TW: Raven got really burned last chapter, so if you'd rather not know how bad her wounds are you may want to skip one paragraph when Cyborg finds her.

Cyborg was enjoying the festivities. It really felt like his days of being a school sport star sometimes, juts on a bigger scale and more responsible. He knew a lot of people were looking up to him, and he would not disappoint. Shame he didn't manage to get Fixit to come, but the mechanical genius was busy in the lab as usual.

Still, at least his teammates were with him… mostly. Starfire was enjoying it, flying above the crowds and even having a short race with Wonder Woman in the air. Cyborg couldn't hold back his smile when he saw that; of all the League members, she was probably the one his teammates wanted to see the most.

Especially green stain, with his obsession over social issues, was ecstatic. It was sometimes easy to forget, for most people, that under bubbly and happy personality Beast Boy had a lot of deeper thoughts, and was a great partner for philosophical and ethical discussions. Not that Cyborg was a fan of those, he was always more of an action person, but it was still a good thing to remember. Many people seriously underestimated BB's hidden wisdom. He was just very accepting of himself and a happy person by nature.

Raven, of course, disappeared pretty quickly, and everyone else scattered around, talking with people and just enjoying the festivities. He saw Starfire flying around with a new, shiny necklace – it seems someone is going to have a Robin talk, he thought, remembering how bent on not accepting gifts their team leader was.

He was just telling a group of people about their triumph over Cinderblock, when he felt someone slap his back with metallic sound. "You know, you're the best Titan, know why?"

Cyborg turned around, facing a very average-looking man. "Thank you, but we're all equally best." He joked, only now realizing something. This man didn't have any prosthetic arm or anything in his hand, what was the metallic sound earlier?

"You see, Cyborg, you're the best Titan… because you are so easy to defeat." The stranger answered alongside a sudden electric humming, and moments later there was only darkness.

/MAIN DIAGNOSTIC COMPLETE

/All main systems functional

/Booting main system

Cyborg woke up suddenly, confused. What just happened?
Moments later, his diagnostic system pulled up a warning that made his blood got cold. He was just EMPed. And not just that; his systems were hardened against normal interference in a way that nothing short of a high-yield nuke could stop them, and even then it wasn't a guarantee.

That was an attack, and done with very advanced technology. But he could hear people around him, and there was nothing holding him down, only… some kind of blanket? And why were people sounding scared? He turned on his mechanical eye and opened biological one, slowly looking around. He was still in the place where he was standing when he lost consciousness; it seems he fell down on the ground. He was covered with… thermal blanket?

"Hey, you're awake?" A policeman standing next to him asked, holding his hand on a holstered gun. What?

"Yes, I'm awake. What's with the blanket?" He asked, slowly getting up; to his relief, policeman let go of his gun and instead took a step back, giving him more space. Cyborg looked around, noticing that most people were gone, although some were still there. Some emergency services also arrived, judging by the amount of police, and… wait, were these the sounds of fighting?

"What's going on?" Cyborg asked, checking his communicator. Fried. Shit. Well, at least he was thankful that after the Mumbo incident he added small, back-up battery for starting up his system; and after Robin showed him his plans of defeating him, he took it to the heart and physically separated it from his normal system, with emergency timer allowing it to connect again. If not for that, he would not wake up before he would sustain brain damage. And died.

"Crazy, that's what." Policeman answered, visibly worried. "World went insane. Superman is dying, Green Lantern was blown up, Starfire is screaming she's going explode, and Beast Boy…" He stopped, and his face turned a little green. "It's not pretty, I tell you that."

"Wait, what?!" Was that an attack on all superheroes? But, how could someone make such precise and effective attack? Hat EMP charge was perfectly tuned to work on his body, they had to get his schematics. And was Justice League also incapacitated?!

He stopped his erratic train of thoughts. Alright, Cyborg, you're the one hero still standing, or at least one of the few, which means you have to act, not panic. He slowly counted to five, then backwards, and turned towards sound of fighting. "What's going on there?"

"It's Wonder Woman! She's nuts!" Other policeman said, holding his arm; it was visibly broken. "She attacks everyone, us, people running away, everyone! I saw her fighting a squirrel on a tree! She broke my arm, she's not listening to us!"

"She must be mind-controlled or something, no clue. " The first policeman said, trying to calm down his friend. Then, he turned back to Cyborg. "Think you can stop her? We can't do a thing, and she's gonna kill someone at this rate."

"I'll try." Cyborg answered, although he was sure he didn't have much better chances at fighting her then the police officers. She was a full-on League member, known for being able to bend cars. Around other card. With one hand. She could rip his arm off with two fingers if she was really pissed off.

Still, he couldn't contact anyone, and she had a working communicator. He went in the direction of fighting, easily finding her in the middle of a crowd of police officers. She was breathing heavily, and visibly shaking, but still fighting against officers. They were – wisely – trying to keep their distance, and not use guns as to not provoke her, but nets and long batons were about as effective as throwing paper planes at her.

He quickly deployed a long-range medical scanner, and instantly found out multiple problems. He then run a wide-spectrum scan, which only confirmed his suspicions. She was exhausted, and there was something in her brain – and it wasn't organic. Nanomachines? He would need a closer look later, but they were operating on a frequency… he knew that frequency. This just went from bad to worse. H turned to the highest-ranking officer nearby. "Please call off your men. Now. Situation is worse than it seems, she is under Apokoliptan mind-control."

"Apoko… wait, you mean Darkseid?! Shit!" The police officer quickly called his men back. "And just when we need Superman, he's not here!"

"Well, let's hope I'll be enough." Cyborg answered, his mind focusing. He was so lucky he decided to get some basic information on available Apokolips countermeasures. It was more of a hobby, interesting thing to read about, but he never expected he will have to apply it in practice. "And please bring the EMP device that was used on me here. Grab it through something, preferably something long, don't touch directly and be very careful."

Not waiting for answer, he slowly walked towards Wonder Woman. He just needed to get close enough to affect the nanomachines with his cannon…

Sadly, exhausted or not, she was still one of the most powerful fighters on Earth. Seeing him deploy the cannon – or rather, seeing a vicious enemy deploy a cannon – she jumped into action. Cyborg managed to block with his other arm, but she just grabbed it and tore it off like it was made out of paper.

If he was alive, he could have died from shock; fortunately, he was used to his limbs getting damaged, and ignored it. And, since he managed to block her attack with the other arm, his cannon arm was still operational. He shot her in the head, point-blank, on the frequency that he really, really hoped was correct. And with as much power as he could spare, knowing that both her and Apokoliptan technology are far tougher than anything on Earth.

Wonder Woman held her head and screamed, took a step back, and then fell on the ground, shaking. She blinked few times, confused, and then suddenly started coughing and sneezing violently. "Cy… Cyborg? Where, what, where are?" She asked, growing more confused with every word. "Who shot me?"

"Careful, it's alright. You were injected with some kind of nanomachines. Do you remember anything?" Cyborg asked, picking up his torn off arm and coming closer.

"I was, fighting? And then, it was, confusing. Like a nightmare." She tried to get up, but failed and fell back down. "Did you say nanomachines? How did they affect me? I remember Batman was testing some nanmachines once on the Watchtower. And he said my physiology makes me immune to them." She said, trying – and failing – to get up.

"Normal nanomachines, yeah. Ones with 'godly' origin seem to work. It's Apkoliptan." Cyborg waved at the worried police officer to bring his the device that shut him down. "And this one, as well. Intergang export, if I'm not wrong. Not the newest thing, fortunately, old S.T.A.R Lab countermeasures worked well enough."

"Apokoliptan? Think it's Darkseid?" She asked, still short of breath, but fortunately not shaking anymore.

"I doubt it." He answered, feeling sudden pride from being treated as equal by Wonder Woman. That was something he would not believe in year ago. "We would have parademons everywhere already. Someone must have used it to attack us. Can you call the League? And Titans, as well, I need to find them."

"Yes, of course. Wonder Woman to all Justice League Members, emergency, can anyone hear me?" She asked, and immediately received an answer. "Yes, I am. Cyborg is with me. His communicator is fried… yes, he was also attacked… how did you know?" Cyborg was getting more and more worried with each word. Wonder Woman passed him the communicator, and he took it.

"Listen, Cyborg, for you have very little time left if any." Batman said, and there was urgency in his voice that Titan never expected to hear from the stoic crusader. "Starfire is under an effect of sun-magnifying kryptonite…"

"Wait, kryptonite? I thought only Superman was weak to it?"

"Do not interrupt, we have no time for it. It's a custom modified crystal, it made her body take in too much light. If she is exposed to any light, there is a chance she explodes." Cyborg's body went cold. "You must ensure she stays out of any light, even slightest, understood? Raven is caught in a trap, it will not look like it but there will be symbols on the ground…"

"I know about her, continue." Cyborg interrupted.

"Good, just get her out. Robin is trapped underground, I'm sending you coordinates both his and Raven's from their communicators." Cyborg stopped himself from asking since when was Batman monitoring their communication. "Beast Boy is not in danger, but his Sakutia virus got out of control. You have to freeze him, it will hopefully force the mutations to stop."

"How do you know all this?" Cyborg asked, confused, although he was already noting the coordinates Batman sent to the communicator. "And what about Justice League?"

"I will be there soon, I will pick up Wonder Woman and coordinate efforts to save the rest. You save the Titans. Batman out." Was the only answer. Cyborg stopped question for now - it was Batman, after all, he probably sneaked to bad guy's cave and stole their plans from them.

"Think you'll manage by yourself until he arrives?" He asked, and Wonder Woman nodded. He quickly run to the officers, shouting, "Someone give me a ride, it's a matter of life and death, literally!"

It fortunately didn't take long to get to the destination; the problem was, who to get first. After a moment of consideration, he decided that leaving any of them would be a bad idea, so he instead send police to Robin's location – warning them very, very seriously to not do something stupid like removing his mask – and he went to the area pointed out by Raven's emergency signal.

They stopped in front of a… bookshop? Makes sense, he thought, going to the door and waving at the police officer to stay in the car, just in case. Hm, weird, he thought, his sensors were showing humidity coming off the door. Water? The doors were closed, but he didn't have time for pleasantries so he just ripped them off with his one remaining arm.

What he saw made him freeze for a second. Raven was lying on the floor, and she was so horrendously burned he almost puked. It took all his strength of will not to, but he was sure this image will be burned into his brain forever. He forced himself to breathe. She was bald; her skull was so burned, skin was falling off, same with any other piece of her body, and her hair was literally dissolving in the water next to her. She managed to cover her eyes, but her ears were just burned remains of once healthy skin. Her clothing was untouched, though, and his sensors were showing only water.

Water. Holy water. Shit. He took another deep breath and waved at the police officer. "Stay back, it's some kind of acid!" That was probably the best way of covering for her secret. While saving her life came first, he was sure she would not be happy if anyone found out. That being done, he carefully entered the store, trying to think what to do. He was pretty sure normal procedure in case of heavy burns would not be enough… on the other hand, he looked at her wheezing, barely alive body, and couldn't just leave her like this. Pull yourself together, Cyborg, he thought, you got this.

He grabbed her communicator, and called T-car here. One step at the time. He had to take her out of the shop, and probably… dry her? Bad idea, if he does that with high temperature the holy water will evaporate and get into her lungs more than it already did, and with any kind of sonic vibrations her skin could just fall off. Great. And unlike normal acid, he thought while trying to lift her in the safest way, he can't apply anything to neutralize it. Is there some kind of unholy water, or something?

Why, oh why wasn't he more forceful in trying to get her to infirmary for testing earlier? If she dies now, he'll never forgive himself.

He took her out just of the building in time to see T-Car parking nearby. He fortunately included some options for securing heavily wounded Titans in the vehicle, but it was no ambulance; he needed to get her to the Tower.

He briefly considered hospital, but decided against it. If she woke up in agony and her powers went out of control, she could do a lot of damage, possibly kill people there. And besides, if that was an organized attack on all superheroes, she was not safe there. Now in possession of both communicator and T-car, he managed to get to the police officers on scene with Robin. "This is Cyborg, how is he?"

"Cyborg? How did you get on this channel? Never mind, he's in a bad shape. He was gassed, we don't know what it is but it's dangerous for sure. It's some heavy gas, it's everywhere here, if we try to move it it's gonna rise and gas us as well, we're waiting for chemical unit."

"Like hell you are. I'm on my way, evacuate the area and I'll pull him out myself. Get some hoses to wash it off us as we leave." Unless it's one of those gases that you can't wash off at all, but he fortunately should be able to analyze it beforehand.

He parked next to abandoned building, ignoring police tape, and checked on Raven. No changes. Why was she not in a healing trance? Were the wounds too severe, or is the water blocking it? He took spare rebreather from the car and quickly run into the now-empty building, finding Robin. Or, at least, a huge pile of heavy machinery and a small hole with Robin's face barely visible. He was unmoving, and obviously unconscious, but managed to tie himself to the small hole in a way that allowed his head to stick outside and breathe in as little poison as possible. Cyborg smiled slightly, despite horrible circumstances. Boy Wonder himself, ready for anything. Now, to get him out.

First things first. He put rebreather on him, making sure not to disturb the gas that was now lazily floating close to the floor. Then, he checked what he is tied to, to make sure he won't pull the wrong thing. Then, he looked at the heavy machinery.

Whoever put it there, was monstrously strong. However, Cyborg was no pushover either. He could also stop breathing in a way that would block the gas from harming him, and had advanced filtration systems that should neutralize what little remains. Still, better not to risk it.

It took just a moment. He prepared, focused, found a good leverage point and half pushed, half threw the machinery off the entrance. Moment later he was already holding Robin and running out of the building, and getting hosed with enough water to probably drown Cinderblock.

"Enough, enough!" He shouted, causing the water flow to slow down. "I'm getting him to the Tower. I'll contact the Mayor soon, for now be on guard, it seems we were the first target but who knows what else may happen."

They tried to say something, but Cyborg was already in the car and on his way before they finished. He was very worried; Tower had the best medical equipment on the planet – only better in the entire solar system was on Watchtower – but he had no idea if that will be enough. And he couldn't risk getting doctors here; he still remembered being in Raven's soul and seeing things there. It hurt him, and if any of them dies he would never forgive himself, but he knew they would not want others to risk their lives to help.

And with Robin, it was a matter of the whole secret identity. It didn't take genius to realize that his identity is connected to Batman's in some way, and besides, they were still in danger. All these attacks were extremely well-planned and dangerous, almost a Robin-level preparations; if the goal was to kill them, he was sure there were backup plans, assassins and others. Hospital was not a safe place for them, no matter what.

While driving through the underwater tunnel, he had a moment to analyze the situation. Whoever that was, managed to incapacitate entire Justice League and Teen Titans in a single day. He had access to secret information that not even some of them knew – Cyborg was sure that even Robin had no idea or Raven's heritage. The attacks were very dangerous and well-planned, with a lot of information about both mental and physiological weaknesses. If not for both Mumbo and Red X incidents, and Robin willfully sharing his plans with them, he would be dead right now; his body would just shut down, and brain damage would finish him off. The assailant had access to kryptonite, and not just a normal one but custom-made crystals, and Apokoliptan technology. Cyborg had no idea who could this be; definitely not Darkseid. Maybe Brainiac? But, why go through all this trouble and not capture them, or make an attack in the meantime?

For now, he decided to leave these questions be, and focused on Raven. He took her out of the car, as gently as he could, trying to ignore pieces of burned skin falling off. He was going to burn the inside of T-Car after this, he decided. And he was probably going to have some form of mental trauma, but that's for later.

He managed to get both of them to the medical and hesitated, before heading for the shower. There was still holy water on Raven, burning her body; he realized only now that he can, very gently, just wash it off, at least most of it.

Trying to be very gentle, and shaking a little, he managed to remove her clothing and hopefully wash off most of the remaining burning poison without hurting her too much. Sadly, none of his sensors, even the hyper-advanced, literally not from this world machinery of the Tower were able to differentiate between holy and normal water, so he had to just hope he did enough. At least her burns were not getting worse. He put her on the bed, and sat next to her, shaking a little while connecting multiple monitoring devices.

"You know, Raven, I really hoped to avoid that." He said quietly. "Me only being able to make any examination and preparations only when you're already unconscious and in critical condition. Please," His voice broke up a little, "Don't die on me now."

He forced himself to get up and focus on Robin. More work to do. Fortunately, he already uploaded his analysis of the gas to the Tower medical system, and got recommended treatment… alongside over 90% mortality rate figures which did not make his mood better.

In case of Robin, it was a similar procedure, removing clothing, washing, putting on bed. Main addition was oxygen mask; he had obvious trouble breathing. But, after that was done, Cyborg still had much work to do.

He called the Mayor's office; it took multiple tries before someone picked up, and to his surprise it was not who he expected. "Perfect timing, Titans, detective Kowalsky here."

It's just one Titan for now, Cyborg here." Mostly, he thought, looking at his still severed arm lying next to him. "Where's Mayor?"

"Hospital. And judging by the fact that entire festival was obviously a trap, you can probably guess it was not an accident." Detective sighed. "No idea if it was mind control and he snapped out in the last moment, some kind of shapeshifter like the Imperium that replaced him, or anything else, but we found him beaten up and unconscious. Doctors say he'll live, but gonna be scarred for sure. What about Titans? I heard you were attacked as well."

"That's why I was calling. I know how to get both Beast Boy and Starfire to the Tower, but I will need some help. And I can't leave the Tower with Robin and Raven in critical condititon."

"Shit, both of them? Anything we can do?" The detective sounded really worried.

"I don't think so. You can, however, help me get both Starfire and Beast Boy here. I'll tell you what to do…"

Starfire was shaking in the darkness. As time passed, she found it just a little easier to control her power, but it still felt like the slightest touch of the sun would set her off in a gigantic explosion. She was scared; alone, in the darkness, and so close to dying, it made her remember her worst memories. When Gordanians enslaved her, sensory deprivation was one of the methods they used for punishment; she shook as she was flooded with memories she hoped to never see again.

She heard some noise, and moments later someone saying "Starfire, are you there?"

"Don't come any closer! The light, it can set me off! Don't!" She pleaded, hoping they will leave her alone.

"Starfire, it's alright. This is detective Kowalsky, Cyborg sent me. I have no light with me right now." He assured her, holding the wall and slowly coming closer, using a small metal pipe to feel the way before him. "I've been wondering in the dark for some time, I thought I missed you already."

"You… were wondering in the dark, alone? Starfire asked, surprised. She was so lost in her suffering and fear, she didn't even hear him approach.

"Nah, got two other officers with me. Couldn't carry this myself, and besides it's safer. We have something Cyborg got us from the Tower, some kind of material that absorbs all light. He said you got it from Dr. Light when you were securing his old lab."

Starfire remembered that. It was an amazing place, so full of amazing ideas and devices! One of them was actually able to absorb light somehow, and when Beast Boy accidentally turned it on they couldn't turn it off for almost half an hour until annoyed friend Raven just teleported it out.

He had some spares devices, and she realized why Cyborg asked them to be brought here. "Thank you, friends!"

"No problem, Starfire. If anything, let's just get out of this place and get you to the Tower. Please take these, we have three of them just in case, and we will guide you outside."

She happily took the items, and she could almost physically feel the effect instantly. It was strangely soothing, in her current state; it almost felt like the device was taking a little bit of her power away, which she didn't mind at all in this moment. Of course, it took them a long time to get out, but they could safely use light now while she was protected by the strange device. Cyborg sent T-Car for her with fully black and opaque windows, just in case.

"Starfire, how're you holding up?" Cyborg asked through the communicator once she entered the car. "Do you need anything?"

"Just darkness seems to help enough, friend Cyborg." She answered, only now feeling how tired she was. "Whoever gave me that necklace must not realize what they had, it was so beautiful and so horrible at the same time."

"Sadly, that's not the case here Star. It was a planned attack, we were all targets." Hearing this, she instantly grew worried.

"How is everyone else? Friend Robin? Beast Boy? Raven? Are you all right, friend Cyborg?"

"Mostly, just need to reattach my arm. Robin and Raven… I won't lie, it's not pretty, but they're not getting any worse and technology we have in the Tower is amazing. I hope they pull through."

"And friend Beast Boy?"

"He's at the bottom of the sea, close to the city. They will fish him out with something, we're considering liquid nitrogen, but it's gonna take some time. But they're already testing if it works, if not S.T.A.R Labs and Justice League can help too."

"Liquid… nitrogen?" Starfire asked, but decided to let it go. She was just so exhausted. "Do you know what villain did this, friend Cyborg?"

"No, and trust me, I want to find out." Cyborg answered, holding back his anger. "For now I want to make sure you're all safe, make sure they can get Beast Boy here as fast as possible, and then get some rest. Justice League is already on the job, they'll find whoever did this."

"Good." Starfire answered. She could feel her anger, and she pushed it down. Fortunately, she had a lot of experience with that, thanks to friend Raven. She shuddered, thinking what would happen if she didn't learn how to control her power in this way, and calm her emotions. She could have died… and killed so many other people, and probably her friends as well…

If she learns who did this, they better get caught by Justice League first, or she will hunt this person down and make them pay for hurting her friends.

Of all Titans, Cyborg is the easiest to neutralize. While technology powering him is impressive, it is susceptible to electromagnetic impulse just like any other advanced Earth technology. Custom-made device, using his blueprints puled from both S.T.A.R Labs and Tower archives, would shut his down. He will have to be put on life support as quickly as possible to avoid death, but it's both the simplest and most efficient way to stop him.

- Agamemnon Contingency. File codename: Android