"Strange Bedfellows"
Gar Logan breathed deeply as he was wheeled out of the hospital. "You know, I can walk," he said. The nurse pushing him, whose name just happened to be Ratchet, sighed. "I wish I had a nickel for every time I've heard somebody say that," she said. "Regs say you're supposed to get pushed out, so you're getting pushed out." Behind the nurse, Tara Markov fought back the urge to giggle. "Why do they say that?" Gar asked. "So's you don't fall and hurt yourself." "Fine," Gar said. He leaned forward and changed into a cat in midair. "Come on, Tara. Let's get out of here." Tara smiled and waved at the nurse as the two walked down the hall. Nurse Ratchet went white and finally fell back onto her rear end. Jason Parker smiled as he walked across the UCLA campus. He'd just finished an exam, and had a good feeling about it. His smile faded as he saw who was standing in front of him, smirking. "Well, well, well," Cody Driscoll said. "How's it going, Parker?" "What do you want?" Jason asked, his good mood evaporating. "Not much," Cody said as he fell into step beside Jason. "Just thought I'd see Mr. Also-Ran." "What are you talking about?" "Simple," Cody smirked. "You guys have been having a pretty easy time of it recently, haven't you?" Jason shrugged. "I haven't noticed much difference," he said. "Oh, I forgot," Cody said. "You guys take down the major bad guys like the Injustice League, but you're nowhere to be found when there's a purse getting snatched or something like that." "It's really ironic that you're the one saying this," Jason said. "After all, you're the one who left the team because you were jealous of Paco." "I'm not jealous of him," Cody said. "And if you weren't an idiot you'd be able to see that." "Maybe I'm an idiot, but I'm not the one working for Bones these days. Did you forget how he chased us around the country?*" (*In On the Run - On site now! - db) "You don't know what you're talking about." "Is that right?" Jason asked. "Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot. You left because we always kept blaming you for everything." Cody grabbed Jason's collar and spun him around a tree. Jason's books fell to the ground. "Listen very closely," Cody whispered. "You need to learn when to shut up. If I wanted to, I could turn your head into a red gooey lump. Remember that next time you want to try to mess with my head." Cody threw Jason to the ground and walked off, leaving Jason staring after him. Phobia looked up as a glowing sphere appeared in her cell. Her eyes widened as she saw who was emerging. "Warp?" she asked. "Oui," Warp replied. "Quickly! We must go before we are detected!" Phobia smiled and jumped into the warp. The prison's alarms didn't sound until she had been gone for a half hour. At STAR Labs, Karen Beecher's secretary Patti was collecting the mail. She walked into the Karen's office, pleased that Karen wasn't there. "She's just been so testy lately," Patti said to herself as she laid the mail in Karen's inbox. Patti looked at the last item in her mail crate. She pulled the package out and smiled as she saw that it was marked Fragile. "So, let's see," Patti said as she set the package on the floor. "Everything's going wrong around here and it must be Patti's fault! It can't be because I just took off for a month! I am such a witch! Take this, Karen Beecher!" Patti pulled her leg back and delivered a swift kick to the package. The resulting explosion blew a three-story hole in the building's glass facade. Several floors below, technicians scattered as golden gloves ripped the wall open. Wildebeests flooded into a lab and started searching. One of them managed to trip another alarm before falling to a bolt from a Wildebeest. "For crying out loud," Karen said as her beeper started going off. "What's wrong?" Mal asked. "Something's come up at STAR. I'll call and be right back. I don't know what Patti's done now, but -" Mal held up a finger against her lips. "You know, maybe you're too hard on Patti." Karen frowned. "Not likely. I want her to leave so I can get somebody in there who's actually halfway qualified." "Are you sure you're not holding a grudge because she turned you in to the DEO?" "You know I don't hold grudges," Karen said. "Now go enjoy the party. I'll be right back." Mal smiled and returned to the party. At the center of the room, the guest of honor, Gar, was enjoying his “Welcome Home” bash. “This is Dr. Beecher,” Karen said into her cell phone. “What?” She closed her eyes. “I understand. I’m on my way. Clear the building out. I’ll take charge when I get there.” Karen walked into the meeting room and gave Mal a peck on the cheek. “Gotta go,” she said. “There’s been an explosion at the lab.” ”Is everybody okay?” Mal asked. “Don’t know. I’ve got to get over there. Give Gar my best.” Karen hurried out. “Hey!” A Wildebeest’s head jerked up as it heard a strange voice. It turned and saw a smirking Risk standing there. “What’re you doing, Ugly?” The Wildebeest started to growl, then shuddered and fell into two separate sides as the other Overseers engaged the Wildebeests in battle. Behind it, a smirking Harm was lowering his sword. “I thought you said that these things would be tough,” he said. “Don’t count them out yet,” Joshua said, as a Wildebeest advanced on him through a hellpocket. “My powers aren’t even slowing this thing down!” “Tell me about it,” Provoke said, dodging a ray beam. “My power’s not much good if there’s no human mind to influence!” Suddenly his pursuer was pulled upward and thrown through a window. “Stop whining,” Breathtaker said. “Didn’t you get a gun? Oh, that’s right. You didn’t. Director Bones was worried you’d shoot one of us by mistake.” “Less talk,” Dagon said as he tore one of the robots apart. “What’re these things doing?” Risk asked as he punched at a robot. “They’re starting to hum.” “Simple,” Harm said. “We’re winning.” A moment later, the robots emitted a high-pitched squeal. The Overseers fell to the ground, writhing in agony from the sonic attack. “So the Overseers are inside?” Gar asked. Flamebird, Vibe, and Terra had deployed to STAR, but Karen had forced him to stay at the base with Mal. The speaker on the console crackled. “Yeah,” Flamebird replied. “Nobody’s seen them leave, and you know that they wouldn’t just sneak off.” ”Yeah,” Mal said. “They have become regular camera hogs here lately.” “I agree,” Gar said. “Careful in there, though. I’ve got a funny feeling about this.” ”No prob,” Flamebird said before she broke the connection. “I don’t like this,” Gar grumbled. “I should be there with them.” ”Hey, now, take it easy,” Mal said. “You just got out of the hospital. And so did I.” ”So what?” Gar asked. “I feel fine! I’m ready to go!” ”So Karen would put me right back in if I let you go.” Despite himself, Gar started laughing at the serious look on Mal’s face. Mal finally gave up trying to keep a straight face and joined in. Flamebird, Terra, Vibe, and Red Star quietly moved down the corridor. “What’s that noise?” Terra asked. Flamebird shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said. “Anybody else got any ideas?” ”Sounds kinda like one of Eagle’s toys,” Vibe observed. “Yeah,” Terra said. “I can hear it.” ”Great,” Flamebird said as a smile spread across her face. “Paco, I’ve got an idea.” Risk struggled against the sonic barrage and finally succeeded in getting to his knees. He felt something warm and wet under his hand and looked over. It appeared that Provoke was not very good at handling vertigo. He swore under his breath and looked up. Vibe walked in, his hands held in front of him. Behind him, the Titans advanced normally. “Of course,” Risk whispered to himself. “He’s setting up a counter-field.” Vibe carefully continued walking until he’d positioned himself between the Beests and the Overseers. “You’ve looked better,” Flamebird said as she grabbed Risk by the arm and pulled him to his feet. “So have you, bathtub babe,” Risk said as he wiped the vomit from his hand onto Provoke’s jacket. “Got any ideas?” Flamebird said. “We can’t get too close or they’ll take out Paco, and then we’re all on the ground heaving our guts out.” Breathtaker smiled as she walked forward, carefully dodging Provoke’s mess. “I believe I have an idea. That is, if your Terra is as good as I’ve heard.” Dagon scowled as he saw the earthen armor that Terra had created around him. “And why am I wearing this?” he asked. “Because you don’t need to breathe,” Breathtaker said. “Why can’t we just have her make an earth wall?” a disgusting-looking Provoke asked. “Because then Vibe wouldn’t be able to give us this cover,” Risk snarled. “Let’s do it!” Dagon started forward. The Wildebeest’s sonic assault was dampened by his earthen armor, which deadened the sound. Finally he reached the center of the Beests. He slowly raised an arm to display one of Flamebird’s light gizmos, then closed his eyes. Joshua closed his eyes and concentrated. A hellpocket appeared around Dagon. He waited as the fire baked the mud solid. When it was sufficiently hard, the pocket vanished. Terra quickly created an earth shield. Overseers and Titans alike dove behind it. Breathtaker smiled as she took control of the air. From behind the shield, she forced more and more air inside Dagon’s armor. Finally the air pressure was too much and the armor exploded. The sonic attack stopped as quickly as someone flipping a switch. “Now let’s take care of this!” Risk yelled, running forward and attacking the first Wildebeest he saw. “Just like old times,” Flamebird muttered, firing a line that wrapped around a Wildebeest’s head. The Beest started pouring smoke when she electrified the weapon. “You’re telling me!” Vibe called back as he shook a Beest to bits with his sonic powers. Beside him, Dagon tore another to pieces. Harm’s sword was flashing as he dismembered the robots. A few minutes later it was over. Flamebird stepped up to Risk. “So, what now?” Risk smiled. “Easy. You three leave and we get to talk to the cameras. Now get out of our way.” Risk led the team out of the room. The Titans could still hear Risk yelling at Provoke to clean himself up. In Titans’ HQ, Gar leaned back as he received word that everyone was okay. In the back of his mind, he wondered what was next. Next Issue: It’s the one you’ve been waiting for! The third TW Annual! This one’s called Answers and Questions, and at long last, the bomber’s identity is revealed! And it’s not who you think… Previous Issue | Next Issue |
