I was leaning against a building under the streetlight, picking quietly at my guitar as I waited. The moon was high in the sky and my Harley and the T-Car were parked on the curb. Cyborg leaned against the one of a kind vehicle.
I suddenly realized that, even though Noir and I had been with the Titans for a couple of weeks now, I still didn't really know any of them. Much less this hulking figure that was half-man half-robot.
"So...that your car?"
Cyborg smiled immediately.
"Yup! That's my baby. I made her myself."
My eyes widened.
"Really now?" I stepped away from the wall to get a better look at it. "She's beautiful."
Cyborg positively beamed then.
"Thanks! Made from my own tech!" He thumped his metal chest.
I looked sidelong and my eyes took in the metal and blue circuitry that made up most of his body. I wanted to ask how and why, but I bit my tongue. Heaven knows I wouldn't want him asking about my past.
"Your bike's nice, too."
I blinked and looked over at my Harley.
"Yeah, that steel horse and me have been through some times."
"You and Noir have been through some stuff, too, right?"
I nodded.
"We've taken a fair amount of people to the woodshed."
"Heh, I bet."
I turned and looked down the street, waiting to see the black blur I knew would be Noir. In truth, I was a little uncomfortable. Cyborg was a nice guy, but I didn't really know him.
Of course, I figured, that would change sooner or later.
"You like football?" I asked suddenly.
"You know it." Cyborg pointed at me like the Fonze. "Second best sport next to basketball."
I smiled.
"I dunno about all that but..." I shrugged. "I tried to get Noir to watch football, but he's not the type."
"Give him another year. He won't be doing anything but chasing the girls."
That thought made me grin, but I wasn't so sure about it. Noir had a little bit of a shy streak in him.
"Speak of the devil." I pointed.
Noir blurred off a rooftop, down a streetlight pole and skidded to a stop next to us.
"Flashy." Cyborg complimented him.
Noir was a little embarrassed, but he shrugged it off.
"All right." I clapped my hands together, adjusting my guitar to where it would be on my back. "This is where the criminals' van crashed."
"Right." Cyborg nodded and typed into his forearm.
That freaked me out just a little.
"There are some trace residues in the air of the rocks they thieves ran off with. So-"
"We just do a Toucan Sam and follow our noses." I joked. "Right, Noir?" I elbowed him softly in the side.
My friend had been looking down at his feet. He looked up at me slowly and forced a smile to cover it up.
I frowned-
"What's up, guys?" Static Shock flew in on his metal disc. He sat on the edge of it with dangling legs as it floated a few feet off the ground. "Ya'll throw a party and forget to invite me?"
"Virgil." I said. "Good timing. We were just about to-"
"Hey, man! How many times do I gotta tell ya? SECRET IDENTITY!"
I rolled my eyes.
"What are you doing out here, anyway?"
"Patrol." Static shrugged. "I think it's Robin's way of punishing me for being late."
"At least you didn't get stuck with laundry duty."
"Don't look at me." Cyborg said to us. "I don't wear clothes."
I blinked at him.
"You're saying...you're naked right now?"
"Yup!" He answered way to cheerfully.
I shook myself out of it.
"Ahem, anyway." I turned back to Virgil. "We were about to hunt down that last criminal that got away. Wanna help?"
"Why not?" He stood up on his disc, stretched and yawned. "I've been bored out of my mind out here."
"There's a couple of different trails." Cyborg said, looking at the screen in his arm. "But the strongest one goes that way."
He started walking and we all fell in behind him. Static floated along with us.
"What are those rocks, anyway?" Static wanted to know. "It seems like a lot of trouble for someone to go through to just contribute to their rock collection."
"All I know is that it was a new exhibit. Came in last month." Cyborg said over his shoulder.
"Can't your internet arm tell you?"
Cyborg shook his head as we round a corner and went down a dark alley.
"All I know is that their signature is really powerful."
"Powerful?" Static asked.
"When subjected to a long-range low frequency sonic pulse the rocks give out a feedback loop on the seismic scale that approximates their location based on hyperwaves so-"
Cyborg and Static talked about it more, using scientific terms I'd never heard, so I just tuned them out.
I didn't like the big city. I'd grown up in a city not unlike this one, though it was smaller. But I had spent most of my time in the mountains surrounding it. I loved the fresh air and nature and the incredible views.
I watched a fat gray rat skitter across the alley to behind a dumpster.
I was definitely in a new world now.
I looked over at Noir, who walked with his head down.
"Something wrong?" I said quietly to him while Static and Cyborg still nerded it up.
Noir shook his head faster than I liked, but I didn't press. We were good friends, but one of the reasons why was because we didn't interfere with each other. We were close, but we kept a distance on personal things. Both of us liked that distance.
"What the heck is that?"
Static's voice made me look up. Ahead of us was a man who stood as still as a statue. As we got closer, I realized why.
He was a statue.
He was covered from head to toe in some kind of...red crystal.
Static's eyes widened behind his purple mask.
"Is he-"
Cyborg nodded as he read his scanner.
"Yeah, he's alive. We need to get him out of there soon, though."
"I got a knife." I offered.
Cyborg looked at me funny.
"Ah...I think we have some better tools for the job at the Tower."
TTTTTTTT
The Titans were a little surly when we got them out of bed...except Starfire, of course. But from what I'd seen, she was always in a good mood. I could blame the rest of them though. I hadn't looked at a clock lately, but I figured it was after midnight.
We stood around the petrified criminal. Cyborg worked on him with a dentist-like saw tool that made me cringe.
The double doors swooshed open behind us and Robin walked in, his face all business.
"Robin," I said and gestured at Noir and myself. "We got him. Good job, right?"
The Boy Wonder walked past us and started talking to Cyborg like we weren't even there.
"..."
A little peeved, I looked at Noir to see if he shared my sense of injustice. Instead, he was looking off to the side. I followed his gaze and saw Terra and Beast Boy, inseparable as far as I knew, standing side by side. Terra was actually trembling as she hugged herself and Beast Boy was whispering something in her ear.
It was obvious Noir knew something, but it wasn't my place to ask. I simply shrugged.
Blondes...
