Part 9

December 23rd

"Christmas was truly drawing near…and we thank the readers for putting up with all the nonsense it took to get here. Now we finally come to the whole point of this plot…if you can even call it that…" Charlie said.

"Savior was not the only one in the Tower who was unhappy, for a certain combustible situation was about to erupt…" Dickens said.

"I must say, is this a good place to stand?" Charlie interrupted, indicating that the two were standing in the fireplace.

"Who lights a fire in the morning?"

"Cyborg, go check on the coals!" Robin called, and then went back on the phone as he tried to arrange a roundabout way to get a new Christmas tree.

"Forget that, I'll just heat them up again." Cyborg said, as he retrieved a can of gasoline.

"Uh oh." Dickens said.

Combustible didn't even begin to cover it, as we enter the war zone.

While everyone is feeling the spirit of the season all around (except you know who), there were a few places in the city where all was not jolly.

This was one, as two arch nemeses were locked in mortal combat, a fight of destiny, a fight where the outcome would be a bigger factor in their continual, eternal conflict.

"Hey! Tubbo! You better not be eating all the stuffing!" Terra shouted at her large temporary partner.
The battle of Christmas dinner had begun.

"I'm not eating the stuffing." Sophie replied, somewhat carelessly, as she reached for a small knife to cut up the meat. There was a lot of meat this year, both with the Turducken and the fact there was a lot of people. True, there was always a giant amount of food, but this year they wanted to make sure they had enough. With all of their appetites combined they might be looking at a Christmas first: not being full after dinner and dessert.

"Good, any fatter and you won't get through the door." Terra replied. Most of the Titans had no idea how deep the animosity between the two women ran: what had started it was forgotten, but it had gotten pretty deep. As indicated by the fact Sophie paused at the small knives and then grabbed the Titans' meat cleaver, which was comically large.

"Oh hark, I may have gained some across the waist, but at least I can still fit my head through the door." The slightly taller and much wider brunette replied, walking back to the meat she was cutting.
"Yeah, well I have to have room to keep all my great insults and… stuff." Terra stumbled.

"Oh, such brilliance." Sophie placed down her blade and offered up a condescending applause, which only infuriated the young geokinetic. She offered nothing but a glare for a moment or two, until of course she could think of another fat joke. For the moment, Sophie had won and that was all that mattered for the moment.

Then Terra got hit by a snowball.

"GRAHHHHHHHH!" She growled under her breath. Well, at least she knew Sophie wasn't throwing them: she'd been looking straight at the girl. But if it wasn't her, then who was? That fact brought the nastiness back up.

"I was dazzled by the amount of fat you have actually gained. How many more bats does that new gut make?" Terra said, referring to Sophie's ability, which actually was related to her mass.

"Enough bats to drain you dry if you keep that up." Sophie shot back. Her bat flock form, if she wanted them too, could all attack Terra at once, and because it was assumed that the bat that Dr.Langstrom used in his experiments was a vampire bat, it was also assumed that Sophie's flock was the same sort, as she had a mutant strain of the virus that the good doctor had created.

"That's the most promising thing I've heard all day." Terra replied. "As I won't have to listen to your belly-aching."

"And I won't have to listen to your bitching." Sophie shot back, the two sniping while they were still cooking, and doing a superb job at it, as they were both trying to outdo the other. While Sophie was no super chef, she was better than most of the others and she wasn't about to let Terra beat her. Terra was always trying to prove she was better then Sophie. There was that time she claimed so by beating Sophie at a trivia game, though it was later proved that she was helped by Beast Boy. Her boyfriend, over the past few years had become quite the card shark, and hence dealt her all the easy questions, actors, famous lines, legends, and fed the others the harder questions. Though he did have a bad time trying to beat Scalpel as he accidentally seemed to give him all the medical questions, though he managed to reshuffle so the alien got the questions about history instead, which meant his downfall and Tara's victory. The relationship between the two Titans remained solid though. Not in this case.

"Hello dears." Scalpel called as he and Beast Boy entered the kitchen, only to stop when they both felt the tension in there. It was so thick a knife wouldn't manage to cut it. Maybe not even one of Scalpel's…er… scalpels.

"I need a knife. Think you can walk over here from there without dripping bimbo all over my food?" Sophie challenged.

An angered Tara picked up her knife and threw it over the other side of the room as Sophie ducked. It sunk into the wall with a low thwack, only to be ripped out a moment later by a highly irate Sophie, who shot a glare and started chopping some potatoes rather quickly and harshly, before she threw said chopped potatoes back at the geokinetic, who caught them in a roasting tin and placed them on the side.

Both the male Titans recoiled slightly as things flew and glares that were more deadly than bullets were continually exchanged.

"I do not think it wise to enter the den of those who are in the mist of a purely disputatious air." Nigel spoke quietly.

"Huh?" Gar asked, just wanting a little clarification, just in case.

"We'll have to wait for cookies as I'm not going in there with those two." The alien explained.

"Oh. I think you're right." And so they left.

Sophie and Terra continued, though like most chiefs, the larger of the two girls decided to have a class of wine, purely to clear the air as it were, as she allowed the warm taste of red wine to slide down her throat, calming her a bit.

It didn't last.

"What did I tell you about eating the ingredients?" Terra's voice blasted over her shoulder.

"One, it's a drink so I'm drinking, two it's not part of the ingredients as we've used all we wanted to." She shot back, glass in hand.

"Oh great, fat and drunk." Terra laughed to herself.

Sophie just slammed the glass down, trying to ignore the young geokinetic as she got on with her job. She traversed to the cupboards to get the last few things she needed for this particular dish. It was a smaller version of the Turducken that she had planned to try out.

Terra, out of spite mostly and the need for the herbs secondly, tried to barge the young woman out the way, though due to their size differences it ended up the other way around. Terra just stepped to the side: her idea had obviously backfired and she wouldn't be able to win against Sophie in a physical contest. It seems somewhere under all the lar there was some muscle, probably produced from carrying her own body weight around, or so Terra harshly thought.

She waited and watched the mortician as she dug around and searched for the herbs and other miscellaneous spices to really make this meal special.

"Tell me, how many trousers do you actually go through? I mean, what size are you now?" She asked offhandedly, almost casually to the other chief.

"Eighteen, twenty, something like that." She replied equally offhandedly, more interested in the meal than her 'colleague'. She knelt down and clambered into the small cupboard, searching for the one really illusive part. It was a bit of a squeeze, but she had enough room to maneuver.

"Well don't get stuck, I ain't hauling your fat ass out of there."

"Oh thank-you for your consideration. Or not. I may have the start of two chins, but at least I don't have two faces." Sophie replied in mock appreciation.

"What does that mean?"

"You'll get it when you get more brain cells." Sophie replied. Finally, she found the spice, as she backed out of the cupboard.

Though when she got up and turned, she was literally standing on Terra's toes, and knocked her over at the same time. Double whammy.

"You stupid bitch! What the hell have you been eating? Lead weights? I'd say you're size 'Huge'! Lose some weight or get OUT OF MY KITCHEN YOU FAT FREAKY PIECE OF….!" She shouted, standing up, though she didn't get to finish her sentence.

Let's just say Sophie snapped.

"Sophie?" Noel, on one of his very rare excursions from his room, decided that he'd visit the kitchen to see if he could get one of the really pleasant cake slices that the mortician made. Who knew, might snap him out of his funk. "Just wondering, did you finish… the…"

Savior stopped in the door to see Sophie, standing over Terra, who was on the floor, as she was being force-fed the same chocolate cake that Noel had wanted. He stared for a second, wondering if it was in good spirits…but Savior had seen too much rage to look past actual, utter acrimony. If Sophie wasn't stopped, there was a fair risk Terra might choke to death. Get her off first, ask questions later.

Noel quickly, and effortlessly pulled Mathews off of Markov, even though she kicked and struggled, trying to finish the job in which she started.

"ENOUGH!" He roared, his black mood back. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING! Do you really dislike each other so much you can't even cook a meal together? Can't you keep your mouth shut Terra? Can't you not stoop to her level, Sophie? I know you're both better then this and DAMN IT YOU LOOK LIKE YOU'RE PROVING ME A LIAR!" Savior yelled, as Terra tried to speak and Sophie continued to struggle. "SHUT UP! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT! THIS IS IT! DONE! NIGEL" He bellowed, the alien's ears picking up the roar and making him come running.

"What the…" Scalpel said, and then Savior shoved Sophie into his arms.

"Take her away! Take her to a bar or something, calm her down!" Noel ordered. Scalpel stared, and then looked at his still furious girlfriend, and then gave Terra such an angry glare that all the venom drained straight out of the blonde, as she paled to the point of doing a Raven impression.

Then Scalpel pulled Sophie away, as Savior turned his own dark gaze on the young woman.

"…I will leave it at this and trust you to seek help for this problem, because I know that somewhere under that superficial shallowness you always seem to embrace around Sophie there's more. But really…stop it Terra. I saw your true self in Light City. This isn't it. Don't bring it back. It's not wanted." Savior said, and then stalked off, slamming the door to his room.

Terra stared after him

And then she got hit by a snowball.

"…..Ow." She said.

Tad bit vicious for a Christmas story, don't you think?

If I recall, It's a Wonderful Life has a giant eruption of rage too, and it's a classic. It's a reminder that we, in this time of year, no matter how good, are often about five minutes away from such a situation ourselves.

Hey! I'm the one who makes the deep comments! You just produce the whacky aliens!

You misspelled wacky.

Oh shut up!

"All right…" Robin said to the gathered Titans, not including the ones we just saw. "I have discovered a rather…roundabout way to get a new tree, as there are no more left in Jump City. Though my contacts I have made a deal with a rather…unscrupulous individual named Shiftstate. Morals aside, he's a teleporter. He can warp us to a place that has a tree, and warp us back. The thing is, he can only carry two people at most and he doesn't want to meet us in the Tower…so I need a volunteer…"

"We'll go." Scalpel said, who had entered the room, still dragging Sophie a bit. "We need to get out of the Tower anyway. Give him my personal communicator signal."

"O…wait. BOTH of you? What happened to the preparatory cooking?"

"You'll need to find someone else." Scalpel said in a finative tone, as he pulled Sophie from the room.

"…Well, nuts." Robin said. "Ok, NEW order of business. Who wants to help make Christmas dinner this year…"

There was nothing left to do except think, and even Noel didn't like spending excessive amounts of time thinking. Maybe he should have done Nigel's paperwork. Better then breaking up fights between his girlfriend and Terra.

Celebrate this season? When two girls couldn't even make a meal together without one working the other into a homicidal state, because of said season?

…Or was that just an excuse?

Or the bitter truth.

Savior sat, brooding and wishing he'd never left his room in the first place.

But he'd rectify that.

A little time passed, and the Tower calmed down once more.

"Ok!" Starfire said joyfully. "My plans are complete! Tomorrow, I will finally find you, Santa!"

"Don't. Just don't." Speedy said to Bumblebee, who looked to be heading over to ask about the Santa thing, as he rubbed his jaw in phantom pain.

"You haven't brought any machines in to help, have you?" Terra said worriedly. Now that Sophie was gone, she was back to normal.

"Oh no, relax. When it comes to food, I don't mess around." Cyborg said.

"Ok. Here you go."

"What's this?"

"Instructions. The turkey's done, as is the Turducken, I have no idea how that worked. I'm doing all the sides, so you have to do the Tofurkey."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Cyborg wailed.

"I'm sorry about that." Sophie said lightly, sipping coffee in an open air restaurant. That was one of the advantages of having Christmas in Florida.

"From what I've heard, she deserved it." Nigel replied, sipping a large hot chocolate. They enjoyed the scenery for a moment or two, allowing the conversation to fade a little, though one question did come across her mind.

"You never told me much about your family."

Nigel looked at his girlfriend and raised a brow.

"That was a bit out of right pasture wasn't it?" The alien said, confused.

"A bit out of left field, Nigel."

"Well yes but still…" He paused, trying to think. No one had ever asked about his past, and he preferred it that way. He wanted to leave his old life; he wanted to just carry on here, as here there were people who cared for him, even if that didn't include the majority of humans.

"Please?" She begged, giving him the 'come hither' eyes, or as close as she could manage. He just flushed a little and readied himself.

"I'm sorry…. No, I don't really want to."

"Come on Scalpel, please?" She begged again, hoping for a more resolved answer in her favor. He said nothing, unwavering in his resolve to not change his decision.

"I don't wish to." He said, more of a pleading in his looks than in his voice, but just as his resolve wouldn't budge, neither would hers.

"We've been dating for… however long it has been. I think I have the right to know, we did make the transition from a couple to a relationship you know."

"I know but still…"

Silence. But Sophie still wanted to know, and she would know. So she decided to do what any human female would do.

Stare at you until you gave them an answer.

"……..Okay, okay! Here's the thing." He leaned over the table a little to try and relax a bit more. "Don't tell anyone else, and you have to tell me something I don't know about yourself, deal?"

"Deal."

"Alright…" He paused wondering where to begin. "Well… My father was a farmer, always had been, always will be. He was enlisted, or rather dragged, into the army. Though due to a rare non-fatal injury he was dropped from the ranks and returned home. He's a little taller than I am, a little thinner and older too. He's a good guy, always trying to pressure us to keep moving forward and up, to make sure we stayed focused."
"And your mother?"

"A bit of a bitch. When dad pushed us up, she forced us down, though it gave us humility." Nigel shook his head.

"Us?"

"Yeah, I have a sister, younger by one year. She became a priestess, always longed for my mother's figure." He paused and laughed. "I have no idea why I said that."

"Heh, gives me an idea of what your family was like. Let me guess, she was the popular one?"

"Not quite, she was loved by both parents; I was only appreciated by my father I guess." He sipped some more hot chocolate. "My mother ran off with someone, for some reason, and as I left my home my sister had just been ordained into the Circle of Rights, then after a year or so, I came here and I met a young woman and at this very moment in time am sharing cocoa with her."

Sophie beamed.

"Your turn"

The beam faded.

"Come again?"

"I told you a little about my past, you tell me a little about yours."

Sophie paused.

"Well you know everything!" She protested. "You know my parents, you met them, I told you about everything else…"

"Then tell me something I don't know!" He simply replied, and once again the battle of the wills was on.

"Um…"

"Speak! Or you force me to dance the funky turkey or chicken, or whatever!" Nigel shouted, standing up with one foot on the chair and the other on the ground.

"Alright! Alright already." She replied, waving her hands around to try and distract him or bring him down from the high perch in which he stood. In the end, he sat down.

After all that I need a sit down.

Oh do be quiet…

"Alright. Here's something you'll find interesting." She started, leaning one elbow on the table, and with the same hand rubbed her chin. After a moment's thought, it came to her. "Ah, yes. Before you met me, while I was an undertaker, I used to sleep in… a. well… coffin." She explained, a slight flush on her face.

"A what?"

"A coffin, casket, sarcophagus, whatever you wish to call it, I slept in one." She cleared up.

".. Right. Why?"

"Well when I moved in to my grandfather's business, my bed was destroyed in the move. Maybe an accident, I don't know, but it was and I couldn't find another place close enough to buy another before closing, so I took off the top half of one of the nicer, softer coffins and slept in it. I did that even until you turned up on my door."

"While I'm not surprised, I wonder… Do you sleep in one now?" Her boyfriend asked, having never actually gone into her room even though she came to his regularly.

Silence.

And then he just popped out of nowhere, nearly scaring Scalpel and Sophie to death.

"You Scalpel?" Shiftstate said, and then looked at Sophie. "Yikes. No one mentioned I'd be transporting excess cargo."

"Why you…" Scalpel growled.

"Down boy! Down! We still need a tree!" Sophie said. "You have a spot picked out, Mr. State, or whatever your name is?"

"Yes. Thing is…it's kinda self-serve."

"This is a forest!" Scalpel yelled.

"Well yeah, no better place to get a tree."

Sophie shivered: it was winter where Shiftstate had warped them. The teleporter was about to comment on something else when Scalpel grabbed him.

"Go get her some winter clothes, like you should have done before, or I'll send you back to Jump City myself. In pieces."

Shiftstate gulped.

"Hey man, no need to be aggressive!" He complained, and then warped away.

"…What if he doesn't come back?" Sophie said.

"He will. Robin only paid half his money up front."

"Robin had to pay him?"

"He doesn't strike me as the type for charity."

The alarm went off just as the sun was starting to go down.

Robin jumped up from the Scrabble game he was playing and ran to the computer, as various Titans were pulled out of whatever they were doing. In his room, Savior looked up from the chair he had been sitting in, blinking as new sensation entered him for the first time in a bit.

"What we got?" Bumblebee asked.

"…Oh how glad I am that you're visiting, Karen. Looks like we have multiple hits." Robin said, as markers began popping up on a map. His eyes flicked over the locations, as he put them together: big businesses that would be stuffed with cash these final days before Christmas. And Robin had a funny feeling that with all these alarms going off nearly at once that they weren't all independent efforts.

"…Ok Titans!" Robin said as he turned around. "We have six different areas that have been hit…and thirteen of us, as Scalpel and Sophie have gone to get the tree! So we pair off…"

"That leaves one out Robin." Bumblebee said.

"I know! Now, this could also be a trick to get us all to leave the Tower, so someone has to stay behind…"

"I'll stay." Savior said.

"What? Oh come on Savior, this had some reason before but now I think you're just being lazy…" Bumblebee protested.

"I agree. Savior stays." Robin said, as Bumblebee looked at the Teen Wonder. She did not catch the unspoken words between the two: how this would most likely involve more people being bad at Christmas and Noel didn't need any more negative fuel.

"The rest of us can pair up on the way! We'll take the ground vehicles! Mas Y Menos, run point! TITANS, GO!" Robin ordered, and the massed group ran off.

Savior watched over them as the bridge rose up and the vehicles and flyers took off down it. As they passed, Savior armed the defenses on the bridge.

That only took a few seconds, and when it was done, Savior found himself alone.

Robin had put the mystery to the back of his mind, but when he arrived at his scene, and found several men robbing an armored car, and dressed up the exact same way a stupid teenager had been when he'd tried to rob a mall twenty days ago, out it came again, as pieces began falling into place.

He worked on it as he and Aqualad took down his group, even as all the Titans, in constant communication, did the same with theirs. All of them were dressed the same, and they all had the same setup and weaponry…but the Titans never fell for the same bag of tricks twice.

But Robin doubted this was all. Making an educated guess, Robin ordered for the Gauntlet and Bumblebee team to let their quarry escape so they could follow. And follow they did.

It led them back to an empty warehouse, big surprise. It also, in the same explosion of originality, had more goons in the same clothes setup, but nothing the Titans and Titans East couldn't handle.

Until they heard the faint chuckling.

"So. Titans. I thought you might stay at home, playing your childish games." Came a familiar voice, and the Titans looked up to see Professor Chang standing on a higher floor.

"Well well. Professor Chang. What's wrong, got no one to spend the holidays with?" Robin said.

"You might say I decided to give a gift to myself." Professor Chang replied, obviously referring to the group of robberies the Titans had just thwarted.

"Well, now you can have one from me!" Robin said, as he whipped out his bo staff. The evil doctor chuckled again.

"I think not." Professor Chang said, as he lifted up a very large laser-like gun. "I've been waiting to try this on you! Behold, my new 'Bad Vibrations' ray!"

"Oh what's that going to do, rob us of our Christmas cheer?" Bumblebee asked.

"No actually! Rather, it will put you in a state of intense rage which I will be able to direct!"

"…How do you know that'll even work on us?" Robin bluffed.

"Because I tested it earlier. It worked quite well. You saw the results yourself."

And the rest of the pieces fell into place. The teen had been given the equipment as a test. And…

"That riot! YOU caused it!"

"Of course. People may be stressed this time of year, but it takes a lot to go from that to being naughty. And I'm very good at being bad." Professor Chang said. "If it worked on hundreds of people, it will work on you!"

And the evil professor fired down on the Titans. For the actual Titans though, he had spoken too long, and hence all the teenage heroes managed to dive out of the way.

The Titans East crashed into each other. Hey, they do try, but in this case said try led to them being bathed in the power of the ray. The effects were immediate.

"Aw nuts." Robin said, as the Titans East got up, murder in their eyes. He was having flashbacks to the battle in Steel City with Brother Blood.

"It's amazing, really, how much the average human represses." Professor Chang said, as Titans East advanced. "All the anger, all the resentment, all the feelings they keep locked up…well, not any more. Titans, I believe your eastern companions have a few things they'd like to get off their chest."

And the battle began, Titans vs Titans.

"Ahhhhhhh…in battle or in the season, it's so much better to have others do the work for you." Professor Chang said.

Savior was unaware of the small dilemma the Titans were facing: Robin hadn't called him and his lone attempt to try during the fight only revealed Professor Chang had hidden a jamming device somewhere. So, instead, he was wandering the Tower.

He'd gone back to his room, gotten the envelopes of pictures with plans to write names on them and slide them under their respective giver's door…but as he walked back, and saw all the decorations hung everywhere, hung without him, he slowly forgot his original plan and, after setting the pictures down, just wandered around the main room, looking at stuff.

"…What's wrong with me?" Savior mused. "Is it something about this season? Do I see something most people cannot, for better or for worse…or is it me, a malaise within my own soul, reaching out to bother me each year…I wonder, am I just being stupid or accepting who I am…sigh." Savior said, as he stopped by the TV, looking at the pile of Christmas movies, the stuff the Titans always watched this time of year, the TV specials, the cartoons…and a new film that caught Savior's eye.

"What the…" Savior said, as he reached down for the DVD, picking it up. "What kind of film is this? Santa's Slay?"

And then it happened, as Savior felt an odd jolt in his arm and hand, a cousin to the electric shock, and he recoiled and dropped the DVD, as it fell back on the table.

"Owtch! What the hell was that?" Savior said, as he leaned down and picked up the DVD again. He looked the whole thing over, but he could find nothing that had caused the shock. Feeling more strangely disquiet then sad now, Savior put the DVD back down and headed back to the main computer.

"It was a strange thing Savior had experienced, but even he had no idea what he had just set in motion!" Dickens said. "But for now, let us return to the battle between the Titans!"

"Yes!" Charlie said, as they stood on a rafter above the walkway. "It was truly epic! An amazing display of skill, courage and ingenuity! As fine as anything the show produced, and more! Unfortunately I'm on a strict deadline, so we're just going to skip to the end of it."

Dickens facevaulted, as down on the ground the Titans convalesced, all of them down and nearly out, as Professor Chang joined them on the lower level of the building.

"Well…Professor Chang…you have successfully beaten us. And quite soundly." Robin said through gritted teeth.

"Yes, I'm glad you agree." Professor Chang replied.

"However…" Gauntlet said, as he stood up on one knee. "There's one group you CANNOT beat! GET 'IM!"

And then, suddenly, a bunch of asian people broke down the door.

"What the…!" Professor Chang said.

"Hold it!' Said the man at the front of the group. "We are the Asian Anti-Defamation Society, and we're here to stop you from propagating the stereotype that all Asians are either kung fu masters or Fu Manchu evil plotters!"

"……Crap." Professor Chang said.

The computer sounded about three minutes later, and Savior answered swiftly.

"Savior here. You all right guys?" Savior asked.

"Just a few bumps and bruises. We're fine." Robin said: apparently he'd found and disabled the jamming device. "We stopped the plot. The villain de jour was Professor Chang. We're going to just help the police process them. Stand down the defenses, we'll be home soon. Got something interesting to tell you." Robin said, and signed off.

"All right." Savior said, and turned off the defenses.

No sooner had he done that then the computer rang again.

"Yes Robin?"

"Robin? This is Nigel!" Nigel snapped: he did not sound happy. "Is that you Noel? Where's Robin?"

"There was trouble in town, he left to take care of it." Savior said. Cursing came from the other end in Blacktrinian. "What's wrong?"

"I'll tell you what's wrong! Robin must have set it up so the second half of the guy helping us get a tree's fee was paid automatically after a time, because just when we were settling on one he made a phone call, and when he hung up he said it was a pleasure doing business but he preferred pleasure to business and then he just warped out and left us hanging!"

"What? Bastard." Savior growled.

"So now we're stuck in a snowy forest somewhere in…who knows!" Scalpel said, and then let off more Blacktrinian curses.

"Hang on Scalpel. Let me trace your communicator." Savior said, and did just that, matching it against a map of the states. "Ok, some good news. You're only a few hundred miles away…"

"ONLY?"

"Scalpel, relax. If I punch it, with just one passenger the T-Ship can probably make it there within 45 minutes, at most. I assume you want me to pick you up."

"Yes please!"

"You're not risking freezing to death?"

"No!"

"All right, hang on! I'll be there ASAP." Savior said, and signed off. He entered a few commands on the computer to activate the T-Ship and program the coordinates into it before he ran off. A few minutes later, the hanger opened up and Savior took off. He'd call Robin later.

The Tower was left completely empty.

As a strange energy began to course through the building…

"Well, on the plus side, Savior no longer has an excuse to brood in his room." Beast Boy said. "Chang caused the riot. Artificial causes result in nullification of most issues. Savior always was big on that."

"Considering the lengths he went to, I think he might actually accuse you of being a liar." Speedy said.

"No…even Savior's not that bad." Robin said, as all the Titans headed into the main room. "Well, good job Titans, all around. Looks like this is going to be a merry Christmas after all."

"Oh, you have NO idea."

The gruff, rumbling voice was unlike one Robin had ever heard before.

Then he saw who it belonged to, and he froze. Someone was in the Tower, standing by the gifts. And it definitely wasn't Savior.

Everyone stared in shock for a moment, before Starfire's eyes lit up to the point they nearly outdid her namesake.

"SANTA!" She squealed.

"Yes Virginia. There is a Santa Claus." 'Santa' replied.

Then he brained Starfire with a bowling ball.