Action Comics: The Ending—Chapter 3

"So while Superman was doing something on some other planet somewhere, and Batman was down with a bad leg, we the Justice League were having some trouble of our own."

"I remember. It all started with just another routine mission. Which planet was it?"

"Beta 3, wasn't it?"

"That's right. I'm not exactly an astronomy major. That solar system's right near ours, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"That was actually a pretty fun mission. We go up there, dish the bad guys, and reap the gratitude of a thankful population. I bet you get that a lot as Green Lantern."

"Less than you might imagine. Of course, things went quickly downhill from there. Orin had to go back to Atlantis to stop his brother, or something like that."

"And so, we were up on the Watchtower, spending a pleasant evening, or so we thought…."

"Gin."

"No way!"

"Darn right, ring jockey. How do you like them apples?" Flash taunted happily.

Green Lantern snorted derisively. "It's not like you even have a chance against me in poker."

"Is that a challenge?"

"Heck, yeah."
"You're on. Hey, Wonder Woman, why don't you come join us?"

"No."

"Okay," Hal said with sarcastic resignation. "I guess you could just sit there smelling the flowers they gave you on Beta 3. All night long."

"Is there something wrong with me enjoying these?"
"No, but you should be careful with those things. You know how alien flowers always do crazy stuff to your brain," Hal added good-naturedly.

"Only if you're wearing a red shirt," Barry noted. "Oh, wait, she is."

"Really, Diana, the way you've been sitting there all night obsessively sniffing those things, you'd almost think—"

"How dare you call me obsessive!" Wonder Woman said, leaping forward suddenly. "What right have you to judge me?!"

"Whoa."

"Diana, calm down," Barry said, standing up slowly. "We were just joking," he explained, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Joke's over!" Wonder Woman yelled, as she grabbed the Flash's arm and threw him into a wall, knocking him unconscious.

"Diana!" The Green Lantern said, readying his ring to block an attack. "What the heck are you doing?"

"What I've wanted to do for a long time. Destroying you all!"

"It seemed like everything popped at once then. Us, the Titans, the JSA, the Outsiders. All of our collective trains just suddenly derailed, and we could do nothing to stop it."

"I hope we got here in time," Nightwing said to the other Titans as Troia pounded the door in to Warehouse 32. "Looks like it."

Slade Wilson, known by reputation as Deathstroke the Terminator, regarded the Titans with quiet confidence. With a quick motion, he silently ordered his men to attack. They came out from behind boxes and any other cover, armed with assault rifles.

"Titans, you know what to do," Nightwing said, as he tossed a couple 'rangs at two of the gunmen. Kid Flash sped forward, disarming thugs at superspeed, and Arsenal shot arrows, while Troia and Tempest took the direct approach.

"Your men went down pretty quickly, Deathstroke," Nightwing said, and then quickly realized the man was gone.

"Hey, Nightwing, that door in the back there is open."

"It wasn't open before," Nightwing said, approaching the door. "It's too sloppy. He's trying to set us up." Nightwing fully opened the door cautiously, and examined the space in front of it. "No tripwires or laser eyes. Alright, let's proceed with caution. Slowly, carefully."

The Titans walked forward, expecting some trap to spring at any moment, but nothing happened. Then they noticed the walls had changed.

"Looks like somebody ran out of wallpaper and decided to use mirrors instead," Kid Flash gibed.

"It's a maze of mirrors. Meant to get us confused and disoriented. This is definitely a trap. Deathstroke didn't just come here haphazardly," Nightwing said, slowly letting it sink in. "He knew we were coming."

"Did you just hear a sound like a sliding door?"
"I think I heard several."

Suddenly, more gunmen approached from all sides. In the bottleneck of the maze, the Titans were easily surrounded.

"Titans, stay together!" Nightwing yelled, crouching low and executing a spin kick that brought two thugs to the ground.

"It's too crowded," Arsenal said, with an arrow notched to his bow. "I can't get a clear shot!" Arsenal dropped his bow as a bullet hit him in the shoulder.

"Arsenal!" Nightwing yelled, even as he threw too more 'rangs.

"I'm okay," Arsenal said painfully. He got back on his feet, and leaned against a wall, which, seconds later, shattered in a spray of glass as a sword appeared from the darkness and ran Arsenal through. Nightwing's mouth dropped open as he saw his teammate and close friend die in front of his eyes.

"Deathstroke," he said with teeth gritted, as he dispatched two more thugs, and moved to face their commander. Deathstroke pulled out a pistol, and pointed it at Nightwing. But as he pulled the trigger, Nightwing realized it was actually pointed past him. He heard the sound of the shot at the same time he saw Tempest fall to the ground.

With a burst of rage, Nightwing jumped forward and kicked at Deathstroke, but he was blocked. Deathstroke returned with a slash of his rapier, which Nightwing managed to avoid, but Deathstroke caught him on the chin with the butt of his pistol, and sent Nightwing flying through another mirror.

"Kid Flash," Deathstroke said, pulling out a remote control device. "Outrun this." Suddenly, the space of floor the Flash was standing on was flooded with a thick layer of oil that eliminated the friction, causing the speedster to slip and fall. Almost instantly after that, the section of floor slid away into the wall, revealing a bed of spikes twenty feet down.

"No!" Nightwing yelled, his own physical pain unnoticed as he saw the third of his teammates die. "Troia!" He rasped, "Get out! Now!"

Troia started to protest, but then, seeing the urgency in Nightwing's eyes, launched herself through the roof and to safety. Nightwing pushed himself up and then turned to face Deathstroke once more. The killer had put away both his sword and his gun, and faced Nightwing in a karate stance. Nightwing sprang forward, throwing an open hand at Deathstroke's face, but it was blocked just like before. He threw another punch, and another. The fourth finally hit, but Deathstroke barely seemed to notice. Deathstroke came back then, hitting Nightwing in the face, then in the stomach, in the ribs, then in the face again. Nightwing fell to the ground, but Deathstroke picked him up by his collar, ripped off his mask, and then threw him back to the ground.

"Remember this, little boy," Deathstroke said arrogantly. "You've lost everything. Your team, your secret identity…your pride. I bet you wish I'd kill you, too."
"You'll pay for this," Nightwing muttered weakly.

"Still defiant?" Deathstroke asked. "Too bad you can't back it up. The Titans have been destroyed, kid. I won."