Teen Titans #67 "Metacrisis Effect, part 2"

-1-


The light and the pain faded. All of the experimental subjects slumped in their tubes. Their brains buzzing. If they hadn’t been so exhausted, they would have been twitching in pain.

Braniac went from one tube to the next, analyzing the abilities of his subjects. The first tube was that of Dabney Kouric, the sociopath. He scanned her. “Pyrokinesis; how fascinating. Not of direct use against Kal-El unless already weakened by some other means. Suitable against the green-skinned Martian, however.”

He moved on, scanning Long Shadow next. “An odd negative energy manifestation. Fascinating. Tied in with your own humanoid form in a way....”

“What?” Long Shadow slurred.

“A shadow of dark energy. Potentially useful.”

Braniac moved next to Piper. “Your summoning skills have improved. Additionally, you can phase through walls; an interesting, if limited, dimensional shift.”

Piper said nothing, just stared at Brainiac with anger and resentment.

Deathstroke was next. Braniac took a little longer examining him. “Your regenerative abilities are depleted, but you retain your fast reflexes, and have gained limited electricity blasts and short range teleportation. Perhaps other abilities, as well. Readings are uncertain.”

The assassin said nothing, but wearily hammered against the tube.


-2-


Deathstroke continued to pound against the tube he was in, uselessly. Then he calmed down, began to focus. What had Braniac said? Limited teleportation.....

He had no idea how to make it work; his powers of enchanced reflexes and healing were always there, and required no effort of will on his part. But he had been fighting heroes long enough to know how they operated. He closed his eyes and concentrated.

For a moment he was....elsewhere....and then he rattled painfully back into reality, still in the tube. Brainiac barely noticed.

His weariness, already significant, had been increased. Deathstroke wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball and sleep. But he knew what a disaster that would be. He gathered his strength and focused.


-3-


Dabney had heard the alien scum. He had spoken of pyrokinesis. That meant fire control. But could flames burn this glass? And would it burn her, too? Or would her mastery of fire make her invulnerable? She shook off her weariness.

Then she thought it through. Not the glass...the floor.

Pointing two angry, accusing fingers downward, she began to heat and warp the very metal deck beneath her feet. She felt warmth, but no pain; she must indeed be invulnerable to fire. Or perhaps it was only flames she herself generated? No time to worry about it now.

Brianiac noticed her attempts, but was not concerned. The ship was his to control, after all; part of him. And he could heal any damage she did to the deck. Even if she somehow escaped to another part of the ship, she would still be in her power. And if she burned her way out to space? She would die.

He was underestimating humans. Not for the first time, as Superman could’ve told him.


-4-


“How curious,” Braniac said when he scanned Terra’s tube. “The energy matrix seems to have simply cancelled your existing powers, rather than modify them.”

“What?” she said blearily.

“You have been de-powered. Your metahuman abilities have been neutralized. Perhaps another exposure would give you new powers, or perhaps it would kill you. No matter. Perhaps I should keep you as a control group. Or perhaps I should simply termin--” abruptly Braniac cut off, and turned his head as a sonorous low tone rung through his ship. “Ah. The Kryptonian and his allies are attacking, as anticipated. I wonder what took them this long....probably the battle with the Martians.” He strode off to deal with them.

But the fight quickly came to him, as Green Lantern and Adam Strange erupted into the experimental chamber, Raven close behind.

As he engaged them, it occurred to him briefly that he should have had a White Martian or two on the ship with him. A minor tactical error.

He did not have any more time to think on it before the heroes were on him.


-5-


As the heroes stormed his ship, Braniac realized he had made two more tactical errors. First, he had assumed Superman would be with them; he was not. Second, he had presumed that his subjects would be so stunned that they could not escape their tubes. He wanted to turn to deal with them, and indeed he could use part of the ship to strike at them, since the ship was part of himself. But it was a matter of concentration; while he had no problem multitasking, splitting his attention while facing the heroes was not a good idea. So he let the ship try to keep the prisoners contained automatically; subconsciously, as it were.

He also had underestimated the other heroes besides Superman. Brainac believed he had taken them into account, but evidently he had underestimated their capabilities. He had assumed the Kryptonian was their driving force, and that without him at their helm they would be easy to defeat. He really should have known better.

The heroes rushed in. Green Lantern had a hard task, trying to both fight Braniac and help rescue the prisoners. That was a serious task for Superman alone, and Superman wasn’t here. He was busy below, still, with the White Martians.

Fortunately, Lantern wasn’t alone.

Strange whirled his personal craft around, barely fitting in the Colu ship that was Braniac, firing the weapons from Rann that were built into it. He quickly had a full job just preventing the Colu ship from consuming his own small, agile craft. Raven's soul-self lashed out at the machinery. Braniac was not prepared for her supernatural powers, either.


-6-


Braniac had not reached Katrina when making his evaluations. She did not yet know what her own powers were.

But it was time to find out.

Fighting the exhaustion and sleepiness the experiment had inflicted on her, she closed her eyes and tried to concentrate. She felt strange, but couldn’t define in what way. Her arms felt strangely heavy. She reached out experimentally, touching the glass tube... and some sort of strange tentacles erupted! She screamed in horror!

The tentacles were long and grey green. As she recoiled, they slipped back into her flesh. She shuddered in disgust. What had she become?!?

She was....she was....no longer purely human. Not in the way a normal person with power was, either.

Braniac had turned her into some kind of alien horror.

How could she ever return to her old life again? To return to....no. She couldn’t even think about him now.

Instead, she focused on her horrified anguish and lashed out with the tentacles. They seemed to grow out of her arms and retract back into them when not in use. She could also feel some sort of unpleasant squirming in her spine, but she didn’t want to think about that now.

She slammed her tentacles against the glass tube. Again, again, again. Eventually, Raven noticed her plight and flew in , breaking the glass open with her soul-self.

“What have I become?” she asked the Titan.

“That’s up to you,” Raven said.

“But....but....” Katrina faltered.

Raven smiled sadly. “I am a born of demon; I know a vampire, and a man forced to merge with machine. If we can handle it, so can you. I don’t say it’s easy, but--” she cut herself off as parts of the ship literally rose against them.

Katrina understood what Raven had meant to say. It wouldn’t be easy, but those things worth fighting for never were.


-7-


Braniac had said Piper could phase through walls....but not, apparently, through his alien-crafted glass.

So instead, he summoned his imps. They were stronger now, more powerful.

“Attack!” he commanded them. “Attack the glass!”

It was slow going, but the glass began to weaken and fracture. Impatiently, he hammered against the glass.

He saw Adam Strange outside, and pounded frantically against the glass. The space traveler noticed him and, with careful aim, grazed the side of his tube with a blast of bright green energy. Startled, Piper’s imps scrambled out of the way. The damage had been done; the tube was now fragile enough for him to punch his way out. Strange was gone to rejoin the fight against Braniac before Piper could even thank him.

-8-


Deathstroke knew the heroes would ‘rescue’ him.....and then lock him away. Oh, he might escape in the confusion. But he had never been the sort to passively wait and see what comes.

The other power Brainiac had mentioned was electric bursts. He clenched his fists and projected his rage. Orange arcs of lightning reached out and crackled into the tube. Faint hairline cracks appeared, but clearly he hadn’t made much progress.

He still had his sword, but there wasn’t enough space in the tube for him to get up momentum to swing, stab or slice. And he was fairly sure it was bulletproof. The white phosphorous grenades might work....but they would also blow up in his face. And he might no longer have his healing powers. Even if he did, he doubted he could regenerate an arm or leg if it got blown off.

Sighing in frustration, he arced more little bolts of orange lightning into the tube. The cracks grew larger. He blasted again, then pushed against the cracking, weakening tube.

It gave way in four medium sized pieces. A jagged hole in the tube. Barely large enough to crawl out of, and certainly not without injury.

But he wouldn’t crawl. He closed his eyes and concentrated again....and vanished.


-9-


Long Shadow had noticed the others making their escape efforts. The girl Dabney glared at him and moved on. His own power seemed contained by the glass.

So he called out to Katrina. “I could use your assistance....”

Katrina’s mouth writhed in an expression so unhappy it was painful to look at; like a fishing line twisted into knots, but nodded. She lashed out with her horrific, gray-green tentacles and struck his tube; twice, three times.

Freed, he nodded to her. “I am grateful.”

“No time to talk,” she answered. “Come on!”


-10-


Katrina and Dabney eyed each other uneasily, then turned to help the heroes. Dabney didn’t want to help any of these idiots, but knew she needed them to escape. Katrina was still frightened and uncertain of her new powers, but was running on adrenaline and knew she couldn’t give up.

Almost with one movement, they turned and lashed out with their powers against Braniac’s physical form. Seconds later, Long Shadow joined in, his darkness helping Raven’s soul self. Piper’s imps ran hither and thither, wreaking havoc on the Colu ship’s structure.

Beast Boy picked up Terra in his arms.

“Climb aboard, kid!” Adam Strange shouted.

He frantically stumbled aboard Strange’s odd vessel. The light of Green Lantern flooded in, buying them time. Raven’s soul self followed. Braniac’s mind and will hissed in frustration through the circuitry of the ship,and struck back. But Lantern’s ring and Raven’s soul held him back, and scooped up the others, save Deathstroke.


-11-


Deathstroke himself was startled when the heroes didn’t notice him. Apparently he could also be invisible? No, he thought, that’s not quite right. Not invisible, just unnoticed.

He considered stealing one of Brainiac’s shuttles, but that was perhaps not the best idea, since they were under his conscious control. So he slipped aboard Adam Strange’s craft. Lantern’s ring did not notice him. Raven’s soul self detected his presence but not his identity; distracted, she was focused on keeping Braniac at bay.


-12-


Braniac did not want to let them go, of course. The experimental subjects were his; he had not yet begun to process them, to make them his servants. He also didn’t want to let the heroes escape on more general principles. The battles planetside had been mixed, at best; there was no way they could simply let them defeat him here.

Had they been so inclined, the heroes could’ve told him that “letting” them win had nothing to do with it.

Adam Strange and the others rocketed back towards the Watchtower.

Brainiac considered following and attacking....but no. Not yet. Not then. Logic, not stupid rage, guided his decisions. His own ship needed repairs, and the data from the experiments was still useful.

Yes, he would attack the Watchtower....in due time. Especially if they made the mistake of leaving his test subjects there. Or perhaps he would direct the White Martians to do that for him.


-13-


In the Watchtower, Raven briefly returned to Quintum. But she’d done all she could for him; from here, he’d have to recover on his own.

“What do we do with these kids?” Strange asked.

“We’ll take Terra back down planetside,” Raven said. “But the other should be safe enough here for the moment.”

“Unless he decides to attack here..." Lantern pointed out.

“If he does, we’ll be ready.” Strange wished he sounded more confident than he felt.

Raven was frowning. “There’s someone else here....”

Abruptly one the teleporters lit up. “Someone coming up?” Adam frowned, and they tensed for battle.

“No,” Raven said. “Someone teleporting down.”

“How did they override our protocols?”

Terra stirred feebly. “Deathstroke,” she murmured. “Had to be. They took him prisoner, too.”

Only Flash and Superman would’ve been fast enough to stop him, and they were both still planetside.

“Never mind,” Raven said in frustration. “I doubt he’d aid Braniac anyway.”

General murmurs of assent answered her.

“No offense to the Watchtower,” Beast Boy said. “But I want to get Terra home.”

“Perhaps we should keep her here with the others...” Strange started to say.

“No powers to study,” Terra said dully. “Not anymore.”

“We don’t know that yet,” Beast Boy insisted.

“All the more reason for her to stay here with the others!” Strange pressed.

“Leave her,” Dabney snorted. “She’s nothing now.”

Terra looked into her eyes and saw something of who she had once been. She said nothing, but smiled wearily. Dabney looked away.

“Look,” Beast Boy said. “We’ll bring her back up if we need to.”

Strange looked as though he wanted to say more, but Raven put a restraining hand on him and shook her head.

“Time is pressing down on Earth,” Lantern added. Let’s not argue.”

“...All right,” Strange sighed. Then he turned to the others.

He wished Quintum were awake. He was a hero, yes. But not an Earth bound one, and certainly not one that was used to handling those new to their power. He’d always been consumed with his own issues. Lantern would know better, but Lantern would also want to go back to Earth to fight.

For that matter, so did he.

Hissing through his teeth in frustration, he said “Stay here. If Braniac so much as twitches, signal us.”


-14-


Her name was Faith.

The Justice League had tried to make her safe and, before the White Martian invasion, had secreted her away. Or more specifically, Batman had, with a little help from S.T.A.R. Labs. Nightwing was aware of this, some of the other Titans were not. Martian Manhunter visited her often, helping her to control her gifts.

The League had wanted her to stay safe, and lay low. And she had obeyed...at first.

Then the attacks had begun, and the scientists had first tried to keep her contained, as though she were one of the villains the Titans had imprisoned here. Eventually, it took the intervention of Dr. Sarah Charles to get them to settle down.

Now, she had been left alone, and she could no longer stand idly by.

She passed by the prisoners cells on the way to the elevator. She had always known they were there, but she had never been this close to them before.

Eric Forrester grinned at her from inside his prison. “Hey kiddo. Let me out.”

“Don’t bother,” Chaos said from the next cell.

“Shut up,” Eric snapped, and turned back to smile at Faith. “Let us out. Even Mister Pessimist over there. He can help fight the aliens.”

Chaos made a face. “He does have useful abilities,” he conceded, nodding at Forrester.

The alien woman in the next cell said nothing, just glared at Faith in contempt. She looked eerily like Starfire.

One of Faith’s powers was to read minds. She couldn’t read Eric’s thoughts clearly, but she felt lust and greed from him. Chaos’s mind--did he realy call himself that?--was filled with ideas for experiments, sizzling with madness. The alien woman was harder to read, but Faith understood that she had a blood feud with the Titan Starfire.

Even though she knew they were all villanious beings with vile intent, she was tempted to let them out anyway; it was true they could fight the aliens. Despite her wariness of him, Forrester’s insidious charm was having an effect on her.

But what then? Once the alien threat was removed, they would return to their usual criminal activities. Neither the heroes nor the S.T.A.R. Lab technicians had seen fit to release them. And in the end, that decided her.

She turned her back and walked away.

“Hey, kid!” Eric called after her, trying to keep the anger out of his voice. “Come back!”

“Told you,” Chaos said.

“Will you shut up!”

Faith ignored their chatter. She had hidden away long enough; she should’ve acted before now. Who knew how many lives had been lost?

Most of the S.T.A.R. scientists were in a basement bunker, working on some device or other to fight the invaders. Or perhaps it was several. She wasn’t clear on the details.

She half expected someone to try to stop her as she left, but no one did.



-15-


The battle where Terra had been abducted had wound down, the combatants scattered.

Superman brought down a double-fisted blow on a Martian. It’s whole body was deformed.

Wonder Woman lassoed a Martian around the neck. It grinned and began to shift it’s form, but before it could, she yanked it hard and slammed it into the ground. As it tried to shift again, and she simply marched up and began stomping on it with her boots. It couldn’t shift enough to keep up with her, nor even to climb up her boots and legs as it intended. Within minutes, it was reduced to a senseless paste, incapable of fighting back, or doing much of anything else.

The Leaguers, at least, had long experience of training against the Martian Manhunter, but that was not as complete an advantage as it might seem. The White Martian culture was fundamentally different, not to mention ruthless. J’onn adjusted fairly well, but the others, not so much.

Starfire blasted three, four, five times. A white Martian reeled back. Manhunter fought his distant kin; it tired to tie him in knots, the two of them merged into one ugly green and white ball of shape-shifting struggle. At length, J’onn stood tall, and the White Martian lay, a splayed mess.

Batman prepared to pull several pellets from his utility belt, But the enemy seemed to be breaking off.

“They got what they wanted,” Cyborg started to say. “They took-”

He stopped himself as he and all the other Titans got the signal that Lantern and Strange were bringing Terra back down, and that the others had been sequestered on the Watchtower.

Strange. Lantern and Raven came down.

Superman looked around, waiting to see if the Martians would take advantage, but they were nowhere to be seen.

“They’re gone, for now.” J’onn said. “But this isn’t over. Not by any means.”

“We’ve got to get Terra back to the Tower,” Beast Boy said. He was trying to be apologetic, but mostly sounded anxious.

Nightwing half expected Batman to say something snide, but he remained silent.

It was Superman who answered. “Of course. In fact, I’ll come with you.”

Nightwing and Batman shared a puzzled glance, then Nightwing went with the others.

“What’s this about?” Kid Flash asked Flash.

“No idea,” his mentor shrugged. “Go.”

Batman walked over to Aquaman. “Like J’onn said, this is far from over. Let’s keep up the pressure.”

“If we can,” said Aquaman.

J’onn nodded. “I’ll try to seek them out.”


-16-


With the main battle winding down, the Titans broke off and followed Beast Boy back to the Tower. Superman followed them.

Beast Boy carried a half-conscious Tara into the Tower. Raven looked after but did not follow.

“You’re not going with?” Scarlet Wing asked.

Raven shook her head. “She is not truly injured, just tired and delirious. There is nothing we can do for her now.”

“She’s right,” Dagon said, his own face still healing from it’s temporary exposure to sun, now safely hidden by his helmet once more.

Scarlet Wing opened her mouth to say more, but Troia put her hand on her arm. “Raven knows what she’s talking about. Gar will look after her, but even he will rejoin the battle.”

Scarlet Wing was still a little disquieted by Troia, due to who Donna had been in her own timeline. But Starfire nodded, adding, “This is the logic of the battlefield. The whole world needs us, now.”

“Now more than ever,” Scarlet Wing agreed, sighing.

“Indeed,” said Superman. “Raven, with me. I think you can help.”

“Certainly. What is it?” The empath arched an eyebrow.

“I have an idea...”


-17-


Tara Markov sat despondently in the Titans Tower medbay. Wearing a costume that had no meaning anymore.

It was true.

Gar wasn’t a med tech by any means, but he could read the instruments well enough.

Her powers were gone.

“Tara, I--” he began.

She kissed him to shut him up. “Go on honey. Go save the world. If you win, then I’ll figure out what to do with the rest of my life. Go.”

He hesitated. “I can’t leave you here unprotected. What if the White Martians come?”

“Then I’ll hide in the basement bunker.” After the raids by Deathstroke and Circe, Cyborg had built it, and reinforced it. “Go on, now.”

He was still wavering, when they heard a bleeping from the communications console upstairs. Fortunately, Cyborg had made it accessible anywhere. Almost angrily, Gar punched the console button. “Titans Tower. We’re kinda busy right now, what with the invasion and everything.”

An angry but immediately recognizable voice burst from the speakers. “Where. Is. My. Sister?!?”

”She’s here,” Gar said. “We got her back. But they took her powers away.”

There was a moment of stone cold silence. “I want to talk to her.”

Gar still hesitated.

“Go you goof!” she practically shoved him out the door. “Let me talk to my brother. Go.”

After one more agonized glance back, he ran to rejoin the others.

She stepped up to the console. “<I’m fine, Brion,>” she said in Markovian. “<Depowered, but fine. I’ll tell you what I told Gar; get back to saving the world.>”

“<We’ve been busy,>” he assured her grimly. “<These new suits of powered armor I told you about have been highly effective, though there were a couple casualties. We’ve taken down a fair number of the creatures.>” His tone changed to one of concern. “<The aliens stole your powers?>”

“<Not the frontline creeps. The big boss. Braniac, an old enemy of Superman’s.>”

“<Ah, I’ve heard of that one. I’d ask if you are all right, but you sound like your usual self.>”

“<My old self,>” she corrected him. “<The unwanted bastard child.>” Less than she had been even before she started her career of villainy, much less her time as a Titan.

“<Much of that picture, you painted for yourself,>” Brion said wearily. “<But I’ll not argue. You are in the Tower. Stay there for a moment, I’ll come and get you.>”

“<No, brother. I’m fine where I am. You’ve got work to do.>” Work she could no longer do.

“<I’ve done my share. I am coming to get you. And it’s not just brotherly concern. I have a plan for your future Trust me. I’m on my way.>” The communicator shut off.

Tara punched the wall, swearing in Markovian....then she sagged down in the corner and sighed.


-18-


Aztek and Evening Star had found Titans West on the coast, who were glad of the assistance. So far they’d held their own, though Golden Eagle had a broken arm.

The heroes started as Deathstroke appeared in front of them.

“What do you want?!” Rose screamed at him. Beside her, Jericho likewise tensed.

Deathstroke didn’t waste any time arguing, though confronting his children sent a pang through him. He held up his hands. “I actually came here looking for the Vanity heroes, who were hard to track, let me tell you.”

Azek and Evening Star glared at him. “Why should we trust anything you have to say?” Evening Star demanded.

“You shouldn’t,” Rose put in.

“Because I work for pay, and Luthor paid me to take these aliens down. He has a plan. If you’re willing to help.”

Bumblebee laughed. “Help Luthor?? That’s a good one.”

“All of Braniac’s experimental victims escaped,” Deathstroke said. “Including the Vanity abductees. Braniac apparently wanted to give us new powers, or modify them, and then turn us against Superman. But your New York fellows and the League rescued them. Including,” he reluctantly admitted, “Me.” There was also the matter of Evening Star’s girlfriend, but Deathstroke neither knew nor cared about the details.

Speedy had kept an arrow trained on Deathstroke the whole time. “So what’s Luthor’s precious plan, then?”

Deathstroke did not bring up Speedy’s own troubled past, or his connection to government stooges. Not now. “To bring Braniac’s ship down.”

“I believe he’s telling the truth,” Omen said. “Which does not preclude the possibility of Luthor lying to him, of course.”

“Luthor’s own neck is on the line,” Deathstroke pointed out. “He learned his lesson from Darkseid.”

Before they could discuss it further, there was a hissing and bubbling from the Pacific.

They turned, and saw three White Martians rising from the ocean. Before they could react, the three Martians used their shape-shifting abilities in a way that no one, not even their green-skinned cousin, could have anticipated.

They merged into one giant monstrosity.


-19-


Katrina, Long Shadow, and Piper had bonded together after the heroes had brought them back to the Watchtower. Dabney had her back to them, trying to ignore them.

Katrina was somewhat shell shocked, shuddering in horror at what she had become. The others had adjusted fairly well, and they wanted to fight, Dabney included. Though Dabney’s motivations were much darker and without empathy for the others.

“We must assist in the battle,” Long Shadow said.

Katrina shuddered. “We already did. I don’t know about you, but I want to stay out of this. What’s happened to me....what that...that alien did to me.....”

“All the more reason to fight,” Dabney said, still not looking around, “I’m not gonna take what that alien did to me lying down.”

“I was already involved,” Piper brooded. “And owed Aztek a great debt. Now I am simply...more motivated.”

Dabney said nothing.

“You are full of hate,” Long Shadow said.

“What, you an empath too?” Dabney finally turned to look at him.

“No, you display your darkness for all to see.”

“Poetic,” she snorted. “Whatever. The world will beat you down unless you fight.”

“Not in the way you mean,” Long Shadow said, “But in this instance you are correct.”

Piper, himself no saint, kept quiet. In Dabney he saw the difference between villains, like himself, and a true sociopath.

Katrina shook her head. “The spaceman asked us to stay here.”

Dabney bristled and wanted to argue further, but Long Shadow stepped between them. “There’s another aspect we haven’t considered,” he said.

After a moment, Piper understood. “Braniac,” he said.

Long Shadow nodded. “Our torturer is far from finished. There is a good chance he might strike here.”

They turned and looked at the Watchtower’s monitor’s screen. Braniac’s vessel loomed ominously against the stars, no longer cloaked. It was not moving...yet. But if he decided to attack, it wouldn’t take him long to get here.

“Oh great,” Katrina said shakily.


-20-


Lex Luthor brooded.

Deathstroke had checked in, but only briefly; Braniac had experimented on him and several others, but with the help of the heroes they had escaped, and had stated his intention to contact the West Coast Titans, buy using with new limited teleportation abilities to travel to them. Lex had raised an eyebrow at this, but had not commented. He assumed that Deathstroke meant that he would make several repeated jumps. He also briefly considered the notion that Deathstroke might be compromised by Braniac, but dismissed it as unlikely.

What concerned him more was that Deathstroke hadn’t reported in since then. His plans to bring Braniac’s ship down were going forward--even now hidden machinery was in motion, both literally and figuratively--but he needed someone to execute the plan properly. And he’d much rather rely on Deathstroke than one of the sanctimonious heroes.

Of course, those sanctimonious types would try their best, but Luthor had learned long before now not to rely on them for anything. And besides, he didn’t want to give them any more justification for ruling the world, as he saw it.

He had confidence in Deathstroke, but one way or another, he’d have to move soon.



-21-


Geo-Force had come far quicker than Tara anticipated.

She had expected him to take most of a day; but he arrived quickly; less than three hours. At first, she thought he’d asked one of the heroes for transport, but he only smiled and showed her the new Royal Hypersonic Low-Orbit Plane. Despite her despair and weariness, she was impressed. He assured her that Markovia had been ‘busy’. It couldn’t possibly stand up to Braniac, of course, but it wasn’t meant to fight. It was built for speed. It was certainly man times faster than the Titans’ Jet.

The trip to Markovia was equally brief. En route they didn’t talk much; she asked about White Martian attacks, and he said their own country had lucked out so far, but he had fought several battles in Eastern Europe, allied with the Doom Patrol. She asked if the Titans could have a jet like this one, and her brother gave a small smile and said he’d ask his technicians to pass the specifications along.

They landed in Markovia with only the barest minimum of ceremony, and hurried in to meet the Queen. Zenobia acknowledged Tara but seemed distracted, talking with Brion about security and the risks involved. Brion assured her all was as well as it could be given the invasion, and then, to Tara’s bafflement, headed below....into the basements and catacombs where both she and Brion had gained their powers.

“<I don’t....I don’t understand what we’re doing here,>” Tara muttered.

“<Relax, sister,>” Brion smiled. “<All will be clear soon.>”

“<This isn’t just about protecting me>,” she said. “<Your talk with the Queen made that much clear. What is going on?>”

“<Well, in a way it is,>” Brion said. “<Just a little more....proactively. And letting you be yourself, at the same time.>”

“<I don’t know what you mean,>” she said.

“<You’ll see, momentarily>.”

They passed through the chamber where both she and Brion had been given their powers. But the cold steel table was gone, as was the giant genetic manipulation laser. In their stead were several computer banks, and technicians, and honest-to-God welders working on sleek, sculpted pieces of metal. She heard mutterings about interfacing with nervous systems and datastream balance, and had only the vaguest notions of what they were talking about. Though it did remind her of some of the technobabble Cyborg tended to spout when working on his own systems.

What had been a disused storeroom had been turned into a long corridor, filled with technicians. There were a few men and women, partially suited up in a sleek style of armor Tara had never seen before. The technicians were fussing over them.

“<This is the armored defense thing you were talking about on the phone,>” Tara remembered.

“<Indeed, sister. Now.....take a look.>”

The corridor opened out wider. Had it not been so far underground, it could’ve been a hangar. There were several empty suits of armor sitting open on strange hooks rising from well lit tubes in the ground. Brion led her to the nearest, lit by a spotlight, highlighting it’s amber painted finish. The suit sat partly open, waiting for an occupant.

“<It will take a few minutes to calibrate it to your nervous system, but if you want it, it’s yours.>”

Tara’s jaw dropped. “<Mine?>”

Brion smiled. “<Yes.>.”

-22-

In the Watchtower, while the experimentees bickered, Leo Quintum, gasped, opened his eyes, and sat up.

To be continued!

Let us know what you think here!