"Who the what?" Cyborg gaped.
"He's here to help guys. Just keep calm." Raven assured.
"I said let them go Legato." Vash repeated, tightening his finger around the trigger of his unusual looking gun.
"Dude, who is this guy, and where did he get that haircut?" Beast Boy gawked. His thoughts were interrupted when Cyborg turned to face the newcomer and loosed a blast from his cannon.
The Titan's all gave a simultaneous gasp. He had only sidestepped, but to the untrained eyes of the humans and Tamaranian, it almost looked as if the laser bolt had gone through him.
"I said let them go!" He repeated, louder this time.
"If you're going to help us just do it!" Robin snarled in frustration, still struggling to regain control of his own body.
"Yes Vash, do it." Legato said, closing his eyes as an arrogant smile played across his face. Vash tightened his grip on his gun, his hand trembling with indecision. Starfire's eyes widened as she watched and waited. A single drop of sweat formed on Robin's forehead and fell to the floor.
Vash sighed and lowered his weapon, and all hell broke loose.
The intruders all opened fire on Vash and were joined by Robin and Cyborg who hurled birdarangs and laser shots at him. Vash ducked and dodged with unspeakable speed, a red and blonde blur of motion. He somersaulted away from Raven, drawing their fire, but was grounded when a single shot winged him, sending him tumbling to the ground.
Legato's arrogant smile grew broader as he watched his people prepare to deliver the final blow. But then a pair of green energy bolts blasted the ground right out from under him, sending him tumbling down to a floor below. He hit the ground with a grunt and blacked out. Starfire giggled delightedly, but was silenced by a bullet that whizzed past her face.
"Dude, I can move!" Beast Boy shouted excitedly.
"Boo-yah!" Cyborg shouted and turned his attack now against one of the office's the attacks had come from. The entire wall blasted out, revealing a bizarre looking man with a pair of large half-dome's on either side of his body, a series of strings tied around his fingers. But no sooner had he done this than the massive arms they had seen moment's earlier bust through a wall, latching into Cyborg. "Talk about cheap construction!" Cyborg grumbled helplessly as he was yanked into the next room.
The samurai leapt forward into combat with Robin, exchanging kicks and punches expertly. Robin smirked, enjoying the competition as he slapped away a punch directed as his head. He ducked low and swept a kick toward his opponent's legs, but the warrior leapt over it and landed next to his fallen sword. He grabbed it and charged back in, but was blocked at the last moment by Robin's staff.
Raven opened her mouth to begin her incantation, but found the muzzle of a gun pressed against her temple, accompanied by a strange clicking sound. The one-eyed woman smiled as she started to tighten her grip on the trigger, but the gun was knocked from her hand by a well-placed shot from Vash. She scowled, and with another clicking sound, vanished completely. Raven's eyes darted around for a moment, and then settled on Vash, who winked. Raven smiled in response.
Starfire floated up toward the catwalks above, and found herself confronted by a small child dressed like a cowboy, made all the more disturbing by the pair of guns clutched in his small hands. Standing next to him was a large, muscular man wearing a purple bodysuit, and an orange helmet that covered almost his entire face. And wrapped around his forearms were perhaps the largest looking guns she had ever seen. They both instantly assailed her with a rain of bullets, and it was all she could do to dodge most of them. She hurled a single bolt at them, and it struck the catwalk alongside them, sending the boy tumbling aside. The large man, however, leapt from the catwalk and tackled her in midair, sending them both to the floor with a grunt.
The man wearing the spike-covered domes narrowed his eyes with a sinister chuckle and started to extend his fingers, tugging at the strings tied around them when a series of green tentacles lapped around his head. He grunted and emitted a stream of curses as he danced around, struggling to remove the green octopus without raising his hands and setting off his weapon.
"Get off me you little…" he snarled, and as if on command the tentacles vanished. And in their place, in front of him, there was a green porcupine. It raised its quills as if in mockery of the spike's that covered its opponent's body. He snarled and started to flex his fingers again when the porcupine sniffled and swung one of its small paws, tossing a series of quills that severed the strings. The metal domes fell from his shoulders with a loud crash, and he stood, frozen in utter shock. And then, before his eyes, the porcupine turned into a massive grizzly bear. It snarled, drool falling from its fangs, and then stood up on its hind legs, roaring. He shrieked and turned to run, slapping instantly into a wall and falling flat onto his back.
Beast Boy morphed back into himself and burst into laughter at the spectacle. The laughter stopped when the wall next to him exploded and Cyborg was thrown through. A massive, faceless monstrosity soon followed him. It completely ignored Beast Boy as it stepped through the hole, its aim focused entirely on Cyborg. It reached down and clamped its enormous hands onto him and began squeezing, seeking to crack him like a walnut. Cyborg groaned and tried to fight back, tensing his body as he tried to outmuscle his attacker, but it matched his effort and squeezed harder. But then a loud roar distracted it, and it turned just in time to be thrown into the air by the tail of a green tyrannosaurus. It landed with a crash amongst some file cabinets, and as soon joined by the purple-clad man who had been wrestling with Starfire. Beast Boy and Cyborg both flashed her a high sign, which she eagerly returned, and then they were all blown down by a wave of sonic force from the saxophone player.
Back across the room, Robin was now skillfully engaging his samurai opponent, their weapons creating a storm of sparks as they're metal met. They danced around each other, exchanging jabs, thrusts, parries, and feints. They forced themselves apart and then stood, catching their breath, their eyes never parting.
"Finally," the samurai smiled, "An opponent worthy of my skill!"
"Glad you approve." Robin smirked confidently. But then a long arm wrapped around his throat and constricted like a great serpent, blocking his windpipe.
"Only a fool makes speeches on the battlefield." A sexy female voice whispered in Robin's ear.
"Release him, Dominique! He belongs to me!" The samurai protested. While they argued Robin grabbed the woman's arm and expertly threw her over his shoulder, sending her into her counterpart, the both of them falling to the floor, struggling to untangle from each other. But Robin did not have any time to savor the victory, as he too was then floored by a blast from the saxophone player. The musician smirked and started to stroll into the center of the room, turning the wrath of his extraordinary instrument against the Titan's as they struggled to rise against him. His eyes eventually settled on Beast Boy who lay on the floor rubbing his head. He smirked, and a series of small gun barrels extended from his saxophone, aimed directly at the green changeling. The shots rang out, and Beast Boy's eyes widened in panic as he realized what was coming.
"Azarath, Metreon, Sinthos!" Raven shouted as she flew in front of Beast Boy, a black barrier of energy appearing before her. The bullets smacked against it, cracking into splinters of metal. The musician simply smiled and unleashed a torrent of sonic energy that battered against Raven's field, testing her strength. While she struggled to keep this defense up, the boy standing on the catwalk above set his sights on the back of her neck and leveled on of his small pistols.
"Raven!" Starfire shouted, but her warning came too late as the gun roared to life, sending its deadly missile toward her. To the eyes of Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy and Cyborg the next events seemed to go in perpetual slow motion.
The bullet rocketed at Raven, who was just turning to see what Starfire had warned her about. The Titan's all opened their mouths to scream, as if they're cries would stop the inevitable. But at the last moment Vash cartwheeled into Raven, knocking her away, and at the same time breaking her concentration so her shield vanished. Vash kicked his leg up, and the toe of his boot met the bullet, deflecting it away. It flew into the saxophone, piercing it and rendering it unusable. Vash quickly leapt back to his feet and threw his arm forward, the hand detaching from the wrist and sliding under his forearm, another gun emerging from what had seemed to be a sleeve, its trigger settling into the palm of his false hand. He fired a rapid succession of shots, none of them actually hitting any of the thieves, but rather ricocheting over their heads or at their feet, sending them all scrambling for cover.
"Dude…" Beast Boy said in a whisper, his voice failing him in awe.
"Whoa…" Robin muttered, his jaw dropping.
"Awesome…" Cyborg gasped. Starfire remained silent for a moment, words failing her, before she found her voice.
"Wondrous!" She shouted, throwing her arms open as if to embrace the sudden action by the blonde haired stranger. But her joy was drained from her when Robin struck against her skull with his staff.
"Not again!" Robin snarled as he, Cyborg, and Beast Boy all turned to face Raven, Starfire, and Vash.
"That will be quite enough, all of you." Legato said from the doorway. All eyes turned to him. He leaned against the doorframe, a hand pressed against his wounded head, a small trickle of blood dripping from beneath that blue hair. The strange enemies all stood and moved toward him. Starfire and Raven both scowled, green and black energy starting to glow in their eyes. Vash leveled his pistol at Legato once again, even though he knew the threat was hollow. In response, Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy all turned against each other; Robin came up behind Beast Boy and began choking him with his staff, while Cyborg leveled his weapon at both of them.
"Interfere, by all means, and watch them die." Legato said, the arrogant self-assurance returning to his voice. The three with their free will still about them all sighed with resignation and stood down. Legato smiled, and his eyes flicked around to regard his companions. "We have what we came for. Let us not waste anymore time here." The gang all offered the Titans and their new friend dirty looks as they all stepped out of the room. Legato was the last to leave. He walked backwards, his eyes never leaving the three. But as he started to vanish into the darkness, he called out to Vash. "Oh, and by the way, I lied."
Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy all turned on their teammates instantly. Beast Boy leapt at Raven and landed on her as a constrictor snake, tightening its coils about her. Cyborg opened fire on Vash, who became a blur of motion as he dodged. Robin hurled several birdarangs at Starfire, who blasted them all out of the air with a single green bolt.
"Friends, please, stop!" She pleaded as Robin leapt at her.
"We can't!" Cyborg cried in frustration. The assault lasted only a few more moments before the three young men all suddenly dropped away from their defensive postures, their heads hanging in shame.
"You guys okay?" Raven asked cautiously. Robin looked up, shame faced.
"Yeah Raven, we're fine. But they got away."
"Who were those guys?" Cyborg asked the air.
"That was Legato, and the Gung Ho Guns." Vash responded, surprising the Titans, who had all but forgotten he was there. "Well, some of them at least."
"Who are you?" Robin asked as he stepped forward, offering his hand. Vash stepped forward and shook it warmly before he answered.
"Well, my name is…Vash…Vash the Stampede." He then cringed, as if awaiting the Titan's to explode at the mention of his name. But instead, Starfire flew forward and hovered mere inches from Vash' face.
"Greetings Mr. Stampede! Will you be my new friend?" She asked eagerly, her eyes sparkling, her hands clasped before her.
"Um…sure." Vash said, chuckling a little, rubbing the back of his head.
"Wondrous!" Starfire shouted and threw her arms around Vash, pulling him up off his feet with a small cracking sound emitting from between his shoulders.
"Hey, we owe you one mister." Cyborg said as he stepped forward. "Anything we can do for you?"
"Yeah…" Vash groaned softly, "You can get her to let me go…"
"Heh, I think he's had enough friendly affection for one day, Star." Beast Boy said gently as he pried Starfire's arms from around Vash.
"How do you know those guys?" Robin said, his detective's instincts kicking in.
"Well, they're sort of from the same place I am." Vash said, obviously darting around an exact answer.
"And where is that?"
"Another world." Raven answered for him. The Titan's all spun to face Raven, their eyes large. Then they spun back to face Vash, who reluctantly nodded in confirmation.
"Um…" he said, struggling for the right words. "It's kind of a long story. But it goes like this…"

In a large, dark chamber hidden deep within Jump City, a shadowy figure watched the Titan's battle with the Gung Ho Guns over and over again on a large monitor. He replayed it repeatedly, sometimes slowing it down, sometimes speeding it up. He freeze framed several times to examine the faces of the Gung Ho Guns and of the newcomer, Vash, in particular. He narrowed his single eye behind his orange and black mask.
"So..." Slade said to himself, "Some new players have entered the game. Interesting." He rewound and watched it again.