As many of you have guessed, the green, radioactive monster Despero created is called Chemo. For those who don't, Chemo is usually associated with the Metal Men. The Justice League show did a variation of it in the Metamorphosis episodes, having Simon Stagg become the monster.

A simple drive from Jump City to Las Vegas was not going to be a quick trip, even in the T-car. Cyborg could admit that; he just hadn't been able to figure out how to give his baby flight capabilities. Oh, he had tried, but no dice so far.

So they had to figure out a way to cross California and head on down to the southern tip of Nevada, and do it without taking up the whole day, er, night. Who knew what would be left of Vegas if they drove?

"You have no idea what you're asking."

"I know. I'm still asking anyway."

"...you will owe me so much for this."

The solution was Raven, if you haven't figured it out. Her teleportation, if you could call it that, wasn't normally used for cross country trips, but it could get you a few miles easily. Vegas was about 450 miles away if you went in a straight line. The road from Jump to Vegas was nearly six hundred miles.

He was asking Raven to teleport his car and everyone inside it minus Kid Flash who was already racing his way over close to 450 miles, something the pale skinned girl, and his first traveling companion ever, had never done.

She still did it and was totally wiped from the effort. That was alright, he planned to drive the rest of the way and really use the T-car's speed to their advantage. They had just gotten to city limits when Kid Flash caught up with them—

"Hey, how'd you beat me here?!"

—and it was gameplan time.

With the window rolled down, Cyborg called out, "Go and see if you can't find out where Monster Boy is! He was on the Strip last I checked, but we need to know where exactly he is!"

"Aye, aye!" Kid Flash gave a salute then pulled away, a red and yellow blur that blended into the lights of Sin City itself.

With her hands on the seats, Terra poked her head between the driver's and front passenger seats, peering through the windshield. "So what's the plan? How are we gonna do this?"

"I figure this is just one big monster, so go all out. Unless that thing starts talking and sharing its feelings with us, do it hard and fast," the cyborg and driver said. That pretty much summed up the extent of his planning. Hey, this wasn't a football game with intricate plays. It was pretty much the six of them, and all of them had powers.

Yeah, they could have used Wonder Girl, and having Red with whatever little gadgets he had on him would've eased some of the tension he felt, but they still had secret identities and all. Had to preserve them, and Red's parents seemed like nice people. Something completely different than his own family, and he didn't feel like being an ass and ruining that. So Red and Wonder Girl had to be left behind.

But they had him, Cyborg, and he had some of the most advanced technology on the planet making up his body. Technology that wasn't alien, as far as he knew, so advanced for humans. They also had Starfire with her Starbolts, strength, and flight, and don't forget her fighting skills. There was Beast Boy and the whole animal kingdom that came with him. Terra could probably crush this monster with a mountain, not that they had tested out whether she could lift a mountain, but Vegas was in a desert so a lot of earth to use. Lastly, they had Kid Flash, speedster extraordinaire and who could get creative when he got too bored.

So they were packing a lot of heat here. They were going to have to make the most of it.

But first, they had to deal with the…lack of traffic. Hell, the side of the highway leading out of Vegas was jammed pack. The side going into the city was practically empty. That just meant he could floor it and still not get to its highest speed. That would be saved for another day. Empty highway soon became more narrowed streets, and then the first intersections…

...which were jam packed with cars and traffic.

Onto the sidewalk it was, cutting corners. So, internal GPS inside his head, which streets led to the Strip?

Rapid knocking on the driver's side window had him automatically rolling it down. "Just up ahead, try to keep up!" Kid Flash yelled, then pulled ahead.

It was really coming in handy having a speedster around. The only hard part was not the keeping up, but keeping track since the yellow occasionally blended in with all of the Vegas lights. It was a turn up ahead, and then tires were squealing as he slammed down the brakes.

There it was, big, green, and definitely not made of marshmallow. Cyborg narrowed his eye, then brought up a scan even as car doors were opening. Several feet ahead stood Kid Flash, the teen from the future standing in a nearly empty street with his hands on his hips, legs spread apart like he was striking a pose. Most likely getting his head into the game. The others were approaching the speedster's side when the results of his scan came in.

"Hold up, people!" he called out, immediately getting everyone's attention. "I'm picking up a huge spike of radiation up ahead. I think Monster Boy is radioactive."

"You can't be serious!" Beast Boy exclaimed, then looked down on his person. "I'm too green as it is; I don't want to start glowing too!"

"Radiation, that's a problem in this era, right?" Kid Flash asked, holding up a hand with his index finger sticking up.

Monster Boy slammed a giant metal hand into the face of the Planet Hollywood Resort, then began dragging it across, leaving a gash-like trench in its side.

"It will impede how we are able to battle this creature," Starfire stated grimly. "Even in the vast expanse of space, radiation is a very real threat that even the most advanced species struggle to contend with."

"So how do we do this? Long distance?" Terra suggested.

"That'll work until he notices us, them we're going to have the same problem. We need to be able to beat this asshole down." Pausing, Cyborg did a quick headcount and noticed someone was missing. Looking back to the T-car, he frowned as he noted that Raven hadn't gotten out—oh, now he had an idea.

"Hey, Raven!" he called out as he returned to his baby and the exhausted girl within it. Getting to one of the rear passenger doors—still left open, and who does that?—he bent slightly and peered in. With a much lower voice, "Hey. You still have some juice left? We got a problem and I think you can fix it."

Hooded eyes glared from underneath the hood. "What do you need now?"

Okay, someone was cranky. "Monster Boy there, he's toxic. Like, to the touch. We need protection, and I think you're our best bet."

"Am I now? I'm not some electronics device you can turn on and off whenever you need to. I need time to rest and recharge." The snark was strong with this one, but necessity gave him all the protection he needed from it.

"Can you shield us all, or not?" Cyborg cut to the chase.

There was that look, the one that looked like a glare, but promised so much worse than death. He was used to that look by now. "I plan to collect on everything you owe me from this night."

It didn't stop the black whatever from slipping over him.

"Alright, so the first thing on the agenda is to figure out where our alien enemy decided to hole up. If we want to find Mercury's Responsometer, then we need to find the big, pink alien. Anyone got any ideas?"

Gold looked to his fellow Metal Men, a smile stretched over a handsome metal face. He was the leader here, and as the leader he needed to take charge.

"Uhh…" Oh, Lead was the first to speak up. "What if we…went back? To where we last saw him?"

"You think he might be where we left him? Doubt it," Iron huffed, thick arms crossed. "You'd think people would talk if they saw him."

Tin looked down, shrinking in on himself. "I-I-I don't kn-know where to st-start." No surprise there.

"Hmm," Gold hummed, looking upwards while bringing a gold hand to a solid chin. "We can't stick around here too long. The bald guy's going to want to track us down if the last time we saw him is any indication."

"Do you think Will will be in trouble?" Platinum asked, looking back over her shoulder and out of the alleyway that the group of androids had hidden in. Towering nearby was the black building they had broken out of, so very ominous right now. Even the buildings directly in front of the alleyway could not hide it.

"If he isn't, then bald guy's going to have to deal with us," Iron muttered darkly. How true that statement was was questionable. Their programming was for rescue first. The fight with those metahumans had been classified as a threat, though none of them had been in any true danger.

Killing was just not in their code.

"B-b-but what about Mercury?" Tin asked, constantly looking around their surroundings as if they were going to be ambushed at any second.

This was a tough one, Gold would admit. They had escaped the big black building, but had left behind Will. However, who knew what that alien was doing with Mercury's Responsometer? There was too much uncertainty, but a leader was the type of guy and android to cut through the uncertainty and choose a target to focus on.

"What are…those?" Lead said, slow as ever. A large arm was extended, a finger jutting out. Several androids followed where the finger pointed.

From the mouth of the alleyway, a store of some kind was placed in clear view. A wall of glass was in plain sight, and behind it were several televisions that were currently playing the same footage.

Iron gave a snort. "Those are television, Lead."

"Huh." If Lead could have breathed air, then Gold was sure a cloud of used air would have been exhaled. "They're pretty."

"Everyone, focus! On me, the leader," Gold cut in. "There's plenty of humans back there, so Will should be okay. We don't know about Mercury so let's try finding him first. Any thoughts?"

"It's…green," Lead rumbled.

Pausing, Gold felt he blinked, then he slowly looked to the largest of the Metal Men. "What's green?"

"He's watching the TVs," Iron answered, already getting frustrated. To Tin, "Hey, how about you go find out what's going on over there so that we can keep the big guy here on task?"

At least that gave the jittery Tin something to do. Good work, Iron. "So Plat, any ideas?" Gold turned to the Metal Man who could also be called a Metal Woman, but so far hadn't put any emphasis on it. Tin had run up to the display of televisions and could be seen standing in front of them watching.

Platinum was distracted, her eyes constantly looking back to the black building where they had last seen Will. It meant that when she did speak, it was obvious that she was distracted. "I…we should…we should begin our search where we last…saw him. He will have left, but maybe…maybe he left tracks? Left a way for us to follow? We…expand the perimeter…search the area…for any clues…"

That sounded a bit right, distracted at Platinum was. Iron gave a grunt, "With as big as that alien was, he'd have to leave some kind of footprints. If he walked away, we should be able to follow."

"Unless he flew…" Platinum considered.

Did their alien know how to fly? Oh wait, spaceships. If one showed up, he could have gotten on and be anywhere, even in the sky or outer space. Well, not that that would be too much a problem. None of them needed air, and space was as hostile a place a human could be, which meant it was the perfect environment for them. But, space was a big place…

Tin suddenly returned. "Th-there's a b-b-big monster attacking!" the small android exclaimed.

"Attacking where?" Iron demanded, uncrossing his arms and focusing only on the small Metal Man.

"Another city, um. Las Vegas," Tin answered meekly. "I-I-I s-s-saw th-those people we fought b-b-before fighting i-tt. I-it's on th-the televisions."

A monster attacking a city, one with a lot of people. The programming was starting to kick in. First and foremost, the first rule of the Metal Men had to be obeyed, and that rule was simple.

Save everyone who can be saved.

"Las Vegas is out west, near where that alien was, isn't it?" Gold asked aloud. They were sharing serious looks now. "No matter, we go where normal humans can't."

"And how are we going to get there? This attack is happening now," Platinum asked.

Gold gave a charming smile. "We're no ordinary androids, remember? We have more than just our metal bodies." Looking down to Tin, he added, "Isn't that right?"

Tin looked back at him. "Uhh…yes?"

The first order of business was getting Monster Boy's attention. By now, most of the Strip was empty, people who still had survival instinct listening to it and running for their lives. That meant there was a lot of leeway to go all out.

His arm reconfigured itself, becoming a kickass energy cannon that he used with extreme prejudice, firing a blast of energy right into the green body of the massive ton of fun. Curiously, there was no explosion, as if the radiative stuff was absorbing it all; however, Monster Boy stopped what it was doing to a replica of the Eiffel Tower to turn its attention on the assembled Titans.

Five of them stood there, all clad with the black-colored…um, magic, psychic, whatever it actually was that Raven used to protect them from the radioactivity that this big boy was emitting. Raven was still recovering in the T-car, but as soon as she had gotten her second wind, she'd be joining in for the fun, or that's what Cyborg figured.

"All right, gang, we got his attention. Now let's keep it on us," the cyborg ordered.

"You're sure we're going to be safe, right?" Beast Boy asked.

Immediately, he knew what the green bean was talking about. "This comes from Raven. That's about the best guarantee you're going to get."

The shapeshifter gave a sharp nod. "Good enough for me." His legs bent then pushed forward, hooves clattered against asphalt as a bull charged ahead. Kid Flash took off as well, running side by side with the green bovine for a fraction of a second and then pulling far, far, far ahead. Starfire took to the sky, already going for the high ground. He hung back with Terra, and in his case, he wanted to get a good opportunity to hopefully strike a critical hit. Terra was a heavy hitter, but it would be in her best interest to see just how hard she needed to hit before she committed.

Beast Boy let out the snarl of a bull as he grew closer and closer to Monster Boy, head angled so that he could use the horns that were front and center. Monster Boy pulled away from the structure he had formerly been assaulting to fully face the charging shapeshifter, large metal hands at the ready. Whether it was to attack or to snatch, Starfire took the opportunity as one of distraction.

From black-covered orange hands, the green light of Starbolts flashed and then fired, one Starbolt after another was thrown where they struck around the head and shoulder regions. The green stuff that made up the massive body absorbed the impacts, and the head looked up to the Tamaranean. Red pupils zeroed in on the hovering threat, and Starfire continued with her distraction, leaving Beast Boy the opening he needed.

With a powerful lunge, the green bull leapt high—higher than any bull had any right—and rammed into Monster's Boy's gut area, the force of his attack sending ripples all over the green gelatinous mass. Monster Boy gave no grunt or any noise that he had been hit, but he did look down at what had hit him. Beginning to raise a metal hand to grab at the bull, a Starbolt struck him in-between the middle of his eyes, if you could call them that, and once again Monster Boy's attention was diverted.

Meanwhile, Beast Boy tried to thrash his horned head, and only caused the rest of his body to do so, then planted both of his front hooves against the green stuff that he was stuck in, pushing with his bovine strength until he pulled out all together. Hooves clattered against the asphalt, then shifted into the toughened feet of an elephant. The thunderous call of the massive pachyderm rang out along the Strip and two ivory tusk dip down and slipped under big, tall, and toxic's foot.

Up the shapeshifter's head went and leveraged the foot up, throwing the giant monster off balance. Monster Boy tilted backwards, not even letting out a roar as it began stumbling backwards. It slammed down a foot onto the street and then another, each footfall causing many cars to jump in response. Some even began beeping as car alarms went off, their headlights flashing over and over.

Beast Boy backed away, complaining, "Ow, my neck! How much does this guy weigh?"

The answer was obvious, but Cyborg wasn't going to waste time. Making a quick adjustment to his arm, he fired a sonic blast that distorted the air itself, pure sound slamming into the green torso and pushing monster boy back. A metal foot ran into a web of wires and cables that hadn't been there before, obviously Kid Flash's work, and soon balance was lost as Monster Boy fell back. Once again, cars were bounced into the air, every single one of them no longer parallel parked.

The area around Monster Boy darkened, Beast Boy was already running for the hills, and then a massive slab of rock slammed down on top of their radioactive enemy. Dirt and debris clouded the area, blocking everything from view.

Behind him, Terra gasped. "That…was a little heavier than I thought it would be," the geokinetic panted.

Looking over his shoulder, Cyborg asked, "Where'd you find that thing?"

The slight blonde looked up at him. "We're in a desert? There's huge deposits all over the place…not ore though. Just…lots and lots of rocks…and I picked the biggest one I could find."

Coming up to their sides, Beast Boy said, "Wasn't that mountain you threw at Starfire's nanny bigger?"

Looking down embarrassed, "I was…really in my head at the time. Adrenaline might've helped."

"Well, if you smooshed him, then I think we got this in the bag!" Kid Flash cheered, expectedly appearing from nowhere.

"Be on your guard!" Starfire called from above. "We know not if our foe is truly defeated."

Shifting his weight from foot to foot, an odd thing to see with an elephant, Beast Boy asked, "Uh, how are we going to know if we did beat him?"

A very good question, but Cyborg had some thoughts about that. However, before he could suggest any, he caught a whiff of fumes, and man, that was not something you wanted to smell on the Strip. It was a bad enough place as it was, but this…this wasn't fumes of desperation here.

Around Terra's boulder, smoke seemed out, and then green gooped bubbled around it. Strangely, the rock began turning in place, even as the fumes started to get worse.

"Get ready, guys," Cyborg ordered as he aimed his cannon at the rock. "I think this is how we know it ain't over."

It had taken way too long to excuse himself—ahem, themselves—from the Drake interrogation downstairs, but Tim was hoping to make up for it with his bedroom computer. Not necessarily the state-of-the-art kind, and definitely what he was planning to use it for was not what his parents intended, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Computers had always been Barbara's thing, no matter how hard he had tried. She understood programming and coding in ways he never would. That was why she was Oracle and not him. However, that did not mean he couldn't learn some tricks from the master herself.

Out in Jump, you needed a tech guy/person to look at things in a way that Cyborg was still learning to do. With his experience, Tim had taken that on himself. Overlapping skills could prove handy, especially since there were times they didn't always have access to everyone, the current situation being exhibit A.

"You know, I don't think the two of us being in your bedroom is going to help our case," Cassie remarked from where she lounged on his bed.

"At this point, I consider it an occupational hazard," Tim told her, fingers tapping at the keyboard. His eyes read over the information presented to him, and he continued with his task.

"Us being a thing is an occupational hazard," the blonde, who was currently not armored up, asked pointedly. The dark-haired teen could practically feel the eyebrow being raised at him.

"Cassie, we're a bunch of teenagers who, when not hanging out, are taking on the Jump City underworld and all the craziness that comes with it. Stranger things have been known to happen." While his words paused, his hands didn't as a thought, or multiple thoughts, occurred to him. "Much stranger things," he finally added.

Cassie's silence would have taken him by surprise had he not been hard at work. When she did speak, "Is this something you wouldn't mind?"

His answer was quick. "Should I mind?"

Another answer of silence, and before it could be broken, Tim was finally in. On his computer that was not state-of-the-art, multiple views and vantages from Las Vegas CCTV cameras appeared on the monitor. This was one of Oracle's favorite tricks, using traffic cameras and the like to keep track of everything happening or going down in Gotham. Naturally, it was a little something Tim felt the need to learn.

Shifting through the various footages, it didn't take long for him to find what he was looking for. There, breaking out from underneath a formerly massive, dissolving boulder was the monster currently attacking the Strip. Behind him, Cassie approached and peered over his shoulder.

"Since when did you learn to do that?" she asked.

""Not too long ago," he quipped back as he slipped an earpiece into his ear. There was no need to tune the frequency; this earpiece was strictly for Titan use after all. "Cyborg, what's the status?" he asked.

Within his inner ear, he heard a noise, then a complaint. "What the?! Are you hacking me, Red?"

"Earpiece. The comm link. We've had this discussion before," Tim replied, keeping in the sigh. "I've had this thing forever. Now what's going on?"

"Turn on the TV, you'll see everything."

"I'm using the local traffic cams for a better picture. Now what have you guys tried?" Tim said, keeping his cool.

There were a few seconds where Cyborg didn't answer, but then, "Guy's radioactive, and apparently can dissolve solid rock. He's getting back on his feet now. We have Raven shielding us, but she needs time to rest, you know, really exerting herself. Hold on a sec." On the monitor, a steady stream of sonic blasts pushed the monster away from what was left of the boulder, obviously Terra's doing. "Beast Boy rammed 'em, Kid Flash tripped 'em, he can take a bunch of Starbolts, and so far all I've thrown at him."

"So they're just getting started," Cassie groused. She had switched sides and kept her head close to Tim's head to try and better follow the convo. What, did she have enhanced hearing too?

The monster was no longer being pushed back, and as if realizing there was a limit to Cyborg's sonic blast, the creature reached out and seized a prominent replica of the Eiffel Tower. Breaking it off at the legs, the monster then threw the metal structure, and the assembled Titans scattered. The metal tower warped as it crashed against asphalt and momentum propelled it further. In its path was a familiar car—the T-car—and already Tim was wincing in sympathy.

A black shield formed in front of the car, the ruined tower ramming into it, the structure lifting upwards in the air before crashing back down. Okay, it seemed like Raven had recovered some energy, so hopefully she could join in on the fight shortly.

Thoughts and ideas began to run through his head. Had he been out there, he might have been able to come up with a better plan, but right now he was the man in the chair and so had to act like it. That didn't mean he couldn't suggest a strategy or two.

"Hey Cyborg, I think Raven might be almost ready. Since you said this monster is radioactive, the one thing we might need to try is making it inert. That might be the way to stop it."

"Since when do you know anything about radioactivity?" Cyborg demanded.

"Since when do you know anything about radioactivity?" Cassie echoed.

It was like listening in stereo.

"I take time to learn new stuff, sue me," Tim deadpanned. "Do you want to try something different, or do you want to keep doing the same thing? I'll wait. I don't think you can."

Cassie gave a whistle. "Someone's touchy."

"Fine," Cyborg grumbled. "Give us what you got."

Raven emerged from the…T-car—which needed a better name, or better yet no name—and gave a peeved look to the remains of the Vegas attraction. She was not fully rested, not yet, so having to act before being ready was more draining than she would admit.

However, the battle here was only beginning, and she refused to hold the others back. As she had pointed out before, their most recent track record was not the most reassuring, but hand it to a bunch of teenagers to use the meme "challenge accepted" as a defiant retort.

Alright, she needed to focus, regain her center, then lend whatever assistance she could.

"You there! Remain where you are!"

She could barely hear the hum, if that's what you could call it. Slowly turning, the empath found the tank-like vehicles that the Thanagarians had wielded against them at the tower, turrets aimed directly at her and Cyborg's prized car. From hatches on top of each of these alien-craft, two Thanagarians from the waist up stood out with their wings folded against their backs.

"You are in direct violation of curfew. Do not resist and surrender yourself!" the Thanagarian to her left ordered.

So, the Thanagarians, who had promised to protect this planet and were conveniently doing nothing about the creature rampaging through the Vegas Strip, found her presence here to be more offensive. Either this was a case of small-minded idiots on a power trip, or weaponized incompetence combined with a "not my problem" attitude.

She had no time for that kind of bullshit.

"You are clearly ignoring the monster over there wreaking havoc under your watch," she stated calmly. "Either you're completely blind, or grossly neglectful in your responsibilities. Care to enlighten me which one it is?" She completed the verbal barb with a skeptical rise of a single eyebrow.

"Watch your tongue, human child!" the Thanagarian to her right snapped.

Shaking her head while ignoring other onerous demands, Raven decided to wash her hands of the matter. Her power engulfed both of the alien vehicles, enveloping from the bottom and rising to the top. She even grasped the Thanagrians themselves whose eyes had widened, their bodies struggling to no effect.

Curiously, there were maces strapped to their waists that her power could not touch whatsoever. Odd. Regardless, with a thought, she tore the pair of high and mighty Thanagarians out of their floating tanks and discarded them both into the walls of buildings on either side of the street. Thanagarian-shaped holes cradled their bodies, their eyes wide from shock and bodily trauma.

Turning back to where she sensed her friends, Raven levitated upwards so that she could see over the metal structure that had once been an iconic symbol of Vegas. She could see the explosions from Cyborg's energy blasts and Starfire's Starbolts. She heard bestial sounds that could only come from Beast Boy, observed swarms of rocks and stones pelting into the green, gelatinous flesh of the creature, and assumed Kid Flash was somewhere being a nuisance.

Speaking of, she needed to add her contribution.

Swinging out an arm, she threw both of the Thanagarian vehicles at and into the monster. A flare of her power detonated whatever fuel source the spacecraft used, and the resulting detonations seemed to knock the creature for a loop.

Using the resulting lull, her eyes did a quick scan of the Strip, not even wincing at the debris littering the street, parked cars either turned over, placed askew, or slammed against the sides of anything that happened to be in their way. Amongst it all, she could see her teammates, and in particular she zeroed in on Cyborg. With Red Robin grounded in Jump, the cyborg had taken the reins of leadership, so he would be the best to get an update…

Oh right. Her body was soon coated with her black-colored power. Cyborg had mentioned earlier about the radioactivity. She herself would need protection. With that chore done, she made her way out into the battlefield.

The smoke was barely clearing, but Starfire was unleashing another barrage of Starbolts against the not lean, green, monster machine. Kid Flash picked up whatever he could and was throwing them with the speed of, well, a speedster. BB was hanging back, more than likely waiting for a chance to strike, or figuring out a different animal to use. Terra was rearming herself with what the desert had to offer and yep, here she was coming all March of the Valkyries like.

Headcount done, Cyborg knew what was coming next and the flap of fabric did not disappoint. With his arm cannon aimed, but not fired yet, he asked, "You up to this?"

"The Thanagarians might crash. We need to finish this sooner rather than later," Raven stated.

Throwing an incredulous look over his shoulder, "Those guys? They're showing up now?"

"They're after us for breaking curfew, not the monster wreaking havoc," the hood and cloak-wearing girl deadpanned.

Sheesh, sounded like overbearing parents with nothing to do.

"Well, we're not making as much of a dent as we wanted. Radioactive, toxic as hell—I saw the paint peeling off some cars if you wanted to know—and it can take a lot of hits. Got a few ideas of your own? Right now, I don't think any of us are going to be picky."

There was no need to look; he could feel Raven shrugging her shoulders. "Well, I could try to do to it what I did to the green blob."

Green blob? What green blob? Green blob, green blob…oh, his memory files were kicking in. Kid Flash had at point told him it was technoplasm, something from the twenty-fifth century. When he had seen it, it was like watching an old monster movie, but in real life. Raven was not afraid of monsters and she blew it to kingdom come.

There was a difference here though. Back then, he hadn't picked up any radioactivity with that technoplasm. Everything on his internal Geiger meters was screaming about it here. Who knew what going inside of that thing would do, and where all of it would go if Raven wasn't affected and did blow it up.

A metal-clad hand smashed through Terra's first wave of rocks, scattering them and breaking a lot of windows all over the place. Starfire had to break off her attack and go for cover. The rising and lowering of Monster Boy's leg had Kid Flash making an evasive maneuver, and the car that was smashed under the metal foot was hopefully insured.

The red-glowing discs that served as eyes zeroed in on Terra, and from where a mouth would be on a person, a stream of the radioactive gunk that made up its body spewed its way towards the geokinetic. Terra raised up one of the larger rocks up to shield her, and the green stuff splattered against it, instantly beginning to eat its way through the earth-based barrier. Whatever didn't get through fell to the streets below, puddling and corroding the asphalt.

Reemerging, Starfire concentrated two Starbolts together then fired off a powerful blast that struck Monster Boy from behind. The stream of gunk stopped and Monster Boy took a step forward to maintain balance. From the area that Starfire's Starbolt struck, steamy fumes billowed out, clouding the air and…oh, oh it didn't not smell good. If not for Raven's protection…

"So. Any plans, or keep doing the same thing and hope to win through attrition?" Raven asked blandly.

Before he could answer, Red was on the channel again. "Cyborg, you read? See about going for the metal areas of its body. Start with the feet and see if you can't immobilize it."

That sounded as good a plan as any. "Go for the feet. See if you can't blow them off," he said as he aimed his arm cannon and fired at monster boy's left foot. The energy blast's detonation had the massive pile of gunk trying to keep his balance, and Cyborg began running away, charging and aiming a second hit for the other leg.

Monster Boy's head turned in his direction and then spewed another stream of green crap. Cyborg changed direction to avoid it, wincing at the corroding path left in its wake. Not slowing down, he took aim, but found that Monster Boy had used his direction against him to come after him.

A metal hand swung, and the next thing he knew, he was sent flying, air buffeting him until he crashed through a wall and continued going. The expansive room of the casino offered nothing for him except slot machines to pillow his crash.

It was jarring, and it took a moment for him to pull himself out of the wreckage. Damn, Monster Boy was strong. Rubbing at the flesh portion of his head, Cyborg got to his feet, ready to dish out some more pain, then came to an abrupt stop.

Turning to look to his left, he found several stools over was an old woman calmly putting in another token and pulling down on a slot machine level. She was so calm and didn't seem affect whatsoever at the prospect that she could have been crushed under him. Hold on, what the hell was she even doing here?!

"Lady, there's a monster out there that's tearing everything apart! What are you doing here?!" he exclaimed, waving a hand to the hole his body had made in the wall.

Without missing a beat, or even looking away from the slot machine, the old lady calmly said, "This thing's gotta pay out sometime." Another token was slotted in, the arm pulled down, rinse and repeat.

Cyborg stared incredulously, looked about to try and do something about this…then stopped and sighed. Only in Vegas…

Facial features hardening, he began to run to the exit, bursting back out onto the Strip. In the air, two cars were jabbing at Monster Boy's face, coating in black that was clearly Raven's doing. Down below, Kid Flash was whacking at Monster Boy's left foot, specifically where Cyborg had shot it earlier, with whatever he could get his hands on. Beast Boy had become a rhino, finally deciding on a form and charging right for the back of the monster's left foot, Kid Flash easily moving out of the way. The ivory of the rhino horn screeched against the metallic foot, making a dent, but not tearing it apart.

From above a hand reached down to snag the green rhino while the other metal hand batted away at the cars bothering the head. Cyborg aimed and fired a blast at the hand, preventing it from grabbing BB while also prompting the shapeshifter to back off for a second.

"Any luck?" Red asked.

"Just a few minutes," Cyborg grunted. Did they need a few more minutes? Would it change anything? Hard to tell, but only one thing was clear right now. This whole fight was getting very, very frustrating.

Beast Boy appeared beside him. "That stuff is harder than it looks," the green bean said. "I hit it as hard as I could."

So it might be reinforced. "Then we keep hitting the same spot until something gives," he growled, his human eye glancing to his arm cannon. Did he have anything stronger to fire, something that could cause some real damage? He might have to do some tweaking right here and now, see if he couldn't up the output or design a structural system that naturally had that "oomph" to it.

Hell, of all the times to be considering this, when home was gone and thay had Stay Puff Radioactive Man causing a scene.

Speaking of, Monster Boy was stretching out both arms, then swung them together, the metal hands clapping and sending out a shockwave that spread everywhere. Windows were shattering, cars were flipping all over the place, and the Titans were literally being pushed back.

Distantly, he heard Red yell through the comm link, "Take cover!"

Shock delayed reaction, and the shockwave was practically on top of the two Titans. Cyborg brought an arm up to shield his face, while with the other he was grabbing Beast Boy by the shoulder and dragging the shapeshifter behind him. If nothing else, he could try and shield him—

Green cut in between him and the invisible, yet physical force, and the green, yet transparent barrier rippled from the massive impact. His human eye widened, nearly bulging out of the socket. Could it be? That shield, it looked like something Green Lantern would make!

Cyborg whipped his head about, and sure enough found the source of the green construct. However, it wasn't Green Lantern floating in the air with his arm extended, the missing members of the Justice League flanking him. What remained of his heart dropped as dread filled his very being, biological and cybernetic.

There they stood, the robots they had fought in Metropolis, five in total, but it was still them. Lead he recognized immediately, and his scans were already picking up iron, gold, platinum and tin metals.

The iron one, probably called Iron, was the one with the extended arm, a green ray of light beaming out to create the construct. The gold one walked around the iron android and stuck a pose, hands on his hips and gleaming under the lights of the Strip.

"Looks like a big mess here," the gold one declared, voice projecting. "I don't know about you, but this looks like a job for the Metal Men."

Well, shit.