TITANS TOMORROW ANNUAL #1

[Glippernip]

TITANS TOMORROW ANNUAL #1

Where is Donna Troy, part 6:

Spirit of Titans Future

Written and Edited by Joel A. Sawyer


What has gone before: When long-time Titan Raven asked her friends to help her return Donna Troy to the proper universe, the older Titans did not even think before leaving. Raven, Wally (Flash) West, Garfield Logan (Animal Man, Beast Boy) , and Princess Koriand’r (Starfire) left for a trip through the Multiverse, with Starfire’s son Starbolt and another brand new Titan Fusion coming along. They traveled to several universes and even fought teams from these other dimensions. With some help from old friends and new allies, they reunited with Donna but found themselves momentarily trapped in Limbo.

Meanwhile the younger Titans Teams rushed to stop the Demi-god Phobos from taking over Opal City from his just created home on New Olympus. Phobos had acquired the services of Judge and Jury however, and the battle went badly for the young heroes. Charlie Watkins, Kilowatt, lost his life to the Lightning of Zeus. Seemingly triumphant, Phobos didn’t notice as Tara Markov, The Flash, Black Arrow, and Captain Marvel all suddenly became involved. All at once Battalion freed himself, Terra and Princess Fern revived, and the other group of Titans with Donna Troy and the new Captain Marvel appeared at the top of the new mountain with a burst of thunder and lightning!

[Glippernip]

“TITANS TOGETHER!!!”

The anger in Starbolt’s voice was apparent. Charlie was dead, and some of the others had apparently gone through some kind of pain or defeat. He didn’t have the details, but didn’t need them. It was time for Titans to unite.

And they exploded with activity. Princess Fern and the younger Terra burst from their hidey-hole cave even as Phantasm disappears in a cloud of acrid smoke. The Elder Terra and Black Arrow look at each other questioningly.

“I’m going to find Battalion,” Arrow states.

“I’m going to find my daughter,” Tara Markov replies.

“Best of luck,” LJ returns before they launch themselves up the mountainside, splitting up as they near the top.

Battalion and Flash (Reese Allen) move to free Cardinal, knowing the time for stealth is over.

And Lord Phobos stands on the roof of his ‘temple’ regarding the intruders of New Olympus. Arcana had indeed been correct. Here was the new Captain Marvel, a Flash, another former Justice Leaguer, a Lord of Order…and one that smelled of the Olympians themselves, one touched by his kindred.

“Troy,” he growled, not quite believing what his senses told him. He thought she had died.

[Glippernip]

Deep within New Olympus, Gabe and Reese moved quickly through the corridors, Flash controlling his abilities very well to let Battalion keep up. Reese was pretty wired right now, both excited and nervous being here with a mad god running around. Not a good state of mind for a man with super-speed. They rounded the final corner to see Cardinal standing before them stretching her wings out. Actually, with her stretched out like that, they both found themselves momentarily captivated.

“Does she usually glow,” Flash asks, noting the dim yellow light that emanated from her body.

She turns toward them, a smile breaking out on her face. “I’m glad they didn’t kill you,” she gushed, “Who is your friend?”

“Kid…um, he’s The Flash now,” Gabe explains, feeling a bit embarrassed by the slip.

“Don’t feel bad,” Reese tells him, “I don’t really feel like THE Flash. I don’t know that I ever will. We should get to the surface. The mother of all battles is starting up there.”

“No,” Cardinal says definitively, “I feel magic down here. The place throbs with it. Phobos has items of power that he is using, like Tamara had told us before. I can lead us to them.”

Gabe looks at Cardinal. “So we basically have a possible way to kick a god in the balls? Lead the way, Pretty Bird!

[Glippernip]

“COME TO ME, HEROES! COME AND FACE FEAR ITSELF!” The voice echoes off the structures of New Olympus as Phobos creates a huge battle axe seemingly made from yellow energy.

A short distance away, the heroes see their quarry. “Phobos?” Donna asks, “He’s much stronger that I remember.”

“Many things have changed, particularly about the Olympian Pantheon,” Raven states, “There are few left.”

Donna nods. “Kory, is your son up to this level of fight?”

Starfire looks at her old friend. “Not really, but he is like Dick with his cleverness.”

Donna again nods. “Gar, Ryand’r, Fusion, I need you to run support and come in if we need some back-up.”

“You realize that you’re talking to the guy who flew into Trigon’s eye, don’t you? I danced a jig in Slade’s gut, and I once beat Sinestro by myself! I was in the League for years while you were gone.”

Donna smiles, “That’s why we need you available. If I, Kory, Raven, Wally, and Captain Marvel can’t take Phobos, we need someone left who can rally the rest. If you were in the League, you should have a lot of contacts to call on.”

“Sounds logical, but I don’t like it. Few belong here with you guys more that I do,” Gar replies.

So…mature, Donna thinks. And it was done. Five of the strongest heroes currently alive moved to face the Lord of Fear.

And they attack. Donna; with grim resolution aimed at one of her few counterparts left. Wally; feeling his age and mortality more than ever. Raven; her relatively recently acquired responsibilities as a Lord of Order at the forefront of her thoughts. Starfire; all of her warrior’s training and experience rising up in her soul. And Captain Marvel; who would have been completely overwhelmed by the scope of what she suddenly found herself a part of if the Wisdom of Solomon did not focus her on what was important.

And as they attack, power flows from the Lord of Fear unlike any Donna had ever seen from an Olympian…some or the power did not seem to be from Earth at all. At least, not this Earth.

[Glippernip]

Arcana came to the surface with her warriors Taurus, Brontes, and even Talos, the bronze fighter that showed no pain. Elsewhere, Judge and her Jury (most of them, anyway) also move out into the sunlight.


“Tamara!” Tara Markov shouts as she landed next to her daughter and Liana near the top of the mountain. With a smile of appreciation Tamara hugs her mother and then looks her up and down.

“That’s a really old costume, Mother,” she says judgementally.

“I figured I would wear what Americans would recognize the quickest.”

“Terra,” Fern hisses, causing both women to look. As they watch, Arcana and her three cohorts stepped into the scene from within New Olympus.

“I need your help in this, Mother,” Tamara said angrily.


A moment later, Tara rides a boulder as she flies straight at the villainous quartet, landing just 30 or so in front of them. “You have my daughter,” she yells, “I want her back.”

Arcana smirks at Tara Markov. “Your precious daughter is dead. Taurus killed her himself.”

Tara snarls. “You don’t know me, do you. If you did, you would know I’ll kill you in a heartbeat if you are right.”

The ground explodes around the elder Terra, earth and rocks jumping up in the air at her command. Tamara could control small amounts of material in a similar way, but Tara could lift tons of stone with just her will. With a wave, she throws several large boulders at them. Arcana lifts herself above the missiles, Brontes dives for cover and Talos ignores them, but Taurus batted them aside with huge swings of his arms and fists. As the third boulder is swept away, however, he finds himself faced with the younger Terra, already turned to granite, flying through the air with telekinetic help from her mother. Tamara’s fist crashed into the minotaur’s face and he felt a tooth break. She lands on her feet as the man-beast stumbles. He spits put a wad of blood.

“Well played,” he growls.

“I said I would kill you,” she retorts, “I’m here to keep my promise.”

“Yet Liana lives. I see her coming now.”

“As far as I’m concerned, intent is the main thing.”

“I’m not going to play your game,” Taurus growls, “Talos! Kill her!”

The bronze warrior, appearing as an ancient greek statue of a man in a toga but made of metal, steps forward at his comrade’s command as Taurus retreats. Without emotion, Talos strides right up to Tamara and raises both hands, bringing them down at the young girl’s body…

…which she turns into burning magma.

Taurus and Brontes the Cyclops stood with their jaws wide open even as Tamara wraps her arms around the metallic being and gave him a hug. “I didn’t know she could do that!” Taurus whispers.

“She will destroy Talos,” Arcana shouts, “Help him!”

Before they could even take a step the ground at their feet exploded, tossing both behemoths into the air. They landed hard but not injured. Leaving a dust devil of sand and dirt to obscure the warriors' sight, the elder Terra flies straight for Arcana on another stony magic carpet.

Arcana smiles and raised a gold colored apple in her hand. “You want this, don’t you?” she says alluringly to Tara, “You can have it, if you like it that much.” Arcana drops the apple, and a now mesmerized Tara moved to get it. Chasing the apple brings her close to Brontes, who blasts her with a backhand that sent her flying.

As Talos began to slump and melt in her arms, Tamara shouted, “You’re next, Cyclops.”

“Don’t worry, Terra,” another very familiar voice called out. Not far away stands Animal Man, who calmly watched the proceedings. Brontes smiled.

“Changeling, or whatever you call yourself. I’ve read that you were the weak one in The Titans.”

Logan looks shocked. “OK, there is no way I’m letting a jaundiced, one-eyed slob disrespect me like that. You should have looked up The Justice League!” With that, he transforms into a flying rhino and charged at the Cyclops, who scrambled to dodge. As he turns toward his new opponent, he finds a huge, green Tyrannosaurus leaning toward him…and then he discovers what the inside of a dinosaur’s mouth felt like as Gar Logan chomped down on the creature and then threw him away, tossing him sixty feet distance. “Would’ve been a field goal, easily!” he quips.

Taurus prepares to attack Animal Man but Starbolt and Fusion appear to block his way. Arcana looks down at them and prepares her next attack. In the heat of things, only the wounded Brontes notices the trees that were quickly growing from the ground in various locations around the pavilion.

[Glippernip]

In the heat of battle, Phobos let his illusions go. No longer did he fight as the deep blue armored man that so resembled his father Ares’ favorite form. Now Phobos stands as an ogre, with a huge trollish nose, hands and bare feet much larger than his body suggested, slightly pointed teeth and blazing red eyes. He is misshapen and ungainly, but his fury runs out of control. He still uses the yellow axe that seemed to be made of energy, but other powers seemed to appear out of nowhere. Troia dives in and punches him in the mouth, and he fires strange pink electricity through her then blasts her with a gray Thunderbolt of Zeus. The shot rattles her teeth, but Troy’s power rivals that of the first Wonder Woman. She stood against the onslaught and worried that these energies Phobos used seemed familiar.

“You will bow down to me,” he says, “I am a god!”

“Maybe you aren’t paying attention,” she responds, “There are at least three of us with god-like powers here right now. In this day and age, you aren’t nearly as unique as you think you are.”

Phobos snarled and shot his pink lightning again, but Raven appeared and actually dispelled the blast, having analyzed the properties of the energy. Wally West drove the godling to his knees with a concentrated whirlwind from behind, and Koriand’r shot him with her powerful starbolt solar blast. Captain Marvel, not wanting to be useless, flew by and bashed Phobos across the face much like Troy had moments before.

“ENOUGH!” Phobos bellows, and several things happen at once. The ground beneath The elder Flash suddenly turns into hot, sticky grease, and the speedster loses control and slides into a solid wall. Phobos’ yellow axe disappears to be replaced by two huge yellow hands which he uses to grab Troia and Cpt. Marvel and slam them together as hard as he could. For Kory he actually pulls a distant memory from her mind and makes her solar powers suddenly fire and implode inside her. She screams and falls, her power firing inside her with no outlet for release. Raven appears before Phobos and stretches her hand out attempting to calm him with her empathic powers. He sneers in derision at her attempt.

“I am Phobos, wench! I’ve manipulated the emotions of others for two millennia! With the power in my grasp now, I can even make your worst fear become reality!”

Waves of force emanate from the being and Raven finds herself changing. Looking at her hands, she watches as they turn red, her nails extending into claws, and she can suddenly see with two additional eyes that opened in her head. “No,” she weakly whispers, "Not this."

Captain Marvel finds herself suddenly transforming back to Abbey, glad to already be on the ground when the transformation hit but now vulnerable in the middle of the battlefield. Wally West, in some strange vision, sees his twins suddenly hit the floor in agony as their blood begins to clot in their veins. Kory, still in pain, sees a figure approach her, the hideous undead figure of her former lover Dick Grayson that had called itself Deathwing years ago before fading from existence. And Donna Troy suddenly knew that, somehow, her son was alive and close by, looking up at new Olympus from the crowd of bystanders below…and that he suddenly remembers a distant past and alternate self called Lord Chaos.

**************************************

Standing in the crowd looking up at the fireworks coming from the top of the mountain, John Long’s eyes opened wide and he cried out, “Mother!” Then his brain opens wide and he remembers events he had not really even experienced. Turning pale, John stops breathing and pitches forward onto the street, the emergency personnel running to him as the bystanders stepped away from him in surprise.

[Glippernip]

In the catacombs of the complex, Battalion, Cardinal, and The Flash suddenly stop, Flash holding up his hand warningly. Cardinal then looks toward a side passage.

“Someone’s coming,” she says, “Someone very quiet. He just whispered something. ‘2 Korys’.”

“I’ll see your two Kory’s,” Battalion suddenly shouts out, “and raise you a ‘Robin’.”

“Gabe?” Black Arrow steps out of the darkness of the adjoining corridor.

“Glad you made it,” Battalion offers, “Been a while since the three of us have been together.”

“What’s up?” Arrow asks, “The fight is topside.”

“Yeah, but we have a possible choice target down here. Cardinal is leading the way.”

They were a very short distance from the power Cardinal sensed. They step into a larger room, about the size of a school gymnasium. At the center of the room was a huge silver brazier with a protective bubble. Phantasm stood near the strange object. He looked over passively at the intruders.

“Phobos draws strength from these items. I’m not sure if the others will prevail as long as he can tap into these.”

The heroes look into the bubble and could see the contents: A golden faceless mask, a crystalline orb attached to a curved rod, a glittering crown, a statue with several glass prisms, and a small ring glowing yellow. More startling, they found a pulsing red star of energy, a pink colored humanoid whose body was made of lightning, and a deformed humanoid whose brain could be seen beneath the glassy dome that his head was made of.

“Can you feel it?” Phantasm asks in awe. Cardinal nodded, in similar emotion.

“So we just have to pop this bubble?” Battalion says pointedly.

[Glippernip]

Up top, Phobos continues his emotional onslaught on his enemies. He chuckles to himself. He would not even need to bring in Deathwind to this fight, apparently. These were the strongest here. And they were finished. He looks at Raven, who was looking more and more like a sexy version of her father Trigon. “Perhaps you will be my bride,” he whispers, a touch of lust entering his dark thoughts. He looks at the others, who were almost helpless. He steps over to Abbey, who looked up into his foul eyes.

“Just a little girl,” Phobos said, the bully in him rising to the surface, “Perhaps you too will be my plaything.”

Caught in her nightmare, Raven looks at Phobos. “LORD OF FEAR,” an inner voice shouts at her. Yes. She must fight this. She looks at Abbey and concentrates her soul-self to block Phobos’ fear ability.

Abbey felt the tug as his power slipped. “Shazam,” she whispers.

And the Lightning struck them both, causing Phobos to scream in pain and bringing Captain Marvel back into the battle!


“Well, look at this,” Hellebore says as Judge and Jury finally made the scene on top of New Olympus, “I think this is Wally West!”

Judge looks at the helpless man and smiles beneath the chrome skull helmet she wore. “Lynch, quickly, before he revives!”

Taurus tried his hardest, but he finds that he could barely touch Ryand’r. In their actions together, Taurus had never seen Ry in such close quarters combat. He realized he had vastly underestimated the young man.

Fusion comes up behind him and punches him, her velocity causing him pain. He moves to backhand her but she was already out of range. He has already dodged several of her attempts at blinding him, but these tag team efforts of Starbolt and Fusion were taking its toll. Particularly when every time she came in for an attack, Ry followed suit with a Psibolt. Taurus is getting tired. He didn’t even see the green bird flying at him until it turns into a mammoth and swats him away!

Arcana saw it all. The young Terra had just finished the complete destruction of Talos. Taurus outnumbered four to one as Tamara reentered the fray. Brontes was nowhere to be seen. She scowled and prepared a powerful spell that hopefully would take out one or two of them.

“Forget someone?” a small sweet voice calls to her. Arcana sees Princess Fern, her hair a brilliant green, her skin rough and woody, and spikes erupting from her skin, stares at the sorceress. And the entire area was now surrounded by a dozen trees.

Arcana realized this just before a sizeable branch slams into her from behind.

[Glippernip]

They had tried several different things, so now it was cooperation time. Cardinal begins her White Sound blast now back to full power, shrieking at the bubble even as Reese vibrates his body right up next to the dome trying to destabilize its composition. Phantasm tries to dispel the magical component of the protective field. That left Gabe and LJ off to the side.

“What do you think?” Black Arrow asks.

“Definitely a Kid Flash. Drill right through that thing,” Gabe answers.

“I disagree. A Kory or two will bust that thing wide open.”

“Oh, I see. Star City’s newest hero suddenly has worldly experience about magical things. The drill arrow is the key.”

“But the concussive arrow, especially if we both fire two each, can take almost anything down.”

“Maybe, but that lacks finesse, man.”

“Finesse? You wear a battle suit so you can beat the crap out of thugs!”

“Be that as it may…”

“Just shut up and do something,” Phantasm booms, his anger flaring, “I don’t know how long we can do this!”

Gabe and LJ look at each other then draw their arrows simultaneously. “You first, I’ll follow.” Black Arrow fires his Kory, a green burst of energy exploding from the impact point. Battalion’s drill tip arrow hits just a fraction of a second later, at the exact point where the Kory had struck, and the bubble pops like so much soap on a summer day.

“I love it when a plan comes together,” Gabe says with a satisfied air.

“You and those stale old TV shows,” LJ chides.

The pink djinn once known as Johnny Thunder’s Thunderbolt was the first to move, shooting straight up and crackling through the ceiling out of the room. The strange man in the containment tries to stand. Flash is right there to help him. The man looks at the costume and scowls. “Where am I?” he croaked. Flash quickly answers the question. The man looks at his rescuers. “Of course. Saved by Titans. How…ironic.”

“Is there anything…” Gabe began.

“No, you fool. I am Psimon! If you don’t know the meaning of that, ask your relatives. I believe they need your help at this time.”

“He’s right,” BA states, “We should join our friends.”

Arrow, Battalion, Flash, and Cardinal rush from the room. Phantasm waits just a moment before taking the golden mask and the strange curved rod before disappearing. Psimon stands there resting trying to regain his psionic prowess before moving.

[Glippernip]

And all at once, the power left him. Still staggered from the lightning strike, he feels the power diminish and he angrily roars to the heavens. Then the Thunderbolt rises from the ground and envelopes the Lord of Fear, causing even more pain. Without that additional power, he could not sustain his created nightmares.

Wally West came to only to find a noose of metallic cord wrapped around his neck and beginning to tighten. He slips from the garrote at super speed and holds the cable in his hands. “You must be Lynch,” Wally said, “I’ve been briefed on you. Wanna go for a ride?” Wally runs, dragging Lynch behind him.

Arcana had been hit three times by the trees that now stood around the area before deciding on a course of action. Quickly she casts a special little spell she called Gladiator’s Bane, conjuring up eight spectral lions to guard her and attack her enemies. The lions tried to swarm Liana but her wooden guardians batted them away. This just gave Arcana time to cast her next attack.

“Spear of Artemis!”

The spear strikes Liana square in the chest and sends her flying, and she slams into a marble wall. Arcana pursues the girl and yanks her up off the ground. “You thought you could challenge me?” she growls.

With all the school girl sass she could muster, Princess Fern says, “I don’t think. I KNOW!” And Fern exhales a powdery substance of pollen and irritants directly into Arcana’s face!

The magician yells in surprise and pain, and Liana follows through with a stiff right cross, the thorns now growing from her hand and arm ripping Arcana’s clothes and leaving several long gashes in her skin, her helmet flying from her head. Arcana, her vision blurred, pretends to draw an arrow on a bow and gasps, “Arrow of Eros.” The magic bolt again strikes Liana in the chest. She didn’t even try to dodge. Breathing hard, her lungs laboring, Arcana looks at the young girl. “Why do you attack me? Am I not your friend?”

“No,” Liana states matter of factly before kicking Arcana in the head. “You silly thing,” Princess Fern continues, “I’m only part human. That’s why I came for you. I can handle a few things my friends cannot.”

Princess Fern proceeds to give Arcana a solid beat down.

[Glippernip]

Flash zooms back toward Judge and Jury with Lynch still dragging behind. Judge sends several mental messages to her team. As the speedster runs past, Silent Vapor turns into a noxious gas and envelopes Wally. Not realizing the danger, he breathes the dangerous stuff and collapses in a tumbling heap. Nearby, Starbolt hits Taurus with a sixth Psibolt and Taurus stumbles, feeling like he hadn’t slept in a week. The minotaur charges at Ry not really paying attention to where he was, and Fusion charges in and hits the ground, rolling into the beast-man’s legs. His forward momentum causes him to neatly fall over the parapet and he rolls uncontrollably down the mountainside, cursing all the way.

“Great teamwork,” Starbolt said.

“Thanks. I thought…Ahhhhh!” The scream rips from Fusion as Hellebore plunges the needles extending from his fingers through her light shield and into her torso. Starbolt flew to her and knocked Hellebore aside.

“If she dies, so do you,” he spat.

“Since Phobos altered us, we heal really quickly,” Hellebore said, a smile in his voice, “and I only have to hit you once.”


Taurus was still cursing as he climbs the mountain. On foot, it was not an easy task. Arcana suddenly floats down to him.

“We are leaving,” she tells the beast, “The battle is going badly and Phobos has lost his hold on the items of power.”

“And the Titans?”

“No longer our concern. Phobos caused all of this. Let him deal with them.”

****************************

“Silent Vapor!”

The Jury member turns to see Battalion with an arrow pointed at him. “I just wanted you to see who it was.” Gabriel fires the arrow.

“I’ll just turn to mist…” Vapor thinks, but as the arrow passes through him, it bursts, and pain unlike he had ever felt ripps through him.

As his victim screams, Battalion tells him, “White Phosforus. We call it a ‘Red Star’ arrow. It will burn almost anything you turn into.”

“Please, help me,” Silent Vapor begs. Battalion just walked away.


Starbolt takes one step toward Hellebore when he hears a voice shout out, “I have him. Take care of her!” Black Arrow flies out of nowhere and tackles Hellebore, carrying him nearly 50 yards away. Starbolt kneels beside Fusion as her light shield dissipates.

Black Arrow let Hellebore hit the ground hard and lands just beyond. He turns toward the killer while taking a fighting pose. “You still need to pay for killing Roy Harper,” LJ stated.

“All I have to do is hit you once, too,” Hellebore states.

The two duel for about a minute with Arrow certainly overmatching his foe. Hellebore finally gets in his lucky shot…then realizes his hand did not penetrate Arrow’s armor. Looking at his hands, the criminal saw the imbedded syringes that were part of his body melting back into his fingers.

“The needles,” he gasped, “They’re gone!”

“Isn’t that a shame,” Black Arrow said. In a quick sequence, LJ kicks his opponent twice, elbows him hard enough to knock his helmet off, then backhands Hellebore in his now vulnerable face. Bleeding from his mouth, Hellebore rose to his hands and knees, where Black Arrow kicked and broke both of the killer’s hands.

“Son of a bitch!” the villain cries, “What is it with the Arrow clan and broken hands?”

“Just starting a new tradition,” Black Arrow quips.

It took a few minutes for Hellebore to realize his new fast healing power had left him as well.

[Glippernip]

His power having left him and his blade’s momentum spent, Poniard sat helpless in the coils of Animal Man in his snake form. Knowing who Judge and Jury are, he wants to squeeze Poniard until his eyes pop out, but Logan refrains.

Judge moves to help Poniard when a young, new Flash out of nowhere stands in her way. She smiles, believing her augmented abilities to the task. She encases the young man in a bubble of force. “Go ahead and struggle,” she tells him, “You’ll just use up your remaining air faster.”

“You have no clue, do you,” Reese offers, and he starts to spin in a tight circle. He moves faster and faster, building the vibration and exerting outward pressure on the shell. Judge holds on with all she can, but Flash surprises her when he suddenly vibrates his way out of her prison and runs straight at her. With no time to move her shield to protect herself, Flash caught Judge flat-footed. A dozen punches later and she was unconscious.


Phantasm feels the need and appears before Starbolt and Fusion. He kneels down and begins to administer to her.

“Poison works through her blood,” Phantasm says aloud, “I will fight it, but I don’t know if I can purge it from her system.”

Raven’s voice rang through his mind. “Bolster her own immune system and keep her alive,” she said, “I will be there as soon as I can. I will teach you how to help a body purge a dangerous substance.” And she was gone. Lips tightly closed, David Dagon concentrated on his task.

[Glippernip]

After the Thunderbolt djinn hits him, Phobos goes completely berserk. The only item he still had feeding him power was the Crown of Zeus, since he had actually placed that within his body as a permanent source of power. Now he wanted to take these heroes out before they could coordinate their attacks.

Problem is, the New Captain Marvel was not cooperating with him. No matter how many times he hit her, with his fists, with his fear power, with fire, or with the Lightning of Zeus, she kept hitting back.

“You realize this is getting us nowhere, you ugly troll,” The Captain tells the demi-god, “Maybe you should just throw in the towel.”

“INSECT!” Phobos roars, “I am no base criminal who is impressed by the likes of you. I will destroy all of you!”

Marvel didn’t even answer, she just hit him again while her mind worked on some other way to end this quickly.

As Phobos careens off a marble wall and through a stone pillar as Marvel charges in to follow up. As the new heroine comes close, Phobos grabs her and smashes her into the wall. Without pause, he runs the grey Lightning of Zeus through her at point blank range to maximize the charge. Marvel slumps in his arms as he looks into her stunned face. “With whatever I have left, beautiful one, I will reverse your transformation one more time and crush your feeble body. Your wizard will require a new champion!”

“I disagree,” Donna Troy’s voice rings out as she comes out of the smoke. “Now its time for you to remember!”

In one of her lives, Donna Troy had been a goddess of memory, and could raise memories in a being. With this ability, she brings forth every time someone had been kind to the Lord of Fear. At the same time, Raven fills him with her empathic ability. Not only did Phobos remember the kindness, he felt it in his soul. For a moment he relaxes and drops Captain Marvel. Then he roars to the heavens, his rage increasing with each passing second. “You think to influence my mind and emotions? MINE!?! I am ancient! I am infinite! I am Phobos. You will all fear me!”

In quick succession, Donna punches him twice and Starfire blasts him with the most powerful Starbolt she had produced in years, having spent the last several minutes building her energy reserves. Even as Phobos tries to shake that off, Raven’s soul-self takes him and wraps him, filling him with soul-numbing cold that matched the evil in his heart. He resists and she lets go only to have Koriand’r shoot him again, this time assisted by The Thunderbolt, who lingered around for a bit of revenge. Phobos looks up to see Captain Marvel recovering, Troy preparing another strike, and several other heroes including two Terras and two Flashes moving in to help.

Afraid, Phobos fled.

[Glippernip]

Raven appears next to Phantasm and sits on the ground. “I have kept her stable, but she is gravely injured,”he tells her.

“Work with me, David Dagon,” Raven replies, her white cloak settling around her, “As I draw the poison from her blood, feel how it is done so you might achieve this the next time. Why do you do that with your voice?"

Phantasm stares for a moment. "For effect," he finally replies, "and intimidation."

They spent almost fifteen minutes working on Fusion before Raven disengages. “All she needs now is sleep,” she informs them.

“That’s what you wanted a Red Star Arrow for? That could have killed him!” LJ’s shock was apparent.

“Maybe. On short notice, I didn’t know what else we had that could effect a guy that turns himself into gas.”

“What’s the tally,” Animal Man said to the half dozen or so heroes that could here him.

“We’ve captured all but one of Judge and Jury, and we have the Cyclops, too. You really did a number on him,” the younger Terra replied.

“Well, in this century, seeing and feeling the inside of a T-Rex’s mouth and living through it can change your perspective on life, that’s for sure. I’ve been doing that for years, teasing someone with getting eaten. I’ve reformed criminals that way.”

Terra blanched. “That is disgusting, Dad.”

“Your telling me. You never know where they’ve been!”

As the sun began to sink toward the horizon the heroes gathered at the top of New Olympus, tired but triumphant.

**************************

Deep within the mountain, Phobos stumbled into his throne room as a woman rose to meet him. He looked at his champion.

“I have lost,” he sighed, “If you chose to leave like Arcana did, I could not stop you.”

Death Wind stared at him for a long moment. “I have sworn myself to you,” she told him, “If I hold nothing else true in this world, I will keep my vow.” Together, they crept out of New Olympus.

****************************************

The driver and companion of the ambulance that drove John Long to the hospital were extremely surprised and upset when their passenger opened his eyes, shouted, “Lord Chaos!” and then simply vanished.

And Psimon found a place to hide near the outskirts of Opal. He needed to rest first and foremost. And he needed to ponder the possible uses of the Yellow Power Ring and the Avatars of Vishnu that he had recovered from New Olympus.


END