Titans West

“Well, now,” Breathtaker said as she and the Overseers above the Titans West. “It looks as if we arrived just in time.”

Below them, Changeling was looking around frantically. “No!” he yelled. “The Amazo’s using Martian Manhunter’s invisibility! It could be anywhere by now!”

“No worries,” Provoke said. “We’ve got a tracker on it. We can find it anytime we want.”

“And how many people will that thing hurt while you’re trying to find it?” Changeling yelled.

“None,” Breathtaker said with a slight smirk. “We’ll handle it.”

“We had it handled,” Flamebird said.

“Maybe you should concentrate on getting your own house in order first,” Breathtaker said, glaring at Risk. “The Overseers have this well in hand.” With a barely visible movement, Breathtaker raised the other Overseers into the sky and they were gone.

“Dammit!” Gar yelled, punching a nearby piece of scrap metal that obligingly went flying and landed with a loud clatter. “I really hate those guys.”

Flamebird turned to face the direction the Overseers had gone. She had a pair of binoculars from her utility belt pressed to her eyes. “They’re already out of visual range,” she observed.

“Great,” Gar said, shaking his now-sore hand. “Let’s get back to the base and see if we can get CM3 back in action. We’ll need him to take this guy down.”

“What?” Flamebird asked sarcastically. “Don’t you think that the Overseers can take care of this?”

”Don’t start, Bette,” Gar growled. “Let’s get back to HQ.” Silently, the Titans started making their way back to the tunnel that would return them to their headquarters.

“Admit it,” Provoke urged. “You enjoyed that.”

Breathtaker frowned as the Overseers flew through the air. “I just wish they wouldn’t look at us as enemies,” she said. “We’re all on the same side!”

Brainwave used his psionic powers to draw up to her side. “They will always look at us as villains,” he said. “I could sense the distrust and hatred in them.”

“I don’t have your powers, but I felt the same thing,” Breathtaker said. She shook her head and the Overseers flew on in silence.

Dagon walked into the meeting room. “What did I miss?” he asked.

Gar slammed his fist into the table. “Where were you?” he asked. “We could have used your help!”

Dagon smirked. “I’m a vampire,” he replied. “We don’t mix well with sunlight.”

“Calm down,” Terra said, moving to her husband’s side.

“Why don’t we all take a quick break?” Flamebird said. “We’ll meet back here in fifteen minutes.”

Flamebird closed the door behind her as she left, leaving Terra and Gar alone.

“What’s wrong?” Tara asked as she started rubbing Gar’s shoulders. “You’re so tense.”

Gar shrugged. “I just don’t like the Overseers,” he said. “Never have. I don’t trust anybody working that closely with the DEO.”

“I know,” Tara said. She pulled up a chair and sat down beside him. “I’m just worried about how this is affecting you. You really jumped on Bette and Dagon back there.”

Gar stood and began pacing the room. “Sorry, but they’re a sore spot with me. We still don’t know why Bones put that team together, and I’m a bit concerned about that.”

Tara stood. “He put the team together to try and help us protect this area.”

Gar stopped and looked at his wife. “Do you really believe that?”

”Good point,” Tara admitted. “But what can we do about it?”

Gar stopped and leaned on the table. “Nothing. And that’s what I’m worried about.”

Bette Kane walked to her room and laid her goggles down on her nightstand before sitting down on her bed. Paco Ramone tapped on the door and opened it. “Hey,” he said as he sat down beside her and put his arm around her shoulders. “You okay?”

Bette looked up through tear-filled eyes. “What’s wrong?” Paco asked. “Is it Gar? I can fix that.”

“It’s not that,” Bette said. “What is it with us? I mean, other teams never break up, but it seems like we fall apart on a weekly basis.”

Paco pulled her closer. “I don’t know, chica. Sometimes, though, if you want something bad enough, you’ve got to fight for it. That’s how real life always is. I know that back when I was with the League, we were always at each other’s throats, and I seem to recall the Titans falling apart, too.”

”It’s a balancing act,” Paco continued. “We’ve just got to balance our real lives with this. And it’s never easy.” Paco just sat there in silence and held Bette as she cried.

Jason Parker was getting a drink in the lounge area of the base when Dagon entered the room. He noticed Cody Driscoll, who was watching TV across the room, shiver and leave. Parker walked over to Dagon.

“What’s with you and Cody?” he asked. “Is this still about the Overseers?”

Dagon kept staring at where Cody had been sitting. “Yes,” Dagon admitted. “I joined the Overseers because I had been rejected by anyone who knew me. In my history, I had been a hero on a team with Terra and Mirage. When they no longer remembered me, I wanted that camaraderie again. I hoped to find it with the Overseers. I was wrong.” Dagon lowered his eyes. “It is not something I enjoy discussing.”

“I’m sorry,” Jason said. “I didn’t mean to pry.”

Dagon turned. “You felt you needed to know. Perhaps you did.” Without another word, he strode out of the room, leaving a confused Jason behind, sipping his Coke.

Cody Driscoll strode down the hall with purpose. He only hoped that Dagon wasn’t following him. He was so intent on looking behind him that he didn’t even know as he slammed into the kid with the crutch in the hallway.

“Sorry about that,” he mumbled as he helped the kid back to his feet. “How’d you get in here, anyway?”

“I’m on the team,” the kid explained. “I’m CM3.”

“Sure,” Cody said, ruffling the kid’s hair. “I’ve met CM3, and you don’t look anything like him. But keep drinking your milk, and you can grow up like him.” He continued down the hall, leaving the kid staring after him.

Freddy Freeman battled his anger. Wouldn’t these people ever accept him? Finally he made his choice. “Captain Marvel!” he called.

Cody whirled around when he heard the thunder. Standing there in the middle of the hall was CM3. “Do you believe me now?” CM3 asked. Without waiting for a reply, he turned and stormed away. Mal Duncan closed up a speaker panel he’d been tinkering with and hurried down the hall to stow his tools.

Eagle was walking back toward the meeting room; drink in hand, when he bumped into Cody. “You okay?” Eagle asked. “You cleared out of there in a hurry.”

”Fine,” Cody said. “I just don’t like being around him.” He turned and walked away. Jason shook his head and started toward the meeting room.

Gar Logan looked into his wife’s eyes and kissed her before the meeting room’s door opened and Mal Duncan walked in. “Sorry to interrupt,” Mal said, “but I think we need to talk.”

”Go ahead,” Gar said, motioning at a chair.

Mal shook his head. “When was the last time you looked at this team, Gar?” he asked.

“What do you mean?” Gar asked. “I haven’t gotten to be around everybody much since the wedding.”

Mal finally sat down. “That’s the problem. This team’s flying apart again, and it’s up to you to keep it together. You’ve got so many clashing personalities that it’s affecting the team.” He stood before Gar could say anything and began to pace. “CM3 doesn’t like Cody. Cody doesn’t like Dagon. Bette’s stressing out because she feels it’s up to her to hold the team together by herself. Eagle’s trying to help but everybody cuts him off.” Mal stopped and stood before Gar. “I’ve seen this happen before. This is how the old Teen Titans were when they broke up. Dick, Donna, Roy, and Wally were all being pulled different directions and it split the team.”

Mal turned toward the door. “It’s up to you what happens next.” He left.

Gar turned and his eyes met Tara’s as the door opened and the team entered. For the first time he noticed Paco’s protective arm around Bette and her slightly puffy eyes. He noticed how Cody, Dagon, and CM3 wouldn’t even look at each other. He even noticed the slightly tired slump to Eagle’s shoulders. Just that quickly everything he was going to say left his mind.

He looked around the table for a moment as he stood. “Listen,” he said. “Things have been a whirlwind around here ever since Tara and I left on our honeymoon. It seems like we’ve always been just one step away from the team splitting up for good and we’re sliding that way now. I know that we don’t all like or even feel comfortable with each other. Some of us don’t even really know each other.”

Gar took a breath and continued, “That can’t matter right now. We have a killer robot out there on the loose, and we don’t have time to give each other hugs or do team-building exercises. We’ve got to depend on each other or we could all very well wind up dead.”

Gar leaned over the table. “Now here’s what we’re going to do…”

Brainwave murmured gibberish as he fell to the ground. Breathtaker glared, knowing already that Amazo had used Martian Manhunter’s telepathy to scramble his mind. It had been at dusk that they had tracked down the android. Harm rushed toward him as Shock Trauma threw bolts of electricity at the android. Provoke cowered back with her. For once she couldn’t complain about his cowardice. She knew his powers were useless without a living mind to affect.

She watched as Amazo used the Flash’s speed to seize Harm’s sword and swat both him and Shock Trauma aside with the flat of it, taking them both out of the fight.

She swallowed hard and started forward, knowing just how little her own powers would do against the monster android. She stopped when a hand grabbed her arm. Preparing to berate Provoke, she turned and looked into the resolved face of Gar Logan.

“Looks like you guys could use some help,” the Changeling said. Behind him, the entire roster of Titans West stood ready.

Next Issue: Titans West and the Overseers join forces to shut down the renegade Amazo unit!

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