Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans or Sleeping Beauty.
This story is dedicated to SocialButterfli; without you, this story wouldn't have existed. Thanks, amiga!
Chapter Two
"Man, this is seriously not cool!" Beast Boy whined. "How can I get my beauty sleep when bad guys are ripping things up in the middle of the night?"
"Beast Boy, no amount of beauty sleep could save your looks," Raven muttered.
"Save it," Robin cut them off, his hands flying across the keyboard of the main computer. A map of the city popped up, and not five miles away from the Tower was a great red dot where the trouble was.
"Looks like we got ourselves a robbery," Cyborg commented, recognizing the location. "That's the local jewelry store."
"Titans! Go!" Robin commanded. The Titans bolted to the garage. Robin leapt on his R-Cycle while the others piled into the T-car, and together they sped out into the midnight streets. There was no time to waste.
"Just put it all in the bag!" Killer Moth demanded. "My children are quite hungry, madam," he added, indicating the swarm of ravenous moths around him. "I would hate to feed you to them for a midnight snack!"
The woman behind the counter squeaked in terror, but did as she was told; she reached into the glass case and swept up as much jewelry as she could into her arms.
"Good. Now, in the bag!"
She dropped the jewelry into the open bag Killer Moth held in front of her, then shrunk back and cowered behind the counter. "Please, just go…don't hurt me…" she begged.
"Hold it right there, Moth!" a new voice commanded, one that Moth knew…and loathed. He turned around, and sure enough, there stood Robin and the Teen Titans, ready to fight.
"Dude, you are SO going to pay for interrupting my beauty sleep!" Beast Boy shouted.
"Didn't we just have this conversation?" Raven said.
"Ah, the Titans. Perfect!" Killer Moth announced. "Attack, my children!" At once, the swarm dove upon the team.
"Draw them outside!" Robin directed as they dodged the first wave. "We're too crowded, we can't fight them in here!"
The team did as instructed, and soon the fight carried on in the dark, cold streets. The swarm split off into several smaller groups, leaving a good several dozen for each Titan.
"Come on, I can take all of ya!" Cyborg shouted at a particularly large group. They apparently heard, for they dived as one straight for Cyborg's head. Cyborg jumped aside, swung his arm around and let loose a blast from his sonic cannon, frying several of the moths. The swarm swung back around and headed for Cyborg again, but he shot another blast right into the center of the swarm, dropping another dozen or so and causing the rest of them to scatter.
"Is that all you got?" Cyborg taunted. "Man, I could do this all night!"
Raven and Starfire were having equally little trouble. Two groups of the moths spread out and came at the girls from all sides, but Raven and Star simply stood there, exchanging a knowing smile as the moths sped toward them. It wasn't until the moths were practically upon them that they reacted at all.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Raven shouted quickly at the last second, and a dark bubble appeared around the girls, which the entire swarm of moths crashed into and splattered against like bugs on a windshield.
"Wonderful, Raven!" Starfire exclaimed. "You defeated all of them! Er…why are we still in the bubble?"
"I'm sorry," Raven muttered, "did you want the bug guts to fall all over us?"
Starfire shuddered. "No…that would be most unpleasant."
"All right, then."
Beast Boy, meanwhile, had turned himself into a T-Rex, towering over the entire block, and suddenly it was him chasing the bugs rather than then other way around, swatting at them with his massive tail and snapping at them with his foot-long teeth. By accident, though, he actually bit into one of the bugs, and nearly gagged.
"Bleaggh!" he spat as he turned back to normal. "I can't believe I actually ate that! Ugh…this is exactly why I don't eat meat, Cyborg!"
"You better not be comparing my barbecue ribs to these nasty-ass bugs!" Cyborg threatened.
Robin had no bugs to fight, as his team was dealing with them all. His fight was with Killer Moth. "What are you playing at, robbing a jewelry store?" the Boy Wonder demanded. "I didn't think petty theft was your style."
"None of your business, Bird Boy," Killer Moth growled. He leapt for the Boy Wonder, who easily sidestepped away from him and pelted the moth man with a handful of explosive pellets. Moth turned back and charged for Robin again, and once more Robin dodged, this time tripping him as he passed with his bo staff. Moth collapsed in an unceremonious pile atop a handful of his own defeated bugs.
"Give it up and come quietly, Moth," Robin said. "You're outmatched and you know it. The more you keep fighting, the longer your jail sentence is gonna be."
"Keep your suggestions to yourself, you insufferable goody-goody!" Moth shouted as he dragged himself to his feet and dashed at Robin one more time. But Robin had had enough; he wanted to get this over with and get back to bed. Quick as a flash he lunged forward with his staff and caught Killer Moth in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. In a matter of seconds Robin landed a series of blows all over Moths' body, and finished with a roundhouse kick that sent him crashing to the ground a few feet away, and this time, he didn't get up again.
Robin moved forward, ready to continue if need be, but looking down at Killer Moth, it looked like he was out cold. The police could take it from here. Robin turned away, intending to help his friends finish off the last of the moths, and thus entirely missed Killer Moth standing up once again, and didn't notice until the villain had pounced on Robin and put him in a headlock.
"Time for a little change of character, hero!" Moth whispered into Robin's ear. A moment later he felt something sharp prick the back of his neck…and then, he stopped feeling anything at all.
Kitten, who had been watching the entire thing through a camera in her father's costume, positively squealed with delight. Everything was going perfectly.
"It's done, Kitten dear," she heard her father say. "You can start at any time."
"Perfect…Robbie-poo, you're all mine."
"We are victorious!" Starire exclaimed!
"Great. Can we go home now?" Raven asked.
"Hey, what's the deal with Robin?" Cyborg said, pointing toward the Boy Wonder. He stood a few yards away, as rigid as a statue.
"And where's the Moth dude?" Beast Boy added. "Wasn't Robin fighting him?"
Beast Boy was right; Killer Moth had vanished. Something was wrong here, and all four of them knew it.
The Titans approached Robin, whose face was utterly blank and expressionless, as though he were listening to something only he could hear.
"What is the matter, Robin? Are you injured?" Starfire asked, standing right in front of him and staring intently at him. Robin didn't react at all, merely stood there, his jaw hanging open slightly. "Oh, what could be wrong with him?"
Before anyone could suggest anything, there was a sudden blur of motion; Starfire had a split second to notice a horrible new expression on Robin's face, one of pure hate and loathing, before she felt a sharp pain in her stomach and was thrown backward, hard.
"What the…!" Beast Boy exclaimed, at a loss for words; Robin's fist was extended, right in the spot where Starfire had been standing moments before. "Did he just…?"
"Attack Starfire?" Raven finished for him. "Yeah…he did."