Lance had just ended his shift at the local deli and was taking off his commissioned hat and apron. "Another day down…" He said to himself dismissively. Lance walked out into the sidewalks as he began to take a stroll in the orange glow that the setting sun had cast over Jump City. It had been two weeks since his arrival to Jump City and Lance had since found employment at the very deli he came to at the beginning of his stay. Normally, he wouldn't have stayed for this long of a period of time, but his money had been running low and Lance had to replenish it. Necessities were not cheap, no matter how bare they were. Lance cut his walk short when something caught the side of his eye. "Hello…" He grinned when he saw the top of a Ferris wheel. After what he had been through, Lance felt now would be a good time for a little break…A few fun filled hours later, Lance found himself on the top of the Ferris wheel, enjoying the fireworks show. He was leaning back into his seat, appreciating how normal this day had been. He then heard a small gasp.

"Beautiful…Tell me again what they are called." called out a sweet voice.

"Fireworks." responded a familiar voice. Lance looked down from his seat to see Robin and Starfire seated below him.

Starfire suddenly tensed. "On my home planet, such explosions would mean Gordanians were attacking…you are certain Earth is not under attack?"

"Positive," assured Robin, "Cotton candy?" He offered a large pink piece of fluff to Starfire.

The tamaranean seemed hesitant. "The last time I ate a ball of cotton, it was white, and it did not taste very—"

"This is different," reassured Robin as he offered the cotton candy to Starfire again. Starfire took a piece and placed it in her mouth, enjoying the treat. She let out a surprised squeal. "It vanished!"

"Yeah," Robin smiled, "It'll do that." Starfire then resumed watching the fireworks. "When I first came to this planet," she seemed reminiscent, "I did not think that I would ever fit in, Earth was full of strange things, but now I see that—"

"Here comes the finale!" Cut in Robin as a new barrage of fireworks lit the night sky. Starfire smiled, "Earth is full of amazing things too."

"Best planet I've ever been to," remarked Robin as he leaned back into his seat.

Lance chuckled at the comment as he settled into his own seat, enjoying the view. He then spotted three familiar figures next to a booth of some sort. It appeared that Beastboy had won a game of some sort and as a result had received a large stuffed chicken, which he had given to Raven, who looked less than thrilled. Cyborg simply watched in amusement as Raven rolled her violet eyes. Violet eyes, Lance had never seen violet eyes…

"STARFIRE!" Lance's head whipped around in response to Robin's yell to see Starfire being carried off by what appeared to be some robotic space octopus that was now flying past the docks. So much for the little break…

XXX

Starfire struggled as she was held in the pink tentacles of her captor. Finally, she decided to gather starbolt energy into the palm of her hand. "Wherever you are taking me, I do not wish to go!" Upon saying this Starfire let loose a wave of energy at the robot's body that caused the tentacles to loosen their hold on her. Starfire took the opportunity to fly free and began zooming back to the carnival grounds. As she tried to make her escape, Starfire shot a number of starbolts at her pursuer. But the strange machine continued to hound the girl. "No more chasing now, please." Starfire tried reasoning with it. Her words fell on deaf ears. Starfire finally made it back to the docks, zipping past her teammates whom had all congregated to assist her, with the robotic space octopus still on her tail.

"Who's her new best friend?" commented Beastboy.

"Don't know, but I can't wait to meet him…" responded Robin as he began cracking his knuckles. Starfire then led the robot space octopus around the Ferris wheel in an attempt to out maneuver her pursuer, not noticing what appeared to be a small gray frog-like creature hopping down from Ferris wheel seat to Ferris wheel seat.

"Of all the times for this thing to go on the fritz…" Lance squeaked in an irritated manner. Lance had been hoping to transform into the giant winged insect, but instead the device on his wrist had turned him into a miniscule amphibian. This wasn't the first time, but the whole thing was unpleasant nonetheless. Lance looked up as he saw Starfire and the strange machine flew around the Ferris wheel. Lance made one massive bound and landed on the robot space octopus. "Is this ride taken?" Lance asked the robot. "Hm, you're a little fast for my taste…" Lance crawled down the robot's side until he was at the point where the tentacles met the body. "Hope you don't mind me making a few adjustments!" A small gray frog then crawled into the midst of the tentacles. Lance started humming a working tune as he pulled off a small latch from the base of the machine and plunged his hand into a bundle of wires. After plucking a few selected targets, Lance poked his out of the tentacles to check his progress. The wind was not striking his face as hard as before, the robot space octopus was slowing down! Lance smiled. "Heheh, I can't break you down, but I can shut you off—" Lance was cut off by his own horrified squeak when the robot space octopus came within range of the Titans. Lance narrowly avoided a pair of crocodile jaws as the robot narrowly zoomed past Beastboy and was pelted with the debris of a hotdog cart that Raven levitated into the machine. Lance was then jerked forward as Cyborg grabbed the tentacles of the robot space octopus. Perhaps making the robot space octopus an easier target had worked too well…

"Don't know what you did to make this thing mad, Star," grunted the mechanized teen as he pulled back on a set of tentacles, "But it couldn't hurt to apologize."

"I am…sorry?" said Starfire, half hopeful that the robot would then cease its chase. The robot space octopus broke loose of Cyborg's grip and flew forward. Robin responded quickly, pulling out his bo-staff. With one massive swing, Robin sent the robot over the edge of the dock and into the water. Beastboy looked over the edge of the dock.

"So," The changeling began, "Did we just win?" Beastboy's question was answered when the robot space octopus smashed through the dock floor and resumed its pursuit of Starfire. Robin charged forward again and leapt onto the mystery opponent.

"Don't see an off switch…" Robin said to himself as he ripped off the tip on the front end of the robot space octopus. "So I guess I'll have to make one!" Robin ripped out a number of wires from the inside of the robot and leapt away.

The wires fell past a pair of spherical eyes. "Huh, a piece of the probe's stabilizing system," mused Lance, who despite everything was still clinging to the robot space octopus, quite unnoticed, "Guess that's my cue to go." The robot space octopus had just shot itself straight up into the air. Lance made a massive jump as the robot went off like the carnival fireworks.

Robin landed beside Starfire. "Whatever that thing was," he said seriously, "It can't hurt you now."

"But…" Starfire began tentatively, "Why did it wish to hurt me at all…?" Starfire's head then perked up.

"Star? What is it?" asked Robin. Starfire made a small frown as she looked over her shoulder.

"I…thought I heard…something." The Tamaranean could have sworn she had heard something that sounded like a tiny scream and then an equally miniscule splash.

XXX

Lance fought his way to one of the docks as he was tossed about by ripples in the ocean water. He finally managed to grab a hold onto a piece of rope that had been left dangling over the edge. Breathing heavily out of exhaustion, Lance observed the surroundings with his bulbous yellow eyes. "Judging from the trajectory of my jump and considering the extra amount of force added…I have been sent approximately six meters from my point of origin." Lance began climbing up the piece of rope when the hourglass symbol on his back began flashing red. By the time he had gotten up onto the dock, Lance was a human who was now thoroughly soaked.

Lance began making his way back to his lodgings, teeth chattering and arms wrapped around his body as he walked down the streets. What a night! He came to a carnival hoping for fun and relaxation, only to have all this happen! Not only did he wind up making a fool of himself in attempting to assist Starfire, but now he had something new to worry about: the presence of the robot space octopus. Whatever it had been, it had definitely been extraterrestrial. Lance wanted to avoid areas of such attention. If some alien mechanical cephalopod could just show up, then perhaps other varieties of alien technology would follow. Before his arrival to Jump City, Lance had had a decent number of skirmishes with mechanical probes. For quite some time a group of droids had been hunting him, apparently for something on his left wrist, or at least he assumed so…the first time the droids ever appeared was when he had first come into contact with the watch. Now, he just might have to look forward to another encounter, and such encounters usually didn't end well in populated areas…Lance would probably have to leave as soon as he accumulated enough money again. The noise of shoes hitting pavement brought Lance's attention back to his surroundings.

Lance looked up to see someone standing in front of him who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. The new arrival was a girl in her late teens who was dressed in a black and silver suit. She had long straight black hair that somehow had a shade of purple as well as a pair of purple eyes. Oddly enough, the girl looked almost exactly like Starfire. "Excuse me." Lance said to the girl as he made to move around her, but the girl merely sidestepped to block his path, saying nothing. Lance decided to move in another direction, but again the girl stopped him. "Uh," Lance was beginning to feel strangely nervous, "Can I help you?" His question was answered when he felt himself caught full blown on the mouth. Lance felt himself grow rather hot in the face despite the fact that he had been chilled to the bone earlier.

The girl quickly broke away. "Thanks for the help!" she said flirtatiously as she lightly tapped Lance's nose with a single finger. The girl then rose into the air and flew off into the night. Lance looked on in shock as his mind tried to grasp what had just happened. Who was that girl? Why did she just do what she did? Did she just fly away? She looked a lot like Starfire…perhaps she was another tamaranean; that would explain her ability to fly. But still, what had that been about? This had been a very strange and eventful night indeed. Lance shook his head. Enough of that, he had bigger things to worry about, such as leaving, and quickly…