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#Justice
#JusticeforBreonnaTaylor
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A/N: If everything goes as plan, I will update more, at least once a week.
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The Past (5 of 7): Cyborg
Mistake one of this tale was meeting an old friend again.
"Make sure you all move the debris nice and steady. We don't want to create a bigger mess. Also, we have five more areas to go to."
The younger and newer Titans groaned as they cleaned up the area. This was their punishment for being disobedient and reckless during last week's fight.
"If you have time to groan, you have time to work." Cyborg yelled out.
"You know, you don't have to be so hard on them." Stargirl landed next to him, causing him to glance at her.
"Maybe, maybe not." The problems that the new group of Titans were creating couldn't be easily ignored. They were a talented group of individuals, yet they lack direction and discipline. In addition, they were an extremely prideful group, who couldn't and didn't like to admit when they were wrong and needed help.
"Well, what do you think? You think that you can whip them into shape and make them into proper Titans?"
No, thought Cyborg as he scanned the faces of each Titan. He unfortunately had to agree with Batman's assessment and conclusion of the team. They needed to be disbanded and placed as mentees under other superheroes.
When he first heard of this decision he rejected it. As an original Titan, he didn't want to see the name disappear completely or ended with a negative reputation. So, he volunteered to train and watch over the group. With only three months into the new job, he didn't see one ounce of improvement and he doubted that he would.
He now realized how fortunate that he and the others came from backgrounds that valued teamwork. He had been part of a football team. Robin, who currently went by Nightwing, had a great partnership with Batman until they broke up. Starfire fought in her planet's armed forces. Beastboy, currently known as Changeling, had been a part of the Doom Patrol. And while Raven never was a part of a group or duo, he was certain that the monks that raised her and work together to keep her father trapped played a significant role in her ability to work with others to get things done.
In addition, the Titans who moved into the Tower after them also had a great foundation, thanks to their mentors. If it wasn't for the corrupt mayor who had pushed them out, they most likely would still have been doing a great job as Titans.
He mentally kicked himself. He should have taken the opportunity to persuade the new Robin to join the Titans instead of Young Justice when he came to ask him his opinion on it. He wondered if Batman had another teenager running around somewhere. They were usually good in leadership positions.
He sighed before saying to Stargirl. "Only time will tell. "
"I'm sure you will turn this team around in no time."
"Thanks," he said with major doubt inside of his heart.
She smiled. "Well, let me go and help. After all, this is the Justice League's mess." She flew over to help the others.
Cyborg went over to the area closer to the paparazzi, where he told the others to avoid. He didn't want them to get distracted and not help out.
As he cleaned up the area, he ignored the reporters and fans that screamed his name and asked him questions. That was until someone screamed "Victory's Rock."
He immediately turned and scanned the crowd until he spotted a familiar face. Unlike the rest of the crowd, the person didn't wave or call his name. Instead, he waited patiently with a smirk on his face because he knew he had gotten Cyborg's attention.
He's still a jerk, Cyborg thought even though he wore a genuine smile on his face as he strolled toward the man.
"Anthony 'Ant' Jones, my man." He said excitedly.
"Vic 'Victory' Stone,"The handsome, well-built Asian man said, equally excited.
They pulled each other into a bro-hug before pulling back.
"How have you been, man?"
"You know, same old same old," Ant said with a smirk and shrugged, causing Victor to chuckle. He was the same person that he knew in high school.
Before his accident that had turned him into a cyborg, he was the star high school quarterback in his region, and Ant was the star receiver. Any ball that Vic threw, Ant was there to catch it, no matter how great or bad the pass was.
Ant used to joke that he always caught the ball since the balls that Victor threw felt as hard as a large rock and he was afraid that if the ball would hit someone it would kill them. Thus, ending their chance of going to the final since their star player was in jail.
It had been a joke but the team had started to call any ball that Victor threw Victory's rock.
"I thought that you would be a big-time NFL player by now."
"I would have," he said with no hint of modesty, "if it wasn't for an injury that I suffered in college."
"Sorry, man." Cyborg truly was. It was a great loss to the sport. He knew several players like Ant whose dreams were shattered do an injury before they could reach the big leagues.
"Don't be. I found another lucrative calling thanks to my parents."
Cyborg raised his eyebrow in surprise. "What? Are you chasing bugs now?"
He remembered Anthony complaining about his entomologist parents' creepy love for insects. They loved them so much the white couple had named their adopted son after one. Only a few people knew that Ant wasn't a nickname for Anthony but Anthony was a more appropriate name to call a son than Ant.
"No," he said with a look of disgust. "I met one of my parents' donors who steer me into another path. I, now,-"
He was cut off by a Titan, who yelled, "If you have time to talk, you have time to work!"
Cyborg chuckled. Why couldn't they learn the other things that he had taught as quickly? "I have to go. It was nice catching up with you."
Anthony pulled out a card with his name and number on it. "I just moved into town recently. It would be nice to hang out with an old friend. When you have time to talk and not work, call me and let's go grab a beer or two without the kids."
"Sure," Cyborg said honestly, taking the card. It would be nice to catch up at least once with an old friend.
"I'm looking forward to it." With that, they said their goodbyes.
One night of drinking beer, watching sports, and catching up at a sports bar turned into several. It was a time that Vic wouldn't regret. However, it led to mistake number two: Ant entering his and Sarah's lives.
"Thanks for hosting tonight at your place." Victor said, placing a bowl of popcorn on the table as Sarah brought in a case of beer.
When he wanted to go out on an overnight date with Sarah or wanted to host an adult party. He did it at Sarah's house to avoid noisy teenage interference at the Tower.
Victor walked over to grab the case as Sarah answered, "No problem. It's finally nice to meet a friend of yours that isn't a superhero. It's nice to have someone normal around."
"What?" He said surprised, placing the beer beside the wings. "I thought that you like having friends that were superheroes."
"I do but it's kind of annoying to keep inviting them over for dinner and they never eat more than one or two bites before leaving."
"Don't worry. They are not leaving because they think that your food tastes bad. They are leaving because we have to save the world."
"I know...wait, did someone say that my cooking was bad?"
The doorbell rang at that moment.
"That must be them. I will go answer it." He pulled her closer by her upper arms and kissed her on her forehead. "Don't worry, baby. Everyone who comes here loves your food."
As he moved to open the door, he didn't feel guilty for lying to his girlfriend, who he had dated since he was a Teen Titan. While his friends love Sarah's cakes and baked goods, they thought that her cooking was average at best. And that was on a good day.
He opened the front door to find Ant and a beautiful Asian woman who could easily pass for a plus-size model standing at the door.
"Hi," he greeted the couple. "Were you able to find the place okay?"
"No, we spent thirty minutes driving around." Ant answered jokily. "You gave horrible directions."
"Shut up, man," He said playfully. Noticing the beers in his friend's hand, he added, "You didn't have to bring anything."
Ant looked down at the beer before returning his sight back to Vic with a grin. "Your taste in beer sucks. I brought this for me. She-" he nodded to his companion. "-brought a dish."
"She has a name." The beautiful lady scolded with a fun-loving attitude.
The couple shared a look before Ant turned back to Cyborg with a smile. "This gorgeous woman is Amy Wen. She's fortunate enough to be my girlfriend slash fiancee."
Victor raised an eyebrow, causing Ant to shrug and say. "I keep going back and forward." Amy and Victor shook their heads.
"Anyways," Amy interjected, "it's nice to meet you." She tried to adjust the dish in her arm to shake his hand.
"Let me grab that for you." He took the dish and adjusted it in his arm. Once he determined it wouldn't fall, he shook her hand. "It's nice to meet you too. How did a lovely person like you end up with him"
"By force," Amy said with a smile.
"Oh, don't be like that." Ant threw an arm around her shoulder while holding the beers in the other. "You know that being with me is the best choice."
They shared another look while brightly smiling at each other.
"Hey, are you going to invite them in or are they going to watch the game from outside?" Sarah asked, coming up beside Vic.
"Sorry, come in." Vic stepped aside and allowed them to enter. He introduced them to Sarah. After introductions, Sarah and Amy went into the living room with the dish as he and Ant stood by the closed door and talked.
"Hey, did you like the business proposal that I sent?"
Victor sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry, I haven't read it yet"
Ant groaned. "It's been a month."
"I'm just playing. I read it. I think that it is a great idea."
"Really?" Ant asked hopefully.
"Really," Victor said truthfully.
"Good, let's talk some more after the game." Vic nodded as Ant switched topics. "By the way you have a beautiful girlfriend." Ant was looking at the ladies.
"Thanks. You do too."
"I know."
If only Cyborg knew what Ant's words meant and how Ant did business. He would have kept Sarah away from him and threw that proposal in the trash.
However, you rarely could see things clearly in the beginning.
In the beginning, it seemed that everyone was getting along well, that everyone was doing the right thing.
Hence, this is where he made his third mistake: trusting people.
"Hey, may I come in?"
Victor looked up from his desk with a smile. Life had been going great lately.
The team had been doing their part and working together. His relationship with Sarah had been heading in the right direction. No major events had occurred with the Justice League. And, his business with his partner was growing and already had the backers that it needed along with the funds to take it to the next level. If everything went right, they would be a major, competitive tech company in less than half a decade.
Nonetheless, everything wasn't perfect. There had been one thing that had been on his mind lately.
Raven.
He had been searching for her for months now without any luck. She literally went ghost and hadn't been heard or seen of since she left the team. He regretted not staying in contact with her.
Truthfully, the only person that he had stayed in contact with since the team split was Challenge, who he talked with frequently. Contact with Starfire was practically impossible while contact with Nightwing was limited to only superhero-related conversation if they saw each other.
It was the sad reality of growing up and growing apart.
"Come in, Amy." He said to Ant's fiancee who was standing at the open door.
His smile dropped as she walked closer and he noticed her puffy, red eyes.
"What's wrong?" He asked with concern.
"I think that you should look at this." She handed him two stacks of papers that were titled financial report and an investigation report.
Victor picked up the papers and read the reports. The more he read, the more he checked the information on his system. The more he checked, the more he could understand Amy's puffy eyes, and the more he became frustrated.
He put down the papers and looked at Amy, who asked, "Did we discover the same thing?"
He nodded slowly, feeling a headache coming on.
"Why would he do such a thing? Why didn't you pay more attention to him? Why-" Amy burst out into tears. She cried as her hands covered her face.
Victor looked at the reports with disgust before throwing the paper across the desk. Hadn't Sarah warned him about Anthony? Hadn't Amy urged him to always double-check behind him?
He had ignored both of them because he trusted Ant and he was good at what he did. To him, he was still the wide receiver that caught all of his passes.
He got up from his desk and went to comfort Amy. "Don't worry." He patted the woman that he thought of as a little sister on the back. "I will find a way to fix this." He said as he contacted his lawyer through his system.
...
Hours later, he was standing in front of Sarah's door with a heavy heart as his lawyer's words echoed in his head.
"The money can be replaced, but the company and Anthony have to go. If not..."
Victor lightly banged his head on the door in front of him.
Anthony had made a mess out of things. Stealing and illegal dealings. Plus, he tied up everything to the company.
This was a disaster.
He inserted the key inside of the doorknob and turned it. Inside of his girlfriend's place was another disaster that was happening in real-time.
He blinked up unable to process what he was seeing. On the couch, in dark green lingerie was his girlfriend Sarah.
However, the person that Sarah was sitting on top of was his best friend Garfield.
"What the heck!" He yelled, causing his girlfriend and green friend to jump.
They turned to look at Vic and immediately scramble apart. Sarah got up and covered herself with a robe that was hanging loosely on her body.
Gar walked towards him, saying "It's not what you think."
When his friend got close enough, he punched Gar in the face. "How could you? I trusted you!" He yelled at Gar, who was laying on the ground.
"Dude, it's not what you think!" Gar shouted back. "Sarah, tell him."
Vic grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up. "Don't call her name." He went to punch him again but was stopped short by a voice inside of his head.
"It's really not what you think." Ant said through the communication device. "It was truly one of those trip and fall moments. Besides, she wore that lingerie for me, not for him. Remember: dark green is my favorite color."
"How did you get through my system?" Vic asked, slowly lowering Gar back on the floor.
"You accepted my call. You must have done it by accident in your fit of rage."
Vic nodded while noticing Gar opening his mouth to talk. He sent him a murderous look. Gar snapped his mouth shut.
"How did you know what was happening here?"
"Oh, that teddy bear that I gave her has a camera in it. It's the little one on the bookshelf."
Vic walked to the bookshelf and picked up the teddy bear and looked at it.
"Yup, that's the one." Ant confirmed, causing Vic to throw the teddy bear on the floor in rage.
"Good, now that we got that out of the way," he continued, we need to discuss what Amy told you. Come to this location as soon as you can." The line went dead and Vic received a message with coordinates on it.
After plugging in the coordinates into his systems, he turned to a nervous Sarah. "You are sleeping with Anthony?"
"Vic," she said tearfully before crying.
He shook his head in anger and frustration. Nauseated, he moved to the door. However, he was stopped by Gar, who placed a hand on his arm.
"Where are you going? You shouldn't be driving like this."
"I don't know why you are here or what happened, but don't be here when I get back. Don't you ever be around my girlfriend when I'm not there."
He shook off his friend's hand and left.
He should have listened to Gar that night. Instead, he allowed his rage to take over. That was his fourth mistake.
If he had only trusted and believed in his true friend that night, he wouldn't have gone astray.
He arrived at the location and curiously observed the place. It looked like a very small, abandoned warehouse that could barely contain two eighteen-wheelers.
As he looked around as he spotted the keypad and pushed in the code that was provided in the text message that Ant sent him along with the instructions once he arrived at the warehouse.
A door opened, revealing a lift. He took that lift down as it moved, he noticed the writing on the wall that said 'Lab 52 A'.
When the lift stopped, another door opened and he entered into a lit room that was a mess. Machinery and wires were everywhere. He had to be careful where he stepped.
"Ant," he called out, searching for the person that called him here. "Where are you?"
"Right here." Ant said, walking out from an empty tank that was pushed back into a corner.
"How do you like this place?" He asked, glancing around. "It's not much but after I fix this up it will be a real beauty and profitable."
"How could you?! How could you do that with Sarah?" Vic's hands clenched and unclenched as he tried to control his anger.
"Are you still mad at that?" Ant asked nonchalantly. "She came on to me first. I only accepted what was offered." He looked Vic up and down. "I guess, the man is truly better than the machine when satisfying a woman's needs.
"But that's not important. She's not important right now. What Amy told you is important. That little traitor told you something that she shouldn't have. Now, I have to get rid of you."
Vic chuckled. "You're crazy, man. You think that you can just get rid of me. Even if you did, do you think that you can get away with it?"
"Yes, I'm crazy, but I'm also smart. I don't plan on getting rid of you per se. I plan on swapping bodies with you. Then, you or rather you as me will take that fall for everything that I have done."
"And, how do you plan on doing that?"
Anthony smirked and stepped back and up on a platform behind him. "By doing this." He pressed down on his phone screen.
The floor that Vic stood on glowed a bright blue, and his eyes began to close as his system shut down.
...
A couple of minutes later, his system was rebooted and his eyes opened. He was sitting in a chair with wires connected to the base of his skull.
He pulled at the wires and disconnected them. He stood and walked over to see Anthony banging on the tank that he was currently in.
"You aren't that smart." Vic said slowly, ignoring the frantic look on his face. "You aren't the first person to think of that trying to switch my conscious with theirs. I also doubt that you will be the last."
Ant banged on the tank louder and harder.
"Don't worry. I will get you out." Victor scanned the room and noticed the device that would release Anthony from the tank.
Cyborg picked up the device and entered the corrected code after hacking the device information.
But something unexpected happened.
Instead of the fluid being drained from the tank and Anthony being released, he watched in shock as electric currents traveled throughout the tank. When it stopped, the dull eyes of Ant watched him and a horrible thought entered into his head.
What a relief.
Anthony's disappearance solved a plethora of problems. And as long as he didn't appear again, their business was completely his, thanks to the preparations that Ant had done when he planned to take over his body.
However, it would be years later that he would realize his fifth mistake: remembering.
As he stood over the gravesite of his ex-friend and business partner, he wondered if he was doing the right thing by keeping Ant inside of Lab 52A's tank.
With the company and everything that he thought that they had built properly on the line, he had made his choice. It wasn't the right or legal choice but it was the choice that he thought was best.
He sighed. He was no better than his father who turned him into a cyborg. At least, his father had been trying to save his life.
A hand touched his shoulder. He turned to see the teary face of Amy. He pulled her into a hug and held her close.
"Don't worry." He whispered on top of her head. "It will get better." He held the sobbing woman, wondering if he should tell her the truth, wondering if the truth would bring her comfort.
As he opened his mouth to speak, a familiar head of blond hair caught his attention. Sarah.
He gulped.
He couldn't deal with her now. So, he steered the crying Amy away from the gravesite to his car.
While walking along the path to the parking lot, they passed a man carrying flowers with a small index shaped card attached to it. The name of the card stood out to him. It was the same name on the letter he had handed to Anthony a while ago.
"Hey," Victor entered Anthony's office. "I got a letter for you. It was in my mail by mistake."
He walked over to the desk where Anthony sat and handed him the letter.
Anthony took the letter and immediately smiled brightly once he read who it was from.
"Good news?" Vic asked, thinking it was related to the company although he didn't remember anyone with the name that could be related to W. Harrison.
The only Harrison that he knew was Ives Harrison, who wasn't someone who would send a letter.
"No," Anthony answered with a wide grin. "This is personal. This letter is from the future Mrs. Jones."
Victor raised his only eyebrow. "Isn't the future Mrs. Jones sitting just outside this door, working as our secretary?"
Ant snorted as if he said something ridiculous. "No, she was a temp. This person here is who I want. I'm crazy about her, man. Do you remember the girl that I was dating in high school?"
Victor thought for a moment and answered, "Jessica?"
Ant snorted again. "No, I left Jessica for her."
Vic didn't remember the girl's name or what she looked like due to the fact that Ant never brought her around the team and his high school was big. Yet, he remembered the situation had caused a big scandal in school which led to the girl being bullied.
"What about her?"
"We dated until college until she ...until we went our separate way. However, I found her. And I'm going to make sure that I never let her go again."
Victor got up and closed the door before whispering furiously. "Are you crazy, man? Amy is out there picking out a design for you all's wedding and you are talking about marrying another girl."
Ant shrugged. "She will be alright along with the other girl who I'm seeing."
Victor stared at him in shock and disbelief but before he could respond Amy knocked on the door and walked in.
They were never able to revisit the conversation again because soon everything else came to light.
Victor made a decision right then not to tell Amy. She didn't need to waste her energy and love on a person like Anthony. Like he did.
Despite everything that Anthony did, he was still a friend to him. Maybe it was because a lot of things were revealed in a short period of time. Or, he felt bad because of the decision that he had made.
Whatever the reason was he felt that as long as he lived he would always have a love-hate relationship with Ant that was mixed with regret.
