Superman and Batman were waiting at the transporter pad when Mystic Sage arrived.
"You never said Syphon would use Static's power's on you." Batman commented.
"I would have thought that would go without saying…" Mystic Sage replied, "Besides I still have a headache from that."
Batman looked at Mystic Sage's feet to see Static and Jean's belongings from the hotel neatly packed.
"What… I couldn't just leave it there."
"I'll take it to med bay." Batman said simply "Superman I believe you and Mystic Sage have some things to discuss."
He then turned and left the teleporter pad as Mystic Sage turned to Superman.
"You need advice on how to keep Luthor from pressing charges on our young friend." Mystic Sage inferred "Take Aura and Supergirl with you and you should be fine."
Superman used the communicator to call Supergirl to his location and was shocked when Aura came without prompting.
Lex Luthor was in a video call with the head of security at the warehouse when he looked over his shoulder to see Superman.
"Excuse me, I'll have to call you back." Lex said then ended the call and turned to the window. "Superman… to what do I owe this pleasure?"
"I came to talk to you about the kid that broke onto your warehouse early this morning."
"Oh… him… yes… I am aware the league is holding him… please if you would be so kind as to hand him over to the authorities when he recovers. I wish to get proceedings underway."
"You don't have to worry about him, he has been taken care of." Supergirl said quickly getting over the fact that he had blatantly ignored her.
"Besides we have it on good authority that he was blackmailed into this crime." Superman continued.
"Spare me… he should have gone to the authorities himself… now he must suffer the consequences."
"You are prepared then to explain the other things that are being stored in that warehouse." Superman said.
"Exactly… you know we could drop the scoop to Lois Lane, and she'd have the story ready to break at the 12 o'clock news." Supergirl added smugly.
"Fine… so he's untouchable… what about that accomplice of his…"
Superman quirked an eyebrow "Accomplice…?"
"Yeah the kid that provided his transportation…" Lex responded sounding all too casual "My techs analyzed the footage and have concluded that the portal Static used to get into that facility was created by none other than Jean of the Teen Titans."
Supergirl looks at Superman a smug smile forming on her features.
"You really want to play that game?" she then said to Lex twirling her finger as if to silently gesture he should look behind him.
Lex turned around and nearly tripped backwards over his chair as he saw Aura in lion form jump onto his desk licking his chops as if he had just been presented a prime cut of meat on a silver platter.
"I also would check your sources next time… Jean is not a member of any team as it stands." Superman said casually.
"You realize you're only making their fate worse." Lex said trying not to sound terrified.
"Funny last I checked you're the billionaire with ties to known terrorists and we're superheroes… if it comes down to your word against ours… who do you think they're going to believe?" Supergirl said sounding high and mighty.
Lex clinched his teeth.
"Fine… you win… now call off the beast."
Supergirl smiled "Come on Aura… our job is done."
Aura returned to his domestic cat form and passed through a portal and reappeared in Supergirl's arms. Then she and Superman flew away and Lex stood for a second before grabbing his desk lamp. He threw it across the room where it broke against the wall with a spectacular crash.
"What a waste of a perfectly good lamp?" Syphon said as he stepped out of the shadows where he had appeared moments earlier.
Lex glared at him.
"You told me that kid was a member of the Titans?" Lex roared.
"Did I… I guess they haven't inducted him yet… my bad" Syphon shrugged "Besides I'm not the only liar in this room… you said you were the only one that can create the device I seek."
"I am" Lex said in anger.
"No… I discovered another… Static's normal running buddy… Gear… I took his power and I'm on my way to create what I desire… which means I have no more use of you!"
"What… What is that supposed to mean?"
"Well… my dear, Lexie… it means I'm bored… you're boring now!" Syphon snapped "I'm leaving!"
He then created a portal and left the office laughing at the chorus of four-letter words Lex Luthor yelled at his retreating form.
Richie groaned and began to sit up.
"Whoa… easy…" a female voice said from nearby, then strong hands pressed his shoulders back onto the bed.
He looked up to find himself looking into Wonder Woman's eyes.
"Where… where am?" he asked.
"You don't remember… you're in the watchtower…" Diana paused "You said something to Shayera about a corner… you really don't remember any of that?"
"No… I don't even remember waking up." Richie admitted "Though I think I know what you're talking about."
He then launched into the story about how he begged his way into the watchtower and Shayera was going to hold him to the promise of standing in a corner and not touching anything. This earned a chuckle from Diana who remembered reading the after-mission report about that day and how he and Virgil ended up saving the watchtower from Brainiac.
"Richie…"
Diana turned in time to see Sharon coming and move out of the way so the younger girl could get to Richie and pull him into a surprise hug.
"Sh… Sharon!" Richie croaked in surprise.
"Richie, I'm glad you're okay!" she said as Richie recovered his senses and returned the embrace.
"Thanks, Sharon… I didn't know you cared so much!" Richie replied.
She let him go and backed up.
"Sharon… where's V…"
"He's still unconscious." Sharon replied.
"Is he okay?" Richie asked sounding scared.
"Don't worry… he will be fine." Diana assured them both then looked to Sharon. "I was meaning to go get you, the restriction has been lifted and you can go see him."
Sharon looked at Richie.
"Go, Sharon, be with your brother, I'll be fine." Richie assured her.
"Okay… if you're sure."
"Yeah… I'm sure." Richie replied looking up at the celling.
Sharon left and Diana turned to Richie.
"Are you certain you will be okay in here by yourself?" she asked.
"Yeah… I'm sure." Richie shrugged. "Besides… I'm not really alone… am I?" he said looking over to Jean then back to Diana. "Do you know what happened to him? What is name is?"
"His name is Jean Xavier," she replied "He's the one that has been helping Static for the past day… and from what I've heard Syphon used the power he took from Static against him… the fact that he's still alive is nothing short of a miracle."
Richie's eyes went wide. "Does Static know?" he asked.
"Yes… unfortunately he watched it happen." Diana replied.
"Aw, man… I can't even imagine how V reacted to that."
"He didn't take too kindly to it." Diana admitted "I think if he could have, he would have killed Syphon for that… but Syphon shorted him out and escaped."
"Man… poor V… poor kid."
"You get some more rest… we will let you know when Static wakes up." Diana assured him then left.
Richie rolled over and soon went back to sleep. He woke again an unknown about of time later to see Static sitting backwards in the chair casually reading one of the comic books Syphon had given him.
"I've been trying to get my hands on that comic for over a month now and I get it from a villain!" Richie huffed. "It's tainted!" he glared at the book.
Virgil bit back a chuckle.
"I'll take it if you don't want it."
"Dude… I didn't say that" Richie said snatching the comic out of Virgil's hands.
"No… I wouldn't do that to you, bro…" Virgil smirked.
"So how ya feelin?" Richie asked.
"Like I went a couple rounds with Superman."
"Funny… from what I heard… that's not far off the truth…" Richie replied.
Virgil's eyes wandered to Jean.
"Has he woken up yet?"
"No…" Richie replied, "She hasn't moved either." He said indicating the younger teen sitting beside Jean.
"Who is she?" Virgil asked.
"Dunno…" Richie shrugged.
Virgil got up and approached Jean and the strange girl that looked to be about the same age as Jean.
"You're Static, aren't you?" she asked distractedly.
"Yeah… and you?"
"I'm Mockingbird…" she replied.
"How is he?" Virgil asked in concern.
"I don't know… he… he hasn't woken up yet…" she sighed "I tried to heal him but there is more damage than I can handle alone."
Virgil looked down.
"Don't feel guilty… I can tell you Jean doesn't hold it against you… neither do I…" she said, "Syphon is the one really to blame here… if he hadn't been able to take your power he has any number of other powers he can use against Jean."
"Are you some sort of telepath?" he asked looking at her in surprise.
"Among other things." Mockingbird replied, "The technical term for what I am witch."
"Whoa… seriously… you're a witch?!" he said in surprise.
"Yes… but I don't ride on a broom, and I've never owned a black cat." She smirked.
"No…" Mystic Sage said entering the room "He's the one that owns the black cat." He continued indicating to Jean.
Mockingbird looked between Mystic Sage and Jean in confusion.
"Yes… your instincts are correct… hi Mandy… don't tell Jean you saw me."
"Why can't I tell him?" She asked, meeting him telepathically.
"He will want to find me to ask me questions about our powers and I cannot answer them without polluting the time stream." Mystic Sage responded, "and I know myself well enough to know I won't give up."
"True…" she replied not realizing she was speaking aloud instead of telepathically.
"Why do I get the feeling I just missed something?" Virgil asked then got a good look at Mockingbird's face.
"What happened there?" he asked pointing to the remains of a burn on her cheek.
"Oh… I thought that was healed up already… took a sucker punch from Hotstreak."
Mystic Sage walked over to her.
"We can't have Jean seeing that when he wakes up now can we?" he asked.
Mockingbird looked down at Jean in concern.
"He is going to wake up… I am clearly living proof of that." He assured her before healing the last bit of her burn.
"Why can't you heal Jean like you just did Mockingbird?" Static replied.
"I can't… because if I did Jean would recognize my telepathic signature and become aware of my existence."
"Okay… I guess we're just going to pretend for a second I understand that…" Virgil commented.
"Yeah… I'm taking a big risk just standing in the same room as him."
"Don't worry about it, Static… I've known Jean for years and sometimes he makes zero sense to me." Mockingbird commented leaning on the guard rail of Jean's bed "But that is because Mystic Sage over there is actually Jean but he came back from the future."
"I thought we just established that."
"Static over here… due to his ever-present electromagnetic field is resistant to telepaths." Mockingbird explained.
"That's right… I forgot about that…" Mystic Sage paused "His son is like that too… oops… I must make my leave." He continued then left the room.
"Does he really… will I have…" Virgil stuttered.
"Trust me, partner… you don't wanna be gettin' into that can o' worms" Vigilante said from where he stood checking computers.
"Who are you?" Virgil said his curiosity now turned to the cowboy that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.
"The name is Vigilante" he replied tipping his hat.
"Vigilante… is there any way I can contact the Teen Titans… I believe my cousin; Raven can help me heal Jean here."
"I recon that wouldn't be too much of a request, lil' lady… come with me… I'll take ya down to talk to the Martian about making that happen."
Mockingbird followed Vigilante out of the room and stopped when they saw Mystic Sage petting the lion version of Aura.
"Aww… good boy, Aura… did you make that bald rich meanie pee his pants?" he asked sounding much like one would when talking to an infant.
"Man… I dun think I'll ever get used to that." Vigilante mused shaking his head.
"Yep, that's Jean alright." Mockingbird added.
J'onn was on watch when Vigilante and Mockingbird got to him.
"You wish to bring the titan, Raven up here to aid in healing Jean…" he said not looking at them.
"Yes… um…" Mockingbird looked a little awkward, she was expecting to have to ask him.
J'onn stepped aside as the computer connected to its counterpart on Titans' Tower.
"Go for Nightwing." Came from the screen.
"Nightwing, I need to speak to Raven, it's urgent!"
"I'm here… Mockingbird what's wrong?" Raven asked
"Jean is hurt… bad… I need your help."
"What happened?" Raven responded.
"Short version… Syphon took some of Static's power and electrocuted Jean." Mockingbird replied.
"Okay… I'm ready."
"Standby for teleportation." J'onn said coming into view.
"Standing by." Raven replied as she backed away from the screen and Nightwing.
Amanda was on the teleporter pad along with Vigilante when Raven was teleported in.
"Howdy" Vigilante said tipping his hat as the teleportation completed.
"Hi," Raven replied then turned to Mockingbird "Are you okay?" she asked.
"I'll be better when Jean is awake." She replied.
"Then let's not wait any longer… show me the way." Raven said.
To Be Continued…