Note: Now, we head into the "Titans East" arc of OYL Teen Titans. How will things change now that Nightwing (the one from the future) is a member of the Titans? Or will things change at all? And if they do change, will they be for the better . . . or the worse?
Disclaimer: Teen Titans belongs to DC Comics, and I make no money whatsoever from this story.
"Titan of the Future"
Chapter 3: "To Fight"
~FTF~
"What do you mean, you can't bring back Kon?" Robin asked.
"I cannot," Raven answered ruefully, not looking at Robin or Wonder Girl, but instead at the screen that depicted Robin's efforts to re-clone his lost friend.
"You brought back Jericho!" Wonder Girl yelled almost accusingly. "Why can't you bring back Kon?!"
"Jericho's soul was still bound to this world," Raven replied. "That is why I could restore his body. I cannot do the same for Conner, because his soul has already passed on from this world."
"It's . . . it's not fair . . ." Robin muttered bitterly.
"Lotta things aren't fair, man," a familiar voice remarked, just before a blur of yellow and red took down all three Titans. Wonder Girl was able to get up and look for their attacker, who'd stopped to reveal Kid Flash . . . only blond. "Kid Flash is back."
"You're not Kid Flash!" Wonder Girl exclaimed. "Who are you?"
The false Kid Flash dodged Wonder Girl's rush and zipped around the laboratory, mockingly dodging every one of her attacks. "Would you prefer Impulse?" He changed into a cream-white costume with red gloves and boots and a thick red lightning stripe in the center. "Some people do."
"Who are you?!" Wonder Girl asked, as she attacked the speedster again.
"Oh, you want to know that?" the speedster asked. "Sure, I'll show you." He changed into an inverted version of the costume he'd been wearing, black instead of white and green instead of red. "My name's Thad Thawne. Call me Inertia. Nice seeing you again, babe."
Wonder Girl remembered Inertia, specifically how he'd constantly tried to kill and replace Bart when Bart had been Impulse. He'd disappeared after his last attempt, but now he was back. For what, Wonder Girl didn't know, but she knew it didn't matter. She was taking him down.
Just then, Wonder Girl saw Nightwing flying toward her like he'd been flung in her direction. She quickly dodged, as Nightwing contorted in midair and crash-landed. "Nightwing?!"
"Sorry," Nightwing replied. "But this punk didn't come alone."
Just then, a chalk-skinned boy with an unnatural resemblance to the departed Superboy and even dressed in a raggedy version of his costume, except with an inverse S-shield, emerged, his eyes glowing red.
"Oh, no . . . no . . ." Wonder Girl murmured in dismay.
"Heh," Inertia remarked. "We clones got to stick together. Take 'em down, Match."
With surprising speed, Match punched Wonder Girl in the stomach, knocking her out. Nightwing looked around, seeing that Robin and Raven were also down for the count. He smirked at Inertia and Match. "Shouldn't have done that."
"Why?" Inertia asked. "You gonna do something about it, you Renegade wannabe?"
"Yes," Nightwing replied, and in a flash of speed smacked Inertia across the mouth with enough force to send him flying.
"Who the hell are you?" Inertia asked.
"I'm from the future," Nightwing retorted just before jumping up to knee Match in the head. Managing to knock Match back, Nightwing sped up to him and delivered a vicious tornado kick to his chin, knocking him down. Inertia accelerated to attack Nightwing, and Nightwing accelerated to match him, both of them trading blows at what had to be several times the speed of sound.
Just then, Raven managed to open her eyes, just in time to see Nightwing kick Inertia hard enough to send him flying. She looked at Nightwing in curiosity. More to him than meets the eye. Maybe Donna is his mother after all.
Just then, Match attacked Nightwing again, fighting him more forcefully now that he was certain Nightwing was a threat. Nightwing blocked his attacks to the best of his ability, but the raw power Match was bringing to bear was almost more than he could take. Nightwing noticed that Raven was awake and barely had time to internally curse his luck before getting punched in the jaw by Match.
Match's intelligence might have been decreased by his degeneration, but he seemed to know enough to press his advantage when he got it, judging by how he started beating Nightwing mercilessly like a predator animal smelling blood. Finally, Nightwing grabbed Match's bloodied fist and threw him one-armed at Inertia, who dodged to evade Match's falling body . . . and right into a punch from Nightwing.
Inertia managed to smirk coldly. "You're feeling it, aren't you?"
"Don't know what you're talking about," Nightwing retorted. "But let's not waste time talking."
Inertia and Match tag-teamed Nightwing right then, forcing him to defend himself from both of them. "What's the matter, run out of moves?" Inertia asked.
"No, you're gonna run out of moves!" Nightwing retorted, using a flash of heat vision to evade Inertia and Match. Unfortunately for him, Match countered with a stronger burst of heat vision from his end, sending Nightwing crashing to the ground in a smoking heap.
"Leave him," Inertia said. "Let's get what we came for."
~FTF~
When Nightwing woke up, he saw that he was completely alone in Robin's cloning lab, meaning that Inertia and Match had gotten away with Robin, Raven, and Wonder Girl. "Damn it . . ." he muttered.
Rising to his feet, Nightwing ascended to the monitor room of Titans Tower and patched in a distress call. "All Titans within the sound of my voice, come to Titans Tower. We've been attacked."
Nightwing waited for anyone to respond to his call. Ultimately, some former Titans showed, such as Donna Troy, Red Arrow, Beast Boy, Bart Allen (dressed as the Flash), and the present-day Nightwing. The future Nightwing looked at the Titans that had shown, who all were looking at him suspiciously.
"And who the hell are you?" Red Arrow asked.
"Nightwing. From the future," Future-Nightwing answered.
"Man, where have I heard that before?" Red Arrow asked somewhat sarcastically. "Wait. If you're Nightwing, then what about our Nightwing?"
"He's Batman in my time," Future-Nightwing answered.
"Are you serious?" Red Arrow asked. "We all know how Nightwing feels about becoming Batman!"
"The original felt the city would be in better hands with Dad carrying the mantle than with anyone else," Future-Nightwing replied.
"Still doesn't make sense," Beast Boy remarked. "Nightwing swore he'd never become Batman in a hundred years."
Present-Nightwing blinked underneath his mask, stunned by Future-Nightwing's revelations and a specific element of those revelations. "Huh? 'Dad'?"
"Yeah," Future-Nightwing replied. "But that's not the point right now. The Titans are in trouble. Inertia and Match showed up and made off with Robin, Raven, and Wonder Girl. I wouldn't be surprised if the other Titans were being attacked, too."
Present-Nightwing had a look of carefully contained dismay. "Rose and Joey . . . I was just visiting them over in New York."
"Do you know where Cyborg, Miss Martian, and Kid Devil are?" Donna asked.
"Cyborg and Miss Martian were interrogating Bombshell, and Kid Devil was in church," Future-Nightwing replied.
"Then we'd better go find them," Present-Nightwing said. He looked at Future-Nightwing. "We're gonna have a long talk when this is over, whoever you are."
Future-Nightwing merely nodded, and then the assembled Titans went to track down the other Titans.
~FTF~
When the former Titans and Future-Nightwing found the current Titans, they were inside a twisted mockery of the East Coast Titans Tower. Even worse, that twisted Titans Tower had been put together by Deathstroke, who'd assembled his own Titans team, of which Inertia and Match were members. The other members were Sun Girl, Batgirl, Joker's Daughter, Enigma, Risk, and Kid Crusader.
Sun Girl was a refugee from the 31st Century, and possessed of pyrokinetic abilities fueled by solar energy. Batgirl was the onetime protégé of Batman, brainwashed into serving Deathstroke by his drugs. Joker's Daughter was a former Titan as well, who had the delusional belief that she was somehow the Joker's daughter.
Enigma was similar to Joker's Daughter, in that she'd styled herself after a Gotham rogue, but didn't believe herself to be his daughter. Risk was also a former Titan, but one who'd gone mad with bitterness over the loss of his arm at the hands of Superboy-Prime. Kid Crusader was some kind of twisted paladin who thought he was cleansing the world of evil by killing Kid Devil.
Inertia and Match spoke for themselves.
"What the hell's the point of this, Slade?" Present-Nightwing asked.
"The point, Grayson?" Deathstroke asked mockingly. "I want my children back."
"They ceased to be yours when you did what you did to them," Future-Nightwing snarled.
"And who might you be?" Deathstroke asked. "Some childish Nightwing imitator?"
Future-Nightwing was about to attack Deathstroke, when Match intercepted him with an extremely powerful blast of heat vision. "Go near Wonder Girl! Wonder Girl not mine!" he yelled.
"And, of course, that's Bizarro talk for 'stay away from Wonder Girl, or I'll kill you,'" Beast Boy quipped.
Of course, that had the effect of not quite killing Future-Nightwing, but burning away his costume . . . revealing a black suit with a dark blue wing design and a silver version of Superman's shield in its center. When the heat vision burns were gone, it revealed blond hair in place of his normal black hair.
"Gee, thanks, Match," Future-Nightwing snapped. "You just blew my secret identity! How can I repay you?!"
He flew at Match and delivered a vicious tornado kick that sent him flying outside Titans Tower. Future-Nightwing pressed his advantage, flying after Match to attack him further. Match retaliated with a hammer punch, only for Future-Nightwing to block it and knee him in the stomach. The two fought viciously in midair.
"Wonder Girl not mine! Boy go near her, he live!" Match yelled.
Future-Nightwing just punched him in the mouth. "You talk too much and none of it makes sense. Shut up."
Deathstroke watched the fight in the sky as he held off the veteran Titans and the current Titans. "And this just keeps getting interesting."
"Whatever you're up to, it's over!" Bart Allen declared, just as Inertia came in to fight him.
"Hey, Bart, long time no see," Inertia taunted.
"What are you doing with Deathstroke?" Bart asked.
"He gives me speed, I give him your friends' heads," Inertia replied airily. "You, I get to keep for myself."
Bart gritted his teeth in anger and fought back against Inertia's assault, the two speedsters zipping around the island on which the twisted Titans Tower rested as they clashed. Meanwhile, the other members of Titans East – save defectors Joker's Daughter and Batgirl – fought beside Deathstroke against the veteran and current Titans.
Wonder Girl spotted Future-Nightwing and Match fighting it out in the sky. Future-Nightwing's moves were more fluid and agile, but Match's strikes were a lot more powerful because of the berserker rage he was in. Miss Martian looked up with some concern. "He'll die if we don't help him."
"Then let's help him!" Wonder Girl shouted, zipping into the air to attack Match with Miss Martian.
"Thanks," Future-Nightwing replied.
"You're going to have to explain to us just who you really are when this is over," Wonder Girl said to him.
"Sure thing," Future-Nightwing conceded.
"Wonder Girl not mine! Boy not stay away from her!" Match yelled.
"Is that all you can think about?" Future-Nightwing asked, punching Match again and pressing his advantage for all it was worth. Wonder Girl and Miss Martian followed, attacking Match in tandem with Future-Nightwing. Just then, Match blasted all three of them with heat vision, sending them plummeting to the ground. As they fell, Match pursued.
"Me hate Wonder Girl! Me hate Wonder Girl!" he screamed as he attacked Wonder Girl.
At that moment, Future-Nightwing twisted in midair and launched himself into a literal flying kick aimed at Match. This time, Match blocked Future-Nightwing's kick by grabbing his ankle and slamming him to the ground. "Me like you! You not take Wonder Girl from me!"
Future-Nightwing got up, now incensed beyond restraint. "You . . . are really, really pissing me OFF!" he yelled, just before delivering a series of rapid-fire punches and kicks to Match, each strike coming faster and harder than the last. Match tried to defend himself, but the fury behind Future-Nightwing's assault was more than he could take, causing him to actually cough up blood.
That didn't stop Future-Nightwing, though; his vision was a haze of furious red and all he could think about was taking down Match. Finally, he struck Match with a vicious uppercut that sent him flying into the air, then flew up after him and took him down with a series of vicious super-speed bicycle kicks. Match made a sound somewhere between a cough and a gurgle, as blood came out of his mouth.
Future-Nightwing stalked toward him, prepared to end it – when Wonder Girl grabbed him with her lasso. "Stop."
"Why should I?" Future-Nightwing asked.
"Because if you don't, you're going to kill him," Wonder Girl replied. "And if you are who I think you are, you'll regret it for the rest of your life. You're not some monster who kills people while they're helpless, even if they are monsters like Match."
Future-Nightwing breathed softly, as Miss Martian placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Fine. He's down for the count, anyway. Wouldn't feel so good if I just took him out right now."
"Thank you," Miss Martian said.
~FTF~
After seeing Future-Nightwing take down Match as brutally as he had, the rest of Titans East had quickly figured the battle to be over and fled. The Titans had managed to catch most of them, but some remained at large, particularly Joker's Daughter and Batgirl. Robin and the present-day Nightwing were beside themselves, feeling guilty that they hadn't seen something was horribly wrong with Cassandra when she'd disappeared and later shown up leading the League of Assassins.
And the future Nightwing had some explaining to do, such as how he had Kryptonian powers and if he was really blond. Future-Nightwing just looked at the gathered Titans and said, "Yes, I really am blond."
"Just tell me Nightwing didn't do Supergirl," Red Arrow said. "She's cute and all, but she's also jailbait."
"No, Supergirl is and is not my mother," Future-Nightwing replied. "In one way, she is my mother. In another, she is basically my aunt."
"Quit being cryptic and just tell us!" Beast Boy grumbled.
"My mother is . . ." Future-Nightwing smiled. "Power Woman."