A Place to Call Home

As the sun started to set and evening came to the outskirts of Jump City an old worn down bus pulled up to its final stop. The elderly bus driver opened the doors and waited a minute. When he realized his last passenger was not getting out he sighed and turned around. "This is the last stop kid, you have to get off."

"What?" Rex asked the old man in disbelief. "I paid for a ticket to Jump City, this isn't Jump city!"

"Yes it is," The old man said delicately. "This is right outside Jump City."

Rex scratched his head in frustration. "Aww man, I thought it was pretty clear my ticket was for INSIDE Jump City. Whatever," He said grabbing his suitcase and slinging it over his shoulder. He walked past the rows of bus seats until he got to the front. As he passed the driver he grumbled something incoherent but kept walking until he was off the bus.

Looking around he realized there was nothing here but a bus station and a road into the city. He had been doing his best to not activate his nanites but it looked like he didn't have much choice. Rex wanted to be free of Providence which is why he'd been going from place to place. He wasn't sure what he was looking for but he thought he'd know what it was when he found it.

Even with evening approaching it was still pretty hot out. At least it's getting cooler, Rex thought to himself. That bus was an oven thanks to the summer heat. Walking over to the one soda machine outside the bus station he dropped in a few quarters and made a selection.

As he stood there enjoying the refreshing taste cooling him down he heard a woman scream. Stopping halfway through his drink he brought it away from his lips. Before he could turn around to identify the scream, the sound of a much larger crash assaulted his ears.

The soda can fell to the pavement forgotten as Rex saw what appeared to be a giant pre-historic bird attacking the city. "An E.V.O. here? Damn it. So much for cover, now six is so going to find me." As he finished complaining he pulled his goggles over his eyes and transformed the nanites on his back so two high-spinning fans he used to fly came out.

He flew high enough into the air that he was at about the top of most of the buildings and went further into town. He scanned the area left and right and wondered if he had lost the EVO when an explosion occurred to the northwest.

Flying in that direction he landed on a rooftop and looked down below at now only the EVO from before but six teenagers fighting it. The EVO had to be at least twelve feet tall and eighteen feet from wing to wing. It looked very similar to a pterodactyl with its large beak, huge wings and tiny claws. The only difference was the odd checkered pattern red and black skin and a tail with a mouth at the end.

But no, Rex had seen his share of EVOs; this one was nothing special. He was interested in the six teenagers fighting it. He had never seen anyone besides himself (and six) fight an EVO, most people just ran away.

One of them was an orange-skinned girl with red hair who in addition to flying was shooting green balls of energy out of her hands. Another was a green-skinned boy who kept changing into different animals before deciding to change again. After changing into an eagle he charged the EVO talons raised. However he didn't notice the tail behind him which knocked him down.

As he fell he changed back and was caught by a pretty girl with long blonde hair who was standing on top of a floating rock. He thanked her quietly and the two resumed battle.

Rex had to move back as a blast of blue energy almost hit him. Looking back he saw a tall black dude whose body was covered in cybernetic parts. He was clearly frustrated as his arm cannon wasn't doing much damage to the EVO. Out of carelessness he almost ran into the other girl. She moved out of his way in time but looked rather mad that her spell had been interrupted. She had purple hair and gray skin covered by a blue cloak and had dark energy emanating from her hands.

The last guy looked to be their leader. He had black spiky hair and wore a green and red costume along with a mask over his eyes. He ran up the nearby wall and leapt backwards and landed on top of the EVO.

A brief smile appeared as he pulled out a small circular object and attached it to the EVO. He jumped off and before he hit the ground the object exploded. The EVO cried out in pain as the six continued their assault.

Seeing his chance to help Rex transformed both his arms into one giant mallet. Jumping off the building he fell for a few seconds before the mallet came crashing down unforgiving on the EVO's back. It cried out in pain again as it hit the ground raising a layer of dirt.

Rex quickly transformed back to normal to put his hands on top of the EVO. Before the six strangers could even utter a word of caution the EVO transformed back into an old woman with a cane who lay unconscious on the ground.

"Whoa," Beast boy exclaimed in amazement. "Who's the new guy?" But nobody knew, they just looked on in confusion.

Robin walked forward and stood in front of Rex; eyeing him suspiciously. "What did you to that monster?"

"Wasn't a monster," Rex answered quickly. "It was an EVO, and I cured it and turned it back to normal."

"You mean..." Starfire gasped. "We were really fighting that elderly woman the whole time?"

Rex scratched the back of his head, "Not exactly. Don't you guys already know what EVO's are?"

"You'll have to forgive Starfire," Raven said as she seemed to almost just appear beside her female friend. "She wasn't on this planet five years ago during the explosion."

"Amazing," Robin muttered. He no longer looked suspicious but instead curious. "We don't get many EVO's out here…"

"—But you get monsters?" Rex butted in.

"Well yes, sometimes. Though we usually fight criminals and super villains more often."

"Who exactly are you guys?" Rex asked.

"Were the Teen Titans!" Robin said dramatically while they all posed for a split second. Rex rubbed his eyes and when he looked again they were all standing normally so he wondered if he was seeing things.

"Sorry I haven't heard of you. I didn't get out much back at Providence. "

"Were super heroes dude!" Beast boy exclaimed; annoyed that someone hadn't heard of him. "I'm Beast boy," He said as he started introductions.

"That's our leader Robin," He said pointing to the masked hero.

"My best friend Cyborg," The big black dude waved.

"My girl Terra," The blonde smiled at Rex.

"You've already met Star," Starfire waved anyway.

"And last but not least is our token Goth, Raven." She didn't acknowledge Beast Boy's intro except to roll her eyes.

"OK cool, well my name's Rex."

"You worked for Providence?" Cyborg asked him.

Rex nodded, "I used to. But they couldn't handle my style so I left. I was mostly just a weapon to them anyway." The Titans gave him their condolences.

"Where are you going now?" Terra asked.

Rex shrugged, "I've been trying to get away from them for the last few weeks. I guess I'll find somewhere to sleep tonight and then keep going tomorrow."

"No!" Starfire exclaimed. "You are our new friend. We cannot allow you to sleep in the gutter!" She said jumping to conclusions.

"I wasn't going to—"But Rex was cut off by an enormous hug from Starfire.

"Does anyone else feel a sense of Déjà vu?" Beast boy asked.

"Yes this does seem awfully familiar." Robin said. Coughing rather loudly he attempted to interrupt Starfire. "Anyway Rex why don't you come back with us to the tower? You can explain your powers to us and we can get you some food and a bed for the night."

For the first time that day Rex smiled, "Okay can't say no to some free food. Sounds good to me!" They were all about to head to the tower when Cyborg said something.

"Hate to interrupt ya'll, but what about granny here?" He said pointing to the old lady.

"Let's just leave her there. She'll be fine!"

"Beast Boy!"

"Sorry."

Rex laughed.

End of Chapter...

Kai: Alright, I've taken over this story for randompandattack. He owns this chapter and the next four! I will own chapter 6's plot and from then on out! I own nothing else! So make way to start a revolution!