Arsenal

Sharon Tracy's bag hit the floor as she opened the door to Donna Troy's apartment. "My landlord's going to kill me," she said as she gaped at the damage.

"Sharon!" Donna called. She threw a diaper bag at Sharon. "Thank Rhea you're here!" She handed Robert to Sharon and put Julienne in her other arm. Lian grabbed hold of Sharon's coattail.

"My apartment," Sharon said. She still stood there until Donna pulled her out of the way so the paramedics could get through with the stretcher. "What happened to my apartment?"

Donna clapped her hands on both Sharon's shoulders. "Sharon, I need you to snap out of this. I'm riding to the hospital in the ambulance with Miri. I need you to follow us to the hospital with the kids."

"Okay," Sharon said as she robotically started back down the hall, kids in tow. Donna was right alongside as the paramedics and Mirage started toward the elevator.

Not long after the door was locked, a strange mist floated in through the shattered window. It coalesced into a man who had, until recently, been a member of one of the West Coast's premier super-teams, the Overseers.

"Miri?" Dagon asked as he walked through the devastated apartment. His nostrils flared as he detected a familiar scent. He could smell her blood from where it had spattered across the carpet. He quickly searched the apartment to discover that it was empty. He knelt down and dabbed his fingertips in one of the bloodstains. He licked the blood from his fingers. "Still fresh," he judged. He glanced to the side and picked up a plastic syringe wrapper one of the paramedics had dropped with the Cedars Sinai logo on the side. A moment later he was gone.

Arsenal scowled as he studied the skyline. "Great," he muttered. "Got a kook running around town and no Nightwing anywhere." He smirked. "Let's see if I can remember what Ollie taught me about tracking." He finally caught a glimpse of something promising and took off after it.

Deathwing grunted as he slumped down in an alleyway. Blood flowed from his wounds that Mirage had inflicted, but he ignored it. "Mirage," he whispered with a mad grin on his face. "I know where you are," he sang in a childish voice. He started running toward Cedars Sinai.

Donna Troy's eyelids flew open when there was a knock on the door. She glanced over into the bed to see that Mirage was still sleeping and walked to the door. Karen Beecher was on the other side. "Thanks for coming," Donna said as she gave Karen a quick hug.

"No problem," Karen said as she walked into the hospital room. She flipped open Mirage's chart and scanned the doctor's notes. She let out a low, quiet whistle and replaced the chart. "She was lucky."

"Yes," Donna agreed. "I don't want to think about what could have happened if Roy and I hadn't gotten back when we did."

"Well, the good news is that this shouldn't be life-threatening," Karen observed. "Getting her here was the best thing you could do. They got her stabilized so quickly I doubt she'll have any aftereffects. Still, I can take her to STAR and have her checked out after she's discharged if you think it's necessary."

"That's okay," Donna said as she slumped into the uncomfortable chair that sat in the corner of the room. "I just wanted to have her looked at by one of the family."

"It's no biggie," Karen said. "I needed to get out of there anyway. Mal's restaurant is catering the reception for Gar and Tara's wedding. He was driving me nuts!" Karen smiled. "One of the family. Do you remember how this member of the family joined?"

"Of course," Donna said. "You became the Bumblebee to make Mal jealous."

"Pretty much," Karen said, laughing. She sobered as she looked at Mirage. "You know, whatever happened to the old days when we could be that stupid? I mean, you guys fought a guy named Ding-Dong Daddy! I can't tell you how obscene that sounds!"

Donna smiled. "In all fairness, I've heard that the Teen Titans have their share of… interesting adventures. But I know what you mean. Garth told me that he and Charley Parker were talking about it before that Wildebeest killed Charley and nearly took out Garth as well."

Karen turned to look out the window. "Do you ever wonder if it's still worth it?"

Donna nodded. "Of course I do. I wonder if what I'm doing is fair to Robert, or if I'm just making him a target. Roy and I have talked - he feels the same about Lian. That's one of the reasons I walked away from teams after my last group of Titans folded."

Karen spoke without turning around. "Did you ever think about changing the game?"

"What do you mean?" Donna asked.

"I'm thinking about leaving the team," Karen said. "I'm not sure yet. It's just that I've been playing Bumblebee for so long and then I look around. Did you hear what happened to Risk?"

Donna nodded.

"It just seems so crazy anymore," Karen continued. "It's not that I want to stop helping people through STAR, it's just that I want to be able to be remembered for more than flying around in a giant bumblebee costume."

Donna's head swung around as the door opened and slammed shut. Deathwing stood there, the doctor's coat he'd used as a disguise fluttering to the floor. "Time's up, girlies," he said with a sneer.

"Get out of here!" Karen yelled as she pulled her sleeve up. Strapped to her wrist was her stinger launcher. She opened fire on Deathwing. Deathwing simply laughed as he grabbed an IV stand and swung it. The stand slammed into Karen's head and she fell to the ground.

Deathwing whirled around toward Donna Troy. "You," he said with a sneer. "I've beaten you before."

Donna smirked. "You got lucky," she said. "Anytime you're ready."

"No!" a scream came as the window exploded inward and a maroon shape landed on the ground. Dagon stood as shards of glass slid down his armor. He pointed a finger at Deathwing. "Get away from Mirage." He turned to Donna. "Get her help."

Donna slowly pulled Karen to safety and away from the fight. She never took her eyes off the other two who were facing off as she gently picked up Mirage as well and carried the two women out.

Deathwing grinned. "I remember you."

Dagon nodded slowly. "And I remember you. You were our leader."

Deathwing laughed. "Maybe I was. Maybe not. After Raven revealed the truth to me, my past didn't matter!"

Dagon fought back an urge to rip Deathwing's throat out then and there and be through with it. "All she did was drive you insane."

"She showed me who I am," Deathwing said. "She showed me that I am a god of life and death!" With a scream, Deathwing leaped forward. His knife slid into Dagon's arm with a sickening thunk. His eyes went wide as Dagon threw him away like a toy. Deathwing flew across the room and thudded into the wall. He landed on the floor with a snap as one of his legs broke. Dagon slowly pulled the knife out of his arm. As Deathwing watched, the wound slowly closed and the blood that had been leaking from the cut disappeared.

"Now it's my turn," Dagon said. He smiled widely, exposing his fangs. All Deathwing could do was scream as Dagon advanced on him…

Arsenal stood in the hall as Donna filled him in. He frowned. "I'm going in there," he said. Roy ran to the room and kicked the door open with his bow at the ready.

Dagon looked up, blood smeared around his mouth. "Don't worry," he said as he stood. Deathwing moaned beneath him. "Just took enough to weaken him, not kill him." He wiped the blood off his mouth with the back of his hand.

Roy nodded as he pulled a rope from his belt and tied Deathwing's hands together. "So it's over." Roy looked over, noting Dagon's reaction to approaching police sirens. "I'll take care of things here. Meet me at Donna's apartment in half an hour. Do you know where that is?"

"The apartment where Mirage was attacked? Yes."

"I'll meet you there." Dagon almost smiled as his body became mist and blew out the window. Roy turned to greet the police as the door opened again.

Dagon started as the door opened. "It's just me," Roy said as he walked in and turned the light on. He walked over and sat down on the overturned couch. "So what's going on?"

Dagon paced back and forth. "I just don't want any run-ins with the police."

"So I saw," Roy said. "Why?"

Dagon turned and explained to him about an alternate future only he remembered. A world that was ruled by a madman named Lord Chaos that was the son of Donna Troy and Terry Long, and about an army of ‘Teen Titans’ that existed only to bring him down. He told of how he had been part of one team, along with Mirage, Terra and Deathwing (who had gone by the name of Nightwing then).

Roy rubbed his chin. "Wow."

"I tried to contact Miri and Tara, but they didn't remember me," Dagon said. He looked up, tears welling in his eyes. "Do you know what it's like to have your entire life erased at a whim?"

"I'll be honest, I don't," Roy said. "Donna does. She's had a few run-ins with a gal named Dark Angel who's done that to her."

Dagon looked down and studied the carpet. "I've tried to fit in. I've tried to do good."

"And you succeeded tonight against Deathwing," Roy said. "If he could have, he would have killed Mirage and Karen, and he could have done a lot more damage."

"But what can I do?" Dagon asked. "This world is so different from when I left it years ago."

"You know, I'm good friends with Gar Logan. Maybe I could get you in with Titans West."

Dagon hung his head. "I doubt it. I was with the Overseers and we battled the Titans West several times."

Roy smiled. "Hey. Don't worry about it. Gar's pretty forgiving. Anyway, you were confused and misled. No biggie. It's happened to all of us."

Dagon turned his head toward the window. "That sounds so good," he admitted. "But I need time to prepare myself."

Roy smiled. "Listen. Gar's marrying Tara in a few weeks. I got the invite last week. It says that I can bring a guest. Normally I'd bring Donna, but she was invited, too. Lian's the flower girl, so I've got an opening." Roy clapped a hand on Dagon's shoulder. "You can be my guest and we can talk to Gar for a few minutes after the ceremony. They're going to be underpowered while Tara and Gar are on their honeymoon, anyway."

"You would do that for me?" Dagon asked.

"Yeah," Roy said. "I'd like to think that I'm a pretty good judge of people and I think you'd fit in well."

"Thank you," Dagon said. He accepted a piece of paper with the address and time of the wedding on it. "I will see you then," he said as his body turned into mist and disappeared.

Roy headed into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. "Nothing stronger than bottled water?" he asked. He closed the door and leaned against the refrigerator for a moment. "Alternate timelines make my head hurt." Finally he just changed to civilian clothes and headed back to the hospital to keep watch over Mirage and try to explain all of this to Donna.

Next Issue: Arsenal is chosen to be the guest of honor at an archery competition! Unfortunately, Merlyn's protégé Turk decides to crash the party…

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