Sorry the update took so long this time. Had a lot to do and lacked the motivation to write it.

Maternal Instinct
Chapter Six: One of These Things Is Unlike the Others

Black-energy coated meat hooks fell from the ceiling of the Atrium as Raven uttered the familiar words of her spell, and flew at Starfire, spinning.

The Tamaranian dodged the first one, then another. One flew straight at her face and she sliced it in half with a pair of eyebeams, but was then hit in the stomach by another, and realized the center of the hook had made the impact, the inner curve wrapping around her abdomen and the sheer mass of the metal hook driving her backwards.

When she managed to get it off her, she realized it had left a long bruise, a purple stripe across her midriff.

"Surrender, Kory!" Shouted Raven. "Our dear mother wishes that you rejoin us…"

"She should know by now that neither my mind nor any of my nine stomachs shall ever again have anything to do with her.!"

Starfire dodged another pair of flying meat hooks and threw a couple of Starbolts at Raven, who dodged away and retaliated with a trio of projectiles—debris from the broken teller counter.

Starfire noticed that, amazingly, none of the giant fruits had been severely injured in the battle. Then she realized that the nearest fruit was in the possession of a face. A human face.

Her green eyes widened at the site, and she instinctively knew that this was very bad news. Those fruits… were they… PEOPLE?

Talk about disturbing! The only fruit people Starfire knew of were the Vordlaxians of Jingoth IV, and at least they had legs.

Another spear of dark energy came flying at Starfire, so she quickly changed directions and flew upwards, dodging the attacks and countering with her own.

Gizmo, his ego recovered from his failure to subdue Starfire without help, lanced towards her with his jetpack blazing, firing off a series of rounds from a massive purple cap gun. No bullets came out of the weapon, but a cloud of soot and flack exploded from the barrel, blurring Starfire's vision forcing her to take evasive action. Star made a conscious effort to fly away from the giant fruits, was drawn—some would say forced—towards what used to be the 'box' that contained the bank president's office.

There was still a hole in it from Terra's humiliating setback earlier, and Starfire figured the best way to keep the fruits safe was to make sure the fight happened somewhere else. She flew through the hole Tara's body had made and suddenly found herself inside a massive room full of all kinds of make up. Rouge, eye liner, vanishing crème… Everything that Mother May-Eye could use in the vain hope that it would make her less hideous was there.

Gizmo charged in, blasting with his cap gun at random, spraying debris all over the make up room. And Raven followed soon after, her eyes 'glowing' black, and her face twisted into a snarl.

"Sister Kory, you will learn to behave, even if it kills you!"

Giant makeup compacts coated in black energy flew at Starfire, and the Tamaranian princess dodged away, blasting the last one and filling the room with the disgusting smell of charred cosmetics.

Gizmo flew at her, but before he could fire, she blasted the cap gun out of his hands with eyebeams and punched him in the chest, then delivered another blow to his face to knock him back without causing any permanent damage. She turned back to Raven and darkness consumed her.

But Star's eyes flared and she burst out of the soul self and slammed into the wall of the makeup set, bouncing off a mirror. A small piece of it broke off and fell next to her right leg, and she picked it up, eyeing it as if it were some sort of rare prize that she had finally won.

Then a glowing white ball of energy whizzed by her head and slammed into the mirror, bouncing off almost as fast as it had come, as though it hadn't lost any kinetic energy in the impact. Starfire flew up and blasted towards the nearest light, and flinched as the ball flew over her wounded shoulder, hit the wall in front of her, and bounced back, almost pelting her in the face.

Star turned around and saw three more fly at her, and one hit her in the upper thigh right below where her skirt ended, sending shockwaves of pain through her body. She gritted her teeth and fired back at the one who had thrown the projectiles—Gizmo—and found herself suddenly in a much larger room…

She had come out of some sort of massive bag and was now in a large bathroom, hovering high above a table with the cosmetics bag on it. Raven burst from the darkness of the purse, a couple of green sticks of lipstick flying at her, the handles covered in black. Apparently Raven was trying to blind Starfire by getting the lipstick itself in her eyes.

Starfire blasted both projectiles out of the air with Starbolts and then blasted towards Raven, smashing the Azarathian in the face with her fist, and sending her flying backwards. Raven summoned her soul-self in an attempt to right herself, but still crashed through the legs of the table on which rested the cosmetics bag, spilling its contents all over the bathroom.

With her fist still clenched tightly, Star examined her leg to find a circular burn mark similar to the ones she'd received from Gizmo's paddle ball, but deeper. It also hurt a lot more. The bouncy balls were flying all over the room now, and Gizmo kept hurling more of them into the fray, making it increasingly dangerous for Starfire to be out in the open.

She dodged several more as Gizmo threw them and then hurled herself towards the ground where Raven was, and charged at her. Better the klorbag you know, at least in this instance.

Raven reacted with surprise and began hurling pieces of the broken table at Kory with her telekinesis. One of them managed to hit Starfire in head on, but the Tamaranian ploughed through it with no effort and kicked Raven in the stomach, sending her back.

Angered, Raven grabbed a nearby piece of metal—where it had come from she had no idea—and used her telekinesis to swing it at Starfire like a bat, knocking the girl aside into the wall. Starfire got up, her forearms now bruised from blocking, her forehead marred by a trickle of blood down it.

Raven smiled. With her and brother Mikron tag teaming Sister Kory like this, it would be easy to end her pitiful resistance. And if Mother permitted, her pitiful existence as well.

"You've been a bad boy, Brother Robert," a pie filling-covered Progeny taunted drawing closer to Gauntlet. "You shall pay for your misbehavior."

"You guys are so one-track, you know," Gauntlet said. "Six chapters and you all have not said anything original. This whole creepy mind-control shtick is getting old."

"You're in denial!" Progeny retorted, throwing out his hands. They slammed into the Gauntlet shield hard… and had absolutely no effect.

"Weak," said Gauntlet.

"Mother…" Progeny gasped. "Some help, please?"

"Please, Arturo. Utshay upway. You're not fooling anyone. Your powers totally suck against mine."

Progeny gasped. "Pig Latin? Are ouyay akingmay unfay ofway emay ustjay ecausebay I'm an atinolay?"

Rob sighed deeply. "No. Do you even know where igpay atinlay comes from?"

Progeny blinked. "Peru, I thought."

Rob groaned. "Do you even hear yourself? Think for a minute, Nicanor. If you are Latin, then I can't be your brother because I am not Latin. Hence, Mother May-Eye is an evil mind controlling witch, and I just gave you incontrovertible proof. Osay erethay."

Arturo seemed to consider this for a moment, and then said… "I must be adopted and Mother never told me."

Gauntlet facepalmed. "I've had enough of this. Mind telling me how to get out of this mess while you still have May-Eye's voice in your head."

"You'll never get out!" Progeny retorted. "Never."

"Think about it, moron." Gauntlet said. "Even if we are trapped in here, you think once the big boys outside like Bats and Supes won't hesitate to come in here and knock this place down if they have to?"

"They can't! It's impossible for anyone to get in or out."

"And why'zat?"

"Because," Progeny started, almost giddy with glee. "Mother has placed a massive impenetrable field of magic around the whole building! The only way to get in is to shatter the Indestructible Gem of the Ultimate Seal Spell, which is INSIDE on the top floor and guarded by…"

Progeny suddenly came to a stop and his face turned horribly guilty.

After a moment of silence, Gauntlet asked, "What?"

"I… I shouldn't have said that. Everything I just said was a lie."

Gauntlet smirked. "Oh, really?"

"Yes really! And now I'll never tell you anything again! My mouth is shut from now on!"

"Good," Gauntlet said, his smile growing bigger. "Then I have no more use for you."

Forming a mallet of yellow energy, he smashed Arturo over the head, knocking the body-dissembler so silly his head fell off.

After a few minutes, his cranium floated back up and reattached itself to his shoulders, and then Progeny stared down at himself in horror. "Ay! What is this garbage I'm wearing? And why am I with you!"

"What's wrong with me?" Gauntlet asked innocently, arching an eyebrow.

"You're a Titan. And a loser virgin," Progeny said condescendingly.

Wrong thing to say, as Gauntlet wasn't in a particularly good mood. He had been completely ignored for the whole previous chapter. Chaltab wasn't supposed to do that sort of thing!

Anyway, this bad mood that Rob was in resulted in Progeny, after that smart-aleck remark, being thrown across the library room into a book case, the contents of the shelf crashing all over him.

Thankfully, it was only a bunch of books. Rather hefty hard covers that were who knows how old.

"Ouch."

"Sorry…. Well, not really. I'm just trying to make amends so you don't waste more time and effort trying to attack me."

"No, that really was my fault," Arturo said, standing up on the other side of the toppled shelf. "I should have paid more attention to your mood and not said that. Speaking of which, shouldn't we have fought some massive battle, the underlying theme of which would have been me using your inability to successfully score a chick to undermine your confidence and get through the Gauntlet?"

"What?" Rob said. "And do what everyone is expecting? No way. Besides, Chaltab said he needed to move the story along if he wants to fit everything in here in ten chapters."

"What? We only get ten? Crisis Point is a total rip off and it gets a lot more than ten!"

"Shush. We have to get moving." Gauntlet began walking to the door, still wary of that the HIVE student was trailing closely behind. He kept his shield activate on low intensity just in case Progeny tried to stab him in the back.

Suddenly, though, as he walked by, he heard… whimpering.

"Is that you?" he asked, throwing a glance over his shoulder.

Progeny shook his head, his once-immaculate flowing hair stiff with pie-goop. "No." He looked to his left and right, and then back to his left, where he saw the pile of books lying open.

One of the books had fallen open to a page with a drawing of a young child on it. This wasn't all that weird. It was weird, however, that the child was sniffling and crying. "M… mommy. Where are you?"

"Holy…"

"Oh my…"

Another book nearby called out, "Justin! Justin baby is that you! I can't see you! I can't move! HELP ME! Somebody please!"

"Candide…" started Progeny… "You can't seriously expect to carry all these book-people around. It will take five shopping carts…"

Gauntlet shook his head. "There are more books in here than there were people in the building when May-Eye took over." Rob bent down and picked one up. "Look," he said as he thumbed through it. "This is just a book with a bunch of blank pages. Not a person."

And so, the next several minutes were spent by Rob and Arturo going through the books. It quickly became clear that there was a pattern. The books with plain color spines were normal books or books without words. The books with golden stripes across them were people reshaped as books by May-Eye.

"Okay, we've gathered them together. Now what?" Gauntlet asked.

"You could stuff them into that magic back pocket of yours," Arturo observed.

"I can't do that. I keep my pamphlets in there." Gauntlet reached in and pulled out a pamphlet about the importance of carrying pamphlets, and handed it to Progeny.

Arturo gave him a completely incredulous stare. "Do you take nothing seriously?"

"I get asked that a lot," Gauntlet admitted regretfully. "Look, how about I just carry them in some sort of energy-bag with my gauntlet. IF you walk in front of me."

"If it will get us out of here faster, whatever. I'm not particularly inclined to help a bunch of whiny reading material anyway."

"That's why I'm the one with the Titan Com," Gauntlet muttered as the two started off into the hallway, Gauntlet dragging what looked like a glowing yellow fishnet full of books behind him.

Unknowingly, the two were being pursued the whole way in the shadows… by a little green mouse.

Meanwhile… Noel killed another of Tara's pawns with one of his own. "So," Terra said absently. "What is it with you and Gauntlet?"

Noel sighed deeply. "Tara, would you like to play chess with dice?"

"What? We're not missing any pieces, are we?" Tara scanned the board, saw there was nothing out of placed, and moved a knight.

"Could you place chess with dice? Would be annoying, wouldn't it? Because it's not the same? It's doable but it doesn't really fit?"

"Yes, I agree, whatever your point is. Just make your move!"

"We are the chess pieces in this analogy. Gauntlet's the die. He just never fit in with us in my opinion." Savior shook his head, and then began counting off each of the Titans on his fingers. "I mean, look at us Tara. Tim? Orphan. Gar? Orphan. Vic? Orphan. Kory? Well that's up in the air but she was sold into slavery, which I suspect included sexual abuse, and then experimented on. You should have heard what Robin told about her when she first arrived, before she shook it off and her natural side re-emerged." Then he looked at Tara pointedly. "You? You still can't remember anything beyond your life on the run. Raven and I, our mothers are gone and our fathers are pure evil. And Nigel's an outcast from his race and branded by a monster by ours. We've all seen our share of blood, sweat, and tears. That unites us to try and make a better world for ourselves and each other."

Terra eyed him warily.

"Now...where does ROB come from? Father, mother, still alive, unusual but loving. Grandmother and siblings as well. In a town so overloaded with superheroes and happenings it's virtually impossible to pull off a mass devastation plot there. And Pangloss, who gave Rob his power like a lottery prize."

For dramatic emphasis, Noel held up a chess piece and a die he had aquired from somewhere.

"ONE OF THESE THINGS IS NOT LIKE THE OTHER."

Tara frowned. "When has he ever let us down when it really matters, though? Since when is there a law that says a hero has to suffer some great personal tragedy? Look at Superman. Sure, his home planet blew up, but from what I've read, he doesn't even remember the place."

"According to Robin, Superman's raising also taught him how to deal with personal hardship and tragedy. While Rob hasn't let us down, YET, he acts so absurd so often I cannot stop thinking that if something comes from us at the wrong angle he'll fall down like a house of cards and drag us all down with him."

"But just a minute ago you said it was because he had a different past. Now you say it's because you're afraid he'll let us down in some nebulous future... (Hey! I didn't know I knew that word!) ... Which is it? You can't have it both ways."

"I never said there had to be more then one reason that I 'hate' Rob. And I don't 'hate' him. If I honestly hated him, I'd have gotten him off the team long ago or left myself." Savior shook is head. "He aggravates me, intensely. Two of the reasons why, I just listed."

"Ever thought that you just resent him because he's had it better than any of us? Envy, perhaps?" asked Terra.

"Yes. That too. If I could kill him to get his life...well, not sure if I could resist it."

The look on Tara's face was halfway between disbelieving and extremely disturbed.

Savior elaborated, "Innocence is a precious thing. It can be a weakness too...but not a weakness in and of itself. And Rob, being Rob, has no idea what he has."

Tara continued to stare blankly. "I think I want out of this vault now."

Savior ignored her. "Of course, if I had it...chances are I wouldn't be me. You can't have your cake and eat it too." He seemed to notice her, finally, and his tone became a bit more consolatory. "Relax Tara. I told you I don't hide this stuff. It's not like I'm going to start playing Alfred Kinsey and asking you about your sexual predicilations."

An arched eyebrow was the only indication Terra had even heard that last part. "If you envy him so much, why not just steal the next PDEM he fools Pangloss out of and wish for his life?"

Noel frowned. "I already said: because then I wouldn't be me. Bad things happen when you can't stand your own self Terra. Look at what happened to one of your alternates: Tarting herself up for Slade, getting so out of control she killed herself with her own powers...wasn't exactly a comforting glimpse at certain possibilities, was it?"

Tara shuddered.

"Likewise myself as Christmas," Noel added.

"Yeah. Right..."

"But the you I know, you turned out pretty good." Noel reached down and captured one of her bishops with one of his own.

"What about the one that beat you up, in the universe with Norse-boy? Was she a psycho too?" As she asked it, Tara killed Noel's bishop with her knight.

"Not that I could see. Just hunting for her place in life. If she caught me off guard, she certainly seemed to be heading in the right direction."

"True. But that me also trained with Slade and betrayed the Titans. She could turn out worse for it all rather than better."

"There's always some aspect left to chance. Something that still gets under my skin, despite my best attempts," Noel admitted regretfully. "Besides, Slade's an utter genius. I remember what you were like in your starting days. That version of you didn't have a chance." He grew pensive for a moment. "Slade's manipulated both of us in some aspects. You know how good he is at it." Savior glanced down at the chess board and frowned.

"Tara, Just so you know, I had nothing to do with you and those photoshopped photos on the internet."

"What photos? GAR! It must have been... Oh, wait, photoshopped... HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THEM? What kind of sites do you visit?... Did they look good?" Tara rattled off her questions in a somewhat more hysterical manner, but otherwise very similar to Starfire's first 'conversation' with her when they had first met.

"The supposed nude ones; I know everything; All kinds; No, your neck didn't quite make it. Amateur work," Noel answered in order. "Though if you and Gar are taking photos, be very careful. Those paparazzi can be devious."

"If GAR is taking ANY photos of me without my knowledge, he's going to wake up with dirt in his mouth the morning after I find out."

"Gar is not like that; he'd ask permission. He may be a goof but Marie and Rita raised him well."

Suddenly, Tara arched an eyebrow. "Why did you suddenly change the subject to photos?"

Noel smirked. "It was to segue into the fact that you won't even catch me doing anything unscrupulous behind your back."

."…Sure…"

After a while of silent chess-maneuvering between the two, Tara decided to speak again. "So.. if read your report about the other earth right, the one with Norse-boy, we know of at least four instances of the accident that gave you your powers being survived: You, Jack, Christmas, and Emmanuel. I've been thinking… maybe the chemicals aren't as dangerous as they thought or something. You think the results could be reproduced?"

Noel shook his head. "Maybe it's just something in my genes. Extraordinarily ugly deaths is what should have happened."

" In Jack's genes too? It seems unlikely that perhaps the only two people in the world capable of surviving the accident happened to be the ones hit by it."

"Well, didn't you see that story the other day about a new nervous-system energy manipulator debuting up in Raleigh?" Noel asked, a glint of something in his voice.

Tara's face grew thoughtful, then she shook her head. "Um, well, no, I can't say I did."

Savior smirked. "Exactly."

Jinx jumped away as Libre and Kid Wykkid charged forward and crashed into each other, bouncing off and hitting the ground. Meanwhile, INSTIGATOR and Billy had both teamed up and were still unable to subdue Scalpel, who clearly deserved a higher rank than what he had.

"Dearest May-Eye will feast on your flesh and drink your blood like orange juice!" Scalpel snarled, hurling himself at Ed. A wall of Billies sprang up to reflect them backwards, but then it became deadly serious when Scalpel stabbed one of them with his glaive, killing it on the spot.

The rest of the Billies snarled and dog-piled on Scalpel beating the alien into submission… "You stupid monster!" Billy2 shouted.

"You done gone and killed one a' me!" Billy7 finished.

"Yer' gonna pay! Time for you to squeal like a little Bloketrinityanne piggy!"

Billies 7 and 8 jabbed their fingers hard into a supposed pressure point on Scalpel's neck, causing him to unleash an agonized roar, standing up against the weight of the pile of hillbillies and throwing them through the air…

Only to get blasted in the chest by one of INSTIGATOR's force cannon beams, blasting him through the pillars of the giant crib and down into the room below…

"This unit is uncertain of the Blacktrinian's demise," Ed said. "I would suggest that you designate a group of yourselves to watch for his recrudescence."

"Yeah, yeah," Billy4 muttered. "Fancy high-fallutin' robot-talk."

"Coulda just said 'watch for 'im ta' git a second wind' a heckuva lot faster," agreed Billy9.

"Preparae para derrota!" Shouted Libre as he smashed his massive fists towards Jinx.

"Carlos!" she shouted. "You have to come out of this!"

A familiar, eerie sound echoed behind her, and she dropped to the ground just as Kid Wykkid slashed a dark shadow blade over top of her. Jinx dropped onto her hands quickly and kicked up into Wykkid's stomach, sending the shadow manipulator staggering backwards. "Donovan, stop! That witch has got you all messed up in the head!"

Kid Wykkid responded by charging forward, shadow blades 'glowing' with dark energy. Jinx backflipped and landed on Libre's head, then bounced off and landed behind them. "Ooh…" she thought aloud. "What was that spell Raven did...?"

Kid Wykkid melted into shadows, and Jinx turned behind her and delivered a powerful kick… but hit nothing. Then she heard Wykkid behind her and rolled forward and at an angle from her kick, the shadow blade this time coming down vertically and cutting off a small lock of her hair.

"That does it!" she shouted. "I think it was something like this…" she jumped forward, kicking towards Kid Wykkid, but missing as he phased into the ground through the shadows, and landed atop Libre's massive form. "REKAMD NEGEL!" she shouted, bathing the upper body of Carlos in magic energy.

(The best comparison she could make between it and a Hex Blast was the difference between strawberry and chocolate ice-cream, and even then it wasn't really the best analogy…)

Eh, it didn't matter. She bounded off Libre and spun, landing on her feet.

When she turned, the masked wrestler was dazed… but now, every part of his body that had been hit by Jinx's spell was covered in his normal costume instead of the baby get up, which hadn't included any leg-coverings.

"Ay! Caramba!" shouted Libre. "Ahora… Soy el luchador enmascarado de DOOM… SIN PANTALONES!"

"You'll have to get over it," Jinx shouted, watching as an angry Kid Wykkid bounded over top of Libre, stabbing down at Jinx like that guy from Assassin's Creed. But Jinx just stepped out of the way, and repeated her spell: "REKAMD NEGEL!"

The beam washed over Kid Wykkid's entire body, and his baby costume vanished, replaced by his normal supervillain costume.

After a moment of disorientation, Kid Wykkid looked up and Jinx, nodded, and thanked her. "…….."

"You're welcome," Jinx replied.

Another massive blow sent Starfire slamming hard into the ground, but the Tamaranian bounced up again and fired a Starbolt at Raven. The dark teen batted them aside casually and continued after Star, followed at a distance by Gizmo, who found his schemes to win Starfire back over for Mother constantly foiled by the so-called princess of Tamaran.

Starfire, Raven observed, was a mess. She was bleeding from several cuts and covered in bruises. She would give up, she would collapse, Raven knew. Any minute now, her body would have taken all it could take, and then Koriand'r would be hers.

"Sister dear," Raven said, hovering forward, Starfire crouched on the ground, and breathing heavily. "You are almost completely exhausted. You shan't last much longer. Just give up."

"You will find I have plenty of the 'fight' and 'flight' left in me!" Starfire shouted, blasting forward and hurling a Starbolt at Raven. It caught the Azarathian in the chest and sent her backwards, crashing into Gizmo…

But Raven quickly recovered and hurled several loose objects at the flying Starfire. Several were blasted out of the sky, but one managed to slam into her and send the princess falling towards the ground where she landed with a thud and bounced, then rolled over and landed on her back.

Still, she staggered to her feet, clutching her arm at the bicep with the opposite hand.

Raven tried to probe her mind for weakness, but found only strength. How was it possible? How could such a broken and battered body, it's heart and mind rebelling against Mother, have such a strong mind left in it?

Eyebeams answered the probe, and Raven had to block them with a shield of black energy.

Perhaps… there was something to Starfire's crazy assertions—that Mother did not know best? Couldn't be!

But what gave her such resolution if she wasn't utterly convinced!

A fool believes his way is right, Raven heard in her mind… "Of course," she said… "Of… course…"

"Having second thoughts?" Starfire, barked, a trickle of blood sliding from the corner of her mouth as she spoke. "About your 'dear mother'?"

"N…never!" Raven shouted, blasting a wave of dark energy that sent the wounded alien flying backwards.

They had fought their way into the bedroom where Cyborg, Mammoth, and Robin had struggled earlier, and then broken down the wall into a 'small' kitchen—relative to the size of the rest of the rooms—with only a refrigerator and a microwave, and a 'small' table, which was really quite large.

Starfire crashed into this leg, and bounced off, landing on the ground face down, her body unable to take any more…

Raven hovered over, and grabbed the princess by her collar with her telekinesis, and lifted her up. Her face was spattered with blood and bruised, and both her eyes were half closed from exhaustion…

"What is it that keeps you going, Starfire?" Raven asked. "What, dear sister, has kept you from succumbing, from admitting you are wrong and rejoining our dear mother?"

Starfire said nothing in response, but went off on a tangent. "You know," she said, "the actions of our 'friend' the Puppet King have been very beneficial…"

"What?"

"When he switched us, I was in your body. You were in mine, friend Raven. And we learned things about each other. I learned something very important about you."

Raven's eyes widened… "What are you blabbering about?"

"I learned…" Starfire started weakly… Suddenly, her eyes shot open and glowed brightly. "HOW TO KEEP YOU OUT OF MY MIND!"

Starfire's movement was faster than Raven's eye could track, and much too close for her to block in time. Kory slammed her fist into Raven's face, and sent the Azarathian flying backwards into a breadbox in the corner… The Azarathian slammed through the wire mesh on the front and hit the back wall with a resounding thud.

"The game is set and matched," Starfire said.

"Not so fast!" Gizmo shouted, charging forward in an energized battle suit, and throwing a punch at Starfire.

She grabbed his wrist and bent it into a painful wrist-lock. "Give up, Mikron," she barked.

"Not a chance, snot eater!" Gizmo retorted, punching Starfire in the face with his free hand and then delivering several follow up blows until both of them were in the air, Starfire hovering with her own flight powers and Gizmo flying with the suit's thrusters.

"It was foolish of you to use a solar-powered suit against me," Starfire said. Then she charged forward, ramming into Gizmo and sending him flying backwards until the both slammed into the water unit on the refrigerator..

"HOW!" Gizmo blurted. "It isn't possible! You are nearly dead! How can you still be going on!"

Starfire responded by slamming him against the water button, and a torrent of clear liquid rushed out and covered the Tamaranian, washing away the blood on her face…

And more than half of her bruises along with it…. The make up from the compact! But some of the cuts were clearly real…

"You…!" Gizmo was speechless. That Tamaranian had tricked them! Starfire opened the fist she had clenched so tightly, and out fell a small piece of the compact mirror that she had broken earlier, the tip of it barely stained with her purplish blood… The wounds were self inflicted to be safe, then…!

"This doesn't mean anything!" Gizmo shouted, pressing a button on his belt. A massive force wave blasted Starfire away from the refrigerator into the open air of the room…

And Gizmo flew out, now piloting a massive metallic robot of death!

"Say your prayers, pit-sniffer! Mother is done with you!"

Suddenly, the entire giant robot was encased in black energy as a telekinetic jerk sheered it off of Gizmo with little effort…

And Raven looked to the side to see Raven, her face a bit bruised and blood trickling from her nose, but finally out of that horrid attire that May-Eye had conjured for her. "Gizmo," said Raven "I'm getting really sick of you immature insults. REKAMD NEGEL!"

A wave of magic washed over Gizmo, and he was suddenly back to normal.

Well, as normal as Gizmo would ever be.

"Wha… huh? Where am I?"

Starfire flew towards Raven, wrapping the dark teen in the gentlest hug a Tamaranian could manage giving the circumstances.

"Starfire. You're drenching wet. And hugging me. Not good."

"Sorry." Starfire backed away from Raven. "Shall we explain what has happened to Gizmo?"

"Maybe later," Raven said. After a moment, Raven's strange nonchalance gave way into a smile. "Kory," she said. "That strategy you used was brilliant. Incredibly dangerous, stupid, and masochistic, but brilliant. Let me see if I can fix some of the real wounds."

Starfire smiled broadly. "Thank you."

After reorienting Kid Wykkid and Libre, the now-five fighters in the crib left the ruined baby bed and plummeted together into the dark abyss below. Jinx was wary the whole time of the fact she was a traitor to them, a Titan amongst her former partners in crime.

But if those there chose to attack her in full force, there was really nothing she could do. She certainly couldn't overpower all of them—she had to trust that they still respected (some would say feared) her as their leader and would honor that…

Snapped out of her reverie, Jinx scanned the area again, her cat-like eyes useful in the dark. Nothing. No sign of Scalpel anywhere.

"Well where do ya think he coulda run off to?" Billy, now back to one for the sake of rest, asked aloud.

Jinx frowned. "I have no idea. Maybe the witch teleported him away."

"Idn't it a bit of whatcha'd call I-RO-NEE that yer a' calling her a witch," Billy said, pointing at Jinx.

"If you don't want to follow my lead," she said, "Then go. See how far you giyut…" Jinx frowned. "GET," she corrected.

INSTIGATOR made a sound that might have been an approximation of a laugh. Jinx sighed. Billy's excessive vernacular could rub off on a girl, whenever Jinx would be around it for too long.

"Well, looky here, boys," Billy shouted, having run off to check out something he'd seen in the distance. "Looks like we found ourselves somthin' to keep us occupied with 'ntil we figure how exactly where we's a goin'!"

The rest of the group groaned at Billy's childishness, and went to see what he had found.

It turned out that his new interest was a series of letter and number blocks that kids often used to learn to spell, which was just WONDERFUL, as Billy began spelling and misspelling things that shall not be repeated in this fic, things that Jinx wished she hadn't had the 'pleasure' of reading.

"Would you knock it off," Jinx said. "We have work to do. Gauntlet got separated from us, and there are a bunch more people still unaccounted for. We have to either find them, or head for the exit and take anyone you can with you."

"This unit has weighed Subject Morrath, Llarenes' newfound concern for the fellow sapient, and found it intriguing. Further research is required."

"Shut up, Ed," Jinx barked, walking off…

"GUYS!" Libre suddenly shouted in heavily accented English. "Mira!"

Jinx shook her head disdainfully, and looked at what Carlos was pointing at—one of the letter blocks in his hand. So?

Jinx leaned over and looked at it closer…

And then it sneezed on her… "Oh…" said the block… "I… I'm sorry. Excuse me…"

"Tar my feathers," said Billy.

"I don't remember telling you any of that," Progeny said as he and Gauntlet walked into the next room… Suddenly, he trailed off and stared upwards…

At the night sky.

"Wow," Progeny said. "I guess I was right about all that stuff about being sealed in the bank being a lie."

Gauntlet glanced around the room they had walked into—it was decorated like an ancient Romanesque palace, with opulent columns and a fountain in the centre. Very plush. But something seemed off, such as the fact the stars weren't really twinkling at all…

"Not so fast," Gauntlet set the books aside and fired a beam straight up, and it slammed into the 'sky' with a light impact about 40 meters up.

"So much for being outside," Progeny muttered.

"Eh, fresh air is overrated," Gauntlet said. "Still, this room is nice."

The two started towards the other end, when suddenly a bright light exploded from beyond the exit door, and a figure clad in golden and black armor stepped forward.

Private Hive stood, looking like he always did except his hair was uncovered and combed into perfection, and the black part of his suit was decorated to resemble a tuxedo. "You are trespassing on our dear Mother's secret rooms," he barked.

"Oh," Progeny said, "And I suppose you're gonna stop us, mister shields-only?"

"I can and I will," Hive declared. "Semper fi!"

"You're just one man!" Gauntlet dismissed.

"I am one soldier," he retorted. "Send your thousands, one at a time or all in a rush; I don't give a cuss. NONE SHALL PASS!"

Gauntlet shrugged off the threat and turned to leave. "Well, if he feels that strongly about it…"

Suddenly, however, his exit was blocked by another silhouette. "What's your rush?" came the voice of Beast Boy, though much more menacing and psychotic-sounding that Gar ever could even fake.

"Oh horse manure," Gauntlet blurted. "I was thinking this would be easy."

"No," Beast Boy said. "It's never easy to obey mother…" he transformed into a Bengal tiger and charged forward. "BUT IT'S THE RIGHT THING!"

"Now you're talking!" Private Hive shouted, charging forward…

Gauntlet glanced over to Progeny. "For the record," he said, "I blame you…"

Next Chapter: Terra reveals a horrible secret, and Mammoth is forced to fight his sister!