Author's Note: With Andromeda Strain concluded, updates will resume the normal Monday and Friday postings, unless ShadowMajin decides to start posting another story. With that said, I do recommend Andromeda Strain, a Martian Manhunter origin story if only for a setting that this series has not explored until now. You can find it on ShadowMajin's account or in the Justice League section of stories. Without further ado, enjoy.

Titan Appreciation Day

The jet was blazing its way through the sky, heading west and north. Its sole passenger had not even bothered to change, remaining in the armor and gear he wore. Only his helmet was removed and resting on a nearby seat.

A gloved hand held itself out and received the glass of whiskey, ice clinking against the glass. The man that had given the requested alcohol happened to be a very old and very good friend of his. That man was also giving the impression of a disappointed father.

"You can either spill it or suck it up," Slade remarked as he took a sip. His single eyes did not leave the laptop that was propped up on the tray attached to the seat in front of him. So much breaking news about the attack in Cancun, Justice League was on the scene, Mexican authorities claiming to be cooperating, everything to create a media circus.

"You know, this doesn't change anything," Wintergreen said, taking his seat several down and across the aisle from the assassin. "Murdering these children will not bring Grant back."

Silence was his initial answer. Everything in front of him seemed to hold no importance whatsoever. A hard blue eye gazed ahead without recognizing anything. The grip on his glass remained the same, without tension or slackening. It was as if the whole world fell away for a moment, then as quickly as it had, it returned and Slade took another sip.

"I know," he replied.

It was Wintergreen's turn to remain silent, mulling over his next words. "Then why do this at all? It does not pay, you get nothing from it, and all that remain are the broken bodies of youth."

He swirled the alcoholic liquid in his glass, the ice cubes glacially rocking back and forth. "To even the scales."

It was that old saying, wasn't it? Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, lie for a lie, and life for a life. All he understood was that the world was wrong and only blood would set it right. That last of them, these Teen Titans, were in Jump City. Bringing up another window on his laptop revealed perhaps the optimal opportunity to take all of them down.

It was an unforeseen consequence of his intel gathering, but he would accept it all the same. A grateful mayor was hoping to score some political brownie points, was trying to appeal to the pro-Titan crowd, and had an open invitation for the members of Titans West to attend it. The Titans in that city had been working their asses off to try and get that city to accept them and here it was on a silver platter. They would have to be fools to pass it up.

He was counting on that.

With his free hand, he accessed a telecommunication program and sent a call. Let them say what they will, but if he couldn't make a simple phone call from a jet plane, then what was the purpose of having any kind of phone or device? Sometimes you were on the go and like hell could you land a plane just to do something that could take only a minute. Satellite relays existed for a reason.

On the laptop's monitor, the picture changed and one of the stoolies he had appropriated from H.I.V.E. appeared. He hadn't bothered to learn any names as there wasn't a point. The man on the other end was in debt to the Terminator and had agreed to pay with his life.

"Mr. Wilson—"

"Is everyone ready?" Slade interrupted. He was in no mood for small talk.

"Yes, sir. Ev—"

"Then have everyone in position." Another interruption. "I'll be arriving shortly. Have all eyes and ears on that pep rally and when I tell you, you act. Fight with everything you have, and when it's finished, you will have paid back your debt to me. Any objections?"

The man on the other end of what was turning out to be a one way call seemed uneasy. There was no doubt that the rank and file he had shanghaied were not happy with their current arrangements but like all cowards they valued their lives too much to risk them. Until the current status quo was upset, they had no choice but to do as told.

"None, sir," the stoolie answered.

"I want priority with the metas. They lead, you follow, cause some murder and mayhem, then scram if you can. I'll handle everything from there personally."

Without waiting, the one-eyed assassin ended the call. See? Less than one minute and the plane wasn't falling out of the sky. Small talk could be skipped, just get to the point and you were set.

A sigh from behind him informed the assassin that the previous conversation wasn't over yet.

"Like I said before, spill or suck. I don't care which." He held back a scoff out of respect for the older man and for no other reason.

"This is getting too personal. When things become personal, you get sloppy," Wintergreen warned.

"None of those wannabe heroes are skilled enough to take me down at my sloppiest. They can try for all the good it will do them." The snort expressed only a fraction of the contempt he felt.

Wintergreen, the proper British etiquette drilled into him, did not slump in his seat, but a single look gave away that the older man felt like doing just that. However, the former army man still had a few more tricks up his sleeve.

"Do you remember the last time it became personal?" A sip of whisky that wasn't done by the assassin followed. "I do. I also remember the scars it gave you."

After all these years, he did not bring a hand to a face, or more specifically his right eye. That lesson that had resulted in that particular loss was still as fresh to Slade as the glass he held in his hand. Nevertheless, he got the point.

In this business, you didn't let things become personal. It only ever brought disaster and misfortune. He, on the other hand, had the skills needed to give that piece of wisdom the middle finger and directions on where it could go and what it could do when it got there. When matters became personal, you were more likely to make mistakes due to the tunnel vision that happened.

This was personal, however. It needed to be brought to an end. He hadn't spent all this time and used so many resources to prepare himself for this particular Titan hunt. Even with them, knowledge was your friend, learning about your enemies was a requirement, and they were any other mark in which the payment would be there but it wouldn't be cold hard cash.

Satisfaction would be payment this time. No one crossed him in this way and lived to tell the tale.

"It won't happen again," is what he ended up saying. A promise both to himself and the only true friend he had in this world.

Slade never broke his promises.

There had been a lot of discussion, a lot of back and forth. Pros and cons, why should they and why shouldn't they. It started going around in circles at some point.

Cyborg did not envy Red right now. They all were looking to him for direction on this, each input, but the final decision would be his. They should be on high alert due to what happened with Titans South. There was nothing that said it would be an isolated event. On the other hand, where Titans South was could explain a lot, what with being in the least stable area any of the four towers were located. There were people in southern Mexico who would try to pull something off like that.

Not to say that they in Titans West hadn't made their fair share of enemies. A lot of them hadn't even been sent to prison. There was the Church of Blood, of which Raven herself insisted they need not worry about their leader. That guy wasn't coming back any time soon. Then there was the mummy man and his pet ape and no one knew where they had gotten to. Neither of them would have any reason to strike at them through Titans South though. Then there was Inertia, but he was trapped in the Speed Force with no way out, according to Kid Flash. H.I.V.E. really had the motivation and the resources to try, but by all accounts they were put down. Practically every cell was hunted down, and if there were any remaining, to bring attention now would all but ensure their end.

Locals might be able to. The cartels were well funded and notoriously violent. They may lack superpowers, but that didn't mean they couldn't outsource, right? Also, what would be their reason to go to Northern California next? The Justice League hadn't been forthcoming yet with anything they found, but that would be coming any day now. Cyborg had that much faith in them.

That didn't mean they couldn't take precautions though. This might be a Titans Appreciation Day, but that didn't mean it wouldn't attract any troublemakers. A compromise could be reached here that could allow them to participate, satisfy and placate Mayor Wolfman, and keep their guards up.

They would be split into two. Cyborg would take point, do any and all speeches, accept any and all awards be their real or participation, and be his handsome self. He would be joined with Beast Boy for the green crowd—so a minority of one—Kid Flash, Raven, and lastly Terra. Gotta have your normal person there. Meanwhile, Red Robin, Wonder Girl, and Starfire would take the high ground and watch the event from above. For Red and Wonder Girl, that was to help minimize any exposure. Secret identity stuff because Red was paranoid of his and Wonder Girl refused to wear a mask.

Starfire should be on that stage with them, but you can thank Blackfire for that. Even after all this time, there was still some anti-Tamaranean sentiment. Poor girl. She had been agreeable and was willing to keep out of the way unless someone really did have the balls and tried to attack. Then she would have a reason to show Jump not all Tamaraneans were bad.

The crowd was…big. Bigger than Cyborg had anticipated. If you gauged everything by the news, it felt as if half if not ninety percent of the city was against them. That seemed to be a big fat lie. He had never seen so much love and support for them anywhere. There were adults too! They held handmade signs of varying sizes, a lot of it pro them. There were teens cosplaying and guess who they were cosplaying as? There was screaming like the kind you'd hear at a rock concert or that one pop singer nobody could stop talking about.

Several city blocks had to be blocked off. That would be a good reason to hate them. Obstructing traffic and making you detour. Adding minutes to your commute. Despicably evil.

As a fellow driver, Cyborg understood the pain of commuting. Now he was a reason for lengthening one. The brownie points for all of this better be worth it.

The din from the crowds was like an ever present hum. A gentle roar that could increase its volume at any second. Now, blocking off some streets took time and resources to do, but you needed a center for all of it. A place to get the maximum amount of people in a busy city like Jump would require something like a park.

City workers had set up a stage and everything. The streets around the park were the ones that traffic had to be diverted from. With much of the stage blocking sight of them, Cyborg peered over it and tried to get a head count. The robotic part of him could give a close estimate based on literal head counting, but his human eye had them all blurring together and coming up with the answer of a lot.

"I hope you guys like attention," he whistled.

"I don't," Raven deadpanned. It was obvious that she would have preferred patrol duty here. The only problem was she had a big goth and emo crowd following after her, a lot just feeling they didn't belong, and those who felt like nobody understood them tended to gravitate towards her if you believed all the chatrooms, forums, and Reddits about it. That lot needed representation too. Plus he was going to drag her down with him on general principle.

Kinda like a big brother rubbing it in to a little sister.

"I didn't think it was going to be this big a turnout," Terra remarked, standing on the tips of her toes to peer over the stage. "That's a lot of people."

"They know they score. People love us more than they hate us," BB replied. Oh yeah, Grass Stain there was drinking it all up. Maybe a little too much. "Alderman can whine about us all she wants, but these guys out there? They know what she's smoking. Don't even care how she tries to spin it."

He pointedly did not mention that someone had been trying to organize a counterprotest a couple streets away. An event like this couldn't not draw out the anti-Teen Titan people out there. Compared to the crowd itself, those protesters were a very small minority. Police had to stand near them to protect them from behind overwhelmed by the pro-Teen Titan people.

"Soooo…how long is this going to take?" Kid Flash was a bit twitchy, but he tended to get that way when having to sit in one spot for long periods of time. There was no medication strong enough to deal with that level of ADHD right there. Speedy there was eager to get the show on the road, not that the cyborg could blame him.

If you stopped paying attention to the group, you'd see all the technicians, the security personnel, even some of the attendants and dignitaries that were going to be joining them on this stage either moving about or standing around. For those moving, they had a job to do such as making sure all cameras were where they needed to be, the sound system was set up, you didn't have people back here who didn't belong back here, and making last second adjustments. For those standing, they were doing just that. There wasn't a table set up for refreshments because it was expected once the Mayor was done making his big speech, then they would disperse. If there was anything else planned after that, that was the workers' concern.

It was kinda a shame. Even with something like this whole…rally or whatever you wanted to call it, people still had to work. They still had to do jobs that would keep them out of it, not belonging, and that was sad.

He knew that it was important for those jobs to be done. It just meant some people had to miss out.

"You'll need to hold it until the grownups get everything together," Cyborg told the speedster.

A groan. "Why do they have to move so slow?"

"Everyone moves slow compared to you. I know, I know, us peons have to live life in the slow lane, but sometimes slow is better. You get to smell a lot more roses that way," Cyborg said, taking his eyes off Kid Flash for a second.

It was a second too long because their resident teen from the future was no longer there. You could practically see the blinking dotted outline of the kid with the need for speed. In the next second, the cybernetic young adult was able to ask the others if they had seen where Kid Flash had gone only for the devil whose name had not been spoken to appear right where he had vanished.

"I don't get the appeal. Why do people like to smell roses?" Kid Flash asked, several roses in hand.

He had pretty much walked right into that one, hadn't he? Putting a titanium hand to his face, Cyborg exhaled loudly, then said, "It's an expression."

Amber-colored eyes blinked.

Adding on, 'In the twenty-first century."

"Ah. Still don't get it."

"It just means relaxing, man," Beast Boy piped up. "Speed's not everything."

"Be careful. You have Beast Boy making sense," Raven warned.

"Hey, I can make sense when I want to," the green shapeshifter defended. A second later, "Not that I don't make sense all the time. I don't! I mean, I know how to make sense! I…what am I trying to say here?" Green eyes sought out a blonde-haired geokinetic. "Help me out here!"

Terra raised up her hands in surrender. "Sorry, but I have no idea what you're trying to say."

"Case proven," Raven declared and leveled a knowing look at Kid Flash. "It won't hurt you to slow down."

Cyborg glanced away and noticed that perhaps their wait would be coming to an end soon. "You might not have to wait forever. Big wig at ten o'clock."

In this town, the biggest wig was the Mayor, and the man was dressed up as politicians were wont to do. The big man himself was on the scene, and with such a busy man here, that meant the show would be getting on the road shortly. That didn't mean some time couldn't be used by the mayor for a little chitchat.

"I'm glad you could make it here," Mayor Wolfman greeted, extending an arm out. His entourage and security detail were watching the hand like a hawk, though in some cases vulture would be a better word.

Representing the Teen Titans here, Cyborg was the one who accepted the shake. "Pleasure's all ours. Thanks for going all out on this. You didn't have to."

Candid moments with politicians happened once in a blue moon, and it seemed like they had one right now with Wolfman smiling wanly, "You saved my life. Now I return the favor." The older man's eyes searched around. "Aren't there…others?"

Releasing Mayor Wolfman's hand, Cyborg answered, "Keeping an eye out for anything that might go wrong. That Fugate guy is still out there and if he tries to make another attempt, we'll have a few guys able to act quickly. I'll make sure to let them know you were thinking about them."

"Of course," the leader of the city's executive branch agreed diplomatically. "I hope everyone remains on their best behavior." The mayor trailed off as he noted the roses Kid Flash still held. Ah man, they hadn't thought to do something about that before. "With minor rule breaking."

"We're all about rules, Mr. Mayor, sir," Beast Boy attempted to appease. It wasn't successful.

"Join me?" Mayor Wolfman gestured with a nod of his head towards the stage. The message was clear for everyone—almost everyone. Not gonna name names here.

Cyborg gave a nod and now the Teen Titans were part of Wolfman's entourage. He could already make out a few familiar faces, such as the still neutral Commissioner Perez and the always sour Alderman. That lady was a glutton for punishment, wasn't she? Probably thought she might try to peddle her rhetoric here. No way was she about to let any of them have a nice word said about them without trying to tear it down.

Well, history was about to be made here and they were walking their way towards it.

The din of the crowd would turn into a roar that could deafen everything.

Rooftops were like an old friend at this point. Still, they could only do so much and the turnout for Mayor Wolfman's political stunt was greater than Red Robin had anticipated. Perhaps the uneven distribution of the team was ill-advised; they could use one more person doing aerial.

Too late for that, live and learn. If all went well, it wouldn't matter. A day-long event with a packed crowd, a parade, and a festival-like atmosphere was going to be a daunting challenge, but if they performed well, this would only be the first of many. The practice was needed.

The teen vigilante wasn't the only one up here, though. JCPD had snipers taking vantage points just in case. A few other officers were giving overhead updates to those on the ground. A militaristic setup, but Commissioner Perez was going to be taking no chances today. The mess with the Clock King had ensured that.

His other company was Wonder Girl and Starfire. Wonder Girl's gruffness would not appeal to some people and he knew she didn't like being the object of attention. School was one thing, but here she had a choice and she didn't want people staring at her. There was also his concern about her reluctance to wear a mask. This was as much to protect her identity and give her something to do.

Starfire was up here, though he would have wanted her to be down there with everyone else. The reminder of New Tamaran off the coast meant that any negative feelings towards Tamaraneans was slow to go away. No sense in riling the natives. Starfire didn't deserve that, didn't deserve to once again be the victim of one of Blackfire's ploys, yet this was the reality they had to work with.

The crowds of people down below were a bit interesting. It was really surprising all the support for the Initiative when you were constantly bombarded with those screaming about how bad it was. A silent majority existed; something to give people like Alderman pause? Doubtful, she would find a way to spin her old message into something more palatable.

The cosplayers were a bit of a surprise, he had to admit. That some people, both young and adult were trying to dress up like them? Surreal. Wait a second…was that…? One close up with his binoculars later and yeah, there were pet costumes too. That one he spied was a doggy Raven. Looked happy to be here unlike the real Raven.

You had people using cardboard boxes to try and copy Cyborg's size. There were quite a lot of girls in various shapes and sizes who were trying to do Wonder Girl. A lot of blonde wigs and hair dye had to be used for that. The "armor" took a lot of different forms and most didn't seem to agree on what it looked like, especially since the actual mystical armor would alter its appearance based on what kind of damage she took.

Not a lot of people were painting themselves green, but some had made the effort. There were some Terra's, and—wow, chubby Kid Flash right there. There weren't a lot of him, but he wasn't too offended. If you looked hard enough, there might be a cluster or two of Starfires, but they kept more to themselves. Maybe one day it wouldn't have to be that way.

Communicator in hand, "Status," he spoke into the pale yellow, circular device.

"I have not observed any incidents of concern," Starfire reported in. "I have noticed a small gathering towards the margins of this gathering with a larger force of officers. Is that something we should be concerned of?"

"Those would be the counter protesters. Keep an eye on them but allow the police to handle them. If they get violent and they can't be contained, then we'll intervene. Police should be the first responders for that."

It also went without saying that it would also be an olive branch with the JCPD. There were enough grumblings of anti-Titan sentiment there, not unlike Gotham, and winning them over for a healthy, long-lasting partnership was key. As much as he would like to handle everything this city threw at them, there had to be a balance. Taking control of those incidents that went beyond the JCPD's capabilities was one thing, filling in the gaps for their normal patrols was like stepping on a toe during a dance, but trying to assume all responsibilities was a recipe for disaster.

"I got nothing," came in Wonder Girl. "I am reconsidering a lot of things. Am I really that popular that there are gangs of me down there? Hold on a sec, is that another…? I do not have pigtails, thank you very much."

Red Robin did not hold back the smirk. "Occupational hazard. They may not be on TV as much, but we got a lot of people rooting for us, and cosplaying is how they can show some of that support."

"There better not be a sexy costume of me."

Don't answer that.

They could only hope there wasn't. This was humanity they were talking about, though.

So, instead of continuing with what would be a landmine of a conversation, "Keep your eyes peeled and try not to get too distracted…did someone bring their pet rabbit?"

There was a cage, and the bunny ears gave it away. And it was dressed like Raven. Bunny Raven. Now he had seen it all.

"Get a picture of it."

Done.

Right, back in the game. From where he took position, Red Robin had a good view of where Mayor Wolfman was going to make his big rallying speech. A large stage that could be disassembled quickly and put back together elsewhere was starting to get a lot more activity on it. Individuals in their finest, basically city officials, were gathering. So too was Cyborg's group. Any minute now, the official start of this Titans Appreciation Day would begin.

"Alright, it's starting. Bring your A-game…do your best," he spoke into the communicator but did not put it away. If anything happened, well, first he would hear of it, then he could get the update from one of his teammates an exact location.

His job was going to be coordinating everything on the Titan's end. A big responsibility and one he was going to be taking seriously.

You couldn't always wait for people to quiet down. Too much excitement. So much chatter. If you waited, you were going to wait for a long time. So you spoke and let them decide when to quiet down. If they wanted to hear you, they would quiet themselves down pretty quickly, then get on the case of the ones still talking.

Cyborg had to admit there was something to that approach. The crowd had gone wild when he and the team stepped up onto that stage, and Mayor Wolfman did his best to let them get it out of their systems before plunging into his speech.

"Thank you. Thank you for coming. We've been through quite a lot lately. Every day, the world seems to be falling out of control. Chaos everywhere. Madmen destroying anything and everything in their wake. Sometimes the job is too much. Sometimes, it's too great. We can do our bests to rise to the occasion, yet there are times when we do not rise fast enough. What do we do then? How do we meet the challenge?

"We turn to those who we can trust to handle it. Robberies, riots, and killings, we look to our police. Fires that destroy our homes, our businesses, and our lives, we turn to our firemen. Medical emergencies, doctors, nurses, and our ambulances. Now, now we have faced a new challenge, one that brought our city to a standstill, frightening everyone in it. Now, we have a new answer to that challenge.

"As many as you know, my life was in danger. Literally tied to a clock hand and watching the seconds as death came for me. A lunatic with a vendetta did not care about how we live our lives, how we do our day to day activities, go to work, go to school, go home. He didn't care who got hurt. He presented a challenge that those we normally turn to had difficulty handling. Given enough time, they would have, I believe in my heart they would. Time was not on their side that day, and so, those who call themselves the Teen Titans—"

Insert loud roar of applause. Very deafening. Kinda amazed that BB wasn't covering his ears right now. Grass Stain had the most sensitive hearing out of all of them. Must have some trick or two to help. The adoration was quite a bit much, but the cyborg would take it.

Even though the latest round of applause was still on going, he heard quite clearly the voice connected to his robotic side transmit itself. "Nothing on my side. Wonder Girl, Starfire? Anything you can see?"

"Nothing as of yet, Red Robin."

"Clear over here as well."

Their birds' eye view was catching nothing. Good. They still had the rest of today to get through.

"—witnessed their heroism, their coordination, and their willingness to fight for what is right. I know, sometimes the wheels in City Hall are slow, but they are not immoveable. Far from it. Everyone here has caught a glimpse of what the T.I.T.A.N. Initiative can do and the fine people involved with it. No more can we take for granted this valuable resource. You, all of you, have known this, known this for much longer than some others. Allow me to say that the halls of City Hall hear you loud and clear!

"No more shall we take these Teen Titans for granted! Let us embrace what they can do and what they can bring to our city! The good they can accomplish! The feats they will achieve! Protecting us from the growing threats not just of this world but from worlds beyond! Let us be realistic! Those that would do us harm are not going anywhere. So let us have something to fight back with!"

Tuning out right now as another roar of applause followed. The mayor was drinking this up, wasn't he? A politician in their moment. Not all, though. The Commissioner over there remained as neutral as always. Red was confident given enough time they would win Perez over. There was another face, one that he was taking some enjoyment from the sourness she was failing to hide.

This was killing Alderman. You could tell she wanted to say something, but this wasn't her botched rally—botched due to outside forces and not her own—and she didn't have command of the crowd. Must be seething now, but a loudmouth like her wasn't going to stay silent. If she could, she'd have her phone and be sending little tweets out to express her outrage. That was going to come later, but right now she had to stand in solidarity with the Mayor until she could get away.

It must be torture. Good. They had to keep hearing her big mouth all the time. Time she got a taste of her own medicine for the load of good it would do.

"We cannot remain in ignorance. We cannot continue to take for granted resources that are right there. We might not get a chance to learn and grow. Next time, it might be far worse. I nearly learned the hard way…and I refuse to allow the city to feel what I felt. We must stick together. We must stay together no matter how tough it becomes, how dark the path before us becomes, or what evils come our way. Only together do we survive."

Huh, that was an odd moment to tune back into. A bit poignant there. Any other time, that might be foreboding. Or was it foreshadowing?

"I got something. Looks like some kind of…pink balloon. And someone is attached to it. Like right under it. It's heading to the park."

Cyborg's human eye sharpened and he barely turned his head if only to A, not alarm anyone watching, and B, use his robotic eye to scan everything about the crowd. That was Red talking and he was positioned over…

That was a pink balloon, or something like it. Pink, yeah, and there was a symbol on the front of it. Looked like an eye. Let's zoom in and…oh. Oh. That didn't look right. The end of the balloon was attached to the face of the person dangling on it. It was like the balloon was somebody's eyeball and…

Wait. File recover, now. Oh, well, well.

That was a metahuman, one that had slipped away from that mess in Colorado with H.I.V.E. What was he doing here? Nothing good, and he definitely couldn't be alone. With all the attention right here, right now? No, some kind of scouting or the first sign of an imminent attack.

Doing his best to keep both his lips from moving too much and his voice from carrying, he asked, "What would you like us to do?" There was no sense in causing a panic, though if that former H.I.V.E. operative up there wanted it, there was little that could be done to stop that.

"Wonder Girl, Starfire, one of you will need to redirect him," Red ordered.

"I got him." Wonder Girl was volunteering. Hopefully she would be quick and discreet.

It figured. It really figured. A nice yet stressful day was planned out all for them and some asshole has to rain on it. This was always their luck.

Still, no sense in letting the people below know anything about what was going on over their heads. The armored blonde took to the sky and raced over to their party crasher. From here it…the image of a floating eye and what might have been a bad attempt at an optic nerve was not going to leave her mind any time soon. She barely remembered anyone with an eye motif, but she wasn't above poking it out.

Little asshole must have thought he was safe and sound up here, but then she air tackled him and gave him a different trajectory. "There's always gotta be one asshole who tries to shit on everything," she snarled as she attempted to aerially drag this particular asshole away.

The guy should have been shitting himself because he had gotten on her bad side this early in the morning. Instead, he began to chuckle.

"I don't mind the rough handling. I saw you coming a mile away. Don't worry! I brought a party favor!" the creepy asshole in white and…blueish green replied.

That didn't sound good. Neither was the fact that he began projecting several blue-colored eyeballs from this helmet he wore. The helmet…now that she was getting a good look at it, it had a stylized eye that covered almost half of his face. The eye gimmick was really getting old.

However, those projections started heading downwards and to the crowd below. Wonder Girl's eyes widened, and then expressed relief when several Starbolts struck each and every one of them.

The detonations, though, got the attention of the people below, and now they were starting to look up. Well, so much for a nice little whatever the hell this was. Time to find out what eye guy here was up to.

Except, of course, naturally, someone else had to butt in, and they were doing so with Starfire. A girl with angel wings. Yawn. Yet those wings had grown big and stretched out and then tried to crush the Tamaranean between them. The booming clap only drew more attention to them.

"Guys, we got a lot more company," she growled, knowing her communicator was sensitive enough to pick up her voice. Then eye guy began struggling in her grip, trying to get loose. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?!"

"Butch girls ain't my type! I think I'll check out the rubes down there!" Eye guy quipped. Before Wonder Girl knew it, an eye shaped barrier broke her grasp on the asshole and pushed her away. It floated there in the air, shimmering with reds, blues, and greens.

Then it began to fall.

Author's Note: Eye guy is also known as See-more, and the whole eye balloon bit did appear in the 2003 animated series.