Owen took a swig from the soder he was holding. Letting out an exasperated
sigh, he looked back at the computer screen before him. The Titan's
mainframe was complicated, at least it seemed that way to him. Crushing
the can in hand he smiled in satisfaction as he tossed it over his head
behind him as he leaned onto the console. He frowned as he realized he
never heard it hit the floor.
"You know littering is really bad for the environment."
Surprised, Owen whirled around expecting to see one of the Titan's had escaped, instead he saw...nothing. Upon looking down he wondered if it would be terribly unproffessional of him if he burst out laughing. Standing right in front of him, was the most colorfully clad nine year old little girl he'd ever seen. Pointing a bow and arrow at him nonetheless.
Wearing her the retired sidekick uniform of her fathers, complete with yellow feathered hat and gloves, Lian stood there looking perfectly innocent. As innocent as one can be while holding a bow and arrow of course. "Did you know those six pack rings can kill dolphins? It's true you know. Uncle Garth says so."
Owen didn't know what to say or do. So he opted for the stunned look and stuttered, "W...who are you?"
Lian grinned at him. It was a rather unnerving grin too. Weren't children supposed to cry and scream and run about in panicky chaos? "I'm Speedy." She answered.
Well he didn't quite know what to say after an introduction like THAT either. He supposed he should grab her and tie her up or something. Couldnt' have little wannabe hero's running around underfoot now could they? Stepping forward he began to advance on the young archer. And still she kept grinning at him.
* * *
The man with the hawk-like nose, and flowing black coat stood with his arms folded wearing a sanctimonious smile. It was all going according to plan. He shook himself out of his reverie as he noticed one of his underlings approaching. Wiping the smirk from his features he nodded to the other man. "Report."
"All Titans secured and accounted for sir. Ready for transport." The man stood there impassively awaiting his next orders.
The hawk-man nodded absently, "Good. Radio the helicopters and alert them." He waved off the other man and was just turning his attention to the process of overseeing the sacking of the tower when something occured to him. "Oh for... JENNINGS!"
The minion turned and hustled back. "Sir?"
"Where is OWEN? He was supposed to be here in 30 minutes."
"I don't know sir." Was Jenning's only response.
The hawk-man raised a brow and briefly wondered what he paid his henchmen. Obviously too much. "Well....then why don't you find out?" His tone was icily calm as he spoke slowly, as one would to a particularly slow child.
Jenning's gulped and nodded as he began to back away. "Uhh.. Yessir!"
Dismissing the mercenary, the hawk-man once again turned his thoughts inward. Today, he crowed silently, will be a great day for Roulet Claw. For today, is the day that I single handedly bring down the Justice League and their whelps.
* * *
Owen struggled at his bonds as he tried to lift his face off the cold floor. There was no help for it though. They were too tight. The plastic digging into his wrists didnt' help matters either. It was funny though, he hadn't thought it possible to fit a six pack ring around one's neck. Speedy, as she called herself proved him wrong.
Lian finally stood up as she admired her handiwork. In a particularly inspirational moment of poetic justice she'd decided to forgo handcuffs with a pair of six pack rings. Binding his hands and ankles behind his back she smiled triumphantly, "There. Now maybe you'll think twice before throwing things away instead of recycling them. I mean...how hard is it to cut them?"
Owen felt extremely helpless. "I'm sorry."
Lian nodded sagely."We all mistakes." Kneeling down in front of him, she placed a pair of scissors on the floor an inch away from his nose. "Now you know how they feel."
Owen wimpered.
Patting his head in sympathy, Lian changed gears. "So where's the rest of the Titan's?"
The answer was a little muffled thanks to the floor, but she could make it out. "The hangar."
Lian nodded, more to herself, seeing as Owen wasn't really in a position to see it. Standing up she walked around him a little bit. An interrogation tactic she'd picked up from one of her uncles. "Why did you guys attack us?"
Silence.
Lian nudged his ribcage with the toe of her boot.
"Claw was going to hold them hostage....as bait for the Justice League."
"Claw?" Speedy could barely keep the disbelief out of her voice. "Why do they all have stupid names?"
"That's his real name. Roulet Claw."
"Oh." Lian couldnt' think of anything to say to that. Remembering his earlier answer she looked down at Owen as if he were crazy. "And why would you guys do that anyways? That's not going to destroy the Justice League...it's only gonna make them mad."
"That's what I said." Owen muttered. Only the floor heard him.
Speedy stood there in a perplexed silence for a moment. There were far too many people crawling around the Tower for her to go wandering around trying to find the Titans. Knowing they were in the hangar was helpful, but not if she couldn't GET to the hangar. She needed help. She needed eyes.
Yellow boots appeared in front of Owens line of sight, which included the floor the front of the console and not much else. "Thanks, you've been very helpful. I'll tell the cops to go easy on you." The last thing he saw was a yellow boot heading straight for his face, and then darkness."
Biting her lip Lian hurried to computer. Usually it was Uncle Vic or Nightwing who handled this, but they'd shown her how to do it in case of emergencies, plus she'd seen them do it enough times.
Tapping a few buttons she waited for the link to open. Unsure if she'd done it right, or gotten the right connection she ventured a small, "Oracle lady?"
Meanwhile all the way over in Gotham city, Barbara Gordon nearly dropped her coffee.
"So then I told the Rheelesian amabassador exactly what he could do with his--"
"Dinah, wait a minute. I got a priority call from Lian at the Titan's Tower."
"........Lian? What's wrong?" Dinah could feel the blood draining from her face even as she spoke.
Barbara didn't answer her, cutting that conversation as she switced over to Lian's channel. "Lian?" Barbara was confused. Lian would NEVER call her on the priority line, unless Roy or Dick was there, but not by herself, unless something was wrong.
Lian couldn't keep the happy sigh of relief inside, "Oracle?"
The electronic voice flowed through the speakers even as the floating head appeared on the screen. "Yes. Is something wrong?"
Lian glanced around furtively to see if anyone was coming in their general direction. She saw a man approaching from further down the hallway. Feeling hurried she grabbed a headset that was sitting on the console, setting it to the same channel she explained as fast as she could, "Oracle this is Speedy from the Titan's Tower. There's been an attack and the Titan's are out of commission."
Barbara closed her eyes and pursed her lips tightly for a moment before resuming her impersonal Oracle mode. "Out of commission? What do you mean?"
Lian had wandered off camera towards a storage locker at the end of the control panel. Reaching in she pulled out a few items tucking them into her belt.
Looking closer Barbara was surprised to see that it was Robin's old belt. Dick's that is. From his days as the junior dark detective. Noticing Lian's on and off again movements in front of the camera, she realized someone was coming, snapping to attention she typed in a few commands. After a moment she had control of the Titan's security cameras. She could see a man approaching the computer room. Judging by the other man who was six packed on the floor behind Lian, she guessed he was coming to check up on his buddy. "L-Speedy. Someone's coming."
"I know." Lian hit a button on the console and the floating head disappeared. Scurrying she stood right next to poor helpless Owen and waited for the door to open.
"LIAN!" Oracle hissed in her ear. "What are you DOING? Get out of there!"
Lian cringed a little as she readjusted the earpeice. "I have a plan." she whispered back.
Babs just about knocked her coffee over on her keyboard. "WHAT?! No..No plans...Lian...SPEEDY!"
There was no answer as the door opened and Jennings walked in.
"You know littering is really bad for the environment."
Surprised, Owen whirled around expecting to see one of the Titan's had escaped, instead he saw...nothing. Upon looking down he wondered if it would be terribly unproffessional of him if he burst out laughing. Standing right in front of him, was the most colorfully clad nine year old little girl he'd ever seen. Pointing a bow and arrow at him nonetheless.
Wearing her the retired sidekick uniform of her fathers, complete with yellow feathered hat and gloves, Lian stood there looking perfectly innocent. As innocent as one can be while holding a bow and arrow of course. "Did you know those six pack rings can kill dolphins? It's true you know. Uncle Garth says so."
Owen didn't know what to say or do. So he opted for the stunned look and stuttered, "W...who are you?"
Lian grinned at him. It was a rather unnerving grin too. Weren't children supposed to cry and scream and run about in panicky chaos? "I'm Speedy." She answered.
Well he didn't quite know what to say after an introduction like THAT either. He supposed he should grab her and tie her up or something. Couldnt' have little wannabe hero's running around underfoot now could they? Stepping forward he began to advance on the young archer. And still she kept grinning at him.
* * *
The man with the hawk-like nose, and flowing black coat stood with his arms folded wearing a sanctimonious smile. It was all going according to plan. He shook himself out of his reverie as he noticed one of his underlings approaching. Wiping the smirk from his features he nodded to the other man. "Report."
"All Titans secured and accounted for sir. Ready for transport." The man stood there impassively awaiting his next orders.
The hawk-man nodded absently, "Good. Radio the helicopters and alert them." He waved off the other man and was just turning his attention to the process of overseeing the sacking of the tower when something occured to him. "Oh for... JENNINGS!"
The minion turned and hustled back. "Sir?"
"Where is OWEN? He was supposed to be here in 30 minutes."
"I don't know sir." Was Jenning's only response.
The hawk-man raised a brow and briefly wondered what he paid his henchmen. Obviously too much. "Well....then why don't you find out?" His tone was icily calm as he spoke slowly, as one would to a particularly slow child.
Jenning's gulped and nodded as he began to back away. "Uhh.. Yessir!"
Dismissing the mercenary, the hawk-man once again turned his thoughts inward. Today, he crowed silently, will be a great day for Roulet Claw. For today, is the day that I single handedly bring down the Justice League and their whelps.
* * *
Owen struggled at his bonds as he tried to lift his face off the cold floor. There was no help for it though. They were too tight. The plastic digging into his wrists didnt' help matters either. It was funny though, he hadn't thought it possible to fit a six pack ring around one's neck. Speedy, as she called herself proved him wrong.
Lian finally stood up as she admired her handiwork. In a particularly inspirational moment of poetic justice she'd decided to forgo handcuffs with a pair of six pack rings. Binding his hands and ankles behind his back she smiled triumphantly, "There. Now maybe you'll think twice before throwing things away instead of recycling them. I mean...how hard is it to cut them?"
Owen felt extremely helpless. "I'm sorry."
Lian nodded sagely."We all mistakes." Kneeling down in front of him, she placed a pair of scissors on the floor an inch away from his nose. "Now you know how they feel."
Owen wimpered.
Patting his head in sympathy, Lian changed gears. "So where's the rest of the Titan's?"
The answer was a little muffled thanks to the floor, but she could make it out. "The hangar."
Lian nodded, more to herself, seeing as Owen wasn't really in a position to see it. Standing up she walked around him a little bit. An interrogation tactic she'd picked up from one of her uncles. "Why did you guys attack us?"
Silence.
Lian nudged his ribcage with the toe of her boot.
"Claw was going to hold them hostage....as bait for the Justice League."
"Claw?" Speedy could barely keep the disbelief out of her voice. "Why do they all have stupid names?"
"That's his real name. Roulet Claw."
"Oh." Lian couldnt' think of anything to say to that. Remembering his earlier answer she looked down at Owen as if he were crazy. "And why would you guys do that anyways? That's not going to destroy the Justice League...it's only gonna make them mad."
"That's what I said." Owen muttered. Only the floor heard him.
Speedy stood there in a perplexed silence for a moment. There were far too many people crawling around the Tower for her to go wandering around trying to find the Titans. Knowing they were in the hangar was helpful, but not if she couldn't GET to the hangar. She needed help. She needed eyes.
Yellow boots appeared in front of Owens line of sight, which included the floor the front of the console and not much else. "Thanks, you've been very helpful. I'll tell the cops to go easy on you." The last thing he saw was a yellow boot heading straight for his face, and then darkness."
Biting her lip Lian hurried to computer. Usually it was Uncle Vic or Nightwing who handled this, but they'd shown her how to do it in case of emergencies, plus she'd seen them do it enough times.
Tapping a few buttons she waited for the link to open. Unsure if she'd done it right, or gotten the right connection she ventured a small, "Oracle lady?"
Meanwhile all the way over in Gotham city, Barbara Gordon nearly dropped her coffee.
"So then I told the Rheelesian amabassador exactly what he could do with his--"
"Dinah, wait a minute. I got a priority call from Lian at the Titan's Tower."
"........Lian? What's wrong?" Dinah could feel the blood draining from her face even as she spoke.
Barbara didn't answer her, cutting that conversation as she switced over to Lian's channel. "Lian?" Barbara was confused. Lian would NEVER call her on the priority line, unless Roy or Dick was there, but not by herself, unless something was wrong.
Lian couldn't keep the happy sigh of relief inside, "Oracle?"
The electronic voice flowed through the speakers even as the floating head appeared on the screen. "Yes. Is something wrong?"
Lian glanced around furtively to see if anyone was coming in their general direction. She saw a man approaching from further down the hallway. Feeling hurried she grabbed a headset that was sitting on the console, setting it to the same channel she explained as fast as she could, "Oracle this is Speedy from the Titan's Tower. There's been an attack and the Titan's are out of commission."
Barbara closed her eyes and pursed her lips tightly for a moment before resuming her impersonal Oracle mode. "Out of commission? What do you mean?"
Lian had wandered off camera towards a storage locker at the end of the control panel. Reaching in she pulled out a few items tucking them into her belt.
Looking closer Barbara was surprised to see that it was Robin's old belt. Dick's that is. From his days as the junior dark detective. Noticing Lian's on and off again movements in front of the camera, she realized someone was coming, snapping to attention she typed in a few commands. After a moment she had control of the Titan's security cameras. She could see a man approaching the computer room. Judging by the other man who was six packed on the floor behind Lian, she guessed he was coming to check up on his buddy. "L-Speedy. Someone's coming."
"I know." Lian hit a button on the console and the floating head disappeared. Scurrying she stood right next to poor helpless Owen and waited for the door to open.
"LIAN!" Oracle hissed in her ear. "What are you DOING? Get out of there!"
Lian cringed a little as she readjusted the earpeice. "I have a plan." she whispered back.
Babs just about knocked her coffee over on her keyboard. "WHAT?! No..No plans...Lian...SPEEDY!"
There was no answer as the door opened and Jennings walked in.