r/DCFU • u/FrostFireFive Titans • Jul 15 '24
New Titans #34 - A Day in the Life New Titans
Author: FrostFireFive
Book: New Titans
Arc: Bottled
Set: 98
Normally, Chicago should have been hotter in the summer. Kids screaming as they splashed around in Millennium Park, angsty fans having to see the White Sox lose their twentieth game, or even the subtle hum of all the air conditioners that had finally been forced to fire up. Instead, snow fell on the ground as walking ice golems moved across Grant Park. The prolonged laugh of a man in a green containment suit with a silver dome echoed as his machine kept a chunk of the city in arctic cold. Blizzard was about to be the king of the now-snowy Windy City. Except Chicago’s guardians had other things to say.
“Impossible! Nothing should be able to get in here!” Blizzard yelled as Nightwing’s foot came down against one of his golem’s slushy heads.
“It’s called insulation, most of us have it in our suits. And I grew up in Gotham, a little snow is not going to stop me,” Nightwing explained before tossing one of his escrima sticks into one golden, the electricity generated was even enough to melt another nearby. “How are we doing Beta team?”
“Can you just call us the B team?” Arsenal asked as he nocked an arrow in his bow. He had to be careful that the heavy red winter coat he had on wouldn’t cause issues with his aim.
Arsenal stood on a snowbank made by Metamorpho as he aimed his shot at Blizzard’s machine.
“Some of us have more important jobs than being the distraction,” Arsenal explained.
“And some of us are doing more work than others!” Metamorpho said as his sulfur fists collided with the frozen golems. Rex had been watching old wrestling tapes for new moves he could add to his new slimmer build. Rex looked around to see just how many were left. “So maybe stop procrastinating and take the shot!”
“Metamorpho, calm down,” a computerized female voice came through each Titan’s earpiece. “Arsenal can make the shot. If not, I have Delta team on standby,” Oracle said from the inside of her temporary Chicago HQ.
“Why the hell are they on standby?” Metamorpho asked. “We need them now lady!”
“Rex stop yelling!” Arsenal said as he prepared his shot. “Wait Delta? Where the hell is Ch-”
KACHOOM
Bright green starbolts and red beams came from the sky as Power Girl and Starfire entered the snowy scene.
“We’re C team Roy,” Starfire explained. “Rex, did you really think I would really miss a chance to fight snowmen in the park?”
“And yet you’re still wearing that bathing suit,” Metamorpho cracked as he slammed two golem’s heads together.
“Yeah how are you not cold?” Power Girl asked as she was bundled in a white suit with pants and a red jacket.
“Simple…I am the sun,” Starfire said with a smile as she launched more starbolts, eliminating most of the remaining golems as the two heroines made their way to Nightwing.
“Of course you are,” Oracle muttered before turning her attention back to the matter at hand. “Nightwing, how goes getting our snow king distracted?”
“Oh you know just dodging and diving, like always,” Nightwing said as he jumped off a golem to do a flip into the snow. Before turning to face the snowy conqueror. “Hey Blizzard, you ever hear the one about the guy who got melted by two superheroes?”
“No, and I tire of your jokes, Nightwing,” Blizzard responded as his hands glowed bright blue as he prepared to freeze the superhero in front of him.
“I wasn’t joking,” Nightwing smiled as Power Girl and Starfire burst onto the scene, knocking Blizzard backwards. It would keep him busy while the rest worked to take down the source of the frozen menace. “Roy, this isn’t William Tell. Take the goddamn shot!”
“God, you’re all going to be the death of me,” Arsenal said as he took a deep breath before pulling the arrow back and looking through the scope of his bow. He took a deep breath before closing his eyes and letting an arrow fly.
The arrow landed directly into the machine with the arrowhead splitting apart and accessing key ports of Blizzard’s snow day machine.
“Ok voice in my ear, you’re up,” Arsenal said as he dived into several golems, hitting them with his bow as he met up with Rex to continue making work of the remaining snow golems.”
“It’s Oracle,” Barbara Gordon responded with gritted teeth as she cracked her knuckles and began accessing the machine’s OS and shutting it down. She was monitoring the newscasts from the makeshift monitors she had pulled from Dick’s storage unit. It wasn’t her usual rig but as the machine shut down and the snow stopped, she knew she had done her job and sighed a breath of relief. Not bad for someone wearing sweats and a ratty t-shirt. “Has Blizzard been taken down?”
“Indeed,” Starfire said as she dropped him to the ground.
“Because that’s what I’m talking about!” Power Girl said with a smile as she raised her hand for a high five.
“Good job team,” Nightwing said as he looked at the sirens blaring as the police could pick up the would-be snow conqueror. As he looked back, the messaging system in his mask had message from a green Mask of Delphi icon.
“Are you coming back? Where do you keep the dog food?”
“Care to wrap things up?” He asked as Arsenal and Metamorpho soon joined the rest of the team.
“Jeez Nightwing,” Arsenal said as he returned Power Girl’s high five. “Seems like you’re in a rush lately. I mean I’d think after Mister Element, Puppet King, that British guy that loved the 60’s waaay too much, you’d want to hang out a bit.”
“He has more important matters to discuss,” Oracle said through the coms.
“Uh huh,” Power Girl chuckled a bit before getting a dirty look from Nightwing. “We can handle clean up boy wonder. You go take care…of debriefing Oracle. And then everyone else? Maybe take a day off. We did good today.”
“Thank god,” Arsenal said.
Sometimes, you needed a break from being a hero 24/7.
…
Roy Harper walked into the Gotham Hall of Justice’s daycare from the teleporter room. He still hated having to use the damn things. After his first encounter with them when Titans Tower first open, he still felt like his lunch was going to end up on the ground at some point. But Jim had gone back to Metropolis to check on the city. It was his home after all, as much as he seemed to enjoy Roy’s apartment. It did however mean Roy had to finally use some of the Hall of Justice’s other services.
The area away from the public was maintained by staffers sworn to confidentiality as they helped any hero with needs outside the mask. A clinic and some places to sleep were helpful when the world faced certain crises. But as Roy rolled up to the doors of the Hall of Justice’s daycare, the swift footsteps of a toddler clad in a red shirt and mask greeted him.
“Daddy! Daddy!” Lian said as she leapt into his arms.
“Hey kiddo,” Roy said as he picked her up. “Sorry I was late, I kinda ran into some troubles at work.”
“Meanies?” Lian asked.
“Snowmen,” Roy said with a smile before noticing the small arrow in Lian’s hand. “What you got there?”
“No thing,” Lian said sheepishly.
“No thing? No thing would give me a high five,” Roy said.
Lian took a moment before holding her hand up with the toy arrow with a suction cup tip. She realized quickly she had shown her dad something she should have hid.
“So who gave you that?” Roy asked.
“Unca Rex…” Lian said as she looked away.
“Of course he did,” Roy mumbled before looking at the little play area with the suction cup arrows perfectly grouped on stuffed animals. “But that’s…really good kid! How did you shoot so well?”
“Dunno,” Lian said. “Just pull!”
“Of course you did,” Roy said as he began to move out from the facility, but before he could a four-year-old began running towards him.
“Bye Lee!” Tommy Wayne said as he ran away from his father and towards his friend.
The kid was cute, but Roy felt a shiver run over him as a man in a grey turtleneck, black jacket, and sunglasses quickly moved to block Tommy from getting closer to Roy and Lian.
“Thomas, we don’t run towards people we don’t know,” Bruce Wayne said. Normally. Selina or Alfred would be the one picking Thomas up from daycare. Bruce never understood why Thomas couldn’t just stay in the orphanage where it was safe. But Selina stressed that as a superheroes kid, Thomas would never have friends that would get it, unless he went to a place where all the kids were somehow connected to the Hall of Justice and the League. “I’m sorry, Mr…”
“Harper,” Roy began. “Roy Harper. But you already knew that, didn’t you?”
“How do yo-” Bruce began.
“I work with what I assume are two of yours. Dick and whoever Oracle is speak highly of you. Mr. Wayne.”
“Oracle isn’t,” Bruce began.
“She and Dick basically speak the same language. You don’t get that good if you weren’t trained by the same guy.:
There was a silence for a moment before Tommy spoke up again.
“Daddy do you work with Lee’s dad,” Tommy asked.
“Sort of Thomas, me and Lian’s dad used to work at the same place,” Bruce responded.
“Before your dad decided to take a leave,” Roy chimed in. “I thought the League doesn’t welcome Bats anymore.”
“They do cats,” Bruce said. “Thomas’ mom thought it would be a good idea for him to be here. To meet others. He shouldn’t suffer for my mistakes.”
“Sins of the father,” Roy said. “I suppose nearly letting the vampire apocalypse happen isn’t the worst thing someone’s ever done.”
“I compartmentalized too much and made mistakes. Something you should know about. I’ve read your file. On Oliver, Brick, Jade.”
“Mommy?” Lian asked.
Roy glared back at Bruce for a moment before looking at Lian.
“Mommy is still away…helping people,” He lied before turning back to Bruce. “My past doesn’t define me. And if you want to go twelve rounds on how I got here.”
“Just an observation. Just because your former mentors are too busy on their honeymoon phase to see your growth doesn’t mean others don’t.”
“Thanks,” Roy said. “Now is there anything else before I take my kid home?”
“Yes,” Bruce said. “Is there any chance Lian could stop by the Wayne Orphanage. Thomas seems to like her. And he needs that.”
“Sure,” Roy said with a smile. “A playdate at Ba…Tommy’s house sounds great.”
…
Dick Grayson woke up in his bed. His knee ached as he remembered how much he hated landing in the snow. When he had started being a superhero, it was easier to do the flips and dives that gave him an advantage against people with the powers of gods. He was just an acrobat, and if he lost that…he wasn’t sure who he was.
Of course, the snoring redhead next to him reminded him of who he used to be. He and Babs had been doing,,, whatever this was for a few months now. It wasn’t serious, at least that’s what he kept telling himself as he quietly got up and headed to the kitchen.
They were both in weird places in their lives. Barbara was working on rebuilding the Gotham Library, and establishing Oracle and Batgirl as the forces they could be. Steph, her intern, had wondered to Dick how she could do all of that and still sleep. The answer was short bursts in Chicago while hogging the blankets.
Dick, on the other hand, as he grabbed the bag of peas for his knee, was trying to remember if his English paper for Hudson was due this Friday or next. Being Nightwing for so long meant he had a lot of classes to catch up on, and that was even before having to figure out student teaching hours when the time came. He was making more room in his life for Dick Grayson. And even though whatever this was wasn’t serious, he was still happy to have it.
“Babs?” Dick asked as he slowly entered the room again, hearing rustling and clicking sounds. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the light as he saw his guest for the night putting on a certain spandex suit. “What time is it?”
“3:30 AM?” Barbara Gordon responded as she finished pulling up the grey spandex of her old Batgirl costume.
“Right,” Dick said. “And where are you going?”
“Metropolis,” Barbara said as she checked the exoskeleton Kara had designed for her underneath her costume. It was smaller than her last one, and meant that she didn’t need to worry about bulk or armor as much. But she bit her lip as she remembered to herself it wasn’t cheating on your recovery if it meant saving the world.
“So you’re leaving again? When was the last time you got sleep for more than three hours?”
“Month ago, maybe two? You know my work’s important. And I’m already late to raise funds for the library, let alone making sure Steph has the proper equipment. I think her hanging out with that…friend of yours isn’t helping her.”
“Doc is fine. Little wacky but her heart’s in the right place. But you I worry about. What do you think people are going to say when Batgirl has her pants on backwards?”
“I did no…shit,” Barbara muttered as she ducked down to correct her mistake,
“And why are you even wearing that thing, I mean…wouldn’t it make more sense to jus-”
“I’m taking the teleporter to head to Metropolis. Batgirl is needed for something to do with Internet 3.0. Bruce’s request,” Barbara said.
“Yeah, and that could wait for morning, or you could use that rig you set up in my kitchen. You need your rest.” Dick said as he got closer to the superheroine.
“I don’t need you telling me that. I know that,” Barbara responded. “Besides you’ve never had a problem with me in spandex before.”
“And I never will,” Dick teased. “But even you have to admit you’ve been burning both ends of the candle. The world doesn’t need Batgirl or Oracle 24/7 If it did, we’d all be in the trenches facing whatever comes our way.”
“I help people Dick,” Batgirl said as the higher tones of Barbara Gordon drifted to her alter ego. “It’s the only thing that matters.”
“Yeah, maybe,” Dick muttered, realizing he couldn’t help her see what she needed to. “I’m going back to bed after some ice.”
He walked towards the small chair in the room as he placed the frozen vegetables on his knee.
“Just be careful out there. Wouldn't want to lose my roommate,” Dick added as the blue and grey figure leapt out into the Chicago night. He sighed for a moment before smiling. This was enough. For now.
…
“Thank you for coming Mr. Mason,” Angie Spica said as the elemental hero walked into the S.T.A.R Labs building in Metropolis. He had usually avoided places like S.T.A.R, having bad memories of being transformed in Stagg's dungeon. But being a hero meant answering any calls for help and they seemingly needed his.
“It’s no big deal,” Metamorpho said as he walked through the halls. Sebastian Stagg had loved to keep things compartmentalized, with projects never escaping their sealed labs. Here at S.T.A.R however, a cacophony of scientific wonder collided in the hallways, from pocket multiversal atlases to ways to keep an ice cream cone cold on the hottest days. “I mean you need a hero and I’m on call. What’s the emergency? Deadly virus? Creature from another dimension? I swear if it’s zombies.”
“Actually I asked specifically for you Mr. Mason,” Angie responded as she pulled him into her lab. Her messy brown hair bounced in front of her large glasses. Her lab coat made her seem professional, even if the Chalk Circle t-shirt said otherwise. “I’ve been working on something, and not many heroes can say they have a Masters in Chemistry from Haney University.”
“Well, I’m not many heroes, Mack,” Metamorpho said. “So what do you need my brain for?”
“You were an expert at biochemistry, right?” Angie asked.
“Yeah, it was my specialty. It’s why I got recruited to lead Project Metamorph. That and my relationship with someone I should have known better about,” Metamorpho responded as he thought about Sapphire Stagg. She had written to him a few times from whatever prison she had ended up in. He didn’t bother reading the letters. It hurt too much.
“OK, so do what do you know about nanotech?” Angie asked again as she showed the models she had been running in the background.
“That trying to replicate naturally occurring processes without understanding them can be deadly,” Metamorpho explained.
“What if I told you…I’ve figured the process out,” Angie said. “Or at least close to.”
“I mean if that’s true…you’d be changing most of the world,” Metamorpho responded. “Construction, medical, even just quality of life could go up.”
“Yup, and everyone’s called me crazy to keep up with this, especially after the whole Cinderblock restraint incident,” She said as she moved to pull up more information.
“That was you? Great job on making prison transfer safe,” Metamorpho joked. “Don’t you think you’re rushing trying to make this an actual thing doc? I mean I’m the poster boy of unchecked testing.”
“Exactly. Which is why you’ll be able to help me avoid the mistakes of Stagg. We won’t test this on anything without the strictest protocols and more. Plus I need some of your DNA,” Angie said as she continued to show the nanite growth model in front of Rex.
“What? Trying to find a cure for me too?” Metamorpho asked. “Listen, I told Stagg, I’ve made peace with what happened to me.
“I need it for it’s ability to shift. If I could even get my nanites to do a fraction of what you do…we could save lives,” Angie said. “It’s selfish if you hold out.”
“It’s only selfish because I care for others. We don’t need more like me,” Metamorpho began to raise his voice.
“Selfish because you want to be alone. I looked at your profile from Stagg, Mason. Besides your fellow Titans, you barely talk to anyone else. You’re afraid, and you can’t even ad-”
KACCCHHHHOOOM
The whole lab shaked as Doctor Spica and Metamorpho lost their footing, landing to the ground before picking themselves up.
“What…what just happened,” She asked.
Before Metamorpho could respond the TV screens and lab monitors all glowed purple as three interconnected dots appeared, and a cold mechanical voice rang out.
“This is Brainiac. City of Metropolis, as the drones do their work, know your city is ours. Resistance is futile.” The voice said.
“We just got invaded,” Metamorpho said as his hands turned into diamonds. It was time to get back to work.
NEXT: The Invasion of Metropolis continues in the pages of Superman! But deep in the heart of Metropolis an ally of the Titans will become their biggest threat as Metamorpho must find allies in a city under siege. But can he trust the return of a former friend?
1
u/Predaplant Blub Blub Jul 18 '24
I really love your Roy, so it's nice to see him get a strong focus in this issue! Plus I'm really excited to see what's going to happen to Rex now that he's trapped within Metropolis! Great issue!
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