Toros
Across Jump City River, on an electric plant's rocky shore, stood the electric villain himself, Dr. Light. He dropped two massive cables he had carried and stretched his arms. "Ahh, yes. Now the world will know my name-"
"Doctor Light," finished Robin. "Looks like you need to have your light put out again."
"Didn't you say that last time?" Beast Boy asked. Dr. Light laughed.
"Ah the Teen Titans. How nice of you to come. I was just wondering where you were."
"Really? That's new," Cyborg said with his sonic cannon ready. "Not to mention you have a new look." The electric villain wore a black jumpsuit with a lightning spark on the torso; it was usually underneath his bulky light suctioning suit. The biggest difference was his unusual bright yellow skin. "What? You got bored in jail so you took up body decorations?"
"Let's just say I had a... fortunate accident," the villain grinned. A massive flash of light blinded the titans, and when they could see again, Dr. Light disappeared. The team looked all around.
"What the!" Beast Boy spun his head around. "Where'd he go?"
"Right behind you." The team turned, and Dr. Light threw a huge ball of lightning at them. The Titans dove out of the way. Raven flew up but gasped when Dr. Light darted right in front of her.
"I'm not afraid of you anymore, dear." The villain shot her with a blast of light, and Raven fell out of the sky right into something warm and furry. She opened her eyes, seeing green. A soft green bear's back slowly let her down as Beast Boy changed back.
"Thanks."
"Thank me when we figure out how to ground this guy," Beast Boy gritted through his teeth. "Look out!" They ducked from another bolt.
"Ground? Wait! That's it!" Cyborg shouted, getting out his arm cannon. He tried blasting Dr. Light, but the electric villain flickered out of the way. "Come on, come on. Gotcha!" Dr. Light took the hit and fell to the ground. "My cannon works on sonic power, remember?"
"Of course," Dr. Light smirked, dusting his shoulder. "How could I forget?"
"Star! Pepper him!" Cy shouted.
Starfire flew in low, peppering Dr. light with star bolts. Dr. Light danced around the bolts effortlessly, and when Star was close enough, he bolted right in her face and finger-flicked her back.
"AAAAHH!" The alien flew across the sky and back into the forest nearby.
"Starfire!" Robin shouted. He aimed his disks at Dr. Light.
"Hang on," Cy shouted, "We're gonna need those. Keep him in one place! Beast Boy, we need some water!"
"Yeah! Kinda hung up!" Beast Boy shouted as he and Raven huddled behind a small boulder that the electric criminal kept blasting. "He's gonna shock me if he sees me!"
"It's no use, children. Your actions are futile." Dr. Light hovered higher into the air. "Now, nothing will stop me from conquering the world. I no longer have any use for money or wealth. I am a god! I am pure energy! I am-"
WHOOOOSSH!
A wall of water splashed onto Dr. Light, sending him to the ground. "NO! AHH NOOO! AHHHH NOO IT HURTS! IT HURTS!" The villain screamed in agony as the water sizzled out his strength.
"Wet! Hahaha get it?!" Beast Boy laughed. Raven stared. "He said he was... and I was saying that-"
"I get it."
"NOOO! IT BURNS!" Dr. Light screamed.
"Robin now!" Cyborg shouted. Robin threw his disks and froze the villain solid. Dr. Light stood as a glossy statue with arms stretched out in a wide-mouth of agony. Dusting himself, Beast Boy rose to his feet and saw what sent the water. A massive beached whale sat on the nearby shore, but a sperm whale isn't usually found in Jump City's shallow river. "Sooo, what's with the whale?" Cyborg asked.
"I don't know," Beast Boy said. Starfire flew up to the creature's head and patted it.
"Thank you, giant gentle creature. We are most grateful for your help." Then in the blink of an eye, the whale morphed into a small brown puppy and jumped into the alien's arms. "Marvelous!" Starfire squeaked, "It is just like Beast Boy." As Starfire hovered to the ground, the brown puppy happily licked her face, making her giggle.
"A friend of yours?" Raven rose her eyebrow at the green teen. Beast Boy couldn't say anything. His mouth and eyes were wider than the river. Beast Boy's mouth twitched, gasped, and stammered.
"To...to... Tor... Tor... TOROS! TOROS!" he exclaimed. The puppy jumped out of the alien's arms and morphed into a human. He was a bit taller than Robin with a whitish tan complexion, the kind you see on a tanning ad. His smile was as bright as his short-cut golden hair, but the smile was familiar. The stance, the bubbly-energized look, everything looked older but familiar. Beast Boy ran up to other changeling and wrapped his arms around him, screaming at the top of his lungs. "It's you! IT'S REALLY YOU! I THOUGHT... I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD AND!" Beast Boy sniffled, laughed, and burst into sobs. No one could understand what he was saying. No one needed to. His heart floated on a sea of pain, hurt, joy, and love. Too much was happening. Too much to even speak. His tears sulled his own jumpsuit and crashed to the ground like waterfalls. The blonde changeling hugged Beast Boy, squeezing and inhaling his air as much as he could. The very smell of familiar was a breath of freshness. "You're here! You're really here! I can't... believe it. I... I." Raven felt the wave of sadness and joy rush out of Beast Boy's body like a broken dam. She couldn't help the small smile gracing her face.
"Whoa, whoa, Garfield," Toros chuckled. "What's all this? You know I'm tough to beat." Garfield laughed through his tears that trailed onto Toros's dark green jumpsuit; he didn't have gloves like Beast Boy, and the jumpsuit also had a camouflage pattern to it. The blonde wiped his brother's tears away. "Hey, hey, no more crying little-me. I'm here."
"I thought you were gone! When you were kidnapped! We didn't hear anything from... and now you're here! How, where, why?"
"Gar, calm down," Toros smiled, patting his head. "It's alright. I'm here. You've grown up so much."
"Hahaha, you're still taller than me," Beast Boy said. "And that super suit! Where did you get it! It's awesome! And... familiar."
Toros casually waved his hand, "Ah this old thing? The government gave it to me as a reward for my work in Africa."
"Huh, I'm... pretty sure I've seen that thing... somewhere," the green changeling muttered lowly.
"Uh... I hate to interrupt," Robin said, "but who's your friend, Beast Boy?"
"Beast Boy," Toros echoed and groaned, "Why on earth would you choose that name?"
"Hey! It's a cool name and you should know, Rampaging Bull!" Toros laughed at Garfield's shot back.
"How marvelous. This is your brother, yes Beast Boy?" Starfire asked. The two looked at each other and laughed louder.
"No, no! Toros is my doople-hidder!" Beast Boy grinned widely. Toros facepalmed himself while Raven rose her eyebrow underneath her hood.
"Doppelganger," Raven said dryly.
"Yeah, yeah, that! Anyways, his parents were scientists in Africa like mine," Beast Boy said.
Cyborg gave a laughing smirk. "Well, you guys almost look alike. If it weren't for Beast Boy's green skin, he would be a complete-"
"Mini-Me," Toros smirked, ruffling Beast Boy's hair. "Which is what we call him."
"Hey, quit it!" Garfield laughed, though he enjoyed every moment of the brotherly affection.
Robin cleared his throat after the long silent pause. "Uh, why don't we get this stuff cleaned up, and then we'll talk at the tower."
"Alright! You have to see our place, Toros. It's awesome!"
Toros smiled "I can't wait to see it."
The team cleaned up the mess and hauled a frozen Dr. Light back to prison. Beast Boy laughed and joked with his blond look-alike, smiling wider than the team ever had seen him before. Raven felt it more than the others. Garfield felt... freer, more whole. Like the shackles of his spirit could finally venture out thanks to this newcomer.
But Toros felt weird to the empath. He felt closed off, guarded. Much like Raven but... worse. The sorceress shrugged the suspicious feeling off, but it never left as they came into the T-Tower. Beast Boy, of course, waxed long about the place. "And here is the Common room where I have the highest score in the video games and-"
"LIES!" Cyborg bellowed. "Grass Stain couldn't take me on if his life depended on it." Beast Boy fumed silently as Toros chuckled.
"Why don't I have a go? I'm usually better at games than Garfield is."
"Of course." Cyborg jumped over the couch and turned on the game while Toros followed suit. The team, save a reading Raven in the corner, watched the newcomer give Cyborg a run for his money.
"WINNER!" The TV declared for Toros. Cyborg sobbed over his controller.
"Why, why hast thou forsaketh me?"
"Better luck next time," Toros smirked. He spun his head around and saw Raven's book. "Wait, is that The Dunwich Horror?!" Raven's eyebrow rose as Toros ran over. "That's awesome! You're into horror books?"
"Yes, you read?" Toros nodded. "Are you sure you're Beast Boy's doppelganger?"
"Hehe, be glad I'm not his brother," Toros laughed, making Raven's normally straight lips quirk up in a small smile.
"I'm right here, you know," Garfield huffed, only making Toros laugh more. Beast Boy couldn't stay mad for long. The tanned lookalike seemed to charm each titan without a struggle, even getting a laugh from Raven. Though he smiled, Beast Boy's grin slowly disappeared as he pressed his gloved finger to his chin.
"What are you doing?"
"WHAA! Uggh, Raven, don't scare me like that. Uh... what did you say?"
"What are you doing? You look like you're thinking, which is a dangerous sport for you."
"Nothing, just... Nothing."
"You know," she said with a small edge in her monotone voice, "It's unwise to keep secrets from a magical being."
"I just... something's off about Toros."
"Sounds like someone is jealous," Cyborg butted in from behind.
Garfield rolled his eyes and shoved his metal friend away. "Come on dude, it's not that. I'm just worried. Something doesn't make sense."
"I hate to say it," Raven spoke up, "But Beast Boy has a point. Toros said he and his family escaped from terrorists a month after they were kidnapped. But if that was five years ago like Beast Boy said, what was he doing and why wait so long to tell Beast Boy that he's alive?"
"Maybe he didn't know where to find him?" Cyborg pointed out. Beast Boy and Raven stared at him as if he had said the dumbest thing in his life. "What?"
"Come on, dude," Garfield said. "That's impossible. The Titans are global and people knew us waaay before that."
"In other words," Raven continued. "If Beast Boy and Toros got their powers in the same year, a green pointy-eared human is hard to miss." Raven thoughtfully stared at the light-skinned teen laughing with Robin and Starfire.
"But that still doesn't explain why you're jealous," Cyborg said, disrupting Raven's train of thought.
"For the last time, I'm not jealous," Garfield grunted.
Raven asked, "I thought he was your friend?"
"He is," Beast Boy sighed. "And that's what's got me worried." He paused for a long moment, thinking about all the memories and go-to risky stunts they pulled together. The agonizing truth of it all started knocking loudly at Beast Boy's brain as he said, "Toros never does anything without a reason. NEVER! He's been planning stuff left and right ever since we were kids. Hehe, one time, we accidentally walked into a lion's den-"
"Who's idea was that?"
"Uh... mine. Anyway, the lions were about to chase us, and Toros told me to hide behind a small dirt hill. I ran over and a honey badger came out and sprayed both of us HAHA! Our parents were cleaning us for a month!"
"So you two are polar opposites? Yeah, that seems like it," Cyborg said.
Beast Boy rolled his eyes. "My point is that if he knew I was here all the time, why is he here now?" No one could answer the question.
Then Raven sighed, "You could just ask."
"Huh?"
"You're being paranoid. Just talk to him about it."
"Yeah, BB. Besides, he's your friend," Cyborg said, clapping on the green teen's back.
"Yeah, friend," Beast Boy mumbled with a smile, but he didn't know. Time changed both of them: obviously, Toros was more mature, Beast Boy grew more confident in his powers, and both of them had their own emotional turmoil to work through. But trust was something that Garfield had learned to be a little more careful of, especially after giving it to someone who shouldn't have been trusted.
Or maybe he was acting like Raven too much. Still, better to ask than be stabbed later, he thought. Soon, everything slowed down. The other Titans left Toros and Beast Boy alone on the couch, playing video games. "Come on, come on! NO!"
"Winner! Toros!"
"Haha, I have to say Beast Boy," Toros sniggered, "Your game's slipping."
"Hehe, I guess." The Titan hunched over, looking at the controller in his hands, feeling its weight. Toros moved closer.
"Gar, what's wrong?" He asked. Beast Boy sighed and put the controller down.
"Toros, why are you here?"
"What do you mean? I came to see you."
"Toros, I know you. You always have a reason for doing stuff. So... what is it? Because it can't be that you just found me after five years." The two stared at each other in dead silence. Beast Boy could feel the anxious prickles of goosebumps tapping up and down his skin. Finally, Toros sighed and stood up.
"I can't fool you, can I?"
"You might be smarter," Beast Boy smirked, "but I have gut instincts. I'm not as clueless as you might think."
"Hehe, I would say different after talking with Raven."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Beast Boy huffed.
"Anyway," Toros started, "The reason why I'm here is because there's trouble in Africa... as always." He grumbled. "A new patch of terrorists have been forcing the native tribes off their grounds, squishing them together. And you know how tribes are when they're forced to be with each other."
"The government won't-"
"When has the government ever helped?" Toros quickly snapped. "Anyway, I could stop them but... I... I don't know where they are or what they're after. They've cleared out the tribes near the Marrah Mountains and Brother's Mountain."
"Near the Dapper Mense tribe? What's there?"
"I don't know, but I intend to find out. But I need help from someone I can trust," Toros turned back to Beast Boy. "I need your help."
"Oh, so you bit off more than you could chew being the hero of an entire continent?" Garfield laughed at Toros's glare. "Of course I will. What are friends for?" Beast Boy stood up. "Did you want me to bring the others or-"
"Yes, if you trust them, I trust them."
"That's why you came. Because you knew I know good people?"
"I came because I trust you, Gar," Toros said.
Beast Boy smiled, "Alright, I'll get the others."
"No need," said Cyborg from the doors. Raven, Robin, and Starfire stood with him. "We're behind you all the way." Beast Boy smiled.
"Alright," Toros grinned. "Let's get ready."
"I'll get the T-Ship ready," Cyborg replied. "Gotta make sure my baby's well oiled." As Toros, Cyborg, and Starfire left, Beast Boy smiled wide, but the other two titans looked at each other.
"Beast Boy, are you sure that Toros can be trusted?" Robin asked.
"Of course! Why?"
"We just want to know. I wouldn't want you putting your trust in someone that-"
"This isn't a repeat of Terra, okay!" Garfield exclaimed, though not harshly. "Toros is my friend, and I trust him... to an extent." Raven and Robin glanced at each other.
"What's the matter, Beast Boy?" Robin asked. Beast Boy paused his movements and looked at Robin for a long while.
"Robin, you follow your gut, right? How do you figure out when it's right?" he asked. Robin held his chin for a moment, looking at the floor.
"I don't know. Most times, I do what I think is right at the time. Sometimes, I'm wrong, but you get better after time." Beast Boy frowned harder. "Why are you worried?" Robin asked.
"My gut is telling me something's wrong. Toros is crazy smart and all but he's not this... suspicious. He's being like you and Raven combined. EEEEEEE!" Beast Boy shivered. "I don't want to know what that kid looks like." He shivered again when Raven's dark energy loomed over him. "He shouldn't need our help to stop some terrorists. But..." He trailed off for a moment but shook his head free from the demons... or angels warning him. "Just be careful."
"Tell that to yourself," Raven mumbled. Beast Boy smiled a bit uneasy before walking away.
Continued...
