For Truth, Justice And The Last Cup Of BA's Coffee

by RogueFanKC

Set in Red Witch's Misfitverse! The Misfits and XMen team up with the Teen Titans and Titans East as the Hellfire Club plots to end the world, but can Raven truly survive the horror of her heritage before it is too late? Complete

5. Hang Time

Author's Notes: Sorry about the lateness of the chapter, but I got caught in a case of real life! Still, I hope this was worth the wait because this chapter is a super-long one! I actually had a lot of fun writing this one! And to answer Dante Tigerwolf's question, "Kingdom Hearts" is a video game with a crossover between Disney characters and Final Fantasy in which you travel to different Disney Worlds and help characters fight demons of darkness while searching for the Door to the Light and the Door to the Darkness and the Princesses of Heart! I kid you not, all your favorite Disney characters from Goofy and Donald to Tarzan, Jack Skellington to Beast from "Beauty and the Beast" help you fight with magic and weapons! Trust me, you'll look at Disney is a whole new way when you see Ariel the Little Mermaid and Dumbo and Bambi kick demon butt! And the sequel, "Kingdom Hearts 2" is coming out soon! Anyway, enough rambling! Enjoy this chapter of…

CHAPTER 5: Hang Time

It was duly noted by the adults that for a good, if not major, portion of their lives, the only places the X-Men and the Misfits have ever spent time in were either at the Institute or at the G.I. Joe Pit. Except for missions, the mutant teenagers and their guardians and parents rarely went anywhere outside their world due to the rampant distrust and violent fear towards mutants from the rest of human society. Though the Misfits experienced this to a much lesser extent, both teams rarely got a chance to actually have such a relaxing and fun time outside their homes before.

Thus, Robin's invitation for the Misfits, the X-Men, and G.I. Joe was like a godsend, a chance for everyone to bond, a chance for the kids to take a rest in a new environment to escape the symptoms of "cabin fever", a chance for the staff and Misfit-handlers to spend time doing something other than teaching and training…

Crash!

"You stay the hell away from Kitty, Alvers!" Piotr could be heard roaring in the upper sections of the Titans Tower as he tossed the coffee table at Lance who ducked before managing to tackle Piotr with a shoulder to the sternum, sending the both of the down to the ground while knocking the wind out of the Russian X-Man painfully.

"Hey, she's not a dog to be kept on a leash, jerkface!" Lance yelled out loudly enough to wake the dead as he gave Piotr a good right hook across the face while sitting on top of the X-Man, "And I didn't even try anything, Tin-Man! I was in the living room minding my own business!"

Crack! Kaboooom!

"Die, Shipwreck, DIE!" Ororo could be heard screaming from the laundry rooms of the tower as brief yet deafening noises of thunder vibrated through the stone and metal walls.

"Aaaahhh! Stormy, it was a joke! A joke! I didn't mean it! Yeeeeooooowwwww!" the G.I. Joe sailor could be heard yelping as the lightning winged him.

Wham!

"Oh, and I suppose Kitty accidentally phased through the floor and into the same couch where you were sitting on, you dumb sewer-rat!" bellowed Piotr as he managed to use his knee as a wrestling maneuver to flip Lance off him before delivering his other knee into Lance's stomach.

Poom!

"Exactly, jerkface! So get your fat butt off of me!" Lance yelled.

Crash! Bam! Wham, wham, wham!

"Aqualad, Speedy, you two stop fighting right now or else there's going to be hell to pay! Speedy, get your hands off Aqualad's neck! Althea, can you help me with this! NO! Althea, I didn't mean help Speedy beat up Aqualad! Stop strangling him, both of you! Will you idiots quit jousting! OW, THAT HURT! OK, that's it, you three are in BIG trouble now!" Bumblebee was heard shrieking next door right before she joined in the fracas with her energy stingers.

Crackle! Crackle! Boooooommm!

Kitty was heard shrieking in the background, "Peter, stop it! Stop it! Lance is telling the truth! I did accidentally phase through the floor and went into the room with Lance! He didn't know I was coming, and I didn't know he was there! It was a misunderstanding, so please, stop it before you kill him!"

Wham, wham, wham!

"Toad!" yelled Sam from two floors down, "You've been in the bathroom for half an hour already! Will ya' pul-leeeeaaaassseeeee finish it up and let me in! I have to go!"

"I'm busy! Go use another bathroom, Sam!" snapped Todd back, muffled from behind the sturdy door.

"All the others are taken, wart-farm, so give it up! I'm warning you, Toad! If you don't get out of that bathroom by the time I count ta' ten, I'm breaking the door down and dragging you out of there before I pound your face in!" Sam hollered, red in the face and crossing his legs in a futile effort to hold it in, red in the face.

"Sorry, can't hear you, Sam! I'm busy flushing the toilet! Hope the sounds of running water aren't too horrible for you in your predicament!" Todd teased back maliciously as the sounds of the porcelain bowl echoed out.

"One…two…three…four…!" raged Sam, his voice going hoarse with anger. Cyborg was hollering something fierce from the garage sector.

"Trinity, get yo' mitts off my car or else! I MEAN IT! Get out of there! I had the leather polished last week! Daria, girl, your butt's gonna be sore for weeks if you even think about dumping that tarnish on my upholstery! Brittany, get away from there! That's a cement-dispenser! NOOOOO! Don't point it at my car! Point it anywhere else, but don't point it at my baby! And don't point it at me!"

"Oh, make up your mind, Cyborg!" Brittany snapped, "Either I can point it at you or I can point it at your car! Pick one and be happy with it!"

"Quinn, hands off that buzzsaw!" Cyborg yelled frantically.

Shhhrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiikkkkkkk! There was a falsetto scream of agony from Cyborg as he was then heard bawling.

"Auuuuuuuuugggggghhhhh! My car! My car! You ruined my baby! WAAAAAAHHHHH!"

"Hey, on the upside, now you have a convertible, Mr. Cyborg!" chimed Daria happily.

Smash!

"Yagh! My head! My head!" Piotr screamed in pain.

"Oh quit your whining! It was only a porcelain lamp, you metal crybaby!" Lance snapped, and from the tone of his voice, one could pretty much picture the Misfit sneering.

"You are dead, Pebble Brain! You hear me! DEAD!" Colossus hollered as he transformed into his armor mode.

"Bring it, Steel Stupid!" Lance shouted as he used his powers.

Wham! Bam! Pow! Boom! Rumble, rumble, rumble!

…and a chance to cause destruction and chaos that set a whole new level by the X-Men and Misfits' standards, thanks to the Titans' involvements. Wanda was sipping some of Raven's special herbal tea while Raven was trying to meditate next to her on the couch (though it was hard to maintain focus from her soul self when there was a scream or an explosion every few minutes). Still, Raven could secretly admit that the lack of a moment's peace did help keep her mind off the troubles currently with Slade.

"I don't know whether to be relieved or worried that there are lunatics and idiots even bigger than Beast Boy, Mas, and Menos," Raven remarked in a emotionless, uninterested and flat tone as she opened one eye at Razor trying to chase Silkie who was dashing by with the kat's glovatrix in its mouth, yet Scarlet Witch didn't find it weird that the Titan was usually so depthless. The fact that she was so gloomy and sardonically pessimistic was a little refreshing.

"Be relieved. At least you only live with one of those idiots. I have to deal with the X-Men and my idiot brother pretty much every day," Wanda said.

"Was that a fact or a joke? I'm usually not the joking type," Raven replied coldly.

"It's whatever you want it to be," Wanda shrugged, not taking any offense.

"I also don't do riddles," Raven flatly shot down. Wanda just sipped her tea in response.

In the meantime, Mas, Menos, Pietro, Beast Boy, Kurt, and Bobby somehow got it into their heads that they needed to prove their worth as jokesters by waging a prank war, in order to rightfully determine which adolescent would correctly be crowned King of Pranksters. Unfortunately, this was trouble for two reasons. One, the people who usually got caught in these pranks were innocent bystanders from the Titans, the Misfits, the X-Men, and the Joes who had no idea what was going on. And secondly, the aforementioned teenagers had very little self-control when it came to practical jokes…

KABOOOOM!

"Beast Boy, you are so dead!" Ray snarled, now covered with slime, as he chased after the green-skinned kid, blasting him several times with his glovatrix while the Titan was screaming bloody murder, "Come back here and die, you little green fungus!"

"My hair!" screamed Jean in the background, "It's ruined! My hair is absolutely ruined! Oh my God, I'm hideous! Waaaaaaaaahhhhhh!"

"Tell us something we don't know, Jean!" hooted Pietro as he dashed off with the mad telekinetic, now absolutely hysterical, chasing him with a metal pipe and shrieking so loudly and piercingly that only dogs could register her voice.

"All right! Who's the wise-guys that put superglue on my glasses!" roared Scott in the background, "When I find out who did this, there will be hell to pay! You hear me?"

"I told you we should have put it on the toilet seat instead!" Mas snapped at his brother as he and Menos dashed for an appropriate hiding place.

"We can't! Nightcrawler beat us to it, remember!" Menos snapped back.

Oh good Lord, this is humiliating! Someone get me out of here! Professor Xavier shouted out telepathically from one of the Titan's restrooms.

"Drake, you are a dead man, you hear me! DEAD!" roared Fred as he lumbered quickly after Bobby, smelling like the worst kind of stink bombs ever invented, with Lina flying after Fred and trying to stop her teammate from committing homicide.

"Fred, stop! Bobby at least owned up to it! And he said he meant it for Quicksilver, not for you! So please, calm down and stop before you kill him!" Dragonfly yelled, trying to soothe her friend.

"Uh…yeah, exactly!" covered Bobby awkwardly as Blob continued pursuing him, and Bobby learned the hard way that when angry enough, Fred could move surprisingly fast for a fat guy.

"Are you regretting your invitation, yet, bub?" Logan grinned, smoking a cigar in the operations center, sitting at the kitchen counter next to Robin (within Wanda and Raven's eyesight), who was currently cradling his hands in his head due to his huge migraine he was developing amid all the fighting and shouting that could have redefined Dante's definition of Hell. Robin glared at Wolverine.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" he muttered murderously.

"Of course."

"Are you always this much of a jerk?" the Boy Wonder shot out. Wolverine's eyes narrowed, but he let it pass considering that Robin was going through a hard time and that he was vindictively taking pleasure in the Titan's pain.

"Course," grinned the grizzly adult, and Robin then tried another tactic as he frowned meaningfully behind his mask.

"You know, here at the Titans Tower…we have a no-smoking policy," he said, hoping the X-Man would take the hint.

"Tell it to someone who cares, Boy Wonder," Logan drawled in his scratchy voice, leaning heavily on the counter, emphasizing the word "boy" with mocking derision while blowing out a plume of smoke. Robin the coolly did something that could only be called gutsy. With a quick flash of his hand, before Logan could even react, Robin plucked the cigar from Logan's mouth and, to the X-Man's growing ire, deftly broke the tube in half before dunking it into a nearby glass of ice water, extinguishing it with a hiss.

Logan's eyes went wide with shocked gall before his vision actually clouded in red at Robin who was smirking challengingly at the instructor.

The boy just put out his cigar.

The little, tight-assed boy put out his last cigar.

The little, tight-assed punk just put out his last goddamned cigar!

"Your butt's gonna be mine now, Bird-Boy," Logan growled as he hurriedly got off his stool, his tone so lethal it could have sent shivers down the spines of anyone who was listening while Wolverine's hands were twitching with fury, as if they wanted to wrap around Robin's throat and squeeze until the adolescent's head popped off. Robin's grin grew wider; now he had Wolverine's attention.

"Funny, the only one who has the right to say that to me is Batman, and if I recall correctly…he doesn't really fear you since he kicked your butt while sparring at the Watchtower, Wolverine."

Logan counted to ten, though he knew it didn't do the hell of any good. Oh, he would make Robin pay, of that he was certain. Not even the X-Kids dared be this bold, rebellious, and fresh with him, and Logan knew that it would be a cold day in hell before he let the Boy Wonder get away with this one.

Robin then offered meaningfully, goading, "Of course, I'm up for a good spar or two myself if you're not afraid, Wolverine."

"When and where, Bird-Boy?" Logan growled.

"Right now, at the gym in the lower levels of the Titans Tower." Logan's smile then turned absolutely bone-chilling at the proposal. Raven and Wanda then rolled each other's eyes at one another silently, slightly exasperated at the macho display.

This was certainly going to be ugly…

At the same time, Blind Master was talking to Spirit, Roadblock, Cover Girl, and Low Light over at one of the secluded meeting rooms for a quiet conference with General Hawk who had teleported to the Titans Tower via the Mass Device with the Titans' permissions.

General Hawk said, "I just got some news back at the Misfit Manor. Alfred Pennyworth said that he's enjoying his time with the babies, Claudius and Barney, and that he and the Joes I've sent to help him will watch over the Institute and Misfit Manor while the rest of you stay here in Jump City to help the Titans."

"How's Alfred handling the kids? Let's face it, no one misses doing diaper duty with those two for a reason," said Low Light in a wry tone.

"And I hate to think how the kids are torturing the old guy as we speak, for a wiffle bat and a tendency for trouble always comes along with Claudie and Beak!" groaned Roadblock. General Hawk smiled at the rhyme.

"Actually, believe it or not, Claudius and Barney completely adore Alfred. He sings to them, tucks them in at night, gives them bubble baths, and reads stories to them by the fireplace like any sane grandfather. Heck, he actually likes the 'Martian Hop' song, even if it's played for four hours straight! And it's not just the kids! Alfred also helps out with the Joes when they help care and clean the manor and the Institute, so a lot of the Joes also admire and like Alfred. Heck, even Beach Head respects him, and you know that's not a light statement!"

Roadblock whistled in admiration as he murmured, "Damn, he's good."

Spirit nodded before his expression became serious as he said, "Still, we shouldn't waste this chance of peace while it is here with us. We have to start preparing ourselves for what could be another major war for the Teen Titans. And I think the best thing we can do is try to figure out what Slade and the Hellfire Club is planning. I already discussed this with Professor Xavier and he and Beast agree with us. Beast has already called a few of his colleagues from renowned universities to check up on anything about those strange symbols we encountered. Heck, Hank even requested the help of Dr. Robert Langdon from Harvard to help us out." (Author's Notes)

"The world-famous symbologist?" Low Light asked, surprised. He heard about this guy…

Spirit nodded, saying, "Yep, and if he can't find anything about those two marks, no one can. And Xavier was able to call some of his colleagues from Muir Island and England to help investigate, and from he shared with me, Dr. MacTaggert and Dr. Cassidy were only too willing to pitch in."

Low Light then added, "Well, that's something at least. And I talked with Batman and Green Lantern by contacting them at the Watchtower. Shayera is going to try running those two symbols in their databases as well since the Justice League keeps tabs on a lot of alien cultures outside the solar system. If it turns out that Slade is working for some alien race like Live Wire did for Darkseid and the Apokolips, then the Justice League should be able to find any trace of it in their records, if we're lucky."

"And if we aren't lucky with the Justice League?" Hawk asked wryly.

"The Professor and us have already anticipated that as much as we could, General," Cover Girl said automatically, "Robin already contacted his friends, Zatanna and Etrigan to help research, and Forge is already working to receive any input from Dr. Strange and Benny if they find anything. We were lucky that Kurt was able to convince Margali Sefton and that she was able to contact them with her magic. So now, if Dr. Strange finds anything, he'll let us know through the portal machines Forge is building, not to mention ship some texts that might prove valuable to us. And Blind Master is going ask Plato and Dimetro from the Dinosaucers to see if they can find any reference to the weird mark of Slade's or the Heartless. And that reminds me, Gabriel, let Low Light talk to Allo this time, all right? Mainframe wasn't happy when you punched your fist through the monitor of the communication console after your little spat tirade with him."

Blind Master frowned darkly as he muttered, crossing his arms, "It wasn't my fault! Allo started it by insulting my ninja heritage! He said what I was teaching to the Misfits was a complete waste of time!"

"That's because you called him 'Barney' the instant you saw him on the screen, and Allo didn't appreciate being compared to a big, dumb, purple dinosaur," reminded Low Light, "Honestly, Gabe, you and Allo fight just as bad as Lance does with Peter! Just act like grown adults for once and keep your mouths shut while I see if Plato and Dimetro and the others can find anything."

"There's still one problem," Roadblock added, "Hawk, were you and the other Jugglers able to find any leads from the Hellfire Club and this new Leomon guy?"

Hawk shook his head as he emphasized, "No, we tried, but our sources were not able to find any trace of Leomon except when he first appeared in Jump City when he saved Lance and Spirit. And despite our research and intelligence reports, we can't tell what exactly the Inner Circle is planning, not to mention that if anything, we may be running some interference with our investigation on Slade and the Hellfire Club from the inside. I wouldn't put it past Eddington to have a hand in this one, I can safely say. So it looks like that unless we want Eddington and whatever spies the Hellfire Club has within the government to catch on to us, we'll have to depend on the outside sources for help."

Later in the day, despite the multiple bruises Aqualad gave him, Speedy was eagerly showing Tabitha and Xi his arsenal of specialized arrows which he had proudly developed and created himself. The bomb arrows, the bola arrows, the ice arrows, the acid arrows…all of them surprisingly complex and riddled with sensitive mechanisms and robotics to help deliver their payload on any target Speedy chose. Tabitha wasn't all that interested, but Xi was caressing each and every object, studying them with transfixed eyes and elegant care as the lizard Misfit examined all the weapons Speedy laid out of the operations table. Even then, Xi asked to see Speedy's bow which he examined with great concentration.

"This is remarkable!" gasped Xi as he lightly turned the bow in his claws, "This bow even has secret compartments for hidden razor blades and…wow, an adjustable laser beam!"

Speedy said, "Yeah, the beam I use to help guide my direction whenever I'm aiming for far away targets, and it's accurate enough to help me nail a fly with my shafts! And If I adjust the laser, I can make it so powerful, it'll cut through steel! And the bow itself took me and Green Arrow a while to make. The bow was constructed with a special polymer mixture of steel and carbon-fused plastics, which makes it lightweight and easy to carry yet hard enough to break diamond if I swing it hard enough! And the bowstring was made from reinforced Teflon with a microscopic lengthy spring coiled inside it, which makes sure my bowstring is always taut and primed and can't ever break, even after years and years of use!"

"I wish to study more of your weapons! Odd yet ingenious designs such as these could be useful to replicate back at the Pit with Airtight and Storm Shadow! I have never met a fellow hero not in the Misfits who was so thoroughly dedicated to the art of weaponry and armaments!" Xi praised.

Speedy then placed a hand on Xi's claw, saying a bit seductively, "You know, if you want, I can personally show you my room where I work on the designs and implementations for the shafts."

Tabitha immediately caught on to the hidden message Speedy was giving and she said, alarmed, "Uh…Speedy, I think there's something you should know about Xi - "

"Ah, don't be jealous just because I think Xi's more exotic than you, Blondie," Speedy waved off dismissively, "Nothing personally, but I like skinny, waif-like chicks, if you get what I'm saying. Besides, you already have a boyfriend while Xi here's single, so don't get yer panties all twisted just because I think she's cute."

Tabitha's face grew shrewd as she lifted one eyebrow. Well, at least no one could say that she didn't try. Xi giggled a bit femininely, blushing.

"So, wanna see how I built my sonic-arrows?" Speedy grinned roguishly as he offered his arm, and Xi nodded eagerly as he took the Titan's arm, and together, they both went to Speedy's guest room. Sam came by, soaking wet and with water making sloshing noises in his tennis shoes before he did a double-take and gaped at the scene of Speedy and Xi leaving together like a couple. Tabitha looked at her boyfriend.

"What happened to you?" she asked.

"I got into a little disagreement with Toad over the bathroom," grumbled Sam, "Let's just say that the Teen Titans are gonna have ta' fix the whole room since the sink's gone and the toilet's ain't ever going to be the same ever again. But that's not important! Did Speedy actually go with Xi?"

"Yep," Tabitha said in a know-it-all tone.

"As in…more than friends?"

"Yep."

"Um…aren't you going to tell Speedy that Xi is asexual?" Sam asked his girlfriend. Tabitha made a semi-amused face, rolling her eyes at the Kentucky-bred X-Man.

"To tell you the truth, I honestly think that Speedy needs to learn some things the hard way…" she said.

Meanwhile, Cyborg managed to stop himself from killing and eviscerating Trinity in several different ways thanks to intervention from Jake and Forge…

"Whoa, easy, big guy!" Forge semi-pleaded in a jaded tone as he and Razor grabbed on to the livid Cyborg's arms and used all of their collective strengths to stop the superhuman half-robot from hunting down Daria, Quinn, and Brittany, "Remember, it's totally not groovy if the Misfits find out you tried hurting the Delgado Triplets! Shipwreck and Althea'll make you pay with your head before they use your parts as scrap metal!"

"Aw, come on, yo! Just let me shoot a taser missile at them! It'll only stun 'em, not kill 'em! Please!" Cyborg whined as Jake and Forge managed to pin Cyborg to the ground, the tackle sending all three of them to the ground with a crash. Jake panted as he and Forge tried to prevent Cyborg from bucking them off. Yes, this one would take some time…

"I think I hear one of the girls screaming. Is it one of the X-Girls or Bumblebee or Starfire?" Raven remarked in between her chants of "Azarath Metrion Zinthos". Scarlet Witch, however, recognized the voice.

"That's no girl. That's my brother," Wanda said, unconcerned as she calmly poured herself some more hot water for her tea, ignoring Quicksilver's plight as her speedster dashed by as fast as he could in a crowded building while trying to hide from a furious Starfire who was now covered from head to toe with powdered sugar and honey, making her look like a messy, ghostly phantasm of some sort.

"AAAAAAAAAAAA!" screamed Pietro as he dashed past Roberto and Jamie who were playing Super Smash Bros. Melee on the big-screen TV with the Titans' console. Lockheed and Silkie were next to the two X-Men, sleeping peacefully, looking absolutely cute as they rested, with Silkie snoring and drooling on the couch on his back with Lockheed dozing peacefully by resting his head on Silkie's stomach.

"You are a clorbag varblernelk!" screamed Starfire as she flew after the terrified Pietro, fists clenched, "No, I take that back! You are worse than a clorbag varblernelk! On my home planet, you would be named a vandgap cellkarnip!"

"Starfire, no!" yelled Jean angrily, "I want to kill him!"

"Do you really want to save Pietro?" asked Roberto nonchalantly as his Bowser smacked Jamie's Fox McCloud with the baseball bat.

"Maybe after one more round!" Jamie hurriedly said as his face twisted in concentration, "Ha! I got the Star Wand! Prepare to get knocked into the sky, Roberto!"

"Catch me if you can, short-stuff!" taunted Roberto as the two continued going at it.

"I shall regain my honor by having you squealing like a pig that is stuck! Prepare to taste my starbolts, you vandgap!" Starfire said as she powered up.

"Would you be terribly distraught if she hurt your brother badly to the brink of death?" Raven asked, deadpanned, at Wanda, but the red-and-black haired Misfit shook her head, grinning.

"Are you kidding? Pietro endures this pretty much every day due to his stupidity and crude humor. She might as well join the 'I Hate Pietro Maximoff' club. We've already got a full roster that surprisingly included some of the adults and Batgirl, the Flash, and Supergirl of the Justice League."

Raven let out a small smile as she said, "I guess I can kinda relate. We have a little 'I Hate Beast Boy' mini-club held here in among the Titans, with a full roster, secret handshake, and even a theme song that describes torturing our little Garfield in ten different ways."

Wanda remarked, "I'm surprised Robin didn't put a stop to it."

"He's the Club President," Raven said, smiling a little more. It was strange, being able to open up to the gothic girl sitting next to her, a loner Raven could tell. Just like her…

"And here's the windup…" remarked Wanda idly as Jean held a screaming Pietro in place with her telekinesis while Starfire's hands and eyes glowed to a bright, neon emerald-green. Raven couldn't help but join in the sarcastic commentary.

"And the pitch…" she commented as Starfire let loose. There was a bright green flash of light.

Paaaf!

"AAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" screamed Pietro in a falsetto voice.

"Home run all the way!" cheered Wanda. Raven grimaced a little at the injured Pietro.

"I don't think he's going to be able to sit down for a while…"

"Still, Pietro needs a little smack every now and then to keep him in line. As long as there's no permanent damage, it's all well and good. After all, us moody girls need to do something to keep these idiots behaved, and what better way to show our love than dishing out punishment in the most excruciating and painful ways that could leave them scarred for life and having them crying at night in their beds?" Wanda said as she sipped from her mug.

Raven raised an eyebrow as she looked at Wanda before offering the hint of a kindred smile, saying, "You know, Wanda? You and I might just get along…"

---

Two days have passed, but the Misfits, the Joes, the X-Men and the Titans still could not find any trace of the strange mark of Slade's forehead nor could they decipher the riddle of the Heartless. Both symbols have been run through every database and reference that existed on the planet and in Dr. Strange's dimension, but nothing could be found.

It was a little disheartening to say the least…

Xavier, Wavedancer, Jean, Low Light and Cyclops then all suggested the idea that if H.I.V.E. wasn't going to come to them, then they would come to H.I.V.E., preferably by sending one of the X-Men or one of the Misfits as a spy to infiltrate the academy and get the information they needed but Robin and Cyborg automatically shot that one down. Not only had it been tried before when Cyborg himself posed as a new recruit named Stone during Brother Blood's rule over the school, but H.I.V.E. was thoroughly aware of such a possibility for another tactic such as that, and as a result, they would be under tighter scrutiny and not accept any new students at this time. With the Hellions and the Hellfire Club now discreetly having a hand in the academy's dealings, it would be dangerous and difficult to send one of the team members to investigate H.I.V.E. Then Mas y Menos asked Professor X if he could use his telepathy to find out what they wanted. Charles, understanding the two twins with the use of his mind-reading, then explained to the rest of the Titans that that idea, though a good one, was also impossible. Thanks to the Hellfire Club's telepaths, including Emma Frost, Slade, all the H.I.V.E students and the Hellions were telepathically shielded from his mental probes. Even if he tried to break through the shields, he could inadvertently kill one of them, and despite that they could get the information they wanted, Xavier was not willing to endanger someone's life for it.

Blind Master then asked if the Professor could try using Cerebro to track down Leomon specifically. Since the lion was the only one who knew what was going on that was not directly against them, it wouldn't do much harm to try pressuring the warrior for a little bit to reveal what he knew, especially if he didn't want whatever the Hellfire Club wished to achieve to come to pass. Xavier denied that one again since he explained that Cerebro was made to track down mutants, and Leomon, despite a few people believing otherwise, was not a mutant, thus enabling Cerebro to be absolutely useless on him. Forge and Xavier and Jean had already previously tried the first night they stayed at the Titans Tower, but there was no such luck. Leomon couldn't be found through their means. And like before, trying to harness Cerebro too intensely on Leomon could kill him as well. Jake suggested that perhaps Logan could track the lion down with his keen sense of smell, but Wolverine flatly replied that Leomon, believe it or not, didn't carry a scent, and as such, he couldn't be tracked.

It was slightly depressing. No matter what ideas they came up with, they were pretty much back to square one.

Still, even though no one could detect anything about the Mark of Scath or of the Heartless, a good point was that even though a week had passed, they have yet to see a reappearance of the Hellions and H.I.V.E. along with Slade, and in this situation, it was a case of no news was good news.

Though all they could do was wait, at least they could slightly relax and have fun with it. And Jake then pointed out, the kids could use a break and it apparently was doing a lot of good (as much as Wolverine hated to admit it).

Then came the day when Pietro, Trinity, Remy and Fred then somehow managed to smuggle several sacks of a particular instant coffee mix into the Tower via express delivery from the Mass Device…

"Oh no," groaned Wolverine when he heard the first series of explosions that rocked the building along with getting a good whiff of the familiar smell of coffee, "Chuck, Joes, it's happened again! The kids brought B.A.'s coffee to the Titans Tower!"

"Oh no," groaned Spirit and Roadblock simultaneously as they and the rest of the adults minus Hank and Jake rushed out to the operations center of the Titan headquarters only to predictably find the room and the teenagers in chaos. Everyone, the Misfits, the X-Men, the Titans, and Titans East were completely lost, drunk on the intoxicating mugs of coffee they carried in their hands while partying and daydreaming like there was no tomorrow. In fact, the only ones who weren't participating in the caffeine-high euphoria were Rogue and Raven, the two of them watching, a faces of amusement and sarcasm, the scene of their friends and teammates acting like complete idiots with enough craziness that could shoot whatever remained of their dignity down the toilet.

"C'mon, let's party people!" cheered Cyborg, his human eye glazed while his red robotic eye blinking madly like a broken stoplight, "CYBORG'S IN DA' HOUSE!"

A more appropriate statement would have been that Cyborg was all over the house…literally. Thanks to his heightened coffee craze, the bicentennial Titan somehow got it into his head that he could dance without his arms and legs, so he set his robotic body to allow his appendages to detach themselves from his main body and scatter and dash around madly like demonically possessed body parts while Cyborg was bouncing off his butt on the floor over and over again to some weirdly remixed hip-hop music playing from the stereo.

Starfire, her green eyes glowing, was completely lost in happy euphoria as she flew around and doing barrel rolls in the air, not caring if she was recklessly casting starbolts from her hands as they powered up with larger intensities than normal. In her caffeine high, she was also singing loudly in her beautiful songs of Tamaranean folklore, which the closest it could be compared to were nails on a chalkboard in the midst of an army of howling dogs at a psychedelic 60s concert.

"Oh God!" moaned Shipwreck as he ducked a starbolt that came whizzing by narrowly close to his head, "I can't tell what's worse! Her powers going amuck or her singing!"

Robin, surprisingly, seemed unaffected as he was just standing quite still and staring intently at his reflection in the mirror. Roadblock, upon seeing that the Teen Titans leader was appearing to be quite calm and collected and controlled, came up to Robin from behind.

"Uh…Robin?" began Roadblock, but the Titan shushed him urgently.

"Shhhh! Quiet! You'll make me lose my concentration!" Robin snapped while continuing to stare at the mirror.

The Joe gave Robin an odd look, already guessing the truth as he asked hesitantly, "Uh…care to tell my why? I don't know what you're doing, standing by…"

"Quiet!" hissed Robin impatiently, "I don't want to lose the staring contest with him! You'll make me blink!"

Roadblock gave a very confused and flabbergasted face as he blurted out, "But Robin, that's your reflection!"

"Don't I know it!" Robin griped, "Oh, he thinks he's so cool and calm and fantastic with that stupid mask and red costume of his, the way he slicks his hair back and grins and thinks all the girls in the world can fall at his feet! Well, I'm gonna show this phony the fake he really is! And when I win this staring contest, I'll be the number one leader! Oh but don't worry, he'll give in real soon! I've only been at this for twenty minutes and seventy-one point eight seconds, but he's already starting to lose it! I can see him cracking! I'm going to win! I know he's going to blink soon! Victory will soon be mine!"

And with this, Robin started letting out a round of "mua ha ha" which gave Roadblock the cue to back away slowly from the eye-twitching masked vigilante leader. This was something he did not want to deal with right now…

"Whhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" cheered Mas y Menos as they dashed around and around the adults, wearing wreaths of daisies and carrying bouquets of flowers which they spread all around the room while chattering excitedly in Spanish, the air now thick with pollen and the perfume-smell of petals.

"What are they saying?" Ororo asked, confused.

"Something about being the messengers of Spring and spreading the Goddess' flowers to ward of evil spirits while wearing tutus and grass skirts. The rest was lost on me, and right now, I don't think I want to know," groaned Cover Girl as she translated for Storm.

Bumblebee was dancing with Lina, Jamie and Ray, with the three mutants wearing yellow-and-black striped costumes exactly like Karen, laughing a storm while dancing around and around in a circle around a coffee maker which still had a half-pot full of B.A.'s brew. Speedy somehow managed to ride his motorcycle from the hangar garage, and to the adults shock and horror, without giving much concern for his safety or anyone else's, Speedy was actually riding in circles all over the operations room, leaving black scuff marks and grease stains all over the floor (and in several cases, actually managed to ride along the wall). At the same time, Aqualad and Wavedancer were fighting furiously, rolling all over the floor with their hands around each other's necks, trying to strangle their opponents. Apparently, drinking B.A.'s coffee did help Althea and Garth forget their hatred for each other; if anything, it actually made them more unhinged and violent…

"I hate you! I hate you! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!" they both screamed while choking each other in their death grips.

"All right, all right you two! Break it up!" snapped Shipwreck, more angry than anyone had ever seen him, as he and Blind Master tried to pry the both of them apart.

"Where the hell is the hairball and Hank! Why aren't they stopping this!" Wolverine snapped as he was pushed backwards into the couch as Mas y Menos rushed by, hooting and throwing potpourri everywhere. Storm sighed as she pointed to the said two instructors a little ways off.

"Apparently, Logan, they can't in their current condition."

Ororo was right. Jake, with his eyes glazed and an unnaturally goofy smile on his face, was on the floor on his back, mewing and playing with a crumpled up ball of newspaper, bouncing it up and down and juggling it skillfully with all fours. Apparently, the tremendous amount of caffeine in one cup of B.A.'s brew made Jake act more like a cat and less of a human. In fact, Jake was purring and growling so contently and child-like, it was as if he was a kitten lost in a mountain of catnip. Beast, on the other hand, was dressed in full Renaissance regalia, complete with a European, poofy shirt and tunic, tights, a big, oversized green hat with a feather sticking out of it, and a sword. To tell the truth, Hank looked like a blue-furred version on Hamlet, only more oversized and a bigger ham, if that was even possible.

"Onward, ye Christian soldiers!" Hank bellowed in a dramatic English voice, waving his sword in the air like a commander during a war, "Onwards, ye brave countrymen! To arms, to arms! We must battle ye cruel oppressors of Macbeth to save the ever fair Princess Hermione and to ever so continue our quests to the Crusades of Coffee! Strike, my fellow children! Strike in the name of Klingon virtue!"

"Hank's really got to stop reading Harry Potter and Shakespeare while watching Star Trek," Logan groaned.

"This couldn't possibly be any more disturbing…" Low Light griped bad-naturedly.

"Cause diamonds…are a girl's best friend!" Beast Boy sang in a high-pitched, falsetto voice (and horribly off-key) as he danced by Low Light, wearing a red-sequined dress with pearls and a dress hat, lipstick, white gloves that came up to his elbows, nylon stockings, and oversized red high-heels that were in danger of falling off his feet while the adolescent danced a haphazard and jerky two-step.

"And every time I say that, these kids somehow manage to raise the bar…" Low Light groaned, cradling his forehead to his hand, grimacing at the image.

"How come you're not joining your friends?" Raven asked Rogue, deadpanned but with a twinge of interest as they watched on.

Rogue snorted through her nose a bit disdainfully, saying, "As much as I like my friends and as enticing as that coffee is, there's no way I'm gonna say it's worth makin' myself a complete idiot and acting like a loon the minute I touch that stuff. Besides, someone has ta' be the self-controlled one in this family, and God help us if it's someone else like Bobby or the swamp rat. But what about you? You haven't tried it yet…"

Raven said flatly, "I don't do caffeine."

Funnily enough, Raven did want to join the other Titans. As degrading and embarrassing as their current behavior was, it seemed…well, kind of fun and she had a sudden stab of loneliness at being left out. Despite her closeness with the other Teen Titans, none of them could really relate to her personality wise. She was a loner and one of the more mature figures in the group, but she never join in on the fun and games they did. There was simply no point, and to indulge herself into such carefree behavior would most likely cause her emotions to spring up and her powers to go haywire (and that was something she did not want to risk). Still, despite the childishness and roughhousing, Raven wished she could for once act like a normal teenager…

"Ya' know, it's all right to be different in your family," Rogue said suddenly.

"Huh?" That sentence was so out of the blue that it caught Raven completely off guard as she turned to the X-Man. Rogue was giving a commiserating yet sympathetic smile.

The gothic, brown-and-white haired girl elaborated softly, as if she knew exactly what were Raven's thoughts, "It's all right to be a loner, even in your group and team. Trust me when I can say I can relate. I mean, I love my friends and I know they'll be there for me when I truly need them, but a lot of the times…well, I usually like to be alone and not wish to join in on some of the stupid stuff they do like the pranking or playing because…it's not me. Yeah, sometimes I like ta' be a normal teenager or at least what passes for one, but then I'm reminded that I'm more different from the rest of them cause I can't touch anyone, and it kinda puts me in a funk."

Raven's eyes widened a little bit in surprise…and pity. She asked hesitantly, "Wait…so you can't touch anyone? Ever?"

Rogue shook her head with the ease of time and familiarity as she said, "Nah, never. I mean, with my mutation, I have to pretty much be covered up, and none of my skin can be exposed. If I touch someone, I absorb their life force, their memories, and their powers right into me, and if I hold on too long, I'll kill them. Granted, it has its uses, but…there are a lot of times I hate it. I mean, I'd give anything to be able to feel a warm hand against mine or to kiss my boyfriend and not worry about puttin' him in a coma. Every time I see someone hold hands, hug each other, it just reminds me how painful it is to live with this. That's why I usually like ta' be alone most of them time, cause I like to wallow in my misery and I don't want any of my annoying friends to try and cheer me up cause it usually makes me feel worse, especially since I'm not in the mood."

Raven's eyes softened a bit. It made her plight seem a little more bearable; at least she could touch someone. The robed witch then asked, "And how do you deal with it?"

"A day at a time, I guess, and try not ta' worry about tomorrow. Still, my friends do come around for me, heck, the Misfits included, God help me. The funny thing is, even though none of them can relate to me, they can understand me. And that's what helps me move on, that my friends can understand me, gloominess and quirks in all."

Raven felt herself lower her defenses even more. That philosophy from Rogue was one of the few things she herself had always struggled with. And it made her wish she was in the same situation as well. She could only imagine the horrors, the fears, the anger, and the rejection the Titans and the Titans East would go through when they found out about her secret. However, she could see that Rogue was in the same boat, if not worse off, and the feeling that she wasn't truly alone and unique was sort of comforting.

"Hmph, I guess I can learn to tolerate your company," Raven smirked slightly, and Rogue smiled, knowing that Raven meant that in a compliment in the best possible way. Rogue then gave a devilish smile as she held up a hand-held camcorder and begun to film the chaos with the adults trying to calm down the Teen Titans, Titans East, Misfits, X-Men, Jake, and Hank.

"Besides, someone has to get this on tape and use it for a little blackmail should the opportunity ever come up," the X-Girl chuckled.

"You are so evil," shot back Raven but then with some afterthought, she added with a grin, "Can I have a copy? I could always use Beast Boy as a personal slave for a day or two."

"Sure, and with this stuff, you're gonna have Beast Boy under your thumb for at least a full month!" Rogue smiled as she zoomed in on Beast Boy still in drag.

---

The day afterwards, when all the teenagers managed to get over their hangovers and, by threats from their parents and the Professor, after they managed to clean up their messes that they made…

"Ha!" Gambit crowed as he swung his staff at Robin, but the Boy Wonder then surprisingly blocked it with his staff before pivoting his right foot, using his shin and foot to lock Remy's staff in place, not allowing the Cajun to remove it. Then with a battle cry, Robin used the end of his staff to catch Remy in the back of his left knee and with a simple push, Gambit fell backwards with a forceful crash before Robin's bo tapped him symbolically on the chest.

"Point. I win," grinned Robin as he helped Gambit up. The X-Man, however, wasn't the least bit sore about losing.

"Merde!" marveled Gambit at the shorter teen, "That was some impressive staff fighting techniques, mon ami! Remy was trained by the very best teachers under the Guild of Thieves, and yet you were able to anticipate every one of Remy's moves at once! Incredible! And Remy thought that he could take you on, Monsieur Robin!"

"I've learned from the best, Remy. After all, Batman taught me a good chunk of techniques taught by the codes of the samurai, but if you want, I can show you some of these moves. I can definitely say from my observation that you're quick and skilled enough to be an expert with staff fighting, and after one lesson, I wouldn't be surprised if you learned them by heart."

"Remy appreciate it, mon ami, but you sure that you can teach Remy so easily?" Gambit asked, touched.

"Definitely!" nodded Robin, indicating with his head to where Multiple and Cyclops were sparring in hand to hand combat, "After all, I've been teaching Jamie for only two or three lessons about judo, and look at his progress!"

"Hiya!" Jamie shouted with a fierce cry before Scott, taken by surprise at Jamie's simple yet effective pivot-swivel-strafe move, felt himself being flung over Jamie's head and crashed to the ground, slamming hard onto the mat. Gambit whistled in admiration.

"You're a good teacher, Robin."

"You OK, Scott?" Jamie asked worriedly as he helped a dazed Scott off from his sprawled position on the floor. The X-Men's leader shook his head free of the cobwebs before he smiled at the younger New Mutant.

"I'm all right, Jamie, but I'm very pleased with your progress. You will really benefit from this when you have to depend less and less on your mutant powers." The young adolescent swelled with pride at the humble acclaim.

"Yeah, and thanks to Robin, I can't wait to try out these new moves on the Hellions if we ever run into them again!" Multiple crowed.

"Trust us, that one will be a given," Althea said as she and Rina gulped down water from their bottles, exhausted and tired from their sparring, drenched with sweat. Rina and Althea had personal reasons to improve upon each other's fighting styles, and whenever the chance arose, X23 and Wavedancer would waste no time in testing each others' skills and strengths by sparring. X23, thanks to Althea, was learning quite a bit about humility and losing gracefully and patience, and thanks to the Misfit's help, was slowly being deprogrammed from her past with Hydra. Robin, at the same time, had several opportunities to view some of their fights while they were staying in at the Titans Tower.

"I'm impressed," he remarked, "Some of those moves aren't readily taught to the martial community. Althea, you learned some of the ways of the ninja, didn't you? I could recognize some of the techniques whenever Batman helped practice with me."

Althea nodded, grinning, "Yep, and Blind Master himself is a ninja master as well. If you want though, both he and I would be willing to spar and teach you some things if you want. I know for a fact you weren't able to take on Wolverine when he and you fought after you put out his cigar."

Robin blushed as he muttered, "My back and arms are still sore. Rina, your Dad is certainly vindictive when he wants to dish out payback."

X23 shrugged as she replied, "That's one of his more redeeming qualities…"

"So how were you able to combine the crane stance with the knock-back, palm-strike, heel stomp combination?" Robin asked, his eyes filled with the desire to expand his mind from a ninja in training, "I tried copying that technique, but it causes unnecessary strain in my back and left knee."

Althea showed Robin, her moves fluid and graceful, as she spoke, "That's because you need to clench you toes a bit with your left foot, like what I'm doing here, see? Also, aim your foot at a ninety-degree angle away from your opponent so that it'll be easier for you to deliver your palm-strike when you twist your body, and this will easily position you in the right stance to deliver your heel…"

Robin tried it several times awkwardly before, to his pleasure, he finally managed to do it correctly under Wavedancer's ever-keen eyes. Scott then piped up, "Say Robin, is there any training room simulations in the Titans Tower? I need a chance to practice my eye-beams attacks, and I'm sort of antsy at the fact that being a few days without the Danger Room may have languished my skills a bit…"

"Actually, we do have an obstacle-war training simulation built specifically to practice fighting and warfare tactics," Robin pointed out, "It's built with the latest technology and computer systems and Omega-level A.I. units, with various stages of difficulty and situations, including the newest one, the Delta-Projectile simulation."

Cyclops gasped, his voice actually showing excitement, breaking through his usual stiff demeanor, as he exclaimed, "WHAT? Are you kidding! The Delta-Projectile simulation! No way! That's the stuff that only legends are made of! Not even the soldiers of G.I. Joe back at the Pit have ever heard about Delta-Projectile! What are the values of the parameters for the environment?"

Robin boasted proudly, "We can go up to 2.5 kilometers for the radial perimeter along with projectiles having a turnabout time of about 8.5 microseconds. And all projectiles are both laser based and heat-seeking along with physical and intangible projectiles."

Cyclops looked like he was ready to wet his pants upon this prospect as he gleefully marveled, "Robin, you have to give me your specifications! Imagine all the kinds of training we can go through back at the Institute with that project! If we manage to master that simulation, not even Magneto and his Acolytes can withstand our teamwork!"

"Wow, I don't believe it," Jamie murmured, deadpanned, at Robin and Cyclops eagerly conversing, "Scott finally found his twin…"

"Better send some mittens below, cause Remy believe that 'H-E-double-hockey-sticks' has frozen over," Gambit joked.

At the same time, Beast Boy nervously came up to Lance while the two of them were alone at the rooftops of the Titans Tower, with Lance enjoying the breeze and the view of the sea…

"Uh…Lance?" Beast Boy asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, Beast Boy?" Lance asked, turning around.

"I…I was wondering….well, I need to ask you of something…" Garfield started.

An hour later, Lance found himself staring at the statue of Terra along with Beast Boy. After explaining his request, Lance had Trinity calculate the coordinates of the cavern deep below Jump City and was able to teleport with Beast Boy to Terra's grave. Lance looked at the week-old bouquet of red roses at the feet of the frozen Terra along with the placard containing her epitaph. It said simply, "Terra: A Teen Titan, A True Friend". Lance felt slightly pained for Beast Boy as he looked at Terra with a sad expression of grief and hurt on his face, highly uncharacteristic for those who knew the happy-go-lucky green changeling. Despite the gift of time, Beast Boy still felt hurt and, apparently, still loved Terra.

"So…this is Terra," Lance said a bit dumbly.

"Can you…well, please?" begged Beast Boy, looking like he was ready to cry, "I mean, you're a earth mover like she was, and I remember Trinity telling me that you have the ability to use psychometry to feel the emotions of Earth, to actually empathically detect anything in the ground. Please? I know you can't cure her, but -"

Beast Boy let out a choked sob, but Lance nodded. Without a word, he laid his hands on Terra's face gently, like he was handling the face of a newborn, and just let his powers go to work, feeling the eons and eons of the testimonies of the rock and grime and dirt, the aura of so many living things living and dying by the spirit of the Earth. Yet despite the sea of various auras, Lance, to his surprise, could sense it. A blond-haired girl, her aura quiet yet overwhelming, her face giving a sad smile, one that indicated she was still grieving and that she hadn't fully forgiven herself. It was a similar smile Lance understood all too well. Yet as Lance watched on, the figure of Terra in Lance's mind nodded, as if to tell the Misfit that everything was all right. Lance smiled as broke the connection as gently as the leaf falling on the grass. Beast Boy looked on, not sure what to expect.

Lance smiled as he said gently, "She's still alive."

Beast Boy's eyes looked ready to pop out of his sockets as he looked at the petrified statue of Terra before whimpering, "You…you sure?"

"She'll be all right. She isn't suffering, if that's what you're thinking. She's a child of the Earth, and the Earth is a nurturing force, a spirit that gives life every day and that's cared for this planet more millions of years. Think of Terra being in a deep sleep, one where she doesn't feel any pain or discomfort. I can say it's safe to bet that there is a way to save Terra, but until then, she's in good hands where she is now. And from what I felt…she's truly sorry about what she did to you and the Titans," Lance said. Beast Boy sniffed a bit, his eyes wet, before he wiped his eyes with his sleeve and grinned upwards at the Misfit.

"Thanks," he said gratefully. Lance felt his spirit lighten considerably, more than it ever had been ever since he broke up with Kitty, as he smiled and ruffled the green-changeling's hair brotherly. Though it was only several days, Avalanche could honestly say he could relate to Beast Boy the most out of all the Titans. Heck, Garfield's troubles with Terra were exactly like his own troubles with Kitty.

"Any time, Beast Boy," Lance chuckled.

"My real name's Garfield, Lance. Or, you can call me 'Gar' like all my friends do. No need to always call me Beast Boy."

At the same moment, Toad was chosen to break the news to Speedy about the truth about Xi. Speedy took it relatively well…

"OH MY GOD!" they could hear Speedy screaming loudly enough for the whole city to hear him, "YOU'RE A 'HE'! XI'S A 'HE'! I WAS KISSING A GUY THIS WHOLE TIME! AAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHH!"

Note the word "relatively"…

"So, how was you little session with your girlfriend, Speedy?" chuckled Aqualad as he watched Speedy vigorously brush his teeth while gargling his mouth with three different kinds of mouthwash moments afterwards.

"Shut up, shut up, just shut up!" snapped back Speedy murderously as he shuddered before he spat out the toothpaste foam, "Oh God, I can still taste the lizard's tongue! Oh God, oh God, oh God!"

"Considering that he's really asexual, Xi has no gender, so he's really an 'it' if you think about it. Of course, the fact that he has no hormonal urges probably explains why he was brain-damaged enough to let you kiss him," chortled Aqualad, rubbing it in for all that it was worth.

"As soon as I sanitize my mouth, I'm going target-practice on your butt, Aqua-jerk!" yelled Speedy.

Meanwhile, after her sparring session, Rina unluckily found herself at the mercy of Starfire and Bumblebee who were trying to drag X23 to their rooms, if not for the fact that the two female Titans were trying to pull Rina by her feet as she somehow managed to grab on to the wall.

"C'mon, girl!" Bumblebee said encouragingly, "Even your Dad and Storm said that you need to know what it feels like to put on make-up like any other normal teenager! C'mon, you'll never know what it's like unless you try it!"

"I am not going up there and spending hours putting gunk on my face!" protested Rina as she tried to extract herself from Bumblebee and Starfire's grips of steel.

"Girl, for what I pay, it's first-class gunk!" Bumblebee waved off dismissively, "Now let's show you how to pluck your eyebrows and use an eyelash crimper!"

At this, X23 lost her composure as she screamed loudly enough to raise the roof off as she tried to grab the railing, the banister, anything, to save herself from being put under hours of torture of make-up and beautification techniques.

"NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! SAVE ME! SAVE ME! OH FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING THAT IS HOLY AND SACRED, SOMEONE STOP THEM FROM GIVING ME A MAKEOVER!" Rina wailed as Bumblebee and Starfire pulled hard on Rina's legs, trying to have the mutant girl relinquish her grip on the wall corner, "XI! HELP ME, PLEASE! SAVE ME!"

"You want to join us, Xi? I think I have a lipstick color that'll go perfect on you!" Bumblebee asked. Xi shrugged.

"Why not?" he said nonchalantly, "I've always been in the mood to see how I look in lipstick. And I'm always willing to explore my feminine side."

"You traitor!" screamed Rina angrily as Starfire, Xi, and Bumblebee managed to yank Rina away from the death-grip she had on the wall and dragged her successfully to Starfire's room, shrieking enough swear words to make even Shipwreck wince.

Afterwards, later in the afternoon, when it was close to lunch….

"Oh, what is the occasion of this humble gathering in the mess hall?" Starfire asked as she made her way into the kitchen, only to find Whitelighter, Magma, Shadowcat, and Jean Grey there as well. Jean and Kitty were arguing a bit next to the stove which was littered with used pots, pans and the oven was letting loose a small stream of black smoke from its compartment. Amara was looking through the refrigerator for some more cooking ingredients that did not consist of leftover pizza and moldy cheese while Justin just watched on uncomfortably. Justin turned to Starfire and sighed.

"Kitty somehow got it into her head that she might as well cook lunch for everybody at the Tower," Justin stated, wincing at the thought.

"And this is not a good thing, Friend Justin?" asked Starfire as she stood next to the Misfit. Whitelighter shook his head; he heard horror stories via Pietro, Todd, and Fred about the disasters that happened whenever Kitty cooked anything. Yet the teenager then suddenly became a bit startled as Starfire was actually sniffing him (yes, sniffing him) with her nose. It was as if the Titan was trying to track his scent to memory.

"Uh…what are you doing?" Justin asked uneasily and slightly bothered.

Starfire gasped happily as she clasped her hands in front of her and exclaimed, "Oh joyous days of Tamaranean sun and moons! Friend Whitelighter, why did you not disclose to me! You are a Reptilionian!"

Justin's heart nearly stopped, startled, as he asked dumbly, unsure if the Teen Titan said what he thought she said, "Huh?"

The extraterrestrial female explained with excitement, "Oh, it is a purely blessed gathering of events! I can smell the odor of the large lizards on your body! You are from one of the planets who are of neighbors and friends to the Tamaraneans! You are a survivor of the planet, Reptilion!"

Justin gasped as he brought a finger to his lips and whispered urgently, "Shhhhh! Not so loud!"

"They…your friends do not know?" Starfire asked, realization dawning on her.

"The Misfits do, but not the X-Men!" Justin explained nervously, "And until it time comes, please Starfire, it would really help if you could not tell anyone that I have parents from Reptilion, that my family are extraterrestrials! Please, Starfire? Don't tell the X-Men or the Titans that my adoptive family is from another planet! The X-Men don't know!"

"I do not understand," Starfire asked, cocking her head to the side, "Why are you hiding the fact that your family is from another planet? Do you not wish to share with them in the most joyous news? The Reptilionians have been spared from extinction, and to have several persevere is surely a glorious event!"

"It's complicated. Please, just don't tell them! All right, Starfire? Please?" begged the Misfit.

"I do not understand, but I will obey what you have just requested, Friend Whitelighter," Starfire promised, though Justin could tell she was not entirely pleased with Justin's choice of omission.

"What are you guys talking about?" Amara asked suddenly.

"Uh…Kitty's cooking," Justin covered lamely, but Starfire simply nodded in earnest, going along with the white lie. Amara rolled her eyes.

"I don't blame you. God, Kitty doesn't know when to give up!" griped Amara.

"So who wants to try my homemade kidney pudding?" Kitty said eagerly as she popped up with a baking disk full of some lumpy, pudding-like substance that was peach and pink colored along with a thin black crust on top of where the X-Girl burned it. Amara and Justin looked at the dish as if it was some sort of dead animal covered with vomit and run over by a manure truck (and even that would have smelled a lot better than Kitty's kidney pudding).

"Uh…I had a big breakfast," lied Justin hesitantly.

"I'm on a diet," Amara quickly covered.

"Since when?" Kitty demanded, her eyes narrowing.

"Since now," clarified Magma just as stoutly. Kitty stomped her foot at the X-Man and the Misfit.

"Like will you two stop being such cowards and just try it? It's not going to kill you!"

"That's not what Martian Manhunter says," Amara pointed out, "He's still feeling a little queasy every time he sees anything that looks remotely like lasagna."

"Are you sure you cooked it right, Kitty?" Justin asked gently, trying to be polite as possible, "I'm not sure kidney pudding is supposed to be baked in the oven, and now that I look at it, I think you burned it…"

"Trust me, Justin," groaned Jean from behind, "Out of four tries, this was her best one, and the one that had the least amount of disgusting ingredients…"

"Oh like shut up, Jean!" snapped Kitty as Starfire examined the dish of kidney pudding, "I just made a few improvements, that's all!"

Jean shot back, "Kitty, substituting olive oil with liquid smoke and Jell-O and using Cream of Wheat and seaweed flakes instead of cloves and paprika isn't an improvement! It's a cry for help!"

Kitty then gasped as she then saw Starfire tasting a morsel of the pudding by dipping her finger into it and licking it off, her face thoughtful.

"Starfire?" gasped Kitty, on the balls of her toes. Jean and Amara looked at each other meaningfully, expecting the Titan to get sick, but to their shock, Starfire squealed with delight before she grabbed a wooden spoon and dug in hungrily and eagerly, like a ravenous wolf.

"Oh, how wonderful!" Starfire squealed excitedly between gulps, "You are truly an extraordinary and much exceptional cook, Friend Kitty! This is completely fabulous of taste! I have never had a fellow Earthling cook such flavorful vork in all of my life! Oh, this is even better than the vork from the royal chefs in Tamaranean! Kitty, this is most definitely delicious!"

Jean, Justin, and Amara's jaws collectively dropped to the floor in surprise.

"What?" Jean and Amara chorused in disbelieving unison, already feeling queasy to their stomachs. Kitty, on the other hand, was completely giddy and elated. Never before had anyone complimented on her cooking and thoroughly enjoyed it so much.

"Oh, like wow, Starfire! You really mean it! You really like it!" squealed Kitty excitedly, jumping up and down a little with joy in her apron.

"Can you cook more? I shall most eagerly assist you if you can show me your recipe!" Starfire pleaded with wide, puppy-dog eyes as she licked the baking pan clean with her tongue, picking up every last morsel of the kidney pudding (or what Starfire thought was "vork"). This was enough for Kitty to love Starfire; never before had any of her friends ever asked her to cook more (and for good reason, unbeknownst to the Teen Titan girl).

"Like sure! Come help me while I like totally prepare the mayonnaise and anchovy paste!" Kitty said, giggling like a kid lost in the toy store on Christmas as she grabbed the Titan's hands and they both went off in the kitchens, gleefully whispering the sorts of good food they would prepare for themselves and their friends. As they vanished to the sounds of clanging pots and pans and the slamming of the cabinets and refrigerator, Jean, Justin, and Amara were still standing still in disbelief, their eyes twitching in shock.

"I don't think I want to stay here for dinner," moaned Justin, already starting to feel sick.

Jean said in a rather dazed voice, "Amara, mark this one in the history books of the Institute. Someone actually likes Kitty's cooking. The same cooking that caused even the Martian Manhunter to get sick from."

CRASH! All five teenagers were suddenly caught off guard as the kitchen actually begun to slightly shake back and forth, as if under the worst earthquake that could ever be imagined.

"What on Earth?" Jean asked as she, Justin, Kitty, Amara, and Starfire rushed out of the kitchen to see a daunting and certainly odd sight. There, crashing and stomping its way through walls of the operations center, was a mammoth, gigantic, multicolored robot, almost as tall as Leomon himself, flailing its legs and arms wildly as it ambled with jerky movements, with the neighboring heroes dashing away screaming and trying to escape from being trampled.

"What in the name of the gods of Nova Roma is a giant robot doing here! Is it a Sentinel!" Amara gasped.

"Not unless Sentinels nowadays looks like the Megazord robot from the Power Rangers TV show," remarked Justin. Kitty, Jean, and Amara gave the male Misfit a very odd look. Whitelighter blushed as he scratched his head awkwardly.

"I watch a lot of cartoons," he mumbled sheepishly. At the same time, Storm was screaming angrily at Jake, Cyborg, and Forge while Sunspot and Bezerker tried blasting the metal giant, only to have their energy blasts ricochet off the shiny surface of the red torso-shield covering its chest area.

"Out of all the most foolish and asinine stunts you three could ever pull, this is absolutely the worst! WHAT in the name of all that is holy ever possessed you irresponsible twits to build a robot!" Ororo screamed, demanding.

Jake gulped as he weakly offered, "Uh…heh heh, funny thing about that. You see, we built it, ironically, to protect the students as a safeguard defender should we ever come across a behemoth of our own that we can't defeat easily like a Sentinel or one of Dark Kat's Black Widow robots. So Forge and I thought it would be handy for the X-Men if we had our own personal Sentinel, and we borrowed some of the parts from the Watchtower with Hawkgirl's permission. Well, we didn't finish building the robot since we only started it at the Watchtower when we went to pay the Justice League a visit, and since we helped Cyborg fix his car, Cyborg offered to give us some pointers to make our designs even better, so that was what we were working on for the past several days…"

The kat felt like crawling into a hole under the livid glares of Ororo, Hank, Roadblock, and Cover Girl. Roadblock managed to ask with great restraint, his jaw clenched and his eye twitching, "By any chance, Razor, please do tell if you and Forge asked Trinity to help pitch in this project as well?"

"Actually, we did," Forge weakly confessed, "That's how we came to conclusion to build it in the shape of the Megazord from TV."

"You know, looking back on it that was a stupid move on our parts…" Cyborg groaned.

"No, you think!" screamed Storm, Beast, Roadblock and Cover Girl sarcastically at once. Trinity was currently fighting for possession over a remote unit that was controlling the Megazord, and the rough handling of the box between the three squabbling girls certainly explained why the robotic monster was going through spasms while walking.

"It's mine!" Brittany snapped as she pulled at one end of the remote control, "So quit hogging the control and hand it over, Quinn!"

"No way! I called double dibs on it first! So shut up and give it back, jerk!" Quinn snapped back as she pulled on the other end.

"You shut up! I'm the leader and head Triplet sister, and I call permanent-dibs to be first on anything we build! So it's mine!" Daria shouted as she pulled in a third direction.

"In your dreams!" screamed Quinn and Brittany in unison as the Delgado Triplets each gave a mighty pull in their respective directions, and with a loud snap, the remote control fell apart in three separate subsections, sparking madly and showing exposed wires and cracked circuit boards.

"Now look at what you've done! You broke it!" Daria, Quinn, and Brittany growled simultaneously as they immediately pointed the finger at the each other while the giant robot now went completely wild, hopping around madly and causing new holes in the roof and causing parts of the floor to cave in and destroying the entertainment system. With the remote control broken, the Megazord went absolutely haywire.

"OK, show of hands…who saw that coming?" Rogue remarked in a deadpanned tone, and she, Wanda, and Raven all raised their palms bad-naturedly with a roll of their eyes, slightly exasperated.

"If we live through this, no more 'Power Rangers' cartoons for you kids…EVER!" roared Low Light at Trinity as he managed to transform into a gaseous phase to avoid being crushed to death by the giant robot's foot.

"Isn't there another way to shut this damn thing off!" Sam shouted as he tried to bash his way through the robot's chest, but with no such luck. Daria snapped her fingers and gasped as she remembered.

"Oh yeah! I forgot! There's a self-destruct mechanism button in the back of its neck, two inches over the neckline!"

"Got it!" cheered Beast Boy as he transformed into a hawk and evaded the swinging appendages before reverting back to his original form once he neatly maintained a hold on the rear of the Megazord's head. Spotting the red and yellow button, Beast Boy pushed it several times with a flourish, unaware what was about to happen by overloading the robot. And sadly, Scott realized it too late…

"No, wait! BEAST BOY, STOP! You might cause it to - !"

KAAAAA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!

The Titans Tower actually rocked with that explosion, and any passerby of Jump City who was observing the Titans' island would have noticed some smoke coming out of the now leaning establishment, like the Tower of Pisa, as well as a good portion of the windows were broken and gaping wide with a few small fires.

"…explode," finished Scott in a whimper as he lay, twitching, on the floor with the other X-Men, Titans, Misfits, and Joes, all of them thrown back and tossed aside like rag dolls from the force of the Megazord discharging. Trinity, predictably, were unscathed and giggling somewhere in the background, oblivious to their teammates' collective pain. And Beast Boy was standing in the center of the now demolished pile of junk and damaged robotic parts, his eyes wide with surprise which was the only part of him not blackened and sooty from destroying the Megazord.

"Uh…did I do that?" Beast Boy weakly asked, taking a page out of TV's nerd-figure, Steve Urkel.

"Beast Boy, you dumb yo-yo, when I get my hands on you, I am going to kill you so badly," groaned Tabitha as she lay draped over the overturned couch on her stomach, "That is…if I can stop seeing four of your right now."

"Auntie Em…Auntie Em…" warbled Speedy in a falsetto voice. Apparently, the force caused some slight trauma to his head. Aqualad, in a humorous twist of fate, was lying in pain…on top of Althea. Wavedancer, upon coming to and realizing that Garth's body was actually making physical contact with hers in a very suggestive pose, felt her face burn with utter humiliation and outrage as she hissed to herself.

"God…if you're listening…kill me now or at least give me the strength to kill Aqualad after I kill my insane sisters!"

"Ow…I do believe…that my bruises…now have bruises. Ow, my head…" Beast moaned, wishing his skull would stop ringing.

"Are…we…dead?" Jake gasped, whimpering and groaning in pain as he managed to excruciatingly prop himself off the floor of the damaged mess.

"Not…yet…but you…will be…when I get my mitts on you and Forge…hairball," panted Wolverine murderously as he laid motionless on the floor, his uniform charred, sooty, and torn in several places from the explosion.

"Cyborg…next time…don't ever build anything in your lab with Forge, Razor…and Trinity…ever again!" growled Robin, raising his face from being splattered flat and painfully nose-first on the floor.

---

After that eventful explosion and considering that the tower needed to undergo some renovations and repairs, the grown-ups thought it would be best if the teenagers spent their days in the heart of Jump City while the Justice League personally came to Jump City to help them out with the repairs (with Forge, Cyborg, Trinity and Jake staying behind as punishment to help fix their mess)…

"Yo, pizza, everyone! Dig in!" Toad exclaimed proudly while several waitresses delivered twenty deep-dish pizzas, thick and oozing with extra cheese and sauce, while piled high with enough toppings to form a mound of sausage, steak, pepperoni, chicken, and other various meats (no veggies) on the soft yet flaky crusts. Undaunted and ravenous, Kurt, Aqualad, Sam, Fred, Jamie, Roberto, Bobby and Ray all set themselves on the meal heartily. It was a beautiful sunny day the sky as clear as the eye could see with a fresh, cool breeze from the nearby ocean, perfect for an outing to eat outside for lunch. And to the Misfits and X-Men's collective surprises, not a single person in Jump City ever regarded them with hate and scorn for being mutants. It seemed like an incredible contrast compared to the anti-mutant feelings of prejudice in Bayville and a good portion of the United States. And yet, none of the teenagers felt the least bit uncomfortable; if anything, they felt incredibly welcome. Ray and Roberto actually had a group of girls passing by their table giving them sly winks, giggling when they returned the signals with mischievous, fox-like smirks. Kurt even had his image inducer turned off, and yet he had yet to see one person look at him with disgust and fear. Heck, even one of the waitresses remarked to Nightcrawler that his looked kind of cute since blue was her favorite color. And they were treated with respect and as…well, normal human beings.

The X-Men and Misfits soon found themselves wishing that they didn't have to leave Jump City.

"This is like heaven!" Bobby sighed as he gulped down his soda along with his mouthful of pizza, "I mean, everyone doesn't mind us! I haven't seen one guy or girl shirk away or glare at our group for being out in public! No one closed their shops when they saw us coming, no one said a degrading insult, and even the manager of the pizza parlor gave us a discount on the lunch because we're with the Teen Titans!"

"I know what ya' mean, Bobby!" Sam crowed as he politely thanked a waitress for refilling his drink, "It's like we're in a whole other world! This is nothing like Bayville and all those anti-mutant groups we see every day in the news! Jump City is really laid back! Isn't this great! We don't have to hide, we don't have to worry about people picking fights with us, nothing! We can really live life here, like normal teenagers!"

"I'll say! One of those brunettes hasn't stopped checking me out since we got here! I would have never dreamed that I could ever start dating outside the Institute!" Ray happily said.

"Of course, it's always like that here in Jump and Steel City," Aqualad casually remarked, as if it was the most obvious and ordinary thing in the world, "Since we've protected the city multiple times from numerous threats and dangers, people know we're good guys and that they'd be worse off without our guidance and intervention, so they're really grateful for us protecting the city. And they pretty much understand that things are bad enough in the world without focusing on petty narrow-mindedness, so they really like us. I admit, it wasn't easy and it took some time, but the people in Jump City and Steel City know that the Teen Titans are good kids, and since you X-Men and Misfits are with us, they know that you must be good too by association, despite what the news and the Friends of Humanity say. It's funny how people refuse to believe what others say, especially when you save their lives and property a billion times."

"That makes sense," grunted Blob as he gulped down half a pizza in one swallow, "I remember Amara and Tabby telling me the same thing when the X-Men went on the cruise trip and saved a bunch of islanders from an erupting volcano, so people really do act friendly when you help them and show you don't mean 'em any harm."

"Too bad the rest of the world doesn't see it that way, even when we try to be good and compassionate," Roberto said, a bit depressed at the thought.

"You guys are so lucky," Jamie groaned as he wolfed down his piping hot slice of pastry, "We'll never get to have a chance to experience this again! Once we go back to Bayville, we'll just be hated and spat on and the target of any wacko who wants to manipulate us or destroy us!"

Aqualad squeezed Multiple's hand a bit in encouragement, "Give it time. The world can change, surprisingly, even though it seems overwhelming and monumental. Even the smallest acts you guys do can help open some eyes. Just give it time, kid."

"We hope so, yo. That's the whole point of why we're fighting," Todd sighed, patting his full stomach.

"And let's also help we can last that long," Fred added, munching on a whole new pizza in his hands.

At the same time over at the Jump Mega-Center, the largest mall in all of Jump City, and indeed, one of the largest in the United States, Starfire and Bumblebee had taken Althea, Lina and the X-Girls (minus Kitty and Rogue) shopping for a well-needed trip to the stores…

"Whoa!" gasped Amara as she and the other mutant girls marveled inside the spacious building, "I feel like I've died and gone to heaven! This is bigger and much more elegant and friendly than the Bayville shopping mall!"

Indeed, the Nova Roman princess spoke the truth. The Jump city Mega-Mall was lit by the light of the sun streaming in through the elegantly structured glass skylight, and the golden rays bounced all over the indoor waterfall that cascaded down a glass replica of a skyscraper that stood five stories tall, splashing mightily in a large pool of clear water, filled with water lilies and bronze statues of horses and birds. And the mall itself was seven stories tall, with soft classical music playing in the background while all the stores and vendors, ranging anywhere from books to beauty salons to chocolate to coffee to music and electronics, were clean, orderly, and just begging to be sacked.

"Ooooh…friend Amara, how does this dress look?" Starfire asked eagerly as she showed to Amara a sky-blue, velvety evening dress, perfect for formal wear in Macy's, "This article of clothing would perfectly match your skin tone!"

"Hey, Lina, girl!" Tabitha shouted as she brought up a tan-colored pair of cotton slacks, "Think you can try these on? I can imagine they'd look good on you!"

"Oh wow, thanks Tabitha!" squealed Lina.

"Oh, look at that Hello Kitty plushie! It's sooooo adorable!" Bumblebee gasped.

"Friend Rina, do you wish to explore the Sephora store right before we do a strange act that involves taking a pig out to the Cold Stone establishment? Their variations of sweet iced cream is simply glorious!" Starfire called out.

"I actually never have been to Cold Stone before," X23 admitted, not seeing the harm in going to an ice cream parlor.

"You've never been to Cold Stone! Geez, X23, you need to get out more!" Althea remarked as she and Starfire led Rina to the said sweets shop. Amara then asked Jean as they managed to pile out of the clothing store with Lina and Tabitha, carrying four bags of clothes and accessories each.

"Jean, how're we paying for this? We can't afford all these clothes and perfume and shoes even if we saved our allowances for a hundred years!"

"Simple, I charged it to the Professor's credit card…" Jean smiled. Tabitha looked taken aback before she nodded approvingly.

"Jean, girl, you're developing a mean naughty streak…" she praised. Jean smiled wickedly at her friends and at Lina.

"Hey, how often do we actually get to go to a mall and be treated like real human beings? And how often do we actually get to go out and shop until we drop? I haven't had a good trip to the mall since we got outed as mutants back in Bayville. Besides, it's all good! It's not like I'm irresponsible all the time! If I don't splurge now, someone else will charge the Professor's credit card anyway, so why the heck not?"

"Why the heck not?" agreed Lina, Amara, and Tabitha, giggling as they marched to their first visit at Guess Clothing.

At the same time, Kitty and Piotr finally got a chance for their second date, a date that had been postponed ever since Live Wire attacked the Institute, and Piotr thought this would be the best time to do so since they were separated from the rest of the pack and that the entire conurbation was less hostile and more tolerant of mutants than Bayville. There was no way the Russian X-Man was going to pass up a chance to take Kitty for a day out in the town, so to speak, so he invited Kitty for a chance to explore the mall, just the two of them as a quiet, romantic interlude. Kitty eagerly accepted.

"Isn't this like wonderful, Peter?" sighed Kitty as they looked at each other over a nice tea of buttered croissants, coffee (not B.A.'s brew, thankfully), and toast and jam, "You and me, no protestors, no gawking customers, everyone being totally cool with us as mutants, relaxing in a café with like jazz music playing and the world passing us by without a care…"

"Yes, it is," Piotr agreed, but he became even more pleased when Kitty's eyes grew even dreamier as she meaningfully leaned forward closer to the taller boy.

"Kitty…" sighed Piotr as he and Kitty then gently leaned closer and kissed, closing their eyes and enjoying the feeling of each other's lips. Piotr didn't want this moment to ever end. However, one particular observer was not pleased with the sight as he spied upon the two X-Men from a distance, half-hidden by a potted plant…

"Rotten, lousy, no-good, backstabbing, half-assed X-Geek…" muttered Lance murderously as he watched Piotr continued kissing Kitty at the café table.

Beast Boy then gave an evil grin as he whispered, "You know, we could do a little sabotage to their date…"

Lance's head perked up, intrigued, asking, "How?"

Garfield grinned as he held up his backpack, jiggling it a little as he clarified, "I brought a few more shaving cream bombs and stink pellets for such an occasion. And now would be a good time to use to little container of red ants I managed to smuggle from the Tower."

Lance turned to the scene of Kitty and Piotr still gently kissing each other in the café, oblivious to their surroundings. Lance, naturally of course, felt a painful and hot building feeling of rage and anger, not only jealous of Piotr but anger at Kitty as well. To tell the truth, a large part of Avalanche wanted to ruin the happy moment for Colossus so much, the images of Piotr laughing at Lance's misfortune dancing across his head. And yet…

Lance deflated wearily. He couldn't do it. If the tables were turned, he wouldn't have wanted the X-Man to horn in on his own date with Kitty. Plus, Kitty would never forgive Lance; she was no fool in being able to deduce that Lance would have a hand in the prank. As pathetic as it was to some of his Misfit teammates, Lance didn't want to lose whatever standing he had left in Kitty's regards. Yes, it was clear she cared about him, but as a friend and ally, and nothing more than that. Lance remembered that Spirit advised him that it was Kitty's choice to make, and if Lance truly respected her, he'd allow her to follow up on that choice even though he didn't agree with it. And as much as he hated to admit it, Lance knew that Colossus would protect Kitty with his life if the situation ever arose. Piotr loved Kitty as much as Lance did, and it wasn't much consolation, but it was something, to know that Shadowcat was in good hands. Lance then turned to Beast Boy with a sad look in his eyes.

"Nah, forget it, Gar. Let 'em enjoy their date."

Beast Boy looked positively thunderstruck as he dropped his mouth in slight confusion. The only word that was able to be processed and escape his mouth was a high-pitched, "Huh?"

"She's so happy right now…" Lance said with a sad, mournful face as he led Beast Boy away. And Kitty and Piotr would never know how close their peaceful rendezvous was to being wrecked.

Raven, Rogue, and Wanda, unsurprisingly to the adults, decided hang out inconspicuously at one of the mall benches in a somewhat secluded corner of the mall as they conversed quietly, choosing to enjoy each others' company rather than act like complete idiots along with the rest of their friends.

"So is your brother that bad, Wanda?" Raven asked the gothic Misfit. Wanda looked at Raven like she had grown three heads.

"Are you kidding?" she snorted, "He's the most egotistical, idiotic, harebrained drama-queen of a brother in the history of annoying twin siblings! He's like Satan with a bleach job! He's like Ferris Bueller with a fast mouth and a slow brain! He's the most annoying brother on the face of the planet!"

At the same time, at the other end of the mall where Pietro and Speedy were conversing over smoothies…

"So is Wanda really that bad of a sister, Pietro?" Speedy asked as he slurped his fruit mixture. Pietro looked at the member of Titan East like he had admitted he had a sex-change and used to be a girl.

"Are you kidding?" Quicksilver snorted, trying to prevent from spitting out his mouthful of banana-mango smoothie from choking with laughter, "Wanda is the most moody, most violent, most self-centered and meanest serial psychopath of a sister in the history of twin siblings! She's like the antithesis of Brittany Spears! She's like the possessed girl the 'Exorcist' movie, only uglier and mean enough to make Satan fear her!" Wanda acts as if she's on permanent PMS!"

At the same time to Rogue, Wanda, and Raven…

"You two have no idea what he's like at the Misfit Manor! He's even worse when we used to be in the Brotherhood House! He's always teasing me and insulting me and writing rude comments in the margins of my diary!"

At the same time to Speedy and Pietro…

"You have no idea how much abuse I go through with her! It's like every little innocent thing I do sets her off and causes her to go into a violent rage, hexing me to next week! She's a very mean girl! Like there was this one time I bought some acne face deep-cleansers from an infomercial…"

Meanwhile, Wanda was now actually raging with annoyance at the memory…

"He used my money to buy this stupid cheap acne lotion he saw on the Home Shopping Network! The small bottle cost him two hundred and fifty dollars of my money! And what made it worse was it was a brand that I saw for sale at Save-On for a buck fifty! And the thing was, this brand was recalled by the FDA because it had a few side effects of making your face turn orange! But of course, leave it to me idiot of a brother to spend two hundred and fifty dollars of my money on a bottle that was declared as useless as a used Kleenex! And Pietro had the nerve to say that I should be grateful for the cleanser since it looked like I needed it desperately!"

At the same moment with Pietro's side of the story…

"I mean, all I did was offer to share the bottle with her!" Pietro griped, rolling his eyes in exasperation, "And instead, that just made her hit me with the folding chair even harder! I offered her to give her a few tips on keeping her face clean like a good brother should, and how does she thank me? My anger-control impaired sister hexes me through the window!"

Raven and Rogue just listened with interest as Wanda carried on…

"And he always complains that as my twin, I should be obligated to give half of everything I own to him since he goes through stuff faster than the Flash does!"

Pietro, in the interim, was complaining…

"She's just so selfish! She should learn how to share, and instead, all she does is mock, make sarcastic remarks, never give me a break, and always blames me for every little thing that goes wrong in her little, precious life, or at least what she passes off for one!"

Back at Wanda…

"He is the most annoying, most self-centered, obnoxious King of Stupidity that was ever born!" Scarlet Witch declared.

And Pietro then shared with Speedy his little secret…

"…so I've secretly been peeing in her coffee ever since," cackled Pietro.

"No way! Are you serious?" Speedy gasped, laughing.

"Yep, and of course, my dunce of a twin has no idea! Hee hee hee!" Quicksilver bragged.

Speedy shook his head in wonderment and respectful awe as he gave the albino a high-five for his underhanded vindictiveness.

"Quicksilver, my man…you are the King of Pranks," he murmured.

"You got that right! No one is ever able to get the better of Pietro Maximoff!" bragged the Misfit speedster, arrogantly.

At the same time, Raven and Rogue were listening to Scarlet Witch's narration with shocked awe and growing humor…

"…and so I've been secretly switching our cups of coffee ever since," finished a smug Wanda.

"You're kidding me!" giggled Raven.

"Nope."

Rogue was now holding her sides with laughter and glee as she managed to gasp out, red in the face, "And…and Quickie has no idea that…ah ha ha ha…that he's been drinking out of the mug with his -?"

"Nope," emphasized Wanda, her grin growing even wider. At this, Raven and Rogue and Wanda were lost in uncontrollable mirth as they leaned against each other and the wall, guffawing so hard that their stomachs were hurting. Rogue even lost it as she feel to the ground, convulsing with glee and hilarity.

"Oh God, this is rich! I have to keep this joke in mind!" Rogue chortled, wiping her eyes.

Raven coughed, still giggling, as she held her hand, saying, "Let me help you up…"

Yet the instant Rogue and Raven touched their hands, by a cruel twist of fate, as Raven grasped Rogue's gloved hand, the Teen Titan touched a small hole that somehow managed to go escape Rogue's detection. It was miniscule, only offering the barest exposure of Rogue's skin, so small that Rogue could not even feel it, and yet…when Raven helped Rogue up, that hole allowed Raven's skin to brash against Rogue's bare flesh. There was an electric surge of power as they made contact.

Rogue and Raven gasped before the force hit them, cruel, swift, and incredibly painful as Rogue and Raven arched back and yelped, with rogue's mutation kicking in, before Raven, with all of her strength, managed to let go and Rogue was sent stumbling back to the floor again.

"Whoa…" she groaned before Rogue then realized she was seeing Raven's memories as they ran through her mind like a demented film being set to fast-forwards, but Rogue gasped as she then looked upon a stylized "S", the very same mark that was on Slade's forehead. Rogue's eyes went wide. Why would Raven…?

"Oh my God, the Mark of Scath!" gasped Rogue as she then looked at Raven with fear and confusion.

Raven returned her gaze at Rogue with a mixture of betrayal, fear, anger…and grief. Rogue's mouth felt dry as she spoke.

"Raven?" yet with a suppressed sob, Raven flung her arms over her head, invoking her powers before a dark soul-self in the shape of a raven engulfed her body, encasing the hooded witch in its wings before she disappeared, teleporting to an unknown place. Rogue just stared at where Raven disappeared to, numb as Wanda gently shook Rogue's other covered arm.

"Rogue? Rogue! What happened! Why did Raven dash off like that! What did you do to her!" Wanda gasped. Rogue then had the memories she absorbed from Raven click into place, like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle somehow falling from the sky and landing onto the ground, only to form a completely assembled picture. And Rogue couldn't have been more taken aback at what was revealed…

"Oh my God…" Rogue murmured in dread, placing a hand over her mouth.

Author's Notes: The fictional character, Robert Langdon, isn't mine. He's a character created by Dan Brown in the books, "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels and Demons", but since I like the books so much, I thought it would be cool to include a mention of him in the Misfitverse! And now, check back next Friday for the chapter "An Azarath of a Welcome" as Raven tries to escape to the one sanctuary she can run to! But is she truly safe? And how will the X-Men, Misfits, and Titans react when Rogue finally reveals to them what she knows! Find out next week, and until them, read and review!