Hi, guys. Um, Kev has some explaining to do.
I fell off the track with this fic, and I've kind of been thinking of it as a side project, which I suppose isn't good, especially since I'm not posting the things I'm thinking of as my real projects, and probably won't for some time as I want to finish them first, or at least have a real buffer. And I was reluctant to write this chapter, because I have to go back and watch the whole episode and I could be spending the time that it takes to watch the episode writing, and I just didn't do it. And I don't have wifi at my house and it makes everything so much harder than it has to be. Plus I've been working on requests.
I have more excuses, but I won't bore you with them. Basically, I'm sorry I haven't updated regularly, and I will try really hard not to o it again. Please don't hate me.
Also, sorry if I didn't reply to your reviews this time around. Again, won't happen again! Now that that's out of the way, who wants to see Cyborg eat weird crap?
"You can keep your sprinkles, I need raspberry filling!"
Starfire cowered behind the corner of a building as she watched Cyborg punch a money-machine. Pink sparks danced around the machine until it spit out several bills of money, which Cyborg scooped into his mouth. He chewed thoughtfully before spitting them on.
"No!" he wailed. "Not macaroni!" He lifted the machine and began shaking it as money fluttered to the ground around him. He stopped his grumbles when he noticed Robin and Raven approaching him slowly, with their arms held out to indicate their harmlessness.
Cyborg dropped the machine and ran away. Once dropped, however, the machine began to expand until it couldn't anymore, and it exploded. A grey stream of smoked came from some of the mechanisms in the ruined foundations of the machine.
"It's getting worse," Raven said gravely.
Robin nodded and inspected the ATM. "And if this is what it does to an ATM machine, there's no telling what it does to everything else."
"Titans?" Starfire called, and they both tensed up. "You are in need of assistance?"
Robin and Raven looked at each other unsurely. "Cyborg's… sick," Robin told her vaguely.
"And his sickness is making him act in such strange and violent ways?" Starfire asked, uncertain.
"Yep," Raven answered simply.
"Then please allow me to—"
"Starfire, I appreciate the offer, but we're already on cleanup duty," Robin told her distractedly. "I don't want to have to deal with you, too."
Starfire looked to Raven for help, who shrugged and said, "Some other time, maybe."
"Come on," Robin commanded, and he and Raven took off running.
Starfire folded her arms over her chest sulkily. If she were Harley, she would shrug and be on her way, and she'd probably already be planning some type of revenge scheme. But she wasn't Harley, and after bobbing in the air for a few moments and letting Robin and Raven get a head start on her, she followed them.
Cyborg was spouting off all sorts of nonsense about various types of food. He avoided Robin and Raven and actually put a great number of people in danger.
It was not until Cyborg assaulted a soda machine that Starfire realized the severity of his whimsical antics and his amusing phrases. After the soda exploded in the same fashion as the ATM, Robin took a moment to look out over the city.
The Titans were causing even more damage than usual. Stoplights were flashing red, green, and yellow all at once. Various machinery—Don't Walk signs, vending machines, ATMs—were damaged and smoking. People had gotten out of their cars because of the traffic lights, and many were on their cell phones.
"The city's communication hub," Robin muttered, pointing at a large satellite in the direction Cyborg had taken off. "If he infects that transmitter coil, the virus will spread to every machine within a hundred miles!"
Robin reached into his belt for his communicator. "Beast Boy! Gizmo! Report!"
"Eh, blow it out your cakehole," Gizmo replied flippantly.
"I think he means we're almost there," Starfire heard Beast Boy mumble nervously as Robin seethed over Gizmo's behavior.
"Almost isn't good enough."
"Don't rush me, scuzbreath," Gizmo snapped. "At the rate this virus is spreading, I don't even know if I can fix him anymore."
"You have to. If the virus isn't stopped, Cyborg could wreck the entire city."
Virus. A computer virus, Starfire understood. That didn't interest her much, but robin seemed frantic.
"And I'm the idiot who wrecked Cyborg." Beast Boy sounded so sad and guilty, it made her heart break.
Robin close the communicator and he called, "Come out, Starfire."
Drat. She floated down in front of him from her hiding spot. "Greetings," she said sweetly.
"Okay. You can help," he said as though she'd been pestering him the whole time. "It's distracting, having you watching everything like that," he added, his tone scolding. His deep frown made it clear that he had no idea that what he just said made a flurry of emotions spark inside her chest. Distracting. She was distracting him with just her presence. He noticed her all by himself, without her even having to do anything.
She swallowed away the electric feeling and she said, "You should have accepted my aid before."
"Starfire," he groaned, impatient, "I really don't have time. Just help us catch Cyborg."
"Very well."
They caught up to Cyborg at the hub. Raven created a flat disc of black energy that brought Robin in front of Cyborg.
This did not deter the confused teenager, who barreled on as though Robin wasn't even there.
Next, Raven tried creating a brick wall prison, four sides and a ceiling. This slowed him down, but he burst out in less than a minute.
There was a metal ladder fixed to the wall, probably used by maintenance workers, and as Cyborg started to climb up it, Starfire shot three starbolts as a warning. Insultingly, he didn't deign to come down from the ladder. He stayed on it and he took shots at her with his canon while holding the rungs with one arm.
She weaved through most of his shots, but one clipped her and she was so jarred by the hit that she fell. A fall from this height wouldn't even leave bruises, not on a Tamaranean, but somehow the landing seemed softer than it should have.
Robin caught her. She didn't know whether she should feel embarrassed or indignant or… something completely different from both of those. He didn't seem to realize he'd done anything unusual, he was so concerned about what Cyborg was doing.
Starfire shook the dizziness away and Robin set her on her feet. "I need leverage," he said.
It took her a moment to realize what he meant, but she nodded and lifted into the air. Once he decided the distance was suitable, Robin shot a line from his grappling hook gun at Cyborg and he became ensnared in it. She let him drop from a few feet, then she landed h=to help him pull Cyborg back.
His strength must be coming from the virus, because even with her strength, she could not make him stop. Raven even joined in, shrouding pipes or computer equipment in black energy and wrapping it around Cyborg. He snapped the pipes and Raven's black energy rippled back at them, sending all three through the air. They landed in a heap.
Starfire got up just in time to see Cyborg reach for the red tip of the large satellite and freeze. He appeared to sneeze before toppling over. She lifted Robin to the top of the structure, and Robin leaned forward with his hands on his knees. "Cyborg? Can you answer me?"
"Ohhhh…" Cyborg groaned. "My stomach. It feels like I ate a tire."
"Yes!" Starfire chirped happily, glad to see him back to his normal self.
"That's a distinct possibility," Raven said with a small, relieved smile.
When the Titans were ready to go and Cyborg had a blanket around his shoulders, Robin turned to Starfire. "Thanks for the help," he said. She raised her eyebrows expectantly and Robin added, "Um… and… sorry I didn't take it when you first offered. I'll… remember this next time."
She beamed at him. "It is not a problem. I will be seeing you," she said as she jumped into the air. She was excited to tell Selina and Harley about her odd day.
Apologies, this one's sort of short. It's mostly the same as the show, I just wanted to put this chapter in because in my headcanaon (is it a little odd that I have headcanon for my own thing?) this happened. Plus… Robin catches Star and it's not the first time, but it's the first time I can make it canon for Reach. For reference, this chapter takes place between chapters twelve and thirteen of Reach. (That's between betrothed and Haunted.)
Up Next: Starfire meets Control Freak