Titans: Elemental

Chapter 57: Fractured, Part 1

We see the rooftops of Jump City at night, under a driving rain. At ground level, we move swiftly down the street to the sound of a motorcycle engine. A laser blast flashes into view and blows out a streetlight; we pull back as the shooter streaks down the block on his chopper, which is red and black. Seen from behind, he has gray skin, long black hair under a steel helmet, and jagged stripe tattoos of the same color on muscular arms that extend from his sleeveless black T-shirt. This is Johnny Rancid.

He laughs and shoots out more lights as exhaust fumes drift over the pavement.

Rancid, "boom!"

He's a rather an unsavory-looking motorcycle thug.

Rancid scraps his blaster's barrel on the street, "yeah! Whoo-hoo!"

More laughter as he then pulls back, brings up a weapon in each hand, and fires at will.

Rancid, "yeah!"

A young man and woman approach their car, parked at the curb, only to see it blown away by Rancid's barrage. The girl screams and both run for cover as the phone booth near them gets it, and he zooms past the area.

Rancid, "that's right! Run and hide! The streets belong to Johnny Rancid!"

A second engine revs closer, and he looks ahead. That sound came from Dick's Cycle, plunging to the street with him on it. Rancid's eyes pop at the sight, and he guns the engine to pull ahead and avoid having all that weight come down on his head. Dick hits the street at a distance; both riders put their wheels into a tearing skid and stop facing each other.

Dick, "end of the road, Johnny."

Rancid, "NightWing, a little birdie name for a little birdie boy. You can't stop me", he revs up and pops a wheelie, "you can't even catch me!"

Dick looks as if he would like to make Rancid eat that bike; laughing, the street tough peels out past him, and he flips onto his own rear wheel and starts the chase. Lightning tears the stormy sky as Rancid hunches over his handlebars and starts shooting at Dick. The hero swerves to avoid the blasts, fishes out a couple of discs, and hurls them ahead. Two well-placed shots blow them to dust.

Rancid, "awww. Did big bad Johnny break the birdie's favorite toys?"

He speeds ahead; Dick feeds gas and tries to catch up. Off they go around a corner, with Dick pulling almost even with Rancid. The armed hooligan levels a blaster and fires off a new volley; one shot ricochets off the Cycle's windshield, while Dick steers expertly to dodge the others. He comes up on the other side and Rancid draws a new bead, but Dick strikes the gun from his hand and rams his chassis against the red-and-black one.

Rancid has been forced almost to the sidewalk. He nearly collides with a stack of crates, then kicks one loose from the next group he passes. It breaks open, releasing a great many oranges to go tumbling toward Dick; a few smash on his helmet and windshield, and he looks up through the pulp to find Rancid at close-quarters. The thug steers against the Cycle, causing it to overbalance. Both it and Dick slide across the pavement as Rancid stops for a moment.

Rancid, "looks like you still need training wheels!"

He is off again, leaving the Titan to pound the pavement with a frustrated groan. A flash of lightning fills the area and clears to show a patch of dark sky.

….

We then see the bridge that spans Jump City Bay. Another strike of lightning, and we are in the street again; Rancid drives into view from around a corner, and we follow his turn onto a parallel road as Dick gets after him once more. They are heading for the bridge.

Rancid, "you can't fight, you can't ride, and you can't win!"

Now on the bridge, he pops a wheelie and runs his bike straight up the rear end of a nearby car. The elevation boost allows him to slide onto one of the suspension cables. Dick widens his eyes at this feat of handling, then proceeds to match it. Up the incline they go, headlights blazing in the torrential storm. A lightning strike puts us back on the cable.

Rancid, "face it, Bird-Boy. You're just a stupid little kid!"

He races ahead. This insult hits Dick exactly the wrong way, judging from his gritted teeth. Rancid pops a wheelie as he reaches the column to which the cable is attached and launches himself high over its top. Just as before, Dick stares wide-eyed and matches the move. The two riders ride in midair as Dick starts to descend from his impossible jump, then to a head-on view of Rancid. He brings his wheels down neatly on the high end of a different cable and rides down. In midair, the Cycle is dropping fast, but when Dick's face comes into view, his eyes are bugging out with fear. He is about to have a head-on collision with one of the columns.

An explosion at the pinnacle of the bridge marks the crash and is accompanied by Rancid's derisive laughter.

….

We return to Titans Tower the following morning. In the living room, Raven raises one glowing hand and holds it palm first to Dick on the couch. She touches his right arm, which is in a cast, and applies her healing energy.

Raven, "I've reduced the injury to a minor fracture, but you're still gonna need that cast for a few weeks."

She removes her hand; he groans disgustedly and flails the broken limb forward.

Dick, "I don't believe this! How could I make such a stupid mistake?"

Starfire comes in.

Starfire, "please. No more Dick yelling at Dick."

Bryan has to cover Rose's mouth as she bursts out laughing from the unintentional dirty joke.

Vic, "yeah, man, stop kicking yourself. Accidents happen."

Dick, "not to me, they don't."

BB is now in the room. A light bulb appears over his head.

BB, "dude, I know just how to cheer you up!"

He vaults over the back of the couch and pulls out a marker.

BB, "we all have to sign your…."

Dick gives a thoroughly fed-up glance.

BB, "or not?"

He slithers off the couch.

Dick stands up, "look, guys. Thanks for the concern, but-",

Jack, Rose, BB, Blackfire, Bryan, Vic, Raven and Starfire all yell, "NO!"

They pile on and bear him back to the couch. Even Percy hops on top of them!

Starfire, "you are in no condition to continue pursuing the Johnny Rancid!"

Blackfire, "you need to rest!"

Dick, "I know. I was just reaching for the remote."

Jack, "huh!?"

BB, "you mean…."

Vic, "... You're not gonna be all crazy determined…."

Rose, "... And try to go out on your own…."

Starfire, "... And insist that you are fine when you clearly are not…."

Blackfire, "... Like you always do…."

They let him up; he crosses to the windows.

Raven, "... And yell at us for trying to make you stay home?"

Jack, "as Blackfire said, like you always do?"

Dick holds up the remote, "you guys can handle Rancid without me. With this on my arm, I'd probably just mess up again. Go. Take him down", he turns to the windows, "I'll be just fine by my-"

His body seizes up and a choked little cry issues from his throat. The remote clatters to the floor by his feet. Starfire gasps.

BB, "dude!"

Vic, "Dick!"

Raven, "what's wrong?"

Bryan, "did you eat something that didn't agree with you?!"

Dick is wracked by convulsions that cause his head to swell far out of proportion. Cries of pain are accompanied by a large lump growing in the center of his forehead; it soon ejects itself from his skin and he pitches to the floor. The flesh-colored blob hits the carpet, bounces into the air, and forms itself into Nosyarg Kcid, who looks like a small impish version of Dick, with a goofier looking blue bird on his chest, and q name tag that said, "the hero formerly known as Robin."

Nosyarg, "yaaaay! I made it! NightWing! Hi!"

BB, Rose and Vic stare openmouthed, Starfire and Bryan have their hands over their eyes, Blackfire rubs her eyes to make sure she's seeing things right, Jack pinches himself to make sure he's not dreaming and Raven is her usual unflappable self.

Raven, "didn't see that coming."

Starfire and Bryan uncover their eyes as Dick stands up.

Dick, "who are you?"

Nosyarg, "I'm, uh…. I'm you!"

This seems to fit into Dick's mind like a fish in the ice cube tray.

….

We then see a computer graphic of two DNA strands side by side; one has Dick's face and fingerprint next to it, the other shows Nosyarg's, and they slide together to overlap. Behind them, the morning sky can be seen, this display is on the window/screen, and the images perfectly cover each other. The word "MATCH" flashes on both sides.

Vic, "DNA's identical. Little dude was right. He really is you."

Nosyarg starts bouncing across, "we're DNA buddies! Yaaaay!"

Whooping and laughing, he runs back and forth.

Dick, "you've got to be kidding!"

Bryan muttered, "and I thought me and Jack were weird siblings."

Jack thwacked his brother over the head with a mock frown.

Nosyarg starts messing up the kitchen, "Doodle-oot-doo-doo-doo…. Wow, look in here…. Cool", he plays with the door, "open, close. Open, close. Open, close. Open, close. Oh, this is fun. Haha!"

BB, "hey! You're making a mess!"

With an ecstatic yell, Nosyarg reaches the couch in a single bound and takes a large bite out of the back cushions. The material does not at all agree with him; he spits the mouthful out to one side, laughs, and zips away. Raven steps over to inspect the damage, only to be interrupted when Nosyarg sails past on one of her books.

Raven, "the Book of Azar is not a toy!"

Veins throb on Raven's head as she says this.

Dick, Rose, Blackfire, Bryan, Vic, Jack and Starfire look on.

The last two giggle and chuckle at the entire spectacle, but the others are flat-out mystified.

Dick, "well, if someone was trying to clone me, they didn't do a very good job."

Nosyarg floats to him and showers Dick with spit as he says, "no, not a clone. I'm you, another you, from another universe."

His index finger lights up yellow, and he reaches it down and brings up a horizontal track with a little bicycle resting on it.

Nosyarg, "look!"

He gets behind the handlebars and starts pedaling. Behind him, a panel slides past to hide the living room. He passes the following: a line segment marked 1D, then a square marked 2D, a cube marked 3D, a Picasso-esque drawing of Dick, and a planet, sun, and moon that show the little twerp's face, the latter are labeled 4 9/8.

Nosyarg, "all the way from Dimension Four and Nine-Eighths…."

As he continues speaking and pedaling, he passes a picture of Soto's head labeled 5, then pictures of himself and the former Boy Wonder, then close-ups of the two leaning against a DNA strand, and finally stops at a set of bleachers filled with copies of himself. Five of them have removed their armor and painted letters on their chests to spell out Dick's name, and others hold up a banner.

Nosyarg, "... Nightwing's double, DNA buddy, and number-one fan…."

Nosyarg stands up into view, his face blocking the pictures, and backs up against a black field. A spotlight flicks on above him.

Nosyarg, "... Nosyarg Kcid!"

As he announces himself, the two words fly past in front of him, right to left, with each letter appearing backwards. They then pass behind him, left to right, each letter turned around correctly and the overall order reversed; now they spell out "Nosyarg Kcid."

Dick is desperately trying to sort all this out, and Vic is doing little better for himself as the others stare on.

Jack said, "oh, I get it, it's Dick Grayson backwards!"

Starfire moves to Nosyarg, bear-hugging him, "welcome to our universe, small amusing doppelganger!"

He moans happily and literally melts in her hands. He is now a babbling puddle of goo, with hearts floating up and his face still in one piece. BB steps up.

BB, "yeah, nice to meet you, Nosey…. Nuzzy…. Uh…. Heh…. Uh, maybe we should just call you Larry."

He reconstitutes himself in a heartbeat and floats in midair.

Nosyarg (Larry), "my name is Larry now! Yaaaay!"

He touches his finger to his armor and adds a name tag that reads; Larry. Gabbling ecstatically and leaving a couple of bobby pins hanging in midair, he starts to zip all over the room and repeat his name time after time. The following sights occur during this sequence: using a megaphone emblazoned with his name, rowing a canoe over the Titans' heads, appearing on the window/screen, appearing as the original comic-book Dick while calling himself Mr. Larry, running along a ledge behind BB.

Larry zips up and beginz shaking BB's hand furiously, "hey, Larry. Hi. How you doing, Larry? Larry!"

He turns away towards Starfire. Now he dresses as a Frenchman, complete with L-marked beret and takes her hand. Saying his name in the appropriate accent, he kisses the back of it and zips off; she blushes and giggles as hearts float in his wake.

Larry pops up from Raven's shoulder and cloak, "Larry! Hey, Larry! Hi, how are you doing, Larry?"

He disappears and suddenly pops out of Rose's vacant socket yelling, "see ya Larry!"

Rose tries to run at the imp to strangle him, but Bryan and Blackfire are barely able to hold her back.

Larry starts chewing Jack's staff, and he flings him off growling, "this is a mystical item, not a toothpick!"

Still repeating his own name, the runt pokes his head out of one shoulder panel on Vic then the top of his head, then looks out of the chest panel. When the bionic hero eases this last hatch shut, Larry freewheels happily past him in midair.

Vic, "yeah. Um…. How the heck do you do all that stuff you did?"

We see Larry's upraised, glowing finger; he brings it down and stares gleefully into its light.

Larry, "magic finger. Bends the rules of reality."

He extinguishes it and briefly flicks out one item after another as if his fist were a Swiss Army Knife: a small saw, then a screwdriver, then a crayon. This last tool is what he wants; he quickly pulls out some paper and draws for a moment. When he finishes, he holds it up with a laugh. He has put together a comic book, Adventure Comics, with Dick on the cover.

"Featuring NightWing! The, (former), Boy Wonder!"

The issue opens to the first page, putting the top left panels in frame. A stretch of the cosmos is pictured; Larry stands in front of them.

Larry, "see, Dick's universe is here….", he crosses to the end of the row, "... and Larry's is here."

Next row, first panel: he holds a card marked "RULES" next to smaller panels that frame everyone but Dick.

Larry, "and I bend the rules so I can watch my hero beat the bad guys all the time."

During this line, we move to the following panels. One, Larry bends the card and the onlookers react with surprise; BB has become a guinea pig. Two, a view slides up to show Dick pummeling Mad Mod, Slade, Doctor Light, and Cinderblock. Tilt down to show Larry watching and eating popcorn; he turns around and holds up his finger happily. Three, panels that show the bridge across the bay, a helmeted Dick, and an X-ray of his shattered arm.

Larry, "but when he got hurt….", Larry appears on a pedestal, "... I knew Larry could help."

On the end of this, comic Larry jumps to the panel's right edge, which is a door. He opens it and steps over the border into blackness; only his eyes can be seen.

Larry, "so I decided to pop over."

Lights flick on, a flash in his hand, a lamp set in a miner's helmet he now wears, and he looks around confusedly.

Larry, "but I goofed…."

We see an X-ray of Dick's head and pull back. Larry's lights are shining in the hero's brain. From here, we go down to see a row of three panels that show the convulsing Titan and the growing protuberance on his forehead.

Larry, "... and popped over inside your noggin."

Real-life Larry stands up in view to finish the narration.

Larry, "oops."

Dick, Bryan and Vic are skeptical as all get out.

Dick, "yeah. Oops."

BB, "alternate dimensions? Bending realities? Ugggggh! All this science is hurting my brain!"

Larry zips over, flips open the top of the green cranium, and slaps a Band-Aid on the mass of gray matter. He quickly claps the skull back together.

BB, "huh? Uh….", he smiles euphorically", …. Ohhh."

Jack muttered, "and I thought Mad Mod and Mumbo made me confused."

Rose, "then you better hold off on meeting my brother…."

Bryan, "why, what're his powers?"

Rose, "ya don't wanna know..."

Larry, "see? Larry's here to help."

He flies to Dick and arrives upside down.

Larry, "now watch me fix up that arm."

He zaps his magic finger at the hand emerging from Dick's cast, and both are flabbergasted when it turns into a hockey stick.

Larry, "oops."

A vein pops out on Dick's forehead, but an alarm and red flashing light stop both in their tracks. The screen shows a map of Jump City, a picture of Rancid, and a dot to mark his location.

Vic, "Johnny Rancid! Downtown!"

Dick looks bemusedly at the piece of sports equipment that used to be his hand.

Dick, "just go."

….

We later see the tower in the evening.

Dick is flipping channels on the TV; the screen fills with static and changes to a chef in his kitchen.

Chef, "that is how we boil water."

Static, then a horror movie; a young woman fleeing through a graveyard on a misty, moonlit night. We follow her across; she runs flat into a very tall figure and backs up. The obstacle is one of several half-decayed zombies shambling towards her. Just as they are about to get her, a black title card slides down into view, showing the title "Dead Will Walk" in big red letters. Static, then a wrestling ring. One brawler stands atop a corner post and throws himself onto a prone opponent while his tag-team partner watches. As the jumper gets his target in a headlock, we Dick and Larry are on the couch in the living room. Percy is sitting nearby, snuggled up into a blanket.

Larry has his magic finger fired up and stretched out. As Dick flips channels and a yell comes from the speakers, the plaster-covered right arm changes from a hockey stick to the following: an accordion, a candy cane, an elephant's trunk, a fish, a chainsaw, and a large lobster claw. Each mistake is accompanied by a cry of, "Oops", from the imp. He finally puts the broken limb back as Raven left it.

Larry, "yaaaay! 'Kay. This time I'll fix it up just right."

Dick, "let's just let it heal on its own."

Larry backs off.

Larry, "hey, want to check in with the team on your communicator?"

On the end of this, he waves the finger, and the device appears in midair and flips open, sounding its ringtone.

Dick, "they're fine."

Larry is briefly disgruntled, but brightens again.

Larry makes the computer system appear by Dick, "ooh! I bet you want to monitor the mission by computer!"

Dick, "not really", Larry pops up behind him, holding a wrench.

Larry, "oh. Then don't you want to patch up your N-Cycle?"

Dick, "no thanks."

Larry pulls out a dumbbell, "want to work out?"

Dick, "no."

Larry holds up a belt, "clean your utility belt?"

A vein throbs on Dick's temple, "no."

Larry backs up a bit. A mass of matter next to him shapes itself into a file cabinet.

Larry, "alphabetize your crime files?"

The unit has started to tip forward, and one by one the drawers slide open, dumping their contents. A thoroughly nonplussed Dick sits amid the shower of folders.

Larry, "polish your boomerangs?"

Several fall on him.

Larry, "iron your old capes?"

A spare one flutters down onto the spiky head. Finally, he pulls it away, blows his cool, and stands up from the mess.

Dick, "no, no, NO!"

Larry lights up his finger.

Dick struggles to push him away.

Larry, "just let me fix your arm. Please? You'll feel all-"

Dick, "no!"

The Titan and his number-one fan scuffle, rolling off the couch and around it toward the kitchen. The following words, interspersed with grunts and cries, are spoken together.

Dick, "cut it out…. Get that thing away from…. Larry…. Leave me alone!"

Larry, "come on... I can help... Let me help, let me help!"

Larry goes flying straight up toward the ceiling and crashes to the floor near the kitchen. Glowing cracks spread around the point of impact, and they propagate further as he sits up and shakes his head to clear it. Holding up his magic finger, he is quite surprised to find it bent out of shape, with sparks spitting from its tip. Dick stands at a distance, and Larry gasps as the cracks grow in all directions.

Dick, "oops."

The damage reaches both sides of the kitchen, then the couch and walls. Dick fixes a bewildered stare on them as Larry flies over.

Larry, "big oops."

….

We see the tower from the bayshore opposite Jump City. Flashes of light pop here and there on the top floor; these are followed by a wide, pulsating beam that shoots skyward from the roof. We see the radiation is pouring into the tempestuous clouds, which soon set off of their own free will and drift toward the urban city. Shimmering shafts pour down through rents in the lower surfaces.

….

Reviews:

raven 2012: glad you liked the chapter.

Canadude2029: yep. It's gonna get real!

DaV1nc136: yeah, Terra's betrayel always breaks my heart.

Bailey Radcliff: once again, glad you liked it.

AlphaGodzilla19: indeed...

pokemonking0924: yeah, it was sad. Happy Halloween.

Ushindi: yeah, the Judas Contract arc is always hard to watch without feeing just as hurt as the Titans did.

….

For you DC fans, I've got a new pole up for a few days! A poll to decide the love imterest for an OC in a Green Lantern the Animated Series story! Hope you all vote very soon.