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#3
MAY 14 |
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“Fight for Survival”
“Great,” Bette Kane said. She, Dagon, Paco Ramone, Empress and the Ray were back-to-back in a circle surrounded by ordinary commuters being controlled by Provoke.
“Is now a bad time to remind you that I don’t have any powers in sunlight?” Dagon asked.
“Thanks for the reminder,” Bette said. She glanced around the terminal and finally spotted Provoke at the far end of the concourse, watching eagerly. She frowned. She knew that at a word from Provoke the commuters would attack. There was only one thing to do.
“Go!” she yelled before jumping into the mass of commuters. The others began fighting as well as Provoke gave the order.
“Get to Provoke!” Bette yelled as she landed a punch in a man’s face. “He’s the one controlling them!”
“On it,” Ray said as he lifted into flight and streaked across the concourse.
“Guess de rest of us deal wit’ de travelers, right, mon?” Empress asked as she started fighting.
“That’s the idea,” Paco said as shockwaves sent a group of commuters sprawling. “And try not to kill anybody.”
“Dot’s de plan,” Empress confirmed as she hit a commuter in the face with the hilt of her sword, resulting in a bloody nose.
“Hold it!” Ray yelled as he fired a blast of light directly in Provoke’s path. Provoke ducked and spun around with a smirk on his face.
“Stop,” Provoke ordered. Ray found himself forced to stop immediately. Provoke slowly walked around the paralyzed Ray. “Now let’s see what we can get you to do,” he said with his smirk growing.
The besieged heroes were fighting against the controlled commuters when Vibe looked up. “Major problem incoming!” he yelled. “He’s got Light Bulb!”
The heroes scattered to dodge light blasts from the Ray. “He’s called the Ray,” Flamebird explained as she shoved two commuters out of the way and dropped to the ground, “not Light Bulb.”
“Pardon me for not knowing everybody’s name!” Vibe yelled back as he fired shockwaves that missed the Ray and sprayed debris from the ceiling. “It’s kind of hard to keep up with everybody who wants to kill me!”
“Less complaining, more action, please,” Flamebird said, whipped her throwing disk up at the Ray. The disk flew through his energy form and clanged against the ceiling.
“Don’t worry, I got this.” Empress paused a moment and vanished in a puff of smoke.
She reappeared on the Ray’s back. “Listen to me,” she said in a voice that was oddly mesmerizing. “You want to stop this, mon. You can fight this off.”
Ray blinked and then grabbed his head before plummeting to the ground. Empress simply somersaulted off as he began to fall and landed on her feet.
“That’s a neat trick,” Vibe said while Flamebird rushed to the Ray’s side.
“You okay?” she asked.
Ray shook his head a moment before answering. “I think so,” he said, “but it feels like my head’s been cleaned out with a steel wool Q-tip.”
“Anybody else notice that we’re not getting attacked?” Dagon asked as he walked up to them. Flamebird looked around and noticed it was true. The other commuters in the airport were holding their heads with some falling to the ground.
“Ok,” Flamebird said, “let’s make sure nobody’s injured. Once that’s done, we’ll head to the hospital to see what Karen has to say.”
“Have fun,” Empress said. “That’s not for me, mon. I’ll be around if you run into more trouble.” She vanished in another puff of smoke.
“Mind if I hang around?” Ray asked.
“The more the merrier,” Flamebird replied. “You got any medical training?”
Ray shook his head. “No, but I can tell if somebody’s breathing or not.”
“We’ll take what we can get,” she said before she started checking on commuters. Ray shrugged and started doing the same.
Anita Fite was walking down the halls of Mal’s hospital when she heard familiar voices. She ducked into an empty room as Bette, Paco, Dagon and Ray walked past. She let them get a little way down the corridor before she followed. When they entered Mal’s room, she stood in the hall, pretending to study a convenient bulletin board.
“Thanks for coming,” Karen Beecher said as she embraced her former Titans West teammates. “I’m sorry to pull you away from Opal City.”
“It was an interesting time,” Bette admitted. “What happened?”
“Mal and I were checking on some things down in the old HQ when Provoke just strolled in and ordered Mal to shoot me,” Karen said before returning to her husband’s bedside. Mal was unconscious, with bandages covering his head. “Mal turned the gun on himself. Apparently the bullet just creased his skull without penetrating it. The doctors say he’ll be okay, but he’ll have a scar to remind him of what happened.”
“That’s good to hear,” Bette said. A cleared throat behind her caused her to turn. “I almost forgot, this is the Ray.”
“Ray Terrill, Dr. Beecher,” Ray said as he stepped forward and clasped Karen’s hand. “We met when my company sold STAR some new software.”
“Of course,” Karen said. “I thought you looked familiar.” She paused a second. “So you’re the Ray?” She turned to Bette. “What happened?”
“Provoke was waiting for us at the airport,” Bette replied. She didn’t notice Dagon sneaking out of the room. “We wound up fighting airline passengers he sent after us.”
“How’d you get past them?” Karen asked.
Bette shrugged. “They just stopped fighting.”
“Hmm,” Karen said as she rubbed her chin. “That could indicate that Provoke’s powers have a short range. That might help you against him.”
“It’s true,” a familiar voice said from behind them. They turned to see Breathtaker standing in the door, being supported by Shock Trauma.
“Breathtaker?” Bette asked.
“Provoke has gone mad,” Breathtaker explained, allowing Shock Trauma to assist her to a chair. “He tried to kill us and destroyed the Overseers’ headquarters.”
“What changed?” Bette asked.
“Director Bones of the DEO had ordered tests on Provoke to attempt to increase his powers.”
“Great,” Paco said. “Make the nutjob even more dangerous.” Bette’s elbow in his ribs hushed him.
“Then it sounds like our next stop should be to talk to Bones and see if he can give us any answers,” Bette decided. “But how do we get in to see him?”
“We will accompany you,” Breathtaker said. “We still have DEO clearance through our Overseer status.”
“Out of the question,” a firm voice said from the doorway. Bette smiled as she recognized the young blond man holding Dagon by the collar.
“Jason,” Bette said as she started forward to hug him. Jason Parker, the former Golden Eagle, didn’t return the smile.
“And keep your vampire away from the blood banks,” Jason said as he shoved Dagon into the room.
“Guy’s got to eat,” Dagon griped.
“What crawled up your butt and died, Eagle?” Paco asked.
“Nothing,” Jason replied. “The Golden Eagle days are long behind me. I’m a resident at this hospital now. I’m going to be a doctor; my days of playing hero are over.”
Jason turned his attention to Breathtaker. “And you’re going nowhere. You should be in bed. You can’t even stand on your own.”
“Fine,” Bette said. “Breathtaker stays here, but we need you to come with us. Provoke’s on the loose and we might need somebody with your training to help take him down.”
“Didn’t you hear what I just said?” Jason asked. “I’m not Golden Eagle anymore.”
“You go or I do, doctor,” Breathtaker said. “Your choice.”
Jason gritted his teeth as he realized that he had no choice at all. “Where are we going?” he asked. “We’ll need to stop off at the old HQ so I can get the armor.”
Director Bones disembarked from his helicopter and strode angrily toward the door of the Los Angeles branch of the DEO with cigar smoke trailing behind him. He’d been summoned there by an emergency broadcast, but everything seemed normal.
He rode the elevator to his office and walked in. “What’s going on around here?” he demanded as he threw the door open.
Provoke smiled. He was sitting in Bones’s chair, with his feet up on Bones’ desk and he was even smoking one of Bones’s cigars. “Good to see you, Boss,” he greeted.
“Provoke,” Bones said. “What are you doing here?”
“Just clearing up some loose ends,” Provoke said. He reached into his pocket and produced a straight razor, which he snapped open and laid on the desk.
“Now be a good boy and cut your throat,” Provoke ordered.
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Next Issue: In Titans West: Deadly Reunion #4: Can the former Titans come together and save Bones’s life, or will they fall prey to Provoke’s powers?
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