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--
