Titans: The Resistance #36

Everyone’s quick to blame the alien.
Aeschylus

I don’t think the human race will survive the next thousand years, unless we spread into space. There are too many accidents that can befall life on a single planet. But I’m an optimist. We will reach out to the stars.
Stephen Hawking


-1-

Geo-Force walked warily into the Space Research Center.

After his latest failure against his sister, his mother had been angry, but not at him. It was more of a general frustration that Terra was still alive. It was clear she did not blame him; she knew from the testimony of the soldiers who had survived Rome that he had done his best to kill his sister. And, as Terra had correctly surmised, Petra would not kill the heir to the throne. Oh, there were various cousins, nephews, nieces and even in-laws she could name as heir if pressed; but she wanted to do no such thing if it could be helped. Petra was very much an advocate of continuing the Markov direct line, something Geo-Force did not see as strictly necessary.

There were many things she advocated that Brion did not consider ‘strictly necessary’.

But even so, he had expected some kind of disciplinary action at least. But all he got was a reassignment to the space program she had introduced him to earlier. In her opinion, there was much to be gained in space exploration; or as she put it, spreading the Empire beyond Earth itself, with the Moon (which she insisted be called Markovia Luna) as a starting point.

Empress Petra had known for some time that aliens were real. Terra had one on her team, and there was also the long-known existence of the Green Lantern Corps, which had human members who served alien masters (another concern of Petra’s) and who gained from them their powers. This pointed to the existence of at least two alien races. And where there were two, there were almost certainly more.

And upon Geo-Force’s return and recovery from Rome, she had informed them that they had since captured one.

Today he was going to see the ‘subject’ for the first time.

The subject had, the Empress told him, not been terribly helpful in their efforts so far. Not that they needed it for the initial launch; that was mere weeks away now. But for subsequent launches, improvement of their technology generally....yes, Mother was very interested and determined in that line.

There had been no hard interrogation....yet. Just confinement and limited rations. Fortunately, the creature seemed to be able to eat their food. While it could digest human foodstuffs, it clearly had some trouble with them, and the Empress wasn’t honestly sure if it was getting enough nutrition out of them to survive. Time would tell, of course. But not even the Empress was surprised that such treatment had caused their pet alien to be less than forthcoming with any useful information.

So The Empress, in addition to placing him in charge of the space program, had ordered him to see their prisoner, to give the creature the ‘soft touch’ that she hoped would get the alien to crack; or at least open up a little.

“The creature appears superficially human, save for the skin tone and its eyes,” the Empress had told him. “Like a refugee from one of those pathetic American science-fantasy shows. But do not be deceived; it is alien, and if its people were ever to discover Earth, they would invade and destroy us. Make sure it softens to you; do not soften to it in exchange. Be strong, Brion. If we achieve this, even your sister’s rebellion will be as nothing before what we can do then.”

With this description and warning in mind, Brion warily headed into the prison area. It wasn’t labeled such, of course. They called it the “Xenobiology Bureau.” He was long since past being amused at his mother’s euphemisms.

He passed through the three security checks necessary, then entered the elevator and began the long journey down; five levels. Clearly Mother had been building this facility for years, long before Tara’s Resistance. Possibly even before Tara had been born. The facility was almost as old as Brion himself, he judged.

Finally, he reached the alien specimen level. The doors opened, and he stepped out.

Only robotic guards down here; next generation Rocket-Men, with no humans inside. They could be remote-controlled or operate on their own pre-programmed AI. Normally such technology would not be wasted on guard duty, but their prisoner rated such guardianship, Petra said.

“Where is the prisoner?” he demanded.

“Cell Eight, my Prince,” the left hand Rocket-Man droned in its robot voice.

Brion snorted and stepped through.

When he saw the creature in its cell, a golden force-field serving as bars, his jaw dropped in shock.

-2-

What the Titans often forgot was that Eric Gardner was a Green Lantern first and foremost. Sometimes he would disappear for days and weeks at a time. At first they had assumed that he was visiting the Justice Society. Later it became clear that most of the time he was patrolling his “sector” of the Galaxy (which included Earth).

But it was Supergirl who detected the landfall first.

She had heard the ship going down in the atmosphere, but she had been on the other side of the planet at the time. By the time she flew around, it had landed.....in Markovia.

Lantern had confirmed her findings. The alien was humanoid, he could tell that much. And deep underground, in some kind of prison.

“So why didn’t you two bust in and get the alien out then?” Ravager asked as they stood aboard the deck of the Sweet Lilli. “Surely neither one of you needs permission from Terra to do your thing?”

“Several reasons,” Supergirl said. “First of all, remember what happened to me the last time I went off on my own without waiting for backup.”

Ravager nodded. “Yeah, I remember. What else?”

“I should be able to tell what kind of alien it is,” Supergirl frowned, “but I can’t. The cell appears to be lead-lined.”

“I didn’t know you couldn’t see through lead,” Ravager said raising an eyebrow.

“It took me a few weeks on your planet before I figured that out,” Supergirl admitted somewhat shamefacedly. “As a scientist I should have considered that possibility.”

Ravager thought that maybe Supergirl was blindly worshipping science again, and waited for Deriven to chime in. But that worthy was still staring out to sea, trying to contact the Atlanteans, as he was wont to do.

“There is also the fact that I can’t detect exactly what kind of alien it is,” Green Lantern said, “which I should be able to. I think the Empire might be ready for us this time.”

“Which means going in with anything less than a full party would be a bad idea,” Ravager agreed, sighing as she saw their logic. “All right, let’s contact the Princess, the Boy Wonder and my idealist idiot boyfriend. But this time,” and here she leveled an accusing finger, “I’m risking neither my ship nor doing this disguise business.”

-3-

Robin had actually been doing what he originally thought he would be doing when he first put on the suit. What he had trained for. Teaming up with Batman and fighting street crime and the occasional costumed villain in Gotham.

He hadn’t been back in Gotham--and back on the streets--for this amount of time since their first successful strike against Markovia, when the team was formed. God, it seemed a lifetime ago.

Tara was in town, quietly doing one of her cover civilian identities. Wayne Enterprises was more than keeping tabs on her; now they were employing her and arranging for her rent. The apartment she rented from them was also one owned by Wayne through a proxy, just as they had facilitated the Titans’ cover identities and trip to DC. There had been no direct contact between Bruce or Dick and Tara since the interrogation; Tim knew that this backing off and offering help was as close to an apology as either of them would come.

He said nothing about it, of course, as he and Dick swung between skyscrapers en route to taking out Firefly. It was just part of the job; the job he’d been trained for almost all his life.

Anarky hadn’t been laying low; but he had--wisely, in Robin’s estimation--moved operations out of Gotham for the time being. Rose had said she’d dropped him off in Philadelphia, where he was assisting some political dissidents of one shade or other. Robin woudn’t be at all surprised if Anarky was using the events in DC to his advantage, somehow.

He had planted his boots in Firefly’s armored gut, knocking the pyromaniac down, when the call came through.

“Little busy,” he muttered, kicking Firefly in the head and avoiding a jet of flame as Batman shut down Firefly’s latest incendiary device.

“Take your time,” Bruce’s old, tired voice responded. Robin frowned inwardly. Was Bruce’s health worse than they thought?

When they had mopped up, he signaled back. “Sorry about that.”

“Not at all; the battle comes first. Your Titan friends have something. Might be extraterrestrial. According to Ravager, both the Green Lantern and the Kryptonian are....twitchy.”

“Ravager contacted you?” Robin didn’t ask how Bruce knew what a Kryptonian was. By now he was sure the old man had detailed files on all his teammates.

Dick chuckled softly inside the Batman costume. “You weren’t available, being on patrol as you were. I know it’s been so long that you almost forgot what that felt like.”

Tim hung his head. “I’m sorry.”

Now even Bruce laughed, a rusty old chuckle. “Nothing to apologize for; fighting on the front lines against Markovia is just as important as street policing. Maybe more, in the long run. Now come home and get ready to join your team.”

After Bruce clicked off and they had swung into the night, Robin asked Batman, “Is Bruce all right?”

“He’s got a few years in him yet,” Batman answered. “He’s just finally catching up on all those years of sleep he missed. Besides, he’s proud of what you’ve done with the Titans. Don’t ever doubt it. Wish I’d done something like that when I was Robin.”

-4-

Terra met Robin as he was leaving the city. She was unusually quiet. Robin pointedly didn’t ask if Bruce had contacted her too.

Instead he said, “How are you doing?”

She glanced sideways at him and smiled, reaching out a hand. He took it. “I’m well enough, thanks.”

He moved a little closer; she didn’t object as her rock shot out over the ocean. “Lantern and Supergirl seem concerned.”

“And Ravager is more testy than usual,” Terra answered. “I get the impression she doesn’t want her ship involved this time, or a slow infiltration.”

“We don’t normally go for the massive overhead drop-in due to it calling Markovian attention to us,” he pointed out.

“Yes, I know.” Terra sighed. “And this time we’re in the home territory again. First time since our original strike. I don’t like it.”

“But we’re going?”

She smiled sadly and leaned against his shoulder. “Oh yes, I think so. Don’t you?”

“Probably.”

-5-

Ravager was pleased to see Robin and Terra acting so cuddly, but was too focused on her own agenda to show it. “Anarky’s late; we’ll sail south to get him.”

“I’ll grab him,” Lantern volunteered.

“I appreciate that,” she answered, “but I want to set the ground rules first.”

“We understand,” Supergirl said. “You want neither to risk your fleet or go through an extensive disguise.”

The pirate queen nodded impatiently. “Can’t you, like, stealth our approach with your ring, Lantern?”

“To a point. There’s also a chance that this is a trap, as we discussed.”

“Hopefully mister magic man can bust us out of that,” Ravager said, turning to stare pointedly at Deriven, still with his back to them.

“Probably,” Deriven agreed without turning around. “That doesn’t rule out the possibility of the Empire utilizing magic against us also, however.”

“We all know the risks,” Argent said. Both Terra and Ravager had been thinking the same thing, but to hear the usually quiet Argent say it got everyone’s attention.

Terra nodded. “We all knew going into this that every mission was a risk.

“Every time we get through one of these without someone dying, it’s a victory.” Robin didn’t like saying it, but it was true.

“There is a chance,” Supergirl faltered, then started again, “There is a chance the alien might be at least sympathetic to our views.”

Now everyone was surprised. Even Deriven turned around. None of them had ever seen Supergirl flustered before. Quietly arrogant, yes. Disdainful, yes. Irritated at Deriven’s insistence that science was merely a school of magic, yes. Never flustered.
Lantern turned to her. “Kai-Al,” he said, using her real name, “is it a Kryptonian?”

“Probably not. Odds are against it, in fact. Most are isolationists. Observers at best. But many star-faring species would be grateful for our help in this.”

“Or it may be some warmonger who just wants to kill everything,” Lantern tried to say it gently.

“That is also a possibility,” she conceded. “But we must try.”

“Even if it is hostile,” Robin put in, “we don’t want the Markovians getting access to its weapons tech.”

“Assuming they already haven’t,” Ravager grunted.

“It could be friendly, it could be hostile, it could be indifferent, it could be injured, it could be dead.” Deriven looked thoughtful, but also slightly irritated. “We must be prepared for any and all possibilities. But this is nothing new.” He turned and looked at Terra and Robin. “Are you reconsidering the mission?”

Terra shook her head.

“No reason to,” Robin said.

“I’ll get Anarky,” Lantern said.

As he flew off, Terra walked over to Supergirl. “Are you all right?”

“I will be,” the Kryptonian sighed. “I will be. It’s based on my scientific curiosity, but amplified by what humans call anxiety. Usually I just want to know. This time.....this time I need to know.”

“You will,” Terra promised. “We’ll find out.”

-6-

“You met the prisoner, then,” the Empress said.

It was much later the same day and Geo-Force had spent all of it in the Space Research Center. “I understand your warning now,” the Prince returned. “Currently.....the subject....seems to be unpowered. But there’s clearly meta....can’t say metahuman. Meta-alien powers lying dormant. So it resorted to the.....wiles you warned me of.”

“Yes, it does it’s best to seem friendly, doesn’t it?” the Empress mused. “Of course you were not fooled.”

“Of course I was not,” Prince Brion repeated.

“Did it give you any information?”

“More than it had given you or any other questioner,” Brion answered, being careful not to say the word ‘interrogator’. Not that she would have minded in principle, but he did not want to give her any cause to be wary or suspicious of him. “It told me its name, the name of its people and homeworld, and the broad strokes of its general situation, or at least the version of it that it wanted me to believe. It will all be in my report, and of course the security footage.”

The Empress nodded. Filling out forms in triplicate was de rigeur for the Empire; it had a monstrous bureaucracy on top of everything else. Before Tara....had left....Brion had been the First Seneschal. Sounded impressive, but what it meant in practical terms was “Head Bean-Counter.” He certainly still retained those skills.

Filling out the paperwork would not be the problem.

Continuing to hide his true emotional reaction would.

Oh, to be sure there was a possibility that the alien was trying to manipulate him. But if he had been locked in a prison without power or weapons by hostile aliens who wanted to know all about human technology, Geo-Force certainly knew how he would react! And what he would try to do to get out.

Only problem was, he wasn’t sure what he could do, without rebelling as his sister had. He wasn’t sure he could do that...and it wouldn’t help the alien anyway.

Trying to contact his sister, wherever she was, presented the same problem. She might be with the pirate fleet; the Markovian Navy was out looking for them, of course, but they’d never managed it yet. They’d been hunting the pirate fleet--admittedly with less intense need--since the days when the current Pirate Queen’s father had run it. They’d never had any luck. And the other nations--America most notably--knew that the pirates picked on Markovia first and foremost, and so didn’t hunt the pirates with the same enthusiasm. And by now, certainly those in power in other nation-states had realized that the pirates were allied with Terra’s Resistance. So they would be even less inclined to stop them. Maybe to the point of giving them safe harbor.

Terra was most likely spending the rest of her time in America, when not out fighting the Empire directly. Sooner or later, Mother would amass the resources necessary to invade the States, and that would be that.

Unless Terra took her out first.

-7-

“More aliens, eh?” Anarky said as Lantern dropped him on deck. “Interesting.”

“That’s all you have to say?” Ravager snorted.

Anarky gave her a ‘what do you want from me?’ look through his mask. “Certainly I hope the alien is not an advocate of centralized authority. Just as certainly, I don’t want the Markovians to use this prisoner against humanity. I also would hope for it to be freed simply for the sake of it. Shall we go?”

At Ravager’s insistence, they went for the direct approach, but even Ravager knew they didn’t want to be detected any sooner than absolutely necessary. Lantern’s ring had limited stealth powers, but limited was the key word in that phrase. One of those limits was Lantern’s willpower; another was his concentration. Also, despite his willpower and imagination, he’d never been able to simply walk through walls like a ghost. These were some of the many reasons they didn’t go for the direct approach often. The Justice Society had similarly kept a low profile for many years for much the same reason.

Deriven’s magic could bolster Green Lantern’s stealth and defense, but that too had its limits. For anything but direct offense, his magic needed time and preparation beforehand.

None of them believed they could simply stealth their way in, grab the alien and stealth their way out. The question was how long could they stay hidden, and how quickly could they get out, alien in tow.

-8-

So it was that Lantern had them in a green bubble high enough up that they could see the curve of the Earth below them. They were now directly over the Markovian Space Research Center, give or take.

“A full scan of the facility--or at least as full a scan as I can make without being detected--indicates their moon rocket is weeks away from completion. Another complication we don’t need.”

“Oh no, not again,” Ravager said. “No splitting the team up to deal with separate objectives. Lantern couldn’t keep us all hidden.”

“Agreed,” said Anarky. “So we grab the alien first, and if they haven’t detected us yet, then we can go for the rocket. You and me, Rose; we have the know-how to rig it to blow. Or Supergirl can figure out how to wreck its tech.”

“Failing all that, once we get out, Supegirl and I can do an orbital strike,” Lantern said.

“Agreed,” said Supergirl.

There was nothing else to be said; Ravager’s objections had been silenced. Supergirl and Lantern, each in their own way, agreed with the options available. Even Anarky seemed to be in a relatively good mood.

Lantern activated what stealth powers he had in his ring, making them more or less invisible to anyone else....for a time, anyway.....and started dropping his green bubble towards the planet.

-9-

Slipping easily through the scanner, sonar and laser defenses without detection, they didn’t run into a snag until they tried to get into Xenobiology Bureau. There were three security checks; thumbprint, retinal, and finally good old-fashioned guards who demanded ID. Supergirl effortlessly hacked the first and second defenses; while not strictly a hacker, human computer systems were easy enough to manipulate. Robin or Anarky probably could have done it, but it would have taken longer. Lantern similarly could have used his ring to override them, but that might have split his attention enough for them to be detected.

At the third checkpoint, all they had to do was take the guards down before they could raise the alarm. Robin and Ravager were quickest off the mark, and down they went before half a syllable was uttered, much less a weapon drawn.

Supergirl rigged the elevator without trouble; Lantern’s intel had already shown that the alien was on the fifth sub-floor. Here they faced the two robotic Rocket-Men. Supergirl literally smashed through one, and Argent ripped the other to shreds with her powers.

“Guys,” Ravager’s voice was hushed, “I found it. I found her.”

“It’s a her?” Robin frowned.

Supergirl and Green Lantern exchanged a look, then dashed forward. Behind a golden energy wall was a woman.

Even through the force field’s golden bias they could see her orange skin Her hair was red as fire, and seemed to shimmer and leave a trail as she moved. Her eyes were luminous emerald green, without irises or pupils; and she had a body that even Ravager was envious of.

“My name is Koridand’r,” she breathed. “If you are not allied with my captors, I would seek your assistance!”

To Be Continued...


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