Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans, or any references to films/ TV, etc made, in any way, shape or form

I know I still don't have the characters personalities' right, (I mean, I don't think they wouldn't just stand around during an intrusion) but I'll try to work on that.

Hope you enjoy, and please REVIEW

The forgotten

Part 2 – making an omelette

This takes place before an Infinite Crisis, occurring during a seemingly more innocent time, just after Beast Boys and Girls…

My name is Victor Stone, and I'm… complicated. I used to be pretty ordinary. Black kid, teenage athlete, with scientist parents, only child, that kind of stuff. I walked into their lab during a dangerous experiment, there was an accident, and I got hurt…badly. My mom died in the accident, and my dad got cancer. Some would call me the lucky one. A pity I didn't know it then.

One of my dad's side projects was a cybernetic suit, for military applications. A few modifications later, and the parts of me that were destroyed in the accident were replaced with mechanical parts. I became a Cyborg.

When I woke up and saw what he did to me…I didn't take it well (if you call begging him to let me die taking it hard).

If you saw me, you would be inclined to agree with how I felt back then. So far, I have an artificial left eye, mechanical arms and legs, the left side of my face is mechanical, and so is most of my chest and most of the organs inside me. All the implants are obvious; I can't just waltz around and pretend I'm normal. I don't even have blood anymore, just synthetic oil with some blood mixed in.

I felt like a freak. I mean, before, people could judge me by the colour of my skin, but then people saw me as being lowest common denominator, a machine, subhuman. I didn't have a friend in the word. My dad couldn't help, and if he could I wouldn't let him.

Then, the Titans found me, and I met kids who'd got as hard a time as I did. I felt like I belonged. With them, I finally managed to forgive my dad before he passed on, and prove to myself, and everyone else, that I'm more than just science gone wrong. That beneath these implants, beneath the parts you see, I'm still a man.

When the Titans broke up, I set up a new version of the Titans for today's kids, so they have somewhere to go.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Victor Stone, better known as Cyborg (the Teen Titan, NOT the enemy of Superman) fell, he saw his team-mate, Wonder Girl (a.k.a. Cassie Sandsmark) fly out of the recently created hole in their h.q. (Titans Tower) like a rocket.

My God he thought I hope, for that monsters' sake, that she's okay.

He put his concern for Cassie to the back of his mind. Right now, they had to do something about the crazed lunatic with a grudge

In this situation, the team functioned almost perfectly, despite being hit by a burst of who-knows-what rays. It hurt, a lot

Starfire scooped up Kid Flash.

Robin and Beast Boy were caught by Raven

Superboy caught Cyborg by the arm. From the look on his face, Cyborg could tell that what Superboy – Conner- really wanted was to find Cassie, and kick some ass.

"If you look first…" The psycho known as Aftermath called out to them. He then jumped out of the hole he made, passing the Titans along the way, before crashing into the ground, leaving a small crater.

"…You may not leap." He finished. He then turned towards the ocean, in the direction Cassie went in.

In the distance, Cyborg's electronic eye saw a human-sized object skip across the water, before sinking.

"Is it her?" He asked Superboy. His super-vision was much better at picking out distant objects.

"Yes."

As soon as he dropped off Cyborg, Superboy took off towards Cassie's location.

"Kid Flash," Cyborg called to Bart, "Go with him!"

Kid Flash did a salute at super speed. "You got it, rusty."

He ran after Superboy, going so fast that he was actually running across the water's surface.

"Hey! You creep!" Cyborg yelled at Aftermath, converting his right arm into sonic cannon form and pointing it at the back of his head.

Aftermath rotated his head 180 degrees, towards Cyborg.

"Yeah, I know. I stole a line from the Transformers. So sue me."

His eyes were now giving off a bright aqua-green glow.

Cyborg's electronic eye was picking up some kind of energy signature. What kind, he couldn't say, and it was gradually intensifying. Everything about this guy was starting to bug him.

In the distance, Cyborg could see Bart and Connor racing towards Cassie

If I don't get some answers soon, I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind.

"What the hell are you?" He nearly spat through clenched teeth

Aftermath's eyes just glowed brighter. He turned the rest of his body so that it faced the same direction as his head.

"You'll see. In the meantime…" Aftermath waved his arm in Cassie's general direction. "Watch and wait…"

"We've waited enough!" Starfire yelled, as she hurled a Star- bolt at the small of his back.

He sidestepped it easily.

"Watch..." He pointed back to the ocean.

Cyborg looked towards the sea. In the distance, he saw Connor and Bart circling a spot. Then, a human sized object rose slowly out of the circle's centre.

Cassie

He could have jumped for joy. She's flying! She's okay!

Suddenly, she flew straight into Superboy like a missile, both of them shooting back towards the tower.

What the hell

Both of them crashed into the ground near the tower. Kid Flash was there in an instant.

"What happened, Kid Flash?" Robin asked, not taking his eyes off Cassie and Superboy.

"I donknow.itsliketheywereboththrownbytelekinesis, orsomekindofmindcontrol,or- -"

"Let's stick with the… err…" Beast Boy turned towards kid Flash, raising his hands in an inquiring position. "What was the last thing you said?"

"We've really got to do something about speed-babbling." Robin sighed.

Bart shot both of them a quick look, before he dashed right into their resident psychopath.

"Never mind that now!" He called, while pummelling Aftermath with hundreds of punches & kicks. "Let's just stop this at the source!"

No-one could argue with that.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Raven was beside Cassie & Connor, doing what she did best – trying to patch everyone up.

"How are they?" Cyborg asked, crouching beside her.

"Superboy is only stunned." Raven replied while placing a glowing hand on Cassie's side. "But Wonder Girl has 2 broken ribs and a concussion."

"So… it's nothing serious then." He readied his sonic cannon, preparing to jump into the melee.

"Before you…" She paused, possibly searching for the right word. "…'get stuck in', I need you to get him up."

"Why?"

"She almost drowned. She needs CPR, soon."

Not missing a beat, he shook Connor by the shoulder.

"Come on, wake up. We need you."

In an instant, Connor was up. His fists clenched, his eyes blazing (not literally) and ready for anything. He immediately softened once he saw Raven hovering over Cassie.

"How is she?" He whispered, his upper lip was on the verge of quivering.

"Fine," Cyborg replied, "but we need you to give her CPR."

"Why?"

"Because both you and Cassie have super-strength, and Raven and I don't"

"…So…"

"So, only you can pump air into her lungs."

With that, Conner bent over Cassie and began to work.

Cyborg, in the meantime, leaped into the fray.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the meantime, Kid Flash had been pummelling Aftermath hundreds of times.

"Hey Kid!" Beast Boy, now in elephant form, yelled. "Save some for us!"

"Leave the most for me!" Starfire chimed, powering up her star-bolts.

Robin drew a grapple-gun from his belt, as well as a couple of batarangs.

"So, what'reyougonnadonow,punk?" Kid Flash taunted, while circling him at super-speed, constantly knocking him down.

"I'm gonna do this." Aftermath slammed a fist into the ground underneath.

A circular shock-wave spread along the ground, sending Kid Flash flying. He landed in a heap, bruised but alive.

Starfire picked up the slack, sending two star-bolts into Aftermath's chest, knocking him down.

Before he fully recovered, Robin sent out the cable, winding it around the maniac's legs

While he was distracted, ripping the steel cable, Beast Boy (still in elephant form) charged into him.

"No need to fear, Dumbo's here to kick ass!" A lame joke, even by Gar's standard, but how many good elephant jokes are there, anyway?

Aftermath dug his feet into the ground, before bending down and lifting elephant-Gar up

"Uh-oh, guess it's time for this bird to fly."

Gar morphed into a falcon, slipping out of his grip.

Nice one, green-genes, Cyborg thought, letting off a sonic blast, now to show him what happens if you mess with the Titans

The blast caught Aftermath in the chest, driving him back a step.

Unfazed, he whipped out a pistol, from behind his back and shot Cyborg, sending a sonic blast that knocked the Titan to the ground. While he was stunned, Aftermath ran up to him, replacing the sonic-pistol with a long scimitar (a curved sword) which crackled with energy. He stood over Cyborg.

"Sorry to cut and run," He quipped, while preparing what could have been a killing blow, "but I've got big plans for you kids and--"

He was cut off when Wonder Girl (now recovered) slammed into his back, knocking him into another section of the training area.

"Too bad," She yelled as he skidded along the ground, "'cause we've got other plans!"

As he was about to get up, a familiar (and well-missed) voice called out

"Yoo-hoo, I hope you haven't lost your appetite, 'cause the main course is here! Tonight's special is big, green, so rare it's extinct and weighing over 13,000 pounds."

A massive green T-Rex landed on top of Aftermath. The T-Rex then bowed, and did, what Cyborg swore, was a large grin (if T-Rex's could grin, that is).

"Don't thank me." Gar joshed, shaking his massive, sabre-toothed head.

"If that is your wish, then we won't." Raven said, her left eyebrow slightly raised

"Hey, that was a joke! If I say--"

"I know, I was… pulling your knee."

"That's leg, 'pulling your LEG'."

"Oh."

Cyborg shook his head

"Enough already, let's see if he's more co-operative now."

Superboy cracked his knuckles

"…And what if he isn't?"

A muffled voice came from beneath Gar's foot

"It's too bad, for you."

"What? Could you speak up a little?" Wonder Girl replied in a mocking tone.

His response was to throw Gar off him, forcing him to change to octopus form, to avoid harming anyone or being harmed. He landed on top of Kid Flash, entangling them, and stunning Bart.

After rising from the impact crater, he pulled out a pocket-sized 3-pronged spear. Before he could fire it, a batarang knocked it from his hand, sending it skidding across the ground. A kick to the face by Robin kept him off balance. A burst of heat-vision (courtesy of Superboy) almost hit his chest, before an outstretched palm entered its path. The beam slowed down and was redirected towards the now human Beast Boy, singeing his rear end.

Gar's cry of pain caused some of the Titans to let up their onslaught. Some, but not all of them.

Superboy, undaunted, slammed his fist into the ground, sending a telekinetic wave through it.

"Try sending this back, creep."

Aftermath jumped over it, his visor lifting up the second he touched ground again, revealing his glowing blue eyes.

"See if you like the taste of this, Pinocchio."

Superboy blinked.

"What!"

A beam of blue energy shot from his eyes, striking Superboy so hard it drove him to the ground. Wonder Girl dove in the way, blocking it with her bracelets and sending the beam back. The beam harmlessly struck his hand and was absorbed into it.

"Here's my motto, Cass," he said, "'don't dish it if you can't take it'"

His eyes changed colour, from blue to green, and Superboy's body flew straight into Wonder Girl's back, knocking her to the ground.

The two teens lay in a heap, until he raised his arm, levitating them into the air. They then plummeted back to earth, colliding with the ground so hard that they formed a small crater.

Cyborg jumped onto Aftermath, grappling with him. Aftermaths' Left had a hold on Cyborg's right arm, and vice versa.

Aftermath closed his visor.

"Y' know," he tightened his grip on Cyborg's right arm, "I can't get over how badly you built these toys of yours."

"What do you mean? These 'toys' are state of the art."

Cyborg tried not to show it, but his mechanical parts were straining to keep his arms where they were. If he strained any more, he'd burn out something vital. The creep was tougher than he looked.

Aftermath, on the other hand, didn't appear to be straining, but it was impossible to tell, due to his mask/ helmet/ whatever.

"I'm just saying…" he swung Cyborg's left arm behind his back, putting it in a hammer-lock. "…that these new-fangled toys break as soon as they come out of the box!"

"If you don't get off my arm, I'll make sure to put YOU in a box!"

"It's okay, you can keep it…"

He released Cyborg's arm. The Titan whirled around, but before he could attack, he stared at his left arm.

The arm was now covered up to the elbow in several faint blue 'cracks'. After a few seconds, the arm fell apart, like the cheap junk salesmen try to flog.

Although his mask couldn't convey emotions, Cyborg could tell that Aftermath was grinning, or at least smirking.

"What did I tell you?" He shook his head, pulling out a grenade-sized object from behind his back with his left hand. "American engineering…"

Cyborg gaped, astonished by what happened. "What the hell did you do to my arm?"

"If I were you, I'd be more worried about your 'heart of steel'." He pulled Cyborg's main power cell from behind his back. Cyborg ran a quick system's diagnostic. The power cell had been removed over 10 seconds ago, with absolutely no damage done to his body in the process. He hadn't felt a thing when it was removed (apart from a slight drop in power, but he assumed that it was caused by overexertion at the time).

This guy's tricks could spice up Mr. Miracle's act

"Don't need it; I've got several reserve power cells." Tapping into his reserves, and getting a 'second wind' Cyborg used a football tackle, managing knocking Aftermath to the ground.

Undaunted, the lunatic kicked Cyborg off, but he managed to land back on his mechanical feet. Aftermath still clenched the grenade sized object. In his right hand, he'd replaced the power cell with his 3-pronged spear.

"Sorry, Franken-kid, you've just been upgraded to…" he threw it, embedding it into Cyborg's chest. "…a novelty paper-weight."

Victor collapsed onto his back, partially from the impact, partially because the device embedded in him was draining his reserve power. He was now, effectively, paralyzed.

Damn, can't move…

He swiftly turned and hitting Starfire with the object in his hand. The object exploded, covering her in a black dust. Blinded, she lost control, crash-landing. In an instant, she was back on her feet.

"Varblernelk," She cursed in Tameranean, wiping some of the dust from her face. "What is…this…this mess?"

She spat some out of her mouth, before shooting two star bolts towards Aftermath. He performed his redirection trick again, redirecting the bolts towards Robin (who dodged, continuing to run afterwards) and Raven (who stopped tending to Conner & Cassie in order to block with her soul-self)

Starfire tried again. This time, her hands simply fizzled, before the glow faded.

She tried again - nothing happened this time.

"X'hal!" She exclaimed, staring at her dust-covered hands. "What in the name of --"

A fist in her face cut her off. She flew back, landing hard on the ground. She didn't get up.

"Solar energy diffusing/ absorbing dust; never leave home without it."

Robin caught his chest with a explosive batarang. He followed it up with a kick to the faceplate. Before it connected, Aftermath caught Robin by the foot. The boy wonder screamed, as the lunatic exerted pressure on his foot, though not enough to break it, though Cyborg could tell that he damaged something, most likely a muscle.

Dammit. The kid's getting killed, an' I can't stop it. It would take several minutes to re-route the emergency power cells that the gizmo hadn't drained. Robin would need some luck if he would ever live that long. Everyone (except Raven) was down, or stunned. Raven getting involved in physical confrontations was usually the equivalent of dropping a bomb, it was overkill.

If there was ever a time to cut loose Rave, do it now

Unfortunately, Cyborg got his wish.

"This madness ends NOW!" Raven yelled. A black shadow rose from Raven's body. This shadow (her soul-self) formed the shape of a raven, before it shot towards Aftermath. Once it touched him, he would either be sucked into a nameless dimension, forced to confront his deepest fears, or who knows.

I could almost pity him Cyborg mused …almost.

Aftermath's eyes apparently (it was hard to tell) widened. "…Oh… heck!"

He dropped Robin.

What happened next was anyone's guess. Raven's soul-self entered his body, passing through his chest like it wasn't even there. That usually happened.

What happened next was news to them.

Lightning-like arcs of energy crackled through her soul-self.

Both of them screamed in pain, before an energy surge separated them. The soul-self shattered like cheap glass.

Raven flew to the ground, before convulsing on the ground like she'd been struck by lightning. Instead of screaming in pain, she was laughing fit to burst.

Good god, what did he do to her!

Aftermath flew to the ground. After a few seconds, he climbed painfully to his feet, clutching his chest.

"That was…excruciating," He gasped, rapidly recovering, "but that's nothing compared to what's in store for you."

He turned, reaching out towards her…

----------------------------------------------------------------------

…before a crimson glove punched him in the face. Kid Flash came back round, readying for another attack.

A golden rope slammed into the armoured lunatic's chest, sending him flying back with a surge of electricity. Wonder Girl was back in the game…just.

Superboy flew shakily behind Kid Flash, while Beast Boy dashed to Raven, in cheetah form, before changing back.

Raven was still laughing.

"C'mon, Rave, snap out of it. This is no time for… emotion sickness." Gar lifted her head up as gently as possible.

She was struggling to say something between laughs.

"Ha…Ha…H…Phil…" She passed out.

"No, Gar." Gar shook her gently. "C'mon, c'mon, wake up. We have to get you an' Kory someplace safe."

"There…is no sanctuary." A bolt of energy hit Gar in the back. He fell backwards, and didn't get up.

Aftermath turned around, and hobbled towards Cyborg, still clutching his chest.

Starfire, Gar and Raven were still out cold. Robin and Cyborg struggled painfully to their feet. Cyborg managed to pull the offending device from his chest, making sure to examine it with his electronic eye before casting it aside.

"Thanks for the…workout, kids," Aftermath rasped, seeming unsteady on his feet, "but for now, it's time for you to go down!"

Kid Flash smirked. "Make us, tin-grin!"

Aftermath shrugged. "Okay."

Arcs of lightning-like energy flew from his outstretched hands (like Force lightning in Star Wars), suspending Kid Flash, Superboy, Robin, Wonder Girl and Cyborg in midair, before sending them flying backwards. Wonder Girl, Cyborg and Superboy got up shakily. Robin and Kid Flash were out cold.

Cyborg felt like he was running on an eighth of his power, but he couldn't lie down. Not yet, not even to seal up his shattered arm and stop the flow of 'blood'.

Superboy gasped for breath. "That all you got, 'partner'?"

Aftermath cocked his head, like he was looking at a strange lab specimen.

"No," He replied, raising his visor, "it isn't."

This time, the lightning-energy, eye blasts and a red-burst struck them. They were all knocked to the ground, hard, completely overwhelmed by pain.

Cyborg's internal computer had only 3 things to 'say', in binary, "Power levels: - depleted. Shut down: - Imminent". Recording: - stopped.

The last thing Cyborg saw was a black & silver boot slamming into his face…

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Aftermath's kick removed part of Cyborg's mechanical side.

Thankfully, nothing mechanical was damaged.

Silently cursing to himself, he turned Cyborg's head to the side & replaced the parts. The last thing he needed was damaged goods…at least for now, and he could do without somebody rebuilding him with as a novelty Swiss-army knife (like the Russians during that damn 'Titans Hunt' affair).

He paused, overseeing the destruction caused by their fight. He then picked up a fragment of the arm he destroyed.

"What a waste. Re-assemble."

His eyes took on that green glow, and the various fragments of the mechanical arm began rejoining, until he was holding a whole lower arm. He then used his re-assembling power to re-attach it, seamlessly, back in place. It looked brand new.

If his goal was to be achieved, then the last thing to do would be to make a mess. He hated messy business, but unfortunately, digging into things (in this case the past) resulted in mess. He accomplished the 3rd goal he had ever held in his life; he'd beaten the Teen Titans by himself. It always bothered him a little that these Super-villain groups didn't really consider them important (and for the love of goodness, why wasn't there an Anti-Teen Titans out there)?

The Teen Titans, the only real opposition actually worth beating down. He wouldn't sully his hands on the Outsiders (though he could make an exception for Nightwing or that android responsible for Donna Troy's death).

He considered taking one of them as bait, but decided the humiliation of being beaten by nobody would probably be more effective.

He then set his sights on his new goals: - repairing the tower, letting the Titans rest, giving San Francisco something to really be amazed about…and returning the hand that fate (and partially the Titans) had dealt him. He believed in repaying debts.

He got to work…