DISCLAIMER: I don't own Teen Titans. If I did, this would be on TV and not here.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This doesn't take place in the same storyline as my "Forced Base" and "Fractured Heart" stories, so forget those when you're reading this. Also, this takes place after the fourth season, so anything that happens in the show after that isn't applicable to this. Also, about Sanza/Red X: When he's wearing the mask, he's Red X. When he's not, he's Sanza. Simple as that.
O-O-O
Sanza could hear the music as soon as he entered the building. It was loud, powerful, pulsating, and all-pervading, sweeping through him and immediately putting him in a 'party' mood. He quickly found his way to the gym and walked inside.
The room was dark except for the strobe lights filling every corner of the spacious gym, as well as the light from the huge screen at the front of the gym, showing the music video for every song that played. As soon as Sanza walked into the gym, he heard a very familiar voice...
"Sanza! I thought you weren't going to show..."
It was Cleo, dressed in an almost skin-tight tanktop and a long pair of blue jeans with the legs cut off at the bottom. Though Sanza was almost twenty minutes late, Cleo didn't mind, sweeping her friend into her arms in a hug before taking his hand and leading him to the rest of his friends.
"Sorry about that, Cleo... just had some stuff to take care-"
"Excuses, excuses..." Cleo replied, a smile on her face. "You're here now, and we're gonna dance!"
"Sanza can't dance!" shouted Sanza's friend Rob, standing with his girlfriend Marcy in the middle of a small crowd of people. He peered over the ground and saw Sanza and Cleo coming toward him. "Hey, Sanza! You enjoying yourself?"
"I just got here," said Sanza, rolling his eyes as the song that had been playing when he walked in came to an end. "And now I'm going to have a good time. I can't spend the whole night thinking about Starfire..."
But of course, thinking about not thinking about Starfire just made Sanza think about Starfire more. What if she suffocated in the trunk? What if she got out? What if someone found her? What if her friends showed up? The next song that began to play certainly didn't help...
"Oooh, the Teen Titans song!" squealed Cleo, the song obviously being one of her favorites. Written by the band Puffy Ami Yumi after the Titans had saved them during one of their concerts, the song had become a big hit... especially in Jump City, where the Titans called home. As soon as Sanza heard the song, adrenaline began coursing through his body... the kind of adrenaline rush only Red X was used to having. "Sanza, dance with me!"
Cleo launched into a flurry of quick dance moves, flailing her arms and legs about to the rhythm of the song. Sanza watched her for three seconds before breaking out into laughter. Cleo stopped her dancing, frowned, and grabbed Sanza by the arm.
"Okay, Sanza... let's see you dance to it!" Cleo said, swinging Sanza around and releasing him, causing him to stagger a few steps before rhythmically moving his arms and legs back and forth. He began laughing again.
"Sanza, you look like an idiot!" shouted Rob, laughing even harder than Sanza was.
"You'd better not call him stuff unless you can dance any better..." replied Marcy, elbowing him in the side. As the song continued, Sanza danced across from Cleo, quickly becoming more and more relaxed by the second.
"I'm here to have fun," thought Sanza, smiling and taking in the glorious irony of the Teen Titans' theme song filling the gym. "And that's what I'm gonna do..."
O-O-O
But a certain group of individuals weren't having any fun... after almost being crushed by a destroyed castle exhibit, they realized that they'd lost the criminal they were chasing... and after they left the museum, they realized they'd lost someone far more important.
"Okay, next time we go after X, we're picking the battleground," said Beast Boy, picking some of the rubble from the castle out of his ears. "One of the bricks from that castle fell right on my butt! I won't be sitting for a week!"
"Get over it," replied Raven, "because we're still going after X."
"Wait a minute..." said Robin, quickly scanning the entire parking lot, then the group of Titans. "Starfire's not here..."
"I thought she was with you!" said Cyborg. Robin shook his head, and a worried expression appeared on his face. Immediately, Raven could sense the change in Robin's emotions brought about by Starfire being missing. Robin's anger at not catching X nearly disappeared, replaced by concern for his friend and teammate.
"When did you guys last see her?" Robin asked, taking out his Titans communicator and using it to call Starfire.
"The last time I saw her was when we were all together inside the museum on the first floor," said Raven. "Red X went into the elevator, and-"
"She's not answering..." said Robin, frantically trying to radio his friend. "Starfire? Are you there? Starfire?"
"Let me just triangulate her coordinates on my communicator," said Cyborg, pressing several buttons on his own T-Com. "It can detect the locator beacon sent out by any of the other Titans, remember? Now let's see here..."
"I bet she went out to get something to eat," said Beast Boy, rubbing his stomach. "I know that's what I'd do..."
"Beast Boy, this is serious!" Robin shouted, a hint of anger in his voice. "Starfire could be in serious danger!"
"She's behind the museum... at least that's what it says on the-"
Immediately, Robin dashed away from the rest of the group and ran behind the museum, followed close behind by Raven, Beast Boy, and Cyborg.
"Please be okay, please be okay..." thought Robin, worried that Starfire may have been knocked out behind the museum, or badly injured... or worse. But when the Titans got there, all they saw was Starfire's communicator lying on the ground... followed by a set of tire tracks that led around to the front of the museum, then vanished. Robin ran to the communicator and picked it up... it was apparently the last thing Starfire had touched before she'd vanished, and the scuff marks on its surface indicated that it had taken a fall. "No..."
"Where is she?" asked Cyborg, looking back and forth.
"Gone..." said Raven, scanning the immediate area for any sign of her fellow Titan. All she saw was the alley behind the museum, a few trash cans, and several large buildings. "X must have taken her..."
"STARFIRE!" shouted Robin, his head pointed toward the sky. He clenched his fists, allowing the harsh reality of the discarded communicator and Starfire's disappearance to sink in. X had taken her... Red X, someone who'd once saved the Titans, someone whom Robin might one day actually begin to trust... now that would never happen. Red X had kidnapped Starfire, the one person Robin cared about more than any other... and Robin was going to get her back.
"We'll find her, Robin..." said Cyborg, placing his hand on Robin's shoulder.
"Yeah... she's our friend, we've gotta get her away from X!" Beast Boy chimed in. "You can count on us, we'll-"
"I'll find you, Starfire..." said Robin, ignoring his friends and aimlessly wandering back to the front of the museum, with Starfire's communicator in his hand. "No matter what it takes... I swear, I'll find you... and Red X... if you've hurt Starfire in any way... I swear with all that is in me, I will break you in half!"
O-O-O
The cold darkness of the trunk, combined with its enclosed dimensions, was enough to make Starfire extremely nervous, though she tried to steel herself against fear as best she could. Her glowing green eyes gave her a bit of light, but light was useless when she couldn't even move her arms and legs.
With a muffled shout, Starfire kicked the top lid of the trunk with her bound feet... normally, the lid would have flown right off, but with the layer of Xynothium Red X had placed before he closed the lid and trapped the Tamaranian girl in darkness, the kick didn't even make a dent. Unshaken, Starfire kicked the trunk repeatedly, determined to escape.
"I am strong... I can get out of here," thought Starfire, trying to reassure herself as she continued kicking the trunk lid. "But I do wish my friends would find me soon..."
O-O-O
As the dance went on, Sanza became more and more enveloped in the fun he and his friends were having. He and Cleo had danced together on several slow dance songs, and now, as the dance picked up again, a series of techno songs filled the gym.
"Hey!" Rob shouted at the DJ as he and Marcy walked over to the side of the gym to sit next to Sanza and Cleo on the row of bleachers that had been pulled out to use as a makeshift bench. "Listen to what Eminem said! It's over! NOBODY LISTENS TO TECHNO!"
"Sit down," said Sanza, pulling Rob onto the bench. "At least they're not playing Menudo."
"Should I go request it?" asked Cleo with a giggle.
"Listen, Sanza... sorry I said that you can't dance earlier," said Rob, recalling an earlier part of the night where Sanza had tried to breakdance and had gotten his leg bent back at an awkward angle when he landed wrong. "I mean, you totally served everybody in the gym with your mad breakdancing skills!"
"My leg still hurts," Sanza replied, smiling and wincing at the same time. Immediately, Cleo's soft hands began gently rubbing Sanza's leg, trying to massage it back into feeling better. Sanza smiled. Cleo was certainly no Starfire... of course, no one in the world could compare to her in Sanza's eyes, but she was still Sanza's friend, and very pretty at that. Sanza leaned over to Cleo and kissed her on the cheek. Her hands quickly stopped rubbing Sanza's leg, and she turned and looked at her friend, who began to blush with embarrassment.
"Sanza Salazar, were you trying to put the moves on me?" Cleo asked, a scowl on her face.
"Oooh, I think he was..." said Rob, chuckling as Sanza began trying to scoot away from Cleo.
But quickly, Cleo's scowl turned into a smile as she leaned forward and kissed Sanza on the lips for several seconds, wrapping her arms tightly around his back. Both Rob and Marcy gasped.
"Whoa... way to go, Sanza!" shouted Rob.
"Yeah... way to go, homes..."
Sanza and Cleo stopped kissing and looked up. There, two more of Sanza's friends were standing... two kids in leather jackets, one tall and one short. Their hair was black, and they each had a toothpick in their mouth. They were Vick and Mick, two troubled teens who had served a brief stint in juvenile hall for stealing Cyborg's T-Car soon after it had been built. Sanza smiled at them, not too angry about them interrupting he and Cleo's kiss.
"You guys lookin' to start somethin'?" Sanza asked jokingly, standing up and giving both of them a high-five. "Where are your dates?"
"Didn't bring 'em," said Vick, the taller of the two kids, chewing on his toothpick and smirking in that 'too cool for school or anything else for that matter' fashion. "We're too sexy for dates."
"Yeah, totally too sexy, and cool," replied Mick, brushing his hand back through his hair. "So, what's hanging, essa?"
Though Vick and Mick weren't Hispanic... hell, they were even whiter than Rob, they still liked to joke around with Sanza by frequently using Mexican lingo in his presence. Of course, the only Mexican lingo they ever learned was the kind Eddie Guerrero used in his WWE promos. The only reason Sanza didn't pound the crap out of Vick and Mick was that he was more amused than offended by them, and at times, they were pretty cool friends.
"Well, as you can see, Sanza and I were in the middle of something..." said Cleo, a smile appearing on her face. "Isn't that right, Sanza?"
"That's okay," said Vick, spitting out his toothpick on the ground. "Mick and I were just gonna chill over by the wall... you and Cleo enjoy yourselves, okay?"
As Vick and Mick walked away, Sanza leaned back against the wall of bleachers behind him, letting out a loud yawn.
"They bore you too?" Rob asked, slapping Sanza hard on the back. "You know those guys are convicted felons, right? Grand theft auto?"
"Of course I know," replied Sanza, "but c'mon, how dangerous can a couple of car thieves be?"
"Sanza's right... he knows which of his friends are good and which ones aren't," said Cleo, smiling at Sanza and Rob. "Well... 'cept for one of em, with spiky bleached hair, and no sense of humor, and-"
"HEY!" Rob shouted, though he should've seen the obvious joke that Cleo was going to make a mile away. "Sanza, you gotta defend your buddy, man! What about bros before hos?"
That comment earned Rob a hard elbow in the side from Marcy, and a loud laugh from Sanza, who was now completely absorbed in the antics of his friends. It was times like this that almost made Sanza regret being Red X... regret the heavy burden he'd placed on himself by taking up the charge to protect his family.
But it was also times like this, when he could laugh and joke with his friends while at the same time having one of the Teen Titans bound and gagged in the trunk of his mother's car without anyone else even beginning to suspect a thing, that made Sanza proud of himself and the skill with which he could juggle the two personalities.
"Hey Mick..." said Vick, leaning against the wall across the gym from Sanza and his friends. "Did you see that car Sanza drove in here today?"
"Yeah... it was a convertible, wasn't it? I mean, the top was up, but it was still a pretty nice car," said Mick. "I wonder how he got wheels like that?"
"Hey... wanna go check it out?" asked Vick, gesturing toward one of the exits of the gym. He looked over at Sanza, still laughing and joking with his friends. "I mean, it's not like Sanza's gonna know or anything..."
Mick nodded, and the two teenage hooligans headed out to the parking lot.
O-O-O
Sanza's mother's car was a small, red convertible, though its black top was currently up. It was a nearly new car, a model just two years old. As Vick and Mick looked over the car, running their hands over its smooth, nearly waxed surface, they didn't hear the screams and struggles of the trapped Titan in its trunk.
"This car... is the greatest car... in the history of cars," said Mick, nearly drooling on its polished hood. "We gotta go inside!"
The doors were unlocked, and soon, Vick and Mick found themselves inside the car. Vick was in the driver's seat, and Mick was in the passenger's seat.
"Yo... how do I look, homes?" asked Vick, his hands assuming the position on the steering wheel. "Do I look like Eddie Guerrero, essa?"
"You look like a white dumbass," Mick replied, "but maybe once we get on the road, you'll look a little better."
Of course, Vick and Mick couldn't get on the road. They'd already been convicted of stealing one car... if they were caught stealing another, they'd be in jail until they were twenty-one! Neither one of them wanted that... and besides, they didn't have the keys. Without the keys, they couldn't start the car. Or could they?
"Hey... let's hotwire this thing and take it for a joyride," said Vick, getting out of the car and running around to the front hood. Mick followed him out of the car, slightly more nervous than his taller partner.
"What if Sanza finds out?" asked Mick, nervously looking back and forth. "If he knows we stole his car-"
"We'll bring it back," said Vick, lifting the hood and connecting two wires underneath. Almost immediately, the car's ignition started. "We're just gonna take her out, see how she handles... better than that cruddy T-Car, I bet."
Still bitter about being thwarted by Cyborg and the Teen Titans, Vick and Mick climbed back into the front of Sanza's mother's car, closing the doors and relishing in their victory.
Meanwhile, Starfire could hear the car begin to start. Thinking it was Red X transporting her somewhere else, she let out a loud scream through the tape X, her struggles intensifying as she desperately tried to escape the trunk. The sound of Starfire's scream registered to the thieves as a small squeak. Of course, they had no idea what the sound was. Still, it made them nervous.
"What was that?" Vick asked, looking toward the back of the car. "Did you hear something?"
"Nah, I didn't hear nothin'... but still, maybe we shouldn't be doing this. What if Sanza comes after us? What if the Teen Titans come after us?"
"Mick, chill out, man," Vick said as he steered the car out of its parking space and drove toward the street. "There isn't a Teen Titan around for miles!"
The car pulled out into the street and sped off. Vick and Mick were completely unaware that their little joyride would have implications that the two could not possibly begin to fathom...
O-O-O
The car rode through busy city streets, illuminated by white streetlights shining brightly through Jump City's evening darkness. Vick and Mick were having the time of their lives in the convertible, pushing it to speeds exceeding a hundred miles an hour when they could get away with it. And all the while, Starfire was in the trunk, screaming to anyone within earshot that could help her.
"I keep hearing something from the trunk," said Vick, keeping one eye on the road and using the other eye to look out the window. "Think we might've popped it open?"
"Probably just needs oil or something," Mick replied as the car sped around a corner at nearly eighty miles an hour. The car was now pulling into the main street of downtown Jump City, and the heavy nighttime traffic forced the two boys to slow down to a somewhat reasonable fifty miles an hour. "Hey... wanna take this thing racing?"
Vick had learned something from he and Mick's previous car-stealing experience. They'd only gotten into trouble when they took the car out on the track. Plus, they'd been banned from the car racing arena anyway.
"Nah, if we race for pinks and lose Sanza's car, he'll kill us," Vick replied. "And even if we don't put up the car, we're still banned from there anyway."
"Aw, come on... we stole this car, we're already in trouble, we might as well take the risk, right?"
"Aren't you the one who said stealing this car was a bad idea anyway?"
"Point taken," said Mick, spitting his toothpick out the window. "We need to do something cool with this car, though... Oooh, I know! Let's take off that sick jump at the landfill! You know, the big mountain of trash?"
An enormous hill made of tightly compacted trash lay at the center of the city dump, a monument to Jump City's waste and refuse. A few brave souls had ridden their bikes or mopeds off the hill, but no one had dared jump a car off of it... if the car happened to flip, the damage would be catastrophic, as the hill was nearly a hundred feet tall. But that night, Vick and Mick were feeling brave... or maybe they were just being jackasses.
"Sweet," said Vick, turning at the next stoplight and driving toward the Jump City Dump at seventy miles an hour. "Time to make car history! WOOOO!"
O-O-O
The dump was deserted at night, save for the few guard dogs that were strategically placed around the area to ward off looters. Vick drove the car through the entrance usually reserved for trucks. As soon as the two entered the dump, they could see the enormous mountain of trash in front of them, beckoning them to fulfill their wildest juvenile delinquent dreams.
They drove closer and closer to the mountain, positioning the car so that it was about two hundred feet away from the mountain's base. That way, they could build up enough speed to be able to get up the mountain and take the jump.
Starfire, hearing the car stop once again, began screaming and kicking at the trunk lid. But Vick and Mick, caught up in their glorious stunt, could only concentrate on the task at hand.
"Today," said Mick with an air of reverence, "we drive our car into the history books. Today, we stop being just ordinary street trash, and become legendary street trash."
"We drive our car to the heavens, and flip the finger at God himself!"
"Immortality!" shouted Mick, pointing at the gas pedal. "It's ours! TAKE IT!"
Vick floored the gas pedal, and the car zoomed toward the front of the trash mountain, going from 0 to 60 in less than five seconds. Feeling the sudden rush of acceleration in the trunk, Starfire let out a loud scream, wondering what Red X, who she presumed was still driving, was possibly going to accomplish by driving so quickly.
"He is going to kill us both!" thought Starfire, closing her eyes and huddling up in the trunk as best she could. "Please, do not do this!"
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Vick screamed. The car was going eighty-eight miles an hour when it hit the front of the mountain, immediately pulling up onto the incline and slowing only slightly. The car reached the top in a little more than two seconds. But as it approached the actual peak, the structural integrity of the mountain began to give way from the car's weight. As the mountain began to crumble, the car jolted forward, then back as the top of the mountain started to fall away.
Immediately, Vick and Mick realized why no one had ever tried jumping the mountain in a car before.
"Oh, shit!" Mick screamed, just as the car went over the top of the mountain of trash. Behind them, they could hear scrap metal, old newspapers, Styrofoam, and rotten food crashing to the ground. But they had done it... if just barely. The car soared through the air before hitting the ground several seconds later. "YES! YES!"
As the car came to a stop, the two boys exchanged high-fives in the front seat, while in the trunk, Starfire was beginning to hyperventilate.
"That was... horrible... and... I thought... I was going... to die..." thought Starfire, air wheezing rapidly in and out of her nose. A single tear made its way down her face, and she kicked the trunk lid in frustration, both angry at her captor and angry at herself for actually being so scared that she was about to cry. "You have to get through this, Starfire... the others will come... Robin will come..."
The thumping on the trunk lid immediately caught the attention of both Vick and Mick, who looked behind them and listened closer.
"Something's coming from inside our trunk, man," said Vick, pointing back toward the trunk with a puzzled look on his face. "Maybe we should go check it out..."
But before Mick could respond, the sound of a man shouting, as well as several dogs barking, came out of the distance.
"Hey!" shouted the man's voice, shining a flashlight in the car's direction. "Whoever's over there, don't move!"
The sound of the mountain of trash collapsing brought the attention of a night watchman posted outside the dump.
"We'll go to the park and check it out there," said Vick, starting the car back up and speeding out of the dump before the security guard could approach the car. "We did it, man... we jumped Trash Mountain!"
"Hell yeah, we did!" said Mick, high-fiving Vick again as the car raced toward Jump City Park. "But I wonder what the hell was making all that noise in the trunk?"
O-O-O
It was nearly midnight now, and the dance was beginning to wind itself down. Sanza, Cleo, Rob, and Marcy had been talking and dancing nearly the whole evening, and had had a wonderful time. But as the end of the dance inevitably approached, Sanza once again started thinking about Starfire. He sat back down on the bleachers and put his head in his hands, wondering what he was going to do with her once he got back out to his car. The initial plan had been to use her as a bargaining chip to extort valuables from the Teen Titans, but now Sanza had no idea what he was going to do, or even what he had taken Starfire for in the first place.
Then he remembered the first time he'd faced off against the Titans... and how he'd managed to get Starfire pinned against the wall. And what was the first thing he said to her?
"The real crime here is that we haven't gone out on a..." Red X didn't get to finish that sentence, but the final word was obviously going to be 'date'. He'd wanted to go out with Starfire... of course, that was impossible. He was a criminal, she was a hero... was that why he'd really taken her?
But he could never force himself on Starfire... he could never forgive himself if he hurt her. Sanza sighed again. He was hurting her just by taking her prisoner... she'd probably been in that trunk for five hours now, dark, and scared, and alone, and...
Rob and Marcy were still out on the dance floor, while Cleo had walked over to whisper something to the DJ. Sanza put his head in his hands again, still thinking silently to himself. I've hurt Starfire... isn't that exactly what I'm trying not to do?
"And now, the last song of the night goes out to Sanza Salazar from his friend Cleo Encina... from the Phantom of the Opera soundtrack, it's 'Think Of Me'."
As the song began, Cleo walked over to Sanza and slowly extended her hand to him.
"Sanza... would you like to...?"
Sanza stood up and took Cleo's hand. A smile crossed his face, and as Cleo led him out to the dance floor, the beautiful song echoing through the entire gym, he once more forgot about Starfire and remembered his life as Sanza Salazar. He remembered his family, his friends, and all the good things he had...
And for the first time that night, he truly felt at peace.
O-O-O
Vick parked the car in a small parking lot in a remote area of the park, surrounded by trees and illuminated by a single street light. Then, the two teens climbed out of the car and walked around to the trunk. Vick had bent a coat hanger that had been on the floor into a long, straight metal rod that could pick the lock of the trunk.
"I'm still thinking this trunk needs to be oiled," said Mick, as Vick began jimmying the coat hanger in the lock. Another loud thump sounded, and this time the two boys could clearly hear it because of their proximity to the trunk. "Okay, maybe we should open it quick now."
A loud clicking noise sounded, and the trunk lid began to open. Vick opened it the rest of the way... and the two boys were confronted with the most shocking sight of their lives. Starfire, her arms and legs bound with red metal, a red X covering her lower face, writhing in front of them, her words unintelligible. Vick and Mick immediately jumped back.
"Holy shit, dude!" Vick shouted. "Is that... that who I think it is?"
"That can't be," replied Mick, rubbing his eyes and looking at Starfire again. "Maybe it's just a wig..."
Mick began tugging at Starfire's hair. She let out a squeal of protest through the sticky X, wincing her eyes in pain. Mick released his grip on the Tamaranian girl's hair and stepped back again.
Starfire, seeing her chance to escape, shot a green laser from her eyes that barely missed hitting Vick in the face, flying past him and blowing up a nearby tree.
"That's definitely Starfire... you know what this means?" shouted Vick, starting to freak out.
"That you're a damn liar about there not being any Titans around?" asked Mick, sweat pouring down his face.
"I don't know how he did it, but he captured one of the Teen Titans," replied Vick, shaking his head in disbelief. "And we nearly got killed by that Cyborg guy... what kind of drugs is Sanza on?"
"Well, what do we do with her?" asked Mick, staring Starfire up and down. Meanwhile, Starfire, unsure of whether the two boys would hurt or help her, shot them as pleading a look as she could, trying to mumble out 'help me'.
"I dunno... maybe if we turn her in to the cops or something, we'll get a reward!" said Vick, pacing back and forth and running his hands through his hair. Both he and Mick were starting to get nervous. Vick lowered his voice to a whisper so that Starfire couldn't hear him. "But if we do that, Sanza might... I mean, if he captured one of the Titans-"
Mick began whispering as well, and Starfire wondered what the two boys were saying.
"We've gotta turn her in and get the cops to help us! I mean, we stole Sanza's car, but we could say that we did it to help Starfire!"
"So we're gonna take her to the cops then?" Vick said, causing Starfire's eyebrows to raise.
"Yes!" thought Starfire, her spirits beginning to finally lift. "Thank you, kind Samaritans... my friends and I will reward you greatly for your bravery and kindness!"
The trunk was soon slammed shut over Starfire's head, causing an annoyed groan to escape the Tamaranian's lips. The two now faced away from the trunk, discussing their plan.
"So we take her straight to the cops, agreed?" said Vick, wiping sweat from his forehead. Mick nodded, and the two turned around.
What they saw on top of the car caused them both to shout. The man who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere crouched half in the light of the streetlamp, while his other half remained cloaked in shadow. His only visible eye stared menacingly at the two petrified street hoodlums.
"Good evening gentlemen," said Slade, not moving from his position crouched on top of the car. "I see you have some very interesting cargo there..."
O-O-O
Slade is back... you figured he'd probably show up sooner or later, but I guess for Mick and Vick it's a total shock, ne? So what will become of the two hoods, as well as Starfire and the other Titans? And what of Sanza? The winds of discord collide in the next chapter, and believe me, it will be a heckuva show!