Titans East Chapter 50 – “Not Exactly What You’d Expect Part 1”
Written by: Power Guy
Featured Artist: The Stranger(First Picture), Green Lantern(vs. card), & Redorion4(Second Picture)
Edited by: Marcus Mebes
***Special thanks to Green Lantern for inspiration!


Crossroads Community Church on the outskirts of Crossroads, Colorado…

Venus entered the former home of the hero once known as Risk. She found Lilith, Argent, CM3, and a few of the other Teen Titans sleeping on the various couches with some of them resting on pillows, on the floor. She made her way through them trying to be as quiet as possible. She eventually found herself at Pastor Driscoll’s old room. Inside, she saw her boyfriend Palomé sleeping on the bed.

She crawled into bed with him and gently brushed the index and middle fingers of her right hand across his forehead. “You’re finally at peace, my love. I’m so sorry I couldn’t find your parents’ killer, but I promise you I won’t stop until I do.” She kissed him gently on the cheek.

Laying her head down on the pillow next to Palomé, Venus thought to herself, “I can’t believe I couldn’t find Black Orchid. I made myself visible to several news camera-men. Even propping myself on top of the Statue of Liberty in New York! I thought for sure that someone would have put that on TV and lure that witch to me. Well, I’m not giving up. Black Orchid – your days are numbered!” She then closed her eyes in an attempt to fall asleep, but her mind kept racing. She could not help but think about Black Orchid, and her desire to avenge Black Orchid’s victims; especially Pastor Driscoll. Lukas would surely appreciate that, wouldn’t he? Or would he be angry? He’s a pacifist, but she had seen him fight when the need arose. Maybe the trip to Austria had calmed him down. Maybe spending time with his parents’ teammates in a relaxed situation helped him to put things into perspective. Would he hate her if she killed Black Orchid? Or would he be grateful for it? What if he hated her for resorting to violence? Oh no! She couldn’t handle that! What was she going to do?

Palomé watched his beloved Venus fall asleep next to him, his emotive eyes fixed upon her closed ones. He felt her devotion, and was grateful for it; but he also felt her anger and vengeance, and those feelings frightened him. Just as gently as she had touched him when she thought he was asleep, he touched her forehead, drawing the pained emotions out of her and into him, where he dispelled them. At last she was able to sleep, but he could not.

***

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

The Silencer was working diligently to crack the codes put in place by the current inhabitants of the Watchtower.

“You know, this sucks,” huffed Sargona. She wsa miserable, and not only did she feel useless, but the other members seemed to think she was useless, too.

“What’s wrong, sweet cheeks?” asked the Silencer. “A pretty girl like you shouldn’t be so upset all of the time.”

“Ever since the incident with the Sting Ray, Nightvision and Wonder Man act like I’m helpless,” complained Sargona. “They won’t let me go into the field and it’s getting really annoying.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way,” began the Silencer. “Your friends are just worried about you. You’ve all been through a lot lately, especially you.”

“I know, I know… but I’m not a helpless child,” fumed the sorceress, clenching and unclenching her fists. “Maybe if I could go on a mission, it would help to clear my mind.”

As if fate was waiting for her to make the comment she just did, the Trouble Alert went off. BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

The Silencer turned in his chair to face the monitor, wondering what the alert was about.

“What’s the emergency?” asked Sargona.

“We’re getting a report that the Human Flying Fish and the Sting Ray are duking it out at Navy Pier in Chicago,” came the answer.

“Flying Fish must be after the Bermuda Corals,” assumed Sargona. “This is my chance to nab that Sting Ray hag. See you later Silencer…”

“NO! Wait!” yelled her teammate as she headed toward the teleporter-tube. “I don’t think it’s a good idea if you go alone.”

“Actually, I think it’s the best idea I’ve had yet,” retorted the sorceress, “but contact a few of the reserves and ask him to meet me down there if you think I can’t handle it.” She phased out.

***

22,000 miles above the Earth, aboard the Javelyn…

“We’re almost there, now we just have to figure out how to get in,” Wonder Man mused aloud.

“I’ll check with the Silencer and see if he’s had any luck cracking the new codes,” added Nightvision. Nightvision switched on the ship’s communication system. “Silencer, do you copy?”

“I’m here, Nightvision.”

“Any luck cracking the codes?” asked the new-age Dark Knight.

“Almost, but not quite,” replied the Silencer. “Whoever is in there seems to be staying one step ahead of me; but I’m about to upload a virus into their computer that will knock the power out for about ten minutes. It should be enough for you guys to slip in. As soon as you see the lights go out, that’s your cue.” He thought about mentioning Sargona, but realized that there was nothing they could do at the moment to assist her and he didn’t want to burden them with something else to worry about.

“We’ll be watching,” replied Nightvision. “Over and out.”

“I cannot wait to see the inside of the Watchtower,” commented Isis. “In all of my years as a hero, I have never had an opportunity to tour it.”

Power Lad approached the Egyptian beauty and interjected with, “Forget the Watchtower, you should come check out my room sometime.”

“I will certainly do just that,” revealed Isis. “From what I have heard, you could use some assistance with cleaning it up.”

“Ahh… I can find what I need,” grumbled an irritated Power Lad, miffed that his advance had been so easily rebuffed.

“There! The lights are out!” shouted Wonder Man as he stood up.

***

About nine minutes later…

“We’re in!” shouted Black Vulcan in relief. They were in the hangar dock of the satellite, and had just disembarked the Javelyn.

“Get ready for a welcome party,” advised Nightvision.

“You’re hardly welcome here,” came a familiar voice as the power came back on.

Then without warning, the Titans East team was hit with a high-pitched noise that battered their eardrums causing them all to drop to their knees in agony.

“Arghh!!!!!” shrieked Isis “That noise… it is piercing my very skull!”

“Cut the #*@$^%) noise!!!” yelled Power Lad.

Then the voice came again. “Secure them.”

All of a sudden, the Titans were encased within a cage seemingly made of golden hard-light.

“Okay, cut the noise,” came the voice again.

As the sound faded, the Titans worked to regain their senses. They looked up to see their captors, only to notice not one, but several familiar faces.





“Arrow? What the heck are you doing here?” demanded Nightvision angrily.

“Me? You’re the ones trespassing,” countered Dark Arrow.

“Tresspassing?” echoed Wonder Man, not believing his ears. “ My mother use to work out of this satellite for years!”

“And my mother and father got the entire founding membership of the JLA to sign this place over to me last week,” revealed Dark Arrow. “Even your mother had a smile on her face when they handed me the keys.”

“What do you want with the Watchtower?” asked Nightvision.

“It’s our new headquarters,” stated Dark Arrow. “Meet the NEW Justice League of America. Sorry that you all didn’t get invitations to join but with the exception of Isis, you’re all far from worthy.”

“Let me out of this monkey-cage and I’ll show you just how worthy I am,” taunted Power Lad.

“You heard my teammate: let us out!” ordered the Sportsmaster.

“Arrow, I think you should let them go,” Totem said trying to talk some reason into her leader. “They didn’t come here to fight.”

“Stellar, keep ’em sealed up,” ordered Dark Arrow, ignoring her plea.

“That’s it, no-one cages the Sportsmaster,” vowed the supposedly reformed villain as he pulled a boomerang from the pouch on his backside and threw it at the cage bars. Upon contact, the shiny weapon started to refract the energy bars in its path, causing the cage to overload and disperse.

“We’re free!” shouted Black Vulcan.

“Yeah, and arrow-boy is roadkill!” Power Lad said flying towards the leader of the new Justice League.

“Not so fast kid!” Atmosphere said, directing a tornado-blast at Power Lad, stopping him in mid-motion and sending him flying into the wall behind him.

As hard as Power Lad struggled, he was making little head-way towards Dark Arrow. “Back off, wind-bag, or I’m gonna punch you so hard that you’ll wind up on Oz right next to Dorothy!”

“Be calm Power Lad, I will take care of Atmosphere,” asserted Isis. Turning towards the air-powered hero she spoke. “I’d suggest that you release my teammate. Though you control the air, I am one with mother nature herself. Your power pales in comparison to mine.”

“And that’s why we’re not going to give you a chance to use it!” shouted Lt. Atom as he barraged Isis with a nuclear blast.

“Argh!!!” she screamed in pain. “The radiation that you’re emitting kills the very essence of life itself.” She fell to the floor and crouched. “Why do you attempt to kill us? We are your teammates! We fight on the same side!” She cried out in pain and confusion. “I… I thought that you were all heroes…”

“We ARE heroes, cow!” retored Lt. Atom angrily, not realizing that he was getting carried away. “As long as it keeps you down, that’s all that matters.”

“So you’ll KILL her?” demanded Nightvision, unable to believe that people who considered themselves Justice League would actually dare to kill someone that they supposedly admired. “Is that it?? You’re seriously going to kill her? Kill us? What the heck drugs are you on, you imbeciles??”

As powerful as Isis was, the radiation she was being hit with was her “Kryptonite”. Never had she felt such pain since her battle years prior with the Horseman known as Pestilence.

The Sportsmaster approached Totem, “Thanks for trying to talk your boss into releasing us back there babe,” he began, “but you gotta call of your dog there. Nighty’s right. Y’all plan to KILL us? That don’t make none of you heroes at all!”

“Listen creep, if it was up to me, you would have been the only one to stay locked in that cage,” retorted Totem. “Sonic Boom told me all about that little stunt you pulled on the Titans earlier this year.”

“Have it your way babe,” the Sportsmaster said sarcastically. “You get your powers from the animal kingdom. Let me just say that hunting is my favorite sport!” he shouted as he pulled out three baseballs and a bat. Wasting no time, he threw the balls into the air and batted them at Totem.

Totem’s eyes grew big at the sight of the oncoming baseballs. “Leopard!” she shouted as she leaped into the air. Even though she had removed herself from the path of the baseballs, her effort was in vain. The balls soon exploded, knocking Totem unconscious, effectively incapacitating her without killing her.

“One down, five to go,” the Sporsmaster said, congratulating himself. “Notice that I did not KILL her,” he added to Lt. Atom. “Not like YOU are doing! And you’re next!” But before he could make good on his agenda, he soon found he was a target himself.

“Not so fast, punk,” ordered Lt. Atom as he turned his attention away from Isis and blasted the Sportsmaster.

Being unprepared for the attack, the Sportsmaster took the brunt of the blast, dropping like a sack of potatoes.

“My God,” whispered Black Vulcan, near tears. “They’re not pulling their punches!” she uttered to Nightvision and Wonder Man, who were trying hard to hold themselves back. “They’re honestly going to kill us! We HAVE to fight back!”

Several feet away, Stellar chose Black Vulcan as his target. “So you’re the new Black Vulcan huh? Well I’m the new Star Spangled Kid. Nice to meet you. Too bad you’re going down hard!” He grinned as he fired a stream of energy blasts at the lightning-powered heroine. He, too, had no problem with using deadly force, and pounced upon her, hoping to batter her with further blasts.

Black Vulcan quickly returned the favor and countered with a blast of lightning which cancelled out Stellar’s blast.

“Hmm… this is going to be a little more difficult that I thought,” Stellar thought to himself. “Looks like we’re pretty evenly matched, so I guess I’m going to have to ground you, lady.” He used his belt to make a giant lightning-rod next to Black Vulcan. Being that she was in her energy form, the rod sucked her up like a dry sponge, imprisoning her.

Wonder Man looked around at all of the chaos brewing. “I’ve got to stop this madness,” he said to Nightvision. “WE have to stop them. They’re seriously deranged!”

Air Wave came up from behind. “The only way to stop this is for you and your friends to hit the road and call it quits!” he said as he emitted a high-pitched frequency, aimed at the male Amazon.

“UGHHH!!! That noise is back!!” Wonder Man said, clenching his ears in agony. “You’re the ones who’re trying to KILL us!” he shouted back, hoping that at least someone would hear the voice of reason and realize that the Justice League was not a league of assassins. “What do you call what Atom is doing to Isis and Sportsmaster? Maybe Isis will survive, but I wouldn’t be surprised if your teammate killed him!”

“Oh quit you’re crying. Atom isn’t out for blood. He’s making sure your buddies stay down until we hand you over to the authorities,” advised Air Wave.

The young powerhouse was helpless as he scrambled to even think clearly. “C…c..can’t focus,” he mumbled.

“So, you don’t like high-pitched sounds?” asked Air Wave. “Let’s drop the frequency a bit and see how you like my bass-blast.” Within a split-second, the frequency of Air Wave’s attack dropped considerably to a low tone. The new frequency hit Wonder Man like a truck, knocking him over and taking the wind out of his sails.

“And I remember when everyone used to make fun of my dad and refer to Air Wave as a D-list hero,” gloated the green-clad victor. “That’s what you get for sending my cousin Danny to his death,” he said placing his right foot on top of Wonder Man’s chest, declaring his victory.

While the other battles were occurring, Nightvision and Dark Arrow had been duking it out with Nightvision having a slight advantage. “I’d suggest you call it quits Arrow. Don’t you realize that you and your teammates are resorting to VIOLENCE? You call yourselves heroes? Besides, you can’t outfight me.”

“I won’t have to, you idiot. Look behind you,” taunted Dark Arrow.

Nightvision turned to see he was the only one left from his team that was still standing. “So, six against one, huh? It sounds like your team is in big trouble, Arrow,” Nightvision said sternly while gritting his teeth.

The six members of the new JLA surrounded Nightvision. “Fine,” he hissed through his clenched teeth. “Go ahead and kill me. Let’s see your parents’ reaction to that! Go ahead, loser! You’ve got no problem with it. Do it!”

Totem, while still groggy, came with the voice of reason once again. “Guys, why not just let him take his team and head home? Do we really need to keep up this senseless fighting?” She looked around, realizing all of the Titans had fallen except Nightvision.

“Yes, we do,” countered Dark Arrow. “This guy needs to be taught a lesson so that he and his group of fellow losers realize that they need to hang up their capes and call it a day,” he said as he approached Nightvision to rekindle the battle. His eyes glowed with reckless rage, and Nightvision could see that Dark Arrow was controlled by his rage, beyond hope.

Just then, a burst of smoke appeared in between Nightvision and his predators.

“This has gone on long enough,” the Stranger said as he became visible through the smoke. “You have no right to do this, and you have even less right to call yourselves the Justice League!”

***

Navy Pier, Chicago, IL…

The Hall of Justice teleporter glowed as Sargona stepped out to see the Sting Ray and the Flying Fish wrestling on the ground, choking each other.

“Give me those d_mn corals, Sting Ray,” demanded the Human Flying Fish.

“Over my dead body, you pathetic loser,” retorted the Sting Ray.

As Sargona approached the dueling villains, Strato Hawk came swooping down from the sky.

“Sargona! It’s good to see you again,” greeted the winged wonder. “Pardon me; I have some very personal business to take care of,” he said as he flew towards the villains.

“How did you know where to find me?” asked the sorceress.

“The Silencer gave me the 411,” answered the reserve member of the Titans East.

Before the villains could notice Strato Hawk’s approach, he slammed both of them in the head with his Nth Metal Mace.

CRACK!

Both villains went flying back. Flying Fish had blood oozing out of the side of his head while the Sting Ray found that her helmet was severely dented and that she was suffering from a nasty headache.

“Sargona, I’ve got Sting Ray; you catch the Fish!” ordered Strato Hawk, zooming towards his prey.

“You want me, Hawk? Come get me!” teased the Sting Ray, jumping into the water.

While Strato Hawk’s element was the air, he would not turn away from following the Sting Ray into the water.

Sargona was a bit disappointed as she had come all of this way to take down the Sting Ray and put her away for killing her friends… but after thinking about it for a few seconds, it didn’t matter if Strato Hawk was the one to take her in as long as she was put away for good.

The Human Flying Fish had finally cleared his thoughts when he saw Sargona about to strike him. He took to the air at the last split second, barely avoiding Sargona’s blow.

Sargona quickly knelt down and touch the dock beneath her. Within an instant, the wooden boards comprising the dock ripped themselves free flying at the Human Flying Fish.

Flying Fish did his best to our-maneuver the boards but one of them struck him in his left shoulder, only further irritating the water-world villain. Nose-diving into Sargona, he struck her with both of his fists.

Sargona flew back, jolted by the punch. “Ackk!” Her head-dress was knocked off of her head, severing her contact with the Ruby of Life.

“Didn’t see that comin’, did ya?” taunted the Flying Fish. “Now let’s see how tough you are without your pretty lil’ gem!” He proceeded to lunge at the injured sorceress, slamming her with another punch in the face.

“Ugh…” moaned the daughter of Sargon. Her face was wracked with pain and her thoughts clouded with the vision of the S.T.A.R. Labs tower exploding. She went to counter-attack the Flying Fish with a right hook but missed by an inch or two.

“Typical girl. Can’t fight for nothin’,” gloated the Flying Fish as he continued punching Sargona.

As much as she tried to fight back, her heart just wasn’t in it. Her face quickly became bruised and finally, one of the Flying Fish’ punches knocked her over.

“I’m going to make a name for myself by killing you,” vowed the Flying Fish.

However, before he could make good on his threat, he looked up to see that he and Sargona had a visitor.

Sargona looked up to see what the Flying Fish was staring at. She quickly became filled with panic and fear. Hovering over the previously battling duo was none other than the Black Orchid.





“Well, well, well. It looks like I won’t have to get my hands dirty after all. The hero-killer is here,” smirked the Flying Fish. “She’s all yours, Orchid,” he said as he dusted off his hands.


TO BE CONTINUED

Next Chapter: The Stranger vs. the new JLA. Plus, Black Orchid claims another victim!