Chapter 31

Fight For Your Life...

While everyone was startled by the sudden appearance of Polybius, after seeing just how powerful Claudia was, it didn't surprise them. With Claudia having orchestrated this entire thing, and after everything else they had seen thus far, this was actually one of the more believable things they saw.

"Polybius?" Robin was the first to speak up.

It was clear to the Titans, however, that Polybius was also not expecting to see them, as he was visibly startled once he recognized them. He took a step back and put his hands up, revealing to the Titans that he was missing his ring fingers.

"That's him!" Robin said, looking at the absence of ring fingers.

"Sure is!" Claudia taunted, "And I'm sure he's not happy to see you."

As Claudia said that, Polybius's expression turned from one of a surprise to one of anger. He smiled as he realized what had just been offered to him.

"Polybius?" Starfire questioned as a wave of fear washed over all of them.

"Now this is some real Mortal Kombat stuff right here." Claudia said, "And I want a good show! So here's what's going to happen. I am going to give you guys back your powers, but also take away Polybius's ability to feel pain so he can fully utilize his!"

At that moment, the Titans expect Robin to feel a slight headache, followed by a surge of power going through them.

"Aw sweet!" Cyborg said, getting his sonic cannon back and tossing aside the makeshift weapon and armor he had made himself.

The others followed suit except for Donna, who hung onto the sword she had been given.

Polybius, meanwhile, felt a wave of euphoria rush through him as the pain he lived with was suddenly lifted. He made his relief visible to the Titans as she silently laughed.

"Now then!" Claudia said, "I'll give you a few minutes to talk about what kind of strategy you guys want to try and prepare yourselves for the ass-whopping you're about to get!"

The Titans looked at Polybius as he prepared himself for the fight. The relief they had felt moments ago was now replaced by a heavy sense of fear and dread.

"Uh, any ideas?" Beast Boy questioned, "I mean, can we like, talk him out of it?"

"I think he wants to fight." Raven stated, "We weren't on good terms when he blew up the T-car."

"So then we're screwed." Beast Boy said.

"We're not screwed." Robin assured him, "If he wants a fight, we'll give him one."

"Dude!" Beast Boy shouted, "He took on Wonder Woman! And he was feeling pain in that fight, AND he held back! Not to mention he won!"

"We have to stick together." Robin ordered.

"Look, I hate to admit, but we're outmatched here." Cyborg bluntly stated, "Even with Terra and Wonder Girl, I don't like our odds."

"I agree with Cyborg." Starfire said, "I think the saying is, 'we had better cut our losses and go.'"

"I don't think she'll let us." Robin said, referring to Claudia, "She wanted us to come down here. She wanted this to happen, and she's going to do everything she can to get what she wants."

"Well, that probably also means she wants us to lose as well." Terra pointed out.

"Then we'll just have to find a way to stop her." Robin said.

While the Titans discussed a battle strategy, Donna, meanwhile, was completely out of it. Her eyes were locked on Polybius in disbelief. She hadn't said a word since he revealed himself as she couldn't believe it. The fact that he was alive at all made her feel warm. However, unlike earlier when she mistook Nega-Polybius for the real Polybius, she didn't feel thrilled about it. In fact, she was dreading what was about to happen as she didn't think she could bring herself to fight him. Not after everything that had happened. Even if everything they had been through together was all staged.

"Donna?" Raven questioned, shaking the exile on the shoulder, "You good?"

"N- No." Donna muttered out.

"Look, we all know you love him." Raven said, "However, I don't think he's going to hold back this time."

"He won't." Donna assured him, "After how we left him… He's going to kill us."

"Times up!" Claudia announced before Raven could say anything, "Now Polybius, why don't you go release some of that pent up hatred you have for them."

That was all Polybius needed to hear. As soon as Claudia finished that sentence, Polybius sprung out two of his back tentacles and quickly launched himself across the room at the Titans at a blindly fast speed. This gave the Titans little time to react as Polybius was quick to smash the ground in front of them, causing a shock wave to knock them all off their feet. Starfire and Raven flew high to avoid it while Robin used his acrobatic skills to elegantly land, but Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Terra, however, got caught in the blast. Donna, meanwhile, let it hit her. However, due to her super strength, she was able to get hit and not be too affected by it.

Robin was the first to make a move on Polybius, as he charged the mute under the cover of a barrage of starbolts provided by Starfire.

Polybius, however, was still just as immune to her starbolts as he was when he was with them, and they didn't even phase him. Raven tried to assist Starfire as well by using her powers to throw some of the metal plates on the wall at Polybius. However, in response to this, Polybius used his two back tentacles to beat them back as if they were baseballs.

When Robin reached Polybius, Starfire stopped firing starbolts, and Raven stopped throwing things at him. Robin attempted to use his staff to hit Polybius in the jaw. The mute allowed Robin to do this as his thick skin and rigid bones were completely unaffected by this. All Polybius did is when the staff made contact with his jaw, Polybius moved his head with the attack but was quick to react.

Polybius then tried to back-hand slap the masked leader with his left hand. Robin dogged this as Polybius anticipated. However, rather than try to press an attack on Polybius, after seeing how ineffective his previous attack was, he tried to create distance. Polybius, however, did not allow this to happen as he quickly brought his two tentacles and formed a circle around Robin. The leader tried to use his staff to pole-fault himself over the barrier, but Polybius shot one of his tentacles up, knocking Robin off balance and causing him to fall over when he hit the ground.

Cyborg, now back on his feet, fired a sonic cannon blast at Polybius. The blast hit Polybius but didn't affect the mute, as Polybius had also displayed his immunity to those attacks as well in the past. However, Cyborg's intent was to create a distraction so Robin could get away, which it did as Polybius shifted his attention to him.

The mute responded by smacking the ground with one of his tentacles, causing a shock wave to hit Cyborg, knocking him off his feet. However, Polybius didn't stop there, as he then used that same tentacle to grab Cyborg by the ankle before shifting his attention to the green rhino charging him.

Using the downed metal Titan, Polybius used him to sideswipe Beast Boy and send both of them flying across the room. The two crashed into a wall, and Beast Boy resumed his human form.

"Ow…" Beast Boy groaned as Cyborg picked himself up.

"Get your green butt up!" Cyborg told him, "We've gotta keep fighting!"

Polybius, meanwhile, had shifted his attention to Starfire and Raven, who were using their power of flight to stay ahead of him. They also continued to blast him with starbolts and bursts of dark energy to keep him distracted so the others could develop an attack plan.

However, Polybius didn't allow them to keep this up for very long, as he used his two back tentacles to launch himself directly at Raven. The young sorceress didn't have time to move out of the way before Polybius was on her.

The mute crashed into her and quickly forced her to the ground. When the two landed, Raven was on her back and Polybius on top of her. Raven closed her eyes as she braced for the impact and opened them just in time to see Polybius deliver a swift punch across her face, connecting on her cheekbone.

"Get off of her!" Terra shouted.

Terra used her earth powers to shoot a rock column out of the floor and directly at Polybius. This attack hit Polybius but didn't even knock the wind out of him as he traveled with the column and into the wall.

"Raven!" Starfire shouted, quickly landing by her side.

"Uh…" Raven groaned as she put a hand to where the punch had made contact.

Starfire moved her hand to see a small amount of blood and a massive bruise quickly forming where the punch had made contact.

"Raven!" Robin shouted as he quickly rushed to her side, "Can you heal yourself?"

"Y- Yeah." Raven said, clearly dazed from the attack.

As Raven began to heal herself, Polybius, meanwhile, now had his sights set on Terra. Terra thought she had done an outstanding job by knocking him down. However, she didn't know better like the others. She didn't realize that Polybius would allow his opponents to strike him so they would feel more confident and because he could take a hit.

And she made her ignorance clear to everybody when she was visibly taken off guard at how Polybius had shrugged off her attack as if it were nothing because to him, it was nothing.

Launching himself across the room again, Polybius attempted to do a double tentacle slam like he did earlier. However, Beast Boy reacted faster and was able to push Terra out of the way in time, while Cyborg followed up with another sonic cannon blast to keep him distracted.

"What the heck!?" Terra questioned, "How did he brush that off like it was nothing!?"

"Because that's one of the many great things about Polybius." Beast Boy said, "He can take a beating like no one else."

Helping Terra to her feet, neither one of them saw Polybius launch himself at them as he ignored Cyborg. Instead of smashing his tentacles, however, Polybius did a soft landing, drawing the two tentacles back inside him, and quickly punched Beast Boy in the head, causing the green teen to stumble over.

Before Terra could react, Polybius also back-hand slapped her, causing her to fall over. This prompted Cyborg to charge the mute in an attempt to help his friends. However, Polybius grabbed Terra by her ankles and threw her into Cyborg.

Cyborg stopped dead in his tracks and managed to catch Terra, and he set her down on her feet.

"Geez, he's tough." Terra commented.

"Which is what was so great about him until now." Cyborg told her.

"Seriously, how are we supposed to beat this guy?" Terra asked.

"We don't know." Cyborg answered, "Right now, the only plan is to keep wailing on him and hope that we can exhaust him before he kills us."

Polybius, meanwhile, had shifted his attention to Starfire. The alien princess had charged him and flew directly into him. She picked him up off the ground and attempted to throw him right back into it. However, as she released him, Polybius shot out of his back tentacles and quickly wrapped it around her ankle.

Unable to resist the momentum she had created by throwing Polybius, Starfire got dragged down with Polybius, who managed to land elegantly on his feet while smashing Starfire into the ground.

"Starfire!" Robin shouted as Polybius drew his back tentacle back into his back.

"I'm okay!" Starfire shouted as she picked herself up.

Polybius then shifted his attention over to Robin, who threw an ice disc at the mute. As this happened, Raven flew to the far side of Polybius while Cyborg and Beast Boy closed in. Polybius, for the most part, dogged this attack; however, his right foot did get stuck in ice.

"He's stuck!" Robin shouted, "Hit him now!"

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Raven chanted.

Using her powers, Raven shot a very powerful and highly concentrated beam of dark energy directly at Polybius. This made contact with Polybius as he didn't have enough time to both free himself and get out of the way, and it hit him hard. This caused Polybius to get sent flying a short distance closer to the center of the room, causing him to land on his stomach.

Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Raven quickly closed in on him and surrounded him. However, by the time they got into position, Polybius was already on his feet and recognized the situation he was in.

Bending over so that the opening in his back was the highest point on his body, Polybius then shot out four back tentacles and spun them around like helicopter blades, taking out all four combatants in one swift motion.

"Since when can he do that!?" Beast Boy shouted as he picked himself up.

"Always." Robin answered, "He's just never done because he's held back."

Now with four tentacles out, Terra decided to try and do something drastic. Using her powers, she attempted to cause the ground under Polybius to shoot up in small chunks as to knock him off balance. And while she was successful in pulling it off, what Polybius did in response startled everyone in the room except Claudia.

Polybius then displayed the ability to walk on his four back tentacles, balancing them on small pieces of rock to keep himself upright. Terra attempted to stop this by moving the rocks, but to no avail. Polybius responded by continually jumping from one rock to another as he began to charge her.

Terra panicked as she began to give ground. However, Polybius moved faster and quickly launched himself at her feet first. The young blonde-haired girl was unable to move out of the way as Polybius's boots crashed into her body, causing her to fly across the room and into a wall. As he did this, Polybius also drew back in two of his back tentacles but let two out.

Landing on his feet, Polybius saw Starfire charging him. However, rather than use his tentacles to stop it, he used his stomach instead.

As she rapidly approached him, Polybius brought his stomach out of his body and shot it out at her face. He didn't dig his tallon into her and didn't inject her with his digestive enzymes, but instead used his stomach to grab hold of her face and control her flight path.

Polybius then forced her into the ground, not hard, but enough to get her rolling as he drew his stomach back inside of his body.

"Ew!" Starfire said as she wiped away the mysterious wet liquid on her face that came from Polybius's stomach.

Beast Boy, who had now picked himself up, transformed into a T-rex and let out a massive roar as he squared up with Polybius. The mute smiled as he turned and faced the green T-rex. Beast Boy charged Polybius, causing the ground to shake under him with each stomp. This didn't phase Polybius, however, as he shot his back tentacle at Beast Boy and wrapped it around his jaw. Then, in a display of immense power and strength, he tossed Beast Boy aside and into a wall, causing it to collapse down on top of him.

"Beast Boy!" Terra shouted as she rushed over to him, now recovered from Polybius's attack.

Terra would never reach Beast Boy as Polybius shot a tentacle and clotheslined her, causing her to fall flat on her back.

Shifting his attention back to Robin, Cyborg, and Raven, Polybius saw the three were standing, but clearly unsure of how to react. However, Starfire swooped in and fired more starbolts at him in an attempt to draw his attention away from them, which was successful.

"We're getting our butts whooped!" Cyborg shouted to Robin.

"I know!' Robin replied, "We've just got to try something different.

"He's gotta have a weakness!" Cyborg said.

"Pain was his weakness!" Raven replied, "Now that that's gone, we don't have much of a chance."

"I've got an idea." Robin said, "Cyborg, Raven, I need you two to distract him while I get behind him."

The two didn't verbally respond as they trusted Robin enough to do as he said. The two then charged ahead of the masked leader and joined Starfire in their barrage, Cyborg firing sonic cannon blasts, and Raven using her powers to throw rocks at him. Polybius put up his arms to deflect the attacks while Robin took the long way around to get behind the mute.

Polybius, distracted by the barrage, used one of his back tentacles to sweep all three of them in one swift motion, sending all three of them into the wall. However, by doing this, he created the exact situation Robin was looking for.

Using one of his fire discs, Robin threw it right into the opening in Polybius's back. As soon as it entered the mute, it ignited and clearly caused a lot of discomfort for Polybius as he stumbled forward and landed on his knees.

"Yes!" Robin cheered as Polybius struggled to recover from the attack.

Seeing what Robin did, Terra attempted to join in by throwing a massive rock into his back. However, the attack wasn't as effective as it initially seemed. Polybius looked over at the rock and batted it out of the air with one of his back tentacles before shifting his attention back over to Robin.

Robin was taken off guard by the glare that Polybius gave him as he had never seen so much hate in the mute's eyes. This was enough to cause Robin to pause for a second as he realized just how badly he had just screwed up.

Getting up, Polybius charged Robin in a rage and hate induced frenzy. Polybius started by grabbing Robin by his ankle, and he began smashing him into the ground repeatedly. However, Polybius was careful to not smash him hard enough to cause severe damage or cause him to die. After doing this a dozen times, Polybius then brought the masked leader close and threw him up in the air. On the leader's way back down, however, Polybius shot his stomach at him and hit him in the face, causing him to fly across the room and land right in front of the door of the Processor.

"Robin!" Starfire shouted as both she and Raven rushed to his side.

Robin groaned as the two females helped him up. Raven was quick to use her powers to heal the masked leader as best she could. Cyborg and Terra provided a distraction for them by charging the mute. However, Cyborg almost immediately got knocked next to Robin by a quick snap of one of Polybius's tentacles.

"Dude!" Beast Boy began as he stumbled over to them, "We're getting out butts whooped."

"Like you expected anything else to happen?" Cyborg questioned as he picked himself up.

"When did Polybius become so beefy again?" Beast Boy asked.

"Claudia took away his physical pain." Raven said, "That's what always held him back in fights. But now, with his pain gone, even if we are hurting him, he's not feeling it."

"Then what do we do!?" Beast Boy asked.

"We fight." Robin said, "And we don't give in!"

"And Robin did point out another weakness." Cyborg said, "Beast Boy, see if you can get into his back and start messing him up on the inside."

"Right!" Beast Boy said.

As they were talking, Polybius had reached Terra. He had listened in to what they were planning to do to him, and he had already decided what he was going to do about it.

Grabbing Terra as she desperately used her powers to throw more rocks at him, he spun around and threw her nearly a hundred miles an hour, right at Beast Boy. The two crashed into each other and got sent flying across the room.

"So much for that." Cyborg said as he watched the two crash into the wall.

Robin, now somewhat recovered thanks to Raven's healing powers, once again squared off with Polybius with Cyborg, Raven, and Starfire right behind him.

"Remember." Robin said, "Hit him in the back."

Saying that out loud was a mistake as it clearly enraged Polybius. Deciding he wasn't going to allow them to make the first move, Polybius decided to give ground this time. He jumped back and shot out four of his back tentacles to use as legs. The Titans, not expecting to see him give ground, were unsure of how to react, giving Polybius more time to back up to the wall.

Using the holes in the wall Terra had created with her powers, Polybius used them to climb up towards the ceiling. Robin then realized what he was planning on doing and ordered Starfire and Raven to try and stop it.

The two females flew at him at high speeds. The two decided to hit him with a spin beam, grabbing each other's hands and rotating around each other while shooting a starbolt beam and dark magic beam. This, however, was ineffective against Polybius as he jumped off of the ceiling and dogged both of them, heading straight for Robin and Cyborg.

"Look out!" Cyborg said as he fired a sonic cannon blast in the hopes of, at the very least, disorient Polybius, but to no avail.

The two tried to move away but were not fast enough as Polybius crashed into the ground with a force to rival that of an earthquake. The entire room shook, and a heavy-hitting shockwave hit the two males, knocking both of them off their feet.

Returning to his own feet, Polybius then used his back tentacles to grab Robin and Cyborg and launch them into Raven and Starfire. Raven used her powers to catch them before they collided into herself and Starfire.

Polybius looked up and saw that they were preoccupied with the two, to react to his next move, which was that he launched himself in the air right at Starfire. However, he deliberately came up short as to use her as he used his back tentacle to grab onto her and swing up at Raven. He then kicked Raven, his foot connecting right under her jaw, causing her to get knocked out by the blow and fall out of the sky, dropping Robin and Cyborg as well.

Polybius, however, didn't let go of Starfire, as he quickly grabbed onto the ceiling, hung upside down, and brought her in close. As he drew her in, he quickly wrapped his tentacle around her so she couldn't escape him, despite her valiant struggle against him.

"Raven!" Terra called out as she barely managed to catch her.

As Terra caught Raven, Polybius brought Starfire mere inches from his face and smiled.

"Polybius!" Starfire tried to reason, knowing the starbolts she shot from her eyes were useless against him, "Please, we're your friends! And we are terribly sorry for what we did to you! But please, forgive us and stop this madness!"

Polybius, unable to verbally answer, did so by quickly putting the squeeze on Starfire. The alien princess let out cries of pain as Polybius applied a force that put her hugs to shame. Starfire then felt herself struggle to breathe and began desperately gasping for breath.

"Starfire!" Robin shouted.

Using his grappling hook, Robin aimed and fired it right at Polybius. The hook hit Polybius in the face and briefly caused him to lose focus. However, he did not loosen his grip on Starfire as he decided to deal with Robin.

Dropping down from the ceiling, Polybius, this time, did so with a lot more finesse as he let go of Starfire. The two dropped from the ceiling at the same speed. However, when they reached the ground, Polybius used his back tentacles to cushion his landing, while Starfire hit the ground and bounced away from Polybius.

Quickly propping himself up on his four tentacles, he faced off against the Titans again. However, what he didn't realize, is that he fell right where the Titans wanted him.

Cyborg opened up with a sonic cannon blast, which Polybius, this time, moved out of the way of, allowing it to go into the wall behind him. However, what he didn't see behind him was Beast Boy, who had morphed into a flying squirrel and launched himself right at Polybius's back.

Flying right into Polybius's back, the mute immediately recognized what was going on and didn't waste time responding to the threat.

Once inside, Beast Boy morphed into a rat and began chewing on Polybius's tentacles. However, what the green teen quickly found was that Polybius's tentacles were far more resilient than they physically appeared. In fact, they were so resilient that they actually hurt his teeth.

The pain in his teeth was enough to distract Beast Boy from the real threat to him, as Polybius moved his stomach and grabbed ahold of him. Beast Boy let out panicked rat squeals as the mute quickly ejected him from his body.

"That didn't work." Cyborg said as they watched Beast Boy go flying.

What the Titans didn't expect was for Polybius to go after Beast Boy. They assumed that if Beast Boy had failed, with the Titans being in his face, his attention would have stayed with them. However, Polybius's anger at Beast Boy entering his body without his permission was clearly enough to hold his attention.

"Beast Boy!" Terra called out as Polybius moved.

As soon as Beast Boy hit the ground, Polybius used one of his back tentacles and quickly smashed him into the ground, putting an end to Beast Boy's assistance in the fight by knocking him out.

"Great." Cyborg said as he and Robin began to give ground, now we're two Titans down."

"Soon to be all of us." Terra added, "He's going to kill us!"

"No he's not." Robin said, "If he wanted to do that, he would have killed Starfire when he shot his stomach at her."

"What?" Terra asked.

"His stomach has a venom in it that, when injected, will kill you." Cyborg explained.

"Oh." Terra said, "So you guys are saying he's just playing with us?"

"Clearly." Robin answered, "I don't even think he's taking this fight seriously."

Polybius then turned and faced the remaining Titans again. Starfire, while in bad shape, managed to pick herself up and join Robin, Cyborg, and Terra in what would appear to be their last stand. They were all bruised and battered and clearly had no chance against Polybius's power.

"Any ideas?" Terra asked.

"Yeah." Cyborg said, "Don't be the next one to go down."

Polybius, eager to keep the fight moving, decided to rush the Titans on his tentacles. He quickly charged them, prompting Terra to try and destroy the ground under him so he couldn't move. However, she did this in a line, and Polybius's tentacles just moved outwards to the edges of that line and kept going forward. Robin tried to help her by throwing one a flash disc at Polybius, but the mute dogged it.

Polybius then crashed into Robin and quickly put the masked leader out of action. He achieved this by, at the last possible second, launching himself directly at the leader. Robin, both too weak and too close to dodge the attack, was helpless as Polybius hit him feet first in the chest. And while this movie didn't knock out Robin, what did knock him out was when he hit the ground headfirst and slid into the wall behind him headfirst.

Now back on his feet, Polybius drew back in two of his back tentacles and took off on foot after Terra, who was the most isolated out of the three.

"Oh no, you don't!" Cyborg shouted as he popped up his shoulder-mounted missile launchers.

Firing a barrage of missiles at Polybius, the mute effortlessly dodged them by dropping to his knees and sliding a dozen feet. When he came to a stop, he shot one foot out to spin himself around, simultaneously extending one of his back tentacles and knocking Cyborg off his feet. The metal Titan hit the ground with a thud but was not out of the fight.

Starfire attempted to slow him down by shooting him with a few starbolts, but due to her weakened state, she could not accurately shoot them, and they ended up going way off target.

Terra also attempted to delay what she knew was about to happen by shooting up a rock wall between herself and him. However, this was ultimately fruitless as Polybius easily jumped over the wall with the power of his tentacles and perched himself right on top. He looked down at her, and the two made eye contact for a brief moment.

When this happened, Terra was thrown for a loop by what she saw in his eyes. She didn't see hate or anger towards her, but rather pity. As if Polybius was almost upset that she had gotten dragged into this mess at all.

This moment of confusion, however, was all Polybius needed to put Terra out of the fight. Rather than doing anything extreme or extra like he had with the others, Polybius just simply used one of his tentacles and hit her in the side of the head. This blow, while powerful enough to knock Terra out, was far lighter than any of the other hits had thrown at the other Titans.

As Terra hit the ground, Polybius looked over at the last two Titans standing, Cyborg and Starfire. The mute slowly lowered himself off the wall and, this time walked calmly towards them.

"I believe the saying is, 'it has been an honor to serve with you, friend Cyborg.'" Starfire spoke up, knowing they couldn't stop what was about to happen.

While Cyborg desperately wanted to argue with her, he couldn't. He knew that with Starfire's weakened state, as well as the ineffectiveness of their powers against him, they stood no chance.

"And it has been an honor to serve with you, Starfire." Cyborg agreed.

Polybius silently scoffed at them in a mocking fashion.

"Don't make fun of us!" Cyborg shouted.

Polybius didn't respond as he stopped walking and squared off with them one final time. The two Titans exchanged looks with each other. They didn't need words to know that they both were going to go down fighting together.

Summoning the last of their strength and courage, the two charged Polybius, firing sonic cannon blasts and starbolts at Polybius in an attempt to daze and confuse him. Polybius, however, made no effort to dodge them. He just stood there and let the two-run towards him, the shots hitting him but not affecting him.

Cyborg reached Polybius first and took a swing at the mute. Polybius stepped back and let Cyborg continue to swing at him for a little while. Starfire, meanwhile, tried to get behind him, but this was a mistake, for as soon as she got in line with his back, Polybius shot four of his back tentacles out at her all at once. All four of these hit her and sent her flying across the room and crashing into the wall on the far side. And while under normal circumstances, Starfire could have taken this hit, due to her weakened state, she was knocked unconscious by this.

Cyborg stopped his frenzy for a moment as Polybius took a few more steps back and drew his back tentacles inside his body again. The two stared at each other and locked eyes. And for a brief moment, Cyborg was taken back to one of his first memories with Polybius.

For a brief moment, the two were back at that old car show they had visited together years ago the very first time they hung out together. Cyborg found himself in the driver's seat of that 1940s Ford deluxe car that he had driven with Polybius that day. And a very particular string of words rang through his mind.

"And I promise you, things will get better for you…" Cyborg's own words rang through his mind.

Cyborg paused for a moment as he lowered his head. He knew that all of this could have been avoided, even if Claudia claimed it couldn't have been. If he had just kept his promise to Polybius, none of this would have happened. More than likely, the two of them would be off hanging out, tuning up the T-car, or kicking bad-guy butt right now.

Cyborg felt an odd wave of emotions rush through him, ones he didn't expect to feel in a fight for his life. He felt sadness take the place of the confidence he held onto just mere minutes ago and dropped to one knee.

"I'm sorry, Polybius." Cyborg spoke up, but not taking the mute off guard, "I'm so sorry I lied to you. Things never did get better for you, did they?"

Cyborg saw Polybius's feet come into his field of view. He looked up to see Polybius standing over him, all of the emotion gone from his eyes. However, the mute did give him a small gesture of reassurance as he put his left hand on the metal Titan's right shoulder. This was quickly shattered as Polybius shook his head, answering his question.

As Polybius shook his head, he brought out one of his back tentacles and wrapped it around his arm. The mute then proceeded to make a fist and shatter the moment by uppercutting Cyborg right under his jaw and knocking him out of the fight.

As Polybius watched Cyborg's body fly through the air, he brought his back tentacle back inside his body before Cyborg hit the ground. The metal Titan bounced twice before coming to a complete stop on his back and head facing the shoulder that Polybius had his hand on seconds ago.

And there you have it! Chapter 31! Super sorry about the delay on this one, but I wanted to make sure this one came out right, and I'm extremely happy with the way it did. And I hope you are as well, and please, let me know what you think by leaving a review. This story is coming to a close, but the next chapter will hopefully top this one as well.

But until then, as always, have a good one!