Aki- This was originally a very, very long chapter, but after I finished writing it I decided to spilt it up into two, meaning you get a faster update, a pretty big chapter next time. Oh yeah, thanks to Tenshi for helping me by majorly edit this chapter.

Chapter 15: Costumes and Capers

"Why are we making costumes again?"
"I don't know, something about team unity, the spirit of a superhero, secret identities…more effectiveto fight in…" Halle listed off in a disinterested tone.

"And why is Kaden the only one not doing anything?" Alex asked another question, nursing the finger he just stabbed with a needle.

"I already have a costume. The black clothes, the white trench coat, the unnecessary sunglasses…come on…"

"I'm done, I'm going to go change into this."

"You're done?" said Alex skeptically.

"Yeah," said Hale, a bundle of fabric in her arms.

"How?"

"Home Ec. I learned how to sew."

Alex grumbled under his breath as Halle left the boys. "Jeez, I took woodshop and all I ended up with was a fractured wrist."

"You fractured your wrist?" asked Kaden curiously. "In woodshop?" Amusement and skepticism leaked in the younger boy's voice.

"Shut up…this is the twenty-first century, why do I have to use a needle and thread to make clothes? Whatever happened to Wal-mart. Weren't we supposed to have robots to do our house chores by now? I mean, we don't have hovercrafts or a moon colony or nothin'."

"Do I detect some bitterness?"

"Shut up, Kaden."

Kaden sufficed with sticking his tongue out at Alex, who didn't notice as his attention was turned back to the bundle of fabric on his lap. The boys, and only moments ago Halle too, were sitting on the floor of Cyborg's ''lab'. It was the first room they had seen of his basement living quarters. He also had a gym, bathroom, and garage. When asked where the money (and the building permits) to build and extend facilities deeper into the ground and into surrounding apartment building basementcamefrom, they onlyreceived a few indistinguishable mumbles in response.

"How do I look?" said Halle, now returned, gathering the attention of the two boys. She was dressed in her new costume, a fully black fit of a tank top, a mini-skirt, and calf-length leggings. Fully black, except for her bright pink converse, the only athletic-like shoes she had brought with her on their impromptu 'vacation'.

"Nice," said Kaden, "Almost as cool as mine." It would have sounded cocky if there hadn't been a distinguishable note of teasing in his tone.

"I wish I had some boots. Big, long, black ones. Then I could ditch the leggings and the bright pink shoes."

"I thought you liked pink," inquired Alex.

"I do, but it kinda ruins the look, for serious."

"I'll pretend I know what that means—OW!" Alex stabbed his hand with a needle again.

Halle decided to take pity on her younger brother's incompetence. "Here, let me help," she said, kneeling and taking the needle, thread, and fabric away from her brother.

"You?" he asked, shocked.

"Can you sew?"

"No…but I mean, you…doing something nice for me?"

"You're my little brother. I've got to protect you from the dangers of sewing needles."

"Twin brother, and…okay, I guess." Alex observed his sister as if she were from a different species as she took over the making of his shirt.

Kaden interrupted the stunned silence with a much needed observation. "Where is scrap yard, anyway?"

"I don't know…" provided Alex with a shrug. "Patrol?"

"You think with this whole 'learning to work as a team' thing we would have better communication."

"Or you could have just paid attention an hour ago when I told you I'd be in the garage."

"Speak of the devil…"

Cyborg was standing in an open doorway, several objects held in his large hands.

"Belts," he explained at Kaden's inquiring looks. She took one and stretched it out. They were black and of a strong woven material and the oblong Titans communicator was attached the belt buckle.

"They come off," explained Cyborg with a brief demonstration, "But it's easy to carry this way. By the way, nice outfit, Hal."

"Thank you, and Alex, your shirt is done."

"Already?"

"Can you believe that I am actually good at being domestic?"

"You've never shown it before."

"Because then the parents have an excuse to give me extra chores."

Alex held up his shirt. "Not what I expected."

"I worked with what I had."

The shirt was long-sleeved, black at the top, but under diagonal slant across the chest the shirt was a dark blue.

"I think the asymmetrical thing will work for you," assured Halle. Kaden was just laughing.

"I thought you said you were good at sewing…"

…

"Remember, when working at a team, communication is essential…"

"Why is this starting to sound like a marriage counseling session?" That comment earned Kaden an elbow in the side by Halle, which was worse than one would think considering the whole superstrength thing.

"Asking for help, getting others out of the way before you attack, or even telling others to back off if you've got it under control…Being part of a team means working together, unlike what we did last night."

There was a collective grimace by the group.

"Now, we've already gone over the different attack forms and group moves, so let's get started."

Two hours and a half hours, several bruises, and a few slip ups later the three young teenagers were curled up on the floor of the gym in various positions, out of breath, tired, and achy. Cyborg seemed unfazed by the intense workout practice session, but than again, he was half-robot and often only needed to recharge after such exertions.

"I'll go get some pizza for dinner," he announced, walking towards the gym doors. Alex just grunted in consent, curled over his stomach where one of Halle's wayward, superpowered fists had accidentally found its mark. "Meat-lovers good with everybody, okay," said Cyborg almost out of the door.

"Wait," Kaden yelled after him. "I'm vegan…"

"Oh no, not another one. I'm going to have to beat up your father for ruining you." It should have been funny and Cyborg had only meant it as an off hand comment, a little joke, but it had a profound effect on all three teenagers. Kaden instantly looked down and twin's eyes flickered between the metal-man and their young friend.

Cyborg took several long strides across the gym to Kaden's side. He kneeled down in front of the boy and placed a cybernetic hand gently on one of his shoulders.

"We'll get them back."

"I know," said Kaden, looking up into the older man's face and smiled. It reminded Cyborg of his best friend's, BB's, smile, one he hadn't seen in years. Cyborg had gotten to know that little green boy very well, and by extension, he knew Kaden pretty well too. On Kaden's face was Beast Boy's fake smile, the one he put on for the benefit of others, and maybe to make himself feel better, when things weren't really alright. He never really ever knew what to say when Gar had gotten like that, so it was only proper that he didn't know what to say now.

"You're a good kid…I'll see what I can do about some meat-free pizza…" Cyborg grimaced at the thought and Kaden laughed at his expression. A genuine laugh, but a little strained.

'BB, Rae, Star, Rob…you should be proud,' thought Cyborg as he exited the room, 'They're all good kids.'

…

A little over half an hour later, Cyborg was retuning to his alleyway entrance laden with pizza; three boxes, as only Kaden was going to eat the vegan pizza, he could down a meat lover's pizza all by himself, and he thought cheese was a good standard pizza flavor (did pizza have flavors?) for Alex and Halle, who may have been too tired or unmotivated to protest meat-lovers pizza if is wasn't their favorite.

Cyborg balanced the pizza boxes in one hand as he prepared to type in the key code to open his highly secure living quarters. Concentrating on his balancing act, he started, then yelped, as he felt something knock the boxes out of his hand.

He looked around wildly, until he caught sight of something - 'crazed, city alley bird' his mind supplied a bit improbably - winging away around a corner. Shaking his head, he turned to concentrate on the important thing:

"The pizza!" Cyborg yelled in an unnecessarily dramatic way - especially since none of the pizzas had spilled from their cardboard boxes, but were just upended. Some of the toppings and cheese might have been disarranged, but they would still taste good…wait, was that bird green? Cyborg secretly blamed the nuclear power plant on the edge of town that had an unsavory reputation of not being too careful with their waste or car pollution or ... something. Anyway, city animals were way too not-scared of humans, and it was kind of creepy at times, like when mutated birds attacked your pizzas. Wait…green bird?

Just then a hail of green energy blasts shot towards him.

…

When the communicators in their belts began to simultaneously go off, the three superpowered teenagers were still in the gym lazing about, wondering what was taking Cyborg so long with the pizza. All of them fumbled with their belts, but Alex was the first to successfully get it detached and press the receive button.

Cyborg appeared too busy to simplytalk into the screen, so instead he just yelled. Alex could only vaguely make out the side of his face: "I hope you three have rested up a bit, because we have company!" Alex gaped at the screen as there was a very loud bang from…was that a dumpster? "Are you ready to try out some of those new moves?"

Alex looked up at Halle and Kaden when the communication shut off. They had heard everything. "Ready?" he said with a small grin.

"Ready," said Halle and Kaden nodded. They were all prepared and willing to kick some Strike butt. They ran out of the gym, across the lab and up the steps to the exit door. They almost stumbled trying to get out at once, teamwork training momentarily forgotten. They emerged just in time to see Cyborg flung through the air to landon his back on the ground in the deep shadows of the alleyway. A figure stood menacingly over him. Three more waited in the shadows behind her.

"Halt!" yelled Halle in pure superhero form. The figure, a woman, turned slightly. Her eyes were glowing green and in that vague light they could make out her features.

They all stopped, uncertain.

"Mom?" Halle said. "What's going on?"

Aki- A few notes of the text, those are only the first versions of the kid's uniforms with what they were able to make with what they had. Probably by cutting up and resewing their other pieces of clothing. I hinted as such with Halle's mentions about the boots.