THE GOOD GIRL

"Let's see what we got here," A man chuckled as he opened the sack full of money.

A few blocks away from the building he was hiding out in, he could hear sirens wailing as police rushed to the bank the man just robbed. He laughed as he peeked out one of the windows, watching the police search for him with no such luck.

"I wouldn't get too cozy with that," a voice said from the shadows.

"W-who's there?" The man demanded as he stood up, picking up a nearby baseball bat.

"I wouldn't use that if I were you," the voice said again.

"I'm warning you!" The man shouted as he readied his weapon. Just then, from out of the darkened corner at the other end of the room, Cyborg emerged.

With a well-aimed shot from his sonic cannon Cyborg disarmed the man as he hen advanced on him. The robber fell back while holding his wrist and began scooting away.

"Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way," Cyborg smirked. The man picked up a nearby pipe and got to his feet. "Hard way it is," he said as his right arm began to light up.

"And do you remember how he looked?" A police officer asked a woman outside of the bank.

BAM! An explosion erupted from the building blocks away from the bank. Cyborg emerged unscathed with the crook apprehended and the bag of stolen money. A smile formed across his face as people began cheering for him. He cracked his neck and went on his way down the street.

He had a tune in his whistle, but it stopped when he heard it. It was faint, almost like a whisper, but it was still loud enough for him to hear. "Freak". The word hit him like a blast from his own cannon.

He could feel the sting, and when he stopped to fully register it he had noticed that the cheering had stopped, but the stares did not. After a few more minutes of walking, Cyborg found himself sitting on a park bench. He looked up into the sky with a long sigh. He watched as one bird and then another flew by almost in sync with a few clouds that drifted through the air at their own leisure. He could feel the glare of a nearby mother burning through his mechanics.

"It'll last longer if you just took a picture," he said without taking his eye off the clouds. The woman stood up in a huff and walked away with her son in-step behind her.

He then closed his eye, but it didn't stay closed for long. He could feel the stare of another bystander.

"You want an autograph or something?" He snapped as he turned to a girl who stood a few feet away, staring.

She smiled. "Mind if I sit?" She asked while motioning to the empty space on the bench.

"Knock yourself out," he sighed as he gave the girl a once over.

"Nice day, huh?" She asked while taking her seat.

He shrugged.

"You look like you got something on your mind," she noted.

Another shrug.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Why do you wanna know?"

"Just asking,"

She kind of reminded him of Bumblebee, but instead of two little puffs on her head she had a full head of dark brown curls that reached her shoulders. She wore a rolled up long sleeve and some jeans with a bandana in her hair.

He sighed. "I'm sorry. It's just… how would you feel if all you did was try to make peoples' life safer and happier, but all they do is turn around and call you-" he paused. "Forget it."

"Call you what?" She pressed.

"Freak." The word lingered in the air between them.

She was silent for a moment. "Do these 'people' ask you to make their life safer and happier?"

"No, but that's not the point."

"It might be," she said. "I mean just because you help someone push their broken down car off the road, especially if they didn't ask, doesn't mean they owe you anything."

"But I'm a hero, it's my job." He said. "I'm not complaining about the safer and happier part, it's the stares and the names that through me off. It's not like I'm so different from them after all." He looked down at his hands. "But then again, maybe I am."

"So don't let it get to you,"

"Easy for you to say," he scoffed, "you don't look like your body is half robot."

"Looks can be deceiving." She smiled. "Being different doesn't mean everyone's gonna love you and life's gonna be easy. It just means that you were given this opportunity because you have something that not everyone else has,"

"And what's that?"

"The strength to keep on going when the going gets tough," she said. "And speaking of going I think I should be on my way, too." She said as she stood up and began walking away.

"Wait," he called after her, "I didn't get your name."

"That's because I didn't give it," she said as she waved right before disappearing around a row of rose bushes.

[scene break]

"Dude!" Beast Boy shouted as Cyborg walked through the door. "Where have you been? Robin sent you on that grab-and-go mission almost an hour ago!"

"What does it matter? I took care of it, alright!" He shouted. Beast Boy was shocked as he didn't mean to send Cyborg over the edge.

"Dude, you all right?"

"You wouldn't understand." He shrugged it off.

Raven had been sitting at the table and witnessed the whole thing. She kind of scoffed at Cyborg's last remark and he noticed.

"What's up with you?" He snapped at Raven.

She peered over at him from her book, almost as if he was crazy.

"Oh no, don't you give me that look." He stomped towards her and slammed his hands on the table at the opposite end. "If you have something to say then I think you should say it."

An uninterested Raven looked at him for a little while longer then went back to her book.

"I'm talking to you," he reached over and put the book down.

"And I heard you."

"So then why didn't you answer me?"

"And say what?"

"What's on your mind,"

She glared at him. "You really wanna know?"

"I think that's why I asked you to tell me."

"Fine. I think it's funny how you told Beast Boy how he wouldn't understand what's wrong with you even though he's in the same boat as you."

This took him by surprise a little. "What are you talking about?"

"We're all different, Cyborg. We all go through it, so we understand what you're going through."

He turned away. "We may all be different, but none of you are like me."

"How?"

"You guys are fully human, that's how. You don't need to recharge or look like a walking mailbox. You guys don't look as different as I am, and everyone sees that. I'm the robot man or the tin man, while you guys can almost pass for regular humans."

"Almost," she repeated.

"I just wish there was someone really like me who I could connect with," he said as he lowered his head and walked away.

"Sounds like he had a rough day," Beast Boy said as he walked over to Raven.

She looked at him with agitation and then punched him in the arm.

"Ow!"

"You see what happens when you yell at people?"

[scene break]

As Cyborg walked into his room he picked up a picture frame that sat on a nearby shelf. It was a picture of him when he was much younger. He was sitting on a suede carpet as he smiled for the camera. No nuts or bolts could be seen anywhere on him. He then looked up and saw his reflection in a mirror.

"Battery level: critical. Recharge required." A computer's voice on his arm notified him.

With a sigh he walked over to his surgical table-like bed and flopped down. He pressed a button that then released the charging cable. He plugged the cable into his chest as he then lay down and closed his eye. It seemed like seconds had gone by, but when he looked at the clock it had been almost three hours. The alarm alerting the team to trouble had gone off and woke him up. He wasn't fully charged, but he would make do with what he had.

"What's going on?" He asked as he ran into the living room where the others waited.

"Don't know, but we're gonna find out. An alarm down at the museum has been activated." Robin informed them. "Titans, go!"

[scene break]

The night was quiet and it appeared as if the silent alarm had been tripped because upon arrival the team could not spot anything out of the ordinary.

"I do not understand," Starfire said aloud, "how can such a joyous place seem so not?" She asked as she then bumped into the skeletal mouth of a T-Rex.

"There!" Robin shouted as the silhouette of a person ran down the other end of the museum.

The figure had shot a repel rope to the ceiling, but before it could get away Robin used one of his Birdarangs to cut the rope. The figure fell to the ground and saw that the team had it surrounded.

"Alright," Robin started, "we don't want any trouble." He said as he held onto his staff. The others seemed prepared to engage in battle just in case.

In a swift motion the figure threw flash bombs at Starfire and Raven, blinding them. It then grabbed Beast Boy, who was moving to help the girls, by the collar and flung him into Robin. It turned as it began to make a dash for another exit.

"I don't think so," Cyborg smirked as he took aim at the figure with his sonic cannon.

"I don't think so," the figure muffled back and pointed a type of mechanical weapon similar to Cyborg's sonic cannon.

"Nice toy, but this is the real deal," he said as he fired at the figure.

With a smirk of its own the figure fired its weapon and was able to cause a collision between the two beams. With a flash as bright as could be Cyborg looked away to protect his human eye, but once he looked back he saw that the figure was nowhere to be seen.

"Where did-" he started, but was stopped as the figure jumped down directly in front of Cyborg from above and knocked him off his feet.

With that, the Titans had been subdued and the figure was able to get away with the stolen goods.

"Who was that guy?" Beast Boy asked as Robin helped him to his feet.

"I could not tell," Starfire said as she rubbed her eyes and blinked profusely. "I fear that if we were to battle him again I still could not tell."

"What makes you so sure it was a guy anyway?" Raven asked.

"Hello! Did you see those moves? Clearly male." Beast Boy said as a matter of fact.

"Clearly," she said dryly.

"And did you see the weapon he used?" Cyborg asked as he walked over to the others. "I can't be sure, but from what I just saw it looked a lot like something I would use."

"And?" Beast Boy asked.

"And they don't just sell technology like that at the corner store."

"Whoever it was we have to figure out what they stole. Maybe we can get something from that."

"So if those were 'male moves'," Raven started, "what would you call your moves?" She asked as Beast Boy then glared at her without an answer.

[scene break]

As the Titans got back to the tower, they each made their way to their room. As the door to Cyborg's room opened he walked in and stared at everything. He didn't see a comfortable bed or a TV or maybe even a small weight set. Instead he saw computers and machines and a bunch of other technological stuff that he really wished he could just replace and forget about and never have to see again. He walked over to the picture of him as a 'normal' person and let out a deep sigh.

"Friend," the soft voice of Starfire seemed to shake up Cyborg almost causing him to drop the picture.

"Whoa," he said turning to her, "you kind of scared me there."

"Forgive me, I did not mean to interrupt,"

"No, you're good." He said as he placed the picture down. "What's up?"

"Raven told me of your 'outburst'."

"Oh, she did huh?"

"Yes," she touched his arm. "Why do you feel like the 'freak'?"

"Take a look at me and see for yourself,"

"I am, and I cannot find anything wrong with you,"

"That's easy for you to say." He said as he turned and walked over to his charging machine.

"It is not." She said as she turned away. "I, too, am different. We all are, even those who call you hurtful names. I have been called hurtful names, and though I often do not dwell on the ideas of others, I, too, have wished to be 'normal'." She walked over and looked at his picture and smiled. Cyborg didn't turn to her, but he was listening to every word. "We will never be normal, however," she said with a sigh. Cyborg could feel the defeat in her voice and hear it even more clearly than he thought she actually meant. "But perhaps we can all be the 'freak' together." She smiled and walked out of his room.

[scene break]

The day was calm and since Cyborg had been on patrol there was really no sign of crime. He just rolled around in the T-Car missing the good days when there would be a big enough problem that the team would take care of as a team. The past few months have been pretty boring to say the least. Then as he stopped at a red light he noticed the girl from the bench sitting at the bus stop reading the newspaper.

"Yo!" He called to her with a honk of his horn.

She looked up and looked hesitantly at the guy in the famed car waving at her furiously. "How's it going?" She waved back with a smile.

"Boring," he said, "can I give you a lift?"

"Don't you have some people to be saving?" She smiled. "Making someone's life safer and better?"

"I figured crime could take a break just this once,"

With a smile she walked over to the passenger's side and got in. "You know I don't normally take rides from strangers,"

"Well I'm not a stranger, am I?" He asked as the light turned green and he drove on.

"I guess not," she laughed. "Did you hear about the museum robbery last night?"

"Yeah, almost had the guy too,"

"Paper says the robber didn't take anything,"

"Really?"

"Yeah. It says the curator reported nothing missing." She said as she flipped the paper around. "Maybe you guys scared her off."

"'Her'?"

"Well you called him a guy,"

"Well I was there. I could've seen him,"

"But you didn't," she said.

"What makes you so sure?"

"Oh come on, if the Teen Titans were close enough to distinguish a gender then the guy would've been caught, right?"

"You don't always need to be so close to make that call,"

The girl sighed, "Alright then, was it a guy or a girl?"

"Well I thought it was a dude, but now I'm not sure," he said as he looked over to the girl who was staring down at the paper. "Was I going a specific way?" He asked out loud, but she didn't answer. "Um, girl?" He asked out loud.

"Oh, what?" She said as she looked up from the paper.

"Was I taking you somewhere?"

"Oh," she said as she looked around, "you know what I think you can drop me off here." She said.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I can rough it the rest of the way," she smiled.

"If you say so," he said as he then pulled over to the side of the road.

"Well thanks for the ride, Vic-" she started, but stopped abruptly as she got out of the car.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," she said from the window. "Bye."

He watched as she crossed the street to the other side of the road. "Hey!" He called to her. "You still didn't give me your name!"

She smiled at him, "It's Charles," she said as she then continued on her way.

He sat there and thought for a minute, "That's a pretty weird name for a girl," he noted out loud, but then he started the car back up and called Robin. "Yo, Rob, I just found out that our thief from last night didn't take anything from the museum."

"I know, we just got word of it from the curator. He said everything seemed to be in place and that we probably stopped the thief before he could do anything."

"That's good, right?"

"Hopefully,"

"Are you sure we should be focusing our attention on a 'he'?" Raven asked Robin as hung up with Cyborg.

"What do you mean?"

"I didn't get another male's essence in the room besides the three of you,"

"So it was a woman then?"

"I'm not sure to be honest. I picked up on something more ... mechanical. I thought it was Cyborg, but I could be wrong."

"So then a robot or some type of machine?"

"I really don't know Robin," she said.

[scene break]

BAM! The sound of an explosion rang through the night at the center of Jump City park.

"I'm on my way, Rob," Cyborg said.

"Good, the others and I are close by so we'll begin without you. Get here as soon as possi-" But before he could finish his communicator went off.

"Robin? Robin, you there?" Cyborg asked as he put the T-Car into high gear.

He pulled up to the place of an explosion in the park. Fire was everywhere, but there was no one in sight, not even the other Titans.

"Robin?" Cyborg called out. "Beast Boy? Raven? Star?"

"Do not move!" Starfire's voice came from behind him.

He turned to find a seeming delirious Starfire squinting at him, her starbolts ready to fire.

"Starfire?" He called out to her. "Wha-"

"I said to not move!" She shouted.

"Starfire, it's me! It's Cyborg,"

"I will not believe your trickery!" She said as she fired a starbolt that just missed him.

"What are you talking about?" But before she could say anything more a red blast came from behind and headed straight towards her. "Look out!" He warned.

She was able to turn, but not quick enough to dodge the blast as it made direct contact and sent her flying off of her feet and to the ground with a thud. Cyborg rushed to her aid as she curled into the fettle position and clutched her stomach. She gasped for air almost as if she was being deprived of any oxygen at all.

"Starfire! Stay with me!" He said as he cradled her.

"How touching a familiar voice said from behind a wall of fire,"

"Who's there?" He demanded as he prepared his sonic cannon. "Come out!"

Just then a girl in a long rolled up sleeved shirt and jeans marched straight out of the fire. She didn't seem to be scathed or hindered by the blaze, in fact she emerged with a smile on her face.

"Charles?"

"Actually, it's LeTonya," she said aloud, "Charles is my last name. Don't tell me you don't remember."

"What are you talking about? Who are you?"

"Maybe this will refresh your memory," she said as she then stepped back into the fire.

Cyborg looked on in horror with an injured Starfire in his arms as he watched the girl stand in the flames. She seemed very calm as her clothes began to turn to ash and parts of her skin began melting. But just as soon as it seemed like all of her was going to melt away, a few pieces of what seemed like machinery began to replace the pieces that melted off and with now a half-robotic body she stepped out from the flames.

"LeTonya? I-I don't understand... What happened? What are you?"

"Pretty cool, huh?"

"What's going on? Why are you here attacking us? What happened to you?"

"Don't you get it?" She asked as she readied her own sonic cannon. "I'm here to get rid of you! I'm here to rid the world of the Teen Titans!" She now sounded more angry than maniacal.

"Why? What have we done to you?"

"Nothing, but as a villain I still feel the impulsive need to get rid of you," she said as she stepped closer to him and got ready to shoot. "I don't know why no one has been able to do it before, but I guess that's just because no one was me!" She exclaimed as she shot her red beam it him.

Raven suddenly appeared from the ground and a force field of dark energy engulfed the three titans as they then disappeared.

"Of course," Cyborgirl scoffed as she looked at the spot where Cyborg and Starfire once were.

[scene break]

"Okay," Beast Boy started, "who or what did this to us?" He said as he placed a bag of ice on his head.

"Not a male," Raven scalded him.

"We have to find out where she is and take her out."

"How are we to find someone we have not dealt with?" Starfire asked as Raven tended to her injuries.

"Her name's LeTonya Charles," Cyborg said as he entered the room. "I knew her a while back, but after my accident I hadn't spoken to her since."

"What's she doing here?" Robin asked. "What does she want with us?"

"To get rid of us, what else?"

Starfire walked up to Cyborg who now sat at the table in a somber mood. "I want to offer my apologies, friend," she began. "I didn't know of others having your," she searched for the word, "condition. I thought it was a trick and when you, the real you, approached me I did not know what to make of it."

"Don't worry about it."

"I also want to offer my thanks," she said as she smiled at him warmly. He smiled back.

"What can you tell us about her?" Robin asked.

"She messed herself up pretty bad back in the day," Cyborg said. "Her aunt, who helped save me, used the same methods to save her,"

"But?" Beast Boy asked.

"But she didn't like it, so instead of doing good things I guess she went on and became one of the bad ones."

"So how do we stop her?"

Then the alarm for trouble went off almost immediately. It was coming from down at the warehouses by the piers; it was Cyborgirl.

"We take her apart,"

[scene break]

Cyborgirl roamed around the warehouses blowing various objects up until she came to one of the more bigger houses.

"Talk about your fixer-upper." She mused as she then aimed her sonic cannon to shoot at one of the supporting beams, but a surprise Birdarang broke her aim and instead she shot into the air. "Ow!" She screamed as she turned around to see the Titans. "I guess you never do give up." She said. "Big mistake." She smirked as she then shot at them.

"Titans, split up!" Robin shouted as the beam barely missed him.

"Running away already?" She shouted into the air.

"Not quite," Raven sneered as she hurled a wooden box at the girl.

Cyborgirl was able to destroy it with ease, but as she set her sights on Raven a green ram smashed into her from the side and sent her flying. Starfire then swooped in with Robin as she fired multiple starbolts and he threw numerous exploding Birdarangs, causing further damage. They ceased their fire after nothing was happening and they cautiously advanced on her.

"Have we-" Starfire started, but was stopped as an extending metal arm took her by surprise and knocked her and Robin back.

A red blast then took out Raven and Beast Boy. "Not even close!" Cyborgirl declared as she got to her feet. "Not even a small challenge?" She joked as a blue blast then sent her flying forward.

"Maybe just a little one," Cyborg quipped from behind her.

"You guys are really starting to annoy me!" She shouted as she then turned and fired at Cyborg.

But he was ready and fired back. Their beams collided once more and caused a blinding flash to be created. Once Cyborgirl looked back, she didn't see Cyborg standing there. She looked around, but saw none of the other Titans.

"Is that it?" She growled.

"Yo!" Cyborg called from behind her once more and she turned ready to fire. "Raven!" He shouted as dark energy then encased Cyborgirl's sonic arm and completely tore it apart.

"No!" She screamed as she turned around allowing Starfire to give her a clear starbolt-infused punch to the chest sending her flying back.

Robin then caught her with his nylon rope and tied her up as Beast Boy was then able to smash into her once more as a green ram. She smashed into the ground with a very painful thud and was able to open her eyes to see the Titans standing over.

"I'd say that's just about everything we got," Cyborg smirked.

Just then a red laser beam shot up from her eye causing the other to jump back. She was then able to jump to her feet and break out of the nylon rope.

"This isn't over!" She shouted.

"I think it is," Cyborg said as he then shot her down with his own sonic cannon.

He watched as the girl with the nice smile from the park fell onto to her back. The red light in her cyber-eye went dim as her human eye then closed.

[scene break]

"I still think there's a male museum thief out there with moves like that," Beast Boy said as they all sat around at the table.

"Would you give it a rest already?" Raven rolled her eyes.

"What I would like to know is why the female counterpart of Cyborg would come after us. Did we do something to upset her?"

"I guess we'll never know now," Cyborg said as he put his feet on the table. "I'm kind of upset that we took her down so quickly though," he added. "It felt good to have a real fight again."

"It is good to see you smile again," Starfire said to him.

"It feels good to smile again," he said. "Thanks, Star."