The Titans of Justice Chapter 14 - "A Common Goal Part 3”
Written by: Power Guy
Co-conspirator: Scotty2Hotty
Editor: Marcus Mebes


The Hall of Justice, Metropolis, U.S.A.

“How are things going? Any luck?” asked a worried Troia.

“Nothing yet, unfortunately,” replied Nucleus. “But I sent Icemanling to check out Germany to see if anyone has had contact with Fausta.”

“That’s a good idea,” agreed Troia. “I only hope we can find Wonder Man before Fausta or this new Cheetah does something horrible to him. Wonder Woman is on the edge of her seat waiting for an update. I hate to keep in her in agony waiting.”

“Try not to worry Troia,” consoled Thunderstorm as she placed her hand on Troia’s shoulder. “I’m sure we’ll find him.”

“Was that a spark of concern?” asked Sargona, looking directly at Thunderstorm.

“Why would you think I was anything but concerned?” asked Thunderstorm. “Wonder Man is a valued teammate whose life is in jeopardy.”

“I figured he was just another soldier to you and that you would think we should just accept losses like this in the line of work we do,” answered Sargona, mocking Thunderstorm.

Before Thunderstorm could reply to Sargona’s statement, the video phone started ringing.

“I’ve got it!” confirmed Nucleus. He turned to the video phone to see Icemanling looking back at him. “Hey buddy! Any luck?”

“Sadly, no,” answered the other. “I raided a few Neo-Nazi hide-outs and interrogated some punks but none of them have seen or heard from Fausta. She must be keeping quite busy with her new pals.”

“Atoms!” swore Nucleus under his breath. “I was sure we’d find a clue to Fausta’s trail in Germany.” He returned his attention to Icemanling. “Thanks anyway.”

“Not a problem,” said Icemanling. “I’ll let you know if anything turns up. Icemanling out!” With that, Icemanling signed off of his Titans of Justice Communicator.

Green Lantern then made his way into the meeting room and joined the others. “I just did another scan of Gateway City. Not a single sign of the Cheetah’s group.”

Troia was beginning to get frustrated. The bond she and Wonder Man shared was quite deep, even though he was only her nephew. She had never been able to have more children after her son Robert was killed. Wonder Man filled that void and was like a son to her. The thought of something terrible happening to him was eating away at her.

“Guys! I think I’ve got something here!” yelled Power Guy, still on monitor duty. “Our satellite has picked up a large Nazi U-boat about 60 miles from the shore of Paradise Island. I think we found them.”

Troia dashed over to Power Guy and looked at the monitor. “Oh no! I think I know what those villains are planning. I’ve got to go warn my sisters…” she looked troubled, “but someone has to try and rescue my boy.”

“We’ll take care of it,” affirmed Green Lantern.

Power Guy was quick to add, “Let’s go!”

“Uh-uh PG, you’re still on monitor duty,” pointed out Sargona.

“But you’ll need my strength from what everyone has told me about this Fausta—especially with Wonder Man captured,” he countered.

“We’ll manage without you,” replied Sargona softy. “After all; what if you were on another mission right now? We’d have to take care of this without you.”

“But…but…” Power Guy searched for words to help her see his point of view but his mind drew a blank.

“Green Lantern and I are founding members and the three newbies we’re taking with us are more than capable of taking care of themselves. Don’t worry about us,” advised Sargona.

Troia then commented, “I wouldn’t take Fausta lightly. She has power on par with my sister Diana. In fact, my mother had to use the Gauntlet of Atlas to defeat her the last time they fought. If need be, just stall Fausta until my sisters and I can confront her.”

With that, Troia and the other left on their various assignments in hopes of stopping Villainy Inc.

• • •

The chambers of Hercules on Mount Olympus….

Hippolyta barged into Hercules’ quarters, not bothering to knock. “On your feet, Casanova! “ she barked to the demigod.

Hercules was sprawled out on his bed napping from a wild night with several earth wenches. The alarm of Hippolyta’s entry stirred him. “Wha….who? Hippolyta? What is it that you need?”

“Get up!” she ordered. “I need your assistance!”

“What is your reason for such panic, my former love?” asked Hercules, accentuating the word “former”.

“My old enemy Fausta has returned,” she explained hurriedly. “I need you to convince your father to return me to the mortal plane so that I can stop her before she kills again.”

“Why don’t you ask Zeus yourself, woman?” he countered lazily.

“I have, and he denied my request which is why I need you to speak to him on my behalf.”

“Hippolyta, you of all people know there is no changing of Zeus’ mind. If he has told you no, it is a done deal,” stated Hercules.

“Cowardly pig! You owe me for the misery you put my sisters and I through, centuries ago. Diana, Donna, and Scott’s lives are all at stake and had you been a man of honor, they could have all been your children or grandchildren!” chastised Hippolyta.

“I’m sorry, I cannot help you,” declined Hercules, closing his eyes.

“To Tartarus with you then!” cursed Hippolyta as she stormed out of Hercules’ chambers and purposely knocked over a vase on the way out.

***

Meanwhile in Gotham City U.S.A….

“I saw her turn down this alley Celsius!” Nightvision said to his teammate as they both turned down the dark alley chasing a woman dressed in a version of the Scarecrow’s costume.




Celsius then asked, “Is she always this slippery? She’s been dodging us for almost an hour.”

“You could say that,” affirmed Nightvision. “She always seems to give me a good hunt,”

The two heroes slowed down as the light from the streetlights faded the further they got down the alley.

Celsius moved closer to Nightvision, hoping he was more familiar with the alley and could lead the way. He asked, “Why do you think she stole that money? I thought Duela was a hero and just pretended to be a villain to capture other heroes’ attention?”

“That’s not Duela Dent under the mask. It’s Scream Queen, the Scarecrow’s REAL daughter,” revealed Nightvision.

“I feel bad for the poor woman who slept with Scarecrow. He’s a creepy looking guy,” commented Celsius.

Then, a voice came from the darkness ahead, “Make fun of my father will you? That was your fatal mistake!” Scream Queen stepped closer to the heroes and became visible. In her hand was a classic Scarecrow fear transmitter. Pointing it at Nightvision and Celsius, she activated the sinister device.

Celsius was the first to notice his perception start to warp. His flame powers started to ignite uncontrollably. “What???” he questioned in amazement. Soon, his whole body was on fire and he had turned into a human inferno. The ground beneath him started to melt, causing him to sink downward. He found himself plunging deeper and deeper into the earth. As hard as he tried, he could not turn his powers off. He started to panic, “Why can’t I turn my powers off??? I’m sinking!!” At the speed he descended, he realized that he would soon be to the earth’s core if his downward plummeting was not slowed. He knew that not even he could stand the extreme temperatures. “NOOOOOOOOO!!!!” he screamed as he started to burn up.

Nightvision was also caught off-guard by the fear transmitter. He suddenly heard voices coming from the rooftop above him. He noticed it was his parents, Dick and Barbara Grayson. He saw the two of them were swinging back and forth on a set of make-shift trapezes. The two of them seemed quite happy and wrapped up in the excitement. “Mom? Dad? What are you doing here?” Nightvision called out. Neither of his parents responded. The two of them continued their exercise tossing each other from trapeze to trapeze not caring that there wasn’t a net below to catch them if they fell. Dick soon leaped over to share a single trapeze with Barbara as the two looked at each other with a sense of completion and contentment. A few seconds later, Nightvision noticed that a dark figure was standing on the roof with a gun aimed at the trapeze his parents were swinging on. Nightvision quickly withdrew a Batarang from his utility belt and launched it at his parent’s attacker. Surprisingly, he had missed his target. The gun went off. The bullet snapped one of the ropes on the trapeze. His parents were suddenly falling to their certain doom and there was nothing Nightvision could do to stop them from falling to their deaths. “Mom! Dad! No! No!!! No!!!” he screamed as he stood powerless to help.

Little did the two realize that neither of them was really living out their horrifying scenarios. Scream Queen’s fear transmitter had sent them both into nightmares of their greatest fears.

Scream Queen then approached the two heroes frozen in fear and raised her deadly scythe. “Time for some body remodeling!” she snickered, ready to behead Nightvision.

As Scream Queen started to lower her scythe, she heard a mild explosion and soon found herself unable to lower hear scythe any more. She turned and looked at her scythe and noticed it was ensnared in a Bat-rope. Her eyes followed the rope up to its origin. There, she saw a masked raven-haired female wearing what appeared to be Batman’s cape.





The woman called down to Scream Queen, “Drop it Scream Queen, or I’ll drop you!”

Scream Queen looked confused and amazed and asked, “Who the heck are you?” She proceeded to engage the masked woman in a game of tug-of-war for her scythe.

“I ask the questions around here,” stated the woman as she forcefully yanked Scream Queen’s scythe from her hands. She then fired a Bat-grapple at the roof across from the one she was standing on and swung downward, kicking Scream Queen in the face.

“Arghhh!” yelled the villainess. Her mouth filled with blood. Taking a moment to regain her senses, she raised her hand and wiped some dripping blood. She then faced the masked woman standing in front of her with a determined look on her face.

“Give up yet?” the woman asked.

Nightvision and Celsius had started the snap out of the “worlds” that Scream Queen had sent them to. They saw the confrontation between the two women, but were still too dazed to act.

Scream Queen then answered the other woman’s question. “Not on your life b_tch!” She raced towards the woman with her arm cocked ready to punch, but before she could strike her, the woman moved quick and pounced on Scream Queen. Putting her hands on her shoulders, she proceeded to slam her knee into Scream Queen’s chin. The blow knocked Scream Queen backwards and she tripped over some garbage cans in the alley. That in turn caused her to bump her head on a large dumpster behind them. She was down for the count.

Nightvision had finally regained his senses and walked over to the woman and said “Thank you. Scream Queen almost got the best of us.”

“Happy to help,” responded the woman. “I need to be going now,” she stated as she fired another Bat-grapple upward to the roof.

“Wait!” requested Nightvision. “Who are you… and why are you wearing Batman’s cape?”

“Because I’m picking up where he left off,” informed the woman. “Oh, and you can call me Huntress.” With that, she pressed a button on her grappling hook and ascended upwards into the night.

Nightvision was still not strong enough to pursue her, so he turned his attention to Celsius and asked, “Are you okay?”

“Now I am,” muttered the other in his New Zealand accent. “I thought I had lost control of my powers and was burning a hole in the ground straight to center of the earth!”
“You’re not the only one who took a trip to a horror show. I saw my parents falling to their deaths and I was powerless to help them,” admitted Nightvision.

“Did that woman who helped us say her name was the Huntress?” inquired Celsius as he ran his hands through his hair, trying to regain his composure.

“She did,” confirmed Nightvision.

“But Helena Bertinelli hasn’t been active in years… and that woman looked way too young to be her.”

“I don’t think that was Helena Bertinelli or anyone related to her,” responded Nightvision, looking toward where she had departed, and then at the dumpster Scream Queen knocked herself out on. “She did look familiar… and I’m afraid that I may already know who’s under the mask.” He then thought to himself, “If I’m right, Bruce is going to blow a gasket.”

***

A mile off the coast of Paradise Island, nearing Fausta’s U-boat…

Green Lantern was carrying his teammates in a power-bubble as Venus called out to him. “GL! I see Fausta’s U-boat below us.”

“Good eye Venus!” complimented Green Lantern, though he had already seen it a long way off, and was carrying them toward it. “Nucleus,” he asked, “are you ready to go to work?”

“You bet!” answered Nucleus. “Open your bubble!”

Green Lantern opened a tiny hole in his power-bubble just big enough for Nucleus to slip out. The miniscule hero glided downward to Fausta’s ship.

On board the ship, the villains were getting anxious as they neared the island.

“We are almost within striking distance of Paradise Island,” advised the voice of Priscilla Rich to her grandson.

“Yes, grandmother,” the Cheetah whispered. “Soon we will overrun the island and kill that Amazon hussy Wonder Woman and her wretched sisters. She and her mother Hippolyta had caused you so much trouble in the past… and now Paradise Island will pay the price!”

“Who are you talking to?” demanded Lady Lunar. “Lunatic,” she added, under her breath.

The Cheetah was so involved in his conversation with his grandmother that he did not notice Lady Lunar come up from behind him. He paused for a second and then answered, “I was talking to myself. The fall of Paradise Island is near! Soon the shores of that cursed Island will be flooded with the blood of the Amazons!”

“Yes and I can’t wait!” added Fausta as she approached and joined the conversation. “Now remember, animal man, I and these whelps you’ve surrounded me with will overtake the island. Once we have secured the royal palace, you will bring in the boy. Once Hippolyta returns from her conference at the United Nations, we will kill the boy in front of her and then I will destroy her!”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” agreed the Cheetah. He then reminded himself that the battle between Wonder Woman and Fausta should be enough to render both of them useless and unable to withstand his planned attack so that he could take control of Paradise Island and execute his grandmother’s enemies.

A few moments later, Zara ran up to the others and announced: “We are getting very close to the island but there is a green energy dome surrounding it!”

“It must be the work of the boy’s allies,” assumed Fausta. “Well, don’t just stand there! Destroy it!”

Following Fausta’s orders, Zara barraged the green energy dome in a bath of volcano-hot flames, hoping to melt it. While there was a lot of smoke and steam, the dome remained intact still strong enough to keep the villains out.

“I’ll take care of it,” stated Lady Lunar. With her gravity-powers, she summoned up several large rocks from the ocean floor and launched them at the dome, hoping to break through. The rocks battered the dome violently but, like Zara’s flames, could not penetrate it.

On the shores of the island, Green Lantern stood strong, maintaining his energy dome. He was starting to sweat a bit from the exertion.

“Are you okay Lantern?” asked Thunderstorm.

“Yes. Those two ladies are just more powerful than I assumed,” responded Green Lantern. “I hope I can continue to keep them out.”

“No worries GL, we’re here if they get through,” said Sargona trying to put her teammate at ease.

Back on Fausta’s ship, Fausta was furious that her teammates had not been able to break through the dome. “Incompetent fools! I will show you how it’s done!” With that, she gave herself a running start and proceeded to race down the deck of her ship. After gaining enough speed, she leaped into air, flying across the water that separated her ship from the dome.

“Uh oh, here come Fausta!” said Venus with a nervous look on her face.

“Don’t worry, GL will keep her out!” assumed Sargona confidently.

Within seconds Fausta collided with the energy dome, smashing both of her fists in to it. There was a large explosion as the dome was blown apart. The light from the explosion temporarily blinded everyone in the area.

Once everyone’s sight returned, they saw that Fausta stood victorious on the shore of the island.

Green Lantern had been knocked unconscious from feedback caused from the penetration of his energy dome.

Fausta started making her way up the sand to the Titans of Justice as several Amazon warriors started coming up from behind the Titans to help defend the island.

The battle Fausta had been anticipating was right in front of her. With a demented grin on her face, she looked over her remaining opponents and asked, “Who will be first to die?”