Titans Together (All Titans)

A meeting was being held at Titan Tree, a large wooden tower enshrouded from up above by a thick bushel of leaves and branches that made up the canopy. The tree was massive though, and could be found deep among the acres of Jump City's Central Park.

At the wooden main ops table in the common room were all the registered Titans, but they were hoping or at least expecting to get a visitation by their unregistered comrades.

With the unregistered's base a secret and Titans Isle severely damaged. This was the best meeting place.

War had broken out and right now these young heroes had called a joint meeting to put any issues aside and decide what was to be done about the growing threat. Kale sat with his arms folded as the firefly and fluorescent illuminated room bared light at the others in the room. He seemed perplexed - he had invited Hotwire and his team, but he wasn't sure he would trust him anymore.

Hotwire had trust in his old friend kale. He knew there was enough respect left in him to not try to take advantage of him like this. His honor wouldn't allow it... or something. And so he was there. He walked into the meeting room. Right now... despite the rest of them being there... it felt like it was just him and Kale.

"Kale..." He said with a slightly downcast look. His friends absence hurt. This war was changing things.

Yang walked into the meeting room of the tree looking like a zombie. She had barely slept the night before, if she had at all. Constantly rethinking the attack on the tower. What could have gone better? How could she have kept everyone any safer? They'd been shown that Russia wasn't afraid to strike, now they had to always be ready. The Zydon invasion all over again.

When she entered the room, she saw her former redheaded friend and grumbled something, sipping her coffee. "Ah. So he talked you into coming?" She said, sitting down and leaning on the table with her drink. "Haven't seen you since you left. You're welcome for that by the way."

With the main three here it was time to begin. The other members could chime in their opinions when they saw it necessary.

Kale was hugged by Flux before he could speak. He had not been able to interact with her since his viewpoint changed thanks to Tiberius. He hugged her back ernestly, like a long lost brother and then looked her up and down. "Haven't changed a bit...but you can change into anything you want anyway."

Kale sat down and looked to Yang and Hotwire. "Thank you, but this isn't just my base. Until this war is over and anytime after it all of you are welcome here."

Kale slammed his fist on the table lightly in response to her remark. "Yang, let's not." Kale said. "That's done and over with, right now we have a war to worry about."

He eyed them both. "You're safe here Hotwire, I promise, I'm not on anyone's side when it comes to registering - I just want to save this land from the humans trying to destroy it. Both Yang and I have spent time with Tiberius. As an enemy he is something to worry about, but neither of us think he'll come for you during this war."

Kale placed a hand on the table and the wood morphed into a seemingly carved block model of Jump City. The areas the Russians had hit were clearly outlined by broken parts to the model city's construction; such as the tower. "His forces are spread thin right now protecting other areas of the nation; Oakland, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Hollywood, the beaches. These areas are being hit hard by the Russians and without meta-humans Tib is focusing his forces on protecting them, leaving this city to the heroes, to us."

The areas on the table/city model that were already attacked by the Russians crumbled in the same format of damage that had been done to them in real life. "So what do you both know?"

Hotwire leaned over the table and looked at the map. "Great." He said scanning it with his computer. "Configure this map to closest 3-d map fit of Jump City in memory. Then resize to perameters and overlay with my map of russian movements within the city." He said. He pulled out a small disk, and plugged it into his wrist computer. After a few seconds, it dinged. He unplugged it, and looked over the map. he slid the disc down one of the major streets.

With a flash, the map gained a slightly bluish glow. But if you looked closely, you would see it was a holographic overlay. There were red areas where the russian troops had moved in, followed by a couple silver areas... but there were a few special things that weren't there before. There were miniature holographic figures of the russian metahumans tat had attacked.

"The red areas are russian army strikes, while the silver areas are known areas of russian spy involvement. Be free to add anything if you want. My computer is providing a live upkeep of this map. The statues are known instances of russian metahuman involvement." He explained.

"That's all I've got."

Yang sighed. She had let the unregistered break the law as they pleased all this time and she couldn't even say you're welcome. Wow. "I'd add something but my tower is boned. I can't until my systems are back online." She hated not having access to her technology, and this really just felt like rubbing salt in the wound. "Hotwire, add in the entries for time that these strikes occurred. Maybe we can find some sort of pattern, and by predicting we can be there to defend before they even arrive."

The pattern was relatively hazy, but it made some sense. The Tower to weaken forces, the bridge to stop others from fleeing, the prison to cause chaos and panic, it was relatively straightforward with entries like this. But inbetween them were movie theaters, convenience stores, and random other things. Yang took the liberty of linking them. "They're splashing in these random attacks with major assaults. We can find the next target, but we can't find when it will occur." She said, narrowing her eyes.

"Quick question." A stranger to most in the room today, the guy known as Onyekachi cut across the chatter. The Kishi had pushed his chair away from the table in an effort to distance himself from proceedings. He'd only been asked to attend as a courtesy, "What the f'word are you guys playing at?" He hadn't wanted to draw attention to himself. Something about unfamiliar faces made him stubborn to interact. But he felt the discussion was fast going in directions he was not comfortable with. If he didn't butt in now, who knows where it might end up.

"Why am I sitting in a war room? I knew you dipsticks all had a death wish, but I thought it only went as far as fightin' crime. This is an army you're talking about. Unless the government is gonna put us on a military pay grade, who f'wording cares! Let them sort it out. We don't got to get shot at unless there's a problem right in front of us." The Kishi had been forced into this life of super-heroing. He did not understand or even believe in the drive behind wanting to help others. Pitching themselves into a warzone sounded like a bad idea from where he was sitting.

Coming in along with Hotwire and Flux was the third member of the unregistered Titans, who were more like a trio now, Metamorphi. Their leader, Hotwire, gave Kale a look, whereas Flux straight up hugged him. Meta was much more restrained, he held out his hand to give Kale a handshake Hello Kale... it's nice to see you Meta smiled, he hadn't been unscathed by Kale's leaving either, but he respected Kale's decision and was glad to see he was doing well.

Then Yang walked into the room, she looked terrible, but that was to be expected, the attack on the tower had been pretty rough, the fact that Yang was still standing was an amazing feat. He didn't quite know what to think about Yang, they had met only briefly, when Meta originally almost joined the Titans, but she seemed to be someone Meta could respect. Meta walked up to her and held out his hand, if she took it he would shake It's nice to see you again, even if we only met briefly.

Once the actual meeting started, Meta had very little to say so far, in fact, he had nothing at all to say until someone whom he did not at all recognise spoke up, he must have been one of Kale's lot. He questioned why they were getting involved in a war, he sure didn't sound like much of a hero type to Meta. Meta responded, keeping his voice calm The whole point of fighting them is that we can't just ignore them. The whole point of being a hero is to protect the innocent, not fighting the Russians is as good as letting them kill innocent people and take our country. So to paraphrase you, we "f'wording" care somehow he could tell that the guy wasn't going to just accept that answer.

((OOC: Bit out of sequence, but this is a thing Flux would do ))



Flux had opened her mouth to respond to the Kishi's words, but Metamorphi beat her to the punch! She grinned at her friend, and nodded, pointing mutely at Meta, emphasizing his statement. She didn't add anything to it.

Kale saw what they had added, but was now helpless. Strategist like tactics in a game of chess with the enemy wasn't his strong suit - strategizing in battle was.

Kale went to speak again but before he could utter a word they were all stifled by kishi who boasted his ill feelings towards fighting an army. "You're a good ally of mine Oyekachi. And it's because of that I will say that cowardice doesn't become you." Kale spoke seriously. "It's true they have an army, they have humans and other things with abilities too... Some way greater than our own." Kale smiled. "But everyone in this room - since coming to this planet I've seen you all battle when you believe the fight is worth it. And it ... scares me."

Kale let the irony set in that the Titan named Brave was afraid of his comrades when they were serious. "I don't know any creature, any warriors, or any monsters that can defeat you as a group and some of you alone either. So if you want to defend your home. If you wanna fight back these Russians that think they can come here and force us to our knees...If you want it bad enough, then I never had any doubt we would win." Words, yes, but truth in some instances. "They came to destroy the bridge, the Tower, and everything else. They didn't succeed in destroying anything completely even with that show of force because even as just few you were strong together - believe me Oyekkachi we can do this."

Kale finished his speech with one last remark. "And as to why, because humans - while good - also want too much power. If we don't stop them, they'll take what they came for. Kill all who won't join them including you and me, or worse, use us against our will to help them. Like the others weve been fighting." Kale growled as he said this. "There was never a choice of if we should fight them, only how. Which is why I have all of you here because I can't figure it out alone." Kale looked to his ally. "So I ask that you forget pay, but fight with me to keep that freedom I promised you."

As soon as yang made the request, the information she requested would appear.

Hotwire leaned back, nodding as Kale made point after glorious point. He was honestly happy to be in the room with all of them. He missed this.

"I wholeheartedly agree. We're standing together on this... but Kale made an interesting statement." He said looking to him. "If we don't stop them, they'll take what they came for. Just what is that exactly... because..." He said as his hologram shifted a little. Beneath most of the red, a shiny glimmer of sliver would appear. "Most of the attacks that weren't large strategic targets were hotbeds of spy activity before they were attacked." He explained crossing his arms.

"Correct me if I'm wrong... but this means they're looking for something. They send in spies for recon, and if they don't think an area looks promising, they move on." He theorized. "This is just a guess... but I'll bet they're going for the genetics data... and not just because of their claimed 'power balance.' No I'm betting they want the genetic codes for a different reason." He said.

Immediately, each of the statues shot up and expanded in size. "Each of the attacking metahumans... Argent, Hotspot, Thunder, Lightning, Aqualad, Kilowatt, Bushido, and Speedy" He said. "There's a pattern. They went missing during the vanishing. However, they also went missing once before." He said. He pressed another button. An image popped up in the air in front of them. "I did some biochemical scans on one of the defeated Metahumans, and the results are in..."

The image showed multiple stasis tubes. Inside were all of the shown heroes. All of the ones that had attacked were in there. But... there were a few others. Yang would know what this meant.

"These Metahuman... no... these Metahuman clones... Have Brotherhood of Evil written all over them."

Yang had figured out what they were after as soon as Hotwire mentioned the genetics data. "Of course." She had seen it herself, she knew Tib had it under lock and key. So long as she and the other kept them away, she knew that data was safe. "Here's the issue we're facing..." She said plainly. "They attacked that tower, and we all defended it with the exclusion of Hotwire and his crew. Most of what was there was destroyed during the blast, so there's no chance they recovered any of our DNA...but..." She bit her lip lightly, covering her mouth with her hands and leaning forward on the model.

"Here's the issue. If they're cloning these heroes in teenage form, with all of their skills and training and ways of thinking...then they either have VERY advanced technology that the Zydon were just scratching the surface of, or they're using the actual mental states of the originals with a...different method." Now Yang's years of studying were coming into effect. Good thing she knew a good bit. When she considered the way Speedy fought, he acted like the real Speedy. He KNEW how to counter her. He KNEW what to do. And Overload? Please, reprogramming him would be child play for her or Hotwire.

"A good bit of mind control and behavior modification training was started up by Nazi Germany toward the end of World War 2. Without getting into many details, the procedure was then experimented with by the CIA. The operation had several names such as Blue Bird, MK Ultra, and Project Artichoke." Despite the name, she indicated to everyone that she was NOT joking. This was a thing.

"The project involved infecting the United States with a huge stock of hallucinogens such as LSD, and using it to try and create the perfect truth serum. As time went on Dr. Yuan Cameron went into work taking in 'patients' with depression, anxiety issues and mental disorders and put them into drug induced comas...using tape recorded messages to try and mold their minds." She didn't like the thought of it, but...this made sense. It wasn't unlikely that a hero could suffer from anxiety or stress for their job, making them a perfect candidate for Doctor Cameron's research.

"I know this sounds...weird...but if they perfected this technique of mind control, then they could have the originals under their control as well, and are using the clones to avoid losing the source." She blinked softly. "I mean...just a crackpot theory right?" She laughed nervously.

First impressions. Very important. Out of this gaggle of do-gooders he knew Kale and... Bow the best. Didn't particularly like either of them. Their generosity had not been met with gratitude. Like as much they expected the Kishi to pull his weight when it came to situations such as this, but Onyekachi was loathe to risk his life unnecessarily. They kept speaking of these Russians as his enemy. And while he was always on the lookout for people to justify smacking around, he was smart enough to know that things got out of control on a battlefield. Even a powerhouse like him might end up dead.

Onyekachi's opinion of their more recent lodgers wasn't impressive either. In fact he saw Yang as little better than prey. Like a cat watching fish safe in its glass tank. Just because he couldn't eat her it didn't mean he'd lost the impulse to sniff around. Doubtless the merest hint he was thinking of devouring one of their number would be grounds for eviction, and so the Kishi had kept it to himself. So far. Restraint, when it was not imposed by the curse, did not come readily to Onyekachi.

Finally the remaining trio, whom he gathered were something of outcasts, were the least in his estimate. At least Kishi thought Yang would put up a fight. Hotwire nor Flux were physically imposing, quite the opposite. And the slightly sardonic response from Meta had earned him a mental note between the Kishi brothers to gouge his eyes out at their earliest convenience.

Oh yeah. Onyekachi was not your typical hero. A wolf wearing sheep's clothing. Ill fitting clothing at that.

Only Kale's entreaties had appealed to the demon so far. But even that was tentative in its effectiveness. Onyekachi's immediate internal response to being called a 'good ally' was sheer hostility. He hated the thought of playing nice with heroes. Sunken eyes regarded the dragon mage as he finished his rousing speech. The Kishi took exception to that last word. "Freedom? Pah. You don't want to know what I would do with actual freedom." But the argument had done some good in silencing Onyekachi's protests against this expedition. He returned to the role of bystander (bysitter?).

Meta stayed silent, the devolpments made were quite shocking, but he had no reaction (Skip)