Chapter 1: "Stranger…"

Walking calmly down the sidewalk was a very strangely dressed boy. He had a long wooden staff in his left hand, which thumped the cement with each step, and he was clothed in a pale brown cloak with a hood over his head, and white and light-brown clothing, all baggy, bound at the waist and ankles, above his simple, brown sandals. He got more than a few curious looks as he walked along, but only stopped when he came near a TV store with the local news on the various sets in the window. He turned his visible, pale chin toward the screens, showing the small army of robots marching down the avenue. The boy turned, looking up the road behind him, and just saw the first few cresting a hill in the road. "Here…?" he asked no one in sincere surprise. "Unexpected… Ah well-!" he started to move toward the robots, but stopped, his head tilting back as if to look up.

Robin dropped into a low, leg-spread stance, twirling his extendable staff out and along his back. "Hold it right there, tin-men!" he called to the machines, in front of which he'd just landed.

Cyborg crashed to his haunches on the boy wonder's right, Beast Boy fluttered down as a bird and rushed into his normal form, and Starfire flew down, swooping up to float above the three. Raven rose out of the ground from a swirl of darkness, floating upright off to the left, slightly apart from the others.

The red-optics of the robots flashed as the Titans dropped into view, and they started to charge, sharp hands glistening as they were held ready, legs pumping like pistons.

"Let's do it!" Cyborg shouted, his right forearm shifting into his sonic cannon. He took aim and blasted the closet robot in half as Robin shot ahead and Beast Boy leapt into a large gorilla, crashing down onto the closest group on the left.

Starfire rose up, snapping her arms toward the robots rapidly, spheres of green power flying free from her fists and blowing many of the machines to pieces, melting through others and leaving glowing-hot holes. While Robin battered and broke robots with his staff, leaping and flitting through the formation, Raven flowed back, her hands rising out of her cloak as light blazed out of her hidden eyes. "Azarath metrion zinthos!" Black wisps coiled off her hands, and two of the robots in the midst of their formation turned black, and shot to either side, ripping several apart in each direction before exploding against corner stores themselves.

Robin snapped his staff down to the right, cleaving a robot in half, and then looked up the street to take stock. "Something's wrong." He leapt back to Cyborg, Beast Boy flipping out of a velociraptor form and landing near them both. "More keep coming, but from where?"

Starfire let her eyes blast a valley through the robots, but, indeed, there seemed to be hundreds were there were once only a few dozen. Raven flowed up beside the boys on the ground. "Look there, at the manhole."

They focused through the marching robots, and saw a manhole, cover off, letting more crawl out by the second.

"You mean they're underneath us?" Cyborg yelled, lifting his robotic feet as if grossed out by stepping in goo. "Aw man, that just ain't right." He looked up at the approaching, visible, force, and raised his sonic cannon. "Well fine. Eat THIS!"

His cannon fired, but the sonic beam erupted with power, flaring into a ten-meter wide cone and ripping down the road like a tornado, vaporizing most of the force present. He blinked, everyone reeling back from him in blank, spinny-eyed surprise. Cyborg lowered his arm and looked down at the emitter barrel. "I charged a good shot, but not that good…"

Raven suddenly looked down. "The ground! Dodge!" She floated back rapidly, Starfire leaping into flight.

Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy leapt away from each other, the center of the road collapsing beneath them as more robots started to crawl out. Raven raised her hands. "Azara-ugh!" she grunted as one of the robots grabbed her from behind, arms wrapped around her waist, pinning her own. Her eyes flared with power, about to free herself, when the robot suddenly squealed and she felt herself free. She almost fell over from the sudden release, and looked back… seeing only a pair of sparking arms and nothing remaining of the robot's body. "What the…?"

She looked up and sent a crescent wave into a group of other robots, cutting them apart.

Starfire gave a building shout, and let her eyes blaze, jerking forward in mid-air as they unleashed raking beams of power. Dozens of robots were bisected in a ripping rush, falling apart with glowing, melted metal from the power of the attack. "Mean robots stop attacking now, please!"

Three more blew up as Robin dropped into their midst, his staff twirling along his back as he let his hand down from throwing three blasting discs. "It's no good. We wipe out whole battalions but there are always more coming!"

They all stopped when the entire block shook. It wasn't violent, but it was obvious, and they looked around themselves as the robots on the street looked down at their feet for some reason.

A figure leapt out of the crater in the road, and dropped into a stance just ahead of the Titans, his pale brown cloak falling down behind his legs, his right wound beneath his body, his left extended to the side, and his wooden staff held with his right arm out to the side, one end along his back, his left hand forward and open. "Actually you're making fine progress, I just had to deal with the group in the sewers," he listed off casually, in good humor, his voice mature and smooth. His hood was down, exposing his somewhat long, light brown hair as they saw him from behind.

"Who are you?" Robin demanded the obvious, wary of the newcomer.

"I do apologize, but I'm the one these things are after. I'm a bit surprised they chased me all the way across three continents, but here we are. I was about to step in when you five arrived, so allow me to clean up."

Everyone but Raven blinked, staring at the young man's back in muted surprise. Raven, however, pulled her hood down and eyed the boy warily. It was him…

When the boy broke his stance, even Raven's eyebrows started to rise at the result. He shot off like a dark bolt, his staff blurring out and shattering robots through their middles, decapitating them, shattering limbs to dust, clipping legs off at the knees. The boy himself moved like lightning, flipping, rolling, and coiling, his body flickering out of the paths of numerous attacks at once, hair flowing in the wake of his movements as his pale lips smiled with calm confidence. When half the remaining force was in pieces on the street, he drew to a stop in the center, facing the remaining few dozen, and stood straight, one end of his staff to the ground. He smiled faintly, and started to tap his staff off the cement.

Beast Boy blinked again. "What's he doin' now?"

Robin shook his head. "I don't know…"

Raven just grew more grave.

Cyborg touched his ear. "Whoa, wait a second… He's doing that?"

The others focused on their cybernetic friend. "Doing what?" Starfire asked meekly.

"Listen!"

As they looked back to the stranger, it was suddenly obvious. The dull tapping of his staff was almost deafeningly loud, and the robots weren't making any noise at all. Abruptly, their optics flashed, though they continued to make no noise whatsoever, not even their footfalls as they dashed at him in one mad, glistening rush. The boy twirled his staff up over his head, the street going utterly silent, and jammed the end down with his left hand posed stiffly, three fingers vertical. A shock-wave of distortion ripped out from his front, rushing down the street. It passed around cars and other normal items, but absolutely obliterated the robots in a single attack. It faded as the last one flew apart, and the boy let his staff relax in his grip, letting his other arm down. He pulled his hood up over his head, hiding most of his face, and turned around as the Teen Titans came up to meet him.

The newcomer smiled calmly. "Sorry for the trouble. I didn't think they hated me that much."

"Why were they after you?" Robin asked, sincerely curious, but also suspicious of the stranger.

The young man exhaled wearily. "I gave their designer a rough time over treating a local village like so much dirt. I never thought he would follow me so far from his headquarters, but those robots have a limited control range, so he must be in this city now."

Cyborg stomped to the fore. "Look, that's all cool, I just wanna know how the heck you did all that?" he exclaimed, gesturing up the street.

The boy took a glance there himself, as if he didn't realize what the Titan meant, and then jerked, suddenly realizing. "Oh! Sorry. I can control and amplify sound. I assisted your cannon-blast before."

Cyborg blanched with the others except Raven. Starfire pointed. "You have that much power at your command?"

It was clear the boy was getting uncomfortable. "Uh… well… I try not to make a point out of it…"

Raven looked at him directly. "You should have dealt with this problem in your own home, not dragged it back here."

The boy focused on her, but didn't respond for a fraction of a second longer than natural. "…You're quite right, but I was causing trouble for them as well. I thought by leaving I would help solve the problem. I was wrong. I intend to make sure Dr. Gear is turned into the proper authorities this time. The village didn't really… have any." He gave a bow. "My sincerest apologies. I must be on my way. I need to tend to this very matter."

Robin stepped ahead again, a hand out. "Wait a second. Dr. Gear is a threat to our city now, too. My friends were just being careful, we've had a few nasty surprises from people who appeared to help us." Beast Boy's expression slackened, but he didn't try to correct Robin. "We should work together."

The boy paused, frowning thoughtfully. "I would never turn down help, nor refuse to offer it if I can, but are you sure your friends are… willing?" he poignantly asked, seeming to specify Raven and Cyborg without a clear gesture.

Cyborg opened his mouth, was slack for a second, and then grinned. "Aw fine. Sounds good to me. Maybe you could help me figure out a good way to enhance my cannon?" he asked, raising and transforming the arm again.

The boy tipped his hood. "I'll be happy to do what I can, though I'm not engineer, my good man."

Cyborg smirked at the boy specifying 'man'. "Yeah, you're alright, kid."

Then the stranger focused on Raven. "Though I sense you're not so quick to trust a stranger, madam?"

Raven unclenched her fists, mentally rolling her eyes. Of course… he could sense the sounds of my muscles. "No, I'm not. We know only what you say about these robots. I'm glad you helped destroy them, but I have no reason to assume you're not a bigger problem in disguise yet."

He smiled calmly, seemingly un-offended. Robin looked to Raven sternly. "Raven! You don't need to be that harsh. He just helped us out."

Starfire nodded, floating near the team leader. "Indeed. The newcomer seems very polite and agreeable."

Before Raven could respond, her expression a match for Robin's tone, the staff-toting boy replied in a civil, warm voice. "Please, I don't want to cause trouble for a well-organized team. I've given you no real reason to trust me, as the young lady has pointed out clearly. I'll continue on my own investigation. For what it's worth, if we run into each other again, I promise my assistance. Good day," he finished with a bow, and turned to leave.

Raven looked at his back, her expression serious but thoughtful more than wary. She looked to Robin's somewhat impatiently curious eyes, and exhaled, nodding. "Alright, I agree… But it doesn't mean I trust him yet."

The boy paused, and turned again, Robin smiling. "Please. You can stay at the tower with us, tell us more about this Dr. Gear guy."

Smiling quite sincerely, and with a surprisingly gentle manner as well, the boy nodded. "Thank you very much. I appreciate it." He gave Raven a specific look with his hood as well. She just flecked her eyebrows and pulled her own hood back up.

The boy came up to the group, and Cyborg offered his hand. "I'm Cyborg, nice to meet ya."

Taking the metal hand, the stranger shook it. "A pleasure. I'm Rith." He reached up and pulled his hood off, and the group paused with muted surprised, not wanting to offend him. His eyes were shut, but not just closed, they were sealed with scar tissue.

"You're blind…" Robin confirmed in soft surprise. Raven herself considered Rith with careful curiosity.

Rith just smiled, shaking Robin's hand. "Robin, correct? Yes, it happened almost right after I was born. I don't really miss them that much, though. I 'see' just fine," he finished with a casual, calm smile and a gesture to one ear.

"You know who we are?" Robin replied, grinning.

"Of course," Rith answered with a grin of his own. "The Teen Titans are known world-wide. I only know your reputations, however. Beast Boy?" he asked, offering his hand to the shortest member of the team.

The green-skinned boy smiled broadly, his sharpened teeth showing, and shook Rith's hand. "Nice to meet ya, Rith."

"Likewise. Lady Starfire?" Rith continued with a gentle raise of his eyebrows, focusing his closed eyes up at her own as she floated a bit off the ground.

She giggled at the title and took his hand. "Please, Rith, just call me Starfire. I hope we can be good friends!"

"As do I!" he exclaimed in matching humor. Then he came to Raven, and simply bowed, but did so quite low. "My lady. It is an honor, but I would not presume on your cordial reception. How shall we handle this?" he asked sincerely, head tilting a bit.

Raven raised an eyebrow, conscious of the others watching. She offered her hand at length. "No reason not to get off on a good start, right?"

He smiled, but instead of just shaking her hand, he gently clasped her fingers and kissed the back of her knuckles. Raven blushed, more from surprise than hidden pleasure, and the giggles of the others, which they rapidly stifled under her withering, eye-glowing gaze. Rith came upright. "I greatly appreciate your show of trust, madam."

Raven looked at him directly, into his eyes without distraction from his scars. "I'll be honest then. Hurt my friends, and I will make you wish you'd never been born." The others face-vaulted and turned pale.

Rith simply smiled again, and bowed. "A warning I will take most seriously, Raven." He turned his face to the whole team. "I imagine you would like to learn about Dr. Gear as soon as possible?"

Robin nodded, Raven floating back, re-raising her hood. "Yes, please. Come with us."

The boy started to walk forward, joining Cyborg and Robin in walking while Beast Boy turned into a bird and flew with Starfire and Raven, everyone heading back to Titan Tower.

(Later…)

The Teen Titans and Rith sat at the round-table opposite the small kitchen in the command center of Titan Tower. Rith had just explained everything he knew of Dr. Gear, sitting near one of the open sides of the booth, his staff propped up against the seat on his left. Robin leaned back, arms crossed, pensive. "So he designed these highly advanced robots, and then just used them bully the village?"

Rith nodded. "Originally, it seemed he was going to use them to mine ore and actually give away cheap materials to the poorer villages in the area, but I think the idea of having an army at his beckon call went to his head. It's why I didn't want to do much permanent harm to him, I thought it might just take a good lesson to knock him back onto the straight and narrow. Apparently, I was mistaken."

Cyborg tapped a finger off his chin with a soft clicking sound. "They were well-designed, but the mass-production must have forced him to use cheaper parts, they blew up easily enough. Just a problem because there were so many of the darn things."

"You left your home rather easily," Raven pointed out in a serious voice, sitting opposite Rith, in the other open end of the booth. Her arms were crossed, but her gaze was fixed on the guest.

Rith smiled at her. "It wasn't my home. I was just passing through, actually. I stayed for a few weeks when I saw the problem, yes."

Starfire looked at him sympathetically. "Then where is your home?"

"For me, home isn't really a location. I've been a wanderer most of my life." He shrugged. "Not a problem for me." His expression turned formal as he looked to the table as a whole. "He'll want to replenish his army, so we should check for thefts of raw materials in the city. Can we do that from the tower here?"

"No problem, my man," Cyborg casually answered, lounging back. "I could scan for that with my eyes closed. Nothing hit yet tonight, though."

Rith sighed with a faint smile. "I must confess, I'm relieved. Handling more of those things today isn't very appealing, I'm a bit tired."

Beast Boy sunk in his seat. "No kidding, dude. They wore me out."

Raven's brow creased. Maybe that's what they were for…

Rith focused on the purple-haired girl with an amused smile. "You think I had those robots attack you to weaken you all, soften you up for me, Raven?"

She was annoyed at his shrewd comment, making her expression more stern. "It's possible, after all."

He bowed his head. "Indeed it is. I like sleeping outside, so why don't you lock me on the roof?"

Everyone except the two conversing were a bit freaked out by the odd conversation, leaning away from them both. Raven rose up from her seat. "I may have suspicions, but I don't punish people unless I know they've done something wrong." She looked to the others as she pulled her hood up. "I'm going to meditate before going to bed. Good night."

They all waved and wished her well, Rith bowing his head to her. She paused, and then just repeated, "Night," before vanishing through the doors to the personal quarters' hall, not bothering to let them open for her.

Beast Boy watched her leave, and then looked to Rith. "You sure seem to deal with her attitude well. I have a hard time not getting angry with her sometimes, and she's really giving you the third degree."

Rith just smiled, standing and taking his staff. "Trust hard to earn, is trust worth earning. She's also fulfilling a very valuable role. With her remaining suspicious, the rest of you can try the road of friendship, and as a team, you're covered. I'm not saying she does so for that reason, but I think it's a very effective method, and I respect her position. If I may, I would like to go to the roof?"

Cyborg shrugged. "Stairs at the end of the hall, Rith. Knock yourself out."

When the blind boy was gone, the doors hissing shut in his wake, the remaining four Titans shared a curious look. Starfire smiled. "He seems very pleasant, and perhaps Raven will come to trust him soon as well?"

Robin's brow creased, his arms still crossed. "Honestly, that's what worries me. He's a very smooth operator, Star. I have a hard time believing his as young as he looks, either. He's right, if Raven wasn't watching him as closely as she is, I would be."

Cyborg knocked Beast Boy on the head with a knuckle.

"Ow! What was that for?"

Cyborg smirked. "Maybe next time you won't get so annoyed with Raven for playing bad cop for us."

Beast Boy shrugged, and flipped out of the booth, onto his feet toward the kitchen. "If I thought she was just playing a role, I'd be totally cool with her. Don't get me wrong, okay? Raven's a friend, I'd fight for her and I know she would for me, but you all know she's just too harsh sometimes. Am I wrong?"

Robin sighed as he got out of the booth himself. "If I had to deal with her problems, I'd be pretty sour, too, Beast Boy." He looked down as he remembered Slade's return, catching Raven as she fell, her hair long, her costume torn to pieces. He hadn't been able to help her at all, and she'd been a little sadder ever since. She hid it well, but he knew that day, her birthday… had hurt. "I think Rith sees that, actually… If he's a good guy."

Starfire giggled. "Did you not see him kiss her hand? I had thought such wonderful things only happened in your Earth fairy tales! He is very kind to her in the ways he can be."

Cyborg raised his human eyebrow. "Yeah, you're right. He really gives her his full attention whenever he can." He grinned. "I think he's gotta crush on our little Ray!" He turned chibi with Starfire, both clasping their hands together and grinning together with gleeful red on their cheeks. Robin and Beast Boy just sweatdropped.

On the roof, Rith sat, cross-legged near the edge facing the ocean, the sun setting. He could feel the warmth on his skin, but couldn't perceive it. Heat and light only mildly distorted sound, but he could feel everything else. He relaxed with a soft exhale, letting sound sculpt the world around him anew each heart-beat. The birds flying across the water, the crashing waves on the coast, the hum of Titan Tower's power, the myriad sounds from the city, and soft rush of the wind. His hair and clothing rolled gently as he breathed easily.

His eyebrows slackened a bit from his bliss as he thought on Raven, the shape of her face forming in his mind, forged from sound, gray within black void. She has so much weighing on her heart… There is more than treachery in her past. His expression turned deeply empathetic. Such a pure heart should not be so burdened…

The sun vanished, and he felt the air cool as the moon rose. In a haze of meditation, he fell asleep where he sat, the wind singing him to the land of dreams.