The New Titans #29
“Party of One”

By JackofHearts2005


Mirror Master, Shadow Thief, Bolt, Alpha, Cheshire, Copperhead, Merlyn, Lady Shiva…and those were just the ones Terra had recognized or met when she was with them. Dick Grayson had asked Bruce to fax him a copy of his files on all the known members of the ‘League of Assassins.’ The files had everything from their powers and M.O. to their family members and last known whereabouts. The last bit was particularly helpful, though Merlyn’s file didn’t have any mention of Zandia. Dick made a mental note to tell the Batman about any bad guys the Titans had seen there. Even the Dark Knight couldn’t keep track of everybody at all times, especially on the other side of the globe.

Nightwing looked over the last two files before dropping them on the table with the others. These two shouldn’t have surprised him. Who better to rally the world’s deadliest assassins together than the deadliest of them all? Deathstroke the Terminator and his equally twisted daughter, the Ravager, were leading the League. He wondered how Tara had managed to infiltrate an organization that he hadn’t even heard of despite it being lead by his greatest enemy. He’d have to ask her about it later and make sure he got a straight answer this time.

After being silent for so long, he was finally back-- but what was Slade up to this time? If it was just knocking someone off, the Terminator could do that himself. Assassination for hire was a lucrative business but why team up with all the competition if you were just trying to make money? With that many goons, Deathstroke had to be up to something big. And after the size of his last operation, and what he’d nearly accomplished, he doubted that Slade would step down his ambitions.

Nightwing took his mask from his pocket and put it on with spirit gum. He took the elevator downstairs to the living room where he found most of the team gathered behind the couch, watching Hawk and Dove square off on opposite sides of their new ping-pong table. Both heroes were in full costume. Hank smashed the ball with his paddle, sending it bouncing off the table and flying across the room. Dawn jumped into the air and zoomed after it. She did a barrel roll and hit the ball behind her back, sending it into the middle of the table. Hawk swung and missed as the ball spun back towards Dove’s side. He hadn’t seen the spin coming but he was fast enough to swing again, this time popping the ball up towards the ceiling just above the table. Then the ball fell on his head. He looked up to see Dove hovering over the table.

“I. Win.”

“You do not! You aren’t allowed to hit the other player. It’s in the rules!”

“Like you ever read a book in your life, Hank,” Cyborg laughed, “much less a book full of rules to follow.”

“I think Hank’s right, guys,” Roy said. “I don’t think hitting the other player is a legal move. Should be a foul or something.”

“Foul?” Tara said indignantly. “You boys are total sissies if you want to call a foul for being hit by a tiny piece of…whatever ping pong balls are made out of.”

“Dovey wins,” Lian announced, not looking up from her coloring book.

“I agree with with Tara,” Beast Boy said seriously. “Hawk is a sissy.”

“Get over here,” Hawk growled.

Gar pointed to his chest. “Me?” he mouthed.

“Yes, you. Since you see to know so much about ping-pong let’s see what you got.”

Hank threw a paddle at Gar but Dick intercepted it.

“We really don’t have time for that, Titans. We’ve got a mission.”

“Where to?” Dove asked.

“Keystone City.”

“All right!” Roy shouted, grabbing his bow from its place on the wall. “It’ll be good to see Wally.”

“Sorry,” Dick shrugged. “Wally’s running around in space with that other Justice League.”

“Space?” Dawn asked worriedly.

“How come we never get to go to space?” Gar chimed in.

“Hush everyone,” Starfire snapped. “Nightwing is talking.”

“Thanks, Kory.” The alien princess really had a thing for him for some reason. Why he liked her back was obvious, but sometimes Kory was too… unsubtle around the others. It made him nervous. Of course, he wouldn’t show this in front of the team.

“First of all, we don’t have a space ship,” he continued. “Secondly, we have better things to do. We need to know how Mirror Master got in here, and while we’ve got a kid living here we need to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Speaking of which, I’m gonna need two of you to stay here and watch Lian.”

“Yo!” Beast Boy grabbed Terra’s hand and volunteered the both of them.

“No,” Terra forced their hands down.

“Daddy stay,” Lian decided, tugging at Roy’s pant leg. “And Dovey.” The girl pointed to her other baby sitter.

“Sounds like a plan,” Nightwing said. “Now like I said, the Flash is busy but I think I’ve found another speedster who can help us.”
_____________________________________________________________

Psimon, leader of the Fearsome Five, was not happy. It had begun when his team’s offer to help Deathstroke the Terminator kill his most hated enemies was refused and they were told to leave town under threat of death. It had escalated when part of his team had ignored his orders and attacked the Titans anyway, further angering Deathstroke and his League of Assassins. Now, it came to this. He would not be in danger if he did what she said, but he almost wished she would try something just so he wouldn’t have to do what he planned to do.

She wore a uniform of orange and blue, just like her father’s. She carried a single blade, like he did; only hers was a katana with a serrated blade instead of a broadsword. To the truly observant, though, her greatest resemblance to her father was in how she held herself. She was a strange cross between a predator and a scientist. Every one of her enhanced senses regarded the remaining three members of Psimon’s quintet, looking at how they sat, how they moved. She subconsciously studied them, looking for any weaknesses, any tendencies, never doubting that she could kill all three of them. While Psimon didn’t doubt the sincerity of the Ravager’s thoughts, he certainly doubted the truth of it.

The daughter of Deathstroke took her phone out of her pocket and put it to her ear.

“Ravager…Yes, daddy.” She hung up. “They’re out of the city. Let’s go.”
_____________________________________________________________

Raven’s soul self opened its wings and the Titans stepped out onto the Keystone sidewalk. They looked up to see a huge skyscraper with the words ‘Quickstart Enterprises’ emblazoned across the top.

“So we’re picking our speedster up at work?” Tara asked skeptically.

“Something like that,” Nightwing smiled to himself and walked through the double doors that lead inside. The rest of the team followed.

“Hi,” the receptionist called to Dick as he walked up to the desk. She took her phone and keyed in an extension number. “Miss Chambers? Your one o’clock is here.”

There was a rush of wind and a blonde woman in a business suit and glasses stood before them. She was thin but athletic, built like a runner. She flashed the team her award winning smile and grabbed Nightwing’s hand.

“Hi. Jesse Chambers,” she ran from Titan to Titan, shaking everybody’s hands and super speed. “HiJesseChambersJessiechambersnicetomeetyouitsapleasureJesseChambershi.”

Beast Boy held out a tentacle. “Hi. Gar Logan.”

“Uh…right,” Jesse shook the tentacle anyways. “But you can all call me…” a streak of grey business suit took off and a streak of red and yellow spandex came back. Her hair had been put into a pony tail and her blue eyes were covered by a pair of red goggles. “Jesse Quick!”

Hawk started clapping and Terra joined in, following his lead.

“Nice,” he said with a smirk. “Most superheroes just don’t take the time to come up with a good intro.”

“Love the costume too” Terra said, looking Jesse up and down. Her own costume was an uncomplicated dark red one piece with gold along the top, a matching pair of boots and gloves with a dark red mask around her eyes and a brown jacket that looked just a bit too big for small frame on top. Jesse’s looked like she had a marketing team design it. “Very cute.”

“Yeah, it’ll probably help us not just think of you as a Girl-Flash,” Hawk jokingly agreed.

Jesse opened her mouth but nothing came out.

“Ignore the peanut gallery,” Dick said, putting his hand on Jesse’s shoulder. “I talked to Jay Garrick and he told me you were the sheriff around here with the Flash out of town.”

Jesse flashed her smile again. She obviously had a lot of respect for the elder hero.

“Well, I do what I can. You’ve got to work pretty fast to juggle a corporation and the safety of an entire city, but I’m more than pretty fast.”

Dick chuckled. Nobody else did. Starfire stepped forward and put her arm around him. Dick could tell whether it was affection or trying to defend a possession. Though he didn’t particularly like the latter, he’d give Kory a little leeway.

“We’re looking for Mirror Master,” Kory said seriously. “Do you know where we can find him?”

Jesse took a step back and then zoomed off. Just as quickly she returned holding a piece of paper in her hand. Dick took it and read it to himself.

“You are cordially invited to a party to celebrate the birthday of our very own Leonard Snart. Party is at five at my place. Bring some food. Drinks and cake is on me.
-McCulloch.”

At the bottom of the note was an address.

“Well that’s convenient,” Beast Boy offered, looking at the note over Dick’s shoulder.

“I took it off the Trickster yesterday,” Jesse said, seeming very proud of herself.

“Sounds like a good lead,” Nightwing smiled at the idea of somebody who shared a power with Wally actually doing detective work. “Let’s go crash a party.”
_____________________________________________________________

They found Mirror Master’s hideout; a warehouse on the edge of the city. Dick picked the lock easily. It wasn’t a skill he used often but Bruce had made him pick so many locks as a kid that he could have done it with his eyes closed. He put his finger to his lips to tell his team to keep quiet and opened the door a crack. Slowly, Nightwing peaked around the corner.

Inside, the floors were carpeted and the whole place was furnished like a giant living room. He saw movement inside. Damn. The party didn’t start for another few hours. Nobody else should have been here. Turning back to the other Titans, Dick pointed to Jesse, pointed to his eyes and pointed to the crack between the door and the wall. She nodded, understanding.

Dick started to open the door further but Jesse stopped him. She seemed to vibrate back and forth for a second before shooting through the wall. A moment later, the speedster reappeared.

“Five Mirror Masters,” she whispered. “I don’t think they’re real.”

“Check” he whispered back. The young woman flew through the wall again and a second later the door opened from the inside. Jesse waved her arm, presenting the room to the others. Nightwing took two steps forward and threw a batarang at the nearest Mirror Master’s head. When the villain didn’t even stop playing pool long enough to notice the blade passing through him, Dick threw a second at the pool table itself. This time, there was a crashing sound as several pieces of glass fell to the floor.

“Careful, Titans,” he said, catching the first batarang. “Nothing in this room is real.”

“Aye. But it doesn’t matter if ye use real cheese, as long as th’ mice decide to take a nibble.”

The door slammed shut. All the furniture and people in the room flickered and disappeared. Another flicker of light and the Titans found themselves surrounded by a maze of mirrors.

“By the way, that’s seven years bad luck, mate.”

A nearby mirror rippled for a moment as a man clad head to toe in black jumped through it.

“Yer not as smart as the boss thinks, Nightwing. Tricked by the Trickster. Haw!”

Starfire blasted the villain, shattering him into about three dozen pieces of glass.

“Now that wasn’t nice,” the masked face reflected in every piece of glass said.

“You’ve gone and made me mad. I may not be able to kill you,” the voice came from all sides now. His creepy visage filled every mirror. “But your friend is fair game. Off with yer head, substitute substitute Flash! Haw!”
_____________________________________________________________


The New Titans:

E Nightwing and Starfire - 125
R Cyborg - 44
R Changeling - 34
- w/ Camouflage - 5
E Hawk - 55
U Terra - 60

Total: 323

vs.

Mirror Master:

V Mirror Master - 88
* w/ Camouflage - 5
Bs Mirror Image - 20
Bs Mirror Image - 20
Bs Mirror Image - 20
Bs Mirror Image - 20
Bs Mirror Image - 20

Total: 193

Map: The Laboratory

Scenario Rules:

--> Mirror Images are illusory duplicates of Mirror Master himself, made of glass and just as fragile. Though they have the same abilities as he does, they are much more easily destroyed.

A Mirror Image has only 1 click of life, but that click is identical to whichever click the ‘real’ Mirror Master is currently on. It is impossible to know where Mirror Master is at any given time, so while his figure gets a number and normal placement, it may very well be a Mirror Image you are attacking.

Whenever a Titan attacks Mirror Master or a Mirror Image, roll a d6. On a result of 1-5, the target is actually a Mirror Image. If your attack succeeds and deals 1 click of damage or more, that Mirror Image is destroyed and removed from play. The ‘real’ Mirror Master must be one of the remaining pieces on the board.

If there is only one piece remaining, that piece must be Mirror Master. Do not roll to determine his identity.

--> Mirror Master may bring a new Mirror Image in to play on his turn. Creating a new Mirror Image is a power action. Mirror Master may only have as many Mirror Images in play as there are conscious Titan pieces on the board (Nightwing & Starfire count as one piece).

Whaaaaaaao.

Initiative: 9
Objects: 12

I've been trying to post this since last night, but kept getting "server too busy" messages from HCR. Anyway, as soon as I posted, I realized I didn't finalize the matchup. Here is the actual, OFFICIAL lineup of the match:

The New Titans:

E Nightwing and Starfire - 125
R Cyborg - 44
R Changeling - 34
- w/ Camouflage - 5
E Hawk - 55
U Terra - 60
E Jesse Quick - 54

Total: 377

vs.

Mirror Master:

V Mirror Master - 88
* w/ Camouflage - 5
Bs Mirror Image - 20
Bs Mirror Image - 20
Bs Mirror Image - 20
Bs Mirror Image - 20
Bs Mirror Image - 20
Bs Mirror Image - 20

Total: 213


Don't know how I wound up posting the unfinished, pre-Jesse roster, but it happens. Would have been fixed a lot faster if not for internet tech difficulties.

Alright, I guess I'll take this one. I'm pretty apprehensive because of the point difference, but at least I can get some reinforcements. Hey, I always root for the heroes anyway, so it's all good.

Init: 3,2=5
Objects: 3,1=4.

Let's hope I got the bad rolls out of the way. (Ditto for your good ones. )

One question: the special rules say that Mirror Master can create a new mirror image with a power action. Can that power action only be taken by the one that's on the board as the main Mirror Master, or can any of them take it, since we don't know which is actually the real one?

Also, since the mirror images are on whatever click the actual Mirror Master is on, that means that if he's KO'd, they all are too, right?

I would think so.

I think this will be funny if I deal you 2 damage and give you a team with 7 perplexers.

Somehow I have a feeling you're not gonna let that happen.

Probably not.

or051 V Mirror Master
Team: Injustice League
Range: 8
Points: 88
Keywords: Injustice Gang, Rogues

8 10 16 3

7 9 16 3

7 8 15 2

6 8 15 2

8 7 15 2

10 7 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

cr058 E Nightwing and Starfire
Team: Titans
Range: 8
Points: 125
Keywords: Detective, Teen Titans, Warrior

10 10 17 3

10 10 16 2

9 10 16 2

9 9 16 2

8 9 17 2

8 9 17 2

7 8 16 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

un052 R Cyborg
Team: Titans
Range: 6
Points: 44
Keywords: Robot, Teen, Teen Titans

8 8 15 3

8 8 14 2

7 7 14 2

7 7 13 2

6 6 13 1

6 6 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

ht064 R Changeling
Team: Titans
Range: 0
Points: 31
Keywords: Animal, Celebrity, Doom Patrol, Teen

6 6 12 .

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

ht086 E Hawk
Team: Titans
Range: 0
Points: 55
Keywords: Brute, Teen Titans

6 6 11 1

10 12 15 3

10 11 14 3

9 10 13 2

8 9 12 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

io052 U Terra
Team: Titans
Range: 8
Points: 60
Keywords: Teen, Teen Titans

8 8 16 2

8 8 15 3

7 9 15 4

7 8 14 3

6 7 14 2

6 6 13 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

un068 E Jesse Quick
Team: Titans
Range: 0
Points: 54
Keywords: Central City, Teen Titans

11 9 16 1

11 8 16 1

11 8 15 1

10 7 15 1

10 7 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

How would pushing work I wonder? 1/6th chance to do pushing damage otherwise ko the image?

http://www.ianparmenter.com/hcutils/...6p1=x-550y-307

Yeah, that's a good question, too. I'd like to wait and see what Lightshear says to all this before I get started. (Does he watch these threads at all? I figured he'd have been around by now.)

PMed Lightsheer. Hopefully we'll get some answers soon so we can start this party. Where the story goes definately depends on what happens here so I don't want to get too far behind the other teams.

[Mal]Is Lightshear even awake?[/Mal]

Sorry to hold you up so far two games in a row. If you want to try to find a villain who's less anal about rules, it's okay with me.

Well all three of these rules questions are really important. If we wanted to just go though?

I'd say yes, koing the real Mirror Master gets rid of his images. We can wait for a ruling on this one though since I probably won't ko him before Lightsheer gets back to us.

I'd also rule that Mirror Master switches places at the begining of each turn and that you should know where he is on your turn. Thus, when pushing, you can decide if you want to ko an image or give McCulloch a click. And yes, Mirror Master himself must take a power action to add an image (this is mainly to keep you from adding 3 images in a turn) but since Mirror Master switches places on my turn, it isn't gonna give me an obvious target. This would also mean that when I hit McCulloch and the the real Mirror Master, he stays the real Mirror Master for the rest of my turn.

I thought of another question though. Since Mirror Master has camo but the others don't, when I make a ranged combat attack against an image by a wall and it turns out to be the real Mirror Master (making the attack illegal) what happens? I'd assume it would be like when a wildcard switches to batman allies, making a ranged attack that has already been declared illegal. You get to redo that attack, but the wildcard is stuck as a bat ally (or in this case, the real Mirror Master).

What do you think?

Yeah, this one seems pretty basic. I'd say it's of the least concern.

So, are you saying that at the beginning of each of my turns, I designate one piece that will, for the course of that turn, represent the real one? Then that's the one that I can push, or give a power action to create new ones.
I had just thought that the only way either of us knew which was the real one was when you hit him. This does seem somewhat practical, though. Basically what it would melt down to is that each turn, I can choose one piece to give a power action to create a new image, and/or one piece to push without killing it. So (in case that wasn't any simpler), I can only do either of those actions to one piece, but it doesn't have to be the same one every turn. I guess that makes sense enough for our purposes.

Now, this seems like a separate issue to me. If the real Mirror Master can pop back and forth between turns, why wouldn't he be able to do it between hits? If we go with this rule, then I could see it ending rather abruptly. Someone gets a hit, it's the real MM, and all that remains for you to do is have Nightwing/Starfire RS in (and maybe duo-attack) for the finisher; game over.
Maybe I'm just biased towards self-preservation, but I think that Lightshear giving the villains more than a hundred points less of build total meant he wanted it to be a bit harder than that.

Gosh, it would be simpler if they all had Camo. But, I think this kind of goes back to the previous point. If your assertion is correct that a hit MM stays the real MM for the rest of the turn, then I'd say "spotting" the real guy would be worth the action enough. If not, then I think it would be fair for you to get another shot, and the next target will automatically be an image (but only for the duration of that action--if you missed the attack, and someone else attacked that piece, you'd still roll to see if it was an image or not).

But that's just my interpretation. Again, self-preservation might be involved.

That's exactly what I meant for the one real Mirror Master on your turn thing. 1 guy that you can either push without koing or bring in another image with.

And if you're fine with everything else, I think we can say Mirror Master changes with each action so if I fail to hit because my target suddenly has camo, I can attack another figure without worrying about it but I can't use that to ambush the right Mirror Master and I have to roll each subsequent hit too so I can't hit McCulloch one time and then bum rush him with my whole team for an easy win.

If that works for you, it works for me.

Works for me. Game on!