Titans: The Resistance #44

[markymark261]

Titans Resistance
Issue #44: “In Remembrance of the Tsars, Part Two”
Story by Jay McIntyre
Art by Zeb Francis
Edited by Mark Bowers

As for myself, I was never against Russia.
Eduard Shevardnadze

At the time of the Revolution, dogs howled day and night all over Russia.
Andrei Platonov

-1-

“So you are the new Resistance cabal we have heard of.” Konstantin was uncertain. “We heard also some sort of Markovian turncoat was involved with that. We were unsure whether to believe it or not.”

“She would not come, fearing you would slay her,” Lantern admitted. “She fears not death in battle, but death against those that would otherwise be allies.”

All three Russians hissed in rage. But then, after a pause, Anna cocked her head and said, “Why did she not try to usurp the throne directly?”

“She would have had no need to usurp, she was the heir.”

“Princess Tara?” Anna blinked. “We’ll discuss it later.”

“I have another question,” Konstantin said. “One with a ring like you was a member of the old Society of Justice cabal...”

“The Justice Society still lives,” Green Lantern assured him. “We have coordinated with them on a couple of occasions. And yes, I learned from the one you know. Though my ring came not from him. That is another, and much longer, story.”

“Interesting...” Konstanin seemed pleased by this news.

“The main question becomes; what now?” Leonid asked. “Our base is compromised. Your assistance, while welcome, does not change this fact.”

“Remember your place, Son.” Konstantin’s voice was grim and cold.

Anna put a hand on Konstantin’s arm. “No, he’s right. Whatever else may be done, we have to move on, now.”

“That leaves the question of who betrayed us. But in any case, my son should not--”

“Enough.” Anna’s voice was forceful and regal. “Your son is our weapon, and worthy of our respect; but more than that, remember that it is not you who has the final word.”

“....Of course,” Konstantin exhaled and, with an effort, mastered his temper. “But the point remains.”

“Unless we cut them down on the way in,” Argent said, “your betrayer may be amongst your survivors.”

“Assuming they didn’t simply find you some other way.”

“Good points, both,” Anna said. “As for whether any spy is amongst our own surviving members, I am sure Konstantin can.....discover the truth.”

Konstantin’s grin was one of iron. “Indeed I can.”

-2-

Robin took Lantern aside. “I admire your fortitude and inventiveness, but was it wise to tell them about Terra?”

“They’d have found out soon enough anyway, better to know whether we could still work with them....or if we were facing another fight.”

“You should have consulted me before taking that risk,” Robin said.

Lantern glared. “You weren’t around to ask. And newsflash; I don’t have to follow your orders. We’re all in this together.”

“I know we’re in it together.” Robin kept his calm; he wasn’t used to challenge from this particular quarter. Just as Anarky was easing off, Lantern was stepping up, it seemed. He’d forgotten about the ring-wielder’s temper. “That’s why we can’t make tactical errors.”

Lantern shrugged. “It’s a gamble; it paid off. I did what I had to. What you gonna do, kick me out?”

“I don’t want to kick you out, and even if I did, we’d have to put it to a vote. Just be more careful, eh?”

“Duly noted. I’ll make my own decisions.”

“And I’ll respond to them as necessary”

“Are you two done playing macho dominance games?” Argent sighed.

Lantern and Robin eyed each other a moment longer, then they let it drop. With Terra absent, other group dynamics were coming into play. Robin wasn’t sure what to think about that.

For his part, Lantern thought Robin needed to take the stick out.

-3-

Konstantin’s torture of the survivors was difficult to behold. Most turned away. Robin and Anarky did not, but each of them understood the implications; the Russians were no better than the Markovians. They had simply been the losing side of two bad empires. Perhaps that was another reason Terra didn’t want to come.

Another time, another place, Anarky might have made some sort of snarky comment about how all governments were ultimately like that. But for the moment he held his peace, if only because antagonizing the Russians was not a tactically advisable position.

While Anarky and Robin were mulling over the implications, Argent found it invoked too many memories of Markovian occupation of her country, and what had been done to her family. Supergirl felt a mixture of clinical interest....and disappointment

Green Lantern was covering well, but he was the one most morally outraged and sickened. Not that the others didn’t feel this, but he felt it most keenly; his fists trembled as he clenched them, trying not to show his outrage openly.

Deriven, for his part, felt a bleak despair. This was the world he wanted to restore magic and hope to? Granted, he knew part of the reason for what he was seeing was because the light of magic had been absent for so long, but still....these horrors would not fade overnight. Or maybe ever. Did he want to subject the Sidhe and all the other folk, human and otherwise, to this?

Oh, to be sure, evil was everywhere, and he did not fool himself otherwise. But so banal, so low...he shook himself.

It was clear to Konstantin, at least, that there was more than one traitor. Especially after the first one cracked and revealed he had passed information to someone else, by cypher. But that was no comfort, as it meant that there were further traitors to the Tsarist Underground outside the base.

“Or perhaps just a contact,” Princess Anna said.

“Nyet, my dear. All due disrespect to your station, but they had to be someone with at least knowledge of our base.”

“I understand what needed to be done,” Leonid said. “But it is a heavy price to pay.”

Anna went over to him, and comforted him in a way that all the Titans understood was more than just professional.

“It always is, Son,” Konstantin said. He did not look at their interaction, and again, the Titans understood, it was because he did not need to. “It always is.”

“Well, eh,” Robin said, trying not to stare at the blood and the still twitching traitor, “what now?”

“We will deal with our own internal troubles, thank you,” Konstantin snapped.

“No argument here,” Anarky murmured.

“Indeed, your security is your own concern,” Robin agreed. “But I meant, what about you now?”

Konstantin opened his mouth to speak again, but Anna stepped forward with a gesture and a look, and he subsided.

“Certainly we appreciate any help you can offer,” she said to the Titans. “Whatever trust issues may exist between us, clearly our own organization is already compromised. I will need to meet your Markovian princess eventually. But for now, we will have to find a safe house any spies would not expect. Certainly you can assist in this.”

“All our other bases, such as they are, are surely compromised,” Konstantin grudgingly agreed. “We will need a place to start over while we root out the corruption in our network, and gather those who are loyal to us. We will need a secure location from which to do this.”

“While we do have allies on the sea,” Robin said, “we mostly operate out of America.”

“That was obvious from your accents,” Anna sniffed. “Just because we are isolated does not mean we are ignorant.”

Robin put his hands up. “I implied no such thing. We were just volunteering information.”

Green Lantern made to step forward, but it was Deriven who stepped to the fore. “My lady, we mean no disrespect. We are all here united against the Markovians, and we would assist you for that reason alone. We are merely providing what assistance we can.”

Anna seemed to consider this, sharing a glance with Leonid as she did so. Finally she turned to Deriven, after a glance at Robin. “That one mentioned allies on the sea; does that refer to the organized pirates?”

“They have been useful allies,” Deriven admitted.

Anna sniffed. “We have benefited from their smuggling operations in the past, though they themselves likely do not know it. That would be a starting point, at least.”

“Will you permit us to enable your escape and direct transportation to their fleet?” Deriven asked. “As opposed to sneaking to the nearest dock and waiting for them to come, or using your own transportation to reach the sea?”

“Normally, we would refuse,” Anna said, cutting off a reply from Konstantin. “But with our own organization in such disarray, we need all the assistance we can get.”

Deriven turned to Green Lantern. “Lantern, if you would?”

Lantern’s ring brightened.

-4-

Anna and Leonid marveled at the ring’s power as the green bubble carried them northwest. Konstantin was not as surprised, but he did seem pleased. The Russian scientist briefly entertained the notion of one of their own loyalists wearing such a ring, but quickly suppressed the thought. Even if Lantern did not read his thought—and from what he knew of the older ring-slinger of the Justice cabal, he probably could—getting the ring from him would be...difficult at best. Better to cooperate and perhaps convince his unknown alien masters to grant them a ring later. Such was Konstantin’s mind; he was always planning for the future.

Meanwhile, Anarky approached Robin. “Angry at Deriven and Lantern taking charge?” His tone was provocative, but it was also an honest question.

Robin shrugged. “Whatever gets the job done. I was mostly worried about endangering Terra’s life.”

“Ahhhh,” Anarky nodded. He did not bother to argue that such was a risk they all took every day; he felt the same about Rose. “But still, it’s gotta rankle a bit, huh?”

Again, Robin shrugged. “I’m used to taking orders. Until this team, taking orders was all I ever did, while I was training. It was more circumstance and that training that led me to be as much a leader as I have. Honestly? I think Terra is more in charge than I am.”

Anarky nodded slowly, not sure what to say to that.

But Robin could guess. “Rail against the power structure all you want, Lonnie. I don’t have to be in charge of it.”

“Power structures are the problem,” Anarky returned. “But I see your point.”

-5-

Supergirl and Deriven each approached Leonid. Anna kept a wary eye on them.

“Science made you what you are,” Supergirl began.

“Patriotism made what I am,” Leonid corrected her. “Loyalty to justice and liberation.”

“But science was the tool that was used,” she pressed.

“That is incidental.”

“Is it? Would you be as effective as you are without that science?”

“What is the point of this,” Anna interrupted suspiciously.

“Supergirl’s a technophile of the first order,” Deriven supplied. “Though she would define it as scientific interest.”

“And he,” Supergirl returned, jerking her head towards the mage, “is buried in magic and superstition.”

“Perhaps you two should not try to wrap us up in your debate,” Leonid said, surprising all three of them. “Magic and faith are the drive, science is the application. There is no conflict.”

“I have never denied technology’s utility. Only its dominance,” Deriven insisted.

Leonid shrugged. “We use what we have. Other alternatives are welcome. We want your help against Markovia; we are not interested in your internal debates.”

Deriven put his hands up and backed off. Supergirl said, “Forgive my interest.”

“Our methods are not for your scrutiny,” Anna said, as politely as she could.

-6-

Lantern thought he was shielding himself and his passengers from detection.

He was wrong.

“We have them on scope,” the Markovian officer said into his radio. “The modifications worked.”

“Then what are you waiting for?” General Petrovich demanded. “FIRE!”

The Markovian made a pumping gesture with his left fist, and three missiles were fired.

-7-

The Markovian warheads were filled with various meteorite fragments, some used on experiments in their own metahuman program. Similar efforts had enabled them to detect Lantern’s ring even when cloaked. They had not been prepared when the Titans had infiltrated the Russian satellite states in that fashion, but had mobilized quickly.

Lantern saw the three warheads coming, of course. “We’re detected!” he shouted, both surprised and annoyed, and strengthened his shield bubble. “Incoming!”

The warheads did not break through the bubble, but the impact of them could nevertheless be felt.

Leonid’s mostly yellow costume meant that he could easily pass through Lantern’s bubble, and he had only just prevented himself from falling out. Now he deliberately flung himself through, and Lantern let him go, knowing exactly what he was doing.

The Russian super soldier fell directly towards his target, the enemy artillery position. They sent two more missiles up his way as he came down. One missed; the other struck.

While Lantern’s ring was able to completely ward off the alien meteorite material in the warheads, Leonid was not. The impact itself barely hurt him, but he did feel the angry burn the meteorite fragments produced. Perhaps they weakened him slightly, perhaps they slowed him down a tad more.

The net result, of course, was only to make him angry.

As the ground began to rush up towards him and he could make out more details, it became clear to him that the missile impact had thrown him off a little, and he would not smash into their weapon directly as he planned. But that was all right. There were contingencies, and tactics were by now as natural to him as breathing.

He saw them loading another missile. He drew up his knees and wrapped his arms around them, turning into a living cannonball. He would not hit them directly, no, but....

-8-

The Markovian officer saw him coming out of the sky, of course; a Russian soldier turned into his own golden meteorite of doom, in mockery of their efforts.

The officer shouted at them to load the missile faster, but it was no use.

Leonid slammed into the ground less than twenty feet from their position with an impact that knocked them all from their feet. The missile, only half-loaded, was wrenched from its launch tube. The warhead smashed into the ground, and the explosion killed one of the fusiliers and crippled the other.

“Perhaps the fall killed him,” the officer said aloud, not really believing it, as he shakily regained his feet. But he did hope the Russian would be weakened or incapacitated long enough to suit their needs, and they could finish him off. “Quickly,” he called to three surviving soldiers, “follow me!” They ran to the impact site.

Leonid had made quite an impressive hole in the ground, and was dazedly pulling himself out, when the officer and his handful of men came upon him.

“Fire!” the officer shouted, raising his own weapon and blasting away as he did so. The officer was armed with a small energy-beam weapon; his soldiers with hollow-point bullets in their rifles. The hollow points were useless, flattening against Leonid’s nigh-invulnerable skin. The energy beam, on the other hand, did have some effect; it began to slowly burn its way through Leonid’s tough hide.

This, however, only served to rouse him fully back to consciousness and anger. He scrambled from the pit and advanced.

“Aim for the eyes!” the officer shouted, adjusting his own aim as he did so. It was, at least where his own weapon was concerned, a tactically sound idea. But Leonid simply lifted a hand to block the beam, and continued to advance.

It was possible that Leonid’s slowly-developing pyrokinetic powers could have done something to the energy beam, or to the weapon itself. But he was not in the mood to experiment. As he closed the distance, the officer began backing up; refusing to run, but hoping to keep distance between them long enough to do real damage to Leonid.

It was a vain hope.

Leonid took long, loping strides that easily outmatched the officer’s panicked backwards scramble. He grabbed the man’s right wrist and yanked the arm aside. His purpose was to stop the man shooting him, but by now his mood was so foul that he dislocated the man’s arm, pulling the bone right out of the socket. The officer screamed in pain. Not that Leonid was feeling any kind of mercy at that point.

He could have simply crushed the man, or ended his life with a single blow. Instead, Leonid threw the officer into the sky with all his strength.

The officer went screaming up into the air, sure that he would die once gravity reasserted its hold on him. But in fact, Leonid had thrown him so hard, and he was flying upward so fast, that he would asphyxiate in the thin reaches of the upper atmosphere long before gravity began to pull him back down.

Almost contemptuously, Leonid stomped one of the soldiers into the ground. The other two turned to run. Before Leonid could advance on them, the twin beams of Supergirl’s heat vision fried one, and magic from Deriven turned the other into ashes.

He turned and glared at them, but nodded in respect. Lantern’s bubble came down right behind.

-Epilogue-

Terra came aboard the Sweet Lilli via Green Lantern’s ring, now in the central Atlantic. The Russian triumvirate were waiting for her there. She had not used her own powers, so as not to goad them. That was the last thing she wanted.

The super soldier—Leonid, that was his name—looked calm and detached; wary, but not openly hostile. The scientist in the long coat and shades had a sneer on his face, but Anna...no, her true name was probably something like Anya or Anastasia...she was open-faced and curious.

Perhaps she realized, as Tara herself did, that they had some things in common.

Tara bowed formally; Anna bowed back.

Then Anna extended a hand.

Tara shook it.

“Come,” Anna said. “There is much to discuss....”

While the girls began some of the most awkward diplomatic relations in history, Lantern sidled up to Robin and Ravager.

“Something troubles me,” he said.

Rose raised an eyebrow. “Oh yes?”

“Those Markovians detected me; they even tried to take countermeasures against me. And the Russian super soldier, too. I think they’re stepping up their game. We’re running out of time.”

Robin nodded. “The war proper will begin soon. You’re right. And I’m sure Terra knows it, too. These negotiations are more important than they first appear, and that was important enough as it was.”

Robin turned towards the east, towards the ocean, seeing Argent already on that side of the ship, looking outwards.

Towards Markovia.

The end would not be long now.

Not long at all.



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