Tools, metal scraps, and screws littered the ground around Cyborg's feet. His legs poked out from underneath a giant contraption that was covered in a beige cloth. He was putting the final touches on the T-Car, his 'baby'. Too bad this model would only live through this episode.
"How's the car coming along?" I said.
"How did- OW!" There was a loud clang from Cyborg hitting his head. He scooted out from underneath the car and lifted the cloth so he could see me. He wipe motor oil off his arm with a cloth. "Oh, hey, Ciela. I guess I can't keep any secrets from you. Just wait until the other Titans get a load of this!"
I herded the other Titans into the downstairs garage.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great pleasure to present to you my greatest invention ever: the one and only T-Car!" Cyborg yanked off the cloth and tossed it aside, revealing the T-Car. It had the same cybernetics as Cyborg's robotic components and my energy pistols, but it was blue like him.
"Wow, that's pretty nifty." Robin said.
"Oh, it's more than nifty! It's equipped with a one hundred-thousand horsepower plasma turbine engine, all-terrain hover jets, anti-lock air brakes, and an onboard computer that links with my systems. Of course, I couldn't leave out the most important components: leather seats, power windows, and a boomin' stereo!"
Two giant speakers popped out from the back of the car and blasted a deep, rumbling bass, knocking us all to our feet.
"Great... Can we go now?" Raven said.
"You bet! My baby will take us any place you wanna go!"
Robin's communicator beeped a shortened version of the Teen Titans' theme song, and he pulled it out and turned it on. "Trouble!"
Cyborg climbed into the T-Car and revved it up. "I'll drive!"
The other Titans climbed into the car. I paused at the front.
"Come on, Ciela, hop in!" Cyborg said.
"Um... It only has five seats." I said, accounting for all the filled spots. Maybe he made it with the mindset of how it used to be before I came. Did he do it on purpose?
"Oh... Well, then... Beast Boy, you're riding animal-class!"
"What?! No fair!" Beast Boy called from the backseat.
"It's okay. You guys can take care of the situation. I'll stay behind." I said.
"No way! Beast Boy, animal, now!" Cyborg said.
Beast Boy mumbled under his breath and transformed into a Chihuahua. He sat on the middle console and growled.
"Let's ride!"
Hesitantly, I sat down and closed the door, squished between it and Robin. I crossed my arms and legs to minimize the space I took up and looked out the window. Driving along the side of a large hill, Titans Tower glowed in the middle of the nightly atmosphere. Whenever there was a sharp turn, Cyborg tossed the car in that direction, and I had to tense my body to keep from flying across the seats.
"Hold onto your hats. It's time to see what this baby can really do-!" Cyborg said.
"There! Stop the car!" Robin said.
Cyborg spun the wheel like a dreidel, and the car spiraled 720 degrees. I gasped and clutched the side of the door as my vision blurred with dizziness. The car came to an abrupt stop beside the curb and in front of "Cook's Electronics". Crackling came from inside, and the shoppers ran out screaming. I leaned my head against the window and took deep breaths to calm my nausea.
"Titans, go!" Robin called as the Titans sprung out of the T-Car and headed into the building.
"You okay, Ciela?" Cyborg said. He got out of the car and wiped the windshield with a cloth.
"Yeah." I groaned. "I need to recover. I'll catch up with you."
"Dude, nice ride!" Two boys wearing black leather jackets and way too much hair gel approached Cyborg. I slunk down into the small space behind the passenger seat.
"She yours?" the taller boy, Cash, said.
"Yup! Built her with my own two hands using the finest cutting edge techn-AAAH!" Cyborg said. Raven had returned, and she snagged Cyborg's ear and dragged him towards the electronics store.
A few moments later, the doors were thrown open. The T-Car revved to life and launched forward. I hit my head against the door. I held my head and grit my teeth, careful not to reveal myself. The throbbing subsided, but the car was still zooming down the street. I leaned forward ever so slightly to catch a glimpse of the driver. It was the two hoodlums that Cyborg spoke to a minute ago.
"Make it go faster!" the shorter punk, Sammy, cried. Cash pushed down on the gas pedal even more, and I lurched back from the increase of speed.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out my Titans communicator. Swiftly, I turned on the tracking system and shoved it back into my jacket to hide the beeping. However, with the roar of the engine and the two boys screaming, I had no concerns with them hearing it.
Cyborg is not going to be happy. I thought as I heard the sound of pressured air, which belonged to cans of spray paint that Sammy and Cash used on the front of the T-Car. My legs ached from this uncomfortable position, and I longed to stretch them out. However, I couldn't risk getting out of the car. As long as I stayed here, Cyborg would be able to find it sooner. After painting it, Sammy and Cash hurried the car to a racing track called Crash Alley. The cheers of hundreds of spectators rumbled the arena. The T-Car lurched to an abrupt stop at the white starting line.
Sammy rolled down his window. "Hey, Cash, check out the cute little wind-up toy!" he said as a small teal car pulled up next to the T-Car.
"Get out the butter and jam, Sammy, 'cause this dude is toast." Cash said.
The lights flickered from red, yellow, and finally to green. I braced myself as the car's tires screeched against the ground and took off down the track. I pressed my back against the door to keep myself from moving.
"Dude, this car's smoking us!" Sammy said.
"Then we'll smoke 'em right back." Cash said. He urged the car to go faster and pressed the 'SMOKE' button. Smoke gushed from the back of the car and covered the smaller one, but once it subsided, the small car quickly started to catch up.
Cash pressed the 'OIL SLICK' button, and oil squirted out and covered the track. The tires of the smaller car spread out and lifted the car into the air, missing the oil entirely. The car passed over ours, came back down, and zoomed ahead.
"Hey, what's this one do?" Sammy said. I heard the click of a button and the deafening roar of the engine as the nitro was activated. My head smacked against the seat and my lungs had difficulty finding air. The T-Car zoomed ahead and crossed the finish line first.
The T-Car came to a stop, and Sammy and Cash jumped out and high-fived, allowing me time to swallow my nausea. I'm never getting in this car again.
A bright light flashed in front of the car. I peeked out and saw Sammy and Cash trapped inside a bubble created by the headlights of the smaller car. and lifted into the air. The car transformed into Gizmo.
Oh, great. I thought as Gizmo climbed into the driver's seat and drove away. That is, it more like blasted away by an engine Gizmo activated.
Gizmo pulled the car up to an ATM. Using his technology, he transferred the money it contained into the back of the car. The green paper covered my body.
Well, at least I'm better hidden.
"Man, who knew having a car would make things so much easier?" Gizmo said. "Maybe next I'll stop by a drive-through jewelry store."
The car tilted violently, like something heavy landed on the front. Gizmo screamed.
"Get your tiny butt out of my car!" Cyborg cried.
Gizmo backed the car out of the drive-through and raced down the street. Cyborg clung to the hood. Gizmo drove the car into a car wash. He cackled while Cyborg was pelted with water and soap, scrubbed with the rough brushes, and blasted with driers.
After the car wash, we headed into a construction zone. The rough grounds made for a bumpy ride. We climbed up a steep hill.
"Use the clutch!" Cyborg said.
"I know, snot-breath!" Gizmo said. I fished through the money stacked on top of me and pulled out an energy pistol.
"Are you even old enough to drive?!" Cyborg said, but Gizmo stuck his tongue out at him.
"I am!" I said, popping out from the pile of money and sending many bills out the window.
"Hey! I didn't invite you in here!" Gizmo cried.
I shot the controller in his hands, shattering it to pieces. I dove across the middle console and grabbed the steering wheel.
"Hey! Get your stinky hands off the wheel! I'm driving this piece of scrap metal!" Gizmo said, fighting for control of the wheel.
"Scrap metal?! You did not just call my baby scrap metal!" Cyborg cried.
We headed towards the drawbridge. A boat approached it, and the bridge began to separate.
"Hit the nitro!" Cyborg said.
I slammed my finger against the button titled 'NITRO', and the car zoomed across the drawbridge. Cyborg lost his grip and plunged into the boat.
"Cyborg!" I cried. "Get out of here, you little bug!"
"You first, you snot-nosed cluttermuncher!" Gizmo said.
A deep horn bellowed in front of us. Up ahead, a semi-truck drove towards us. Gizmo and I screamed as we lurched the wheel to the right, sloppily maneuvering the car around the truck as it passed by. We headed up the side of a hill, lingering dangerously close to the cliffside.
"You're gonna get us both killed!" Gizmo cried. "Who even are you?!"
"I'm a Teen Titan, you ignoramus!" I said.
"Not since recently! You messed up Attack Pattern Alpha! We planned it flawlessly, but then your booger-infested face showed up and warned the other Titans! What are you, some kind of psychic?"
"That's for me to know and for you to never find out!"
The car lurched to the side, and we looked and saw a car racing beside us. Covered in Raven's magic, it floated a few inches off the air.
"Pull over!" Cyborg called from the driver's seat.
"Make me!" Gizmo said, gaining enough control to ram into the other car.
"Fine, then!" Cyborg reached over and grabbed the passenger seat.
"Hey! Let me go, you barf-smelling hairball!"
The headlights of an approaching car shined on us. A police transport truck zoomed towards us. I gasped and climbed to the passenger window.
"Raven!" I called. Raven's magic wrapped around me, lifted myself and their car into the air. Gizmo ejected out of the T-Car, and it crashed into the police transport truck.
We landed back onto the ground. Gizmo cackled as he floated down with his parachute.
"Looks like your stupid car is-" Gizmo said, but Raven used her magic to wrap Gizmo inside the parachute.
Cyborg ran towards the T-Car. "Please be okay..." he mumbled.
A bolt of electricity traveled from the police transport truck and into the T-Car. "Car is better than okay! Car is mine!" Overload called from the driver's seat. He pulled the chip Cyborg installed out and replaced it with himself. The scratches and dents were removed, and the blue components of the car changed into red, like my energy pistols. "Only way to stop Overload is to destroy your precious car!"
The possessed T-Car zoomed towards Cyborg. With a brooding expression, Cyborg summoned his sonic cannon and shot. The energy ray cut through it and obliterated it. Parts scattered across the road.
The police officers who were in the transport truck caught up to us and carried Gizmo and Overload's remaining body, which was just his chip, into the back. Sammy and Cash were already inside.
"She's gone..." Cyborg said, standing over the leftover scrap.
"Maybe not. These are just parts. The thing you loved about that car, the thing that made her special, came from inside you."
Amid the scraps, Cyborg's original chip laid on the ground. Cyborg gasped and picked it up.
"You better get to making the second one." I said. "I bet it'll be even better than the first."
While Raven and Cyborg made the new T-Car, I went back to my room and wait to return to my world.
Tomorrow's the beginning of the season finale. This first season's gone by pretty quickly. I thought as I flopped onto my bed.
My vision began to fade to black, and I closed my eyes.
I have some major studying to do.
