Teen Titans #51: "The HIVE War", part 4

Troia and Cyborg plowed into the new wave of HIVE soldiers and armored units, wreaking havoc; Terra's remote-controlled rock monstrosity was just a few steps behind, and began to stomp and thrash in their wake.

The trick was to use enough force to damage the armored units, but not enough to kill the men inside, or the soldiers on foot. For Cyborg and Troia, this was an old game and they knew how to best gauge their attacks; but for Terra, doing this at range, she had to be careful. Not that the HIVE didn't deserve a few broken bones, mind. But she didn't want to push it too far.

Cyborg tried a new trick, and closed in on an armored unit. From his robotic arm, three computer interface spikes flew out on long silver cords and embedded themselves into the machinery, seeking out it's internal computer networks. It wasn't so different from interfacing with the Tower computers, really; the significant different was that it was a form of hacking, and the HIVE computers first had to found, then forcibly accessed.

While he was doing all that, bullets spanged off his metal parts. He could take several direct shots in the flesh parts if he had to; fortunately, Troia and Terra were taking care of that. But it was only a matter of time before one of those bullets hit something vital.

The first of his three programming spikes found it's way through cracks in the system to the HIVE targeting computers. The hacking proved harder than getting the probe through the armor itself; the HIVE's greatest strength was their technological prowess. But Cyborg was certainly no slouch in that department, either.

Troia stepped up on his left and used her bracelets to deflect several energy bolts aimed at his head. The second probe connected; now it was a matter of will.

In Cyborg's mind, he could now see the inner workings of the HIVE computer as a series of glowing pathways, with the occasional angry chomping monster as a defense program, like something out of an early 80s video game.

Terra's monstrosity covered his right flank as the third probe struck home. From there it was just a matter of will; and without will, Cyborg's cybernetic half wouldn't have been enough to keep him alive this long.

Less than two minutes later, the armored unit shut down. Cyborg disengaged his computer interface spikes, and started wreaking havoc once more.

Cyborg saw Deathstroke tearing through the enemy's rear ranks, even as he himself was pounding him down.

"Deathstroke on the premises," he reported.

Another wave was coming through, they all knew that. They also knew that pitting any Titan against Deathstroke one on one was....not a good idea.

"All right," Nightwing said after some thought. "Finish off this wave of HIVE, then retreat. See if we can't lure Deathstroke into the traps we originally planned for the HIVE."

"They won't work as well against him," Troia said over the communication link.

"True, but it would be better than fighting him out in the open."

There was no further discussion. It was a risk; but what wasn't?

They pounded down the remaining HIVE soldiers, and retreated as Deathstroke advanced.

Deathstroke followed them a few paces, then frowned, noticing their retreat. Troia, Cyborg? And presumably the giant rock golem belonged to Terra, who had rejected his offer and wanted to pound him own more than any other?

"A trap, is it?" he mused aloud; and while they could not see his face, they could hear the smile in his voice. "Very well then." He continued to advance, but more slowly and cautiously.

"You sure this is gonna work, chief?" Beast Boy asked Nightwing uncertainly.

"No," Nightwing admitted.

And thew knew there was another wave of HIVE coming. So Nightwing ordered Terra to keep her heavy rock beast outside to greet them. She didn't like that, wanting to pound on Deathstroke first; but she grit her teeth and waited.

"So this is your training area?" Deathstroke said with such saccharine politeness that Nightwing cringed. "Not so different from my own, really. Throwing these drones and laser cannon into the mix won't really change your fate any. But I appreciate the workout."

They rushed him en masse. He threw down two smoke grenades and leapt to the side.

Kid Flash evaded the smoke and was instantly there, hurling superspeed punches into his face. Deathstroke flashed his sword up, but Kid Flash knocked it away....which took exactly long enough for Deathstroke to jab the mini hypo in his other hand into Kid Flash's chest.

Kid Flash gasped and went down.

It was a toxin that would kill a normal man. But of course, Kid Flash wasn't normal, and between his metabolism and Raven's healing abilities, he would survive it. But for the moment, he was out of the fight. And by forcing Raven to focus on healing him, he evaded her attacks as well.

Dagon was on him again, slashing claws into his armored shoulder; Deathstroke kicked him away. Troia and Cyborg closed in on him; he ducked at the last possible moment, and they collided with each other instead.

Beast Boy literally bull rushed him, taking the form of a bull and charging; Deathstroke smiled and simply pointed his sword at the charging form. But the changeling anticipated this attack, leapt up and to the right, and slammed one green horn into Slade's body armor. The armor held, but he was knocked back.

So he brought up his gun instead, and fired a pair of shots. Beast Boy shifted to frog, shrinking down to avoid the bullets themselves, then hopped out of the way.

Two training laser cannons opened fire, and Deathstroke flipped away in a move that seemed almost to mock Nightwing's acrobatics, then took them out with well-placed gunshots. A training robot approached, and Deathsroke's sword tore it apart.

Terra was hampered, not only by having to divide her attention between the construct and the room, but also not being able to risk bringing the roof down on the team. Best she could do was turn the ground to mud under Deathstroke's feet.

This she did while Nightwing and Scarlet Wing closed in on the mercenary, Starfire right behind. Dagon was recovering on the steps behind their foe.

Deathstroke held his blade ready, waiting for Nightwing to move in with his escrima sticks. But it was Scarlet Wing who advanced first.

She was something of an unknown quantity to him. He had kept tabs on the Titans, of course; even when he had focused most of his attention on the Society. So she knew he had been recruited, and had a rudimentary idea of her powers. But even so he was more than moderately surprised when she threw one, two, three eggplosives at him.

He stumbled back into Dagon, who threw a flurry of punches into his back, dazed and still healing, Deatstroke whirled, bringing his blade up. Dagon tried to retreat in turn, but Deathstroke scored a hit across his chest, not deep, but enough to hurt. The vampire stumbled up the stairs, and Deathstroke followed him.

Starfire blasted starbolts at him, whch he leapt to avoid. He aimed a gun to fire at her, and she darted back.

"Uh, guys?" Terra managed feebly. "Next HIVE wave is here....."

Deathstroke heard her, too. Dagon started up the steps and he followed, slashing at the vampire all the way. The others followed, Terra bringing up the rear, so glad to be able to engage on the front lines again. Only Raven and Kid Flash stayed behind, as she healed the poison that Deathstroke had injected into his system.

"I won't lose you," she said to him.

"No," Kid Flash agreed with an angry, pained grin. "You won't."

Slowly he got up, and mere second later they were ready to rejoin the others.

Cyborg tried his hacking trick on the final armored unit, but the HIVE computers had already learned from that event; to his amazement, the firewalls erected and computer defenses had already learned from the previous encounter. How was that possible? Wireless connection? He didn't waste any time thinking about it; he disconnected his hacking probes. But before he could wield his white noise cannon, the armored unit fired on him.

His armor took most of it, but his flesh was also burned. Raven was there almost immediately to start healing him.

Kid Flash returned to the armored unit at the same time Terra's earthen construct arrived. Terra's rock construct stomped on the armored unit with authority; but the armored unit crew, however badly shaken, got a shot off, and sheared off the construct's right arm.

It was fortunate that Terra was not hurt by this physically. As it was, she winced.

Kid Flash rattled the construct with several hard strikes, and then Terra let her construct simply collapse atop it, which ruined the unit's effectiveness and put it down for the count.

This left the troopers, and the Titans fighting amongst them. All but Troia, who went after the recovering, returning Deathstroke. Troia had had enough of him; she meant to hit him hard enough to knock him out.

Deathstroke, unfortunately, saw her coming.

As she closed in at speed, Deathstroke almost casually fired what might be described as a taser, if you were willing to describe a tsunami as a gentle mist. She threw up her bracelets to block, just as he knew she would; the electrictiy coursed through her and made every last strand of her hair stand on end.

Finally he let it go and she dropped to her knees; but almost instantly she looked up at him, eyes gleaming. Deathstroke brought his sword down; she blocked, then shoved him away.

Deathstroke felt a burst of frustration; while he had some idea of how tough she was, surely he could finish her off! He went for a killing thrust; she grabbed the blade and threw it away, then threw him after it. Shakily, she turned and returned to the battle.

Nightwing backflipped away as DeGoss slashed at him. He remembered well what had happened to Beast Boy last time they had faced this fool; and then he hadn't had open HIVE backing and such numbers.

Starfire came in and blasted away with her starbolts, but DeGoss merely grinned and deflected them with his plasma blade.

Deathstroke came in from behind, tearing through several HIVE troopers along the way. DeGoss somehow heard him at the last possible second, and whirled to meet him, sword against plasma blade. Sparks flew.

"How does your blade survive?" DeGoss shouted, desperately parrying and backing up.

"It's no ordinary metal," Deathstroke chided. "You forget how such weapons were forged."

DeGoss had to conceede that one, at least privately; the HIVE would have provided him such information, if he had only thought to ask.

Nightwing planted his feet in DeGoss's back; at the same time, Starfire bolted Deathstroke. DeGoss stumbled forward, and Deathstroke stumbled sideways, barely missing eachother. Deathstroke, of course, recovered first, pulled a gun, and started firing at Starfire.

Around them, Terra, Kid Flash, Dagon, Scarlet Wing and Cyborg were fighting their way through the crowds. Raven was also inflicting her soul self upon the HIVE. Whatever else he might be, DeGoss was tactician enough to understand they could only face one enemy at a time and hope to win.

"Nightwing," he said to the vigilante. "Have your pet witch arrange a private conference."

Nightwing thought about simply trying to take him out, but he too was mindful of wrapping this madness up. So he nodded. "Raven," he said into his communicator, "I need you and Terra to arrange a shielded truce area with the good general, here."

Terra's opinion was colorful and loud. Raven wasn't exactly happy, either. But following his instructions, Terra formed a stone enclosure around them, and Raven added her soul self as shield on top of that.

So it was that the Titans, Deathstroke and the HIVE Operative DeGoss found themselves, alone, in a pocket of air surrounded by rocks. Terra maintained the small enclosed chamber, allowing only tiny micropores for airholes; and Raven added her own mystic powers as a shield, to keep any HIVE troopers out. At least long enough to conclude "negotiations."

"You wanted to talk," Deathstroke said. "So talk."

"Not to you," DeGoss said. "To the Titans." He turned and looked at Nightwing expectantly.

"Oh, this should be good," Terra mutered.

"Good is not the word," Troia answered.

"Exactly what do you have to say to us?" Nightwing folded his arms.

"It is true, I will not lie; we are enemies. I have no interest in changing that, and neither do my superiors."

"Everyone is your superior," Deathstroke put in.

Terra snorted.

"I'm gonna have to remember that line," Beast Boy said.

DeGoss hissed a sigh, but did not otherwise acknowledge the mercenary. "Deathstroke was your enemy before he worked with us; and with his failure he has turned against us as well."

"Yes, we noticed." Nightwing was not impressed. "Get to the point."

"We came here to fight you, but we are willing to stop that fight long enough to resolve our mutual problem."

There was a long, stunned pause. None of the Titans said anything.

Eventually, Nightwing turned and looked at Deathstroke, half expecting the mercenary to have run DeGoss through already. Nightwing would have given a lot to see Deathstroke's face in that moment; as it was, the Terminator merely gave a small shrug.

"Assuming we were even willing to consider such an offer--" Nighwing began.

"Please say you're not!" Scarlet Wing gasped.

"Easy," Troia muttered. Cyborg looked back and shook his head.

"Even if we were, we couldn't let you kill him."

"Then he will merely escape and attack again!" DeGoss protested.

"Like you did?" Kid Flash interjected.

"Terra, answer him," Nightwing said, turning away.

DeGoss abruptly dropped halfway through the floor; the mud then re-solidified into rock. He desperately slashed around him with his blade, but it was of no use.

"You don't want a repeat of what happened last time, do you?" Terra asked in a soft voice. Remembering that occasion, DeGoss paled and stilled himself.

Nightwing turned to Deathstroke. "In my turn, let me make the same offer to you."

"Oh no!" Scarlet Wing said.

"We really need to take those rose-tinted glasses of you," Dagon said, not unkindly.

Deathstroke stood there thinking about it for a second. "You won't try to stop me from killing them?"

"You'd be doing that anyway, and trying to kill us as well. I'd prefer it if you didn't, of course."

Deathstroke considered a moment longer. "I will not help you directly," he finally said. "But I will focus my attacks on the HIVE until they are fallen."

"Good enough," Nightwing agreed.

They didn't shake hands or anything so trite; instead, Raven let go of her shadow shield and Terra simply caused her little rock cocoon's upper half to explode outwards, pelting the HIVE soldiers with earth and mud.

As DeGoss was struggling to escape his earthen prison, Cyborg almost casually wandered down and dropped a metal fist on top of his head. That was enough for DeGoss.

Deathstroke might have considered killing him right then and there, but there were HIVE behind him. He ducked and spun as three bullets arced through the air where he had been, sighing inwardly as he turned to face the troopers behind him.

Portland.

A robed HIVE leader punched a computer monitor hard enough to smash it in, bloodying his hand in the process.

"Yes, that was helpful," another said dryly.

"This was supposed to be our final victory," he seethed. "We were supposed to put the Titans and Deathstroke down. We didn't kill any of them! Not one! And now Deathstroke has suspended his own vendetta against the Titans long enough to hunt us down!"

"He does not know our exact location yet," said the other, "But a relocation would be prudent."

"No, not again! This is where we make our stand!  We shall finally destroy that fool and then the Titans, as should have happened today!"

"Calm down," the other said, strain in their voice. "Our forces are decimated, and none of our metahumans have completed our training. We must rebuild."

"No! No more reorganization! No more rethinking! We will unleash our full technological might and--"

He stopped talking, because the other HIVE leader had slipped a knife between his ribs.

He let out a confused moan and collapsed to the floor.

His murderer pushed back their hood to reveal a harshly formed (but not ugly) female face, short black hair and piercing, heartless blue eyes. The other leaders of the HIVE cadre stared at her mutely.

"Anyone else suggesting we commit suicide? Hold the line, like our falsely heroic enemies would, and be destroyed?"

None answered. The HIVE leader with steel teeth was annoyed by her violating protocol by exposing her face (and thus her identity), but sensibly kept quiet.

"This turn of events is unfortunate," she admitted, "But nothing we cannot overcome. We will do what we have always done to sustain our organization, and continue the path that will lead us to bringing true technocracy to the world. "We shall evacuate, taking our metahuman recruits with us, seek an alternative location, and start anew."

"If I may suggest," the steel-toothed leader said as diplomatically as he could, "I would believe that we should continue to hide in plain sight, rather than returning to the mountain and underground bases of old. Deathstroke knows where most of those are, anyway."

"Sound planning," she agreed, "But not in the States this time. Europe, perhaps...."

There was no further discussion; the HIVE began systematically dismantling their base. They had been through this many times, in many different countries, and were good at it.