Titans of Justice Unlimited Chapter 103: “Striking Gold Part 2“
Written by: Power Guy & GreenLantern
Edited by: Power Guy


The Hall of Justice…

As Sargona made her way towards Sonic Boom, she asked, “Let me guess what happened Di Di? Granddaddy Grayson kicked you out of the Bat-Cave on Earth 2 so you thought you’d come back here and start begging for scraps.”





“No, Sargona. It’s not like that,” Di Di said, defending her position.





“You really are pathetic, you know…” spat the wielder of the Ruby of Life. “First you go off on Dan for sticking to his beliefs. Then you go and throw a tantrum and quit the team. Finally, you shack up with retro-Robin for the last few months and now that you’ve been thrown out in the cold, you come back here begging and pleading Dan to take you back! Well, let me make one thing clear,” Sargona said, pointing her right index finger in Sonic Boom’s face, “Last time, I tried to do the right thing and let Dan go so he was free to decide who he wanted to be with, but this time, ALL BETS ARE OFF! There is no way I’m letting you get your filthy hooks into him again!” Sargona declared, quite loudly.

“Look, Sargona,” Sonic Boom began, becoming quite irritated, “you need to get it through your head that Dan and I are soul-mates. We’ve known each other since we were kids. We grew up together. We were each others’ first crushes. Granted, he and I have gone through a rough time lately but he’s always loved me and he always will…..and not even that pretty little jewel on your forehead can change that. ”

“You lousy, gutter-crawling, bottom-feeding %!+(#!“ Sargona shouted, angrily as she lunged for Sonic Boom. Di Di, saw this coming and had prepared herself for such an attack. She leapt into the air, grabbing onto Sargon’s shoulders which helped her to launch herself even higher into the air. Once in mid-air, she let loose her Sonic Scream

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Di Di’s high-pitched scream hit Sargona like a hammer, forcing her to cover her ears. Since Sonic Boom had been off the team for several months, Sargona and the others had taken out the protective ear-plugs they wore around Sonic Boom to shield them from the effects of the modern-age Black Canary’s primary means of assault. Still, as much as was suffering right now, she was determined to win this battle at all costs.

As Di Di landed on the ground, Sargona touched a near-by chair with wheels on it and sent in flying at Sonic Boom, knocking her over and silencing her temporarily.

“Ha! Not so loud once you’ve had the wind knocked out of you!” scoffed Sargona.

As Sonic Boom began to pick herself up, Sargona sent a series of books from the Hall of Justice’s library flying at her. The books hit her one by one, keeping her distracted and preventing her from being able to take the deep breath she needed to summon her Sonic Scream.

“Face it, Di Di - you’re outclassed!”

Sargona’s words only worked to further infuriate Sonic Boom. The adrenaline was pumping through Di Di’s veins and she was not about to raise the white flag any time soon. Using a series of martial arts moves, she began punching and kicking the oncoming books, allowing her to regain her composure a bit. On a whim of impulse, she grabbed a gas pellet from her necklace and launched it at Sargona. The pellet exploded upon hitting the ground, causing Sargona to choke profusely.

Sonic Boom took full advantage of the situation and ran up to the daughter of Zatanna and Sargon and punched her in the face several times. “Now who’s outclassed you snooty, little snob?!?” With Sonic Boom being the better fighter, she was quickly gaining an advantage over the raven-haired beauty. Still, Sargona’s anger was driving her on. She quickly grabbed onto Sonic Boom’s jacket and sent her flying backwards into the wall behind her:

WHAM!!!!!!!!!!!!

leaving her dazed and groggy.

As Sargona stepped forward in anticipation of the “kill”, she and Sonic Boom heard a loud crash coming from Green Lantern’s room.

Both heroines went into panic-mode and exclaimed simultaneously “DAN!!!!”

***

The Private Quarters of Green Lantern…

Green Lantern closed his eyes as he washed down two Tylenol with a lukewarm glass of water when suddenly he found his entire body being thrust helplessly into the air. His back took the brunt of the collision into the wall, but when the framed image of the Jordan family landed on his head the broken glass cut his shaved head in several places. When Sargona and Sonic Boom came rushing in they found Evil Star standing in a threatening position over the emerald gladiator.







“I suggest a temporary truce until we get things under control,” began Di Di Queen, “You take Evil Star while I--”

“LESS TALKING! MORE HITTING!” interrupted Sargona as a crimson colored beam emanating from her ruby rammed the intruder out the window. The twin of Dark Arrow watched both in anger and alarm as Sargona rushed to Green Lantern's side. “Go!” ordered the daughter of Zatanna with her index finger pointed clearly at the wreckage made by Evil Star's abrupt exit. Sonic Boom obeyed in order to protect the Hall of Justice's breached security and her love, but she promised herself that she would deal with Sargona immediately after the battle was over. After a series of cartwheels and back-flips for both speed and defense from potential attacks, the blond bombshell was outdoors speedily. Her jaw dropped at the scene. Inked was slamming Stellar's head into the ground and there was no sign of Evil Star. Di Di could see that her star-spangled teammate was unconscious, but still breathing. No longer a heroine of stubborn pride after her incident with the late Dr. Light, she immediately depressed the emergency signal on her Titans of Justice Communicator.





“Something’s wrong,” she thought in horror. “The signal is jammed!” She took a deep breath in preparation to unleash the fury of her sonic cry on Inked when she was hit and kicked on the back of her head, back and the rear side of her knees. It felt as if several people were attacking her simultaneously. She quickly recovered and was both confused and alarmed to see the Copperhead Twins entering Green Lantern's quarters. “This is some kind of a new group of villains” she thought as she quickly trailed the viper villains. Once inside she saw the brothers attacking Sargona inside the room.





“Get off of me!” shouted Sargona as she kicked one of the twins towards the new Black Canary.

Di Di Queen greeted the villain with a series of martial chops and kicks. Then she looked up to see the other twin had ripped off Sargona's headdress with the ruby of life.

“Where is GL?” shouted Di Di as the snake villain tossed Sargona's headdress to the sky. Both heroines didn't even notice Copperhead's exit because they were distracted by the Crumbler's entrance as he caught the ruby in the air.





“We have to stop him,” said the daughter of Sargon grimly, “That gem is too powerful to fall in the wrong hands.”

The Crumbler seemed to vanish as he threw the headdress at Sonic Boom. The highly-skilled martial artist caught her rival's main weapon in time to see the villain with Sargona in a choke-hold. Di Di's eyes widened as he removed one his gloves exposing the mechanism the villain often used to disintegrate whatever it touches.

“Careful, Sargona,” warned Sonic Boom, “He can kill you with one--”

“I'm briefed, Batwoman,” interrupted Sargona trying to show bravery in the face of imminent death.

“Where is GL?” demanded Sonic Boom as the Crumbler grinned at her from behind Sargona.

“I'm here,” answered Daniel Jordan as he walked out of the bathroom with a couple of bandages on his head and aimed his power ring at the Crumbler, “and if you so much as scratch Sargona, I will personally see to it that you are banished to an isolated torture cell on the planet Oa.”

Then the Crumbler pushed Sargona violently toward Green Lantern and she landed safely in his arms. The two heroes looked up to find their teammate in a compromising position. One of the Copperhead twins was holding Sonic Boom down as the other held a chainsaw at her neck.

Sargona sensed the alarm in Daniel's voice as he threatened, “You kill her, you BOTH die too.” Suddenly two jade-colored chainsaws appeared at the throats of the Copperhead Twins.

“Our work here is done,” said the brothers simultaneously as both seemingly vanished into thin air.

“Are you alright?” asked Green Lantern as he rushed to Sonic Boom's side.

“She's fine,” said Sargona tersely, “Why don't you go outside and make sure they are really gone, Dan.”

“Yeah, Stellar is still out there,” added the Black Canary.

“...good idea,” answered the pastor as he rushed out the building feeling as though he had done something wrong.

“You have his heart firmly in your slimy clutches,” said Sargona to Sonic Boom as she helped her up from the floor.

“Look, Sargona--” began Di Di.

“Make no mistake, witch,” interrupted Sargona viciously, “You break his heart again and I will personally kick your sleazy butt back to Earth-Two for good.”

An hour later in the private quarters of Sargona

Tears trickled down the rose cheeks of the enigmatic mage as she lay silently on her pillow. Minutes passed and she softly uttered with a wavering voice, “He would kill for her...KILL! The pastor would kill for her...

…but he would only 'torture and imprison' for me...”

Tears welled-up in Kai-Ro's eyes as he watched silently in invisible mode. “They have no idea of my power,” he thought. “It is amazing how dumb they really are. They are utterly clueless that I was ALL of those villains. Of course, I never would have been able to pull that off if they hadn't already exhausted themselves by fighting one another. At least my goal was accomplished. I truly love Green Lantern, but he is almost helpless in matters of the heart. But he made his choice crystal clear: it is Sonic Boom that he loves. So, my choice is clear too, it is she that I must kill. Stellar gets to live also; he is just too much fun to torture.”





The Super Friend from Venus continued to watch Sargona cry for another forty-five minutes until he needed to use the restroom. “Sargona sure is hot in that peach-colored slip,” he thought as he vacated her quarters.

***

The Colorado Rockies…

“Oh crap on a stick!” shouted Gold Bug. “It’s the Shaggy Man!!!”





Jem looked down at the beastly brute in front of her. She recalled hearing the Shaggy Man’s name before but it wasn’t clicking with her as to who he was. “I know I’ve heard that name before….”





Gold Bug informed his teammate, “He’s an old enemy of the JLA. One of the worst!”

“RAARRRRGHH!!!!!!!!!!!!” roared the long time foe of the Justice League as he lifted a snow-covered boulder and threw it at Gold Bug and Jem.





As Jem and Gold Bug flew out of the way, Jem noted, “That rock may have missed us but it could kill someone down below. I’ll take care of it. You keep the Shaggy Man busy!”

“Keep him busy??? <GULP!> I gotta call Argos up here!” Gold Bug said as he scrambled for his TOJ communicator. Within a few seconds, he was yelling into the device, “Argos! You and Sturmer gotta get up here quick! We’ve got big problems on our hands!”

“Sir, I suggest you…” began Skeets, frantically trying to alert his care-taker to an oncoming threat.





From down below, Argos asked, “What seems to be the trouble, little bug?”





Before the nephew of Ted Kord could answer, the Shaggy Man began battering him with a tree he had ripped out of the ground, forcing him to drop his communicator.

“Gold Bug? Gold Bug - come in!” Argos shouted. “Where exactly are you???” After several seconds of no response, he turned to his faithful hound, “Come Sturmer. Our teammates are in trouble!” Instantly, the war heroes of New Genesis began racing upwards.

Meanwhile, the Shaggy Man was continuing his attack on Gold Bug.

“That hurt ya big lummox!” yelled Gold Bug as he rubbed his sore ribs. “Time for me to return the favor!” he said, firing off the new gauntlets he received from Skeets. As the searing beams struck the savage monster, he began to fall back for a minute but then, he started advancing forward once again as if the beams he was being struck with, merely tickled.

“Dammit! Dammit!” cussed Gold Bug. “Skeets! These things don’t work!!”

“Yes, they do, sir,” advised the floating gold computer. “It’s the Shaggy Man. His body can adjust to just about any attack that he’s hit with.”

“What?!?!?! I don’t remember his JLA file saying that,” huffed the legacy hero of both the Blue Beetle and Booster Gold as he continued to pour on the juice, hoping it would do some good.

“Obviously, you did not read the ENTIRE file,” pointed out Skeets.

“Doesn’t he have General Eiling’s brain inside of him?”

“I can only conclude that the Shaggy Man’s body treated General Eiling’s brain as an intruder and adjusted to it too over the years, leaving the Shaggy Man in the primal state he’s currently in,” deduced Skeets.

“Oh great………can’t even reason with this guy!” grumbled Gold Bug.

The Shaggy Man was quite irritated with the attack upon him, Using what little instincts he had, he grabbed a mass of snow and threw it at Gold Bug’s face.

The snow covered Gold Bug goggles and most of his face, “Hey! I can’t see!”

Within seconds, the Shaggy Man was on top of Gold Bug and began beating him senseless.

“OUCH!! OUCH!!! HELP!!!!” cried out the temporarily blinded Gold Bug.

It seemed as though fate was on the young hero’s side as Jem returned from destroying the large boulder the Shaggy Man had previously thrown. “Get away from him you walking fur-ball!” she ordered while blasting the monster with a beam of solid light, knocking him off of Gold Bug.

“Phew…….” sighed the best friend of Starman. “I thought I was a goner there for a minute.

“We’re not out of the woods just yet!” pointed out Jem as the Shaggy Man had recovered from her attack and was advancing towards them again. Just then, Argos came in on Jem’s TOJ communicator.

“Jerrica? Are you still with Aaron?” asked the son of Orion.

“Yes….but we’re up against…” began Jem until a rock thrown by the Shaggy Man smashed her communicator and bruised her hand.

“Arghhhhhhhh!!!” screamed Jerrica Benton-Trevor as she clutched her aching hand.

“I’ve got an idea!” shouted Gold Bug. “Let’s see how you like a taste of my new force-field!” he questioned as he enveloped the raging monster within his protective field.

“What good will that do?” asked Jem as she continued rubbing her sore hand.

“It’s simple! He may be almost invulnerable but that won’t do him much good if he can’t go anywhere,” Gold Bug smiled under his mask, ready to gloat about his success.

The angry beast-man began battering the force-field relentlessly, becoming madder and madder as time slipped by. The angrier he got, the stronger he got and soon the force-field was beginning to shake. Finally it cracked and the Shaggy Man burst free.

“Uh oh!” mumbled Gold Bug as his eyes grew wide.

“We’re not finished yet,” declared Jem as she flew over and behind the Shaggy Man. She quickly put her hands over the near-mindless creature’s ears and released a powerful blast of high-pitched sound.

The Shaggy Man immediately let out a loud roar as both of his eardrums burst simultaneously. He soon slumped over and fell face-forward into the ground, completely inert, a blood-like substance gushing from his ears.

“We did it!!!” shouted Gold Bug, jubilantly. “We beat the Shaggy Man!!!”

“We…….?” repeated Jem in a firm tone.

“Ok…ok, you did it,” admitted Gold Bug, humbly. “Nice job, Jer,” he said as he walked over to his longtime teammate. “You know, this was kinda fun. Just like the old days when we were both in Titans West together.”

“I miss those days sometimes….when the team wasn’t so big,” added the pop superstar. “But at the same time, I love working with all these different heroes we’ve added to our ranks in the last year or so. But I miss having Frost, Wonder Warrior, Queen Qee, and Kid Comet around.” There was an abrupt silence as the two teammates reminisced about their old friends.

Gold Bug then looked down at Jem’s hand, “By the way, that’s some rock Scott put on your hand. He must plan on sticking around for a while.”

“Hahahaha…..yeah and he said this was just small token of his affection. Can you believe it?” mused Jem.

Suddenly the two heroes were taken by surprise as the Shaggy Man shockingly recovered from Jem’s attack. With near lightning speed, he quickly grabbed both Jem and Gold Bug by their necks and was ready to slam their heads together.

“Got any more ideas???” the panicking Gold Bug asked his teammate.

“Unfortunately, no!” Jem said, struggling to get free from the monster’s grasp.

“Oh great. I can just see the newspaper headlines now, “The Arachnid Reborn As A Hero, Dies Same Day’!”

Then out of the blue, the Shaggy Man screamed in agony and dropped his two captives.

Gold Bug sighed with relief, “Nice job, Argos…” he assumed until the Shaggy Man was hit again and he saw that beast-man’s attackers were none other than…………





“Sultana? Grundy? Riddler?!?!?!?!” exclaimed Gold Bug in total shock.


TO BE CONCLUDED