The life in the shell

Beast Boy's head peered around the corner. He carefully looked through the Titans Tower main room from his vantage point within the elevator. Robin was staring unflinchingly at the computer monitor, making an uneven clicking sound as he typed away. Cyborg was stretched out on the couch while watching TV, ploughing through their many channels at an astounding rate.

If I had cybernetic eyes, I could run through channels that fast too, thought Beast Boy.

Returning his mind to the task at hand, Beast Boy exited the elevator and turned left. He calmly strutted towards the main hallway, holding a small object in his left hand. He took care to make sure that his less than composed body was between the object and the rest of the room, hiding his hand's precious contents from his other two circumstantial adversaries.

Just a few more feet and I'll be into the hall. Then I can make a run for it!

"Hey Beast Boy, watcha got there?" asked Cyborg, without even looking in Beast Boy's direction.

"AHHH!" cried Beast Boy, as he fumbled over from shock and fell flat against the floor. As quickly as he fell, he bounced back, momentarily juggling the fragile object in his hands. In other conditions, it might have been amusing. By the end of his routine, he was flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling and holding the object in both hands as though it were sacred. In seemingly an instant, Cyborg was beside him, staring at the thing in Beast Boy's hands.

"An egg?" asked Cyborg, truly confused.

Beast Boy picked himself up and dusted off his backside with one hand.

"Actually, it's a duck's egg," replied Beast Boy, defiantly. "And yes, I'm keeping it 'till it hatches."

"How did you…" Cyborg said, trailing off.

"I was flying around outside the city and found a few. Their parents had just been shot by some hunters. So I thought I'd at least give one of them a…"

"You know the rule on pets, Beast Boy," interrupted Robin's voice. How he could move from the computer station to the conversation without making the slightest noise was anyone's guess.

He's special like that, thought Cyborg as he sighed.

"C'mon Robin! This little guy or girl doesn't have a chance if I don't get it under a lamp soon!"

"You could incubate it other ways, BEAST Boy…" suggested Cyborg with a smirk.

"Yeah?" retorted Beast Boy, mildly angry. "Well I don't see you offering any…"

"And I can't grow feathers on my butt," said Cyborg, pointing directly at his rear end and mimicking a brooding position.

"You couldn't lose five hundred pounds either!"

Caught off guard by his reasonably logical comeback, Cyborg was ready to take it up a notch. Alas, it would never come to be.

"You can keep it Beast Boy," stated Robin, flatly. Beast Boy's eyes grew in anticipation. "Until it's fully grown. Then you're letting it back into the wild."

"Oh, thank you thank you thank you thank you…" shrieked Beast Boy. Cyborg's face was in shock. First, evenly matched by Beast Boy. Second, Robin allowing Beast Boy to keep a pet.

I should go watch some more TV, thought Cyborg.

"Cyborg," said Robin, "why don't you help him out? See if you can come up with a makeshift heat lamp. Or something to keep the egg warm with." Things couldn't get much weirder, so Cyborg took a deep breath and smacked his forehead with his palm.

"I'm on it," said Cyborg with a resigned tone. Beast Boy was still hyped in disbelief.

"Good," said Robin. Turning to Beast Boy, he continued, "But once it hatches, you have to keep it in your room. I don't want duck mess in the rest of the tower. Got it?"

"Of course!" replied Beast Boy, holding his free hand up to his head in a (possibly mock) salute.

A second or two passed, and Robin was back at his computer station. Cyborg found himself being tugged towards the hallway by a highly anticipant Beast Boy, and started thinking of things he could use to keep Beast Boy's latest project a success.

Robin typed away, checking over the design of his utility belt.

I don't see any harm in him keeping it. I can't say I'd do it myself, though.

Robin zoomed in on a small section of the utility belt that looked overly cluttered.

Suddenly, the pixels got blurry. Odd, thought Robin. He reached his hand forward to adjust the contrast before his vision went entirely dark and he lost all control of his bodily functions. The next thing he heard was the sound of his whole body slumping against the floor.

His eyes dilated as they showed him things he didn't understand. He saw a control panel in a darkened room. It was so real, he could almost feel the dampness and coldness of the place. And there was dead silence. Next he saw his own hand, reaching out and opening the control panel. This revealed a myriad of switches, along with a schematic of the city's power grid. He felt himself looking at the schematic and thinking. Most of the switches were in flicked up, in the "ON" position. Robin then saw his hands turn the remaining switches likewise.

And all throughout, like one image transposed on another, he saw a tube. A large tube in a pitch black room, seven feet high and four feet in diameter. It was filled with a liquid of some sort. And floating in the liquid, a being in the form of a human, with tubes emanating from a myriad of places on its body.

Soon enough, both visions disappeared as quickly as they came. Robin found himself lying on the floor, staring up the ceiling and wondering what had just happened to him.