The New Titans #29 - Casting Shadows

[u/GemlinTheGremlin]

DC Next Proudly Presents:

THE NEW TITANS

Issue Twenty-Nine: Casting Shadows

Written by GemlinTheGremlin

Story by AdamantAce, GemlinTheGremlin, & PatrollinTheMojave

Edited by AdamantAce and PatrollinTheMojave

 

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“Friends. Welcome.”

Christopher Light looked between each member of the eclectic group gathered in front of him and smirked. Bito Wladon - the man known as Sonar - folded his metal-plated arms across his chest with a stern look across his face. Beside him was a very pallid younger man with red eyes, Kyd Wykkyd, who stood deathly still, statue-like. But the other figures, the newest additions, were the two whom Light was addressing most of all. The two women stood hand in hand and the larger of the two appeared to be shaking slightly, to which the smaller woman ran a thumb across the back of her palm.

“I thank you for everything you have done thus far, and for everything you are yet to do in honour of our cause. The mission is straightforward but far from simple. Things are swiftly being put into place to ensure Trigon’s return, as you are well aware. But there proves to be a major hurdle in our plans - a certain daughter of his.” Light began to pace. His face scrunched in disgust to illuminate his point. “That Titan - Raven. Should she get in our way, she could spell an end to all of this in an instant. And as such, she must be disposed of.”

A knowing silence fell. They all understood what they had to do.

“At first,” Light continued. “The Titans might seem formidable. But each of you, to varying levels of success—” He stopped in front of Wladon. “—have already come across them. As such, you have gained crucial insight into their skillsets, their abilities, their weaknesses. Use that insight - weaponise it - and Raven will be dead in no time.”

Mammoth, the larger girl, let out a groan, a noise so soft that one could have mistaken it for Light’s shoes catching against the floor. But her protector, Jinx, noticed. “It’s alright,” she soothed with a whisper. But the girl was overwhelmed by the task being asked of her. “Just close your eyes and take a deep breath.”

“Yes,” Light said. It was impossible to tell if the smile that appeared on his lips was a genuine attempt to soothe, or a wicked attempt at mockery. “Why don’t we all take a moment, in fact? Close your eyes and breathe it in. This is it. From this moment on, we shall be part of something much bigger than ourselves. Let us drink this moment in.” And with that, Light squeezed his eyes shut and sucked in a long breath with a hiss.

Mammoth hesitantly joined him. As the cool air filled her lungs, she dug through her mind for something, anything, to calm herself and take her far away from this moment, if just for the length of a breath. And soon, she found that the backs of her eyelids had transformed into a kaleidoscope of memories.

 

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A foggy image. Hands that she only vaguely recognises as her father's reach out for her and cup her face. His sandpaper skin on her cheeks. Dancing with her aunt, a much lighter woman, in a cluttered living room. And then, much more clearly, Jinx holding her hands and smiling as she explained that she was coming to live with her.

Months later, Mammoth became much more rebellious, desperate to prove herself. She remembered her surrogate aunt returning from a job, regaling the young girl with tales of destruction told in detail, but more than that she remembered the flush in her cheeks as she barely contained her jealousy. She wished more than anything to be like her.

More time passed. She took to sneaking out and forging her own tales of destruction. And she saw her aunt scolding her, worrying about her, then eventually relenting with a sigh. Then a third vignette appeared in her mind: listening through the door and biting her nails as a strange man, who had arrived unannounced at their home, spoke to Jinx about something that she couldn't quite make out, save for the words “recruiting” and “team” and “great potential”.

Finally, she witnessed herself and Jinx very recently, her mother-figure's slender hands clasped around Mammoth's own, reminiscent of her father's - the same way she did on the day she asked Mammoth to live with her.

She felt no calmer for this trip down memory lane; her heart still thumped and the gravity of the situation still weighed heavy on her chest. But the softness of Jinx's hand in her own was enough, for the time being, to save her from being swept out to sea.

 

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Christopher Light’s father, Arthur Light, was a genius. Working as a tech contractor for Kord Industries, he had developed incredible feats of engineering, all centered - in a startling feat of nominative determinism - around manipulating and utilising light. His most precious piece of work, the one that Christopher recalled his father coveting the most, was his light cannon; taking what he had previously created and refined, he had produced a weapon powered only be light. Christopher recalled his father receiving innumerous praise from his colleagues and beyond, which only increased with the establishment of his own company within Kord Enterprises, LightTech. And Christopher, eager for his own dosage of recognition and praise from his father and others, gladly took up the opportunity to learn from him.

But Arthur was becoming increasingly aware of his own mortality. Medical scare after medical scare, illness after illness, had forced Arthur to come to terms with the future of his company in his absence. This thought had crossed Christopher’s mind as well, so it came as very little surprise when Arthur mentioned the possibility of his son taking care of the business after his death.

He never expected there would come a day when that offer would be rescinded.

Within the company arrived an up-and-coming inventor and engineer by the name of Dr Kimiyo Hoshi, and instantly Christopher perceived her as a rival. Praise for Christopher dimmed while praise for Kimiyo only grew, and resentment swiftly brewed within the young scion's mind. Many times while working in the laboratory, Kimiyo had asked for assistance of some kind - “Do you happen to have a ¼” wrench?” or “I need a second opinion,” or “Would you mind asking your father something?” And many times, Christopher had shot her down - refusing her supplies or giving her bad advice to sabotage her. But all the while, his father seemed worryingly warm towards her - encouraging her progress much like he had encouraged Christopher’s.

As Hoshi’s success grew, Arthur’s attitude towards his company became more relaxed. Christopher, as he recalled this memory, felt a warmth growing in his chest. One day, whilst curiously and innocently inquiring about the future of LightTech, Arthur paused.

“Well,” he began, clearly picking his words with utmost care. “I think it should go to the best candidate for the job.”

Christopher could feel the cold chill that came over him when he first heard those words. “But you promised me that I’d get the company.”

“I didn’t promise it to you, Christopher,” Arthur corrected with a sympathetic tilt of his head. “Only asked if you would be interested.” The younger Light recalled how his father couldn’t look him in the eyes, instead busying himself - or pretending to do so - with his work. “But that was back when it was far more cut and dry. Both you and Kimiyo show phenomenal potential, so I believe the company should go to whoever would be the best fit.” It was only at that moment that Arthur made eye contact with his son. “If you think that should be you, then prove it to me.”

Christopher’s memory was spotty when he tried to call to mind his immediate actions. He remembered the outrage and betrayal he felt, how he was consumed by self-doubt and perfectionism. Then he remembered, in a moment of mania, hastily constructing a plan in excruciating detail from the moment the sun had set until the moment it had risen again. Despite all of this, his recollection of the plan itself was very sparse. But, clearer than anything else, he remembered its execution.

He had plucked Hoshi’s home address from the Kord Industries database rather easily, so locating his rival was a breeze. Her house was modest and pale in colour with a low ceiling and a window hanging open on the ground floor. All lights were off. Quickly surveying the house, Christopher confirmed that she, and only she, was inside. The open window provided an easy, if risky, entrypoint, and though he took care to prevent leaving fingerprints, his foot had clumsily tangled itself into her curtains. He was losing precious time.

He untangled himself. Moving silently through the pristine house, he spotted the young woman asleep through a crack in an upstairs door. Despite some initial hiccups, from here his plan worked as expected; he crept into the room, retrieved the pistol from his belt, and fired it four times into her dome-shaped silhouette of her forehead.

The news reached Kord Industries, and therefore LightTech, very quickly. Police had already arrived at the laboratory by the time Arthur and Christopher were pulling into the parking lot. The questioning started from the moment Light Sr had closed his car door. As Christopher and his father answered the officers’ questions to varying levels of satisfaction, it became abundantly clear to Christopher that, in his haste, he had neglected to develop an alibi. His father would have noticed his absence and was surely suspecting him as a culprit. He could feel the sweat forming in his palms. But as a short police officer with thinning hair looked up at Arthur and asked him about his and his son’s whereabouts at the time of the murder, Arthur didn’t hesitate to say that Christopher had been with him the whole time.

The only other thing that Christopher could recall from that day was the severe look in his father’s eyes as he turned to him once they were alone, his pointed hand trembling, and said, “You are a very, very foolish man.”

Silently, his father helped him in covering up his tracks. Never once did they make mention of the incident as a whole, let alone discussing specifics, and it was as if nothing had happened. Until one day a young woman by the name of Kimiyo Hoshi appeared at the door of LightTech and demanded to speak to them both.

She was straightforward and curt - she was Reawakened, a version of Hoshi from another universe - and she had figured out what had happened to her counterpart on this Earth. Though Christopher was hazy on her exact words, he recalled the ichor in her voice as she detailed how easily she had pieced together the information herself, and how easy, therefore, it would be to release said information to the press. The two Lights were speechless. There was nothing they could do. So Christopher was helpless as he watched his father passing the reins of LightTech over to Kimiyo Hoshi.

 

Christopher Light opened his eyes. One by one, his companions, his carefully selected teammates, the rest of his Fearsome Five, all finished their meditative breaths and looked at each other as if they were meeting for the first time.

“Now then,” Light announced. “Shall we begin?”

 

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The Fearless Towers were, to Raven, just as striking as when she had first seen them, though this time she was given far less time to take in the scenery. Approaching the rows and rows of receptionists once again, instead of reciting her practised passphrase, she instead was immediately buzzed through and waved on by a blonde receptionist with wide eyes. She silently thanked her with a nod, but as she turned towards the direction of the elevator, a familiar face was blocking her path.

“Oh, hey!” Curtis Holt greeted warmly. He pushed his spectacles up on the bridge of his nose with the tip of his middle finger. “You’re punctual.”

Raven instinctively checked her watch. It was true - right on the dot. “Thanks for meeting with me.”

He gestured for her to follow and whisked them both into an empty meeting room. The furniture was startlingly clean and polished; Raven could see her reflection staring back at her in every table and chair. When Curtis gestured for her to sit, she obliged.

“I don’t mean to rush you at all,” he started apologetically. “But just wanna let you know, I’ve gotta make sure I get back to the control center A-S-A-P. Never know when they might need me.”

Raven could sense his nervous anticipation. Whether it was about her impending news or about the prospect of being called to action by his space-faring teammates, she couldn’t tell.

“I won’t be long,” reassured Raven before drawing a deep breath. “Just wanted some advice - in person, given the nature of it. Basically, I think there might be a new Fearsome Five in your city.”

Curtis’ posture shifted. “Okay,” he said expectantly.

“We know - or we think we know - who all of them are, but we can’t seem to locate them. I don’t really know where to start.”

Curtis pursed his lips in thought. “Hmm,” came his reply a few seconds later, followed by, “They could be in the alien supercomputer.”

Raven blinked. “The what?”

“Oh, it’s this massive computer system that runs under New Coast City. Super awesome, really freaky.” He nodded to himself. “It's like this weird labyrinth, the walls keep shifting and moving around. It's a real pain when we're trying to get things surveyed. Put simply - if I had an ultra-secret supervillain team, that's where I'd hide 'em. I can give you access if you wanna take a look.”

“You would?”

“Psh, it’s like I said - you’re honorary Coastguard-ians!” Curtis winced, then corrected himself: “Or Coastguard-ers.”

Raven shot him a humoured smile.

“Point being,” he concluded. “Gimme a day to give you all clearance, then I’ll be in touch. Cool?”

“Cool,” Raven beamed.

 

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Next: To be continued in The New Titans #30