Justice: Stained (Teen Titans: Future Storm)
In which Phoebus's identity is revealed to the Titans and disaster strikes.
Title: Teen Titans: Future Storm
Arc: Justice
Chapter: Stained
Fandom: Teen Titans (TV/comic hybrid)
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Nil
Lena Luthor was having the most wonderful night of her life. The Justice League was reduced to submitting to government control to repair their damaged reputation and the Teen Titans were now rogues. She had anticipated the League’s acquiescence; they had always been concerned with putting on a trustworthy public front. She had also anticipated the Titans’ defiance; teenagers were never good at submitting to authority.
It was a shame about Infinity, Inc., though. They’d been rather good pawns to manipulate, to present to the public as genuine heroes more concerned with the public good than their own aggrandizement. Of course, with their deaths, it would be easy to paint them as martyrs for the Watchmen Act. The fact that it had been the Titans who killed them would only serve to drive the nail even deeper into the coffin of their reputations.
At the moment, she was on the phone with Slade as she walked toward her office. “Is the next phase of the plan ready to begin?” she asked him.
“It is,” Slade replied. “What about on your end? The Justice League?”
“Leave them to me,” Lena answered. “I’ll meet with you soon.” She closed her cell phone, ending the communication.
When she entered her office, she saw a pair of long leather-clad legs resting on her desk. She looked more closely and saw that those legs were attached to a leather-clad body that was currently lounging on her leather chair. The body was female, with sensual curves fitting snugly inside a leather suit. A leather duster hung off her shoulders, her arms outside it and her hands propping up her head. Now that Lena looked more closely, the woman distinctly lacked a face . . . literally, but her head had long black hair descending in glossy waves.
“Intrigue,” Lena spoke. “What brings you here?”
“I cracked a lot of codes and skulls to make my way here,” Intrigue replied. “I know it was you who supplied the D.E.O. with the nanotechnology required to turn eight million innocent people into cybernetic metahuman-killers. I know you’ve been engineering metahumans for certain factions of the U.S. government as well as various foreign governments and nongovernmental organizations, including dictatorships and terrorist groups. But hey, whoever can pay, right?”
Lena did not miss the acid sarcasm of Intrigue’s last sentence. “Is that all?” she asked contemptuously.
“No, that is not all,” Intrigue answered just as contemptuously. “You created Infinity, Inc. out of juvenile delinquents, then gave them new names and backgrounds to cover up their criminal pasts. Of course, several Infinitors have continued their criminality in secret, but your control over the press is so great that you can keep it from going public. Speaking of media manipulation, I know you were the one who put out that edited video of Richard Snow’s death and the one who exposed Batman’s covert operatives. I also know that you were one of the founders of the think tank that ‘suggested’ the Watchmen Act to Congress.”
“Your point?” Lena inquired pointedly.
“My point is that I know your endgame and that is complete control,” Intrigue responded. “That’s why your father never liked metahumans and why you don’t like metahumans; they’re a dangerous variable in your carefully worked-out equation of dominance. That’s why you engineered events so that metahumans would be forced under government control. Of course, since many within the government owe their continued viability as politicians to you, they’re really under your control. The ones that don’t knuckle under will end up disgraced and eliminated, like what’s already happened to a number of metahuman heroes. And that’s only the beginning.”
“You’re right,” Lena said. “It is just the beginning. You see, the United States is going to be a shining example of how metahuman power can be harnessed for the good of normal humans. The world will soon follow suit.”
“And many of the world’s metahumans will have been created by you,” Intrigue added.
“Yes,” Lena confirmed. “I see little wrong in that. Metahumans, when controlled by and responsive to normal humans, are not quite as much a menace as otherwise. At least this way, they can be contained if they cause too much trouble.”
Intrigue removed her legs from the desk and stood on her feet. She reached into her coat and removed a length of garrote. “A world controlled by you is not a world I want to see,” she said. “Therefore, it is a necessity that you die.” She moved around the desk, walking toward Lena with a calm deliberateness that would have frightened lesser beings. Lena just looked upon the seemingly faceless woman with a supreme lack of fear on her face . . . and then she made her move.
A brutal smack to the jaw laid Intrigue low. Intrigue rolled with the blow and leaped to her feet, lunging at Lena with the garrote. Lena easily evaded Intrigue’s charge and grabbed her outstretched arm, twisting it behind her back and pinning her to the ground. Intrigue bucked underneath Lena, attempting to break free, but Lena’s grip was too powerful, especially when supported by the knee in the seemingly faceless woman’s back.
“Foolish faceless girl,” Lena mocked. “You think you know what I have planned, but you’ve only glimpsed it. There is so much more to what I have in mind than you know, but you won’t get to see it.”
“You’ve enhanced yourself, haven’t you?” Intrigue groaned in realization.
“I injected myself with nanoprobes containing the OMAC programming,” Lena explained as her skin took on a silvery coating. “This way, I can unleash the OMACs whenever I want . . .” She smirked with blue-tinged silver lips. “Such as now. Upon the Teen Titans who are led by your precious Nightstar.” Her eyes glowed a malevolent white-gold.
At that moment, the Teen Titans were hidden inside a grotto. The grotto belonged to Nightstar and it was a secret base for her, a Batcave of her own. It was equipped with much of the same technology as in Titans Tower, only scaled down to fit the grotto. As a result, it couldn’t do as much as the Titans Tower tech could, but it would have to suffice in light of the fact that Titans Tower no longer existed.
“What was the point in destroying Titans Tower with registered metahumans inside?” Samara asked. “Were you trying to kill them?”
“They would have killed us,” Nightstar replied tonelessly. “Don’t you get it? The public doesn’t consider us heroes anymore. To them, we’re as much of a threat as people like Tartarus.”
“That doesn’t mean we start acting like villains,” Samara insisted. “Destroying Titans Tower with registered metahumans inside is not going to win us back the trust of the public. If anything, it’ll solidify their concept of us as a danger to them.”
“Let’s check out the news,” Phoebus said, pressing a button on the computer console. Instantly, the monitor flickered to life and showed a NewsNet web bulletin.
“Just recently tonight, a monument of Jump City was destroyed. That monument was Titans Tower. The circumstances of its destruction involve an attempt by the rogue Teen Titans to escape apprehension at the hands of Infinity, Inc., who has managed to survive the Titans’ cowardly escape effort. They could not be reached for comment, but their press agent stated that it was only the efforts of the speedster Hermes that ensured Infinity, Inc.’s survival. In other news, Steel City’s Teen Titans have recently agreed to register under the Watchmen Act, but they have publicly expressed disagreement with the Act. Lian Harper, alias Red Hood and the leader of Titans East, had this to say.”
The monitor cut to an image of Red Hood, who had her hood down and her sunglasses off. “This isn’t the right way to handle this. Mistakes and tragedies have occurred, but I can’t believe that these would outweigh the good we’ve done to the extent that we have to submit ourselves to governmental oversight. The fact that everyone’ s rushing to condemn us without hearing us out isn’t exactly fair, either.”
The monitor cut back to the reporter, one Bethany Snow. “If she thinks the Watchmen Act is so unfair, why did the Titans East register in the first place? They’d be better suited as renegades like their West Coast counterparts with an attitude like that.”
“So this is what we’re reduced to,” Scarlet Archer mused sadly. “The only way we can function as heroes is if we submit ourselves to a government that would prefer us not to exist.”
“Hermes must be faster than I gave him credit for, to be able to save his teammates like that,” Mercury commented.
Before any further commentary could be made, a laser cutter could be heard. It pierced the titanium-lead alloy shielding the grotto and punctured the roof of stalactites. The laser cutter made a circular hole in the roof of the grotto and in came several OMACs.
“Quandary: Duplicate metahuman signatures detected. Duplicate signatures are identified as Jeremiah Crockett, alias Inferno.”
“Is something wrong with that satellite controlling them?” Scarlet Archer asked. “How can there be two Infernos?”
“I’ll explain later,” Phoebus replied. “Right now . . .” His arms wreathed themselves in flame and he projected that flame at the OMACs. One retaliated by shooting a concentrated burst of flame-retardant gas at Phoebus, snuffing out his flames. “Son of a bitch.”
“Be careful,” Bladefire advised. “There are innocent human beings in there.”
Beast Girl mentally ripped out sections of rock from the grotto floor and threw them at the OMACs, who simply projected blades and sliced through them. Undaunted, Beast Girl lunged at the OMACs as a wolf-girl and struck one of them. The others fired lasers at her, but she dodged them with animalistic swiftness and retaliated by slicing at them with earth energy-charged claws. The OMACs swiftly recovered from her slices and retaliated by slicing at her with their blades.
Scarlet Archer launched an EMP arrow at the OMACs, one of whom catching it. She pressed a button hidden behind her back and the arrowhead went off, triggering the electromagnetic pulse. The pulse enveloped all the OMACs and to the surprise of the Titans, the OMACs’ cybernetic armor cracked and peeled off, revealing dazed and confused human beings underneath.
“What are we doing here?” one of the former OMACs asked.
“We’d better get them out of here,” Nightstar said. To the former OMACs, “It’s ok. You’re going to be ok.”
“The Titans?” another former OMAC asked.
“Yeah,” Nightstar replied.
Samara generated a shadowy portal. “The portal will respond to your individual wills and send you back to your homes.”
“Are you sure?” a former OMAC asked.
“Yeah, what if it sends us somewhere else?” another asked. “Like some scary other dimension?”
“It won’t,” Samara replied. “The portal will take you all home. You just have to trust me and step through it.”
“Trust you?” a former OMAC asked. “How can we do that? After everything that’s happened over this week, how can we do that?”
“Trust is never an easy thing to give,” Samara admitted grimly. “But you have to believe me when I say I don’t mean any harm to come to you.”
“I think . . . I believe you,” one former OMAC said slightly hesitantly. To prove it, he stepped through the portal. One by one, the other former OMACs followed.
“And now for that explanation you said you were going to give,” Samara answered, turning to Phoebus. “The OMACs were talking about duplicate signatures when they intruded on us, signatures that were both identified as Inferno. I sensed something vaguely familiar about you when we first met. Now . . . who are you?”
Phoebus removed his mask, revealing a face that greatly resembled Inferno’s, only older and with a scar extending from the corner of his eye to just an inch or so above the corner of his lips. His eyes held an expression of melancholy and bitter fury mixed into one. When he looked at her, that expression took on a tinge of sad love.
“How?” Samara asked, looking into Phoebus’s face.
Mercury looked between Inferno and Phoebus, confused. “What the hell’s going on here?”
“My name is Jeremiah Crockett, though you know me very well in this time,” Phoebus replied. “I’m from the future. Five years in the future, to be precise. I’m here because the events that are happening now were set in motion by Lena Luthor and the end result was a world in which state-controlled metahumans were the only ones allowed to operate as crime-fighters. It got worse after Jump City was destroyed and the Battle of Metropolis . . . so many people died in both that it convinced the public to give even greater power to the government to track and investigate metahumans. This time, anybody who was found to have special abilities was forced to register with the government and in many cases, they were drafted into special task forces that enforced the American global agenda. Anyone who tried to resist was simply never seen again . . . if they were caught.”
“How did you get here?” Nightstar asked.
“Warp,” Phoebus replied. “He was killed in one of our later fights. I took his technology off his corpse and was able to reverse-engineer it into a time machine. I came back here in the hopes of stopping this, but it seems that I’m almost too late.”
“What you just told us the future was like sounds a lot like what Intrigue was trying to warn people about over the past week,” Bladefire said.
“In my time, she thought she could stop it by killing Lena Luthor,” Phoebus explained. “It didn’t work. Lena killed her and then commandeered her network to use it against us.”
“Then we have to find her and stop her from going after Lena,” Nightstar said.
“Too late for that,” Phoebus answered. “She’s already gone after her. The only thing we can do now is rescue her from Lena.”
“We have to get out of here, anyway,” Nightstar said. “This isn’t a safe place for us anymore. If the OMACs could find us, who knows who else could?”
In the Society’s base, Slade had gathered Tartarus together. The six young men and women stood about, awaiting Slade’s orders. Fray was casually loitering in the room, while Gemini was gazing at her finger-blades. Hex was filing her nails disinterestedly, while Black Flash’s posture suggested she was aching to do some violence. Dr. Blaze casually juggled several fireballs and Ravager gazed intently at her father.
“I have an assignment for you,” Slade said. “You’re to make a delivery to Jump City tonight.”
“What is that delivery?” Ravager asked.
“A living bomb,” Slade replied. “It has no real sentience, but it is aware. The initial explosion will inflict tremendous damage upon the city, but that’s not all. The living bomb is composed of toxins that will also be unleashed upon the initial explosion, so anyone who survives will be poisoned.”
Ravager’s expression was one of utter horror. “What? We’re going to do what?”
“You heard me, Ravager,” Slade replied. “We’re going to drop the living bomb in Jump City’s center.”
“Why?” Ravager asked.
“To teach the Titans a lesson,” Slade answered. “To make them realize that there is nowhere they can truly call home.”
“That’s going too far!” Ravager screamed. “I won’t let you!” She drew her swords but Gemini grabbed Ravager with her outstretched arms and wrapped them around her, binding the assassin’s arms to her sides. Ravager struggled fiercely in her bonds, but Gemini’s grip was too strong.
“Why the reluctance, dear child?” Slade asked. He reached out and grasped her by her chin. “Unless you have more of an attachment to the Teen Titans than I thought. Yes, that’s it, isn’t it? I wonder, just which Titan is it that has divided your loyalties so? Is it Samara? Or is it one of Grayson’s brats? If so, which one? Nightstar . . . or is it Bladefire?” He smirked under his mask. “Oh, don’t think I don’t know, Rose. I’ve known all about that facet of your relationship with him for some time; I simply allowed it because I believed I could subvert the boy for my own purposes. Now that I know where your real loyalties lie, you’re no longer useful to me.” He turned to Gemini. “Put Ravager in a holding cell and make the delivery.”
“Will do,” Gemini responded.
Meanwhile, the Teen Titans, along with Scarlet Archer and Phoebus, had gone to Lena’s headquarters in Metropolis to find Intrigue. Samara had cast a spell on them that would make them temporarily invisible to remote viewing, thus enabling them to evade Lena Luthor’s surveillance equipment. They searched the lower levels of LexCorp’s headquarters, figuring they’d find Intrigue being held there. On their way, they found interference from Lena’s security detail, which was clad in black-and-white armor and all pointing laser rifles at the heroes.
Nightstar extended energy wire and used it to slice apart several security officers’ guns. The others opened fire on the heroes, Mercury dodging with an ease that was almost frightening. It was as though even light was moving too slowly to catch up with him. Beside him, Beast Girl became a tigress and lunged at the security officers, slicing their guns out of their hands and slicing their armor. Bladefire cut through their weapons with his energy blade and Inferno and Phoebus literally fired upon the security officers. Samara telekinetically disarmed more security officers, as Scarlet Archer fired armor-piercing arrows at the security officers.
Nightstar kept moving, relying on the others to hold off the security officers. As she flew, she found more and more security officers in wait for them, but she disabled them with ferocious effortlessness. When she was next halted, it was by glowing vines that wrapped around her body and held her fast. She struggled valiantly in the grip of the vines, but they simply tightened around her body.
Out of the shadows stepped several metahumans. One was a green-haired girl garbed in a white leotard with a symbol resembling green leaves growing out of a circle. Another was a dark-haired girl garbed in a dark red suit with a yellow lightning motif. A third was a man-shaped figure in what seemed to be a more form-fitting Hazmat suit. The fourth was a boy with metallic silver skin and hair and an atom symbol on the front of his sleeveless suit.
“Allow us to introduce ourselves,” the silver boy spoke. “I’m Colonel Atom. The girl who has you bound and helpless is Chlorophyll. The one in the Hazmat suit is Human Bomb and our girl in red is Trajectory.”
“Colonel Atom,” Nightstar hissed. “You mean they repeated the Captain Atom project with teenagers?”
“Yes,” Colonel Atom replied. “Specifically, military school brats who just wouldn’t behave themselves. S.H.A.D.E. found a use for us, but I was the only one strong enough to survive.”
“By the way . . .” Nightstar said. “You’re only half right about me. I’m bound . . . but not helpless.” She proceeded to prove it by tearing herself free of Chlorophyll’s glowing vines and lashing out with her energy wire, slicing through Colonel Atom’s silver skin. Colonel Atom hissed and pressed his hand against his glowing wounds, forcing them to heal.
“How did you do that?” Colonel Atom asked.
“Plants take in energy from the sun,” Nightstar replied. “What I did was absorb the solar energy in Chlorophyll’s vines, increasing my own strength.”
Trajectory vanished from sight and reappeared with her foot embedded in Nightstar’s stomach. The blow had come so quickly that it caught the Tamaranean hybrid by surprise, knocking the breath out of her. Trajectory vanished again, reappearing with a chop to the back of Nightstar’s neck. The red-clad girl disappeared once more, and a series of vicious invisible blows battered Nightstar.
A speedster, Nightstar thought. Screw me.
Nightstar let off an energy blast from her eyes, but Trajectory dodged it with brutal ease. Trajectory seemed to be vanishing and reappearing all around Nightstar, but Nightstar knew that the other girl was simply moving too fast to be seen except intermittently, even by her sight. Nightstar lifted herself into the air and extended her energy, the glowing purple wire flying everywhere. Trajectory tripped over the wire, but rolled back onto her feet. Before she could shift into hyper-speed again, Nightstar was on her with fierce punches and kicks. Trajectory attempted to speed up again, but Nightstar was beating her too furiously for her to do so.
The one known as Human Bomb calmly ripped off a piece of his fingernail and flicked it at Nightstar. The resulting explosion knocked both her and Trajectory into a nearby wall. Trajectory vibrated to save herself from going splat, only to detonate the wall she was vibrating through. As for Nightstar, she simply bounced off the wall and rolled onto the floor.
“Now I know why they call you the Human Bomb,” Nightstar groaned. She rolled onto her back and turned to the hole Trajectory had made in the wall. Her eyes widened when she saw what was on the other side of that hole. Specifically, it was Intrigue strapped down on a table with nodes attached to her forehead and those nodes connected to a brainwave-monitoring machine, a machine that apparently doubled as a torture device given Intrigue’s haggard state.
With a shout of fury, Nightstar flew through the hole to get to Intrigue, only to be struck by an energy blast from Colonel Atom. Nightstar was quick to recover and retaliate with an optic blast aimed for Colonel Atom. Colonel Atom dodged the blast and flew at Nightstar, slamming into her and pinning her to the far wall. Nightstar struggled mightily, but Colonel Atom seemed to be the stronger of the two, given the one-handed ease with which he held her. He charged his other fist full of atomic energy and punched her, sending her through the wall. Nightstar rose from her prostrate position and wiped the blood off her lip.
Colonel Atom sped toward Nightstar, but Nightstar dodged his attack and kicked him hard in the face. Colonel Atom snarled and charged her again, only for her to dodge and slide low, spinning herself upward into a kick that caught the metal-skinned teenager in the chin. Colonel Atom flipped back and blasted her with atomic force, but she blocked the blast with her bracers. She flipped into the air and lashed out with her energy whip, striking the machine being used to torture Intrigue. The seemingly faceless woman’s head lolled to one side, a sign of mental exhaustion. Nightstar plucked the nodes off the other woman’s forehead and scooped her up in her arms.
“You’re not leaving with that faceless bitch,” Colonel Atom stated.
“Watch me,” Nightstar retorted and proceeded to fly as fast as she could without killing Intrigue. Colonel Atom, Chlorophyll, and Trajectory pursued both young women. As she flew, Nightstar spotted her teammates, Scarlet Archer, and Phoebus, who were still battling the security officers. “I’ve got Intrigue! Let’s go!”
“Not so fast,” Colonel Atom declared, firing an atomic blast at Nightstar. To the surprise of everyone present, the blast slowed to a crawl and petered out long before it could hit Nightstar. “What the hell was that?”
“Me,” Mercury replied. “I drained the kinetic energy from your blast.” He turned to Trajectory. “As for you . . .” He leeched the speed from the red-clad girl. “Now you can’t run.”
Trajectory attempted to attack Mercury at super-speed, only to realize that her speed was gone. Her eyes widened in shock just before Mercury disabled her with a swift roundhouse kick. Human Bomb charged at Mercury, intending to detonate him by touching him, but Mercury drained the kinetic energy from the would-be explosion. Mercury struck him with a burst of the same kinetic energy that he’d drained from him, knocking him down and out.
“Samara, take us out,” Bladefire ordered.
“Are we going to blow this place up, too?” Samara asked sardonically.
“I don’t see why not,” Phoebus replied grimly. “Lena Luthor deserves to burn more than anyone else I could think of. Her and Slade.”
“We’re not supposed to kill,” Bladefire stated.
“Tell that to your sister,” Samara retorted bitingly.
“We don’t have time for this,” Nightstar hissed. “Just teleport us to Batman’s cave. He’ll have medical equipment there.”
Samara sighed bitterly and did as Nightstar ordered, teleporting the Titans, Scarlet Archer, and Phoebus to the Batcave. The first thing that could be seen was the giant computer monitor, surrounded by smaller screens. In the distance, but not a very far distance, was a sleek, tank-like black vehicle. Further away were trophies from the various villains Bruce Wayne’s Batman had defeated over the years. Sitting at the computer monitor was Bruce Wayne himself.
“What brings you here?” the aged man asked.
“Intrigue needs medical help,” Nightstar replied. “And we can’t go to the hospital or the Titans East or the Justice League because we’ll be arrested.”
“Take her to the infirmary,” Bruce answered.
Nightstar proceeded to do exactly that. She carefully carried Intrigue to the infirmary area of the cave and gently laid her on the cot. She hung up Intrigue’s coat next to her. She was rather surprised when Intrigue grabbed her hand.
“In the coat . . . aerosol spray,” Intrigue uttered.
Nightstar looked around in the pockets of Intrigue’s coat and found a small pressurized spray can. She pulled out the can and sprayed its contents at Intrigue’s literally blank face. Once she was sure enough had been sprayed, she stopped and peeled Intrigue’s blank face off, revealing darkly beautiful yet bruised Italian features.
“Lucia . . .” she murmured gently. “What did they do to you?”
“Neurological shocks,” Intrigue replied. “Tried to make me talk. Gave them nothing.”
“What were you doing in LexCorp?” Nightstar asked.
“Was going to kill Lena Luthor,” Intrigue answered. “Done so much evil, caused so much misery, didn’t deserve to live. Wasn’t expecting . . . injected herself with nanites, OMAC programming in them. Stronger than me, controls the OMACs . . .”
“That explains the bruises,” Nightstar mused. “And if she controls the OMACs . . .”
“Then she can have you killed at any time she wants,” Intrigue finished grimly.
“Nightstar,” Bladefire spoke, hovering nearby. “Grandpa Bruce wants to see you.”
“Sure,” Nightstar answered. “Rest, Lucia.” She gently kissed Intrigue on the forehead and stood up to follow Bladefire, who took her to Bruce. Bruce sat the computer monitor, staring intently at a satellite in space. “Is that the satellite controlling the OMACs?”
“Yes,” Bruce replied. “Bladefire told me all about what Intrigue revealed to Detective Perez.”
“I still can’t believe that all this is happening,” Nightstar uttered.
“Believe it,” Samara answered grimly. “Humans who are accustomed to having power don’t like the idea of being without that power. This is what they do to keep it.”
“How do we shut down that satellite?” Inferno asked.
“The satellite’s not the only thing we need to worry about,” Nightstar replied. “Lena’s injected herself with OMAC nanoprobes. She’s using them to duplicate the functions of the OMAC satellite, controlling the OMACs and tracking metahumans.”
“I was able to shut down the OMACs using an EMP to disable their programming,” Scarlet Archer suggested. “We could do the same to the satellite.”
“An excellent idea except for the fact that the satellite will probably detect us,” Phoebus cut in.
“Then we’re going to need stealth technology that’ll render you immune to technological surveillance,” Bruce said. “Technology like what Mr. Terrific and his son use in their costumes.” Before he could elaborate, the console suddenly blinked to indicate an incoming NewsNet bulletin. Bruce pressed the button, shifting the computer screen to the NewsNet bulletin.
“Tragedy abounds on both the East Coast and the West Coast,” Bethany Snow spoke. “On the East Coast, a gene therapy lab in Metropolis owned by philanthropist Lena Luthor was destroyed by what appeared to be a laser beam fired from space. On the West Coast, a bomb of some kind was dropped into the center of Jump City, the home base of rogue metahuman vigilantes the Teen Titans. The devastation in Jump City is estimated to have claimed at least one hundred thousand lives. In Metropolis, the destruction of the lab killed the scientists and patients inside and the resulting shockwaves caused many injuries and deaths within a five-block radius of the lab. There is no apparent cause to these tragedies, no seeming method to this madness . . .” As Snow spoke, the images of the destruction flitted about, shocking and horrifying everyone present.
“We . . . we have to go back,” Nightstar uttered, barely able to find her voice.
“A noble sentiment, but highly dangerous,” Bruce responded. “The explosive residue in Jump City resembles that from toxic chemicals. There’s only one thing I know that’s capable of leaving such residue after a blast like that and that’s a living bomb.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Nightstar said. “We have to save as many people as we can, as are left . . .”
“I’ll cast a protection spell on us,” Samara said. “The toxins won’t touch us.”
“Then go,” Bruce answered. “But be careful. If the police see you, they’re more likely to arrest you than help you.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Nightstar repeated. “We have to go. We’re the Titans . . . and Titans don’t hide from the people they’re supposed to protect.”
Title: Teen Titans: Future Storm
Arc: Justice
Chapter: Stained
Fandom: Teen Titans (TV/comic hybrid)
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Nil
Lena Luthor was having the most wonderful night of her life. The Justice League was reduced to submitting to government control to repair their damaged reputation and the Teen Titans were now rogues. She had anticipated the League’s acquiescence; they had always been concerned with putting on a trustworthy public front. She had also anticipated the Titans’ defiance; teenagers were never good at submitting to authority.
It was a shame about Infinity, Inc., though. They’d been rather good pawns to manipulate, to present to the public as genuine heroes more concerned with the public good than their own aggrandizement. Of course, with their deaths, it would be easy to paint them as martyrs for the Watchmen Act. The fact that it had been the Titans who killed them would only serve to drive the nail even deeper into the coffin of their reputations.
At the moment, she was on the phone with Slade as she walked toward her office. “Is the next phase of the plan ready to begin?” she asked him.
“It is,” Slade replied. “What about on your end? The Justice League?”
“Leave them to me,” Lena answered. “I’ll meet with you soon.” She closed her cell phone, ending the communication.
When she entered her office, she saw a pair of long leather-clad legs resting on her desk. She looked more closely and saw that those legs were attached to a leather-clad body that was currently lounging on her leather chair. The body was female, with sensual curves fitting snugly inside a leather suit. A leather duster hung off her shoulders, her arms outside it and her hands propping up her head. Now that Lena looked more closely, the woman distinctly lacked a face . . . literally, but her head had long black hair descending in glossy waves.
“Intrigue,” Lena spoke. “What brings you here?”
“I cracked a lot of codes and skulls to make my way here,” Intrigue replied. “I know it was you who supplied the D.E.O. with the nanotechnology required to turn eight million innocent people into cybernetic metahuman-killers. I know you’ve been engineering metahumans for certain factions of the U.S. government as well as various foreign governments and nongovernmental organizations, including dictatorships and terrorist groups. But hey, whoever can pay, right?”
Lena did not miss the acid sarcasm of Intrigue’s last sentence. “Is that all?” she asked contemptuously.
“No, that is not all,” Intrigue answered just as contemptuously. “You created Infinity, Inc. out of juvenile delinquents, then gave them new names and backgrounds to cover up their criminal pasts. Of course, several Infinitors have continued their criminality in secret, but your control over the press is so great that you can keep it from going public. Speaking of media manipulation, I know you were the one who put out that edited video of Richard Snow’s death and the one who exposed Batman’s covert operatives. I also know that you were one of the founders of the think tank that ‘suggested’ the Watchmen Act to Congress.”
“Your point?” Lena inquired pointedly.
“My point is that I know your endgame and that is complete control,” Intrigue responded. “That’s why your father never liked metahumans and why you don’t like metahumans; they’re a dangerous variable in your carefully worked-out equation of dominance. That’s why you engineered events so that metahumans would be forced under government control. Of course, since many within the government owe their continued viability as politicians to you, they’re really under your control. The ones that don’t knuckle under will end up disgraced and eliminated, like what’s already happened to a number of metahuman heroes. And that’s only the beginning.”
“You’re right,” Lena said. “It is just the beginning. You see, the United States is going to be a shining example of how metahuman power can be harnessed for the good of normal humans. The world will soon follow suit.”
“And many of the world’s metahumans will have been created by you,” Intrigue added.
“Yes,” Lena confirmed. “I see little wrong in that. Metahumans, when controlled by and responsive to normal humans, are not quite as much a menace as otherwise. At least this way, they can be contained if they cause too much trouble.”
Intrigue removed her legs from the desk and stood on her feet. She reached into her coat and removed a length of garrote. “A world controlled by you is not a world I want to see,” she said. “Therefore, it is a necessity that you die.” She moved around the desk, walking toward Lena with a calm deliberateness that would have frightened lesser beings. Lena just looked upon the seemingly faceless woman with a supreme lack of fear on her face . . . and then she made her move.
A brutal smack to the jaw laid Intrigue low. Intrigue rolled with the blow and leaped to her feet, lunging at Lena with the garrote. Lena easily evaded Intrigue’s charge and grabbed her outstretched arm, twisting it behind her back and pinning her to the ground. Intrigue bucked underneath Lena, attempting to break free, but Lena’s grip was too powerful, especially when supported by the knee in the seemingly faceless woman’s back.
“Foolish faceless girl,” Lena mocked. “You think you know what I have planned, but you’ve only glimpsed it. There is so much more to what I have in mind than you know, but you won’t get to see it.”
“You’ve enhanced yourself, haven’t you?” Intrigue groaned in realization.
“I injected myself with nanoprobes containing the OMAC programming,” Lena explained as her skin took on a silvery coating. “This way, I can unleash the OMACs whenever I want . . .” She smirked with blue-tinged silver lips. “Such as now. Upon the Teen Titans who are led by your precious Nightstar.” Her eyes glowed a malevolent white-gold.
At that moment, the Teen Titans were hidden inside a grotto. The grotto belonged to Nightstar and it was a secret base for her, a Batcave of her own. It was equipped with much of the same technology as in Titans Tower, only scaled down to fit the grotto. As a result, it couldn’t do as much as the Titans Tower tech could, but it would have to suffice in light of the fact that Titans Tower no longer existed.
“What was the point in destroying Titans Tower with registered metahumans inside?” Samara asked. “Were you trying to kill them?”
“They would have killed us,” Nightstar replied tonelessly. “Don’t you get it? The public doesn’t consider us heroes anymore. To them, we’re as much of a threat as people like Tartarus.”
“That doesn’t mean we start acting like villains,” Samara insisted. “Destroying Titans Tower with registered metahumans inside is not going to win us back the trust of the public. If anything, it’ll solidify their concept of us as a danger to them.”
“Let’s check out the news,” Phoebus said, pressing a button on the computer console. Instantly, the monitor flickered to life and showed a NewsNet web bulletin.
“Just recently tonight, a monument of Jump City was destroyed. That monument was Titans Tower. The circumstances of its destruction involve an attempt by the rogue Teen Titans to escape apprehension at the hands of Infinity, Inc., who has managed to survive the Titans’ cowardly escape effort. They could not be reached for comment, but their press agent stated that it was only the efforts of the speedster Hermes that ensured Infinity, Inc.’s survival. In other news, Steel City’s Teen Titans have recently agreed to register under the Watchmen Act, but they have publicly expressed disagreement with the Act. Lian Harper, alias Red Hood and the leader of Titans East, had this to say.”
The monitor cut to an image of Red Hood, who had her hood down and her sunglasses off. “This isn’t the right way to handle this. Mistakes and tragedies have occurred, but I can’t believe that these would outweigh the good we’ve done to the extent that we have to submit ourselves to governmental oversight. The fact that everyone’ s rushing to condemn us without hearing us out isn’t exactly fair, either.”
The monitor cut back to the reporter, one Bethany Snow. “If she thinks the Watchmen Act is so unfair, why did the Titans East register in the first place? They’d be better suited as renegades like their West Coast counterparts with an attitude like that.”
“So this is what we’re reduced to,” Scarlet Archer mused sadly. “The only way we can function as heroes is if we submit ourselves to a government that would prefer us not to exist.”
“Hermes must be faster than I gave him credit for, to be able to save his teammates like that,” Mercury commented.
Before any further commentary could be made, a laser cutter could be heard. It pierced the titanium-lead alloy shielding the grotto and punctured the roof of stalactites. The laser cutter made a circular hole in the roof of the grotto and in came several OMACs.
“Quandary: Duplicate metahuman signatures detected. Duplicate signatures are identified as Jeremiah Crockett, alias Inferno.”
“Is something wrong with that satellite controlling them?” Scarlet Archer asked. “How can there be two Infernos?”
“I’ll explain later,” Phoebus replied. “Right now . . .” His arms wreathed themselves in flame and he projected that flame at the OMACs. One retaliated by shooting a concentrated burst of flame-retardant gas at Phoebus, snuffing out his flames. “Son of a bitch.”
“Be careful,” Bladefire advised. “There are innocent human beings in there.”
Beast Girl mentally ripped out sections of rock from the grotto floor and threw them at the OMACs, who simply projected blades and sliced through them. Undaunted, Beast Girl lunged at the OMACs as a wolf-girl and struck one of them. The others fired lasers at her, but she dodged them with animalistic swiftness and retaliated by slicing at them with earth energy-charged claws. The OMACs swiftly recovered from her slices and retaliated by slicing at her with their blades.
Scarlet Archer launched an EMP arrow at the OMACs, one of whom catching it. She pressed a button hidden behind her back and the arrowhead went off, triggering the electromagnetic pulse. The pulse enveloped all the OMACs and to the surprise of the Titans, the OMACs’ cybernetic armor cracked and peeled off, revealing dazed and confused human beings underneath.
“What are we doing here?” one of the former OMACs asked.
“We’d better get them out of here,” Nightstar said. To the former OMACs, “It’s ok. You’re going to be ok.”
“The Titans?” another former OMAC asked.
“Yeah,” Nightstar replied.
Samara generated a shadowy portal. “The portal will respond to your individual wills and send you back to your homes.”
“Are you sure?” a former OMAC asked.
“Yeah, what if it sends us somewhere else?” another asked. “Like some scary other dimension?”
“It won’t,” Samara replied. “The portal will take you all home. You just have to trust me and step through it.”
“Trust you?” a former OMAC asked. “How can we do that? After everything that’s happened over this week, how can we do that?”
“Trust is never an easy thing to give,” Samara admitted grimly. “But you have to believe me when I say I don’t mean any harm to come to you.”
“I think . . . I believe you,” one former OMAC said slightly hesitantly. To prove it, he stepped through the portal. One by one, the other former OMACs followed.
“And now for that explanation you said you were going to give,” Samara answered, turning to Phoebus. “The OMACs were talking about duplicate signatures when they intruded on us, signatures that were both identified as Inferno. I sensed something vaguely familiar about you when we first met. Now . . . who are you?”
Phoebus removed his mask, revealing a face that greatly resembled Inferno’s, only older and with a scar extending from the corner of his eye to just an inch or so above the corner of his lips. His eyes held an expression of melancholy and bitter fury mixed into one. When he looked at her, that expression took on a tinge of sad love.
“How?” Samara asked, looking into Phoebus’s face.
Mercury looked between Inferno and Phoebus, confused. “What the hell’s going on here?”
“My name is Jeremiah Crockett, though you know me very well in this time,” Phoebus replied. “I’m from the future. Five years in the future, to be precise. I’m here because the events that are happening now were set in motion by Lena Luthor and the end result was a world in which state-controlled metahumans were the only ones allowed to operate as crime-fighters. It got worse after Jump City was destroyed and the Battle of Metropolis . . . so many people died in both that it convinced the public to give even greater power to the government to track and investigate metahumans. This time, anybody who was found to have special abilities was forced to register with the government and in many cases, they were drafted into special task forces that enforced the American global agenda. Anyone who tried to resist was simply never seen again . . . if they were caught.”
“How did you get here?” Nightstar asked.
“Warp,” Phoebus replied. “He was killed in one of our later fights. I took his technology off his corpse and was able to reverse-engineer it into a time machine. I came back here in the hopes of stopping this, but it seems that I’m almost too late.”
“What you just told us the future was like sounds a lot like what Intrigue was trying to warn people about over the past week,” Bladefire said.
“In my time, she thought she could stop it by killing Lena Luthor,” Phoebus explained. “It didn’t work. Lena killed her and then commandeered her network to use it against us.”
“Then we have to find her and stop her from going after Lena,” Nightstar said.
“Too late for that,” Phoebus answered. “She’s already gone after her. The only thing we can do now is rescue her from Lena.”
“We have to get out of here, anyway,” Nightstar said. “This isn’t a safe place for us anymore. If the OMACs could find us, who knows who else could?”
In the Society’s base, Slade had gathered Tartarus together. The six young men and women stood about, awaiting Slade’s orders. Fray was casually loitering in the room, while Gemini was gazing at her finger-blades. Hex was filing her nails disinterestedly, while Black Flash’s posture suggested she was aching to do some violence. Dr. Blaze casually juggled several fireballs and Ravager gazed intently at her father.
“I have an assignment for you,” Slade said. “You’re to make a delivery to Jump City tonight.”
“What is that delivery?” Ravager asked.
“A living bomb,” Slade replied. “It has no real sentience, but it is aware. The initial explosion will inflict tremendous damage upon the city, but that’s not all. The living bomb is composed of toxins that will also be unleashed upon the initial explosion, so anyone who survives will be poisoned.”
Ravager’s expression was one of utter horror. “What? We’re going to do what?”
“You heard me, Ravager,” Slade replied. “We’re going to drop the living bomb in Jump City’s center.”
“Why?” Ravager asked.
“To teach the Titans a lesson,” Slade answered. “To make them realize that there is nowhere they can truly call home.”
“That’s going too far!” Ravager screamed. “I won’t let you!” She drew her swords but Gemini grabbed Ravager with her outstretched arms and wrapped them around her, binding the assassin’s arms to her sides. Ravager struggled fiercely in her bonds, but Gemini’s grip was too strong.
“Why the reluctance, dear child?” Slade asked. He reached out and grasped her by her chin. “Unless you have more of an attachment to the Teen Titans than I thought. Yes, that’s it, isn’t it? I wonder, just which Titan is it that has divided your loyalties so? Is it Samara? Or is it one of Grayson’s brats? If so, which one? Nightstar . . . or is it Bladefire?” He smirked under his mask. “Oh, don’t think I don’t know, Rose. I’ve known all about that facet of your relationship with him for some time; I simply allowed it because I believed I could subvert the boy for my own purposes. Now that I know where your real loyalties lie, you’re no longer useful to me.” He turned to Gemini. “Put Ravager in a holding cell and make the delivery.”
“Will do,” Gemini responded.
Meanwhile, the Teen Titans, along with Scarlet Archer and Phoebus, had gone to Lena’s headquarters in Metropolis to find Intrigue. Samara had cast a spell on them that would make them temporarily invisible to remote viewing, thus enabling them to evade Lena Luthor’s surveillance equipment. They searched the lower levels of LexCorp’s headquarters, figuring they’d find Intrigue being held there. On their way, they found interference from Lena’s security detail, which was clad in black-and-white armor and all pointing laser rifles at the heroes.
Nightstar extended energy wire and used it to slice apart several security officers’ guns. The others opened fire on the heroes, Mercury dodging with an ease that was almost frightening. It was as though even light was moving too slowly to catch up with him. Beside him, Beast Girl became a tigress and lunged at the security officers, slicing their guns out of their hands and slicing their armor. Bladefire cut through their weapons with his energy blade and Inferno and Phoebus literally fired upon the security officers. Samara telekinetically disarmed more security officers, as Scarlet Archer fired armor-piercing arrows at the security officers.
Nightstar kept moving, relying on the others to hold off the security officers. As she flew, she found more and more security officers in wait for them, but she disabled them with ferocious effortlessness. When she was next halted, it was by glowing vines that wrapped around her body and held her fast. She struggled valiantly in the grip of the vines, but they simply tightened around her body.
Out of the shadows stepped several metahumans. One was a green-haired girl garbed in a white leotard with a symbol resembling green leaves growing out of a circle. Another was a dark-haired girl garbed in a dark red suit with a yellow lightning motif. A third was a man-shaped figure in what seemed to be a more form-fitting Hazmat suit. The fourth was a boy with metallic silver skin and hair and an atom symbol on the front of his sleeveless suit.
“Allow us to introduce ourselves,” the silver boy spoke. “I’m Colonel Atom. The girl who has you bound and helpless is Chlorophyll. The one in the Hazmat suit is Human Bomb and our girl in red is Trajectory.”
“Colonel Atom,” Nightstar hissed. “You mean they repeated the Captain Atom project with teenagers?”
“Yes,” Colonel Atom replied. “Specifically, military school brats who just wouldn’t behave themselves. S.H.A.D.E. found a use for us, but I was the only one strong enough to survive.”
“By the way . . .” Nightstar said. “You’re only half right about me. I’m bound . . . but not helpless.” She proceeded to prove it by tearing herself free of Chlorophyll’s glowing vines and lashing out with her energy wire, slicing through Colonel Atom’s silver skin. Colonel Atom hissed and pressed his hand against his glowing wounds, forcing them to heal.
“How did you do that?” Colonel Atom asked.
“Plants take in energy from the sun,” Nightstar replied. “What I did was absorb the solar energy in Chlorophyll’s vines, increasing my own strength.”
Trajectory vanished from sight and reappeared with her foot embedded in Nightstar’s stomach. The blow had come so quickly that it caught the Tamaranean hybrid by surprise, knocking the breath out of her. Trajectory vanished again, reappearing with a chop to the back of Nightstar’s neck. The red-clad girl disappeared once more, and a series of vicious invisible blows battered Nightstar.
A speedster, Nightstar thought. Screw me.
Nightstar let off an energy blast from her eyes, but Trajectory dodged it with brutal ease. Trajectory seemed to be vanishing and reappearing all around Nightstar, but Nightstar knew that the other girl was simply moving too fast to be seen except intermittently, even by her sight. Nightstar lifted herself into the air and extended her energy, the glowing purple wire flying everywhere. Trajectory tripped over the wire, but rolled back onto her feet. Before she could shift into hyper-speed again, Nightstar was on her with fierce punches and kicks. Trajectory attempted to speed up again, but Nightstar was beating her too furiously for her to do so.
The one known as Human Bomb calmly ripped off a piece of his fingernail and flicked it at Nightstar. The resulting explosion knocked both her and Trajectory into a nearby wall. Trajectory vibrated to save herself from going splat, only to detonate the wall she was vibrating through. As for Nightstar, she simply bounced off the wall and rolled onto the floor.
“Now I know why they call you the Human Bomb,” Nightstar groaned. She rolled onto her back and turned to the hole Trajectory had made in the wall. Her eyes widened when she saw what was on the other side of that hole. Specifically, it was Intrigue strapped down on a table with nodes attached to her forehead and those nodes connected to a brainwave-monitoring machine, a machine that apparently doubled as a torture device given Intrigue’s haggard state.
With a shout of fury, Nightstar flew through the hole to get to Intrigue, only to be struck by an energy blast from Colonel Atom. Nightstar was quick to recover and retaliate with an optic blast aimed for Colonel Atom. Colonel Atom dodged the blast and flew at Nightstar, slamming into her and pinning her to the far wall. Nightstar struggled mightily, but Colonel Atom seemed to be the stronger of the two, given the one-handed ease with which he held her. He charged his other fist full of atomic energy and punched her, sending her through the wall. Nightstar rose from her prostrate position and wiped the blood off her lip.
Colonel Atom sped toward Nightstar, but Nightstar dodged his attack and kicked him hard in the face. Colonel Atom snarled and charged her again, only for her to dodge and slide low, spinning herself upward into a kick that caught the metal-skinned teenager in the chin. Colonel Atom flipped back and blasted her with atomic force, but she blocked the blast with her bracers. She flipped into the air and lashed out with her energy whip, striking the machine being used to torture Intrigue. The seemingly faceless woman’s head lolled to one side, a sign of mental exhaustion. Nightstar plucked the nodes off the other woman’s forehead and scooped her up in her arms.
“You’re not leaving with that faceless bitch,” Colonel Atom stated.
“Watch me,” Nightstar retorted and proceeded to fly as fast as she could without killing Intrigue. Colonel Atom, Chlorophyll, and Trajectory pursued both young women. As she flew, Nightstar spotted her teammates, Scarlet Archer, and Phoebus, who were still battling the security officers. “I’ve got Intrigue! Let’s go!”
“Not so fast,” Colonel Atom declared, firing an atomic blast at Nightstar. To the surprise of everyone present, the blast slowed to a crawl and petered out long before it could hit Nightstar. “What the hell was that?”
“Me,” Mercury replied. “I drained the kinetic energy from your blast.” He turned to Trajectory. “As for you . . .” He leeched the speed from the red-clad girl. “Now you can’t run.”
Trajectory attempted to attack Mercury at super-speed, only to realize that her speed was gone. Her eyes widened in shock just before Mercury disabled her with a swift roundhouse kick. Human Bomb charged at Mercury, intending to detonate him by touching him, but Mercury drained the kinetic energy from the would-be explosion. Mercury struck him with a burst of the same kinetic energy that he’d drained from him, knocking him down and out.
“Samara, take us out,” Bladefire ordered.
“Are we going to blow this place up, too?” Samara asked sardonically.
“I don’t see why not,” Phoebus replied grimly. “Lena Luthor deserves to burn more than anyone else I could think of. Her and Slade.”
“We’re not supposed to kill,” Bladefire stated.
“Tell that to your sister,” Samara retorted bitingly.
“We don’t have time for this,” Nightstar hissed. “Just teleport us to Batman’s cave. He’ll have medical equipment there.”
Samara sighed bitterly and did as Nightstar ordered, teleporting the Titans, Scarlet Archer, and Phoebus to the Batcave. The first thing that could be seen was the giant computer monitor, surrounded by smaller screens. In the distance, but not a very far distance, was a sleek, tank-like black vehicle. Further away were trophies from the various villains Bruce Wayne’s Batman had defeated over the years. Sitting at the computer monitor was Bruce Wayne himself.
“What brings you here?” the aged man asked.
“Intrigue needs medical help,” Nightstar replied. “And we can’t go to the hospital or the Titans East or the Justice League because we’ll be arrested.”
“Take her to the infirmary,” Bruce answered.
Nightstar proceeded to do exactly that. She carefully carried Intrigue to the infirmary area of the cave and gently laid her on the cot. She hung up Intrigue’s coat next to her. She was rather surprised when Intrigue grabbed her hand.
“In the coat . . . aerosol spray,” Intrigue uttered.
Nightstar looked around in the pockets of Intrigue’s coat and found a small pressurized spray can. She pulled out the can and sprayed its contents at Intrigue’s literally blank face. Once she was sure enough had been sprayed, she stopped and peeled Intrigue’s blank face off, revealing darkly beautiful yet bruised Italian features.
“Lucia . . .” she murmured gently. “What did they do to you?”
“Neurological shocks,” Intrigue replied. “Tried to make me talk. Gave them nothing.”
“What were you doing in LexCorp?” Nightstar asked.
“Was going to kill Lena Luthor,” Intrigue answered. “Done so much evil, caused so much misery, didn’t deserve to live. Wasn’t expecting . . . injected herself with nanites, OMAC programming in them. Stronger than me, controls the OMACs . . .”
“That explains the bruises,” Nightstar mused. “And if she controls the OMACs . . .”
“Then she can have you killed at any time she wants,” Intrigue finished grimly.
“Nightstar,” Bladefire spoke, hovering nearby. “Grandpa Bruce wants to see you.”
“Sure,” Nightstar answered. “Rest, Lucia.” She gently kissed Intrigue on the forehead and stood up to follow Bladefire, who took her to Bruce. Bruce sat the computer monitor, staring intently at a satellite in space. “Is that the satellite controlling the OMACs?”
“Yes,” Bruce replied. “Bladefire told me all about what Intrigue revealed to Detective Perez.”
“I still can’t believe that all this is happening,” Nightstar uttered.
“Believe it,” Samara answered grimly. “Humans who are accustomed to having power don’t like the idea of being without that power. This is what they do to keep it.”
“How do we shut down that satellite?” Inferno asked.
“The satellite’s not the only thing we need to worry about,” Nightstar replied. “Lena’s injected herself with OMAC nanoprobes. She’s using them to duplicate the functions of the OMAC satellite, controlling the OMACs and tracking metahumans.”
“I was able to shut down the OMACs using an EMP to disable their programming,” Scarlet Archer suggested. “We could do the same to the satellite.”
“An excellent idea except for the fact that the satellite will probably detect us,” Phoebus cut in.
“Then we’re going to need stealth technology that’ll render you immune to technological surveillance,” Bruce said. “Technology like what Mr. Terrific and his son use in their costumes.” Before he could elaborate, the console suddenly blinked to indicate an incoming NewsNet bulletin. Bruce pressed the button, shifting the computer screen to the NewsNet bulletin.
“Tragedy abounds on both the East Coast and the West Coast,” Bethany Snow spoke. “On the East Coast, a gene therapy lab in Metropolis owned by philanthropist Lena Luthor was destroyed by what appeared to be a laser beam fired from space. On the West Coast, a bomb of some kind was dropped into the center of Jump City, the home base of rogue metahuman vigilantes the Teen Titans. The devastation in Jump City is estimated to have claimed at least one hundred thousand lives. In Metropolis, the destruction of the lab killed the scientists and patients inside and the resulting shockwaves caused many injuries and deaths within a five-block radius of the lab. There is no apparent cause to these tragedies, no seeming method to this madness . . .” As Snow spoke, the images of the destruction flitted about, shocking and horrifying everyone present.
“We . . . we have to go back,” Nightstar uttered, barely able to find her voice.
“A noble sentiment, but highly dangerous,” Bruce responded. “The explosive residue in Jump City resembles that from toxic chemicals. There’s only one thing I know that’s capable of leaving such residue after a blast like that and that’s a living bomb.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Nightstar said. “We have to save as many people as we can, as are left . . .”
“I’ll cast a protection spell on us,” Samara said. “The toxins won’t touch us.”
“Then go,” Bruce answered. “But be careful. If the police see you, they’re more likely to arrest you than help you.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Nightstar repeated. “We have to go. We’re the Titans . . . and Titans don’t hide from the people they’re supposed to protect.”