CHAPTER

2

WHAAAAAM!

With one mighty swing of his water dagger, Aqualad laid into Mammoth. The giant villain toppled to the ground.

OOOOOF!

Miss Martian stretched out both her arms and slammed her two giant fists against the heads of Gizmo and Jinx, knocking both of them out of the action.

“Whoa, look how serious they are,” said Robin with admiration.

TWINKLE!

In the middle of his fight, Superboy glanced over at Starfire and gave her a quick wink.

Starfire blushed and whispered with delight, “Oooo… Superboy has the sparkling eye of righteousness!”

Superboy spun around and grabbed See-More and Billy Numerous. With ease, the hero slammed the two evildoers together. He then quickly snapped handcuffs over the wrists of all five villains.

“Wow, none of those Young Justice heroes are even smiling,” observed Beast Boy.

“I feel so intimidated,” admitted Cyborg. “And I like it!”

“Now those are real heroes,” said Raven admiringly.

Aqualad crossed his arms and glared at the five groaning villains.

“Send these five cretins to our base in the Kratoa Nebula for further investigation,” he said to Superboy.

Aqualad paused dramatically, and then he mused, “Something tells me this is only the beginning of our problems with…”

“Hey there, Aqualad!” Robin called out, interrupting Aqualad’s grim musing.

Aqualad looked down with annoyance to see that Robin was standing in front of him. Robin’s head barely reached Aqualad’s mighty pectoral muscles.

“Oh hello, Robin,” Aqualad said with an impatient sigh.

“Those were some pretty sweet fighting moves back there,” Robin said.

Aqualad ignored the compliment and instead stared off into the distance. A noble expression of self-importance filled his face as he said, “I do what must be done.”

“That reminds me of the time I–” Robin began.

“Now, uh, you’ll have to excuse me,” Aqualad said grimly as he backed away from Robin and glanced at the beeping telecommunications device strapped to his wrist. “It appears that there is an emergency in the Gamma Delta Quadrant that needs my attention.”

Robin quickly reached for his Teen Titans cell phone and punched a few buttons. “Cool, cool,” Robin said as he peered at his phone’s obviously empty screen. “I’ll probably head out there, too.”

Aqualad snickered in response, muttering under his breath, “Why? Is it on your way to a pie-eating competition?”

Robin frowned and said, “What is that supposed to mean?

Before Aqualad could answer, Cyborg and Beast Boy suddenly appeared on either side of him.

“Did someone say pie?!” Cyborg shouted.

“I love pie!” Beast Boy howled.

Robin lifted both hands in the air and screamed at his teammates, “Not now!”

Beast Boy and Cyborg slowly walked away, glaring at Robin.

“So just what did you mean?” Robin demanded.

Aqualad sighed, and then he replied, “I did not wish to say anything, but you and your team have brought nothing but shame to all the real super heroes. The Teen Titans are a disgrace.”

Robin’s mouth fell open in disbelief.

“Hey, you are way off base, buddy!” Robin argued. “There’s no difference between our teams. We may do things a little differently, but we’re both just trying to take down bad guys however we can.”

“Is that right?” Aqualad asked skeptically as he extended his hand and pointed. “Take a look over there.”

Robin glanced over to the area where the handcuffed H.I.V.E. villains were gathered. Raven and Starfire were quickly undoing the handcuffs that held Jinx.

“Hurry, before they see us,” Raven whispered.

With Jinx’s hands now free, Starfire smiled broadly and asked, “Who is ready for another of the Girls’ Night Out celebrations?!”

“Yay!” hollered Raven and Jinx as all three girls jumped into a nearby police car and drove off.

Aqualad frowned and turned to Robin. “Super heroes are supposed to inspire hearts and teach valuable lessons about friendship and life,” he lectured.

“We do that… sometimes…” Robin said grudgingly.

Aqualad sneered and said, “You mean lessons like ‘Books Can Be Dangerous’ or ‘What Is Better: Burgers or Burritos?’”

“C’mon,” Robin said a bit defensively. “What’s so bad about being a little silly from time to time?”

“I’m all for a good laugh,” Aqualad said with a frown on his face. “But the Teen Titans cannot be serious for one single moment. Good day!”

Robin opened his mouth to argue, but Aqualad was already walking away. “Um, okay,” Robin said with embarrassment. “Good talk, Aqualad. We’ll catch up later. Maybe I’ll see you in that… uh… Gamma… Quadrant… um… Delta… place…”

Robin looked around. His Teen Titan teammates and the Young Justice heroes had all departed.

Robin’s shoulders slumped, and he let out a very serious sigh.