In a burst of pink smoke, a familiar blue-green man appeared in the doorway of the supermarket. The malevolent magician mugged madly at the young heroes, waggling his eye brows and grinning as wide as he could.

"Well, well, well!" Mumbo Jumbo crowed "My favorite co-stars, all together on one stage! I'd heard some rumors that you'd broken up your little band, gone your separate ways, but I knew that wouldn't last. After all, none of you second-raters have the star power for a solo act or even a decent duo!"

"Well, Mr Big Star, we don't have time for you right now. So, I'm gonna make you a deal, best deal you'll hear all day. The deal is you leave right now, skip whatever stupid crime you were planning, an' we won't follow you to kick your butt." Cyborg said, not turning his eyes away from the pair of renegade Titans. Judging by the shopping cart in front of them and the utterly stunned looks on their faces, he didn't think they were here for trouble, which meant they probably weren't ready for a fight. He knew he'd never get a better chance to capture the two then this, and he had no intention of giving it up to fight Mumbo Jumbo of all people. "Starfire, call Rob and tell him to get his butt over here NOW."

"Ah, ah, ah! I'm afraid that this show is already cast- no last-minute additions! Wouldn't want the audience to get confused, would we? MUMBO JUMBO!" With a flick of his wand, Mumbo transformed Starfire's communicator into a pigeon which gave a single (rather confused) coo before fluttering off towards the baked goods aisle. With a second flick, Cyborg's inbuilt communicator leapt off his arm and scuttled off on six metal legs, leaving the metal man gawping after it.

"Very well." Starfire said, rising into the air and forming a starbolt in each hand. "If you insist on battle, I shall accommodate you. Cyborg, it shall not take long for me to defeat Mumbo Jumbo in single combat- please do not allow our former friends to escape."

"Single combat? Oh, my dear I see you think that I came here alone. But a star like myself never travels without an entourage!" Mumbo said, making a grand gesture as a cloud of thick blue smoke rose up behind him. "Allow me to introduce you to my new assistants! You know him, you love him, the ever-popular…Cinderblock! And, making her debut performance, the lovely and talented… Scrapjaw!"

At his words, two colossal shapes stepped forward from the blue smoke. The first, Cinderblock, was a familiar sight to the Titans. Despite working for Mumbo Jumbo, the stone golem seemed unchanged from his usual self, save for a spattering of glitter across his body.

The other one was new. She wasn't quite so tall as Cinderblock- about eight feet tall or so- but much wider. Her shoulders seemed to be nearly as broad as she was tall! Her torso tapered down to a comparatively slender waist, before widening again at the hips, giving her a the impression of a broadly 'feminine' outline. This impression was severely tested on closer examination, as she seemed to be made entirely out of scrap metal. Patches and sheets of metal had been bolted, welded, and in a few cases nailed together in the rough approximation of a human form. Rust was visible in a few spots, but not enough to make the metal giant seem weak or decrepit. Jagged spikes of metal protruded from her elbows and need. Most striking of all, however, was her head- it had the shape of an overturned bucket, with an oversized underbite from which sharp tusks made of chrome protruded. Her eyes were mere holes cut into the metal, revealing only darkness lit by a small yellow flame in each socket.

What REALLY threw the Titans off was the fact that the two behemoths were holding hands. It raised a lot of questions that none of them really wanted to ask, much less answer.

Seeing them stare, Mumbo floated over to where his 'assistants' stood. "I see you're aware that my amazing assistants are also astonishingly amorous! Isn't it sweet?" the showman simpered, making an exaggerated dewy-eyed expression that quickly morphed into a malevolent grin. "Now, sic 'em!"

Raven was not ashamed to admit that she'd spent several minutes in complete and utter shock after her ring failed. It was just something she'd never imagined happening! The holoring was based on Cyborg's older model- itself an incredibly stable design, made to withstand the full force of metahuman abilities including superhuman strength and the potent energy of starbolts. Slade's scientists had taken that design and improved on it, making her ring out of psi-inert materials. It should have been impossible for her powers to accidentally damage the ring, let alone destroy it outright. On top of that, her powers shouldn't have flared up like that, not without some strong emotions to set them off. She shouldn't have flared up at all, much less with so much power. Clearly, something was going very wrong with her powers and at the back of her mind the old question that had frightened her throughout her entire life resurfaced: Could this be her father's influence at work? Could demonic energy have been responsible? She had no doubt that this question would be running through her head for a good long while.

On top of that, the sudden appearance of Cyborg and Starfire, literally stumbling across them when they were least ready to fight. What were the odds that the two groups of Titans would choose to go grocery shopping at the same place at the same time? In a city as large as Jump the odds had to be tiny. Finally, Mumbo Jumbo showing up out of nowhere for the first time in ages… well. It was no real surprise that it took her a little time to process it all.

She shook her head to bring herself back to the here-and-now. This was not the time to be lost inside her own head- this was the time to make a break for it. Neither she nor Beastboy were prepared for a fight, and certainly not a three-way battle! No, better to let her former teammates handle it. Surely Cyborg and Starfire could at the very least hold the three villains off long enough for Robin and Terra to arrive.

She turned and and saw that Gar was watching the battle with a wide-eyed stare. Clearly, he hadn't handled the succession of surprises any better than she had. She elbowed him in the rib to grab his attention. "We need to go. Now." Raven whispered.

"Yeah. I- Yeah." The green teen replied, coming back to himself. "You're right. Should we teleport out?"

Raven shook her head and began edging her way towards the door. "No. I have no idea what set my powers off just now and until I know, I'm not going to feel comfortable relying on them for something as complicated as teleportation. We'll sneak out on foot, grab the car and go. Ready?"

Beastboy looked at the battle, clearly having mixed feelings. Cyborg was doing all right against Scrapjaw, dodging around her wild swings and occasionally darting in to land a few blows of his own. Meanwhile Starfire bombarded Cinderblock with energy blasts, keeping to the air to stay out of his reach. Both Titans were constantly having to dodge magical attacks from Mumbo Jumbo, who was cackling like a loon as he fired off his wand in seemingly random directions. His wild magic transformed whatever it struck, and the area was quickly becoming cluttered with flowers, rabbits and other bizarre items. The Titans seemed to be holding their own, but even so… he shook his head. There was too much at stake for him to stop and play hero again. Cy and Star had this under control. "Yeah. Let's go"

The pair moved easily through the crowd of civilians, who either transfixed by the fight or fleeing the store as fast as they could. They moved slowly, as the press of people around the door kept them from simply running and shoving their way through would have garnered too much attention. They had almost reached the door, when Garfield's ears heard something. Without hesitation, he dove forward and dragged the elderly couple ahead of them to the floor, just as a section of shelving flew through the air above them, crashing down mere inches from a group of teenagers. It smashed into the doorway, cutting off the exit entirely.

Raven glanced at the people her boyfriend had just saved before letting out a small sigh. "We can't just leave can we? Not if it means letting innocent people be hurt."

"Nope." Beastboy sighed as he turned back towards the battle. "Slade's gonna be super pissed, dude."

"Tough. I signed up to overthrow an evil conspiracy, I never agreed to let other people pay the price." Raven said, rising into the air with a thought. Oddly, her power came to her more easily than it had in months. Another oddity.

Beastboy gave her a quick leer. "I forgot how hot you are when you're heroic, Rae" he murmured before leaping into the fight. As might be expected, the changeling moved to support Cyborg- changes in loyalty aside, the metal man was his best friend and he couldn't very well leave him to fight a new enemy all by himself.

Raven, for her part, chose not to assist Starfire against Cinderblock. The Tameranian princess was a powerful fighter, and she already knew all of Cinderblocks tricks- and besides which, without her telekinetic spheres, Raven didn't have any real way to hurt the concrete colossus. Instead, she bypassed that fight and flew straight towards Mumbo Jumbo.

Raven HATED fighting Mumbo Jumbo. As a student of Azar, she naturally disliked fighting anyone, and as a Titan she was supposed to treat all criminals equally, but Mumbo was a special case. It wasn't just his annoying nature, nor the chaotic way he fought. It wasn't even the fact that he had once turned her into a white bunny, a memory she had to constantly repress to avoid giving into her rage.
No, Mumbo bothered her because he defied everything she had ever learned about magic. Raven had been taught that magic was more of a science than an art- specific spell words, combined with specific gestures and using a specific focus would produce a specific result every time. Her tutors in Azerath, her books, even Malchior had all agreed- magic required knowledge and precision.
But Mumbo just waved his wand however he wanted, chanted his own name, and he produced a bewildering variety of effects. According to every known magical tradition, it should be impossible, a child's fantasy of magic brought to life. Yet here he was, turning oranges into rats and causing ca.
It offended her, made her feel as though she'd wasted her time studying all those years. The one time she'd brought it up with the other Titans, Cyborg and Robin had laughed at her. They'd said that it was the same way they felt about magic in general- it flew in the face of everything they had learned about science. This had not made her feel any better.

So, it was with some measure of satisfaction that she picked up a fallen sack of tomatoes with her telekinesis and hit the blue magician square in the back. The fruit burst on impact, coating Mumbo's opera cape in red. Mumbo whirled around to see who had attacked him. His grin only widened when he set eyes on Raven.

"Well, well, well" Mumbo laughed "Look who hopped along! My very favorite bunny-bird, back to assist with my act! Ready for an encore performance in my hat?"

"Whatever." Raven droned, forcing herself to remain neutral. "Let's get this over with."

Cyborg found himself struggling against Scrapjaw, grimacing at just how badly he'd underestimated his new enemy. He'd assumed that battling the iron golem would be like fighting Cinderblock- a matter of dodging the giant's clumsy blows, attacking when he could, and slowly wearing her down. But it seemed that Scrapjaw was both quicker and smarter than her stone 'boyfriend'. Her attacks were coming faster than he was used to and seemed to be a great deal more skillful. Worse, Cyborg just wasn't built or trained for this sort of fight. His heavy metallic body was made for straight up slugfests or long-range battles, not dancing around like this. Because of this, Robin had felt that it would be better for Cyborg to focus his training on other things, and so hadn't given much priority to agility training.

As a result, Cyborg was having a great deal of trouble dodging around her punches and slashes. He'd managed it so far, but he found that he didn't have a lot of time left to launch attacks of his own, and those few he did rarely did more than glance off her metallic hide. In short, it seemed like he was wearing down more quickly than Scrapjaw. He knew something would have to change, and fast.

Unfortunately for him, something did.

Mumbo's manic magic had caused chaos all through the grocery store. Roast chickens came to life and ran around the aisles, somehow clucking without heads or lugs. Tin cans detonated like bombs, sending their contents splattering across the floor. Produce flew every which way, often as simple projectiles but in a few cases flying under their own power. To this point, Cyborg had been able to avoid the worst of it and continue fighting. But just as he sprang aside from a particularly vicious punch, his foot came down on the remains of a somewhat overripe banana. His foot slipped on the mushy, slimy peel and he sprawled out on the floor. He scrambled to his knees, but too late- Scrapjaw was already looming over him, one great iron fist drawn back. Cyborg closed his eye and prepared for the blow…which never came, as Scrapjaw was hit by a charging green rhinoceros, which drove her into a wall.

Cyborg was stuck dumb for a moment, watching as the rhino drove Scrapjaw into the wall. Green muscles strained, but slowly the iron golem was able to shift her weight, before violently throwing her assailant back. Beastboy changed shape in mid-air, landing in a crouch beside Cyborg.

"What's up, Cy?" Beastboy quipped in a shaky voice. "Thought I'd help you fight your identical twin, here."

Cyborg found himself smiling at the familiar banter but forced himself to stop. He couldn't afford to get buddy-buddy with Beastboy- not anymore. "Woulda thought you'd be helpin Mumbo, not me. Or runnin' outta here, at least."

Beastboy grimaced. "Couldn't just let the bad guys hurt innocent people, man. I gotta reason for fightin' with Slade, but it doesn't stretch to that. Sides, I couldn't let you fight her alone- she might mess up your pretty face."

"I guess that's good enough." Cyborg said slowly. There was something in the green boy's tone that compelled belief. Besides which, BB had never been much of a liar- he had way too many tells and generally couldn't keep his story straight in his head. So, Beastboy wasn't under Slade's complete control? That was interesting. "We gotta take this big girl down, so we better work together. I gotta know I can trust you not to slap some gadget on me and cart me off to Slade."

"Dude, I haven't got any gadgets! I don't even have my cell phone! We came here to get food and- wait, that thing's a girl?" Beastboy did a double take at Scrapjaw, who was pulling herself out of the wall. "No way."

"Mumbo says she's a girl, an' she came in holdin' hands with Cinderblock. I ain't willing to look into it any further." Cyborg replied with a shrug. "You got any forms that can hurt her?"

"None I can use in here, dude. Ceiling's too low for big animals like dinos or elephants, an' I don't think anything smaller's gonna hurt it. Her. Whatever" Beastboy said, rubbing his nose. "I'm still sore from just rhino charging. Can't you just, like, blast it with your sonic cannon?"

"Nah, too many people around. A stray shot could end up killing a civilian or something." The metal man said with a shake of his head "Why're they still around anyway? Shouldn't they have evacuated?"

"One of these two threw an aisle shelf onto the door. Main exit's blocked an' I don't think any of 'em know where the emergency exit is."

"Great." Cyborg heaved a sigh, and rubbed at his forehead. "I think I could wear her down if I could land enough solid hits. You up for being a distraction?"

"Dude, she's a girl. I can't HELP bein' a distraction" the green boy said, waggling his eyebrows.

Cyborg couldn't help it- he snorted. "Yeah, right. Y'know, all those times when Raven used to say you were distracting her? That wasn't supposed to be a compliment, man."

"Pfft. Whatever, tin man, watch and learn." Shifting into a monkey, the changeling leapt onto Scrapjaw's shoulder just as the massive metal monster worked her way. When she moved to squash him, he jumped over the incoming fist to land a few feet away, where he began pelting her with squashed apples. Soon, Scrapjaw was chasing the small monkey around the area, apparently having forgotten about Cyborg entirely.

The metal man smiled as he bunched his fists. "Heh. Just like old times."

Back at Titans Tower, in the large training room, Robin was working Terra through a new exercise he'd come up with. He'd first had Terra create three shapes from three separate materials- a stone cube, a pyramid of sand, and a ball of mud- while blindfolded. Next, he'd asked her to lift them all up into the air, still blindfolded, before moving them according to his directions. Once she had that down, Robin began the hard part of the exercise. He had Terra move the shapes in patterns, but made sure that no two shapes were moving in the same fashion. The point of the exercise was to work on her control over earth and stone, to test her ability to follow directions, and to practice controlling multiple objects at once. It had taken most of the day, but at last the geokine seemed to have it in hand.

"All right, Terra, now lift the cube about three feet and start spinning it counter-clockwise" the Boy Wonder called out "Great now lift the ball and set it orbiting the cube, while making the pyramid move in a big circle on the ground. That's good, that's good!"

"Looks like I've finally got it." Terra grunted from between clenched teeth. She felt like she'd just done a five mile run and sat a dozen exams all at once.

"I think so. You're going to have to keep practicing, of course, but I think you've got a handle on it." Robin enthused. In truth, he was pleased with how much progress Terra had made since rejoining the team- pleased and a little embarrassed. Really, he should have worked harder on training her the first time around. He was about to tell her to slowly bring the objects back down when the alarm suddenly blared.

Shocked by the sudden sound, Terra lost control, with catastrophic results. The three shapes immediately lost cohesion and plummeted to the ground around Robin. The Boy Wonder sidestepped the mud, and backflipped out of the path of the stone only to land directly under the falling sand. In a heartbeat, Robin was covered head to foot in sand. He spat some sand out of his mouth and shook a lot more out of his hair before racing to the Comms center. Terra followed after him, red-faced and apologetic. When they reached the large communications array, Robin scanned the screen.

"Looks like a battle at a grocery store- Starfire and Cyborg and fighting Mumbo Jumbo and Cinderblock." Robin frowned at the screen, unable to believe what he was seeing. "That can't be right. Witnesses report Raven and Beastboy are fighting too, and that they're helping Cyborg and Star! C'mon, we'll take the R-Cycle into town and help out."

The two made their way down to the garage, where Robin headed straight for his R-Cycle. "All right, Terra, you ready to go?"

"Um. Would now be a bad time to mention that I'm kinda scared of motorcycles?" Terra said with a nervous smile, rubbing her the back of her head. "Because I am. Very scared, actually."

"Not at all. It's always a good time to face your fears." Robin replied with a smirk, tossing her a spare helmet. He patted the seat behind him. "Just hold on tight and don't throw up on me. The cape's a nightmare to clean"

Terra gulped. "No promises."

Beastboy wriggled around Scrapjaw's legs in the form of a squirrel, narrowly avoiding the golem's grasping hand. He was enjoying himself more than he had in a long time. Part of it was the sheer joy of shapechanging- he'd shifted more in the last few minutes than he had in weeks, and the feeling of doing so was something he just couldn't explain to anyone who didn't have the ability themselves. The closest he could come to describing it was to compare it to a good stretch after a long time spent unmoving. A long, full body stretch so intense that you could hear your joints pop, the kind that left you feeling relaxed and energetic at the same time. It was GOOD to feel that again.

But a bigger part of it was that he was just happy to be fighting alongside his best friend once more. He and Cyborg had always been a good team both off and on the battlefield, able to read one anothers intentions without any need to say things aloud. Like now, he could tell from the look in his eye that Cy was ready to launch another attack, so he changed into a chimpanzee to bait Scrapjaw into taking a swing at him. He ducked the punch and danced back, leaving Scrapjaw wide open for Cyborg to attack from the side. His friend obliged, racing in to land a series of brutal punches that had staggered the giant and left visible dents in her hide. Scrapjaw turned and began lumbering towards her attacker but Beastboy, still in chimp form, clambered onto her shoulder and began beating on her head with a piece of broken shelving. This distracted her long enough for Cyborg to move back and soon Scrapjaw's attention was once again focused on her green tormentor. It was classic teamwork- he set 'em up, and his stronger friend knocked em down.

This time, Beastboy took the shape of a ferret and began to crawl around Scrapjaw's iron body. This worked better than he'd anticipated. Not only did the iron giant ignore Cyborg entirely, but she began to punch at her own body in an attempt to squash the changeling- and soon, she managed to bring herself to her knees. Sensing Cyborg's intent, Beastboy leapt off of her just as his friend launched a powerful uppercut that knocked the metal monster back on her heels. Scrapjaw staggered about, clearly dazed by the blow. Beastboy was about to move in to help deliver the finishing blow when he spotted Robin and Terra slipping in through the (formerly blocked) front door.

As one might expect, the Boy Wonder immediately looked to where Starfire was battling Cinderblock. The alien princess had clearly worn her opponent down, as Cinderblock's movements were slower and more clumsy than normal- he was obviously exhausted and hurt. Nevertheless, that duel had all of Robin's attention for the moment, and he hadn't noticed Beastboy or Raven just yet. He looked like he was about to jump in to help Star. Terra, on the other hand, was looking directly at him, her blue eyes wide with shock. That kicked Beastboy into action.

"Well, Cy, it's been a blast but I gotta run. Rae! We gotta go!" the changeling quipped as he vaulted over his friend's shoulder.

Cyborg moved to stop him but was interrupted by unexpected victory. Scrapjaw slow sank to her knees before toppling over to lie face down on the ground. When the cybernetic hero looked up, his green friend-turned-foe was halfway across the store, headed for Raven. With a chuckle and a shake of the head, Cyborg began working to secure the fallen Scrapjaw. He hadn't wanted to fight Beastboy anyway.

Raven heard Beastboy's call and was all too ready to agree. She had spent the entire battle hurling objects at Mumbo with her telekinesis and watching him either dodge them or transform them into harmless stage magic props. Occasionally one would connect, but so far they hadn't inflicted any real damage- the magician was evidently more durable than he looked. She was feeling tired, frustrated, and one hundred percent DONE with this. Swooping down to grab her boyfriend, she then teleported them away to their car, parked a few blocks away.

"Well, that didn't go as planned." Beastboy quipped, starting the engine. "I guess we'd better go back to Slade's and report. I doubt the others- I mean, I doubt the Titans will be following us just now."

"No, we'd better stop at a convenience store first. We still don't haven't bought any food." Raven droned, reaching into the glove box for a spare holoring and silently gave thanks that Slade had insisted on redundancies for everything.

"Aw, man, you're right!" the changeling exclaimed, banging his head on the steering wheel. "If we go back empty handed, Batgirl will kill us!"

"Kill you, you mean. She likes me." Raven replied.

With Scrapjaw out of the fight and Cinderblock all but exhausted, it wasn't long before the Titans were victorious. After watching the villains be lead away by the police, they finished their shopping and headed back to Titans Tower for a debrief. Once in the meeting room, Cyborg and Starfire gave a full account of what they'd seen at the grocery store. Cyborg made sure to repeat Beastboy's justification as exactly as he could. To his delight, Robin agreed with his interpretation.

"It looks like Slade's control isn't total. I can't imagine he would approve of his pawns fighting supervillains, not after all the work he's done to paint them as villains." Robin said "I listened to the news on the way over, and a lot of that work's been undone. Even LexNews had to admit that Beastboy and Raven saved some lives today."

"Oooh, I wish I could've seen that" Terra laughed "I bet who ever read that out nearly choked."

"Yeah, they didn't sound thrilled to be saying it. But given that the Commissioner made an official statement thanking the two of them for their aid, they didn't have much choice. " Robin confirmed with a smirk. "This really had been a good day for us, hasn't it?"

"I'll say- it was thirty percent off at the butcher's counter! I scored a ton of meat!" Cyborg said with a grin.

"Oh, yes, truly the most important event of the day!" Starfire said with a roll of her eyes. "But in all seriousness, was this so great a victory? While we did triumph over Mumbo, we did not capture either of our former friends nor are we any closer to finding where they are hiding out."

"I think it is, Star. Slade's going to be under pressure, now" Robin replied, turning serious once more. "His whole plan is about making the Titans look bad by blackening Raven and Beastboys names. He'll have to do something to get things back on track, and it'll have to be something big. There are only so many suitable targets in Jump- we'll start brainstorming what they could be soon, and then we'll be ready when he strikes. Now, all we need to do is figure out how to beat them once we find them."

"I…think… I know how to do that." Terra said slowly. "But I don't think you're going to like it."

"Terra, we've been battling Slade's team for months now. The BEST we've managed to do is stalemate them. He's been one step ahead of us for YEARS. He's stolen our friends, he's threatened our city and he's messed with our- with MY- mind." Robin said, so involved in his speech that he rose from his chair to lean across the table. "Try me."

Terra told him.

When she'd finished, Robin slumped back into his chair and put his head in his hands. "You were right. I don't like it."

"But do you think it would work?" Terra pressed.

"Yes." Robin replied tersely. "That's part of why I don't like it."

Terra glanced around the table to gauge the other Titans reactions to her idea. Cyborg was gawking at her- there really was no other word for it. His human eye was wide, and his mouth was moving as he attempted to speak but no words came. Starfire was simply glaring at her, as though Terra's suggestion was nothing short of betrayal.
"Do you truly think we will allow you to do this?" Starfire growled. "To our friends? To us? Do you think so little of us?!"

"Do you have a better idea?" Terra countered, getting defensive. Why were they so angry? It wasn't like her plan put any of them into danger…

"Terra's…" Robin let out a long sigh, and slowly raised his head to look at his girlfriend. "Terra's right, Starfire. This is the best idea we've had so far. We can't let this stalemate keep going- sooner or later, we're going to slip up and Slade will capture another Titan, tipping things in his favor. We have to take him down as soon as we can. We'll train for Terra's plan but if anyone come up with a better idea I'll be happy to change plans."

Far away, in a darkened room, several figures sat around a large table. The room was so dark, the figures were almost totally indistinguishable, which leant the meeting an air of anonymity.

One figure spoke up. "Our agent's findings are confirmed. The target we've been looking for is in Jump City, engaged in the metahuman conflict there."

Abruptly, a different figure rose from its seat. "Sorry, I have the wrong room." It said in apologetic tones. "I'm supposed to be giving a report to the weather-control group about… you know what, I'll just leave. Sorry. Sorry."

There was a long pause before the first speaker began again. "Is there anyone else?" she said testily. "This is supposed to be about retrieving our runaway asset from California. Are we all sure we're in the right room?"

"Focus." Another figure said "The asset is in Jump City. Good. Should we assemble a retrieval team?"

"No, that would just unite both sides against us." A third figure said. "The Titans and the criminals alike wouldn't be willing to let us take it away."

"So what should we do? We can't let it run again, who knows when we'd find it!" the second figure said in annoyance.

"We wait." The third speaker replied "We let the conflict play out to the end. If the Titans defeat their enemies, we can demand our property be returned through legal channels- a public team of heroes won't dare go against duly constituted authority. If Slade wins… well, the man's a mercenary after all. I'm sure we can put together a big enough reward for the asset's return that he'll fall all over himself to hand it over."

"A fine idea" the first figure said speculatively. "Let one group of idiots defeat the other and do our job for us."

There was another pause, then the second figure spoke up. "Next on the agenda is the lighting. When is maintenance going to fix the lights in this damn room? I walked into the wall on my way to my seat."

"Well" said a fourth "I spoke to the maintenance staff, and they said they can't do it. Officially this room doesn't exist. If it doesn't exist, then it can't have a lighting system. If there's no lighting system, then it can't be broken. If it isn't broken, there's nothing for them to do."

The meeting devolved into shouting and arguing.

A/N
Wow. This… this took a while. I could say that I've been busy- new family obligations, new business, travelling etc. But the simple fact is this: I'm getting older. 15 years ago, I could work all day and write all night, and I would feel bad if I didn't post something every week. Nowadays, I still work all day but when I get home all I want to do is collapse. I don't have the same time and energy that I used to. So, while I don't anticipate any 6 months for the next chapter, don't look for it tomorrow either.

Scrapjaw came about because I figured I needed at least 3 antagonists to compel a team-up. The trouble was that I kinda killed off a lot of the Titans villains early on in Joker's Wild- before I had any plans for a sequel. I started trawling through DC's villain catalogue for one who could plausibly show up working with Mumbo Jumbo, but then I decided to make one up. After all, OC villain's are typically masterminds- why not make one who's just a goon? At some point, she became a girl to boot. I don't think there're enough bruiser-type female supervillains- I can barely think of a handful.

We are coming towards the end, folks, so bear with me a little longer. Read and review!