Titans Tower
Putting on a pot of hot coffee was always Rose Wilson's preferred habit if she ever woke up hungover. Which was a good few times. Drinking this much at seventeen probably wasn't a good thing, but who was going to judge her? Her deadbeat assassin parents? Hah! Tim used to be a bit of a prick about it, but she knew it came from a good place. Cassie had eased up on her too. It was weird to think they were friends now. Stranger things had happened, she supposed. That, and it's hard to believe she was ever part of this team. Being the daughter of an assassin who had caused so much hurt to the Titans had always made Rose feel a strong sense of self-loathing, and she knew others judged her for it. But it was good to see they all believed in her as family. She saw Cassie come out in Kon's t-shirt and giggled a little. "You're every stereotype rolled into one, Wonder Girl," she guffawed with the utmost sincerity. "Oh, you're just jealous cos' Bart isn't letting you dress up as Kid Flash yet?" "Me and Kid Flash aren't a thing." "Yeah, that's what Conner and I were saying for a while now. Took some nudges from you and Kara to change that."
"Yes. And I don't do that kind of relationship. You guys do. That and you were both stupid to break up."
"Yeah, well, take it from me…don't jerk Bart around if you are going to do anything. He's more sensitive these days since Barry came back and Wally died."
"I know…we've talked."
"Just…be warned. Anyway, did you hear on the news? Karen Starr's gone missing."
"The tech giant. What's that got to do with anything?"
"She's Power Girl."
"Duh. She's even worse than Superman and your Boy of Steel at disguising herself. I mean doing your hair differently is not a disguise. Anyway, she's probably offworld somewhere, you know what these guys are like."
"The JSA can't account for her, either. I mean, she's closer to them than anyone, she's a member…they should know where's she gone."
"Look, don't stress yourself about one hero."
"But it's not one hero. Batman hasn't been seen since the wedding, and Green Arrow's gone AWOL too."
"Now that is fishy, I'll give you. But we should leave that to the League or their family. We're still the ones in short pants around here, even if we've all been through a lot. Responsibility…not our thing."
"The way Conner goes on about him it's almost like Clark…doesn't care. He says he doesn't know is he just being happy about being a dad, he's blind to all this or something worse. Not to mention, with everything going on in Gotham, Babs and Dick haven't even been able to jet off on honeymoon."
"Well, shame Red Robin isn't here. He'd probably connect the dots. Did he tell you guys what he was doing? 'Cuz when I asked him, he ran off with that ex of his."
"Nothing. And that's very Batman of him, isn't it? Diana told me Bruce knew all the League's secret identities before any of them knew his. He's cagey, but I know Tim…he's a great guy. Bruce can't be all bad either. But the two of them tend to do things without thinking of other's feelings."
"I would've thought Tim was smart enough to…well, not be like that."
"He says he is. And he recognises Bruce isn't stable. But I don't think he really does. He just says that because it's obvious to the rest of us. Like he's trying to fit in, or that he's trying to be more like Dick when he says it to himself. But, he's too…calculating at times. He's amazing and I love him, don't get me wrong. But the older he gets, I just…"
"You just what? Come on, spit it out. There's something you're not saying."
"Rose, remember when those Titans came from the future? A lot of us were…well, evil."
"Yeah, and Tim was Batman. You were Wonder Woman. Bart and I were banging. 'Cept it wasn't really Bart...or Kon for that matter. Hard to forget that kind of thing."
"Exactly. A Batman who killed. We were tyrants. But there's times I think that even with the foreknowledge to prevent it, Tim knows that's his destiny. And the more he shuts himself off from people like he does…the more I reckon that's going to happen. At least for him. It scares me."
"You wanna' know something, Wondy? It scares the shit out of me, too. But we're not going to sort his problems over a cup of coffee on a Saturday morning. And stop obsessing over boys for Christ's sake and live up to your name. Go get dressed. Kara said she'd be coming over later, so you can't cosplay as some kind of dark Supergirl in your boyfriend's clothes if you don't want to upset her. Get some hash browns into you and let's get down to training."
During training, Conner and Bart were discussing recent events in Gotham. "And you're saying Clark hasn't done anything?," Kid Flash queried, "Even with the ridiculously low crime rates at the moment. That's nuts, he's Superman!" "He's always known Gotham's not the place for him to be fair," was Superboy's reply, "Remember after the earthquake?" A shiver ran down Bart's spine remembering when he, Conner and Lagoon Boy had seen Gotham when it was No Man's Land. "Yeah, fun times. But he did what he could, Kon. He should still be trying to help a little here. Is he worried about Lois and the babies?" "No…" Conner hesitated, before acquiescing, "Well, yes he is. But she's been able to arm wrestle him these days. He hasn't got a good reason to worry about her. Must be some kind of Kryptonian pre-natal thing no one really understands." "Wow, great diagnosis there, Dr Kent," was the friendly quip he received in turn, "I'd rest easy knowing you were my general practitioner."
"You're awful sarcastic today, Bart."
"Yeah, well you would be too."
"You haven't spoken much about your dad and aunt being back. Don't tell me this is another Barry situation."
"Pfft. My dad? He's basically the Flash now. He doesn't call himself that, but he and Aunt Dawn are kicking ass as a sort of Flash tag team. Even wearing masks to hide their secret identities. As if they have any life beyond telling Barry and Iris how great they are. Can't say they've been fun to have around. I just…I got a little flustered when he came back, and he hit me. Right in the face. I know I never knew him properly, but Mom or Grandma Iris never made him sound like that. I wonder, are Lian and Robbie acting out the same way? What are Clark and Lois' kids gonna' be like?"
"Well, from what I can see, it's not universal. Sure, Jason Todd's a psychopath if you believe what I've heard that Thawne brought him back. But, Stephanie Brown? She doesn't seem all that different. And both had pretty traumatic deaths, so it's not like he has an excuse. Any time I've come across Lian or Robbie they seem like happy, bright kids. I'm sure your dad just…isn't perfect. Or maybe a bit like you he's finding it hard to adjust with this new situation. I'm not making excuses for him hitting you, but... He never lived in this time before, and he was never really a father. Now he's stuck here and you're a part of his life. Like I said, that doesn't excuse what he did but…you've got to admit, that must screw with a guy's head."
"Gee, you've got a point there, Kon."
"Doesn't hurt to be a little empathetic at times."
"That's not fair. Also, empathy? I thought you were part Luthor?"
"Yeah, but I'm part Clark in what matters. Particularly when it comes to giving a damn about the people I love."
"I suppose. Maybe I have been a tad…self-centred. Thinking of myself and how the rest of them are jerks, rather than considering their feelings."
"You can say that again. Imagine if I'd been at Pa's funeral and shouted at Clark like you shouted at Barry."
"Geez, you're laying it on thick."
"Sometimes, we all need tough love. Like Tim gave me about the whole Luthor thing. Don't beat yourself up about it. You're only human. Not to mention, we're teenagers. It's in our nature to be selfish at the best of times. Just…try and think about your old man's feelings for once."
"Fair enough. Thanks, Kon."
"Anytime, man."
On the other side of the gym, Jai and Irey were talking with Mia Dearden. She was regaling them with her recent adventures in babysitting Lian Harper all over again. "Yeah, things are good. Helping Roy with Lian, basically. Still can't believe he's letting me anywhere near her after...Anyway, now Ollie's gone, I've got very few people to turn to. We're living in Metropolis now. Jason Todd is basically his roommate at this point, now that Jericho's left. Can't say why he did that. Just seemed to vanish with Wintergreen after he told Roy he was going to see that preacher guy. Still, Donna and Robbie come over when they can." Jai and Irey smiled. "Are they ever going to join the Titans?" Irey asked in a cute sort of way. Mia laughed. "Neither her dad nor his mom want that. They've just got them back…they don't want the kids risking their necks. But I'm sure if they see how well you two are doing maybe in a few years. Don't tell anyone I said this, but Robbie's showing some…metahuman signs. Started flying a bit. Donna's worried." "Why would that worry her?" Jai scoffed, "She's his mom, he's bound to have some kind of powers. "The answer to that one is complicated, kid," Mia shrugged, "But...it's good to see her and Roy happy...after everything." Jai and Irey then gave Mia a hug as she seemed concerned everything perfect was going a little downhill for her brother and his ex-girlfriend, but thankfully in the most wonderful way. Hard to quantify how that feels, unless you're twins who've just lost their father.
Zachary Zatara was playing with his wand on the other side of the gym when Amy Allen walked up to him and punched him in the arm. "Hardly sporting, Amy, now is it? What do you want?" "I wanna' test your mettle, wand boy." "Oh please. You sound like such an idiot when you say things like that. I can handle myself fine without you." "Nah, man, I'm gonna'—" "ymA, pu thuS." Bombshell found her mouth sealed shut as the arrogant young magician strode from out of the room with a swagger as if to say, 'Why did I ever rejoin the Teen Titans?'
That evening, Kara arrived with Vic Stone, Gar Logan and Rachel Roth in tow. "So, the old Titans are here to observe the…what is it, fifth generation now?" Rose said with a little tongue in cheek, "Good to see you, Kara." Ravager and Supergirl fist bumped before relaxing over a few beers with the gang. "How's S.T.A.R. Labs, Vic?" Bart asked as he took a bite out of some of Gar's tofu sandwiches. Somehow, he made them better than anyone else could. "It's fine. Still working on rebuilding Red Tornado. One time we got his head back online…it started screaming in pain. Real pain. Like he had felt the same pain as Wally did. Not nice…" Jai and Irey were thankfully in bed by now to not hear that, with Bart planning on bringing them back to Central City in the morning. "Not fun," Kid Flash nodded, "You guys heard anything about Gotham?"
"Only that everything's going to Hell," Gar said candidly, "Nightwing says the Huntress found them smuggling kids out of there. They reckon the Riddler and the Scarecrow are behind the fire, but they can't find either of them. Not to mention, that gang violence has risen to twice what it was in normal times. And the bombings." "How come the news isn't talking about this?" Cassie said befuddled. "Because to them it's par for the course for shit to happen in Gotham," Beast Boy morosely continued, "The only thing they care about is that Bruce Wayne is missing. This whole thing stinks. Superman's the only one left in the Trinity and he's doing nothing!" Conner got very defensive then at Gar's criticism of his father figure. "Hey, back off! Clark's got a lot of pressure right now. And he believes in this country's government. He's a patriot!" "This is the same government which got rid of our democracy and is all but led by a doomsday cultist?," Beast Boy laughed, "Face it. The duty of all heroes should be to get rid of them. And I wouldn't be surprised if they're the ones helping Scarecrow and Riddler with their little human trafficking!"
"That's ridiculous, Gar! The government have never worked with Gotham criminals!"
"Tell that to Bane and Deadshot, I'm sure they'd be taken aback!"
"Never to harm Gotham."
"Conner, you're not an idiot…you just can't take it that Clark's being a fool."
"Guys—"
"Not many people call Clark Kent a fool to my face, Beast Boy."
"Try me, Metropolis Kid. If you have to answer the truth with violence, you're even more stupid than him!"
"Guys, shut up!" Cassie said with venom, for their over the top display of testosterone, "Look at what's happening to Cyborg." Vic had pretty much gone immobile, staring blankly into the distance while his circuits seemed to whir as if they were in full activity. Raven put her hand on his head. "His mind…it's just gone. His whole head is a tabula rasa. He can't really control himself. He's…" Vic then threw Raven to the other end of the room with full force. Gar turned into a tiger and pounced upon him. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Vic? That's Raven!" "Not Vic…" came the monotonous reply from his friend's mouth, "The Calculator…" "Oh, Hell!" Gar was blasted up into the ceiling by the body of Cyborg overcome by the AI which had once overwhelmed him. "How the hell is he being controlled by the Calculator?" Kara asked as the Titans all tensed themselves for battle. "How should we know?" Cassie replied as Mia fired an EMP arrow into Cyborg and temporarily knocked him out. "And Ollie thought trick arrows were useless for a while? Mid-life crises, eh." The Titans all relaxed slightly then but remained on their guard. "Right, let's just take this one thing at a time?" Cassie said going into full leader mode. "Bart, is Raven alright?" "I'm fine, Cassie," Raven told her as she floated over to her friend who once taught her how to adjust to normal life overlooking the twitching form of Vic, "Vic's been controlled before. But he wouldn't just toss me and Gar around like that. He'd kick all of our asses, to put it as bluntly as Gar would. And quickly at that. I think we're being distracted."
"For another attack…Bart!"
"Yes, boss."
"Quit the sarcasm. Get Jai and Irey the hell out of here and back to Central City. Then come back…we're going to need a lot of firepower."
"Why do you reckon that?"
"Because the Calculator is attacking with Cyborg and only using him as a distraction."
"You're very clever, Wonder Girl," the prostrate form of Cyborg said in a mocking tone from the floor, "I suggest you all look out the window." Outside it was pitch black, and San Francisco seemed to be eerily quiet for a Saturday night. Somehow, the city was suffering a blackout. Then they saw their own power kick out in the tower, only for the emergency grid to take hold. "Superboy, take Ravager and go to the roof to see what's going on," Cassie said with concern as the lights began flickering. "Are you—" her boyfriend began, worry on his face palpable. "Just do as I say!" Superboy went at a reasonable pace with Ravager up the stairs to see what was wrong. Two red eyes then suddenly showed themselves from out of the blackness. They could almost make out a blonde-haired woman wearing a white uniform and red cape floating above the bay. "Power Girl?" Kara said to herself. "Titans…I've got a bad feeling about this," Cassie said. "Get in formation!" Wonder Girl, Supergirl, Speedy, Beast Boy, Raven, Zatara and Bombshell all formed up then behind Cassie. "Zachary, have you got any magic, we could use?" "But it's Power Girl…" "Exactly, which means she's immune to Kryptonite, but not magic. Keep some powerful hex on standby. Bart, I thought I told you to go!"
"But—"
"No. Get the kids out of here. Come back when they're safe, not before. Kon, if you can hear me up there, see if you can sound the alarm. Get the Justice League here. And no, I'm not overreacting." The form of Power Girl seemed to move slowly towards them until suddenly Cyborg said, "Oh, you're in for it now, children." He recovered and then knocked Zatara out with one punch. "No magician to protect you now, little kids! Haha! Karen, you can come in now. We've got fresh meat."
Power Girl burst through the window and immediately picked Speedy up by the neck and threw her through the wall. Cassie used her lasso to hold Karen, but she shrugged it off and punched Wonder Girl in the gut. Bart wanted to move to help but Cassie shook her head vigorously and he went to get the twins. Jai and Irey were already awake. "What's going on?" Irey yawned, "What's all that fighting?" "Guys, you need to get out of here, okay," Bart sped to the two of them and knelt down to their height, "Your mom will never forgive me if you don't get out. And Cassie will kill me if I don't make sure you're both safe. Now come on!" "But we want to help!" Jai butted in. "No, not happening!" was his cousin's definitive outburst of a reply, "This is Titans business, and you two are only trainees." The three cousins sped out at lightning speed from the tower as Kara and Karen were locked in an interminable struggle. "Well, little Supergirl," she said in a voice that sounded more sinister than usual, "Pretending you're me. How quaint. There's only room for one Kara Zor-L in this universe." "Karen…you're not thinking straight," Kara gritted her teeth, "You're a hero…you're better than this. Fight back. The Calculator's…"
"Oh, I'm not controlling her," Cyborg said as he knocked Beast Boy out, "No, my partner is doing that. He's very keen to see you all dead. So's our employer. Says you'll make excellent martyrs." "Martyrs?" Cassie said standing up, "Who would want us as martyrs?" "Why, Father Thawne, of course. Your deaths would galvanise his plan to disproportionately fund the DEO. 'Power Girl goes mad and kills Teen Titans' is a great spin story to justify arming and funding your own Justice League." "He's sick…" Cassie said as she began coughing her own blood up from Power Girl's punch. "You still haven't told us," Bombshell grimaced as she struggled to pry Karen from Kara, "who your partner is?" "Isn't that obvious? Who else would take a contract to assassinate the Teen Titans?" the Calculator chuckled. A realisation dawned on Cassie's face. "Slade," she whispered under her breath. "Top marks, Wonder Girl," was the laugh that came from her friend's throat that was not his own, "Now...prepare to die." Before he could blast Cassie full on with his cybernetic arm, Cyborg had it ripped off him by Bombshell, while Raven grabbed his temples and began enchanting a spell to remove the Calculator's control over him.
Cyborg passed out from the magic as Raven and Bombshell turned their attention to Power Girl, who was still wailing on Kara. "My whole life…was nothing," Power Girl screamed, punching her counterpart through a wall, "I was the original! I was you!" "Karen, you're talking bullcrap!," Kara managed to say as she dodged further blows, "You're your own person. You're Karen Starr! Power Girl! Snap out of this!" "I…I can't," was the laboured reply accompanied by a solitary tear, "Slade…he…oh shut up, Super bitch!" Karen then kicked Kara in the stomach and sent her flying through walls of concrete. "Now for the coup de grace," she said as her eyes seemed to flare with her heat vision escalating itself to critical levels, "Be thankful I'm not ripping you apart bit by bit, 'Linda'. I'm giving you a quick death because I actually respect you for lasting longer against me than your teammates. Carry that with you to oblivion, Supergirl." Karen fired the heat vision right in Supergirl's direction as the younger woman tensed herself for being burned alive with Kryptonian heat rays. Then suddenly, she felt nothing and saw Bombshell had jumped in her way to take the blast.
"Kara, just get out of here!" Bombshell shouted through the pain, "She's going to kill you!" "Amy, no!" Kara screamed, "Get out of the way. You can't take it." Amy realised her steel skin was suddenly melting. "Just go…I can't hold her back for much longer," she struggled to say, "Get Cassie and the others and wake up Zachary. Quickly!" Kara cried a little as she watched her old teammate take this killing blow for her. "I'll never forget you." "I hope not, Supergirl. Now, I thought you guys were meant to be faster than a speeding bullet? Go!" Kara flitted back to the others in the common room, while Amy's limbs began to melt into a corrosive blob. "You'll never win, Wilson," she said as her form became naught but a silver puddle. Slightly delighted she had just enraged Supergirl to prolong the fight, the hypnotised Power Girl began laughing to herself gleefully.
"What the Hell has he done to Karen?" Cassie asked Kara as Raven tried a way to cure Zatara of severe concussion since he didn't even seem to know where he was after Cyborg had knocked him out. "Slade must have done something to her," Supergirl surmised, "I don't know what, but she's not Karen. She's some kind of…monster. I don't think that's her talking. Whatever he put in her head must be some kind of mind parasite. If he was directly controlling her, we'd hear him speak, like with Vic and the Calculator. Instead, it's like Karen's gone mad." "On the contrary," their foe said from behind Kara, "Thanks to Deathstroke I've never thought more clearly in my life." Cassie and Raven raised themselves to stop her, but she swatted them both away like flies. Beast Boy leapt from behind in the form of an elephant but she broke his leg. Kara, still weakened, moved to throw a punch at her but Karen merely forced her to get down on her knees simply by putting her hand on her shoulder. Zatara stood himself up only to be sucker punched in the stomach by Power Girl before he could say anything backwards. "Now, Kara, I promised you a quick death," Karen uncharacteristically, her red eyes still apparent as Conner's had been when Lex controlled him, "How does a neck snap sound?" Kara began crying. "I just hope you get better, Karen," she whispered through the agony, "I love you. You are me. If this is my death…I hope you get back at Slade and make the name Kara Zor-El proud." Karen stiffened a little as she prepared to do this. The little worm in her brain burrowed into her, reminding her to kill Supergirl…because she was her usurper. But Karen was happy being Power Girl. But still…this indecisiveness continued until something began falling through the roof…
As all this was occurring, Superboy and Ravager had their own problems to deal with. Up on the roof, Conner and Rose found the alarm had a sword running through it. "Whoever did this, has been mulling it over for a good while," Conner said as he pulled the sword out, "And they knew how to get in here without tripping any alarms." "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Rose said in all seriousness, a deep look of concern on her face. "Yep. But it can't be him. Jericho said he'd reformed." "My son is as ever foolishly optimistic," a new voice entered the darkness with them, "And reform is such an inaccurate word," Slade added emerging from the shadows, "when I have nothing to change about my life for the better, other than removing the Teen Titans from it. Hello, Rose. Daddy's home." Superboy held Ravager back, knowing she might kill her father. A bit chauvinistic and assuming the worst about his friend, but that was his gut instinct when it came to Rose and Slade. He then zoomed towards Slade to knock him out, when he felt something hit him in the stomach. Somehow, Slade had pulled the trigger before Conner had even thought about moving. In other words, he was the one person who could hit a Kryptonian with a speeding bullet, simply because unlike them he thought faster than a speeding bullet. That didn't matter though. A bullet can't hurt a Kryptonian under a yellow sun. But for some reason, the bullet hurt Conner. Like really hurt. He doubled over in pain as Rose gasped at seeing him in this state.
"Red sun energy, Superboy. I honestly hoped you'd have the intelligence of Luthor to give me a fairer fight and not just run in my direction like a bull. You've instead got the hopeless optimism of the other side of your genetics. Karen Starr wasn't even smart enough to sweep her office with X-ray vision, but at least she had the brains not to go gung-ho with me."
"Urgh, what the hell are you doing with bullets filled with red sun energy. That's not possible!"
"Courtesy of Amanda Waller. It's an old experiment they've been trying with little success so there's not many bullets. I'm afraid you'll have to hold still while I shoot you in the head. Nothing personal, kid. Just Father Thawne wants all the Kryptonians dealt with. And he's already got a plan for your old man, so it's only you and your cousin I've been sent to dispose of."
"Dad! Stop. Let Kon live, just take me or something. That's what you want, isn't it? You don't give a shit about this contract. There's nothing in it for you, only money. Why take money when you can have me, your daughter?"
"Oh, there's far more I've gotten from Thawne than money, Rose dear."
"What could he possibly—"
"Have you ever read of Elijah in the Bible? He was a prophet in the Old Testament who raised a boy from the dead. When I spoke to Thawne and Hurt, they gave the operation the codename of Elijah. And when they provided me with my payment in lieu of that, I could hardly refuse."
"What the hell—"
"So, this is my replacement as Ravager, eh?" Grant Wilson remarked as he also emerged from the shadows. Slade Wilson's son who had been dead for over a decade was living again. "It's good we finally meet, Rose." "How the fu—" "If you haven't heard already," her father added, "Eddie Thawne has quite the gift for transcending the barrier between life and death," Slade said with that same cool, menacing air which hardly ever left his tone. "He knew he'd have to pay me a lot to have another crack at the Teen Titans. I figured he got the sum just about right by giving me that which the Titans took from me in the first place." Grant had always wanted to be like Deathstroke as a child, not realising that the world's deadliest assassin and his absent father were one and the same. Since Koriand'r's coming to Earth had coincided with his relationship ending after she crashed into his apartment, he blamed the Teen Titans for the failings of his life. Even though his girlfriend had pretty much broken up with him just before Kory fell into their lives. He took a contract from H.I.V.E. to kill the Titans, and they performed the same experiment of enhancing his brain waves which had turned Slade into Deathstroke, only they made him stronger than his father. This caused him to age rapidly to death in his mission to kill the Titans. Slade swore vengeance upon the Titans, and their animosity began from there.
"How come a little girl like her gets a shot in my costume, then? She's even more desperate than I was to be like you, Dad. She went and cut her fucking eye out, for Christ's sake!"
"Shut up. I never knew you…and I'm glad that's how it is. You were a little shit, who thought he could kill the Teen Titans. Dad, please, let me and Kon go. We'll get out of here, lay low. I'll stop him from hurting anyone."
"I'm sorry, darling. But I owe Father Thawne a lot for saving my boy." Conner seemed to recover slightly and looked up at Slade as he raised himself, despite the agony he felt in every part of his body. "Well, what are you waiting for then, Deathstroke?," was the defiant bellow of the wounded Superboy, "Finish me!" "Such fire," Slade smirked from behind his mask, "There's the Luthor I've been looking for. I'll make this quick on you boy." "No!" Rose shouted as Slade fired and she threw a grenade beside Conner which caused him to fall through the floor as the red sun bullet grazed his temple. She had made the grenade as a means of incapacitating him. A tiny shard of Kryptonite within, but none of the explosive materiel could harm flesh. Which made it perfect for helping Conner escape certain death. And so, he landed on top of Power Girl, knocking her out before she could snap his cousin's neck. Deathstroke looked across at his daughter who remained on the roof with him and her half-brother.
"My, you are a clever one, Rose. But even if you are my daughter, I'm not going to let you stand in the way of my quarry. This is your last warning."
"If you're going to kill my friends, you might as well kill me, Dad. Because without any of them I've got nothing left to live for."
"Going to be like that, is it?" he asked, admiring her stubbornness, "You're still very much my child whether you like it or not. Very well, take your best shot." Rose then ran at a great pace towards her father, and as she pirouetted over the hole in the ground which Conner had fallen through, she found herself being intercepted by her brother. Once she landed, he pinned her arms down and headbutted her into unconsciousness. "You sure I can't kill her?" he asked. "No. She'll come back with us. We'll get in touch with Joey and Wintergreen when this is all over, Grant. We can finally make something of this family. But first, let's go kill us some aliens!"
Before Conner had fallen through the floor, Vic had begun to regain himself and seen Power Girl prepare to snap Supergirl's neck. He reached for his arm as he saw Kara close her eyes and weep. Somehow, he was free of the Calculator's control, thanks to Raven. He knew he needed to stop this before anyone else died. Then a bulky young man in a black t-shirt fell through the ceiling on top of Power Girl with the force of a meteorite and knocked her out. It was Superboy. Kon seemed weak and like he had used all his strength to hit Karen hard enough in the head to knock her out as he had fallen, which seemed unusually deliberate. Or he had just fallen really far. They were about ten storeys down from the roof, and Vic could hear talking up there. Cassie ran over to Conner as Kara began checking her cousin's pulse.
"He's still breathing," Supergirl reassured her cousin's girlfriend before turning her attention back to him, "Kon, can you hear me, it's Kara?" He began muttering to himself about how he regretted letting people die. Letting Tana die. He didn't make much sense to the others until he opened his eyes, put his hand on his cousin's shoulders and bellowed, "It's Slade! Deathstroke the goddamn Terminator! But…he's not alone." "Yeah, we know that," Kara reassured him, "He's got the Calculator and Power Girl somehow." "No…it's…" Conner was spluttering now, the veins on his face popping and red showing his cousin and lover how much pain he was in, "It's his son." "Jericho?" "No," Conner struggled, his pain greatly upsetting the two people who loved him, but he needed to tell them, "Grant. The first...the first Ravager."
"He's been dead for years, Kon."
"That I have," Grant Wilson said as he leapt down before them from the hole in the roof, carrying his sister's unconscious body and with his father squatting above him, mask off and a prideful smirk on his face, "Now, which one of you guys is Zatara?" Zachary raised his hand feebly. "Me." "And you can use magic, correct?" Grant asked, stooping down on one knee so he was at eye level with the semi conscious young man. "That I can," the magician answered, without much conviction. "Well, then," Grant sighed as if he regretted what he was about to do, then looked Zatara in the eye again, "This ain't personal. Well, it kind of is, but not for you. Just for the Teen Titans." Grant pulled out his gun in a split second and shot Zatara point blank in the head. "ZACHARY!" Cassie screamed, "You killed him, you monster! You just fucking shot him like he was nothing." "Oh, shut up, Wonder Whore!," Grant laughed, standing tall once again over the wizard's corpse, "You won't be getting as clean an exit as him unless you close that cakehole of yours!" "Bullets can't hurt me, asshole!" she bit back, as Kara moved to stand beside her. "No," Grant smiled, "But I can."
Slade jumped down sniper rifle in hand to join his son in the battle. Cassie picked Kara up and she, Raven, and Gar slowly backed away. "Now Grant, you shouldn't be so cruel," father advised son, "You should have knocked the damn boy out. A magician can be useful and the boss doesn't have any." "Yeah, you're probably right," the sadistic young man conceded, "But it was fun." "I don't care," Deathstroke noted paternally, "He wasn't on our kill list and he could have been worth keeping alive. But this boy lying right in front of us is. My little girl has seen fit to give him the lives of a cat. Now she's out for the count, I'll make it more like a mayfly." Grant whimsically dropped Rose on the floor with sheer delight at the prospect of seeing his father kill in person. Slade aimed his sniper rifle once more at Conner's head. Kara went immediately to react, only to be hit in the gut with the bullet before she had a chance to move. "You Kryptonians are both as dumb as you look," Slade disappointingly added, "Didn't you think I'd anticipate how fast you were? Cretins, the pair of you. Now I've only got four bullets left." He shot Kara in both arms and she fell over coughing blood, her eyes bloodshot as Raven moved to care for her. "Make that two," the words came once again from Slade's disinterested voice, "Now I should probably save one but this boy just keeps squirming, so I might as well shoot him twice for good measure. I've heard he's hard to kill." Superboy then recovered slightly. His agony was palpable, but he knew this moment was a do or die one. As fast as he could, the injured Conner punched Slade in the jaw, while Cassie wrapped her lasso around the assassin. Grant was about to react when he received an arrow through his ankle, from a recovered Mia. "Gah!" he yelped, "You fucking bitch!" "That's for Zatara, you motherfucker!" Mia solemnly whispered, her face a mask of determination.
Speedy jumped him as Cyborg used his remaining arm to punch Slade. Deathstroke threw Cassie onto the coffee table through sheer force of will to escape the lasso's hold. "It doesn't matter what generation of you fools it is," Slade angrily shouted, "The Teen Titans have the most annoying knack for not dying when they're supposed to." Kicking Cyborg in the face, he placed a pulse charge on his chest and as Vic stumbled, Slade detonated it causing his whole body to collapse, leaving his old adversary in a fugue state. Beast Boy, despite his broken limb, lunged at him, only for Slade to shoot him three times with two of his pistols. Raven grabbed the sniper rifle now that he had put it down and brought it towards her. "Do you think red sun energy can harm me, little girl?" Deathstroke laughed, taunting the last of his oldest foes still standing, "No," Rachel whispered, "But your nightmares can." Raven unleashed her full dark power on Slade to try and cripple his mind. It didn't even seem to phase him. "We've danced this dance a hundred times before, Raven," he chuckled, "You can't scare the man who can't be killed. I am beyond the stroke of death as my name entails. Fear is meaningless without fear of the ultimate. And I do not feel that fear." Flailing wildly, he accurately knocked Raven out with a direct blow to the face and took his sniper rifle back up. He fired one in Conner's back as he struggled to stand up and the hybrid boy began wincing in abject pain as blood seemed to come out of every orifice now. "Can't say this job went as cleanly as I hoped," Deathstroke shrugged, "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to finish it. I'm going to enslave whichever of your friends were tough enough to fight back when I leave or kill them slowly. But since you've been such a sport compared to your cousin, Superboy, for you I'll make it quick." Then, a shudder occurred in the levels below them and the foundations of the building being disturbed knocked Slade to the floor…
While this fight was happening, Bart, Jai and Irey had been heading across the bay when suddenly the twins were grabbed by a blaze of yellow. "What the hell? Jai? Irey?" Bart then abruptly felt himself being punched in the face and landing in the water midrun. He was then lifted out and deposited on the shoreline by a yellow-gloved hand. The hand of Hunter Zolomon. Zoom. "I can't believe Eddie almost forgot to invite me to your little soirée," were the manic words coming out of the evil speedster's mouth, "The thing is, Kid Flash, we can't have you and those kids getting back to Central City to tell them what's going on, otherwise we'll have Barry Allen and the Flash Twins on our asses. So, I'm more than instrumental in everything going according to plan. I get to kill the three of you. Finish the job I started with these two before they were born. Oh, I'm going to enjoy this…" As the villain was saying this, Bart saw how helpless his two cousins seemed, with Irey unconscious and Jai holding her tight, almost as if their memories of what Zoom had done to them in the womb were resurfacing.
"You know you've made a big mistake, Hunter?"
"Oh, spare me the tired heroic speech. You're hardly in a position to kick my ass, now, are you?"
"No, but you brought them into this. And I can't just stand here and let my cousins be killed."
"You're helpless, little boy. I'll try and make your death cleaner than my boy Inertia made it if you'll shut up."
Bart kicked Zolomon's feet out from underfoot and punched him square in the face. "Jai!," he shouted, "Grab your sister and get the Hell out of here! I'll hold him—" Bart could say no more as Zolomon had grabbed him in turn and was pushing his foe through the city of San Francisco at beyond lightning speed. "You're a real bolshie brat, you know that, Bart?," he said, veins throbbing as he forced his face onto Kid Flash's, "I wish I had killed you when you were still Impulse. So, you couldn't insult the name of Kid Flash like you were already insulting your grandfather's memory." Bart got a few punches into Hunter's face as he was monologuing. "Do…villains…ever…do…anything…but…talk?!"
Their dance seemed to go on forever as they both circumnavigated the world in their little fight. By the third time they had returned to San Francisco, Jai and Irey were long gone. As Bart lay exhausted on the same beach, Hunter noticed the absence of his other prey "Well, that's a shame," Zolomon said with disappointment. "That'll make this easier." Sucker punching Bart, the teenager keeled over. He was now doubled over in pain as Zolomon towered above him, smirking in such a villainous way. "They didn't hear a thing about what Slade's doing, did they?" he asked, genuinely wondering. Bart regained enough defiance to look his opponent in the eye. "Not a thing," he spat, never breaking the intense eye contact, "They just know the tower is under attack." "Good. I actually believe you," Zoom smiled, "You've just saved their lives, kiddo. I hope that makes you feel better when I blow your body to kingdom come." Bart raised himself slightly from the sandy surface beneath him. "Come and have a go, if you think you're fast enough." Hunter primed the Negative Speed Force to destroy Bart in a glorious explosion. But before he could do so, Bart ran at him with all his might and forced them both to crash into the base of Titans Tower. The resulting explosion from the negative speed energy shook the whole building to its foundations, and as Bart was flung away by the blast, Zolomon was crushed underneath rubble.
"I just kicked Zoom's ass and saved my cousins' lives," Kid Flash told himself as he regained his posture, "I may not be as good as Wally, but I'm getting real damn close." Bart zipped up to the common room then and saw the state of the heroes. Cyborg was in pieces on the ground, Conner and Kara were hacking blood and lying helpless on the floor, every vein in their bodies pulsing red, Amy a puddle of silver metal, Power Girl and Raven unconscious, Rose slowly being roused, Beast Boy bleeding out, Zachary…dead with a bullet in the head. And there was Deathstroke, a gun pointed directly at Conner's head. Cassie was screaming for Slade not to do it as she regained her bearings, while Mia was fighting a guy who seemed to be dressed like Rose. Bart punched Slade in the face with full force again and again to stop him killing his friend. "Murderer!," he screamed with all the hatred he could muster, "You're not killing him! No one's killing Superboy again! No one! Nobody is taking us from our friends again!" By now, Bart was on top of Slade delivering punch after punch into his face. Any normal man would be unconscious by now. But Deathstroke the Terminator was no normal man. "Kid Flash stop!" he said at the top of his voice. Bart hesitated slightly. "What the Hell should I stop for, you sick bastard?" "This," Slade said as Bart looked down and saw he had a pistol aimed at his gut. As usual with the speedier heroes, Slade fired before Bart had time to think thanks to his enhanced reflexes. "Made you look. Super speed is so overrated," he said as Bart lay bleeding out on the floor.
"Grant, finish the little brat off already, will you?," he shouted to his son currently toying with Speedy, "We're taking the demi-goddess. Wake up Karen and have her finish the Kryptonians off, I'm not wasting any more bullets." Grant, who currently had Mia stabbing him in the arm with a makeshift knife, angrily tossed her to the ground like she was a bag of coal and withdrew his sword to kill her. "You sure, you don't want this one, Dad," he said, a deranged glee twinged with bloodlust in his eyes, "She's feisty, I like her." "Well, when you put it that way…you have to kill her," Slade sternly said, once more in a parental fashion, "I'm not letting you get your kicks off some little girl." "Eddie mentioned you and Terra, Dad," Grant bit back, "Stones in glass houses." Deathstroke was not in the mood for a bickering session right now. "Just shut up and gut her."
Grant made a move to stab Mia in the stomach. His slamming her to the ground had incapacitated her. Combined with the earlier strike from Power Girl, Mia was all but unconscious. "Shame a pretty little thing like you has to go," Grant said as he pulled her up by the lapels and fondled her chin, "Still, I've been to Hell, darling. It gives me such joy know—" Grant spluttered as a crossbow bolt went right through his neck. Behind him was his sister, the Ravager, lying on the ground and holding her crossbow aloft, the bolt loosed. "Not one of you is killing anymore of my friends," Rose spluttered as she stood stall once again. Deathstroke was in complete shock. "Grant…" Grant was bleeding out on the ground in front of Mia. Slade rushed to his son in fear and concern. Grant reached out to Deathstroke to save him as the last bit of life left his eyes.
"He was your brother, you ungrateful, little bitch!" the Terminator bellowed at his daughter. "He shot Zachary…in cold blood," Rose spat out some blood, "He was going to kill Mia. You know, Dad, you're a piece of work but that bastard was ten times worse!" "He was family!" came the anguished reply. "Oh yeah," Rose sarcastically asked, pointing the crossbow in her father's direction now, "Just like Joey was when you shoved that sword through his back!" Slade leapt at his weakened daughter and seized her by the throat. "All I have ever done is love my children!," Slade whispered through tears and the sound of his daughter choking, "And they all just hurt me! I took this job to save one of you. To save him! And you took him from me again when he was hardly out of the grave. No more, Rose. No more!" He withdrew his sword from his back and placed the serrated edge on his daughter's gut. "Kids…who'd have 'em, eh?"
Wonder Girl rose from the ground like Lazarus rising from his tomb and kicked Slade full on in the face. He stumbled, but was still quick enough to regain himself and pulled his sniper rifle from his back aiming it at Conner. "Touch me again, Wonder Whore, and your boyfriend is toast," Slade said, showing the first signs of desperation all evening. "You said you came here to kill him anyway…" Cassie said, tears going down her cheeks as she said it, but defiance remaining regardless, "And if you're going to do it so be it. I love him, but I also love this team. My team. The Teen Titans. Two of us died today, and no matter how I feel about any of them, they're my team. The survival of this team matters more than the man I love. We will never stop fighting you, Slade. All of us Titans...together!" Cassie then jumped at him. Admiring her gall, Slade decided not to shoot her boyfriend and instead whack her in the face with the sniper rifle. Still, the young girl kept fighting. He was baffled at how much she reminded him of the bravery young Dick Grayson had always shown against him. He would find it hard killing this one, but still. You have to break a few eggs to make an omelette. As she recovered from one of his stronger blows, he grabbed her right arm and twisted it so much it broke. Even though Cassie was half Olympian, she wasn't invincible and Slade knew to twist the arm further than one would a normal human. "You're all pathetic," he scoffed as he dropped Wonder Girl from his grip, "Brave, but pathetic. I hope Wonder Woman remembers you fondly, Cassandra. She won't have much of you left to mourn when I'm done with you."
Cassie then punched him in the face again with her arm which wasn't broken. Before she could deliver a second blow, he just held the fist. "This was endearing a minute ago," the impatience was now colouring every word out of the assassin's mouth, "But now this is just getting ridiculous." Cassie felt such pain move through her body from her broken arm and her hand which Slade was crushing. She saw Rose trying to help the others out in the distraction and nodded a silent command to the Ravager as she managed to rouse the severely injured Kid Flash. Cassie gritted her teeth, hoping that her end would mean something. Even if she tried, she couldn't beat Slade. He was the Terminator. The ultimate killing machine. He'd even beaten Donna and Raven. He was the cleverest villain in the world. So, what could she do? Stop acting like a warrior who knows what they're doing. She answered the one instinct she had left in her body. She kneed him in the groin with all the strength of her half-brother, Hercules.
"AGHH!" was the agonised cry of a man with a shattered codpiece. "Heh," Cassie said standing over Deathstroke as he recoiled in pain, gripping the affected area. Wiping some blood from her mouth, she made eye contact from her foe, "Try taking that kind of whack again from an Amazon warrior, motherfucker." "You little shi—" With her hand free once more as Slade recoiled in pain, Cassie delivered a roundhouse kick straight into his jaw and knocked him out the window with the pride and tenacity of the bravest of her sisters in combat. Deathstroke fell to what would probably not be his death, knowing him, but certainly as far as his victims were concerned, his defeat. Slade wasn't beat yet though. Activating a detonator he held in his belt, he began the countdown for the worm in Karen Starr's head to explode. His insurance for taking out the Kryptonians if things went south. 30 seconds and counting, then a large beam of red sun energy would burst through Power Girl's head taking her and any living thing in the tower to the great beyond. In the confusion of having defeated Slade, Cassie just lay on her knees accepting her fate, though not knowing the full extent of it, and moved over to Conner.
Rose had gotten everyone else to the roof with the help of what little energy Bart had left after his injury. Kara would have been too weak to fly, but they could activate the alarm and get the JLA here. Show Superman what Thawne was up to. How he had sent Deathstroke to kill Karen, Conner and Kara. Conner was barely conscious as he continued to bleed profusely from his nose, mouth and ears. "Hey Cass…," he struggled, his throat clearly filled with blood, "Did you just beat Deathstroke single-handedly?" She laughed through her pain as she kissed him passionately, knowing deep down that this was the end. "Yeah, you know what," she nodded with a pained smile through her tears, "I think I did." "So, you're basically as badass as Nightwing and Batman now?" Conner continued to struggle to get these last few words out. "You know what," her smile continued as she put her forehead to his and looked him in his dazed eyes, "I really am." "Wow, my girlfriend kicking Deathstroke's ass," Superboy grinned as his eyes closed, "Isn't it cool?" Conner passed out then as he repeated his original last words. "Conner?" she asked, the all too familiar heartbreak in her voice puncturing the words that came from her mouth, "Conner...come on...Conner...No, not again, please not again. I only just got him back." Cassie's tears were still pumping, as the wounded Bart flitted them to the roof before collapsing from the weight of lifting a demi-goddess and a Kryptonian at once on top of his injury from Slade. Rose held him in her arms as he collapsed knowing his heart was stopping.
"Cassie…Cassie…" Rose called to her friend while holding another tightly, "Shit he's not breathing. What are we going to do? Get us out of here. We have to do something!" Knowing she'd failed Zachary, Amy and now likely Conner again, all Wonder Girl could do in her exhaustion was sob uncontrollably, when the tower suddenly shook from an explosion right beneath them. Slade's insurance. She knew he wouldn't leave the job unfinished like this. Kissing Conner one last time, Cassie felt sobered at the realisation that they were all going to die here anyway. With a broken arm she wasn't going to be able to lift Kon, let alone every one of her teammates off the roof in time. It was over. Except, it wasn't. Removing her lips from her comatose boyfriend's, Cassie realised she was in a room rather than a roof. A silvery room with control panels and a map and whirring sci-fi things straight out of the Millennium Falcon. And Rose was there holding Bart with Rachel and Gar rousing beside them. And was that Batman in the corner with Green Arrow? Cassie felt someone put a hand on her shoulder and saw it was Black Canary of all people. Then a blonde man with a beard in his sixties walked up to her and outstretched his hand with a brown haired, more familiar looking man behind them.
"Come with me, if you want to live."
"Dad, please show a little bit of respect. These poor people were nearly all butchered."
"I know, but I've always wanted to say it once."