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#21
MAR 10 |
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“Welcome to the Jungle” Part Two
Teen Titans Roll Call
Robin, The Boy Wonder
Impulse, The Fastest Boy Alive
Wonder Girl, The Young Amazon
Damage, The Human Explosive
Omni, The Power Mimic
Risk, The Thrillseeker
Offspring, The Shapesifter
Apart they’re just sidekicks and illigitimate children; Together they’re the TEEN TITANS! Proteges of the Justice League, whippersnappers to the JSA, and all around annoyances to the Outsiders!
18 Years Ago
The Colorado Desert
The large alien spacecraft's stay on Earth lasted only minutes, just long enough to gather samples and leave behind something of it's own. As the spacecraft lifted off into the sky under the cover of the dark night above, two small purple blobs remained in the desert, seemingly lifeless. It was only as the sun began to rise that one of them began to show signs of life.
{We can't stay out here,} one of the blobs stated through thought-speak to it's companion. {We'll dry out eventually. I do not wish to die on this planet.}
{Then we must take the form of the dominant species of the planet,} the other blob stated. {We must take the form of the vegetation that covers this world.}
{Vegetation? Humans are the dominant organisms,} the first blob told her. {We have to take the form of humans if we want to survive.}
{Humans are weak, they have a short lifespan of less than a hundred years, sometimes far less,} the other blob replied. {The plant life is obviously the stronger of the two. I've read the files on this planet. The trees on this world have lasted several generations.}
{Very well, I'll take the form of a human, and you can play the role of a lifeless plant, we'll see who's the dominant species,} the first blob told it's partner.
{Yes, we shall,} said the other blob as both started to take different shapes.
The first blob of purple gelatin like ooze started sprouting legs and arms, as flesh started taking the place of the purple ooze. Soon, a newborn baby boy was laying in the sand, crying for attention.
Meanwhile, the other blob had started morphing into plantlife, crawling over the baby boy to keep him out of the sunlight. It wasn't long before D.E.O. Agents in the area noticed the boy and took him back to their headquarters, just as they'd been ordered to. They've been told alien life was in the area and they'd soon realize that the baby boy they'd found was far from human...
Today
Grant Emerson pulled himself out of the shallow end of the campus indoor pool, struggling to catch his breath. His clothes were soaked, making him weigh far more than his usual 190 lbs, and his wet hair was now hanging down in front of his eyes.
The sleeping toxin the vines were emitting had seemed to stop flowing in as Grant stood up, shivering as the cold air hit his body after emerging from the pool. The hero known as Damage made his way towards the doors, trying to find an exit so he could try to find his friends, whom he was sure were in more danger than he was.
He started pulling on the vines, using all of the strength he had, but found the more he pulled the thicker the vines became. He started becoming annoyed at the situation, until it built up into anger. Usually that's when he found himself ready to literally explode, his powers unleashing in a destructive way, but this time something different happened.
It started as a small red dot, like a laser pointer, but the dot started enlarging and within seconds, smoke started rising from the area that dot was focused in. A hole was starting to from through the vines as Grant started to laugh.
"Heat vision? I have freakin' heat vision!" shouted Grant excitedly as he tried to focus the heat harder. The hole finally became large enough to jump through as he found himself surrounded by the vines. Grant smiled as he pounded his fist into his palm, feeling the rush of having a new toy to play with. "Come get some, bitches!"
"I have to go to the bathroom," said Offspring as he hung upside down from the tree alongside Robin and Wonder Girl. "I shouldn't have drank that extra large lemonade before we went swimming."
"The more I struggle against these vines, the tighter they become," said Wonder Girl as she grunted, trying to break free. "It's like they're made of solid steel."
"Risk, Damage, Omni and Impulse are all still free, we still have a chance," replied Robin as he thought about it. "Damage is still free, we still have a chance."
"Don't you have like, a bat device to break us out of here?" asked Offspring as he struggled to shapeshift, but the vines grasp became tighter as he soon as he moved, forcing him back into his normal shape.
"I can't move my hands," replied Robin. "This isn't like a straight jacket or some goon holding me. I can't fight against the vine's grip. We'll just have to hang out until the others come."
"The vines are everywhere," said Impulse as he stood on the outside of the campus with Risk. "Even running at superspeed I wouldn't be able to stop to free the others without getting caught. These vines are strong."
"I don't suppose we could just dump a bunch of weed killer on them," suggested Risk as the gears in his mind worked. "Wait a minute, how do you kill plants?"
"You're talking to the king of killing plants," said Impulse proudly. "I singehandedly killed every plant Max brought home, not to mention his chive garden." It was then the Impulse's face turned dark and cold as he remembered the horrors of that damned chive garden. "Yes, those chives met with a horrible *accident*. No one ever suspected that-"
"Bart, back on topic. If you could?"
Impulse snapped back to reality as he realized he was supposed to be talking about the current problem. "These vines are out in the open, so we can't take away the sunlight, and they're obviously not going to starve from lack of soil..."
"Cold kills plants," Risk realized suddenly, snapping his fingers. "That ice freak we fought a while ago*, he can help us."
"Great, any idea where he's hanging out now?" asked Impulse impatiently.
"Anywhere where there's water, he's with that kid who claims to be half fish," replied Risk as Impulse zipped away to find Walker and Seren.
In the campus greenhouse, Omni stared in disbelief at the green girl standing before him. The girl who'd claimed to be his sister Chloe. The vines started to loosen around Omni, letting him go as he fell to his knees.
"It can't be," said Omni as he stood up, his gold and white costume de-morphing from around his body, leaving him in the blue swimsuit he’d been wearing at the pool. Chloe smiled and reached her green, vine covered hand over, running it through Cameron's blonde, shaggy hair.
"It's me, brother," replied Chloe with a smile. "Even in these forms, we still know each other. You know it's me."
A tear fell down Cameron's face as he looked at his sister. "How?"
"A woman named Poison Ivy took me," said Chloe softly. "She knew of my potential and helped turn me into...this. She said that I had the power to liberate the plantlife on this planet from the destruction of man's foolishness."
Chloe pointed outside. "My powers are weakened at the moment, but as the vines feed on the soil, I slowly regain my strength. Once I'm fully recharged, I'll be able to overtake this whole state with plant life. Then after another brief recharge, I'll be able to take several states at a time. Within two weeks I'll have this whole country and, by the end of the year, the planet. We'll no longer have to depend on the humans for soil or water, I'll be able to provide everything because the whole planet will be literally in the palm of my hand."
Chloe held out her hand as a vine snaked out of it, tunneling into the dirt underneath her, feeding her the delicious soil. Cameron got a shocked look on his face as he backed away from her, towards the door.
"But do not fear, brother," continued Chloe as the vines wrapped themselves around Cameron's ankles, snaking up his legs to keep him in place. "While the human's time is at an end, I would never let any harm come to you. Poison Ivy tells me that because we share the same DNA, you can be remade to be just like me."
"But... I don't want to be like you," said Cameron in a low tone. "I like being human. I like this body."
"A long time ago we had an argument over who was the dominant lifeform on this planet," said Chloe as the vines pulled Cameron toward the wall, pinning him to it. "Look around you, Cameron. Vegetation is the dominant lifeform, and soon that's all that will exist."
"What about my friends?" asked Cameron as he struggled.
"Your friends fell all too easily to my vines," laughed Chloe as she took his hand. "Even with their so-called powers. Their flesh is weak, Cameron. As is yours."
A thorn sprouted from Chloe's hand, cutting along Cameron's arm, causing him to cry out in pain as the blood dripped from his wound.
"Once you are like me, you won't feel pain like this, you won't bleed, you won't die," said Chloe as she let his arm go. "You will live forever. We'll control this planet as a family. We'll make everyone on our home planet regret leaving us here for their so called plan. Tell me that you'll join me."
"Go plant yourself," said Cameron through gritted teeth as he closed his eyes and focused. He could feel Chloe's powers running through him as he telepathically told the vines to release him. He fell from the wall as Chloe laughed to herself.
"Put him to sleep," Chloe ordered her vines. "But don't harm him. He'll see our way is better once he wakes up to the new world order."
Grant was breathing heavily as he was tiring out. His heat vision had ceased, and he was now using his raw strength to fend off the vines, which were now coming from all directions. They were about to overtake him when a red and white blur rushed through, cutting the vines with a weed wacker.
"Bart?" asked Grant as Risk jumped in, trying to pull the vines off of him. "Where are the others?"
"Don't know," replied Risk as he helped Grant stand up, putting Grant's arm around his shoulder for support. "But we brought back up."
Seren was using his makeshift trident to fight off the weeds, wearing an orange and black costume similar to the original one Aquaman had worn.
"Damned vines, they don't know the true ruler of the world when they see him," said Seren as a vine was about to wrap around his neck, just as a cold blast frosted it over. A teenager wearing blue sweat pants and a blue sweater with the hood covering his hair and eyes was firing ice blasts left and right.
"We need to find the source of this," said Walker as he saw more vines approaching. "It'll take forever to ice over the whole campus like this."
"They seem to be coming from that direction," replied Risk as he pointed north. "Let's head that way."
Cameron was fighting against the vines, trying to control them as Chloe sat back and laughed.
"You may be able to control them briefly, but my powers can override yours," said Chloe as she watched him struggle. "I've had plenty of time to practice my control over plant life, brother. It's useless to resist. This is your last chance to join me."
Just as Cameron was about to relent to the vines, the doors burst open as Risk, Impulse, Grant, Seren and Walker all came in, fighting the vines as they saw Cameron on the ground. The boys all stopped once they saw Chloe.
"Holy damn, check her out," said Risk with a smirk as he looked Cameron's sister over. "I'd like to sow her seeds."
"Dude, that's my sister!" shouted Cameron as Grant pulled the vines off of him.
"Don't see the resemblance," said Impulse as he rushed toward Chloe with the weed wacker, just as a vine grabbed it out of his hands.
"Destroy all of them!" shouted Chloe as she saw her plan was starting to fall apart. "Tear them apart and show my brother our true power!"
"Do plant-girls have a ‘time of the month’?" asked Risk bluntly. "It seems like she's having that time of the month."
The group started fighting off the vines that started to overcrowd the room as Cameron stood up and looked around, trying to focus on calling the vines off of his friends. While the others were distracted, a long thorn like knife emerged from Chloe's wrist as she made her way towards Cameron, who was finally starting to gain control over the plant life.
"I'm sorry, brother," said Chloe as she approached him, "but you are far too human for your own good. If you won't join me, you'll join your friends in death."
Just as she was about to plunge the knife into him, she felt a cold chill running up her body. Before she could scream, her entire body had been frosted over, leaving Mistress Vine nothing more than a solid ice statue. Walker stood there, a cold mist rising from his hand as he saw what he'd done just by simply concentrating.
Cameron opened his eyes and saw his sister, frozen solid. Her eyes were still wide open as Cameron looked over at Walker. "What did you do?" A tear fell down Cameron's face as he looked into sister's frozen features. "WHAT DID YOU DO!?"
All across the campus, the vines were starting to shrivel and die without a master to command them. Robin, Wonder Girl, and Offspring all fell to the ground, having been released and wondering what had happened. As the vines died, all the students who'd been put to sleep by the sleeping powder soon started to wake up, as they resumed their normal activities with no memory of what had happened.
Walker was sitting on the curb, staring down into the pavement as Wonder Girl talked to Seren while Impulse cleared out the dead vines from the campus. "So, are you two sticking around?" asked Wonder Girl as she looked over at Walker.
"I don't think so," replied Seren as he put his trident back onto the sheath on his back. "I still seek the dark wizard who placed this human curse on me."
"Felix Faust," said Wonder Girl as she looked at Walker. "I doubt you'll be able to find him on your own. Maybe the Titans can help you. What about Walker's powers?"
"He still has a lot to learn about controlling them, but I've been teaching him techniques to keep his emotions in check," said Seren as he looked at his friend. "But I believe he feels bad for what he did to that plant creature. Perhaps we shall stay close to your group until he feels he's made amends to Cameron. And perhaps we shall use your help in finding Faust."
As things were starting to settle down, the decision had to be made about where to take Chloe should she survive her ice prison.
"She'll be safe at S.T.A.R. Labs," said Robin as Chloe was loaded into the van a short while later. He placed a comforting hand on Cameron's shoulder. "If she's still alive, they'll figure out a way to bring her back."
"I'm sorry about your sister," added Grant as he looked at his roommate. "Look...if there's anything you need-"
"Thanks," Cameron said sadly as he walked away, headed back to the dorm room, "but I just want to go home and get some rest."
"Think he'll be okay?" Robin asked as he looked at Grant.
"Yeah, I'll fix him his favorite dinner, maybe rent some DVDs for him, he'll be fine," said Grant before he sneezed in Robin's direction. "Sorry, I think I might be coming down with a cold from walking around in wet clothes all day. Oh, yeah, I found out I had heat vision. I think we should-"
"-avoid telling Connor?" asked Robin before Grant could finish his thought.
"Hell no, I want to rub his face in it," replied Grant with a smirk.
A top secret D.E.O. Training Facility, several miles underground in the heart of L.A.
"The test was a success," the soldier told the man reading the paper as he walked into the office. The morning's paper detailing the recent attack on the UCLA campus, in which two gaybashers were sent to the hospital. "Not only did the test subject accomplish his task, he also took down Robin by surprise."
The man smirked as the read the paper, keeping his face hidden behind it. "Not bad," replied the man. "Not bad at all. But he only fought one Teen Titan and won. Hell, it wasn't even a direct confrontation. I want to know if he can handle the whole group. I want Project Cypher in one piece and the Teen Titans are all that stand in the way. Send our boy back out, this time I want to see how he handles the whole team. I want nothing left to chance, even one Titan left standing is a threat to this project."
The man reached his hand out from behind the paper and gave the soldier a list. "I want these items brought to me as proof. If he can accomplish this, I'll know he's ready for the big score."
"Yes, sir," the soldier replied as he left. He walked down to the holding cells and, after getting security clearance, opened the door to where a teenage boy was sitting at a table, playing with a deck of cards. He was dressed all in black, with his back to the man. His long shoulder length brown hair a symbol of disrespect to the soldier's military ideals, which was just the way the young man liked it.
The small room was nicely furnished with a weight set, a large screen TV, a bookshelf, a computer and a fully stocked refrigerator. The young man at the table had everything he could want in his room…everything except human contact.
"You've got another assignment," the soldier said as the young man turned around, staring the soldier down like he could take him down with his bare hands, despite the soldier being fully armed. "He trusts you can handle the job."
The young man smirked as the soldier handed him the list. "I can handle anything, that's what you trained me for, isn't it?"
Andy Morgan stood up and opened a glass case on the wall, housing a black and red costume. He reached in a pulled out a black mask with a large red X on it.
"Just get the job done...Red X."
The End...
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