Disclaimer: I don't own the Titans and never well. I DO own the OCs here so no using without my permission, OK?

New Players on the Stage


Chapter Two: And They Fought On Into the Night

The Teen Titans had seen many things over their short time as a team. They had faced many dangerous villains who wanted nothing more than their total destruction. They had even had to deal with one of their own turning against them. Through all the trials and tribulations, they had learned to expect the unexpected. To be ready for whatever danger may come their way.

Unfortunately, since the defeat of Brother Blood there had been a lack of serious threats around. The HIVE students provided some excitement, and there was that incident with the new villain Thrash a week or so ago, there had simply been no one near the caliber of Slade and Blood. So without knowing, the Titans had slipped into a routine. One minor baddie would act up and they would stop him or her with little difficulty. And so it was that when this new group showed up, though a bit hesitant, they really thought nothing of it. That was, until their leader, the girl calling herself Strika, attacked Robin and then shouted at the others with her.

While the cry was obviously a signal to her own team, it also worked to wake the Titans up from their state of semi-shock. Once they acknowledged their leader was in trouble they race forward to help him. Unfortunately, they were stopped short by a wall of flame provided by Pyra. It dissipated shortly there after but it not only provided enough time for Strika to spin Robin around and further separate him from the rest of them, but also for Beta to charge forward and slam directly into Cyborg. Much to bigger man's surprise, the force of the tackle actually caused him to move backwards. Beta kept his pace, moving Cyborg back with inhuman strength until he finally slammed through the exterior wall of the Wayne Tech building.

Starfire was at a loss as to what to do. Two of her friends were in trouble and she didn't know which one to help. Both were more than capable of holding their own in battle, but this new enemy seemed to have caught them all off guard. She turned her head back and further between the two. While she knew that Cyborg could take more physical damage then any of them, he had been run through a fairly strong wall and might have suffered critical injuries. On the other hand, Robin had no special powers at all. He was a good fighter, perhaps the best of the group, but he was still only human. And he was closet to her. But could she really leave Cyborg at the mercy of their new foe over something so trivial? Though she knew if she tried to help him, he would simply say he could handle it on his own. But then Robin would also the say the same thing. Robin was their leader though and it was her duty to help him.

Yes. I will help Robin, she thought firmly.

Unfortunately, the moment she took a step towards him a fireball landed in front of her, nearly scorching her foot. She jumped back slightly then turned towards the direction it had come from to find Pyra standing a few feet away with a wicked grin on her face.

"Come and get me!" she dared before she launched herself into the air.

Acting more on instinct than anything else, Starfire followed her opponent, her eyes glowing with emerald fire. For a moment she thought of going back to help Robin, but decided against it. She realized the best way to help her friends now was to reduce to the number of potential threats. Besides, she had just been challenged and she would not let that go unanswered.

This left Raven and Beast Boy as the only Titans not currently in a fight. Before Beast Boy could ask what their plan was, Raven flew up to the roof of the building that has been pointed out to them. She remembered that Strika girl had mentioned another of their team was still on the roof guarding a piece of equipment. Sure enough when she landed she spotted a girl standing in front of a large looking piece of machinery. She was dressed in dark, navy blue leather outfit that consisted of a vest like top with black straps and golden buckles across the middle to keep it closed. Her mid-drift was bare and showed of her finely toned stomach and abs then the costume continued with the same color pants and boots that came up to her mid-thigh and were topped of with straps as well. Her shoulders were bare but the rest of her arms were covered with full-length gloves matching the rest of her outfit and again topped with black straps. Her ebony locks were tied into a high ponytail that stopped at about the base of her neck with two bangs framing her face. She had a mocha colored skin with eyes to match. Eyes that were currently focused sorely on Raven. The young sorceress prepared herself for whatever attack might come as she spoke up.

"I don't suppose you'd just like me take that without a fight, would you?" she tried though she already knew the answer.

"No," the other simply replied.

To emphasis her point, she held out a hand towards a few steel pipes sitting idly on the roof. A second later they were levitated into the air and launched at Raven. Already on guard, the dark Titan erected her black aura around to her act as a shield for pipes to easily, if not loudly, deflect off of. In retaliation, she engulfed a nearby crate in her aura and threw it towards the other girl. She watched with interest as it stopped a few inches from the girl's body and splintered into pieces at if it had a hit a wall, leaving the girl unscratched. For a second, Raven thought she had seen the glimmer of a force field around her as the crate hit.

"A telekinetic," she surmised in her usual monotone.

"Yep," Tekka replied.

"So I guess this is going to be a battle of wills then."

"Yep. Care to find out whose is stronger?"

Despite herself, a smirk passed by Raven's lips.

"Gladly."

As the two telekinetic began their battle on the roof, Beast Boy stared at the only member of the so-called Terror Sect that was not currently engaged in a fight with his own teammates. If he remembered correctly that Strika girl had called this one Mercurial. He didn't really seem all that tough. Actually, he appeared more scared than anything. Feeling a slight sense of déjà vu for some reason, Beast Boy cautiously walked towards the other boy, hoping to avoid a fight if he could.

"Stay back!" Mercurial shouted, cowering down a bit more at the sight of other shape shifter's approach.

"Easy dude, I don't wanna to have hurt ya," Beast Boy said in a gentle voice.

"D-don't want to fight."

"Cool. Me neither. So if you could just tell your friends to stop attacking mine, maybe we could work something out."

"Don't want, don't want to fight. But…but I have to!"

"Why?"

"Part of the plan. Have to fight. Have to win."

"Look, dude just-" the green Titan tried again, taking another step closer.

"I say STAY BACK!"

With that, Mercurial lunged forward in a manic burst of energy. His hand grew twice its normal sized and larger claws sprouted from the tips of his gloves. Beast Boy had noticed this change just in time to jump away from the attack so all that was cut was his costume. He looked down at the cuts in disbelief then back up at Mercurial. Any snappy quip he would have made was lost when he saw the change in the metamoroph's eyes and position. He was now crouched down into an attack pose and his eyes gave off a little of pure anger and fury with only a hint of the sadness remaining in them. Though still confused, Beast Boy knew what he had to do next.

"Alright dude, I didn't want to do this but…"

Beast Boy left the sentence unfinished as he morphed into a panther then charged his opponent. Much to his surprise, however, Mercurial didn't move an inch. Instead, he morphed himself, turning into a gigantic man in a black tank top and pants with a black and white mask, red eyes and a device attached to his right arm with a tube leading toward the back of his head. He effortlessly picked up the green panther and tossed it aside as if it were nothing. Using the panther's natural agility, Beast Boy flipped in mid-air and landed harmlessly on his four feet. He then morphed into a rhinoceros and again charged his now larger foe. As with before, Mercurial stood his ground, however, this time the task as much more difficult. He grabbed the rhino's horn and tried to push it back, but he overestimated his new forms abilities. The two shape shifters were soon locked in a struggle for dominance, with neither one willing to give ground.

Robin groaned as he blocked another blow from his opponent. He had used the momentum created when she swung him around to break free of her hold and soon found himself in a hard fought battle. Whoever this Strika girl was she was extremely talented in hand-to-hand combat and he been able to block almost every move he sent her way. That was not to say the he was no slouch either. Years of training under the famous, or infamous, Batman had taught him a variety of techniques that, when combined with his natural athleticism, made him a force to be reckoned with.

So as is usually the case when two highly skilled marital artists fight, they two quickly found themselves in a standstill. For each move that was used, the other had a counter for it. For each punch that was landed, two more missed. He furrowed his brow in frustration as he tried to think of a way to overcome her defenses. He could only think of one method, but for some odd reason he felt reluctant to use it this time. His own rather infamous competitive side wanted to try to beat her on just skill alone, but the logical part of his mind told him that he had to end the fight as quickly as he could to help his friends. With that in mind, he reached for a compartment on the back of his utility belt and pulled out his trusty bo staff. He extended it to full length then took a battle stance as he prepared to renew his attack. Much to his surprise, thought, Strika only seemed mildly amused at the sight of his weapon.

"Cut me off a switch son," she remarked, reaching a compartment on her own belt. "There's gonna be a whoopin'."

When her hand came forward, it held a small metal cylinder, which quickly extended into a staff nearly identical to Robin's. Seeing she had caught him off guard, she used the momentary distraction to lunge the staff forward in an attempt to jam the tip into his ribs. He regained his senses quickly enough to make a swipe with his own staff that succeeded in knocking hers off course. In the blink of an eye Strika repositioned her hands on the weapon and used the momentum to swing it upwards in an arch with the intention of striking Robin on the head. He stayed one-step ahead of her, however, and ducked the attack then lashed out with his own staff and succeeded in hitting her shins and knocking her off balance.

Her instincts taking over, Strika used the fall to her advantage. In one swift motion she threw her hand out to land palm first, push herself off the ground then perform a mid-air flip so that she landed in a perfect crouch while again facing Robin.

"Wow, you are good," she complimented.

"I studied with the best," Robin remarked with an unconscious smirk.

"I know," she replied before she used her staff to pole-vault to launch herself forward.

She flew through the air with her left leg outstretched in a flying kick position. Robin easily sidestepped the attack and swung his staff in an attempt to hit her mid-back as soon as she landed, but she blocked it by throwing her staff over her shoulder. She pulled down on the end she still had a hold of and pushed both weapons above the combatants' heads then suddenly dropped down into a crouch and gave Robin a hard jabbed in the ribs with the staff tip. She followed it up with an uppercut that sent the Boy Wonder crashing to the ground. She repositioned the weapon in the hands and brought it down hard to impale it through one of Robin's eyes. He rolled away from the attack then launched himself feet first towards her. She avoided the blow by bending over backwards so that he harmlessly flew just inches above her. After he landed both combatants quickly spun around and their bo staffs met with a loud "clang". The two struggled against one another for a moment until Strika suddenly titled her staff down. The unexpected maneuver caused Robin to lose his balance and fall forward. Strika quickly took advantage by running her staff forward again and jabbing him in the ribs. She followed it up by swing the staff upwards and smacking Robin in the face. He let out a groan of pain as he stumbled backwards. He stared at his opponent in a daze while he held onto his throbbing forehead. This girl was good, but he wasn't about to let himself be beat by her. He had to stop her and her team from hurting any of his teammates or any innocent people. So, no matter how much his injuries might have hurt he had to fight on.

When Cyborg recovered from the hit, the first thing he noticed was that he was now inside the Wayne Tech building. The second thing he noticed was all the security guards standing around him. He refused their offer to help them up and instead told them to leave the area immediately. When they began to protest, Cyborg bolted to his feet and glared them down. Before he could explain the situation, Beta zipped into the build and landed a hit square in the half machine's jaw. Again the force was enough to send him sailing across the large lobby to land directly on the front desk, smashing it in half. With that done, Beta then looked at the guards still standing around him.

"Alright, how's next?" he asked while he held up his fist.

The guards glanced nervously at each other for a moment.

"Man they don't pay me enough for this," one of them spoke up.

The other nodded in agreement then took off in different directions, intent on getting as far away from this madness as possible. Beta smirked as he watched them run. He would have liked nothing more than to take them all down one-by-one and listen to their pathetic pleas for mercy. But he had a job to do. Not that that wasn't going to be fun in itself. He would more than happy to show this obsolete pile of flesh and scrap who was in charge.

With his mind refocused on his goal, the super strong teen walked forward towards the prone Cyborg. He was intent on ending this fight quickly and then going out to see if there was anything he could do to help his own teammates. And if now, perhaps he would track down those guards. Unfortunately, his plans were cut short when he noticed that Cyborg had not only recovered but also launched a rather large piece of the desk at him. Without losing his stride he held up his left arm and hit the desk with his fist just before it hit him. The force further smashed the desk and Beta smiled as he spotted the Titan's surprised expression through the shower of splintered wood raining down upon him. He stopped his march to take in the moment.

"Well you're definitely the strong one of the group," Cyborg mused.

"Yeah. Just now catching onto that? I thought you're supposed to be the smart one," Beta scoffed.

"Actually I'm the tech guy. And technically, I'm about to whoop your butt!" the Titan shouted as he transformed his right arm into its sonic cannon mode and fired.

His opponent, however, nimbly jumped over the blast of blue and white energy and did a perfect 360 flip in mid-air so that he went into a drop kick position. Caught off guard by this action, Cyborg had no time to defend himself and caught Beta's boot squarely in his chest plate. The sound of crunching metal was heard a split second before Cyborg took another tumble towards the floor.

"Man, this is getting old," he muttered.

"It is, isn't it? Then maybe I should help speed things along," Beta remarked as he pulled down the right sleeve of his jacket.

Cyborg sent him a confused look at the gesture. His look quickly changed to one of intrigue when he noticed a set of lines on the other boy's forearm that made a perfect rectangle that started just below his wrist and ended just above his elbow. Beta sent him a vicious smirk in return before he lowered his arm by pointing it at the weakened teen. A second later the marked area rose an inch and slid forward to reveal a laser cannon housed in his arm. The transformation was completely by a small barrel sliding out and before Cyborg could react a beam of red energy raced towards him. The blow sent him knocked back so that he was right underneath a giant chandelier hanging high above the lobby. The next blast fired, cut cleanly through the chain holding the great lighting fixture. It fell to the floor with a great crash and Cyborg had just barely managed to roll out of its path. He glared at his opponent from the pillar he was currently behind.

"So are you like me?" he ventured.

"Ha! Don't insult me! The look is purely to blend in with your flesh bags! Underneath this shell I'm pure metal," Beta retorted.

"An android then. And one with a serious attitude."

"I can't help it if I'm just better than you and your half organic system. That's what slows you down. Keeps you weak."

"Now you just sound like Atlas."

"Again, don't insult me. I'm ten times better than that outdated, walking scrap heap."

"But you're just as easy to fool!" Cyborg shouted as he jumped out from behind the pillar and fired another blast from his sonic cannon.

Unfortunately, Beta jumped over the blast and several feet into the air. He rained down hellfire on the surprised Titan from his laser cannon, destroying the pillar and much of the tile floor around the half machine. He continued to fire even as he began to fall and pulled his left fist back in a striking position. He stopped firing just before he hit the ground and lashed out with the fist the second he did. He missed, however, when Cyborg back stepped the attack so that the floor took the brunt of the powerful blow. The tile cracked under the force of Beta's fist. Shrapnel and dust surrounded the artificial teenager while he recovered from his botched attack. He didn't have too long, though, as soon he found the end of Cyborg's sonic cannon right near his face. He gave it a sideways glance the in one quick motion, stood up from the mini-crater, pushed the cannon away then delivered a devastating punch to the Titan's already damaged chest. At the moment his fist connected, he also fired a shot from his own cannon, which only served to increase the power of the attack.

Cyborg couldn't help but let out a scream as he crashed through another wall of the Wayne Tech building and found himself outside once more. He crashed down hard into the ground and left a trail in the pavement as he skidded to a halt. He let out a soft groan as he staggered to his feet. While it was true he felt no real pain from the attacks, he did have sensors and circuits that could imitate the sensation and at the moment they were doing a fine job of it. Fortunately, he was able to push it aside much easier then normal humans. He took a step out of the small trench, but didn't get farther than that before something implanted itself in his damage chest plate. He looked down to find a thin wire sticking out of the point of impact. He traced it back to Beta who stood there with his left arm held straight out and the rest of the wire disappearing into his jacket's sleeve. Before Cyborg could say or do anything surge of electricity went through him. At this point there was no turning off the pain. His body twisted and contorted as the electricity raced through his body, overloading his circuits and frying the few muscles and tendons he had left. He let out the first pure scream of agony he had in a long time as the warning messages flashed in front of his optic sensor.

WARING! WARING! Systems overloading! Emergency shutdown initiated!

Those were the last words Cyborg heard, and saw, before his systems completely shut down. He fell face first onto the ground in an undignified heap. Beta let out a small chuckle as he retracted his wire back into the small slot in his wrist from wince it came.

"Booyah, bitch," he remarked to his fallen foe.

While battles continued to rage down below, on the rooftop adjacent from the Wayne Tech building, the two telekinetics were still absorbed in their own fight. It started simply as a battle to test the other's skills by tossing around the junk that littered the rooftop, which in itself seemed a little too convenient to Raven, but quickly turned into a battle of wills. The longer it went on, the more Raven couldn't help but feel there was more to the choice of this particular building than just closeness to their target. The objects scattered around the rooftop made perfect weapons a seasoned telekinetic, which this girl most obviously was as evidenced by her calm stance. Despite herself, this put Raven on edge. If this girl could do all that when she was relaxed, then what could she do if she was really trying? Raven wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know that answer.

Unfortunately, part of that answer came speeding towards her in the form of a large crate. She lashed out at it with a whip of translucent black energy that cut it clean in half and caused them to fall harmlessly on either side of her. A barrage of flowerpots, however, immediately followed that attack, from the small garden sitting in a corner of the roof. She quickly threw up another shield to protect herself and was surprised to note that she actually took a step backwards. This was the other problem in letting the fight drag. It seemed the longer it went on, the weaker she was getting. She hadn't wanted to admit it at first, but now there was no denying it. She had been on the defensive almost since the fight started and was quickly losing ground. She needed to end this fight soon, and the best way she could think of was to strengthen her powers with her usual chant. Unfortunately, that meant dropping her shield to gather her energy but it seemed her opponent didn't want to give her that luxury. To buy her that time, Raven lashed out with her powers, bathing part of the rooftop in her black aura. The darkness slid forward under Tekka's feet then ripped the concrete out from under her, causing her to fall backwards. Raven quickly dropped her shield and began her chant.

"Azerath…Metrion…Zin-hmph!" she was cut off when a rag fell into her open mouth and tied itself around the back of her head.

She fell to her knees amidst muffed gags as her hands pulled back her hood and reached frantically for the knot. After a bit of stumbling, she was finally able to untie it and threw the damp rag down, coughing and spitting loudly to try get the awful taste out of her mouth.

"Don't even want to think about where that's been," she muttered

She was brought back into the fight when she heard a scream above her and looked up to see Tekka diving down towards her. She jumped to her feet and erected a shield right before the dark haired girl would have landed on her. To Raven's surprise; however, Tekka was not repelled by the shield but instead landed on top of it safely. She then drew her right fist back and began to pound on it mercilessly. Again, Raven was surprised, this time at just how painful the blows seemed to be to her, or at least her mind. Although she had developed, a strong mental barrier from the various battles the Titans had been in over their short years as a team, it still took a decent amount of effort on her part to keep up her shields as they were directly linked to her mind. It was a strain that had gotten easier with time, but the punches the other girl was throwing seemed stronger than they should have been, more focused. It was like something in her attacks was disrupting the very force of her shield.

That something was a small force field that encased Tekka's fist. It was a technique she had learned sometime ago as a way of breaking through other telekinetics' defenses. While she didn't like using it in such a burnt manner, she knew it was the only way past Raven's shield at the moment. Despite the gothic girl's focus and determination, Tekka knew from personal experience that it was a strain to keep a shield up for an extended amount of time, especially if an attack focused on a specific part of the barrier. Of course adding another psychic shield into the mix only made things worse, which was exactly what Tekka was counting on. She knew eventually the strain would be too much and Raven's shield would crack. It didn't have to be much; just a tiny one was all she needed really.

There it was. She could see it in her mind's eye, a very small crack forming within the black translucent shield. After another series of powerful blows, it grew large enough for her to move onto the next phase of her plan. She continued her hitting to keep Raven's mind occupied while the main portion of her mind focused on creating a small physic blast. If one where able to see it, then they would see something no bigger than a needle shoot out from Tekka's forehead, through the crack in the shield, pass through Raven's chakram and pierce her mind.

Raven let out an ear-splitting scream at the pain. It felt like someone had taken a searing hot poker and stabbed her directly in the pain receptors of her brain. She tried to keep her focus to keep her shield up, but the pain was just too much. With one final scream, the barrier fell and a new sensation of pain quickly filled Raven's world. This one coming from Tekka's fist as it connected with her jaw. There was a surprising amount of strength behind it, so much in fact, that it sent her flying off the roof. As she sailed over the edge, her hand lashed out and grabbed the ledge just in time. Unfortunately, the forceful stopped caused her to swing backwards and slam hard into the stone building. She groaned as the pain from her head, cheek and now side threatened to overcome her.

Pull it together Raven, she told herself mentally. You've dealt with a lot worse than this. Overcome your pain and fight back. If you can't fight her with your powers then you'll have to do it the old fashion way.

She let out a calming breath and took a moment to let her powers heal herself. Once she cleared of her pain and anxiety, she could plan her counteract. While she didn't particularly care for hand-to-hand combat, it did seem the only way she would gain an advantage in this fight. As much as she was loath to admit it, it seemed this Tekka girl was a stronger telekinetic than she was. Although the question as to just HOW exactly that was possible was something, she planned to pursue later. For the moment, she concentrated on sensing her opponent's movements. She could hear Tekka's footsteps approaching the ledge.

Just a few more and…NOW!

With that mental cry, Raven shot herself upwards with her free arm up and hand balled into a fist. It connected neatly with the Tekka's chin in the form of a mean uppercut. The blue leather clag girl crashed down onto the floor of the roof hard while Raven landed calmly in front of her. Tekka growled when she opened her eyes to see the gothic girl standing over her and in a flash spun around onto her stomach then spun around again to deliver a sweep kick that knocked the other girl down as well. She then lashed out with her powers by tying a chain attached to a large weight around Raven's legs then sent it sailing over the edge. Reacting on instinct, Raven lashed out with a black tendril that ensnared Tekka's left leg and dragged her down with the sorceress. Both girls screamed as the plummeted into the darkened ally below and even with their used of shields, the impact was still a devastating one.

Silence filled the alleyway for several seconds before Raven let out a soft groan as she slowly pulled herself up into a sitting position. Thankfully, nothing save the pavement seemed broken. She used her powers to snap the chain around her legs and was about to check to see if Tekka had survived as well when the girl made herself known. She looked as banged up and worn out as Raven herself, but unlike her, Tekka still looked ready to fight. The grey skinned Titan let out a small curse under her breath and tried to stand to fight but before she could, her opponent raised her arms and slammed her hands together. The significance of this motion came to Raven in the form of two full, metal trashcans slammed into her either side of her head at once. When the fell to the ground, she let out a small whimper before she followed suit.

"About time," Tekka muttered as she stumbled to her feet.

She began to stagger out of the alleyway, clutching her left arm as she did so. While it didn't seem like she had broken anything, there was still the possibility that she had sprained it. Regardless, it still hurt and she wanted to make the witch pay. Though she couldn't kill her, she could still humiliate her. So, just as she passed over the unconscious Raven, she mentally lifted up a nearby dumpster and then proceeded to empty the contents onto her prone form. She set the object down quietly then went to see if she could provide assistance to her team, leaving Raven alone and covered in garbage.

Beast Boy always hated to admit it, especially with how frequently it happened to him, but he was in trouble. In truth, he had never really fought against that many other shape shifters. The only two that came close that he could remember were Adonis and Plasmus. Even then, Adonis had only turned into a werebeast that he had been able to defeat once he came to his senses and Plasmus…well Plasmus was more of a goo monster that just shot out more goo and sometimes changed shape, so maybe he didn't really count after all. Still the fact remained that he was unfamiliar with fighting against someone with the same powers. He was use to catching his opponents off guard with his morphing, but for every form he took it, seemed Mercurial had one that could effectively counter it.

Even worse, he could control his body much more than just changing into other people. He could morph part of his body into mallets and knives or any other number of blunt or sharp objects that could do serious harm to Beast Boy's person. Now, he seemed to be combining the two powers. He had taken the form of a man in a black leather body suit with a few yellow outlined strips on it, not to mention some of the weirdest hair Beast Boy had ever seen. The most alarming features, however, were the twin sets of three metal claws springing from in between his fingers. Beast Boy had taken on the shape of spider monkey earlier in the fight and was now bouncing around to avoid being slashed to ribbons by the sharp claws.

Beast Boy did his best when he saw Mercurial's claws; he transformed and got out of the way. Sometimes it really sucked being able to only transform into animals. With each dodge of the claws, he would try a different animal, a bird, a cat, a mountain lion, the monstrous beast he had once turned into, anything he could think of to gain an advantage, but nothing seemed to work. The green boy was desperate as he found himself backed against a stonewall; if he didn't act fast he was going to be shiskabobbed. Waiting until the last second, he transformed himself into a small dog and jumped into the air to avoid what would have been a killing blow.

As he fell to the ground, he noticed that the other boy was trapped. Grinning, Beast Boy transformed into a Kangaroo, balanced on his tail and kicked Mercurial as hard as he could, sending him flying a good ten feet away from him. Now with some distance between them and time to think, Beast Boy took the opportunity to change into a rather large bull. He stomped his hoof and let out a snort before he charged the other boy's prone form.

His charge was soon slowed though when, right before his eyes, the form of the clawed man shrank into that of a young girl around Beast Boy's age. In truth it had been almost a year since the changeling had last her but he would had recognized her anywhere. The long, blond hair, the trademark black shirt with the in-circled yellow "T" on it, the yellow shorts, her boots, gloves all of the costume was the same. Most importantly, though he could see her large, deep blue eyes staring at him, filled with the same sense of worry and confusing they had been since the last time he saw her.

"Beast Boy, don't!" she pleaded.

His charge declined even faster to just a steady walk and then into a slow careful pace until he stopped just in front of her, having already unconsciously morphed back into his human form. He stared at her in disbelief. In the back of his mind, he knew that this version of his friend was a fake, that the real girl he knew was still underneath the city trapped within the form of a statue, but at the moment, he was ready to believe it was actually her come back to him.

"Terra?" he asked cautiously.

The answer destroyed all of his hopes in one foul instant. Immediately, the girl bolted to her feet and her form changed once again. This time it was of a man in a bright blue body suit with a cape bellowing behind him, a mask that looked like it was painted on and very bright yellow hair that was outrageously spiked. Like the clawed man, this new form carried one distinct feature with it, that being his right hand was about five times the size of a normal hand. It was that very hand that struck out and struck Beast Boy across the face, sending him flying backwards and knocking him out instantly. His unconscious body skidded a couple of times over the pavement before it finally landed with him face down.

His mission accomplished, Mercurial reverted to his true form and stared at the green boy's form. Although he was still ready for more, he sincerely hoped that the fight was over.

"Just, please stay down," he advised the unconscious body. When there was no movement, he nodded somewhat unsteadily. "There. Th-that's good."

High above the remaining fight on the street, another one in the air continued to heat up, literally. Pyra had sent many fireballs Starfire's way, causing the Tamaranian to either avoid or counter them with her starbolts. When the opportunity had presented itself, she returned the favor but it seemed the fire wielder was just as competent at flight as herself, as Pyra had been able to avoid all the blasts that had been sent her way. Adding to Starfire's troubles was the fact that while she try to maneuver her attacks so they wouldn't cause any damage to buildings or any unlucky civilians, the other red head had no such reservations. In fact, many of her attacks her blatantly aimed to hit the buildings should they missed their target, which in many cases caused Starfire to not only have avoid them but also try to extinguish them before they could hurt anything or anyone.

Unfortunately, this put Starfire as a great disadvantage, one that Pyra was more than happy to exploit. With a wicked grin plastered on her face, she created a subtle trail with her fireballs that slowly moved Starfire right where she wanted her.

"Come on! Is that all you've got!" she mocked.

"I shall show you I've 'got'," Starfire replied as she charged up a pair of starbolts.

Unfortunately, she didn't get the chance to use them as Pyra sent a large flame wall at her that completely engulfed the alien princess and sent her crashing through a large window in the office building behind her. After the flames receded, she rolled across the carpeted floor in a maneuver Robin had shown her to extinguish fire. When she was certain any parts of her clothes that might have been on fire were out, she stood up and took stock of herself. For the most part, she remained unharmed thanks to her tough Tamaranian skin. Being from a warrior race had naturally made her body resilient to most minor injuries and a fair amount of large ones. Added to that, the fact her people could survive the harshness of space unprotected resulted in the fire actually causing very little damage to her. She had a few burn marks on her but those would heal soon enough and surprisingly her clothes only seemed slightly singed, as was her hair by the smell filling her nose. She growled a bit and her eyes glowed a dangerous green. It was not because of the damage to her clothes or hair, she had never been as vain about her appearance as her sister, but due more to the fact that the blow was meant to seriously injure her and her warrior's pride would NOT let that go unpunished.

Her eyes narrowed slightly when she spotted her opponent again and within the blink of an eye she was shot out of the building through the window she had just shattered and slammed into Pyra with all the subtly of a locomotive. The force sent to the two red headed warriors crashing into the side of the opposite building, though Pyra took the brunt of the impact. She had almost no time to recover as Starfire immediately began to pound her with a barrage of punches.

After several minutes or second, she wasn't sure which one, Pyra was finally able to lift up her left hand to catch Starfire's fist before it could collide with her body again. Finally having an advantage, she smile again then began to increase the heat around the fist she holding. As she did, she covered her other fist in flame and began to return the favor by hitting the other girl repeatedly in the stomach and face all while she continued to increase the heat in her other hand. Slowly, but surely it continued to increase until it was finally enough to effect Starfire's touch skin. The alien girl grit her teeth to keep from screaming out, as she would not let her attacker have that satisfaction. Not that it mattered to Pyra that much anyway, as after the novelty of beating up on her wore down, she pushed herself away from the building, the grabbed Starfire's wrist as well and spun her around to launch her towards the ground.

Still in a daze and too much pain to recover, Starfire hit the sidewalk like a rock. She groaned forced her eyes open just in time to see Pyra rocketing towards her, both fists covered in flames and a malicious gleam in her eye. Thinking quickly, she fired off a pair of eye blasts that hit Pyra directly in the chest and sent her into a wide arch before she crashed to the ground as well.

"Damn, I forgot about those," she muttered as she clutched the wound.

Like herself, Starfire was quick to press the attack and tried to take her down with a dive bomb drop kick. Pyra, however, recovered quickly enough to not only stand but also catch the outstretched foot. She grabbed it firmly with both hands and again began to increased the heat around them, this time to a much hotter degree and much faster. As with before, it had taken awhile for Starfire to actually feel the pain, but when it did hit her it was doubled, as it was not just the heat from Pyra's hands attacking her foot but also the melted rubber of her boots searing her skin. Despite her best efforts, she couldn't help but let out a cry of pain this time, which the fire wielder took great pleasure in hearing. Once her fun was done, Pyra slammed the alien girl onto the pavement again, this time with enough force to crack it and create an inch deep hole. Not wanting to take chances, she hovered above her fallen opponent and delivered a brutal haymaker to Starfire's forehead and knocking the girl out cold.

More than just letting her vent her pain, Starfire's scream also served to be a distraction to the last remaining Titan. When Robin had heard the cry, he automatically turned his head towards the source, just in time to see Starfire get laid out by Pyra's last punch.

"Starfire!" he cried out in concern.

Unfortunately, this action caused him to lose track of his own battle, only to be brought back to it when he heard the sound of metal sliding against metal. He glanced back at Strika to find a slightly curved blade now sticking out of the top of her bo staff. He jumped back just as she took a swipe at him and though he had been able to miss a fatal blow, she had still managed to slice open his shirt and cut into his skin. He held the wound as a thin line of blood trickled down his chest then looked up at Strika, who seemed to take as much enjoyment in hurting others as her teammates did. Before he could renew his attack, she reached into her utility belt and produced three small blades, each one sticking out from between her fingers. Although she had tossed them in rapid succession, Robin was easily able to avoid them and they stuck harmlessly in the pavement behind him.

"You missed," he said with a smirk, despite himself.

"Guess again," Strika said, nodding her head towards the blades.

Hesitantly, the Boy Wonder did as she said and saw red, blinking lights handles of all three blades. His eyes widened in shock as to the implications of this; they were not just blades, they were bombs as well. Before he could even think to move the three mini-explosives when off with enough force to throw him forward, right towards Strika's waiting blade. He had to let his body go limp when the explosion hit him so as to minimize the damage to his person. Unfortunately, that meant he had no time to recover and avoid being impaled. He could do nothing but prepare himself for the sensation of the blade cutting through his skin and ravage his internal organs, most likely his heart. Then…then it would be all over. He would have failed everyone.

To his great surprise, however, Strika retracted the blade at the last second and simply jammed the now blunt end of the staff into his chest, opening his earlier wound slightly and cracking at least one of his ribs. She then used his momentum to swing him over her head and down into the hard, unforgiving street. He let out a grunt of pain at the feeling of his back coming into contact with the rough road. The last thing he remembered seeing through his blurred vision was Strika standing triumphantly over him for a second before she bent down to whisper into his ear.

"Another time," she breathed hotly towards him.

That was the last thing Robin the Boy Wonder remembered before the darkness over took him.

To Be Continued…

Author's Notes: Well that was an exciting chapter, wasn't it? Not to toot my own horn, but I do think some of the fight scenes came out rather well and I personally would love to see them animated, but then again wouldn't all us fanfic authors love to see that? Still, some of them had a real good quality to them that only improved when I was forced to rewrite them. Such as the Cyborg/Beta fight which in the version I actually explained what happened to the guards. Kinda forgot about them in the earlier draft, heh. Though I do think I lost a little bit of the flow in the early part of the Strika/Robin fight, but that would just be me being hard on myself. Oh well. Look for some questions to be answered in the next chapter as well as more to be raised.

Oh and if anyone wants more information on the "Thrash incident" then check out my previous Titans fic "Songbird". It's not crucial, but it couldn't hurt, right?

Review Responses:

Rurouni Tyriel: That's just what I WANTED you to think! Glad someone went along that line of thought. Actually I had originally toyed with the idea of them being appearing more heroic go a little longer, but that would have ruined the element of surprise they had. That was the point of this first encounter, to catch the Titans off guard. Which as you can see they clearly did. As for who they may be working for…well that would just giving things away now, wouldn't it?

Knotz: Well I'm glad you liked it. Hopefully you'll find this chapter just as enjoyable. Hopefully you'll FIND this chapter. The bury factor on this site is horrible. OH and I'll see about checking out your fic when I can but I make no promises as I can be extremely absentminded at time.

GDeacur: Well I'm glad I could rock your world. As I told Kntoz I hope you enjoyed this chapter too as well as those coming up.

Sleeping Bag: Thanks for the review! Wasn't sure when you'd get to it or not. Minor spelling errors are always a pain, even for my beta reader. Oh well, least it's not too bad, right? And I can see your point about the descriptions, as they did give me problems in writing the chapter as well. It's like you said though, I'm thinking a visual manner and I wanted to do it in a pan around kind way that just doesn't translate well into writing. Course one of the flaws in my writing has always been my big description dumps. Just one of the things I need to work on to improve my writing. Still I do think my descript of Pyra was one of the best I've ever done. It just fit the character so well. And I think the text box has gotten smaller.