Between a rock and a hard place (Titans, Open)

Out in the Mesa, a military base; being set up in response to the Zydon invasion to provide support for the city. If it finished, then it would dissuade future direct assaults with the aid of metahumans like the Teen Titans. So they had to nip this in the bud before it came to fruition.


Back in Jump City, dropships descended from on high, carrying a modest sum of troops, and bipedal war machines. Unlike the stealth shuttles, these larger dropships were clearly visible. But they were also more reinforced, and had a modest arsenal to support ground troops with. But more importantly, they were able to carry Zydon vehicles into the fray.

The dropships soared into the city, certainly stirring up a panic once they were spotted as they dropped all four battlemechs in two different spots. Two RIGHT on top of the Police Station, and two on the fire department. The troops inside then piled out, mostly Braves equipped with heavy weapons, and Elects for support.

The dropships' arrival didn't go unnoticed, and already troops from the mesa base were being mobilized to fight off these invaders. But little did they realize at the time, they would be heading into a trap. On the way to Jump City, the lead vehicle drove over a Zydon bomb. The troops were then surrounded by Zydon forces, preventing them from getting to Jump or back to base...

Communications at this point became impossible due to the Zydons jamming them as a third force infiltrated the base. The Zydon Black Ops, also called "Specters." Because the base wasn't finished yet, not all of their defense systems were operational yet, allowing Varix and his Specters to slip in unnoticed. Once inside, they placed explosives around key points in the base before retreating to cover.

When the explosives went off, scores of soldiers, vehicles, and building materials were lost in the initial blast, with more damage being caused from several smaller explosions afterward. The alarms were sounded, but the entire base was already in a state of chaos as Varix and his men began 'cleaning up' stragglers.

In the city civillians were panicking and running from the Zydon invaders. Women screamed, men screamed, children screamed, everyone screamed. The only human who wasn't screaming was a small child looking for her mother, she cried when she couldn't find her and curled up into a ball, only noticing the elect that approached her until it was too late to do anything. She could only scream as he opened his palm and pointed it at her, she shut her eyes in fear as it flashed.

But just before it could fire, there was a sound, like a fist against flesh. She opened her eyes and a tall stranger towered above her where the elect was before, he was teenage and muscular, and he had blonde hair and he looked down at her in sadness. Why was he sad? She did not understand Do you know where mommy is? for a second he looked like he couldn't bare to be silent, then his voice was hollow when he responded You need to get out of here, I'll find your mom

She was reluctant at first, but she stood up and ran away from the chaos. Metamorphi was glad she went that way, and not the way he had come from, because if she had she would have seen her mothers corpse, lying there with a hole in her chest. His eyes hardened and he walked towards the battle, another Elect saw him and prepared to fire, but Metamorphi turned his body into paper and rushed at the Elect, closing the distance between them before the Elect could fire and kicking at it's leg, turning into steel as he did so.

The Elect cried out in pain as his leg was broken but Meta was not done and he punched him in the ribs, breaking most of them, but not killing him, although Meta easily could have. He fell to the floor, defeated, but that did not stop Meta, he pulled up the Elects arm and harshly stomped on his elbow, breaking the arm. The Elect was in agony now but Meta pulled him up by his broken arm and turned back into flesh, then he punched him again and again in different places, the Elect coughed up blood with every punch and it got all over Meta's face but he didn't care.

When Metamorphi managed to calm down enough to stop hitting the Elect it was bruised and bloody and it had broken bones. Metamorphi let it drop to the floor and picked it up, he then walked to the middle of the street and placed it down, here one of his allies would discover him and he'd be taken back to a ship. He may have been his enemy but now that Meta had calmed down he had nothing against the Elect and as such he had no wish to just let him lie there where he possibly wouldn't be found in time to save him.Metamorphi felt a twinge of guilt but there was nothing he could do but pray that the Elect survived, he walked away and walked back towards the battle.

Kole was not one to lie. As such, if asked about how he felt working with a government agency, he would honestly reply that it made him feel uncomfortable. However, he had blood on his hands, and if he could make up for it by saving humans from an alien invasion, he was all for it. That was the real reason he was standing in the military base observing the events unfold in the city. While one of the best ways to help would have been to go with the troops to fight back in Jump, the commander didn't quite feel comfortable sending a younger teen in to the fighting. So, Kole stood quietly, watching the events of the attack unfold while simultaneously helping to track the troops' movements.

"...We've been played." Kole muttered as the first vehicle exploded and the communications dropped. Wait, really? I thought this was just the way aliens said hello. Seriously though, maybe I should just join up with them. They seem a lot more efficient at taking out humans than other humans. I'll bet they've already prepped an attack on this very base. Erebus chimed in, his ever-negative thoughts not helping Kole's mood. That doesn't seem possible. This base is incredibly secure. How could anyone... Kole's thoughts were cut short by a light in the corner of his eye. A light on an odd-looking device that had just changed from red to green. "Get down!" he called, diving underneath one of the desks and morphing into a shadow before the bomb detonated.

Shaking his head to clear it, Kole slid back out from under the desk to look around. Many of the men were severely injured, and most of the room was in ruins. Dazed, but not horribly injured, Kole morphed into his shadow form and slid out of the room to scout around. Not long after leaving, he noticed a force of Zydons sweeping the area, targeting the survivors. Like I said, efficient. These guys know how to take out the enemy. Meanwhile, you cower under a desk while the good men take the hit from the bomb. At least this way, I can still fight. Now, how to take out these aliens... Kole wondered, an idea striking him quickly. Moving silently as a shadow, he slid towards the back of the alien force before quickly re-forming and turning his shadow into a staff. Sneaking up on the rear Specter, Kole put all of his force into a blow directed towards the alien's head, before attempting to re-morph into a shadow and slink away unseen.

And when Kole struck the Specter in the head... nothing. Atleast, it didn't really have the effect he had probably been hoping for. Specter armor worn by former Coverts were... more durable then. And assuming Kole wasn't super strong in anyway, all that was accomplished was briefly making the Zydon's head move. The now enraged Specter spun around with it's sword, following up with an energy pistol that it squeezed off a few shots. "Abnormal human!" The Specter reported via communicator. Now they knew he was here...

"Everyone keep your guard up. I want a report any time someone sees him. Assault Squad, concentrate fire on these coordinates. Shadow Team, take out any survivors," Varix ordered through communicator, coordinating the attacks of his Specters. A short time later, Specter Braves took to the air and brought their heavy weapons to bare on an area where soldiers had fallen back to. Blasting the area to rubble, a small group of Covert Specters slipped in and took out any survivors.

Varix made sure to cripple the defenders by taking out their vehicles and their armory in the initial explosions. But an abnormal being here worried him. Were there more of them hiding in the base?


Back in the city, The Battlemechs soon made quick work of the fire department and police station, neither would be able to repel an attack by military grade war machines. Meta would soon run into a squad of Braves, which with the support of a dropship hovering above, opened fire on him with their weapons. Beam weapons charged up before energy lanced through the air, with blasts of energy raining down from above from the dropship.

In truth, this assault was to draw attention away from the Mesa base. But if they could bring down the stability of the city, they'd use this tactic for other targets.

Metamorphi widened his eyes when he ran into the group of Braves, he transformed his body into paper and ran for cover away from the endless energy blasts that rained down upon him. He gained minor injuries everywhere but nothing that stopped him from running, he ducked behind a car and looked at the approaching Braves, unlike the other types of Zydon he had no way of taking them down without some kind of plan. He picked up a rock and ran to another type of cover before the car was fired at, throwing the rock so it jammed the jetpack of a Brave with it's back to him, it tried to activate the jetpack but it would not work and instead blew up. The Brave collapsed as his suit was ruined and he had a heavily damaged back and Braves near him suffered similar but not as severe injuries. Great, now he just needed to do that for the entire army.

Well, that was... Unsuccessful? A complete and utter failure? So bad that you're  just going to give up and let me take control? Kole frowned, or at least as much as a shadow could frown. Thankfully he had morphed quickly enough to dodge the alien's counterattack, however the downside was that they were aware that he was watching them. Well, it's not all bad. Now, they fear you. If you let me take over and kill one or two of them, they'll be even more afraid. No. No killing. That just makes us as bad as them. Besides, you've put enough blood on my hands. Well then, mister high and mighty, how do we move forward? Erebus replied sarcastically.

Instead of responding, Kole took a moment to think things through. Right now, the troops have been pushed back hard. I need to buy them some time to regroup and set up a stronger defense. So, how to go about that... Realizing exactly what he could do, Kole headed towards the base's control room, doing his best to stick to the shadowy areas. Even though he himself was a shadow, he would stick out more in lit areas. Assuming he made it to the control room unseen, he would reform in front of one of the base's defense computers and attempt to get it running. If I remember correctly, this base has a few blast doors. Let's see if we can get some of those running.

((I hope you know that the base is outside primarily xD))

"Movement! Toward the base's command building," a member of the Assault Team reported. It didn't take Varix long to guess why. Most of the soldiers had been pushed back to that building, which was much better defended then the rest of the base.

"Infiltration Team, you have an abnormal in the building. Me and the Assault Team are on our way," Varix informed a small group that had gotten inside before things went to hell. They had just been information on any further military movements in the near future. Leaping over debris, Varix and the Assault Team gave chase into the building.


There was some Zydon chatter buzzing through the air about Meta, turning more and more soldiers in his direction as the dropship continued it's pursuit. And then, a Covert would try to impale Meta from behind as an Elect touched down on a nearby building. Waiting for Meta or the Covert to move before launching fire down on meta. The Braves regrouped, adding to the fire with more destructive beams from their weapons.

Now finished with their targets, the Battlemechs started heading in Meta's direction.

Metamorphi was constantly on the alert when in battle, so when he saw the Covert out of the corner of his eye he instantly turned into steel to stop from being impaled, he became paper and whirled back, turning into steel before his elbow crunched against the side of the Covert's head. He turned into paper and rolled away from the Elects blast, he cursed as the braves regrouped and fired at him. He jumped over them and since they were all firing at the same place he only needed to dodge once, then he ran for it, he wanted to believe he was leading them into a trap but in reality he wasn't, he didn't know what he was doing, but if he found an advantage then he would take it.

(um...yeah...totally knew that...eh heh heh)

Kole cursed silently as the soldier called out his movement. He hadn't been expecting to do so much outdoor trekking, however he had assumed that he would be able to get to the building without being spotted. Clearly, his gamble had not payed off. His fingers flew across the keyboard as he tried to activate the defenses. Try not to mess up. There's only, oh, I don't know, about twenty plus lives depending on you. So yeah, no pressure or anything. Erebus taunted, his words putting even more pressure on Kole. "...I hate you...so very much." he muttered as he pressed one final key.

A small pop-up box appeared on the screen, and Kole sighed with relief. "...There. Safe...for now." he muttered as the blast doors throughout the base lowered, providing some extra reinforcement. Safe, or trapped? You know who you're dealing with. You probably just played right into their hands. Kole shuddered at Erebus's words. As much as he hated the bat, it had a very good point. Kole turned so that his back was facing the wall and turned his shadow into a pair of bladed kama, preparing for a possible sneak attack.

And then two battle mechs barreled through a building, nearly hitting Meta in the process. The mech's robotic eyes surveyed the area, getting a lock on Meta when they suddenly received new orders. They were to provide support to the ambush unit, and then double back to the military base. So the battle mech's ignored Meta, kicking on their thrusters and speeding away toward the mesa.

Infact, all the forces in the city were being recalled. Dropships touched down on roofs as Zydon forces (some of which had been injured by Meta) began boarding. They were all going toward the base in the mesa...


Back at the Mesa, Varix now had a problem. He couldn't get into the command building, atleast not easily, and not at the moment. They obviously didn't have the weapons to break through those blast doors. And it was fair to assume that the rest of the building was also hardened to withstand punishment. This also meant that the infiltration team inside were also trapped with however many soldiers had gotten inside, plus the abnormal.

"Infiltration team, we've been cut off. Someone inside has triggered the blast doors. Until we can find a way to get them open, be very careful," Varix informed the group as the forces outside scoured the outside of the building. Hopefully there was some kind of design flaw or weakness they could exploit.

On the inside, the power would suddenly go off. Assuming his powers only worked on shadows and not darkness itself, this would be a serious problem. Not that the Specters meant for that to happen, they were simply trying to give themselves more of an advantage as emergency lights came to life. But those weren't as bright as the normal lights.

Metamorphi almost shat in his trousers when the battle Mechs were next to him, he cursed loudly and rolled out of the way of an attack, but no attack came. He stared at where the Battle Mechs are and saw them running away Yeah, you better run! he sighed, he shouldn't follow them, he won't be able to win at all, it would be stupid to follow them. He followed them and kept his distance until he was sure where they were going.

Kole gasped in surprise as the power went out and the kama in his hands faded away. Uh oh. Looks like someone's missing his weapons. You're in huge trouble now. Erebus taunted. Kole shivered at the realization that he was now weaponless. However, it appeared that this was only temporary, as the emergency lights came on shortly after. While they weren't as bright as the normal lights had been, they still were enough to cast a shadow out from Kole. Breathing a sigh of relief, he reformed the kama before looking around the room. It's highly likely that the aliens who cut the power were trying to create an advantage. It wouldn't really help the ones outside, so there must be some in here trying to take us out. The question is, where are they? he thought, looking for any signs of the aliens.