Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I responsible for the creation of Teen Titans or Palladium's RIFTS, though the OC's found in this story are mine thank you very much.

AN: This is a cross over between Teen Titans and RIFTS. For those who are unfamiliar with RIFTS… well I am sure that if it interests you enough you will go and look it up online yourself. Besides you'll probably get the gist of it from reading my story anyway so don't fret. Now then, on with the story.

"Hello" Speech

'Hello' Inner monologue

'Hello' Telepathic speech

New Future, Broken Past

Chapter 1: An odd discovery, link to an age long past.

"Wow, incredible!" A voice exclaimed. The sudden sound seemed so out of place, resounding through the empty cavern. The cavern was dark, a place long forgotten and buried, undisturbed through the centuries. Now however, a single robed figure made its way through the darkness, a single ball of light illuminating the blackness before it.

"I wonder how long it's been since anyone has been down here" The figure wondered, looking about curiously. All about the cavern innumerable steel beams jutted from the earth in various lengths and sizes, the blasted structures of primitive vehicles lined the ravaged and long abandoned streets. It was like standing amidst the bones of the past, a graveyard of history. Or at least that was what he liked to think.

The figure that intruded upon this otherwise deathly peaceful cave stood roughly six feet tall, garbed in a heavy black cowl which hung off his slender shoulders. A large hood was pulled up over his face, a face which was currently concealed under a dark metal oxygen mask. The mask covered the entire face, a single long visor extending from one side to the other, two tubes running from the mouth area to disappear into the shadows of his hood. He looked all about taking in the view, the faint hiss of his mask breaking the silence.

"I wonder what city this was. There must be some sort of sign or something around here." He mumbled. The figure began to search, the orb of light flitting this way and that at his silent command, illuminating the area in a soft blue glow. Eventually, after nearly an hour of scouring the ruins, he came across a large twisted piece of metal. It was covered in dust and hardened earth. He brushed it aside eagerly.

Jump City

"Jump City huh? Never heard of it." The figure muttered to himself. With that, he quickly reached under his robes into a small satchel hanging over his shoulder. Withdrawing a small, crudely bound book, he flipped through it until he came to a blank page, making a quick note of the name and the description of the location, or what was left of it anyway.

Nodding with satisfaction, he closed the book and once again began poking through the ruins. Not that there was much to find, an occasional sign or billboard from a destroyed building, some random fossilized object like ancient bikes or cars. Unfortunately there was no sight of anything of any relevance, no books or video tapes that might provide some insight into the history of this city. He sighed sadly.

"Man, what waste, and here I thought I might have found something good this time." Looking about once more, he noticed an area several hundred feet away, what looked like a large pit in the earth. Intrigued, he ran forward, his light leading the way.

"Well… this might be promising." He chuckled as he approached the pit "There certainly isn't much else to explore so let's see what we can find down here."

'You're really enjoying this aren't you warmling?' Came a familiar voice inside his head. The voice was deep, yet undeniably feminine, the tone warm despite the somewhat rude title it bestowed on him. He gave a mental grin in return.

'Of course, you should know that better than anyone.' He tossed back.

'Hmph, whatever…'

'So have you ever heard of this Jump City' He inquired. He got a mental snort in response.

'As if I would concern myself with the pitiful cities you humans create for yourselves. I had better things to do than to trouble myself over such useless knowledge.' Came the predictably arrogant response.

'So in other words… no, you haven't.' Caine quipped, laughing as the psychic entity bristled.

Chanting quietly to himself, he took a small leap into the pit, feeling the familiar flow of energy through his body as he drifted safely through the darkness below, his cloak billowing about him.

A puff of smoke dissolved into the warm summer air, its wisps curling about before disappearing. A slight intake of air followed by a loud exhale sent another plume out to join the first. A huge figure stood with its back against a large rugged old van, its beat up cowboy hat pulled low over its narrow reptilian face. It looked, for lack of a better description, like a large humanoid dinosaur, it's large scaled body standing nearly ten feet tall, scaly plating covering it's backside from the tip of it's large prehensile tail to the top of it's head. Two large revolvers hung at its sides, complete with two ammo belts strapped loosely over its large barreled chest. What looked like an enormous rifle, or perhaps a tank turret, was slung over its back. Casually removing the large cigar from its mouth, the figure glanced up at the sky, heaving a heavy sigh.

"Geeze I'm bored. Why in damn hell does that lil' guy always take so damn long." It moaned, it's deep gravely male voice carrying a slight southern drawl. He replaced the cigar.

The sun was beginning to set on the horizon, casting the sparse plains into shadow. Off in the distance a faint blue glow began to appear as a nearby ley line(1) began to light up in the approaching darkness.

"He damn well better find somethin' this time… otherwise this whole dang blasted trip will be fer nothin', and were runnin' out o' funds" he muttered, followed by more smoke.

"… I'm so booooored…" he said again, "I really wanna go shoot somethin'…" He mused to himself.

He hit the bottom of the pit with a soft thud, centuries of dust wafting about him, kicked up by his sudden intrusion. Reaching down, he grasped a small bit of earth, running it inquisitively through his gloved fingers.

"Hmmm, this rock seems to be volcanic. But the sensors didn't pick up any indication that this area had any volcanic activity. How strange."

This wasn't looking nearly as interesting as he had hoped. Still, there really wasn't much harm in pushing a little farther. Sending his light ahead, he pressed forward.

There was a lot of debris down here, as if a massive rock slide had occurred. He made his way over a particularly large mound, and ran smack into an object at the top.

"Ow, son of bitch! What the hell was tha…?" He trailed off, his cursing giving way to a gasp of excitement.

There at the top of the mound stood a single stone statue. It was carved in the form of a young female from the looks of it, dressed in strange and certainly un-functional armor, her arms thrown out to the sides in a warding gesture. Even the expression of the face was shown, the rock eyes conveying a sense of emotion that only an expert sculptor could capture. From the looks of it seemed to be undamaged, not a single crack in the stone. That alone was impressive enough, but the quality of the statue was extraordinary. It seemed almost alive so great was the detail.

"What's this?" He whispered to himself, bending down to examine the statues base. There was a smooth area in the stone, like a plaque. Blowing against it lightly, the dust cleared to reveal a set of words which were chiseled into a small metal plate:

Terra

A Teen Titan

A True Friend

The young Ley Line Walker(2) smiled beneath his mask, "What luck! This was exactly the kind of thing I came down here to find, an excellent piece of ancient history, and undamaged to boot!" He exclaimed happily, careful to keep his voice low to avoid a cave in. Still reeling from excitement, he proceeded back to the hole, and with another quick incantation, swiftly flew up through the opening and back to the surface. He would definitely need some muscle for this job.

'Well good, we actually found something this time.' The voice stated sarcastically.

'Don't start Ilistraza.' He shot back.

His mind went back over the simple engraving in the statues base, running the name over and over again in his mind. The mystery set his explorers blood aboil with excitement and anticipation.

"Teen Titan huh? I wonder if it was some corny military group or something. Damn I wish I could have at least found a book or two. That certainly would have helped."

It was well past nightfall by the time the two explorers managed to remove the statue, and the actual process of getting it up the hole was a considerable pain in the ass. Still, they managed to make their way up with considerable effort, and a whole string of colorful swears and curses. After setting up a fire, the two stood to regard their findings.

"So whady'a think it is buddy?" The big guy finally asked, eying the statue critically. He casually chewed on the butt of his cigar on one side of his mouth, blowing a large stream of smoke out the other.

"I'm not entirely sure Tank, though I plan to run a few tests to hopefully determine the date of the stone. But there is no doubt that this is definitely a pre-cataclysm piece of art we have here, and it will certainly be worth something, at least ten thousand credits." The considerably smaller figure answered, still considering the statue in front of him.

"…So… target practice is out then…?" The large one asked.

The cloaked figure stared at him incredulously "NO YOU CAN"T SHOOT IT!" He sputtered.

"Fine, fine, just didn't think it would hurt to ask is all."

Removing his mask to reveala youthful face, the human glared at him, his midnight black hair hanging loosely over his right eye, "There is such a thing as a stupid question you know."

The large lizard man simply shrugged his massive shoulders and spit in response as he walked off towards the van. Mumbling and shaking his head, the cloaked figure bent to his task. He began to walk about the statue slowly, taking it in, looking for any flaws or imperfections.

'Let me analyze it.'

'Hmmm, why? Do you sense something?' He asked questioningly.

'I'm not sure, something about this statue seems… odd.'

'Ok, sure I suppose it couldn't hurt.' He acquiesced.

His right arm came up from the depths of his cloak, a billowy black sleeve covering it up to the elbow. The rest of the arm was covered in an equally black form fitting sleeve, held at the wrist by a dark metal bracer, the hand covered in a dark grey glove. Removing the glove and bracer, he pulled the black sleeve back to reveal a black metal arm, the entire visible length of which sported an intricate array of lightly glowing runes. At the wrist was a beautiful and incredibly ornate carving of a dragon's head, the upper half of its mouth rising ever-so-slightly off the metal surface.

Lightly placing this hand against the stone figures head, he concentrated for a moment. His hand began to glow a soft blue, which then began to spread into the statue itself, flowing over its still form like mist. After a few moments of quiet exploration, his eyes snapped open in shock.

"What in the hell…" He muttered. Frantically, he ended the incantation, pulling his hand back and stepping away to look at the statue more carefully.

"That feeling… just now. There's no way…"

'My thoughts exactly.'

'What do you make of it Ilistraza?' He asked mentally. He could feel the entity shrug her shoulders uncertainly. She scanned deeper, attempting to locate the source of the sensation.

'There is definitely someone living in this statue, though it is hard to get an exact lock on her thought patterns. Whoever she is, she is apparently in deep hibernation however.' The voice replied.

There was no reason to doubt her conclusion, through their bond, not to mention the decidedly dangerous situations they had been in together, he knew her well enough to know and trust in her capabilities. There was no doubt about it, there was definitely something alive inside that statue. His shock quickly gave way to excitement. This was getting better and better every minute.

"Looks like I might not need those books after all." He said with a laugh. Hearing the door slam on the van, he quickly covered his arm.

"Hmm, what'cha talkin'bout Caine?" Tank asked, returning from the van. He took a large swig from a bottle he was carrying, coughing a few times as the alcohol slid burning down his throat. He gave a contented sigh afterwards "Ahhhhhh, this is good shit!" Another swig, another cough, "Want some?"

"LIKE HELL, I can't drink that!" He shouted, backing away slightly.

"Ah, come on don't be such a feather-weight pansy." Tank bellowed, laughing loudly.

"IT'S 195 PROOF, THAT STUFF WILL KILL ME!"

Tank shrugged, then took another shot.

"Wuss" he whispered.

"Geeze, sometimes I worry about you…" Caine mumbled. He continued to inspect the statue, zipping around from one side to the other, occasionally reciting a small incantation as he did so.

"Hmm, worry about what?" Tank cocked his reptilian head to the side questioningly. He stuck a fresh cigar in his mouth, whipped one of his revolvers from his side. Placing the barrel at the underside of the tip, he pulled the trigger. A quiet hiss sounded from the Smith and Wesson shaped energy pistol as the thin beam of energy shot into the sky. Breathing deeply, he let out a fresh stream of smoke, then took another deep drink from his bottle. He coughed again.

Caine sweat dropped "You have to ask? Damn, all you seem to be able to do is eat, sleep, smoke, drink yourself stupid…"

"…And shoot things." Tank offered helpfully, giving a large sharp toothed grin and waving his pistol about.

Sigh "…And shoot things." He conceded. He held his glare for a few more moments before a slight twitch of his lips gave him away. Giving up, he laughed lightly, his own mirth quickly followed by the loud laughter of his partner.

"O…ok, Tank, ok…" He managed between chuckles, "seriously though I need to get back to work on this." He returned to inspecting the statue.

"Whatever ya say partner, but just what is so damned interesting about that piece of rock all of a sudden?"

Caine was silent for a few moments before he answered "There is someone alive in here…"

Tank simply stared "Really? Can ya get it out?"

"Of course, but I would still like to determine a few things before I just go about doing anything. I need to figure out just how deep the transformation is so that I know just how much energy will be required for a complete and safe transmutation."

"Uhhhhh… yeah sure, whatever…" Tank mumbled, completely lost at this point. Talk of magic and the arcane always went completely over his head, "Well, if ya need me… too bad I'll be out huntin'." He walked off towards the van, opening the door in the back. After a moment the sound of an engine powering up split the quiet night air.

"Yeeeeeehaaaaaaw!" Tank shouted as he came barreling out of the back of the van on a large hover cycle. The bike was probably an excellent model; at least it was at one point, though it was hard to tell from all the dings, scratches and dents all over it. The layers upon layers of dirt and mud didn't help either. He took off into the distance, waving his massive gun about one handed singing something about flash frying a buffalo before he vanished over the horizon.

Caine watched him go with a smile before returning his attention back to the work at hand, "Alright then, let's see what you're made of…"

Her mind stirred slightly. A probing sensation flowed through her, brushing against her mind lightly, searchingly.

Mentally, she stirred, awakened by that unfamiliar and invasive sensation. And with that, memories flooded back as well. Faces which seemed so hazy came slowly into focus. She could remember pain, betrayal, the thrill of victory, the bitterness of defeat, and the weight of her sins as they re-emerged one by one.

And finally there came names: Robin, Cyborg, Starfire, Raven…

Beast Boy…

Where was she?

What was this sensation?

Why was she awake now? Why now, and for what purpose?

And why did it feel as though she had been asleep for such a very, very long time?

These questions faded however as the presence left her, leaving her in complete darkness once again.

And everything faded once again.

Caine pulled his hand back as he completed his scan "Fascinating, this is a complete transformation of the living body into stone, and yet the mind remains and even responds to outside stimulus." He mused to himself. Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, he placed the other against the statues forehead.

This is definitely the work of Geomancy. Pretty good job too. Ilistraza stated, the ancient entity giving a low mental whistle of appreciation. Following her mental commentary came a stream of mental information regarding the estimated date of the stone, as well as the potency and completeness of the petrification.

"Well now that we know the exact makeup, the rest should be easy…" he said. With that, he began to chant softly, his mouth forming unfamiliar and alien words as he focused his power on the statue before him. The stone itself began to glow from within with a faint green light, becoming almost translucent before it began to dissolve away. The whole process all took no more than just a few seconds.

With a silent groan, Terra slumped unconsciously forward, only to be caught by Caine before she hit the ground.

Setting her on the ground gently, Caine kept a critical eye on her for several minutes, taking in her physical appearance. She was rather petite, even for a girl her age, with shoulder length golden blond hair. Her strange suit was somewhat scratched and scuffed but otherwise undamaged, and the bandages she wore about her unarmored parts were tattered, several strips hanging off in various locations. Fortunately she seemed to weather the transformation fine, her breathing was slow and regular.

The sound of an engine shook him from his inspection. Looking up he saw his partner returning, the sound of air brakes squealing as the vehicle spun several times before finally coming to a stop. Tank steped of casually, hauling a large buffalo carcass over his shoulder.

"You done yet." Tank's voice hollered from

"Yeah, the process went quite smoothly." He yelled back. Turning around he took a closer look at the animal Tank was holding, a sweat drop running down the back of his head, "You… went hunting with your rail gun again didn't you." It was more of a statement than a question.

Tank took a quick look at his catch "How could'ya tell?"

"Well the fact that half of the buffalo is, well, vaporized kind of clued me in." He stated dryly. He turned back to the girl.

"What're you complaining about, I brought back the good half." Tank protested.

'Moron.' Ilistraza muttered. Caine silently seconded that conclusion.

Casually dropping the beast to the ground, Tank took a deep drag from his cigar, which by this time was down to the butt. He walked over to inspect their little discovery himself, chewing on his cigar idly as his slit eyes swept over her. He gave a low, smoky whistle.

"She's a cutie ain't she?" He asked with a chuckle. He cast a lecherous grin down at his partner.

'As if.' Griped Ilistraza darkly.

Obviously not paying much attention, Caine simply shrugged, offering an absent "Mmm hmm…" as he continued to study the body, taking in the injuries that had opened up fresh when she was transmuted. Tank rolled his eyes.

"Oh yeah, forgot who I was talkin' to." Tank grumbled, "Yer more turned on by dusty old books and ancient relics than a pretty, young female of your own species." He sighed in mock disgust before his face turned serious, "So… she gonna be alright? Looks like she was in a rather nasty scuffle before she was stoned."

"Petrified." Caine corrected

"Petrified, stoned, same thing."

"… Not… really…" Caine stated blandly. He cleared his throat, "Anyways yes she'll be fine, she just needs a couple days to awaken and recover. She's been in hibernation for at least 500 years after all. However…" he stopped.

"…However…" Tank prompted.

Caine began to inspect her legs and arms, then nodded to himself, "Yeah, this will probably pose more of a problem."

"Damnit, stop keep'n half the conversation to yer'self, it don't help my understandin' none ya know." Tank growled.

"Sorry, what I meant to imply was that her body has been unused for the last half of a millennia. Her body will no doubt have atrophied during that time. It will take at least a week for her to recover her muscle strength, and that's with magical assistance."

Tank nodded in understanding "Soooooo… she's a gimp then?"

"Uh, w-well… that was a little blunt but essentially yes she won't be able to do much for a while" He stuttered, a little taken aback by his friends blatant lack of tact.

Tank nodded again "Well alright then…" he said, reaching down and grabbing the girl by the back of her suit. He threw her over his shoulder unceremoniously, then without a word began to walk back to the large van, humming an off key tune on his way. Caine simply stared after them.

"For gods sake Tank, be a little more careful would you!" He shouted. He got up and ran after them.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Tank stated nonchalantly.

'Barbaric lout…' Ilistraza grumbled.

AN: How was it? Interesting? Crappy? Should I stop kidding myself? Should I go on? As usual, comments and constructive criticism is warmly welcomed, so long as it is useful. Compliments are always appreciated. Flames will be stamped out brutally and without mercy. Reviews are necessary to keep this story going so please, if you enjoyed the story, review and give me the incentive to continue.

Yes this will be Terra-centric. No she is not necessarily my favorite character in Teen Titans (Raven holds that spot of honor) but all in all I do like her character, for better or for worse. That's what made her a good character after all. Besides, she has (in my opinion) the coolest powers. As for whether or not I will at some point involve the other Teen Titans, all I can say is I'm not sure yet. But this does take place in the RIFTS universe, and the RIFTS universe is known for it's massive cross-over potential.

(1) Ley-Line: Essentially rivers of energy which criss-cross over the surface of the earth. They represent a blurring between dimensions and can act as inexhaustible sources of energy to those who know how to tap into it.

(2) Ley-Line Walker: One of the classes found in RIFTS, this is essentially the basic "Wizard" class available. Their name is derived from the fact that they are masters of tapping into and using Ley-Lines for various purposes.

Many will undoubtedly have questions regarding Caine's mysterious arm, and all I can say is have patience. Those who know enough about RIFTS will probably be able to guess what it is, though I will openly admit that it is still a little unorthodox. The concept of the arm is (very lightly) inspired by Edward Elric from Full Metal Alchemist (because Ed kicks ass, do I need a better reason?). I will provide more information on specific RIFTS concepts in the authors note for chapter 2, to help people unfamiliar with the system and terms keep up with the flow of the story. As it is only a little bit of information was really necessary for this chapter.