Issue #16: "Titanic Days" Pt. 3

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Teen Titans

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Issue #16: “Titanic Days” Part Three
Written by Mark Bowers
Cover by Ramon Villalobos
Edited by Brian Burchette[/center]

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A year ago, her world had been shrouded in darkness, but now Arrowette found herself in a different world altogether; a world she’d heard stories about as a child, as her mother tucked her in at night. Her mother had called it an age of wonders, and it was indeed. It was just like the stories... only better.

And so she stood there, with the others, watching these two wonders – one a former Boy of Wonder, the other a Girl of Wonder – trading and dodging blows, almost too fast to be believed. Suddenly she saw distracted from this spectacle by a familiar face appear behind the battle: a girl she’d once known, but a girl she’d yet to meet; a girl, in fact, who hadn’t been born yet.

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Thanks to a yet-to-be-invented teleportational device, Roy Harper, along with his daughter from the future, had just materialized outside Titans Tower.

Quickly, he took in the sights and sounds around him. At his feet, were two unconscious bodies, one of whom he recognized as the villainess Shimmer, while, over to his left, there were big heaps of earth dug up, and next to them was the body of a villain called Mammoth, who he’d met in the Titans’ early days, alongside that of Kid Flash. Meanwhile, some of the other Titans (all of them new, few of whom he recognized) were watching Dick and Donna in what appeared to be a fight to the death.

“I’ve got to go and help,” he said.

“No,” said his daughter forcefully, grabbing hold of his arm. “Leave them be. There are more important things to worry about. Besides, do you even know which one of them you’re supposed to be helping?”

“Well, no, but...”

“Just sit back and watch,” she advised. “This is all history to me. If we do nothing, it will sort itself out. If we interfere, we could just make things worse. Trust me; it wouldn’t be the first time.”

“Well, we’ll just have to risk it,” said Roy, marching over to where the other Titans were standing.

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Arrowette was still looking across at the girl who shouldn’t be there, when suddenly she realized Roy Harper was grabbing at her crossbow.

“Give it to me,” he demanded. “Someone’s got to do something.”

She just handed him the bow, her mind on other things. “That girl with you. Who is she?”

“Long story,” he said, taking her quivers. “What’s the story with Nightwing and Wonder Girl?”

“He’s trying to kill her. We figure the guy with the see-through forehead’s behind it.”

Roy nodded, as he pulled out an arrow. “Makes more sense than most things I’ve heard today.”

Suddenly Roy felt a familiar hand on his arm again, and heard his daughter’s voice: “Don’t you think we should be worrying about Raven?”

“But she’s not here,” pointed out Roy, as he fired the arrow towards Nightwing.

“Well, where is she?” she asked, turning him to face her, as, in the background, the knuckleduster arrow he’d fired ricocheted from escrima stick to bracelet to escrima stick to bracelet and straight over into Dagon’s face, knocking him out cold.

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Meanwhile, Raven was currently nowhere near Titans Tower, nor near the ground for that matter. Instead, she was currently high up in the air, where she’d just teleported with Flamebird. Letting go of Flamebird’s hand, she then teleported again, this time to the ground, and watched her teammate’s descent.

A second later, Flamebird hit the ground, her legs buckling beneath her as she tried to spread the impact through her body. Lying there, unable to get up, she saw Raven walking over to her.

“I thought you’d be better at killing people,” said Flamebird defiantly, as she lay there, unmoving, mentally checking through her body parts to assess the damage.

“Oh, I didn’t want to kill you,” explained Raven. “I figured, considering your gymnastic training, you’d be able to survive that little drop. You might not be able to fly, but you can certainly fall with style. Nice landing, by the way.”

Raven then kicked Flamebird’s legs, hard, but Flamebird didn’t feel a thing.

“No, I just wanted to incapacitate you, so that you’d stay with me for a little chat and then, when all that’s over and done with, then maybe I’ll drop you some more.”

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“Raven’s not the only one missing,” realized Arrowette. “Flamebird’s not here either.”

“Flamebird? She shouldn’t be here... not yet,” said Roy’s daughter, who, thanks to her history books, knew all the tales of the Titans. She even recognized the mysterious Woodchucker, only remembered in the future for that gold statue of him that graced the entranceway of so many Titans Towers. Then again, she also didn’t recognize the girl now standing in front of her. “And who’s this?” she said, looking at Arrowette, and then she looked closer. “Wait, it can’t be...”

Arrowette took off her mask. “Yes, it is.”

“You? But you’re not from here.”

“Ditto.”

“You two know each other?” asked a confused Roy.

“Yeah, we met,” confessed Arrowette, “sometime in the future. But how did you get here?”

“Portal sent us back in time to stop Raven.”

“Us, too,” said Arrowette in disbelief.

Roy Harper’s daughter rolled her eyes and frowned. “Portal and his backup plans. Got most of us killed, and we’re still no closer to stopping her.”

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Raven sat down next to Flamebird.

“So, Flamebird, you still think I’m Raven, don’t you?”

“But you are Raven.”

“Well, yes, I am Raven... now... Didn’t used to be though. Used to just be a nobody, but then my metagene kicked in and... well, I was still a nobody, maybe more so. I was a shadow-being; able to inhabit other people’s bodies, do whatever I liked with them... some of the things I did you wouldn’t even want to imagine, most of the things for that matter... Good times.”

“You’re insane.”

“No, I don’t think so; just a kid having fun... I could do whatever I wanted, become whomever I wanted... except, that is, for Raven. See, I’m from the future, and there our ruler Raven is just too darn powerful. Anyway, we always want what we can’t have, so, after I gave up on using other people to try and get to her, I joined one of the more powerful resistance groups, hoping that they’d be able to weaken Raven enough for me to get control of her. Little did I realize that they’d take me back in time, enabling me to take over Raven here and now. It wasn’t easy – at first she was in charge, then I was stuck in a coma for a year - but now that’s all changed and it’s time to reap the rewards.”

Suddenly Raven grabbed hold of Flamebird’s arm. “Anyway, can’t just sit here chatting. I have Titans to kill.”

And with that, they were gone.

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Woodchucker sat himself down next to Element, who was now in control of the air entering and leaving Kid Flash’s and Mammoth’s otherwise-still bodies.

“Hey, Yu. Okay if I join you?” he asked, as he used a toothpick to remove the remains of his lunch from between his teeth.

Element gave the slightest of nods.

“Thanks,” said Woodchucker. “So, what’s with the air stuff? I thought you could just control the five Chinese elements: earth, fire, water, and... and...”

While Woodchucker scratched his head, one of his axes suddenly floated out of his belt and started waving itself in front of his face. “... Oh, yeah... metal and wood,” he said, as he flicked his toothpick away.

Element smiled slightly. “Branching out into Western elements.”

“Is it hard?”

“Not easy. Bit like learning a foreign language. Also, I wanted a new tattoo.”

Woodchucker looked down at Element’s arm, with its five tattoos representing the Chinese elements, plus a new one, almost unnoticeable, representing air. “Wow, subtle.”

“Next, the periodic table,” explained Yu. “That will take a while. Lots of tatts.”

Adam nodded over toward Wonder Girl. “You think she needs our help?” he asked, grabbing hold of his axe and swinging it above his head. At which point, Nightwing came flying through the air past the two of them, landed on the ground with a thud, and then leaped back into his fight with Wonder Girl.

“Probably not,” Element said, as Woodchucker looked at his now-empty hand, and then across to Nightwing, who was now wielding his axe against Donna.

“Still got this one,” said Woodchucker with a smile, lifting up his other axe, which instantly got yanked out of his hand by a golden lasso.

“Maybe you should concentrate your efforts elsewhere,” suggested Element.

“Maybe,” replied Woodchucker. “Still, I wouldn’t mind taking down Nightwing after those false accusations he made about Flamebird, Plastique and Arrowette.”

“Not false,” replied Element. “The Universe is not in harmony. Those three... they don’t belong.”

[starlord]

Flamebird was falling through the sky again, and this time she saw cars below, and then she heard the thud as she hit one, and felt the pain in the places she could still feel the pain, and then, to the sound of screeching brakes, everything seemed to slow down for her for an instant as she was sent flying through the air, and then hit the ground. The next thing she knew, she was lying there, her costume torn, her body broken, surrounded by a crowd.

“Please step back,” said a black-garbed figure making her way through the crowd, “I’m a Titan.”

The next thing she felt was Raven’s cold touch on her hand, and then the location changed yet again. This time, it was a graveyard.

“So, I’ve told you a little about myself,” said Raven, “but you’ve not told me anything in return. So, is there anything you want to tell me, Flamebird... or do you prefer Carrie... or maybe Robin?”

Flamebird, her breathing ragged, struggled to get her words out. “You...you know?”

“Well, as I said before, I’m a shadow-being. I went into Portal’s body once one night while he was sleeping; looked through his thoughts, saw his backup plan.”

“You’ve known... all along.”

Raven wiped the blood from Flamebird’s lips. “Of course I have.”

“But... but why wait until now?”

“Why didn’t I kill you straight away? Well, I was gathering my strength – I’ve still not got this soul-self thing working. Also, this isn’t the first time I’ve tried to kill you. The first time I thought I’d murder your parents before you were even born; just to see what would happen.”

“You... you killed my parents?”

Raven smiled. “Well, it turned out not to be that simple. You see I found out that things weren’t quite what they seemed.”

“Wh-what?” Carrie uttered, and then her surrounding was changing once again, and she was lying on the ground, staring up at some familiar faces, younger than she’d ever seen them before.

“Sorry to bring her here,” said Raven, “but she claims that you’re her parents, Mister and Mrs...”

Carrie looked up at her confused father and mother, as they told Raven their surname was Kelly.

“And how do you spell that?” asked Raven, to the young newlyweds, both of them still in shock at the blood-stained figure now lying on their wooden floor..

“K-E-L-L-E-Y.”

Flamebird, confused, assumed she’d misheard.

“And that ends with an E and a Y, not just a Y,” asked Raven.

“Yes,” said her parents, “but what difference does it make.”

Raven looked down at Carrie Kelly (whose surname contained no letter e) and smiled. “It makes a world of difference.”

Carrie’s mind raced as the truth dawned on her. She didn’t know where Portal had transported her, but it wasn’t her Earth, it wasn’t her past, and Portal’s plan to save the future might just have ended up recreating the very thing they were trying to avoid.

And then everything went black.

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Starfire opened her eyes, to find herself lying on the floor, just outside Raven’s room.

She must have collapsed, she realized, as she pushed herself back up on to her feet. She was weak but she couldn’t let it happen again. She had to find Raven... just like Psimon had told her to.

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Cyborg walked to the elevator, his hand firmly gripping the shoulder of the villain calling himself Psimon. Accompanying them was Beast Boy, who, for some reason known only to himself, if that, currently resembled a meerkat.

“So, are you a new member?” asked the green meerkat.

“I am Cyborg,” replied Cyborg. “My creator, Silas Stone, created this Tower.”

“I’m Beast Boy,” answered the meerkat, “you can call me Gar.”

“Go away, Gar.”

“But-”

“Psimon cannot control me. I’m the part of Victor Stone that is...” Cyborg paused, calculating the right word, and then smiled to Psimon as it continued, “...inhuman. While I keep my human part asleep, he cannot affect it. You, on the other hand...”

“Say no more,” said the meerkat, as it ran off down the corridor, transforming into a cheetah.

[starlord]

Outside Titans Tower, Nightwing picked himself up, yet again, from the ground, as he faced one of his toughest opponents yet. She was stronger than him, faster than him, but still, she had to be stopped. And once Wonder Girl was out of the way, killing the other Titans wouldn’t be that much of a problem.

“Why are you doing this?” she asked, as she walked over to him, although she was fairly sure she already knew the answer.

“Psimon told me to,” he explained, and then rushed at her, flinging both of his escrima sticks toward her.

Donna brushed aside the sticks with her bracelets, and, as Nightwing grabbed onto her, she flung him yet again to the ground.

“You’ve got to ignore what Psimon said,” she pleaded, standing over him. “He’s just controlling your mind. If you were thinking straight, you’d have come up with a plan before attacking me; you’d have known how pointless your sticks were against me...”

He got up, his back to her, and started walking away, over to his motorbike.

“The sticks weren’t pointless,” he said, as he got on his vehicle, and started it up. “They were a distraction.”

Suddenly, as the motorbike careened towards her, she saw that he now had her golden lasso in his hands, and then, in the next moment, the lasso was fastening her arms to her sides and she was being dragged along the ground, the other end of the lasso now fastened to Nightwing’s motorbike.

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Starfire came out, just in time to see an arrow slam into the wheel of Dick’s motorbike, causing him to fly off it.

Rushing over to Dick, feeling her strength returning slightly in the sunlight, Starfire suddenly turned to see a muddied Donna coming up behind her, casting aside her lasso that had been tied around her.

“We’ve got to stop Nightwing,” Donna explained. “He wants to kill the Titans.”

“Well, that’s what Psimon asked him to do,” explained Starfire matter-of-factly, as she caught Donna off-guard with a powerful punch. “Now,” Starfire said, walking over to the fallen Donna, “do you know where Raven is?”

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Beast Boy came out just as Starfire and Wonder Girl were exchanging blows.

“Hey, Starfire,” he yelled, but she ignored him, so he wandered over to Arrowette to see what was going on.

“So, what’s with you dressing up like your parents?” a girl with a shaven head was asking Arrowette.

“Well, we needed new identities, in order to blend in,” she replied

The shaven haired girl pointed at the morphed Plastique, shouting words of encouragement to Donna Troy from the sidelines. “You call that blending in? A demon in a cheerleader’s outfit.”

“Well, for Plastique... yeah,” Arrowette replied, and then she noticed the green parrot perching on her shoulder. “Can I help you, Gar?”

“What’s going on?”

“All sorts. Everyone’s attacking Wonder Girl, we’re from the future, Flamebird and Raven are missing, and... where have you been?.”

“No time for chit-chat,” said Gar. “Wonder Girl needs my help.”

“Well, don’t just rush in,” warned Arrowette. “You’re in the big league now.”

“Hey, I can do slow and steady,” said Gar reassuringly as he left her shoulder and flew up into the sky.

A second later, a turtle was plummeting down from that same sky toward Starfire.

“Cowabunga!”

A solar blast, from Starfire, hit Gar’s shell in mid-plummet and sent him sailing through the air.

“Ride the wave, dude!”

As Gar bounced along the ground, he saw Nightwing rushing up to Donna, brandishing her lasso, and then Raven suddenly materialized next to them.

“Raven!” yelled Starfire, the object of her search now found.

“Thank you, my dear, but I’ve already spotted her,” said Psimon, appearing, along with Cyborg, from the entrance to Titans Tower.

Raven looked at the faces turned toward her, and decided that she wasn’t quite ready to tackle all of them just yet.

“Divide and conquer,” she said, just as a rope on the end of an arrow suddenly wrapped itself around her. As she fell to the ground, she grabbed hold of Wonder Girl, and with that, the two of them disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Also disappearing were Nightwing, who had just grabbed hold of Donna, Starfire, who’d just grabbed hold of Raven, and Speedy, who had grabbed hold of the other end of the rope that he’d fired at Raven.

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“They’ve gone,” said Arrowette, looking at where Raven had been standing.

“But they’re back,” said Dagon, who’d only recently regained consciousness, as he pointed over at Shimmer, who was now waving her hand in front of Gizmo’s face to remove the remnants of the Garfield arrow still stuck there.

“Quick, check on Baran,” Shimmer begged of Gizmo, seeing her brother lying there still on the ground. Gizmo, grateful for Selinda’s earlier attention, quickly rushed over to her brother, and checked his pulse.

A second later, Gizmo dropped Baran’s wrist back to the ground. “His heart... it’s stopped beating.”

Until then, Sindella had never really wanted to be a super-villain. She’d never really wanted to kill superheroes. Still, as her power had taught her long ago... things change.

A wave of the hand, and the heroes in front of her – Arrowette, Plastique, Roy Harper’s daughter, and Dagon, had fallen into a newly-created hole, ready to be buried alive like her brother.

She started to wave her hand again, ready to change the air in the hole back to earth, when suddenly she screamed as she felt a pain in her hand. Looking at it, she saw that her middle finger now had a toothpick protruding from it.

“They call me the Woodchucker,” said a Titan, stepping out of the shadows into Shimmer’s vision. He stood there, with a smile on his face, and a toothpick between his teeth,

Shimmer waved her hand at the interfering hero, but again there was that searing pain, and her toothpick collection had grown.

She looked up from her hand, toward the Woodchucker, standing in the same position as previously, another toothpick in his mouth.

“I’ve got lots of toothpicks, Ma’am. Way more than you’ve got fingers. Trust me, you don’t want to know how much wood this Woodchucker can chuck.”

She put her hands by her side. After all, there was no need to rush. She could kill him anytime. She knew where he lived.

Suddenly her train of thought was interrupted by Cyborg walking toward them.

“What’s he doing?” she asked, as he got nearer. “Are you controlling him?”

Gizmo shook his head nervously, as Cyborg stopped in front of them.

“Stand back,” he said, as his arms telescoped out, his hands touching the sides of Baran’s chest.

Then a jolt of electricity shot out through his hands and the body shook beneath him.

“Still no heartbeat,” he said. “Again.”

Baran’s body shook once more, and Cyborg turned away. “He’ll live.”

While Selinda hugged Cyborg, Element asked “What about Kid Flash?”

“He’s alive,” replied Cyborg, unemotionally. “He just needs bringing round.”

“More to the point,” asked Arrowette, “what about the others?”

“They’ll be back,” said Roy Harper’s daughter. “Dad will see to that.”

[starlord]

In the middle of the desert, Raven fell to the ground, a rope around her, but within a second she’d teleported out of it. Unfortunately, Starfire, who was still holding tightly on to her, refused to come loose.

“Hey, look what I brought you,” she said to the bearded man, who was sat on the ground there, sweat pouring from his face. “Some entertainment.”

Arthur Light looked up at Raven standing there, with Starfire clinging to her leg; while behind them Nightwing and Wonder Girl were locked in combat. Meanwhile, over on his left, Roy Harper lay on the ground, holding on to a rope.

Doctor Light walked over and placed his hand on Starfire, drawing energy from her yet again. For a second, she forgot about finding Raven, as Doctor Light took her hands in his.

Raven, now able to walk freely, walked over to Roy. “When I push you off buildings you’re supposed to die.”

Roy was just about to speak, when Raven saw Nightwing was held tight by Wonder Girl’s magic lasso. “Wait a sec, Roy. Before he dies, there’s something I’ve always wanted to ask him. Hey, Dick, who do you love, Babs or Kory?”

For a second, Dick forgot about his pain and about his desire to kill the Titans, and instead, forced by the magic of the lasso to tell the truth, gave an answer that came from his heart, not his head. The answer surprised him at first, but then, the moment he said it, he knew he’d never spoken a truer word.

Unfortunately, nobody heard what he said over the sound of the sandstorm that had suddenly arrived.

“Sorry, about that,” apologized Kid Flash. “I’m still a bit woozy.”

“What kept you?” asked Roy, as Kid Flash’s fists knocked out Doctor Light, and pulled Starfire away from him.

“Well, I’ve only just come to, and I didn’t know where you were, and searching everywhere takes a long time.”

“That’s okay,” said Roy. “Just get us all togeth-”

And at that moment Roy Harper found himself, along with the other Titans, all packed together, and pushed in by Wally running around them.

“You think this will beat me?” laughed Raven, her face pushed against Roy’s.

“It’s a start,” Roy said, as he activated the futuristic gizmo that his daughter had given him.

[starlord]

The Titans rematerialized in front of Titans Tower, next to Gizmo and Shimmer, followed a second later by Kid Flash, who’d been delayed with dropping Doctor Light off at the local police station.

“Psimon says forget everything I said previously,” said Psimon, who, with Cyborg holding on to him tightly, now hoped to achieve his ends by cooperation. “And Raven or whoever you are... no teleporting.”

Raven tried to leave, but to her dismay found that teleportation - the only power of hers that seemed to work – she could now no longer use.

“Use the lasso on her, Wonder Girl,” said Roy. “Learn the truth.”

Donna looked at Roy in confusion, but then looked over to Dick who nodded. “Very well,” said Wonder Girl, placing the lasso around Raven. “Who are you?”

“My name is...” began Raven, and then she collapsed.

“It was not Raven, but a parasitical shadow creature,” explained Psimon. “It wanted to have Raven’s power, but could only ever have tapped into a fraction of it, and so I expelled it.”

“It wasn’t Raven?” said Kid Flash, his mind suddenly racing.

Nightwing looked at Psimon. “Even if what you’re saying is true, where is that creature now?”

“It’s gone to where it can find true power,” said Psimon. “Does it really matter, anyway? We have to bring back the real Raven.”

“What is your name?” Kid Flash asked Raven, his Raven, hoping this time the magic of the lasso would force her to speak.

There was no answer.

“She can’t hear you,” said Psimon, putting his hands on her head.

“What are you doing to her?” asked an alarmed Kid Flash.

“Reawakening her,” said Psimon.

“How can we tru-” started Kid Flash, but then he saw her eyes open.

“Who are you?” asked Roy.

“My name is Rachel,” she said, and then, seeing Kid Flash, clung on to him tightly.

[starlord]

“I believe our work here is done,” said Psimon turning to the others. “Time to go.”

“You think you can just walk away like that?” asked an angry Nightwing. “After what you made us do.”

“Yes. Although, feel free to try and stop us if you want to put your team’s life at risk. Anyway, if it makes you any happier, I’ll be back soon, but first Raven needs her rest.”

Nightwing frowned, but backed off.

“Nothing stops Mammoth,” said Mammoth to Selinda, as he left, pleased to have heard from Gizmo that even Death got out of his way. Sindella, pleased to have her brother back, started to wave goodbye to the Titans, but stopped when she saw Woodchucker reaching for his toothpick.

[starlord]

Long after the villains had left, Victor Stone suddenly woke up. “Huh? Where am I? Did I miss anything?”

“Only your first adventure as a Titan,” said Gar.

“I’m an official Titan?” he replied, excitedly.

“Well, your robot half is. Boy, did he do a great acceptance speech.”

“So, did we win?”

“Yeah, we won.”

[starlord]

Dick looked at Kory, still pale from the day’s ordeals, and she looked at him, covered in cuts and bruises from his fight with Donna. They talked to each other, exchanging pleasantries, checking that they were both okay, but both of their minds were on something else, something they didn’t discuss. The question that Raven had asked Dick in the desert.

[starlord]

As she listened to Roy’s tale, Arrowette’s mind was briefly distracted from wondering when, or if, Carrie would show up again.

“So what did Raven ask him?” enquired Arrowette.

“Babs or Kory,” said Roy, taking a glass of wine.

His future daughter looked at him in shock. “Babs? Dick had a thing with Mom?”

As Roy spluttered his wine all over the table, his daughter leaned across the table and high-fived Arrowette.

“Love yanking his chain.”

[starlord]

Kid Flash sat there, watching Raven sleeping. It was a second chance for him and he knew that things would be different this time. Maybe he’d finally get to meet her parents.

Suddenly she woke up.

“Are you okay?”

“Not really, Wallace...” she said, a frightened look in her eyes. “Things are bad... You remember how I woke up from my coma, saying He’s coming over and over again.”

“Yeah, I can’t forget... and then that shadow being took you over. Well, it’s okay, Rae, that shadow being’s gone for good now.”

“But I wasn’t talking about the shadow being. I let that shadow being take me over, just to prevent him coming. Don’t you see, it was the lesser of two evils. I’m the conduit he’ll use to enter this dimension... You should have killed the evil Raven while you had the chance.”

“So, he’s still coming?” asked a confused Kid Flash, taking her trembling hand.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “He’s here.”

[starlord]

The End!
Next Issue: The Trigon Empire