"Hey? You okay?"
Terra — who had slipped off the brown mask she wore to break up her facial features to reveal the still-pretty yet weary face of Tara Victoria Markova — blinked before she gazed in amusement at Garfield Logan. "Will you stop, finally?" she pleaded. "You know why I never really wanted to get close to you when I was part of the team."
The young man known to the outside world as Changeling — unlike most superheroes, Garfield Logan didn't really bother to hide who he really was; his green skin rather got in the way of trying to disguise himself — sighed. "You told me once that what you did in Africa was business. You can't let your heart or your morals get in the way of business." A smirk. "'S funny. You're about as opposite from Slade Wilson as day is from night…and yet, deep in your heart, you're exactly the same."
"It's not because of my helping Slade kill your guardian back then that I don't want to have something with you, Gar," Tara stated. "Someone's standing in the way."
Garfield nodded. He had met Moroboshi Ataru once, at Donna Troy's marriage to Terry Long shortly after the whole "Judas Contract" business with Deathstroke and the HIVE was resolved. Tara had invited both Ataru and his adopted sister Negako to the festivities; it had been a while since the grandmaster of the Moroboshi Clan's in-house school of ninjutsu had travelled from Yiziba back to Earth and Tara wanted her friends to meet the man who had literally saved her life and sanity from what Helga Jace had done to her. Of course, most of the "spandex club" already knew of Ataru thanks to their meeting with many of the people he had enticed to travel to Yiziba to receive Gifts from the Great Crystal of Power, but few had actually met the man himself, much less the artificial intelligence he now considered his elder sister, Moroboshi Negako.
It was strange, Tara mused to herself as the CY-199 Borealis space transport craft — one of a dozen owned by the Specialised Warfare Regiment of Canada — winged its way across North America for Japan. Negako…thinking of the woman Tara believed was even deadlier than the so-called "Deadliest Woman Alive" who lived today as Kagura Michiko in Tōkyō's Nagano Ward, there were times the illegitimate daughter of the late King Victor of Markovia believed that such a being should NOT be let loose amongst normal people. Her lack of any basic understanding of the concept of "tact" was just next to appalling…and this woman was a GRANDMASTER in NINJUTSU, for God's sake! The fact that she actually called Clark Kent "Kal" — his Kryptonian given name — several times within earshot of people who didn't know the mild-manner reporter of the Daily Planet was really the Man of Steel was bad enough. But to actually chastise a few people — including Garfield's own guardian, Steve Dayton, Mento of the Doom Patrol — for actually going along with the idea of deluding normal people as to the truth of the bride, much less all her friends. If it wasn't for the fact that Ataru was usually there to slow her down, Negako might have made a whole ton of lives worse. Lucky thing that the guys had such a good sense of humour about it…!
"You are well, sister?"
Tara perked, and then she sighed. "I'm surviving, Brion," she said as Geo-Force walked into the private cabin a smiling corporal from the SWR had provided for the geo-kinetic from Markovia. His own mask was off, revealling her half-brother's quite handsome features and the concern in his eyes. While he personally believed that he had no right at all to interfere in Tara's relationship with Moroboshi Ataru — the honour-debt the House of Markov owed the last host of the Earth Angel when it came to Tara was just too large to really calculate — he would be there for her no matter what. "I hope she wasn't affected by this."
Brion nodded. "Your clone twin. The one who actually loved Garfield here." He then cursed himself for speaking out like that in front of the poor man. "I apologise, my friend. I didn't mean to bring up such painful memories. I took hope she is well."
"Well, if Ataru and Negako got her back to Yiziba on time, she stood a chance," Garfield stated. "But that was right before all our memories got blanked out. I hope someone's already cooking up a way to deliver some payback to the bastards that did this to us."
"Most likely, it'll be led by Hermione Granger," Tara stated as she closed her eyes. "She's got the brains to figure it out and all the memories of all the crap the purebloods at Hogwarts unleashed on her over the last few years to drive her. God help those poor schmucks if Minamoto Chikaru got her hands on them." A shudder.
Brion and Garfield blinked. "I do not recall that one," the former confessed.
"The Night Raven. She's the second-darkest of the Cosmic Mage Guild," Tara explained. "She's a third-year — she should be a third-year — high school student at Saint Lulim Girl's School on Astraea Hill near the monastery the Moroboshi Clan have always vowed they would protect. One of the girls that rogue band of Dire Wraiths attacked before Ataru gave them all the soulsword." A hum as both men blanched on hearing of the dark race of alien magical shape-shifters that had been pursued by a great spaceknight from the planet Galador named Rom to Earth to finally bring a two-century war to an end some years before. "There was an Earth magical there involved, but I never got the whole story from Ataru about what happened. But given her power, I doubt Chikaru — if she got her metaphysical claws on the creeps that did this to us — would let them live."
"Haven't thought of old Silver-Britches for a long time now," Garfield mused. "I wonder how the guy's doing. Him being all alone on Galador now…"
"The woman from that West Virginia town who was attracted to him all along is there with him, Garfield," Brion stated. "I'm sure Rom is happy."
A knock echoed at the door. "Miss Markova?"
"It's open," Tara called out.
The door opened to reveal a smiling corporal of the Specialised Warfare Regiment of Canada. She — like the flight crew and other personnel from the unit that had been assigned to transport all the metahumans from the Watchtower to Japan — was dressed in the Winter Arctic version of the Canadian Forces CADPAT camouflage pattern combat clothing. "We just received a signal from Windtalker. She's currently in Tomobiki right now putting out your paramour's true story to the public media. She asked that when we arrive, you agree to an interview under normal security protocols."
A nod. "Tell Kazumi I'll do it," Tara stated.
"Yes, ma'am." The corporal then perked. "Oh, Colonel Mills asked us to advise all of you that if there was any element of the Regiment involved in what happened to Mister Moroboshi and all of you, you'll be asked to attend whatever courts-martial will be organised to give testimony." As the others nodded, she added, "We'll be over Japan in two hours. There are box lunches in the main hold if you're hungry."
"Freshly-cooked?" Garfield asked.
A grin. "Always, Mister Logan!"
"Please tell your chefs that we're grateful, Corporal," Brion stated.
"Your Highness!"
Everyone turned as a male sergeant came in. "What is it?!" Brion asked.
The sergeant bowed his head to the crown prince of Markovia, and then handed him a folded sheet of paper. "From the Observation Unit in Tōkyō. Just detected right now and passed on by the watch supervisor with his complements, sir."
"Thank you," Brion stated as he took the message in hand, and then he opened it to scan the typed text there. A second later, he gaped. "Oh, my…"
"What?!" Garfield and Tara gasped together.
He looked at them. "Victoria has returned."
Garfield blinked as if he had just been punched in the gut, and then he looked down. "Vicki…?" he breathed out before sensing Tara's hand on his shoulder.
The mercenary smirked. "Looks like crazy guys get their dreams after all…"
Two months prior to the First Tag Race…
"VICKI!"
Her mouth filling with blood, the clone of Tara Markova — to tell them apart, the clone from the future switched the given and middle names around to "Victoria Tara Markova" — nearly choked as the shuddering man in the black-and-gold bodysuit drew back his hand from making the penetrating blow through her lower chest and out her spine. As Black Adam breathed hard, Victoria — who also called herself "Terra" as she had permission from her sister/genetic donor to do so — felt herself fall back as she slipped off the rock she had levitated into the sky to try to calm the rampaging First Champion of Shazam down. "Wh-why…?" she moaned out.
Instantly, Changeling transformed into a large hawk as he flew into the air to catch the falling Terra as the other Titans sprang into action. "MURDERER!" Starfire screamed out as she unleashed her most powerful star bolts at the five millennia-old Egyptian warrior that had struck her friend down. "HOW DARE YOU…?!"
"Koriand'r. Cease."
Starfire stopped as her eyes widened on hearing that toneless voice. "Lady Negako…" she whispered with both awe and dread as she gazed around for where the sister of the funny man who had helped so many in the past could be.
"Teth-Adam."
The fallen Champion of Shazam snarled. "Who…?!"
"You have abused the gifts Shazam gave you. For the FINAL time."
Reaching out with his clairvoyance — the Wisdom of Zehuti — Black Adam then turned, his fist cocking as he moved to strike down the person now threatening him.
But unlike many others, he had no idea what he was facing…
"KONTŌ!"
A burning golden sword lashed out to punch into his head…
…and then lightning fell for the last time!
"I heard."
Garfield perked on hearing that voice with its ever-present contradictions — the deep tones of a mature man mixed with the speech patterns of a teenager not that much older than he or Tara — and then he turned to gaze on the World's Mightiest Mortal. "Yeah," the shape-shifted stated as Billy Batson — in the adult body moulded in the image of his late father C.C. Batson, draped in the red-and-gold uniform of Captain Marvel — reached over to squeeze his shoulder in a show of support. While it was still rather hard for many people to get used to the fact that this being — a magical counterpart to Superman himself with roughly the same level of powers — had been a CHILD when he had been given the incredible Gift of the Gods by the late wizard Shazam, Garfield really liked Billy Batson deep down as a friend and infrequent fighting ally. "Guess that they found some way to heal her from what Black Adam did…"
"Unfortunately, it was impossible to tell by our hosts' friends in Japan if Victoria is Gifted or not," Brion stated as he scanned the message the sergeant had given him, and then he handed it to Tara. "Then again, when you were merged with the power of Landslide after you met Ataru in Africa, sister, there were few differences."
"In powers, not really any difference at all. I'm betting she merged with Landslip when she took a dive into the Crystal." A sigh. "In personality, a lot," Tara warned. "According to this, she's wearing the uniform she got from me when she and her friends came up from that future where Donna's and Terry's son went crazy and called himself 'Lord Chaos' because of all the gifts Donna got from the Titans of Myth."
A shudder ran through her as she tried not to imagine what Victoria — a twin sister in one regard, a daughter in another to Tara — had lived through with her own team of Titans in that bleak future timeline, one sealed off by the Weaver when Lord Chaos had come back in time to ensure his future would be the real one. The battle — which had dragged in the Goddess Who Walked Amongst Men and the Mistress of Time and Space since there was a clone of Moroboshi Ataru's would-be girlfriend involved in this — had been swift and brutal, finished off when Kasuga Ayumu, after copying the knowledge of how to create a soulsword from Ataru, used it on Donna's and Terry's then-newborn son to burn away the mystic influences of the ancient gods of Greece from Robert Long's body and soul. Then — as Lord Chaos felt his own powers being torn from him thanks to the clash of conflicting timelines — Suzumiya Haruhi banished him into a pocket limbo where he would waste away and die.
For the members of the "Team Titans" — atop the soon-to-be-renamed Victoria Markova, there was Charles Watkins (Kilowat), Miriam Delgato (Mirage), Carrie Levine (Redwing), her brother Jonathan (Prestor Jon), Alexander Lyons (Battalion) and David Dagon (Nightrider) — seeing the monster that had haunted their lives turned into a sobbing wreck without any powers at all thanks to the Weaver and Infinity had been sweet justice indeed.
Especially since Haruhi then used her powers to "merge" the seven travellers from the future into the "main" reality, giving them true families and homes for the first time since they had elected to come together to stand against Lord Chaos.
Of course, for Garfield Logan, encountering a version of Tara Markova who would fall head-over-heels for him as they worked together over the following months had been quite confusing to say the least of it. Especially whenever Garfield had slipped and called Victoria by her sister's name…which made him feel like a total jerk because he still pined for a girl who had done her darn best to keep a distance from him because of events years before in Africa. Fortunately for him, Victoria had been more than patient with him, showing she would wait for him to work things out within his own heart before they would properly solidify their relationship in earnest.
Black Adam had nearly destroyed that.
But now…
"Hey, Sarge!"
The sergeant, who had waited patiently outside the cabin door while the three heroes and the mercenary had discussed the second Terra, perked. "Yes, Mister Logan?"
"Kazumi's got a personal comm-link. Can this ship's comm unit tap into it?"
A smile. "Right this way," he said as he waved Garfield with him…
Tomobiki…
"Ah! It's Victoria-san! Victoria-san!"
Hearing that cheerful greeting from Prodigy, the second Terra — her sister had guessed right about her being gifted with the powers of Landslide's twin, Landslip — turned before she grinned as the cheerful child genius of Azuma High School walked over to her; the woman calling herself Victoria Markova when she was out of her costume had just teleported in from Yiziba directly. "Chiyo-chan!" she called out as Prodigy hugged her; she knew that the young genius would have put up a special notice-me-not field around her to ensure private conversations. She had also seen the Academician nearby with the other girls from Sweet Valley; the woman born Elizabeth Wakefield would have done something similar. "Whoa! You're still short!"
"HEY!" Prodigy snapped as she glared at the other woman. "BE NICE!"
Terra II chuckled as she waved her hands in a peaceful gesture. She then perked on sensing someone approaching from the shadows. "Hey, Kazumi-chan," she said as she turned to see a woman in urban camouflage walk up to her, her handy mega-video camera at the ready. The cloned geo-kinetic then blinked. "Who's the ghost?"
Asakura Kazumi — Windtalker — chuckled as she gazed fondly on Aisaka Sayo. "She's the one that's been haunting Negi-kun's class for the last few decades. I got the spot right next to hers when I got assigned to the class." She then reached down to squeeze her friend's hand; thanks to a recent trip to a magical pocket dimension, Sayo had gained the ability to possess a solid body even if she still looked like a ghost (her hair being silver in lieu of the natural black hair she possessed when she was still alive). The metahuman current events reporter then began introductions.
"I'm pleased to meet you, Victoria-san," Sayo then said as she bowed to Terra, who bowed in return. "Kazumi-san told me so much about you. Are you REALLY from a future ruled by some mad kami whose mother once worked with your sister Tara-san?"
"I am, Sayo-san," Terra answered. "Now that I'm pretty much back on my feet thanks to the Crystal that turned Onē-san into Landslide, I'll probably have to change my battle-name. After all, having two Terras would get pretty confusing after a while."
"Is Ataru-san alright?" Prodigy asked.
A nod. "Wyszynski-hakase delivered him right to Negako-sama so she could look in on him. When I left to come back here, Negako-sama said he'll be fine."
Windtalker and Prodigy both breathed out, as did Caltrop (who was keeping an eye on them from her position at the front gate of Tomobiki High School). "Well, your friends should be happy you're up and around," the metahuman reporter then mused. "Kind of a pity about Black Adam, but what can you do about a guy like that? Five thousand years of hate and anger — even if he was trying to be a face — had to go somewhere."
A sad nod. "Yeah, that's true. I don't take joy in what happened to him," Terra said.
"No one should," Prodigy affirmed with a nod, and then she perked. "Oh, forgot! Tara-san and all the others are coming here now from the Watchtower!"
Terra and Windtalker gaped. "And the Men In Black aren't going crazy over it?!" the former then demanded. "Especially after what they did to Ataru-san…?!"
"Well, according to Dumbledore-kōchōsensei, it wasn't set policy with the Special Committee. And they were helped by the International Confederation of Wizards. Probably because of what happened to Harry-san when he became the Warlock," Prodigy advised, and then she perked as she felt something close by. "Who…?"
"Just me," a growling and mannish — yet clearly female — voice called out.
They turned to look, instantly recognising Fujinami Ryūnosuke from all the reports that had leaked out from Tomobiki over the last year or so. But this Ryūnosuke…
"Um…didn't I once heard that Ataru-kun would NEVER help a girl from Tomobiki be Gifted!" Windtalker then asked on noting that the teashop owner's "son" that was one of Ataru's classmates was in the brown-and-grey fur-lined skin-tight jumpsuit of Carcajou.
A smirk. "I wasn't livin' in Tomobiki at the time Ataru met me. Back then, I lived at my old man's old teashop on the Kujūkuri Beach," Carcajou — her best-known power was that she had the ability to create energy claws to cover her fingers that could slice through anything right up to most forms of mesonium and non-natural neutronium — said as she winked at the metahuman reporter. "I was one of Ataru's first ones."
"Oh!" the other girls chimed out.
"Hey, darlin'! You woke up finally!"
"Hey, Logan-san!" Carcajou said as Wolverine — now in his black-trimmed yellow "hunter's clothing" with mask — came up to join them. "I got my memories back as soon as Wyszynski-hakase woke Ataru up. But I had to deal with Oyaji first." A disgusted groan then escaped her. "Not to mention my so-called 'fiancé!'"
The former Canadian special agent perked. Given the similarity of their abilities — like Wolverine, Carcajou had fantastic recuperative powers though her skeleton hadn't been artificially reinforced; her powers were all ki-based — meeting the transformed Fujinami Ryūnosuke had been like meeting a lost sister he never knew he had. And while he did know of the stubborn idiot the poor girl had to call a father, he hadn't known about her actually getting engaged to marry someone. Then — as he remembered the sarcastic note in Carcajou's voice — he then shook his head. "Screwed up like you were?"
"Yeah! And a fuckin' GHOST atop that!" The raven-haired scrapper then perked before she gazed apologetically at Sayo. "Sorry about that, Sayo-chan!"
The pale woman blushed. "No need to apologise, Ryūnosuke-san."
Suddenly, the ground rumbled. Hearing that, Wolverine and Carcajou sighed. "He don't give up, don't he?" the former then snarled as his fist clenched.
"FUJINAMI RYŪNOSUKE! WHAT SORT OF MAN ARE…?!"
SNICKT!
"You got a problem, bub?" Wolverine asked after popping out the two outer claws of his right arm to catch Fujinami Fujimi on the chin before he could try to hit his "son."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
And then…
Chuckling in embarrassment, the fisherman/teashop owner quick backed away as we…
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(Posted Sat, 17 Mar 2012 03:50)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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