DC Infinity Presents

Titans East

"Dangerous Games"

Part 3

Issue 8

Elsewhere

Rose Wilson, Ravager, looked at the sword in her chest. And then she looked at Batgirl, who had plunged it into her chest.

"Ironic."

Agony unlike anything Rose had ever felt before raced through her body until her vision went white.

But then Rose opened her eye again, and was stunned by what she saw, and what she felt.

She found herself resting in some thick, vicarious orange liquid, in a thin glass tube.

Before Ravager could fully realize her situation, she felt her eye begin to grow heavy and her head beginning to feel fuzzy. And though Rose had no idea of the exact mechanics involved, she was aware of the danger if she was put under again.

"Hell no," Ravager said to herself, "no one puts me in a corner!"

Ravager pressed both feet against the far end of the tube, and then began slamming her right heel against the glass. Within two blows, the glass had begun to crack.

By the fifth, Rose had broken off large chunks of the glass, and quickly climbed out.

"God," Ravager tried to wipe the thick liquid off of herself, "so gross."

Ravager glanced around, and saw several tubes like the one she'd just broken out of.

"Huh."

oooOOoo

Elsewhere

Captain Boomerang leapt aside, as an electrified Yo-Yo sliced through the air at his skull.

"What is your beef with me, Axel?" Owen snapped, "because I left the Rogues?"

"Hell yeah, snitches get stitches!" Axel replied. He used his flight shoes to loom over Captain Boomerang, "I'm just doing my Rogue appointed duty!"

"Bullshit," Owen let fly one of his signature weapons, and Axel barely managed to get out of the way, "this is personal, you bleached blond jack-ass!"

The Trickster gritted his teeth.

"Maybe I don't like how I paid my dues to make it as a Rogue," Trickster snarled, "and you just waltz in because of your lame ass dad!"

"Is that it?" Owen said, "or are you mad that your new dad likes me better?"

When Trickster's face went flush with rage, Captain Boomerang knew he'd struck a nerve.

"My friend, be careful!"

Owen heard a rush of water behind him, and leapt aside before Tarpit came smashing past, splattering on the ground ahead of him.

"My apologies," Aqualad said, as he took up a position next to Captain Boomerang, "I was a little careless with my counterattack. Please forgive me."

"Hey, it happens," Captain Boomerang said, "you got my back now, that's what matters. Now, you two ready to run or eat dirt?"

Trickster and Tarpit both looked at Owen shocked, and then grinned.

"I'm going to look forward to burning you alive," Tarpit said.

"Only after I blow his legs off," Trickster smirked.

"I guess some idiots don't know when you quit," said Owen, "ready to do this, Aqualad?"

Captain Boomerang glanced aside, and saw that his teammate had vanished.

"Oh, crap."

oooOOoo

"Things are accelerating now."

"You mean my friends are beginning to escape," said Miss Martian.

"I never meant to hold them forever," said the disembodied, electronic voice, "in fact, I never would have brought them along if I thought I could get you alone otherwise."

"I'm not to blame for your evil," M'gann snapped, "you're the one hurting them, not me!"

"You'll be the one who hurts them, and your entire kind," replied the voice, "a great threat already looms over you, and you don't even know it. Help me, and I'll save your friends, and allow you to save your species."

"How do you expect me to trust someone who I don't even know?" Miss Martian demanded.

"Because if I meant you harm, you'd know," replied the voice, "your friends will be along soon. So for the sake of your species, what do you say?"

oooOOoo

"Come on, come on!"

Ravager slapped the side of Aqualad's face gently, trying to get his attention.

"Ravager?" Aqualad shook his head, trying to clear the fog from his mind, "where are we? Where's Captain Boomerang?"

"Who knows?" Ravager said. She motioned over her shoulder, and Aqualad saw dozens and dozens of tubes, the glass jet black, "to his place is full on Matrix. I got lucky, just finding you, handsome."

"Matrix? Handsome?" Aqualad said, still confused.

"Duck!"

Ravager pushed Aqualad down before a bolt of energy would have taken his head off. She pulled him around behind the tube.

"What is that thing?" Aqualad looked at the red and blue robot.

"Manhunter," Ravager said, "I helped my dad steal a few for the Society."

"How powerful is it?"

A burst of energy smashed the tube that had held Aqualad prisoner, and sent the duo flying.

"…tough enough."

oooOOooo

The smashed remains of a car flew at Grant Emerson's head, and he fought the urge to blast it and the person who threw it into so much atoms.

Instead, he swatted it aside, and simply summoned enough energy into his hands to appear threatening.

"Knock it off," Damage snapped at the young woman. He found himself a little unsettled, how closely she resembled Lobo. Grant didn't want to judge anyone by their parentage, but Lobo was special kind of monster, "we're the Titans, you idiot."

"Yeah, right," Crush snapped, "I saw what you did to that Beetle guy!"

"Hey, how do you know he's real and we're not?" Steel said.

"If it helps," said a new voice, "I think you're the real Titans."

The HUD on Steel's armor lit up, as a burst of electricity slammed into her from behind.

"Killing me a Titan, my old man never accomplished that."

Steel turned around, and saw a young man in a uniform not unlike that of the mercenary Bolt, only with a yellow skull plastered on his chest.

"Name's Dreadbolt," the new arrival announced, "and you're the first notch in my belt."

"You won't even be able to wear pants after the ass whupping I intend to deliver," Steel snapped, before she flew at Dreadbolt like a rocket.

oooOOoo

Owen slid to a stop, and then spun around.

"Your buddy ditched you, loser!" Trickster taunted, but Captain Boomerang paid him no mind.

Instead, he removed two explosive boomerangs, and threw them at the ground several yards behind him.

"Crap."

The explosion blew his liquid form backwards, and disabled him for the moment.

"There goes your backup," Owen removed a razor-rang from his arsenal, "so, you ready for a throw down that you can't win?"

"Can't win?" Trickster readied his weaponized yo-yo, "how do you figure that?"

"Even if you could kill me, Cold would still beat you down for stepping out of line," Captain Boomerang said.

"Cold won't think twice about me wasting a snitch," Trickster insisted, "but there's only one way to find out, isn't there?"

oooOOoo

Aqualad leapt forward, and smashed through the Manhunter android as if it were made of paper.

"Nice," Ravager said, taking a look at the bits of smashed metal and gears strewn about on the ground, "I thought you fish guys were supposed to be kind of lame, but that was pretty bad ass."

"We need to free our friends," Aqualad said.

"Agreed, but we need to be careful," Ravager replied, "there are bad guys in these tubes as well. If I weren't a pre-cog, we'd be in serious trouble."

A door opened across the room, and a dozen Manhunters stepped into the room.

"Which is not to say that we're not in trouble already," Ravager said.

"We need to free our comrades, now," Aqualad said, "I can feel water in all the containment tubes. Releasing them is child's play."

"Wait!"

Aqualad reached out with his powers, and every single tube exploded outward, the entire room covered in fog.

"…there are villains in there too," Ravager said.

A black gloved fist swung outwards, and caught Ravager in the jaw.

"I don't know what you Titans are attempting here," Gemini said, "but I won't just roll over!"

Ravager shot Aqualad a scowl.

"…sorry."

oooOOoo

Natasha Irons stumbled out of her tube, as the cybernetic connection to her armor reactivated and slammer her brain with new input.

When her vision finally cleared though, it didn't make what Steel saw any better.

Pandemonium reigned, as heroes and villains clashed with Manhunter robots caught in between.

Dreadbolt sent a bolt of lightning at Striker Z, before he was tackled by a Manhunter. The young woman who idenfified herself as Crush had grabbed a Manhunter by the ankle, and swung it around like a baseball bat, smearing Tarpit and nearly striking Captain Boomerang. Batgirl ducked and weaved through the androids, as she was chased by Mad Dog, who was heedless of his own safety.

In all, what she saw was less a battle, and more a mosh pit with violence.

"Okay, get it together," Steel muttered to herself. She turned up the speakers on her armor, and raised her hammer over her head as she diverted power to her servos,

"Titans!"

Steel slammed her hammer into the floor, and the impact threw most of the occupants from their feet.

"Rally on me!" Steel shouted.

Acting on instinct, Titans East dashed to Steel's side, as the Manhunters analyzed the situation, and the remaining meta-humans tried to make sense of the confusion.

"Damage, give me a skylight!" Steel snapped, and though Damage had no idea why she wanted it, he obeyed. He sent a column of energy smashing through the ceiling, creating a hole several feet wide.

"Damage, you and me get the robots," Steel said, as she cast her hammer upwards, through the hole Damage had created, "Batgirl, peel off and find Miss Martian. Everyone else, help the heroes and beat up the bad guys!"

"Titans, together!"

oooOOoo

The room around her shook, and Miss Martian saw the forcefield surrounding her simply switch off.

With the voice gone and only herself to be concerned about, Miss Martian hesitated. She hovered in the air, gripped in indecision. It took her a few moments to gather up the will to leave, shifting her mass and passing through a wall, and emerging into an empty metal hallway.

Miss Martian felt a strange sense of Déjà vu, and she began to tremble, even though she didn't know why. The empty length of the corridor seemed to grow longer before her vey eyes, and the fear inside of M'gann grew even larger.

"Miss Martian?"

"Batgirl!" M'gann threw her arms around her teammate, and sobbed in relief.

Batgirl stood there for a moment, uncertain of what to do, before carefully returning the hug.

"Are you okay?" Batgirl asked.

"…I don't know," Miss Martian said.

oooOOoo

Damage's fingers sank into steel as if it were tissue paper.

"Damn," Damage tore the Manhunter in half, "this feels good."

"Kill, kill!" Mad Dog snapped, as he lunged for Ravager.

"Nope, not happening," Ravager blocked Mad Dog's trench knives with her own blades, then kicked him in the stomach, "one free hit is all you get from me."

A whip made of hard water wrapped itself around Mad Dog's neck, and flipped him across the room.

"And not even that," Aqualad declared.

"Time for fish sticks!"

Electricity slammed into Aqualad, as Dreadbolt smirked.

"Just wait right there," Dreadbolt looked at Ravager, "I'll deal with you next."

"Yeah, I know what happens next," Ravager said, "it's not that."

"Fiend!" Aqualad decked Dreadbolt.

"Its that, if you couldn't tell."

oooOOoo

Steel smashed another Manhunter droid, then examined the room again. Her HUD counted the Manhunters again, and politely informed her that despite all the androids she and Damage had smashed, more had appeared.

"Heads up!"

A burst of laser struck a Manhunter that Steel hadn't fully disabled. She turned her head to her unlikely savior, Striker Z of the Power Company.

"Thanks," Steel said.

"Just doing what I can," Striker Z said, "I had my teammate Sapphire make a break for it, though. Any idea where we are?"

"Not a clue," Steel said, "wish you hadn't sent your friend away, we could have used the help."

"We need reinforcements more."

A familiar sensor began blinking.

"We already got 'em."

The building rumbled, and then everyone, human and Manhunter alike, watched as a portion of the wall exploded outward.

"Oh crap," Trickster muttered, when he saw the world-famous S.

"Hello, Steel," said Superman. He held her hammer in his right hand, "I heard your message. We've been looking all over for you guys."

"Glad Uncle John had me put that in there," Steel held her hand out, and her hammer flew into her hand, "care to help us clean up?"

"One moment."

There was a red and blue blur, and suddenly the Manhunters fell apart as if they were nothing but a house of cards, and the gathered villains found themselves in a corner, their wrists bound by wrapped metal (Tarpit found himself encased in a metal ball).

"Wow," said Striker Z.

"You get used to it," Steel said.

"I'll summon the DEO," Superman said, "your Uncle and Roy have been pretty worried…"

"Self-Destruct sequence activated," boomed a computer voice, "ten minutes until core detonation."

"Oh no," Superman's face went pale.

"What?" said Captain Boomerang, "isn't this the part where we run away, barely escaping the fireball?"

"No, because there's several suitcase nuke in the basement, surrounded by kryptonite and red sun projectors," Superman explained.

"Hey, Owen," Trickster shouted, "go be a hero. We'll stick around. Promise."

Captain Boomerang was about to take a step towards Trickster, when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"This is more important, son," Superman said.

"Yeah, I know," Captain Boomerang said, "doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Agreed," said Damage.

oooOOoo

Superman collected Miss Martian and Batgirl, before leading the Titans to a small room, in the basement of the complex.

"Through those doors," Superman said.

Damage easily removed the three inch thick doors from their hinges, and set them aside.

Inside the room, was a nine-foot-long table. It illuminated by a red light hanging from the ceiling, and surrounded by green, radioactive rocks. There were three metallic, suitcase sized devises

"I gotta admit," Captain Boomerang looked around, "I expected something more…"

"Yeah, this is like dime store Death Star," Ravager observed.

"Death star? Who's that?" Aqualad said.

"Got this," Batgirl said, as she removed several tools from her belt.

"I'll get the one on the left," Steel said, "race you to get the last one?"

"Hey, could we not joke about the thermo-nuclear weapons?" said Ravager.

"I could do this in my sleep," Steel replied, "relax."

"Am I the only one who finds this odd?" said Striker Z.

"What, that the self-destruct sequence is a bunch of old nukes, protected by a bail and wire security system that would only stop one man?" Steel said.

"…yeah, that."

"That got me thinking too," Superman said, "it doesn't even look like its part of the original complex. Whoever planted it must have had some amazing foresight."

oooOOoo

"Hey, take it down a notch," Trickster whispered to the man behind him.

The crazed killer known only as Mad Dog, couldn't understand the words as well as most, but he understood the tone perfectly, and growled just a little bit louder.

"Enough," Gemini, a skilled shapeshifter, stepped between the two, "we don't know how long Superman and the Titans will be occupied. We need to get as much distance as we can."

"Speak for yourself," said Crush, "my rap sheet is clean."

"Yet, Superman slapped cuffs on you as quickly as us," Dreadbolt said. He leveled an accusing finger at Crush, "we all know who your father is. It's just a matter of time."

"If you don't step away from the young lady in the next three point two seconds, she will collapse your rib cage," said a new, strange voice, "that, my friend, is the true matter of time."

The gathered young criminals (and Crush) turned their heads towards a tree in their path. Leaning against it was a man in a brown trench coat, with thick glasses with hour-hands on them.

"Who the hell are you?" Gemini demanded.

"I am The Clock King," the man replied, "I have an avenue of escape, if you're interested in joining me for a venture that will make you all wealthy and respected."

"And what's in it for me?" Crush said, "what candy are you waving in my face, stranger?"

"You'll need allies if you're ever to kill your father," Clock King said, "do you think the heroes intend to help you with that?"

oooOooo

Elsewhere

Hazard approached his benefactor, as they observed a bank of screens displaying the day's events.

"So all this was just to get to one Titan?"

"Indeed," replied the benefactor, "she's the most powerful one of them all. She could tip this game in our advantage. And our first move has already born some interesting fruit."

"How so?"

"Use those enhancements I gave you, boy," replied the benefactor, "there's a third player in this little game. Someone who managed to hack our system and plant that ridiculous self-destruct sequence."

oooOOoo

Much later, aboard the T-Jet

"I cannot believe the scoundrels slipped away," Aqualad said.

"You get used to it," Ravager said as she sat behind him, "hey, that reminds me. Batbitch, how'd you know we were in VR?"

"Lucky guess," Batgirl shrugged.

"Ha ha," Ravager said, "no, seriously. I will cut you, if you don't me."

"Cheshire's body language was too rigid," Batgirl replied, "smelled almonds on her."

"Cyanide smells like almonds," Ravager said, "I remember Slade warning me about that."

"To some, yes," Batgirl said, "not to me."

"That's a pretty thin basis on which to stab me in the heart," Ravager observed.

"Also, your sword, was too perfect. You used it against Deathstroke, but was perfect," Batgirl smirked underneath her mask, "but if I was wrong, would have said sorry."

Ravager threw her head back and sighed, "Whatever. I'm too tired to be angry."

As the T-Jet returned to Titans Island, it was observed by one John Dee.

"I just want a peaceful night's sleep."

Next issue: Dr. Destiny! Looker! And the fate of the world in the hands of two Titans!