Titans of Justice Unlimited Chapter 57 – “You CAN Go Home Again Part 8”
Written & edited by: Power Guy


The Statue of Liberty, New York City, Earth 2….

In the last thirty minutes, Bonfire, the Icicle, and Deadshot had taken everyone that was visiting the statue as hostages. The trio had sent out a list of demands to the authorities including delivery of ten million dollars in exchange for the hostages’ lives.

“The cops should be here any minute with our cash!” gloated the Icicle.





“Those idiots better hurry,” huffed Bonfire. “There’s a bright-red fifty-seven Chevy corvette waiting with my name on it!”





“Where are you going to take me in it first, love?” asked the Icicle as he put his arm around his new girlfriend.

“You two really need to get a room,” grumbled Deadshot as he kept a close eye on their hostages.

Suddenly, Robin and Sonic Boom swung through the window.

“How about a nice padded cell instead?” Sonic Boom suggested as she swung into the Icicle and kicked him in the face.

“Damn it! Black Canary and Robin!” Deadshot said as he gritted his teeth and began to open fire.

The two heroes did an amazing display of acrobatics to avoid Deadshot’s bullets.

“You know, this really sucks,” commented Black Canry, “The team gets divided amongst a triple alert and you and I ended up with two against three odds.”

“Are you feeling overwhelmed?” smirked Robin.





“Hardly, I thought we’d be taking on the ENTIRE INJUSTICE SOCIETY rather than just Bonfire and these two losers,” explained Di Di Queen.

“Are you kidding?” Robin asked as he threw a Batarang and knocked Deadshot’s guns out of his hands, “There’s no way the two of us could take on the entire Injustice Society Unlimited.”

“Unlimited?” repeated Black Canary.

“Yeah, these three are just the tip of the iceberg. There are dozens of members in the Wizard’s organization. I’m guessing that our friends are facing off with other fractions of the Society as we speak,” Robin informed his teammate as Deadshot threw a punch at him and barely missed.

“Keep yappin’ to your girlfriend and hold still, old man!” barked Deadshot, fists flying.

“Old man? That’s hardly the case thanks to Ian Karkull and Dr. Fate,” Robin said, landing an upper-cut on Deadshot’s jaw. “And you’re in no place to make fun of anyone’s age considering you’re wearing your grandfather’s old threads.” Robin spat as he delivered a T.K.O.

Meanwhile, the third Black Canary was locked in battle with Bonfire. Bonfire was barraging Di Di Queen with a series of flames hoping to keep her in motion.

“That’s it! Keep moving so can’t catch your breath in order to use your sonic scream! Hahaha!” Bonfire laughed as her flames crept closer and closer to the energetic blonde bombshell. Sonic Boom then leaped into the air, hoping to give herself some distance from Bonfire so she could have a few seconds to muster her Canary Cry but much to her surprise, she soon found the lower-half of her body encased in a tomb of ice. The Icicle had recovered and was about to make her pay by immobilizing her long enough for Bonfire to deliver the killing blow.

“Canary!” Robin cried out as he began racing towards the villains only to find himself slipping on a thing sheet of ice, courtesy of the third Icicle.

“She’s all yours, beautiful,” the Icicle offered to Bonfire with smile.

Bonfire’s fists lit up like a set of blowtorches as a devious grin appeared on her face. Finally she would end the Bonfire/Black Canary fued with Di Di Queen’s death.

Before Bonfire could act, she heard a strange voice, “Not so fast, you low-lifes!” Suddenly both Bonfire and the Icicle were hit in their respective faces with a duo of boxing-glove arrows. Robin took full advantage of the situation and threw another Batarang, disarming the Icicle of his freeze-gun. Then, Black Canary put the icing on the cake and released her powerful sonic scream at the villains causing the hot and cold duo to retreat, grabbing the unconscious Deadshot on the way out.

Robin quickly pulled his mini Bat-blowtorch out of his utility-belt and began to unthaw Black Canary as the couple’s savior made himself visible.
Robin quickly turned to face a green and red clad man. With a look of astonishment in his eyes, he exclaimed “I can’t believe it! Green Arrow???”

Black Canary was also in shock and asked “Dad?”

The jade archer looked Black Canary dead in the eye and softly whispered, “Pretty bird………”





***

Downtown Gotham City…

Dr. Poison and Dr. Death looked down from the windows of their blimp with sickening delight. The two of them had concocted a powerful gas that once inhaled, caused people to sprout bizarre deformities. Rival was towing the gas behind him in a super-speed created cyclone in hopes of dispersing it throughout the entire city.

“Soon our gas will be spread throughout the city and turn Gotham into a city of mutants!” cackled Dr. Poison.

“Right you are, my dear,” agreed Dr. Death. “I may have found a way to cheat death but the fair citizen of Gotham certainly won’t! Unless of course, Chief O’hara can come up with ten million dollars! Hahaha!!”

Suddenly, Dr. Poison began to look side to side out the window in front of her, “Do you hear a strange noise?” she asked.

“I do. It sounds like a propeller but there hasn’t been a propeller plane in Gotham in over thirty years!” advised Dr. Death.

Suddenly, the door to the blimp burst open. There stood Wonder Man and the Huntress.

“You could hear us coming but you couldn’t see us. I'll bet you wish your blimp was invisible like my plane right now. Show’s over doctors!” Wonder Man said, racing towards the deranged duo.





“You’re going to have to avoid my poison-tipped darts first!” threatened the sadistic chemist as she pulled a gun from her pocket and began firing.

The son of Fury and Hawk Warrior quickly found himself playing a new type of “bullets and bracelets” with the stream of Dr. Poison’s deadly darts coming at him. Using his quick reflexes he manage to dodge all of the incoming fire.

Dr. Poison became so irritated that she ran up to Wonder Man, dart in hand in hopes of sticking him with it. A crazed look in her eyes told Wonder Man that this Japanese saboteur meant business. Wonder Man started to back-up a bit a noticed the open door was right behind him. He used one hand to grab Dr. Poison’s arm to hold back the deadly dart while he used his other hand to grab on to the wall to steady himself.

Dr. Poison started to push Wonder Man backwards, “So what’s it going to be Manazon? Death by poison or death by falling? Your choice?” she said, teeth bearing in a wicked smile.

“I’ll take my chances outside!” declared Wonder Man as he allowed himself to fall out of the blimp.

“Wonder Man! No!!!” cried out the Huntress as she and Dr. Death continued to battle.





“I suggest you worry about your own well-being,” Dr. Death said as he back-handed the daughter of Batman.

The Huntress was a little embarrassed to be cut off guard but she couldn’t help but worry about Wonder Man. She quickly regained her composure and punched Dr. Death square in the nose. “So how did you do it, Death? You should be long dead by now.”

“Did you really think Dr. Death wouldn’t find a way to out-smart his namesake?” the deformed villain asked as he wiped the dripping blood from his nose. “I shall live forever while Gotham City and it’s heroes wither and die much like your father did!”

“You miserable………” spat the Huntress as she punched Dr. Death in face again. She then kneed him in the stomach, causing him to hunch over and vomit.

“Get away from my beloved!” screeched Dr. Poison as she came running towards the Huntresss like a mad woman.

“I’ll warn you to keep your distance, Dr. Poison,” advised the Huntress.

“Any why is that? If Wonder Man couldn’t stop me, what hope does a powerless woman in a cape have?” asked a confident Dr. Poison.

“Do you know who I am, Dr. Poison?” the Huntress said as she drew her Bat-cape around her, “I am the daughter of the Batman,” she began as she started to walk slowly towards Dr. Poison, “I’m sure your familiar with his exploits. Ask yourself – what would a man have to do to strike terror into the hearts of criminals if he didn’t have any super-powers or carry something as deadly as a handgun? Now ask yourself, what kind of child would he produce if he were to mate with one of Gotham City’s most ruthless super-criminals? ,” she continued as the sound of her heels hitting the floor seemingly became louder and louder to Dr. Poison, Dr. Poison came to a screaching halt and started to tremble slightly. She could feel perspiration building under her mask and underarms. The Huntress then finished with, “You just pushed one of my close friends to their death., Dr. Poison. Now, ask yourself why you shouldn’t be very, very afraid right now?”

For the first time in years, Dr. Poison’s insidious grin turned upside down. She began to shake violently in fear as the Huntress got closer and closer. This was a new sensation for her as usually, she was the one who was doing the intimidating. The sensation of fear started to become overwhelming to the point where she started to panic. Fearing for her life, she ran and jumped out of the blimp, hoping whatever fate awaited her would be much better than whatever the Huntress had planned to do to her.

The Huntress ran to the doorway to see what happened to Dr. Poison. She was relieved to see that Wonder Man had caught her on the wing of his Invisible Plane. She assumed he must have summoned it when Dr. Poison pushed him out of the blimp. She then saw that Lightspeed had finally arrived on the scene and was dealing with Rival.

As the Golden Age “Reverse Flash” raced along, he failed to notice Lightspeed approaching him with a fierce momentum. A fraction of a second later, Rival was hit with the force of a small freight-train, knocking him half-way across the city.





“Now to deal with this nasty gas,” the grandson of Jay Garrick said to himself as he raced around in a circle forming another tornado, only this one was containing the gas and propelling it skyward until finally reached Earth’s upper atmosphere and disintegrated from the immense heat.





Suddenly, Rival came racing back and he was quite angry, “You’ve ruined EVERYTHING!!!”, he shouted with his right arm cocked.

Lightspeed promptly removed his helmet and threw it at Rival in a blink of an eye.

The helmet went flying and struck Rival in the throat. He suddenly came to an abrupt halt and dropped to his knees. “C….c.c.c…can….can’t bre..ath….”

“Here, let me put you out of your misery while you recover,” Lightspeed said as he punched Rival in the head, causing him to pass out. While the villain lay sleeping, Lightspeed performed C.P.R. on him to get him breathing again.

A few seconds later, Wonder Man descended to the ground with Dr. Poison bound within his magic-lasso, “Do you always lock lips with super-villains?” he joked.

“A necessary evil, no pun intended,” Lightspeed said and he wiped off his lips. He then held his Society of Titans communicator in front of his mouth, “Huntress – how are things going up there?”

The Huntress responded with, “Not good. Dr. Death is out cold and the controls are jammed. I don’t think I’ll be able to get this thing down to the ground.”

“What are we going to do?” asked Wonder Man.

“How about one of your thunderbolts?” suggested Lightspeed.

“Huh?” asked the confused male Amazon.

“Boy, am I going to be happy when this amnesia you and the others have wears off,” smiled Lightspeed, “They’re in the canister strapped to your back. I take it you don’t remember Zeus giving them to you?”

“Nope, not at all,” denied Wonder Man. “But never-the less, I’m happy to make good use of them. And here I thought there were a bunch of arrows in here,” he said as he opened the canister to find three blazing thunderbolts inside.

Lightspeed then messaged the daughter of the Dark Knight again, “Huntress – get out of there! Wonder Man is going to bring the blimp down!”

About thirty seconds later, Lightspeed and Wonder Man noticed the Huntress along with Dr. Death thrown over her back swinging out of the blimp on a Bat-line. Once the two of them were safely on a rooftop, Wonder Man hurled one of his Thunderbolts into the air, aimed for the blimp. The powerful weapon of Zeus struck the blimp and burst it open, causing it to quickly crash into the Gotham River.

Wonder Man was in awe by the effectiveness of his new toy, “Wow….that was really cool. You said Zeus gave me these Thunderbolts?” he said, turning to Lightspeed.

“Yes, when you won the contest on Paradise Island,” explained the super speedster, “With your grandmother and mother being retired, the gods of Olympus requested that Paradise Island send a new champion to man’s world as they call it. You were insistent upon entering the contest, so much that you used the Mask of Proteus to disguise yourself as a woman so your mother and grandmother would not suspect you. After several tournaments and trials, you finally won. Let’s just say, your parents and grandparents were less than pleased. Still, Hippolyta had no choice but to announce you as the winner and entitle you as their new champion. As your prize for winning the contest, each of the gods blessed you with an attribute or a gift. Hercules gave you his strength, Mercury gave you his speed, and so on but Zeus, king of the gods, gave you this canister containing three of his thunderbolts. Apparently, you only get three per day so once they’re gone, you have to wait until the next day for them to regenerate. Let’s just say that you’re very careful about when and how you use them.”

The Huntress soon joined her teammates on the ground with Dr. Death in tow. “Nice work boys,” she congratulated.

Then without warning, Rival came to. He quickly created a sonic boom which caught the heroes off guard. He then gathered up Dr. Death and Dr. Poison and took off before the three Titans could react.

A few minutes later after the Titans had regained their composures, Lightspeed was the first to speak. “Ugh……….they got away.”

“Yes but at least we put an end to their sick plan,” offered the Huntress. “We’ll catch them Jason, we always do.” She then turned towards Wonder Man and asked, “Scott – you seemed a million miles away today. Is everything alright?”

“Alright?? How can you even ask such a stupid question,” Wonder Man barked, losing his temper a bit. The trio of heroes were silent for a few seconds until Scott Hall finally spoke again, “I’m sorry for yelling at you Helena it’s just that I’m terribly worried about Jerrica.”

“Who?” Lightspeed asked, curiously.

“Jerrica – Jemstone – my girlfriend,” Wonder Man continued, hoping Lightspeed would know who he was talking about and be able to lead him to her.

“Come on Scott, we all know you’re one of the country’s biggest playboys,” smiled Lightspeed. “The day you settle down is the day I stop running.”

“Scott – don’t worry, we’re going to find her,” the Huntress offered, compassionately as she put her hands on Wonder Man’s shoulders. “She’s out there waiting for you. I know she is.”

“Thanks Helena,” Wonder Man smiled, weakly. “But what about you? I’ve never seen you so happy and energized before. You’ve been like this ever since we got to Earth 2.”

“I won’t lie to you, I have never felt more comfortable and at ease,” admitted the Dark Knight’s daughter. “Being back here and having some of my old friends around is a feeling like I’ve never felt before.”

Suddenly, a voice came out of nowhere, “Revel in it while you can Huntress because you forgot all about us!”

The Huntress whipped around and saw who was speaking to her and exclaimed, “My God! YOU!!!”

***

The outskirts of Opal City…

Starman, Jade Sentinel, and Hawk Warrior streaked through the sky in search of their prey. They had been summoned by Opal City’s authorities to take care of Rag Doll, The Monocle, the Shade, and Knodar who had taken control of a large dam outside the city. The four villains were holding the place, along with it’s security personnel for a ransom of ten million dollars. If their demands were not met within the hour, they promised to blow up the dam, releasing endless gallons of water into the city.

“There’s the d**n down there!” directed Starman as the three heroes descended downward.





“And four super-villains ready to tangle,” grumbled Hawk Warrior.





“Oh great – Rag Doll AND the Shade,” Starman thought to himself. “Where the heck is the Arachnid when I need him?”

The Jade Sentinel tried to take control of the situation, “Your four need to surrender immediately and release your hostages," he shouted





“Release? Hehehe….” giggled Rag Doll as she grabbed one of the male hostages, slit his throat, and threw him over the side of the dam.





“Nooo!!” screamed Starman as he flew after the falling man. Within a few seconds, he caught the man but it was too late. He was dead. Starman lifted his inert body upwards as he noticed the Jade Sentinel formed a bright flash of light to blind the villaind and then a force-field around the rest of the hostages and pulled them from the Injustice Society’s grasp.

“The hostages are free and you four are heading straight to prison!” advised the Jade Sentinel with a tone of authority. “Now where’s your bomb?”

“Bomb? Who said we were going to use a bomb to blow up the bridge?” smirked Knodar. “I had something bigger….much bigger in mind,” he said, glancing to his left. Suddenly out of the clouds, a large freight-train came flying towards the heroes and villains. Knodar had used his Metal Controller to summon the large train from a nearby railyard.





“No you don’t!” countered the Jade Sentinel as he used his ring to secure the train and lower it safely to the ground.

“Take away my train will you? Fine, then I’ll have to take away your ring!” threatened Knodar as he used his Metal Controller to pull the Jade Sentinel’s ring from his hand.

The grandson of the Golden Age Green Lantern dropped into the water like a lead weight.

Hawk Warrior went to fly after his teammate when the Monocle blasted him in the back. “Not so fast my fine feathered friend!”





Hawk Warrior fell onto the dam as he clutched his burning wound. The Monocle made his way up to him and blasted him again. Lucky for the son of Hawkman, he was able to block the Monocle’s beam with his mace, for now.

Meanwhile, Starman had just finished laying the deceased dam employee on the ground, ready to go after the Jade Sentinel himself when he soon found himself confronted by Rag Doll and the Shade.

“Look at what we have here, Rag Doll,” smiled the Shade. “Opal City’s premier hero. Look at him, he’s all bright and colorful. I wonder if his blood will match his cape?”





“Let’s find out,” Rag Doll said in a raspy whisper. She began running towards the stellar-powered hero, scythe in hand, ready to cut him to pieces.

Starman became quickly irritated, “You know lady, I’ve had it with you. I don’t know what your mad-on is with me but I’ve taken enough of your beatings!” he said firing his Cosmic Rod at the limber villainess. Rag Doll’s uncanny agility allowed her to dodge the blast as she continued running towards Starman. Starman was ready to fire another round when he found himself unable to see. The Shade had used her Nightstick to surround Starman in a cloud of her Shadow Force. “That d**n Shade,” he cursed right before Rag Doll’s foot came flying into the cloud and made contact with Starman’s chin, knocking him over.

Rag Doll jumped on the hero otherwise known as Scott Knight like a mad dog and began choking him. “Die for what you allowed them to do to me!!!” she screamed.

While Rag Doll was trying to asphyxiate Starman, the Shade used her Shadow Force to pull Starman’s Cosmic Rod from his hand, leaving him seemingly helpless.

Starman grabbed on to Rag Doll’s arms in an effort to pull her hands off his throat but the woman was strong, a lot stronger than she looked. As he continued to struggle, he looked up at his would-be assassin and asked, “Who are ‘they’ and what did I supposedly allow them to ‘do’?”

“Stop playing dumb!” ordered Rag Doll. “You probably still fantasize about it, you pig!” she said tightening her grip. “DIE!! DIE!!!! DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Starman could feel himself starting to black-out. If he didn’t act fast, he would never see his best friend the Arachnid again and that was not an option as the young bug-themed hero owed him fifty dollars for the bet he had lost two weeks ago. In a risky move, he head-butted Rag Doll, stunning her briefly. He then promptly pushed the triple-joined villainess off of him. As he picked him self up, he noticed the Shade racing towards him.

“You still have to deal with me, Star-boy!” stated the duchess of darkness as she began running toward Starman with her Nightstick raised in the air, ready to strike the cosmic avenger.

Starman then noticed Rad Doll had recovered and was advancing toward him from the opposite direction as the Shade. Starman tried to project and image of bravery as he stood his ground, waiting for the two villains’attack. Just when they were close enough, Starman jumped into the air, grabbed both villains by the back of their heads and slammed their craniums together, effectively rendering both women unconscious. “Boy, what a bunch of harpies,” he said, breathing a sigh of relief.

Several feet away, Hawk Warrior was in the process of dodging the new Monocle’s laser-attack. The single-lens wearing villain had burnt off several of Hawk Warrior’s feathers in his attack and his aim was getting better and better by the minute.

“You can’t dodge forever you winged freak!” declared the Monocle. “For years your father got the best of my great uncle but this time, there shall be roasted hawk on the table when we’re done!”

Hawk Warrior was struggling to come up with a plan to defeat his foe as he was forced to use his mace as a defensive weapon to block the Monocle’s deadly beams. If he threw his mace at the villain and missed, his ‘goose” would surely be cooked. An idea then manifested in his mind. Flying towards the Monocle, he used his wings to make a very strong draft, knocking the sinister felon on his backside. Taking advantage of the moment of surprise, he landed in front of the Monocle and bashed him in the side of the face with his mace, knocking off his namesake lens. He quickly stomped on it with his right foot, crushing the deadly device.
“No! My lens!” shouted the panicked villain.

“Has seen it’s last days just like you have,” barked Hawk Warrior. “But don’t worry, I’m going to make this easy on you. I won’t even use my mace,” he said dropping his weapon. Anger and rage overtook Hawk Warrior’s face as he approached the Monocle.

The grand-nephew of the original Monocle knew what Hawk Warrior had in store for him and he was never more terrified in his life. Within seconds, Hawk Warrior jumped on the Monocle like an animal and began to beat him relentlessly. Within the next few minutes, bones cracked, blood spilled, and bruises appeared, none of which were owned by Hawk Warrior. Once the modern-age winged wonder was done, the Monocle was nearly unrecognizable.

A few minutes earlier down in the water, the Jade Sentinel was struggling for his very life. Knodar had gotten the best of him by stealing his power-ring. His cape was drenched with water and it was gagging him slightly. He was in quite a pickle and if he didn’t think of something soon, both he and Opal City would be destroyed.

Knodar stood on the dam above him, looking down with a sick grin of victory on his face. “You know, your grandfather gave me quite a bit of trouble when I first came back to this century but you, you’re a big wuss!” He then held up the Jade Sentinel’s power-ring, “Not much good without your pretty little trinket, are you?”

The son of Jade realized he only had once chance left. Exerting his will-power to the limit, he concentrated on making contact with his ring. He began to shake slightly and he could feel the veins in his head starting to bulge but finally, his ring produced a boxing-glove that clocked Knodar in the face, forcing him to drop the ring and his Metal Controller. Instantly the green power-ring went streaking through the air until it found it’s place on the Jade Sentinel’s finger.

Once Knodar could see straight again, he noticed that the Society of Titans was getting the best of him and his team so he used his Metal Controller to rip a large sheet of metal from the dam which he used as a platform. He then turned his weapon on his teammates and pulled them over to him by attracting them by any metal they had on their body such as jewelry or even lead fillings. Once aboard the platform, the villains began to take off. The three members of the Society of Titans began to follow until Knodar used his weapon once again to lift the freight train and drop it into the water.

“The train!” shouted the Jade Sentinel as he and the others flew after it. A few minutes later, the Jade Sentinel was lifting the train out of the water. Hawk Warrior was helping by using his Nth Metal to take some weight off of the train while Starman was using his Cosmic Rod to dry out the large locomotive.

“Well, at least we sent them away with their tails between their legs,” noted Starman.

“Yes but we still don’t know where their leader is holed up,” reminded Hawk Warrior.

“Don’t worry guys. We’ll find him sooner than later,” promised the Jade Sentinel.


TO BE CONTINUED