Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or any products, businesses, etc. mentioned in this fic. Already a story I wrote but I started it over. But enough about me, if you notice something strange in here send reviews. "Flames" are welcome.

A/N: Also, this is my first fic. (Does it still count after 3 years?)

Chapter I: The Paladin has come

It was night, nearly three in the morning. In the darkness, a gathering of clouds culminated over Titan's Tower, each rumbling with thunderous power. A trio lightning bolts hurled themselves from the heavens and converged at a single point. From the burning earth wisped up a dark mist that swirled in a continual circuit round and round. A shadowy portal of darkness spun slowly, its grey-tinged black image shrouding in mystery. Slowly a small device fell from the portal and buried itself into the bank of the island. The small galaxy of shadow began to collapse on itself. When it seemed it couldn't get any smaller it silently burst open into a cloud of ash that seemed to disintegrate as it wafted into the air.

:Titans Tower, the next night:

"Aww yeeeeah, that's what I'm talkin' about!" an excited Cyborg was yelling.

"HEY, that's not fair, that was pass interference! He took my guy's arm away!" Beast Boy exclaimed. The two were in a fierce competition of Ultra Football IV. They had created their own custom teams and were playing a game with Cyborg in the lead, with Beast Boy behind by just a few points, and the clock dangerously low. Beast Boy had just thrown a Hail Mary for sixty yards only to be denied his long-deserved victory.

"That's what a Safety's supposed to do," he said.

"No way! How is he supposed to catch the ball then? Now you're just making crap up to mess with me. You probably just took off the penalties."

"Dude! First of all, you only have a basic concept of the rules of the game. Which is why I always kick your ass at it. A former athlete like myself," he professed, placing his hand on his chest, "knows that is the purpose of the position. As long as you don't push the guy out of the way. Second, don't you remember the holding call I got on me in the beginning of the fourth quarter? So don't go blaming me that your reciever sucks. Besides, if the game don't say it, Cyborg can play it."

"Oh yeah, well then I challenge you to a rival match."

"Fine by me. Loser does dishes for the week?" The half-robot grinned.

"Living dangerously eh? LET THE GAMES BEGIN!"

"Excuse me!" shouted Raven. "You do know that there are other people in this house right? And just maybe… they wouldn't want to hear all this noise?"

Beast Boy perked up his pointed ears. "Sorry Raven but this is guy stuff, you wouldn't -hey you can't start kickoff now you cheater!" Another grin crossed his giant friend's face.

Why do they always have to do this? Raven asked herself, rubbing her temples in frustration.

The other members of the Team were off doing their own activities. Terra was not paying attention; she was busy dancing to her headphones. Robin was working out in the gym, trying out some new techniques he had learned about, while Starfire was organizing her room.

Suddenly the lights began to flicker, and the power switched off. Beast Boy stared horrified at the blank screen in the dark, Raven dropped her head in defeat, and Cyborg simply scoffed at the irony of it all.

"Oh fate, how cruel you can be." Beast Boy said trying his best to sound poetic with a slight tear in his eye. He began attempting to hug the window/T.V. and nuzzling his cheek against it lovingly.

Cyborg stared at his best friend in wide-eyed shocking disbelief, before slapping his hand against his own face. "Man, just check the damn power," he muffled through his palm.

Cyborg ejected a flashlight from his robotic shoulder and shined it directly into Raven's eyes accidentally. I never get enough time to read, she thought to herself, shielding her eyes from the blinding light.

"My friends, why has our home been enveloped in darkness?" Starfire asked, entering the living room.

"Yeah, I almost fell over the equipment without the light in the training room. What's going on around here?" said Robin also entering the living room.

Cyborg could see something out of the corner of his cybernetic eye. He turned the light on whatever it was. They all stopped to look at Terra who had not even noticed anything and was still dancing. Eyes closed, arms vertical, naval and fine stomach bare for everyone – more specifically Beast Boy – to see. The girl eventually twirled her way into the breakfast table. Then she realized every one was staring at her, shocked. "What'd I do?" she asked, and then started gazing at the ceiling. "And what happened to the light?"

Blondes… Raven thought to herself.

"I'm sure the emergency power will come on any minute." Cyborg said

"I'll go check it out." Robin finally said. He simply shook his head and went outside. Walking to the backup generator powerhouse, on the bank of the island, he stepped onto some kind of hard, uneven surface. Looking down, the boy saw a cut edge of something metallic. Hmm, what's this? He reached down, and began to dig whatever it was out of the muck. Robin pulled up a small, octagonal prism. On each side of the prism was a triagonal panel with the edge cut in a different way. The center held a glass-like dome-shaped crystal, which held two curving blades – one of which had its tip reddened as if dipped in blood – held together at the exact middle of the device. On the north, south, east, and west side of the small dome was set a single rune. It looks like some kind of compass. I better take this inside and have a look at it. The backup power should be on by now. The sound of an alarm going off interrupted his thoughts. "Guess I was right."

Cyborg burst through one of the doors leading outside the tower to the island. "Yo, Robin, we got a problem."

The young leader began running towards Cyborg's direction. As soon as he and his half-robot friend reached the commons room again, they met with Raven in front of the supercomputer. "What's the situation?"

"There's been a break-in at the museum." She looked at the object in Robin's hand. "What's that?"

"Huh? Oh this, I… I don't know. I just found it in the ground outside. I'm going to look at it later. Right now, we have to worry about the museum. Titans, GO!" And all the Titans sped off their own separate way.

OoOoO

: Jump City Museum of Archeology:

"Why couldn't we steal something like jewels, gold, or something with value?" One thief said.

"This is what the Boss told us to get so this is what we're getting." The other replied. The two had managed to use the blackout as an opportunity. The case was too heavy for them to carry so they also stole a wheeled platform in order to get it out of the museum. It was a silver sarcophagus covered in strange runes.

"I guess you're right. Hey, what are you gonna… man I told you this would happen. The Titans are here!"

"Lee, run!"

A flash of red and black streaked in between the thieves and they were knocked to the ground down. Robin leaped into the air and landed directly in front of the now assembled Teen Titans. One of the thieves pulled a small remote out of his pocket, and pushed its small red button. Lee gave a wicked grin. "It's always good to have a little insurance." As if from nowhere thirty, ten-foot-tall robots completely circled the team. Big, hulking, humanoid robots; coated in black and a familiar metallic 'S' symbol drilled into the center of their broad, four-foot wide chests. Robin turned his head and saw the two thieves jumping into, and speeding off in, their van all the way on the other side of the huge parking lot.

The young detective tried to think of how they could have been surrounded so easily. Cloaking devices he concluded. "Cyborg, Raven, Terra, you deal with the thieves. Starfire, Beast Boy, we'll handle these guys! Go!"

Terra geokinetically ripped a huge chunk out of the parking lot concrete she was standing on while Raven summoned a black disc onto which Cyborg jumped on and the three of them soared into the air to complete their assigned task.

Robin ran towards the closest robot and dodged its fist, which slammed into the concrete, by sliding underneath its legs. As the acrobat was sliding, he managed to fire his grappling hook around the mech's foot, and, pulling up while he rose from the ground; he sent the monstrosity falling onto its face. He leaped up into the air, turning downward as he ascended over the robot, and he threw an electric disc squarely into its back. The resulting blast separated its torso from its legs. Robin landed back in a squat in order to tense his legs; he then pivoted on his toes and charged, looking for a new opponent. Leaping onto the back of another opponent and stabbing it in the base of the neck with his birdarang, Robin rebounded off his fallen enemy and punched another Sladebot in the side of the face while in midair, landed, reversed momentum, and slashed it across the midsection. The acrobat leaped in the air and came down with a spinning back kick, crushing the side of another robot's face. The titan leader saw a trio of enemies coming down on him. Bombs of light flew every which way to cause confusion as a fist, gaining speed and power, comes crashing down. Three robotic heads fell to the ground giving off sparks of electricity.

Starfire closed her eyes and stood still as three more robots came charging for her. She cupped her hands and held them about six inches apart, still with her eyes closed. A small ball of green energy appeared exactly between her hands and grew until it was only centimeters from them. The robots continued their charge and were now close. Quickly she opened her glowing emerald eyes, brought down the green sphere to her side, and thrust the energy ball forward, firing a thick beam of plasma straight through all three of her enemies. They collapsed into a heap of steaming, melted, metal. The alien took to the skies and shot barrage after barrage of starbolts, as her enemy was firing red energy disks from the top of its clenched fists. She twirled to her left and shot a spinning bolt like a buzzsaw, blasting the robot's head into scrap-metal.

Beast Boy leaped forward and shape-shifted into a spider, allowing the momentum of the jump to propel him forward. He landed onto the constructs chest and made his way over the lip of the metal plating, inside. Beast Boy scurried through the wires and metal rods until he finally found the Central Processing Unit, a large orb covered almost completely in cables. While inside the machine he morphed into the form of a velociraptor, exploding the construct from the inside out. The green dinosaur charged into one opponent slamming it into the ground with its head, then swiftly spun and whipped its tail into another's chest, forcing it into a light pole, and finally bolted for a third, leaping into it and biting deeply into its shoulder leaving the left arm hanging limply to its side. He returned to his human form and looked around him for any other enemies. After spotting one sneaking up on Starfire from behind, Beast Boy leaped off the side of the museum wall with powerful kangaroo legs and shifted to an armadillo while in midair, slamming a hole straight through the robot's torso. The three Titans regrouped, still surrounded. "Where are they all coming from?" Beast Boy managed to pant out.

"They were already here. Before we even came, Slade probably sent them to make sure that those crooks got away. For whatever reason."

"But why are there so many?" Starfire asked.

"You know Slade" Robin answered, "Overkill."

"There are still fourteen left. And we're surrounded."

"Then we can attack anywhere we want."

OoOoO

The white van zoomed down the streets of Jump City at well past the speed limit. The two thieves were speeding down the wrong lane of traffic just to get ahead of the drivers in front of them, and the three Titans were becoming more and more worried.

"Who taught this guy how to drive, Tony Stewart?" Cyborg shouted above the constant honking and blaring of horns.

"Who cares" Terra shouted back. "We know that they work with Slade, and I'm going to make him pay for what he did to me."

"Two things Terra, one, you went to him. You wanted to control your powers so you left and became his apprentice. And what do you mean 'what he did to you?' Don't you remember what you did to us?"

Terra shot her a disgusted sneer, but then turned her head away. It was true, after all. The Titan of the earth did betray them. But, there was remorse. She learned how to break herself free of the statue prison several months after being transformed, but she did not return to hero work. She even went as far as to fake amnesia when Beast Boy learned of her escape for fear of what her former teammates' reactions would be. But, despite the fear, Terra could not deny that she missed it all. She missed the action, the adventure, the glory, the praise, and the attention. And, most of all, she missed her friends. By the time she confronted them a month after the end of her school year, they were more than happy to welcome her back. It might have been because of the new, more dangerous, enemies they had made with the Doom Patrol; but regardless, Terra was ecstatic to be back.

Raven snapped Terra out of her trance. "But it doesn't matter anymore." The three of them blazed through the city trying to keep up with the fleeing criminals.

Raven felt a sudden surge of energy run through her body and she lost focus of Cyborg's disc, and it disappeared. Quickly, Terra cut off the bottom half of her boulder and sent it Cyborg's way. He just gripped the lip of the rock, but with his incredible strength, and his metallic fingers sinking two inches into the thing, it was enough for him to pull himself onto the flying stone.

"Thanks Terra."

"Don't mention it."

"Raven, what happened?" Cyborg called out.

Hundreds of pictures flashed through the sorceress's mind in that singular moment.

"Raven!"

"I've got an idea." Raven pulled back and explained to her two teammates all that she had seen.

"And don't use your powers to do anything else until we're open." Raven finished, explained to Terra.

"I'm on it."

OoOoO

"Who taught you how to drive Aggie, Tony Stewart?" The white van sped down the road at breakneck speed, the silver coffin sliding closer across the floor.

"Lee, shut up and make yourself useful. Tie that damn thing down."

Lee moved to the back of the van and pulled down the straps built into the vehicle's wall. He began to securing their prize when he saw something in the back of his eye. He crawled over to the back and saw the three Titans trailing behind before one zoomed past to their left and the other flew over their head.

"Aggie…"

"I already told you to shut up. I'm trying to concentrate." A knock came at the driver's window and a smiling Cyborg pointed forward towards the road. Aggie turned to see the blond geomancer in the middle of the road flying backwards on her rock at the same speed as him. She raised her hands as if about to use one of her rock attacks. The thief quickly jerked the vehicle to the right taking a road leading out of the city.

"The boss told us if he doesn't get this thing by tomorrow—"

"I know what he said Lee, but I think he'll make an exception if he knows we ran into the Titans." The Titan trio forced Aggie to make another left, then another right. Soon enough he was into the rural outskirts of Jump City.

OoOoO

"Well this certainly looks familiar." Cyborg said.

"This is where we first met." Terra proclaimed, rather annoyed that he didn't remember.

"Well the plan's worked so far. We lured them out in the open." Raven reminded them.

"And without causing any collateral damage." Cyborg put in with a grin towards Terra.

"Hey!"

"I'm serious. If we got another call from the city council about roadwork needing repairs, I was gonna make you fix them all yourself."

"Oh yeah, real difficult." Terra quipped sarcastically.

"Focus please." Raven reminded them again.

"Right." Cyborg leaped of his rock and slammed hard onto the roof of the car, creating a deep dent in the vehicle as well. Raven shifted to her left as Terra moved likewise to her right, expecting what would happen next based on what Raven told her.

The car slammed on its brakes, trying to throw the teen off. But when he left contact and began to fly forward, he turned himself and landed feet first onto the flying rock Terra had kept moving. The girls blazed past the van and stopped next to their friend. "Terra now!" Raven screamed.

The blonde girl balled her glowing fists by her hips and crossed them over each other as she threw them up. Twin pillars of rock erupted from the ground on both sides of the van, angled so they pinned the driver's and passenger's doors shut.

The two thieves scrambled to the back of the car in hopes of escape, and even managed to get out of it. A black globe surrounded one before he even hit the ground; the other was able to get two steps away before eight thin columns of rock circled him.

"Aw come on, I hardly got to do anything…"

"How about 'nice job Terra'?" Terra lifted her glowing hand further up and a disc, attached to all eight columns, ripped from the ground as well.

"Can you call Robin and tell him we've caught the thieves?" Raven asked, her hand on the black globe.

"Yeah, give me a sec." Cyborg turned and walked away speaking into the video screen on his right forearm.

Raven looked back to the man in the sphere.

"Don't you guys have bigger fish to fry? Why are you wasting your time with us?"

"The police are the ones who're going to ask questions." The gothic girl mentally shook the bubble around a bit to get her message across.

"If you want some time taken off you're sentences, then do this nice and easy," Terra threw in, giving Raven a wink. Cyborg came striding back at that moment.

"I sent Robin our coordinates, and we're going to meet him half-way."

"Well then can you get the luggage?"

"Oh, sure." Cyborg exaggerated the last word to emphasize his sarcasm, before walking back to the car and hauling the sarcophagus on his shoulder. Raven created another black disc for him to take.

He looked at the disc hesitantly then back at Raven. The girl rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Come on." Cyborg looked back at the disc and slowly stepped onto it. The three Titans then sped off into the city towards their rendezvous point.

OoOoO

"Alright. Starfire, Beast Boy, we're going to meet the others about halfway."

"Understood." The orange-skinned alien said, removing a glowing fist from the chest of another robot and looking to Robin with an enormous smile on her face.

"Fine. But I'm flying this time, not running," said the green changeling as he poked his head out from the bottom of a pile of smoking, sparking machines.

OoOoO

A man sat on his steel chair in shadowed silence, chin rested on his folded hands and elbows on his knees, as he watched everything every one of his machines had witnessed. When the last video screen showed a glowing emerald fist coming towards it and became nothing but static, just as the others before it had, the man rose from the iron throne and placed his hands behind his back. "Well, my children, you have all become much stronger," he said in his usual sickeningly calm voice, "Especially you my former reluctant apprentice. You have progressed in leaps and bounds." He walked down the small set of stairs and inspected a replay of the Boy Wonder's prowess with more intent. "But you, and even your friends, are no match for what I have in store. Where I failed in making you and that earthbending wench my apprentice, I will make up for tenfold with my new prey." He rested his black-gloved hand on an ancient wood-bound tome and patted it lightly. "And he will make your efforts look like child's play." The man narrowed his one visible eye into the reflection of his half-bronze mask.

OoOoO

Cyborg walked up to Robin and informed him on what was going on. "Raven and Terra are droppin' off the thieves at the police station. I don't understand why you don't let us interrogate them at the tower."

"Because the police have jurisdiction over us. When they're done with them then we'll get our chance"

"So what do ya wanna do with this guy?" He dropped the metal case down, sitting it up straight.

Robin looked back to the girls, and instead saw the one called Aggie in a black magic bubble, and the other in a stone cage. "We should take it back to the tower." He finally answered. "We'll probably be able to get a better look at it there."

"Don't you think we should wait for the girls?"

Robin thought about it. It would be somewhat awkward just to stand around waiting for them. Moreover, he really wanted to look at this sarcophagus to find what made it so interesting to be worthy of theft.

"Robin?"

"No, I think they can find the way home on their own. Besides, I don't think they would want us to waste time."

"You do what you want to. I'm staying."

Robin began to feel a little uneasy.

"See, ya'll don't need me. Both Starfire and BB are strong enough to carry this thing back to the Tower. Why don't you all go home and relax, and me, Raven, and Terra will be back there to take a look at our new friend with you before you know it. We know this place pretty well too ya know."

It sounded like a good idea. In addition, he didn't want to hurt the girls' feelings by just disappearing. Anyway, Cyborg got along pretty well with Raven, (when he wasn't tempted by Beast Boy to do something stupid) and Terra got along pretty well with everyone. "Alright we'll see you back at the tower. Later."

"See ya Cy-man."

"Goodbye, friend."

He simply waved goodbye. There was no real need for words. He knew they understood.

OoOoO

: Back at the Tower:

"So...this is what I carried on my back for five miles!" Beast Boy was venting. "The biggest tin can in history, that can't even be opened!"

"I know... it's strange." Robin explained. "This sarcophagus doesn't look like any other one I've seen. Instead of scepters in the person's hands, there are swords. It isn't gold; it's unscathed silver, free of any blemishes, despite the rough handling by a certain green gorilla." Robin vented, turning to Beast Boy who put his hand behind his head and smiled.

"And…" he continues, "…most puzzling, there's no way to open it. At least, that's what we're still trying to figure out."

"So what are we to do?" Starfire noted as she crossed her arms over her significant chest.

"Well I'll take a look at it in the lab and I'll let all of you know what I find in about an hour. Beast Boy…"

"Yeah?"

"Can you call me on the com-link when the others get here?" Robin had just finished the question when the yellow object began its usual annoying ring.

"They're here."

"Thanks." The leader rolled his eyes under his mask before opening the lid. "Robin here."

"Hey Rob, Raven and Terra are back from the drop-off and we're about a mile away from the tower. Just wanted to check in with you."

"No problem. I'm going to start analyzing the evidence soon, so that's where I'll be when you guys get here. Robin out." He closed the yellow device. And turned to his royal teammate. "Care to give me a hand here Star?"

She replied with a smiling nod and carried the entire sarcophagus like a waitress would a platter of food. The two exited the common room and made their way towards the lab, allowing the door behind them to shut with a woosh.

"Hey! What am I supposed to do then?" Beast Boy shouted at the door as he waved his arms over his head.

OoOoO

A/N: What ya think? Read & review. Only update if I get reviews. You know those times when you just have a random spark of genius? Well I had one of those when I was rewriting this first chapter. I got about two pages worth of some good material and my zip drive decided that it was going to die on me spontaneously so its not as good as it was before. I apologize.

P.S. - "Were surrounded." "Then we can attack anywhere we want." not my original quote. Credit goes to Heaven's Forsaken here on . I just felt he deserves his credit. The words are not exact, but it's the concept of the words that he created (or heard from somewhere else). Regardless, it was not original. I am just a huge fan of good quotes.