Well, here it is. My first fan-fiction. I have spent months trying to think of my own stories because I have loved this website so much, so why not?
Oh, and I do not own the TT. If I did, it would still be airing new episodes every Saturday.
{Edited October 6, 2012}
It was a dream that came true. He was no longer robot. He was back in his own skin. And he was using it to go undercover on a mission. When the leader said "it's time," it was time for him to start a new life.
And that's how everyone's big brother-previously known as Cyborg-viewed it.
A girl with short purple hair groaned at the sound of knocking.
"Friend, are you awake?"
"I am, thanks to you."
"Are you available to do the talking?"
"Now? It's four in the morning-"
"Please! It's urgent!"
The door opened to an orange, redhead alien with green eyes that scared you.
"What do you want?"
"Cyborg is leaving for the H soon, and I have to ask you something."
"Shoot."
"Shoot what?"
"Never mind," she mumbled.
"I am fearful that he will fall into a trap or something and Rob may lose track of him. So I thought that…I should go undercover with him."
Her large purple eyes snapped open. "What?"
"I talked to Robin about it and he was hesitant about losing two teammates, but he also thought it would be all right if I went with him."
"Star, what if they find out who you two were? They will kill you."
"No They Won't!" She stamped her foot. "He gave me permission and said that it will be the two of us undercover."
Her friend shrugged. "All right, so what do you want to ask me?"
The alien coughed. "Do you think you can give me a disguise?"
The cafeteria was buzzing in chatter and excitement. Tables were crowded as new super-villains caught up and talked about anything. The two newcomers held out their trays and the lunch lady slapped mashed potato-look-a-likes onto the trays.
The girl looked at it and grimaced. "Ugh, you Earthlings eat this? On my planet-"
"Sh! People can hear you!"
His friend blushed. "Sorry." She looked around and saw the person standing behind her stare at her perplexed. Nobody else seemed to notice the peach-skinned girl with hair that reached to her shoulder blades, flat bangs, and short skirt with a matching long-sleeve shirt with wings.
They turned around in search of an empty table. "When I was in school, we used to have lunch here," he whispered. "Just stay with me."
"Did you eat such disgusting things…" she poked her sandwich that made her ill.
"Sometimes," he said.
They found an unoccupied table and sat down. The girl stared at the 'meal' while her partner ate.
"You're in my seat!"
Chills shot down two spines at a deep voice they heard a few days and they didn't even half to look. The three of their first enemies stood behind him, glaring and lifting eyebrows.
"Hey newbies," the little bay-sized 'genius' sneered, "this is our table! What do you think you're doing here?"
The pink-pigtailed 'clone' of Rae stared at them. "They look familiar. Did you go to Darkway Prep?"
Before they could answer, he sensed a gadget being swung under their table and in the blink of an eye they sprung from their seats screaming. They hit the table painfully, her hitting her head against his knee.
Nobody even needed to describe the laughter or humiliation they felt everywhere. The three of them were laughing hardest. She felt like she was going to cry, never feeling this way since her transformation Angry, he stood up and glared at them.
With the pound of his ring, he turned to stone from the arms up and growled, slamming his powerful fist against the table that broke to pieces and skidded across the floor.
They looked at the pieces as he spoke. "My name is Stone. And it looks like you need another table."
The evil boy genius chuckled nervously. "Not bad," the older one said. "Let's see how he does-and what she can do-in combat practice."
The five of them walked into the hive-shaped area, painted yellow like an actual hive. All around, the other students sat down, ready to see the first combat, ready to see what the new students were made of. The three knew what to expect and were ready, but for the other two-
"I'm not ready," Starfire mouthed to her companion, still in his stone form.
He put a hand on her shoulder. "We'll be fine," he said. "When, uh, Rae-"
A bell interrupted him and they turned their attention to the other three, who were standing calmly. But then a slow rumble began below five feet and they looked down to see a stand growing from the ground-pulling the five of them up in the air!
In front of them, a hole formed in one of the shapes and several stands popped up. The three top students leaped off in excitement, Jinx firing pink lightning, Gizmo with his evil tools, and Mammoth with his strength.
"C-C-Cy-"
"Stone-"
"What do we do? Your-"
"Let's follow them."
As soon as they leapt off, however, robots rose from the ground, attention toward them, and ran to the undercover spies.
"Ready, girl?" he huffed.
"Ready!" she cheered in half her usual pep.
Tragically, however, the robots grabbed them too fast to see the experienced. Star kicked and Stone groaned.
"Ha! The newbies are toast!" Gizmo sneered. He and Mammoth laughed evilly.
"Hey, Rocko and weirdo, had enough?" the latter teased. They continued laughing.
"Quiet down! Headmaster's watching!" Jinx skidded to them and muttered.
Stone and Starfire did not notice, but in the shadows a figure with white hair and robes and piercing blue eyes smirked.
The two of them ran away fast-just as super-long silver tentacles snatched the two of them and waved them around.
With all of the frustration inside him ready, Stone pushed the robots off him. BAM! WHACK! SLAM! Starfire edged her foot and slammed each leg off its balance. She and Stone ran from the pile to free space.
"You all right?" he asked her. She was gasping, hands gripping her knees about to fall off any minute.
"Yes, friend," she panted. They ran just as laser shots shot in their direction. Star lifted him up as he kicked and destroyed the tentacles.
Gizmo and Jinx groaned and watched in shock.
Stone jumped from Starfire's lift and landed on his feet in a striking pose. Starfire landed beside him and huffed. "No starbolts," he hissed.
"Right." Without warning her eyes turned pale and she swung her arms around drastically, green-and-black discs flinging from her hands to the tentacles, which sliced in half and freed the three.
Jinx lay on the floor thinking why was that so familiar…
She and the boys freed themselves from the gray and looked around. "We need to go to the finish line!" the midget yelled and the students and heroes ran to the base.
A bell rang, sending nerves down Star's legs. Stone resumed himself to human-Cy in a flash of blue. "Yes, now that's what I'm-"
"Shush, goggle-brain!" the midget yelled.
"You! Stone! And girl!" a deep, scary voice rang out. On a hive pattern, the man in the shadows floated down, glaring at the intruders. "Sneaking into my school, destroying my drills, making my top students look like amateur pickpockets-you must think you are well trained."
He huffed into their faces, shaking her intestinal lining and his fingers. Her heart pounded like a paddleball. "But it's not that skill that makes you clever…"
There was silence and hesitance.
"That was an outstanding job, you two," he finished. It hit them like ringing bells. "Fabulous job, Mr. Stone and Miss…"
"Kori," Star finished. Cybor looked at her, to which she replied with her eyes she'll explain it later.
"Our acceptance, Mr.…"
"Blood," he finished. "Brother Blood."
He shook hands with both of them. "Proud service. And the bright future you two hold."
He turned to the failures, but Cyborg dare not listen any more. "Kori?" he asked.
"It's a short version of my real name," she explained. Blood's voice rose, sending a shiver down her back.
"In a few days"-he began flying-"I will unveil your class project."
Cyborg and Starfire glanced at each other at this. This was what Robin needed. "We'll have to sneak it somehow," she whispered.
He held her hand. "If you want to work with me, do not let go."
"They're working on some sort of class project. We have nothing yet, but we will find out what it is ASAP…"
"What's as sweet as pudding?"
"That's not what it means."
The two secret heroes walked down the hallway…also painted yellow. Starfire asked if everything in a school was painted the school colors-almost to a complete stranger!-before Cyborg said no. He also told her not to ask questions to anybody else but him. Rob stared at them from Cyborg's robotic arm.
"Gather the information as quickly as you can and leave. Anybody could find out who you two are. And it's dangerous the more you stay there."
"We don't plan on-"
Before she could finish, the arm vanished and Starfire looked up perplexed. She saw him look to the left and knew who was there, smiling wickedly….
So as we all know, Cyborg had to wear a little pink dress and unicycle. As for Star, well, she nearly died of humiliation walking down the hall with evil pink-girl and her friend in a baby hat, bear suit, and tricycle in her arms, along with a pig snout on her nose.
"Did your school ever do this disguise of the best students?" she mouthed.
"No. We gave wedgies-you can talk to Robin about that-we threw spitballs and we chased them down the halls." The more they walked, the harder the academy rocked with laughter. Cyborg felt ill that Starfire had to suffer this kind of humiliation. If it was just him, well, at least the sensitive one on their team would feel fine (maybe laugh a little).
"I dislike Earth schools."
"Maximum," the headmaster said at the training room. Stone and Kori were lifting weights and dodging bolts. He decided to test their limits by going to the extremes.
Stone felt the weights growing heavy and he growled in pain. With determination, he pushed his muscles up and succeeded. It was 110%, what his coach would say.
Kori flew in spirals as tentacles and discs chased her around-one over her head, one under her leg, and one right below her foot. She back-flipped and continued dodging them, but a bolt struck her foot, and she landed on the floor on her back.
Come on, Starfire! Stone thought mentally. You said Rae gave you a little bit of her powers as she transformed you! Use hers!
She flew up and punched a tentacle away but it swung back at her.
Angry, she lit her hands in green and destroyed the whole thing, fading in a cloud of smoke.
Everybody looked at her in shock. Stone stared at her and mouthed, What the hell? You were not supposed to use your real powers!
"Fantastic work, students," the icy voice soothed her anxiety.
As they left, Starfire held her breath for the lecture.
"I apologize, friend," she said head down. "I was just so scared and I forgot about Raven's powers I'm not used to fighting without my bolts."
Cyborg sighed and put a hand on her shoulder. "It's all right. It's your first time, and there will be more times in your life where you will forget you have something just as helpful. But remember that any one of those three will recognize you. But for no, you just have to learn from your mistakes."
Starfire nodded and smiled as she walked to the showers ("What a weird thing to have in a school," she told him, although he said, "Eh, not every school has them, but they do have good use.")
As the days went by, it was easy as kicking your legs-or not. Gizmo threw a tiny bomb in their lunch although they had the last laugh. He still disliked the pets, even if he scored better tests than them. Mammoth did not care much but he would tackle Stone once in a while, the former winning so fast Starfore would not even have to bother dropping her books.
And Starfire was not blind to see Jinx's admiration of Stone. She would throw her dirty looks and try to pick a fight to no avail, as the headmaster would be in the halls or there was no room. Jinx, however, was jealous that Stone was closer to Kori than her. One night, he was talking to Robin and Raven via communicator (Eddie Munster's green twin was working on his robotic model and Starfire was finishing her training session) when Jinx walked in and tried to get him. Luckily, Blood was looking for her, so she had to leave. Though they hid and looked from the corner of the screen, Robin looked ill and Raven worse.
Another thing that made Jinx jealous was that there were no dorms left for Star, so she had to share with Cyborg ("no hanky panky," they were told). They never shared the bed-he would be up researching while she slept or he would talk to Robin on the bed while she read on the table. Robin sighed in relief but warned Cyborg about breaking into the academy with a taser.
One day, they cornered them in the hall again. Stone readied his strength and Kori prepared an attack of telekinesis behind her back at their evil smirks. We are doomed, she thought. They saw my usage of my powers.
With a dramatic flourish, Jinx whipped out two electronic devices from her sleeve. "Congratulations," she said. "You two are two of us."
It was late at night when their friends dropped into the business.
"What's a Sadie Hawkins dance?" Star held up a poster announcing a dance that Saturday. Cyborg was taking notes when she walked in from a stroll.
"It's a dance where it's the girl who asks the guy to go with her."
"Oh. All right." Starfire looked around in thought. "Well, would you like to join me in the dance of the Hawkins of Sadie?"
Cyborg paused and looked up at her. Him, take a good friend's girl to dance with him? "Um, I don't think Robin would-"
He stopped at the sight of her face, and he knew what was going on between her and Jinx. "All right, I'll go with you."
"Glorious! I just need to bring the dress of the prom!" (The 'Date with Destiny' one)
Beep, beep, beep!
"It's Raven," he muttered. "What's up?"
"Robin is tracking down a few escaped felonies," his 'little sister' said in exhaustion and boredom. "He asked me to check on you."
Starfire's face pushed Cyborg's away. "Friend, do you remember the dress of the prom when Rob had to take that evil Kitten?"
"Could anybody forget?" she mumbled. Was there ever a time when Rob was uncomfortable dancing with a super-villain?
"Do you think you can bring it over?"
"Starfire, no! What do you think they'd do if they saw a-"
"What do you need it for, anyway?"
Cyborg sighed. "There's an upcoming dance and we think it would be helpful in our mission."
Raven lifted her eyebrows. "What-are you guys going together?"
"I just asked him," Star said happily.
Raven looked away for nothing. "Do you think Robin would approve of this?"
"It's part of the mission," Cyborg begged. "Give her the dress…"
Raven hid a wounded look. "All right," she said with a hint of jealousy in her voice. "Are you two sure you're safe?"
"Sure, girl. Why do you say that?"
The half-breed shrugged.
Starfire glittered like her name in the disco lights as she shimmied with Cyborg. While he wore a triple X suit, she shone in the same dress that made Robin sweat on the ship. Her hair was pulled back into a tidy, tidy ponytail that brushed against his nose when she spun.
They held hands and wiggled the hips and legs. It was like dancing with his peers in High School, holding a girl's hands and actually dancing with her for fun. Both knew Jinx was crouching, ready to fight for a mate. Both ignored her and danced sleek as hard, rap, and dance music played.
"On my planet, we would do this when we would give our reception to a wed couple. Has anyone taken the vows yet?"
"This isn't a wedding, Star," he said. "It's for fun."
Starfire nodded, understanding.
"Oh, I know this song!" Cyborg whispered in her ear.
"What is it?" she whispered back.
"It's called '03 Bonnie and Clyde,'" he said. "It rocks."
They wiggled slowly as they moved together and apart, hips swinging, her hair swinging around her head.
"You know, this song is about two wrong-doers who said they would do anything to keep the other safe in any circumstance," he said. "Do you think that's us?"
Starfire hummed. "Not sure, friend," she said. Then she paused in panic. "Are we wrong-doers?"
"The good kind," he said. "I would do anything for the four of you."
"Ditto," she said slowly. They slowed down and studied the other's face. Each had promise, truth…and much more. As her body grew closer to his, her head went back and vice versa. He smiled, looked up, and gasped. Starfire looked over and winced in surprise.
Standing before him was a gorgeous girl of medium height, with short blue hair, bangs combed over her forehead, and pale, pale skin. Her legs glowed under a tight, strapless black dress with matching heels. And she was looking at him in a smoky way.
His jaw hit the floor at the beautiful stranger. She skipped down the steps in such a mouthwatering way and approached him. Star looked confused. The girl turned around and winked, but she did not understand.
The beauty smirked at him and stepped back, planting her hand on his shoulder and posing in a model way. "Want to dance?" she asked in a sexy, dry way.
He spun her around so that his chest was pressing against her back, his huge hand stuck on her abdomen. He outstretched her left arm and she threw her head back in a great way. She moved her hips and legs and began bobbling her head. He kept his eyes on her hair and not her chest (oops!).
"Wow, you're a real good dancer," he said huskily in her ear.
"As are you, Victor!" she replied.
He gasped and spun her around so that he sank into her eyes. "You know my name."
"I know many things," she said smirking and lifting her eyebrow.
"Indeed," he said.
She began moving her hips slowly and for a moment he saw a violet in her eyes.
Starfire could not even count to two seconds before she witnessed him pushing her away toward the punch bowl, her back slammed against the wall and the punch running down her legs.
"Stone! What do you just-"
"What's this?"
Blood appeared out of nowhere and inspected the scene. Stone's throat dried like desert sand. He paused and studied the girl.
"Who are you?" he asked. "And why did you crash my class dance?"
Cyborg saw the crime-committer gasp in pain and embarrassment. "I-I-I-I am-an-orphan-girl-who-n-n-needs-a-place-t-to-live! I-I-have-these-powers-I-cannot-h-handle!"
Blood shushed her and helped her stand up. Cyborg saw her face turn red in some sort of emotion as he helped her. "What's your name?"
"A-A-A-Angel," she gasped.
"Indeed. Do you have an alias?"
"People call me 'Birdseye,'" she said.
Brother Blood thought. "Well, I think I should take you to a private arena to test your skills."
"Uh, Brother, no! I don't think that's a good idea!"
"Why not, Stone?" he asked not looking up.
"W-what if she does not know how to control her powers?" He dare not look at the girl. "W-what if I could help her?"
"That's nice of you, Stone, but I am a professional at this, so please don't bother."
Two people in purple cloaks came over, swung her arms over their shoulders, and escorted her out. Stone only watched in fear.
Throughout the night, as Starfire snored over the table, he could only think of what startled him…
"Guys, are you there? Guys, where are you?"
"You checked like a thousand times."
"I don't care, I am too concerned."
"Robin, please don't-"
"Can you two just leave me in peace?"
The two looked at each other and shrugged.
"Stafirer. Cyborg, it's Robin. Do you copy?" It was the seventh-hundred time he said this. He opened his mouth and found himself sighing in relief. "Where were you two?"
"Yes. Apology, friends. We-"
"-are studying for this test I know will kill our grades."
"Are you kidding me?" Rob growled. "You would much rather pass a test than save the town-or whatever-from destruction?"
"Hey, how can the headmaster trust me if I don't this work seriously?" he asked.
Rob shrugged. "All right, Starfire, what do you have to say?"
Starfire looked at Cyborg, who said via eye looks to not mention the dance even by the tiniest bit. "We-"
"-are on our way to research what makes this place evil than before."
"Stone, you found it?"
"Yes, Kori, it's on my computer."
"Kori is your name?" Robin asked confused.
"My home name nickname," she explained.
"All right, fire away."
Cyborg began typing like a maniac. Robin leaned forward but saw nothing. Starfire read the manuals mentally and looked at Cyborg. "Wow. I found the class project. They are building something called-"
"-an ion amplifier."
A balloon popped in Starfire's chest at the smooth voice. Cyborg vanished the robotic arm and looked up at deadly blue skies.
"What a new surprise, Mr. Stone and Ms. Kori. Or should I say, Cyborg and Starfire."
In a flash Cyborg found himself in his robotic body and Starfire in her alien traits and uniform. The latter gasped.
"Relax. I have no fight up my sleeve. It is a wondrous weapon, to be honest with you." He muttered adjectives Starfire was too scared to listen to.
"But it's nothing compared to you two."
"What is it of us that you most desire?"
"What I want does nothing with what you want, Star…it's what I can help you with."
Cyborg moaned at pain in his right arm and in a moment he saw his regular hand-the one he was born with.
"My hand-it's back! I can feel it!"
Starfire gasped. "Cyborg, how-"
But blue-and-white absorbed brown, bringing a moan from him.
"No!"
He collapsed to his knees and groaned. He was so close, so close to regaining his life before the team. It was there in front of his nose. But now it was gone.
"Cy-"
It was then that she was pushed back to the wall. She squirmed and groaned. "You need not disturb this little episode, dear. Serve me…and I can make you human again. I can make her feel normal like any other human. Would you like that, Miss?"
Star only growled in pain. "Cyborg, no! Don't-"
It was then that his eyes flashed red as blood.
In a minute, Cyborg's eye was glowing in return.
And so were Starfire's.
The boys peeked out from the wall and looked around. "It's clear," Beast Boy said.
"All right, BB, bring Cyborg's copy and we'll find Starfire and Cyborg," their fearless leader said.
"Gotcha." Beast Boy nodded and narrowed his eyebrows. "Um, what exactly happened to Rae?"
"I don't know. I've been looking for her all week, yet I can't find her."
"Did you call Cyborg and Starfire?"
"They never responded."
"Okay."
Beast Boy snaked a tentacle toward and lifted the model from the ground. "I hate how he has to make such heavy things…"
"BOO-YA!"
The cry made them literally jump from their shoes.
"BOO-YA!"
BB slapped his hand over the mouth, his heart pounding with a bull in pursuit.
Robin unlocked his communicator and set it to track down their friends. The tiny beeps pointed North. "I've picked up their signals…they are directly below us," he said in more of a question format.
Before Beast Boy opened his mouth to speak, there was a bang, and the three of them fell through tunnels in different directions. Robin felt like vomiting and Beast Boy felt that déjà vu feeling as he screamed in disgust and fear.
Beast Boy felt like crying before he crashed into a spotlighted arena with beehive patterns. With a flash they found themselves in a staged arena.
"I'm going to be sick," Beast Boy mumbled.
"Two of the heroes," an unfamiliar yet creepy voice said. "How nice of you to come to my academy." He floated in one beehive shape. "I would introduce you to my students, but I do know you must have met them already."
Robin and Beast Boy looked up in shock at five people-three familiar faces, three that spelled death. But the other two were unrecognizable.
"Oh my God, are they-"
"Starfire! Cyborg! What are you doing?"
The two newcomers only smirked in response.
"There is no Starfire-"
"-and there is no Cyborg."
Beast Boy gasped. "He brainwashed them!"
"Attack!" Blood yelled.
In a flash the five of them jumped up and gave evil smiles. The midget swung out an electronic device and fired explosion balls at the two ready boys and the one dummy.
They hit the ground like bombs on a battlefield, ready to defeat the intruders who, much to their disappointment, were not panicked.
"Beast Boy, jump!"
Robin finished his order as he leapt off the ground and back-flipped in the air while Beast Boy grabbed the dummy with his hands and changed into an eagle, holding him with his claws.
"Give them no mercy! No mercy!" Brother Blood yelled to his students.
Stone cornered Beast Boy and threw punches he easily dodged. "Dude, it's me! It's BB, the one you love making fun of for eating tofu and not meat! OW!"
Stone slammed against his jaw and pushed him to the floor, where he was about to punch the back of his head before BB turned into a rabbit and hopped away.
He ducked a gizmo gadget and ran to the dummy, where he hid behind him and pulled out the controller. "Come on, how do you make this thing work?" he asked, his fingers moving wildly.
"BOO-YA!"
The dummy went up full speed and ran into the wall, leaving a huge crater and massive rocks. Beast Boy chuckled nervously and ran from Mammoth's scary fist.
Jinx fired bolts at Robin, who was throwing out weapon after weapon to create minor explosions. "Face it, Bird-Boy, you are no match! Three against five, you're nothing!"
He threw out a boomerang and spun it toward her face, leaving a wide gash against her nose and stretching toward her ear.
He regained the boomerang before running from Kori's bolts.
"Gah! Starfire, it's me, Robin! It's me!"
"I-don't-know-any-Robin," she stammered before pushing a massive ball at him. He ran away and hid behind a pillar. No, this was not the girl he loved, the one he danced with, shared cotton candy with, or helped regain her confidence. It was another girl-but it was still her!
There was a small crumble before he realized she was lifting the pillar up.
Oh, boy, here we go again.
"Let me handle this, Kori, I have him."
Stone swung at him to no avail, thanks to years of kung fu and back flips. Stone decided to grab a pillar and-
BANG!
He lost his thoughts as a large, robotic figure came dashing toward and crashed right into him, dragged him to the wall, caused a massive hole in the wall, and ran off with him. About five seconds later, they pushed through the upper wall and landed atop two pillars-ready to prance, ready to fight.
Robin stood up independently but witnessed Mammoth throwing Beast Boy against the wall. All four remaining villains-in-training grinned evilly, the midget throwing a ball that exploded into an orange bubble enveloping both of them.
Beast Boy gasped and Robin pounded his fists against the inner surface. "Force field!" he yelled.
"Dude! Not good!"
Meanwhile, Stone still glared at his unknowingly counterpart, which smirked at him in return. Both leaped off the pillars and attacked. Needless to say, Stone crushed the robot.
The robot groaned in pain. Stone smirked in triumph-before feeling that fist push against his jaw.
"BOO-YA!"
Stone slid across the ground and into a pillar, which crashed on top of him. Beast Boy and Robin watched in fear. Within three seconds, Stone stood up.
"Why don't you say boo-ya to this!" he yelled as he ran to his attacker, who had readied his cannon. Before the blow struck, there was a blow as his massive fist destroyed the cannon. The robot fell back, defeated.
Stone huffed and began crushing him to pieces with both powerful fists. Each time he hit it, he grew stronger-and his ring grew weaker.
Before he even finished, the ring crushed to bits and there was no Stone-Cyborg growled at his defeated copy before he realized what happened.
Beast Boy's mouth opened in shock. No words were necessary. There never was meant for words at the scene.
The figure sizzled in electricity, inn pieces and no longer moving. Cyborg stood up a winner-and revealed.
"I knew it!" the midget yelled pointing his finger at him angrily. "He's one of them!"
"You are going to PAY FOR IT!"
Kori's eyes sharpened and she blasted a massive star-ball at him. He leapt from the targeted area and sped off.
"Starfire, you're still brainwashed!"
"There-is-no-Starfire!" she screeched, her bolts aiming toward him.
"There's no need to attack him, my student," Blood informed her. "He's still one of us."
With a blink, Cyborg's eye glowed red. "And I am happy to be so," he smirked. Robin's heart began beating up his inner chest.
"I had a feeling you would say that. Would you like to be a part of this, miss?" he asked her.
"Definitely," she hissed.
"Good," he complimented. "This will give you power beyond imagining." He stepped forward and handed the class project to Cyborg. "Destroy them for me…and you will have your reward."
Beast Boy squeaked and transformed into a mouse.
"Assist him, miss," Blood whispered to her, "and you will blend in like normal people-when you will destroy them for me!"
"Yes, headmaster," they said together.
"Not before you can push past me first!"
With a massive swung a pillar knocked the headmaster and the other five off their feet and on the floor. All looked up to see what scared them.
Amid a cloud of smoke and dust was Birdseye in a tight spandex that exposed her forearms and sides, in a fighting stance, ready to strike any moment.
Brother Blood chuckled.
"Ah, you have come along too…a long way from the inspection cell…for something that is not your business!"
"Yes it is!"
With a growl the blue-head leapt off the ground and set little birds toward the headmaster, who dodged them quickly. Swinging her arms, a set of bird claws grasped Jinx and the boys.
"Can you beat that?" she spat.
"Thank you for asking that, I can," he replied.
Before her second attack, he blinded her with a flash of red and sent her into the arms of cloaked instructors, who carried her to the headmaster.
"You see, I know there never was a Birdseye because I never heard of such a name. However, my students have told me about a few powers strikingly familiar, so…"
He pressed two fingers to the back of her head and Rob feared he was going to brainwash her. There was no point in having another person who as going to kill you end your life with two friends in stow. But in a small glow there was no longer spandex but a girl with purple hair, a matching cape and boots, a black leotard, pale skin, and a gold belt.
"Raven! What's going on?"
"Aw, don't be panicked, green. You see, I had some instructors study her abilities for some time now and I noticed something unusual about her outfit when she slept…"
He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a circular yellow devise.
"Her communicator!" Robin yelled. "That's why we could never reach her!"
"Yes, indeed. So, Cyborg and Kori, give me your final exams for the semester and get rid of those little muddling boys and this little secondary spy. Then you will start the lives you wanted or have yet to finish."
Hands glowing and cannon filling up ate three hearts.
"Cyborg, no! We're your friends," Beast Boy pleaded.
Cyborg readied his cannon at three people who were staring at him in fear. "You are nothing to me. I have new, better friends…"
Jinx and the boys smiled wickedly.
"Starfire, don't! I need you," Robin pleaded.
"Not after this, you won't!"
Raven tried to enter their minds but felt her heart trying to run up her throat. Shaking, she accepted her fate and closed her eyes. Even if her own friends brought her to her fate, at least her father would not destroy the world. Goodbye, I love you…
"Psych!"
With a dramatic heartbeat, Cyborg fully swung around and aimed power at the headmaster, who formed a red force field back at him. Blue and red collided and reached toward the ceiling-in a low rumble like an earthquake.
Jinx and the boys flinched and gaped at the powerful shaking and ran away from an oncoming boulder aiming toward them.
The peers released Raven and fled the scene. Raven looked at the panicked Kori who was already beside the headmaster. With a final cry of anger, Rae leapt off her feet, ran to the disc, and body-slammed on top of her.
"Raven, what are you-"
Raven grasped Kori's limp hand and with a tingle felt a small control of Starfire's powers. As Kori lay unconscious, Raven sent the green and black disc toward the force field, freeing the boys from the bubble. In a quicker move, she attached the communicator to her hip.
"Is she all right?" Cyborg yelled.
"She's still brainwashed," Raven said. "I'll fix here when we go home."
With a wave of her cloak, she, Starfire, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Robin vanished under a black bird under a shower of blowing rocks.
The team stood in the main room, attention turned toward their brief traitor.
"Sorry I had to pretend I did not know you boys," he apologized. "It's just that once I found out how powerful this thing is, I had to pretend like I trusted the headmaster."
"Raven, is Starfire all right?" Robin yelled across the room, where Raven had attached Starfire to the wall and tried to bring her back to normal.
Raven laid two fingers on Starfire's forehead and repeated her mantra while bringing back her memory and powers. Starfire shook as if she had a seizure and then she hung her head limp.
In a moment Raven pulled her hand away from Starfire and watched the outcome. Starfire opened her eyes and looked around. "Friends, what in the name of Glorfox (my own word) happened?"
"It's okay, Starfire," Cyborg said. "We freed you just in time."
Raven looked down and back up. "But if all those other kids were brainwashed, how come you weren't?"
"Half my brain is electronic," he explained. "The electronic side of me knows every personal bit of info about me. Maybe Blood did not know that, but we should be thankful that he didn't."
"Which means," Robin said, "next time we face him, we have our own secret weapon."
Cyborg nodded, not ready to talk about it, and looked at Raven. "What exactly made you decide to crash the dance?"
Rae shrugged, embarrassment tickling her ribs. "Robin called you several times, but you never answered. So I knew I had to sneak in and find you. Unfortunately"-her voice hardened-"you decided to push me against the wall before I could talk to you."
Starfire and Cyborg laughed nervously. "I was just shocked that you came in without warning me-and that you, the quiet one, of all people, had to dance like that."
Raven turned scarlet as the others laughed. "How did you dance, Rae?" Beast Boy asked.
"Good enough to break your heart," she replied.
"What?"
"Never mind."
In his room, he looked at himself in the mirror before looking at his hands. The gray, muscular version of him flickered in his mind. "Goodbye, Stone," he muttered.
And with that he removed the ring and transformed back into his robotic self. Once again, his old memories slipped away, about to go back to being forgotten forever-maybe they would remain with him or not, but he knew they would never come physically for him.
"For your heroic acts when I was unable to help," the little girl voice said softly, "I shall roast plants from my home planet."
He did not need to look at her face to feel her sympathy. "If that's your way of asking me if I'm all right, it's fine. I'm all right," he said turning around and staring into her wide green eyes. Star nodded and stared at him in a tell-me-what-it-was-like-for-you way.
"I never got to finish High School because of these," he added looking down at his blue robotic hands. "And while we were there, I actually felt…alive. I felt back in my old life. But then something happened to me, and...I wasn't able to finish it. I felt I could start over my old life with a new one but in a different version."
Starfire looked down at her feet. "Agreed. When I was there, I felt like I fit in somewhere where people admired me and that's how I fit in."
He gently lifted her face up. "All four of us admire you. You don't have to be popular to feel like you belong."
"I agree on your condition, too," she said and the two embraced in a true matter. No matter what circumstances, they would have the five of them together. And that was enough.
"Oh, Star…"
"Cy…."
Both of them blushed and pulled away at the smirking boys. "You two left the team," their leader smiled.
The girl in the cloak stepped in. " That means you have to be initiated all over again.
As she said this, she held up a rubber chicken, Robin waved a shocking pink wig and Beast Boy pulled out a tiny pink dress. Cyborg's jaw instantly goes slack as a big sweat drop slid down his temple, and in a moment these three are inside, cheerfully taunting and dragging him out past Starfire.
Cyborg gasped. "Oh, no. I'm not wearing ...You want me to do what?...I'm not putting that on my head! Uh-uh! Ain't gonna happen! I'm not doing it! No! I said, no tights!"