"Titans!" the figure barked, turning away from the food and leaping over the counter in one fluid motion, padding over to them on all fours, settling onto his bottom, knees to his shoulders in front of Raven, grinning up at them all like a looney-bin escapee (which, to be fair, he technically was. "My Titans!"

Beast Boy looked at the boy, who, he noticed, had a rather fluffy tail, and canine ears atop his head; with a crackling of bone, he was a wolf, nose to nose with the boy, who nuzzled him affectionately.

-Know us?- Beast Boy asked softly, curious. All canines shared a language, after all, and it certainly sounded like this mysterious fellow could speak it.

-Father know you!- the boy explained, getting up and bouncing about, falling into a play bow. Beast Boy couldn't help himself, then. He had to play, something in him was saying, and he began to bounce too, the two wrestling together on the floor. -Father say 'Titans come. I go, but Titans come. You will be Titan, Raven is your reason to Be,Derek', he tell me before he go!-

Which explained basically nothing, but at least gave them a starting point, he supposed. He said as much when he shifted back, catching their guest in his arms, setting him on the back of the couch like a cat. He proceeded to rub against Raven's hand when she reached out to touch him, and to the shock of the others, she smiled.

"You said he could stay, if he could find us." She reminded Robin, who eyed their guest (new teammate?) warily.

"I didn't think he'd be able to…" the boy mused quietly, almost to himself, before grabbing the boy by the chin and meeting his eyes. There was a silent exchange, but when their new team pet looked down in submission, he was released, a gloved hand ruffling his hair gently.

"He can stay. He earned that much, but you wanted him so bad, he can be your problem, Rae." He declared firmly. "The minute he becomes a liability, he goes."

Which the entire team knew was bullshit. After all, they'd all been a liability at one point, and they'd all come together for one another. Once you were a Titan, you were a Titan, and that was the end of it. As long as their new pup learned that lesson quickly, he'd have a home for life.

"Mmm, alright with me…" the half-demon smirked, scratching the boy under the chin, making him close his eyes in contentment. "Now let's see… they call you Darkwolf, now where have I heard that before?" She asked him in a rhetoric fashion, giving a huff of laughter as he licked her fingers and palm.

"Alright, come along, pet. We need to get you a uniform, don't we?" She ordered, turning away, the wolf-boy following her.

"I am the concerned." Starfire admitted, after they were gone. "Friend Raven seems… far too enthralled with this strange wolf."

"Oh come on, he's basically harmless," Beast Boy defended with a shrug before opening the fridge, only to close it a moment later. "I take it back." He squeaked.

"What is it?" Cyborg asked, rolling an eye and lifting his friend out of the way, opening the fridge, only to gag and immediately shut it.

"Ok yeah maybe not so harmless." He admitted.

"Great, what did he do?" Robin questioned, moving to the fridge. He nodded, impressed, but closed the door immediately as well. "Ok, kinda gross, we'll just ignore it for now and steal him a fridge in the morning."

"What did he do?" Terra asked. Anything that could gross out Gar had to be terrible.

"Babe you remember that time we had you spying on HIVE?"

At Terra's nod, Beast-Boy continued.

"How uh… how attached to Professor Mumbo Jumbo were you? Cause his face is hanging up in the fridge, and his arms are leaking all over the shelves."

That was… "Ok fair. That's gross. He and Raven are meant for each other, that's for sure."

There was a big difference, they could all agree, between killing someone and eating an organ or two in the heat of battle, and killing them and saving trophies. Raven, at least, kept her trophies in her room, where they didn't have to look at the screaming faces on the peeled off skins.

"That is the disgusting." Starfire agreed. "We will have to thank him for his contribution, but request he not, in the future."

That decided, the group slowly filed off for the night; Terra curling up against Beast Boy's chest, his chin in her hair, the two finally able to relax.

"No more getting captured, ok?"

"No more getting captured."

And they both drifted off to sleep, in Beast Boy's bed, as they always did.

As the eggs cooked on the griddle the next morning, Robin whistled a happy, tuneless whistle to himself, flipping them as needed. He couldn't name the style of egg if his life depended on it, but the Titans all agreed that scrambled or Runny Yolked was basically the only way to eat an egg. And even then, you'd better have it on an English muffin with some meat.

Eggs Benedict was a popular dish in their little family, if you couldn't guess.

"BB, sausage, steak, bacon or ham?" He heard Cyborg asking from the living room, where they had another griddle set up. That one was a camping style griddle and used gas, however, and stayed out of the kitchen.

"I think it's a ham morning, dude. Terra is probably gonna want sausage and bacon, though. She was talking about it a little last night."

Shocking, Terra wanting lots of meat. Robin rolled his eyes, but he was still smiling as Starfire pulled the biscuits from the oven and gave the gravy a quick stir. They were celebrating Terra being free and clearing out the fridge in one go. Waste not want not, and all.

"Cyborg, Gravy is ready!" He called, and after a few seconds, Terra delivered it, yawning. She was dressed in one of Beast Boy's band shirts, and nothing else, but nobody in the base was judging her for that. It was enough of a battle to get Beast Boy clothed that there was no point in arguing about it.

As they all sat to eat, Raven sauntered out.

"My friends, if I may have your attention for but a moment!" She grinned.

"Yes, but after this you need to get your pet's trophy out of the fridge." Robin groused, and though Raven raised her brow at the statement, she rolled with it and continued.

"Last night, we added a new member to the team. After a few hours of research, I discovered who and what he is. Derek is the last of the Darkwolves, from whom all breeds of werewolf are descended in some way, shape, or form. I know, amazing, but it gets better. You see, fifteen years ago, they all disappeared. Poof. A thousand beings of immense power, gone in a flash, defending our world from an army of Planet-Devourers."

That was certainly noteworthy, and now the whole team was giving Raven their attention.

"Fortunately, they left a piece of themselves behind. And they left their history recorded throughout the world, throughout the ages. I even had one of their fabled swords, which could summon lightning. I no longer have it, but! It has been returned to its rightful owner. May I present to you Derek Michaelson, The Last Darkwolf!"

And from behind her he stepped from the shadows, now on two legs, showing his true height. Nearly seven feet tall, just a few inches less than Cyborg, body rippling with muscles, blonde hair now shaved down into a mohawk, he stood; glaring at the world, a long blade in a sheath on his back, and a solid ring of metal around his neck. Raven reached up and back, rubbing his throat with her palm, making the 'werewolf' close his eyes with a soft, doofy smile. She'd gotten him into a pair of jeans with a hole cut out the back for his tail, which was wagging happily, and a pair of gauntlets were strapped to his forearms.

"Now, let's go kill some people and remind them why catching one of our own is a bad idea." She smirked, and it was a dangerous little grin, for it was infectious. First Terra, then Beast Boy, and soon the whole group was chuckling at the idea of causing a little trouble.

Jinx was firing off Hexes as she landed, laying down cover fire for Gizmo and Mammoth. Their Triarch was the closest to the Titans' point of attack, and while back up was on its way, they were under heavy fire. It was five on two, in the favor of the Titans, Mammoth pinned down behind a tractor trailer, his teammates unable to aid him without getting shot at themselves.

"How long until backup arrives?!" He shouted, lobbing a tire at Robin, though the Titan dodged it. "We need to even the odds!"

"Tell dispatch that, go ahead, Mammoth!" Gizmo snapped. "Go ahead, tell them to hurry it up! They won't listen!"

Jinx rolled her eyes and kept firing, before getting a lucky shot in on the fire hydrant, blasting Cyborg back and seizing up his servos for a moment. It gave her the opportunity she needed to move forward, and Gizmo pounced, firing off a few volleys of Paralytic Beams, catching Robin and Beast Boy.

That was when the rocks started flying, and Mammoth stood up, deflecting most of them with his fists as Raven went down like a stone from a stray shot by one of the few remaining police officers.

Something… wasn't right here. This was too simple. The Titans never went down this easy.

"It's a trap!" She found herself yelling as something blurred between the remaining officers, making them drop, puddles of blood already forming.

There was nothing instantly off putting about the boy who did it, though she recognized him from the Escape Bulletin they'd all gotten the night before. You looked at him for just a moment and your eyes would move right past him. But if you focused you could almost taste the predatory malice rolling off him in waves. There was something cruel in his eyes, like looking at Superman. It was the look of pure, top of the food chain confidence. What it was like, to compare him to humanity, was like comparing a snake to a worm. Yes, they looked similar in the most base of ways, but the deeper you looked, the more terrifying differences you'd find.

That's what this was.

The boy burst forward, tackling Gizmo's spider legs to the ground, pulling them off and kicking the dwarf teen so hard in the chest that he flew back so far, Jinx lost sight of him. She heard someone screaming and realized it was her as her powers shot out, massive waves of destruction striking him, but the murderer only laughed, diverting the energy with a long, katana-esque sword, before jumping again, striking Mammoth on the shoulder.

And Jinx heard something terrifying, in that moment. Mammoth screaming in pain. Mammoth, who was damn near enough to indestructible, was screaming as the boy struck him in the same spot, again and again, with his fingertips. Mammoth, who had shrugged off a strike from Suprema, once, collapsed to his knees in agony.

And then the boy, having pushed Mammoth down, turned to look at her, growling. His face was split in a sadistic grin, and as he advanced upon her, Jinx acted on instinct. Several pieces of rebar, a pipe, and two of Gizmo's Spider-legs flew out, stabbing her opponent and impaling him in a brutal fashion. And still he stood, refusing to fall, still advancing on her, claws glistening with blood, drawing up to cut her down, when

WHAM!

A giant blue fist caught him in the side of the head, sending him flying into a car with an unhappy roar.

"Get the fuck away from her, Poochy!" Adonis snapped, Fang spitting out webbing onto the boy before lowering a very sore, but very much alive, Gizmo to the ground. Kitten slid off her boyfriend's head, landing in a crouch, her wings fluttering.

"Gizmo! Help Mammoth!" She ordered, relieved beyond measure he was alright, but unable to focus on it until they had won, or retreated. He nodded, rushing to his oldest friend's side, the big guy having stumbled to a safe spot. Safer, at the very least.

"Giz! You're… fuck, you're ok." He breathed in relief.

"Yeah, sort of. Ungh… he definitely broke a few ribs on me, but you…"

"He… Giz, I'm scared. Nobody has ever hurt me. I came out bulletproof, buddy." He admitted to his friend. "If he were alone we could maybe handle him, but he's with the Titans… What are we supposed to do?"

"Keep fighting." Gizmo winced, peeking around the back of the van they were hiding behind. It had gone quiet, and little wonder. The Titans were gone, having reached their goal of random destructive violence.

Jynks was looking at a body, lying on the street, and even from his hiding spot, Gizmo could see the blood stained blue skin of Mumbo Jumbo. The Professor had gone after the escapee the night before and never come back. Now they knew why. The HIVE students gathered together around the corpse, all six respectfully somber.

"This is something beyond us…" Jinx mumbled. "The Headmaster needs to be told about this."

The shadowed figure set his phone down, rubbing his temples before standing up, walking to his liquer cabinet and selecting a bottle of scotch. For a brief moment he considered a glass, before simply chugging the booze directly out of the bottle. When it was empty, he flung it against the wall with a wordless scream of rage before sweeping his arm across the mini bar, sending glasses and bottles flying across the room. He was enraged to a point he'd never been before, at least not since Joseph had...

"FUCK!" He snapped, slamming his fists down. "FUCK, FUCK, FUCKING FUCK!"

Sitting on his desk, the man snapped his phone up and quickly dialed in the number of an ally he'd hoped to never have to call. When they answered, no pleasantries were exchanged, merely two simple words.

"He's escaped."

"He had help, I presume?"

"The Titans found him. By accident, if you can believe that. They let him go and now he's with them. For all the good his progenitors did when they died, he cannot be allowed to run wild."

"Agreed. Plan Alpha has failed. Now we use Plan Beta."

The call ended with a click, and the man set his phone back on his desk gently. Moving slowly, he removed a painting, one his Rosie had painted him years back, from the wall, revealing a safe.

6, 8, 11, and with a clack the safe opened, revealing a body suit, neatly folded, two katana, and an orange and black mask with one eye.

"Hello, old friend…" he muttered, picking up the mask with gentle hands. "I'd hoped to never see you again."