Just then, an alarm sounded. Gar rolled over on his back and actually banged his head against the headboard. Raven sagged and lowered her forehead onto his shoulder with a theatrical groan. "Is there any way we can plausibly claim not to have heard it?" she asked. After lying limply for a few breaths, she rolled off him and he bounced to his feet.

"Time to go to work," he said.

They hurried downstairs together, where the other three Titans stood around the large monitor. It was paused showing several police cruisers parked tactically around a bank. "This is from a few minutes ago," Robin said as he started the recording. A man in a black, bulky costume stepped out the door. "They aren't firing because there are hostages," Robin murmured.

"He's wearing armor," Cyborg said, taking control of the viewer, pausing and zooming in. "That looks like Kevlar." He zoomed in closer and added "No threat plates." He restarted the video. The man jumped into the air, flying out of the top of the image and reappeared from above, slamming down on a cruiser. It was smashed nearly flat. He then flipped it over and grabbed the wreck in one hand. Cyborg again paused. "He bent the axle. With just his grip."

"And then he one-handed the car about four blocks and into the ocean," Robin said. "He's tough and he's still there. Keep your distance. Let's go."

They arrived at the scene quickly and Robin went straight to the officer in charge. The other four stood together watching the building. They all tensed as the door opened and a deep voice called, "Hold Fire! Hostages coming out! Hold Fire!" One by one, several people ran from the building and to the waiting police. After a few minutes, the stream halted.

Robin ran over to the Titans. "All hostages accounted for, now…"

The bank door opened again and the man in the black armor stepped out. "Hey," he called calmly with a small wave.

The Titans exchanged confused looks. Finally, in a very tentative voice, Robin said, "Hey?"

"So," the man said, "We're going to fight. We all know that. What say we give these nice folks a chance to clear out before we start tearing the place up?" His accent wasn't thick but it was clearly southern. He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "I'll wait."

His declaration stunned the Titans. They actually huddled up. "Is he serious?" Cyborg said is a whisper.

"I think he may be," Robin said. "In any case, if he's willing to let the area clear out, whatever his goal is, we need to do it. I'll tell the police. Get ready in case he changes his mind." He walked away.

Cyborg stepped a little way away from the group. "So," he called. "What do we call you?"

The man shrugged. "Mike," he said.

"Mike?" Cyborg said dubiously. "Not super- mega- awesome man or something?"

"Mike's fine," he said.

"What do you want, Mike?" Starfire asked. He only shrugged in reply. Around them, the police cars began to pull out. Most of the civilians were already gone. "Are you aware that we must subdue you and you will have to answer to the authorities?"

"There's many a slip betwixt the cup and the lip, kid." He grinned at her confused expression. "Hell, I'll tell you what. You guys can even say 'go' to start us off. I know how much you like that."

From off to his left, much to everyone's surprise, Robin said. "Fine. Teen Titans go!" A lot happened at once. Several of Robin's explosive projectiles struck him, which he more or less ignored. Starfire began throwing her green bolts in rapid succession. Beast Boy transformed into his T. Rex form. Raven levitated in to the air and formed her protective shields. Cyborg fired his sonic cannon. Mike launched himself through the air in a flat trajectory. He was blindingly fast and slammed into Raven's shield before it was completely formed. It shattered into black shards that faded out as they scattered. He struck Raven once across the jaw and she went down hard. The remaining Titans had to hold fire for fear of hitting her. The green T. Rex bellowed and charged, jaws wide open to bite. Mike ducked under the massive maw and drove upwards with his legs and body, striking with an enormous uppercut. Beast Boy's head snapped up with a cracking sound. It didn't knock him out or jar him back into his human form but it did make him wobble drunkenly and almost tip over.

Robin vaulted through the air, spinning and delivering a kick with power that utterly belied his small frame. Mike's head was moved a few inches and he grunted. Robin was bounced away, hitting the ground gracefully. "He's heavy," Robin barked, "like really heavy!"

"About half a ton," Mike said conversationally. He swung at Robin a few times but was evaded. His attacks were inhumanly fast but he not fast enough to cancel the vast difference in their skill levels. He didn't notice that Robin was leading him into an open field of fire. Starfire and Cyborg opened up on him while Beast Boy moved to flank him on the right as Robin was on the left. He took the incoming fire with a gasp of pain, covering his face with crossed arms, but weathered it. After a moment, when the onslaught slaked, Robin began an acrobatic series of attacks. Their purpose was clearly not to do real damage but rather to distract. Beast Boy was in position to take advantage and stormed in, bent low, and bit. Mike looked up at and saw it coming. "Well, crap," he said in a phlegmatic tone. The massive jaws closed cleanly and Beast Boy chomped, shook and threw him. As he arced through the air, both Cyborg and Starfire struck him and he flew in a much higher arc out over the city.

Beast Boy transformed back into himself and he had blood starting from his mouth. Raven was moving and moaning, a livid bruise already starting on her chin and cheek. "Jesus, Rae, can you hear me?" he said as he slid to a stop on his knees next to her.

She moved spasmodically but looked towards him. Her eyes were unfocused and she slurred, "Bleeding…" Beast Boy checked her for wounds, finding none. "No," she said, her voice clearing a little, "you…"

"I bit my tongue when he hit me," Beast boy said quickly. "No big." She nodded and slumped down. "Rob!" he called, "Raven's down!"

"OK. Stay with her. We're going after him," Robin yelled back. He gave the leader a nod and just as he was about to turn to her, a sudden, loud whistle made him look up. A car was hurdling through the air with frightening speed.

It struck Starfire in midair, drawing a pained cry. She was carried through the air and the huge force of the flying vehicle slammed her into a wall, shattering stone and leaving it blood stained. She fell gracelessly to the ground and hit like a bag of sand, limp and heavy. Mike was visible atop a building where the car had come from. He jumped down at a surprised Cyborg, taking a sonic blast full in the face for his trouble. The Kevlar jacket he wore was shredded and his skin rippled in waves with the force of it. The trajectory of his jump having been altered by the impact, Mike landed several yards away from his target but was up and moving instantly. Cyborg stepped to meet him rather then firing again.

Robin was checking on Starfire and Beast Boy was still with Raven, whose eyes were clearing and voice was stronger, "I'll live. Go help." Beast Boy spun away, transforming back into his T-Rex form. He saw that Cyborg had closed with their enemy, trying to match him on straight strength and durability. They stood toe to toe, both swinging away with power and and deliberate regularity. It looked for a moment that Cyborg might prevail but he took a blow to the face and staggered backwards, stunned. Mike's hand flashed out, grabbing the hero's elbow and simply ripped his arm off. Beast Boy's T-Rex shadow fell over them and Mike spun, using the metal limb as a club, landing a terrible blow to Beast Boy's jaw as he crouched to bite again that lifted the huge dinosaur slightly off its feet. Beast Boy transformed back into his human form in mid air, hit the ground hard, and didn't move. Cyborg was distracted by his friend's fall and the now mangled arm caught him across the head and he went down, a piece of his facial cowling flying lose.

Mike stepped back and surveyed the area. Raven was struggling to rise. Beast Boy and Starfire were out. Cyborg was moving slowly but was clearly badly damaged, with sparks and blue discharges coming from the stump of his arm and from the damaged plating on his face. Robin was unhurt and cautiously approaching. They made eye contact. "About what I figured," Mike said. Robin hurled another explosive, which didn't seem to faze him too much. He jumped away, vaulting easily to the top of a skyscraper and then away out of sight.

"Great," Robin muttered. "He can leap tall buildings in a single bound."

Normally, Robin wanted to deconstruct such a disastrous encounter as soon as possible but his team was just so thrashed, other than him, that he scheduled the post-mortem for the next day. Rae and Gar took advantage and went straight upstairs to her room. He went to her sink and washed his face to get off the blood and discovered that in addition to his bitten tongue he also had two broken teeth. She felt gross and nasty but didn't care enough to shower or do anything but collapse into bed. They both had ice packs on their faces and were loaded up on painkillers. Gar flopped into her desk chair. "That guy kicked our asses," she said.

"Nothing like getting your ass kicked to make your ass hurt. I have to go to the dentist tomorrow," Gar said mournfully. "I hate the dentist."

She tried to sit up and look at the damage but gave up when it just hurt too much. "Lose any?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Broke two," he replied. "Geez," he said. "He went through us like we were nothing. Did we even hurt him?"

"How would I know? He took me out first."

"Yeah, he did," Gar said thoughtfully. He shook his head. "How are you?"

"Hurting. He damn near broke my jaw…" she trailed off. "He could have."

"What?"

"He could have broken my jaw. Easily. He was strong enough to do that to Star and got right in Cyborg's face. He could have cracked my skull like an eggshell. He didn't."

Gar nodded. "So he isn't a murderer. That's something I guess." She shrugged, lacking the energy for much else.

He stood slowly to go back to his room. They did not, as a rule, stay overnight together. There was, of course, no question of her staying in his; that was absolutely not going to happen. Rae stirred enough to toss her cloak on the floor, toe her boots off, and arrange the comforter. Just before he reached the door, she said "Gar?" He turned. She lifted the covers. "Stay."

Robin sat at the computer, running the surveillance footage of the fight over and over, quiet and intense. After a few hours, Cyborg came in and leaned down to watch with him. "All fixed?" Robin asked absently.

"I'm good," he replied shortly, pulling over a chair. They watched a full run through together.

"Thoughts?" Robin asked.

Cyborg shrugged. "He's stronger then Star, a lot stronger; and she's stronger than I am." Robin nodded agreement. "Hard to hurt. He wasn't wearing the Kevlar as armor."

Robin nodded agreement. "He probably just wanted the most durable stuff he could find."

"Yeah. The last thing a guy wants to happen in the middle of a fight is to put his business in the street, you know?" Robin gave an entirely perfunctory smile. "It got shredded but he wasn't hurt."

"That we could tell," Robin said. Cyborg looked at him and raised one eyebrow. "OK," Robin said, "it didn't hurt him." He regarded Cyborg and decided that since the older Titan was essentially second in command, this might be a teachable moment. "What else do you see?"

Cyborg knew exactly what Robin was doing. "Well, physically... damn. He might be on par with Wonder Woman. He's fast but not skilled. He couldn't lay a glove on you. He said he weighed half a ton. Highly dense tissues. Damn hard to hurt. That's one bad dude."

"Tactically?" Robin asked.

"He took out Raven first," Cyborg said. "He did it fast and didn't play around with her. With the rest of his, he took a first pass and didn't lay us out. Then, when he came back, he kind of did." He stopped and nodded. "Raven can beat him," Cyborg said with certainty, "and he knows it."