Titans Heartland

Posted by slifer777

Written by slifer777, Cr4zy!van, and Vampyrelord

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"So, let me see if I got all of this figured out . . ."

Quasi rolled his eyes, not really sure of what he was saying.

"This . . girl, I'm guessing-?"

"Right!" a chipper voice rang out.

" . . Of course . . "

The source of the voice, and the object of everyone's attention, was a small girl with brilliant green hair and startling orange eyes, wearing a plain red shirt and cargo shorts that seemed a little too large for her. Where she'd come from was still open to suggestion. One moment they had just been discussing a possible threat to the planet, when she had suddenly plowed into Tesla like a freight train. Before anyone could've reacted, she'd managed to turn Wildfire's hair into an afro, hung Quasi from the ceiling by his tail, convert Phalanx's armor into a large soda can, created three stereo's from Cyborgs legs, and wrestled Raven in a major bear hug. Things would have gotten even more hectic if Tesla hadn't stopped her, simply by holding her up by the back of her shirt. The girl, who Tesla had introduced as Mercia Telimas, was seated on the couch, fidgeting like a ferret on caffeine. Tesla was glaring at her angrily.

"Mercy! What the hell are you doing here?"

"I got bored and lonely and you didn't tell me where the cat food was."

"Mercy... we don't have a cat."

"Uhhhh..."

"And I was gone for only an hour before you followed me!"

"But..."

"And if you were bored, then you could have played some video games!"

The only audience to this bizarre exchange were Quasi, Phalanx, and Wildfire. Robin had called together a team meeting, expressing quite clearly he meant only the Titans. Tesla snagged Cyborg as he passed, (his legs were somehow repaired when no one was looking, and right now, questions seemed best unasked).

"Cyborg, can I borrow the computer for a minute, since Phay's done?"

"Sure, just be nice to my computer system."

Tesla grinned and winked. "Sure!"

" . . So Mercy is a what?"

Phalanx sighed. "I'd say a dimensional anomaly. A creature that was somehow created from a cataclysmic event. I don't know how else she could bend the laws of physics so easily."

"Oooohh shhinny . ."

"What the-?!"

Mercy had instantly clung to Phalanx, staring at her reflection in his armor and making faces.

"Get the uyhij off me!"

Quasi chuckled. "Careful Phay. Your one pelvic trust from turning into Michael Jackson."

Tesla, apparently pulling herself out of the conversation, sat down at the main terminal and took off her METpack, setting in on the floor next to her chair. Cables snaked out from it to the arm closest and she closed her eyes.

Command: link with mainframe computer and use information to gather information on current dimensional coordinates, and attempt to open a comm channel to the Hirou.

Command accepted. Executing, please wait.

"So what is it you're looking for again, Ms. Tesla?" Wildfire asked, coming up behind her.

"First of all, call me 'Ms.' again and I'll dismember you." she said, smiling to make sure she understood it was a joke. "Tess is fine. And I'm trying to re-establish a link with my ship."

The METpack whirred and clicked, internal components shifting as the device configured itself into a communications link. Secondary cables clicked into access ports on the mainframe terminal.

Scanning for active comm channels, downloading current news bulletins, and using known dimensional anomalies as guide marks for establishing dimensional location...

News articles, statistics and the like poured across the screen at a blur, Tesla watching intently.

Alert: Active dimensional comm link found. Secondary link also found, piggybacking off primary link. Both encrypted, primary with military grade encryption, secondary with illegally obtained sheen code. Both links originate in Midwest, exact co-ordinates unknown. Further information being processed.

Tesla leaned back in the chair and frowned. Two dimensional comm links active, one of which was piggybacking itself off the other, probably without knowledge or consent. So what did it mean?

"-junk, junk, junk, garbage, junk-"

Quasi mumbled along as he flipped through the TV channels. Mercy grabbed the remote a stopped the channel surfing at Jerry Springer and she grinned. "Aha! Trash!"

Quasi grabbed her by the scruff, lifting her to eye level.

"Kid, rule number one. No stealing my punchlines."

"Ahhh! Godzilla!"

Quasi's eye twitched.

"And there's rule number two." he said, tossing her over his shoulder. He picked up the remote and switched it to CNN. "Might as well see what the big conspiracy of the day is."

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"-You gotta be kidding me!" Cyborg ranted, "Are you sayin' we should just let the whole planet get wasted?"

Raven remained calm. "All I'm saying is that we can't assume anything."

"But friend Raven," Starfire said, "If we assume nothing, we put countless lives at risk!"

"Calm down, everyone."

The Titans had taken up meeting in Robin's study. While four of them had immediately began discussing Phalanx's claim, Robin had silently monitored the activity in the main room using the towers various security cameras. Only now he approached his team.

"You're all right about this. But before we decide what our next move is, we need to decide who and what to believe. Right now we have five unusual individuals in our home. I want to hear what you think of them."

He pointed at one of the security screens.

"Starfire, lets start with your sister. What can you tell us about her?"

Starfire's eye's were downcast. "I am a bit ashamed to say that I know very little. You see, a year before the Gordanian attack on my planet, she had been chosen for a betrothal into one of Tamarans most prestigious families." Her voice became distant, the memories seemed to flood her mind. "But Kolind'r was always . . disagreeable, when it came to family. She was so spirited, wanting to choose her own path. I should have known, I should have-"

"Hey Star, we'll be here forever if we start on the 'should have's'. I've got a list of those 3 miles long." Beast Boy said with a smirk. Starfire was still for a moment, but then a warm smile crossed her face. "Thank you, friend. You are right. I shall continue."

She took a deep breath.

"Despite my sisters constant refusal, the marriage plans had continued. The ceremony was to be carried out moon side, in honor of its significance. But things did not go as planned. The transport that was supposed to be carrying my sister exploded in transit. We all thought she had perished in the blast, but that was apparently the wrong assumption. She told me she had somehow gotten here, to earth, though I know not how."

Cyborg glanced at the security feed. It focused in on Wildfire, standing shyly behind Tesla as she worked.

"Disagreeable, huh? You sure you're talking about the same girl?"

"Five years on earth can have an effect." Raven commented.

Robin, who had stayed silent throughout Starfire's testimony, looked grim.

"Star," he asked carefully, "That transport that exploded . . how many were aboard?"

Starfire couldn't meet his gaze.

"At least seven in the crew. My sister was the only passenger."

"And your sister survived. If it'd been an accident, would she have still survived?"

"Wait, Robin," Cyborg interjected, " Are you saying-? You think she murdered to get away?"

Robin didn't answer. He watched Starfire, waiting for her response. Her shoulders were quivering.

" . . I-I know . . I knew, my sister. She was kind and gentle, but . . she would have done anything to preserve her freedom."

Robin leaned back in his chair. "I'm not making any assumptions. None of us should. I don't know what happened a year ago on your planet, Starfire. And I only just met your sister. To accuse her of anything would make a mockery of the justice we live to uphold. But we can't ignore the fact that there is more going on then what she's told us."

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"So what exactly do you do, Phalanx?" Wildfire asked as she claimed a spot on the couch. Mercy had gone to see if Quasi's tail came off.

"I am an official Equalizer. A warrior who is charged with the prevention of man-made planetary genocides."

" . . . "

Phalanx sighed. "Simply put, I keep civilizations and species from completely exterminating themselves. In every dimension, intelligent species always feel the need to create weapons due to some overwhelming protection instinct. Inevitably this is the cause of wars anyway. Often times this will lead to the creation of a weapon designed to destroy an entire species, planets, even solar systems. When those are created, it's my duty to destroy the device before it can be used."

"But how can you know when these weapons are built?"

"As I said before, all objects and beings emit a unique energy frequency that directly relates to their destructive capabilities. My organization monitors these and sends one of us operatives in anytime a sizable frequency is detected."

Tesla, who'd been listening along while she worked, spoke up.

"Kind of playing god, aren't you? Not letting people do what they want, controlling them?"

Phalanx glared.

"We avoid as much interaction with the multiple universes as we can. Some of these weapons can end up presenting dangers to multiple universes at once. People, as you say, can do what they want. We keep others from deciding their fate."

"Don't get me wrong, it's a nice idea and all, but-"

"Get off of me!"

"Yee-hah! Go lizard go!"

" . . . Mercy, he's not a rodeo bull."

T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T

"- I'll say this much about him, he's not natural."

Raven rolled her eyes. "Thanks Beast Boy. A 10-foot long lizard that talks isn't natural. Your brilliant."

"What I want to know is how he coulda been in our city for 2 years without us noticing." Cyborg said. "I mean, I know the city's big, but we've been down in the sewers more times than I care to admit."

Robin shook that off. "It's not completely unthinkable. We never had reason to think someone like that lived down there. Not to mention, he's already shown he can hide right under our noses if he wants to. I doubt anyone could find him even if they did look."

"That's my other problem! This guy hides from the world for who knows how long, then conveniently is right where he needs to be to save our butts?"

Starfire seemed ready to argue, but then her eyes widened. "That is true. It does seem to fortuitous that he was right where we needed him."

Robin thought that over, then glanced at Raven.

"You stood up for him when he first came here. What do you think? Any idea what he might be after?"

Raven shook her head.

"His mind is . . fractured. Parts are human, but blurred and hard to read. Other pieces have been swallowed by strong animal instincts. The rest is drowned in pure emotion. Rage, hunger, fear, and loneliness."

"If you couldn't read him, then why did you trust him?"

"I honestly don't know Robin. It just felt like it had to be done. Like he needed it, and I needed to give it. Maybe I was wrong. I'm not even sure it was the right decision anymore."

Robin took a deep breath as he considered this.

"Alright. We watch him, see how he acts and reacts. Much as I wish I had been able to say this earlier, we really know nothing on him. The who and the what are completely in question. I honestly hope he's someone we can trust. But that last thing we want is to be fooled again."

The Titans were silent as each returned to their memories.

T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T

Tesla chewed on a stick of incense she'd pulled from one of the pockets on her pants. She kept typing as her equipment ran various scans, deep in thought. The television droned on in the background with some news story about how mold in drywalls could kill you and your family, news at 11.

"And in other news, Crimson Corporation CEO Simon Tiresias cut the ribbon on the world's first corporate owned space vehicle launch facility today, and-KZZZZZTTT!

Everything electrical in the room flickered for a quarter second as Tess reacted and snapped to her feet, pointing at the TV. The signal rewound and played back again, the incense falling to the floor.

"What the hell is that miserable bastard doing here?!" She said, her voice escalating into a scream.

Mercy eeped and ran over, holding back Spark as the metroid, reacting to Tesla's anger, struggled towards the TV. Quasi grabbed Tesla's arms and held them behind her to keep the tall woman from charging the image on TV.

"RAGH! GET OFF OF ME, YOU OVERSIZED IGUANA!!"

"Sarrie!" Mercy kept Spark pinned to her chest and carefully walked over to Tesla, and put on hand on the tall woman's hip. Tesla blinked, and slowly crumpled, passing out. Spark floated sleepily over to it's master and flopped onto her back. Mercy sat down next to Tesla and waited patiently for her to awaken.

"What did you do to her?" Quasi asked.

"I made her sleepy."

"Is she okay?"

"Yes, she's just having scary dreams right now." Both statements were spoken with a solemn calmness that seemed unreal coming from the normally chipper and hyperactive child.

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"I don't know what to think about her." Raven said, shaking her head a bit.

"What is there to think about?" Cyborg asked. "She's got more tech on her than some most military bases. Some of it even looks like it could top mine."

"She's highly electrokinetic, but her mind is... not fractured, but jumbled, like a maze that doesn't realize it's a maze. It's hard to explain."

"Electrokinetic?" Starfire asked.

"She broadcasts her emotions and surface thoughts like a radio station; the fact that that child put her to sleep is a relief."

Robin's face was had as he looked through the eyes of the camera at the now peaceful girl.

"She's got a quick temper though." Robin added. "And she's running from something."

T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T

Phalanx, Wildfire, and Quasi watched the news program finish through again. The screen showed a businessman cutting the red ribbon to a massive facility. The newswoman continued to talk with faked excitement.

"-hopes that this building will become a cornerstone in mankind's progression towards life in the stars. This is Jean Parker, CNN news."

"And that's all she wrote." Quasi said, hitting the mute. "Unless you've got a space phobia, I don't see what made her ballistic about this."

"Maybe it didn't have to do with the report itself." Wildfire guessed, "Maybe she heard a name or word that just threw her off."

"Like what? Not like they used any uncommon words in that report."

"Wildfire's right." Phalanx stated. The two stared at him.

"At least, she's partially right. And I think I know what the trigger was."

He pointed to the image. It was showing panned view from below of the immense skyscraper. A dominating logo covered the front, a large red C draped over a circle so it would resemble the rings around Saturn.

"This 'Crimson Corporation' . . do you two know anything about it?"

"Dude, I've been in the sewers. Think I follow these things?"

Wildfire spoke up. "They're a fairly new company, which is interesting considering they've gotten pretty wealthy in such a short while. They aren't quite on the map with Lex Corp and the other big names, but I heard they're at the forefront of developing true space colonization."

" . . . Odd."

"What? So they wanna put people in space. Nothing unusual about that."

"That's not the problem though. I-"

"No! Anything but the squid!" Tesla bolted upright screaming.

" . . . I . . guess she's awake now." Wildfire said.

Quasi whispered to Mercy.

"Exactly what did you mean by scary dream?"

T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T

"You know who that kid reminds me of?"

"Don't say it, Beast Boy." Robin warned.

"She reminds me of the small and cute Robin clone who called himself Larry!"

"Hey, you're right Star. She does seem a lot like Larry."

"As long as she doesn't make me lose my mouth, I'm happy."

"If she makes the world go all dark and gloomy, I might ask her to stay." Raven said. Silence reigned supreme for a few seconds.

"Riiiight. Well, if she is just like him, she won't be a threat so much as an annoyance." Cyborg said.

"You guys talk too much! Can I go play with the expensive stuff?"

"Ack!"

The camera screens were suddenly dominated by a large pair of puppy dog eyes and a jack-o-lantern smile.

" . . . How is she doing that to all the camera's?"

"She just heard us through the camera's and that's what's bugging you?"

T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T

Mercy grinned and silently tiptoed up behind Phalanx, and leaped upwards, wrapping herself around his head, blinding him. Of course, any attempts to remove her were met with futility.

"Yaaaaaaah!"

"Someone get this thing off me, PLEASE!"

"But you're so glompable!"

"I'm so what?"

"Uhhhh... fun to pounce on. Like THIS!" She hops off him, using his head as a springboard, and tackled Wildfire out of the air, and into the kitchen, causing a cascade of cooking implements to rain upon them after being launched into the air by their crash.

"YAY! WILDFIRE!"

CRASH!!

"Ack!"

"Hey Mercy! Wildfire said she'd give you some candy if you bugged her long enough!"

"Candycandycandycandy!"

"Quasi, you ass! Get her off merk-!"

Quasi winked at a solemn Phalanx and a brooding Tesla.

"That should buy some time. So what's is it about this big money corporation that's giving you two tight underwear?"

Tesla's fists clenched hard.

"They're the ones I'm after, period. If they're here than I have to get to them, end of story."

"You're assuming the Titans will let you come, or if they plan on going at all."

Tesla glared hard at Quasi,and everyone in the room felt a surge of static envelop them.

"I'm not one of them, and they can't hold me. I'm going."

"She's not alone on that either." Phalanx said plainly.

Everyone looked at him in surprise. He shook his head.

"Don't treat me like an idiot. The last thing on my mind is helping this guulyg. I've explained my piece already and it doesn't matter if any of you believe me. I'm here for this job, then I'm gone."

"You idiot! If there's a weapon in that city, then Crimson is behind it!"

Quasi shook his head.

"Look Tes, you come from some other dimension right? How do you know this isn't just some crazy coincidence? I remember hearing stories of a dimension where the Justice League had gone bad, so why can't your corrupt corporation be benign over here?"

"I have to agree with the big guy, Tesla." Wildfire said as she plopped down on the couch. Quasi had jumped at her arrival.

" . . Um, where did Mercy go?"

"I told her I hid the candy somewhere in the tower." she said with a grin. "I'm not a simpleton. Don't try that again or I'll tell her it's hidden in your liver."

Quasi winced and nodded.

"So what is your say in this?" Wildfire asked Phalanx, "Your the only other . . sane dimensional travel here. You think it's just a coincidence or what?"

Phalanx was silent for a moment, his eye closed in thought. When he opened it, his eye was staring into nothing.

"A major corporate company . . the kingpin of developing space age technology for spreading species across the stars . ."

His eye focused hard on Tesla.

"I've seen this same occurrence in over a dozen dimensions. Always the same down to the last detail. That's not possible. Nothing is ever exactly the same between even two dimensions. However," his gaze fell, "I have never been alerted to their actions, and none of my comrades ever mention having to deal with them either. As far as we are concerned, their slate is clean."

Tesla looked ready to cry or kill.

"I. Don't. Care."

"Well, you should." Robin said as he walked into the room with the rest of the titans.

"Well lookie here, the gods have graced us with their presence once more." Quasi said with what was almost a sneer. Wildfire elbowed him hard in the gut.

"I assume you were discussing my stated mission?" Phalanx asked.

Robin nodded. "Somewhat."

"And?"

No one was surprised with the answer.

"And the Titans are going too. If this threat is real we can't just sit back and wait for you to take care of it."

Phalanx smirked slightly.

"And the fact that your going to be keeping an eye and a leash on me the entire time to make sure the threat isn't me has nothing to do with it."

Robin grinned, humorously, but challenging as well.

"You and Tesla said your going. You haven't got the time to change our minds."

Phalanx nodded, accepting. Tesla was silent.

Robin turned to Quasi and Wildfire.

"You two have no connection to this, but I'd be lying if I said we didn't want your help. The choice is-"

"I'm in." Quasi said. Only seconds before Wildfire said nearly the same thing. Everyone looked at him in surprise.

"Just wanted to beat her to it." he said with a shrug. "I won't take it back."

"Neither will I." Wildfire words were like steel. "This planet is my home now, and like hell if I'm gonna let someone blow it up without a fight."

Mercy suddenly popped up behind Tesla somehow, gnawing on something small, dark, eldritch, and (presumably) tasty. Said object could honestly have only come from one room in the tower.

Raven's eyes widened.

"GIVE ME THAT MIRROR!"

Mercy grinned, sitting on Tesla's shoulders.

"Ya know what this means, right?"

Tesla blinked. She suddenly closed her eyes and covered her ears.

"Oh, HELL no, Mercy! NO! Not after what happened last time!"

Mercy ignored all this, took a deep breath and shouted two words which Tesla moaned pathetically over.

"ROOOOAAAAAADD TRIIIIIIIIIP!"

"...Dammit."

TO BE CONTINUED . . .