AN: This is not meant to be an AU at all. Just a sort of… retelling. Yeah… that's it.
And no, the Titans have not formed yet, this chapter (and probably the next two) will be the precursor to that.
--
Alone, a white seagull sat atop a crumbled building. The building was marred with black streaks from a still burning fire, and numerous windows were shattered. This, along with every building on the next two blocks, was identical. The streets had long been evacuated, the city's people safely hidden from the threat.
A large, faceless beast was gliding through the city at an insanely fast pace. His legs were moving so fast, it was as if his feet never even touched the ground. He was covered in dark blue, and the only sign that might have a head was a skull looking structure in the middle of his chest. He didn't even have a real purpose; the only thing on the creature's mind wasdestroy. The creature sped through the city, turning corners at random, looking for anything that wasn't already in an anarchical blaze.
"Today, at 12:30, a special state of emergency has been declared." A booming voice from outside of city limits said thought a speakerphone. Thousands of people all huddled together, many in tears, as they saw this unknown force tear apart their home not 1000 yards away.
"Please, take count of your family, and report to the nearest officer you can find. As soon as you have checked in, please follow the signs to the underground safeguards." The speakerphone boomed again.
The people began to line up, and take refuge, wondering when the attack would stop.
"I'm sorry; all normal lines are down due to the state of emergency." Said the operator. The male didn't even bother to hang it up before walking out of the phone booth. He just sighed and looked back up at the city. He hadn't left, his guardian Nicholas Galtry, was supposed to pick him up to take him out of the city as it was being evacuated. However, it seemed to the male that Nicholas Galtry had forgotten about him.
"Great. Now what am I supposed to do?" said the male, looking around. The creature had been on the other side of town, and the buildings in front of the male looked rather untouched. Safe.
"I guess I should at least try to make it to the shelter." The boy took one step before out of the corner of his eye, he caught something. He snapped his head, thinking it was the creature, and prepared himself to fight something roughly three times his size. When he looked though, he saw only another human. His age, maybe a year older, and wearing all black except for a blue bird on his chest. When the male blinked, the other had gone.
He would have been confused, if it hadn't been for two helicopters flying over his head that caught his attention. The both bore the U.N. insignia, made a terrible noise. Two more helicopters followed that, making four in total. The helicopters began communicating with each other via headset.
--
"The creature is on our grid!" screamed the first pilot.
"I can't get a lock on him, he's moving too fast!" Though the beast was huge, and when he stood still, clearly an easy target, its zig-zagging speed was making the better of the pilots.
"Fire anyway!" And with that, the third helicopter released some sort of laser cannon. It arced with gravity and found its way from the sky to the ground. The male followed the cannon's path, and saw that the creature had moved from the far end of the city, and was now only blocks away from him. The canons continued.
One managed to hit the creature, and knocked him back a great deal. This only seemed to anger him, however, as he stood back up merely just a second later. He faceless being looked around, and saw that a monorail had been bent and broken, and made for an easy ramp. The creature sped off towards it, and jumped the 15 feet to the hanging car. He then traversed his way up to the top of the cars still on the rail and before the pilots could move, the creature had jumped off of it and onto a helicopter, tearing at the fuel lines.
It began to spin out of control, and the creature let go, falling his way back to the ground. The damaged helicopter did a full two and a half spins before colliding with another, and both were in flames before they crashed into a building.
--
All the male could do was watch, awed at the creature's power, and pray that he didn't find him. Luckily, he wouldn't have to wait any longer; a black Lamborghini pulled up beside the male, and the driver opened the door.
"Get in." said the driver. Nicholas Galtry.
"Gee. And here I was thinking you'd never come for me." Said the male, a little sneering.
"If it wasn't for the J.L.A., maybe I wouldn't have." The driver looked at his passenger and thought of disgust. "I'm joking of course."
"Sure you are. Just one more week, and I'll be 18. Then I can live on my own and you won't have to worry about me so much. Nick." The male said it with an incredible disdain in his voice.
"I will miss it, Garfield." The driver's voice was dripping with sarcasm.
"Just drive. Let the U.N. or the J.L.A. handle whatever that thing is." He said, slouching in his chair. The driver sped away, retreating to the safety of whatever streets may be left in tact for him to get the shelter.
--
Back at the battle, the helicopters weren't doing so well. "Commander! We can't do anything! We can barely get a hit in, and when we do, we just seem to anger it!"
"How many of you are left?" a voice in a building far away, asked. 'The Commander' as he was called.
"Its just me! I'm flying too high right now to either shoot him or let the monster attack me!"
"Retreat pilot. That's an order. We'll figure something out. Buildings can be rebuilt, we cannot rebuild a soul." The voice said. The pilot's 'Yes, sir.' that would have followed never came though, only static. The Commander sighed and placed his head in his hands.
"Is Nightwing there yet?" The Commander asked to nobody in particular.
"Yes, Commander, I believe he is." Replied a woman. She was at a monitor, ticking away rapidly at the keys, and had swiveled in her chair to respond.
"Send him in." The Commander looked... disappointed.
"Are you sure, Commander, is that a wise idea?" The woman turned fully to him now.
"If anybody can beat this thing, Nightwing can." He sounded quite sure.
"Yes, sir." The woman turned back to her monitor, and resumed typing.
"Good luck, Richard." Said the Commander under his breath.
--
They were almost to the base, when the driver, Nicholas Galtry, spoke. "You know, thanks to you, I got quite a few dents in this thing. It is scratched horribly. It wouldn't have been in this condition if I hadn't had to find you."
The passenger just looked at him, a mixture of awe and disbelief and hatred in his eyes. "Well, it wouldn't have gotten scratched if you hadn't waited 30 minutes after the evacuation signal to remember to come get me."
"I only had three payments left on this, Garfield. Now, its ruined, what do you expect for me to do?
"If you are evenconsidering dipping into my parents' trust fund they left for me again then I am sorry." Said the male, Garfield. Nicholas Galtry had an amused glare in his eye.
"Oh? And just what would you do? Until you turn 18, I'm you're legal guardian. You don't have any say in the money." Garfield's eyes met his.
"No. I only have to wait a week, and then I'm legally free of anything that binds me to you. However, I could always slice your throat; that doesn't have to wait until I'm 18." Garfield said this with all honesty.
"Like you would. The J.L.A. would lock you up and throw away the key before you could even say 'Mommy and Daddy'." Nicholas laughed at that.
"Keep thinking that,Nick." Garfield had a smirk on his face. And Nicholas didn't know why, but he really believed that smirk.
--
Once out of city limits they reached their destination fairly quickly. Not the underground shelters, as Garfield had previously thought, but it was the Justice League of America headquarters. They pulled into the garage, and the two walked towards the elevator. However, before they could even press the button for the doors to open, they seemed to open by themselves. The elevator already had a passenger, an older woman with black hair, and in a black suit. She did wear a golden tiara, however.
"Garfield Logan? Nice to meet you. My name is Diana Marston, she held out her hand and shook his as he reciprocated. "I was waiting for you. Welcome to the J.L.A. Come with me, I'll take you were you need to be."
Garfield walked into the elevator with the woman, and knew he could trust her.
"What about me?" asked Nicholas Galtry. "Am I to go in to?"
"I believe we only requested Mr. Logan. Thank you for bringing him Mr. Galtry; you services here are no longer needed." Diana just smiled and then hit a number on the side of the elevator, and the doors began to close.
"See ya later, Nick." Said Garfield. He could only smile at his former guardian's obvious outrage. He had never been in the actual stronghold of the J.L.A., only the waiting rooms and such. And even though he never said anything to Garfield, he could tell that he was excited to see what it looked like.
The elevator's doors closed, and started to move downward. "So this is where all of my parent's research is stored?" said Garfield after a minute of silence.
Without turning her head towards his, "Yes. Mark and Marie's work with the human genome is helping to greatly to understand where superheroes get their powers from." Garfield just nodded.
"Do you know what a help they have been to us? You wouldn't believe how brilliant they are. "According to their research, we may one day be able to genetically alter a human being at birth to give that child what ever power the parent may wish."
"Isn't that a bad thing?" asked Garfield. "I mean, wouldn't the bad guys be able to do that as well?" Diana just looked at him.
"Well, yes, of course. That is why we aren't just going to tell people about it. We're going to do it solely for our own purposes. Forour children. To make sure that if this does come to fruition, that the children are being raised by the right parents." Diana looked enthralled.
"Oh… well. I suppose that's safe…" said Garfield, still a little in shock of what exactly his parents' research was being used for. He never could understand why the J.L.A. had wanted the rights to it, but it did make a little more sense now. "It is important to protect the human race."
Diana just nodded.
--
"Nightwing. Did you understand that? Eliminate the target at all costs." The Commander said. His voice carried though a small receiver and into the ear of the one called 'Nightwing'.
"Its not like the city isn't already destroyed. How many 'costs' could there be left?" Said Nightwing, more to himself than The Commander.
"Nightwing, just do it." Said The Commander, sighing.
"What ever you say, Bruce." The transmission went back to static.
--
"Here, you're supposed to read this." Diana said to Garfield, handing him a small handbook.
"What is this for?" asked Garfield.
"Just read it. Its just guidelines and things. If you're going to be part of the J.L.A., you better follow the rules."
"Yes, I know, I know." Garfield looked bored. This was the longest elevator ride of his life. He wasn't sure how long they had been going down, but it was going on 3 minutes.
It finally ended, and the doors opened up to a very white, and very… sterile… looking place. There weren't any posters or pictures anywhere, just fluorescent lights and neon white paint, if there could be such a thing.
"Come on, down here." Diana said, tilting her head forwards and to her right. They reached a hallway, and took it, and then another hallway, and a door, and another hallway.
"Man, how in the world do you guys remember where you're going?" said Garfield, jokingly.
"We just do. It is a little complicated, but living down here straightens it all out."
"Oh, alright." Garfield took the answer. It was another 10 minutes before they stopped. A blond haired woman Diana's age was on the other side of a sliding door they had just opened.
"Diana? What is taking you so long? Is this him?" the blond woman asked questions quite quick in Garfield's opinion.
"Yes, he is the Third." Diana said.
"Third? Do you know anyone else that's not only green, but devilishly good looking? That ranks right up with first, baby." Garfield was back to his regular self again; the ride with Nicholas left him in a rare mood. "Garfield Logan, at your service."
"Yes… whatever. Now, come on. We're short on hands and on time." She turned on one heel and walked steadily off.
"Hey! Wait, aren't you going to at least tell me you're name?" asked Garfield, trying to keep up with her.
"My name is Shayera Hol." Said the woman, and continued walking hastily.
"She's a real talker." Garfield mumbled to himself. He decided that he should read (a feat he rarely did) whatever that handbook that Diana had given him said before he did anything that would get him in trouble.
With his face buried in all of the rules and regulations, he barely paid attention to Diana and Shayera's conversation.
"So, the Commander just let Nightwing take the creature on by himself?" Diana looked a little shocked.
"Yes. Obviously Bruce thinks Richard can take it. Who knows, maybe the little punk will succeed." Shayera said flippantly.
"But, last time, Green Lantern had to help him out. Does Bruce really think that Richard improved that much in just a month? That's hard to believe." Diana was still in shock that a 19 year old kid was trying to take down something that even the armies laser cannons couldn't.
"Well, you know Bruce and the rigid training he used to goes through to be Batman. I wouldn't doubt it for a second if he had the kid doing the same thing." Shayera said.
"True… I mean, after all, Richard was the First to be chosen."
"Yes, let's just leave it at that, and wait until we can get back into the Control Room and actually see what's happening."
--
"Bruce, are you okay?" asked Diana as the three of them walked in the Control Room. The Commander had been gripping his chair, his knuckles turning white.
"Its Nightwing. He's losing ground." Said one of the people working with a computer screen.
"He needs help." Said Diana. "We've got to get him some, he can't just die there. Who is all here?"
"Its just us three, Diana." Said Shayera. "Everybody else is on other respective missions."
"I will go." Said Diana, stepping forward.
"No. Wait. Why not let our new recruit?" Bruce said, turning towards Garfield. "See what he's got."
"You want him to go help?" Shayera was a little taken back. "He's not even part of the J.L.A. yet!"
"So? He does have fighting experience. As I recall, you were part of the late Doom Patrol, correct?"
"Yeah! You better believe it! If you want me to go kick that dude's butt, its no sweat." Garfield was getting excited, he hadn't had a good fight in a while. The only reason he didn't try to fight the creature before was because he didn't want to mess with military affairs; if they thought they could handle it, why not let them go for it?
"Hmm… Alright then. Garfield, go to your right, those tubes over there are high powered elevators. They will take you to the surface in approximately 15 seconds. Find Nightwing, assist him, and the two of you promptly return back to here, understand?"
"Yes sir!" Garfield did a mock salute, more out of slight comedic effect to loosen the tension than to actually salute.
"Very well. Good luck, Garfield." Bruce turned and looked back at the monitors. Garfield started walking towards the elevator and even had a foot in when he turned back around.
"Oh… and you can call me Beast Boy." He gave every body a thumbs up, and with that, he was in the tube, being taken back to the surface to help a comrade he hadn't even met yet.
--
AN: Hm… Its been quite a while since I have written anything. Too long perhaps. Oh well. I hope you enjoy this. Not much to be said about it right now, except that I am quite well aware that it is slightly fast paced.
Not too many Teen Titan characters in here right now either… That will change, trust me. I just have to establish a few things, then we can get everything rolling.
Oh, and just a little for you information (if you didn't know):
Nightwing is Robin is Richard "Dick" Grayson
Garfield Logan is Beast Boy
Bruce is The Commander is Batman
Diana is Wonder Woman
Shayera is Hawkgirl
And yes, don't worry. Yes the other Titans will be in the story. It revolves around Raven and Beast Boy, of course they will be in there. They just didn't fit in here anyhere…