Disclaimer: Don't own a single person here. Sorry.

This fic takes place sometime after the third chapter of Teen Titans: Terror and Torment. As of this writing (2/3/04), Chapter 3 has not been up on yet.

(Begin fic)


What is this beautiful thing, the innocence of a child?

Like all beautiful things, it dies easily, crushed like a flower under the heel of reality.

And yet, even in the face of evil, the face of an uncaring reality, some people can still keep that innocence.

Some people can still keep that innocence.


"Well well well…long time no see, Atlas."

The Titans were in yet another factory, Cyborg standing out in front of them.

The yellow and red robot in question was shocked, at first, and then smirked.

"Atlas was just looking for some replacement parts."

"Next time, buy 'em." Cyborg fired his sonic cannon.

Atlas's hand turned into cannon, and fired a wave of pure orange. The pair of blats canceled each other out, creating a fiery explosion.

The Titans shielded themselves until the smoke disappeared.

Then…WHAM! Atlas had grabbed Cyborg and threw him away.

Starfire rose into the air and fired green lasers from her eyes, while Raven backed it up with a blast of dark energy.

Atlas raised his hand to block the converging beams, as a triceratops Beast Boy charged.

The girls ended their attacks as Atlas was bowled over. Beast Boy almost trampled straight over the robot…

And Atlas lifted his legs into the air, catapulting Beast Boy.

Starfire, Robin and Raven then all threw their own brand of projectiles; Starbolts, explosive disks, and telekinetically thrown objects.

Atlas turned his other hand into a weapon and fired orange of balls of energy, machine gun style.

The projectiles were canceled and the users were hit, sending them to the ground.

The robot chuckled. "Ha! Atlas reigns supreme!"

"Hey, señor Rojo Robot!"

Atlas turned to listen at the pair of voices.

There was a pair of short little kids, dressed in bizarre costumes. They were pretty much all white, with a black belt, and red bracelets and boots with a lined white design on them.

Both kids had a pair of red dots on their chests. One had a white plus sign, the other a white minus sign.

They wore helmets, with transparent yellow goggles that covered their eyes, but not their mouths or noses. Red bulges were covering their ears, again decorated with the same symbols. The kid with the minus sign was missing a tooth. Both had a single lightning like strand of red hair pop from their helmet.

"Hah! Mere children pose no challenge to Atlas!"

"¿Oh sí?"

The kids grabbed the others' hand, and then, leaving a white and red trail behind them, ran to the crates and then to Atlas, who suddenly found himself surrounded by a white and circle.

It then dissipated, to reveal the kids next to Cyborg, holding one end of a black wire, which they had wrapped around Atlas's legs. They held it up to the metal man.

"Señor Cyborg?"

Cyborg grinned, grabbed the rope and yanked. Atlas was sent falling into the ground.

Immediately Robin dashed forward and put a small device on Atlas.

The device activated…

"AUGHHHH!" The tiny electric generator made Atlas convulse for a few seconds, then stopped. He was then knocked out cold.

The Teen Titans looked at the kids, who gave big childish grins.


Later, outside.

The police were taking Atlas away. Meanwhile, Cyborg formally introduced the two child superheroes.

"I'd like y'all to meet Mas y Menos…Menos has the minus sign, Mas has the plus sign. Mas y Menos, I'd like you to meet Robin, Starfire, Raven, and good ol' Beast Boy."

The kids smiled. "Olah!" They basically spoke in unison.

Starfire ran up and gave the twins one of her crushing embraces. "I am enchanted to meet Cyborg's friends."

"Ackkk!"

Robin gently pulled Starfire away. "It's a pleasure to meet you two. I've heard a lot of things about you."

Each twin grabbed one of Robin's hands and shook it.

Beast Boy then walked up. "So…you two are the Spanish Speedsters…err…you can understand what I'm saying, right?"

The twins nodded. "Si. We can un-der-stand inglés... pero we have problemasspeak-ing it." The twins then grinned sheepishly. They then raised one hand. "¡Cinco altos!" Beast Boy gave them a ten.

Starfire then looked inquisitive. "Wait, you two do not speak English?"

They smiled. "EspañolSeñorita Estradafuego!"

Starfire thought for a moment…and then responded. "¿Está esto la lengua que usted se refiere?"

Everyone stared at Starfire and her flawless Spanish, a bit shocked, except for Raven, who cocked one eyebrow.

Mas y Menos quickly perked up and answered. "Si¡Eso correcto!"

"Starfire?" Now Robin was the inquisitive one. "When did you learn to speak Spanish?"

"I learned a great majority of the languages of Earth. The reason I have not spoke…Span-ish…is because no-one else was speaking it." Starfire then gave a smile.

"Well, guess that makes talking easier." Cyborg then turned to the twins. "So what brings the two of you to Jump City?"

"Pozowe wanted to…mmm-eet-tuh you. To know you in personaThe last tiempowe…mmm-et-tuh, we were not...uh…"

"Acquainted?" Suggested Starfire.

The twins nodded. "Si."

"But…it's a long trip from Steel to Jump! When did you decide to go?"

"Last noche."

Cyborg than proceeded to give Beast Boy a light bonk on his noggin. "Super speed, remember!"

Beast Boy rubbed his head. "Heh heh…my bad."

"It's aceptable, señor Bestia Muchacho!"

"What did you just call me?"

Starfire giggled. "They just called you 'Beast Boy' in Span-ish." She giggled again. "You two are more adorable than a thenax gelba."

Mas y Menos looked down and blushed, smiling sheepishly again.

"So…are you staying for long?" Raven moved silently forward.

Mas y Menos looked up…and their expressions suddenly became respectful.

"Just for hoyit is un placerto mmm-et-tuh you, Señorita Raven." They then bowed their heads, as a sign of respect.

Raven was taken a bit aback. "Erm…it's good to meet you too…"

Beast Boy then stepped in. "Then what are we waiting for? C'mon, let's give these guys the grand tour of our place!"

"As long as that tour doesn't include my room."


Titans Tower

They had just finished given Mas y Menos the grand tour (barring Raven's room, of course), and they were in the hallway, having just visited the training room.

Robin hadn't heard too much about the Spanish Speedsters before Titans East came to be, and he wanted to clarify a rumor that just seemed to pop up in his research. "So…Mas y Menos…tell me…have you ever worked with The Flash?"

A hushed look came over the twins faces. "El Flash? He traído us to América."

Robin was taken aback. "He did?"

"Si. We mmm-et-tuh him in Guatemala" They then grinned shyly.

"Dudes! The Flash brought you here? The very Flash? How did he happen?"

"We topadointo him…"

T-T-T-T-T-T

An oasis.

In a desert.

The Guatmalean plains could be unforgiving to some.

Unless two knew their way around it.

Two small boys red-headed boys, dressed in raggedy clothes, appeared at the pool seemingly out of nowhere, holding a wooden bucket.

Leaning over, the twins scooped the pail in the water, the fine liquid filling it up to the brim.

The twins grabbed their hands, and seemed to disappear…and then…they reappeared, several yards from the lake, flying backwards as if they just ran into something.

Which they had.

They had bumped right into the Flash, out on his morning jog across the Americas.

The kids ran into the Flash at a ninety degree angle, and he was knocked to the side.

Getting up and scratching his head, he sped over to the twins, who were struggling to get up.

The twins looked up at this man who seemed to have powers of his own. There was silence.

And the Flash broke it. "Erm…sorry for running into you."

The kids responded: "Estamos apesadumbrados… No significamos daño…"

There was silence. "You can't understand a word I'm saying, can't you?"

The kids just looked up at him.

"Okay…let's do this." He pointed his finger to himself. "The Flash. Hello."

The twins looked at each other, did the same gesture, and said their names, followed by an "Olah."

The Flash then muttered to himself. "Okay…let's see if I can remember this…I was always bad at Spanish… Donde... su... casero?"

The kids looked at each other, and said quietly. "No tenemos ningún hogar."

The man also known as Wally West was shocked. "No?"

"No". The kids stared at the ground.

He kneeled down and looked at the twins at eye level.. "You can run fast, right…erm…you know…" He made a whooshing noise with a gesture of his hand.

The kids replied, "¿Funcione muy rápidamente?"

"If by funcione muy rápidamente you mean run very fast," he pointed to himself "…then I can funcione muy rápidamente."

The two twins looked at each other, and then smiled.

And that was how Mas y Menos met the Flash.

T-T-T-T-T-T

Back in the present, Mas y Menos were playing a racing game teamed up against Beast Boy and Cyborg.

"Dude! So unfair!"

And the twins won. Hands down.

Beast Boy was miffed. "You cheated! There is no way the two of you could have moved your cars together like that!"

The twins gave small smiles.

"Well Beast Boy," growled Cyborg. "If you remembered we were on the SAME TEAM we wouldn't have crashed."

"But I told you, I was aiming for their car! They must have that twin telepathy thing going on."

Mas y Menos then broke out in childish laughter.

"See!"

Cyborg was dubious "Maybe their just laughing at your stupidity."

That just caused them to laugh harder.

Beast Boy was obviously steamed.

"Hey c'mon Beast Boy, if it weren't for them, we'd have beaten the HIVE."

"La Colmena."

Beast Boy gave an expression of confusion. "Was that the HIVE in Spanish?"

"Si."

A grin came to Beast Boy's face. A rather goofy grin. "Tell me…how do you say…ah…Thunder and Lightning in Spanish?"

"Trueno y Relámpago."

"Okay…what about Warp?"

"Urdimbre"

Beast Boy became very amused at the Spanish names. "Okay okay…do Cinderblock!"

The twins smiled. "Cenizabloque."

T-T-T-T-T-T

Raven was busy meditating on the rooftop.

First it was Cyborg leaving the Titans yet again. Then…Bumblebee, Brother Blood Geo-Force, Slade, Psimon, and her Despair.

Basically, the past few days were not good ones for Raven. The memories threatened to come up…and it wasn't that remembering things was wrong, it was the emotions that came with those memories…dangerous emotions.

So Raven meditated. Fought to clear her head.

Eventually, in her mind's eye, she noticed a pair of auras standing near here.

Opening her eyes, she turned and looked at Mas y Menos, who were staring at her quietly.

She was terse. "Do you need anything?"

They quietly responded. "We want to ask apregunta"

Raven blinked as Mas y Menos struggled to grope for the correct words in English.

She began to sense something in those two boys.

Something…psychic.

"Are your… energíasah…Esto es demasiado duro." The kids turned away, before Raven stopped them.

"Wait one minute." They looked at her quizzically.

She began to meditate again.

Telepathy is like radio frequencies- anyone with a receiver can pick it up if they are close enough and they turn the dial to the correct point. In her mind, Raven turned her mental radio dial.

"Can you hear me now?"

In the real world, the twins were utterly shocked!

"Amazing!" "How did you do that?"

Raven sensed the first "speaker" was Mas, and the second Menos. "I sensed you had a psychic link to one another-most twins do, but yours is very strong. I figured that this would make it easier for us to communicate, since telepathy defies language barriers. Now, what is your question?"

The two twins looked at each other, and Mas "spoke". "We wanted to know if your powers were magical or psychic?"

"My powers?"

Menos piped up. "You see, Mas thinks you're a magician, cause you say those magic and words and such, but I think you're a psychic, cause you can move things with your mind…and your talking to us right now."

As one. "So…which is it?"

Raven replied. "Both."

There was silence for a moment. Then Raven continued.

"Magic is the art of altering reality to your will. Psionics is the art of bringing out the energies of your mind. They are very different things, even though they sound the same. In my case, they overlap. There is no distinction between where the magic ends and the psionics begin."

"Ah…yes...hey Menos, think we should ask her…"

"Ask me what?"

"Mas!"

"Oops."

Raven gave the mental equivalent of cocking an eyebrow. "So…what is it? Just ask."

There was a pause…and then as one: "Are you an angel?"

Sometime ago, a long time ago, a light bulb would have cracked and broken to pieces.

Now, of course, Raven had a tad more control over her powers.

"A what?"

Mas piped up. "An angel!"

Raven was flustered. "Do you see any wings?"

Menos responded. "Our mother told us not all angels have wings."

They began to alternate.

"She told us that angels are everywhere."

"They try to help other people."

"They look normal on the outside."

"But you can see the truth on the inside."

Raven broke in. "You've never seen what's on the inside."

As one: "But we did! That black bird..."

And then a mental picture came to Raven.

It was her soul self, appearing majestically.

And it was black…but startlingly beautiful.

"Does my soul-self…that bird-really look like that?"

"Yes!"

Raven was even more flustered. "You mother…must be a very wise woman…"

"She was a very wise woman." Menos's voice was solemn.

"She passed away a long time ago." Mas finished.

Raven 'felt' a sharp wave of pity for those two boys. She knew what it was like to lose a mother…and she understood that this was their way of remembering her.

But what was she to say?

Soul-self aside, she could not say she was an angel? How can an angel have a demon father? No, she knew all too well what she was.'

She couldn't tell them though. Not with that hope in their eyes. That glowing hope that seemed to not fade, even after life too its toll.

And would they believe her, if she told them she was half-demon?

The twins were not good at concealing their thoughts, but she was.

"An angel...maybe I am…maybe I'm not…I'll have to give it some thought."

The answer seemed to satisfy the two boys. She felt the mental equivalent of joy.

She then broke the connection and opened her eyes to the real world.

The twins gave a respectful bow. "Muchos gracias, Señorita Raven."

And then the alarm hit.

T-T-T-T-T-T

"Trouble Titans."

"Who is it Robin? Mumbo? Control Freak?"

"Disruptor."

There was a pause.

Raven was the first to speak. "Not good."

Beast Boy was up next "Definitely not good. That freak is just too powerful."

"¿El Interruptor?"

"His powers come from a suit. Like his name suggests, he can disrupt everything…including super powers."

He turned to the twins. "The Disruptor is a very powerful villain. You don't have to fight him if you don't want to…"

"¡No¡Ayudaremos!"

Starfire translated. "They said they will help."

Robin nodded. "Titans, GO!"

The team dashed off.


Jump City

The sound of cracking glass was heard as windows began to shatter.

The culprit simply reached out his hands, and the glass broke.

The teen wore a bizarre costume of red with a few yellow lines. The gloves and boots were yellow, and yellow circles covered the ears. He wore a yellow belt. His head was covered, so only the mouth can be seen. The eyes were covered with white.

"Disruptor." Robin's voice echoed behind him.

The costumed villain turned around and smirked.

"Robin and the Teen Titans. We meet again."

"I don't think your dad would approve of you using that suit for petty thievery."

He scowled. "My father's approval has NOTHING to do with this. I'm over that now."

Beast Boy chuckled. "Yeah, right. And pigs.."

The Disruptor thrust out a hand, and Beast Boy was suddenly pressed to the ground. "Oof!"

The other Titans began an assault. Cyborg charged and brought out his cannon.

Another hand, and the cannon detonated with energy.

"Aghh!" Cyborg fell down, the cannon now blunted. He growled as he looked at his damaged limb before turning it into a hand again.

Robin fired explosive disks, which the Disruptor made detonate harmlessly into the air. Taking out his staff, he swung it at him in mid-air…

But he only connected with air. Literally.

It was as if he hit an invisible wall, a few inches from the Disruptor's outstretched hand…and then it pushed Robin off. He rolled to the ground and got up in a standing position as Starfire began a strafing run.

Of course, Starbolts were really solar energy, and the Disruptor could disrupt that too. The blasts vanished from the center out.

Starfire went down for a punch…and suddenly she couldn't fly anymore. She crashed into the ground, sliding up to a few inches in front of the villain.

He smirked down at her, lifting his foot.

And then Mas y Menos rushed in a got her out of the way.

"¿Es usted aceptableSeñorita Estradafuego?"

"Si."

The Disruptor turned to look at the kids, and the latter began to circle around him.

The villain looked unimpressed. Raising a hand, he changed one of the fundamental laws of physics.

Air resistance.

"Aieeeeee!" The very air itself cut as their skin, now magnified to hundreds of times what it should have been. They quickly separated and returned to normal speed, their costumes looking more ragged. There were some cracks on their helmets.

"Oooohhhh…"

The Disruptor smirked. "See dad? I can use this suit! I can do what you couldn't!"

"I thought you were over your father." The Disruptor turned to face the dark form of Raven.

"Heh heh heh…we meet again. How long has it been since our last battle? Around a year?"

Raven responded by hurling displays from the stores behind him, spilling what was lying on them.

He simply turned around and stopped the objects before they got close. They fell to the ground. Some of them shattered.

She fired waves of sharp black energy at him. Again, Disrupter stopped it with an outstretched hand.

"Face it. With this suit, I can disrupt even your 'magic'!" That annoying smirk of his was on his face again.

"Senorita Raven!" Mas y Menos were up. "¡El pájaro¡El pájaro!"

'Of course.'

"Your suit can disrupt my magic," she calmly stated. "But can it disrupt my soul?"

Mentally, she went down into herself, and called forth her soul-self, her essence. As the black bird appeared from her body, the Disruptor raised to hands to nullify it.

His face turned to shock when it had no effect.

With a WHOOOSH the soul-self grabbed the Disruptor in a talon. As he struggled to get out, it began to squeeze.

"Nnnnahhhhhhh!"

BZZZT! The pressure from the spiritual talon began to short out the suit. Electricity danced as some of the outer costume tore off, revealing openings of crackiling circuitry. The bird then lifted him up and threw him to the ground, leaving a small crater.

The soul-self then retreated back into Raven, who floated downward. The Disruptor was unconscious, suit still crackling.

"Bravo Señorita Raven!"

"Good job."

"You go girl!"

Raven let herself enjoy a satisfied smile.


Titans Tower: Rooftop

"It was great to have you here." Robin said.

The Titans were on the roof, facing Mas y Menos. The sun was setting. The twins had to leave

Starfire spoke next in Spanish. "¡Espero que poder trabajar juntos alguna vez pronto, mis amigos!"

The twins smiled sheepishly.

"Tell Aquadude I said hi."

"Tell Bee I said hi too."

"Seguro."

"And tell Speedy that he can take me on anytime he'd like." Robin gave a satisfied smirk.

The twins chuckled.

Raven stepped forward. She chose her words carefully.

"Gracias. Muchos gracias."

The twins smiled. "De nada. Adios!"

And with a touch, they were out of the Tower, out of the city, and into the great beyond.

Raven thought to herself.

'They've seen so much evil in this world…but they still have that innocence.'

She turned toward the stairs along with the other Titans.

'I hope they keep it…it's a wonderful thing.'


"So do we Raven. So do we."


(Fade to black…)

Postscript: This chapter was inspired by a comment from an official interview with David Slack, Teen Titans Story Editor and Producer, by Bill Walko of Animation Insider. The comment was that "I don't know that we'd want to do a whole episode with Mas y Menos".

So, I decided to do one! Note that part of this chapter was written before "Titans East Part 1." This was supposed to be a lighthearted chapter after some of the darker ones. This chapter may also introduce a theme or two of this fic.

Now for the specifics. The Disruptor is yet ANOTHER character from the comics, and he pretty much is unchanged, power and appearance wise. This isn't the first time the Titans have fought him…you see…I plan on doing an origin story when this is done and he'll make an appearance in it. So I wanted some connection with that future fic. In the comic books, Raven did defeat the Disruptor using her soul-self…although the soul-self was a bit different in the comic books.

Connecting Mas y Menos to the Flash? Well since they appear to be the replacement to Kid Flash, I figured, why not? Give the new characters some back story. Note that it is entirely my invention, since these two guys are made for the animated series.

Thanks to Babelfish and Freedict(dot)com for translations. You see, I don't speak a drop of Spanish, and from a fanfiction perspective, it's easier to understand Double-M if they speak some English.

This was originally supposed to be Chapter 4 of my fanfic. However, my beta-reader Blackshield was having computer trouble. So I decided to ask RoseEclipse to beta read this, and post it up first. Then I realized that it would cause trouble, since there were no references to Chapter 2. After some deliberating, I decided to make this a one-shot that connects to my main fanfic.

Thanks are given to RoseEclipse for being beta-reader for this.

As always, please read, review and alert me to grammatical errors.