Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2015 5:49:22 GMT -5
Titans of Justice Unlimited Chapter 97 - “Running Out of Time Part 3”
Written by: Scotty2Hotty
Edited by: Power Guy
The Hall of Justice…
Power Guy stared at the endless monitor screens before him. Monitor duty was not the most glamorous part of being a member of the Titans of Justice, but necessary and tonight was his turn. He thought of calling Helena to pass the time as all seemed quiet, but he remembered she was having dinner with Brendan and his mother.
“Looks like it’s just me for the next eight hours. Maybe there’s something good on TV.” he said aloud.
“Or maybe someone you never expected to see will drop in.” came a voice.
At first Power Guy couldn’t place the voice as he spun around in his chair. No one except team members could get in, so who was this? The figure stepped into the light.
Power Guy’s jaw dropped. “Colin….Colin is that you? I can’t believe it!”
“I could say the same for you. Believe it friend. I survived.” Celsius smiled.
Power Guy flew over to him and shook his hand. “How? Black Orchid thought she killed you, of course no body was recovered so we all thought--”
“It’s a miracle. That’s all I can say to make sense of what happened to me--and to you. When I….went missing you were thought dead too. I read up on your return from the Universe of Evil.”
“I have to call everyone. Tell them the good news!” Power Guy said, turning to hit the signal to all members.
“No! Please don’t. I want to talk first.” Celsisus requested.
“Sure! What’s on your mind?” Power Guy asked, noticing Celsius seemed agitated.
“Why didn’t you look for me when you came back!? Black Orchid left me in space. Left me there to die! No one ever came to help me. Do you know what it’s like Vince--Do you know what it’s like knowing you’re dying!? It is because of me the team came together in the first place!”
Power Guy switched from happy to see his former teammate to cautious. “We didn’t know where to look. Don’t you know we would have searched for you if we had known. Venus--Black Orchid wasn’t herself, none of this was her fault.”
“I know for a fact you left her on the team! She didn’t pay for what she did to me! For what she did to Halo, Atom Smasher, Icemanling, and all the others!” Celsius said, standing up.
“Colin, calm down. Let me help you. Surviving that ordeal was a lot to take. Please, let’s talk this through.”
“Oh, that’s your answer for everything isn’t it! Talk, talk, talk! I’m done talking! Do you hear me!?” Celsius screamed, firing a bolt of fire at Power Guy. The leader of the Titans leapt out of the way.
“Colin, you don’t want this fight. Please stop. I’m warning you.” Power Guy said, determined.
“Shove it! You all hated me! You always did--because I’m more powerful than any of you! None of you ever recognized my power or how it was ME that held the team together!”
Power Guy noticed he was beginning to feel weak, almost like the feeling one got when one had not eaten. He flew straight into Celsius, ramming him into a wall.
“Don’t make me hurt you!” he pleaded, as he punched him the face. A tooth came flying out of Celsius’s mouth.
“You, hurt me!? HA!” Celsius said, pressing his hands onto Power Guy’s face. He noticed he felt feverish all the sudden. “Even supermen need water and hydration and I am taking yours away!”
Power Guy felt as if he would pass out. He punched Celsius in the face again, sending him sailing across the room into the meeting table. Celsius stood up, fire blazing all around him and blood pouring from his busted nose. “Outer space couldn’t hurt me, what makes you think you can!? He laughed.
“Because I’m Power Guy!” the Kryptonian powerhouse yelled. “I’m already shaking off the effects of your powers! I’m sorry it has come to this, but I promise you, I‘ll see that you get the help you need.” he said, flying at full speed towards him.
“That’s it, dolt. Come closer.” Celsius thought, drawing a green glowing syringe from his back pocket.
Power Guy slammed into him and pinned the crazed man to the ground.
“I promise Colin. We’ll see you through this.”
“I think you’ll be the one needing help.” Celsius said, suddenly plunging the syringe into Power Guy’s neck. Power Guy stumbled backwards. The room was spinning and he felt sick to his stomach.
“Kryptonite….where did you…..”
“A little gift from my father. Now what were you saying about hurting me?”
Power Guy had doubled over. The last thing he saw was Celsius’s boot speeding towards his face. Celsius beat him unmercifully for what seemed like hours.
“Hope they have a good janitor. All this blood will be murder to clean, but I think it will send my message to my former teammates. Come on Vince. We don’t want to be late for our little reunion…..and I have to fix my perfect face after what you did to it. I‘ll be sure to make you pay double for that.”
***
Back at the lab of Niles Caulder, Wilma West was getting anxious about her next treatment. She made her way into the lab and noticed Dr. Caulder and a beautiful blonde woman lying on a table.
“Thanks to those samples, I was able to speed up the cloning of Halo’s old body. Good thing I kept those DNA samples of the Outsiders I ‘borrowed’ from Dr. Jace all those years ago.” Dr. Caulder thought to himself. “The samples I took from Miss West interacted just as I thought and sped up the growth time. Colin will be pleased. Now to begin the process of reuniting the Aurakle and the body of Violet Harper.”
“Dr. Caulder, who’s that girl? She’s so pretty. Like Sleeping Beauty.” Wilma said walking towards them.
“Wait! Don’t come any closer. Please leave immediately! This woman is a client and her treatment is at a critical stage!!” Dr. Caulder growled.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to cause trouble.” The Flash said, stunned at the man’s reaction.
“I don’t mean to yell, my dear. It’s just that it is crucial right now that I am not interrupted.”
The Flash half smiled and walked out, shutting the door behind her. She began to question her decision to accept help from people she didn’t know, but quickly shook it off. “It’s nothing. He’s a scientist and I intruded. My impulsive nature gets me in trouble again.”
***
“Don’t go anywhere, Mr. Trevor! I’ll be right up!” Jerrica Trevor said in a sing song voice.
“I’m not getting out of this bed for any reason, dear!” Scott Trevor shouted back.
Jerrica prepared a tray of whipped cream, chocolate, strawberries and wine. Newlywed life was something the two of them were enjoying very much and she had never been happier. Just then the kitchen went dark. She let out a little scream.
“Jer? You ok?”
“Yeah, must have blown a fuse. Man, it’s pitch black. I can’t see a thing.” she said, growing uneasy. She didn’t know why as she was not scared of the dark. “I can fix this.” she said aloud, using her powers to generate enough light to try to find out the source of the problem. She felt someone behind her and expected to see her husband. She turned and was face to face with…..Kurt Light???
“BOO!” he said as Jerrica screamed.
Upstairs, Scott was feeling his way down the hall trying to find the stairs. He heard his wife scream.
“Jerrica? What’s happening?” he yelled, fumbling in the darkness as he reached the top of the stairs. He felt something breeze behind him.
“I think she just saw my brother.” came an icy voice. Scott still couldn’t see, but felt something grab his throat and drag him backwards. He struggled to call out, but felt something-something like smoke go into his mouth. He started to choke.
“I’m not going to kill you yet, stud.” he heard something say as two red eyes became visible in the darkness. Whatever was dragging him, took him back into the bedroom and pulled him towards a window. Within seconds he was plunging out it, crashing into the swimming pool.
Downstairs, Night Terror was terrorizing Jerrica. He had pinned her against the wall. She couldn’t figure out what was making her so afraid.
“You’re pretty. I’m sure my grandfather would have liked you.“ He said, licking her neck.
“GET YOUR DIRTY HANDS OFF ME!!!” she cried, summoning every ounce of energy she had and releasing a huge blast of light and colored holograms.
“AGGGHHH!” Night Terror screamed, dropping to the ground and covering his eyes.
“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, I see.” Jerrica said, manipulating the sound waves in the air. Blood began to drip from Night Terror’s nose and ears.
“NO! No, Celsius promised us…..”
“Celsius?” Jerrica gasped as something came flying through the kitchen window. “Scott! Oh Lord!!”
Scott Trevor slammed into the kitchen island, shattering it. His wife ran over to him.
His face was bloodied. He whispered, “G…get ou…out… r..run…”
Suddenly a large smoky hammer slammed into the back of Jerrica’s head. She collapsed on top of her husband.
“You owe me, brother.” Phantasma snickered.
“Hmph. She’s powerful and confident. More than Celsius knows. She actually dissipated my darkness. Almost had her too.”
“Well, you didn’t.”
“Says the girl who made a Home Depot special out of fog.” Night Terror laughed as he picked up the wine bottle and chugged it. “Come on, these are the last two on our shopping list.”
***
Hawk Warrior and Batwoman were about to enter the transporter tube that would take them back to Earth 2. Batwoman had been back to visit her parents and brother. Hawk Warrior had been to New Earth to consult with a new museum that was showcasing ancient Egyptian treasures.
“How was your visit?” Hawk Warrior asked.
“It was great. I showed them my Batwoman costume.”
“How’d that go?”
“Actually it went well. My parents thought it was a good idea that I establish an identity all my own--well, I guess it’s not all my own. I explained that Batwoman is a clean break from me--none of Sonic Boom’s baggage, you know?”
“I do.” Hawk Warrior smiled. He started to enter the coordinates on the transporter and wondered how the Huntress was enjoying her time on this earth’s Gotham City. Just then both his and Batwoman’s Titans of Justice emergency communicators went off.
“That’s the priority alarm.” Batwoman said. Although she wasn’t officially on the team right now, she still carried her old communicator in case of an omega level emergency. Nucleus even programmed the devices to receive the alert on Earth 2, if something requiring her aid happened.
“Hawk Warrior and Batwoman here. What’s going on?” he said into the communicator.
“We’ve got a situation. I think it’s bad.” came Starman’s voice.
“We’re on our way.” Hawk Warrior replied.
At the Hall of Justice, Hawk Warrior and Batwoman joined Starman, Whirlpool, Supergirl, and Power Lad.
Batwoman’s eyes widened at all of the blood on the floor. “What happened?”
Supergirl explained, “Power Guy was here on monitor duty. I was the back up for tonight. I got an alert and found this.”
“It looks like a bomb went off in here.” Whirlpool added.
“If someone was able to do this to Power Guy, we’ll need all the heavy hitters.” Starman added.
“Everyone’s accounted for except Nightvision, Green Lantern, Sargona, Wonder Man, Jem, Flash, and Black Orchid.” Power Lad explained, more mature than usual. Whirlpool thought he might be a bit rattled not knowing what had happened to his mentor.
“Helena was with Nightvision.” Hawk Warrior said, become more concerned by the second.
“And the Flash was suspended at the last leader’s meeting.” Whirlpool replied.
Just then the monitor turned on.
“Well, well, well! Look at all of you! My how some of you have changed!” came a voice.
“That’s Celsius!” Batwoman gasped.
“Good eye, Di Di. I recognize you even in that tacky outfit Yellow and red? PUH-LEAZE!” he smirked.
“But you’re dead…” Starman said.
“I’ve been getting that a lot lately, but it’s me 100%. I can see how the team has went down the tubes since I left. Look at you! What a bunch of inadequate posers!”
“This isn’t Colin. It’s a trick. It has to be!” Supergirl said, confusion in her voice.
“It’s me. And look, I have some of our old friends here to prove it! I’m sure you’ve noticed some of your number is missing.”
The Titans all looked at the screen as they saw Nightvision, Huntress, Power Guy, Green Lantern, Wonder Man, and Jem all held captive in some sort of machine. Supergirl noticed Power Guy’s skin had a greenish hue and there were syringes stuck all over his body.
“Power Guy!” Power Lad cried out seeing how badly beaten the team leader was. “Colin you sick son of a b*tch! I will rip you limb from limb! How could you! We were your friends!!”
“WERE!” he laughed. “Were is the keyword here.”
For a moment everyone was silent.
Now that I have your attention, I want you to see another friend. He gestured towards a table. Black Orchid was strapped to it. Surgical devices had her eyes propped open. Straps crossed her arms, hands, neck, legs, and feet. Her lips were blue.
“What have you done to her!? You’re killing her!” Starman shouted.
“Not yet, but it’s on the agenda. I’m keeping her on ice for now. I have some friends for you to meet. Night Terror, Phantasma, come into camera please. I believe you all know these two already. From what I read in the papers, they have quite a bone to pick with the team, especially you Di Di.”
Batwoman recoiled at the sight of them. She recognized Night Terror as Kurt Light.
Night Terror said, “I see you Miss Queen. Might I add that your new costume accentuates your figure.” as he made a gesture with his tongue. Batwoman took a step back from the monitor.
“Don’t mind my brother Miss Queen. I assure you, I won’t let him hurt you….much.”
Both siblings laughed as they high-fived.
“Here’s the deal. You all have one half hour to surrender yourselves at my father’s lab. For every 30 minutes you don’t show, one of the Titans die. He walked over to Wonder Man. His arms were suspended above his head and his feet were also bound. Beside him was Jem.
“I always thought I could count on you. Thought you were my friend.” Celsius said, running his fingers through his hair.
Wonder Man spit in his face.
“Now, now. What would Wonder Woman say about that. Not exactly royal protocol.”
Celsius walked over and threw a switch sending electricity through Wonder Man’s body. He twitched and screamed as smoke poured off him.
Jem screamed as she struggled against her bonds, “SCOTTTT!!! NO LEAVE HIM ALONE!!!! TAKE ME!! DON’T HURT HIM!!!!”
She dropped her head and cried uncontrollably.
“I told you I meant business. Be here in 30 minutes or next I cut off Green Lantern’s hand to get his ring. Then his head comes off.” Celsius smirked. “I wrote the directions in Power Guy’s blood.”
“We’ll be there Colin. We’ll be there and we will make you pay for what you’ve done.” Starman said, fists clenched.
“Two things before I sign off. The Flash has joined me. Dad, show them!” Dr. Caulder maneuvered his wheel chair over to a monitor and showed video footage of Wilma West in the lab.
“Now, I leave you with this.” Celsius said, picking up a drill. “This all started with Black Orchid. I have to make sure she doesn’t go crazy again and go off on one of her…..outbreaks of high spiritedness.” The video feed stopped as he walked over and put the drill to Black Orchid’s temple.
The Titans were silent.
“I can’t believe this. He was one of us! One of the founding members!” Hawk Warrior said.
“Something happened to him, he’s not right. That might not even really be him.” Supergirl offered.
Batwoman had sat down. Her hands were shaking.
“Di Di, you ok?” Supergirl said, hugging her.
“His grandchildren….they…they are going to help him pick us off one by one….” she murmured.
“Di Di, look at me. We are going there and we are going to save our friends. Then, we are going to put our collective foot so far up Celsius’s @ss, he’ll wish he had stayed dead.” Starman said.
Batwoman stood up. She thought of Trickshot.
“You’re right Starman. First dibs on Light’s grandkids. Now, let’s go save our friends.”
TO BE CONTINUED
Written by: Scotty2Hotty
Edited by: Power Guy
The Hall of Justice…
Power Guy stared at the endless monitor screens before him. Monitor duty was not the most glamorous part of being a member of the Titans of Justice, but necessary and tonight was his turn. He thought of calling Helena to pass the time as all seemed quiet, but he remembered she was having dinner with Brendan and his mother.
“Looks like it’s just me for the next eight hours. Maybe there’s something good on TV.” he said aloud.
“Or maybe someone you never expected to see will drop in.” came a voice.
At first Power Guy couldn’t place the voice as he spun around in his chair. No one except team members could get in, so who was this? The figure stepped into the light.
Power Guy’s jaw dropped. “Colin….Colin is that you? I can’t believe it!”
“I could say the same for you. Believe it friend. I survived.” Celsius smiled.
Power Guy flew over to him and shook his hand. “How? Black Orchid thought she killed you, of course no body was recovered so we all thought--”
“It’s a miracle. That’s all I can say to make sense of what happened to me--and to you. When I….went missing you were thought dead too. I read up on your return from the Universe of Evil.”
“I have to call everyone. Tell them the good news!” Power Guy said, turning to hit the signal to all members.
“No! Please don’t. I want to talk first.” Celsisus requested.
“Sure! What’s on your mind?” Power Guy asked, noticing Celsius seemed agitated.
“Why didn’t you look for me when you came back!? Black Orchid left me in space. Left me there to die! No one ever came to help me. Do you know what it’s like Vince--Do you know what it’s like knowing you’re dying!? It is because of me the team came together in the first place!”
Power Guy switched from happy to see his former teammate to cautious. “We didn’t know where to look. Don’t you know we would have searched for you if we had known. Venus--Black Orchid wasn’t herself, none of this was her fault.”
“I know for a fact you left her on the team! She didn’t pay for what she did to me! For what she did to Halo, Atom Smasher, Icemanling, and all the others!” Celsius said, standing up.
“Colin, calm down. Let me help you. Surviving that ordeal was a lot to take. Please, let’s talk this through.”
“Oh, that’s your answer for everything isn’t it! Talk, talk, talk! I’m done talking! Do you hear me!?” Celsius screamed, firing a bolt of fire at Power Guy. The leader of the Titans leapt out of the way.
“Colin, you don’t want this fight. Please stop. I’m warning you.” Power Guy said, determined.
“Shove it! You all hated me! You always did--because I’m more powerful than any of you! None of you ever recognized my power or how it was ME that held the team together!”
Power Guy noticed he was beginning to feel weak, almost like the feeling one got when one had not eaten. He flew straight into Celsius, ramming him into a wall.
“Don’t make me hurt you!” he pleaded, as he punched him the face. A tooth came flying out of Celsius’s mouth.
“You, hurt me!? HA!” Celsius said, pressing his hands onto Power Guy’s face. He noticed he felt feverish all the sudden. “Even supermen need water and hydration and I am taking yours away!”
Power Guy felt as if he would pass out. He punched Celsius in the face again, sending him sailing across the room into the meeting table. Celsius stood up, fire blazing all around him and blood pouring from his busted nose. “Outer space couldn’t hurt me, what makes you think you can!? He laughed.
“Because I’m Power Guy!” the Kryptonian powerhouse yelled. “I’m already shaking off the effects of your powers! I’m sorry it has come to this, but I promise you, I‘ll see that you get the help you need.” he said, flying at full speed towards him.
“That’s it, dolt. Come closer.” Celsius thought, drawing a green glowing syringe from his back pocket.
Power Guy slammed into him and pinned the crazed man to the ground.
“I promise Colin. We’ll see you through this.”
“I think you’ll be the one needing help.” Celsius said, suddenly plunging the syringe into Power Guy’s neck. Power Guy stumbled backwards. The room was spinning and he felt sick to his stomach.
“Kryptonite….where did you…..”
“A little gift from my father. Now what were you saying about hurting me?”
Power Guy had doubled over. The last thing he saw was Celsius’s boot speeding towards his face. Celsius beat him unmercifully for what seemed like hours.
“Hope they have a good janitor. All this blood will be murder to clean, but I think it will send my message to my former teammates. Come on Vince. We don’t want to be late for our little reunion…..and I have to fix my perfect face after what you did to it. I‘ll be sure to make you pay double for that.”
***
Back at the lab of Niles Caulder, Wilma West was getting anxious about her next treatment. She made her way into the lab and noticed Dr. Caulder and a beautiful blonde woman lying on a table.
“Thanks to those samples, I was able to speed up the cloning of Halo’s old body. Good thing I kept those DNA samples of the Outsiders I ‘borrowed’ from Dr. Jace all those years ago.” Dr. Caulder thought to himself. “The samples I took from Miss West interacted just as I thought and sped up the growth time. Colin will be pleased. Now to begin the process of reuniting the Aurakle and the body of Violet Harper.”
“Dr. Caulder, who’s that girl? She’s so pretty. Like Sleeping Beauty.” Wilma said walking towards them.
“Wait! Don’t come any closer. Please leave immediately! This woman is a client and her treatment is at a critical stage!!” Dr. Caulder growled.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to cause trouble.” The Flash said, stunned at the man’s reaction.
“I don’t mean to yell, my dear. It’s just that it is crucial right now that I am not interrupted.”
The Flash half smiled and walked out, shutting the door behind her. She began to question her decision to accept help from people she didn’t know, but quickly shook it off. “It’s nothing. He’s a scientist and I intruded. My impulsive nature gets me in trouble again.”
***
“Don’t go anywhere, Mr. Trevor! I’ll be right up!” Jerrica Trevor said in a sing song voice.
“I’m not getting out of this bed for any reason, dear!” Scott Trevor shouted back.
Jerrica prepared a tray of whipped cream, chocolate, strawberries and wine. Newlywed life was something the two of them were enjoying very much and she had never been happier. Just then the kitchen went dark. She let out a little scream.
“Jer? You ok?”
“Yeah, must have blown a fuse. Man, it’s pitch black. I can’t see a thing.” she said, growing uneasy. She didn’t know why as she was not scared of the dark. “I can fix this.” she said aloud, using her powers to generate enough light to try to find out the source of the problem. She felt someone behind her and expected to see her husband. She turned and was face to face with…..Kurt Light???
“BOO!” he said as Jerrica screamed.
Upstairs, Scott was feeling his way down the hall trying to find the stairs. He heard his wife scream.
“Jerrica? What’s happening?” he yelled, fumbling in the darkness as he reached the top of the stairs. He felt something breeze behind him.
“I think she just saw my brother.” came an icy voice. Scott still couldn’t see, but felt something grab his throat and drag him backwards. He struggled to call out, but felt something-something like smoke go into his mouth. He started to choke.
“I’m not going to kill you yet, stud.” he heard something say as two red eyes became visible in the darkness. Whatever was dragging him, took him back into the bedroom and pulled him towards a window. Within seconds he was plunging out it, crashing into the swimming pool.
Downstairs, Night Terror was terrorizing Jerrica. He had pinned her against the wall. She couldn’t figure out what was making her so afraid.
“You’re pretty. I’m sure my grandfather would have liked you.“ He said, licking her neck.
“GET YOUR DIRTY HANDS OFF ME!!!” she cried, summoning every ounce of energy she had and releasing a huge blast of light and colored holograms.
“AGGGHHH!” Night Terror screamed, dropping to the ground and covering his eyes.
“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, I see.” Jerrica said, manipulating the sound waves in the air. Blood began to drip from Night Terror’s nose and ears.
“NO! No, Celsius promised us…..”
“Celsius?” Jerrica gasped as something came flying through the kitchen window. “Scott! Oh Lord!!”
Scott Trevor slammed into the kitchen island, shattering it. His wife ran over to him.
His face was bloodied. He whispered, “G…get ou…out… r..run…”
Suddenly a large smoky hammer slammed into the back of Jerrica’s head. She collapsed on top of her husband.
“You owe me, brother.” Phantasma snickered.
“Hmph. She’s powerful and confident. More than Celsius knows. She actually dissipated my darkness. Almost had her too.”
“Well, you didn’t.”
“Says the girl who made a Home Depot special out of fog.” Night Terror laughed as he picked up the wine bottle and chugged it. “Come on, these are the last two on our shopping list.”
***
Hawk Warrior and Batwoman were about to enter the transporter tube that would take them back to Earth 2. Batwoman had been back to visit her parents and brother. Hawk Warrior had been to New Earth to consult with a new museum that was showcasing ancient Egyptian treasures.
“How was your visit?” Hawk Warrior asked.
“It was great. I showed them my Batwoman costume.”
“How’d that go?”
“Actually it went well. My parents thought it was a good idea that I establish an identity all my own--well, I guess it’s not all my own. I explained that Batwoman is a clean break from me--none of Sonic Boom’s baggage, you know?”
“I do.” Hawk Warrior smiled. He started to enter the coordinates on the transporter and wondered how the Huntress was enjoying her time on this earth’s Gotham City. Just then both his and Batwoman’s Titans of Justice emergency communicators went off.
“That’s the priority alarm.” Batwoman said. Although she wasn’t officially on the team right now, she still carried her old communicator in case of an omega level emergency. Nucleus even programmed the devices to receive the alert on Earth 2, if something requiring her aid happened.
“Hawk Warrior and Batwoman here. What’s going on?” he said into the communicator.
“We’ve got a situation. I think it’s bad.” came Starman’s voice.
“We’re on our way.” Hawk Warrior replied.
At the Hall of Justice, Hawk Warrior and Batwoman joined Starman, Whirlpool, Supergirl, and Power Lad.
Batwoman’s eyes widened at all of the blood on the floor. “What happened?”
Supergirl explained, “Power Guy was here on monitor duty. I was the back up for tonight. I got an alert and found this.”
“It looks like a bomb went off in here.” Whirlpool added.
“If someone was able to do this to Power Guy, we’ll need all the heavy hitters.” Starman added.
“Everyone’s accounted for except Nightvision, Green Lantern, Sargona, Wonder Man, Jem, Flash, and Black Orchid.” Power Lad explained, more mature than usual. Whirlpool thought he might be a bit rattled not knowing what had happened to his mentor.
“Helena was with Nightvision.” Hawk Warrior said, become more concerned by the second.
“And the Flash was suspended at the last leader’s meeting.” Whirlpool replied.
Just then the monitor turned on.
“Well, well, well! Look at all of you! My how some of you have changed!” came a voice.
“That’s Celsius!” Batwoman gasped.
“Good eye, Di Di. I recognize you even in that tacky outfit Yellow and red? PUH-LEAZE!” he smirked.
“But you’re dead…” Starman said.
“I’ve been getting that a lot lately, but it’s me 100%. I can see how the team has went down the tubes since I left. Look at you! What a bunch of inadequate posers!”
“This isn’t Colin. It’s a trick. It has to be!” Supergirl said, confusion in her voice.
“It’s me. And look, I have some of our old friends here to prove it! I’m sure you’ve noticed some of your number is missing.”
The Titans all looked at the screen as they saw Nightvision, Huntress, Power Guy, Green Lantern, Wonder Man, and Jem all held captive in some sort of machine. Supergirl noticed Power Guy’s skin had a greenish hue and there were syringes stuck all over his body.
“Power Guy!” Power Lad cried out seeing how badly beaten the team leader was. “Colin you sick son of a b*tch! I will rip you limb from limb! How could you! We were your friends!!”
“WERE!” he laughed. “Were is the keyword here.”
For a moment everyone was silent.
Now that I have your attention, I want you to see another friend. He gestured towards a table. Black Orchid was strapped to it. Surgical devices had her eyes propped open. Straps crossed her arms, hands, neck, legs, and feet. Her lips were blue.
“What have you done to her!? You’re killing her!” Starman shouted.
“Not yet, but it’s on the agenda. I’m keeping her on ice for now. I have some friends for you to meet. Night Terror, Phantasma, come into camera please. I believe you all know these two already. From what I read in the papers, they have quite a bone to pick with the team, especially you Di Di.”
Batwoman recoiled at the sight of them. She recognized Night Terror as Kurt Light.
Night Terror said, “I see you Miss Queen. Might I add that your new costume accentuates your figure.” as he made a gesture with his tongue. Batwoman took a step back from the monitor.
“Don’t mind my brother Miss Queen. I assure you, I won’t let him hurt you….much.”
Both siblings laughed as they high-fived.
“Here’s the deal. You all have one half hour to surrender yourselves at my father’s lab. For every 30 minutes you don’t show, one of the Titans die. He walked over to Wonder Man. His arms were suspended above his head and his feet were also bound. Beside him was Jem.
“I always thought I could count on you. Thought you were my friend.” Celsius said, running his fingers through his hair.
Wonder Man spit in his face.
“Now, now. What would Wonder Woman say about that. Not exactly royal protocol.”
Celsius walked over and threw a switch sending electricity through Wonder Man’s body. He twitched and screamed as smoke poured off him.
Jem screamed as she struggled against her bonds, “SCOTTTT!!! NO LEAVE HIM ALONE!!!! TAKE ME!! DON’T HURT HIM!!!!”
She dropped her head and cried uncontrollably.
“I told you I meant business. Be here in 30 minutes or next I cut off Green Lantern’s hand to get his ring. Then his head comes off.” Celsius smirked. “I wrote the directions in Power Guy’s blood.”
“We’ll be there Colin. We’ll be there and we will make you pay for what you’ve done.” Starman said, fists clenched.
“Two things before I sign off. The Flash has joined me. Dad, show them!” Dr. Caulder maneuvered his wheel chair over to a monitor and showed video footage of Wilma West in the lab.
“Now, I leave you with this.” Celsius said, picking up a drill. “This all started with Black Orchid. I have to make sure she doesn’t go crazy again and go off on one of her…..outbreaks of high spiritedness.” The video feed stopped as he walked over and put the drill to Black Orchid’s temple.
The Titans were silent.
“I can’t believe this. He was one of us! One of the founding members!” Hawk Warrior said.
“Something happened to him, he’s not right. That might not even really be him.” Supergirl offered.
Batwoman had sat down. Her hands were shaking.
“Di Di, you ok?” Supergirl said, hugging her.
“His grandchildren….they…they are going to help him pick us off one by one….” she murmured.
“Di Di, look at me. We are going there and we are going to save our friends. Then, we are going to put our collective foot so far up Celsius’s @ss, he’ll wish he had stayed dead.” Starman said.
Batwoman stood up. She thought of Trickshot.
“You’re right Starman. First dibs on Light’s grandkids. Now, let’s go save our friends.”
TO BE CONTINUED