Titans of Justice / Darkest Hour #8 - “Uneasy Alliance”
Written by: Power Guy,
Creative consulting provided by: Darth_Ennis & GreenLantern
Art by: Darth_Ennis
Maxi-Mircos by: Power Guy
Edited by: Power Guy


Previously in Titans of Justice...........Black Hand raised an army of upper vampire hierarchy such as Dracula, Vampirus, and I...Vampire to turn millions of people into the living dead. Black Hand then took control of all of the darkness generating beings on earth(i.e. Obsidian, Shadow Thief, Nightshade) and used them to cloak the world in complete darkness. With all of the undead energy roaming around the earth coupled with the planet being shrouded in complete darkness, it was enough to make conditions right for the Mocker to use Stellar’s stolen Cosmic Converter belt to channel the various colored lights of the emotional spectrum to revive Nekron. Upon his return, Nekron has raised an army of Black Lanterns to subjugate all of creation. Several Black Lanterns have taken over the Hall of Justice while another group of them are terrorizing Earth 2 thanks to Black Lantern Kal-L using the TOJ’s dimensional transporter to bring several black power-rings to Earth 2.


The Hall of Doom...

The Legion of Doom stands before their monitor screen watching various members of the Titans of Justice in action trying to stop the army of Black Lanterns that are attacking various parts of the globe.

“It looks like every major city in the world is be ransacked by those walking zombies,” noted the male Cheetah.





“They certainly are keeping the Titans of Justice busy,” added the Sting Ray. “Perhaps now is the time to take them out while they’re distracted!”

“Are you kidding?” countered Lance Luthor. “Who better than them to risk their lives taking on these Black Lanterns. This way, those zombies are their problem - not ours.”





Then, as if fate was waiting for Luthor to tempt it, a voice called out:

“Cyrus Gold of earth - RISE!!!”

Instantly, the brutish Solomon Grundy was under the control of Nekron and ready to obliterate all around him. He started grunting and growling, making his way towards his seemingly former teammates.





“Wh......what’s happened to Grundy? He’s got one of those Black Lantern symbols on his chest!” gasped the new Riddler.





“He’s been turned, you idiot!” snapped Kid Cold, pointing out the obvious. He then withdrew his cold-gun from it’s holster and fired it at the foe of the Golden Age Green Lantern, encasing him in a block of solid ice.





“Nice work!” congratulated the Toyman until Grundy shattered the ice surrounding him. “On second though...”





“Sir Simian - stop him with your mental powers!” ordered Luthor.

“Are you a complete fool?” growled the son of Gorilla Grodd. “He has no brainwaves. My powers won’t affect him.”





“Imbecile!” chastised Luthor. “Bizarbara! Sultana! Take Grundy down - NOW!”

Bizarbara and Sultana immediately sprung into action. Sultana created some energy-chains around Grundy’s wrists and ankles to immobilize him while Bizarbara began beating him like a punching bag. With the chains restricting the movement of his arms and legs, the marshland monster was being knocked around like a rag doll until





SNAP!

he broke through his chains and started fighting back. He and Bizarbara were nearly matched in strength which was doing little more than demolish the Hall of Doom.

Sultana began blasting away at Grundy in hopes of turning the tide of the battle and while she scored several direct hits, they seemed to do little more than annoy him.

“Sultana! What’s wrong with your crystal? It hasn’t even put a scratch on him!” demanded a nervous Luthor.

“There’s nothing wrong with it,” answered the daughter of Sinestro. “Grundy was a zombie even before he became a Black Lantern. Zombies are known to be somewhat immune to pain. What little pain Grundy could feel before is now completely gone now that he’s wearing that black ring,” she said while one of her beams refracted off Grundy and made a hole in the ceiling.

As Luthor and Sultana were bickering, Grundy knocked Bizarbara out cold and began making his way towards the rest of the team.

Sir Simian and the Cheetah raced towards Grundy and grabbed his arms in hopes of restraining him but he made quick work of them by bashing their heads together.

“He’s just taken out our heaviest hitters!” announced Scream Queen. “He’ll kill us all if we don’t think of something fast!”





“I’ve got something in mind....” spat Giantessa as she shot up to fifty feet tall and then promptly slammed both of her fists down on the hulking brute, knocking him down through the floor into the level beneath the one they were all standing on. “Ha! I got him!” bragged the red-headed giantess until she realized that her small victory had caused another problem. In the level below, Grundy began punching away at some of the support beams that held up the level that the Legion of Doom’s meeting room was on.





“He’ll destroy this place if he’s not stopped soon!” howled Lance Luthor, becoming extremely frustrated.

Then, out of nowhere came a voice, “Looks like you all could use some help.

The Legion of Doom turned to see Blue Lantern with Stellar, Star Sapphire(Jem), Red Lantern(Starman), Illumina, Green Lantern(Ice Warrior), and Diamond Jack in tow.

“Blue Lantern! What are YOU doing here?” demanded Sultana.

“I think I’ll wait to answer your question until after we’ve stopped Solomon Grundy, thank you.”





With that, Blue Lantern and everyone with him with the exception of Stellar and Diamond Jack used their various powers and weapons to restrain the marshland monster in an energy cage. Blue Lantern then turned to Diamond Jack and said, “Ok, let’s see if it works!”

Diamond Jack took his queue and fired his black diamond ring at Solomon Grundy’s black power-ring. After a few seconds of pouring his life-force into his ring-blast, Grundy’s power-ring was nearly ripped off his finger and came soaring at Diamond Jack who snatched up the ring in mid-flight and held it tightly in his hand.





“It looks like Ganthet’s theory was correct,” advised Blue Lantern. “Your ring does have a connection to Nekron’s power-source.”

“Yes, as scary as that sounds,” admitted the tuxedo-clad hero.

Meanwhile, the Black Lantern symbol on Grundy’s chest had vanished and he had resumed his usual demeanor.

“How DARE you show up here and bring those liars with you!” chastised Sultana to Blue Lantern while staring at Star Sapphire and Red Lantern. “I should scatter their atoms across this swamp!”

“You wanna piece of me lady?” challenged Red Lantern. “I’d be more than happy to oblige right now...” he said with bloody foam coming from his mouth.





“SULTANA! There’s no time for old quarrels,” Blue Lantern said in an extremely serious tone while holding back Red Lantern. “I’m here to recruit you for what could mean the difference between life and death for us all.”

“And why should I believe you? Your friends are liars, you probably are too!” accused the daughter of Sinestro.

“For all of our issues, I have never once lied to you,” countered Blue Lantern. “You know who Ganthet is, right?”

“Yes, one of those little blue trolls that calls themselves the Guardians of the Universe,” answered Sultana.

“He gave me a list of specific people to recruit to take the battle to Nekron himself. We don’t have much time. A critical moment is coming and all will be lost if we are too late,” explained the pastor by day.

“I don’t know why but I believe you,” admitted the pink-skinned alien. “I will go along with you for now but if I sense any hint of deception, all seven of you won’t be enough to stop me from leaving you all in a pool of blood.”

As the eight energy-wielders took flight to take on Nekron, Stellar turned to Blue Lantern and asked, “Are you sure I’ll be of any use without my belt?”





“You want to get it back don’t you?” asked the son of Hal and Carol Jordan.

“Of course,” replied the star–spangled teen.

“According to Ganthet, an opportunity will be coming soon. Keep your eyes peeled!” instructed Blue Lantern.

***

Gotham City Cemetery - Earth 2...

The new Justice Society Unlimited had been all but decimated by their former - now Black Lanternized teammates. The Jade Sentinel had been pummeled to near death by a medim-sized tree branch courtesy of the first Mr. Terrific. Black Canary had sent Poker Face into unconsciousness with a half-dozen judo moves. Catwoman had cheated to obtain victory over her daughter, the Huntress but it was a victory still. As hard as the adult Robin tried to overcome his former mentor, Batman had stayed one step ahead of him and took him out with a hard punch to the stomach and then shoved a tear gas pellet down his throat. Superman was the worst of all of the Black Lanterns. He had beaten both Fury and Superstar into unconsciousness and then wrapped Fury’s magic lasso around both of their necks and hung them from a tree. In a few moments more, they would both suffocate to death.

“And with that, the Justice Society is utterly defeated!” gloated the now evil Man of Steel.





“They gave a good fight but we were better,” added the sinister Dark Knight.





“Now that we’ve taken care of everyone here, I say we go to the Brownstone and wait for the rest of the team to show up and pick them off one by one!” suggested the formerly Daily Star reporter.

“Everyone?” came a voice. “Looks to me like you miscounted.

“What? Who’s there?” demanded Superman while scanning the area with his various vision powers until...


WHAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lightspeed hit the Man of Steel with the force of a missle while running almost as fast as his namesake. After grabbing the multiverse’s very first superhero, he held onto him tightly as he raced around the globe faster and faster until he built up just enough momentum to send Kal-L flying into sun. The force at which he was thrown as so great that not even the man otherwise known as Clark Kent could stop himself from colliding with the burning star and having his body vaporized upon contact.





“You killed Superman!” remarked Black Canary!

“No matter, it’s still four against one,” noted Batman as he and the others raced towards the grandson of Jay Garrick.

“Oh really?” countered Lightspeed. “Blink...” With that, the modern-age scarlet speedster revived and freed his captive teammates just in time to surprise his adversaries. The Justice Society Unlimited finally had the advantage and put it to good use. Robin drop-kicked Batman while the Huntress elbowed Catwoman in the gut. Poker Face confused the Black Lantern Black Canary with a series of holographic images of herself while Superstar snuck up behind the blonde bombshell and wrapped a light-pole around her, securing her tightly. Meanwhile, the Jade Sentinel used his power-ring to uproot the ground beneath Mr. Terrific, causing him to drop his weapon. He then used his emerald energy to cage the four Black Lanterns and wasted no time in following Lightspeed’s example and sent them hurling into the sun.





“Nice work, Alex,” complimented the fastest man alive on Earth 2. “Finally, we’re rid of those.....things.”

“We may be but New Earth is besieged by an army of them. “I’ve got to get back there and help the Titans,” advised the Huntress.





“Well, then, WE better get going,” smiled Robin.





“You guys are coming with me?” concluded the Dark Knight’s daughter.

“No way am I going to some alternate earth,” huffed Poker Face.





“It’s either that or prison,” smirked Superstar.





“I really DO hate you sometimes,” grumbled the granddaughter of the Gambler as she decided to venture with the JSU to New Earth.

***

The Hall of Justice...

Inside the vast structure, the army of Black Lanterns were ransacking the place like children in an unattended candy store.

“Watch this!” called out Vibe as he used his sonic vibrational powers to shatter the Trouble Alert monitor screen. “Hahahaha!!!!”





Meanwhile, the Living Doll was crawling around inside the Trouble Alert ripping wires out left and right.





The Silencer was spending his time erasing all of the Hall’s memory files. “Teach them to let Johnny Sorrow kill me....”





Firebrand was having a field day burning the various portraits of members of the Justice League. “They really need to get over themselves. We never plastered our pictures all over the Perisphere when I was a member of the All-Star Squadron!”





Just then, Power Guy and his small group of Titans came rushing into the room. The modern age Man of Steel shouted, “I don’t know what you think you’re doing but it stops NOW!”

The army of Black Lanterns turned to see the group of heroes ready to confront them. Lt. Atom was the first to pipe up, “The only thing that will be stopping is your heartbeats!” He instantly shot a barrage of atomic energy from his hands at the Titans.





Power Guy positioned himself to take the brunt of the blast and yelled to his teammates, “MOVE!”

The Titans of Justice scattered about the room, each of them picking an opponent to take on.

Knightvision quickly caught up with his old associate the Silencer.

“Brendon, my death was all your fault!” accused the former technical support director of the Hall of Justice. “If you hadn’t drafted me into the Titans, I would have never died at Johnny Sorrow’s hands!”

The son of Dick and Barbara Grayson remained quiet as he dodged a karate-kick from his old friend. Brendon knew that the Silencer was trying to stir up a brew of emotions within him like all of the Black Lanterns do with their prey. He then found himself trading more martial arts moves with his attacker. This would be no easy battle as besides the Huntress and Sonic Boom, the Silencer was one of the few people that could give Knightvision a run for his money in hand to hand combat. Before he saw it coming, the Silencer struck him between the eyes, knocking him on his backside. The Silencer then jumped on him and began beating him profusely, without restraint.





Knightvision had to think quickly as the odds were tipped in his former teammate’s advantage. Thrusting his mid-section and legs upward, Knightvision hurled the Silencer off of him, throwing him into the wall a few yards behind them. Before the Silencer could pick himself up, Knightvision pinned him to the ground with his knees and shoved something in his mouth right before saying, “You’ll thank me once your soul gets back to Heaven.”

The Silencer looked confused as he started to mumble, “Wha....” but before he could finish his sentence, his body disintegrated as beams of light started shooting from inside out. The new Dark Knight of Gotham City had shoved a flare-bomb in the Silencer’s mouth know that was just what was needed to help him rest in piece again.

As Knightvision took down the Silencer, Vibe was chasing Storm Surge through the Hall of Justice’s entry way, attacking him his vibration pulses. One of them hit the son of Aquaman and Mera and sent him hurling through the main doors of the building.

“Hahahaha! You’re no match for me, fish-boy!” howled the Puerto Rican Black Lantern as he began making the ground beneath Storm Surge tremble and shake, causing him to lose his balance a bit.

Storm Surge put his hands against one of outside walls of the Hall of Justice and used it to brace himself briefly and then leaped into the large pond of water that sat in front of the Hall.

Vibe then realize what a mistake he had made allowing Storm Surge to dive into the water, “Aww....crap!”

“Aww....crap is right,” repeated Storm Surge as he rose from the pond aboard a platform of hard-water. “I thought I would even the odds between us or rather, tip them in my favor,” he smirked as a giant hard-water fist emerged from the pond and grabbed Vibe, holding him tightly. “I know we’ve never met before but I hope you’ll believe me when I say that I’m truly sorry about your predicament,” stated the son of Aquaman as he used the Trident of Poseidon to pierce Vibe’s body, causing it to disintegrate.

As one battle concluded, another one was still raging in the air inside the Hall of Justice. Olympia found herself facing off against one of America’s first known female superheroes: Firebrand.

The woman otherwise known as Danette Reilly was chasing the founding member of the Teen Titans through the air, firing streams of her new black flames at her. “Hold still so I can fry you to a crisp!”

As Olympia flew past a pillar within the Hall, she bashed it with her right fist, sending fragments flying towards Firebrand, catching her off guard and momentarily stunning her. “That should buy me some time to get into the right position,” Olympia thought to herself as she swiveled around.

Within seconds, Firebrand was in hot pursuit again until she noticed Olympia had stopped moving and was floating in mid-air. “You’ve stopped running. You’re a fool if you think your magic bracelets will keep you safe from my flames,” she smirked as she released yet another stream of fire.

As the fire neared Olympia, she withdrew her magic lasso and began spinning it in a circular motion in front of her, “You’re right, my bracelets would offer me little protection but my lasso on the other hand...” With that, Firebrand’s flames were blown backward. Olympia kept spinning her lasso faster and faster until it created a strong enough current of wind that it began to extinguish the former All-Star Squadron member’s flames.

“My fire!” gasped the former love interest of the Shining Knight.

Olympia then flew up to her and punched her in the face, knocking her out cold. She then threw her magic lasso around Firebrand’s inert body and called out, “I compel you to face the truth! You are no longer alive! Pass on to the next realm!” Instantly, Firebrand’s body crumbled into dust and the Black Lantern power-ring she was wearing dropped to the floor where Olympia crushed it beneath her heel. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Zan had frozen Junjie Quick and Rapido in a block of ice while Jayna had transformed into a giant squid and used her immense tentacles to subdue the Rangers.













Bat-Girl then caught Olympia’s attention, “You all finished with Firebrand?”





“You bet,” confirmed the former Troia. “What happened to the Living Doll?”

“Let’s just say she’s been put away for safe keeping,” smiled Bat-Girl as she tapped on one of the compartments of her utility-belt. She then looked upward, “Oh boy, it looks like PeeGee has his hands full!” she said as she noticed her leader locked in battle with both Lt. Atom and the second Captain Triumph.

“Need some help?” called out Olympia to the modern-age Man of Steel.

“As of now, no but don’t wander off too far,” answered the Kryptonian powerhouse.

Lt. Atom had grabbed onto one of Power Guy’s arms while Captain Triumph had secured the other.

“Wanna play tug of war, Lt.?” asked Captain Triumph with a sinister grin.





“How about we play Crash Dummies instead?” countered Power Guy as he brought his arms together and bashed the two Black Lanterns’ heads together. Captain Triumph passed out from the blow but Lt. Atom was still alert. He began firing off nuclear blasts at the new Metropolis Marvel. “I’m walking atomic death! How many of my blasts do you think you can stand before you succumb?”

“As many as takes to put you down,” Power Guy replied angrily as his heat vision erupted, cutting Lt. Atom in two, thereby ending his undead existance. “Whew....” sighed Power Guy as he wiped the sweat off of his brow. “Is that all of them?”

“Yes. The Hall of Justice is now ours again,” answered Knightvision as he and his teammates looked around at the tremendous amount of damage done to the Hall, knowing they had quite the job ahead of them before the place would be up and running again.


TO BE CONTINUED!