Teen Titans In The Field (3)

Professional

Brian Kimichi

The flight to museum of supervillain history should have been a long one. In theory. Turns out being towed in a metal diving bell at the same height military jets fly at, by a super powered teenager shortens the time.

I screamed the whole way there, although probably only supergirl could hear it. I had to hope she was trying to 'make it exciting' cause there was no way this carrier was supposed to swing this much! At times I was excited, at times praying to god. The lifter was completely enclosed but the changes in inertia as Supergirl sped up, changed her flight angles or dodged traffic swung us around. Luckily I was belted to the side of the thing by four point straps but it wasn't even 10 minutes before Supergirl changed angle to bring us over the city.

"BLOODY HELL KARA! Be Gentle!" I roared, then caught myself.

"Sorry, Sorry! We're almost there! Gonna drop us on a nearby building!" the teenager called back, voice muffled heavily by wind. Seconds later, we started spinning like a top as Supergirl tried to burn off our momentum, without breaking so hard I wouldn't got whiplash, honestly I could survive hardish impacts but the spin slowed us down from not quite lethal to manageable and we came to a gently bumping stop on something hard.

I resisted the urge to puke on the girl as I climbed out of the metal pot.

"Sorry, we were told to rush in right?" If I wasn't already grey skinned, I would probably be green skinned, so I just breathed and ignored the excited comment, breathing heavily.

"So, What's the plan? Should we check the place out?" I mumbled, it took a few moments before I felt confident enough to march to the edge of the building and look off. The perky teen followed. We were on top of the very building the 'robbery' was taking place in.

"The surrounding street is cordoned off by police, not a lot of vehicles. I saw several capes on the ground but nobody I recognise.

"There's like, ten ways to escape this building!" I told her matter of factly, I stalked along the rooftop. I wasn't a good villain, I'd never been good at it. I know I didn't think about my fights, but I knew the obvious. Weirdly, she followed, listening intently.

"The fuzz are assuming it's 'The Machine' here. They've focused on putting physical barriers and traps to slow Penny's blink ability. We don't know that's who's here though! There aren't any choppers or flyers, and they're not armed for heavy attackers."

Supergirl went over my feedback, "I'm betting ten to one they're underestimating the job because it's kids, or there's some budget issue. I can see plenty of search and rescue powers, it looks like most of the supers on the ground are rescue!" She looked up, "Still early in the day, building probably had people in it. Heroes evacced the civilians and someone higher up is inside performing an arrest!"

"Should we radio in?" I enquired. That got shot down,

"Whoever's in charge will already be in the building, that's who we need to coordinate with. We need fast entry, perhaps I'll levitate you down the side of the building, we can make a hole when I see the targets? Funnel any kids towards the adult supers!"

I let Supergirl grab my hands in strong grips and began to 'Shark up'. Lifting me off the side of the building with her, we drifted idly out and away from the building, then down. Thankfully we didn't get a searchlight on us or anything even though we were in full view of the street below.

I wondered what Supergirl saw, her narration was blunt and to the point; "There are adults on site, dealing with the kids. Not super-powered that I can see, looks like martial artists. Nope, whoops there's a jet of fire. Possibly magic. These kids are not the inscrutable machine, they're disorganised. Panicking, three on the second floor, holding back the heroes, two on the third."

"Cool, send me where the big numbers are Supergirl, I'll talk to the adults!"

I felt Supergirl's nod of affirmation and braced as I was promptly thrown through the window.

Having split up, I barrelled through the building in as straight a line as possible. A lot of walls here were reinforced and security systems tracked me as I ran, identifying the Titans badge that marked me as a hero. I arrived to find a cluster-frack of disaster.

Three girls, completely mismatched costumes with no clear theme. A dark skinned girl with golden blonde hair in cheap gold-painted body armor, a blue and black robed girl with long shadowy hair and a literal ghost girl, accompanied by a small floating orb.

"HEY! I'm Sharkie, Teen Titans!" I roared, looking over the core group. The 'hero side' consisted of an old man, a thin girl probably my age and... I blinked, there was a mask and a costume with a giant star on it, but that was Definitely Marcia. Oh great, Marcia and The Original. "Can you call out targets!"

"Miss A and the original looked at each other before the older man responded, "We're more than capable here. Minor Targets, they need you upstairs!"

Miss A filled in more info, "Chick with Robe has magic, hit hard, ghost can't be hurt, don't let the orb shoot you and golden girl is a martial artist!" I nodded, picking my target. Attempting to smash the dark robed girl, I hit hard air and found myself shoved aside by the orb. It didn't do much to me, but the blue light from it lifted me off the ground. Glancing again I realised what was going on.

"Wait, Aren't You Apparition? You're a professional, what are you doing fighting kids!"
Apparition only looked like a kid and was easily 20 years dead by now, having died during a fight between heroes and villains soon after the initial disaster.

"You're right of course. I'm not here to fight you, Kids should fight Kids! I'm here to interfere with this man, if he just sent side-kicks I would not have got involved." The ghost girl had firmly moved me aside, putting herself between me and the adult.

The little orb flew around me, letting out the occasional bell chime before Apparition responded. "You are right, of course, but you're in our way!" Was she talking to the orb? I was promptly thrown clear of the fight, landing behind the cloaked witch. There I found myself with an onslaught of fireballs, and I bulked up and toughened. "Do Any of you kids have Names!" I demanded.

We got shrugs, on the other wide Miss A was sparring with the golden girl.

"Bolt!"

"Raven" I got the respective replies, "I'm not actually a criminal here, I came to stop my stupid brother, nevermind that though, not gonna let them get captured either!"

I nodded, thumping around as she first blasted me with fire, as a distraction, so that Bolt could come in. She hit with hard and fast kick-boxing moves to dry and drive me away. None of her attacks hurt, but shortly after Miss A, having gone around the ghost was pulling Bolt's attacks off me. Changing tactics I tried to sweep in and ground the witch, she'd been hovering a couple of feet off the ground. If I could just grab her and slam her down, it would make this fight equal.

While I'd been keeping the robed witch on me, Apparition's little orb squared up with the old man known as "The Original!" The pink light that shone from the middle of the orb's big glowing eye, sparked! The light threw off equally pink glittery effects as it smacked into some kind of force-field around the adult. He gestured with a hand, and now a glowing golden circle sat between them as the man stalked towards the rest of the group, it spun idly above his hand.

The circle condensed, growing tighter, turning into something saw-like. I dived for cover as a large spinning blade appeared at knee height and spun through the space where the villains were clustered. The blade grazed me, slicing into my back and did zero damage against my fishy scales.

Yet, blood splattered across the floor.

"WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED!" Bringing myself up and around, I was facing a mess. A mess accompanied by screaming, yelling, and crying.

"HOLY - "My brain blanked. Marcia was standing there in almost as much shock as me, more so revulsion. "DUUDE, THESE ARE CHILDREN!" I screamed!

There was blood in the water. My body moved on it's own, taking up a defensive stance. Bull roar, I rammed the seasoned, supposedly professional hero. I grew, I bulked out and slammed again, hitting a barrier. Then kept going. The barrier spell didn't break, but centred within it he slid, being pushed backwards as I full on used a line-drive tackle to push the magician and his destructive magic away from the kids.

"SUPERGIRL, Kids down, Kids Down! Need Support!"