Cassandra Sandsmark, known to her friends as Cassie and more recently as Power Girl, scrubbed the cleansing cream from her face and then splashed herself with cold water to reduce her pores before checking the effect in the mirror. Liking what she saw the 16 year-old heroine pulled her hair into a ponytail and put in her favorite earrings – gold stars that dangled from the hook – turning her head this way and that to check the effect. Then she took them out, thinking that might look too desperate, and then she put them back in because they'd been a gift from her mom and he'd complimented her on them when they first met.
Her watch beeped the hour, 8 a.m.; she'd meant to do something more sophisticated with her hair, but she was out of time and just left it in a ponytail.
Normally she wouldn't have been up at 8 in the morning on a Saturday, but the excitement of spending her first weekend at Titan's Tower, the worry of being voted in as an active member of the group with only one heroic action to her credit, had resulted in an early morning bathroom run. On her way back she'd passed Robert Trevor-Barnes coming out of the boy's bathroom wearing nothing but shorts and flip-flops, obviously fresh from the shower, his legs long and muscular, his chest and arms flexing as he passed his toiletry bag back and forth between hands. His brown eyes, flecked with blue and gold, twinkling as he grinned self conscientiously at being caught half naked on his way back to his room.
"Good morning, Cassie," he'd called out as they passed, "I've got KP duty this morning, so breakfast will be at 8:30."
"K", was all she'd been able to get out. Getting back to her room she'd grabbed a change of clothes and her own toiletry bag so that she could freshen up before presenting her 'morning face' to her new teammates.
On her way back to her room she passed Courtney Whitmore, Stargirl, who yawned hugely while moving towards the girl's bathroom at a shuffle. "Morning, Cassie," Courtney said around the yawn. "Oh, God; if it weren't Bobby's day to cook breakfast I would still be in bed right now."
"Morning, Court," Cassandra said back; "Bobby said breakfast is at 8:30, so don't take too long."
Courtney waved off the concern and continued shuffling towards the bathroom only to be passed by a blur that could only be Jessica Chambers, Jessie Quick.
Back in her room, Cassie dressed in white pajama pants and a blue sports top before heading to the kitchen where she found Robert in full swing, making a breakfast big enough to feed a small army, no worry about there not being enough if you were late. A delicious smell of baking muffins was coming from the oven, and packets of bacon were sizzling on hot plates. Robert, known as Bobby to his friends and family, was holding what had to be the largest pot in the kitchen in one arm and had a battery-powered drill in the other hand – where the drill bit would go there was instead a wire whisk at the end of a long bit. He turned the pot so that she could see what had to be four or five dozen shelled egg yolks to be mixed.
"Could you get me that pitcher of water?" he asked, nodding towards a pitcher that was being filled by a running faucet in the sink.
"Sure," Cassie said as she grabbed the pitcher and turned off the water.
She was a bit surprised when he gestured for her to dump the water into the pot, but he explained, "Water is the secret to fluffy eggs: when the water evaporates it leaves air pockets." He mixed the water in then ladled a layer of the mix onto another skillet where the eggs seemed to expand as the water turned to steam.
Cassie stepped back and watched as Bobby moved through the professional kitchen space, checking the bacon, turning the pancakes, laying out more eggs. In a pan on the stove he was mixing fresh fruit, preserve, water and starch, into syrups for the pancakes, and somehow he still found time to juice oranges into fresh orange juice. Over the summer they'd spent together on the island of Themyscira she'd seen him spar with the amazons, jogged with him on forest trails, and watched him cut through the waves while swimming in the Aegean Sea, but she'd never seen him in a domestic setting. He smiled when he caught her looking, and asked: "Could you set the table?"
"Oh, sure," she said, trying to hide her blush at being caught. Finding the plates and cutlery she went about setting a large table with enough places for everyone.
The only other Titans there were Hank and Don Hall, twin brothers who were about as unalike as brothers could be, sitting at a conversation table with a chess board between them. Hank Hall, codenamed Hawk, was a beefy guy – a serious body builder – with dark hair in a military-style buzz cut. Don Hall, codenamed Dove, was a slim guy – more of a gymnast's build – his blonde hair worn longer, in a more hippie style. As she watched Don moved a piece and said, "Check", and Hank then moved his piece saying, "Counter-Check".
"It's a tradition their dad started," Bobby explained. "When they were little Hank and Don's dad would set out two chess boards every morning before they went to school, and challenge them both at the same time; but when they got older they set up three games between them – Hank vs. Don vs. Dad vs. Hank. When they went off to college the brothers continued the tradition between them."
"That's cool," Cassie said, and Hank looked up to wink at her while Don made his next move.
When Hank looked back down his face fell, and Don said, "Yea, Checkmate."
That made Cassandra laugh.
The TV was on, too, playing a news program that was switching over to their international segment, "News from Kaznia today, where last night the unveiling of Queen Audrey's new education reforms was interrupted by north Kaznian extremists calling themselves the Crimson Raptors."
The video was of Queen Audrey, looking odd in a homespun dress despite the flattering cut of the linen, showing off a series of trailer/classrooms that would be pulled to the rural areas in the northern portion of her nation, where teachers would educate the young during the winter and summer months. In the middle of her speech a group of men wearing wings and armor, and wielding weapons, left behind from the Thanagarian Invasion, who tried to capture the Queen and destroy the small fleet of trailers that had been completed.
From the crowd a teenage boy rose into the air and began defending the queen, who had the good sense to retreat into a ring of body guards. Between the teen hero and professional guardsmen, the Crimson Raptors were turned back, but they shouted out dire ultimatums before taking wing.
"Calling himself 'Eldritch' the young hero is being hailed by the local media as 'The Kaznian Wonder Boy', and the queen has announced that his will be the first village to receive a classroom," the reporter went on.
Turning back to Bobby, Cassandra saw a strange look on the teenager's face, and thought she knew what it meant. "So," she ventured, "What do you think of the 'Kaznian Wonder Boy'?"
"Hum, what? Oh, Eldritch; well, he's welcome to the title – I mean it was the local media who dubbed me Wonder Boy, and it's his local media calling him 'Wonder Boy'. Let's just hope he lasts longer than the last guy," Bobby mused, referencing something that had happened while they'd been on Themyscira during the summer.
Some guy, a college student by the look of him, had stolen a Wonder Boy costume. Using Toxin, or some other super-performance enhancing drug he'd tried to aid the Justice League in stopping a rampaging mutant lizard from destroying New York City, but the injectors he'd been wearing under costume bracers had been damaged. This guy had then raided an ambulance for needles and injected himself the traditional way – the theft and process being caught by chopper camera. In a media backlash that most called extreme, the man had been forced to return the costume and promise to never style himself as 'Wonder Boy' ever again.
It had brought up questions on whether the name 'Wonder Boy' had been trademarked, which it had; by Bobby's parents.
Bobby looked back at the screen with a puzzled look, and used the remote to rewind live tv, pausing at an image of the Crimson Raptors. "Hank, are you seeing this?"
"Yea," Hank Hall said as he joined them in the kitchen, "A bunch of guys in chicken wings, with blasters; you're right, though, it is strange."
"What's strange?" Cassandra asked, annoyed at being left out of the conversation.
Don Hall answered, "Thanagarian technology is gene-locked, so only Thanagarians should be able to use them, but those guys are clearly North Kaznian: so how are they using the wings and weapons?"
Before anyone could puzzle out an answer the rest of the tower's residents started arriving; sitting down at the table and serving themselves. Cassie took a seat that Bobby politely held for her, remembering the scandal it had caused when he'd done the same for her back on Themyscira, and filled up her own plate as the new guys commented on how good everything tasted.
"There's turkey bacon," Bobby announced, passing a plate of it to Gear. "I made sure to use a separate skillet."
"Too cool," Gear replied. "Thanks, man!"
"No problem," the former Wonder Boy said as he took a seat next to Cassandra.
Nightwing tried the eggs and pancakes before saying, "I get why Robin was so bummed he couldn't come – great food and no portion control."
"It isn't always like this," Jessie commented as she ate a muffin, "Only when it's Bobby's turn to cook. Usually it's fast-food or cereal-and-oatmeal."
The food was good – the eggs fluffy and seasoned just right, the bacon crisp without being burnt, and the pancakes were light and tasty.
"Dang, man, where'd you learn to cook?" Static asked as he took a third serving.
Bobby just shrugged, but Cassandra was pretty sure she knew where he'd learned the culinary arts. It must have been the year just after his dad died, when his mom shut herself off from the world in her grief. She remembered reading that in the biography one fan-zine had done that in addition to going to school Bobby had taken up work as a part-time news photographer to make the ends meet, and done all the cooking and cleaning around the small apartment they'd lived in.
'House broken', that was how one of the girls at school had put it: he was already 'house broken'.
When Cassie had thought of Robert in a domestic setting it had been him in the backyard, relaxing beside a pool of shimmering water, working on his tan. The thought of Bobby being the more responsible of the two of them was at once both comforting and worrying. Her own attempts at cooking had come out . . . well, everyone had gotten over the diarrhea after a day or so, and the Poison Control Officer had said it was a simple mistake to make – chocolate x-lax instead of chocolate bars, especially when the x-lax label had been peeled off. Still, the only cooking she'd been given positive reviews for were sun-dried goods.
In answer to Static's question Bobby answered, "Here and there," with an amused smile.
"So, what's on the agenda for today?" Nightwing asked as he pushed his plate away after a second helping.
It was Courtney who answered, saying, "We have First Responder Training this afternoon, and then a briefing on police procedure, but until then nothing's planned."
"Excellent," Hank chimed in. "That means there's time for me to cream the new guys at foosball. What do you say, Static, Gear, Power Puff? Ready to get your game on?"
"Power Girl," Cassie corrected, "and I'll take on you and your brother."
"All right! You heard Powder Girl, come on Don!" Hank cheered as he headed over to the foosball table.
"Power Girl," she corrected again, already regretting falling prey to Hank Hall's bait.
She was a little surprised when Bobby moved up beside her, taking the defense positions, saying, "Best two out of three; the games ends at 15 points or 15 minutes."
"Hey, girlie said she could take us," Hank objected.
Don pointed out, "No, she said that she could take us both on, not that she'd be taking us on alone."
"Whose side are you on?" Hank argued with his brother.
Bobby answered, "The side that doesn't involve the two powerhouses in the room tearing the tower apart: she may be new at this, Hank, but I get the feeling that Cassie's only tapped into her potential, not her true power, so let's keep this friendly, okay?"
With a sarcastic smile Hank took his place at the forward paddles on his side while Don took the defenders. "Sure thing, 'Wonder Boy'."
Cassie smiled at her partner and asked, "So, do you want offense or defense?"
"I'll play defense this game, and we'll change up next game if we need to," he answered, giving her a smile that sent her heart fluttering. They took up positions on one side of the foosball table so that Bobby's right hand was controlling the goalie.
It wasn't so good for Cassie because her left hand was controlling the strikers, and that was her off hand.
On the other side of the table Don took the defense positions – the goalie and back-fielders, while Hank took the mid-fielders and strikers. It was predictable. What was also predictable was that the two played well together, like they'd been doing it for years; which, Cassie reminded herself, they probably had. What she couldn't predict was Bobby – as good as Hank was Bobby was just as good, blocking all but one shot. After 15 minutes they called it game, the score 0-1 because Cassie couldn't get anything past Don's goalie.
"Let's switch sides but keep our positions," Bobby offered, taking the defense positions on the other side of the table while Don and Hank switched positions on the other side of the table.
Don was a methodical striker, but Bobby was a crafty defender, the ball rarely passed the back-fielders to reach the goalie, or the ball was spinning so haphazardly that it was simple for the boy to send it forward. On the other hand, Hank was an indifferent defender, getting more frustrated every time Cassie managed to get the ball past him. Final score: 3-1.
"Yes! We're up by two!" Cassie cheered, giving Bobby a high-five.
"No! We're tied – one game apiece," Hank argued; "This is a tie-breaker, and we're switching sides again."
"I'll take the forwards this time," Bobby offered, taking that side of the board.
Even though Cassie was playing the goalie with her dominant hand the ball rarely got past the mid-fielders, and it became apparent that Bobby was ambidextrous, giving Don, who'd taken back the defenders, a real work out. The lead was constantly changing, and it looked like it would end in a tie, when Bobby ordered, "Let me have the goalie; take the fielders!" Cassie didn't even think about it as she sidestepped left, taking the back-fielders in her right hand and the mid-fielders in her left. Bobby, meanwhile, had the goalie in his right hand and the strikers in his left.
Working both the centerfielders, Cassie found herself running the defensive angle – preventing the ball from reaching the goalie, then moving it forward to the strikers. Bobby scored once, twice, three times, in quick succession, the goalie deflecting only a single shot. The final score was 15-7!
"We won!" Cassie cheered, turning around and throwing her arms around Bobby. She hugged him, and then realized her position – she was hugging Bobby Trevor-Barnes, and his hands were around her waist, holding her close. If she just went up on her toes, and turned her head just a little . . .
"Oh," a girl's voice intoned.
Bobby stiffened against her and looked up from what was promising to be a glorious first kiss. His arms were still around her waist, and Cassie turned her upper body to see who had interrupted.
"M . . . Mary?" Bobby stammered.
Cassie recognized the new girl from news reports coming out of Faucett City: Mary Marvel – sister of Captain Marvel. She had a sporty figure, and was wearing a white dress with a sailors flap on the back and a gold lightning bolt on the paneled front, the short skirt of the dress revealing long, pale legs right down to her heeled-pixie-shoed feet. Her hair was a shoulder-length glossy brown, and Bobby, Cassie knew from the fan-magazines, had a particular fondness for brunettes. His last girlfriend had been a brunette, though the magazines had been careful to never show her face, and to fuzz out her features when they wanted a specific shot of Bobby.
Bobby went on, his tone becoming more confident as he went, "Mary, what are you doing here? Don't tell me Captain Marvel's finally allowed you to join the Titans?"
"No," Mary Marvel admitted, turning her head away. "I . . . came here on my own – there is a private matter I need to discuss with you, Robert. In private, if you please?"
"Alright, let's go to the library," he offered, letting go of Cassie and stepping away. Then he paused and stepped back, giving Cassie a wink and telling the Hall brothers, "For losing, you two have to clean the dishes – no powers."
"Ah, man!" Hank cursed.
But Don countered, "Still better than a super-powered slugfest tearing the tower down around our ears."
"Whose side are you on?" his brother argued.
"What's that all about?" Courtney wondered, then she cried out: "To the Monitor Room!"
There was a mad dash, and Courtney followed with vague ideas of how to excuse eavesdropping. When she got to the Monitor Room, called 'Delphi', it was to find that Bobby was systematically disabling all the monitoring equipment in the room.
"You can't imagine my surprise, Mary," he said before disabling the last one.
Remembering something from a spy movie she ran through the halls, pausing only long enough to grab a glass decanter from the kitchen, and continued to run to the door of the library. There she pressed the glass against the door, trying to hear what was going on behind the closed door. Unfortunately, the trick didn't work so well.
-===WB 2/9===-
"You can't imagine my surprise, Mary," the boy intoned as he disabled a listening device, sounding hurt; "It seemed like you were avoiding me since I got back."
"Not entirely by choice," she argued, looking away because she couldn't lie to him, not even in this form. "Billy thinks that it's better to keep our identities a secret – the whole 'Wisdom of Solomon' thing."
"That, and if the Justice League found out that the one person who can take down Superman is 15 they'd throw a fit," Robert countered. At her concerned expression he waved a hand, "Robin taught me how to sweep for bugs using this room: I know where all of them are, and we're far enough away from the door to avoid eavesdroppers. Now, please, Mary, tell me what you came here for."
She rubbed her left arm with her right and looked him back in the eye. "It's my EX-," heavy on the E and the X, "stepfather."
"Theo Adams?"
"I don't have any other ex-stepfathers," Mary argued, mostly for the purpose of arguing. "He broke out of jail yesterday, and last night the remains of Teth Adam were stolen."
"So, you think Theo is trying to become Black Adam again?" the teenager surmised. "Your brother isn't worried?"
Breaking eye contact, this time out of anger, she sighed, "According to the great and glorious Captain Marvel it would take a super-concentrated power-source, enough power to level a city, like the Spark of Life."
The door to the library rattled, and then was forced open to emit a man wearing large metallic wings and a beaked helmet. Ahead of him he pushed the blonde that Robert had been playing foosball with.
"Mary Marvel," the man intoned, "I'm going to need you to clear out – I need to speak with Delphi and Power Girl, alone."
So, it was 'Power Girl'; how very unoriginal.
Robert caught and steadied the blonde, then turned to the newcomer, an uncharacteristic note of dislike entering his voice as he confronted the hawk-man, "Carter Hall, this is not the NYC, or Metro Tower, or the Watch Tower: this is Titan's Tower, and while here you will not dictate who stays and who goes."
"I very much doubt that you would speak to Superman, Batman or Wonder Woman in that tone of voice, young man," Carter countered.
His eyes narrowing in a very apparent expression of dislike Robert countered, "All three of them are members in good standing in the superhero community – you are not a League member, or a teen hero, and in point of fact I have more experience than you do."
That brought the man up short, and he grudgingly admitted, "You are right, but the situation is urgent. Yesterday the two of you were involved in the theft of an artifact, 'The Silver Scarab'."
"Involved?" Robert objected to the word.
"Perhaps 'Responded to' would be the better term," Carter countered, "Regardless, I need to know all the details – the scarab is Thanagarian technology, and is bound to my resurrection cycle."
"The same resurrection cycle that has you convinced that Hawk Girl is your true love?" Robert argued. "The same resurrection cycle you've used as an excuse to stalk her?"
Carter sighed and ran his hand over the stubble on his jaw, the only part of his face that could be seen under the helmet, "The very same. Now will you stop attacking me so that I can explain?"
Dropping his hand to his chest, the man rotated the glowing red plate at the center of the harness for his wings, his legs bending as if the wings suddenly weighed more, and he turned the plate around so that a silver object could be seen at its center. "If you've seen pictures of the Silver Scarab then this should look familiar."
It did look vaguely like an insect.
Reattaching the plate caused the wings to flex, and the weight Carter was carrying lifted. "It's the power pack that runs my wings and recharges my mace: it is a super-concentrated power-source, with enough power to level a city if breached."
Mary turned to Robert to find him staring right back at her; she knew without asking that they were on the same page as far as the situation goes.
"The two of you know something," Carter Hall divined.
Frowning, Robert asked, "How much do you know about 'The Black Adam Incident'?"
Carter shook his head.
"It was the event that led to me losing my powers as Wonder Boy. A man named Theo Adams used sorcery and alchemy to transfer the powers of Captain Marvel into himself, becoming a powerhouse to rival Superman – he took the name 'Black Adam' for the 10 minutes it took CM and I to bring him down. Yesterday Theo Adams broke out of prison, and we're fairly sure he now has the components to the ritual in hand – all that he was missing was a power source."
"Why hasn't Marvel alerted the League?" Carter demanded, actually taking a step forward as if to assault Robert, then thought better of it as Robert leveled a steely look his way.
"Because, Marvel believes that only the mystical lightning bolt, The Spark of Life, has the power to transform Theo Adams covered in mummy into Black Adam, but the way you describe it the Silver Scarab may just have the juice," Robert explained.
Growling, Carter slammed a fist against a table, causing it to break. "It does," he cursed. "When I first found the Silver Scarab I tried to integrate it into my new Thanagarian tech, but it nearly caused a cascade overload that would have leveled hundreds of square miles. It powered the starship that brought Chay Ara and I to this planet. Do you believe this . . . cabal of villains could have been working for, what was his name, Theo Adams?"
"Anything is possible, but I think they were just the muscle," Robert considered, then with more surety added, "No, I'm sure they were just the muscle – all three were amateurs, two were definitely sociopaths, but I don't think the third wanted to be there. We need to track down Adams now before he can use the scarab to transform into Black Adam – if that happens we'll need to call in the league."
"Why not call them now?" the blonde, Power Girl, inquired.
Robert nodded, saying, "Good question – this is still an internal matter: Mary Marvel and Hawkman are not members of the Justice League and have reasons to keep their business to themselves. They've come to us because we're already involved, due to our part responding to the museum break-in, which means that we are going to track down Adams and stop his twisted occult experiment."
Mary stepped up, saying, "The girls stays here – you, Hawkman and I can handle this."
"Power Girl is involved already," Robert countered. "She is coming or you and Hawkman are going alone, without my aid – and you're going to need the Oracle System to narrow down the search grid. Our Delphi interface can provide that, and without it you'll need to go to the League. Decide."
Resisting the urge to grind her teeth, Mary looked to Carter, who was grinding his teeth, and they agreed in quick succession.
Nodding, Robert led the way.
The Delphi terminal was a lot colder with just 4 people, the temperature was kept that way to protect the over-clocked computer parts that would melt otherwise, but it was also far less claustrophobic. Knowing that she would be going on a mission, Cassie had fetched her magical belt, which she used to project an illusion of being older, with her blonde hair in a short cut and her breasts straining to pop out of the oval cutout in her costume. She knew the effect was good because Hawkman was having trouble looking away, but as before Bobby seemed immune to her illusion.
Bobby was at the terminal, his hands working separate keyboards with a skill he must have developed since joining the Titans, while Hawkman and Mary Marvel dictated. "It would have to be someplace of considerable mystical power in order to convert whatever energy the scarab gives off into mystical energy Theo will need to make the transformation."
"It won't be easy to break open the Silver Scarab – the casing is made from Nth metal; pretty much indestructible," Hawkman argued.
"Pretty much?" Bobby countered, turning to look at the man with that same unfamiliar look of dislike on his face.
With a sigh Hawkman admitted, "If exposed to a sonic pulse osculating that the right frequency the shielding could conceivably crack."
Nodding, the teen turned back to the computer and pulled a search. "Okay, so who is leading the charge on sonic devices, not including Wayne Tech, Kord Industries, Queen Industries or Star Labs – Theo won't have had the time to establish those kinds of connections. And the winner is . . . SIT? What does that stand for?"
"Sivana Industrial Technologies," Mary translated. "Doctor Sivana was the man behind the weaponization of Toxin, but there wasn't enough evidence to put him away. Since then he's taken a personal dislike to my family – trying to prove 'the superiority of technology over magic', or some such – but his kids are alright. Captain Marvel, Jr. takes classes with some of them."
Bobby rolled his eyes and gave Mary a look that caused her to look away. Had Mary been lying about CMJ taking classes with the Sivana kids?
"So, we have a known collaborator of super-criminals with prior connections to a man with the potential to become a super-threat," Hawkman surmised, "and I see your other search has prioritize the mystical sites. Alright: Mary Marvel, Power Girl and I will take it from here – I'm sorry, Robert, but you have no powers, making you a liability on this mission."
With a snort, Bobby stood up and faced the bird-motifed man, saying, "STRIPE asked me to test out a new suit for him while he's away, and you need someone with technical skills. Our current tech expert is Gear, and I can keep in contact with him through the armor – besides, you don't dictate terms here, Carter."
Growling, Hawkman pointed out, "A heavy suit of armor will be a liability on a mission that should begin with stealth and end covertly."
Bobby turned to leave, announcing, "Meet me in the hanger in 5 minutes."
As the teen boy left Mary countered Hawkman's point by saying, "I have known Robert since before I was Mary Marvel, and can tell you this, Hawkman: his reasoning skills are superb. If he says we may need him, then we may indeed need him."
"He's a teenage boy with something to prove," Carter spat, "The same as any teenage boy – just because he has some training does not mean that he is superior to any."
"And your training, Carter Hall?" Mary countered. "I've heard very little about you, and according to Robert you have not trained with the Justice League."
"I have eight thousand of years of training," Hawkman sighed. "The ancient Thanagarian Absoracron I encountered in Egypt revealed only one of my past lives. Since then I have been exploring my Resurrection Cycle, uncovering other lives that I and Shyara have lived over the millennium – my memories of those lives are instructive."
Cassie scoffed, "Exploring your 'resurrection cycle'? What do you mean, like hypnosis? You do know that hypnosis is dangerous – you're basically opening your mind to a complete stranger, so anything you claim to 'remember' could just be an addled mind looking for answers, accepting the conjecture of whoever is controlling the trance as fact. I may not know why Bobby doesn't like you, but the more I listen to you the more I'm convinced he has good reason not to trust you."
Turning, Cassie left the room and headed up the stairs to the hanger, arriving just in time to see the Javelin taking off. "No," she cried out, "Wait!" But it was too late – the aero-space craft was gone.
"Over here, Cassie," Bobby's voice called out, and she whirled to find both Bobby and Gear working on the STRIPE EA.
She sighed and practically skipped to his side in her relief. "I thought you'd left without me, er, us," Cassie admitted.
He smiled, and told her, "I wouldn't leave you behind, Cassie."
There was a good chance she imagined it, but the girl could have sworn that there was an emphasis on the word 'you': like he was saying that he would have left Mary Marvel and Hawkman behind, but not Cassie Sandsmark. She could be mistaken, but she liked the idea that he would take Cassie over that other girl.
Gear interrupted, "The suit's checked out, and I've replaced the fragmentation grenades with smoke and flash grenades. Are you sure you don't want any kind of weapon?"
"No," Bobby answered, sounding authoritative and commanding; "When my secret ID comes out there will be an inquiry, so I want you to note, in whatever log you keep, that this powered armor has only ever been equipped with non-lethal munitions."
Tapping his nose Gear condoned on, "I get it; so when the press requests the logs they'll see that you never had access to lethal option. And because you were the one who requested the alteration it shows you as being proactive?"
Shaking his head ruefully, Bobby chuckled as he admitted, "I actually hadn't thought of it that way; I was trying to protect Courtney's stepdad – the press wouldn't like the idea of a 17 year-old being armed with deadly weapons and being told 'Go forth, child'"
"The media can't be that blind," Cassie argued as Bobby climbed a ladder. "I mean, you're . . . well, you."
Laughing, Bobby slid into the armor. "Cassie, if a member of the Justice League armed one teenager the media would take it that ALL League members think teenage heroes should be allowed the use of deadly force. Can you imagine the backlash for that kind of thing?"
The armor sealed, and Bobby's voice was altered by a filter as he ran through a power-up checklist. Mary Marvel and Hawkman arrived, momentarily confused when they didn't see Bobby until the armor started moving. Bobby checked the motion of the arms and legs, complaining about the limited side movement of the legs, making some of his kicks impossible.
"Well, it is a powered armor, not an exoskeleton," Gear responded.
A pair of handles popped out the back and were retracted before Bobby confirmed that the armor was functioning normally.
"But how are we supposed to get there without the javelin?" Cassie wondered.
"We fly, of course," Bobby answered. "This suit is equipped a zero-g module combined with jet propellers, and you, Mary and Hawkman can fly."
Her worries must have shown because the boy responded to her worries: "The sandals were just sandals, Power Girl – you've been flying on your own for weeks now, but if you're still worried you can ride on my back." The handles popped out again.
"Just how new at this are you?" Mary demanded.
"I've been practicing for weeks," Cassie countered, but when Bobby's helmeted head looked her way she relented, "Okay, so I've only fought crime once."
"And failed to stop the criminals," Hawkman barked. "Why do you insist on bringing this . . . neophyte along?"
"Because I trust her to have my back should things go south," Bobby answered, and Cassie happily climbed onto his back.
"I'm sure," Mary said scathingly as she kicked off into the air.
Hawkman followed, his wings spreading and beating once to launch himself skyward. Then it was Bobby's turn as he kicked into the air, rising slowly, before the jets kicked in and they were tearing into the sky. For a moment Cassie was afraid that she was going to lose her grip and slide off, but then they leveled off and decelerated a little, and she found that she could keep her hold. Maybe because of the zero-g field the armor was projecting, and maybe because she really did have the power to defy gravity. Whatever the case it was exhilarating to be up in the air, going so fast; and she felt safe knowing that Bobby was there to catch her if she fell.
As they flew along Cassie tried letting go of the handles, but she immediately started slowing down and grabbed hold again with the intent of not letting go. Mary Marvel threw her a derogatory look and the young woman changed her mind, letting go and trying to keep up with willpower alone. It took two tries before she managed it, and then she amused herself by flying circles around Bobby, who, she realized, was the slowest flyer in the group: everyone was keeping up with him.
"We need to change curse," Bobby said over their comms.
"Why?" Hawkman demanded, "We haven't reached the first nexus."
"Because a hiker just posted a report on his blog saying that a half-dozen military-like trucks had barreled up an old logging road towards one of the other mystic zones. It will take an hour to get there at my best speed," the young man explained. "Every indicator I programmed says that this is what we're looking for."
"I trust your instincts, Bobby," Mary Marvel responded, "But we need to speed things up. Power Girl, take one of those handles – you and I are going to boost STRIPE's speed."
Cassie didn't like taking orders from the brunette, but she did as she was told and together the girls pulled the armor along, making Hawkman the slowest in the group. Bobby was steering, though, directing them towards what turned out to be a wooded clearing.
Hawkman saw it first, his helmet being outfitted with vision-enhancements, and reported, "I'm seeing seven trucks in total – one is a WWII-era 6x6, the others are more modern. Mary, what does that guy, Sivana, look like?"
"He looks like a prune," the other girl answered, "Bald, slightly pointy ears, wrinkles on his brow even when he scowls."
With a huff the older hero admitted, "Well, boy, this looks like the right place." There was a pause, and Cassie was sure that Bobby was going to say something, only Hawkman called out, "Evasive action!"
"Drop me," Bobby ordered, "Missiles incoming!"
Mary immediately let go, but Cassie was caught off guard and the STRIPE armor spun as it fell into the trees below. "BOBBY," she screamed, but she didn't have any time to worry about him as a missile streaked towards her. She dodged it, but the missile turned, tracking her.
Hawkman beat his wings so that the missile went under him, slapping its tail with his mace so that the fins couldn't turn it. The missile spun out of control and exploded. Mary Marvel did something similar, striking the body, causing the thruster to cut out and the missile to drop. Cassie tried to do the same, but she hit wrong and the missile blew up in her face.
Coughing and spinning, Cassie managed to catch herself before she hit the ground and took stock of her situation to find that she was almost completely unscathed with only a couple light scratches for her noob move. She followed the others and saw that one of the military vehicles had a multi-barrel missile launcher on the back, and another two had mini-guns on swivels so that the gunners could bring them around to fire on the airborne heroes. On the ground Cassie could see the wizened man who must have been Dr. Sivana standing with a slightly overweight man who was painting himself with a blue-grey substance. Standing nearby were two men – both tall, possibly of African descent, but one was bald and appeared to have robot parts and the other had his hair in cornrows and four red eyes.
Dodging the streams of bullets she looked for the silver, insect-like, broach that had been a key part of her mother's exhibit in East Brook. Spotting it she dove for it, but she found that she wasn't alone – Hawkman and Mary Marvel were right beside her. Below them the cyborg and four-eyes were standing guard – cornrows moved his hands, as if he were throwing something – three somethings, one at each of them. Hawkman batted his aside with his mace, but Cassie and Mary were both hit.
-===WB 2/9===-
Bobby used micro thrusters to get his tumble under control but still landed heavily, breaking tree branches on his way down. He could hear gunfire and knew the others were in trouble, so he started running through the forest towards the clearing. One of the trucks had missile launchers – laser guided missiles that were being guided by a quartet of men carrying special rifles – only three of them had their weapons raised. Another two trucks had machine guns on swivels that they were using to harry the flyers.
Raising his arm he launched a smoke grenade into the quartet then he ran forward and grabbed one of the turret trucks by the bumper, upending it. He launched a foam grenade at the second truck before moving into the melee with the riflemen – snatching away the high-tech laser pointers and breaking them, turning the unlaunched missiles into rockets if the bad guys still wanted to use them. All three of the flyers used the opening to swoop down, their focus the Silver Scarab – without it there would be no way to complete the ritual. That's when all hell broke loose.
One of the men guarding it, a near 7-foot guy with dark red skin and four glowing eyes, fired energy at the three – Hawkman batted his away with his mace but the girls . . .
Mary changed course, tackling Cassie, screaming, "He's mine, we're meant to be together: I won't let you take him from me!"
"Yours?" Cassie cried back, breaking loose, "You had your chance, you stupid brownie – he's mine now!"
Another bolt of energy was coming his way, and Bobby felt the Diadem of Antiope peel away from his wrist and integrate into the armor again, he raised his right arm and the bolt was deflected.
Hawkman leapt into the fray, taking on the guy with red eyes, but there way a guy with robotic arms and legs. As Bobby moved to take him on one of the cyborg's arms converted into what his armor read as a sonic disruptor, which he was aiming at the scarab.
"No you don't," Bobby said, tackling the robot/man. Closer up he realized that the man was actually a teenager, about his own age, but half his face was covered in cybernetics and the other half of his face was emotionlessly slack, all but the eye, which blinked rapidly.
Over the comm. Gear remarked, "That's Morse Code . . . he's asking you to kill him."
"Not an option, Gear," Bobby growled as he grappled with the cyborg. "I'll find a port if you cook up a virus that will give his human side control."
"I need to know more," the tech-genius responded. "If I get this wrong I could fry his brain."
Bobby found a USB port at the base of the neck, probably a direct link to the robotic part of this poor guy's brain. When Pat had designed the armor he'd integrated new technologies, and according to the homework he'd done last night Bobby knew that there was a USB cable in the finger of the left hand. Not only that, the finger could detach, so he opened the tip of that finger, plugged it into the port on the cyborg's neck, and then detached the finger so that he could continue grappling.
"Virus uploaded," Gear announced, "reprogramming in progress."
No longer fighting for his life Bobby looked around and saw that the girls were still fighting, a superpowered catfight that had already leveled a few yards of forest and wrecked two trucks. Hawkman was still fighting four-eyes, which meant that Dr. Sivana and Theo Adams had been free to act – they had set up another sonic resonator over the scarab. Bobby activated his grav-controller and leapt at them, trying to stop them, but the resonator activates and the Nth metal cracks.
Bobby had been at ground zero, slowing Theo Adams so that Zeus' lightning bolt could strike home, so he had something to compare what happened when the Silver Scarab was cracked to. No offense to the big guy, but the spark of life almost paled in comparison to the massive amount of energy released in that moment. There was a blinding flash and it was a good thing that Bobby was wearing armor because he slammed into the 6-wheeled surplus military truck with enough force to push the heavy truck 20 feet. Alarms sounded in his ears as he pushed the metal away from himself to see a horribly familiar sight.
Dressed in a black costume similar to that worn by the Marvel Family, Black Adam hovered over the ground where the scarab had been cracked open, flexing his fingers with a look of apparent glee on his face. Adam spotted Bobby in the armor and with a hungry look he flew forward, crying, "You shall be the first to face the judgment of the God-King, Black Adam."
Bobby raised his arm and tried firing a smoke grenade, but the projectile got lodged in the tube, enveloping the armored teen in a cloud of smoke. Instead he jumped aside and the villain zoomed past him.
"That won't hide you, STRIPE," Black Adam announded.
Bobby knew that, so he set off all the smoke grenades still in their holders and abandoned the armor, setting off a destruct sequence. He mused that he hadn't even had it for 24 hours as he scrambled away. Behind him Black Adam tackled the armor, knocking it to the ground, and was about to punch his fist through the chest when the whole thing went off. Adam was tossed into the woods, more out of surprise than anything else.
Scrambling over to the cyborg that was only just beginning to recover Bobby looked between the teenager's human and bionic eye and told him, "Transmit a message to Delphi – requesting Justice League backup."
"How?" the cyborg asked.
Giving up that hope Bobby turned towards where Hawkman and four-eyes were staggering to their feet. "Carter, call for the Justice League!" He then sprinted towards four-eyes, pulling the diadem from his wrist and willing it into dagger form in order to keep the being busy while Hawkman called in.
Four-eyes, however, looked to where Black Adam is rising out of the forest and seems to curl in on himself, then burst outward in a column of flame, vanishing.
Bobby turned to find Black Adam standing beside him and can do nothing while Adam wraps a large hand around the teenager's neck, lifting Bobby off the ground. "You are a little insect, aren't you, boy?" Adam growled, a mad light in his eyes as he started squeezing.
"LET HIM GO!" two female voice shout in unison, and the next moment Bobby found himself being dropped to the ground as Mary and Cassie flew past him.
Hawkman tried to join them, but one of his wings flapped uncontrolled Carter flight turned into a crash into the side of the last surviving truck. The only hope to resolving the conflict rested on the girls, but as Bobby watched he realized that the girls were still being affected by the spell as they attacked each other as often as they attacked Black Adam. When they turned on each other the super-powered megalomaniac took advantage and grabbed them both by the throat.
"What have we here?" he mused. "You, blonde, strong and resilient – you will make an excellent addition to my harem. But you needn't worry, Mary; you will still be my Isis."
At the name Isis Adam's face fell, confusion crossed his expression, and he flung the girls aside saying, "No, that isn't right. What? What is going on?"
The diadem, controlled by its own rules, slipped out of Bobby's grip and moved up his arm to take its place around his brow.
"What is it? What's happening to me?" Black Adam demanded, "Who are you?"
As if answering himself Black Adam added, "I am Teth-Adam, ruler of the West Nile, champion of the Six Gods."
Grasping the situation Bobby stepped forward, saying, "Teth-Adam, King of the West Nile, I beg you to listen to me. My name is Robert Trevor-Barnes, and you are far from your home. A man named Theo Adams has resurrected you, imbuing your soul in his body, transforming himself into your likeness so that he can possess your power. He believes that my friend, Mary, is the resurrected form of your queen, Isis."
"Yes, I can sense him now," the black Marvel remarked as he closed his eyes and balled his fists in concentration. "Knowledge, as the wizard taught me, is power." His body twitched a few times, but then his shoulders relaxed, and the man looked around, spotting Mary. "You bear the symbol of the Wizard, child – are you this generation's guardian?"
"My, my brother and I," she agreed, then steadied her legs and announced, "I am Mary Marvel, charged by the Wizard to stand against sins of man."
Teth-Adam bowed to her then looked around the devastation, the twisted metal of the trucks and the sarcophagus that held his desiccated remains, minus two arms. He seemed particularly riveted by the cyborg who stood and pulled the USB probe out of the jack at the base of his neck. At least until Carter Hall took off his helmet in an attempt to look less threatening.
"Katar?" Teth-Adam asked moving over to help steady Hawkman, who was still having trouble with his wings.
"I was Katar Hol," Carter announced, "But in this life I am known as Carter Hall, or more publicly as Hawkman. You recognize me?"
"Yes," the powerhouse cheered, "I ruled the lands west of the Nile with Isis by my side, while you and Char Aya ruled the lands to the East. Together we led mankind into a golden age, advancing their knowledge of both science and magic."
"Much has changed, Teth-Adam," Hawkman counseled, "and not all of it for the best. Technology has eclipsed magic, humans now occupy every corner of the world, and the nations are pitted against each other more often than they are allied despite the numerous reasons to work together."
Wondering if perhaps he had been too harsh on Carter Hall, Bobby headed over to where the girls were still tottering. "Are you alright?" he asked both of them, but he went to Cassandra's side, helping to steady her.
"I'm fine," Cassie responded, her face lighting up with his concern and offer of support.
When Mary didn't respond, Bobby turned to see that the girl was surveying them with a crestfallen expression, "I'm . . . fine, you're new girlfriend throws a hell of a punch but it's nothing that I can't handle."
Nodding to them Bobby headed over to where the cyborg was standing, the human half of his face looking in disgusted fascination at his robotic hands. "I'm sorry," Bobby told the young man, "But the Titans have a very strict 'no killing' rule."
Looking up the teenager seemed surprised, and noted, "Your Robert Barnes, aren't you? You were inside that armor?"
"That was me," Bobby admitted, "Robert Trevor-Barnes, but my friends call me Bobby." He held out a hand, extending the offer.
"Victor Stone," the cyborg teenager responded, shaking the offered hand.
"AHH," Bobby cried out, a response to the grip.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Victor responded, taking a step back as he released the offered hand.
"It's okay, nothing broken," the teen responded as he tested his hand. "So, how did you get like this?"
Shaking his head the other teen admitted, "I don't know – one second I was driving down the road with my girlfriend and the next I was waking up in some mad-scientist's lab, unable to move. Thank you, for . . . for not killing me; I just, didn't know any other way out."
"You're welcome, of course, now comes the question of what you'll do now," Bobby sighed. "For the time being you're welcome to stay at Titan's Tower while both our team and the Justice League look for answers."
Victor nodded, and then he admitted, "You know, I never believed the stories about you, Barnes; how all the news reports played you up. But your refusal to kill, the way you talked that other guy down." Victor shook his head, "I just don't know."
"I'm fairly transparent," the young man countered, then looked at the wrecked armor and corrected himself, "Well, except for the whole STRIPE thing – Stargirl's step-dad asked me to fill in while he's on maternity leave from the League. Stargirl has . . . a reputation for collateral damage, so the media backlash of her flying solo would be . . ."
"A disaster?" Victor offered.
"Yea, I think that would cover it," Bobby agreed with a chuckle. "The media would label all the Titans as unsupervised delinquents and the League would be forced to increase the amount of supervision, with would cause the normal teenage rebellion, and from there things would spiral downhill."
"I get it," the cyborg said, raising his hands in surrender, "I won't tell anyone who's under the armor."
His ear comm. chiming Bobby tapped it and had to catch himself, saying instead, "STRIPE reporting."
"STRIPE, this is Wonder Woman, Delphi forwarded us your request for aid, Superman and I are 20 seconds out – what is the situation?" she asked.
"Situation is . . . complicated – Theo Adams was successful in transforming himself into Black Adam, but the personality of Teth-Adam is dominant," he responded. "We also have a teenager by the name of Victor Stone who was transformed into a full-conversion cyborg."
Two beings floated down from the sky, one man and one woman, both tall and muscular with black hair and blue eyes – they could almost have been siblings. Wearing a blue body suit with a red that featured a red-bordered yellow pentagon centered by a stylized 'S' and a red cape with the same symbol bordered in blue on the back – Superman. In a patriotic, star spangled, shoulder-less one-piece swimsuit that featured a red and gold corset, silver bracers and tiara, finished off by red boots with a white stripe running up the front – Wonder Woman. Most people considered the pair of them the 'heavy hitters' of the Justice League, and given that Black Adam was supposed to be at least as strong Captain Marvel it would take both of them to bring him down.
"Bobby," Wonder Woman sighed as she landed, "I am glad to see that you are well."
"Princess," the young man said, bowing slightly. "Thank you for responding so quickly, I would like to introduce you to Teth-Adam, ruler of the ancient lands west of the Nile. Teth-Adam, this is Princess Diana of Themyscira, Ambassador of her people – the amazons of Paradise Island – to the outside world, better known to the public as Wonder Woman. And this is Kal-El, last son of the planet Krypton, better known to the public as Superman."
"Powerful names," the ancient ruler commented, and then to Diana he added, "I gave sanctuary to a group of amazons fleeing Greece after failing to avenge themselves against the Athenians."
"The Bana-Mighdall," Diana gasped then growled, "I've met them."
Bobby stepped in, "We've met them, but that's not worth going into at the moment."
"Yes, the boy speaks true," Teth-Adam put in. "In order to prevent unnecessary conflict I would know what territories you claim."
The two senior heroes gave each other a look before Superman asked, "I'm not sure what you mean, Teth-Adam."
Wonder Woman countered, "We are founding members of a group of heroes who protect the smaller northern landmass of this world, what we call the North American Continent. Additionally, my home island is in the sea northeast of the lands you ruled in your day, called the Aegean. Robert is a descendant of the founder-king of Athens, which is now the capital of Greece."
"You are?" Cassie and Victor both called out.
Carter commented, "Now that I think of it, Theseus was the founder of Athens, and if the city still had royalty then Robert would be their prince."
"The Prince of Athens," Mary mused, shaking her head. "Just wait until the media gets ahold of that title."
Bobby just blushed, having never considered his recently revealed heritage that way.
Nodding, Teth-Adam considered, "I think it best that I take time to learn about this modern age."
Superman disagreed, "I think it best that you say your magic word and power down, Teth-Adam."
"Actually," Bobby put in, "That's probably a bad idea." Under the scrutiny of the adults the young man took a calming breath before he explained, "Teth-Adam may be old-school, but powered down Theo Adams' personality might take control, and Adams would stop at nothing to get control of the powers. That's something that should be avoided."
"I'll show him around," Mary Marvel announced, "He is a part of my mythos."
Superman frowned before saying, "I'd feel better if . . . a league member were involved."
"I will go with her," Wonder Woman included herself.
Mary spoke up, saying, "Robert, could I speak with you for a moment?"
Bobby nodded and followed the brunette while Superman stepped up to engage Cassie in conversation.
Taking a deep breath, Mary murmured, "Look, I need to say this – I was wrong; I was wrong not to join you for the summer, I was wrong to call things off between us, and I was hoping that we could get back together. But I'm not stupid, I know that you're with 'Power Girl' now, so . . . so, I want you to know that, that I still want to be your friend."
Rubbing the back of his neck the young man tried to figure out how to respond to that, and in the end just said, "Thanks, Mary, that means a lot to me." He gave her a one-armed hug and accompanied her over to wear Wonder Woman and Hawkman were standing with Teth-Adam.
Superman concluded his conversation with Cassie as military helicopters began to gather – Cadmus Labs arriving to take charge of the situation. "I shouldn't be here," Bobby realized with a start. In order to maintain his 'secret identity' he couldn't be connected with the damaged STRIPE armor. He jogged over to the wreckage of the armor and tapped his comm. "STRIPE: requesting teleportation to Titan's Tower."
-===WB 2/9===-
Cassie arrived back at Titan's Tower feeling like the proverbial wash-cloth – wrung out and put away wet. She'd had to talk fast to get around the fact that Bobby had been wearing the STRIPE armor, and she was pretty sure the overweight black lady in charge, Amanda Waller, hadn't been fooled. Then she'd accompanied Superman and Victor to the laboratory where Victor had been transformed from a mortally wounded car-crash victim into a battle-ready cyborg. Honestly she hadn't been able to make heads of tails of it, but Victor said that he recognized some of the equipment as having belonged to his father – a researcher at Star Labs.
Superman had promised to look into it while Cassie and Victor had been teleported to Titan's Tower.
Bobby was waiting for them when the pair shimmered onto the sidewalk outside the tower with Static and Gear close behind. After making introductions he left it to the pair from Dakota Hills to show the cyborg around while he pulled Cassie to the side.
"I wanted to apologize for leaving you hanging," he said, "And for how I treated you on Themyscira. When Mary dumped me you were patient and kind, the kind of person that I'd like to have in my life, so . . .." He paused, unsure of how to go on while Cassie felt a sense of infinite possibility opening up. "Would you like to go out with me?"
Her heart beating a mile a minute she struggled to control herself, saying, "Yea, that would be great. Tonight?"
"I tried to get movie tickets for that new Rom-Com, but it was sold out; so the choice is Circe-de-Sole or Monster Jam," he said offered, letting her chose.
"Monster Jam," she cheered after a moment of thought – she'd always wanted to see massive trucks pancaking cars. Besides, she didn't have anything elegant enough for the theater.
She was about to head upstairs to change when he warned, "Cassie, you should know that the media is going to hound us as soon as we step out together. If it gets to be too much . . . I won't blame you if you want to stop seeing me."
Cassie skipped up to her new boyfriend and gave him a brief kiss on the lips, saying, "Except that I already know you're worth getting my picture plastered everywhere. I'm going to change."
