Titans East Chapter 64 – “All Good Things… Part 2”
Written by: Power Guy & Marcus Mebes
Edited by: Marcus Mebes


The Hall of Justice…

The Titans of Justice just stood frozen for a few seconds, not quite knowing what to do. Amanda Waller, along with the new Justice League, had invaded their headquarters in an attempt to take them in for not handing over Black Orchid to the authorities.

“So what’s it going to be Titans?” Dark Arrow asked with a smirk. “Are you going to come along quietly or are you going to pull your usual antics and make this difficult?”







“Arrow – as always, you have no idea what’s been going on,” argued Nightvision. “I suggest you and your TEAM get out before we throw you out.”

“They’re here on my request,” insisted Waller. “You loose cannons have been running around for too long now and you finally slipped up. Harboring that murderess the Black Orchid. You all should be ashamed of yourselves. Now come along quietly and there won’t be any trouble.”

“That’s not going to happen,” declared Nightvision. “And if you had all of the facts, you would know that,” he said pointing his finger in the mature woman’s face.

“Nightvision, that’s enough,” ordered Wonder Man calmly. “I’m the leader here and I’ll take care of this,” he said turning towards the Wall. “Look Ms. Waller, we weren’t harboring a fugitive. Black Orchid wasn’t responsible for her actions…”

“Right… and the Japanese weren’t responsible for Pearl Harbor,” countered Waller, “Forgive me, Lady Light,” she said, glaring at the Japanese powerhouse.

“Guys, I know Wonder Man a little bit. If he’s saying that Black Orchid wasn’t responsible for her actions, there must be more to this story,” Totem said, trying to talk reason into her teammates.

“Stop making up excuses for them, Totem. I think we’ve heard enough, Ms. Waller,” interrupted Dark Arrow. “These guys are going lie and make excuses like they always do for everything else they goof up. First they let Vibe get killed, then six of their teammates are blown to bits in an explosion with the rest of the team nowhere in sight, and now, they’re trying to cover up the fact that they have a serial killer on the team just to save grace!”

“You’re pathetic,” Nightvision said, giving Dark Arrow a dirty look. “Sonic Boom would be so ashamed of you if she was still here.”

“Don’t you EVER talk about my sister like that!!!” Dark Arrow said, punching Nightvision in the jaw. Nightvision fell on his backside as Dark Arrow jumped on him, starting to beat him profusely.

“That’s enough hot-head,” Wonder Man said, throwing his magic-lasso around Dark Arrow in hopes of restraining him.

“Hey – back off Wonder Bread!” the Sixty Minute Soldier said as he rammed into Wonder Man’s back, causing him to crash into the Kryptonian steel door that kept the Hall of Justice’s arsenal behind it.

“Get away from him,” ordered Jemstone as she fired an energy blast at the Soldier.

“Argh!!” screamed the adopted son of Hourman as his chest began to burn.

“Not so fast pop princess,” remarked Lady Light as she got in Jemstone’s face. “You want to throw around energy like it’s candy? I will show you your better,” she said as her hands began to glow. The two energy-manipulators began lighting up the room like a fireworks show.

“Titans! Take them down fast and hard or they’ll do the same to us without thinking twice,” ordered Nightvision as he continued to battle with Dark Arrow. He looked up and noticed the Stranger locked in battle with the White Wraith.

“I see you have healed yourself from the wound that Black Orchid inflicted upon you,” the Stranger pointed out to his opponent.

“Yes and I am more than capable of neutralizing you, Stranger,” the protégé of the Spectre bragged. “Make the right decision and surrender yourselves.”

“There has been no wrong committed today except for your intrusion here,” the Stranger said firmly as his eldritch energy collided with that of the White Wraith’s. “I am now a Lord of Order, Wraith,” revealed the Stranger. “You just might meet your match today.”

Air Wave flew over towards Wonder Warrior, Starman, and the Arachnid.

“A new Air Wave?” the Arachnid wondered aloud, looking at Starman. “I wonder what he does to bring villains to their knees? Crank up the oldies?”

“Don’t worry, he won’t lay a finger on us,” Starman said, using his Green Lantern ring to form a bubble around the trio.

“Nice work Starman. Let me help you out,” Wonder Warrior said as he used his Lansinar bracelets to shield them with a second bubble within the green bubble that housed them. “There’s no way he’s getting through.”

As Air Wave flew towards the protective sphere, he disappeared right before impact.

“Hey, where’d he go?” the Arachnid asked, confused and looking around.

“You were right,” Air Wave said, appearing within the double bubble. “Nothing could get through your shield, except for sound. This worked pretty well on your cousin,” he smiled as he poured out decibels of high-pitched sound at Wonder Warrior, forcing him to cover his ears in pain. With Starman and the Arachnid right behind him, they too were suffering from the attack.

“Can’t focus,” mumbled Starman, his face wracked with pain.

“Me either,” Wonder Warrior echoed as he stumbled to his knees.

“Ugh… Spaceman… I don’t feel so well,” commented the Arachnid as he started to vomit.

Sargona and Black Vulcan were back to back fending off Lt. Atom and Atmosphere. Sargona remarked to her former rival, “How are they doing this? They’re outnumbered but we’re the ones losing here!”

“That’s because we released some ether into your air vents about thirty minutes before we revealed ourselves. It wasn’t enough to knock you out but definitely enough to slow you all down,” Atmosphere said as he used a reverse tornado to suck the air from the two ladies’ lungs, causing them to blackout.

Velocity was racing around the room, pecking off as many of the Titans as he could with a combination of his super-speed and numerous punches. Queen Bee, Kid Comet, and Isis fell before they knew what had hit them.

As the Titans continued to fall, Totem made her way over to Wonder Man. “Scott? Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, yeah, just pissed off,” replied Wonder Man as he picked himself up.

“I’m so sorry for all of this,” offered Totem. “I keep trying to talk some sense into these guys but it’s like they’re possessed, especially Dark Arrow.”

“He’s nuts Totem. Why would you follow this man?” Wonder Man asked, confused.

“I really don’t have much of a choice,” Totem responded with guilt. “My mom signed me up for this team. She doesn’t like me being a superhero but she thinks the JLA sets a better example than your Titans do. It all stems from the S.T.A.R. Labs incident.”

“Yeah, that wasn’t one of our finest moments,” agreed Wonder Man. He looked around the room in horror as his teammates had all fallen to the new JLA except for Nightvision. “This is going really sour. We’re going to need all the bodies we can get. I’ve got to go get the Sportsmaster,” Wonder Man said running off.

Meanwhile, Dark Arrow and Nightvision continued to battle, with no apparent victor in sight.

“I hope they give you the electric chair,” Dark Arrow cursed, choking Nightvision.

Nightvision used both of his fists to break the son of Green Arrow’s hold on his neck, “And I hope they give you a nice padded cell with some heavy medication,” he retorted as he threw a Batarang rope around Dark Arrow, securing him.

Waller called out to Nightvision. “I suggest you look behind you Bat-boy!”

“Nice try Waller but I’m not falling for that old tri….” Nightvision was cut off in mid-sentence as the fist of the Sixty Minute Soldier struck him in the back of the head, causing him to pass out.

“You should listen to your elders,” smiled the Soldier.

Down the hall, Wonder Man and Totem had made their way to the Sporstmaster’s room.

“Why’s he locked in her anyways?” Totem asked.

“Let’s just say he’s displayed some questionable behavior,” Wonder Man answered as he unlocked the door.

The Sporstmaster looked shocked that someone had finally let him out. “What’s all that noise? What’s going on?”

“I’ll make this quick: the new JLA came barging in here and took down most of the team,” Wonder Man explained. “We need everyone we can get to turn the tide of the battle. Your multiple forms will be a huge asset to us.”

“You bet, fearless leader,” the Sportsmaster said gleefully, following the two heroes back to the monitor room.

Wonder Man felt a lump in his throat when he saw that even Nightvision had succumbed to the JLA’s attack.

“Totem?” demanded Dark Arrow, angrily. “What are you doing with these criminals?”

“I’m doing what I feel is right,” Totem said defending her position. “Wonder Man and his team may have had a few ups and downs over the last few months but they don’t deserve to be hunted down like a bunch of super-villains. Consider this my resignation,” she said priming herself for battle. “And as far as I can see, YOU are all the criminals here… NOT them.”

In the midst of all of the chaos, no one had noticed that Waller had made her way over to the control panel. Her eyes scurried around, looking for something in particular, and finally finding it. She pressed a button on the panel that caused the Hall of Justice’s force-field to deactivate.

“Waller, what do you think you’re doing?” Wonder Man shouted from across the room.

“Rolling out the red carpet for my friends,” Waller smiled as she surprised everyone in the room and morphed into False Face.

Just then, the Hall of Justice was rattled by an unknown force. The walls shook frantically as chunks of the roof came tumbling down. All of the heroes present looked up in panic at the roof coming down on them. As it collapsed, it took out the entire JLA and remaining Titans in fell swoop.

After a few minutes, the Hall of Doom descended downward and the Legion of Doom exited, making their way into the Hall of Justice.

False Face had pulled Dark Arrow to safety during the avalanche. The two of them got up to greet the group of villains.

“Excellent work False Face,” complimented Grodd. “And you, my loyal servant,” he said looking down at Dark Arrow. “You have played your part well.”

“Thank you, Lord Grodd,” Dark Arrow said, kneeling before the criminal gorilla. His eyes were all but blank as Grodd’s mind-control took hold, full-force.

Before Dark Arrow could say any more, Wonder Man burst up from the rubble with Totem and the Sportsmaster alongside him. His muscular frame had protected them under the debris. “It’s not over yet, Grodd.”

“Still breathing, huh?” Grodd said, squinting his eyes. “No matter, the odds are four to one. Go ahead, make your move.”

To Wonder Man’s horror, Grodd was not alone. He knew that he, Totem, and the Sportsmaster were badly outnumbered. “We’ve got to make a run for it and get help,” he whispered to his two allies.






***Unfortunately, no mircro of Minister Blizzard was available at the time of publication.

“We can’t just leave the others here,” insisted Totem. “Grodd and his group will kill them!”

“And if we stay, there will be no chance in getting them out of here alive later on,” Wonder Man said, trying to help Totem realize this was their only option.

Wonder Man and Totem turned to run towards the teleport tubes but before they could reach their destination, a baseball landed in between them, exploding upon impact, shutting down the two heroes.

The exploding baseball had come from the Sportsmaster who crossed his arms smugly. “I’ve never like being against the odds… so, you know what they say: if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em,” he said, smiling under his mask.

***

The home of Niles and Arani Caulder…

“So what should we have for dinner tonight?” the older Desi princess said as she placed her hands affectionately on her husband’s gray hair. In their late years, Arani Caulder recognized the need to do the majority of the physical work, since Niles had grown weaker and less physically capable.





“I always enjoy your curried chicken,” the Chief answered absent-mindedly. “Or lamb… maybe.”

“For you my love… anything,” smiled the former Celsius as she kissed her husband. Her love of life had increased a thousand-fold since her recovery from the Invasion that had apparently taken her life years before.

The couple’s conversation was then interrupted by their butler, who had made his way into the room. “Sir, madam, you have a guest,” he said, introducing a visitor into their presence.

“Hello Mr. and Mrs. Caulder,” spoke the raven-haired young man. He extended his hand to them, but it was only accepted by Arani. He noted that Niles was too weak to lift his hand. He decided quietly to help him with that if the older gentleman would allow him. “My name is Lukas Driscoll. I used to go by the name Palomé. You’ve probably heard of my parents… Risk and Raven from the Titans? I was a teammate of Colin’s, in the Titans of Justice.”

Before he could continue, the couple’s cheer left their faces and Arani Caulder asked in a whisper, “Where is my son? Have you heard from him?”

“Unfortunately…” Lukas sighed heavily. “I have some bad news about your son…”