Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2015 6:39:59 GMT -5
Titans of Justice Unlimited Chapter 78 - “Future Fixation”
Written & edited by: Power Guy
Epilogue by: Power Guy & Scotty2Hotty
Special Thanks to Christophe for the initial concept of the main story.
The Hall of Justice…
The Arachnid had just come out of the men’s locker-room, having finished his shower. His first priority was to go check on Starman and Supergirl. His best friend had been glued to the modern-age girl of steel’s bedside since she was brought to the Hall after the incident with Zy-kree. “I gotta stop by the vending machine first and get myself a Monster.” he whispered to himself but before he could head off, he was interrupted by his good buddy Ice Warrior.
“Yo bug-guts!” called out the son of Guy Gardner and Ice.
“Hey frosty, what’s up?” asked the nephew of Ted Kord.
“You still haven’t shown me that picture of you kissing Phantom Lady,” pointed out the cold-powered hero. “You’ve had plenty of time and I want to see it NOW!”
“Uhh…..oh yeah, about that….” the Arachnid said as he tried to come up with another excuse seeing that the said picture didn’t exist. “I know this is going to be hard to believe but I dropped my camera phone in the toilet last week and all of my data got erased.”
Ice Warrior just crossed his arms and stared down the bug-themed hero, “You lie like a rug, dude. I don’t think there ever was a picture and I don’t think she ever kissed you either!”
“She did! She did! I swear it!” the Arachnid cried out insistently.
“Oh really? Then how come I never see you two together around here,” questioned Ice Warrior.
“Uhh……conflicting schedules…….really,” the Arachnid said, blushing under his mask.
“I think you’re conning me, old buddy,” accused Ice Warrior as he shook his head back and forth. “Anyways, I’m heading back to my room. See you around.”
A few minutes later, the Arachnid entered the medical bay, where he found Starman standing by Supergirl’s bedside. The young girl had been unconscious ever since the Feminists’ Kryptonite was taken from her. According to Power Guy, this was typical for victims of this special breed of Kryptonite as both the mind and body needed to recover, especially from such a prolonged exposure such as Supergirl had.
Starman looked down at the modern-age girl of steel with sorrow and concern in his eyes. The two of them had shared some special moments together when they first joined the former West Coast division of the Titans and though they had parted ways, he had carried a torch for her ever since. “You keep resting and get better, Jenna. I promise you that I’m going to find the scum-bag who did this to you and make him pay BIG time.”
“Dude, I don’t think she can hear you,” commented the Arachnid, looking up at his best friend.
“YES SHE CAN!!” screamed Starman in disagreement.
“Hey, calm down, man. She’s been in a coma ever since Green Lantern pulled the Kryptonite off of her neck. She’s probably off in la-la land for now…” the Arachnid continued, trying to point out the obvious. “You’ve been in this room day and night since she got here. Don’t you think its’ time you took a break before you end up in the bed right next to hers due to exhaustion?”
“I’M FINE!” spat the cosmic avenger, bearing teeth.
“Ok, then…….I’ll just go sit down over here and shut up,” grumbled the bug-themed hero as he plopped himself down on the couch in the room and took a big gulp of his Monster.
***
The Hall of Justice Central Conference Room…
“Lansinar! It was Wonder Warrior who sent Supergirl the Kryptonite!” announced the new age Dark Knight as he grabbed a hold of Wonder Warrior’s shoulder, firmly.
The room full of heroes were completely shocked by Nightvision’s revelation, many thinking he was simply jumping to conclusions until Wonder Warrior pulled himself free from the modern-age Dark Knight’s grasp and flew away, headed towards the door.
“Stop him!” ordered Nightvision.
“Consider it done,” assured Nucleus as he pressed a button on a small device he was holding in his hands. Immediately, the doors to the conference room glowed softly as they locked. “There’s no way he’s getting out.”
“Yes, he is,” came the voice of the Queen Bee who was holding a similar device in her hands, Instantly, the doors opened.
Nucleus turned to his girlfriend in shock, “Latavia, what the heck are you doing???”
“Taking care of business,” spat the Queen Bee, completely emotionless. “Hive - SWARM!” Suddenly, the room was filled with Latavia Duncan’s robotic bees. As Wonder Warrior made his way out the doors, the bees swarmed the other Titans in the room, sticking them with their stingers, emitting their vibrational attacks, stunning them, and sending them off into complete unconsciousness. However, before Nightvision passed out, he hit the emergency alarm and spoke into the microphone, “All Titans……..stop the traitor……stop Wonder Warrior……….”
Queen Bee took to the air and began cursing, “Damn it! Now we’re going to have more trouble getting out of here.” About a minute later, she caught up with Wonder Warrior, “I assume you heard Nightvision’s broadcast?”
“Yup,” frowned the prince of Themescyra. “This isn’t going to be easy but you know we can’t leave just yet. By the way, how did you stop Power Guy and Green Lantern?”
“Lucky for you, I made a Kryptonite bee about a month ago. Green Lantern was actually easy to stop since the bees are painted yellow and he’s still in rookie status which means he’s still vulnerable to the yellow impurity weakness. Now if we were up against his father or any other seasoned member of the Lantern Corps, we would have been screwed.”
“You are screwed because you‘re not leaving until we get an explantion!” came a voice as two energy blasts zoomed past Wonder Warrior and Queen Bee. The two supposed “traitors” turned to see that they were being pursued by Jemstone and Sargona.
“Jerrica - stop! You’ve got to let me out of here,” pleaded Wonder Warrior.
“Stuff it, Chris!” spat Jemstone. “Scott was in the conference room with you and yet you and Queen Bee are the only two that came out right before Nightvision’s announcement. “You have five seconds to tell me what’s going on or I’m going to forget that we’ll be family soon and blast your head off!”
“I’d listen to her kids, we mean business,” reinforced Sargona, standing a top of her magic carpet, hands blazing with arcane energy.
“Jemstone, Sargona….this is all a misunderstanding,” frowned Queen Bee. “Nightvision has been on his high-horse since he got Sonic Boom and Dark Arrow to leave the team. Can’t you give us the benefit of the doubt until you at least hear us out?”
Jemstone and Sargona turned their attention to one another, both were quite confused. Both of them were still upset with Nightvision for his recent actions and realized he very well could be jumping the gun.
“What do you think Jerrica?” asked Sargona.
“I think you’re both a bunch of air-heads who fell for my distraction!” yelled Queen Bee as she electrocuted the two ladies with her stings. As the two best friends plummeted to the ground, Queen Bee commanded, “Let’s go!”
As Wonder Warrior and his accomplice continued to fly through the Hall, he turned to her and spoke sternly, “Latavia, Jerrica is going to be my sister-in-law soon and we both used to work with her when we were on Titans West. That was a little cold.”
“Chris, we’ve talked about this a dozen times. We can’t let our emotions or personal relationships get in the way of this mission!” reminded Queen Bee as they landed on the ground right before the hallway to the Titans’ personal quarters. As they began down the hallway, they soon found themselves confronted by Starman and the Arachnid.
“Ok, you two - hands up!” ordered Starman, aiming his Cosmic Rod at the two “traitors”. “I’m not sure what’s going on here but I heard Nightvision’s announcement and I saw what you did to Jemstone and Sargona so I ran back into my room and got my rod. Don’t make me have to use it on you.”
Both Wonder Warrior and Queen Bee raised their hands above their head knowing full well that Starman meant business.
“You should really be ashamed of yourself for what you just did, Latavia,” added the Arachnid as Starman began walking closer to his two captives.
“Let’s get you two into the Hall’s detention cell. You both make me si…” started Starman until he was sucker-punched in the back of the head by none other than……………….the Arachnid!
“Took you long enough,” complained Queen Bee. “For a minute there, I thought you were going to let him take us in.”
“Just shut up already,” the Arachnid said in an unusually angry tone.
“One more stop and we’re out of here!” Wonder Warrior reminded his group.
“Hey guys!” Kid Comet said as he came flying around the corner. “Sorry, I was in the shower when I heard Nightvision’s announcment. Looks like you’re busted, huh Chris?”
“Yeah, a lot sooner than expected,” Wonder Warrior said, biting his lip. “Hopefully we don’t have any more trouble on the way out.”
“We shouldn’t,” revealed Kid Comet. “I did a mental scan. There aren’t any other Titans in the building besides the ones you’ve neutralized. By the way Latavia, what‘s gotten into you? You‘re acting so ruthless today.”
“I’m not ruthless, just determined,” countered Queen Bee. “You know what will happen if we botch the mission.”
“Funny…..this feels almost as bad,” complained the Arachnid as the four “traitors” flew out of the Hall.”
“If you’re talking about having to take down your buddy - get over it!” chastised the daughter of Bumblebee and the Herald. “Besides you two fight all of the time.”
“Yeah but this time it wasn’t any fun….” mumbled the Arachnid, looking back at the Hall, wracked with guilt. “So, where are we going anyway?”
“To recruit some allies and set up shop……” revealed Wonder Warrior.
“Can’t we just go home?” asked Kid Comet. “I mean, after what happened in the Crisis, I don’t think we have anything to worry about. Power Guy was brought back to life.”
“Yes, that’s true but even though his death is what would have sparked our dark future, we don’t know how things will play out in this altered timeline,” explained the son of Donna Troy and Kyle Rayner. “We need to stick around a little bit longer to make sure. Now, who’s up for a trip to Louisiana?”
***
Back inside the Hall…
“Ugh…….what just happened here?” asked a groggy Wonder Man as he and the rest of the leadership team began to wake up.”
“Your cousin and Queen Bee have shown their true colors, that’s what happened,” barked Nightvision. “I told you we should have queued some of the others in before I made the revelation,” he said, looking at Nucleus.
“I’m sorry, I figured the seven of us could have handled him,” Nucleus said, standing firm on his decision. “I had no idea that Latavia was in cahoots with him.”
“No idea??? The two of them have been attached at the hip ever since they came here from the future,” reminded Nightvision. “I think you let your feelings for her cloud your judgment.”
“Now you just wait a minute Brendon! You’re in no position to talk about feelings clouding someone’s judgment or do I need to bring up Kitty Kat?” argued Nucleus as he got in Nightvision’s face. Suddenly, a green wall appeared between the two, keeping them apart.
“That’s enough you two!” ordered Green Lantern. “There are quite a few of us in bad spot right now and the last thing we need to do is be at each other’s throats!”
“Green Lantern is right, guys,” agreed Power Guy. “With Blackbird leaving the team, the recent Crisis, the ordeal with Dr. Light, and now this, we’re all under a lot of stress right now. We all need to take a step back and put things in perspective. Do we even have a possible motive for what Wonder Warrior has clearly done?”
“I just don’t get it….” Wonder Man said, shaking his head. “As you guys know, Chris and I didn’t exactly get a long when he first came to our time but we eventually worked things out. Since then, he’s never given me any reason to mistrust him or think he was up to something.”
“Perhaps he wanted to spare you the pain since you’re family,” suggested Black Vulcan.
“Latavia never let me on to the fact she was up to anything either,” Nucleus said, feeling foolish.
“That’s because she was probably using you!” pointed out Nightvision. “After all, she had a device to overtake your security controls. She was obviously taking notes while she was looking over your shoulder.”
Nucleus just stood there, looking Nightvision in the eyes but not saying a word. Though he hated to admit it, he knew Nightvision could be right on the mark with his accusation.
“Oh my God!” exclaimed Wonder Man. “I’ve got to go check on Jemstone. She and Sargona were in the monitor room discussing Jerrica‘s bachelorette party,“ he said while rushing out the door.
“He might need some assistance. Green Lantern, why don’t you go with him?” suggested Black Vulcan as she and the others struggled to regain their composure.
“Good idea,” replied Green Lantern as he flew after Wonder Man.
About thirty seconds later, Wonder Man and Green Lantern found the still unconscious Jemstone and Sargona.
“Oh no!” Wonder Man said, fearing the worst. He cradled Jemstone in his arms and began speaking to her, “Jerrica! Wake up! Talk to me!”
A few seconds later, the pop icon opened her eyes slowly to see her knight in shining armor looking down at her, “Ugh….Scott,” she smiled. She then showcased a more concerned look on her face, “Chris…….he and Latavia…”
“Shhh…” whispered Wonder Man, “Don’t you worry about them. We’ll get to the bottom of all of this. You just concentrate on getting better.”
“Help me up please,” Jemstone requested. Wonder Man promptly helped her to her feet and put her arm around his neck, helping to steady her. “Damn…..Latavia’s stings pack quite a punch.”
Meanwhile, Green Lantern was doing his best to get Sargona to come to, “Sargona, if you can hear me, please open your eyes,” he begged as he made a green pillow appear under her head.
“Ohhh…….” the sorceress mumbled as she shook off the final tinges of Queen Bee’s attack. As her eyes opened, she reached up and rubbed her forehead. “That bit….”
“Don’t say it…..you’re too much of a lady to use that word,” smiled Green Lantern.
“Not right now I’m not…….and she deserves to be called much worse,” countered Sargona as she sat up.
“You never have a problem with saying what’s on your mind, do you?” Green Lantern asked with a half-smile.
“You know me Dan…….subtle as a grenade,” Sargona said as she stood up. “Thank you for coming to check on me by the way…”
“Of course. How could I not?”
Before the former couple could say another word to each other, Starman stormed into the room, “Alright, where is that little #*$&
”
“If you’re talking about my cousin, he and Queen Bee flew the coupe,” Wonder Man said as he lifted a cup of water to Jemstone’s lips. “Here honey, sip this…”
“No, I’m talking about that jerk that sucker-punched me……the Arachnid!” revealed the man otherwise known as Scott Stone. “When I get my hands around his scrawny little neck…”
“So the Arachnid is involved in this too?” concluded Power Guy as he and the others made their way into the room.
“Odds are then that Kid Comet is in on this,” assumed Nightvision.
“You can bet on that,” assured Nucleus as he stood at the Trouble Alert. “His signal device along with our three other traitors’ is offline. It looks like all of the futurists are in on this.”
“Would somebody mind telling me what’s going on?” demanded Starman, fuming with thoughts of anger and betrayal. “Are they being controlled or something?”
“Not likely,” answered Nightvision. “Nucleus and I found out that the Feminists’ Kryptonite that Supergirl was wearing was sent to her by Wonder Warrior. Once I exposed him, he and Queen Bee attacked us and took off. That’s when I made the announcement.”
“Shortly after that, Jemstone and I came into contact with the two of them,” continued Sargona. “Q.B. tried telling us that you were sprouting unfounded accusations and when Jerrica and I turned to each other to discuss that possibility, she nailed us.”
“And right after that, the Arachnid and I confronted the two of them and right when I was all set to lock them up, that slimy little punk clocked me in the back of the head!” roared Starman. “All of this time, they’ve been playing us! When I get my hands on the Arachnid….”
“Scott, calm down,” Jemstone said, looking at the cosmic avenger. “I can’t believe the four of them are bad guys. You and I served with them for months on Titans West. They risked their lives countless of times to save ours and vice versa.”
“Perhaps that was part of the script,” pointed out the ever-suspicious Nightvision.
“I just can’t believe Chris would do something like this,” Wonder Man said, shaking his head back and forth. “I guess maybe I should have gone with my gut instinct not to trust him like when he first came to our timeline.”
“Everyone……..let’s not jump to conclusions just yet,” Power Guy said, trying to be the voice of reason. “There is obviously something going on here but until we know all of the details, let’s try not to pass judgment. In the meantime, Nucleus, send out a priority alert to the entire membership letting them know what’s happened and to start searching for the futurists immediately.”
“The question is……..where would they go?” Nightvision said while wracking his brain.
***
The former site of the Metrotower, Los Angeles, CA…
“What are we doing at this dump-site?” asked the Arachnid as he and his teammates landed on the ground.
“This isn’t a dump-site…….it’s an insurance plan,” stated Wonder Warrior.
“What are you talking about asked Kid Comet. “There’s nothing but rubble in front of us.”
“True and false,” commented Wonder Warrior. “When we had the Metrotower built, I had an underground bunker installed for an occasion like this. Granted, Black Orchid destroyed the ‘Tower but afterwards, I checked on the bunker and everything down there is as good as new.”
“So who else knows about this?” asked Queen Bee.
“Besides myself and the builders….no-one,” replied Wonder Warrior. “Now I’m not going to lie to you, it’s not going to be as elaborate as the Hall down there but there are a few living quarters along with some computers and some other tech that we may need.”
“You sure you’re up for this, pal?” the Arachnid asked the mysterious ally he and the others recruited along the way to Los Angeles.
“You bet!” confirmed the mystery man. “Anything to show my father that my brother is hardly the only capable one in our family.”
Wonder Warrior led his small team to the secret entrance to the bunker. As the team made their way down the stairway, the Arachnid commented to the mystery man, “Well thanks for signing up with us dude. I hope you’re ready for what’s next.”
At that same moment, Wonder Warrior was opening the door to the bunker. Suddenly a long forgotten voice called out to the team of “traitors”, “And I hope you’re ready for what’s next you slimy little bug.”
The Arachnid and the other futurists panicked when they saw who was standing in front of them, Wonder Warrior was the first to speak, “Oh no, they’ve found us!”
***
Epilogue:
A lavish home on the beachfront of Malibu, CA…
Bette Kane-Parker looked around the room that housed her numerous trophies and pageant crowns. Her husband, Chuck was gone---again-----to judge a surfing competition in Fiji. Bette opted to remain home. Being the CEO of the Miss Universe organization required her time as the pageant was coming up in a few months. Bette herself was a former Miss Universe. In fact she was the last American to win the title (and she would be first to tell you). Bette was the only American in history who had won Miss Teen USA, Miss USA, and Miss Universe. She had been married to the love of her life, the former Golden Eagle, for many years now and most would say Bette had it all. Chuck, had provided Bette with an easy lifestyle. A large home, a convertible corvette, and weekly spa treatments were just the few of things Bette enjoyed thanks to her generous husband. Now if she could only get more one on one time with him. It seemed like Chuck’s job was demanding more and more of his time over the last year. Sometimes, he was gone for several weeks at a time, leaving Bette feeling a bit lonely, especially on the cold winter nights. As she reminisced with her souveniers, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Even though she was in her 40s and still quite beautiful, she noticed crow’s feet starting to sprout around her eyes--and what were those lines around her eye-catching smile!!? They weren't there yesterday!
It seemed liked Bette was suffering from a “domino effect” as when she faced Kitty Kat several months ago, the feline-themed villainess had made short work of her. It was then that Bette had noticed her reactions and reflexes were starting to slow. Whereas her former Titan teammates had remained youthful looking due to their powers or mystical encounters, Bette was indeed a human. No fancy powers to protect her from her most hated enemy, time. It was bad enough that she had already found the need to dye her hair due to the gray that was setting in but that didn’t bother her too much until now as she knew people in their twenties that had some grays. These new lines on her face however, were like the kiss of death to her.
Besides her pageant experiences, Bette felt she was always getting one-upped. When she visited her Aunt Kathy all those years ago and discovered she was the Batwoman, Betty decided to become Bat-Girl. Mainly to catch the eye of Robin, which she didn't, but the experience was fun nonetheless. That is until a few months later when that tarty redhead ripped her off. The new Batgirl captured the headlines when she apprehended Killer Moth and overshadowed Bette right into obscurity, a fact that Bette despised to this day. She was the FIRST Bat-Girl and she often wondered what would have happened if she had confronted that redheaded poser.
No matter, Flamebird arose from the ashes and joined the short-lived Titans West and she met the man she would eventually marry. Neither of them were asked to join the New Teen Titans when Raven formed the group. Even though she loved Golden Eagle dearly, she still kept up with Dick Grayson. She never understood what he saw in the overinflated, overpermed hair, orange-skinned, no eyed alien--who in truth looked more like a third rate stripper in Vegas--in a club that would be way off the strip, no doubt.
Ah well, things weren't bad for Bette Kane, except those new lines on her face….which could cost her everything….
TO BE CONTINUED
Written & edited by: Power Guy
Epilogue by: Power Guy & Scotty2Hotty
Special Thanks to Christophe for the initial concept of the main story.
The Hall of Justice…
The Arachnid had just come out of the men’s locker-room, having finished his shower. His first priority was to go check on Starman and Supergirl. His best friend had been glued to the modern-age girl of steel’s bedside since she was brought to the Hall after the incident with Zy-kree. “I gotta stop by the vending machine first and get myself a Monster.” he whispered to himself but before he could head off, he was interrupted by his good buddy Ice Warrior.
“Yo bug-guts!” called out the son of Guy Gardner and Ice.
“Hey frosty, what’s up?” asked the nephew of Ted Kord.
“You still haven’t shown me that picture of you kissing Phantom Lady,” pointed out the cold-powered hero. “You’ve had plenty of time and I want to see it NOW!”
“Uhh…..oh yeah, about that….” the Arachnid said as he tried to come up with another excuse seeing that the said picture didn’t exist. “I know this is going to be hard to believe but I dropped my camera phone in the toilet last week and all of my data got erased.”
Ice Warrior just crossed his arms and stared down the bug-themed hero, “You lie like a rug, dude. I don’t think there ever was a picture and I don’t think she ever kissed you either!”
“She did! She did! I swear it!” the Arachnid cried out insistently.
“Oh really? Then how come I never see you two together around here,” questioned Ice Warrior.
“Uhh……conflicting schedules…….really,” the Arachnid said, blushing under his mask.
“I think you’re conning me, old buddy,” accused Ice Warrior as he shook his head back and forth. “Anyways, I’m heading back to my room. See you around.”
A few minutes later, the Arachnid entered the medical bay, where he found Starman standing by Supergirl’s bedside. The young girl had been unconscious ever since the Feminists’ Kryptonite was taken from her. According to Power Guy, this was typical for victims of this special breed of Kryptonite as both the mind and body needed to recover, especially from such a prolonged exposure such as Supergirl had.
Starman looked down at the modern-age girl of steel with sorrow and concern in his eyes. The two of them had shared some special moments together when they first joined the former West Coast division of the Titans and though they had parted ways, he had carried a torch for her ever since. “You keep resting and get better, Jenna. I promise you that I’m going to find the scum-bag who did this to you and make him pay BIG time.”
“Dude, I don’t think she can hear you,” commented the Arachnid, looking up at his best friend.
“YES SHE CAN!!” screamed Starman in disagreement.
“Hey, calm down, man. She’s been in a coma ever since Green Lantern pulled the Kryptonite off of her neck. She’s probably off in la-la land for now…” the Arachnid continued, trying to point out the obvious. “You’ve been in this room day and night since she got here. Don’t you think its’ time you took a break before you end up in the bed right next to hers due to exhaustion?”
“I’M FINE!” spat the cosmic avenger, bearing teeth.
“Ok, then…….I’ll just go sit down over here and shut up,” grumbled the bug-themed hero as he plopped himself down on the couch in the room and took a big gulp of his Monster.
***
The Hall of Justice Central Conference Room…
“Lansinar! It was Wonder Warrior who sent Supergirl the Kryptonite!” announced the new age Dark Knight as he grabbed a hold of Wonder Warrior’s shoulder, firmly.
The room full of heroes were completely shocked by Nightvision’s revelation, many thinking he was simply jumping to conclusions until Wonder Warrior pulled himself free from the modern-age Dark Knight’s grasp and flew away, headed towards the door.
“Stop him!” ordered Nightvision.
“Consider it done,” assured Nucleus as he pressed a button on a small device he was holding in his hands. Immediately, the doors to the conference room glowed softly as they locked. “There’s no way he’s getting out.”
“Yes, he is,” came the voice of the Queen Bee who was holding a similar device in her hands, Instantly, the doors opened.
Nucleus turned to his girlfriend in shock, “Latavia, what the heck are you doing???”
“Taking care of business,” spat the Queen Bee, completely emotionless. “Hive - SWARM!” Suddenly, the room was filled with Latavia Duncan’s robotic bees. As Wonder Warrior made his way out the doors, the bees swarmed the other Titans in the room, sticking them with their stingers, emitting their vibrational attacks, stunning them, and sending them off into complete unconsciousness. However, before Nightvision passed out, he hit the emergency alarm and spoke into the microphone, “All Titans……..stop the traitor……stop Wonder Warrior……….”
Queen Bee took to the air and began cursing, “Damn it! Now we’re going to have more trouble getting out of here.” About a minute later, she caught up with Wonder Warrior, “I assume you heard Nightvision’s broadcast?”
“Yup,” frowned the prince of Themescyra. “This isn’t going to be easy but you know we can’t leave just yet. By the way, how did you stop Power Guy and Green Lantern?”
“Lucky for you, I made a Kryptonite bee about a month ago. Green Lantern was actually easy to stop since the bees are painted yellow and he’s still in rookie status which means he’s still vulnerable to the yellow impurity weakness. Now if we were up against his father or any other seasoned member of the Lantern Corps, we would have been screwed.”
“You are screwed because you‘re not leaving until we get an explantion!” came a voice as two energy blasts zoomed past Wonder Warrior and Queen Bee. The two supposed “traitors” turned to see that they were being pursued by Jemstone and Sargona.
“Jerrica - stop! You’ve got to let me out of here,” pleaded Wonder Warrior.
“Stuff it, Chris!” spat Jemstone. “Scott was in the conference room with you and yet you and Queen Bee are the only two that came out right before Nightvision’s announcement. “You have five seconds to tell me what’s going on or I’m going to forget that we’ll be family soon and blast your head off!”
“I’d listen to her kids, we mean business,” reinforced Sargona, standing a top of her magic carpet, hands blazing with arcane energy.
“Jemstone, Sargona….this is all a misunderstanding,” frowned Queen Bee. “Nightvision has been on his high-horse since he got Sonic Boom and Dark Arrow to leave the team. Can’t you give us the benefit of the doubt until you at least hear us out?”
Jemstone and Sargona turned their attention to one another, both were quite confused. Both of them were still upset with Nightvision for his recent actions and realized he very well could be jumping the gun.
“What do you think Jerrica?” asked Sargona.
“I think you’re both a bunch of air-heads who fell for my distraction!” yelled Queen Bee as she electrocuted the two ladies with her stings. As the two best friends plummeted to the ground, Queen Bee commanded, “Let’s go!”
As Wonder Warrior and his accomplice continued to fly through the Hall, he turned to her and spoke sternly, “Latavia, Jerrica is going to be my sister-in-law soon and we both used to work with her when we were on Titans West. That was a little cold.”
“Chris, we’ve talked about this a dozen times. We can’t let our emotions or personal relationships get in the way of this mission!” reminded Queen Bee as they landed on the ground right before the hallway to the Titans’ personal quarters. As they began down the hallway, they soon found themselves confronted by Starman and the Arachnid.
“Ok, you two - hands up!” ordered Starman, aiming his Cosmic Rod at the two “traitors”. “I’m not sure what’s going on here but I heard Nightvision’s announcement and I saw what you did to Jemstone and Sargona so I ran back into my room and got my rod. Don’t make me have to use it on you.”
Both Wonder Warrior and Queen Bee raised their hands above their head knowing full well that Starman meant business.
“You should really be ashamed of yourself for what you just did, Latavia,” added the Arachnid as Starman began walking closer to his two captives.
“Let’s get you two into the Hall’s detention cell. You both make me si…” started Starman until he was sucker-punched in the back of the head by none other than……………….the Arachnid!
“Took you long enough,” complained Queen Bee. “For a minute there, I thought you were going to let him take us in.”
“Just shut up already,” the Arachnid said in an unusually angry tone.
“One more stop and we’re out of here!” Wonder Warrior reminded his group.
“Hey guys!” Kid Comet said as he came flying around the corner. “Sorry, I was in the shower when I heard Nightvision’s announcment. Looks like you’re busted, huh Chris?”
“Yeah, a lot sooner than expected,” Wonder Warrior said, biting his lip. “Hopefully we don’t have any more trouble on the way out.”
“We shouldn’t,” revealed Kid Comet. “I did a mental scan. There aren’t any other Titans in the building besides the ones you’ve neutralized. By the way Latavia, what‘s gotten into you? You‘re acting so ruthless today.”
“I’m not ruthless, just determined,” countered Queen Bee. “You know what will happen if we botch the mission.”
“Funny…..this feels almost as bad,” complained the Arachnid as the four “traitors” flew out of the Hall.”
“If you’re talking about having to take down your buddy - get over it!” chastised the daughter of Bumblebee and the Herald. “Besides you two fight all of the time.”
“Yeah but this time it wasn’t any fun….” mumbled the Arachnid, looking back at the Hall, wracked with guilt. “So, where are we going anyway?”
“To recruit some allies and set up shop……” revealed Wonder Warrior.
“Can’t we just go home?” asked Kid Comet. “I mean, after what happened in the Crisis, I don’t think we have anything to worry about. Power Guy was brought back to life.”
“Yes, that’s true but even though his death is what would have sparked our dark future, we don’t know how things will play out in this altered timeline,” explained the son of Donna Troy and Kyle Rayner. “We need to stick around a little bit longer to make sure. Now, who’s up for a trip to Louisiana?”
***
Back inside the Hall…
“Ugh…….what just happened here?” asked a groggy Wonder Man as he and the rest of the leadership team began to wake up.”
“Your cousin and Queen Bee have shown their true colors, that’s what happened,” barked Nightvision. “I told you we should have queued some of the others in before I made the revelation,” he said, looking at Nucleus.
“I’m sorry, I figured the seven of us could have handled him,” Nucleus said, standing firm on his decision. “I had no idea that Latavia was in cahoots with him.”
“No idea??? The two of them have been attached at the hip ever since they came here from the future,” reminded Nightvision. “I think you let your feelings for her cloud your judgment.”
“Now you just wait a minute Brendon! You’re in no position to talk about feelings clouding someone’s judgment or do I need to bring up Kitty Kat?” argued Nucleus as he got in Nightvision’s face. Suddenly, a green wall appeared between the two, keeping them apart.
“That’s enough you two!” ordered Green Lantern. “There are quite a few of us in bad spot right now and the last thing we need to do is be at each other’s throats!”
“Green Lantern is right, guys,” agreed Power Guy. “With Blackbird leaving the team, the recent Crisis, the ordeal with Dr. Light, and now this, we’re all under a lot of stress right now. We all need to take a step back and put things in perspective. Do we even have a possible motive for what Wonder Warrior has clearly done?”
“I just don’t get it….” Wonder Man said, shaking his head. “As you guys know, Chris and I didn’t exactly get a long when he first came to our time but we eventually worked things out. Since then, he’s never given me any reason to mistrust him or think he was up to something.”
“Perhaps he wanted to spare you the pain since you’re family,” suggested Black Vulcan.
“Latavia never let me on to the fact she was up to anything either,” Nucleus said, feeling foolish.
“That’s because she was probably using you!” pointed out Nightvision. “After all, she had a device to overtake your security controls. She was obviously taking notes while she was looking over your shoulder.”
Nucleus just stood there, looking Nightvision in the eyes but not saying a word. Though he hated to admit it, he knew Nightvision could be right on the mark with his accusation.
“Oh my God!” exclaimed Wonder Man. “I’ve got to go check on Jemstone. She and Sargona were in the monitor room discussing Jerrica‘s bachelorette party,“ he said while rushing out the door.
“He might need some assistance. Green Lantern, why don’t you go with him?” suggested Black Vulcan as she and the others struggled to regain their composure.
“Good idea,” replied Green Lantern as he flew after Wonder Man.
About thirty seconds later, Wonder Man and Green Lantern found the still unconscious Jemstone and Sargona.
“Oh no!” Wonder Man said, fearing the worst. He cradled Jemstone in his arms and began speaking to her, “Jerrica! Wake up! Talk to me!”
A few seconds later, the pop icon opened her eyes slowly to see her knight in shining armor looking down at her, “Ugh….Scott,” she smiled. She then showcased a more concerned look on her face, “Chris…….he and Latavia…”
“Shhh…” whispered Wonder Man, “Don’t you worry about them. We’ll get to the bottom of all of this. You just concentrate on getting better.”
“Help me up please,” Jemstone requested. Wonder Man promptly helped her to her feet and put her arm around his neck, helping to steady her. “Damn…..Latavia’s stings pack quite a punch.”
Meanwhile, Green Lantern was doing his best to get Sargona to come to, “Sargona, if you can hear me, please open your eyes,” he begged as he made a green pillow appear under her head.
“Ohhh…….” the sorceress mumbled as she shook off the final tinges of Queen Bee’s attack. As her eyes opened, she reached up and rubbed her forehead. “That bit….”
“Don’t say it…..you’re too much of a lady to use that word,” smiled Green Lantern.
“Not right now I’m not…….and she deserves to be called much worse,” countered Sargona as she sat up.
“You never have a problem with saying what’s on your mind, do you?” Green Lantern asked with a half-smile.
“You know me Dan…….subtle as a grenade,” Sargona said as she stood up. “Thank you for coming to check on me by the way…”
“Of course. How could I not?”
Before the former couple could say another word to each other, Starman stormed into the room, “Alright, where is that little #*$&
”“If you’re talking about my cousin, he and Queen Bee flew the coupe,” Wonder Man said as he lifted a cup of water to Jemstone’s lips. “Here honey, sip this…”
“No, I’m talking about that jerk that sucker-punched me……the Arachnid!” revealed the man otherwise known as Scott Stone. “When I get my hands around his scrawny little neck…”
“So the Arachnid is involved in this too?” concluded Power Guy as he and the others made their way into the room.
“Odds are then that Kid Comet is in on this,” assumed Nightvision.
“You can bet on that,” assured Nucleus as he stood at the Trouble Alert. “His signal device along with our three other traitors’ is offline. It looks like all of the futurists are in on this.”
“Would somebody mind telling me what’s going on?” demanded Starman, fuming with thoughts of anger and betrayal. “Are they being controlled or something?”
“Not likely,” answered Nightvision. “Nucleus and I found out that the Feminists’ Kryptonite that Supergirl was wearing was sent to her by Wonder Warrior. Once I exposed him, he and Queen Bee attacked us and took off. That’s when I made the announcement.”
“Shortly after that, Jemstone and I came into contact with the two of them,” continued Sargona. “Q.B. tried telling us that you were sprouting unfounded accusations and when Jerrica and I turned to each other to discuss that possibility, she nailed us.”
“And right after that, the Arachnid and I confronted the two of them and right when I was all set to lock them up, that slimy little punk clocked me in the back of the head!” roared Starman. “All of this time, they’ve been playing us! When I get my hands on the Arachnid….”
“Scott, calm down,” Jemstone said, looking at the cosmic avenger. “I can’t believe the four of them are bad guys. You and I served with them for months on Titans West. They risked their lives countless of times to save ours and vice versa.”
“Perhaps that was part of the script,” pointed out the ever-suspicious Nightvision.
“I just can’t believe Chris would do something like this,” Wonder Man said, shaking his head back and forth. “I guess maybe I should have gone with my gut instinct not to trust him like when he first came to our timeline.”
“Everyone……..let’s not jump to conclusions just yet,” Power Guy said, trying to be the voice of reason. “There is obviously something going on here but until we know all of the details, let’s try not to pass judgment. In the meantime, Nucleus, send out a priority alert to the entire membership letting them know what’s happened and to start searching for the futurists immediately.”
“The question is……..where would they go?” Nightvision said while wracking his brain.
***
The former site of the Metrotower, Los Angeles, CA…
“What are we doing at this dump-site?” asked the Arachnid as he and his teammates landed on the ground.
“This isn’t a dump-site…….it’s an insurance plan,” stated Wonder Warrior.
“What are you talking about asked Kid Comet. “There’s nothing but rubble in front of us.”
“True and false,” commented Wonder Warrior. “When we had the Metrotower built, I had an underground bunker installed for an occasion like this. Granted, Black Orchid destroyed the ‘Tower but afterwards, I checked on the bunker and everything down there is as good as new.”
“So who else knows about this?” asked Queen Bee.
“Besides myself and the builders….no-one,” replied Wonder Warrior. “Now I’m not going to lie to you, it’s not going to be as elaborate as the Hall down there but there are a few living quarters along with some computers and some other tech that we may need.”
“You sure you’re up for this, pal?” the Arachnid asked the mysterious ally he and the others recruited along the way to Los Angeles.
“You bet!” confirmed the mystery man. “Anything to show my father that my brother is hardly the only capable one in our family.”
Wonder Warrior led his small team to the secret entrance to the bunker. As the team made their way down the stairway, the Arachnid commented to the mystery man, “Well thanks for signing up with us dude. I hope you’re ready for what’s next.”
At that same moment, Wonder Warrior was opening the door to the bunker. Suddenly a long forgotten voice called out to the team of “traitors”, “And I hope you’re ready for what’s next you slimy little bug.”
The Arachnid and the other futurists panicked when they saw who was standing in front of them, Wonder Warrior was the first to speak, “Oh no, they’ve found us!”
***
Epilogue:
A lavish home on the beachfront of Malibu, CA…
Bette Kane-Parker looked around the room that housed her numerous trophies and pageant crowns. Her husband, Chuck was gone---again-----to judge a surfing competition in Fiji. Bette opted to remain home. Being the CEO of the Miss Universe organization required her time as the pageant was coming up in a few months. Bette herself was a former Miss Universe. In fact she was the last American to win the title (and she would be first to tell you). Bette was the only American in history who had won Miss Teen USA, Miss USA, and Miss Universe. She had been married to the love of her life, the former Golden Eagle, for many years now and most would say Bette had it all. Chuck, had provided Bette with an easy lifestyle. A large home, a convertible corvette, and weekly spa treatments were just the few of things Bette enjoyed thanks to her generous husband. Now if she could only get more one on one time with him. It seemed like Chuck’s job was demanding more and more of his time over the last year. Sometimes, he was gone for several weeks at a time, leaving Bette feeling a bit lonely, especially on the cold winter nights. As she reminisced with her souveniers, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Even though she was in her 40s and still quite beautiful, she noticed crow’s feet starting to sprout around her eyes--and what were those lines around her eye-catching smile!!? They weren't there yesterday!
It seemed liked Bette was suffering from a “domino effect” as when she faced Kitty Kat several months ago, the feline-themed villainess had made short work of her. It was then that Bette had noticed her reactions and reflexes were starting to slow. Whereas her former Titan teammates had remained youthful looking due to their powers or mystical encounters, Bette was indeed a human. No fancy powers to protect her from her most hated enemy, time. It was bad enough that she had already found the need to dye her hair due to the gray that was setting in but that didn’t bother her too much until now as she knew people in their twenties that had some grays. These new lines on her face however, were like the kiss of death to her.
Besides her pageant experiences, Bette felt she was always getting one-upped. When she visited her Aunt Kathy all those years ago and discovered she was the Batwoman, Betty decided to become Bat-Girl. Mainly to catch the eye of Robin, which she didn't, but the experience was fun nonetheless. That is until a few months later when that tarty redhead ripped her off. The new Batgirl captured the headlines when she apprehended Killer Moth and overshadowed Bette right into obscurity, a fact that Bette despised to this day. She was the FIRST Bat-Girl and she often wondered what would have happened if she had confronted that redheaded poser.
No matter, Flamebird arose from the ashes and joined the short-lived Titans West and she met the man she would eventually marry. Neither of them were asked to join the New Teen Titans when Raven formed the group. Even though she loved Golden Eagle dearly, she still kept up with Dick Grayson. She never understood what he saw in the overinflated, overpermed hair, orange-skinned, no eyed alien--who in truth looked more like a third rate stripper in Vegas--in a club that would be way off the strip, no doubt.
Ah well, things weren't bad for Bette Kane, except those new lines on her face….which could cost her everything….
TO BE CONTINUED