The 12 Labors of Cyborg

Disclaimer: Don't own, don't own, don't OWN.

A/N: The last chapter was short because I'm lazy. This chapter will be short. Also because I'm lazy. The next chapter will also be short. Guess why? No… this story is not done, nor is it close to being done. And you're right- Hercules didn't have to do this labors all in one day, and neither does Cyborg. (Or me, for that matter- please don't pester me to update, it doesn't help.)

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The Man-Eating Horses of Diomedes

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 By the time Cyborg and Starfire finally made it back to the Tower, night had fallen dramatically. As had most of the city. It turned out the enormous mechanical bull had done quite a bit of damage before it had happened upon the two super-heroes…

…and no one really knew who had been behind it.

Robin had come to his own conclusions, of course- Slade. Even before Cyborg had finished telling them what had happened, the villain's name had exploded from between Robin's lips. While Slade did seem to be behind just about everything that happened in their little city, a giant mechanical bull just didn't seem his style. Cyborg personally thought it was Gizmo… but the midget villain was behind bars, and he always had to be around to see what kind of effect his gadgets had on the people he was terrorizing.

So they were stuck. They had no idea who was behind the giant bull… and Cyborg, at least, didn't care. He wanted to sleep. The half-robot stretched out on the couch, hands behind his head, and stared at the ceiling. Waiting for his adrenaline levels to drop, so that he could fall unconscious and finally get some sleep.

The phone rang in the other room- a green cheetah went flying past, paws pumping, and the ringing stopped. Cyborg could hear- but didn't really pay much attention to- Beast Boy's exuberant answers to the caller's questions.

And for one minute, there was silence. Then, Beast Boy came racing into the room, a piece of paper clutched in his hand and a huge grin devouring most of his face. "Cyborg has a da-ate! Cyborg has a da-ate!"

"What?" Cyborg yelped, sitting bolt upright.

Beast Boy's grin grew, if anything, even larger. He waggled the piece of paper in Cyborg's face- not even looking slightly dismayed at the horrible expression of the other Titan when he snatched it. "Yeah, some girl just called. Don't worry, I set up everything," the green changeling exclaimed.

"You- what- who," Cyborg spluttered. He grabbed Beast Boy by the front of his costume and shook him. "What were you thinking?"

Despite his unfavorable current conditions, and the fact that he knew perfectly well why he was in them, Beast Boy looked nonplussed. "That you need to get out more."

Cyborg growled in frustration. Beast Boy sweat-dropped, and then slipped nimbly out of Cyborg's grip. "I wrote down everything you need to know- don't worry," he said. The piece of paper bounced off of Beast Boy's head. "Dude, that is so not cool..."

Sulkily, Cyborg picked back up the piece of paper. The call had been from Emily- how she had managed to recover so quickly from being held hostage by origami swans, Cyborg wasn't sure. It was admirable, though- he wasn't even fully recovered from that whole… fiasco. Cyborg sighed deeply, and devoted the contents of the piece of paper to memory. Beast Boy hadn't done all bad… Cyborg was looking forward to a date… just not so soon.

The piece of paper bounced off of Beast Boy's forehead again. Beast Boy scowled and stuck out his tongue.

"You're lucky that I don't feel motivated enough to actually stand up," Cyborg muttered, tapping two of his metal-coated fingers together.

"Heh heh… like you could even get up anyway… you big lug!" The green changeling exclaimed tauntingly.

Cyborg was on his feet in an instant- Beast Boy had already turned to make a break for it. He was suddenly in the form of a cheetah- and made it three steps before Cyborg had a hold of his tail. Beast Boy screeched in pain, fur on edge… and was suddenly in the form of a rhino.

"Er…" Cyborg began… not letting go of the changeline's tail, of course.

Beast Boy lowered his head, beady eyes gleaming, and snorted. Then he turned around and began his rampaging- dragging Cyborg along behind him.

Cyborg was unwilling to let go, and lose face… and sighed in relief when he saw Beast Boy approaching the doorway to the dining room. Beast Boy was a little crazy, but he wouldn't put a hole in the Tower- and the rhino was clearly too big to fit through the doorway.

Beast Boy saw that too- he snorted again, and was suddenly a green horse. Cyborg clung to the tail for dear life as Beast Boy galloped through the doorway, shouting in dismay as the emerald equine bounded over the dining-room table, using Cyborg to clear most everything off of it. Beast Boy ran in wide, rampaging circles around the room, crashing Cyborg alternately against the wall and the various appliances that populated the room.

It was then that Starfire came rocketing into the room, waving something in one hand. "Friend Cyborg! I have located the negatives! We can use these to- oh!"

Beast Boy's shoulder bumped into her hand, at full gallop, and knocked the negatives right from her fingertips. At the exact same time, Cyborg let go- he went flying. Luckily, Starfire was there to break his fall… the two landed in a heap as Beast Boy reared, neighing wildly, in an attempt to stop himself before he collided with the wall. No such luck- green equine was plastered against the wall, followed shortly after by the changeling sitting on the ground, rubbing his head and groaning.

Cyborg spotted the negative- lying in all of its black and brown glory directly on top of what remained of the pizza the other Titans had had for dinner.

He reached out one hand towards it- at that exact moment, an enormous green T-Rex foot stomped down on top of it. Beast Boy stared challengingly down at Cyborg- he probably hadn't even realized he had stepped on the picture, let alone the pizza; he was more concerned with getting revenge for having his tail pulled, and eventually being run full-speed into the wall.

"Grrr," Beast Boy said, looking quite pleased with himself.


Cyborg had never beaten up a T-Rex before. He found it an invigorating experience.