Titans West

Flamebird walked into the director's office in STAR Labs. Once the door was closed, she pulled off her goggles and wiped her eyes. "Is it true?" she asked.

Karen Beecher nodded solemnly. "Yes," she said. She turned and walked behind her desk. "Cruz was killed when an old gas main blew up. The rescue crew found this near his body." She reached into a secure drawer and laid the H-dial on her desk. A light coating of ash still covered its gold finish.

"What happened?" Bette asked. "I know that was some sort of party, but that can't be all there is!"

Karen pulled a box of Kleenex out of her desk and handed them to Bette. "Bette," she said, thinking a moment. "I know it's hard to accept. Sometimes bad things just happen." Karen leaned back against her desk. "In our line of work, I know that you always expect to see Captain Doomsday or Evillo standing back in the shadows causing bad things, but that's not reality. Sometimes bad things just happen." Karen went silent as Bette just kept crying.

Three Days Later

Fighting against traditions of rain, the sun shone down on an assembled group come to say goodbye. Birds chirped in the trees, contributing to the tranquil scene. The assembly watched as Cruz's body was lowered into the grave. At the end of the service, they began to slowly group together.

Tara Markov reached over to grab Bette and hug her close. Paco Ramone simply shifted and looked uncomfortable. Jason Parker held his arm around a sobbing Sarah Simms. Karen Beecher and Mal Duncan held each other as they started to walk away. Gar Logan walked up to the other remaining mourner.

"Hey," Gar said as he walked up.

Superboy turned to face him with tears in his eyes. "Hi, Gar," Superboy said, trying to swipe the tears away.

"I didn't know you knew him," Gar said.

Superboy nodded. "Yeah. He was a regular at a rave I used to go to. How did you guys know him?"

"He joined up when we tried reforming the team once," Gar said. "Course, so did CM3. It didn't last real long."

Superboy looked down at the grave again. "I don't get it," he said. "Cruz was a nice guy. Never hurt anybody. And they say that some gas main did this? I just can't believe it. There's got to be more there."

Gar took a deep breath. "I know, but sometimes things like this just happen."

"I can't believe it," Superboy repeated as tears began flowing down his face more freely. "It's not true." Superboy grabbed hold of Gar and cried. Gar just gently patted him on the back.

Jason looked back at Gar and Superboy. "I would've thought that there would be more people here. Didn't he have a family?"

Karen nodded. "Yeah. They were so torn up they couldn't make it out here."

Bette wiped her eyes. "It's just so sad. We're the only ones here. Not even Leonid could make it."

"He wanted to," Karen said. "He was told not to."

"By who?" Bette asked.

Karen took a deep breath. "You know that he took it really hard when Pantha and Baby were killed. And then what happened with Cody just piled more on him. He's been seeing a therapist to help him deal with his grief issues. She told him that she didn't feel that he was ready to see anyone going through this yet." Karen leaned in closer. "He really doesn't want anyone to know about this."

Bette nodded. "No problem." She looked up as Gar and Superboy walked out.

"You guys mind if Kon here tags along for something to eat?" Gar asked.

"Sure," Karen said.

"Thanks, guys," Superboy said, wiping a tear away. "I really just can't stand being alone right now."

"What about Cadmus?" Mal asked. "I heard from Arsenal that you had this cute little blond lab tech down there."

"Cadmus is... really confusing right now," Superboy said as they climbed into the taxi. "I'm not really sure what's going on there now.*"

(* What is Superboy talking about? The aftermath of Superboy #15, of course! Coming soon - I promise! - db)

One Week Later

Bette smiled and leaned back on the sand. Tara was running through the surf, a green squid chasing her.

"It's nice to see things getting back to normal," Sarah Simms said as she spread a beach blanket out on the sand and laid down.
"Or as normal as we ever see," Bette said, laying her new book down.

"What're you reading?" Sarah asked.

"The Many Loves of Tony Rayner," Bette said. "I can't even pronounce this writer's name."

"How is it?" Sarah asked.

'"Pretty bad," she replied. "Still, at least we don't have Nightwing popping up out of nowhere or a giant robot invading Earth and killing people who really aren't dead."

"Could be worse," Sarah said.

"Only if it was Al Gore's autobiography," Bette said, finally giving up on the book and dropping it into the sand.

"Hello, ladies," Jason said as he walked up beside them and plopped down. He gave Sarah a quick kiss and looked over to the surf, where Tara was screaming as she covered her chest. A green dolphin was dancing back through the water, her bikini top in its mouth. "Good Lord. What's going on over there?"

"I don't know and I don't think I want to," Bette replied. "That way I can't be called as a witness in the trial."

"Now I know why you called me to come out here," Jason said. "You needed someone with medical training."

"Hey!" Bette said, peeking out from under her sunglasses. "Where'd Paco go? I haven't seen him for a while."

Paco grinned as he looked at the tall wooden fence. Plainly painted on the fence were the two words he'd searched for ever since he moved to California. NUDE BEACH. Fighting to keep the grin off his face, Paco donned the appropriate attire, walked in, and laid down on a towel, discreetly searching for young ladies.

Leonid Kovar and Sasha walked up to Bette, Sarah, and Jason. "Hello," Leonid said. "I have someone I would like you to meet." After a quick round of introductions, they joined the others in lounging on the sand.

"What is going on over there?" Sasha asked, pointing at the surf. Now a green seal was swimming for its life as Tara, after reclaiming her bikini top, was firing blasts of mud at it.

"Welcome to LA," Sarah said.

"Ah." Sasha said, leaning back.

"He stole my purse!" a woman screamed as she pointed down the street. A scruffy-looking young man ran down the sidewalk, shoving people out of the way. The woman watched in astonishment as the young man fell to his knees. He dropped her purse and started grabbing at his throat.

A beautiful woman with pale blue skin lowered from the air and picked up the purse. "I believe this is yours," she said. She turned back to the young man, breathing, but not getting enough air to resist. She pulled a plastic cuff out of her belt and fastened him to a bench. "Please call the police," she said. "They will deal with him."

"I know you!" the woman said. "I've seen you on TV! You're Breathtaker!"

Breathtaker smiled as the crowd on the street spontaneously started cheering both for her and the Overseers.

Back at the beach, the Titans were simply talking among themselves, ignoring Tara running past as a green dog hung onto her bikini bottom, discreetly showing a little of her rear end.

"Now they're a Coppertone ad," Jason observed.

"Hmph," Bette said. "And Gar said that we'd get arrested when we went to that club.*"

(*Titans West #16 - db)

"Well, as I recall, you did," Jason said.

"No comments from the peanut gallery!" Bette said, taking her squirt bottle and spraying water toward Jason. "We wouldn't have had any trouble if Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn hadn't crashed the party."

Man, this sucks! Paco thought. Where are all the hot chicks at? Under his sunglasses, Paco had continued scanning the crowd without any success.

He glanced over as a surfer came running out of the water and plopped down beside him. "Hey," he said.

"Hey," Paco replied.

"My name's Jay," the surfer said, extending his hand.

"Paco," Paco said as he shook the surfer's hand, starting to get skeeved out.

"First time here?" Jay asked.

"Yeah," Paco said.

"I remember my first time here," Jay said. "Nothing like today."

"Really?" Paco asked. "Lots of chicks around then?"

"Chicks?" Jay asked. "Who wants to talk about chicks?" Jay leaned closer to Paco. "Let's talk about us."

With a sinking feeling, Paco suddenly figured out where he was. It's hard to run on sand, but Paco somehow managed.

As the sun started going down, the Titans met back at the parking lot. "So, did you have a good time?" Bette asked.

"I don't want to talk about it," Paco said, still keeping an eye out for Jay and hoping that he'd never see him again.

"At least you didn't nearly die!" Gar said. "Tara, when you bury somebody in the sand, it's traditional to leave them some way to breathe!"

Tara simply smiled. "Maybe I'll remember that if you remember to leave my clothes alone on a public beach," she replied in a sweet tone of voice.

"It's good to have you guys back," Bette said, giving Gar a quick hug. "Where are you guys off to?"

Gar ran his hand back through his hair. "We've got some hotel rooms up the street. We're just going to stop by the base and grab a few things."

"Okay," Bette said. "Meeting tomorrow?"

"Sure," Gar said. "Be good to get everybody back together again." After their goodbyes, the Titans drove off into the sunset.

Gar pulled his new Viper into the garage at the headquarters and he and Tara climbed out. "I'm going to grab some more clothes," Tara said as they walked past her room. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

"I'm going to go on down and check on some things in the monitor room," Gar said. "I'll see you in a couple of minutes." Tara smiled and entered her room.

Gar walked into the monitor room and sat down in front of the large main computer. As he started checking the computer out, the main screen suddenly lit up.

"Well, well, well," the person on the screen said. "Looks like the Titans are back. Good. I would've hated to waste a perfectly good boom on just a building."

"You?" Gar asked, shocked. "Why?"

"Easy. Because I can. Give my regards to Cruz." The person's face blinked off the screen and was replaced by a red timer counting down from 30.

"TARA!" Gar screamed.

Tara ran in as the counter hit 10. "Gar, what's-"

"No time!" Gar said as he ripped the emergency exit open. "Get in here!" Gar threw Tara into the corridor. She let out a cry as she fell down the stairs. She landed at the bottom with a scream.

5.

4.

3.

Tara looked up with tears in her eyes. "Gar?" she asked. She saw him running into the corridor and fighting to close the door.

In the monitor room, the screen continued its countdown.

2.

1.

"Gar?" Tara asked.

0.

Tara screamed as the world was filled with fire and pain.

To Be Continued...

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