Chapter 13: Taming the Beast
Beast Boy stepped closer to the place that used to be a kitchen but now was a wasteland.
Glass and cracks lined the floor as sunlight shone through the rather large hole of the roof of the tower. Behind Cyborg was the missing piece of the roof, now lying in a heap of rocks, concrete and paint on the floor.
The fridge was lying face down further away, some of its contents spilled across the floor. It seemed that the fight had spread also to the common room as he saw that the TV was cracked and the sofa was ripped.
He stopped in front of his unmoving friend, unsure what to do next. "Cy? Are…you ok?"
He didn't know how to talk to a broken robot.
Broken.
His whole team was broken.
He was broken.
"Cyborg?" he murmured and touched the robot's hand, hoping he would grab him and tell him that it was only a prank – that everything up until now was just a silly, harmless prank.
But the silence told him otherwise.
He closed his eyes as grief and anger spread inside him like poison – slow but steady.
He clenched his hands, trying hard to control his boiling emotions that were manifesting themselves into a threating growl from somewhere inside of him.
The growl grew deeper, slowly turning into a scream as it reached his throat.
He grabbed his head, trying to suppress the instinct that told him to destroy whoever dared to approach his territory and murder his loved ones – his family.
Beast Boy took hold of his best friend's hands, feeling the heat from his rage seep slowly into his cold, metallic hands.
"I'll…fix you. Don't worry," he murmured, the scream inside his throat finally dying down.
The green teen morphed into a gorilla and heaved his friend over his shoulder, carrying him to his room.
He leaned him against his 'bed', wondering how he could fix the damage done to his head. And as the changeling stared at the broken head piece, he realized that no sparks were flying from the damaged spot.
He leaned closer and noticed that only the glass of it was broken. Beast Boy morphed into a green fly and placed himself on the edge of the broken glass.
And, indeed, the inside of his head was completely undamaged, he guessed.
So why was he shut down?
His eyes roamed over the half-robot until he stopped on a particular spot on his right arm - a spot where there seemed to be a compartment of some sort. The green teen morphed into a cat and jumped on his friend's lap. Extending his claws, he slipped them beneath the narrow gap of the lid and pulled it upwards. After 2 attempts, he managed to pull the lid off, revealing a few buttons and a port.
"Okay…now what?" he said aloud, wondering what would happen if he pressed one of those buttons. But he didn't want to risk breaking him further.
Suddenly a thought struck him and he took a look at Cyborg's other arm.
His eyes rested on a broken display but managed to see the blue light emitted from beneath it.
The bar that was displayed was empty and next to it a large number flashed in blue – 0%.
Beast Boy suddenly started laughing, scolding himself of why he didn't think of this sooner.
Cyborg's battery was empty!
He went over to the machine that was next to his bed, having seen Cyborg use it a few times when he went to sleep, and connected the charger to the plug of his battery cell.
Beast Boy's eyes sparked as the words 'charging' flashed on the display and left the room, knowing that it will take some time until Cyborg can reboot.
Eyelids slowly opened, a mixture of blurred shapes and colors dancing in front of her eyes.
She heard a female's voice in her ears.
"…phase one thanks to you."
The shapes and colors came into focus and she found herself in a windowless room, sitting on the cold floor.
Her hands were above her head, bound together by a metal clasp.
Starfire struggled against the restraint but couldn't break it.
"And the last titan is also taken care of," the girl's voice spoke again with arrogance.
Starfire looked to her left and saw Raven staring angrily at Terra who had worn her suit.
"There are two of us left, Terra! You forgot about Cyborg!" Raven said, her eyes reflecting the rage she felt towards the traitor.
She leaned down to Raven, who was in the same position as Starfire. "Cyborg is long gone…and I was referring to him."
"What do you mean?"
The traitor chuckled as Raven's hands glowed black, her emotions acting on their own. "You will find out soon enough!" the blonde-haired girl smirked and tuned to leave.
"Answer me!" Raven shouted and the light bulb in the room burst.
"Raven!" Starfire's voice echoed through the dark room.
The wall opposite of Raven, dented suddenly as the rage build up inside of her.
Raven closed her eyes – she needed to cool down if she wanted to be able to escape.
Starfire's gaze turned to the floor as Raven's chant mixed with her sadness.
Robin watched the large computer screen from a distance, as the masked villain switched from Cyborg's image to Beast Boy's.
He clenched his teeth in anger as he heard Beast Boy's murmured word – the one word that gave him almost a reason to kill.
"Slade…"
The screen showed red lights filling the partially destroyed common room as Beast Boy dashed towards the site of crime.
"You know what to do," the villain said without taking his eye off the screen.
The apprentice spoke as her blue eyes glowed with menace in the darkness. "Let's start with phase two."
Beast Boy reached the Theme Park and wondered if this was a false alarm like before.
What if it was a trap and Cyborg was kidnapped right now?
But he couldn't be in 2 places at once.
And he was pretty sure that whoever attacked Cyborg would have kidnapped him before he could be found if that was their goal.
And he couldn't just let crime rule their city.
His eyes went from one ride to the next, looking for the slightest movement.
But everything was still…until an explosion sounded from behind him.
He turned around and saw smoke rising from one of the rides and made his way towards the apparent fire.
His eyes rested on the sign before he went inside the smoking building.
'Funhouse'.
The smoke stopped strangely half-way and he found himself standing in a hall.
His reflections stared back at him as he looked around for the source…of the smoke.
"Where's the fire?" he wondered aloud and his voice carried through the hallway. "Slade…where are my friends?" he shouted angrily, remembering the Slade robot – the words that still rang in his ears.
"She doesn't want to see you anymore…"
The robot was here for a reason – the reason being Terra.
"What do you want from Terra?" he screamed as rage surged through him.
And suddenly he saw the reflection of a Slade minion charging at him.
Fight or flight?
And his instincts chose the first option and the Beast emerged from the green boy.
He let the robot pass him before he closed his jaws on the head.
And the head was crushed in the blink of an eye.
The remains spilled onto the floor before the rest of the robot crashed into the mirror.
He let out a cry of victory – at this newfound feeling.
He morphed back reluctantly, staring into the cracked mirror, as he tried to fight the rush that lingered inside of him.
And suddenly he wished that robot to have been Slade himself.
"What do you want from Terra?" he murmured to his reflection.
And after a short silence, a voice answered him.
"He…wants revenge."
Beast Boy turned around at hearing that voice, a mixture of anger and happiness cruising through him.
His eyes opened wide when he saw the frightened eyes staring back at him.
The cold, metallic suit contrasted starkly with the scared and helpless expression on her face.
Terra stood in front of Beast Boy.