Cyborg pressed his foot down on the pedal, increasing the speed of the car. He weaved through cars, while a few people yelled. He was careful not to hit anyone. It was daytime, so easy to see where they were going. And it was past rush hour, so not a lot of cars on the road. He felt they should be able to make it in time at the current speed. Maybe even with some time to spare. Part of him wanted to get there as fast as possible. But another part of him was silently dreading it, knowing it could get ugly. He wasn't afraid of their opponents, but they did have Red Arrow as a hostage. And it still wasn't entirely clear what these two were capable of. There was no telling what might happen.
Cyborg glanced over at Beast Boy in the passenger seat. Beast Boy was talking to their friends on the comm. Beast Boy gripped the comm and the handhold on the car tightly. As Beast Boy spoke to them, he started to raise his voice a little. And then, the communication ended as quickly as it began. Cyborg hadn't heard every word Beast Boy said since he was a little distracted with driving and trying not to crash. But he at least got the gist of it.
"You told them everything?" Cyborg asked as he turned a corner. Hopefully a shortcut. Beast Boy glanced at him and nodded.
"Yeah. I mean, what there was time for, anyway. They were a little busy with Chang."
"They're both there now?" Cyborg asked.
"Yeah. I opened all communication channels so they could both hear. Hopefully they can get Chang to talk."
Cyborg listened for a moment, and then jerked his head. "Wait, what?"
"Relax, Chang is old, but I'm sure they won't go too far with him."
"No, I mean… The other thing you said. About the channels."
Beast Boy shrugged. "What about it? I opened all channels. It just seemed easier that way."
Cyborg furrowed his brow. "If you opened all channels, then anyone with a T-comm could hear what you said."
"So?"
"So, the bad guys have Red Arrow, which means they probably have his comm too. Assuming he still had it. So, they probably heard everything you said."
"So what? They already knew we were coming anyway."
Cyborg ran a hand through his partial head of hair. "If they heard you telling Nightwing and Raven where we're going, then they might expect our friends to show up too. They only wanted the two of us. If they think we're going back on that, then they might just decide to kill Arrow."
"They're probably planning to kill him anyway, along with us." Beast Boy said, turning his head to the window.
"Probably, but I don't want him to already be dead when we get there." Cyborg said, annoyance creeping into his voice. There was a long silence between them. At some point, Beast Boy spoke.
"I'm sorry." He said softly, while still looking out the window. "I guess I wasn't thinking. I just… I hope he's not dead." Cyborg made a sound somewhere between a sigh and a groan.
"Look… whatever happens, happens. If there's anything we can do to save him, we will. And if there isn't, they'll pay for it." Cyborg picked up speed as they got closer to their destination. The building was now within sight.
Within minutes, they had arrived. They made no effort to hide their approach. The unfinished building loomed in front of them. It was about ten stories tall. Steel beams and dry wall were left exposed. The structure was far from finished. There was no sign of the killers, but it was hard to see much at street level. Cyborg and Beast Boy both looked up.
"They're up there somewhere." Cyborg said.
"Yeah, and I'm sure they've got an ambush set for us." Beast Boy said.
"Probably." Cyborg said. "But Red Arrow's up there, and we've only got a few minutes to spare. So, we're doing this."
"I know." Beast Boy said with a half sigh. "Pterodactyl?"
"Yeah. But keep your head on a swivel."
"We both better." Beast Boy said as he changed. Now a prehistoric beast, he flapped his wings and rose slightly into the air. He flew over and grabbed Cyborg by the shoulders, and lifted him off the ground. They began to ascend.
They left ground level and scanned the second floor. They saw nothing, so moved up to the third. Still nothing. They only had a minute or two left, so they couldn't stop and examine each floor in detail. They had to be quick. The floors were only partially built, having floors and some walls, but with large sections exposed to the elements. There was some equipment on the floors, construction equipment and some cleaning supplies. But no people, so far. They flew past another floor, and then another, and then another.
"Wait, stop." Cyborg said. "Go back." They were at the seventh floor now. Beast Boy flapped in midair.
"How far?" Beast Boy said.
"Fifth floor." They went back down to the fifth floor. At first there wasn't anything obvious. But after a harder look, it was clear that there was someone further back. Someone tied to a pole all the way on the other end of the floor.
"Its Red Arrow. I think." Beast Boy said.
"Its him." Cyborg said confidently. They landed on the floor. Beast Boy changed back. They glanced at each other, and then began walking, gradually but steadily. They gradually approached Red Arrow. They were close enough now that there was no doubt it was him. Cyborg readied his arm cannon, anticipating an attack. Beast Boy stayed in his current form, but kept glancing about. This floor had more boards leaning against pillars than on lower floors, as well as a few load bearing walls. This meant that there were places to hide. Cyborg and Beast Boy stayed wary as they walked along the floor.
They made it about halfway to Red Arrow when it happened. A sudden noise shot out. Cyborg and Beast Boy both stopped dead, and quickly turned in different directions. A second after the loud noise, the area around them changed. The building itself was the same, but translucent red light shot up around the perimeter of the floor. All the sides now had a screen of red that one could see through. There was a low buzzing sound, but it was hard to say where exactly it was coming from. Cyborg readied his weapon, and Beast Boy changed into a tiger, ready for combat. Cyborg started to say something, but a figure emerged from behind a wall. One of the masks. They were standing between the heroes and Red Arrow.
"What do you want?" Cyborg said. The mask held something in their hand. In the dark lighting it was hard to see what it was.
"Catch." They threw it through the air. Instinctually, Cyborg reached up and caught it. He looked at it. It was a grenade. "Oh, shit." He said, and threw it to the side. It exploded in midair. As Cyborg looked at the blast, he felt a hard impact on his head. One of the few parts of his body that isn't entirely metal. He had been hit from behind by a flying kick. Cyborg fell to one knee. Beast Boy spun to meet the attacker. It was the girl, who stood there looking at him. But Beast Boy noticed the other guy charging. The attackers were in two different directions, only time to go after one or the other. He chose the man, perhaps feeling he was the greater threat. Beast Boy lunged, but the girl stabbed him in the flank with a knife as he leapt. Since he was moving forward in the air, the blade tore through his body as he jumped.
Beast Boy stumbled to the ground. The shock of the attack grounded him. He hoped it was only a superficial wound, and that it felt worse than it actually was. He was then kicked in the face. This was already starting to turn into a repeat of the previous time. Fortunately, Cyborg was with him this time. Cyborg, although dazed, lifted his cannon and fired at both enemies. They both jumped out of the way. Cyborg wasn't sure if he hit either of them at all. He stood up. The girl ran up to him from another direction. He raised an arm toward her. At the same time, he raised his other arm behind him and fired both cannons. He heard an impact on the from behind, so he guessed that he was right that someone was coming up behind. The girl dodged again though. Cyborg turned to watch her run. He also saw the man ducking behind a wall, and noticed his sleeve had been singed.
"They're not so tough." Cyborg said. He turned to look at Beast Boy. Beast Boy was back to his usual form. He was bleeding, but was able to stand.
"You okay?" Cyborg asked.
"I'm not dead. That's good." As they spoke, a figure ran by in the distance.
"Careful." Cyborg said.
"Fight fire with Fire." Beast Boy said. His upper leg was hurt, which hobbled his movement. So, he chose a different strategy. He changed into a bat and flew up to the ceiling. He then changed into a chameleon, and quickly blended into the surroundings. At the same time, the two figures darted by in different areas, out of reach of Cyborg. He tried detecting them with his sensors. He could sense that they were nearby, but for some reason couldn't pinpoint their exact locations. He considered shooting at them and hoping to get lucky, but decided on a different strategy. He aimed at the floor. He fired his cannon, and a hole was blasted in the unfinished floor. But instead of a clear hole to the floor below, there was that red field again.
"Damn." Cyborg said. He quickly aimed up at the ceiling, away from where he last saw Beast Boy. He fired again, some of the material falling to the current floor. More red above. Cyborg kicked one of the pieces of debris onto the red. The rubble wasn't destroyed when it touched the red, but it didn't pass through either. Definitely a force field. They were boxed in on every side. This not only limited their movement, but once again limited what forms Beast Boy could take.
"Just come out and fight." Cyborg said. As if on cue, one of the masks came running at him from behind some equipment. Cyborg opened his missile launchers and fired them. He was trying not to use lethal force, but he needed to take them out. But the man jumped, twisting his body in midair to avoid the missiles, and came down to punch Cyborg in the face. The glove must have been loaded with something, because Cyborg staggered. Beast Boy dropped from above, changing into a monkey and straddling the man's back, holding on tightly and biting and clawing at him. Beast Boy managed to rip the mask. The mask stayed on, but through the rips it seemed like there was something other than skin beneath. Some kind of light-colored cloth. Another mask? Beast Boy was suddenly grabbed by the tail and slammed to the ground. Mid throw, Beast Boy started transforming again, but was only halfway there when he hit the floor. He stalled, and changed back to his normal form as he looked up.
Cyborg threw a fist, but the man dodged it. Cyborg followed up with a blast from his other arm, which knocked the man back a few steps, but didn't down him. Cyborg then felt a burning sensation in his own face. He clutched his face and saw the girl, holding a laser gun. She tossed it to the man.
"Enough playing." She said. "Time to fight for real."
The man readied the weapon, as Cyborg held up his blasters, aiming at both of them. "Get your weapons too." The male mask said. "Let's show them who we really are."
Nightwing stood up, gazing up at his old nemesis. He clenched his teeth. It had been years since he had seen, or heard from, Slade. He had started to think that he might never see Slade again. Looking back, Nightwing had only had Slade as an active force in his life for… a year, if even that? But at the time, Slade was a massive, looming presence during a formative time in Nightwing's (and the other Titans') life. After all this time, Nightwing had finally started to feel that Slade was in the past. An unpleasant memory. But now here he was again, as if he had never left.
Slade looked down at Nightwing, one hand on the railing. "It's been a long time, my old friend." Slade said.
"Don't you ever call me that." Nightwing spat. Slade laughed, but it was a humorless laugh.
"Yes, we never saw eye to eye on things, did we Robin?" Slade said.
"My name is Nightwing now." He said.
Slade walked along the upper floor until he was directly in front of Nightwing. "Of course. Nightwing. You're all grown up now, aren't you? So let us talk…" Slade jumped over the railing and landed on the floor below, now on the same level as Nightwing. He stood up straight and locked eyes with Nightwing. "…Man to man." He finished. As soon as he did, Nightwing rushed at him.
Nightwing jumped, and started to arc a kick. Slade quickly assumed fighting stance. The kick was a feint though. Nightwing turned it into a midair punch. Slade still countered it, grabbing Nightwing's arm and tossing him towards the wall. Nightwing managed to push off the wall and land on his feet in a crouching position. He turned and saw Slade running towards him. Slade raised a boot and aimed right at Nightwing's head. Nightwing fell onto his side, dodging it, and swept Slade's other leg. Slade fell backwards, but caught himself on the floor with his hands, rolling backwards onto his feet again in a fluid motion. Nightwing also rolled back onto his feet. They both stood again and faced each other.
"You've gotten better." Slade said.
"Or maybe you've lost a step." Nightwing said.
"Maybe." Slade resumed a fighting stance. He and Nightwing began to circle each other.
"Why, Slade?" Nightwing said. "Why did you do it?" Slade cocked his head slightly, but maintained eye contact.
"Do what?" he said in a light tone.
"I'm not in the mood to play games." Nightwing stopped moving, and looked at Slade straight on. "Why did you kill Aqualad? Why come after us after all this time?"
"Robin… Sorry, Nightwing. Force of habit. I can assure you, I did not kill your friend."
"Liar!" Nightwing pulled out his sticks and raised them against Slade. Slade then pulled out two sticks of his own.
"I've always tried to meet you on your level." Slade said. "At least for a while."
"I'll ask you one more time." Nightwing said. "Why?"
"As I said, I did not kill Aqualad."
"You expect me to believe you had nothing to do with this, and you showing up here is just a coincidence?" Nightwing resisted the urge to charge at Slade again. He suspected that was what Slade wanted.
"I didn't say it was a coincidence. I just said I'm not the killer."
"Then you hired someone to do your dirty work for you. Those two killers, the man and woman."
Nightwing clenched the weapons, preparing to either attack or defend. But when Nightwing said this, Slade lowered his stance a little. He paused, appearing to consider this. There appeared to be an opening where Nightwing could attack him. That's what he would have done when he was younger. But he was a little older now. He decided to wait to see what Slade would say or do next.
Slade exhaled. A sigh? A stifled laugh? It was always hard to say with the mask. "Man and woman. So, you know that much."
"So, you do know them." Nightwing said.
"Of course I know them. But I didn't hire them. In fact, this whole thing was their idea."
Now Nightwing paused. "Their idea?"
"Yes. I also know they wanted to meet with you today. You, specifically. But instead, they're meeting with Cyborg and Beast Boy. How do you think that's going?"
The girl dodged Cyborg's blasts. A couple came close, but didn't connect. The man used a piece of rubble to block the first blast and then rolled and returned fire. Cyborg charged him as the blasts hit non-vital areas. Cyborg again tried to punch the man, only for him to jump over Cyborg, and then kick off of Cyborg's back. He now faced Beast Boy in rhino form, who charged at him. Cyborg grabbed the man from behind, wrapping his arms around him. Cyborg held him as Beast Boy charged. The masked man stomped his feet onto the floor, and, to the surprise of Cyborg and Beast Boy, lifted Cyborg off the ground. Only for a second. But enough to reposition Cyborg in front of Beast Boy's charge. Beast Boy changed back in time to avoid ramming Cyborg, but had enough momentum to hit Cyborg's elbow face first. Cyborg glanced at Beast Boy, allowing the opponent to slip away.
"Where'd he… where'd they go now?" Cyborg said.
"Are we winning?" Beast Boy said, holding his face. Cyborg helped him up. They then heard something impact the "wall" behind them. They turned. There was someone outside the structure, flying. Cyborg squinted, and then a smile spread across his face.
"Bumblebee!" Cyborg said. She was in midair, looking at the structure. She turned her head to look at something.
"We can't get out either." Cyborg said. Bumblebee blasted something with her stingers. The red field flickered. She blasted again, concentrating on one spot. The field flickered again, and disappeared.
"She did it!" Beast Boy said. Bumblebee flew in and landed. A second after she did, the field went back up. "Well, at least you're here." He said.
"Damn, thought I got it." Bumblebee said.
"How'd you find us?" Cyborg said.
"Your message on the comm. Well, Beast Boy's message. I heard you, and came right away. Am I late?" Bumblebee looked around the floor as she spoke, ready to use her stinger blasters at a moment's notice.
"Right on time." Cyborg said.
"Thanks for coming, Bumblebee." The masked man said. Everyone turned, and saw him standing next to Red Arrow. He held the syringe. "Move and I kill him." The killer had now added a few weapons to his outfit. A few different types of guns in holsters, and a few explosive devices on his outfit. Grenades, flashbangs, etc. Bumblebee tensed and bared her teeth.
"Who the hell are you?" she said. "Tell me now." The killer turned his head to the nearby shadows.
"Should we tell them now?" he said. Footsteps echoed out of the shadows. The dark figure of the girl could be seen, but covered in darkness. She walked forward, holding something in each hand.
"Might as well. Since they came all this way." Her voice was no longer distorted. It was clearly the voice of a girl. Not a woman, a girl. She stepped forward, the light revealing what she was holding in her hands: two sharp swords. Katanas, to be exact. As she stepped into the light, the mask she had previously worn was gone. But she wore another mask now, that covered the upper part of her face, leaving the mouth exposed. The mask was half black, and half orange, and the back exposed her long, white hair. The trio stood silent as she looked at them. She spoke.
"You can call me Ravager."
End Notes: This chapter took longer than anticipated. I will try to get the next few chapters out faster, but I can't promise anything.