The New Titans #23
“Hello Again, Goodbye”

By JackofHearts2005 with Lightshear



“You stole the Arrow Plane?” Green Arrow said, pointing an accusing finger at his former sidekick, now the hero Arsenal. The two were nearing another argument as a pair of Green Lanterns from a pair of Justice Leagues transported them and tremendous numbers of others back to Earth after their battle with Eclipso on the moon.

“Ollie, I didn’t steal it, I just borrowed it,” Arsenal insisted. "I figured I had the right under the circumstances--"

“Without asking!" Green Arrow corrected. "You 'borrowed' without asking! Roy what is wrong with you? You should know better. You could have at least told me what you were--”

The younger man pushed his former mentor aside. “And who exactly was supposed to have taught me better? You?”

“Hey, now!” Green Arrow protested, holding up his arms to his sides. “Give me a little credit. I taught you some stuff, right?”

Arsenal turned around, deciding to change the topic before the argument turned sour. They'd just won a major battle, and he found he wasn't in the mood for another verbal sparring match with the old man.

“Whatever," he said. "So what’s new with the legendary Green Arrow, huh? Haven’t seen much of you lately, Ollie. Still running around the country chasing women and fat cats? Or did the League institute some kind of 'Old Farts Only Get Monitor Duty' policy?”

“None of the above, kid. You know I can still fight like a champ and Hal gone and you off with the Titans, there’s nobody for me to run around the country with. Women though…”

Ollie found his eyes drifting over to Black Canary, who was talking with a few of the other Leaguers. Roy followed his gaze and then turned back with a huge grin on his face.

“No. Way. Black Canary? She’s like my age.”

“She is not your age,” Green Arrow smirked. "She's at least a couple years older. And keep it down, wouldja? She wants to keep this thing of ours on the sly for a while."

“Whatever you say, hotshot” Arsenal laughed. “I’m gonna go ask her for her number. You know - to help you sell the charade.”

“In your dreams," the older man laughed. "That girl's fallen for me so hard that I've got to be careful in the field. She watches me more than the enemy!"

“I bet it’s the beard. Women love a guy with a ridiculous looking beard.” Arsenal tweaked Green Arrow’s whiskers for emphasis.

“Says the guy wearing sunglasses indoors!”

Nightwing watched the archers saunter over in the direction of the lovely looking blonde. Speaking of lovely…

“Hi, Dick.”

Starfire. Alien princess. She was passionate, caring, threw a heck of a punch and was certainly the most beautiful person in the room (if you can call the construct that the GLs were hauling them back to earth in a room). Wonder Woman and Black Canary had nothing on this girl. Well… maybe his opinion was biased. Or maybe it was something else.

“Hi, Kory.”

She looked amazing. And only a tad too tall for him. And only a freaking princess. Calm the hell down, he said to himself. [/i]She’s your teammate and your friend…and she’s smiling at you. You should probably say something.[/i]

He opened his mouth to do just that but found himself unable to say anything. That probably had something to do with the fact that she was kissing him. After a very long and very wet kiss, she smiled at him and walked off.

Beast Boy howled.

Nightwing was so happy he didn’t even notice the angry look Batman was giving them. He just smiled oddly, wondering what had just happened.
________________________________________

When they arrived back at Titans Tower, everybody was pretty tired. All of the Titans went to their respective rooms to go to sleep…except Starfire. She somehow found herself in Nightwing’s room.

The next morning, Beast Boy made waffles. He wore an apron with big red lettering that read 'Kiss the Cook.' Even though the apron and waffles only netted him a kiss on the cheek from both Dawn and Kory, he didn’t complain. He was just happy to be home with an entire family on non-eclipsed Titans. They all were. Still, something was bothering Dawn and the Hawk and Dove duo headed out of town for the weekend.*

“Man. Off on a weekend retreat together. Why don’t they just announce the engagement?” Gar asked as soon as Hank and Dawn were out the door. He swept his joystick to the right, sending a fireball at Vic’s character on the screen.

“Are you crazy man? Let's assume it isn't obvious that there's nothing between them (and it is), just think about it a second and you'll see it's crazy.”

Cyborg tapped A frantically on his controller, knocking Gar’s fighter though a barrel and into the wall.

“If you met a girl who wore the same outfit, used the same name, and had the same powers as your dead brother, would your first reaction be to fall for her?”

"I don't have a brother."

"Alright… you're mom, then."

Beast Boy thought for a moment. “Can we make it be a girl dressed up like your mom instead?”

KAY OH!

“Seriously, Logan. And on top of that, imagine this girl is the exact opposite of you in every way.”

Round Two…FIGHT!

“So she’s ugly, boring, insensitive…”

“How is insensitive the opposite of you?”

“I managed to sit through The Notebook without laughing once.”

Cyborg chuckled as his character picked up its opponent and threw him across the level.

“Well, you’re a better man than me. But really, there’s nothing going on between those two. They just ain’t right for each other.”

Beast Boy sighed happily.

“And there it is. Between you and me, that’s what I’m going for. I looooove to hear people tell me how single a pretty girl is and how all the other men in her life at just good friends, like brothers even. Makes my chances seem better doesn’t it?”

“Not really,” Roy said, walking in and flopping down on the other couch. Cyborg’s character unleashed a flurry of punches, and Beast Boy’s man went down for the count.

KAY OH! BOYAH!

“How’d you make it do that?” Gar said in disbelief.

“I edited the disk real quick while you were making breakfast. If you had won, a plane would have crashed on your guy.”

“Speaking of pretty girls, you guys know what the hell that's all about?” Arsenal pointed his thumb at the kitchen. Nightwing was trying to do something on his laptop but Starfire wouldn’t leave him alone. She kept distracting him with kisses, caresses and her sheer beauty.

“I just want to go on record and say that the whole situation is completely unfair” Gar said, crossing his arms.

“Oh like you have any right to complain” Victor countered. “Besides, I thought you were after Dawn.”

Beast Boy raised an eyebrow. “Since when do I have to settle for just one?”

“I tell you, boys” Arsenal piped in, “Gar’s right. It isn’t fair. Where are our sexy alien princesses?”

Vic rolled his eye as Roy continued. “--And good luck getting close enough to our own 'Pretty Bird' with big brother Hawk around to spoil things. The sad fact is, gentlemen, that we need more girls on this team.”

Now normally, such a statement could be caulked up to wishful thinking or, in the case of Roy Harper who met plenty of women outside of superteams, just being lazy. At this particular moment, however, it seems the Titans’ prayers had been answered. There was a flash of smoke and light and Raven appeared before them. The three sat in silence and shock. Dick and Kory hadn't noticed yet.

“Do it again” Gar whispered.

“Ehem. The sad fact is, gentlemen, that we need more girls on this team.”

Nothing.

“Perhaps two more girls.”
________________________________________

“And just where do you think you’re going?”

Dawn caught Hank as he was headed out the front door. He was wearing a Yankees ball cap and a leather jacket.

“Just doing some uh…reconnaissance. You should probably stay here.”

“Nonsense.” Dawn grabbed her own jacket and walked outside past Hank. “We both know I’m the smart one. You’ll probably just screw it up” she said with a wink.

Hank rolled his eyes and the two of them walked a few blocks to a local bar called the Happy Bird. It had a tacky moving electric display outside showing a pidgin drinking from a longneck and then falling over. Dawn didn’t like it. Hank loved it. Inside, Hank picked out the shadiest pair of guys. They were sitting at the bar taking shots.

“Well if it isn’t Hank mother…” the man paused, trying to think of a suitable verb to describe what Hank was supposedly doing to mothers. After a moment, he gave up. “Hank Hall! How you doing man?”

"Not too bad, Wes. How goes it?”

“Oh pretty good. Me and Charlie here are just waiting around for our uh…midnight shift.” He winked at Hank. “If you know what I mean.”

“Shuddap,” Charlie said, taking another drink.

“What kind of job are we talking about?” Hank asked, buying the guy another drink as well as one for himself. Dawn took a coke.

“Oh, just moving some happy dust from a warehouse by the docks. Number 32, I think.” Then he leaned in close and tried to whisper in Hank’s ear, though the words came out as loud as ever “But I’m not supposed to tell anybody that.”

“Shuddap,” Charlie said again.

“It’s just Hank, Charlie. He’s good people! He won’t be telling nobody.”

“Charlie’s probably right, Wes.” Hank replied, downing a beer. “I mean, you never know who might overhear. If I was you, I’d be worried about Hawk.”

“Nah,” Wes laughed. “Didn’cha hear? Hawk’s in Cali with them other Teen Titans and stuff. We don’t gotta worry about nothing. Speaking of gone,” he looked goofily at Hank. “Where have you been lately?”

“He was in the hospital,” Dawn interrupted with a grin. “Ren broke his arm.”

“Haw!” the drunken punk guffawed. “She probably would break his arm if he was takin other girls to bars with ‘im.”

Dawn didn’t think this was very funny. She cared for Hank, true, but the fact that so many people seemed to assume they were dating or something bothered the heck out of her. Especially when the comments came from Gar. The guy was cute (for a person with green skin) and funny but she hated the way he made fun of her, to say nothing of the way he made fun of Hank. Come to think of it, other than the terribly drunk Wes, Gar was the only person who seemed to suggest that she and Hank were a couple…

“Shuddap,” Charlie said for the third time. Looking at his watch, he decided that it was close enough to midnight and picked up his heavily intoxicated friend. “Be seeing you, Hank.” The two shuffled out the door.

“If you ask me” the bartender said, picking up the tip Hank had put on the table for his friends, “Those two should be worried about Hawk. They’ve been telling every guy to walk into this bar about their job at Warehouse 32. Told me three times personally. Wouldn’t it be unlucky for them if Hawk was in town this weekend?”

“Yeah” Hank agreed, taking one last drink. “That’d suck for them.”
________________________________________

“Raven!” Starfire shouted, running to give her friend a hug.

“Raven!” Beast Boy mimicked, giving Raven a hug from behind.

Raven smiled, though she seemed very uncomfortable with the sandwich of hugging she was experiencing.

“I’ve missed you so,” Starfire said, letting Raven go but holding onto her hands. “Dick and I are in love.”

Dick gave a nervous grin. Roy shot him a shocked and concerned glance. Dick shrugged. Gar still hadn’t let go of Raven.

“I’ve missed you so,” he stated emphatically. “And I’m still single.”

“Down, boy,” Vic detached the changeling from Raven. “How’s it going, witch?”

“I…am well, Victor. I would like to rejoin the Titans, if you’ll have me.”

“Hmm… I don’t know, Raven,” Nightwing started. Arsenal punched him in the arm. “Oww. I was just…of course you can come back, Raven. The Titans are a family and you’re a part of it.”

“Speaking of family,” Beast Boy said “I was planning on heading back to Steve’s mansion to see about helping with the repairs and all.” He rubbed the back of his neck “I haven’t really seen them in a while and we kinda beat each other up last week.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Roy said, heading for the door. “It was going to be a boring afternoon anyways. Besides, they owe us a T-Jet.”
________________________________________

The Arrow Plane circled above the mansion. The house had been pretty badly damaged earlier in the week, but not like this. There were holes blown in every wall, bullet casings all over the ground and even a couple of robots lying around. One was missing an arm, another, its head. A third had a hole in its stomach.

“No, no, no, no...”

Arsenal opened up the cockpit and a green crow flew out, surveying the damage. Beast Boy flew into the house to find it empty. Why? Why was this happening? He had just gotten them back. He hadn’t even gotten to talk to them, to find out how his mom was still alive, where his dad had been.

There was a rumbling sound and Gar followed it to find a golden arm sticking out of a pile of rubble. Immediately, Gar shifted into the form of a gorilla and started digging his friend out of the rock. Robotman was battered and barely conscious.

“What happened?”

“Rou..ge.” Robotman stammered. “Her-- her soldiers. The helmet… Don’t trust… Mento…”

Outside, the Titans had parked the Arrow Plane. Nightwing and Starfire approached Steve Dayton.

“I’m glad you’re okay, Mento” Dick said. “When we saw the extra damage we were worried thaAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!”

Beast Boy came charging out of the mansion to find his step father fighting his teammates for the second time in the past week.
________________________________________

When they reached the warehouse, Hank and Dawn found it empty. No drugs, no boxes, certainly no mobs of bad guys waiting to be clobbered.

“What the hell?!?” screamed Hank. “Where is everybody?”

“Right behind you,” came a voice from behind. The voice sounded surprisingly like Hanks, only a bit deeper and rougher. Turning around, they saw a man in his mid twenties. He had jet black hair and was pound for pound every bit as powerful and impressive as Hank, perhaps even more so.

“Who the f### are you supposed to be?” Hank demanded.

“Hank…” Dawn said, touching his arm.

“Hank, Hank," the man laughed darkly. "You should be more polite. And more careful about using your real names in public, too-- not that it really matters with me. You see, I’ve known about the two of you for a long time now. I’ve been sent by big daddy Chaos. He doesn’t think you’re taking your job very seriously, Hawk. Of course, he doesn’t want you around at all, Dove. So what do you say to changing into our play clothes and having a little fun?”

Hank and Dawn looked at each other.

“That’s fine. I’ll go first. KESTRAL!”





*For the full story, see Tales of the New Teen Titans #1, on sale soon.
________________________________________


The Titans:

E Cyborg* - 54
R HT Beast Boy* - 31
R Icn Raven - 54

* w/ Nanoarmor - 6
** w/ Camouflage - 8

Total: 153

Vs.

The Helmet:

V Mento - 87
Robot (R Mr. Hyde) - 37
Damaged Robot (R Wolfsbane) - 28

Total: 152

-And-

Hawk & Dove:

R Hawk - 45
E Dove - 51

Total: 96

Vs.

The Agent of Chaos:

Kestrel (LE MM Bruce Banner)* - 92

* w/ Double-Time - 5

Total: 97

Map: Mechanical Offices

Scenario Notes:

 This is a split game. There is a wall along the line between rows M & N which cannot be broken or crossed. The Titans fight is in the lower half and the Hawk & Dove fight is on the upper half. Teams set up on either left or right sides, not top or bottom.

 Both top and bottom fights use the normal amount of objects (3 each HO & LO). Players can not shift objects from one side to the other - no Heavy Objects from the bottom map may be placed in the upper map, for instance.

Init: 2,6
Obj: 6,2


E Cyborg
Team: Titans
Range: 6
Points: 54
Feat: Nanoarmor - No damage taken from objects.

8 9 15 3

8 8 15 2

8 8 14 2

7 7 14 2

7 7 13 2

6 6 13 2

6 6 13 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

R Beast Boy
Team: Titans
Range: 0 /
Points: 31
Feat: Camouflage - Can't be targeted by ranged attacks while next to walls/blocking terrain.

6 6 12 0

7 10 15 2

6 9 13 2

5 8 12 1

4 5 11 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

R Raven
Team: Titans
Range: 8 /
Points: 54

8 8 16 1

8 8 15 1

7 8 15 1

7 7 14 1

6 7 13 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

R Hawk
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 0 /
Points: 45

6 6 11 1

10 12 15 3

10 11 13 2

9 10 12 2

8 9 11 2

7 8 11 2

6 7 10 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

E Dove
Team: None
Range: 0
Points: 51

5 6 10 0

10 10 17 2

9 10 16 2

9 8 15 1

8 8 15 1

7 8 14 1

6 7 14 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

vs

V Mento
Team: Titans
Range: 8
Points: 87

7 9 16 2

6 9 16 1

6 8 15 1

6 8 15 1

5 8 14 1

5 8 14 1

5 7 14 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Speed: MENTAL HOLD: Mento can use Incapacitate.
R Robot
Range: 0 /
Points: 37

6 10 15 3

6 9 14 2

6 8 13 2

5 7 12 2

5 7 11 1

4 6 10 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

R Damaged Robot
Range: 0 /
Points: 28

8 7 15 2

8 8 15 2

7 7 15 1

7 6 14 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

LE Kestral
Range: 6
Points: 92
Feat: Double time - Move double speed in exchange for 1 damage (no attack).

6 7 13 1

8 9 15 2

8 10 16 3

10 11 17 4

10 10 16 4

9 9 15 3

8 9 14 3

8 8 14 2

7 8 13 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

You've got a villain, want to set you characters up?

Well, first you roll for initiative and objects.

2d6 each. Whoever gets objects gets 2 heavies and a light and the other gets 2 lights and a heavy. Whoever gets initiative sets up first and goes first.

In the RPSC, we generally go by an honor system so if you want to use an online dice roller or roll your own dice at home, it's all good.

I called it. A 3. Awesome. [email protected] for dice roller.

Alright, we'll call that your init roll and I just rolled a 4 and a 3 for your objects roll.

If you really want me to send dice rolls to you via an email roller, I will. Let me know. I'm just going to trust your rolls though. Just a fun game with a story, no real reason to cheat even if I thought you were a cheating kinda guy.

The Titans:

[]1) Cyborg* (7/7) T23
[]2) Beast Boy** (5/5) U23
[]3) Raven (5/5) T24

* w/ Nanoarmor - 6
** w/ Camouflage - 8

Total: 153

Vs.

The Helmet:

1) Mento (7/7)
2) Robot (R Mr. Hyde) (6/6)
3) Damaged Robot (R Wolfsbane) (4/4)

Total: 152

-And-

Hawk & Dove:

[]4) Hawk (7/7) J23
[]5) Dove (7/7) I23

Total: 96

Vs.

The Agent of Chaos:

4) Kestrel (LE MM Bruce Banner)* (9/9)

* w/ Double-Time - 5

Total: 97

HO: W13, U19, B21, D21, 2 for you
LO: R11, I16, 4 for you

http://www.ianparmenter.com/hcutils/...5p2=x-201y-151

The Titans:

[]1) Cyborg* (7/7) T23
[]2) Beast Boy** (5/5) U23
[]3) Raven (5/5) T24

* w/ Nanoarmor - 6
** w/ Camouflage - 8

Total: 153

Vs.

The Helmet:

1) Mento (7/7) W1
2) Robot (R Mr. Hyde) (6/6) X2
3) Damaged Robot (R Wolfsbane) (4/4) X1

Total: 152

-And-

Hawk & Dove:

[]4) Hawk (7/7) J23
[]5) Dove (7/7) I23

Total: 96

Vs.

The Agent of Chaos:

4) Kestrel (LE MM Bruce Banner)* (9/9) K2

* w/ Double-Time - 5

Total: 97

HO: W13, U19, B21, D21, K13,
LO: R11, I16, W8, U8, X6, I16, L17

http://www.ianparmenter.com/hcutils/...5p2=x-201y-151

Normal dice are fine with me.

Titans Turn 1

1) Hawk to E22
2) Dove to F22

3) Beast Boy turns into a chameleon (stealth) and runs along the walls to T19

The Titans:

[]1) Cyborg* (7/7) T23
[]2) Beast Boy** (5/5) T19@
[]3) Raven (5/5) T24

* w/ Nanoarmor - 6
** w/ Camouflage - 8

Total: 153

Vs.

The Helmet:

1) Mento (7/7) W1
2) Robot (R Mr. Hyde) (6/6) X2
3) Damaged Robot (R Wolfsbane) (4/4) X1

Total: 152

-And-

Hawk & Dove:

[]4) Hawk (7/7) E22@
[]5) Dove (7/7) F22@

Total: 96

Vs.

The Agent of Chaos:

4) Kestrel (LE MM Bruce Banner)* (9/9) K2

* w/ Double-Time - 5

Total: 97

HO: W13, U19, B21, D21, K13,
LO: R11, I16, W8, U8, X6, I16, L17

http://www.ianparmenter.com/hcutils/...5p2=x-234y-246

Agent of Chaos / Helmet Turn 1

"Ha, get ready Hawk, your problems, ARE ONLY BEGINNING!!!" Kestrel dashed towards Hawk, flooding his body with energy.

"Vrrrrrooooooommmmm.....Target accquired."

1) Kestrel Double Times to J14, loses that pesky vanilla click.
2) Mento TKs Robot to V5 (I'm pretty sure he has LOF, but feel free to say I'm wrong.)
3) Robot does the Electric Slide over to W11, picking up a HO on the way.

The Titans:

[]1) Cyborg* (7/7) T23
[]2) Beast Boy** (5/5) T19@
[]3) Raven (5/5) T24

* w/ Nanoarmor - 6
** w/ Camouflage - 8

Total: 153

Vs.

The Helmet:

1) Mento (7/7) W1@
2) Robot (R Mr. Hyde) (6/6) X2 This means I have 2 of these? if so, "A" is the second. W11@ X3
3) Damaged Robot (R Wolfsbane) (4/4) X1

Total: 152

-And-

Hawk & Dove:

[]4) Hawk (7/7) E22@
[]5) Dove (7/7) F22@

Total: 96

Vs.

The Agent of Chaos:

4) Kestrel (LE MM Bruce Banner)* (8/9) J14@

* w/ Double-Time - 5

Total: 97

HO: W13, U19, B21, D21, K13,
LO: R11, I16, W8, U8, X6, I16, L17

http://www.ianparmenter.com/hcutils/...2&t3=x-761y234

That should do it.

Yeah. Game total is between 200 and 300 so we round up to 300 giving us 3 actions.

By the way, there have been a few recent rule changes, notably in regards to tk and perplex.

Check them out here.

Yeah I knew about Perplex, and I know about the 8 and 8 for TK, I was just unaware if you could action after tk. Thank you though.

Ah! Didn't notice you edited in a turn.

If you want to story post, Mento is Beast Boy's stepfather but something's wrong with his helmet and making him attack the Titans. Nothing complicated, just ggr angry or silent. Kestral is this guy. He's a mean boyo and is pretty much Hawk only big, stronger and meaner. He hates Dove as she in an agent of Order and Hawk is just as bad in his eyes for working with her.