AN: One arc of this story ends, the next begins.

Outta This World: Observer's Cut

Arc Three: Teen Tyrants

Chapter Sixteen: Wheel of Time

Three weeks had passed since Slade's most recent defeat, and neither hide nor hair of the man had been found. Regardless, the crime rate had plummeted, and the Titans celebrated this. However, with this drop in crime came a drop in patrol rates, as most of the crimes that the teenage heroes came across could easily be handled by the police.

Thus, the Titans' time outside of the Tower began to decrease, as a lull began. Without the supervillains and organized criminals, the young heroes were left with little to do outside of their own hobbies.

That it was, until one day…

Blitzkrieg and Mikumo Raki

"You know…" Blitzkrieg began as he watched Mikumo lift another rock with his powers, now called 'Blackwhip' by both the other Titans and the younger teen's brother, Shiga. "You could technically use these things to swing around on buildings for transportation instead of just throwing junk at people."

"What?" Mikumo replied as he tossed the rock into the sea. "Like some kind of…Spider-Man?"

The electro-kinetic struggled to not let out a laugh at the thought and the reference. "Yes. Like some kind of Spider-Man."

It was at this moment that Raven walked onto the section of island that the prospective hero and actual hero were standing on. "How's he doing?" The mage asked.

"Much better than a couple of weeks ago." Blitz replied as Mikumo picked up another rock. "The tendrils don't flail around when summoned anymore, and he's got a better sense of control now. What I do think needs to be worked on next is other applications to his powers."

"Like swinging around on buildings?" Raven questioned, a small smirk on her face.

Blitzkrieg failed to suppress his laughter this time, something that made Raven's smirk expand into a small smile.

"I'm guessing you heard that then?"

"It's not a bad name." She mused. "But it is a bit on the nose."

Silence reigned for a small bit while Mikumo picked up rocks and threw them into the ocean. Then, Blitz turned to the cloak-clad girl.

"We never went on that outing."

"So we didn't."

"Should we try and do that sometime this week? S'not like we've had any crimes to bust lately, what with Slade up and disappearing."

At that moment, the two Titans' communicators began to beep.

Blitzkrieg sighed. "Right when I say it…"

Raven was the first to respond to the alarm, pulling out her communicator and opening it up. "What's the situation, Robin?"

The Boy Wonder was quick to reply. "BNE at the museum. Footage shows a man in some kind of golden armor teleporting into the most recent display."

"The Eternity Clock?" Blitzkrieg asked.

"The very same."

Blitz let out a sigh. "And here I thought today was gonna be boring. Mikumo!"

The kid turned towards them. "What?!"

"We've gotta go bust some asshole! Keep practicing!" Blitzkrieg shouted back as Raven flew up towards the sky. "We'll be back in no time."

When the Titans arrived, they found museum security along with several police officers frozen in icy formations, the aforementioned man in gold standing in front of the display for the highly decorative artifact.

"At last." The man spoke. "The Clock of Eternity. Valuable in the past. Priceless in the future."

The man reached to remove the display case, only for his hand to be knocked away by one of Robin's throwable discs.

"But for now," Robin spoke. "You'll be keeping those greedy mitts off of it."

The man in gold smirked. "Ah, the Teen Titans. I've read about you in Alchemax's Superhuman Archives." A pair of shoulder-mounted cannons appeared out of the armored man's back. "I've prepared suitable countermeasures."

The cannons whirred, and he fired.

Raven was the first to attack, uttering her incantation and tossing a couple of large grandfather clocks at the high-tech thief. As the clocks made their approach, a blue force-field popped into existence, shattering the thrown objects into pieces of wood and metal. The obvious time-traveler retaliated by firing some kind of blast from his helmet, knocking Raven out of the air.

At this moment, Starfire, Blitzkrieg, and Cyborg let loose a volley of blasts from their own separate power sources. The streams of lighting, fire, and sonic laser struck the man at center mass, the explosion creating a cloud of dust.

Cyborg smirked. "Boo—!"

Before the cybernetically-enhanced teen could finish his cheer of victory, an object was thrown out of the dust cloud and onto Cyborg, electrocuting him and knocking him unconscious.

"You cannot defeat Warp!" The now named Warp proclaimed as Starfire flew towards him, firing a volley of starbolts. Warp responded by batting the bolts to the side with a gauntleted hand and firing his shoulder-mounted cannons again. "I am from the future!"

The twin beams struck Starfire out of the air, and Blitzkrieg charged forwards, alongside Robin and Beast Boy, who had transformed into a tiger. Warp simply grimaced and slammed the circular light on his chest plate, creating a powerful shockwave that knocked the remaining Titans down.

Warp smirked as he stared at the fallen heroes, a black portal forming behind him. "Well, Titans, I can tell you that I have enjoyed our time together, but I have a very bright future ahead of—!"

Before the time-traveling menace could finish, Starfire leapt at Warp and tackled him through the gate.

The last thing the criminal heard before everything went black was Robin calling out the redhead's name.

When Starfire awoke, the first thing that she noticed was that the sun had gone down, yet there were no clouds or stars in the sky. Not even the moon was visible. The second thing she noticed was the chill, much colder than anything she had felt during her time on this world.

"W-where are m-my friends?" She wondered, shivering as the cold wind blew once again. "A-and why is i-it so c-cold?"

The redheaded outworlder stumbled, her foot caught on a small rock outcropping. When she looked back upwards, she saw Titans Tower. It was a dilapidated ruin, old and crumbling, as opposed to what it was several hours ago.

Using her ability to fly, Starfire ascended to one of the many breaches in the once mighty Tower. The inside was as dark and cold as the outside had proven to be, and that was not something that Starfire was comfortable with. Eventually, she wandered into the common room, and found it just as ruined as the rest of the T-Tower.

The young redhead let out a saddened gasp as she gazed at the couch that Cyborg and Beast Boy often played videogames on. It was torn, dirtied, and had stuffing coming out of several of the tears, and there were stains that smell like the drinks that were sold at the liquor store.

The TV that the couch was positioned in front of was broken, its screen shattered and wiring sticking out of several places. The front window was broken, and shards of glass were everywhere. Scorch marks marred the floors and the walls, and the scent of a long-expired campfire could be detected by the Tamaranian's keen nose.

"What…What happened here?" She asked, her voice quiet with concern. Where had Warp taken her?

The sound of glass crunching underfoot alerted her to a second presence in the room. Starfire pivoted, raising a fist enveloped by one of her starbolts. She was about ready to throw the bolt when—!

"Starfire?"

She knew that voice. It was older and more mature then when she last heard it, but she recognized it none-the-less.

"Friend Mikumo?"

The man who stepped out of the shadows could indeed be recognized as the prospective Titan. His hair had not changed its curly shape nor its odd color. He no longer wore shorts and a t-shirt, having apparently traded it for jeans and a raggedy parka.

"Starfire?" Mikumo asked again. "Is that really you?"

"Why would it not be?" She replied, her voice and worried tone growing louder with each word. "If you are here, then where are our friends? Where's Robin, Raven, and Beast Boy? Where's—!"

"Oh, Starfire." Mikumo interrupted, his pained voice cutting through the air like a knife through fog. "It's been thirty years. The others are gone. I'm the last one left."

AN: Before I am placed on a cross and crucified for my absence, I would like to apologize. Due to how busy work has become as of late—and a general lack of inspiration followed by a vicious battle against writer's block—I was forced to take a break from writing. Now that I am back, I will continue on.

Due to this being a two-parter, I will work on this next instead of Desolation and my other projects. I have also moved some of my works onto Archive of Our Own under the username Locomotive117. I will be posting some works there, while others (Such as the Desolate Multiverse/Locomotive Multiverse will remain here…for the most part) will stay on this website.