Chapter 10: The First Crack

The steel mill crouched on Blüdhaven's edge like a rusted titan, its smokestacks clawing at a moonless sky, skeletal and silent save for the hum of machinery within. Kai crouched on a ridge with the Titans and Slade, the morpher's faint glow cloaked under his sleeve. Below, Seekers swarmed like ants—dozens in black gear, hauling STAR Labs crates to a hulking machine at the mill's heart. Cables snaked from it, sparking green, and a low whine pulsed in the air, setting Kai's teeth on edge. Eclipso stood atop a catwalk, red eyes scanning the dark, cloak billowing as he barked orders.

Nightwing peered through binoculars, voice low. "That's an amplifier—big one. They're juicing something."

"My intel's solid," Slade said, adjusting a scope on his rifle. "It's a Grid tap—unstable as hell. They screw this, it levels half the city."

"Comforting," Gar muttered, shifted into a green hawk, wings twitching. "Plan?"

"Hit hard," Nightwing said, stowing the binoculars. "Kai, Slade, with me—center strike. Raven, Donna, Gar, flank and disrupt. Take out the supports, slow them down."

Kai nodded, morpher flaring as wolf form locked in—claws sharp, senses razor-edged. They descended, a silent avalanche. Kai hit the ground running, tearing into a Seeker with a snarl, claws rending Kevlar like paper. Nightwing landed beside him, escrima sticks sparking as he spun through gunfire, dropping foes with surgical precision. Slade was a shadow of death—sword flashing, a pistol barking in his off-hand, cutting a path with cold efficiency.

Raven floated left, dark tendrils lashing the machine's supports—steel groaned, bending under her power. Donna charged right, staff a whirlwind, smashing guards into walls, her strength shaking the floor. Gar, now a rhino, barreled through crates, splintering them with a bellow, green hide shrugging off bullets like rain.

Eclipso turned, locking on Kai. "You," he hissed, voice a blade through the chaos. He leapt down, landing with a thud that cracked the concrete, and blasted dark energy—black and thick, streaking toward Kai like oil. Kai shifted to hawk form, wings beating as he dodged, but the edge caught him, spinning him into a girder. Pain flared—Kaelric's wound echoing—and he crashed, armor sparking.

Nightwing shouted, "Kai, hold him!" and hurled a stick—Eclipso deflected it with a sneer. The machine whined louder, green light pulsing wild, cables fraying. Kai's morpher screeched, "Grid overload imminent—retreat advised!"

"No time!" Kai roared, wolf form surging back. He charged Eclipso, claws slashing—the figure parried with a dark-energy blade, laughing as sparks flew. "You're a shadow of the knight," Eclipso taunted. "Weak."

Raven's magic hit next, a wave of shadow slamming Eclipso back. Donna cracked the machine's base, and Gar—now a gorilla—ripped cables free. The whine peaked, a shriek of tortured energy, and the amplifier cracked—green light exploding outward. Kai tackled Nightwing out of the blast, armor tanking shrapnel that shredded his side, pain blooming hot and real. The mill shuddered, steel beams groaning as the roof sagged.

Seekers fled, piling into vans, Eclipso vanishing in the smoke. Slade was gone too—melted into the dark like a ghost. The Titans regrouped, coughing, battered—Raven's cloak torn, Donna limping, Gar panting as he shifted back. The machine smoked, half-dead, but green sparks danced in the rubble, alive and dangerous.

"They lost it," Nightwing said, wiping blood from his lip. "But they'll regroup."

Kai staggered up, armor flickering off, clutching his side—wet with blood, real this time, not Kaelric's ghost. The morpher's crystal gleamed, cracked deeper, its hum faltering. "It's breaking," he rasped, dread coiling tight. Kaelric's voice rang louder: Protect. The shard lives.

"Breaking how?" Donna asked, steadying him.

"Dunno," Kai said. "But it's mad—or scared."

Nightwing frowned, scanning the wreckage. "We need answers—fast. That tap wasn't just tech. It's tied to you."

Kai nodded, dizzy, the morpher's weight pulling him down. The Grid was fracturing—splinters of power leaking through time, through him. And if it broke, he wasn't sure what'd be left—of it, or him.