Teen Titans Fan Fiction ❯ Teen Titans: Future Storm ❯ Creatures ( Chapter 28 )

 

“Teen Titans: Future Storm”

Arc 6: “Justice”

Chapter 3: “Creatures”

Disclaimer: Teen Titans and Justice League do not belong to me. They belong to DC Comics and Warner Brothers. Nightstar, Mercury, Ravager, Slade, and most of the Justice League with the exception of Green Lantern do not belong to me, either. All except Mercury are the sole property of DC Comics, while Mercury is jointly owned by DC and Marvel.

Author's note: I really put Mercury through the ringer, didn't I? Making him kill that OMAC, which has turned out to be a human being, is certainly not good for him, either in terms of his reputation as a hero or psychologically. Now, if the OMACs are really human beings, then what happened to them to make them into cyborg metahuman-hunters? And is this part of some larger plan that we - or rather, you - have yet to decipher? We'll see.

“Earlier this night, Jump City's tech sector was the scene of an intense battle between the Teen Titans and several meta-criminals. In the process, an innocent man became a casualty of their conflict, impaled through the chest by some kind of lightning strike. The culprit was none other than the Titans' speedster Mercury, who was apprehended by Nova Blue officers. One of the arresting officers, Marvin Jurgens, had this to say.”

The image cut to a black-haired man in his mid-thirties with a crew cut and a strong jaw. “The kid was just staring into nothing. It was like he wasn't seeing anything at all, or if he did, he couldn't quite understand it. He didn't even put up a fight when we took him away, although Beast Girl raised a fuss, saying that we didn't know what really happened. Maybe we don't, but I'm not sure we're going to get the entire truth from those kids.”

The image reverted to the reporter. “With this news has come increased support for a means to check metahuman vigilantism, thus leading to more Congress members coming out in favor of the Watchmen Act. The Act will come up for a vote tomorrow midday, and in light of Mercury's actions, it seems that it'll pass with a minimum of opposition. This is Maria Fitzgerald, reporting from NewsNet 2.”

Lena Luthor turned off the giant screen and smiled in evil satisfaction. “Exactly as I expected,” she spoke.

“Where did those machines come from?” Slade asked. “Were they a part of the plan that you failed to inform us of?”

Lena turned to look Slade in his singular eye. “Not quite part of my plan, but something I was able to manipulate for my own ends. Did you know that the Department of Extranormal Operations has been secretly gathering data on metahumans for years? They've been doing it via a spy satellite designed to monitor anyone whose genetic code deviates from that of a baseline human. The . . . OMACs are connected to that satellite.”

“Won't they go after us, too?” Bright asked. “Yes, I know you and Calculator will be immune since you have no superhuman abilities, but that doesn't go for the rest of us.”

“You'll have to risk it,” Lena replied. “Besides, the D.E.O. wants the same thing we want, which is for these `superheroes' to be removed from the picture.”

Slade rose from his seat, his six-feet-four-inches, muscular frame towering over the five-feet-six-inches, slender frame of Lena. “Risk it, you say? My daughter could have been killed by those machines. Now, unless you want to update your definition of `risk,' you'll make sure that the rest of us can't be touched by those things.”

Lena glared at Slade. “Don't think you can intimidate me, Deathstroke,” she said. “Don't think you can do that.”

Black Adam rose from his seat. “I've had enough of your petty posturing,” he stated in his usual imperious tones. With no more said, he walked out of the room, leaving everyone present with a slight chill to which none of them would admit.

“Why do we put up with him?” Bright asked.

“Because his power is useful to us,” Lena replied. “Just like yours is. Plus, he has the resources of an entire nation behind him, which makes him even more useful. Considering that it's a nation he strongly wishes to protect . . . it keeps him from doing anything . . . unwise.”

“You really are a manipulative bitch, aren't you?” Bright commented.

“I'll take that as a compliment,” Lena responded with a dangerous smirk. “But don't think you can speak to me in such a manner in the future.”

Elsewhere in the Society's floating fortress, Black Adam had found Ravager sitting by herself in the hall. She was the very picture of despondency, curled up as though she wished to disappear. Curiously, he looked down at her and asked, “What is the matter with you?”

Ravager looked up at him, her lips twisted into a sneer. “And why are you so concerned for my condition?”

“Who claims that I'm concerned for your condition?” Black Adam asked imperiously.

“Please,” Ravager sneered. “If you weren't the slightest bit piqued, you would have just passed by.”

Black Adam gritted his teeth. “You're a fierce warrior, Ravager. That is your reputation. Why are you sitting here as though you wish for Anubis to claim you? Unless . . . you don't like it here, either, do you?”

Ravager stared sharply at him. “Either? What are you doing here, Black Adam? I thought your villainous tendencies were simply the product of your descendant taking over your powers.”

“My reasons for being here are the same as yours,” Black Adam replied. “Duty to those I love. To my kingdom, to my people, to my wife, to my son.”

“And for them, you're willing to do all this?” Ravager asked.

“Are you not willing to do the same for your father?” Black Adam questioned. “To work for him, to fight for him, to risk death so that his goals will become a reality?”

“Yes, but . . . this?” Ravager asked. “You didn't see the expressions on their faces when that OMAC turned out to be a human being. It was like . . . something broke inside them. The way something broke inside me when my mother was murdered.”

“You care about them, don't you?” Black Adam mused. “At least, you care about one of them, don't you?”

A dark figure slipped into the Jump City police morgue, making her steps silently on the linoleum. She looked to her left and saw a wall of closed slots where she knew the bodies would be kept. She was looking for the newest body to enter the morgue. She needed to see what was really going on, because she had the feeling that that body had only entered the morgue through the machinations of some invisible hand. She hovered above the floor, raising herself up to the second highest row when she reached the L column.

She pressed the touchpad next to the slot she was facing and moved aside for the drawer to open. She felt a chill from the cold air released by the opening of the drawer and then peeled back the tarp concealing the body once that chill passed. “Richard Snow . . . let's see what you were really made of.” She opened a compartment of her belt and pulled out a scanning tool, running it over his body.

“Human . . . but there's nanites swarming in his blood. They're decaying now, probably because he's not alive anymore. . . .” She opened another compartment of her belt, only for the alarm to suddenly go off. “Damn it.” She pulled out her cutter and pricked the body with it, capturing a sample of blood for further examination. She quickly put the cutter back inside her belt and closed the belt, speeding out the way she came in. She hoped to make it out safely, but that was not to be.

When she exited onto the roof, she ended up running into the lights shined onto the roof by police hovercraft. Those lights also revealed Nova Blue officers with their rifles trained on her, as well as two people she really didn't want to see right now. Those two people were Solarflare and Nightside.

“Nightstar!” the Nova Blue squad leader shouted. “You are under arrest! You have the right to remain silent or anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law!”

“Waived!” Nightstar answered and lashed out with her energy whip, only for it to be caught by Nightside, who used it to yank her over. Nightstar dissipated the whip and flew at Nightside for a vicious punch. Nova Blue opened fire on Nightstar, forcing her to evade the energy blasts from their rifles. She dodged with superhuman alacrity and extended her energy wire, using it to slice through Nova Blue's weapons. The wire also cut through their armor, not enough to sever body parts but enough to cut them.

Solarflare and Nightside double-teamed Nightstar, assaulting her with blows from both sides. Nightstar blocked a punch from Solarflare while jumping to avoid a kick from Nightside. She flipped backwards and fired an optic blast at Solarflare and Nightside, the former retaliating with a blast of matter-disintegrating energy from his eyes. The blasts canceled each other out and Nightstar landed on her feet. Nightside charged at Nightstar with inhuman speed and assaulted her with similar ferocity. Nightstar blocked her punches and kicks and retaliated with her own.

Nightside flipped back and pulled out a small rod from her belt, pressing a button to telescope it into a four-foot staff. She whirled and struck Nightstar with it, but Nightstar trapped the staff against her side and used it to pull Nightside to her. Nightstar raised her knee to slam into Nightside's stomach with enough force to knock the breath out of her. Nightside grabbed Nightstar's leg and used it to throw her at the edge of the roof. Nightstar turned her unwilling flight into a cartwheel and landed on her feet.

A blur of superhuman motion suddenly struck her, but she blocked it, revealing it to be Solarflare. She spun with him and threw him at a police hovercraft. He flipped in midair and floated over the hovercraft. He flew at Nightstar and her at him, both of them meeting halfway with powerful punches. The punches sent both of them flying in opposite directions, Solarflare going further into the air and Nightstar crashing onto the roof. Nova Blue swarmed around the fallen Tamaranean hybrid, ready to take her in. One of them, however, noticed a small orb of reddish-orange energy rolling near her.

“Hey, Sarge, what's that?” one of the Nova Blue officers asked.

“Everyone, get out of the way, now!” the Nova Blue squad leader yelled. Everyone did exactly that, moving as far away from the orb as possible without jumping off the roof before the orb detonated. When any of them had the courage to take a good look at what was before them, they found smoke dissipating to reveal not much of anything. The rooftop looked burnt, but other than that there was no substantial damage to it. There was one other noticeable thing about it and that was that Nightstar wasn't on it anymore.

When Nightstar's senses fully reoriented themselves, she found herself lying on a futon and her head was lying on a pillow. Her first impression was that the futon she was lying on was very soft. It felt very comfortable on her back and she mused that she wouldn't mind having sex with someone, preferably Cipher, in it. Her second impression was that it would be awfully rude to have sex in someone else's bed.

“You're awake,” a soft voice spoke to her.

Nightstar turned to her left to see a dark-haired girl dressed in the robes of a Shinto priestess. “Who are you?” she asked.

“Makoto Hino,” the girl replied.

“Were you the one who brought me here?” Nightstar asked.

“That was me,” a dry, scratchy male voice answered, causing Nightstar to turn in its direction. She saw a male figure dressed in a skintight red suit with a white design surrounding a yellow circle on the chest. White gloves and boots covered his hands and feet as well as his forearms and calves. He wore a red mask with a white front and yellow lenses, concealing the entirety of his face.

“Phoebus,” Nightstar greeted. “Thanks.”

“You're welcome,” Phoebus replied. “It's already started.”

“What's already started?” Nightstar questioned.

“The beginning of the end for us,” Phoebus answered. “I was watching the news before I checked in on you. They voted the Watchmen Act into law. As of this morning, any metahuman crime-fighter who doesn't register with the government becomes an enemy of the state. There's supposed to be a one-week grace period, but don't be surprised when they start going after any crime-fighters caught doing their thing without government registration before it's up.”

“What? How did that happen?” Nightstar asked, sitting up in the futon.

“Mercury's actions made the human populace's fears of being killed in the crossfire of metahuman conflicts suddenly seem much more valid,” Phoebus replied. “They've had this in mind for a few years now, but with the explosion of the metahuman population, this, and you getting into a fight with Nova Blue, they got the public support they needed to push it through.” He chuckled bitterly before going on. “Of course, what they neglected to mention was that that man Mercury went and `killed' was just moments before his death part of an assault on you by robotic `mask hunters.'”

“I scanned his corpse,” Nightstar said. “His blood was full of nanites. I managed to get a sample of it before someone triggered the alarm.”

“That alarm had to have been triggered remotely,” Phoebus concluded, “because you'd be more careful than to trigger it by accident. Therefore, someone doesn't want us figuring out the real nature of these mask hunters, someone who has a lot to gain by metahumans being placed under government control or eliminated.”

“The OMACs - that's what they called themselves - came after both us and Tartarus,” Nightstar explained. “They were able to disable some of us and they nearly killed Beast Girl before Mercury did what he did.” She looked at Phoebus. “And how does anyone know about me breaking into the police morgue besides Nova Blue, those Infinity, Inc. punks, and you?”

“The police reported it,” Phoebus replied. “They chose to interpret it as you trying to contaminate or destroy the evidence of Mercury's supposed guilt. That helped convince Congress that we couldn't be trusted to go about unrestricted anymore. Now they're talking about how we need to be held accountable for our actions.” A bitter snort followed. “They want to control us and if they can't, they'll eliminate us. That's the endgame, Mar'i. The end of the line for us.”

“If they want to hold someone accountable, they should be holding the people who sent those OMACs to kill us,” Nightstar stated emphatically.

“True, but do you think whoever sent the OMACs after you would want the public knowing that there are killbots going after metahumans?” Phoebus asked. “It's not like the public so thoroughly distrusts us that they'd approve of metahumans being slaughtered in the streets.”

“I have to go back to the others,” Nightstar said.

“You can't,” Phoebus answered. “You're a fugitive. You go back to Titans Tower, Nova Blue will track you down and have you and the other Titans arrested along with Mercury. For now, it's best you stay here where you're safe.”

In Titans Tower, none of the remaining Titans had gone to school. It just seemed rather pointless to go, in light of what had happened to them. Mercury was sitting in the hospital ward of the police station's holding area in a catatonic state and Nightstar had gone missing after getting into a fight with Nova Blue while trying to figure out the mystery behind the OMAC-turned-corpse. Bladefire gazed at his communicator waiting for a call from his twin. Inferno manned the supercomputer, trying to track the OMACs. Beast Girl was beating the sand out of a punching bag in the training room while Samara was holding said punching bag and trying to remain steady.

“This isn't right!” Beast Girl roared, accenting her rage with a ferocious strike to the punching bag. “He didn't deserve that!” She struck the punching bag again. “Why would they do this? After all we've done for them, why?”

“Because they're ingrates,” Samara replied harshly. “Because they don't trust us.”

Beast Girl pummeled the punching bag viciously. “It's not right! It's not fair!”

“The world isn't fair to those born different from those with power,” Samara answered. “The humans control the world and they want to control us along with it to keep it that way. If they can't, they'll kill us. It's that simple.”

Beast Girl battered the punching bag. “We have to get him out of there!” she exclaimed.

“What's more important is that we find out where these OMACs came from and stop them,” Samara replied. “What scares me is that they knew how to shut us down.”

“I thought you didn't get scared by anything,” Beast Girl mused, startled out of her haze of anger by Samara's admission.

“You know me better than that, Terri,” Samara whispered.

“Samara, Terri, come in,” Bladefire called over their communicators. “There's something you should see.”

Samara and Beast Girl went into the main room of Titans Tower to find Inferno sitting at the supercomputer with Bladefire next to him. They were both viewing a video on the computer and the video was of Mercury. In the video, Mercury summoned the energies of the Speed Force into his hand as a vaguely spherical structure of lightning-like energy. The video image blurred after that, a byproduct of the speed of his charge. The next clear image was Mercury with his Speed Force energy blade in the chest of one Richard White and that was where the video ended.

“That's not how it happened!” Beast Girl exclaimed furiously. “Where did this come from?”

“Found this on WeTube,” Inferno replied. “It's got six thousand hits and counting so far.”

“Obviously, it's edited,” Bladefire added. “That's not what we should be worried about. What this means is that the OMAC attack was a setup for something like this to come out. With this jaundiced account of what happened making it into the public sphere and the news of Nightstar fighting Nova Blue and the new golden children, expect things to get worse before they get better.”

“We're getting a call from the police,” Inferno said, looking at the blinking console light. “Should we answer?”

“Answer,” Bladefire ordered.

Inferno answered, revealing the image of Police Chief Devin Nauck. “Hello, Chief Nauck. What can we do for you?”

“You can tell me where Nightstar is,” Chief Nauck replied tersely.

“We don't know where she is,” Bladefire said. “She hasn't been in contact with us since last night.”

“But you could find her if you wanted to,” Chief Nauck suggested.

“And if we were to find her, what makes you think we'd give her to the same people who are railroading Mercury?” Beast Girl asked acerbically.

“You seem to be forgetting that your boyfriend rammed concentrated lightning into someone's chest and that your leader attempted to eliminate the evidence of that,” Chief Nauck answered. “To be honest, I am sick and tired of you kids running around like you own this city. If the Watchmen Act can make you show some respect to those of us who weren't lucky enough to get superpowers, then more power to it. We're already tracking down Nightstar and if you don't want to join her and Mercury in prison, you will either help or stay out of the way.” The communication signal closed.

“We have to find her first,” Samara said. “Where is she?”

“With Phoebus,” Inferno replied.

“How do you know that?” Samara inquired.

“Because he communicated with me telepathically,” Inferno explained. “He was the one who saved Nightstar from being arrested by Nova Blue.”

“There's something familiar about that man,” Samara mused. “I can't put my finger on it, though . . . just something about him reminds me of someone close to me.”

“He's a dangerous ally to have,” Inferno warned. “He has a vendetta against Lena Luthor and he's got a killer instinct like nothing I've ever seen. Not exactly a guy you can team up with without keeping a close eye on him.”

“NewsNet's reporting again,” Bladefire said, shifting to the latest NewsNet webcast.

“And in the latest news, Infinity, Inc. has registered themselves under the Watchmen Act,” the reporter spoke. “Solarflare, the leader of Infinity, Inc., had this to say.”

The video cut to Solarflare, who had a rather smug grin on his face. “We believe that as superheroes, we have to hold ourselves accountable to the people we protect. We only hope that the other superheroes will follow us in registration, so that we can forge a better future with humankind.”

“Truer words were never spoken,” the reporter said after the video image returned to him. “With Infinity, Inc. becoming the first superheroes registered under the Watchmen Act, the pressure is on for more established superheroes such as the Teen Titans and the Justice League to also submit to the Act. Is this the beginning of a new era of superhero activity, an era where those who use their special abilities to protect normal humans are regulated by the humans they protect? If it is, I'm certainly looking forward to it.”

Suddenly, the video feed was interrupted by another feed. The feed displayed an image of a seemingly faceless woman with long, wavy black hair. Her body could not be seen, as the feed closed in on her face, or lack thereof.

“Do not attempt to change your channel. Do not attempt to change your station. Do not attempt to log into another site. This is a streaming leaderless bulletin and it is the only truth left in this world.

“You're fools. Each and every one of you that supports this Watchmen Act is a fool. If you think the Watchmen Act will allow you to better regulate superheroes, guess what? You won't be the ones regulating them. They will, they being the corporatocracy that controls this nation and so much of the world. They'll use the people who once protected you to protect their own hegemonic interests and you'll be further marginalized, further disenfranchised. Don't let that happen. Fight back, damn you.”

Bladefire locked eyes with Inferno when the bulletin ended. “I'm going out.”

“Where?” Inferno asked.

“To see a certain someone,” Bladefire replied.

As the sun set, Bladefire looked out into the fading day. He saw the pinks, purples, indigos, yellows, reds, and oranges of the sky and marveled at how beautiful it was. Then he remembered that the sun was setting on a world where metahumans - crime-fighters or criminals - were now regarded as equally dangerous. He sighed bitterly and wondered how Nightstar was doing. She was probably going insane from having her freedom of movement restricted, as he was certain Phoebus was doing . . . for her safety, of course.

“Hi, Joh'n,” a female voice greeted him. He turned around to see the same faceless woman from the earlier streaming bulletin standing before him. She was clad in a black leather duster over a black leather suit that molded to the feminine contours of her body. “Where's Mar'i?”

“Somewhere safe,” Bladefire replied. “We could make small talk, but that would be pointless.”

“Always direct, aren't you, Joh'nny boy?” the faceless woman commented sardonically. “Granddaddy Bat taught you well, didn't he?”

“I need your help, Intrigue,” Bladefire said. “Someone is coming after us. Someone who has a database on metahumans and has their own metahuman-hunting killbots programmed with that information. Someone who turned human beings into metahuman-hunting killbots. I want to know who it is and how they were able to do this.”

“Want me to investigate those Infinity, Inc. brats, too?” Intrigue asked.

“Considering Nightside's connection to Lena Luthor, yes,” Bladefire replied. “They make me very suspicious. There's just something . . . off about them.”

“Besides the fact that they've been stealing your thunder?” Intrigue quipped.

“I'm serious, Intrigue,” Bladefire stated, his eyes glowing at the edges.

“They make me suspicious, too,” Intrigue said. “Nothing good ever came from Lena Luthor without a Faustian price attached to it.” She tilted her head. “Don't worry, Joh'n. I'll root out the truth behind Infinity, Inc. and those mask hunters.”

When Bladefire returned to Titans Tower, he found the other Titans looking at him with concerned expressions. “What's going on?” he asked them.

“Another NewsNet webcast,” Samara replied. “It seems the Justice League has a few skeletons in their closet that somebody went and exposed for the world to see. Speaking of the world . . .” She looked at the supercomputer. “Computer, replay the last NewsNet webcast.”

Instantly, the screen flickered to life, showing the images of six costumed heroes battling foreign soldiers. A darkly tanned blond young man in a black-and-green leather uniform resembling modernized archer's attire launched concussion grenade arrows at the soldiers, knocking them unconscious. A woman in a black leather uniform and mask that appeared to have been stitched together moved through the soldiers like a demonic mannequin, taking them down with brutal ease. A man-shaped figure in red robes and a black costume with an altered S-shield blasted the soldiers with some kind of crimson energy. A young African-American woman in a black suit with a dark pink corset built into it stomped the ground, sending shockwaves through it and toppling several more soldiers. A blonde girl in a black-and-tan uniform fired blasts of molten energy at the soldiers' guns, turning them to slag. A young man in a red uniform with a yellow tunic and flaming “hair” projected blasts of nuclear force at the soldiers.

“This footage, delivered by an anonymous source, shows a cadre of superheroes battling in Qurac,” the reporter narrated. “Qurac has been the source of a great deal of controversy, particularly in light of the suspicion on the part of many nations in the West that it has harbored terrorists. Furthermore, the anonymous source of this footage has insinuated that these superheroes were acting on behalf of members of the Justice League. If this is true, then we may be seeing an example of an insidious god complex within the superhero community. If this is the case, then it shows us why we need the Watchmen Act.”

“Crap,” Bladefire uttered.

“That was our reaction, too,” Beast Girl replied. “I can't believe Gail was involved in this. I mean, that footage had to have been faked.”

“It wasn't,” Inferno said. “I went through that footage with a fine-tooth comb. It wasn't faked.”

“Like I said, things are going to get worse before they get better,” Bladefire said. “This is just the beginning.”

End Notes: Well, things are just turning out worse and worse for our heroes, aren't they? Mercury's in jail (and in no condition to defend himself), Nightstar is a fugitive from the law, and metahuman heroes have generally lost the trust of the public.

Marvin Jurgens was named for Marv Wolfman and Dan Jurgens, the writer/artist combo that collaborated on Nightwing #125-128 and who previously worked in incarnations of the Teen Titans. Police Chief Devin Nauck was named for Devin Grayson and Todd Nauck, the former being the writer for the first issues of The Titans (which featured the grown-up original Titans with several other Titans from previous incarnations) and the latter being the artist for Young Justice and Teen Titans Go.

The heroes that appeared in that NewsNet footage are Green Arrow Connor Hawke, the illegitimate son of Oliver Queen; Cassandra Cain, formerly Batgirl and now Erinys (in my canon); Eradicator, a Kryptonian weapon merged with a human being; Thunder, the daughter of Black Lightning; Gaia, the daughter of Geo-Force; and Firestorm Jason Rusch, the successor to Ronnie Raymond, the original Firestorm.

Anyway, if you still care about this story at all, I hope you don't mind leaving me a review or two. Some feedback to let me know how I'm doing could help me a bit. Thanks a bunch.