Summary: The Titans rush into battle!

Disclaimer: All the characters are owned by DC Comics and Time/Warner; this is an original story that does not intend to infringe on their copyright. Feedback is welcome!

Copyright: December 2004

JLA/Titans: Stealing Armageddon

By Syl Francis

Chapter Seven

Day 1

1930hrs Zulu: the Japanese Fleet

(Pearl Harbor Striking Force)

300 miles north of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Arsenal did a supersonic flyby over the Japanese fleet. He spotted six aircraft carriers, numerous battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and tankers. Furthermore, he knew that somewhere out there a large task force of submarines was steadily making its way towards Pearl Harbor.

The archer shook his head in disbelief. Remembering his history books, he said, "The Pearl Harbor Striking Force was the largest naval attack force ever assembled at the time. Man, oh, man...it looks just like the old news reels!"

"Arsenal! Look!" Damage was pointing at one of the aircraft carriers. "The planes are getting ready to take off!"

"Damn..." Arsenal said softly. Turning to Argent, he spoke urgently. "Argent, I'm going to need you to stop those planes," he said. At Argent's confident nod, he added, "Toni...you're not to hurt any of them. Do you understand?"

Argent looked suddenly unsure of herself.

"Toni, the Japanese fleet down there? Most of those men didn't die the first time. We have no way of knowing how this Project Armageddon is affecting our time stream. If and when the Japanese fleet returns to wherever it came from, it has to go back exactly the way they came." Arsenal paused and steadily held her eyes. "Can you do it?"

Argent swallowed nervously, but momentarily took a deep breath and raised her chin defiantly. "I can do it," she declared.

Arsenal flashed her a smile. "Go!" Argent immediately flew out of the T-jet's upper hatch.

"What about me, Arsenal?" Damage asked excitedly. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Funny you should ask, kid," Arsenal said with a mischievous grin. "I have a bang up job that needs doing, and you're just the man for it!" With that Arsenal banked the T-jet and placed them in a sudden dive. Damage's reply was lost in the noise of the jet's screaming engine.

As the T-jet leveled off less than five feet above the surface of the water, Arsenal caught sight of Argent setting up a protective plasma shield all around the aircraft carriers.

"Do you think she'll be able to hold them long?" Damage asked worriedly.

"She'll have to." With that, Arsenal pressed the thrusters. As the jet shot forward, he and Damage were thrown back into their seats.

"Where are we goin'?!" Damage shouted.

"The Japanese fleet was escorted by a large submarine task force," Arsenal explained. "While Argent holds the planes, you're going to stop the subs!"

"Oh," Damage replied with a shrug. "I'm going to--" He stopped, the full import of Arsenal's words finally dawning on him. "I'm going to what?!" The teen's voice went up an octave.

"And don't forget about the midget subs," Arsenal added unperturbed. "At least five of the subs are purported to have been carrying midget subs. We've gotta make sure they don't make it into the harbor and torpedo anything there."

"Riiiight..." Damage said with a sardonic nod. "We'll make sure of it."

Arsenal glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, a slight twinkle alighting from within. "That's the spirit, kid!" As he spoke, the senior Titan was conducting an underwater search for the subs. "Where's ol' Gillhead when you need him?" he muttered. A sudden pinging sound announced that they'd located the submarines.

"Okay, kid," Arsenal said. "Here's where you get to do your stuff." Without further explanation, he banked the T-jet directly into the Pacific Ocean. Quickly, the deep, cold waters of the Pacific enveloped them. Damage's expression looked doubtful.

"What are you--?"

"I'm taking us to a point directly on the subs' forward vector--" Arsenal began.

"Huh--?"

"I'm parking us directly in front of the subs' path," Arsenal explained patiently.

"Oh." Damage looked at him. "And what am I supposed to do?"

"You need to put on one of those protective suits," Arsenal said. "Build up your power, and when I give the word, blow those subs out of the water!" He grinned broadly. "Um...relatively speaking, of course."

"Huh?" Damage was still trying to digest the fact that he had to put on a protective suit. "I'm going out there?" he asked. "But I can't swim." He added this last in a very small voice.

Arsenal grinned. "That's okay, kid. Drowning's gonna be the least of your worries."

"That so does not makes me feel better!" Damage said sourly. Giving Arsenal a dark glare, he stood and began donning the underwater gear. "Drowning's gonna be the least of your worries," he repeated under his breath. "Um...Roy? Those subs out there...are they gonna be able to survive one of my explosions?"

Arsenal gave Damage a pensive look before responding. "I'm betting that we're located far enough out that by the time the force of the underwater shock wave reaches them, it'll be just strong enough to stop them, but not--"

"--Not strong enough to damage them?" Damage asked. Arsenal nodded with a confidence he didn't feel. Damage shook his head. "I sure hope you know what you're doing."

Keeping a straight face, Arsenal quipped, "Now what could I have done to ever give you the idea that I knew what I was doing?" Giving Damage a quick wink, Arsenal suddenly became all business. "Airlock pressurized."

Facing Arsenal, Damage gave him a thumb's up. With a final grin, he stepped into the airlock. As soon as the water tight door closed behind the younger man, Arsenal opened the outer locks. Within seconds the airlock began filling to capacity with water. Minutes later, the instrument panel indicated that it was completely filled.

"Arsenal to Damage. Commo check."

"Read you loud and clear." Damage's young voice sounded confident.

"Okay, kid...how's your power buildup? Are you almost ready?"

"Yeah, I can feel it surging through me already."

"Okay, Grant...when I give the word, I'm gonna want you to give 'em all you've got."

"But what if I hurt them?" Damage still sounded unsure.

"Stop your worrying, kid," Arsenal said easily. "Like I said, we're not gonna hurt 'em. We're just gonna singe 'em a little." His eyes narrowing, Arsenal added, "Attack my country, will you?" The seconds passed interminably. Then a blip suddenly appeared on his instrument panel. This soon grew into a larger blob--the submarine task force!

"Damage! Ready?" Arsenal barked.

"Ready!" Damage said.

"When I give the word..." Arsenal kept his eyes on the instrument panel, watching as the blob grew in size. "Hold it...hold it...almost there...Now!! Hit 'em with all you've got!"

As soon as Arsenal's command came over the comlink, Damage tensed his entire body and released!

In less than an instant, the power equivalent to an underwater nuclear explosion went out on a tsunami wave. The incoming submarine task force was still over 200 miles out and therefore didn't receive the full brunt of the explosion. However, the blast was sufficient to send them tumbling end over end. And, once the Japanese sailors finally brought their boats under control, it was sufficient to send them hightailing back to the relative protection of the rest of the fleet.

By then, Arsenal had already managed to locate and recover his unconscious teammate. Minutes later, they were on a vector back to where they'd left Argent still holding back the rest of the attack force. Smiling with deep pride, Arsenal said softly, "Good job, kids."

Day 1

1930hrs Zulu: over the Rocky Mountains

West of the Continental Divide

The red blinking light indicated an incoming call--Oracle. Nightwing punched the receive button.

"Nightwing here. Talk to me."

"NORAD has just intercepted an encoded message to CINCPAC." Even through the electronic filter, Oracle's voice sounded tense.

"CINCPAC?" Nightwing repeated.

"Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet," Oracle explained. "Attention, Admiral Nimitz."

"Nimitz?" Nightwing asked, nonplussed. Exchanging a surprised glance with Starfire, he asked. "As in 'World War II' Admiral Nimitz?"

"That's the one," Oracle agreed. "Oh, and he's been dead since the 1960s."

"Who sent the transmission?" Starfire asked.

"General Spaatz, commanding officer of Tinian Island, a small air base in the Marianas Island Group."

"Where are we going with this?" Nightwing demanded.

"Tinian Island was the takeoff point for the Enola Gay!" At her words, Nightwing immediately banked the T-jet and sent it into a supersonic climb.

"Enola Gay?" Nightstar asked. "What is that?" Starfire held up her hand for quiet. Oracle was still giving her report.

"Nightwing, Spaatz reports that the Enola Gay is less than 150 nautical miles from Japan." After a brief pause, she added quietly, "The Enola Gay is on a heading towards Hiroshima."

"Has the Japanese Air Force been notified?" Nightwing asked.

"Not yet. If they intercept her before you do, they could blow her out of the sky--" Oracle began.

"--And we need to ensure that she's returned to her own time stream intact," Nightwing interrupted.

"Nightwing, you have to intercept her and somehow keep her from performing her mission, otherwise--"

"--Otherwise, Hiroshima will suffer from a second atomic bomb blast," Nightwing finished. "We're on course to the coordinates you've sent. ETA ten minutes."

"Daddy?" Nightstar asked. "Uh-I mean, um...Nightwing...What's the Enola Gay?"

"Technically speaking, the Enola Gay was a B-29 Super-Fortress, the largest, heaviest bomber developed by the US Air Force towards the close of World War II. Specifically, the Enola Gay was the Super-Fortress that dropped the atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ending the war and--"

"--Giving birth to a terrible period in Earth history known as the 'Nuclear Age,'" Starfire added.

"I think we studied it in history class," Nightstar said. "But history is just...I don't know...so yesterday's news!" She shrugged. "I just couldn't get into it."

"Well, Nightstar," Nightwing said, "I would say that you couldn't get into it any deeper than you are now." A blip suddenly appeared on the radar screen.

"Contact!" Starfire reported. "Target approximately twenty nautical miles on a north by northwest heading. The coordinates are coming in right now! There! Less than ten minutes on this heading!"

"Good job, Kory," Nightwing said. "When we have a visual, I'm going to need you and Mari to attack from two different directions."

"Any weaponry we should know about?" Starfire asked.

"I'm receiving the data even as we speak," Nightwing said. "Let's see...the B-29 bombers had four remote-controlled gun turrets with twin-mounted, 50-caliber machine guns each. But it looks like the Enola Gay was especially designed to defend against frontal attacks. She had four machine guns mounted on her forward dorsal turret. Take those out first and you'll effectively disarm her."

"Understood," Starfire said with a nod. Then, turning towards the young, time-displaced woman, she asked, "Nightstar, are you sure you want to do this? I think I can handle an old-style military plane."

Before answering, Nightstar gave Starfire and Nightwing a long thoughtful look. She felt her throat catch again. The incredibly young man and woman in front of her were so much like the parents she remembered from her childhood. And yet they weren't. It pained her to watch them, and yet their very presence gave her comfort.

Whether this Starfire and this Nightwing were or were not her parents, she knew that they were enough like her mom and dad that they would help her get home. On impulse, Nightstar reached over to Starfire and gave her a quick hug and a kiss. After only the briefest hesitation, she repeated the move with Nightwing.

Smiling through sudden tears, she managed to say, "Are you kidding? I wouldn't miss this for the world!"

Day 1

1945hrs Zulu: 40 kms from Mt. Popocatepetl

Los Santos, Mexico

Oracle's warning had come barely in time. Seismographic readings from the volcano indicated that it was close to eruption.

The children's screams alerted Plastic Man to their danger. Stretching his torso in the direction of their screams, he wondered--again--at the irony of his playing the hero. He thought of Green Lantern who'd zoomed off towards the volcano, Mt. Popocatepel, almost as soon as they detected its first rumblings.

"Now, he's my idea of a hero," Plastic Man muttered. "Cool power ring. Snazzy uniform. Chicks dig that stuff."

He spotted the children, huddled together underneath the flimsy protection of a cardboard box, which was sitting the shadow of a church belfry. He willed his malleable body to stretch at an even faster rate in their direction.

"And Bats," he continued, shaking his head. "How does he do it? Scary enough to freeze the rubberized blood in my veins. But all the hot babes only wanna get under his cape!"

The earth around the kids suddenly heaved in an undulating, wavelike effect. Again, the children screamed, but this time Plastic Man saw the real peril. A dangerous crack had suddenly appeared along the belfry's stone masonry. As the ground around it moved, the belfry began swinging back and forth like a pendulum. As it shook, large chunks of stones began to break off from it.

Plastic Man then did what he did best. He stretched out as wide he could and with a warning to the kids to stay put, he formed a protective umbrella over them. After a few seconds, the shaking ended and the last of the stones broke off and bounced harmlessly off him.

Minutes later, Plastic Man sat cross-legged, his arms and torso still stretched out in a protective shield around the children who sat safe and snug within his embrace. A small hand pulled at his chin in an attempt to gain his attention.

"Muchas gracias, señor." A pair of dark eyes looked up adoringly at him.

"De nada, chica," he said with a smile. And then, because he was who he was, the JLA's oddest hero proceeded to entertain the children with a series of funny faces until the local authorities arrived. The little girl who'd pulled at his chin wagged her forefinger at him, indicating she wanted him to lean in close. When he did, she promptly threw her arms around his neck and kissed him soundly on the cheek.

Returning her hug, Plastic Man held her close a little longer than needed before handing her over to the Mexican police. She and the other children were loaded into an official van, and soon were driven off down a long dirt road that led to the main highway a few miles outside of town.

The little girl looked out the back of the van and waved her heart out until the vehicle disappeared in a cloud of dust.

"What happened?" Green Lantern was suddenly standing next to him. Plastic Man glanced in the direction of the volcano. Popocatepel's wrathful spirit was literally stoppered with what looked like a glowing, super-sized green cork.

"Oh, nothing much. I only just happened to once again save the day in just the nick of time!" Plastic Man gave GL a wide grin and a slap on the back that sent the Emerald Knight reeling. "And this time...I got the girl!"

Day 1

2000hrs Zulu: the Union Army

Somewhere outside Atlanta, GA

The Flash and Troia took one look at the massive juggernaut that was the Union Army, relentlessly cutting a 60-mile wide swath along its 300-mile march to the sea, and they immediately separated. At super speed, the Flash tore into the neat, geometric ranks and columns, sending men and materiel flying in his powerful wake.

Stunned at first by the unexpected attack, an officer on horseback quickly recovered and starting riding up and down the line, rallying his men on to counterattack. "On your feet lads! We fight for the Union! For freedom! For liberty! Charge!"

"We're with you, General!"

"Three cheers for General Sherman!"

"We'll get them Johnny Rebs!"

As the Flash disrupted the lines, causing chaos and confusion, Troia also seemed to be everywhere. She flew towards an artillery battery just as the battery commander gave the order to fire. Without flinching, the beautiful Amazon easily deflected the twelve-pound round of solid shot with her silver bracelets. Before the artillerymen could react, she dove towards them and made short work of the six-cannon battery.

"Cyclone!"

"Take cover, men!"

At the sudden frightened shouts, Troia looked up and smiled. A red cyclone had seemingly appeared out of nowhere and was advancing steadily and menacingly towards the Union army. Moments later, it looked as if the mighty Union lines had been routed by a force even more powerful than the Confederate army--that of Mother Nature. Horses whinnied in terror, bolting with their riders barely hanging on for dear life.

Soldiers dove into whatever depression they could find for protection against the sudden tornado.

"Take cover! Take cover!"

Flying up into the clear, blue sky, Troia looked down, her vantage point showing a tornado that seemed to have a mind of its own. She grinned as the red cyclone appeared to deliberately nip at the heels of the officer who had been earlier attempting to rally the troops--General William Tecumseh Sherman.

"Like you said, General," Troia murmured. "War is hell."

Day 1

2145hrs Zulu

Somewhere west of Oahu, Hawaii

"Nightwing to Oracle. Mission accomplished. Starfire and Nightstar managed to turn the aircraft around when it suddenly disappeared."

"Good work," Oracle responded. "I have reports coming in from all fronts. JLA, Titans, and YJ report similar successes. Almost as soon as the threat is stopped, it vanishes into thin air."

"Hopefully to return to its proper time stream," Nightwing said. He glanced at Starfire and then at Nightstar. His gaze softened when his eyes fell on the younger woman. Nightstar had fallen asleep in the back seat.

End of Chapter Seven