It began with wandering. He stared out the window of his train car, buildings continued to pass by, as he would occasionally glimpse his reflection. The train stopped as it reached the station. Lugging his small bag, he stepped onto the platform, not realizing that this was a day to change many lives. Hours later, he was seated at a deli, wondering what to do next with himself. It wasn't like he had much more to do for himself. He was a mere drifter, someone who would just pass through a place, never staying or lingering for too long. Soon his current location, Jump City would be a mere memory... It was then that he heard the commotion. The crashes, the explosions, the fight. He was quickly snapped out of his reverie to see many people running past the deli window. He exited the deli only to end up fighting through the fleeing crowds to the scene of the action. Perhaps he could do something. Could? No, he had to. If the source of the commotion was what he thought it was, if he had brought it here with him, if anything happened because of him…

He froze at the sight of two opposing teams of fighters. One was a three-man group. There was a pink-haired girl, a short boy dressed in a green jump suit, and a large shaggy man. The three were fighting against, against…

His jaw nearly dropped. He had heard about them, read about them, seen pictures of them, but never had he actually seen them in person! The Titans. The Teen Titans!

Well, the source of the commotion was not what he had feared it to be. Might as well leave it to the city's protectors. He made to walk away, but after a few steps he paused. They looked like they were having a hard time with whoever those three were. No matter, he was pretty sure that the Titans had handled situations like this before. Besides, the fight was not even his concern.

"CYBORG!" The short boy had placed a jet pack on Cyborg, blasting the hero away. Starfire flew away to assist him. He winced as the fight became even more vicious for the remaining Titans. True, this fight was not his responsibility. He probably would be better off if he avoided the situation. But then again, what would he be as someone who could affect the outcome and not do anything about it. He ran to find an isolated area as his right hand made for something on his left wrist…

XXX

Cyborg and Starfire's departure was followed by a devastating combo attack by the three assailants that sent Robin down a crevice. The pink-haired girl, Jinx, moved into a second round of hand-to-hand combat with Raven.

Raven gritted her teeth from the fight she was being forced to put up, grief, and from the steady stream of insults that were being thrown at her. "Face it," Jinx continued, "Against me you're—" Jinx was cut short when she was blasted by a green slime with such force that she was forced into a wall. "Augh! GROSS!" Jinx looked down at herself in disgust, arms outstretched.

"And there's plenty more where that came from!" Everyone turned about trying to find the source of an oddly annoying high-pitched voice.

"Wh-who said that?" shouted Mammoth, who was both aggravated and tense from the sudden appearance of some unknown opponent.

"UP HERE!" shouted the oddly annoying voice. The remaining fighters all looked up to see hovering above them, an unusually large insect. It was the size of a very large dog; it had two arms, four bladed legs as well as a bladed tail, a green and black exoskeleton covered its body; its head possessed four eyestalks and an almost human-like mouth that was armed with sharp teeth. Another odd feature of the insect was that it had a green hourglass symbol on its forehead.

"What the snot are you?" angrily demanded Gizmo, pointing a stubby finger at the newcomer. "Your worst nightmare!" The insect seemed to smirk as its mouth formed a human smile. The smile then vanished. "And you are?"

"We're," Gizmo smugly folded his small arms together. "H.I.V.E!"

"Hive?" The insect cocked its head in curiosity.

"Yes, H.I.V.E," Jinx smirked. "And you're about to feel our sting!" Gizmo pressed a button on his remote control and two bat-like wings popped out of his backpack. The backpack's jetpack then activated, and the miniscule inventor took flew towards the newcomer.

"UH OH!" said the insect as it was forced to buzz off in the opposite direction, dodging laser bolts fired from Gizmo's backpack. The insect turned an eyestalk back at Gizmo as the chase went on. "Don't say I didn't warn ya!" The insect's smirk reappeared…until it saw Raven and Beastboy fleeing the scene. There were only two members getting to safety! Let's see, he had seen Cyborg getting blasted off with Starfire chasing after him earlier on. That left Robin, where was he? A chilling realization struck the bug when it saw the crevice. It remembered hearing an explosion on the way back to the scene…OH NO! This battle would have to end, QUICKLY! The insect swerved to lead Gizmo in another direction and then turned an eyestalk towards Gizmo. Green slime was fired from the eyestalk at Gizmo's face.

"GRAUGH, WHA—SNOT!" Gizmo wiped his face clean just in time to see Jinx moments before crashing into her. Mammoth was MAD!

"Why you little—" Mammoth was silenced by a blast of slime that was fired from the insect's mouth. The insect then buzzed towards the crevice. "And help is on the way!" It chirped.

XXX

Robin was going head over heels as he was swept away by the current. His lungs burned for air as he grabbed onto what felt like a metal pipe, trying to resist the rushing flow of water. Using all of his strength, Robin was just able to pull himself up and get his head above the surface to receive precious oxygen. He tried to keep a solid grip on his life line, but the current was strong, too strong! Robin lost his hold, it was over… Suddenly, something that felt like a pair of arms seized him. Robin then felt himself lifted into the air and then, to his amazement, found his feet skimming the surface of the water. A loud buzzing noise filled the air. The trip ended when Robin and whatever carrying him, reached a platform. Robin was gently lowered down. "You okay?" said an odd high-pitched voice. The buzzing stopped as something landed behind Robin.

"Uh, yeah, I think so." Robin tentatively responded. Robin then heard an unusual beeping noise, he turned to see a flash of red light. When the flash of light vanished, he saw a person staring back at him. He appeared to be close to Robin's age, he was wearing a thin light-blue, short-sleeved jacket over a white t-shirt and a pair of tan pants.

"You and your friends looked like you were having some trouble," the stranger decided to explain himself after seeing the baffled expression on Robin's face, "So…I decided to drop in." The stranger then remembered something else, "Oh, and my name's Lance."

"And mine's Robin." For some reason Robin didn't feel threatened by the newcomer.

"I know," Lance smiled. "I've heard all about you and the Titans." Lance then remembered something else, speaking of the Titans…"Oh, and just so you know, I saw Beastboy and Raven get away from those H.I.V.E weirdoes…" Lance's eyes widened in horror upon realizing something, something he had forgotten. "Ack! Those three are still out there! W-we should get you back—"

"We? No." Robin firmly stated. "This is our problem, you shouldn't get involved—"

"Actually there are a few things I should point out," said Lance, "One, I saw the fight between you and those three, you're going to need some help. Two, we're both stuck in here. And three," Lance pointed to Robin's waist."You're missing something." No utility belt.

Robin sighed, "Well, you got me there." Robin then looked around, "We'll have to go out the other end if we want to get out of here any time soon."

Lance nodded in agreement, "We'll go with the flow." Suddenly, a beeping noise filled the air. Robin searched for the source of the noise until he set his eyes on Lance's left arm, then noticing something he hadn't before. It appeared to be some sort of watch, but unlike a watch it was rather large and bulky, and on the center of the watch was a symbol that looked like a green hourglass. "And I think I know how to go!" Lance was grinning and now had his hand on what appeared to be the dial of the watch, a ring that encircled the watch's face. Lance stopped rotating the dial as he looked up to face Robin. "You're going to love this… "

"Lance?" Robin frowned, "What's going on—" But before he could finish, Lance slammed his right hand onto the face of the watch. Lance was enveloped in a green light and when the light vanished, a blue bipedal dinosaur-like creature with wheel shaped feet and a helmet over its pointed head was standing in his place. Robin stared in shock, "Lance?" The visor of the helmet lifted to reveal the saurian's face.

"Yep, it's me!" Lance's voice had become different it was more dry and high pitched. Realization struck Robin when he saw the green hourglass symbol on the creature's chest. "So…that watch on your wrist," Robin began slowly, "It—"

"Allows me to turn into something like this?" finished Lance, "Affirmative," Lance placed a clawed arm securely around Robin's waist as his visor lowered, "Hold on tight!" Without warning Lance took off at an amazing speed. Robin's face stretched in a cartoon gag as Lance reached a speed that easily topped the R-cycle. After a few nauseating moments, a light began appearing at the end of the sewer tunnel.

Robin smiled, "This is it, we're—" Lance skidded to a stop when dark figures appeared, blocking the exit. The new arrivals appeared to be men with metal claws and steel boots. They wore black; their faces appeared to be masked with orange at the center, black surrounded the rest of their faces. Their eyes were sinister white slits.

The visor to Lance's helmet raised itself. "Uh, can we help you?" questioned Lance. The men drew out advanced handheld weapons.

Robin frowned, "I guess not…"

Lance zoomed out of the way with Robin as six laser bolts were fired at the two. In a blink of an eye, Lance was upon the assailants. Lance swept one pair of legs with a swing of his tail and then rapidly kicked a second opponent in the chest. He proceeded to do the same to the remaining opponents. Lance stopped in front of the exit, looking down at the fallen men in satisfaction. Lance's visor raised itself again to reveal a smirking saurian face. "That wasn't so tough…" Lance looked down at his side when he heard a small groan. Robin's face was completely green and was surrounded by cartoonish popping bubbles, his head was spinning.

"Whoa, uh, are you ok?" Lance asked tentatively as he set Robin down. Robin stumbled around in dizziness.

"N-never better." Robin then placed a hand over his mouth, producing a small gag. Lance rubbed the back of his head as a chibi bead of sweat dropped down the side of his face. The two boys turned at the sound of metal against concrete. The assailants were getting back up! "Huh?" Lance was surprised to see the men recovering after taking such a beating. One of the men had a cracked mask, which revealed the true face…Circuitry! Lance's alien green eyes widened. "You're all robots?" The mechanical attackers fired another barrage of laser bolts, forcing Lance and Robin to either zip or leap out of the way. The two then engaged the enemy. Through their combined efforts, the assailants were driven back a second time. Robin glared when the enemy got back up a second time…

"This isn't getting us anywhere!" He said as he and Lance were forced back to back with one another.

"Got it," nodded Lance as he made a swipe at a passing adversary, "You go ahead, I'll take care of these bozos!" Robin raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you can handle it?" In response to Robin's question, Lance whipped his tail, sending a robot straight into a wall on the other side of the sewer tunnel. Robin let out a small chuckle. "I see…"

"So get moving!" With that, Lance scooped Robin up with his tail, spun at a high speed, and flung him towards the exit. Robin landed on his feet, took one last look at Lance, and then ran. One of the robots made to follow, but a blue blur blocked its path. "Going somewhere…?"

XXX

Lance's act had not been in vain. Even though in his absence, the three students of the H.I.V.E academy had continued to hound his team until they had been driven out of their home, Robin had been able to lead a successful counter attack. Now, the three students were in a pile of their own tangled bodies on the rooftop, defeated. "Cram it!" whined Gizmo as he pulled out a communicator, "I'm calling Slade!" Robin pulled the short assassin up by the collar. "Who's Slade?" Robin demanded angrily. Who was this man who had ordered the attack?

Gizmo smirked, "Wouldn't you like to know, barf-brain…"

XXX

Meanwhile, in a hidden facility filled with shifting gears…

"I assure you," An old woman dressed in a H.I.V.E uniform was addressing a man in the shadows, "Such failures are not tolerated within the H.I.V.E. Once the agents have been retrieved from the authorities, they will be disciplined, strictly disciplined…" She tapped a fist into the palm of her hand to make her point. This was unacceptable. Three of the academy's top students had failed in their assignment.

"Actually, your agents served my plan quite well," The man said simply, "I never expected them to succeed, they were merely messengers," The man stepped up to a series of screens, "And the message has been delivered..." The series of screens lit up. They were all replaying Robin's response. Who's Slade? The man glanced at a separate screen to the side. "Still, I was not expecting for him to gain an ally like that…" The separate screen was showing the broken remains of six robots in a sewer system, and a blue saurian creature was standing in the midst of it. "You just may be a problem…" The man said under his breath.

"Takes care of that," played the surveillance recording. The saurian creature turned towards the exit and set to run, "Now, I'll just catch up and—" An odd noise went off as the green hourglass symbol on the creature's chest began blinking red, "Oh, GREAT!" The saurian was engulfed in a red light, and a teenage boy was then standing in the creature's place.

The man couldn't help but smirk from behind his mask. "Or perhaps not…" It would now be much more difficult for the newcomer to get out of his predicament.