The New Teen Titans
By The Mauve Lantern
Chapter 1: Calling All Titans!
Out in San Francisco, Dale Huffman is walking out to his car. It's 5:00 in the afternoon, and he is leaving work for a meeting. He won't be home until later, but his girlfriend knows that. He says so long to a few of his buddies, tells them that he'll watch the game tonight; he isn't. Dale is a busy man, and tonight is a special night. This is the night when the world gets what's coming to it; tonight, all hell will burst onto Earth. Tonight, the Sun will rise.
Dale turns on his radio, and finds a station playing the song "It's the End of the World", and he laughs at the irony as he drives down the highway.
Meanwhile, two states away…
The citizens of Jump City had been sound asleep, until a loud explosion disturbed their slumber. The explosion came from the Jump City Bank; the source was a criminal clad in all white, with night vision goggles and a full-face mask. Strapped around his waist is a belt holding his arsenal, including several guns and explosives, as well as a grappling hook and smoke bombs. This was Michael Le Blanc, son of the infamous jewel thief Andre Le Blanc!
"OHOHO! Zees American cities ar' fahr too easy to plunder!" he said as he gathered the money from the bank's vault. "And, zere 'as not been any 'Teen Titans' fahr years! No wahn can stop moi!"
"Hey, Frenchie! Whatcha up to?" Le Blanc spun around and saw a young man standing before him in a red and white costume. The boy had goggles on, and was staring at him with a smirk on his face. "S'matter? Cat got your tongue?"
"Sacre bleu! Who are you zat insults zee great Le Blanc?!"
"Name's Scrap, and I'm here to take you to prison. Now, I would say, "Put down your weapons, and come with me," but I know you're not going to do that. So, let me give you a hand."
The hero raises his hands in the air, and a blue aura emits from them; the same aura appears around all of the metal objects on Le Blanc's possession.
"Vat eez zees?!"
"Magnetism is my thing, so I'm just using that to, y'know, relieve you of you tools!"
All of the cat burglar's tools were torn from his body, and flew to Scrap's feet, leaving him defenseless.
Scrap chuckles, and says, "All right, now…You don't have anything tools left, but I know you're probably going to pull something out of your pocket, right?"
Le Blanc sneers, and shouts, "Zat's RIGHT, American SWINE! You may 'ave taken away my weapons, but ah still 'ave an ace up mah sleeve!"
The thief pulls a small remote out of his utility belt, and presses the lone button on it; before Scrap can react, the wall he is standing next to blows up. He is unable to concentrate enough to activate his powers, so he goes flying through the air from the blast. When the boy crashes into the ground a few seconds later, he tries to focus his powers, and manages to protect himself from the debris by constructing a wall from Le Blanc's tools.
"Woo, that was a close one!" Scrap says to himself as he focuses on making sure the wall holds up. The young hero wonders how he's going to get out, considering he might not have the power to force all the chunks of debris away. As he starts thinking of a plan, the boy hears the sounds of a struggle going on outside; another moment passes, and suddenly the rocks are moved away.
Standing in front of him are two young heroes, a boy and a girl: the boy is dressed in all-black clothes and has a long scarf wrapped around his neck, with his face covered by a black mask
with white lenses; the girl is wearing a red leotard with a yellow tunic, yellow gloves and boots, and a red headband.
The girl extends her hand and says, "You okay?"
Scrap drops the magnetic field around him and Le Blanc's tools fall to the ground; he rubs his temple, and thinks, "Owww – I used my powers for too long…" He then surveys the scene, and sees that Le Blanc is tied with a metal pipe and unconscious. The hero turns to the others and asks them, "You two did this?"
"Yeah," the dark-clothed boy says, "We took him out for you. No hard feelings?"
"Nah, it's cool. Truth be told, I'm a little glad you guys showed up when you did; if I use my powers for too long, they put a strain on me. Having to keep that shield up for as long as I did took a lot out of me, so," Scrap paused as a pain shot through the center of his forehead, "ARRGH! Okay, hold on one second."
He opened up a container that was attached to his belt, and removed two pills from it. "What're those?" the girl asks.
"Kalelimine, or Advil for superheroes," he said as he popped the pills into his mouth, "Take these whenever my head starts pounding; helps me out a bunch."
Once Scrap swallowed the pills, he extends his hand and says, "Sorry 'bout that! Name's Scrap, what about you guys?"
"Geist." The boy tells the magnetic hero.
The girl strikes a slight pose and says, "Call me Fury."
Scrap begins to ask more questions, but the police and media have started to show up, so he tells his saviors, "Sorry guys, gotta go!"
"Wait, you don't want to stay and speak with them?" Fury asks.
Scrap shakes his head and says, "Can't. My bosses wouldn't like that." He begins to hover in the air, but then he remembers his headache, and drops back to the ground. "Guess I can't fly out of here. You guys got a way out?"
The two heroes exchange glances, and Geist says, "Sure, where do you want to be dropped off?"
"Uhh…the Express Inn on 23rd and Oak street."
"You got it," Geist says as he takes Scrap's and Fury's wrists; a black portal forms beneath their feet, and the boy tells his partner and Scrap, "Hold on!"
When the local newscasters burst into the bank, they look around expecting to find the local heroes Geist and Fury, only to find some guy tied up in a pipe.
"That's strange," one reporter says, "They usually stick around to give us the scoop!"
Out on the rooftop of the Express Inn, a portal of darkness appears and three costume-clad teenagers fly out, landing somewhat roughly. Geist and Fury brush themselves off, and look over at their guest, Scrap, who is taking in deep breaths, and shouting, "Oh SWEET JESUS! I thought I'd never see the light AGAIN!" He got up and asks, "How do you guys do that ALL THE TIME?!"
Geist says, "Well, I use it all the time, so it doesn't exactly bother me."
"Yeah," Fury tells Scrap, "You just get used to it with time."
"Okay, well, thanks for the lift," Scrap says as he goes to the door leading back downstairs into the building. "Catch you guys later!"
Geist gives a slight wave, while Fury says, "Bye, it was nice to meet you!"
Before Scrap can go downstairs, however, he is stopped by a voice that tells him, "Hold on a second, you guys."
He turns to find the owner of the voice: a young man, slightly older than himself, who looks to be of Egyptian descent; he is clad in a body suit that is mostly black, except for a spot of gold that stretches across his shoulders and under his arms, and forming a lightning bolt symbol on the front and back.
Geist and Fury are frozen in shock at this boy's arrival, but Scrap turns around and begins to generate waves of magnetic energy around his hands. "Who are you and what do you want?"
"My name is Osiris," the Egyptian boy says, "And I need to talk with you guys for a second…"
Meanwhile, in a city in Florida, five teenagers are back at the beach house they were using, along with the new house guest: this alien who went by the name of Wonder Boy. As Brendan and Jake carry the extraterrestrial into the house, Ken asks, "So, he's staying in my room?"
"Yeah man, you're the only one in the room with the twin beds," Brendan says, "I'm over with Lexi, and Jake's sleepin' with Brianna!"
Wonder Boy tells Ken, "I'm sorry to be such a burden on you."
Before Ken could speak, Lexi said, "Aw, forget about it, dude. It's cool with Ken, right?"
The boy nods and says, "Yeah, it's fine."
They got inside the house, and carried Wonder Boy over to Ken's room, where they lay him out on the other bed. "Night, dude!" everybody says, before they depart for their private rooms, leaving Ken and the alien to themselves.
Ken looks back and forth between the door and his roommate for the evening, and asks, "If it's cool with you, I'm just gonna sleep on the couch, okay?"
"That is most fine, Ken. I appreciate yours and your friends' kindness." The alien says quietly from his bed.
Ken gives a wave of his hand and says, "Don't sweat it; they're great people. Now, you need anything, give a holler and I might answer, okay?" Wonder Boy nods slowly, so Ken walks out of the room and heads for the TV room, shutting the door behind him. As he stumbles over to the couch, Ken thinks to himself, "I don't know why, but that guy gives me a headache for some reason."
Back in the bedroom, Wonder Boy drifts in and out of consciousness, his body changing and adapting to the planet's conditions without the comfort of being in his ship, where the body is altered while in a coma-like state. This was easily the most painful thing he had ever felt in his young life.
Suddenly, a cloud of smoke fills the room, forcing Wonder Boy awake. Surprisingly, this gas is not like the poison gas the Viltrax use on prisoners; rather, this gas rejuvenated his body, instantly adapting his body to Earth's nature. He sat up in his bed, and flexed his hands, feeling the muscles in his body move perfectly, without pain. A soft feminine voice reaches his ears, alerting Wonder Boy to the presence of another being in the room.
He looks over at the window to find a cloaked figure floating in the air, its hands tucked away and its face is covered by a hood; she is wearing a long, flowing robe that is black with a red cowl that covered her head and went down to where the navel would be. A silver necklace made of multiple orbs hangs from her neck, and blows in the breeze that had stirred up.
The figure tells him, "Yders A'lok, I have come to this residence asking for your assistance in a situation occurring in this town at the moment."
"D-Did you heal my body?" the alien asks in puzzlement.
She nods, and says, "I did, as I have need of your awesome strength at this moment. Now, we go."
Wonder Boy takes a look at the door and starts to say, "But what abo-"
"You shall return here soon; I only need you for a brief moment. Now, we must be off, before she does any damage to the rest of the city."
"Who?"
"The Sea Devil."
Right now, in San Francisco, Dale Huffman is below the surface of the Earth, kneeling before an altar of bones with a giant sunstone placed in the center, where his leader and teacher sits, holding his hands aloft as he chants softly to the stone.
The leader's arms are covered up and down in tattoos, and if one were to follow them, one would see that the tattoos cover most of his body, creating a design that is not unlike a spider's web. He chants in some foreign tongue, calling to some higher being for divine power; if this prayer works, soon he will be ready for the fated dawn. The Dawn of the Lighte.
Behind him, his followers are chanting as well, and each of them has tattoos on their body as well: some have tattoos on their legs, some have tattoos around their arms, and some have them around their face.
Suddenly, the leader finishes his chant, and his spider web begins to glow a blood-red, signifying the birth of his long-sought after powers. He stands up, and shouts to his followers, "My children, I have succeeded! No longer am I Jeremiah Walters; I am THE SPIDER-GOD!"
In a display of his new power, he stretches his arms out, and crimson webs spray from his fingers, ensnaring two of the pillars that line the hall. The Spider-God leaps forth, and hurls himself down the hall, performing multiple flips in the air before landing perfectly on the ground.
"That, my children," he says as he composes himself, "Is the power our god will bless you with, once you submit to him! Continue your prayers, and soon you shall be like the false gods that walk this world!"
The leader walks back to his altar, and prepares for the ceremony, for the Dawn of the Lighte.
"Great K'lba, how did this happen?!" Wonder Boy thinks to himself as he grapples with the terrifying woman known as the Sea Devil.
A few moments ago…
Wonder Boy had flown out of his room with the mystical girl, who had yet to reveal her name, and made his way to a torn-up city street, where a young woman clad in green armor, wielding a giant sword, appeared to be the source of the chaos.
She approached a car, and asked, "What do you know about psionic powers?" to the driver. The poor man can only tremble in fear at this girl, who has destroyed a good block of city; he doesn't want to die tonight. Sensing that he will not tell her anything, the girl crunches the front of his car up, and says, "You are no use to me." She grabs hold of the man, and yanks him out of the car; grabbing the car, the girl lifts it up and throws it, only for Wonder Boy to catch it.
"What are you doing?" he asks, though he feels there is little point in asking.
The girl stares at him, and asks, "What do you know about psionic energy?"
Psionic energy? Of course he knows about it! "I come from a planet that studies this energy you speak of, wh-"
He was interrupted by the girl, who gripped him by the throat and lifted him into the air as if he were a toy, and looked him in the eye as she said, "Tell me what you know. NOW."
"I…don't…think so!"
With a powerful kick, Wonder Boy sent the girl flying, and was released from her grip. As he floated to the ground, he remembered his ally's command: "You must distract her for me, so that her telepathy shields will fall, allowing me to enter her mind and instill tranquility."
"Easier said than done," Wonder Boy thought as he ran to the girl, "This woman is like a Zorgodian tank!"
He approached the area where the Sea Devil had landed, only to see her dashing out to meet him in combat. The two combatants threw a punch at each other, and the blows landed, sending them flying into the buildings that lined the street. Wonder Boy crawled out of the store he crashed into to be greeted by Sea Devil already charging again; he readied himself, and lunged at her exposed stomach, knocking the wind out of her and flying into the street with her.
The two began to wrestle in the street, smashing each other into the ground, occasionally delivering a head-butt to the other fighter. Finally, they had come to a stand-still, with Sea Devil on top of Wonder Boy, grappling for control.
"Tell me what you know of psionic energy, damn you!" Sea Devil shouts as she grips Wonder Boy's hands with all her might, trying to get him to break.
"Any day now, mystical girl!" Wonder Boy thought to himself as he pushed against her.
Suddenly, Sea Devil stops, and her whole body goes limp as she collapses onto Yders's body. The girl that Wonder Boy spoke with earlier appears above them, and says, "Well done, Yders."
"Do you think you could have come sooner? I think I'm bleeding internally…"
"Your body will begin healing momentarily; for now, we must go. Take Sea Devil with you."
"Wait!" Wonder Boy says as he lifts his fallen opponent into his arms, "Before I can go with you, I need to know your name!"
"…You may call me Omen. Now please hurry; we don't have much time."
One of his questions answered, Wonder Boy decides to follow Omen; after all, if Sea Devil were to wake up and find herself in the position she is currently in, she might just tear the boy apart.
"Wait a moment, you're THE Osiris? Like, the sidekick of Black Adam who died?!"
Osiris was speaking to the young heroes he and Omen had observed for some time, and had had to answer a few questions.
"Yes, I am that Osiris. Yes, I worked alongside Black Adam for a few months. No, I am from Kahndaq, not Egypt." At last, he could stand no more questions, so he shouted, "STOP! Look, you guys have got to hear what I have to say, okay? The whole world depends on it!"
Geist and Fury stopped asking questions, and Scrap stood by, the magnetic energy no longer crackling around his body.
"You guys are going to help save the world. By joining the Teen Titans."
There is a brief moment of silence, before Fury says, "Wh-What?!"
"Teen Titans!? US?!" Geist shouts.
Scrap thinks for a second, and says, "Cool."
Osiris looked into the sky, and tells the gathered kids, "I'm taking us to the meeting point with my friend, okay?" He closes his eyes, basking in the energy again, before he shouts, "SHAZAM!" and all the teenagers on the roof are warped away in an instant.
Out in San Francisco, at a building that is mostly being used as a museum these days, four teenagers suddenly appear in a burst of lightning; out of all of them, Geist is the one who is the most disoriented.
"That…was not enjoyable," he says as he tries to keep his dinner in his stomach.
Osiris walks past him and tells him, "Don't worry about it; happened to me too the first time I did it." He smiles at the boy, and looks up into the sky, saying, "They'll be here soon."
An hour passes, and three figures finally descend from the sky: a boy clad in a blue jumpsuit, a girl in green armor, carried by the boy, and a figure in a flowing robe.
"Omen! About time you showed up!"
"I realize I am slightly late; they arrived in a slightly different location than I thought."
Osiris gives her a pat on the back, and says, "Don't worry, we'll fix this energy, okay?"
Omen looks out at the young heroes before her and tells her friend, "We must hurry." Then she walks over to the five heroes in front of her, and says:
"Welcome, New Teen Titans!"
To be continued…
