Afterburn: Part I

Arc II: Repercussions

Chapter 8: Dad's Tale

By: mrbeans

Rated: M for language and some graphic violence.

El Queso de Maliscioso:

1- yay!

2- You'll see, oh, you will see...

3- So all black people are automaticly related to Cy? Is THAT what you're saying? Huh:)

4- I will consider those...for the next chapter

5- Thank you

Blueyedgirl: Thanks, from what people have told me this was my best chapter yet. i didn't expect that when I wrote it. Keep reviewing please.

For any of my readers who noticed that my fic jumped up to M, it's for this chapter, the next one, and a few later on. This one because of some of the shows they enter.

Cyborg, Starfire, and Elija had been sent to the green room to wait. They all sat on an old, red couch.

Cyborg's dad walked into the room, removing his apron.

"You must be Starfire" he said, briefly giving Star's hand a firm shake "My name is Dennis Stone". "I don't believe we've met" he said to Elija.

"No but all will soon be explained" said Elija

"Yes" said Cyborg, hints of anger in his voice "Everything will soon be explained"

"I didn't want to leave!" said Dennis, quickly resorting to shouting "You have no idea what happened!"

"Then what did happen Dad! Enlighten us!" yelled Cyborg back.

Dennis fell back into a chair. He ran his fingers over his shaved head and took a deep breath and exhaled.

"Are you really sure you want to know Victor?" he asked

"Positive" said Cy, large traces of resentment in his voice now.

"Here goes..." he said

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Dennis walked down the street to the convenient store to buy some candles for Victor's 6th birthday cake. The small child and his mother were waiting at the table at home for him to return.

"Hello Martin" he said cheerfully to the manager as he walked in.

"Hey Dennis" said Martin "What can I help you find today?"

"Candles. It's Victor's 6th birthday today. And also" he lowered his voice "Is my package here yet?"

"Yes, I'll go get it. Candles are in isle 3"

Dennis walked down the isle and grabbed a package of birthday candles from the shelf before heading back to the front.

After a few minutes Martin came back out holding a metal briefcase.

"Thank you Martin. Put the candles on my tab" he said as he exited the store.

"Will do" said Martin.

Dennis got back into his car and drove home.

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"I remember when you brought that home" said Cyborg "What does this have to do with anything?"

"Believe me, more than you know" said Dennis

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Dennis, looking about 7 years older, turned down an alley.

A man in a trench coat walked out of the shadows "You owe me a hell of a lot of money. Do you have it?" he asked

"No but.." Dennis was cut off as another man came out of the shadows and grabbed him, shoving a handkerchief in his mouth.

"No but's" he said "Take him away."

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"And then what?" asked Elija, becoming as curious as he would allow himself to be.

"They let me go after holding me for two years to work off their debt" said Dennis

"Then why didn't you come home then?" asked Cyborg.

"I didn't want to face you and your mother" said Dennis, bowing his head.

"And you felt you made up for it how?"

"I built you the tower and.."

"You built me a building. I didn't need that place! I needed you to be there!" yelled Cyborg, a vein in the human side of his face pulsing. "You weren't there when I was lonely, when I went to school, you weren't even there when I had my accident!" he roared, pointing to the cybernetic half of his head.

There was a knock at the door before anyone could say anything else and a young woman burst in. "Dennis! We've got a big problem" she was cut off as a silenced gun shot went off. She collapsed to the floor revealing the shooter.

"To right you do" said Blackout with a very sadistic smile and lowering his gun.

Elija whipped out one of his pistols and trained it on Blackout, Cyborg activated his sonic cannon, and Starfire's eyes glowed green as star-bolts surrounded her hands.

"Ooh" said Blackout being sarcastically ignorant "What do I do now? Oh yes" he did a summer sault through the air and landed behind Starfire, grabbing her with one arm and pressing barrel of his gun against the bottom of her jaw.

"First" he said to Elija "I would ask you to lower the gun but you won't do that" he placed his hand firmly on Star's shoulder and pressed the gun against her neck, moving her to his side. "Take your best shot"

Elija pulled the trigger and the gun clinked, out of ammo. "I do think of these things" he said, holding out a PDA playing footage of their battle with the ninjas. "You fired all 30 rounds but forgot to check them. Moving on, Cyborg, play a 10.789 Ghrz tone"

"Why?" asked Cyborg "Because it will disable your sonic cannon for about 20 minutes"

Cyborg hesitated.

Blackout pressed the gun harder against Star's neck "Do it"

There was a high pitched frequency and Cyborg tried to fire, nothing happened.

"And finally dear, would you be so kind as to relax with the star-bolt thing. I have a nerve response time of .05 seconds. It takes 1.5 to send and Star bolt at me. I can fire this gun in 1 second so by the time you fling that bolt at me I will have already fired and moved to dodge"

Starfire's eyes returned to normal and her hands fell to her sides.

"Now Dennis" continued Blackout.

Wait interrupted Cyborg "You know my Dad?"

"No, but he has something I want" he said "Now Dennis, give me the transmitter"

"Don't do it Mr. Stone" said Elija

"Do it, or you will be responsible for the death of one of your son's teammates. Needless to say your relations with him are bad enough"

Dennis reached into his pocket and pulled out of small device.

"Put it on the floor and kick it over" instructed Blackout

Dennis did exactly that.

"Thank you" said Blackout. He then pushed Starfire forward and snapped his fingers. There was a burst of multi colored sparked and a portal appeared behind him. He stepped through the portal and it began to close. They all jumped through just before it closed.

When they emerged Blackout was nowhere to be found.

"What place is this?" asked Starfire gazing around at the hilly landscape.

"Oh no" said Elija, looking ready to soil himself from fear "Not here, not here, not here, not here, not here" he repeated over and over again.

"Where's here?" asked Cyborg, becoming concerned.

"They're here, they're here, they're here, they're here" he said, his eyes darting around as if looking out for something.

"Heh-woah" said a creature, coming over one of the hills. It's entire body, save it's flesh colored face was red. A single antenna that curled into a circle was atop it's head.

Elija stared at it a moment then opened his mouth and screamed.

Oh yeah, they just ended up where you think they ended up.

Enjoy, my next chapter will be out very soon.

-mrbeans