A Cat's Tale
By: Catty Engles Reporter for the Daily Gazette
Edition Third: Glimpse of the Beyond
"Slade." Spits Robin, "What do you want?"
"Only a moment of your time that is the beginning of the end for the Titans."
At first I think this is some elaborate prank and keep waiting for someone to yell "April Fools!" Cyborg is still gaping like he's seen a ghost. He's mouthing something to me. I squint in the artificial light, trying to make out the words. His one good eye rolls wildly and he starts to twitch spasmodically. He tries to keep eye contact and his mouth is still moving in that same sequence of words. A gasp gets caught in my throat and I choke on it. My whole body is trembling, I never bargained for this. It's all real. It must be.
"You have something that I want, and I'm tired of waiting." The voice continues, "I thought I'd give you the- what do you like to say? - heads up. You will be one person short in the morning, and then I'll have what I've wanted for so long. Oh, but first I'd like to give my regrets to Cyborg, though a strong member of the team, he is not the one that I am concerned with."
The screen flickers and then dies, it seems as if Cyborg dies with it. The quivering mass of muscle goes limp and his head falls back onto the cushion. The Titans seem to notice Cyborg's dilemma the moment it is too late for them to do anything. My breath comes in little gasps and I whimper into my hands. Tears sting my eyes. What's happening? What's going on? I need to get out of here! I'm not any sort of superhero! This is not- NOT what I thought this interview would be like!
"Cyborg!" Starfire and Robin rush to Cyborg's side. Raven crumples to the floor holding her head. Beastboy steadies her as cushions surrounded by black fire shoot across the room.
"Control it, Raven! Conquer your emotions! Cyborg is going to be all right!" Beastboy shouts above the whirring mass of cushions ripping themselves to shreds and then ricocheting around the room. Raven stands up abruptly, intoning some words of power I didn't quite catch. It seems to stop the cushions and relieves a terrible amount of tension that had built up quickly in the room. Beastboy leads her to a seat farther away from the dangerously still Cyborg.
Starfire is weeping openly over Cyborg's body, grasping his arm and pleading with him to get up. Beastboy leaves a relatively-in-control Raven and rushes to Robin's side. "What is it? What happened?"
"Don't know." Robin is fiddling with the metal man's mechanical parts. "He's still alive-" A cushion reassembles itself near my foot and Starfire hiccups a little sniffle of delight. "-I just don't know what happened. His mechanical systems have totally collapsed. The only way to get him back is a total recall."
Beastboy looks at Robin seriously, "Tell us now in plain English what are you going to have to do?"
Robin sighs, "He's still online and the only way to fix, at least the only way I think we can fix ... I've never seen Cyborg do this before! Oh, sure his batteries have run out but nothing like this. We're going to have to reboot him completely and that can be mortally dangerous."
"But what are you going to do?" Beastboy demands.
"Shut him down."
"But you can't do that!" Beastboy, Raven, and Starfire look beseechingly at Robin. "All of his necessary systems are linked to his mechanics, if he's totally off-line he might ... might die!"
Raven straightens her cloak around her. "We don't even know what Slade has done to him. We might be playing right into his hands."
"Or we might be saving Cyborg's life!" Starfire passionately intercedes.
Robin stands resolutely beside Cyborg, "Whatever we do, we have to do it now. Already we've endangered him too long. Are you guys going to help me or not?" Raven and Beastboy shoot each other glances.
"I'm in."
"Me too."
Robin eases Cyborg off the couch and onto the floor. He pushes the metal man onto his stomach and carefully opens the coating of metal on his back. "Beastboy, hold his head, we can't let any thrashing damage his spine or neck and then make our efforts useless. Starfire, can you keep him warm?" The alien girl nods assurance and presses glowing green hands to the bare flesh of his arm. "Raven I need your sight." Raven slowly makes her way across the room to Robin and places her hands on his shoulders.
"Robin," Raven instructs, "Do you realize what you are asking?" Robin nods. "If you really want to try this you can't fight me. It could hurt, I really don't know, but if you fight back something could go very wrong. Now, tell me what you want me to do."
Starfire looks up from her task, "Robin, what are you doing?"
Robin takes a big breath to steady himself, ignoring Starfire's question. "We have got to find some kind of mechanism that can trigger a rebooting."
"Raven, what's happening, what's going on?!" Beastboy demands.
"Right. Just relax, Robin, deep breaths." Raven tightens her hold on Robin's shoulders and he grits his teeth. She intones her words of power. Black fire surrounds Raven's figure and tendrils of it break away from her and weave their way down Robin's chest, finally centering on his hands. Robin's mouth opens in a silent scream of anguish and his breathing becomes fast and labored as the tendrils surround his fingers and seep into him. The boy throws his head back and squinches up his eyes against the pain. Raven's knees give out behind him, her breath also coming hard. She gives a final push to the tiny strings of smoky black fire and they disappear into Robin's hands. Finally, she collapses.
I doubt any of you were expecting that! Okay well, see that little button on the bottom left corner of the screen? Aren't you just itching to push it? C'mon tell me what you think in a nice luscious review.