Titans: The Resistance #29

[starlord]

Titans Resistance
Issue #29: "H.I.V.E." Pt 1.
Story by: Jay McIntyre
Art by: Jamie Rimmer
Edited by: Brian Burchette

“You've never seen death? Look in the mirror every day and you will see it like bees working in a glass hive.” Jean Cocteau
“That which is not good for the bee-hive cannot be good for the bees.” Aurelius, Marcus

-1-

By now, most everyone in the world had heard of the Titans and their Resistance. In the free world, the headlines were afire with their exploits. Not all knew what to make of them, and some did not entirely trust them, but all knew they were real and fighting the Markovian Empire.

Within the Empire itself, news was heavily suppressed, of course. But the word leaked out, and through the Internet and other sources slowly people began to believe. The Empire had originally denied their existence, and now labeled them as "anarchist terrorists." Bust slowly the conquered peoples began to believe, and to rise...which only helped that older revolutionary cabal, the Justice Society, in it's own rebellion efforts.

But there was one group of people who had an entirely different opinion.

"It is a front," the hooded man said.

His similarly-hooded lieutenants and servitors looked at him, their own expressions unreadable as their hoods shadowed their faces. Around them, armed and helmeted guards stood at attention.

The vast chamber around them was a natural cavern originally, but it had many furnishings added. First, artificial walls, honeycomb shaped, that glowed with sinister sulphur light, the only illumination aside from the computer monitors. It made their purple robes appear to be the color of dried blood. The helmeted and armored guards appeared to be the same color.

"The Markovian Empire has created a false resistance movement against itself, to flush out true competition, such as the old superhero cabal and ourselves," the hooded man went on. "To engineer false hope and to lure us into a trap. Very impressive battles, to be sure; and all for show. The Markovians put a lot of effort into making that battle in their home territory look real, sacrificing some of their own. It was, I must admit, very well done."

This was the main chamber, where most of the computer network was located, where the ruling council met; where the Elite Operatives stood guard. Tunnels led to various other chambers for sleeping, cooking, command, control, discipline, research laboratories, and the handful of exits to the surface. Outside it was always cold; their latitude was far north.

"But we will not be fooled," the hooded man continued. "We will turn their own tactic against them. We will lure this team of false 'Titans' here, and destroy them."

No one spoke, not even to agree. Not that there was any disagreement. This was a highly disciplined organization based around scientific superiority, first as a way of life for them, then as an eventual blueprint for the restructuring of society. It had been founded mere months before the Markovian Empire itself had been, in secret by some of the best minds of that era; and it had quietly persevered, slowly increasing it's numbers and strength, advancing it's own technology, several steps ahead of what the normal world knew and understood. Waiting for it's moment to strike.

The Hierarchy for Intellectual Victory and Empowerment.

The H.I.V.E.

-2-

Terra came to the Sweet Lilli on a floating rock, bringing a returning Robin with her. He had had business in Gotham, and she had been finding it more and more difficult to maintain her secret identity. She was preparing to abandon it and find a new one.

Rose was waiting for them on-deck. "Hey, bird boy. Welcome back."

"Terra tells me that you've been quite busy," Robin said.

"Pirates of the Caribbean, it hasn't been," Rose agreed, and Terra hung her head.

"Where's Supergirl?" Lantern asked.

"On the way back from the moon, where she was conducting some sort of experiment, out of Earth's atmosphere, or so she said," Rose shrugged. "At times she seems less alien to me than Deriven."

They all turned to look at that worthy, who was staring out to sea again. For a long moment he didn't answer. Sometimes he didn't seem to hear. He always reacted when there was a crisis at hand, but often he seemed to be somewhere else entirely, whether he was trying to contact the Atlanteans, or doing something else.

Eventually he turned and smiled his strange smile. "It is a fact that the world has become strange to me and mine. But hopefully with the restoration of magic hope and understanding will be renewed."

Rose shivered. Not only had she not offended him, he had taken her literally and provided a serious answer. Terra's soft-heartedness she could understand, while disagreeing with. Deriven, she couldn't.

-3-

The HIVE base was located in the arctic island chain that had once been known as Svalbard; the Markovians had taken it with little fuss and renamed it Sargoviya. They had a small population here, two garrisons and a research lab, and a submarine construction plant. This plant had been given a slightly higher priority and workload in the aftermath of the Titans first strike in Markovia itself. The native population was left over from the whaling days of old, small and easily pacified.

But most of the cold islands were empty, making it an ideal location for the HIVE base below ground.

"The alien is returning from the moon," one of the HIVE computer operators announced.

The HIVE leader made a casual gesture, and another operator tapped a short sequence into his keyboard.

-4-

Supergirl was floating slowly and calmly back down towards the ship when she heard a strange buzzing in her ear.

She had been mostly content with her experiment results in higher dimensional phase shifts; she was beginning to believe she had found the way to reach Deriven's "magic realm" and prove to him that his notion of such was merely a bastardization of the laws of physics.

She did like that costume she had worn for a few days after though. To an extent. She didn't need to wear Kryptonian formal dress away from home, after all....

Then the noise buzzed into her ears, and she snapped her head towards the northwest. Her eyes narrowed, and her vision stretched around the curve of the globe. She could see the small collection of islands from which the noise had come, but nothing seemed to be happening there. She squinted and pushed her vision through the ground, looking for the source, and came up against several lead-lined areas.

"What a pitiful deception," she mused.

The thought did occur to her that it might be a trap, but that thought by itself didn't in any way motivate her to get the others before pursuing it. Even on the rare occasions when she'd been hurt in this world, she hadn't thought she'd been in any situation she couldn't handle.

Also, while Supergirl didn't exactly look down on humans, per se, she considered the fact that they were less technologically advanced as proof of her superiority and eventually victory, even if there was some....unpleasantness on the way first. Green Lantern's Oan ring and the....alternate dimension and its....supposed magic....had given her pause, but she felt that any technological difficulty could be overcome. Even that unpleasant whip she had been struck with in Italy.

And so, with only a moment's hesitation, she shot off alone, without even telling the others what she was doing.

Supergirl was not human, but arrogance was not exclusively a human trait.

-5-

"The alien approaches," a technician announced.

"What a pity we couldn't get the ring-wielder as well," another mused.

"One at a time," their leader chided them. "We have come this far by being cautious. That one will fall in turn."

"Do you really think the ring-wielder serves aliens?" the first technician asked.

The leader snorted. "All serve the Markovians. It is at this time unlikely that any of them truly serve aliens in any capacity. Though I wonder if our current target is infiltrating the Markovians for the cause of her own race. These are the things we must discover. Knowledge is power; information is paramount."

"Twenty seconds!" The second technician shouted, beginning to panic.

"Be calm, we are prepared for this," the leader said.

Even as the words left his mouth, Supergirl slammed into the access tunnel.

-6-

"So is Supergirl coming, or what?" Anarky asked.

"I wonder that myself," Ravager frowned. "She's taking too long."

Deriven abruptly whirled. "Something is wrong.....I can sense her....she has travelled far north...I know not why."

"No time for theorizing," Robin said. "Let's get moving!"

"Ship's too slow for this," Ravager said.

So Green Lantern and Argent used their powers to take the others with them at best possible speed.

-7-

The first obstacle Supergirl experienced was an energy field around the entrance way she had selected. Normally it was designed merely to keep the warm in and the cold out. But it had been energized to maximum power, and was using several different frequencies, in anticipation of her arrival.

The field stopped Supergirl in mid flight. Given the speed at which she was going, this caused her some pain, but this only increased her determination. Slowly and painfully she pushed her way through the field, which began to burn away her costume. While not experiencing the annoyance a human would feel at this, she certainly did feel that two costume changes in a short time period were slightly absurd.

As she was pushing her way through the field, three HIVE Operatives arrived and blasted her with their energy weapons; lances of purple-red energy connected with her frame.

Supergirl shouted in surprise and pain and glared at them, unleashing her heat vision. One of the HIVE operatives died almost instantly, barely having time enough to scream. The other two continued firing, and Supergirl was brought to her knees.

As they closed in, one of them stopped firing, and this enabled Supergirl to swat him away. He impacted painfully with the honeycombed side of the corridor, wounded but not killed.

The last Operative kept firing, but was not enough to bring Supergirl down by himself. Slowly but surely she stumbled towards him; finally, she got close enough to yank the gun away from him.

She eyed it, frowning, and glared at him. "What technology is this!"

"You'll never find out, alien!" he shouted, hurling what she thought was merely an explosive grenade at her. But instead of a blast, bolts of lightning arced over her body. Again, this was not enough to bring her down, but she was slowed and weakened by it.

He turned to run, but as he did, she threw herself after him. She could no longer fly, exactly, but she still moved faster and father than a normal human.

They collided awkwardly and fell, and the man gasped in pain as he broke two ribs.

Supergirl compounded his problems by breaking his left arm. "You're going to talk, human."

"Never!"

Supergirl shook her head. Such irrationality. She finally activated her communicator. "Ravager, I may have a prob--"

The next blast was from five energy cannons at once.

Supergirl went down.

-8-

"Supergirl, receiving your signal! Respond.......respond, please!" Ravager tapped at her communicator and scowled.

"Not going well," Anarky said sadly.

"Yeah, no kidding," she snapped.

"Clearly they are a serious threat if they can take her down so quickly," Green Lantern said. He wasn't afraid; he still truly believed in the Lantern mantra of feeling no fear. But he was worried.

"You're right," Robin agreed. "Which is why we need you to keep shields at maximum power for all this."

Normally, Lantern would have snapped at him for stating what he considered to be obvious. But he was worried enough, and they had been working together long enough, that he merely nodded. "I know the drill."

"Can you scan the location?" Deriven asked.

"Not from this distance," Lantern admitted.

"Let us know as soon as you get close enough," Terra said. She was worried, too.

-9-

Supergirl wasn't out long, but it was long enough for her to have been strapped down to some sort of table.

"Awake already, I am impressed," the cold voice of the HIVE leader interrupted her thoughts. "Tell me, how exactly did the Markovian Empire manage to secure the services of an extraterrestrial?"

Supergirl supposed the throbbing in her skull was what humans called a headache. "I fight against the Empire, and serve nothing save my own scientific curiosity."

Genuine, surprised laughter filtered down throughout the room. "I think you'll find that we are the real scientists here," the HIVE leader said. "Now, we will find out the nature of your service to the Empire and the false rebellion they have created."

There was a long pause, and then Supergirl did something for the first time, ever, in her life.

She laughed.

Laughed!

Laughed loud and long and hard. Laughed so hard the cavern shook a little bit, and the HIVE were unsteady on their feet.

"So that is humor," Supergirl said. "Most interesting."

"What exactly is it you find so amusing?" the HIVE leader said, annoyed.

"Oh yes," Supergirl said, remembering, and the recall threatened to start her laughing again. "The fact that you call yourself scientists, when you can't see the empirical evidence of a genuine rebellion in front of you!" She chuckled a bit more. "I would answer your questions, but I doubt you would believe the answers. Since you don't accept data that fits your false preconceptions."

The HIVE leader actually nodded, and Supergirl's enhanced vision could pick up a thin, sickly smile in his mouth. "A good act under duress, you may be commended for it. Especially under such dire conditions. However, we will get the truth, and you cannot escape--"

Supergirl cut him off by sitting up and almost casually broke her bonds. Their weapons had hurt her yes, weakened her. But not to the point where she could not break a simple pair of bonds.

"Impossible!" the HIVE leader sputtered.

"As I said, you cannot get around your preconceived notions--" Supergirl began.

This time eight energy blasts hit her at once, and she was knocked unconscious once more.

-10-

The Titans had another problem.

They had just about reached Sargoviya. They were not as fast as Supergirl, which gave the two small local Markovian garrisons time to detect them and move to intercept.

This remote outpost didn't even have a single Rocket Man. Not that it would have mattered if it did; the Titans had already proven that even a moderate-sized group of Markovians were no match for them. It took an entire army to pose a serious threat; and that was before Anarky, Argent and Deriven had joined.

Even so, they slowed them down.

-11-

This time, Supergirl took a little longer to awake. This time, she was a little weaker, a little more tired. This time, they had used heavier clamps.

She could still break them, she was sure of this. But she also knew that her strength, her power, came from the yellow sun of this system. She had not been deprived of it for any serious length of time, yet. A whole night did not weaken her, so this had done nothing to her by itself, as of yet. But that last blast had taken more out of her, so perhaps it would be best to rest a bit, and make these robed idiots continue to underestimate her by doing so.

They had set some drill up over her.

The HIVE leader seemed a little frazzled around the edges and sounded annoyed. A few strands of gray hair were sticking out of his hood. "Now, my dear," he said in a sort of exhausted exasperation, "We shall uncover the secrets of the Markovian Plan."

"It's not even a Markovian plan you....what is the term? Ah yes. Idiot."

Seething with frustration, the HIVE leader activated the drill.

There was no tension filled pause or slow movement, it came right down and impacted with her abdomen.

"After we take a few tissue samples," the HIVE leader said, "You will be much more pliable. Additionally we will be able to study your cell structure, and--"

CRUNK.

"What?" the HIVE leader frowned.

One of the technicians bent over and studied it. "Ah, sir....the drill head..."

"Yes, what of it?"

"It....it broke against her skin."

"WHAT?!"

Supergirl laughed again.

-12-

Green Lantern sent a Markovian hurling up into the air, then brought a huge green hammer down to smash another.

Anarky desperately spun as three bullets tore past him; none struck his flesh, but all ripped his robes. He followed through by thrusting his cattle prod into a Markovian, which caused that worthy to shudder and collapse.

Argent brought a crashing wave of silver down upon four of the enemy.

Deriven sent two Markovians running away screaming, blind.

Robin pole-vaulted over the fire of a pair of Markovians and planted his feet in their chests.

Ravager parried away a Markovian bayonet, then ran the solider through with her other katana.

Two more closed in on her, but Terra gestured and they sunk into the ground, screaming.

Green Lantern slammed another Markovian soldier hard enough to break his back.

Argent scythed through the last four, and that was that.

"I feel old," Robin said.

"This has been a waste of time," Anarky snapped. "Where are they holding Supergirl? And how are the even holding her?"

Lantern was using his ring to read the mind of one of the surviving soldiers, something he hated to do. "The Markovians don't seem to know anything about it." He let go of the soldier (who landed hard on his back) and swept the island with his ring. "There's some kind of energy field that way."

"Yes," Deriven agreed, eyes unfocused. "Some sort of techno-mancer energy field, to the east." He pointed.

"Let's go!" Robin shouted.

-13-

"Sir, proximity alarm!" a HIVE technician shouted. "The rest of the meta-humans are on the isle! They just took out both Markovian militias and are heading towards entrance number three!"

"Took out the militias?" the leader frowned. "Why bother, with no one to see them do it. And more importantly, how did they arrive without our detection?!?"

"Probably Green Lantern's ring," Supergirl murmured from the table. "I can't believe you idiots still think we're working for the Empire."

His hooded face swung back towards her, and she could see the flat sheen of murder in his eyes. "Terminate the alien," he growled, "And prepare for assault!"

Low, buzzing alarms vibrated throughout the HIVE base....