Author's Note: I do not own anything in Teen Titans, and the only things in this story I do own are the OCs, the plot, and Nechromium, a metal that deadens all senses. Or, more accurately, it prevents any senses from penetrating it. It's sound-proof, x-ray resistant, and temperature neutral, rendering all tech for seeing or hearing past it ineffective. It radiates a smell and taste all it's own, making it a type of techno-strawberry that masks all other scents in the vicinity. The sense of touch is a given failure even without Nechromium, but its texture not only prevents others from being felt, but has no friction so by finger alone you won't even know it's there.

Mind and Body Chapter 9: Fated Arrivals

"Well?" Oracle said, smiling pleasantly at the large man across from her, "Have you come to a decision about our offer, Cyborg?"

Cyborg was standing silently in front of her large cherrywood desk, a hand resting on the leather-bound easy chair across from her. His gaze wasn't hostile like it had been two weeks ago, but neither did it betray any other emotion. In the recesses of his mind, he once again thanked God for that tiny miracle of lie-proof hardware. It wasn't much of a silver lining when his habit of complete honesty was considered, but it was a bit of comfort all the same.

"Yes," he said calmly while Robin watched cautiously from the sidelines, "I've decided that I want to join your little team, but I also have a question." Here he turned to Robin. "If it's just the two of us, I'm out. I need there to be at least one other member of the team, or I honestly won't be able to stick it much longer than a month."

"What's wrong with me?" Robin asked with a slight scowl.

"Nothing," Cyborg replied mildly, "It's just that you are not the type that makes a good roommate: too pushy."

"I'm the intended leader of the new Teen Titans," Robin said flatly, "I'm supposed to be pushy."

"That brings me to the second reason: I am not going to be on the bottom rung of this group either: I want to at least be in charge of a department."

Oracle sighed. "This is covered in the Superhuman Law Enforcement Code: 'Seniority within a group is defined by experience as part of the team, not prowess in their power or experience as a loner, or as part of another team save in extraneous circumstances'. Think carefully now: you are the second member, yes?"

Cyborg nodded readily.

"Then that means you're the second in command. No matter how many join up in the future."

Cyborg smiled. "I can go with that."

Robin stood up and stared at Oracle. " I didn't know there was such a thing as the Superhuman Law Enforcement Code, and what constitutes 'extraneous circumstances'?"

"SLEC," Oracle said, "is the generally agreed upon rules that all heroes follow. Or at least, that's how it started out: it's gone the way of the White House now, with all kinds of unnecessary rules that still need to be followed. I'll give you a copy before I leave. But to answer your other question, the second in command's position is revoked if he or she should break the rules of the code—luckily that only applies to the originals—or if they leave the team of their own free will. It will also be revoked if they actively betray the team to an enemy. Only in the second instance is it possible to be reinstated, in which case they must prove their worthiness to reassume the role. Page 238, paragraph 6."

"What," Cyborg said with a small smile, "Is it your bible or something?"

"Exactly."

"Oh." He was silent for a moment, then, "So about my first question…."

Oracle smiled again, "Oh yes, there will be other members: at least three others, though we will need to take a different recruiting strategy now. SLEC also specifies that 5 is the smallest number needed to become an official team in the record books."

Cyborg blinked his organic eye, then looked at Oracle closely. "And just how closely does the committee that issues these things follow the teams around the world?"

"I was going to save that for after your questions, but if that's the only thing you're interested in we can start immediately."

Cyborg nodded. "I definitely need to know how close the tabs they keep are."

Oracle sighed slightly, "It's not very pleasant, I'll tell you that. Robin, you need to hear this as well, so why don't both of you sit down and we'll get started?"

Curious, they both sat down in front of Oracle's desk as she opened one of her drawers and pulled out two books.

One of them was small—almost the same size as a pamphlet, if much thicker—and was a sky blue color with the letters S.L.E.C. typed in bold purple type across the front.

"That's a fashion statement," Cyborg said with a chuckle.

"Thank you: I designed this edition for them." Oracle said, and nodded in satisfaction when her comment shut Cyborg up in an instant. "I bet you didn't know that I'm the only one-person member of that organization, did you? Or that Batman's family is the only one with non-powered members of the same?"

For once, Robin and Cyborg looked identical, shaking their heads in tandem with eyes wide. Seeing Robin's question in his eyes, Oracle nodded. "Yes, Robin, you've been in their records as the third member of the Batman team for a while now. But that will change when we have finalized the founding members of the Teen Titans." With a small look at Cyborg, she saw that he needed one last nudge in the right direction. Luckily, none of it was lies, and the direction she was taking him would end up with him in safety. "I'm registered as the second in command."

"Ooookay," Cyborg said in awe, "Now I'm impressed: the second in command of the only non-powered team on a par with Superman? You're good, Oracle: damn good if you're still there while in that chair of yours."

"Why thank you, Cyborg." She replied.

Then Cyborg said quietly, "But wouldn't an incident like that qualify as an 'extenuating circumstances'? I'm sorry, but why did they let you remain on the team?"

Robin piped up at that moment and said, "Actually it makes sense: she was the first person to join Cyborg, and she has never quit, so she has by far the most experience."

"Whatever," Cyborg said impatiently, "Let's look at this thing already."

Oracle smiled and opened the second book. This one was huge: fully four feet by four feet and bound in leather. She flipped to a mark she had made and said, "This is the part that you need to see that isn't in the basics."

It was the passage dictating how closely the teams were monitored. There was a large amount of legal speak that neither boy understood so they asked Oracle to explain. She sighed, "Fine. Essentially it says that each member's codename, powers and rank in their organization are monitored constantly to keep up with any changes in real time. Any bUreaches of conduct are immediately reported and except in the case of a voluntary resignation results in their never being able to join again later. SLEC basically wants to know everything. But they aren't allowed to access the members' schedules or minds."

Cyborg frowned, "Are you sure there's even the tech for mind control? I thought that was just a conspiracy theory."

Oracle shook her head sadly. "No, it is an unfortunate fact of life. But superheroes are safe from such devices from any government power because of this clause. It's actually a good thing."

Raven groaned as she sat at the roadside cross-legged. "This is getting so old." She muttered, "There's no way I can stand this for much longer."

"Then don't," Garfield said simply from where he sat, with his tiger tail wrapped around his legs. "Besides, you can ride on my back you know."

"But that gives me saddle sores."

"Which would you prefer, saddle sores after a couple days of travel, or walk for a couple weeks?"

Raven groaned and put her face in her hands. "I hate it when you're right."

"Hey!"

At that same time, Cael walked back to where the two of them were, shaking his head at how comfortable they were with each other. It had taken him all seven years that they had been together to even get where he was now, and he was still caught up short by a green tiger comforting a teenage girl.

"You know that was a joke, right?" Raven said.

Garfield laughed and changed into a ferret to curl up around her shoulders. "Of course I do: but I'm still gonna at least pretend to be insulted."

Raven smiled and scratched his head as he nuzzled her cheek.

"It's time we got some sleep," Cael said with a smile.

"But it's still somewhat light: you know I travel best in the dark," Raven said quietly.

"And you know that I don't," Cael said shortly, ignoring her surprised look. He relaxed for a moment. "Sorry, Rae, I get quite short-tempered at night."

"Oh," Garfield said slyly, "So the problem isn't that it's past our bedtime, but that it's past yours. C'mon, Rae, let's let the man have his beauty sleep."

Cael's eye started twitching as Raven took it even further with her signature deadpan humor, "He's gonna need a lot of it."

"All right," he said shortly as he spread his sleeping bag, "I get it: I'm old. You don't need to rub it in. Besides I could still whoop both your butts."

"Right," they both said together, "you know that's not true."

"Good. Night."

Instantly Cael started to snore. Raven shook her head and said, "How does he do it?"

"You mean get it both right and wrong at the same time?" Garfield asked.

"That too, but I was talking about his sleep pattern."

Garfield yawned hugely, "We should get some sleep too."

"That'd be easier if you quieted down," Cael said from a couple feet away.

"Sorry," they both whispered.

As she lay down she couldn't help the feeling of insecurity that creeped up on her. "Hey Rae," Garfield whispered.

"Yeah?" she replied with a bit of a shaky tone to her voice, "What is it?"

"Just because we aren't traveling doesn't mean you have to go to sleep. You could…I don't know…keep watch? So you can still keep that a secret from him."

"Thanks, Gar," she said, giving him a hug, "But as you know, if I'm not moving then this night in particular I will always fall asleep. I can't avoid it this time."

"All right," he said in a small voice, while still in his ferret form, "…Good night, Rae. Seriously."

"I hope so too," she whispered.

In his half-sleeping state, Cael could only sense one word out of three, but the fact that they were still keeping a secret from him came through loud and clear. He sighed as sleep came to claim him for the night.

Everything was black, and she knew instinctively that if she could see there would still be no difference. A rumble in the background made the hairs on her neck stand on end and suddenly a pillar of red light burst from the invisible floor beneath her. Although nothing was definite, she caught a glimpse of four eyes and the faint sound of vicious laughter before the silence and darkness returned. It was uproarious in the absence of mundane sound, and seemed to carry the connotations of thousands of screams.

Her own scream joined the others as she woke up abruptly. Garfield, licking her face urgently in the shape of a puppy, bounced back suddenly but immediately came back in, snuggling against her as she sat up while Cael through off the sleeping bag.

"What is it!?" he asked sharply as he sprang to his feet, "Is something attacking? What's going on?"

Raven shook her head. "No, nothing's attacking. It's not even a surprise."

"What? What do you mean?" He asked urgently.

Garfield groaned softly, "Looks like tonight's the night after all. I was hoping it wasn't."

Raven took a shaky breath and let it back out. "No, it really is my birthday."

Robin woke up that morning frustrated. In the next room Cyborg was snoring loudly. Apparently he didn't actually have a place of his own, despite how smart he was. Robin couldn't help but grit his teeth at just how much injustice there was in the world, but that wasn't why he was frustrated.

He had dreamed again. And not just any dream, either: it was another one with that strange gender switch. This time he had been flying through space and dodging enemy ships. How he knew they were enemies he had no clue, but the really disturbing part was that he could destroy them without any machines. He had felt his hand draw back many times in order to throw what looked like bits of a star, and each one blew up another ship.

Eventually he had flown through what he recognized was the Kuiper belt, blasting a path for himself, and zipped past Pluto so incredibly fast that it seemed impossible. In what seemed to be minutes he was skimming Saturn's rings, approaching Jupiter, and then past both giants. In the distance he saw a little blue planet with green shapes on top and knew it to be Earth. It had been at that point he had woken up, and he really wanted to see what happened next.

Over the intercom he heard Oracle announce "All right, boys! It's 5:30 AM and you need to be out of bed!"

Robin laughed as he heard Cyborg's snore catch short. "Dude!" he shouted after he woke up completely, "Just because I can recharge in 15 minutes doesn't mean I don't like sleep!"

"Oh quit complaining," Robin said as he saw him in the hall, "When we're an official team our hours will be far worse."

"Don't remind me," Cyborg said. But he still went downstairs to see what Oracle had to tell them.

"All right men," Oracle said after she had their attention, "I know the last couple days have been a bust but I have a good feeling about today. I bet we find our next team member!"

"Yeah right, Or," Robin said with his arms crossed, "Face it: with the recruitment a failure we just don't know how to find the super-powered half of the population."

"So let me get this straight," Cyborg said, "You want to find these people with freaky powers?"

"Yes," Robin said, "Their abilities will make our team all the better at protecting Justice."

"Dude, you make it sound like we're protecting a girl: justice isn't a human being."

"Why are you complaining? You should know how helpful they could be."

Cyborg walked up to Robin and poked a finger in his face. "I don't think you get it, Robin: you use devices in your fights, and that's all right because you know they'll work. I'm the same, though I don't look it, because all my hardware was built with sweat and blood. I earned this power, just like you did. But a mutant isn't like that: they were born with their powers, and don't know how difficult life can be without its support. More often then not, they have no clue that their abilities can kill. Their bodies can use it, but their minds can't cope so they are likely to lose themselves."

Both Robin and Oracle stared at Cyborg in disbelief. "Wow," Oracle said, "That's a good point."

"I don't get it," Robin said, "What's so bad about having powers?"

"In other words," Oracle said quietly, "Mutants are far more likely to go insane or change their ideals. And way more destructive when they do because they don't always know how they're doing what it is they are doing."

Robin's eyes widened. "Oh, I get it."

Cyborg smiled and sprang something on the two of them. "Now that I know what it is you're looking for, I gotta tell ya something: forget it."

They stared at him in shock. "You mean, you're quitting?" Robin said, dumbfounded, "You don't want to be part of the team?"

"No. It can't be a team if you're looking for mutants: it has to be a family."

"And why's that?"

"Because a family is what every mutant wants more than anything: people they can be totally honest with. Man, you have no clue what those go through as a definition. Every single one of them has a horror story of a past just by having those powers. Believe me, I know."

Oracle shook her head in amazement as Robin asked, "And just how do you know?" Suspiciously.

Cyborg nodded in understanding. "Because I'm the same as them, in a way. My cybernetics may have been built, Robin, but they also built me: they are a part of me, in public opinion as well as body. They made me an outcast at the same time as they made me a better person."

"So you're saying that you're like me, but you're like them too?" Robin said in confusion as Oracle smiled and thought, Perfect, we couldn't have a better second in command. Well, Bats, it seems your student is indeed fated to be a big player in this game. I'm just wondering how big, and who will be holding onto his cape? Besides, he might be the one hanging on in the end.

"Just what do you mean by that?!" Cael said in frustration, "Why does the fact that it's your birthday make it so bad?!" Glaring at the two silent children in front of him, a gimlet look in his eye, he said it slowly. "Tell me why turning 16 is such a horrible thing…damn it!"

They just looked at the ground until Raven started talking. "I was able to tell you how I could kill easily, so it's not a surprise that I can tell you this as well: if I fall asleep on the night of my birthday, then it always happens. I don't even know how to explain it, but they act like dreams and seem like a lot more. They're more like memories, but the only thing I know for sure is that nothing in this world has frightened me nearly so much as these visions."

Cael blinked and then relaxed. "Well, if that's all you know, then I guess you can't tell me more. But damn, it stinks that your birthday is that bad."

"Let's just go," Raven said shortly as she stood up, "I can't just stay here, or the dream will stick with me for a week. That's what happened before." She started to move, but then she realized that she hadn't moved her legs.

"Huh?"

"Um, Raven?" Garfield said with a huge smile, "You do know you're flying, right?"

"Whoa," Raven said after seeing she was perhaps eight feet off the ground.

"This is sweet!" Garfield said as he shifted into a swallow and flew up to her, "Now we can both fly!"

As Raven smiled with true joy, Cael just smiled from his position on the ground. He took a deep breath and looked at the two of them hovering above him. "The future indeed," he said to himself, thinking back to the day he had joined these amazing children. Soon he wouldn't be able to be on the same team as them, as he felt in his heart that they would certainly become a part of the team, but that didn't mean he couldn't protect them for as long as possible. And it also didn't mean they would lose touch. I won't let us separate for long, he thought, because they've given me back my life: they gave me a purpose to live and that is more than enough repayment for teaching her how to control her powers.

Blinking himself back to the present, he smiled again at Raven and Garfield. "Do you know what this means?" he called up to them.

When they shook their heads he chuckled, "We can all fly to Jump City and get there in five days."

"You mean you can fly too?!" Garfield shouted.

"Of course," Raven said flatly, "you would. But why did you keep it a secret?"

He blushed and scratched the back of his head. "Because my method of flight doesn't allow for passengers: it would have raised your hopes for no reason."

Raven shook her head. "Listen, all this time we've walked because we thought you couldn't fly, not because we knew I couldn't"

"What?"

"Like he said earlier, I can always ride on Garfield's back. He just can't take more than one passenger."

He blushed a deeper red, "Oh, I didn't think of that."

"Whatever," Raven said as she rolled her eyes, "Let's go, shall we?"

Cael smiled and nodded firmly, "Of course," he said, and he crouched for a second, letting flames burst from his feet and assume a white tint. Using the pressure from these flames he glided up to the two of them.

"Dude," Garfield said quietly, "Hardcore." And the three of them started to fly toward Jump City.

Oracle was in the middle of one of her periodic all-nighters—there was no way she would get rid of that habit—and she was spending her time on the computer. Cyber-space was really the only place she felt fully comfortable.

On her head there was an odd helmet that blocked out her eyes and ears with a sensory-deprivation metal. The titanium dome holding them together fit tightly over her hair and sported a trio of tubes that attached to her chair. This odd contraption allowed her to almost literally upload her consciousness to the 'net and permitted different levels of control with different stages of the program.

Of course she was on the third level of the program, thus the metal shielding her senses, so the real world was displayed on the inside and overlaid with holographic screens that she could interact with.

She quickly slid the screen containing her report to Batman about her progress to the left and in front of her so she could start typing. Pressing the visual that seemed to say "Keyboard", she allowed another hologram to open up just below her report and felt through her special gloves the buttons that technically weren't there. She felt a minor irritation at the necessity for the pressure sensors, but without them the computer couldn't sense what she was touching so she didn't complain…at least, not out loud.

Suddenly she heard a beep in her left ear that quickly increased in speed and volume. Sharply turning her head upward and to the left, she saw the symbol of the Batsignal flashing. Huh, she thought, didn't know the portable version could do that: it would have to have automatically hacked into the local camera system and police department, as well as the local satellites and the entire infrastructure of the business district. She shook her head in exasperation and turned the helmet back to stage one: off. Really, Batman, she thought as the Nechromium eyeshield retracted, you have to respect people's privacy.

Shrugging, she gave in to temptation and called up the rundown screen, recalling phase three of her online helmet. Filling the center thirds of her vision was video footage of something flashing through space…and headed to Earth. Oracle watched in amazement as the small object hit the atmosphere and started to slow down. As it heated up she could see that it was only about the size of a human…and was purple. Then the temperature readings taken by the satellite whose "eyes" she was borrowing leapt up to the hypothesized limit for a comet to reach upon entry. Then it began to speed up again, and it was headed for Jump City.

She instantly turned the helmet back off and pressed the red button on her left armrest as Robin woke up screaming a floor above her. This, combined with the siren and red, flashing lights woke up Cyborg.

"Damn it, it's 2-o-Clock in the morning!" he raged, "I need sleep!"

Oracle abruptly turned off the alarm.

"Thank you!" Cyborg growled, but before Robin could explain the purpose of the siren, Oracle beat him to the punch. "That signal, Cyborg, means that there is danger approaching Jump City!" she shouted savagely, "If you want to catch up on your beauty sleep, you WILL be KICKED OUT!"

"Yes ma'am," he said faintly as he and Robin appeared at the top of the stairs.

"So what's up?" Robin asked.

"Well," Oracle said, "Besides the obvious fact that Bathole back home has security issues, there's a rouge, humanoid purple comet headed for Jump City as we speak."

"Uh…," Cyborg said, "Care to run that by me again?"

"You didn't hear me the first time? A humanoid, purple comet is on a collision course with—"

"Yeah, yeah, I heard you, I just don't believe it."

"Well maybe this will convince you," she said, and set the helmet on phase 2: projection. She displayed the video file she had witnessed herself and said "This footage was taken by a satellite at 0101 hours and 12 seconds, meaning 21 seconds ago. This makes it less than one minute until im—"

BOOM! The noise blasted through the city and shattered every window within a five mile radius before fading away, leaving a painful ring in everyone's ears, "—pact," Oracle said dryly. But Robin was already at the window and staring at the pillar of water in the bay. As the millions of gallons ejected by the impact began to rain down on the city, he groaned.

"Oh, man," Robin said in a hushed voice, "That looks to much like a depth charge for my comfort."

"But for something that small to exhibit such kinetic force," Cyborg said, "It would have had to be approaching the speed of light: that's impossible!"

"Not if the energy supply isn't exhausted," Oracle said, "But the dynamics of faster-than-light travel is too intricate to explain right now: we need to get out there and handle it!"

Punctuating her statement, the earth below their feet shook violently, knocking Robin to his knees. The stabilizers in Cyborg's legs and Oracle's chair were able to weather the tremor, but none of the books in the shelves surrounding them could. They fell in a confusing rush of paper and might have fallen on Robin if Cyborg had not interposed his body. But the next instant, the two non-powered humans saw the real reason for his action….

The heavy, hardwood bookshelf had also toppled, and he was holding it up with his hands. If that had finished the fall, it would have been the most humiliating death in the history of superheroes.

Cyborg smiled as he gently laid the bookshelf of to the side. "You owe me big time, Robin."

Suddenly, Oracle shouted, "Look there!"

When they came to the practically non-existent window, their eyes widened. I giant tidal wave was just crashing against the harbor, swamping the entire docks and storage system in fifteen feet of water as something so small in comparison it was laughable flew out in front of it. As they stared, it flew directly inland, across the small island in the bay, and barely making it past the shipyard before the fifteen foot wall of water crashed in a mess of seafoam and seasoning timbers.

"Well," Cyborg said quietly, "I guess this proves that Space magnifies everything."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Robin said with a scream and a wild look in his eyes.

"Well, If you would just look, that thing's hardly going 20 miles an hour now: hardly the speed of light. My guess is, whatever that thing is, it continued to use its flight capabilities even after reaching a good speed in space. Without the friction of an atmosphere, there's no such thing as terminal velocity. So its real abilities are actually less than a single percent of what we saw: so space makes everything greater than they really are."

"Well whatever you said, it still looks like it can kill us!" Robin said, pointing, "Cause it's headed our way!"

Before they could react, a green flash filled their field of vision.

A/N: Booyah! A cliffhanger for the very first time. Please tell me, honestly now: whadja think? Could I be any more awesome? Okay, that was a joke. I'm not narcissistic. But seriously, writing cliffhangers (or reading about them) always leaves me energized. I would love to here what you, the reader, got from this.

Oh yeah, and it didn't take as much time as I thought it would to publish this next chapter: even with College, I'm finding enough time to gratify readers…phew. Maybe it's because this is one of the few things I do with my free time.

Next on Mind and Body: Chapter 10 - The Fire Within a Star

Later: Chapter 11 - When Primary Colors become Secondary