Brave New Future.
By Erik Howlett.
Disclaimer: The Teen Titans and the heroes of the DC Animated Universe, such as the Justice League, belong to DC Comics and DC Entertainment. I do not claim any elements of DC Comics as my own, and am only writing this story as a leisurely past time and because I am a humble fan of this genre simply telling a story. Some of the Legionnaires featured here are a mixture of their comic-book and animated incarnations, hence the different pairings, codenames, costume designs, and so on. This story will be labeled "T"for teen, just to be safe, considering there will be swearing, blood, and intense action-violence, everything that makes T.V. great, am I right?
Long before Son Of The Metal, long before Agenda-X, long before Faith in Fallen Angels, this story was conceived. This idea has undergone a lot of changes over the years I've been considered posting it, things constantly being revised and retooled to make the experience all the more enjoyable for you, the reader, and myself, the writer. I say the latter because if you can't have fun writing fan fiction, then what point is there in writing it. Anyhow, to be frank, this idea has been about two, maybe three and a half years in the making. It's seen multiple overhauls and many delays, and that's just this part, the prelude to the main event!
For a setting, if you're interested in that sort of thing, this story takes place in the DC Animated Universe, just following the destruction of Darksied at the hands of both the Justice League and (surprisingly) Lex Luthor. With the members of the League spread far and wide to deal with the clean-up in the wake of the invasion's devastation, they find themselves stretched to their limits, and believe it is time to take on new members, both old and young, to ensure the safety of their world. Their first picks are the Teen Titans, who have grown since their foundation to become a formidable team on par with the League's original seven. However, their ascension into the ranks of the JLU marks the beginning of a new era prophesied by Dr. Fate himself. What is this prophesy you may ask? Well, that would be telling, wouldn't it? Read on to find out…!
Chapter 1: The Winds of Change.
Earth, Low Geocentric Orbit, 8:00 pm.
Space, mankind's final frontier. A vast and ongoing void of seemingly infinite blackness, dotted almost at random by a few fleeting twinkles of glittering stardust, massively diverse planets, and other wondrous heavenly bodies. Yet even in this, the very outer-most extension of humanity's existence, at the lingering edge of the all-encompassing darkness that holds entire galaxies captive in it's unforgiving, icy grip, a glimmering beacon of hope and strength shines in the rays of the distant, blazing sun. Like a mighty sword of truth and justice, it orbits the planet in silent observance, forever poised to strike down any and all offenders to its charges' peace with unrelenting wrath, whether they come from beyond the stars above or the ground below. This monumental, needle-like satellite serves as a little slice of Heaven for its tenants, an off-world sanctuary were the champions of Earth keep watch over the innocents below like an inspiring host of masked guardian angels.
For this huge structure is the first home of Earth's greatest heroes of all time. This is the Watchtower, space-born haven of the world-spanning Justice League.
"Looks like everything's running pretty smoothly," remarked a pleased Mr. Terrific as he heard the sound of the pressurized automatic door behind him whoosh open, his advanced intellect analyzing to the unique sounds of each of the newcomers' footsteps and immediately recognizing them. Terrific cast a fleeing glance over his shoulder and grinned in satisfaction as he saw that his guess had been correct, and Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, and the Flash entered the Monitor Womb Platform behind him, the enigmatic Dr. Fate hovering silently alongside them. 'Damn, I love being a genius.' Before the seven of them, a series of massive flatscreen monitors hung suspended in midair like giant picture frames, each displaying a different scenario that was occurring either on Earth or somewhere in the vast reaches of space.
"It would appear so," remarked J'onn calmly as he surveyed the League's progress on the monitors. The first showed a group consisting of a female Dr. Light, Green Lantern, S.T.R.I.P.E., Stargirl, and the Red Tornado lending a hand with the disaster-relief efforts in Sumatra in the aftermath of the recent monsoon. The next gave an unobscured window to the interior of the New Genesis High Council's meeting room, where the hot-blooded warrior Orion was mediating the planet's peace talks with Apokalips along with Mr. Miracle and his wife Barda. Beside that was the image of a seedy warf-front in Star City, where the Green Arrow, Black Canary, The Question, and Huntress were occupied with taking down a ring of smugglers who had been working out of the area for about two weeks before Question finally found them. The other monitors displayed similar heroic events, different Leaguers engaged in a varying number of tasks for the betterment of mankind and the universe as a whole.
"It's hard to believe that it's been three months since Darksied attacked Earth," remarked Wonder Woman in sincere approval of what she saw onscreen, earning an acceding nod from the others, especially Superman. When Darksied's forces abruptly blindsided Earth from out of nowhere just three months ago, their attempts to destroy the planet and drown the streets in blood nearly overwhelmed the League's efforts to stop them. Had it not been for the intervention of Luthor's Secret Society and the truly surprising self-sacrifice of Lex himself, the hordes of Apokalips might have succeeded in their endeavors. Now, as the dust settled in catastrophe's wake, things were finally beginning to return to normal.
"I'm still not convinced of anything just yet," responded Batman in his usual, emotionless monotone. Like Superman, he too had been there at ground-zero in Metropolis when Darksied had launched his assault, stood by as the Man of Steel unleashed his unbridled, righteous fury upon the dark 'god', and bore witness to both his and Lex Luthor's supposed demise. But, as with many of the League's old foes that they once thought dead and ended up returning from the grave, he wasn't about to let himself be caught off guard by a sudden 'resurrection' of either of the two if it ever occurred. The moment he saw hard physical evidence that they were truly dead, then he would allow himself to relax and be at ease. Until then, he would remain ever vigilant and watchful. "Everything's going too smoothly, like a calm breeze before a hurricane strikes."
"Jeez Bats," interrupted the Flash with a mocking sigh. "You need to learn to lighten up a little. Even if there was the slightest chance of Lex and ole' Gravel Puss ever comin' back, we've got more than enough members to put 'em down again."
"Actually Flash, that's not entirely true," interjected Mr. Terrific, absent-mindedly coordinating the League's efforts with barely a thought as he spoke. At that point, he knew that he had the attention of all six heroes standing behind him and felt their combined gaze of surprise and worry as he continued with his tedious work. "Even with the League's combined efforts, if Darksied was to reappear out of the blue right now, we'd be hard pressed to stop him. With the peace-talks on New Genesis, the disaster-relief efforts in Sumatra, the continuing clean-up from Apokalip's Invasion forces in almost every major country, and the never-ending laundry-list of regular crimes that need handling, we barely have enough members to keep up with it all. The League's just spread too thin right now to handle another invasion of that magnitude again."
"We may have grown a lot from it being just the seven of us, but I guess we still can't be everywhere at once," mused Superman introspectively as he considered the truth behind both Batman and Mr. Terrific's words. It was true that none of them believed that either Lex or Darkseid were really gone, and that the League still had some faults despite its exponential growth. After a moment of silent thought, J'onn finally voiced an idea that seemed to be on everyone's mind at the time.
"Perhaps we should consider searching for more members," the Martian pointed out calmly, drawing everyone's attention at that. "There are still many other heroes who have yet to be indicted into the League. It may be time we consider granting them membership."
As he looked at the faces of those present, J'onn could tell that they all knew he was right. In spite of their vast numbers, there were still others that had not been offered a position in the Justice League when they decided to expand their ranks following the aftermath of the Thanagarian Invasion several years ago. Initially, younger heroes such as Static and Gear were turned down due to their age and inexperience; but times had changed, and they had shown signs of maturing into valuable assets to the League. Older heroes such as the Doom Patrol, the Challengers of the Unknown, and the Sea Devils were also coming out of mothballs to try and do their part as well, not wanting the younger generation to have all the fun.
"Well, if we're gonna start talking about new members," Flash began hopefully, having suggested this idea many times before, "then how about the Ti-"
Before Flash could even attempt to finish his sentence, he was abruptly cut off by the raucous Breeet-Breeeet! of the Emergency Alert Siren, its activation startling everyone present and causing the lighting in the Platform and extended Teleportation Deck to bathe it's occupants in an eerie red glow. Immediately, Mr. Terrific's gloved fingers flew deftly across the multi-tasking control panel before him with almost lightning speed, intercepting the call that triggered the alert and cueing it up on one of the available monitors. As the screen flickered to life, the seven heroes gathered around to see the image of a dark, country road appear onscreen, several overturned police cars and battered prisoner-transport trucks splayed across the cold asphalt in the background. Before them, Steel stood panting heavily, as if he'd just been in the fight of his life, his battle armor scratched, charred, and blackened in several places and his helmet torn wide-open at one side to reveal a portion of his bald scalp beneath. Beside him stood the battered and bruised forms of Fire, Vixen, Hawkman, and the Creeper as well.
"Watchtower," coughed the beaten hero wearily as he struggled to keep on his feet, his war-hammer crooked under his arm like a massive steel crutch. "This is Steel calling in with a Priority Five Alert. The prisoner transport we were sanctioned to protect was just ambushed by Atomic Skull and Silver Banshee. We fought 'em off as long as we could, but Banshee's sonic scream managed to override my armor's circuits and immobilize most of its motor functions. After that, everything went downhill from there. They freed everyone in the trucks and took off, but not before pummeling us pretty good."
"Stay put Steel," replied Mr. Terrific calmly as his fingers continued their swift jaunt across the control panel, triangulating the man's COM-Link and reconfiguring the Teleporter to his team's location. "Prepare your team for an immediate Emergency Teleport, I'll have the Infirmary on stand by and begin tracking the escapees ASAP."
"Thanks Terrific," conceded the armored hero sincerely, wincing slightly as he shifted him weight on his hammer. "Steel out." With that, the image of Steel and his beaten teammates flicked out of existence and a sub-space camera shot of the transport convoy's route cued up in its place. Off to the side, a photo-listing of the transport's occupants scrolled along the length of the screen diagonally, and all of them were immediately recognized by everyone present as some of the worst super villains the League had faced.
"This is not good," concluded the patron of Fair Play grimly as he took in the information like a sponge would water, still working on figuring the enemy's position as he spoke to the Leaguers behind him. "That convoy was transporting a number of high threat level super-criminals to the recently established correctional facility on Alcatraz, including Deadshot, Metallo, and Killer-Frost. Luckily for us, CADMUS made sure they were all issued a mandatory injection of microscopic nanites which emit a special signal that can be tracked by the Watchtower's mainframe and the Military's computers in Washington. If I'm right, they'll all head on a direct path for a city on the coastline, most likely to hijack a freighter to Zandia where the League and the U.S. government can't legally touch them."
"Metallo's LexCorp cybernetics will analyze any maps of the surrounding area he's recently uploaded into his brain, and immediately pick out the most likely spot to disembark from on the coast," reasoned Batman stoically as he briskly approached the console. "Knowing 'Frost and the others, they'll probably want to stretch their legs and have some 'fun' after being cooped up in those transports for so long. Pinpoint the most heavily-populated city nearest their last location that has a large amount of ships headed out to sea."
"Already workin' on it Bats," replied Terrific nonchalantly, much to the annoyance of the Dark Knight. Once more, Mr. Terrific's dexterous digits lighted across the complex keyboard of the control panel, while high over head the massive flatscreen responded to his whims, zooming in on the displayed map and registering the villains' eventual destination. It popped up only seconds later in the form of a minute, red dot on the edge of California and the Pacific Ocean, beside it appeared a small text box that revealed the city's statistics and exact distance from the escapees' last coordinates. "Got it. They're heading for a place called Jump City. Population is about that of Chicago, and there are several ships in the harbor scheduled for departure to exotic locales such as Japan and Africa. All plenty of reasons for our truant friends to stop by and relieve some pent up stress."
'Jump City?' reeled the Flash in shocked concern, vivid memories of his days as Kid Flash rushing back to him upon hearing that name. To his right, he noticed a similar look of familiarity dart across Batman's face for a brief second, betraying the fact that he too recognized the villains' ultimate destination as well. Behind the rest of the stunned heroes, Dr. Fate sat hovering calmly in midair, resting in the lotus position as he silently called upon the ancient and incredible powers of the Helmet of Nabu to reach his wife telepathically in Salem, Massachusetts.
'Inza, my love,' he said calmly as the remainder of the founding Leaguer's gathered around Terrific's console in concern, hanging onto every word that the genius had said as Fate when about his own work. 'Please prepare my chambers with the proper ingredients for executing the Rite of Endless Council. The time Lord Dream spoke of is finally at hand, and we must make haste so that we are ready to begin.'
AN: Holy Moley, True Believers! Things are really starting to heat up for the League! Now that they know where these villains are headed, how are they gonna head them off before they escape to Zandia? Moreover, will they be the ones to bust them, or will the Titans take them down? What the heck are you asking me for? Read on to find out :D !