Author's Note: All right it took me a while to figure it out but I think I finally got something. I hope you guys like it. Here's the sequel to Teen Titans All Stars, Vol. 1. Enjoy.
Teen Titans All Stars, Vol. 2
Chapter 1
Picking Up The Pieces
A few days after the battle the team went to visit Conner in the hospital, Cassie was the first one to enter the room as she saw the Boy of Steel covered from the neck down in bandages. Gently the Amazon knocked on the door to gain his attention.
"Hey." He said turning to see her.
"Hey." She said softly.
"So how you feeling?" she asked.
"I'm doing better, doc says I should be out of here in a few days if my healing factor kicks in. so how are the others doing?" he asked drawing attention away from himself.
"Their doing fine, aside from Dick everyone seemed to get out scot-free." She told him.
"What happened to him?" he asked.
"Just some cracked ribs but other than that he's fine." she said.
Conner paused for a moment before he continued.
"I heard what happened between him and Blockbuster." He said.
"Yeah…Dick's taking it pretty hard it seems."
"Because of what happened to Blockbuster?"
"Well that, but there was something he did to him, that shook him to his core it seemed." She told him.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Blockbuster was holding Kori captive as a way of getting him to stand down…he revealed that she was three weeks pregnant."
"Oh dude…that is so cold." Conner replied.
"Tell me about it." she said.
"So what happened?" he asked.
"They say he snapped and pushed Blockbuster off the ledge." She told him.
"You don't think he did that do you?"
"I don't know what to think Conner."
"He didn't kill him, he's not that kind of guy. We know him better than that." he said without question.
"He didn't kill him." said Owen.
They looked up and saw Captain Boomerang leaning against the doorway arms folded.
"I talked with Kori, from what she said he didn't push him off the building. Desmond threatened to kill her if he didn't submit. Said that he nearly did for a moment when something hit Desmond in the back, she couldn't tell what it was. They continued to battle it out, last she saw he was trying to crush Dick's skull. He electrocuted him and Desmond fell over the edge. Dick fired a rescue line and tried to save him, but the cable gave and fell to his death. He was questioned by police and released, even though he caused it he was exonerated because he tried to save Blockbuster." Owen told them.
"That must have been like a double whammy to him." Conner said.
"He was just doing his job, Desmond got what he deserved in the end but he still feels guilty about It." said Owen.
"And the fact that his wife and unborn child were used against him must have really taken its toll on him." Cassie said.
"You think he'll be all right?" asked Conner.
"He'll come around, but it may be a while before he's his old self again." said Cap.
A few miles away from the hospital Dick and Kori stood infront of Blockbuster's grave.
Roland Desmond
The Blockbuster
November 18, 1963 –April 17, 2009
And beneath it someone had spray painted in red. The King Is Dead. A small smirk appeared in the corner of his mouth and felt Kori wrap her arms around his.
"At least it's finally over." He said.
"Come on." she urged gently as they left the cemetery. Flanked by Desmond's grave were those of his brother and mother along with the graves of Torque and the second Cluemaster.
Across the yard Inertia stood before the grave of his former girlfriend Sun Girl. Who was largely unnoticed by Nightwing and Starfire. Back at the hospital, Cassie had a large paper bag.
"I got you a little present." She said handing Conner the bag.
"What is it?" he asked as he reached in and pulled out a blue Superman t-shirt.
"It's your new costume. I know it's not as flashy as your old one." She said as he pulled out the jeans and red button up shirt that accompanied them and noticed the gold Superman logo on the back of the red shirt.
"Do you like it?" she asked.
"Yeah, I can't wait to try it on." he said.
At the site of the final battle between Superboy and Doomsday a cleanup crew was surveying the damage to the old NY Stars Stadium. Which was one of the last remaining arenas of the long defunct World Football League. As one construction worker rubbed the back of his neck in apparent disbelief.
"It's going to take us forever to fill this hole." He bemoaned.
"Yeah and I'm sure the city office is going to love this too. It'll certainly burn a hole in their wallets." His friend joked.
"Well at least it finally did away with the old stadium, the place was nothing but an eyesore." The second guy said.
"Wasn't the World Football League kind of like the XFL of its day? Here one minute, gone the next?" the first guy joked.
"Pretty much, I heard they were a Poor Man's NFL." His buddy laughed.
"Yeah crying shame." Said Bill.
"For them or for us?" answered Jeff. The two men laughed as a large black woman in a business suit approached them.
"Back to work you two." She said sternly.
The two men complied without so much another word as she walked briskly to the other end. The two men exchanged glances and were markedly afraid of her. The large woman made her way over to another crew that was excavating what remained of Doomsday. In particular the creature's ruined skull. As one excavator handled a piece of his skull, the bone dissolved in his hands as the woman stood over him.
"Try and use a little more care would ya? That goes for all of you, any of that happens to the rest and it'll all your hides." She warned.
"Yes miam." One of the guys said.
The woman in charge walked over to a white van moments later and got in the passenger's seat. The vehicle started up as one of the men carefully loaded a skull piece in a jar into the back of the van and closed the door. On the side was the name Cadmus Labs as it drove off. The woman folded her hands together in thought.
"He's just as powerful as the original. Just when I have enough trouble with one Man of Steel he pops up. And to think we're responsible for him, a drop like that could have devastated the entire city. Which furthers my resolve why we need to keep close watch on these metahumans. The League was one thing but these Titans…they're a whole nother batch of trouble." She thought.
That afternoon Dick and Kori sat in the park next to an elaborate water fountain.
"How you feeling?" she asked. Her husband stared at the fountain.
"All right I guess." He said never looking back at her.
"I know you've been through a lot. I don't expect you to say much." She told him. He shrugged as he leaned back at the plastic picnic table.
"At least one good thing came out of it." he smiled looking back.
"We're all here plus…I'm going to be a dad." He said placing his hand on her belly.
Kori's expression suddenly fell as she glanced down at his hand on her stomach. His smile suddenly fell as he noticed the look on her face.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Dick…. ummm…there's something I have to tell you." she said placing her hand on top of his over her stomach.
His dark blue eyes dilated as he prepared himself for the worst his hand lifting ever so slightly from her stomach with his wife's hand never moving from his. Kori closed her eyes swallowing the lump in her throat as she prepared to tell him.
"I'm not really pregnant." She said. Her husband groaned and bowed his head.
"I'm so sorry." She said with hurt in her eyes. Immediately his eyes returned to hers and gently held her hand.
"Its okay, its not your fault." He said assuring her.
"I should have never come out here." She shook her head, eyes brimming as she tried to hold back her tears. The Tamaranian stood up and turned to leave when Dick grabbed her arm. Looking back at her husband he rose up from his seat and stood and held her close.
"Its all right Kori, I don't care if your pregnant or not. I still love you, I'll always love you." he said.
"I'm sorry Dick." She said burying herself in his chest.
"Don't apologize. It wasn't meant to be this time around, but we'll have children one day I promise that we will." He told her.
"Actually I've been thinking." She said pulling away from him.
"We can't have kids, not as long as we're superheroes. You saw what Blockbuster did; think how easy it'd be for others to do the same. Some of them wouldn't even bother with restraint or bait." She said before shaking her head.
"I don't think we should have kids." She told him.
Back at Cadmus Labs, the woman in charge entered the room with several other workers as they brought the Doomsday remains into the lab's inner sanctum. A pair of steel hydraulic doors split open sideways bringing the crew into the genetic testing center. The woman and employees walked past several tubes containing various clones including those of the Ultimen.
"Put em down over there." she ordered the men.
"Dr. Hamilton I have a new project for you." she said walking up to an older scientist.
"I'm sure you do Director." The professor said wearily. A table was wheeled up to him a second later containing a skull fragment.
"How nice." He said in sarcasm.
"See what you can whip up with this one." She said.
"Really doctor isn't it about time you gave up your vendetta? I know I'm the last person to talk. Regarding the incident with Superman a few years back. But I thought you of all people would learn after all these years that the Justice League are good." Professor Hamilton told her.
"It's not the League I'm worried about, it's the Titans." She replied.
"If they are the League's protégés then shouldn't that speak volumes about where they stand? The League didn't go rouge on us, despite our initial fears over them. These are superheroes; their job is to protect the innocent first and foremost. We don't need to create these abominations to go after them!" he protested.
The Director gave him a sideways glance and turned to look him fully in the eye.
"I think I know what I'm doing." She told him.
"All I ask is that you reconsider what you're about to do." he said.
"You are teetering on insubordination professor." She replied. The professor looked her straight in the eye this time around.
"I refuse to take part in another one of your Judas projects." He said.
"Then you can consider yourself fired." She told him.
"Fine by me." the professor said standing straight and tall holding the front of his lab coat and threw it off at her feet. Storming out of the lab moments later.
The Director didn't seem phased by the departure of the prof. and immediately named another one as head of the new project.
"Let's get Project: Match rolling." she said arms crossed.
Author's Note: All right for those of you who watched Justice League, you should be able to tell who the mystery woman was. I'm talking to you Mike. Anyway I figured this was a pretty good launch point for a new story. No Doomsday's not going to be resurrected...at least not as Doomsday. The hint's in the last sentence spoken by the Director. Let me know what you think guys. And I hope the others will be able to review the final chapter of Vol. 1 as well. Thanks for all the support guys.
Please review,
Green Gallant.