Titans: The Resistance #45

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable.”
John Fitzgerald Kennedy


“All men have poetry in their hearts, and it is necessary for them, as much as possible, to express their feelings. For this they must have a medium, moving and pliant, which can refreshingly become their own, age after age. All great languages undergo change. Those languages which resist the spirit of change are doomed and will never produce great harvests of thought and literature. When forms become fixed, the spirit either weakly accepts its imprisonment or rebels. All revolutions consists of the "within" fighting against invasion from "without"... All great human movements are related to some great idea.”
Rabindranath Tagore


-1-

Empress Arianna “Petra” Markov had had enough.

The Resistance’s sabotage of her forces attempt to destroy the Russian cabal was the final blow. She had waited long enough, endured attempt after attempt, failure after failure, of her forces to destroy her traitorous daughter and her ridiculous chaotic ‘movement’.

The games were over. The waiting was over. Now was the time to strike.

“Gather all the generals to me,” she said to Supreme General Petrovich, “and mobilize our forces. Now is the time to strike. We shall conquer the world, starting with the Americas. During those campaigns, Terra will challenge us, along with her foolish revolutionary cabal. All this foolishness will end.”

Petrovitch bowed and left the chamber.

Prince Brion stood stiffly and silently to attention beside the throne.

“Watch closely, Brion,” she said softly. “A unified world will be yours to inherit, and carry into the future.”

“Yes, Mother.” Brion had always been obedient and dutiful, but she heard the unstated curiosity in his voice.

“I am growing old, my son. That is part of why Tara’s betrayal hurt so much. It would not have been many years before I handed the throne over to her. Once the New World is conquered and she is destroyed, I shall enter my last few years as Empress. The final mopping up of the last pockets of resistance, and the creation of a true one world state....that will be your task.”

“I think you have many years left in you, Mother.” He sounded sincere about it, too. Not the polite neutrality that was so often in his tone.

Arianna smiled. “We shall see. Bring up the new globe hologram; it will be useful for my advisors to see it.”

“Both for its strategic value and as a symbol of power,” Brion agreed. Arianna felt a surge of hope for him. Was he finally becoming worthy of his heritage? Of rising above his training as a glorified bean counter, and becoming the future Emperor of the world?

The lights in the vast throne room dimmed, and from the golden floor there arose a holographic representation of the world in greens and blues, with military units marked out in orange for the Empire, and purple for the enemy (everyone not part of the Empire was the enemy, of course).

It took some twenty minutes for all the generals to crowd in; a few holographic heads flickered into reality above them as commanders in the field also reported in.

“Gentlemen,” the Empress said, “and ladies,” nodding to the one female admiral and the Rocket-Woman who commanded the Rocket-Men and the new powered-armor soldiers extrapolated from their armor. “We are going to have to pull back from Japan and Themyscria, for now. We need to focus our entire effort on the New World.”

“And the Resistance, your majesty?” General Kuznetsov, the African theatre commander, asked.

“This effort will draw them out of hiding. They will attack...and we will destroy them.”

“Majesty....I almost hate to ask this, but.....” It was Strizhakov, the Asian theatre commander.

“Yes?”

“Where the Resistance is concerned, have you ruled out the nuclear option?”

There was a pause. Brion and some of the other generals tensed, expecting a summary execution.

Finally, Arianna raised a brow. “You’ve been watching that old American film too many times.”

A smattering of laughter at that, and Brion breathed out.

“The nuclear option will only be considered if the Resistance manifests their attack in the open sea, or for some insane reason lures us into a confrontation in Antarctica. Otherwise valuable land and resources are put at risk. Not to mention the fallout consideration. Besides, it should not be necessary. Our metahuman research division has come up with.....a most-bizarre cloning experiment.....”


-2-

Terra realized quickly enough what her mother was doing.

“There is no doubt,” Green Lantern said. “She is mobilizing all remaining forces without delay.”

“Two months at most until she is ready to strike,” Supergirl agreed. “Lantern’s ring scans have confirmed what my own senses have already observed.”

“We come to the crux of the matter,” Deriven added. “This is the time when the future of this world’s paradigm will be decided.”

Robin didn’t say anything; he just put a hand on Terra’s shoulder. She looked up at him and sighed through her sad smile.

They were, as usual, on the deck of the Sweet Lilli. Perhaps they should’ve chosen another place for a headquarters, but there had never seemed to be time....and now time had run out.

Terra rubbed her temples. “Mother is gathering her forces to strike,” she said at length, “and so must we. She will anticipate this, of course. So we must choose a battlefield she will not expect. First, though, we must gather our forces.” She looked at Ravager. “I presume you are ready to commit your entire pirate fleet to this?”

Ravager nodded. “All the way, sis. If we don’t help you, she’ll come after us next.”

They bumped fists. Despite the gravity of the situation, Terra giggled a little. “Ahem, right. Robin, I’m sure your Gotham mentors will give us what help they can.”

Robin nodded. “Absolutely.”

“I will gather our magical allies from other realms,” Deriven said. “I will gather what help I can, and return as soon as I can.”

Terra nodded. “Go.”

Deriven teleported back to his own sanctum, and from there he would go to the alternate realms of magic he could reach.

“We will also need to call upon the old Society of Justice,” she said, turning to Green Lantern, “who have been fighting this fight for decades before us.”

“We will go to them,” Lantern agreed.

“Ravager, will you accompany me in this? Not your whole fleet, mind. Just you.”

“To meet the Society?” Ravager shrugged. “Sure. Still gonna need to gather my fleet, though.”

“Of course. The rest of you,” she said, indicating Anarky, Argent, Supergirl and Starfire, “will seek out the one we have not found previously; the Martian Manhunter.”

“Both Batman and the Justice Society have reports of him,” Robin agreed. “Sometimes he is in Africa, sometimes in Australia.”

“Er, wait,” Anarky put in. “You expect me and Argent to keep the alien amazons from killing each other while we’re doing this?”

“That is a fair point,” Terra agreed. She looked to Supergirl and Starfire. “Can you two put your differences aside long enough to get this job done?”

“I have never had a problem, for my part,” Supergirl said. “I had hoped for a colleague and some fellow outside perspective. I still do.”

Starfire’s green eyes had no irises or pupils, so it was difficult to tell if she was rolling her eyes, but the Titans definitely got that impression. “The greater war is at hand,” she said. “I will save our fury for our enemies. It was never a question of enmity with the Kryptonian, anyway; merely one of dominance.”

Supergirl sighed.

“Well, please put dominance aside for now,” Terra said.

Starfire nodded. “But I still expect,” she added, eyes blazing brighter than usual, “that you will assist me in turn.”

“If Markovia is defeated, it will be our pleasure,” Terra said.

“And I can facilitate that,” Lantern added.

Starfire relaxed, breathing out. “Then it seems we all know what we need to do.”

“Indeed,” Terra agreed, rising. She felt a small tremor inside.

This was it.

-3-

Robin took one of the longer subterranean secret passageways to the cave. It seemed a lifetime ago that he had first put on the Robin suit; back then, he had expected only to wear it as a Gotham vigilante. Oh, the probability of fighting the Markovians was something Bruce and Dick had drilled into him since his youngest days; but he had always expected it to be guerrilla warfare amongst the streets of Gotham, possibly recruiting the villains to their side as well. Bruce had all sorts of scenarios like that laid out.

Instead, he would fight Markovia in the field, as he had been doing for some time now. What was it, two years? Almost that. Hard to keep track of time when you were focused on the day to day things. Terra and Ravager both did a better job of that. It was one of the few things both Bruce and Dick criticized him on.

He shook off such thoughts as he came into the main cave. Dick wasn’t there, out on patrol most likely. But Bruce was.

Bruce turned from the computer terminal he was working on in his new robotic wheelchair. Robin had barely opened his mouth to speak when Bruce said, “The war has come, then.”

Robin exhaled a lungful of air. “How do you do that?”

Bruce gave a thin smile, a rare thing. “Please. I’ve been anticipating this day for years. I just never dreamed we’d take the fight to them as much as we have.” His face clouded. “No, I correct myself. I never anticipated you and your Resistance movement taking the fight to them as much as you have.”

Robin took his mask off and became recognizably Tim Drake again; tired, nervous, uncertain. He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “We could use Dick’s help in the field.”

Bruce nodded. “I’m sure he’ll give it. He envies you that, you know.”

“What?”

“Being out there in the field, fighting the Markovians directly. All we ever did was take down the occasional spy ring of theirs.”

Tim gave a short laugh. “He might not envy it so much once he’s out there.”

Bruce nodded. “But he’ll do it, nonetheless. Let us know when.”

“We’re gathering the forces now, once they’re all together.....”

“Understood. Meantime, you can put your mask back on, go out there and tell him the news.”

“What about you?”

“I can’t get up from this chair anymore. But I can help logistically, financially and oh....” another thin smile, “perhaps technologically, as well. I always knew the Markovians would eventually come. My plan to fight them always went further than our personal actions.”

Tim nodded, put his mask on, and became Robin again. He commandeered one of the motorcycles, and went.

-4-

The ship churned its way towards Europe. Supergirl and Starfire had flown off mere moments ago, carrying Argent and Anarky. Terra had watched them go into the starry sunset. Argent could fly on her own, of course, but, when she did, she left behind a silver streak that might attract unwanted attention.

Ravager came up from below decks. “I contacted my brothers again. They knew what was coming, of course. Joey’s on defense; he won’t act unless the Markovians actually do invade. But Grant already received orders to infiltrate Europe, maybe assassinate your mom if he can. Would save us a lot of trouble if he did.”

“Yes,” Terra agreed simply. “And if not, perhaps we can join forces with him.”

“Princess....where are we going to strike?”

“I’m not entirely sure yet, to be honest,” Terra said. “I’ve entertained notions of going in through Russia and hitting the homeland from the back door....or maybe staging an attack from Japan.”

“China might be a good place to hit,” Ravager agreed. Then she smiled, a little. “Lantern’s all excited and nervous.”

“I’m nervous too,” Terra agreed. “I should have met the Society before now. But time presses.”

“You’ll be fine. After the Bat-brood, they’ll be nothing.”

“And we need to talk to those vampire hunters, and the Flash and....” Terra shook her head. “So many to talk to, so little time left.”

“We’ll do what we can in the time we have. Stay strong, Princess; don’t lose it now.”

“I made my choice the day I left my home,” Terra said without rancor. “But I can’t help being nervous about it.”

“Nerves are good. Just don’t let them control you.”

Terra felt a flash of irritation, but nodded. “One lesson mother taught me that stuck; do what needs to be done.” She offered Ravager a crooked smile. “Just not for the side she wanted.”

Ravager laughed, and gave her a high five. She returned below decks. Terra sighed and ran her hands through her hair.

Wintergreen stepped up. Terra turned and raised an eyebrow.

“Rose has been like that since she lost her eye,” he said. “She became more like her father that day, than I think she realizes.”

“Do you approve?”

“I would if she knew how to shut it off.”

Terra shrugged unhappily. “I don’t know what to do about it.”

“Nothing really can be done; just keep being her friend.”

Terra sighed and nodded.

-5-

“How exactly are we supposed to find this Martian, anyhow?” Anarky asked, hanging from Starfire’s grip.

“Through my senses,” Supergirl said. “Mars is uninhabited at this time; from the records the Society gave us through Green Lantern, he’s been here for some time on your world. Must be a last survivor of his race. How....unpleasant.”

“Can you really sense so much?” Starfire asked. For once, there was no challenge, it was an honest question.

“If I focus. It would be better if I could fly up in the atmosphere. Also, having Lantern along for this trip would help. But I’ll manage. It will just take a little longer.”

“We do have a lot of area to cover,” Starfire said.

“Splitting up won’t help us, I don’t think,” Argent said.

Starfire unhappily nodded. Supergirl was relieved that the Tamaranean was finally settling in, now that the greater battle was at hand. The warrior mentality, she supposed.

Then she saw something.....a flash of red.....wings?

She turned and frowned downwards. “Did you see that?” she asked.

Starfire looked. “I see nothing.”

“It may be unrelated but.....I think it should be considered.”

Starfire opened her mouth as if to argue, then her expression shifted and she said, “Does it require all of us?”

“No....no, it doesn’t.” Supergirl flew down, Argent hanging on.

The red wings swooshed into the African jungle, Supergirl hampered by Argent, unable to pursue at full speed.

“Let go,” Argent breathed.

Supergirl didn’t waste time arguing, she let go. Argent conjured her own silver arc into being, and Supergirl shot on ahead.

She closed in on the red wings. The creature—person?--was fast, but not as fast as Supergirl. She drew alongside.

It was a girl, younger than any of the Titans, with wide inhuman eyes. “No!” the girl gasped in horror.

“I’m not your enemy,” she said. “Please, just listen--”

Supergirl ran into something hard. Not a tree; she would have punched right through that. A physical object strong enough and dense enough to stop her dead in her tracks. The experience was somewhat painful.

The winged girl shot on ahead. Supergirl turned her head slowly and stared into a face. It was a green-skinned face with a heavy, protruding brow.

“The Martian, I presume,” Supergirl said.

“You are no human,” the Martian said, with obvious puzzlement.

“That is so. I am alien to this entire solar system, not just this planet.”

“And what is it that you want, that you would chase my ally?”

“Actually, we were looking for you. We seek your help.”

“And why should I give it?”

“Because you are an enemy of the Markovians.”

The alien face seemed to shift for a moment in a way that Supergirl’s senses couldn’t fully comprehend. Then it shifted back. “I am listening....”

To Be Continued


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