The sun rose early the next morning, casting a pink and orange glow across the clouds and reflecting off the waters as well as the many windows of the Tower. Angel's thick-soled boots hit the floor hard with every step he took down the hall, and Miss Metal's thin heels clicked on the un-carpeted part of the tile. She held onto his arm tight until they reached Stardust's bedroom door, which he knocked on loudly.

"Stardust," he said, knocking again impatiently. "Get up, we gotta talk to you."

The door slid open and Stardust leaned sleepily on the wall, wearing a tank top and short cotton shorts. "Come on, Angel, I'm barely even awake. What is it?"

"We need you awake, and the rest of the team. Get them all up and meet us in the living room."

Stardust shrugged and grumbled as she closed the door about how this better be worth getting up at the crack of dawn. But about half an hour later, the whole team was seated on the couch as Angel and Miss Metal stood in front of the huge window in front of them. Talon yawned deeply and curled up on the couch, near sleep.

"All right," Angel said, "me and Faith- uh, Miss Metal-"

"It's okay," Stardust said. "I already knew her name."

Angel didn't bother to ask how, and he went on with what he had to say. "I don't find it as any surprise that Slade is the one controlling her. Sure, she could just melt his armor while he was wearing it, but he's got something hanging over her head that she doesn't want to risk. He says that if she doesn't obey his every command and suggestion, he's got the Titans on his hit list. He says he'll kill us."

Rusty scoffed. "He can't just waltz in and kill us. Does he even know who we are? We're the Teen Titans; we don't just get murdered without a fight."

Stardust spoke up. "You guys have to try to understand Slade. I know he's an old guy, but he's a dangerous powerhouse that we shouldn't underestimate. He can do more than you think he can. My parents had a lot of experience with him when they were younger, and he's had various chances to kill a few members of the recent team, but for some reason he held back. You just never know what he's gonna do."

"I don't care what he's gonna do," Angel said, clenching a fist. "We can take him down. If we try hard enough, we can take him."

"Angel," Stardust said softly, "you want to act without using your head. That can be a big mistake. So let's just think this over, okay?"

"I've thought about it all night," he said sternly. "I'm not going to leave Miss Metal just sitting in his grasp. We have to do something."

Talon shook herself awake and raised her hand. "I agree with Angel. Slade has been running around being a super villain for years. Shouldn't we at least try to take him out?"

"Even just trying could be really dangerous," Stardust said. "Like I said, Slade's stronger than you think. Trust me on that."

Angel sighed and put a hand to his forehead, then ran his fingers through his bangs. "Let me put it this way. With or without you, I'm going to at least try to take him out. But we all know that I need your help. That's all I'm asking."

Stardust looked at Rorek, who only raised an eyebrow. She closed her eyes briefly, then turned back to Angel. "All right, we're gonna help you. And since this is your plan and your mission, I'm temporarily putting you in charge of the team. Give us the orders you want, but remember that you're not only thinking for yourself now."

Talon and Rusty stared at Stardust. "You're making him team leader? And you actually trust that?" Talon exclaimed.

Stardust held up a hand. "Obviously Angel has a very well thought out plan. If he's this serious about it, it's probably flawless. He knows nobody's going to get hurt. Right, Angel?"

He stared at her for a minute, then cast his purple eyes to the floor. "Well, I don't actually have a plan. I-"

"You just expected to jump in there with guns blazing and hope for the best?" Stardust shook her head. "I thought so. Look, team leader, you need to think about this before you just lead us into a blind battle, okay?"

Stardust could almost see the gear's working in Angel's head. He put a hand on Miss Metal's shoulder, then raised his chin and looked down his nose at the team. "All right, Slade's only covering is the darkess, right? So we attack in the daytime when he's most vulnerable. He's gotta sleep sometime, so I say that's the best time to make our move."

Stardust pondered over the idea, then nodded thoughtfully. "Seems good enough. So when and how exactly are we going to do this?"

"This afternoon. Now I know we didn't get much sleep last night, but Slade could make Miss Metal do anything he wanted in just a day's time. We need to do this as soon as possible. And my plan is to make a stealthy entrance to his lair, and once inside, just go all out. I don't think there's going to be any outsmarting him, and it'll be six to two. We have the advantage, and odds are in our favor. I don't think the location of Slade's hideout is any secret, so we know how to get there. I hope you all can use stealth as a team."

-T-

Stardust picked up the phone and dialed Kory's work number, and after five rings was about to hang up until her mother answered.

"Hey Mom, it's me."

"Stardust! It is wonderful to hear from you. How are things going?"

"All right I guess. I don't have much time to talk, but we kind of have a dilemma here. But to make a long story short, I just wanted to tell you that we're going to attempt a take down on Slade. Today."

Kory was silent for a few moments, then sucked in her breath and said, "Oh Stardust, I do not believe this is a safe idea."

"Neither do I. But Angel's insistent on following through with this, and the whole team agrees that Slade needs to be out of Jump City's picture."

In her office cubicle, Kory leaned on the desk beside the computer and sighed. "I do not believe I can stop you. But you wish you the good luck."

"Thanks, Mom."

-T-

Stardust cut through the air gracefully like a bullet, Angel near her and Miss Metal on her hoverboard close beside him, Rusty controlling a large rock he was standing on, and Talon and Rorek on foot below them. The afternoon was unusually bright and sunny, but the closer they got to Slade's lair that was hidden in a cleft of rocks, the darker it seemed to get.

Though it was well hidden, Angel could see the metal door at the base of a rock, and he motioned silently in that direction, and they headed towards it. But just as they got close, metal discs seemed to shoot out of nowhere and exploded all around them, but most of them were blocked by a shield from Rorek.

"So much for stealth, he knows we're here!" Stardust said. She made her way through the exploding discs alongside Angel, and they both landed in front of the metal door, the rest of the team close behind. Stardust blasted the door to pieces and squinted as the smoke cleared away. The darkness inside was almost mind-boggeling compared to the bright sunshine outside, and Stardust couldn't see anything until Rorek charged up some light from his hand. Slade was merely standing in front of the room, his hands behind his back.

"Welcome, Titans," he said. "I've been wondering when you'd finally come to see me."

"We're not here to talk, Slade," Angel said.

"But I am," Miss Metal said. Her shoulders tilted back and she stared hard at the man in front of her. "I'm here to tell you that cannot control me. I won't do what you say, and, well, you can't make me anymore."

Slade stared at her with his one narrowed eye. "Hmm. I can see that you didn't want to tell me that without protection." He put a hand to his chin as if in thought, then suddenly whipped out a bo staff and show forward in the Titan's direction, yelling a deep battle cry the whole way.

The team went into action as one. Stardust hurled a starbolt, Rorek a shot of power, Angel electricity, Rusty a boulder, Talon a wave of light, and Miss Metal a huge beam from the ceiling. But Slade miraculously dodged every shot fired, and came in hard with his bo staff, connecting with Angel and sending him to the far wall.

"Do you really think that if your parents couldn't beat me, you could?" Slade taunted, pointing a finger at Stardust. Then he clenched his fist and looked at Miss Metal. "You are mine to control. I made a promise to you that if you chose to rebel, bad things would happen. I told you I would kill this team, and I will." He came forward at a fast run, and the Titans came to meet him head on. The battle that followed was too fast to put into words, but Slade and the Titans were nearly evenly matched until Eva appeared out of nowhere, and pretty soon the lair was in shambles.

The Titans jumped into a group beside each other, their powers charged and ready for more battle. Eva stood beside Slade, her eyes fixed on Miss Metal, who was in the protective hold of Angel. "Slade, I think they're attempting to challenge us."

"You're gonna see more than just a challenge," Stardust growled, and was ready to hurl a starbolt when a figure suddenly seemed to drop from the ceiling, planting a massive kick into Slade's face and taking Eva out as well. Stardust froze in mid-move and blinked hard. "Nightwing?"

Her father stabbed his bo staff into the ground and turned to face her. Kory dropped down from the hole in the ceiling and landed beside him, followed by a green skinned man, a cyborg, and a woman in a white cloak with her head covered. Nightwing raised an eyebrow. "Did you think we were going to let you do this alone? You're not the only team who wants to take down Slade."

Stardust smiled. It was the first time she had seen the last team of Titans together, and despite the situation, it made her feel a little uncomfortable. But there was no time for that now, Slade and Eva had recoverd from the blow they had received and were coming their way.

Nightwing and Stardust both raised a hand and yelled in unison, "Titans, go!" Both teams followed the order, and the fight was on.

The older team ganged up and took on Slade, while Stardust's Titans battle it out with Eva, who seemed to have gotten stronger and more skilled with her powers since the last time they had fought. Not only did she control vines, she also threw dark green orbs and that burned like acid when they came in contact with a solid object. Rusty got the first hit on her from behind with a rock, which immobilized her long enough for Talon to get in an unusually powerful attack into the battle. Eva twisted in mid-air and landed on her feet, her green dress blowing around her. Vines then ripped through the floor and came dangerously fast at the Titans, but Stardust managed to blast most of them with her starbolts until one smashed into her stomach and drove her headfirst into the wall. Stardust fell towards the ground, in and out of consciousness, and Rorek seemed to be the only one that noticed how hard she was going to hit the ground. He practically danced to catch her, and she fell safely into his arms.

On the other side of the lair, Kory punched Slade across the room with all her might, and Nightwing wouldn't have been surprised if he was split in two. But back when Nightwing was Robin, he had learned that the man was nearly indestructible, besides for the time when Terra took him down after she had caused a volcano. Now Raven said, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" and caught Slade before he hit the ground with her telekinetic powers, and she threw him in Cyborg's direction, who blasted him with his sonic cannon, and Changeling smashed him the form of a gorilla. Nightwing whipped out his bo staff and brought it down hard at Slade, who somehow managed to doge. Nightwing ducked out of the way when Eva went flying over his head, and the force of the blow she had received crushed her into the wall to where she couldn't move.

By now Stardust had regained consciousness, and she gathered her team around her once more. "Give it up, Slade," she panted. "We came here to fight for Miss Metal, and we're not gonna give up now." She charged up her starbolts. "But you will." Her shot hit its target right in the stomach, and he hit the ground again.

Nightwing prepared his team to continue the fight, as did Stardust, but strangely Slade seem to vanish right into the ground. The Titans looked at each other in confusion, but after a few moments of standing there, it was clear that their foe was not coming back for now.

Angel turned to Miss Metal and kissed her squarely on the mouth. "It's all right now. He's not gonna come after you again."

Stardust smiled at the sight, then flew up and pulled Eva from her crater in the wall. "So... who volunteers to take Poison Ivy here to jail?"

-T-

Later on that evening, the Titans, and former Titans, all gathered at the tower and had their introductions. Stardust recognized Cyborg as the man her mother had described that originally owned Titans Tower. She crushed his hand as she shook it, and he laughed good-naturedly.

Stardust liked the way Kory and Nigthwing introduced her as "their daughter". For some reaon, it made her feel strangely special. After they all got aquainted, Stardust took them aside. "Mom," she said, "thanks for helping us. I don't think we could have done it without all of you." She turned to Nightwing, only staring at him for a moment, then grabbed him in a crushing hug. "Look, uh... I'm really sorry about the way I've treated you all this time... Dad."

His returning hug was very formal, with just a hand on her back, but his eyebrows shot up in surprise at what she had just said. She hadn't called him Dad for years, and had hardly acknowledged his presence. Tough as he was, he couldn't help but feel quite elated that his daughter finally accepted him. Kory appreciated this as well, as she clapped her hands lightly and said, "You have done the making up!" Then her smile faded, and she looked at the floor and lowered her voice. "Nightwing, I... I am thinking that you two are not the only ones that need to make up. It is you and I that I worry about."

"You're right, Kory," he replied, as Stardust stopped hugging him and stepped back. "We've been at each other's throats for too long. Maybe... maybe we could get back together, if you'd allow it. Kory?"

She smiled. "That is exactly what I was thinking."

Stardust, who had never thought she'd see this day, flew over beside Rorek and sat on the couch beside him. "So, you okay from the fight today?"

"I'm fine, Star. I was going to ask you the same thing. You took a hard hit earlier."

She shrugged a little. "Well, I guess it's to be expected. So, have you talked to Miss Metal since she's been here?"

"Actually, yes. She's a very nice girl. Very fit for Angel."

"That's great. I was kinda thinking about making her an official Titan. What do you think?"

"Whatever you like." He suddenly stood up and took her hand. "Come with me. I want to show you something."

She followed him out into the hall, where he stopped and turned to face her. He pulled out a small black box, which seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, and opened it up, revealing a silver and diamond ring. "I saw it and thought you might like it."

Stardust sucked in her breath to a gasp. "Oh, Rorek. You shouldn't have done that for me. I love it."

He took it out of the box and slid it on her right ring finger. "I thought you would, Star."

She admired it on her hand, still in shock over the whole ordeal of it. "I can't believe... oh, it's beautiful. You're so sweet... I'm never going to take it off." She took him by the back of the neck and kissed him hard.

Outside the sun was setting on another day, but it was theoretically rising on a whole new world, a new adventure, a new hope. A new team. The next generation.

Titans out. -T-

So this is where the Titans' story ends. I plan on making a part two eventually, since there are some things that I left out, but I will cover them later. Thanks to whoever R&R to story.