Joseph had spent much of his spare time tinkering.
Most recently, his focus had been on Khaji Da—the Blue Beetle Scarab.
Four thousand years ago, the scarab had been sent to Earth by the Reach. Its purpose was simple: bond with a host, act as an advanced scout, and prepare the planet for the Reach's eventual conquest. However, a group of ancient Bialyans—including the sorceress Isis—managed to cleanse the scarab of Reach control through a powerful magical ritual.
Centuries later, in 1939, archaeologist Dan Garrett discovered the artifact in a Bialyan temple during an excavation. The scarab fused with Garrett, making him the first modern Blue Beetle. When Garrett eventually died, the scarab passed to his protégé, Ted Kord.
Kord eventually realized the scarab was alien technology, not a magical artifact as he originally thought, and locked the scarab away, deciding to carry on the Blue Beetle legacy without superpowers.
But Ted Kord had died during the Hour of Chaos.
So Joseph took the scarab.
The device was astonishingly advanced. It incorporated nanotechnology capable of constructing weapons and armor, immense durability, energy weapons ranging from sonic blasts to plasma cannons, environmental adaptation systems, flight capability, holo-projection, advanced sensors, technological interfacing, combat transformations, and universal translation.
Yet it had two notable weaknesses.
New God technology.
And magic.
Joseph possessed both.
Using them, he bypassed the numerous safeguards the Reach had built into the scarab to prevent their technology from being replicated.
Joseph himself already possessed most of the scarab's capabilities.
But now he had a way to replicate—and even improve—those abilities for others.
By combining the scarab's design with Shockwave technology to enhance durability and sonic weapon output, while also integrating some of his own Nth-metal nanites, Joseph created a vastly improved system.
The upgrades mitigated most of the scarab's original weaknesses.
The downside was the cost.
He was nearly out of Nth-metal nanites.
After this project, he only had enough remaining for his personal suit and Alien Excalibur. Once everything settled down, he would have to ask his mentor to atomize his Nth-metal starship—the Thanagarian cruiser the Thanagarians had gifted him.
He had no real need for a spaceship anymore.
Not when he had superspeed and Boom Tubes.
Joseph called his creation the Darkstar Exo-Mantle.
//Proposal: allow me to generate all names in the future.//
'Motion denied.'
One day Nova would understand his genius.
The powersuits were silver and red, with a black star emblazoned across the chest and sleek golden visors covering the face. In essence, they were upgraded and rebranded versions of the scarabs—but without the unpleasant necessity of biologically attaching themselves to the host's spine.
Like the scarabs, the suits absorbed ambient energy. If pushed too far, they could still run out of power. Joseph hadn't yet figured out how to safely channel his Nova Force into them.
Joseph unshrunk four helmets from within the nanite storage in his finger and levitated them telekinetically.
"These are the Darkstar Exo-Mantles," he said. "One for Robin, Arsenal, Artemis, and Zatanna. You four are the most vulnerable in a straight fight."
He gestured toward the helmets.
"Just put one on. The suit will deploy automatically. There's a built-in AI that'll walk you through everything. It's pretty intuitive."
Arsenal didn't hesitate.
Roy grabbed one of the helmets and placed it on his head. Instantly, nanites flowed outward from the visor, enveloping his body until a full suit of silver-and-red armor formed around him.
His cybernetic arm immediately transformed—first into a rotating battle saw, then shifting smoothly into a massive sonic cannon.
Roy whistled.
"You really hooked us up, Joe. I can't wait to test these babies out."
Seeing that, the others quickly followed.
Artemis's armor formed around her body as she raised both hands, generating twin energy cannons from her gauntlets.
Robin created an energized staff construct and spun it expertly between his fingers.
Zatanna lifted slightly off the ground as yellow thrusters from the suit's boots gently pushed her upward.
Joseph nodded approvingly.
"As for the rest of you," he said, "I didn't forget."
He unshrunk several more items and levitated them forward.
First came a shimmering, almost liquid mass of metal.
"Miss Martian, this is a fire-resistant nanite weave designed to integrate directly with your biosuit."
Joseph had come up with the design during a visit to Mars through the Mirror World, where he had studied Martian technology.
Miss Martian reached out and touched the floating metal.
The moment her fingers made contact, the nanites flowed across her form and vanished into her suit.
Next, Joseph turned to Kid Flash.
"Kid Flash—Nth-metal knuckle dusters. They have anti-magic properties and you can channel your Speed Force lightning throught hem."
Wally slipped the golden dusters on and grinned as he tapped them against each other creating sparks.
Then Joseph handed a weapon to Aqualad.
"Aqualad, this is Blue Devil's Trident of Lucifer. It can fire blasts of hellfire strong enough to send demons back to Hell. It can also generate magical barriers that protect you from heat and physical harm. And it can channel lightning and energy blasts through the trident—which should work well with your Atlantean sorcery."
Kaldur spun the trident experimentally.
With his other hand, he created a hard-water sword construct.
Electricity surged from the trident into the blade.
Kaldur smiled slightly.
Joseph turned to Superboy.
"Superboy, these are Shields," he said, holding up a small black case containing several red patches. "They temporarily grant full Kryptonian abilities—flight, heat vision, x-ray vision, and enhanced strength—for about an hour."
He paused.
"Lex designed them originally, but they had the unfortunate side effect of making you extremely volatile. I fixed that."
Joseph gestured toward another pair of Nth-metal knuckle dusters.
"And take these too."
Superboy slipped the dusters onto his hands before grabbing one of the red patches and pressing it onto his arm.
Immediately, he lifted off the ground.
A second later, twin beams of red heat vision shot from his eyes into the sky.
Superboy grinned. "Thanks!"
"Match," Joseph said.
He stepped forward and lightly tapped Match's chest. A ripple spread across the white suit, and the red House of El crest shifted—its color turning gold.
"Your suit is now interwoven with Nth-metal threads."
Match looked down at the emblem and nodded with a smile.
"Kori, this is for you," Joseph continued.
He opened a Boom Tube to a museum in New York and pulled a sword from a display case. The blade rested inside a strange scabbard shaped like a gray humanoid arm clasping the cross-guard.
Arsenal and Match immediately recognized it.
"That's the—" Match began.
"—Sword of Beowulf," Joseph finished.
He'd reimburse the museum later.
Kori accepted the weapon and gave it an experimental swing, though she didn't notice anything particularly special about it. Then she tried to draw the blade and realized she couldn't remove it from the strange arm-shaped scabbard.
"Repeat after me," Joseph said. "Abannan afol Beowulf."
Kori repeated the phrase.
With a burst of orange light, the sword released itself from the scabbard.
The blade that emerged was a one-handed weapon with a wide, double-edged, slightly leaf-shaped design. The cross-guard was round with a shallow groove carved into it, and the spherical pommel matched the dark gray metal of the guard.
Only someone pure of heart could draw the blade.
Joseph had no doubt Kori qualified.
Curious, Kori channeled a burst of her starbolt energy into the weapon. Instantly, the blade ignited with bright green flames.
"It enhances your strength, speed, and reflexes," Joseph explained.
Kori smiled warmly.
"Thank you, Joseph."
Joseph then turned to Raven.
"And as for you, Raven—I didn't bring anything for you."
Raven looked slightly surprised and disappointed.
"Because you don't need it," Joseph continued. "Your father would attack Earth with or without you. None of this is your fault."
He met her eyes.
"So stop holding back."
Raven nodded slowly, her expression serious.
"Thank you," she said quietly. "Thank you, everyone… for staying with me and helping me."
Arsenal shrugged.
"I mean, the fate of the world is at stake either way," Roy said. "So you don't really need to thank us. We're a team."
"The Team!" Match added enthusiastically, pumping his fist.
Artemis crossed her arms thoughtfully.
"Anyone else feel like it's about time we get a real name?"
"Well," Robin replied while testing the range of motion in his new Exo-Mantle, flipping and twisting without any loss of flexibility, "we were created to carry out covert missions for the Justice League. Batman said we're not a public team, so we don't really need a fancy name."
"How about Titans?" Aqualad suggested. "Like the powerful Greek deities who preceded the Olympian gods."
"And Teen," Miss Martian added excitedly. "Since we're all teenagers!"
Superboy coughed awkwardly.
Technically, he and Match were only a few months old chronologically.
And M'gann was actually over forty Earth years old.
"Teen Titans does have a nice ring to it," Zatanna said before Miss Martian could retract her suggestion.
"Then it is decided," Starfire said with a bright smile. "Teen Titans."
Wally raised a fist excitedly.
"Let's save the world, Titans!"
He paused.
"And Nova and Etrigan too, I guess."
Joseph just shook his head with an amused smile.
Then he unshrunk a glowing gem from his finger.
The Ambre Jeune Perdu.
A magical artifact Klarion had once intended to use to split the world in two, separating adults from children under Vandal Savage's orders. But Child had beaten him to it.
The plan had been simple: create global chaos, then use the distraction to retrieve an echinoderm from S.T.A.R. Labs. With it, they would have eventually mind-controlled the Justice League and forced them to attack Rimbor, provoking interdimensional retaliation against Earth.
All just to attract cosmic attention.
Unforgivable.
So much death for such a pointless scheme.
Fortunately, the remaining members of the Light were now under Joseph's control, and all of their idiotic plans had been permanently halted.
Joseph sat down, the gem in one hand and the Helmet of Fate in the other, while Kori began organizing a strategy for when the possessed Justice League inevitably arrived.
Golden Speed Force lightning crackled faintly around him.
Nanites extended from his hands and enveloped both the gem and the Helmet of Fate.
Then Nova began carving microscopic magical runes into the gem.
His backup plan—if things went wrong in Trigon's dimension—was so crazy, Joseph doubted it would even work.
But it was the best he could come up with.