Issue #133

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by Clay Arceneaux and Michael Stewart

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"The Titans are in trouble.
And of course I'm to blame.
Let me explain. I'll start at the beginning… no that would take way to long, so I'll start at the middle and work my way forward. See several years ago, a group of heroes calling themselves the Titans, I can't remember if they were still Teen then or not, were locked in final battle with their arch-foe, the nefarious Brother Blood. The dear Brother was the head of a worldwide cult and the secret leader of the Baltic island nation of Zandia. His latest scheme was going to give him the power to rule the world, but don't they all say that? Anyway, the Titans beat the crud out of him on live TV, and their witch Raven really fries the guy's mind. So the beaten and spiritually broken Blood retreats into seclusion and eventually falls into a coma.
Flash forward to a few months ago when Zandia's nearby neighbor, Markovia gets a new government that decides it doesn't like Zandia and starts bombing the heck out of the place. Well like most theocracies, Zandia has been floundering since it's spiritual leader's undoing. Though they were better armed and equipped than the Markovians, without Blood their soldiers lacked the stones to really fight back. So the surviving leaders of the Church of Blood come up with a little plan: find someone to impersonate their fallen leader to inspire the troops. This is where I come in. Since Blood was a pretty powerful guy, they couldn't just get any Joe-shmoe to play the part, and since I've been pretty much at loose ends for a while, I accepted. My part was simple, kick a few heads in and inspire the boys to lead them to victory over Markovia. So after doing that for a while in Zandia, I was sent to New York to make my "public début" by busting up the Markovian embassy.
Now the Titans, they've fallen apart and rebuilt themselves a couple of times since their last tango with Blood. If fact, they weren't even supposed to be part of my visit to New York, since the latest bunch of Teen Titans were running out of Metropolis, a bunch of no-name kids being led by Arsenal, or Speedy, or Red Arrow, whatever Harper is calling himself these days. I mean sure, I was supposed to beat these guys up eventually, it's part of why I was picked for this job. But my "bosses" didn't intend to involve them so quickly.
Anyway, what I didn't know was that two of the old new Teen Titans would be returning from space to New York about the same time we were planning our little raid. Seems the reborn, for what the third or fourth time, Cyborg was bringing back the luscious Princess Koriand'r, a.k.a. Starfire, in after a tangle with some deep space bad guys. So of course, as I'm smashing up the embassy with my C.o.B. troops, Titans old and new are converging across town at S.T.A.R. labs. Luckily for me only Harper, Lilith and the new kids decided to try and spoil my fun. As soon as I see Lil, I get me a new plan. Using some tricks I've picked up over the years, I manage to dominate Lil's fragile little mind for a few minutes and use that advantage to beat Roy's Kinder Care Titans, which I took back with me to Zandia via teleportation, great new trick Lil's picked up since we last met, leaving Harper standing there looking dumber than usual.
So I figure, I've got me four junior Titans, (had captured my old friend Terra when the Markovians tried to use her as a drugged out weapon against me) and one fairly senior one, and the rest of the old gang is going to start yelling "Titans Together" and come smashing through my walls any minute. So I've got the five of them, why not grab some more of those less affiliated little twerps that have hung around the gang over the years? Start my own Anti-Titans as it were. So I slapped some mind control chips on my captured Titans and sent them out to bring me some more recruits. My "bosses" are pretty steamed at me, but thanks to them I'm readily accepted as Brother Blood by most of his followers so they can't lift a finger to stop me.
So I split up my bad Titans, so like it was out of some old comic book plot, the good Titans split up to try and stop them. That's where we all are now. See Arsenal and Tempest ran over to North Augusta, South Carolina to try and save the kid named Damage. Only they ran into Joto, Risk and some of my Blood troops. Flasher, Raven (who's looking pretty spry for someone twice dead), and the new old Cyborg went down to Manchester, Alabama to try and save Wally's "Kid Flash", a hyper-twerp named Impulse, only to run into their former teammate Lilith and the lovely Argent, and some more troopers. And Nightwing and Changeling, they were going to save Rose Wilson from my "evil clutches", but they ran into a little "blast from their past" as it were.
So where am I? Well I should be sitting in some dank throne room deep beneath the Zandian soil, but I'm not. See, while the Titans did notice my troops beaming out, they didn't notice me beaming myself into this quaint little section of Upstate New York. I'm sitting here, watching my troops beat back the good guys on my little wrist screen, while peering through the window at a dark haired, dark eyed vision of loveliness as she goes through her oh so suburban routine. She's prettier than I remember her, guess motherhood agrees with her. Ah well, enough watching. Time to claim what's mine."

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"This just sucks @$$!" Arsenal swears as he notches and fires another arrow from his crimson bow. TWANG "Tempest? Damage?" TWANG "Come on guys, shake a leg. Don't stay all moaning and semi-conscious on me." TWANG "I need some serious help here!" TWANG "I don't have but so many arrows!"

And the Titan's foes know it. It is a testament to Arsenal's skill that the trio has not been overrun already. The red clad archer has been able to take out about a half dozen of the heavily armored Blood troopers, but that still left an equal number still on their feet, plus his two mind controlled protégés, Risk and Joto. The two young Teen Titans were fighting with ruthless abandon against their mentor. When Arsenal and Tempest had beamed down, the two were already working over Damage pretty good. Damage isn't a wimp either. Young Grant Emerson possessed super-strength, a degree of invulnerability, limited flight and even the occasional power blast. He also had the unfortunate ability to explode violently when he gets too worked up, hence the code name Damage. Damage was trying too hard not to explode on his opponents, and though he is much stronger than Risk, Risk is much faster and more agile. So between Risk 's being three times better than human best, pick your category, and Joto's pyrokenesis, Damage was getting worked over pretty well.

Enter the two elder Titans. At first the archer Arsenal and his Atlantean sorcerous pal Tempest were able to beat back the two less experienced foes. But then the Blood troopers starting popping out of the woodwork and the Titans tried a little strategic withdrawal. They made it to the pines and away from civilization, the idea being that if Damage had to cut loose out here then no innocent bystanders would get hurt. Nice plan in theory, but they didn't count on Damage getting hit by some sort of "super taser" from one of the Blood troopers. To make matters worse, Joto attacked the surrounding trees with his heat powers. Pine burns very, very hot, especially when encouraged by a pyrokenetic. Fortunately Arsenal was able to snuff the flames with a few extinguisher arrows, but not before the heat was enough to dangerously dehydrate his Atlantean friend.

"So now here I stand, alone, in the woods, surrounded by bad guys and two kids who've picked a hell of a time to peek." Roy Harper thinks as he desperately considers his options. "Come on, Harper, think! I just hope the other guys are doing better than we are."

---

"For this I came back to Earth for?" Victor Stone thinks to himself as he dodges another deadly blast of light. His shining silver Cyborg form moves with amazing speed, but it's still barely enough to avoid the energy bolt.

His opponent is the mind-numbed Teen Titan Argent. This is the second time today they've faced each other. The first was at S.T.A.R. labs in New York earlier this morning. She attacked him when he showed up looking like his original Cyborg-self, not the glowing red mass of alien circuitry called Cyberion she was expecting. That time the blue haired, white skinned girl had only trapped him in an energy bubble. This was a bit more serious. And it was the red and white blur called Impulse's turn to be trapped in an energy bubble.

When Cyborg had beamed down with Raven and Flash to the one horse town of Manchester, Alabama, Argent had already managed to trap the hyper-kinetic Impulse with some help from Omen, otherwise known as long time Titan Lilith Clay. So the Titans did what they thought best at the time, Raven would take down Omen, Cyborg would drop Argent, while Flash rescued Impulse and tried to find the kid's guardian, Max Mercury. Well Raven and Omen embarked on a teleporting game of cat and mouse, and Argent was proving to be more of a challenge than Vic had originally thought. And the Flash, well Wally West was out here, clad in his old Kid Flash costume and currently denied the bulk his speed powers, trying to be a hero anyway. So when a dozen Blood troopers showed up to back up the distaff assailants, the no longer fastest man alive was forced to deal with the only way he could, beat a less than hasty retreat. Most of the troopers decided to go after Wally. Only a few stayed to guard the globe containing Impulse, and to take occasional pot shots at Cyborg.
"Welcome home, Stone." Cyborg growls under his breathe as he dives for cover.

---

It is a vision both heroes have seen in their nightmares for the last five years. A slender, blonde, young woman grabbed in shades of brown, the light playing across her costumes' golden accents, standing nonchalantly upon a floating hunk of rock. The whiffs of cigarette smoke curling from her sarcastic smile, the look of utter contempt in her eyes, the swagger of her body language, all right out of their darkest memories, right down to the tacky gold earrings. Everything about this girl screamed that she was Tara Markov, the Titan known as Terra and their own personal Judas.

Seven years ago Terra infiltrated the Titans on the behest of the Titan's long time foe, Deathstroke the Terminator. The Terminator had taken a contract to capture or kill the Titans, which he had tried several times to do with no success. So he used the young earthmover to join the Titans and learn their secrets. That she did, and all to well. They trusted her, one of the started to fall in love with her, they laid their live bare before her and she callously betrayed them all. In the end she died at her own insane hands while trying to kill them all. That team of Titans never really recovered. Sure they went on for years after that, they even suffered betrayals that did them more physical damage, but they lost something during that "Judas Contract". Call it youthful optimism, or sense of innocence if you will. It forever changed the Titans.

And now, seven years and a lot of mileage later, two of the Titans from that bygone era stand before a seemingly resurrected Terra, who had been sent by Brother Blood to capture Deathstroke's daughter, Rose Wilson, a former Titan herself, from Wilson's mansion in upstate New York. The irony is not lost on Nightwing. Tensing his muscles, Nightwing fights against the urge to scream as the grinning girl before him takes a leisurely drag from her cigarette.

"Terra is dead." Nightwing grits his teeth. "We saw her die, we saw the body! This has got to be that other Terra, that one we thought was from the future, the one that claims not to know who she is, or where she really comes from. This is her made up to look like our… the first Terra. Blood must have caught her too and is using her to mess with our heads. The only explanation."

"Gosh, you boys are quiet all of a sudden." Terra chuckles as the smoke streams from her lips. "What's a matter, fellas? Didn't expect to see me again? Damn, Dicky-boy, I can almost see those gears spinning tying to figure this one out. Heh!

"I'll say this for Blood, he trained this girl to perfection." Nightwing ignores the girl's taunts. "But still the body language, the gestures, this is a bit too good. Dear lord, I can only imagine what this is doing to Gar."

Gar Logan's formative years were rougher than most. He had been turned green in an attempt to save his life as a small child, gained his ability to change into any animal he can imagine, then lost two sets of parents, only to re-gain a sense of family from being a Teen Titan called the Changeling. It was as a Titan the Gar had met a fiery young girl named Terra. They fought almost constantly, but Gar believed her story about being a pawn of some terrorist who kidnapped her, he even sponsored her membership in the Titans. Over the months that followed, though their fighting didn't stop, there seemed to be a growing affection between the two. He thought he was falling in love with her, that he had finally found someone who could share his life of adventure with. She betrayed him, broke his heart completely, and tried to kill him. He was all of 16 years old when it happened and he thought it was the end of his world. Now here he stands, that very tender scar split wide open.

No noise marks Changeling's attack, not a scream or even a growl, just a blur of green that knocks Terra to the ground. Nightwing isn't even sure what Changeling had initially changed into, aside from big, furry, and of course green, but now Changeling has assumed the form of a very large python, coiling himself tight around his opponent. Nightwing leaps up to Terra's now falling rock platform and deftly plucks Rose Wilson's unconscious form to relative safety. Depositing the girl into the weathered hands of her guardian, Wintergreen, Nightwing quickly checks on his teammate who still has their opponent well in "coil". Trained by the Batman since his days as Robin, Nightwing is something of an expert on predicting the actions of others, especially ones he thought he knew well. Of all the reactions Nightwing had predicted Changeling to have to Terra's appearance, quiet competence was not one of them, and Dick finds himself strangely surprised by it.

"You got her, Gar?" Nightwing asks just to be sure.

"I've got her." Changeling's voice thick with repressed rage. "This little faker isn't going anywhere, are you future girl? Fortunately for us this Terra isn't as good with her Earth-powers as the original."

"You… are still… as bright as… ever… guacamole-brains." Terra struggles for breath, and then closes her eyes in concentration. "See if you… remember this move, you green jerk-off!"

With that the earth beneath them seemed to come alive on all sides, leaping up to bury them both and drag them under. Changeling frees himself by changing into an earthworm, then quickly to a sparrow as he breaks through to the open air. The ground erupts into a hailstorm of rocks and dirt, which the young hero can barely avoid. Before Nightwing can press an attack of his own, Terra re-directs some of her earthen maelstrom in his direction, taxing the hero's acrobatic prowess to its limits.

"This is not good." Nightwing realizes quickly he's going to have to re-think his whole strategy. "This is just wrong… on so many levels. The current Terra, the one supposedly brought here by the mysterious "Time Trapper" to foil Hank's plan to infiltrate and murder us with his "Team Titans" during that whole Zeros Hour thing, she never had this kind of fine tune control of her powers before. * At least not that I ever saw. But this… this is so much like the Tara I knew it's more than a little unnerving. Roy and Donna told me she's not the same girl, but I'm starting to wonder… >OW! < Mind back in the game, Grayson, or the next rock may do more than bruise your shoulder."

(* Go read Zero Hour, and the short lived Team Titans title, if you want a ton of details, but I'll try and provide the pertinent facts as we go. Hank is obviously Hanks Hall, the former Titans turned villain, now called Extant)

---

"Okay this qualifies as the dumbest thing I have ever done." Wally West pants as he runs down the deserted streets of Manchester at what to him is a ridiculously slow pace.

Moving at a causal pace behind him are seven armor clad Blood Troopers. They would fire their weapons at him occasionally just to watch the yellow and red clad hero stumble and duck. But it was obvious that "Kid Flash" is powerless, and the sadists couldn't resist the idea of tormenting their master's famous foe before destroying him. For his part, Wally is angry and frustrated.

A volley of blaster fire rips the pavement beside the one-time speedster, causing Wally to loose his balance and fall gracelessly to the ground. Frustrated beyond words, and tired of running, Wally grabs a fist-sized clunk of the shattered asphalt and flings it for all he's worth at the closest trooper. He knows the guy is too far way for the rock to even strike him, but by God when Wally got up this morning he was the Flash, the fastest man alive, and powers or no he isn't going out without a fight.

So imagine Flash's surprise when the rock smashes into the chest plate of it's target with enough force to knock the trooper off his feet and backward a yard or two. For a moment everyone is too stunned to move. The troopers regroup around their fallen comrade. Wally grabs another rock and again puts everything he has into the throw. A second trooper falls, the rock demolishing the crimson armor around his shoulder. As Wally rises to his feet, another rock in hand Garth's words earlier today in the medical bay of Cyborg's ship come back to him:

"There appears to be a mystic block preventing you from using the speed force to directly move yourself at super speed. I remember you saying that that since you're last resurrection that you'd developed other speed power, like moving other things and people at super speed? Well those powers should still work, you just can't focus your power internally the way you normally do until you break through that mystic block."

"I can still share my speed." Wally mutters under his breath. He concentrates on the rock for a moment trying to channel the Speed Force into it, and then lets it fly. A sound like a gun going off rings though the air as the rock breaks the sound barrier on it's way to the Blood Troopers. "YEAH!" Flash cries as a third trooper goes down!

But his celebration is short lived. The remaining troopers aim there weapons at the young hero and are preparing to fire back. Quickly Wally scans both sides of the street for the best place to take cover. One store a few meters away catches his eye and with a broad grin Wally runs as fast as he can towards it. Perhaps the troopers are still rattled from the Flash's unexpected counterattack, or maybe they are just bad shots, or maybe just maybe it's a function of that insane odds beating luck, but Wally makes it to his destination through a hailstorm of blaster fire unharmed.

"Ha. Now let's see what games we can play today." Wally chuckles as he races deeper into the sporting goods store, the plate glass windows shattering behind him.

Grabbing the biggest gym bag he could find, Wally empties a bucket of baseballs into it. Before he can repeat the process a second time; he hears the crunching of glass under booted feet as the Troopers enter the store. Popping into the open, Flash releases a volley of Speed Force Charged balls before ducking into another aisle. This time the balls miss there marks, imbedding themselves into the walls of the store. The Troopers fire back a staccato barrage of blaster fire, mowing down several displays. A manikin from one of those displays slides across the floor to settle in front of the crouched "Kid Flash". Inspiration flashes across Wally's eyes and he begins to strip the fiberglass figure of its gear.

The troopers continue their barrage for several minutes, leaving most of the store a collection of smoking rumble and melted plastics. As quietly as they have ever been, the four Blood Troopers survey their handy work, scanning for any sign their prey survived. Without warning, a yellow and red blur strikes one of the troopers, carrying him out across the street and into the brick wall of the opposite building. The three remaining troopers turn on their heels and bring their weapons to bear on whatever attacked their comrade. The streak continues its long path, moving just faster than the Church of Blood's soldier's weapons could track. It zips close to another trooper and with a violent metal on metal clang; the armored villain falls as the streak continues on. Finally the streak comes to rest in the center of the street. Standing there is the Flash, wearing inline skates with all the necessary padding over his Kid Flash costume, a satchel of baseballs slung over his shoulder and carrying a metal baseball bat.

"I'm Back!" Wally grins.

Before his confused opponents can react, Flash lets fly a volley of Speed Force powered pitches that drop the last two Blood Troopers into unconsciousness.

"Now, I'd better double back and see how Vic's holding up." Channeling the Speed Force into the skates, the Flash zips off to aid his old friend. "With any luck, he's rescued Impulse by himself already."

---

"If you've got any really great ideas to share, Harper," Tempest gasps leaning heavily against a tree. "Now would be a good time."

"Hang in there for a little longer, Gill-head." Arsenal fires his crossbow pistol, pinning Risk to a tree by his shoulder. He hates to injury the kid, but his former protégé hadn't been leaving him any choice. Speaking of former protégés, Damage still slumped semi-conscious draped over Arsenal's other shoulder. "Come on, Grant. Snap out of it already. I need you to get us out of here."

"How he supposed to do that?" Garth inquires while firing beams of mystic force from his eyes. Being too dehydrated from Joto's fire, Tempest misses striking the young pyrokenetic, but at least he forces Joto to dive for cover. "I thought Damage was just a muscle guy who explodes if his powers build up too high?"

"He is." Arsenal shakes Damage again trying to force the young man's head to clear. "But you can also fly for short periods of time, can't you, Grant? Grant?!? Come on man pull yourself together. I ain't going out like this, and you ain't gonna let me."

"M tryn', Roy, buh isso har to thinn…" Damage mumbles in reply.

At that moment one of the Blood Troopers that accompanied the two brain washed Titans on their mission to capture Damage whips out some sort of bazooka looking weapons which shatters the tree Arsenal and Damage are using for cover. Arsenal manages to get both of them clear by diving towards Tempest as the pine topples over. Once again, the woods are aflame.

"Holy sh…" Damage cries!

"That's what I'm effen' talking about, kid. Get us outah here before these mother-fathers hand us our heads." Arsenal yells.

"Neptune's trident! I do not want to die in the woods with Roy Harper lying on top of me." Tempest laments as he feels the flame's heat sucking more of his water-derived strength away.

Without another word, Grant Emerson closes his eyes and tries to fight through the mental haze brought on by the Blood Troopers' taser strike earlier. Damage's body begins to glow as the biochemical fusion that fuels his powers build in strength. Wrapping his arms around the two senior Titans, the young hero launches into the sky like a rocket.

"YAHOOOOO!" Roy yells as they clear the treetops! "I knew you could do it, Grant man! How long can you fly like this before you go critical and have to go boom?"

"Actually, Roy," Grant's face twists in concentration. "Flying this fast and carrying the both of you, I'm almost timing out now."

"WHAT?!?" Arsenal looks down, realizing that they've rocketed up well over 200 yards into the air. "Me and my bright ideas."

---

Across the countryside of Alabama they roam like two dueling shadows. The two women who should be allies, so much alike, yet so very different slip and slide through the dimensional passageways, each in their own unique way. But in this mystic game of cat and mouse, even Lilith Clay's heritage as the daughter of a mythical Titan cannot keep the glowing form of Raven from catching her eventually. For all her power, the woman now called Omen is still flesh and blood and she's beginning to tire. Raven's physical form, on the other hand, died years ago, leaving the empathy existing only as her wondrous "Soul-Self", and is seemingly tireless. Perhaps Omen realizes this herself, or perhaps even in her mind-controlled haze, she is simply tired of retreating. In any event, Omen draws up the hood of her crimson and black cloak and steals herself against the descending bird-like form that is Raven.

Wordlessly, Raven's glowing form envelops Omen, and Raven tries to use her empathic powers to release her friend from the Church of Blood's control. But try as she might, Raven cannot find any flames of resistance within Omen, no part of her fighting to regain control of her mind. Disturbed, Raven presses deeper into Lilith's mind, probing to find some shred of the friend she knew. Deep with in the mind-thralled Titan, Raven feels a hint of what she seeks, a sliver of resistance to that which has corrupted her, a hint or regret at her actions on Blood's behalf. Desperately Raven tries to use her empathic power to fan those sparks of resistance into flames, but something blocks her attempts. Probing, Raven finds the thing that is controlling Omen… something artificial, yet very hauntingly familiar. To her horror, Raven recognizes what has enthralled Omen, what has surely enthralled all the captured Titans.

The moment of Raven's revulsion is all the break Omen needs to reassert herself and free herself from Raven's Soul-self. Fire seems to blaze in the red-haired Titan's eyes as she attacks Raven with wave after wave of telepathic force. It is not a feat Lilith has attempted before, and the effort of it causes a trickle of blood to seep from her nose, but Lilith knows she must strike now while her opponent is down. Raven's bird-like form seems to shatter under the assault, reforming itself into the golden image of Raven's human form, lying prone in the Alabama sun. Shaken with the effort, but please with its result, reality seems to wrap in on it's self as Omen vanishes from site.

Raven lies there several moments, her form trembling not so much from Omen's attack than with the weight of her discovery.

"Not again." The normally impassive Raven's voice whispers with fear and deep regret. "Please, please not again. Azar protect me this is all my fault."

---

Amid the smoking ruins of what was a small farmhouse. It's original owner died in an auto accident not to long ago and his ex-wife was kind enough to allow a young friend of hers and her little baby to live there. Now, like so much else of the existence of Mr. And Mrs. Terry Long, there was nothing of value left standing. Striding through the charred walls, the man the world thought of as Brother Blood came to stand before the slumping form of a dark-haired young woman who had been spread eagle to the remains of a doorframe. Despite his victory here, the man is not happy.

"What do you mean 'you cannot bring me home'? My work here is finished. I need to return to Zandia and await the return of my other troops, so that we can add the young Titans to our thrall. You will activate the transporter and beam me back immediately!"

"I understand your frustration, my Lord, but at present we are unable to do so. Someone has placed a form of jamming field in the upper atmosphere, keyed specifically to our transporter frequencies." A nervous voice crackles back across the wrist comlink. "We are, of course, working to remove the impediment and bring you and all of our forces home, but we have yet to have any real success at doing so."

"The Titans." "Blood's" eyes narrow beneath his skull-like mask. "They have access to greater resources than I anticipated. Very well my son. Continue your work and alert me the instant we have a break in the field. I am far past the point of being prepared to leave. Do you understand?"

"Of course, Sir. Zandia out."

"Well, well." Blood turns to his captive. "Alone again, my dear. It looks like we get to spend some more quality time together, eh Miri?"

"Go to hell." Miriam Delgado snaps back, her face hidden by her tangled black hair.

"Sorry, my dear, but I've been there already." Blood lifts her head up to face him, a broad grin crossing his face. "Don't you remember?"

His cold eyes lock with hers for a few moments, a silent battle of wills passing between them.

"Remarkable." Blood lets her head go and steps away. "Truly remarkable. You know Lilith did not resist me like this. Not at all. And I thought her mental powers were stronger than yours."

"I'm full of surprises." The young woman's form shifts into an imposing titan of a man, and thus easily frees herself from her bonds. "Now I'll break your freakin' neck, you rat bast… URRRGH!"

"Temper, temper, my dear." Blood smashes his charged power staff into his foe's midsection. "Enough of this Titan nonsense. You're not Mirage anymore, Miri. You retired to care of this." Blood's white cloak falls away, revealing a baby boy cradled neatly beneath Blood's left arm. "Wouldn't want anything to happen to your lovely little son now would we?"

"Leave him out of this, monster!" Mirage's illusionary form falls away, tears forming in her dark eyes.

"Oh come on, Miri, like that is going to happen." Blood spins his staff upward and sends it hard into Mirage's chin, sending her into unconsciousness. "Oh! Now look what you made me do. And in front of the baby yet." He lifts the boy up in front of him and smiles broadly. "Sorry you had to see that little fella, but your mom always was too feisty for her own good. Ironic that I should find you two here of all places, but appropriate somehow, I think. Knowing how fond he is of your mother, I'll bet you haven't even met your grandfather yet." He sighs heavily. "Unfortunately the way things are going you may get the chance much sooner than I'd be happy with. But hey it had to happen sooner or later, right?"

---

Deep, deep within the walls of what appears to be a quiet sanitarium in the hills of West Virginia, a man opens his eyes for the first time in many years. His eyes struggle to focus in the dimly lit room as slowly his other senses return to him. He hears the quiet beeping of a heart monitor; it's pace quickening as he awakens. His mouth tastes like paste. He feels the air tickling his nose as it flows through a breathing tube. His muscles ache with atrophy as he tries to move his hand to pull the tube away. But most of all, he feels the love, the faith, the devotion of his people flowing through him like a drug. It is a felling he has not felt so strongly in a very long time. When it was crushed so after his last defeat, its absence nearly destroyed him. But no longer. Something has happened. Something has caused those feelings to return, and the man drinks deeply from the strength they give him. He sinks back into his pillow and closes his eyes again. He lets his people's faith drive the pain and stiffness from his body, their devotion heal his ravaged mind. So lost in this emotion is he, that he only dimly hears the excited voices of his attendants as they have rushed to his side at his revival. Their excitement and affection further buoy his spirit. A smile of deep pleasure crosses his face as he takes another cool drink of his people's love and then opens his eye back onto the world.

"My children," He says in a voice clear and powerful and impossible to ignore. "Tell me what has happened while I slept."

---

Arsenal is really wishing he'd just stayed in bed this morning instead of heading out to New York to meet Cyborg and Starfire when they got in at S.T.A.R. labs from wherever. Then he and his team would probably be running training exercises right now, and they'd have let some New York local bunch of heroes get caught up in all this Blood nonsense. But no, he had to go meet Vic and Kory when they landed, and now here is hanging on to Damage for dear life as they rocket high above the ground, with half the team he was leading this morning trying to kill him. And to make matters worse, Damage's energy level was starting to peak, and when that happened, he'd explode. Not that exploding ever hurt Grant, but he was relatively sure it would be quite painful for he and Garth being tucked under the kid's arms. Then there would be the matter of the long fall down.

"Oh great." Arsenal says looking beneath them. "Just great. Those Dark Trooper rejects come with flight packs. They're comin' up after us."

"I'm… open… to suggestions." Damage grunts through gritted teeth as he tries to control his explosive tendencies. But carrying both Arsenal and a dehydrated Tempest into the air at the speed he is going is taxing his powers. He doesn't know how much longer he can control himself.

Arsenal scans the horizon in desperation, and quickly spots exactly what they needed.

"Grant, bank left!" Arsenal shouts! "Aim for the river!"

With that Damage arcs down at perilous speed, heading straight for the dark strip of the Savannah beneath them. Arsenal's eyes widen, as the river seems to be approaching them at an ever-increasing rate of speed.

"Whoa! Grant! Slow Up, Man!" Roy Harper yells in near panic. "You are coming in way too fast!"

"Can't control… gottah get…" Damage stammers out, the strain evident on his young face.

"Aw Hell, he's loosin' it!" Roy swallows hard. "This is gonna leave a mark."

The three Titans hit the water hard. Scant second after they crash under the cold waters, Damage explodes! For Arsenal, this turns out to be a good thing, as Grant's explosion pushes the completely disoriented hero back to the water's surface. After a few moments of being buffeted by the current, Roy finds himself on a shallow rock in the middle of the river. Dragging himself to his knees, he looks around for his two companions. All he sees at first are more trees, more rocks, and about 50 meters behind him, a highway bridge crossing the river with a big "Welcome to Georgia" sign on one side among many others.

"Damn." Arsenal mutters as he tries to catch his breadth. "I-20. Now we've got civilians in the mix too."

A quick check reveals that aside from some extremely sore muscles, he is uninjured and more miraculously, hadn't lost too many arrows from his various quivers. Glad for the small bit of luck, Roy begins to look downstream for any sign of his two allies. Sure enough, Damage pops above the surface, obviously exhausted and allowing the current to carry him.

But the Titan's relief is short lived. Roaring over the trees come four pursuing Bloods Troopers, carrying Risk and Joto with them. They quickly spot their helpless quarry and Risk dives into the water after the dazed Damage.

"Hey!" Arsenal yells. "Why don't you bruisers… Jeez!" With a gesture from Joto, Arsenal's bow irrupts into flame.

Quickly the hero flings his molten weapon into the water, but draws and fires his hand crossbow in the same fluid motion. The bolt strikes the trooper carrying Joto in the shoulder in just the right spot to make him drop his former charge into the water. The troopers respond with a hail of deadly blaster fire that sends Arsenal diving for cover.

Then something shoots up from beneath the water's surface, snatching two of the troopers from the sky and dragging them back under with it. The water churns violently as lights play in its depths.

"Risk, quit hitting that guy and drag his butt to shore!" Joto screams, his eyes wide! "I think that Aqua-guy's woke back up!"

"Wha?" Risk looks over to his friend, too lost in the enjoyment of pummeling his prey to have noticed what just happened. "Oh…!"

Arsenal looks up and can't help but smile. Twin spires of water have risen beneath the remaining Blood Troopers, the one freezing solid in an instant, the other fairly glowing with heat. The end result is the same; the boys are alone in their little kidnapping game now, and swimming hard for shore.

"Gill-head in his element." Roy smiles as he pulls for the bank himself. "Got to love it."

The to brain-washed Titans hurriedly pull the still dazed Damage up onto the river bank as the Titan known as Tempest fairly explodes from the water behind them.

"That's as far as you go, young men." Garth says sternly as he wades threw the ankle deep water after them.

"I don't think so." Joto shouts back. "I almost fried you once today, I'm betting I can do it again."

"Please." Tempest gestures with his right hand, freezing solid the water dripping from the younger man's clothes.

"What the..?!?" Joto finds himself trapped in his own frozen uniform, not noticing Tempest in still closing on him. "Nice trick, but I'll just melt this ice and then I'll…"

"Give it a rest, please?" Tempest punches Joto squarely across the jaw, sending him unconscious yet still trapped upright in his frozen clothing. Barely missing a beat, Tempest keeps advancing on Risk.

In a moment that can be described either as blind panic, or just unheralded cockiness, Risk decides to meet his attacker head on. Leaping with all his speed and strength, he throws himself at Tempest. With a half smile, the senior Titan fires a blast of energy from his eyes, knocking Risk from the air. Hurt but undaunted, Risk rises to his feet and again tries to engage Tempest. Though his opponent is much faster, Tempest easily evades Risk's clumsy (to Tempests thinking anyway) assault. With quiet competence, Garth drives his fist into the shoulder he had seen Roy pierce with an arrow earlier in the battle. Howling in pain, Risk steps back only to find it's Tempests turn to press an attack. Two more powerful shots from ocean-hardened muscles, and Risk goes down.

"Stupid kid." Tempest shakes his head in disgust. He quickly turns to face the sound of clapping coming up the bank.

"Bravo!" Arsenal grins as he makes his way to his old friend's side. "Saved by Aqualad. I'm never going to live this one down."

"Come on now, Speedy." Tempest smiles back. "The way this worked out so neatly, you might think you'd planned it."

"Heh, we all almost died at least twice and spent over half the time ducking for cover…" Roy shakes his head as he checks on the semi-conscious Damage. "And the guy we came to save gets the crap kicked out of him. Yeah, this looks like one of my plans."

"No kidding." Garth chuckles. "I hope the others are doing better than we are."

"That kind of luck, amigo, we haven't been having on this case." Arsenal sighs deeply.

---

"This is stinkin' ridiculous!" Cyborg cries in frustration, his white sound blaster unleashing another barrage of pure force at his enemy.

Though he had dropped both of the remaining Blood Troopers much, much earlier, his principle opponent, the energy wielder known as Argent, is proving to be a much bigger headache. Not only has he to this point been unable to pierce the energy shield she has surrounded both herself and her captive, the hyperkinetic Impulse, but her counter attacks have kept him of balance and hopping for the entire battle.

"This is takin' too long. I ain't used to this any more." Victor Stone gritted his teeth as he ducks yet another plasma dagger. "Been too long since I've been this human, spent too much time a that Techis, Cyberion. My heart's racin', my muscles are achin', and I'm short of breadth. Face it, Stone, The machine in you is runnin' like clockwork, but your human half is out of shape. This is embarrassing!"

"Ready to quit yet, Old Timer?" Argent calls out. "We've only been at this for some twenty minutes, tops, in this disgusting Deep South steam bath hot house of a ghost town and you're slowing down on me some."

"Did somebody say "slow?" A voice came from behind the silver armored Titan. "I hate that word."

Then a blur of yellow and red motion zips on to the scene and straight at Argent. It moves up and over her hastily erected shield and straight to the bubble containing Impulse, whisking it away from the befuddled Argent.

"Flasher?" Cyborg cocks his head in mild confusion. "I thought you said you couldn't…"

"Oh no you don't!" Argent takes mental control of her energy bubble, causing it to rise into the air, carrying both "Kid Flashes" with it.

Cyborg takes advantage of Argents momentary distraction to try a new tactic. With all the power his hydraulic legs can muster, Cyborg charges the young mind controlled Titan, slamming his massive armored weight into her shield. The wall of plasma holds, barely, but the shock is enough to knock the white skinned teenager off her feet.

"Boo." Cyborg grins in mild amusement. Before she can counter, Cyborg hammers the shield again and again with his powerful fists.

Hopping down from the now high floating bubble, Flash again channels the Speed Force into the roller blades on his feet and races towards Argent again, this time intent on getting behind her field and taking the fight directly to the young woman. But Argent is already in the process of transforming her shield wall into a dome to better protect herself from Cyborg's assault. Despite his newly recovered speed, he does not reach her before she seals the dome. Changing tactics yet again, the Flash uses the dome as a ramp to send him high into the air. Clenching the metal bat in his hands, Flash swing as hard as he can at Impulse's spherical prison. While he does not break it, he does manage to knock it back down to ground level. But the strain of maintaining both structures under heavy assault is wearing on Argent. And Cyborg can feel the field he's pounding on weaken a bit as Flash strikes the bubble.

"Flasher, keep pounding that bubble, man." Cyborg glances over his shoulder at his rather ridiculous looking companion, who's still wearing the skate pads and helmet and a satchel over his Kid Flash costume. "She can't keep us both out forever."

"You got it, Vic!" Wally smiles and begins wailing on his cousin's bubble like a piñata.

In response, Argent closes her eyes in tight concentration, forming her weakening dome into a bubble. Then suddenly, violently, both bubbles shoot into the air and out of reach.

"Aw, hell." Vic groans. "She would have to think of that wouldn't she?"

"It gets worse." Flash points to the sky as Omen swirls back into existence beside her.

"Aw come on." Cyborg's shoulders sag slightly. "I thought the Witch could take Spooky no problem. Where is the Bird-Lady anyway?"

As if on cue, Raven's soul-self swoops into view, hovering above their opponents to prevent an air born get away.

"That's better." Cyborg smiles. "Now all we've got to do is go up there and get 'em."

"I'll get her attention. You grab Impulse." Wally whispers too low to be heard by the floating mind-numbed Titans, but easily heard by Cyborg's electronic ear. "We go on three."

---

Nightwing leaps for all he's worth, but the earthen hand rising below him snatches him anyway. The stony grip pins his left arm and holds him tight, too tight for him reach any of the weapons hidden on his costume. Before the leering Terra can command her creation to crush him like a grape, Changeling rips upward from the ground where she'd again tried to bury the green-skinned shape-changer. This time his green grizzly bear form flings the lithe blonde across the shattered grounds of the Wilson estate.

"Gar!" Nightwing yells as his teammate turns to free him. "Don't worry about me, I'll get myself free. We can't let up on her or she'll bury us both for good."

With an uncharacteristic silence, Changeling transforms into a green jaguar and speeds after his fallen prey and out of Nightwing's line of sight. Working feverishly, Nightwing miraculously manages to get one of the small shaped charges from the compartments on his wrist. A quick scan of his surroundings, some hasting calculations and set timer later, Nightwing throws the charge so that it ricochets off a nearby shattered column and bounces back right at the wrist of this earthen hand detonating the exact second it hits it. The explosion is enough to break Nightwing free, and he tumbles expertly to the ground.

"And Batman said I'd never get the hang of that trick." The former Boy Wonder smiles to himself.

Before he can make another move a large hunk of rock swoops into his chest picking Nightwing up and pinning him against the battered wall. He pushes against it with al his might, yet the rock continues to slowly push into him. Terra comes into view, once again riding a large rock, but this time Rose Wilson is not the only unconscious Titan lying at her feet. Gar Logan lies there too now, red blood staining his dark green hair.

"Ol' Slime-breadth never was in my league, Bird-boy." Terra scoffs as she kicks Logan from her floating platform. "And Neither were you. None of you losers were. I'm just glad I got the chance to finish today what me an' Slade started all those years ago."

As the rock continues to relentlessly crush Nightwing's chest, its mistress wills her earthen chariot to hover just in front of her struggling victim. Stepping to it edge, Terra leans forward and plants a passionate, if one-sided, kiss on Nightwing. Then she and her platform pull away.

"Heh. I always wanted to do that." Terra grins maliciously. "Bye, Dicky pooh. We could have had some real fun you and…"

Terra's gloating is cut short as a starbolt irrupts through the sky, blasting the rocky platform.

"Get away from him!" Starfire screams as she soars down at the surprised former Titan. "I mean it Terra!"

---

"Sir," Brother Blood's comlink buzzes to life. "We have a break in the field."

"Beam us back, my son. All of us! Now!" Blood orders as he grabs Mirage with one hand, her child in the other.

---

"Three!" Flash cries as he hurls a Speed Force enhanced pitch at Argent and Omen's floating bubble, which they'd enlarged to encapsulate Impulse's as well.

The ball hits the bubble at close to Mach. Between the force of the blow, and the accompanying sonic boom, Argent's fields finally falter. Leaping into the air, Cyborg reaches for Impulse. Omen too lunges for her free falling captive and catches his hand just a half second before Cyborg reaches them. But in that half-second, the lights of a transporter effect begin to shimmer around the mind controlled Titans and their captive, and as Cyborg reaches where they are they fade from sight. The armored Titans lands, empty handed and extremely angry.

"Who the Hell shut down the transport jammer!!"

---

"Kory?!?" Nightwing stammers out as Starfire's attack on Terra has weakened the earthmovers hold on the rock that was just seconds ago killing him. "What are you doing here? I told you…"

The shimmering lights of the transporter effect surround Terra's whole platform, and she and Rose immediately fade from site.

"NO!" Starfire cries as she realizes her mistake.

---

On the banks of the Savannah River, the shimmering also takes the now bound forms of Risk and Joto.

"Looks like they got around Vic's little toy." Roy says in disgust. "And Blood makes off with my kids again."

"I know, man. It sucks." Garth looks at his long time friend. "But at least they didn't get Grant too."

"Yeah, that is a bright side." Roy turns back to see Garth helping Grant back to his feet. "I just wonder where they went."

---

Reality comes back into focus for the man currently known as Brother Blood, and he does not like what he sees. He and "his Titans" are clearly in a Church of Blood facility, that's obviously by the uniforms of attendants who rush forward to aid the wounded and tend to the captives. But this is not his headquarters in Zandia, nor any other Church facility he was familiar with.

"Why were we not transported directly to my temple?" He demands imperiously. "Why were we brought here instead? On whose authority?"

"Mine."

The pretender to the mantel of Blood turns to see another dressed as he is, only his costume is slightly more ornate and the second man wears it like he was born unto it.

"I am the one true Brother Blood. And I would like to know exactly what you have done in my name."

---

To be continued!!

---

I need to take a sec and Document a couple of my sources for some of the above information. First of all the "Seven years since the Judas Contract" figure came from DC's DCU Secret Files, and the timeline they gave for the whole stinkin' modern age of the DCU. Also I'm sure some of you guys out there are going to write and give me grief about the sex of Mirage's child. See, in JLA/Titans they said she was a girl and named her Juilienne. BUT when the child was born at S.T.A.R. labs a few years ago in Titans #130, it was stated she had a healthy boy! So there. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I aslo appologise if you've read the above and still think you're missing something. Chances are that you're right. I'm trying as best I can to sort through the mess that was the Titans lives at the end of the series this book picks up on, but it was indeed a sorted mess, and many fans had bailed long before it got really bad. I'm trying to keep you guys up to speed with things like the "Two Terras" situation, but at the same time, I don't want this book to bog down under the weight of a ton of exposition. Bear with me, I do my best to explain it all, and I'll sight my sources as I need to. Or if you want to cheat, there's a really good website out there that gives very detailed accounts of the Titans, and along with the books themselves, it's been a real life saver as far as research is concerned. It's called the Titan's Lair. Go check it out if you want.