Titans of Justice / Darkest Hour #7 - “Rage’s Revenge/Blood Orchid”
Written by: Power Guy, Scotty2Hotty, & Stellar
Creative consulting provided by: Darth_Ennis & GreenLantern
Art by: Darth_Ennis
Maxi-Mircos by: Power Guy
Edited by: Power Guy


Outside the Hall of Justice...

Power Guy, Knightvision, Bat-Girl, Olympia, and the Wonder Twins had assembled behind some trees in the back of the vast structure.

“Is everyone clear on the plan?” asked Knightvision.





“Yeah but are you sure the six of us are going to be enough?” questioned Zan. “There’s a whole lot of Black Lanterns in there,” he pointed out, a bit nervous.





“These are all of the members we can spare right now, Zan,” Power Guy said, answering for Knightvision. “Everyone else is tied up with the rest of the Black Lanterns popping up around the world. That’s why we sent Power Lad and Wonder Girl on another mission. We’re quite short-handed in comparison with everything that’s going on.”

Then, out of nowhere, came a voice, “It sounds like you guys could use a hand.”

The six members of the Titans of Justice turned to see a blonde-haired man in his early twenties dressed in orange and green carrying the Trident of Poseidon.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” Knightvision asked, instantly becoming suspicious.

“I’m Aquaman’s son. I call myself Storm Surge. I want to be a superhero and from what my cousin Whirlpool told me, this is the place to start.”


“I think he’s telling the truth,” presumed Olympia, “That’s definitely Aquaman’s trident but why haven’t we heard of you before this???”





“My family kept my existence a secret in light of what Black Manta did to my brother. They didn’t want the same thing to happen to me, however, I’m an adult now and I can take care of myself...which I’ll be happy to prove to you if you let me join you in your mission?”

“With the current situation at hand, I’m not about to turn down help from anyone,” replied Power Guy.

“Let’s do this then,” declared Olympia, leading the group forward. “Titans Triumphant!”

“Just like old time, eh?” Bat-Girl said, looking at Olympia out of the corner of her eye.





***

The secret lair of Dr. Arthur Light, Star City...

“Y...y......you!!!” gasped Black Lantern Dr. Light as he pulled his pants up without hesitation. “Last time I saw you, you were broken! Humiliated! Completely devastated!"





“That was how you left me you sorry son of a %)^(#!” spat Red Lantern Trickshot as she began firing off her ring at the man who raped her.





While Dr. Light struggled to dodge the crimson beams coming at him, Trickshot used her ring to free the captive Titans from their restraints.

Illumina immediately powered up and materialized her light-sword, slashing Dr. Light across his chest.





“Acckkkkkk......” groaned the devious doctor. He soon counterattacked her with a blast of his dark-light, sending her flying backwards.

The action didn’t stop however as Dark Arrow called out to his would-be rapist. “Yo, Arthur! Thought you were going to punk me, huh?”





Dr. Light turned and looked at the young archer with disgust on his face which quickly turned to fear as he noticed two emerald arrows flying at him. Each of the arrows slammed into his eye-sockets, blinding the Black Lantern.

Dr. Light was shrieking in pain as he tried to pull the arrows from his eyes.

“Looks like you have something in your eye, you sick freak but no matter, I’m sure your hearing works just fine,” teased Sonic Boom as she let loose with her Canary Cry, “SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”





The sonic attack hit Dr. Light like a truck, shoving him through the wall behind him and knocking him near senseless.

“You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting to do that,” hissed Sonic Boom with contempt filling her mind.

A few minutes later as Dr. Light began to squirm around a bit he started screaming and shouting, “Trickshot, you mangy b_tch! You’ve ruined EVERYTHING!!!”

“Not yet.....but I’m about to” countered Trickshot as she formed a chainsaw with her red power-ring and wasted no time in bringing it down on Dr. Light’s groin area. The motor in it roared as it severed Dr. Light’s male anatomy from his body.

“ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” howled the long time foe of the Justice League as he clutched his groin area tightly.

“And now that you’ve lost everything that’s important to you, it’s time to send you back to hell where you belong,” stated Trickshot firmly as bloody froth came from her mouth while she used her chainsaw to behead the man who had put her through so much torment. “DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” she screamed with an intensity that even gave Sonic Boom reason to pause.

As the essence of Dr. Light faded from this plane of existance, the three members of the Titans of Justice present all remained speechless for a few moments but then Sonic Boom broke the silence. “Lian - you’ve come back to us!”

“Way to go, Harper!” cheered on Dark Arrow. “It’s good to see you up and around again.”

Sonic Boom and Dark Arrow proceeded to hug Trickshot further expressing their joy with her seeming recovery.

“Finally that bastard got what he deserved...” whispered Trickshot as her rage began to subside. Suddenly, her body began to shake and jerk. Like all members of the Red Lantern Corps, with her anger having died out, so was her heart.

“Lian! What’s wrong?” asked a panic Sonic Boom.

“I think she’s having a heart-attack Di Di!” exclaimed Dark Arrow.

“Stand back! I know C.P.R.” advised Illumina as she tried to stabelize the girl who had just saved her life but after trying for several minutes, it was no use. Trickshot’s heart gave out and she passed away.

Sonic Boom began sobbing profusely, “Th.....this isn’t fair. She just came back to us....”

Dark Arrow held his sister tight as a few tears dripped from his eyes as well.

“I am sorry for your loss, Queen twins. I will give you a few minutes alone,” offered Illumina as she exited the building.

As the daughter of the second Dr. Light made her way outside, she thought to herself, “What a horrible way to go. Lian deserved to live a long, prosperous life.”

Just then, a voice called out to her. “Imako, your assistance is greatly needed!”

“You!!!” shouted a startled Illumina. “But I thought you were....”

Before she could finish her sentence, the person interrupted her with, “There’s no time for that now. Come - we must go!”

With that, Illumina and her recruiter took to the sky and disappeared into the night.

***

Fawcett City Morgue...

The now undead Teen Marvel had kidnapped Sherry, Girl of Two Thousand Gimmicks to use her as a bait to bring Stellar out of hiding.

"Charles, remember who you are. We were members of Team Steller. Without your might, our battle against the new Sabbac would have been our last one. Doesn’t it mean anything to you?" Sherry tried in vain to reason with her boyfriend's cousin.





"I have no soul, bimbo! You can't convince me to care with your goody goody talk! I'm here just to spread death and desolation. Blondie, fear the power of death itself." Teen Marvel uttered, while using his ring to attack Sherry moving his own tombstone. Sherry was pummeled with great force, landing in an open tomb.





"Once maggots devour every shard of your youthful flesh, you will join me, whether you like it or not." Teen Marvel stared at his captive. He was content watching Sherry be devoured, until he noticed a pyramid-like flying structure incoming.

"Surrender Teen Marvel!!!" Ibis approached the undead former hero. He used his Ibis-Stick to free Sherry from her imprisonment.





"Thanks, Ibis." Sherry said to Ibis for his timely intervention. "Now, be ready for an unhealthy dose of F-5 fury". Sherry attacked Teen Marvel with her tornado-in-a-hairspray-can. Teen Marvel redirected the tornado against Sherry, but Ibis was ready to dissipate the tornado into nothing to protect Sherry.

In no time, Ibis shot some eldritch beams from his Ibis-Stick. However, Teen Marvel summoned a force field from his ring to deflect Ibis' beams. But the beams never hit Ibis, because Diamond Jack summoned a shield thanks to his own ring.

"Well, it's ring against ring now. It's like an old west showdown. I'm the good guy and you are the bad guy. And bad guys always lose." Diamond Jack shouted defiant, encasing Teen Marvel in a black cage. However, Teen Marvel took advantage from Diamond Jack's overconfidence to make the cage rust with his ring.





"I'm not afraid of all of you. No matter how fierce your attacks are. Remember that I have the courage of Achilles, fools." Teen Marvel said in an eerie voice, standing triumphant against his adversaries.

"I have the courage of Mehen. It's an egyptian deity. But it doesn't matter, meanwhile I can use my courage to protect my loved ones." Black Adam appeared seemingly from the shadows. He used his mammoth strength to tear Teen Marvel’s left arm off. But in less than a second, Teen Marvel was able to regenerate himself.





"No matter how many times you regenerate. I won't let you live to rot my precious world in decay and filth." Isis said in a commanding voice, mentally controlling a tree like a giant baseball bat. The tree swung it’s largest branch into the son of Mary Marvel and tossed him into stratosphere, where he was hit by a missile which came seemingly from nowhere.





"I'm glad that I recently installed a stealth mode into my Gyro-Sub console." Spy Smasher said proudly. "Now Bulletboy, it's your turn." Bulletboy instantly shot a shower of bullets against Teen Marvel, but the wily zombie transformed them into acid rain drops, which instantly corroded Bulletboy's Gravity Regulator Helmet.





"How ironic. I'm using your own bullets, the ones you used to kill me against you. Enjoy your fall to your death. Bwahahahahah!!!" Teen Marvel proclaimed, entirely devoid of compassion towards his former teammate. Luckily, Bulletboy didn't die, due to Ibis using his magic to repair the Gravity Regulator Helmet.

Bulletboy managed to fly at his best speed ever to create optical illusions of himself to confuse Teen Marvel in order to buy time for new attack from the Squadron of Justice. Meanwhile Teen Marvel was dazed and confused, Sherry shot her laser lipstick at the undead hero while Ibis followed with some eldritch beams and Spy Smasher shot a smoke-bomb from his Gyro-Sub to confuse Teen Marvel even further. The heroes were unaffected by a shield summoned by Diamond Jack.





It was now Black Adam and Isis’s turn. The monarch of Khandaq and Teen Marvel exchanged blows both tirelessly. Sherry watched the fight from a safe distance, and shot a grease capsule from her multi-purpose friendship bracelet. Teen Marvel started to fall, just in time for being entangled some vines controlled by Isis.

"Well done, my love." Black Adam congratulated his wife, who finally give Teen Marvel a proper burial. One which he cannot escape.

"Mother Nature shouldn't be underestimated." Isis replied proud after burying Teen Marvel.

"ALL FOR ONE!!! ONE FOR ALL!!!" The entire Squadron of Justice exclaimed after accomplishing their toughest battle yet.

A few of the team took a short walk to stretch their muscles and work out some cramps from the battle. Diamond Jack had wandered around the corner trying to work a kink out of his back when he was addressed but not by a member of the Squadron of Justice.

“Diamond Jack - you’re help is greatly needed!”

The tuxedo-clad hero looked a bit puzzled as he asked, “Aren’t you....?”

Without answering his question, the person who had addressed him enveloped him in a sphere of hard-energy and took him skyward before any of his teammates even knew he was gone.

***

The secret lair of the Black Orchid Massacre victims...

The Black Orchid hung her head and cried as scene after scene of the carnage she inflicted seemed to play endlessly.

“Stop! You can’t hold me responsible for what happened to you. It wasn’t me…..” she cried. “It wasn’t me…” she added weakly.





“Oh? If it wasn’t you, who was it?” Black Lantern Atom Smasher hissed. He ran his hand inside her thigh. She recoiled--as much as she could, despite being bound--at his cold touch. “Why don’t we finish what we started that night….the night you killed me.”

“Hold on, Atom Smasher. She likes it rough, don’t you sweetie?” Black Lantern Celsius said, his dry tongue licking her cheek.





“Rough, huh?” Black Lantern Atom Smasher mused as he took Black Orchid’s hand in his. He took her pinky and snapped it back, breaking it. Black Orchid screamed as pain shot up her hand and into her arm.

“Let me at her!” Black Lantern Starfire hissed, her rotten teeth flashing in the light. “You poor thing.” she smiled placing her hands on each side of Black Orchid’s head. “Such lifeless, flat hair. Here, let me help you.” the hollow eyed alien corpse cackled as she ripped 2 large clumps of Black Orchid’s hair from her head.

Black Orchid screamed again as she felt like her scalp was coming off her skull. “Maybe I deserve to go this way….may if I had been stronger the Floronic Man would never had been able to control me….I killed all these people..why couldn’t I stop myself….” she snapped out of her thoughts. “Get away from me all of you! I was forgiven for what I did! No one blames me for what happened to you! Find the Floronic Man! He’s the one you want! Not me!!” her anger and frustration growing.

“Wrong and wrong again.” she heard dual voices coming near her. It was Mas y Menos. She remembered how they had died and how she was covered in blood after shoving one of them into a wood chipper. Mas y Menos’s bodies had combined into one twisted corpse. It had two legs, two arms, one torso, and two heads. In unison they continued, “You clapped in delight after what you did to us. We have waited for this moment for so long.” they said in a hoarse voice, maggots dripping from Menos’s mouth.





“Here, let me give you a kiss” Menos smiled as he placed his mouth on Black Orchid’s mouth. She could feel maggots squirming over her pursed lips and thought she felt one go into her nostril.

“Do it! Kill that b*tch!!” Black Lantern Celsius demanded, rotten flesh falling off him as he jumped up and down. “She’ll be one of us soon enough!!”

“No! Let me kill her!” Black Lantern Cyborg demanded.

"I deserve the right to kill her! Let my soul-self show her what true helplessness is!" Black Lantern Raven demanded.

All of the Black Lanterns started arguing.

"This is my only chance." Black Orchid thought. "Have to remember all those Amazon techniques Wonder Man taught me...body mind connection." She concentrated while the corpses argued. She struggled against her bonds and finally they gave way. She was free!

"Look you fools! While you wasted time the Black Orchid freed herself!" Black Lantern Gypsy screeched.

"And she's not alone!" came a male voice.

"Hermes!" Black Orchid cried with relief.

Frost eyed his former partner. "Did you come to play with me, lover? Come let me kiss you and have you join us." he said flatly.





Hermes was startled for a moment, but quickly composed himself. "You are not the man I loved, monster! You are a blaspheme to his memory!" Hermes said as he punched his fist through Frost's head, shattering it and sending bone fragments everywhere.





Hermes and Black Orchid worked in tandem until they had destroyed all of the Black Lanterns, except for Celcius.

"You b*tch! You ruin everything! And to think we all thought you were Superman's cousin! I can't wait to rip your damned heart out---OOOOOFFF!" he gasped as Black Orchid kneed him in the groin.

"You know what your problem is, Colin? You talk too much!!" Black Orchid said, ripping his head from his shoulders. His body dropped to the ground, his Black Lantern ring sliding off his finger.

Hermes looked at Black Orchid. "Your head and your hand...."

"I'll be ok...my finger will heal....I think...I think I am finally at peace....I can finally put what I did behind me."

Hermes smiled at her.

"Come on, our friends need our help, if you feel up to it."

"I've never felt better. " she smiled.


To Be Continued