Titan Unleashed

Titan and Red Hood are standing in the now destroyed room that Titan was kept in, with Titan glaring at Red Hood with a mad grin.

"Come on, big guy, we were starting to bond", Red Hood says, dodging a punch. "You know the sad thing? You're doing a lot better than I expected." Enyo smirks. "Oh suck a--" Red Hood's face is slammed into the glass Enyo is behind.

"What was that? "We should have dispatched this clone while it was still in its cyberwomb" I agree, Red Hood." Enyo's smirk widens, looking at Red Hood's smooshed face glaring at her while speaking incoherently.

"Red Him And Red Her--" Titan grabs Red Hood by the leg and slams him, on his back hard, denting the floor "--You Am Mean." Titan glares. "Titan No Like When You Talk About Him Like He Not Here," Titan growls, raising his fists to smash him further into the ground.

"god i think i broke something," Red Hood says weakly, groaning in pain. "...one Halberd of the Gods coming up..." Enyo sighs, frustrated, summoning her weapon to save Red Hood.

"Wait!" Red Hood shouts, holding up his hand up and stopping Titan and Enyo.

"You don't want to talk to me--no problem. So talk to your friend here." Red Hood sits upright, uses his holographic disguise, and changes his face to Bruce Banners.

"Puny...Banner?" Titan, intrigued, crouches down and looks at him. "Yeah--Puny Banner." Puny-Banner chuckles. "Tell him why you're so mad."

"Mad? Me Not Mad...Me Am Sad. Everyone Thought Me Am Hulk. But Me Am Not." Titan says, frustrated. "Me Am Titan. Me Am...Alone." Titans says, looking sadly at Banner.

"You're not alone, Titan. I'm your friend." Puny-Banner smiles amiably. "And--what did you call her--Red Her--she's a friend, too." Puny-Banner gestures to Enyo, "Go on, say Hello." He says encouragingly.

"Hello Red Her." Titan waves at Enyo. "Yeah. Um...Hi." Enyo says, dumbfounded, looking at the two.

"Will you sit with me?" Puny-Banner asks, patting the ground next to him. Titan nods and sits next to him.

"Whatta we do, Boss?"

"Kill it?"

"No. Not yet." Black Mask says from the floor above, looking at Titan and Red Hood in disguise. "Let's see how this plays out."

Enyo glares at Black Mask and his other men surrounding Titan and Red Hood, aiming strange guns at them.

"Looks like Puny-Banner is tired. It's been a long day." Puny-Banner says tiredly, lays down with his right arm as a pillow, and deactivates his disguise.

"Titan Am Tired, Too." Titan yawns and lies down next to Red Hood.

"Titan. can you hear that."

"Red Him Heart?"

"No. Listen harder."

"You're in a place called Jersey City. This is your new home."

"...New...Home?"

"Listen to the city on the other side of the walls.

The cars racing to places people don't want to go.

The ambulances racing from horror to hope.

Listen to the people shouting, laughing, loving, fighting, giving birth, and taking lives.

Listen for the heartbeat among the chaos of Jersey City...

There is a world out there in this one city.

Can you hear it?"

"City...Am...Pretty..."

"...Yeah." Red Hood smiles warmly, glancing at the now sleeping Titan.

Enyo sits with her back against the wall with a contemplative look.

"Defused. Without a shot fired. Impressive." Black Mask says, amazed. "Let's wrap the creature up and get it back to the lab, gentleman." Black Mask says to his men.

"S-sure, Boss. No problem."

[ Morning - 21 June 2009]

"You wanted to talk to me?" Jason asks, opening the door with only his suit on without the helmet.

"Yes, please come break the fast with me." Black Mask says, gesturing to a chair at the dining table. Jason sits down and waits for Black Mask to speak.

"Somehow, I don't think you would be at all surprised to learn the life I have chosen can be a lonely one." Black Mask says, casually eating a piece of bacon. "Don't take this the wrong way, but it could have to do with the whole BDSM theme." Jason gestures to Black Masks mask.

"Just saying--maybe lose the mask once in a while?" Jason says, shrugging and taking a bite from a bagel. "Like at breakfast as the most immediate example." Jason says, grimacing.

"Trust me. You do not want to see my face. Ever" Black Mask says with an edge to his tone. "I wanted to confess something. I enlisted you because I thought you would be easy to manipulate. Yes, I needed an heir, but I also needed a pawn." Black Mask says, casually drinking from his water.

"It was clear even from a distance you had issues. You were childish, immature and I knew I could take advantage of that." Black Mask grins. "If you are trying to get me to blush it's not working", Jason deadpans.

"I realize now--I was wrong about you. You could have pit Titan and Enyo against each other, and possibly destroyed both." Black Mask leans forward, "Instead, you risked your life to protect my assets." Black Mask pauses for a beat and gestures between them, "Our assets."

Jason slowly reaches for his gun holster, looking blankly at Black Mask. Jason stops when he sees Black Mask standing up.

"You're much more than an heir. You're a kindred spirit. I want you to know...I consider you a friend." Black Mask puts his hands in his pockets and walks away, "Come with me... I'd like to show you something."

"Sure. Can I bring this bagel?" Jason says, taking the bagel.

"So tedious." Enyo scoffs in the vents underneath the dining table. "Back home if you had a problem with someone, you pick up a sword and run them through. In Man's world, people go on and on about their feelings." Enyo says quietly and follows after them in the ventilation system.

"My apologies for the aesthetics. Much of the building's electricity has been redirected after Titan's outburst." Black Mask says, holding a lantern lighting the way in a dark corridor with Jason behind him. "I don't mind a little darkness. It's where I do my best work." Jason says flippantly, holding his helmet by his side.

"When I was born, my parents were obscenely wealthy. Instead of raising me, they gave all their attention to their family empire and when my little brother was born I thought they would change, but they didn't." Black Mask stops in front of a family portrait. "Yeah, not a lot of domestic bliss radiating off that portrait." Jason remarks, looking at the picture of a pregnant woman with black hair and a white streak wearing a green dress, A man with black hair and a goatee wearing a black suit, and a preteen boy with black hair wearing a black suit. "They were a crushing disappointment", Black Mask laments.

"Where are they now?" Jason asks, curious. "You witnessed firsthand what I did to my men when they failed. What do you think happened to my parents?" Black Mask says darkly. "And your little brother?" Jason questions. "He was five when I decided to change his name and sent him off to an orphanage in New York. He would have been an easy target for my enemies if I kept him around." Black Mask shrugs.

"So you did it to protect him." Jason says. "Yes, but what good that helped with what he is doing right now." Black Mask sighs, annoyed.

"A thing that makes us a like Red. We see a problem, we fix it. We don't spend the rest of our life's regretting what we didn't do. Or what others didn't do for us." Black Mask changes the subject abruptly and walks over to a control panel, "I built an Empire from my pain."

Black Mask and Jason walk into a large room with crates and shelves with weapons and artefacts. "This is how I built it. One step at a time..." Black Mask gestured to the stands as they walked through the room, "...On the broken backs of my enemies. These are the spoils of war."

"So this is your master plan? You're going to take Jersey City one block at a time?" Jason questions looking at all the different weaponry and artefacts. "Nothing so banal. If we're going to stay together, you have to broaden your thinking." Black Mask says.

Enyo lands silently a few feet behind them as they turn down a row of shelves. "The advantage of possessing superior firepower is not having to use it." Black Mask advises. "So then Enyo was right? The Bow Of Ra is on one of these shelves somewhere?" Jason asks. "Unfortunately, No. I did possess it a week ago, but..." Black Mask sighs. Jason glances back at Enyo, hiding behind a pile of crates.

"...I actually shipped it back to it's original home--for quite a profit from the country of Qurac." Black Mask sighs ruefully. "Now that I know it's true worth, if this Enyo woman is correct, I should have them turn the ship around and bring it back."

"Fuck. So Close." Enyo curses softly. Miffed, she silently walks away from her cover, her head down, frustrated. Jason glances back, seeing Enyo's retreating back.

"So then, what are you planning to do with your own private armoury?" Jason asks. "We. What are We going to do" Black Mask emphasizes, taking a turn and coming to what looks like the centre of the room, with a table with an injection gun containing a purple luminescent liquid? A large crate is behind the table.

"Just imagine what we could do together--for this city. We only need to be bold enough to exert our will." Black Mask says, walking over to the table and picking up the injection gun. "For men of ambition such as ourselves anything is within our grasp." Black Mask says cockily, holding up the injection gun.

"What...the hell is that?" Jason, perplexed, observes the liquid in the injection gun, trying to figure out what it is. "This a techno-organic virus that can be used to control someone." Black Mask answers. "Let me guess another one of RavTech's inventions," Jason says, as a matter of fact. "Quite fast on the uptake, I see." Black Mask chuckles and then asks earnestly, "So... How long are we still going to pretend we haven't been working at cross-purposes since before we met..."

"...Jason"

"How long have you known?" Jason, shocked, looks wide-eyed at Black Mask. "Always. Did you think it was a coincidence you just happened upon intel that I was looking for you?" Black Masks says rhetorically. "Hell, I have kept an eye on you since I sent you to that orphanage." Black Mask says.

"Wait a fucking minute...I'm your little brother?" Jason asks, bewildered. "I had my doubts at first, but when I saw your face, even after twelve years I would still recognize my little brother, You have the same white streak as our mother." Black Mask points to his hair.

"God...what kind of plot twist is this?" Jason is still confused and shocked. "Join me, Jason and we can recreate this city in our image. As Brothers." Black Mask says, holding out his hand.

"Sorry, even if you are my long-lost psychopathic brother. I'm not really a big fan of being some Crime lord or whatever. I'm gonna have to pass." Jason says, taking a step back and putting on his helmet.

"This could have been so much easier little brother." Black Mask sighs and injects himself with the techno-organic virus.

"Black Mask!"

"We could have done some good together--you and me. We could have rebuilt Jersey in a way that she deserves. Made it safe for the deserving among us."

"And what happens when they want something you don't? When they disappoint you?" Red Hood says, drawing his guns.

"You've already handled that particular problem for me, Jason." Black Mask laughs maniacally.

"Ah...Fuck me," Red Hood sighs in realization.

"You brought it to me.

You showed me its worth.

You gave me the means to rule this city with an iron fist."

SMASH

The large crate behind Black Mask explodes, revealing Titan wearing a short sleeve full, body compression suit, his eyes glowing purple and strange glowing purple markings on his skin.

"Me...And My Titan", Black Mask shouts, holding his fit in the air with Titan mimicking his stance.

"God you are a shitty older brother" Red Hood sighs, getting ready for a fight with Titan.