Disclaimer: Very much of the not mine.
A/N: For Shadow Diva, who's been having a rough time recently. This isn't much, but I hope it lets you know I'm thinking of you, babs.
Continuity: Some vague point after Titans East: Part Two.
Feedback: Yes please
Teething Problems
© Scribbler, June 2006.
Bumblebee wasn't the easiest person to get close to, but once you did she was a good friend. She was honest and open with those she trusted, and when you went into a fight, you always knew that she had at least one eye on your back. She understood team dynamics. She knew how to get people to work together. She was a natural peacemaker when she put her mind to it. Those were some of the reasons Cyborg had chosen to pass leadership onto her when he vamoosed.
Oh, yeah, she'd been nervous at first. With Speedy and Aqualad constantly at each other's throats, and Mas y Menos mooning over Starfire in every available corner, the first few weeks after Cyborg's departure had been … well, fraught was a polite way of saying it.
But she'd been stern when she needed to, used a combination of proverbial soft gloves and boxing mitts to lick them into shape, and gradually they'd started to make a name for themselves among the seedy underbelly of Steel City. She'd even started to think they were making a real difference – enough to get them recognised by the older, snootier superteams. Wouldn't that just be the kicker? The underdogs, the recycled version of a team known to some as the Justice Little League … oh yeah, that'd be sweet.
Except that sometimes, despite all her pride in Titans East, despite all the hard work she'd devoted to making them workable, she could quite cheerfully strangle each and every one of them.
"So … you're all calmed down now?" Cyborg asked.
Bumblebee leaned back in her chair and stared at his face on the viewscreen. "Now? Sure. But this ain't the first time, and I doubt it'll be the last. So let's put it this way -" She flipped a trick arrow into the air, where it twirled, end over end, until she snatched it back into a firm grip without setting it off. "There's gonna be a whole lot more busted heads in a headquarters full of boys where the primary form of entertainment is watching my underwear in the spin-dryer."
FINIS.