Beast Boy hit the floor again for the…well, even he had lost count by this time. Fisticuffs had never quite been Beast Boy's strong suit. Safe to say, he was less skilled at it than he was with computers. "Man, so much for 'float like a butterfly, sting like a bee'," he said, holding his head. The Titan hadn't done too much floating, but his body sure felt stung. As he shook the cobwebs from his head, he heard a scream ring out over the building. "That sounded like Raven!" he said, glancing around. Whatever had happened seemed to have subsided, as he couldn't see anything near the stairway. His heart sank, fearing that his friend had been dragged back down below to be tortured again. Some hero he was.

"Yo, BB!" Aqualad's voice snapped the boy back to attention as he saw the aquatic hero backpedalling from a dangerous robotic fist. "You got any ideas on how to save our skins?"

Looking around, Beast Boy realized that, with Raven out of the scenario, it was still seven to three, and there was nowhere else to run as the Titans stood their ground. The Royal Guard robots slowly marched forward, eyes on the prize. As they did so, a loud creaking sound emanated from the section of floor grating. Seeing it slowly sag due to the weight of the metallic minions, a flash of inspiration ran through Beast Boy's mind.

"Guys, get ready," he said, a stern look overtaking his face.

"For what?" Aqualad asked in confusion.

"We're going down!" BB shouted.

Before Lad could compose another question, he and Tremm were stunned by the sight of Beast Boy's physique transforming into an elephant. They were equally stunned as the grating beneath them gave way, sending both robot and Titan head straight for the floor below.

Beast Boy was the first to hit the stage. Then came Aqualad, landing squarely on top of him, followed by Tremm on top of him. The Royal Guard, on the other hand, smashed into pieces as they landed around the Titan sandwich.

"Ohh…I'm sure glad you came up with that idea," Lad groaned, wondering if his spine was still in his body, let alone in its' regular place. "We could have gotten seriously hurt up there."

BB groaned as well. Aqualad and Tremm weren't exactly lightweights. "Got to admit, that was probably not one of my best ideas," he said.

"Yeah, who would have thought that a fall capable of destroying a bunch of robots might actually kill us?" Aqualad grimaced. "Good thing I had this nice airbag here to break my fall…oh, wait…I meant AIRHEAD!"

As the three heroes painfully got to their feet, they soon found themselves staring down something they actually hadn't expected to see that night – the barrel of a .45!

"Hey! What gives?" Beast Boy asked in shock as Control Freak held them all at gunpoint. "Since when did you start packin' heat?"

"Since I realized that the villain's best 'ace in the hole' should be one that puts holes into others," the fat man said. "Turns out, this might have been the best investment I've ever made."

Waving the gun, Freak herded the three heroes over to the side of the containment unit. The Cheshire grin returned to his face once again, as so did his confidence. "Now, we got us a game," he said, laughing.

Glancing around, BB noticed to his surprise that Raven's chair was still empty. 'I thought I heard her scream,' he thought, his brow furrowing. 'If she's not down here, then where is she? More importantly, what happened to her?'

Control Freak walked over to the stairway, making sure to keep his gun trained on the three amigos, and banged loudly on the metal railing. "Hey Mod! Quit playing with yourself and get back on down here with Miss Raven!" he shouted, impatiently. "I'm starting to miss that cute little laugh of hers!"

Silence met Freak's response. Irritated, he banged on the railing again, this time even harder. "Hey! You had better not be experimenting with her up there all by yourself!" he shouted even louder. "You promised this was going to be a joint effort!"

Once again, silence. Now the rotund villain was furious. "Mod, you two-timing limey, tea-sipping arrogant bastard! Get your ass down here RIGHT NOW!"

As if on cue, the British villain indeed came down – sailing up and over the rail before crumpling into an unconscious heap upon impacting the stage!

"Dude, that's not a good way to come down," Beast Boy said, reflecting on his experience a mere minute and a half before.

"I'm pretty sure that's not the way he wanted to come down," Aqualad quipped, shaking his head.

Suddenly, there was a surge of energy near the three Titans, and they watched as Raven descended from the upper story and touched down next to them. Seeing his friend in good shape, BB was ecstatic. "Way to go, Rae!" he said, smiling. "You know, I heard you scream, and I thought they had you good. I'm definitely glad I was wrong."

To his surprise, the girl slowly shook her head. "I didn't scream," she said, quietly, "and I didn't do that."

"Then…who?" Aqualad said, utterly confused.

The question was answered by an enormous THUD as the mysterious figure who had rescued Raven landed after leaping from the ledge above. To the frustration of Titans in front of the stage, the control panel blocked the view of the person who had descended from the darkness. The other Titans, however, finally got a good look at their tag team partner. Only BB and Raven recognized who had intercepted the priority message, but they could only stare in awe.

"I…don't believe it," Raven stammered, wondering if her eyes were playing tricks on her. Beast Boy, on the other hand, simply smiled. "Now that's a face I could never forget," he said, almost sensing the tide of the battle turning. To paraphrase Control Freak from earlier, now they really had them a game.

Cracking the vertebrae in his neck, Knuckles the Echidna felt pretty damn good. That Royal Guard robot had spilt open from the impact of his fist like a baked potato. Mod, on the other hand, had screamed like a little girl just before he got floored. Old man didn't even stand a chance against a Mobian guardian just entering his prime. The only bad side to the situation was that the rest of the 'bots had been busted up when Beast Boy took out that section of grating. Now, the hot-tempered hero was all revved up with no one to play with. Looking past the slack-jawed Control Freak, he eyed Beast Boy and Raven near the containment unit. "Hey, Wrecking Ball," he said, jokingly. "You couldn't have left a couple of those guys for me?"

The green hero smirked. "If knew you were coming, I'd have set you a plate," he said, laughing.

"Wait a minute…What are you doing here in Titan City?" Raven asked, well-aware that the Mobian seemed far off-course from his home.

Knuckles chuckled. "I'm here for the comedy show," he said. "Decided it was about time to take a day off from fighting the fat boy and give the people of this fair city something to laugh about." Letting his eyes trail over to Control Freak, he gave a little shrug of his shoulders. "Of course, now here I am in a different city on a different planet, fighting another fat boy. What a wonderful change of pace."

"Please, Knuckles," Raven said, her eyes flaring with energy. "I know you need a little practice before the show, but I don't think any of us are in the mood to laugh anymore tonight."

"Laugh…anymore?" the echidna echoed, a confused look on his face. "Well, it's certainly not because of Tubby Soft-Squeeze's ridiculous outfit here, so…" he paused as he realized what had occurred. Listening to Beast Boy's message, he could have sworn he heard laughter in the background. It seemed that Control Freak was relying on the Poor Boy Villain's method of torture. Despite the fact that he knew how effective that particular brand of torment was…well, not himself personally, since he was immune, he had never expected it to even be considered as a method of breaking the Titans. A grin formed on his lips, and he looked long and hard at Control Freak, who seemed unsure as to why he was staring at one of the most powerful Freedom Fighters ever to grace the planet Mobius.

"You're a trip, you know that?" the Guardian said, shaking his head. "For all your plotting and scheming and so-called threatening presence, you just can't seem to get anyone to take you seriously, can you? I mean, what kind of evil mastermind even contemplates using tickling to force their captives to their will? Granted, it can be more effective than one might think, but it certainly ain't winning you any Brownie points among your peers."

Rotating his shoulders, the echidna's smile tightened. "But I'm not a fan of anyone who torments others for personal gain or pleasure, regardless of how or what they use," he said, his voice deepening to a growl. "You want to play in the big leagues? You need to attract some dangerous adversaries, people who can and will hold nothing back when it's time to throw down. And you know something, CF? You've got my attention."

Cracking his knuckles, the Guardian bared his teeth, a feral growl projecting from his mouth. "You wanna be big time? You'll have to go through me," he finished.

Control Freak's face was a mask of horror – for a few moments, at least. Then, a wicked smile cross his face. "You know something?" he said, flexing his open hand. "It's quite an honor to meet such a dangerous individual such as yourself. I mean, I've heard so many things about you. But there is something I've always been a bit curious about…"

The echidna tensed up. The tone of Freak's voice was off. Something just wasn't right about this…

"Tell me something, Knux," the fat man said. "Are you…bulletproof?"

Suddenly, Freak's hand dove back into his jacket. A moment later, the glint of metal emerged from beneath the clothing. The villain was packing more than just one punch line tonight!

"Oh shit…" the Guardian's feet were moving before his words even hit the breeze.

"HIT THE DECK!" Beast Boy hollered as Control Freak opened up with double-fisted fury, raining bullets in the direction of the echidna as well as them. Raven threw up a small force field in the nick of time, allowing the four Titans to take refuge behind the containment unit. Knuckles, on the other hand, wasn't as lucky as he found himself on the open stage, dodging bullets left and right.

"Goddamn!" he shouted as a projectile whizzed right by his face. "It's like a freakin' shooting gallery!" Glancing to his left, the Mobian noticed the control box anchored to the stage floor. With little thought, he hurled himself over the top of the panel, and crouched low on the other side. "Great, just great," he grumbled to himself as bullets pinged off the panel. "Pinned down under fire by some crazy schmuck with two guns who thinks he's Chow Yun-Fat."

Meanwhile, the captive heroes had been shocked by the sound of gunfire breaking out near the back of the stage, and now found themselves in a state of confusion as they witnessed the Mobian guardian before them, dodging bullets.

"Knuckles?" Robin said, startled by the sudden appearance of the echidna.

The Guardian turned his head, surveying the devices each of the Titans had been locked into. "There you guys are!" he said, jokingly. "What the hell you doing lying down on the job?" He dropped lower as a bullet soared over the top of his hiding place. "There are more comfortable ways to get a decent tan in this day and age, you guy know that, right?" he added.

The Boy Wonder smirked. "This isn't exactly our idea of a vacation," he said.

"Man, what are you doing here?" Cyborg asked, ducking down the best he could as bullets flew all over his head.

"I'm looking for a date to the prom, you interested?" the echidna quipped, sarcastically. "What the hell do you think I'm doing here?"

"Knux, that box you're hiding in front of is the control panel for these things," Robin said, motioning with his head. "If you can reach the power switch, it'll set us free!"

The Mobian looked at the Titan, then back up at the box. "Well, I was hoping not to get shot today, but what the hell," he said.

"One more thing," Robin added with a weak smile, as the echidna got ready to spring into action. "Try to press the right button."

"Roger Wilcox," the Guardian said with a laugh.

Standing up quickly, Knuckles reached over the top of the panel. However, Control Freak had been waiting for that moment, and unloaded on him. The echidna dodged a few shots, but simply couldn't get close enough to the switches from his position, Suddenly, bullet ricocheted near his face, and he dropped back down quickly, holding the side of his head.

"Goddamn son of a…Bastard nearly shot my dreads off!" he growled, pulling his hand away and looking at it. No blood. Good sign. Looking back at Robin, he shook his head. "Not gonna get it that way," he told the Titan. "I need some sort of diversion to keep Fat Boy at bay." Thinking for a second, the Mobian scooted over to the edge of the box. Peering over the side, he spotted BB and Raven huddled down behind the containment unit.

"Hey, Rae!" he shouted, getting the girl's attention. "I could use a little distraction right about now!" Unfortunately, Knuckles' yelling caught the attention of Control Freak as well, who aimed for the Mobian's exposed face. "I don't believe you!" he said, firing his weapon as Knuckles retreated back behind the panel. "Everybody knows that you're not supposed to call out for a distraction so the bad guys can hear you! What are you, stupid?"

Chortling, the fat villain turned his attention back on the Titans behind the unit – only to see a giant steel beam heading straight for him! "Ooo…that looks heavy…" he muttered.

BAM! The steel girder impacted Freak hard, sending his guns flying from his hands as the energy from Raven's spell carried him across the stage and over to where Mad Mod laid motionless. As he hit the ground, the girder remained on top of him, effectively pinning him in place. Watching the event unfold, Knuckles laughed as Freak tried without success to move the metal beam. "Thanks, Rae!" he said. "Looks like I get to buy you dinner!"

"Be careful," the Titan said, reappearing from behind the unit, a small smile on her face. "I just might hold you to that."

"Wouldn't have it any other way," the echidna said. Reaching back over the control panel, he located the kill switch. "Let's close up shop for the night-!"

BZZZZ! Knuckles shot back nearly off the stage as an electrical shockwave ran through his body, Regain his composure, he shook his right hand, which had cramped up from the blast. "Mmmmm…Margret Thatcher!" he shouted, doing what he could to curb his language around the Titans. "Goddamn booby-traps!"

Bumblebee smirked at the Mobian. "Did that hurt?" she asked.

The echidna glared at her, irritation on his face. "No, I just like flexing my hand and shouting out names of random members of the British Parliament because it's a new FAD!" he shouted, angrily.

As the echidna growled in pain, Control Freak quickly reached into the upper pocket of his jacket. Slowly, retrieved a small silver remote.

"You want a challenge, Red Dread?" he muttered, laughing to himself. "I'll give you a challenge."

With that, the fat villain pressed the button.

"Raven, see if you can rip this goddamn thing out and –!" Knuckles stopped in mid-sentence as his ears picked up the sound of a roll-up door sliding open. Looking across the stage towards the back of the building, he saw as a sea of red lights flood in from the darkness. More Royal Guard robots. A lot more of them. "I knew that this was just way too easy," he muttered as the mechanized army poured into the warehouse.

"Knuckles, see if you can free the other Titans!" Beast Boy shouted. "We'll deal with these guys!"

"You sure that's such a wise idea?" the echidna shouted back.

"No, but if we fail, you're our backup," BB said, before adding jokingly, "No pressure."

As the Titans rushed head long to meet the opposition, the Mobian looked for anything he could use to gain the advantage. Glancing up at the containment unit, he raised an eyebrow. It seemed that Control Freak's method of gathering energy from the Titans had actually worked pretty well, as the unit showed a 54% capacity. If he could rupture the tank, the resulting explosion would be enough to fry any and all electrical components in the building. But the reinforced titanium alloy was too thick for even him to punch through. What to do…

Suddenly, an idea came to mind. Looking back at the Titans, he smiled. "Hey, Cyborg," he said. "I might not quite be Sonic, but do you still got the BOOM?"

The mechanical man smiled back. "I've got a whole lotta BOOM, and I'm just itching to use it," he said.

"Good," the echidna said. "I'm gonna see if I can get that strap holding your arms down off of ya. If I can, I want you to blow that containment unit over there sky high. The energy from it should be enough to short out the robots and fry the electronics in your chairs."

"But what about Cyborg?" Bumblebee asked, concerned.

"My cybernetics have EMP shielding," Cy said, matter-of-factly. "I'll be just fine."

Wasting little time, Knuckles leapt onto Cyborg's chair. Planting his feet on either side of the Titan, he wrapped his massive hands around the strap. Gritting his teeth, he began pulling up in the metal.

"You've got to be kidding, right?" Bee asked, an incredulous look on her face. "If Cyborg couldn't break those straps, what chance do you have, Munchkin?"

"It's not about breaking the strap," the Mobian grunted, the veins in his arms bulging. "It's about breaking what's holding it in place."

True to the echidna's reasoning, the rivets that held the bracket in place were slowly being pulled out of the table. With one more massive thug, the rivets pulled free from the table, flinging both Knuckles and the strap to the floor. "There you go," he said, shaking his head. "All yours."

Cyborg quickly propped himself up, and aimed his built-in cannon at the containment unit. "Get ready for the BOOM!" he said, grinned.

Nothing happened.

"Just they don't make BOOM's like they used to," the Guardian said, looking up at the Titan's outstretched cannon. The light flickered from the power cell as Cyborg re-formed his hand.

"I – I don't know what happened," he said, looking at his hand. "Everything should have been fine." Checking a hunch, Cyborg accessed his control unit – and made an unsettling discovery. "Control Freak must have uploaded some sort of algorithm into my system," he said, angrily. "My weapons system won't come back online for another seven hours!"

"Well, I presume waiting is out of the question," Knuckles said, sighing. Two plans down, and nothing on the back burner. What a night.

As the Titans struck out oh-for-two, BB and the other Titans found themselves on the wrong end of a massive beatdown. Mod's backup army was at least double the original one, and seemed to be better suited to deal with the teenaged heroes. Ducking under another shot, Beast Boy grimaced. "And here I thought the first group was tough," he said.

Suddenly, he felt his shoulders bump into Aqualad's body. The four teens had been backed into a corner. Try as she might, Raven's mind was so exhausted from resisting the previous sensations as well as the fight to offer up any controlled spell casting, and her body was in no condition to put up a physical fight. With no way out, she could only watch as the other put up a token defense as the army slowly closed in.

Control Freak smiled as the robotic army finally subdued the remaining Titans. Things were finally looking up for him. Speaking of up…

"Hey! Furhats!" he shouted, motioning to two of the Royal Guard Robots. "Get this thing off of me!"

A sigh on relief came to his face as the two slowly moved towards him. Looks like Mad Mod had programmed this lot to respond to both their commands. "Thank a lot, Bunkie," he said cheerfully, knocking on the British villain's still-sleeping head, and waited for the machines to come and do their work.

Knuckles gritted his teeth. The other Titans had been captured, and his window of opportunity was running out. He needed something that could penetrate the hardened metal of the container, but Cyborg's arm cannon was currently out of commission. What else could pierce metal as thick as that? The echidna was in the middle of pondering that question when she noticed the shackle holding Starfire's head in place.

"Bingo!" he said. "Star's eye beams could cut through that thing like a hot knife through butter!"

Starfire was startled by the sudden feeling of pressure on her chest. Panicking, she nearly screamed – only to feel two fabric-covered hands caress her face. "Star, calm down," she heard a voice say, its gruff demeanor overshadowed by a gentle whisper. "It's Knuckles, alright?"

"Knuckles?" she echoed, somewhat aware that the Mobian was almost straddling her chest, "What are you doing on top of me?"

"To be honest, I'm sorta feeling a bit like Pinocchio if you catch my drift," she heard him reply. Slowly, she felt the weight come off of her upper body as Knuckles shifted position, placing one foot on top of the Tameranean's chair and the other on the table close to her thigh. "Listen, I'm gonna break this shackle off of your face," the echidna's voice continued. "As soon as you can see, blast a hole the size of Control Freak's fat ass into that containment unit on the edge of the stage. We clear?"

"As my friends would put it, we are crystal," Starfire said, smiling.

Knuckles quickly took a firm grip of the metal brace…and froze up as he heard the sound of a gun being cocked for use. Turning back, he saw Control Freak smiling at him, one of his .45's pointed directly at the Mobian's head. In the moments before Knuckles set up his plan, the Royal Guard had freed the villain from his predicament and he had scooped up one of his weapons in order to prevent the curtain from falling on his stage too early.

"Sorry, no kiss-kiss, no bang-bang," he said, laughing. "The only one who gets to do that around here is me!"

"Sorry, Freak, but I don't think there's a girl alive who could stomach kiss-kissing you, much less bang-banging you," the echidna said, matter-of-factly.

"SHUT UP!" the villain yelled, waving his gun wildly. "You don't get to talk! Now, you are going to take your hand off of Starfire's headgear, get off of my table, turn around, and walk slowly out the exit without a fight – or I promise I'm gonna put one right between your beady little eyes!"

Knuckles' face remained set in stone. "Well, I hope you're a good shot," he said. "You won't get a second chance."

"The hell I won't!" Freak yelled, baring his yellow teeth. "I'll load so up with so much lead you'll set off metal detectors from here to Rangoon!"

"Not happening, Freak Boy," the Mobian said, calmly. "I was listening during your little gun fight. You ran out of ammo in the one. The fact that you didn't bother to pick it up means you're not carrying an extra clip. As for the other one…you got one shot." His brow furrowed. "Better make it count," he finished.

"You know what?" Control Freak said, shaking his head. "It doesn't matter one way or the other. The truth of the matter is that, unless you get out of this building right out, this bullet – last one or not – is coming straight for your head. You might be able to dodge it, but then it's gonna travel right to the back of Starfire's cute little head, and I don't think you could live with yourself with a death like that on your conscience. So, big bad voodoo daddy, what's your plan to get out of this situation?"

The echidna was silent for a moment. Slowly, he took his hand off of the bracket, and sighed.

Control Freak was ecstatic. He had forced the hero into a corner: die, risk letting another die, or leave knowing that all of them would suffer because of it. He couldn't have planned it better himself. But that feeling soon dissipated as he watched Knuckles reposition his hand, knuckles facing towards the stage, and took grip once again.

The Mobian slowly crouched down, his face mere inches from the Titan's. "Star, no matter what happens, take out that tank the moment you see light, okay?" he whispered to her.

"Hmm-hm," she said, acknowledging what she had heard.

With that done, Knuckles stood back up, and focused his attention back on fat sad sack in front of him. "To answer your question," he said, defiantly, "I guess that…I'd just have to catch the bullet."

The echidna's defiance stunned Control Freak. This was not how it was supposed to go. Knuckles, it seemed, had turned the situation upside down, and now had him forced into a corner: let the Titans go, or make good on his threat. There seemed only one true option available, and he was going to take it.

"Then so be it," he said, almost regretfully.

And then…came the shot.