Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. I'm glad that I don't actually. It would be too much work.
Sudbury is now in sight. It is 7:00 in the afternoon; the sun is falling in the sky, but we have an hour left of daylight. It only takes us a few minutes to close the gap between ourselves and the dominated city. We decided to make a hit-and-run attack in the time we have remaining to make things easier for ourselves tomorrow.
Shadow drives the Jeep into town and calls out a reminder to us. "Make sure to pay some attention to your communicators; if we can locate Cyborg today it makes tomorrow that much easier."
We nod and prepare for combat as Bobs start to appear. Shadow drives right by them as Starfire barrages them with starbolts and I snag a few of them as an octopus and splatter them against the black road.
We drive all over town passing dull colored houses and dusty abandoned shops all swarming with the space tofu (otherwise known as newfu) constructs. Shadow quickly swerves the Jeep to avoid a couple blasts of super glue as Starfire takes out the weapon and it's owner with well-aimed eye beams.
After about a half hour of driving and destroying I get a ping on my communicator. "I got a ping!" I alert the others.
"Which way?" Comes Shadow's response.
"Left!"
Shadow quickly turns the Jeep to the left. We speed down a small alley.
"Stop!" I yell. "The ping came from right here."
The Jeep is idling in the middle of the alley, there is a pizza parlor on one side and a Tim Hortons on the other.
"Mark this location on your communicators, we will return to this exact spot first thing in the morning." Shadow informs us. We do as he says and mark the small, grimy alley on the maps in our communicators. Having found Cyborg's location we quickly retreat out of the town.
There is less resistance on our way out, probably because we already destroyed so many Bobs. We reach our entry point quickly and escape from the city into the forest. We drive the Jeep a short way in to make sure it's hidden before we bunker down for the night. I sleep in the front, stretched across the driver's and passenger's seats. Star sleeps in the back, he alien physiology rendering her almost immune to the cold nights that are oh so common here in Canada. Shadow jumps up into the branches of the trees and is rendered invisible after sunset, his black cloak blending in to the darkness. He keeps watch, using his minimal need of sleep to our advantage.
I awake to Shadow shaking me. It's still pitch black out, the sun is yet to rise. I attempt to ask him what the problem is but he clamps a gloved hand over my mouth and whispers "bat" into my ear.
Understanding, I shift into a bat and take to the air, still somewhat groggy. Casting out soundwaves, my echolocation detects multiple figures heading our way. They are fanned out, probably still unaware of where we are, but getting close.
Shadow doesn't even bother to wake Starfire; he just scoops her up in a fireman's hold and jumps up into the branches of a tall pine tree, holding the sleeping redhead over his shoulder. He hides silently in the boughs, his cloak draped over Starfire to hide her hair and any glowing excess energy. I watch from a closer range, still in bat form positive the tofu men won't notice me.
One of them passes below us. He has a bright flashlight that he spots our Jeep with. I fly down at full speed and morph into an elephant for a split-second and smash into him. The Bob goes SPLAT and doesn't have a chance to alert the others. Mission complete.
Turning back into a bat before I hit the ground, I fly back up into the sky. I cast my echolocation at Shadow and see the thumbs-up he gives me. I grin; as much as a bat can grin anyways. We wait a bit longer until all the Bobs around us are out before descending back to the ground. I return to my human form and pull out my communicator.
"1:24? What's their deal? Can't they let us get some beauty sleep?" I complain, muttering under my breath.
"Try to finish sleeping Big Brother, we need you fully rested for tomorrow." Comes a deep voice from the back of the Jeep. There is the sound of rustling fabric as Shadow puts Star back in her original spot. "And in case you forgot, these tofu freaks are VILLAINS. They are called bad guys for a reason. Though I understand your frustration at lack of sleep. I'll wake you if anything else happens."
I nod and climb back into the front seats of the Jeep and out of the cold Canadian night air. There is a rustling as my little brother jumps back up into the branches. I rest undisturbed for the remainder of the night.
I am awoken once again, but this time I can see rays of sunlight through the dark green pine boughs. Starfire wakes as well, blissfully unaware of the night's events. After a few minutes Shadow emerges from the forest, bringing us a scavenged breakfast. We eat our berries, leaves, and roots. Not the most filling breakfast ever, but it's vegetarian and will give us a bit of energy.
We hop back into the Jeep; we use the same spots as yesterday. We drive towards the town as quietly as possible, hoping for the element of surprise. No such luck. The Bobs are waiting for us, they are expecting our return. We abandon any sense of subtly and boost to full speed. We are forced to swerve continuously because of a large number of super glue guns.
"They seem to have prepared well for our return!" Star cries. I nod in agreement and pull Starfire down to the floor as a white beam of super glue narrowly misses her head.
"We're going straight for the ping location!" Shadow hollers back to us. The Jeep smashes right through a group of Bobs. "Starfire, blast the hydrant!" The fiery alien complies. She pops up her head and throws a starbolt at a red fire hydrant just behind us. It explodes and water starts shooting everywhere, cutting off the pursuit of our foes.
Starfire let's out a yelp as a squad of drones appears out of nowhere and shocks her with a few lighting blasts. She tries to return fire with her starbolts. I suddenly realize why these things are so good against her. The drones are so swift that Starfire has a difficult time hitting them, and they can just wear her down with lightning blasts.
Deciding to take a risk I take off in the form of a hummingbird. I fly up into the middle of the drones while dodging their attacks. I then turn into a blue whale ("blue" is the type of whale, not my color!) and my sudden increase in size destroys the drones, but from the explosions I suffer minor electrocutions. I return to the Jeep in hummingbird form before returning to normal.
"That was quite a shock!" I say, pointing to my now spiky hair. Star giggles as we sharply turn a corner. We slow down as we are now in the alley. We arrive at the ping location.
"We have no time to look for an entrance dudes!" I inform them as we exit the Jeep. There are Bobs on either side of the alley.
"Then we'll just have to make an entrance!" Shadow snarls. He starts smashing the ground, bits of pavement fly everywhere as he punches us a hole. "Make sure to get the car batteries and jumper cables!"
Starfire tosses a few starbolts towards each entry into the alley, blowing up the Bobs that had entered. She scoops us the items that Shadow requested and hovers over top of him as he finally breaks into the space below us and falls through. Starfire floats down behind him and I follow suit, turning into a raven.
We all fall, float, or fly into a small, but deep room. The room alternates between pale white and blue panels. The blue ones are patterned like Cyborg's circuitry but glow a soft white rather than light blue. The Bobs from above don't follow us.
Shadow lands on the floor with a quiet click. It would seem that despite the height he fell from he is capable of landing very softly. Starfire hovers about halfway down the room, looking around for a door, or at least some form of exit. I fly around the hole in the ceiling, not trusting the Bobs to stay up and out of our way. There are a few minutes of silence. Only the flapping of my wings is noticeable on occasion.
Realizing that nothing is happening, I fly down to the floor, as does Star. As soon as my now-human feet touch the ground there is a loud hiss. The entire roof is closed off by a giant metal grey sheet, covering our hole and leaving the blue tiles as our only light sources.
"I warned you that I would resort to extreme measures!" Cries a familiar voice. It has a distinct tone to it that I just can't place. "Now realize the power of The Soooource!" A section of the floor splits apart and a platform raises up. On the platform is a familiar figure.
"Cy?" I ask, surprised. He looks at me blankly. His mechanical eye is no longer red, it has changed to white. His circuits no longer glow light blue, it has been replaced with a white glow just like the panels.
"Friend Cyborg seems... Incorrect." Starfire says. I have to agree, I've never seen Cyborg looking like this.
"Face the might of The Source!" Cyborg cries out and powers up his sonic cannon, aiming it at us.
"That's just not fair." Shadow mutters. "What now?"
My answer is stopped by a blast from Cyborg's cannon. I leap back and turn into a triceratops. Making use of the shield built into my head, I block several sonic blasts and try to ram my robotic buddy. He leaps out of the way, rolls, gets up and blasts me in the side. I go flying across the room and smash into a wall. Cyborg lunges for a follow up punch, but is intercepted midair by Shadow charging across the room and driving his shoulder into Cy's stomach. Cyborg is pinned to the wall as his assailant unleashes a flurry of punches. Dented and dinged, Cyborg finally manages to block an attack and counters by giving Shadow the boot, and by that I mean a sonic blast from his foot. Shadow grounds his feet into the ground and skids halfway across the room.
"We aren't getting anywhere!" Shadow roars as he closes in for another assault. Me and Starfire stay back and let Shadow keep Cyborg occupied as we think up a plan.
"We can't just beat Cy, we need his help." I say, uncertain.
"I agree friend Beast Boy. But how do we return friend Cyborg to his normal self? There is a loud explosion as our mechanical foe fires a rocket. There is an answering hiss of annoyance from our shadowy friend.
"We have to find out what's up with the white glow."
"Perhaps he has eaten too much of the syntornian glompthacks?" Star suggests.
I have a lightbulb moment. "I doubt it Star, but I do know what else he might have eaten too much of, and I know how to get rid of it!" I exclaim. "Shadow, we need water!"
"Bit busy here!"
"Gah... I got an idea." I say. I shift into a deer and start sniffing around. Deer are amazing at finding water. My nose twitchs at the wall just behind where Shadow and Cyborg are fighting. "Shadow! Smash that wall!" I cry out, pointing at the wall.
He ducks a right hook from Cyborg and delivers a quick kick to the wall. His foot shatters the metal plating and punctures a pipe right behind it. Water gushes out and drenchs our robotic companion.
I dash closer and shift into an octopus. I use my tentacles to wrap around his head and force his mouth open. I shift his head so that he is drinking from the water stream. After a few moments he starts sputtering as his circuits regain their light blue glow. I let him go as he falls to the floor and starts vomiting up tofu.
"Man..." He pants; his systems clear of the alien tofu. "I knew tofu was nasty, but I didn't think it was evil!"
I can't help it, I burst out laughing.
"Yo! I insult your favorite food and you laugh? Where's the real Beast Boy?" Cy asks jokingly.
There is a loud squeal as Starfire gives her newly liberated friend a death hug. "It is glorious to see you on our side once again Cyborg!"
"Nice to see you too Star." He says, freeing himself from the enthusiastic girl.
"Here." Shadow says quietly, and hands Cyborg the car batteries and jumper cables.
"So who are you?" Cy questions as he hooks himself up to the large batteries and begins siphoning their power.
"I am the Night Shadow. Shadow for short." States our cloaked companion.
"He saved my butt and has been helping free the Titans. He's kinda our temporary leader." I inform.
Cyborg doesn't argue, he just disconnects the jumper cables and says "What's the plan?"
"Free the citizens and bring them to North Bay." Shadow says curtly.
"Rather general plan." Cy comments as he starts blasting a hole in the wall.
"I just figured that SOME people might not understand complexities and fancy terms." Shadow jokes.
"I bet all those plants he eats have turned his brain into roots!" Cyborg replies, finishing his task and giving Shadow at high-five at my annoyed expression. Cy is grinning like a maniac and I have a distinct feeling that Shadow is copying his expression under the cover of his cloak. Even Starfire gives a giggle. I growl under my breath.
"Let's just find the civilians." I mutter.
"Already have." Cyborg says, indicating the hole he blasted in the wall while we were talking.
There is the sound of marching as a group of Bobs appear in the hole.
We prepare for combat and Cyborg yells our battle cry.
"Teen Titans GO!"
Chapter 11 complete. Another Titan found, only the two birds left.