The Titans had just gotten back from Tokyo, and were making their way down the street, seeing how things had changed in their absence. Robin and Starfire were arm in arm, as could be expected. THey had taken a detour for a few hours on the way back to the Jet when they were ready to leave Tokyo, and both had had bigger smiles than usual plastered on their faces when they got back. Beast Boy had looked at them, sniffed the air, grinned, and said nothing.
Jinx had met them upon their arrival, glomming onto Cyborg. They had their arms wrapped around each other, and were leaning into each other with that love struck look so common on their faces these days. For being the only Titan pair that was still being 'responsible', they were the most cloying to watch.
Beast Boy and Raven were wrapped up in each other in their own way. Beast Boy was in the form of a cat, cuddled against Raven's chest purring. Raven occasionally stroked his head. Glancing over, Raven asked a question that had been on her mind since the Brotherhood incidents. "Cyborg...you have all these advanced technologies in your system...yet for the most part you limit yourself to the level you had before your repairs in combat. Why?"
Cyborg thought for a bit. "Well, a lot of reasons. One, the advanced tech is dangerous, and most of it is lethal. I don't know how far I can take it without killing someone. For another, it's way too powerful. If I relyed on it too much, eventually I'd be the threat people had to deal with. But mostly, it's because most of it falls under the levels of alien tech that Earth isn't considered ready for. Sure, there's commerce of sorts between Earth and alien races, but can you picture what would happen if some terrorist group - or worse, a government - got a hold of this tech?"
Raven nodded. "I see what you mean. You've got a lot more to deal with than most of us, then."
"Yeah, I guess you could say-" He froze. His sensors had gone off. "Watch out!" he shouted, throwing his hands forward. An energy barrier appeared, deflecting a red sonic blast.
"Well, Cyborg," a chilling voice said. "It seems you've learned some new tricks." Several purple robed individuals appeared, surrounding them. All wore the mark of the Hive.
Jinx flinched back against Cyborg. She recognized the voice that haunted her worst nightmare's. "Blood!" she whimpered.
Cyborg snarled. "Show yourself, Blood! Do you really think you can hide behind an army of cheap imitations like last time? How'd you survive my blast, anyway?"
"Oh, that's the thing Cyborg...I didn't. Your last attack that day was quite lethal. It was a good thing," the front most figure discarded the robe, revealing a cybernetically upgraded Brother Blood, "I had the foresight to prepare a backup."
Another figure removed its robe...revealing another Blood! "Or two."
Several other Bloods discarded their robes. "Or more!"
Almost all the robed figures were revealed to be cybernetic Bloods. Cyborg gaped. "Son of a monkey nugget, you cloned yourself!"
"Indeed. Trident's technology was most useful once I'd recovered and analyzed it in my underwater base. Isn't mass production a wonderful thing?" The speaking Blood grinned.
"And don't think I'll be so easy to defeat as he was," another spoke. "I have always been excellent at manipulating many bodies, as you well know." The eyes all began to glow red.
Another figure dropped down. It was Gizmo...but the cybernetics had been applied to him, fusing him with his tech. "Time to teach you grub sniffers a lesson," he said, his eyes glowing red.
"The Headmaster is back in town," one of the Bloods said.
"Resistance IS futile," said another.
"It is inevitable, Mr. Stone," said a third.
"You and all your friends will soon be...upgraded," said the one in the lead.
They leveled their weapons. Cyborg's eye went wide. "Raven get us out of here!" he shouted.
Raven started to chant her mantra.
There was a flash of magic just as all the Bloods fired their weapons. When the light cleared, there was no trace of the Titans.