Mera's fist connected with the Amazon's face purely thanks to the element of surprise. Still she pounded the Princess, tears of fury streaming from her eyes. "How dare you!" she screamed over and over even as her vision blurred with the shear amount of her tears. "How dare you! How dare you! HOW DARE YOU!" Diana was silent even as she blocked the majority of Mera's punches and got a few of her own in. Finally after getting over the initial shock of seeing his wife appear, Aquaman sprung into action. Grabbing Mera by her waist he pulled her to the other side of the room.
Arthur turned Mera to face away from the group, and that's when Mera broke down. For a few minutes she simply cried into her husbands chest. Arthur stroked his wife's hair and looked at Wonder Woman, "Diana, I..."
"No," Diana cut him off. "She has every right to be angry. Bringing our son here has only brought new pain to old wounds for all of us."
"Do not speak to me of pain." Mera said with venom, "My son was murdered in front of our eyes by a sociopath. You sat and claimed yours had died in the womb while all along he was living and growing. You falsely counted yourself among mothers who have lost their children." Each word was an accusation proclaiming Diana's sin of fraudulent words.
Diana took a deep breath, before speaking, "He is my son only by blood. I lost him when I handed him to Steve Trevor. To protect him from the true evils of this world I kept my distance till this day when I finally revealed myself. So Yes, Mera, I am a mother who has lost her child."
Mera turned to stare into Diana's eyes and there was a short contest of wills between the two women. Then Panther cleared his throat. "So let me get this straight," He said as all eyes turned to face him, "You told everyone that you lost your child when you didn't." He pointed to Diana and then turned to point at Mera, "You actually lost your son and thought you had common ground with Diana and now that it turns out Jason. It's Jason, right?" Jason nodded to his name, "Now that Jason is alive you're mad at Diana for deceiving you but you're not mad at your husband for having a child with another woman. Have I got everything recapped?"
"You can tell you're the son of the world's greatest detective." Michelle said sarcastically which got her a shove from Scott. With Mera's attention turned away from Diana and the conflict she seemed to slowly calm down as she examined the children. Finally she pulled away from Arthur and walked toward Jason. Green outfit glittered in the light as she walked so that it seemed like she was swimming or gliding towards Jason rather than walking.
"Your not my son." she said frankly, which got a chuckle from Scott and Michelle for its obviousness. "But I will not allow you to be called the Prince of Atlantis without first proving yourself worthy." Jason nodded understanding a little of what she was saying.
"I was wanting to learn more before chosing what to call myself." He admitted since she hadn't been there when he had asked that request.
Mera smiled and pulled from some hidden pocket a silver amulet which had been looped by a delicate looking silver thread. "This is the symbol of the water bearer." She explained, "Only the true heir of Atlantis may master all of it's secrets. Your father succeeded and now you must." Jason reverently accepted the gift and threw the loop over his head so that the amulet hung from around his neck, "Master this and you will be accepted by Atlantis and me." Mera finished.
Not knowing what else to do Jason simply hugged the Queen of the seven seas. Mera was shocked for a bit but after a moment returned the hug.
"Quite affectionate isn't he." Arthur said in an interested tone, "Wonder where he got that from?" Wonder Woman simply shrugged back to him. She guessed it was a side effect of growing up with Etta Trevor as a mother but she wasn't going to say anything.
"I'm gonna barf." Scott said as Jason ended the thank you hug and Scott effectively ended the emotional build up.
"Oh be nice Scott." Rebecca said shoving him of the couch arm he had been sitting on. Then she turned to Jason, "So what's going to be your super name?" she waited for a second and when Jason stared at her with confusion she sighed, "When fighting crime you have to have an alias so that your loved ones will be safe. I'm Superchick, Michelle is Nightsomething and Scott is Panther. So what are you going to call yourself."
Jason thought for a moment and then said, "What about Neptune?" he asked looking at his parents to see if that was okay after all Neptune was the God of the Seas.
"I don't see a problem with it." Diana said encouragingly, "Neptune has always been a just God. I'm sure he won't mind you championing him in the fight for justice."
"I agree and if Neptune should object you'll know soon enough." Arthur added.
Before anything else could be said an alarm in the tower went off bathing the room in a red light. A woman's voice came over the intercom. "Metahuman activity in Coast City." The woman said, "Flash is nowhere to be seen and Captain Cold and his gang are freezing the city solid."
"Any allies in the area Oracle?" Batman asked immediately.
"One Speedster is holding them off but it's not the flash and probably won't be able to hold them for long." Oracle reported. And with that batman turned to the kids. "Get going."
Scott pulled his hood back up over his face and gave a huge smile, "Titans Go!"
The Titan Jet landed on the outskirts of Coast City. And the new team arrived to find a winter landscape in the middle of the summer. In the center of the city where a great fountain once blossomed glistening streams of crystal clear water stood Captain Cold and his four lieutenants stood gloating over their newly acquired treasures. They watched the edge of the courtyard where the young speedster, Bolt, struggled to fight against the Captain's gangsters. However the ice coated ground made it hard for him to get good footing and so he ended up being the show instead of running it.
Meanwhile, Nightshade and Panther kept to the rooftops trying to be as stealthy as they possibly could. Superchick flew over the city, using the clouds as cover. And that left Neptune skating his way through the city. He had always loved anything to do with water, ice skating included. Before he could never figure out why but now knowing that the King of the seas was his father it all made sense.
He was lost in his thoughts skating around that he almost got hit by a beam from a freeze gun. His saving grace was the fact that a small boomerang few from a nearby rooftop and hit him in the ankle knocking him down so that the beam flew just above him.
"Pay attention!" Nightshade's voice screamed through the communication device in his ear. "This isn't a field trip. Now something is going on in the center of the city. Get there now." Neptune made a note to be careful around the girl and not get her angry at him. Quickly he got up and turned to face his attacker. The man looked like he should be in Alaska not Coast City. The man took aim at Neptune again.
Before he pulled the trigger the amulet Mera had given Neptune began to glow. He heard the rushing of the ocean in his ears and his eyes couldn't believe what he saw next. The ice under Neptune's attacker cracked and shuttered turning back into a liquid and swirling up and closing around the attacker like the petals of a morning glory in the evening. The man panicked and shot his freeze gun in an attempt to stop the water. He only succeeded in freezing himself inside his cage. Not really knowing what else to do Neptune skated on towards the center of the city.
Once in the center, Neptune saw a boy dressed in crimson and gold but unlike him the boy was having trouble keeping his balance on the ice. Jason skated faster than he thought possible to the group of villainous minions surrounding the boy and launched his very first attack as a super hero. He was clumsy but still he landed a few good punches. He hit one square in the jaw, and amazingly deflected a bolt from a ray gun with his gauntlets. The Adrenaline rush had shut down his mind and made Neptune fight completely on instinct. He countered one attacker with a fist to the gut and then spun around to kick another in the face. The ones he didn't finish off were taken care of by more boomerangs from Nightshade. When the minions were done Panther landed from a jump off the nearest rooftop.
"Saw what you did back there. You and Superchick should go after Mr. Eskimo there." Panther said as he helped the new guy to his feet. However Panther's instruction was hardly needed and barely heard. Neptune's ears were flooded with the sound of the ocean. He was completely given over to instinct and automatically turned to look for more enemies. His eyes and amulet glowed with power and the ice around him seemed to pulse as if to show the world his accelerated heartbeat.
Captain Cold's four lieutenants surrounded their leader hoping to protect him. Neptune lunged forward and with a thought created a large trident out of the ice. He hit one of them across the jaw with the butt of his weapon. A resounding crack let him know he broke the man's jaw. Even though the weapon shattered it quickly reassembled and he used it as a support for a jump kick to another's temple. The kick landed and the target crumpled, unconscious.
Neptune let out a feral growl as a ray grazed his side slicing through his armored shirt and freezing the exposed skin. He quickly spun and once again shattered his weapon, this time on his attackers arm. From there he grabbed the man by the collar and threw him across the courtyard into the wall of a frozen brick building.
With only one lieutenant left in the matter of seconds the rest of the team had been standing there marveled. Nightshade was the first to snap out of the shock, "I think he's lost it." She said over the communication devices. "We need to stop him before he kills someone if wall guy isn't dead yet."
Panther nodded and began to strategize even as he pulled his whip from his belt. "Superchick, grab him and get him to calm down." The last lieutenant was putting up a good defense against Neptune, but Panther saw Captain Cold draw his gun. Quickly he snapped his whip to grab the villain's wrist and yanked. The jolt made the captain drop the ray gun. "None of that now." Panther said before he returned to his communication device. "Oracle, get Wonder Woman or Aquaman on the line or better yet here. The new kid's gone berserk."
"I'm one step ahead of you, Panther." Oracle said instantly, "Wonder Woman is on her way."
Meanwhile Superchick and Nightshade were working together to get Neptune away from the battle. Nightshade used a grabbling cable to pull the lieutenant away from the boy, and Superchick had swooped from behind and lifted the boy into the air while holding him in a headlock so that he couldn't hit her. In spite of all this Neptune struggled his adrenaline pumping harder than ever. After what seemed like an eternity Neptune began to calm down. His eyes returned to normal and the glow of the amulet died down. Neptune felt light headed and his heavy breathing at the high altitude wasn't helping.
Once Superchick saw he was calming down she set him down on the rooftop overlooking the courtyard. It was then that Wonder Woman showed up. Since it was just her she flew instead of taking her invisible jet. Her eyes said she knew what had happened without having to be told, but still she listened as Superchick explained the events that lead to her being called. At the end she nodded, "A mix of Amazonian and Atlantean Rage. For each race it is a berserker's rage at the injustices done to us. Amazon's contain it by the bracers we wear. I don't know about the Atlanteans though."
Neptune wanted to ask a million questions but he felt drained, his head was still swimming for the adrenaline low and having been at such a high altitude. So he just sat down, realizing that the superhero thing was a lot more than what the news made it look like. He looked over the edge and instantly regretted it. He wasn't afraid of heights but his current state made him almost lose his lunch with how fast the ground spun in his vision. Still he caught sight of Panther and Nightshade tying up the villain.
While Superchick had been dealing with crazy Neptune, Nightshade and Panther went to work. They had been working under their parents since they had hit middle school. And they had been working together for about the same amount of time. And with his freeze gun out of his hand, Captain Cold was just as easy to take care of as some of the amateur villains they dealt with on a regular basis.
Panther snapped his whip to pull the man's feet out from under him, while Nightshade leaped over him to kick the gun further away from him. The man was a fighter though and was quickly back on his feet. Panther tried to use the whip like a lasso as he had done with villains before but the man grabbed it and pulled Panther into his gloved fist. That made Panther mad. And he took a second to wipe away the blood that had started to dribble from his nose. Panther wasn't one for witty banter while fighting, not like his foster brothers Dick and Tim. He was more feral.
He went blow to blow with the villain keeping him occupied as Nightshade employed the crimson kid to start melting the city. Neptune had removed patches of ice when he had created his trident and the kid used that as a starting point. Running back and forth and building speed and heat. Finally When most of the city was melted Panther landed an uppercut to the gut.
"You've already lost." He said angrily, "I already have the city in my frozen clutches."
"Dude, I've beaten up Mr. Freeze. You're just a wannabe." Panther said as he stood over his prey.
"Game over." The speedster said, "Capture time!" and then he threw a plastic ball which bounced harmlessly off the man's head. "Huh, that always works in Pocket Fiends." Both Panther and Captain Cold shook their heads at this.
Nightshade however calmly walked over and patted the kid's head, "He's not a pocket fiend, he's just a dude in a taky outfit."
"I'm Captain Cold!" the captain screamed outraged as he stood up but Nightshade was at his back handcuffing him. Then she began tying him for safe measure. She was use to freaks who somehow were able to pull Houdinis with handcuffs. When all was said and done Wonder Woman Escorted the group back to the jet. The speedster followed, "I'm Bolt by the way." He announced cheerfully. Panther groaned and wished he had stopped Neptune from saving the kid.
Wonder Woman smiled, "Well Bolt, why don't you join the team and learn more about your speed powers?" she was a diplomat to the end.
"Well I don't know," Bolt said, "I would have to ask Papa first."
Wonder woman smiled, "I'm sure the flash won't mind." She assured the boy.
"Cool! We'll be like the Power Troopers!" Bolt bounced with excitement.
"Great," Panther threw up his hands in exasperation, "Another rookie to baby-sit." But still he did complain as Bolt nodded and boarded the jet. He did object however to the millions of questions that filled the flight back for the first half of the way back. Finally he screamed, "If you don't shut up I'm going to knock you into next month!" and amazingly Bolt remained quiet. Neptune simply fell asleep once he got on the plane and no one objected to that, even though curiosity about his life before this was now at its highest. But there would be plenty of time for that. So for now they all relaxed as the New Teen Titans flew off into the sunset, ready to start a new chapter in their lives as heroes.
