I couldn't see a single thing. I couldn't hear anything either, but that had more to do with my hands being clamped over my ears. Without even opening my eyes, I knew the air was filled with fine dust and smoke; I could feel it scraping and falling against my skin like liquid wallpaper. Crouching against the brick wall behind me, I managed to open an eye.

It wasn't as bad as I thought.

Granted: smoke was blotting out the sky; every tree within a seventy meter radius had been charred; I couldn't even see Cyborg or Beast Boy; and the dust in air was asphyxiating, but... overall, I didn't see any problems.

"DAMN IT, BEAST BOY!"

No problems at all.

I squinted and barely made out a bulky figure plowing through the aerial net of dust and smoke. A white circle suddenly glowed into view on his shoulder and the beam of light cut through the fog like a proverbial knife. I slowly rocked onto my feet and stepped into the dissipating cloud.

"WHAT DID I SAY?"

I could only cough and shield my eyes as Cyborg continued marching until he was standing next to me. I stared behind covered eyes while he stood perfectly unaffected in the dying haze.

He finally seemed to notice me. "Hyper Respiratory Filtration System."

I smiled weakly between the hands rubbing my eyes and pretended that I understood what he meant.

"BEAST BOY!"

"What?"

I stumbled forward, reacting to the sudden voice behind me and taking in a healthy gulp of smoke and airborne dust. Beast Boy emerged from behind me with a pair of blue-lensed goggles on his eyes and a silly grin on his face.

I gave my eyes a final rub. "Where did those come from?"

He shrugged. "I always keep 'em handy..."

"One thing! I said not to do one thing," Cyborg yelled. "And what was it?"

Amidst the final clearing dust from the sky, Beast Boy nervously laughed. "Roughhandle the tanks?"

"Roughhandle the tanks!"

I threw a quick glance over the lot: the ground—which had once been a dusty gray color—was now blacker than sin; it was difficult to tell exactly where it ended and the night sky began. The only other objects were two torn metal structures that rested on opposite ends of the flamed lot, near the black stumps that were formerly trees. Heat trails rose from the seared walls of the tanks and leaked into a rapidly forming smoke stream into the sky. Gentle fires littered the lot as dying testament of the previous... experience.

"You know that was oxygen right?"

Beast Boy looked away and shrugged.

"You know how explosive oxygen is?"

"I believe we all do now," I answered while slowly edging away.

"Hey!" he countered. "I destroyed the hatching moths didn't I?"

"Yeah and you also burned off our eyebrows in the process!" Cyborg retorted wide-eyed.

"I got the job done..."

"What you did was release the moths in the first place."

Beast Boy faced Cyborg suddenly. "Whoa! How was I supposed to know the moths were gonna break through as we were digging the nest up? I was doing my part to finish the mission, and the stupid things got in the way."

"...So you threw the tank at them?"

I couldn't help but smile as I walked in the distance.

"If the oxygen had been purer, the flames of the moths could've blown up this entire building and taken us with—"

BEEEEEEP.

"Cybo... repor..."

He raised his arm and flipped open the monitor to reveal Robin's distracted face. "The seventh nest is destroyed beyond any possible hope of repair."

BEEEEEEP.

I walked up to the enormous gaping hole adjacent to the black brick wall of the building. Where gnashing teeth and fluttering wings had been only moments before, laid black, charred remnants of life and gray, unmoving ashes. There was no sign that anything had ever hatched there.

Problem solved.

Cyborg lowered his arm and looked back to Beast Boy, whose wistful attention was intently fixed on rocks beside his foot. "Listen, let's just get outta here..." He ambled away towards the general direction of the car; I followed suit and made my way towards it, as well.

BEEEEEEP.

Cyborg's communicator was up and open before it stopped its first ring. "What's up?"

Raven's voice answered from the other side of the line. "We need all of you at the Tower, now."

Cyborg sped up. "What, why?"

"It's under attack."

"By Firefly and Killer Moth?"

"By pyromoths."

I ducked into the door and slammed the door behind me.

"We just took the last nest out."

"They had one hidden up their sleeve."

"Where?"

"At the Tower. Raven, out."

The T-Car roared to life as Cyborg jumped in. Through the windshield, I could see Beast Boy flapping furiously away into the sky. The clutch clicked into first and the wheels squealed as we shot out of the lot, adding more heat and burned rubber to the site of combusted decimation. Cyborg muttered under his breath. "Really need to update that security..."

In the side mirror, I caught sight of dirt and gravel flying back from the rear tires as the car merged into the gravel road and took off.

"Hello?"

I turned to see a microphone extended from his ear, hanging before his jaw.

"Yes, there's a burn site in a lot on the outskirts." He paused and apparently listened to something on the other end. "On the service road offa 101 past Richar—"

Pause.

"Yes, that's it. There's not too much of a threat left, mainly just clean-up."

I heard a soft buzz flowing from his ear.

"Yeah, thanks."

The thin rod slowly retracted into the concealed half of his face and we continued speeding along the pathway in total silence. I rested comfortably in the leather seat, cultivating the hush until finally asking the question on my mind.

"Janitorial service?"

Cyborg shrugged as he stole a quick look to left for incoming cars. "You could call it that."

The car merged onto a better quality road running parallel to a wider series of roads.

I faltered a bit, but continued. "... A janitorial service that receives Titan funding?"

He smiled widely.

"Someday, Mika..."

—

The car rocketed down the adequately paved road until it hit the ramp onto the major highway. Even from a kilometer away, the customized license plate—"71N M4N"—was clearly readable; every speck of dirt on the front hood was perfectly visible—perfectly visible to a bird's eye.

A green peregrine falcon soared high above the city, interchanging current glides and speeding dives; the falcon swiftly cut through the air, keeping one close eye on the speeding car below it and the other on the dark shadow of a 'T' that stood lit up by random lights in the middle of the inlet.

He rapidly flapped his green wings, rising above an oncoming building, and stared back down at the highway. Even in the stark darkness of night, the falcon could individually identify each car on the highway below him with moderate ease.

The falcon watched as the T-Car slipped into a neighboring lane; it shot off and left an angry Ferrari honking at empty exhaust. The T-Car growled as it made its way through a mass movement of relatively slow cars... until it swung into an empty lane beside two adjacent eighteen-wheelers and visibly shifted into high gear.

Beast Boy saw it coming.

From a ramp hidden by an overgrowth of trees, another eighteen-wheeler with a colorful hamburger advertisement barreled onto the highway, cutting off the T-Car and nearly sandwiching it into the next trailer over.

The car slammed on the brakes and swerved wildly.

Falcon eyes watched through the windshield as Cyborg fought for control.

After a split second, all cars—T-Car included—resumed normal flow and drove on as usual.

Beast Boy watched Cyborg's narrowed eyes and wild lips. He didn't need to be in the car to know exactly the words he was shouting at the top of his lungs.

And for the first time in history, a falcon smiled.

—

Pale red ooze exploded all over the ground.

Robin lowered the bo staff and stepped right into the middle of the puddle. His eyes were glued to the sight before him: moths.

Lots of them.

Half of the moths covered the base, while the other half swarmed around the rest of the tower.

"There's no way three of us can destroy all of those," Raven muttered. She raised her hands and shot two pyromoths out of the sky with spears of black energy; they exploded into a flurry of more red slime.

"That's why we're here."

We leaped over the rocks on the shoreline and joined Raven and Robin as they stood away from the mass swarm around the tower.

Starfire floated in from above and shot off a starbolt into a nearby moth, blowing it into plentiful red muck. "Perhaps together we can rid the island of these winged beasts."

Beast Boy nodded his head. "Nope, there's too many of 'em. And besides, look..." All eyes turned to watch as a single pyromoth broke off and slowly drifted away from the island. "They're leaving the tower," Beast Boy continued. "If they get out, we'll never be able to get all of them!"

"Not exactly..." Cyborg stepped forward.

Robin nodded: "Let's hear it, Cyborg."

"We need to deal with the ones here first; I think I have something that may take out all of the ones that stay. It's a sonic emitter similar in design to my own cannon. Bad news is... it's gonna take a little bit of time to assemble and prepare, and somebody's gonna have to fight them off."

Cyborg shifted his glance to each of our faces. "Titan Tower is flame resistant..." A light illuminated brightly from above, and we collectively looked up to see a ball of flames the size of a car smash into the side of the tower. "...but it's not fire-proof. They keep going on like that uninterrupted and the whole thing will be ablaze in a few hours."

"Right." Everyone's attention snapped back to Robin. "Cyborg, get in the Tower, make sure no pyromoths follow you in, and get whatever it is you have started up."

"Gotcha."

"Starfire, Raven, and Beast Boy, you guys take care of the highest moths and Mika and I will take the ones down here. Remember, they're out of the explosive nests, so hold no firepower back." He turned and raised the bo staff up to his chest.

"Titans, go!"

Everyone shot away into separate directions as the lights around the tower glowed in response; the heat spiked as Robin and I ran forward. I neared a pair of distracted moths and dug into my satchel. I lobbed two glittering spheres forward and sent a medium-sized splash of red splattering into the tower wall.

And then—as if for the first time noticing us—the entire fleet of pyromoths at the base of the tower turned and faced us. Wings fluttering madly, pincers squeezing in anticipation, and eyes glistening in their own pale radiance, they paused and stared us down.

Robin moved beside me. He cast a comment my way. "Don't stop until Cyborg gets his weapon out here."

Needless to say, such words of reassurance did much to comfort my anxieties.

Somewhere in the pack of moths, a wing suddenly beat out of synchronization with the rest.

"Go!"

I whipped my nunchaka out and swung at the nearest moth.

—

Cyborg charged from behind me and ran past Robin, swatting away at nearby moths and looking somewhat demented. He elbowed a pyromoth in his way into red goop and flung out his right arm, shooting down two more before moving behind a large rock. He rested a metallic hand on the rock and braced his feet against the solid floor; the flock of pyromoths at the base of the tower was dense and offered little room for stealthy intrusion. The red robotic eye scanned the mass surrounding the path to the entrance and displayed schematics that only Cyborg could see.

Suddenly, he crouched slightly lower and took off, sprinting into the flying mob.

The moths instantly turned and snarled at the incoming Titan; their mandibles sprung open in complete synchronization and a light red glow gathered rapidly at their bared teeth.

A sonic shot was already in the air.

The wave tore three moths out of the air and knocked several off balance, yet the horde of moths remained completely undamaged. Mobs of the moths surged forward...

...and met two well-shot scatter missiles. The projectiles broke into various pieces in the air and each one let loose an explosion that temporarily shrouded the base of the Tower in smoke.

Cyborg rushed past the blinded moths, looking through the smoke with the same cybernetic eye, and rounded the corner towards the Tower's entrance.

A stream of flames suddenly blocked his path.

"Aw, c'mon..."

Looking to the side, he spied a flock of moths as stunned to see him as he was to see them; they immediately ceased tearing away at the front door and directed their attention toward him.

Cyborg swung his arm forward and found the flaming stream headed directly towards him. Flames licked the solid metal wall as he dropped to the ground and aimed the cannon at the horde; a second barrage of fire flew towards him and forced him to roll away. Immediately, the moths swept in with spread wings and mouths poised to unleash the last rivers of fire.

A green explosion abruptly interrupted them.

"Cyborg," Starfire stated with worried eyes, "I hope I did not interfere with your 'whooping' of the buttock?"

He quickly rose to his feet and wiped imaginary dirt from his cannon. "Nah... I really had it under control, but... um, yeah. Thanks for the hand, Star."

She smiled widely. "You are most welcome! Now let us return to—"

A swarm of pyromoths blindsided her in the air like a steaming locomotive.

"Starfire!" Cyborg unleashed a wave and tore off a pair of moths from her torso.

"Do not worry, continue the mission as Robin instructed and we will attend to these creatures!" She sharply halted mid-air with the string of moths still attacking and violently spun about, flinging the insects in every direction.

Cyborg turned to the door and palmed the pad beside it. A green line glowed from the screen and scanned his palm, interfacing with his systems and checking his electronic signature. He glanced behind at the growing battle on the ground and sky, madly tapping his left foot and clenching his free hand.

BWOOP.

The pad glowed red and he quickly removed his hand from the screen; an alphanumeric grid overtook the screen and a strong electronic voice flowed from the panel.

"Countersign."

Robotic fingers danced over the digital keypad, entering a flurry of letters; he finished and pressed a red button at the bottom of the screen.

"Countersign accepted. Entry granted."

Steam hissed from the hinges, a brass 'T' that adorned the center of the door rotated to its side, and the heavy door swung open inwards. Cyborg stepped through and looked back once more.

Translucent wings obscured his vision.

A large body and six thin legs slammed into his face and knocked off his feet. Cyborg hit the floor and immediately scrambled to his knees. The trail of a red glow disappeared into the shadows of the Tower's main foyer.

"Oh no, you didn't..."

Cyborg jumped to his feet and scanned the vanishing heat trail.

Another pyromoth dove in towards the entrance with its teeth bared. The moth opened its jaws and prepared a blast of fire.

Cyborg swung his arm around backwards and fired without turning to look.

The moth exploded into crimson slime as the wave tore it completely apart.

"You're gonna pay, little bugger."

He reached for the door, took a step forward, and slammed it shut behind him.

—

The roof was ablaze with activity. Pyromoths tore away at the metallic plating of the tower while fire loosened the defenses. A single moth clung onto the wall with its stream of flames pounding away at the area in front of it. The metal glowed a dull red color as it slowly grew weaker and lost durability. After a second, it fell from its firm shape and began separating from the wall.

The moth quickly reared back and gave itself enough room to slam into the sheet and tear it off the wall; it shot forward and zipped through the air towards the metal plating.

Talons intercepted and tore it in half in the air.

The green eagle banked in the air and slowed to a stop. His eyes gleamed in the moonlight as he scanned over the infested airspace; the eagle dipped forward and skimmed over the roof. Beast Boy landed on the roof and skid to a stop.

"There's too many of them. We can't take all of them down!"

A black spear pierced a moth that floated nearby. "We don't have to," Raven answered calmly, "we just have to get them..." A large black hand materialized from the roof and scraped a group of moths off the wall. "...off the Tower."

Each moth simultaneously stopped their fire and rose from the roof of the Tower.

An antenna on the roof grew dark and suddenly broke off; it flew into the air and floated beside Raven. "I'm sure the tower doesn't really need this..." She faced the moths with open hands.

A random insect shot toward her.

The antenna slashed it in half before it even got close.

She eyed the rest of the flock. "Anyone else?"

Part of the swarm surged forward.

Light danced as the flexible rod whipped around, reflecting moonlight with every slash. Raven stood absolutely firm with three eyes keeping watch around her. Pale red goo rained down as moths dived in and met the lash of the black antenna.

Four insects dove in from opposing sides with a cry of fiery anger.

The black staff shot to the right and struck the moth into the ground; it swung back around and slashed through another as it impaled the third. The antenna flung forward and smacked the fourth one off-balance; it caught it in the air and flogged it down into the roof.

Raven smirked and looked back around her.

Hordes of pyromoths surrounded her on all sides.

"What I would do for a can of Raid..."

The sides of the encirclement caved in and moths pressed forward with screeching fury. The antenna shot around, whipping everything in sight while Raven's right hand flung spears of black force at the collapsing ambush. A fiery glow appeared in the front line as Raven shot the pole into the crowd and threw herself to the roof of the tower below her. The mob of moths closed in and flames roared wildly in the center of the mass.

Raven slowly emerged from the floor behind the crowd, rapidly moving her hands and slashing away at the stragglers. The numbers grew thinner as the antenna drew a whirlwind of red goo and small fires. She continued working at the moths until a large fluttering cloud appeared from behind her.

Three starbolts shot down from above.

Few moths in the ambushing group blew away and Starfire watched Raven continue swinging with the long black sword as she flew over with charging starbolts on both hands. Her attention diverted back to the moths that erratically shot around the night sky before her, leaving only light trails of smoke to follow.

Starbolts flew across the sky as Starfire gave chase and aimed at the speeding moths. The wind whipped about powerfully as bolt after bolt flew past the tens of moths that flew away. Finally, she halted in the air with a faint cry of frustration and brought her hands together; the pyromoths curved around the sky on the way back to attack a lower region of the Tower.

"Continue flying, please..."

The insects dove in like fighter pilots with their mouths open and eager for a piece of the tower and the delicious prize that lay inside.

Instead, at five meters from the wall they met a baby elephant-sized starbolt.

"Victory!" Starfire plunged into the explosion with a renewed expression of determination and flung a flurry of starbolts at the bewildered hordes of insects. "Remove your mandibles from our Tower!"

The green energy smashed into the attacking moths and cleared away areas of the Tower, but as soon as the areas cleared, more moths came to take their place and shot out towards their attacker. A rush of flames struck her on the side, knocking her away in the air.

Starfire twisted mid-air and regained balance; she brushed her side off and found no immediate damage. Her eyes widen in horror as she abruptly noticed smoke rising from part of her hair.

Another squadron of moths swooped in from her right and opened fire.

She dodged sideways and dove with an intense, renewed fire in her eyes, sweeping in close to the moths and swinging her hand like a mace. The nearest moth suddenly found the Tamaranian fist inside of its abdomen; with the flick of a wrist, the moth fell away and the punch found its place on the side of another moth's head.

Starfire kicked forward and felt the crunch of a cracking exoskeleton on her foot; a starbolt quickly finished off the injured moth.

She spun around with glowing hands and unexpectedly found a flurry of jaw, claw, and wing directly in front of her face.

"Eeeeek!" Her high-pitched cry was followed by a large starbolt.

Starfire slowly reopened her eyes and caught the last of a hailstorm of ooze plummeting downwards. Her eyes gradually reached her outstretched hands and noticed the solid layer of sickly red moth innards that covered her entire upper torso. She slowly reached her hand up to her face and wiped away the gunk from her moth.

Starfire paused and delicately dipped her index finger into her mouth; her eyebrows furrowed deliberately as she sampled it.

Suddenly, her eyes violently shot open and her face twisted as she gagged. "How greatly unpleasant!" she coughed as her eyes watered. "It tastes o-of... of... of Evil!"

The last of the red goo rained down heavily, but even through the downpour, I could clearly see Starfire's contorted facial expression. I couldn't help but think of pizza...

A sudden flash brought my attention back to the ground floor fight: fire streamed past my face as I dropped to the floor and rolled away. I jumped up with the feel of heat and smoke still on my cheek and faced the scattered moths before me.

Leaping forward, I brought down a moth and sharply kicked it away. My right arm lashed out to the side and slammed the nunchaka into a moth's head, giving me barely enough time and room to regain my sense of balance.

Pyromoths around me let go of pieces of the tower and took to the sky toward me; my hand shot into my bag, paused only a second, and dug out a handful of metal and traded it over to the other hand before grabbing another fistful.

And target practice began.

I lunged forward and rolled off two balls on my left hand. My right hand darted out, tossing out three additional ones; by then, my left hand already had more ammo in its palm.

Metal spheres flew consistently.

One shot to the left.

Three shots to the right.

Two to the left.

One to the distant right.

Four, left.

Two, right.

One to the far left.

Two to the close right.

With every explosion of a moth, three more seemed to spring up and take its place; at that rate, I knew they would overtake me in under a minute. I redoubled efforts and shot faster, leaving balls of glittering metal dashing everywhere and lighting up the night sky when they connected and blew flame and goo to the ground.

I suddenly noticed a beeping disk join my spheres in the air; it hit a mass of pyromoths and erupted into a parasitic ice growth that engulfed the surround insects and sealed them in an icy tomb.

"Thought you might need a hand," Robin casually said, landing beside me and brandishing his bo staff.

I nodded in response, though I knew I probably could have found a way out myself...

I whipped out the nunchaka and held it taut as a new wave of pyromoths advanced toward us again.

Robin gripped the bo staff tighter.

"I really hope Cyborg gets that thing working soon..."

—

Absolute darkness.

Black overtook everything; the only light that reached the inside was the occasional red or green glow through the windows. Architecture, furniture, and machinery took the form of creeping adversity as shadows laid a blanket over every room. The darkness coupled with dead silence dominated the entire Tower.

"You're gonna wish I'd killed you with a flyswatter!"

Click.

Light shattered the atmosphere, flooding the room with unbearable brilliance.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are..." Cyborg jogged through the large hallway while his eyes roamed over every crevice in the room. "Heat signature. C'mon, heat signature..."

He reached the exit to the room just as his eyes rested on broken metal grating in the corner of the ceiling.

"Ventilation shaft. Escaping into the ventilation." He sighed and palmed the door. "I really need to update the tower security..."

The door hissed open and Cyborg stepped into the rectangular compartment, reached forward, and roughly keyed in commands. Small lights flashed in response, the doors closed, and the elevator sprang to life.

First floor.

He tapped his foot impatiently.

Second floor.

Cyborg opened the panel on his wrist and fiddled absentmindedly.

Third floor.

The light whirl of the elevator engine filled the tiny metal box.

Fourth floor.

He shuffled around as the elevator continued going up with its eerie buzz.

"Maybe we should install some music in here..."

Ding.

The doors gradually split apart and revealed an empty room. Cyborg rushed to the next door, palmed the pad, and jogged through it into the Main Room. Motion sensors automatically lit the overhead lights as he ran past the kitchen and headed towards the residence hall.

A loud scrapping suddenly stole his attention.

He spun around and faced the far end of the room.

"Stay away from my window!"

Hundreds of moths crowded in front of the giant glass panel of the Main Room, madly scratching and baring their razor-sharp teeth in an attempt to burst through.

Cyborg ran to a computer and furiously typed in a series of commands. Harsh humming emanated from the wall as a titanium shell sprouted from the left on the outside of the tower and swiftly closed around the window.

Delirious cries rang faintly from the opposite side of the shield.

"That's right," Cyborg answered, "hands off the glass."

A piercing shriek echoed in the hallway to the right, suddenly stealing Cyborg's attention. He moved back toward the hallway bedrooms, tinkering with the controls at his wrist as he ran.

Slipping through the door, he simply shouted into the hallway.

"I would stay away from Raven's room if I were you."

—

Fire lashed out and burned a straight trail, forcing me sideways. I countered the attack with a thrusting punch; it connected and I felt the thorax membrane cave in under my fist. The moth's mandibles stretched beyond their limits and a shrill shriek escaped from deep within it.

Suddenly, a deep pulse visibly shook its body and traveled into my arm.

The lifeless carcass fell to the floor and I flexed my hand delicately.

Chemical energy...

My hand reached out and snatched a leg out of the air. The moth bucked wildly and screeched in protest. My fingers tightened their grip and I jerked the insect to the ground; it hit the floor and merely hobbled around as I clenched my hand.

They were like flying batteries.

The nunchaka caught another one in the air; I seized it by the hind legs and barely hesitated before tossing it into an oncoming swarm. They halted unexpectedly in the air and followed the crippled moth to the floor, crowding around the fallen comrade.

It looked like they hadn't eaten in weeks.

Robin rapidly sprinted across my path and disappeared to my right. My gaze followed him as I turned with confusion; I couldn't see exactly what he was... doing.

Without warning, a force smashed into my left shoulder and pitched me forward into an awkward somersault; I rolled to my legs and turned to see a violent current of screeching pyromoths speed past my former position.

He dashed toward the tower while dodging stray moths and avoiding airborne fire streams. He reached a wall and jumped forward, planting his right foot on the wall and kicking off into the air.

Moths dove forward with open jaws...

And Robin met them with a strong horizontal slash. The bo staff struck at the mass of insects gathered around him and tore away a circular clearing.

Without missing a beat, another attack came from the side; he caught it with the end of the staff and threw it back. The flock gave sharp cries of hunger and protest.

"Hurry it up, Cyborg..."

A single squirming insect dropped from the sky.

Robin eyed the moth curiously.

Two more fell beside it.

His gaze rose up to the sky.

A black antenna spun furiously in the sky like a dark saw blade and black arrows flashed rapidly through the sky. Raven's arms moved like hands of an erratic clock, directing unseen forces that fiercely shot moth after moth out of the air. She flashed a palm to her left and threw up a black shield just as a group of five moths unleashed a torrent of fire toward her.

Eyes narrowed and her hand clenched as the flames pounded against her defense.

Raven flew upwards with a grunt, dropped the screen, and flung the spinning antenna. It sliced through the attackers and rained a storm of pale red slime downward.

And the moths continued.

"These things won't stop," she shouted out between clenched teeth. "Where are they coming from?"

A fresh horde of pyromoths surged toward her in response.

—

"Maybe something soft: some light jazz or something," Cyborg mused.

Despite the calm speech, his feet shuffled hastily; his eyes wandered all around the empty metal walls; his breathing was deep and anxious. The hum and whirl of the sluggish elevator did nothing to ease his restlessness.

"Some time today..."

DING.

Cyborg pried the doors open and rushed into the middle of the room. In the right corner, the T-Car stood parked at a slight angle that corresponded with black tire tracks on the floor; it gave off leftover warmth and retained a smell of fresh air and pine trees.

He ran past the car hoisting a giant cardboard box and slid to a stop at a large workbench.

"Need this, this, and... this." His hands scrambled below the desk surface and pulled odd shaped materials out of seemingly random boxes; he finished gathering the materials and placed them into the larger box he brought with him.

"And the I'll definitely need..." Cyborg reached to his lower torso and revealed an opening where his left kidney would have been. His hand reemerged with a glowing cerulean sphere. "...this."

The orb gently joined the other objects; Cyborg lifted the heavy weight of the cardboard box and quickly jogged away from the workstation. He left the T-Car and barely passed the R-Cycle before he stopped dead in his tracks.

His head turned a few degrees and tilted slightly into the air.

It was faint... barely perceived... easily dismissed... and entirely insignificant...

...except that it wasn't.

Cyborg slowly edged from his path to the elevator towards the far corner of the room. The air hung still under the sparse lighting of scattered studio lights. And Cyborg held his breath as he inched forward with the box of mechanical parts tightly gripped in his hands.

He approached the area in question and gradually kneeled next to a table to observe the ventilation outlet in the shadowed upper corner of the room.

Silence.

His eyes narrowed and began an infrared scan of the barred opening.

Silence.

The search completed with the detection of a recent heat presence... but abruptly ended there.

Cyborg leaned down and looked up into the hole with a puzzled expression.

"What the... Where'd that moth g—"

From underneath the table next to his head, a winged body shot forward and blinded him for the second time in less than an hour.

Cyborg released the cardboard box.

"Holy—"

He quickly dropped forward, and barely managed to catch it again before it struck the ground full force.

The moth laid quick fire on the Titan and frantically flew off into the shadows; Cyborg recovered automatically and kept an eye on the flying assailant.

"Not this time, buddy." The robotic eye stayed focused on the pyromoth as the insect darted into an invisible opening somewhere along the room's ceiling.

Cyborg briskly jogged toward the elevator and quickly entered it; he immediately set the box down and pressed a button. The elevator promptly closed its doors began its motion, quickly rising out of the underground garage and ascending toward the first floor. The red eye continued staring into the wall through the trip, intently focusing on an invisible object.

He raised his sonic cannon at the two doors.

"Game over."

DING.

The shot fired and barely nicked the edges of the slowly opening doors; it struck the air in front of a torn ventilation duct just as the moth flew out.

Thick, red goo sprayed onto the wall.

Cyborg ambled over and inspected the fresh coat of organic paint.

"Hm... I don't Robin 'll be too crazy about this..." He shrugged. "Oh, well."

He quickly lifted the heavy box and carried it to the front door. Cyborg opened the flaps and examined the large pill-shaped device that laid covered under an assortment of parts and tools. "Now, I just got get this bad boy working..."

—

I swung forward and knocked the moth clear out of the air.

It was a little disappointing: I had really hoped to drain it first. Two more moths sprung forward from my side and I barely managed to both dodge the attack and secure a hold on their legs. I clutched the squirming insects in my hands and tossed them aside after a split second of concentration.

My fingers immediately began itching.

I squeezed a handful of spheres and tossed them all at once at an incoming swarm. The explosions shook the air and tossed red everywhere. And my hands were ready with more.

Another attack zipped forward like a glittering army of bees and struck down another mass of crazed insects.

I reached for a third handful... and barely dropped down in time to avoid a stream of flames. I straightened up and found myself surrounded on all sides. I tossed the spheres in my hands straight up in the air and whipped the nunchaka out as they hailed down and barely thinned out the ambush.

An enormous moth dove forward in front of me and I countered immediately.

The sharp teeth stood inches from my face, held back only by the middle link of the nunchaka. My arms fiercely pushed against it as it vigorously flapped its wings and squirmed violently.

All of a sudden, it clamped its jaws close.

I stared at the broken midsection of the weapon for only a moment before the moth charged forward and knocked into me.

The nunchaka flew into the air.

I instantly jumped forward after them...

...and stopped as I reached the edge of the Tower's rooftop. The damaged weapon slowly fell through the air and silently hit the rocky shoreline below. Near the nunchaka, Robin, Beast Boy, and Starfire systematically brought down moths and I briefly observed them fighting on the ground from my position on the roof; only a few minutes ago, the green prehistoric flier had offered to carry me up and traded places with me and, in such little time, I had already managed to lose a melee weapon.

I turned around quickly after watching the weapon disappear, and balled my fists.

It seemed things were going to go the hard way.

The pyromoths formed a tight circle around my position on the edge of the roof. The threat grew steadily as more moths joined the back of the encirclement and added to the mounting tension.

I swallowed one last breath of air and stood up on the tips of my toes.

I sprinted forward.

The moths screeched in response, but stayed absolutely still.

I neared them and took quicker and more powerful steps.

They began glowing and I felt the heat radiate painfully from them as their screech became high-pitched and painful to my ears.

But it was too late to stop my momentum.

I leaped forward in the air and steadied my right foot as I moved in to strike with a flying kick to the nearest moth.

The screams reached a peek and I grimaced mid-kick.

My foot shot forward as I anticipated the impact.

At less than a centimeter away from my foot, the moth exploded.

Not "exploded" like a firecracker explodes, or even like the moths exploded when I tagged them with supercharged spheres; "exploded" like it was hit by an anti-aircraft missile, like it was filled with hundreds of sticks of dynamite and tossed into a furnace.

Exploded.

All of them.

Simultaneously, and all less than a meter to my every side.

The force knocked me to the ground and cascaded several thick layers of wonderful, pale red slime all around my kneeling figure. As loud ringing echoed in my ears, I gradually stood back up and shook off the gunk from my body.

All around the rooftop, the same red goo littered the floor. And not a single moth hung in the air, though several parts laid explicitly about...

Several meters from the rooftop, Raven floated silently downwards toward Starfire, Robin, and Cyborg, who stood in a tight circle in front of the entrance to the tower. I moved forward and—seeing no other way down, and still feeling adrenaline pumping furiously through my veins—took a quick step off the roof.

The wind picked up as I grasped the ledge in front of a broken window. I peered in and barely saw anything in the black room; the only noticeable features were the red goo on blue bedsheets and the small black birds near the pillows.

Creepy.

I released the ledge and tipped myself backwards.

Various pipes and crevices allowed me to make my way down in exactly three minutes. I finally landed on the rocky floor and jogged over to the meeting in progress.

"...kinda like my sonic cannon, but with a radiating effect. I was able to tune to just the right frequency to burst the bugs right out of the air."

I slowly walked up beside Starfire.

Beast Boy shook his head beside me and rubbed his ear with his hand. "Geez Cyborg, but you couldn't get it to not affect us? I think you made my ears bleed..."

"Hey, I got the job done, didn't I?" Cyborg asked innocently.

Beast Boy jutted out his lower jaw and glared at him. "Yeah. Real funny."

"Sorry to interrupt the beginning of another intellectual argument," Raven began, "but how are gonna clean all of this mess up?"

The Titans looked around at the mass sheet of sickly red ooze that coated the entire floor of the island with a silent awkwardness. Gradually all eyes came to a rest on the orange alien.

"Star," Cyborg casually asked, "you wouldn't happen to be extremely hungry, would you?"

Starfire's eyes widened horrifically. "I'm sorry, Cyborg, but I cannot eat that... that filth. I do not believe my digestive system would be able to handle such horrific material. It is vile, repulsive, sour, and most unpleasant."

She paused considerately.

"It also tastes much like the Earth beverage of ketchup."

Everyone cracked a smile.

Even Raven smirked beneath her hood.

"It's not time to clean up quite yet," Robin said, fighting a laugh; he turned and faced the City. "There are still a few more insects to round up."

—

3:12 am

The City.

Serene.

Sleeping.

Silent.

Buchanan Street ran through the middle of it.

It held, among other things, Valentino's Market, the Presbyterian Medicine Center, and the Motel Capri.

Warm lights illuminated scattered rooms of the motel.

Children's toys laid at rest in living rooms.

Husbands wearily flipped through television channels.

Wives slept soundly beside them.

And two specific men closed a door and flipped the rented room's light switch.

The room stayed dark for a moment before a single light bulb flickered on above the modest kitchen table.

"Another light went out. I can't believe this place..."

The other man ignored the comment and walked to the table.

"I still don't get why you're smiling: they destroyed them. All of them."

Cameron sighed in his civilian clothes and dropped a duffel bag on a couch in the middle of the small living room. "Because they weren't the point."

He swung open the refrigerator door and took a tired look into its contents.

Ketchup.

Bread.

Mayonnaise.

Ketchup.

Salami.

Jalapeños?

Ketchup.

He grunted and swept up the bread, mayonnaise, and meat.

"Whatever," Garfield responded. "As long as we got the suitcase." He lifted his hand and set the suitcase onto the kitchen table; his fingers tugged at the locks. "What the—? The locks won't open."

Cameron shrugged. "Doesn't matter, we can force 'em open later."

"But how do we know if the cash is inside?" Garfield eyed the equipment belt still strapped to his waist.

"I already told you: that money is nothing compared to the real payoff."

Garfield thrust the locked briefcase onto the table and walked away in frustration as Cameron laid out the ingredients on the crowded table and slowly made a sandwich.

"The Big Payoff," Garfield mocked. "How do we even know he's even going to deliver?"

Cameron continued spreading the mayonnaise on the bread and didn't even look up. "He'll deliver."

"How could he possibly do it?"

He twisted the cap on the jar and placed on the table. "You saw the sign," Cameron answered strongly. "You saw the resources. Is there any doubt that they won't give him whatever he needs?" Cameron raised the sandwich to his mouth bit a small piece off. "Is there any doubt that we weren't of something else they had in mind?"

He took another bite and chewed angrily. Cameron moved to the suitcase and placed the sandwich down on the table; he reached into the back pocket of his pants and pulled out a retractable blade. It easily slipped into the cracks of the suitcase and pried it open in a split second.

His hand dipped into the case and pulled out a fat wad of money. "Benjamins."

Garfield smiled and leaned back in the sofa. "That's money in the bank. Not a shady contract from an unknown man representing—"

"Don't doubt him," Cameron interrupted. "Last thing I need is them after me, because you couldn't keep your mouth shut."

He leaned forward and shuffled through the bills, feeling around and picking stacks; after a few seconds, he paused and took his hand out.

"Well, I'm not afraid..." Garfield challenged.

Cameron turned and walked to the living room couch. "You should be. This isn't some petty arson scheme. It's not even armed burglary anymore. It's... something else..."

He stepped away from the couch and picked up the duffel bag. "I'm going to the bathroom..." He reached the room, stepped in quickly, and locked the door.

Garfield brought the lighter to the cigarette hanging casually out of his mouth and inhaled quickly. The end of the cigarette lit up and glowed a dull red. He breathed in a long drag and exhaled slowly with a sigh of extreme satisfaction.

"Another day, another dollar."

His eyes wandered over the room until they settled on the large briefcase on the table. Garfield inhaled deeply and ambled over to the small stash. He opened the lid and smiled barbarically as stacks of hundred-dollar bills danced in his eyes.

Garfield picked up a wad in each hand and squeezed it in his palm. He looked back to the briefcase and noted five missing stacks. "I'll bet Moth has 'em. Probably thinks I won't notice, too..."

He dug deeper into the suitcase and removed the top two layers of cash.

Beneath, laid a flawless layer of white rectangle pieces of paper.

Firefly paused in confusion and picked one up.

He quickly flipped through and found the entire stack the same; the entire layer of cash was blank. He lifted the row beneath and found the same results: wads of white.

Garfield tore out the rows until he reached the bottom of the case and felt something small, smooth, and round. He pulled it out and inspected it closely: it was solid metal, flat like a river stone, and flashing very slowly through a small red light bulb.

He dropped it onto the table and picked up the blank paper.

"We got duped."

Firefly threw it down. He picked another wad and flung it to the side; the stack hit the couch and white paper floated to the ground as he grew angrier. He grabbed the heavy metal object and hurled it to the side of an old bookcase in the dark corner of the room.

It stopped in the air before hitting the wall and fell to ground.

He paused and stared into the shadow. "That metal should have made some sort of noise..." Firefly stepped away from the dimly lit kitchen table and held out a flashlight from his pocket.

The small beam of light danced from the wooden bookcase and lit me up as I held a hand to my bruised thigh.

Firefly faltered. "Wha—You're... You're a Titan!"

Stepped away from the bookcase and faced him directly. "No. No, I'm not."

He dove back over the table and snatched up a gun from a bag laying on the table. "Don't move."

The bathroom door slowly creaked opened and Killer Moth emerged in full uniform; Firefly spotted him and urged him over.

"I know how she got here, but there's a Titan in here, Moth!"

"I know," he answered nonchalantly.

Firefly paused, expecting another answer. "...Well, then get over here and help me out!"

The front door of the room suddenly burst inwards and fell to the floor.

Robin jumped in sideways and Cyborg charged behind him with a readied sonic cannon.

I turned back to Firefly and grinned widely. "I suggest you don't move."

He turned to Killer Moth, who merely took a step backwards into the bathroom. "I told you, you were gonna burn this operation..." And the door slammed shut in front of him.

Firefly whipped back around with wild eyes.

He pulled trigger.

The flames shot forward and I dropped completely to the floor, barely avoiding them.

A small metal sphere flew through the air and landed in front of the threshold. Cyborg and Robin jumped over to the couch in the living room it exploded into a fiery haze. Robin twitched in the air and let fly a disk.

Firefly stumbled back as it struck the small table, encasing everything in solid ice. He dashed over to the window and flung it open...

...Only to have it slam shut again, sheathed in black energy.

Raven and Starfire floated menacingly into view outside the window.

Firefly scrambled back and leaped toward the bathroom. He threw open the door... and saw only an empty duffel bag on the floor and a shattered window on the wall.

"CAMERON!"

Firefly turned and faced the Titans as he back further into the bathroom.

"You'll never get us! Never get ME! I'm gonna burn you, suckers! You'll never catch—"

He fell to the ground as a black plank of wood lowered from his head and dropped to the floor.

Raven slipped in through the window. "Shut up."

Robin opened his communicator as Cyborg attended to the unconscious villain. "Beast Boy, where's Killer Moth?"

"He got away. Moth threw a flash grenade at me before he even got out so I couldn't even see where he went... it's like he knew I was waiting for him."

Robin gripped the communicator tightly. "Don't worry about it, Beast Boy. Just come on in." He closed the communicator and looked around the room.

A siren wailed in the background.

He smiled as he looked out the window.

"The City finally returns the favor."

Robin looked down at the time on the communicator and sighed; he turned and faced everyone else.

"Let's go home."