Initiation... [Open to all]

[Tim Drake]

Grabbing some smoke pellets and freeze disks, he moved quickly and quietly forward, as he spoke into he com-unit; "Understood, I'm going to create a little diversion for you two in a minuet here, when it happens, help him to the food court, the bomb is there somewhere, and there's a store where we can pull back to near the underground access for the maintenance areas under the mall's ground floor..."

Robin paused when he heard Blaze yelling out at her, a sudden rush of sound filling the airways as Robin felt the air grow warmer. Something was happening, and it seemed that Blaze was reacting to it...

[Violet Schultz]

Violet tucked away the communicator in the pouch built into the thigh of her suit, judging the power that she felt rising in Blaze against the danger that they were both in. She didn't want to abandon him to the mercy of the robots, and she didn't trust that he could deal with them on his own, especially wounded. However, she didn't know what he was planning, and if he didn't want her around for whatever it was, chances were that the risk of friendly fire was high. Her eyes blazed lavender as a circle of flame appeared in the food court, and another around her feet. Her image began to flicker with the flames before she disappeared entirely and reappeared in the food court.

Be careful, she told Blaze through their link.

Turning, she looked around the food court, extending a no-flame zone around the area to avert catastrophe. If it was there, it couldn't go off without her lowering the zone. If it wasn't, it didn't hurt to be cautious anyway. She came to a Chik-fil-A, and saw what was behind the counter, sitting unobtrusively like another oven by the grease traps. It was undoubtably a bomb, though she had no clue what kind. She examined it as she pulled out the yellow communicator and hit the button.

"Robin, I have located the bomb," she said into the communicator. "It's in the Chik-fil-A."

[William Talbot]

Blaze waited until Darkbrand was gone and then he turned, gathering a ball of light and fire in his hands, his mind gently replying to her via the link; "You worry too much, but thanks."


Then, taking a breath, he stepped out and fired a sizable ball of pure light energy at the attackers, vaporizing the three in the middle, since he had caught them off guard, the ball of energy suddenly exploding into jagged daggers of fire and light, that arced about lancing the commandos sparks and metal, circuits and smoke flying about as the power flowed from his hands into the ball of energy, sparks, bursts of light, and gout's of flame surging from it as he expended even more energy into the attack, which shifted form into a river of light and heat that hovered a few feet above the floor, flowing about, finding and destroying the advanced commandos in this part of the mall...


Taking a breath, he faintly heard Darkbrand tell Robin that she had found the bomb, so he turned and limped to the railing near the edge of the walkway, and gripping it firmly, flung himself over, breaking his fall by holding on and hanging over the ground floor for a moment before he let go and fell, rolling to the side some, his knee shuddering in pain as it healed, trying to knit the ligaments and tendons back as they should be, his knee cap slowly regrowing as he hobbled for the food court for a moment before he bent over and limped along on all fours, panting slightly...

[virgil]

Static smashed a few more robots before he nodded to the ice guy and then held a large section of steel up high above the next group of commandos as they stood and fired their energy weapons off seemingly at random.

"Do it now!" Static Shock called out as he waved a free hand and tossed some chairs at another group that showed up from another end of the mall...


This was had gotten bad fast, and it didn't look to be getting any better just yet...

[Tim Drake]

{{{ Since it's been over a week, I'm going to Skip Frostbyte now }}}


"Robin, I have located the bomb, It's in the Chik-fil-A."


Robin turned and threw a handful of explosive disks at a group of commando's as he rounded a corner at full speed, the sound of wrecked robots falling to the floor following the group of small explosions...

"Copy that, I'm almost there." He called into his com-unit as he jumped down a set of stairs, tucking and rolling to ease the landing and keep his momentum up, his armored boots clacking on the tiled floor as he jumped an over turned kiosk and rounded the last corner that led to the food court.

Vaulting the front counter he ran up to Darkbrand and knelt down, looking at the device with a furrowed brow, his com-unit out and in decipher mode as he scanned the electronic interface, which was a simple 10-digit number pad with two switches.

"This isn't Slade's own handy work... It's too low tech and streamlined..." Robin looked up at Darkbrand and set his jaw as he spoke again; "Call Blaze in... Slade's not working alone on this one..."

This was just getting worse and worse, if Slade wasn't working alone, then that meant that there was even more to think of, and more variability in this situation, which was already volatile...

[Violet Schultz]

Blaze, get over here, she told him through the link. Robin says that the bomb isn't Slade's handiwork. There's someone else involved.

She kept watch while Robin looked over the bomb. If there was a bomb set by a supervillain, there was bound to be some booby traps and some evil soldiers to go along with it. She wasn't very fond of the location. It was small and closed in; the worst place for a fight, particularly when outnumbered. Her fires could clear a line of robots in an instant, but if Robin was nearby, he would get hurt, maybe even killed by the blast. As for her, she just didn't want to get boxed in. It was lethal to get stuck in a fight like that.

"Can you deactivate this bomb or should I keep the no-flame zone up?" she asked Robin, not looking away from her vigil.

Her eyes glowed their usual lavender as she watched the area. She couldn't sense anything nearby, but from Robin's account, Slade was better than most about concealing his presence. She had a lot of respect for that skill, since it was one that she practiced herself, and had taught to many others. It also meant that she was extremely skilled at detecting others, since she knew all of the tricks that could be used.

[William Talbot]

"I heard, almost there." he replied as he limped his way down an escalator to the ground floor, then moved to the Chik-fil-A and the sat down in the small space between the front counter and the wall, blocking the only way in or out of the small area, which according to the vibes he was getting from Violet via the link, was not a very good place to make a stand of any kind.


Lowering himself to the cool tile he paused to catch his breath as he slowly healed, his eyes looking out over the food court; "Ouch... Okay, not a lot of room to maneuver in here, but on the up side, they can only come at us from one direction..." he closed his eyes and listened to the sounds of the mall, of robots and people, of heartbeats and breathing, of machines and florescent lights...

"They're coming, in force... West entrance, well over two hundred, running... Guy's hurry up with that bomb--"

"Time's up Titans... But lucky you, Robin took out the command Drone, so the big bomb will stay quiet for now, but then you still have the rest of my army to deal with... Tell me Shane... Do you think I am so foolish as to forget you? I must say you're actions the last few months have been disappointing, and while I never forget, I can forgive your impulsive behavior if you do just one thing for me..."


Blaze shivered as flashes of blood, pain, and loneliness attacked his mind and turned his blood cold for a moment as that soft, deadly voice echoed across the mall...


"Yes Shane, or should I say, Blaze, all I need is for you to finish what you started... Kill the girl... Or I will..."


Suddenly a bulky hulk of steel and electronics crashed through the burger stand across the food court, and started firing large sharpened spikes at the Chik-fil-A as other command bots ran up around it, energy blasts and gas fired projectiles filling the air with sharpened death.

"Rirrr-AAHHH!" Blaze forced himself up, a barrier of flame and light forming between the attack and his friends as he slowly walked forward, limping still, bleeding from too many places for him to see or count, the sounds of battle suddenly reaching a fervor pitch.


William knew in his heart that this was indeed a trail by fire, and a contest for his very soul...

[virgil]

Giving a grunt of effort, Static tossed more metallic items at the robots, smashing them before he started to simply push them around, crashing them into each other, into pillars and even pulling them apart, as the hordes just kept coming, the frosty kid seeming to vanish in the fight...

Virgil was starting to wear out, his powers still strong, but this had been going on for some time now, and he knew that if things didn't let up soon, he would be out of juice.

As such he started looking for some kind of electrical source he could tap into for a boost when the time came...

[Violet Schultz]

Violet's eyes narrowed in a small gesture of defiance. Why did Slade want to kill her so badly, and why wasn't he willing to come give it a shot himself? She could take being a target, but it annoyed her that he wasn't willing to fight her himself. In any case, they could win this small victory, and send him a message that they weren't as easy prey as he seemed to believe. With a flash of lavender, a line of explosions extended away from Violet, sending metal and circuits flying. The air around her shimmered with the heat that surrounded her, causing her hair to lift and whip around her face. Her eyes gleamed the same pale hue as her flames.

Blaze was doing something insanely reckless and stupid again, but then what was new? She knew it was a losing battle to get him to be careful, so she settled for keeping an eye on him as the battle continued. His knee was hampering his movement, but the brute strength behind his attacks was keeping the robots from overwhelming him. It was a tactic that she would never have tried, but it seemed to be working for him. Focusing on her own battle, she fought without much help from her powers, trying to conserve her energy.

It was like Robin's fighting style, only more flowing and graceful. Her specialty fighting style depended on smooth transitions, combined with power when it counted, and her natural agility kept her from being boxed in, and helped her to focus her energy wherever she needed to focus it. Tai-Chi, for example, and Ba Gua were two of the numerous styles which she emulated. Another line of destruction extended from her as she loosed another line of explosions.

[Tim Drake]

"Keep them busy!" Robin called out as he pulled some small tools from his belt, and then pried the cover off to get at the wires and to see the other internals...


"It's a decoy..." He said softly to himself as he gazed at the insides, where stuffed with old cheap computer parts and Radioshack wiring, taped to a road hazard flare and a double A battery.

"CLEAR THE FOOD COURT! IT'S A TRAP!" Robin yelled as he vaulted the counter and tossed a hand full of explosive disks at the next batch of commando bots that appeared, but it was too late, a flood of metal death came crushing into the area, windows and doors, magazine stands and tables, chairs and other sundry items flying about as they three teen heroes where bomb rushed by hundreds of robots...

[William Talbot]

Maintaining the shield of light and heat wasn't as taxing as some might think, but then it was keeping Will from picking off targets at range, he had to wait for the Slade commando's to get close, then lance them or knock them away with spikes of thought from the shield, still, nothing was getting through his barrier, and that meant that as long as Violet and Tim stayed behind him, they where pretty safe, from the one direction at least, as other robots where swarming in from the other sides now, his teammates dealing with the other threats well...

"Darkbrand!" Blaze yelled out as he pushed back a row of bots then limped over to her, blasting a particularity quick commando before it could sink it's claw like hands into her leg.

"We need to clear this mall and fast..." he said looking to her as they caught a very short reprieve in the attack, a small spark of energy and flame bursting in the palm of his hand as he locked his gaze on hers...
"We have to ring the mall with explosions and then sweep the building with flame..."
... His idea now in her mind thanks to that now oh so handy link they had found between them, he then turned and burst out a gout of flame like water from a hose at another group of robots that had com into the fray, Robin tearing through more robots then anyone would think a mere mortal should be able too...

[Violet Schultz]

Let's do it, she replied, her mind hard with conviction.

Not realizing at first that they were working with their minds so close, she fired at the same time, and in the same direction, not realizing that it was his plan rather than her own. The two fires twisted through each other, merging until the blast was much more powerful than either would have been on its own. The metal melted from the very heat of the indigo flamethrower. Surprise rebounded in Violet's mind as she felt the increase. She glanced at Blaze for only a second, the question in her mind. What was that?

Stepping expertly around Blaze, barely brushing his warm skin with the motion, she shot a line of explosions along her line of sight before returning her attention to the plan. This plan would require more concentration to contain than the situation afforded. If she wasn't careful, she could very well blow up the building, and probably put herself into a coma from overexertion. Her power drained on her lifeforce, and while it was extremely resiliant, it needed time that they didn't have. With him in her mind, there was no need to reiterate her thoughts to him.

[William Talbot]

Despite the shock of the attack they had just pulled off, Blaze was also encouraged by it, and her concerns where shared with him, but then as they plotted together, a thought came to him, and so after a moment, he grabbed her hand and spoke within the link to her; "Don't worry about the power... You just supply the finesse, I got the rest."

Instantly Will's skin started to glow as he started to pull in every ounce of light and heat he could sense, and then charge it about himself, his mind opening to Violet's so that she could take the raw energy and guide it, bend it to her will, form it into the needed weapon for this dire situation...


As he reached a saturation point, Will again looked normal, but his aura glowed fiercely, a bright white tinged with blue that pulsed like a heartbeat, and blistered paint from the walls near by, Robin having fought his way to Static's side as they worked their way to a safe distance from the two pyros and the pending blitz attack...


"NOW!" Blaze shouted as he let the energy he had built up fly, unable to hold it anymore...

[Violet Schultz]

Violet stood by Blaze, knowing that to concentrate, she would need cover for a few moments. Closing her eyes, she felt the sudden influx of power, and her own powers ventured out to meet his. The mingling caused her usual lavender glow to shift to a brilliant indigo. Focusing on the strange static of electricity she could feel in the robots, she prepared for the attack. The heat contained in the electricity gave her a rough idea of where exactly they all were, and helped her to focus the attack. A single blast would take most of them out, but it would also destroy the mall, causing debris to fall on both of them. A series of explosions would have to work.

Generally, she wouldn't do something so drastic as this, for fear that she would be unable to physically compensate for the energy output, but she had faith that Blaze would have that taken care of. As the power peaked, she opened her eyes, which glowed white with the strength of the power she was directing, and the patterns on her skin were connecting. She grit her teeth against the rising strain, and as soon as she got Blaze's signal, she let loose.

A series of explosions rocked the ground, cascading outward like a fiery shockwave. The indigo flames targeted the robots as if they had a mind of their own, somehow managing to attack them rather than the railings and storefronts. Only the paint bubbled from the blistering heat, and there were cracks in the tiles following each explosion, but the damage wasn't half of what it could've been. Violet could feel the electricity sparking as the circuits were wrent from each other, only to stop entirely as the wires were cut off from their power sources. Only once Violet was certain that the last of the robots was destroyed did her eyes fade back to their usual dark blue.

She panted, but the look in her eyes was just short of triumph. The battle was won.

[William Talbot]

Panting, Blaze slowly let go of his teammates hand, and transformed back into his human form, a small trail of dark blue blood running down his upper lip from his nose, his eyes now fairly normal looking as he slowly bent down and rested his hands on his knees and breathed deeply, the strain of channeling and making so much energy was great, but the outcome was well worth it, the bits of robot littering the floors of the mall was proof enough of that, but then, if they had beaten all the robots, what was that one doing?

"Clap! Clap! Clap!"

A shiver worked its way down Will's spine as the Commando slowly clapped and moved forward, leaning on the railing of the third story, it's boots crunching on some broken glass.

"Bravo Titans! Robin, you never cease to amaze me with your skills at finding new blood for your team, and it looks as if you've hit a jackpot with these two... Only one problem..."

The figure tore the cloth mask off, reveling a hardened half black, half dark orange mask with a grill over the mouth, and a single grayish eye...

"I saw them first..."

Raising a small crossbow, Slade took aim at the two fire benders and squinted slightly before breathing out; "And I only want one..."

A beam of red light lanced from the weapon to Violet's chest, just inside and above her right breast, directly over the center of her heart, a laser pointer marking the target, a clicking indicating that the projectile was on it's way...

A projectile that never made it, because it never came, Will's hand reached up to grab it, but there wasn't anything to grab, only dark low laughter, the image of Slade and his weapon fading away as the speakers of the Malls PA system echoed his voice all about the heroes; "Foolish Titans, how easy it is to goad you into battle! Next time I might not make it as easy on you, but then, I expect more from you now then ever... But remember Shane, you are mine, and I will have what is mine... And Violet, don't get too close to the boy, he's damaged goods you know, might be more trouble than he's worth... Ta-ta Titans... We'll be in touch..."


And with that, everything went eerily silent, before Will teeth grit took a ragged breath and looked at Violet with a grim smile on his face, a slow wink leading off his congratulations; "Good work Vi..." he then loosened up and gave a soft crooked smile before he fell over passed out...