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Post by David on Jan 23, 2007 18:49:54 GMT -5
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Post by starlord on Jan 23, 2007 18:56:45 GMT -5
Teen Titans [/i] Issue #14: “Titanic Days” Part One Written by Mark Bowers Cover by Ramon Villalobos Edited by Brian Burchette[/center] |
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Post by starlord on Jan 23, 2007 18:57:18 GMT -5
Then:
When plummeting from a tall building, many things go through a person’s mind - usually fear, memories, and regrets. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, and Roy Harper was one such exception. As he plummeted down the side of Titans Tower, his mind had no time for distractions, being focused instead on survival.
Acting mainly on instinct, he pulled open his coat, sending buttons flying through the air, and revealing the weapons he rarely left home without. As one hand grabbed hold of a collapsible bow strapped to his waist, another pulled out an arrow, with a length of cable trailing from it. Attaching the end of the cable to his belt, he then fired the arrow towards the length of wall that was rapidly running out beside him. As Roy fully expected, the arrow hit its target, and he grasped hold of the cable, which suddenly became tight, swinging him towards Titans Tower.
He put his feet out and braced himself, ready to smash through the window ahead of him, but instead he just bounced back off it
Great, that’s all I need, he thought, as his footwear, after a few more bounces, finally came to a rest on the window. Unbreakable glass.
As he hung suspended outside Titans Tower, trying to pierce the unbreakable glass with the few arrows still on his person - not realizing that, thanks to his Titans communicator, merely requesting the window to open would have done the trick – the arrow that was holding the cable suddenly started to give way under his weight.
Plan B, thought Roy, as he suddenly found himself once again falling through the air. He’d wanted to save himself, but there was only one person fast enough to save him now. As he pulled out his Titans communicator and waited for Kid Flash to answer his call, he suddenly felt an updraft of air beneath him, cushioning his fall.
“You took your time,” he said, looking down, but, to his surprise, he saw no-one, and then, as he slowly reached the ground, he heard a familiar voice. It was the same voice he’d heard when entering the main door and the lifts earlier that day.
This is Titans Tower. We hoped you enjoyed your stay here. In future, we recommend your exiting the building using the stairs and elevators provided. Thank you. Have a nice day.
Roy shook his head in disgust. He was used to the other Titans having to save him, but now even their building was joining in.
Still, this was no time for feeling sorry for himself. He had to deal with Raven the only way he knew how.
He had to run away.
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Post by starlord on Jan 23, 2007 18:57:52 GMT -5
Now:
Five villains approached Titans Tower, coats and hats concealing their identities from passersby. Their leader was Doctor Light and his agenda was clear. Today he was going to destroy the Teen Titans – just for practice - and, following that, the Justice League.
His minions however had different agendas.
Mammoth and Shimmer had tackled the Titans before and they wanted revenge, while Gizmo, on the other hand, wanted to see if he could borrow any of the Titans’ technology.
And then there was Psimon, whose sole wish was to raise a demon.
As they reached Titans Tower, Mammoth spotted Starfire up in the sky and the memory of his previous defeat at the Titans’ hands grew stronger in his mind.
“Why can’t we just rush in and kill ‘em all?” he asked.
“They outnumber us at least two-to-one,” explained Doctor Light patiently, for the third time that day. “Divide and conquer – that’s the solution.”
Mammoth grunted agreement, as he and the others threw off their coats and hats; apart from Shimmer, who just ran her hands over hers, turning them into air.
Doctor Light looked at his lackeys and smiled.
“Let’s get to work.”
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Post by starlord on Jan 23, 2007 18:58:34 GMT -5
Donna Troy’s window suddenly opened and Kory flew in.
“Hey, Kory,” began Donna. “How were the holidays?”
“Fine,” said Starfire, smiling, and then her smile faded. “Until Barbara showed up.”
“Barbara?”
“Dick had her check on our new members. She says that some of them aren’t really who they say they are.”
“They’re not?” said a surprised Donna. “But I checked all of them out myself.”
“Their computer records must have been falsified,” explained Starfire. “Just like their identities.”
“Which members are we talking about?” asked Donna.
“Flamebird, Arrowette and Plastique.”
“But they’ve all been members for nearly a year now,” said Donna in disbelief. “Even if they’ve got secrets, I know we can trust them.”
“Dick can’t,” said Starfire matter-of-factly.
Donna sighed, as she looked down at the golden lasso on her waist. “I guess it’s time for the truth then.”
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Post by starlord on Jan 23, 2007 18:59:00 GMT -5
While Starfire was delivering the news about the suspect teammates to Wonder Girl, Nightwing was busy acting on Barbara’s other piece of information. He now knew the name of the man behind Titans Tower’s technology, one Silas Stone. Unfortunately that man was now dead. Fortunately, however, his son was still around.
“So, you’re saying that my father built Titans Tower?” Vic Stone said incredulously. “But that’s impossible. He died over a year ago, back around the time I first met you.”
“I’m only saying that it was his technology used throughout the building,” replied Nightwing. “Maybe somebody else could have had access to it.”
“Hope you’re not accusing me,” said Vic defensively. “It could have been anyone from STAR Labs.”
“Well, I intend to find out who.”
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Post by starlord on Jan 23, 2007 19:01:22 GMT -5
Garfield Logan was walking along a corridor of Titans Tower, towards a meeting with the other new members, when he was suddenly approached by a short stranger, asking for directions to the main computer room.
“Who are you?” asked Gar, looking down at the unfamiliar face.
“I’m your worst nightmare, Beast Boy. I’ve come to destroy the Titans,” explained the stranger. “Now, are you going to give me directions or not?”
At which point, Gar burst into laughter. “Did Cassie put you up to this? You’re really going to defeat the Titans on your own?”
“Nah, there’s five of us. We call ourselves the Fearsome Five.”
“Of course you do,” said Gar, attempting to humor him.
“Hey, I didn’t pick the name,” insisted the newcomer. “Just answered an ad, and they’d already come up with it. Anyway, if you’re not about to take me seriously...”
Suddenly the dwarf drew a weapon, that was like nothing Gar had ever seen before, and then pressed the trigger, firing out a metallic coil that wrapped itself around Beast Boy.
“Nobody makes fun of Gizmo,” he said, as he stomped off down the corridor, once again in search of the computer room.
“I thought my name was bad,” said Beast Boy, as he reduced himself into a small bird to escape the coil wrapped round him. “So, what happened, Gizmo?” he asked, flying around the dwarf’s head. “You used to be so cute in the films. Did somebody get you wet or feed you after midnight?”
Gizmo waved his sleeve at the green bird in front of him, and a concealed vacuum attachment quickly sucked Gar Logan in.
“No, I was exposed to Light.”
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Post by starlord on Jan 23, 2007 19:02:08 GMT -5
“Well, it looks like Gar’s going to be late as usual,” said Wonder Girl, looking at her watch and then at the assembled new members, “so, I guess we better begin now.”
Donna looked at the faces of the newer Titans, looking back at her: Flamebird, Arrowette, Dagon, Plastique, Woodchucker and Element. Over the last year or so, she’d gotten to know them all personally, whereas sometimes it seemed Dick just saw them as additions to his superhero army. They trusted her, and she trusted them, but now it looked like some of that trust was going to be broken.
“Nightwing’s been doing some checking up into your backgrounds,” she began. “It appears that some of the people you say you are don’t actually exist.”
Arrowette glanced over at Dagon. “Hey, Nightrider,” she said to the group’s resident vampire, “he thinks you’re a man who doesn’t exist. Must be mixing you up with that other guy.”
“Well, actually... Arrowette, I’m serious,” said Donna. “You, Flamebird and Plastique aren’t who you claim to be.”
For a second, you could hear a pin drop, and then all of that changed as everybody began to react to the news, except for Element, who just remained totally calm throughout.
“Of course I’m who I claim to be,” yelled Plastique, who’d now changed to resemble a rather caricatured form of Nightwing. “You can’t believe anything that Nightwing says.”
“Yeah, there must be some mistake,” said Dagon, unwilling to believe that his friends of all this time could have lied to him.
“I’m sorry,” said Donna, “but we have to check.”
“Go ahead, well,” said Flamebird, stepping forward from the rest. “Tie me up in that magic lasso of yours so that we can get this nonsense out of the way once and for all.”
With regret, Wonder Girl wrapped her lasso around Flamebird.
“What’s your name?” Donna asked, as the room once again fell into a hush.
“Well, at the moment I guess it’s Flamebird,” she replied.
“Your real name,” said Donna.
There was a pause, as the girl she’d been calling Carrie Kelly all these months finally had to tell the truth.
“My real name is... Carrie Kelly.”
Donna was confused. Maybe Carrie had officially changed her name recently.
“What name were you born with?”
“Carrie Kelly.”
Donna fired more questions at her about her age and where she’d grown up, and felt both embarrassed and relieved that Carrie’s answers were tying in with what she’d always told them.
“Can I go next?” asked Arrowette.
“No, me,” yelled another Arrowette, although this time with Plastique’s voice.
“No, it’s okay,” said Donna, smiling. “It seems even Nightwing can make mistakes. I’m really sorry about this. You can all go now.”
Suddenly, before anybody could leave the room, somebody with a transparent forehead entered.
“I’m looking for Raven,” he said.
“Who are you?” asked Donna. “How did you get in here?”
“Psimon says keep quiet.”
With that, yet another hush descended on the room. Psimon then proceeded to probe the minds of the assembled Titans for the information he needed. Unfortunately they seemed to think Raven was in the building, whereas he was fairly sure she’d departed months ago. While this was frustrating news for him, he at least had some people here to take out his frustration on.
“Psimon says stop breathing.”
As the other members panicked, unable to breathe, Wonder Girl, similarly affected, used the last breath in her lungs to rush over to Psimon, pulling him up off the ground and pushing him up against the wall, her fist aiming at his brain.
Psimon saw the look in the Amazon’s eyes. “Okay, you can breathe again.”
Relief flowed through Donna as she tried to take another breath, but then there was confusion as she found out she couldn’t, and then she started to lose consciousness.
As Wonder Girl slowly slumped to the ground, Psimon unwrapped the dying Wonder Girl’s fingers from his outfit.
“I never said Psimon says.”
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Post by starlord on Jan 23, 2007 19:02:57 GMT -5
As Gizmo continued in his search for the computer room, he saw some of his colleagues coming the other way. Then, suddenly, his attention was averted as a large green animal burst out of a container that had been strapped to him.
“You didn’t really think you’d get rid of me that easily, did you?” asked Beast Boy, looking at the dwarf lying on the ground.
“Not one of your best, kid,” said Gizmo.
“Well, the color’s a bit off admittedly,” said a disgruntled Gar, “but otherwise it’s a perfect mammoth.”
“You call that a mammoth, kid,” laughed Gizmo. pointing down the corridor. “No, that’s a Mammoth.”
Gar’s eyes looked at where his enemy was pointing, and saw a large red-haired man barreling down the long corridor towards him.
“I’m Mammoth,” yelled the man, picking up more and more speed. “Nothin’ stops Mammoth.”
“We’ll see about that,” said Gar, backing away from him, as if getting ready to charge. Finally finding himself at the end of the corridor, Beast Boy just stopped and stood there defiantly, his tusks outstretched, waiting for Mammoth to reach him, and, just as Mammoth was about to do so, he transformed himself into a fly on the wall, and saw Mammoth running past him, carried by his momentum into the outer wall at the end of the corridor.
“Nope, I guess nothing stops you,” said Beast Boy, as he observed the newly-made Mammoth-shaped hole in the wall, looking out on to the sky outside.
Suddenly the wall Gar was standing on, without warning, shimmered and turned to gas, enveloping him, and sending him crashing to the floor. As he struggled to remain conscious, the last thing he saw was a waif in tattered clothes and spiky red hair standing over him.
“No one does that to my brother and gets away with it,” she said, and then everything went dark.
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Post by starlord on Jan 23, 2007 19:03:32 GMT -5
At the end of last year, Kid Flash had been celebrating New Year and missed a call from Speedy. Since then, his friend had seemingly disappeared off the face of the Earth, and, also since then, Kid Flash hadn’t let his Titans communicator out of his sight for a moment, hoping his friend would get in touch.
Now, as his communicator went off, he saw that Dagon was calling him, transmitting pictures from Titans Tower of the new members lying on the ground.
A second later he was there in person, witnessing the same scene. Meanwhile, Dagon just stood there silently, writing something down on a piece of paper.
Kid Flash, not having time to wait for Dagon to pass the note to him, looked at what was written so far:
Brain guy stopped us talking and breathi
Wally didn’t need for Dagon to finish writing the word. It was obvious what the others had stopped doing, but presumably Dagon, being a vampire, could survive quite happily without breathing.
Before the newer Titan had finished his note, Wally had rushed over to Donna, wrapping her lasso around her. He only hoped she could still hear him, in her state of unconsciousness.
“Who are you?” he asked, propping her up.
Somewhere in her subconscious brain, Donna heard his request and the lasso’s magic overrode Psimon’s previous mental suggestions. She had to talk in order to tell the truth, and she had to breathe in order to say the answer.
“I... am... Donna... Troy,” she said, gasping for air.
Before she’d even finished the sentence, Wally had removed the lasso from her and was threading it around the other fallen Titans.
“Who are you?” he repeated, and, much to his relief, they responded in the same way as Donna.
While the others were recovering from their ordeal, he placed the lasso over Dagon, and asked the question he really wanted the answer to.
“Why didn’t you stop this brain guy?” he asked angrily.
“Hey, at first I thought I was dying too,” explained Dagon, glad to see that his speech was restored. “Stopping breathing isn’t something I’ve tried often.”
Kid Flash pondered those words in a nanosecond, and reassessed the situation. “Well, good work,” he said, patting Dagon on the shoulder, as he realized that he wasn’t really angry at Nightrider, but at himself. If only he’d have thought of trying the lasso when Raven had been in her coma, things might have turned out so differently.
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Post by starlord on Jan 23, 2007 19:04:14 GMT -5
Doctor Light came across a closed door, and he didn’t like closed doors. A moment’s concentration and a blast of laser light cut through the lock, allowing him access.
“Dick, is that you?” came a voice from an adjoining room.
“No, they call me Doctor Light,” he explained, walking into the room, and gazing at its occupant, “but I’m sure that you’ve heard of me. And you must be Starfire.”
“Why are you here?” she asked bluntly.
“I’ve come to destroy the Titans,” he explained. “Nothing personal, you understand. Just a stepping stone in my plans to destroy the Justice League.”
“You will not destroy anybody today,” she said, adopting a warrior stance.
“We’ll see,” said Doctor Light, as his hands grabbed hold of hers and the room filled with light.
As Starfire stood there, her inner solar energy being ripped from her, she struggled to retain consciousness, as she looked at the sadistic smile on Doctor Light’s face. It was a smile she recognized, and a smile she’d tried to forget; it was the same smile as that of the scientists who’d given her the solar energy in the first place.
And that smile just kept getting wider.
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Post by starlord on Jan 23, 2007 19:04:46 GMT -5
Nightwing looked at Donna’s frantic face on his communicator.
“Nightwing, you’ve got to get back here now. The tower’s under attack.”
“How many?”asked Nightwing.
“I’ve no idea. The security system’s stopped working, Kid Flash has spotted at least two walls missing, and a man with mental powers is looking for Raven.”
“What about Kory?”
“No answer from her... or Raven or Beast Boy.”
“I’ll be right over,” said Nightwing, closing his communicator.
“I’m coming too,” said Vic Stone, his camouflage disappearing as his Cyborg self came into view. “If it is my Dad’s technology in that tower, then I want some answers.”
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Post by starlord on Jan 23, 2007 19:05:16 GMT -5
Gizmo, finally having found the computer room and having connected in his customized iPod, was searching for a specific code.
Meanwhile, several floors below, Wonder Girl, having now lost contact with Kid Flash as well, was wishing she also knew that code. It was beginning to look like they might need it. Unfortunately, the only person who knew it was the person who’d cone up with it: Nightwing.
Gizmo looked at the two words now flashing on his iPod, and, having already easily circumvented the voice and iris recognition subroutines, he said those two words into the computer.
Downstairs, a sense of dread filled Donna Troy, as she heard the announcement and saw the red flashing lights in the ceiling activate. Surely Dick couldn’t be back already.
Titans Tower will self-destruct in sixty seconds
Upstairs, Gizmo was packing his things away, as the self-destruct sequence started its countdown.
As he walked down the corridor, past Beast Boy’s unconscious body, he saw Shimmer at the end of the corridor, looking down through the Mammoth-shaped hole in the wall.
Titans Tower will self-destruct in fifty-five seconds
“We better get going,” he said, throwing a small piece of metal out of the window. As the metal, built to remember its shape, unfolded into a large helter skelter, the two of them leapt onto it and slid to freedom.
Titans Tower will self-destruct in fifty seconds
Shimmer arrived, along with Gizmo, at the bottom of the slide to see Kid Flash circling her brother, landing punch after punch.
“Let’s make this a bit fairer,” she said, and waved her hand at the ground beneath the hero and her brother, turning it to air. As gravity took over, Kid Flash and Mammoth found themselves in a hole, which Shimmer then proceeded to make deeper. Soon Kid Flash found himself enclosed in a small space with Mammoth, without any room to move around.
“Now, it’s my turn,” said Mammoth, laughing.
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Post by starlord on Jan 23, 2007 19:05:47 GMT -5
As Nightwing’s motorbike roared through the streets, Dick and Vic could both see Titans Tower coming into view, although an intense light coming from near the top almost blinded them. Nightwing, knowing the architecture, muttered one word under his breath... Kory.
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Post by starlord on Jan 23, 2007 19:06:24 GMT -5
Back in the tower, the countdown was progressing.
Titans Tower will self-destruct in thirty seconds
Doctor Light stood over the pale body of Starfire, her solar energy ripped from her.
“Leave the poor girl alone,” said a voice from behind him.
He turned around, and saw the one called Raven standing there.
Titans Tower will self-destruct in twenty-five seconds
“You honestly think that you can stop me?” he asked.
Raven just smiled, and offered him her hand.
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Post by starlord on Jan 23, 2007 19:07:08 GMT -5
Nightwing and Cyborg finally made it to Titans Tower, swerving to avoid the deep hole that was in their path.
“That was some fast driving,” observed Cyborg, but Dick wasn’t listening as he rushed into the building.
Titans Tower will self-destruct in twenty seconds
“Fool will get himself killed,” noted Cyborg, before rushing in after Nightwing.
Titans Tower will self-destruct in fifteen seconds
Suddenly, as he entered the tower, Vic Stone felt a sense of completeness, as if he was one with the Universe, as the sort of voices he’d not heard since the first time he became Cyborg filled his head. He was a part of the building, and the building was a part of him. It only took a thought.
Self-destruct sequence abandoned
“I guess my Daddy built this after all,” said a confused Vic.
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Post by starlord on Jan 23, 2007 19:07:38 GMT -5
“Well, that was an anti-climax,” said Gizmo, turning to Shimmer. “I guess we’ll just have to go back in and find another way to kill them now.”
“I guess so,” said Shimmer wearily. “What’s that you’re looking at, anyway?”
“Oh, these were the words that started the self-destruct sequence,” he said, showing her his iPod.
“Who’s Roy Harper?”
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Post by starlord on Jan 23, 2007 19:08:10 GMT -5
Roy had to handle this one on his own. If Raven had gone bad, then he needed to know why, and he needed to decide on a plan of action before he went rushing in. Thinking about it, he needed to be less Ollie, and more Dick.
Since his disappearance, he’d been considering Raven’s words and he was fairly sure that he’d figured things out. Still, he needed to be thinking clearly, and that meant getting whatever homicidal thoughts the Royal Flush Gang had planted inside him out of his head. That was why he was here, now, in this prison, about to talk to one of the three remaining members of the Royal Flush Gang – the Queen of Clubs.
As she appeared behind the glass separating them, he noted that she was younger than he’d been expecting, with her hair shaved off. She looked kind of familiar but he couldn’t quite place it.
“Why are you here?” she asked.
“I’ve had thoughts in my head... bad thoughts. Raven told me the Royal Flush Gang was behind them.”
“And you believe her?”
“I don’t know what or who to believe anymore,” he admitted.
“So, did you kill her?” asked the Queen of Clubs, enthusiastically, leaning towards him.
“No. I couldn’t.”
She rolled her eyes. “Heroes. Who needs them?”
“So, are you going to tell me the truth?” he asked.
She looked away from him, a hint of sadness in her eyes. “Why? If I did, you wouldn’t believe me.”
“Try me.”
She leaned in conspiratorially. “Well, you’d have to do something for me.”
“What?” Roy asked.
“I’ll tell you when I’ve finished telling you my story, but I’m not really sure where to begin...”
She closed her eyes, and sunk her head into her hands, wondering if she was doing the right thing, as she remembered all the warnings she’d been given, but, after what they’d done to him, he deserved to hear the truth. She took a deep breath and began:
“My mother was an Outsider, my father was a Titan...”
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Post by starlord on Jan 23, 2007 19:08:40 GMT -5
To Be Continued!
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