Disclaimer: This is a fan work created at no profit and for entertainment purposes only. The author acknowledges that Teen Titans and related characters are property of Warner Entertainment.
Teen Titans: Menace in Mexico City
Chapter 3 – Ring, Do Your Thing
The sliding doors to ops whooshed open and Cyborg strode in, beaming with pride with a sturdy metal in plastic case in his hands that shared his signature blue and white color scheme.
His smile slipped a little at the sight before him.
Robin was leaning on the counter watching Starfire as she worked on lunch. He watched her intently, not just in the sense of a boyfriend mooning over his girlfriend, but as part of his duty to the team: ensuring that Star maintained her self control following the book of earthly recopies she'd purchased a few weeks back. Though she desperately wanted to make food that was palatable to her friends, she had a hard time keeping herself from seasoning her dishes to suit her alien taste buds.
Beyond them, Beast Boy and Raven shared the couch. He was watching a cable show about the varied and terrifying sea life that haunted the worlds' rivers as long term research for a prank he wanted to play on Aqualad. She was reading as usual. But the key point to the whole scene was that they were sitting as close to each other as their mutual shyness would allow and occasionally steeling glances.
"What a revoltin' development." He muttered to himself. Not that he wasn't happy for his friends, and god knows it was about time both of those relationships advanced in his opinion. But there was a matter of guy pride on the line.
He was older, taller, stronger, smarter, and dammit, handsomer than those two. That wasn't just narcissism; he had the fan polls to prove it. In his room. Framed. Robin might have rated as cooler and Beast Boy as most adorable (he tied Cyborg for funniest), but it was Cyborg that swept the important categories.
So why the hell were those two getting to spend time with their girlfriends while he was spending time with his programming core and rapid fabrication assemblage?
Bad luck if you asked him. Jinx had been a villainess and long after that ship had sailed, she hooked up with Kid Flash. He and Bumblebee were both too strong willed to be a good match. Sarasim was... well... dead for several centuries. Combine that with Robin's 'no answering romantic fanmail' rule and his was a dry spell that would make the Sahara blush.
He would have found himself in a bad mood, but then he remembered he was coming up on a ten day, eleven night trip to a foreign land and he wasn't going to Teen Titan, Cyborg, but as good ol' Victor Stone; the highly intelligent, extra handsome and immensely ripped young man that all the ladies loved.
And just like that, his enthusiasm came back with a vengeance. "Alright y'all!" He bellowed in all his bombastic glory as he carried the case over to the kitchen table. "Presenting Mr. Cyborg's Fall Collection."
The digital locks on the case disengaged and the top of the case swung open on whisper bearings, revealing five pairs of rings resting in molded velvet recesses. "The holoring Mark II. Personally tailored for each of us to generate the perfect illusion of nominal, everyday teenagers."
He picked up his pair; done up in white gold with blue stones set into them. "These babies are waterproof for those days by the pool, heat proof enough to survive starbolts or the occasional chromium induced sneeze, and can withstand seventy-five thousand pounds per square inch—for anything else you maniacs do to 'em."
As he continued to gloat, a green streak blew past the box, resolving quickly into a coati with four rings stuck on its comically long nose. The green animal scampered back to the couch where it turned back into Beast Boy. The green Teen then handed Raven her pair and slipped his own on.
"Sweet! I always wanted a class ring. But you kinda have to go to high school for that."
"Delightful!" Starfire abandoned whatever she was in the process of mixing in a bowl to float over to the box and pick up her own rings. "In Tamaran, all jewelry is either functional or ceremonial. Please. How do you make these rings work?"
"Glad you asked." said Cyborg, who had clearly been waiting for that moment. With a grunt that was more theatrical than having anything to do with effort, he brought the rings together in front his him so that the minute grooves in the stones interlocked. A bright flash emanated from them and traveled up each arm. Where it went, white and gray surfaces and blue lighting arrays were replaced by a mahogany skin tone that matched Cyborg's exposed human parts. Within seconds, he was transformed from a man-machine into just a man; the same form he took when undercover as Stone at Hive Academy. Just as that time, he'd had the wherewithal to design the default image to project some boxers and a white t-shirt as well.
Starfire clapped. "You are, as you put it 'that new, unimproved you' now! And these rings will make us look like you as well?"
Everyone paused to shudder at the mental image of Starfire sporting Vic's shaven-head look.
"Not exactly, Star. I designed each ring to map a specific skin tone, eye color and hair color to each of us to give us a unique look that won't conflict with how were normally dress and act. Just give 'em a try and you'll see what I'm talking about."
Starfire, Raven and Beast Boy complied, bringing their rings together to start the transformation.
Beast Boy ran over the check himself out in the brushed metal door to the stairwell. "Dude! I totally looks like I did in my baby pictures!" He was staring at a lightly tanned kid with a copious spray of freckles across his nose and yellow-blonde hair. The ring had also rounded out his ears and made his normally expose fang disappear.
"Um... yeah, I was able to use the pictures you have in your room to base yours off of..."
Not noticing how distracted and borderline terrified Cyborg sounded, Beast Boy tentatively poked his ears. They might look round, but they still felt pointed. "This is so cool! I can't wait to see what you did for Ra...ven." At the moment, he turned around and wasn't quite sure what he was seeing.
Only he knew the dark girl's expressions well enough to tell that see was confused instead of her normally projected null emotional state.
And 'dark girl' now had a whole new meaning. The holoring had overlaid her normally ashen skin and purple locks with a cinnamon tan and hair crimson hair that could have only come out of a bottle (or a hologram projector) with black roots. She held a red strand of hair in front of her face and blinked now chocolate brown eyes at the others.
"Um. I think Beast Boy mixed up the rings."
"Do you believe so?" Starfire looked at herself in the microwave's window and saw nothing wrong with her now jet-black hair and chalky skin, though she did poke curiously at the holograms of two eyebrow piercings and a nose stud.
Raven let the hair drop. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure."
"Just remember that this is the grass stain's fault not mine." Cyborg reminded.
"What is your fault?" Asked Starfire, still admiring herself.
"You don't really think that look is 'you'," Robin asked, mildly incredulous until he remembered who he was talking to and grew unsure of himself. "Do you?"
Star turned away from her reflected countenance and gave him a self conscious look. "You do not find me attractive like this?"
The other three in the room smirked at one another. These moments were always fun.
Sadly for them, Robin had known what he said wrong the moment he said it and was ready with a reply. "Of course you do, Star. You always look amazing now matter what you're wearing."
"More like 'who' you're wearing." Raven mumbled, making Beast Boy chuckle.
Unfortunately for her, this got Starfire's attention. "Xhal! Friend Raven, you look amazing!" She flew over immediately and embraced her friend in one of her crushing hugs. "Oh, this shall be the best vacation we have ever embarked upon! And that is not just because this is our first."
Meanwhile, Robin picked up the last pair of rings in the case and slipped them on his gloved fingers. "Just by process of elimination, I guess these are mine."
Cyborg rolled his eyes. "As if you need them."
"These aren't just to hide our natures." Robin admonished. "They're to hide our identities, both so that we can get some privacy, and to make sure our presence doesn't provoke any attacks on the populace."
"I get that, man, but if you'd just take off the dumb mask, nobody would know you anyway. Papa Bats might have a famous alter ego, but nobody's gonna pick you out of a line-up."
"Better safe than sorry." Robins' voice gained an edge due to the 'Papa Bats' comment. With that, he fitted the rings together and... not much happened. His skin got a shade or two darker, comprising an incredibly light tan and his hair went from the kind of black that looks almost blue in the right light to just plain old black.
"Sixteen hours of R&D and construction and you use it as make-up." Cyborg groused.
By now, Starfire had abandoned Raven to come look at Robin's change. She, if anything, was more disappointed than Cyborg. "Oh, Robin. I was so hoping that you would be doing the different look as the rest of us are."
"But I am different." Robin insisted, pulling the mask away from his face to reveal slightly canted eyes, lower, less defined cheekbones, and a slightly longer nose. "No facial recognition software in the world would be able to identify me now."
"He's totally not into the spirit of this whole thing, Star." Cyborg explained.
Over by the couch, Beast Boy has wandered back over to Raven's side, unable to tear his eyes off her for more than a moment. Sure, he loved her normal look; gray and purple having become two of his favorite colors. But there was something new and novel about Tropical Edition Raven that appealed to him too.
"So..." he rubbed the back of his head. "Since Star seems to like rocking the goth look, I guess you're stuck with 'Latin goddess'?" Did he really just say 'goddess'? He wanted to slap himself for that.
Raven gave him a sidelong look. Did he really just call her a goddess? She fought back a blush and her soul-self grabbed a couch cushion and hurled it across the room thanks to the excess emotion. Far less destructive than last time he paid her a complement. She was getting better at controlling this.
"Um... thanks. And I guess so." She kept her eyes focused on the others as Cyborg continued to prod Robin about his lack of originality. As if the protege of a man who themed everything after his chest symbol would be known for his creativity. "Do you... like it."
Now Beat Boy decided to look away, fixing his gaze on the newly reinstalled windows that allowed them to look out on the city from ops. "Not as good as the original, but I'm totally okay with it. Do you like mine?"
She glanced at him. "So that's what you would look like if it wasn't your powers?"
"Pretty much, yeah."
"Then I'm 'totally okay with it' too."
TT^TT^TT
A/N: Not a lot of plot here, but the holorings needed to be introduced and lent themselves to this cute little mini-story here. I especially liked subverting the normal holo/AU looks they give to the girls in fics. And yes, they'll be like this the entire trip :)
A correction from earlier: Blue Beetle's name is Jaime, not Jamie. I knew this, but I can't type sometimes.
To answer someone's question with a much more complex answer than is needed, the core five Titans here are (hopefully) in their characterizations from the show (Seasons 1-4 in particular) because this whole thing is a writing exercise for me to keep them in character. This fic adds the twist that I'm trying to now add in three characters from outside the show and trying to integrate them into the TT flavor. So even though I said where I'm drawing my inspiration, I'm trying to make them TT versions of Blue Beetle, Miss Martian and Batgirl IV.
So especially with Cassandra, don't be surprised if she's not spot on with the comics, because she needs to be a translated to the world of Teen Titans (animated).
Last time's Next Chapter tagline turned out to be a big, fat lie, so as penance, there will be none this time.