Hello people of the fanfiction world! I hope you're all ready for a seriously big dose of awesomeness, because here is the beginning of my very first multi-chapter Teen Titans story! As of this moment, I very much hope you guys read, review, and enjoy (but definitely leave a healthy batch of reviews)! Without further ado, I give you the prologue of the epic 6th season premiere of Teen Titans, A-LionGleek style.

A/N: While it would be awesome, I do not own Teen Titans or any other elements of the DC Universe that might be recognized as not mine. Also, for anyone who might take religious offense at certain events that unfold in this chapter, I apologize in advance.

And now, let us begin!

Prologue:

It was a beautiful morning in Tokyo. The sun had long since risen, and was now hovering miles over the ocean as it continued to rise ever higher into the sky on its daily journey. It was 8:00, but already the people of the great Japanese city were beginning to get started on their daily business. All in all, things seemed perfectly normal within the city.

However, on a mountain not too far outside the city's borders, someone not quite so ordinary was standing nearby the edge of a cliff, watching the sun. And as this person in question stood there at the edge of the small cliff, watching the sun slowly continue its daily climb higher and higher into the sky, he couldn't help but let a small smile cross his serious toned face. Already, he had a feeling that today would be a very beautiful day in Tokyo, just like the past few days.

The individual, a young boy who looked to be around 17 or so years old, was standing near enough to the edge to truly appreciate the view, but far enough to avoid running the risk of slipping over the edge and falling off, had his hands on his hips, and had his face directed very carefully upwards towards the slowly ascending sun. Admittedly, being outside the city at this particular location all alone had the potential to develop into a very dangerous situation in this world. Fortunately, this boy was used to potential danger, and one needed only to get a good enough look at him to tell that he looked the part for someone capable of facing danger.

For starters, this teenage boy was very physically fit. Admittedly, while he didn't have the extremely bulky and musclebound body that could often be found in body builders, football players, and the like, he was still athletic in a more slender and flexible build that would be perfect for a dancer or acrobat. In fact, this same bodily build had not only proven very useful in the life he'd led before donning his new common identity, but had also been invaluable for the fighting style he'd later developed and mastered; a fighting style that had proved to be enough for him to take on beings and creatures far bigger and stronger than him on equal footing at the very least.

His physical appearance also hinted at how capable he was of fighting off a credible threat to his safety. As was sensible for a person such as him, his outfit exposed very little of his naturally fair skin that made him easily stand out as a foreigner among the darker skinned natives of Japan. His outfit, while worthy of laughter among some individuals, was also something that had come to be very widely associated with him. He wore green tight-like pants as well as black ankle-high steel-toed and steel-rimmed boots. He also wore green gloves that reached up to his elbows and a green short-sleeve t-shirt that was almost always covered up with a resplendent red armored vest with three short horizontal yellow stripes lining down the chest area and a small circular black badge with a yellow uppercase "R" on it located over his left pectoral muscle. Around his waist, was a bright yellow utility belt that contained all manner of ingenious gadgets and reliable weapons; and his eyes were covered up by a black and white domino mask. Even the jet black cape with a yellow interior that was attached to the back collar of his vest was proof of how he was more than capable of holding his own in the dangerous world he lived in. While at first glance, it looked no different from any ordinary cloth cape, it was actually made from a highly durable and sturdy polymerized form of titanium. This had allowed for him to use it as an effective shield against several forms of blast-type attacks, including flames and lasers. Even his hair looked like the kind of style that could be seen in a real teenage warrior. He had glossy black hair that was gelled up in backward wave-shaped spikes. If this outfit and bodily appearance had been on just an ordinary run-of-the-mill teenager, then the teenager would likely have been in big trouble if someone who had negative connotations associated with the appearance encountered them. Fortunately though, this teenage boy was no ordinary teenager.

Who was this person, you might ask? Well, the answer is a little complicated. Why? Well this person, had two identities, one of them an ordinary civilian name that he was born with, and the second a name that he was more commonly known by nowadays ever since very early on in his life that had become very comfortable to him and had become a major name among both households and the world of crime fighting that he was a part of. In fact, very few people at all knew of his birth name that he now kept such a closely guarded secret. Not even his four closest friends that had come to be viewed by him as a family were aware of his true civilian name. However, he very much planned now to make sure to change that before his dying day. The way he'd now seen it for a long time, if anyone deserved to know the name his parents had given him, not to mention hear it come out of his own mouth, it was them. They had more than earned it in his mask covered eyes. However, the name that they currently knew him by, and the name that he was known as by every civilian, hero, and even villain that knew him, was Robin.

Robin smiled, clasped his hands together, and stretched them over his head. He let out a relieved sigh as he felt the effects of his stretching. "Yep," he thought to himself. "Today's definitely going to be an amazing day."

At that moment, Robin heard a yawn coming from not too far behind him, and a voice then say, "Morning Robin. Enjoying the view?"

Robin smiled, turned his head to look behind him, and said, "Sure thing Cy."

Upon hearing this, Cyborg smiled, his blue-gray human eye and bright red cybernetic eye alight with happiness, and the hard sturdy metal that made up the majority of his body dazzling in the light of the sun. "Good to know," he said. The half-robot teenager turned his gaze to face the sun, and then said, "Certainly does look like a good day for us to go home."

Robin chuckled, rammed his right fist into his open left palm, and said, "I hear you man."

This day, as Cyborg had said, was indeed the day that the Teen Titans would finally be ending their now week-long vacation in Tokyo and returning to their home in Jump City, California. Admittedly, Robin had to admit that despite his original reluctance to stay in Tokyo longer than necessary for the mission they'd originally come to complete, even he had ended up very much feeling like his eventual decision for the Titans to have a vacation there for a few more days had proven worthwhile. Over the course of the past few days, he and the other titans had had quite a lot of fun. At least, he was pretty sure they'd all had lots of fun; though with Raven, you could never really tell. But now, having spent an entire week in Tokyo, Robin felt it was high time for the titans to end their vacation and return home.

Cyborg eventually nodded to himself, and said to Robin, "Well I don't know about you man, but I'm going to head back to the T-Ship. I'm sure the others are already there waiting for the goodbye wagon; especially your girlfriend."

Robin stiffened, and then shook his head side to side with an annoyed glare on his face. "Shut up," he groaned as the 19 year old cybernetic African American boy laughed and started walking in the direction opposite from the edge of the cliff. But even under his stern glare, Robin felt his heart flutter and a small smile fighting to come onto his face. His 'girlfriend' as Cyborg put it, and as he himself had to admit was an accurate way to describe it now, was Starfire.

His smile finally achieved victory in its struggle to appear as he thought of the beautiful Tamaranean girl who'd come to mean so much to him now over the course of the five years he'd known her. He chuckled as he thought of how very likely it was that Batman had almost certainly discovered his former protégé's current relationship status with Starfire due to his almost constantly keeping 'secret' tabs on him as well as keeping track of all the criminal activity he monitored. He already had a feeling that when Batman inevitably sent him a message or came to visit over this matter, his former mentor would be pissed off at him for 'stooping so low as to break the rules about romantic relationships with team members a second time, and this time successfully.' But at that moment, Robin didn't care. He knew what love was, and he knew, for a fact, that he loved Starfire. What he felt for her was much stronger then what he'd once thought he felt for Barbara Gordon during his time under Batman's wing. Chuckling at the memory, he thought, "Yep, I am definitely in love with Starfire."

He then turned his head to face the path that led away from the cliff edge he was currently standing by and towards where the T-Ship was parked, and grinned as he thought, "And Cyborg does have a point; I'd better not keep Starfire waiting." Smiling as he had that thought, Robin turned away from the cliff edge and confidently started walking down the path towards the ship.

. . . . .

At 9:00 sharp, Robin and the other Titans were at the location where the T-Ship was parked together, and so was a vast crowd of Tokyo citizens come to wish them a happy farewell. Among the crowd were almost every citizen of Tokyo who had come to view the Teen Titans as heroes of Japan. And of course, examples of the people who'd come to see them off were the chefs that Cyborg had at first ignited the ire of but later earned the favor of, the considerable number of fan-girls that Beast Boy had attracted, the bookstore owner Raven had met and had proven incidentally very valuable in the titans finding out the full story of Brushogun, and of course the major of Tokyo.

At this particular moment, the mayor of Tokyo was feeling very happy indeed as he stood before Robin. The mayor had to admit that the five teenage foreigners had proven to be amazing guests in his city after their names had cleared upon the defeat of Uehara Daizo, the former commander of the now disbanded Tokyo Troopers. Needless to say, the mayor now couldn't have felt more honored to have had the Teen Titans as Tokyo's guests.

Smiling, the mayor eventually reached out his hand towards Robin. The boy wonder smiled, and proceeded to grasp onto the mayor's hand in a companionable handshake. Upon finishing their handshake, the two let go of their hands. The mayor then said, "It was truly an honor for you to spend the past week in my fair city."

"Thanks," said Robin. "It was my pleasure, and that of my team."

The mayor chuckled. "Indeed," he said. "It is a real pity that you must now leave."

Robin nodded, a sympathetic look on his face, and responded, "I understand sir; and trust me, me and the other Titans don't mean any offense. The time we've spent here over the past week has been amazing, and we don't hold anything against you or your city; but as you and your people view Tokyo as your home, we have another place outside Tokyo that we view as our home. And at this point, we really need to return, because we miss our home, and just as Tokyo needed us last week, our home still needs us even now. And it just wouldn't be honorable for us to abandon our home in its time of need."

The mayor smiled, placed his hand on Robin's shoulder, and then stated, "Indeed it would not. Therefore, I wish you and your friends the best of luck and the most pleasant of journeys home. And all of us in Tokyo wish you great happiness outside our fair city. But know this; if ever in the future you decide to come back, know that you and your team will always be welcome here in Tokyo."

Robin smiled. "I couldn't have it any other way," he responded.

Meanwhile, closer to the T-Ship, Cyborg was watching intently. "Boy he definitely knows his way around the world of diplomacy," he thought to himself with a smile. "Heck, if I didn't know any better, I'd swear he was raised by Bruce Wayne himself."

A couple feet or so away from Cyborg, a pale gray skinned 16 year old girl with violet purple eyes, dark lilac purple hair, and dressed in a jet black long-sleeved leotard stood nearby one of the wings of the T-Ship, her arms folded across her chest, her hooded dark blue cloak blowing in the wind, and her face as emotionlessly grim and taciturn as ever. Not even the small bits of sunlight that shined down on the rubies on her belt, gloves, and necklace were enough to sufficiently brighten up the rather dark air around her.

Raven had not entirely had quite the same amount of fun on this trip as her four companions. In fact, out of all of them, she was the one who had enjoyed their karaoke night they'd had at one point during the week the least. Sending an emotionless glare towards Robin as she watched him talk with the mayor, she let out a small sigh, turned her head away, and thought to herself, "Just hurry up and say goodbye already."

Unlike her team mates, Raven hadn't made very many friends over the course of the week-long vacation. Practically the only friend she had made among the Tokyo natives was the bookstore owner. A small smile that didn't reach her eyes came on her mouth as she remembered how her already massive collection of books had grown considerably over the course of the past week thanks to her numerous visits to the bookstore. Still, apart from that, she wasn't all that eager to delay departure from Tokyo to return home any longer than necessary.

She turned her head to face the direction where Robin was, and found her glare returning as she saw that he was still deep in conversation with the mayor. "Hurry up," she thought to herself irritably.

At that moment, she heard a relatively higher pitched male voice from a few feet or so to her right yell, "Dude! Put that away! I already signed that three times! Can't you count?!"

She turned her head to look to her right. Sure enough, standing not too far away in that direction directly in front of a large crowd of screaming Japanese teenage girls was a 17 year old teenage boy dressed in a purple and black jump suit, gray gloves, and a pair of sneakers that had the same color as his jump suit complete with gray bottoms that had paw print designs on them. And even if she hadn't been familiar with his outfit, she would have still recognized him from 50 miles away with his iconic green skin, eyes, and hair; not to mention his pointy elf-like ears and rather sharp fang-like teeth. As she watched, the green boy directed an irritated glare at the ocean of girls standing before him thrusting autograph books, hands, and all manner of other things at him and screaming joyously like a pack of hyperactive first graders, and said, "Dude! Stop that! I'm trying to say goodbye here! Quit it! For the love of . . . enough already!"

Raven sighed as she watched the green boy have a hard time with the overexcited fan girls. Earlier the previous day, the boy in question had insisted that he be given a chance to say goodbye to his immense crowd of fan girls. Now, judging from his current voice tone and actions, he was beginning to seriously regret this decision. "Beast Boy," she thought to herself, "I'm surprised you didn't get this annoyed by them days ago." And indeed she was. She never could really understand how Beast Boy could possibly tolerate spending so much of his valuable free time in the considerably large company of all those ditzy and air headed foreign girls who seemed to mindlessly worship him as an angel from Heaven. "As if an angel would look like that," she thought to herself. While she had admittedly never encountered an actual angel before, she had a feeling that neither a real angel, nor the ones described in the Bible would look anything like Beast Boy.

Then Raven unconsciously found herself looking at Beast Boy again. In particular, she found herself focusing on his hair. She wasn't sure if anyone else, or even Beast Boy himself had noticed, but she had seen that over the course of the days that had followed Daizo's defeat, his dark green hair had started to show signs of turning lighter in color, to the point that his hair now looked more like a chartreuse blonde that artfully contrasted with his more lime green skin and emerald toned eyes. She then thought to herself in confusion. Since when did she pay so much attention to his physical features? She tried to shake her mind clear of these thoughts, but then she remembered how she'd often at some times made note of his fang-like teeth, taken the odd glance at his elf-like ears that he'd claimed 'chicks dug,' and once even briefly glanced at his hands on the night they'd arrived at Tokyo before he'd put his gloves back on and could have sworn that she saw what looked like small claws in the areas where his finger nails should have been located.

She shook her head violently to clear her head of these thoughts. "It's nothing," she thought to herself emphatically. But even at that moment she wasn't entirely certain as to the truth of her own words. To put it simply, her relationship with the green shape shifter was complicated. They spent most of the time arguing and getting on each other's nerves. Still, Beast Boy had also proven a very good and caring friend to her more than once. That being said, she still had no idea for certain about the odd feelings she sometimes got when around him that weren't annoyance or of a similar nature to annoyance. But she wasn't entirely willing to dig any deeper than necessary in that regard. She was accustomed to repressing her emotions after all.

Meanwhile, to Cyborg's left, looking intently at Robin as she hovered slightly over the ground, was an orange skinned 16 year old girl dressed in a violet purple crop-top, mini-skirt, and boots, as well as a silver neckband, belt, and gauntlets with emerald green jewels on them. She smiled as she watched the dark haired, fair skinned, and traffic light style costume adorned teenage boy talking with the political leader of Tokyo, her vivid green eyes alight with joy, and her long red hair blowing around in the wind as it dangled down past her shoulders.

Starfire couldn't have felt happier at this moment. Ever since she and Robin had finally had their first real kiss, admitted their painfully obvious feelings to each other, and become a couple, the past week couldn't have been more joyous for her. And now, she was very much looking forward to going home and spreading word of the news to her friends that hadn't accompanied her, Robin, and the others to Tokyo. Of course, she was also greatly feeling happy at the chance to finally reunite with her beloved pet mutant moth larva Silkie, peacefully relax in her own bedroom, and spend joyous time with her friends, especially her boyfriend Robin.

Eventually, Beast Boy noticed out of the corner of his eyes that Robin appeared to be winding down on his chat with the mayor, and he realized that it was now time for him to get away from his fan girls. Thinking quickly, he abruptly pointed his finger at the empty space behind them all and yelled, "Look behind you!"

Miraculously enough, they all fell for it, and they turned their heads as one to look behind them. At that moment, while the entire herd of fan girls was looking away, Beast Boy turned around and bolted over to take a position in between Cyborg and Raven. As Beast Boy stood there afterward panting in exhaustion, Cyborg chuckled at his green friend and said, "Boy you sure look happy to go."

Beast Boy glared at the cybernetic teenager and said, "Put a sock in it Cyborg."

Raven felt a small smirk come up on her mouth as she heard this. "Better late than never," she thought to herself.

Seconds later, Robin parted ways with the mayor after giving a final handshake and took his place in between Cyborg and Starfire, very unsubtly grabbing onto Starfire's right hand with his own left hand. Starfire smiled, a deep blush on her face as she closed her eyes at the contact.

With all the titans now positioned at the T-Ship, the mayor turned to face the assembled crowd and yelled, "People of Tokyo! Let us all wish a happy farewell to our honored guests and Tokyo's newest heroes, the Teen Titans!" The crowd went wild with cheering. Even Beast Boy's fan girls, much to his surprise and wariness, seemed as happy as ever as they cheered, seemingly not phased all that much by his abruptly leaving them hanging earlier.

As the cheering started showing signs of winding down, Robin winked at Cyborg, and the partially robotic teenager smiled before pressing a switch that caused the glass windows/hatches of the ship's seating compartments to open up at the ready for their occupants of the journey to climb aboard.

With this out of the way, Robin proceeded to smile at the crowd, readjust his mask, and give a slight wave before proceeding to climb up into the compartment located all the way at the very front end of the ship, dutifully pressing the button that would reseal the hatch upon taking his seat. Raven wasted no time at all, promptly disappearing in a flash of shadows and then reappearing inside the compartment located on the right wing of the ship. The hatch for her compartment closed seconds later. Cyborg yelled a "Booyah," and then proceeded to walk slowly over to the tail end of the ship before clambering into the compartment located there. He closed the hatch of his compartment soon afterwards. Starfire then proceeded to fly over to the compartment on the left wing of the ship. No sooner had Starfire so much as started flying over to her compartment, when Beast Boy quickly turned to face the T-Ship and began to climb up towards the compartment in the very center of the ship.

Unfortunately for Beast Boy, it seemed as if he'd only just lifted up his right foot after clenching onto the rim of the compartment with his hands when he felt a large multitude of hands grab onto his legs and feet and start to pull on them as if something were trying to pull him away.

Beast Boy groaned upon feeling this sensation, for he had a feeling that he should have expected for this to happen. He turned his head to look behind him, and found himself glaring with irritation when he found that he had indeed been grabbed onto by his fan girls. "Dude!" He shouted. "I'm trying to leave here!" The fan girls only screamed all the louder and started tugging on his legs even harder.

Raven groaned as she watched this. "Not again," she thought to herself. Robin also groaned mentally as he saw all this unfolding. Starfire, meanwhile, could only glance fearfully from within her safely sealed compartment as she watched her green friend struggle vigorously to break free from the grasp of his over eager Tokyo fan girls.

Cyborg, meanwhile, whistled as he watched all this occur. "Dang BB," he said out loud, "those girls must really want you bad!"

"Dude!" Beast Boy yelled. "Empathy man! Empathy!"

Of course, the fan girls only continued to pull on Beast Boy, who tried furiously to break himself free and wrench himself out of their grip and into his chosen compartment of the T-Ship.

"Good grief," he growled. "Enough with this already! I'm serious! You've already had your chance to say goodbye, and you blew it! For Pete's sake! Let go!" He shouted the last bit as he proceeded to turn his head, lift up his right hand and slap one girl's hand off of him in irritation.

Unfortunately, this action didn't seem to help at all, for even more girls than grabbed onto his legs, and all the girls redoubled their efforts to pull him away from the ship. Beast Boy shrieked in surprise and annoyance as he proceeded to have his right hand grab back onto the ship again and he resumed his efforts to wrench himself free.

After a few minutes of this struggling, Beast Boy gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and directed his head upwards towards the sky before yelling, "Let go!"

Seconds after he yelled this, he opened his eyes, growled, and proceeded to morph into a smilodon. Upon transforming into the iconic prehistoric cat commonly known as the saber toothed tiger, he dug his front claws and his two massive canine teeth into the exterior of the ship, trying desperately to give himself a hold on the ship that he could use to tug himself free from his unyielding fan girls and escape into the safety of the T-Ship compartment so he and his friends could go home.

Unfortunately, the girls, miraculously undeterred by the presence of the ferocious prehistoric beast they now held by the hindlegs in the place of the teenage boy they'd been struggling with earlier, continued to pull on Beast Boy. In fact, after a few minutes, their efforts were enough to cause Beast Boy to get slowly dragged a slight bit further away from the compartment, his claws and teeth sliding roughly across the exterior of the ship with an irritating whine and leaving small gashes on the exterior.

"You're messing up the paint job!" Cyborg yelled as he saw the damage that Beast Boy's fangs and claws had now left on his precious T-Ship.

Robin turned his head to look at Cyborg with an incredulous look on his face that not even his mask could hide. "You're worried about the paint job!?" Robin yelled in an almost scandalized tone.

Starfire gulped as she continued to watch her now very furry green friend continue to struggle furiously to escape from his very unhelpful fan girls, and then looked at Cyborg before saying, "I agree with Robin. I'd be more worried about friend Beast Boy then this job of paint of which you speak."

"Wouldn't we all," Raven stated in agreement, and of course in her typical monotone. Eventually, she then decided that this travesty had gone on long enough, and she snapped her fingers. In a flash, the fan girls squeaked as their hands were suddenly engulfed in what looked like tendrils of black lightning and they felt a small electric shock pass through their hands.

This intervention from Raven was enough to cause all the girls to let of Beast Boy's hindlegs and fall backward onto the ground as one. Exactly one second after his hindlegs were finally freed, Beast Boy pressed his hind paws on the side of the ship, removed the tips of his fangs and front claws from the side of the ship, and leaped into his compartment. No sooner had he landed safely within the compartment when he morphed back to human form, sat down firmly on his seat, and punched the button that would close the hatch to his compartment. The hatch couldn't have closed and locked itself more quickly afterward in his opinion, and he let out a sigh of relief as he heard the sound of it locking, effectively sealing him off from his off the rocker fan girls.

Smiling in relief, he turned his head to face Raven, who he knew had definitely caused the girls to let go of him, and gave her a thumbs up with a toothy grin on his face. "Thanks Rae," he said. "I owe you one."

"It's Raven," said Raven. "And you're welcome."

Beast Boy shook his head side to side nonchalantly, not too rankled this time by Raven's usual put down to the nickname he'd lately taken to calling her over the course of the vacation. At this point, he was too relieved by how he was finally free from the grasp of his fan girls and happy that Raven had at least accepted his thanks to be all that unhappy.

But then all Hell broke loose when the titans felt the ship start to shake as something heavy pressed up against the side of it. The fan girls, now even more driven than ever to get more time with Beast Boy were now pressing up against the side of the ship and willing to topple it over.

Beast Boy groaned at this development to the situation. "Seriously?!" he yelled out loud to no one in particular. "Find a local boy already!"

"Man," said Cyborg. "You sure have crappy taste in girls."

"If it weren't for the fact that this reinforced wall of glass is the only thing keeping me safe from all these locos, then you'd be so dead now," said Beast Boy.

Starfire squeaked in fright as she felt the ship list over towards the side. Raven groaned, rolled her eyes, and thought bitterly that their departure was now being even further delayed. Robin shook his head side to side, sighed, and thought to himself, "Heroes and villains I get. Civilians are crazy."

Fortunately for the titans, the mayor had the local police intervene, and before long, the overeager crowd of fan girls was driven back as the police proceeded to force themselves between the girls and the T-Ship, their shields drawn and positioned together in a wall, and push the girls back by moving forward and yelling for them to back off.

The mayor made a sheepish smile towards the titans after the girls had been forced back to a sufficient distance, and said, "Sorry about that."

"It's fine," said Robin, just barely remaining calm. He then turned on his microphone and said, "Alright team, prepare for take-off. It's time to go home." The other titans eagerly agreed, and after the necessary preparations were made and coordinates entered in, they proceeded to cause the T-Ship to take off and start flying off into the horizon as it began its journey back to Jump City.

The people of Tokyo smiled as they watched the ship flying away. They hoped very much that the enjoyable young heroes who'd blessed the city with their presence for the last week would return someday. And of course, all the fan girls howled as one in despair behind the unyielding wall of police officers and police shields barring them out of the area.

However, there was one person in the area who was making barely any noise at all. In fact, she wasn't even among the crowd itself, but was hiding within a small patch of forest nearby as she intently watched the T-Ship flying off to the east towards where she knew it would eventually arrive at Jump City.

Her dark eyes narrowed, and a frown settled on her face beneath the grinning pink and white cat-like mask she wore. Making a small hiss, she rubbed her gloved fingers through her long black braid, and then whispered to herself, "This could put a wrench in the boss's plans." With that note made, she proceeded to quickly duck further into the forest and then silently make her way deeper into the woods. She had a feeling that she'd need to inform her boss about what she'd just witnessed, and she did not want to make it so close to the current Tokyo law enforcement. Considering the news she currently needed to inform her master of, the last thing she could afford was to end up in a Japanese jail, or any kind of jail period.

. . . . .

In another forest located near the coastal regions of California, a lone figure stalked through the dark woods in the night. Any ordinary camper or amateur would have made quite a lot of noise, but this man was trained to move silently. And move silently he did; he moved so carefully and meticulously that not a twig snapped under his feet. In fact, even in spite of the fact that his boots were made out of metal, one could barely hear the sound of his feet touching the ground.

As the lone figure continued to carefully make his way through the forest, he thought carefully to himself about the reason he was currently in this forest this late in the evening. "Whatever he's got to show me," he thought to himself, "it had better be worth my time."

The reason he was currently thinking this was because of how, the last time he'd met up with the partner he was about to visit, the end results had not proven satisfactory for the lone figure that was now wandering through the woods. For nearly a year now, the two had been in a partnership of convenience that came as a result of a more or less common goal. However, the man currently making his way deeper into the forest was still not entirely pleased at the relative lack of progress that had been made in the current objectives. He had expected for much more progress to have been made by now. Fortunately, he was patient; but even his patience could only last so long. "If he hasn't made a useful amount of progress tonight, then our deal is over," he thought to himself.

After what seemed like an hour to the figure trekking through the forest, he eventually caught sight of what appeared to be the light of a fire within a large clearing. Due to how bright the light was, the fire must have been considerably large. The man came up just close enough to just barely be at the border of the clearing illuminated by the light of the fire. He looked within the clearing, and sure enough, he saw another man standing nearby the large flames in the center of the clearing. This man, who looked much bulkier and more muscular than the man watching him, had his back facing the man who'd just arrived, and was looking directly at the fire intently, his long hair waving around in the slight wind.

After a few minutes, the man watching heard the long haired man by the flames sigh, and say without even turning his head, "I know you've arrived. Come on out of the forest and we can talk."

The man who'd been watching from outside the clearing stepped out into the clearing. In the light of the fire, the man in question was now revealed to be wearing a dark gray and black armored suit complete with armored boots and gloves. He was even wearing a two-toned armor plated mask. The right side of his mask was a dark black, and had no eye hole on it. The left side of his face, in stark contrast, was bright orange and had an eye hole. The eye that was revealed by this single eye hole was a dark black and had an unhappy look in it.

Soon after this, the long haired man turned his head, a small smirk on his hideously scarred face as he saw that his current partner in crime had arrived. "It is very good to see that you have finally arrived Deathstroke," said the long haired man.

The armored man groaned, and then said, "I've already told you Savage; I stopped using that name years ago. I now go solely by my first name."

The other man, named Vandal Savage, chuckled, and then said, "Very well then Slade, I will respect that wish. Once again though, I am pleased to see that you have arrived. Now we can discuss our current business again."

Slade sighed, raised his finger, and said, "I'm telling you this now Savage, whatever you called me here for tonight had better be worth my time. And even if it is, you'd better stick to your part of the bargain. The last time I had a partnership with another villain, it didn't end well. If this doesn't turn out any better, then I very much believe it would take me a miracle for me to ever consider forming a partnership a third time."

Vandal Savage smirked, waved his hand dismissively, and said, "Oh don't you worry Slade; you won't have any reason to feel disappointed this time."

"I'd better not," said Slade as he pointed at Savage. "Trust me; if you welch on me, then you're on your own, and I will be getting back to work on tasks that will be far more worthy of my time than your fool's quest."

"And I will be happy to let you get to those tasks," said Savage coolly, seemingly disregarding the insult in Slade's last words.

Savage turned to face the fire, smiled as he thought of the momentous task he was about to make his third and hopefully final attempt at making. He reached into one of the pockets of his heavy cloak and drew out what appeared to be an envelope.

Slade's eye narrowed at the sight of this. "A letter?" Slade asked. "How is that supposed to help us in your little experiment?"

Savage chuckled, waved the envelope around in his hands, and said, "Oh trust me, what's contained in this envelope is no letter. The stuff inside this letter will be guaranteed to allow this ritual to succeed as long as I do it correctly."

"And how would you know this?" Slade asked. "Have you tested it out already?"

"No," Savage admitted. "I'm not about to waste this valuable stuff on minor summons and Infernal chats. No, I needed to save this for the main event. But this time I know it will work. I do have my sources after all who have told me so."

"And who's to say that these sources will be any more trustworthy than the last ones you turned to?"

"The last two sources I used were humans," said Savage. "And ordinary mortal civilians at that. The source I turned to this time was a bit more . . . well, knowledgeable to say the least about the current subject matter." Savage turned his head to face the large bonfire once more. "But enough idle chatter, I have a ritual to attend to."

Upon saying this, Savage drew out a large knife, slit open the letter, and proceeded to pour out the contents, which appeared to be blood red sand into his outstretched right hand. Slade's one good eye narrowed in suspicion at the sight of the sandy substance, but wisely didn't ask any questions.

Savage hovered his hand above the large blaze, spoke a phrase in what appeared to be Latin, and then tossed the sand into the fire. With a flash of red light and a loud banging noise, a plume of unnaturally crimson smoke began to rise from the fire. Before long, the entire massive expanse of contained flames turned ruby red to match the color of the sand that had been tossed into it. The smoke faded away after this.

Savage smirked at the sight, for it seemed that this time his plan would work, and he proceeded to raise his hands up into the air and start chanting in Latin. As Slade listened to Savage's chanting, he found himself silently whistling under his mask. He was well versed in Latin himself, and if the words Savage was currently chanting truly meant what Slade thought they meant, then Savage was truly taking part in some serious work. As Savage continued to chant, the blood red flames seemed to writhe and merge upon each other. Eventually, they seemed to rise up in a large pillar before eventually moving around in a way that allowed them to converge together and form a hovering swirling vortex of red flames with a dark black interior.

Savage stopped chanting, and turned his head to face Slade. Slade raised his eyebrow in an apparent 'you've got a point?' look. But secretly, Slade was impressed. It seemed that this time his partner had indeed gotten it right. Savage chuckled, turned to face the ominous black interior of the hovering vortex of flames, and said, "Greetings your Malevolence. I presume you are prepared to speak?"

Seconds after Savage said this, what appeared to be seven pairs of blood red reptilian eyes with black slit-like pupils appeared within the ominous black background within the vortex. For an ominous few seconds, the eyes stared menacingly at Savage. After what seemed like an eternity, the eyes softened slightly and moved up and down as if whatever creature they belonged to was nodding its head or heads up and down in a gesture of 'yes.' "Indeed I am," said a seemingly timeless yet ancient voice that appeared to come from the center of the portal, where coincidentally the most human-like of the seven pairs of reptilian eyes was located. "Though I must say that it certainly took you long enough to finally come through to me with your attempts at calling."

"My apologies," said Savage. "My first two attempts failed. Apparently, not as many beings are as knowledgeable about this delicate subject matter as I originally thought. I had to find this out the hard way by wasting my time with two human informants."

The sound of snarling came from within the vortex. It sounded very much as if seven ferocious beasts were snarling. "Humans," the voice from within the vortex said in a tone that oozed with derision. "Of course they wouldn't have known the proper way to contact me anymore. The only history they have in these matters these days is summoning, chatting with, and making deals with my underlings. Did you really think they would have even the slightest inkling anymore of how to initiate contact with me?"

Savage bowed his head, and responded calmly, "Forgive me. I had not truly realized just how vastly human knowledge of these matters had diminished. Apparently, in all the years that have followed the last time a mortal human made a deal with you yourself as opposed to one of your underlings, all mortal humans on Earth have since forgotten the correct way to initiate contact with you. I learned this the hard way in dealing with those two human informants, and ended up having to turn to one of your own underlings for guidance."

"And this underling of mine proved more reliable did it not?"

"It indeed did. It knew how the proper way to communicate with you from outside of your home was with sand from the Judaean Desert soaked in the blood of seven of your underlings that is then tossed into a mighty blaze."

"Exactly," said the voice from within the vortex in a tone that shined with pride.

"Also," said Savage. "I would have contacted you a few minutes or so ago, but A: I wanted my compatriot to be present for this, and B: I received a message from an employee of mine named Cheshire; and on that note, she has recently informed me in this message of an element that could potentially place a wrench in the works of your current plans."

Seven of the eyes in the vortex moved upward as if the being they belonged to was raising it's eyebrows, and then the voice said, "Oh really? And what might this earth-shaking news be?" Slade also looked at Savage with his eyebrow raised. Savage had not informed him of that last detail.

Savage bowed his head, looked back up to face the fourteen eyes looking at him from the other side of the vortex, and responded, "You are familiar with the Teen Titans I presume?"

"You mean that team of prepubescent do-gooders who practically serve as a teenage version of the Justice League, whose five founding members that live in this local area are currently vacationing in Tokyo?" The voice asked. Savage nodded. "Why do you ask?"

"According to Cheshire," said Savage. "They started on their way home from Tokyo about half an hour ago, and they should be home at around noon tomorrow morning in the local time of this area. Cheshire appeared to have reason to believe that this unexpected element from my perspective might prove an unexpected obstacle to your plan."

The being on the other side of the vortex appeared to think to itself, then it appeared to shrug before responding, "I will admit, this element is indeed a bit of a game-changer; but no matter, it should prove but a minor inconvenience in the long run."

"I wouldn't be too quick to underestimate them," said Slade. "They may not be as old or experienced as the Justice League, but they are still capable of posing a credible threat."

"I understand," said the voice. "And fear not, I will nonetheless keep my eye on them just to be safe. But now, before we focus any further on the unexpected return of the Teen Titans, I believe that Savage had something else he originally wished to discuss with me?"

"Indeed," said Savage. "And having now indeed successfully initiated contact and gotten that other important topic out of the way for the moment, perhaps now we can discuss what we originally planned to discuss."

"Yes," said the voice. "But first, perhaps you could allow your compatriot to formally join in?"

Savage nodded, turned to Slade, and said, "You may now properly introduce yourself Slade, but I warn you, he prefers to be referred to as 'your malevolence' by everyone who isn't in his inner circle."

Slade raised his eyebrow, and then asked, "Must I?"

"Oh yes Deathstroke," said the voice inside the vortex. "I insist."

Savage smirked at Slade, who groaned, walked up in front of the vortex, and then scowled at the fourteen reptilian eyes that peeked out from within before making an exaggerated bow and dryly saying "Greetings your Malevolence."

The voice chuckled, and said, "Always the free spirited and more equal terms sort of fellow aren't you?"

Slade growled under his mask.

The voice chuckled, and then said, "Now my followers, let us discuss what Savage originally arranged for us to talk about. Shall we?"

Savage nodded, a predatory smile on his face. Slade simply stood where he was looking disinterested. The voice in the vortex chuckled again, and said, "Very well, let us begin."

The fourteen eyes looked intently at the two men who now dared to directly communicate with it, and the voice then said, "Savage, if I remember correctly, you wished to discuss with me about the Key of Dante that would allow for the unlocking and opening of a gate to my domain am I right?"

"Correct," said Savage.

"Well Savage," said the voice. "I will tell you this, as I'm sure you might be aware from what whoever told you about the existence of these keys might have already mentioned, they have been hidden away for centuries within their respective hiding spots. And as all of my underlings, my father's underlings, my brothers, my father, and myself know, we are the only ones who know the exact location of the multiple entrances that lead into them all, and that very few humans have been trusted with this powerful information. So therefore, you'd typically be better off beating randomly at a bush then to go searching for a way into my hidden crypt and getting your hands on the corporeal key to my realm."

"Indeed," said Savage. "But fortunately, we're talking to you right now, and you can tell us how to find the nearest entrance. No problem at all."

The voice chuckled, the central pair of eyes seeming to even raise its left eyebrow, and then it said, "Oh really? Did I say that I would do that?"

Upon hearing this, Savage narrowed his eyes, and said, "I believe we had a deal."

"A deal?" said the voice. "I'm pretty sure I would have remembered making a deal with you, especially considering both your particularly major status in the world and also what the currency of the deals my underlings make are."

Upon hearing this, Vandal Savage had to fight to keep himself from shouting at the being he was now talking to. "You said you were willing to give us a chance to help you achieve your current plans! Surely even someone as long in the tooth as you would understand that your current plan is incapable of success without that key?!"

"I do understand that," the voice growled, the fourteen red eyes narrowing angrily, "but I am also very careful in how I do my work. I have always been very careful in forming my countless plans, including the one I have currently chosen to attempt, and have been likewise careful in everything else I've done. And I will tell you this now, I am not going to end countless centuries' worth of carefulness just to increase my chances of leaving my domain early. And I'm certainly not going to blindly hand over this valuable information to you considering your responsibility for the fiasco that occurred involving a crime organization you created named after the Greco-Roman equivalent of my domain! Surely someone as decrepit and past expiration date as you would understand that, Vandar Adg?"

Savage winced upon hearing his old name from his time as a simple Cro-Magnon warrior, and he pointed at the fourteen red eyes in the vortex before saying, "Your Malevolence, I do not go by that name anymore. Please respect my wishes to be referred to by the name I've created to take its place."

"Then let me tell you this," said the voice. "I may not be as spiritually high class as my father and brothers, but you will still treat and speak to me with respect. Need I remind you that while my father was the one responsible for your arch-nemesis the Immortal Man finding and being endowed by the same comet that gave you your immortality, power, and intelligence, I was the one who first allowed for that comet to come down to Earth and be found by you in the first place? I could easily strip you of your immortality and send your soul plummeting down to my domain in the blink of an eye. Do not test your luck by insulting me."

The eyes looked down briefly, then looked back up to stare intently at Savage once more, and then the voice said, "It was only through sheer luck on your part that I was merciful enough to allow that foolish mortal thief to stumble upon my crypt and abscond with the Fallen Tools and Infernal Tablet and hide them where you could easily find them before my underlings caught up with and killed him. If you want to be able to go into the crypt yourself and get ahold of the Dante's Key that opens the gate to my realm, then you will need to earn the right to it."

Slade shook his head side to side. "I told you he wasn't to be trusted. His kin are never to be trusted. And believe me, I know."

The voice inside the vortex chuckled, the eyes turned to face Slade, and the voice then spoke, "What you say about me is both true and false. While I will not just hand over the knowledge of the nearest entrance to where the Infernal Key of Dante is located without good reason, I am willing to give you the chance to earn that knowledge. All I require is that you fulfill one simple task."

Slade glared at the vortex. "I didn't sign up to be an errand boy," he thought to himself.

Savage, however, was smiling hungrily as he saw how his plans still had the potential to yet continue smoothly on. "We accept this chance. What is it you want us to accomplish?"

"Like I said, it is a very easy task," said the voice. "As you are certainly aware, the Immortal Man isn't the only being to stand against me for the cause of my father and brothers. There are many others in existence in this world, both solitary and in teams. All I ask, is that before I deem you worthy of being given the knowledge you desire, you must simply arrange for an early trip to the afterlife for one such team of heroes who serve on the side of my father and brothers."

Savage considered this information to himself, and then nodded before saying, "Very well then; you have a deal. I shall send a squadron of your underlings to do away with the Doom Patrol tomorrow."

"No," the voice said with a tone of finality. "You will not be going after the Doom Patrol."

Savage's eyes narrowed. "And why is that?"

The voice growled in annoyance, and then responded, "The same reasons you believe that this team would make an ideal choice are the reasons I believe they are simply not worthy. Sure they even now continue a seemingly endless crusade against one of my biggest armies to my cause, and admittedly they gained some serious attention from both humans and the beings that live in the realms of my father and I more than once, but their glory days ended decades ago. Through the rules and nature of their leader, plus his refusal to let go of his obsessive personal crusade against the Brotherhood of Evil, they are so far behind and out of touch with the era that they have no hope of catching up with all the other heroes who have willingly allowed themselves to adapt and evolve with the times. Their thunder is almost all gone, and what little they have left isn't even enough to turn heads of entire cities anymore. Honestly, it would be a miracle for you to find two people who've heard of the Doom Patrol living together in the same house, much less the same city. At this point, any pansy amateur super villain could defeat them and no one would bat an eye. In fact, they could be wiped off the face of the earth and people would hardly notice any difference. No, if you want me to tell you the location of the nearest entrance to my crypt and get ahold of the Infernal Key, then you will need to eliminate a superhero team that the world will actually notice the absence of."

Slade turned his head to face Savage, his eyebrow raised as if to say, "You have any more stupid ideas?"

Savage thought to himself, and then said, "Perhaps the Shadowpact would be suitable for your purposes?"

The fourteen eyes positioned themselves as if the being they belonged to were thinking to itself and considering the offer. After a few minutes, Savage and Slade heard the voice say, "Hmm, I'll admit, the Shadowpact is indeed a much better choice than the Doom Patrol. After all, it certainly is more widely known and more competent then the Doom Patrol. Plus I'll admit that I do have a personal score to settle with one of its members; namely, Blue Devil. For not only does he still maintain his unworthy possession of my trident, but even now continues to misuse it for the purposes of good instead of the evil purposes I originally had it forged and designed for."

Savage smiled upon hearing all this. It seemed that he had now chosen just the right team to eliminate in exchange for the knowledge he desired.

But then the voice said, "But no, I'm afraid that settling my personal score with Blue Devil will have to wait; for while the Shadowpact is more widely recognized around the world and more credible a threat to my cause then the Doom Patrol, they are still far too obscure and overshadowed by certain other teams that serve the cause of my father to be suitable for the current purposes I ask of you. While the Shadowpact would be missed and their absence more likely to attract attention, their elimination would only cause a slight rustle in the world of crime fighting. I want you to cause a roar."

Savage now seemed to be very annoyed, and Slade shook his head side to side saying "tut, tut," in his mind.

"Fortunately," the voice said before Savage could run the risk of losing his temper, "I know the perfect team on my father's cause for you to go after."

"Of course you do," Slade thought to himself.

Savage smiled in an almost predatory glee, and said, "Let me guess, you wish for me and my partner to go after the Justice League?"

Slade raised his eyebrow upon hearing this. "I do believe that would be a bit over our heads Savage," he then said.

"Your compatriot is correct," said the voice. "While certainly not a bad choice, attempting to eliminate them, even with my underlings doing the dirty work, would be an exercise in futility. Besides, I have plans of my own for them. But fortunately, the team I have chosen for you to go after will be just as worthy, if not worthier."

Slade raised his eyebrow at the sound of this. "Why do I have a bad feeling I now know which team this being has chosen for us to eliminate?"

"Enlighten us," said Savage as he proceeded to fold his arms across his chest with an inquisitive look on his face.

The voice from within the fiery vortex chuckled, the fourteen red eyes narrowing and brightening with pleasure, and then said, "Well for starters, elimination of this particular team I have chosen will be appropriate in regard to how they are younger than the Justice League as a whole. As the sentiment goes, destroy the new material, and there will be nothing left to replace the old. Also, the loss of the team I have selected for you to go after would be particularly devastating for the teens and children of the world. For not only is this team just as popular among them as the Justice League, but they are also more accessible to them in regard to their relative similarities in regard to age-range."

The voice then chuckled as if having just now remembered something. "And finally, since they will soon be arriving right back in convenient range for you, a more perfect time to send my underlings after them couldn't be closer."

At this point, Slade was now almost entirely certain of what team of superheroes the being on the other side of the vortex had chosen for him and Savage to go after. For not only had the first two points it had made been the kind that he would have remembered being willing to use himself to convince potential lackeys of his own to attempt to prove their worth to him by going against them, but the last point that the voice had made matched perfectly with an earlier topic of Savage's discussion with it.

Savage raised his eyebrow, and then said, "You're saying . . . ?"

"Yes," said the voice. The fourteen eyes seemed to brighten up as if the being were smiling. "With all this information I have now mentioned in mind," the voice said as the eyes proceeded to rise upward as if the being were now repositioning itself to gaze more directly at the two men currently communicating with it, "what better team of superheroes to make an example out of, then the Teen Titans?"

And just like that, the story begins! Dun, dun, dun! As of now, I am again hoping that you have all enjoyed this epic beginning to my first multi-chapter Teen Titans story on this website! And I also hope that you leave a nice healthy bunch of reviews! In fact, I very much recommend that you leave reviews. After all, my current plan is that the sooner I get 5-10 reviews for the newest posted chapter, the sooner I post the next chapter after I have finished writing it and my awesome Beta reader Montydragon has gone through it! So yeah, I hope you enjoyed! ^_^

Coming up next: The five core titans make it home to Jump City, and are given a warm welcome home by Titans East.