Initiation... [Open to all]

[Violet Schultz]

Violet followed like a seeker-missile speeding after Robin, her route a little straighter since she could go through the air. She didn't like any of this...

Landing and taking off after him on foot, she felt the place out like she had always done in the olden days in St. Louis. She knew that instincts could be as much of a defense mechanism as any powers, and her instincts were honed more sharply than most. She could sense that some danger was forthcoming, but she said nothing. Robin knew that this entire thing could be a trap, but they both knew there was no choice. They had to go, even if her instincts were screaming at her to leave. This was the difference between her past life and her present life. In the past, if she sensed danger, she could turn around and leave without a second thought. Now, she didn't have a choice.

The closer they got to the bomb, the more intense the feeling became. It wasn't quite the same as fear; it was more like she could feel an aura. All humans could if they trained themselves.

[William Talbot]

Blaze paused for a moment and took a long deep breath, a pile of trashed robots stacked as high as a traffic light near by, smoking slag heaps that fizzled and sparked, much like the half dozen other piles that lined the streets, Will having pushed himself as hard and fast as he could, his hands rather sore from punching so many robots in the head.


Soon however, Blaze had worked his way through the mass of commandos to the mall, where they all seemed to be converging, his sharp eyes spying Robin, Darkbrand and those other two running inside, his ears hearing the zapping sound of Static doing his thing on the other side of the large building, some shouting being heard.

Thankfully, it seemed that the people of Jump where experts at evacuating an area, since there where almost no other people out in the streets now...

[ferus]

Ferus paused and looked around. Two robots collapsed around him, minus certain "body" parts.

"What people?" he asked, sniffing the air. "They all left when the army appeared."

He froze as the wind changed direction, blowing the scent from the mall toward them. His tan eyes hardened as he all but vanished with speed. His swords slid back into their sheath as he ran, desperate to reach the mall as quickly as he could. That scent... could it be?! It was him! The scent was unmistakable. He only hoped he could get there before it was too late...

It was the man who the kids at the factory had called "The Exterminator". He murdered anyone whose abilities would threaten his employer, someone called Deathstroke. He acted on his own authority, flouting Deathstroke's instruction if he felt Deathstroke's objective was being threatened. The only reason Deathstroke didn't kill him himself was because he was so good at what he did. That was the rumor, at least.

Ferus burst in through the doors in record time, following the scent. With little regard to caution, he ran along the ledge of the second story level before crouching and flinging himself up to the next. There he was! And aiming at...Robin? With a railgun. Even with Robin's reflexes and the girl's abilities, they couldn't see this coming and they couldn't dodge the shot when it came. He had to do something!

He leapt in between the barrel and Robin just as he heard the resounding BANG!

His breath caught as he felt the projectile tear through his body and exit out his back. It hadn't hit his heart, but it had shredded the aorta. His gasp of pain echoed in the still mall as he landed on the hard floor.

[Lillith Tiller]

Shiro had been right. According the Static that was flying near them, there were robots coming for the mall, too. Well, that could just be because the bomb really was there, but Shiro knew there was something different. Something was going on.

Robin yelled at Shiro to clear out the people, but Shiro ignored him. For one thing, there weren't people she could see. For another, if they hadn't gotten away now, nothing she could do would help them. She didn't like following directions, either. She followed Robin, though, zooming after him up ahead, scanning the area around him. She could sense that this was a trap; no one with the power and intelligence to have to many weapons and robots wouldn't make a trap.

And she didn't know the person that was doing all this, but she knew that he was willing to kill. Robin had told her nothing, and for that she wouldn't listen to his orders and she wouldn't back him up, although she knew that one person without any back up would get themselves hurt. She could almost sense it. Something was going to happen. But this wasn't her problem. Robin hadn't asked for her help, he had assumed it. So she wasn't going to volunteer anything more than disarming the bomb.

Sure, he might get hurt. Hell, he probably would. But if he did, it would be because of his arrogance. And besides, Shiro wasn't part of a team. She wasn't big on teamwork in general.

She saw Ferus stop suddenly and run off, but she ignored him. But then seconds later, there was a crack of a gunshot. Instinctively, Shiro froze and focused on her body changing any bullets into paper, but then she heard it hit someone. Shiro whirled around, and then saw Ferus on the floor, blood pouring out of his chest. He had been shot, probably by whoever he had been chasing.

He was dead. At least, that's what Shiro assumed. She felt a hollowing in her chest but she suppressed it quickly, forcing herself not to care. It wasn't her problem. She was not attached.

Her eyes zeroed in on the sniper, cloaked in darkness. She wanted to go after him, but she stopped herself. This wasn't her problem. She went to Ferus instead, zooming over to him and leaping off her little hovercraft. She bent down. "Hey. Ferus," she said, not really knowing what else to do. "You alive?"

[virgil]

Landing on a light poll, Static reached down and busted the cover and the bulb out with a blast of electricity and then used it for a power source as he formed up a large ball of lightening and aimed it at the largest group of robots that where marching on the mall...


"FIZZZZZZZZZZ
SSSSHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOP
-ZZAAAAPPPPPP!!!"[/b]


With an attack that made every light in a ten block radius flicker and dim for a moment, Static fried a column of robots before he formed up a charge in his innermost being, then let it out.

It being a massive EMP pulse that knocked out every electronic device in the center of down town Jump ofr a good thirty to forty block area...

That is, all the devices that where not shielded against such an attack...

[Tim Drake]

A scant heartbeat after the shot sounded, a bird-a-rang left Robin's hand and arced up into the face of the advanced commando that had fired at him but hit Ferus, sparks and bits of metal flying everywhere moments before most of the robots in the mall fell over from the EMP Static had unleashed.

"Ferus!" Whipping out his staff, Robin dash vaulting onto a beam then jumping from it onto the raised walkway where the other young hero lay, blood running out under him, a sizable hole in his upper torso, just off center...

"No... Ferus... Talk to me..." Robin said as he propped him up and applied pressure to the wound to try and stop the bleeding...

[Violet Schultz]

Violet launched herself onto the ledge upon which the sniper had sat, her eyes glowing as she extended a no-flame zone to prevent any more gunshots. It turned out to be unnecessary. The man was unconscious, his helmet flung from his head with the force of the hit. Violet skillfully dissembled the weapon and pulled one bullet out of it. Examining it, her eyes widened. Jumping back down to hurry over to Robin, she showed it to him.

"It's a modified M-40 sniper rifle," she said. "It was modified to use electromagnetic propulsion. In layman's, it's a railgun sniper rifle."

She looked at the wound. It was too close to his heart. She couldn't cauterize the wound without giving him a heart attack. Her eyes were sad as she listened to the labored breathing, and she didn't like the faint gurgle she could hear in his chest. It must've gotten a lung as well as some major arteries. She looked at his face, which was turning paler by the second on account of the river of red running from his back. Her face was grim. She knew as well as Robin that this guy wasn't going to survive this.

She felt sorry that he was still conscious. He was probably in a lot of pain.

[William Talbot]

Will had been beating down on another group of robots when he heard the massive attack Static had let loose, the last two intact bots locking up and falling over.

"Awwe, not fair!" He said smashing the two anyways for good measure, but as he opened the nearest door to the mall he heard the shot that hit Feurs and the immediate response, but he didn't know instantly who it was.

He could eliminate Violet from the list since he could feel her inner fire still burning bright and hot, and he could rest easy over Robin, because he could hear and feel his heart beating, so it must have been one of the other new heroes that had been hit but...

Feurs?

Not good...


Blaze ran to the second level where everyone was gathering, his senses on full alert for any more nasty surprises...

[ferus]

Pain pulsed in his chest with every beat of his heart, but he clung to life as tenaciously as a stray dog, not prepared to die just yet. If he died, who would get the kids out of the lab? Who would save them? He had promised... he couldn't die yet. But he was. He was dying, and he knew it. His fingertips felt numb, and he tasted blood in each gurgled breath. He was vaguely aware of the presence of the others kneeling over him. He winced weakly as he felt someone lift his shoulders. It was agonizing, but he couldn't summon the strength to cry out as he wanted at the pain. Not surprisingly, a hole in one's chest made it difficult to breathe.

"Robin..." he rasped. "You okay?"

It was so strange that he would be the one to jump in front of a bullet for Robin, considering what he had said to Robin in the courthouse a while back. He remembered it dimly.

It's our responsibility to stay alive, as well. If we're killed, we can't help anyone.

And here he was, dying. It was worth it, though. Ferus knew himself. He knew how little influence he could have on the world and the way that it was run. That was why Robin was worth the trade. Robin could do what he had failed to achieve. He had the influence, he had the potential. His life would save so many others. Ferus just wasn't one of them. Maybe others could be...

"The lab... in New York..." he said, the words riding on a gurgling breath. "You must... get them... out. Set them... free."

His glassy eyes wheeled, searching, only to find his masked face and fix his stare with an intensity unfitting to someone missing a couple quarts of blood. His muscles tightened as wave after wave of pain hit him. His vision was darkening on the edges, and everything was blurring before him.

"Promise me...Robin..." he insisted. "Promise me..."

[Lillith Tiller]

Shiro stood still as Robin dashed past her, propping Ferus up and doing anything to stop the bleeding. "No... Ferus... talk to me," he said, as if words really made much of a difference. Shiro felt anger swell up inside her. No? What did he mean, no? Ferus was dying. That was a fact, and it was Robin's fault.

Yes, it was Robin's fault. If Robin hadn't been so rash and ran out to the mall without back, he wouldn't have been in danger. Ferus wouldn't have jumped in front of the bullet and he wouldn't have died. And the fact that he'd have the nerve to tell him to talk to him, to prop him up and suddenly act as if they were friends...

Shiro told herself that it was anger at his hypocracy, which it was, but she was almost jealous of it, too. Here she had thought Ferus was more like her, solitary, but in the end these people were treating him like they had been close friends. Somehow Ferus had achieved this friendship, something Shiro hadn't had in years. It made her jealous, and it hurt even more when Ferus ignored her and began to speak to Robin.

Robin. You okay. Seriously? After Robin causing his death, he was asking if he was all right. Anger continued to surge through her.

What about each person for their own? That's what he had said, wasn't it? He was the first person to ever agree with her, and he had lied. He'd abandoned his ideals for some colorful failure of a superhero. Robin couldn't even protect his own people.

God, and the worse part of it was that it was partly Shiro's fault, too. Shiro had seen Ferus running over there, she'd seen him going for something. If she'd gone to help him, Ferus would be alive. The sniper wouldn't have hurt anyone.

Speaking of which, the sniper was going to die.

Shiro, well... Shiro didn't really have moral boundaries. She'd killed people before, a Japanese dictator and some man that had experimented on supers. She was rather insulted that Ferus hadn't asked her to take care of those people in New York, too. All Robin would do is put them in prison. Shiro could kill. She could torture, if she was in the mood.

And she was definitely in the mood. Robin... Robin should have died. His mistake should have yielded his punishment, not Ferus's.

As Ferus began to die, Shiro simply stepped back. Now what was she to do? With her fury at Robin, she didn't want to help anymore. She'd rather him die, in all honesty. A life for a life. Equal exchange, right?

Shiro wasn't used to these emotions. She hated them. Apathy was so much better, so much easier. She was forced to be at a crossroads, now.

To simply leave Jump City and never return... or to stay and get her revenge at Robin, this failure that had wrongly escaped death in exchange for the death of an innocent person.

[virgil]

Catching his breath, Static then flew into the mall looking for the others, knowing that his EMP wouldn't stop Slade's robots forever, and that anyone still left in the mall would be in grave danger.

Finding a trio of teens that where hiding in an otherwise empty shoe store, he pointed them to the doors and yelled at them to run while they had the chance, and of course, the warning coming from a super-powered teen, they took it.


Flying up to where everyone seemed to be gathered, Virgil stopped by a pale looking girl he'd not seen before, who look quite upset and even angry at the sight of...

Oh, no... Why is it always the new kids that got hurt?

"What happened?" he asked the girl, his dark brown eyes darting to her and then to Robin, Darkfire or whatever her name was and the new guy, feral or something, who was obviously shot, and mortally wounded.

Virgil felt his stomach turn, his deep rooted hatred for guns and the cowards that used them boiled up as his jaw set and his fists clenched, his eyes at last resting on the now inert advanced commando, the rifle still in its robotic hands, its face plate smashed in. Walking over to it, Static zapped it and ripped the bot in half, then bent the rifle barrel and pulled the weapon apart with his powers...

[thomascryos]

Frostbyte had gotten caught up in the action of destroying robots in the mean time. By the time he actually got to the mall, using snippets of conversation to figure out where to go, he arrived in time to see Ferus get shot. In the commotion he didn't quite know how to react. One part of Frost byte was awe-struck, the other felt a combination of anger and sorrow. He didn't know the hero nor anything like that, though watching the scene seemed to affect Frostbyte's emotions, especially when he heard the last words of Ferus. ".....promise him....." Frostbyte said simply, and rather quietly, he doubted Robin would here. He didn't quite know what others in what lab Ferus meant, though being artificial, Frostbyte had a feeling of sympathy towards whoever was there.

[Tim Drake]

Robin grit his teeth and then slowly relaxed, as he realized that, as much as he hated it, Ferus was dying.

"I promise, the Titans will find that lab... But Ferus, we need to know where to look..."
Robin took Ferus' hand in his own and held it firmly, as he looked at him, and watched the pain and struggle on his face, a feeling of helplessness gnawing at him deep down inside, just like that night when he got the phone call that...

No, now wasn't the time to dwell, and as much as he hated it, it wasn't a time for mourning either...

Looking to Violet, Robin jerked his head away, towards the escalators which led up to the third level and growled; "Go and sweep the next floor, Blaze, take the top, Slade will have others here too, and watch out for traps."

Looking back to the dying young hero in his arms, Robin again nodded to him; "We will find the lab and help the others Ferus, that's a promise..." and it was true, Tim could already feel a plan forming in the back of his mind, the T-ship could be prepped and launched in a matter of hours, and they could fly to New York in just under four hours, a search and attack that could hit any manner of villainous scum, he could even call in Titans East as extra fire power, what with Cyborg and the others being in Steel City, they could be there in just over an hour...


But then a soft, even and chilling voice came over the Mall's PA system; "Tick tock Titans, you're not very close and only have thirty minuets left until the next and much larger wave of Commando's arrives, oh, and tell Virgil to save his strength... These are my new shielded prototypes..."

[Violet Schultz]

Violet nodded once and propelled herself to the next floor. Extending her no-flame zone as far as she could without straining herself, she looked around the floor, searching for anything unusual. Her mind wanted to wander back to where Ferus was lying, but she kept focus. If they didn't stop whatever Slade was planning, there would be many more victims.

Her sharp eyes and sharper instincts were on edge as she searched the level. The abandoned stores were under lock and key, but by running a flame through them, she could examine them without having to go in. She just had to make sure that the level of heat was so minute that it wouldn't harm any of the goods inside.

It was really hard to care about that when the situation was becoming so dire, but she forced herself to pay attention to it anyway. If the items caught fire, they could inadvertantly burn down the mall.

"The second story is clear," she said into the communicator.

[William Talbot]

Blaze nodded then dashed off, jumping up and pushing off the railing to leap up to the top level across the open expanse in the middle of the mall, a trail of heat behind him marking where he landed with a shimmer of light...


Sweeping the top level, Blaze used his extra powerful and sharp senses to feel out each shop and kiosk, until he came upon one that set him off in alarm, but despite his speed, the boobie-trap Slade had set was designed to counter just such a person as Blaze, and in fact, had been built for that expressed purpose...


"Dark-"

"Whump-Booom!"


A shop exploded into a wall of fragments and raw kinetic energy, the tri-Lithum fired plastque explosive charge throwing out enough force to shake the whole mall, as Will was thrown clear across the mall, straight over the chasm like expanse in the middle down onto the second level not far from where Violet was wrapping up her sweep of the level, his smoldering debris covered body smashing into a large power tool display, everything from air wrench's and electric saws flying across the floor from the impact.

"Oooouuuuch..." Blaze groaned as he slowly picked himself up and shook his head, parts of his suit torn open, and a section of the chest area missing, soot, dust, and a few light gashes covering him head to toe.

Standing and giving a shake of his head Will lightly pounded his hand on the side of his head and dug in his left ear for a moment to clear it of junk, even as both his ears rung loud and long from the volume.

He looked up, in Darkbrand's direction and gave a small smirk and shrug a few moments before leaping in full out extension, at her, morphing on the fly and pushing her down as a whistle of blades sounded through the air, dozens of palm sized, razor sharp disks embedding themselves into the ground and surrounding area where she had been only a heartbeat ago, sick wet sounding impacts announcing that Will was taking the brunt of the onslaught...

"Don't move..." Will softly spoke to her as he covered her with his larger bulkier form, a soft glow of blue covering them and then bubbling out, forming a shield which produced a hissing sound whenever the disks impacted it...