Title: The Nighthawk Chronicles 2: Joyride (1/1)

Author: Cyclone

Feedback: Please be gentle.

Distribution: Gimme credit and a link.

Rating: Maybe a little harsh language, certainly some violence, but nothing worse than on BtVS.

Spoilers: Up to Chosen for BtVS and Car Trouble for Teen Titans.

Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to other people. I'm just borrowing them for a while.

Summary: When Cyborg's beloved new T-Car inevitably gets stolen, Nighthawk's plans to track it down go awry.

Author's Note: This is essentially the altered equivalent of Car Trouble. A lot of the lines will be recycled from the actual episode until it diverges enough.


Xander stifled a yawn as he trailed behind the other Titans as they all followed Cyborg downstairs. Whatever Cyborg had concocted had to be pretty major, since he usually didn't show off the various upgrades and prototypes he created.

Not that Cyborg was as much of a tinkerer as some other characters that probably existed in this world.

"Drum roll, please!"

Beast Boy shifted forms into... Xander wasn't quite sure what, exactly, but he was able to provide the requested drum roll.

"Ladies and gentlemen... and whatever Beast Boy is...

"Hey, Cyborg," Beast Boy retorted after reverting to human form. "You want a drum roll or not?"

"Sorry. It is my great pleasure to present, for the first time anywhere, the thing you've all been waiting for, my coolest, hottest, baddest creation..."

"Just get on with it," Raven said. Xander nodded in agreement. He wanted to get some more shuteye.

"I give you the future of Titans transportation, the one, the only..." Cyborg yanked the tarp away, "...T-CAR!"

That got Xander's attention. He remembered this episode... and if he remembered right, he wasn't going to be getting any more sleep any time soon.

Great.

Let's see... Xander thought as he ignored the other Titans -- sans Raven -- gushing over the new vehicle. This means Overload's going to attack, and Cyborg's car's gonna get stolen by those two joyriders... but with Gizmo in jail... hmm...

Well, he'd figure that out later. After he'd woken up a bit more.

"Can we go now?" Raven asked.

"You bet, Raven," Cyborg grinned. "I'll take you any place you want to go."

"The beach!" Beast Boy cried.

"The movies!" got Robin's vote.

"The swamp moons of Drenthax Four!" Starfire called.

"My home dimension!" Xander chimed in at the same time.

Starfire blushed, and Xander shot her a knowing look.

"He said 'any place,'" Starfire said, Xander chorusing with her.
"Trouble!" Robin called.

"I'll drive!" Cyborg announced from the T-Car's driver seat.

Xander blinked. How did he get in the T-Car that quickly...?

"Thank you, Nighthawk."

He blinked at Starfire, "Huh? For what?"

"You... you helped me keep from looking very stupid."

"Not stupid, Star," Xander shook his head. "Just... naive. You've got a lot to learn about Earth, and we all know that."

"Perhaps, but I would have been no less embarrassed. Thank you."

"Any time," he smiled. "Now, c'mon, let's get moving."


Xander struggled to ignore the chaos around him... as he suspected Robin was as well. He wasn't sure, but it almost sounded like Raven was trying to annoy Cyborg.

Well, whatever. That wasn't important. With a surreptitious shift, he dropped a tracking beacon. Unless Cyborg had built jammers into the thing, he should be able to track it down, no muss, no fuss.

"All right, y'all, hang on," Cyborg announced. "Time to kick my baby into high gear and see what she can..."

"There!" Robin interrupted. "Stop the car!"

"Oh, man..." Cyborg muttered in disappointment as he pulled over.


"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Raven telekinetically hurled several of the store's merchandise at Overload, but it only seemed to feed the electrical entity.

"Nighthawk!" Robin called. Overload was proving more difficult than he'd anticipated. He looked around, "Nighthawk?"

"Right here!" the newest Titan replied, stepping out from around a corner, toting a fire hose.

"What the...?"

"Trust me," Nighthawk replied, turning the hose on and focusing the spray on Overload.

Before their eyes, Overload began to shrink.

"Good idea," Robin said. "Titans! Soak him!"


As Xander had expected, the T-Car was stolen when they emerged, much to Cyborg's distress.

"We'll help you find your car, I promise," Robin said. "But right now, we've gotta take Overload to jail. Nighthawk..." he turned, "Nighthawk?"


Crash Alley, huh? Xander thought as he swung down. That sounds about right.

He ghosted to the T-Car and two car thieves and solidly placed a hand on each one's shoulder. "Hi. Nice job with the paint -- the flames really are a nice touch -- but your little joyride ends here."

They jumped.

"It's... it's..." one of them stammered. "Oh, it's not Batman."

Xander blinked. And blinked. And groaned. "Oh, God. This is going to be a recurring theme, isn't it?" he muttered as he shook his head in annoyance.

"There he is!"

"Nighthawk!"

Xander blinked again, "Huh?" He turned. Who the heck would recognize him?

About a dozen thugs. Okay, he'd faced worse odds... sort of. Of course, he had a slayer backing him up then. On the other hand, those were vampires too, and these guys looked human.

He shifted into a combat stance, "Come get some."


Cyborg stalked into Crash Alley. He'd picked up a lead from some kid who'd seen the thieves. He was still fuming about what else he'd heard. What nerve! He couldn't believe they'd had the gall to paint his car.

WHAM!

He looked down and blinked, "Nighthawk?"

"Um, hi," Nighthawk waved. "Tracked the T-Car here, but my, ah, friends here kinda sidetracked me."

He got up and dusted himself off.

"You look like hell."

"That's about how I feel. I could use a hand here," he gestured at the six or so remaining goons.

"Gladly," Cyborg growled as he powered up his sonic cannon. Nighthawk drew several throwing blades.

The following scene has been removed due to its extreme graphic content.

WHAM!

CRACK!

CRUNCH!

SHINK!

"Well, now, that wasn't so tough," Cyborg said, dusting his hands off. He looked around, "Now where's my baby?"

"In a minute," Nighthawk said, picking up one of the thugs. "Okay, pal, what's the big idea?"

The man swallowed hard, "Some old guy hired us ta take you out."

"'Old guy'?" Nighthawk asked.

"Yeah, he had kind of a funny accent."

"Did he, now?"

"That's all I know, I swear!"

Nighthawk cuffed the thug to a nearby drainpipe and started walking. "The T-Car's just around the... oh, hell. They must've scrammed while I was busy with those goons."

"Where... is my baby?" Cyborg ground out.

"Don't worry. I put a tracking beacon on it."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's move!"


Xander led the way... and stopped. It was a diner parking lot, and he saw the T-Car and...

"Raven?" Xander blinked again. He noted Cyborg making a beeline for the T-Car, probably to look it over.

Raven turned from the two people she was currently levitating, "Oh, hi."

Xander gave a start as he recognized them as the two car thieves, "So... what are you doing here?"

"Looking for the T-Car. Found it."

"SWEET!" Cyborg suddenly engulfed her in a bear hug and swung her around. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"You're welcome." Raven looked at Xander, "And where were you?"

"Looking for the T-Car," Xander shrugged. "Same as you. I'd dropped a tracking beacon in it, and... well... looks like you beat me to it."

"I see."


Author's Postscript:

Nothing special here. Just filler, really, just like the episode it was based on.

Next time, things kick into high gear as the Titans' newest member finally meets... Slade.