Titans of Justice #5 - “Paving the Road to Conquest Pt. 2”
Written, Edited, & Maxi-micros by: Power Guy
The Raymond Home…Danna Raymond was both marveled and horrified at the fact that she had seemingly become the new Firestorm upon her father’s demise. The new energies surging through her body were intoxicating to say the least. “This is…..is…..exhilarating!” she cried out as her fists crackled with nuclear energy.
“Oh Lord, we’ve got a new Firestorm on our hands,” gasped Green Lantern. “This could make the situation twice as disasterous!”
“Lantern, why don’t you handle Firestorm while the rest of us take down the Faceless Hunter?” proposed Corporal Marvel.
“On it!,” confirmed the emerald space-cop as he flew over to the confused and angry girl. “You must be Ronnie’s daughter, Danna. Try to remain calm. If you get too upset you’re liable to discharge a sizable amount of nuclear energy or transform all of the oxygen in the area into mercury,” he suggested, forming a power-bubble around her.
“Calm?” repeated Danna. “How the #{&% do you expect me to stay calm after that faceless creep just murdered my father?!?!?!”
Several yards away, the three young heroes known as Corporal Marvel, Sargona, and the new Flash confronted the mass murderer.
“Once chance to surrender……that’s it!” offered Sargona in a very serious tone.
“Ha! You Earthlings amuse me. Do you know how many beings I’ve killed across the universe?”
“My guess is that you took most of them by surprise and they were unable to defend themselves,” countered the Flash. “You won’t have either of those advantages over us!” he said, racing into action and hitting the former herald of Starro with one hundred punches per second.
After being battered around like a rag doll for a minute or two, the Faceless Hunter slammed his titanium knuckle devices together which sent a shockwave in all directions, not only knocking over the Flash but Sargona and Corporal Marvel as well.
Corporal Marvel was the first to recover and he was not pleased. “You want to make waves, killer? Try this!” he shouted, slamming his golden hammer on the ground causing it to tremble and spit underneath the Faceless Hunter. The alien fell into the newly created trench. The son of Billy Batson dove in after him, tackled him and began pummeling him mercilessly. Spit and blood flew from the alien’s mouth as Corporal Marvel continued to punch away until the Faceless Hunter slammed his fists into the Corporal’s temples, releasing another shockwave directly at both sides of the teen hero’s skull, causing him to collapse. The alien ascended upwards thanks to his rocket-boots but Sargona was ready and waiting for him.
“So you must think that you’re tough, huh?” questioned the daughter of Zatanna. “Let’s see how you do against the elements! Gninthgil ekirts ym eof!” The clouds above quickly became dark and electricity erupted from them, shocking the Faceless Hunter where he stood. Surprisingly, he seemed unaffected and then announced, “Silly witch. You aren’t the first one to try an electrical attack on me.” He then pulled his large gun off of his back and continued, “My weapon here acts as an energy-absorbing device. Let’s see how well you can take what you dish out!” He then blasted the young woman, leaving her inert.
Meanwhile, the new Firestorm was still arguing with Green Lantern, “I won’t let you stop me from taking down that creature that killed my dad! Look! He just took down your buddies so let me out of this stupid bubble!”
Green Lantern immediately turned his head out of concern towards the scene of the battle. After seeing his new friends battered and broken, his concentration slipped for a split second. Noticing a destabilization within the bubble surrounding her, the new Firestorm blasted away at it, breaking through.
“Uh oh!” Green Lantern whispered, noticing what just had transpired. Before he could erect another bubble, the new Firestorm was blasting away without abandon at the Faceless Hunter.
“Burn and die you son of a %/+(#!” Danna screamed. Unfortunately, the Hunter’s gun absorbed this energy attack just like it did Sargona’s electrical assault.
“You’re doing little more than annoy me, girl!” spat the Faceless Hunter as he prepared to fire his gun at her.
Thinking quickly, Danna remembered the chemical formula for iron and turned some of the air above the Hunter into a large anvil, dropping it on his head. leaving him groggy. “So am I still just annoying?” she taunted as she pressed forward, her eyes and fists blazing.
Green Lantern then flew up to the alien and announced, “This is as far as you go, killer! You’re being brought before the Guardians of the Universe for trial and judgement!” Emerald shackles soon appeared on the Faceless Hunter’s wrists and ankles.
Then, without warning, three arrows imbedded themselves in the Faceless Hunter’s back. He moaned in agony before collapsing.
Four costumed strangers made themselves seen with a purple-clad male seemingly leading three females: a clown-like girl dressed in red and black, a blonde-haired Hispanic woman garbed in pink and black, and a woman bearing a cross-symbol upon a purple and black costume.
The male leader then announced, “I’m sorry but history has proven that handing criminals over to your Guardians of the Universe is rarely a permanent solution. The cobra-venom tipped arrows that Crossfire filled the Faceless Hunter with will be. Thanks to my absorbing abilities, I was able to remove enough of his invulnerability for the arrows to penetrate his skin. The
Birds of Prey will not allow any more dead heroes on our watch.”
Sargona, Corporal Marvel, and the Flash had all come to and made their way over to the scene. Sargona knelt down and checked the Hunter’s vitals, “From what I can tell, he’s still alive. We need to get him some anti-venom and fast.”
“Are you out of your mind?” asked the blonde Hispanic woman. “This guy just killed a good portion of the Justice League and you want to save his life?”
“Look ma’am,” began the Flash. “There’s no denying what this killer has done is horrific but heroes don’t enact justice by killing the villain.”
“It’s Wild Orchid…..and perhaps the term hero doesn’t accurately describe my team and we’re fine with that as long as we take down scum like this guy.”
“So then you’re a band of super-villains?” questioned Corporal Marvel.
“Don’t you EVER call me a super-villain!” screamed the clown-like girl. She then pulled out a giant green mallet that had been strapped to her back and proceeded towards the current champion of Shazam.
“Trix - DON’T!” shouted the purple and black clad woman.
It was too late. Trix’s hammer slammed into Corporal Marvel’s head with wicked abandon. To the clown-girl’s surprise, the blow did little more than annoy the premier hero of Fawcett City.
“You look like Harley Quinn or the Joker!” spat Corporal Marvel as he grabbed onto Trix’s shirt and hoisted her into the air. “Perhaps we should take you and your merry little band of elves in too!”
“Pick on someone your own strength!” hollered Wild Orchid as she flew into Corporal Marvel, causing him to drop Trix. The two powerhouses began slugging it out as the remainder of the two teams sized one another up.
The Flash was intent on immobilizing Trix, Crossfire set her sights on Sargona, while Green Lantern found himself faced against the purple-clad leader known as Apotheosis.
In a split second before the battle began, Apotheosis turned to the new Firestorm, “Well, girl, it’s time to pick a side. Are you going to let these heroes save the man who killed your father?”
TO BE CONCLUDED!
