Mission #1: The Capture

It was late afternoon right now. The sun was still up, yet it was fading at the same time. Across the forest it seemed to be calm, peaceful, tranquil. This is why Lance would come out here so often. It was like a getaway for him from all of the leading, fighting, and just all of the commotion of a city. Today was the same reason as any that he was here this very day. Today was different though... it would not be calm, it would not be peaceful, and was the farthest thing from tranquil. Another scan at the forest and you would hear a pretty loud boom and a bunch of birds flying away. A ground view of the area from where the boom came and you would see squirrels, deer, foxes, and other wild animals running away. With the crowd of animals running away, you would see Lance running as well. Looking over lance's shoulder and you would not be able to see anyone behind him. Who was he running from? Why was he running? All you would hear for a few short seconds was the sound of Lance panting as he ran. Lance would pull out his communicator and hit the distress beacon on it. Once he pressed the button, from behind him you could see three disks come flying towards him. They would hit the ground just behind him and send him flying across some of the forest and also causing him to drop his communicator in a pile of grass. Lance would slide across the ground, his powers automatically taking over to soften the ground as he slid across it. He would struggle to get up, but was able to manage to and started running. A look back to where his communicator dropped and you would see four guys feet come running right past the communicator that was blinking cause of the distress beacon set. What could be heard when the four passed was heard in the communicator.

"I bet you guys I get him first!"

"Hmph not before me!"

"Shut up snot brains! Heheh."

"Stay focused guys!"

Then their footsteps could be heard fading away. Lance would look back to see how far they were from him. They were not in sight but he could still hear the mechanics of those robots that came at him earlier. Lance didn't see what they looked like because he ditched as quick as he possibly could. Lance would stop for a second because he had to catch his breath. He could feel the lactic acid building up in his legs, which burned throughout his legs and feet like a sprinter would feel after a race. His heart was racing and he would do the thing you shouldn't do and breath quick, short breathes. With his peripheral vision he would be able to see a laser coming right at him. He would quickly raise up a wall of rock that would break and blow up, sending lance sliding back. Lance would shake it off as he sees that they had caught up already. Lance would turn around and start running again.

"These guys just don't give up."

Lance would say to himself in an annoyed manner. Eventually he would come to a clearing, a very wide open area, except for in front of him was an elevated level of ground that was very high. Then to his right and left were a group of trees that were so clumped together it would be impossible to get through without a big struggle and slowing him down a lot. Lance would not think right now and did not know what to do. It would make sense that he could just use his powers to climb up the rock wall with no problem at all, but it was the spur of the moment and so much was being processed that he just didn't think of it. Lance would turn around thinking this would be his final stand now. He would stand there looking at the only exit he thought of, back. He would wait for them to appear finally getting another chance to catch his breath. The four guys would appear out of the woods and into the clearing. It was four on one. Lance would look at all four. One Indian kid from what he could tell who struck him to look a lot like Robin. The one next to him was a kid dressed in some kind of green looking cricket costume or was it a grasshopper costume. Then their was the kid who was dressed up in a white and black costume sort of resembling a chess board and had three robots behind him that were replicas of the pawn, knight, and rook. Finally the last one there was a very short yet extremely built kid with very long black hair.

"You're a pretty fast guy Stone, but now you're cornered now and we're here to get you."

"Get me.. what do you mean?"

"Oh it's better if we just show you. H.I.V.E. beta formation!"

When Protege would say that, the rook of Checkmate would shoot a laser from it's eye. Lance would immediately bring up a wall of rock, much thicker than last time to bring it. It would block it, but also block Lance's view of the rest of the other team. Lance would then notice a shadow coming from above and it was the Cricket up high in the air coming down to what looked like a kick, but Lance would be shoulder thrusted by Rawhide, knocking Lance over and rolling across the ground. The distraction of Cricket had worked. As Lance would go rolling over and finally stop, he would be laying on his stomach. He would try to get to his feet, up to all fours, as he would then notice a few pellets rolling towards him. Lance's eyes would widen as he would bring up another shield of rock to block the explosion, but it was not enough. Sending Lance flying back and into the big cliff side, causing an imprint of Lance's body in it cause of his powers naturally softening it for him to prevent extensive injury. On the face of Lance the pain and struggle was clearly visible. Lance would open his eyes slightly, his vision slightly blurred and his first sight would be the three robots shooting lasers at him. He would get hit with all three, but they were toned down so to not kill Lance or fatally wound him. Lance would get pushed deeper and deeper into the mountainside. After lance was clearly out of sight the lasers would stop and they would stand there for a bit waiting to see where Lance would reappear next. Lance though would just come crawling out of the whole that he had been put in. his clothes were ripped including a big hole in his shirt at the stomach area. Lance would look around scanning the area still ready to battle even though he was so beaten. He would think of what JaK would do for a second.

"...Is that all you got."

Lance would say as it would clearly piss off Rawhide the most. Rawhide would climb up to where the hole Lance was in. Rawhide would have transformed at this point, with his bear forearms and claws visible, and him gritting his bearlike teeth. Lance would cause pillars of rocks to protrude to try and slow down Rawhide, but it would be at failure as Rawhide dug his claws right into the rock. Rawhide would reach up next to Lance and grab Lance's head, almost being able to fit it in his claw.

"I'll break you!"

Rawhide would yell at Lance as he then pulled Lance out of the hole and toss him down to the ground. Rawhide would jump off of the wall and follow Lance down to the ground with an elbow. The Cricket would go and kick Lance in midair, flipping Lance so that his stomach was going to the ground first and also getting caught into the elbow of Rawhide now with no escape. Lance and Rawhide would crash into the ground causing a small crater into the center of the opening. The dust that would pop up naturally would clear away to show Rawhide standing above Lance who was face first into the ground. Lance would lay there motionless as Protege, Cricket and Checkmate would surround the hole.

"Flip him over, check if he's still conscious."

Rawhide would nod as he would grab onto the scarf of Lance, yet once he did that Lance would cause a rock to protrude up in between the legs of Rawhide. Rawhide would yell and howl in pain as he fell down to the ground, signalling that Lance was clearly conscious still. Lance would slowly start to get up again and spit blood out of his mouth. Before he can even get up though, Protege would soccer kick him right in the ribs. This would make Lance roll over onto his back as he looked up at the three still standing. lance was in so much pain and his vision was so blurred because of the tearing from pain. Rawhide who was now healed, yet still felt some of the pain would come running over about to strike down on Lance.

"STOP!!... he's done now."

Protege would say stopping Rawhide midway in strike. Lance had passed out due to the pain of his injuries. The four would go over him and would claim their prize, Lance.

It was rush hour time now Jump City. An overcast of the city would be viewed as then a big boom would be heard and a giant plume of smoke would rise up from the heart of the city. A closer look into the city would reveal a large slab of street pavement with a bunch of cars flipped over underneath it. People were running, screaming, horns going off, the ground still rumbling. A look at who would be causing this and it was the H.I.V.E. members except this time another person was in the middle leading them. It was someone who should be familiar to the people. The normally gentle, blonde headed, rock bender, leader of the titans. All of those traits though were not present right now. He was destroying the city along with his apparent new group of guys.

"Let's draw them out boys!"

Lance's mind controlled voice would yell it in a more serious and evil tone compared to his usual friendly tone. He would have a giant evil grin on his face as he said so too. he would give a signal by slightly moving his head, which said to the four H.I.V.E. members, Protege, Rawhide, Cricket, and Checkmate, to go and have some fun in the city. The four would then split and go off to terrorize a few people until the heroes came. Lance would raise both his hands causing the ground to raise up in a wave like motion, flipping cars up off the ground and all.

About 10 to 15 minutes later JaK arrived on scene. He was very upset with himself for not arriving sooner to aid his comrade in whatever had transpired. But of course he had never actually sent a verbal transmission asking for help, his communicator had just turned on once he dropped it, so Sage couldn't have known. From the looks of the area there had been a struggle. After locating and picking up Stone's intercom Sage grasped it firmly in his hand before continuing to case the area, his curled fist nearly crushing it. The fury and anguish in his eyes being masked by his trademark sunglasses.

"Where are you Lance...What happened to you man?"

Finally, he came upon the area where Lance made his last stand. As he looked about he could almost visualize what had happened. Little flashback images of the event popping up like a projector all around him as JaK tried to put the pieces together. However, he couldn't be sure of course exactly of what had transpired. All he knew was it looked like there had been an explosion, and a battle that took place based by the destruction, plus the human shaped mark on the ledge. Now Lance was missing yet again, his communicator abandoned. Sage only able to guess what had transpired or if Lance was even still alive or not.

"Don't worry bud, I'll find you Lance, if it's the last thing I do. I'll find you, and when I catch those responsible for this...I'll take them down, hard."

At least it had seemed like the boy had put up a fight, JaK expecting no less of his friend in this situation. Although, to take down the Titans Team leader JaK had to question what exactly they would be up against if whoever it was ever came for him or any of the other six members of their squad.

JaK had never stopped looking for Lance in the week he was missing, Ya, he had been busy doing other stuff like fighting an alien creature in the sewers, but nonetheless he had been on the search for their assumingly kidnapped leader. He was a top a roof without his speedbike today and just doing some good old fashioned Parkour to get from place to place. While looking down he suddenly got an alert from the T-Comm. and looked up the incident. After pressing a button, the situations location popped up in a holographic screen that illuminated from the top of the device with a small red dot blinking at the epicenter. He wasn't too far away; moving quickly across the roofs of buildings, and down the fire escapes, as well as tight walking telephone wires, JaK wasted no time trying to get to the scene. Especially since as he neared constant smoke pillars could be seen rising in the distance along with many JCPD sirens blaring and people screaming.

"Yo Will, I'm on my way. Any clue as to what's going on over there? Rather not run in unarmored if there's a chance of getting vaporized to dust, ya know?"

JaK specifically addressed Psychosis because he had received the signal to investigate the situation from his intercom. Nearly there now, Sage stopped for a brief moment on the top of a parked oil-rigger. It was abandoned at the moment, the driver obviously wanting no part of this action with all that flammable liquid on board, especially knowing Jump City's history with supervillains.

As JaK hears Will speak of Lance being there his heart dropped. Finally he had resurfaced. Good, maybe now---Wait did he just say JaK shouldn't absorb anything?

"But why would that matte---"

JaK would then be cut off by Psychosis saying he should just get in here! JaK guessing the large white dome not too far off was what he meant and made a beeline for it. JaK ran on foot towards the dome and lunged up soaring towards it. Not knowing exactly where he was going to end up since it wasn't fully transparent.

"Ok I copy and I should be dropping in, right about, NOW!"

Upon saying this Sage flew into the dome just in time to see the Cricket hopping towards some pedestrians, but then getting cut off by the white shield while they were safe on the outside. At first he attempted a few kicks to get free of it, but then ended up receiving a kick himself as JaK entered the dome and immediately decided he was an enemy. Getting the drop on him quick as Sage dropped and rolled to his feet, then immediately ran and front drop kicked the Cricket in his side sending him soaring towards Lance.. Even without his powers, JaK was still very skilled. However, it would help if he could use them. He still didn't understand why he shouldn't have them on around Lance. He transformed around Stone all the time, sometimes even into stone.

"Sorry, I know hopping into action is probably your thing, but I thought I'd give it a try."

After giving his quick quip, JaK stood up and saw the four potential threats and then noticed that Will & Grace (HqHq) were here. Great, 4 v 4 this should be a cakewalk.

"Ok I'm here, what's up Psychosis. Why shouldn't I armor up around these goons. They don't seem that dangerous."

The Cricket would get kicked back all the way next to Lance by JaK. He would end up on Lance's left hand sie along with Rawhide and on his right hand side was Protege and Checkmate with his robots. Lance would watch as almost the whole Titans team was standing right across from them. Lance would laugh at Will as he tried to read his mind, yet the device that Checkmate had made was also made to block people from reading it. Lance would then look over at JaK who had just got over to the Titan's side. Lance would look over next at Brianna who was just entering and then to Grace.

"Ah so glad all of you could make it."

Lance would say in a more sadistic tone than his more gentle tone. Lance would take a few steps forward and then back, keeping his eyes on right on the Titans. Protege would step up as he looked at the Titans. He would put his hand on Lance's shoulder.

"You see your 'team leader' is with us now."

"Yeah he left you pathetic snot balls of a team for a real one."

Checkmate would say from out behind Protege. Protege would put his hand on Checkmate's chest so that he would stop talking and Lance would do the same to Protege as he would also step back. Lance would step up again as he looked at the four Titans that were on the other side.

"Well we didn't do all this here just to talk, we're here to wipe the floor with you and let's say take this city for us."

The ice blades would be closing in on Checkmate quickly. His robots would immediately shoot their lasers at the ice blades taking out four of them. Protege would throw three explosive disks that would collide with the blades that Grace had thrown because they interfered their directions. Their were still three of them and those would be taken out by Lance as he rose a wall in front of Checkmate that was thick enough to block the attack. Lance would push the blades out and they fell on the ground. Then pieces of the wall would start to morph into blades, mimicking what Grace did and then get projected towards the Titan's as a whole, but mainly at Grace.

"Let's see how you bear against your own move."

Lance would say mainly towards Grace, but still keeping the others in mind. Lance would then look at his new teammates and give them a nod of approval. The four around him would smile as they went to go on the offensive. If they were able to block the attack, they would have the H.I.V.E. members all over them right after. Protege heading towards JaK, Checkmate with robots to Grace, Rawhide to Brianna, and Cricket to Will. Lance would stand back and look on at the battles that would start.

JaK suddenly heared Brianna speak of Lance not being himself after he addressed Will. Could that really be the case? It would seem so, because right after that statement Lance spoke to the team about how he had switched sides. His new friends confirming this, but one obviously offended Grace because no sooner had he made his insult Grace attacked. Understandably rather pissed at the whole situation and what they had done to Lance. Her attack mimicking her anger as if she wanted to kill him. Sage could see it in her eyes, she cared for Lance in a different way than the rest of the Titans.

"Freeze you need to calm down, we gotta keep our heads clear if were going to get him back. Psychosis read their minds, find out what they did to hi---WHOA!!"

As JaK spoke, Grace's icicle weapons were diverted and blocked by the entire group, Checkmate gloating that he hadn't even been touched. Right after that Lance proved that he was completely no longer himself, for he attacked the team back! His powers mimicking Grace's in a way, but with rock and metal. As the concrete and dirt spear like objects headed towards them Sage took evasive action; using ninja quick like reflexes and a mixture of his free running to lean back completely side ways to avoid one. Then as he leaned forward, he ran and dived landing momentarily with one hand on the ground as a sharp earth made blade zipped past him and then completed his one handed cartwheel in a knelt position. Finally, as the third came towards him he performed a bio540 flip right over it.

All those weeks in the simulation chamber avoiding gunfire and anything else that could be thrown at him had paid off. However, after landing his move he still suddenly ate hook kick in the face from Protege. The blow sending JaK flat on his back where he then sat up and looked at his opponent while rubbing his jaw.The boy signaling for Sage to stand and come at him, he obviously knew about JaK and wanted to test his skills... Something Sage was happy to oblige him in.

"Titans, defend and if you can defeat your enemy, but remember our main purpose here is to get Stone. Don't let them distract you, that's what they want. Also, try not to hurt him."

JaK Sage would yell this command out aloud, not caring if the HIVE heard him and then kipped back up to his feet before running towards Protege. It would seem to him the HIVE second generation reject wanted a reason to have to visit the dentist a bit early this year. Again, JaK was happy to help him with this. As they met in intense battle, Sage threw a right hand and an capiera kick. One which was blocked by a forearm pushing the blow in a different direction, and then a high knee stopping the other. Afterwards Protege countered with a straight leg kick that JaK blocked with both arms in an x-formation over his chest, his body skidding across the ground a bit as he deflected it and the yelled an aggravated battle cry as he charged forward again. The mortal kombat style martial arts feud going back and forwardth between the two.