The warehouse district felt like a graveyard at eleven-thirty PM. Abandoned buildings cast long shadows under flickering streetlights, and the only sound was wind rattling through broken windows. Hikaru perched on a rooftop three buildings away from the designated meeting point, wings retracted, and every sense focused on the empty loading dock below.
"Radio check," Robin's voice crackled through his earpiece. "Sound off."
"Position Alpha, ready," Donna confirmed from the north.
"Position Beta, in place," Cyborg reported from the south.
"Position Gamma, good to go," Kid Flash added from the west.
"Position Delta, waiting," Beast Boy muttered from the east, his tone still flat when it came to anything involving Terra.
"Position Epsilon, prepared," Starfire said softly from above.
"Position Zeta, set," Raven confirmed from the shadows.
"Position Omega, ready," Hikaru finished, scanning the area one more time. They'd positioned themselves in a hexagonal formation around the meeting point—nothing Deathstroke would expect from their usual tactical patterns.
"Terra?" Robin asked.
A pause. Then: "I'm here."
Hikaru could see her standing alone in the center of the loading dock, shoulders squared despite the tremor he knew ran through her hands. She'd insisted on no backup visible, no obvious tells that might warn Slade. Just her, apparently isolated, waiting to deliver the false intelligence they'd spent two weeks crafting.
The data drive in her pocket contained fabricated information about Titans Tower's security upgrades, patrol schedules, and supposed weaknesses in their defensive systems. Everything designed to look authentic while actually setting Deathstroke up for failure if he ever attempted another assault.
If this worked.
If Slade didn't see through the deception.
If Terra could hold it together long enough.
Hikaru's fingers brushed the hilt of his father's sword, eager for the fight ahead. They'd agreed he would stay hidden until Slade fully committed—their ace in the hole, the one element Deathstroke hadn't analyzed in detail during the previous attack.
"Movement," Raven's voice cut through the silence. "Southeast, rooftop."
Hikaru's eyes snapped to the location. A shadow detached from the darkness, moving with predatory grace across the roofline. Even from this distance, the orange and black was unmistakable.
Deathstroke had arrived.
The mercenary dropped from the building, landing in the loading dock with barely a sound despite the thirty-foot fall. He straightened slowly, his single visible eye fixed on Terra with unreadable intensity.
"You're early," Slade said, his voice carrying easily across the space. "Eager to report?"
Terra lifted her chin, and Hikaru felt a flash of pride at the steadiness in her voice. "I have what you wanted. Security layouts, patrol schedules, everything."
"Do you?" Slade tilted his head slightly, and something about the gesture made Hikaru's instincts scream warning. "That's interesting."
"What's interesting about it?" Terra's hand moved toward her pocket. "You hired me to gather intelligence. I gathered it."
"You did." Slade took a single step forward. "The question is: when were you going to tell me you betrayed me?"
The loading dock went silent.
Terra's face drained of color. "I don't—"
"Please." Slade's tone carried amusement now, cold and cutting. "Don't insult my intelligence further. Did you really think I wouldn't notice the pattern changes? The sudden shift in your reporting schedule? The convenient timing of your information?"
"She's made," Robin hissed through the comm. "Everyone hold position. Wait for my signal."
Hikaru's muscles tensed. Below, Terra had frozen, trapped between fight and flight.
"I've known for two weeks," Slade continued conversationally, circling her like a predator toying with prey. "Since the that piece of 'intelligence' you fed me about their communications frequency. A clever fabrication, I'll admit. Almost believable."
"Then why—" Terra's voice cracked. "Why let me keep going?"
"Because, my dear apprentice—" Slade stopped directly in front of her, close enough that she had to tilt her head back to meet his eye. "—your friends walked into MY trap."
The word detonated in Hikaru's mind like a bomb.
"Robin—" he started.
The explosions answered before he could finish.
Fire erupted from six different points around the loading dock's perimeter—precisely where each Titan had positioned themselves. Hikaru saw Donna's silhouette thrown backward by the blast from the north. Heard Cyborg's yell of surprise cut off as debris rained down from the south. Watched Beast Boy's position to the east collapse in a cloud of dust and flame.
"SCATTER!" Robin's voice screamed through the comm, barely audible over the roaring explosions. "It's a—"
The transmission died in a burst of static.
Hikaru didn't think. He dove off the rooftop, wings spreading wide as he transformed into light mid-flight. The world blurred into streaks of color as he shot toward the loading dock at an impossible speed, every fiber of his being focused on one target.
Slade.
But when Hikaru reformed at ground level, sword already swinging in a devastating arc, the mercenary was gone. Only Terra remained, standing frozen in shock as fires burned around them and the sounds of his teammates struggling filtered through the smoke.
"No, no, no—" Terra's voice broke into panic. "This wasn't supposed to—they weren't supposed to—"
Another explosion tore through a building to the west. Then one from the north. Carefully orchestrated detonations designed to separate them, contain them, eliminate their numerical advantage.
Slade's voice echoed from hidden speakers, surrounding them from every direction:
"Let's see how well your team fights when I control the battlefield.