BACK TO THE PRESENT
Chapter 2: Mystery and Jealously

By Jacque Nicole

***

Starfire stared at the group of people that stood in front of her. They were all there: Cyborg, Raven, Beast Boy, and Nightwing; each one just as she remembered them... mostly. She noticed with appreciation that Beast Boy dropped a couple of pounds and that Raven seemed more... approachable.

"Oh! What a pleasure this is!" she said aloud as she hugged each of them. She lingered on Nightwing for a while, giving him one of her one hundred watt smiles. "Please tell me, how long will you be staying?"

Cyborg shrugged. "As long as you allow, I guess. There isn't really anything for us to take care of in our time," he answered, feeling awkward in his spot between his best friend and his childhood crush. He'd seen the way Nightwing had acted after Starfire's departure and knew that the red head teenager was all that was on his mind right now and by the looks of it, Starfire seemed very happy to see Nightwing too. 'Maybe this trip will work out for him,' thought Cyborg. 'I sure hope so, for all our sakes.'

Beast Boy cleared his voice to get Starfire's attention away from Nightwing. "So, where are the rest of the Titans?"

"And why are you so dressed up?" Raven added.

Starfire gasped and shot up from her seat. "Oh, I nearly forgot!" she said as she rushed over to the couch where she spotted her white gloves. "I have to go to the prom! I must depart!"

Nightwing's ears perked at this. "Wait, you're going to a prom? With whom?" he asked with a twinge of envy in his voice. He was slightly surprised at his tone. Why did he care so much about her date? More importantly, why the hell did he care so much about her?

Starfire looked puzzled. "I have forgotten that it is customary to bring a date to the prom. I have not acquired one…"

Nightwing jumped at the opportunity. "I'll take you!" he offered quickly.

The Tamaranean teen smiled gratefully. "Why, thank you Nightwing. It would be very 'uncool' of me to go to the prom alone, yes?"

Cyborg folded his arms, a little miffed about being excluded. "Well, what the hell are we supposed to do here?"

Starfire smiled at the rest of the team as she bustled around the Main Room, finishing getting ready. "This is wonderful! You can help Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy find Killer Moth. They are currently at the bridge. You know where that is, yes?"

The robot nodded. "Of course. Let's go kick some buggy ass," he announced as he led the other two out of the building, leaving Nightwing and Starfire alone.

"We should be going now, Nightwing," said the red head, tugging urgently at the vigilante's hand. "We must save Robin from his horrendous, appalling, wretched, awful date! Her name is Kitten, and she seems to have some connection with Killer Moth," she explained as she rushed to the elevators, Nightwing tailing close behind.

***

Robin's motorcycle came to a stop in front of a large yacht. A banner with the words 'Junior Prom' in bold pink letters hung above the deck. Impatiently, he crossed his arms and waited for his "date." The sooner she came, the sooner this whole ordeal would be over with.

…Ten minutes…

……Twenty minutes……

………Half an hour………

Robin yelled out in frustration. Where the fuck was this girl? Did she have to be fashionably late or something?

Robin waited impatiently for five more minutes, telling himself that if she did not arrive soon, he abandon this entire plan, when suddenly he felt a light tap on his shoulder. Exasperated, he shouted, "It's about time you got here!"

"Why?" A sweet, angelic voice asked. "Am I late?"

At the sound of the familiar voice, Robin whirled around. "Starfire! What are you doing here?" he as incredulously before mentally scolding himself. By the looks of her shimmering purple dress, she was obviously here for the prom. 'But,' Robin thought to himself, 'If she came here for the prom, wouldn't she have a...'

A man dressed in black spandex with a blazing blue bird symbol on the chest approached Starfire and slew his arm around her slender waist.

The Boy Wonder gulped. '...date?'

***

"LOOK OUT, CYBORG!" Raven shouted to her teammate as one of Killer Moth's creatures flew toward him. Cyborg leaped over the offending bug and shot at it. Beast Boy was in elephant form and attempting to squish the insects with his mighty feet. Raven, on the other hand, was trying to put broken pieces of the bridge back together as the moths destroyed it.

Unfortunately, they were fighting a losing battle. New swarms of moths kept appearing and the teens were losing ground.

Unbeknownst to Cyborg, a group of moths were munching away at a support that was above him. Beast Boy and Raven were too distracted to notice as the beam plummeted toward their teammate. Almost too late, the robot looked up. He prepared himself for impact when a stream of magic held the support. It raised and replaced itself.

"Thanks Rave!" Cyborg yelled to his teenage friend.

Raven shot him a look as she put together another section of the bridge. "For what?"

The teenage robot would've raised an eyebrow if he had them. "You just saved my life."

"No, I didn't."

Cyborg scratched his head. "Then who . . . ?" Surprising Cyborg, a massive green pterodactyl flew above him. "B.B.?"

"Dude, I'm down here!" shouted the teenage changeling as he transformed into a wooly mammoth. The pterodactyl still flew in the air.

The teenage robot was beyond confused. "What the fuck is going on?" he bellowed. Suddenly a blue beam shot down several moths. Grumbling, Cyborg continued to destroy the giant creatures. Whatever or whoever it was that was intruding was seriously bailing out him and his friends, so he accepted whatever help they could get. With the aid of the mysterious figures, the moth forces started dwindling.

"Almost finished guys. Only a few left to go," Cyborg announced. As soon as the words left his mouth a whole new swarm appeared. "Shit," he cursed. "I jinxed it."

Meanwhile, in the shadows, future Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy were contemplating if they should reveal themselves to their younger counterparts.

"Should we come out now, Cyborg? I think your teenage self is becoming distracted because of our presence," Raven said.

Cyborg nodded, agreeing with his life-long friend. "Yeah, I think that would be best."

"Dude! This is so cool! We get to meet our teenage selves!" Beast Boy exclaimed as he and the other Titans stepped out of the shadows to make themselves known to the teenage fighters.

***

Robin glared at the strange man through his mask. Who the fuck did he think he was? Who gave him the right to touch her? Robin felt his face getting redder and redder with anger and—dare he say it?—envy for the other man.

"Robin, this is Nightwing . . ." The man clad in black held his hand out to the Boy Wonder and waited for a handshake. Out of politeness Robin obliged. "You remember me speaking of him, do you not?" Robin nodded. He remembered the amazement he felt after Starfire had told the story of her visit to the future. At the time, he felt proud of his counterpart, but now… "He's my date," Starfire continued. Robin's grip on Nightwing's hand—which he still held in a handshake—tightened at the "D" word.

Nightwing cleared his throat. "Nice to meet you, Robin." He chuckled nervously. "This is so strange; I'm meeting myself!"

"Yeah," Robin replied absently, his mind not on the man's words. He couldn't get over the fact that he had his hand on Starfire's waist and she didn't care!

Releasing Robin's hand, Nightwing continued awkwardly. "Umm, Beast Boy, Raven, and Cyborg came along with me. They're out helping your team…"

"Aren't you a little too old to be dating Star?" Robin asked suddenly.

Nightwing and Starfire blushed simultaneously. "I'm not dating her," stumbled Nightwing. The last thing he wanted was to cause trouble between himself and his past self, but he had missed Starfire so much… "She needed a companion for tonight and I volunteered myself."

Before Nightwing could continue, Starfire inserted, "Where's Kitten?"

"Not here yet," Robin replied shortly.

"Late? Well that's not appropriate for a date, is it?"

Robin saw right through Starfire's pleasantries. She was trying to make her date seem better than his. Well, he'd show her. Two could play at that game. "I don't mind. She's probably spending extra time on her hair and makeup, just to look her best for me."

"Perhaps," replied Starfire, making sure to get a little closer to Nightwing to get Robin more jealous. It was working, but he certainly didn't want her to know it was.

A pink limo slowed to a stop right in front of Robin. "That's probably her now," he said. The door flew open, almost knocking the Boy Wonder over. Kitten sprang out the vehicle and landed on him, her arms immediately wrapping around Robin's neck in a vice grip.

"Oh, Robbie-poo! We're going to have so much fun tonight!" she said, tightening her hug on the hero.

"Yeah," agreed Robin with a huff. He could hardly breathe, but he decided to play his role as Kitten's date so she'd begin to trust him enough to spill information. 'Not to mention the fact that Starfire's a little jealous of her,' he added to himself. "We're totally gonna have a shitload of fun," and with that line, he planted a soft kiss on Kitten's cheek, grimacing at the squeal she made.

It was going to be a long night.

***

"Umm... Starfire?"

For at least the fifth time in the past thirty seconds, the twenty six-year-old superhero tried to avert the attention of his young female companion back to himself. For fifteen minutes, she'd been staring at the Boy Wonder from across the deck, longing brimming in her breathtaking green eyes.

"Oh, I apologize for my lack of attention, Nightwing. I have been… preoccupied…" she replied, glancing once again at Robin.

Nightwing sighed. Was there nothing he could do to make Starfire notice him? "Would you like some punch?"

"Punch?" Starfire's brow furrowed in confusion. "You wish to hit me?" she asked, slightly offended.

"Oh, no, no, Star. I'd never ever hurt you. I love—" Nightwing began but quickly cut himself off. He shouldn't be even thinking about those sorts of emotions when it came to her. Not anymore, at least. "Punch is another name for juice," he replied instead.

"Well then, I'd appreciate some 'punch'. Thank you."

Nightwing lethargically made his way over to the punch bowl, feeling rejected. 'After all this time,' he thought to himself, 'after ten fucking years of waiting to be with her, all I can do is sit and watch her fall in love with another guy?' He clenched his jaw. 'No way, especially since he looks like he's doing just fine without her.' Just across the room, Robin and Kitten were engaged in what looked like a riveting conversation.

The vigilante approached the punch bowl with newfound determination. A group of teenagers were giggling and pointing at him from across the room and whispering amongst themselves. Filling up a cup with punch, he gave the group a little wink, causing them to giggle even more.

"Here you go," he flirtatiously said to Starfire, giving her the cup of punch.

Starfire gave him a smile. "I am thankful."

Making sure there were no moments of awkward silences, Nightwing initiated a conversation, knowing how much the Tamaranean girl loved to talk. "So," he said. "What's Tamaran like?"

***

Poor Robin was struggling not to strangle his date. He could not get Kitten to shut up! Deciding to use her talkative nature to his advantage, Robin began to grill Kitten on her relations with Killer Moth.

"So... How does Killer Moth know you?" asked the Boy Wonder.

Raising and eyebrow, Kitten tentatively asked, "Why do you want to know?"

'Because my friends are fighting at a bridge, trying to keep this city safe from that crazy ass psycho,' Robin thought, but he replied, "I was just wondering. You know, making small talk."

Slightly hesitant, she responded. "He's my father."

This information surprised Robin, who was hardly ever shocked. He sat forwards in his chair. "Really? You look nothing like him," he said sarcastically.

"He genetically mutated himself, duh!" Kitten replied, as if the information was already obvious. "His obsession with moths completely took over his life."

Whoa, this was way more information than Robin had bargained for. This was easy... maybe too easy. "Where did he get the equipment to conduct such complex experiments?" asked the Boy Wonder, falling into interrogation mode.

Shrugging, Kitten replied, "I don't know where he got the machines and technology, and quite frankly, I don't give a shit. All I know is that he did it in our basement."

"Your basement?"

"Sure, there's a lab down there."

"Did your father want this kind of information to be known, especially by me?"

Kitten scoffed, once again reverting to her bratty personality. "Probably not, but I honestly don't give a fuck about what he thinks. I hate him!"

That was a shocker. "Oh, really?"

"And here," she said, tossing Robin a remote control. "Press the big red button in the center and every moth in the city will go fleeing back into the lab. Press the green button and they'll revert back into their larva form, making them entirely harmless."

"Umm... thanks..." replied Robin, still wary of trusting her.

"And also, that girl over there has been staring at us for a while."

Robin looked to where Kitten had pointed.

It was Starfire.

Robin cringed when he saw Nightwing approach her with a drink in his hand. His heart ached when Starfire gave her date a smile that she usually reserved for him. The Boy Wonder clutched the remote control so tightly that he knew that his knuckles were turning white. Trying to control his anger, Robin pushed the red button, all doubt of trusting Kitten temporarily forgotten. He had to deal with the Killer Moth issue first. When he was out of the way, he'd work on Nightwing.

***

A peculiar looking green flea jumped unnoticed thorough the green woolly mammoth's pelt. Cyborg began to slip again and the queer white light once again righted him on the beam. A blast that did not come from the teenage robot killed three more mutants. Cyborg was right, Raven realized. Something strange was going on.

Without warning, the remaining moths flew in one direction, seemingly regrouping elsewhere.

An agitated Cyborg climbed off of the bridge's supports. If he had any hair he probably would have been yanking it all out in frustration. Beast Boy de-transformed back into his normal form and flicked a bug off of his ear.

"What just happened?" Raven's monotonous voice rang out in the silence.

"You want to know what just happened? Somebody's playing with my fucking mind is what's happening," Cyborg screamed. "WHO ARE YOU?!"

Beast Boy nudged Raven. "I think Cy's finally lost it."

"No," replied Raven. "He has a point. Someone has been helping us."

"Huh? I didn't see anything," said the green changeling.

"That's because you've always been a dumbass," a voice that sounded like Cyborg's ridiculed from the shadows.

"Hey!" two offended voices said simultaneously.

"Huh?" Beast Boy said. He was sure he had heard another voice from behind him.

"See! I told you something weird was going on! What the fu– "

"Did I really curse that much when I was a teenager?" Future Cyborg whispered to Raven.

"Yea," the half demon answered her companion. "You still do. And I've always had to tell you to—"

"Watch your language, Cyborg," teenage Raven said.

"This is driving me crazy!" the teenage robot ranted. Finally he snapped. He powered up his energy cannon and aimed it into the darkness. "Show yourselves or I'll shoot!"

A voice chuckled mockingly. "No you won't."

Cyborg's arm trembled before he lowered it once more. "Who are you? Why do you sound like me?"

The voice laughed a long and disturbingly familiar laugh. Cyborg stiffened. "Because," said the voice. Future Cyborg stepped out of the darkness, Raven and Beast Boy at his side. "I am you."

...End Chapter 2...