Titans Resistance #26

Henry Jennings was the first pirate to recognize the advantages of New Providence as a safe haven. Edward Teach (aka Blackbeard), Edward England, Christopher Condent, Ben Hornigold, Charles Vane, Calico Jack Rackham, Anne Bonny, and Stede Bonnet all visited the island. It was said when a pirate slept, he didn’t dream that he’d died and gone to heaven, he dreamed that he had once again returned to New Providence.
--L.L. Nazer-Basuil

Somalia's pirates are being hailed as heroes, and their hijacking of one of the world's largest ships is being celebrated as a victory on the dirt-poor African coast...Somali towns are among the poorest in the world, but the pirate havens at Haradhere, Eyl and Bossaso are thriving with ransom money, which has topped $30 million this year.
--Andy Soltis



“Insane,” Anarky whispered.

It wasn't a clean city, but it was clearly a prosperous one. Pirate flags and the orange-and-blue standard of Ravager herself (and presumably her father before her) fluttered in the night breeze.

The town was lit by various lightsources, from modern 'eco friendly' spiral bulbs all the way back to the archetypal torch, but the most popular lighting types seemed to be colored incandescent bulbs and neon.

“Nah 'narky,” Rose said, smiling. “It's not insane, its home.”

For once, Anarky wished Robin had been there. “It's like something out of a Disney film,” he said.

Terra laughed. “Somehow I don't think these pirates are anywhere that nice,” she grinned.

Nothing could offend Rose at the moment, it seemed. “More than one generation has grown up here knowing nothing else,” she said.

Beside her, Wintergreen nodded. “It is our culture and our home. This island, and others like it. But this is the largest.”

“I often wondered where you found your crews,” Anarky murmured.

Rose nodded cheerfully. “Some, of course, desert in ports or at sea. Even Markovians.”

“No surprise there,” Terra murmured.

“What, you never impress anyone?” Anarky said. It was just about the first time he had asked a question in a cautious tone, that any of them could remember. He was referring to the ancient practice of kidnapping sailors from other nations and forcing them to work on your own country's ships. A seaborne cousin of the shanghai concept.

Wintergreen scowled. Rose put up a hand to hold him back. “Why bother, Lonnie?” she asked Anarky, using his real name. “This world being as miserable and unhappy as it is, so often, why try to force people when they come willingly?”

“You are pirates,” he said, bitterly.

Wintergreen bunched up his fists; for an aging man, he was strong and fit. Anarky slipped back into the guard position, quarterstaff raised.

Rose put a hand on Anarky's shoulder. “And you're a 'terrorist' working with a pirate. Now tell me, Lonnie, which is worse?”

“I fight for--” Anarky began.

“Yes, we know,” Rose sighed. “But really, are you any better than me? But for the moment, skip that. The real question, Lonnie, is this.....why do you try so hard to push me away?”

Anarky lowered his staff, sighed, and backed off. Wintergreen continued to glare at him. Anarky looked at him a long moment, then turned to face Rose, inscrutable under his mask. “Two reasons. One, I find it very hard to trust anyone.”

“And second?” Rose prompted.

“Two, I find it very hard to believe you're interested in me. Even in purely sexual terms.”

“Because?” Rose frowned.

“Because I'm me.” And without further explanation he dissapeared below decks.

“Hope he doesn't want to stay down there while we're in dock,” Wintergreen said, controlling his anger.

Rose frowned at him where he went below decks. “He's sulking, is all. Full of piss and wind.”

“Want me to get him?” Terra asked.

Rose was still staring into the hold. “Not yet. I think he'll come along on his own.”

They turned back to the crowd, which was cheering, hooting and hollering for them. Rose smiled and waved back.

She is royalty here, Terra realized abruptly. To them she is Queen. Maybe we're more alike than I thought. In some ways, anyway.

Argent looked thoughtful and sad. Green Lantern was inscrutable, but he seemed fascinated. Deriven just smiled, surveying the scene.



They stepped off the ship (a reluctant and unhappy Anarky in the rear) into the roaring, cheering crowds. Ravager, Wintergreen, and some of the crew touched hands with the people, and then Rose stepped up to a podium with a microphone. Apparently she was expected to make a speech.

“We have sailed to Japan and smashed the Markovian war machine!” she announced into the microphone, and her voice resounded around the odd angled rat warren of streets. The people cheered. “With me are some of my allies who have helped us take blood and money from the Markovian tyrants!!” The people cheered louder. “But there are more, oh yes there are more!! And we will! NOT! STOP!!”

The crowed did more than cheer, more than scream; they roared, they bellowed, they positively howled their approval.

After a few more phrases of exhortation, she wound up by promising them that they would continue to grow rich of the 'foolish largess' of the Markovians, and that they would continue to be the pride and terror of the seas. A short, but effective speech.

She led the Titans and her crew down the street in a rag tag parade. The Titans looked around in varying degrees of bemusement as the crowd cheered and roared. There weren't as many as a big city throng, but of course this was a much smaller town, this pirate enclave. And what they lacked in numbers they made up for in enthusiasm.

“Your father built this place?” Terra shouted over the din.

Rose shook her head and grinned. “No, but he made it three times what it was,” she screamed back. “Talk inside!”



“I can't really see you having a throne room” Anarky murmured as they shut the noise and the din out.

“Not as such,” Rose readily agreed. “What would I do with one, anyway? But I do have several nice little rooms scattered around, one for each island holding. There are several, of course—and forgive me if I don't show you all of them—but this is the biggest and the best.”

The entry hall was actually made of marble, old enough to be done in Rose's father's time, rather than her own. There were a couple of small statues and even a fountain. All done on the cheap, of course; the Titans could tell that easily enough. But that someone had even bothered to do such a thing here spoke of a level of seriousness....of commitment.

“Easy enough to get new recruits for your fleets,” Green Lantern said, “But how about ships themselves? New ones, I mean?”

“Some we steal,” Rose admitted cheerfully. “Some we buy from what you would call 'military surplus' at relatively low prices. Some shipyards do profitable business with us, under the table.”

“Even American ones?” Anarky put in. “Robin wouldn't be terribly pleased by that.”

Rose looked back at him, unsure whether he was pleased or annoyed. It was hard to tell, more so than usual for him. “I'm sure he would learn to live with it,” she said, finally. “Most nations of the world consider us privateers against the Empire, which is essentially true. The American Government officially has nothing to do with us. Unofficially, daddy started out in their Navy and, while they would rather he took their orders, they are pleased how hard he hit the Markovians. At least, that's what he told me. I've never had any contact with the Americans outside of the occasional shipyard, and of course those of you that are Yanks.”

That last statement was a jolting reminder for Terra that, for all that Rose might sound American, she was most emphatically not one. She was the bastard child of a pirate nation and it's ruler as well, and damn proud of it.

I'd never seen her so alive as today, amongst her people, Terra realized.

As usual, Argent was the quiet one. But she was amazed at the relative affluence, so far removed from the slave labor she had known for most of her life.

Deriven, for his part, was enduring all of this patiently, wanting mostly to find a way to contact the Atlanteans, an idea he knew Rose was less than hot on.



Rose led them to dinner, an odd mixture of fish and various flavors of boiled noodle, but surprisingly no crab, fish, or shrimp. Salads were also in abundance, lettuce-carrot-onion combinations, mostly. Ship rations were one thing, this was something else.

“Didn't think you could grow much vegetables on these islands,” Green Lantern said around a mouthful of greens.

“The soil is fertile,” Rose answered. “There simply isn't very much of it. We trade and raid for it too, of course.”

Anarky pushed his mask up to eat his food, and ate silently and almost morosely. He caught Rose smiling at him a couple times, and sank even lower in his chair.


“You said your father made this place three times what it was,” Deriven prompted.

She nodded. “In those days, it was nothing more than an anchorage; a place pirates used to harbor their ships. There were a few wooden huts used in the warmer months, but that was all. He encouraged them to build, provided money, materials. Now there are over fourteen thousand here, and growing every year.”

“The island can sustain the population?” Lantern asked.

Rose nodded again. “We've got years of room to grow. Only real problem is if the Markovians find this place. Improving the defenses is one of my priorities. Dad just unified the pirates; his idea of defense was good offense. Which of course works, but only up to a point.”

“Worldwide?” Deriven asked.

Rose grimaced at him. “Why do I get the feeling you ask that question already knowing the answer?”

Deriven only grinned in response.

Rose snorted and went on. “It's true that daddy united pirates around the globe. But not all of them. Naturally, some valued their independence.”

“What action did he take against them?” Anarky asked softly.

“If you mean did he do anything to them directly, nothing. He just hit their targets before they could. There are plenty still out there, of course”

Anarky sunk into silence for the remainder of the meal and ate his food.




Anarky looked around Rose's personal bedroom unhappily. She had “invited” him, no surprise there.

Whereas Terra had felt something of a common bond with Rose due to her “royalty”, however pirate and rag-tag it might be, for Anarky it was an even further distancing. Terra, at least, had given up her throne of blood and tears....Rose proudly sat on hers. She was an elite, an authority, everything Anarky fought against....

...she was behind him.

He turned and looked at her. She had shed her armor—something she almost never did in front of any of them—and was wearing nothing but blue lingerie.

Is everything she wears blue or orange? The thought fleetingly crossed his mind. Granted, it was not the main thought running through his head at that moment.

He could see some of her battle scars. A thin brown line across her flat, toned belly, a bullet wound in her left thigh. And he could see the deep bone bruise on her right arm—he knew about that one, at least. Robin had said she'd gotten that during the siege of Markovia.

“I'm pleased you came,” she said, softly.

“I was ordered,” he replied.

She shook her head. “You could have refused.”

“And then you'd have come to my room instead, yes?” he snapped.

He was hoping still to aggravate her, push her away, but instead it backfired; a wry smile tugged at her mouth. “Probably,” she conceded.

He made a frustrated noise.

She stalked around him slowly, making sure he saw her from every angle, then slowly turned to face him. He swallowed nervously.

“Tell me the truth, Lonnie,” she said. “Is it really your ideology that makes you hate me.....or do you really just hate yourself? Or is it just stupid male pride?”

He wanted to lie, to try even harder to push her away. He couldn't really manage. “All of the above,” he finally said, which was more or less true.

She shook her head. “By your reckoning, we're all tyrants, no?”

“Or tyrants waiting to happen,” he allowed.

“So why work with any of us? Why not just hide yourself away and be a real terrorist, and blow stuff up?”

“I tried the hiding away part. Didn't work.” He didn't want to elaborate on that one, either. “And I try to protect people that aren't tyrants, from those that are. So maybe they can one day learn....”

“To be free?” Rose shook her head. “Only way to be free is to take hold of it with both hands.”

“From someone else,” he said bitterly.

“That's life. Let me ask you again, ideology, or pride?”

“Both. Like I said before. And anyway, it was one thing when you were just a pirate. But you rule them, like a nation unto itself.”

“And I'm proud of that,” she said.

“Yes, I'm sure you are.”

She blew out a sigh. “I'll give you credit, Lonnie. You're trying real hard to push me away.”

“Not hard enough, apparently,” he grumbled.

“You could say no. I'd have to respect that,” she pointed out.

He actually turned to the door, hesitating. Then he kicked the doorframe, twice, hard. And cursed, profoundly.”

“Feel better?” she asked dryly, truly annoyed that he'd damaged the doorframe but not showing it.

“Not really,” he admitted.

Slowly she stalked around him again and slowly closed the door. He didn't object, but stood there with his head down. “Man cannot live by ideology alone,” she said, one eye twinkling. He didn't answer.

She gently pulled his mask free; he twitched, but didn't try to put it back on. She tossed it aside, and his hat, too.

Lonnie Machin's tired, frustrated face stared back at her. “Let me ask you something,” he said.

“Sure.”

“Is it just sex to you, or is it more?”

She smiled. “Let's say I'm always willing to consider my options. Could be more, or not. Only one way to find out.”

She pushed him onto the bed, hard, then pounced after him.

Almost as an afterthought, she reached over and turned out the lights.



The city was much clearer to see by daylight. It had the chaotic semi-spiderweb pattern of an ancient European town, but made in cheap, modern stucco. Deathstroke had clearly been concerned with enduring material made fast.

Anarky was even more subdued in the morning than he had been at night, but he wasn't angry anymore. Perhaps sad, perhaps musing. Only Deriven knew for sure, and he wasn't talking. Rose certainly didn't understand what was in Lonnie's head. Only that he doubted his own desirability. Which she didn't trouble herself over; her tastes weren't limited to the commercial ideal model of a man. But that was last night, and in the new day she was looking to the future.

“Feel free to look around,” she advised them, “You're under special protection as you're with me, besides I'm pretty sure you can take care of yourselves. Later, we'll head out again, and you'll help me with some more acts of piracy.” She turned a teasing smirk on Anarky. “If there are no moral objections, of course?”

Anarky just hung his head.

“I will give you whatever help you require,” Deriven pledged, “But I still want to try to contact the Atlanteans.”

“Yes I know,” Rose scowled. “The thing you need to understand is the Atlanteans may not want to talk to you, Mage of Fate or not. They really have no patience for the surface world at all, and deal with us only at need.”

“I can only try,” Deriven answered.

Rose surveyed the rest of them; Argent only shrugged. Terra said, “You know there's no problem hitting the Empire.”

That seemed to settle it.



Terra and Rose walked off together, Anarky trailing some distance behind.

“He seems guilty,” Terra commented.

“His idealism is at odds with his hormones,” Rose smirked. “I've never known a man to struggle so much with himself. I almost thought he was going to refuse me. Also he seems to have a self-image problem.”

“And what of us, are we friends again?” Terra asked cautiously.

“We always were,” Rose assured her. “You just need to learn to be....stronger. Robin, for all his sanctimoniousness, has at least got that one figured out. I put it down to his training, really. Even Anarky has it, though not enough of it, yet.”

Terra shook her head. “I still don't understand.”
Rose frowned, not because she was angry, but because she was trying to put the idea into words. “You lived an easy life, Princess. I know that you turned against it, but luxury and ease is what you know. You don't know what hardship is, not really.” She put a hand up to stop Terra's protest. “I'm not talking about battle. I'm talking about knowing how much life can suck. In fact, the person I think can explain it to you best? Is Argent. We'll talk more later.”

Terra watched as Rose wandered over to Anarky, took him by the arm, and led him away.

Terra shook her head. For all their friendship, she wasn't sure she would ever understand the Pirate Queen.



Green Lantern made a conscious effort not to use his ring to float up and away over the city, to get a birds-eye view. Instead he walked it, listening to the people talk, seeing the street vendors. Getting the feel of the city.

Well, large town, really. But within the pirate scheme of things, it was the closest thing to a capital they had. He heard talk about the foolishness of so many nations, not being honest about their own piracy down the years; pride in their 'nation', admiration of the 'Queen', and an undercurrent of mourning for her old man that had been lost, who had meant so much to them....and to her.

There were no schools that he could see. Everything they learned, they learned from their parents....or on the ships as they fought to steal what they wanted. There was a large support and service industry from what he could see, but it was haphazard, and he got the impression that life on land and piracy at sea were interchangeable. How did they function without proper industry?

Supergirl would have found it fascinating, but of course Supergirl wasn't here. Privately, Lantern thought she was still spooked by Deriven. For him, he rather suspected that both Alan Scott and the Guardians would want to talk to that worthy eventually.

He heard a shout from Rose, and realized the sociology lesson was over. Sighing, he headed back to the ship.

He had a feeling their real battles on Rose's behalf had only begun.



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