What Does Every Teenage Superhero Do On The Weekend? They Hang Out With The Teen Titans!

ROBIN

Tim Drake. Teenage wunderkind and scion of the Bat. Master of combat, armed with the greatest in defensive weaponry, and of a mind of great power and honed to a fine edge. Leader, commander, and without fear.

STARFIRE

Kory Anders (Koriand'r) Alien princess and grand warrior, with innate alien powers enhanced to even greater limits by cruel experiments. Superhumanly strong, as graceful and skilled as the wind, and commander of powerful destructive energies. Kind. Gentle. Fierce. Unrelenting.

CYBORG

Victor Stone. Human heart and soul wrapped in the greatest might of machines. Armed to the teeth, noble to the core, bad to the bone.

BEAST BOY

Garfield 'Gar' Logan. Smiling jokester who wields the power of the kingdom of animals. A hundred lines, a million forms, a single cause: peace and justice for ALL living things.

RAVEN

Born of evil, raised in void, triumphed over both by the power of good. Great innate dark powers, master sorceress. A calm that commands a storm beyond comprehension.

TERRA

Tara Markov. In one world a psychotic traitor, in another a manipulated puppet stripped of flesh and power. Here, a fortunate child who avoided and raised herself above both. Commands the very earth itself, to save or to annihilate.

What Does Every Teenage Powered OC Want To Do? They Want To Join The Teen Titans!

…well, that or Hogwarts. Maybe X-Men Evolution too. Perhaps Naruto…MOVING ON.

SAVIOR

Noel Collins. The first to join the team. Seeks to raise himself above his and all human failing, for better or for worse. Wields the Shimmer, a unique energy that transforms him into a one man army, with incredible strategic talent to utilize it to its fullest. Believes in mercy and righteousness, but also believes in unflinching response if required. Not someone you'd want to hang out with. Someone you'd always want watching your back. Yes, his name is pretentious. He's heard it before.

GAUNTLET

Robert Candide. The second to join the team. Some dude with a thing on his arm. It gives him powers and stuff. And he's funny. And he knows he's in a comic. Wait, this isn't a comic…

SCALPEL

Nigel Hastings (Nigicalnack Hastionfarlock). The third to join the team. Alien of a war-driven species. Rejected and hunted by his kind for growing sick of war. Rejected and hunted by most humans in turn for being what he is. Soldiers on regardless, wielding his immense strength, clawed hands and feet, and arsenal of bladed weapons commanded by a devastating fighting style in a quest to find an answer. Or oblivion. Whichever comes first…

MORGUE

Sophie Matthews. The last to join the team. A bystander turned vigilante and a strange sight in a world of them: a rounded body instead of limbs of stick or ridiculous slabs of muscle. Underestimated and mocked. High skill with firearms and unique mutative ability to transform herself and anything she touches into a swarm of deadly bats oft shows the folly of such mockery. The world's first plus sized superheroine, and proud of it. Judge a book by its cover at your own risk.

They are the Teen Titans.

And on this day, their blood may refresh the tree of liberty…

Robin, as per usual, was the first to his feet.

"What the hell just hit us, is Slade trying to undermine the ground beneath our tower again?" Cyborg yelled as he himself got up, the rest of his fellows doing likewise.

"WARNING. Tower structure compromised. Damage on 12th, 11th, 9th, and 7th levels." The computer intoned, as Robin, on instinct, reached into a pouch on his utility belt and pressed his mask to his face.

"Direction and type of offense!" Robin ordered.

"Offense registered from east side of Tower. Analysis suggests cloaked missile impacts." The computer told him. Robin's eyes narrowed. Missiles weren't uncommon, but the kind of cloaking technology their systems couldn't penetrate…

"That would explain why our scanners didn't pick them up. What launched the missiles?" Robin enquired.

"Um, Robin?" Beast Boy said, and the teen wonder turned around as the changeling pointed at the window.

"I'd say that's a pretty strong suspect." Savior commented, as Robin followed the point.

And saw it in the distance, emerging from the clouds.

Just for a moment, his mouth went dry.

But just for a moment.

"Oh damn." Robin said as he stalked over to the window, as it continued to emerge. At first glance, it kind of looked like an aircraft carrier. If an aircraft carrier had been redesigned to work as a plane. And then made about six times bigger. And then given a new paintjob that consisted primarily of dark greens and alternating muted and shining golds.

And then had another makeover, one that Robin didn't need the high-powered electro-binoculars he had pulled out and was peering through to see. Though those helped him see the many decorative patterns all over the massive sky-ship that were all in the style of scales. And the various kinds of snakes plastered all over the ship: snake-shaped guns and launchers, giant twin upright snake statues at the front of the even more massive airship that Robin was sure concealed powerful energy weapons (after dealing with so many gimmicky villains, you got a feel for what was decorative and what was concealing something), and snake pictures and patterns traced there was space.

But he didn't need them to see how the back of the ship with the main command towers was designed to look like a giant cobra crest.

"What…who the hell is that?" Terra said, her voice quavering a bit. The Titans had dealt with supervehicles a time or two, but this was the first time one had quite literally popped up in their backyard.

"Kobra." Robin replied.

"COBRA? What the hell! Is Control Freak attacking us with 80's cartoons now?" Cyborg exploded.

"No, if it was him attacking us, he'd use the Decepticons." Beast Boy commented, forever throwing jokes to mask the low throb of fear he always felt in a new and unexpected situation.

"What?"

"Hey, I know how he thinks, remember?"

"Crap, Gar's right. And I wanted to meet Optimus Prime!" Gauntlet whined.

"He's an Autobot!"

"Guys, not now." Robin said tersely, though it was clear his tension mainly derived from what he was seeing in front of him rather then the pop culture being tossed about behind him. "Not Cobra. Kobra. With a K. It's a deadly terrorist cult. It's fought with just about everybody in the business over the past few decades." Robin said.

"The world has a deadly terrorist cult called Kobra?" Sophie asked, perhaps a touch surprised at possible allusions to lack of originality.

"Yeah. I'll actually not fault you for not knowing them, it seems like a new one springs up every week." Robin said, as the ship drew ever closer.

"Wait, why is this Kobra attacking us? What have we done to offend it?" Starfire asked.

"Who knows? They're a bunch of deadly lunatics trying to usher in an age of chaos or destruction or turmoil or chaotic destructive turmoil…who needs logic when you have fanaticism?" Robin said.

"Nuts. It has to be Kobra. Cobra would've been easy! You ever SEEN G.I Joe? A bunch of morons, they are!" Gauntlet commented.

"We don't get that luxury." Robin replied, his voice grim.

"Are they going to attack us again?" Raven asked calmly.

"No. And I doubt we've taken their full measure. I just did a preliminary scan: the firepower that thing likely holds could have reduced our home to a smoking crater before we could blink. I think those missiles were just them knocking on our door." Cyborg said, taking his hand from the mechanical side of his head as he spoke.

"Something's falling from the bottom of their ship!" Terra said, pointing.

"I see it." Robin replied, putting the binoculars to his eyes again and scanning in, as he watched several very large plastic-looking orbs hit the water.

And crack open, disgorging high-tech black and green motorboats, clearly armed and manned by men dressed in green and gold: a green body suit with a near full face hood (the mouth was exposed) with golden scale armor and various kinds of green cloth tied around their shoulders and waists (it varied). The boats looked on the very edge of high-tech: Sonny and Rico WISHED they'd had that kind of vehicle to chase drug dealers around Miami waters, and that included the recent movie.

"They're dropping boats in the water." Robin said.

"Not just that." Savior said, gesturing up. Robin looked…and saw the first blooms of green as the parachutes opened, even as more tiny figures leapt from the bow of the massive airship.

"Paratroopers." Robin said.

"Holy crap it's a full scale invasion." Morgue said.

"What on Earth could possibly make them want to expend this kind of effort?" Savior said.

"Maybe they think the Justice League has a silent T?" Rob suggested. Savior gave Rob a withering glare. "Hey, you have an idea, go ahead and say it!"

"Doesn't matter. They're here, and if we don't do something fast they're gonna Red Dawn our happy home. What're the orders, Fearless?" Cyborg said.

Robin took one last look at the encroaching threat: the men drifting down, the boats roaring around, and the massive airship itself…

And then, like a switch, Robin buried all concern and fear and brought to bear what had allowed him and his team to survive everything from master assassins to pie-obsessed witches.

"All right." Robin said firmly as he turned and scanned everyone. Of the nine, only Savior, Raven, and Scalpel were dressed for combat, though Cyborg didn't count as he rarely wore clothes (though that ridiculous American flag covering almost seemed to count as a costume), Gauntlet wore casual clothes all the time when working, and Robin could see Beast Boy's purple and black costume peeking out under his khaki's and overlarge Hawaiian shirt. Terra, Morgue, and Starfire, however, were in casual outfits, and considering what was coming that simply wouldn't do.

"Star, Terra, Morgue, get dressed for combat, double time, gogogo!" Robin ordered, and the three scrambled off. Scalpel went with his girlfriend, and Robin was about to call him back, then decided it would probably be best if Nigel looked after his rookie love interest: she'd been well trained but hadn't yet acquired a lot of real life experience. "Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, Savior, Gauntlet, get out there! Try and do whatever you can to delay or repel the invaders, I'll get you backup ASAP! Split up if you have to but use extreme caution if you do! Now go, quickly! And remain in constant communication!" Robin ordered, as he pulled off his shirt to expose his red combat vest.

"Aye aye Captain." Gauntlet replied, as his namesake artifact began to expand, erupting from the metal ring on his finger to cover his whole right arm in strange high-tech armor, while Cyborg just nodded and Savior saluted, as the group of five broke for the nearby hallway in a rapid walk. "Quick! The British are coming! The British are coming!"

"Knock it off…!" Savior retorted as the group vanished.

"TOWER! RED ALERT! FULL LOCKDOWN! MAXIMUM DEFENSES! NOW!" Robin sprinted to the kitchen, grabbing up his cape and snapping it on, as he ran on past the kitchen, even as plates of heavily armored metal began slamming themselves down over the windows of the Tower and other defensive measures armed and closed, gradually turning the building into a formidable fortress. With that done, Robin ran on. First he had to send a distress signal (this was looking like a Big One and he who didn't seek aid in such a case, whether he got it or not, was a fool), then he had to stuff his belt with weapons, and then…repel an army of fanatical terrorists?

Well, at least they weren't ruining his birthday.

"Guys, I have an idea. I'm heading down to the garage. Can you cover for me for a touch?" Cyborg said as the five hurried rapidly down the hallway.

"Just make sure it's a touch." Noel replied.

"Hey man, I cannot tell a lie." Cyborg said. "B, I could use your help, come on!"

"With ya Cy!" Beast Boy said, stumbling as he tried to run and pull off his casual pants without removing his shoes as he followed Cyborg into a nearby elevator.

"I can't help but noticing we keep losing assistance. What does your tactical brain say when it comes to such lesser numbers Noel?" Rob asked, partly needling and partly serious.

"Cross your fingers and hope we don't up as a rallying cry for later battles built on our martyrdom." Savior replied as the three turned and headed down another hallway, dim emergency lights the only illumination with the tower windows in front of them sealed.

"Really? You mean there's a chance I could actually get Batman to yell 'Spoon'?"

"Yeah, I'm sure he'd do that for you."

"Wow, I'm almost tempted to get clobbered!"

"Yeah yeah, tonight we dine in hell, remember the goddamn Alamo." Savior snarked as he broke into a run. "Forget this! We need out! Raven, handle the window!" Savior yelled as he broke into a run, pulling out his communicator and pressing a button, as the single panel of the barrier metal opened up before him, even as Raven made a hand signal.

"Corruptis Brittalis." She whispered, and a dark mist streamed from her hand and zipped past Noel, striking the ultra-dense plastic compound the Titans used for their windows and abruptly making it as brittle as candy glass.

Which helped as Savior leapt forward and crashed through it, gummy shards of the material raining past him as he fell the four stories to the ground, the Shimmer breaking his fall as he landed.

"Can't disappoint your fans, huh?" Gauntlet said as he landed beside him.

"I have fans?" Savior replied, and then gestured forward as the two ran away (Raven floating overhead) from the Tower, even as the barrier metal slammed shut over the new hole.

"The first unit of Lanceheads is landing! No problems with the Cottonmouth and River Jack drops!" A Kobra grunt said, as he and a number of his similarly dressed brethren sat next to each other, helping coordinate the attack from a mass of computer monitors for a more fancily dressed member behind them.

"Anaconda preparations almost complete! Copperheads standing by for launch!"

"Death Adders in final fueling!"

"All weapons fully armed and functioning at maximum capacity!"

"Disrupting shield engaged! All communicative effects in 15 square mile radius scrambled!"

"Are the disrupting shields also functioning at proper parameters to prevent the half demon from teleporting on board?" The Kobra…Organizer said.

"Yes sir!"

"Stay alert! Launch the Copperheads! Finish the Anaconda preparations, NOW! And continue with the drop of all Lancehead paratroopers! Have the Blackadders and Nagas ready to go at any moment! We will not fail the master! CRUSH THE INFIDELS!"

The Kobra paratrooper grunts, which were apparently called Lanceheads, had by now landed on the island with a force several dozen strong, and the high tech motor boats (called Cottonmouths) and the troop carriers (called River Jacks) would soon be bringing more.

But the first arrivals didn't get a warm welcome, as instead several rocks near where they had landed and were preparing to march opened up and produced unpleasant looking projectile weapons.

"Targets sighted. Fire." A computer voice droned, as the weapons exploded into action, firing heavy-density rubber bullets and powerful concussive and disrupting energy shots. The weapons were not fatal, but they damn sure hurt like hell, as the front guard was blasted down with a eruption of screams and squeals of pain, the men knocked unconscious, their nervous systems sent into spasming chaos, or just downed by immense pain, their light body armor providing little protection.

"RETURN FIRE! KOBRA!" One Lancehead ordered, and the remaining grunts did so. Unlike the weapons that were firing on them, the Lanceheads carried decidedly lethal weapons, in both projectile (bullets) and non-projectile (laser and plasma) versions. Within seconds the defensive guns were riddled and exploded, belching fire and smoke.

The Kobra grunts yelled in triumph, chanting their organization's name.

It was too quick a celebration, as the thick black smoke shifted, and then Savior walked through it.

"Hello." He said. The Kobra grunts gaped, and then yelled and yanked up their weapons.

As Raven slid from the darkness that had appeared behind the grunts and reached out, seizing all of the armed cultists and sending them flying forward with a scream.

Savior met them with a devastating Shimmer lash, and the group was flung screaming out onto the ocean.

"Fifteen down, 82 million to go." Savior said as he looked up.

As the flash of sunlight caught his eye, and then the helicopter whose canopy it had reflected off swooped down, as the side gunner opened fire with a rapid-shot laser blaster. Savior cursed and dove to the side as the miniature helicopter (it could only fit two people: the pilot and the side gunner, though it looked as heavily armed as any Apache) raked the ground where he had just been. Savior flung himself forward via Shimmer lines to avoid another spray, and then leapt behind a rock as the gunner tried to get another bead on him.

As Raven flew up, seized the whirring main rotors with her black energy, and crushed them within her grip like a child breaking a toy. The helicopter plunged, crashing into the rocky ground as the two Lanceheads leapt for safety, though they probably sure as hell hurt themselves landing.

Savior stood up, as Raven looked down at him. He gave her a reassuring thumb circle, and then pointed. Raven turned around.

Three more of the miniature helicopters were heading her way, even as more were launched off the main ship, all painted the same black and green. These were the Copperheads, and Kobra apparently built them in bulk.

Raven gestured, indicating she'd handle the helicopters. Savior gave her a thumbs up, and then indicated he'd handle himself on the ground. Raven nodded and turned, flying towards the attacking machines. They opened fire on her with machine guns, but a black energy shield sprang up and deflected their shots, even as Raven's eyes narrowed and she began chanting her universal focus…

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos..."

Savior let his actions speak for him: as he ran towards where the next group of paratroopers was landing. They opened fire on him, which Savior should have realized was a distinct possibility, as he cursed under his breath and leapt/rolled to the side. Shimmer lines sprang from his body in mid-motion, seizing up any and all of the dropped weapons the first unit had left behind that Savior could find, as Savior flipped back up to his feet and opened fire with them, using them to blow a lot of gaping holes in the paratroopers' parachutes. And they were way too close to the ground to open backups, but not close enough that the fall would be painless. Savior didn't envy their knee tendons, but that did nothing to slake his fire-rate.

And even as that happened, another paratrooper Lancehead some distance away landed and worked to pull his parachute off of him.

The first thing he saw was a smiling blonde teen.

"Hi!" Gauntlet said, and punched the Lancehead in the face with a metal fist. He went down like a ton of bricks.

The boy took one last glance at the fallen minion and looked up to see the hundreds more descending towards him.

"You know," Gauntlet pondered, "Putting so much effort and man power just to take us down. It's really kinda flattering once you get down to it." He nodded as if agreeing with himself before glancing at the nearest one, who had just landed. "Don't you think so?"

The Lancehead seemed quite confused before answering. "KOBRA!"

His attempt at swinging his snake-themed nightstick was stopped as two golden energy cuffs neatly bound his wrists.

"I can never have a nice conversation with you people!" Gauntlet protested, as he swung the man in a circle, the energy extending into a golden rope that allowed some distance between the two as Gauntlet swung.

And swung… And swung…

And then literally threw the Lancehead back the way he came from. The poor man crashed against others still descending, the impacts not slowing him down much as he kept flying in the direction of the airship, before finally losing momentum a few seconds later and falling into the ocean about halfway through.

"Take THAT, Harry Potter and your bloody gnome-throwing record. I totally pwned you!"

He once again glanced at the troops approaching him and realized that taking out three really hadn't put a dent on their forces at all.

"Oh fudge, enough."

A bladed line shot out of the Gauntlet, Robert borrowing one of Savior's favorite tricks, and with one precise swing cut all of the parachute ropes. The men fell like screaming flies before crashing into shore.

None moved, aside from a couple of twitches.

"These guys have GOT to be Cobra." Gauntlet blinked. "They are all morons!"

"Is that so?"

"Yes, that's--" Gauntlet stopped in mid-sentence and turned around to find that a whole armada had somehow gotten past him and were now menacingly surrounding him.

These men were not Lanceheads, however. They moved with more swiftness and grace, and their outfits were far different: The looked like green and gold stereotypical face-covered snake-themed ninjas.

Gauntlet faltered at the sight. "Terrorist ninjas? Are you KIDDING me?"

Hey, I didn't come up with them!

And at least it explains why they hadn't been noticed until now…

"Titans, come in! What's the situation?" Robin yelled into his communicator as he ran down yet another hallway.

"Another few seconds and we're out!" Cyborg replied.

"I'm ready!" Terra added.

"We've fully prepared: show us what to hit." Scalpel growled.

"And I am ready to defend our home as well Robin!" Starfire said as she suddenly appeared beside him, now dressed for combat.

"Robin, you better get them out here fast, this is already getting ugly!" Savior snapped, the sound of heavy weapon fire clear in the background.

"Okay, get out on the field team! I'll give you further orders in a second!" Robin said. "Star, elevator! The roof! I need to observe and plot the defense!"

"Understood! I will protect you!" Starfire said as Robin pressed a button on his communicator, and a part of a nearby wall opened, revealing a small hidden elevator. The two crammed themselves in as the door and wall slammed shut.

As another door opened, and the T-Car roared out, a larger version of Cyborg's sonic cannon mounted on its top, Beast Boy behind the weapon. Though he felt a little guilty, he knew if the shoe was on the other foot Kobra would gladly make mincemeat of him, and so he located his targets with the cannon and began firing: in this case, descending paratrooper Lanceheads, who were knocked to the ground with a bone-jarring thud.

As Terra ran down another hallway, now fully dressed for combat herself, including her new battle jacket, as she did the same trick Noel did to get out a window. Except she didn't have Raven to weaken it for her.

So she just rammed it with a cluster of highly impure diamonds until it broke.

"Let's rock." She commented, as she slipped on her goggles and dove out the window. "KINTOOOOOOOOOOO!"

A yellow cloud didn't come to her aid (and even if it inexplicably had she probably wouldn't have been able to ride it anyway), but the rock that flew beneath her feet as she flipped and landed worked fine. She flew around, waving her arm up as she ripped scores of rocks from the ground, looking for some new homes for them. Like right between some terrorist eyes.

But Terra wasn't everywhere, and hence she missed the small group of paratroopers that had landed close to the Tower and made their way to it, as they prepared explosives to blast their way in.

They didn't have to: the armored metal opened for them.

As a massive cloud of bats streamed out and enveloped the group, and the members screamed and tried to defend themselves. They never saw the angry looking alien walk out of the door in turn and proceeded to floor every Lancehead, two with a backhand, one with a thrust kick, and the rest with the deadly weighted glaive Scalpel carried. Scalpel nicely used the flat end of his bladed appendages and weapon, but that was more him not wanting to get blood on Sophie and less mercy on his behalf.

The bats gathered and then condensed into Sophie Matthews, now in the identity of Morgue, having traded her suit and coat for a black fully bodied outfit complete with a full facial mask: only her brown hair remained exposed. Scars of stitched white ran down her face and chest in a Y-Shape: the same white material also ran down the outside of her legs in a straight line, a white contrast also seen on the top of her gloves and boots and on her gear belt, as well as on the bone framework of the folded up wings beneath the arms of the outfit, like Wile. E. Coyote, except practical. On her back rested a modified machine rifle snug in a harness, as Morgue promptly drew two modified sidearms that fired tranquilizers.

"Cry havoc." She said, and the two went out onto the battlefield.

And even as more guns and defenses opened, armed, and began protecting the Tower and the areas around it, an armored portion of the roof opened and the elevator slid out, disgorging Robin and Starfire, as the Teen Wonder ran for the rooftop edge and looked out, even as the elevator slipped back in and the roof re-sealed itself.

Savior hadn't been kidding: the advance troops had become a flood. Robin's eyes flicked over the battlefield, on the ground and in the air. After several seconds of reconnaissance, he pulled out his communicator.

"Okay guys, listen good! Cyborg, Beast Boy, the boats are congregating on the large stretch of sand to your right, try and block their beachhead! Scalpel, Savior, Morgue, Gauntlet, it looks like a lot of the paratroopers are going to land in your rough area, take them out! Terra, assist Raven in air defense, there's a lot of ordnance coming off that ship and we can't let their air superiority get any better! Starfire, you too. They need all the help they can get."

"But Tim…"

"That's an order Starfire. I can…"

As a Kobra Lancehead landed behind Robin, Starfire having been so focused on the teenager she didn't see him until it was too late, as metal blades that looked a lot like snake fangs sprang from the Lancehead's wrist and he lunged at Robin with a cry…

Robin backhanded him, knocking him cold.

"Look after myself." Robin finished.

Starfire looked at him, worry still in her eyes, and Robin allowed himself just a moment to give her arm a comforting stroke.

"Go."

"…be careful." The alien said.

"You too." Robin replied, and Starfire took to the sky.

And found it as infested as any Tamaranian battle she had ever participated in.

"There are so many of them-"

The Princess of Tamaran's words were cut off when one of the helicopters—Copperheads, they were called—blasted a spray of miniature missiles directly at the tower. She did not even look to see if the projectiles had hit her home or what damage it might have done: instead Star flew straight towards the copter that had fired the projectiles, slamming through the glass of the cockpit and throwing the pilot outside. She turned and fried the controls with a burst of eyebeams and then flew out, retrieved the pilot (not all of the Copperheads were two-manned) and dropped the pilot on the roof.

Robin, who was surprised to see Starfire back so soon, glared down at the terrorist and kicked him in the head, knocking him unconscious.

"Do what you can…" Robin said, "But going out of your way to save them is going to get us all wasted."

Starfire read the intensity behind her lover's mask, and immediately understood. More explosions in the background punctuated his words.

"Understood. I will… attempt to avoid the taking of life."

"Take comfort that we'll be obeying the rules of war better than they will," Robin growled, throwing a Birdarang at another paratrooper that landed atop Titans Tower. Several more followed. Robin muttered a curse but ordered Starfire to take down the Copperheads and leave him to his own devices.

As Starfire took off back into the sky, flames erupted all around her; more air units filling the skies above the Island, as well as Terra and Raven mounting their own defenses. Starfire could barely see where she was going, and in all the confusion, maintaining enough unbridled joy to stay airborne was becoming particularly difficult. Robin, still on the roof, was somehow managing to avoid untimely death through all the chaos. In fact, he was thrashing his opposition. This lifted her spirits, somewhat.

She dodged a blast from another Copperhead and returned fire, blasting the rotor blades off the top and sending the vehicle careening into the island below. Starfire would have tried to rescue the pilot—for Robin's sake, at least—but by the time she turned around, she was suddenly confronted with a far more pressing concern.

As she was suddenly being razed by a supersonic jet, the high-powered machine screaming past her and sending her briefly tumbling. By the time she had recovered, the jet had swooped around and was heading back towards her, the usual green and black colors bearing down at her as ultra-advanced weapons armed and fired. Starfire dodged out of the way of the bullets and returned fire with her eyebeams, but the plane proved too fast for her shot.

"Crap." Cyborg said, looking up and out the window of his car as he headed for the beach, having heard the distinctive sound of afterburners. "Is that an F-22 Raptor? Damn! Those things are even faster then Star and almost as maneuverable!"

Indeed it was, a heavily modified one known as the Death Adder.

But Starfire had more to worry about then that, as before she could get her bearings, the jet was out of range, and Starfire felt something slam into her back. She pitched forward, briefly faking that she was hurt more than she was, then flipped over in mid air and fired off a pair of eyebeams at whatever had hit her.

The beam struck him in the chest, sending him backwards into the smoke and chaos around them. It turned out her assailant was one of the Kobra grunts—Heads of Lance, if she recalled Robin's word for them correctly. And this 'Lancehead' wasn't alone, as several more soon rushed at her, all of them supported by jetpacks. They began striking Starfire with tonfa clubs and 'sticks of the night', and though her powers made them little more than annoyances, she was quickly forced to defend herself lest the annoyances get lucky and injure her severely.

Starfire elbowed the one to her right in the face and kneed another in the stomach, then grabbed a third and whirled them around as a small plump plumber had once done in a popular Earth video game, sending one of the snake-men into the cockpit of another Copperhead. She flinched when she heard the bones crunch and was profusely thankful to X'hal that he had not landed in the blades of the helicopter instead…

Until the man with the broken back then got even more unlucky when he tried to open his parachute; the chute flew up and was immediately ensnared into the blades of the Copperhead, getting tangled up therein. The Lancehead got another taste of what Beast Boy called 'the dizzy' as he was twirled around the stalling rotors.

Starfire blushed red, then flew through the helicopter, exposing all its fuel to the air and tossing its pilot out the window before blasting the gas tank.

The resounding KRAKABOOM was both satisfyingly loud and appropriately distracting. Starfire slipped away from the explosion, tearing through another troupe of Lancehead with jet packs; the maternal vessel of the Kobra—Starfire didn't yet know its name—had opened its side bays and was releasing another one of its heavily modified supersonic jets.

And when the Tower defenses blew another nearby Copperhead to smithereens, Starfire realized that that needed to be her target; her Starbolts wouldn't be able to damage the mothership itself, but the jets were a far larger threat to the Tower than the Copperheads were…

"All offensive efforts proceeding as planned, master." The minion once again informed the figure sitting on the throne.

"Excellent. You have your orders. Continue as planned."

"Yes master, we shall…" The minion trailed off as he was apparently given some new information in an ear-placed communicator. "We are getting a report that the flying alien is attempting a direct assault on the Divine Scar."

"Then repulse her! Do not bring to me such obvious statements! This ship has enough firepower to reduce this whole state to ash, surely you can handle a single alien!"

"Of c-c-ourse master we just…"

"Be gone!" The master said, already sick of the sniveling again. The minion scampered off once more.

The master was actually quite capable of checking the status of the battle himself, but until now he had been devoting his thoughts to what came after, once the teenage heroes who had the unfortunate placement on the island they needed were crushed. But he was done doing that: time to see the battle with his own eyes. So to speak.

A panel slid aside on his throne, and he tapped a few buttons as various holographic screens appeared before him, as the master put a listening jack into his ear, the voice in it detailing the carnage that was being shown raging down on the island. He was well pleased: it struck him as an omen.

And as he listened to what was shown on the screens, he made his choice, as he turned them off with a button press and stood from his throne.

A silent Kobra minion came from the shadows, draping a cloak of finest gold and green silk over his form. Another offered him shoes, but he dismissed them.

"I wish to go down and aid in the battle." He spoke to the shadows, and moments later four men emerged from then, unseen and still before then. Unlike the Kobra Lancehead grunts, who were all average sized, these four men were giants, all of them towering over the master, and their armor was far more innate, their bodies and heads covered with metal and plastic protection all adorned in the form of various snakes. The light rippled off their golden ridged chest plates, even as the veins bulged in their inhuman muscles.

"No. I wish to go alone. Go assist your brothers."

The giants nodded as one, and then were gone once more.

"Do you wish to be teleported to your desired destination master?" One of his servants asked him.

"No. I will utilize a lift. Contact the Copperheads and Death Adders and make sure I am not interrupted. Otherwise, I require no assistance. I will cut off the head of this beast myself."

"As you wish." The servant replied, and the master walked forward, he himself vanishing into the dark.

The air was filled with bullets, as Raven formed a shield all around her and absorbed the impacts, feeling the feedback rattle through her head. But she'd experienced far worse, as she flew to the side, converting her shield energy into a powerful bludgeon that smashed the attacking Copperhead from the sky.

Another tore at her, as the small helicopter fired its missile payload at her, the four smaller but still potent explosives streaking at the sorceress.

She held out an arm towards them as dark energy seized them, and the missiles jerked and altered course, the tiny darts all streaking past her, the windshear buffeting her cloak, as Raven gestured. The missiles were abruptly turned around, and fired back at the Copperhead, blasting it to pieces in mid air as the two Lanceheads who'd been on it plummeted towards the sea.

But there were more where those had come from, as Raven looked across the aerial battle. It looked like Starfire was making a thrust at the main war ship. Perhaps Raven could assist there…

Unfortunately, Raven wasn't close enough to help immediately, which would have served Starfire well, as there were many threats to her person, least of all the most recent pair of jetpack-clad Lanceheads streaking at her. Both of them had their arms extended, snake-fang shaped blades attached, the blades—and their owners—rocketing towards Starfire as though militants on a suicide run.

Starfire snarled a Tamaranian insult and flipped backwards in the sky, aiming her feet at the two Lanceheads. Predictably they continued to fly towards her, shouting 'Kobra' over and over.

And right into her feet as she flipped, as she kicked them both in the face so hard that their helmets shattered and blood began leaking from their noses. Starfire continued towards the docking bay of the giant skyship, confident neither soldier would be foolish enough to turn around and come after her again…

Just as she almost reached the bay that was launching the jets (at least the one she could see), swarm of Copperheads appeared, Starfire not even sure where they came from. The attack came immediately, missiles and bullets filling the air, and Starfire retreated from the latter, able to tolerate the former a bit better. She smashed the side of one copter, taking off its tail rotor with the sound of rending metal--and then blasting another—the one spewing bullets—with a Starbolt. The blast slammed into the gun turret on the bottom and the gun immediately stopped firing, parts of it melting and falling off into the bay below.

Unfortunately, at that point one of the others blasted the first one she had struck, trying to get Starfire and hitting their ally instead. It was doubly unfortunate as said miss caused the helicopter to explode with Starfire right next to it.

The princess' vision filled with nothing but white, her body forced backwards with the concussive force of the blast. How she avoided getting cut to death by shrapnel, Starfire would never know. Still, as she recovered and regained her senses, she noted there was a gash on her left arm, precisely where her armband would be if she wore it on that arm.

"Perhaps it is time to perform the doubling up," she observed aloud.

Starfire blasted the propeller blades of the remaining Copperheads, causing them to plummet into the waters below. She vaguely hoped that the snake men inside knew how to swim, but if they did not—well, they brought this all upon themselves by attacking the Titans' home.

A peculiar sound reached Star's ears, something similar to the sound of Cyborg opening the Garage Door of the Tower. Except she was nowhere near the garage or even close to the Tower, and the sound was coming from above her. She glanced up and immediately saw the problem—and dodged a flurry of laser blasts.

Energy weapon turrets had opened up on the hull of the Kobra command ship, and were now emptying their venom on Starfire…

Starfire briefly considered that she'd just made a snake-connection to a non-living organism and grew very weary of the motif the terrorists had wrapped themselves in. But she didn't really have time to ponder; the lasers were raining down on her and she had to fly out of the way.

Which she did, slamming into the side of the sky-ship near the laser farthest to her left as she began tearing the turrets off at the base, one by one, as she flew by. Even though one of the nearest to the docking bay hadn't opened properly because the charred rotor of the Copperhead taken down by friendly fire was lodged in the turret mechanism, Starfire proceeded to sear the cannon of that turret shut with her eyebeams; it would probably be more difficult to get the helicopter blades off than it would be to replace the cannon wholesale, and Starfire was in a particularly uncharitable mood at the moment, the smell of combat in the air in a way she hadn't seen since the time Blacktrinian insurgents had attacked the capital of Tamaran during the 50 Septar War.

She finally found her attention completely focused on the bay launching the Death Adders, and immediately smashed the nearest plane inside the bay, cracking the cockpit with a hammer-fist strike, then snapping the wings in half with a kick.

A pair of much larger looking shock-troops (indeed, the same kind that had been guarding the master) rushed out into the bay, taking shots at Starfire with strange energy weapons; Star dodged them, returning fire before leaving the bay altogether and heading towards the next one.

But before Star could get to the second Death Adder, it had taken off, blasting through the air at speeds it would take a Flash to match. Starfire followed it, trying to anticipate its arc, but quickly found it was moving too fast over the open ocean for her eyes to even track. Thankfully it soon turned around in an effort to make its attack run on the Tower, and Starfire blasted towards it with all her considerable might, her hands directly out in front of her—and before she knew it, she collided head-on with the Death Adder, her hands against the very nose of the cockpit…

WHAMMO!

The strain was immense; Star felt her muscles begin to burn, her bones jarred by the vibration of the jet as it began to push forward. But a little fact of physics; airplanes, jets included, require forward motion to stay aloft. And Starfire, though greatly to her own strain, was slowing the forward motion of the Black Adder to a crawl.

"You will not go any farther!" She shouted, gritting her teeth as she gave the ship one final shove; it began to fall towards the ocean. Starfire was startled at how close the plane had pushed her to the Island in the short time she'd been in contact with it. The alien swooped down and blasted the cockpit open with a Starbolt; unfortunately, it was instantly obvious the pilot inside was dead, either killed by the whiplash of the plane suddenly stopping or by his own hand.

Starfire didn't know, and didn't want to. There was still far more danger to come.

Back on ground level, Cyborg had suffered a setback as an attacking Copperhead had gotten lucky and badly damaged the roof sonic cannon with gunfire, wrecking it and forcing Beast Boy inside the car. Cyborg was doing his best to make up for that as he rammed that T-Car into any and all enemies who had the misfortune of ending up in front of it, the damage barely denting the car but steadily decreasing Kobra's numbers.

"Are--" Beast Boy began, after an especially violent crash that caused him to hit his head against the ceiling of the car. "…Are you SURE we should just run them over like this?!"

Cyborg didn't let up on the gas. "They are wearing protective gear from head to toe, and I'm not even going at half maximum speed; they'll live. Even if there are some nearly-lethal injuries, there'll be plenty of time to take them to a hospital."

"If you say s--ACK!"

One of the most recent Lanceheads had managed to hang on to the side of the car, glaring bloody murder as he took out a gun and aimed at Cyborg's head.

BANG! BANG BANG!

The man's eyes widened as the bullets came to a complete and total halt upon contact with the glass.

"Bulletproof windows, A-hole." Cyborg grinned before slamming his foot into the brakes.

The T-Car slide across the ground, coming dangerously close to flipping over; but the worst happened to the Lancehead, who went flying like a rock over and into water after inertia seized hold of him.

Cyborg managed to get his car under control and looked over to see Beast Boy rolling down his window, a worried expression on his face.

"Uh B, the whole point of bulletproof glass is that you actually keep it between you and the things shooting the bullets!"

"There's a good reason Cy! There's another group trying to make a landing over there!" Beast Boy said, as he pointed out the window. Cyborg looked and cursed: he'd gotten bogged down here and left another part of the beach open.

"Don't worry! I can handle it!" Beast Boy said as he gave a thumbs up.

"You sure B?" Cyborg said: Beast Boy was a lot softer then he was.

"No problem! I got your back Cy!" Beast Boy said, and then turned into a housecat and jumped out of the window, scampering away. Within moments he was out of Cyborg's sight.

The mechanical marvel shoved his worries down and let the engine roar again, noticing that the short intermission had been more than enough to get himself surrounded by the seemingly endless grunts.

His finger lingered tentatively around the trigger for the sonic cannon attached to the front of the car, but he changed his mind after a moment: unlike his personal version and the one Beast Boy had been using on the roof, that design of his trademark weapon weapon was vastly powerful and meant for large machines. He didn't know if a human would survive it and his conscience wouldn't allow him to test it on the Lanceheads.

So he simply settled for the far more benign and merciful act of running them over.

Repeatedly.

...Seriously, it IS a lot nicer than blasting them with highly concentrated to the potential point of bone-liquefying sonic waves.

Not that the Lanceheads appreciated this as Cyborg plowed through them. The men, however, proved to be surprisingly courageous and a tad suicidal as many jumped into the car in an effort to stop him.

Fat chance, Cyborg mused as he made a swift turn to shake off two more: there was no part of his car that wasn't heavily armored and more than enough to stop blades and bullets.

Beep beep beep!

Cyborg blinked at the sudden noise, and then spotted a large circle glued to the hood of the car. It hadn't been there before.

"Bomb." Cyborg croaked. One of the bastards had managed to stick a bomb before he shook him off! How the--?

BEEPBEEPBEEP!

"DAMN!" He cried, jumping out the door and wildly rolling on the ground. Sometimes being mostly metal was a blessing: had he been flesh, such an act would have torn his skin horribly.

The T-Car kept driving in a straight line for a couple of seconds before the timer finally went off. The explosion's backlash forced Cyborg onto his back, and he was the one that handled the shockwave best. Lanceheads around him went flying and landed in more awkward and painful positions.

After the smoke had cleared, the T-Car was in ruins and covered in black soot: the heavy defenses it had had stopped it from being completely destroyed, but it was now of no use. That had been a strong bomb.

"OH MAN!" Cyborg protested, staggering to his feet. "MY CAR! AGAIN! It's like a sick joke!"

But that proved to be the least of his worries, as no sooner had the words left his mouth when dozens of Lanceheads trampled on him with war cries.

Cyborg was buried beneath the small army in a second.

Savior's Shimmer talent rapidly emerged from his arm, forming into a shield Savior crouched behind as bullets and lasers tore into the energy, fired by two Kobra Lanceheads. Savior cursed again, slamming his free palm on the ground, lancing a Shimmer line into the ground and sending it 'snaking' down and around the two Lanceheads, who never had a clue it was coming before it exploded from the ground behind them, split in two, seized their heads, and slammed them together. Yanking the line from the ground, Savior grabbed the two falling bodies and swung the line up and over his head, slamming them into another descending paratrooper.

But even while Savior was doing that, more had landed, and they were charging at Savior's flank. The white-haired teen whirled, his power lashing around him…as one of them sliced at it with his wrist blades, cutting the white energy and causing Savior to rear back with a snarling hiss, pain slamming through his body as his power's lone weakness bit him in the ass, again.

Another swung at Savior with a crackling taser rod. Savior ducked under the blow and judo flipped the Lancehead, using the Shimmer to slam him firmly into the ground before he whirled around and slammed another lancing blow into the forehead of another grunt. Another was stabbing at him: Savior threw himself backwards, Shimmer lines coiling beneath him as he then threw himself back forward, slamming a fist between the grunt's eyes, and he crumbled…

Revealing a Lancehead drawing a bead on Savior's chest with a plasma rifle.

At least until twin darts slammed into his neck, and he reeled back and collapsed. Savior blinked.

"Need some help?" Scalpel asked, strolling up, clutching a Lancehead by the neck.

"Much appreciated."

"I aim to please." Scalpel said, and then reared back and hurled the Lancehead through the air, as he crashed into three of his companions and took them all down.

"Your aim's pretty good at that." Savior commented.

"Now all I need is a bigger gun." Scalpel replied wryly.

"Considering how much your species dislikes being shot, that's probably not a good thing, but I get your drift. We're far too behind here. Let's see if we can't get a heads up." Savior said, as he grabbed the knocked out Lancehead Sophie had shot and yanked off his head covering (not all the grunts wore helmets), as he prepared a Shimmer probe. The energy came from a mutation of his nervous system, and hence it could interact with other nervous systems, allowing Savior to 'jack in' and read the minds of living creatures, which Savior was doing right down as the energy slid through the Lancehead's ear to connect with his brain to get a rundown on the attack plans…

"NGHHHHHHHH!" Savior hissed, yanking his arm back, the Shimmer pulling free as the Lancehead collapsed to the ground. "Damn it!"

"What?"

"Someone did their research. There was a…something or other, I think it was a nanomachine cluster, in the brain, when I tried to connect it repulsed me. If I tried to force the issue, I'd have cooked the bastard's mind like an egg in those old drug ads. Damn. Why do I have a feeling that if I found it in this randomly selected grunt I'll find it in all the troops?"

And even as Savior spoke, a fresh unit of Lanceheads made landing, Morgue having been tied up with her own fight.

"I guess we have to do things the old fashioned way." Scalpel said as he swung his weapon to bear.

And new troops weren't just landing there.

"Come on! FASTER! FOR THE GLORY OF KOBRA!" A Lancehead leader yelled as half a dozen boats, four of the Cottonmouths and two of the larger boats called River Jacks which were purely used to move troops, landed on a small stretch of sand down the beach where the main thrust was being 'held off' by Cyborg.

"KOBRA!" The men chanted in reply.

And then the water abruptly exploded, as a massive form rose from beneath, and even as the Lanceheads began to react it crashed down on them, as Beast Boy used the form of a blue whale to smash most of the boats to scrap. But even as his weight began to settle he vanished, rapidly switching to a much smaller form so his bulk wouldn't become a disadvantage in the shallow water.

The Lanceheads were thrown into disarray, as they tried to get onto the beach and drag their stunned comrades with them, as the lead barked orders.

"FIND HIM! SHOOT HIM! DO NOT…" The leader bellowed as Beast Boy swam up the coastline as a minnow…

And then the water erupted as Beast Boy switched to the form of a Triceratops, and the Lanceheads screamed as he plowed through them, knocking them aside like bowling pins.

He couldn't hit all of them though, and several he didn't hit immediately began firing at his side. Beast Boy immediately switch to a dragonfly, the shots missing the much smaller form as he buzzed over…and became a polar bear, as he smashed the grunts aside with one powerful swipe of his giant paw (no claws, Gar didn't need them). Two Lanceheads tried to flank him: Beast Boy switched to a horse and with a whinnying neigh bucked the two of them through the air, and even before they hit the ground again Beast Boy became an orangutan and leapt over to the leader.

"Ever read Murders In The Rue Morgue?" Beast Boy inquired, even as he used his long, dexterous arms to relieve the leader of his large laser rifle and then return it to him, butt first, to the face. The leader crumpled.

"Yeah, no one reads any more." Beast Boy said, and turned into a rhinoceros and once against stampeded through the Kobra Lanceheads as they tried to regroup.

Meanwhile, another grouping of Cottonmouths was making for the same beach Cyborg was trying to guard, bringing troops and additional firepower to make his job even harder.

But that was why he had teammates.

As the water abruptly split, as a massive flying spear of rock emerged from the sea like an angry shark, slamming into the first Cottonmouth head on and shattering it to pieces as Terra, snug inside her battering ram, smashed right through it. She briefly opened several slits in her rock-protection to see where she was going, and then turned and charged at another boat, whose sailors opened fire at her, their bullets whining off her protective rock for the few seconds they managed to shoot before Terra smashed through them, sending the occupants flying.

Two more roared at her, bouncing across the choppy water as the whirling gatling cannons mounted on the front of the boat blasted a storm of deadly bullets. Terra could feel the many impacts, but they didn't concern her.

The mortar one of the boats fired did, as it slammed against her rock-ram and nearly shattered it, Terra nearly falling off her platform and crashing into the sea. Angered, her eyes shone yellow, as she raised both hands and slammed them in opposite directions.

Her protective shield broke off from her, forming into a giant rock arrowhead that fired at the boat on the right, smashing into the front and causing the boat to flip on its face and shatter against the water, even as Terra soared upward into the sky and then kicked her rock platform, sending it flying from her feet and down at the other boat like a meteor, the motor boat breaking apart as Terra fell…

As the arrowhead flew under her, Terra grabbing it with one hand. She grabbed ahold of the platform with her other hand and yanked herself up, as the rock reformed beneath her feet into a more friendly firing shape…and four Copperheads flew at her, firing rapidly.

Terra uttered a low curse and reached into one of her pockets, producing a handful of large, impure diamonds. Pretty much worthless as jewels, but as ammo, they served to teach the Copperheads a new equation.

Powerfully thrown diamonds plus precise targeting of helicopters equaled explosions.

Terra flew through the conflagration with a whoop of excitement, daring her next target to cross her path.

Even as Robin's own target crumpled, Robin having punched his lights out. He looked around and then glanced up: from what he could tell, there were no more of the descending troops heading his way. Robin turned and ran over to the other edge of the roof, scanning the battle around him. He brought out his communicator.

"Beast Boy, Cyborg might need help! Scalpel, Savior, careful, there's a group coming from your left! Raven, watch your flank…" Robin said…as his eyes seized on the fact that another group of Cottonmouths and a River Jack were landing on another open stretch of Titan Island, on the opposite side of where Cyborg and Beast Boy were mounting their defense.

"Damn it! Terra! There's a group landing on the south side! Quickly!"

"I see it." Terra replied, as she turned and swooped down. With a gesture, Terra sent the Cottonmouth boats near the shore flying asunder as she made her way to fulfilling Robin's request, and then turned and pelted several more with sharp stones laying about the rocky island, immediately filling their bottoms with water.

"Get on with it, Terra!" Robin shouted from her communicator.

"Oh, right, sorry." Terra said. Launching herself towards the attackers on the south side of Titans Island, Terra reached out with her mind and began collecting any and every loose rock she could find, seeing the attackers emerge from the water and land from the air. She extended a hand and the rocks flew out, smashing into the ground troops like machine gun fire, sending them scattering.

Shouts of 'Kobra!' reached her ears as the Lanceheads leveled their weapons, and she leaned back, locking herself in place with a few spare rocks and bringing her platform up as a shield to a stream of energy blasts that slammed into it. Some of her rock platform went flying off in charred bits and pieces and Terra muttered another curse as she strained to keep it from falling apart, jamming on the throttle when the lasers stopped and raising the small landing part some more before fishtailing in mid air and turning around; her ruse had worked.

You see, the landing party had began climbing the rocky outcropping where she and Beast Boy shared the 'secret' that had almost made Terra quit the team in shame, and Terra had been out there, probing the Earth with her mind long enough to know the intricacies of the geology.

Which was all a fancy way of saying, she was about to drop a bunch of rocks on them, and they'd never see it coming because their backs were now turned to where the attack was coming from.

And so she did, her eyes glowing yellow as she swooped down, reaching deep inside the Island with her powers and tearing rocks from the ground—then letting go and watching as they fell atop the River Jacks, burying them completely. The Cottonmouths were knocked asunder by the resulting waves, and when the dust cleared, there were only a few measly troops on the shore.

Terra swooped down and began pelting them with rocks until they fell unconscious; with a gesture, she buried them all up to their necks to prevent them from escaping should they wake up.

A series of explosions above her alerted Terra that there was still a hellacious fight going on, and she took off, her platform growing as she drew more earth to it. In the distance, she saw Starfire fighting with a huge wing of Copperhead helicopters, and arced towards them, chunks of her platform breaking off and becoming missiles that tore off the tail rotors of the helicopters. She hovered up beside Starfire, who landed on her platform rather abruptly, breathing heavily. Terra compensated with more energy, her eyes radiating more golden light as she added more mass and altered the shape of the platform to something more defensive.

"Are you okay, Star?" Tara asked, grabbing the alien princess by the shoulders.

"I am, as you say, struck repeatedly with the sticks."

"That's beat with a stick," Tara corrected, steering her platform.

Star nodded. "Earth's metaphors are certain to the point, yes?"

"Wanna tag-team?" Terra asked, smirking.

Robin might have disagreed with Terra's tactical offering, but he had other things currently on his mind, which was issuing new orders to his team, trying to coordinate them all…

So it's probably not surprising he didn't see the figure until he landed behind him. Hey, he was only human.

Robin jerked around, looking at the figure…the man. He looked to be in his mid-late 40's, and had a long head of blonde hair that streamed past his shoulders. He wore an ornate green and gold cloak over his body, and that was the only clothing Robin could see as the man straightened up.

He looked at Robin…and yet he didn't. Robin could clearly see the milky irises. The cloaked man was clearly blind.

"Hello." The master said as he straightened up, having easily used the small floating platform to sneak through the air battle and around the Tower, leaping off when he was above the building.

"…hmnf. I know you're not Dr. Livingstone. That either makes you a fool or the leader of this little war band you've decided to land on our island." Robin said. "But if I recall, the master of the Kobra organization was himself called Kobra. You don't look like Kobra."

"No, the former master who shared his namesake with the group, he is no longer among the land of the living. Angering a member of the Marvel clan can produce that result. Ensuring his body did not reach the Lazarus Pit he had set aside for such a possibility confirmed it. I now control the Kobra organization." The master said. "Since I barged in so rudely, let me introduce myself. I am Sir Edmund Dorrance. But you may call me King Snake."

"King snake…hmf. Taking the name of a snake known for being immune to other snake's venom and eating other snakes." Robin thought out loud.

"Your intelligence is great, though I expected that." King Snake said. Robin noted the accent that underscored his words. Noted and recognized it, and despite himself he chuckled.

"What amuses you?"

"Sir Edmund Dorrance…your accent…this day…heh. Gauntlet was right. The British really ARE coming."

"Do not think this matter has anything to do with matters of a national bent!" King Snake retorted, seemingly a touch angry at Robin's comment, perhaps thinking it cheapened the situation. "This has nothing to do with country, religion, or race! It involves the destiny of this world and how my organization will bring it about on this very night!"

"So what are we, practice?" Robin asked.

"No child…you see, you are simply on the wrong place. Of all our options for what comes tonight, the rest were simply far too impractical, having all sunk beneath the sea. So your island was chosen as the alter, so that after so much time and effort, the Kali Yuga can come about."

"Kali Yuga. The Hindu religion's age of chaos." Robin said. "And just how do you plan to do that and what does it have to do with us?"

"Simple, child. Tonight, for the first time in untold millennia, the stars and planets will be in the proper position. This land will become a nexus where the barriers between realms will weaken. And I, with the chosen one's blood sacrifice, will break down the wall and allow the serpent entity Apophis entry into your world. And in that, this corrupt society will burn to ash, as Kobra reigns supreme over the world that will come from it!"

Robin stared.

"…Okayyyyyyy." He replied. "You are aware you're insane, right?"

"Make your assumptions child. It will be the last thing you do."

"No, actually, I was thinking that that should be more along the lines of this." Robin said, and in a blur of movement he sent a Birdarang whirling at King Snake.

King Snake's own arm blurred, and a moment later he was holding the Birdarang, having plucked it out of the air like it was fruit from a tree. Robin's eyes narrowed: he hadn't expected helplessness but the fact still remained that King Snake was blind.

"You would cheat the world of a glorious battle on its final day? Do not be so rude child." King Snake said as he tossed the Birdarang aside. Robin tensed, feeling the familiar cold rage, the desire to protect surging through his veins. Even if King Snake was a babbling madman in regards to this 'Titan Island is a magic place, I'll use it to call a big nasty thing and it will destroy the world' explanation he'd given, he still had a gigantic army of men and machines that could wreck untold havoc on his friends and his city. Unless Robin stopped him.

And he would.

"You, who would slaughter the world, are telling me what it means to be rude? Tell you what King Snake." Robin said.

And then he did a gesture with his left arm and right hand that any British person would recognize. As futile as it was, as King Snake couldn't actually SEE it.

King Snake, as if sensing the sentiment anyway, chuckled.

"Let it begin."

And King Snake whipped off his cloak, revealing that he was clad only in a pair of loose green pants, his feet and chest bare, gold metal armbands on his wrists and a golden sash around his waist, a large tattoo of a snake painted on his defined chest muscles, as he leapt at Robin, his palms up and out and his fingers clenching as he prepared for personal combat.

And Robin in turn…produced several Birdarangs and rapidly threw them at King Snake one after the other, in no mood to play fair.

It didn't help, as King Snake batted the dangerous metal projectiles out of the air in one rapid fire motion of strikes, not lessening his pace in the slightest, as he charged in a Robin.

Robin's whole body went into combat mode.

King Snake sliced out with a fist.

Robin dodged to the left.

And even as he did King Snake stopped and slashed his right leg up, nailing Robin in the chest with a roundhouse before Robin could even complete his first dodge, the powerful impact slamming the wind from Robin's lungs and sending him flying through the air.

He crashed up against the edge of the roof, the impact rattling through him.

King Snake slowly swung and lowered his leg down, and then he gestured at Robin to come at him again.

The rage surging anew, Robin leapt up, drawing his metal staff and charging forth anew.