Titans of Justice Unlimited Chapter 107 - “Fall From Grace Part 1”
Written & edited by: Power Guy


The Headquarters of the Department of Metahuman Affairs…

Star reporter Julie Ryder was in the midst of an interview with Amanda Waller. Julia was excited as this would be an exclusive for the Gotham Globe and would most likely ensure her that raise she was so desperately craving in order to buy that new bubble-gum pink corvette she had her eye on.

“Earlier today, Mrs. Waller, you issued an order from the President banning the Titans of Justice from all activity. What made the president come to such a drastic decision?”





“Drastic?” repeated Waller, voice raised a bit. “This is long, long overdue in my opinion. These young men and women have brought havoc and destruction with them since early on in their career. First there was the incident at S.T.A.R. Labs where the facility was blown sky-high. Then the Black Orchid killings………and for the record, I still don’t believe she was completely innocent. Add to that, the recent mishaps of the new Flash, the fire at Ivy Town University, and lastly, the complete and utter destruction of the White House!”





“Mrs. Waller, if I I may point out, all of those incidents were initiated by super-villains,” Julia said, trying to offer a different point of view on the subject at hand.

“That’s what they want you to believe!” scolded Waller. “It’s always a super-vilain’s fault when things go wrong for the Titans though it’s funny lately that the villain have been doing more good than the Titans!”

“I assume you’re referring to Lance Luthor’s Legion of Hope?”

“Yes, I am,” confirmed the leader of the Suicide Squad. “In the past month, Luthor’s Legion has saved the day on several occasions, many of which that the Titans were the catalysts of!”

“Don’t you think that statement is a bit unfair Mrs. Waller?” challenged the woman also known as Miss Creeper.

“Unfair??? One of their own just blew up the White House!!!!” bellowed Waller. “Do you read the news or just report the few stories your assigned to?!?!?!?!”

Julia grew quiet for a few seconds. Never in her career had she had to interview someone as pig-headed and difficult as Amanda Waller and she was doing everything in her power to keep her cool. After a slight paused she asked, “So what do you intend to do about the Titans from here?”

“Well, I can’t say too much right now but if I have my way, the Titans will no longer be a threat to this country or this planet!”

As the interview continued, the president and vice president of the United States were flying aboard Air Force One, both being taken to separate locations for their security. As the two senior government officials watched Amanda Waller’s interview they also discussed the hot topic at hand: The Titans of Justice.

“I just can’t believe all of this is happening,” President Obama said, shaking his head back and forth. “For months, Mrs. Waller has been pressuring me to come down harder on the Titans of Justice and until now, I’ve given them the benefit of the doubt.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Barack,” offered Vice President Biden. “You’ve just been sticking to the old “innocent until proven guilty” stance which our country’s court-system is based upon.”

“Still, after the destruction of the White House, I feel like I should have acted sooner,” Obama said, doubting himself a bit.”

“Well, the Titans claim some alien dictator is responsible for their member’s action of blowing up the White House…” advised the Vice President.

“Yet when we asked them to hand her over to us, they said she was taken back to her home world for trial,” pointed out a very suspicious Obama. “If this Despara was truly responsible for what happened, then the Titans should have handed her over to us immediately.”

***

The home of Donna and Kyle Rayner, New York City…

RING! RING! RING!

Donna Troy had been in the bathroom fixing her hair when the phone began ringing. Using the speed of Hermes, she dashed for the phone answering right before it went to voice-mail, “Lilith! How’s it going?” she asked, having looked at the caller I.D.





“Donna! I’m so glad that I was able to reach you,” the red-headed profit said with a small sigh of relief.





“Uh oh………you don’t sound good. What’s going on?” asked the former Wonder Girl, extremely concerned.

“About thirty minutes ago, I had another one of my visions,” began Lilith, “It was another one about your nephew, Scott.”

“What did you see,” asked the Olympian-powered heroine as her heart began to beat a little bit faster.

“I think you will have trouble believing this one, I know I do…” admitted the wife of rapper, Italian Ice. Lilith hesitated a bit before finishing her story. “In my vision, I saw the United Nations declare war on the Titans of Justice.”

“Wha…..what???” asked Donna Troy-Rayner in disbelief. “Why? That makes no sense!”

“That’s just it……I don’t know. My vision was very brief……but I fear that this time, I will be one hundred percent accurate unlike my vision about Scott’s wedding.”

“Let’s not panic just yet,” Donna said, not quite knowing what to think about the information her longtime teammate had just shared. “Scott and his friends are good people. I highly doubt there’s anything they could do to get the entire world to classify them as public enemies….”

***

The Justice League satellite….

Over the years, many people had traveled to and from Earth as they either entered or exited the planet’s atmosphere, the Justice League satellite was a beacon of hope to many passerby’s but today, the decades-old satellite was not filled with hope but disappointment.

The Trinity had called their old teammates together to discuss the recent actions of their children, the Titans of Justice.

“I’m sorry to have called you all here,” apologized Superman, “but the fate of our children is at stake. As you know, the public is growing more and more apprehensive about the Titans in recent weeks.”





“That can be attributed to Waller’s propaganda,” interjected Batman, firmly. “She’s had an axe to grind with us for decades and now, with her new lease on life, she’s going to use our children to get to us.”





“I’m not so sure we can blame all of this on Waller,” countered the Flash. “I love my niece with all of my heart but thanks to her irrational, head-strong behavior recently, she’s certainly shares part of the blame.”





“Barry, I’m shocked to hear you saying this,” frowned Wonder Woman. “From what I heard, she risked her very life recently to save the new Starman’s.”





“Diana, no-one is more happy than myself to see her carrying on the Flash legacy but at the same time, she has to take responsibility for her mistakes as well as her accomplishments, that’s all. She’s heading in the right direction but it’s too soon for the public to forgive and forget.”

“I think maybe we all need to accept our responsibility in this too,” added Green Lantern. “Most of us did nothing to train or mold our children into the heroes they are today. Many of them became heroes by chance and were forced to hit the ground running, so to speak.”





“What better way is there to become a hero?” pointed out Hawkman. “Very few of us had any training or mentors around to show us ‘the way’.”





“Still, shouldn’t we have tried to provide a better experience for our kids?” countered Green Arrow. Still to this day, he and Hawkman were at odds over just about everything. “I think we thought we’d never see this day come to pass. After we cleaned up the Legion of Doom for good, the villain community was extremely quiet for several years. I never thought I’d ever have to see my children follow-up my legacy.”





“Look, Ollie….Dinah….” Hawkman said, pointing at Green Arrow and Black Canary, “I know you two are still feeling bad over Di Di killing Dr. Light but she never would have had to do that if you would have let me kill him years ago. He got off easy when Zatanna mind-wiped him.”

Zatanna just sat at the table quietly, taken aback by Hawkman’s remark. She too was wracked with guilt after having hid her relationship from her own daughter, Sargona for years. The two had still not spoken since the secret came out and it was eating away at her.





“Is that you solution to everything, Carter? Just kill it???” challenged Green Arrow.’

“No, but it may have prevented this mess that our children are in,” Hawkman said, standing up. “Let’s face it, while things started with the Black Orchid massacre, everything was quite for some time until your daughter snapped Dr. Light’s neck!”

“That’s it, Big Bird! You’re going down!“ Green Arrow said enraged, jumping up and punching Hawkman in the face, knocking him over.

“OLLIE!!!!!!!” screamed Black Canary as she got up and tried to hold her husband back.





Hawkman picked himself up with record speed and lunged for Green Arrow, knocking him out of Black Canary’s hold and forcing him to the ground. The two long-time adversaries were wrestling around on the ground, determined to knock the other‘s lights out.

“Great Hera! They’re at it again!” fumed Wonder Woman, obviously annoyed.

“Not for long…” declared Hawkwoman. “Carter! Stop it!” ordered Shayera Hall as she grabbed her husband by his harness and pulled him off of the battling bowman.





Black Canary quickly joined in the fray and put her own husband in a headlock. “Cool it Ollie….think of the kids.”

“I AM!” snapped the man otherwise known as Oliver Queen.”

In the blink of an eye, Superman was suddenly between the two combatants. “What the hell is wrong with you two? I called everyone here to try and help our children and the two of you can’t even keep the peace long enough to figure out a solution.”

Both Green Arrow and Hawkman remained quiet while Superman lectured them with Hawkman angry over not being able to return the favor of Green Arrow’s punch.

“Now both of you sit down and keep your hands to yourselves or you’ll be asked to leave,” the man of steel said, serious as a heart-attack.

Green Arrow looked to his wife for some support but all she could do was shake her head back and forth in disgust. Hawkwoman gave her husband a similar look of disappointment as he sat down next to her.

“Back to the topic at hand,” began the Martian Manhunter. “Perhaps there is some other force at work here. After all, the these troublesome events for the Titans of Justice seem to be almost overlapping each other.”





“Zatanna…………you’ve been quiet this whole time,” Aquaman said, turning the team’s attention to the daughter of Zatara. “Do you sense any mystical force at work surrounding the Titans?”





“No, I don’t,” answered Zatanna. “I was thinking the same thing as J’onn a few days ago and did a mystical probe and found nothing…”

“If there is a force at work, that doesn’t mean it has to be mystical just because we haven’t seen it yet,” pointed out the Batman. “Mental control, blackmail, and extortion could easily accomplish the task….”

“Well, we’d better get to the bottom of this before there’s no going back for the Titans of Justice…” advised the Martian Manhunter in a grim tone.

***

Back aboard Air Force One….

“Yes, I’ll agree that the Titans should have handed this Despara over to us,” stated the Vice President. “It does seem like they sidestepped us in this matter completely if and I stress IF they are telling the truth.”

“Well, we’re going to get to the bottom of this,” reassured President Obama. “They are now at the very least, indirectly responsible for one of the greatest tragedies in American history. We can’t let them walk away from this without a complete investigation.”

Just then, an FBI agent burst into the President’s quarters, “Sir! We may have some trouble on our hands! I suggest you put your seatbelts on immediately!”

“What seems to be the problem, Agent Kidd?” asked the nation’s first minority president.

“The jet’s radar has detected several….” he began until the entire jet was brought to an abrupt stop, causing the plane to shake.

“Dear Lord!” exclaimed Vice President Biden. “What’s happening?!?!?!?!”

The President and several FBI agents looked out the window and saw the shock of their lives. The jet was trapped within a giant glowing green hand. Surrounding the ship in mid-air were several members of the Titans of Justice along with the Bat-jet and Invisible Jet.

Just then, Power Guy’s voice came through the jet’s radio system, “President Obama, we of the Titans of Justice have had it up to here with your restrictions and biased decisions towards us. We’ve save this world countless of times and now you have us on lockdown like a bunch of mad dogs. No more will we turn the other cheek and put up with this blatant disrespect and outright prejudice towards us. You and your staff are obviously not in a position to make the best decisions regarding us or the future of this country.”

Suddenly, the giant green hand dissipated as Power Guy continued speaking. “Therefore, we are relieving you of your duties - EFFECTVE IMMEDIATELY!” declared Power Guy as his eyes lit up from his heat-vision…….


TO BE CONTINUED