"Oh, and now the two groups of heroes are teaming up. How…sweet," Slade was perched on a rooftop, watching as Robin and Ben shook hands. "Well, eventually I planned to take out the Titans, so I guess certain parts of the plan will just have to move forward."

Deciding that sticking around would only get him discovered; he slunk off quietly while the teens were still distracted. So long as the Titans still didn't know he was there, he could figure out how to make their arrival work to his advantage.


"Man, your base is tiny!" Cyborg complained as he tried to force himself through the door. He got stuck about halfway through. "Uh…a little help please?"

Kevin roughly pushed him through. Cyborg landed on the floor, and grumbled insincere thanks in Kevin's direction. "This ain't a base, it's Tennyson's house."

"So…it's not a cloaking device," Beastboy said, looking around, "You guys really just work out of your house?"

"We don't all live here," Gwen responded. "This is just Ben's parents' place. I live with my parents and Kevin lives…."

"It doesn't matter, not like I'm going to invite 'em over for tea," Kevin snarled. "But no, we don't have a regular base. Tennyson's Grandpa is working on one, but it won't be done for a few months."

"We'll have to make do," Robin said with a shrug, setting up his laptop at the kitchen table.

"What's so great about where you guys live?" Kevin demanded.

"We live in a giant 't' shaped tower on an island," Beastboy explained.

"Lame!"

"A giant t-shaped tower with a state-of-the-art protection system. Check it out, I've got the specs right here," Cyborg said, popping open a section of his robotic arm and showing Kevin random blue prints that made no sense to Gwen, who also looked on.

"Impressive," Kevin admitted. "I think that could have car applications, if you did it right."

"Already have. We left it back at the motel, but the T-car is the smoothest, sweetest ride you could ask for."

"Maybe next to mine," Kevin insisted. "Or does your car have up to level fifteen tech stashed in the trunk, with a signal scrambler to throw off even Plumber level tech scanners?"

"Dude, until yesterday I thought plumbers only fixed toilets."

Robin's grimace seemed to grow with every word. "Robin? Is something wrong? You have found the source of the terrible ringing?" Starfire asked, patting his hand. He shook his head fervently, typing in codes as fast as his fingers could possibly fly. "Then you are annoyed with not having the 'leads', yes?"

"I'm annoyed because no one seems to be taking this seriously," Robin muttered. If Starfire heard, she gave no indication. "Did we have to stop on the way back for smoothies?" This time, he directed it at Ben, glaring as Ben intermittently slurped on the straw, the noise harsh and grating.

"What? I was having a smoothie withdrawal. Want one? They're pineapple-grape-carrot-ginger-chocolate!"

Robin glared, but Starfire grabbed the smoothie Ben extended and gulped it down. "Glorious!"

"Wow. She's as weird as Ben," Kevin commented.

"So…you're a magic user?" Gwen asked Raven. Raven studied her for a minute, but nodded. "I am too. …I guess. Well, sort of. I can use magic, but it's only because I have an alien ancestor. Does that make sense?"

"Not even remotely."

Giving up, Gwen shrugged and backed off, deciding to opt to talk to Starfire instead. Robin began typing so hard on the keys that the talking stopped as the Titans and Ben, Gwen and Kevin stared at him, watching and listening.

"What?!" He yelled, finally looking up. "I'm doing what we came here to do," he turned his head towards Ben, "How your team handles things is your business, but could you stop distracting my team?"

"Dude, loosen up," Ben said, leaning back against the wall, "Kevin, Gwen and I saved the universe before. I think we'll be able to handle whatever's going on with the aliens. Besides, all we've got to do is find the alien…dog…whistle thing."

"Loosening up isn't going to help us find anything! And even if you have the power to stop something, if you don't find what you have to stop, nothing gets done. It's like all your team does is goof off!"

"It'd probably do you some good to goof off from time to time," Ben insisted, "When's the last time you took that dorky mask off? Secret identities are lame, man. Who do you think you are, Batman?"

Robin started to respond, but the girls got between them. "Friends! There is no reason for this. We can all reach an agreement, yes?" Starfire asked.

"She's right. Ben, maybe Robin's got a point. Maybe we should focus on whatever's causing the disturbance. We can have fun later," Gwen added.

"That's a great idea, but uh….where'd Beastboy, Kevin and Cyborg go?" Raven finally asked.

Ben and Robin simultaneously face palmed. Gwen looked out the window, to see if they'd merely gone outside. "…Oh no. Kevin's car is gone."

"Maybe they went out to bring us back pizza?" Ben suggested.

"Ben, you and Robin should work on finding whatever's causing the disturbance, and maybe Raven could help you guys while Starfire and I go look for the guys," Gwen looked hopefully to Raven, who shrugged.

"Aww, man, why don't you stay and help? You're better with tech, anyways," Ben tried. Gwen shook her head, and leaned in and whispered.

"I know you're not too fond of Robin, but there's a lot he could teach you…besides, you don't have tracking powers, and the two team leaders need to work together. Just call it 'diplomacy'."

"I call it 'lame'", Ben said, crossing his arms.

"Call it whatever you want, but you're still doing it. C'mon, Starfire." The two redheads headed out as Ben sighed and stared at Robin's computer.

"Well, at least it'll be easier to work while it's quiet," Robin noted, handing Ben a cord. "Could you plug that in?"

"Aww, man, and now I'm a lackey," he grumbled, going to find an extra outlet. "Gwen owes me for this…"


"And you're sure Ben won't mind this?" Cyborg asked, looking around Kevin's car, feeling along the dashboard and smiling in delight with every new hidden button he found.

"I don't care if he does or not, we're gonna have a man-to-man race. I'd bet you anything my car will smoke your ride. But why's the green guy with us?"

"Because back there was boring," Beastboy said, sinking into his seat.

"I can respect that," Kevin agreed.

"Isn't your girlfriend gonna get mad?"

"Girlfriend? Who? Gwen?" Kevin pulled at his collar. "We're not exactly dating. We're uh…I don't know what to call it. But yeah, she's gonna get mad."

"Oooh, you're gonna be in trouble!" Cyborg said, chuckling.

"She's not the boss of me, I can do whatever I want. If I want to have a drag race, I'm going to drag race. She understands that I'm not hers to control."

"Do I now?" Kevin jumped. Starfire was flying along one side of the car while Gwen created bits of mana to run along beside it, just high enough to avoid oncoming traffic.

"Busted!" Beastboy and Cyborg chorused.

"Forgot I could track you, huh?" Gwen asked.

"Forgot you could track me," Kevin admitted.

"It's just a quick ride, and Robin's getting all…seriously scary. Could we just uh….do our own kind of investigation around the city? You know, you guys give us a tour and we try to uncover the…dog whistle," Beastboy asked.

"Alien dog whistle," Cyborg corrected.

Gwen contemplated it. "All right. Pull over, Kevin. We need to figure out who's going with who."

"Ooh! I wish to go with my new friend-cousin!" Starfire said, glomping onto Gwen and breaking her concentration. For a moment, Gwen started to fall, but Starfire reacted quickly enough, starting to fly again and dragging Gwen with her. Kevin pulled over nearby.

"I like the current arrangement. You two can bond together as girls or something, and I take Cyborg and Beastboy with me."

Gwen raised an eyebrow at Kevin. "And you promise not to go racing?"

"Uhhh…."

She crossed her arms, and Kevin sighed. "All right, all right, no racing."

"All right. Turn your badge on, and make sure you keep your phone on, too. Let us know if you find anything. C'mon, Starfire."

"I am hungry. Please, where is your nearest hut of pizza?" Starfire asked. Gwen sighed, and lead the way.

"Are we really not going to race?" Beastboy asked, disappointed.

"Of course we still are."

"But…didn't you just promise Gwen you wouldn't?" Cyborg pointed out. Kevin smirked.

"I never actually said 'I promise'. It doesn't count."

"What kind of good guy are you?" Beastboy asked, laughing.

Kevin frowned. "It's a long story."

Author's note: I hope everyone caught the more subtle jokes….