I own nothing but Junior, The Teen Titans and everything else rightfully belong to DC
The Titan of Jump
Chapter 4
Junior...well he went by Antonio these days didn't really know what to think as he stared down the two beings that have systematically destroyed everything around him. Jump city was in flames, the other Titans were down for the count and even Superman with his Justice League lie beaten before him. He was the last man standing, and all he could do was sigh.
"You couldn't have done this...any other day?" he asked, his metal mouthpiece accentuating every word, even broadcasting his breathing to everyone still alive scattered around the wreckage that used to be a city block.
The two gray beings just kept staring at him, one floating so carelessly up above and the other hunched forward like the animal he appeared to be, growling lowly from behind a large silver helmet that bore the omega symbol. Darkseid and Doomsday, a match made in hell some might say, because somehow Darkseid managed to get Doomsday out of the Phantom zone without anyone knowing and now here they were dominating the Earth's strongest defenses.
"That is an irrelevant question, I don't care how Inconvenient this is for you worm," Darkseid said easily, floating above the last standing "hero" who held the stance of someone who found the situation to be nothing short of a minor inconvenience.
Antonio sighed, 15 years...they could've attacked at any point over the last 15 years and he would've been fine with it but no, they just had to attack the day after he buried his father. He glanced back at the beaten and bloody heroes behind him, the Titans who he was second in command of, the Justice League who he has helped defend earth with countless times when they needed back up.
Then his eyes settled on Raven, the relationship he wanted that the world itself seemed to be against, seeing as it never seemed to stop giving her excuses to deny him. First, it was her powers and emotion, then it was Starfires' disappearance and on and on it went until one day he just gave up and settled for helping them protect Jump, picking them up when they fell and taking control when they needed leadership. He'd gotten close with all of them over the years, ironically enough it was Nightwing...or well Dick who became his brother in all but blood, Antonio guessed it was both of their horrible love lives that got them to start talking in the first place.
Antonio kept him going with the truth, that Jump and the Titans needed him to be strong, and that most of all when Starfire finally showed up again that she would be saddened to see a broken man instead of a strong one. Dick did his best to instill the same hope in him, that one day Raven would come to accept the open secret that was her love of him and accept his love in return, but Antonio was a realist, if she hadn't accepted it after 15 years then it was never gonna happen.
Dick saw his brother on the decline for some time now, he rarely smiled nowadays even on the now rare occasion when he wasn't wearing his mouthpiece. He didn't speak unless he had too, and if he wasn't saving the day he just started to check out of reality, and then Bane finally succumbed to the poison wracking his body from the toxic Venom he injected into himself over the years.
No one really knows what happened the day Antonio went to visit him, but when he got back just a day prior to this, even Raven couldn't sense any emotion from him. He was a blank slate, completely barren of wants or feelings and even though she didn't let it show, it brought her absolute despair to see the once-powerful and absolute force that was Junior brought down to this husk that he was now.
It was Raven that tiredly opened her eyes to see Antonio pull out a small green vial from his jacket pocket, her eyes scanned around to see all of her friends down and out and even Superman lie still in a crater with the rest of the League scattered about. She felt fear in her heart when she read the emotion coming from Antonio, the resignation and acceptance that radiated from his form, he wasn't scared of the two monstrous beings before him. No, he was going to defeat them, and he was going to give the last of this half-life he's been living to do it, Raven felt the last bit of her energy leave her and her eyes closed knowing that when they opened again, the man before her would be forever out of her reach.
The tear that slipped from her eye went unnoticed as Antonio looked at the bright green liquid in his hand, the last of the poisonous Venom his dad used and being who he was, Bane had made sure that there was no way anyone would be able to recreate the toxic enhancer after his death, and as Antonios' body grew drawing upon every drop of pure Venom he could naturally produce he ripped his mask off and downed the vial in one gulp.
No one moved as the now eight-foot man dropped the vial to the floor, leaving behind only broken glass, he slipped out of his coat letting that drop to the ground leaving his bulging green veins exposed for all to see, the sunglasses he is almost never seen without fell atop the fur as well. His tank top tore as he kept growing until the veins pulsing all around his body bled red and he became a 9 foot monster of a man pulsing with unrestrained power and muscle.
"This...this is gonna kill me, but I'm going to make sure...That it kills you first," he said, his voice taking on an inhuman growl at the end before he shot from his position leaving nothing but a crater and slammed into Doomsday with all the power of a collapsing star.
The beast didn't go far as Antonio grabbed his ankle and swung him up to collide with a surprised Darkseid, sending them both careening towards Titans Tower, where Antonio was already waiting. They crashed down in a crumpled heap before the man, no...The Titan who gazed down at them with disinterest radiating from his bright red eyes, his boot rose and came down with such force that it shook every city within a 100-mile radius, the island itself crumbled and split apart as waves collapsed some of the buildings near the docks of Jump.
Darkseid tossed the mangled beast from atop him and rose up, Doomsday let out a strangled breath as he managed to get to his knees, then darkness was cast over them and they both gazed on as the entire Tower that was once used to house the Titans was now being used as a hammer to crush them into the ocean below. Another crash, another onset of waves hitting the buildings, then on more as Antonio came down on top of the tower to force the two beings further down into the water. He stepped back as a bright red beam split the tower in two and Darkseid rose from the water beaten and bloody, but most of all...absolutely furious.
"I AM DARKSEID" he roared to the heavens but that was all he could say as the Titan slammed into him once again, completely uninterested in listening to anything the being known as Darkseid had to say because the fight was already won the moment Junior decided his life...just wasn't worth living anymore.
The fallen heroes awoke to the sounds of emergency vehicles and a mass of civilians clambering about the city, some were looking for lost loved ones, others were receiving medical attention but the mass majority were looking on towards the water. At the impossibly massive crater that was once Titans Island, slowly being filled by the surrounding water creating a whirlpool half the size of Jump City itself.
A search and rescue was attempted, as the heroes combed over every inch of the city and the new whirlpool but the only body found was the obliterated form of Doomsday, dead and waiting to be thrown right back into the Phantom Zone. There was no sign of Antonio or Darkseid, and only the discarded fur coat, mask, glasses, and the shards of the vial containing the poisonous Venom could be found, the day was saved...but the cost was much too high in the eyes of everybody.
A memorial was built in his honor, A massive stone statue of the newly dubbed Titan in all his glory standing tall in front of the Titan Museum that housed trinkets and pictures of battles fought and won, from the moment the Teen Titans were formed, to the day Junior entered Jump and beat down Cinderblock, Starfires disappearance, the defeat of Trigon, and onwards. The main attraction, however, was the coat and mask placed on a life-sized replica of Titan...Antonio...Junior.
It was held inside an impenetrable glass case and currently being looked upon by a deeply saddened Starfire, who listened carefully as the story spilled from the lips of her friend Raven, an older, impossibly sad Raven who now spends her days managing the museum and living with the deep regret that came with the death of the man she loved but wouldn't accept.
"There's a new team now, led by Batman's son of all people, Nightwing mentors them." she finished still gazing at the tall replica of Junior, she was slightly taller now wearing a black pants suit and loafers.
Her hair was much longer, pulled back into a ponytail that grazed her waistline, her violet eyes were covered by a familiar pair of sunglasses and her face was as muted as ever. She grew into a beautiful woman, but that beauty was cold and hard, and no one would dare approach her under any circumstances due to the constant chill in the air around her, for the emotions she had were no longer restrained...they were dead.
"Friend Raven, where are we going?" Starfire asked in a rather subdued manner, it was...hard for her to hear how things had gone since her arrival in the future despite Raven's assurances that there have been some good things as well.
"To Victor, he'll know how to get you back to where you came from," Raven said in her almost robotic tone, which was one of the reasons why Starfire felt the way she did now, it was good that the rest of her friends seemed to be doing well from what she'd been told, but Raven herself just seemed...dead on the inside.
Starfire was stunned when they finally stopped in front of a simple black car of all things.
"Um, friend Raven wouldn't it be faster if we flew?" she asked, almost baffled at the thought of simply driving somewhere.
Raven just unlocked the doors with a hum of acknowledgment before getting behind the wheel, patiently waiting for her companion to get in as well, not wanting to test her friends' patience Starfire quickly got into the passenger seat and they were off. They rode in tense silence, with Raven being even less of a talker than she used to be and Star being too...intimidated at the moment to even think of bothering the woman currently driving.
"I know you have questions," Raven said eventually as they drove further into the now much larger and far more technologically advanced Jump City.
"How are...our other friends?" Star asked quietly not letting her new wonders of future jump get in the way of her worry over her friends.
"You don't have to worry, they're not like me if that's what you're afraid of," she said evenly, Raven understood how she made people feel, her ability to feel others seemed to increase tenfold as time went on, so reading other's emotions was as easy as blinking nowadays.
"A side effect of not feeling anything myself," she thought, patiently listening to Starfires proclamations that she wasn't thinking that at all but Raven knew what everyone thought...she just didn't care.
"It's fine Star, everyone else is fine as you're about to see," she said as they parked in front of a massive building that rose up into the air like a beacon of knowledge in the center of the city.
"Cy-corp?" Starfire asked as they got out of the car, she couldn't believe the size of the building as she kept looking higher and higher, the name of the corporation placed proudly down the front.
"98 floors, I know...it's impressive" a deep voice rang out snapping her attention forward to see a very familiar figure clad in a black suit standing before them.
Cyborg has had a hard life, from football star to a horrible amalgamation of man and machine. He's done whatever he could in life just to keep moving forward with a smile on his face, then he found his second family within the Teen Titans and finally felt like he belonged somewhere. There had been ups and downs but he couldn't complain about how things had gone besides just a few regrets that kept him up at night, even his lovely wife could understand how hard it was for him sometimes and just did what she could to be there for him. He was grateful for her, which was why when he brought Starfire and Raven up to his office and she immediately went on the defensive, her eyes glowing with that familiar green flame and her hands emitting a devastatingly bright green energy he was quick to shut her down.
"Star calm down," he said pulling her back by the shoulder, she gave him a rather shocked and confused look as she pointed out the person currently sitting on top of the large desk in the middle of the room.
"But friend Cyborg, is that not Jinx? Our enemy?" she asked, taking a closer look at the woman blinking owlishly at them with her pink cat-like eyes.
Starfire however, was only half right as this was Jinx though 20 years older, she was taller than she remembered but still largely on the petite side of things, her hair was shorter and fell about her head in a wild mess of pink that only reached down to her chin. She had grown quite beautiful over the years, and she was dressed simply in a purple sweater that fell off the shoulders exposing even more of her extremely pale skin that trailed down to her black jean covered thighs, her boots were black and the only jewelry that could be spotted on her person was the wedding ring she wore that matched Victors.
"Wow, I haven't heard that name in years," she said her mouth curling into a playful grin as she hopped off the desk and sauntered up to Victor.
He could only sigh when he saw the look in her eyes and accepted the rather deep kiss she gave him pulling him down by his tie in order to effectively reach his mouth, Raven gave no reaction to the display simply waiting for the pink-haired woman to quit playing games, while Starfire's eyes seemed to engulf her face and her jaw effectively hit the floor.
The four of them sat around the office in rather comfortable chairs that materialized from the ground with a wave of Victor's hand, showcasing not only how technologically advanced the future was, but just how much of that was due to him and his company. Starfire was still reeling from the previous display much to Jinx's delight and Victor's exasperation, though sadly he cut her amusement short with a rather pointed look in her direction.
"What?" she asked, spotting the look but he just raised an eyebrow and kept staring at her, watching as she began to fidget under his gaze until finally.
"Alright fine" she grumbled bringing a smile to his face.
"Thank you Jen," he said only for her to wave him off as she came to stand in front of the still rather comatose Starfire, it took a few seconds for the shell-shocked redhead to notice the pinkette standing before her.
"Hey, I know the situation and I understand if it's shocking or whatever, so let me start over. Hey, my names Jennifer, Jennifer Stone and I used to be a villain by the name of Jinx but that's over now thanks to...a good friend" she trailed off as she remembered the one that gave her the light push in the right direction so long ago, and that he was gone now.
Starfire could tell that she was speaking of friend Junior based solely off the way her friends' expressions fell slightly, and how the glacial aura hovering around Raven seemed to grow ever colder despite her lack of a reaction to anything that had been going on. The morose atmosphere was broken when Starfire spoke up.
"Good day friend Jennifer! It is glorious to finally meet you" she said grasping the surprised pinkettes' hand between her own.
"Uh, yeah...Well, I guess you're still a ball of sunshine" she muttered as she tried to get her hand back from the impossible grip Starfire had, sadly it was a failed attempt, which only grew worse for her when she was pulled into a much more proper greeting in Starfires eyes, a hug of friendship.
Raven left shortly after that display saying that she was needed at the museum, but Victor and Jen knew the actual reason, it was the same reason she barely met with the former Titans at all these days. Too many memories, too many reminders of him, far too much regret for her to handle… but this wasn't the only reason oh no, she could handle the regret, hell she had been doing so for the last 5 years.
No, it was another emotion that dared to rear its ugly head that made it almost impossible to stay near the situation. Hope was a terrible thing, a hope that when they sent Star home things would be different, that maybe she would actually take the chance and be with him this time around...it was those thoughts that proved to be too much. So she left, after making sure Victor knew how to fix Star's situation and get her back to where she belonged. Back to the past, back to when things were simpler, back to when he was alive.
"Will friend Raven be okay?" Star asked watching the simple black car pull off down below, her question went unanswered for quite a while before Victor shook his head.
"It's… hard for her Star, but right now getting you home safe and sound is the best thing we could do for her" he finished moving towards the large desk in the center of the room Jen in tow.
"Do you have a plan, friend Cyborg?" she asked coming to join the two at the large blue holographic screen they were looking over.
"Plan's already finished, the Titans already grabbed Warp and should be here any moment," he said with a smile.
Starfire just gave him a wide-eyed gaze before the elevator across the room chimed and opened up to reveal a group of people both familiar and unfamiliar. It took but a moment before a green blur to collide with the shocked teen raising her off her feet and squeezing her to its massive frame.
"Star! It's really you, oh man!" a deep yet familiar voice cheered, swinging the bewildered girl from side to side.
"Friend BeastBoy?" she asked gazing up into the twinkling green eyes of her now grown friend. He stood taller than Cyborg now and sported an impressive amount of muscle.
His dark green hair was rather long and shaggy now brushing the back of shoulders and his face was clean-shaven save for the afternoon stubble on his chin making him rather ruggedly handsome. His white tank top and jeans seemed oddly familiar but Starfire didn't have much time to ponder this as he swiftly set her down and stepped aside to reveal the rest of the group...and one man in particular who stared at her from behind a domino mask she would recognize anywhere.
Richard Grayson, Nightwing but most importantly he was formerly known as Robin, mentor of the Teen Titans and protege of Batman, stood before her having grown much over the last 20 years. His hair was also longer, brushing his shoulders and black as pitch, his face now bore a couple of scars but that did nothing to his aristocratically handsome features that had drawn the stares of many women over the years.
His costume was very different from what she remembered, his body covered in a black lightweight armor under a long black coat with a large blue bird symbol covering most of his back. While normally unreadable with his domino mask and neutral expression he now wore an open and fond smile as he gazed upon Starfire, a lost Titan returned...and so much more.
"Starfire," he said softly as she looked up at him in wonder.
"Friend Robin?" She asked her eyes wide in recognition and awe at the rather intimidating vision he struck.
They were lost in their own little world for a moment completely oblivious to the onlookers around them until the trance was broken by a new voice, a voice filled with laughter and a bit of mischief.
"Looks like teach is a bit starstruck huh? Haha, get it? STAR-struck?" a girl's voice said as she threw an arm around the shoulders of their ever serious and oh so talented leader who merely grunted but did nothing about the offending appendage.
Nightwing stepped aside and gestured towards the group of teens behind him as Beastboy hung off of Victor trying to stay standing, his deep laughter filling the room and spreading a light and joy-filled atmosphere.
"I guess I should introduce you to the new team," he said, first pointing at the green-haired blue-eyed girl with a cheeky grin splitting her rather soft and tan features.
"This is Kyra Logan, formally known as Morph," he said as the girl let go of the frowning teen to give a bow and a "Pleased to meetcha" before locking arms with her stern leader.
He pointed to the dark-haired youth next to her who donned the familiar Robin costume with a bit of added armor along with the swords holstered across his back, he was seemed short for his age with his hair cut short and combed back in a very practical style.
"The grumpy ones Damian, the new Robin," Nightwing said simply as Robin gave the now returned Titan a once over.
"I'm sure she could deduce that from my uniform, unless she's blind" he stated evenly much to Nightwings exasperation.
"Aw don't be like that Rob, turn that frown upside down or no cuddles" Kyra laughed, it was an almost musical laugh simply goading others to join in its naturally merry tune.
Robin just made it a point to frown harder, which only succeeded in making her laugh louder much to his annoyance, Nightwing then pointed behind them towards the two teens further back one ignoring the situation as a whole while the other looked on with a casual smile.
"One on the left is Crush," he said as Star observed the gray-skinned girl decked out in punk currently blocking the world out with some headphones.
Her dark hair was pulled to the left side of her face leaving the right side shaved and her blood-red eyes merely glanced at the fiery-haired teen before shutting once again completely disinterested.
"She's not much of a talker," he said easily ignoring Robin's mutter of that being an understatement.
"And last but not least we have Hextech," he said with a slight smile towards the dark-skinned girl with a shockingly pink afro.
"Hey girl, how ya liking the future?" she asked with a light and easy-going tone.
She was dressed pretty casual for a hero sporting an overly large pink sweatshirt and tight blue jeans, her sunglasses hid her bright pink eyes from the world but her overall demeanor gave off a calm fun-loving attitude that seemed hard to break. Starfire was silent for a moment before in a burst of motion she had somehow rounded all of them up into one massive hug.
"Oh it is glorious to meet you all!" she laughed and most of the people in the room found it enjoyable, those not currently within the confines of the bone-crushing hug just smiled at the heartwarming scene.
Crush and Robin were the first to break free, one with a growl and the other silently stepping away from what he now saw as another person more than willing to encroach upon his personal space, the older heroes felt a piece of their hearts returning from the very much missed warmth and energy their fiery-haired friend gave off.
But while miles away only happiness could be found, here only despair was felt for Metropolis was in ruins...the once golden city seen as a beacon amongst the world was burning all around him as he gazed up at the two figures that came to the world bringing hell along with them. Dianna was trying to get his attention, as Bruce was already thinking up a battle plan, while Barry was rushing through the city evacuating everyone he could, Parademons littered the sky all around them as Darkseid looked upon them with a cruel smirk.
"Did you think you'd seen the last of me, Kryptonian?" he asked his voice booming across the city as his Parademons collected the people and killed those who attempted to resist.
"I always had a feeling, but I'd hoped you would have learned your lesson after the last failure" Superman called back rising up to face the gray being and the unknown figure standing beside him.
"It took some time to recover after the last battle, most of my efforts being spent on a new soldier but you'll soon learn that Darkseid never makes mistakes. I'm almost disappointed that I won't be the one to teach you this most important lesson" he said, floating back a bit as the unknown being stepped further into the light.
"No, I shall bestow that honor upon my greatest weapon," he said as Superman looked on in shock at the familiar being standing atop the building before him.
His hair was far longer than before falling about his shoulders and trailing uncaringly down his chest in wild curls, the once bronzed skin was now a deep gray and cracked much like his new master. He was adorned in heavy black armor that left his massive arms bare to the world allowing them to see the deep red veins that spread across them, and though his metal mouthpiece was replaced by the bottom half of a Parademons skull. There was no mistaking that face, no they could never forget the one that had triumphed over certain defeat all those years ago...And though he now stood before them, eyes a blank white and the Omega symbol seared into his forehead, there was no mistaking it.
Junior, Antonio...Titan now stood before the Justice League transformed and none of them could shake the dark feeling that settled over them...it felt like a death sentence.
Welp, I'm back, sorry to keep ya'll waiting but trust me I haven't forgotten about you. Things have been a bit hectic between the move, the spicy flu spreading around, and the fact that I've started going to school at The Art Institute of Dallas.
So here's the beginning of the end of the prologue to the story The Titan of Jump, a three-part trip to the future, this is probably as dark as the stories gonna get, so after this, it's going to be nothing but light-hearted action and insanity.
Oh and I've read a few reviews wondering about the whole parole thing, I'll fix up the last chapter so that there's less confusion but for those of you who don't want to reread it I'll just give a barebones explanation right here.
The basic idea of it is that while yes Junior did win the fight and yes the idea of him being on "parole" is rather petty of Robin to do, I simply saw it as the logical thing to do in this situation. Robin knows he can't beat Junior but he also knows that Junior hasn't done anything to warrant any immediate action since coming to Jump. They've had some history in Gotham but that's my fault for not specifying that Junior never really did anything while he was there, he hung around with Bane while the crimes were going on but never actually stepped in to do anything until Robin and Batman came to try and stop them. Does this make him innocent? No, definitely not and he doesn't see it that way either but it does give Robin a bit of leeway when it comes to dealing with him. He knows that Junior has never gone out of his way to do anything wrong before but he also knows he's capable of committing crimes, so he sees it more as buying time, he keeps an eye on him while the Titans get stronger so that if he does step out of line they'll be more prepared to deal with it. If he doesn't then good for them, so he's just doing what he can with the situation as he can't at this point in time just ring up Superman to come and deal with Junior, especially if he hasn't done anything for the past few years.
I hope that explanation helped you guys understand why I did it this way but if it didn't then at least I tried, I'm down for taking suggestions with the story as it's really just a thing I'm doing for fun.
As always, Read, Review, Flame, it's all love in my book.
Alfred Signing Out.
P.S. The next chapter will be up later today, just gotta read it over again and fix any mistakes.