It always begins with a Robin. After discovering the truth about his lineage and who his older brother really was, Matt Mcginnis became the new Robin and soon set out to create his own Titans team like Robins of the past. However, it was for all of the wrong reasons. When approaching his older brother at his apartment, Matt showed Terry his new suit. Terry insisted his brother stayed out of the superheroics, claiming it took more than good DNA. The last words out of his mouth would seal his brother's fate... "It would take a team of five or six of you to even take me on and stand a chance..." So Matt had a plan now: to find other young wannabe heroes, preferably with metahuman powers or some strange DNA of their own, and to unite against common threats. The latest Robin would go on to recruit five other heroes and their first mission was to prove themselves to the current Batman. Matt had no chance of taking on his more experienced brother, but when the other young heroes joined the fight it was a little more even playing field. Terry still took them all down, it just wasn't as easy as he thought.

After meeting with his team on a few occasions both in and out of school, a dark time came in the form of the villain Inque. Paid by another enemy who knew the secret identity of Batman, she killed Matt McGinnis before his career had even really began. When Terry found his brother lying lifeless on the floor of the makeshift HQ in an old rundown late 19th century arcade he lost it. He lashed out at the young heroes as if it was their fault in some way. None of them were even around when Inque showed up....

Batman would go on to take down Inque as well as her employer, Paxton Powers... aka the son of Blight and current CEO of Wayne/Powers Industries. After Batman took a few days to cool his head, upon Bruce's request, Terry contacted the young heroes who made up his brother's team. To honor him, Terry took it upon himself to train these new Titans.

One month later, while serving a sentence at Iron Heights, Paxton seemingly got into an accident that left him with metahuman powers of his own. His first target... the pet project of Batman: the Titans.



Rules:

1.) No back-to-back posting.

2.) PAY ATTENTION TO DETAIL AND SET-UPS!!

3.) Make sense. If we can't make heads or tails of your posts they're likely to get skipped over.

4.) Get permission before using another player's character in your posts if it involves changing the scene or making actions. Everybody will take beatings in this game in battle however, so don't get pissed if you get punched or blasted into a wall by the bad guys! Namely me controlling the badguys...

5.) Problems with the game or players should be sent directly to me through PM's. I don't want a bunch of bickering in the OOC.

6.) Abandoned characters will be used as NPC's or killed off within the context of the story.

7.) “I was waiting for [insert player/character] to make a move” is not how this game is played.

8.) There is no rule #8.

9.) My word is law.

10.) Obey the law.

11.) In the event that I'm offline for any period of time, the Co-GM [none atm] will take control and HIS/HER word will then be law.





He had been at it now for about an hour and a half. The training area was set in a deeper area of the larger room of the HQ. Z had set the holo-droids up for him earlier and he hadn't stopped. He turned into an ape. And then an elephant. A giant anaconda was probably the most terrifying. J was beginning to lose steam. He turned back into his human form and jogged towards the kitchen to grab a bottle of water.

"Has anybody heard from Batman? Know what time he'll be coming by tomorrow?" he asked out loud to nobody in particular. It was a Tuesday and Batman generally showed up for training on Wednesdays and Fridays.

There were a few members of the team staying at HQ. It had a lot to do with the fact some of them were homeless and had nowhere else to go. The twins thought the arcade topside was a good find since one old video game, Maximum Force, had an independent power source built into it some time after the 2020's. When they moved down into the bunker the arcade game came with them. After walking to his and his brothers quarters to change into some regular clothes he walked out to the mementos area where the arcade was located.

"Anybody wanna take the red gun?" he shouted back picking up the player one blue gun attached to the arcade set-up by a cord. There were two pedals under the gun stand and screen for dodging in and out of gunfire. He began the game as a cop in 90's Los Angeles stopping a bank robbery.

A newscast came over the large monitor in the back end of the HQ suddenly.

"...ust in! A gang of Jokerz have just taken Judge Conroy hostage at the Autism Charity Benefit this evening in the Gotham Harbor. They abducted he and his wife on a large fishing boat it appears and are keeping the authorities back with dynamite being thrown by one of the clowns. This is Pepper Patterson reporting..."

"Coming up, sports with Brian Dudeman." said the news anchor before the cast went to commercials.

-00492

Gloria, Heather, Hannah, Ace, Jessica, Reaper, and now Katty. They were all just names, people she used to be, people that maybe she could be again. Katty looked herself over in the mirror of the Titan bunker's locker room. She was a lot closer to being Gloria now than she had been in a long time. Her hair was blonde again, something she's vehemently avoided for years, using an offshoot of splicer technology to change it to everything from black to neon blue. Sighing Katty retrieved her cloak from the locker and pulled the hood up, casting her face into shadow. The only time she didn't wear it was when she was training in the gym or had to take on a civilian identity. She wasn't even really sure why anymore. Years ago it had been to protect herself from being recognized but she'd grown and matured so much since then that it was barely a consideration anymore. Maybe she just liked the threatening gleam the shadows gave to the angles of her face. The rest of her suit was stored on a mannequin in the training area but she kept the cloak with her.

Katty left the locker room but paused in front of the glass case that contained the uniform of the former Boy Wonder. Katty had liked Robin. He was good and kind and trusting. All the things that Katty wasn't. He was smart too and he knew how to fight even if he did lead with his emotions more than was wise. Katty had had a feeling things wouldn't end well for Robin. He was too angry. Angry at Batman for... something and angry at the world. He had good intentions but Katty hadn't gotten the sense that he knew what he was getting into. What it would really mean to reform the Teen Titans. The only thing that really bothered her about Robin was that she never knew who he was under the uniform. She never knew his name. But she was working on that.

Katty heard #1, the Wonder Twin with the animal powers ask about Batman as he started up one of the arcade games that he and #2 had brought down. She assumed that he'd liberated that machine because it was the only one with an independent power source. Katty smiled inwardly at that. Not long after she'd taken up residence in the Titan bunker she'd hooked the arcade on top of the building into the city's power supply so she could use the machines upstairs. It sounded impressive but it was a fairly simple matter. The arcade was in Gotham's Historical District. It was supposedly a testament to the past of Gotham but in reality it was a district of burned out decaying buildings from the late twentieth century that hadn't be touched or upgraded in the last forty years. The only upside to that was the power grid that ran through the area was from that era. It was easier to tap into it than changing the power cell on a vid player. A lot of the abandoned buildings with occupants in the area did the same thing and since most of the time the biggest thing they were powering was the kitchen appliances the rise in output was barely noticed by the city. Katty had had a similar setup in the old gym she'd lived in before this place. Though even she knew that it was more a testament to how little the outer districts of Neo Gotham was cared about than it was her own skill. Still there was something appealing about the "retro" games, especially the ones with primitive tactile interfaces. She was rather fond of Time Crisis. The movement and noise helped her think.

As for Batman, he would probably arrive in the late hours of the day shortly before nightfall. Not that The Batman was that predictable but Katty had noticed that he usually reserved the nights for his solo crime fighting and he very rarely appeared during the day. Some would say that was because he inspired the most fear in criminals in the shadows but Katty thought it much more likely that he had a nine to five, or maybe post secondary education that demanded his attention. Katty's best estimation of his age was around twenty one, give or take eight months.

Speaking of the Batman, Katty's eyes drifted to the human sized playing card emblazoned with a spade, which was preserved in glass next to the Robin uniform. Katty had been wondering about it since Batman had taken over the team. The Royal Flush gang notoriety and ten minutes at a computer terminal were enough to find the identity of the villain that had owned the card. That identity generated more questions for Katty than it answered.

As she was thinking this one of her other teammates walked by, The Red Arrow. He wouldn't tell them his real name so Katty just called him Red. The fact that he kept his identity a secret didn't surprise her, Batman hadn't exactly surrendered his identicard but it did intrigue her. People didn't conceal facts unless they had something to lose. She knew the names of the Wonder Twins because they had literally nothing left but each other so it didn't matter. She'd hidden her birth name because it would cost her credibility and probably her spot on the team if her past was discovered and she'd surrendered the name Catherine Walker on her current identicard for the same reason, it wasn't tied to anything and it wasn't worth anything. If Red Arrow felt the need to conceal his name especially from those who he'd trust with his life it meant that it was tied to something or someone that he valued quite a lot. Katty had an educated guess about his identity, mostly it was influenced by his name and that he didn't hide the fact that he was a legacy hero. It was likely that he was the son of the first Green Arrow's protege who'd in later years gone by the name Arsenal. It was however just a theory. Katty had more research to do before she could say definitively who was under Red's hood.

As Red Arrow passed by Katty grabbed his arm and spun him to face her then she stepped back to look at the case with the playing card in it. "Thoughts?" she ran her tongue over her teeth as she often did when she was thinking. "What was so special about Ten that he'd display her card in the same place as the uniform of the deceased Boy Wonder?"

It hadn't even been all that long since Jonathan had entered the bunker. Back in the day, as far as he knew, the Titans had been something of a more overt team. His uncle had told him stories. He couldn't help but wonder if the man he'd once called Uncle Roy was okay. He knew he had a past and he was a bit distraught when he'd last seen Jonathan. He had been planning on going ahead and using the training area and a few holo-bots, but J had kind of taken over the space. So he'd been left to room. In that time he'd taken to checking out some of the wiring and defenses of their safe haven. After all, the boy hadn't been able to learn all of the functions of the computer and couldn't quite control it, but the basic systems weren't very much different from his own. It was still interesting just how advanced it all really was. It brought some many questions to mind.

Who was backing this Bat? Sure Jonathan had a number of theories based on some of the stories of the past, told to him by Grandpa Ollie before his passing. Not to mention Data files he'd recovered and taken control of after Pops had begun helping him build his little Den. That what he'd decided to call it. The Den. He'd considered the Quiver, but that was quite annoying to say and that didn't seem cool at all. Besides, if he'd ever decided not to use the name Arrow... Well he didn't wanna think about that. As far as he'd come in the past few years, it still hurt to think about his legacy and lives of the people lost when when it did come up. His mom and dad were gone because of this legacy. It was probably why he'd chosen red. Green was too painful.

Still, Jonathan was looking forward. Here was an opportunity unlike any other he'd ever had. He wasn't about to let it slip away. Training from Batman. With a team. Sure, he was almost positive he was the youngest of the bunch. A whopping 16 years old and most likely to be booted for "safety" reasons, but he was hoping to solidify his place on the team before that became a problem. Even more so, there was John. God forbid his secret got out and the man who'd taken care of him, trained him, protected him the last 9 years had been put in danger.

I mean, I know where I get my funds. And I know how I got my suit. But... Jonathan's thoughts trailed off as he continued to try and piece together the puzzle. Thinking of his suit he looked down at his uniform. Various shades of red and yellow, along with some black. His headpiece, together with the goggles (for lack of a better word when describing the ocular lenses), concealed his identity fairly well and it was equipped with a fair amount of the best tech and armor he could get his hands on; even if it didn't quite measure up to the bat suit of tomorrow. Then there was everyone else. At first Robin had offered to outfit everybody. Simple stuff. He clearly wasn't a millionaire in disguise since he couldn't really get the new Titans all the bells and whistles. I would have offered but... He sighed and shook his head.

J had finished using the training area, which meant it was free to go. Jonathan, as Red Arrow, could get a little session in. At least that was the plan before he heard J offer the second controller for his and Z's favorite arcade game. Jonathan didn't like it all that much. Generally the calibration was off enough to screw with his aim. It was pretty annoying knowing that while everyone else got to be a crack shot in games like this, he could be thrown off by the smallest error in the software. Then again, if he ever got the chance he could probably fix that up. Which meant it would help to join in.

The uniform clad hero grinned and clapped his gloved hands together, turning to join his teammate only to be stopped when Catherine grabbed his arm. "It feels like as a hero," and somebody partially trained by a hero, a skilled assassin and then trained by a former soldier, "it shouldn't have been that easy for somebody to grab me by the arm and turn me around like that..." He said with a small laugh as he ran his fingers through his blonde hair.

"But well, I don't know. Truth be told I did some digging on 10 and I've got some ideas." He smirked as he walked from one side of Cat to the other inspecting the card. "I mean she was a woman far as I can tell, Katty. If we go by age I'd wager it's around Batman's." He glanced at her. "And according to the history books, the bat does have a habit of hooking up with female villains. Or at least one." He chuckled at the absurdity of the idea. "But that's just a theory. You know, Batsy and 10. 10 and Batsy." He finished before the sound of the news broadcast went off.

He turned his head in the direction of the television. It didn't seem like much, but he was focusing his eyes and eyes on the audio and visual of the TV itself. He couldn't block everything out, and if you didn't know about his powers you would think he was just spacing out. But Catherine probably understood. "Shit... Shit shit shit." He whispered to himself through a mix of anxiety and excitement. It looked the Titans had a job to handle. Though he didn't come out and say that outright for at least another 10 seconds. "We gotta get to Gotham Harbor." He spoke quickly as he pulled his hood up.

The arcade HQ was only a few blocks from Calvin's house, so getting there never proved to be an issue. The fact that he could get there without even touching the ground made it easier, though he only did that if it was an emergency and he had to be careful not to get spotted. Today he would simply walk.

Unlike some of the other Titans, Calvin had no issue introducing himself to his new teammates with his actual name. What was a team without trust after all? Perhaps it was a naive notion, but he still stood by it. Surely the rest of them would have to open up eventually.

As Calvin entered the HQ he took his earbuds out just in time to overhear Red Arrow expressing an urgent need to get to Gotham Harbor.

"Why? What's at Gotham Harbor," Calvin asked Arrow. "Did I miss something?"

Carmelita Garcia stood up near the computer in the Titans' lair, wearing full costume. She wasn't one for chairs, at least not since she got her powers. Sitting down, standing up, the act was so simple, so ubiquitous to the world. Yet to her, trying to do either could take several minutes. That's why she remained in full costume almost any time. If there was a news alert or a surprise mission, then getting changed could take half a day. At least from her perspective that's how long these things took.

Her eyes took in the images on the computer, something that would be all but impossible for the rest of the team, as the computer was processing about a hundred times faster than it normally would be capable. That was the speed she needed it to run in order to prevent boredom from taking hold. Thankfully, the problem wasn't as bad as it normally was. Not today. Usually things moved around one hundredth their normal speed to her perceptions, but it did fluctuate. For the moment she estimated her perception was only working about four times faster than a normal human's. So the world was moving at one fourth how it should appear to anybody else. That made interacting with the team easier. Normally she'd have to touch them to speed them up just to have them say their half of a conversation, only to take ten minutes to reply back. Today was easier. Yes, much easier. Today was the kind of day that kept her sane.

As she read an article on Paxton Powers escape from prison, the teenager overheard some of her peers discussing the oversized playing card positioned right next to Robin's costume. She concentrated, focusing on every syllable spoken. If she didn't, she could forget what they were talking about. Phantom Girl, or Katty as she had told everyone else, wondered about the significance, while Red Arrow (who hadn't provided a civilian name) suggested some possible theories. Carmel had her own ideas, and desired to join in the conversation, but talking was just so damn bothersome.

"HiiisCatWomAn," she replied, trying to match their speed. The first word took just a little too long, while parts of the second had emphasis placed on the wrong parts, but the words would be easily distinguished despite her accidentally slurring them together. She would have loved to elaborate on the matter, about how all signs pointed toward this Batman being a legacy hero, about the old history files and newspaper clippings uploaded to the web that seemed to indicate a part-time partnership between the Batman and Gotham's most successful thief, but that would have taken... Time. Hopefully they would understand that she intended to draw a parallel between the Batman of the present day, and the Dark Knight of times passed, but if it wasn't clear, and to be perfectly honest it probably wouldn't be, she wasn't going to elaborate. Long sentences, explanations, they took too long. Too much focus. Half way through she'd forget what she was even talking about because it started an hour ago.

They'd just have to figure it out. Brush up on some history, maybe. Yeah, this was all on them.

Carmelita checked the time once that line of though had passed by. It was only two seconds later. Dammit, her perception was speeding up again. The world was even slower. It had been too good to last, that was for sure.

That's when the monitor began playing a breaking news segment. She couldn't hear the anchorwoman, but the crawl on the bottom of the screen told the young heroine everything she needed. The Jokerz had taken a hostage on the harbor, some judge. That was all she could see as the crawl was living up to its name. Carmelita had already begun moving toward the exit before the voice of the newscaster had even caught the attention of her team. At least that was a blessing with this curse. It was nearly impossible to react before her, or to catch her off guard. Several minutes had gone by her eyes, matched only by three steps. Carmelita noticed that another of the Titans had joined them, G Man. From what she could hear, it sounded like he was clueless as to the situation. Red Arrow would only waste words with an explanation, so she cut in with a single word that would, hopefully, tell Calvin everything he needed to know.

"News." The word would have been quick to the others, but manageable if they had been paying attention. All the while she hadn't broken her stride. Waiting for them would take time, and they could catch up. After all, even if she had a ten minute head start, she'd only be feet away.

Katty grinned knowingly when Red commented on the ease with which she'd changed his trajectory. "Maybe I've got the magic touch." she said with a smile. "Or maybe, someone's not as on point as he'd like everyone to believe." He did make a good point about Batman however there was one problem "Wasn't that the Old Man though?" this was the term she used for the original Batman. The one that had last been reported rescuing a hostage in 2019. It was common knowledge that the Batman that had surfaced about five years ago was a different person. A failed attempt by a reporter on "The Inside Peek" to reveal the identity of the Batman had at least told the public that much. The Old Man had according to the history books a long habit of becoming involved with his female foes. There were rumors he'd even had a child with one of them, and as Carmelita had just added in her disconnected speech his long history with the infamous Selina Kyle.

When Red got that far away look in his eye Katty knew immediately what was happening. He looked more or less like he was spacing out but Katty recognized it as the look he got any time he was hearing or seeing something outside the normal range of human senses. This was confirmed almost immediately as he reported in something close to a panic that they needed to get down to Gotham Harbor. Katty didn't know the specifics but she could guess the general situation. Gotham Harbor was rather notorious for its poor security, as a result it was often the site of a variety of criminal activities from smuggling to dealing to body disposal. Unfortunately it was also quite a beautiful area which lead to charity events being scheduled there. Usually they were fundraisers for law enforcement or politicians looking to get reelected. The kinds of things that had high security and public support making them foolhardy targets. Gotham unfortunately fostered the kind of desperate fools that were just stupid enough to try something at one of those events. Katty's guess, the Jokerz, one of the less organized groups that were just barely above petty street gangs and as Carmelita again supplied, if the crime was taking long enough to be reported on the news and still require their presence it was most likely a hostage situation.

Evidently though G-Man didn't think things through as thoroughly as Katty cause the first words out of his mouth was asking for an explanation. As Katty dropped into the training area to retrieve her suit she shouted over her shoulder "Hostage situation in the harbor." She yanked her Phantom Girl uniform off the mannequin before she tossed off her cloak and stripping out of the workout clothes she'd been wearing previously. She'd long ago lost any sense of modesty and so didn't really care that the rest of the team could see her in her undergarments. The only thing she might have minded them seeing was the tattoo on her shoulder but it was covered with a thermal bandage that so closely resembled human skin that no one would notice anything out of the ordinary.

Katty pulled on her uniform, laced up her boots and hooked the strap of the googles that concealed her face over her head before drawing her cloak back around herself. She went up the stairs at a steady but quick pace towards the elevator and motioned for Red Arrow and G-Man to follow her.

He had been at it for an hour and a half. Jeremy tended to like violence more than Zack did though that wasn't to say Zack didn't like his fair share of fights, if he didn't then he likely wouldn't have agreed to join this team so eagerly. At the moment Zack was in his half of the brother's room watering his plants. He never used to have a desire to grow plants but the emergence of his powers sparked something in Zack and he found a decent amount of enjoyment raising plants and tending to them. He wasn't some master botanist and he certainly had a rough time getting things to grow in their underground bunker but he managed well enough and the sense of accomplishment when something did sprout was enough to keep Zack interested in his hobby.

After spritzing his plants a little with a spray bottle and checking out how each was growing, Zack made his way out of the personal quarters area of the bunker and into the area near the computer where he saw Carmelita hanging around. He felt bad for the superheroine due to the nature of her powers, being stuck in a perpetual slow motion would be enough to drive Zack insane so needless to say he respected the girl's resolve and was more than happy to put up with her short responses.

"Hi." Zack said as quickly as he could muster as he approached the computer to search for any leads for the team to follow. His search was stopped before it even began as he noticed the ending of the news report about the Jokerz gang kidnapping a couple.

Zack noticed that most of the team had already found out about the crime in some form and he decided to follow suit as he ran past Carmelita and headed into the training area to retrieve his suit. He took his suit and took off towards the showers to get changed, not even noticing Katty changing in the room. After a half a minute Zack exited the showers and headed to the elevator.

"Jeremy! We've got a job at the harbour to take care of!" Zack yelled as he noticed that his brother wasn't with at the elevators just yet.

"If you guys think I'm even a little on point I'm doing a damn good job." Jonathan retorted as Katty commented on his skills after his questioning of his ability to pay attention to his surroundings as a hero. He shrugged and chuckled though as the conversation continued and then Carmelita added in her thoughts. Or rather, her thought. "Oh yeah that was it! Catwoman." He said happily dropping his right fist into the open palm of his left hand. The young man couldn't help but mentally facepalm. How could he not remember such a simple and historic villainess. "But yeah, old man or not, he must have been young at some point. Otherwise, it would be hard to envisions there ever being a Batman before this one at all."

After that things seemed to be moving rather quickly, even if some present wouldn't look it by comparison. Even so, one would expect Red Arrow to have been the first into action after his miniature reaction, but of course that was Carmelita's thing. "It would probably be helpful for somebody to carry here." He said before catching a glimpse of Katty changing. His eyes widened for a moment before he quickly jerked his head to the left to avoid staring. Though the small glance was enough to deepen the pigment of his face. To call him a bit red in the face would be quite the understatement as he could just about be compared to a tomato if not the red of his very uniform.

Still they had a job to do and he wasn't about to be left behind. Jonathan shook his head and rushed to the elevator after Catherine and only then did it occur to him. "Hey guys... How are we getting there?" He questioned for a moment. It wasn't like he had anything to drive, though he had been looking into getting himself a motorcycle. John would have to teach him how to ride first, if he couldn't get Batman to or anyone else to do so. How hard could it be in comparison to riding a bike? "It's not like any of us are very oriented in the ways of mobility." He continued his thought on how the team would make it to the scene of the crime.

A hostage situation? That was hardly a beginner-friendly trial mission. Everyone else seemed all for it, however, so off to Gotham Harbor. He donned his hero outfit like everyone else and began making his way to the elevator.

Red Arrow then addressed the issue of transportation. None of them actually owned a vehicle. Calvin could simply lower his gravity and make it in a jump or two, but he couldn't exactly take them with him. Or could he?

"I think I have an idea," Calvin announced. "But we'll need to borrow a bench."

Katty rolled her eyes as she finished changing. Red seemed to have missed her point in the comment about Batman. She'd meant that what applied to the original Batman might not be true of their mentor. He'd seemed to take her calling the original "Old Man" to mean that she thought he was too aged to be able to have the kind of romantic relationship they'd been discussing. Not that the distinction really mattered either way, they had more important things to do.

Katty smirked at the abashed look on Red's face and the scarlet tint to his skin. She'd definitely pegged his age correctly, mid adolescent around sixteen or seventeen. When he suggested someone carry Accel she shook her head but didn't say anything. They'd had several discussions on how to ease the extreme inconvenience that Accel's powers imposed on her mind. Red's had been to have someone carry her while she accelerated them. Katty could see the thought process behind it but had discounted it as an option. The communication would be one way as Accel though travelling and observing at hyper speeds could still only react at that of a normal human. The most promising suggestions had been to have communications with her written down so that she could wait for the message to be finished before reading it and so not have to concentrate extensively on stringing together the slowly forming syllables. The other option was to program her comm link to wait for a message to be finished before relaying it in it's entirely at an extremely sped up rate. The problem with both these options was that they created a delay of several seconds between message and response. Not bad in a casual setting but potentially dangerous in a combat scenario.

As they ascended into the arcade and the street level of Gotham a question was posed that Katty had been expecting, that of transportation. Though Batman had both the flight capable Batmobile as well as thrusters in his suit for mobility he'd provided no means of transport for the Titans. Katty thought she knew why. They were still as far as Batman was concerned in training. He never meant for them to be deployed without his supervision. Like that was going to stop them. Katty was about to voice her solution when G-Man proposed his own. She could gather his plan from his remark. "Or we could try an option that doesn't leave us smeared over the concrete."

Katty didn't like or trust G-Man and she was not about to put her life in his hands. He'd made no attempt to conceal his identity and like the rest of her teammates Katty had looked into him. What she found neither impressed her nor inspired any confidence. He was a high school student who until Robin recruited him had used his powers to cheat at sports. From all she could gather he'd joined the Titans for some thrills that his athletic career no longer sated.

"Come on," she said motioning for the rest to follow her. She scanned the street looking for a vehicle that fit specific parameters. They were in the Historical District so options were not extensive but after several seconds she saw something that fit her criteria. A car from the early twenty twenties. It was old but the make and model were the sort designed to last forever rather than look good or be flashy. The parts were outdated enough that no one would actually want to steal it which explained why it was still there. As she walked towards it Katty pulled out her phone, an old model by any standards but still serviceable. She dialed the number for the non emergency police tip line in the fifth borough.

After one ring a very tired male voice picked up, "GCPD tip line, how can I help you?".

As she responded Katty pushed her hand through the window of the car's driver side door pulled the lock open. "Hello," she said in a business like voice that was a far cry from her usual sardonic tones. "I'd like to report a crime."

"What is the nature of the crime ma'am?" the man said in the same bored tone.

"I'm at the Gotham Harbor near the mouth of the West River, there's a number of drunk teenagers who look like they're joyriding in an old car."

"Can you see the license plate number?"

Katty glanced at the plate number of the car she was in the process of stealing. "Yes, it's FBR 1449."

"Thank you ma'am, we will act on this information at the earliest opportunity. Have a nice day."

Katty rolled her eyes. "If it's not a homicide or a super villain the cops almost don't care anymore." She looked at the rest of the team. "Get in, I'll leave it near the Harbor a distance from the action, the cops will get around to acting on that tip in about twenty four hours at which time the vehicle will be returned to it's owner. No harm, no foul."

Katty got into the car and stuck her hand into the circuitry beneath the steering wheel. She positioned her pointer and middle fingers in just the right spot before causing her quantum frequency to fluctuate ever so slightly. There was a spark and the engine roared to life. Katty held her fingers there a second longer to ensure that the engine would stay active before she pulled them out. She'd used her own flesh to bridge the ignition circuit. It hurt like hell but it was effective, especially on older models. After all, intangible girls weren't high on the manufacturer's list of anti theft concerns.

They could be at the Harbor in about five minutes, the Gotham highways were so numerous and efficient that you could get almost anywhere in the city within an hour and they only had to go about fifteen city blocks.

Z had yelled at his brother because he didn't appear to be at the elevator with the others. However, he didn't notice his uniform wasn't under glass and looked down to see his brother had shifted into a squirrel. Heading out everyone had their own ideas about how to get to the docs. G-Man might be able to get them there in one piece, but Phantom Girl's way was a little more reckless. J had a thing for that. Sure, he could've shifted into a dinosaur, or an elephant, or another large land animal to get them all there. In squirrel mode still his nose picked up the scent of Phantom Girl's bandage.

"Is she hurt?" he thought.

The team arrived at the harbor and drove right through the 5th Precinct's barricades, taking out several of the Jokerz. They sprung into action in their own ways... Red Arrow with his bow, G-Man with his gravity manipulation, and Zack jumped out of the car shifting into his plant form. Jeremy shifted into a T-rex and began scaring the piss out of every clown faced goon within twenty feet of him.

Zack, in his plant form, grew a thick layer of bark over his body, giving himself a bulkier looking build and increased strength. With this Zack leaped into action as he stretched a tree trunk sized fist out and knocked two gang members into a nearby wall with enough force to incapacitate them. Suddenly Zack hatched a plan.

"Hey Animal!" Zack yelled as he quickly made his way away from his brother and grew one of his arms into a long tree like club "Play ball!"

The longer haired twin picked up one of the Jokerz with his enormous T-rex mouth and tossed the goon over to his brother for a direct hit. The main Joker, who called himself J-Man, was dancing on a yacht with Judge Conroy's wife while the chaos erupted. The judge was forced to watch as he was tied up and being watched over by the Dee Dee Twins. These particular twins weren't much of a problem when something made one of them lose their weaponized marbles. That something being Batman in stealth mode.



Surely the team didn't think Batman wouldn't check this out.

-00492 / rocketrobie2

Carmelita had forgotten one thing in her haste to get to the harbor. Just one small, tiny detail. They didn't actually have any transportation. Well, she had her motorcycle parked away, the one she had hand built and modified since she was seven, but that didn't exactly help the rest of the team, did it? Actually, did she have a plan to get the team moving? If she had, it was so long ago that she had forgotten about it. GAH! The frustration welled up in her, she wanted to explode! Yet even that would do no good, as she couldn't even scream to let off the steam. Not without waiting several painful minutes as the vocal chords began to vibrate, and the air rose through her esophagus. She focused on this problem so much that she had completely missed G-Man suggesting his own method to get them transported to the crime scene. She had barely remembered to focus and listen half way through Phantom Girl's phone call, and even then she didn't piece together what exactly their ethereal peer had in mind until she was already in the act of stealing the car.

Accel did not approve. Not just as a heroine trying to do right by the world, but as a mechanic she found the act incredibly distasteful. A person's wheels were like their baby. Still, it was the best option the group had on such short notice. The young Latina clambered into the passenger seat next to Katty, and placed one hand on the other girl's shoulder while her right hand touched the dashboard. [color=redorange]"Careful,"[/color] was the only warning she gave before imbuing both the vehicle and its driver with the power of the Speed Force. Assuming they didn't wreck anything on the way, they should arrive in no time flat.

---

Things were not looking great at Gotham Harbor as the new Titans pulled up. A police barricade had been set up, suggesting that the situation had been going on for some time, so the Jokerz had plenty of opportunity to prepare. Still, getting past the barricade wasn't a problem as they merely rammed through. Accel doubted anybody could have possibly seen just what the hell happened. On the plus side, the driving knocked aside some of the gang members as debris sent them flying. Accel would have smiled, if it wouldn't have taken so much effort.

Once they arrived on the actual scene, the young heroine removed her grip from the car and its driver, allowing them to slow down to a regular pace. The car pulled over, and the team jumped out to engage the Jokerz. Carmelita couldn't help but think of how appropriate the name was on so many levels. Sure, they modeled themselves after one of history's worst criminal psychopaths (which was one major reason she despised the group), but if the history books were to be believed... They did not do their namesake justice. The Clown Prince of Crime struck fear into the hearts of even the strongest of heroes, like Superman. His death toll measured in the thousands, at minimum. This street gang may have modeled themselves after such a monster, but for all their posturing and mimicry they were still just that: A street gang. Mostly made up of kids like her. A true joke that such a legendary figure would degenerate to this.

Wait, how much time had she just been contemplating? Paying attention once more, she noticed from the corner of her eye that the others hadn't even gotten out of the car yet. In fact one door had barely been opened. She sighed for what seemed like forever. Her perception was speeding up even faster again, so the world was even slower. That happened when she used her powers on something so large. Determined, Accel forced her way out of the car to keep pace with her team.

One benefit such a state afforded her was maximum analysis of the battlefield before deciding on a strategy. The young woman's eyes glanced over the scene for what would only be a fraction of a second to others, but nearly two minutes to her. No hostages in the immediate area, just the judge and his wife on the yacht. Still, these gang members were normal humans, so throwing anything and accelerating it to the point of exploding was out of the question. Far too easy to get casualties that way. In an actual fight she could handle herself well enough, but that came from her perception enhanced reflexes, not actual combat skill. Against multiple enemies at a time, that meant little. Which meant that her best bet was to act as support. Animal and his brother had already sprung into action and were just out of reach. Phantom Girl and G-Man were on the opposite side of the car, which meant the first person to receive her gift would be Red Arrow. Whipping herself around fast as she could, Accel threw out her outstretched hand. The index finger of her right hand just barely made contact with the archer's nose, but that was enough to gift him with incredible speed for no more than two seconds. For two seconds he was both Red Arrow, and a Flash.

After the rest of the team piled into the car Katty gunned the motor and they shot down the street headed for the highway. It was a bit of a tight fit given that it was a five person car and their were six of them but the Wonder Twins, Red Arrow and G-Man all managed to squeeze into the back and Accel took the shotgun seat.

When Katty felt Accel's hand on her shoulder and heard the girl say "Careful." she realized what Accel was planning to do a split second before she did it. "NO!" she shouted but it was milliseconds too late. Katty felt an almost electrical charge pass between Accel's hand and her body and she felt an intense pull in her gut before the entire world seemed to stop. Everything but Katty and the car was trapped in an instant of time. Even the guys in the backseat were unaware of what was going on. Though Accel could not respond Katty knew she was aware. She turned to the girl dressed in orange and shook her head in a resigned annoyance. There was nothing to be done now. All Katty could do was take advantage of Accel's boost and hope the owner of the car had insurance.

They zipped over the highway Katty weaving through vehicles that seemed to move at a walking pace. They were two blocks away from the harbor and Katty was just starting to believe she'd been mistaken. That's when she heard it, a loud K-CHUNK sound echoed from the engine. It was what Katty had been afraid of. The car was about twenty years old and while by that time vehicles were almost entirely electrically powered they were also largely mechanical in nature. The mechanisms working over and over and over again so fast, in such a short time was like applying a couple thousand miles of wear and tear to it all at once. It was the same reason that speedsters wore specially designed clothing when they ran, normal fabric wore out too quickly. The engine hadn't been designed to take the abuse of Accel's powers. Katty slammed on the brakes but they were moving as such a speed and were so close to their destination that it was nigh on impossible (even with speedster-like reflexes) to stop in time. The car turned to the side with the force of the brakes and smashed straight through the police barrier separating the hostage situation from the general public. So much for the stealthy approach. Thought Katty bitterly as they were dumped into the middle of the chaos.

Phantom Girl knew this wasn't the time to be dealing with the grunts. J-Man had hostages and if it looked even remotely like the Titans were gaining the upper hand he wouldn't hesitate to use them. While the Wonder Twins grandiose abilities drew the focus of most of the Jokerz, Phantom Girl when straight for the source of the problem, the head of the snake. Though several Jokerz attempted to waylay her Phantom Girl used her abilities to pass right through them. Each time she did their was a sharp jolt of pain but she was long used to that feeling and the Jokerz weren't. It was enough to stun them long enough that she didn't have to worry about a counter attack. At least not before she reached her goal.

When Phantom Girl reached the edge of the harbor rather than running for ramp that connected it to the ship she simply leapt. The boat was too high to even hope of reaching its deck but that had never been her intention. As she made contact with the hull of the ship Phantom Girl passed through it into the ship's interior. She'd misjudged the floor level. It was a far greater drop than she'd anticipated. Though rolled as she hit the ground Phantom Girl felt her shoulder pop out of its socket from the impact. Rookie mistake, stupid.

She let out a cry of pain that she silenced as soon as physically able. Not a stranger to injury in the field Phantom Girl approached the wall and slammed her shoulder into hard at just the right angle to pop it back into the socket. She let out another involuntary gasp of pain. It hurt like a bitch and would probably need to be bandaged for a few days after this was over but for now she was only slightly worse for wear.

With the number of Jokerz in the process of holding the police off of the hostages Phantom Girl had been anticipating a skeleton guard in the bowels of the ship. Particularly because its only access points were on the deck with J-Man's men. Still if their were any Jokerz down here they'd have been attracted by the noise she'd made. Phantom Girl withdrew into the shadows, the darkened color scheme of her uniform letting her blend in, preparing for the company she felt sure she was about to have.

Well, ouch. Katty shut down poor Calvin real quick. She hadn't even asked what his plan even was. If that wasn't enough, her "better" idea involved stealing a car. What a heroic thing to do.

Despite the fact that he didn't agree with the idea he dutifully scrunched himself into the back seat with his teammates. Four bodies trying to sit on a seat meant for three was a tight fit, but they made it work. Next thing he knew they were already at the harbor after crashing through a police barricade. After a moment of confusion he took notice that Accel had been riding shotgun. So her crazy speed boost thing worked on cars too? Neat.

As the fight broke out the twins seemed to have it mostly covered. Calvin then noticed Katty make a run for boat. And to think that she thought his idea was bad. Still, freeing the hostages was basically the whole point in these hostage situation deals. He would approach from a different angle, however.

Calvin lowered gravity's pull on himself and leapt. With all the clown goons distracted he should have no problem making it to the boat, right? After floating over the chaos below he slowly descended and found himself on the roof of the ship.

Alright. So far, so good. He was on top. Katty was below deck. So...um..

Now what?

He could attempt to regroup with Katty, but there were an unknown number separating the two of them. Calvin crept over to the edge and looked down. He could see the hostages from here. The guy in the chair he could set loose if it weren't for the gang leader still dancing like an idiot with the woman. He needed a distraction. Calvin took a look around and scratched his head.

Perhaps I could have put a bit more thought into this, he thought to himself.

All in all, Jonathan didn't have as big a problem of some other young heroes might have had with Katty's actions. That was probably his mother's influence. Or it could have been Pops. While dad was a bit more straightforward, justice and all that, his mom and Pops (John Diggle, Sr.) had taught him something important for any hero. The world wasn't all black and white. There were small grey areas. The ends didn't always justify the means, but sometimes they did. And right now, given they had no way of getting to the crime scene, this would have to be it. It was probably the safest option overall anyway.

At least that's what the young archer thought before they took off. In theory, Carmelita's was providing a much needed service and allowed them to get to the site in record time. But there was no way this make and model of car could handle the power of a speedster coursing through it. A car would likely need to be custom designed for that. And as the young man mentally screamed, his hands clutching the upholstery of the seat beneath him while he grit his teeth to avoid letting his voice screech out, he couldn't help but try and envision what such a car would look like if designed for a new era of Titans. Maybe he could even have a hand in that.

Still, as they crashed through the barricade and a number of his teammates sprang into action he couldn't help but shake his head. First, to rid himself of the lightheaded dizziness he'd just acquired and then at the lack of team planning. Hopefully things would work out for the best. "Carme..." Before he could say anything he felt the girl's finger touch his nose. Sometimes communication wasn't needed it would have seemed. He smirked as he felt the sudden surge of power and with lightning speed hopped out the door and onto the roof of the car. To bystanders he hadn't done much. But the effects of this two second eternity became quite evident very quickly.

Red Arrow surveyed the area immediately as his foot hit the ground. What would Pops say? He fire two arrows at the legs of a pair of jokers attempting to light and throw molotov cocktails. An old, dated, but still effective weapon. Who would he take out? As he leaped onto the roof he fire two more in opposite directions. The first was a arrow whose head fall open to release a paralytic tranquilizer dart aimed as the leg of a joker about to strike the head of an officer with a bat. It wasn't deadly, but it was extremely fast acting. The second was a "puddy" arrow aimed at another about to stab her knife into the side of a civilian trying to escape the mayhem. This arrow was aimed at her hands and would burst on contact releasing a strong puddy like adhesive which would connect her hand with, and leave her trapped against, a pole directly behind her. The final in this flurry of movements was a shot aimed at J-Man's head.

From this distance a normal marksman would need a scope of some kind to aim the shot. Jonanthan simply had his eyes and the head gear which helped to regulate his senses. He couldn't use a taser or anything of that sort or he'd risk the safety of the mayor's wife. However, as the arrow approached the Lead Joker its head burst into the form of a red boxing glove. It would collide with the man's cheek knocking him away from his hostage and hopefully packed enough of a punch to put him to sleep for a while. Jonathan reasoned that he could have easily used the same paralytic dart, but a surprise attack of this sort held a greater chance of success. The disarray and panic it would cause, even if only for a moment would be perfect and allow his teammates, who'd so recklessly made their way to the ship, a perfect opportunity to strike, though it would be brief.

Even so, the young hero had another problem. It began with the end of the surge of speedster like abilities. Each of his attacks landed almost simultaneously as he came back to his senses. And that was just it. The sudden burst and stop of such great power caused a slightly sensory shock. He'd more or less become accustomed, but it was still hard sometimes. His eyes, ears, even his nose needed a moment or preparation before hand. He was dizzy. He shook his head, nearly falling from the roof of the car. "Oh boy... Gotta tinker with the headset. Make it calibrate to match movements like that..." He tried to speak to himself as he fell to his knees to let everything fall back into place.

Jonathan placed a hand on his head. Carmelita was a hell of a teammate to have. He was sure she'd be even better if they could find a way to save her from her personal hell. The rest of the Joker's on the ship could hopefully be left to Phantom girl and G-Man. He could practically hear the panic as a few tried to figure out whether to glove on a stick came from. The Mayor's wife was scrambling to her husband. He wagered they would have a minute, maybe two, to take advantage of this. He would have to leave the rest of the Jokers on the street to the Wonder Twins for a few so he could regain his footing and rejoin the fray.

You could see even with a few training sessions the team was still made up of raw recruits. Terry McGinnis was gonna be teaching these kids for awhile in the same manner Bruce Wayne helped him remove his head from his ass. The twins were tearing more stuff up than they needed to be. G-Man was stuck on the top of the ship looking down at J-Man and the judge's wife looking for his chance. Red Arrow got a burst of super speed from Accel and put it to use taking down a few clowns. And Phantom Girl seemingly disappeared. Batman saw a civilian get injured as the animal shapeshifting twin turned into a gorilla and busted debris thrown at him by one of the pale painted faces. Terry had finally seen enough. He went out of stealth mode and went right for the J-Man and narrowly avoided one of the custom arrows of the archer, called Red Arrow, that was fired last second.

He flew at his top speed using boot jets and ripped the clown away from his would-be date of the evening. A couple Jokerz came from below deck as one of them mentioned...

"Wait, did you guys hear something down here?" he asked turning around to see what might have made the noise.

It didn't take Terry much time to KO the J-Man. He turned and looked up at G-Man as the other two clowns approached him.

"Don't be afraid of the dance floor kid!" Batman yelled out to the other young hero.

Terry dropped a couple smoke pellets to make an escape, flying and grabbing the judge's wife as the man himself jumped off the ship as quickly as he could. However the judge busted his ankle in the drop to the harbor. Animal was presently in the form of a tiger and chasing clowns around the harbor and parking area.

Later...

The authorities were cleaning up the mess. The judge was getting medical aid from this day and age's flying ambulance that was currently resting on the ground. The 5th Precinct PD were around taking in all of the Jokerz still on the scene and loading them into the back of prisoner transport vehicles. Commissioner Gordon was on the scene and giving Batman and his team an ear full.

"Who in the hell told you it would be a good idea to get a team of untrained metahumans and bust into a hostage situation?" Gordon asked poking Batman's chest with her finger.

"I..." he began to respond but she wasn't really looking for an answer.

"It was a rhetorical question, junior. I know the same people you know. Is he really doing so bad off that you've gotta make a junior Justice League for Gotham?" Gordon asked with a puzzled expression on her face but the scowl still in her eyes.

"Commissioner, I'm really..." Batman began saying again before Gordon's cell phone ringing cut him off.

"I'll talk to you later about it kid. That's the mayor buzzing me to check on the judge. Don't let me see these kids play superhero again before their training wheels come off. Somebody gets hurt... it's on YOU." Gordon says walking off and answering her phone.

"Everybody head back to HQ and get some rest. Take the underground tunnel entrance. Wind down. And tomorrow be ready for the toughest day of your lives.

"He's gonna kick us off the team... he's gonna kick us off the team..." Animal thought to himself trying not to look too rattled as they began to discuss ways to get back to HQ.

"If it makes it easier I can shift into a giant bird or flying dinosaur and get us most of the way home. It's not like there's more than a couple dozen homeless people in the neighborhood to avoid anyway." Animal suggested.

-00492