblebee snorted. "Once she saw you going in here, probably had Kyd Wykkyd teleport the both of them away. That girl's got some kind of plan, but I'm not above using it."

Ulterior motive, not really surprising. Speaking of, "What about you? What's your deal. You wouldn't be here unless you were working with these people. You had to earn their trust and based on what Jinx said earlier, you've been here a while."

The black-skinned girl drifted towards him, thin wings buzzing in the air. "They call themselves H.I.V.E." Please, and they thought a beehive was good inspiration for decorations? "The Hierarchy of International Vengeance and Extermination. They have a few other names, but it always uses a variation of H.I.V.E. I found out about these guys when they kidnapped a friend of mine. I went in undercover, let myself be taken, and did my best to make them want to keep me. By then my friend was long gone and I was never able to find out what exactly they did with her. Decided I would settle by dismantling them from the inside out, but that was a couple years ago and I have shit to show for it."

Snarky commentary had been put aside and the masked teen listened. A lot of vague details, someone was trying to keep some secrecy, but at the end it was a standard righting wrongs and getting payback. He would need a lot more details, but right now didn't seem to be a good time.

Her booted feet touched down on the floor. "It didn't take me long to figure out that these people were kidnapping kids, anyone who showed any kind of superpowers, and trying to brainwash them into their own. Some went along with it, tried to work with the program and become it. Jinx and her crew are like that. Others, though, didn't. When there was too much resistance, Immortus did away with it and implanted everyone with these obedience chips. Even me. He doesn't like what you're doing, a press of a button, and the most painful shock you've ever felt takes everything away. You can barely move, you practically forget how to breathe, painful as all hell, and there's nothing you can do about it." Fists were clenched tightly, trembling from the strain. "Now you got the types where you have those going along with it and those doing it because they have no other choice."

Red Robin was frowning, but it was with thought. It was so easy to get hopes up, but he wasn't about to let that get away from him. But if there was a way to take advantage of it…

"I'm in," Cyborg announced. "First thing's first, gotta find Raven. What the hell you assholes do with her?"

Right. Must not forget why they came here. "Hey, see what you can't find out about what they're up to as well," the teen vigilante called out. "Grab as much dirt on them while you're at it too."

"Making copies," Cyborg quipped back. "Unlike most people, I can multitask. What else do you need me to do?"

Glancing at Bumblebee, he made a consideration, then said, "Look for anything about obedience chips. Try to be quick about that."

Everything so far had been gamble after gamble. What was one more?

The thing about gambles, no matter how many you made, you were going to lose one.

The double doors in the back began to slide open, doing so without even a hiss. On the other side was a large group of armored soldiers, the same ones they had encountered after first breaking into this place. They all had guns, all were aimed in their direction, and they were pouring in to cut off any chance of escape.

There was one stand out, a tall, thin man in green and purple and—was he seeing things or was that the guy's brain? Skin was stretched over what looked like a transparent dome; it was freaky to look at.

"My, my, a rat infestation," the man remarked, dead eyes looking over the scene.

Beside him, Bumblebee hissed out, "Psimon. The last thing we need."

"I am curious," the named Psimon continued as if he hadn't overheard Bumblebee. "How did you manage to get this deep into our sanctum? And to do so undetected. Ah, dear Bumblebee, surely you're not standing there letting our enemies have free reign here, hmm? Captured, perhaps? No, no you are much too strong for that. A stalemate? More than likely. It's not as if you're helping them."

There was so much sarcasm there. This Psimon had already put the pieces together but was deliberately dragging it out. The exits were now cut off, so they were trapped here now. Completely at this man's mercy, you could say.

"Now, in all honesty, I was unable to detect this rodent problem," Psimon remarked. "I should be able to pick up on your minds. Curious as to how I hadn't."

He was a psychic. Pick up on his mind, detect, a telepath at the very least. He didn't have the same voice as the one that had spoken through Terra back at the Tower, but it stood to reason there would be more than one psychic here.

This would have to be quick.

"Take out the guns," he hissed. "Get all their attention and I'll back you up."

It would take a great deal of trust for someone to go along with that request of his, but it seemed as if Bumblebee was a trusting kind of girl. She went up into the air, the armed soldiers watching. From how Psimon spoke earlier, and her own confessed history, they were operating on the fact that she was joining in on their side.

From the spiked weapons that once hung from her waist but were now held in each hand, short bolts of electricity fired out rapidly, beginning to decimate the firepower aimed in their direction. She had all of their attention now, multiple guns raised up and aimed at her. Bullets began to fly, and as they did so, Bumblebee shrank in size.

It was quick, a damn near disappearing act, but it was doing what it needed to do. He wasn't about to ask questions, even as more and more of the rifles were being taken out of commission. The soldiers were fully distracted now, which meant he could move.

First, he tossed out two small canisters, ones that detonated and unleashed multiple flashes accompanied with rapidfire pops and snaps, a visual and audible distraction. Second, from one hand he threw out a pair of explosive birdarangs—you could figure out what came next—and from the other hand his electrified birdarangs.

Some soldiers were blown back into the walls, a couple others were brought to the floor via electrocution. Red Robin went into a sprint, jumping onto a row of terminals and leaping ahead in the direction of Psimon.

"It should be a simple matter to find you," Psimon remained unphased by the carnage around him. Ludicrously, he placed two fingers against his temple. "I'll just have to concentrate."

Red Robin diverted to his left, swinging a leg and landing kick into the side of a helmeted head, knocking a soldier into another. He spun around in the air, lashing out with his leg to strike the second soldier in the face. He managed to get his heel to land where the soldier's helmet exposed the mouth, some blood and a couple teeth spurting out.

"Hmm, I know you're here. My eyes can see you," Psimon said, eyes nearly closed. "You can't keep me out."

He was on his feet now, tripping a third soldier, snatching the man's ankle as the guy landed on the floor, and then surging forward, pulling the man's leg with him to really overextend it. A fourth soldier just had his rifle hit with a bolt from Bumblebee, distracting him enough that Red Robin landed a punch to that soldier's throat. The masked teen's boot stomped down between the third soldier's groin and rear, and now needing his other hand, he released the third solder's leg to land another punch into the fourth soldier's stomach, then clasped his hands together to swing a jackhammer blow into the side of the fourth soldier's head.

"Where could you be?" That sounded like a growl there.

With the fifth solider, he wrestled the rifle away, then reversed and used the weapon as a club, needing three hits before the man went down. Next, the rifle was used to knock away the barrel of the sixth soldier's gun. Another reversal and swing had the butt of Red Robin's rifle hitting the mouth opening in that bee-themed helmet.

"I think I have underestimated you," Psimon declared while Red Robin dealt with a seventh soldier, gut checking this man and throwing him over his shoulder to land on top of the sixth soldier. "I don't know how you have managed to hide your mind from me, but I am far from powerless here." Alright, eighth soldier needed to go down quickly, and a rocket burst from the teen vigilante's boots did the trick. "Let us play my favorite game of Psimon Says…"

Psimon had trailed off, his eyes fully opened, but expressing nothing but confusion. The psychic saw nothing but Bumblebee fighting off what remained of his armed entourage and Cyborg hard at work at a terminal, but the man looked like he was counting and coming up short.

You would think psychics were genius level intellects. That was the stereotype. Funny how the concept of up had not occurred to this man. From where the masked teen began to descend, allowing gravity to pull him downwards, Red Robin was unable to resist giving a whistle, one loud and long enough to draw Psimon's attention upwards.

It was perfect timing because at that second, the bottom of Red Robin's boots made best friends with Psimon's face. Something crunched, momentum propelled the teenaged male and forced Psimon to fall back until the back of his head struck the floor. For his part, Red Robin went into a flip and came to an immediate stop behind the fallen psychic.

Though he had dead eyes, Psimon's eyes were currently rolled back into his head, blood gushing from a broken nose, and a mouth disfigured with broken teeth was wide open. Surprisingly, that transparent dome didn't even have a crack in it.

Growing back to her full size, Bumblebee hovered over Psimon's fallen form, eyes wide. "Damn. You just did what half the people here dream about."

Turning to fully face this new ally, the teen vigilante replied, "I had to take him out quickly."

Now the bee-themed girl was looking up at him. "You're crazy. But you're my kind of crazy."

Shrugging his shoulders, he took the compliment.


The fighting had moved throughout this base, making turns here and there, but never quite stopping. Bunker found himself getting tired. Never before had he really tested himself like this. Yeah, it felt exhilarating, pushing boundaries and seeing what he could really do, but that all took concentration and energy. You only had so much of that.

Kid Flash pulled him out for a bit and why had nobody told him that moving at superspeeds could make you feel so sick? There was a hasty apology from the speedster who then volunteered to hold back the hoard.

There was some kind of…well, beauty to seeing all the colors that were flaring throughout the fighting. It meant all sorts of superpowers were being used, so beautiful and deadly, and he was the type of person who could find something to admire about it.

Alright, time to get back into the game. This was his first real, official time fighting with the Teen Titans. He needed to not only pull his weight but also show what he could do. There could be a future in this for him; he loved El Chilar but let's face it, there weren't a lot of opportunities there. There was only so much need for psionic-based bricks, something that was real so long as he made it so. It wasn't like his home village was the epicenter for disaster after disaster. That was like Metropolis and that wasn't even in Mexico.

Pushing away from the wall he was leaning against, Bunker faced the hoard, picking out a yellow blur that would flash into view for a quick second and vanish just as quickly, and reformed enough bricks to create some very large, purple-colored hands. Some light punching should get the blood flowing again.

At his side in an instant, shoulders rising up and down which breath he took, Kid Flash remarked, "I think I made someone angry in there." A loud bellow seemed to confirm that. "I think a change in location would be great right about now."

Bunker found himself staring at the speedster. "Um, what did you do?"

"Nothing that neither of us will regret if we go," Kid Flash damn near chirped.

Giving a sigh, Bunker redirected the bricks encasing his lower arms and made a wall that filled the hallway in front of them. An effort of will had the wall speeding forward, running into the advancing horde and pushing them back.

Figuring there would be at least someone in there who would be breaking through his psionic will, probably the same person Kid Flash had pissed off, Bunker spun on his heel and took off in a run. Getting some distance, maybe finding a spot to lay out an ambush would be helpful here. Fighting an army was not his idea of a good time, but that was a hazard of the job, no?

"I don't think that's going to hold them," Kid Flash told him, keeping pace with the Hispanic male.

"I know," Bunker admitted. "It gets us a few seconds. What's the plan?"

Despite what would be considered a slow walk for the speedster, Kid Flash gave a shrug of his shoulders. "I'm winging it. You have any plans?"

That…wasn't what he was hoping to hear. Well there…huh, well…eh…wow, this wasn't as easy as they made it out to be, was it? Okay, okay, just keep your head cool and… "Let's go that way," he said the second he spotted an intersecting hallway. It was the best he could come up with in the spur of the moment.

There weren't any complaints from Kid Flash, so the not-quite-a-plan must not have been a bad one. Making the turn, the two of them came to a sudden stop when they found that this wasn't just another empty hallway.

Now, Bunker didn't know names, so he didn't know what to call the girl in the leather outfit, the big guy with muscles and goatee, or the little boy wearing a pack that had four long, spider-like legs coming out of it. This group of three were blinking at them, looking just as surprised as he did.

"Oh hey, it's these guys!" Kid Flash exclaimed. "What are the odds? Gizmo, Mammoth, and Shimmer! Haven't seen you around since that fight outside that cop precinct! Should have guessed you'd show up here! So how are we going to do this? Two against three? We'll have to be quick, no offense, but there's a lot of guys chasing us and we don't have the time to mess around, you know?"

The one Kid Flash had singled out as Mammoth didn't look happy, and that was a bit of an understatement. Beside him, the girl who was called Shimmer seemed to step closer to the big guy. The last one, and by process of elimination, Gizmo looked like he had a headache. Bunker had little clue what to make of him with that bald head but tiny body, and the green jumpsuit looked a little too loose.

"It'll take more than words to get past us!" Gizmo said, though his tone of voice was…off. Sure, Bunker had never really been introduced to him, maybe had seen him once but that had been a while ago. Still, it was like the words were being forced out and the cadence was way too flat.

"Of course it's gonna take more than words to get through me!" Mammoth declared, and he seemed too eager to do this.

Unexpectedly, one of the metal spider legs whacked Mammoth's back, though Mammoth didn't even look phased. Gizmo hissed…something, it was hard to make out, but it might have sounded like…remember the plan? Wait, was there a plan? Was there more to this than at face value?

"Let's get this over with," Shimmer interrupted, her hands held up but no lightshow or anything to accompany it. What exactly could she do here?

This got Kid Flash ready to jump into action. "Hit'em hard, Bunker! Knock them out before they know what hit them!"

Choosing to follow the speedster's lead, Bunker forcefully created several blocks of purple bricks and lashed out with them. The cry of surprise sounded genuine from Gizmo, and so did the grunts from Mammoth who took as many as he could head on, some of his constructs falling apart surprisingly. Shimmer was…trying something. Bunker had no idea of what she could do, but whatever it was, it didn't seem to have much of an effect on his psionic projections.

She had tried to touch them! There was initially some disturbance, but overall nothing. It was like feeling a blip against his mind, and he powered through it with will alone. What was she doing?

"Those things aren't real!" she called out.

"They feel real," Mammoth grunted.

"Then break through them!" Gizmo ordered as he slipped out some kind of futuristic-looking gun.

He didn't get to fire it as Kid Flash weaved through the constructs, snatched up the weapon, and was taking it apart behind the trio. "Upp, upp, upp! This is no place for those kinds of things, little guy!"

Not sounding fake anymore, "I'll show you little!" Gizmo roared, a thin little object poking out of his backpack and shooting a laser at the speedster. The red-colored beam scorched whatever it touched, and nearly did that to Shimmer when Kid Flash raced too close to her.

"Watch it!" she snarled.

That seemed to distract Mammoth, who shot a look at Gizmo. Before he could say anything, Bunker formed a wall directly above the trio, making it as thick as he could, and then brought it down. Surprisingly, Mammoth jerked his head up then raised his arms to catch it, stopping the construct in its tracks. Now it was a battle of Bunker's will and Mammoth's strength, and it was becoming a stalemate pretty quickly. How strong was this guy?

"Where did that come from?!" Gizmo exclaimed, wide eyed.

"What can I say, the new guy has some skills," Kid Flash remarked, one arm propped up on Shimmer's shoulder as he leaned against her.

"Get off me!" the leather-wearing girl snarled, striking at the speedster who was no longer there.

While Kid Flash dealt with those two, Bunker focused on weighing down Mammoth. The larger guy was straining, but he looked like he was enjoying the challenge, smirking bloodthirstily at him. The guy was nuts, but he had the muscle to back it up. It would be interesting to keep at this, see who would win.

But he could hear the clamor of countless footsteps. The hoard was coming for them. They didn't have the time or the luxury.

So he cheated. From between Mammoth's legs, he formed a one-by-one foot block of bricks then rammed the construct upwards and into Mammoth's groin.

Small eyes bulged, tears leaked from the corners, and the very air in Mammoth's lungs wheezed out of him. Then down he went as the thick wall Bunker had formed crushed him to the floor. Next, that same psionic project was broken into two pieces and flipped upwards so they were now parallel with the walls. Between each slab was Gizmo and Shimmer, and both were then slammed into the actual walls on either side of them.

Dispelling his projections, Bunker watched as the two opponents collapsed onto the floor to join Mammoth.

From where laid, Gizmo groaned. "Oh. You…oh right. You beat us. You…you might want to…check the…it's a few floors up and practically in the center of this place. Goddamn I think you broke something. Might want to check there for your friends! Couldn't you've been more gentle?!"

Okay, not really getting what this was…

"Hey, that sounds like an important place!" Kid Flash exclaimed. Looking to the Hispanic male, "Let's check it out! You know, before we're caught and horrifically mangled."

While Bunker wanted to ask a question or two, the logic about not being mangled was a very convincing argument right there. Plus, he could ask questions while they ran, right?


The earth instrument was aimed at the Tamaranean, and she had little knowledge of what it would do to her. Freezing with paralysis and waiting for the inevitable attack was one option that many would choose. The Warlords of Okaara had done their best to train such a reaction out of her. In the midst of combat, there could be no hesitation.

Starfire went into a roll as the air became disturbed, and the fabric of reality itself began to ripple. She was out of its path and firing a Starbolt before she came to a stop. Her attack burned through the air until it struck the instrument, a loud squeal emanating from it. For a second, she was able to see how the distorting reality began to form a portal of some design and then abruptly smooth out.

There were many questions she could ask, but she would refrain from doing so. Right now, she needed to return her attention to the matter at hand, and the matter took the form of Pantha who emerged into her vision once more.

This pursuer of hers was relentless and the very instance that Pantha made eye contact, she was charging towards the Tamaranean, moving at a sprint that was reducing the distance between them rapidly.

For once, Pantha began her attack with a kick, one that allowed her to temporarily mimic flight. It was simple for Starfire to move out of the way, Pantha soaring past her. The masked female was able to adjust so that she landed on her feet, and her agility allowed for a quick spin to face the Tamaranean once more. A lunge which had the reaction of the orange-skinned exile back away, was accompanied with an arm that was extended out from a muscular body.

The arm caught Starfire, but she latched onto the limb and pressed her feet into the floor. Twisting her torso, she spun her adversary around and threw her, Pantha going into roll as soon as she touched ground.

Not waiting for the next attack, the Tamaranean took to the air once more, and evaded a sudden decrease in temperature that caused the area around her to be coated in a layer of ice. The chill did have an effect, had body shivering, but she forced herself through it. Her attention shifted briefly to the large gathering that had played spectator briefly but was attempting to involve itself.

There were so many of them, and in the thick of them she could identify the malformed Ridge who was wreaking his own kind of havoc amongst the ranks. Like Pantha before, he was seeking someone out.

Her moment of observation proved distracting as her lower body was tackled. Pantha gripped onto her legs and pulled back, the effort causing the Tamaranean to descend once more. However, due to the layer of ice, Pantha was prevented from gaining sure footing, which Starfire used to her advantage as she spun herself much like a centrifuge. Gravitational forces exerted themselves, and not even Pantha's mighty strength could allow her to hold on. The masked female was thrown off where her body then collided with the great host that was attempting to involve itself more.

Fire ignited the air once more, the fiery male from before having recovered enough to return to the onslaught. Regretfully, to save herself she had to evade which allowed the fireball to rush into the gathering of metahumans. There were some abilities she noted that successfully reduced the impact of the fiery attack, but there were cries of pain from the resulting burns.

In retaliation, she lobbed several Starbolts at the fiery-headed male to provide him distraction while she herself glided over the heads of her great number of foes. The body of one such foe went flying past her, peculiar, and she noticed how it was not a voluntary flight. Based on the trajectory, this foe was struck with enough force to send them airborne. Taking angle and parabellum into account, she was able to identify the probable area he had come from and found the remnants of something green vanishing into the crowd. This was followed by the immediate arrival of Ridge who shoved his allies about.

What was it that Ridge was seeking? No, who was he seeking?

The memory of a voice from earlier, move aside! Coming through! She knew the voice, knew him as—

Ridge stood up to his full height and in one hand held a green-colored furry creature, one that had a distinctive headband that was wrapped loosely around a small torso. Holding the animal that Starfire did not recognize by the scruff of the neck, Ridge glared at her green teammate—Beast Boy—and judging by the movements of his mouth, he was speaking. What words he said, she did not know.

Beast Boy seemed to have a response, one that involved the raising and curving of a thick tail, one that had the discoloration of a light green on its edges while a darker green mimicked the pattern of a stripe. What action her shapeshifting friend took, she did not know, but the resulting outburst of disgust followed by many metahumans trying to vacate the area rapidly was a cause of confusion for her.

Her olfactory sense then detected the foulest odor she had ever smelled. Ever. She had been forced into the rankest environments before, had been afflicted by a Maltusean Brenkalateur, and somehow this odor was the worst she had ever experienced by far. She recoiled both with facial feature and in altitude. Somehow, neither were enough to spare her…

The odor had an effect on Ridge, and he dropped her friend back down. As the various metahumans around were crushing into one enough to escape the pungent assault, Starfire unwillingly recognized an opportunity, much as she was loath to seize it. Seize it she did as she flew down into the thick of…the thick…by X'hal, the hair within her nostrils were burning!

Somehow she was able to power through, her flight curving enough that she was deep within the midst of her gathered adversaries and able to snatch up her smaller teammate, pulling the two of them out of the opening throng and up into cleaner air high, high, high above.

"Oh, hey Star!" the furry shapeshifter greeted her, lowering his tail.

"My friend, you must resume a form so that you may properly…that odor has latched onto me. What manner of chemical warfare is this?" Starfire was unable to continue with expressing her concern as the foul smell was following after her.

"You don't have skunks in space?" Beast Boy asked.

Why was she developing a new found fear of these skunks and wished to avoid them with all of her being?

"Someone kill them! Before they kill us all!" a voice from below bellowed.

Perhaps Beast Boy's olfactory attack was backfiring on them. That they were confronting a large number of individuals out to seek harm on them meant they were unable to maintain any advantage for long. The only reason, she presumed, that they had lasted as long as they had was due to the minimal amount of space their opponents had along with interference from both Pantha and Ridge.

A change of venue then. One with cleaner air.

There was an entrance, and thus an exit, to this room, but it was blocked off by the crushing ranks of their enemies. Very well then, she needed to identify another exit and if failing to do that, then make one. The pungent odor quickened her decision to create an exit.

Holding Beast Boy close to her with one arm, she held up the other and fired a concentrated stream of her life energy, a massive Starbolt created more out of desperation than for showmanship. The ceiling buckled, warped, then partially collapsed with debris falling down on the gathering below. Without hesitation, she flew upwards into her created exit and thus deeper into this facility.

There would be pursuit, she knew, Pantha included in the numbers, but at least this pursuit would be accompanied with breathable air.


This was getting unbelievable. If Wonder Girl didn't know any better, she would have sworn that Ravager was getting faster. It was kinda like that protest rally thing he attacked. Each action he took was faster than the last. Reflexes that could keep up with Kid Flash was nothing to sneeze at.

And here she was taking it all on with Terra at her side. Had it not been for the metal walls in the distance and the small mock buildings scattered around, this place would have had a nice, peaceful feel to it. Now, it was all torn up both through a combination of Terra ripping it apart and Wonder Girl being forced through it. It gave the air a dusty haze to it, and breathing it all in would definitely give you some breathing problems later.

But later was later and Ravager was now. He had managed to remove the rope that had once gripped his wrist and was swinging away with his sword at lightning pace. If it wasn't for her armor, she would have been sliced and diced long ago.

She brought up an arm to block the latest slice, this one aimed for her neck like he was trying to decapitate her. Wouldn't put it past him. Her armor held strong against the blade, the sword pulling back and swinging about to try for the other side. She ducked while swinging her leg around to try and trip him, but Ravager simply jumped over the limb with a hop.

A small crowd of rocks zoomed in, forcing Ravager away. Pillars of rock burst out of the ground wherever he tried to step, but each time the would-be assassin gave a small jump to avoid each and every one of them.

Digging her feet into the ground, Wonder Girl launched herself at the prick, arms cocked back behind her. Her teeth clenched as she raced her way to her target, muscles straining under the tension.

And yet, Ravager slipped to a side without even looking at her. Her speed was the only thing that kept her a hair's breadth away from that bastard's sword nicking her. By this point, after fighting for so long, consider avoiding that damn thing to be a small victory because she would be damned if she let him hit her with it again.

She let momentum carry her forward, reached out with an arm to grasp at a pillar-shaped rock—courtesy of Terra—and used it to swing herself around and put Ravager right into her sights once more. At this point, she slammed her feet into the ground and dug a couple trenches with them.

The armored blonde regarded the asshole, watching how the assassin's shoulders raised and lowered. He was breathing hard, but still keeping up if not outdoing the two girls. Teeth were showing in that bloodthirsty grin. He was enjoying this. Well, she wasn't. She was getting tired of this.

There used to be a thrill to it. A release. To hit a problem in its smug face and give it a reason to go to the dentist, that felt good. This didn't. Not at all. Maybe it was because of what kind of person Ravager was. That he was trying to kill her and her friends and for what? Was he getting paid? How much? It didn't matter the price tag, it just pissed her off more that he was trying to find enjoyment in causing pain to people she had slowly but surely came to care about and would be getting some kind of fat paycheck from it.

It was way past time to finish this little shit.

Alright, armor, whatever the hell you really were, whatever power you had, it was time to use it again and pound this asshole into the ground. Whatever it was that came out during that night Raven lost control, come out now and unleash on Ravager and show him just what kind of a mistake he had made.

Terra was bringing down boulders on Ravager, and he was dodging each one. With ease was a stretch, and she wouldn't give him the luxury of that description. As soon as Terra slammed a boulder down, she'd push it forward or pull it to the right or left. Ravager kept from being squished or bulldozed, taking out another grenade to throw at the earth-bending girl. A boulder was used to crush it, smoke billowing out from beneath it.

Ravager gave a whistle, making a show that he was impressed. Then he whipped out a gun, perhaps some kind of backup. Or maybe he really liked hand-to-hand. It didn't matter; what did was if Terra had the reaction time. Well, Wonder Girl wasn't about to wait to find out.

Soil gathered around a foot as she pressed her weight down on it. A push of her leg had her rocketing forward, faster than she had before. The sound of the gunshot was roaring, and small bullet tearing through the air in Terra's direction. Willing to be fast enough, and feeling like the world was starting to slow down, the armored blonde managed to place herself in-between her fellow Titan and her would-be killer. A gauntlet shielded both of them and the bullet ricocheted away.

Through her helm, Wonder Girl glared. Then she went on the attack. It was as if the world was getting out of her way because Ravager was so much closer in a brief second. His eyes seemed to widen at her speed, but that smirk was too quick to return as he adjusted the aim of the pistol.

He was able to pull the trigger, but the bullet had barely left the barrel by an inch when it collided with the palm of her hand which clamped down on the gun's barrel. It warped and crumpled under her strength, making it useless.

With her other hand, Wonder Girl lashed out with another punch, one of so many she had thrown recently. To some of her frustration, Ravager just barely dodged, the mystical metal surrounding her hand grazing his shoulder. She unleashed that frustration with a knee, one that nearly caught him in the gut. The remnants of the gun was torn out of Ravager's hand, her hand opening to drop warped metal and then closing to form another fist. This punch swung uselessly across Ravager's chest, but she was not going to be discouraged.

Again and again, punches and jabs, kicks and knees, feints and blocks, she did them all while pressing faster and faster. Annoyingly, Ravager was getting quicker too, though around the open mouth area of his mask and under his pits, the materials there were darkening with sweat. There was an odor that came with it, but she pushed past it.

One good punch, that was all she needed here. One. Good. Punch. Wipe that damn smirk off. Keep pressing no matter how long it took.

Ravager tried to bring his sword in this time, but Wonder Girl was not going to have it. Not this time. A gauntlet blocked, her other elbow came down on the flat of the blade and caused a noticeable bent to the blade. A hand entirely covered in unknown, golden armor took hold of the sword, twisted and broke the assassin's grip on it, and hurled it away were it impaled the side of a crappy looking building, one not meant to remain standing with the full intention of it being destroyed for…what had been again? Training purposes?

Whatever. No more sword now. Just fists. Oh, and a backup gun, but that had to be used to brace against her leg when she swung a kick into his side. He skidded away, but not too far. Far enough that he could use the gun, and he did try. He was very accurate with it, and her helmet got some nice spikes added to it, but bullets were not going to be enough here.

Her arm whipped out the lasso which once more caught his arm. A yank pulled him close and interrupted his firing, her right fist clenched and struck out only to be caught by Ravager's freehand though it just cushioned the blow.

Ravager's chest seemed to ripple, and he grimaced, but then he relinquished his gun to take hold of her arm and throw her over him. She landed on her feet, but now reversed so that she gripped his arm and threw him over herself. Ravager flipped and also landed on his feet, his back to her which he quickly corrected.

Good thing for him too since she was going for the head and missed once more. Another dance, another flurry of attacks and blocks, an attempt to wrap her own lasso around her, some elbows jerked back, and it ended with Ravager leaping back.

His heavy breathing was obvious. He was panting. She might have been too, but the rush of blood she was feeling moving through her ears and the side of her head was a nice little distraction. She could hear her heart pounding, pounding. His had to too because with every punch and kick and block and everything, they were just speeding up and up and up.

Logically, she knew neither of them could keep this up. One would have to burn out first. Did it matter if she did? No. Because Terra would be there to get that one sweet hit. The one that Wonder Girl craved to get now. Her arms were trembling, adrenaline more so than blood pumping through her system.

All it would take was one thing, one annoying thing, and she would resume the attack, no care to what it would do to her body now. Naturally, Ravager being Ravager, he did that annoying thing.

He chuckled.

That was it.

If there was any exhaustion, it was gone now. Motherfucker was going to—

Collapse.

It wasn't her. Wonder Girl did stop because it was so sudden.

Ravager, on his feet, looked as if he was going to be the one to charge first, to attack, to begin the next part of the intense dance that could only have one winner, who had taken the first step and then keeled over onto his front. A body so tense and trembling and panting had gone completely limp and done so quickly enough that it was a surprise both for her and Ravager it seemed because even with the mask she could tell his eyes were widening.

His face smacked against the ground, then his body rolled onto its side where it remained, loud gasps coming from the man. Red gloved hands clutched as his chest, fingers trying to dig in and failing. There was choking and…that was foam. That was foam coming out of his mouth.

"What's happening to him?" That wasn't her voice. That was Terra's. But it got her jumping into action as she leapt forward and pushed Ravager to lay fully on his back. His muscular legs were jerking, twitching, hoarse gasps were so very hollow, and the upper body was trying and failing to curl in on itself.

Her hand pushed through his and placed itself on the chest. Through the armor, somehow, she could feel the beating, the pounding, and the speed of his heart as it was giving its all. It was happening so quickly, too quickly. It was like some kind of…of…

"Heart attack." That was her voice this time.

Oh shit. Oh shit! Oh shit, what the hell was she suppose to do here?

"Why?" It was so quiet, it could have been missed, but hearing was not a problem here. Despite was he was experiencing, Ravager was still finding some annoying way to fucking speak. "What's…it…it burns… Why…? Wh…y…?"

Burns? Didn't mean anything to her. Right now, she had to switch modes from being kickass to lifesaver. Alright, what did you do with a heart attack? Too many movies and not enough first aid classes. Damn. CPR? Would that help?

It was obvious, Wonder Girl did not know what she was doing, but she was going to give it her all. One hand on top of the other, push, chest compression, up and down rapidly. Maybe this would give the heart something to follow? A steady beat? Would that help?

There was more foam coming out. "Turn his head!" she barked. She had been to one too many parties nobody needed to know about that something coming out of the mouth in a situation like this was bad. They could choke or drown in it.

Terra was quick to respond, turning the head sideways, letting that foam flow out. Come on, come on, stay with them. Don't you fucking die. Don't you dare die here. Because. Because…

If you kill anyone, I will find you., and I will put you down. There is nowhere in this world you can run that I won't find you.

Because this was one hell of a time for those words to haunt her!

"Live you son of a bitch!" she roared.

She didn't know what she was doing. She knew she didn't. Chest compressions. Only to be short term. Only until help arrived. But what help was there? What help was in this damn place? When the only other help was miles and miles away, who wouldn't be able to get here without a damn helicopter or something, or even land one nearby.

Ravager choked and grew weaker with every passing second. His words were becoming fewer, softer, always asking…why?

Always asking until the last dying gasp.

Answered with a scream of hope denied.