The flight to Chinatown was excruciating, to say the least. Being forced to sit still when he was getting pre-fight adrenaline was not a very comfortable experience in Luke’s books. His knees rose up and down in a frenzy of excitement. The longer he stayed quiet, the more unbearable the wait became. He was desperate to talk to one of his teammates. Much to his chagrin, he was prevented from doing so by Rose Wilson, a.k.a. Ravager, who began briefing the Titans on the alien bounty hunter, Lobo. He knew of the guy and what he was capable of, and he was confident that the team could take him on (assuming that they worked together), but the confirmation that he was who they’d be facing only added to his jitters. As much as he was itching for a fight, Luke was only a street-level hero; while he had powers, there was no way that he could last against someone as powerful and unhinged as Lobo. He’ll be damned, but the hot-headed Sentinel seemed to be their only solid chance at beating the Czarnian. 

The T-Wing touched down and Rose was quick to shout orders, assigning Sandstorm, Accelerate, Microbat and Sentinel with taking Lobo down, the latter inspiring a strange feeling of relief. Despite his often repulsive personality, the young Kryptonian was a good asset to the team, one that Luke was glad was on his side.

The Titans were quick to launch into action; Alpha Team starting to dispatch an almost amphibious-looking alien encased in a mech suit. Luke was impressed by Magi’s quick thinking, using a spell to transform noodles into chains to bind the extraterrestrial, allowing the rest of Alpha to launch quick attacks without worrying about defence. Rhea was quick to get innocents out, ridding the team of any chance of collateral damage. Simone, or Pistolera, the gun-slinging badass, unloaded round after round at her target, before discarding her namesakes in favour of a fragmentation grenade, the sound of the explosion deafening. However, the damage seemed to stop there, the smoke clearing to reveal an undamaged and angry alien. Before Alcarez could get hurt, Ariel the water-woman summoned as much liquid as she could, blasting the mech suit with it, the fluid seeping into it and possibly damaging its circuits in the process. Now that was teamwork. 

The same couldn’t be said for Luke’s group. Team Bravo was in a state of aggressive chaos, Sentinel shouting orders before charging into Lobo with a ferocity Luke had never seen before. “Accelerate, aim for the backs of his knees; hit him hard and hit him fast. Sandstorm, try to blind him! Microbat, disarm him and keep civilians safe.” 

Accelerate seemed to like Sentinel’s idea, dashing out of the restaurant only to come right back, his blurry form barely visible as he hit the back of Lobo’s leg with a savage kick, lowering the Czarnian onto his knees. Microbat followed up, deviating from orders, triggering the fire alarm along with the sprinkler system, delivering an ear-shattering scream that blew Lobo away, sending him flying into a plethora of dining tables and chairs, the furniture splintering as he collided with it. Recovering from the blow, he was incensed, his pale face set in an expression of rage carved from stone. He did seem a little out of it, though; Eric’s sonic shriek was more effective than Luke anticipated.

Sandstorm took this as his chance. Sentinel wanted Lobo blinded? He will be. But why stop there? 

Water ran down his back in rivulets, the sprinkler system’s spray never-ending. Curling his forefingers, he beckoned the sand out of its pouch, only to notice that it had clumped together into a brown mass, dampened by the water. It had somehow seeped into the pouch, turning the sand into mud. [i][color=f7941d]Dammit, Eric. Who the hell do you think I am, [b]Mudstorm?[/b][/color][/i]

But it was no problem. As long as there was sand, there was hope, and Luke sent the mud flying into Lobo’s eyes, replicating it until it covered his entire body, no patch of skin visible, filling his mouth with the grainy texture of damp sand. He then willed it to harden, the mud solid as rock, restricting Lobo’s movement, at least for the time being.

[color=f7941d]“Accel! Bat! Sentinel! It’s up to you guys now. Work together. [i]Don’t get carried away.[/i]”[/color]