"Lobo…"
As Lum's Stormtroopers all gaped on hearing the Last Czarnian's name, they then perked as the front door of the Moroboshi home opened, revealing Tomobiki's most infamous — if actually quite UNWILLING! — resident in an off-grey jumpsuit with black tiger stripes on his arms and legs. Following him was a woman that the onlookers were quick to recognise as Phoenix of the X-Men, though she was in a uniform similar to that being worn by the man now calling himself Hoko. "Are you sure about this, Ataru?" the woman born Jean Grey then asked as he walked through the front gate.
"Of COURSE I'm sure, Sensei!" he snapped. "Believe me, I KNOW the feelings I get from people I'm empathically bonded to! Terra's in trouble and I'm going after her!"
The other Yizibajohei there all tensed. "What about Terra?" Soul Searcher demanded.
A sigh. "We can add a new group to the list of idiots that decided to play with all our minds, So-chan," Ataru explained. "The Cult of Manhunters!"
"WHAT?!" Wildflower snapped.
"It's true, Shinobu!" her childhood friend stated. "Turns out that the woman who gave Terra's half-brother Geo-Force his powers is a human member of the Cult! She ran into her just before our memories were blanked out and discovered her having the Gift that made her Landslide!" A shake of the head as he sneered out, "And she just couldn't allow that to happen! Something to do with some project the Guardians of the Universe are involved in! Terra was supposed to be part of it, but I didn't get details…"
"So what?!" Carcajou snarled. "The Manhunters are fuckin' rustin' away and have been for thousands of years! One good fight scene'll clean 'em all out! Why the fuck would some idiot here on Earth want to follow THEM, for Heaven's sake?!"
"I don't know! But they ARE here and one of them completely warped Terra's mind, Ryū-chan!" Ataru said. "Made her into what she could have become hadn't I encountered her after she nearly got RAPED in middle school!" As people around him gasped on hearing that Moroboshi Ataru had actually saved a girl from being raped, he sighed. "I'm going after her. She's mixed up with the H.I.V.E. and Deathstroke for some reason."
"You ain't goin' alone, kid."
Eyes locked on Wolverine. "Why?" Ataru asked.
A sigh. "We teamed up with the Titans once about four months ago when Darkseid tried to turn Phoenix here — or the lady we THOUGHT was Phoenix! — into something that could have helped him transform Earth into a second Apokolips," the Canadian hunter stated as he thumbed Phoenix before he smirked. "When that version of her became Dark Phoenix, that should'a warned us all that something was WAY OFF with her."
"They're our friends, Ataru," Phoenix added. "If they're in trouble, we're helping."
Hearing that, Ataru nodded. "Okay…"
"Ataru, there's something you need to know."
He gazed at Albus Dumbledore. "What is it, Kōchō-sensei?"
"A friend of yours, a fellow named Nassur from a planet named Vos, just arrived," the headmaster of Hogwarts reported. "He's here to persuade Lum to go back home. If she doesn't agree to this, Lobo will be summoned to deal with her. I don't think…"
"Kōchō-sensei, I don't have TIME for Lum!" Ataru snapped. "If she can't see what she's doing wrong here, nothing I can say now will make her change her mind!"
"ATARU! HOW DARE YOU…?!"
SNICKT!
"You got a problem, bub?" Wolverine snarled.
As Megane — who was now caught by two of the Canadian's claws now pressing at the sides of his face — tried not to piss himself, Ataru shook her head. "I'll deal with Lum as soon as I know Terra's safe and okay," he then told Dumbledore before he gazed on Warlock. "You mind keeping an eye on things while I'm gone, man?"
"Have fun," the leader of the Cosmic Mage Guild stated with a nod…
The Redet Glory, minutes later…
"Where are they going, Nassur-cha?"
Nassur sighed. "I'm not too fluent in their adopted language, Ten-cha, but by the way they were acting, it seems that one of the girls that Ataru helped to get a Gift might be in serious trouble." He peered down through his macro-binoculars at the front lawn of the Moroboshi home; Rampage, Cremisi and Shadow Weaver had all teleported down to join Ataru, half of the Azuma Gang, the Tomobiki natives who were now metas and the X-Men so they could be teleported out by Infinity. "Whoever it is, I hope she's okay."
"Where?! Where's Darling going, Nassur?!"
"I don't know, Lum," the expat Vosian stated as he stared at Lum. "And you're not going anywhere beyond this city. You don't have any right to do that."
"NASSUR!" the Oni warlord's daughter then shrieked. "DARLING'S MY…!"
"STUPEFY!"
A bolt of energy slammed into Lum, knocking her out. "Good God!" a strange voice then wondered as the others in the room spun around to see the cloaked man by the main door. "What on Earth's the matter with this girl? Does she have a death-wish?!"
"Who are you?!" Invader snapped as he moved to loom over the Warlock.
"STUPEFY!"
Another stun bolt slammed into him, knocking him out. The transformed Harry Potter then turned to glare at Rupa and Carla. "Care to be foolish today?" he asked.
Both of them rapidly shook their heads. "Wow!" Ten breathed out…
The Rocky Mountains in Colorado (local time: mid-afternoon)…
"Oh, my God…oh, my God…oh, my God…what have I done…?"
The sixteen year-old teenager with the bob-cut blonde hair, the now tear-filled blue eyes and the slight overbite was on her knees in front of a handy toilet, which she had been forced to go to when the sudden onslaught of returned memories — not to mention a precious empathic bond with a man she had loved with all her heart and soul before SHE had come to totally destroy her life — caused her to upchuck her lunch. Fortunately, she had been in the guest quarters that the H.I.V.E. had offered her when she had come here with her partner after delivering all of the Titans save Richard Grayson into the hands of the young terrorist organisation when the memories of her having been the Sculptor of Granite, Landslide, had come crashing back into the conscious mind of the woman born Tara Victoria Markova (or "Tara Markov" as she was known in America).
Taking a deep breath as she staggered back to her feet, the young geo-kinetic and illegitimate daughter of the late King of Markovia and an American CIA operative who had become his mistress years before — and had died giving birth to their only child — walked over to a sink to fill a glass of water before she drank it to rehydrate her body; the nausea and vomiting had been bad. After a couple more glasses to keep her stomach calm, Terra — she did like the new name for herself even if she was, deep in her heart, still a Terran-turned-Yizibajohei with the battle-name "Landslide" — turned to look at herself in the mirror. Noting that one of the spy-camera contact lenses she wore had slipped away from her left iris, Terra immediately moved to slip them both out. They didn't hamper her vision — they had been designed by one of Slade Wilson's many mercenary friends to be as invisible as possible — but she knew when the shit started flying, one good blast of dust in either of her eyes could easily cripple her.
If she — much less the former American Special Forces soldier known throughout the underworld as Deathstroke the Terminator — was going to get out of here ALIVE…!
«Tara?»
She perked. Ataru?! she called back mentally.
«Hey, cutie!» that playful man's voice echoed in her mind, which instantly made the illegitimate daughter of the late king of Markovia swoon as she recalled wonderful nights at a country cabin under a blue-white star. «Problem?»
Yeah, BIG one! she replied. Fuckin' Helga Jace couldn't stand the fact that I'd become a Yizibajohei…and since she's a fuckin' MANHUNTER CULTIST…!
«Don't you worry your pretty head about her, Tara-chan,» Ataru thought back in a voice that nearly made Terra's heart turn to mush and her body heat up in all the right places. «I'll get Onē-san to have a 'chat' with here before she causes your brother and his friends problems.»
Terra smirked; unleashing Moroboshi Negako on a normal person — she doubted the famous geneticist was a disguised Manhunter android, but even if she was, it wouldn't matter in the end — was a serious case of overkill. Where are you, Ataru?!
«Right now, we're on a mountainside outside this little beehive you're in,» a new voice called into her mind. «We just spotted Robin — new costume and new name, of course — and a friend nearby. Looks like they're here to help rescue the other Titans.»
Mizuhara?! Terra gasped. Who the hell came with you?!
«We did.»
Terra blinked, and then she smirked. You're one of us now, Phoenix?
«In body, yes,» the woman born Jean Grey answered. «It's a long story, Tara. Relax yourself and calm down…but get ready. We're crashing the party.»
A smirk. Have fun, the geo-kinetic replied, and then she took a deep breath before she gazed at herself in the mirror. She then blinked on noting the earrings she had hooked on her lobes, plus the gawky lipstick and the eye shadow she had painted onto her face. "Holy fuck! What the hell was the matter with me?!" she hissed out before she gazed down at herself…and then she gaped. "Oh, my God…why am I wearing THIS?!"
A knock echoed from the door. "Tara?"
Terra jolted before she moved to slip off her mask. "C'mon in, Slade!"
The door opened to reveal a man dressed in black, dark blue and neon orange, his one-eyed hood covering his head. "Are you alright?" the man born Slade Wilson asked.
A sigh. "I am now," she admitted as she moved to take off her earrings.
Hearing the cold cant in her voice — ever since he hooked up with the half-Markovian teenage assassin who had done a job he himself refused a couple years ago, Deathstroke had long come to note that Terra always seemed to speak with a powerful hint of malice in her voice; he had always suspected her to be clinically insane, but had ignored it as she was a very vital part in his plan to avenge his late son and honour the contract taken with the H.I.V.E. — he then blinked. "What happened to you?"
"Oh, nothing. Everything. Just woke up to the fuckin' fact that my brain was twisted around by a woman who's a fuckin' lapdog to a bunch of rusty old robots that used to work for the Guardians of the Universe," Tara answered as she moved to unzip her sleeved one-piece fighting uniform and slip it off. "Now, where's my…ah!" she then called out as she noted the small carryall bag she had brought with her when she and Deathstroke had brought the Titans to this base from New York City. "Is it there…?" she asked as she moved to open it, ignoring the fact that her partner could now see all her teenage assets; Tara Markova was no Jessica Wakefield, but she was still quite well-developed in all the right places. "Ah!" she then called out as she pulled out a simple diamond bracelet. "Fuckin' something going right…!"
She then stopped as she glared at him. "Do you MIND, Slade?!" she then demanded.
Deathstroke gargled on hearing that — they had been intimate before since she had come to America to help him with the H.I.V.E. contract, though his own sensibilities had stopped him from going all the way with her — and then he quickly turned away…
Some distance away…
"You're fuckin' KIDDING me!" Carcajou hissed.
"No joke," Soul Searcher stated as she gazed down at the golden dome nestled in a valley about three hundred metres away. The Azuma Gang, their friends from Tomobiki and the X-Men were hidden behind a cliff well away from any outer guards. "When she got her hands on Tara-chan, Jace-hakase totally warped her into the perfect teenage psychopath. No doubt, the bitch found out about Tara-chan being Yizibajohei…"
"And the Manhunters have never liked us because our first-selves kicked their metal asses off Yiziba when the Dawn of Power came," Cremisi growled. "Not to mention put them down every time they came back to try to conquer us."
"Or tried to seize the Crystal to use against the Guardians," Prodigy added; she was now scanning the base with a tricorder-like device that she had modelled on something she had seen in Star Trek - The Next Generation. "I got about a thousand here…"
Her voice then trailed off. "What?" Caltrop asked.
A sigh. "Dire Wraiths, Kagura-san. About four hundred of them."
Silence.
"Oh, flamin' HELL!" Wolverine snarled. "We don't need THEM here!"
"Why are they here?!" Cyclops demanded.
"What the hell d'ya think, One-Eye?!" the Canadian hunter snarled. "They've been infiltratin' their way onto Earth since the Second World War! Joinin' up with a pack of crooks like these H.I.V.E. jokers is par for the course for those critters!"
"I can sniff them out," Carcajou then said. "Even if they're disguised, the stench of the fragment of the Shadow Sun they stole all those years ago will still be all over them." She then gazed at Prodigy. "Chiyo-chan, can you help Michi see them, too?"
"Hai!" the young genius from Nakano said with an eager nod.
"We should be able to sense them as well, Jean," Marvel Girl stated.
Phoenix nodded; her other-self had been the first to learn the truth about a certain cyborg warrior from a planet named Galador when the X-Men had been sent to a small West Virginia town named Clairton to find a powerful mutant two months ago. In doing so, they ultimately discovered a horrifying threat to all of humanity in the Dire Wraiths, a mutant off-shoot of the Skrulls who had tried to attack Galador two centuries before…only to be beaten back by a thousand brave young people who had given up their very HUMANITY to defeat them and chase them across the known Universe. And learned the traumatic personal story of the First of the Spaceknights of Galador who had come to Earth to remove the Wraith plague from their world, a quest that would — as the man born Rom hoped — take him home and reclaim what he had so willingly given up. "Agreed. Since Rom's not here, we'll have to be very lethal with them."
"Jean…" Cyclops breathed out.
"Scott, these things don't CARE about us," his girlfriend warned. "All they want is to merge their lost homeworld with ours. No different than what Darkseid tried to do."
He blinked under his visor, and then he nodded. "Call Robin…or whatever he calls himself now. Tell him we're here to help bail his friends out."
Phoenix nodded before she concentrated…
Nearby…
"Since I'm certain that's not the local McDonald's…"
«Dick?»
The newly-named Nightwing tensed. "Doctor Grey…?"
«Hi, Dick,» Phoenix's voice echoed in his mind and that of his companion's. «Seems your friends got themselves into a little spot of trouble. Want some help?»
"How many?" the man born Richard Grayson hissed out as Joseph Wilson — Jericho — gazed in confusion at the first partner of the Batman.
«Myself, Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Beast and my twin sister…» — Nightwing was quick to sense a touch of amusement in Phoenix's telepathic voice when she said that — «…who's taken up the mantle of Marvel Girl, my former battle-name. We brought some friends as well, including Rampage. Remember her?»
"Heard of her. The girl who dealt with the Indonesian tsunami four years ago?"
«Same one,» a new voice cut in, one Nightwing didn't recognise. «Just relax your mind, Dick-kun. Let the information enter you so we don't end up hurting each other.»
He relaxed…and then his eyes widened in shock. A glance to Jericho revealed that the mute younger son of Deathstroke was just as horrified. "Oh, my God…!"
«Yeah,» Soul Searcher replied. «Ataru-kun's here to see to Tara-chan…who IS on the side of the angels now that she has her memories and true powers back. So if any of your friends tries to take it out of her hide for what happened to them, they'll be discussing the matter with him personally. Friendly warning, Dick-kun.»
Miss, there's something else here, isn't there? Jericho thought out…which Nightwing had "heard" thanks to the Japanese telepath's powers.
«Unfortunately so, Joseph-kun. You better brace yourself…»
And the knowledge came in…
Inside the base…
"Okay, you can look now."
Deathstroke — who had slipped off his hood to reveal the silver-haired head of Lieutenant-Colonel Slade J. Wilson, U.S. Army (retired) — turned to look…and then he nodded. "Very nice," he said as a touch of a grin crossed his face.
"Yeah, I needed a change," Tara Markova said as she finished adjusting the belt on her Yizibajohei-pattern jumpsuit. Coloured in the same soft gold-and-earth brown tones as her "Titans" uniform, it had the sigil of a rockslide etched over her left breast in a circle. She also wore brown buccaneer boots as her trousers were skin-tight; her sleeves were still loose so she could stash weapons where she could get her hands on them. All of it had come from the bracelet she now had around her left wrist. "I'll explain later, Slade," she then said as she gave him a warning look, one that seemed to reflect a level of maturity that he had NEVER seen in her before. "Let's go."
He nodded as he moved to slip on his hood. "It better be good."
"It will be," she smirked as she reached into a pouch on her belt and pulled out a cigarillo. "Damn! To believe I was smokin' cheap cigarettes!" With that, she bit off the tip, then turned to light it up. "C'mon. Let's go watch the fireworks."
Deathstroke's eyebrow arched as move to walk out, though his mind was now running a mile a minute as he tried to figure out who the hell was this total STRANGER that had taken the place of his partner! "What fireworks?" he then asked.
"Dick Grayson's here," Terra said as she gazed at him. "He's got a friend with him. Didn't catch a name or a battle-name. Some of my friends are here, too."
His eye went VERY wide. "WHAT friends?!"
A wink as a devil-may-care smile — which actually made the elder mercenary relax on noticing something NORMAL about the young assassin — crossed her face. "Trust me. You'll recognise them when you see them. Oh, PLEASE…don't shoot them, Slade. They got very low tolerances for people with itchy trigger fingers." She then smirked. "And the X-Men are here, too. Damn, this is gonna be one hot fight scene!"
"Er…?"
She then opened the door and walked out into the hallway, winking at him. As he watched her go, he shook his head. I'm getting too old for this…! he mused as he walked out into the hallway behind her, turning to head down towards the central chamber holding the Enervator and the five trapped young heroes that Deathstroke and Terra had captured just a day before. Maybe I should go back to Africa…!
"Yizibajohei…!"
Terra tensed. "Eh…?" she breathed out as she turned…
"TARA! GET DOWN!" Deathstroke barked out as his power-staff came up.
"CHITŌ!"
Before the former American Army Special Forces officer could shoot down the three H.I.V.E. agents — who, for SOME reason, had snared VERY advanced weapons from their robes to aim at her — the young assassin literally created a burning CRUSADER SWORD out of her very own BODY to decapitate all three of them with one swing! As the dead bodies all dropped to the ground, Terra moved to put her back against a wall as she took a classical kendō defensive stance. Where the HELL did she learn THAT?! one part of Slade's mind demanded…before a terrible stench hit his nose. "What…?!"
"Dire Wraiths…?!"
He turned to gaze at Terra…before his good eye dropped down to the floor to gaze on the decapitated H.I.V.E. agents. All of whom were now literally MELTING into a foul-smelling dust as a hideous lizard-like hiss escaped them. "What on Earth…?"
"They're not FROM Earth, Slade!" Terra snarled. "Fuck! I knew we were in a shit sandwich here, but I never thought it was THIS bad! Yo, Mizuhara!" she then barked out to nowhere in particular. "Tell me that little brainiac Mihama's with you!"
A flash of light later, a pair of goggles landed in her free hand. «One pair of special goggles meant to detect disguised Dire Wraiths, coming right up,» Soul Searcher's voice called back as Terra slipped them on. «Have fun, Tara-chan!»
"Thanks!" Terra said as she dispersed her energy sword, and then she moved to adjust the goggles. "Okay, you little shape-changing worms! It's fight scene time!"
She raced off for the main hall, Deathstroke — who, while not fully realising what was going on here, had no choice but to trust Terra's words…especially after what she had just done to these whatever-they-were! — running after her…
Elsewhere in the complex…
"Alien parasites infiltrating us…this is just wonderful…"
As he moved to slip on the outer robes of the H.I.V.E. agent he just decked after making his way into the outer security zone of the base, Nightwing could only grimace as his mind ran through all the information Soul Searcher had fed into his mind. Dealing with the group calling itself the Hierarchy of International Vengeance and Extermination was bad enough. But dealing with said group — and said group was supported by ALIENS intent on enslaving all of Earth to their dark will…!
God! And I thought the whole damned business with Darkseid when he tried to target Phoenix was bad enough?! the former partner of the Dark Knight Detective mused as he nodded in appreciation as Jericho moved to possess another agent. "You okay?"
"Yeah…" the possessed agent mused as he moved to get back up. "Sorry. Mom should'a told you 'bout this when we met at your tower. I can possess folks who got conked…but can only talk usin' their words. Got it so far?"
A nod. "Yeah…"
«Relax, Joseph-kun. I'll keep his soul suppressed,» Soul Searcher promised.
"You're a doll, Yomi!"
Nightwing smirked as he slipped the hood on. He had heard of some of the people about to bash down the H.I.V.E.'s front doors in a few minutes. Rampage's actions off the coast of Indonesia — when she was a child of TWELVE! — had earned the attention of everyone from the Justice League to the Avengers, though attempts by many groups to seek her out to get her to join had failed. He had also heard of the remarkable pair of Warwind and Soul Searcher; what they had done to stop the rampage of the Hulk in Siberia two years ago had made worldwide news. And yes, he had heard of Infinity; what she had done to help the X-Men put down the mad mutant Proteus in Scotland was known to all.
And to believe…
"Ya okay?"
Nightwing tensed. "It's pretty shocking," he whispered.
"Yeah, I hear ya," Jericho quietly replied through the mouth of the agent he now possessed. "But it's gonna work out in the end. Tara knows now…"
A nod. "Gar's not going to like that."
"Huh? Changeling? Why?"
"He's got a HUGE crush on Tara."
A shudder. "Ouch! He's heading for Heartbreak Hotel, that's for…"
Suddenly, the whole base quaked violently, which nearly knocked the leader of the Titans and his new ally off their feet. "Damn! Looks like Tara's started the party!" Nightwing snapped. "C'mon, Jericho! Can't let her do it by herself!"
"Right!"
As they raced off…
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Fri, 06 Apr 2012 02:24)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.