FDC Presents...

Issue #139
Fission vs. Fusion
By Clay Arceneaux

*Note: Seriously, before you read this story, go check out the Cyborg, Changeling and Raven, Troia, and Starfire and Terra stories from the Halloween specials to see what's happened in our heroes lives between last issue and this one. Trust me, important stuff happens.*

In the heart of Manhattan's financial district, the scene had become an exercise in controlled chaos. The muffled booms of multiple explosions were drowned out by the whine of the sirens. Police cruisers swarmed the block surrounding the international currency exchange, with SWAT vans, ambulances, and fire trucks filling in behind them. Office workers streamed out of surrounding buildings. The ground shook and the asphalt buckled and collapsed. Police scrambled to pull back away from the growing sinkhole, as panic began to sweep through the crowd.

A second large explosion rolled from underground, throwing chucks of concrete and asphalt high into the air. Screams rang out in the concrete canyons as New Yorkers dodged the makeshift missiles. Shafts of destructive energy shot out of the growing crater, sending even more debris flying. Slowly, a pair of palettes loaded with large stacks of cellophane-secured gold bars rose from the pit. Bearing a palette on each arm was a black and gold clad armored warrior, who was attempting to fly away with stolen fortune. But it was obvious that only one of his boots' jets was functioning properly and his load was too much to allow him to simply take to the sky and escape. The warrior landed, set down his loot, and knelt to examine the malfunctioning boot. The police opened fire, the sounds of their gunfire echoing through the concrete canyons. Unfortunately, their bullets bounced harmlessly off the thief's armor.

"You stupid pigs!" The armored robbery rose to his feet, clearly annoyed. "First you idiots got crap in my intakes cuttin' me off downstairs, now you're trying to shoot me? This suits brand new, you scratch the finish and I swear I'm gonna… oh who'm I kiddin'. I'm gonna make you losers pay anyway now! Nobody messes with Neutron!"

With that, Neutron fired another blast of energy from his gauntlet, hitting a squad car some of the officers were using for cover. The cops were retreating as the blast flipped the car backward, then caused the vehicle's fuel tank to explode in a huge ball of flame, smoke and debris. Screams of a public in full panic drowned out the cries of pain from the wounded officers, and even the continued gunfire from their fellows. Clearly starting to revel in the chaos, Neutron fired his next blast as if he were throwing a softball. The deadly beam tore into a SWAT van, shredded the passenger compartment and knocked the van on its side.

"Officer's down! Repeat: officer's down!" A Lieutenant yelled of the din into his radio. "We are under meta-human assault and need immediate super-powered backup! Repeat: we need help out here, and we need it now!"

Earlier that morning…

On a small island in the middle of the Hudson River, empty and abandoned for many long months, a small gathering of people in colorful costumes was taking place. At one point, in the history of this small spot of green amidst the flowing waters, such gatherings were not uncommon. A tower once stood here, headquarters of a super-team known then as Teen Titans. But that was a long time ago, and the assembled heroes are anything but teens now. In truth, the familiar voices echoing through the tree were joined by a new sound… the sound of small children playing.

"Lian, be careful with Robbie, Sweetie, he's littler than you," A black clad young woman called to the giggling children.

"Donna, honey, relax. He's not made of glass. He's too much like his mother. Besides, Jen is watching both of them," A red bearded man behind her gripped the heroine's shoulders and pulled her close.

"Um… No. Sorry, Terry. Don't turn around but it looks like your not so little girl has taken an interest in her Uncle Roy," Their tall, golden skinned companion giggled.

"You're right, Kory," Terry Long, the only adult in street clothes, closed his eyes and winced slightly. "I don't want to look. Excuse me." And with that Terry turned and began walking toward his oldest child. "Jen, I thought you were helping us watch the kids…?"

The assembled heroes chuckled as a chorus of "Daaad!" stretched into at least five syllables. Brushing his dark hair back from his face, Nightwing scanned the small crowd. Almost everyone that he'd invited was here: Troia, Starfire, Arsenal, Cyborg, Tempest, Raven, Changeling, and Terra. He'd wait a little longer for Wally, but otherwise he needed to get started. His eyes drifted back towards the children. Raven was animating her blue cloak to help Lian and Jen safely climb one of the trees. It was still strange to see her smile so freely. Gar had changed himself into emerald chimp and was flipping through the branches with them. Nightwing couldn't make out what they were saying, but it was clear they had discovered something up there.

A green hawk swooped out of the branches. "Hey, Dick! Looky what we found!" The hawk dropped a small black object down to Nightwing.

Dick Grayson held the familiar curved weapon in his hands. He hadn't seen one of these in a long time. It was a bat-a-rang, the kind he used when he was Robin, a kind Batman doesn't even use anymore. He must have lost it back during one of their outdoor training sessions. It was a powerful reminder of their history together, and of this place. He was glad Victor insisted on meeting here.

"Guys, if I could have your attention for a minute. I was going to wait for Flash, but you guys know Wally. He'll get here when he gets here." The old bat-a-rang danced across Nightwing's fingers almost of its own accord as he spoke. "We've had a few adventures together lately, especially since Vic and Kory came back to Earth. And everyone keeps asking us if we're a team again. I'm going to take it by your showing up here today that you're at least interested in trying. So am I. I'd like to try to lead you again, if you'll have me."

"Better you than me." The crimson clad archer called Arsenal smirked.

"Oh, don't worry, Harper," Cyborg smiled as he pointed to the green hawk perched on Starfire's shoulder. "we were plannin' on askin' Salad-head there if Bird-boy turned us down."

"Cool!" The hawk crowed. "In my first order of business, I move we make our headquarters back on the Playboy Mansion… oh right… the kids… I'm sure they have a nice daycare center on the grounds somewhere."

"Thanks but no thanks, Gar," Donna sighed. "But he raises a valid point: we do need somewhere to meet. Is this island available?"

"I've got a couple of camping tents," Terry offered in mock helpfulness.

"I think this is where someone is supposed to have their mom offer to make the costumes," Arsenal added.

"Actually," Victor 'Cyborg' Stone smiled at Tempest. Garth responded with a wink of his violet eye. "I think we can help with that. I didn't insist to Dick that we meet out here just for relative fresh air and nostalgia. Titans… welcome home."

As his friends looked on with puzzled expressions, Vic pressed a control stud on his belt. In the center of the island, where a moment before there was the shattered remains of their old headquarters a familiar looking 'T' shaped tower shimmered into existence.

"Well," A familiar red and yellow blur known as the Flash appeared in their midst. "It looks like you guys started without me big time!"

Now…

"We have bacon," Neutron laughed as he plunged his armored hands into cracked street and lifted a huge chunk of rock above his head. "How about some pressed ham?"

With that he flung the pavement at the scattering police line. But before the makeshift missile could reach them, it was intercepted mid-flight by a blazing streak of auburn flame. Grabbing the chunk of asphalt Starfire spun around in the air, letting the rock's momentum help carry it back around so she threw it back at Neutron even faster than he had. The surprised villain was so caught off guard by her arrival that he made no attempt to stop the manmade boulder as it crashed into him. Neutron smashed the rock off of him and tried to rise for a counter attack, but a focused burst of white noise struck him like a jack hammer, driving him to his knees. From the cracked pavement beneath him a jet of water erupted, striking him like a cannon shot, sending Neutron hurtling up into the air. As he tumbled into the sky trying to get his bearings, a green… hippo... appeared in mid-air above him seemingly out of nowhere and proceeded to fall into him, sending them both racing back into the crater. Except as Neutron's armored form impacted the ground, the hippo was gone. For long moments, Neutron laid there, trying to regain is wits. He was still shaking the cobwebs from inside his head as he rose to his feet and jumped back up to the street.

"Okay, whoever you are," A black clad hero called to him from about 10 yards away. Batman junior… Nightwing I think, Neutron thought. "Hands behind your head, knees on the ground, and surrender. You've had your warning shot."

Neutron looked at the assembly of costumes to both of Nightwing's sides. The hot alien chick, the spooky blue bird-lady, the little green guy, even the blonde with a bob-cut, not good.

"Naw, naw, naw!" Neutron yelled. "You guys don't hang here anymore!?! You ain't a team no more! Even heard Robot-boy there blew up! This ain't happenin'!"

"I got better, bucket-head!" Cyborg leveled his white noise blaster at their armored foe. "And as for where we 'hang': we went away for a while, but we're home now."

Earlier…

"And this is the new rec room." Vic led his surrogate family into a huge multi-leveled room. Like most of the other rooms they'd viewed on their tour, it was fairly barren. The cabinets for the kitchenette were installed, and a massive 'C' shaped couch facing what was clearly going to be a massive video screen once it was finished. But the true centerpiece of the room was just behind the future Big TV: an enormous single pane window that was the entire outside wall of the room with a magnificent view of New York City beyond. "The rest of the regular bed rooms are on this floor. They're pretty much like the ones you saw downstairs. Like I said, we got enough for each of us to have a regular room if you want to keep some stuff here if you've got your own place. Lemme know what you need, we can decorate to suit. Course, we're about a week out from really movin' in."

"I'm bordering on overwhelmed here, Vic." Donna stared around the room. "This is really incredible."

"How long have you been working on this?" Nightwing raised a suspicious eyebrow at his cybernetic friend. "How did you afford it? Silas didn't leave you this much money."

"Better question," Roy added, "how did you keep Mr. Detective here in the dark about it."

"I gotta admit, I started workin' on this not long after I got home. At first I was just lookin' to fix the sublevels for place to park my ship in the river so I could get her out of orbit, and it just sorta kept going from there." Cyborg smiled. "And cash, well…"

"That would be me." Garth stepped forward. He was so quiet by nature, no one had noticed he had been following silently along on the tour smirking to him self and sharing knowing glances with Dolphin. "Vic came to me back before the Hawk-wedding, and told me some of his ideas for this place. It was going to take more than he had to see it through. And not just resources, there were city and state restrictions as well. Private ownership only went so far, so technically you are now standing on Atlantean soil. And what looks like a bungalow sticking out of the water just off the North end pier, that's the upper floor of the new Atlantean embassy."

"And you are looking at the official Atlantean Ambassador to both the U.S. and the U.N.," Dolphin added, giving Tempest a big hug. "Well… I'm U.S., and he's U.N., I think."

"Arthur wasn't real clear on who was which. You know what a detail guy he isn't," Garth shrugged. "But this gets you guys out of permit trouble with 'The Man' and I promise your landlord doesn't care what you want to build here."

There was a rush hugs and congratulations for their amphibious friends.

"So, where was I?" Vic's metal hands clanked together as he clapped. "We got one of the meetin' rooms above us. Main hangar is still gonna be where it was on that end of the 'T'. New T-Jet ain't past the blueprint phase. Gonna make a couple of those sky-bike things too."

"And hiding this from the rest of us?" Roy repeated.

"Dude, you have no idea how hard that was getting toward the end," Gar piped up.

The whole group went dead silent and turned in stunned amazement at Garfield Logan. Vic couldn't help but chuckle.

Now…

"Anyone know this guy?" Arsenal murmured into his radio as the Titans continued to stare the armored warrior down.

"No idea," Tempest replied. "All you surface dwellers look alike."

"Born diplomat that one," Arsenal shook his head. "Seriously, Rob? Vic? Any ideas?"

"Got a match on his energy sig," Cyborg replied. "Punk's named Neutron."

"That sounds familiar…" Starfire crinkled her nose.

"Nuclear powered guy, usually fights Superman, joined the Fearsome Five for about ten minutes once." Nightwing clarified. "Suit is new though, best to assume he's tougher now."

"Guy who normally fights Big Blue, and now is tougher," Arsenal sighed. "I'm having one of those 'What the hell are we doing?' moments."

"Hey! Am I interrupting anything over here?!?" Neutron swung his arms toward the Titans and energy blast ripped from his black gantlets. "My bad!"

Troia gestured and an invisible field of force blocked Neutron's assault. Arsenal let an arrow fly from his bow and when it hit Neutron's right gauntlet, that glove was coated in a quick-drying foam which rapidly became rock hard. A burst of white sound combined with a pair of starbolts sent the frustrated villain staggering backward. With his free hand, Neutron began to fire wildly.

"Raven, Troia, Tempest, we've got to get these officers out of the line of fire," Nightwing ordered. "Red Arrow take him out quickly."

"Sure thing, Bat-ninja," Arsenal growled as he scrambled to try to get a better shot at Neutron's free hand.

Inadvertently, Terra was not helping Arsenal's efforts. Waving her glowing hands like a conductor, goggles over her eyes, she was animating the larger pieces of rubble from the shattered street sending each into wildly arcing orbits around her foe, bring them flying into him in random directions. For his part, Neutron mostly smashed or blasted each rock that got too close to him, but Terra simply animated more. In the midst of it all skipped a green jack rabbit, deftly avoiding both rocks and blows.

"So… Neutron, huh?" Changeling quipped. "Yeah, I remember you. You remember this?" With that Changeling transformed into a giant green jellyfish which wrapped around Neutron's helmet. "Yeah, you had the same reaction last time too." Neutron stumbled about trying to wrench the green biomass from his face. "Not sure about this new look though. I can see wanting to change up. Dude, you must have gotten tired of being mistaken for Goldface all the time. Just not sure this Robert Downey Jr. hand-me-down thing looks good in black and orange."

"It's Not Orange!" Neutron sent a charge of radiation through Changeling that caused the young hero to lose his grip and be flung off. "It's Gold You Talkin' Snotwod!

But Changeling had already transformed into a humming bird and zipped back to hover just in front of Neutron's semi-transparent faceplate. "If you say so, Tin-grin," Gar zipped beyond Neutron's flailing reach as several of Terra's rocks slammed into the distracted thief. Several yards out, Changeling shifted into a cheetah's form and raced back toward Neutron at top speed, a split-second before impact, in a flash the cheetah became a rhino. The force of the charge drove Neutron back. "'Cause to me, you look like you belong on a road crew as a highway cone." But the staggered villain regained his footing and flipped the green rhino into the air, to little avail, as the rhino became a soaring hawk within a few feet of being thrown. "I'm just sayin'."

Neutron tried to fruitlessly to swat Changeling as the emerald hawk swooped past his black and orange helmet. So the villain was not paying attention when Starfire charged into him from behind, driving her golden shoulder into his back and accelerating him toward a waiting Cyborg. For his part, Cyborg activated his own foot jets and raced along the ground to meet them. He punched Neutron square in the faceplate with all the strength and momentum he could muster. Both of the heroes continued past the atomic villain, leaving him spinning and staggering. Before Neutron could being to get his bearings, a massive stone pillar the size of a city bus smashed down from above driving the would-be-thief through the street and back underground.

Earlier…

"This is our secondary command and control center. It's got everything the upstairs version does," Now in the subterranean levels of their headquarters, Vic kept showing off his handy work with unhidden pride. "'Cept this one is actually working already." He tapped a few keys on the control panel and several monitors lit-up. Cyborg pointed to each, explaining what they displayed. "We've got additional living space down here, several labs, including a crime lab we consulted with the big Bat on, Med bay, and everybody's favorite: the heated indoor pool/sauna room complete with hologram walls."

"Kinda insisted on it," Gar smiled. "wouldn't be the tower without it."

"How many bedrooms did you stick in this thing?" Roy shook his head in disbelief. "We could just about invite every member back and they'd have their own room."

"Hey, we always seem to have folks hangin' 'round." Vic shrugged. "Guess I got tired of the Omega Men or whoever crashin' out on the sofa."

"And his first idea was a completely underground headquarters, then I talked him into rebuilding the tower upstairs." Changeling added.

"Bruce, Garth, Barbara,… Gar!" Dick rubbed his eyes through his mask. "You all managed to keep this a secret from me. I must be slipping."

"Is that the old T-sub down there?" Wally interrupted as he zipped back into the room. He shrugged as his friends looked slightly confused at him. "Sorry, got bored, went exploring."

"Yeah, it is. It needs some serious TLC before I'd want to take her out," Vic tapped a few more keys and brought up an image of the sub pen. "but nothin's broken on her. But that's like number 603 on my To-Do list." Vic tapped the keys again and the image changed. "But, this big room right down here, this is really somethin'. Straight outtah a freakin' comic book, man. Trainin' room with hard light holographic threat capability! We have THE coolest stinkin' clubhouse in this corner of the dad-blasted galaxy!"

"What would you have done if we had said no?" Kory looked at Vic and Gar quizzically.

"Vic and I talked a little about that back in LA while we were cleaning up, Princess," Gar shrugged. "Basically if Dick hadn't stepped up, one of us would have, and if you guys turned us down, we'd have just restarted from scratch. The Titans were gonna live on in some form, even if it was the two of us and a bunch of new kids. Thank God it's playin out like this though. Jokes aside, can you imagine me leading the Titans?"

"You'd do better than you think." Donna placed a reassuring hand on Gar's shoulder.

"And you and Victor would not have been alone, Garfield." Raven piped up. "Despite everything that has transpired in my life, I know my destiny is still with the Titans. And there is still much work for us to do."

A Few Minutes Earlier Than Now…

Crowd control.

It was an essential part of the job especially when the some super-powered menace is tearing up a populated area. But it left a bad taste in the mouths of some of the Titans. For those who started their careers as side-kicks, you were put on crowd control when your mentor thought the menace was too much for you. Even all these years later, even knowing their powers were better suited to the task than others, even seeing civilians and first responders in immediate peril, they couldn't help but feel sidelined. Troia used her force fields to block the stray blasts Neutron was generating as the armored thief tried to fend of Terra's rock swarm. While she helped officers evacuate a nearby office building, Troia kept casting longing looks at the heat of the battle. Tempest's water sorcery quelled the fires Neutron's initial attack had started, but he too kept casting glances over his shoulder at the fighting behind him. Even Nightwing, who had linked up with the officer in charge of the situation and was getting a 'Cliff Notes' briefing and discussing where the police could safely re-establish their lines, restlessly watched what was unfolding. In truth, when Neutron threw Changeling's rhino form, it was all Nightwing could do not to leap into the fray while the villain was off balance.

For her part, Raven loved crowd control, always had. She preferred using her powers to shield and heal and was always grateful in her heart when she did not have to play an aggressive role in battle. Nightwing watched her too, and wondered if he would ever get used to some of the new changes in her. Now instead of releasing her soul-self completely as she had done since he met her, she now seemed to merge within it, like she transformed into it. And the glowing bird-like shape's natural color was now the same deep blue as her cloak. Her form shifted to white in color as Raven healed the officers Neutron burned and buffeted in the squad car explosion of the worst of their injuries and whisked them back to waiting medics. Then she drifted quickly among the crowd, healing injured and radiating a sense of calm and hope. When the column of rock dropped, Raven gave a hopeful sigh that it was over.

But it was not to be.

"Guys…" Arsenal's voice crackled in their radios as chunks of what was the pillar came flying back out of the hole. "I think we just ticked him off."

If he had another comment on his lips, it was lost in the shattering of pavement. Neutron rocketed up through the street, exploding upward just under Terra's position. The earth-moving Titan tumbled backward landing prone and dazed. Neutron circled back and fired a double blast, hoping to cut his number of headaches by one. But the destructive beams hit empty pavement. In a display of acrobatics, Arsenal had scooped his teammate out of harms way, and hustled to keep them that way. Cyborg, Starfire, and a green pterodactyl arc upward to intercept Neutron, but a black and silver blur beat them to the punch. Troia had not waited for a call from her leader, she had 'waited' as long as she could stand. With all her Amazon born strength and speed Troia pummeled the nuclear villain in mid-air.

Neutron took the blows for a second or two then struck back with a glowing fist. Troia blocked the punch with her crossed bracers, but it was plain to see it took a lot of effort on her part. Starbolts 'SKREEE'd through the air and into Neutron's armored side. Troia and Starfire made eye contact and on that silent signal Troia broke off her attack and got clear. Starfire's eyes blazed with power as she unleashed the full fury of her starbolt energies on Neutron. The air smoked and sizzled, obscuring her target from view as she slowly circled in the sky trying to catch her breath. Neutron erupted from the smoke, lunging at Starfire. Cyborg intercepted him, striking the villain with electrically-charged fists. Troia flew up behind Neutron, trying to grapple his armored arms. Changeling joined in, becoming a woodpecker and harassing Neutron by rattling his armor. With a roar of frustration, Neutron released an omni-directional pulse of incredible power, knocking all four Titans from the sky and rattling the nearby buildings. Lowering himself to the ground next to his prize palettes of gold, Neutron sent another wave of energy racing along the ground with a backhand swing of his arm. Too big to dodge, the concussive force wave sent the buffeted heroes tumbling backward along with chunks of the shattered street.

Now, but across town…

"Sir, I think you should see this." A handsome young man walked into a posh executive office and aimed a remote at a wall mounted screen.

In response the monitor sprang to life and began to show live footage of the battle between the Titans and Neutron.

"Mr. Tyron," The older executive behind the desk observed. "Exactly what does he think he's doing?"

"It appears that almost immediately upon taking possession of the merchandise Mr. Tyron the attempted to rob the International Currency Exchange here in Manhattan, presumably to make his final payment arrangements for said merchandise. Apparently something went wrong and he has run afoul of the Teen Titans. The outcome of which has yet to be determined."

"The Titans, eh? Ironic." The executive sighed. "I trust we are already dealing with things on our end?"

"Yes, Sir. The lab he visited is being cleaned out as we speak. All connections between us and that location are being erased, as per protocol."

"And the merchandise?"

"Assuming Mr. Tyron is unable to escape, I do not believe there is anything within the suit's components that is traceable back to us. And Mr. Tyron himself signed the standard confidentiality agreement before work began on his order."

"Very good. Still, you'd better alert the other board members, another conference call is likely in order." The executive tapped his pen on his desk in thought. "I will alert the Master as to the situation myself. We're not ready for this aspect of our business model to be exposed to law enforcement just yet, especially not to the Titans."

The older executive jiggled the mouse on his desk to awaken his computer screen. A few clicks and a program filled the desktop, a program that featured a predominate yellow and black honeycomb symbol with a stylized purple 'H' emblazoned on it.

Then…

The assembled Titans took seats around the T shaped table in their main meeting room. Nightwing moved to stand at the head of the table. Terry had taken the children outside, leaving only a room full of costumed heroes before him. It looked right, it felt right.

"To say I am in awe of what Vic has done for us is an understatement." Nightwing began. "This is place gives us the tools, and amenities any group could ask for. But this isn't just any group of random costumes. We have been to Hell and back together, literally, at times. We gone way past simple friendship long ago, we are a family. Families protect each other and I know I can count on each of you for that. But this has got to be more defending each other from old enemies or beating back the next meta-menace. We need to be out there, in this city, trying to make it a better place however we can, whenever we can."

"Says the guy who already has a city he's committed to protect," Roy smirked.

"Yes, yes, I do." Dick continued. "But I said whenever and I meant it. If Wally can be on be here and on the JLA, then I can work here and watch over Bludhaven. But if you thought that was asking too much, there's more. There are a lot of young heroes out there. Powerful, largely untrained and likely dealing with the usual anger and angst issues that go along with the ability to do this kind of work. And most of them without a mentor. We can help them. I'm not saying we ought to be trying to train the next generation of Titans. If that happens, great. But we can invite them here, help them learn to better use their powers, teach them the value of teamwork, and let them decide their future."

"Victor has certainly provided us ample living quarters if they need a place to stay," Raven noted. "and I know from experience how comforting simply having a place to call your own can be."

"And there are a lot of them out there:" Flash began, "Bart, Wonder Girl, Super Boy, that girl in the purple hood, Bart's friend with the arrows…"

"Spoiler and Arrowette." Nightwing added for him. "Robin could use some lessons in larger group tactics as well. Damage, Silver, and some of the last group may have turned us down for now, but that's not to say they won't be back as well. It's something we can all pitch in on, but we'll need to have someone in charge of this aspect of the team, to serve as their main instructor and point of contact. Normally I'd ask for a volunteer, but I think we all agree we know who the best person for the job is."

"Back to den mothering I guess, Wonder-Chick." Roy teased Donna. Then he realized everyone at the table was looking expectantly at him. "Why… wait… me? Are you serious?"

Now…

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Arsenal grumbled under his breath as he lifted himself to a crouched position and brushed the gravel from his hair. He used his bow to help get him back to standing and he heard a soft moan to his left. "Rocky? You okay?"

"Peachy," Terra was also getting back to her feet. A look across the broken street revealed the other Titans doing the same.

"As much fun as this is," Neutron's electronically amplified voice sounded through the concrete canyons. The villain seemed out of breath, odd for a largely energy-based lifeform. Still, the armored thief was strong enough to effortlessly lift the two large palettes of gold bars over his head. "Our little rumble unclogged my jets, and I've got some bills to pay with this stuff. Thanks for the workout, sidekicks!"

And with that, Neutron and his ill-gotten gains rose into the air. He only made it a few feet though, as a pair of arrows smashed into his armored shins exploding in sticky glue that quickly coated his boots and clogged his jet intakes. The thief landed hard. Before Neutron could react, whirling shurikens sliced through the cellophane that bound the bars together, causing twin avalanches of gold to empty onto the confused villain. Neutron was so enraged he couldn't even form words, flinging the empty pallets futilely at the Titans. Before anyone could move to react, the pallets vanished in mid air with a high-pitched swoosh and a crimson rush of wind. The red blur swirled around the treasure buried villain, forming a small vortex that lifted the armored thief and his attempted take off the ground. Then as suddenly as it formed, the whirlwind vanished taking the gold bars with it. The gold reappeared sitting neatly on the pallets and sitting on the steps of the exchange building. Neutron, who had been spun thoroughly, landed flat on his back.

"So…" Flash appeared next to Nightwing, a mischievous grin on his face. "What did I miss?"

"Another day, another costume. Neutron, upgraded, smash and grab. Work him over, team." Nightwing stated flatly. On cue, the team sprang into action. "Vic," Nightwing asked into his radio. "Talk to me. Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing?"

"You mean does Highway-Cone-Man look tired?" Cyborg replied, looking at a display screen that appeared on his silver forearm. "Yeah, good call. Looks like his fancy new duds use his own personal energies as a power supply and he's draining himself faster than his physiology can replenish."

"You heard the man, Titans, wear him down."

The Titans went into a hit and fade attack mode: one would strike, then another, each keeping the Neutron from successfully retaliating against their teammates. Raven swooped in; she separated from her soul-self sending its blue form on to engulf the armored thief tightly. The bird-like form shifted in color to almost black and it seemed that lightning crackled around them. The soul-self seemed to swell as it struggled to contain Neutron's energy output. Raven retreated, leaving the air around the nuclear villain wavering with heat. Suddenly water streamed from underground pipes in two opposite directions at Tempest's command. Steam rose from the water-battered Neutron as he impotently fired blasts of energy back at the deluge's points of origin. Each grabbing a huge chuck of broken street, Starfire and Troia sandwiched the glowing enemy between the slabs of asphalt. Neutron's heat quickly began melting the tar in the asphalt, and Tempest lowered the temperature of the still streaming water to near freezing to harden back again. Within seconds, Neutron was encased in a smoking asphalt tomb.

With a loud crack, Neutron freed himself in a hail of debris.

"You punks think you can take me!" Neutron bellowed through his helmet speakers. "I've fought Superman to a standstill! Super-freakin'-Man! You're nothing!"

But the chucks of asphalt only flew a foot or so from him before they reversed course with even greater speed. Though none of the missiles under Terra's command had enough speed or mass to damage him, Neutron reflexively tried to shield his faceplate with his hands. Thus, he did not see the charging emerald Triceratops bearing down on him until a split-second before Changeling struck.

"Heads down, Neutron-dance!" Changeling crowed. Neutron gripped Changeling's horns, managed to plant his armored feet, and pushed back against the massive dinosaur form. For a moment the Triceratops tried to match the villain's force, and then with a wry smile (for an armor headed dinosaur), in a flash of light the dino was replaced with a bumble bee. "PSYCHE!"

Neutron lost with balance when the opposing force vanished.

"I don't think folks are saying 'Psyche' anymore," A flipping duel kick to the back of the helmet from Nightwing helped send the armored villain back down to the ground. "I'm just sayin', might be time for new material."

"So you normally fight the big 'S', huh?" When Neutron lifted his head, he saw Flash's yellow boots in front of him. "Good, 'cause I've wanted to try this for a while."

As Neutron pushed himself up, a smiling Flash leaned down and snapped his fingers on either side of Neutron's head. Flash snapped them at several times the speed of sound each, creating a pair of small sonic booms. The sound and force sent Neutron reeling backward, yet the villain tried in vain to fire a volley of energy at his speedy opponent. Flash zigged and zagged, slowing just long enough for Neutron to almost draw a bead on him. A starbolt from above refocused the thief's attention and Neutron fired up into the sky trying to strike Starfire as she swooped and swirled and peppered him with bolts of power. Troia, Raven, and a green parrot also whizzed through the air, giving the frustrated villain more to shoot at.

"All those upgrades, and you'd think the cheapskate would've sprung for some targeting equipment." The parrot crowed.

"I don't know," Troia bounced a blast off her bracelets, "he's not doing too badly."

"Indeed," Raven allowed a few beams to harmlessly strike her soul-self, "his aim seems more than sufficient."

"For a blind Spitroid." Starfire rolled nimbly through another volley and returned another round of starbolts of her own.

Neutron appeared to start breathing heavy and his barrage seemed to be slowing. A trio of explosive arrows blasted Neutron's armored chest and helmet. Nightwing leapfrogged over Neutron's head, wedging a smoke pellet into the villain's armored collar as he passed. The black smoke billowed around his head, Neutron swore in frustration as he tried to reach around and find its source. He fired several blasts blindly, trying to keep any Titan from closing on him. It didn't help. From above, starbolts knocked him around. Raven's soul self swooped in again, passing through Neutron and causing him to double over in pain. Terra sent another hail of large stones flying up into him. A flare arrow exploded on his faceplate. Neutron turned his energies on himself, firing down on his own shoulders and blasting the smoke pellet loose. Again, energy flew from his armored gantlets but struck empty space as his targets had moved. Neutron noticed Cyborg was the only Titans not in motion. Tired and rattled, Neutron ignored his gut's warning this was a trap, and fired on the silvery Titan anyway.

"Gotcha!" Before the blast reached him, Cyborg's hand transformed into circuitry-laden shield and absorbed the blast.

In fact, the villain seemed incapable of stopping his attack as Cyborg absorbed more and more of his energies. Circuit patterns normally barely visible on Cyborg's armor began to glow brighter the more power he absorbed. Transforming his other forearm into a larger version of his white noise blaster, Cyborg disengaged his shield and released his hold on Neutron energies. With an audible hum from the weapon, Cyborg trained his arm cannon and waited for his shot as another volley of explosive arrows bloomed across the villain's chest. Energized by Neutron's own power, a virtually silent wave of concussive force leapt from the silvery cannon like a thing alive, buffeting the armored villain. When silent sonic assault was done, another geyser of water burst from beneath the nuclear foe staggering him further. But the gushing deluge had another effect, as water seeped into the joints of the villain's armor loosened by the near constant buffeting. Sparks of tiny lighting began to leap from Neutron's shoulder guards and chest plate and several puffs of blue smoke erupted from his collar and gauntlets.

"Eww! The Blue Smoke!" The green parrot came alight on Cyborg's shoulder. "I had a TV, a stereo, and an old vacuum do that. Never good."

Dazed and panting, Neutron stood on unsteady legs staring at his gauntlets.

"Nothing personal," The Flash handed Neutron the nozzle of a fire hose. "Just feel like ending this on an old school note."

The confused villain accepted the odd gift and before Neutron could really react, Flash raced around him, wrapping his torso tight with the fire hose. With broad smile Flash stood for a few moments holding the other end of the hose about a yard away. Then Flash spun himself into a crimson blur pulling the hose back from Neutron which in turn spun the villain just as fast. When the spinning stopped, somehow the staggering thief had managed to remain standing. His armored feet took a few staggering steps as he desperately tried to get his bearings. Neutron stumbled into something, quickly realizing it was a person, a woman to be precise. A black clad woman with dark hair.

"Aw $#!%!" Neutron sighed in tired resignation.

And with that Troia unloaded on their foe with all her strength in a blow that shook windows and sent Neutron into an unconscious heap on the ground.

"Sidekicks, my bracers." Troia hissed with a satisfied smile.

Then…

"So I think that covers everything." Dick Grayson gave a satisfied sigh. "If no one has anything else we need to cover, I think we can call it a day and start looking into some lunch."

"Sweet! I was worried I missed the food. I'll go get the grill going and…" Wally was interrupted by a buzzing from one of the lightning-shaped ornaments on his mask. "Flash here… really… uh huh…. Yeah, no problem." Wally shrugged. "Sorry, gotta run home. Looks like the Rainbow Raider on a tear, though it could be Crazy Quilt looking for a change of scene, who can tell, right? You guys have fun; I'll catch up when I'm done."

With a whoosh of air he disappeared.

"Okay… since we're done with official business," Dick pulled his Nightwing mask from his face, "I guess we can safely relax for the afternoon."

"No worries, Bird-boss," Vic smiled, "same tech that hid the tower from you hides the island details from prying eyes."

"Then I call the first official meeting of the Titans officially…" Dick began only to be interrupted by the distant sound of an explosion. Dick instinctively slipped his mask back on.

Several Titans moved to the windows, trying to find see where the explosion came from.

"Trouble. Someone's hittin' the International Currency Exchange," Vic reported as he listened to the police band. "Hittin' it hard. Definitely meta-level threat."

"Then it sounds like this guy picked a bad day to stage a robbery in our town," Nightwing smiled. "Titans: Go!"