A worrisome night had passed, a new day has come. Whatever the new day held was sure to be promising.
"Dudes!"
Beast Boy came stumbling into the den with a newspaper in his hands.
"What?" Cyborg asked as he made breakfast for the team.
"News articles struck it rich!" He pointed to the headline of the paper. "They think someone else beat us to the Hive!"
"What?" Raven's brows crinkled as she closed her book and walked over to him. She took the paper from his hands and read the headline. "'Teen Titans Aren't the Best'?" She knitted her eyebrows together at this title.
"Let me see that." Cyborg snatched the paper from her grasp and read off the summary. "'Teen Titans group of five defeated the Hive Five before they could finish robbing Jewel Fever at 11 P.M. yesterday. Or so it seemed. Witness Jenny B. Green stated; 'Before they could start, someone else already stole the glory from them.' As our reporters tried to press further, she only commented; 'The Titans did defeat the Hive Five, they just didn't start it right off the bat.' More on this breaking story as it develops.'"
"…"
Around the room, the five heroes exchanged looks with each other. Raven was the first to speak up, this topic clearly bothering her the most.
"Are they serious?" she started, "They think someone out there is better than us?"
"No," Cyborg said, upset, but more hurt than angry. "Just someone faster."
"Well, no one's faster than us!" Beast Boy argued, "Just because some hotshot thinks they can out run us doesn't mean they're-"
Robin held up his hand which told him to stop talking.
"I was thinking the same thing…" he said.
"What?"
"Come on, Rob!"
Whines echoed in the room and he yelled, "Enough!" Everyone bit their tongues and waited for him to continue. "I didn't mean this mysterious person - if it's only a person - is better than us… They just got there before us…"
Starfire titled her head and asked, "How did we not notice another being in the premises?"
Cyborg interrupted, "Before we went to the store I did a scan and no one else with powers was there - it was just us and the Hive."
"This doesn't mean the details are definite," Robin started, "It just means we have to be on guard now."
After sharing a moment of silence, everyone nodded.
Trying to lighten the mood, Beast Boy broke it.
"Man, I am hungry!" he said, flopping down on the couch. "Cy, cook me up some waffles!"
He smirked at him and turned back to the stove. "Make 'em yourself grass stain."
He sighed reluctantly and headed for the fridge.
Starfire sat down at the table, who was followed by Raven. She put down her book and asked Robin, "Isn't the press conference supposed to be today?"
"Oh, right," he said, "It's going to be held in the City's Square at noon, so dress nice."
Beast Boy asked, "Do you mean 'nice', or 'decent'?"
He sighed, "I mean, don't show up in your sweaty gym clothes."
"Will do!" he smiled and saluted.
Starfire asked Robin, "Must we wear attractive attire, or dress for casualties?"
Raven told her, "Just wear one of your clean uniforms."
"That I will arrange!" She flew to her room to prepare for the day ahead.
Once noon strolled around, the Titans were in the T-car and were headed for the City Square. It felt weird for them; mostly because they weren't racing to a mission. The car was parked in a reserved spot, closest to the City Steps that led to a podium - which was in front of a proud mayor.
"People of Jump City!" he boomed through the mic, "I give you, the Titans!"
The crowd cheered and clapped as the Titans made their way to their podium. Once they arrived, the clapping stopped, and they were instantly bombarded with questions.
"Robin! What is the news about the recent garbage dumpster?!"
"Raven! Are your powers in control since you lost them in last week's battle against Cinderblock?!"
"Cyborg! When are you going to update the Tower's system to the newest model?!"
"Ok, ok," Robin waved his hands downwards to try to quiet the crowd. "One at a time!" he said.
It wasn't until Starfire screamed, "QUIET!" did the crowd stop blabbing their need-to-be-answered questions to the Titans.
Robin cleared his throat and pointed to someone in the front. "You go first," he said.
A female reporter held up her microphone and spoke into it. "Is it true that your relationship with Starfire has come to a halt?"
"…" He stood silent for a minute before asking the crowd, "Any other questions?"
The group spewed questions again until he pointed to another reporter. He asked, "Beast Boy, how long has it been since you last made an appearance - other than battles - outside the Tower?"
"Um…" he thought, "Just now."
The reporter rephrased, "No, recently you haven't left the Tower unless you were battling. Why is that?"
"The Tower is my home. Why wouldn't I want to be there a lot?" he said questioningly.
"Thank you," the reporter bowed his head gratefully as another wave of yells came in.
Robin pointed to another, to which they asked, "Everyone, who is it that stole your thunder in last night's battle against the Hive Five?"
Robin said calmly, "We don't know. But if they're fighting with us, it doesn't matter who they are."
"Does that mean you still think of them as a threat?"
"They're helping us defeat villains, what's there to be a threat?"
Another reporter shouted from the second row, "Do you truly mean that, or is there another meaning behind that?"
Just as he opened his mouth to speak, a scream filled the air and everyone averted their attention from the Titans. They all looked down the street to see a woman pointing her finger at a horrific sight.
Down the block from where she pointed was a massive black blob. It stood ten feet tall and looked as if it was composed of tar. It ransacked nearby buildings by destroying them. It picked up cars and threw them as if they were nothing, and it covered the streets with the black goo that leaked from its body.
Immediately, Robin screamed, "Titans g-!"
Before he even thought about finishing his sentence, ice swirled around the monster and coated parts of its tarry tentacles. Soon it broke free, but when it did, a figure was already circling it in the air, shooting fire from their palms.
The tar monster screamed in pain as they were burned harshly. It shot out some of its tar and hit the moving target - sending it hurtling to the ground.
The Titans sprung into action when they saw the hero go down, but to their surprise, when they got there, the ball of tar that had previously encircled the fallen hero bubbled. It grew in size, doubling - tripling - to which it soon blew up with a whoosh of the wind. When the tar cleared out, the Titans saw who the hero was.
It was a girl; standing at about 5' 8''.
She had very light brown hair and bright green eyes, along with freckles that were plastered across her nose/cheek area. Her outfit consisted of a dark red shin-high lace up boots and black, fingerless gloves. The light tan colored shorts she wore went down to her lower thighs, which were now covered in chunks of tar. She wore a sleeveless, black, workout-shirt-like top that left her arms bare, and came up to her neck, which ended around her waist.
She had a scowl plastered on her face as she glared up at the tar creature.
"Ok…" She growled lowly, "No more Mr. Nice Guy."
Her arms rose to beside her waist and flames started out in her palms. She flung her arms in front of her - hands outward - as fire shot out of them, which encased the tar monster in a ball of flames. She moved her hands slowly, curling her fingers inwards, turning her palms towards each other. The ball of fire surrounding the tar monster blazed and shrunk as she moved her hands closer together. When her palms met one another, she ripped them open and the ball of fire in front of her disappeared with a gust of wind, which left behind a puddle of tar in the street.
Her scowl faded as she sighed to herself, relieved the creature was gone.
She looked around at the city and saw all eyes on her, which made her grow in worry. She laughed nervously and said, scratching the back of her head, "Tar men, am I right?"
After a moment of silence which seemed to be an eternity, a man brought his hands together and started clapping slowly. Others soon joined him, and in a moments notice, the passerbies and bystanders were clapping for her.
A smile threatened to tug at her lips, but she pushed it back down as she straightened her back. When she looked down, she said to herself, "Uck. I know these won't come out!"
The Titans that were standing by in all the mayhem got out of their battle stances as worked their way over to her.
"That was amazing," Cyborg said.
She looked up to see them all standing in front of her.
"Yeah, that was some nice shooting," Raven said, a small smile forming on her lips.
"Nice?" Beast Boy said, "That was awesome!" he jumped in the air with a fist up.
Starfire smiled at her. "It was most impressive the way you handled the kicking of his butt!"
Robin turned to her and asked, "What's your name?"
"…" After looking at everyone, she said timidly, "Sara… Sara Andrews…"
"Well Sara Andrews, how would you like to be a Titan?" Robin asked.
"Be a… A Titan…?" she asked as she stared at the ground.
"We could use someone like you around," Cyborg said happily.
"Really…?" she asked, looking up at him.
"Yeah!" Beast Boy smiled, "We're always looking for someone new!"
"And, you did just defeat that thing a moment back," Robin said.
Sara looked at everyone's smiling faces, and smiled herself.
"Ok…" she said.
Robin pulled out a communicator and handed it to her. When she turned it over, she saw a black 'T' on the surface. Her train of thoughts were interrupted when someone asked her a question.
"So, what do you called that thing you did back there?"
When she looked up, she saw Raven staring back at her. "Elemental Manipulation…" she said. "I can form the different elements and control them with my mind."
Starfire asked, "To which elements can you wield?"
Turning to her, Sara answered, "Well… All of them…" She thought before continuing, counting on her fingers. "You just saw me use fire, so that leaves… Water, earth, air, and electricity."
Everyone was amazed by their newfound teammate as she told stories of her adventures in the T-car.
"So I'm being held up by the throat as Spatial Path dangled me over a cliff, and let go of my throat!"
Beast Boy gasped, "Then what'd you do?"
She continued excitedly, "When I was falling I thought about how the air felt around me, and I found out I could manipulate the air particles to do whatever I wanted!"
"Anything!?"
"Anything!" she smiled widely. "I started flying and I wasn't exactly sure how. But even though I didn't know, I used it to my favor and punched out Spatial Path whilst I was flying circles around him!"
Cyborg laughed at her and said, "You know, I think you're already making a great addition to the team."
She felt happy and self-conscious at the same time, so a light blush spread across her face.
"Thanks," she said, smiling brightly.
"…"
"…?"
Beast Boy looked over at Raven, who was staring out the window. Her reflection showed in the glass and he saw how dull her eyes looked. Like she was off in her own little world when her hood hid her face.
He tapped her shoulder and whispered, "Hey, Rae."
She turned her attention to him and asked, squinting her eyes, "What?"
"Are you ok?" he asked.
"What do you mean?"
He said sheepishly, "You just seem a little distant.
"Can you blame me?" she asked blantly, "I barely have enough room to breathe with a new member."
Beast Boy noticed the agitation in her voice and squinted his own eyes at her. "I don't think you're speaking literally, here."
"…"
He turned his head away from her and left her staring at him. She turned her head again and stared out the window.
Neither talked the rest of the way home.
