"You're closing in on him!" Robin's voice rang from Icon's communicator. Icon was zigzagging past various buildings in his Lepidopterran form. It had started as a nightly patrol, but a local break in at a jewelry store had quickly changed things.

Icon was secretly thankful that this had occurred. A mission like this was what he needed to get his mind off of his recent confrontation with Slade. Icon looked down at the street beneath him with three of his eyestalks while keeping one on the screen of his communicator. He could see a symbol indicating Robin's position. Robin was currently in pursuit of the culprit on his R-Cycle and it was now Icon's job to cut the thief off.

When Icon felt he was close enough, he dove to a lower altitude. He soon saw an odd-looking shadow poking from around a street corner.

"Hello!" Icon fired a large bullet of slime upon catching sight of one of the most bizarre people he had ever met. It was a man, but where a head should have been attached, there was the complete body of a giant spider. Even though Icon had seen him from earlier on in the chase, he was still bewildered by this man-spider.

The man-spider quickly responded with reflexes no less suited to a spider and narrowly dodged Icon's projectile. Icon had just reared back to follow up his attack with another shot when the man-spider retaliated by spitting a white glob at him. The man-spider scored a solid hit and Icon was sent flying backwards into a building.

Icon tried moving but found himself to be completely stuck to the side of the building. He quickly realized just what the man-spider had spat at him. If this hadn't been a mission Icon might have found this funny.

"I'm a bug and I got caught in a web," mused Icon, "Go figure."

Icon turned his head upon hearing a familiar motor and saw Robin riding in from around the corner. "Go get him!" cheered Icon. The man-spider turned to flee upon spotting Robin, sprung onto the side of a building, and began scuttling up the side. Robin drove up to the base of the building and leapt off of his vehicle while reaching for his belt. He fired his grappling hook, which securely latched near the top of the edifice. With the press of a button on the grappling hook's handle, Robin zipped after the man-spider. Suddenly, the man-spider whipped around and fired a pair of twin purple beams from his fangs. The beams struck Robin, whose body immediately became paralyzed upon contact.

"Can't move!" Robin was both astounded and horrified. He was astounded that the man-spider's attack had completely immobilized his body. He was terrified that his limbs had become entirely rigid and that his fingers could no longer grip onto the grappling hook's handle. Robin fell to the ground like a rock.

"ROBIN!" Starfire flew in from seemingly out of nowhere, swooping down and catching Robin moments before he hit the ground. At that instant, the remaining members of the team had caught up with Robin and Starfire. Cyborg, one of the team's medics, examined Robin.

"He is…okay?" Starfire asked anxiously.

"He will be," assured Cyborg. "The venom's effect is only temporary."

"Getting away," groaned Robin. Despite everything, Robin was still able to move his jaw enough to form speech. "We have to—go after him…" He toppled over like a piece of cardboard.

"You mean, we have to go after him," stated Raven as Starfire picked Robin back up.

"You need to chill 'til that stuff wears off," agreed Cyborg.

"But—" Robin began to protest.

"We can handle it," assured Terra.

The guy's got a spider for a head," pointed out Beastboy, "Not like he's gonna be hard to find."

"Hemhem…"

Everyone save for Robin turned his or her head to see an annoyed Icon who was still stuck to the side of a building.

XXX

Roughly an hour later, Cyborg, Raven, and Terra were following a Vulpimancer and a green bloodhound. Icon and Beastboy were each trying to follow the man-spider's scent trail. So far, their search had led the team to the suspension bridge over the city bay. Everyone stopped when a dial on Icon's forelimb began blinking red. Beastboy chose at that moment to change back into his human form.

"Find anything?" asked Cyborg as Icon resumed his own human form in a flash of red light.

"I had his scent, but I lost it," sighed Icon. Everyone then turned to Beastboy.

"Same thing," groaned Beastboy. He scratched the back of his head as he absent-mindedly walked near the edge of the bridge and began taking in the view of the bay. "For a guy with a spider for a head, he can really throw you off."

"First Robin and now this," Raven sighed as she opened her ringing communicator.

"Well," mulled Terra, "I guess it could be worse…"

"Uh, guys…" Beastboy's face suddenly paled.

"What?"

Beastboy pointed to something in the distance. Everyone followed Beastboy's finger and saw what appeared to be a black cloud in the distance that was quickly approaching the bridge. A black cloud that was buzzing!

"Titans," Robin's voice rang from Raven's communicator, "Any luck finding our jewel thief?"

"We found something worse," responded Raven.

The black cloud had arrived close enough to reveal that it was in fact a swarm of unusually large insects. More specifically, they were oversized black and white moths, with sharp mandibles!

"Incoming!"

Groups of the incoming moths began clustering around one of the bridge's cables. They quickly began making short work of the cable, their mandibles chewing through the metal like tissue paper. The cable broke in two in a matter of seconds, causing the bridge to suddenly rock back and forth. The group struggled to maintain their balance as present vehicles were sent sliding as a result of the now tilted street level. The faces of all five teens tensed when they witnessed the moths moving to another cable.

"Teen Titans!" barked Cyborg. "Go!"

Beastboy morphed into a large pterodactyl and took flight alongside Raven as Cyborg simply charged forward with his sonic cannon engaged.

Terra turned to Icon. "I can't use anything from here, this bridge is too unstable!"

Icon observed the scene. Terra was right, an attempt to remove large amounts of cement from a suspension bridge over a bay with Terra's geomancy was risky enough, tampering with this particular bridge would be unthinkable.

"Got it," Icon began acting the moment he heard the beep of the Omnitrix, "Ammo coming up!" After a press of a button, a few twists, a slam on a dial, and a flash of green light, Icon had transformed into a Petrosapien. Icon set a crystal hand to the ground and immediately began growing a very large cluster of crystals. "There," Icon broke his hand away, "That should start you off."

"Terra! Icon!" called Raven. "We need some cover!"

The two turned to see that Raven was raising Cyborg on a platform of dark energy to the cable that the moths were tearing through. Beastboy's pterodactyl beak and claws were already making short work of a number of the moths but there were still many more.

Icon charged forward as Terra began using her geomancy to break off pieces of the crystals she had been supplied. Pieces of crystal soon began flying towards a group of airborne moths as Icon dove into his own group of the moths.

It was like trying to fight through a dense forest. Instead of vegetation, there were giant fuzzy, voracious insects. No matter how many Icon swatted, crushed, sliced through, or struck down with crystal projectiles, there were always seemed to be more. Heck, even the droids he used to fight had never been this numerous. Then again, the alien droids had probably never been breeding in some place.

For a moment, the moths succeeded in burying Icon alive. However, the moths were quickly forced to retreat when a number of their brethren were skewered upon crystal structures that suddenly protruded from Icon's body.

"Boo-yah!"

Icon turned to see that Cyborg had successfully landed onto the bridge after not only clearing away the moths from the second cable, but had also repaired the cable and had taken out even more of the moths in the process of descending. Raven and Beastboy both landed on the ground. The latter was joined by Terra just as he shifted back from his pterodactyl form.

"Did we win?" tentatively asked Icon. He had noticed that the moths appeared to be retreating. The question was answered when everyone looked up at an extra loud buzzing sound. Suspended in the air front of them was another swarm of the moths. This time, the moths appeared to be even more numerous.

Cyborg numbly lifted his forearm to activate his built in communicator. "Uh, we're going to need back up…."

Icon tightened his crystal fists. Even with Robin and Starfire, it would probably take something short of a miracle to fend this swarm off. The entire swarm swooped in.

The fight with the first swarm had been bad enough, but there was almost nothing that could describe the fight with the second swarm. The only words for it were absolute chaos. The swarm literally flooded the bridge.

Cyborg was actually sent back by a mob of the moths, Raven was forced to summon a barrier to shield herself from the wave of moths, Beastboy was barely able to keep one step ahead as a tiger, and Icon had to grow a crystal wall to keep himself and Terra from being swamped by the oncoming bugs.

"I'm really starting to hate bugs," growled Terra as she levitated a few crystals from the makeshift wall. She then proceeded to launch the crystals to skewer a few moths that had come around the wall.

"Next time," Icon smashed an oncoming moth, "Remind me to bring some bug spray…" First, they had had to deal with a man-spider and now they had to deal with this!

The two teens momentarily stopped fighting when a large number of moths presented a united front against them. The most frightening aspect was that this group probably didn't even represent a tenth of the entire swarm.

"Well," Icon melded both of his crystal hands into blades, "It's been fun, Terra." Even though Icon's crystal skin was currently protecting him from being devoured alive by these monstrous moths, he would be vulnerable again in matter of minutes when the Omnitrix's timer ran out.

Terra grimly nodded. "I've have had fun too…"

The two then charged forward, their battle cries ringing through the air. It was then that the moths did the unexpected, they simply rose into the air and left. Icon and Terra stopped in their tracks completely dumbfounded.

The blaring from the red flashing hourglass symbol on Icon's chest was the only thing that broke the silence between the two teens. "What just happened?" asked a confused Icon. He watched as the entire swarm left the abandoned the bridge.

Icon and Terra then proceeded to join Beastboy, Raven, and Cyborg.

"Anyone want to tell me why they just decided to fly off?" Terra was equally quizzical. The swarm had just been on the verge of victory, why on Earth had it retreated?

Raven opened her beeping communicator in response to Terra's question.

"I bought all of you some time," Robin's voice rang over the communicator. Everyone looked over Raven's shoulder just in time to see the face of a black and white humanoid moth appear on the screen of the communicator. "His name's Killer Moth," explained Robin, "He's controlling the mutant insects. Find him and stop him." Killer Moth's image was then replaced by the image of a blonde teenage girl who was wearing a pink band in her hair. "Start your search with her, " continued Robin, "Name's Kitten."

"Who is she?" asked Raven.

"She is a manipulative gremplork not worthy of Robin's time!" Starfire's voice suddenly rang out from the communicator. She sounded unusually irked.

"Gremplork?" Beastboy was baffled by both the term and Starfire's tone of voice.

"She's got some kind of connection to Killer Moth," explained Robin. "Find the connection and I bet you'll find him. Starfire will join you to help with the search."

"Hey, what about you?" Beastboy piped up again. "Aren't you going to help us?"

"I can't," Robin's face twisted into a grimace, "I have a date."

"A what?"

Robin's grimace deepened as he took a deep breath to recount what had happened only a few minutes earlier…

"Uh, we're going to need back up…"

"Right," After recovering from the man-spider's venom at Titan's Tower thanks to Starfire's treatment, Robin had received Cyborg's report through the main computer, "We're on our way."

Robin and Starfire had been about to take off when Killer Moth's image appeared on the main computer.

"Don't bother," declared the mad scientist, "Even if you defeat a few of my children you won't be able to stop me from releasing the entire swarm." Killer Moth stepped out of the way to reveal a collection of large glass pens. Robin and Starfire both tensed at the sight of a multitude of dark masses that were buzzing angrily. "Unless you want your city reduced to a moth-eaten wasteland," continued Killer Moth, "You'll do exactly as I say.

"What do you want?" growled Robin.

"My demands are simple," stated Killer Moth, "The city will declare me ruler, the Teen Titans will surrender, and Robin…"

Robin's posture straightened upon being addressed so specifically. Nothing could have prepared him for what Killer Moth said next.

"…Will…take this lovely young lady to her junior prom."

At that moment, a computer window containing Kitten's image appeared alongside Killer Moth.

"Hi, Robbie-poo!"

XXX

"A date…" mused Icon as he and the rest of the group had just arrived at the main room at Titan's Tower to meet Starfire and to begin with their search. "We nearly get eaten alive over a date!"

"It doesn't get any better than that," Raven seemed to agree with Icon's aggravation.

Cyborg walked over to the main computer. "I'm going to start tracking down that girl's home address," Cyborg began punching in computer keys, "It shouldn't take too long."

"How hard could it be to find her?" laughed Beastboy. "Her name's Kitten!"

Everyone cringed at a loud angry growl that filled the room. All five teens turned to see Starfire standing in the doorway to the main room, fuming! Her eyes were glowing bright green and steam was actually emitting from her clenched fists that were on the verge of forming starbolts.

"Uh, hey, Star," nervously greeted Icon. Unfortunately for Icon, he was both the one that was standing the closest to Starfire and a relatively new member who was not used to the Tamaranean's anger.

Starfire responded by taking a deep breath and unclenching her fists, calming herself down for the time being. "I merely wish to tell all of you," began Starfire, "That I will not be joining you."

"What?" sounded out five surprised voices.

"Robin's orders were to investigate the girl," stated Starfire, "While you investigate her dwellings, I will be investigating her personally…"

"You mean," Terra said slowly, "As in actually going to the prom?"

"As I said," Starfire's eyes narrowed, "I will be investigating her personally." With that she stormed off.

The room was silent for almost a full minute before Icon let out a cough.

"Should we let her go by herself?" asked Icon uncertainly. Icon was normally accustomed to a sweet and bubbly Starfire who was willing to show kindness even to her enemies. Now, she seemed half in mind to rip somebody's head off. Needless to say, this was unnerving Icon.

"He's actually got a point," noted Raven, "One of us should go with her and oversee damage control."

"Who should go?" mused Terra.

"Well," thought Cyborg, "It's gonna have to be somebody who won't stick out too much."

"Somebody who can work with a crowd," said Beastboy, scratching his chin.

"Someone who wouldn't risk destroying everything," commented Terra.

"Someone who would be able to stand up to an alien's strength," added Raven.

"Yeah," murmured Icon inadvertently as he tried deciding who he would cast a vote for regarding the assignment.

"I'm glad you agree," Raven pointed to the door, "Now go get a suit."

"WHAT? ME?" Icon felt his heart nearly stop.

"Your idea," shrugged Terra.

"Relax, you'll be fine," assured Cyborg.

"Wh-what if I get vaporized?" Icon wondered if this was what it was like to go hysterical.

"You won't as long as you don't get in between Starfire and the Kitten girl," Raven took Icon's wrist and began leading him out the door.

"B-but," stuttered Icon as he tried desperately to think of an excuse, "I've never even been to a prom!"

"Gotta start somewhere!" called Cyborg.

Icon let out a small 'meep' before Raven successfully pulled him out the door.

Terra looked to Beastboy. "So, Robin and Starfire…are they, you know?" She brought the two ends of her palms together as if to suggest something.

Beastboy put two hands behind his back and began bouncing on the balls of his feet, giving a sly smirk. "Maybe…"

XXX

"I really don't want to be here…" Icon whispered to himself as he nervously tugged at the collar of a black tuxedo. He was currently standing before a docked cruise ship that was adorned in decorations. The dock was swamped with high school students, all anticipating for the celebration that was awaiting them.

"Stay alert," ordered Starfire as she scanned the crowd, her hands were fiddling with a white carnation. She was dressed in a full-length gown and was wearing a pair of lavender gloves that extended past her elbows. As far as Starfire knew, Icon was currently accompanying her in the investigating Kitten.

Icon decided to take the atmosphere in while he still could. Once Starfire and Kitten were in the same vicinity, any moment could be his last. Sure he had been in danger of certain death before, but something about this felt different somehow.

Maybe it was because Starfire, one of the strongest forces on the planet, was filled with jealous rage that was boiling just below the surface. Maybe it was because unlike the alien droids that used to hunt him, a living being such as Starfire was less predictable. Or just maybe, it was because of his lack of experience with this.

Icon may have been a high school student a relatively short time ago, but he had never been an expert at romance or at these kind of social gatherings. Come to think of it, it had been a while since he had been to any social gathering.

The sound of an engine brought Icon's attention to familiar looking motorcycle that had just been parked near the docks. A tuxedoed figure adorning a red helmet revved off the engine and climbed off the motorcycle. Starfire nearly darted towards the rider as he removed his helmet to reveal a mass of black spiky hair.

Robin sighed as he placed his helmet onto his motorcycle. "Really hoping she doesn't show," Robin groaned to himself.

Icon actually saw Robin flinch from his short distance away when Starfire tapped his shoulder from behind his back.

Robin slowly turned around with a visible grimace on his face, expecting to see the one who had blackmailed him into this date. The grimace vanished in a split second when he saw that the person standing behind him was not Kitten.

"Starfire?" Robin nearly croaked her name. It was taking every ounce of his power to keep his jaw from dropping in astonishment. His Tamaranean teammate certainly looked different tonight.

"On such occasions, I believe it is customary to wear a dead plant," Starfire began gently fixing the carnation she had been holding to the collar of Robin's tuxedo.

"Star," Robin just barely found his voice. He struggled to keep his breathing under control as Starfire's hands brushed against him. "You're supposed to be helping the others track down Killer Moth."

"Your orders were to investigate the girl," stated Starfire. "I intend to investigate her thoroughly." Starfire's face suddenly tensed. "Besides, you may require saving. This Kitten is perhaps some form of ooze monster in disguise. She certainly is ugly like a monster, yes?"

Icon actually let out a small laugh at Starfire's last remark, forgetting his anxiety for an instant.

Robin heard the laugh and looked over Starfire's shoulder. "Icon? What are you doing here?"

"M-me?" Icon was slightly abashed that Robin now knew that he was not helping with the search either. He then decided to come clean and joined Robin and Starfire. "I just came to help."

"Help?" inquired Robin.

A car horn suddenly sounded off. Everyone turned to see a pink limo pulling by the docks. The rear passenger door opened and a blonde haired girl, dressed in a pink strapless dress that was fixed with a white corsage at the front, stepped out of the vehicle. Icon recognized the girl from the image he and the rest of the Titans had been sent over the communicators: Kitten.

"Yoo-hoo! Robbie-poo!" Kitten's voice was like a knife. "Your Kitten has arrived! Me-ow!"

"Second thought," Robin's grimace reappeared, "Maybe I will need saving…"

Icon nervously swallowed despite himself when Robin grudgingly walked away from him and Starfire to join Kitten. The one person that could have calmed Starfire down the most was now leaving to meet the person who was enraging her the most.

My time to shine… Icon grimly thought to himself. He turned to see that Starfire's bottled rage was rising back to the surface.

"So," Icon tried to make conversation, "What's an ooze monster?"

"OH, ROBIN!" Kitten's irritating voice cut through the air. Every person in the vicinity turned to see her fawning over Robin, making it perfectly known to the world who was with her. "You're such a gentlemen! Not at all like my WORTHLESS EX-BOYFRIEND FANG!"

"An ooze monster," growled Starfire as she watched Robin rather stiffly take Kitten by the arm, "Is something that your Pyronite form would be able to deal with…"

"Oh," gulped Icon. He could see that Robin was now forcing himself to wear a smile. Starfire's eyes began glowing green and seemed to be attempting to restrain herself as she made to follow them from a distance.

"Uh," Icon made to follow Starfire in tow. He desperately tried thinking of something that would distract Starfire's attention. "Nice weather we're having."

Starfire passed by the limo that had brought Kitten. The Tamaranean then raised a fist and brought it down onto the hood of the vehicle. The limo was struck with such force that it briefly flipped up onto its front pair of wheels. The body of the vehicle shattered upon coming back into contact with the ground. Starfire then continued walking and made to board the docked cruise ship.

Icon swallowed nervously. "Tonight's going to be a magical evening," he said half ironically and half fearfully to himself.