TITANS FOREVER

CHAPTER TWO: QUESTIONS AND CHRONOTONS

Coastal sunset splashed across Titan Tower like an Impressionist's fever dream. Jump City buzzed and hummed, strobed and sparkled, loved and lived. In the lengthening shadow of Titan Tower the beach teemed with life. Bonfires lit up as teen ragers kicked into gear. The pier jingled and jangled as its perpetual circus actualized eternal celebration. Families and elderly couples strolled along the board walk, watching the ocean swallow the sun in a storm of rose and lavender.

As per usual, the Titans largely ignored all of this, having long since taken it for granted. Instead, most of the Titans lounged in their normal spots on the couch. Snacks littered the area around them while they laughed raucously at the massive holoscreen before them.

"Play it again, dude! Play it again!" Beast Boy cheered, his eyes shining with laughter as his face contorted into an almost tortured smile.

"Yes! Again!" Starfire chirped.

"Okay-okay-okay!" Cyborg answered giddily, picking up the remote.

"Seriously?" Raven groaned as the image on the holoscreen began to rewind. A conspicuous halo of cleanliness surrounded Raven's spot on the couch.

"Raven! Come on!" Beast Boy hollered, throwing his hand out in desperate mirth. "You CANNOT tell me this isn't the funniest thing you've ever seen!"

"You know, it actually was a little funny the first time it played. Tenth time? Not so much," Raven droned.

"I believe this is only the third time the video has repeated, Raven," Starfire corrected in an innocent tone.

"And the third time's the charm!" Cyborg barked, pressing play on the remote.

The screen resumed playing, showing the scene from earlier that morning when Johnny Rancid and his cohort had been taken to jail. Specifically, the screen portrayed Fang and Kitten, both in straight-jackets, being dollied by space-armored police into separate vans. An infographic bearing the JNN logo splashed haphazardly across the bottom of the screen, reading: VILLAINOUS LOVERS SEPARATED! JUSTICE OR JUST CRUEL?

"'FAANGY-POOOOOOOO!'" the image of Kitten shrieked loudly enough that her police escorts cringed as they wheeled her away. The camera cut clumsily to Fang.

"'I LOVE YOU, BABY!'" Fang bellowed in a luxuriously deep tone, his spiderlegs locked above his eight-eyed spiderhead by a set of special cuffs. Fang's mandibles jibbered wildly as he cried, "'I LOVE YOU! I'LL SCREAM IT IN FRONT OF THE JUDGE, IN FRONT OF GOD, IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE DAMN WORLD!'"

"'AAAAH!'" Kitten wailed, mascara running down her cheeks as she shook her head back and forth, "'LEMMEGOLEMMEGOLEMMEGOLEMMEGO!'"

"'DON'T WORRY, KITTEN!'" Fang called as the police wheeled him up the ramp into the back of the van. "'YOU'RE MY HEART, BABY! I'LL GET OUT AND I'LL FIND YOU! THEY CAN'T KEEP US APAR-'"

The van doors slammed shut before Fang could finish. Kitten heaved a great sobbing breath as she was wheeled up her own ramp, and then yelled, "'FAANGY-POOOOOO-'" SLAM

The Titans all held for a moment, three of them bursting with anticipation, before the scene cut back to the JNN studio, where the rookie news anchor sat with an expression of disheveled shock. Cyborg mashed the pause button and dropped the remote as he and Beast Boy erupted into fresh hysterics. They laughed unbridled and flailed their limbs, knocking over several snack containers. Starfire giggled brightly, holding her cheeks and tucking her knees in amusement. Raven sat stone-faced.

"HAHA-HAHA! OMIGOODNESS!" Cyborg heaved for breath around his laughter, "AAAAHAHA!"

"DUUUDE!" Beast Boy howled and pointed a finger at the screen, "LOOK AT HIS FAAACE!"

"Teehee-Heehee!" Starfire giggled so hard she began floating off the couch.

"Hilarious," Raven droned.

"Oof," Robin cringe-grinned as he walked up behind the couch. "New anchor? Must be from out of town."

Cyborg wheeled around to face Robin, smiling hugely, "MAAAN! THIS IS HIS FIRST NIGHT WITH JNN!" Beast Boy and Starfire's laughter took on another degree of intensity.

"Ouch," Robin's smile grew and shook his head slowly.

"They've rewound it three times in a row now," Raven turned to look at Robin.

"You mean FOUR times, mama!" Beast Boy hollered, puffing out his chest. "Play it again! Play it again!"

"Awww yeeeah!" Cyborg shouted as he lunged for the remote once more, but just before he could scrape it up the remote lit up with blackshine and flew out of his grasp.

"Uh-uh," Raven droned as the remote flew into the folds of her cloak. The news began to play once more and the anchor quickly attempted to gather himself.

Cyborg and Beast Boy let out twin groans of disappointment. Starfire settled back onto the couch with a tired smile.

"My cheeks hurt from the laughter," Starfire gave a satisfied sigh.

"Cyborg," Robin said, taking a breath and walking around to the front of the couch, "Are our bugs still live on the Rig?"

The mood in the room changed drastically at Robin's words. Cyborg sat up with a conspiratorial grin, "You know it, man."

"Can you look in on Mad Stan's holding cell for me?" Robin asked. The other Titan's all focused on Robin.

"You got it," Cyborg nodded and pushed a few buttons on his forearm display. The holoscreen quickly blipped from the JNN evening broadcast to an overhead view of Mad Stan lying on a sparse twin bed inside a high-tech cell. The bomber appeared to be asleep on his side with his thumb lodged firmly in his mouth.

"Daww," Beast Boy smiled, "Look at dat wittle guy. Awl tuckered out."

Starfire giggled quietly into her hand.

"Full EM scan?" Robin asked. Cyborg complied. The view rapidly changed colors as Mad Stan's image warped through the entire electromagnetic spectrum. A wall of digital data scrolled up one side of the screen as the scan ran its course. After a few seconds it completed and the image of Mad Stan returned to normal.

"Any anomalies?" Robin asked, his voice gaining a slight edge.

"A couple implants," Cyborg replied as he peered down at his forearm display, scratching his head with his free hand. "At a glance, I'd say their design is pretty advanced, but they're obviously just medical. Monitoring nutrition and the circulatory system, not combative in any way. He does appear to be in a bit too good of shape. Ignoring some minor injuries from this morning, his overall musculature and bone structure suggest either advanced regenerative therapy or else low level genetic modification."

"Healing factor?" Beast Boy asked, poking his head directly in front of Cyborg's to look at the display. Cyborg shoved Beast Boy's head out of the way.

"No," Cyborg said bluntly. "I said he's still got those injuries from today, remember?"

"Oh, yeah," Beast Boy said, his ears twitching in mild confusion.

"So, what?" Raven asked, arching an eyebrow. "He's super-fit?"

"Well, he is in good shape," Cyborg nodded, "But not metahuman good shape. Really... it just looks like the guy completely lacks everyday wear and tear to his body."

"Hmm," Robin's eyemask narrowed. He stared hard at the image of the sleeping Mad Stan.

"Strange," Starfire said, cocking her head to the side, "Though such mundane medical procedures would be frivolent in the Vega System, they are quite normal among many other alien cultures. Yet, this level of eubiosis is quite uncommon for Earth, considering the current level of its scientific advancements. Perhaps the Mad Stan serves an otherworldly master?"

"I doubt it, Star," Robin growled, a scowled bleeding through his features.

"Uuuuuh, me too!" Cyborg trilled, his eyes widening, "Cuz I just took a closer look at the x-rays of our boy's implants and... look at this!"

Cyborg tapped his forearm and the holoscreen went x-ray and zoomed in on an implant. The image settled on a stylized 'W' set inside a circle.

"Hey," Beast Boy chirped up, "Where do I know that from?"

"It's the Wayne Enterprises logo," Raven said, her eyes widening in recognition.

Beast Boy snapped his fingers, "That's it!"

"Johnny Rancid did say that the Mad Stan hailed from the City of Gotham," Starfire added, holding up a finger.

"Only one problem," Robin growled. He turned back to the Titans and tossed something out from underneath his cape. A burnt chunk of plastic clattered across the sofa table, neatly avoiding the many spilt snacks, and settled before the seated Titans with an identical Circle-W facing up at them.

"The logo on Mad Stan's implants matches this one off what remained from one of his spent explosive charges," Robin brooded. "The problem is that it both is and isn't a Wayne Enterprises logo."

"Say huh now?" Cyborg asked, picking up the burnt plastic to inspect it closer.

Robin continued, his affect darkening, "Wayne Enterprises has different symbols for its many different subdivisions. This one most resembles the Wayne Tech logo, except it's not an exact match. The font of the W is slightly different, and the halo is noticeably thicker on both the explosive remains and Mad Stan's implants."

"Aaand," Beast Boy's ears fell, "You're sure it's not just a typo?"

"I'm sure," Robin's brow furrowed deeper, "After this morning's incident I went about recording the events and cataloging our evidence. Since we'd never encountered Mad Stan before, part of that entailed giving him an entry in our database, including his past history. I remembered Rancid introducing him as being from Gotham, and since I'm from Gotham and I'd never heard of him, I figured he must have been a newer rogue, possibly even a rookie. So I wasn't terribly surprised when there was no record of Mad Stan operating in Gotham, or anywhere else for that matter. Then I took the next logical step. He gave his name to police as Stanley Labowski, but there's no record of a Stanley Labowski fitting his description even having lived in Gotham."

"An alias, maybe?" Cyborg suggested, "Fake backstory?"

"I dunno," Beast Boy grinned, "I saw the way Old Mad Dog there was bawlin' when the police took him in. Didn't seem like he was lyin' to me."

"And it seems like an awful lot of trouble for no apparent reason," Raven added. "A clearly fake backstory that's backed up by a clearly fake logo? What would be the point? Especially since Stan's motivations seemed pretty one-dimensional."

"Add in the fact that neither Wayne Tech nor any of its direct competitors manufacture these types of medical implants or explosives, and things make even less sense," Robin growled.

For a moment the Titans pondered in silence, each one racking their brain for some sort of answer to this new riddle. However, before anyone could really get to thinking, Beast Boy broke the silence.

"Hey! Maybe there's more than one Gotham City?" Beast Boy offered with a goofy shrug.

"Really, Beast Boy?" Raven asked, leaning out from the couch to give him a stony glare.

"No," Robin held out a hand, his expression opening up, "No. Beast Boy's right."

"He is?" Raven asked.

"I am?" Beast Boy said at the same time.

"Maybe," Robin licked his lips. "Cyborg, filter out all broadcast transmissions then scan for radio waves in Mad Stan's cell."

"Picking up a weak but steady 225 gigahertz," Cyborg said after a moment of examination, his voice growing bright.

"Compare to background gamma radiation," Robin said.

"Yeah," Cyborg nodded, having already started. Cyborg's eyes widened and he shook his head, "Yeah, man, it fits! Not exactly, but it's within range! 250 keV!"

"Aaaand, how does that mean I was right?" Beast Boy asked, his ears drooping.

Robin turned to the green teen with a grin, "Mad Stan's not from our Gotham."

"That unique radiation signature is a telltale sign of free chronotons!" Cyborg explained with a beaming smile. "Beastie, you're a genius!"

"Tch, well yeah, no doubt," Beast Boy's ears perked up as he smugly lounged deeper into the couch.

"Mad Stan's a time traveler," Raven explained.

"Oooooh!" Beast Boy's facade fell as he grasped what was happening.

"This would explain his advanced physical health as well as his lack of a personal record and the technological and semiotic aberrations," Starfire counted on her fingers, then made a questioning gesture. "But there is still much we do not understand. How did the Mad Stan come to be in our time? In our city? And why did he come to be so?"

"I gotchyer why, Star," Beast Boy smiled, then half-morphed into a gorilla and bellowed, "BLOW IT ALL UP!"

"Inadvertently right again," Raven droned. "Mad Stan clearly didn't send himself back in time."

"Agreed," Robin nodded. "And I can't see how him teaming up with Johnny Rancid, Kitten, Fang, and Punk Rocket to terrorize Central Park would benefit anyone with the capacity to pull him through time. Rancid's a talented engineer, but time travel is leagues above his pay grade."

"So, what?" Cyborg shrugged, "He's just a temporal refugee from some sorta future bomb-plot gone bad?"

"Anything's possible at this point," Robin pinched his chin, "But we can't afford to make assumptions. Even if Mad Stan's behind bars, this could potentially be a serious threat to Jump City. Time travel isn't something to be hand-waved away. We need to investigate deeper."

"So we're breaking into the Rig again," Raven grinned slightly.

"If the Warden finds out, he will be most unhappy," Starfire said with a pensive expression.

"Oh puhlease!" Beast Boy rolled his eyes, "We's the ones who gave the Rig to the city so that they could actually hold on to all the creeps we catch for 'em! If they don't want us sneakin' in to interrogate bad guys they shouldn't make it so hard for us to see 'em in the first place!"

"Of course, they would have been none the wiser if SOMEONE hadn't snuck in on his own just to talk trash on Adonis," Raven growled, eyeing Beast Boy icily.

"I've already apologized for that, mama," Beast Boy lounged back into the couch. "Besides, guy deserved it."

"Everything's still good?" Robin asked Cyborg.

"Already looped the video feed of Stan's cell," Cyborg smiled back.

"Good," Robin nodded. "Raven?"

"Right," Raven stood and shuffled over to stand by Robin. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"

Raven threw her cloak wide as she completed her mantra. A cascade of blackshine billowed out, swallowed both her and Robin, and then propelled itself through the glass wall facing Jump City. As the unglowing mass phased through the transparent matter, it took on the shape of a giant bird. An ethereal cry echoed through twilight as Raven's soulself dove into the sparkling bay. Unseen by the public, the bird phased through a vast stretch of water as a massive shadow and then bled into the submerged foundations of a repurposed oil rig. The Rig could be seen from Titan Tower, but was much further out into the bay, well away from the idyllicisms of the beach and the rhythmic pulse of the city. It had long since stopped producing oil, and now was manned and armored with all manner of high tech equipment and elite personnel.

Unseen and undetected, Raven's soulself moved up through the foundations, phasing within walls and bulwarks to avoid detection. As the blackshine beast climbed level after level, it passed rows and rows of high-tech cells, some empty, most occupied, all remotely monitored. Eventually, the mystic force fountained out of the floor in Mad Stan's cell. The slumbering young man cringed in his sleep. Mad Stan rolled over in his bed as blackshine wings unfurled with a low, otherworldly ringing and enveloped the entirety of his cell. Mad Stan huddled into a tighter fetal position as an unnatural cold washed over him. No light penetrated the shadowed cocoon that now surrounded him, yet he and his bed were somehow illuminated by a pale glow that seemed to erased all color. Mad Stan began to whimper around his thumb as the cold caused bumps to raise on his arms. Robin stepped silently out of the living shadow, cast grey in the colorless light.

"Stanley Labowski," Robin called. The stern tones of his voice echoed weakly in the darkness.

Mad Stan's eyes popped open. He whirled about and scrambled to his feet, reflexively wiping the drool off his thumb. His eyes focused on Robin. He blinked purposefully a few times, and realized that Robin wasn't going away.

"R-Robin?" Mad Stan asked. He began rubbing his arms against the cold. "Is this a dream?"

Robin leered at the prisoner for a moment, then took a deliberate step forward.

"Whoa!" Mad Stan yelped as Robin approached him. He held out his hand and backed up onto his bed. Looking around frantically, Mad Stan began to come to grips with the impenetrable void that he seemed to be trapped in.

"Wh-What the hell?" Mad Stan whined, his voice sharp and energetic. "Where the hell are we?!"

Robin halted his approach just in front of Mad Stan's bed. The prisoner scrunched up as far away as possible, clutching his sheet to his chest like a shield.

"What the hell is this, man?!" Mad Stan asked, his heavy breath starting to fog in the increasing cold.

Robin's jaw set into a grim scowl. His eyemask narrowed as his cape fell forward about his shoulders. The living shadow seemed to bend in waves around them, sending off an eldritch warbling that echoed within itself.

"Whaaaaat?!" Mad Stan squealed weakly, wrapping himself tight in his sheets.

"I have questions," Robin finally spoke. Mad Stan's attention snapped to the Boy Wonder with laser-like focus. "If you give me answers, we can both get on with the evening."

Mad Stan blinked at Robin, then shouted, "GUARDS! GUAARDS! I WANNA SEE MY LAWYER! GUAAAARDS!"

Robin's eyebrow arched and an amused smirk cut across his face. Mad Stan's face fell as he took in the expression. Whimpering, the prisoner sunk down into the folds of his blanket.

"First question," Robin's smirk settled back into a scowl. "Where are you from, Stanley?"

"Gotham City," Mad Stan responded tentatively. He then grit his teeth and his nostrils flared. Mad Stan seethed under his sheets, "And DON'T call me Stanley!"

"Gotham City," Robin repeated. "You went a long way from home for your first bombing, Stanley."

"I SAID, DON'T CALL ME STANLEY!" Mad Stan erupted out from his blankets, flexing on top of his bed. "AND THIS ISN'T MY FIRST BOMBING!"

"I see," Robin said, his expression unchanged as he peered up at the enraged prisoner. "Then where was your first bombing, Stanley?"

"GRAH!" Mad Stan grunted as he threw a fist at Robin's face. In a split second, Robin took a diagonal step back, caught Mad Stan's blurring fist, and lunged downward, yanking Mad Stan's arm further forward and rolling the prisoner's body over his back. The combined force flipped Mad Stan onto the blackshine ground with a hard slap.

As Mad Stan's breath wheezed out of his chest, Robin pulled his arm into a painful locked position, torqued the man onto his stomach, and then placed a steel toed boot in between Mad Stan's shoulder blades.

"GHHH! GHHH! GHHH!" Mad Stan struggled to gasp, wind still knocked out of him, and he writhed in pain from Robin's hold. The Boy Wonder bent over, putting more weight into Mad Stan's back, and spoke softly.

"Maybe I didn't make the situation clear," Robin growled. "I have questions. You give me answers, or I hurt you until you do."

"GAAHHHH!" Mad Stan took a big gulp of air, and then, "AAAAAAAH!"

The prisoner's scream cut short with a yelp as Robin tweaked his armlock.

"Where was your first bombing, Stanley?" Robin asked.

"GOTHAM!" Mad Stan wailed, tears running freely down his face.

"Really?" Robin asked, "Gotham? That's what you're gonna go with? You do know who I am, right? I'd have heard about a bombing in Gotham City. You're lying to me, Stanley, and I don't like being lied to."

Robin increased the pressure on Mad Stan's arm, and the prisoner wailed in response.

"I SWEAR! I SWEAR!" Mad Stan sobbed, "I BOMBED GOTHAM BUT THE BAT STOPPED ME!"

"The Bat?" Robin barked, releasing his hold. Mad Stan curled up into a ball, sobbing. Robin's expression darkened, and he yelled, "THE BAT'S NEVER HEARD OF YOU!"

"WAIT!" Mad Stan yelled as Robin lunged for him. The Boy Wonder gripped Mad Stan by the front of his inmate's jumpsuit, hoisted him off the floor, and slammed him into the unglowing wall. Robin scowled ever deeper and brought his face within and inch of Mad Stan's.

"I don't like being lied to, Stanley," Robin whispered into the prisoner's wincing face. "Now I'm going to show you just how much."

"Please!" Mad Stan sobbed, his face contorted with terror. He grabbed desperately at the Boy Wonder's wrists. "Please! It wasn't your Bat! You don't know him!"

Robin sneered, "There's only one Bat in Gotham."

"Now!" Mad Stan pleaded, snot dripping from his nose, "But where I'm from there's another! A new one!"

"What do you mean?" Robin growled, tightening his grip.

Mad Stan moved to speak, but caught short, "You... You won't believe me."

Robin's eyemask narrowed, then he spun and threw Mad Stan to the floor.

"WAIT!" Mad Stan screamed as he recovered from the toss.

Robin pulled out his bo-staff, "You'd better start talking."

"OKAY! OKAY!" Mad Stan held up a hand in submission, "I'M FROM THE FUTURE!"

Robin raise his bo-staff with both hands and moved towards Mad Stan, growling, "Don't lie to me!"

"I'M NOT! I'M NOT! I CAN PROVE IT!" Mad Stan winced away bodily. Robin's movements shifted and he stabbed down with his bo-staff, caught the fabric just off the shoulder of Mad Stan's jumpsuit, and hoisted the prisoner off the floor once more, pinning him to the blackshine wall with an oddly echoing clang. Mad Stan tried to wince away from the bo-staff, emitting a high pitched whine as he failed to do so.

"How?" Robin smiled.


H here, saying thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you'll join me next week for CHAPTER THREE: THE MAN OF TOMORROW!

What will the Titans find when they peer forward in time?