Titans: The Resistance #43

“I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma: but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interests.”
Winston Churchill

“I do not rule Russia; ten thousand clerks do.”
Nicholas I

-1-

St. Petersburg, the former Kingdom of Russia.

The Tsars of Russia had had their hands full with the Great War; and on the home front, two dueling revolutionary factions. When the Markovians turned the tables and flooded their borders, it took the Russians completely by surprise; Tsar Nicholas II was slain by Markovian soldiers; he had barely gotten out of bed before they attacked, and had not yet put on his armor when they burst into his chambers. While many dispute the Tsar's skills as a ruler, many said that had he but been able to reach his sword, the outcome might have been different. The leaders of the Russian rebellion therefore always have since kept a sword by their side, and never for just ceremonial reasons.

The democratic and Bolshevik revolutionary factions each tried to strike bargains with the invading Markovians, but the conquering armies would have none of it. The democrats and Bolsheviks were executed right alongside the Tsarists.

But three children of the royal line—Tatiana, Anastasia, and Alexei—escaped the purges and fled. They had taken note of the Markovian Royal Family's powers, and tried, in secret laboratories, to duplicate them.

At the same time, they forged the remaining survivors of the purges—regardless of political faction—into a unified underground force.

But in Russia, the Markovians were especially brutal. Purges continued to this day as they tried to find Vadim, the current “Prince”, descended from the Tsarist line and leader of the rebellion. They knew, as the Titans did, that the rebels were based somewhere in or near St. Petersburg, but not exactly where.

-2-

“I cannot go with you,” Terra sighed.

“Why ever not?” Robin frowned.

“Many times in the past, people have had difficulty with accepting me as part of this,” she said. “Starting with you. But the Russians will not listen to reason, concerning me. Even if they accepted that I had revolted, they would still kill me for my family's crimes against them.”

“You could always stay with her and let the rest of us sort this out,” Green Lantern suggested to Robin.

Robin and Terra gave each other a long, searching look, but finally, Robin sighed. “No, I sat out last time, and we're already down Rose for this one, since we're going so far inland.”

“I'd hardly call street duty in Gotham as sitting out,” Anarky said, surprising everyone with his support. “You two have fun together, we'll do this.”

Robin looked at Terra.

“Go,” she said simply. “I will wait for you, you know this.”

“And if we don't come back?” Robin asked.

“That is a risk we always take.” She shrugged unhappily. “It is war. Do what must be done.”

They hugged briefly, then Robin went to the others. “Okay, the first problem is, how do we find them?”

“To begin with,” Deriven said, “we can take the information the Markovians already have as a starting point.”

“The Justice Society has had contact with them before,” Green Lantern said, “but the Russians never told them where their base was. They've probably moved it several times since then, anyway.”

“Fighting the Markovians in the area will surely attract their attention as well,” Starfire said.

Robin nodded slowly. “It's a start, anyway. But we need to plan....”

-3-

Leonid Kovar woke up.

He was lying in a pool of something that was...not exactly water. A chemical cocktail of various steroids, synapse enhancers and muscular stimulants, plus some strange minerals from meteorites. Lately, they had even been including chemicals from a Markovian base that the Justice Society had destroyed.

It was changing him, altering the natural chemistry of his body Making him stronger, faster; and lately, limited pyrokinetic powers were manifesting. It was a tingle in his fingers that never left. He wasn't sure he liked that part.

But he was a loyal soldier of the true Russian royal line, and didn't question such things. Not even the early versions of the chemical formula, that had him laying in an enclosed tank not unlike a coffin.

The early days of claustrophobia and repressed terror were behind him now. Not that he had ever let the fear show, of course. But now the fear had passed; he could sleep in the chemicals without the slightest misgiving. He couldn't yet breathe the chemicals, but he wore an oxygen mask for that, connected to a tank that could keep him breathing all night.

He sat up in the pool and blinked blearily. Someone should've been here to meet him, whether it was his father, Anna, or just one of the lab technicians. But there was no one.

That wasn't right. He shook his head groggily. He clambered out of the subterranean depths. The caves were dimly lit, and many sprawling stairways led downward from the surface and higher chambers; some of them true, most of them false. Leonid tended to use the one stairway that led directly to his pool. Safer that way. The other true stairways led through long twisting paths to get to the testing cavern, and the false ones all ended in horrible traps. At this point, he was already enhanced enough not to be troubled by such mundane difficulties, but even so....they disquieted him more than he would have cared to admit.

At the moment, however, he was mostly worried about the interruption in procedure.

He reached the top of the long stone stair and found, to his horror but not really any surprise, four dead guards.

-4-

Wintergreen was glad Rose was staying behind this time.

He had no beef with the Titans particularly; he understood that hitting the Markovians was a good thing, and had long since come to trust Terra. But the Titans were a distraction from piracy, and that was the point of their existence. All of this costumed foolery....it was a waste of time, ultimately.

But he was loyal, and did not waste any time arguing with his queen over such things. It was only her safety that mattered to him. Her father was dead, her brothers were Americans, and she herself had lost an eye at a painfully young age. He did not want to see any of the pirates under her command scrabbling for her throne in her absence. He supposed that made Anarky's role as her consort mean something; perhaps these Titans had a use, after all, if they could help her produce an heir. Not that she was thinking of such things at the moment, he was sure.

In any case, Rose was staying aboard this time, as she had in Japan; and Terra wasn't even along this time at all. The separation of the team on their last mission Wintergreen understood; division of labor was a sound tactical principle. Why Terra was staying behind this time was not clear to him.

But no matter. They looped around the former Nordic countries, into the White Sea, one of the few areas they had not hit before. Of course, all Markovian ports were on much higher alert these days, but this was probably the last place the Markovians would expect them to come through. And they were not going to attack, but rather to infiltrate.

Even in this place, the Titans couldn't just walk off the ship into port, even in civilian disguise. Markovian perimeter defenses had improved.

Wintergreen watched, expressionless but impressed, as Green Lantern used his ring to make the team invisible, and they walked off the ship, on a path created by Deriven's magic, that guided them over the water towards the distant shore.

“Why don't they just do that every time?” he muttered softly.

But Rose had heard. “For the same reason we don't always attack a ship the same way,” she said without rancor. “And to keep their skills sharp. And to reduce the risk of the Markovians anticipating them, or finding ways to detect their various approaches.”

Wintergreen shifted uncomfortably. “I still think we should focus on piracy.”

“It's always our first concern,” she agreed. “This helps with that.”

“I know. I just....”

“Want things to be the way they were. I know. Like if dad was still alive....and had shown me he cared.”

“He loved you,” Wintergreen protested.

“The only way he knew how,” she agreed. “That was the problem. The point is, we can't go back and change it. It is what it is. So it is with the Titans, too.”

Wintergreen sighed. “I guess I should be glad this is the second time in a row you're not going ashore.”

Rose smirked. “Since you're so worried about it, let's go harass Markovian shipping.”

“And provide them with further distraction,” he rumbled, but went with her happily enough. Truly, he had nothing against the Titans. He just didn't have anything for them, either.

-5-

Leonid wasted no time on the fallen, once he was certain they were dead; instead he moved on, hurriedly. Faster speed was not one of his gifts, sadly. Perhaps they should look into that....if any of them had survived at all.

It wasn't long until he heard the sounds of fighting. He rounded a cold stone corner and saw three members of the facility, fighting hard against Markovian infiltrators. They were not quite Rocket Men, but something new, and very similar....clearly some sort of powered armor geared more towards fighting on the ground with rifles and hand to hand, rather than flying.

But that was secondary to his attention at best. What caught his attention, and took his breath away, was Anna leading the charge with her flaming sword and spiked shield, like the medieval warlords she was descended from. Powerful beautiful, without doubt, and without regret.

He didn't admire her for long, amazing as she was. He was there to fight, now more than ever. The two guards with her, while tough, did not have her skill, nor were they prepared to face these new ground-based armored warriors, and he could still help to save their lives.

His first blow struck the left-hand armored foe and cracked his defensive shell like an egg. The warrior cast a dazed, startled glance at him, before Leonid's next blow slammed him into the floor so hard the ground cracked. He was probably dead; Leonid didn't much care, and had no time to think about it, come to that.

Anna used the opportunity his distraction presented to run another foe through. The man gurgled horribly as he went down.

The third Markovian turned to run, and the two guards fired as one to gun him down.

Anna looked on in grim satisfaction, then turned to Leonid. “You are unharmed; excellent! But how many reached you?”

“None; I knew something was wrong when I awoke and no one was there to greet me. I came up as quickly as I could.”

“You did well,” she nodded, smiling, and put a hand on his arm. “Your powers develop as predicted.”

“How many others are left?”

“A fair number. The enemy attack was strong, but we have countered.”

“Let us save as many as we can, then!”

“You are the one that matters here, but it is true that the more personnel survive, the less disruption there will be to the project. Come, let us find your father!”

They ran, but more battle awaited them.

-6-

The Titans quickly moved through Severodvinsk. Lantern's ring detected the remains of a Russian base on the outskirts of Arkhangel'sk, but it had been abandoned for some time.

This area of the former Russian state was thinly populated outside the towns that were not quite big enough to call cities. Scattered, inefficient farms were surrounded by what was still, even in this Markovian-occupied time, mostly wilderness. Given the emphasis on industry in Markovian satellite states, this was somewhat troubling. Robin wished Terra was there to explain it.

Even though it was a clear day, the sky almost cloudless, the light seemed.....thin and washed out. Dull. Despair seemed to ooze from everywhere. Despair, and a fundamental breed of weariness.

They traveled through Pirsy without incident, following the river. But it was not Lantern's ring nor Deriven's magic, nor even Supergirl's hearing that finally gave them a lead. Robin and Anarky had done their best to tune in to local radio stations with their earpieces, and Anarky finally caught a worthwhile crackle from the south.

“Fighting outside of Vas'Kovo,” he reported. More a collection of farms than a village—and that was a sure sign of Markovian occupation if ever there was one—Vas'Kovo was innocuous and unimportant. The perfect hiding place for a Russian base.

The Markovians, evidently, had suspected that too.

They couldn't know for sure that it was a Russian base, but it seemed the most likely explanation. And if not, they could interrogate a Markovian survivor or two.

Without further discussion, Lantern and Deriven turned the team south-southwest, and put on the speed.


-7-

Leonid and Anna gathered together a team of five guards, and burst into one of the genetics labs.

His father was there. Konstantin had no powers of his own, but was in his usual Kevlar trench coat and vest, blasting away with a flamethrower at the Markovian armored troopers bearing down on him. It was risky, if not an outright bad idea, to wield flamethrowers in the laboratory environment; but the Russians had long ago learned to take whatever risks were necessary to ensure not just their freedom, but also their survival.

Leonid took point, not only because that was his purpose as their primary experiment; but also because he could both wield and resist fire.

He made a curling gesture with his left hand; and his father's flames altered course to where they could burn the enemy most effectively. Konstantin made a sound that was a blend of surprise and joy. He did not adjust his aim; Leonid was doing that for him. So he simply kept his finger on the trigger.

The burning Markovians turned to face Leonid. He did not slow, but plowed right into them.

-8-

A pair of Markovian tanks guarded what seemed at first to be nothing more than a hole in the ground. Anarky understood immediately.

“The underground literally went underground,” he said. There was a certain humor to it, but there was nothing silly in his voice; he was all business. Robin merely nodded.

Argent struck first, hurling her jagged silver bolts of energy into the tanks. Starfire and Green Lantern struck next, blowing the tanks up and cutting down the surviving Markovian rear guard.

But there were many more soldiers in the caverns below; that much was clear. Starfire and Supergirl led the way, flying over the edge and downwards, into the depths.

Most of them were ordinary soldiers, armed with the usual rifled bayonette...but it was clear from the first shot fired that they had some kind of upgraded ammunition. Designed to target metahumans, perhaps? They actually made dents in Lantern's ring-powered shield, but did not penetrate. None of the Titans were eager to find out what they did to their flesh.

That ammunition made Robin briefly wonder if this was a trap, laid for them. But most of the soldiers were still facing away from them; they did not turn to face them.

Then it was their turn to encounter the armored soldiers; recognizably more muscular, ground-based versions of the Rocket Men.

“Stormtroopers?” Anarky asked as he used his cattle prod to short one out. Robin could hear the smile behind Anarky’s facemask.

“This isn't a cartoon; save the quips and pop culture references,” Robin chided, but there was no real venom in it.

Anarky gave him a sarcastic salute, dodged an enemy's punch, then headbutted his foe, dropped his own weapon and yanked the armored soldier's own plasma rifle away, and shot him down with it.

Amused, Robin turned away, blocking three strikes, then ducking and letting two of his foe shoot each other, taking down the third with a leg sweep, then following that up with a punch to the soldier's throat. Were he and Anarky actually starting to get along?

Nah.

-9-

Konstantin grinned fiercely and shook his son's hand, as they stood amongst the bodies of their fallen enemies.

There were no need for words between them; while their relationship had not always been a happy one, there were also no misunderstandings between them. They knew each other's minds fairly well, especially in crisis situations like these.

So without further words, they led Anna and their troopers onwards. Leonid took point, as it should be with his powers, with Anna and Father flanking him.

They began to run into regular soldiers; it was no surprise the armored troops were of limited supply. But the bad news was, there were precious few of their own guards left. Less than Anna had originally thought.

They had found only eight survivors besides the group they'd already gathered; four more soldiers, three geneticists, and of the chemists. And one of their soldiers went down to a bayonet thrust during the battle.

“Hold!” Leonid shouted, louder than he needed to really, out of surprise. “What is that light?”

They could see it; a swath of emerald energy that cut down the enemy.

“It's not any project of ours,” Konstantin said uncertainly.

Anna bashed down the last remaining enemy with her spiked shield, then winced; she had taken a cut to the leg herself, in that battle. “Perhaps they may be allies?” she said uncertainly.

Konstantin grimaced. “The old Justice Society had a member whose ring threw such energies....” His words trailed off as Green Lantern rounded the corner. Deriven and Argent were right behind him.

“Halt!” Anna raised her gun. “Be ye friend or foe?”

“Friend, we hope,” Green Lantern answered in English, his ring translating for them. “We were looking for you; it seems we found you just in time.”

“How convenient.” Konstantin's expression was that of a man who had just bitten into a lemon.

“In our current depleted state, they could have just attacked us,” Leonid said.

Konstantin eyed his son, a warning of reprimand in his glance over the shades he usually wore, then said, “Very well, speak.”

Green Lantern began to talk...



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