FDC Presents...

Issue #138
By Clay Arceneaux

The Thanagarians keep coming in waves, the fires of war glistening of their golden wings. Explosions roar all around. His voice hoarse from shouting, his quiver long since empty, Arsenal fires a captured blast rifle into the swooping aliens. A barrage of enemy fire rolls back at him. They harmlessly bounce against Troia's force field, as Tempest counters with a fire and ice attack. Roy glances around him; the Titans are dead on their feet with exhaustion, but still fighting. From the corner of his eye, Arsenal spots something closing quickly from his left. Muscles aching with fatigue, he swings the rifle around and prepares to fire.

"Daddy."

A Hawkguard was downed earlier but obviously wasn't out. His wings damaged, his helmet gone, the alien soldier rushed the Titan with some kind of short sword.

"Daddy!"

Reflexively, Arsenal's finger squeezes the trigger and the rifles spits light from its barrel.

"DADDY!!" Something strikes Arsenal in the chest."Daddy get up!!"

"Ow! What ... Lian?" Roy Harper sits up on his couch and tries to regain his bearings."Baby, I thought I asked you to play quiet so I could grab a nap."

"I was," Lian points to the paused"Dora the Explorer" game displaying on the TV."But Aunt Dinah's on the phone an' she says it's very important she talks to you right now."

"Aunt Dinah ... right." Roy looks at the phone being held an inch from his face, picturing Dinah's face on the other end, no doubt finding this exchange hysterical. Taking the phone, Roy tugs his daughter closer and gives her a quick kiss on the forehead.

"Dinah? Hey ... No, no, it's all good. Just still a little beat from that whole save the world thing. It's been 3 weeks, you'd think I'd be rested ... Yeah ... No ... I did get checked out. Yeah, no alien flu bugs, just exhaustion and a mild concussion ... HA! Says the woman who went crime-fighting in stiletto boots with a high ankle sprain. Yeah ... I know ... You okay? You sound a little ... What?... Yeah I'm sittin' down, Dinah, what's goin' on?... WHAT!!!?!?!?!!??" Roy leaps from the couch and nearly drops the phone. Lian is less successful hanging on to her controller as she must have jumped a foot at her father's reaction.  Roy begins to frantically pace about his apartment as he continues."When?... How?... Seriously, Dinah, you've got to be kidding me ... No I don't know why you would be, but ... I know ... I know ... I just ... He called you ... Why didn't ... Oh yeah, I did drop the land line and changed carriers last year, guess he wouldn't have this number."

"Daddy, what's going on." Lian tugs at her father's jeans pocket, confused and worried by her father's actions. She's already seen a lot in her young life, but she's never seen her Dad this rattled unless her Mommy was involved. And that was never good.

"What?.. Oh hang on ..." Roy settles back down the couch, phone clutched to his chest, and a reassuring hand on his daughter's shoulder. Lian sees tears welling in her father's eyes, and starts to freak out just a bit at the sight."Sweetie, Daddy's okay. Really. Daddy's better than okay, Daddy's freakin' great! It's Grampa Ollie."

"He's dead, right?" Lian crinkles her nose in confusion.

"Apparently not, Baby," Roy chuckles. "Apparently not."

"Oh, Roy, That's wonderful news!" Donna Troy exclaims."I'm sure Lian is thrilled too." Troia cups her hand over her headset so she can better make out what her old friend is saying."No, no, that's really good to hear, sweetheart. When are you heading out to Star Ci ... Vegas? Why is he ...? You are kidding me ... No, I'm over LA again right now. Kyle gave me a lift ... You can stop right there Mister Harper ... Yeah, Lil gave me a call earlier. Apparently Raven's not looking too good .... Well she's been there healing people since the invasion ended. She's only taking breaks to go to that one girl's room ... Yeah that's the one. Apparently Raven's looking"dim," as Lil put it ... No, I don't know what I'm supposed to say to get her to stop crucifying herself over losing control like that ... Yeah ... Okay ... Have fun. Give Lian a hug for me. Bye."

As she comes gently to a stop on a roof top hospital courtyard, Donna looks back over the city. It was truly amazing how much the city had changed in the past weeks. Less than a month ago, the Titans were battling an alien horde in the streets below. The streets were clogged with debris, and the air was heavy with smoke. True, the buildings were now still scarred and pock marked, but the streets were clear, the fires long since out, and the worst of the shattered buildings had already been demolished and cleared. Rebuilding had already begun at a record pace. The Guardian's gift to their adopted home; Kyle Rayner and his fellow Green Lanterns had been working around the clock and across the globe helping to get humanity on its feet.

"If only everything else were as easily mended," Donna thought to herself as she made her way into the hospital.

"Donna, you made it," Lilith hugged her old friend as she came into corridor. Lilith was dressed in her 'Omen' robes and smelled vaguely of smoke.

"You called, I came." Donna replied as the walked together to the room Raven was in."You've been working today."

"Yeah, little gas main fire this morning. Az and I helped out. Haven't had a chance to freshen up. You know how it is." Lilith looked at Donna slightly sheepishly."Is it bad?"

"Adds to the whole mysterious mystic mojo you've been working late ... oh!" Troia stepped back at the sight of what a first glance appeared to be a Thanagarian soldier standing in the hallway. But his armor and helmet had a polished, golden look to them, his wings were covered with white feathers, and the curly long hair peaking from beneath the helmet was decidedly purple. "Azrael! You startled me."

"I'm sorry," The big alien sighed as he took off his helmet."I've been getting that a lot."

"No, no. You're fine, I like the gold," Donna regained her composure.

"It was Lil's idea. We're thinking I needed a better 'working name' than Azrael, since apparently that's taken. Lil suggested Golden Eagle, and Karen helped me modify the armor so ..."

"I think Charlie would be honored," Donna gave the big alien a hug."Now how's our girl?"

"Not good," Lilith's face looked grim."You know she's been working almost non-stop since the fighting stopped. I couldn't tell you how many people she's healed. But every few hours she comes back here, to this room."

Donna opened the hospital room door and saw a soft glow encompassing the room's lone occupant. The young girl made no sound, no movement besides the rhythmic rising and falling of her chest, despite the white energy that was all that remained of the empath Raven surrounding her form. But what upset Troia more than the girl's lack of reaction was the fact that Donna could see her. Normally when Raven's soul-self surrounded someone in that kind of healing 'cocoon', the person was barely visible inside. And even when the soul-self was black in color, the glow surrounding it was much, much brighter.

"Raven," Donna called.

The energy withdrew from the motionless girl and reshaped itself into a vaguely human shape. It had been a long while ago that Raven's physical body had been destroyed, but Raven's spirit had long since merged with her 'soul-self' and her friends were used to seeing her in this glowing image of her former form. But it, too, was now transparent.

"Hello, Donna." Raven responded, her voice sounding oddly tinny, like an old radio."I ... did not know you were here."

"Just got here. Lilith said you weren't looking well. And she's right." As Donna tried to approach her, Raven's form shank away from her."Raven, why ... Are you trying to hide from me?"

"I am sorry, Donna. You have done nothing wrong. In fact, had you not acted when you did, Azar only knows what damage I could have done. I am ... ashamed ... that it was necessary." Raven replied. Her image hid her 'face' inside her 'cloak'. "All those years, Donna Troy. Years of study, of meditation, and again it all washes away in a single moment. How close did I come to again unleashing an evil far darker than even Mongul's hoards?"

"Raven ..." Troia struggled for words."You can't keep crucifying yourself over what didn't happen. Yes, you lost control of yourself for a little while. Considering what we were facing, that was understandable. But you also reigned everything back in, and Trigon wasn't released. And if you hadn't acted, then Mongul's forces would have surely overrun the West Coast. I know you're upset, I know you're scared, but you are literally going to use yourself up if you keep going like this."

"I cannot stop now, Donna. I cannot," Raven's form trembled."I have much to make up for, penance for my actions," the ghostly form turned back to the comatose girl,"and for my inactions."

Stepping impossibly from behind a curtain in a corner of the room, a cloaked man dressed in black moved to stand between the startled heroines. His eyes glowed softly in the shadow of his fedora."If you will not listen to your friend, perhaps you'll heed the words of a stranger."

A continent away, Nightwing looked out across the island of Manhattan from his rooftop vantage point. The sun was just starting to set, bathing the city in an orange glow. Soon the dark grey buildings would come alive with lights. At least, that's what should happen. The battle scars of the invasion were still everywhere to be seen, and power had yet to be fully restored to the island. There was still so much to do that Nightwing felt guilty just standing around STAR labs. But then, he'd felt so cooped up inside that he had to come up outside for some air. Normal people go down to the street and walk around when that happens. Men who wear full costumes half their lives go skulk on rooftops.

Appropriately dressed, Nightwing scanned across the rooftops. He couldn't quite see his old apartment building from here. But he could see the building where an alien princess fell through a skylight and changed his world forever. A few blocks over, his team fought the Fearsome Five. Nightwing found himself mentally moving from roof to roof, remembering the pattern of his old patrol when he called this city home. So many memories here, good and bad. Almost involuntarily, Nightwing found himself staring out at an island in the middle of the river, where an improbable 'T' shaped building used to stand.

"Hey!" a familiar voice called out to him. "Didn't know you were in town."

Nightwing looked up to see the bright yellow and red form of Firestorm, the Nuclear Man hovering overhead.

"Hey, Firestorm. Been a while," Nightwing tried to avoid looking right at the young hero. He knew it was an odd illusionary effect, but Firestorm's flaming"hair" always disturbed and distracted Nightwing for some reason."Yeah just in town this afternoon. Bringing a friend in for some tests and stuff."

"Oh," Firestorm replied disappointedly."So you guys aren't coming back here? You're gonna stay west coast?"

"Huh? Oh ... no, no," Nightwing shook his head."Honestly, Firestorm, we've teamed up a few times the last few months, but we haven't had any kind of discussion about making it formal again. Let alone where we'd be based."

"Yeah, I get you. I understand. Big decision. Can't always go home again and stuff," Firestorm mulled his own recent choice to not try to rejoin the Justice League."But to be honest, ego aside, I'm trying to cover this whole berg on my own right now, and I could sure use the help. But I gotta run. Be seein' ya!"

"You too," Nightwing waved as the Nuclear Man soared out of sight. With a sigh, Nightwing stared back at the empty island."Can't always go home again is right."

"Nightwing ..." A more feminine voice called to him this time.

Princess Koriand'r of Tammaran, known on Earth as Starfire, stood unsteadily in the doorway leading back down into the building. Her left arm rested in a sling over her Earth civilian clothes, and bandages still protected areas of her beautiful face.

"Kory, what are you doing up here?" Nightwing hurried over to her."You shouldn't have walked up all this way. I'd have been right down."

"You are a fine one to talk, Mr. Knee-Brace-Over-His-Costume. Those stairs can't have felt good to you either," Kory scolded.

"Point taken. But I'm not the one with a head injury."

"I am fine. Doctors have poked, prodded, and probed. They want me to try to avoid being tortured, or participating in any invasion repelling for a few weeks, but I am 'cleared' for stopping muggers and bank robbers, and maybe even a low level villain or two." Kory smiled wryly. "As long as I only use my right arm."

"That so. You get that in writing?" Nightwing smirked back. Starfire handed him a stack of papers she had tucked into her sling.  "Well, what do you know; they did literally put that in writing."

Kory floated off her feet a few inches above the roof top and drifted into the fading rays of the sun.

"Oh, how I've missed this place. This planet, this country, this island city." Starfire felt a nervous lump in her throat as Nightwing crossed to join her. So much had happened to her while she was away, so much that she needed to tell him. Maybe now, while they were alone, before she lost her nerve, was the time."I ... missed you too, Dick. I am very glad you came with me today."

"Kory ..." Dick Grayson, the man underneath Nightwing's mask, struggled for words. He heard the old familiar tone in Kory's voice. And he'd have been lying if he said a part of him had not longed to hear it again. But ..."You are very dear to me. And I'm happy you're back, and happy I was able to be here for you today. But I need to be honest with you and get this out in the open right up front. I'm seeing someone. And it's serious."

"Oh." Kory now struggled with herself. No, she thought, now is not the time.

"Do you remember Barbara, my old friend from Gotham?"

"Yes. She used to be Batgirl. You two have known each other a long time."

"Yeah. We have. And it's going really good. We're ... really happy." Dick shifted uncomfortably, the awkwardness of the conversation growing thick.

"I'm glad for you, Dick. Truly I am," Kory replied with a resigned sigh."And I appreciate you telling me. I have been gone so long, it's only natural things would be different."

"Look, Kory," Dick placed his hand on his former fiancé's shoulder."One thing that hasn't changed is I am still your friend. And I'm serious about wanting to be here for you."

"Thank you." Kory sighed again and collected herself."Now we just have to figure out where 'here' is going to be."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"What? No need to get your tin foil in a bunch. I'm just sayin' I love the weather out here. Might not be bad to call this town home again."

"Salad Head, I did not fly back from the other side of the universe to put down stakes on the wrong end of the country. I'm goin' home, where the winters are frozen, the summers are miserable, the rats only fear the roaches, the streets are noisy, the women are real, and crazy old people still call me 'Corky'."

Gar Logan peeked down his green muzzle at his best friend's metallic feet, the part of the hero known as Cyborg visible from underneath the massive piece of equipment they were repairing. Gar smiled with his little mouse teeth.

"Yeah, they have missed you too. I've talked to them dozens of times after I got home." Little green mouse hands slid little alien looking chips into slots with the device."Statistically someone had to, I guess."

"Funny stuff, 'Moldy Mouse'." Cyborg growled. "You done in there yet?"

"Think so ..."

"Alright hang on ... nuthin'!" Cyborg slid out from under the machine and stared at it like he wanted to punch it."Can't figure out why we're not getting power. You sure you put those chips in right?"

"Of course I'm sure." Gar squeaked back."You numbered them for me and every ... oh wait ... hang on, I think number 6 is in upside down. Okay, try it now."

Murmuring under his breath, Cyborg stretched his wrist back under the machine and again pressed a few buttons. With a low hum and some twinkling of status lights, the machine came back to life, and with it, the lights in ship's compartments noticeably brightened.

"And now, we have main power online again. Now we can really see if that patch job we did on the SI field is gonna hold or not."

"Can't believe we're going to get this thing off the ground again after that crash." The little green bird said as it flew out of the machine to perch on his friend's shoulder.

"I told you, I'm goin' home. And I'm takin' my baby here with me." Cyborg made his way out of the engine room and headed for his ship's bridge.

"Then what?" Gar asked with a tinge of melancholy."I mean, we've seen the gang a bunch of times since the aliens ran off. But everyone's studiously avoiding talking about what comes next."

"Guess we re-form the team again. I dunno, what else we gonna do? Try goin' our separate ways again and wait for fate to keep throwing stuff at us to reunite us until we get the freakin' point?"  Vic shook his head."The five of them, the four of us, we're the Titans. We're family. Can fight it all we want, it's who we are."

"Wait ... five?" Gar cocks his birdy head to the side."You think West is going to step back down to the minors?"

"See, that's the problem. You, Dick, Wally, Roy ... You keep thinkin' of this as some sort of junior Justice League, like we're all sitting here waitin' to get the call up to the Satellite and play for the big boys."

"Watchtower," Changeling corrected"The old Satellite went boom, remember? I think the JSA has one now though."

"Point is, Bird-brain," An annoyed Vic continued as he sat down at the ship's controls and began cycling through the status checks."that we ain't minor league nuthin' anymore. Haven't been for a long, long time. Like first time we beat down Trigon long. Just some of you guys who grew up in the biz have a hard time seein' that. We ain't nobody's farm team. Green-genes, make yourself useful and flutter on over that engineering console and tell me what the SI field's doing."

"Structural Integrity field is ... fluctuating between 65 to 70%" The green bird assumed his human form and stared at the console."So we're gonna restart the team, huh?"

"Even if it's just you and me, man," Vic smiled."Oh, we'll give the rest of the gang some time to hem an' haw 'bout it. Dick'll worry an' fret, Roy will think 'bout hangin' it up, you know the drill. But you watch, most of the others will be there too."

"I ... I want us to invite Terra."

"Excuse me? You want us to what?" Cyborg spun his chair around to face his friend."After what happened with her and Blood? You wanna set us up for that again? You?"

"That's exactly why I want her on the team." Gar replied with uncharacteristic seriousness."Vic, I know you have access to the memories of that time when this Terra first showed up, but you weren't really there. Everything we were told, everything we tried to find out said that this Terra may look the same, and have similar powers, but it wasn't the same girl who betrayed us. And for years we've had absolutely no reason to doubt that. Until now. My God, Vic, you saw her. She talked like her, moved like her, even had that contemptuous smirk on her face that's haunted every one of us all these years." Tears welled in the corners of Gar Logan's eyes."Vic, if there's even a chance that's the 'real' Tara, that she somehow survived, or came back ... then she's our problem, our mess to clean up, not someone else's. We ... I need to know the truth here if I'm gonna have any peace."

"And I'm gonna help you find it, Gar. For all our sakes," Vic locked eyes with his best friend."Now pull yourself together, Salad-head, wanna tighten that field up before I try lifting this hunk of tin of the ground."

"Thanks, Vic," Gar took a shaky breath."Good to see that new personality program you downloaded is paying off."

"Yeah well I'm gonna show you the Shiny-Foot-In-Your-Gangrene-Butt sub routine if you don't get back to work."

"Phantom Stranger," Raven stared at the black clad man who appeared in their midst."Why are you here?"

Before the Stranger could answer, Omen and Azrael burst into the room!

"Donna, Raven, I felt a strong upsurge in mystic energies and ... Oh ..." Omen came to stop upon seeing the Stranger."No, Az, it's okay, he's here to help ... usually."

"I am where I am needed." The Phantom Stranger gave a slight smile as he turned again to Raven."And today, I am needed here."

"Can you help her?" Donna Troy stared at the Phantom Stranger with suspicion. She'd heard of him, knew he was an honorary member of the League, but standing in his presence she understood what Diana had told her too: that there was something unsettling about the man. Diana didn't completely trust him, and now Donna wasn't sure she did either."Can you restore her to normal?"

"Normal." The mystery man shifted his shadowed gaze to Troia."An interesting turn of phrase, Donna Hinckley, all things considered. But yes, restoring Raven is exactly what I intend to do."

"I wish no boon from you, Stranger." Raven replied."My fate is chosen, my penance set. The universe will be better without the constant threat I represent."

"While your perspective is ever unique, child, I am afraid that you are not qualified to decide your value in the greater scheme. Those higher powers which I serve still have a need for that unique perspective of yours and do not wish for you to leave just yet."

"Why would they ... would He care what fate befell Satan's daughter?"

"How many times must you be told? You are not your father. His sins are not credited to your account. You have made your own path. And now He wants you continue on it."

The Phantom Stranger's eye's and amulet began to glow more brightly and with a gesture he seemed to force Raven's spirit from it's human shape into it's white bird-like form. With another wave of his hand, Raven floated over the body of the comatose girl she had failed to save from the Thanagarian weeks before. Realizing what the Stranger intended to do, Raven's form began to glow more brightly as she tried to resist his magics.

"No, Stranger!" Raven cried."I will not condemn this child to Trigon's evil!"

"Dear child, Trigon is truly and complete dead," The Phantom Stranger's words were said with such conviction that Raven stopped her struggle for a moment. A moment was all the Stranger needed, as he forced Raven's soul-self down into the girl's unmoving form."There."

The Stranger came to stand next to the girl body, now all but obscured by cracking mystic energies, and closed his eye in concentration.

"What have you done to her?" Troia demanded, realizing that she could not move, held in place by the stranger's power.

" 'Two birds, one stone' as it were," The Stranger replied."When she was fully alive, your friend would weaken if her soul-self was separated from her body for too long. Loss of her physical form lessened that weakness, but did not remove it. Her soul needs to rest safe within a shell again. And, we couldn't leave this lying around much longer, even with a godling to protect it."

"The girl is a 'hollow'," Omen responded to Donna's unasked question. "A living body without a soul. Raven inadvertently created it when she tried to revive the girl after the Hawkguard shot her. Raven's been trying to call the girl's soul back to it all this time, and I've been helping her stand guard over it. Hollows are extremely rare and highly coveted by the lower powers for obvious reasons."

"And now this one is 'full' again." The Stranger opened his eyes and stepped back."I have bound Raven to this, her new body. Behold your friend 'restored to normal'."

"Hera ... she looks like Raven ... exactly how she looked when we met her all those years ago." Donna rushed to the bedside as the found herself able to move."Thank you, Stranger."

"She will sleep now, probably for a long while as her strength returns," The Stranger nodded."And she will need more of your wise counsel as she goes forward, child of the old Titans."

"Stranger ... if Trigon is no more, then what did we see the day of the invasion?" Omen stepped beside the cloaked mystic."What was Raven manifesting if not her father's power?"

"No power but her own, daughter of Olympus. No darkness that is not found in every human soul. Not but that which we all must guard against save it destroy our very lives."

"Stranger, will her powers be ... affected ..." Donna turned, but the Stranger had vanished as mysteriously as he arrived. "Gone."

Donna pondered the Stranger's words as she stared down at her sleeping friend. It seemed unfair somehow. When Donna herself was brought back to life from oblivion, no one restored her back to her 19 year old self. But perhaps under the circumstances, she could not begrudge Raven's good fortune. And with so much changed, Donna began to wonder what the future held for all of them.

City lights filter into the tinted windows of a lavish board room. The harsh overhead lighting made each chair at the table appear to have its own spotlight. The hour was late, and the people at the table sat with tired shoulders shuffling papers, fiddling with smart-phones, or typing at their laptops. The meeting was running late, but the small man at the end of the table had little patience for their own lack there of.

"So the doctor is hopeful that with the acquisition of the second subject, he can isolate the transformational properties of his original formula," A heavy set man concluded."He's confident that will be the key to make the breakthrough we're all hoping for."

"He'd better. We're over budget on this project already," The little man growled from the shadows."Last point for the evening, where are we on our alien recovery programs?"

"Well, sir, as you know, our people have been working around the clock to pick up as much left over technology from the conflict as we can," A slender balding man spoke up, happy to finally get his turn."All told, we have an impressive selection from all the invading species. We've been able to recover and analyze just about all of the various hand weaponry, and will be able to begin production on the first of our reproduction Thangarian rifles late next week. We've already got a buyer on those, with two more are interested after the see the final line pieces. Speaking of Thanagar, we are very pleased to report we have quietly acquired nearly a half cubic ton of Nth metal. We are still looking for a facility secure enough to begin testing it, as certain closed-minded parties are still confiscating it as 'too dangerous'. As Jerry mentioned earlier, I know Mr. Wilson has expressed an interest in upgrading some of his equipment, I think my people are close to reproducing the power core for those Citadel staff weapons so I think we can help each other on that end."

"And the Khund bionics?" The head of the meeting inquired, the light glinting off his small round glasses."Any more progress there?"

"Unfortunately, we've hit a few snags there," The slender man shifted uncomfortably in his seat."None of the initial subject survived implantation. Something in the tech is frying their nervous systems. What I need is a more data on a living human who's interfaced on this level with alien technology, and I believe that covert ops has a plan to get just that, do you not?"

"Correct,"  a voice crackled from a speaker in the middle of the table."We have identified an excellent subject that should not only solve of bionics problem, but grant us access to a completely untested form of alien technology. We are ready to proceed as soon as the subject picks which American coast to settle on."

To be continued first in FDC's Halloween Specials Cyborg, Raven & Changeling, and Troia one shot stories. Then be back here next issue as decisions are made about the team's future.