Chapter 01
A Gathering of Heroes
Authors Note
When the heroes are in their everyday clothes I will refer to them by their civilian names, hero gear then hero names.
I now have a twitter specifically for fanfiction now, for those that want to follow it's ShadowWriter131. I'll tweet on there when I upload and if anyone wants to contact me or just talk then that's probably the best place.
Metropolis
August 14th
11:46 am
Titans Tower Five
The Titans Tower sat out on a manmade island just off the shore of Metropolis. It was two-hundred feet tall and fifty-foot-wide at its base. The top floors were wider and made the building look like a giant T. It was equipped with everything from a gym, to an infirmary and had living quarters and a kitchen comparable to those found in a five-star hotel. There were several floors built into the island for vehicles and storage and there was even a personal zeta-pad for the heroes to use if needed. It was a very big place for just six teenage heroes, but if the Titans Initiative was successful it was expected that its number of inhabitants would no doubt increase.
For Jaden it was a little daunting. He had lived in small apartments his whole life and the sheer size of this place made him feel a little agoraphobic. Athena on the other hand didn't seem to care and stood leaning against the roof entrance with her eyes closed, soaking up the summer sun's rays. The two of them were waiting on the roof for their other teammates to arrive and he couldn't help but be a little nervous. The six of them had met a few weeks ago and went through several training sessions, closely watched by Batman himself. They had done well and worked very well together, they were even praised by the Dark Knight himself, but starting from today it would all be real. Not that it hadn't been real before, all of them had experienced the life of a hero to one degree or another, but if felt more so now that he knew he was on an official team. He didn't know if he was sweating from the heat or the thought of leading a team.
"Relax Sparky," Athena called over. "Don't need you calling a storm down on us."
Jaden looked up and he realized he had been unintentionally creating storm clouds above them. Concentrate on them, he quickly dispersed them. "Sorry about that," he said with a very slight accent, hinting at his African heritage. "I didn't realize I was that nervous," he added sheepishly.
Athena walked over to him and placed a hand oh his shoulder, giving him a reassuring smile as she did. "Don't worry about it. You may be the leader, but we will be part of a team and that means we'll all under the same pressure. But if we work together we'll be just fine."
He smiled back. "Wow, that almost sounded profound," he teased.
She gave him a playful punch in the arm, though with her strength it still hurt. "Don't make me kick your ass again."
"I don't remember you ever kicking my ass."
"Oh, it's on," she said cracking her knuckles.
Thankfully, before she could beat the demigod out of him, the others arrived. In a flash of light, Riley, Luz, Marcus and Satana materialized via zeta-beam not ten feet from them. And they were not the only ones. Batman had come with them.
"We interrupting something?" Riley said with a grin looking at the two of them.
"Yeah, me pummeling this guy," Athena said before Jaden could speak.
"Glad to see you're all getting along," Batman said in his usual gruff voice. "From today on you will be working with each other more closely." He handed them all an orange disk that fit into the palms of their hands and was about an inch thick. On the front of them was black T. "These are your communicators. Inside is an earpiece for communication while the device itself works as a signal booster and has its own private channel. There are more in the monitor room should you need them but please do not lose them."
"We won't," Jaden reassured him. "Will we?" he asked turning to his teammates, only to see Luz taking his apart already. Luz looked back at Jaden as if to ask what he did wrong. "Well, he hasn't lost it," Jaden offered.
Batman didn't seem to mind this, in fact he almost seemed amused. "It's fine. Now onto the Tower. I'd give you a tour, but my time here is limited so I've left directions in the monitor room should you need them. Now, as for living here. Most of you have homes already so can come and go as you please, but there will always be a room here for you should you need it. Anything you need, just ask at the computer in the monitor room and we will get it to you as soon as we can, so long as it's reasonable. Finally, your costumes are ready as per your requests, they'll be in the monitor room along with your first assignment." He looked at the six young heroes for a moment before continuing. "And remember, you got here on your own merits and I expect you to do great things." And with that Batman vanished in a flash of light.
For several moments they stood there just staring at where Batman had been. As of now they were a team and entrusted with keeping Metropolis safe. True, this was Superman's stomping ground, but it was still a big responsibility.
The silence was finally broken by Riley. "Come on," she said excitedly. "Let get changed." And with that the six teens entered the tower.
-0000-
Once they found their costumes, they each went to pick a room to claim as their own and got changed. After which they would all meet back in the monitor room. The monitor room took up half of the uppermost floor and doubled as a living area when they were off duty. It had a fully stocked kitchen, a reading area inside a large bubble for extra peace and quiet, and a large curved couch in front of a cinema sized TV which was also the Tower's main computer. A window stretched the length of the room, overlooking the Metropolis bay.
Jaden was the first to arrive in his Hadari gear. It was very similar to ancient Greek armour with a bronze breastplate, greaves and a helmet, minus the plumage due to a bad experience using his electrical powers. His also had gauntlets with the left one having a retractable shield and the right having a taser like weapon attached to it to channel his power. He wore all this over a red bodysuit for extra protection. To top off his look of an ancient Greek solider was a bronze quarterstaff that could turn into a spear at the push of a button. All this was made of a celestial and mortal bronze blend, a combination once thought impossible, that would protect him from threats from both realms.
Riley, or rather, Artillery was next. Hadari had seen her in the gear before, though Artillery's was brand new and clean, unlike her old gear which he was surprised had lasted so long. Her sword was attached to the back of her coat as though it were held there by magic, which was true in part. Its scabbard would melt into the coat when she laid her hand on the hilt of her sword and reform when she put it back again, allowing easy access and storage for it.
Marcus's Blue Lantern costume had changed a little. Before it was almost identical to Hal's Green Lantern outfit, obviously except his was blue. Now all the black had been replaced with white with a patch of blue covering the top of his shoulders and neckline and came down in an arrow shape to his waist where it curved round to his back and went back up to join the shoulders again. He had blue boots that covered up to his shins and gloves that reached halfway up his forearms. Topping off his outfit was a blue domino mask and his ring on his right hand.
Luz come out and he was wearing a black jumpsuit with green lines like that on a circuit board covering it. It wasn't his true Hack gear, more of a power source and material for the nanites hidden within his body to turn into his armour, at least that's what he told him. Hadari was also sure it was capable of much more but asking Hack meant listening to him for hours about things that went way over his head.
Athena and Satana were the last out and it was the first time he had ever seen them out of their civilian clothes. Athena's Dragon costume was a dark green bodysuit several shades darker than her scales with holes for her tail, wings and claws to stick through comfortably. She also wore a yellow vest with a blouse of a slightly lighter green than her suit but darker than her scales over it. He was sure the vest and blouse were not part of the suit and she wore them simply because she liked them.
Satana was wearing a black sleeveless V-neck top with a red cross in the center of it, a black skirt, black fingerless gloves and black knee-high boots with six straps on each. She also had a red cape that reached down to meet the hem of her skirt. She looked amazing and Hadari stared for a second too long before he was met with a gaze that could turn fire to ice and looked away.
"You all look great," Hadari told them. "We all definitely look the part now."
"Well, I wouldn't say that," Artillery said. "Some of us look like they're looking to get laid," she directed this at Satana. Suddenly she fell face first into the carpet, much to everyone's surprise, except for Satana. She stood up as fast as she could and marched over to Satana till she was inches away from her. "That was so not funny," she said with an irritated tone.
"What are you talking about?" she asked with a straight face. "You should try to be less clumsy."
Artillery squared up to the taller girl and looked as though a fight was about to happen. Thankfully instead she burst out laughing. "All right, all right, we'll call it even," she held her hand out and the two of them shook.
Had Hadari not witnessed it during their training sessions he would have said that a close bond between those two would be impossible. They were about as opposite as you could imagine, in fact the only thing they had in common was they appreciation for the colour black.
"Why, don't you too just kiss already," Dragon joked.
"We will when you and Hack do," Artillery shot back.
"Our love is platonic," Hack said with a hand on his heart and a grin on his face.
"Hey if we're sharing out kisses I'll take some from you lovely ladies," Blue said.
"No!" all three of them said at once.
This sent them all into a laughing fit. It was great to see them all get along. When they all met less than a month ago they were all had apprehensions about working with people they didn't know. But after working together in the training sessions they all opened up to each other. Even Blue, who was usually distant came out of his shell a little.
"So, who made this?" Hack asked Hadari once they were done laughing. "I made mine and Blue's is made from his ring but these," he said running his hand over Dragon's suit, much to her annoyance and discomfort that he was oblivious to, "These are very well made."
"You can thank the Hephaestus Cabin at Camp Half-Blood," he told him.
"The training camp for demigods?"
"Yeah, when I told them I was going to be a superhero they jumped at a chance to make them. So, I asked Batman if it was ok and he said yes. They even made some improvements."
"What kind of improvements?" Hack asked, curiously.
"They told me that the suits will stop small caliber bullets and can regenerate themselves if damaged. They also said something about how the suits will protect you to a certain degree on areas they don't cover but it was like listening to you and I sort of zoned out."
Hack nodded and was lost in deep thought. "I can make better," he said to himself. "Just need the right materials." His hand armored up and a holo-computer appeared, and he started taking notes.
"So, while he's lost in thought, what's our first assignment," Dragon asked.
Hadari picked up the note left by Batman. "Ok, who's ready?"
"This is going to be awesome," Artillery said with a massive grin on her face.
-0000-
Central Metropolis
"This sucks donkey balls," Artillery complained over the communicator.
Hadari and Satana stood on top of a building watching over a large crowd forming below them in front of a stage that stood in the middle of an intersection. Blue and Dragon were on another building opposite them, while Artillery and Hack were covering the only two alleyways leading towards the crowd. There were news vans and black sedans dotting the outside of the event and dozens of men and women in black suits were wondering round, watching for anything out of the ordinary, just as the team was doing.
"I know, but we can't really say no if the League has asked us to do it," Hadari consoled.
"But helping guard Luthor of all people," she retorted. "And he has his own personal army anyway, so we don't even need to be here."
"I agree with Artillery," Blue added. "Why do we have to help this gilipollas?"
Hadari didn't understand Spanish but he assumed whatever he said it wasn't nice. "Well he is the president and I'm pretty sure without him the Titans wouldn't exist."
This was mostly true. While the Justice League had put forth the idea for setting up Titan teams in major cities, it was Luthor that authorized it. Not many people liked the idea of having teenagers protecting cities. With "inexperienced", "immature" and "immoral" being just some of the opinions thrown around. But Luthor talked everyone round to the idea and even donated a lot of money to the League to build the Towers.
"Doesn't mean we have to like him."
"No, it doesn't," Hadari agreed. "But we have a job to do and regardless of what we think we have to do it to the best of our ability. Anyone see anything?" A chorus of negatives came over the communicator and he nodded. "Good, but keep your eyes peeled just in case."
They continued to watch over the crowd as a loud cheer went up. President Lex Luthor exited a building, flanked by a dozen bodyguards, with the usual confident smile and took the stage. He wore his presidential blue suit and red tie. He only wore these because the blue suit had a subliminal calming effect and the red tie projected confidence, he even said this himself. He waited for the cheering to die down before speaking into the mic.
"Greetings citizens of Metropolis and thank you for coming out on such a fine day, were it not for my duties I'd probably be at the beach instead of here." This elicited a few chuckles. "But I digress. Some of you are wondering why I'm here and others can probably guess. I am here to talk about the Titan Towers set up here and in four other cities and what they mean for them. As of right now the crime rates involving superpowered beings is at the highest it's even been. Even the Justice League and their associates, The Team, are hard pressed to keep up with them. These Titans will be the next step in protecting the citizens and their homes from those that would with them harm. I understand that many of you are concerned about leaving your safety in the hands of teenagers but with the success of those that were once sidekicks to members of the Justice League during the invasions by the Reach and Darkseid I have no illusions that given half the chance others can rise to that same level of success. And let's face it, teenagers will do what they want and wouldn't you rather they did so under the watch of those you put your faith in day after day rather than on their own."
A murmur of approval spread through the crowd and even the Titans couldn't find fault in his words, whether they liked it or not. Lex continued with his speech.
"Should the Titans succeed I can see every city in America having its own personnel team of superheroes, perhaps even every city in the world. I for one would love to see a world without crime and as long as fate allows it I shall help lead this world towards that goal." A cheer rose up from the crowd so loud it was almost deafening to the Titans even at this distance.
"You think I can spit on him from this range?" Dragon asked.
"Probably, though with your fire breath you may end up setting him ablaze," Hack said.
"And wouldn't that be a terrible thing," Artillery said loaded with sarcasm.
Hadari chuckled. "Alright guys, enough of that and let's keep watch. His speech can't go on for much longer… hopefully."
"Hang on," Hack said urgently. "We got incoming."
"Where?" Hadari inquired.
"Sixty-two miles above us," he told him. "Something just entered Earth's lower thermosphere and is on a collision course… right where the crowd is," he added.
"Figures. How long have we got?"
"At its current speed, less than six minutes."
"Right everyone we got a job to do. Dragon, Blue, Satana and Artillery get the civilians out of here. Hack, get into all forms of transmissions in a three-block radius and give an evacuation order, just in case. I'm going to order Luthor to vamoose." Hadari called the winds around him to action and flew down to the stage. The bodyguards went to draw their guns, but Lex raised his hand to stop them.
"Hadari of the Titans I assume," said Luthor with that same infuriating grin on his face. "What can I do for you?"
"I need you and everyone to get out of here as fast as possible," he told him. "Something's coming and its coming in fast."
The crowd watched on, unsure of what to do at first but the appearance of costumed teens shouting at them to leave they did as they were told.
"Very well," Luthor said. "I shall leave it to you and your team, whatever it is," he turned to one of his bodyguards, "Let's do as the young man says." And with that Luthor and his cronies quickly left the stage and got into a sedan, driving off as fast as they could.
Hadari turned to see the crowd dispersing, but not quick enough. There were still too many people and time was running out.
"Satana, you can make portals, right?" He asked
"Gateways actually, but yes," she replied.
"No need to get pedantic," he said. "Get as many out as you can." She nodded, and several rectangular tears in reality the size of double doors materialized, leading to another part of the city and people filed through them. "Hack, how long to we have left?"
"Two minutes," he told him, flying towards the stage. "It's accelerating faster than I thought. Look!" He pointed to the north. A small shining dot in the distance stood out even in the middle of the day.
"Ok, I'm going to blast it then. Hopefully I can take it out before it hits."
"Wait," Hack warned. "I'm detecting a lifeform up there. Someone is in that thing."
"Someone's trying to land that thing here?"
"No, I can't pick up any higher brain activity. Whoever it up there is unconscious… or worse."
Damn it, that made things complicated, but he wasn't about to kill someone, even if it was the best solution. There was always another way. "Hack, keep an eye on things down here. I'm going to see if I can slow that thing down." Before Hack could ask what he was up to, Hadari called upon the winds once more and took to the skies, aiming himself at the object, growing ever closer.
He wasn't sure he could stop it in time to rescue whoever was in there, and he almost prayed to his father for help. But after his last "talk" with him he doubted he would heed his prays. Besides, Zeus would only ask for repayment and the thought of reimbursing him left a sickening taste in his mouth. He just hoped he had the strength for this.
He shot towards to object with a speed only matched by that of the gods of the winds. As he got within a hundred feet of it he could make out what it was. It was a silver sphere about five or six feet in diameter with a single circular window. But with the heat of reentry surrounding it, it was impossible to see inside. Calling upon his powers, he wrapped the sphere in a cocoon of wind, simultaneously slowing its descent and cooling it down. Even so it was still coming in hard and fast. He concentrated even harder and the winds formed an almost solid barrier around the object, slowing it almost to a crawl. Seconds passed like minutes, but he had it under control. After what seemed like an eternity he lowered the object to the ground, exhausted, but feeling elated at what he had done.
The other Titans gathered around him. Looking around he saw that the streets were empty. The team had managed to get the all citizens to safety.
"Whoa dude, that was incredible," Blue said, holding out his ring. Blue light washed over him and Hadari felt all the pain and fatigue vanish.
"Didn't know you were that powerful," Artillery said.
"Well, what can I say, I'm just full of surprises," he told them. "To be honest with someone's life on the I think it was mostly adrenaline."
"Who's life?" Dragon asked.
"Whoever's in the pod," Hack told her. He quickly told them all about the lifeform he discovered inside the object.
All their eyes turned towards the pod that now sat in the middle of the intersection. It was covered in scratches and burn marks, especially near the bottom. The single window that Hadari saw earlier was also part of a door. There was alien writing on the door from what looked like several different languages.
"Any idea what they say, Blue?" Hadari asked him.
"No, and that's really weird. My ring is supposed to translate all languages belonging to spacefaring races."
"Well, we can't worry about that right now. There's someone in there that needs our help. Hack get it open and Blue heal up whoever's in there."
They both nodded and walked up to the pod. Hack placed his hand on the pod and with a thought, the door opened with a loud hiss and clanged to the floor, reveling its occupant.
Inside was a humanoid girl with pale skin. She looked almost Asian by human standards and had a mane of shaggy black hair that reached down to just past her shoulders. She looked like she was in her mid-teens when compared to humans and was just under five and half foot tall with a slender build. She wore a simple, loose fitting, purple sleeveless dress like garment that came down to just above her knees with a fur belt round her waist and a pair of leather shoes. There were cuts and bruises all over her arms and head and there looked to be dents inside the pod itself. It was as though it impacted something, and she had bounced around inside it. She was unconscious and her breathing shallow.
"Hey, who ever said hot babes never fell from the sky," Blue commented.
"Just hurry up and heal her," Hadari told Blue. "Hack, see what you can find from the pod." They nodded, and Blue held his ring in front of the girl bathing her in a soft blue light. Meanwhile, Hack aimed his hand at the computer systems, downloading the data within them to his armour. "Everyone else secure the perimeter." They all nodded and got to work.
Before she left, Satana approached Hadari. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, just a little tired. Guess Blue can't heal mystical fatigue as much as the normal kind."
"You didn't ask your father for help, didn't you?" she asked sternly and crossed her arms.
"No, though I thought about it for a second. But I knew it would have been a bad idea." he assured her. "Honest."
"That's good, though if you wanted help you should have asked me. And I wouldn't have asked for anything in return," she left with a smile and he couldn't help but stare at her leave.
Gods damn it, he thought with a shake of his head. I'm too much like my dad, damn this curse. His thoughts were interrupted by a sound behind him.
"Gak."
He quickly turned around to see the young girl from the pod with her hands clamped round the throats of Blue Lantern and Hack. They flailed but to no avail, the girl was far stronger than either of them.
"She's hostile!" Hadari yelled and him and the other three Titans leapt to help their friends.
But the girl's reaction was faster than they were. She threw Blue at Hadari and Hack at Dragon. The Titans collided with each other and fell to the floor in a tangle of limbs. Satana readied a spell and Artillery reached for something in one of her trench coats pockets. Again, the alien girl was quicker, and she raised both her hands. They became engulfed in purple light and twin beams of energy shot out at them. Both girls leapt out of the way but were thrown back by the shockwave of the blasts as they hit the ground once occupied by them and landed on the tarmac with grunts.
The six teens picked themselves up and faced the alien girl. "This is what I get for helping the good-looking ones," Blue complained. "Choked out and thrown like a ragdoll."
"Now's not the time Blue," Hadari scolded. "We got a super strong, energy blasting alien girl on our hands."
The alien girl yelled at them in an alien language.
"What did she say, Blue?"
"No idea. Stupid ring says she must be from a race that hasn't explored space yet."
"Tell your ring it needs an update," Dragon shouted.
The girl raised her fists and took a combative stance. Her gaze rapidly darting back and forth between the six.
"Get ready everyone," Hadari said. "Looks like we might have a fight on our hands."
End of chapter 01