There had been better nights for Robin. Worse ones, too, though. It generally took a lot more than a case of severe boredom to constitute a "bad night" for the nineteen-year-old; boredom rarely played into those. And besides, seeing three of his best friend's faces after that many years of separation was rewarding enough for his trouble.

The masked teenager was patrolling the web of passageways that wound their way through the belly of the Janus, the huge oil tanker he had boarded along with his friends at nine PM that night. Cyborg was in the security center, just aft of the bridge; Raven was situated at the stern; Starfire was further below-decks, positioned in front a set of security doors that were the final line of defense for the ship's mysterious cargo. Robin frowned; ever since the Titans had disbanded, Beast Boy had apparently vanished off the face of the earth. He'd thought that maybe this assignment would have drawn the changeling out from whatever hole he'd crawled down, but the team's clown hadn't shown.

It was only one of things that was bothering Robin. The first was the situation he and his former teammates now found themselves in. A confidential source, claiming to be a government contractor, had contacted each of the ex-Titans through the communicators each had kept as a keepsake. According to this source, a valuable component of a top-secret project needed to be moved discreetly out of the country to secure location, but they weren't satisfied with normal security measures. Purely as insurance, they said, they wanted to hire the weekend-warrior Titans. The amount of money involved seemed almost obscene, but none of them had declined, probably due to the offer of seeing each other again.

At least, that's how Robin had approached the assignment. Just take a jaunt in an oil tanker from Jump City to an offshore oil platform; see his friends again, then back to college and get on with the rest of his life. Fat chance of that, the Teen Wonder mused. This time tomorrow, they'd be hanging out at the old pizza place, swapping old stories, and in a week, they'd be back together in the old team. It was something he'd tried to avoid thinking about ever since the team had split up, but maybe it had always been inevitable. No villain had ever broken the Titans; what could simple time do?

Smiling a little, Robin pressed down on the earpiece that had been provided along with a new outfit by their benefactor. It was more of a tactical uniform than a costume, but undoubtedly an excellent mix of style and practicality. Black, streamlined, and durable, it had grown on Robin since he'd first but it on; it seemed more respectable than a certain pair of green tights.

"Star, reading me?"

"Loud and undisrupted!" Starfire's clarion voice called back. Robin's smile widened. The alien princess-in-exile still had a preference for higher vocabulary, but by and large she'd integrated rather well with everyday life on Earth.

"Everything okay?"

"Yes, Robin. I do not believe we have encountered a mission of such ease since Dr. Light's attempt to change his home's light bulbs into fusion generators."

"It's too easy, if you ask me," Cyborg chimed in. "A chimp could guard this boat; there's so much automated security, it's starting to freak me out."

"Greed makes people paranoid," Ravens' cool monotone interjected. "And, they like to have someone to blame if a machine makes a mistake."

"Alright, team, keep the channels clear," Robin said evenly, capping the discussion. "Next report at…" Robin consulted his wristwatch. "…Twenty-three-hundred. Stay sharp." Nearly two hours on this floating fortress, and not a sign of any potential threats. If this cargo was as important as their employer had stressed, any number of criminals or terrorists should have descended on them by now. Instead, there was just this eerie quiet, broken only by the hum of the ships engines.

The leader of the Titans passed the crew's lounge. They seemed to be relieved at the lack of action. Eight men, about three-quarters of the crew, were gathered at a table, while one, younger than the rest, was apparently regaling them with a story. Blond and freckled, he was waving his arms, exaggerating some detail, while the rest laughed and nodded.

Robin sighed. There really was no reason to be overly worried, he decided. As it happened, there were several reasons; the young superhero was simply unaware of them, but it soon became clear what one of them was.

Just as he rounded the next corner, a fist flew out of the blind spot between the halls, catching him in the chest and throwing him back into the bulkhead. Vision blurred from the blow, he barely saw the lithe figure coming at him again before it delivered a jumping side kick to his head. Robin went down, still clinging to consciousness. The assailant seized him by the shoulders, dragging him out of the main hallway and into a side room. Just as he was dropped, he surprised his foe by pivoting on his hands and spinning their legs out from under them. The attacker somersaulted backwards and stood as Robin front flipped up, but he got no respite. His foe came at him again, striking with a barrage of lightning-fast kicks to his head and chest. Robin parried them as best he could, but immediately recognized this: while he had kept in practice after leaving the Titans, he hadn't been in a real fight for years. This person, whoever they were, was faster, more precise, and in overall better shape. It wasn't long before the relentless attack broke Robin's defense, spinning him onto the floor again. His assailant vaulted over him, shutting the door in the same move. With his head ringing, Robin reached with leaden hand to his earpiece, pressing the transmit button twice. This set off a panic signal on the communicator's frequency, alerting the security system, just as the teen passed out.

In the security center, Cyborg tapped furiously on the multiple keyboards, eyes darting from screen to screen. The panic signal should have tripped the automatic security, locking the ship down; it had apparently failed, so the half-man, half-machine was trying to activate the measures manually, still to no avail.

"Cyborg, what is happening?" Starfire, voice raised in concern, broke in through the audio feed.

"I don't know…I've lost contact with Robin, none of the security's working, and …" as Cyborg stared at the computer screen, windows began to pop up of their own accord. Or, of somebody else's. "The system's been hacked, badly," Cy decided out loud. He glanced at the camera screens again, seeing a figure clad in a back bodysuit race through the field of view. "And, we've got an intruder."

"Three. Three intruders."

The ex-Titan didn't even have time to turn in order to see who had spoken before his systems shut down, and a tiny, hairless rodent popped out of the open access plate in his back and jumped into the outstretched hand of the person standing in the doorway.

The young man who had masqueraded as a member of the crew pulled a handheld device from his pocket. Though it looked like a PDA, a quick press of the controls opened an audio/video feed on its screen.

"Security cleared, K.P. Man, I didn't know they'd brought the Titans out of the woodwork for this."

"Stay frosty, Monkey Master. We're nowhere near the finish yet."

"Right with ya. I'll beep if we hit any snags."

"Good man. Wade?"

A thirteen-year-olds' voice answered through the pirated channel.

"Everything's shipshape; I'm opening the blast doors now."

Kim Possible, face concealed by a tactical mask, stepped in front of the massive, slowly opening gates, facing down the tall young woman who stood guarding them. A scrap of loose paper drifted on a draft through an intersection in the halls.