I own nothing but the characters that don't appear in the DC universes.
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Dakota
Static fell backwards into the garbage filled dumpster. Ebon's dark form lifted the entire container into the air and tipped it end over end so that its contents were spilled over the road. A car barely stopped in time to avoid running Static down.
"Thank you." He yelled to the driver. Using his electromagnetic powers Static pulled the bonnet of the car off the vehicle and used it as a shield to block the villains tackle. Pushing against it Static crushed Ebon between the metal cover and a wall. When Ebon's form disappeared he pulled back the bonnet to reveal the brick wall. Great.
He had to warn the others about this. Pulling out his Shock Box he noticed the time on his watch. Five o-clock! If he didn't get home now his sister was going to barbeque him. Ebon forgotten Static turned around and made his way home.
- - -
Undisclosed Location
Ebon's dark form slid out of the shadowy vortex. He walked up to another meta-human with a smile on his face.
Blood's not too happy with us. Ebon heard in his head. He thinks we're a bad influence on one another.
We are. Ebon sent back. If it weren't for your hot head I wouldn't have gone after Static like that.
And if it weren't for your cool mind I would never have resisted joining you. The other Meta continued. He wants you to return to Thrace. He seams to think the distance will weaken our bond.
That's a good good idea. I'll see you around brother. Ebon said sinking into the shadows again.
- - -
Nina's Family Home
Richie kissed the forehead of Nina's sleeping form once he was sure she was dead to the world. The young woman sighed his name and smiled contently in her sleep. He silently gathered his cloths from the floor and pulled his Gear uniform from the inside of them. After changing he stored his cloths in Backpack and pulled a red rose from the computer. He knew before coming here that he wouldn't stay the whole night and so prepared. The computer also contained his helmet, Jetblades, utility belt and pads. He placed the rose on top of a note before climbing out of her window.
Two hours. That's how long he had slept for. He had been keeping track of his sleep patterns and discovered that he had been spending less and less time sleeping. He checked Backpack's scans before heading towards the nearest entrance to the HQ.
- - -
Dakota DocksWhen the coast was clear the teen hero jumped unnoticed from the back of the transport truck. He quickly climbed over the fence and onto the sidewalk. He had been following his brother from Steel city through Bludhaven and finally to Dakota. While in Bludhaven he had attempted to find Nightwing who had recently moved there from the Titan Tower. He had searched the rooftops for three days with no luck before his brother began to move again. He'd followed to the best of his ability but he moved considerably slower.
They must have stopped here a while ago for him to have caught up. He had heard about Dakota. It too had its heroes. The group didn't really have a name but the media had christened then the Dakota Titans. Whatever they were called he would need their help. By himself he was powerless and stood no chance against his teammates. He didn't even know if he stood a chance with their help. His fellow Titans were older and far more experienced then the new team.
He set this worry aside. He needed to find them first. If the New Titan Tower's communications hadn't been damaged he would have contacted their sister team or the Justice League. Again he set his thoughts aside. He needed a plan. If his brother were here they could check the whole city in moments. He didn't like being without his twin, it was slow and silent without him.
He was so lost in the thoughts that he had tried to put aside that he didn't notice Gear looking at him from the air. The little man in a white and red costume had certainly grabbed his attention. He landed behind him and tapped his shoulder. The little man was so surprised to see an object of his search so quickly that he simply stared up at the taller teen.
"Menos? Qué es usted haciendo en Dakota?" Gear spoke in the teens native Spanish.
"I…" He suddenly snapped out of it. "I need help. A cuerval called Brother Blood has captured my hermano and teammates. I've been able to track them back here but without my hermano I don't have any powers to fight him with. I was hoping to run into your team for assistance."
"Oh…well then…I guess you'd better follow me." Gear said.
The speedster followed him to a nearby park were he knelt down next to a manhole cover. Gear lifted the cover to show a tunnel and ladder leading into the sewer. Thinking they were going in Menos was surprised when he closed the cover again. Once secure Gear turned the cover clockwise a little then anticlockwise a lot. Opening the cover again Menos was shocked to see that a different and shorter tunnel had appeared.
He followed Gear through this tunnel and into the underground base. Gear walked straight over to his computer that, as far as he could see, turned on by its self. Gear searched his database and quickly found the name.
"Brother Blood." He read. "Real name unkown. A natural telepath that developed powerful mind control techniques as a child. He became the leader of the Church of Blood, a cult dedicated to the development of an army for their god. He was the cult's first brother that started training meta-humans as well as regular ones." Gear looked over at Menos. "Sound about right?"
"Sí." He replied.
"I need to know what happened?"
Menos nodded and began his tale.
- - -
New Titan Tower - : - Five days ago"Titan's Go!" Bee shouted. The large red form of Adonis lifted a truck over his head and threw it at the scattering teens.
"You can't challenge Adonis!" The armoured criminal shouted.
"Watch us!" Arsenal said firing a volley of arrows. The glowing yellow tipped projectiles pierced the red armour but caused him no apparent harm.
"Ha, that all you got chump!"
"Wait for it…" The former Speedy said. The arrows exploded and Adonis dropped. The Titans team waited for a moment before Más and Menos kicked the giant in the side and sped beck behind the rest of the group. Adonis didn't move.
"Who wants Fish tacos." Arsenal called.
"No tacos!" Tempest screamed.
"How about we just go for pizza?" Jinx suggested forcefully.
"Personally I like barbeque!" A new voice shouted. The six of them barely avoided the plume of fire that was thrown at them. The plume engulfed the form of Adonis and quickly incinerated his unconscious form. The Titans stared in shock at where their former adversary once lay.
"Why don't heroes ever just stand still and burn!" Shouted the voice. Again they had to scatter.
"Did I mention how happy I am that I came to visit you guys?" Tempest shouted.
"Aw quit your whining Akwan Lass!" Arsenal shouted back.
"It was Aqua Lad, A-Q-U-A aqua. If your going to mock me do it right!"
"Will you ladies both quit whining!" The teen continued as he directed another wall of fire at them.
The voice belonged to a young man with spiked red and yellow hair. The Titans had to avoid several more fire blasts before the twins got close enough. They never had the chance to attack him though as a blast of red sonic energy hit Más aside.
It was at this time that Brother Blood made his appearance. The older man still sported the red cybernetic technology he had stolen from Cyborg, though he had obviously had some repairs done. Behind him Gizmo and Mammoth stood.
The four super villains and a platoon of H.I.V.E troops made short work of the remaining team members. Menos couldn't recall how he got away, only that he did. He made his way to the Tower only to find all of the communications and transport equipment destroyed beyond his ability to repair.
- - -
Headquarters
"I have the ability to sense my hermano, my brother, so I began tracking him. They stopped in Bludhaven for a few nights so I tried to find Nightwing but they were on the move again before I could." He finished.
"Is this the guy who was with Blood?" Gear asked causing a profile to appear on his screen.
"Sí!" He exclaimed.
"Francis "F-Stop" Stone AKA Hot-Streak. He's one of ours, a Bang Baby. He disappeared after the second big bang along with Ebon. I tried searching for them but never came up with a lead solid enough to track them down. Static had a run in with Ebon last night. I don't think the two are in Dakota at the same time by accident"
"Why come to Dakota at all?" Menos asked.
"Students. No other city has a number of metas as high as Dakota. He grabs a bit of muscle, your friends and Hot-Streak, starts recruiting Bang Babies and putting them under his control."
"We must stop him." Menos stated.
"Yeah. Can you show me where your brother is, we're on a recon mission only, until tomorrow anyway."
"Sí, I understand." He looked around the room at the many doors that led to the outside world. Seeing this Gear explained.
"Each of the doors leads to a different location around Dakota. We entered through the park entrance."
"We are far from my brother, which will lead us that way." He pointed towards a wall. Minutes later they flew out from an apartment complex window and towards his brother.
- - -
Dakota
Menos did not like flying like this! Gear was dragging him along in the air by nothing but a strange purple energy that enveloped him. The energy was being fired from his gauntlet that Gear explained mimicked different powers he used to have but gave-up. The energy could be used to pick things up, cut through or blast them. That did little to reassure the speedster.
"Pare aquí." He called.
Gear landed the two of them on top of a building two streets away from where he sensed his brother.
"See the grande building, that's where he is." Menos told Gear. Gear looked the building over before turning back to Menos.
"I'm going to take a closer look. Don't go anywhere." He told Menos emphasising each word. "Backpack execute code: Quick Silver."
Menos took a step back as a silvery liquid seeped from Backpack and began to cover Gear. Once he was completely hidden under the reflective surface he began to fade away. Where Gear once stood was now what looked like a heat ripple in the air. The ripple then silently flew up into the air.
- - -
Dakota
He floated silently up to the buildings glass window. The nanobots that covered him not only bent light around him, making him vanish save for a slight shimmer, but also prevented any sound he made from reaching anyone's ears.
The room he looked into was a dark and lifeless office block. His eyes scanned for any trickery and found it. The image he was looking at was camouflage. A foil had been put behind the window to project the image of an office. At a distance it was passable, but when you got right up close it was two-dimensional. Since only a few of Dakota citizens went flying around at this height nobody would have noticed.
His visor switched to several different visual modes including infrared and x-ray. None of them could pass the buildings walls.
"Well that's not suspicious." He said to himself. He flew higher to scope out the roof. He glanced at the roof through several spectrums and made another discovery. A hologram was hiding a large trap door. He hovered next to it to get a closer look careful not to touch it or the ground.
Once satisfied that he wouldn't be able to sneak in he turned to leave. Just as he began flying across the road he heard the fwumping of a helicopter's main rotor. He turned to see a helicopter heading towards the building. He returned to the hatch in time to see it slide open with the holographic projection of a roof still in place. From the prospective of the pilot he was about to fly into a rooftop.
Before the chopper got low enough to stop him Gear pulled his Cap Launcher from Backpack and fired a special Cap into the building not bothering to look inside. He backed away quickly and returned to Menos. The hero jumped when Gear re-appeared in front of him.
"Well something's happening there. None of my scans could see inside, but I got a Spy Cap in through a roof access." He told Menos.
"Did you see my hermano?" Menos asked.
"No but I didn't get a good look, I only had a moment to fire my Cap inside. We need to head back to our head quarters. You can stay there today."
"We are not going to act against Brother Blood?" Menos said.
"Not until later. Most of my team needs to go to school today. I'll have Feral do her own inspection of the building and contact the Justice League about Brother Blood."
"You do not think we can handle it?" Menos asked.
"Worst case. We're up against your team, Brother Blood, Hot-Streak, the H.I.V.E Five, H.I.V.E Troops and any students he already has. That's a lot."
- - -
Headquarters
Feral yawned with a slight growl as she walked into the underground head quarters. She new as soon as the door opened that someone new was there. Her ears picked up parts of a conversation in Spanish.
"You now it's rude to speak in a language another person can't understand. How are you going to make it up to me?" She said to Gear.
"Feral good, I need to get to school. This is Menos, he needs are help. I've sent an address to your Shock Box, could you scope it out for me. I did it earlier but your senses are better then my scans."
"Not exactly what I had in mind." She smiled.
"I shudder to think what you had in mind. I also need you to contact the Justice League, everything I need you to say is on my computer." Gear continued. "Try not to scare the poor guy."
"Is that your was of telling me not to flirt with him cuz I should warn you, a cute European sounds like my type of guy." She grinned her predatory look.
"Down girl." He said before leaving.
- - -
Dakota Union High
Blacklash crawled down the side of the building to the alleyway below. Once he reached the ground he assumed his disguise and stepped out into the street. He had gotten better at shape shifting and could now assume a perfect duplicate of another person so long as they were the same size or bigger. He could even create the illusion of his eyes focussing, but he still wore all black, as colour was the hardest thing to change, though he didn't wear leather anymore.
The disguise he wore now was one that Richie had created for him. He was now John Black, a seventeen year old from Kidwelly in Wales. He had been living there with his mother since his parents divorce. She recently died in a car accident (very imaginative) and he now lived with his father who (conveniently) travels a lot on business.
He had been staying with Amelia and her parents who were surprisingly understanding about their daughters chosen lifestyle. Apparently they had been something of heroes themselves once. Her father was a former Royal Canadian Mountain Police Officer and her mother a former English Tracker and bounty hunter based in Africa.
Her parents met when her mother, Rachel, tracked an escaped big game hunter from Africa to Canada. Leon, her father, had tried to arrest her, as she was on the criminals tail, mistakenly believing she was hunting out of season. Not wanting to loss the trail she resisted the arrest. After the two of them fought Rachel managed to explain what she was doing. Believing her story Leon helped her track the mark and arrested him for her. When the two of them made it back to civilization Leon was assigned to accompany the prisoner back to Africa.
When he was given the assignment he also asked to use some holiday time while he was there, holiday time he had not used since joining the force. He helped her keep track some of the endangered wildlife she protected. It was during this time that they began their relationship.
They married and moved back to Canada where Amelia was born. Both her parents had taught her to hunt their respective preys (animals and people). But during one of his patrols her father was shot. He barely survived the attack and was now confined to a wheel chair. He now works in the Canadian consulate in Dakota.
He spent most of his first day being introduced to new classes. He had a few with Virgil, Richie and Shanice. It was in one of these classes that Richie had told him to meet the three of them outside for lunch because he needed to talk shop with them. The four of them left their class together and walked to one of the benches around the back of the school.
"His names Menos. He's one of the Titans East team." Richie said as he explained the new situation. "The rest of his team has been captured by a person called Brother Blood, he managed to track them here and has asked for our help in their rescue."
"What does this Blood want exactly?" John asked him before pushing a whole sandwich into his mouth. The sandwich disappeared without any sign of him chewing or swallowing.
"His obsession has always been his school. He trains youngsters to be criminals especially the super powered variety."
"Bang Babies." Virgil said.
"That's my theory and since his methods include mind control I don't think there will be many capable of refusing. Apparently he's re-recruited an old student using it. I got Feral to call the Justice League and see if they could spare a few members. With the people we know for sure he has Blood'll have enough force to take out an army."
"How many Leaguers are you thinking?" Virgil asked.
"Only two or three but I've asked they forward the request to the Titans team, I think they'll be more interested in this." Richie took a bite from his own sandwich.
"I suppose you want all of us on this as well." Shanice asked.
Richie swallowed his bite. "Did you not hear the bit about taking out an army? I found out what that statue does by the way." That peaked her interest. "The dots on the bottom of it create a message written in standard ASCII, a computer language that wouldn't have exist for a few thousand years. The statue is actually no such thing. It's a mental storage devise. It would have been built to store a copy of a person's mental energy's. The chanting you heard has most likely a passphrase needed to download the energies into a new devise, in this case a person or persons."
"What does that mean?" She said.
"You've learned whatever skills were stored in the devise. They came from a warrior from the future called Val Armorr. According to the statue once he mastered all earth's martial arts he travelled the galaxy and timestream learning more. He's described as the greatest martial artist to ever exist, that's why you've been using techniques you've never learnt." He took another chunk from his sandwich.
"Frieda and Daisy are coming." Blacklash said as they made their way behind him.
"Hey guys, what up?" Frieda asked.
"Well I have to go find Nina and cancel our date tonight. It's been a pleasure knowing you all and I would just like to say that I want to be cremated, not buried." Richie sighed as he stood.
- - -
Headquarters
"The Titans were way more interested." Feral stated when the rest of the costumed team joined her and Menos. "They patched me through to them and Cyborg was pissed when I told him. He wanted to come straight here but I have them waiting for co-ordinates. I don't actually know them."
"S'okay." Gear said as he re-established communication with the Titan Tower.
"Titan Tower." An orange skinned woman smiled on the screen.
"Hey. You needed co-ordinates for Dakota." Gear said to her.
"Yes, we wish to rescue our friends quickly please."
"Could someone go wait by the Gas station entrance?" Gear said to his group. It was Static and She-bang that left as Gear transmitted the necessary information. It didn't take long for three of the Titans to transport there with the transmat technology the Justice League had shared with them.
It was a good decision of Gear's to move their headquarters, as he doubted the nine of them would have fit in the small gas station. Cyborg was a large man covered in blue and white cybernetic technology with a single glowing red eye. He was accompanied by two other female teammates. One was the orange skinned woman who answered the communication to the tower. The other's skin was grey and she wore a leotard with a hooded cloak.
"What's Blood been up to?" Cyborg barked as soon as he walked in. Before anyone could respond Menos quickly began to explain the situation. Unfortunately he explained it too quickly and in Spanish.
"Is that all?" Raven stated after a pause.
"Quick run down. The Titans East team was attacked and captured by Brother Blood and a meta-human we've identified as Hot-Streak. We assume his objective is to re-open his school here in Dakota where meta-humans are common. I also assume that your teammates were captured in order to guard the school. If that's right then they will repel any attack we launch."
"I got a copy of the building's layout, the best way in…" Cyborg started.
"The layouts have been altered. They've done extensive work to the interior." Gear interrupted him.
"I thought you said no one could get inside?" He said to Feral.
"We haven't. I've got a man on the inside." He grinned. "I fired a Spy Cap into the building. The Cap is designed for espionage and sabotage. The problem is that the buildings shielded. It's gotten into their communications system but to avoid suspicion only transmits when they send messages themselves. It's sent me a basic map of the facility and I've found ways in on two levels. Once we get inside I'll have full access to my Cap. I'm gonna tell it to blow-up and knock out their communications. If they can't communicate they can't organize. We find Blood, shut him down and go though anyone who tries to stop us. Anyone."
"Don't worry about that, we've had to fight them under mind control before."
"We should split up to cover more ground. I wont need an entrance to get a group in." Suggested Raven.
"If you take Starfire and Menos to the lower levels, Blacklash, Feral and She-bang can enter though the windows. Me, Cyborg and Static can go through the roof access." Gear said.
"Menos should stay here." Raven said.
"Como infierno!" Menos swore.
"You have no powers." She explained.
"Bee trained us to defend ourselves should we be separated." He argued.
"Self-defence lessons can't compete with trained troops."
"I am going." He stated.
"Not without a way to defend yourself." Raven told him.
"You know, I have a spare set of Feral's side-arms." Gear said. "…Give me a minute." He walked up to his work desk and began pulling equipment from his draws. He walked up to Menos and ran a devise over him before returning to his desk only to run two more scans on him.
"Question. What is he attempting?" Starfire asked She-bang.
"My guess. Figuring out a way for Menos to use his powers without his brother, or maybe making him a weapon that somehow takes advantage of whatever it is that makes them move so fast."
"He can do that?" She asked.
"You quickly learn that Gear can do pretty much anything he sets his mind on. You know he bankrolls this gig. Don't ask me where he gets the money." Feral said. Gear loudly cleared he throat in warning.
- - -End of part 1- - -