Titans West

In a deserted section of the French Quarter of Opal, the T-jet quickly settled to the ground inside an old warehouse. The hatch opened and the Shade was the first to lead the way out. "Home at last," he said with a smile.

Gar Logan was right behind him. "Where do you think the Spider is?" he demanded. "I want to know that Bette's all right."

Shade smiled that mysterious smile again. "I shouldn't worry," he said. "The Spider is dangerous, but he only wants to find me. I don't think he'll be hard to locate."

"So what are we supposed to do?" Tara Markov asked as she descended the plane's exit steps.

"I would suggest that you all get some sleep," Shade said, with a twinkle in his eye. "You're going to have a long day tomorrow." Before the team's eyes, a portal of darkness enveloped Shade and he was gone.

"Great," Paco Ramone said as he came down the stairs and joined the others. "So now what?"

Gar shrugged. "I guess we rest." He looked around the warehouse and saw that it had an area with bunk beds and a small kitchenette. "I hope nobody snores."

A bound and gagged Bette Kane glared at her captor. Luke Ludlow-Dalt, aka the Spider, smiled as he saw the look on her face. "Awake are we? Good." He studied her face for a moment. "No reason for that look," he said. "This has nothing to do with you. All I want is the Shade. He killed my family! My entire family! My parents, my grandparents, all of them were killed by him!"

Bette just glared and stayed silent.

The Spider huffed. "Fine, stay that way. I'll just change the decor a bit." He walked over and spun Bette around so her back was facing him. That done, he returned to building new arrows. A pile of razor-sharp arrowheads lay on the table next to him.

Where are you, Gar? Bette thought. This guy's crazy!

At that moment, Gar was lying on a bunk with his hands folded under his head. Unlike some of the others, sleep was eluding him. He just lay there and stared up at the ceiling. Beneath him, Cody Driscoll's snores sounded like an army of lumberjacks attacking a forest of redwoods. Gar thought about throwing something at him, but finally decided it wasn't worth the effort.

Don't worry, Bette, he thought. Be strong. We'll get you back. Tomorrow. We're on our way.

Back in Los Angeles, Mal Duncan was on a video conference call with Vernon Questor. "And you've heard nothing from them?" Questor asked.

"Nada," Mal said, shaking his head. "I've been digging through everything I can find, and none of my sources have anything."

Questor rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Hopefully they have been able to disappear."

Mal nodded. "I haven't heard anything about them, either. One of my sources did hear a whisper about a DEO raid in Detroit, but they apparently didn't find anything."

"Excellent," Questor said. "Mr. Logan may be a bit annoying at times, but he is a strong leader. I simply hope that he can remain two steps ahead of the DEO."

"You and me both," Mal said. "If they catch them, they'll be after us next."

Questor glanced off screen. "It appears our time is nearly up. I do wish to inform you that I will be sending Ms. Simms to the headquarters site shortly. It is still Questcorp property, and she will be compiling a damage report."

Mal nodded. "Good idea. Sarah should be able to see if there's anything we need to know."

"Is there anything I can get for you?" Questor asked. "I should be able to get it over there covertly."

Mal shook his head. "That's good of you, but I'm fine. I've got food, drinks and TV. I'm set."

Questor smiled slightly. "Well, then, I must end this before it is detected."

"Good luck," Mal said.

"To us all," Questor said. A second later, the screen went black as he ended the call.

Mal leaned back in his chair. "You said it," he murmured to no one. "Cause if we don't have the angels on our side this time, we're all going down." Mal stood and walked to the kitchen for a snack.

"Are you comfortable?" Tara asked. Inside her purse was a small green frog.

"What do you think?" the frog replied. "Do you know how much stuff I've stepped on in here that I don't even want to know what it used to be?"

Tara grinned. "Just control yourself in there. I don't want to wind up with any warts."

Gar frowned as best a frog could. "I don't really like your hair."

Tara shrugged. Her hair, normally blonde, had been dyed brown. The Shade had appeared that morning bearing hair dye and new clothes for the entire team. Gar was the only one who hadn't taken him up on the offer.

"I can deal with it," she replied. She sat down at an outdoor cafe and ordered a cup of coffee. As she sipped it, she continued her conversation with Gar.

"So what're we looking for?" she whispered.

"I have no idea. I'm just starting to get the idea that we're only here to draw this Spider guy out of hiding, so the Shade can deal with him."

"You mean kill him," Tara said.

Gar was silent for a moment. "Probably," he finally said.

"I don't like this," she whispered.

"Neither do I. I don't like being used to bring someone to their death, but just because we play by the Shade's rules to a point doesn't mean we finish the game his way. If I see a shot to save this guy's life I'm taking it."

Tara just sat in silence and sipped her coffee.

Leonid Kovar and Paco Ramone walked out of an antique store in the Old Town section of the city. The now-blond Paco eyeballed the package under Leonid's arm. "Why do you need a cigarette case? You don't even smoke!"

Leonid smiled. "Ah, but this is from Russia! My grandfather had one much like this." He tucked the package into his jacket pocket and walked down the street, his newly brown curls blowing in the wind. "You know, blond is a new look for you."

Paco ran his hand through his hair. "I don't like it. Makes me feel like a New Kid on the Block or whatever the boy bands call themselves these days."

Leonid looked into a shop window to try to hide the grin that was growing on his face. Finally he just gave up. "I can handle you singing Bye Bye Bye, but if you start wiggling your hips in my direction I am leaving."

Paco scowled. "Very funny." He threw open a door and led Leonid into another music store.

Inside the Opal Starman museum, (blonde) Karen Beecher and (black-haired) Jason Parker were examining some of the mementos of Ted Knight's career.

"So..." Jason said as he pretended to look at the visitor's guide. "What are we doing here?"

"I've always been fascinated by what Mr. Knight was able to accomplish," Karen said. She stopped and studied a display that consisted of a blackboard covered with equations. A wax figure of Ted Knight stood in front of it. "When I took over the LA office, I tried to get him to work with STAR, but it always fell through. Still, we did work out a deal that allows us fairly unlimited access to his patents. I can't even imagine what we may be able to create in a few years thanks to him."

Jason folded his arms. "I do feel sorry for Cody, though."

Karen shrugged as they began to move on. "I know. But it's the best thing. Cody's the one that the police are going to be looking for the hardest. I doubt that even dying his hair would have worked. Speaking of which, nice fuzz."

Jason rubbed his chin, where a beard was beginning to appear. "It itches," he complained. "I can't wait until this is all over."

Karen smiled. "And I'll bet that Cody will enjoy getting out of that warehouse, too."

Jason stopped before a display of the wartime JSA. "Look at them," he murmured as Karen stepped to his side.

"I know," Karen said. "They were the first. Everything we've become today we owe to them. Without them, there would have been no JLA, no Titans, no nobody."

Jason smiled. "Yeah." Together, the two just stood and looked at the silent figures of times gone by.

Dakota Jamison walked to the fence at the Titans West Headquarters and was confronted by an angry Sarah Simms. "Ms. Simms," Jamison said condescendingly. "May I help you?"

Sarah fought to control her temper before she spoke. "Mr. Questor sent me so I can begin to gather information about how much damage has been done to this Questcorp facility."

"Is that so?" Jamison asked. "Unfortunately, we are still collecting evidence."

"Evidence?" Sarah asked. "Has a crime been committed?"

Jamison's eyes flashed. In that instant, she knew Sarah had won this little battle. "This is the site of an federal investigation. No unauthorized personnel are permitted." She turned to a guard. "Escort Ms. Simms back to her car and see that she leaves the premises." Jamison stormed back toward the building as the guard pulled Sarah to her car.

In Opal, Tara had met up with Paco and Leonid. "Hey, guys," she said. "Any luck?"

"Not unless you count acquiring a collection of Bananarama albums lucky," Leonid said, shooting a glance at Paco's large shopping bag.

"Hey," Paco said. "I don't complain about your cigarette cases, you don't complain about my music. Comprende?"

Gar peeked out of Tara's purse. "Come on," he said. "Let's start heading back toward the warehouse." The three others nodded in agreement and they started down the street.

In his home, the Shade was sipping a glass of absinthe when one of his shadow creatures fluttered quickly toward him. The Shade listened with a smile on his face as the creature related its news. "Is that so?" the Shade asked. "Well, I shan't keep him waiting." The Shade stood, donned his top hat and picked up his cane, then vanished in a pool of darkness.

The Spider lowered his bow. Of the five arrows he'd fired at the paper target, all of them had struck the bull's eye. "Where is he?" the Spider asked. "I can't believe that he's taking this long to find me."

"Don't flatter yourself," said a silky, familiar voice. Spider whirled around and saw the Shade standing there, ever-present smile on his face. "You weren't that difficult to find. I just wanted the young lady's teammates to feel as if they were contributing to drawing you out."

Spider's face hardened. "So it's just us again." A sadistic smile crawled across the Spider's lips. "I'm going to kill you slowly, Shade. I've studied how my ancestors failed. The time of your death has come."

Shade lightly covered his mouth as he yawned. "Please excuse me," he said. "It's just that I've heard that same story so many times before."

"I'm not going to kill you right off," Spider continued. "First I'm going to take your powers from you. Then," he picked up an arrowhead from the table, "I'm going to put this in the fire and carve my ancestors' names into you. Maybe then you'll understand the fire that burns within me."

Shade removed his hat and set it down on an empty chair. "You don't have to do this," he cautioned. With a yell, the Spider fired two arrows as fast as lightning. His eyes widened as a shadow reached out from inside the Shade and swatted the arrows back toward him. The Spider dove to miss them and crashed through the coffee table. He tried to stand and cursed. Arrowheads were sticking out of his leg. Blood was beginning to spurt from a severed artery in his right leg.

Shade stepped forward. "Too bad," he said.

The Spider, his legs covered in blood, looked up at the Shade. "You haven't won," he said. "You see this face? You have no idea how easy it was to use this face for my purposes. I have children, and their mothers all know the tale of how you have spent a century murdering my family! If I've failed, one day they will come for you!"

The Shade picked up his hat and replaced it on his head. He stood before the fallen Spider with both hands resting on his cane. "Then I shall be waiting," he said coldly. Shadow began to flow from the Shade to form shadow demons. The Spider could only scream as the giggling shadow demons tore him apart.

However, the Shade had also revealed his gentle side. An instant before the Spider was attacked, a small imp flew from the Shade's back and covered Bette's ears so that she was oblivious to the screaming. A shadow curtain prevented any unpleasantness from splashing onto her, as well.

After the deed was finished, the Shade carefully stepped over the small, moist pieces of what had been the Spider. He gently untied Bette and loosened her gag, then helped her stand. "I would not recommend turning around," he said. "Just believe me when I say that the Spider will no longer trouble you. Now, let's go reunite you with your friends." The Shade and Bette were instantly absorbed by a shadow portal.

At the warehouse, the team had reunited when the Shade and Bette appeared. "Where's the Spider?" Gar asked.

"He's been dealt with," the Shade said. "Thank you for your assistance. I should recommend that you get on your way. I am sure that your pursuers will soon track you here. Farewell." The Shade vanished in a pool of black like a Cheshire cat.

Aboard the now-airborne T-jet, Gar walked back to the passenger cabin again. "All right," he said, interrupting the Mario Bros. game between Paco and Leonid. "Here's the plan. I've been doing some thinking while riding around in Tara's purse and I believe I've got this figured out. You can't tell me Batman can't pull this off. We're heading to Gotham!"

Next Issue: On the Run: Gotham!

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