Issue 21: "Shifting Loyalties, Part Three"

The alarm sounded in the T-Jet, and the Titans were on the move almost instantly, following the signal.

The distance was too short, really, to use the Jet; so Kid Flash zipped them along, one by one, save for Raven who teleported herself.

But Resurrection Man and Enchantress were watching.

“Whatever it is, it’s happening,” Resurrection Man said into his own communicator. “But Catman hasn’t called us yet.”

“Probably busy fighting,” Manhunter answered back. “We’ll follow as best we can. Move.”

Resurrection Man nodded. Fast as Kid Flash was, they had seen him move in the same directions, back and forth, over and over.

“East,” he said simply.

“Acknowledged.”

Enchantress twitched her hand and they were gone.

Cheshire leapt and rolled away from Catman, who seemed hell bent on following her. Speedy actually seemed relieved not to be facing her; she would have been amused by that if Catman hadn’t been so determined to slit her throat.

Though she had covered it well, she had been both surprised and dismayed to see Speedy here. Oh, he was nice enough to look at, certainly; but he was here on business, either as a Titan or as part of Checkmate, or both. Which was bad. The presence of both the vampire and the big game hunter unnerved her more than slightly. Especially since Catman was doing his level best to kill her.

He slashed with a bowie knife in one hand; she dodged easily, and countered with a kick to his midsection. He wheezed painfully, but was not so incapacitated that he was unable to lash out with a foot in turn; a glancing blow off her own leg. He was drawing another blade from his belt, and Cheshire was willing to admit to herself--if not out loud--that she was beginning to panic.

She had anticipated metahuman “hero” involvement, of course. But not so soon. Not nearly so soon. She had hoped to solidify her hold on Markovia before that happened. But the new king had bought his own defenses, even before the metahumans had arrived; that killing machine of his was formidable. Fortunately for her she could still buy the services of plenty of goons.

They were well trained in the use of their high tech laser rifles, but Speedy and the vampire were tearing them apart. Meanwhile, Catman was determined to tear her apart.

She blocked another kick and sidestepped his slash with his other blade; a katar, or bhundi dagger as they were sometimes called. She didn’t waste any witty, sensual banter on this one. She knew enough of him to understand that in another time, another place, he would have been more than happy to give her most anything she wanted. But he was a committed mercenary, “on the payroll”; and she was his current target. Bad. Very bad.

So she had to get close enough to slash him with one of her various poisoned nails. She had brought a full repertoire; a different one on each finger. Something for every situation. She had known tonight would be rough. But she hadn’t expected to find the enemy knocking on her door like this. It was most distressing, and would require a major rewrite of her plans.

Now, how to get close to Catman without him stabbing her? She would have to wait for him to miss with another slash, and manage to scratch his arm before he pulled it away. Difficult, requiring the exact balance of timing and agility. But such was second nature to her.

Speedy and Dagon had just about finished off her first run of troopers, but there were more coming down the underground pathway. Unfortunately, that was when the Titans showed up, too.

“Take down the ringleader immediately!” Nightwing exclaimed.

“Watch out for her nails, they’re poisonous!” Speedy warned.

Cheshire cursed, as this shout also alerted Catman. On the plus side, though, it made him draw back and him more cautious in his own attacks.

But now the Titans were here; Nightwing and Starfire were coming right for her.

Raven healed the wounded, as they gathered around the T-Jet.

“Those blasts were meant to kill,” Cyborg muttered. “Mid-level disruption charges. Very fancy. Fortunately none of those hit are exactly normal people.”

“Yes, we feel so normal right now,” June said wryly. She had changed back after being hit.

“We?” Resurrection Man looked at her, frowning.

“We both felt the hit, I promise you that,” June told him.

Resurrection Man nodded, still looking worried.

“Well, that was a colossal failure,” King Gregor said, stepping up to them. “The enemy got away, and you accomplished nothing.”

“We identified the ringleader as Cheshire,” Speedy pointed out, “And we located their primary route into the country.”

“Very good,” Gregor offered a mocking slow handclap. “But not good enough. Now I will deal with things my own way.” He stormed away, royal robes swirling, and marched stiff-legged back towards the castle.

“Gregor, wait!” Terra chased after him. “While I was in the castle I saw--”

“I’m not interested in your opinion, bastard!” Gregor shouted back.

Terra’s eyes flashed and she clenched her fists.....but if she attacked Gregor, they would send the robot after her. That would be a fine thing, wouldn’t it? She shook her head.

She turned to Geo-Force. “Brother, please listen.....”

Geo-Force led both teams in a desperate dash for the castle, but it was too late.

The soldier exploded out of a wall near the front gate. There was blood on its arms.

Geo-Force swore, and then it was coming right at them.

But Cyborg got there first, screaming his father’s name, trading blows with the thing.

Cyborg actually got past its defenses; it seemed more geared to attack than defend, which made sense. He hit it once, twice, and thrice; rattling it. But then a bolt of energy erupted from the center of its head, and sent him flying back, rolling around in agony, his sonic cannon steaming and twisted.

As quickly as he fell, Knockout and the Parademon were there to replace him, hammering away at it. They actually knocked it back and hurt it, but eventually it just grabbed their heads and slammed them together. There was an audible clunk, and both fell. Neither got up.

Geo-Force blasted it with lava. Terra blasted it with rocks. Starfire blasted it with her starbolts. Electrocutioner blasted it with electricity. Enchantress hurled magic energies at it. Killer Frost threw jagged shards of ice. Resurrection Man blasted it with atomic energy. Speedy shot explosive arrows at it.

It staggered back, armor steaming and trembling. They were hurting it, yes.....but they were not hurting it enough.

Not nearly enough.

Finally it started to glow; and then blasted out a shockwave of energy at them in turn, throwing almost everyone down. The skies echoed with it, and the Earth trembled. Terra was down on her knees, wheezing painfully around a cracked rib. Electrocutioner and Frost were knocked out cold. Beast Boy was also on his knees, dazed with a concussion. Geo-Force was also dazed, though less severely, and wiped blood from his nose.

Wonder Girl, Kid Flash and Raven moved in next, Dagon not far behind. Raven wrapped her soul self around the thing, trying to shut it down.

Her eyes narrowed. “It is not purely machine....it is partly alive?” Then the soldier construct blasted her with his power. It shouldn’t have affected her soul-self, but somehow it did. She stumbled back, lights flashing behind her eyes, the world seeming to spin around her.

Such only motivated Kid Flash, of course. He was now enraged, punching and kicking it at super speed. He was doing more damage to it than anyone before him....at first. Then he frowned as he realized his strikes were losing their sting. He felt winded....his eyes widened in shock as he realized it was sapping his speed! But before he could do anything with the realization, a punch knocked him down.

Wonder Girl was next; throwing more blows, and a high kick that finally sent it reeling. Dagon came in with his claws, which could strike the surface of the thing and leave scratches. They avoided having their heads meet painfully as Knockout and the Parademon had done, but finally it did catch Wonder Girl with a glancing blow. Still in the fight, she threw another high kick, which it blocked by grabbing her leg, and throwing her into the castle. Then it shook off Dagon like an offending dog.

But by then Vixen was there, charging in with the power of a rhino.