Thresholding by CidGregor

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans

This fic is dedicated to Post, for all that he contributed to its existence. F'naaaa...

Chapter 1

"I've got you, Grass Stain!"

"No way, Tin Man, I'm makin' my comeback!"

"Double-team him, BB!"

"Got it, hon!"

"Ack! Rob, help me out!"

"Take this, blondie!"

"Oh, resorting to blonde jokes already, Robbie-poo?"

"Ha-ha-ha, you tell him, girl-WHOA! Watch out!"

"I see it, I see it!"

"Sorry, kids!"

"YOU CAN'T ESCAPE THE SONIC BOOM!"

A digitized Robin and Cyborg flipped in unison and sprayed a digitized Beast Boy and Terra with a wave of blue energy, and with a flash of white, the two were lying battered on the ground.

"Robin and Cyborg Win," the cool female announcer said.

Cyborg jumped up from the couch, dancing around the annoyed Beast Boy and Terra and waving his controller above his head triumphantly. "Aww, yeah! You just got yer midget butts handed to ya on a silver platter! Booyah!"

"Nice one, Cy! Perfect execution!" Robin said, holding his own controller in one hand and high-fiving Cyborg with the other.

"Don't celebrate too much," Terra said, giggling and pointing at the screen.

"Holy hard hats, Batman! We whupped them good!" the digitized Robin squeaked.

The real Robin smacked a hand over his face, embarrassed. "D'oh…God, I hate that…"

Beast Boy collapsed to the floor, laughing uncontrollably. "Oh man, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Even when I lose, I win! This game is AWESOME!"

"I told ya, BB," Cyborg said with a smile. "Superhero Smackdown is gonna be a hit! I still can't believe Gamestation Labs sent us a beta!"

"I guess we're just awesome like that!" Terra said.

"Please…why has someone taken the liberty of creating a game in which tiny digitized versions of ourselves do battle with one another?" Starfire's voice bubbled from behind the couch.

"Because some people have too much time on their hands," Raven murmured from behind her book at the kitchen table. Then, as an afterthought, "And because goofballs like these are entertained by it. If you'll excuse me, I'll be in my room."

"C'mon, guys, rematch!" Beast Boy insisted as Raven left. "Me and Terra are just getting warmed up! We can take you!"

"Sorry, BB," Robin said. "I'd love to, but I have to finish up the last bit of my case file on the Malchior incident."

"What?.!" Beast Boy said, surprised. "Dude, that was almost a month ago! You're telling me you're still writing your case file for it?"

"Hey, that was a major incident!" Robin defended himself. "It takes a long time to cover it all, especially when I have to keep up with all the other little things along the way. The HIVE Five's last attack alone took almost a week."

Starfire suddenly shuddered. "I do not like that See-More character!" she said bluntly. "He is…quite 'the sleaze,' yes?"

"I swear, the next time he tries to look through my shirt I'm gonna rip him a new one," Terra threatened.

"C'mon, Rob, just one more game?" Beast Boy begged.

"No can do," Robin said. "Maybe later."

"Ah, nuts to him!" Cyborg waved at Robin's retreating back. "C'mon, you two, I'll take you on all on my own! I'll beat the both of y-"

Cyborg suddenly stopped, glancing at a flashing light on his forearm. "Ah, shoot. Sorry, guys, I gotta take this call…"

"Does Cy have a new girl in his life?" Terra snickered.

"Nah…sender's classified…it's got all the right clearances, though…strange…"

And Cyborg headed out of the main room toward his lab.

"Oh, fine! Me and Terra can enjoy ourselves just fine without you!" Beast Boy said, hooking an arm around his girlfriend. "C'mon, let's check out who else is in this game."

Terra clicked the joystick on her controller and began cycling through the characters. "Well, there's the six of us…ugh, Slade…Killer Moth? Ew…"

"Hey, there's Batman!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "And Superman, and Green Lantern…"

"Hey, who's this?" Terra said. "He looks like a cowboy or something…"

"I'm takin' you to the woodshed!" the cowboy sprite announced.

"That's…a little corny…" Terra muttered.

"That's nothing…who's this?.!" Beast Boy said, pointing at a dark-haired fighter with sunglasses and a wooden sword. He didn't say anything, but he did flip the bird to the two teens with a metallic hand.

"That's not very nice…" Terra giggled.

"Hey, sweet, look at this! Alternate costumes!" Beast Boy said. "Man, they've thought of everything!"

"No kidding…ha-ha-ha…is this supposed to be Robin?"

The sprite Robin was now wearing, instead of his usual tights, a pair of shorts. Very short shorts.

"Urgh!" Beast Boy shuddered. "Gross! I did NOT need to see that!"

"Why is Robin wearing such minimal leg protection?" Starfire asked, who was still watching from over Beast Boy's shoulder. No one answered her.

"Oh, look at this, Cyborg looks like Cinderblock!" Terra said.

"Oh yeah, that's 'Stone,'" Beast Boy explained. "Cy created him when he went undercover in the HIVE this one time." Beast Boy flipped to Starfire next, and he couldn't help but do a double-take. "WHOA!"

Starfire, too, let out a squeak of surprise. "What in the name of X'Hal is this?.!.?.!"

The alternate-costume Starfire sprite was very minimally dressed; the outfit she wore was showing almost as much skin as a bikini would. Her physique was far more muscular, and her hair was, for lack of a better word, massive. It went absolutely everywhere in a frizzy mess of red.

Terra burst out laughing. "Heh, wow…that's quite a fashion statement, Star!"

"I do not recall ever wearing such…atrocious attire!" Starfire murmured, embarrassed. She let out a small "Hmph!" of protest and left without another word, cheeks crimson.

"Oh man, BB…is this supposed to be you?" Terra chuckled.

Beast Boy looked at a version of himself in bright red and white spandex and a gold mask, and nearly gagged. "Oh, that's just tacky!"

"It's cute!" Terra insisted.

"Oh, please. I look like a Popsicle."

"He-he-he-he! Cherry on the outside, Lime on the inside!"

"Oh, you think you're funny, huh?" Beast Boy smirked. "Let's see what nutty getup they gave you, huh?" He flicked the joystick over to Terra's sprite…and froze in place.

It was the Slade uniform.

Beast Boy shivered. Ever so slowly he cast a sideways glance and the earth maiden, almost afraid to see her reaction. But she looked…nonplussed. Indifferent.

"T-Terra…?"

"I don't believe it," she muttered, not looking at him.

Beast boy swallowed, hard. "Look, Terra, it…"

"They got it all wrong!" she exploded.

Beast Boy's jaw dropped. "Ah…wha?"

"Whoever drew this had NO clue what they were doing!" Terra ranted. "Look, on the 'S' logo, the colors are switched; the boots were NOT that big; the headgear thing was a lot smaller; the stuff around the arms and legs was bandage wrap, not metal; and speaking of the metal, it was blue-gray, not this funky sky-blue color. Man, if they're gonna do alternate outfits, they gotta get 'em right! Sheesh!"

"Uhh…"

"Hey, let's play some one-on-one!" she said. "I wanna try out this cowboy dude."

"Um…Terra…I…" Beast Boy murmured, still shaken.

Terra looked at the changeling with a small smile. "It's okay, BB. Really. Those days are long gone. Water under the bridge, y'know?"

"Y-yeah…"

"Now c'mon, let's play! You can be the funky sword dude with the rude fingers," she said reaching over and clicking Beast Boy's controller on the swordsman.

The cool female announcer blared, "Bard versus Noir. Ready…FIGHT!"

And before Beast Boy even realized it, the dark moment was forgotten, and they were at ease again.

"Recovery efforts solid…rebuilding going smoothly…memorial services arranged…aaaand done!" Robin muttered to himself. "Finally…"

Robin closed the folder with a snap, slid open a large drawer of the file cabinet in the corner of his room, and slipped the folder into place with a sigh of relief.

"You have completed your task?"

Robin turned toward the bubbly voice and smiled. "Hey, Star. Yeah, I just finished. That was quite a battle, wasn't it?"

"Indeed it was…and it has left its mark on all of us…" Starfire agreed, rubbing her right shoulder suddenly.

"Here, let me see," Robin asked, stepping forward.

"It is not that bad," Starfire insisted, but she pulled back the shoulder covering of her top and allowed Robin to inspect the faded wound. There was a slash of scarred skin there, tracing from just below her shoulder blade almost all the way up to the base of her neck. It was the scar given to her by the burning flames of the dragon Malchior. It was no longer painful at all, but not even Raven's healing powers could mend the scarring.

Robin traced a gloved finger over the line of the scar. "I'm sorry you had to go through that," he muttered.

"It is all right, Robin," Starfire said. "I wear it proudly, as a reminder of the struggle we endured in our path to victory."

"Well…yeah, I guess, but…"

"But nothing," Starfire insisted. "It is the way of my people, Robin. We have always been a warrior race, and we have always worn the scars of battle with pride for the sacrifices and the victories that they represent."

"Yeah, but still…" Robin said, still tracing a finger across the scar. The once-amber flesh was several shades of pink now, lighter on the outside, and at its darkest right on the line of the burn. "I just hate to see you get hurt."

"As I hate to see you hurt, Robin," Starfire admitted, and now she reached out her own hand and touched the similar line of burnt skin that ran between his eyes, from the middle of his forehead down under his mask to the side of his nose; his own reminder of the battle they had endured.

Robin went slightly red at her soft, gentle touch. "Hey, no big deal…I mean, I guess the important thing is we won, and…y'know…we're still alive. Right?"

"Heeee…affirmative!"

Both laughed lightly, and for a moment they forgot that their hands were still resting on each other's old wounds. Then, at the same time, both jerked their hands back to their sides, blushing.

"Erm…hehe…"

"Uhh…heh…"

"Hey Rob, you in here?" Cyborg's voice rang out. The titanium teen's head poked in the doorway a second later, and by instinct the other two titans jumped a good foot backward each.

"F-friend Cyborg!" Starfire stuttered. "What is it that you require of our leader?"

Cyborg smirked. "Am I interrupting somethin'?"

"N-no, not at all, we were just, ah…t-talking," Robin said.

"Uh-huh…" Cyborg said slyly, but let it go. "Listen, I opened up that call I got, and it's a priority one transmission. I think all of us better come listen."

"Who's it from?" Robin asked.

Cyborg's face abruptly turned serious. "Dunno…but I looked into the encrypt codes they were using…they're government codes, Rob. Not sure if it's Army, CIA, NSA…but whatever it is, if they're callin' us…it's gotta be big."

Robin's 'leader' face locked into place, his nervousness forgotten. "All right. Let's go."

Author's Note: "Superhero Smackdown" is copyrighted by Lord Belgarion. Extra-Special thanks to Lord Belgarion and Post for the use of their characters, as well. I do it out of love, guys!