Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, they are owned by DC comics, Cartoon Network and WB entertainment. I do, however, own the OCs contained within and use of them without my permission is strictly prohibited. You got that?

Recruitment Drive

Chapter 5:The New Teen Titans

Once the heroes who had not passed the obstacle course had been allowed to tidy themselves up to help regain some of their lost dignity they were sent on their ways with much apologizing from Cyborg and promised a slot in the next Titans Tryouts. The ten that had made it past the course were then led to a small waiting room in the tower where they mingled amongst themselves as the main five Teen Titans watched them on a monitor and decided their fates.

"So you're saying keep them in the same groups they tried out as and just make two new teams?" Cyborg asked for clarification.

"Right," Robin nodded as he continued to watch the monitor. "They worked well in the teams they were already in and it seems like a shame to break them up."

"I dunno man, it still sounds like a lot of work. I mean we got set them up in different cities, contact the head of those cities to let them know what's going on, build two completely new towers..."

The Boy Wonder smirked at the last statement and caste an amused look towards his friend.

"Somehow I thought you might actually like that last part," he remarked.

"Oh trust me I'd love to design two new towers, but the rest of it is a pain," Cyborg explained.

"Plus doesn't this all seem a little...excessive?" Raven asked. "I mean the Titans are already 'unlimited' so why two whole new teams when we can just put these guys on our already huge roster and use them as needed?"

"Because as helpful as the new, expanded roster is for the big stuff it's still rather haphazard," Robin told them. "Having a team focus on one certain city or area helps keep us more organized and better able to keep the bad guys at bay."

"Okay, okay I got all that," Beast Boy started.

"Really? You got all that?" Raven snipped with a slight smirk.

The green changeling scowled and crossed his arms over his chest in annoyance.

"Hey come on, Raven. I do pay attention sometimes!" he huffed. "In fact, I bet I pick up on things even you miss!"

"Like what?"

In response, Beast Boy walked up to the monitor and made motions towards the second group consisting of Sparrow, Phantom, Miss Martian, Tin Man and Tigress.

"Like that fact that these guys are totally us!" he explained, puffing his chest up proudly.

The rest of the Titans, however, seemed rather unconvinced.

"Um...we're not really seeing it BB," Cyborg informed him.

Beast Boy's jaw hit the floor in complete shock and he stared at his friends like they had all grown second heads.

"Oh come on! You guys really don't see it?" he cried out desperately.

They all shook their heads in unison. Beast Boy slumped up a bit in momentary defeat but then stood up straight with a determined look on his face. He then spun back around towards the monitor and pointed a finger as Sparrow.

"Butt kicking bird themed hero with red and green costume," he stated.

"Huh," Robin mused and rubbed his chin in thought.

Beast Boy's finger then went to Phantom, "Dark mysterious person with kind of a raspy voice that controls darkness."

"What do you mean 'raspy voice'?" Raven shot back, crossing her arms over her chest indigently.

He ignored her and moved over to Miss Martian, "Cute, friendly, redheaded alien girl who can fly and wears a skirt."

"We do appear quite similar in some ways," Starfire noted.

He pointed to Tin Man next, "Robot looking dude."

"Technically he's an alien AI but I get what you're saying BB," Cyborg nodded.

He then moved his glove finger over to Tigress and paused a bit. "Well she can't shape shift but she does have animal like powers so that totally counts," he finished. "Guys, they're us! We are they! They're like...I dunno...good guy versions of those Terror Sect creeps we dealt with a while back!" He paused again as he considered his last statement. "Hey whatever happened to those guys anyway?"

"Dunno," Cyborg shrugged. "They just kinda disappeared off the face of the Earth after they whooped our butts that one time. Course things did get kinda crazy what with the return of Slade, the coming of Trigon, that whole Brotherhood of Evil thing, and then there was that Lordwardian invasion."

"Yeah good time for the big guns to be off in another galaxy when that happened," Beast Boy muttered.

"Fortunately, Kim Possible was able to put a stop to them so the rest of us just had to do clean up duty," Raven pointed out.

Beast Boy cocked an eyebrow at her. "That's the second time you've brought up Kim Possible. What's with that?"

The normally reserved and stoic girl seemed flustered for just a second but it pasted by far too quickly for anyone to really notice.

"That's...not important," she tried to wave off.

The younger Titan still looked a little suspicious but any further questions he had on the matter were quickly cut off by Cyborg.

"You know, I heard it was actually her sidekick who saved the day that time," he pointed out.

"I find that highly unlikely," Raven retorted with a bit of an annoyed tone.

"What you say comedy relief guys can't help save the day sometimes too? Remember who brought together the last band of free Titans to come bust your sorry butts out of the Brotherhood of Evil's frozen prisons? This guy!" Beast Boy proclaimed with a smug smirk as he pointed his thumbs at himself.

"That is true," Starfire acknowledged with a nod. "If Beast Boy can save all of us once, then perhaps..." she paused as her face scrunched up in thought. "What was the name of the Kim Possible's sidekick again?"

"Raymond something, right?" Cyborg asked Raven.

"What are you asking me for?" she shot back.

"Well, you're suddenly seem to be the expert on all things Kim Possible so I figured you'd know the name of her sidekick and probably that little rat thing he hangs around with too."

"GUYS!" Robin suddenly screamed, stopping the conversation and drawing all attention back to him. "We're getting off track here."

The other Titans looked around sheepishly for a few seconds before getting their bearings again.

"Sorry," Beast Boy spoke up first.

"Yeah, sorry about that man," Cyborg agreed.

"Sorry," Raven said quickly.

"I am sorry as well," Starfire apologized.

Robin let out a small sigh and slumped his shoulders a bit.

"I didn't mean to yell but we've got to figure this thing out," he explained himself.

"Well we've got the teams, right? So what else do we need to do?" Beast Boy asked as he looked at the monitor again.

"First, we need to figure out who's going to lead their respective teams."

"Well that's a no brainer with these guys," the green changeling remarked as he motioned to their suspiciously similar counterparts. "That'd have to be Sparrow, their Robin."

"You can't just base this kind of decision on that kind of thing Beast Boy," Robin tried to explain even as he rubbed this temples.

"Then how about the fact that she actually seemed pretty good at leading them?" Raven suggested.

"Yes, she was the one that rallied them the most so that they could emerge victoriously," Starfire interjected.

One of the Boy Wonder's hands move from his temple to his chin as he thought back on the try outs and how well Sparrow handled herself and the rest of her teammates during the obstacle course.

"You girls do have a point," he agreed.

"Siren also did the same thing for her team during their runs, so maybe she should led the other team," Cyborg suggested.

"That's true too," Robin nodded.

"So, Sparrow and Siren for the leaders. Problem solved," Beast Boy remarked as he wiped is hands together. "Man that was easy!"

"We'll still see if they'll agree to the lead and how they'll do," the original Titan leader pointed out.

"Well that's easy enough to take care of, we just put them through some more tests as we build their towers and get ready to move them," Cyborg spoke up.

The others all looked at him wearily.

"I'm not sure they could survive anymore of your tests," Raven pointed out.

"Perhaps it would be for the best if you were to focus mostly on the building of the towers while the rest of us focus on the training of the teams," Starfire advised him.

Cyborg almost fell completely over from how far he slumped forward and his head hung down low with a sorrowful expression.

"I said I was sorry," he muttered pathetically under his breath.

"It's...not that..." Robin quickly spoke up, trying to reassure his friend. "We...just think your skills would be put to better use designing new, top notch, state-of-the-art towers. Right guys?"

The other Titans started nodding furiously while giving compliments and large smiles. That seemed to lift the cybernetic boy's feelings and he stood start up, full of life and energy again.

"You guys are right! I am the best one qualified to build these towers! So let's get building!" he exclaimed enthusiastically, pumping his right fist into the air excitedly.

Unfortunately, his arms fell back again and his excitement faded when he realized one crucial flaw in this idea.

"Uh...where exactly am I building these towers?" he asked.

"Good question," Robin remarked then took a step towards the monitor again. "Well, Siren and Ultragirl are already well known in Chicago, so we could set them up there if they rest of their team don't mind moving. As for Sparrow's team...hmmm..."

He continued to stare at the monitor for a few seconds longer before he walked over to the main computer console and brought up a map of the United States. He studied it as intensely as he'd study a piece of evidence from a crime scene. The rest of the Titans remained perfectly quite as he did so, knowing all too well that it was never a good idea to interrupt him in this frame of mind. After a long, tense pause he finally cracked a smile and snapped his fingers with the answer.

"I got it! Sparrow's team will be placed in-"

( - ) ( - ) ( - ) ( - ) ( - ) ( - )

"Iowa?" Sparrow cried out in horror.

The rest of the Teen Titans, both new and old, cringed just a little bit at the pitch she managed to reach with that outcry. Once Robin had decided on where they were place Sparrow's team he had the ten new Titans join the original five in the main room to inform them all of their decisions. While both Sparrow and Siren were surprised they had been chosen as leaders they accepted their roles to many congratulations of their new teammates. When told they would be staying in Chicago, Siren and Ultragirl were overjoyed, and while Liberty Girl, Kid Devil and Impulse were taken by surprise, they were more than willing to adjust.

Unfortunately, as they were all finding out Sparrow wasn't taking too well to where her team was being placed.

"I mean...freaking Iowa?" she repeated, sounding no less horrified.

"Technically it's Des Moines, Iowa so it's the capital of the state," Robin tried to calm her.

"Oh great so I'll be at the best part of the middle of nowhere!" she snapped as she threw her arms up in the air then let them fall limply to her sides.

She then took a deep breath and let it out slowly to calm herself.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to sound ungrateful or anything it's just that...well I'm a big city girl! A mall baby! I gotta be out there with the people in the bright lights and crowded streets! Things like that! I just can't see myself being in the middle of...Corn Country!"

"I didn't know corn had it's own country," Miss Martian whispered to Starfire.

"I believe it is an expression," she explained as best she could even as her own face wrinkled in confusion. "At least, I do not believe there is a whole country that is populated by nothing but corn."

"There's not," Raven spoke up quickly.

"Look, Sparrow, I know this will be a big adjustment for you but assure that Des Monies will at least have malls," Robin tried placate her.

"Yeah, probably those dinky little one story malls," she scoffed. "Full of tiny little stores and maybe a few national chains but after that it's nothing. Nada. El zilcho!"

"'El Zilcho'," Impulse mused then looked over at Kid Devil. "Hey you think it's too late to change my superhero name?"

"I don't think you could pull that one off," the demonic teen replied.

"Yeah you're right..." he agreed with a slight frown but then looked over at his new leader. "Hey Siren, you're Hispanic, right?"

"Only half and I'm not calling myself 'El Zilcho'," she quickly shot down.

"Awww!" Impulse sighed and snapped his fingers.

"Nice try, buddy," Kid Devil encouraged him, laying a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"If it makes you feel any better Sparrow, a quick Internet search shows that Des Moines does have quite a few attractions such as their Botanical Center," Tin Man tried to cheer her up.

"Oh goodie, I could go look at trees all day," she scoffed.

"I like trees. They provide plenty of shade," Phantom remarked, mostly to himself.

"You know I have found I like climbing trees since I was turned half cat," Tigress remarked. "So I'm all for paying a visit there once we're set up."

"Okay, okay I get it, I get it I'm be kind of a bitch," Sparrow said, waving her hands around.

"I don't think that's what anyone was trying to say at all," Miss Martian corrected her.

"Maybe not, but I realized that's what I was doing," she confessed then turned back to Robin. "Sorry about that, but like you said it's going to be a big adjustment for me."

"I know it is," he agreed with a slight nod before he looked to address the crowd. "It'll be a big change for all of you, but I want to know that we're here for you. Not just us and Titans East, but every single Honorary Titan as well. Because when you're a Titan you're not just a member of a superhero team, you're a member of a family. And that family looks after each other."

The mood in the room suddenly shifted after Robin's impromptu speech. While the mood was far from somber there was a seriousness to it. One that let everyone in the room know that this wasn't just a generic "welcome aboard" speech but rather a heartfelt sentiment that let them all know just what it meant to be a Titan. They just hoped they could all live up to that high expectation.

"Speaking of that kind of togetherness," Siren spoke up as she and Ultragirl shared a look before they approached Robin. "We...kinda have a favor to ask you."

He quirked an eyebrow at their expressions and gave them his undivided attention.

"What kind of favor?" he asked.

"Well...see...we have this friend," Siren started nervously.

"She's a hero like us but she's a little...different," Ultragirl tried to explain further.

Now Robin's interest was truly piqued and he crossed his arms over his chest as he pressed the issue.

"What do you mean by 'different'?"

Again they looked at each other unsurely and stumbled a bit over their words.

"Well..." they both stammered out.

( - ) ( - ) ( - ) ( - ) ( - ) ( - )

Even though the next few months were full of hard training and team building exercises, they seemed to fly by and before both the new teams knew it their own Titans Towers had been constructed. One in Chicago for the aptly dubbed "Titans Chicago" and the other in Des Monies for the far more broadly, and slightly comically, named "Titans Mid-West". Like the East and West towers, theirs were built in or around water with the Chicago one being placed on a man made island in the middle of Lake Michigan. It took tall and proud with freshly washed windows glistening in the midday sun to act as a beacon to the residents of "The Second City" to let them know that they were protected from every single threat imaginable and a few that weren't.

Just as soon as the new residents of the tower stopped marveling at it. Even though they had already been there for a week the five members of Titans Chicago were still exploring the massive structure items they may have missed. Not to mention not trying to get lost in the thing. Which made for quite an experience as Siren and Ultragirl were trying to play tour guide to another young heroine.

"And this would be the...um...actually...I'm not sure what this is," Siren remarked as she studied the print lay out on a tablet Cyborg had given her.

"What's the blue print say?" Ultragirl asked, leaning over her friend's shoulder to get a better look.

"Nothing. It's just a blank space," the other girl replied as she looked up at the large, empty room. "Guess this is a storage room or something." She then turned to the friend they were showing around. "Sorry about that."

Lady Justice smiled uncertainly, reaching up to adjust her domino mask with a gloved hand. She was of average height for her age, with pixie-cut sandy-blonde hair and long bangs. Most noticeably though was how unusually... curvaceous she was for her age. Though for superheroine she was dressed rather plainly, her costume composing of black trousers, short boots, a white turtleneck, white trench coat, gloves and the aforementioned domino mask.

Both Siren and Ultragirl understood though, why the young heroine put such little effort into her crime-fighting attire.

"Well, it's a very nice... storage room," she offered weakly, a slight but noticeable English lilt in her voice. "You can... probably fill it with all sorts of things..."

"Probably. Whatever we decided to put in it at least," Siren remarked off hand as she look around the room again.

Her expression then grew slightly serious as she shared a look over towards Ultragirl who merely looked back at her before they both nodded and turned their attention to Lady Justice.

"Actually it's probably for the best we ended up here anyway," Siren started to explain. "That way we can actually talk without too much fear of the others seeing us just yet."

"LJ, we have something important to tell you," Ultragirl said softly as she gently laid a hand on the other girl's shoulder.

"You don't want me to be a hero anymore because I'm not officially recognized by the Titans," she stated softly, shoving her hands in her pockets and looking at her boots. "I had an idea already."

Both heroines gasped in horror at that remark.

"What? No! Why would you even think that?" Siren shouted in confusion.

"Yeah, we wouldn't do anything that cruel!" Ultragirl reassured her.

She paused, looking between the two girls somewhat taken aback. "You...you aren't trying make me quit? But...then...why did you talk me out of going to try out in the first place? I know I could have taken that course."

"Because...well..." Ultragirl stalled.

"We didn't want to scare away the other candidates or have the Titans think they were under attack," Siren explained.

The blonde powerhouse next to her just pointed a finger at her new leader and nodded in agreement.

"I wouldn't...I mean..." she sighed in defeat. "I'm not that scarey when I...you know..."

"Not to the people who know you but to others you do come off as a little..." Siren paused and tried to think of the right word.

"Terrifying," Ultragirl finished for her, even if she felt ashamed for doing so.

The look was matched by the one on the tanned skinned girl's face as she could only nod in agreement.

"...Well, then what did you want to show me then?" she asked, quickly taking the subject away from her unfortunate powers.

"It's not what we wanted to show you, it's what we wanted to tell you," Siren clarified. "We were able to talk to Robin and the rest of the original Titans after we got our teams figured out and we explained to them your...unfortunate situation."

"And they agreed you would have crushed the test if you have been there," Ultragirl informed her.

"So in light of that, Robin authorized me to make you a reserve member of the team!" the new Titan leader said happily. "Congratulations!"

"W-what?" she squawked out, before covering her mouth. She looked between the two, excitement visible through her mask. "I mean...I get to be a Titan with you?"

The excitement spread to the other two girls who both had large, beaming smiles on their faces now.

"Yes!" Siren exclaimed happily. "Welcome to the team!"

Both were cut off mid-accolades by all 130 pounds of squealing teen heroine knocking them to the floor.

"How did you even do that?" Ultragirl wondered as she easily picked up the smaller girl and stood back up. "Seriously there's no way you should have been able to knock me down!"

"Who cares, I'm a Titan!" she grinned giddily jumping up and down, tightly clasping Siren's hands. "No more cops shooting at me and heroes trying to capture me! I'm in the big leagues now!"

"Okay, okay calm down," Siren tried to control the newest member of her team as she continued to hold her hands. "I mean we're still gonna have to work on all that stuff given your other form but from now on you don't have to go it alone. You have a whole team, a whole family that will help you deal with it."

Lady Justice flushed slightly around the corners of her mask, and smiled up at the two. "Thank you both, honestly. I'm sure it wasn't easy going to bat for me like that."

"You have no idea," Ultragirl waved off.

"And you won't have to because it's not important. What is important is that you're a member of the team now, even if it is just reserve status. We can set you up with a room just as soon as I figure out where it is on this thing," Siren grumbled a bit as she started to scroll through the tower's blueprints again.

"Oh we can figured all that out later," the blonde remarked. "How about we introduce you to your new teammates for now?"

"I have teammates now," Lady Justice grinned to herself, trying to keep from having another joyous outburst. "Best. Day. EVER!"

Siren didn't even try to hide her smile as she pressed a button on the tablet that closed down the blueprints and brought up a PA system.

"Would the rest of the team please join Ultragirl and I in the main room? We have something important to tell you guys," she announced into the machine. Then quickly she added, "Whenever you guys can find it that is."

Thankfully, it didn't take long for the rest of the newly formed Titans Chicago to make their way to the spacious, fully furnished main room where they were all to meet their latest member.

"So boss lady what's the 41-whoa!" Kid Devil blurted out as soon as he saw Lady Justice, immediately erasing any other thoughts in his mind.

"Oh, hello...um...Devil Boy, was it?" Lady Justice asked curiously not at all taken aback by Kid Devil's appearance, like she would have been in her pre-hero days. She extended her hand. "My name is Lady Justice, it's a pleasure to work with you from now on."

"Um...no actually it's Devil Kid. No! Kid Devil! Kid Devil's my name. Well my superhero name anyway," he rambled on as he shook her hand rather clumsily. "The pleasure is all yours. I mean mine! The pleasure is all mine!"

"Apparently," she snickered to herself at the fluttered demon.

"Smooth Romeo, very smooth," Impulse mocked his friend as he quickly came between him and Lady Justice and took her still extended hand in his and started to shake it vigorously. "Pleased to meetcha. My name's Impulse!"

"H-hi...little...fast person..." Lady Justice muttered in annoyance at where the little speedster's eyes seemed to gravitate.

"Okay, okay boys calm down," Liberty Girl as she practically pried the youngest member of the team away from the newest member. "Don't mind them, I don't think either of them even talked to a girl before joining this team. I'm Liberty Girl."

She shook Lady Justice's hand as well and even though she had just chided Impulse for the same thing she couldn't help but take a quick glance down as well. Though her reaction was a quick frown at how much more...developed this girl seemed to be than her.

"Very nice to meet you..." Lady Justice began to say before she trailed off while looking over Liberty Girl's uniform. "Didn't...I see this costume in a Cole's magazine?"

The more petite heroine let out an annoyed sigh as she pulled her hand back.

"Yes! It's a freaking Halloween costume!" she shouted in frustration. "I've been hearing that for the last couple months now! It's all I could afford, alright? I mean do you know how hard it is to just make a superhero costume?"

"Yes," she stated matter-of-factly. "It's my hobby."

Liberty Girl's mood instantly changed from frustrated to intrigued as her eyes seemed to sparkle up a bit in interest.

"Really?" she squealed.

"Oh yes. You should see the closet in her house," Ultragirl remarked. "Filled with different superhero costumes."

"That...is...AWESOME!" the smaller girl cried out as she moved closer to Lady Justice. "Do you think you could make me a real superhero costume? Please, please, please?"

"Well I suppose I could," she admitted, stepping back slightly. "I can't really make good use of them myself, so if you'd like to try them out, I'd be happy to help."

"YES!" Liberty Girl shouted with a fist pump before she tackle hugged the other heroine. "Thank you so much! I won't be a laughing stock anymore!"

"And I won't be shot at anymore!" Lady Justice responded, giving her own fist pump.

"Yeah!" the black haired girl said automatically then processed that sentence. "Wait. What?"

"Nothing! It's a metaphor! An inside joke!"

Liberty Girl gave her an odd look for a second but then shook her head to clear that thought before she wrapped an arm around Lady Justice's shoulders and started to lead her out of the room.

"So what ideas do you have for my new costume? 'Cause I'd really like to keep the red, white and blue themes with the stars to fit my Liberty Girl name, you know? I mean I know it's kinda Wonder Womanish but I don't think she'd mind, do you?" she started to ramble.

Whatever response Lady Justice gave was muffled by the fact that they had already walked out of the room. An action soon followed by Kid Devil and Impulse as they went in the opposite direction to explore more of the tower. Once the room had been cleared out of only herself and Ultragirl, Siren let out a rather stressful sigh and leaned against the back of the couch for support.

"I don't think I can do this," she confessed.

"Do what?" Ultragirl asked, looking over at her friend with a raised eyebrow.

"Lead this team. I mean when we went to the tryouts I thought maybe I'd join a Titan's team I never thought I'd be leading one!" she exclaimed then sighed again. "I just don't think I can do it."

The blonde's expression soften as she leaned against the couch as well then wrapped an arm around her friend's shoulders and gently began to rub her bare left arm in a comforting manner.

"Come on, don't sell yourself short like that," she tried to cheer her up. "Honestly, out of everyone on this team I can't think of a better person to lead them."

"What about you?" Siren asked her with a questioning look.

"Me? You serious? You know I'm much too headstrong for that. And the others just don't seem like they have your amount of level headedness and forceful personality to pull everyone together."

"'Forceful personality'? Is that a nice way to say I'm bossy?" she demanded, giving Ultragirl an annoyed glare.

"It means you have the strength of character to pull us all together in the heat of battle and make sure we all make it out alive," she clarified.

Siren sighed once again before she leaned over and gently laid her head on Ultragirl's shoulder for support.

"I hope you're right," she muttered. "I really hope you are."

( - ) ( - ) ( - ) ( - ) ( - ) ( - )

Much like it's Chicago counterpart, the main room of the new Titans Mid-West tower was almost empty save for two of it's members, Sparrow and Phantom. While the other three had taken the opportunity to explore the city itself, Sparrow stayed behind to make sure the most crucial piece of equipment in the tower was working at peek efficiency: the television. According to Cyborg he had hooked them up with the most up-to-date, state-of-the-art satellite and digital equipment that would allow them to get just about every channel they could ever want.

And yet, somehow, there was still nothing on.

"What is it with this place?" Sparrow suddenly screamed, kicking her right foot on the coffee table. "Even the TV is boring out here!"

"I don't know I find it kind of...nice," Phantom revealed as he allowed himself to sink into the couch a bit more. "Shadows always prefer stillness."

She glared at him. "Well, that's good for you maybe but in case you haven't noticed my powers are more like fireworks and like them I need to get out there and burn bright! I became a hero to help people and fight the baddies and do all those exciting things! Not just sit around and try to find something to watch on TV."

"You could have gone with the others to explore the city," he retorted.

"Yeah I guess," she sighed and as she picked up the remote again. "I guess I'm still just trying to get over the fact that I'm in Des Moines before I start 'exploring' it." She glanced over at him again. "So why didn't you go with them?"

His body suddenly tensed and had his face been visible it might have looked just a bit flustered as he started to stammer slightly.

"I...just...didn't think you should be alone it the new tower is all," he tried to explain. "We're not sure if all the security systems are working yet so someone could break in quite easily."

"Uh huh," Sparrow nodded, not really buying that story. "Well I appreciate the concern but I'm a big girl and I can take care of myself."

"You proved that much on the obstacle course."

"That's right. I did," she remarked a bit smugly before a more genuine smile appeared on her face as she looked at him. "Still, thanks for looking out for me."

"It's not a problem," Phantom replied sincerely. "I'm sure you would have done the same for me."

"Hey, we're a team now, right? That's what we do. Besides I'd be a pretty crappy leader if I didn't look after my teammates."

"Right. Teammate," he repeated almost somberly.

The room fell silent again as Sparrow left the TV on one of the many music video channels that for once was actually playing music videos. It wasn't anything she was a great fan of but it was enough to help her relax and get her head bopping. Phantom, on the other hand, hated the prepackaged, poppy, bubblegum music with a passion, but kept that opinion to himself as it was nice to see the girl a little more relaxed in these surroundings. Still, he would have slipped out of the room in the nearest shadow had it not been for the well timed arrival of Miss Martian, Tin Man and Tigress. All three of them were chatting happily amongst themselves and carrying many souvenirs from the various tourist attractions around town, including T-shirts and ball caps.

But the two most notable pieces of clothing belong to Tigress.

"Are you actually wearing pants? And shoes?" Sparrow asked in complete amazement.

"Yes," Tigress replied rather irritably.

It was true. While she still had on the normal black sports bra of her costume, the bikini bottoms had been replaced with a pair of white stripped, black break away pants with a hole hastily cut out of the back for her tail. Her usually bare and clawed feet were covered by a pair of matching black and white tennis shoes. Sparrow looked this new ensemble of hers up and down and couldn't help but crack a smirk.

"And why are you wearing those?" she prodded.

"You know that whole 'No Shirt. No Shoes. No Service' thing?" the catgirl asked.

The black haired girl nodded.

"Well, it turns out that they take that kind of seriously around here. And despite not saying anything about pants, they get really uptight if you're not wearing any."

"So we made a quick stop by one of the local Smarty Marts here to pick her up some pants and shoes," Miss Martian interjected. "And we got to try out lots of different outfits while we're there too! It was so much fun!"

"That is why I am carrying all of these bags," Tin Man remarked, holding up two, rather large armfuls of Smarty Mart bags.

"Didn't waste any time in using that Titans Express card we got, huh?" Sparrow chuckled.

Miss Martian frowned a bit. "Is it bad that I did that?"

"Nah it's what we got it for. But next time take me with you and I'll show you some real shopping," she remarked with an almost dangerous glint in her eyes.

"Perhaps it would be best if I sat that next round out," Tin Man said mostly to himself as he started to inch away from the two girls.

"GAAAAHH!" Tigress suddenly shouted as she ripped off the break away pants and tossed them aside. "Oh that's sooooo much better!"

She then walked over to the couch and plopped herself down between Sparrow and Phantom then proceeded to kick off her shoes and rest her feet on the coffee table. She crossed her arms behind her head and leaned back into the couch with a low purring sound.

"I tell ya, people think I dress like this," she gestured to her sport bra and bikini bottom, "to be provocative but it's really out of necessity. Do you have any idea how hot you can get when you're body's covered with fur?"

"None whatsoever," Phantom muttered a bit dejectedly as he rest his shadow covered chin on his hand.

Their team bonding moment was brought to an abrupt halt when the alarm suddenly started sounding and bright red lights flashed across the room. A wide grin spread across Sparrow's face as she leapt over the back of the couch and looked over at Phantom.

"Looks like the alarms work!" she exclaimed excitedly. "Now let's see what kind of trouble's out there."

The others all nodded in agreement and they raced over to the main console to find the cause of the alarm. Sparrow quickly claimed the seat in front of the station and first shut off the sirens and lights before she pulled up a map of the city with a small flashing light on it.

"Seems like one of the banks is being robbed," she mused as she typed in a sequence of codes. "If I can pull up the security cameras in the bank I can see who we're dealing with."

A second later the screen shifted to a surprisingly clear, color picture of a goateed man in a black and white super suit with a light bulb on the chest threatening the tellers and customers.

"Who is that?" Miss Martian asked, pointing to the screen.

"Dunno," Sparrow shook her head.

Suddenly the security footage shrank and profile picture of the villain in question filled up a majority of the screen.

"What did you do?" Tigress asked her.

"I didn't do anything. It just did it on it's own!"

"It is designed with instant recognition software," Tin Man explained. "Anytime a known villain appears in this city the computer will automatically pull up his or her's profile so that we will know who exactly we are up against."

"Huh. That's kinda cool actually," Sparrow remarked. "I suppose Cyborg told you this?"

"No. The computer did," he started matter-of-factly.

"Riiiiight," the brightly colored heroine scoffed.

"Hey's an alien A.I., I think he can do that sort of stuff," Tigress retorted.

"Anyway," Sparrow muttered as she looked at the screen again. "Apparently this is Dr. Light, one of the lower tier Titans villains. And apparently he has a real phobia of the Titans. Probably came here cause he thought none of them would bother him here."

"Well who's up for going down there and showing that whack job he's totally wrong about that part?" Tigress asked with a sly grin.

The rest of Titans Mid-West all looked between themselves before their smiles matched that of the feisty feline's and Sparrow jumped to her feet once again.

"Titans...GO!" she proclaimed proudly.

Upon their leader's command, the new Titans banded together and ran towards the exit, more than ready to face their first threat together as a team.

The End...For Now.

Author's Notes: First of all I have to thank my friend Zearth for helping me with part of this fic. You see Lady Justice is his character and while he no doubt would let me just use her on my own, no one knows her little quirks better than him and so he co-wrote that part with me. Despite some...issues with WordPerfect and MSN Messenger while writing I think it came out quite well. Hope it was enjoyable for all you folk as well.

Secondly, I feel I should apologize to the people of Iowa and Des Moines in particular. I didn't mean for Sparrow to have such a bitch fit about moving out there but it just seemed liked how the character should react to that situation. She's a big city girl and while I have no doubt Des Moines is a lovely place, it isn't exactly a major metropolitan city. Still I'm going to work on calming down her bitching about the place in later fics so she won't be that annoying "big city kid moved into a small town" trop that we see in FAR too many movies. Also I know I had her remark about tress in the Botanical Center when that's actually just full of flowers but it fits that she wouldn't know that. She doesn't have much of an interest in either.

Thirdly (wow there are a lot of numbered parts in these notes), the bit in the first scene about this "Terror Sect". Oh yes, the Terror Sect. They were introduced in my second Titans fic ever and meant to be a sort of "Anti-Titans" team as I really liked that kind of thing. You can find them in the fic "New Players on the Stage" on my profile here. I really wanted to have kind of a "seasonal" arch with them where they would battle the Titans a few times in a lot of back and fourth battles that tested the Titans as heros and individuals culminating in a massive high stakes kind of battle in a "season finale".

So what happened? Well in a word...KiGo. Yeah, here's a little secret I've been keeping, "Maternal Instinct" was meant to be just a quick, one-off story that showed how I'd put Kim and Shego together. That was five years ago. Obviously my muse latched onto that universe and decided not to let go until very recently. While I absolutely love all the KP stuff I've done and, really do hope to get back to it soon, I can't help but lament the fall of my original Titans storyline. So I decided to throw that reference out there as a way to work these characters back into this new universe in a future storyline somewhere down the road.

A universe that also has Kim Possible in it. So how's that for tying everything together? Of course most of the references to her have been brought up by Raven. Hmmm...I wonder why that could be? ;)

Now onto the two new teams themselves. I decided to make Siren's team Titans Chicago cause I felt Chicago just gets all kind of ignored by comics in favor of New York and wanted to do some stuff there. Plus Zearth is from Chicago and he wanted me to put a team in his home town. So don't be surprised if I come to you for references buddy!

Titans Mid-West was formed because...well it greatly amuses me to have a superhero team out in the Mid-West. Like Chicago it gets ignored a lot in comics cause of how peaceful the area is perceived to be. Trust me, I plan to have a lot of fun in both subverting and following that trope.

Though oddly enough I don't have that much in mind with these two teams. I certainly have a few ideas floating around and definitely a full one for Titans Mid-West, but still nothing concrete at the moment. Still we'll be seeing plenty of them as well as the original Titans in these little series of mine.

'Course that will have to wait as my muse demands that for the moment I move onto the most manly thing ever to be conceived; My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic!

Wait...what?