When Ravager's Gunning For You

Things really were different in the city, weren't they? Back home, when the sun set and the moon rose, night taking over the sky, it got plenty dark. Not in an American city, though. No, it was lit up, stable electricity keeping the lights on from the tallest skyscraper to the streets below.

Miguel did not know if he could stop marveling at it. Look at him, a village yokel gawping at a city of lights. Every city he had been through on this journey of his had been different and Jump City was no different.

In fact, when he first arrived, he had noted how some of the buildings looked a little odd. Someone had taken some creative liberties with them. The oddest was a building that looked like a T and was on some kind of island off the coast.

Now, he was sure this city was the place. He hoped. But here, here was where he could find some help. A lead perhaps. He needed to figure out a way to find that group of superheroes, the ones he had seen more and more of the further north he had gone. All of it pointed to this city, and he had been picking up little tidbits here and there about what people thought of them

Let's say he had heard some bad stuff, but that mainly came from adults. Anytime he was close to people his age, whether it was because they were crossing paths, he happened to be standing nearby, or they were way too loud and not using their inside voices, the opinions were much more positive…and there were always some others who made fun of them.

What mattered was that people were talking about them. They were some kind of deal, so he was going to have to find and meet up with them somehow. However it was, there needed to be some style to it, he felt. Just showing up on someone's doorstep, no warning? Where was the pizazz to that?

Distantly, he heard a loud, shrill sound, one that had the Mexican national looking around for the source. Ever since he had entered this country, it was a sound he had been hearing more and more frequently, especially in the cities. It was only thanks to the knowledge granted to him by television that he had a good guess that it was a siren.

When flashes of red and blue began to feature in his vision, it seemed to confirm what TV had told him. Then the sight of a racing police car flashed into view and was gone just as quickly. Now, Miguel wasn't so far out of it that he didn't recognize that there was some kind of emergency going on. Cop cars didn't use sirens or flashing lights for no reason. The reason wasn't always a good one, like enforcing the law, and when south of the American border, you had to consider a need to exert power as a reason for those lights and that siren to ring out.

A need to exert power that could be supplemented with a bribe if you happened to have enough on you for one. American programming liked to say that wasn't the case up here, but that didn't remove any of the tension he felt.

Still, where was the policia heading in a hurry this late at night? If they were chasing someone, he had been a bit late in spotting any fleeing cars. If this wasn't a chase, then there had to be an emergency elsewhere, right?

There was another sound, one that had an element of thunder to it. However, it couldn't be thunder, though how could you tell if there was cloud coverage with all the light pollution? No, there was a distinctive boom to this thunder. Some kind of explosive? Well, now he was curious. Really curious.

And thoughtful. Because if there was an emergency, would that not bring out those Teen Titans he was looking for?

Maybe he should check this out.

They no longer made cars out of steel. It was closer to plastic, though some manufacturers took the pain to make it look as close to metal as possible. Whether that was why the sword stabbed cleanly into the cop car could be argued at a later time.

As long as it wasn't his body, then Red Robin didn't give two shits about what cars were made of. This new guy was out for his blood, and the smirk this man wore was now a bloodthirsty grin. Without pulling the sword out of the car, the new guy rotated his wrists, turning the blade, then shoved to the right, heading for the masked teen.

Electric current still ran through his cape, and so the teen vigilante brought up his arm and shield both. A strong force impacted his cape and pushed against him. His booted feet skidded against asphalt, and then he went with the force, going into a roll and putting some distance between himself and his newest attacker.

He barely saw the long gash tearing through the side of the police car when he practically bent backwards as a sword slice nearly nicked him in the neck. Okay, this guy was fast and aggressive, not letting up in the slightest. Unable to keep his balance, his back met with the ground and he rolled to aside as a long sword blade stuck down where he had laid.

The masked teen's legs ran into his attacker's, and without a thought, he crossed one ankle over the other, tangling his feet with the sword-wielding man's. The teen's knees bent, his jaw clenched as he felt the strain in his legs, but then he succeeded in pulling the man's leg out from under him.

A red-gloved hand planted itself on the ground, the arm it was attached to bore the weight of an adult body as the new guy here balanced on it. A red-booted foot tore out of Red Robin's legs, and then the man pushed up with his arm, practically doing a one-handed cartwheel before landing back on his feet.

It would have been an impressive feat to see, if one had taken the time to watch. Starfire's combat lessons had drilled enough subconscious movement into him, that the teen vigilante had been a bit more focused on slipping out a few birdarangs. Two were the normal brand, but a third was the brand new electrical kind.

While the new attacker here was settling onto his feet, Red Robin had scrambled back onto his and had thrown out his projectiles, the two regulars first with the shocking kind third. However, it seemed this guy had been doing more than a one-handed cartwheel; his other hand had been pulling out throwing daggers, and four were launched with a swipe of an arm.

The guy had some accuracy. All three birdarangs were struck, the third giving an outburst of voltage, but the fourth was homing in on the masked teen. He was quick enough to block with his cape, and still his defense held while the sharp blade bounced off of it. Unfortunately, that blocked off sight of the masked man who used the opportunity to pick up his dropped sword. Huh, wonder when that had happened.

Another birdarang flew, this of the explosive variety. Red Robin clenched his teeth as the throwing projectile was sliced in half without a detonation, the two halved pieces flying by their target harmlessly.

Though there was an urge for panic, Red Robin kept his cool. So far, this guy had shown some skill. No powers so far, but that didn't mean anything yet. It just meant this guy knew how to fight with some other party tricks thrown in, and more than likely an ace or two up his sleeve. His body was tense, waiting for the next assault. If he could somehow remove the sword from play, maybe some hand-to-hand combat could turn this around.

The masked attacker lunged forth once more, the city lights glinting off the blade. The masked teen waited until the first slice came, and then he was dodging to his right, leaning back to evade the following thrust, and back off as the thrust changed into a slash then redirected into another one.

No one taught you how to deal with swords nowadays. Maybe that was something he could bring up with Starfire later. Until then, he spun out of the way of the latest slash, jumping as he did so and kicking himself off the side of the stationary transport van. He didn't go far, just enough to get over the sword and allow gravity to bring him down, landing on the flat side of the blade and forcing its sharp tip to stab into the pavement below.

Up close, he noticed the eyes of this masked man, how they were covered much like Batman's with some kind of lens, though these were red instead of white, and they seemed to narrow and widen much like how a human's eyes would, whether it was in focus or in surprise. Right now, they were slightly bigger, surprised at the masked teen's maneuver. Who was the teen vigilante to resist the opening?

A punch landed in the side of the masked attacker's head, jerking it slightly to a side. Red Robin followed up with a second punch from the opposite side, then slipped his hands around to the back of the masked head and pulled it down, bringing his knee up to ram it into a masked face.

He kicked off of the sword, landing one last kick into the man's chin, flipping over himself until landing gracefully several feet away. Lastly, he threw out one more birdarang, one that successfully hit the sword's pommel and the resulting detonation flung the weapon out of the man's hands. The blade clattered away, and now his opponent was fully open.

Until he wasn't. This guy had a quick recovery time, and the teen vigilante had yet to fully time it. However, it wasn't a backup sword or more throwing daggers that this man whipped out of his personal, portable arsenal.

It was a gun.

Well shit, he was one of those guys, wasn't he? Up came his hardened cape and down into a crouch he went as the first bullets struck his defense. His arms trembled from the force of the fired projectiles striking his shield and already he was trying to think of how to deal with this development.

It was a pistol, one that held some firepower and based on his previous actions, this masked man more than likely had the skill to shoot down whatever Red Robin could throw at him. As a distraction, some birdarangs could work, and there was a chance that the explosive kind could block off sight of the masked teen. However, that was a catch-22 as he wouldn't be able to see his attacker.

Before he could settle on a course of action, someone else had decided on theirs. Because his cape was blocking most of his sight—he was going to need to figure out something with that—clattering hooves were charging along with a not-quite battle cry.

"Hey! That's a foul! No guns allowed!"

A green bighorn ram ran at the masked attacker from behind, head lowered so that large, curling horns were angled ahead and woe be to anyone who happened to be in their way. The masked man looked over his shoulder, then leapt up into the air, going right over Beast Boy like an acrobat. His well-built body was flipping and when his upper body was perpendicular with the pavement below, the man aimed his gun right for the back of the shapeshifter's head.

Red Robin's eyes widened in horror. He was pulling his arms back and away, removing his cape from its defensive position while reaching for a birdarang. He was going to be too slow, even with a shouted warning to Beast Boy to do anything, just don't get hit. He still tried, his mouth opening to scream out a warning.

The man's trigger finger was, of course, faster, the gunshot blasted out a deadly bullet that was heading forth to make itself home in the back of Beast Boy's head. The whole world seemed to slow down somewhat, as if to stretch this moment out for as long as possible. Even though he couldn't see it, Red Robin knew that bullet was getting closer and closer, and he was absolutely powerless to do anything about it.

But Kid Flash wasn't.

Bullets were fast, the actual gunshot was the bullet itself breaking the sound barrier. Speedsters broke the sound barrier all the time and without the sonic boom. It was child's play for Kid Flash to race over and pluck the bullet out of midair, moving and changing its trajectory so that the tiny projectile hit and stuck itself into asphalt where it could hurt no one.

This all took place in less than a second, and in the next one Red Robin felt relief once he recognized the yellow blur.

Energy that could only be that of the Speed Force practically crackled around Kid Flash's body as the speedster regarded the masked man who was completing his flip and landing on the ground. In a tone of voice that held none of the joviality that he was known for, Kid Flash said, "That was mode. Very, very mode. I don't think I like you."

Meanwhile, Beast Boy had to put the brakes on his speed, digging hoofs into asphalt to slow down before throwing his four-legged body around into a spin and finding the traction he needed. Nostrils were flaring and his ram chest expanded and contracted with each breath he took. Even he knew how close that had been and so his usual joke was not said this time around.

It felt as if a line had been crossed. Yes, this wasn't the first time their lives had been on the line, but perhaps it was how close of a call it had been.

The masked man smirked. "You're the fast one. You're gonna be the hardest one to take down. Let's see how fast you are."

There was cockiness and arrogance in that voice. For some reason, it put Red Robin on edge. Yeah, Kid Flash was the fastest here. His speed was his greatest strength and there were very few ways, if any, to counter it. Really, the most surefire way was another speedster. This new guy hadn't shown any speed outside of his fighting skills, and even then those movements could be tracked. Add to the fact that Kid Flash wasn't making any kind of banter or jokes meant he was taking this seriously, which was never a good thing for the person who earned it.

So why wasn't this guy more worried?

The masked man held up his gun, aimed right at the speedster. It was too predictable of what was going to happen next. The gunshot rang out, Kid Flash went on the move, barely leaving a blue this time, bullets whizzed through the air, and then there was a loud crash as a police car across the lot, its side crumpling in on itself.

It had happened so fast, and then Red Robin saw the yellow and red body embedded in the car. What the hell?

Eyes were drawn back to their foe, and then down to red-booted feet. Around him was something new, something blue in color, and it was all over the ground. He had no idea what that stuff was but it looked solid, almost reflective. All he knew was that whatever it was, it hadn't been there before…so when had it gotten there and did it have anything to do with Kid Flash being embedded in a car?

"That worked better than I thought it would." From a red-gloved hand, a small squeeze bottle was tossed aside like litter. "Doesn't look like he'll be getting up anytime soon. I can hold off on killing him until I deal with you." That smirk was back, but it looked more like a grin.

Eyes flickered to follow the discarded bottle, and just as quickly returned to the masked man. His body remained tense, already figuring that this fight wasn't over yet. First and foremost, something had to be done about the gun still in play. However, the man had some good accuracy. Maybe if he could get him distracted…

"Did anyone ever tell you you're a douchebag?" Beast Boy snapped, glaring at the masked man. The shapeshifter had resumed his humanoid form at some point so no animal features to hide away the open expression of anger.

"Only when I was kicking their asses online," the masked man shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not called the Ravager for nothing."

Okay, so this guy had a name and it was the Ravage—

"Oh that is bullshit!" Beast Boy interrupted his internal thoughts. "You can't call yourself that!"

"And why not?" Ravager challenged. "Oh, is that your online handle too?"

"No, it's the name of a group of killers for one!" the green shapeshifter argued. "I would know! I was part of it! We worked for Brother Blood! So that name's already taken! This is like copyright infringement! Tell him Red!"

"Funny. Never heard of them, so I guess that they weren't really a big deal," Ravager taunted back. "Not that I'm surprised. You said you were one of them, right? Case proven."

"I'll show you," the changeling growled and Red Robin felt the need to groan.

"Don't listen to him, he's baiting you!" he warned. "He doesn't want you thinking straight."

"He's doing a good job," Beast Boy growled.

Ravager snorted. "So that's it then? Lucky me, I don't have to go to you." The pistol was leveled steadily at the two Titans. Red Robin scowled, an arm ready to swing up and deflect the inevitable shot. Too much attention was on them.

Which was why the red and gold lasso looped around Ravager's gun-wielding arm without him responding to its intervention. The rope pulled up, and the jerk it caused had the gun firing up into the air. The masked attacker snapped his head upwards where Wonder Girl hovered in the air, her grip tight on her lasso.

There was the distraction, but it was Beast Boy who took advantage first. A green, shifting blur charged forth, a bull rushing its way with its head down. The clattering hooves alerted Ravager to what was coming his way, but instead of freezing, the masked man reached up with his other arm and grabbed the red and gold rope.

Red Robin thought he was going to try and pull Wonder Girl down to use as a cushion, but instead Ravager pulled himself up, practically climbing up the mystical rope with no apparent effort. This meant that he full out avoided Beast Boy's charge, the green bovine trying to slow down but then the hooves slipped against that blue substance on the ground. Several hundred pounds of FDA unapproved beef went tumbling over itself.

Meanwhile, Ravager was scurrying his way up Wonder Girl's lasso and was making incredible time. The armored blonde seemed bewildered, but her cool didn't remain gone forever. She heaved up with her arms, bringing the masked attacker up to level all the quicker. Drawing a fist back, she readied then threw a punch right for her moving target.

Said moving target blocked, catching her fist with his bigger one. There was an "oof" that came out of him, but now he used the outstretched arm to throw himself up higher, using Wonder Girl as a fulcrum. The barrel of the gun was inches away from her face, and once more time seemed to slow down…

Abruptly, Ravager acrobatically twisted his body around Wonder Girl's, his intent becoming obvious as the armored blonde bore the brunt of the large boulder that smashed into them.

Propelled away, the masked attacker leapt off the armored blonde and began his descent to the ground below. At this point, Red Robin flung out a few birdarangs to hopefully take that gun out of the picture and ignoring the apology that Terra was shouting to Wonder Girl.

To his frustration, Ravager didn't miss a beat, shooting each birdarang to pieces. However, the throwing projectiles ended up serving as a distraction than what the masked teen had initially intended. A Starbolt blazes its way onto the scene and struck the pistol, finally getting a cry of surprise from the masked man.

Starfire tackled the man in midair and did not stop until they collided with a building that bordered the lot. Bricks and mortar cratered inwards, but did not fully collapse. This left Ravager to be held up by them as a result, and also led to a series of attacks between the two combatants.

Starfire was using a series of punches, jabs, and blocks while Ravager reciprocated. Parries redirected orange-skinned fists, bodily evasions dodged red-gloved punches and elbow strikes, and two pairs of arms were near blurs from the speed of the back and forth.

After one block that caused both of the Tamaranean's arms to be either embedded in brick and mortar or redirected far from her body, Ravager brought up his legs kicked with both of his feet, slamming his booted heels into her stomach with enough force to jackknife her body. Then, repeating the move Red Robin had used on shield guy earlier, the masked man slammed both of his palms either side of Starfire's head, right where her ears were.

Then, to add one last insult, he brought her face down onto his bent knee, pulled up, then slammed down one more time. One of his legs slipped out, ramrod straight, then swung and batted the dazed Tamaranean away. The masked attacker threw himself off the building he had been pinned to and landed on top of the transport van.

Crouching low on the van's roof, the man continued to smirk, and it was starting to boil Red Robin's blood. Alright, time to get back into this thing.

He pulled out what looked like a baton, but simply twisting the ends caused it to lengthen into a bo staff. Part of the training with Starfire included learning how to use this weapon, and while he associated it with Huntress more than himself, it didn't hurt to learn a few other ways to fight. He just preferred long-ranged and his fists. Well, time to try this out.

Ravager had seen the staff come out, and then leapt off the top of the transport van. Red Robin went running, hoping to intercept, and pumped his legs as hard as he could to do so. He could practically see it in his mind, that he was going to arrive right as this asshole landed and so he adjusted his grip on the expandable staff, trying to time this just right.

The older man was just about to land, and that was the moment that Red Robin went on the attack, swinging the staff. He landed a hit, but it wasn't into Ravager's body. No, somehow, don't ask the masked teen how, but Ravager had one of his legs raised up high, like at an angle some yoga master would be capable of. The vigilante's pelvis ached at the sight. But it was the fact that the bottom of a red boot was blocking the bo staff that drew most of his attention.

Only the gleam of light gave him any warning and the staff was pulled back to defend against the sword that was now back in this man's hands. Oh, he felt the force from that blow! Even the ends of his staff were trembling as it worked out the kinetic energy.

And then it was a flurry of slashes, stabs, and slices. The teen vigilante's eyes were wide, his teeth clenched, and his arms burning from the constant movements he had to make for every single block. Was it him or had this guy gotten much faster? You'd think that would be a strange thought, but no, he was starting to think his eyes weren't making it up when a particular slash screeched against the shaft of his bo staff only to smoothly move up and reverse and nearly get his cheek.

Backing away, Red Robin sought to gain a little distance, both to regroup and to recover, but Ravager came right at him. At least, that's how it started. Abruptly, Ravager spun on his heel and ducked under the three large rocks that had been hurtling at him from behind. Unfortunately, that meant that Red Robin was in the middle of one of the rocks' path.

Without thinking, he slid both hands down the shaft of his staff and swung, striking the rock heading for him and changing its trajectory. Ravager was turning back towards him and was struck in the torso, giving an "oomph!" while being knocked off his feet. Distantly, he could see Terra staring at them, surprise clearly on her face, but then it was quickly replaced with determination.

Asphalt was torn apart and more rocks floated out and into the air. They were flung at Ravager as quickly as Terra could manage while the winded man rolled along the ground to avoid them. Several of the rocks headed for Red Robin who repeated the same action with his staff and redirected as many as he could towards their opponent.

As if learning from the first time, Ravager only seemed to speed up and so avoid the earthy projectiles coming at him from two directions. Too bad for him, he wasn't quick enough to avoid all as one particular staff swing managed to hit a particularly hard stone into the man's ankle.

To his credit, Ravager was able to get back onto his feet when it soon became clear he was running out of space to roll. The damage to his ankle became evident as much of his weight was being put on his uninjured leg, a slight wobble in the man's posture giving it all away.

Support arrived for the sword-wielding man, but maybe not the kind of support he was expecting. Emerging from the shadows in the lot, pure black reared up and wrapped around both lower legs. Ravager's head snapped downwards, then quickly scanned the area until Raven was spotted, her cloak billowing about her.

Behind Red Robin, he heard the sound of an engine rumbling, one that soon came with a voice. "What the hell's going on here? Who's this guy and why does he look like he caused half the mess around here?" Cyborg had finally arrived, and the T-car was with him, blocking the lot gate that was slowly closing behind it, more than likely hacked by the cybernetic teen so that he didn't have to blow a hole into it. The shifting of foreign metal told the masked teen that Cyborg was shifting an arm, readying for a fight.

It seemed like the tables were starting to turn with four—correction, Wonder Girl was floating closer from above with her lasso in hand. That made five Titans ready for a brawl with this party crasher. Good. Red Robin was starting to feel a little tired right now.

Aloud, "It's over. Give yourself up!" he barked out.

Ravager looked like he was doing his best to keep an eye on the five standing/hovering Titans. Terra and Wonder Girl made that quite a feat to accomplish from their current positions.

Then, the man gave a chuckle. "That's funny. You think I'm done? Nah. Just for tonight. I got your measure. Next time, I'm going in for the kill."

"There's not going to be a next time," Cyborg retorted. "The only choices you got is either a nice little jail cell or a hospital room. Your pick."

"And I pick door number three!" Ravager crowed as an arm threw up into the air a small canister—

There was a flash. There was a bang. Blindness and ringing ears followed, and Red Robin couldn't hear anything else. The pain was too great and thanks to that flashbang grenade—oh crap, they were sitting ducks!

Blinded and deaf, Ravager could come on all of them and slice them to pieces with that sword! Quick, get your bearings—NOW! It took such an effort to crack open his eyes, but vision was not restored and pain, so much pain it caused his eyelids to tightly shut again.

The only thing lessening was the ringing in his ears, but he still couldn't hear anything else. He had to fight through this, fight through this now, before he lost his head or…

It was too slow. Everything was too slow to return, but when he finally managed to wretch his eyes open, all he could see was purple.

Wait. Purple?

Now he was blinking his eyes, as if that would dispel the sight, but no, the purple didn't go away. Details were coming into focus, such as the fact that it wasn't a solid color, but transparent. And there were rectangular patterns similar to that of bricks which…what was the explanation for that?

Last but not least, he found the tip of a sword inches away from his face and caught between these transparent, purple bricks and held tightly between them. Because of the transparency, he could make out the look of surprise on Ravager's face.

The pieces were starting to fall into place. With the flashbang grenade doing its work, Ravager had attempted to take advantage of it to take off the teen vigilante's head. The masked would-be killer had not anticipated the bricks appearing—out of nowhere?—and capturing his blade in the process.

"Yeah, I am going to guess that you're not one of the good guys," an accented voice spoke…from above?

Red Robin's head tilted back, looking up until he found more of those transparent, purple bricks hovering in the air with what looked like a new guy standing on them. That hoodie looked way too loose, and he must have been boiling in the California heat while wearing it. And were those blue jeans? Who was this guy?

Well, it seemed he wasn't after them, yet. But that could change, couldn't it? Right now, Ravager here was the bigger threat, or so he hoped.

The surprise finally wiped itself off of the masked man's face, and with great effort, he pulled his sword out of the purple mass of bricks. Before he could do anything, like attack, Ravager had to take off into a run as more of those bricks formed out of thin air and crashed down where the older man had been standing. More clumps of them materialized and gave chase, keeping Ravager on the defensive and having to swipe at any that got too close.

With one last leap, the man in black and silver leapt up and back, landing on top of the wall that blocked off the lot. He looked like he wanted to keep fighting, and his mouth moved as if he was speaking to himself. The silver-colored masked head tilted back to regard the new arrival, what facial features that were visible hardened, and then he was dropping behind the wall and out of sight.

Red Robin jerked forward but stopped himself. Chasing after a man like that, especially now that he was out of sight, was too dangerous. He could be waiting for any of them to jump over and then they'd be at a disadvantage. Also, that wall of bricks that had protected him was still in his way.

There were still over options, to one of them he turned. "Cyborg, can you see if he's still hanging around?"

Cyborg rubbed at his single human eye, still getting over the aftereffects of the flashbang. "Yeah, give me a sec." The human eye might be suffering, but the robotic one was still functional, it had to be.

Which now left the masked teen with one other matter. Looking up, he watched as the newcomer descended, and the number of those strange bricks began to dwindle, dissolving into nothing. He was getting a better look at this newcomer who he could see had brown skin and dark hair. His face was somewhat long, but there was a ruggedness to them that he was sure would attract quite a few girls.

Friendly brown eyes greeted him. "Your gratitude is not needed, but very welcome. You look like the guys I'm looking for."

Wariness returned as Cyborg announced, "He's long gone. If Wykkyd was around, he could've been teleported away."

Right. There was a noticeable lack of fighting. A quick look around only gave away the sight of damaged cars and torn up pavement. The cops were starting to peek back in too, still armed, but by all accounts it seemed they had gone for cover once the fighting became too chaotic. Then there was the transport van—

—which had its rear doors torn open and was completely empty.

Damn it. Ravager must have been the true distraction. While he occupied their time, the rest just needed to stall long enough to move under their noses and free their captured comrades. And they had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker.

This left only one thing that the teen vigilante could do.

"Who are you and what do you want?" he demanded of the newcomer. His voice had come out rough, a sign that he was overly stressed by all the new developments.

This new guy didn't seem offended. "I'm new in town. The name's Miguel, and I am hoping you're the guys called the Teen Titans. I need your help with something."

Right now, Red Robin didn't know what to make of that. This Miguel was looking for them and wanted their help? And he makes himself known with those strange bricks and cutting in before a certain sword could cut him… There was a lot that was going over his head currently. He needed to clear his mind and focus on what he needed to do.

Glancing to the others who were either blinking away the last of the flashbang's effects or pulling themselves out of all the wreckage strewn about, he was able to at least come up with the first steps to take.

"We need to get back to the Tower. Get everyone checked over." To Miguel, "I don't know who you are, if you're a threat, but right now, this is not the time or place to talk business. If you want, come with us, but stay out of the way and don't try anything funny."

Miguel held his hands up. "I don't do anything funny unless it involves my little sister."

That was so very encouraging. Wonder Girl seemed to agree with that as she landed right next to him and said uncharacteristically softly, "Are you sure about this? You don't know who this is. None of us do."

He thought back to that sword tip inches from his face. If those bricks hadn't appeared, he wouldn't be standing here. "Best to keep an eye on him in a place that we're in control of," he whispered back. "If it comes to it, we'll take him down too. We'll see what he has to say first."

"Is that because he kept your face from becoming a scabbard?" the armored blonde remarked, but she pulled away before he could retort. Not that he had a good retort in the first place.

Nearby, Beast Boy was approaching, Kid Flash's arm slung over his shoulders while the speedster looked like he was still in a daze. The green shapeshifter glanced between the masked teen, Wonder Girl, and Miguel, his green eyes curious.

"Okay, so what did I miss?" the changeling asked aloud.