Well, people seem to like it so far, which is good. :)

Mermaid Ninja: Martial arts movies are awesome! The movie mentioned in Chapter 1 is real and so is the maker. Sorry if you were disappointed that it wasn't more like the movie. While the movie was awesome and, I think, better than the first, I'm blending elements from both the book and the movie. Hope you like this chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans or War of the Worlds


Chapter 3: Rampage.

Starfire and Raven flew overhead while the other three ran down below. Before them the tripod lumbered toward the city, smashing trees in its path. The rear laser on its scorpion head swiveled around like an eye, and the five remaining tentacles waved menacingly in the air. The very steps of the tripod echoed and shook the ground it tread. At last the tripod cleared the forest and was well on its way toward the city. Sirens were already sounding in the distance.

"Guys," Robin shouted. "Once we get out of these trees, throw everything you have at that machine. I don't want it moving any closer to the city."

The tripod was powerful, but slow. The Teen Titans had little trouble catching up to the lumbering machine. As they thought, it was too intent on the city before it to notice them as they rushed up behind it.

"Okay, you ugly, bug-eyed freaks," Cyborg yelled. "Welcome to Earth!" He fired his sonic cannon several times at the scorpion head of the tripod. The shots streaked at the tripod at lightning speed. Cyborg was dumbstruck when the shots exploded in midair before they even reached the tripod. "What the heck?" He fired at it again. Once again, the shots stopped in midair just before they reached the tripod. "Well, that didn't happen before," Cyborg said with shock.

Starfire wasted no time. Her fists glowed green and she fired a green bolt at the huge machine. Just as with Cyborg's attempt, it merely stopped before it hit the tripod. The alien noticed the air around the tripod turn a shade of light blue for a split second. "Oh no," she murmured.

Raven focused intently on the tripod. Funneling her powers, she focused on the lumbering machine. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" she screamed. A wave of black energy streaked toward the tripod. But it was no use. Like the others, her attempt failed.

"Guys, nothing's getting through! Why isn't it working?" Beast Boy shouted.

"Crap!" Robin shouted angrily. "It's using a force field!"

Just then the rear laser of the tripod turned around and fired its red beam at the Titans. The five heroes dispersed and dodged the laser cannon as it fired at them. The tripod lost interest in the Titans and proceeded steadily toward the city. It was right next to it now. All three laser cannons fired at the metropolis. Buildings split apart as if they were paper. Glass windows shattered into a million pieces. Roads cracked and split as they met the intense heat of the rays. The screaming of countless innocent civilians echoed all the way to where the Titans were.

"Oh no! We have to stop it!" Starfire cried as she fired again at the tripod. The green beams detonated helplessly against the force field surrounding the tripod. In a desperate hope that it only blocked energy attacks, Robin threw another razor boomerang at one of the tripod's legs. As he feared, the boomerang bounced off the force field and fell to the ground harmlessly.

Beast Boy wasn't sure what to do. The little changeling doubted any form he took could get through the shield. Raven and Starfire furiously flew around the tripod like flies, firing black and green at the tripod. The attempt was vein, for the tripod continued to proceed unharmed. It was now within the city.

Its huge head looked down at the masses of people that struggled to get away from it. It paused for a moment as if the occupants were taking time to laugh at the terrified humans. Then, the tripod took aim at the fleeing masses and continued its destruction.

It tread along one of the streets, firing at anything that moved. Cars and trucks exploded in balls of flame. People were burned to dust as they ran. People, vehicles, and buildings alike fell before the tripod's merciless onslaught. Some of the police had opened fire on the machine, but nothing penetrated the force field. It was like bows and arrows against lightning.

Cyborg tried everything he could think of. He fired at the tripod with everything he could. He even picked up cars and threw them at the lumbering machine, but nothing got through the shield. Starfire and Raven flew around the tripod's head, firing at it in attempts to draw its attention away from the crowds, but it merely swung its tentacles at them as a human might swat at mosquitoes.

"Robin, it's not working!" Cyborg yelled.

Robin clenched his fists so hard they hurt. There had to be some way through that force field. Raven, Starfire, and Cyborg went at the tripod as furiously as ever, their attempts growing more desperate each time. Now, as if it had had enough, the tripod fired at the Titans once more. It's blue and crimson beams pierced the air around Starfire and Raven.

In a desperate bid, Raven attempted to manipulate the machine itself. She struggled to concentrate on it, an attempt that was in itself a chore. She focused her black energy around the tripod. She attempt to grab at it in several places, perhaps hoping to tip it over, but it was too much. Even if she could get through, it was too large and powerful, and the constant distractions were almost too much to deal with. Raven even surprised herself sometimes with how she could remain calm in such circumstances. There were instances where she was unsure if an explosion had been caused by her or the tripod.

Just then, something very peculiar happened. A small portal opened up on top of the tripod, and something large and cylindrical ejected from the head. The thing hurtled straight into the air, and then seemed to hover for a moment. The silvery cylinder glowed blue and started spinning very rapidly. Then, a blinding burst of blue light erupted from the device, and it fell to the ground, dead.

Robin was dumfounded for a moment what it had been. No one had been harmed, for what he could tell. Out of nowhere, he heard Cyborg yelling. "Guys! GUYS! Help me! I can't move!" Robin looked in the direction his voice came from and saw Cyborg lying on the ground, frozen. Robin dashed over to him as he ducked under one of the tripod's raised legs. Starfire and Raven had given the tripod enough distraction to keep it preoccupied for the moment.

"Cyborg! What happened?" Robin asked fearfully as he stooped over his teammate.

"EMP, I think," Cyborg muttered, still frozen.

"A what?" Robin asked him.

"An EMP! An electro-magnetic pulse!" Cyborg responded, frustrated. "I think that's what that blue flash was! It's deactivated my mechanical parts! I can't move!"

Just then, Robin noticed what was happening. People were abandoning their cars. Vehicles had stopped suddenly in the streets for no apparent reason. "Crap! Okay, we gotta get you out of here! Beast Boy!"

The changeling rushed over to Robin and Cyborg, with an expression of fear and utter confusion plastered on his face. "What happened?"

"No time to explain. We have to get Cyborg out of here, fast."

"But where?"

"ANYWHERE! Anywhere away from that thing!" Robin pointed at the huge tripod that was still preoccupied with Raven and Starfire.

An idea occurred to Beast Boy. "Robin! Let's get underground! The tripod won't be able to get us there!"

Robin nodded. "Alright. But we need the other two."

Meanwhile, Starfire and Raven were having no luck in breaking through the force field. The only thing they had managed to do was distract the tripod away from the fleeing citizens. "Starfire!" the mage called out. The Tamaran princess looked over from the other side of the tripod's head. "We can't do this forever!" Raven paused as she deflected a blast from the tripod. "We can't fight it like this! We have to regroup!"

"But Raven!" Starfire protested. Her eyes drifted down below, where most people had cleared the streets. "We have to protect these people!"

Raven cursed under her breath. "I know! But we can't save them if we don't find a way to defeat this thing! We need a plan! We have to regroup!" Suddenly, she heard Robin's voice out of the fray.

"Hey guys!" their leader called. "Down here!" Robin had one hand cupped over his mouth and the other was pointing at a street that winding behind a building. "Quick!"

Raven flew away from the tripod and motioned for Starfire to follow her. The alien hesitated for a moment then flew to join her friend as another beam streaked past her head. They flew past Robin and around the corner. There, they beheld a gorilla Beast Boy dragging Cyborg toward a sewer manhole.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Raven asked.

"We'll explain once we're underground. Starfire, get that manhole open!" She flew past him and removed the heavy metal lid. She descended into the hole and grabbed Cyborg as Beast Boy lowered him down. Grabbing the huge Titan, she laid him gently on the walkway next to the sewer line. Beast Boy, Robin, and Raven dropped down into the dark, dank sewers.

"So, anyone care to explain why Cyborg's as frozen as a board? And what was that thing that made all those cars stop?" Raven asked.

"An EMP. An electro-magnetic pulse." Cyborg explained while he lay there. "It disables all electrical devices within range. Unfortunately, it got me, too."

"But this is terrible," Starfire cried. "Will you be able to move, again?"

"Well, I could wait until it wears off, or I could switch power cells. Since we don't have much time, here, I think we'd better choose the latter."

"Do you keep an extra power cell on you?" Robin asked hopefully.

"I've learned to keep a few extras with me, just in case. They're shielded, so they'll be okay."

After a while of Cyborg guiding Robin in replacing his power cell, the half-machine Titan stood up and stretched.

"Man, that feels better," he said, grinning.

"Guys!" Beast Boy shouted. "What are we going to do about that thing? How the heck are we supposed to fight it if nothing can even get through to it?"

Robin was nervously pacing the walkway as the sewer waters rushed past the five. "I don't know guys. That shield seems to be able to deflect anything we throw at it. None of our powers seem to be of any use. Maybe if we found some way to disable their shields, we could destroy it."

"The more time we spend here, the more destruction it causes up there!" Starfire shouted without warning.

"I know, Starfire!" Robin shouted back unexpectedly. The Tamaran princess was caught off guard by his anger. "You think I don't know that? But what are we going to do if we can't even fight that thing?"

"Guys!" Beast Boy shouted. "Maybe we can lure it away from the city! We could get it to chase us and give the people a chance to escape."

"It's a long shot, but it's really the only option I think we have. At least until we can figure out a weakness," Raven replied dryly.

All the other Titans nodded grimly, but hopefully. With little time to act, the Titans emerged from the sewers within seconds. By this time, the tripod had proceeded down the long street, shooting at practically everything in its path.

The five of them neared the lumbering machine and started shouting at the tops of their lungs (all except Raven). Cyborg was the first to act by firing several times at the tripod. Starfire added to it with a green blast of her own, and Raven used her powers to pick up a car and hurl it at the tripod. All of their attempts were stopped by its shield, but as they hoped the tripod took notice of them.

It slowly turned around and focused its bright, eye-like spotlight on them. Its tail-like rear laser swiveled around and fired a crimson beam at Starfire. The other two cannons fired their bright blue bolts at the Titans below. Beast Boy transformed into a Tyrannosaurus and rammed the tripod, knocking it off balance for a second. Before the tripod could hit him with its ray, Beast Boy transformed into a falcon and flew safely out of the way.

Once the tripod regained its footing, it resumed attacking the five Titans swarming around it. No doubt, the pilots of the huge machine were growing frustrated with them. As the Titans distracted it, they allowed for the people to get away from the machine.

"Keep it up, guys!" Robin said as he rolled to dodge another blast from the tripod. "It's working!"

"Robin, how long are we going to do this?" Cyborg shouted from the other side of the tripod.

"As long as we can!" he shouted back.

Just then, the Titans were distracted as the afternoon sky seemed to brighten. From what seemed like far away, they heard a rumbling. Raven, fearing what had happened, was the first to look up. As she had feared, a huge object glowing bright white was falling from the sky, falling toward a place a short distance from jump city. It was another cylinder.

All five Titans stared in horror as the glowing cylinder crashed in the distance behind a hill. Another blast aimed at Raven, which she dodged just in time, snapped them back into reality.

"Oh, great!" Beast Boy moaned. "How are we going to fight two of them?"

Robin was struggling to figure the situation out as he dodged blast after blast and the tripod's swing tentacles. He felt like he was going insane. They had been fighting the tripod for what seemed like forever and were no closer to finding a way to defeating it. One tripod alone had caused all this destruction and killed probably hundreds of people. And now, another had come.

Suddenly, the tripod stopped firing at the Teen Titans. It straightened itself out and seemed to stand still.

"What is it doing?" Starfire asked with fear and curiosity.

Two portals opened on the underside of the tripod. A cylindrical object attacked to the inside lowered from each portal. Just then, Robin was reminded of a missile launcher. His suspicion was confirmed when the two launchers swiveled and fired two, bulging missiles toward the ground. The three Titans on the ground dodged the missiles, but Cyborg noticed that they hadn't even come close to hitting them. It didn't even seem like they had meant to hit them.

When the missiles struck, the resulting explosion was almost miniscule. But then, something which looked like black smoke started pouring from the spot they struck. Beast Boy thought it was just smoke from a fire, but he could see no flame, and the smoke kept pouring out from the missiles as thickly as ever. Then, the tripod stood there as still as ever, almost as if it was mocking them.

A horrible realization came to Robin's mind. "Guys! Don't breathe that in!"

"What is it?" Starfire asked from above.

"They're gassing us!" Robin shouted from below.

Beast Boy was unfortunate enough to inhale some of the fumes. Just then, his eyes watered and he started coughing uncontrollably. His lungs seemed to tighten and he had trouble breathing.

"Beast Boy!" Cyborg shouted. The bionic Titan held his breath and rushed over to the suffocating changeling. Scooping the small Titan, he whisked him away to an alley a good distance away from the tripod.

"Guys, we have to get away from here!" Raven shouted. Now, it was either flee the tripod or die from suffocation. She and the other two followed Cyborg to the narrow alley.

There, Cyborg was bending over Beast Boy who still looked like something was wrong.

"Beast Boy! Are you okay, man?"

"Give him room. Let him breath!" Raven said as she stooped down next to Cyborg. The changeling's coughing started to slow, and soon he was just breathing heavily.

"Oh man," he said weakly at last. "That stuff is harsh."

"Beast Boy, are you okay? Can you walk?" Robin asked him.

"I'm fine now," Beast Boy stammered as he slowly stood up. "Thanks, Cyborg. If you hadn't gotten me out of there, I might have…"

"Hey, what are friends for?" Cyborg said, smiling down at him.

"Guys, we can't waste any time. We have to move away from here before that gas reaches us." Raven reminded them.

"But what are we going to do?" Starfire asked desperately.

"There's only one other thing I can think of," Cyborg said quietly. "We obviously can't fight that tripod, let alone two of them. At least for now. We have to go over and help those people escape. We should also go over to the nearby cities and warn them about what's happened if it's not too late. Because I can tell you, nobody's going to be getting out of here fast with every vehicle being disabled. And it's not going to be long before the military is here dropping bombs and firing guns all over the place. It'll be even more dangerous then."

"But we can't just leave here," Robin protested. "If we leave here, who's going to stop those tripods from leveling this place?"

"Robin, Cyborg is right," Raven said grimly. "We can't fight them now. And who knows – more could be arriving any minute. The sooner we can get ourselves and the people out of here safely, the better. And we have to try and warn others about this if it's not too late. I'm afraid that's the only thing we can do."

Robin clenched his fists and narrowed his eyes. The prospect of having to abandon jump city to those monstrosities was horrible. But even he knew the alternative was worse.

"Alright," he finally said flatly. "Let's hurry out of here before that gas reaches us."


"What's the nearest city?" Robin asked Cyborg as the five Titans ran along a street. Cyborg was busy looking his GPS (global positioning system) on his wrist.

"Right here," the cybernetic Titan said, pointing to a dot on the little map. "We can take this rode out of here. There's a small suburb that we could stop at on the way there. We should get others to do the same."

"Good," Robin said firmly.

Raven and Starfire flew overhead along with a falcon-Beast Boy. The Titans came to clearing of the city away from the taller buildings. Behind them, they could still here the sounds of the rampaging tripod. And they knew it was only a matter of time before the second one came out.

Before them were masses of frightened people all running away from the same thing. Some of them had fled underground in the subways or the sewers, hoping to avoid detection by the tripod.

"Guys, I just heard some police officers over there. They've already issued an emergency evacuation of this city," Robin said. "And that means there's going to be a lot of people trying to get out of here." The Titans could see hordes of police officers trying to get people to leave the city in an orderly manner. It wasn't doing that much good, for people were clamoring as desperately as ever to escape the aliens' onslaught.

Without cars to drive, everyone had been forced to go on foot. This might have been a blessing in disguise, for an attempt to leave by cars might have left the routes clogged and therefore a virtual death sentence.

"Everyone, this way!" Robin and Cyborg were shouting at the crowds. They waved them on to a road that lead out of Jump City. People ran, pushing and shoving each other, weaving through cars as they went. Soon, Beast Boy, Raven, and Starfire assisted with getting the frightened citizens to safety. Behind the buildings, they could still see glimpses of the tripod as it lumbered slowly through the streets.

Robin, noticing two Police officers ran over to them. He called out to them, trying to get their attention.

"What do you want?" an officer shouted at him, already frustrated enough as it was.

"That tripod back there is using gas!" Robin shouted back. "Make sure they all leave here! They can't hide here, or they'll suffocate!"

The officer's eyes widened for a moment, then he nodded. With that, Robin turned and ran back to the rest of the Titans. A thousand thoughts raced through Robin's head. He was angry, frightened, and confused all at the same time. The part he hated most was having to flee. He couldn't stand it. Every ounce of his being wanted to go back and fight the invaders and finish them off, but that desire was stopped dead by his duty to ensure that the citizens could get out of the city safely. Even still, he knew that once they got out of the city, they would regroup and find a way to beat the invaders. There had to have been a way.

Cyborg's only thought was trying to get everyone away. He felt a nagging urge to go back and fight the machine, but it would have been useless. His only hope was that they could find a way to defeat the machines the aliens were using. Until then, they would have to retreat. It was a word he hated the taste of, but was forced to chew on at the present moment. He tried to keep himself intact, trying to keep his anger and frustration down.

Beast Boy, needless to say, was simply appalled and horrified. He had seen similar cruelty before with Trigon. But these weren't demons. They were obviously as mortal as him, yet they seemed to lack souls altogether. Their utter disregard for life, their lack of compassion, and their sheer brutality took him completely off guard. The audacity, the horror of it practically brought him to tears. Seeing people vaporized in front of him and entire buildings torn to shreds was something that he was not prepared for. Nevertheless, he gathered himself and focused every ounce of his energy to getting the people to safety. He couldn't bring the dead back, but he would try his best to ensure that more didn't end up that way.

Raven, meanwhile, was unsure of what the situation meant. It was especially trying on her, being one whose emotions affected everything around her. Clearly, whoever the invaders were, they were attempting to destroy everything in their path. Raven didn't want to say this, but she feared these tripods were not the only two. A haunting suspicion came to her that this was only a small portion of a large invasion. She could only suspect that the cylinders were falling in other cities as well, and that Jump City had unfortunately been the first. If her fears were correct, then what this planet seemed to be headed for was an all-out war between races.

"A war of the worlds," she thought to herself.

A strange feeling gripped Starfire as she watched the people fleeing below her. A sudden feeling of despair seemed to fill her insides. For all that she could remember, she couldn't remember having to flee like this. She couldn't remember having to leave the very city she called home. It left a hole inside her that she couldn't help noticing.

And rarely had she seen a species that was as cruel and heartless as these invaders. Even the worst villains she had fought on this planet Earth, except for Trigon, were not as heartless as these aliens. Even Slade had shown shreds of humanity. She struggled to remember some race she might have heard of, some race that she knew of that could be these strange invaders. She knew of none.

After agonizing moments of herding people out of the city, Robin finally called for the Titans to get out of the city. Starfire could see the tripod still moving in the distance, and she could only watch as she heard the second tripod activating in the distance. Its loud foghorn blast echoed through the air.

"Starfire, we have to go," Raven said softly as she flew over to her. The Tamaran only glanced at Raven then back into the distance. Just behind and beyond the buildings she caught a glimpse of Titan's Tower, the place that had been her home for so long.

"Please, Starfire," Raven whispered.

With that, Starfire took one last look at the Tower, then turned around and headed toward uncertainty.


I admit, I had trouble writing this chapter, mostly because I had trouble figuring out how the scenario would unfold in this scene. And the final scene where you get a peek into the Titans' individual thoughts added a nice affect, I think. :) I'm still not completely satisfied with it, but I think it worked out okay. And of course, expect more drama and revelations later. Hope you liked this chapter, and I hope it's working out so far. So long.