To Stoke the Fire (Titans and Scapegoat)

It was time. He had studied the book. He knew what he had to do. Steampunk and his multiple men began setting up. A small group of five set up gliders just in case. Their target, the coal depot on the Jump city piers. In order to run their machinery, they needed fuel. The guards wouldn't be expecting a infiltration from the water. They would get caught by a couple of his frogmen, their green glowing eyes watching them as they struggled against their bonds. One of them shed his diving gear, and pressed a button to open the front gate.

Steampunk and his crew rolled right in, trucks ready for movement.

"Alright gentlemen... get to work!" he said.

Spreading thin, the goons swarmed the depot up to its very rafters, busying themselves with the micro-managing of mass transportation. They well knew the requirements of moving vast quantities of hydrocarbons. The coal must be stored so that it did not accumulate heat, else risk a fire, and above all it must not get wet, a scenario that would ruin its combustion rating. Furthermore, the extent of gaseous emissions must be considered. Coal gave off a small quantity of meathane when compacted, after all. It wouldn't do to overlook that risk.

They got to work. Rumblers smacked the caps off the storage silos. A trough was brought forward to catch the material as it spilled out. They next began sorting it all by hand, passing each individual piece into a trolley, which then made its way into the back of a truck.

Everyone was dressed the part. Only two men stood out. The first was Steampunk himself. Resplendent in bronze-plated armour which may hide any number of gizmos and doohickeys. The second was a most unlikely of companions. Scapegoat was really more of a mascot at this point. He had borrowed a pair of henchmen goggles to sport, but did not wear their jumpsuit. The ghoul weaved through the occupied crowds, dodging trolleys and generally in the way wherever he chose to stand.

At last he came into a small clearing near Steampunk. Another lackey was working a hi-tech abacus for the clockwork genius' benefit, "Judging from the ship bulk logs and the size of the collection hoppers, then the diameter of the silos, we calculate that this shipment can keep us active until the end of the year, Sir." The faceless goon showed his boss the abacus, as if its arrangement of beads proved his claims. To anyone here but Scapegoat, it might.

"Very good vernon." Steampunk said stepping forward. Those numbers were good. The trucks were being loaded, and it seemed everything was going to plan. If only it were that simple. The titans had cameras everywhere, including the docks. They were independent of the shipping companies cameras, so they were still running. An alarm would go off at the tower, alerting the titans to a threat that upon analysis, the computer determined would be too much for normal law enforcement. They needed the titans.

At this point, they would probably be there. And to be honest... steampunk was ready.

Steampunk was watching his men move when two of his frogmen came to him dragging a young woman with them. As they threw him at his feet, he smirked. She had chosen the wrong night to meddle. "Well hello there my dear." He said. "Now I'm never too fond of harming young women... so tie her up. By the time the police arrive, it won't make a difference." He said kneeling down to her before standing up.

That won't be necessary." a voice said before coming out of the darkness. Hotwire walked forward. The titans new leader had arrived about 5 minutes before, and had set up a good strategy. He had been watching recon from the edge of the dock. And Flux gave them just the entry they needed, with the frogmen distracted by flux's capture. He had kept watch on her, and knew the girl before him was actually his goo powered ally.

"You'll be stopping right now Steampunk. Flux! Hit it!" He yelled, signalling for Flux to drop the charade. He then called through his communicators to the other titans in the shadows. He said the words that would spell trouble for any villain on that dock as he pointed out to Steampunk.

"TITANS! GO!"

"TITANS!?" As the depot burst into action, Scapegoat found himself dashing against the tide of henchmen. Coal was dropped, shovels were lifted, the cab of the truck slammed shut; and ever the swarm of goons rushed to overwhelm their foes. Powerful though these teen heroes may be, any good lackey understood the advantage of numbers. It was important to build up a group of at least ten before you each took turns attacking. Thus neutralising your advantage and getting arrested with a high chance of concussion.

That Henchmen Handbook was unusually pessimistic.

Scapegoat dived for a collection of supplies which had been left spread across a workstation. He hoped to find a pen but instead pulled up a quill. The ghoul dipped the point in a pot of ink, blotted it against the appropriate paper, and then doodled frantically. He was left with the following:


"Hmm. Contrary to what we were told 'Titans Go' does not spell 'trouble' for any villain. I wonder if I should take this to Countdown."

It was a trap. The girl was some kind of metahuman. Maybe even a mutant! She shot up at him, wrecking ball fist ready. He was knocked back into a container before standing. My patience only extends so far." He said. He needed to succeed here. He had new devices in the planning, but the necessary construction materials had to be specially processed. And to process those materials he needed energy. And this coal would give it to him.

She would probably go in for another hit. But this time, when she did, she'd probably find her gooey arm cut off. A fast spinning rotary saw blade that had extended from his wrist was to blame.

The truck would begin to drive off, but hotwire wouldn't allow that. He held up his hand to shut down the engine at the spark.

*Wham*

A strong punch jilted hotwires concentration. A rumbler gave him a punch, and knocked him a few meters away. As hotwire went to get up, he aimed another powered punch at him. But all of a sudden the device around his wrist broke apart. Hotwire made it disassemble, allowing him to simply intercept the punch and switch their roles. A couple blows was all it took to take that one down. He managed to shrug off a couple more advancing goons. He was ready to go and help flux battle steampunk. No other goons in sight.

*Ratatatatatatata*

The submachine gun rattles off as a flier zipped over him. Hotwire narrowly missed getting turned to swiss cheese. By the time he got his bearings from that, the flier had turned around and was going in for another shot. And then a bunch more of the goons began to advance on him. Oh, and to add insult to injury two of the trucks had left.

"Just great."

He needed backup.

"I'm pursuing the trucks." Kale said as he stood in the path of one of the trucks and finished drinking the flame from a lighter he had bought. "Ok," Kale clapped his hands together as the truck drove towards him, aiming to run him over. "ROAR OF THE RISING PHOENIX!" Kale opened his mouth and a flaming orb could be seen forming inside of it before spewing a piping hot fire wave onto the floor, which melted the tar back into ooze. The wheels of the truck got stuck as they drove through the tar pit, causing the vehicle to stop abruptly.

The goons pulled their pistols and missed their shots as Kale jettisoned into the air from the flames on his feet and landed on the hood of the automobile. He placed his hand upon the glass and began to melt it, exposing the men. "Think long and hard about your next decision, because pulling that trigger could be the last thing you ever do with that hand." Kale's fangs were displayed in a crooked smile, accompanied by his eyes turning into reptilian slits. An intimidating expression for the men inside the vehicle.

As the brawler gave Steampunk some respite, Scapegoat would appear by the maverick mechanic and briskly dust his copper suit from head to toe. He stopped short of the spit shine. A finger was drawn along the armour to accentuate its cleanliness. Unfortunately Vernon still had ink on his fingers, staining the shoulder plate with a thick black smudge. He grovelled apologetically and began to lick his fingertips clean. Before he could try again, else be reprimanded for messing around, the ghoul suddenly gasped with realisation. Inky hands clamped around his cheeks.

"Hang on a tick. Haaang on. I know that orange goop teen superheroine. So she's a Teeny Titan? Go figure. She has one fatal weakness, boss. One crippling failure. It would, like, take her out in ten seconds flat. Game over. Fatality. A kay and an oh." Scapegoat spoke with a fierce assurance. He crossed his arms and nodded sagely at this twist of fate. At length he restored his attentions to Steampunk, "I dunno what it is. But my point is that she has one. Probably. The freckled guy too." Being useful was overrated anyway.

((OOC: Am I right to assume Scapegoat would be able to recognise her goopy form?))

((Yep!))

The glider powered up his Gatling gun. It spun up, ready to fire, when something tore a hole in it's wind. It veered off wildly to the side, some of it's gunfire taking out a few of the goons advancing on hotwire. "Thanks Flux." Hotwire said. One of the heavy hitters readied his powerful swing and lunged at him. He was knocked to the side by a few flying parts of a forklift. By this point about a dozen or so more of the regular masked steampunk rogues were on them. The motorized parts and bits of metal flew to hotwire's arm.

As 3 of the goons got to about feet away, they were socked in the jaw by a spinning mass. It was at the end of a sturdy rail, that shot out like a rocket thanks to those enhanced forklift parts. The Spinning mass moved pack inwards to hotwire, and he continued to bat at anyone who tried to get too close. So far it was working just fine. He would keep a bit of a watch on flux, just in case. But he knew flux could handle herself, and there were more pressing matters. Hotwire opened his scanner through his powers and accessed his communicator. "Good going Kale. Secure the truck best you can and return here. Flux and I are handling the goons, but we still have their boss to worry about." he said getting back to his work.

Speaking of the boss, he was currently looking on irritated at Vernon. Sometimes this demon was more trouble than he was worth. "If you could take this altercation seriously, I would verily appreciate it." He sneered. "Now then. I believe I have seen all I need to here. According to my arial scouts, a couple of our supply trains have managed to get through." he explained to the go-happy demon. "That is more than enough. I believe we should take our leave now don't you think?" He said walking over to the docks Edge. "Come now Scapegoat." He motioned before jumping over the side of the docks.

Meanwhile, the two thugs in the truck were literally shaking with fear. Their hands on the trigger, afraid of what to do next. That was until a couple of their colleagues showed up. A powerful slam would go to strike kale from the side in an attempt to knock him off the truck. Bearing down on that side of the truck was one of Steampunks Arial Fliers, gun rattling off, hoping to turn the lad's pink hair a slightly darker shade of red. That was assuming he had red blood.

Kale heard Hotwire's orders and just before he could hop into the vehicle he was thrown from the hood. The bullets rained down and Kale took cover as the other two inside ran, not wanting to get murdered by the dragon or the heavy metal storm.

Brave wanted to fight, but his comrades also needed his help. Instead he would lead them back to the others and take them all out at once with the other two Titans. It was a solid plan to the mage.

"On my way..." Kale crawled in the drver's side and sat in the seat, put on his seat belt, adjusted his mirrors, put the keys into the ignition, started the engine and then... "NOW WHAT DO I DO!?!" Kale yelled in chibi form angry at himself for only watching humans drive, but never actually learning how.

This might take a while. Meanwhile, the side of the van continued to riddle with bullet holes. Many of which narrowly missed our hero.

When Steampunk proposed they leave Vernon was confused, "Oh. Want me to go tell your kiddies to grab their coats and shoes? Sir? Siiir~" The ghoul was ignored. It appeared Steampunk had resigned his lackeys to their fate. They had to fend for themselves now. You always knew this day would come, that they would meet their first superhero and get the living s*** beaten out of them, but when it happened *sniff* it was just so hard.

"Farewell Clyde! I'll tell the sprogs you won't be reading them stories tonight. Or evermore. And you Geoff, sweet Geoff. You could have been a contender. But where is Ady? Ady should be here at a moment like this! We said we would always be there for each other! He's drunk again isn't he! Don't pretend you can't hear me Clarence! He knew what this meant and still he's at the bottle. After all I've considered doing for him! The ingrate! The cur! That bas-" Scapegoat slipped and fell into the docks. Time to follow Steampunk then.