Titans West Chapter 1: Class of 2010 ( Part 2)

Written By: Darth Ennis
Art By: Darth_Ennis
Edited by: Power Guy
Co-Conspiritor: Whirlpool

The Atlantean Palace Gardens, Atlantis

Since he was a small child, the Royal Atlantean Sculpture Garden had always been one of Arin’s favorite places. In a time not so long ago, he and his baby sister Tula would swim among the statues and play hide and seek in the coral hedge maze. Of his two siblings Arin had always been closer in age and temperament to his sister, and as such, he was very protective of her. He was never as close to his brother Ceridian, but he loved and admired him just the same.



So it was only fitting that he be Tula’s escort to the newly renovated Metro Tower. He was so proud when he heard the news that she had accepted membership into the newly reformed Super Friends. More proud even than when he himself graduated from that very same group top be a full fledged member of Titans West. This was to be his first official mission on his own. He was more than happy to accept it. Considering the tension he had been experiencing with Hawkgirl, both he and Starman agreed that a short trip back home would do him a world of good.

But as usual, Tula was running late, and was not ready to leave yet. Still packing her belongings at the last minute he could not help but laugh to himself. “Tula will be Tula.” he thought to himself, but he didn’t mind in the least. It gave him a chance to catch up with old friends, and likewise gave him a chance to visit his beloved garden again. And that suited him just fine.

As he walked he began to reminisce, and he began to soak in the wonderful memories like a sponge. As he progressed a little further, he saw the familiar shape of a man standing in front of the giant statue of the god Poseidon in the center of the garden. Although he was not wearing the crown of Atlantis, as he often didn’t while walking amongst the Atlantean people, he recognized the man as his father Garth. Though not born of royal blood himself, Garth was adopted by the king, Arthur Curry and when Arthur stepped down as king, with but a word from Arthur, Garth was unanimously chosen by the ruling council to succeed him. And though it was a time of great prosperity and happiness in Atlantis, the king looked sullen and grim. The very spot he was standing in was not chosen by accident. For on that very spot was the last time that he or his father had seen his brother Ceridian.

Arin did not know what the argument was about, as he had walked up as the altercation had ended and Ceridian had stormed away. But what he did know was that the argument was so heated that his father had refused to speak of it even after all this time. His brother had since just disappeared and had since ceased with any and all contact. Though his father would never admit it, his constant visiting of that particular spot belied the churning guilt he felt. Arin silently approached his father, who had his back turned to him and seemed to pay him no mind.

“ Hello Arin.” said the king acknowledging that he knew he was there without turning around.

:”Hello Father.” Responded Arin slightly surprised, “ How did you know it was me?”

“ You move like a wounded whale. A deaf person could hear you approaching.” he said turning his head with a wry smile. There was certainly more salt than pepper in his close cropped hair, and he had a few laugh lines, but for the most part he still looked as he did 20 years ago. His bearing was more regal of course but the boyish good looks and charm were still there.

“ I’ve missed you son.” he said clapping a hand on Arin’s shoulder.,” I’m glad you found the time to sneak in a couple of minutes with your old man this time around.”

“ Sorry father.” Arin replied, feeling rather guilty about not visiting as often as he could. “ I’ve been busy….”

“ Saving the world.” Garth cut him off sarcastically. “ I know, I’ve done it myself on occasion.” They both shared a laugh. “ Walk with me son, talk with me. it’s been forever.”

As they walked the perimeters of the garden, they updated each other on the goings on of their particular worlds. They walked and talked not as king and prince, nor as two superheroes. But as father and son, and before they realized it, they had made a complete circuit around the garden and were now standing in front of the statue again. Taking a quick glance at his father he noticed that his smile had once again turned into a somber frown.

“ Is something wrong father?” Arin inquired.

“ I miss him Arin.” confided his father with a tear in his eye.

“ We all do father. But it was his decision to leave.” he said trying to console his father and king.

“ No it wasn’t son. It was my fault, I told him to leave. And it’s about time you learned the truth.” Said Garth, and in a very rare showing of true emotion, he began to cry. He quickly composed himself and continued.

“ Your brother is gay, Arin. That was what our argument was about. He came out to me, and I couldn’t accept it. It angered me and I banished him. When my son needed me the most I disowned him and turned my back on him. That is my guilt and my shame, and it’s the first time I have spoken about this to anyone.”

There was an awkward silence between them as Arin absorbed this new and disturbing revelation. He was both shocked and appalled by his fathers behavior, and to be honest was more then a little disappointed.

“Father.” he questioned softly,” How could you?”

“ Arin.” He chided sternly. “ I am embarrassed enough without you compounding it.

“ But I don’t understand…”

“ You don’t need to understand.” Garth went on,” What I need you to do is find him and bring him home.”

Arin looked his father in the eye confused.

“ Make no mistake my son, I still do not fully approve of your brothers lifestyle, perhaps in time I will. But I do finally accept it. My anger and arrogance blinded me to that before. I love my son enough to accept him for who he is. I know that now.”

Arin was so awestruck by the gravity of the news he had just heard and the request that followed, all he could do was stand there.

“ I will see what I can do.” he said, very unsure as to what he just agreed to.

“ You don’t seem to understand, that was not a request. As your father and your king I have given you an executive order, and I expect it to be heeded without question. He will listen to you Arin, please…you are my only hope.” They stood for a minute staring at each other in silence.

“ And Don’t look at me in that tone of voice young man.” Garth joked lightening the tension.

“ Alright father, I will do it. But you owe me.” came the blunt response.

“ Excellent. Your sister should be ready by now., lets go help them shall we.” he said as they began to walk toward the palace doors.

“ Them?” Arin asked,” Them who?” Surely Tula can’t be bringing that much stuff.”

Another wry smile came to the kings lips. Almost conspiratorial in tone, and he gave a slight snicker.

“ Well I see that Mr. Stone hasn’t told you yet.”

“ Told me what?!” sounding more than a little perturbed.

“ Oh you’ll find out.” said the king as he pushed the door open and motioned for Arin to enter first.“ After you.”

He shot his father a dirty look as he shuffled past him. Stepping inside he saw Tula and her huge green bodyguard the Lagoon Man chatting away with Arin’s grandparents, former Atlantean regents Arthur and Mera Curry. Sitting on the floor next to them was what seemed like an endless stream of matching blue luggage. They both looked in Arin’s direction and smiled broadly.It had been quite some time since they had seen each other and after hugging them both he asked, “ When did you get here?’

“ A few minutes ago,.” said the man known to the surface world as Aquaman. “ We just got back from Tritonis. As your fathers senior advisor, he keeps me pretty busy.”

“ Keeps US pretty busy.” Mera corrected.

“ Where is…” Arin began to ask and Mera cut him off.

“ He is at home, and doing fine.’ Mera assured,. She winked and continued “ He did tell us to mention that he said hello.”

He looked at them both, and though she had a few crows feet, she certainly didn’t look old enough to be a grandmother. For a woman who was at least in her 50’s she had the looks and spirit of a woman half her age. Though his blonde hair hid it well, the flecks of gray in it and his beard were starting to grow more prominent. So excited to see them he had nearly forgotten the previous conversations with his father. So happy was he that he didn’t even notice his stepmother walk in behind him with an unexpected guest.

“ Hello lover.” cooed a familiar voice from behind him. It was the unmistakable voice of Monica Perkins. Otherwise known as Blue Dolphin.



Arin turned around with a look of disgust mixed with pure anger. “ What is she doing here?” he spat through gritted teeth.

“She is your new teammate.” said his grandfather. “ And it was my idea. Mr. Stone has decided to take her on as a Super Friend as a favor to me.”

“But WHY?” Arin questioned clearly outraged.

“ Because she needs guidance. She is a spoiled little brat that needs to learn what life is like in the real world.” Said Mera sternly, looking back at Monica with a smirk. Monica stared back, her mouth agape in speechless outrage. “ Close your mouth dear, you are not a codfish. You didn’t think this would be easy did you.?”

“Well…I…never…” stuttered Monica clearly insulted.

“ And you never will dear.” quipped Mera, “ Now clam up child, adults are speaking.”

Monica grumbled something inaudible, and then quietly pouted, cutting evil eyes at Mera.

“ As embarrassed as I am to admit it, young Mr. Stone is quite the fan of mine. He was only too eager to agree to take Monica on”. Said the former king. “ She is to do as you command, and train as you see fit.”

“ And what if I don’t?” said Monica coldly.

“ Then you will be cut off and disowned by your mother and myself.” said a voice from behind her. AS everyone turned toward the direction of the voice they saw Neptune Perkins, Monica’s father approach from another part of the palace.

“ But DADDY!” Monica pleaded.

“ No buts Monica” replied her father, “ It’s time you grew up and learned some responsibility.”

“ That is so not fair!” She shouted on the verge of a tantrum.

“ No Monica, what was not fair is how you tarnished the family name, and nearly caused a war with Poseidonus after you kidnapped Arin and his friends.* Don’t think we forgot about that.”

( * see Super Freinds issues 6-8)

Don’t think that I’ve forgotten about that either.” Interjected Arin looking back at his grandfather. “ You and Scott are making a BIG mistake. The rest of the guys are going to be furious when I show up with this little blue pain in the @$$ in tow.”

“She will do fine Arin.” assured Neptune as he smirked. “ The fear of poverty will keep her in line.”

“Fine!” snapped Arin, “ Grab your $^%* and lets go!”

“ Fine then!” Monica snapped back . ”Grab my bags then and we will be on our way.”

Arin looked at her as if she were insane. “ What part of grab your $^%* did you not understand? Grab YOUR OWN bags ‘Princess’ I have to make a phone call. Grabbing his communicator off his belt he stormed out of the building.

Tula who had remained silent throughout the entire proceedings let out a small giggle of amusement as she saw the look on Monica’s face. “This is certainly going to be interesting..” she thought to herself.



***Meanwhile at the Metrotower infirmary

Three of the members of Titans West had gathered around the hospital bed of the unconscious young man known as Gigantus who had attacked them only hours ago. Many of he members presently in the building had come and gone, but Dr. Jason Hardwick, the man otherwise known as the tiny titan Nucleus had not left his bedside since he was brought in.



“ His vitals have stabilized.” said Hermes, resident speedster and surprisingly capable medic. “ I’ve done all I can. You will need to get an actual doctor to tell you for sure.”



“ Thank you Andros..” said Jason, “ I’ll take it from here.” Andros nodded and quietly exited the room. The Titan’s West deputy leader looked over at the team commander Starman, who was standing next to the infirmary door dressed in full battle costume. “ I guess an explanation is long overdue‘ He said sheepishly.



“ Now is as good of a time as any.” Responded the star clad hero.

“ Okay… Cliff’s notes version.” said Jason. “ I’ve been keeping an eye on the kid just to keep him out of trouble. He’s a good kid, he really is, he’s just…..easily influenced.”

“ Which means what exactly?’ questioned Starman.

“ In simplistic terms, he is what a JedI would call ‘weak minded’. He is a smart kid, but he is just extremely susceptible to mind control. I’ve been working on something to try to help him but I haven’t had much success. I owe it to his father Ryan. I promised him before he died that I would look out for his son if anything should happen to him. He knew the dangers of wearing the cape and tights, and he took the proper precautions just in case. Ryan was my roommate in college, I’m the kids Godfather for crissake. Hell, if it weren’t for Ryan I would never have met Ray Palmer in the first place. Ray and I were some of the only people that even knew about his relationship with the woman who would eventually become Giganta. He died shortly after Brianna was conceived.”

“ Brianna?” asked Starman confused.

“ Oh…sorry…I forget. Brianna is Bryans sister. You know her better as Gigantessa.

Starman nodded in acknowledgement.

“ It was shortly thereafter that Giganta hooked up with Gorillia Gordd again. She is susceptible to mind control too. It’s her genes that make the kids’ minds so weak. Unfortunately they get it from their mother. See Giganta is not really what you would call ‘evil’. By nature she is a very sweet and kind woman. Most of what he know her for is from Grodd’s influence. He has even got her believing that Brianna is his child. Which believe me, that doesn’t work on A LOT of levels.”

Starman twisted his face in disgust as he realized what Jason was implying.

“So I’ve been working with Bryan in secret for the last year. Keeping him hidden away from those that would use him as a weapon. We we’re actually making some real progress….until THIS!“ he spat out as he waved his hands in the air frustrated.

“ When he kept fading in and out earlier he kept babbling “ She is coming, she is coming.” do you think he meant dear old mom?” questioned Starman.

“ I’m afraid so. She is definitely capable. Last I heard Grodd had her convinced that she was a transformed gorilla,. And gorilla females are very protective of their young. If she doesn’t come to get him, someone else will. So we should stay on full alert for the time being.”

At that instant the intruder alarms started blaring again.

“AAARRRGGGHHH….DAMMIT!!! That’s the second time today! This is getting really &^%#$!(*& annoying!” yelled Starman over the blaring alarm.

“ We have another perimeter breech. Another big baddie has popped in just outside of the compound fence.” came the voice of Airwave over the comlink. “ This time it’s female…I think.”



Let me guess Giganta?” asked Starman.

“ No, this one is much too young to be Giganta, I think this one is the daughter.”

“Great! Tell everyone to assume battle positions out front. Same scenario as last time.” commanded Starman “ AND TURN OFF THAT DAMNED ALARM!!”

“ Will do sir…Airwave out.”

The siren stopped and the young man on the hospital bed began to stir.

“ You stay here with him, and keep an eye on him. If he wake sup aggressive, knock him out.” Starman commanded, “ You are our reinforcements. We’ll call if we need you.”

“ Got it Boss.” Jason said with a mocking salute.

“ And don’t call me that” yelled Starman as he ran out of the room.

The gathering outside looked slightly more professional than last time, as everyone was in full battle regalia. Save for Hawkgirl who was still wearing her ‘Hello Kitty' t-shirt, but has opted to put on pants and boots this time.

“ Alright folks, “ said Starman” This is for real.

As the giant girl’s red ponytail and leopard print dress came into view he yelled “ Titan’s Together!”



To Be Continued…