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SM/DC Chapter 19 : The Secret Shipment.
🕑 Added 2025-02-03 20:57:06 +0000 UTCThe Titans crouched behind a stack of shipping containers, the salty breeze from the ocean carrying the distant hum of the port’s machinery. Towering cranes loomed overhead, their silhouettes cutting into the darkened sky. The port itself was bustling not with dock workers, but with something far more dangerous.
Armed guards patrolled the area, their movements sharp and methodical. These weren’t just hired thugs; their coordination, their gear, the way they moved it screamed experience.
Cyborg zoomed in with his cybernetic eye. “These guys are packing serious heat. We’re looking at high-grade assault rifles, tactical armor… I’d bet good money they’re ex-military.”
Arthur leaned against the cold metal of the container, eyes scanning the guards. “Yeah. These aren’t your average LexCorp rent-a-cops. Well-trained mercs.” He rolled his shoulder, resting a hand on the hilt of his greatsword. “I’ll clear the way.”
Robin’s arm shot out in front of him. “No.”
Arthur frowned but didn’t push forward. Yet.
Robin kept his voice low, eyes narrowing as he assessed the situation. “We do this right. No unnecessary noise. We need to know what they’re guarding before we start swinging.”
Arthur sighed but relented. He had to admit, Robin wasn’t wrong. This wasn’t some random skirmish. Whatever Luthor was moving, it had to be important.
Robin tapped his communicator. “I’ll take the front. Starfire, Blue Beetle stay in position. Cyborg, keep scanning. Raven keep an eye out for anything… off.”
Arthur smirked. “i’ll just sit here and watch you.”
Robin shot him a glance but didn’t acknowledge the comment. He slipped into the shadows, moving with surprising ease for someone in bright red and green. One by one, he took out the guards, his movements precise and efficient. A strike to the neck, a sweep of the leg, a chokehold all silent, all effective.
Arthur observed from afar, genuinely impressed. “He’s good.”
Raven, standing beside him, was less focused on Robin’s performance. She frowned, shadows flickering in the depths of her hood. “Something’s strange, though.”
Arthur immediately tensed. He trusted her instincts and his senses “Yeah,” he muttered, his fingers tightening around his sword. “There’s a weird presence here.”
The moment Robin gave the signal, the Titans moved in like a well-oiled machine.
Arthur rushed in first, meeting a group of mercenaries head-on, his greatsword still strapped to his back. Instead of drawing it, he slammed his fist into the nearest soldier’s gut, the sheer force sending the man sprawling backward. Another came at him from the side, swinging a baton Arthur caught the strike with his bare hand, twisting the weapon free before driving his elbow into the man’s jaw. The mercenary dropped like a sack of bricks.
Beast Boy, mid-sprint, morphed into a rhino, barreling through a line of guards before shifting back into his human form. "Man, this is almost too easy!"
"Don't get cocky," Robin warned, flipping over two mercenaries and landing behind them. A swift sweep of his leg knocked them off balance, and before they could recover, he struck pressure points on their necks, rendering them unconscious.
Starfire hovered overhead, her eyes glowing bright green as she unleashed a flurry of starbolts. "Surrender" she declared, sending another blast into a group of men scrambling to take cover. "Please surrender before I am forced to increase my forcefulness!"
Blue Beetle, his armor shifting in response to the incoming enemies, fired a concussive energy blast, knocking a group of mercenaries against a cargo crate. "I mean, she gave you guys a chance," he quipped, his arm cannon still humming.
Arthur ducked under a wild punch, grabbing the attacker by the collar and slamming him into another guard. He exhaled sharply, shaking out his hand. He was holding back deliberately so. If he used his full strength, these men would be broken beyond repair. He wasn’t sure why he cared, but something about how easily he could kill them made his skin crawl.
Cyborg, who had been covering their backs, fired his sonic cannon, sending the last few mercenaries flying. "That all of ‘em?" he asked, scanning the area.
Robin dusted himself off. "Looks like it." He turned his attention to the real target—the shipment they had been guarding.
It was a large, reinforced container, being loaded onto a cargo ship. A simple glance at the side of it told them everything they needed to know.
A bright red LexCorp logo was stamped on the metal.
"Well, no surprise there," Beast Boy muttered.
But Arthur wasn’t looking at the LexCorp logo. His gaze was locked on something else. A name printed just beneath it.
‘Blackwynd Science Group.’
Raven noticed his expression. “Isn’t that your name?”
The entire team turned to him.
Arthur took a step back, completely bewildered. “The hell is this?”
Robin’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t say anything, but the suspicion was obvious.
Before Arthur could process the implications, Cyborg moved forward, his mechanical hand shifting into a cutting tool. "Only one way to find out what’s inside." Sparks flew as he cracked open the container, forcing the reinforced doors apart.
A sickly green glow spilled out.
Cyborg took a step back, his systems already detecting high radiation levels. “No way…”
Inside, stacked neatly in reinforced cases, was a crazy amount of kryptonite.
The air turned heavy with realization.
Starfire’s eyes widened in concern. Beast Boy's usual lightheartedness disappeared. Blue Beetle stiffened, his armor instinctively reacting to the dangerous material.
Robin took a slow breath, his gaze flickering from the kryptonite to Arthur.
Before Arthur could even form a response, a sharp crack split the air.
A sniper round tore through the darkness, aimed directly at his head.
But before it could reach him, something moved.
A shadow, no, a figure, clawing its way out from the darkness at Arthur’s feet. The creature was humanoid, its body wrapped in shifting black mist, its eyes glowing a malevolent red. Jagged, broken horns jutted from its skull, and its elongated fingers ended in wicked claws.
The demon-shadow moved faster than any human could react, throwing itself in the bullet’s path. The round embedded deep into its chest, and instead of blood, a thick, black smoke leaked from the wound. It barely flinched.
Its head turned toward Arthur, the eerie glow of its eyes flickering like dying embers.
"My lord..." it rasped, its voice an unnatural blend of multiple tones, layered and distorted.
Arthur’s gaze met its own, entirely unfazed. He barely even blinked. He simply sighed, glancing over his shoulder.
The moment Arthur’s shadow soldier emerged, the Titans froze.
Beast Boy’s ears flattened as he instinctively shifted back from his animal form to his human one, his wide green eyes fixed on the eerie figure. “Uhh… what the hell is that?”
Cyborg’s mechanical eye scanned the entity immediately, his systems working overtime to analyze it. “Okay… that thing ain't normal,” he muttered, shifting slightly to aim his arm cannon.
Robin’s body tensed, stepping between the shadow and the team out of pure instinct. He didn’t make any rash moves, but his stance was wary. “Arthur,” he said, voice low, controlled, “what the hell did you just summon?”
Arthur, as calm as ever, merely glanced at the being, then back at them. “Oh, him? He’s my soldier,” he answered nonchalantly, as if that explained everything.
The shadow soldier twitched slightly, its head turning toward Robin, its molten-red eyes flickering. It still had the bullet lodged in its chest, but the wound was already closing.
Robin stiffened but didn’t back down.
Raven, however, was the only one who didn’t seem particularly shocked. She crossed her arms, watching the scene unfold with a half-lidded expression. “Tch… I knew you had something like this.”
Arthur raised an eyebrow. “Oh? And what gave it away?”
Raven rolled her eyes. “Please. Your energy is so dark it looks like mine, the way you fight there’s something unnatural about it. I didn’t know exactly what, but I had my suspicions.”
Beast Boy looked between the two of them, then back at the creature. “So, wait this thing listens to you?”
The shadow turned its head toward Beast Boy, and its lips if it even had lips pulled into something that almost resembled a grin.
"My lord…" it repeated in that eerie, layered voice.
Beast Boy’s skin crawled. “Yeah, nope nope, I hate that.”
"Well, You are free to believe whatever you want" Arthur muttered before turning his attention back to where the sniper shot had come from. "No idea why my family’s name is on that crate, but i'll deal with it after we handle this."
Robin, ever the tactician, followed the bullet’s trajectory immediately. His masked eyes locked onto a rooftop overlooking the port. "Up there," he announced, reaching for his grappling gun.
The moment he pointed, a figure stepped into the dim lighting, standing at the edge of the rooftop with an almost casual posture. The moonlight gleamed off his signature half-black, half-orange mask.
"Slade," Robin growled.
Deathstroke tilted his head slightly, lowering his rifle now that his position was exposed. His voice carried with that same cold amusement he always had.
"Not bad, kid. But I wasn’t aiming to kill," he said, his eye shifting toward Arthur. "Yet."
