Chapter Six: It Gets Better, It Gets Worse

"Thanks for all this stuff, Mr. Fixit. I really appreciate this," Cyborg said, placing the last box on the garage floor, as the door behind Cyborg's biomechanical friend closed and shut out the night sky.

"It is the least I could do, for all the help you've given," Mr. Fixit said. "To tell you the truth, I'm not going to miss most of this anyway," he said, picking up what had previously been a flying buzzsaw. "I'd like to leave America with a clean slate."

"You sure you won'miss anything here? I know I would," Cyborg asked.

Mr. Fixit nodded. "What do I have to miss, apart from having enough weaponry to nearly level the city and not being able to guard it myself? You saw for yourself first hand what my inventions could do, and with Legion back in the city…No, Cyborg, I have made my decision. A quarter of all my inventions to Wayne Industries, another quarter to your father's company, and the last half to the Titans. At least then I can be sure my creations are in safe hands before I leave."

"Don't worry, Mr. Fixit, we'll take good care of your stuff," Cyborg reassured him. "You need any help packing?"

"Not really; all of my essential equipment should already be in London," Mr. Fixit said. "I just…"

"You are going to miss this place, aren't you?" Cyborg said knowingly.

"This place, Cyborg? No, I won't miss it," he said, picking up a piece of machinery. "You cannot miss things or places, it is not healthy," he continued, placing the device inside a box. "Do you know, Cyborg, what the worst part about being human is?"

"What is it?"

"Being human." Sighing reluctantly, Mr. Fixit held out his hand. "From what I hear, the agency I will work for does not encourage socializing. I will see you, when I see you," he said.

"Okay, then," Cyborg said, reluctantly holding out a hand.

"I… I am sorry, Cyborg. This isn't something I would like to do, but-"

"Hey man, we'll understand- at least, the others' would as soon as I tell them."

"Are you sure you would not like me to tell them?" Mr. Fixit asked.

"Nah, leave that to me," Cyborg said. "They've kinda had a hard day, and the last thing they need to hear is that one of our friends is moving 'across the pond'," he continued in a passably good 'British toff' accent.

"If you say so, Cyborg," Mr. Fixit said, smiling. "Good night."

"Seeya."

After Mr. Fixit had left, Cyborg decided to take a look inside one of the boxes…

(scene change)

"Cyborg?" Raven asked as she came into the garage. "Cyborg, can I-"

And then stopped in her tracks as she saw what Cyborg was doing. Around the garage, all manner of mechanical and electronic equipment was strewn around, while the T-Car was on a lift, half its contents spread out on a nearby worktable. Behind him in one of the vehicle bays, the T-Sub had an equally 'work in progress' look.

"Hey Raven!" Cyborg called out cheerfully as he stepped out from under the T-Car and walked over to a stack of boxes. "Need anything?"

"An explanation would be nice," Raven said uncertainly. "What's happening here?"

Cyborg's face fell as he remembered just how all his new toys ended up in the garage. "Oh, that, well… Mr. Fixit's leaving."

"Leaving?" Raven asked, her own problem temporarily overwhelmed by her shock. "Why?"

"Basically, he said that what with Godzilla, Legion and whatnot all getting in line to trash the city, it's not safe for him or the city for him as long as he stays; too many badguys want his stuff. So tomorrow morning, he's going to Britain," Cyborg said as matter-of-factly as he could.

"Britain?"

"He said that he got a good offer from MI R; it's some British secret organization thing," Cyborg told her. "It's probably for the best anyhow; there's too many psychos in this city to risk leaving all that hi-tech weaponry around."

"And moving to Britain is safer?"

"Well, when you think about it, yeah," Cyborg said, walking back under the T-Car. "I mean, what's England got? Apart from Mad Mod, and nobody's seen him for months!" He raised his voice over the sound of his welding torch as he went on, "What can I say- America's the land of opportunity. So what brings you here, Rae?"

"What?"

"Come on Raven, I can see I'm not the only guy with problems around here," Cyborg said, as he laid down his welding torch and went to sit beside her.

"…It's about Beast Boy and Blackfire," Raven said.

"Oh, them," Cyborg sniffed. "I know what you mean; I mean, you'd think Beast Boy'd get it out of his system already-"

"It's not just him, Cyborg," Raven said.

"What do you mean?"

"It's Blackfire; we- we had a fight."

"And let me guess, it didn't turn out good."

"That's an understatement," Raven told him.

"Geez, Rae, I'm sorry. What started it- wait, it was about Beast Boy, wasn't it?"

"It's not his fault, Cyborg," Raven said defensively, before sighing, her initial frustration spent. "Not all of it, anyway," she conceded. "It's just that I wish they would just get along."

"Hurts to see 'em fight that much, don't it?" Cyborg asked gently.

Raven nodded. "I just wish they could see that," she told him. "But they're just too busy fighting each other to care," she said in quiet frustration, before turning to Cyborg. "And the worst part is that it's all my fault."

"Oh really? Since when's wanting to be happy your fault? Look, Raven, you got to stop beating yourself up over this. Yeah, they're fighting over you, so what? It just shows that they care about you, Rae- they just can't see it yet. You gotta make them see."

"How?"

"First thing, patch things up with Blackfire. I don't really know what you two argued about, and I don't want to, but if you really love her, you'll love her enough to say those three magic words."

"I love you?" Raven asked, feeling uncertain.

" 'I-am-sorry'. Got that from my dad," he told her, winking.

"And what about Beast Boy?" Raven asked.

"You're just going to let him know how much Blackfire means to you," Cyborg said simply. "Sure, he won't like it, but- look, Rae, I don't like his cooking much, and whenever it's his turn to cook, I complain like nobody's business, but I still eat that darned tofu. And do you know why? 'Cos he's my friend, that's how it goes, you get what I mean?"

"I…I think so."

Cyborg nodded, and his voice became a little softer as he continued, "Look Rae, what I'm trying to say is that if he cares about you as much as I think he does, he'd be eating at Kentucky Fried Cattle than try break you two up."

"You sure?"

" 'Course. Sure, sometimes Beast Boy gets a little emotional, and sometimes he does something really dumb, but hey, so do we. Besides, he's a Titan, and we look out for each other."

"I can see that," Raven said, smiling. "Thanks, Cyborg."

"Anytime, Rae, anytime. You okay now?"

Raven nodded. "I'm fine," she replied, getting up. "Looks like I have to go talk to Blackfire."

"You do that," Cyborg said as he walked over to his worktable. "Good luck."

"You too."

(scene change)

Okay, Blackfire, this shouldn't be too hard.

People do this every day, some of them even sincerely.

You've faced (and done worse) than this.

Piece of cake… right?

Wrong.

Blackfire pulled her hand back from Beast Boy's door for the… she had lost count of how many times she had backed out from knocking on Beast Boy's door. It had seemed so simple when she first thought it out- find Beast Boy, apologize, find Raven, apologize, no problem. Everything solved.

But now…

The problem was that she just wasn't the apologizing sort of person; as far as she was concerned, 'sorry' was a word that happened to other people. What's more, she thought with a small wry grin, apologizing for everything she had done to everyone she had done it to would take more time than she, heck, the Universe had.

But this time- this time it was different.

Blackfire sighed as she steeled herself to knock on Beast Boy's door again. She didn't know what was worse; saying sorry to Beast Boy, or actually admitting to herself that she was going soft. What she did know was that she had hurt Raven.

Besides, this wouldn't be the first time she had ignored someone else's feeling to get her own way; the fact that those feelings were her own was a minor point at best.

Now if only Beast Boy would cooperate-

"What do you want, Blackfire?"

Blackfire turned to see Beast Boy standing at the other end of the corridor, a tinfoil package in his hands.

"Where were you?" Blackfire asked, temporarily unbalanced, and irritated because of it.

"I got hungry," Beast Boy said, holding up the tinfoil package. "Why, you thought I was trying to get Raven killed again?"

Were you? Blackfire thought of retorting, before biting it back. "No," she said through gritted teeth. "In fact, Beast Boy, I came here to apologize."

The tofu dropped.

"You…you wha…?" Beast Boy asked.

"That's right, Beast Boy," Blackfire said, deciding to get it over with here and now. "I've come to say I'm-"

Okay, let's try again.

"I'm-"

You can do this, Blackfire.

"I'm-"

"Er, Blackfire?"

"I can do this, okay!" Blackfire said, before trying again. "I'm s-s-s-" She took a deep breath, and tried again. "I'm szszsz-"

"Look, Blackfire, is this going to take long? 'Cos my tofu's getting cold and-"

"I'M SORRY! There, I said it! I'm sorry, Beast Boy, okay!"

"…You're…sorry?"

"Yes, Beast Boy, I am," Blackfire said, drunk with relief.

"Wait, wait, let me get this straight- you, Blackfire, you're saying sorry?"

"Yes, Beast Boy, I am," Blackfire said, starting to become irritated.

"Why?"

"Because of Raven, that's why!" Blackfire said hotly. "You know, small girl, pale skin, likes to say "Azerath Metrion Xinthos" a lot? You know the- wait, wait, let me start over."

After taking a few deep breaths to calm herself, Blackfire continued. "Basically, the thing is, no matter who wins when we fight, we always end up hurting Raven. Now, she told me, and I quote, that you are important to her. I don't know why, but that's something I'm willing to live with. Truce?" she asked, extending her hand.

Beast Boy stood there, unmoving for a moment, before replying in a way Blackfire never expected.

"Raven made you do this, didn't she?"

"What?" Blackfire asked, incredulous.

"Don't lie to me, Blackfire! Did Raven make you do this?"

"Well, kinda-"

"I knew it!" Beast Boy said, throwing his arms up. "What's the matter, huh?" he asked angrily. "The sound of my voice disturbing her precious meditation?"

"Did you hear anything I said?" Blackfire asked in frustration. "She cares about you, Beast Boy!"

"Yeah right, like I'm supposed to believe that!"

Beast Boy found out that even when not airborne, Blackfire could move. In what seemed like a fraction of a second, she had apparently moved several feet to seize Beast Boy by the collar and hold him up against the wall. "Look, Beast Boy," she said, "I've had it up to here with your stupid, delusional, self-pitying-"

"Get off me!" Beast Boy yelled, pushing her away and stomping off, when she stopped in mid stride and turned to Blackfire. "You said she cared for me, right?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"So why isn't she here? Why isn't she apologizing to me? I don't want your apology, Blackfire, I want hers." He looked down at the tinfoil-wrapped tofu in his hands. "You know what?" he said, throwing the package to Blackfire, who caught it. "I'm not hungry anymore. If anyone needs me, I'll be outside."

And with that, he walked to a window, changed into a swallow, and flew off into the night.

And leaving a dejected Blackfire slumping down in the corridor, head in her hands, wondering if anything will ever be all right again.