In this chapter, Cyborg will face Vulkanus.
Can you guess the connection between the two?
I came up with another idea though.
On the subject of connections…
…well, you'll see what I mean.
Chapter 15: Bonded Together
Unfortunately, it appeared that there was another bank robbery in Jump City. It was good that the Teen Titans were keeping the city safe or nobody would be able to build a bank account.
And no, Jump City did not have kangaroos.
Though then again, Kitten had a huge bank account and she was part of the proble,.
Anyways, sometimes bank security systems just weren't enough. Though the Teen Titans did appreciate the bank company making their lives easier.
In fact, the cameras had been fried.
"Interesting, this seems to be a one-man job…" noted Raven.
Which was odd, since robberies were typically carried out by teams. They would have to split the money, but it would be worth it for them.
"In that case, maybe we should have one of us fight him one on one." suggested Starfire.
Other people probably needed their help as well.
The others would focus their attention elsewhere in the city.
Normally, they wouldn't split the party, but it seemed wrong to gang up on someone.
However, Beast Boy and Raven would not be fighting anybody that day. Something unexpected happened.
A short while later…
"No sign of anything evil. Is that a book of mine you're reading? You can borrow it, but please ask for permission next time." said Raven.
"This book is really interesting." noted Beast Boy.
"Are you reading one of my spellbooks? I'm surprised." answered the girl.
"Is that wrong?" asked the green boy.
"No. I just think you should be careful when reading from it." warned Raven.
"Ooh! A bonding spell!" exclaimed Beast Boy. "Now I can make friends!"
"Um, I'm not sure that's what the bonding spell does." warned the girl with magic.
Unfortunately, he cast the spell…
…and Raven ended up being bonded at the hip.
"Well, Beast Boy. I hope you're happy. You're stuck together with someone who's your polar opposite. And I don't think we can fight evil like this." noted Raven.
"Are you sure? You're named after an animal. I suppose it would be hard for us to fight like this though." pointed out Beast Boy.
"Really? Huh, I guess you're right. Maybe we're not totally different. Still, I'm not exactly sure I'm going to enjoy spending time with you." answered Raven.
"Well, I was planning to go to the comedy club today." admitted the boy.
"Alright, but I'll be reading my book." spoke Raven. Not watching the show.
"We can compromise, I guess." answered Beast Boy.
Raven smiled a little.
"Did you just smile?" asked the boy.
"A little, to be honest." admitted Raven.
Cyborg volunteered to stop the robbery.
However, he wasn't expecting it to be an alien.
"What would an alien want with human money?" asked Cyborg. It didn't make sense to him.
"You'd be surprised how much human money is worth on other planets." remarked Vulkanus. There was an exchange rate, after all.
"Well, you're not going to take it if I can help it!" exclaimed the young man. He was a hero, not a bystander.
"To be honest, your metal armor would be worth a profit in itself." admitted the alien.
"You're not taking that from me!" exclaimed Cyborg.
"Finders keepers." answered Vulkanus.
Meanwhile…
"Hey, Beast Boy! Do us a favor and step on stage!" exclaimed one of the club members. He had red hair.
"I could do that, but there's one small problem." answered Beast Boy.
"It's me, isn't it?" asked Raven. She did prefer to sit down, she would admit.
"Where'd you find a cutie like her?" questioned a blonde boy.
"You think I'm cute? I did lower my hood." admitted Raven.
Her cheeks turned pink.
"You don't mind if we step on stage together, do you?" asked Beast Boy.
"I guess not." answered Raven.
She brought her chair with her to the stage.
"It's nice to read a "You're Gonna Scream book" every now and then." noted the girl.
She happened to like scary books.
Beast Boy shapeshifted into an elephant.
"There's an elephant in this room! Who could miss me?" asked Beast Boy.
"That's not a bad joke, but I feel like there's something missing." spoke a brunette girl.
Suddenly, the redheaded boy began to chuckle.
"I think there is someone who's not noticing the elephant in the room!" exclaimed the boy.
"Who? Me? Oh, that's right. I'm reading a book." noted Raven.
That actually was kind of funny.
Beast Boy decided to shapeshift again.
He shapeshifted into a hippo.
For some strange reason, Raven couldn't help but want to join in.
Could it be that Beast Boy and herself weren't so different?
Well, they were both Teen Titans.
So it seemed possible.
"I'm a hungry hungry hungry hippo!" exclaimed Beast Boy.
"Oh dear, I hope you aren't hungry for a knuckle sandwich. If you were, I would be worried about you." answered Raven.
The comedy club began to laugh.
"I guess I'm funnier than I thought." noted the girl.
Beast Boy turned into a monkey.
"I'm going to make a monkey out of you!" exclaimed the boy.
"Like you made out of yourself?" asked Raven.
The comedy club laughed again.
"This is actually surprisingly well." noted the girl.
Beast Boy turned into a chicken.
"Anyone care to do the chicken dance?" asked the boy.
"Sorry, but I can't do that. I'm too…chicken." answered the girl.
The comedy club laughed even more.
"Wow. I'm actually having a lot of fun." noted Raven. She didn't think she would, but she was. Perhaps she should come here more often.
"Really? I was worried you were going to hate it." answered Beast Boy.
"Well, I've found that fighting evil has made it a lot easier for me to control my powers. So I guess I can have a nice laugh every now and then. I hope you don't mind if I don't laugh all the time though." spoke Raven.
"Well, I wouldn't mind if you loosened up a bit." admitted the boy.
"I suppose I can. Especially since the bonding spell doesn't last forever." answered the girl.
"How long does it last?" asked Beast Boy.
"24 hours." spoke Raven.
"That works for me." answered the boy.
"I can live with that, though I would appreciate if you tried to be mature and don't do anything Robin wouldn't approve of." warned the girl of darkness.
"I guess I should try that. Would you like some pie though? Please?" asked Beast Boy.
"Only if it's my favorite flavor." answered Raven.
BB tossed a blueberry pie in Raven's face.
"Thanks." spoke the girl who proved that darkness was not evil.
"You're welcome!" exclaimed Beast Boy.
Raven licked the pie off her face.
Meanwhile…
Unfortunately for Cyborg, Vulkanus was just as physically strong as he was.
"Man, we are blocking each other blow to blow." noted Cyborg.
"I'm reluctantly inclined to agree." agreed Vulkanus…reluctantly.
His muscles alone weren't going to do the job. Even if people were proud of his muscles. Starfire could still beat him at arm wrestling though. Though to be honest, he didn't really mind losing to her. Even if she was a girl.
His blaster could work, but his opponent was also superhumanly durable.
So he wasn't going down easily.
And he has a blaster too.
"Owww!" exclaimed Cyborg.
Luckily, his armor had heat resistance.
It didn't protect him from Starfire's energy bolts though, hence them being friends and not enemies. It was embarrassing at first of him to be beaten by a girl…but he honestly found her strength to be pretty awesome. And it was not wrong for her to rescue Robin even if it could be considered masculine to do so.
Suddenly, Cyborg had an idea.
He had installed a freeze ray recently.
Sometimes, it was best to be creative.
So he decided to use the ray.
Might as well try something new.
"Aaaahh! That's cold!" exclaimed Vulkanus.
"I guess I've found a weakness." noted Cyborg.
He decided to keep using it.
Unfortunately, the ray was causing the armor to start to…break.
"Stop it!" exclaimed Vulkanus.
"You stop robbing banks." demanded Cyborg.
"Never!" bellowed the alien.
"Alright then." spoke Beast Boy's BFF.
The suit shattered.
"My suit!" exclaimed the surprisingly small alien.
Without his armor, he didn't look so threatening.
"If Beast Boy were there to see this, he'd be laughing his green butt off." noted Cyborg.
He then remembered that his cybernetics came with a camera.
"Oh, that's right. I can take a photo of this." remembered the metallic man.
He took a picture.
"Curse you!" exclaimed the alien. He wasn't getting his dignity back.
"Just be grateful you're not going to the Null Void." said Cyborg. Max had been forced to send Ourabora to the Null Void…and it was a living nightmare for her. She now knew why Vilgax himself feared it so much.
"I suppose I should." nodded the alien.
There might be some conflict between them, but perhaps he and Cyborg weren't so different.
He would leave him be…for now.
Vulkanus decided to retreat.
Cyborg decided to let him go…on the basis that he had been humiliated. He wouldn't bother anyone for a while anyway.
He also noticed that Vulkanus had left rocket boots behind.
He decided to keep them.
Being able to fly had its perks.
Something told him that since joyful thoughts were tied to Starfire's flight, she happened to enjoy it.
He would want to be careful though.
His armor could protect him from a fall, but it was better safe than sorry.
Besides, rocket boots had a limited amount of fuel.
He could work around that, but it was still something that he should pay attention to.
Meanwhile…
"Since we went to your comedy club, can we go to the library?" asked Raven.
"But it's so quiet there." complained Beast Boy.
"That's why I like it." answered the girl.
"Well, I suppose I owe you one." admitted the boy.
"Just be careful not to get us kicked out." noted Raven.
"I'll do my best." answered Beast Boy.
At the library, Raven picked out another "You're Gonna Scream" book.
"OK, now we can go get a book you would like to read if you want. I would strongly appreciate it if you let me stay here a while though." spoke Raven.
"Well, I could transform into a cheetah." noted Beast Boy. Then Raven would have no choice but to leave. Though to be honest, he wanted to respect Raven's wishes.
"Yeah, but I could transform into a pegasus. You probably know how fast they are." pointed out Raven.
"It's funny how we can both transform into creatures now." answered Beast Boy.
"We don't always agree, but I agree with you." nodded the girl.
BB grabbed a "You're Gonna Scream" book.
"You're gonna try one of those? I suppose you can…but a word of caution. The books weren't named at a drop of a hat." warned Raven.
BB read the book.
"It's scary…yet awesome." remarked Beast Boy.
"That's why I like it." noted Raven.
"I won't read it while I'm in bed though." admitted BB.
"I'm glad we're connecting so well. You're making this a lot easier than it could be." noted the girl.
"Well, we don't have to have everything in common." admitted Beast Boy.
"Yeah, that would be scarier than the books we're reading." remarked Raven.
BB chuckled.
"What are we going to do next? Play video games together?" asked the girl.
"As if that would ever happen." answered Beast Boy.
A few hours later…
"Huh. I never thought this game would be so fun." noted Raven.
"May I ask what you like about it?" asked Beast Boy.
"The dark atmosphere?" questioned the girl.
They were in a haunted castle, trying to slay a vampire.
Ans yes, this game was called Vampire Slayer.
"How are you doing?" asked Starfire.
"I take it you're done fighting evil?" questioned Raven.
"Robin and I punched some crooks so hard, we ended up making words appear!" exclaimed Starfire.
It was really cool.
"Doing fine, though we're in a bit of an embarrassing predicament." noted Raven.
"I'm glad you're bonding together!" exclaimed the alien.
"You have no idea." answered the grey-skinned girl.
Beast Boy laughed.
"Wait, did I make you laugh? That's ironic." noted Raven.
"I know." nodded Beast Boy.
Ben showed up.
"Can I play with you later?" asked the boy.
"Sure! I'm playing with Raven right now though." answered Beast Boy.
"And I'm winning." remarked Raven.
"I guess you are." nodded the boy.
"It's a close game though." answered the girl.
"We should kill some more zombies!" exclaimed Beast Boy.
"That's a no brainer." noted Raven.
Beast Boy chuckled.
"I guess you like my snarky sense of humor." remarked the girl.
"It's better than having no sense of humor at all." noted the boy.
"I appreciate you saying that." nodded the girl.
She ended up smiling…again.
Suddenly, Beast Boy's drink fell to the ground.
"Whoops." said Raven.
"Don't worry about it. I know how hard your powers can be to control." noted the boy.
"Well, you helping me relax does make it easier." admitted Raven.
"I'm glad you're finding this relaxing." spoke Beast Boy.
"It's a bit embarrassing being bonded to a boy…but boys and girls aren't always from different planets." spoke the girl.
"But Robin and Starfire are from different planets, aren't they?" asked the green boy.
Raven began to laugh.
"You're laughing? That's new." remarked Beast Boy.
"Well, it doesn't seem to have detrimental effects. Maybe defeating my creator Trigon has made it far easier for me to control my powers." suggested the girl.
He was her worst enemy, after all. Even if he did create her.
"At least you're enjoying talking to me." noted the boy.
"Yeah, I kind of am." nodded Raven.
"It's good that we can find things to agree on." nodded Beast Boy.
"Robin and Starfire might be from different planets, but have you noticed that they're both really smart?" asked Raven.
"Yeah. I think they might have a brother and sister relationship though." noted the boy.
"That's perfectly fine. A boy can simply be friends with a girl." explained the girl.
"Would you say that about us?" asked Beast Boy.
Raven's cheeks turned pink.
"Mm-hmm. For now, we are." answered the teenage girl.
"I can live with that." spoke BB.
"I applaud you for being mature…though I will admit that I don't see that often." answered Raven. It wasn't wrong to be a comedian though. Sometimes comedy could help when you had experienced tragedy. So perhaps having Beast Boy in her life wasn't a bad thing.
"I'm trying for your sake." spoke the boy.
"I appreciate it." spoke the girl.
She gave the thumbs up.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I think I'll feature Michael Morningstar in the next chapter.
He'll be going up against Starfire.
Seem like a good idea to you?
Though Raven could work as well.
They could probably team up.