English is not my first language; I apologize in advance for any noticeable spelling/grammar mistakes. Oh, additional pairings: StarfirexRobin and BeastboyxRaven, considering what happened to Terra.

While the Titans are out fighting crime, a team of teens working for Slade invades the tower, completely destroying the inside. Good and evil can never coincide peacefully…so what happens when Cyborg falls for one of the team members?

Poker Face

"Leigh, either you hurry it up, or I blow the friggin' door to pieces," the teenaged boy growled, tightening the gloves on his hands threateningly. He was an average height and size, with plain black hair falling down passed his chin. He zipped up his well-worn brown coat and shivered in the frosty morning air, stamping his feet to keep the circulation moving.

The girl named 'Leigh' glanced up from the device on her wrist, looking irritated at yet another interruption. "Stuff it, Carl," she warned. "You know that your powers would trip the alarm. Unless you want me to mess up, be quiet, okay?" She was an inch or two shorter than the boy and somewhat thinner. Brown hair framed her face and a delicate pair of rose-lensed glasses shaded her eyes. Carl didn't respond and she went back to work.

The other teenager simply watched the other two, yawning and checking his watch every couple of minutes. He was taller and more muscled, probably a couple years older then Carl. "Cinderblock and Plasmus can only distract the Titans for so long," he said gently, "I have to agree with Carl on this one. Sorry, Leigh. Do I need to take over for you?"

She shuddered, rubbing her arms. "No thanks, Jared—I'd prefer that you didn't possess me."

"Suit yourself."

She took his advice to heart and worked quickly, scanning the readings on the device and adjusting her 'home-made' lock pick accordingly. After another hour of hard work, the door to the tower made a promising 'click' sound. "It's too heavy," she grunted, after trying to push it open. "Go ahead, Carl."

He nodded and put a hand on her shoulder. "Nice work." Since she was the youngest and least experienced of the three, it was essential to keep her motivated. She beamed happily.

"Stand back." He pulled off the gloves, cracked the vertebrae in his back, and concentrated. A surge of pure energy exploded from his hands and cleanly knocked the door off of its hinges.

Carl smiled and gestured to the open tower with a ridiculously overdramatic flourish. "Welcome to
TitansTower," he said.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:

(Later)

Cyborg manually forced open the door to his room, letting out a hostile howl as he saw the trashed contents of his former sanctuary. The furniture was nothing more then a heap of sizzling, smoking fabric, and his weights were smashed to smithereens. The few other belongings he had were either brutally destroyed or missing.

"Your room, too?"

He turned to see Robin striding towards him from across the hall, his face blank and unrevealing. He held a couple of his own charred possessions, but he seemed utterly unaffected by the mass ruin around him.

"Yeah," Cyborg said curtly. Robin stepped inside and assisted him with clearing away the wreckage. The two of them worked in silence for a minute, before Robin commented, "all of the lower levels are trashed. The rest are untouched. I think we very nearly caught the people who did this. They probably ran out of time to finish the job."

"I…can't believe…they destroyed everything in here," Cyborg replied shortly.

"Not everything," Robin said, just as shortly. He held up a pair of red tinted glasses, before elaborating. "The perpetrators must have left them behind by accident."

"I doubt it," said Cyborg, checking the sides of the glasses. Carved into the side of the glasses were tiny, wobbly letters, spelling out five chilling letters:

S-L-A-D-E.

Robin immediately tensed up, his hands curling up into fists. "Slade," he growled, "I should have known." The hatred on his face was both fascinating and horrifying to see—such emotion coming from the jaded 'boy wonder' was unusual.

"Robin--"

"I'm…going to go check on Starfire," was all Robin said, before slinking away.

Cyborg went back to cleaning, sorting the wreckage into a few organized piles. Spot by spot, the tainted carpet came back into view, and after a few hours his room was looking somewhat normal, albeit completely empty.

He gathered up all of the debris he could and began to carry it to a dumpster outside, the Slade-marked glasses on top of his bundle. Without hesitation he threw away his former belongings, before he was left with nothing but the glasses.

He stared at them for a while, before he came to a decision. He tightened his grip on them and walked away, unable to shake off an eerie feeling of being watched.



Please review. I know that this is embarrassingly short; chapters usually are about 2,000 words. Sorry about this puny one.

--DemonSan--