Tomorrow Titans – The Next Generation

Saga Arc #1: Charnel House

Chapter #1: "Tensions"

Disclaimer: I really hate doing these things…all the characters within these pages are the property of Marvel Comics, Marvel Comics UK, DC Comics, Warner Brothers, Cartoon Network, and various other sources. The characters of Jonni Blaze, Thunderstrike/Ranko, Mary, and other next generation heroes are created by me, with the exception largely of Gehenna. Suffice it to say, this version of the character is mine, inspired by the Marvel Comics character May Parker/Spider-Girl, which shall become apparent later. Death's Head II is NOT an original character, but a Marvel UK creation dated back to around 1988 and up to 94, barring guest star appearances in other comics.

Author's Notes: Here's the chapter where I introduce the rest of the prospective team, and the dynamic is set which will determine how the rest of the story unfolds. Mad props to all my friends out there who made this fanfic possible.

And I want to add that I'm borrowing the format Black Panther's Knight uses for a while, to experiment to see how this turns out. Let me know what you think.

The first group of newcomers were a small number of young women. The first was a medium height redhead with Asian features and dark eyes, wearing a black leather vest over a dark blue sleeveless top with six white circles on the torso and exposed sides –except around the chest area – dark blue pants, and dark black heeled boots and a golden belt with a T on it, carrying a duffle bag and a hammer-like mace that dangled from her left wrist, a slightly amused expression on her face, her hair in a pigtail This was Thundrstrike. The second was a girl with short white hair, wearing a red leather trenchcoat with brown leather gun holsters attached to the sides, guns included, wearing a black sleeveless, midriff baring top, grayish green pants, and tight laced heavy boots, with a broadsword over her back, and a bored look on her face. This was Mary. The third was another girl, this one with pale grey skin, long, long dark purple-blue hair, wearing a blue dress with slits along the sides, thigh-high high heeled boots, and long gloves with two fingers missing from each hand, and a dark blue cloak/cape with a hood that covered the upper part of her face, and a bit of a smirk on her face as a heavy bag that was floating beside her was lowered to the floor. This was the mysterious girl commonly called Gehenna, though she had a secret name…

Then a young man walked in, with long blonde hair, a fair amount of muscle build, wearing chain-link armor with a deep red colored cape along with an elaborate Norse headdress. The redhead regarded him, then snarled with anger at the mere sight of him.

"Valkyrion! What are you doing here, you scum!" She raised her mace-hammer, and brought it down, the man responded by doing the same with his, the two weapons striking each other and causing a peal of thunder to boom through the room, starting to make the other organics in the room worry…nothing worried Death's Head normally. So instead he got up from where he was seated, and calmly walked over to the two empowered teenagers, and grabbed them by their necks and pulled them apart, leaving them to kick and yell at him, glaring at him "Hey, let me down!"

"You heard her!"

"Not until you children settle down, yes? Prefer a spanking?" The tone he used implied that he was being quite serious, so both teens settled down, and he dropped them. Then he tilted his head, and gave both of them a look over. "Ah, I see…you two are Thunderstrike and Valkyrion, both Norse-empowered heroes who happen to hate each other. Why, I do not know." At that point the redhead spoke up.

"That's because he and his stuffy God friends called my mom a freak!" Now it was Gehenna's turn to speak, grinning a bit.

"Don't you have two moms?" Mar'i gave her a glance, confused.

"What's wrong with that? I mean, sexual equality has been around for decades now…"

"BOTH of her mothers are her biological mothers." At that the redhead went red in the face, and glared at the pale, gothic looking girl, who flinched a bit at the hatred from her eyes. "Sorr-y," she muttered under her breath, while the others looked confused for several moments.

"JUST LEAVE IT AT THAT!" Thunderstrike screamed, not wanting anyone to figure out what the implication of Gehenna's words were, while Death's Head just sighed, and hit both teens in the back of the head with his fists, with a loud 'clonk' sound. "OW!"

"What was that for?!"

"You two are at it again. Keep it up and you'll wish I'd have just given you a good spanking." They settled down again, amidst some giggling. Death's Head then sighed, and crossed his arms over his large chest. "Alright, everyone pick a room, yes? Then move in, and report to the practice room for sparring practice. I'm supposed to test your cohesiveness as a team."

"Oh, yay for us…" Mary grumbled, tugging on her fingerless gloves and stretching herself out a little, tugging down on her shirt a little. "Still, it could be fun. I haven't had a decent work out since I left home…" Everyone just gave her a look, then looked to their new instructor, and a collective moment of disbelief was shared, Gehenna succinctly summing things up.

"Well, crap."

About half an hour later, a holographic environment was created, of a wrecked cityscape – a rather common environment for these things, and something Death's Head had grown used to, but as it was a tradition to do at least one of these things, he decided to do it first and get it over with already. He was standing atop a leveled building, which was more a pile of rubble than anything, while Thunderstrike, Mary, Valkyrion, Gehenna, Beast Girl/Terri and Nightstar/Mar'i were assembled in a semicircle below the rubble pile. Death's Head was speaking in his usual clipped, almost-professional tones, as he was prone to do when dealing with people he considered his intellectual inferiors – he had quite the high opinion of himself, what with the 105 personalities and memories he had locked away in his metallic skull.

"Now, children, the point of this will be a kind of 'final exam', to see if you can work together as a team. If you can beat me, you'll pass, and this team will be finalized. If you can't, then there's no team and you'll all go home to your parents or whoever your caregivers are. Fun, yes?" He gave the impression of smugness, and transformed his arm into its blaster cannon mode, which soon began humming and glowing a yellow color. "Starting…now." At that point he fired off the cannon, aiming for the center of the group, causing them to disperse as the concussive force tore into the ground and caused a crater, Death's Head leaping down and firing as he ran, aiming for Thunderstrike and keeping her off-balance as he rushed forward. Then he slammed his non-transforming fist into her, grabbed her by the face, and flung her towards Nightstar, who fell back with the redhead in a heap, stunned from the force of the impact. "Not trying hard enough, children. Not nearly hard enough."

"Take this, monster!" Valkyrion crowed as he threw his warhammer, which smashed into Death's Head's back, tearing into it and exposing the vulnerable circuits and wires and other bit of his insides. "Yes! I've done it!" However, as soon as the hammer hit the ground, the damage to the cyborg began to repair itself, the material of his back almost melting into a liquid metal state as it completely sealed off, all the circuit restored. "What the…?"

"If you had done your research, boy, you'd know I could do that without even thinking about it. Really, your enemies won't be this forgiving--"

ZZZARK!

A pair of violet beams collided with Death's Head's neck, and snapped the peacekeeper's head forwards, at an angle that could potentially cause serious harm to a living being, but that was quickly repaired and the cyborg aimed his cannon-arm at Nightstar, and fired, the beam hitting the girl dead center in the chest and knocking her for a loop as she smashed into a damaged car. "That's better…much better." He heard the crunch of broken masonry behind him, his cannon morphing into a segmented, pronged blade, and lashed out with it behind himself. "Yaaah!"

CLANG!

The blade hit Mary's broadsword, the girl attempting to slice open Death's Head, as her style of fighting was quite aggressive and usually aimed towards killing demons and subduing humans…in this case, Death's Head was neither, so she was leaning more towards beheading him and sealing the deal. She lunged forward with the blade, air rushing over it and slammed the tip into the cyborg's chest, tearing into it and causing his body to short out for a moment, before he gripped the blade with his hand, and pulled it out with a groan, glaring at the girl before she began to stab forward with the blade, repeatedly striking him in the chest, hitting him almost as fast as he 'healed', but definitely knocked him back. Then came a loud roar, and the former mercenary turned around, to see a large green lion rush him, and struck him in the 'face' with one clawed paw, sending him spinning through the air like a whirlwind, though he landed on the ground in a crouch, still keeping his transforming arm into its blade form, growling softly, a sound akin to feedback almost. The lion and Mary shared a look, that basically said 'we're screwed,' and separated as he lunged forwards, raising his blade up over his head, then brought it down, tearing into the ground as he missed, though intentionally of course, and paused as he realized that one member of the team hadn't attacked yet.

At that moment, he felt his body being lifted into the air telekinetically, a black aura surrounding him and forcing his arms to his sides. Grunting and even swearing a bit, he found himself flying through the air as Gehenna floated there, a little smirk on her face, before sending him flying through a truck cab and then picked up the remains of the truck and smashed it down onto him, causing a massive explosion that caused everyone on the ground to fall down, and for those that had just arose, fall down again. The gothic mage smirked a bit, and brushed her hands together. "And that is how you take care of that."

However, while she was celebrating her victory, it was actually a bit premature, as, arising from the burning crater, was a singed and smoking Death's Head, who didn't look one bit happy as his chest plates had been burnt black, and several wires had been torn apart along his neck, though surprisingly his face was largely undamaged, save for the pre-existing damage caused during his fight with Subject 104, Lehdrox. Grunting, he reformed his cannon/blaster, and fired off a highly concussive blast, knocking the teens off their feet and sending them falling down in one big pile.

"Cocky, yes? That'll cost you in a fight." He walked up to the fallen would-be heroes, his armor already reforming and the wires reattaching as all his systems resumed normal functions, previous performance having been impaired by the damages. "Now for your final grade in this little 'test'…" He left that big hanging ominously in the air, and, after they all separated, they all looked down, save for Valkyrion and Thunderstrike, who were still glaring at each other, as though blaming the other for their failure to perform.

"You all pass. Momentous occasion, yes?" Death's Head clapped his hands a bit, congratulating them, and gave the impression of a smirk. "You did better than most of my opponents, even though I was taking it easy on you all…after all, my fate is yours – if any of you get injured on my watch, your parents are going to shut me down for good." The teens all gave the cyborg stunned expressions, and he chuckled. "Yes, I'm actually doing all this against my true wishes. Forced into it, really, yes? I'm going to serve as your trainer, your support, and – until you decide otherwise – your team leader. When we find a suitable candidate to take that role, I will gladly give it up. This is all rather embarrassing for me."

He walked forward then, and gave them all pats on the back. "Now then, unpack your rooms and you can socialize. Perhaps order pizza, yes? Enjoy yourselves while I reconnect all the alarms to this place…it hasn't seen action in decades…" There was a general air of relief now that they knew Death's Head wasn't mad at them, and were more than willing to do what he said. Mary turned to Nightstar and the others, and grinned.

"That was the best fight I've ever been in. That guy's a total blast."

They all resisted the urge to slap their foreheads and/or faces with their palms as they all collectively sighed.

Thunderstrike was busy unpacking her bag, though she had more to bring with her; she just wanted to carry the one at the moment, and have the rest of her stuff brought over. Her reason for wanting to join this team was pretty simple – she wanted to help people, like her mothers, even if her existence was some random quirk of fate. But to have to deal with Valkyrion again…that uptight, arrogant S.O.B made her so angry, so furious…the Asgardian Gods chose a boy they thought was worthy of their power, because they felt that Thor had fallen too far in choosing to marry a mortal, no matter how powerful she was. So Ranko had been denied her birthright even before she was born, and replaced with someone even less worthy – Valkyrion was a tool of the Gods, completely willing to carry out their agenda, while Ranko (as Thunderstrike) only wanted to protect the earth as her mother Akane had done before her. And now she was torn…now she had to work with the one person she hated most in the world, and deal with all the trouble he'd caused her family.

She was so caught up in her musings that she didn't hear a knock on the door, before it slid open and Gehenna stepped in, a somber look on her face. "Thunderstrike…Ranko…are you alright?"

"I'm pretty sure you know I'm not doing alright, considering you can read people's emotions…" The purple haired goth moved in closer, and sat down on the redhead's bed, bouncing in place a bit as she contemplated what to say next.

"Don't take it too hard…He's only that way because he doesn't know any better…I mean, from what I hear, the Asgardians are a mean bunch, but they're all really screwed up, too. So of course their champion would be a little screwed up. But hey, it could be worse."

"And how exactly could it be worse?"

"Well, he could be an Aryan."

When Ranko heard that, she burst out laughing loudly, putting a hand over her mouth, trying to get herself under control, her red hair bouncing a bit as she trembled mirthfully. "Oh…Oh…oh man, you always know exactly what to say, don't you?"

"It's a gift," Gehenna shrugged, smiling a bit and tilting her head to the side, still bouncing up and down on the bed, an action the redhead took note of.

"Enjoying yourself much?"

"Oh, immensely," the goth snickered a bit, closing one eye and pointing out with one hand, two fingers pointing forward, the thumb pointing up and the others folded back, miming a gun for a moment. This girl was certainly a far cry from her mother, even if she was mostly just as reserved, even if it was just on the outside. "Any time you need to talk, you know where to find me, okay?" The offer was sincere, and the pale girl lowered her hood, and pulled her long hair out from beneath her cape, stroking it a little. Ranko whistled.

"Wow, that's some hair ya got there…"

"Thanks…took me ages to grow it out this long…"

Mary hadn't brought anything with her yet, having left all her stuff back in the small apartment she'd been staying in for the past few months after moving to Jump City, looking for strong people to fight, other than her father. Frankly, it had been a rather dull journey, since no one had proven strong enough to even last five minutes against her, until now. Maybe there was something to this superhero gig after all…even if it meant she had to dress somewhat more conservatively now than she used to. Laughing a bit, she lay back on her bed, staring up at the roof, her sword leaning up against the bed's nightstand, her guns unholstered and resting on the surface of the nightstand the safeties on. She had an amused look on her face, and chuckled softly as she thought about what awaited her in her new life.

"You know, this could be a lot of fun…" she thought to herself, a mischievous grin on her face as she closed her eyes, and began humming a tune her father had taught her long ago when she was just a baby.

Terri was checking out her bedroom again, sitting back on the floor as she looked puzzled at the layout, and wondered if this had been her father's room, as it sported the bunk beds, but certainly it wasn't the utter mess it had been in his time. Being here made her feel closer to her family, and just being on the team gave her a sense of accomplishment, even if it wasn't exactly what she had expected. She certainly hadn't expected to see the likes of Death's Head present. She wasn't sure him serving as the leader was such a good idea, but she certainly couldn't take over herself – she wasn't exactly leader material.

Then, as she lay back, a thought occurred to her – she could always ask Mar'i to petition for the role of team leader, as she had been raised by her father, the original Robin, and in many ways was just like her father, even though her mother, Starfire, had a big influence on her as well. Certainly she'd be more sensitive to the team's needs than Death's Head, who only seemed to be doing this 'favor' to them for his own gains, and didn't really care about them. At least not yet. Terri had a way of endearing herself to even the coldest of people, so she then figured that eventually the cyborg would warm up to her, and through her, the others. And just thinking about that gave her reason enough to stay where she was, sitting up on the floor of her room with a bit of a goofy grin on her face, pointed canines glinting a bit in the overhead light.

Mar'i had thoughts of her own, mostly about her family – her father, her mother, and her twin brother, Joh'n. He seemed to take more after their mother, quitting the superhero game to become a male model. The profession suited him, as it did their mother, but frankly, Mar'i wished this could be like old times, with them working together as a single unit, but that would take quite a bit of convincing to do. Joh'n was still in Bludhaven, and here she was in Jump City, so it wasn't like she could simply just run over to his room like she used to. So, sighing, she just sat on the edge of her bed, which had once been her mother's, though the sheets had been freshly laundered and the bed cleaned thoroughly, and propped her elbow on her leg, and her chin on her fist, taking a pose similar to the Thinker statue/sculpture, which she was prone to do lately, and just thought.

Valkyrion's life hadn't been an easy one – he'd been abandoned by his parents long ago, and bounced from foster home to foster home, until he'd finally he'd been adopted by a loving couple, and raised as their son. He'd taken to his new environment like a duck to water, and always felt that life couldn't get much better than this. His real name had been Adam, no last name for the longest time, really, and ever since he could dream, he always thought he'd been destined for greater things.

And one day his destiny came to him.

One fateful day he found a strange walking stick in a cave, and felt compelled to slam the tip against the ground, and transformed into Valkyrion for the first time. Then he received a message from an emissary of the Norse Gods. He was told that he would become their champion, the rightful protector of Asgard and Earth, as his predecessor Thor had fallen from grace, thanks to her 'brother' Loki's schemes and manipulations, which ultimately had Thor given a human form, and later bonded to that human form as one entity, and losing her godly status to become a demi-god. And if that wasn't enough, she married another woman, Ranko's other mother Ranma Saotome, in defiance of Odin's wishes, which caused the former goddess to be cast out and left alone, though Lady Sif and Amora the Enchantress still pined for Thor, no matter what her godly status or physical appearance was.

As a result of his elevation to godhood – of sorts – Thor's daughter Ranko despised Valkyrion deeply, and he returned that hatred in kind after a misunderstanding when a number of innocent civilians had been injured thanks to the two being unable to work together without trying to upstate the other. Still, Adam had his doubts as to how he reacted to those situations, and occasionally pondered that maybe it WAS his fault that those people had been hurt, that he hadn't taken the proper precautions, and maybe he felt the need to impress upon Ranko that she wasn't needed…and yet she was, because she was still acting as a superhero, as really, it was all she had left in her life now. And he couldn't help but feel guilty over that too.

Life sure was complex…

Death's Head was seated before the Titans' Tower's mainframe, having plugged into it shortly after sitting, and began sifting through the old files and backing them up, as well as updating the Most Wanted lists and security files and the like, as well as in general cleaning up the hard-drives of every computer in the building, humming softly as he worked, a needless habit he'd developed some time ago on a mission that wasn't really worth remembering otherwise; he had a sinking feeling these kids would grown on him, and change him somehow. When his mind had been in his old body, Death's Head I, he didn't need to worry about getting to close to people, as the only person he dealt with daily was Spratt, his old assistant-of-sorts, though that role was now taken by Tuck, who had gotten her own apartment in various cities, each one containing the exact same books, DVDs and other luxuries, things she couldn't have on her homeworld of Lionheart, where machines and synthetic humans were hunted down near-religiously, their very existence seen as an offense to the more 'sensible' normal humans. That world sickened him, but he did meet Tuck, so going there hadn't been all bad.

Then there was Charnel – a monster made from the vengeful Baron Strucker the Fifth and his old body, which had been rebuilt by Strucker and used in a mix of necromancy and cybernetics fusion, in a form of technomancy, to create Charnel, a monster that would've taken over the world and wiped out billions if it hadn't been for time-displaced alternate Avengers, Doctor Necker, Tuck, and Death's Head himself. Indeed, it had been Death's Head and the last surviving Avenger, the Scarlet Witch, who had dealt the death blow, separating Charnel's halves in two different time frames. Of course he came back, but that wasn't as important…

Then came the X-Men, Wraithchild, and so on and so forth, until it all ran together in his head and no longer mattered. Then he met the Doctor again, an 'acquaintance' of his past self that had been nothing but trouble each and every time they met, even with other nuisances driving them together. Then finally they met in their latest incarnations/bodies/forms, and worked together, along with a horde of superheroes and supervillains, and saved the entirety of reality from destruction and unraveling due to the machinations of a large group of single-minded individuals that wanted, as always, universal domination.

And now here he was, baby-sitting and updating decade-old software in state of the art computers, manually. How the mighty have fallen, indeed. He sighed, and finished his work, then removed the data plugs that he had attached to the base of his neck, and placed them aside, then stood, and headed for his own bedroom. There he had to begin his upgrading to make sure the old systems would work fine with his own highly advanced internal mechanics.

So the moment he stepped inside, he began plugging into the data ports again, and sifting through all the software, and checking out the hardware as he worked, and finally finished everything, and turned off his connections, and set himself down on the maintenance bed, plugged himself in, and 'took a nap' – basically, he went into standby mode. He didn't have to, but frankly, he needed a break from the joke his life had become since his teaming up with superheroes.

'Be careful what you wish for…' was his last thoughts before he shut down temporarily.

End Notes: Well, here we go, second chapter, and more character and character development. If some of them seem familiar, they should – I'm borrowing a few concepts from Black Pather's Knight with his permission. Also, I have to give him credit for coming up with the Valkyrion idea for me as a way to help balance out the team. Though the team isn't all assembled yet…

You'll find that bit out soon enough.