Hello, loyal readers. Welcome back to Chapter 7 of the story which was originally combined with an enormous Chapter 6, but I separated them into more manageably large chapters for readability ease. Now we continue on with the story as Strata and Starfire confront Punk Rocket, who has come to rob JumpMart.

"The Bird, the Boy, and the Mighty Beast"

Chapter 7: Sound, Fury, and Lobsters

"What in the world?" said Strata, looking at Starfire.

"It is the Punk Rocket!" said Starfire, "He is here to rob the store of food!"

"Not a good guy, eh?" queried Strata, "There sure are a lot of loonies in this town."

"We must save the store!" exclaimed Starfire, "Hurry before he plays his guitar!" She glided towards the front of the store.

"Play his what?" thought Strata, hurrying after her.

As the two approached the front of the store, they looked around. The store's cashiers and several patrons were all looking very confused and staring up towards the public address system's speakers on the store's high ceiling. There was no sign of Punk Rocket, not that Strata knew what to look for. It was at that moment there was a crash and parts of the ceiling caved in and Punk Rocket came leaping down from the ceiling. He was holding a large electric guitar which seemed to be attached to several large amplifiers that he had mounted on a frame attached to his back. They were pointing in all possible directions.

"Yo, blokes!" screamed the newly emerged villain while wiping drywall dust off his rather smelly shirt, "I'm not seeing any dough coming my way! Now get with the handovers or you get a free benefit concert from Punk Rocket! And when I say benefits, I mean for me! Now fork over the green, and I don't mean any lame 2 for 1 coupons!"

"Punk Rocket, you give up now and leave these people alone!" yelled Starfire towards the villain, who was perched upon a checkout counter.

Punk Rocket roared in laughter, "Blimey! If it isn't the cute redhead Titan and a new guy I don't know! That was a quick turnaround time! Where's the rest of your posse? They running scared or are you just hear for the sound check?"

"Hey, 80's hair band reject, I don't know what the heck you're doing here, why you're dressed like that, or what's up with that equipment—seriously haven't you ever heard of an iPod—but get off that counter and quit ruining my day! I've had enough freaks for one week already!" shouted Strata, who was still trying to process what was happening.

Punk Rocket laughed off Strata's comments, "iPod? Ha Ha! That's a good one! Good riffs are all about volume! Why don't you come over here and get an earful?"

"Ooooo…..you're asking for it, you exaggerated roadie; why don't you autograph my hammer?" Strata leaped towards Punk Rocket as his right hand glowed blue. In less than a second, a blue beam of energy emitted from his hand and extended outward from his hand. The energy solidified into a large sledgehammer, which Strata raised to swing down upon Punk Rocket."

"Here's my latest single for my newest fan!" yelled rocker as he struck a chord on his guitar. A huge sound wave emitted from the fore-mounted amps on Punk Rocket's back. The wave carried both a force of incredibly high volume and was so powerful that it knocked Strata mid-swing backwards with powerful acceleration into Starfire so that they both went rolling back into the seafood section. The wave expanded outwards knocking over displays, customers, and a tank of live lobsters (which landed on Strata). "Everyone's a music-hater!" roared the guitarist.

Starfire, having been farthest away from the blast, recovered first, "It is time to stop your music!" Her eyes glowed green and she flew directly at Punk Rocket intending to ram him with all her might.

"I always save a song for my female fans," cooed Punk Rocket as he struck a chord, strumming his fingers across the strings. His amps fired another powerful wave towards Starfire. The Tamaranian girl, used to large sounds from Tamaran concerts where musicians coordinated the howls of Gordanian monkeys, stayed in flight as long as she could, pushing against the fierce waved of sound that Rocket was delivering to her at full force. However, with one final jam on his guitar, Starfire was flung backward into a display of rice cakes.

Starfire's delay had given Strata time to recover. "It's a wonder this guy isn't deaf," he thought, "though that might explain why he plays like that. It's too dangerous too try to take him head on; I need something long-range," he thought while pulling a lobster off his shirt sleeve. His hands glowed blue again (he had let go of the hammer when Punk Rocket had hit him the first time and as when Strata lets go of all is objects, it subsequently vanished). He raised his glowing palms towards Punk Rocket and metal arrow-points, two from each palm, sprung from his palm towards the villain while being tethered to Strata's hands by four chains.

"Gifts from the public? No thanks, I only take Grammy's and cash!" yelled Punk Rocket as he leaped down from the register, dodging Strata's metal points easily from across the room.

"You'll have to dodge better than that," yelled Strata, "I can control my projections." He pulled on the chains extending from his hands and the four metal points which had flown behind Punk Rocket turned in their flight path a full 180 degrees and flew towards Punk Rocket's back.

The rocker smirked, "You'll have to attack better than that." He strummed a new chord on his guitar and this time the aft amps sprang to life. They emitted a sound wave that traveled behind Punk Rocket and made Strata's darts bobble in flight. A second wave dashed the chains that tethered the points, sundering them in two and Strata's entire weapon disappeared instantly as the link with his hands was severed.

"Oh great," said Strata as his hands glowed blue again. He put up a blue wall in front of him which pressed against with his hands as Punk Rocket unleashed a new attack wave against him. Strata strained to hold up his barrier against the force; he could hear it beginning to break.

"Friend Strata, we must do something!" called a recovered Starfire who flew behind Strata's barrier with him.

"Got any ideas? I'm almost out of shield here." Strata watched what he was sure was a frozen food case go flying past him on his left. There were cans and debris everywhere.

"Can you make a small hole in your wall right here?" asked Starfire.

"Yeah, but it won't hold for very long."

"It will have to do, please do so now."

Strata focused his energy and a small one-foot diameter hole appeared in the upper right corner of his wall. Instantly, a jar of peanut butter flew through it. Starfire dodged the flying confection and peered through the opening. Her eyes glowed green as she emitted her powerful eye-beams from them. The energy sailed at high speed towards Punk Rocket.

"Not a bad try, Titans, but not good enough!" sang out the rocker. He turned the volume knob on his main amps up and launched another barrage of sound waves. The waved were so powerful they split the air like lightning creating thunder. The boom refracted the eyebeams on contact and they exploded in a flash of light in mid-air with Punk Rocket a safe distance away.

"Now for my climactic ballad ," called out the villain, as he strung a new chord on his guitar. "This place has surround sound." Above Starfire and Strata was one of the speakers for the store's intercom. It sprang to life and a mighty sound wave struck down from above on top of the two heroes who were still guarding behind Strata's cracking wall which was facing Punk Rocket. The attack hit them unawares from above and flattened them into the ground, with Starfire landing on top of Strata. Strata's wall disappeared as his face met the ground in an unfriendly manner, being tackled by the wave from above. His hands slipped from the wall, and his shield vanished.

"He has tapped into the store's PA system," mumbled Strata, his face full of floor. "He's been setting up for this for some time."

"He has been expecting us," said Starfire. They were both launched into the back wall as another wave from Punk Rocket's amps crashed into them. "Any ideas?" asked the Tamaranian, "perhaps we should try attacking him from the rear."

"Already tried that," said Strata whose body was already sore from the pounding the HIVE 5 had given him yesterday. "He has speakers back there too. Perhaps you could attack the rear and I could attack the front. He might not be able to play right to hit all his amps at the same time."

"Let's do it," said Starfire, "before he attacks again."

Rocket was gathering cash from the registers. "This is a nice load," he said, "I might finally be able to get that new 40-foot speaker I haven't been able to steal." He stepped over the now unconscious store cashiers and faced his adversaries again who were stumbling to their feet.

"Go!" yelled Starfire as the two combatants charged their adversary.

"You blokes never listen!" yelled Rocket as he launched another sound wave at them.

Strata instantly dropped to his knees and Starfire ducked behind him. He extended his arms out in front of himself, blue energy emerged in front of him as another wall appeared. The wave crashed into his barrier and Punk Rocket poured all his decibels into cracking Strata's wall.

"This again?" said Rocket, "You guys need another set!'

"He's going for the PA system again," said Strata, "Do it!"

Starfire raced out from behind Strata's cracking barrier and flew in a wide arc around Rocket's right side. The villain had been reaching to launch another attack from above but hesitated when Starfire moved against him from behind. He turned toward her. "Take this!" screamed the rocker as sound waves crashed into Starfire from the speakers in the ceiling.

Strata released his wall and reformed his hammer. He charged at Rocket his some of his last strength. As he approached Rocket the villain suddenly noticed his peril and unleashed a chord. The aft speakers flared again and Strata was knocked backwards by a direct hit, releasing his hammer in the process. "Ugh!" he muttered as he landed in a pile nachos. "Our timing was off."

"You blokes just don't appreciate good rock," laughed Punk Rocket. "Now you can barely move. Time for me to be headin' off to my next gig!"

Strata struggled to his feet as the villain gathered the money to leave. "Starfire, you awake?"

"Gooblegeez," muttered Starfire which is a close Tamaranian expression for, "Mommy is it time for my nap?" She struggled to her feet and regained her senses, "The Punk Rocket is very loud today; where are the others, they should be here by now? We need a sound-proof room to fight this guy with."

"Sound-proof booth?" said Strata, "I can't make that but…say, Starfire, have you ever been bowling?"

"Yes, Friend Severing Strata, but we don't go anymore after I bowled a starbolt. Robin said it was not good, but he did tell me to strike the pins."

"Well, I need your strength to strike Punk Rocket right now. Just throw the large, thick, insulated bowling ball at him."

"What ball is that? I see no such thing."

Strata smiled a very tired smile. He extended his arms to his sides so that he was at his full wingspan. His palm glowed blue as energy poured out from his hands and curved around his body until it met up and connected with energy from the other palm from above and below and around his entire body until Strata was encased in a think, blue sphere.

"Oh, Friend Strata, I see now," said Starfire. She flew towards the ball and using what strength she had left to summon heaved it into the air. "Mean Punk Rocket, this game is over!" She launched the ball with a mighty heave towards the villain.

Punk Rocket, who was emptying the last cash register and surprised to see his adversaries still moving, turned towards her. "I must admit you guys have some stamina, but my encore is just like my opening!" He struck a chord and a wave launched against the sphere with Strata inside.

However, the wave did not knock the sphere back like Strata's points or refract like Starfire's energy. It was heavy and think like Strata's wall. Encased in the sphere, Strata could not hear or feel Rocket's wave. The sphere hesitated in mid-air before overcoming the wave and crashing into Punk Rocket. "Oomph!" yelled the villain as the over 6-foot diameter ball hurdled him to the floor.

"Why you little scamps!" yelled Rocket, who reached for his guitar.

"I don't think so!" yelled Strata as the sphere disappeared. His hand quickly flickered blue as he formed a sword and sliced the guitar in two. He gave Rocket a good kick.

"This is over!" yelled Starfire as she fired eyebeams at Rocket. Her energy hit him square in the back in his frame of amps and speakers. His equipment exploded and he landed on the ground unconscious and defeated. "And for the record I like the music of the elevators!"

"You do?" asked Strata.

"Yes, I play it whenever Raven is grumpy around me."

"And that helps?"

"She leaves."

"Oh, okay, well I guess we can get our groceries from the floor somewhere."

"Do not worry Strata. The mustard display is still intact."

"I rejoice to the heavens," deadpanned Strata.

It was at this moment that the rest of the Titans arrived in the T-Car. "Friends what kept you?" asked Starfire, "Strata and I defeated the nasty Punk Rocket together."

"I can see you two have been busy," said Cyborg, "guessing from the destruction I'd say you had fun, Star."

"It was tough, but Strata's idea with the bowling ball did it."

"Hey, you gave me the idea."

"We had to have a long talk, Star," said Robin.

"About me, Robin?" asked the princess.

"About some stuff Strata told Raven last night," said Beast Boy, "about he being here for a reason."

"And about the Raging Ragnarok," said Robin, "He says that he's coming back."

"Is this true, Friend Strata?"

"Yes, Starfire, I'm afraid it is." Strata glanced down at the defeated Punk Rocket. "What is true is that there is a darkness on the horizon that shall make this loud rocker look more like a kazoo in comparison."

"Troubles are ahead," said Raven, "and you're the cause of them."

"That might be stretching it a bit," said Strata, "But one thing I know for certain is that this city will be the beginning of something very powerful. And I know the future is more uncertain than ever."

To be Continued…

Wow! Strata helps the Titans stop another villain from looting wild, but mysteries still remain. What will happen to Strata and the Titans now that his secrets are beginning to unravel? And where is Ragnarok? And what is this "something" that's coming? And what's inside the rest of Strata's metal box? That's what Chapter 8 is for people! The greatest revelations are yet to come! Please R I put a lot of work into these, and I would really appreciate it! Perhaps even consider an alert to keep up with this story!

Chapter 7: 2,628 words