Titans of Justice East Chapter 16 - “A Hard Pill To Swallow”
Written & Edited By: Power Guy

Roll Call: Argos, Black Vulcan, Blue Lantern, Dark Arrow, Elongated Lad, Flash, Hawk Warrior, Huntress, Infierna Verde, Knightvision, Ms. Mars, Olympia, Power Guy, Powerstorm, Sargona, & Sonic Boom


The Hall of Justice...

Power Guy descended to the ground, mentally preparing for the team’s first meeting after their recent battle with the Justice Society thanks to the Psycho Pirate<look for this story to appear in an upcoming TOJ special>. “The Pirate really put the team through the wringer by forcing us to first battle each other and then our friends in the Justice Society. I’m curious to see how everyone is recovering.” he thought to himself as he opened the entry door to the great hall of heroes. The millisecond the door was opened, his super-hearing picked up a large amount of chattering and bickering coming from the meeting room. Faster than a speeding bullet, he raced to the room to see what was going on. Upon entry to the room, he counted sixteen people standing in the room yet the Titans of Justice East’s membership was currently limited to sixteen members. He then noticed who the extra body in the room belonged to, “Ice Warrior, what are you doing here and why are you wearing that uniform?” he asked point blank noticing his former teammate was wearing a Green Lantern outfit.

“I told you that you’d be in trouble as soon as he got here,” Sargona said smugly to the son of Ice and Guy Gardner.





“I’d suggest you leave now before he uses his pinky finger to knock you into the Indian Ocean,” advised Dark Arrow as he gave the new Green Lantern a dirty look.





“Well, Mr. Power Guy,” the new Green Lantern said cockily, 
“Being as I’m the new Green Lantern of this sector, I’ve come to take my rightful place among the Titans of Justice so if you’ll just give me my signal device and show me to my room, I’ll get off your back.....for today.”

“You were released from this team for damaging one of our Javelyns in case you’ve forgotten, Joseph,” reminded Power Guy. “Besides, the Titans East is limited to sixteen members and we currently don’t have any open slots.”

“I’m not here take an open slot. I already have my own,” countered the man otherwise known as Joseph “Jo Jo” Gardner.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to pull Gardner....” began Knightvision. “but if you don’t leave now I’ll lay you out in one punch like Batman did to your father!”






“I’m not trying to pull anything Knight-ryder,” interrupted the man who’s first name was given to him in honor of his father’s childhood hero, General Glory as the Huntress and Elongated Lad restrained Knightvision. “This current roster sheet from the United Nations shows that Green Lantern is a current and active member of Titans East. I’m the new Green Lantern of this space sector which means that spot belongs to ME!”

Daniel Jordan had remained quiet until now, trying to prevent any type of altercation but felt he had to speak up. “I guess when I was fired from the Green Corps, nobody at the U.N. noticed that I now have a blue ring and serve a completely different corps. Jo Jo, surely you understand this is a mix-up.”





The new Green Lantern got in the old one’s face, “Look, Danny boy. See this?” He said sticking his ring-bearing hand in Daniel’s face, “I wear this ring now. You got the boot. I’m Green Lantern and I want my rightful spot on this team. Face it, the Guardians don’t have any use for you any more and now your Titans friends won’t either!”

Suddenly someone jerked the son of Guy Gardner around by his right shoulder and....


POW!!!!!!!!


Before he knew what hit him, Jo Jo Gardner was laying on his back staring at the ceiling courtesy of Dark Arrow’s right hook.

“Look, you slimy son of a $&@_%! Don’t you DARE talk to Daniel that way ever again or so help me...”

“Arrow! Enough!” directed Power Guy as he grabbed the archer and held him still. “As for you, Gardner, I don’t care what you’re calling yourself now. When you’re inside these walls, you’ll show everyone the respect they deserve or I’ll personally throw you out!”

“HA HA!” Sargona said, cattily. “Better pack your things an go before he puts you over his knee...”

“And just to make sure you keep your cool until you DO leave,” Olympia said as she threw her blue magic lasso around the new Green Lantern and pulled it tight.







“I’ll have him out of here in snap,” advised the Flash as she readied to carry the Global Guardian out.





“Wait a minute,” cautioned Knightvision as he presented some papers in this room. “According to our by-laws, he has every right to be here, regardless of the fact that none of us want him here.”

“What? That’s ridiculous,” snapped Sonic Boom. “Just because he has Daniel’s ring doesn’t mean he also gets to steal his membership card.”





“Look, birdy,” grumbled the son of Ice and Guy Gardner, “I didn’t steal nothin’! I was given this ring by the Guardians of The Universe. Not even you guys have a higher say than they do.”

“Knightvision, can you remind us all of what our bylaws say regarding this matter?” requested Power Guy.

“It states that a member of our team is the current Green Lantern of sector 2814 and that in the even that the Guardians are forced to choose a new Green Lantern, that spot on our team belongs to him/her,” explained Knightvision.

“But we put that in there thinking Starman would be the replacement if Daniel ever fell in battle,” recalled Black Vulcan.





“I don’t care what our bylaws state,” growled Argos. “This man is not fit to serve amongst us. Allow me to throw him out and I assure you he will never come back!”





Sturmer then made his way up to the new Green Lantern and began to growl viscously at him.





“Argos, Sturmer, calm down,” ordered Power Guy. “We’ll handle this diplomatically.”

“Knightvision, Olympia, as co-leaders of the East team, we’ll need to discuss this matter privately,” advised Power Guy. The Kryptonian powerhouse then turned to Blue Lantern, “Dan, due to the nature of this matter, I’m sure you understand why we’ll need to exclude you from this discussion even though you are a leader?”

“Of course,” answered Daniel Jordan with a small amount of disappointment in his voice.

“What’s there to discuss??? This guy is nothing short of a total loser” yelled out Dark Arrow, referring to the new Green Lantern, as three of the senior leaders of the team began to exit the room for their private meeting chambers.

“Arrow, don’t make this any harder than this already is,” Power Guy responded, sternly.

A few minutes later while the senior leaders were discussing the matter at hand, the rest of the membership were making small talk while waiting in the main meeting room. The former Ice Warrior was keeping to himself in light of the less than welcome response he had received from the team.

“Poor Dan,” Black Vulcan whispered to her best friend Sargona. “First he loses his green ring and now he might lose his spot on the team.”

“That idiot isn’t fit to join the Inferior Five much less the Titans of Justice,” spat Sargona looking coldly at the new Green Lantern. “Don’t mistake me on this. I might be over Dan but i will make that loser completely miserable if he gets to take Dan’s spot.”

“I don’t think you’re the only one,” pointed out Black Vulcan as her eyes veered slightly in the direction of Dark Arrow and Sonic Boom. “The Queen twins are looking at Ice Warrior like a bunch of pilgrims staring at a turkey on the day before Thanksgiving and by the look on Argos’ face, I’d say he’s one second away from crushing Jo Jo into a ball and throwing him into the sun.”

Powerstorm stood by himself so that he could converse with his father with whom he maintained telepathic contact. “Dad, was there ever such a ruckus like this when you were on the JLA?”





“Oh yeah! You should have seen when Aquaman disbanded the team when he reformed it as Justice League Detroit!” revealed Ronnie Raymond to his son, Scotty. “I think that was the one time Green Arrow and Hawkman actually agreed on something. They both wanted to kill the King of The Sea!”

A few yards away, another discussion was taking place.

“Boy, Willma, I never thought we’d see Ice Warrior inside the Hall again after they gave him the boot year and a half ago,” admitted the Elongated Lad to his best friend.





“I think most of us were shocked that he even showed up when Waller sent out that priority alert a few weeks ago. Don’t tell me you forgot about that” reminded the current Flash.

“Oh yeah, he was here then too,” remembered the son of Ralph and Sue Dibny. “I almost forgot about that little spat he had with Starman.”

As the Huntress continued her monitor duty shift, she thought to herself, “Gardner is nothing but trouble. The same way his father was to the JLI. The sad part is, Vince, Brendon, and Donna may determine that we’re stuck with him.”





Infierna Verde approached Blue Lantern with concern in her eyes, “Daniel, mi compadre, I can only imagine what you’re feeling right now. First, Ice Warrior takes your position as Green Lantern and now he’s vying for your spot on this team. Es muy horrible! Is there anything I can do, senior?”





“Thank you but no thank you, Jocelyn,” replied the blue garbed hero of hope. “The Lord will decide what’s best here for me. I have to trust in him.” Daniel then thought to himself, "Maybe this is for the best after all. With Jo Jo pre-occupied with all of the trouble that the Titans are going to give him, he won't notice when I investigate the GL Corps. I need to get going on my mission that Ganthet assigned me. Maybe this is my chance...I also could use some time away from Di Di to figure out whether or not I can live without her."

Like a gunshot going off, the three senior leaders of the team entered the room, capturing everyone’s attention.

“At last!” shouted Sonic Boom. “I hope you didn’t unpack your things, Gardner.”

“And if you did, my sister and I will be happy to help you repack,” offered Dark Arrow, continuing to give the new Green Lantern a dirty look.

“There will be no need for that,” advised Argos, “Sturmer here will gladly devour them.”

“EVERYONE! QUIET DOWN!” ordered Power Guy. The younger brother of Power Girl wasn’t known for shouting very often so when he did, everyone took it seriously and did what he asked. “I’m sorry we took so long but the three of us needed to carefully evaluate this situation to make sure we did what was right and what was fair for all parties involved.”

Ms. Mars was doing her best not to read the senior leaders’ minds and the suspense was nearly killing her. “Moons of Mars, how did dad ever keep his promise to not read his teammates’s minds at times like this?”





“Come on Vince.......just tell this low-life that he needs to exit asap and not to let the door smack him on his @$$ on the way out,” Hawk Warrior thought to himself.





Power Guy then finished presenting the decision of the trinity of senior leaders, “There’s no easy way to say this but the new Green Lantern will be taking Daniel’s spot on our team for the foreseeable future.”

The crowd of heroes began screaming and shouting in a massive uproar.

“You’ve GOT to be kidding!” exclaimed Sargona.

“What’s next? We let Lance Luthor on the team?” barked Dark Arrow.

“Argos does not fight alongside filth such as this man!” vowed the son of Orion as he pointed at the man otherwise known as Jo Jo Gardner.

Power Guy glanced down in shame briefly. This decision was eating him alive. Not only was Daniel a loyal, respectable, committed member of the team, he was one of the modern age Man of Steel’s closest friends.

“Everyone, please settle down,” requested Olympia in a stern tone. “We had to take several factors into consideration here. The first one being, we screwed up when we forgot to change Daniel’s code-name to Blue Lantern on our official membership roster that we sent to the United Nations. As you all know, they are funding us now and they have a certain amount of say in our operations. Mr. Gardner here comes from Norway. He, like his mother Ice was, is a national hero of that country. Initially, we told the United Nations there would be no change in our membership in spite of not updating our roster list with Daniel’s new code name but Norway raised a huge stink about it stating how our membership said ‘Green” Lantern and that we were showing prejudice towards Jo Jo because he’s a Norwegian hero instead of an American hero. If we don’t let Jo Jo on the team, we’ll most likely cause an international upheaval and we certainly don’t want that.”

Knightvision then looked at the son of Ice and Guy Gardner, “Keep in mind Gardner that you’re not welcome here. You’re only here due to a technicality and nothing more. You’d better be on your best behavior as I will personally be watching you like a hawk and the first screw up you make will mean your exit.”

“YES!!!! I’m in!!!!” the new Green Lantern cried out as he smiled ear to ear. “Guess that means you better pack up your Bible and go Danny boy!”

“Power Guy,” called out Sonic Boom. “Does this really mean Dan has to go?” Di Di Queen still had deep feelings for Daniel Jordan and she knew how much this must be tearing him up.

With a breath of hesitation, Power Guy answered, “I’m afraid it does. As you all know, our membership is currently limited to sixteen members and our reserve spots are all currently filled. Daniel, I PROMISE you that the next open spot on this team will be yours.”

“And it will be Ice Warrior’s spot before he knows it,” stated Hawk Warrior with a tremendous amount of confidence.

Daniel just remained quiet and humble for a moment and then began saying his goodbyes.

“Wait a minute!” shouted out Dark Arrow. “If Danny can’t be on this team, neither can Sonic Boom and I! Come on, Danny, let’s go be hard traveling heroes!”

Blue Lantern pulled Dark Arrow aside for a moment, “Robert, don’t do this on my account.”

“Danny, you’re my best friend. I know I haven’t always acted like it but you are and I’m standing by you through this one.”

“You can stand by me and still stay on the team,” pointed out the son of Hal and Carol Jordan. “Besides, you’re not going to let Knightvision be the first one to catch Jo Jo screwing up, ARE you?”

Dark Arrow remained silent for a moment as he glanced back and forth between the new Green Lantern and Knightvision. He thought about what his best friend had said and responded, “Heck no, Power Guy - scrap what I just said. Sonic Boom and I will be staying on.”

“Hmph.....I knew it was too good to be true,” mumbled Sargona disappointed her former rival was staying put.

“I just have to make one other thing clear before this meeting is adjourned,” added Power Guy. “Jo Jo, with your un-familiarness of this team, we cannot bestow you with Daniel’s leadership title. Knightvision, Olympia, and myself will make due until a proper replacement is found.”

As the meeting let out, the various heroes said their goodbyes to Daniel Jordan while the new Green Lantern made plans for his future.

“So which one of you lovely ladies wants to help me get settled in my room?” teased the man otherwise known as Jo Jo Gardner. “How about you Jocelyn? Now we’ll be working on two teams together......double the fun.” he said seductively.

“Double the headache is more like it, pindejo,” countered Infierna Verde. “You should have been thrown out of the Global Guardians a long time ago. Your mother would be so ashamed of you if she saw you right now. She is my mother’s best friend and if it wouldn’t break her heart, i would tell her what sick, low-life, sleezy, rodent you really are!” She then lit up her flames and took off.

“How about you Flash? You know, the old Green Lantern and Flash were real close in the Justice League....” reminded the new guardian of sector 2814.

The Flash just rolled her eyes and raced away.

Elongated Lad then turned towards his new teammate and said, “Not even the fastest woman alive has time for you chump. Why not give it a rest?”

Within minutes, the new Green Lantern was all alone in the Hall of Justice, having been given his first monitor duty shift. “They can act all stuck up if they want but in a matter of no time, they’ll be looking to me for direction. I’ll be calling the shots around here. Get used to it you saps, the new Green Lantern is here to stay!”


The End(for now...)