-
"Talking"
*Thinking*
-Cybertalk-
-
Cyborg raced to the doorand opened it. "Hey, Jinx. Good to see you!" He pulled her into his embrace.
"Hey, tin man," she said laughing. "How have things been?"
"Well, Star's kinda down today, but other than that-"
"Wait! Why's Star feeling down? Shouldn't Robin be doing something about that?"
"That's why she's down. He's gone off on some sort of training quest to find the True Master."
Jinx blinked as she took this in. "Training quest? True Master? When did our life become an anime?"
Cyborg chuckled. "And you call Beast Boy an otaku."
She elbowed him in the gut. "Just because I know enough to keep up with the geeks doesn't make me one."
They got to Robin's room, and saw what Beast Boy and Starfire were up to. Cyborg got up in their faces. "I can't believe you broke into Robin's room when he wasn't here, played with his gear, and pretended to be him..." He waited a sufficient amount of time for them to get shame-faced, then finished. "...without me!"
Jinx smirked. "Hey, let me in on the action, too."
Cyborg needed a few uniform's worth of gear to get the look right, but Jinx fit into the uniform surprisingly well. "Friend Jinx," Star had asked, "how is it the uniform of Robin fits you so well? You are so close to the same size? Perchance might you be related?"
Jinx choked. "Me? Related to Mr. Bird-a-Rang up my butt? Don't make me gag!"
When Raven found them doing it in the garage, she was at first unwilling to join in...then Beast boy whispered something to her, and she got changed...although she was blushing. Jinx confrnted her about it.
"Okay, what did the grass stain say that got you going along? Spill, girl."
Raven turned bright red. "He said...the mask could be kinky..."
Jinx turned bright red. "I don't want to know."
When Raven came out to the main room that night, she was surprised by the party the others threw for her. She soon glared at Beast Boy. "You told them it was my birthday?" She had told him in confidence, when he said it was a boyfriend's duty to get the girlfriend a birthday present.
Beast Boy shook his head. "I didn't tell them anything! They caught me sneaking the present inside! Then...things kind of just snowballed."
She sighed. "And you had to go along?"
"Go easy on him, Raven," Jinx said, coming up to her. "He meant well."
She sighed, trying to come to grips with this. She didn't WANT to celebrate her birthday. If they knew what it meant, they wouldn't want to either. Then the alarm went off. "We'll talk later," she said to Beast Boy. He gulped.
-Scanning... ... temporal stasis detected. Engaging chronium flux field.-
Cyborg shifted suddenly as his body became active. He looked around. He remembered Raven doing something just before the gear Slade sent rolling was about to crush Robin.
Robin! Slade!
Cyborg saw that Robin and Slade were nowhere to be seen, but he could see the trail left by Raven's magic. He hadn't told her yet that his new sensors could track that.
Seeing Beast Boy unmoving, he went over to him. He placed his hand on his shoulder.
-Error: chronium flux field drains large amounts of power, and ambient energy unavailable in quantumn stasis. Energy only available to maintain one field.-
*Then transfer the field to Beast Boy...as well as the jet pack. He'll need to get to Raven in a hurry, and he has to go a ways.*
-... ... Command ackknowledged.-
Beast Boy opened his eyes with an unfamiliar weight on his back. He was also flying through the air at high speeds. He realized Cyborg's jet pack equipment were strapped to his back, and he was going at high speeds through the air. An HUD popped up in front of him.
"Beast Boy...something has happened, and Raven needs you. The pack will take you there, as well as keep you unfrozen. Time seems to have stopped, so keep the pack on until it starts again."
Beast Boy nodded at the message Cyborg had left him. Then he saw what was happening below him as the pack shifed to dive. Slade had hold of Raven, most of her clothes were gone...and she was in pain. His mind jumped to a conclusion - the wrong one, but a good one.
"Get your hands off of her!" he shouted, charging full tilt into Slade. Shifting into a gorrilla, he decked Slade right off the pinnacle. He seemed to vanish, and time restarted.
Beast Boy saw Raven starting to fall, and he grabbed her. "Raven, it's me! I'm here!" He held her gently, and saw the markings on her arms.
"Beast Boy..." she whispered.
He pulled her close as the pack disengaged and returned to Cyborg. "It's okay, Raven. It won't happen. We won't let it. I won't let it."
She pulled back, staring at him. "You...knew?" He nodded. "How long?"
"Remember when you first started to let me read your books?" She nodded. "I found the prophecy, and looked up what I could find on Scath. The descriptions I found of Trigon...were pretty detailed."
She looked down. He had seen the image of her father Rage had taken in her mindscape. "Beast Boy...I..."
"And it doesn't change how I feel about you in the slightest."
She stared at him disbelievingly. "But...I was born to destroy this world!"
"Do you want to?"
"NO! How can you ask-" She stopped. She flushed. "...Beast Boy..."
He smiled at her. "Besides...even if you are destined to destroy the world...it wouldn't be worth living in to me without you in it." He kissed her. "Don't worry. I have a plan."
She found it in her to chuckle. "Now I'm worried."
Back at the tower, they finished celebrating Raven's birthday...and Beast Boy shwoed her the room he'd had Cyborg prepare.
"When the day comes, we'll bring you in here...and your father won't be able to reach you."
"He won't give up."
Beast Boy brought out a bag. Opening it up, he showed her the contents. "He can try."
"Beast Boy...is that..."
"Everyone has enemies, Raven. If you know who to ask, you'd be amazed what you can get your hands on." He smiled. "Let him come. Let him try to get to you. He'll have to get through me."
"All of us," Robin said from behind him.
Raven and Beast boy turned. The whole team was assembled. Raven looked at Beast Boy. "You told them?"
Cyborg interrupted. "I helped him build the room. YOu think I'd trust him with the power tools?" He waved his hand disarmingly. "He only told me it was for you...bu the runes are shaped to ward against the power of Scath...and I was able to research the name. We've all got our preperations under way. If your old man wants you...he'll have to get through all of us."
"And us, too," Jinx said. "Titans East will be here when you need us for this battle."
Raven stared around at the faces of her friends, her family. "But...he'll kill you all! He can't be stopped."
Beast Boy pulled her into his arms. "We risk our lives every day when we go to fight bad guys...for the peace of the world. This time, we'll do it for friendship...for family...for love. If that's not worth dying for, what is?"
Raven clung to Beast Boy, unable to say anything.