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Post by lawrenceliberty on Jan 22, 2019 14:53:51 GMT
Good point. I wondered once if Garth should have magic powers like they gave him in the comics perhaps as a pupil of Arion's? Then again I wondered if some of the people his late father ruled might show up after being away for many years and ask him to become their ruler?
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Post by starskyhutch76 on Jan 23, 2019 1:42:14 GMT
Good point. I wondered once if Garth should have magic powers like they gave him in the comics perhaps as a pupil of Arion's? Then again I wondered if some of the people his late father ruled might show up after being away for many years and ask him to become their ruler?
I like the second idea. It's something new and different, yet it explores a concept from pre-crisis continuity.
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Post by DocQuantum on Jan 31, 2019 4:10:08 GMT
by Martin Maenza and Doc Quantum
Eight months ago -- November, 1987:
Hank Hall sat at the kitchen table in his San Francisco apartment, polishing off a can of beanie weenies. Across the way, he had the television on.
A reporter for the cable television news channel related a story that the young man was quite interested in. "Bito Wladon, the international criminal also known as Sonar, was indicted today on three counts in the U.N.'s International Court of Law. If convicted, he will face up to thirty years of imprisonment."
The brown-haired young man smiled. "Couldn't have happened to a nicer creep," Hank Hall said with a smile. (*)
Suddenly, Hank felt something -- a sensation that chilled his body to the core.
He spun around quickly, only to see a figure in the center of the room. "Huh?"
Before him was a woman with brown hair.
Hank was surprised. How did she--? But as he looked closely, he realized he knew the woman. "Renee?" he asked.
The woman smiled. "Renee Lasaille is no more." Shadows started to swirl about her, changing her clothes into that of a purple costume with black trim and a cape. "Now there is only..."
Hank Hall recalled the costume the young woman now wore. "Kestrel?!"
The costumed woman grinned further. "Prepare to die, Hawk!"
"Hawk!" cried Hank, and he began to change into his fighting alter ego even as he warded off a blow from the transformed woman.
A blow that never came.
"Huh?" Hawk gasped, looking all around and unable to see his friend-turned-foe anywhere. "Where did she go?" In fact, all traces of her existence seemed to have disappeared, if they had ever been there at all.
"What in the world is goin' on?" he muttered to himself, as all memory of the brief encounter began to disappear from his mind. Hank looked down at his gloved hands in confusion. "And what am I doing in my Hawk duds, anyway?"
That would be a mystery for another day.
***
Elsewhere:
Kestrel raged frantically, seemingly tearing up the very sky itself in the strange realm she now found herself in. She was so close, so close to winning a final victory over the foe she'd been born to overcome. Hawk would either join her or die. But before she could so much as attack him, she found herself ripped out of Earth's dimension to this place.
"Whoever did this will pay!" she screamed.
"Temper, temper, Kestrel," said a calm voice in the shadows beyond.
"You! By what right did you take me away from my foe?" she demanded.
"I do as I please," said the voice. "Anyways, you really ought to thank me. I hardly think a dingy old apartment kitchen is a fitting location for the kind of epic battle worthy of such an encounter with your foe."
Kestrel found the man's words to be soothing, even calming, and her blood-thirst began to dissipate. "What exactly did you have in mind?" she said in a slightly defiant tone.
"Wait," said the blond man, emerging from the shadows. "Wait here in this place until the time is right for you to put not only Hawk, but also Dove and the rest of the Titans West in their place."
Kestrel sighed, but nodded her head in assent. And Neron smiled.
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Post by DocQuantum on Jan 31, 2019 4:14:59 GMT
Author's note: This scene incorporates the original ending of Titans West: Sounds of War, Book 2, which featured the new Kestrel attacking Hank Hall in his apartment, and would have continued in a follow-up story. In the final published version, Martin removed all references to Kestrel, choosing instead to end the story on a peaceful note. I've always hoped to use this little snippet as a jumping-off point for a Titans West story of my own, and this seemed to be as good a time as any to use it.
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Post by johnreiter902 on Jan 31, 2019 22:55:40 GMT
I love reading this, for all the new information. That said, I'm finding the plot a little rambling, and I'm having trouble figuring out what the big picture is. It feel like a whole bunch of different stories that are all taking place at the same time.
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Post by DocQuantum on Feb 7, 2019 6:15:52 GMT
I think the edited version of this story will likely end up being one main Underworld Unleashed story with several spinoff stories featuring the Titans, the Outsiders, etc, but for now just think of this as all happening around the same time, the same way you would one of DC's official crossovers. The JLA hasn't been seen for a while, but their part in this story is crucial to the rest of the overall happenings on Earth, and some bombshells have yet to drop. There is a method to my madness, however, and the story threads will eventually meet. I have a few more characters to get to and return to before the end.
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Post by johnreiter902 on Feb 7, 2019 23:07:47 GMT
Alright then, carry on by all means.
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Post by jonclark on Feb 8, 2019 10:03:04 GMT
I think the edited version of this story will likely end up being one main Underworld Unleashed story with several spinoff stories featuring the Titans, the Outsiders, etc, but for now just think of this as all happening around the same time, the same way you would one of DC's official crossovers. The JLA hasn't been seen for a while, but their part in this story is crucial to the rest of the overall happenings on Earth, and some bombshells have yet to drop. There is a method to my madness, however, and the story threads will eventually meet. I have a few more characters to get to and return to before the end. I think this has a bit of the same problem as Doomsday Clock where there are so many threads that are fun to follow but also a bit of time between installments. So on the one hand you enjoy the part you read when you get it, but you also find yourself getting impatient or confused because the story isn't following up on another thread. Most of the time things like Crisis or Invasion had so many people involved that having one guy focus on part of the story didn't prevent someone else from handling another part- so you got an issue for the Titans, the Outsiders, Batman, etc; all at once with the main story not being held up by any of them. Unfortunately, Doc you are writing this all on your own and in between the dreaded real life so those of us following along at home miss the all-in-one sitting we get from collected tales in the archives. We are all a bit spoiled by having years of work at our fingertips in the archives.
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Post by DocQuantum on May 31, 2020 7:50:27 GMT
San Francisco:
The year 1988 had been both a slow year and an eventful one for Titans West. While the number of adventures they participated in seemed to dwindle after the Zandia case, a new project had kept most of them busy over the last few months. Titans Lair had become a liability to the business that continued to operate above it. After Arisia was attacked at Gabriel's Horn a couple of months earlier, Mal Duncan knew that he needed to put some separation between his nightclub and his team's headquarters, even if that meant the loss of a certain amount of convenience. (*)
[(*) Editor's note: See Green Lantern: The Parallax View.]
Discussions were had about where Titans Lair could be relocated. As Titans West became a higher-profile operation, they would also have larger targets on their backs than ever before. That was one of the reasons why the New Teen Titans had agreed to occupy the Titans Tower designed by Cyborg's father, Dr. Silas Stone. Situated as it was on a small island in the East River, it was both close to downtown Manhattan yet also far enough away to prevent property damage.
But Titans West owned no such property, and preliminary discussions with City Hall were fruitless. No one wanted another Titans Tower in their city, if it meant San Francisco might be subject to the kinds of attacks by other-dimensional entities like Trigon or the Anti-Monitor that New York City had grown used to. The team needed to come up with another solution. If they couldn't build up, they could build down as they had with the original and current Titans Lairs. And, with the help of Loren Jupiter, they were soon in business.
Best of all, the Titans of two coasts were united once more by the kind of advanced technology that had made travel between San Francisco and Los Angeles a piece of cake already, enabling the Titans West to easily reach the teenage Titans under Mr. Jupiter's care within minutes.
The new Titans Lair was currently unoccupied, but advanced security systems designed by Vic Stone had been put into place to keep the headquarters secure. Still, nothing was foolproof. That was why, when the Green Lantern Corps-built teleporter was activated, it recognized no threat when one person stepped off the pad and looked around. Yet, if Jay Hart had bothered to take a look at the security logs, he might have noticed that it registered two individuals teleported at the same time.
"Hello?" called Jay, looking around in the darkened room. The fluorescent lights, activated by motion-sensors, began to turn on as he moved through the room and into the corridor, but it looked like nobody was home. It figures, he thought to himself. Every city in America -- maybe even across the globe -- is probably dealing with crime waves and disasters right now. Just what is going on? It's like Hell itself has been unleashed into the world!
The young Titan known as the Protector was no stranger to these halls. Indeed, he had helped assemble many of them with the others. But he was glad he didn't have to live here; the artificial light would be hard to get used to. He figured each Titan team had an even trade-off in that department. New York City had snow and colder winters, while San Francisco had milder weather and a lush environment. The simple fact was that the New Titans needed the greater amount of natural light that Titans Tower provided them. Titans West were able to get outside more often throughout the year. The members didn't need to actually live here, and mostly used it for team meetings and other activities only.
Jay made his way to the monitor room, the one staple feature in any respectable team's headquarters. There, his suspicions were confirmed as he saw the same kind of chaos on the streets of San Francisco that he had seen in New York. In fact, as his eyes scanned across the screens, he could even spot a few of the Titans West themselves in battle with costumed foes.
"Is that the Royal Flush Gang?" Jay wondered aloud as he squinted for a better look. The feed from the monitors were only as good as the news cameras on the scene, and the local TV reporters were keeping well away from the action. But as he looked, he could see not only the usual King, Queen, Jack, Ten, and Ace, but a whole army of people dressed up in playing card costumes and equipped with advanced weaponry. "What the heck?" he muttered as he got a better look at some of them. "Those card soldiers are kids -- no more than teenagers!"
As the Protector, Jay Hart had gotten into the hero business to protect other kids from being exploited by criminals, whether through drugs or the promises of ill-gotten riches. He quickly became angered as he thought about what kinds of monsters would use kids in that way, until he realized he was forgetting the reason he had come here in the first place.
Frustrated that yet again he had to focus on his mission instead of helping his friends, Jay checked the security records in the computer to see if his suspicions were correct. He had spotted that Blackrock character in the Titans Tower computers, and realized he was trying to breach the security systems in order to access the teleporter and escape here. But how? And why?
After a few more moments, he found his answer, and he didn't like it. Blackrock had played him with a ruse, after all. He hadn't been able to crack Vic's security himself, but had instead created the illusion that he had, and merely waited until he could piggyback on Jay's own teleportation.
"Oh, man!" Jay said aloud. "I brought Blackrock here, too?! What kind of hero does that?"
"A loser, pal! A straight-up dud, that's who!"
Jay was taken aback at the wisecracking voice a moment before the purple-masked face of Blackrock -- wearing a Groucho Marx-style glasses and mustache getup and holding a cigar -- appeared on the screen.
"Face it, kid! You're no hero! Better quit while you're ahead -- or while you've still got a head, for that matter! Nyuck-nyuck-nyuck!"
At that, the screen went black.
Jay's heart was pounding as all his fears and anxieties came back to him. Was Blackrock right? Was he a failure as a hero?
"N-no," he said in a quiet but determined voice. "Can't think about that right now. Got to help Titans West -- a-and those kids!"
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Post by DocQuantum on May 31, 2020 8:36:45 GMT
Back in New York City, Changeling and Dynamind were in the middle of Round Two with the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man in the middle of East River. The two Titans were exhausted and barely able to keep their giant foe contained, but they knew they couldn't give up, or Titans Tower would surely be destroyed, closely followed by Lower Manhattan.
"L-Logan?" said Danny Chase, struggling with all his might to push the giant back with his telekinetic power. Sweat poured down the teenager's brow as Dynamind's mental resources were pushed to their limits.
"Yeah?" the equally straining Garfield Logan said after a long pause. In the form of a King Kong-sized, green-haired ape, Changeling was just barely keeping the giant at bay.
"When all this is over?"
"...Yeah?"
"You need to let me... have a sip of that -- beer you keep in the fridge... okay?"
A longer pause followed, until Gar replied, "Okay... but don't tell anybody about it."
"Awesome," muttered Danny.
Suddenly, a ball of flame burst through the air and struck the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, whose doughy face frowned angrily as it looked up to see who had struck him.
"I-is that who I think it is?" cried Danny weakly.
"It sure is!" said Changeling, turning himself into a green chickadee and flying out of range as quickly as possible. "Hi, hot stuff!"
"Sorry I'm so late!" the newcomer said apologetically. "It took a while to get myself ready!"
Firehawk, for that was who had just arrived, looked resplendent in her silky black and gold costume, her fiery red wings and hair of white-flame trailing in her wake. She blasted the giant marshmallow-like creature a few more times, leaving large holes clean through its body.
"You're doing it!" shouted Changeling. "It's working! Now just bathe the whole damned thing in flame!"
"I don't know if I can, but I'll try!" she shouted back, and put her arms before her as she hovered in place before the giant creature. Gar could have sworn that he could hear her talking to herself for a few moments until she finally did something, shooting a wide berth of flame all over the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. In moments, the giant had been reduced to a huge pile of melting white goo.
"Way to go!" cried Changeling as Danny put two fingers in his mouth and wolf-whistled as loudly as he could. "Woo-hoo!"
At that, Firehawk spun around and flew off toward downtown Manhattan, a little less confidently than she had flying in.
Gar Logan frowned. Firehawk seemed a bit different than he'd remembered, but he figured everyone was entitled to an off day once in a while.
"Should we follow her, Logan?" asked Danny.
"Nah," replied Gar. "We've done more than enough for today. Whatever Vic and the others are dealing with downtown, I'm sure they'll get by without our help. Besides, Firehawk's got it covered."
"I sure hope so," said Danny. "She's hot and all, but she didn't really look like she knew what she was doing."
"Hey, watch your mouth when you're talking about a lady like that," Gar snapped.
"But she is hot -- I mean, she's literally got flames all over her body! Yeesh!" complained Danny, as the two flew back to Titans Tower.
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Post by johnreiter902 on Jun 2, 2020 20:27:31 GMT
I'm so glad to see more of this.
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Post by lawrenceliberty on Jun 3, 2020 13:42:13 GMT
Me too. I never wrote a scene in which Firestorm (Ronny) learned the truth about Firehawk's new status. If you'd like to slip in that memory or references to the conversation the two (three?) (Four?) heroes had, feel free.
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Post by DocQuantum on Jun 3, 2020 17:30:47 GMT
Thanks! I’ll see if I can add something. If you wanted to write a scene you had in mind and send it to me, I’d include it, too!
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Post by lawrenceliberty on Jun 4, 2020 14:24:26 GMT
Thanks. I've been a bit stumped by that one since I couldn't decide how RR would react to knowing his girlfriend knew his secret and was now a heroine herself. I could see him becoming rattled by it at first then accepting that he had no other choice and deciding to be there for her as much as possible.
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Post by DocQuantum on Jun 12, 2020 3:57:18 GMT
At Woodside Military Base in New Jersey, Colonel Rick Flag was long past the point of thinking that he had finally lost his mind.
The Suicide Squad team that he had formed for this mission had been assigned to prevent a nuclear war that would inevitably result from the launching of ICBMs with nuclear warheads at the Soviet Union. But the intel had been completely, ridiculously wrong, and instead of the mastermind known as General Scarr, Flag and the Squad had encountered a powerful mystic teenager called Klarion the Witch Boy.
And their world had been turned completely upside down.
After they had fought off a zombie horde of soldiers brought back to a semblance of life merely for Klarion's entertainment, the Suicide Squad had been forced to go a transformation of their own when the Witch Boy found it amusing that so many of the team had animal-based names.
"Why don't we all become funny animals?" Klarion had suggested, as his feline familiar Teekl tittered with laughter. "It will be great fun!"
That was how the Suicide Squid -- no, Squad, he had to keep reminding himself -- had come to be. Rick Flag had become Rick Flagfin, a three-foot-tall, red-finned fish with a crewcut-like top fin. His sidearm had been changed into a cartoonish mockery of a revolver containing living bullets with cartoon faces that were too scared of Klarion's eldritch power to do anything but stop in midair before beating a hasty retreat.
Flagfin's right-hand animal was now the Bronzed Tiger-Beetle, a two-foot-tall beetle wearing a golden kimono and a lion's-head mask over his hideous bug face.
His other two lieutenants were now Buckshot, a masked expert sharpshooting roebuck deer with a target on his chest, and Captain Baboon-erang, a blue-clad, boomerang-holding primate with a prominent butt -- literally, boomer-butt, as Amanda Whaler liked to call him.
Killer Crock looked even more like a crocodile than before, while Silver Reindeer retained her sparkly antlers no matter which other animal she transformed into. And as for the Booby Doubles, they were just a couple of white birds who liked to shoot guns, even if their bullets tended to be just as shy and cowardly as Flagfin's were when it came to the young warlock before them.
As for the teenage warlock, Klarion-Eel the Witch Snake was enchanted to discover that he was now a dark-speckled yellow snake dressed in black. "Oh, it'sss better than I could have hoped!" he laughed, a forked tongue slithering from his mouth as he spoke. "I do believe we have tapped into another reality where sssuch delightful creaturesss are commonplaccce!"
The situation was getting -- no, had gotten -- out of control, and Rick Flagfin had to think of something fast in order to avert Weird War III. He just wished he didn't have to listen to the reedy, high-pitched sound of his own voice when he spoke.
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