Titans of Justice / Darkest Hour #5 - “Unholy Resurrections”
Written & edited by: Power Guy
Creative consulting provided by: Darth_Ennis & GreenLantern
Art by: Darth_Ennis
Maxi-Mircos by: Power Guy


Belle Reve Cemetary...

Within the vast graveyard, several black power-rings arrived on the scene and called out, “Vic Bragg of Earth - RISE! Arthur Light of Earth - RISE!”

Instantly, the Human Flying Fish crawled from his grave and erupted into the air. The former foe of Aquaman had been slain by Black Orchid while she was being controlled by the Floronic Man.





Seconds later, the grave of the villainous Dr. Light burst open from a dark light coming from within. The Justice League of America foe gazed around with sick delight due to his third resurrection after his murder at the hands of the Universe of Evil influenced Sonic Boom. “Can’t keep a good villain down, can you?” he said to himself. “Time to settle the score....” he said as he flew off into the darkness.





***

Fawcett City Morgue...

The recently slain body of Teen Marvel had been dropped off at this facility while the Squadron of Justice continued their battle with the vampire legion that was assaulting the city. Once the battle was over, they would make preparations for Teen Marvel’s funeral. Nekron, however, had different plans for the son of Mary Marvel.

“Charles Batson - RISE!”

The cousin of Stellar was reanimated with undead energy and ready to do Nekron’s bidding.





***

Valhalla Cemetery, New York City...

This cemetery housed the bodies of hundreds of heroes that had fallen over the years. Virtually everyone and anyone who had put on a mask and had either fallen in battle or passed on due to natural means were laid to rest in this cemetery. Many of them had been resting here for decades yet today, their sleep was put on hold. Nekron’s voice was heard throughout the graveyard with some those being called in battle being Superman of Earth 2, Atom Smasher, Mas Y Menos, and Guy Gardner.

***

The Hall of Justice...

Zan, Jayna, and Gleek were monitoring the Trouble Alert, wishing they could join in the action as usual.

“I know the Titans told us to stay by the monitor but the whole world has gone black! I think we should do something besides sit here!” proposed Zan.





“I dunno, Wonder-brother,” countered Jayna. “Power Guy and Knightvision will be really upset if we left our post again.”





“Yeah but Power Guy has been turned into a vampire! Surely that’s grounds for being able to improvise,” Zan said, trying to persuade his sister still.

“Well, maybe....” began Jayna until she was interrupted by several black power-rings entering the room and zipping past her.

“Jeepers!” exclaimed Zan. “A bunch of black power-rings!”

“And they’re heading towards the graveyard out back!” Jayna said, finishing her brother’s sentence.

“We’ve got to stop them and pronto!” urged the male Wonder Twin. “And there’s only one way to beat them to the graveyard - the teleporters!”

The Wonder Twins wasted no time in entering the teleport tubes and within seconds appeared in the graveyard behind the Hall of Justice.

“Here they come!” shouted Jayna.

“Let’s stop them cold in their tracks!” directed Zan.

The Exorian twins instantly slammed their fists together and cried out in unison, “Wonder Twin powers - ACTIVATE!!!”

“Shape of...........” began Zan, “An ice igloo!” With that, Zan was blocking the route of the opal-colored rings causing them to get trapped inside his icy form.

Jayna then followed suit, “Shape of........an octopus!” She pressed her amphibian body over the hole that lead into Zan’s igloo form and then used her tentacles to secure herself tightly.

“There! They’ll never get out of this one!” Zan said, confidently.

But before Jayna could respond, nearly a dozen black beams shot out of the igloo, shattering the icy prison into hundreds of pieces, leaving the power-rings with no further barrier to their targets.

The voice of Nekron began echoing through the air:

“Darrell Emerson of Earth - Rise! Laura Faith Emerson of Earth - Rise! Colin Clauder of Earth - Rise! Dannette Reily of Earth 2 - Rise! Singurd Nansen of Earth - Rise! Junjie Tyler of Earth 2 - Rise! Steven Harper of Earth - Rise! Elena Delgado of Earth - Rise! Courtney Emerson of Earth - Rise! Stuart Carr of Earth - Rise! Vincent Leong of Earth - Rise! Oscar Ramon of Earth - Rise!”

All of the member of the Titans of Justice who had fallen over the years had been buried in a special cemetery behind the Hall of Justice but tonight, those graves were going to find themselves deserted.

Black Lantern Celsius was the first to speak up, “Well, well, what do we have here? The pesky Wonder Twins!”





“They tried to stop our rebirth!” accused Black Lantern Vibe II.






“These damn kids have been meddling in superheroes’ affairs for decades!” chastised Black Lantern Firebrand.





“I think it’s time someone finally taught them a lesson!” urged Black Lantern Atmosphere as he and the other slaves of Nekron surrounded the Wonder Twins and Gleek.





The twins had changed back to their humanoid forms and were scurrying to figure a way out of this mess. Gleek had begun to panic and held onto Zan’s left leg tightly.

“I think we’re in over our heads this time, Zan,” Jayna said, pointing out the obvious.

“Nonsense, we can take them!” replied Zan, overly confident as usual.

“Are you kidding me? The odds are nearly six to one!” concluded Jayna.

“KILL THEM!!!” Black Lantern Celsius said, ushering his fellow undead heroes into action and just as they were about to make good on their threat, an unexpected duo arrived on the scene: Argos and Sturmer.

“Not on my watch, you won’t!” declared the champion of New Genesis as he hurled himself into the small army of Black Lanterns present. “Sturmer - attack but don’t eat any of them. They will rot you from the inside out!” Argos instantly began punching, kicking, and blasting away with bolts of his Astro Force. The dog of war was like a one man army, taking on multiple opponents at once while his pet companion did the same, swatting away Black Lanterns left and right with his massive paws.





“We’ve got to help Argos!” advised Zan as he made physical contact with his sister and initiated another Exor change.

“Shape of......a firefly!” said Jayna.

“Form of.........an ice prism!” yelled out Zan.

Zan, in prism form, dropped into Gleek’s hand as Jayna flew up behind her brother in her firefly form and lit up like a candle stick. The light passed through Zan’s form and shot out in a thousand different directions, burning and scalding the Black Lanterns on contact. Several of them started screaming and backing off as pain clouded their minds.

“Well done, Zan and Jayna,” congratulated Argos. “Now, let’s get out of here while they recover.

Zan, Jayna, and Gleek hopped on Sturmer’s back and the small group of Titans took to the air to find refuge somewhere else.

In the midst of travel, Argos utilized his communicator and contacted the rest of his team, “Heads up to all Titans - the Hall of Justice has been compromised by an army of Black Lanterns consisting of many of our deceased teammates. Warning - the Hall of Justice has been compromised!”

***

A cave in the Andes Mountains...

Nucleus and the Elongated Lad heard Argos’ transmission as they were busy trying to avoid being attacked by I...Vampire.

“Oh great! Besides vampires, now we have Black Lanterns to worry about,” grumbled Elongated Lad.





“I knew we shouldn’t have built that cemetery behind the Hall,” added Nucleus who had been caught in I...Vampire’s mouth. The tiny Titan was using all his strength to keep the servant of darkness’ mouth from closing down on him.





“Hang on buddy!” called out Elongated Lad as he transformed into a sling-shot shape and started grabbing rocks and firing them at his attacker. The rocks struck their target and kept the ages old creature distracted while Nucleus freed himself abruptly.

“Nice work!” complimented the protege of Ray Palmer. “Keep him busy just a little longer. I think the gas is just behind these rocks!” he said as he shrunk down to microscopic size and slipped through the stones.

Elongated Lad did his best to keep his promise but I...Vampire quickly grew tired of the attack behind launched upon him and turned into a wolf and then leaped at his prey, knocking him over, forcing him to revert back to his normal shape. “You DARE strike me? You will pay for that with your life, boy!” he said, ready to rip the elastic hero limb from limb until suddenly, the rocks that Nucleus had slipped between, burst apart, releasing the anti-vampire gas into the air. “NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!” screamed the undead creature.

While I...Vampire had been a vampire too long for the gas to revert him back to human, it still had a profound effect on him, causing him immense pain. He quickly retreated, in order to heal his wounds.

“Phew.......one second later and I would have been nothing but a blood stain on the floor,” sighed Elongated Lad.

“No time to dwell on that pal, you need to help me fill the five hundred containers I shrunk down and put inside my belt so that we can turn as many people back to normal as possible,” reminded Nucleus. “Once we have them filled, Wilma will meet us here and disperse them to the rest of the Titans so they can help spread the gas as fast as possible.”

“Hey - look!” Elongated Lad said, pointing to a small hole in the cave ceiling. “The darkness outside is dispersing!”

“Hmm.....that must have been Black Hand’s doing,” determined Nucleus. “Now that he has Black Lanterns out of their graves, he no longer needs the earth to be pitch black.”

“I’ll bet you’re right,” agreed the son of Ralph and Sue Dibny. “Out of the pan and into the oven....”

***

Later in Markovia...

“Wh.....what just happened. I feel like I was hit by a truck,” Blackout said, rubbing her forehead.





“We’re not sure but all of a sudden, you went into this trance and made the entire area go black,” answered Halo as she helped her teammate steady herself.





“Are you going to be ok?” Metamorpheous asked.





“If she is, she won’t be for long!” came a voice.

The three Outsiders turned to see....

“Looker!” exclaimed Halo in shock. “But Tsukuri killed you!”

“Violet, I’m ashamed of you,” admitted the red-headed vampire. “With all of the years we worked together, you should be able to recognize one of my illusions by now,” continued Looker as her eyes lit up. She then levitated the bodies of the three Outsiders into the air, intent on slamming them into a nearby building until she was interrupted by the sudden arrival of the Fastest Woman Alive.





“Freeze, pasty!” ordered the Flash. “I have a special delivery for you from Nucleus!” she said, producing a canister of anti-vampire gas and spraying the blood-sucking creature with it.





“AARRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!” shrieked the former Outsider as she released Halo, Blackout, and Metamorpheous from her control and backed away, covering her face. She continued screaming for a moment and then took to the air in a hasty retreat.

“Lia!!!” shouted Halo, concerned for her friend.

“Do you think the gas will transform her back to normal?” asked the Flash.

“I’m not sure,” replied the woman also known as Violet Harper. “Looker has been a vampire for a few decades now. It’s anyone’s guess as to whether or not the gas will work on her anymore.”

“Well then, let’s take care of these newbie vampires because once we’re done we’ve got a whole new problem to deal with,” revealed the daughter of Wally West.

“What’s that?” asked Metamorpheous.

“I guess you guys must have been busy and missed Argos’ transmission,” assumed the Flash. “We’ve got Black Lanterns popping up all over the world.”

“Blackest Night round two?” concluded Halo in disgust.

***

Niger, Africa...

Vampirus and her minions were making their way across the country, reaping havoc and turning anyone in sight into voodoo vampires.

“Hahahaha!! Soon the entire country of Niger will be servant to me!” announced Vampirus, overjoyed.





“Sorry lady but your show stops here!” came the voice of Red Lantern Scott Stone.





Vampirus whipped around to see who was addressing her, “You! Come back to join your girlfriend in the afterlife, boy?”

Vampirus had certainly chose the wrong words to greet Earth’s latest Red Lantern with. Scott fell into a berserk, near-mindless rage and lunged towards the queen of the voodoo vampires, a large red sword appearing in his hands.
Vampirus’ fangs lit up, hell-bent on turning Scott into one of her slaves but before she could fire her mutation rays, she was beheaded in one fowl swing of Scott’s sword. Scott didn’t stop there however, he continued slicing and stabbing away until the body of Vampirus was in nearly two dozen uneven pieces.

Just then, Phantom Lady and the Ray III arrived on the scene with anti-vampire gas, turning Vampirus’ recent additions back to normal. Phantom Lady soon noticed her nephew and his new appearance. “Starman?” What happened to you???”





Scott just looked at his aunt dead in the eyes for a split second, made an animalistic growling sound, and then took to the air, disappearing within seconds.

“Oh my God! What’s happened to him?” Phantom Lady asked, severely worried about her nephew, looking at the third Ray in desperation.

Gold Bug then happened on the scene, having been restored to his normal human self. “Was that Spaceman in the red suit???” he asked, completely puzzled as to what was going on.





***

Star City....

Dark Arrow, Sonic Boom, and Illumina were in the midst of dispersing the anti-vampire gas that Nucleus and Elongated Lad had secured.

After some time, all of the vampires in the area had been turned back into their human forms.

“Nice work, guys,” offered Sonic Boom, wiping the sweat from her brow.





“Yeah but now we have to go deal with a bunch of Black Lanterns,” griped Dark Arrow.





“Much sooner than you thought,” came a voice.

The three heroes present turned to see the revived Dr. Arthur Light standing beside them.

“NO!!! It can’t be!” howled Sonic Boom, completely horrified.

“Oh, yes it can, blondie!” countered the sadistic rapist. “I owe you BIG time. Now.....let’s settle things, shall we?” With that, Dr. Light raised his hands and

FWASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

***

San Francisco, CA...

Venus, Hermes, Powestorm, Black Vulcan II, and Infierna Verde were on the scene helping the city clean up after being ransacked by vampires.

“Que horror!” exclaimed Infierna Verde in her native tongue. “That was one of the worst battles I have ever took part in.”





“Yeah, there’s just something particularly creepy about fighting vampires,” noted Powerstorm.





“Venus, do you need any help securing the roof back on that building?” asked Black Vulcan.





“Nope, I’ve got it,” replied the violet and pink clad heroine as she flew about a mile away to complete her task. After about fifteen minutes, the roof had been secured with a little cement and some stabilizing bars. “That didn’t take too long,” smiled Venus, proud of her results. “I’d better get back to the others and see what’s next on the list.”





“Actually, you won’t be going anywhere,” came a cryptic voice.

Venus could not believe who was standing before her. It was a literal army of those she had killed while under the possession of the Floronic Man. There stood the black power-ring wielding corpses of Celsius, Frost, the Human Flying Fish, Atom Smasher, Mas Y Menos, Guy Gardner, and several others.

“You’ve got a lot of blood on your hands, Black Orchid,” Frost said in a raspy voice. “Not to mention you destroyed my chance at a future with Hermes. It’s time to pay the piper, girlie....”





***

Gotham City...

The Huntress, Tornado Champion, Totem, Ms. Mars, and Big Daddy had just wrapped up turning the city’s vampire hordes back to normal.

“I believe that was the last of them,” Big Daddy said as he shrunk down to his normal size.





“You are correct. My sensors do not indicate any more of the undead in the vicinity,” revealed Tornado Champion.





“If I never see another vampire again, it will be too soon,” commented Totem who was quite relieved that the vampire ordeal seemed to be over.





“I’m sure we’ll see some again at some point,” advised the Huntress. “As much as people try to eliminate them, there’s always more that seems to crawl from the woodwork so to speak.”





“You guys should hear the stories my dad tells me about Martian vampires some times,” teased Ms. Mars. “Talk about creepy....”





Totem was about to question Ms. Mars about these supposed Martian vampires further but she was interrupted as a red and blue blur whizzed by and snatched up the Huntress.

“What the heck was that?” asked Big Daddy.

“My guess is it must have been Power Guy recruiting the Huntress for a different mission,” presumed Totem.

“And he didn’t even stop to say hi to the rest of us,” smirked Big Daddy.

But unbeknownst to the other heroes, the Huntress had not been recruited by Power Guy but kidnapped by the Black Lantern Earth Two Superman. He had knocked her unconscious and flown her to the Titans of Justice satellite. He then carried her into the transporter tube and teleported the two of them to the Justice Society Unlimited’s headquarters on Earth 2. After arriving, the Huntress soon woke up.

“Ugh.....” moaned the daughter of Batman and Catwoman as she awoke, still sore where Superman had tapped her.

“Wake up, Helena,” ordered Superman, “The big show’s going to begin soon.”





The Huntress looked upon her father’s best friend in his new hideous form, quite disgusted with him. “Superman..........you’re a Black Lantern. What do you want?!?!” she demanded, firmly.

“Why nothing more than to see an old friend,” Superman said, smiling devilishly. “You’re about to experience a family reunion,” he said as he pulled out several black power-rings from his cape pocket. “I’m about to bring the World’s Finest team back and you get a front row seat!”


TO BE CONTINUED!!!