Chapter Five

Inside the Titan's Tower, Beast boy and Cyborg raced against each other in an intense game of Battleships VII.

"You're going down!" Beast boy taunted.

"We'll see about that little man!" Cyborg replied.

Raven, with her eyes closed, meditated in front of the window, trying to block out the yelling and hollering of the two titans locked in the middle of the game.

"Azarath…"

"Here I come!"

"Metrion…"

"Boo Yah!"

"Zinthos."

As Raven's scowl grew increasingly larger with each yell from the pair, Robin sat with Starfire on the other side of the couch, trying to find out who this mysterious attacker was that seemed to want to see her demise.

"Why does he hate you so much Star?" Robin asked gently.

"Well, on his home planet of Phocbue their entire species hates us." She replied sadly.

"Why?"

"Our people by nature are happy and have tall spirits,"

"You mean they're high spirited?" Robin interrupted.

"Oh yea," Starfire continued a little embarrassed, "Well the inhabitants of Phocbue are always mean and depressed. They hate us because of our "high spirits" as you say. One day they launched an attack on our planet and in an effort to save ourselves we were scattered throughout the universe. I ended up here and I guess, Raiserus followed me."

"Well don't worry Star, we won't let anything happen to you." Robin assured her.

The alarm went off throughout the tower, pulling Robin and Starfire from their conversation. Everyone turned to their large screen in the living room to see Lightning, Thunder and Hotspot hanging unconscious from a rope attached to a metallic pole off the side of a large building. Raiserus appeared on the screen as the titans looked on in horror.

"Bring me the Tamaranian or you will never see your friends again." He commanded.

"Never!" Robin answered for the group. "You'll never get her!"

"We'll see how long that last." Raiserus replied. "You have one hour to come to the abandoned warehouse on 5th and Latvia. Starting now!"

Raiserus left the screen to reveal a bomb with a timer on the end of the pole.

"Let's go!" Robin told the group.

"What are we going to do?" Raven inquired.

"Get our friends back."

Tier watched gleefully as the titans left the tower. "Children!" He thought to himself. "So easy to manipulate." After they had moved out of seeing range, Tier summoned Alumnus.

"You called?" The demon asked.

"You know what to do." Tier told him. Alumnus bowed before lightning consumed him and he was gone. Even from the distance he was at, Tier was able to hear Alumnus blasting the insides of the tower. But not just the whole tower. Only the technological equipment throughout the tower and in Cyborg's room. Without being able to power back up it would only be a matter of time before Cyborg shut down completely. And then that would be one less Titan to stand in Tier's way.

As the teen titans arrived on the scene, Raiserus greeted them, "So you decided to bring her to me after all."

"Not even close." Robin spat. "We're here to take you down!"

"And save our friends." Beast boy added.

"Titans go!" Robin released his staff as he rushed in at Raiserus. Robin jumped to slam his staff atop Raiserus, but Raiserus clapped his hands together, catching the staff and stopping the attack, before he kicked Robin back. Cyborg, atop Beast boy in the form of a lion, rushed at Raiserus and fired his sonic cannon. Raiserus summoned a large fire blast to counter the sonic cannon. The warriors continued to fire at each other, but Raiserus' fires eventually overpowered Cyborg, sending him flying. Beast boy lunged at Raiserus in the form of a cheetah. As he neared closer he turned and shifted into a tyrannosaurus, knocking Raiserus into a building with his tail.

While the others fought Raiserus, Raven and Starfire flew up to rescue the inert Lightning, Thunder and Hotspot. As they untied them, Starfire shook them to wake them up.

"Friends we are here to rescue you! Please wake up!" Starfire pleaded.

Raven moved closer and held her fingers to their wrist.

"They've got no pulse, Starfire."

"Well let us go and get them some 'pulse'!"

"No, you don't understand." Raven stared at the ground. "They're dead."

Down below them, the other three titans continued to fight off Raiserus. Finally he yelled, "My work here is done!" With that he engulfed himself in flames and flew off. Robin and the others gazed at Raven and Starfire as they carried down the bodies of their departed friends.

"What happened?" Cyborg asked.

"They weren't breathing." Raven told them sadly.

"Let me see." Cyborg responded. He pulled some cables from his chest and placed them on his friends. "They're right, I'm not getting any vitals." The following silence was only filled with the single pitch tone of the heart monitors.

Tier stood atop the Titan's Tower peering into the horizon.

"They're coming!" He told his partner within the tower. In a flash of lightning, Alumnus retreated, leaving Tier alone on the tower. "Soon" he said to himself as he disappeared into the shadows. "His plans were almost complete.

As the titans neared the tower, Starfire thought she saw something on top of the tower but after she blinked, whatever it was, it was gone. Shrugging it off she continued on as she'd seen nothing.

"What happened in here?" Cyborg yelled as they entered the tower. The place was a wreck. The complicated alarm system they possessed was completely destroyed. All of the computers in Cyborg's room were smoking.

"They're gonna blow!" He yelled as he ran down the hall. Just seconds after he exited the room, the computer parts exploded, sending a wave of fire and computer parts into the hallway.

"Who could have done this?" Beast boy asked.

"I don't know but whoever it was destroyed my charger, and that battle with Raiserus used up a lot of my energy."

"So what are you gonna do?" Beast boy asked.

"I can build another one I just need to get the parts." Cyborg replied as the picked up various pieces of the floor.

"We'll get what you need, just stay here and rest." Robin added.

"All right, I need a quantum rejuvenator, a transmorgofier, and…"

"In English?" Beast boy interrupted.

"Maybe I should go with you." Cyborg told them

"No, it's okay. You need to conserve as much energy as possible. We'll figure it out." Robin told him.

"If you say so. But contact me if you need anything."

"Get better friend Cyborg." Starfire added cheerfully.

"Yea." Raven said monotonously.

The four titans left the tower to search for parts as Cyborg stayed behind to rest.

Deep within the bowels of the earth, Tier stood before his gathered group of villains. Only the light on Tier shone throughout the dark cavern. "It's time." He commanded them. "You all know what to do." They nodded in respect and moved out of the lair. "After all that planning, after everything I've been through, the Teen Titans will finally pay for what they did to my brother"
The four titans entered the large computer store with one thing on their mind: helping Cyborg.

"I've sent you the list of things I need ." Cyborg said through his communicator.

"We're on it." Robin replied. The four separated throughout the store as they picked up various parts to build Cyborg a new battery charger. As Raven approached an aisle, everything in the store began to twist and turn.

"What's going on?" Starfire yelled.

"It's a trap!" Robin guessed. As the shifting stopped, the titans found themselves in a large warehouse, along with the Titans East and Young Justice.

"What are you doing here?" Beast boy asked them.

"We were coming to stop a robbery and the store turned into this place." Bumblebee answered.

"That's what happened to us too." Superboy added.

"Where's Cyborg?" Aqualad asked them.

"Something or someone destroyed his battery charger, we were coming to get the parts to build him a new one."

"Well now that we all know why we're here, let's get this show on the road." A voice from above announced.

"Who's there?" Robin questioned into the darkness.

Up on a catwalk eight figures appeared from the darkness. The one who spoke began talking once again. The titans had the strange feeling that they'd seen this mysterious man before.

"Who are you?" Beast boy asked.

"You don't recognize me?" Tier asked indignantly. "Can't you see the family resemblance." He threw something down at them that pinged against the ground as it slid to Robin's feet.

"Slade's mask."

"He was my only brother." Tier stated. "And you murdered him!" As he began to remember the video of Slade being consumed by magma, anger began to grow inside him, boiling over into his voice. "And now you'll pay!"

"But why are they here?" Raven asked pointing to Titans East and Young Justice. "They haven't done anything to you."

"They're here to give you a fighting chance of survival against my very own Teen Tyrants!" Tier responded.

The group gasped as Tier motioned his team into action. "Move!" He yelled as they jumped from the catwalk. They rushed at the heroes as the battle between good and evil began.