Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or DC

Chapter 4 - Rude Awakenings

3:41 P.M.

March 7, 2016

Downtown, Jump City

Robin was trapped in his own net, the street was filled with debris from the ensuing battle, and Nightwing had a lot of ground to cover if he even hoped to get up in Dr. Light's grill. You know, even with all of these disadvantages, the good guys still had the upper hand in this fight. Even though he had improved from their last confrontation a couple of years ago, Dr. Light was still pretty low-tier. Just rank him under Captain Boomerang and you should get the general idea.

"Ti... Robin, just stay there, this shouldn't take much longer," Nightwing said, twirling his staff like a little girl. He stepped back with his right foot to reinforce his center of balance.

Dr. Light glanced over to the trapped Robin, thinking of a possible escape plan. He hadn't even robbed the synothium plant yet, instead his gear malfunctioned and caused a small explosion. Dr. Light's expressionless face soon adopted one of pure malice as he raised one of his arms to the helpless boy wonder, "Take one more step, and I kill the boy," His voice was now darker than before. No light related puns, no cliche catchphrases, just a legitimate threat.

"You better put that arm down before I shove it up your spectrum!" Robin yelled to the villain. He then turned to Nightwing with a satisfied smirk, "See what I did there? Damn, I'm on a roll."

Nightwing simply gave Dr. Light a friendly smile in response to his threat. Moving his arms to retrieve several gadgets from the back of his utility belt, including smoke bombs, flash bangs, and his upgraded bird-a-rangs. He didn't like to call them that, "Put down your arm, now." Nightwing gave him his first and last warning, waiting for the moment to release his weapons.

In one moment, Dr. Light actually climbed his way up to semi-low-tier, but in another, all of that changed. With the sound of the wind ripping filling the street, Dr. Light was tackled by a blue blur, kicking up a massive amount of dust. As he fell, Dr. Light fired off his light beam, sending it tearing through a nearby office building. Nightwing quickly assessed the damage, trying to see if there were any potential casualties. Luckily, the office seemed to be closed as it was completely void of workers. Which was weird considering it was a Monday.

As the dust settled, a man clad in blue and black held Dr. Light by the collar with one hand, "You know, you should la-" The supposed hero increased his grip and slightly choked the villain mid-pun. He gagged as Blue Beetle looked down at Dr. Light, studying him.

Jaime had never seen this guy before, maybe he was new? His age pointed to the contrary, however. The villain raised his arm to Blue Beetle's face, a bright light beginning to emit from it. Blue Beetle used his free hand to quickly tear off the machine Dr. Light kept on his arm to produce his light beams. As he tore it off, electricity surged from inside of it, shocking Dr. Light's now exposed arm.

Nightwing watched the scene unfold with careful optimism. Could this stranger be a hero? He is fighting Dr. Light, after all. Robin was staring at the black and blue figure as well, eyes filled with wonder. Neither of them had ever encounter this potential friend, or foe, before.

Blue Beetle struggled to keep his complexion in front of the legendary Nightwing and, the albeit lesser-known, Robin. Fighting people like this guy gave him such a rush unlike anything else could produce. On the inside, Blue Beetle was giggling like a little school girl, but he had to maintain his newly formed reputation. No doubt will these two swamp him with questions after he saves the day.

Dr. Light ripped Blue Beetle from his fantasy as the villain used his other arm to blast a beam of light, striking the hero directly in the face. Dr. Light, still being held by Blue Beetle gave out a hearty, victorious laugh. Nightwing sprang into action under the presumption that the stranger was now in danger. With a hate filled growl, Blue Beetle released three brutal jabs into the center of Dr. Light's face. Nightwing slid to halt after witnessing the punches, surprised at the sheer brutality Dr. Light endured.

Coughing erratically, Dr. Light spit out a pair of teeth. Dr. Light weakly raised both of his arms as high as he could manage. Blue Beetle accepted the surrender and dropped the villain back down to the pavement. He examined Dr. Light and then he studied at his hand. Within moments his arm transformed into a machine looking almost identical to Dr. Light's arm cannons. Aiming towards Robin, he fired a bright blue beamed towards the hero, ripping the net and setting him free. Robin yelped as the beam slightly grazed both of his arms.

Blue Beetle's arm reverted back to its normal appearance as he witnessed the boy wonder escape his netted prison. Nightwing slowly approached the stranger, his alignment now clearer, "Thanks for the assist," Nightwing simply stated, motioning to Dr. Light, who was now in the fetal position.

Blue Beetle turned to look at the approaching hero. His transparent wings emerged once again, causing Nightwing to step back slightly and draw out his staff. With a burst of wind, Blue Beetle launched himself into the air and soared away, leaving Nightwing and Robin to stand in awe.

"Nailed it," Blue Beetle said to himself with a smirk as he flew over the city.

7:26 P.M.

March 7, 2016

Fortress of Solitude, Antarctica

"Thank you very much."

"Thank... you... vaury much."

"Close, but no, not 'vaury,' it's very."

"What's difference?"

"'Vaury' isn't a word."

"How do you know?"

Superman let out a brief chuckle, "I think I know a bit about the English language, Kara," Superman was causally leaning on one of the Fortress' many decorated tables, "Besides, you really need to- are you even listening to me?" Superman stood up firmly, glaring at the small girl who was sitting in front of a small television set. She was the same girl that Superman had rescued from the base in the Mojave, she still wore her tattered black jumpsuit. Teaching English was difficult enough, but trying to teach it to someone who won't listen is even harder.

The Kryptonian girl, Kara, was intently watching the television, her deep blue eyes glued to the screen as her face continually brightened from the artificial glow of the show. The 'exciting' program she had been so enthralled in was simply static, there was, surprisingly, a very limited amount of channels one could actually receive in the middle of Antarctica. Superman looked on with confusion at Kara, snapping his fingers to get her attention, but it was a lost cause.

Superman walked over to the small television and knelt down beside Kara, "You really need to learn this," He tried reasoning with her, though he had received no reply "Kara?" He waved his hand over her face, breaking her television-induced trance.

She looked directly towards Superman, wildly batting her eyes, "What?"

"English?" Superman reminded her, furrowing a brow.

Kara turned back to watch her dead air, "Eh, I got a well understanding," She nonchalantly blew the Man of Steel off, shrugging as she did.

Superman shut the television off, much to Kara's protest, "Listen, if you want to fit into American society, you need to learn this."

Kara let out a pained sigh and rolled her eyes, "You can't tell me what to do," Kara forcefully moved Superman's arm out of the way and turned back on her beloved static, "I am the older, after every."

Superman shook his head in response, "You know what? You'll fit in just fine."

"Great! When do we go?" Kara asked, tilting her head to the side, but not breaking contact with the television.

Superman leaned back on one of the tables, "Go where?" He asked, momentarily scanning the large room for anything out of the ordinary.

"The place you always speak of. The 'American?'" Kara actually looked away from the television set and peered over towards Superman.

Superman chuckled, "Oh, you mean the good ol' USA," The hero corrected her with a light-hearted tone. Superman's smiled quickly faded after his answer, however. He had not revealed Kara to the Justice League yet, nor anyone for that matter. Superman had simply been training her to learn proper English for her to blend in with society, thus making her new life on Earth that much easier.

Truth is, Superman didn't know how the Justice League would react to this, her story barely made any sense. She just suddenly crash lands in the middle of Nevada, almost destroys an entire military base, and she's Kryptonian? Superman was supposedly the only surviving member of his race from Krypton, but here she is: living proof that there may be even more survivors. She refused to tell him about her past on multiple occasions for some reason, he'd rather not pry. Nevertheless, he felt as if it was his duty to protect the only other Kryptonian that was still alive.

It's probably not helping that he is keeping her a secret, and the longer he waits the worse off he will be, but he can't tell them in fear for her safety, "What's this?" Kara's question reassigned Superman's attention. Kara had found the remote to the television that had kept her entertained far longer than it should have.

"It's for the TV, you can change channels with it," Superman explained, pointing to said device.

Kara's eyes instantly lit up, "What do you mean? How?" She began rapidly pressing the remote's many buttons. Superman lifted himself off from the table to assist. Surprisingly enough, Kara was not suffering from a traumatic heart attack with all the energy that was exploding from the small girl, "Nothing's- Ah!" Kara's eyes sent an all-too-familiar pair of red beams towards the remote, liquefying it in her hands. She quickly dropped what was left of the remote control and brought her hands up to her eyes to try and comfort the pain that shooting lasers out of your eyes would bring.

"Kara!" Superman rushed over to the Kryptonian girl.

"It's well, I'm fine," She said, her voice was flat and dull. She wiped her hands off, getting rid of the melted plastic from the former remote control.

Superman stood firmly in place, "Are you sure? I know how rough Heat Vision could be the first couple times."

"I said I'm fine," Kara rose from her seated position, the two looked at each other. Kara's eyebrows were arched and she wore a scowl, Superman, however, stared back blankly, "I'm going to have sleep," She walked straight past the Man of Steel and opened a large pair of metal doors. Kara moved into the crystal-like corridors as the doors automatically slid shut behind her.

Superman sighed and lounged on a couch in front of the television. He reached for his desired remote only to find a puddle of bubbling plastic, "Yeah, how could I forget?" He murmured to himself. With an annoyed groan, Superman lifted himself from his comfortable couch and knelt down beside the television set. He manually pressed the channel buttons on the television and quickly flipped through all five or so channels.

After passing British and Australian networks, he landed on an American broadcasting station. It was the news, of course, what else was he to get? As the static subsided, a young woman with beach blonde hair and emerald green eyes spoke, behind her a giant American flag took up the background, "Today's top story: more nuclear trouble around the globe as the English capital of London sustained a direct hit from another untraceable nuclear weapon. Reports say that no ICBMs, that's inter-continental ballistic missiles, were reportedly launched. With this being the second major city to be mysteriously destroyed, the Justice League of America has officially stated that an investigation into the attacks is now underway."

Superman slouched even further down into his couch. Said investigation was hardly turning up any evidence to anything. Whatever, or whoever, was doing this barely left any traces. The only thing they had turned up was an older couple said they saw a tiny projectile that flew into the center of the British city before it was disintegrated. No matter what happened, the Justice League had no idea how to stop it, or even if any other city will fall victim to these strange attacks.

"On a lighter note; astronomers are baffled at what seems to be a week-long solar eclipse that will greet us in June. Astronomers do not know what day this phenomenon will start, but expect to have a very eventful week," Superman had long since drawn his attention away from the news cast. His mind was completely empty, this was how he 'slept.'

True, he could have legitimate sleep, but God forbid something actually happens when he's in deep sleep. Who's going to be able to defend the world if Darkseid suddenly teleported over? Batman? Yeah, good luck. The air was eerily still and the only noise heard was the occasional tapping of footsteps made by the Fortress' robotic servants. Of course, the room wasn't silent for Superman as he could hear thousands of other things going on, but that's beside the point.

The silence was broken as the metal doors slid open once more. Kara stepped out, her arms crossed and face showed an irritated pout, "I can't sleep," She simply stated, her voice held anger.

Superman glanced over to the young Kryptonian girl, "Join the club."

Kara furrowed a brow and tilted her head, "What club?"

"Never mind."

2:01 A.M.

March 8, 2016

Sub Diego, CA

"Uh... Eh-wha?" Lorena stirred as she opened her eyes for the first time in two days. Her eyes quickly adjusted to the world as she sat up and stretched her relaxed muscles. She let out a deep, relieved sigh, causing air bubbles to escape from her mouth. Her heart rate instantly sped up as she realized what had happened two days ago: she was under water. Lorena was too preoccupied with the memories that suddenly filled her mind to even scream.

Lorena looked to her surroundings. She seemed to be in a sports dome, but it was crammed with hundreds of other people. Like her, these people were lying on metal tables, hospital beds, stretchers, and anything that could hold a person up. The dome was filled with the sounds of chatting and pained groans as the former residents, now survivors, of San Diego woke up from their own small comas similar to Lorena's.

She was surprised herself as to how well she was taking this whole 'living and breathing underwater' thing. Sure, she was too mentally exhausted to really care, but nonetheless. Lorena looked down to her metal table, noting that her clothes remained the same from when she was still in her home. Suddenly she was gripped by fear once more, a lobster had climbed on her table. Even though it looked to mean no harm, Lorena had a phobia for crabs and the like and couldn't stand them. Pulling her arm back, she sent forth a powerful punch that connected with the crustacean and sent it twirling through the water.

"Hey, do you mind?" A man in a dark blue costume quickly caught the lobster and Lorena's attention, "I was talking to this guy," He set the crustacean down and approached Lorena. His dark blue costume was accented with light blue lines and over-sized shoulder pads.

"What's going on here?" Lorena motioned to the other survivors in the dome.

"That's a funny way to say 'sorry,'" The man said, rolling his eyes.

"Are you serious?"

"Completely."

Lorena let out a quick sigh, "I'm. Sorry."

The man nodded, "Apology accepted. Now, what were you asking about?"

Lorena once again motioned to the crowd of survivors, "What the hell happened? How am I breathing right now!?"

"Oh, that... I'm not real sure. All I know is you guys got hit by a nuclear weapon, or something, and we had to go door-to-door getting people who were still alive out. As for the breathing most likely a mutation. Luckily, you didn't have any weird side-effects," The man explained, "Radiation works in mysterious ways."

Lorena tried to process all of the new information, "Mutation? I'm mutated?"

"You and about a hundred other people," The man replied and crossed his arms.

Lorena furrowed a brow, "Did you mutate?"

"No, I'm simply an Atlantean," The man extended his hand, "Garth."

Lorena took his hand and shook, "Lorena."

"Nice name," Garth let go of her hand, "Unfortunately, Lorena, you're going to have to stay on that table for a couple of weeks."

"What? Why?" Lorena perked up, Garth put his hand on her shoulder, slightly pushing her down.

"We have never dealt with a case like this, and now we have dozens. We're not sure what could happen to you people," Garth continued, "It's just safety precautions, we don't want any of you dying on us."

Lorena fell back on the table, she looked directly up to the dome's roof. She was terrified of this entire ordeal on the inside, even if she did know it was all a dream. How could this not be a dream? Radiation-induced mutations, water breathing, talking to lobsters? No, not possible. Then again, those aren't the weirdest thing to happen in a reality filled with superheroes. We're talking the kind of reality where Matter-Eater Lad and Bouncing Boy are actually worth a damn.

Lorena turned to Garth, "That's it? I just wait here and hope not to die?"

Garth shrugged, "If you want to be that blunt about things, then yeah."

Lorena turned back to the ceiling, "Great."

"Hey, it's not all bad. You are breathing, right?" Garth gave her a smile which he did not receive back.

Lorena nodded her head slightly, "I guess you're ri-" Lorena was cut off by a deafening scream from just outside the dome. The dome started to violently shake causing Lorena and several other mutants to fall from their beds and tables. The roof to the dome shot rubble down on the survivors, "Garth!" Lorena tried standing up, but her overall lack of strength wouldn't allow it. Suddenly, the roof collapsed, Garth sprang into action to destroy as many pieces of large debris as he could before they hit the survivors.

"Aqualad, it's been so long!" Garth recognized that voice, but he was not supposed to hear it, that would be impossible.

Garth gritted his teeth, "Trident," His expression turned even angrier as his suspicions were confirmed. The one who had caused the chaos was none other than the egotistical villain himself.

Trident floated in the middle of the now roofless dome, "Trident? You mean 'Tridents?'" He had not come alone, instead a small army full of his copies aided him.

"How did you... You were in jail!" Garth swam towards the look alikes.

The Tridents laughed, the one in front seemed to be the original, "You really don't think a prison could hold me, do you? Tell me Aqualad, do you remember the last time we fought?" Trident gave a malicious smile.

"It's Tempest now."

The Trident leader furrowed a brow, "My bad."

"Tempest!" Garth, along with just about everyone else in the dome, turned to the source of the sudden noise. Fortunately, it was Aquaman along with several Atlantean soldiers clad in golden armor. Aquaman tossed a golden trident, the Atlantean weapon of choice, towards Tempest. He nodded and gladly caught the weapon and aimed it towards Trident. As in the villain, not the weapon.

"Atlanteans, stand your ground!" One of the more decorated soldiers shouted to his men. The Tridents quickly swarmed the soldiers and a massive battle ensued.

Lorena covered her head and kept close to the ground as one of the soldiers was engaged in an intense battle with one of the Tridents. They were both throwing punches and kicking wildly, each determined to best the other. The Atlantean soldier tackled the Trident, the two collided with several metal tables, crushing them completely. The pair of combatants fought their way passed Lorena, causing her to hide between two of the tables.

The Atlantean soldier hit the ground, unconscious in front of Lorena signifying the Trident's victory over the fight. The Trident knelt down next to the unconscious soldier and prepared to end his life with the soldier's own weapon. Lorena closed her eyes tightly as she knew what was going to happen next to the Atlantean. However, she didn't hear anything, not even a stab or a gag.

Lorena opened her eyes only to be greeted by a close-up of the Trident's face, "Well, well, what have we here?" The Trident grabbed Lorena by her long black hair and lifted her up. Lorena let out a high-pitched pained scream as she rose from the ground. The Trident leaned in towards the helpless girl, "You'll make an excellent trophy..." A devious smile grew on the Trident's face.

"No!" Lorena lifted the bottom half of her body up and kicked the Trident in the face with both of her feet. The Trident let go of her hair and the momentum from the push sent the both of them floating away from each other. Lorena summoned the strength to stand up after the hit.

"You insolent brat!" The Trident rubbed his chin and slowly approached the girl, "I should kill you for that!"

Lorena grabbed the nearby trident from the unconscious soldier and raised it towards the clone, "You're welcome to try," She taunted and felt completely badass while doing it. The Trident clone let out a battle cry and rushed towards Lorena. She lunged the weapon towards the Trident who simply grabbed the end of it and snapped the Atlantean weapon in half. He then threw a forceful punch sliding Lorena back as it connected with her jaw. She responded with a jab of her own that struck the Trident's chest. It probably hurt Lorena more than it did the clone.

The Trident once again grabbed Lorena, this time by the neck, "I admire your worthless effort, human. I might just spare you, solely for pleasu-GAH!" Three spikes from a golden trident tore through the clone's chest and almost stabbed Lorena. The Trident let go of Lorena and she gently floated to the ground.

The clone fell, behind him, Tempest stood, "Lorena, fancy meeting you here," He gave her a smirk as he pulled his trident out from the clone.

"Garth, what's going on?" Lorena asked, the panic in her voice was clear, "What are these things?"

"They're Trident, one of Atlantis' worst criminals. I fought him a couple times with the Teen Titans," Tempest explained. Another Atlantean soldier flew by the two of them, tossed by one of the Tridents, "Listen, I'll tell you later, just get down!" Tempest ordered Lorena as he rushed into battle once more.

"Wait, I can help!" Lorena replied, however Tempest could not hear her. The Atlantean soldiers and Tridents were at a stalemate, neither of them seemed to have an upper hand. With her fists clenched, she followed behind Tempest in attacking the Tridents without him knowing. At least she was fighting for something, these people couldn't defend themselves. Hell, most of them had trouble breathing.

A/N: And that concludes chapter four. The actual creation of the New Teen Titans is pretty close, so sorry for the extremely long build up, but I don't just want a team to be formed out of thin air.