Annual #2

[arcalian]

Teen Titans Annual #2
"A Rumble with Mumbo" written by Ted Kendrick
"Through a glass, Darkly" written by Tamaranorbust
art by Greg Forry
edited by Jay McIntyre

[arcalian]

A Rumble with Mumbo
Written by Ted Kendrick
Edited by Jay McIntyre

(* This story takes place in between Teen Titans #0 and #1.)

-1-

Wally West, known to some as the Kid Flash, sat his empty cup of coffee down on the table. “Waiter!” he called over, throwing his arms up in the air. “Can I get another latte, please?”

Dick Grayson, also known as Robin, shook his head and pulled Wally back down into his seat. “Wally,” he said. “That was your fifth cup.”

“Yeah, don't you think you should tone it down a little, buddy?” Roy Harper, also known as Speedy, mocked.

These three young men were freshmen at New York University. They hailed from cities all across the nation. Dick Grayson was from Gotham City, Roy Harper came from Star City, and Wally West from Central City. In addition to being new freshman at a prestigious school, they also belonged to a new team of superheroes called the Teen Titans, which now operated free from their adult supervision in the streets of New York. In short, they now represented the youth of their generation.

It was a lovely morning to be having a nice breakfast at a cafe. Plus, the three boys were expecting some female company in the near future. “Hey, Wally,” Roy said, nudging Wally in the waist with his elbow. “Where's your lady friend Rachel today? Don't you want her to meet the rest of the team?”

“Well, yeah,” Wally said. “I just don't know if I'm ready to introduce her yet is all.”

“There is no way that is your first cup of coffee,” Donna Troy, known to some as Wonder Girl, said as she walked up to the table. Kory, also known as Starfire, walked shortly behind her.

“Donna!” Wally cried as he super sped over and gave her a hug. “It's not! It's number six!”

“Hera,” Donna said and shook her head. She turned to Starfire. “Wanna sit down and maybe order something, Kory?”

“Sure, I -,” Kory began. “Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Dick interjected. “I don't -”

Suddenly, the glass walls of the cafe shattered and fell to the ground. The Titans ducked down underneath their table, as did the rest of the customers in the cafe.

“What's going on?!” Donna cried to the rest of the team.

“I don't know, but we need to get out of here!” Robin replied. “Let's move out, change, and see what the problem is!”

Scrambling up and out of the cafe, the five teens exited the building and found their own respective places to scurry into their costumes. Kid Flash was the first one on the scene. He raced into the streets and looked around to find the source of the damage. The cafe wall was shattered but the commotion seemed to be coming from the bank across the street. Kid Flash looked up as he heard the sound of a grappling gun and Robin soaring through the sky on a direct path towards the bank.

“Titans, together!” Robin cried as the five teens came together to face the threat that awaited them.

[arcalian]

-2-

And what exactly was the threat that awaited the Teen Titans? Let's wind back a few hours to the previous night.

New York City is never quiet at night. There is always something important happening somewhere within its alleyways and streetlamps. That's the beauty of the city. The thousands of people that live there all affect one another everyday, all the time. In a city so large yet compact, it's hard not to. They lift each other up, bring each other down, and give each other opportunities. However, he who giveth can also taketh away.

“It's just... it's just all a bunch of mumbo jumbo!” a man sobbed. He was sitting, head in his hands, near a dumpster in an alleyway right outside of a night club. “No one appreciates a good act anymore!” His top hat laid limp by his feet and his cape drooped sadly around his shoulders.

Only a few hours ago, he had been preparing his routine. He had his hat, wand, and cloak prepared and ready to go for the show. He wanted more than anything to be a renowned magician and this was his opportunity. This was his chance to show the people of New York City what he was capable of.

“Ladies and gentlemen! Children of all ages!” the announcer had said. He could remember it so clearly. Every little detail. “I give you the Amazing Johnny Jumbo, magician extraordinaire!”

It was all fine and dandy, except that magician extraordinaires normally could pull off their magic tricks. Why didn't the rabbit come out of the hat? It was the oldest trick in the book! What could have gone wrong? What happened on stage? He sobbed some more and wiped some rotten tomato off of his forehead.

“You, sir, look like you could use a pick me up,” a voice said from behind him. Johnny looked up and saw a man with a long blond hair that reached his shoulders and green eyes that radiated a most uncomfortable feeling. He wore a gray suit and walked with a very sophisticated demeanor. “I saw your show,” the man said. “I'm sorry. You didn't deserve to be laughed off stage. No one deserves that.”

“Thanks,” Johnny said through tears.

“What's your name?” the man asked.

“It's Johnny Jumbo,” Johnny replied. The man in the gray suit extended a hand and pulled Johnny up on his feet.

“Well, Johnny. You're lucky I was in attendance tonight,” the man in the gray suit said. He pulled a magic wand out of his coat pocket and handed it to Johnny. “This, my friend, is a real magic wand. It will turn all of your dreams and desires into reality.”

“Really?” Johnny asked. He took the wand and held it in his hand. “I'll take it. What's the catch, though? Nothing's free in this town.”

The man in the suit smiled. “I'm not from this town.” Suddenly, the wand began to glow. Johnny felt a tingling sensation and noticed that his skin began to turn blue.

“What's happening to me?!” Johnny cried.

“Oh, nothing,” the man in the gray suit replied. He smiled and began to walk away. “You wanted real power. Isn't that correct, Johnny Jumbo?”

“Arrrrghhh!” Johnny cried in pain. “Who are you!? Why are you doing this?”

The man in the suit turned back and grabbed Johnny, holding on to his coat collar. “My name is Neron,” the man replied while dropping Johnny to the ground. “And I just want to help.” Neron kicked a rock with his shoe as he left the alleyway, humming to himself a pleasant melody that even the Devil couldn't resist.

[arcalian]

-3-

When Johnny woke up, he could not recognize his surroundings. He remembered meeting the man in the gray suit in an alleyway, but when he opened his eyes, all he saw was whiteness. Pure white in a world with nothing else. Johnny looked down at himself and saw that he was still dressed in his magician get-up. He had his tuxedo on, a long flaring red cape around his shoulders, top hat, and a magic wand in hand. Johnny flicked his wrist, waving his wand like he always did, pretending to be a real magician.

However, this time, something happened. A mirror appeared in front of Johnny and he gasped. His pale white skin had turned a brilliant blue. His nose protruded out from his face and his mouth was curved in an ever present smile.

“Gee,” Johnny said, rubbing the side of his face. “I'm about a stone's throw away from looking like that Joker fellow from Gotham! This is just... mumbo jumbo.”

Suddenly, the mirror disappeared and Johnny smiled to himself. “Mumbo Jumbo!” he cried. He thought about the man in the gray suit and the gift that he had given him. “I have an opportunity now to be somebody!” Johnny cried. “If this is all just mumbo jumbo, then that's what I am! I am Mumbo Jumbo!”

Johnny waved his wand again and a flash of lights, like fireworks, began to electrify the white space. The blank canvas of purity was now stained with the colors of chaos and corruption. “They'll see me now for everything I'm worth!” Mumbo cried. “New York City will rue the day it mocked me!”

[arcalian]

-4-

In another realm, Neron sat on his thrown and gazed into his scrying pool. He watched as Johnny Jumbo embraced his new found abilities and harnessed his hatred for New York City. Neron sipped on a golden goblet of wine and laughed to himself. “That fool!” he cried. “If only he could understand the contract behind his new powers. I gave him his gifts. He must now reciprocate that.” Neron smiled and finished his wine, “Or there will be hell to pay.” For Neron was an aspect of the Devil, and if anyone could hold true to a promise like that, it would be him.

[arcalian]

-5-

Mumbo Jumbo swished his wand to the left and tore open a hole in the fabric of the white universe. He stepped through the tear and found himself on the streets of New York City again. “Now,” Mumbo considered aloud. “Now that I wield real, legitimate magical powers, it's time to prove myself!” But not in the entertainment industry. No, he had been laughed out of that. Mumbo Jumbo needed a bigger stage, a different stage. He looked across the road and saw a bank.

“Cliche?” Mumbo asked to no one in particular. “Over used? I don't know, but it'll do for a start.” Mumbo crossed the street and proceeded inside the bank. “Excuse me,” Mumbo said to the bank teller at the desk. “My name is the Amazing Mumbo Jumbo.”

“Do you have an account with us, sir? I'm not registering your name in the database,” the bank teller asked, not looking up at Mumbo at all.

“I... no, I don't have an account here,” Mumbo replied, earnestly. “I don't really make a lot of money so I don't really see the point in having one.”

“I see,” the bank teller replied. “What is the purpose of your visit today then?”

“Oh, yes,” Mumbo said. “I quite forgot for a moment. I am here to rob this bank!”

“Oh, are you?” the bank teller replied. She looked up and finally caught an eyeful of Mumbo Jumbo. “Dear god!” she cried. “You're blue!”

“How dare you!” Mumbo cried, preparing a quick sling of his wand. “I'll have to teach you some manners!” Mumbo Jumbo slung his wand downward at the woman and suddenly a large wave of energy burst out from the tip of his wand. The wave shattered every window in the bank and proceeded to do the same to the stores and shops across the street. “This is a stick up, see?” Mumbo transformed his face to look like a typical early twentieth century gangster. He had a fedora on his head and a cigar in his mouth. “Do what I say and nobody gets hurt, see?”

Mumbo's head quickly turned back to its normal blue self once he heard a cry from outside the bank. “Titans, together!” This was about to get tricky.

[arcalian]

-6-

The Titans stormed into the bank, ready to knock around some heads. However, once they took in the scene that was in front of them, they figured the fight was as good as over. “Are you serious?!” Kid Flash cried. “We get suited up and everything for this clown?”

“I'm not a clown!” Mumbo Jumbo cried, waving his wand at Kid Flash and levitating him into the air. “I, Mumbo Jumbo, am a magician! A clown is merely an idiot with a large repertoire of jokes. I represent an elemental force as old as time itself!”

“Whatever you are, you're done now,” Robin said, throwing a birdarang in Mumbo's direction. The gadget grazed by Mumbo's hand and swiftly launched his magic wand from out of his grip.

“My wand!” Mumbo gasped. Wonder Girl glided into the air and caught the wand with one hand.

“Looking for this?” Donna asked, smiling and mocking Mumbo simultaneously.

“Silly children!” Mumbo yelled. He closed his eyes and sensed his magical powers still inside him. The wand was merely a prop! Yes, that was all. He could still win this fight if he played his cards right. He had the power. He just had to be smart with it.

“Stand down,” Speedy said, bow loaded and aimed at Mumbo. Robin had another birdarang ready to go and Starfire's hands were glowing with the intent of firing blasts of energy.

“I don't think so,” Mumbo said. Smiling, he lifted his hands up into the air and mumbled a few magical words to himself. Suddenly, a large display of black energy erupted from his fists and fell upon the Titans like a net. The energy began to become electrified with power and the Titans all cried in pain. Then, as quickly as it fell upon them, the energy dissipated. Mumbo stood his ground and let the Titans crawl back to their feet. If he won a fight against these famous sidekicks, he would be infamous in New York!

[arcalian]

-7-

Starfire was the first one back on her feet. She prepared to send an energy blast Mumbo's way but her powers were not working. “X'hal!” she cursed. She was still flying, but something was wrong.

Speedy got up next and reached for his bow and arrows. He had his target lined up in his sights, let go of the drawstring, and watched the arrow flop on the ground. “What the-?!” Speedy gasped. “That never happens!”

“Something's happened with our powers!” Kid Flash yelled back at Speedy. “I can't access the Speed Force! I can't run!”
Suddenly, Speedy was right next to Kid Flash. He pulled his friend up and onto his feet. “Wow,” Speedy said. “I just... I just supersped over here to you!”

“Our powers are swapped,” Robin said, standing next to the two of them. “I suddenly can't remember how to operate my utility belt,” he told them. “I have a hunch though... let me see your bow, Speedy.” Speedy quickly supersped over to his bow, found six arrows and flung them at Robin. Robin grabbed the bow, slid an arrow into place and fired it straight at Mumbo as the wannabe magician attempted to run to higher ground. The arrow pinned Mumbo's cape to the wall perfectly so that the magician could not move an inch.

“A regular Robin Hood now!” Roy joked.

“And finally, your name actually makes sense, Speedy,” Dick answered back.

“Touche,” Speedy replied. “So what's the game plan?”

The Titans regrouped and Robin attempted to analyze the situation. “It looks like Mumbo's used his powers to swap our powers around. I've got Speedy's archery abilities, Roy's got Wally's super speed, Starfire can still fly so I assume she and Wonder Girl have switched abilities.” Dick glanced over and saw that Donna was still down from the impact of the spell. “What can you do, Kid Flash?”

Wally lit up his fist in green energy. “It looks like I've got Kory's powers!” Kid Flash yelled.

“Then Donna must have my abilities,” Dick concluded. “Alright, Titans. We have to learn how to cope with our new powers on the fly! Mumbo can't get away from us now!”

“Let's get 'em!” Speedy said as the Titans flew into action. “Kory! Check on Donna! See if you can do anything to help her!”

“On it!” Kory replied, flying over to Wonder Girl. Mumbo Jumbo tore out the arrow from his cape and whirled around to face the oncoming teens.

Speedy ran up to Mumbo and sent a few super fast punches his way. Meanwhile, Robin stayed back and attempted to utilize the remaining arrows in Speedy's quiver to their fullest potential. Kid Flash flew in the air, his eyes glowing green with alien power. “Weowww!” Kid Flash yelled. “This is awesome!”

“Stop playing around and make yourself useful!” Robin yelled at him.

“You're just mad because you didn't get any cool powers in the power swap! You just stayed powerless!” Kid Flash yelled back.

“Hey!” Robin yelled back. “Are you still in high school or something, West? Grow up!”

Kid Flash powered up his energy and sent large balls of green plasma towards Mumbo's way. The magician scampered around them like they were landmines. “I can't get a hit on him!” Kid Flash yelled back.

“None of us are used to our new powers,” Speedy replied. He had ceased his attack and was laying on the ground, clutching his stomach. “I am so hungry!” Speedy cried. “How does your metabolism deal with this stress?”

“Oh, now it's so hard being me, huh?” Kid Flash retorted. He flew down to Speedy and helped him back up to his feet. Starfire and Robin joined the two of them, not all too far from the rampaging magician.

“You don't seem to realize,” Mumbo began, “that it doesn't matter who has whose powers. The Teen Titans can't defeat the Amazing Mumbo Jumbo!” Mumbo conjured up a thick layer of a pink gelatine like substance around the attacking sidekicks. The Titans became immersed in the wall and were slowed considerably, almost like bugs in amber. Mumbo laughed to himself as he walked around the teens. “You tried,” he told them. “You tried to stop the Amazing Mumbo Jumbo, but look. You failed.”

He walked over to Wonder Girl, who had just woken up, and pushed her back down as she began to stand up. He grabbed his wand from out of her hands. “I don't need this,” he said. “But I want it.”

“Back... back off,” Wonder Girl said. Suddenly, Wonder Girl collapsed back to the floor, replaced instead by that of an energy-like avatar. A large black, vibrant bird emerged from Donna Troy's soul and twisted itself around Mumbo.

“What?” Mumbo cried. “What's this?! This isn't one of the powers of the Teen Titans!” The black bird encircled Mumbo Jumbo and the magician cried out in terror. He shrieked like a child who has seen a real monster in his closet. His terror was real and elemental. Suddenly, the bird dived into Mumbo's mouth and into Mumbo's very soul. The magician's eyes went blank white and he fell over, unconscious. The wall of gelatine faded and the Titans were released. Mumbo was defeated, but the teens were confused as to how.

Donna rubbed her eyes and saw the rest of her team standing over her. “What did you just do?” Wally asked.

“I... I don't know,” Donna said. Robin extended Donna a hand and helped pull her to her feet.

“That was weird,” Robin said. “But a learning experience. We need to be prepared to think on our feet. We can't rely on getting lucky anymore like we did today.”

“It'll come with practice,” Roy replied. “We're still working out the kinks of our team.”

Starfire poked at Mumbo. “Is he... okay?” she asked. Sirens from the cars of NYPD's finest could now be heard in the distance. “He looks like he's in a completely different plane of existence.”

“Maybe he is,” Wonder Girl replied. The Titans brushed themselves off and walked into the streets of New York to face the police and the press.

[arcalian]

-8-

Elsewhere, a young woman named Rachel Roth sat on the floor of her room, clutching the sides of her legs, rolled up like a ball. For a few moments there, she had felt her soul leave her body completely and it wasn't a good feeling. In its place, however, she still felt whole. She felt vibrant and renewed like an acrobat who had just finished her performance for the night. She was radiant and happy for the first time in years.

But now her soul was back and with it, dangerous emotions of a fame starved performer. The happiness she had just felt was now gone again. Her soul had passed through another soul, one of which had experienced great treachery and evil. Rachel felt a tear fall down her cheek as she suppressed a sob. She didn't understand these new emotions. She felt the need to make something of herself, to be a part of something bigger than just herself. Were these just residual emotions from contact with the other soul or was there something bigger showing Rachel where to go? Either way, she didn't know. She just didn't know.

[arcalian]

-9-

Neron shook his glare away from his scrying pool and stood face to face with Mumbo Jumbo. The magician had entered his realm. “You failed to deliver on your part,” Neron said, his eyes glowing green.

“My part?!” Mumbo cried. “But you said there wasn't a catch!”

“I said that I wasn't from New York City,” Neron replied. He extended his arms, pointing to the grotesque setting in which they were now in. “As you can see, I am not. Now, tell me,” Neron continued. “why didn't you finish off the Teen Titans?”

“Wonder Girl unleashed some sort of new power!” Mumbo cried. “It wasn't my fault! I didn't know she was capable of it!”

“She isn't!” a voice bellowed. Neron and Mumbo turned around to see a giant red mammoth of a man. He had an extra set of eyes, long white hair, and antlers protruding out of his head. This being, however, was no man. He was known merely as Trigon. “You dare, Neron!” the terror roared.

“Dare what, Trigon?” Neron replied. “What crime are you accusing me of now?”

“You play in man's world,” Trigon said, “but you leave my daughter out of your pranks.”

“Your daughter?” Neron questioned. Trigon gave one last roar of defiance and stormed away. Neron considered this for a moment. He had been unaware that Trigon had a daughter in the mortal world, but it made sense. Mumbo had conjured the spell on a team of only five members when the spell itself required the magical, demonic number of six. “You needed the number of the beast, Mumbo,” Neron said. “That's why you lost. You didn't account for the sixth Teen Titan.”

“But there are only five Titans!” Mumbo cried.

“No, there is another,” Neron replied. “It's just... the nature of things. It's all about the numbers, the three sixes. Kid Flash drank six lattes, Speedy had six arrows in his quiver, and there are six members of the Titans, even if they don't know it yet.”

“What... what happens now?” Mumbo stuttered.

“Now I punish you for your failure,” Neron replied, “and I think that the most fitting punishment would be to return you to the land of the living. You're a joke, Mumbo; a punching bag for these teenaged superheroes.” Mumbo's vision began to get foggier. He began to lose focus of Neron and hell and instead, heard beeps and blips of hospital machinery. “You'll never amount to anything else.”

[arcalian]

-10-

Mumbo awoke in a hospital room with two policemen on either side of him. “Johnny Jumbo, also known as Mumbo Jumbo, you are under arrest,” the police said.

The two nurses in the room began to laugh at the sight of Mumbo's surprise. “Look at him!” one of the nurses cried. “He wakes up out of a coma only to be arrested! What a joke!”

Mumbo's teeth clenched and his eyes grew mad and stressed. He was the Amazing Mumbo Jumbo. Nobody laughed him off the stage. Not anymore. With the flick of his wrist, he magically conjured up his wand and proceeded to disappear away. No one knows where he went, but no one really knew where he came from either. The details are lost in all the mumbo jumbo anyways.

The End.

[arcalian]

Through a Glass, Darkly.
Story by Tamaranorbust
Edited by Jay McIntyre

(*This story takes place immediately after Teen Titans #65)

-1-

They had helped Nightwing back into Titans Tower, heading for the infirmary. He leaned with an acrobat’s skill, removing the weight from his left leg. The battle against Team Powerstar had been brutal.

“Come on, come on,” Cyborg said, helping him, Starfire on the other side. Nightwing gritted his teeth. Then the air grew cold, electric, keen. Raven’s lean, long hands were already on his injuries.

“Richard.” She had teleported to him with the hair-trigger response of an empath trained to constantly scan the emotions of her friends. She knew what every Titan was feeling and where they were, even when she secretly traveled the unknown dimensions she investigated late at night when the Tower was quiet. “Relax. Give me your pain.”

“Raven. You can’t. It’s too much. If we were to get a call right now, you’d be –”

“Give it to me.” She drew it, forcibly. The agony flowed out of his body, dredged through her fingertips. He felt his shoulder resetting itself, his twisted leg mending.

Raven collapsed in his arms.

[arcalian]

-2-

Upstairs, later.

Gar awoke. He lay, listening. Tara, who was always cold, clung to him for warmth, and for other reasons. He could see in the dark quite well: her relatively short lemon gold hair wove through his fingers. Before the treatment, he had once had blue eyes, blond hair – like her. She didn’t seem to mind his green complexion. Before she had finally met the Patrol, he had worried that maybe she didn’t want to love a freak like him; as time had gone on, he'd realized she was just as much a freak in her own way as he was. It just wasn't as obvious. As far as he was concerned, the switch was either on or off, and with her it was on, period. He never said it, but he felt bound to her. For life.

He had feared she didn’t, or couldn’t, feel for him in the same way. He’d told Tara some things about his past, things he hadn’t told Cyborg or any of the other Titans. Now that she had med the Doom Patrol, those tensions had eased somewhat. But she was still the same girl. For a long time he had thought her bad girl tendencies were a facade. Eventually he'd realized there was no facade; it was part of who she was. That wasn't the whole truth of her, of course. Any more than his cornball sense of humor was the whole truth of him. She had once said they were more alike than she'd first thought. She'd realized that part faster than he had.

But in truth he suspected it was just fear on her part, and that was something he could understand. He was a freak, she had a very dark past. She didn't think she could be loved, sometimes, he felt. But he had shown her otherwise.

Raven had not returned. He tumbled out of the big beanbag chair they shared as a bed. Tara shifted and murmured, “Mm. Raven’s not back?”

That shook him. She’d been awake, and he hadn’t realized. He wondered about her powers, whether she had access to morphogenic fields, like he did. The Chief had told him she might. “If I’m not back in five, come down and check.”

“Kay.”

In the hall, Gar shifted into a kestrel, diving down the Tower’s spiral stairwell in seconds and rolling on the updraft into the monitor room. “What’s up, guys? Where’s Rave?”

Cyborg leaned back from their CPU hub. “She’s downstairs resting, after helping Dick. I wuz about to call ya down here, Logan. Ya gotta see this.”

Gar landed on the shoulder of the Titans’ leader. “You OK, Chief?”

Dick shook his head. “I’m fine. Funny you should say that. We’ve just received a video message from Niles Caulder.”

Vic shifted in his chair so the other two could look, “Here’s the playback. Connection’s lousy.”

“Gar—ld the Patrol zzttt. Block-zt-ng our mess-zzztt-kracklezzzt - to Afrrrrizta yyuur parrentsssszzzt baszt camp five zztttttes ago.”

Dick was grim. “Gar, we can’t reach the Patrol. All communications are cut off. Someone’s hit their comms – the undersea cable and the satellites.”

“Can we reach their network?”

Dick peered at the monitors, “Yes. Caulder keeps a clone server offshore. But only you have access.”

Vic tapped through the firewalls, “I’m there.”

//Greetings Titans Tower: Doom Patrol Security pass level 10 required. Please enter the security code and your password, with voice and fingerprint identification.//

Gar typed his password.

//Password confirmed. Welcome: Garfield Logan. Please press your left hand on the area indicated on the screen. Fingerprint identification confirmed. Welcome to the Doom Patrol system.//

Gar ordered the system, “Computer: State Doom Patrol mission logs for the past 48 hours.”

The automated voice buzzed: //Voice identification confirmed. Mission logs: Chief received untraced transmission, 00:45 hours, May 5. Reports: Trans-oceanic cable destroyed, 00:46 hours. Reports: Communications satellites inoperative. Malfunction in lower orbit, 00:49 hours. Elasti-Girl, Negative Man, Robotman departed 00:52 hours, en route to Africa. Flight deck confirmed: flight duration 40.4 hours. Landed Kinshasa, 10:34, May 6. Crossed border to Upper Lamumba, 15:37. Reached the Logans’ old research lab. Caulder personal note: I have not visited the site since Mark’s electro-magnetic DNA project. No further reports.//

Gar frowned. “Magnetic DNA? What? I didn’t know Niles worked with my dad.”

Dick tapped the console, “I’m going to check JLA and Batcave computers for meta border crossings in the Congo and Upper Lamumba today.”

Vic pressed the alert, summoning the team. Dagon and Kory skimmed above Troia as she hurried into the monitor room, “Kid Flash is coming. He’s downstairs checking on Raven.”

Tara came in, suited up. “What’s goin’ on?”

Gar whispered, “Dunno. Something’s wrong with the Patrol.”

The computer voice hummed: //JLA logs: Confirmed sighting, Doom Patrol, border crossing Upper Lamumba, 15:39. Batcave computer: The Global Guardians entered Congolese airspace, 15:07. Current local time, 19:50.//

Tara pushed forward. “The Global Guardians? Is my brother with them?”

Dick nodded, “Yes, Terra. The records indicate he piloted their plane for part of their journey. But there are no local news reports of meta sightings. Someone is keeping this quiet. Hmm. Batman hacked the League of Assassins’ system two days ago. I should be able to access their logs. One sec. Yes. Slade Wilson sighted May 6, 07:48 hours at the Citronerie Restaurant, Kinshasa. Hired a local and a jeep, and crossed the Upper Lamumba border at 16:02 and ...”

Nightwing stared as the monitor garbled, then flickered into a wall of white static. “Cyborg! Check our system.”

Vic plugged into the console. “No good. Total black out – someone just hacked our whole network! And – arrrrmghvmmmmmm.”

Gar leapt forward, “Vic! Oh God – Dick – what’s wrong with him?”

Dick’s brow furrowed, “His own operating system is being compromised! Damn it!”

He and Gar lowered Vic carefully to the floor. Gar bit his lip, “We gotta get him to STAR – and Dick, we’ve gotta get there, to Africa. That’s where I got my powers. That’s where my parents had their research base. And now everyone is headed there?” He turned to Wally, who appeared suddenly at his side, “Flasher, is Rave up to taking us?”

The air turned cold and Raven appeared. “I am here. Victor needs help.” She put her arms around him and disappeared with him in a puff of static-charged smoke. Two minutes later she reappeared. “They are fixing his system at STAR.”

Kory stared at the garbled static on the screens. “Dick – I do not understand. Who could do this? Attack all our tech remotely like this?”

Dick’s jaw was set. “I don’t know who did it or how, Kory. But we’re going to find out. There’s no way to call Carrie. And with comms scrambled like this, we’ll have to keep her and Titans West as backup. We have to go. Now. Raven, you’ll have to come back for Cyborg. Whatever is going on is serious. We have to go to the Patrol’s last coordinates. Can you take us?”

“Yes. But I will not be able to heal or teleport again after this, until I rest first.”

Dick nodded. “Dagon and Kid Flash, whatever we encounter on the other side, you protect Raven. Raven - you ready?”

[arcalian]

-3-

In one moment, they were hop-scotching between wheeling pits of darkness and gyres of stars. The next moment, the dimensions coughed them up in a cloud of smoke. They were in Africa, at the site of the Logans’ long-abandoned lab deep in the jungle.

Except.

It wasn’t abandoned.

The sun had set. At the gates of the compound, they saw someone – or something – move rapidly through the dusk.

Dick shouted “Titans, move! NOW! It’s a trap!”

Mechanical succubi, propelled like heat seeking missiles, targeted each of the Titans. One zeroed in on Starfire, latching onto her face and blinding her. She circled wildly, making fiery loops in the jungle tops. Gar could hear her muffled screams through the face clamp, while metal filaments from the machine bored into her shoulders and back, hurting her, destabilizing her flight. She could not use her starbolts on it without blasting her own face away. Beast Boy stayed on her. Spider Monkey. Hurtling through the branches. Swift. Weaving after her. He reached her. Condor. He grabbed one of Starfire’s arms and one leg, diving earthwards.

“Tara! It’s an ambush! Pin Kory! We’ve gotta get this thing offa her!”

“No prob, Beastie. I got her.”

They plummeted with Star down to Nightwing. He shouted, “It’s a power dampener! I can’t get it off her without tearing her face off. Arrgh!”

Tara shrieked, “Nightwing! Troia – Dagon – someone, I need help here now!”

Dagon howled, wrenching at a similar metal apparatus that had attached itself to Donna’s face. “Love to help, but –” He screamed as one latched onto him. He tried to shapeshift, but the thing morphed like liquid mercury to match his form. Kid Flash vibrated through the first two that targeted him, but as he turned momentarily to help Raven, he paused. Two darts shot from the mechanism that had fastened onto her body. He fell.

One, by one, by one, the Titans fell. Terra wheeled around in horror. Then she saw Gar flying low to help Raven and Dagon, but a mobile unit tore though the jungle branches and T-boned him. Unconscious, he shifted back to human form, and plummeted, bleeding, the machine, auto-clamping his head.

“No!” She sped toward him. “No. Gar!”

“You’re OK. You’re gonna be OK. I’ve got you.” Panic and terror washed over her in a sick wave. She held him, vainly trying to drill through the mechanical filaments with slivers of rock, which she crushed into diamond needles in desperation. She could feel his pulse slowing. “No. Oh God, Gar, No.” Then, a terrible crash jarred her body, she felt her teeth banged hard into her skull. Her mouth filled with blood and she looked up, reeling in pain, to see Slade standing over her.

[arcalian]

-4-

Darkness.

Her eyes opened. The grove was on fire. The jungle tops were raining burning ash. Flaming fragments vegetation fell down on her.

Gar was still in her arms, but the other Titans were gone. She couldn’t feel his heart beat. She pulled him to her, sick with panic. She could feel the pulse of lava at the earth’s core. She made a plea to the earth, the mistress of life and death. “He’s dying. He may already be dead. “I’ll do ...” she gritted her teeth and spoke to the silent, monumental elemental power she had never dared address, “I’ll do anything. Don’t let him die.” Desperately, she went deeper, probing the net of energy formed by the planet itself, forcing herself into the net, then becoming part of it. She could feel her humanity fall away in strips, and saw that Gar was part of the net, too. “Answer me, damn you!”

“Little Elemental.” They were there, hovering around her, the guardians, the primal overseers of the planet. “She is unstable.”

“All the earth elementals are. It is their nature. They are the line.”

“You are not ready yet, Little Elemental, to manifest like this. You could barely resurrect yourself, when the time came. But you would not remember that.”

“Precisely. She is not ready. Let him go, Little One. You will find him again. For are you not one, and indivisible?”

“NO. I won’t let him go,” She gritted her teeth. “I – I love him. I know I can bring him back.”

“You would become the primary earth avatar, instead of your brother, Holland, Woodrue, or the others?
The Elemental Council, the Parliament of Trees, will have something to say about this. They will demand a heavy price, Little One. You will pay over and over, in a thousand of your human lives.”

“I – I don’t care. I love him. I will pay.”

“Very well, you may ascend. How sad. You are too young for this incarnation. The Council hopes you will survive the immersion.”

She screamed. Lava streams burst through her eyes. She felt the throb of the entire planet rush through her. She could sense it all, feel every scratch on the earth’s crust, every fault in the plates, the storm at its core, a thousand violent earthquakes, the lashing electrics streaming out into space, the magnetic poles. They were not the planet, they were her. Her tiny, human body was far away, but still she felt Gar pressed against her, his heart beating again. “Thank you, Mother.” she whispered.

[arcalian]

-5-

Darkness.

“Mother?” She was a child again, in Castle Markov. She had never been there, on this night. But she had. She remembered it like yesterday. It was her childhood, which she had never experienced. She was huddled in a corner in the royal nursery, a hall of several interconnected sitting rooms and bedrooms for the royal children and their nurses. For generations, Markov princes and princesses had played and taken their meals in these well-guarded chambers. It was where the tutors gave her and her half-brothers their lessons. In the main sitting room, their parents sometimes visited. But not her mother. As far as she knew, her mother had never been allowed inside Castle Markov. The Queen (a Queen different, yet the same, from the one she knew) despised her. She hid from Brion’s and Gregor’s mother and her servants in a back part of the nursery, in her room that the King insisted she keep. Until the past week, she had had her own nanny, a sweet Markovian lass named Adela. Except for Brion, Adela had been her only friend.

Adela told her legends about the ancient Markovian kings. She told her a story about a Markovian princess who was cast out, but saved the country and the royal family from ruin. Who knows if it was a real village myth, or whether she made it up, just to comfort the King’s lonely, illegitimate child?

“Do not doubt it, Little One. My grandmother told us all the old stories.” Adela said resolutely. “All the people in the hills and dales of our fair motherland, they know the truth. One day, all will be lost. The country will be swept by our enemies, by war, disaster, death and disease. And in that final moment, the great House of Markov will fall. Yes! The legends say the royal family will be consumed by madness. And even Castle Markov will crumble into the ground. It is no offense to say it. I have even heard our King Viktor speak of it. But our great queen will rise to save us. She is the fair daughter of our mother earth, who protects the miners when their tunnels fail. She guards the farmers’ crops against the plague and insects. She saves our forest wardens from fire, and keeps the shepherds from slipping, high in the mountain passes.”

Two days before, Adela had left the castle, without even being allowed to say goodbye. Tara’s knee was scratched. Only last week, she and Brion had played at the beach. She buried him in the sand, and he burst out of the pit she’d dug, laughing. Now she huddled in a corner beneath a tallboy. The Queen had insisted that she be sent away. But she had nowhere to go. Nowhere and no one. She wept in shuddering sobs that shook her whole body. The door opened. She bit her lip into silence.

“Sister? Are you there? Have no fear, Tarashka, it is I.”

Brion sat down next to her in the dark. He put his arms around her. The bit of comfort made her cry even more pitifully. He held her tightly, and she could hear he was crying too. “I-is Father sending you away?”

“Y-yes. I think so. He has called for me.”

“But where will you go? Who will care for you? I cannot go with you. But I promise you, dear Sister, I will never abandon you. I will always find you and protect you, until death and beyond. I love you.”

“I love you too, Brion.”

“Tara?”

She looked up through her tears. Gregor was standing there. He was serious, already the little king.

“Is it true? Will Papa send you away?”

Brion yelled, “Let her alone, Gregor! Now of all times! You always took Mother’s side against her.”

“Not tonight.” Gregor extended his hand. “Peace, Sister? I will not forget you. Promise you will not forget me. Markovia may yet have stories to tell, about all of us.” Silver moonlight shone through the window, and illuminated the three children huddled together in the scattered mess of the nursery floor. Gregor said, “Tara, you will come back to this Castle. To this very room. I swear.”

Tara sensed the indignities and injuries she’d suffered at Gregor’s hands. “You swear ... and hope to die?”

“I swear, on our blood, on our land, even if we all three die. You share that with us, and you will return here, Sister, for we are all Markovs.”

The door creaked open. An arc of light flooded the haunted room. It was Brion’s nurse, Hilde.

“Princess? Are you in there? Come now, Tara. I am charged with taking you to the throne room to see the King, your father, and the Royal Council. Do not cry, Child, no harm will come to you.”

[arcalian]

-6-

Darkness.

“I – where am I?” Tara’s training kicked in. She took in her surroundings as Nightwing had taught her: ‘360 degrees, above, below.’ She was in a courtyard. Behind her, the white stones of Castle Markov stretched high into a burning, eggplant-coloured sky. The Castle was surrounded by a high wall guarded by statues of royals she recognized, her ancestors. There was a gate, chained and barred shut. A flash of lightning revealed a tall, handsome man leaning casually on the other side of the gate. “Princess. Enchanté. Of all thy line, thou art most beloved, daughter of the First Age.”

“Uhhhh. Hi.”

His figure was indistinct, wavering in and out of smoke on the other side of the wall. But she could see he was dressed in white. “My Dear. When you moved to the neighborhood, the real estate prices shot up overnight! We had a beautiful housing bubble. Everyone wanted their villas on this ridge. It became the hottest property along the Circle. I’m still counting the profits.”

“What the Hell is this?”

He smiled thinly, his shining, beautiful eyes seemed to disconnect from his head and float toward her, languidly blinking, “But that wasn’t what pleased me most. As one of the Ancients, you were not forced to come here. You came voluntarily. Out of guilt. We don’t often get that. And for it to be – you. I was charmed.”

“OK, Weirdo. I’m only gonna say this once. Back off.”

“Your need to let them believe that that was all there was. To let him believe.” He purred, sleek and debonair.

“Shut up!”

“Five hundred million years, or more, of this. When wilt thou learn? Thy Therianthrope awaits thee, Markoviana. Open this gate, admit me of thine own free will, and thou wilt find thyself with him again, and all forgiven.”

She stepped backwards up the stairs into the Castle. The door clomped shut, mercifully blocking out the Stranger’s oppressive gaze. She turned. She was in a stone vestibule, with statues of three men guarding the doorway. She recoiled when she recognized them, although their faces were somehow different: Garfield, Brion, Slade. What did it mean? Shuddering, she ran into the hall to the right. The walls were covered with stone reliefs of animals and strange figures battling each other. There was a long hallway, the sound of a fountain. She ran toward it and came into a shrine, with a rectangular pool of water surrounded by earth and plants. At the head of the pool, there was another statue of an animal, but somehow she knew, knew it was Gar.

[arcalian]

-7-

Darkness.

Tara blinked, and refocused. Here they were, all of them. The Resistance against the Empire, here on the war torn fields of China, in final battle. Facing off against her own mother, the Empress. And her brother, Geo-Force.

Around her, her Resistance members and their allies faced off against the might o the Empire. The Empire she had been born to command. She could've had it too, if she had wanted. She was the crown princess. But she had thrown it all away, to lead the Resistance, because she knew it was a lie.

Face to face with her mother. Final battle. No holds barred. No surrender.

Her mother unleashed a crest of rock at her, like a tidal wave. She responded with a spear of rock that split the tide in two and kept going towards her mother. The Empress blocked, and raised her hands on high....

[arcalian]

-8-

Darkness.

Tara whirled, facing the Qwardians coming for her, Green Lantern ring glowing on her finger. “We've not got much time!” She shouted.

“Focus!” Hal Jordan shouted back. Sixteen different Corps members were here. All the humans, and numerous others. Tara hadn't seen this many together at once since she had gone to Oa.

She didn't like leave the Titans behind, even temporarily. But they couldn't always come with her on Green Lantern business. It wasn't like going back to Markovia, or visiting the Doom Patrol with Gar. This was on the other side of the Galaxy. Once, she even had to go to the Lesser Magellanic Cloud, where some of Starro's more unpleasant relatives lived. She didn't even want to ever do that again. They called her the Woman Without Fear, but sometimes she didn't believe it, herself.

She blasted the Qwardians away, but more were coming, throwing their Thunderer weapons. She deftly dodged and dived, then blasted away...

[arcalian]

-9-

Darkness.

The Moon loomed larger before her. She was high up now, well beyond the Earth's atmosphere. She wasn't going to the Moon tonight. But she was testing her new suit's capabilities.

She floated up, boot rockets blasting. The suit wasn't ideally suited for space operations, but they were within design tolerances. Cyborg had made sure of that.

She smiled to herself. She couldn't feel the Earth anymore, it was true, but now she had a whole new world to explore now.

She felt free. Free of obligations, free of concerns. Like she'd finally left a burden behind that she didn't know was there.

She had expected to feel claustrophobic in the suit, but instead it felt like another layer of clothes. She didn't even lose peripheral vision with the heads up display. There had been a brief period of adjustment when she first put it on, sure But she had adjusted quickly, and was enjoying herself now. She was free.

[arcalian]

-10-

Darkness.

Back in Markovia again. But this time the castle was burning. Everything was burning, except immediately around her, where it was barren wasteland. She was coughing from the smoke.

But there was still the statue that she had recognized before, that she knew was actually Gar.

She reached toward him. “Honey? How do I get out of here?”

“Tara.”

The Titans’ empath materialized before her, breathless, pale. Tara ran to her. “Raven! Thank God! Where am I? What is this place?”

“Thank Azar I found you! I sense this palace is shielded by your power. Nevertheless, it is not safe. We are in terrible danger, Terra. Deathstroke is using you and Garfield to transform the morphogenic fields of the planet.”

“Morpho – what?”

“He has trapped you in a device that channels your powers. Tara, I sense your powers don’t just affect our earth. You have been riding energy fields to other earths, all occupying the same place, but existing at different frequencies of reality. You are – you’re a different person at each frequency – as are,” the empath sighed heavily, “as are we all. If Deathstroke succeeds in harnessing your powers, he will command the planet’s elemental life forces. He will use you and Garfield to open the portals. He will be able to bend the physical laws, the invisible boundaries between dimensions. Your voyages to alternative realities where you were not an Earth Elemental were your own attempts to escape this. You must retake control of the electro-magnetic and gravitational forces he is using to manipulate you. You must concentrate as you never have before. Take my hands. Now! Focus…”

[arcalian]

-11-

Darkness.

Tara could hear herself screaming, sucked through a whirlpool of boiling lava. And then, it wasn’t her holding Gar, it was him, holding her. He was tearing the metal filaments out of her hair, ripping them out of her skin as they burrowed toward her spine, “It’s OK, Tara. Baby, I’ve got you. You’re OK. You’re gonna be OK.”

Her body was convulsing. She could barely see straight. Kid Flash was holding Raven up. Tara could see Cyborg standing behind Gar, knee deep in torn-up tech. “It’s a good thing the Witch brought me when she did. Ya short-circuited Deathstroke’s crazy machine with yer powers, Kid. But I got its mainline system, was able to disconnect everyone from the circuit without fryin’ them. It’s quite a set-up Slade built here. That’s how he messed up my CPU – and our comms. Everything else was planted. The Patrol, the Global Guardians and your brother were never here. He fed false reports into the compromised networks to lure us to this spot.”

Dagon circled above them and swooped down, “All well and good. But have you noticed that
Deathstroke’s gone?”

Nightwing and Troia emerged from the Logans’ compound, with a woman bound in Troia’s lasso. Donna’s warrior training kept her rage in check, but Tara could hear the anger in her voice. “Look who we found in the lab. She was trying to get away.”

Tara felt a sickening realization, like plummeting over a waterfall in a barrel. It was Jace’s assistant. One of the Markovs’ most trusted servants had betrayed them. “Dr. Kneidel. What – what are you doing here? Why were you helping Deathstroke?”

Kneidel was laughing low and defiant, caught up in a bubbling, creepy mania. “Ah, the royal whelp. King Viktor said you would be his right hand of vengeance. I wonder if this was what he meant. Ha ha haaaa, ahhhh!” Donna twisted the lasso tighter.

Tara rarely felt connected to her heritage. But now, she snapped with a regal tone her brother Gregor would have used. “How dare you! Answer me!”

Kory flew in close, threatening the scientist with a sizzling lace of starbolts: “Talk, woman! We won’t ask again. Why did Deathstroke lay this trap for us? Where did he go?”

Kneidel sneered, “You’ll never track him in time. He got the information we needed. Now he’ll sell it to the highest bidder. There’s no need for secrecy now. It’s already too late. You fools. You never knew that Jace and the Logans were associates. They went to school together, along with Niles Caulder.”

Gar snarled in wolf form, his bared teeth coated with blood. “You’re lying!”

Kneidel laughed, maddened and unrepentant. “Logan, the shadow of the past will soon consume you and your little Markovian whore. Wilson and his wife knew your parents before you were even born. Yes! You didn’t know that, did you? The Wilsons’ safari compound was near here. Wilson knew about their experiments to unravel DNA with electromagnetic impulses, first through artificial induction, then through your brainwaves.”

Gar growled, “I- I - It wasn’t an experiment. I was sick. I caught a virus.”

“Yesss. I know the story they told you. The story they told themselves. I wonder whether you do remember what really happened. Call it what you like. I read Jace’s notes on the case. Her adaptation of the science for the Markov family, who were already genetically predisposed, like you. Your father’s assistant found that you were born with a latent psionic ability. With it, you could tap your own genetic power. And under the right conditions, you could reach across the morphogenic fields, and channel the genetic power of animals. If trained, you could control the hidden energies that drive all life on this planet. The whole Animal Kingdom. And with the girl – and her sway over the geo-magnetic web, power over clay infused with gravitational and electrical energies, the trigger between life and death! We needed to test you, to see if your time in the Titans had made you ready. We dosed you with hallucinogens, forcing emotional extremes to make you both create the necessary pulse ranges. Your dreams will become reality, Girl. You and your freak lover will become living, organic sunspots, controlling all electronics and harnessing the life forces on this planet, merging them –”

A rock struck her in the face. “Shut up.” Tara said.

“Tara!” Dick was shaken, angry. Terra could feel the Titans staring, their eyes wide.

“No, Dick, it's okay. I know what's really going on.” A smile crept across Tara's features. “Deathstroke wasn't too happy with the readings, was he? Didn't give him the result they wanted, did they?”

Kneidel twisted and writhed in the lasso. “He seemed confused, angry. I don't know why.”

“Because the readings were corrupted.” Tara's smile grew wider. “Like Raven said, I saw several alternatives when I was in the machine. And in two of them, I wasn't an Earth Elemental at all.”

Now Kneidel was the one staring at her.

“In one of them, I had never had any powers, and I was a Green Lantern. In another, I had lost my powers and had some suit of powered armor, instead. Deathstroke's findings were too disrupted, I bet. Corrupted data. Fragmented. He might get some money for them, but nothing like he was planning.”

“I don't know!” Kneidel thrashed in the lasso. “He didn't let me see!”

“Gee, wonder why.” She looked to Vic. “Am I right, Cyborg?”

“It's hard to read what's left after we were done wrecking it,” Cyborg said, nodding slowly. “But I think you're right.”

Kneidel howled. “No! Your genetic destiny...”

“I don't have a 'destiny', and I'm not necessarily tied to the planet like some kind of Earth deva. Maybe, maybe not. That was part of the problem you had. Neither you, nor the Terminator, nor Caulder, nor anybody else can pin down who I am. Or who Gar is. Isn't that right, Gar? Gar! Gar, come back!”

Gar was gone, blindly pushing through the undergrowth he once explored as an orphan. He switched to a panther, a lemur, a swallow. Then he reached the cliff edge near the waterfall, the fateful waterfall. He stood there, in human form, staring down as the mists rose and coated his wet face. Tara caught up with him, looking down as the light made little spectral rainbows through the water droplets. “They, Tara, they didn’t die on the waterfall.”

“Come here. Gar – when you were attached to that machine, when you merged with those fields, what did you see? What did you see about us – about me?” He didn’t answer. He pressed hard against her. His face was hidden in her damp hair. She stroked the back of his straining neck. “It doesn’t matter. Whatever happened. What they did to you – what they did to me, whatever plan they had for us. Whatever we saw. It doesn’t matter. They don't define us. We make our own future.”

“Yeah.....” he looked at her, eyes refocusing. “Yeah, you're right.”

They went back to rejoin the others.

The End.

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