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Chapter Six. Who You Choose To Be.

“Table Mountain?”

“Yup.”

“Table...”

“Mm-hm.”

“...Mountain?”

“You got it,” Beast Boy grinned at Raven's disbelieving expression.

“And that's it's actual name?” she asked.

He nodded brightly.

“And this is an actual place?” she continued, “It's not just some figment of your imagination?”

“No, it's not just a figment of my imagination,” he replied testily.

“And it's called,” she paused, as though trying to make sense of the name, “Table Mountain?”

“Yes,” he sighed, exasperated.

“Well, that's...” she trailed off, searching for the appropriate word, “...different.”

“It's totally flat on the top, that's why they called it Table Mountain,” Beast Boy explained, then gestured to the picturesque city that sprawled out far beneath them, “And that's Cape Town. We're in South Africa.”

“It's...” Raven gazed over the sparkling ocean and breathed in the clear air, inwardly rejoicing at the salty breeze that stung the skin on her face, “Nice.” Beast Boy flashed a toothy grin in her direction before sitting at the edge of the cliff and swinging his legs over the side. Raven did the same, surprised at how warm the rock was from the sun's glow.

“This is my favorite place in the whole world,” Beast Boy said softly, drawing one knee to his chest and casting a glance in her direction, “Besides home, I mean.” Raven could feel her face flushing under his gaze and turned her face towards the city so he wouldn't see cheeks turning red. She'd never noticed before how brightly the sun reflected in his green eyes, how he always had a small smile whenever he spoke of something that he cared about, how he always wore that same smile whenever he looked at her. Now she was noticing. His smile, his eyes, his laugh, even the words that he spoke held more value to her now than they ever had before.

“Why's that?” she asked as she tilted her head down to look at Cape Town, letting her hair fall over her face.

“My parents used to take me here,” he replied wistfully, “Like on vacation and stuff. The first time we came was a research trip for my dad, but he liked it so much that we came back at least once a year after that.” The orange African sun had begun to approach the horizon, sending brilliant colors dancing over the ocean and sky.

“So why did you bring me here?” she asked him, not unkindly. She was truly curious as to why he'd chosen this place instead of the tower.

“I just-you know, wanted to show it to you,” he muttered, “We can go if you don't-”

“No,” she cut him off, aware that he had misinterpreted her question, “It's great. I just wondered if there was something specific you wanted to show me.” She leaned back on her hands, closed her eyes and let the last of the day's sunlight wash over her as her cape fell back from her body. Beast Boy didn't say anything. Worried that he was angry at her, she opened one eye and glanced at him. No longer looking at the sunset, he was now staring at...her. Raven glared at him, secretly pleased. He blinked and turned his head sharply towards the ocean view, clearly embarrassed at being caught.

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“Uh, no...no, nothing specific,” Beast Boy stammered, mortified that she had noticed him staring at her, “It's just a nice view...um, the ocean I mean. The ocean's really, uh, pretty...and the sunset, and...” He continued to spout off random descriptions of the scenery, inwardly cursing his stupidity. It wasn't like he'd never seen what was beneath her cape. Hell, he'd seen her without the cape plenty of times. That wasn't what had rendered him momentarily breathless when he'd looked at her.

She'd looked so peaceful, and almost happy in that instant. Leaning back, legs dangling over the cliff, pale skin glowing in the orange light of the sun, she was...beautiful. He'd always thought that she was beautiful, but never more so that in that second. And then he'd gone and screwed it up by staring at her like some hormone crazed, pre-pubescent middle school jackass.

Now she glared at him as he blathered on about-god, he'd lost track of what he was saying. He tuned back into the words that were spilling out of him.

“Yeah, the last time I was here was with the Doom Patrol and I just thought that it would be nice to come back and I thought that you might like it and nothing bad ever happened here and you lookied like you needed a rest because of the whole healing thing and...” he trailed off from his ridiculous monologue, partly because he was running out of air, but mostly because he saw that the corners of her lips were twitching. Her brow was still furrowed in a vicious glare, but she was almost smiling.

“So you brought us here because it has...,” Raven raised an eyebrow and allowed one corner of her mouth to turn up in a playful half-smile, “...a nice view?” Beast Boy shrugged and grinned sheepishly, leaning back into the same position that she was in.

“That, and I figured it would be a good place to talk,” he glanced sideways at her, “Since there aren't any pyschotic monkeys or mad scientists around.” They sat in silence for a minute, watching as the sun drew nearer to the horizon. Beast Boy braced himself to say what he'd brought them here to say.

“I always assumed that you turned green when you got your powers,” Raven broke the silence, “But I guess it was that-whatever it was that your father gave you.” Beast Boy gulped, unnerved at how close she'd come to what he needed to tell her. To make her understand.

“I did turn green when I got my powers,” he told her.

“So you got them from that serum?”

“No,” he replied, “The serum turned me green...”

“And your powers?”

“They're from the disease,” he said, “Nobody's ever lived past the first few weeks of the disease, so nobody knew what it really did to them.”

“Oh,” Raven sat up and crossed her legs, “So if we do manage to cure you...”

“I'll lose my powers,” he finished for her, leaning forward and resting his chin in his hands, “But it doesn't matter, because there is no cure. I won't lose my powers.” I'll just die, he thought.

“Don't be so stupid,” she said, suddenly angry, “Take us back to the lab. We'll just get your father's notes on the serum and I'll show Cyborg and Robin how to make it.”

“You heard that guy back there,” Beast Boy shook his head, “He was a dick, but he was right about one thing. The serum will kill me faster than the disease would. And besides, you probably wouldn't see anything but blank paper. I never read my dad's notes.” As he said the words, he was struck by the finality of them. This was it. He was really going to die. He would never see his friends again, never fight as a Titan again, never...

There were so many things, so much that he hadn't done, and now all that was waiting for him was...nothing. It was all over.

“I wish this had never happened to me,” he said bitterly, “I wish I'd never got my powers. I could fight. I could've been a Titan without my powers. A normal Titan, not just the green guy. I could've been like Robin.”

“What's wrong with being you?” Raven asked him softly, placing a hand on his shoulder. Beast Boy looked at her, surprised. He didn't know what to say.

“Beast Boy, with or without your powers you're an important part of the team, whether you realize it or not,” she continued, “And there's no way that any of us are just going to give up and let you...we're going to find a way to fix this. We care about you. All of us.”

“Even you?” he asked her with a wry grin.

“Even me,” Raven admitted. Beast Boy's breath caught in his throat and his heart began to pound a little. Her hand was still on his shoulder.

“I knew it,” he flashed her his most charming smile, “I'm irresistable.”

“Don't push it,” she said, giving him a light shove with the hand that had been resting on his shoulder.

“Raven?” he spoke lightly, trying to come off as nonchalant.

“What?” she leaned back on her elbows.

“I'm glad you're here.” There was a moment's pause.

“Me too.”

Painful Realizations.

“But we can't-you can't just...” Robin spluttered, “...not go. We have to help.” The red light blinking in time with the alarm cast dark shadows on the faces of his friends.

“No,” Cyborg replied, still fuming over what Robin had just told them, “What we can't do is leave B and Raven totally alone when they're both unconcious.”

“You guys can't be serious,” Robin pleaded, looking from one stern face to another. Starfire wouldn't meet his gaze, averting her eyes to the floor. Robin could see that they were glowing green through her bangs. After a moment's silence, he realized that he wouldn't be able to convince them to leave. His breathe caught in his throat and there was a bitter taste in his mouth. They weren't coming.

“Fine,” he snapped, “I'll go alone.” Turning abruptly on his heel, he stormed across the room and wrenched open the door.

“Robin,” Starfire shouted after him, but he was too angry to stop. Blood boiling, he grabbed his helmet and slammed the door behind him. Starfire and Cyborg flinched as the walls rattled with the force of his anger.

“He cannot face battle alone,” Starfire said softly, forgetting her anger, “He could be injured.” Cyborg nodded silently in agreement. As pissed as he was with Robin at the moment, he would never want to see him get hurt.

“You stay here with B and Raven,” Cyborg went to the computer and entered some complex codes, “There, the security system's at maximum.”

“And you will aid Robin?” Starfire hugged her arms close to her chest, “Are you certain that the two of you alone will have sufficient strength to prevail?”

“We'll be fine,” Cyborg grinned back at her as he opened the door, “Don't worry.”

“It is not for you and Robin that I worry,” Star whispered to herself as Cyborg closed the door. She walked down the hall, intending to go to the medical bay, but instead found herself outside Beast Boy's room. What once was his door was now a twisted hunk of metal resting against the wall. In the chaos of the past few days, nobody had taken care of it. Starfire stared from the deformed door to the mess in Beast Boy's room. After a moment's hesitation, she went into the room and began to sort through the disaster. Spurred by a desperate energy, she wallowed through dirty laundry, hundreds of video games, dvds, and cds, old pizza boxes, wads of kleenex, and clumps of discarded paper. Suddenly she stopped. This wasn't right, what she was doing. Beast Boy's room was his room, and this was how he kept it. He liked it that way. Abandoning her attempt at cleaning, she went to work on the door, laying it on the floor in the hallway and pounding on it to flatten it.

An observer would think that the young alien was practicing for a wrestling match the way she was beating on the door. With each hit, Starfire increased the strength she used, until her blows shook the very framework of the tower. She knew that she was done, the door was as flat as it would ever get, but she couldn't stop. She had never felt so helpless, so useless. Finally, out of breath and hands raw from the metal, she stopped. Crawling off of the door, she leaned against the wall and began to cry.

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Who the hell are they to judge me? Robin fumed as he sped through the streets of Jump City. Where do they get off being so damn high and mighty? At least I did something. At least I'm trying to help Beast Boy. Just because they're willing to sit back and watch him d- he cut the thought off before he had fully registered it. There was no way that he was going to lose a member of his team. If he could retrieve Raven from the depths of hell, he could find a way to save Beast Boy. He had to.

Hearing a familiar engine behind him, Robin glanced over his shoulder to see Cyborg following him in the T-car. At that moment his communicator began ringing. He flipped it open angrily.

“What?” he asked as Cyborg's face appeared on the screen.

“Just wondering where we're going,” Cyborg replied. Robin could tell that even though Cyborg was coming, he was still furious. Oh well, this wasn't the time to argue. They could do that later.

“The bank,” he said shortly and snapped his communicator shut. It started ringing again.

“What?” he growled at Cyborg.

“Who's robbing it?”

“All I know is that it's just one person.”

“You don't know who?”

“No,” Robin shut his communicator again and sped up. He hadn't gone three blocks when it began ringing again.

“Holy persistance Batman,” he muttered under his breath, then opened the communicator for the third time and snapped angrily, “I don't have time for this, we're almost at the bank. You can yell at me when we get there.”

“Robin?” came Starfire's small voice. Robin sighed inwardly.

“Sorry Star, I didn't mean-I thought it was Cyborg,” he explained awkwardly. Looking at her face in the communicator, Robin noticed that her eyes looked swollen and her face was red. Had she been crying?

“There are no apologies required Robin,” she smiled slightly and sniffed.

“So...” Robin prompted, “Why are you calling? Is there something wrong? Is Beast Boy-”

“He is fine,” Star interupted him, “He is...the same.”

“So why-”

“I have called because I am sorry,” Starfire cut him off again.

“Huh?” He hadn't been expecting that.

“You were trying to help Beast Boy,” she continued, “And we were angry because of it. I was wrong. And I am sorry.” Robin wanted to ask her what had changed her mind, but they'd arrived at the bank.

“Thanks Star,” he said gratefully, “But I've got to go now.” Police cars surrounded the building, their lights flashing. Cyborg stepped out of the T-car and stood beside him silently.

“What's the situation?” Robin asked the nearest officer.

“Some idiot with a gun's got the place locked up,” the small man replied, “He's got some hostages in there.”

“How many?” Robin peered intently through the windows, trying to catch a glimpse of the criminal inside.

“Eight,” the officer motioned for the two of them to follow him, “Five employees and three-hey, where are the rest?”

“The rest?” Cyborg feigned ignorance.

“You know, the girls and the little green guy,” the officer looked to the sky, “Are they flying in?”

“They're busy,” Robin said shortly, pulling Cyborg aside to discuss a strategy, “We can't just barge in. We don't want to scare him into shooting an innocent person.” After a few minutes of deliberation, they had come up with a plan.

“Hope this works,” Cyborg muttered as he watched Robin scale the side of the building with acrobatic ease. Within seconds of him disappearing from view, the inside of the bank was filled with thick black smoke from one of Robin's birdarangs.

“There's my cue.” With those words, Cyborg switched to the thermal camera in his electronic eye and ran into the building. He could see the eight hostages cowering in a corner and the gunman frantically trying to figure out where the smoke was coming from. Aiming his cannon at the gunman, Cyborg was just about to shoot when he saw another figure drop in from the skylight and tackle the gunman.

“Robin,” he shouted, furious that he wasn't following the plan. The gunman, hearing Cyborg's shout, aimed towards the noise and fired. Somebody screamed. An instant later, the gunman was down, knocked out by a blow from Robin's staff.

The smoke was beginning to clear, and Robin saw the hostages huddled together behind the counter.

“Is everybody ok?” he asked them. They looked around, bewildered, and slowly all of them nodded.

“Cyborg?” Robin called, unable to see his teammate throught the haze, “Cyborg? Are you ok?” Suddenly a bright shaft of light penetrated through the last of the black smoke, and Robin saw Cyborg's silouhette as he exited the bank.

“Alright everybody, let's clear out of here,” Robin instructed, grabbing the criminal's gun and tying him up. The hostages stumbled out of the building and ran into the crowd where their loved ones were waiting. Robin scanned the crowd for Cyborg, finally spotting him by the T-car.

“Cyborg, wait,” Robin called as he ran up to him, “Are you alright?”

“Oh, I'm just great,” Cyborg replied angrily, his voice rising, “Except for this nice big hole in my damn arm.” He held up right arm to reveal where the bullet had torn through his sonic cannon. Black liquid dripped slowly from the wound, and every now and then a spark flew from one of the loose wires. Robin stared, shocked at what had happened, and said the first thing that came to mind.

“Can you drive?” Cyborg's eyes grew wide and he seemed to swell with indignant anger.

“Can I drive?” he said slowly, “CAN I DRIVE?”

“Uh,” Robin started to back away.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Cyborg shouted, “You got me shot, and all you can say is can you drive?”

“I'm sorry, I-”

“I don't want to hear it,” Cyborg snapped, “You're really on a roll today, aren't you?”

“What's that supposed to mean?” Robin stood up as tall as he could to look directly into Cyborg's eyes. Their shouting had attracted the attention of the crowd outside the bank.

“It means that you're losing it,” Cyborg growled, “First you go blabbing Beast Boy's real-”

“You need to get off that,” Robin said, now yelling louder than Cyborg had, “I had to do that.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” the metal Titan muttered, turning to leave.

“No,” Robin shouted, then repeated softly, “No. Whatever helps Beast Boy survive this.” Cyborg stopped with his hand on the door of the car. Robin seemed to deflate, all of the adrenaline from the fight rushing out of him.

“Cyborg...he could really die from this,” he said, finally voicing the thought that they'd all been pushing away for days, “I don't-I didn't know what else to do.” Grateful for his mask, he could feel his eyes burning with latent tears. Cyborg, head bent low, didn't say anything.

“C'mon, you're hurt. I'll drive,” Robin blinked ferociously as Cyborg handed him the keys, “I'll just tell them to send my bike to the tower.” After a quick word with the officer they'd talked to before, Robin hopped in the driver's seat of the T-car and started the engine.

The ride home was silent, each of them too deep in their own thoughts to converse with eachother. As they crossed the water to the island, Cyborg sighed heavily and rubbed his eyes.

“I'm sorry Rob,” he said.

“Yeah. So am I,” Robin replied.

“Don't tell B that I let you drive,” Cyborg said, trying to lighten the mood, “I'd never hear the end of it.” Laughing at this, Robin was distracted when they pulled into the garage. The T-car was always parked in the same spot, and he pulled into it, not really paying attention.

“STOP STOP STOP,” Cyborg cried, grabbing onto the wheel. Robin slammed on the brakes, stopping just short of running into an unfamiliar black SUV. Cyborg let out a small moan of relief. Robin switched off the engine and the two of them got out of the car.

“Who are you?” Robin demanded of the middle aged man that stepped out of the SUV.

“Yeah, who are you?” Cyborg echoed when the man didn't respond. The man acted as though he hadn't heard them, leaning into his vehicle and grabbing a briefcase and several black canvas bags. Only after the man had gathered all of his things and set them on the ground in front of the two young Titans did he answer.

“I am Dr. Register,” he said, his voice dripping with arrogance.

“You're early,” Robin said stupidly, surprised at the Register's sudden appearance.

“Where is the Logan boy?” Register, ignoring Robin.

“He's upstai-” Robin began, but stopped short as Register turned and walked away from them. Cyborg raised an eyebrow at his friend, amazed that Robin was taking Register's superior doctor act without protest.

“I guess we're supposed to take his things,” Cyborg muttered, indicated the equipment that Register had left in front of them.

“I guess so,” Robin grabbed as much as he could and followed Register towards the medical bay.

Description
Chapter Six. Who You Choose To Be.

“Table Mountain?”

“Yup.”

“Table...”

“Mm-hm.”

“...Mountain?”

“You got it,” Beast Boy grinned at Raven's disbelieving expression.

“And that's it's actual name?” she asked.

He nodded brightly.

“And this is an actual place?” she continued, “It's not just some figment of your imagination?”

“No, it's not just a figment of my imagination,” he replied testily.

“And it's called,” she paused, as though trying to make sense of the name, “Table Mountain?”

“Yes,” he sighed, exasperated.

“Well, that's...” she trailed off, searching for the appropriate word, “...different.”

“It's totally flat on the top, that's why they called it Table Mountain,” Beast Boy explained, then gestured to the picturesque city that sprawled out far beneath them, “And that's Cape Town. We're in South Africa.”

“It's...” Raven gazed over the sparkling ocean and breathed in the clear air, inwardly rejoicing at the salty breeze that stung the skin on her face, “Nice.” Beast Boy flashed a toothy grin in her direction before sitting at the edge of the cliff and swinging his legs over the side. Raven did the same, surprised at how warm the rock was from the sun's glow.

“This is my favorite place in the whole world,” Beast Boy said softly, drawing one knee to his chest and casting a glance in her direction, “Besides home, I mean.” Raven could feel her face flushing under his gaze and turned her face towards the city so he wouldn't see cheeks turning red. She'd never noticed before how brightly the sun reflected in his green eyes, how he always had a small smile whenever he spoke of something that he cared about, how he always wore that same smile whenever he looked at her. Now she was noticing. His smile, his eyes, his laugh, even the words that he spoke held more value to her now than they ever had before.

“Why's that?” she asked as she tilted her head down to look at Cape Town, letting her hair fall over her face.

“My parents used to take me here,” he replied wistfully, “Like on vacation and stuff. The first time we came was a research trip for my dad, but he liked it so much that we came back at least once a year after that.” The orange African sun had begun to approach the horizon, sending brilliant colors dancing over the ocean and sky.

“So why did you bring me here?” she asked him, not unkindly. She was truly curious as to why he'd chosen this place instead of the tower.

“I just-you know, wanted to show it to you,” he muttered, “We can go if you don't-”

“No,” she cut him off, aware that he had misinterpreted her question, “It's great. I just wondered if there was something specific you wanted to show me.” She leaned back on her hands, closed her eyes and let the last of the day's sunlight wash over her as her cape fell back from her body. Beast Boy didn't say anything. Worried that he was angry at her, she opened one eye and glanced at him. No longer looking at the sunset, he was now staring at...her. Raven glared at him, secretly pleased. He blinked and turned his head sharply towards the ocean view, clearly embarrassed at being caught.

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“Uh, no...no, nothing specific,” Beast Boy stammered, mortified that she had noticed him staring at her, “It's just a nice view...um, the ocean I mean. The ocean's really, uh, pretty...and the sunset, and...” He continued to spout off random descriptions of the scenery, inwardly cursing his stupidity. It wasn't like he'd never seen what was beneath her cape. Hell, he'd seen her without the cape plenty of times. That wasn't what had rendered him momentarily breathless when he'd looked at her.

She'd looked so peaceful, and almost happy in that instant. Leaning back, legs dangling over the cliff, pale skin glowing in the orange light of the sun, she was...beautiful. He'd always thought that she was beautiful, but never more so that in that second. And then he'd gone and screwed it up by staring at her like some hormone crazed, pre-pubescent middle school jackass.

Now she glared at him as he blathered on about-god, he'd lost track of what he was saying. He tuned back into the words that were spilling out of him.

“Yeah, the last time I was here was with the Doom Patrol and I just thought that it would be nice to come back and I thought that you might like it and nothing bad ever happened here and you lookied like you needed a rest because of the whole healing thing and...” he trailed off from his ridiculous monologue, partly because he was running out of air, but mostly because he saw that the corners of her lips were twitching. Her brow was still furrowed in a vicious glare, but she was almost smiling.

“So you brought us here because it has...,” Raven raised an eyebrow and allowed one corner of her mouth to turn up in a playful half-smile, “...a nice view?” Beast Boy shrugged and grinned sheepishly, leaning back into the same position that she was in.

“That, and I figured it would be a good place to talk,” he glanced sideways at her, “Since there aren't any pyschotic monkeys or mad scientists around.” They sat in silence for a minute, watching as the sun drew nearer to the horizon. Beast Boy braced himself to say what he'd brought them here to say.

“I always assumed that you turned green when you got your powers,” Raven broke the silence, “But I guess it was that-whatever it was that your father gave you.” Beast Boy gulped, unnerved at how close she'd come to what he needed to tell her. To make her understand.

“I did turn green when I got my powers,” he told her.

“So you got them from that serum?”

“No,” he replied, “The serum turned me green...”

“And your powers?”

“They're from the disease,” he said, “Nobody's ever lived past the first few weeks of the disease, so nobody knew what it really did to them.”

“Oh,” Raven sat up and crossed her legs, “So if we do manage to cure you...”

“I'll lose my powers,” he finished for her, leaning forward and resting his chin in his hands, “But it doesn't matter, because there is no cure. I won't lose my powers.” I'll just die, he thought.

“Don't be so stupid,” she said, suddenly angry, “Take us back to the lab. We'll just get your father's notes on the serum and I'll show Cyborg and Robin how to make it.”

“You heard that guy back there,” Beast Boy shook his head, “He was a dick, but he was right about one thing. The serum will kill me faster than the disease would. And besides, you probably wouldn't see anything but blank paper. I never read my dad's notes.” As he said the words, he was struck by the finality of them. This was it. He was really going to die. He would never see his friends again, never fight as a Titan again, never...

There were so many things, so much that he hadn't done, and now all that was waiting for him was...nothing. It was all over.

“I wish this had never happened to me,” he said bitterly, “I wish I'd never got my powers. I could fight. I could've been a Titan without my powers. A normal Titan, not just the green guy. I could've been like Robin.”

“What's wrong with being you?” Raven asked him softly, placing a hand on his shoulder. Beast Boy looked at her, surprised. He didn't know what to say.

“Beast Boy, with or without your powers you're an important part of the team, whether you realize it or not,” she continued, “And there's no way that any of us are just going to give up and let you...we're going to find a way to fix this. We care about you. All of us.”

“Even you?” he asked her with a wry grin.

“Even me,” Raven admitted. Beast Boy's breath caught in his throat and his heart began to pound a little. Her hand was still on his shoulder.

“I knew it,” he flashed her his most charming smile, “I'm irresistable.”

“Don't push it,” she said, giving him a light shove with the hand that had been resting on his shoulder.

“Raven?” he spoke lightly, trying to come off as nonchalant.

“What?” she leaned back on her elbows.

“I'm glad you're here.” There was a moment's pause.

“Me too.”

Painful Realizations.

“But we can't-you can't just...” Robin spluttered, “...not go. We have to help.” The red light blinking in time with the alarm cast dark shadows on the faces of his friends.

“No,” Cyborg replied, still fuming over what Robin had just told them, “What we can't do is leave B and Raven totally alone when they're both unconcious.”

“You guys can't be serious,” Robin pleaded, looking from one stern face to another. Starfire wouldn't meet his gaze, averting her eyes to the floor. Robin could see that they were glowing green through her bangs. After a moment's silence, he realized that he wouldn't be able to convince them to leave. His breathe caught in his throat and there was a bitter taste in his mouth. They weren't coming.

“Fine,” he snapped, “I'll go alone.” Turning abruptly on his heel, he stormed across the room and wrenched open the door.

“Robin,” Starfire shouted after him, but he was too angry to stop. Blood boiling, he grabbed his helmet and slammed the door behind him. Starfire and Cyborg flinched as the walls rattled with the force of his anger.

“He cannot face battle alone,” Starfire said softly, forgetting her anger, “He could be injured.” Cyborg nodded silently in agreement. As pissed as he was with Robin at the moment, he would never want to see him get hurt.

“You stay here with B and Raven,” Cyborg went to the computer and entered some complex codes, “There, the security system's at maximum.”

“And you will aid Robin?” Starfire hugged her arms close to her chest, “Are you certain that the two of you alone will have sufficient strength to prevail?”

“We'll be fine,” Cyborg grinned back at her as he opened the door, “Don't worry.”

“It is not for you and Robin that I worry,” Star whispered to herself as Cyborg closed the door. She walked down the hall, intending to go to the medical bay, but instead found herself outside Beast Boy's room. What once was his door was now a twisted hunk of metal resting against the wall. In the chaos of the past few days, nobody had taken care of it. Starfire stared from the deformed door to the mess in Beast Boy's room. After a moment's hesitation, she went into the room and began to sort through the disaster. Spurred by a desperate energy, she wallowed through dirty laundry, hundreds of video games, dvds, and cds, old pizza boxes, wads of kleenex, and clumps of discarded paper. Suddenly she stopped. This wasn't right, what she was doing. Beast Boy's room was his room, and this was how he kept it. He liked it that way. Abandoning her attempt at cleaning, she went to work on the door, laying it on the floor in the hallway and pounding on it to flatten it.

An observer would think that the young alien was practicing for a wrestling match the way she was beating on the door. With each hit, Starfire increased the strength she used, until her blows shook the very framework of the tower. She knew that she was done, the door was as flat as it would ever get, but she couldn't stop. She had never felt so helpless, so useless. Finally, out of breath and hands raw from the metal, she stopped. Crawling off of the door, she leaned against the wall and began to cry.

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Who the hell are they to judge me? Robin fumed as he sped through the streets of Jump City. Where do they get off being so damn high and mighty? At least I did something. At least I'm trying to help Beast Boy. Just because they're willing to sit back and watch him d- he cut the thought off before he had fully registered it. There was no way that he was going to lose a member of his team. If he could retrieve Raven from the depths of hell, he could find a way to save Beast Boy. He had to.

Hearing a familiar engine behind him, Robin glanced over his shoulder to see Cyborg following him in the T-car. At that moment his communicator began ringing. He flipped it open angrily.

“What?” he asked as Cyborg's face appeared on the screen.

“Just wondering where we're going,” Cyborg replied. Robin could tell that even though Cyborg was coming, he was still furious. Oh well, this wasn't the time to argue. They could do that later.

“The bank,” he said shortly and snapped his communicator shut. It started ringing again.

“What?” he growled at Cyborg.

“Who's robbing it?”

“All I know is that it's just one person.”

“You don't know who?”

“No,” Robin shut his communicator again and sped up. He hadn't gone three blocks when it began ringing again.

“Holy persistance Batman,” he muttered under his breath, then opened the communicator for the third time and snapped angrily, “I don't have time for this, we're almost at the bank. You can yell at me when we get there.”

“Robin?” came Starfire's small voice. Robin sighed inwardly.

“Sorry Star, I didn't mean-I thought it was Cyborg,” he explained awkwardly. Looking at her face in the communicator, Robin noticed that her eyes looked swollen and her face was red. Had she been crying?

“There are no apologies required Robin,” she smiled slightly and sniffed.

“So...” Robin prompted, “Why are you calling? Is there something wrong? Is Beast Boy-”

“He is fine,” Star interupted him, “He is...the same.”

“So why-”

“I have called because I am sorry,” Starfire cut him off again.

“Huh?” He hadn't been expecting that.

“You were trying to help Beast Boy,” she continued, “And we were angry because of it. I was wrong. And I am sorry.” Robin wanted to ask her what had changed her mind, but they'd arrived at the bank.

“Thanks Star,” he said gratefully, “But I've got to go now.” Police cars surrounded the building, their lights flashing. Cyborg stepped out of the T-car and stood beside him silently.

“What's the situation?” Robin asked the nearest officer.

“Some idiot with a gun's got the place locked up,” the small man replied, “He's got some hostages in there.”

“How many?” Robin peered intently through the windows, trying to catch a glimpse of the criminal inside.

“Eight,” the officer motioned for the two of them to follow him, “Five employees and three-hey, where are the rest?”

“The rest?” Cyborg feigned ignorance.

“You know, the girls and the little green guy,” the officer looked to the sky, “Are they flying in?”

“They're busy,” Robin said shortly, pulling Cyborg aside to discuss a strategy, “We can't just barge in. We don't want to scare him into shooting an innocent person.” After a few minutes of deliberation, they had come up with a plan.

“Hope this works,” Cyborg muttered as he watched Robin scale the side of the building with acrobatic ease. Within seconds of him disappearing from view, the inside of the bank was filled with thick black smoke from one of Robin's birdarangs.

“There's my cue.” With those words, Cyborg switched to the thermal camera in his electronic eye and ran into the building. He could see the eight hostages cowering in a corner and the gunman frantically trying to figure out where the smoke was coming from. Aiming his cannon at the gunman, Cyborg was just about to shoot when he saw another figure drop in from the skylight and tackle the gunman.

“Robin,” he shouted, furious that he wasn't following the plan. The gunman, hearing Cyborg's shout, aimed towards the noise and fired. Somebody screamed. An instant later, the gunman was down, knocked out by a blow from Robin's staff.

The smoke was beginning to clear, and Robin saw the hostages huddled together behind the counter.

“Is everybody ok?” he asked them. They looked around, bewildered, and slowly all of them nodded.

“Cyborg?” Robin called, unable to see his teammate throught the haze, “Cyborg? Are you ok?” Suddenly a bright shaft of light penetrated through the last of the black smoke, and Robin saw Cyborg's silouhette as he exited the bank.

“Alright everybody, let's clear out of here,” Robin instructed, grabbing the criminal's gun and tying him up. The hostages stumbled out of the building and ran into the crowd where their loved ones were waiting. Robin scanned the crowd for Cyborg, finally spotting him by the T-car.

“Cyborg, wait,” Robin called as he ran up to him, “Are you alright?”

“Oh, I'm just great,” Cyborg replied angrily, his voice rising, “Except for this nice big hole in my damn arm.” He held up right arm to reveal where the bullet had torn through his sonic cannon. Black liquid dripped slowly from the wound, and every now and then a spark flew from one of the loose wires. Robin stared, shocked at what had happened, and said the first thing that came to mind.

“Can you drive?” Cyborg's eyes grew wide and he seemed to swell with indignant anger.

“Can I drive?” he said slowly, “CAN I DRIVE?”

“Uh,” Robin started to back away.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Cyborg shouted, “You got me shot, and all you can say is can you drive?”

“I'm sorry, I-”

“I don't want to hear it,” Cyborg snapped, “You're really on a roll today, aren't you?”

“What's that supposed to mean?” Robin stood up as tall as he could to look directly into Cyborg's eyes. Their shouting had attracted the attention of the crowd outside the bank.

“It means that you're losing it,” Cyborg growled, “First you go blabbing Beast Boy's real-”

“You need to get off that,” Robin said, now yelling louder than Cyborg had, “I had to do that.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” the metal Titan muttered, turning to leave.

“No,” Robin shouted, then repeated softly, “No. Whatever helps Beast Boy survive this.” Cyborg stopped with his hand on the door of the car. Robin seemed to deflate, all of the adrenaline from the fight rushing out of him.

“Cyborg...he could really die from this,” he said, finally voicing the thought that they'd all been pushing away for days, “I don't-I didn't know what else to do.” Grateful for his mask, he could feel his eyes burning with latent tears. Cyborg, head bent low, didn't say anything.

“C'mon, you're hurt. I'll drive,” Robin blinked ferociously as Cyborg handed him the keys, “I'll just tell them to send my bike to the tower.” After a quick word with the officer they'd talked to before, Robin hopped in the driver's seat of the T-car and started the engine.

The ride home was silent, each of them too deep in their own thoughts to converse with eachother. As they crossed the water to the island, Cyborg sighed heavily and rubbed his eyes.

“I'm sorry Rob,” he said.

“Yeah. So am I,” Robin replied.

“Don't tell B that I let you drive,” Cyborg said, trying to lighten the mood, “I'd never hear the end of it.” Laughing at this, Robin was distracted when they pulled into the garage. The T-car was always parked in the same spot, and he pulled into it, not really paying attention.

“STOP STOP STOP,” Cyborg cried, grabbing onto the wheel. Robin slammed on the brakes, stopping just short of running into an unfamiliar black SUV. Cyborg let out a small moan of relief. Robin switched off the engine and the two of them got out of the car.

“Who are you?” Robin demanded of the middle aged man that stepped out of the SUV.

“Yeah, who are you?” Cyborg echoed when the man didn't respond. The man acted as though he hadn't heard them, leaning into his vehicle and grabbing a briefcase and several black canvas bags. Only after the man had gathered all of his things and set them on the ground in front of the two young Titans did he answer.

“I am Dr. Register,” he said, his voice dripping with arrogance.

“You're early,” Robin said stupidly, surprised at the Register's sudden appearance.

“Where is the Logan boy?” Register, ignoring Robin.

“He's upstai-” Robin began, but stopped short as Register turned and walked away from them. Cyborg raised an eyebrow at his friend, amazed that Robin was taking Register's superior doctor act without protest.

“I guess we're supposed to take his things,” Cyborg muttered, indicated the equipment that Register had left in front of them.

“I guess so,” Robin grabbed as much as he could and followed Register towards the medical bay.