Episode 12: Home is Where the Heart is

Tamaran, 6 Years Ago

Starfire was afraid, more than she had ever been in her life. And there was a good reason for it. The fiery explosions just outside her window a few minutes ago were a good indication of that. She was still covering her ears even though she was far away from them, wishing it would be over.

The unthinkable had happened. The Gordanians had attacked Tamaran, a feat no one thought would be possible. Sure, Gordanian raiders had been known to take a few trading envoys down, but a full-scale attack like this was unthinkable. They should not have been able to get past Tamaranean military barriers, yet here they were, practically at her door.

Her only comfort was knowing that she was not alone. She had her brother, Wildfire, clutched closely to her. He was only four, and therefore did not know exactly what was going on, but perhaps that made it even more frightening. He sat in her lap, holding onto her tightly.

Galfore had rushed them into his own quarters, as the room had no windows for Gordanians to come through. They knew of no safer place in the whole palace. Galfore had gone in search of Blackfire, and had given Starfire very clear instructions about what to do should anything go wrong.

This time, she could hear shouts coming from the halls, though that did nothing to calm her. They were in real danger. She jumped up when the doors suddenly flew open, but she stopped when she saw it was Galfore. The look on his face, though, did not make her any more comfortable. He quickly slammed the doors behind him. "You must get out of here, now!" he roared, leading the two of them to the hidden door in his room. It would lead straight to the tunnels.

Leading Wildfire, Starfire made her way through the dimly-lit passage. She already knew what had happened. The Gordanians had actually stormed the palace. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest at the thought of it. She had to stay brave for her brother and keep her head though. No time to panic.

She could hear more shouts and pounding noises overhead. She still did not know if her parents or Blackfire were okay, and that was what frightened her most. "We going to be okay, Kori?" Wildfire asked.

They were on their way to the safe-house. It belonged to a friend of Galfore's, a fellow k'norfka like himself. Just a little farther. "We will be fine," she said, hoping she believed it just as much as he did.

She picked him up, deciding they might move a bit quicker that way. Her heart stopped when she heard echoing shouts and curses in a language unfamiliar to her. They were in the tunnels!

Starfire started to run. They needed to find somewhere to hide, and fast. She looked around. There had to be a crevice or some space in these tunnels they could hide in. There! She found a small opening in the tunnel walls, just big enough for the two of them. They quickly squeezed in and held their breaths, waiting to see what would happen.

The footsteps started getting closer, and she could hear their hissing language. From the tone, she guessed they may not have known there was anyone else in the tunnels. They were perhaps patrolling, trying to prevent any soldiers from getting in this way. That was not a good sign.

As they drew near, Starfire gasped. She had never seen a Gordanian before. She only knew what little had been whispered among the adults. Now that she saw them up close, it was even more terrifying. The blue-green skinned, reptilian creatures looked around, their glowing eyes searching for any sign of life. She could hear the wet, raspy breathing, and she could only hope they did not hear her or Wildfire.

The sparking ends of their spears sent a shiver down her spine. Now she had a pretty good guess where Rulore's scars had come from. A forked, reptilian tongue jutted out of the mouth of one, and Starfire realized they were smelling the area. They had to know they were down here. She swallowed hard, hoping they would not be able to figure out where exactly.

She heard more of what sounded like a conversation between the two, arguing, she thought. The quick responses and the glares they gave each other told her they were in disagreement, probably debating how long ago she and Wildfire had passed through. She prayed they would just give up their search.

One had started to walk in their direction, all the while continuing his discussion with his comrade. Starfire let out a small gasp, hoping they had not figured it out. Yet, he still drew closer. She was fairly certain he did not see them, but he would eventually get close enough to. Starfire readied a starbolt in her hand. She was not going to go down without a fight.

Luckily, she did not need to. A magenta starbolt struck him in the back and another hit the other before he could turn around to see the cause of the trouble. Blackfire hardly gave them a chance to even stand back up before she sent a slew of more starbolts and then set upon them herself.

Starfire watched with both terror and awe as Blackfire single-handedly took out both Gordanians as if it were nothing. She had never seen her sister fight like that before. It was truly a marvel.
Both warriors incapacitated, Blackfire finally stopped to catch her breath, only now noticing her siblings' presence as they clambered out of the crevice. "What are you two doing here?" she asked, her brow furrowing.

"Galfore sent us through the tunnels," Starfire explained before wrapping her in a hug. "But you saved us just in time. Oh, thank you, sister!"

Blackfire did not say anything else but instead shifted uncomfortably in her sister's grasp. She had been trying to build up into the stoicism expected of Tamaraneans, and this, to her, felt awkward. "Look, we really should get back. The palace is all clear," she said.

Starfire finally let her go and grabbed Wildfire's hand as they walked back. "What happened?" she asked. "How did they get in?"

"Don't know," Blackfire answered. "Dad's making sure there are more guards though. You two okay?" She asked this last question as if it were an afterthought.

Starfire did not seem to notice. "Yes, we are unharmed. But, that was so terrifying."

She shrugged. "Probably nothing compared to the other sorts of atrocities they've done."

Starfire nodded solemnly. Not too long ago, she and Blackfire had overheard a very private conversation between their mother and Rulore. They finally had become aware of what sort of suffering Rulore had endured in her captivity under them. She wished she had not heard any of it.

"They won't come back again, will they?" Wildfire asked, looking up to both of his sisters.

Starfire looked to Blackfire. She shook her head as if to say, "You can't promise him that."

"If they do," Starfire said, "we will hit them with everything. The three of us will always look out for each other."

They could never have known at that moment, but that was one of the last times they were ever going to be a whole family.

Jump City – Present

It was one of the days the Titans dreaded most: spring cleaning. It was not just the endless amount of work that needed to be done that bothered them. It was the fact that this day seemed to be Robin's free pass to boss them all around, more so than usual.

Still, it was what got the job done. At the moment, they were working diligently in a systematic fashion, that is until Beast Boy got bored. He was busy barking at the vacuum cleaner that Cyborg was trying to push across the living room carpet. Every so often, he would nudge Beast Boy's nose with it. "I swear to God, B," Cyborg started, "do it one more time, and I'll – "

"Look, it's time Beast Boy got started on the bathrooms anyway," Robin said, thrusting a pile of cleaning supplies into his arms.

Beast Boy turned back into a human and sat there with a stunned look on his face. "C'mon, why do I always get bathrooms every year?"

Cyborg quickly responded, "Because this year, we finally did your nasty little experiment, took apart the drains and found that it was mostly green hair that clogged them up. Now, hop to, grass-stain."

He glowered at Cyborg, but started to march off down the halls. "Hey, where's Archangel?" Robin asked. "He was supposed to be here to help Star with the windows."

"He was doing laundry, last I checked," Beast Boy said, "and…oh, I forgot to sort the clothes for him. He's probably still down there trying to figure that out. Hehe, oops."

Raven had come back from dusting the bedrooms. "I'll take care of it. You get back to bathrooms."

"Drat!"

It seemed that there must have been an angel watching over Beast Boy, or something like that, as the alarms started blaring at that moment. "Oh, well, guess it'll have to wait," he said with a big grin. "Duty calls."

A motorcycle roared down the streets of Jump City, and everyone knew to get out of the way. Such was a common sign of Jonny Rancid's presence. This time, he was dragging along large chains, which whipped around with his bike, causing a good deal of destruction. Every time they struck a building, glass would shatter, or small dents formed in the structure. Rancid was loving every minute of this. "Ooh, nice one," he said to himself as the chains tore apart a storefront.

"Not for long," a voice said, just beside him.

Robin was now right beside him on his own motorcycle. And soon, Starfire was flying along the other side of him. A chill in the air behind him indicated that Raven was there, and he was headed right for Cyborg, who only smirked. "Booyah," he said calmly.

They were trying to box him in. A common technique for them. Rancid grinned and accelerated. Cyborg did not move, but then, he was expecting this. As he got near, he popped the bike up and rode over Cyborg's head. "Not this time, big man," he muttered as he grabbed the end of one of the chains trailing behind him.

Cyborg stood his ground, but it was not enough. The chains took him along for the ride. Soon, he was bouncing along the road, holding on for dear life as they took some sharp turns.

"You've stopped making this fun, Tin Man," Rancid said, disappointed at the lack of destruction as Cyborg weighed down the chains.

As he turned back around, bursts of flames struck the ground where he was driving. He skidded and swerved to avoid them. That was when he spotted Archangel just above. "You will return our friend," he said, descending to strike at even closer range.

Rancid grinned. "You want him so bad? Here, take him."

He brought the bike to a screeching halt, Cyborg's momentum allowing him to sail overhead, and he released the chains in the sudden stop, careening into Archangel mid-air, knocking both of them down with a great thud. Rancid revved his bike to drive away, laughing all the while.

This little stop gave Robin enough time to catch up. "Looks like it's time to slow you down," he said, throwing a birdarang into Rancid's front tire, puncturing it.

This did not seem to anger or upset the vandal, which made Robin worry. Instead, he pushed a button on his bike. Not only did this inflate and mend the tire, the entire bike was now decked in spiked, metal armor. "You're not the only one with some new toys, bird boy," he said, turning around to go chasing after Robin.

There was a time and place for retreating, and this was one of them, Robin knew, at least until he could think up a new strategy. For now, the best idea would be to try and lead Rancid away from crowded areas to minimize the destruction. He turned around and drove away, Rancid hot on his heels.

Robin did his best to try and throw a few more obstacles in the way: more birdarangs, smoke bombs, anything to maybe throw Rancid off his game. But in a rage like this, that did very little. He continued to follow Robin, getting dangerously close to colliding with him. Knowing the villain, that was probably what he was aiming to do.

A roar from nearby told Robin that at least he was not alone. Beast Boy was starting to catch up to them, bounding even closer in cheetah form. But as soon as he was right alongside Rancid, the villain started taking a few sideswipes at Beast Boy, hoping to crush him into the side of a building. He took one look at those spikes and changed into a hawk before he could get caught in them.

Once he flew ahead enough, he landed just as Robin passed by, and turned into a tiger, ready to spring at Rancid. Instead, the motorcycle continued barreling down the road, aiming to run over Beast Boy. He squealed like a frightened kitten and ran off before he became roadkill.

These distractions at least gave Robin more of a lead. If he could just keep at it, he could lead Rancid right to where he needed him to be. As he zipped past an intersection, he heard a crumbling noise and looked behind him to see Raven lifting the road and curling it into a loop, hoping to cut Rancid off. Starfire was at the ready in case he kept going, which was exactly what he did.

Rancid rode around the loop of road and came out the other end. And he almost completely succeeded, excepted that Starfire had blasted his back wheel loose. That certainly set him into a rage, but he had other fish to fry, especially Robin. He grimaced and bolted in the other direction, trying to find another route. Starfire stayed on his trail.

He was quickly losing this and needed to get the heck out of dodge before the other Titans caught up. That was becoming a real possibility, especially when Cyborg came, standing his ground at the other end of the street. "No one wrecks my city," Cyborg said, firing up his sonic cannon.

"I think I just did," Rancid replied, gesturing to all the chaos around him.

"Bring it."

Rancid smiled wickedly and made a beeline for Cyborg, but the metal hero stood firm, the cannon ready to blast. Just before he could fire it off, Rancid made a quick turn, the chains coming around and knocking Cyborg off his feet. He collided into an old garage, his cannon going off, and blasting the building to bits. He lay there in a heap when Rancid roared by, muttering some taunt he could not hear, and speeding off.

Cyborg was shaking debris, getting up to go another round when something gave him pause. He had forgotten what part of Jump City they were in and had not realized it. He stopped in his tracks as he read the sign of the building he had smashed: Beatty's Automotive.

Cyborg collapsed to his knees, staring vacantly at the rubble. He hardly noticed his friends when they finally came up to him. It was Robin who spoke, momentarily bringing him back to the real world. "What happened, Cy?"

"Yeah, what did he say to you, dude?" Beast Boy added.

None of them were going to say anything about letting Rancid go. Now was not the time. "Y'all probably don't even remember this place, do ya?" he finally said.

He really did not expect any answers. "This was my grandfather's old garage," he continued. "When he and my grandmother took my mom and me in, we stayed in the little apartment above it. It was my home. When he died, he left this place to me, and I lived there until I met all of you."

"I remember that," Robin said, resting a hand on his shoulder.

Cyborg seemed to crumple. "And now it's gone."

"Well, maybe we could put it back together," Beast Boy said, just as a small pile of debris crumbled under his feet. "Or, uh, not."

"We could build it anew," Starfire suggested.

Archangel nodded in agreement. "Yes, you have built our tower home, as well as those of the other Titan teams. Surely building this would not be a challenge."

Cyborg seemed to perk up a bit. It was just crazy enough to work, he thought. And if they built it new, the city could use that garage again. His grandfather would have wanted that. "Yeah," he said at last. "Yeah, let's do it. You guys will help, right?"

"Of course," Robin said with a smile.

"Did ya ever have to doubt?" Beast Boy said.

His other friends murmured their agreements. Even Raven gave a noncommittal noise that was not a "no," which was close enough in his book.

For the next few days, Cyborg drew up plans and spent hours obsessing over his new pet project. Not only would he rebuild the garage, but he would also give it a complete overhaul, equipping it like his own down in the tower basement. His old home could finally have a new purpose instead of just sitting abandoned in downtown Jump City. Plus, he could really build it sturdier and more protected, so that it could not be destroyed by the havoc wreaked by the average villains of the city. He already had dreams of it becoming his new refuge, to meet others who shared his passion for the mechanical, and more importantly, cars.

"Earth to Cyborg!" Beast Boy called.

That seemed to snap him out of it. "Hm, what?"

"Dude! You're putting motor oil in the pancake mix. What gives?"

Cyborg looked again at the mixing bowl to find that, sure enough, he had let his imagination take over. "Uh…my bad," he said, slowly turning off the nozzle on his canon, which was dripping the black, gooey contents in the bowl. "I'll just start another batch. We're gonna need some energy for today."

They were finally going to start building today, and Cyborg could not have been happier. He had already started babbling about their plans, what needed to get done first, and everything in between.

Over the next few weeks, the Titans really set to work on the new construction. For the most part, they kept in good spirits. This was a lot easier than when they were trying to figure out how to build their tower for the first time. Now, they had it down to a more systematic order.

Starfire and Cyborg took care of most of the heavy lifting, and Starfire's starbolts proved useful for welding. In no time at all, the walls and basic structure were already up. "You may release now," she said as she finished welding the last of the walls.

Cyborg took a step back from holding the wall up for her, admiring their handiwork. "Perfect," he said. "This is really starting to come together."

Raven's powers were perfect for bending, shaping, and cutting any materials they needed. Cyborg could also count on her to be precise. With enough focus, it was guaranteed their more complex plans would be exact. He could not have been more pleased.

While Robin was assigned to a few odds and ends assignments, it often drifted into what he did best: managing. Robin made sure everyone stayed on task and hat all work was leading right to Cyborg's specifications in his plans. Cyborg did not mind this, so long as Robin did not start ordering him around.

Beast Boy was more the Swiss Army knife of the group. He filled in wherever he was needed. Sometimes that was assisting Starfire and Cyborg with particularly heavy jobs, or climbing about and reaching into the harder nooks and crannies. Plus, he always stuck to his usual job of keeping everyone's spirits up, that is when he was not complaining about the workload himself.

At first, Cyborg was not too keen on Archangel working on some of the high-tech stuff he had planned. But, once he got used to how Archangel could feel the subtle differences in parts and could control his flames into a precise location like a soldering iron, things went smoothly.

Cyborg liked the way things were going. It was like some great, well-oiled machine, working in precise motion altogether. He was certain he had done his grandfather proud.

That garage was more than just a home to him. It had been a refuge for him and his mother when they had nowhere else to go. It had been the one place where he felt human no matter what his outsides looked like. It was the place he hid himself from the world until he met a team that accepted him. It was the first place where he truly learned what it meant to be on a team. This place was family.

"I think a well-earned break is in order," he said as he passed around lunch. "I gotta say, this is shaping up to look real nice."

"As if there were a doubt," Beast Boy said with a shrug and a smile.

"So, are you going to turn the upstairs into an apartment like the old garage?" Robin asked, splitting his sandwich in half.

Cyborg finally sat down with them. "I don't think so. I mean, I loved living over my grandad's garage as a kid, but I don't see anyone wanting to live here unless they owned it. I think we'll just turn that into a parts store."

"I'm surprised this didn't become too big of a project," Raven added. "We've been able to get a lot done in a short time."

Cyborg grinned. "All in the power of teamwork. How else would I be able to help the other Titan teams build their towers?"

Beast Boy rolled his eyes. "Gee, I dunno. It couldn't be having every tool known to man literally at your fingertips."

He chuckled. "Well, I always do believe that any job can be accomplished with the right tools, but having a good team is just as important."

Starfire was still looking around at all the new equipment and shiny new walls. "This is certainly more advanced than what it used to be," she said.

Cyborg cracked his knuckles and said, "Yeah, I try, but hey, Archie's been a good help. Nothing's short-circuited yet, at least not after those first few incidents."

"Yeah," Archangel muttered, rubbing the blackened, soot-covered ends of his fingers.

"Will you miss it?" Starfire asked.

"Always," Cyborg answered. "But at least this way, I figure it'll be going to good use. Before, it was pretty much left to rot. I'd rather see people actually in it again."

The others nodded in agreement. "So, are you going to be the one running it all?" Robin asked in a friendly way, though Cyborg could read between the lines. He was worried about how much this would take away from regular duties.

He did not say much at first. Truth be told, he did not know what he wanted to do himself. "Uh, well, sorta, I guess. I mean, I won't be running it full-time or nothing, but I would like to be a part of it all. I suppose it'll depend on if I can find a good manager."

Robin responded with a noncommittal noise: not the answer he was expecting. But, he could not be expected to make everyone happy. "Anyway," Cyborg said, stretching. "We'd better be getting back to work. B.B., I need you to help me get all the wiring installed. We're nearly done."

"Nuh uh," Beast Boy said. "I'm not getting zapped again. I still get twitchy."

"Well, your fault for being a squirrel and chewing the wires. Now, come on."

For the rest of the afternoon, things continued to go smoothly. Cyborg wished every day could be like this: just them working, relaxing, enjoying each other's company. In fact, they had been really fortunate to not have a lot of crime alerts to respond to while doing this. If it kept up, they could have this place done in no time.

But alas, all good things had to come to an end. Their communicators started buzzing with a new alert. "Anything big?" Cyborg asked, hoping it was just a small robbery.

"Kardiak," Robin replied, "but not too far from here. We should be able to cut it off before it gets too close, or causes too much destruction."

"So, a full team job?" Cyborg asked.

Robin blinked. "Uh, yeah, like always. Cy…"

"I'm coming, don't get your undies in a twist."

Still, Cyborg was a little slower to run along with the rest of the team. He looked back at all their hard work. He really wanted to see this finished. They would be back in no time, he told himself. Nothing to worry about.

Kardiak wasted no time when it came to city destruction. It was thrashing its mechanical tentacles about, hoping to find life within, preferably young lives it could abduct. Still, that did not mean it was above a little reckless destruction for fun. "I thought we made it clear you weren't supposed to be within fifty feet of a minor," Robin said, bringing it out of its destructive revelries.

It turned around and started making its way towards the Titans. "Uh, Raven, you don't suppose you could just tear this thing to pieces with one of your freaky spells, do ya?" Beast Boy asked, getting nervous as that thing ambled closer to them.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"

One of the tentacles was sliced clean off just before it reached them. It flopped about for a few seconds before it began slithering back to its master. "Don't let the limbs reattach!" Robin called.

"Ooh, nice observation, Captain Obvious," Cyborg mocked. "Let's see this guy take on some of this. Booyah!"

He blasted several shots of sonic energy directly at Kardiak, one right after the other. At first, it stunned the thing, but it recovered and began making its way towards them again. "Um, well, you are tougher than ya look," he said in disbelief.

The missing limb found its way back to Kardiak and the creature lurched towards the team. "Rip it apart again," Robin said. "If we destroy its parts, it has no means of getting back together."

Raven nodded and cast another spell, breaking the tentacles off of it and scattering them about. "Titans, split up!"

Robin took over attacking the main "heart" of Kardiak, which still had a couple of legs attached to it. If anything else, there was a possibility that putting a stop to the head would shut down everything. His main plan was to try and puncture the red heart structure sitting atop its metal legs. If he were crazy enough to design this thing, that would most likely be where the main board would be to control it. If it was living, its life force had to be there.

He started by throwing several birdarangs at it. At best, one or two scratched the surface, but they mostly bounced off. The heart was not exactly gelatinous as he had originally thought. If anything, this just ticked it off more. Kardiak had undergone some modifications since last they dealt with it, and it came with some new tools in its arsenal. The tentacles turned to buzz-saws, and Robin was now on the defensive. He ducked, dodged, and avoided them as best he could, but he needed to make another move. He threw a round of smoke bombs, which confused it, even slowing it down. "Didn't anyone ever tell you that smoking was bad for your heart?" he said from behind it.

He shot his grappling hook, and it wound several times around Kardiak's tentacles. When he pulled, it lost its stance and tumbled to the ground. "That's more like it," Robin said, as he jumped on it.

He pounded wildly on the protective cover around the red heart of the body, trying to do anything to break through. Kardiak broke free of its restraints, and a metal tentacle was wrapped around his waist, pulling him off.

Cyborg ran after the mechanical arm, trying to blast it into oblivion. But the little sucker was too fast. It bobbed and weaved away like a snake, moving at a lightning pace. Still, that was keeping it busy, and not heading back to the mainframe. But that would not stop it for long. Cyborg was familiar with the same principle with his own detachable limbs. It would do everything it could to get back.

He did have one idea, a pretty stupid one, but an idea nonetheless. He ran even faster, trying to catch up. It may be quick, but he could be quicker. He launched into a full tackle as soon as he was near. Cyborg lucked out and had managed to land on top of the tentacle.

Like a bucking bronco, it thrashed and squirmed violently to get Cyborg off, but he held on with a firm grip. "Whoa! Ride 'em cowboy," he called as he felt his head and insides shaking with each rapid movement.

But this was not like any wild animal. It did not tire out. Okay, so he had ahold of it, now what? He had to come up with a plan. "Let's try this on for size," he said, switching into chainsaw mode.

As the blade touched the metal, everything rattled, the tentacle, Cyborg, everything. But no matter how long he held it there, the blades did not so much as nick the metal. Well, this was doing no god. It just made it thrash harder.

This time, Cyborg could not hold his grip and was flung into the air like a sack of rocks, crashing to the ground with a rumble.

While Beast Boy had started out chasing the tentacle, it had somehow ended up chasing him. And to top it off, it had switched to a sharp blade at the end of it. It made several swipes at him, and more than once, he was almost certain he would lose a tail.

Though he could keep a strong pace ahead of it, its erratic movement meant he had to keep looking back to see where it would strike next, just to avoid losing a limb. The latest swipe nicked some fur off of his back. Talk about a close shave, he thought.

He needed a different approach. To start, he needed to be a smaller target. That gave him an idea. He turned into a woodpecker and flitted about, trying to get a good angle on the tentacle. Once he could find a way to settle upon it, he began frantically trying to peck through the surface. Not that that was a good idea. If Cyborg's saw could not get through, he did not have a prayer. All he succeeded in doing was giving himself a headache.

But a window of opportunity did come. As the tentacle thrashed about, it crashed into the sides of buildings. As it did so, it wore away at its own casing, exposing a few frayed wires. It was enough, Beast Boy thought. He flew towards the small opening and began pecking and poking at the wires. Maybe he could disable it.

That proved to be about as useful as when he had been working on the wiring in the garage. One peck through a loose wire and he was zapped. His feathers were frazzled and singed, and a little puff of black smoke wafted from his head. Bad idea.

Raven was still trying to solve this puzzle. There had to be some secret to breaking Kardiak. At least a way that did not involve dark magic, she thought, remembering how close she had come to hurting a civilian the last time she had encountered it. The problem was they did not know all that much about Kardiak's creation to really have a clue.

In the meantime, she would just have to make do with mere distractions until they could figure it out. Raven cast another spell, splitting the tentacle into smaller fragments. They were still circular as if she had merely sliced it into small chunks. The fragments started rolling towards her as if they had a mind of their own. This was not good.

Raven turned tail and had to find a way to avoid these things. They were spinning at faster and faster paces, looking like mini-sawblades heading for her.

She acted quickly and put a barrier between them and her. She pulled an empty bus horizontally across the street, forming a sort of wall to block them off. She heard a few solid dings as they struck the side of the frame.

Raven paused for a beat, waiting to see what they would do next. Apparently, that was for those pieces to reassemble, forming a tentacle once more, and to smash the bus to a pulp. Well, that had only bought her a few seconds of time. Now onto plan B.

Starfire probably had the most advantage of the Titans. At least her starbolts could melt through the metal, and she could cause some damage. Still, that did not make things any easier for her.
The tentacle she was tailing moved too quick for her to get a good hit and not cause more collateral damage to the city. Still, she maintained focus, looking for an opening. At the very least, she just had to keep it away from the mainframe.

It came to a stop in the middle of the street, turning this way and that. It was searching for the mainframe, Starfire realized. This was her chance. She sent a starbolt directly at it. It blasted through the metal, creating a nasty hole with sparks and wires everywhere.

It turned back to her, and she could have sworn it growled at her. Now it was mad. In an instant, the tentacle shot up, wrapped around her ankle, and yanked her down to the ground. Within a few seconds, it had her trapped, and the other end of it had switched into a blade, ready to cut her clean in half.

Starfire struggled against the tentacle holding her at bay. It may have caught her by surprise, but it was no match for her Tamaranean strength. When she ripped herself free, it burst into tiny pieces, and she was hopeful. That is, until those tiny pieces started to reassemble themselves. This one was going to be a tough nut to crack.

Archangel was at a bit of a disadvantage. With the parts being made of metal, like most of the city's buildings, it smelled like the rest of the city. Here, he could only rely on his hearing and tried to follow the tentacle slithering and banging into stuff. That was not the best strategy, but it would have to do. It was not like he had any other options.

But he felt there could be one thing he could do. As the tentacle moved, Archangel created walls of fire across the streets, hoping to corral the machine into a tight corner and head it off there. So far, that was somewhat working. He could at least direct it where he wanted it to go.

As it wound through a maze of flames, Archangel became sure that soon he would have it cornered. He landed as he finished off the final blockade, pinning it in. "Now, to see how you may be defeated," he said.

It did not take too kindly to the idea. It whipped around, swinging wildly at him. Once, he was able to catch it as it nearly made contact, but it took a lot out of him to do so. He probably would not be able to do that again. Not without risking injury to himself.

He released it, just long enough to grab his horn. Hopefully, the sound waves would disrupt it long enough for him to do something. But the tentacle swung at him, striking his head, and knocking the horn out of his hands. Dazed, he was now on the defensive. The tentacle swung down upon him repeatedly like a big hammer.

Archangel rolled out of the way of several strikes. But once the tentacle switched to vacuum mode, it was all he could do to clutch at the ground. Just when he could hold on no longer, the suction stopped. He rolled over and saw Cyborg holding it back. "I couldn't stop mine, but I can try to help you."

The tentacle struggled against him. And then, the beating mainframe hovered in the sky, calling its missing parts back. It broke free of Cyborg's grasp, and like all the others, rejoined Kardiak to form the whole.

As though it were merely stretching its limbs, it swung its tentacles out, breaking anything within reach, including the garage they had been building. "No, no, no!" Cyborg shouted, running towards it.

"Cyborg, wait!" Archangel called out.

As he ran up to the wreckage, his knees started to quake. It was all he could do not to totally break down at the sight of all the rubble. All their hard work was gone. In an instant, he had lost it all over again. "Cyborg," he heard Starfire's voice say from behind. "Friend, please, Robin requires our assistance."

Cyborg seemed as if he were in a trance. Really all he heard were muffled sounds as he tried to process it all. "I should've built the new walls first, get all the new security in. I could've prevented all this."

Starfire shook her head. "Of that, I cannot be certain. I have no knowledge of how or if that would have made a difference. But Cyborg, we need your assistance now. Please…"

He let out a long drawn out sigh. "Yeah, I'm comin'. Look, it's just hard. You guys don't know what this feels like."

"Daimas," she said.

"Um…'broken home?'" he said, trying to remember his Tamaranean translations.

"Almost. It is the feeling to describe when your home is destroyed. You feel…as though nothing is safe. It is as though you have lost the one place where nothing bad could happen."

"So, you know that feeling then." Something about just sharing the misery felt better and lifted the weight off his chest.

"Yes, the Gordanians destroyed my home several times. They burned my planet to waste. They dismantled my home city. And they even broke into the palace. I was afraid to sleep for weeks. I could not feel safe in my own bed."

Cyborg felt a little guilty then. Here he had been getting upset over a garage and Starfire had watched everything she loved and cared about destroyed in a useless war. How could she possibly tell him about all that and still hold back the sadness he knew she had to be hiding?

"I'm sorry that happened, Star. That must've been awful."

"Do you know what you must do to dispel the feeling of daimas?"

Cyborg only shook his head, but he had a good feeling where she was going with this. "When the Gordanians destroyed Tamaran, after the attacks had ceased for the day, we rebuilt. We picked up and started again."

He sighed, slumping his shoulders. "We tried that, Star, and look how that turned out. Star, I appreciate you trying, but this place…it just meant so much to me. Just rebuilding isn't enough."

She rested her hand on his shoulder. "This place was my first home on Earth. It holds a special significance to me as well."

He had almost forgotten that. In the months before the T-Tower could be built, Starfire had needed a home. Really, the whole team did. They had somehow made it work, living in the apartment above the garage. But he had forgotten the significance that must have held for Starfire. "So, what am I supposed to do?"

"It may not be much, but I still say you rebuild again," she answered as though it were the simplest answer in the world, "when the Kardiak is defeated, of course. This is but a physical manifestation of a feeling. It can be replaced. It will only be a home again when you let that feeling return on its own."

"But if it keeps getting destroyed…"

"Then you fix it again. But, that is just the way of my people. I do not know what the appropriate response is for humans."

He smiled at her. Sometimes he loved her straightforward wisdom. "Pretty much the same thing, I guess," he said, "but I guess I just really needed to hear it."

They both could hear more crashes and loud booms in the distance. "We really must return," she said. "Our friends need us."

And in that moment, Cyborg knew he had to go to them: the people he called "home."

The team had regrouped while Kardiak decided to continue on its rampage. "So, any other ideas?" Beast Boy asked.

Cyborg was just catching up to them, already checking some stats on his computer. "Don't think so. Its limbs are well-programmed to return to the mainframe, just like mine. Did Robin ever figure anything out about the heart?"

He was still sore from his last encounter with it. He shook his head. "No," he said, "it's pretty determined."

Raven, all the while, was watching Kardiak as it shuffled down the streets, smashing more buildings in its wake. There was just something they were missing. She watched its flailing limbs, searching her vast knowledge of creatures they had dealt with and her own history of magic for an answer. "A hydra," she said at last.

Beast Boy would never fail to be the confused one. "Um…a what now?"

"Hydra. It was a multi-headed serpent," Raven explained. "For every one head, you cut off, two more would grow back."

"Sounds like a nightmare, Cyborg said with a shiver.

"It was, but the only way to defeat it was to cauterize the stump before the heads could grow back. If we cut off the limbs…"

Archangel realized it first. "I know where this is leading." He ignited his fists.

"Think you can sever them again?" Robin asked.

Raven shook her head. "That spell takes a lot. I was lucky to use it twice. If we work together on it, we have a pretty good chance. Archangel is in charge of cauterizing the stumps. The rest of us need to work on getting it in one place and taking the limbs off."

"Can do!" Beast Boy said. "I'm a master of distractions." He transformed into an elephant and ambled off.

"Beast Boy, wait!"

Perhaps luck was on his side this time. As Beast Boy smashed into the side of Kardiak, he knocked it off balance. Thankfully, that stopped its rampage, and it fell over. The rest of the Titans caught up.
Robin reached them first and started pulling out his own blade to hack away at the tentacles. But, like Cyborg, he found that the metal exterior was hard to get through. He was about to give up and switch tools when a green starbolt hit and melted a hole in the metal. He smiled up at Starfire now that he had an opening to start hacking off the limb. Severing the wires that held it together made all the difference.

As the tentacle fell off and flopped to the ground, Robin called for Archangel, and he launched a jet of flames into the stump. The frayed wires were soldered off and the metal melted as he increased the intensity of the fire. In no time at all, the stump was a melted and cauterized mess. No signal could get out to the severed limb.

Cyborg was immediately on top of the flopping limb, holding it down while Raven smashed it to bits with levitated objects. "It worked!" Cyborg said, sounding surprised by the result.

"Yeah," Raven said, "my ideas usually do."

By now, Kardiak had lurched to its feet. It was determined to continue on, one tentacle gone or not. "You don't suppose we can get it to hold still like that again, do ya?" Cyborg said.

With a new plan in motion, things worked so much better. Starfire would blast holes in the metal, leaving Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Raven the opportunity to tear apart the limbs. Archangel kept pace, burning up the sections they cut off.

Still, Kardiak continued to put up a fight. It realizes a big source of its problem was Archangel, and once more tried to suck him up using one of its remaining limbs. Archangel was quicker this time, and let loose flames to be sucked up the vacuum. That burned a good deal of its insides, and it backed off quickly.

They could only keep up this plan for so long, Robin thought. It would still keep fighting them for as long as it could. Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Raven still had a good hold on destroying the tentacles. He went for the heart.

But Robin had not figured out how to break the strong glass surrounding the mainframe. He put everything he had into it, all to no avail. It had clearly prepared for facing off against them and had given itself some decent upgrades.

Robin was out of breath, having punched, kicked, and everything else he could to break it. A hand tapped his shoulder, and Cyborg was at his side. The whole of Kardiak now was just one big mess with the heart still scooting around on what was left of its legs.

"I got this," Cyborg said.

Robin stepped aside, glad he could count on his friend to take care of even the toughest heavy-duty jobs. Cyborg cracked his knuckles and reared back a punch. "This is for messin' with my grandad's garage," he said before shattering the red glass with his fist.

Reaching inside, he pulled out a handful of wires from the core, completely shutting down Kardiak. "And that's for messin' with my city."

He pitched the wires aside, and Kardiak slumped over, defeated. Cyborg hopped off Kardiak and rejoined his friends. "No, let's see about getting this place cleaned up and getting back to work. I've got a few new ideas for our little building project."

"Oh man, Kardiak destroyed it again. And we were almost done," Beast Boy whined.

Cyborg smiled at Starfire. "Well, then we just gotta keep trying to build it back."

The second time around at rebuilding the garage did not take nearly as long, though it required a lot more work. Cyborg had decided that the best way to restore this relic was through the help of others.

The Titans East readily agreed to come and help pitch in. Somehow, Cyborg believed that they just wanted an excuse to visit and jumped at the chance. It was good to have old friends back. After having helped them build their own tower, they were more than happy to return the favor.

Even Fixit was willing to come and help. The artificial repairman still kept contact with Cyborg, even if he had not fully committed to joining the rest of human society. "I can make improvements," he said as Cyborg showed him the plans.

A normal person might have been offended when Fixit suggested there might be a flaw in his plans. But Cyborg knew it was a sign that his friend would help. "I'd appreciate that," Cyborg said, already discussing new ideas.

All these people, coming together to work on the project, it was even better than before. Maybe this was that feeling that Starfire was talking about. This garage was more than just a building. It was the people and memories that went with it. And right now, this memory was like home. And at that moment, he knew exactly what to do when the project was finished.

Robin had arranged for a grand opening ceremony once they had finished. Quite a bit of Jump City's population had shown up, eager to see all the commotion. It was hard not to want to come to see what Cyborg had arranged.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the mayor announced from his podium, "it gives me great pleasure today to be announcing the completion of a civic project taken on by our own local heroes, the Teen Titans. Through their work over the past few weeks, they have inspired our community to continue with restoration projects all over the city to help keep our valued buildings and historical treasures alive and well."

"How long do we have to stand up here smiling like idiots?" Beast Boy muttered before Cyborg elbowed him in the ribs.

"And furthermore," the mayor continued, "these projects are not only to restore our history but to invest in the future. At the behest of Cyborg, who headed this project, this new garage is being converted into an automotive technical school to help provide the skills and jobs to those in need of a career in the field."

"So, that's what the big surprise is?" Robin asked.

"Yep, I figured this place was like my home. It's where I learned everything I needed. I always had a place here. So, I wanted others to feel that. It'll go to better use if others have a place to learn about the stuff they love."

Robin clapped him on the shoulder. "Pretty cool of you."

"Yeah, yeah, sappy stuff. When do we get lunch?" Beast Boy interrupted.

"Are you not going to miss your home," Starfire asked.

"A little," Cyborg sighed. "But this way, I'm not totally leaving it. It'll be in good hands, and a lot of people will be getting some good use out of it. I guess knowing how it'll help people helped me get rid of that daimas feeling."

Starfire smiled, glad her friend had found his peace with the situation. Of all the Titans, Cyborg was the most sensitive to his humanity, and through him, she learned more than she could have ever hoped about human feelings. Seeing him happy could always put a smile on her face.

Cyborg looked out towards the tower. "But you know, right now, I think I just want to go home. What do ya say, BB, a round of Turbo Racers?"

That seemed to perk everyone up, and they started heading back. It really was home, Cyborg thought, and there were plenty of memories to be made there.

Blackfire hated waiting more than anything. For several weeks now, she had been waiting for an answer to her latest transmission. This is what she got for entrusting her hopes in morons.

When she had finally received an answer, she decided to set up a face-to-face meeting. Best if they could see what would happen if they tested her patience again.

Seeing her contact, how he cowered before here, was a feeling she wanted to relish. It was good to be the one holding all the cards. "You seemed incredibly adamant to seek us out. You have piques our curiosity," he said.

"Good," she said, giving him a smug smile. "I believe I have something you want."

He shook his head. "We had since abandoned that endeavor after our last dealings with you. It's not worth the loss of that many lives again."

Blackfire laughed and shook her head. "I don't think you understand. I have no intention of you retrieving her again. I want you to help me destroy her, enact your vengeance if you will."

His eyes narrowed. "Is that so? Such destruction was a travesty which we do not wish to relive. But the risk…"

"I'm the only risk you have to worry about," she snarled, holding up the power amplifier attached to her wrist. It let out a high-pitched whine as it powered up. "See, this time, you are going to follow all instructions."

One of his associates spoke up. "My lord, this troq is merely trying to…"

He never finished that thought before Blackfire reduced him to a pile of ash. Her contact looked at her with resignation. He had no choice. "I see then," was all he said. "Very well, but let me tell you that I may have something of interest for you."

He leaned in, muttering his explanation to her. For once, Blackfire was surprised. "You are certain?" she asked.

He nodded his head. "Indeed. You may see for yourself if you do not believe me."

"And what are you hoping to get out of this?" This meeting was taking longer than she wanted, and that was starting to nag her. And it was even more troublesome when they threw in unexpected things like this.

He shrugged. "Do with the information what you will. We would just like you to know so that we may ensure our own best interests."

She nodded, knowing they had played her well. "I can't guarantee you total protection, but know that no harm will come to you from my hand." She glanced at the smoldering pile of ash. "At least no one else."

He nodded in agreement. "Then you shall have him released to you so long as that is true."

Blackfire shrugged. "Doesn't matter either way."

"Very well. When shall we begin?"

She smiled. "Soon."