Can't Give Up and Can't Give In
"If you tell anyone about this, they will never find your body."
Her powers may have had no limits, but her body certainly did. Today had been a long day with a lot of stressors. Fights didn't tend to tire her unless she was overexerting. Transporting herself around wasn't too much of a chore though there was a slight cost that was easily recouped. So many in a short amount of time, like today, added on quickly.
Barely recovering from the stint earlier in the day, and she had to do a second evacuation in a short period of time. Exhausted did not even begin to describe what she was feeling. That last transportation with Kid Flash? Absolutely drained. That was on top of having to heal her own ribs, not a pleasant experience either.
But there was no choice. Since the speedster needed to stay off his leg, he was sitting down on the ground with his back against a dumpster and his damaged leg extended straight ahead of him. Raven was leaning up against him, her head on his shoulder, and so fatigued that there was not going to be any movement anytime soon.
This did not mean that she was not self-conscious. Two certain males that, if they caught them, were going to never let her live it down. They lived to tease her whenever they could get away with it. A shame she considered one a close, personal friend and the other…what could she call him now?
Distantly you could hear the booms growing quieter and quieter. The rest of the team was leading that assassin away. Unless there was some backup anyone knew about, they should be safe here. Safe to wait and recover much needed energy.
"Well…where would you put me?" Kid Flash wondered, eyes looking upwards thoughtfully. "There are a lot of places but I can only fit into so many and—"
"That was not an invitation for you to talk."
"But what else am I going to do?"
"Sit there like a good little boy and remain seen but not heard."
"Well that's boring."
So many inane comments in such a long amount of time. Kid Flash was antsy, needed to do something, but his leg prevented that. Something else had to be running and why not his mouth?
Minutes would pass by agonizingly until footsteps were heard. She wasn't alarmed; she could feel who was approaching and already recognized them. There was a feeling of relief when the headcount came out to five, so there hadn't been any needless death or heroic sacrifices.
Then she recalled her current position.
"Hey, guys! You're in one piece! How'd it go?" Kid Flash greeted, raising up an arm to give a wave.
"You're all right?" Red Robin inquired as he stood over them. He hadn't mentioned her compromising position, like a good boy with a sense of preservation.
"Bored. Raven's tired. But what happened? Did you beat him? Show him why no one messes with the Teen Titans?" Kid Flash answered before pressing his own questions. The speedster's head tilted to a side. "What about the car? You drove it here, right?"
A feeling of devastation was detected and it felt a lot like Cyborg. That was all Raven needed to know that the answer was no.
"I hope but I don't think we're lucky," Wonder Girl grumbled, arms crossed over her chest.
"We're operating on the basis that we slowed him down. We need to figure out what we're going to do and fast," Red Robin told her and the rest of the team.
"What the hell can we do?" Wonder Girl demanded as she uncrossed her arms and backswung a fist into the nearest wall. It must not have been her full strength as only a web of cracks formed under the hit. "We couldn't beat him, one at a time or together, the Justice League couldn't stop him, what the hell can?!"
Raven was not alone in observing the burst of anger, but she understood that frustration all too well. Wonder Girl had a point. Their adversary had weathered many challenges and had emerged triumphant in all but one. They were still alive and he wouldn't stop until they were.
"We lost Terra," Beast Boy reminded them.
"And my car," Cyborg added.
"And I can't run," Kid Flash said mournfully, his odd colored eyes staring out at the offending leg.
All indications that their luck was running out. They had found an unstoppable force and they were far from being an immovable object. And in an irony of ironies, that which could have been that theoretical immovable object had also failed. One by one, their defenses were failing and they had already lost Terra.
"Our home is gone. Is there any place we can go to for sanctuary?" Starfire asked aloud.
"Maybe the other side of the country," Wonder Girl spat out before sighing, her shoulders slumping. "We can't go to my house. Or yours, Red. We can't get them involved."
Them being the only parental figures any of the Titans here would want to see. Wonder Girl's mother, whom they never truly had the privilege of meeting, and Red Robin's parents who were nice folks all around. No one brought up Silas Stone and she wasn't about to suggest the other parent she still had left. No amount of desperation would make her turn to that unholy bastard.
Ever since Gotham, she would feel his eyes from that other realm, keeping an eye on her, watching her every move, making sure she did not escape his notice again. Another ticking time bomb there, but not as urgent as the current situation.
Red Robin tilted his head back, looking to the sky. "I don't think anyone has a spaceship we can use. I don't know if the Watchtower is functional yet and there's been nothing about progress on the new one. Best not to go there because Deathstroke will only follow there too."
So where could they go? Who could they turn to? Options were increasingly becoming limited. How long until they ran out?
Cyborg kicked at the ground, scuffing his foot. "Times like these I wish there was someone who could clean up a mess like this."
Barely a second later, and Raven felt a strong spike coming from Red Robin. It felt like inspiration had struck him, and no, just because she could read emotions didn't mean she could read minds. What was their leader's latest bright idea?
"There might be one more option," Red Robin said slowly, drawing all attention to him. The first to really find any hope from those words, predictably, was Kid Flash.
"You know someone?" the speedster prompted hopefully.
"No," the former Gotham native answered, but he was turning away from them. There was a hint that he was searching, but for what? From where Kid Flash and her had ended up, some random alley is what their location was. Out of sight and out of mind. The entrance, or exit, to the alley seemed to be where the masked teen was focusing his gaze. A grim smile formed on his lips. "But they aren't too far."
They. Either that meant an individual whom the gender wanted to be withheld, or that was how they identified as, or it wasn't just one person. Interesting use of a word, they.
However, Red Robin wasn't completely certain. Raven could feel the uncertainty, but if you wanted a physical cue, he was balling his hands into fists. He wasn't sure, but desperation was the mother of inspiration in a way.
"I can't guarantee that this will work, but it's not like we have a lot of options," Red Robin concluded.
"You got a bad idea, we don't have any good ideas, so we'll do this one bad idea and somehow it'll work out. What do we got to lose?" Wonder Girl summed up, straightening her shoulders.
Their lives, obviously, but hope tended to blind people at the most inopportune moment. Raven was ever the eternal pessimist, but damn it was hope contagious.
"Let's get Kid Flash up and steadied. Someone will have to carry him and make sure his leg doesn't jostle too much," Red Robin planned out. "Raven, if you need help, now's a good time to say it. We need to move, the sooner, the better."
Already? Well fine. She did like living, whatever that meant, so going along with this half-cocked plan of Red Robin's would at least entertain for a while.
Until they were brutally slaughtered, that is.
Purple gloved hands adjusted the purple-colored mask, making sure that he could see through the eyeholes and everything. No sense in wearing a mask if you couldn't see through it.
This was one of the last things Bunker was doing before deeming himself ready. It was time to put on the captain's hat once more and act as the leader he was suppose to be. Enough time had been spent keeping a low profile. Their teammates weren't about to avenge themselves, you know.
Pantha was rolling her left arm, right hand pressed down above it as her arm rotated. Loosening up and limbering like the athlete she was. She stood stoically, barely expressing anything that might hint at what she was thinking.
Last, but not least, their new little friends, and he did mean little. These twins, Mas y Menos, had returned and gotten them up to date. There was movement in the city, the local cartel forces making moves to try and capitalize on the sudden absence of Titans. Police were attempting to make a show of force, but anyone and everyone knew it was just that, a show. It was only a matter of time until the real violence began, and it would start with a skirmish there, a shootout there, and then escalate.
They should stay. He knew this. This was their turf, Titans South's, but there was a bigger fish to fry here. One that needed to be fried. If that monster found out they were still alive, who knew if and when he would return to finish the job? The two surviving Titans returning from the dead and making a show of it in Cancun? No, who knows what would happen next time?
They were going to track him down and finish it first. Then they would return for the cartels and really show them the error of their ways.
"I do not like leaving such a mess behind. Those insects are becoming too bold," Pantha growled.
"They're bad, but we can handle them. That murderer? We can't let him go with the final word," Bunker said, though he agreed with his teammate. It was a tough decision to make. Difficult. It had to be made all the same.
"You're leaving?" the twin who he had learned was called Mas asked with wide, child-like eyes.
Bunker nodded to the twins. "Yes. We got a bad guy to catch and teammates who deserve better than a Tower for a grave. Thanks for your help, but we need to be leaving, and you two need to remain safe. Is there anywhere you can go?"
The twins looked to one another, sharing looks between themselves. "No, Mr. Bunker," Mas answered.
"Our home is in Guatemala, and we left it behind to come here and be Titans," Menos explained. "We were hoping to…stay in the Tower."
A Tower that was a smoking husk and laying on its side. Hardly a place to stay anymore. What was he going to do about that problem? Leaving Cancun to the cartels was one thing, but leaving these boys who risked their lives for them to face it alone? Hard no, but taking them along couldn't be part of the equation either. That would be asking that murderer to kill them too.
Even with superspeed…unless? He understood how someone with superspeed could turn things around and quickly. He had seen Kid Flash in action and not a single person could touch him. Would it be the same with Mas y Menos?
"We can leave them somewhere along the way that's safe." Pantha to the rescue with the suggestion. They were of one mind when it came to repaying their little saviors here.
"You're not taking us with you?" Mas exclaimed.
"It's too dangerous and we don't want to repay your kindness with your deaths," Bunker explained. "We still need to find the man who attacked us. I have no idea where he went, but we need to start tracking him down and fast."
Pantha gave a sharp nod in agreement, her fists clenching tightly. You could see the muscles in her arms tensing from the pressure that was exerted on them.
"What about America?" Menos suggested after another shared looked with his brother.
Bunker frowned. "What about America?' he parroted right back. He was lost as to why that was even put out there.
"It was on the televisions! Some kind of attack in America!" Menos said.
An attack in America? As in, today? Or…yesterday? It was late into the night, maybe even the morning hours by now. He needed more information, but if there was an attack north of the border…
"Where in America?" he asked warily.
Once more, the twins were looking at each other. It seemed they hadn't been able to learn or remember the name. It was not enough to say America was attacked; America was a very big place with a lot of locations in it that were ripe for attack. Something more specific to judge if it was any relevant to their situation.
"Um, Jump? Jump Ca?" Menos was sounding out.
Jump Ca? What did that mean? Was there even a place called Jump Ca? He had been to America before. The only place he had been that was even close to that was Jump City, and that was in the American state of California. Was it the same place or…wait, hold on, he was remembering something. Something…no, no lost it, wait, no, he was remembering!
"Was there a comma between Jump and Ca?" he asked.
"Yes! Yes!" both twins answered, nodding their heads rapidly and simultaneously.
Okay, so Ca was CA, as in the initial for California. Right. And the only place he knew in California was Jump City—
Quickly, he shared a look with Pantha who, though she remained as expressive as a rock, seemed to have caught on as well. An attack in Jump City? Where the Teen Titans, the original group and now known as Titans West, were located? And within days of the attack on Titans South? Coincidence? Hardly.
"Perhaps our comrades are dealing with the threat now," Pantha proposed, crossing her arms.
"Perhaps," Bunker agreed.
"Yes, Mr. Bunker and Ms. Pantha. The television said there was one dead," Mas confirmed.
One dead? Bunker felt a chill run up his spine. Was it one of them? One of the original Titans? He didn't like what his gut was feeling, but he couldn't ignore it either. Too much happening too close together, it couldn't be coincidental.
"It sounds like we need to head for Jump City," Bunker said, looking meaningful to Pantha.
Pantha gave a nod. "Yes. If nothing else, we can recruit other Titans to our cause."
A nice little backup plan there. If this was indeed something else, the two of them could help the Titans in the west settle the matter, then get them to help with Titans South. With the original Titans, they could pull this off. They could find and beat that murderer. None of their teammates would have died in vain.
Better yet, they could leave Mas y Menos within the Jump City Tower until after everything was said and done! Then bring them back and see about what they could do to help with rebuilding Titans South. The twins' speed was nothing to sneeze at, but he could not say they were battle worthy just yet. They would figure out more later, iron out the details and all.
"We'll need to get to the border," Bunker began to plan out. "When I first crossed over, it was near Baja, where the Colorado meets the gulf." And that was pretty much the opposite side of the country. It would be quite the distance to go, though it would bring them closer to Jump City that way.
"We'll need to do it fast if we're to render aid." Pantha was already agreeing. She wasn't about to let anything like some arbitrary line in literal sand stop her from finishing their personal mission.
"We can get you there fast," Mas offered, already reaching out and grabbing Menos' hand.
"We'll be there in no time!" Menos bragged, beating his free hand against his chest.
Pantha tilted her head to the side, eyes trained on the twins. Her masked eyes were unreadable, yet you could feel that gears were turning inside of her head. "How?" she asked. "I have noticed that when you run, you both hold your hands. Your height is small. Do you possess the strength to carrying us who are heavier than your combined weights?"
Huh, now that it was pointed out, Mas y Menos were a good…half the size of the remaining Titans. Between the two of them, they only had two free arms. To be diplomatic, Pantha was all muscle and that was heavier than fat. They only knew that the twins were fast, but that was about it.
Both of the twins were looking uneasy. Menos scratched the back of his head awkwardly while Mas took up the speaking duty. "We were thinking you would be able to figure that out."
Well at least they were honest.
Bunker put a hand to his chin, fingers curled while his index finger extended and snaked around his jaw. He stared at the two boys contemplatively, considered what he knew they could do, took into account Pantha's points, then thought about how they could get around some of it and make this work.
Sometimes, you needed to think outside of the box…and maybe this would be crazy enough to work.
Smirking slightly, the not as dead as you thought leader of Titans South said, "I got an idea."
A few tests were done to determine if there was anything salvageable here. That gravity was pulling him to the right was a big hint that no, this once mighty piece of modern warfare technology was now useless. The weapon systems worked to a degree, but what use was it if none of it could be used to kill those kids?
The hatch that was above his head didn't open properly anymore. Deathstroke was trapped within this oversized tin can, but trapped was relative. It was going to take a lot more than this to stop him.
That's right, there was an emergency hatch that could be used. He had learned everything about that tank, especially that piece of information, before smuggling it over to Jump. It rested at the bottom of the tank, which meant he had a way out.
The electronic systems in here still worked, and as he got ready to leave, local law enforcement was arriving on the scene. Typical; one more obstacle for him to face.
He grabbed what was necessary in here, a portable computer among that, and then unsecured the safety harness keeping him in place. To his left and placed just over his head, there was circular switch that needed to be turned clockwise. Doing this, the next part in his grand escape was reaching up with both hands to two handles that extended out due to the prompting of that turned dial. Taking each, he pulled on both of them.
The emergency hatch opened below, the bottom portion of his seat lowered from a horizontal position to a vertical one. Normally, down was where he would go next, but in this case, he had to start pushing himself in the right direction. What should have been directly below was a square-shaped opening and as his feet were reaching it, the assassin paused and waited.
Listening, he could hear the sounds of multiple footsteps against asphalt. Looking down, he could make out flashes or red and blue. The edges of human-shaped shadows flickered in and out due to the flashing lights. There was going to be a fight on his hands, especially if any one of those cops began to take charge and order him out slowly. Guns were going to be trained on him and one wrong move meant he would be Swiss cheese in the next second.
The armor he wore was good, but it could only take so many hits. He didn't want to test out its endurance this way.
To his belt, he removed another grenade. Starting to run low on these; he was going to need to restock soon. There were just enough goodies on him to get out of this situation. Now, this particular explosive device wasn't a flashbang. That had been used earlier; this was just standard issue.
It would clear the area, though, enough for him to have space to maneuver.
Arming and removing the pin, the assassin tossed the incendiary device out through the opened emergency hatch and counted down the seconds. He heard yelling and then the boom. Now he went into action.
Smoke from the small blast obscured his escape from the tank. His sword was kept sheathed because he wasn't here to kill uniformed randos. There was no profit in it. So whoever got in his way would be assaulted and left on the pavement.
Not the first cop, though. That one he dashed and tackled into a patrol car. Hand on the officer's face, he slammed the man's head into the hood of the patrol car and continued with a leap over the vehicle's hood. Landing on the other side, an elbow jab to his right caught a crouching cop in the side of the head.
His elbow unbent, his hand latched onto the back of a helpless head, and that too was slammed against the side of the car. With his other hand, Deathstroke seized the standard issued gun that the cop was holding and then fired several shots into the nearest cops. He targeted legs and torsos, letting bulletproof vests take the hits while he closed in.
Firing one last shot into the foot of a cop, he took another to use as a human shield, stunning the officer with a punch to the face and a hit to the gut. Another gun was appropriated, and he fired off multiple shoots from around his human shield. Once done, he brought that officer's face to his knee and continued his rampage from there.
SWAT was arriving. Getting into a patrol car, he put it into drive and slammed his booted foot on the accelerator. Keeping the driver's side door open, he drove the vehicle right into the SWAT van, jumping out and rolling on the street before the inevitable crash. Rolling onto his feet, he began another run, reaching the end of the van where the rear doors were opening.
Lowering a shoulder, he rammed into and forced the door back, hearing cries of surprise from within. A small cylinder of tear gas was thrown in when the men inside began to force their way forward. Deathstroke held on for the necessary seconds, letting the gas inside do its work before pulling back and letting the doors open.
Several men in tactical gear came falling out, landing on top of one another as they hacked their lungs out. The first one that stumbled over the pile of his buddies' coughing forms was the first to get struck, Deathstroke fist breaking the visor that covered the man's eyes and the second hit breaking the nose. Throwing him to aside, the second victim met with a similar fate with the exception of being shoved back. Casually, he kicked one of the fallen SWAT team members in the head, making sure not to hit the helmet.
As another forced himself into the assassin, the automatic was retrieved and used to fire upon the rest, making them fall back into the cloud of tear gas. Abruptly he turned away from the SWAT van and fired a volley of bullets towards the other officers still on the scene, taking note that reinforcements were pulling out onto the street.
He couldn't stay here for much longer, so he would deal with the remaining men here and take off. Odds were he would be pursued, which would give those Titans more time to hide themselves.
Let them hide. He'd track them down no matter how long it took. If nothing else, it just meant the hunt continued on a little longer.
"Paul? You need to get downstairs."
Looking up, a dark-haired man with East Asian features found himself confused by the request. It wasn't often anyone came to his office, one of many in this building, it was less often that it was Mahalo sticking her head to tell him anything.
Paul Chang was a man who was always at work. As soon as one task was accomplished, he was on to the next. Strong work ethic, a problem solver, and employee of the month five months in a row, the people around here tended to look up to him. This was especially true when the unexpected happened.
There was an urge to sigh, but he held it in. It was just another part of the job. There was always more to do, and this was just the next thing.
Resting hands on a desk that was covered with files and papers, the surface completely buried, Paul pushed himself up from the swivel chair he sat in. His white dress shirt had the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and the black tie had to be adjusted and fixed from its loose position. Black dress shoes clacked on the floor as he walked around the desk and followed after Mahalo.
A bullpen greeted him, a maze of desks with various people either making calls, completing assignments on desktop or laptop computers, and just as busy as he was. The last twenty four hours had been very busy to say the least. That was saying a lot since busy was the norm here.
Chaos in the streets, people hiding in their homes, Justice League in town, and reports were coming in about a tank wreaking havoc. Now there was one more thing to deal with. This was becoming a worse mess by the minute. What would it be this time, and did it choose to be courteous enough to come to them first?
In time, he took the lead, passing Mahalo and taking the elevator down to the ground floor. Early in the day, these halls had been busy with activity. He noted how quiet it was, meaning the normal noises of human activity were lower than usual. It put him on alert; he was heading in the right direction.
"Front lobby," Mahalo told him, and so that was where he headed next.
It didn't take long to arrive, and he only took a few steps in, moving around some of his colleagues who were inexplicably keeping to the walls of standing at the mouths of hallways. They were all keeping their eyes in a general direction, and if he looked to the far wall, then it was less of a direction and more a location.
That location was the center of the lobby, standing several feet in front of the front desk. The logo that served as the symbol for this particular organization decoration the wall behind the front desk itself where a nice woman, Shelly, manned and gave direction to those who came here. A V rotated onto its side and off center with a white triangle nestled within it would identify just who they were without needing to give a name to those who saw it.
It was an eclectic group of teenagers in a colorful assortment of costumes, though not all were adolescents if birth records were any indication, that was the source of the commotion. Not all wore clothes either. Those that did had form-fitting uniforms in which no two were identical. He knew who this lot was; anyone in Jump City would know by now.
Who could miss the towering Cyborg? The exotic Starfire? The short yet imposing Raven? The stalwart Wonder Girl? The…green horse on which a not so cheerful Kid Flash rode side saddle with a brace on one of his legs. At the head, the team leader Red Robin gave the impression that he was acting as the mouthpiece for the ensemble.
Okay. A new development. They needed to find out just what this was going to be.
Drawing attention to himself as he moved towards the group, "Agent Paul Chang. What brings the Teen Titans here?" he inquired.
Compared to this team of budding superheroes, he was bland and almost blended in with the walls. Yet he was the one for whom these young men and women would have to deal with. He had seen a lot during his tenure here in the agency, and so he was not impressed or distracted by the clashing colors.
Red Robin stood a little straighter. "We're here to place ourselves into your custody."
Paul blinked. Custody? For what? Why would they want to? "I'm not aware that you've done anything that would warrant that," he spoke slowly, trying to process what he had been told.
"We didn't do anything, but we're out of options," the leader of the Titans said. "I'm requesting that we be placed into protective custody, or witness protection, or whatever it is that you call it. We can't stay here and we need protection."
He was still lost on…pretty much everything this teen was saying, but standing around and trying to figure it out as is would not change anything. A call needed to be made, and since he got tapped by default, it would be up to Paul to figure it out.
"What do you need our protection for? Wouldn't the Justice League be a better option?" Paul suggested.
The teenaged Titan shook his head in the negative. "The League is no longer an option. That's why we came here. That's why we're surrendering ourselves to A.R.G.U.S."