{Rhode Island}

{July 8, 22:31 EDT}

{2018-Team Year Eight}

The Team had begun, as such things do, as a small group of friends trying to make a change. And make a change they had-they'd built a community, a family, that had just continued to grow. Members had come and gone, either leaving the superhero life or joining the Justice League, but the five survivors of the first six members of the Team still stayed, teaching and guiding the next generation of superheroes. They were the five leaders of the Team, a group with no single, centralized leader but a group of adults who'd grown up doing what they did and wanted to make sure that other kids who wanted to be heroes got to grow up.

Tim Drake never went on a single Team mission without being a little amazed and honoured that he was a part of something like this. Years ago he'd just been a kid with a camera and a desperate longing to protect people the way Batman and Robin did, and now he was Robin, not just fighting muggers, murderers and mobsters in Gotham but the real monsters that threatened the whole world. He was a kid with some cool weapons and special training in martial arts and criminology, and he was fighting alongside aliens, sorcerers and cyborgs. He was considered on their level.

It was a dream that he never wanted to wake up from.

Of course, the life was not without cost. On the flight back from the mission, Robin kept finding his gaze drawn to Superboy and Miss Martian, the latter sitting on the central pilot's seat and the former sitting immediately at her right hand. While Gar and the others were chatting excitedly about pulling off another successful Intergang bust, the two senior members of the Team were watching the scenery pass outside of the cloaked ship with an air of quiet solemnity.

He didn't need the telepathic link to guess what was on their minds. Dick had once confessed that any sign of a boom tube or any other sort of portal never failed to ignite a spark of hope in him-hope that maybe it would turn out, finally, to be a lead on the sixth missing Team Founder. Two years on, there'd been neither hide nor hair of Wally West, but at least one Founder always found an excuse to come along to any mission that involved portals or alien tech just in case, even when it was a mission like busting a smuggling handover, something simple enough that even a brand-new Team member like Cyborg could handle it easily.

Nervous of being caught staring, he turned his attention back to the rest of the team's excited chatter. They'd already debriefed over video link as soon as they'd boarded the bioship and were en route to drop Robin off in Gotham. The rest all lived together on the nature reserve in Qurac that Gar had inherited from his mother and returned to live on with M'gann after the destruction of their home in Mount Justice. The isolated reserve had been perfect for Beast Boy, who unlike his adoptive sister couldn't change his colour-but the animals didn't mind, and the wide open spaces where he'd grown up felt much more like home to Gar than the confines of Mount Justice had. A zeta tube installation was all it took to keep the pair in close touch with their friends and family and allow them to continue going on missions with the Team, though Miss Martian had stayed off of the Team for nearly a year after the defeat of the Reach. She'd said it was to focus on looking after Gar, who'd lost his home twice now, but Robin privately suspected it was more to do with her breakup with Lagoon Boy and the return of her relationship with Superboy, who'd also moved out to the reserve after a while. The reserve had become quite a haven for those who, for various reasons, struggled to live inconspicuously among the general populace, and the six residents had become quite a close-knit subset of the Team. In truth, Robin felt a little awkward going on missions with them-he felt like a bit of an outsider, and it made him miss the closeness of Gotham's vigilantes. He, Batman, Nightwing, Batgirl and Spoiler were as close as M'gann, Conner, Gar, Victor, Kori and Raven had become, and as much as he knew it was crucial to be able to work well with all members of the Team and the League as comrades, he loved working with his family above all.

Should be back in plenty of time to get a few hours of patrol in with Batman, he thought, checking the time. He was about to send Stephanie a text to let her know that the mission had gone smoothly and he'd be back early when Miss Martian looked up sharply as the ship beeped.

"What's wrong?" Superboy asked as Miss Martian projected a map and tracking signal on a screen in front of herself.

"She's picking up an odd signal," Miss Martian said, moving the display to the window at the front of the ship so all of them could see. "It's fading fast, but there was definitely a strange energy spike… at Mount Justice."

Superboy and Beast Boy adopted grim expressions to match the slight drop in Robin's gut at the mention of their destroyed former base. Starfire's natural cheer dimmed a little in response to her teammates' sudden serious, but Raven, sitting next to her, was already naturally grim and showed no particular response to the information.

Cyborg also frowned as he connected his systems up to the Bio-ship to have a look at the signal himself. "Don't have any energy signals like it in my databases," he said. "Should we check it out?"

"Let's take a look," Superboy said with a nod. "We're close by anyway." He exchanged a brief look with M'gann and Robin saw it flicker in their eyes: the brief spark of hope that none of them could ever let go of when it came to unknown portals or signals.

It took them less than ten minutes to reach the remains of Mount Justice. Two years after the mountain's destruction, trees and grass were starting to grow back over it, feeding off the fertile ash and making the mountain's broken shape look more natural. It was still an unpleasant sight to those who had once called it home and still found themselves tracing out a more familiar peak of stone than the low-slung remnants.

The area was still very much closed to the public, though, which made it odd to see, through the night vision filter, somebody walking a dog on the beach near the mountain.

"What's a dog walker doin' out there at a quarter to eleven at night?" Cyborg asked in confusion.

"Perhaps the dog is nocturnal?" Starfire suggested. "It is very kind of his human to stay up so late to walk with him!"

"Sorry, Star, but… dogs aren't nocturnal," Beast Boy said with absolute authority. "Do you think they're something to do with the weird signal? I mean, it is weird that they're there…"

"I'll check it out," Miss Martian said, standing up. "Robin, do you have a flashlight?"

"Sure," Robin said, pulling one out of the holster on his belt and tossing it to her.

The martian shapeshifted into a human police officer, taking on the appearance of a middle-aged woman. "Cyborg, can you take over as pilot?"

"Sure," Cyborg said, giving her a thumbs-up with his mostly flesh hand while his fully robotic arm stayed plugged into the console. It lit up as the piloting spheres by Miss Martian's seat went dim.

"Be careful," Superboy said, gently taking her hand. She nodded, kissed him on the cheek, then went invisible and dropped out of the airship. The whole team felt the slight presence of her linking them up psychically, allowing them to see and hear what she saw and heard. She landed softly behind some rubble not far away from the man and the dog, scoping them out before going closer. The image grew sharper as she shifted the cones and rods in her eyes for night vision, allowing her to see the two figures more clearly.

The guy was young, maybe college-aged, white with longish black hair that hung over his eyes and brushed his broad shoulders. He was dressed pretty normally in jeans, a black t-shirt and a brown jacket. The dog at his side was a huge black Great Dane. It wasn't on a leash, but was walking calmly at the man's side until it paused, looking in Miss Martian's directions, ears pricking and nose twitching.

"What's the matter, boy?" the guy said warily, looking at where Miss Martian was, squinting through the darkness that would keep her covered even if she couldn't turn invisible. "Somebody there?"

Miss Martian ducked behind the rubble, went visible, then strode out, turning on the flashlight and pointing it at the man. He winced and threw a hand up over his eyes. "You!" she called, shifting her voice to sound more like a middle-aged woman. "This area is off-limits to the public! I'm going to have to ask you to leave!"

"Oh? Sorry, I didn't know," the stranger said, looking down at his dog and then returning to squinting at Miss Martian past his hand. Miss Martian pointed the flashlight down a little so it wasn't directly in his face. "This might sound like kind of a weird question, officer," the man said, lowering his hand, "but, uh… where am I?"

"You're on private property, young man," Miss Martian said sternly. "How did you get in here? What's your name?"

"It's Trey. Trey Malone… I think," the young man said uncertainly, "and I don't know how I got here. I woke up here." He patted his jeans and jacket pockets, turning a couple of them inside out. "I'm sorry, I don't seem to have anything on me…"

"You woke up here? What's the last thing you remember?" Miss Martian asked.

"Partied too hard tonight?" Beast Boy thought with a snigger.

"Mount Justice has a few security systems still online and none've them were set off," Cyborg said. "I'd like to see the blackout drunk who could do that."

"Why'd he say 'I think' after giving her his name?" Robin wondered.

Trey was looking from his dog, to the beach, to Miss Martian with a confused expression. "I don't," he said finally, absentmindedly scratching his dog's ears. "Remember, I mean. I woke up here, but before that… nothing. I mean, I know the names of things, I know you're a police officer, stuff like that, but I just… don't know where I am, or how I got here, or where I'm from or anything."

"Just an amnesiac," Raven thought boredly. "Drop him off at a police station. Somebody's probably looking for him."

"Hold on," Superboy interrupted. "We don't know what he has to do with that energy spike. Is he telling the truth, M'gann?"

"I can't be sure without a deep probe," Miss Martian said uneasily. "He does feel… uncertain. And lonely."

"Can you help me, officer?" Trey asked.

Which was when the sea monster burst out of the ocean and attacked.

"Team, Go!" Superboy ordered, jumping out of the Bio-ship as soon as Cyborg opened up an exit hatch. Beast Boy, in hawk form, and Raven flew out after him. Cyborg detached from the ship, taking Starfire's hand as the deceptively strong young alien picked up him and Robin to fly them down to beach. The last thing they saw before Miss Martian dropped the visual aspect of the psychic link was her grabbing Trey and his dog and flying them out of the way as a giant tentacle slammed into the beach where they'd been standing.

Robin turned on the night vision in his lenses and immediately wished he hadn't. The thing was huge, like a giant squid crossbred with Godzilla, a dozen tentacles flailing at the beach. There were several bright flashes as Starfire pushed the monster back with a flurry of starbolts. Conner pinned down one of the flailing tentacles and Raven cut it off with a blade of black light.

This is above your weight class, Robin told himself. Fall back, analyze, strategize. Everything has a weak point. He ran towards the pile of old rubble, half-sunken into the sand, that Miss Martian had dragged Trey and and his dog behind. The Great Dane was snarling angrily, hackles raised, ears lying back flat. Trey was crouched down with an arm over the dog's neck, gaze fixed on the monster, which had to be visible to him only in the flashes of light from Starfire's powers and Cyborg's laser blasts. Despite the size of the creature, Trey didn't look afraid. He was watched it with his eyes narrowed.

"I'll protect them," Robin said, raising his cloak to shield himself from a spray of water.

Miss Martian nodded, shapeshifting back to her usual appearance. "I can't get into its mind," she said, sounding troubled. "I don't think it has one."

"It's got tentacles, worry about those!" Cyborg yelled aloud. Miss Martian flew off to help him fend off the long appendages that were striking randomly at the beach.

"Are you okay?" Robin asked Trey.

"Uhhh… yeah," Trey said, blinking at Robin in confusion. "...What's happening?"

"Just stay close," Robin said, turning to watch the monster. "Miss Martian!" He thought as loudly as he could. "Raven! Can you lift it telepathically out of the water?"

"You got a plan, Robin?" Beast Boy asked. He'd turned into a gigantic seagull and was tugging at one of the creature's tentacles.

"Looking for a weak point," Robin replied. Miss Martian and Raven's eyes glowed as the two psychics began pouring power into pulling the huge creature out of the water. It's got a mouth and a hell of a lot of fangs, but-are those gills? Dammit, I can't quite see from this distance if those are gills under the scales…

"Look out!" Trey yelled, tackling Robin to the ground as a tentacle whipped closely over their heads. It got close enough for Robin to see that it was covered in ridges of sharp-looking barbs.

"Good night vision," Robin gasped. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," Trey said, looking back up at the monster. Up close, he struck Robin as faintly familiar, but he couldn't place the guy right away and he didn't have time to dwell on it. With Cyborg, Starfire and Beast Boy all gripping tentacles and pulling to assist Miss Martian and Raven's powers, the creature was almost entirely out of the water. It had no arms or legs, just a huge, fanged mouth and a dozen tentacles.

There-those are gills! "It can't breathe out of the water!" he reported psychically to the rest of the team. "If we can damage its gills, it won't be able to breathe even if it falls back into the water! Hit the gills!" He charged up an explosive birdarang, flinging it as hard as he could. The creature roared in agony.

"Got it," Superboy though. Sand was blasted into the air by the force of the half-Kryptonian's leap as he jumped onto the sea monster and started pummelling it. The creature's cries and struggling rapidly weakened as it struggled to breathe out of the water.

"Can't… hold it… for long…" Raven said, her mental voice faint and strained.

"Throw it at the beach!" Miss Martian ordered. They all hurled the creature onto the shore a ways down the beach from Robin and Trey, where it lay limp and still.

"Good call, Robin," Superboy said, hopping down from the monster. "This thing could've been the source of that signal-maybe it was being deployed from somewhere."

Robin and Trey stood up, dusting sand off of themselves. They turned at the sound of a loud bark-the dog was still standing several feet away, still growling unhappily.

"Ace!" Trey yelled in relief, running over to fall to his knees and wrap his arms around his dog's neck. "Glad you're okay, boy," he murmured as the dog ecstatically licked his face.

"Can't remember how you got here, but you remember your dog's name? Glad to see your memory's got its priorities!" Beast Boy said brightly.

"I hope that neither of you are injured," Starfire said, floating over to the pair with a concerned expression.

"No, we're fine," Trey said, goggling at her "...What the hell are you guys?"

"We're with the Justice League," Superboy explained.

"You are injured," Raven said, pointing at Trey's left shoulder, where a dark stain was seeping through a tear in his jacket.

"Aw, slag it," Trey exclaimed, craning around to look at the wound. "This is the only jacket I've got! I think..."

"You must've gotten hit when you saved me," Robin said, feeling guilty. I should've been more alert. A civilian shouldn't have been hurt protecting me. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Trey said, tugging at his jacket and making a face at the wound.

"Why don't you come with us?" Miss Martian offered. "We can patch you up and try to find out who you are."

"Thanks," Trey said gratefully. "Justice League? So you guys are superheroes or something?"

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This is a concept that's been bouncing around my head for a while-I'm glad I finally came up with a plot for it. I want to send out all of my love to Isis_the_Sphinx and my dear Senpai, Embleer_Frith0323, for helping me hammer out several ideas and threads for this fic and for being fantastic casual beta readers. We all love Terry dearly and I'm having a lot of fun writing him and the rest of the Batfam for this. Special bonus brownie points of love to Isis_the_Sphinx for helping me get a goddamn title for this thing.

Also, just to pre-empt any disappointment, I wanted to put YJ versions of Raven, Starfire and Cyborg in this, but it's more for my own amusement than because they're particularly crucial to the story, which is mainly gonna be focused on the Batfam. This is primarily a Batman Beyond crossover, not a Teen Titans crossover.

I'm not gonna start properly posting this until I finish A Better Cage, mainly as a tactic to make my ass actually string together the rest of the scenes I've got for that fic to FINISH it, but I wanted to post a taster to gauge interest and therefore motivate myself to get on with it faster XD