Teen Titans #65: "Team Powerstar, part three"

-2-

One of the many features Lex's armor had was a stealth/invisibility mode. He knew that Cyborg would be able to detect his presence, but not who he was, or what he was capable of. Until he chose to reveal himself.

Team Powerstar did a short, angry broadcast, with Hunter X as spokesman, calling the Titans out, challenging them to meet them in an abandoned industrial district in the town of Yonkers. The media would show, both groups knew that; but they would keep a respectful distance. They'd had decades to cover super powered battles. Just never one so formally pre-arranged.

They met at the middle of a four way intersection, the pavement cracked, weeds growing through. The nearest functional business was six blocks away, and they had evacuated without anyone needing to specifically tell them.

“So where's your boss?” Nightwing asked as he came face to face with Hunter X.

That worthy smirked. “Oh, he's around.”

“There is an additional person present,” Cyborg agreed. “But I can't detect any details.”

“As we anticipated,” Mysterion sneered.

There was a long pause as the groups eyed each other up, staring with hate and wariness. The distant thump of media helicopters only added to the tension. The setting sun was blocked out by the buildings. In the west, a storm cloud was gathering, but everyone was fairly confident the fight would be over well before it arrived.

Nightwing glanced at his team; no instructions. They had discussed strategy on the way here, and everyone was as ready as they could be. The hidden “bonus” Powerstar member was no real surprise, though they had no idea who it was.

After a long, dangerous pause, Blackfire started the hostilities by attacking her sister. As Nightwing moved to intercept Hunter X, an armored fist crashed into his jaw.

Instinctively, Nightwing danced left, then turned to face the foe. His jaw dropped. “Lex Luthor?!?”

“None other,” his adversary agreed, and lashed out with both fists.

-4-

It wasn't a race, this time.

This time, Carom and Kid Flash were right in each others faces, using their speed to physically attack each other, punching and kicking.

“Face it,” Kid Flash said, “I've got the edge in experience.”

“Didn't Terra tell you what I'm capable of?” Carom sneered, and started to vibrate his hand through Kid Flash's side.

Kid Flash matched his vibration, slipped off and punched him in the face, healing from what little harm Carom had done instantly. “I've fought evil speedsters before. Like I said; experience.”

“Like I said,” Carom countered, “Whatever it takes.” And he unleashed a barrage of high speed punches that Kid Flash was hard pressed to defend against.

They danced in a high speed parallelogram around the other combatants. Kid Flash was as startled to see Lex as Nightwing had been; but he wasted no thought on it. He simply focused on Carom. To do otherwise would be fatal. He had not lied when he said he had the edge in experience; but that did not mean he could afford to underestimate Carom, either.

-6-

Beast Boy dodged Hunter X's attacks, slithering around him in snake form. “Sorry you didn't get to face Nightwing personally?”

“Nah. Lex wanted to take him out. But that's fine, so long as I get paid.”

He tried to stomp Beast Boy flat, but the Changeling responded by turning into a giant scorpion and lashing out at him with a stinger. “So what, you don't have a personal vendetta? You're just a hired thug? How dull.”

“Better dull than stupid,” Hunter X said, and met the Changeling's stinger with a powerful taser. Beast Boy screamed and collapsed, shifting back to human.

“Too easy,” He sneered, picking Beast Boy and drawing his blade to slit his throat.

The Changeling shifted to a bear and slashed at his face, ripping his mask off. “TOO EASY IS RIGHT!” he roared. “I was playing possum!” He swatted the man down, hard. “And I won't ask forgiveness for the pun, either!” He planted one massive paw on Hunter X's chest, and examined his face. It was not Deathstroke, or the 'Dark Knight' nor even Zucco, who had faced the Titans as part of that other rival group, the Godhead. It was the hardened face of a mercenary of many battles, but it was no one he knew. No one that Nightwing had told him to expect.

Hunter-X coughed, then smiled painfully, observing his scrutiny. “Just a job, kid.” Feebly, he dropped a pellet. There was a flash of smoke, and when Beast Boy's vision had cleared, Hunter-X was gone.

-8-

Raven faced off against the rival sorcerer Melchior, and the chaotic probability manipulator that was Jinx. Either alone, she was sure she could handle. But both together?

Melchior cast a fireball at her, but she teleported away. Jinx twitched her fingers, but her 'bad luck' entropy couldn't affect someone she couldn't target.

“Find her,” Jinx snapped to Melchior.

He nodded, eyes unfocused. “She's teleporting around.” Then he stiffened. “Watch out!”

Raven's soul self draped itself over Jinx. She was filled with despair, and she could feel Raven rooting through her memories. Raven couldn't read minds, but she could study a person's past memories, if they were strong enough.

Frantically, Jinx stabbed blindly into the darkness with her power, trying to do harm to Raven's soul self, but only succeeded in given the empath a headache.

Melchior, meanwhile, dropped a fireball on the shadow of Raven's soul-self, hoping to harm her in turn. He gave no thought to Jinx's safety; they were soldiers, fighting a war to destroy the enemy, and casualties were expected. That was why Jinx had been so frantic to throw off Raven herself, as she knew Melchior would take whatever methods were necessary.

But as it happened, Melchior's tactic worked perfectly; Raven's soul self retreated, leaving Jinx unharmed by the fire.

“Stop hiding, witch!” Jinx screamed. “Come out and fight!”

“Er, I wouldn't advise that...” Melchior began.

Raven teleported in, grabbed Jinx, and teleported out. Melchior cursed.

Raven had teleported up into the air, above the town, though still far below the battle of the Tamaranean sisters. Jinx was in a bind; if she used her powers on Raven now, she herself would certainly be affected too. But in her mind, she had no choice; either she took the risk, or let Raven beat her. So she lashed out with her power, and Raven howled in pain.

They fell. Jinx started frantically casting ill luck at the ground, hoping to rot the pavement and cushion the fall. But it was no use, and she knew it. In her desperation to kill Raven, she had instead doomed herself.

Or so she thought. Raven recovered enough to grab her and teleport once more, inside one of the ruined buildings.

“Sleep,” Raven intoned.

Protesting, fingers twitching feebly as she still tried to counter attack, Jinx slumped into unconsciousness.

Before Raven could teleport away again, Melchior blasted open the wall and stalked through, summoning horrors from the lower planes, things that would at least know who Raven's father was.

Raven sent a shockwave of magic at him, but he shielded. He twisted his fingers, and trapped her in a sphere of magic. “Not even you can escape from this,” he sneered.

Raven tried to send her soul self out, but it would not pass through.

“See?” Melchior grinned, and clenched a fist. The sphere started to contract.

Raven tried to teleport, but it was no use. So she reached out and touched the sphere. It burned, but she ignored that. She focused, and pulled.

The sphere did not break, instead it became malleable. She opened it and stepped through.

Melchior stared in disbelief. He fired three lightning bolts at her, which her soul self easily absorbed. She tossed his own sphere at him; it connected with his head and he fell, rolling around, groaning in pain.

She commanded him to sleep, just as she had Jinx.

-10-

Scarlet Wing soared, dodging a hail of bullets from Gunnery Girl.

“I thought we got along!” she shouted.

Gunnery Girl shrugged. “We do. Sorry, this is just business. Nothing personal.”

She hurled a grenade at Scarlet Wing, who hurled an eggsplosive in turn; the combined blast knocked Gunnery Girl flat, and sent Scarlet Wing spinning skywards. Both were stunned, but not out.

Groggily, Gunnery Girl got up as Scarlet Wing fluttered back down towards her, dazed. She raised a machine pistol, but Scarlet Wing kicked it away.

So Gunnery Girl grabbed her by the foot.

Instinctively, Scarlet Wing took off. But Gunnery Girl hung on like grim death to that one boot, drawing a small blade with her other hand.

Scarlet Wing was shy and nice, but she wasn't stupid, nor was she weak. Even before joining the Titans, she had been trained in hard combat.

So she kicked Gunnery Girl in the head, hard, three times.

But Gunnery Girl was also tougher than she looked. Shaken, dazed, and bleeding from the nose, she nevertheless managed to slash Scarlet Wing's left leg, twice.

Gritting her teeth, Scarlet Wing flapped out with her wings, soaring at full speed. It was all Gunnery Girl could do to keep her grip.

Then Scarlet Wing flipped in the air and kicked out.

Gunnery Girl lost her grip and fell, landing hard. Dazed, she barely saw Scarlet Wing coming in, to plant her boots in her face.

-12-

Nightwing was having a hard time with Lex. The villain had been fighting metas for years, and his armor protected against most mundane attacks. Nightwing had fought villains in powered armor before, but Lex was no ordinary powered armor villain. He'd taken two hard shots to the face, and was bleeding from the mouth. Meanwhile, Lex's own head, while exposed, was protected by some sort of force field.

Nightwing had resorted to his utility belt, but Lex seemed to be able to counter most of those tricks too. Only his EM pulse generator had done any good—a gift from Cyborg—and even that had done little more than to unsettle the villain.

He was forced to admit, at least to himself, that he had to hold on until one of the others had beaten their foe and came to help him.

He tried four more strikes against Luthor, to no avail.

“You foolish boy,” Luthor sneered. “I've gone toe to toe with Superman. What are you to me?”

Nightwing wiped the blood from his mouth. “Someone who protects humanity far better than you ever will. Someone who's everything you pretend to be, and none of the things you are.”

“Fitting last words,” Luthor said. “I'll give you that.”

He wound up for a punch. Nightwing threw a small silver disc at him. Luthor batted it away contemptuously, but it clung to his armored hand and sent powerful electric currents into his system....which naturally Lex's armor neutralized.

“A futile gest--” Lex began, but then a new wave of orange energy arced out and burnt into the armor. Again, the suit insulated and protected Lex, but even so he was severely damaged.

Lex's mouth dropped open. For one of the few times in his life, he was speechless.

“Remember the time crisis? No, I suppose you don't. Very handy trick I picked up from an alternate Earth, there.” Nightwing grinned, then before Lex could regain his composure, he followed up with a leaping kick to the chin.

Lex stumbled backwards sat down, hard. He lashed out with his right arm...but the burnt armor no longer functioned. So he lashed out with his left, and a bolt of ice flew at Nightwing, who cartwheeled sideways.

It was at that point that Scarlet Wing flew in and kicked Lex in the head.

Still the super villain would not fall unconscious. So it was that an unconscious Carom was hurled into him by Kid Flash.

They were starting to relax. With Lex down, it was surely almost over.

Then a short sword ripped through Carrie's left wing. Hunter X's blade. Scarlet Wing screamed and stumbled forward. Kid Flash was there instantly, pummeling Hunter X. Nightwing, his shoulder still dislocated by Lex, stumbled forward to help finish the job.

It was at that point that Starfire and Blackfire came back to earth, their own long battle still incomplete. They crashed into Nightwing, literally, and he felt his left leg twist. There was a flare of pain and agony.

Blackfire stumbled to her feet first. She blasted both Kid Flash and Scarlet Wing. Kid Flash almost got out of the way in time; the starbolt was only partly effective, and sent him tumbling. But Scarlet Wing took it right in the chest. She was knocked down hard. Absolutely unconscious. Maybe worse.

Dagon pounced on Blackfire from behind and bit into her shoulder, feeding. Her alien blood was not ideal, but digestible. Blackfire screamed in rage and reached back to pull him off, but as she did, Starfire gave her hated sister not one, not two, but three starbolts in close succession. The impact of the first knocked Dagon clear; the second and third put Blackfire down.

Starfire loomed over her sister, her face a mask of rage and pain.

Nightwing painfully hobbled over to her. He didn't say anything about not killing her, but he did put a hand on her shoulder.

She looked at him, green eyes blazing. Then, slowly and reluctantly, she said, “She can give us information on Citadel occupation of our planet.”

“She won't give into interrogation easily,” Nightwing said.

Starfire smiled. It was not a pleasant smile. “I will supervise. And Dagon can assist me.”

“I can heal many here,” Raven said, panting, “But not all.”

“How is Scarlet Wing?” Terra asked, floating over on her rock.

Cyborg scanned her. “Unconscious, some bleeding, second degree burns. Needs attention the most.”

“Kid Flash, take her to STAR,” Nightwing said. “Raven can handle the rest.”

As Troia wrapped Blackfire up in her lasso, Starfire helped Dagon up. “Sorry about that.”

“Not at all,” the vampire said. “Worked brilliantly.” He had healed from his assorted injuries from his feeding, and was only sore and bruised.

Cyborg frowned. “Energy readings surging!”

There was an electrical crackle behind him. Nightwing turned painfully, and saw Lex was gone. “Teleporter,” he spat. “Can you trace it?”

“Trail leads toward Toronto, but it's fading fast. Probably a random teleport.”

Kid Flash returned at that moment, and followed the trace, but Lex was gone by the time he got there. The trail led west, out of Cyborg's scanning range.

The Titans had won, but they didn't feel much like celebrating. Cyborg and Starfire helped the wounded Nightwing away.

-14-

Three floors up from the prison cells, Scarlet Wing was receiving STAR's best medical care.

She was still unconscious, an oxygen mask strapped to her face. The wound to her wing was bad, but easily treatable. It was the starbolt to the chest that had done more harm. She would be hospitalized for at least a week, possibly more.

She was still unconscious. Not because she couldn't wake up; they were keeping her sedated so she wouldn't feel the pain until necessary.

The medics were concerned, but confident of her recovery. All it would take was time.