Teen Titans #57: "Bad Blood, part 2"

-1-

As the plane landed in Denver, Troia reflected that none of them quite had Nightwing's detective skills. Dagon had the stealth, and Gar could use his shapeshifting abilities as a Changeling to similar ends. Cyborg's computers helped with analysis. But the only member, past or present, who even came close was Speedy....and he wasn't around anymore.

But it turned out not to take much in the way of detective skill.

They had barely gotten off the plane at Denver International Airport, still in the terminal, when a man materialized in the middle of the arrivals lounge, screaming his head off.

Everyone tensed; Titans, security, passengers. But there was to be no battle here.

The man had immediately toppled over and curled up into a ball, sobbing. A woman dragged her three children away from the man; the youngest dropped her candy bar and started crying. The mother dragged her away all the more frantically.

Instantly, Raven was there, wrapping her arms, cloak, and soul self around the poor gibbering man. He was older, in his late fifties or early sixties, drool running from his chin.

“Experimental subject?” Terra asked rhetorically. “Check.”

Dagon grimaced. “He's lost this much control already? Or is it that he just doesn't care?”

“You'd think he'd at least worry about getting caught,” Kid Flash said.

“Maybe he thinks they can't be traced back to him,” Cyborg mused.

Raven, meanwhile, was still soothing the distraught man. She read his mind, trying to trace his location, but the images were too distorted.

“I detect notions of a cave somewhere, with a laboratory set up within,” she told the others, “But not exactly how to get there.”

“We know where his storefront is, anyhow,” Dagon sneered. “As good a place to start as any.”

Police and airport security had closed in, weapons drawn. Troia stepped to the fore. “No terror threat, just a teleporter new to his powers, and almost certainly experimented on against his will to make him that way. Don't let us distract you from your work.”

The lead airport security man, thin faced and scarred, gave a hard little smile. “Quick response teams, ma'am. All the screeners are still at their posts.”

“Good to know.” Troia said, and meant it.

“We should claim jurisdiction over the--” the security man began, but the policeman to his right put out a hand to restrain him.

“Easy, Jonesby. That's one of Wonder Woman's kin. Let the masks do their jobs, so we can go back to doing ours.”

“But the potential risk of teleporting terrorists--” Jonesby began, half angry and half petulant.

“If there's a link,” the burly policeman said, “I'm sure the capes will let us know.”

“This look more like the work of a mad scientist, but if there is any connection we will pass the word along,” Troia agreed.

“Good enough,” said the cop, and led the still protesting Jonesby away. The other security guards and police stood down.

“Checkmate wannabes,” Cyborg said, his face grim.

“I'll second that emotion,” Terra agreed.

“Saved by the donut-o-phile,” Beast Boy mused. “Whatever is the world coming to?”

“Stay focused,” Troia chided them. “Let's get back to work.”

-3-

They found Chaos' “storefront” easily enough. Discord, he was calling himself now. Dagon shook his head; what was with the pseudo-anarchic names?

They had considered sending someone into the office in a civilian identity, as a prospective patient, but after that teleporter landed right in the airport, they decided they lacked the time for such subtleties. If Nightwing had been with them they might have tried it; but he wasn't.

The lab was bright and clean, with brochures littered around. A far cry from the dingy office Dagon had first met this man in.

Chaos wasn't there when they arrived, but there was a bright eyed, perky redhead receptionist who greeted them, told them he would be back soon, if they were prepared to wait.

“Even has brochures,” Beast Boy marveled, flipping through them.

“That's the explanation for his name,” Cyborg said. “Claims to be into Chaos Theory as the justification for his experiments, and that's why he is calling himself 'Discord' now. Try to figure that one out. Gives a 'real' name, Duncan Willard. Probably fake.”

“Definitely fake,” Dagon said. “He's crazy, not stupid.”

A finger touched Dagon's shoulder ever so slightly; he started. With his hypersensitivity, no one should be able to get close.

It was Scarlet Wing, which explained it somewhat; her own agility accounted for much. “Are you all right?” she asked, with wide eyed, honest concern.

He gave a thin smile. “I'll manage.”

“She's got a point, fang-face,” Terra said quietly.

“Yeah, and I appreciate that you guys are there for me. But I'm doing okay. Really. If it gets bad, I'll speak up. You have my word.”

Terra nodded. Scarlet Wing still looked worried, but let the matter drop.

It was at that moment that Chaos came in the front door. “Ah,” he said, slightly taken aback. “I see we have distinguished visitors!”

He was just as Dagon remembered him; high forehead, frizzy red hair, psychotic, staring black eyes.

Now those black eyed flickered back and forth. “Costumed adventurers....the Titans, I presume? To what do I owe the honor of your visitation? Surely such as you do not need my experimental assistance.”

“We're here for two reasons,” Troia said, stepping up to him. “Second, one of your experiments teleported into Denver International Airport today, in horror, madness and agony.”

Chaos sighed and hung his head. “Ah, it is unfortunate that some volunteers do not fully embrace the gifts they are given. I help those I can.” He paused. “But, you say that was the second reason? What was the first? Whatever brought you to Denver in the first place, I assume. Something....to do with me?”

“Yes. Someone has been looking for you for a long time. He's one of us now.”

Dagon swooped in front of Chaos. “I don't suppose you'd remember me.”

Chaos eyed him, considering. “I created several vampiric subjects. I don't remember you specifically. But all were volunteers.”

“I didn't volunteer for thisssssssssssssssss,” Dagon hissed out the last word, pointing one long fingernail at himself.

Chaos shrugged. There was no bluff, bluster or rage in his manner; but there was no fear, either. “You volunteered for the experiments; all did.”

“Nonetheless, clearly your success rate is very low,” Troia put in, gently restraining Dagon with one hand. Dagon didn't bother to tell her he had it under control; he just kept staring at Chaos.

“It's an ongoing process,” Chaos admitted. “But none of my subjects have any cause to complain. Including you. Do you have a specific point to make? Has the government decided to regulate my behavior?”

“Oh please, leave politics out of it,” Beast Boy groaned.

“If they had,” Troia said, letting go of Dagon, “It would be Checkmate here visiting you, not us. But it's not a matter of regulation, but of consequence. Certainly your work bears closer scrutiny.”

Chaos brightened, or at least he seemed to. “By all means, scrutinize away! Kathy will let you interview our three most recent subjects. They are still recovering. One is a teleporter; the other two have shown some interesting energy projection techniques, and may even be capable of flight. It is yet uncertain.”

“Don't wander off,” Cyborg warned him, looming over him from one side. Starfire flanked him from the opposite side.

“Not at all,” Chaos said cheerily. “I'm just going to get some data from the computer labs for you to look at. As a technological man, perhaps you'd appreciate the data?”

“We'll both go with you,” Starfire said. “The others can conduct the interviews.” She exchanged a look with Troia; they traded nods.

Chaos spread his hands. “As you like.” He went into the back, Cyborg and Starfire in his wake.

Troia turned to Raven. “What did you get from him?”

The empath wrinkled her nose, an unusual expression for her. “He's more startled than afraid, but covering it well. He's not overly worried. I can't exactly read minds, but he's....not stable, but thinking fast.”

“Will he try to run?” Troia pressed.

“Run away? No. Try to find an advantageous position for himself, yes.”

“Higher ground,” Troia mused.

“Metaphorically, at least.”

Troia nodded. “This is coming to a head faster than I'd like.”

“Doesn't it always?” Raven sighed.

They let the receptionist, Kathy, lead them to the interviewees, a tense Dagon in the lead.

-5-

Chaos skipped through the arch. He was mildly disappointed in Cyborg; as a technological hybrid himself, he should have been savvy enough to realize the arch should've shown the destination. A simple force field, keyed to his biological rhythms, had been all it would take to allow him passage through but deny them.

Ideally, he would have liked to have paralyzed them within the arch, then vivisected them later at leisure, or at least obtained genetic samples from the alien. But that required preparation, and he hadn't had time for that.

They would be on to him now, of course. He didn't remember Dagon specifically, but he remembered the vampiric experiments well enough. His mysterious backers had been particularly keen on those; he couldn't say why. While not scared, he certainly took the Titans seriously, and knew that alone, and in his current state, he stood no chance against even the weakest of them.

Of course, he was not truly alone, and his current state was about to be altered.

It would take them some time to find him, but find him they would, he had no doubt. The two experiments he still had back here in these dusty caverns were no longer twitching and screaming; they lay quiet on their tables, their powers stabilizing within them. His finest experiments to date. One of them had super strength, invulnerability and flight; the other had energy blast and teleport. Teleporting was not something he wanted; he had been entirely honest to the Titans about his phobia. Though he understood that Raven's gift was not that sort of teleportation, but rather a form of planewalking, not so different from the arch he had cobbled together. But in any event, his two current subjects could give him the gifts he needed.

His scanners confirmed that the powers were viable within them. He had no time to field test them. He
had no time to properly mentally condition them, either. That was something he rarely did, and it didn't always work. That being so, he'd have to make sure that they were between the Titans and him.

He activated the laser defenses and force fields, drew genetic samples from both subjects, and hurriedly put them into the scanner, tapping frantically at the keyboard. Removing the teleportation, he combined the other abilities into one genetic strain.

As the genetic sequence recombined, he activated the defenses of the cave system that he had installed when he moved in here; he knew it was only a matter of time before Raven or Kid Flash found him.

The genetic sequence was insinuated into one of his chemical solution test tubes, and he took it and hurriedly snapped it into a hypo gun.

He retreated past the groggily stirring subjects, deeper into the caverns, beyond any lab equipment or even furnishings. Leaving the last dingy bed behind, he peeled back his sleeve, slipped the needle into his arm, and pulled the trigger.

Three seconds later, he screamed and fell over, twitching and shuddering.

Knowing what was coming hadn't helped.

-7-

Kid Flash found it about twenty minutes later; a cavern in the wilderness. Just south of Pike National Forest, off Route 24. The night was deepening, and the cold of the high altitude was settling in.

There was a flickering energy shield across the cave entrance. It was not readily visible; Kid Flash had literally run into it, and bounced off. He had tried to vibrate through it twice, without any result except to singe his costume. Raven was quietly amused.

But there was no time for chatter. This man held the keys to Dagon's past, and had mutated who knew how many others.

Now it was Cyborg's time to step up. They could force their way through the defense field eventually of course, but that would take time; time they didn't' want to give chaos.

Cyborg only wished he'd been able to hack his way through the transdimensional arch, but this would do well enough.

“Are we sure he didn't just run, to leave us to find an empty lair?” Scarlet Wing asked.

“Then why the defenses?” Troia pointed out.

“To buy more time for his escape,” Scarlet Wing returned.

Dagon shook his head. “He's supremely confident in his scientific abilities,” he said. “I remember that much well enough. He wants to beat us.”

“On the off chance he has in fact fled,” Troia said, “We will hunt him down.”

“No more loose threads like with Rose?” Terra asked.

There had been a challenge in the question, but Troia nodded. “Exactly.”

The wind was whipping up, and it had truly become bitingly cold when Cyborg brought the field down twenty minutes later. They moved into the cavern. It was dimly lit by yellow emergency lighting; enough for them to see another force field wall, blocking the way,

Familiar with the process now, Cyborg was able to dismantle this one faster, but then yelped as a purple laser beam shot past his head.

Two simple small laser cannons, guided by either AI or simple response programs, canvassed the area, shooting their violet arcs, trying to mow the Titans down.

Troia deliberately stepped into the path of the right hand beam and deflected it into the ceiling; closing in, she kicked it hard enough to knock it off it's base and power source.

Starfire blasted the other, and they moved on.

-9-

The noise of battle had woken Chaos from his transformative sleep. Unlike his most recent and extreme test subjects, the transformation had done little to cloud his mind (The fact that he was already at least partly insane was not, of course, a thought that occurred to him).

He had gained no enhanced senses from his transformation, but he could tell well enough that the Titans had gotten through the battle mostly unscathed. That concerned him; he had hoped at least one or two of them down.

But his determination had not faltered; and in any case, he had no way to escape past them, except fighting through them. They were now between him and the transdimensional arch now, and that would only have delayed the confrontation.

But even now, he was not without assistance. Here in this deepest, darkest tunnel there were four remote combat drones. He activated them now, and flew forward to meet the enemy.