Ahh, this one took me a LOT longer to finish than the others. Note, no relationships, no real connections. Just saying.

That said, HAVE FUN!

Chapter Four

BATTERY FULLY CHARGED

SYSTEMS CHECK…

ENERGY DISTRIBUTION COMPLETE,

LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS ONLINE,

HYDRAULIC CYLINDERS OPERATIONAL,

INITIALIZING STARTUP SEQUENCE…

Cyborg woke up with a jolt. After what seemed like an eternity, he woke up. He didn't remember why he had suddenly just knocked himself out. He just wiped out totally. All he could remember was waiting for the movie marathon Beastboy dragged him to, nothing more.

He tried to open his right eye… but couldn't. The moment he did, strange fluids stung the exposed pupil, forcing him to close it. Then he took a deep breath; only to find that two tubes were attached to his nostrils. He tried to listen for something but all he could hear was the soft gurgling of liquid in his human ear. Every now and then he could feel something solid as he floated about. It became clear that he was submerged in water or something like that.

Confusion mounted in Cyborg as the moments slipped away. He could tell from the feel that he was inside some sort of tank, suspended in fluids. That became very clear in the first few seconds of his sudden awakening. But he could not give an answer to his minds biggest query. Where was he?

Confusion was slowly beginning to turn into panic. He had once been transported into Earth's distant past; to a time of barbarians and invaders. Luckily, he got himself into fairly good hands and he was able to fight the good fight; nearly having his battery run out. That time he was lucky to be able to survive, let alone be able to help save humanity.

He was being stupid and he knew it. "OK" he thought. "I can't see with my human eye… so I'll just use my electronic one." His eye, though deprived of the ability of picking up images in low ultraviolet, was capable of seeing pretty much everything else. So he fired up his eye and waited. When it finally came online, he nearly choked in a mouthful of liquid.

Standing all around him were aliens. Strange looking beings with all sorts of features that would easily boot them out of calling them humans were scrambling about in a strange looking room. Weird looking squid-head dudes were talking to gross hammerhead people. Some looked like giant walking insects, patrolling Cyborg's tank. Thankfully, he saw someone who could actually pass off as a human being.

She, for she was clearly a female, was a grey skinned person with a peculiar shaved head. She wore strange looking robes that just about covered her feet; as a result, she seemed to glide around the floor. The person was apparently escorting another, somewhat shorter, robed individual. The latter's face was covered in a hood; concealing his or her face.

Cyborg swiveled his head left to right. He was beginning to freak out. He could see that he was surrounded by strange alien dudes, he had no idea why he was inside a tank, nor was he certain where he actually was. As he turned his head, the strange beings around him were beginning to stare and point at him.

Suddenly, everything became absorbed into a flash of searing white light. From being upright in a tank of fluid, he was slumped on the floor like a rag doll. Cyborg could hear voices screaming all around. Everywhere, he could see that there were these people in white battle armor, their numbers easily exceeding four dozen men. Each one had a rifle or some sort of weapon in their hands. They were blasting blinding shots of crystal blue all over the place. These people were scattered on one side of a dome shaped room, much larger than the one Cyborg remembered he was in.

On the other side, he could see freakish skeleton like robots. These things were nothing like the ninja robot thugs that Slade used. These robots were made for war. Some robots looked frail, clutching a pistol in their hands, shooting crimson laser bolts at their opponents on the other side. Some others looked like grey beetles walking on two legs, blasting away with laser guns attached to their wrists. Others still looked like three legged insects, belting away an enormous amount of energy from twin guns on their appendages.

As amazing as the robots were, they were outnumbered and clearly losing the battle. The battle clad soldiers on the other side seemed almost programmed to kill. More addressing still, Cyborg could see aliens, much like the ones he had seen in the tank room, huddled behind the thin line of droids. Cy couldn't make out exactly what their facial expressions were, but the alien dudes were definitely cringing in fear.

Cyborg got up in a flash. He jumped quickly behind a large metal plate, jackknifed into the floor. He was a hero. He had to do heroic, and sometimes, extremely stupid and dangerous things. But he had to help, it was his job, his duty, to protect and serve.

Almost without thinking, he brought out his sonic cannon. His right arm quickly transforming from a five fingered hand to a fairly sizable firearm. Instinctively, he aimed, with help from his electronic systems, at a soldier who was getting dangerously close to the aliens. Then, he blasted out a powerful blast of sonic energy. It tore through the air until it absorbed itself into the soldier's armor. The soldier was taken aback; he had not expected the blow. The force of the attack threw the soldier onto a nearby wall. There was a horrible cracking sound, he would not rise again.

Cyborg had just killed a man. It tore a scar into Cyborg's humanity, but he couldn't avoid it. He was in a battlefield. Kill or be killed. It was that simple. It's just that this time, Cyborg opted to kill. He didn't like it, but he had to get used to it.

He continued the same pattern over and over again. He took out some soldiers. Some would live, others… were not so certain. This sort of thing was terrible to go through. A normal person would have lost himself in insanity. But even so, it was a pretty effective strategy. He came with surprise, and his targets didn't get the chance to warn the others.

Even with his help though, the soldiers were still pushing through. At a slower rate, sure, but they were still advancing. With breathtaking skill, the white armored soldiers took out their droid adversaries. Cyborg was beginning to think that he should have just left himself on the floor.

Just then, a grey skinned woman, the same one in the tank room, leaped into the fray. With agility that could outpace either Robin or Slade, she attacked. But unlike most of the soldiers on the battlefield who brandished a set of laser guns, she wielded two small sticks. She seemed pathetic at first, reaching into danger unarmed. But in an instant, she ignited the two, useless looking sticks. Two long "blades" it looked like pure light shot from her hands.

Cyborg breathed a sigh of relief. A glint of hope dropped on their hopeless situation. The warrior woman seemed to move in a dance of the deadly arts. She struck and dodged, sliced and swooped, all in tune with some deathly melody. Some, soldiers tried to snipe her from afar. The finger pulled the trigger and then… she met the shot with her with her energy blades. It was a flash movement and the bolt of light flew straight on a return to sender course. It hit its target in an instant. The woman seemed to have the uncanny ability to anticipate her opponent's moves. It almost seemed… precognitive. It was like she could see things before it came…

It took Cyborg a while to realize that he had been gawking at the sight for some time. He poised for his next shot. He pulled out from the cover, head cradled on his arm to aim. His scanned the grounds and found his next target: it was a soldier clad in somewhat different armor. Instead of completely white coverings, this one had a deep blue stain that ran from the head down. But these details couldn't matter right now. Cyborg took the shot.

But he did not notice the slight tilt in the soldier's helmet. It was too late, this one had it coming. The soldier snappily dashed right to avoid the shot. He turned and looked for the origin of the blast. Instinctively, he reached for his utility belt and pulled a shining metal sphere in his hands.
Cyborg had little time to think. He turned back to cover and ran through his combat analysis program. It read in his mind. Take one more shot and move to another position. The words appeared in his head, clear and simple. His programs hardly ever made mistakes and he had to trust this part of himself. The computer laid out the plan and his mind agreed. His body would follow.

Cyborg repeated the routine again. He leaned on his outstretched arm and side-stepped to take one last shot. Voices were shouting in his head, but it made no sense anymore. Everything was lost to the blur of chaos. He scanned the perimeter to find his next target. Everything was going perfectly.

But he could not anticipate the next chain of events. He found his next target: another soldier with his rifle ready to fire. But it popped out of the corner of his eye; a silver ball with a blinking red light, bleeping in existence. For one moment in time, it was just him and the sphere. Cyborg could see it edging closer and closer. He had no time to react; he would take this shot one hundred percent. In the distance, he could see that the same blue striped soldier was waving his back, a sign of retreat. He had accomplished his mission. But now, his life was forfeit.

In one split second, he saw the ball explode. Strangely, the beautiful yellow core of a usual explosion was absent. There was just a small pop of yellow. Then blue and purple tendrils of electricity slashed out from it. It was so close that he could smell the air around him sizzling. It was an electro-magnetic pulse bomb. "This is gonna hurt a lot more" Cyborg thought.

Then he was absorbed in white once again…

His vision returned in a second. The lab was back in place. There were no more screams, no more fighting, nothing. The aliens stared, they were garbling in their indecipherable tongues. They rushed to move up to control panels, pushing buttons and monitoring charts.

Cyborg did not know what he was doing. He had come so close to death, so close to never seeing his friends… He was panicking again. He could not imagine why he was here in the first place; he had to find the Titans. He had to get back no matter what.

Judging by the electronic charts on the walls, he could tell that the aliens were analyzing him. He looked down to see that there were tubes attached to his frame. Only one other person had tried to steal Cyborg's technology. That was Brother Blood, headmaster of the H.I.V.E. academy. Blood had gone so far as to have himself made into another cyborg. His trust on the aliens was misplaced; he would not let someone take him apart again.

In one instinctive movement, he triggered his cannon. His arm engaged in the transformation process. Fingers shifted into his arm while the gun emerged in the hand's place. Sonic energy blasted out the clear walls around him. Cyborg fell to the ground; along with thousands of shards of material.

"He's just had a memory relapse." cried out one of the frightenedsquid-headaliens, strangely enough, in English. "Back away slowly…"

The rest of the aliens backed off at these words. Cyborg was searching, searching for a way out. In the small sea of aliens, he could see one large door at one corner of the room. Cyborg aimed. Soon enough it would be nothing more than a hole in the wall.

But right before he could do anything, he heard. There was a strange voice in his head. All the grumbling of the being around him was muffled with a strange buzzing sound. But there was one clear voice.

"You will calm down," said the mysterious voice. "You are in no harm."

The words were like alcohol. It prodded at his mind, not forcing, only suggesting. It was not telling him what to do, it was telling him what would be the best thing to do. It was not a command, but an option. It had come from an unknown source and it was not a tone that he recognized. But for some reason, he followed. He had no idea why, but he did. I just seemed smarter to do so.

Cyborg got hold of his senses. His primal instincts waved off. The haze from his mind lifted slowly. He rubbed his head and as he tried to make sense of everything. The voice had just snatched him away from a stupid situation.

"Welcome back to the land of the sane, stranger." said someone behind him "Come, I am sure that you wish to be enlightened."

It was the woman again. She was motioning to him to come close. He didn't really have a choice and he stepped forward.

"I have to say," said the woman as she escorted Cyborg to a trip around the room; her robed sidekick was following them a few step back. "You are a most impressive specimen… Mister…" She trailed off for him to answer.

"Just call me Cyborg." he replied rubbing his head. "Who are you?" He finally figured out what to say.

"Asajj Ventress," she replied. "Apprentice to Count Dooku. His recent departure has been most unfortunate."

A memory file in Cyborg's head clicked. Cy had liked the sci-fi universe to some extent, not nearly as much as Beastboy, but he could figure out things. Count Dooku was some Star Wars guy. But he had only seen him in Episode two, that was why he was so eager to see three. Looking back… some of those things looked familiar… clones? droids? But this could be some weird coincidence… some really weird coincidence.

"Right…" he said while thinking this over. "So where are we anyway?"

"Yes, well, we do have to thank you for this." she said motioning him to look around the room. "Had you not come, this research facility would have ceased to exist. Your fighting skill and technology is extraordinary."

"Yeah, I know." he said in a factual tone. "It's my job to do that. Ya know, serve and impress."

"Hmm, yes." she said. "I do believe that he Confederacy could use someone such as yourself, such skill should be used for the better good."

Cyborg remembered his barbaric time travel mission again. Sarasim, the leader of an ancient civilization had been fighting some strange demonic forces. Cyborg had hesitated at first. Later on, he became attached and could hardly suppress his anger when Raven pulled him back. He was lucky to be able to run into two of these situations in a lifetime.

"So what are you saying?" he inquired.

"I see that you do not wish to be fooled." she replied. "So I shall lay it out for you. I have a deal for you."

"Go on…" he said eagerly, wanting to know more.

"We want you to work for us." she began. "Lend us your services, fight for the cause… Provide us with some technical schematics…" Cyborg twitched at the thought. So they were after his techno.

"What's in it for me?" he reluctantly replied, the stakes had better be good for him to give so much.

"I see that you will not be swayed so easily." she said, it was creepy too. She seemed to read the Cyborg's mind like an open book. "I have never met one of our Nel'vaan experimental test subjects who were satisfied with our… alterations. I do not expect you to enjoy being an… outcast? a human soul torn to be replaced with a robotic heart?"

"I can't say I like it." sighed Cyborg as his head drooped. "People think it's great, but I've always wanted to be normal…"

"I suspected so." she said "You don't like being what you are right now, and we can change that."

"Sorry, not good enough." Cyborg snapped. "I've been through this before. I'm not taking it."

"Well, maybe she can persuade you to change your mind." said Asajj, motioning to her accomplice who had been standing behind, silent as a corpse.

The robed figure stepped forward. "Hello Cyborg." she said in a monotone voice.

"And who the heck are you?" he asked curiously he'd raise an eyebrow if his left one hadn't been metallically smelted into a frame.

"It's me." she said while edging off her hood. "Raven."

"Raven, what are you doing here!" he was dumbstruck at the sight, it was miraculous that he was able to figure out these words at all.

"I really don't know where we are or why we're here." Raven said. "But I do know that you need to make this deal."

"No way Rae." said Cyborg. "It's just the same with Blood. I'm not giving up my stuff."

"I you want to find the rest of the Titans, you'll follow my lead." she said solidly. "These guys are the good guys. They taught me how to control my anger." she raised her hand. The shards of clear material on the floor began to shake. Then, they fused together and formed the once broken, tank of fluid.

"I don't know what to say." said Cyborg.

"You could say "yes". I did, look at me now." said Raven.

"What do you say Cyborg?" injected Asajj from a distance. "You know what has to be done."

"I trust you Raven." he decided. "Let's go."

Wondrous no? I will try to update weekly, school is pressing.