The 12 Labors of Cyborg

Disclaimer: No… own… Teen… Titans. I don't own Greek Mythology either. But I DO own this fiction. NO TOUCH!

A/N: Hydra is an actual character in either DC or Marvel… don't remember. I probably won't get this all completely accurate- artistic license, alright? Anyway, Cyborg had already fought a Hydra in another one of my stories, and that would just be redundant. I always thought Cyborg was pretty damn tough. How else could he have taken down Cinderblock on his own?

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The Lernean Hydra

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"STARFIRE IS GOING TO KILL ME!"

Cyborg bellowed this as he rushed down the street, retracing all of his steps. People gave him a wide berth… he couldn't blame them. He realized that he was acting like a complete mad-man (and a mad-man in metallic body-armor no less) but… he didn't want to die. And Starfire would murder him if he lost the photograph…

He scrambled back through the old abandoned building (the lion and his keepers were long gone), ran up the street, only slowly down enough to cast about anxious for any sign of the 6X12 that was going to spell his doom…

There! He spotted it fluttering near the edge of traffic- and dove for it. A gust of wind from a passing car suddenly swept it upwards- the piece of paper fluttered above his head- before flying out into traffic. Cyborg clenched his teeth and watched as the photo swooped among the cars, narrowly missing being shredded in the grill of a truck, only just avoiding the wheels of a car… and then it landed on the opposite side of the street.

Cyborg stabbed frantically at the button on the crosswalk lights… "Come on, come on, come on!" he shouted. A few people also standing at the crosswalk inched away from him.

Cyborg didn't care. The light on the other side of the street turned from a red palm to a white, flashing, walking man- the cars came to a stop… Cyborg barreled across the street as if he was running from the devil himself. The paper was just within his grasp… he dove for it…

…and once again it squirted out of his grip. The paper fluttered almost… mockingly… into a building. Cyborg chased after it doggedly, bounding through the doorway, nearly grabbed it- but it stayed just out of his reach. Cyborg gritted his teeth in rage, and continued… before bumping suddenly into someone. He knocked her to the marble floor- the paper continued its merry jaunt, pulled along now by some force other than wind, but Cyborg stopped long enough to offer the woman he had knocked down his hand.

And then he withdrew in utter shock. The woman had a green octopus stuck to her chest! Despite himself, he withdrew with a shout of surprise…

The woman slowly stood up, reaching towards him with one quivering hand… he could see absolutely nothing in the woman's eyes… was she… dead? Cyborg recoiled, not quite certain what to do.

…green octopus… walking corpse… that was Hydra!

Hydra, the biological scourge that infested human bodies, turning them into slaves for its own, unknown purpose… This was not good… Hydra would spread like a disease, take over everything… everyone… and… in slow shock, he looked around him. More people, green octopus-type-things attached to their bodies, began to swarm in around him. Cyborg coolly leveled his sonic cannon at them, and began to blast them away. But whenever he shot them back, they continued to get to their feet…

…of course… how could he kill something that was already dead?

Cyborg snapped open his communicator, to call for backup- but sparks and ruined machinery was all that greeted him. The lion… its claws had torn apart the phone in his arm, and he had been far too distracted by the photograph to notice… Cyborg cursed his luck, and continued to blast the Hydra and its entities backwards.

If he hit them enough, they didn't get back up… especially if he damaged the octopus on their chest.

But there were too many of them- how long had the Hydra been slowly sinking its tentacles into the city? How had he and his teammates failed to see its foul degradation of the city before this? Hydra usually only took corpses for its hosts, but soon enough it would turn to the living populace- and that couldn't be allowed to happen. Cyborg started retreat towards the door- he couldn't defeat all of these corpses on his own- but found his way blocked.

More of Hydra's components came slinking and stumbling out of the hallways, dead eyes staring at him, mouths opened in voiceless moans. A grim smirk invaded Cyborg's features. "You want to play rough? Fine…"

He raised his sonic cannon towards the ceiling, and let loose with a stream of energy. A massive hole was torn in the plaster where his beam struck- the ceiling began to cave in. Hydra's components moaned in sickly terror, but rather than racing out of the building into the streets- they rushed inwards. Cyborg retreated in shock, watching them disappear from sight… he was no fool, though, and raced out onto the street.

A crowd had gathered to watch the building fall, and voices murmured in shock and fright as they watched it crumble to the ground. A slight moaning emerged from within. "Go! Get out of here!" he shouted at the crowd… and thankfully, they dispersed- running.

Something was emerging from the rubble.

It was the most bulbous, freakish, frightening… green… thing Cyborg had ever seen… the Hydra Queen. Whatever it had once been had long since disappeared under a mass of tentacles and green, pulpy skin- with great effort, it hefted its enormous body out of the rubble, and began to slowly drag itself towards Cyborg.

It was wounded… that much was obvious. But it was powerful… incredibly powerful. All of its subjects had been destroyed… and now it needed new hosts for its spawn. New bodies, new servants… and Cyborg looked like a likely recipient of its first new egg. "Back off, you ugly piece of calamari," he growled. The sonic cannon fired again, blowing a chunk of flesh out of the flesh where the Queen's head would be.

She screeched, but continued bearing down on Cyborg- as if his repeated blasts of energy meant nothing to her. "Do not resist, Cyborg…" she purred.

"Do not resist…! Why do you people always say that," he grumbled. His faithful, and today rather effective, sonic cannon powered up for another shot, another blast of energy, another hole in the terrifying beast.

"We are nothing to fear, Cyborg… just a higher cause. A cause for equality among all… ultimate peace… no more wars! No more famine! No more disease! My people… those who you have so callously slain… they all realized this, they gave themselves willingly unto me," the Queen purred… the voice issuing from the monster was all too convincing… and it was all lies.

"The dead can give nothing willingly," Cyborg replied coldly. Another smoking hole was blown in the creature… but still, the Queen forged forwards.

"Of course they can. People want to be a part of something bigger than themselves, Cyborg, something bigger than their lives. They want… they need… a purpose. That is why so many have joined our ranks,"* hissed the Queen.

Cyborg shook his head, retreating another step. Whatever happened, he couldn't let this creature get hold of him, mentally or physically. Then he'd be lost. Another blast of energy turned the creature's body into pulp.

Queen Hydra raised upwards, tentacles lashing, to reveal a humanoid form beneath. Hideous eyes glared out of sunken sockets, rage and defiance was on its half-human face. "We are the spawn of Ulluxy'l Kwan Tae Syn! We are the perfection that humanity seeks! We-"

"Are dead," Another blast of Cyborg's sonic cannon speared the creature through where its human head must have once been. It gave a defiant shriek… and the Hydra Queen slowly collapsed.

The Hydra Queen remained still, silent… and slowly, it began to dissolve. Cyborg let out a whoop of triumph.

It was then he spotted the photograph. It was perched, slightly crumpled, on top of a brick near the remains of the Hydra Queen. A gust of wind played with the piece of paper… it rustled slightly in the breeze. "Don't you dare…" he began… and just before it was ready to take off again, he snatched it in his metal hand.

Cyborg let out another whoop of joy. Double success! Now he definitely wouldn't die!

There was, after all, nothing more frightening than an angry Starfire.

Not even Hydra.

*Universe X #4 Page 14, Panel 2