Disclaimer: This is a fan work created at no profit and for entertainment purposes only. The author acknowledges that Teen Titans and related characters are property of Warner Entertainment.
Teen Titans – What Grows From Deception
Chapter 29 – Le Freak? Tres Chic.
Act IV
"Oh, but they are quite cute like this, are they not." Starfire pouted.
"I'm not saying they aren't, but if she wakes up and they're like that, she might destroy the entire apartment." Robin warned.
They were the only ones left awake in the apartment, despite it being eight in the morning. The battle with Malchior and then Aionor had gone on all night, leaving everyone bone weary, not just Beast Boy. After he passed out, Control Freak, in an uncharacteristic bout of generosity, offered to let them crash there, citing wanting to see them at their best when they fought Malchior.
Even knowing Control Freak's tendency toward spectacle, Robin didn't trust him, so despite how incredibly tired he was, he was staying up.
Which was a good thing for Beast Boy's long term well being.
With everyone else either asleep, recharging, or glaring unwaveringly at the door to Control Freaks' bedroom, Starfire, who could run the rest of the day as long as the sun was shining, had gotten bored. For reasons Robin couldn't guess at this necessitated 'arranging' their two friends on the couch with Raven leaned against Beast Boy with his arm draped around her.
That would have been bad enough, but Starfire's idea of 'around' when it came to arm placement was what anyone else would call 'second base'.
Robin carefully lever Beast Boy's arm to safety with the end of his quarterstaff, all the while doing his best to ignore the expertly deployed pout on the face of his girlfriend. As a compromise, he didn't move Raven from where she was. Not that that would have been advisable in the first place; frankly he was shocked that Star was able to move her without waking her in the first place.
"But when we watch the films of romance, we often-" Starfire protested, but Robin raised a gloved hand.
"That's us, Star. With these two, it's different." That sort of shocked even him. He, the heir to the Bat-mantle was more well adjusted than someone. And in a more healthy relationship to boot. Not that he'd know a healthy relationship from a smoldering hole in the ground, growing up as party to Bruce and Selena's 'dance'.
Starfire might have strange customs, but at least she wasn't a criminal.
…Anymore.
The city had forgiven her the damage when she arrived after she helped save them from the Gordanians.
Just like Selena had been pardoned multiple times for...
Dear god, was he turning into his father?
A gentle orange hand patted his shoulder. "Robin, I can tell that you are very tired. Please, rest. I will watch over our friends and ensure that the Control Freak does not commit the hijinks or the shenanigans while you sleep."
Robin shook his head, trying to rid himself of the tiredness. It wasn't working. That goofy line of thought was proof enough that he really needed forty winks. Maybe eighty. He let Star lead hm to the other end of the couch and didn't resist as she laid him down, resting his head in her lap.
In no time, he drifted off.
TT^TT^TT
Waking up past three made him feel ashamed. Waking up after Beast Boy of all people made him want to crawl into a hole and never face Bruce again. Robin sat up, frowning at the absence of Starfire, but somewhat vindicated in seeing that fellow early riser, Raven was still sleeping. Beast Boy had somehow escaped her and was sitting, as a lemur, on the back of the couch.
Before he could fully take stock of the room, there was a cup of coffee inches from his face, beckoning him to wakefulness with its aroma and promise of life giving caffeine. He hardly had to look up to know it was Starfire. Her cooking was probably a war crime, but the girl knew coffee.
"Good morning." He croaked with a wan smile and accepted the drink.
"Glorious day!" she replied exuberantly, only mitigating herself enough to keep from waking Raven. "We have all survived and now that we are rested, we are ready to kick the booty of that venomous claraouche, Aionor, yes?"
He'd never heard that one before. Nonetheless he nodded. "Right. But we'll need a plan. Malchior proved it last night; he's too powerful for a head-on assault and Aionor will definitely be ready for us if we try to sneak into the tower.
"Siccing the defense system's out of the question too." Cyborg said from the kitchen. That explained why Robin smelled sausage cooking. "I did some remote recon. Magic baddie or not, she knew enough to take out all the remote access points in the tower – I'd have to be inside to get control back. The only thing I can do now is raise the T-ship. I can't even establish an uplink to my car!"
Manly tears streamed down his face at the thought o his beloved car in the hands of the enemy.
Beast Boy jumped off the back of the couch and scrambled over to the table. After inspecting the spread, he shifted back to human form.
"Dude! There's nothing here that I can eat!"
Cyborg made a face at him and pointed. "Quite whining grass stain, I made ya some oatmeal."
"Oatmeal with MILK in it."
"What's wrong with milk?"
"Duuuuude, vegetarian!"
"Milk's not meat."
"It comes from cows."
"That don't make it meat. Now shut up and eat up. We've got a dragon to stomp, green bean."
"Guy!" Robin interjected. "We don't have time for this. Or breakfast for that matter. We have to relocate to someplace secure so we can plan."
Cyborg scratched his head. "Well why can't we stay here? It's clean, Aionor knows nothing about it and best of all, it's breakfast adjacent." He gestured at all the food he'd cooked.
"No can do, Cyborg." Robin shook his head. "We're in the belly of the beast here. Control Freak might look harmless and ineffectual, but he's still a villain. Who knows what sort of vile, deadly and inexplicable tortures he's spent the last few hours concocting?"
Just then the door to Control Freak's room opened and he exited with the earbuds of a waterproof mp3 player in his ears and a slight bounce to his step. Instead of his usual outfit and long coat, he was in a bath robe that looked suspiciously like Jedi robes with tribble fuzzy slippers. He had an official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy towel over one arm and was singing off-key into a bath brush made to look like the Which King's mace from the Lord of the Rings films.
"I can't refute 'cause she's so cute/And so I suck my belly in/X-23 and Hellion, odd couple, to be kind/She's in my heart and in my mind/And now she's in my rhym..."
It slowly dawned on him that he was not alone in his living room. Very slowly, as if hoping that by doing so he could avoid all of this, he opened his eyes.
Yes, it was all coming back to him now. He stayed up late the night before, moderating his fan site, then decided to top the night off with watching some local TV. Except the wonderfully terrible B movie he was watching got preempted by the Titans fighting Malchior and somehow that led to him letting them crash at his apartment.
And now they were staring at hm while he made his way to the shower.
"Eep." Was all he could say before bolting for the bathroom door.
He almost made it, he really did. But then a black glowing wall interposed itself between him and safety. There was a noise like a coconut hitting a brick wall and suddenly he found himself looking up at violet eyed death.
"Since when are you awake?" Cyborg goggled. Neither he, nor any of the others had seen her move from the couch.
"I've been awake since someone turned into a squirrel and let me fall on my nose on the couch." She said dryly.
"It was a lemur, thank you." Beast Boy groused, still scowling at his oatmeal.
"Whatever." She dismissed him. "What matters is that you," She used her powers to lever Control Freak up to standing, then bind his arms and legs, "Know way more than anyone possibly could."
One thing Control Freak wasn't was a good liar. "Heh... I have no idea what you mean."
"Malchior. You knew his name. What he did you me. No one but the team knew what happened that night. And someone had to tell the Brotherhood about him for them to summon him like they did in Paris."
"I... might have said something..." Control Freak squeaked.
"Come to think of it, he knew about Sarasim too." Cyborg said. "Back at the video store, you mentioned her AND the ink cat girl BB almost made out with in Japan."
"You promised we'd never speak of that again!" Beast Boy complained.
"What he knows isn't important." Raven continued, her gaze boring into the captured and helpless nerd. "I want to know how and who."
TT^TT^TT
A/N: Welcome to Act IV! The comedy break continues with what I hope were some cute and fun scenes.
The song is Nrrrd Grrrl by MC Chris and you should check it out.
Next Chapter: The secrets of Control Freak revealed! It's almost as if this fic was planned out or something.
