Titans East Chapter 63 – “All Good Things… Part 1”

Written by: Power Guy and Marcus Mébes
Edited by: Marcus Mébes


***Note: This story takes place after the conclusion of “Stars Their Destination” which will be featured soon in Titans of Justice Classified.


The Hall of Justice…

The Titans West team arrived to join the East Coast branch.

“I wish that we could have returned sooner,” Starman said to Wonder Warrior apologetically.

“You and Arachnid couldn’t have known this was going to happen,” replied Wonder Warrior in an effort to ease his teammate’s guilt.

“I still can’t believe that Kid Marvel quit,” commented the Arachnid.

“He was pretty shaken up by what happened to Frost,” Wonder Warrior said with compassion.

The west coast branch of the Titans of Justice had just entered the Hall. Wonder Man, who was standing with Black Vulcan, turned to greet the team from the opposite coast. “Hey, everyone. I can’t tell you how sorry we all are about Frost.”

Jemstone and Supergirl started to cry, still shaken by Frost’s grizzly murder at the hands of Black Orchid.

“I don’t think anyone’s more sorry than Hermes,” Wonder Warrior said glumly. “We gave him the news earlier and he nearly went berserk.”

“Can’t say I blame him,” Kid Comet mumbled. “Those two really had a thing for each other.”

“So where is she?” Queen Bee demanded. “I want a piece of her.” The daughter of Bumblebee and Vox clenched and unclenched her fists in anticipation.

“If you’re referring to Black Orchid, she’s in the lab being analyzed by Nightvison, Palomé, and the Stranger,” answered Black Vulcan with a shudder. She wrapped her arms about herself and looked nervously at the floor.

The group of heroes made their way to the observation area next to the laboratory to see their infamous “patient.” Many of them were fuming with contempt. As they entered, there lay Black Orchid, strapped to an examination table by Kryptonian steel chains.

“When I get out of here, I’m going to kill ALL of you, do you hear me??? ALL OF YOU!!!” she screamed as she witnessed the new arrivals.

Starman approached her, pulling his hands back that tried to reach out to her. “How could you do it Venus? How could you just kill Frost and Celsius and not even show an ounce of remorse???”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” replied the woman in a sing-song voice, batting her eyelashes at him, “but Venus isn’t home right now. Can I take a message?” A sudden jerk of her wrists against the chains sent him back, distancing himself from her.

Palomé just shook his head and remained silent. His four friends from his own time surrounded him to offer support. Recalling his mother’s lessons on how to remain stoic, he stifled his emotions and looked straight ahead.

“You must be going through hell right now Lukas,” presumed Queen Bee. “I know you cared for her deeply.”

“Lukas here is a stud! He won’t have any problem replacing her,” the Arachnid offered, rather foolhardily. “Not as studly as I am, but still…”

Wonder Warrior stared down the younger hero. “Now’s not the time,” he said firmly, narrowing his eyes threateningly.

“Just trying to offer some hope,” the Arachnid offered in defense, walking dejectedly to join Starman. “Here I am trying to help and I still get yelled at,” he whispered to his best friend.

Starman replied with, “You got lucky. I would have clocked you one.”

“Hmmph… I’m gonna go see what the Wonder Twins are up to,” the Arachnid said, exiting the room.

“So, have you guys been able to figure out why she snapped?” Wonder Man asked the three heroes examining the mass murderess.

“Not quite,” answered Nightvision, going over the results. “The Stranger has been able to determine that there is no mystical force in possession of Black Orchid though Palomé insists there is some other force at work, just like Lilith did.”

“But how could that be unless something was crawling around in her head?” Jemstone wondered aloud.

Nightvision was taken aback for not thinking of this possible reason on his own. “Supergirl, I need you to do a scan of her brain and see if there’s a tumor, or perhaps some foreign object affecting it.”

“All right… but I’m not sure I’m gonna know there’s something wrong when I see it,” Supergirl said, hesitating a bit.

Starman placed his hand on Supergirl’s shoulder. “I hate to say it,” he ventured jokingly, “she’s beautiful, but she’s no brain surgeon.”

“I have an idea,” announced Kid Comet. “I can use my telepathy to shoot the images of whatever Supergirl sees into the rest of our minds. Hopefully one of us will be able to notice if there’s truly something wrong with Black Orchid’s brain.”

“You punks better stay out of my head or I swear I’ll lobotomize you all! With no anesthesia!” growled Black Orchid, tossing and turning, trying to break free from her restraints. “I’m serious. Get away from me or I’ll kill you all in a manner that will make what I did to Frost look like I gave him a snake-bite!”

“Supergirl…” Nightvision said, cuing the new-age girl of steel.

As the daughter of Superman began probing Black Orchid’s cranium, Kid Comet used his mental abilities to allow the others to see what she was seeing.

It didn’t take long for Nightvision to notice the cause of Black Orchid’s mental instability. “There’s something growing around her brain!”

“A tumor?” asked Palome’.

“No – a plant,” Nightvisio said, surprising everyone in the room.

“Are you trying to tell me that she’s suffering from the influence of some kind of mind-altering herb?” Palomé demanded in disbelief.

“I don’t think this is just any plant,” advised Nightvision. “Supergirl, zoom in with your microscopic vision.”

“Look there in the center of… of the plant. There appears to be some kind of face,” the Stranger pointed out.

“This is brilliant,” murmured Nightvision, examining the mental image that he and the others shared. “This could revolutionize science and medicine!” He regarded the image, noting the miniscule features of the face. “That’s not just any face,” he cried out abruptly. “That’s the face of the Floronic Man!”

“So you finally found me out,” the voice of the Floronic Man said, speaking through Black Orchid’s mouth. “No matter, I’m not leaving any time soon, and when I get off this table, you all are dog-meat!!!”

“We’ve got to help her!” Sargona insisted, standing the in doorway. “But how do we get that thing off of her brain without… without l-lobotomizing her?”

“We do it the old fashioned way!” declared Queen Bee as she began to shrink down to near-microscopic-size. “Lukas, Dave, I’m going to need you two to keep her stable while I take care of this.”

“You can shrink?” Starman asked incredulously.

“Another one of my new suit’s enhancements,” informed Queen Bee before she was too small to be heard clearly.

Palomé and Kid Comet wasted no time in following Queen Bee’s direction. Each of them grabbed one of Black Orchid’s wrists. Kid Comet focused on keeping her brain activity stable while Palomé waited to use his unique talents to heal whatever damage was done during the procedure.

Queen Bee flew into Black Orchid’s left ear and headed for her brain. A few moments later, she arrived at the purple-clad heroine’s mind.

There the Floronic Man lay as a husk growing over Black Orchid’s brain. “Get out of here. She deserves this,” he said with pride.

“Oh really? And why’s that”? Queen Bee asked firmly.

“She and that damnable Atom thwarted my one chance at becoming human again! I was so close and they took it all away from me! Therefore my revenge on her is having her kill the very heroes she allied herself with over the years. Every death is truly on her hands, do you hear me?!?!?!” shrieked the Floronic Man in a rage.

“I heard about that case. You had kidnapped some athlete and you were going to kill him and transfer your brain into his body,” Queen Bee recalled from an old news broadcast. “You had no right to do that, nor do you have any right to use Black Orchid as your weapon. It’s OVER Floronic Man!”

“Who are you kidding? You’re the daughter of Bumblebee aren’t you? She was one of the least powerful of the early Teen Titans. You have no chance in stopping me,” scoffed the horrific growth as tendrils sprouted out of him and wrapped themselves around the tiny flying heroine.

“You obviously didn’t follow my mother’s career very well,” retorted Queen Bee. “She came a long way over the years from just shooting darts out of her backside. For instance, did you know she perfected her suit to include a vibrational function?” she said as her body began to pulsate, soon shaking the Floronic Man along with her.

“What… what are you doing?” demanded the Floronic Man as he began to shake violently. His hold on Black Orchid’s brain loosened, and soon both were enduring not only the vibrations, but the raucous echoing of Black Orchid’s screams.

“Something’s happening,” muttered Palomé. He released his grip on Orchid’s hand and placed his hands on both sides of her head. His ability surged into full force, absorbing the neural damage into his own body as it happened; and dispelling it as quickly as he could. Black fingers of what looked like smoke drifted upward from his head.

“Is that normal?” asked Sargona, nervously pointing at the smoke.

“I think so,” replied Wonder Man. “I think that’s the… um… the pain, or injury, or whatever… that he’s getting rid of.”

Back inside Black Orchid’s skull, the confrontation continued. “Did you also know she enhanced her suit so that she had the proportionate strength of a bee?” Queen Bee asked smugly as she ripped the Floronic Man free from Black Orchid’s brain.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!” shrieked the arch-nemesis of the Atom. “d**n you!!! You’re going to ruin everything!!! I was going to kill the Atom next!!!” he screamed as he started to pass out.

Queen Bee just ignored the Floronic Man’s cries and spoke into her communicator. “Lukas – she needs you NOW.” She then proceeded to tow the Floronic Man out of Black Orchid’s head. In his present shape and form, he was unable to resist, further weakened by Queen Bee’s continuing vibrations.

As the two exited Black Orchid’s bleeding ear, Palomé released his soul-self and enveloped Black Orchid’s body.

The laboratory was silent. Once Queen Bee had removed the parasite from Black Orchid’s brain and Palomé had gone into full throttle healing mode, not a movement or sound was made within the room. Black Orchid began to glow as the young healer repaired the damage done to her brain from the Floronic Man’s possession.

After watching him heal her for several moments, Queen Bee was the first to act. She noticed that the Floronic Man was inert, unmoving. She quickly resumed her former size, holding the creature in her hands. “I-is he dead?” she asked, placing the creature into a plexiglass container on the table.

Nightvision quickly covered it and hermetically sealed it. “I’ll find out,” he said in a whisper, his eyes returning to watch Palomé at work.

Bodies began to ache from remaining still as long as many of them did. Slowly, various teammates began moving around; some sitting, some squatting on the floor, while the Silencer—who had looked in on the commotion—returned to monitor duty.

“I’m, uh… going to go get a Tab,” stated Wonder Man quietly to Starman. “Let me know if you need anything.”

“I’ll go with you,” added Jemstone, and was followed by Wonder Warrior, Black Vulcan and Sargona.

“Don’t everyone leave,” ordered Nightvision coolly. “We need some of you here, in case anything goes wrong.”

“What could go wrong?” demanded Wonder Man. “You’ve got the parasite out.”

“His influence on her was strong,” continued Nightvision. “His evil could have sunk in and made an impact on her. Remember, she’s a powerhouse.”

Nodding, Wonder man gestured for the others to leave, but remained in the lab.

This was possibly the most difficult task Palomé had ever attempted, as both physical and mental repairs needed to be made. As an hour passed, Palomé worked relentlessly to heal the woman’s fractured psyche. Finally, he slumped his shoulders and announced, “It’s done.” He sighed as his soul-self withdrew into his body and he dropped to the floor from exhaustion.

Starman knelt beside him and placed his hand on Palomé’s back. Kid Comet did the same, and the two helped him to a chair, where he could rest.

“She’s unconscious,” noted Nightvision, checking Black Orchid’s vital signs. He typed some information into a hand-held computer and added, “We’ll need to keep her under observation.”

“She’s fine,” sighed Palomé. He was weary, but sat up straight. “The damage is gone. Her mind is her own. Trust me on that.”

“We can’t take chances like that, Lukas,” replied Nightvision, making eye contact with him. “You know what she’s done. We can’t just let her loose on your word alone. You must understand that.”

Palomé sighed. “I know exactly what she’s done. And I do understand. But you’ll see that I’m right. Her mind is her own again. I took as much sadness, grief, and remorse from her as I could.” He slumped back in the chair. “She’s Venus… or her personality is Venus. I mean,” he stuttered, trying to find the right words. “The Venus personality is her true self.” He looked earnestly at the others. “The evil words that came from her mouth, the murders—that was all the Floronic Man. She didn’t kill anyone. She was just the knife in his hands.”

“I understand,” supplied Starman. “She was the weapon that he used to commit the crimes.” He looked at the others and suggested, “You can’t hold a knife responsible, can you?”

“No,” said Nightvision, “but you wouldn’t want to use that knife to cut an apple anymore, or spread butter with it, now would you?” He crossed his arms over his chest.

Starman was silent, acknowledging the wisdom of Nightvision’s reply. Healing Black Orchid was not going to be enough. In the public’s eyes, she was responsible for the murders, and no amount of truth would change that perception. It would take time, and perhaps even a whole new outlook for them to get over this.

“Look, everyone,” spoke up Palomé again, standing unsteadily to his feet. “We’ve defeated a threat that has been plaguing the world for years. The Floronic Man could just as easily taken control of the Martian Manhunter or Captain Marvel or anyone else; and made them do what he wanted. Black Orchid just happened to be his victim, and now we’ve freed her. I know what he did through her, and I know it’s not her fault, but I can’t deal with this right now. I’ve done my part.” He blinked his eyes and shook his head. “I’m done.”

“What do you mean, ‘done’?” asked Wonder Warrior nervously. He could hear something in the tone of his teammate’s voice, and it made him nervous.

Kid Comet’s eyes were closed. As a telepath, he knew what Palomé was feeling. As an empath, Palomé realized that Kid Comet knew, and did nothing to stop him.

“I’m done,” repeated the healer. He scanned the faces of the teammates that surrounded him, and rested his gaze on the prone form of Black Orchid. He inhaled deeply, and said it again. “I’m done.”

A puff of smoke was all that remained of Palomé; leaving the other Titans of Justice to stare at each other in surprised silence.

A few minutes later, Nightvision was the first to speak. “Black Orchid’s going to need some rest and continued observation.”

“I’ll ask the Wonder Twins to take her to Dr. Pieter Cross’ clinic in Portsmouth City. He’s always done a remarkable job of patching up the superhero community when needed,” Wonder Man said, exiting the room to find the Wonder Twins.

A few minutes later after the still unconscious Black Orchid was prepped for transfer, Wonder Man stood over her inert body looking down. “Come on Venus. You’ve got to pull through this and come back to us,” he said with concern.

Jemstone wrapped her arms around the male amazon in an effort to comfort him. “She’ll make it. She’s always been so strong and determined.”

“Don’t,” he said, pushing her back. “Don’t hold me like that… I mean… not now.” He stuttered, nervous, and ashamedly saw he had embarrassed her.

Jemstone tried to change the subject quickly. “What did Palomé mean? He’s done? D-done with what?” She knew that their teammate had quit, but couldn’t accept it.

Wonder Man just shook his head and closed his eyes. “What’s done is done. We’ll deal with that later.”

As the Wonder Twins exited with Black Orchid, the remaining heroes all remained quiet for the most part until Sargona finally spoke up. “What a crazy year we’ve had. First we lost Vibe. Then our six friends were lost in the S.T.A.R. Labs explosion, Venus turned back into Black Orchid and started her killing spree, taking down both Celsius and Frost. And now Palomé just up and quit on us. This sure hasn’t been a walk in the park.”

“I know what you mean, Sar,” agreed Black Vulcan. “With so much loss and tragedy behind us, I’m wondering where we should go from here?”

“I…I… I can’t take this any more,” Supergirl said, fighting more tears. “Between Frost being killed and now Venus being possessed by this creepy plant-guy, this is just crazy. I’m sorry but I’m leaving the team effective immediately.”

“You can’t!” shouted Starman in defiance. “I…I mean, I don’t want you to go. Please,” he added, grasping at straws. “Palomé just quit. You can’t, too…”

“Scott, please don’t make this harder for me than it already is,” defended Supergirl, looking down.

“I’m sorry. Jenna, if you really need to go, we understand,” Starman said with regret. “We’re still here for you if need us,” he offered.

“Thanks Scott,” Supergirl said, hugging the stellar-powered hero. “I’ll be in touch,” she said as she flew away.

“Maybe she has the right idea…” commented Kid Comet. “Never did I think things would get this bad.”

“Are you saying we should disband?” asked the Arachnid with a tone of worry in his voice. “This is just like what happened to the JLI all of those years ago during their breakdown. People getting killed, members leaving the team, the loss of a leader. Man… I won’t have a life if the team breaks up.”

Most of the heroes looked to Wonder Man and Wonder Warrior for some kind of direction.

“Maybe we all just need to take a break for a while…” started Wonder Man with regret; but before he could continue, he heard some commotion in the monitor room.

“Let’s go see what’s going on,” directed Nightvison, leading the pack of heroes to the monitor room. Once they arrived, they saw Dark Arrow and his new Justice League of America—along with Amanda Waller—trying to bully the Silencer. “Arrow, Waller, how did you get in here and what do you want?”

“How did we get in?” Dark Arrow repeated. “Before Green Lantern died, the REAL Green Lantern that is,” he said, glaring at Starman, “he gave me this signal device in case I ever changed my mind about joining you guys. Looks like this piece of junk finally came in useful. As for what we want, you’re harboring that fugitive Black Orchid. We’re taking her and the rest of you in.”

Waller just smiled with a twisted grin on her face, “Checkmate!”