The green beam that was pointing vertically to the sky suddenly seemed to lose its power and die down. The Titans made their way to the source rapidly, and Stardust was not surprised to see Eva in the darkness, holding something light-colored in her hand.

"Why, hello, Titans!" she exclaimed sarcastically. She held up a cloth bag. "Do you know what this is?"

"Well, Eva," Stardust said, "it looks like a bag."

Eva growled. "I mean what's in the bag!"

Talon sighed. "Let me guess. It's a load of money that you stole from a bank?"

"Correct. And I'm sure you want it back, don't you?"

Rorek glanced at Stardust, then gave Eva mockingly pitiful expression. "It is very nice of you to offer it to us, Eva, but, well... we're not that stupid."

Stardust almost laughed out loud. It wasn't every day she heard Rorek talk like that.

"All right then," Eva said. "Since you want to be smart about it, I'll just leave now." She turned to go, but a vice-like hand gripped her arm, and when she turned to see who had captured her, Angel's fist met her face unmercifully, and she went flying for a few yards.

"This isn't a time to mess around," Angel said. "Just hand that over, and you'll have no trouble."

Eva spit blood from her mouth and shoved her hair out of her face. "It's a little late for that. I've had trouble with you Titans for a long time."

Releasing a vicious battle cry, Angel slammed his sparking fist into the ground, opening a massive crack and blowing Eva even farther away. She yelled until she landed hard on the ground.

"And just for the record," Angel growled, "I'm not a Titan."

Eva glared at him, then her gaze fell behind him, and she smiled. "I want you to meet a good friend of mine." She waved her hand, and a girl in dark clothing seemed to appear out of nowhere. "Miss Metal."

The girl put a hand on her slender hip, a tiny, evil smile on her face. "I don't have anything against you; I just don't like you."

"What a good reason to attack us!" Talon exclaimed grouchily.

The girl's smile faded. "I haven't attacked you. Yet." With that, she sat the guitar case she was holding onto the pavement, and a sharp sword literally appeared in her hands. She stood still for only a second, then in one leap, she was coming down hard towards Talon, her sword extended and ready to kill. She connected hard, but only with a white shield that was protecting Talon. Miss Metal, standing on the shield, turned to Rorek furiously, but before she could move, he extended his hand and she went flying backwards.

Stardust seemed to be the only one that didn't forget about Eva, and she scanned the darkness quickly, laying eyes on the girl's light-green dress and firing up her starbolts. When she got a good aim she let them fly, and the painful moan told her that she had hit her mark. She flew over to where Eva was laying and put a hand on her hip.

"You think I would forget about you?" Stardust said.

"Of course not," Eva said. Usually she seemed inexperienced and quite clueless and weak, but suddenly she was no-nonsense. Huge vines exploded from the ground and came down savagely at Stardust, who blasted them with her starbolts, but as many as she hit they just seemed to keep coming back. The thick vines wrapped around her ankles, wrists, and waist. She grunted and struggled, but the vines slammed her hard into the ground, knocking the breath out of her. Before she could even get some air, Eva stood up and the vines went to work again, this time tightening their dangrous grip on Stardust, attempting to crush her even to death.

Stardust, knowing that her life was in danger, fought back with her strength as hard as she could. She broke two vines, but they were quickly replaced with four more. Now she was almost completely covered in the powerful plants, and she knew she had to do something. She fired up her starbolts again, but to a much larger extent than normal. The vines glowed purple briefly, then exploded to pieces. Stardust turned her eye beams onto Eva, hitting the red-headed girl square in the stomach and driving her somewhat into the ground.

Meanwhile, Rorek and Talon were fighting Miss Metal tooth and nail, but the girl was powerful with her sword and took Talon out of the battle quickly. Rorek did not feel as if he would be defeated by the girl, since he was very experienced in swords himself, but he didn't want to make his attacks on her too brutal. He knew that he could kill her instantly, though he just usually let on that his powers were weaker than they really were. In reality, he was practically unstoppable if he wanted to be.

When Miss Metal brought the sword down at Rorek again, he caught it with a hand on each side of the flat part of the blade and yanked it clear out of her hands. He grabbed the handle and went to make quick work of the girl. She may have been good with her sword, but Rorek was better. It was all that Miss Metal could do to keep from being sliced to pieces. Rorek saw the fear in her eyes, and his polite nature almost let him cease his attack on her, but he thought better of it and only came on stronger. The girl backflipped backwards out of the sword's reach, but she was only in safety for a brief moment. The more she backed up, the more Rorek came forward. She jumped away again, and this time her backflip landed her far enough away from him so that she could take a breath. She put her hand forward, and Rorek felt the sword in his hands shudder, then it went towards Miss Metal's outstretched hand as if a magnet were pulling it. The force became so powerful that Rorek had to let go, and the weapon shot into the girl's hand.

"Get your own weapon," she said harshly, then a flying kick on her part smashed Rorek face-first on to the pavement and sent him sliding.

Miss Metal looked around and saw that no one was attacking her at the moment, and she stabbed the point of the sword onto the ground and leaned on the brunt end of the handle, thinking herself victorious but wondering where Eva was. A purple and green explosion from the far side of a building gave her a quick answer, and just as she was thinking about going to help, her sword was kicked out from under her with such force that her whole body shook briefly. The weapon clattered to the ground yards away, and Miss Metal looked in fury to see who had done it.

Before she could even really tell, she was being punched with such speed and agility that she couldn't even move. The number of the blows kept her from falling to the ground, for every time she was going to, she was just punched again and thrown of gravitational course. Then a smashing kick into her stomach sent her through a wall and into the nearest building.

She shoved some heavy steel off of her and held her head painfully. Seeing movement outside, she jumped up and hid beside a door. Suddenly, the wall sparked with light purple electricity, and the whole thing was moved away from the rest of the building and landed on the ground with a tremendous crash.

Her attacker was the black-haired boy in the trenchcoat whom she thought was named Angel. Why, she didn't know, but she didn't have time to think. He jumped into the building beside her and punched her clear to the wall of the next building, and was on her again even before she had time to fall back down to earth. It was obvious that he could fly, though Miss Metal had never seen anyone do it except for Stardust, and he beat her savagely until she slammed into the ground.

Shaken, she was quite done with this fight, but the boy was obviously not. He tried hard to hit her with his powers, and he was a good aim, but Miss Metal back-handspringed out of the way desperately. Never had she seen someone who fought the way he did. His different moves seemed endless, and so did his determination to defeat her. She didn't know where her sword was, but she didn't have even a second to look for it. This boy Angel was coming on strong, and for a brief moment she found it attractive. He was a lot like her, wearing black leather under his long jacket, and both eyes were painted black up to his eyebrows, and if he stood still long enough, she would see that his fingernails were also black. But nevertheless, finding him attractive was pointless, since they were obviously on two different sides, and anything romantic between them would never work. Especially if he didn't like her. And he didn't talk and made comments about the battle when he fought, like most of the Titans did; he was just silent and got right down to business. She thought all of this in a brief second, then concentrated on being spared by his vicious power of electricity.

But she couldn't dodge forever, for his eye and his aim were keen, and his power eventually hit her hard. She couldn't describe the feeling of being shocked like this. She lost all feeling and tried to move, but realized that it was Angel who was now controlling her body. He smashed her back and forth, onto the pavement, into the side of a building, into another building, back onto the ground, and finally let her go in mid-air, where she continued to fly from the momentum of his throwing her around, but finally she made contact with the ground again, barely conscious.

Angel raised his hands, and a huge chunk of the broken asphalt, sparking with his electricity, came up from the ground and was on its way to smashing Miss Metal, but Rorek fired off a ball of his energy, hitting the huge rock squarely. Now it was glowing and sparking white and light purple, and the boys both had control of the giant slab of rock.

"That's enough," Rorek said sternly.

"Stay out of this," Angel said, moving his hands to the right in an attempt to break Rorek's mental hold on the rock.

Rorek tightened his fists, and the rock refused to move. "I said it was enough. Now let go."

Angel struggled to move the rock, but Rorek's hold would not break either. "Why don't you just back off!"

"No, you've done enough; you're not going kill her." Miss Metal had passed out on the ground under the rock, oblivious to the struggle of life and death above her.

"Angel!" someone yelled, and the rock suddenly blew to pieces. Rorek shielded his face from the debris, and when all was clear, saw that Stardust was hovering in the air with a starbolt charged up and her eyes glowing. And then he was relieved that she had blown up the rock.

"If you ever plan on being a part of this team," Stardust said coldly, "you're going to have to learn how to take an order. Next time you're told to do something, I strongly expect you to do it."

Angel immediately came back with an argument. "If you just get rid of your enemies, all the trouble will be over. Why not just get it over with while you have the chance?"

"I don't know where you're from," Stardust said slowly, "but we don't do things that way here. And if you plan on sticking around, you won't do that either."

Angel looked angry but confused too. It was obvious that wherever he was from or wherever he had been, he was used to killing his enemies at first chance. Stardust knew that he probably didn't have many enemies, since he was obviously powerful and very skilled, and if anyone had any sense, they would stay on this boy's good side.

"Where's Eva?" Rorek asked, looking at Stardust.

"I don't know, she left in a plume of smoke," she replied, but keeping her sharp eyes leveled at Angel, who looked away.

Talon walked up on the scene, holding her arm. "I'm sorry, I could have helped you, but I barely did anything at all!"

"It's okay," Stardust said. "You did the best you could."

Talon shook her head. "No, that was not the best I could do. I know you've been trying to train me, Stardust, but I just feel like a lost cause. I just get in the way."

"You're not a lost cause." Stardust massaged her forehead, then looked at all the damage than surrounded the wide area where the battle took place. "I guess we should clean this up. It might take awhile, though."

Angel outstretched his arm and raised his hand. Every broken piece of asphalt, rock, and metal quivered briefly, then rose off the ground and fused together, then went back exactly where they had come from, and it looked like nothing had even happened.

Talon raised an eyebrow. "Wow. You're really good. I'm impressed."

Angel shrugged, and Stardust narrowed her eyes. "Angel. Look, you would be a great addition to the team, but you need to prove that you're willing to take orders and commands. You have to listen to us. And me especially. I am the leader of this team."

Angel nodded. "I'll try. It's just that I'm used to doing things my own way."

"I know. But there's no 'I' in 'team'. Maybe you could just watch us for awhile, and see how we work together. You might get the hang of it then."

Talon laughed. "Well, he has no problem with the actual battle. You wiped the floor with Eva and that other girl. Uh, speaking of which, where is she?"

Rorek turned and pointed. Miss Metal was still laying on the ground, unconscious.

"Is she alive?" Stardust said, and flew over to the girl. She bent down and checked for a pulse, relieved that there was one. She picked her up effortlessly and looked at the others. "Let's take her to jail and get home. I'm exhausted. Angel, you can come with us, but it doesn't make you an official member of the team yet."

Angel nodded. "I understand."

"All you have to do is prove to us that you'll do things our way. All right?"

He saluted, and Talon giggled. "Can do, commander."

Stardust raised her eybrows. "Good."

Though there was no need for it, a fire roared in the firplace of the small apartment. Kory stirred a cup of hot tea and set it on the table in front of Nightwing. He had told her of his brief battle with Stardust and her British friend, and Kory was saddened by the story.

"I do not know why Stardust would attack you," she said.

Nightwing stared into the steaming mug and rested his chin on his hand. "I think she's still angry at me, Starfire."

"I know that you and I had our arguments, but I am afraid that Stardust blames the entire situation on you, though I do not know why. It was as much my fault as it was yours."

"We both had our faults, and I'd say we still do." He put his hands palms-down on the table and looked up at the beautiful woman in front of him. "She's powerful and strong, just as you were when you were her age. She controls her powers well, though I'd appreciate it more if she wasn't trying to use them on me."

A tiny but worried smile crept onto Kory's face. "I must talk with her."

Nightwing raised his hand. "No, you might as well not. I can tell that she has a hard head. She's determined to do what she wants when she sets her mind on it."

"Like you?" Kory suggested.

Nightwing was silent, but he knew Kory was right. Now that he looked back on his youth, he saw how hard-headed and stubborn he had been, though he had not seen it at the time. He used to tend to get obsessed with things, and he only hoped that Stardust had not inherited that trait of his. It had gotten him into a lot of trouble when he was young.

"What should I do? I have a hard job in Gotham, so I can't really stay around here so much."

The red-headed Tamaranian nodded. "I know. You do the thing you are best at- fighting crime by night. It is your occupation, and you cannot just quit; not with the way things are in that city. I know that it is very dangerous. It needs you. Our daughter and her friends take care of Jump City now, just as we did when we were teenagers. It is in safe hands, especially with Stardust leading the team."

"That's good." That was all he had to say.

"She is a lot like you, Ro- Nightwing."

Nightwing looked down. "It's been a long time since you've called me that."

"I am sorry, sometimes I cannot help it. It just slips out-"

"I know. I still call you Starfire, though I shouldn't..."

"No, you may call me what you wish."

He laughed slightly. "That's a relief."

Kory smiled and punched his arm lightly. "Yes- Robin."

Back at the tower, Stardust entered the code to open the door, and they all went inside, including Angel. He had proved to be a great fighter, but he was stubborn and had a hard time taking orders. But Stardust knew that if he really wanted to be on the team, he would get over that quickly.

"I'm so tired, and I barely did anything," Talon said, walking inside and stretching her arms.

"If anyone should be tired, it should be Angel," Rorek said. He and Angel traded withering looks, then turned away from each other.

Stardust sighed heavily. As if they didn't have enough problems, now the two boys in the house had a hard time getting along. She shoved her hair out of her face and sighed again. Her arms were hurting from the struggle with Eva's vines, but she knew she had better get used to that if she and her team were going to protect the entire city.

Thankfully, there was enough room in the elevator for all of them, and Stardust was glad when they reached the top story of the tower. They walked through the halls and when they entered the main room, which was dark, she sensed Rorek stiffen quickly, and it put her senses on alert, though she seen or heard nothing.

"What?" Angel said. "What's wrong with him?"

Stardust was about to answer, but out of the shadows came a voice that she did not know, but somehow it managed to send chills down her spine.

"Hello, Titans," the voice said calmly. "I was beginning to think I would never get to meet you."

Talon punched the light switch and the room was finally visible. A large man in a mask and body armor stood leaning against the far wall. "Don't you think we should get acquainted?"

Stardust drew in a deep breath and gasped. She couldn't belive her eyes.

"Slade!"