Titans West

Green boots walked past the security guard who was collapsed in a heap, a black mark still scarred the carpet where the lightning bolt had struck him. The bank's customers huddled, terrified, on the floor. A green-gloved hand theatrically raised a small wand and lightning obediently blasted open the small gate blocking his way into the vault. A small green mouse scurried across the floor and out the door as the villain entered the vault.

"This is too easy!" the Weather Wizard thought as he quickly gathered bags of money. He walked out of the vault with a smile on his face. "I should have done this a long time ago. Too many heroes back East. But out here-" His thoughts were interrupted as he stepped over the guard's sprawled leg. "No Flash, no JLA... This is paradise!" As he stepped out the doors into the sunshine with his eyes proudly closed, he didn't see the large man in the red costume standing in front of him. A red-gloved fist slammed into the Wizard's jaw, knocking him to the ground. He looked up, squinting as his eyes adjusted to the sunshine. In front of him were Flamebird, Changeling, Red Star, Risk and Terra. The new Titans West.

"Oh, great," the Wizard whispered as he gaped at them.

Three Days Earlier...

"Come on, Gar!" Bette Kane's voice had taken on a pleading tone. "You know we can do it!"

Gar Logan sighed and rubbed his forehead, a usual response to this particular topic. "Bette," Gar began patiently, "haven't you realized yet what a disaster Titans West is? We just got the apartment fixed up from the last time!*"

(* The ‘last time’ was in Titans Secret Files and Origins #2 - db)

"But this time it'll be different!" Bette wasn't giving up. "You know we can do it!"

"Who's we?" Gar asked. "Bushido went back to Japan. CM3's tied up in Fawcett City and Hero's dropped off the face of the earth!"

"We've still got Terra," Bette insisted, "and I know we could get Mal and Karen back into uniform!"

"Great. I'm going to check the mail." Gar pulled the door closed behind him, cutting off Bette in mid-word.

"She probably didn't even notice," Gar thought as he walked to the lobby. "This figures. My cousin Matt wants to get Titans West going again and throws a recruitment drive that turns into a kegger. Vic moves in and takes a job out of town a week later. Then Matt decides he wants to go backpack across Europe, so he's gone, too. I have got to find a place of my own before Bette drives me nuts with all this Titans West stuff." Gar closed the mailbox and started flipping through his mail as he returned to the apartment. A peculiar look crossed his face as he spotted a letter addressed to him from a ‘Questcorp’. He opened the apartment door and tossed the rest of the mail on an end table. Bette was on the phone, a grin on her face.

"Oh, no," Gar thought.

"Guess who it is?" Bette asked.

"If it's Harlequin, tell her she still owes us for the repairs to the apartment."

"Oh, come on. You know she apologized for that! It's Karen! She says that we need to head down to S.T.A.R. Labs! Let's go!" Bette started pulling on a jacket as she finished her conversation. "We'll be there in a few minutes, Karen! Bye!" Bette slammed down the phone and grabbed Gar's arm, pulling him out the door, while still clutching the Questcorp letter.

Karen Duncan looked up as the door to her office in the LA branch of S.T.A.R. Labs swung open. Bette Kane ran in, pulling Gar with her. "Hi, guys," Karen said, smiling warmly. "You didn't have to get down here quite so quickly, though."

"Hey, if it's an emergency, we're there!" Bette said, smiling broadly. Gar tried to fight the urge to roll his eyes and lost.

"Actually, it's not an emergency." Karen stood and led them out the door. "We just had someone transfer to us from Russia that I thought you'd like to say hello to. He's even already helped us bring in a meta that may have gone rogue. Mal's in here now with them."

"Them?" Gar asked nervously as the door swung open. Inside stood Leonid Kovar, Red Star. Mal Duncan, Karen's husband and the former Herald, stood there with him. Terra smiled sheepishly at them as they entered.

"Here it comes," Gar thought. He was right.

"Gar, this is a sign!" Bette exclaimed. "We're meant to be together!"

Gar quickly turned to Karen. "You said that there was another meta who'd been brought in. Anybody we know?"

"Maybe," Karen said. "Come on and I'll let you take a look." Gar and Karen started down the hall as Bette ran into the room, smiling so widely it looked like her face would split. "A little exuberant, isn't she?" Karen asked Gar once they were out of earshot.

"She's convinced that she's going to get Titans West going again. Never mind that the New York team's not even still together."

Karen nodded. "Young Justice took the name out there, didn't they?"

"Yeah."

They walked in silence for a moment.

"You still want to give it a shot, don't you?" Karen asked gently.

Gar thought a moment and stopped. "I guess I do. I mean, it really hurt when the team didn't even ask me to join when they got back together."

"I thought Vic told me that they did."

Gar shrugged. "Just because they felt bad asking Vic in front of me." Gar started walking again. "That's why I moved out here. So much bad stuff had happened out there so fast... I needed time to get my head together."

Karen smiled. "So you wind up moving in with Bette."

Gar chuckled a little. "Not the smartest move, was it?"

"Here we are." Karen led the way into a small room. A large viewing window dominated one wall. Gar's eyes widened as he saw who was inside.

"That's Risk!" Gar said. "He was part of Argent's team of Titans! What happened?"

Karen consulted a chart. "He was accused of theft - nothing major... some cash... Never hurt anybody. We were asked to hold him until we ascertain whether or not he's dangerous."

"I'll ascertain that for you right now. Let me in there."

"I kind of thought you might say that. Let me key open the door and you'll be able to get in. If anything gets out of hand I'm flooding the room with knockout gas. That's just standard procedure."

Gar frowned as he looked into the room. "I understand. Open the door."

Risk looked up as the door to his containment unit hissed open and Changeling stepped in. "Hi, Cody," he said.

Risk snorted and turned away. Gar walked over to him.

"What's going on? You were a Titan. Now you're robbing people? What's up with that?"

Risk swung around, furious. "What do you know, rich boy? You don't know anything about me!"

Gar's eyes narrowed. "Maybe I don't, but Argent does. And everything she's told me about you doesn't match up with what I see here. Tell me about what's going on. Maybe I can help."

Cody Driscoll seemed to collapse as he decided to tell the truth. "It was my mom. She got sick. I had to get the money to pay her doctors somehow. I just can't believe I got caught."

Gar nodded. "I understand. Listen, I'll talk to Karen and see if we can get you out of that cell. But I can't promise anything."

Cody just nodded back without looking up. "Thanks, Gar."

Gar stepped out and back into the viewing room. "Did you hear?" he asked as the door cycled shut.

"Yes." Karen thought a moment. "I don't know what to do. I can't just let him on the loose. And on the other hand, can we really keep him locked up for trying to help his mother? It could take months for the courts to sort this out!"

"I know," Gar said, sagging into a chair. "Let me think and see what I can come up with."

"Okay," Karen replied. "I'll be in my office if you need anything."

As the door closed behind Karen, Gar leaned forward and rubbed his eyes. The movement caused the letter in his pocket to poke him. Gar pulled it out and opened it. "What's a little more bad news?" he asked out loud.

As Gar read the letter, his eyes got wider and wider. Finally he ran out.

Karen looked up as Gar burst into her office. "Can I use your phone?" he asked. Karen nodded and swung it around to Gar. As she worked on her reports, she saw Gar grinning.

Karen looked at Gar full on as he hung up. "Good news?" she asked.

"Possibly," he replied. "I need to talk to Risk for a second."

"What are you up to?" she asked. Gar explained it to her and her eyes narrowed in thought. "We do have a restraint collar I could get clearance to use, but it would still be good if he was under S.T.A.R. supervision..." She looked up and saw Gar staring at her. "Oh no," she replied. Gar didn't move. "No, Gar." Gar responded by shape shifting into a green basset hound that looked pleadingly at her.

Karen finally had to admit defeat when the dog started licking her. "All right!" she exclaimed. "I'll give it a shot." The green basset smiled.

"I knew you'd come around. If you can get him to agree to this, I'll get the others." The dog shuffled out of the door. Karen just rubbed her forehead.

"Why is it whenever anyone mentions the word Titans I wind up with a headache?" she asked.

Forty-five minutes later, Mal, Karen, Bette, Red Star, Terra, and a restrained Cody stood in the middle of a large empty factory. "Okay, Gar," Bette said. "What is this all about? This place is filthy, and this is a new sweater."

Terra smirked. She'd never been a big fan of the overly flirtatious Bette. "Yeah, Gar. I mean, I love seeing urban blight up close as much as anyone, but a little bit goes a long way."

Gar led the way into an old conference room and plopped down onto the table. Dust billowed up from where he hit.

"I would have thought that you'd know best out of anyone, Bette," he said. "I know you've been pushing to get Titans West going again. And then Leonid and Risk show up. Then I got this letter earlier today." He showed her the letter.

"Who's Questcorp?" Bette asked.

Red Star held up a hand. "I read about them on my flight over. They are a new technology company, correct?"

"Right!" Gar dropped to the floor and started walking in front of them. "Turns out the company's run by good old Vernon Questor."

"The one who worked for Steve Dayton?" Red Star was starting to get it.

"In all his grumpy glory. Anyway, turns out that Steve signed this old plant over to me before the whole Crimelord thing started."

"What are you saying, Gar?" Bette asked.

Gar's grin got wider. "Easy, Bette. Look around. You wanted Titans West. We've got the base. Do we have the team?"

Terra shrugged. "I'm in. I've been wanting to get going again, anyway."

Red Star smiled. "It will be just like the good times! I would be glad to join!"

Cody looked up. "Might help me make up for some of what I've had to do. Sure."

Karen said, "Well, I know S.T.A.R. will want to keep Risk under supervision. I guess the Bumblebee's in for this ride."

Mal grinned. "Sounds like you guys have got it going on again. Come on down to my club tonight and we'll have a celebration dinner."

Bette threw her arms around Gar. "You did it! You really got us back!"

Gar just stood there and smiled as congratulations ran around the group. "Well, I did have a little something delivered..." He pulled out a bottle of champagne and started filling glasses, then passing them around. "Mal, this had better be good. The Blue Note delivered it."

Mal smiled wider. "You know we only serve good stuff."

Gar raised his glass, followed by the others. "To Titans West!" he toasted.

"To Titans West!" the others said as their glasses clinked together.

Today

Weather Wizard thought fast. He quickly raised his wand, getting ready to summon a lightning bolt. Flamebird immediately used her flash gimmick. "Gah!" he yelled as he was blinded. "Try this!" He let out another yell as a rock, summoned by Terra, smashed into his hand, forcing him to drop the wand.

"This won't stop me!" he yelled as he knelt and scrabbled for the wand. As his fingers closed around it, a previously unseen Bumblebee unleashed a sting, which numbed his hand. The wand was then snatched up by a small green mouse that, wand in mouth, turned into a green gopher in a flash of light and tunneled away.

"Nighty-night, loser!" Risk yelled as his fist slammed into Weather Wizard's jaw. A second later, the Wizard was on the ground, unconscious.

"Lightweight!" Risk yelled as police started handcuffing the Weather Wizard and leading him away. Gar, who'd changed back to his normal form, was handing the wand over to the police.

"Well, now. That wasn't so bad, was it?" Flamebird asked.

"Did feel kinda good stomping that guy," Terra replied.

"I guess we really are meant to be together," Gar admitted as the team started leaving.

"That's great! I'll get Lilith and Chris King on the phone!" Flamebird said. "Maybe even Nightwing would want to join! Think I could talk him back into those little green shorts?"

"Bette, stop while you're ahead," Gar said.

Next Issue: The team moves into its new headquarters! Meet the new head of Questcorp! And the team gains a new member!

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