I think I've figured out what this communicator's supposed to do. It connects you to Titans Tower. I think.

Yeah… I obviously don't have anything together yet.

What I do know is that Lewa's joined a team. A Toa team. Can you believe that, dear reader? He'd acted like he was never going to be in one again, and now he is. Hypocrite.

Oh, by the way, that's where he is. Titans Tower. 'Home of the Teen Titans', is what the ads always say. They really seem to love these guys here. Shirts. Magazines. Posters. Books. Interviews. I don't even know what half of those things are!

I've been trying to contact him for a while now, but it looks like something is wrong with the feed. I can't get through. Something must be bugging it. You'd expect better from the guy who was built like a freaking robot.

They're nice people, anyway.

"Pull! Pull!"

Tahu Mata Nuva couldn't believe he was doing this.

"I can't believe I'm doing this."

Of course they had managed to find Pohatu. The Toa of Fire just couldn't process why he had been hiding in the mountains, of all places.

Gali, concerned as always, had rushed up to the foot, packed snow crunching behind her. There seemed to be nothing else there beside it. She reached down with her Toa Tool to brush the area around the-

"I would very much like it if you leave that part alone, sister!"

"Aaaah!"

The Toa all winced and jumped back a bit, surprised by the sudden complaint. Then Gali touched the ground again…

"Important note:" the voice spat sardonically, "I wasn't kidding. Stay off."

"Pohatu?"

"Yes, it's me!"

The Toa of Water gaped. "But… what are you doing in the snow?"

Pohatu sighed, wiggling his foot around a bit. "Well… It's complicated. I was walking back to the Po-Matoran sector, thinking over the whole mess that happened back in our little brother's hut, when-"

"We have no time for complicated!" Tahu yelled. "The Gordanians have already left our planet and we need to find a way to get to them NOW!"

"Wait… what? Could you explain further?"

"We…" A sigh. "It's not important. If you want to tell us how you got here, could you please go quicker?"

Pohatu smiled, although nobody could see it. "Okay! Got back to my hut. Found some weird lizard guys blowing up the place. Tried beating them up, but- there were too many. Way too many. And way too powerful, too- I had to flee before I got the armor blown off me."

"Gordanians!"

The Toa of Fire sighed. "I wish I could not be concerned, but I am concerned."

"As am I," Gali said.

"As am I."

"If the Gordanians are really as powerful as you make them out to be…"

"Then we'll have a hard time taking them out later on." Onua finished.

"Yes. We are doomed."

"What's there to not believe?" Pohatu asked. "You're just taking me out of the ice. No big deal."

They had been trying to free him for 20 minutes.

Nothing tried seemed to work. The obvious first choice was to have Onua dig him up, but his quakebreakers couldn't even scratch the surface of the prison. Pulling Pohatu out with the Pakari didn't do squat either- it looked like the constant rush of snow had frozen him in. The Toa's elemental powers were a bit wonky on this planet and didn't seem to work as well as they had in the robot. Not even their weapons could break this.

So it was a big surprise when Tahu stopped slamming the ground with his sword, took a rare moment to think before he acted, and recommended putting a new spin on one of the most clichéd moments in the book.

The Nuva were going to catapult Pohatu free.

(Or pull a Pohatu in itself. Tahu hadn't mentioned it out of respect.)

The hallway was dim and slowly darkening. No sound emerged from its many branching pathways. Black boots made pounding footsteps on the steel floor.

Blackfire couldn't see. Not well. And not in the figurative sense, either- back on Tamaran, she'd been teased quite a bit for wearing corrective lenses. Those girls hadn't kept that smirk on their faces much longer.

At least she could assert dominance over Kory, anyway.

Now she came up to her room. Or at least she thought it was her room. The whole thing seemed too girly to be real. Pink upholstery, posters, teddy bears? Sheesh. If she were emperor, she would've told the younger And'r to scram.

(Suffice to say, her recent coup attempt had… not gone so well.)

There was no knob, no method of entering. Blackfire considered just knocking the door down, but relented; Robin would be prepared. Oh, Robin. How she liked Robin. He was cute and witty and actually quite intelligent. Shame her sister seemed to have the same affections… oh, whatever. She didn't mean much. Not to her.

A small display had been bolted to the front of the door. At the moment it was a bright shade of pink and read "The Abode of Starfire" in gaudy purple cursive. Even included those hearts some people used in place of the dots in I's.

It was the only thing there besides polished stainless steel, so it must have had somerelevance. Blackfire shrugged. Gordanians tended to use pretty complicated tech, so…

SMA-

"Hello, Kranika."

By the grace of RA.

The Tamaranean flinched, rustling the carpet a lot, but it seemed to have no effect on the others. They must not have been here.

Who was this? Another Titan? A villain? He certainly looked like a villain, coming up and scaring her like that. And his big glowing green eyes. No question about it; he had to go.

She raised her free hand, readied a starbolt, and-

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

He had latched on to her! How dare he? Her eyes glowed fiercefully, preparing to strike…

Only to be blocked by a shield.

"If you're wondering why I'm able to fight you and not Tanika," the being mused, "well… that's up in the air. She must be insanely powerful. But that's not important."

Blackfire gasped, breathing relatively quickly. "L-Lee?"

"Mm-hmm."

"But-" She raised her hands up in apology and grinned nervously. "I thought we were friends! Y'know, Lee and Kumi, scourge of the empire, going on awesome adventures together-"

Lewa growled. "Don't do that anymore. I'm on to you, Kranika, and I want to know what eeevil plans you have."

Blackfire receded and raised an eyebrow. "Already?" She smiled, lowering her facade. "I didn't know people could figure me out so quickly. They're usually too dumb to realize."

"Guess I'm not, huh?"

"Yeeeah, you're too Marty Stuish for my tastes."

"Hahaha, yeah." The Toa scowled, narrowing his own. "Okay, so what's the deal? What do you want with Tanika? Planning to kill her? Throw her in space?"

"Cute. I'm not planning to do anything at all, Lewa. Although the first option does seem pretty viable."

"Then why are you here?"

"Already told you," Blackfire scoffed. "'I was in the quadrant. Thought I'd see if Earthlings like to party.'" She raised her arms and moaned in exasperation. "Remember?"

Lewa sighed. "All too well. Do you take me for a fool? I'm not that bad at reading people, y'know."

"That's the thing. I know you're not. That's why I did all that cool stuff with you."

"I figured you were lying."

"At best…" Blackfire gritted her teeth. "Trying to appease you. And the others. That's all. If there's anything I've done to offend poor sweet pwecious wittle Starfire, it's just because we have… issues." She turned to the door. "Now can I please go in?"

The Toa raised a mask ridge. "Why?"

"I… have something I need in there."

Sneer. "Like what? Illicit space weapons?"

"Don't need 'em," Blackfire said, hands and eyes glowing. "These babies are more than enough."

"To sabotage her relationship with the team, right?"

"No! Now leave me alone!"

Blackfire went into Starfire's room. As she had speculated, there was not much there. The Gordanians had taken all her belongings. Posters of stupid boy bands weren't gonna cut it.

She supposed taking over her life would do.

Nothing of interest lay on her shelves, so she retreated to the closet. Kory's outfits had always been more extravagant than hers, more well liked. She'd been in closer contention for the throne, being able to fly better. It'd been part of the reason why Kumand'r sent her with the invaders in the first place.

Ah. There it was. The outfit with the Zorkan Jewels. Her sister never wore this one, as they were valuable enough to attract unwanted attention, but the princess had kept it as an indicator of her status. Now that Blackfire was the only royal sibling remaining, it felt right to take it for herself.

Blackfire reached over and took the mangled coat hanger which held the set-

"One more thing!"

Oh god damn it.

"What do you want?" she spat, looking at Lewa coldly.

He smiled. "Just a general question, really. I'll leave you alone once it's through. Heart-promise."

Blackfire sighed but kept her gaze on the Toa. "I don't believe you. Shoot."

"Okay, um… well… see… there was this squid we quick-fought last dark-night. A squid. Yeah, I don't believe it either. It was a pretty insignificant battle in all, and I wouldn't be mentioning it if not for the fact that…"

She raised an eyebrow again.

Lewa grinned, although the gesture was shallow. He obviously didn't care for this much. "We have fun at the carnival. Squid attacks. We take it out." Now he frowned. "Just after we settle everything down and return to the Tower… you're there. Before us, even. Would it be rude to suggest-think the two events are heart-related?"

"A bit."

"Oh. Not gonna be here much longer," he mumbled. "Well… sorry for asking, but… did you have anything to do with it?"

"Well…" Blackfire had to chuckle at this. "Yeah. Obviously I did. That was- my craft!"

"Why did it kidnap Starfire?" Lewa asked.

"It went rogue," Blackfire said smoothly. "Got the wrong programming. Thanks for getting it under control, by the way."

The Toa frowned. "You're… welcome? That's odd. Didn't ever imagine alien ships doing that." Then he scowled. "One last comment before I go- and this one's a doozy. Don't ever lay a hand on Tanika, okay? I don't think anyone would like it. You hurt one hair on her head and I'll-"

"I understand! It's cool, I understand," Blackfire said and made a peaceful gesture. "We'll keep this between us. Don't want to hurt my sister's feelings, after all."

"Yeah."

She scowled "Good. Now scram. I'm changing."

For a moment, Lewa stared at her incredulously; mouth wide open; then he nodded and did as he was told.

In the Ops Centre, the other Titans were hanging out. Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy did not do much, but Raven was busy reading a book. Beast Boy sighed and began picking his nose.

"Your sister is a dick," Windflyer mouthed as he passed Starfire.

"Oh," she murmured. "Did you finally-"

"What've you got with you?"

"A plan."

"Friends!" Starfire then said cheerfully, greeting the Titans. She was balancing buckets of popcorn and candy and a stack of DVDs.

"I invite you to join me in the togetherness of a stay-at-home movie night," she continued as she walked up to the couch. "I bring you popcorn and non-cotton candies. Tell me, what sort of movie shall we view?"

"Action," Robin said.

"Comedy!"

"Sci-fi."

"Romance," Windflyer mused. "Or a documentary. That works too."

"Horror."

Surprised, Starfire dropped her snacks. She then laughed nervously. "Perhaps a double feature? I feel we have not spent much time together as of late, so it would be a great way to-"

"Forget the flicks, kids."

Blackfire was wearing one of her outfits.

Blackfire was wearing one of her outfits!

And it was the one with the Zorkan Jewels too!

"We're going out!"

"We are?" Starfire said puzzled, her sister passing her. "Where did you- are those my-?"

Blackfire picked up the dropped popcorn box. "Heard about a party downtown. Cool crowd, hot music."

"Yeah!" Beast Boy yelled.

"I'm in," Cyborg said.

"Why not?"

"Always up for a good fun-party, but we were actually just about to-"

"And it's in a creepy run-down warehouse."

Raven, still firmly entrenched in her book, perked at this.

Windflyer frowned. "Wait… a warehouse party? Aren't those things…"

"Illegal?" Blackfire smirked, slapping him on the back. "Hah, you're so charming! Yeah, don't worry. These guys are kids, around your age. They obviously know what they're doing."

"But these are life-dawners… and I'm not a-"

"And if anything goes wrong, the police'll come in and stamp it out no sweat. Nothing to wind yourself up over! C'mon!"

"Buh- but-"

The Titans got up and began to leave. Cyborg whooped.

"I am a party animal," Beast Bot deadpanned, turning into a gorilla.

"But we were just about to- aw, guys! C'mon…"

Robin and Raven passed Starfire without saying so much as a word.

"Hey, sweetie, Lewa and I raided your closet," Blackfire said as she too left, leaving her sister standing among a pile of ruined snacks and DVDs. "Hope you don't mind us borrowing your look."

Windflyer winced. "It's only a few days," he whispered, "it's only a few days…"

He looked at Starfire apologetically before heading out, still repeating the same mantra he had before.

Starfire looked after her and sighed. "Why not?" she said sadly. "You have already borrowed my friends."

The door opened.

"Ah, Mr. Wintergreen," a voice called. "Please do come in."

Wintergreen entered the Headmistress's office. A very welcoming atmosphere permeated the room; the walls had been painted a faint lilac and smelled like them too, and several green cushions lay around the plush yellow carpet. Behind a carved redwood desk, an old but fair woman- Lillian Fairsworth, runner of the HIVE Academy- sat waiting patiently.

She smiled as the butler sat down. "It is nice to see you again."

"Nice to see you too, miss!"

"I would have expected to see Slade here as well," Lillian said, "but I expect he's still… busy. No matter. Now then," she continued, pulling out a file from her desk drawer, "I understand there was an issue you wanted resolved with the Top Graduates?"

"Yessir!" Wintergreen raised his hands. "There's this one bloke in town who Wilson wants-"

"Taken out?"

"No…" Wintergreen sighed. "Worse. He wants 'im as an apprentice."

Lillian beamed. "Ah. A nice strafe from his usual ways." He had obviously been in the assassin business for a while. "And what do the Graduates have to do with it?"

"Well, Slade's- we've been tryin' to take those Titans out so that we can swoop in and grab 'im, but they're too damn powerful! Cinderblock, Plasmius-"

"Have you tried for yourself?" the headmistress asked.

"Nah." Wintergreen shook his head sadly. "Says it's not worth 'revealing himself too early', or somein' like that. Personally, I'd just go in and tell 'em the truth."

"But that's not viable."

"Not in the slightest." He raised an eyebrow. "D'ya really think so though, Miss Fairsworth? I mean, they're teens. They've got t'listen to authority some way or another."

"Trust me," Lillian smirked. "That doesn't happen. I've already got two vile little examples of my own."

"Hmm, yes, so I heard. Any other ideas?"

"Like you suggested before," Fairsworth said. "Bring in somebody else to do them off; somebody stronger, and more intelligent. Somebody with an agenda." She beamed again and opened the file for Wintergreen to see. There were pictures of people whom he didn't recognize and what appeared to be descriptions of them. They didn't look like they had an agenda at all. They just looked like lousy brats. Were these chaps supposed to be able to stand toe to toe with the Teen Titans?

"You made the right choice in coming to HIVE. We here at HAEYP are always looking for ways to cultivate our budding villains and villainesses. Now if you'll excuse me," Lillian finished, pushing her chair back and getting up, "I'll go and arrange an appointment with Slade. He'll be very happy to hear of this. Oh!" She suddenly poked her head back in. "And I have to see our new recruit train. Kraken. She's good."

Wintergreen flinched. Was that…?

"And who… is Kraken?" he asked nervously.

The HIVE Headmistress smiled evilly. "The girl who may be able to take out the Teen Titans. Not yet, though. She needs time."

He sighed in relief. So she wasn't trying to kill him. That was good. Although… time…

Time…

Clocks…

Chromium!

Wintergreen had no idea why he just thought of that.

"Are we there yet?" Malum asked.

"You keep using that phrase," Lobo responded sagely. "I do not think it means what you think it means."

"Shut up! I THINK I've heard enough 'Princess Bride' references to last me a lifetime!"

Lobo frowned. "That was the only one to date, you know… My name is Lobo the Czarnian. I killed my planet. Prepare to die."

"Ugh. Just take me to Lewa already."

"I know!" Lobo grinned. "Why don't we just ask Akhmou's corpse?"

Malum raised an eyebrow. "Ask him what? He's dead."

"Not anymore."

"He's right, you know," Akhmou said. "I seem to have lost that affliction when we exited subspace."

"Ah. Then…" Malum growled, "Welcome back… LOBO!"

"What? What?"

"Stop messing around and get us out of here!"

"But… I…" The bounty hunter smiled sadly, as if coming out of a bad Very Special Episode. "Yeah. You're right. 'Sides, the fuzz is here."

"THE COPS?"

"Yeah, look beside you!"

Sure enough, a large alien ship had stopped cruisin' by the Space Hog. Akhmou gulped. The others had no reaction.

"H-hello, Vahki. What seems to be the- Oof!"

"No need to worry, sirs," Lobo said coolly. "Everything's under control."

"Not really," one of the officers noted. He was big, green, had clawed hands, and appeared to have a few tentacles too. He actually looked almost like a Gordanian, if a Gordanian was more personable and wore a brighter outfit. (A regular police one, in fact.) "Everything is not under control."

"How so?"

"There's a notorious space criminal wreaking havoc on Earth. We just wanted to know if you had any information on her?"

Akhmou paled. "T-Toa Lewa?"

The second, more experienced policeman facepalmed. "Aw, man, not 'im! He's cool! Nah, we're just wonderin' if you saw another 'un. Kumand'r. She's Koryand'r's sister, natch."

"We have absolutely no idea," Lobo said.

"But the two… more robotic of you were on Spherus Magna when she was there," the first said with a helpful smile. "Surely you know of some of her exploits."

"Nothing that we saw," Malum said. "You should go ask Lewa yourself."

"And he knows of her?"

"More than a bit."

The policeman put away a wallet he had been writin' on. "Very well. We really wanted to meet him anyway. Big big fans."

"Toa Lewa has fans?"

"That's the question everyone's been wonderin'," the other policeman said. He drew out a card and handed it to Lobo. "Deputy Superintendent Qarvasse Mortenze, at yer service. And this's Vega." Said person gave a wave.

"If y'ever need a few good men to clear some stupid interstellar crap up, the Centauri Force's a good call. Do give us a ring, aight? We're pretty sure you're hidin' something."

"Thanks," Malum grumbled. "We'll consider it."

Qarvasse Mortenze grinned. "Good, good. Oh, by the way," he said as the Centauri ship withdrew, "you're that one Czarnian, right?"

"Yeah," Lobo said with a concerned look.

"You're-"

"Yer under arrest for seventy-six counts of arson, murder, genocide, lootin', rape, and other vile acts I can't bring myself to mention in front of these fine gentlemen. You've the right t'remain silent."

The bounty hunter growled and took out his hook. "Don't try anything funny, bastich. I've never been gimped by the fuzz before, and I-"

"Never will, sir," Vega said. "This is the last point on your timeline."

"So?"

"It… can be changed."

"Oh, okay." Lobo calmly got off the Space Hog and got into the ship beside the Centauri. "Don't worry, guys. I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" Malum asked. "I mean, you're just stranding us out here in…"

The ship began to drown away, muffling whatever else he had to say. The only thing that permeated the inky fabric was Lobo's constant yells of "Read the fragging note!"

"What about the note?"

Akhmou mused over this. "I suppose it's important."

"Yes, but how?" Malum frowned. "This is Lobo we're talking about. The guy is more predictable than a rampaging Cendox."

"Can't we just read it anyway?"

"Oh… all right." He looked in the compartment under the Space Hog's leather seat and found a small wrinkled-up scrap of paper under a pile of cigarette ash, soda bottles, and whale photos. It had been damaged by the first two but was otherwise okay. What a slob.

(Oh, like YOU'RE one to talk!)

With some trepidation, the Glatorian opened the note. Random letters had been plastered it like a clichéd ransom note. Some of them seemed to come from whale-watching pamphlets and others came from parking tickets. The grammar was atrocious.

"hay baztiches.,, wizit the weding n un hol yer," it read. Akhmou facefaulted.

"But we don't know of any wedding," he said. "Wait, what's a wedding?"

"A unity of holy matrimony." Malum smiled mischeviously. "And I think I have an idea of what he means! C'mon, Matoran," he said, manning the bounty hunter's motorcycle. "We're going there to meet him."

They opened a whol in subspace and wer once again oenfgne,

The "creepy run-down warehouse" that Blackfire had mentioned was actually quite lively, despite its weathered exterior. A variety of strobe lights flashed in different colours, illuminating the compound, and a DJ played the latest Top 40 hits. Inside, a large crowd of teenagers partied and danced the night away.

"Step aside, Earthlings," Blackfire yelled flamboyantly, making her way through the crowd with nearly all the Titans. "The queen of the galaxy has arrived!"

Starfire was not so thrilled. Raven and Windflyer looked back to see her standing away at a distance. When she noticed the two staring at her, the Tamaranean began moving to the group. She did not have an easy time, however, as she found herself constantly bumping into dancers and being jostled around.

"Oh…" Starfire murmured, "Excuse… oh… uh… Ow!" Somebody had stepped on her foot. "You really should apologize after stepping on someone's foot," she whispered angrily.

Raven shook her head at the princess's awkwardness and walked off. Windflyer slid up to Blackfire and began to dance similarly, not wanting to go all out.

Blackfire laughed. "Now don't tell me you big tough superheroes are afraid of a little dancing." She pointed to the Toa. "Look, he seems to be doing fine!"

"Betcha Cyborg can do the robot."

Beast Boy did a little bit of this incredibly racist dance and was met with an angry glare from the appropriated. In front of him, Blackfire danced across from the pair. The duo shrugged and began to get down- besides them, Windflyer hesitated for a moment. Was it really worth indulging the girl, if only for a while? They were seriously hurting Starfire-

Oh well. If anything else, she would definitely be leaving soon.

Raven and Starfire watched as the boys danced. The latter had a shocked look on her face and the former just did not care. Her pose and expression evoked the same boredom with the event as at the carnival.

"This party is pointless," she intoned.

A goth boy came up to her. "Everything's pointless. Wanna go talk about it?"

Raven looked at him warily, then shrugged as well and headed off. Starfire started off after her but decided to stay back. Behind her, two straight white cissexual males wearing incredibly tacky outfits walked through the throngs. Suddenly one's eyes widened.

"Duuude, did you, like, just see that totally gnarly maiden back there?"

"The hot red-headed babe? Yeah. We should go, like, talk to her."

He frowned. "But, like, isn't she already taken?"

"Not that I know of!"

The other man grinned. "Duuude!"

"Excellent!" they yelled, both bumping fists dramatically.

"Hey, hot alien girl," the first slacker said, turning to Starfire. "You diggin' the scene?"

Starfire blushed and laughed nervously. "I… did not know we were supposed to bring shovels."

The slackers both guffawed. "RIGHTEOUS! Keep up the good work, dudette!"

"What work?" she said weakly. "I did not even bring the required tool."

Back in space, the Centauri ship drifted by Earth. Qarvasse Mortenze and Vega looked over the planet on their viewscreens.

"Y'sure we know what we're doin', Cadet?"

"The girl may have defeated one probe, sir," Vega commented, but she will not fare so well against three."

"Yay!"

The drones were launched consecutively, blastin' towards the blue marble with a slight fizzin' sound (which was technically not supposed to be heard, but whatever. 'Tis fiction.)

Starfire sat on the ledge of the warehouse's roof, head in hands, and watched as three bright shooting stars blinked in the sky, heading towards the bay. She heaved a sigh dejectedly. It was probably a sign. Her k'alforg once told her that trails of these kind decorated Tamaran all the time. As a new star headed to the planet, the old one would leave.

"Perhaps I do not belong here after all," she said, now very upset.

"Of course you don't."

Robin had gone up to the roof as well. He held the door to the stairway open and was looking at her with concern.

"You belong down there, having fun with the rest of us," he reassured Starfire, closing the door and stepping out onto the roof. "What's wrong?"

She smiled. "Nothing is wrong! Everything is wonderful! The pounding music and blinding lights are quite enjoyable-"

Robin sat down beside Starfire. She took a deep breath-

"Everything is not wonderful! I am happy to see her, yes, but Blackfire rules the video games, and she is able to share very depressing poems, and she enjoys illicit literature, and she knows the cool moves… and she always knows when people are not talking about shovels." She exhaled and looked away sadly. "And I am nothing like her."

"No," Robin said, putting a hand on her shoulder, "you're not. And I think-"

SQUEEEEAAAK.

"Hello-hi, sorry for interrupting!"

"Windflyer?"

Windflyer panted a bit, obviously having gone through some excursion to get through the skylight. "Yeah… 'tis me."

Starfire looked at him incredulously. "Why are you not enjoying the party? You obviously care more for Blackfire than you do I."

He raised a mask ridge. "Really? Didn't we go over this already? No matter. This festival isn't my thing. Too bright, too loud… too obnoxious! I'd rather go to one of my people's parties, thank you very much."

"I think we all would," Robin said, despite not knowing what Le-Koronan parties were (bless his soul.) "As I was saying…"

"Can- can it wait? Someone's harsh-pulling on my- OW! Hey!"

Somebody was dragging Windflyer down. He struggled with this unknown force for a bit before being thrown to the side. Blackfire, now sporting a banged pink hairdo, emerged from the skylight and smirked. "How do I look?"

Robin grumbled. "Pink. Look, can you two give us a minute here?"

"I… I'm cool with that," Windflyer said. "But Blackfire…"

True enough, Blackfire was not happy at all. Suddenly, though, the music changed, the elder Tamaranean beginning to smile.

"Ooh!" she squealed, gasping happily. "I LOVE this song!"

Blackfire flew over, grabbed Robin's arm, and pulled the Boy Wonder down through the skylight. Windflyer winced. "Wait, don't-"

It closed.

"YEEAAAAAAAA!"

The swinging door had trapped the Toa's body. Strange to say, given it was basically solid metal, but it had, in fact, pinched him in. Starfire did not know exactly what was going on, but she looked at him with silent trepidation anyway.

"Friend," she called, "are you okay?"

Windflyer groaned and lay his head down. "Owie zowie."

"I will take that as the no then." Starfire smiled reassuringly. "Do not worry, Windflyer. It should not be much trouble free…"

BREEEEEEEEN.

The two looked up, both confused. Starfire stood up wearily. "Huh?"

She gazed off into the distance, staring at the night sky. The trails from before had faded, dust fallen over the ocean, but a bright glare could be seen fading between the letters that made up the warehouse's large neon sign-

Another probe poked out and charged at her. The girl gasped in utter shock.

1. I have plans for Gresh and the Toa. Evil, utterly conniving plans. Muahahahaha. (What does Tahu call himself now that he's been devolved, by the way?)

2. Is it out of character to have Lewa see past Blackfire's lies so early? He always seems to rely on hunches. Don't worry though. They're still very wrong.

3. More HIVE adventures! I hope you find it fun to see Wintergreen frolicking around like this. I have plans for him too. Not as bad as the others, but still plans.

4. Who can guess what wedding the "Space Zeroes" are going to crash? (hint: it has story relevance in the future)

5. People really should recognize who I've made the slackers a homage to (and if they were supposed to be a homage to it in the first place.)

Read and review!