Titans Resistance: Issue #18

[starlord]

[starlord]

Titans: The Resistance

[/i]
Issue #18: “Can’t Run Away” Pt. 3
Written by: Jay McIntyre
Cover by: Jina B
Edited by: Brian Burchette[/center]

[starlord]

I'm on the run. No time to sleep.
I've got to ride.

Ride like the wind, to be free again.
And I got such a long way to go…

-Ride Like the Wind, Christopher Cross


And I ran, I ran so far away.
I just ran, I ran all night and day.
I couldn’t get away.


--I Ran, A Flock of Seagulls

[starlord]

You wonder if this is the end.
You writhe and moan on the floor. Between the poison and the disrupting energy waves of the Destabilizer, you might die, and die very, very quickly.

Then a golden light fills the room.

The identity of your rescuer is painfully ironic.

[starlord]

“Golden Glider!” Destabilizer was honestly pleased, so much so that for a moment he ceased wielding his waves of disruption. “Great to see you! Thought you were still out of town!”

“Hey kid, just got back. The other Rogues are just behind me; they briefed me on the way in.” She surveyed the carnage. “I see you’ve got Flash and friends on the ropes; good work.”

“They were busy fighting these Markovians,” Destabilizer explained with breathless joy. His eyes sparkled with affection that was more than professional. “Easiest thing in the world to take them both down.”

She smiled; his interest was not new to her. “Yeah, I fought some super troopers on the edge of town. The other Rogues are right behind me,” she added in a more cautionary tone, so if I were you I’d pass on finishing Flash off.”

He frowned, hurt. “Why? We’ll never get another chance! This would be perfect!”

She shook her head. “I know what you mean, kiddo. And if the Markovians killed him it would certainly have been no loss. But haven’t you ever wondered why we didn’t kill any of the Flashes before?”

“Cuz you never had the chance!” Destabilizer said, eyes gleaming with hate.

“No,” Absolute Zero said as he and the other Rogues materialized out of the gloom. “We didn’t because the police would declare total war, and other heroes would come to take us down. Whereas by staying one step ahead of him and continuing to profit, we win even though he looks good.”

“But other heroes have come!” Destabilizer protested. “And these enemies from Markovia, too! It’s time to…”

Reflector put a hand on his shoulder. “No, my friend; let it go. We can humiliate him, discredit him, and expose his identity to the public—“

Destabilizer knocked his hand away. “We could have exposed him at any time! My very existence proves that. God, if you guys can’t see what needs to be done—“

“Careful, Bart,” Trickster sneered. “Don’t start something you can’t finish. And don’t dare disobey our orders.”

“You’re still sweet on him,” Destabilizer shot back contemptuously. “And I can finish it. You guys too, if I have to. I respect you, but you lack fire. We need to finish the Flashes and start really ruling this town.” He turned to Golden Glider. “You’re not like the others. Side with me—“

He was interrupted by Boomerang chucking one of his signature weapons at his face. He buzzed out of the way at the last moment, only to be confronted by multiple copies of the Reflector. Running through them, screaming with hate, he lashed out blindly, wincing in pain when one fist connected with one of Trickster’s exploding flower bombs. Absolute Zero tried to freeze him, but he just ran the old man over. The ice did, however, cause him to lose control, and he slipped, sliding long and hard until he slammed into a wall.

Golden Glider moved between him and the others. “Guys, look, okay he was stupid, but he’s learned his lesson—“

“No,” Absolute Zero interrupted, and for once his voice was as cold as his name. “He has broken the rules for the last time. And this time he attacked us. It pains me to say it, but Barry can make another clone.”

“Guys, no!” Glider pleaded. “At least let him prove himself against the Markovians—

“Irene, stand aside,” Trickster’s voice was flat and her eyes glittered. “This ends now.”

Glider’s face twisted in sadness...and she blasted them with waves of gold.

“Thanks, Goldie,” Destabilzier muttered as she helped him up. “Now we can kill Flash and take em all down!”

“No, it’s too late. We’re screwed, and we have to get out of here!”

“But…” Confused and resentful, he nevertheless let her carry him away.

Flash stumbled awkwardly to his feet, still seething with the venom in his blood that slowed his healing. “I g-guess you can take me now,” he slurred, wearily.

Absolute Zero stared at him for a long moment, then at the Titans beginning to stir….and the Markovians.

“Commander, Trickster,” he said. “Kill the Markovians.”

Boomerangs and bombs and squirts of acid flew, and the slowly recovering Markovian metahumans did not survive, save the Zombie. The Rogues didn’t bother to check whether he needed a headshot or not.

“You are welcome to their equipment,” Zero said dismissively. “Get your hero friends out of here, fast. Leave Glider and Destabilizer to us; we will clean our own house.”

Flash was too sick to argue, he merely nodded.

The Rogues drifted away.

Flash leaned against a wall, gasping for breath. The Titans slowly began to stir. The destabilization waves had hurt them too; but they had not been poisoned. So they were a little better than him. Only a little, as they could not heal as quickly as him. They just felt as though they had pounding headaches.

“Spare me the morality lecture,” he slurred. “I couldn’t have stopped the Rogues if I’d tried.”
“We’ve killed when we had to before,” Robin admitted unhappily, wiping a bloody nose.
“They are all dead,” said Lantern, scanning them with his ring. “Well, except the zombie guy. He’s still....undead. Or whatever he is.”

Terra looked troubled. “We have no means to contain him.”

“I’ll hand him over to the cops,” Flash offered. “They have metahuman containment facilities. And unlike with Reflector, the Rogues won’t be coming to break him out. But in any case, we’re not done.”

“I’m glad you agree,” Terra said, “But why do you think so?”

“Well first off we got all this high-tech gear that our unfriendly neighborhood Markovians left behind,” Flash pointed out. “And second, the Rogues have really ticked me off this time around.”

“But you agreed to let them handle their own internal strife, I thought?” Anarky frowned.

“I did. I’ll be quite happy to let them deal with their own internal problem,” Flash agreed. “And once they’re exhausted from fighting them, I’ll swoop in. Now, if you folks don’t object, I’ve a plan on where we can start.”

The Titans were pleased to note his somewhat more cooperative attitude. “We’re listening,” Robin said.

“First, we take the zombie to the cops. Then, after I’ve rested up a bit, we go to the one other ally I’ve left to call on in this city. He’s a bit of a gadget-basher, might be able to help with you with this high tech stuff.”

[starlord]

“Hey Billy!” Flash called.

Billy Kidd smiled thinly. “Hey Flash. What’s up?”

“Brought some….friends with a gadgeteering problem you might be able to fix,” the Flash said.

“Really? Good friends or trouble ‘friends’?” Kidd quietly reached for a sidearm. He had been the original Trickster until he suffered the injury that had sidelined him, several years ago. But he was still an expert with all sorts of high tech tricks. Linda had taken the mantle without his permission…..which he would do something about, if they ever met face to face again.

“More like inconvenient allies,” Flash answered, climbing up the ladder into Billy’s loft-like lair. “They’ve got a complicated bit of a strange communications array for you to look at.”

Billy nodded and his hand eased away from the steam-powered shotgun he’d been reaching for. “Well, what have they got?”

One by one, the Titans climbed up through the trap door. Between all the people and Billy’s gadgetry, it was getting crowded.

Not that Billy’s loft didn’t have space, but it was all vertical, up and up and up. Horizontal “people” space was hard to come by.

The Titans looked at Billy; a weird combination of leather and high-tech gear of every stripe, from cybernetic plug-ins to steam punk. Bizarre to the extreme. Ravager, had she been there, would no doubt have had some comment about his leather get up.

For his part, Billy merely raised an eyebrow. “A full team of costumes. Haven’t seen that in some time. What can I do for you folks?”

Supergirl carried the Markovian projector in. “It’s Markovian,” Robin explained. “At the very least we need to shut it down, but if we can do anything else with it before then….trace it back to its source, maybe….”

Kidd whistled, then grinned unpleasantly. “Oh yeah, I think we can play around with this. You’ve no idea how long I’ve wanted to get hold of some psi-circuitry.”

“Is that what it is,” Terra muttered.

“Yes indeed. “ Billy got out some screwdrivers. “Let’s take a look….”

[starlord]

Some time later, dawn broke over Petrovnik, the capital of the Markovian Empire.
In the throne room, the Empress Petra sat wearily. She hadn’t had a sleepless night, exactly; but neither had she returned to her bedchamber, and she had dozed thinly and fitfully.

The psionic projector sat in roughly the center of the throne room floor, with several scientists crawling all over it, working triple shifts on lots of caffeine.

These plans of psionic dominion and metahuman recruitment had already been in place before her daughter’s betrayal, as America had always been the next target for conquest. Tara’s defection had simply accelerated things a bit.

Keystone had always been the logical place to start, with the greatest collection of brightly costumed “Rogues” to choose from, and then of course there was the Flash himself. The possibilities of a superspeed metahuman were not lost on the Empress.

Abruptly the machine let out an angry squawk, then bolts of golden energy coursed across
it, knocking scientists and technicians every which way.

Petra sat up, suddenly fully awake. “What—“

“Attention, attention please,” a strange voice vibrated through the machine. “This is radio! Radiooooo! Radio Free Anarchy, comin atcha right through your own mind control machine! So sorry, you lose!”

“That’s enough, Anarky,” Another voice said. “Though I’m surprised to learn you have a sense of humor.”

“But the biggest surprise is reserved for m—for the Empress,” another voice cut in, this one recognizably Terra’s. “I’m afraid, Petra, that your operation has been…..terminated.”

Then the projector exploded in a golden flash.

The Empress screamed in impotent rage.

[starlord]

You are pleased that Billy and the “Titans” have been able to come to an arrangement. You would like nothing better to send these twits on their way (save perhaps the anarchist, he shows some potential in his methods, if not in his political naiveté) .

But the truth is, the Rogues have angered you by killing the Markovian soldiers (save the Zombie) and daring to suggest that he not get involved in the insurgency of Destabilizer and Golden Glider. They dictated terms to you while you were at your weakest, and you resent that mightily.

Even so, you would not like the result if they knew you openly challenged their edict. No, the result of that would be total war on the streets of Keystone, the exact thing Destabilizer wants and the last thing in the world you can accept.

So you will accept the Titans’ help; but quietly, covertly. In particular you talk to the ring-wielder. Discussing the matter with him, you find him nodding; his skills will be of use.
You consider the silver girl, but only briefly, she can’t use her powers in the way you desire. The vigilante and the anarchist each have the skills and tools, but the anarchist is too flashy, at least for this particular operation.

The vigilante, who is sort-of leader along with the Earth-shifting girl, agrees to your plan.
Now it is simply a matter of finding the Rogues. They, of course, are busy trying to find Destabilizer and Golden Glider in turn.

Knowing those two as you do, there are only so many places they could go. Glider will want to run. But Destabilizer, like you yourself would, will insist on making a stand….

[starlord]

The great green swath of the Blue Valley, south and west of Keystone. A few farmsteads, and even fewer stand alone houses, Plenty of open space, with little chance for collateral damage, except perhaps to some crops. Even in the depths of his fury, Destabilizer wasn’t keen on risking innocent civilians. They were to be ruled and stolen from, not unnecessarily terrorized.

“I keep telling you, we should just run,” Glider said.

His eyes flashed, but he touched her hand. “Run where? The Rogues would just follow us. This had to happen, sooner or later. You should have let me kill Flash,” he added in a more dangerous tone.

She sighed. “And if you had, what then? They would’ve killed you while you were doing it. I can only protect you up to a point.”

“Not to seem ungrateful,” he answered, “But obviously you’re not interested in me physically. So….why?”

She gave a thin smile. “You said it yourself. I’m more like you than them. And when I tried to make peace, they insisted on killing you, not Flash. Which shows how screwed up their priorities are. You showed me that they were wrong. They’ve forgotten what it was like to be Rogues.”

“We always knew, actually,” Barry Allen’s voice came out of the air. “But you never did. Which is the problem.” He appeared out of nowhere, Reflector beside him. You never lived up to half your potential—“

While he wasted time talking, Destabilizer blasted him with hate and power. Barry had limited psionics and a mastery of chemicals and other branches of science, notably cloning of course. But he had no real resistances or strengths.

Reflector moved in, but Glider was there, blasting him with sheets of golden energy.

“Keep them off me as long as you can,” Destabilizer said softly.

Glider nodded sadly. She knew what was going to happen.

One by one, the others arrived; Absolute Zero, Trickster, Commander Boomerang. Glider swirled arcs of power, trying to keep them away for long enough.

Too late, Barry’s eyes widened as he realized what Bart was doing. He wasted no time pleading with his “son”; instead he reached into his lab coat pocket and hurled a vial of acid at him. It exploded long before it could have reached its target.

Desperately, Barry hurled a psychic spear of hate at Destabilizer. But it was so weakened by the time it reached its target, that Bart barely felt it. Destabilizer merely grimaced as he felt a slight headache, then his features twisted into a nasty grin. “Bye ‘dad’, you asked for this.”

Barry gasped out a painful scream, then died in agony as his internal organs ruptured.

Destabilizer rose from his ‘father’s’ corpse, to see Glider getting knocked down by a boomerang. As he went to help her, he felt a sudden chill, as Absolute Zero began to wall him in a prison of ice. “Your fate was already sealed,” the old man intoned, “But murdering Barry is unforgivable.”

Destabilizer didn’t even try to answer as he felt himself freezing to death. Instead he sent of bust of disruptive energy into the old man’s head. Not enough to kill or even seriously wound, but it did a fine job of stopping his attack. As Zero shook his head to clear it, Destabilizer shattered his icy prison with his power.

He moved in to attack the old man, but a bolt of golden energy ripped through him first. Absolute Zero went down, maybe not dead but certainly out of the action as he bled heavily from the ribs.

Nodding in satisfaction, Bart went to aid Golden Glider again, but this time a flower bomb from Trickster ripped open her leg and she went down screaming, holding the bleeding limb. Their luck was running out. He knew, even as he hurled a blast of disruption at Trickster, that he wasn’t going to win this one. Trickster backflipped away from his attack, and a boomerang came in from the side, slashing open his costume and chest, making him bleed. Screaming in rage, he began to let fly with his disruptive energies en masse, as he had below Keystone—

When suddenly an invisible force froze all of them in place.

No, Destabilzer realized. Not truly invisible. There was the faintest green tinge to it—
A sleeping gas grenade went off, and he slumped to one side, still clutched in the pale green grip. Through dimming eyes, he could see Reflector similarly affected. Doubtless Trickster and Commander Boomerang were too.

As he faded out of consciousness, his last thought was that he knew they should have killed Flash when they had the chance…..

[starlord]

“We worked well together,” Flash grudgingly admitted.

“Perhaps we can help each other in future?” Argent suggested.

Flash smiled thinly at her; he liked her, but she was still a fool. “Don’t hold your breath.”

“If it concerns Markovians?” Green Lantern suggested.

“It concerns them,” Flash reluctantly agreed. “Go now. The cops and I will take it from here.”

“You’re welcome,” Anarky sneered as they left.

Flash shook his head. “Good riddance.”

[starlord]

“That didn’t go so well,” Robin said as they walked away.

Terra shrugged unhappily. “It could have been worse.”

“Do not fret yourselves overmuch,” Supergirl said. “That one is not worthy of consideration.”

No one had an answer to that, and for a short time they lapsed into uncomfortable silence.

“Maybe we should check in on Ravager?” Argent suggested brightly.

“I’m in favor of that!” Anarky agreed.

“I’ll just bet you are,” Terra said. She smiled, but there was not much humor in it.

Nevertheless, Lantern helped them fly over the Atlantic.

[starlord]

Reflector woke up in a prison cell. Trickster was beside him.

“Co-ed prison cells? How quaint.” He said.

“Not a prison cell at this point,” Flash’s voice came over a loudspeaker.

They turned, to see Flash and several police looking in at them.

“You’ll be interested to know,” Flash went on, “That Absolute Zero will live. Though he will
never walk again. The others will be kept alive for questioning. I must say, this little civil war you’ve had was….interesting, in a mindlessly banal sort of way.”

“You’ve made your last mistake, speedster,” Trickster sneered. “We’ll escape, and the Rogues will take you down!”

Flash shook his head. “Destabilizer was right about one thing; you should have killed me when you had the chance. I said the others were kept alive for questioning….you two don’t get such a reprieve. Someone wants a word; look behind you.”

Trickster and Reflector whirled, to find the Markovian Zombie looming over them with red eyed fury.

These two Rogues were entirely gadget and technology based in their villainy, they had no innate powers. Stripped of their weapons and gadgets, they had no defense.
Reflector lunged to attack with what physical skills he had, and the Zombie almost casually knocked him aside.

Trickster screamed…

[starlord]

The culling of the Rogues was unfortunate but necessary; their own infighting proves they had grown to large and overconfident. You did not enjoy the deaths of old man Reflector, and Trickster you positively mourn; but she made her choice. These things had to be done.

The surviving members of both Rogue factions will cooperate with their imprisonment-without-trial, the lesson of the deaths of their fellows will see to that.

You will pass on what you learn about the Zombie to the Titans, but you will do so grudgingly. You do not like them, not at all. They are useful, but they will never truly be your friends.

You are Thaddeus “Rusty” Thawne. You are the Flash, the Fastest Man Alive.

And God help any that stand in your way.





If you wish to comment on this issue, please CLICK HERE to visit the letters page.