Disclaimer:
I don't own the Teen Titans, though I wish I did. Or maybe just Starfire. She can give me a bath any time she wants.
Summary:
Christmas Eve. All is happy at Titan's Tower, as the resident heroes of Jump City prepare to celebrate the human festival of gift-giving. The decorations are hung, the tree is up, and then the alarm goes off and they're called to action. However, during their latest skirmish with a super villain, the Titans suffer a horrible blow to both their ranks and their morale as Robin is knocked out cold by a blow to the head. And it gets worse, for when he awakens... he has no memory of who he is or what he is. Or who his friends are. Can the Titans restore Robin's lost memories? Can Starfire reminds Robin of who he is? If not it is going to be a very, very sad Christmas at Titan's Tower. Takes place after the events of 'Can I Keep Him?' and prior to 'Bunny Raven.' Rated PG-13 just to be on the safe side, for some action violence and angst, followed by sappy romance so sweet it'll make your teeth ache.
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"'tis the season to be jolly!... fa-la-la-la-la... la-la... mmpph!"
Raven smirked, her face carefully hidden behind her book as Beastboy's caroling had... finally... at long last... come to an end. Due, of course, to the fact that he'd just had a wreath levitated from its position over the doorway and wedged right into his open mouth. And although she did not bother to tilt her head and look up over the tome in her hands, she could well imagine right now how comical he'd look, still holding ornaments in his hands with a great pine wreath sticking out of his mouth.
"Ptooowey!"
Beastboy spat the offensive object from his mouth, immediately sticking out his abnormally large tongue and scraping off the bits of pine still stuck there, dropping his ornaments in the process onto the ground beside the tree. Fortunately, not many of them were very fragile, and none broke.
"Raven, what was that for?!" he asked indignantly, once he'd spat out the last of the pine needles.
"You sing off-key," she replied, her expression deadpan, her eyes not leaving the next line of text in her tome. Beastboy grunted non-commitedly, but refrained from continuing his caroling (he could always do more later) and went back to helping Starfire hang ornaments up on the enormous pine tree they'd brought in earlier in the month to decorate the living room. And indeed, much of the Tower was also decorated. Wreaths, tinsel, decorations of all manner hung from every wall and window. Even, despite Raven's attempts to destroy them all, a mistletoe here and there, carefully arranged by the mischievous Beastboy in full view of the security cameras.
For blackmail, of course.
All in all, it was a typical Christmas at Titan's Tower.
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A soft slam from downstairs instantly alerted the Titans of the return of their other two members long before Cyborg's voice reached them way up in the control room. "We're back ya'll! And we come bearin' gifts!"
"Glorious!" cried out Starfire, abandoning her decorating to zip down the corridor towards the front doors, where Cyborg and Robin were struggling to carry a number of carefully gift-wrapped packages of myriad colors and patterns, all wrapped in shiny bows.
"Are you needing assistance?" she asked, hovering alongside Robin, who seemed to be struggling with the awkward size of his gifts (not heavy, just difficult to hold in his arms)... marked for Cyborg and Beastboy. She quelled a sudden surge of disappointment, realizing that Robin must've found her a present already and hidden or it that it was still back in the car.
"Nah I'm fine Star... but thanks for the offer. How's the tree looking?" he asked.
"Oh it most beautiful!" she said, her eyes shining like Christmas lights as she floated alongside Robin and Cyborg, getting on the elevator and riding up towards the main floor. "Everything is so wondrously beautiful, just like Blorthog. I am enjoying this Human Festival of X-Mas."
"Christmas," he replied without thinking. Over the years, it'd become habit for him to correct her English mistakes, and she welcomed them. Now they scarcely had to think about it.
"Yes, of course... Christmas."
"Well should be a good one," comment Cyborg from the sidelines. "You gonna love what I gotcha girl," he said, thumping one of the gifts carried in his mechanical hands. Starfire floated up, craning her head just before it hit the ceiling, and peered down. Indeed, there on the side of the box. From: Cyborg, To: Starfire.
"What did you get me, friend Cyborg?" she asked, holding her hands before her in eager anticipation.
He smirked at that. "Oh come on now, you know I can't tell you Star... spoil the surprise."
"You are... keeping secrets from me?" she asked. She didn't like secrets.
"Not a secret Star," said Robin, jumping into the conversation to protect Starfire's feelings. He knew how she felt about secrets. His own fault, really. "It's a surprise, not a secret."
"Oh... alright then."
The elevator made a soft ding as it came to a stop, and Starfire swooped out into the living room, followed by the two boys. The situation was much as she'd left it. Raven was still sitting in the corner by a roaring fireplace (lit, though since the Tower was fully heated it was for effect really) and Beastboy was climbing up the Christmas tree in the form of a monkey, holding the star for its top by his tail. He placed it atop with a flourish, giving a low bow to his sudden audience as he reverted to his humanoid form. Starfire applauded him.
"Thank you, thank you my adoring public... please, no autographs," he said as he leapt down gracefully onto the floor and making his way into the small kitchen. "I have to go and check on my tofu turkey."
"Please tell me that's not what we're eating," stage-whispered Cyborg to Robin as they placed their gifts on the ground beneath the tree, arranging them in small piles for each individual Titan.
"Don't worry, I got us a real bird, its cooking downstairs in the lab. I had an oven set up there a few days ago," replied Robin, equally soft. Beastboy frowned over at both of them but said nothing, he knew he couldn't bring them around to his way of thinking. But he'd be darned if he was gonna eat a poor, defenseless bird. Still, at least the rest of his culinary skills hadn't gone to waste. Mostly the dicing up of vegetables to add to the meal and the preparing of the table to be used. Titan meals were informal, since they had to be on the go so often. But he'd taken it upon himself to set up a long table down in one of the spare rooms and arrange for the best meal they'd have since... well Thanksgiving really. But that was beside the point.
Good time of year. Even Raven was smiling a bit more than usual. Even she couldn't help but be affected by the happy feelings of the season, even if she did think of it as an overly commercialized event designed to help toy and gift companies make a ton of cash and ruin any emotional attachment.
Still...
... when no one was looking, Raven dared peek up over the rim of her book, just to make sure all eyes were elsewhere. Cyborg was out of the room, Starfire and Robin were admiring the view by one of the windows (covered in cut-out snowflakes made by Starfire and Beastboy) and the green boy had his back to the room, whistling as he worked on his beloved tofu. Certain that no one was watching, Raven lifted one hand towards the Christmas tree and made a quick, somatic gesture. Instantly a dark void filled up underneath the trees and the gifts there. However, instead of swallowing them up, that was the end point of her miniature portal, and from the ground rose four small, hand wrapped gifts she'd worked on herself. One for each of the friends... no... the family in her life.
That done, she turned back to her book, prepared to deny everything if they asked if she'd gotten them.
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The idyllic peace shattered suddenly.
A blaring alarm sounded throughout Titan's Tower, 'causing each teen girl and boy to lift their heads as the red warning lights flashed, overpowering the tinier glow of red and green Christmas lights. In seconds the Titans were assembled by the computer, as Robin sat down and inspected the nature of the alert.
"Overload," announced Robin, staring at the screen as data flew past. "He's at the power plant, the main power core of the city. Police are already there but they're not having much luck."
"Dude! The mayor said we had time off for the holidays! Now my tofu's gonna burn!" Beastboy complained half-heartedly.
"We still have to stop Overload," said Robin, who stood up then, turning to regard the Titans. They nodded grimly, even Beastboy, serious again. An unseen breeze made Robin's cape flap behind him.
"Titans... go?" asked Raven sarcastically.
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"Overload!"
The great monster turned, sparks crackling around his enormous frame as he turned to the entrance of the power planet, beholding the five troublesome teens standing in the entry way. He shouldn't have been surprised, but he was. He'd been hoping they wouldn't be around, that they'd be busy with other matters. Still, no matter.
"We're shutting you down," intoned Robin, holding out his hand and then pointing his thumb down in the manner of the ancient Roman spectators.
"Overload not going to shut down," replied their opponent, drawing himself up to his full (and rather impressive) height. He was easily twice the size of Cyborg, after all. "Overload will shut YOU DOWN!!" he roared. Then, suddenly, he lashed out with one of his arms, which stretched and distorted like a great energy whip, aiming for the Titans.
"Titans, Go!" shouted Robin, and they scattered instantly to dodge the energy whip. Robin launched himself high up into the air, sliding out the retractable bo staff from its secure spot behind his back and sliding it out to full length as he leapt at Overload, whacking the computerized menace right between... well, alright, right on his computer chip eye as he soared over his head.
Overload roared and turned to lash out at the Boy Wonder but a sonic blast to his shoulder diverted his attention to Cyborg, who stood ready and launched a second blast from his sonic cannon, this time aiming for Overload's midsection and knocking the great behemoth back a few steps.
"Beastboy! Raven! Find water!" shouted Robin and he reached into his utility belt and withdrew some exploding disks. Overload, enraged, none-the-less managed to contain enough of his senses to realize that if he kept jumping from one Titan to another he'd never be rid of them all, and so he focused on Robin, determined to bring down their leader first. Roaring, the mechanized monster charged on Robin, who bravely stood his ground, holding up the three exploding disks between his fingers. Waiting... waiting for just the right instant... there!
Robin leapt backwards as Overload's fist slammed into the ground where he'd been standing, allowing in mid-flip for Starfire to zoom in underneath him and slam one of her starbolts right into the monster's face. Completing his flip and landing gracefully on the ground Robin followed up her attack with his exploding disks, sending Overload flying through the air to crash into the wall, which promptly collapsed on him.
Little sparks flew from the granite chunks as Cyborg, Starfire and Robin cautiously approached it, peering down to try and find their enemy.
"Did we get him?" asked Starfire curiously, allowing the glowing emerald energy to fade between her fingertips as she hovered overhead. Below, Cyborg and Robin weren't nearly as optimistic, and kept their weapons armed and aimed just in case as they cautiously moved closer. Cyborg nudged one of the granite chunks with his foot.
All at once Overload came back to life, exploding out of the rocks and batting aside both Robin and Cyborg as if they were dolls, letting both of them fly through the air. Cyborg, much heavier, slammed onto the ground and skidded for a fair distance before slamming into a generator, while Robin, much lighter, flew right over the generator in question and flew out one of the windows head-first. They could not see where he landed.
Starfire gasped in shock at the sudden attack, but her fear was quickly replaced by anger as she saw her friends being hurt, and she zoomed down at Overload with the speed and power of a cannonball, slamming him in the midsection again and again with her tiny yet powerful fists. "You mean stupid klorbag...!" she cursed at him heartily in English and Tamaranian, until Overload caught her in his great hands and held her up, no doubt preparing to do something horrible to her. Crush her or throw her or electrocute her or any number of gruesome fates.
Fortunately, he didn't get the chance.
Just as Overload was about to take action a sudden torrent of water splashed full force into him, short-circuiting the electronic villain and causing him to drop Starfire in surprise (fortunate for her, otherwise she'd likely have been electrocuted as well) and howl in pain. A green pterodactyl swooped in quickly to grab Starfire's shoulders and keep her from falling into the water (and electrocution) as Raven continued to hold up the pipe she'd just torn from the ground, aiming it at Overload to continue dousing the shocking villain. Finally, however, it had ended, and the single smoking red chip with its beady red eye was all that remained of Overload, the rest having dissipated in the water. Raven made a gesture with her hand, sealing off the pipe before it flooded the room, and floated over to join the other Titans as they peered down at the defeated Overload.
"Well that was fun," remarked Raven.
"Squad cars always on its way here," said Cyborg, trudging over to join the others. He was shook up but undamaged, it took a lot more than that to slow him down. "Our job's done here," he said.
"Wait," said Starfire. "Where is Robin?"
It suddenly dawned on them. He hadn't yet come back from his unexpected flight through the window. They'd simply assumed he would have returned by now, he was incredibly resourceful and it usually took a lot to bring him down. But still, he was only human... what if something had happened? Raven, Beastboy and Cyborg headed to the exit underneath the window to look for their fallen comrade, but an orange and violet blur shot past them, as Starfire went to find her fallen friend.
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"Robin...? Robin...? Robin...?"
"Yo, Robin?!"
"Dude, where are you?!"
As a team, the Titans began searching for their fallen leader Robin, who had not been seen since the villainous Overload had so casually batted him out a solid glass window and out of the power plant. A power plant that oh-so-conveniently was located on a cliffside, overlooking the beautiful bay of Jump City. Further out, they could even see the lights of Titan's Tower. But right now they were busy searching for Robin.
"Robin…?!" called out Starfire, frantically flying overhead, searching for signs of a red, yellow and green costume, for signs of dark black locks of hair, for a black mask. For anything that would tell her where Robin was. She wanted to know he was okay. But of course he had to be okay. Because if he wasn't...
... she didn't even want to contemplate that possibility.
"Found him!" rang out Raven's voice, the first she'd spoken since the search had began. Instantly the other Titans converged on her, Starfire zipping past Cyborg and Beastboy to see Robin. However, upon spotting him, she gave an involuntary gasp.
Robin lay amongst the rocks on the cliff side, unconscious. He did not appear badly hurt, his body was for the most part unmarked, but there was a steady trickle of red blood coming from his scalp. Obviously he'd hit his head on the way down. Or possibly the glass had done that to him. It was hard to tell. It looked like he'd bounce quite a bit before he'd actually come to a stop where he was now. Raven peered down at him curiously, taking in his injuries before she attempted any healing. Starfire hovered anxiously overhead, waiting for Raven to heal Robin and for him to be alright and for everything to be well.
"He's not too badly hurt, just unconscious," said Raven, laying a pale hand on Robin's forehead and using her spells to heal his injury. A silvery-blue glow engulfed her hand as she began to work her magic. "He should be fine," she added after a moment's hesitation. "Starfire? Can you go assist the Special Forces Unit and make sure they've got Overload safely in hand?"
"I, oh uhm... yes I suppose so," she said, very reluctant to leave Robin's side. But Raven had said everything would be fine, so with little hesitation she lifted herself up into the air and back towards the power plant's front, where the Special Forces were loaded a sealed box (containing Overload's CPU) into the back of one of their armored trucks.
She hoped Robin would be awake soon. He'd be glad they'd captured Overload.
"We have a problem," whispered Raven quietly, deliberately low enough so that only Cyborg and Beastboy could hear her. Sending Starfire away helped but the Tamaranian had very sensitive ears. She still might overhead them if she wasn't careful. And that would lead to even more problems.
"What's wrong?" asked Cyborg.
"Something is... abnormal... with Robin's brainwaves. I can sense them. They're somewhat... erratic. I think the blow to his head might've shook up his brain a little."
"Well that's certainly wonderful news," said Beastboy sarcastically.
Cyborg nodded in agreement, reaching down to pick up Robin gently. "We should get him back to Titan's Tower. We'll see if there's anything wrong once the medical bay is up and running."
"Agreed. You two go ahead," said Raven. "I'll talk with Starfire."
"See you th-..." Cyborg started to reply, but something interrupted him.
Namely, the lights.
Street lights, traffic lights, indoors lights, outdoor lights. Christmas lights. In Jump City during most times of the year, the city was ablaze with lights at night, easily as bright as Metropolis or Central City. And of course during the holidays, it was even more brilliant, shining in a myriad of white, reds and green flashing lights, plus a myriad of others.
But now... they all went out, plunging the city into darkness.
"... -ere," finished Cyborg, "Awww damnit." Without thinking he activated his internal flashlight, allowing it to flip up on his left shoulder and illuminate Raven and Beastboy. "Blackout."
"Overload must've overloaded one of the generators before we arrived," surmised Raven. "And with the damage the fight caused..."
"Could be a while before they get it back up again," finished Cyborg.
"Great, oh this is just wonderful, this is just stupendous!" said Beastboy, speaking to no one in particular, ranting and raving in the manner he often did. "Anything else you want to throw at us while you're at it?!" he shouted up at the sky. "Any other way you wanna ruin Christmas?!"
A sudden roar of thunder answered his question, and Beastboy gave a soft 'eep' as lightning lit up the sky briefly. Following that, of course, came the rain. In seconds, the Titans, including Starfire who'd returned to join them, were all soaked.
"Had to ask, didn't you?" muttered Raven sarcastically, allowing her black energy to form around her in the shape of a raven, shielding her from the worst of the rain.
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Author's Notes:
Awww, isn't it sweet? Holiday cheer up at Titan's Tower. And of course Beastboy with his tofu turkey. Things will start off sweet but they're going to get decidedly darker later on. Like my last December Holiday story, few villains (just one, Overload, really) and primarily romantic coupling. This year's victims: Robin and Starfire. The actual contents of the Titan's gifts to one another will also be kept secret until the very end, feel free to guess, I do so love guesses. Starfire's dislike of keeping secrets I got from 'Can I Keep Him?' and I presume was in reference to events from 'Masks.' At least that's my theory, and I'll explain why later. Overload of course we all remember from 'Car Trouble' and 'Aftershock I and II.' Since we've seen Cinderblock is back to normal in 'Haunted' we can presume Overload is back to normal as well. Next time we take the angst factor and we kick it up a notch. Bam!