Chapter 55

Ravager PoV

That mercenary was fucking annoying, but he had good intel. The convoy was right in my sights. Which held the left arm of that robot. Several Titans were accompanying it.

The mostly metal guy, and the speedster.

The other Titans were paired up on their own decoy convoys. This time they made sure that they were close by to each other in order to respond quickly if something happened. With two Titans that were on standby running around and constantly checking up on the other convoys.

Those two were the green one, and the weird chemical guy. Which was a shame, as my job would’ve been much easier if the chemical guy was guarding the body part again.

What an idiot. I had been leery of him because of our previous encounter, and he smashed through a concrete wall with his bare hands. But as it turns out he was one of those types that always thinks they’re the smartest ones in the room.

A stupid mindset, though I couldn’t completely blame him. Lots of criminals in this game were complete dumbasses. Who would have totally failed for that little trick. Even after I revealed that his little trap didn’t work he didn’t even budge. Continuing to watch me calmly as I left.

He left me feeling paranoid, but in the end, I think he was just a coward. Even if he had a small chance of beating me, he wouldn’t take it. Why? Because heroes like that were always afraid of getting injured.

After tracking the path of the convoys, I made sure to hide myself several minutes ahead of the one I needed to hit. Disguising myself in a bush near a curve on the road.

They haven’t made them switch paths before, so it was likely that they would continue on this path. If they didn’t…well, there probably wouldn’t be too big of an issue. I would just retreat and wait for another moment to strike.

The only problem I could really see cropping up was if the convoy that I encountered was Aquamans. One of the Justice League’s big dogs, and the guy who was guarding the most important body part.

The head.

Messing with an actual member of the Justice League was a tall order, even for Slade. Which is why he gave that mouthy merc the job of stealing it. I had only just started to relax when he turned his attention off of Batman’s sidekick, only to start paying attention to the new guy.

…I wasn’t blind. Well, technically I was, but only in one eye. In my remaining eye, I could see the bullshit that was going on. He was thinking about replacing me, his own flesh and blood.

Or at least that’s how it seemed. More likely he was just using them as a way to motivate me to do better. To get stronger, faster, and be more reliable.

And that was fine.

All I had to was keep up the pace and get angry whenever he talked about either bird boy or the stupid merc. Then bust my ass in training. Because if I didn’t, then he’d probably start escalating in what to motivate me with until it was effective.

…He wouldn’t actually replace me.

After several minutes of waiting, the convoy started to approach. Slowly, with both the half robot and speedster out of it. Good. That made this a lot easier. The half robot was looking around the place while seeming a bit bored. The speedster was the more difficult obstacle.

His pathing was random. Occasionally just circling the convoy out of boredom or running up and down the road. Even occasionally checking the back of the convoy to see if the arm is still there.

That, or he was just complaining.

“Ugh, this sucks! How much longer do we have to go?”

The robot guy shrugged his shoulders.

“Until the job is done, I guess. Just make sure to keep an eye out.”

“Yeah yeah…”

The convoy had just started to pass me, as I quietly left the bush as fast as possible before climbing into the back of the massive truck. Narrowly avoiding the speedster in the process, who had just randomly decided to circle the damn thing.

Looking around the convoy, I didn’t see much besides a few windows on the side and an opening for the driver to talk and look back. Good, I could use those windows for my escape.

I quickly checked the container and sure enough, I found the arm. Along with a tracker on the side of the container…one that was in a similar position to the one I had taken from the weird chemical guy…

For a reason I couldn’t explain logically, a small weight seemed to have fallen in my gut. Something was off. What exactly it was, I didn’t know, but there were alarms ringing in the back of my head.

Whatever. I could deal with that later. No matter what, I needed to bring this arm back to Slade. No matter the cost. I triple checked the box and arm for any more trackers before finally starting to leave.

I used the reflection in my sword to see out the windows and make sure that the two guys wouldn’t see me. Just barely poking the tip of the sword out so that they wouldn’t actually see anything. For a moment I braced myself for combat when I noticed the robot guy was looking straight my way.

Before finally his gaze continued to wander. Realistically it was near impossible for anyone to have seen anything from the angle I was holding it. However, half of his face was made of foreign technology, including his eye. It’s possible that with it he could have seen something off.

But the fact that he wasn’t raising an alarm probably meant that he didn’t see anything. Even still, I’d need to play it safe in case they were trying to reverse track me back to Slade.

After slipping out, I quietly retreated back into the nearby forest. Waiting a few minutes until they were out of sight. Even when they were a good distance away they didn’t stop the convoy or seem particularly agitated.

So far so good.

I wasn’t an amateur like the merc, so I already prepared several getaway routes and emergency bags. And due to studying the map of the area ahead of time, it was easy enough to start traversing through the forest and getting back to the abandoned park. Where I had stashed a getaway ride.

After half an hour of running, I started to realize that my movements weren’t the only ones in the forest. At first, I had thought it to be wildlife until I realized it was scaring the actual wildlife off. Leading me to pause and survey my surroundings.

After a few moments, I realized I could see some sort of green four-legged creature running around. It wasn’t directly on my tail, but it was closing in nonetheless. Were they just searching the nearby area and got lucky or...

My eye narrowed as he started to sniff the ground. He got my scent huh? Alright, two could play at that game. As long as I made it back to the park, I’d be fine. There was a nearby fountain that I could bust open and use it to wash away my scent.

But first…

Taking a rock in hand, I tossed it far in the opposite direction. He quickly turned about at the sound and took off towards it. That would buy me some time until he got wise.

I had to make it count.

I abandoned stealth for speed temporarily. That way it only took a few minutes to arrive at the park at my top speed. It was pretty quiet, but I knew better than to be relieved. The unmarked motorcycle was fine, which only left-

The speedster was near the fountain and looking about the place.

If I hadn’t already been on guard, he’d have instantly seen me. I had thought that I’d have more time before they realized the convoy was compromised. That way their search area would have expanded to be much wider.

I should’ve planned better for a scenario like this. Because now I’d need to take out the speedster. Which would eventually lead them to this area.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything else I could do. I needed to mask my scent, and I couldn’t wait and hope for a mud puddle.

Just like the other speedsters, his weakness was obvious. The element of surprise.

“Uh!?”

He grasped his neck in pain before quickly pulling out the dart. Already the effects of it started to show themselves, as he started to sway before falling onto the ground. He tried to pull out his communicator but I quickly stabbed that with my sword.

He went out like a light seconds later.

Good. Now for an impromptu bath…ugh, soggy clothes were the worst. I put my weapons to the side so they wouldn’t get water on them before drenching myself.

Alright, new plan. I’d need to visit one of my emergency bags and get some dry clothes. If I left the Titans a trail of water leading back to Slade I’d never hear the end of it.

*~o~*

I don’t know how, but the Titans had been on my ass almost the entire time. Especially the green fucker. I’m not sure how he’s fucking doing it, but almost everywhere I’d go, he won’t be too far behind.

It wouldn’t be so fucking stressful if he was constantly on the right track. Because at least then I could easily ambush and take him out. But he would often only be in the surrounding area. Following me in a vague path.

It couldn’t be scent. I had already dealt with that and even got dry clothes. It couldn’t be sight, because at least then he’d have seen me a few times. I also wasn’t making too much noise. After abandoning the motorcycle, at least.

My thoughts went to some sort of tracker. Once again, I checked the arm and the case it was in. I didn’t find anything, but I dumped the case and exchanged it with a normal box on the side of the road instead.

I’ve also dumped all of my clothes, so anything that had attached itself to me should be gone. And nothing could have possibly attached itself to me through my armor.

So why was the green kid still on my ass?

It got even worse when I entered the city. I wasn’t stupid enough to go straight to the hideout. Instead leading them around by the nose and trying to lose them first. That’s when the other Titans started to show up.

The goth girl and red hair alien were both flying over the city. Trying to spot me in a general area around the green kid. It made things much more difficult. The only blessing in this scenario was that the other actually normal Titans who couldn’t fly weren’t anywhere to be seen.

Otherwise…things would get much worse.

Or at least that’s what I thought, until I saw the weird chemical guy overlooking the city on top of a building. He didn’t seem as tense as the others had been, instead almost seeming more laid back. No, that wasn’t quite right…he was calmer than they were.

I thought about trying to take him out as well, before deciding against it. There was too many Titans in the vicinity. Not only would he be quickly found, but I would be giving up my location.

Not to mention one of the few things Slade told me about him was that using any drugs or poisons was practically useless.

And of course, the green bastard was now swooping down in some sort of hawk form. Damn it, if only I had taken him out earlier, I wouldn’t have been in this mess…

*~o~*

It took several hours of running around until I finally lost the Titans. There had been quite a lot of close encounters, but I remained undetected. I was still overly paranoid, causing me to practically jump at everything that moved.

Which is why I almost put a knife through Red X’s head. He tilted his head, dodging it before crossing his arms. I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help but breath out a sigh of relief.

I finally made it back to the hideout.

“Someone’s jumpy…”

“Shut up. Did you do you even do your job?”

Instead of responding verbally, he simply slapped the box next to him. A box that was the exact same one that was used for all the body parts.

…How the fuck did he do it? Was Aquaman more brawn than brains or something?

“Bullshit. Open it.”

He took the case away from me before I could open it. Causing me to narrow my eyes at the skull masked merc.

“Nope. Not until I see some cash. I know for a fact a score this big has to earn figures in the seven digits.”

Ugh. He was so fucking annoying. Still, even if he did try to do something, Slade would have it covered. There was absolutely no chance that he’d be able to-

“-now?”

“She’s close! Probably in this next room!”

“Alright then. Everyone, be prepared.”

Me and Red X turned our heads towards the noise in the previous hallway. No…there’s no way…they couldn’t have possibly-

“Friends of yours?”

Red X asked, causing me to whirl on him. My gun drawn and pointed at him.

“Shut the fuck up. It’s more likely they followed you here!”

Fuck. Fuck. FUCK! This was bad. This was really bad. Even if I was able to deal with the Titans, if Slade figured out this happened…

Shit. They were already here.

Beast Boy was the first to come into the room and immediately looked over to our position. His eyes immediately narrowing onto me.

“Found them!”

How!? How did they do it? It didn’t make any sense. There was no way for them to have tracked me down. I evaded everything I possibly could. So how are they here!?

The room quickly filled in with the goth girl, the flying alien, green kid, and…the weird chemical guy…

…Back when I got the right leg, he had thrown some sort of orange capsule at me. I cut it with my sword, and very little of what was inside had actually gotten on me. At the time I had assumed it was some sort of sedative or maybe an acid.

There had also been some sort of residue on my sword, but it quickly dissipated in seconds. So, I didn’t think to clean it extensively. Just running a rag over it once.

But what if what he had thrown hadn’t been to incapacitate me at all? What if it had been some sort of…chemical that had a smell people couldn’t recognize, but an animal could? An animal the green boy could turn into.

But that would have meant that from the very beginning…he was planning this.

Which wasn’t possible. The only person who could possibly think that far ahead was someone like Slade. And even then, no one has ever been close to his level. Not even Batman.

It was an absolutely crazy idea but…it was the only one that made sense. And it made even more sense when I continued to think about it. That whole transaction and exchange of information…that had just been an excuse to not fight, hadn’t it?

Because if we fought and my sword had gotten dirty or fallen on the ground, I’d have cleaned it better. Which would have wiped away most of the chemicals that had been on it. 

And the tracker on the inside of the box…had just been there to lower my guard. He knew I would find it.

No matter how I looked at it, I had been played.

…But that didn’t mean I had been beaten.

A few bright green energy balls slammed into the boxes next to me. Causing me to take cover and immediately fire back with my own gun. I had good fucking aim, but due to her previous attack, there was now a hazy smoke field obscuring her from me.

Leading me to turn and change targets. I fired a few shots towards the fucking chemical bastard, only for him to quickly take cover. Which was good, because at least we weren’t being overrun with all the Titans at once.

Half robot guy and Robin were still unaccounted for, unless Red X took some out himself. There was also that Kryptonian chick, but if she was here the battle would have already gone sideways.

Red X was starting to aim his hand at one of the Titans I couldn’t see. He likely had some sort of ranged attack on his palm or he was as stupid as he looked. But before he could fire it off, the orange alien knocked him off his feet and tackled him to the ground.

For fucks sake, do I have to do everything?

As much as it would please me for someone to knock his ass out, I was actually in desperate need of backup. Which meant I came to his aid with the taser. It wasn’t a normal one, and was meant for super powered freaks, but I hadn’t actually used it before so I didn’t know the settings.

But I think seven sounds about right.

“AHH!”

She groaned in pain and quickly released Red X who looked towards me. His arm already extending.

That fucker, don’t tell me he-

“Azarath Metrion zin-“

He fired a projectile in the shape of a red x, and it slapped directly onto the goth girl’s mouth. Interrupting…whatever she had been about to say. She also seemed to have lost the ability to fly, as she crashed onto the ground rather hard.

I couldn’t focus on her though because the orange alien was starting to get back up. I needed to hit her again to-

Narrowly dodging the swipe of a green gorilla’s arm at the last second. He roared at me before turning his attention to Red X, who just shot him with the red tape. He quickly turned into a rhino and charged at him. Leaving me to face back with the increasingly angry orange-

I could only block as the attack came from my right. Stinging my arms as I was pushed back from the force. The chemical bastard had shown up. Fuck, this situation was getting worse by the second.

My words had been cursed, as a pain in my midsection followed. The orange alien had gotten back up and had shown me exactly what she thinks of me. I caught the follow up punch from the chemical bastard. Not only did it make my hand sore, but I was pretty sure something wet was starting to cover my hands. Thankfully I wore gloves, but it wouldn’t be long until whatever chemical he used touches my skin.

I tried to draw my sword, but the next punch from the orange alien crossed my chin. Leaving me slightly dazed. My arms were put up but were incredibly weak. To weak to block getting kneed in the stomach from the chemical bastard.

I fell to my knees, and the orange girl roughly pulled back my mask. Which left me wide open to both of the chemical bastard’s hands touching either side of my face.

My face was numb. Everything felt…sluggish. My breathing seemed to be the only thing I could really focus on, and it took all my focus to not immediately fall to the ground.

Both of my arms could barely be raised, and even when they were, there was no force behind them. Shit…I couldn’t fall asleep. I can’t fall asleep!

Pay attention Rose! You need to pick your ass up!

But my body refused.

The orange alien and chemical bastard slowly took a step away from me when they realized I could no longer move. Then they immediately pivoted to focus on the last remaining enemy.

Red X had just finished capturing the green kid in some sort of reddish goop that continued to stick to him no matter the form he took. And the green kid was really trying.

Just as the orange alien and chemical bastard started to approach him, he lifted up a hand.

“Wait! You don’t-“

Bang! Bang!

Two shots rang out, interrupting him. The first punched through the chest, and the second went through the arm. Both shots hit the same person. Forcing the orange alien to immediately fall to the ground.

Slade had arrived.