I decided to touch up this story and republish it. There aren't too many Cyborg stories out there. I hope you like it.
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A clap of thunder exploded overhead, its deafening roar drowning out the bland and vanilla words that the minister was speaking. His voice was already obscured by the sound of the downpour that pounded on the overhead tarp like a regiment of drummers.
Victor Stone was oblivious to the weather or even what the minister was even saying. It wasn't that he didn't like the man, in fact he knew the Reverend Jefferson since he was … well … as far back as he could remember. The man was best known for his fire and brimstone sermons at the Metropolis African Methodist Episcopal Church downtown, the church Victor attended since he was a small child at his mother's insistence. Today the Reverend Jefferson was a more subdued than usual.
His father Silas, who he later learned was an agnostic participated in the social life of the congregation and even joined his wife and son in Sunday worship. It was probably because of the pancake breakfasts, Cyborg reasoned. Mrs. Johnson taught him how to cook, and that included her trademarked pancakes that she made every Sunday for the faithful.
Faith. Victor thought he understood the meaning of the word. He had faith in his friends, enough to trust them with his life. But faith with a capital F, that was another matter.
Victor felt a hand on his forearm, out of the corner of his eye he saw that it was Raven. People often thought of her as cold and emotionless but he knew better. If there was a Titan who cared about her teammates it was the gray sorceress. He also knew that she was an empath and could sense how he was feeling, which at the moment was lousy.
He took her tiny hand in his own bionic mitt and gave it a gentle squeeze. He felt her shiver in the chilly afternoon, even though she was dressed in her winter costume, with its form fitting leggings and faux fur trimmed cape, which was black for the occasion. She had a sad expression on her face, which made her look softer than usual. She squeezed back and gave him one of her tiny smiles.
"You know you can talk with me anytime you want." She whispered to him. "You've been there for me more times than I can count, I just wish there was more that I could do."
"You've done more than I could ask. Thanks, you've always been a good friend."
Victor knew he was fortunate to have such wonderful friends. After the grass stain Raven was his closest friend. Small wonder she married the green bean, he thought to himself, they were made for each other, complementing each other like the two halves of a ying-yang circle, opposites yet they fit together like a glove in a hand. He happily recalled their wedding day just over a year ago. She asked him to give her away. He remembered how touched and honored he felt. He also felt proud to march down the aisle with her, handing her over to his best friend. They had a solid marriage and he somehow felt that he played a small part in that.
Raven often worked with Cyborg on the T-Car and there were times when they had very intimate conversations, where he shared personal secrets with her. Raven had a way of making him feel comfortable and safe, and he believed that no one understood him the way she did.
Cyborg recalled when Raven asked him if he had parents. It happened shortly after the Trigon incident while they were rebuilding one of the T-Car's engines. The question caught him off guard at the time.
I only have a father, my mom … well … she died in an accident a few years before we met and started the team.
Raven had a way of never pressing too hard and she didn't probe any deeper into Cyborg's past that day, much to his relief. Nevertheless the gray girl had a way of making him feel at ease around her, well at least when she wasn't being scary (which she was very good at doing) and this was in large part because she shared her secrets with him as well. He was the first one she told about how she put a little bit of her soul self into objects that she moved and momentarily became one with them. He could also remember as if it was yesterday when she confided in him that she was in love with Beast Boy. He did his best to not laugh that time and failed miserably. He recalled the look on her face and he quickly apologized back then. He knew that she had forgiven him when 3 years later she asked him to give her away at her wedding.
But what he also did was open up and tell her more about his father. No one else on the team knew that Cyborg had a father as he didn't advertise it. He knew that three of his teammates were orphans and that only Raven also had a father, and much like he did she preferred to not think about him.
Cyborg's attention came back to the present, where the Rev Jefferson continued to prattle on about Silas Stone, how he had been a father and a husband.
"Thanks Raven." He whispered back to her as he released her hand.
Raven was the first Titan to learn about how his mother had died. About how his father's transdimensional portal had gone awry, allowing a hideous monster to cross the breach between the two universes. The monster that maimed him and killed his mother. Raven learned about how Cyborg never forgave his father for that unfortunate accident.
Beast Boy or Changeling as he preferred to be called in adulthood switched places with his wife and stood next to his metallic best bud. The changeling was the next Titan who learned about Cyborg's tragic past. Beast Boy shared his story about how he lost his parents and tried to find common ground with the Tin Man's loss. But Cyborg knew that it wasn't the same. Beast Boy blamed himself for his loss, while Cyborg laid the blame squarely at his father's feet. Gar reminded him repeatedly that what happened was an accident and that he should forgive his father. He always told the grass stain that he would never forgive him. Eventually Garfield Logan gave up and hoped that over time his friend would eventually reconcile with his old man.
How can I ever do that? Cyborg recalled asking his friend once. Mom died because of his negligence. We lost her because all he cared about was his stupid experiment. How do you overcome that?
Just remember the good times you shared together.
Cyborg was unable to follow his green friend's advice at the time, but now that he stared at the coffin while the preacher continued to speak he had a flashback.
It was a crisp autumn afternoon. He was in the 6th grade and Victor played in the local Pop Warner league. He was the team's running back and was so good that the other teams were demanding that he play at a higher age level. This didn't matter to him, as his father had yet to attend a single one of his games. He understood that his father was a very busy and important scientist at STAR Labs in Metropolis, but it still hurt.
That changed on the final game of the season. As young Victor was running for yet another touchdown he heard the voice.
Go, Victor, go!
Cyborg had to suppress a chuckle at the memory. When he heard his father calling his name from the stands he stopped dead in his tracks and was tackled by 5 other players. It didn't matter as the score was already lopsided in his team's favor. After the game his father took him out to an ice cream parlor and presented him with a gift: a football autographed by Joe Donovan, the starting quarterback for the Metropolis Marauders. He still had that football proudly displayed in his room.
"You OK, tin man?"
Changeling was still the little shrimp he always had been, five foot nothing and still shorter than Raven but was now bulkier. He was dressed in a dark suit and his hairline, as foretold by Starfire, was beginning to recede.
"I'll be OK, grass stain."
Victor was lying. Silas Stone died suddenly of a heart attack while working in the yard. Cyborg last spoke with his father shortly after the time they captured the Brotherhood of Evil in Paris, and that was years ago. Now … it was too late. It was too late to tell him how he felt, that he had forgiven him … that he loved his father.
Cyborg closed his eyes and suppressed a sob. When he reopened his eyes it was Starfire who was standing next to him. She was wearing a very conservative black dress with a black veil over her head.
Starfire, in so many ways she was the Titan that was most like him. She was betrayed by her own family and sold into slavery to the Citadel. That alone was reason enough to be bitter about life. And like Cyborg she wore a mask, a mask that lied and said that she was happy when it wasn't always true. Of course they were both jovial and naturally happy people, but it was also true that they buried their secret pain deep within their souls, hiding it from everyone, even their closest friends, their surrogate family. The Tamaranian found bitterness a second time when Dick, now Nightwing, told her that he didn't want to marry her. To her credit she remained on the team, even after Dick married Barbara Gordon. If there was living proof that life was unfair, it was the princess from the stars.
"You were fortunate my friend." She whispered to him as she held his hand in her own. "You had a family that loved and cared for you … now that your father is gone … I wish for you to join my family ... and be my brother."
Cyborg wrapped an arm around the now much more muscular Starfire and drew her close to him.
"I miss him Star, all these years I kept him at an arm's length and now … how could I have been so stupid?" He sobbed quietly.
The Princess embraced him.
"Your pain is now mine, dear brother. I will take your lesson to heart … I will try to reconcile with my sister."
Starfire removed the handkerchief from the chest pocket in the suit Cyborg was wearing and wiped away his tears.
"Do not be ashamed, my brother, your tears are a token of the love you have for your father. As long as that love lives in your heart, he will still be with you."
Choking away his tears he replied.
"Thanks Star, and thanks for being the sister I never had."
The Tamaranian nodded and stepped aside, revealing Nightwing's dark figure. Like Raven, Dick came to the funeral dressed in his costume.
"Victor?"
Cyborg looked at his fearless leader. Dick Grayson shared Changeling's tragic past, as they both watched their parents die. In Garfield's case it was an accident and in Dick's case it was anything but an accident. As the others did both men buried their pain deep within and wore masks. While Changeling hid his pain beneath the façade of a happy go lucky goofball, Dick buried it under a mountain of obsession. There was no doubt in Victor's mind why Dick married Barbara instead of Starfire. Once in the Batclan, always in the Batclan and that meant being obsessed. While all Starfire wanted was to love and be loved Dick wanted someone who was just as obsessed with crime and criminals as he was. It didn't matter that Babs was wheelchair bound, after being shot by the Joker and left paralyzed from the waist down, she was the perfect match for him.
He acknowledged Nightwing with a nod.
"Is there anything I can do for you, Cy?"
That was Dick Grayson in a nutshell. He wanted to fix things, make them right. Well … there was no way to fix this. Victor's father was dead and he never had a chance to reconcile with him and now it was too late. Dick didn't get it; he never did which is why he dumped Starfire. What she wanted from him, he couldn't give to her. And what Cyborg needed was a friend who would listen to him, but that would not be Richard Grayson. There were rumors that Bruce was going to retire and was going to ask Dick to wear the cowl. It somehow seemed very fitting.
"I'm cool man, thanks for asking."
Cyborg refocused his attention on the Reverend Jefferson, who was concluding his sermon, reminding those who believed in the faith that Silas would someday share in the Lord's Resurrection. After that he invited Cyborg to step forward and say a few words.
Victor stepped up to the podium and adjusted the microphone for his imposing stature. He looked out upon the small crowd assembled. Many people from the congregation had turned out for the funeral, outnumbering Silas' colleagues from STAR labs. Many were faces he hadn't seen in years and few had seen him since the accident. His friends, his real family were seated in the front row. Raven and Garfield were holding hands, looking sorrowful even though they never met his father. Starfire looked stoic; her elegant dress was unable to conceal her now both muscular and curvy figure. Nightwing was seated alone, Barbara did not come out from Gotham as her marriage to Nightwing and her own identify as Oracle was a secret as she was officially married to Dick Grayson. He looked restless, as if he wished to be someplace else. Rumor had it that Slade was setting up shop in Gotham.
Cyborg pulled out a sheet with a speech he prepared earlier, one where he would talk about his father's accomplishments, his standing in both the scientific community as well as Metropolis in general. He looked upon the dry words on the sheet and wondered to himself: is that all we really are? Are we defined by our accomplishments and nothing more?
These were strange thoughts for a superhero to think. After all, people around the world knew who Cyborg was. Formerly a Teen Titan and now simply a Titan. How many times had they saved the world? How many small boys played with their Cyborg action figures (all proceeds donated to charity of course)? Millions of people knew who Cyborg was, but how many really knew who Victor Stone was, what made him tick? The four superheroes sitting in the front row did. They knew about his personal loneliness, his dream of once again being 100% flesh and blood, but most of all they loved him unconditionally.
Victor stared at the sheet for a moment and then crumpled it and dropped it on the ground. He grabbed the podium with his hands. He looked out at the crowd. They looked back at him, anxiously waiting for him to speak.
"I want to tell you about the most important man in my life, my dad …"
THE END
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Ok, that was unusually angsty for me. Also unusual in that it was a one shot.
And I apologize to RobStar fans for breaking them up.