Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2015 23:34:05 GMT -5
“Titans West Chapter 4 — Full House!”
Written by: Archkid
Co-conspirator: Power Guy
Editor: Marcus Mebest
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco...
“No. You’re just scared. The suits we wear make us better than the cops,” Jack laughed.
The Royal Flush Gang, the latest in a long line of its many incarnations, had just taken the Golden Gate Bridge, and destroyed just about everything that crossed it. This time, Jack was Jack Fortune, the nephew of Amos Fortune, while Ace was an emotionless android, King was Kenny Reynolds, Queen was Alison Reynolds—Kenny’s wife, and Ten was Samantha Kingsley, Jack’s fiancée. This Royal Flush Gang was updated, and used the technology that Amos Fortune had perfected over time. Jack had two different sides of his costume, and two different deadly types of weapons. Ace was super-strong, King carried a scepter that shot out pure energy, Queen’s crown created force-fields, and Ten could produce ten hard-light holograms of herself.
“Yeah, the suits make you better than the cops, Jack, but, I’m betting not better than the Titans West!” came a voice. It belonged to Kid Comet, soaring from the sky above, followed by Starman and Jemstone. “I think you should just surrender now...”
“Surrender? Us? You must be joking!” laughed Jack, pressing a button on his costume that summoned flying giant cards from the clouds. “No one catches the Royal Flush Gang!”
“Jack! Are you mad? They’re super-heroes! They’ve got strange powers. What chance do we stand?” came the whines of King.
“A good one,” came the quick reply. “Ace: take out our confident friend over here,” Jack commanded the blank-looking robot.
“Ace...must...kill...en-emy...” Came the slow, cold, toneless, mechanical voice of Ace. Its blank face did not even move as the android spoke, nor did the face make any kind of expression. The android approached Kid Comet, and threw a punch at him.
To Comet’s surprise, he found himsef miles away from the bridge, with a fist mark on his face. “Ow. That was one hell of a punch...” he muttered, before he streaked towards the bridge.
King’s scepter and Starman’s cosmic rod were exchanging blasts of energy. There was suddenly ten “Tens”, and Queen was getting attacked by Jemstone, though her blasts had no affect on the villainess.
“I thought these jokers were B-list. Why aren’t they easy to beat?” Starman wondered, flying towards Kid Comet.
“Was that a card pun?” the other hero asked, before flying away, towards Ace. He threw his fist into the android, but found it had no affect. His eyes widened, and his teeth gritted together, as he threw another fist. Another, followed by another, another, and then another. The android wasn’t even slowed down. “What? You should be a trash-heap by now!” Kid Comet said, as a white fist came down on top of him, and forced him through the bridge, and into the water below.
***
The Metrotower, L.A....
Bee-Sting and Wonder Warrior sat in the Metrotower, viewing the fight from the STAR Labs jet’s cameras. They were in radio-contact with the other two members of the Titans West not in the fight—Icemanling and the Arachnid.
“Why aren’t you two down there?” Wonder Warrior spoke into the radio system on the computer console he sat at.
“We can’t find a place to land the jet. And the STAR scientists were pretty clear about not damaging this baby,” came the radioed voice of the Arachnid.
“Icemanling, you’re piloting the jet, right?” Wonder Warrior asked into the radio system.
“Yeah. Why?” Came Icemanling’s reply.
“Okay. Do me a favor. You’ve got a level head. Give the orders over the communicator, and throw the Arachnid out of the jet. He’s more use in battle than out of it,” Wonder Warrior responded calmly. He turned from the radio system to Bee-Sting. “You monitor their progress, and write down their stuff-ups, I’m going into space, and searching for Supergirl.”
“You left Kid Comet to himself, you let him return in his own time.” Bee-Sting said. It was a bit of a lie though, since she was sent after Kid Comet during the Construct situation, only a few hours ago.
“I should have gone after him. Besides, with Supergirl, I’m going after her because it’s the right thing to do. She was upset, I think,” Wonder Warrior replied, disappearing into the hangar, where he opened it up, and with the Lanisar he wears on his costume, made an invisible space-ship around him. It hummed as it started up, and rocketed into the sky.
***
The Dome, In-Between The Two Hemispheres...
“They beat the Construct. I told you we didn’t need to interfere,” came the confident voice of Maxwell Lord the Fifth. “See, Commander, sometimes things don’t need our interference.”
“It’s immoral to leave things because someone else is helping,” Commander Steel said with disgust in his voice. “I’ve been a hero for years now. I learned from the Justice Society that you help everyone, or you help no-one.”
“Not another story of your days as Citizen Steel! Please, Commander, I don’t think my therapist will ever cure me if you go on,” Lord laughed.
“Americans. They are so strange. At least my country makes more sense than these two,” Rocket Red said in his native Russian tongue, talking to himself.
Lord gave him a strange stare.
“You know, Captain, I speak Russian. I speak just about ever language, so, please, don’t insult me, or the Commander,” Max Lord said coldly in Russian, before smiling again.
“When’s the next member going to show up?” Commander Steel asked.
“How’s now sound, red white and blue?” came an arrogant voice. The voice came from a blond-haired man in a costume resembling Ice’s and Guy Gardner’s Green Lantern garb. “Name’s Ice-Warrior, and I’m here to take the Global Guardians to the next step, pal.”
***
22,300 miles above the Earth, The “New” Satellite...
Supergirl sat on top of the New Satellite—one of the JLA’s greatest hall-marks, one of its most memorable headquarters. Tears ran down her face. She could breathe up here, but just barely. Unlike her father, she wasn’t all powerful, at least not yet. Her vision powers were weak, and sometimes wouldn’t work at all after a long day, but now, her telescopic vision spotted Wonder Warrior, sitting, in endless space. She pushed herself off the New Satellite, and using another of her vision powers, she spotted the invisible spaceship made by her team’s leader. She instantly grabbed hold of his ship.
Wonder Warrior motioned for her to come with him.
Supergirl smiled with relief that someone cared enough about her to come after her and they rocketed back to Earth.
A few minutes later, 2, 000 miles above the Earth...
Supergirl wasn’t sure if she could tell Wonder Warrior why she flew off, or why she decided to try and escape Earth all together, but she knew it was time to return, to face her problems. She knew Wonder Warrior wouldn’t leave a fight until the enemy was defeated, so it wasn’t hard to believe he was at least temporarily finished, but could she tell him that wasn’t the Construct; it was that “thing” that killed her brother?
***
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco...
The Arachnid had been forced into battle, basically forced into fighting Jack. So far, he was faring less than well. Jack used a shiv and a katana to fight off the bug-themed hero.
Starman’s fight with King continued, although now Starman’s blasts had an advantage.
Jemstone had given up with her battle with Queen, and was fighting Ten, having already picked out the real Ten. Jemstone had blasted Ten with her pink energy, knocking her out, and disabling her suit.
King jumped away from Starman’s blasts, watching as part of the bridge was destroyed, Starman followed King from above, and blasted his scepter, destroying it.
“Jack! Jack, they’ve got us beaten. Ten’s out!” King yelled, leaping away from several blasts from Starman’s cosmic rod.
“What? They’ve got Ten? Well, we’ve still got a fighting chance!” Jack called back, kicking the Arachnid, while somersaulting away. “Ace! Tear down the pink lady. Make her pay!”
The android Ace ran up to Jemstone, and the ground beneath it started to rumble and Kid Comet erupted through, punching the android’s head off. “ ’Bout time!” he laughed after removing Ace’s head. “Jemstone, fly away. Go up to Icemanling; we’ve got this,” he ordered.
“Comet, I’m giving the orders,” Icemanling radioed, “and Jemstone, we need you to fry Queen’s force-field.” The blaring crackle of the communicator sparked in Kid Comet’s ear.
“Sorry, Ice, but I think a leader needs to be in battle,” Kid Comet retorted. “Arachnid! Stop messing around and hit that sucker! Starman, gravity manipulation, throw him off balance, Jemstone... follow Icemanling’s orders.”
“No problem, but once you get in this jet, prepare to be cold… very cold…” Icemanling radioed.
Jemstone flew up to Queen and turned bright pink, pushing into the force-field surrounding the villainess and shorting it out. Jemstone pulled back, and returned to her normal self. While Queen was forced back, Jemstone hit her with a blast of pink energy. “Queen’s down. How’s everything else doing?”
The Arachnid dodged attacks from Jack. Jack had given up his sword and knife, and moved onto two different colored discs, one blue, the other red. Jack threw the blue one, which was quickly dodged by the Arachnid, but then it exploded behind him. Jack then threw the red one. It beeped several times, before lasers shot out from it, scorching the bridge and the ground behind the Arachnid. The Arachnid swerved into Jack, and threw his fist into Jack’s nose, breaking it.
Jack was pushed back, but despite blood now covering his face, he laughed. “That all you got Bug-Man? I’m part of the Royal Flush Gang. We’re the winners of the game. Don’t you get that?” Jack laughed, the giant cards he summoned before flew into the Arachnid. The Arachnid was flung away.
“That hurt,” the Arachnid moaned. “But, then again, it’ll make this all the more fun, belting you.” He laughed, grabbing the giant card again, and pushing it into the ground. “By the way, pal. What you’re up against is four aces!”
“No! The Royal Flush Gang must win! We must, or my uncle pays the price. I don’t want him to die. Please,” Jack pleaded, kneeling before his opponent.
“Ice, did you hear?” the Arachnid asked into his communicator.
“Yeah. I heard. I managed to find out who he is, and who his uncle is: Amos Fortune. “Whoever is threatening Fortune’s life, well, it’s worth looking into,” Icemanling answered. “Titans, we’ve got to lose this fight. Arachnid, slip a tracer on Jack.”
“Gotcha,” the Arachnid said, putting his hand on Jack’s shoulder, slipping on a tracer. “What are you waiting for, Jack? Beat us.”
“It’ll be my pleasure,” Jack said, throwing his explosive discs at everyone. It knocked the Arachnid out, injured Starman, and knocked Kid Comet off the bridge. The flying cards returned to the air, hovering just above the ground, as Jack loaded the Ace android and its head on one card. Ten, King and Queen got on their own cards, while Jack got on his. The Royal Flush gang took off, only to be followed, stealthily, by Icemanling.
***
The Dome, In-Between The Two Hemispheres...
“Ice-Warrior? Who the hell is Ice-Warrior?!” Commander Steel asked Maxwell Lord the fifth.
“He’s from Scandinavia. The son of Guy Gardner and Tora Olafsdotter, aso known as Green Lantern III and Ice. I hired him because he’s a fighter. A tough-as-nails, take-no-nonsense hero who knows what he’s doing.” Max laughed, “Besides, with both his parents having been heroes, that makes him a legacy; always a good thing in this business.”
“You have to be joking...” Commander Steel said under his breath.
“It is being a pleasure to be meeting you Ice-Warrior,” Rocket Red #9 said, shaking hands with Ice-Warrior.
“Same ta you, Red,” Ice-Warrior arrogantly said. “So, let me guess, Red White ‘n Blue’s the leader, right?”
“Yes, but only because of the years of experience he had as a member of the Justice Society,” Max replied with a friendly smile. “Who knows, maybe you’ll be leader some day.”
***
The Secret Underground Base of Lex Luthor...
The Royal Flush Gang had made their way to the base of Lex Luthor, the real mastermind behind the Royal Flush Gang. Jack was the first to speak.
“Mister Luthor... we won, we beat the Titans, and just like you wanted, we kept them fighting long enough to complete your files... right?”
“Of course. But, then again, I’m still in the dark about the levels of the Arachnid’s power, Bee-Sting’s abilities, and I only know Kid Comet can fly and has super-strength. So, you failed,” Lex replied. His old, cold, green eyes burned with hatred, and his smugness covered his voice.
“Do... do we need to fight them again? Is my uncle still--?” Jack asked, worriedly.
“--Alive... for now. Unless of course, you fail... again,” came the cold, emotionless, toneless voice of Brainiac. His sinister grin was only matched by his cold, red eyes.
“They’re strong! We need more power! Can you update my uncle’s suits? Can you give us power?” Jack asked. He walked right up to the green-skinned android. “Can you make us winners?”
“No. We don’t want you to win any battle. That is not the plan. I have tested the Titans, Gigantus tested them, and they have fought a group. What else can we test them with?” Brainiac tonelessly stated.
“That’s the hardest thing to answer. I say, we leave them to fate, and use the nano-cams to continue monitoring,” Luthor laughed coldly. “But, even fate needs a helping hand... Brainiac, I want you to do something for me...”
“Again, Luthor?” Came Brainiac’s toneless reply.
“Yes again!” ordered Luthor.
***
The Dome, In-Between The Two Hemispheres...
Maxwell Lord the fifth watched as his Global Guardians, Rocket Red #9, Commander Steel, and Ice-Warrior bickered like school-children. They insulted each other, and argued over what they should do. The unfortunate thing about getting each country to pick its champions: they’re all a bunch of super-egos put together, forced to work together. What do you get when egos clash?
“Gentlemen, shut up,” he said to his team. His nose started to bleed, and the team suddenly stopped arguing.
“Max... did you just do something to calm us down?” Commander Steel asked. He looked as Max wiped away the blood. “Oh God... you have his powers. You can push people to do anything you want.”
“Yes, I do. I can push people to do anything. But, frankly, I hate the d**n power, but you do what you have, to get things done, right?” Max responded calmly. “Pushing people… let’s just say, a good businessman doesn’t need to push anyone’s mind to get business done.”
“You are telling us, you can mentally manipulate anyone?” Rocket Red #9 asked. His helmet was off, showing his face, and the perfect soldier he was. “Then, you couldn’t be very trust-worthy, correct?”
“When is anyone trust-worthy?” Max responded.
“This is the worst super-hero team ever,” Ice-Warrior remarked sarcastically.
***
The Metrotower, L.A....
“Lex Luthor has been manipulating us?” Wonder Warrior asked. The tracer planted on Jack not only gave them a location, but acted as a bug. It recorded everything Jack saw and heard.
“Why?” Starman asked, looking at the rest of the team. “Why would Luthor even care about us? We haven’t done anything to him.”
“When the Titans of Justice first got together, we fought the Legion of Doom, a time-traveling Legion, and well, we messed with Luthor. I--I think that’s why he’s after us. Because we’re part of the team that defeated him. My God, it’s been 25 years of hate building up,” Icemanling said. His eyes widened, and he covered his face with his blue gloved hand. “We should’ve known.”
“Okay, so thanks to the Titans East, we’re doomed,” the Arachnid said. “Because they had to fight the Legion of freakin’ Doom.”
“T-That’s not the worst part. I knew about Brainiac before. He was the Construct. He killed my brother,” Supergirl said. “He’s supposed to be in the Phantom Zone.”
“So... does that mean Gigantus, the Construct, they lost to us on purpose?” Jemstone asked.
“No. Gigantus lost because he couldn’t breathe. The Construct was torn to pieces. There’s no way that can be faked. But, this just means we’ve got more trouble, and should start recruiting,” Wonder Warrior said. “We need a pro. I’ve been considering this since I was put in charge.”
“Who would want to work with us? We just found out that we’ve been set up. We’re not big heroes, and we ‘lost’ to the Royal Flush Gang!” the Arachnid yelled.
“There’s your mistake: you’re thinking of what may be false. Trust me, the way Luthor tests, the only rule is we weren’t allowed to be killed. But we beat them ourselves,” Wonder Warrior responded. “Listen, I’ve been thinking lately, we can’t keep borrowing jets from STAR Labs, so, I’ve been considering finding a new transport. Arachnid, any chances of finding that warehouse we got the Bug out of?”
“Don’t know. I was knocked through the building. I don’t really remember which one it was, y’know?” the Arachnid answered.
“That’s fine. I would suggest making a new invisible jet, but I’m normally the only one who sees it,” Wonder Warrior smiled.
“And you kept pressing the wrong buttons. I was ejected from that jet five times before you retired it,” the Arachnid sulked.
“Yeah...good times...” Wonder Warrior smiled. “Well, I suppose I could always ask Celsius for a Javelin…”
Written by: Archkid
Co-conspirator: Power Guy
Editor: Marcus Mebest
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco...
“No. You’re just scared. The suits we wear make us better than the cops,” Jack laughed.
The Royal Flush Gang, the latest in a long line of its many incarnations, had just taken the Golden Gate Bridge, and destroyed just about everything that crossed it. This time, Jack was Jack Fortune, the nephew of Amos Fortune, while Ace was an emotionless android, King was Kenny Reynolds, Queen was Alison Reynolds—Kenny’s wife, and Ten was Samantha Kingsley, Jack’s fiancée. This Royal Flush Gang was updated, and used the technology that Amos Fortune had perfected over time. Jack had two different sides of his costume, and two different deadly types of weapons. Ace was super-strong, King carried a scepter that shot out pure energy, Queen’s crown created force-fields, and Ten could produce ten hard-light holograms of herself.
“Yeah, the suits make you better than the cops, Jack, but, I’m betting not better than the Titans West!” came a voice. It belonged to Kid Comet, soaring from the sky above, followed by Starman and Jemstone. “I think you should just surrender now...”
“Surrender? Us? You must be joking!” laughed Jack, pressing a button on his costume that summoned flying giant cards from the clouds. “No one catches the Royal Flush Gang!”
“Jack! Are you mad? They’re super-heroes! They’ve got strange powers. What chance do we stand?” came the whines of King.
“A good one,” came the quick reply. “Ace: take out our confident friend over here,” Jack commanded the blank-looking robot.
“Ace...must...kill...en-emy...” Came the slow, cold, toneless, mechanical voice of Ace. Its blank face did not even move as the android spoke, nor did the face make any kind of expression. The android approached Kid Comet, and threw a punch at him.
To Comet’s surprise, he found himsef miles away from the bridge, with a fist mark on his face. “Ow. That was one hell of a punch...” he muttered, before he streaked towards the bridge.
King’s scepter and Starman’s cosmic rod were exchanging blasts of energy. There was suddenly ten “Tens”, and Queen was getting attacked by Jemstone, though her blasts had no affect on the villainess.
“I thought these jokers were B-list. Why aren’t they easy to beat?” Starman wondered, flying towards Kid Comet.
“Was that a card pun?” the other hero asked, before flying away, towards Ace. He threw his fist into the android, but found it had no affect. His eyes widened, and his teeth gritted together, as he threw another fist. Another, followed by another, another, and then another. The android wasn’t even slowed down. “What? You should be a trash-heap by now!” Kid Comet said, as a white fist came down on top of him, and forced him through the bridge, and into the water below.
***
The Metrotower, L.A....
Bee-Sting and Wonder Warrior sat in the Metrotower, viewing the fight from the STAR Labs jet’s cameras. They were in radio-contact with the other two members of the Titans West not in the fight—Icemanling and the Arachnid.
“Why aren’t you two down there?” Wonder Warrior spoke into the radio system on the computer console he sat at.
“We can’t find a place to land the jet. And the STAR scientists were pretty clear about not damaging this baby,” came the radioed voice of the Arachnid.
“Icemanling, you’re piloting the jet, right?” Wonder Warrior asked into the radio system.
“Yeah. Why?” Came Icemanling’s reply.
“Okay. Do me a favor. You’ve got a level head. Give the orders over the communicator, and throw the Arachnid out of the jet. He’s more use in battle than out of it,” Wonder Warrior responded calmly. He turned from the radio system to Bee-Sting. “You monitor their progress, and write down their stuff-ups, I’m going into space, and searching for Supergirl.”
“You left Kid Comet to himself, you let him return in his own time.” Bee-Sting said. It was a bit of a lie though, since she was sent after Kid Comet during the Construct situation, only a few hours ago.
“I should have gone after him. Besides, with Supergirl, I’m going after her because it’s the right thing to do. She was upset, I think,” Wonder Warrior replied, disappearing into the hangar, where he opened it up, and with the Lanisar he wears on his costume, made an invisible space-ship around him. It hummed as it started up, and rocketed into the sky.
***
The Dome, In-Between The Two Hemispheres...
“They beat the Construct. I told you we didn’t need to interfere,” came the confident voice of Maxwell Lord the Fifth. “See, Commander, sometimes things don’t need our interference.”
“It’s immoral to leave things because someone else is helping,” Commander Steel said with disgust in his voice. “I’ve been a hero for years now. I learned from the Justice Society that you help everyone, or you help no-one.”
“Not another story of your days as Citizen Steel! Please, Commander, I don’t think my therapist will ever cure me if you go on,” Lord laughed.
“Americans. They are so strange. At least my country makes more sense than these two,” Rocket Red said in his native Russian tongue, talking to himself.
Lord gave him a strange stare.
“You know, Captain, I speak Russian. I speak just about ever language, so, please, don’t insult me, or the Commander,” Max Lord said coldly in Russian, before smiling again.
“When’s the next member going to show up?” Commander Steel asked.
“How’s now sound, red white and blue?” came an arrogant voice. The voice came from a blond-haired man in a costume resembling Ice’s and Guy Gardner’s Green Lantern garb. “Name’s Ice-Warrior, and I’m here to take the Global Guardians to the next step, pal.”
***
22,300 miles above the Earth, The “New” Satellite...
Supergirl sat on top of the New Satellite—one of the JLA’s greatest hall-marks, one of its most memorable headquarters. Tears ran down her face. She could breathe up here, but just barely. Unlike her father, she wasn’t all powerful, at least not yet. Her vision powers were weak, and sometimes wouldn’t work at all after a long day, but now, her telescopic vision spotted Wonder Warrior, sitting, in endless space. She pushed herself off the New Satellite, and using another of her vision powers, she spotted the invisible spaceship made by her team’s leader. She instantly grabbed hold of his ship.
Wonder Warrior motioned for her to come with him.
Supergirl smiled with relief that someone cared enough about her to come after her and they rocketed back to Earth.
A few minutes later, 2, 000 miles above the Earth...
Supergirl wasn’t sure if she could tell Wonder Warrior why she flew off, or why she decided to try and escape Earth all together, but she knew it was time to return, to face her problems. She knew Wonder Warrior wouldn’t leave a fight until the enemy was defeated, so it wasn’t hard to believe he was at least temporarily finished, but could she tell him that wasn’t the Construct; it was that “thing” that killed her brother?
***
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco...
The Arachnid had been forced into battle, basically forced into fighting Jack. So far, he was faring less than well. Jack used a shiv and a katana to fight off the bug-themed hero.
Starman’s fight with King continued, although now Starman’s blasts had an advantage.
Jemstone had given up with her battle with Queen, and was fighting Ten, having already picked out the real Ten. Jemstone had blasted Ten with her pink energy, knocking her out, and disabling her suit.
King jumped away from Starman’s blasts, watching as part of the bridge was destroyed, Starman followed King from above, and blasted his scepter, destroying it.
“Jack! Jack, they’ve got us beaten. Ten’s out!” King yelled, leaping away from several blasts from Starman’s cosmic rod.
“What? They’ve got Ten? Well, we’ve still got a fighting chance!” Jack called back, kicking the Arachnid, while somersaulting away. “Ace! Tear down the pink lady. Make her pay!”
The android Ace ran up to Jemstone, and the ground beneath it started to rumble and Kid Comet erupted through, punching the android’s head off. “ ’Bout time!” he laughed after removing Ace’s head. “Jemstone, fly away. Go up to Icemanling; we’ve got this,” he ordered.
“Comet, I’m giving the orders,” Icemanling radioed, “and Jemstone, we need you to fry Queen’s force-field.” The blaring crackle of the communicator sparked in Kid Comet’s ear.
“Sorry, Ice, but I think a leader needs to be in battle,” Kid Comet retorted. “Arachnid! Stop messing around and hit that sucker! Starman, gravity manipulation, throw him off balance, Jemstone... follow Icemanling’s orders.”
“No problem, but once you get in this jet, prepare to be cold… very cold…” Icemanling radioed.
Jemstone flew up to Queen and turned bright pink, pushing into the force-field surrounding the villainess and shorting it out. Jemstone pulled back, and returned to her normal self. While Queen was forced back, Jemstone hit her with a blast of pink energy. “Queen’s down. How’s everything else doing?”
The Arachnid dodged attacks from Jack. Jack had given up his sword and knife, and moved onto two different colored discs, one blue, the other red. Jack threw the blue one, which was quickly dodged by the Arachnid, but then it exploded behind him. Jack then threw the red one. It beeped several times, before lasers shot out from it, scorching the bridge and the ground behind the Arachnid. The Arachnid swerved into Jack, and threw his fist into Jack’s nose, breaking it.
Jack was pushed back, but despite blood now covering his face, he laughed. “That all you got Bug-Man? I’m part of the Royal Flush Gang. We’re the winners of the game. Don’t you get that?” Jack laughed, the giant cards he summoned before flew into the Arachnid. The Arachnid was flung away.
“That hurt,” the Arachnid moaned. “But, then again, it’ll make this all the more fun, belting you.” He laughed, grabbing the giant card again, and pushing it into the ground. “By the way, pal. What you’re up against is four aces!”
“No! The Royal Flush Gang must win! We must, or my uncle pays the price. I don’t want him to die. Please,” Jack pleaded, kneeling before his opponent.
“Ice, did you hear?” the Arachnid asked into his communicator.
“Yeah. I heard. I managed to find out who he is, and who his uncle is: Amos Fortune. “Whoever is threatening Fortune’s life, well, it’s worth looking into,” Icemanling answered. “Titans, we’ve got to lose this fight. Arachnid, slip a tracer on Jack.”
“Gotcha,” the Arachnid said, putting his hand on Jack’s shoulder, slipping on a tracer. “What are you waiting for, Jack? Beat us.”
“It’ll be my pleasure,” Jack said, throwing his explosive discs at everyone. It knocked the Arachnid out, injured Starman, and knocked Kid Comet off the bridge. The flying cards returned to the air, hovering just above the ground, as Jack loaded the Ace android and its head on one card. Ten, King and Queen got on their own cards, while Jack got on his. The Royal Flush gang took off, only to be followed, stealthily, by Icemanling.
***
The Dome, In-Between The Two Hemispheres...
“Ice-Warrior? Who the hell is Ice-Warrior?!” Commander Steel asked Maxwell Lord the fifth.
“He’s from Scandinavia. The son of Guy Gardner and Tora Olafsdotter, aso known as Green Lantern III and Ice. I hired him because he’s a fighter. A tough-as-nails, take-no-nonsense hero who knows what he’s doing.” Max laughed, “Besides, with both his parents having been heroes, that makes him a legacy; always a good thing in this business.”
“You have to be joking...” Commander Steel said under his breath.
“It is being a pleasure to be meeting you Ice-Warrior,” Rocket Red #9 said, shaking hands with Ice-Warrior.
“Same ta you, Red,” Ice-Warrior arrogantly said. “So, let me guess, Red White ‘n Blue’s the leader, right?”
“Yes, but only because of the years of experience he had as a member of the Justice Society,” Max replied with a friendly smile. “Who knows, maybe you’ll be leader some day.”
***
The Secret Underground Base of Lex Luthor...
The Royal Flush Gang had made their way to the base of Lex Luthor, the real mastermind behind the Royal Flush Gang. Jack was the first to speak.
“Mister Luthor... we won, we beat the Titans, and just like you wanted, we kept them fighting long enough to complete your files... right?”
“Of course. But, then again, I’m still in the dark about the levels of the Arachnid’s power, Bee-Sting’s abilities, and I only know Kid Comet can fly and has super-strength. So, you failed,” Lex replied. His old, cold, green eyes burned with hatred, and his smugness covered his voice.
“Do... do we need to fight them again? Is my uncle still--?” Jack asked, worriedly.
“--Alive... for now. Unless of course, you fail... again,” came the cold, emotionless, toneless voice of Brainiac. His sinister grin was only matched by his cold, red eyes.
“They’re strong! We need more power! Can you update my uncle’s suits? Can you give us power?” Jack asked. He walked right up to the green-skinned android. “Can you make us winners?”
“No. We don’t want you to win any battle. That is not the plan. I have tested the Titans, Gigantus tested them, and they have fought a group. What else can we test them with?” Brainiac tonelessly stated.
“That’s the hardest thing to answer. I say, we leave them to fate, and use the nano-cams to continue monitoring,” Luthor laughed coldly. “But, even fate needs a helping hand... Brainiac, I want you to do something for me...”
“Again, Luthor?” Came Brainiac’s toneless reply.
“Yes again!” ordered Luthor.
***
The Dome, In-Between The Two Hemispheres...
Maxwell Lord the fifth watched as his Global Guardians, Rocket Red #9, Commander Steel, and Ice-Warrior bickered like school-children. They insulted each other, and argued over what they should do. The unfortunate thing about getting each country to pick its champions: they’re all a bunch of super-egos put together, forced to work together. What do you get when egos clash?
“Gentlemen, shut up,” he said to his team. His nose started to bleed, and the team suddenly stopped arguing.
“Max... did you just do something to calm us down?” Commander Steel asked. He looked as Max wiped away the blood. “Oh God... you have his powers. You can push people to do anything you want.”
“Yes, I do. I can push people to do anything. But, frankly, I hate the d**n power, but you do what you have, to get things done, right?” Max responded calmly. “Pushing people… let’s just say, a good businessman doesn’t need to push anyone’s mind to get business done.”
“You are telling us, you can mentally manipulate anyone?” Rocket Red #9 asked. His helmet was off, showing his face, and the perfect soldier he was. “Then, you couldn’t be very trust-worthy, correct?”
“When is anyone trust-worthy?” Max responded.
“This is the worst super-hero team ever,” Ice-Warrior remarked sarcastically.
***
The Metrotower, L.A....
“Lex Luthor has been manipulating us?” Wonder Warrior asked. The tracer planted on Jack not only gave them a location, but acted as a bug. It recorded everything Jack saw and heard.
“Why?” Starman asked, looking at the rest of the team. “Why would Luthor even care about us? We haven’t done anything to him.”
“When the Titans of Justice first got together, we fought the Legion of Doom, a time-traveling Legion, and well, we messed with Luthor. I--I think that’s why he’s after us. Because we’re part of the team that defeated him. My God, it’s been 25 years of hate building up,” Icemanling said. His eyes widened, and he covered his face with his blue gloved hand. “We should’ve known.”
“Okay, so thanks to the Titans East, we’re doomed,” the Arachnid said. “Because they had to fight the Legion of freakin’ Doom.”
“T-That’s not the worst part. I knew about Brainiac before. He was the Construct. He killed my brother,” Supergirl said. “He’s supposed to be in the Phantom Zone.”
“So... does that mean Gigantus, the Construct, they lost to us on purpose?” Jemstone asked.
“No. Gigantus lost because he couldn’t breathe. The Construct was torn to pieces. There’s no way that can be faked. But, this just means we’ve got more trouble, and should start recruiting,” Wonder Warrior said. “We need a pro. I’ve been considering this since I was put in charge.”
“Who would want to work with us? We just found out that we’ve been set up. We’re not big heroes, and we ‘lost’ to the Royal Flush Gang!” the Arachnid yelled.
“There’s your mistake: you’re thinking of what may be false. Trust me, the way Luthor tests, the only rule is we weren’t allowed to be killed. But we beat them ourselves,” Wonder Warrior responded. “Listen, I’ve been thinking lately, we can’t keep borrowing jets from STAR Labs, so, I’ve been considering finding a new transport. Arachnid, any chances of finding that warehouse we got the Bug out of?”
“Don’t know. I was knocked through the building. I don’t really remember which one it was, y’know?” the Arachnid answered.
“That’s fine. I would suggest making a new invisible jet, but I’m normally the only one who sees it,” Wonder Warrior smiled.
“And you kept pressing the wrong buttons. I was ejected from that jet five times before you retired it,” the Arachnid sulked.
“Yeah...good times...” Wonder Warrior smiled. “Well, I suppose I could always ask Celsius for a Javelin…”