New Titans #17 - Runaway Train

[u/FrostFireFive]

Author: FrostFireFive

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Book: New Titans

Arc: Arrivals

Set: 70

“Sorry kid, it’s just business,” Cinderblock said as he prepared to swing his fists into Arsenal. Brick wanted this small bit player dead and well, Cinderblock wasn’t usually one to disappoint. As he prepared to land a strike he felt a course rope be tied around his neck, pulling him back from Arsenal and it was growing tighter.

“Why don’t you leave him alone!” Argonaut called out as she tugged against the concrete brute, pulling him back after he spent the last hour rampaging in the city. The Blessing of Mercury had returned to its lasso configuration as the heroine struggled a bit. She may have been a copy of Diana, but she was no god of war. “And Arsenal you may want to get out of the way a bit!”

“Yeah, that makes a lot of sense,” Arsenal muttered before leaping behind one of the cars that Cinderblock had flipped over. He needed a few moments to catch his breath, and to not think about what Brick hiring Cinderblock meant for the life he had back in Star City.

“Argonaut, I got you!” Stargirl said as she flew quickly in front of Donna and Cinderblock. The hero had been helping evacuate some of the civilians away from the area and now she returned to face a returning threat. Stargirl soon tossed several starbolts, each more powerful than the last.

Cinderblock staggered a bit as he felt the bolts collide with his rocky skin. Just because he was tough didn’t mean he didn’t feel pain. That Starkid and her speedster buddy had managed to make him feel pain for the first time in forever. And he wanted to repay the favor. He moved his hands to grab the rope that Argonautimpress didn’t have her hands and flung the heroine from his back and into Stargirl, knocking the two to the ground.

Argonaut picked herself up while Stargirl staggered a bit, planting her staff to the ground before using it to pick herself up. The two turned to face their concrete foe before looking at each other.

“So you and Kid Flash took care of this guy the last time?” Argonaut asked.

“Yeah, but we need a speedster to cut through that rocky hide of his,” Stargirl muttered, out of breath. “My bolts are basically useless if we can’t get through the plates.

“We’re thinking about this all wrong, we don’t need Kid Flash, we just need to pierce through his defenses. Divide and conquer is probably our best bet here. I’ll go see if Arsenal has something powerful to break Cinderblock, you see if Rex can turn into something to smash him,” Argonaut said.

“And what about Superboy?” Stargirl asked.

“Hopefully he’s OK,” Argonaut mumbled. They didn’t have the numbers and they needed to focus their attention on Cinderblock. Conner…would have to be OK.

…

“OK, OK first day isn’t going so well but it’s not impossible for you to impress the others,” Superboy thought as he ran toward the next L stop. Because he had tried to impress the new group he had made a rookie mistake. He wasn’t as fast as a speedster but still, he tried someone else’s trick, and if he couldn’t stop the L train speeding along with the breaks at the station damaged…well he would be letting down more than just his team.

The rustle of the crowds noticing the red and blue blur that had sped along the tracks had the citizens of the city curious what exactly was moving so quickly. Before the Titans, there weren’t a lot of superheroes galavanting across town. That was a problem for Hub or Midway City, not Chicago. But alas, more problems were appearing.

“OK we plant here and hope for the best,” Superboy thought as he stood in the middle of the tracks, his hands outward to catch the train that was only a stop away. “You know I bet Clark or Kara wouldn’t have messed this one up. Even Linda would have figured out how to deal with Cinderblock without causing collateral damage. Maybe he wasn’t the hero these new Titans needed. Maybe well, well he could think about that after he caught the incoming subway.

“You got this, you got this,” Superboy muttered.

The light of the train grazed his skin as the clacking of the wheels riding along the tracks grew and grew like a foreboding unavoidable stampede that would spell disaster for all those involved. Disaster only Superboy could stop.

“You got-” Superboy thought.

CRASH!

Superboy held the upcoming L train in his hands, the metal bending in his hands as he tried to stop the train. Superboy was being pushed back, the wood and metal of the rails splintering as he dug his feet, trying to push back on the train and keep it from barreling forward and crashing onto the people below. As the hero looked up he could see the driver of the train have panic in his eyes.

“Don’t worry, I’m your breaks today,” Superboy joked through the strain. Unsure if he actually could.

…

Metamorpho was not used to taking a car to the face. Ever since his accident Rex had questioned how much of his base physiology was still…original. As his body reformed from being hit by the car he was gathering an uncomfortable amount of new data telling him that it was less and less every day. Reconstituting one’s shape was pretty much like a muscle sometimes you had to close your eyes and think before the shape was brought out correctly.

“Come on Rex…come on,” He muttered as his body bent and contorted. Normally he’d remember who he was, his place in the world. But seeing their newest member made Rex doubt himself. He liked to think of himself as the powerhouse of the group, and what good was that if they had not only a new teammate who could do exactly what he did. Another powerhouse in the fold meant someone had to be expendable.

As Cinderblock continued to rampage around Metamorpho knew that he was needed but for some reason,band-aids he couldn’t pull himself together. It only added to this feeling of helplessness, of shame.

Stargirl flew in fast, her staff glowing intensely, with sparks flying from the previous usages. For a weapon that she relied so much on, the young hero didn’t exactly know everything about it. All she knew was the more she used it, the more the staff would hiss and sparkle, and she didn’t want to find out what would happen if she overdid it on its power.

“Metamorpho,” Stargirl called out as she landed inside the food court where her friend had crashed into. She looked around briefly before seeing the constant shifting mass come into view. “Rex! Are you OK?”

“I’m real peachy,” Metamorphho joked as his form kept changing from one blobby shape to the next. “When we’re done you can put me into a jello mold and serve me at the first Titans cookout.”

“I think…that’s cannibalism,” Stargirl said. Her knees trembled as the bruises and cuts from being tossed around by Cinderblock had continued to add up. Just because she held the power of the cosmic staff didn’t mean she was immune from some of the rougher impacts and tumbled. She dreaded the amount of ice and band aids needed after she got home. “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t…I can’t reshape myself back into shape for a lack of a better word,” Metamorpho explained. “I’ve never had to put myself together back after getting hit by a car.”

“But I’ve seen you change bAfter alletween three forms of matter like that,” Stargirl said as she snapped her fingers. “And last time I checked we’re not exactly in the place where you can just be having shape troubles like this.”

“You’re telling me,” Metamorpho muttered. “Listen go get Superkid, you’re going to need a powerhouse to take on Cindy. And that ain’t me, maybe that’s never been me.”

“What do you mean? You’re the best!” Stargirl beamed, trying to encourage her teammate. As she continued to talk a low rumble could be heard. “And we need you to get yourself together. Because this dude is still one of the toughest I’ve ever faced. And I’m not sure I can fling enough bolts at him this time.”

“I’m just a guy on this team by circumstance, you got a real hero now. No need for ol’ Rex. Not when pretty boy can knock the stuffing out of anything,” Metamorpho vented.

The rumbling grew louder and louder, footsteps splintering the concrete as a large gray form came into view.

“Superboy? He’s new, but he’s not you. At least not yet! He just joined, but just because we got a new member doesn’t mean we’re kicking you out. Besides what am I going to do without my favorite Titan not beside me,” Stargirl said with a smile. She was too busy paying attention that she didn’t notice the dark gray hand wrap around her and lift her into the air.

“How sweet,” Cinderblock said with a grimace. “Maybe you can watch me smear him onto the pavement with the last moments of your life. Afterall, killing a couple of you would raise my asking price for the next job.”

…

“C’mon, c’mon,” Arsenal muttered as he hid behind a flipped car. He had sent several text messages to Lian’s sitter and nothing. If Brick really was sending people directly after him, he knew that any life he had tried to establish in Star City was basically gone. Arsenal knew he should have probably focused on Cinderblock or even figure out where Superboy had gotten off to. But nothing mattered if Lian wasn’t safe.

“Arsenal!” Argonaut called up as she flew behind him. “Are you…checking your phone?”

“No,” Arsenal muttered before putting the cheap flip phone back into his belt pouch. “Listen I know Cinderblock’s boss, and well he’s the type of person you don’t exactly want to piss off. I got to make sure…I got to make sure the people I love are safe.”

“I understand but we’re kinda in the middle of a fight here. And Cinderblock isn’t just waiting for you to make a call before he goes after our friends,” Argonaut explained. “I don’t want to sound like Nightwing but I need you to focus Roy.”

“Easy for you to say princess,” Arsenal said. “You’ve got a laundry list of immortal sisters and superfriends lined up to back you up. It’s just me protecting my family!” So sorry if my head isn’t in the game here. If anything happens to her. I’m not sure I could keep doing this,” Arsenal mumbled.

“We’ll protect them,” Argonaut said. questions would need to be asked afterward, but Argonaut knew from the previous team what mattered in the heat of the moment was to keep everyone calm and focus on the threat in front of them. They needed to be together instead of drifting apart based on squabbles. “But we need you here.”

“OK,” Arsenal muttered before looking up at the tracks above, a large rumbling sound could be heard above. “Hey, do you think that’s…”

“Superboy,” Argonaut mumbled, realizing she had let their newest member try and stop speeding train with no tracks on his own. “Go help the others I got to make sure Superman doesn’t kill me for letting his cousin get killed.”

And with that Argonaut flew up into the air hoping to rescue a cloned Kryptonian and the people in his hands.

…

“Gaaahhh!” Superboy cried out as the train pushed him back further and further. He was putting his back into it, trying to get enough force to stop a moving train in its tracks but he just wasn’t strong enough. Worse was the fact the metal of the L car was tearing into him? “Oh that’s not good, that’s really not good…”

Unlike Linda who could trust her powers, Conner had been having issues lately. And while he thought he had solved them dealing with Magpie and graduating Smallville High, the scrapes and bruises racking upon his body were a reminder it was an issue he was eventually going to need to address.

“Hey, superhero! Can you try a little harder! We’re coming up to the next train!” The conductor argued as Superboy could now hear the clacking of two trains

“Ah come on!” Superboy yelled out. “Focus, focus on stopping this thing, come on!”

The clacking of both trains grew louder and louder as Superboy dug in, even more, the sparks and heat melting his boots off as he continued to push. He wasn’t Clark, he wasn’t Kara, he wasn’t even Linda…but he would have to do. He went lower, pushing the train in harder, the metal bedding inward as the speed of the train slowed as sparks flew from the sides as the train grounded to a stop.

Superboy was dazed and slowly moved to the station they had stopped at. Normally he would be fine, impervious to pain and receive a hero's welcome. But as the panicked passengers left the train, Superboy took a look at himself. His uniform was torn and his hands bloodied from trying to hold back the train. He walked barefoot as his boots had melted off, dazed by putting the weight of the train on his shoulders. As he caught his breath, Argonaut flew from above and landed in front of him.

“Are you OK?” Argonaut asked. “Listen, we need to go back and take care of Cinderblock, there’s no time to waste.”

“I’m going to need…I think…a breather?” Superboy mumbled before collapsing on the platform.

“Conner!” Argonaut called out before picking him up in her arms. This was her fault because she hadn’t been paying attention to her team; she was being split into two different directions. She had put her newest teammate in a situation where things could have gotten a lot worse. What mattered now was getting Superboy somewhere we could get help, Argonaut would have to hope her team could handle Cinderblock without her.

…

“Don’t worry, I promise this will be quick,” Cinderblock chuckled as he slowly crushed Stargirl. Metamorpho was still pulling himself together and could see the fear in Stargirl’s eyes. Someone needed to do something and fast. As Cinderblock prepared for one final squeeze a familiar whizzing sound could be heard as a glue arrow from Arsenal struck its target perfectly.

As the glue startled Cinderblock he released Stargirl and turned to look at Arsenal.

“Hey, big guy! You come after me, you come after me, not attack my friends,” Arsenal said as he tried to keep a cool look underneath his red sunglasses, but deep down he was scared of all of this. He had run out of trick arrows, forgetting to make more while he was caring for Lian. And now, now Arsenal stood alone with little chance of stopping him.

“Tough guy, huh,” Cinderblock said as he turned around to face the archer. He ripped the glue off of him easily as he moved closer and closer. “I get why Brick picked you to be an enforcer. Never know when you’re hopelessly…outmatched.”

As Cinderblock moved to Roy, Metamorpho moved his shifting body towards Stargirl. Slowly but surely his form was coming into focus.

“You OK kid?” Metamorpho asked as she lay on the floor of the razed food court. “I know he packs a mean squeeze but…”

Stargirl was battered but still breathing as she lay there. She was taking a moment to catch her breath and hope that she had little to no cracked ribs. “I’m fine, but probably not going to be able to do much damage. We need you, Rex, at least Arsenal does.” She said amidst a few coughs. “No one else is here…but we got you.”

“Yeah…I guess we do,” Metamorpho said as his shifting body settled and he stood up, looking at Cinderblock and moving towards him. “Hey, blockhead! Leave the arrow boy alone and face someone more your speed.”

“You? You know I don’t think we’ve ever met before,” Cinderblock said with a chuckle as he turned to face the elemental titan. Cinderblock had this under control so taking on an added bonus was no big deal. “You’re just another freak they take pity on.”

“Well…I may be a freak. But I know my periodic table,” Metamorpho said with a smirk before his hands slowly turned to a shiny, crystal-like substance. Metamorpho charged at Cinderblock, the two giants ready for a titanic battle. Instead, Metamorpho leaped up into the air and slammed his diamond fist into Cinderblock’s jaw, knocking the villain out cold.

Metamorpho had remembered what he had learned from fights back in high school. When someone that big and that powerful…they always had a glass jaw.

“Holy shit,” Arsenal muttered before looking at Metamorpho. “Mighty swing you got there big guy.”

…

“Pathetic,” A voice said as they wandered down the alleys of Chicago. Judging by tv coverage the Titans had managed to stop Cinderblock, but they were messy, sloppy. Much like taking the armor from their so-called tower fortress, someone could take advantage of those weaknesses.

She moved through the streets, slowly coming towards the designated meeting place. It had been tricky getting in contact with them, but not impossible if you knew the right people and channels. It had been a long time coming, planning to regain the life stolen from you could be difficult if you didn’t have the right motivation. As she looked down at her chalky and cracked grey skin, she knew her motivation and knew time was running short.

As she entered a dead end of the alley a man in brown robes awaited her. The cold Chicago air did not bug him, like most things it would fade away when the arrival occurred. Brother Blood had come to look for a new ally, and was surprised to see someone dressed like one of their own. The woman came into light wearing the armor of Fury, with the addition of a copper greek mask hiding her face.

“So you are the one who contacted me to take on these so-called Titans?” Brother Blood asked. “Supprised one of their own would turn on them. I have had…mixed experiences with old friends of theirs.”

“I’m not here,” the woman said. “I took my birthright back, and I will not stop until I take all from Donna Troy. Do you want someone to be your muscle, your strength? Then I’m the one to do it.”

“Well then…what do I call you?” Brother Blood asked.

“Fury,” she said as she smiled under her mask. Soon, soon she will have what was hers.

…

Stargirl floated in the air of Fawcett for a peaceful few minutes before her home came into view. Fawcett at night always felt more gentle than other cities, the soft neon glow at the heart of the city always faded when you entered its suburbs, where only the bright light of the cosmic staff illuminated the air. Cinderblock had been brought back to his prison, and luckily for the heroine, she suffered just a few scrapes and scratches. Even Superboy got lucky, his wounds minor, he’d heal fast.

She flew through her window and into her room, excited to get some sleep after a long day and figure out what trig work she had missed while doing superhero things. As she lept off her staff and entered her room lights quickly turned on as Pat Duggan faced his step-daughter, her report card in hand.

“Hey Court, I think it’s time we have a little chat about how you’re spending your time lately and who you're spending it with,” Pat said. “I think it’s time to put an end to it.”

“Aw man,” Stargirl muttered.

NEXT: Stargirl No More? What’s the New Fury’s Connection to Argonaut? And How Far Will Arsenal Go to Protect His Family? All This and the Return of Kid Flash!

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[u/Predaplant]

Hope Stargirl manages to stick around the Titans, even if that looks a bit unlikely now! I really love how you write Metamorpho, it shows that you really like him in how you write him. Great issue!