Titans of Justice Unlimited #57 – “Titans Lost – Again Part 9”
Written, Edited & Maxi-Micros by: Power Guy


Downtown, Central City…

Willma West aka Hot Flash raced along one of the main drags of the downtown area, a spree of shrapnel hot on her trail as she spoke into her cell phone, “No, dad, you don’t need to come out of retirement. I can handle Magenta and the Titans of Justice will be here any minute in case I need any help. Yeah, I know she’s unstable. We’ve been over this a dozen times……uh, oh! Gotta go!” she shouted as she disconnected the call, needing to gain some momentum in order to race up the side of a building to avoid a dump truck that Magenta had hurled in front of the young speedstress.





“You might as well stop running, girl! Let me end your life quickly and I will make it as painless as possible!” offered the bipolar metahuman.





“I’m thinking………………..NO!” spat Hot Flash as she noticed a pile a bricks nearby, scooped several of them up, and began throwing them at her adversary.

Magenta summoned a trashcan lid front of her, acting as a shield to the bricks. CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! “Did you really think that would stop me? I’m growing bored of this game!”

Suddenly, a manhole cover came flying into Hot Flash’s right knee, knocking her off her feet as she screamed in agony. “Son of a……” she mumbled as she clutched her leg. She soon noticed Magenta was hovering over her.

“And to think that in a different time and place, you could have been my daughter,” sighed the pink and white clad mistress of magnetism as she corralled a trio of guardrails and morphed them into a hammer-shape, ready to pound Hot Flash into pulp. She raised the mock-hammer into the air and propelled it downward but just as it was about to strike the sidekick of the Flash, something smashed into it, shattering it into much smaller pieces, each of them falling several feet away from Hot Flash. The speedstress and Magenta looked in the direction from which the flying object came and saw the Titans of Justice heading towards them.

“Nice hammer, Magenta. Too bad it was no match for mine!” smirked Corporal Marvel as his golden hammer returned to his hand.





“You! You’re the latest version of the Teen Titans or something like that,” Magenta said, pointing towards the current champion of Shazam and the others. “I almost became a Teen Titan but they rejected me. Thought I wasn’t good enough or something….”

“More like, you’re bonkers lady!” scoffed Goldbug as he blasted away at the former girlfriend of Wally West. Magenta quickly threw up an electro-magnetic force-field which shielded her from harm. She then retaliated with a magnetic concussive force-blast, which took out the sarcastic hero.





“Goldbug!” cried out Isis as she and Magno went to their fallen comrade’s side.





Hawk Warrior swooped over Magenta dropping something on her, “This net should hold you. There’s no metal in it but it’s made of the strongest silk on earth!”





Magenta thrashed around, trying to get the net off of herself.

Starman approached and attempted to seal the deal by utilizing his gravity-control powers on her. She instantly fell to the ground, unable to move. “Well, that went a lot better than I thought it would,” he said as he, Corporal Marvel, and Supergirl landed around the bipolar metahuman.





“She seems really troubled,” Supergirl said, piping up. “We need to get her some help.”





But before either of her two teammates could reply, all three heroes were yanked into the air and pulled towards the North Pole courtesy of Magenta’s magnetic abilities.

“Fools! I don’t need to be able to move my body in order to control the magnetic pull of the earth itself!” howled Magenta as she stood back up. With Starman out of range, his gravity powers no longer affected her.

Just then, Red Robin swung by on his Bat-grapple and threw some tear-gas pellets at the pink and white clad metahuman, leaving her temporarily disoriented. He then helped up Hot Flash and supported her as the duo walked over to Isis, Magno, and Hawk Warrior who had assembled around the fallen Goldbug.

“Guys, I’ve read Nightwing’s file on this lady,” began Red Robin. “She’s not evil, just mentally unstable. The more she uses her powers, the worse she gets.”





“Red, here, is right,” added Hot Flash. “My dad used to date her and he said the same thing.”

“Perhaps, then, I can be of some assistance,” Magno said, speaking up for the first time since the Titans arrived on the scene. He made his way to the former girlfriend of Wally West as the tear-gas had finally dissipated. Magenta was ready to reap havoc all over again. Magno approached her and held out his right hand, “You and I have similar powers but it seems that yours are causing a great strain on your mental health.”





“How…..how do you know what’s going on with me?” questioned the manic Magenta.

“I can sense the magnetic energies playing havoc with your mind,” answered the former Freedom Fighter.

“It’s horrible!” screamed Magenta. “Every day, I’m pulled in the direction of the poles! Up and down! Back and forth! My mind is always in flux! I don’t want to hurt anyone but sometimes this pull on me makes me want to destroy everything in sight!”

Magno frowned as he displayed the first sign of real emotion since the Titans of Justice met him. “I want to help you,” he said as he pulled Magenta close to him. The two manipulators of magnetism began to glow with energy.

“Uhh….should we be worried right about now?” asked the recently awakened Goldbug.

“No, give him a minute,” ordered Hawk Warrior, extending his arms out to keep his teammates at bay. Starman, Corporal Marvel, and Supergirl had just returned to the scene.

Soon, the energy around Magno and Magenta grew very bright and then finally disappeared. Magenta took off her mask and was crying softly. “You……you balanced the magnetic pull on me. I no longer feel like a Ping-Pong ball. I can think clearly again! Th….th….thank you!” she said as she hugged Magno tightly.

Just then, the Titans of Justice and Magenta’s quiet moment was interrupted by the booming voice of Dark Arrow, “Thanks for calming her down, Magno. We’ll take it from here!” Standing behind the archer was a collective of the Titans of Authority including Black Adam, Apotheosis, Hawkgirl, Superboy, Buffalo Brave, Kid Comet, and Green Lantern Jo Jo Gardner.





“There’s no need for that,” declined Starman. “We’ve got this one under control so pack up your band of butchers and go home.”

“Not without Magenta. She’s too dangerous for you to just lock her up in some mental ward only for her to escape again,” countered Dark Arrow.

“And what are your plans for her?” questioned Starman. “Strip her of her skin like you did Major Force or maybe shoot a grenade at her like you did with Bane?”

“Magenta has been a loose cannon for decades. She can’t be allowed to cause any more destruction!” shouted Dark Arrow.

“Magno has stabilized her! Give us a chance to help her!” huffed the man also known as Scott Stone.

“Listen, Starman, you and your team are better suited for going after guys like the Bug-Eyed Bandit or the Clock King who are more of an annoyance than a real danger to anyone. Leave the real threats like Magenta to us. Now, you can hand her over or we can take her from you.”

“I think you forget who you’re talking to, Dark Arrow,” replied Starman. “I may not agree with your excessive brand of justice but that doesn’t mean I’m some push-over. I strongly suggest that you and your team leaves before you do something you’ll regret.”

Meanwhile, Black Adam pulled his wife aside and said, “Isis, enough of this nonsense. It’s time you quit the Titans of Justice and joined me in the Titans of Authority. We can make a real difference in this world.”





“Oh Teth, I feel as though you’ve lost your way again,” frowned the heroine of hope and healing. “These extreme methods you and your teammates are using should only be used as a last resort, and sometimes, not at all. I am staying with the Titans of Justice!”

“Adriana, you are my wife! You are coming with me!” Black Adam demanded, grabbing his wife by the arm, firmly.

“Adam! The lady said she’s not interested, now let her go!” ordered Corporal Marvel.

“Stay out of this boy before I teach you the err of disrespecting your elders!” threatened the first champion of Shazam.

With that, Corproal Marvel lost his temper, raised his golden hammer in the air and struck Black Adam with it as lighting crackled from the enchanted weapon.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!

As the explosion from the lightning strike settled, everyone noticed that Corporal Marvel’s blow had returned Black Adam to his mortal form. The son of Captain Marvel looked down at his hammer briefly and shouted, “I can do that? FREAKIN’ AWESOME!!!” He then looked up at Teth Adam, flicked him in the forehead and said, “Nighty, night, jerk!” as the ruler of Khandaq was sent into unconsciousness.

Jo Jo Gardner was the first to react, yelling out, “Alright, that tears it!” as he made a green bulldozer that plowed into the Titans of Justice, scattering them about the area.





Supergirl was the first one to recover from the attack and took to the air, ready to give the son of Guy Gardner a mouth full of fist but Superboy flew up to her and restrained her, “Jenna, please stop. Let us take care of Magenta so she can’t hurt anyone any more.”





“Let me go, Uncle Conner,” insisted the modern-age Girl of Steel. “Magno has already done your job for you in a more civilized manner!”

“Don’t you get it?” retorted Superboy. “It’s because of people like Magenta that you never got to know your grandma Kent! And don’t call me uncle!”

“Wow….you’re really a jerk! Look, I may not be Magenta’s best friend but I know enough about her to know that she’s no psycho like the Luthors. Now, LET ME GO!” hissed Supergirl as she burst free form the Boy of Steel’s grip and blew him into Jo Jo Gardner with her Super-breath.

In the clouds above, Hawk Warrior and Hawkgirl were involved in a battle of Nth Metal maces.

“Shayera, what’s become of you?” demanded the husband of Fury.

“The brand of justice that the Titans of Authority serve is much more in line with the Thanagarian legal system,” explained the sunset red-haired warrior. “Apparently, your parents didn’t teach you much about that or you wouldn’t have bothered to ask me why I’m doing what I’m doing.”

“I guess you’ve forgotten that you’re no longer on Thanagar any more!” growled Hawk Warrior as he pulled off Hawkgirl’s antigravity belt leaving her forced to glide back down to the surface. As she made her descent, she noticed Starman and Dark Arrow locked in battle, cosmic rays and trick arrows going back and forth. While the Thanagarian thrasher may have lost her battle, she saw an opportunity to help her teammate. Using her vast wings, she augmented her direction of descent so that she fell close enough to Starman to whack him in the head with her mace, leaving him disoriented enough for Dark Arrow to hit him with an electrical arrow, which, temporarily paralyzed the cosmic hero.

A ways away, Goldbug was trading blows with Apotheosis. “Still hanging out with those losers, traitor?” barked the legacy of both Booster Gold and the second Blue Beetle.

“I’m no traitor. I’m simply doing what I believe is right!” argued the son of Pargon as he cold-clocked Goldbug in the nose. “My father was a murder. No-one else will die at the hands of evil on my watch!” he yelled out, ready to pummel the blue and gold hero until suddenly, he and all of the other heroes present felt a painful mental assault.





Kid Comet had grown disgusted by the situation and used his powers to bring the fighting to a halt. “That enough out of all of you! Many of us were teammates, even friends once. Now look at you all! Squabbling like school children. Power Guy would be so ashamed of you all.”





“In case you haven’t noticed, KC, Power Guy isn’t here!” growled Dark Arrow.

“And this is how you pick up where he left off? The only difference you’re making right now is hurting your friends.”

“All we want is Magenta,” retorted Dark Arrow.

“Starman said she’s been taken care of. I trust his word,” argued the British hero. “Now pack up and go home or I’ll put you all to sleep.”

“I’m not one to put up with insubordination,” pointed out the son of Green Arrow and Black Canary.

“It’s not insubordination. I quit,” announced Kid Comet. “I didn’t sign up to beat up on the good guys.”

The two teams of heroes remained silent over Kid Comet’s words and began gathering their things. They soon boarded their separate aircrafts and left the area, the Titans of Justice, taking Magenta with them to help her get her life re-established.


TO BE CONTINUED!