Titans East Chapter 55 – “Black & Black”

Written & Edited By: Power Guy


The Hall of Justice…

“Are you sure that you’re feeling ok?” Palome’ asked as he put his arms around his beloved Venus.

“I’m fine. My headache is just about gone,” smiled Venus as she gave Palome’ a quick peck on the cheek.

“I can’t believe you girls stayed out until five a.m.,” commented Palome’ as he shook his head.

“Oh, I can,” interjected Black Vulcan. “You should have seen your girl Venus working the dance-floor like Madonna. A group of guys formed a circle around her and were tossing money at her.”

Venus’ eyebrows perked up, “And I made enough money to take you out to dinner tonight,” she said as she kissed Palome’ again.

“And who said dancing for dollars never paid off for the boyfriend?” Palome’ said in jest. “By the way, you look simply beautiful in the new costume Argent had made for you.”





“Do you really think it’s me? Scott suggested the lighter hair to go along with the new look and of course, being that I have a new outfit, he had to go and get one too,” added Venus as she looked over at Wonder Man.





“That’s our Wonder Model,” teased Black Vulcan.

“Did you tell Argent thank you for me?” Venus asked Palome’.

“Of course but she had the costume made out of gratitude to you for being there for me through what happened with my dad,” explained Palome’.

Nightvision walked into the room. “Sorry I’m late. It was Killer Croc this time.”

“It’s ok, we’re still waiting on Power Lad and Isis anyways,” Wonder Man said as he approached the meeting table. “Zan and Jayna had some personal business to take care of so they won’t be attending this meeting. Power Lad’s in his room and I’m guessing Isis should be here any minute. She’s never late.”

“I wonder how Black Adam took her coming home so late the other morning?” Sargona wondered aloud.

“Looks like you’ll get your chance to ask her. She’s teleporting in now,” advised the Silencer, standing in front of the Trouble Alert.

As the teleport-tube began to glow, a form appeared inside but this form was male, not female. Rather than Isis stepping out of the tube, it was her husband, Black Adam.





“Black Adam? What are you doing here?” Wonder Man asked without hesitation. “Did something happen to Isis?”

“I’m here for you!” answered the king of Khandaq as he flew into Wonder Man at top-speed. The impact of the crash sent Wonder Man and Black Adam through the wall behind them, landing them in Power Lad’s room.

As the two adversaries crashed into Power Lad’s room, he was in the middle of playing a video game on his Xbox. “What gives dudes? Don’t you know how to knock?”

Wonder Man and Black Adam ignored the teenager’s question and began pummling each other.

“What’s your problem, Ada……?” asked Wonder Man as he took a blow to the side of his face from his opponent.

“Shut up and fight, boy!” ordered the king of Khandaq.

“Hey! You two are trashing my room!” yelled Power Lad as he jumped on Black Adam’s back. “Settle down Mr. Spock or I’m gonna b_tch-slap you back to Egypt!”

“You dare insult the king of Khandaq? You are either extremely brave or extremely foolish!” Black Adam said as he pulled Power Lad off of his shoulders and threw him across the room. “Ridiculous! They send teenagers at me.”

Just then, the rest of the Titans made their way to Power Lad’s room to try and stop the fighting.

“Adam – stand down. What the hell is wrong with you?” demanded Nightvision.

“Shut up and fight!” Black Adam said as he sped over to the group of Titans and grabbed Nightvision and Palome’ bye the throat.

“C…c…can’t breath,” muttered Palome’

“Let them go!” ordered the Sportsmaster as he came up from behind and slammed his aluminum bat into Black Adam’s skull. The effort, while brave, was futile as the bat split in two upon impact.

Black Adam quickly swung around and slammed the still captive Nightvision into the Sportsmaster. He then dropped Nightvision on top of his teammate, the two of them both groggy from the force of their two bodies slamming together.

Black Adam turned to Palome’ who was still in his clutches, “Let’s see who I can use you to take down.”

Before Black Adam could turn and look at his remaining opponents, Venus was in his face and furious to boot. “I’m only going to tell you once to let him go,” she fumed.

“Bah! Orders from a woman. Surely you are in over your head,” mused Black Adam as he dropped Palome’. “Never the less, I will entertain your command as long as give me a proper challenge, girl.”

“You want to play rough big guy, let’s go!” Venus shouted, diving into Black Adam, The two heavy-weights exchanged blows in a fury of fists, coming to a near stalemate. That didn’t seem to bother the battling duo, they just kept on each other, both refusing to let up.

“We’ve got to stop them before they break something or someone!” directed Nightvision. “Palome’, you work on Venus while the Silencer and I try to neutralize Black Adam. Black Vulcan and Sargona, make sure the others are ok.”

Black Vulcan and Sargona made their way over to their injured teammates to examine them.

“The Sportsmaster is out cold,” observed Black Vulcan.

“Wonder Man looks pretty busted up too but I think Power Lad is coming around,” Sargona said as she propped Wonder Man’s head up on her lap.

The Silencer approached Black Adam without fear. Despite the fact that Black Adam could reduce mountains to rubble, the Silencer knew what he had to do. “Look buddy, I’m not sure what your problem is but this has gone on long enough.”

“Ha! And what are you going to do to stop me, little man?” Black Adam said sarcastically.

“This!” shouted the Silencer as he jabbed Black Adam several times in precise locations on his body. Within a split second, Black Adam found himself unable to move from the neck down.

“Wha…what have you done to me insolent???” Black Adam asked, outraged.

“Even someone as strong as you has pressure points,” informed the Silencer.

“And we’re going to take full advantage of that,” Nightvision said jumping on Black Adam’s back and shoving two small pellets into his nostrils.

Black Adam started to cough and shake violently. The pellets Nightvision had administered to him contained knock-out gas strong enough to subdue an elephant.

Meanwhile, Palome’ had pulled Venus away from the intruder, in an effort to cool her rage. “Venus, look at me sweetheart. Calm yourself!”

“But…but he almost hurt you!” Venus said, defending her anger. “He could have killed all of you had I not intervened.”

“Cough….ack…cough,” continued Black Adam. “Sh....Shh….Shazam!”

With the uttering of his magic-word, the lightning that changed Black Adam between his human and super-powered form came down, reverting him to Teth Adam. But before the Titans could attack the non-powered Adam, the kind of Khandaq called down his mystical lightning again, “Shazam!” Upon turning back into Black Adam, the former foe of the Marvel Family found himself able to move again. The lightning had cleansed his body of the toxin that Nightvision had filled it with. “A valiant attempt but worthless in the end!” he said as he used the speed of Heru to K.O. both Nightvision and the Silencer before they knew what hit them. He then turned his attention back to Venus. “Come woman, let’s finish this!”

Palome’ turned to their adversary, “She will not be fighting you today, Adam. I suggest you leave this place and go in peace. We have no quarrel with you.”

Black Adam stepped forward towards Palome’, “It matters not boy. It is I who seek battle from you!” he said as he back-handed Palome’ across the room. Palome’s body impacted with the wall behind him harshly, knocking him unconscious and causing him to drop to the ground like a rag-doll. Blood was spurting out of the spot on his head where it struck the wall.

“Lukas!!!!!!” screamed Venus. “You’ve killed him, you bastard!!!!” assumed the former dancer from Vegas. Venus proceeded to lunge at Black Adam. She hit him so hard that she broke through the wall behind him and the two of them landed outside. There were several news-people standing around the perimeter of the Hall as always hoping for a scoop. Venus was oblivious to the reporters and went berserk on Black Adam, giving him a face-full of fist over and over. Even Black Adam was shocked by the intensity of her attack. That didn’t change his demeanor though, he kept right along with her, trading blow for blow.

Venus grew more savage as the battle progressed. She was so focused on taking down Black Adam that she didn’t notice Palome’ had come to and had stepped outside to check on her, although he was too delirious to stop her from what she was doing..

“That’s it woman, pour it on. Now you’re giving me a REAL challenge,” cheered Black Adam as he pressed on.

“Fall d**n you!” screamed Venus as she continued to punch away. “Why won’t you die???” she demanded as she grew more and more angry. Finally, in a shocking turn of events, her form started to morph and twist. Gone was the mysterious beauty know as Venus. In her place was the mass-murderess known as Black Orchid.





Palome’, while squinting, noticed the horrific change to his beloved. “NOOOOOOOOO!!!” This can’t be real!” he gasped.

Wonder Man, Sargona, Nightvision, and the others had made their way outside just in time to see the horrific revelation.

“Venus….” gasped Wonder Man. “You really are Black Orchid.”

“What did you say?” Palome’ asked in shock.

Wonder Man looked at the young healer not knowing exactly what to say but, “I’ll explain later. Right now we’ve got to to stop those two.

“I’ve got an idea,” revealed Sargona. She quickly ran over to the large pool of water that was placed in front of the Hall of Justice. Dipping her hands in the water, she caused a large wave to emerge and directed it to collapse on top of the two battling powerhouses.

SPLASH!

The two opponents were separated by the force of the wave and temporarily stunned.

“Black Vulcan and Power Lad, subdue Black Adam….I’ll try to stop Venus,” ordered Wonder Man.

“No! She’s my responsibility,” growled Palome’ as his soul-self emerged.

Black Orchid was still shaking off the brunt of the wave she was hit with when she noticed Palome’s soul-self converging on her. “Aww…look at the pretty bird. He’s almost as pretty as your mother’s…right before I killed her!”

“Your not killing anyone any more. We’re going to get you the help you need,” Palome’ said as his soul-self wrapped itself around Black Orchid in attempt to calm and neutralize her.

Palome’s soul-self grew bright as he enveloped Black Orchid. Once she was inside of him, he did his best to search through her mind and show her the error of her ways and bring her mind to peace. After several minutes, he realized his attempts were in vein. “You have no remorse…no guilt for what you’ve done. Wait…there is something …someone else….”

At that instant, Black Orchid broke free from Palome’s soul-self, “Get out of my head bird-boy!!! d**n you….” she growled. “You guys can have that pointy-eared freak. I’m done with him.” Wasting no time, Black Orchid took to the air and vanished within seconds.

Meanwhile, a few yards away. “Ok, Black Adam. Are you going to be smart and stand down or do we need to make it difficult?” asked Black Vulcan, sternly.

“Yeah. You better surrender or I’m gonna have to put the smack-down on ya, Mr. Spock,” Power Lad said, crossing his arms.

“I never back down from a challenge,” barked Black Adam as he grabbed Black Vulcan by her shirt and Power Lad by the neck.

Wonder Man ran up behind Black Adam and put him in a headlock. “Put them down Adam or I swear I’ll snap your neck if need be!”

“Fool, I have your young friend’s own neck in my grasp, release me or he will surely suffer the consequences,” retorted Black Adam. Just then, Black Adam noticed another form making their way out of the large hole in the Hall that he and Black Orchid had made. “Ha! Another fool comes to challenge me.” But as the figure became more visible, his body was filled with alarm.





It was Isis and she was far from pleased. “The only FOOL I see here Teth is YOU.” she said walking over to him.

Immediately, he released his hold on Black Vulcan and Power Lad while Wonder Man in turn released Black Adam. Black Adam had a dumb-founded look on his face, not quite knowing what to say.

“How DARE you threaten the life of this young boy and the rest of my teammates,” she said veering over at Power Lad. She then slapped her husband in the face bluntly. “I am so ashamed of you Teth. Taking my spare signal-device and coming here and attacking my friends,” she said, shaking her head.

“But I merely wanted to test these people to make sure they were worthy of fighting alongside you and protecting you if need be,” defended Black Adam diligently.

“I do not need protection nor do I need you to tell me who is worthy enough to spend my time with,” chastised Isis. “Give me my signal-device.”

Black Adam reached into his belt and promptly handed his wife the device, remaining silent.”
“Now leave,” Isis said coolly as she started to walk away.

“Aren’t you coming with me?” asked Black Adam, feverishly.

“No. I don’t want to see you right now,” replied Isis as she turned and walked over to Power Lad to heal his injuries.

“But…but…” started Black Adam.

Wonder Man then approached Black Adam, “You heard the lady. LEAVE!”

Black Adam looked coldly at Wonder Man and whispered, “Stay away from my wife,” as he flew off.

In the midst of the argument between Black Adam and Isis, Palome’ had made his way back into the Hall and collapsed into one of the chairs at the meeting table, weeping in misery. “How could this be?” he asked himself. “My parents’ killer was right under my nose and I was completely oblivious to it.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Sargona said as she walked up to her teammate and put her arms around him. “Venus is one of my best friends and I had no idea she was Black Orchid either.”

Wonder Man and the rest of the team walked in and joined the others.

Palome’ looked up as his teammates entered. He promptly walked up to Wonder Man. “How long have you known?” he demanded.

“I didn’t know for sure…but when Isis, Black Vulcan and I took on Black Orchid last week, she and I were fighting and her voice changed to Venus’ but I thought maybe I was just imagining it.”

“Liar!” accused Palome’. “All of this time you’ve been pinning for Venus for yourself. You didn’t tell me on purpose hoping you could steal her for yourself!”

“I would never…” defended Wonder Man.

“LIAR! I know about you two sleeping together when you first met!” shouted Palome’, “but you didn’t want her then. You discarded her like common garbage. She wasn’t worth anything to you until she and I got together. Don’t think I don’t know what you were doing on all of those little ‘shopping trips’. “

“No, no, no, Venus and I just have just been good friends since the night we were intimate,” insisted Wonder Man.

“LIAR!!!” yelled Palome’ as he punched Wonder Man in the jaw. The blow nearly broke Palome’s fist. “Argh….d**n you to Trigon,” he said, holding his bruised fist as he stormed away, his teammates remaining silent out of remorse.

The End(For now...)