Titans Phantom: Season Three, Complete

Upcoming: Titans Phantom: Season Four-Moving

"You're always so kind, Fenton. That's what I hate about you. It's weak. Now look at me, in love with a wimpy, weak, kind— ghost."

"I'm miles away.

He's still on my mind,

And I'm getting tired of crawling

All the way."

~Florence Welch

Titans Phantom

Chapter 41: Rising

Part I

Those were the only words Danny could truly process from Valarie's voicemail. What wasn't a myriad of curse words, was instead a drunken slur of apologies, leaving Danny's heart a hollow weight.

In love with a ghost. That hurt. It was the last thing Danny wanted Valarie to see him as. Because a ghost to Valarie meant nothing but the bane of the world. Of her existence. Things to be eliminated, souls to be extinguished. Yet for some reason, it mattered to him that she not see it that way. That Valarie saw him as different. It mattered, and that's what drove him to teleport to Steel City and search her out.

Now, as Danny circled the freezing town pollution was seeping down into his skin, coming to settle as stones in his stomach. It made the entire world rotate sickeningly. Danny held nothing but disgust for this city. Here, the clouds tasted of copper and iron metals. Gnarled trees exhaled fumes of Sulphur—not oxygen— and the needles of falling rain burned with the hint of acid. This place was of black ice, stone buildings, and walking bones. Or at least, that's what these humans feel like, this high in the air. As he thought this, Danny took another wide sweeping circle over the city; a trail of pure white snow fell in his wake. When he dove, thin sheets of ice began to cover Danny's skin. As if fighting off the infection these people willingly subjected themselves too. He touched down in front of a dilapidated five story apartment, the land, and the people, felt more akin to wraiths; he, the living being.

The entrance, once stone steps, had long crumbled to fine powder, ice now reformed them. Danny ascended and wrenched open the swollen door. Inside brought little relief. Warmest at sixty degrees, the winter chill resided by managing to steal inside the cracks of doors and windows. Distant sounds of droning televisions, squealing teakettles, and the whines of rusted heaters, was as loud as if he were standing in every room. Danny shuddered within the foyer, and found himself changing back, dulling every sense intentionally before going upstairs.

"You see, even when he left…before Pariah Dark…long after she stole him away...I loved this boy for years."

When he reached the third floor, Danny was met with a drunken man— both to young and too old to tell a proper age— banging on his boyfriends door, irate as only desperate men can be.

"You fucking whore, open this door!"

Danny came closer, hearing a terrified yet sturdy voice scream, "Get out of here, Brae!"

With greasy blonde hair, mud-colored eyes, and a layer of oiled filth staining him, Danny couldn't blame the door for not opening. Then those feral eyes turned towards him; taking in his thin shirt not meant for this weather, loose jeans and clean skin. His eyes shimmered like a viper. Danny broke Brae's nose before he could even show those tobacco-stained teeth.

Blood sprayed everywhere. Coating the multitude of worn clothing and down onto the floor. Brae, the overzealous ex-boyfriend, reared back and tried to appear fiercely angry. His harsh pants clouding between them, black eyes turning to tar. He was angry; to Danny, he was anything but fierce.

"What the hell!" Brae snarled, with a hand plugging his bleeding nose, the other forming a fist.

However, he ceased all movements, taking a step back at what he witnessed. Those filmy eyes blew wide in fear. A strange snorting noise, that of a pig, escaping him.

Danny didn't move. He simply stood there, letting the glow of his green eyes obscure his features. Knowing that fear would blot out all else about the stranger met outside his former boyfriend's door.

"Leave. Never go near him again." Danny ordered, not even surprised that his voice had a two-toned sound. The notes sharper than jagged ice. Brae fled as if the hounds of hell were chasing him. Danny continued walking, wiping the blood off his knuckles with the corner of his shirt.

"I did nothing wrong… I picked my life up…I kept moving, and I met you again…"

Danny reached the fifth landing with no more interruptions. He wasn't sure if this could be a blessing or a curse. Misery and loathing still choked the air. Now, heading to the end of the hall, he stopped in front of the last door on the right, next to the frosted window. Danny wondered if he was exactly like Brae.

Coming back for a fix, his mind helpfully supplied. Danny shook that off and knocked twice on the door. Two hard taps. When nothing happened, he decided to forego the formality. After all, he knew she was inside; and Valarie wasn't foolish enough to assume it was anyone else.

"You're always so kind, Fenton—"

Still, he entered the room as a human. A short hallway greeted him, straight pathed and dark before opening into the living room. His breath fogged the air. Danny didn't need his eyes to tell where Valarie was. Instead, he kept moving, stopping when he came to the tiny living room. There was a low-slung couch, the middle seat broken and slumping inwards, and a long coffee table covered in weapons. Seeing all those guns meant to kill him, blades now capable of rending human flesh and ripping apart ectoplasm, stilled Danny, leaving him strangely numb. So much so, that he didn't feel the hand on his shoulder until Valarie was spinning them around, hurtling him into the front wall.

Looking past the stars across his vision, Danny could see Valarie crouched with arms outstretched, golden eyes blazing, those lips pulled down in a snarl. Even drunk, her strength was unrivaled. Her breath reeked of scotch, weakly aged eight years.

"What are you doing here, ghost?" Valarie spat, not even brushing away the lank tendrils of hair falling into her eyes.

Danny glared then straightened up.

"Making sure you haven't drunk yourself to death." He answered truthfully.

Valarie's aura flared, before she pulled herself up by the shoulders, looking all too much like a predator. Except the laugh she gave was a brittle, glassy thing.

"Well, I haven't. And I'm starting to feel remarkably sober. Didn't mean to send that, anyways. You can fly away now, ghost. I've things to do."

Danny bristled at the sneer in her voice.

"Halfa," he corrected. "I'm not only a ghost; I'm human as well."

"Still makes you nothing." She replied, moving back around the couch, going for the knife.

Danny was moving before he even realized. Propelling himself forward, grabbing her wrist and pivoting behind her. When Valarie tried to elbow him with her free arm, Danny grabbed that as well and yanked it up. He felt her muscles strain, Valarie hissing in pain, while he knocked her knees out from under her. She did nothing to break free, not when Danny could pull her left shoulder out of socket and snap her right wrist. Instead, Valarie met his eyes, hatred twisted around too many emotions.

Her skin was fire beneath his hands.

"I'm nothing? You heartless…" Danny felt his throat constrict. The word remaining trapped behind his teeth, because he didn't want to say it. Just like he didn't want to hurt her. But Valarie only tilted her head, black hair parting so that he could see each vertebra in her neck. Follow its path before disappearing into her long-sleeved undershirt. The smile Valarie gave was all teeth.

"Go on. You can say it, you know? I won't feel a thing."

Helpless, Danny tightened his hold. "A heartless bitch. Happy?" He snapped, releasing her and stepping away.

"No." She responded truthfully. Valarie rose and turned, golden eyes dilating as she took in how close they were standing. So close, she could feel the rapid clouds of air escaping those lips. But she refused to move, and so did Danny.

So, there they stood, with nothing more than silty moonlight slipping past two boarded up windows. Their bodies nothing more than silhouettes. When Valarie reached up with one hand to cradle his face, Danny couldn't help the way he leaned towards it. Valarie was unable to stop the soft moan of longing from escaping her. It made his eyes drift closed, then Valarie's voice cut through the fog.

"Your skin feels wrong."

Her bluntness stung, and Danny grabbed Valarie's wrist, but his grip was weak.

"And you have an aura that's burning itself into a nova." He whispered.

The frown Valarie gave was thoughtful, but Danny knew better then to place any weight to it.

"No doubt because of your ghost side." She growled.

Danny didn't know to which Valarie was referring: his skin, the fact he could see auras, or if he was to blame for how her aura shown. He was too tired to care. But something in him finally settled and died. Here he stood, trying so hard to make Valarie see him, because he loved her. Sure, it was twisted, born from the truth that she had simply known him . But that's why it hurt.

It hurt. Dammit, it hurt.

Because Valarie had known Danny as Danny Fenton: the lanky kid who got picked on by everyone, was normal compared to his eccentric, inventor family. Then, when Danny thought all parts of that life were gone and he had finally started accepting that, Valarie had shown up in Jump City. Danny remembered the nights of staying up late to finish homework, training, avoiding meta-students, and waking up to a warm body close, her head pressed between his shoulder blades.

Now looking at her, it hurt because Valarie would never want to see him. At least, not all of him. Yet his own fault was this, how he desired to make her see him. This was poison. His slow beating heart yearned for it. So much so, the entire cavern of Danny's chest felt as if it were collapsing under the strain.

He loved Valarie because she was a link to the past. Proof it happened. He felt so foolish. Slowly, Danny met Valarie's eyes, which had never stopped studying his face. A sharp stab of fear wound through him. What had she learned? Desperately, Danny pushed those emotions aside and he released her hand. She lowered it slowly. He took a step back, then another.

"This was a mistake." Danny rasped, finally managing to get the words out. Yet something in his voice must have given him away, because Valarie's light seared his mind, even though she remained only an outline shadowed from moonlight.

Her body began to coil.

"You love me," she stated.

Then, seeming to realize this gravity, the set of Valarie's shoulders dropped. Her body went slack, and Danny thought he heard a hint of awe in the way her breath hitched. But he shook his head and stood straighter, letting some of his ghostly aura slip past, enough to illuminate them both. The way Valarie's body went rigid, set the final stone in place.

"No. I don't." Danny whispered, turning towards the door. He needed to flee.

"Liar." Valarie spat.

The softest brush against wood, then steel bands of warm brown skin wrapped around his waist. A restricting cage, as she pulled his back flush against her body. Danny startled, nearly turning intangible, because Valarie was curves and hard lines. In a haze of sensation, Danny knew Valarie had to be standing on the tips of her toes to be able rest her chin over his right shoulder, bone digging into the juncture of his neck. Beneath his chest, his heart burned from her heat. It fluttered faster, as if trying to escape turning to ash. Tension coiled through him, locking up muscles until they ached and trembled from pain, making his breath hitch. Danny couldn't seem to slow it back down. His breaths came as erratic bursts of air, just as hers, which were sending shivers across his skin.

Then, violently, Valarie moved. A hand yanked at the collar of his shirt, and teeth were biting down, tearing through his skin, and hot blood welled up and slid free. Danny heard the cry he gave, half-a-plea and half-a-snarl. Shards of pain shot up his neck, throbbing viciously behind his ear while the rest burned down his arm as taunt wires. The shock started to wear off only after Valarie removed her teeth; all of his blood leaving her mouth to stain their clothes and skin.

"What the hell was that?!" Danny screamed, twisting his upper body so he could see the set of Valarie's jaw, the intensity in her eyes. Around him, he felt her arms tighten, holding him so hard he ached.

She was gazing at his shoulder, to his blood with such desperation, Danny felt something coil low in the pit of his core. The heat making him want to move. So, he did. He took a step forward, widening his stance as if to throw Valarie over his shoulder. But she followed after him. Another sound nearly escaped his mouth when her burning hands slid underneath his shirt. Hands— with wide palms, short fingers, and strong thumbs— pressed against his abdomen. Danny could keenly feel ten sharply filed nails tracing tendons and muscles. Yet with each stroke, it felt as if Valarie was going deeper, as if she were trying to spark his core into a nova. Danny gave a shaky exhale. Valarie growled low in the back of her throat, then met his eyes.

The look Danny saw set his heart racing, he needed to leave, to move...

"Your blood is red." Valarie whispered brokenly. Her eyes sick with relief, teeth still stained.

Danny frowned at her, and Valarie lifted one perfectly styled brow.

"Of course it is. You've seen me bleed." Danny huffed, before resolutely retuning to stare at the far wall in front of him. Valarie hummed before returning to his shoulder. He shuddered at the warm sweep of her tongue over newly healed skin. The feeling spread out as molten water, pouring down his neck and fanning out across his chest, before going deep into his marrow. This needed to end.

Danny broke Valarie's hold spun them around and snarled at her. Eyes otherworldly green.

"Stop." He ordered, between each ragged breath.

Valarie's golden eyes burned in defiance.

"No." She replied. Then reaching out, Valarie ran her fingers down the curve of his jaw. Nails digging in and slicing skin. The pain only lasted seconds but Danny still flinched.

"As long as your blood is red, you can be one of them."

Valarie spoke as if she were fighting against her own nature. She probably was, Danny desperately realized. But unwillingly, his body was relaxing the way it always did when he had forgiven her. The motions so familiar, Danny watched as Valarie's eyes lit with such helpless hope. He wanted to scream. Something akin to guilt was tangling around his desire, as weeds in a forest. But when Valarie lent forward, pressing her forehead so tenderly to his, Danny stilled.

"I don't love you." He repeated, eyes never breaking from hers, whispering the words as if gasping for breath. The frigid air warming between them.

Valarie closed her eyes and let out a sob, "I know, Danny. But we both want this."

Before she kissed him, Danny realized a terrible truth that ensnared his whole spine, physically turning into an emotion. That Valarie had lain with him. He had lied to her. Now it seemed Valarie would lie with him in an entirely different way. And Danny could do nothing to stop it. Because he did want this as badly. He wanted to feel without consequence, without missteps and running away. He wanted to feel pleasure again.

Needing this and feeling trapped by it, Danny leaned forward and pressed trembling lips to her cheek. Forgiveness and surrender. Then Valarie surged forward, for unlike Raven, she knew to take without hesitation nor remorse. Danny held her weight with ease. Yet defiantly, Danny's skin remained pearlescent— eyes alight and glowing. Valarie never called him ghost —she kindly called his name, while slicing open his skin.

Raven had come to realize there was something to be said about bad decisions. That sometimes, no matter what your friends say, even if you logically know what the outcome will be, you need to go through with it. Because sometimes you have to feel it with your own heart, feel your own emotions tear, your mind shatter, and your body break, before you can ever let go. So you can move on. The problem for her was that she didn't know how to let go; it was a pitfall, one most people can't crawl out of, and it only gets deeper and filthier with each passing day. Until you die or are left with nothing. Raven knew this better than most.

She'd grown up in a place that taught her to know herself. So well, in fact, she knew every part was a piece, and she the chess master. The monks taught enlightenment. What her friends didn't know is that Raven also needed more than knowing peace. She had to embrace good and evil, to be at the height of one's strength, and to be weak and without use. By law it was torture. Drugs had been the instrument, and it had taken years to pull herself out of that hell. Another time she had also been at the top of her abilities, dressed all in white on Azar. Perhaps that was why Malchior had cut so deep, because for those few days, Raven had once again been great.

But she isn't perfect. She hadn't even been able to tell what type of spells Malchior had been teaching her. Pride always leads to a fall isn't true. More like ignorance always leads you to a cliff, and you happily step off, thinking it to be a hill. But the hardest thing Raven found to accept, is that one never finishes this journey; you must always keep searching, because change keeps happening.

Raven had never known jealously before Danny. She hadn't known the love of friends until the Titans, and without them, she wouldn't have realized that it was love that she felt for Danny now.

Falling in love with him had been a terrible mistake. So she fled. Now here she is, resting on her bed and staring out the window to the darkened ocean, willing the tears to stop falling. If only he had kept silent, perhaps Raven could have lived under the illusion that everything would work out. But what Danny didn't know was this: she was a demon. At the core, she wanted to possess. Raven wanted to possess everything: her human side, her friends, the world, Danny.

Raven wanted it all and the beast inside her is always there, whispering into every piece of her soul.

Almost as if watching a film, Raven could see how hers and Danny's future would play out. It would start off small, nothing anyone would be able to detect from the outside. But within, the monster would hum to her emotions, find its way into each part of her and twist. Then she would act. It wouldn't hurt Danny. Maybe, he'd like it. She would ask, "Let's try something new," and Danny would trust her and say, "Yes." Then Raven would go further, she'd want to be inside his mind at all times…maybe she'd lie and say it was like a Vulcan thing from Star Trek. After all, Danny was so clueless at times.

Raven smiled, she could see him in her mind's eye, hear his rich tenor laugh. It made her throat close up and the tears fall faster. Danny would feel that something was wrong. Maybe it would take months, or years…perhaps days. He'd try and fight. Even if it tore him apart in fighting. But he'd fight because he had loved who she had been. But Raven would stop it. She'd wrap him inside his own skin and bury him so deep he'd never escape. He'd be her slave. Utterly, he'd be hers.

Danny would be Hers.

At the thought, Raven's stomach lurched from pleasure and disgust. She sat up in bed and ran to the bathroom, vomiting into the toilet until nothing but acid remained inside. Tears still falling, throat choking up, unable to breathe in through her nose because of the mucus, and her skin, still slick with sweat as her limbs went weak from trembling, Raven managed to sit with her back to the freezing tub, letting her emotion Desolation run free. The bathroom would need to be remodeled. But Raven couldn't give a damn, because the demon inside was real. It was something no one could understand or even imagine. This wasn't like an anime, or cartoon, where will and the power of friendship could conquer all.

No.

Raven had a demon sitting at the base of her skull, like a little tree nut that would crack open and sprout into a goddamn tree of hell, and she would destroy everything she loved. And it was there because he placed it there. Raven was helpless, given the illusion by the monks that she had free will and the right to choose. Sure, right now she had complete control over her mind and actions. She'd made mistakes and they had been hers to make. But if she chose to let Danny love her, then everything would change, and that demon would awaken so much sooner. Because demons devoured everything, because they wanted everything to be nothing.

That was why she could never be with Danny. Not even for a short while. Because in a matter of months they'd all be dead. So she wouldn't love him. Because as long as Raven didn't act on her love for him, Danny would die a painless death along with the rest of her friends.

Now all she had to do was muster up the conviction to stay away, and to not go running back to his room and beg for forgiveness.

Raven wasn't sure if she'd be able to keep this fortitude.

Cyborg couldn't believe it. After months of dead ends, the Titans had a solid lead on the whereabouts of Brother Blood. As Robin pulled up the stats, Cyborg could feel the inferno building up beneath his chest. The call came in shortly after midnight from Aqualad and Bumblebee, both had begun establishing a Tower on the East coast.

"They decided to build the Tower in Steel City, after having confirmed Blood's activity falls within their radius." Robin spoke, ignoring Beastboy who'd fallen asleep on the couch. Starfire sent a wary glance to Cyborg, noting how his fists clenched.

"You're sure he's there?" He asked. Robin cast him a long look, before nodding.

"Yes. However, what needs to be done first is the Tower. I'm sending you and Danny to help the new Titans East get it up and running. Then, if there is time, you can help track down Blood. Speaking of, where are Danny and Raven?"

Starfire stepped forward, "Danny is resting. I believe he and Raven had much to discuss after the Mumbo fiasco." She said, brushing her hair behind an ear. The serious look in her eye warned both Titans not to push the matter.

"Send Danny out in the morning, then." Cyborg said, "He can teleport to Steel City given the coordinates."

"And you?" Robin asked, clearly having expected Cyborg to stay the night and leave with Danny in the morning.

"You need sleep, Cyborg." Robin stated.

At this, Cyborg lifted his human eyebrow, noting the way it made Robin shift from foot to foot. The teen-wonder knew perfectly well how hypocritical he sounded.

Satisfied, Cyborg turned, heading for the living room doors.

"No, I'm leaving now." The doors closed silently behind him.

The sunlight drifting in from the single window in Valarie's bedroom looked timid, and a touch reproving, Danny thought. As if it didn't wish to reach out and grace the halfa's skin. Instead, it trailed up the old box spring bed, swirled in the dust particles, then swept over the heavy winter blankets covering the two teens. Leaving the shadows in the room to comfort him. Yet perhaps that's what he needed, Danny thought. For his body felt heavy, his hips ached, and he felt the dried salt of his skin still stinging the healed over wounds littering his back and down his sides. Yet his muscles were lax, melted, after finally finding release. But now it only filled the halfa with a sense of numbness. Was he really so pathetic that he'd give in and have sex with anyone who'd so much as look at him with even partial desire? Beside him, Valarie rolled over, pressing herself closer to his side, an arm settling across his lower back. It twisted something in his stomach, Danny wrapped his arms around his pillow and buried his head in it. Because yes, it seemed he really would. All at once, everything slammed down, and Danny had to gasp to know his lungs still worked. God, he was such and self-loathing idiot.

The hand with sharp nails moved, gripping with sudden strength, before tentatively started to rub soothing circles across his right hip.

"Danny? You awake?" Valarie asked. Her body coming to settle across his. He felt her head rest between his shoulder blades.

"Of course." He replied, finally turning his head back towards the still judgmental sunlight to keep himself from suffocating. Danny was surprised to hear how normal he sounded.

"Are…are you alright?" Valarie asked. Her normally confident voice filled with a tremor he couldn't quite place.

It made Danny scrunch up his eyebrows and grimace, "Sure."

A hum reached his ears, and an arm snaked underneath his pillow to tangle with one of his.

"You're lying again." Valarie said, her ribcage stuttering. Danny felt it from how she was resting half on top of him. Anger and frustration flooded his veins and he tensed against her.

"What do you want me to say, Val? We had sex. Hate sex if you want to admit it out loud." He spat, never once taking his eyes away from the rapidly changing light coming from the window. A harsh intake of breath, then lips were trembling at the base of his neck, the long curls of her hair blessedly blocking the sun. Her hands were flinching from where they were holding him. Hands that were keeping Danny together.

"I don't think it was only hate." She whispered, the surety in her voice, so desperate, made him shiver. She drew her head back, shifting to rest once more between his shoulders.

"Then what was it?" He asked, right as his throat gave a painful squeeze and his eyes misted over. Longing for her to tell him it was more than what they had become.

In the silence, Valarie seemed to ponder this. Strands of black hair slipping down, brushing over his neck. She too, was watching the sunlight.

"What color is my aura?"

This question caught Danny by surprise, and his shock escaped him in a rush of air.

"What?" He asked.

"I'm trying to answer your question." She calmly replied. The hand underneath the pillow encircled his wrist. Danny could feel the press of fingertips over his pulse.

"Gold." Danny found himself saying without hesitation. The light finally touched his skin, without thinking, he added, "Sunlight."

There was a long pause. Danny counted the silence to the quickening of Valarie's heart.

"What color are you?" She asked. Never once looking away from dusty sunlight. Yet intensely more aware of the one beneath her.

To this, Danny became rigid. He started to push himself up on his elbows. Valarie, sensing his intent to get away, put a leg between his, moved her arms around his chest, yanking so they both fell heavily on their left sides. The bed gave an ominous protest, both grunted against the flood of light growing brighter as it streamed in through the window. Still, Valarie held on until she saw the muscle in Danny's jaw unclench.

"Black." He admitted. With this, Valarie let out the breath she'd been holding, shut her eyes, and then she spoke.

"Darkness." She clarified.

Using the synonym, knowing it was what he never wanted to hear, she let go. Danny's response was immediate. Valarie felt him swing his legs over the bed, and she opened her eyes to watch as he stood. His back ram rod straight, fists so tight, the skin was almost turning ghostly. Valarie wanted to do nothing but reach and capture him in her arms. In a moment of clarity that nearly brought tears to her eyes, Valarie knew, she was the light that would always be reaching for the dark. Danny was too kind, he let her use him. She had the power to hurt him. In a slow haze, Valarie watched as Danny found and put on his clothes. Never once did he turn around, and Valarie could see how deliberate he was being. Could see the red flush creep up his back and neck from shame. In that moment, her unforgiving nature bent.

With strength that cost too much, Valarie pushed herself up to a sitting position. Hair a mess, blankets pooled around her waist, and chest bare with scars, seen and hidden, Valerie trembled.

"Danny," She brokenly called, waiting for him to halt by the open bedroom door. He would. He did. Valarie clenched her fists to keep her voice steady.

"What we've done wasn't from hatred. It came from longing."

Shocked, ice blue eyes met forlorn hazel gold. Then, Danny was gone, and Valarie could let the tears fall in peace. After all, he had the power to hurt her as well.

The morning air was harsh as Danny stepped out of the apartment, into the cloudy day. Around him, people briskly fought against the wind and dodged the slush thrown up from honking cars. They also made sure to give him a wide berth. Even going so far as to step into the road, eyes alight with suspicion. Danny couldn't fault them. He was about to turn and head down the alleyway when the familiar buzz of his communicator went off. Without care, he answered it, moving back to sit on the icy steps, he put it to his ear.

"Yeah?"

"Where are you?" Robin demanded over the com. "Why didn't you answer it as a video?" He added.

Danny let out a sigh, watching the puff of air swirl before him.

"Because I don't want you to know where I am." He replied, scowling at a man who gave him a particularly demeaning look.

"Danny, I don't know what's happened between you and Raven, but disappearing without telling anyone is past unacceptable. You're a part of a team now!" Robin yelled, causing Danny to wince and guilt twist his stomach into knots.

"I'm sorry."

"No, you don't get to fight me on this…wait, you're sorry?" Robin said, embarrassment coloring his voice. Danny couldn't help but chuckle.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I went chasing after a memory of my past. I shouldn't have." Danny had to stop at this, feeling his voice choke up as sobs fought past his control. Quickly, he ducked his head, letting his black hair obscure him from the outside world.

"Danny, what's happened?" Robin asked, his voice quiet and full of concern. Danny had to ease up on how hard he was pressing the communicator to his head, feeling his left ear start to throb.

"I went to see Valarie." Danny admitted, hearing the sharp intake of breath on the other end.

"Why?"

"She called, last night. She was pretty messed up and I just— Rob, she knew me when my family was alive. And I just wanted to feel…" At this Danny tapered off, because he was unsure what he truly had wanted. Everything was so tangled, and Valarie had always been capable of making things so simple.

A car honked, and around him, the sounds he'd managed to block out yesterday were swelling around him as a living tide.

"Danny," Robin's voice drew back all of Danny's attention and the halfa held his breath to keep the tears from falling, as his friend took a fortifying breath. "Danny, Valarie may be a tie to your past, but did she ever really know you? Does she define the memories of your family and friends?"

At those words, the clasp that had been gripping his heart broke open. Relief making his body hunch forward.

"No. Their memories are enough." Danny found himself admitting.

"I still can't help caring for her."

Silence, then a low resigned growl, "You're too kind." Robin said. Danny couldn't help but chuckle at the trouble he was causing the Titan.

"I know. I'll work on not being."

"Good. Now I need you in Steel City. Cyborg is flying in with the T-Car and should be arriving shortly. I want both of you to help the Titans East finish setting up their Tower. Danny, I also need you to keep an eye on him. He's not in a good place at the moment. We're also not done talking about this." Robin said, worry clear in his voice.

"Got it. See you in a few days." Danny replied, before hanging up. Sitting there, Danny had to wonder if the Titan knew he was here. But it was clear all of this had turned into one big coincidence. Or synchronicity, which if this was the case, Danny had to wonder when all of these significant events would reach their tipping point. Sighing, the halfa stood up and stretched, feeling all too much and not enough. With one last glance, Danny looked up to the window where he knew Valarie would be. He did long for her, but he could no longer lie to himself about the real reason he came here. He came because Raven had run, and he'd been to hurt to go after her; not when Valarie, with a simple gesture, could draw out all of his passions, and drown him.

Turning, Danny sat off down the road at a brisk jog, heading towards the bluff where a blue tower was taking shape. As he ran, clarity slowly came the farther he drew away from the smog and the closer he ran to the bay. He had made a mistake. In his sorrow, in his longing to no longer remain alone, he had relinquished part of his will to Valarie. She'd used him, her strong heart was not afraid to take. But as his feet lightly struck the pavement, Danny knew he'd given her that power, he'd used her as well; he'd longed to connect again. Heart racing now, Danny took to weaving between people, loving the way they screamed and tried to dodge for no reason. He was running along the pier now, then past, as he ascended the cliff, down below the waters crashed. All blurred as he exerted his muscles to go faster.

The blue sky seemed so dreary and beautiful. It reminded him of Raven. He was in love with Raven. Danny let out a joyous laugh and leapt in the air, before racing ever closure to the edge. He was in love, but he'd forgotten the effort that went with being in love. Because of this, he'd been indecisive and hesitant, yet despite these insecurities he'd still been falling. Falling for the way Raven would blush whenever she gave him waffles, or simply offer him support. For how she made mistakes and learned from them, acknowledging her faults and moving to correct them. How when she held him in her mind, Danny had been able to see the way he'd made her tremble with wonder. He wanted to dance with her. To show her how great she was.

Buildings had given way to grass and shrubs, which clung to the soil against the fiercely blowing wind and the spray of salt water. Danny felt his heart jump and a smile lift his face. Without a second thought, he leapt off the edge of the cliff and fell. Laughing all the way down, Danny transformed mere feet from the water, hearing the spray of the sea angrily roar at being denied his body. Instead, he flew above the turning waves, nearing his sister tower. Both he and Raven had so much to learn, and while he might never know why she'd run from him last night, Danny knew one thing; this time, he was going to try.

It was time to work at being in love. But, for the moment, he let go of his doubts and soared.

"And it's just my soul responding, to the heavy art of holding. Oh, it's just my soul responding, to the love you took from me."

~Amber Run

Rising

Part II

Landing on the half-paved platform at the base of the entrance, Danny made it to the tower in record time. It seemed the Titan's East had a lot to learn as well. For while the tower looked striking, it was in obvious need of major work. Inside was shaded. The sun, now fully over the horizon and burning clearly, despite the cloudy sky, made this new tower hum in anticipation of being complete. Danny couldn't help the soft grin at the feelings of hope these steel beams were holding.

"Um…hello?" Danny called, allowing his echoing voice to carry and sweep through the tower. It took a couple of seconds, but soon there was a soft swish of wind. Suddenly, two boys were standing in front of him. They were young, so young, dressed in white and red uniforms: with a plus on one boy's chest, and a minus on the other. Both were wearing yellow goggles, gazing up at Danny with slack jaws and growing smiles.

"Hi." Danny spoke, giving a slight wave. Both let out excited squeaks.

"Oh mi, eres el señor Phantom. ¡Somos sus fans Más grandes!" They exclaimed, eagerly shaking Danny's hand, as both their palms easily fit in one of his. It caused a faint green blush to dust his cheeks. Quickly, he rubbed the back of his neck, calming his nerves.

"Um ... lo siento, no hablo español. ¿Sabes hablar esperanto?" Danny asked, struggling not to trip over the words.

The two boys looked to each other happily, their forms seeming to vibrate without thought. Then they turned back to Danny and exclaimed, "Yes! We do, mister Phantom!"

Danny let out a relieved sigh, "Great, and call me Phantom. It's nice to meet you…"

"I'm Más!" The boy with the plus on his chest said, while the other who was missing one front tooth exclaimed, "And I'm Menos."

"Together, we are Más and Menos!"

At how proud the two sounded, from the way their aura blazed in tri color light, Danny couldn't help but laugh. It was a clear ring of pure joy. When he met their eyes again, his were blazing.

"It's good to meet you. Now, where's the rest of your team?"

As they were turning to go upstairs, the familiar purr of the T-Car's engine could be heard. The three Titans stood waiting. Soon enough, Cyborg came walking in. His eyes were wandering the tower, appraising the chaotic mess.

"This place needs a truck load of elbow grease." He grumbled.

"Then I guess it's a good thing they took up shop in such an industrial city." Danny replied, as Cyborg came into view.

Cyborg gave an affirmative grunt as he walked next to Danny.

"Where were you last night?" Cy asked as they headed for the elevator, following the red and white blur.

Danny shifted in the air, his lips thinning before a soft smile replaced it, and he let out a sigh.

"Something came up."

At Cyborg's confused stare, Danny ran a hand through white hair and looked to the doors. As the elevator came to a stop, faint sounds of arguing reached them. Both shared a look before stepping off and walked down the hall.

In the Titans East common room, Aqualad was trying his hardest to not strangle Speedy as the archer handed out dinner.

"Fish tacos? I'm from the ocean, these were probably friends of mine!" He screamed; his black eyes furious at how dismissive Speedy was.

"Hey, you said, "get lunch," so I got lunch." The archer snapped, then he took a bite, internally laughing at how Aqualad turned a sickly green color. A red breeze blew by, messing up Speedy's fiery hair, causing the teen to drop his lunch in favor of fixing it with a comb. Especially from the laugh it evoked from Aqualad, Speedy shot Más and Menos a dirty look for that.

"Hey, watch it you two!" He hissed, irked that neither boy seemed to take notice. Rather, they were feverishly digging into the bags of food.

'Oh, fish tacos! Delicious!' Both exclaimed, happily rummaging around and selecting two tacos that had the greatest amount of crab meat stuffed between the crispy shells. Beside them, Aqualad went from laughing to swaying dangerously, before sinking down on the floor, his arms splayed out across the table.

Amid all this, Bumblebee landed. Her eyes scanning over the systems report, bright red lips pursed in concentration.

"Alright, the sensor grid is up on all the levels. Now we need," She trailed off upon looking up, irritation pursed her lips.

"Well, don't you fellas look comfy? Come on guys, this tower isn't going to build itself. And that's a supercomputer, not a foot stool." She snapped at Speedy, her wings buzzing furiously through the air.

Speedy, who had been preoccupied with fixing his hair, scoffed, and put down the hand mirror.

"Geez, thanks mom."

Electricity crackled around Bumblebee at this, only the groan from Aqualad saved Speedy. Both teens turned to look at the atlantean, clinging to the table.

"Can't work, tacos." He moaned, before dashing off the second Más and Menos tried to offer him one.

Seeing his chance, Speedy kicked up his legs, crossed his arms and grinned.

"So, who died and made you queen?" He asked, smirking. Watching how Bumblebee's fury grew. Ah, how he loved a good bee jab.

"Well, maybe you could call the shots, if maybe you spent more time working, and less time fixing your hairdo." She snapped, throwing the red power drill at his chest.

Speedy caught it with minimal effort but felt the sting of pain shoot up his arms. He glared at her, and she glared back. Más and Menos then decided to cut in with their thoughts on the whole ordeal. Speedy felt, judging by their gestures and overly flouncy behavior, that most of their speech was directed at him.

He flared his nostrils and threatened them with the power tool.

"You're lucky I can't understand Spanish!"

Both boys held up their fists boxing style. Bumblebee jumped in front of them, much to Speedy's annoyance.

"Leave them alone!" She hissed.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Speedy snapped.

This was about the time Aqualad resurfaced, holding the wet bag of tacos and glaring for all his worth.

"If you're going to eat my friends, at least have the decency to dispose of the evidence!"

Danny and Cyborg entered to this mess, going unnoticed by the five shouting teens.

"Um, this is going to take a lot of work." Danny commented, taking a small step back and feeling Cyborg hum in agreement. The mechanical titan then let out a cough, trying to get their attention.

"Hello!" Cyborg finally announced, loudly and none to kind.

Everyone froze. Danny couldn't stop the chuckle from escaping as he watched the new titans try and recover from their ordeal.

Aqualad gave a small wave.

"Cyborg, Phantom!" He called, walking over as the group broke a part, going their separate ways.

Cyborg stepped forward and shook the offered hand.

"Aqualad, it's good to see you."

"Likewise. Well, welcome to the Titans East. I guess you should meet the team." Aqualad said, his smile fading as he noticed Speedy going back in his corner to sulk, and Bumblebee working out her frustration on some equipment.

Danny raised an eyebrow, "More like East only, I think." He noted quietly, knowing that only Cyborg would be able to hear him. Judging by the snort Cyborg gave, Danny figured he'd heard. Aqualad gave a questioning look. Yet before he could ask, Más and Menos ran over and hopped on Cyborg. They grinned and spoke as much as they could fit in one breath. Cyborg looked more then lost.

"Um….Hi?"

Aqualad grinned, "Más and Menos. They're from Guatemala, their power is speed; so long as their touching, and they only speak Spanish."

"And Esperanto." Danny added. The two boys leapt off Cyborg, giving unrealistic pouts at Danny.

"Sir Phantom, you were supposed to keep that between us!" They grouched.

"Yes, but this way, I can translate. It'll save time, and sanity." Danny replied easily. To this, both teens shrugged before racing off. Leaving Aqualad looking impressed.

"Huh, I didn't know they spoke another language." He said.

"I asked, badly, but I asked." Danny answered, grinning as he released his hold on gravity to hover and take the weight off his lower back.

Aqualad gave a small nod to this, then turned to gesture to the other two members of the rag tag group.

"And I'm guessing you both remember Speedy and Bumblebee." He stated.

Speedy only gave a grunt of acknowledgment. Bumblebee merely stopped whacking her equipment with the crowbar long enough to wave. She then shot a scathing glare over at the red and gold archer before resuming her 'work.'

Aqualad winched, then ran a hand through his hair.

"We are…a work in progress. It's been a rough day." He seemed to settle on.

Cyborg set down his toolbox and turned his left fist into a blow torch.

"Well, let's see if we can't smooth it out. Ready, Danny?" Cy asked.

Danny stretched his arms until he felt the faint pop of his neck, then he returned Cyborg's grin.

"Lead the way."

It took the better part of the day to get the tower up in any sort of running order. In total, Danny had both lifted and installed: five supercomputers, three backup generators, and helped Aqualad install two water tanks, one funneling into the ocean and the other holding fresh water.

When Danny and Aqualad sat on the rim of the saltwater tank, watching the water pour in, they heard a static pop.

A smooth female voice spoke, "Security system: online."

It was as if the tower seemed to be awakening from slumber, Danny thought. Listening as the hum of machines became a tune with the rushing of water. The walls battling to keep the frigid air out. Its familiarity suddenly made Steel City far more welcoming.

"You seem to be doing well."

"What?" Danny jumped, startled from his thoughts, looking over to Aqualad. The atlantean gave a brief smile, before returning his eyes to the rapidly filling tanks.

"You seem better. You know, since the last time I saw you." Aqualad stated, brushing a strand of pitch black hair behind one ear.

Danny felt his breath catch as the memories of blood red eyes, separation, and dark waters swam before his mind. Around them, the tower sang. Those same dark waters were now calming, twenty-four more feet and they would brush the soles of the two Titans feet.

"I feel better. So, what made you decide to stick it out with Bumblebee, sounds like a story?" Danny asked.

Aqualad tensed, before kicking his legs out idlily.

"I've, we've, been through a lot. Bumblebee and I. Along the way, we sort of kept meeting people with the same issues. So I figured I should stick it out, at least until Brother Blood is behind bars." He explained, gently extending a leg to dip his foot into the water.

For a moment, a look Danny was all too familiar with passed over Aqualad's face. Dark eyebrows pulled together, thin lips pressed to hard, so that all color bleached out, and the gills on his neck flared. Then Aqualad breathed, looked around at the steel beams, and smiled.

"Of course, staying, regardless, does have its benefits."

Unsure, Danny reached out and put a hand on Aqualad's shoulder before giving a firm squeeze. Wide black eyes, a little too expressive, met his.

"I'm glad you're staying. Although, regularly getting shot at, and constant threats of violence and death, doesn't seem so reassuring."

Aqualad burst out laughing, and with it, all traces of longing evaporated from around him. Danny counted it a small victory.

"You're right, those don't sound good." Aqualad admitted, wiping the tears of mirth from his eyes as he stood up. Danny got up as well, the tank lids moving to seal up the still water. Together, both left the subterranean levels.

They were stepping off the elevator and heading down the hall when Danny caught himself from asking, "What happened to make you need to stay?"

Instead, he chose, "So, where's Tram?"

"Hmm, oh, he's back in Atlantis. Although, once we get this up and running, I'm sure he'll want to visit." Aqualad answered fondly.

The common room doors opened and both stepped in. Aqualad nodded his approval before picking up a wrench with his left hand, before quickly switching it to his right, as he went to go adjust one of the many accessible water pipes that ran throughout the tower. Danny flew across the inlaid pool, to hover beside Cyborg, who was standing next to the systems panel making fine-tuned changes.

"The Tower is coming along. Feels almost like family." Danny said.

"Almost?" Cyborg quipped, closing the panel before turning to give a friendly glare as he crossed his broad arms.

Danny rolled his eyes.

"You know as well as I, that as the Titans sister tower, this one is the same but not quite the same."

For one, the sheer amount of water altered the hum. Danny was impressed with how Cyborg had so effortlessly harmonized such opposing elements of electricity and water.

"You did a good job designing her." Danny sincerely spoke.

Cyborg's eyes lit up.

"Ah, stop with the ego boost. Although she is amazing. She can withstand anything." Cy cooed.

Of course, it was in that moment that Más and Menos dropped two buckets of blue paint, which fell on top of Speedy's head. It would have been fine, if he hadn't been holding a nail gun. It was so ridiculous and unbelievable, that Danny barely had time to shield himself and Cyborg, before projectiles were flying. There was the pling, pling, pling, of nails piercing through tubbing and the vat of water behind Aqualad burst like a bubble. In slow motion, Cyborg and Danny watched as water drenched seven of the ten main control panels beyond capacity and like a fried lightbulb, the Titans East Tower flipped off like a light.

It took less than thirty seconds for Danny to feel the struggling whirl of the remaining generators to kick on. Letting out a breath, he dropped the shield and gave Cyborg a consoling pat. The man let out a groan.

"Clearly didn't build it as well as I thought." Cy grumbled.

Danny shrugged, then turned back to the wreckage.

"Everyone okay?" He called, watching the five newest titans emerge from their hiding places. All unscathed and quickly growing irate.

"Oh no." Danny said, watching their auras lick like opposing fires against one another.

Speedy was the first one to snap. Covered in blue paint and looking furious, he rounded on Más and Menos

"Look what you made me do!"

Both boys glared up at him and seemed to inflate with their anger. They directed their blame to him.

¿Qué pasa, supermacho?

Aqualad was next, shoving both Más and Menos out of the way to glare at Speedy.

"Watch it, you almost hit me!" He screamed. Speedy momentarily looked stunned from horror, before turning away and crossing his arms. Stubbornly, he seemed to drown out Más and Menos continuous yelling, completely ignoring Aqualad.

"Hey, cool it!" Bumblebee interjected.

Not even Danny could understand what was being yelled after her outburst.

Shoving down his frustration, Danny took a bracing breath, ready to break up the argument. To help them function like a team, and this felt all too familiar, he thought—when Cyborg strode forward.

"Enough!" Cyborg yelled, crossing his arms as the vein in his forehead throbbed.

Immediately, the Titans East fell silent. All stunned along with Danny, but for very different reasons. So, Danny took a step back, watching five auras become attuned to Cyborg.

Cyborg let out a sigh and calmed his voice.

"The problem isn't your Tower. It's your team." He stressed the last word.

Everyone was silent from this, then a chime as a sensor went off, one all Titans were familiar with.

"Trouble." Cy said, getting a fix on the location.

"At least something around here works." Bumblebee grouched.

Cyborg chose to ignore that. Instead, he turned to look Danny steadily in the eye. It was a look both familiar and different, changing.

"Phantom," Cyborg commanded.

Danny noticed the use of his formal title.

"We need you to teleport us. None of the vehicles are operational yet." Cyborg explained, motioning for the titans to gather around the middle of the room in a tight circle.

It wasn't new, but Danny could hear the newness of leadership. When had this happened? Danny wondered, flying above the group and waiting for Cyborg to give the coordinates.

He did.

Danny took a breath and brought his palms together. He visualized the numbers; the way they blurred, before forming into land, until in his mind the area appeared as vivid as if he were there. He created a plain, a bridging point, then thrust his arms out on either side. He bent a shield around the team, a sphere, then he shifted the bridge by warping it around them, moving the team from one point to another. All the while he wondered, when had Cyborg grown?

It filled Danny with pride as he placed them in the parking lot outside the warehouse currently being attacked. All the titans charged forward. Cyborg right behind Bumblebee. Finally, it seemed, Cyborg was embracing himself. But as Danny flew after them, he couldn't help but wonder. Did he not notice this because he wasn't looking? Or because he too, had changed?

"You pick me up, pick me up, Believer."

~Imagine Dragons

Rising

Part III

Bumblebee was the first to burst through the warehouse doors of the industrial metals' refinery, a massive building inlaid with pits of molten metals, and dangerous materials being exposed to high temperatures. Not a place one wanted to be under attack. There, she saw Steamroller doing his best to bulldoze the building. Standing at twelve feet, he was an android designed to work in high-strain conditions. Or he was, until an over-zealot programmer revamped the systems parameters and set them loose. It had been another reason Bumblebee and Aqualad had chosen to make Steel City their home base. The police force had been unable to contain Steamroller or catch the programmer responsible.

Now it seemed they would be able to rectify that.

"Congratulations, you're the first low-life about to be busted by the Titans— woah!"

Bumblebee found herself flailing in the air as Más and Menos blew past her, followed swiftly by Aqualad and Speedy. As she righted herself, she heard Cyborg give and exasperated sigh and Phantom snort.

"I don't suppose you'll simply take him out?" Cyborg grumbled at Phantom. Bumblebee found herself watching how Phantom held a hand over his mouth, laughter clear in those luminescent green eyes as they regarded Cyborg. The ghost titan, so different from what she heard from other heroes, and what she remembered from seeing him.

"Where did the leader I just saw go?" Phantom questioned, crossing his arms over his chest and downright grinning.

Behind her, Bumblebee could hear Más and Menos zipping around Steamroller, all the while screaming, ¡Aquí! before taking off again. She really didn't have time for distractions. She flew back to where the two Titans were standing by the warehouse doors and put a hand on her hip, mindful of her weapons and an ear on the fight.

"Shouldn't we be concerned with taking this guy down?" She said.

Phantom met her eyes and a gleam flashed in his.

"Oh, we are. But first, there's some details which need ironing out."

Cyborg let out a pained groan.

"Like what?" Bumblebee asked, because she would take the high road and not comment on that pun.

"Observe." Phantom said, coming to float by her side, mindful of her wings.

Bumblebee looked to the ongoing fight. Más and Menos were still endlessly circling an increasingly frustrated Steamroller. Yet it was as Aqualad joined the fray, she realized the first problem, he could control and weaponize water but at the expense of breaking open the pipes to do so. The second happened as he was preparing for his attack. Speedy was up on the second level, nocking an exploding arrow. Both were in each other's direct path of attack when Steamroller simply stepped out of the way. The heroes screamed and made resounding crashes as they were thrown back.

"Shit! Phantom, check on Speedy. Bumblebee, Aqualad!" Cyborg ordered as he charged Steamroller to draw the android's attention away from them.

"On it!"

As he ran forward, the massive android, with rolling pins for hands, broke away from Más and Menos. Cyborg intended to go low but as he aimed for the guys legs, suddenly Steamroller wasn't there. Cyborg had enough time to get his feet under him before the guy full body checked him. His huge weight pinning Cyborg down, trying to crush him into the concrete.

"Urgh, get off of my back!"

Straining his shoulders in their sockets, he managed to blast Steamroller in the face with his sonic canon. The weight vanished and Cyborg stumbled back to the entrance doors right as Danny was placing Speedy on the ground, bow drawn and arrow nocked, and Bumblebee was walking up with Aqualad who was holding his left shoulder, Más and Menos angrily spouting off critiques for the group's behavior.

"Aright, we get it." Speedy groaned.

"Well they're right," Bumblebee said, her wings buzzing madly, "We're not working like a team."

Pulling his shoulders back, Cyborg met their discord with surety.

"We are now. Titans, together!" He yelled, turning to face their opponent.

"Speedy, Bee, push him back!"

Without hesitation, Speedy drew back his bow and waited until Bumblebee shrank and was perched atop his arrow before loosing it. The combined strength of the arrow hitting Steamroller in his abdomen while Bumblebee hit high, made the android stumble back, and she kept up a barrage of electric attacks.

"Double M, heat him up!"

Más and Menos dashed across to a drop zone filled to the brim of molten lava, their speed causing it to follow in their wake and cover the android up to its neck.

"Aqualad, cool it down."

It was nothing for Aqualad to summon enough water to cover the hot earth and pin the android in place. Finally, after the steam cleared and it was securely in place, Cyborg let himself smile.

"Phantom, knock him out."

"Of course." Danny said. He flew up and easily phased his left hand through the androids head. A quick command to shut down was all it took for Steamroller's eyes to go dark. When Danny turned and gave a thumbs up, Cyborg fully relaxed.

"Boo-yeah! That's how we roll!" He said amongst the cheers of the others.

It assured Danny that he'd made the right call in letting this new team handle the situation.

Repairing the tower took far less time without the squabbling, Danny noted. True, Danny and Cyborg could have completed the tower faster — since Cyborg knew the systems on a soul level, and Danny could use telekinesis while splitting himself into eight— but watching the other Titans come together to set their Tower into rights felt, well, right. Danny was also going to conveniently not mention those two powers, and therefore avoid the strain.

By the end of the night, the Titans East Tower was fully operational once more. The last thing to be put together was the main table in the living area. It presented a more formal appearance, when receiving alerts and the couches and kitchen was off to the side in a comfortable alcove. Below was one of the many pools which ran throughout the Tower. This one in particular spanned the length of the room. Danny couldn't keep the grin at bay, all he could feel from each of the newest Titans was happiness, disbelief and fledgling bonds of "this is home." The Tower hummed in accord to this.

"Woah, I can't believe we finished." Bumblebee said.

"Place doesn't look half bad." Speedy agreed, surveying their work with a prideful tilt to his smile.

"Is he crazy…?" "This is fantastic!" Más and Menos exclaimed.

Danny didn't even need them to speak Esperanto to understand that.

"We couldn't have done it without either of you, thanks." Aqualad said, a note of solemnity in his voice, sadness in his aura, but contentment as well.

Danny still flew over to him to put his hand on Aqualad's shoulder to give a reassuring squeeze.

Cyborg smiled before his eyebrows shot up, "Oh, I almost forgot," he quickly entered a command on his arm, and a disco ball dropped from the ceiling.

"Disco lights?" Bumblebee said in surprise, but her eyes were curiously bright in amusement.

"Robin never would let me install them in our tower. Well, what are y'all waiting for, it's party time!"

At this, Aqualad took a running start and leapt off the balcony, diving into the pool with such little splash back, no human could achieve. Danny followed him over. He heard Speedy say he was making ribs, and then Bumblebee was flying next to him, while they tracked Aqualad's movements under the waves.

"Not going to dance?" Danny asked.

Bumblebee rolled her eyes, "Cyborg decided to play Game Station Two."

"I can possess the game and make him lose, if you want?"

Aqualad surfaced, black eyebrows almost to his hairline. "You can do that?" He said before shooting a glance over to his teammate. Bumblebee had a maniacal glint in her eyes, which were the colors of violets in twilight. But before she could take him up on the offer, Cyborg called Danny's name. The three Titans looked up to the balcony where Cy was waving at him, then pointing to his arm.

"Excuse me."

They ended up going to a secondary briefing room across the hall where Cyborg could project the call to the monitor inlaid in the wall.

"Hey Robin." Cy said, a distinct tone of displeasure in his voice that had Danny shooting him a side glance, and making Robin's mouth slack in surprise before he masked it.

"So, how's the mission going?"

Cyborg perked up at this, his aura brightening.

"It's going great. The Tower's up and running, we took our first bad guy down and we're all set to start looking for Brother Blood."

"Good, then you both can head home."

Shock rippled in Cy's aura, Danny purposefully didn't look.

"They'll have to find Brother Blood on their own. Professor Chang has escaped from prison. I need both you and Danny here. Robin, out."

Abruptly, the transmission ended, leaving them both awash in blue light and the hum of new machinery. Cyborg stood tense by his side. Danny turned to face him, but his friend continued to gaze straight ahead. Danny had to force back the ache in his chest.

"Cyborg…"

"Don't."

Cy closed his eyes, and turned to the door, "let's just go."

When they entered the main room, the others were gathered around Speedy in the kitchen, all looking up as they joined them. The ease and smiles vanishing as they took in Cyborg's haggard look.

"Is…everything alright?" Speedy asked, his ridiculous chef hat drooping on the left side.

When Cyborg couldn't answer, Danny stepped forward.

"Actually, with the completion of the tower, and seeing how you're getting along after taking down Steamroller, it's time for Cy and I to head back to our team."

"What?" They all yelled.

"But we only did that well because of you, Cyborg!" Aqualad said, shifting nervously from foot to foot.

"And who will walk us through being a team?" Bumblebee added, giving a pointed look to Danny before directing it to Cyborg.

"Also, while I do know these Towers Systems, having another here who personally built them, would be a great asset."

"Phantom, Señor Cyborg, don't leave!" Both Más and Menos said, tears leaking out the corners of their masks.

Through it all, Cyborg kept his eyes on the ground hands clenched at his sides.

"I'm going to go get my toolbox," He said, in way of reply, turning to leave.

"Cyborg!" Bumblebee called.

Once the living room doors closed, Más and Menos attached themselves to Danny's legs.

"Please, don't leave!"

Danny gave a soft smile and put a hand on each boy's hands before he phased his legs free. They stumbled, but sullenly stayed still and met his eyes.

"Listen, I'm glad you want me to stay, but Jump City is my home now. This Tower is her sister, so, I will see you again."

Más and Menos shared a look before each raised a fist, then they touched hands and dashed off. Danny assumed to go find Cyborg. It left him to deal with the other three. Speedy, who had yet to speak, yanked off his chef's hat and crossed his arms.

"Well, this is great. Now who's going to lead us?" He snapped.

"You really wanted Cyborg to lead you?" Danny asked, a little floored but he couldn't really say he was surprised.

From where she'd been leaning on the counter, Bumblebee gave a nod.

"Honestly, yes. We're all new to the whole teamwork thing, not to mention new to this city, having someone with experience would go far." She said seriously, her arms crossing as she tried to minimize her anxiety.

Aqualad moved to stand beside her. Briefly, he touched her elbow before looking to Danny.

"Also, having someone like yourself would have been ideal, too. But with what you told Más and Menos, I can respect that. However, you also saw what we were like, and how Cyborg took charge, do you really believe leaving us to figure this out alone is the best course of action?" Aqualad said, speaking these words easily, but it made Danny's stomach twist into knots.

Because Aqualad was right. Having a well-established Titan here would go a long way towards public relations with Steel City. Moreover, Cyborg really had meshed well with this group of heroes, going so far as jump starting them into being a team. Cyborg would be a good leader. He already was, he showed it. But a selfish part of Danny still wanted to deny Aqualad's points because Cyborg belonged to their team, he was his friend first – Danny's second family.

Around him, the Tower let out a mournful sound, straining slightly as a heavy snowfall took to blanketing Steel City. Yet within a few seconds the tower adjusted and bore the change with ease. Danny let out a sigh.

"I told Más and Menos this Tower is our sister."

Family. This wouldn't be goodbye, merely a change. A change that had already happened. Danny couldn't hold Cyborg back, nor could he deny supporting his new extended family. Speedy gave an impatient grunt at Danny's silence.

"And? What does that mean?" He snapped, his aura flickering between aggravation and hope.

Danny smiled, "It means we should locate Cyborg and let him decide if he wants to put up with you."

All three Titans broke out into excited happiness. Aqualad stepped forward and yanked him into a hug, when he pulled back, he was calm and confident once more.

"Lead the way." The atlantean said.

They got to Cyborg right as he was opening the garage doors to leave. Both Más and Menos clinging to his legs and being dragged across floor.

"Please, don't leave!"

"Cyborg, hold up!" Danny called, flying up the meet him. His friend was busy pulling the desperate tweens off his legs.

"Wait for what? We're needed back home."

"For us." Speedy said, the rest of the Titans East coming to stand in front of Cyborg.

Speedy put a staying hand on the T-Car door and wouldn't let Cy open it further.

"Phantom asked you to wait because we need you here." The archer explained.

Behind him, Aqualad stepped forward.

"We took a vote, and we'd like you to stay. As leader of Titans East."

Danny watched as Cy's hands dropped to his sides, his eyes darting over to him in open disbelief before looking back to the heroes in front of him.

"Me? Seriously?"

"Well, don't get all misty. Do you want the job or not?" Bumblebee said, doubt clouding her aura.

"I- I don't know what to…"

The garage door suddenly dropped closed so fast its loud bang startled all of them.

Danny tilted his head in confusion, feeling the same emotion color Cyborg.

"Huh, guess I didn't get all the bugs out of the system." Cy said, his arm display casting harsh shadows of white across the otherwise darkened rom.

Beside him, Dany could feel Más and Menos growing apprehension and Bumblebee, Speedy and Aqualad's rising tension.

"Security just went down." Cy said.

As Cyborg started moving to the computer console by the tool station, the others all stuck close to him, Danny felt the Tower give a stutter.

"The Tower, its humming just stopped." Danny noted, Cyborg gave him a brief look, they stopped at the monitor and pulled up the schematics.

"The Tower will shut down if there's a glitch in the encryption keys." He explained as the diagnostics ran.

Danny didn't shift his weight, not wanting to alarm the two boys who had come to stand beside him, due to the glow of his aura, but Danny didn't like how the silence seemed to be crawling across his skin. As if Cyborg's aura was surrounding all of them.

"We should head upstairs." Speedy said, his bow now in hand, "get someplace with better visibility."

"We're fine," Cy said, shooting the archer a glare but he turned to the stairs, syncing the progress bar to his arm, choosing to lead the team upstairs, nonetheless.

"Cyborg, are you sure the Tower has shut down?" Danny asked as they came up to the first above ground level.

"Yeah. For some reason, the automatic security system tried to lock onto us as enemy combatants, a subroutine shut down the mainframe before it could activate."

"Did you say our new Tower just tried to kill us?" Speedy deadpanned, clearly unhappy, and now nocking three arrows but not drawing the string.

While Cyborg assured them, Danny found himself consistently trying to find that buzzing. It reminded him annoyingly of a mosquito buzzing close to one's ear but being unable to locate the vile insect. Perhaps it was part of the program that had tried to kill them? It certainly felt malicious.

It was after Cyborg had pried open the doors to the grand hall, when they had crossed into the middle of the foyer with no shelter, Danny felt the tower erupt as a hive of noise. The sonic blasts that came from above, and at every side hit his ecto-barrier with such force and noise all the Titans instinctively dropped to the floor. Aqualad dropped to cover Más and Menos while BB and Speedy crouched on either side of Danny. Cyborg, who was in the front, only an inch behind Danny's shield, went down on one knee and was gazing at both his screaming sensors and accessing the army of golden drones with red eyes all of whom looked like him, surrounding them.

Bumblebee rose first, next to Danny's left. Her eyes were the color of flint striking a spark as she drew her weapons.

"Guess it wasn't a glitch." She growled.

Cyborg shot to his feet canon active, along with the others.

"No, it wasn't. Phantom, split! Give them targets. Team, stay in tight formation. We need to get covered. Go!" Cy ordered.

In a breath, Danny dropped his shield and split into eight, each with smaller, powerfully condensed shields to compensate as he circled around his team and fanned out towards the enemy. The Titans made a dash of the double doors, Más and Menos clearing the way of the drones dropping to their level, Cyborg fired his canon to melt the doors down.

Speedy, Aqualad and Bumblebee made it through the smoking hole first, followed by Más and Menos who raced ahead to scout, once Cyborg cleared the threshold of smelting metal he looked back to Danny.

"All clear!"

Danny heard his shout from six stories up. In one blink, he dispersed his clones and teleported to his friend's side, ducking as the encroaching army fired shot after shot. Ignoring the strain of having used so much energy at once, Danny encased their retreat in a solid wall of ice. The golden drones had no regard for their self-preservation as they continued to fire even when their attacks rebounded back from his barrier.

"That will hold, for now." Danny said, flying next to Cyborg as they rejoined Bumblebee, Speedy and Aqualad.

"You mean until they make a way to go around it." Aqualad stated as they came to the end of the hall to where Más and Menos were waiting, both vibrating. But for the moment, all branching doorways and halls were clear.

"More are coming!" They hurriedly said.

"Why do they look like you?" Speedy said, his hair slick with sweat but his hands steady and full of arrows.

"Not important." Cy said, looking to each of them.

"We need to get to the ops center and reset the security encryptions then do the same to the master controls on the living deck."

"Alright." Bumblebee said, and she turned to the door on the east side.

"Follow me." Five voices spoke in tandem, each facing a different door.

Abruptly, everyone froze. Their eyes going wide in surprise before looking to Cyborg.

"We can't all be right." Aqualad said, running a black gloved hand through his hair, pulling it out of his eyes as his gills flared on his neck in quick motions.

"I know." Cyborg clipped before he took a breath and squared his shoulders.

"Bee and I will head to the living room while Aqualad and Phantom teleport to the ops station, it's on level 33. I'll send a pulse for you to track, Danny." He said, then turned to Speedy, Más and Menos.

"Speedy, take the west wing," He ordered pointing to the doors on the left.

"Más and Menos, the north doors. You three serve as distractions and clear as many of the drones as possible. Above all else, give us as much time as possible."

At this, their fortitude strengthened when above an explosion sounded, drones began flooding in, red eyes appeared down the halls. Cyborg typed a command on his left arm, white light racing across his circuits before leaving him and following the paths deep within the circuitry of the Tower.

"Titans, Go!" He ordered.

Danny and Aqualad watched as their teammates all charged. Aqualad gripped Danny's shoulder, waiting. The beacon stopped twisting and turning, reaching its destination in a nimbus of blue light.

"Don't breathe or you'll breathe a void." Danny said, as the drones that had jumped from floors above, slammed into the ground, Danny sealed each of the hallways their teammates had run down in ice, trapping their friends but at least preventing them from being attacked from behind.

Aqualad glared at their enemies, his muscles tensing and then he stopped breathing. Danny found the seam from there to here and back, he bent the routes around them and in the same second moved them both. He was pushing his powers, and couldn't form the shield he used when protecting live matter. But Aqualad held fast, even as in that second the atlantean felt the absence and existence of matter being pushed and pulled around him.

They set down in the middle of the ops room, surrounded by ten drones busy with trying to overwrite the Towers systems. None stood a chance. Aqualad released his breath and with it came a surge of water, the pipes bursting to only attack the drones, not a single drop touching the delicate computers.

Danny stepped back and locked his knees to keep standing. More drones were rapidly approaching from the only entrance to the room. Aqualad gave a quick look to Danny and his mouth thinned into a firm line.

"I'll keep them busy, help once you've rebooted the system." He said, and without hesitation, ran down the hall, ribbons of water flowing behind and before him.

"Aqualad!" Danny managed to shout but the atlantean was already past the shadows of the hall.

The fear for his friend, Danny forced himself to stow. Instead, did as he was tasked. Quickly, he went to the main consoles and began the process of rebooting the main security protocols.

It was slow going; taking minutes away and with each, the Tower began to stir, her hum rumbling throughout and as she came online. It made Danny acutely aware of just how many drones were within the Tower. For it was nearly impossible to distinguish them from the main systems except for a single half pitch that marked them as invaders. So far, he counted fifty-seven known combatants, no, eighty-nine, and the numbers were still growing.

The hallways were a nightmarish hellscape of golden warriors, often standing three abreast and blocking the path forward by simply being a blockade. To cut through them, Bumblebee shrunk down and zipped through the rows of marching soldiers converging on Cyborg, then as he began confronting them head-on, she returned to her larger size and worked from behind, cutting them down with powerful electric bolts in order to return to his side.

With each turn of the corner, this is what they did: shrink, charge, return, repeat.

Bumblebee lost count but by the time they reached the main living floor, her muscles were screaming, her wings throbbing from such use and as she stood in front of the doors, watching the wrecked foyer, littered in metal with the thudding approach of yet more bots, Bumblebee looked over to Cyborg who was rerouting the security keys so that he would be able to open the living room door and not actually destroy it, she saw the way sweat was rolling down his flesh and streaming quickly down his metallic cheek.

"Once your inside, seal the doors. I'll come get you once I've won." She said, Cyborg tore his gaze away from the screen and met her dark eyes with his.

"You can't be serious."

"Deadly. You know the stakes." She snapped, "Theses drones aren't moving quickly. They don't need to. Make it so they regret that." Bumblebee hissed.

With this, she pulled her muscles together and began to fly, hovering in place for only a second, just long enough to make sure Cyborg would do as she asked. She knew it, when the firm set of his mouth turned resolute. She took off down the hall, turned left and started firing at the first drone she saw.

"Get out of our house!"

Cyborg heard Bumblebee roar that, and he could see the flashes of white-hot electricity followed by the cool wash of many sonic canons being released. The smell that followed was of ozone and smelting heat. He got the doors opened and rushed inside. For a moment, he contemplated keeping them open. Let those drone abominations come, he'd break them all. But the burn of Bumblebee's fear darkened eyes, of each team member he'd ordered to fight. Cyborg gripped his hands and slammed them above the panel, and before he could do something rash, Cyborg put his right palm on the scanner and the doors swished closed.

Quickly, Cyborg opened the auxiliary panel in the wall to the left, he delicately pulled the cables and connected them to the palm scanner, then he began what the Tower had been trying to accomplish before it shut itself down, reroute the security protocols to make sure the enemy was attacked and not his team.

Above and below him, Cyborg imagined the battles ensuing, he could smell the choking smoke of weapons fire and the way those chemicals always burned down his throat and the half organic lung he still had. He could hear the deafening roar of feet and fists. But here, the main living room was quiet, oppressively so. The water in the inlaid pool still, no longer lapping at the walkway, looking almost black due to the snowstorm shadowing the moonless night sky.

The main system came online, already Cyborg could see the corrupted code and how it had overwritten his language. He synched it to his system and began the process of eradicating that code. With the Tower dead, the air was still, and it felt as if no oxygen was in the room, only machine.

A small dot pinged in his optic eye, Cyborg answered the call and Phantoms voice translated in his ears as if he were standing beside him and not alone.

"I'm almost done with the security keys on my end. Why did you make this difficult again?" Danny asked. And Cyborg could hear the stressed humor in the halfas voice.

"To keep us alive in a first attack. It worked didn't it." Cyborg said, watching the codes, letting each number pass through his mind, changing the ones that needed changing. The little red dot in his eye fluctuated from Danny's huff.

"How long until the system is purged on your end?"

"Twenty-seconds."

The half-level above Cyborg exploded, pieces of wall and metal slamming down onto the walkway and into the water behind him.

"Cyborg?"

"Time left?"

"Fifteen seconds."

Cyborg disconnected the call. On the balcony, no sound was heard. The mechanical teen stepped away from the console and glared up, fully expecting to see golden drones. Instead, he found Blood standing on top of the railing. The man's billowing robes were gone once more, replaced with the slim maneuverable red, his armored breast plate dully shown in the darkness along with his silver hair. The man stood rigid and cruel, with his arms behind his back as he maliciously smiled down at Cyborg.

"I do believe you owe me a new headquarters."

"What I owe you is a good can of butt-whoop." Cyborg growled.

A malevolent rage twisted across Brother Bloods face, his frame coiling. "You are in my new school. And lesson number one, no one defies Brother Blood!"

Only Cyborg's optic eye could track how fast Blood moved. The man jumped too quickly, and he would have landed on top of Cyborg had he not been able to take a single step back. But Blood countered, raising his right palm and sending an energy strike dead center to Cyborg's chest, sending him flying across the pool and into the side wall. As Cyborg pulled himself up, the codes running through the back of his mind finished. He knew on the display panel a screen was flashing saying that the encryption keys were randomizing.

Unhurried, Blood walked across the water. "Well, I can see someone hasn't studied since our last 'pop quiz.'"

Blood hit solid ground, feet away from him. Cyborg clenched his teeth and stood up, he forced himself to not look at the panel.

"How did you build those second-rate tinmen? You stole my blueprints, but we took them back!" He yelled.

Brother Blood tilted his head mockingly, the corners of his eyes scrunching up in laughter.

"Cyborg, do you really think someone with my mental abilities wouldn't have a photographic memory? Your secrets, all that you are, are right here." The man answered, almost patient in the way he tapped his temple.

Cyborg felt something vile claw at his throat, but he shoved it back as Blood was liquid quick, across the way then right in front of him. Desperately, Cyborg weaved between Blood's fists, losing ground with each step back.

In a hasty move, Cyborg pivoted with his hip, enough to try and draw back his right arm to throw a punch, but Blood wove underneath him, and two palms slammed directly underneath each shoulder blade. They released enough telekinetic energy Cyborg tumbled head over heels and back down into the ground ten feet away. He landed back by the living room doors.

And as he got to his knees, ears ringing, Cyborg knew he had to get the system online.

He couldn't win this. His eyes darted to the console across the narrow walkway. Then Bloods words froze Cyborg in place.

"Just wait until you see what I really have in mind for you!"

Cyborg lurched backwards before his mind fully registered Blood's intent. But he still felt how fingers armored into claws tore through his outer chest plate.

"You are curiosity." Blood calmly spoke, easily dodging Cyborg's wide swing and kicked him three feet closer to the console. He started crawling towards the beacon.

"I've dealt with discipline problems. But none, not Bumblebee, nor even Danny, were fully able to resist the sway of my mind. All except, you."

That last word held Blood's rage.

It held so much that Cyborg screamed in fear of it, even as he was grabbed underneath his armpit and Blood's left hand splayed wide across the back of his skull and, brutally, the man slammed his head into the ground. The nero-circuitry hit the concrete first and the blaze of supernova light seared through his mind and down every nerve in his system both organic and machine.

Then Cyborg felt himself be flipped onto his back, head tilted up to see the flashing console, the palm reader a brilliant green even through the fog of white, waiting for the weight of a physical hand in order to verify that there were people within the Tower still alive, still fighting, still in need of saving.

Cyborg wasn't sure he could, for his thoughts finally made sense the pain; of Brother Blood having been tearing through his chest finally catching up to him.

"What in all this circuitry allows you the will to defy me?!"

He was ripping him apart, each torn wire, each sliced apart blood vessel was coming alive in scorching fire.

Cyborg's hybrid eyes remained locked on that flashing green.

"What powers you?!"

With claws embedded an inch on either side of his sternum in an attempt to pry him open, Cyborg gasped and snapped his head back down to meet those frenzied pitch eyes on that aging face.

"A 50,000-watt power cell!" Cyborg growled, then he deliberately released all of the energy that was trying to save him, trying to repair the damage being caused.

And he fired it from the center of the wound, right into Brother Bloods face.

It hit a poorly erected barrier, but it got Blood off him. Cyborg took satisfaction at hearing the loud thud of the man being unable to right himself for once. Without waiting to see where his enemy was, Cyborg rolled up onto his knees and shuffled the last couple of inches, right arm trembling, his left uselessly covering the small hole at his center, he put his palm to the panel.

The green scanner beeped, the Titans East Tower surged to life, the display of the tower on the console screen bled red and the automated voice of their home began to speak once again.

"Encryption keys, randomized. Security system, resetting. Intruder alert."

That was salvation to Cyborg's ears, as he heard the panels of the Tower open and the security guns drop down, each one locking on to the only threat in the room, Brother Blood.

He heard Brother Blood gasp before the laser guns released their fire. The man let out a roar before a hole was blasted through the living room glass and Cyborg heard a scream of someone falling. He wasn't foolish enough to hope that the Towers rocks would claim the man's life. But he did wish it. And as he slid back to the ground, Cyborg allowed himself a grin. Distantly, he could feel the cold winter wind stirring the now turning water, and how lovely and freezing it felt brushing across his battle heated skin.

"And stay out." He growled, then nothingness took him.

Throughout the Tower, the drones fell to the weapons of their home. Danny felt it the moment the serene humming came back to his senses from where he'd stood guard in front of the ops doors. Drones had arrived the second after letting Cyborg know how long on his end and Danny hadn't been able to even get five feet away from the doors to try and find Aqualad. He hated to admit it, but using his teleportation on living people, ice, and with how strong and dense he'd needed to make all of his shields against those sonic canons, had left the world swaying.

So much so, that Danny had summoned a simple shield and ice sword to fight. Even then, he'd been unable to gain ground. Merely hold it.

But when the words 'intruder alert' resounded, Danny simply placed his shield in front of him, ducked behind it on his knees, and within seconds the thirty encroaching drones were torn apart before him. It happened so fast, that the ringing left in his ears came from the abrupt silence around him.

Without worry, Danny released hold over his weapons, letting them dissipate as he rolled back onto the balls of his feet, and fought to catch unneeded breath as he gazed up at the ceiling, trying to ignore the pain in his head.

Shakily, he stood and walked back into the ops center, making sure each of those robots were well and truly dead, when Más and Menos blurred into existence in front of him, panic swirling like an oil spill in their aura. Both speaking so quickly he couldn't understand.

"Woah, calm down, what's wrong?" Danny asked, looking to Más, who was vibrating furiously but Menos looked closer to crying.

"Señor Cyborg, he's dead!" Más wailed, tears followed this as Menos held his brother's hand and put his other fist in his mouth to stop any sound from passing his lips.

Danny felt the world go static, but he knelt, put one hand on each of the boys shoulders, and pushed past the way his chest had constricted.

"Más, Menos, I need you to tell me where."

Menos pulled out his fist and took three wet breaths, "He's in the living room." He resolutely said.

Danny gave both their shoulders a squeeze and teleported them to the living room. This time, despite the migraine, the shield he erected held after they arrived in the room, but as he scanned the area, no threats entered his awareness, only Cyborg lying motionless on the floor.

Both boys flinched away from the sight.

"Listen, I need both of you to check on the others and bring them here. Can you do that?" Danny said, a separate part of himself impressed by how calm his voice was.

Más gave a hiccup and a nod, then both were gone in a blur of motion. Danny took a breath and went over to his friend. Cyborg looked wrecked, his systems shut down, red eye dull and his human eye closed, and Danny felt a shudder crawl up his spine as he saw his friends aura dimming.

Danny knelt beside Cyborg and pulled out his communicator, hitting the emergency call number. Robin answered on the first ring despite him having obviously been catching up on much needed sleep.

"Report?"

"How do I restart Cyborg's systems?"

That had Robin shooting up in bed.

"What! How?"

"Robin!" Danny snapped, not taking his eyes off their soon to be permanently dead friend.

"Right…" Robin said.

And as Robin worked Danny through rebooting and rerouting Cyborg's systems — which required Danny to open the panel on his head to defer power, no, that did not freak him out— one-by-one the Titans East arrived. Stress lines plain, shoulders tense, but blessedly whole, if a little battered. When Danny finally saw the flicker of white and felt the mechanical hum of Cyborg's aura, the following illumination of Cy's systems released the vice grip over his heart and Danny stood up and stepped away so the others could gather around their friend.

"Danny, is he…?"

"He's fine, Robin. He's waking up now." Danny reassured.

On the tiny screen he watched as Robin fell back on the bed, hair askew and his domino mask slightly off kilter from the rush to put it on. But Danny could feel the relief through the communicator in the way Rob said something in a language the halfa didn't recognize but he felt all the same.

"What happened?"

"Brother Blood managed to infect our security systems and he attacked the Tower. We were able to reset it, no major injuries now that Cy has recovered." Danny stated, watching as the others helped Cyborg to his feet.

"I'll call you back."

"Alright." Robin answered.

The screen went black and after Danny put it away, he crossed his arms over his chest, palms gripping each elbow as the tremors finally came. Then, plastering on relieved smile, he went to join Cyborg and his new team.

"I guess we weathered our first storm." Cyborg said, his left hand carefully covering the hole in his chest.

"We did. And I didn't even have to use all of my arrows and not one of those copycats could even touch me." Speedy smugly said.

Bumblebee rolled her eyes but the hug she gave the archer was firm, shocking the redhead. The relief in her eyes as she met Cyborg's was plain.

"I see you followed my order." She said.

Cyborg grinned, "Only because it made sense."

At this she let out a laugh before pulling him into a hug.

Más jumped up on Menos' shoulders and both began recounting how they'd found power drills and used those to disassemble the drones, demonstrating by using Aqualad as an example before the atlantean gently tapped his fist on top of Menos' head to get them to stop.

"It was a good thing you and Phantom stayed as late as you did. Have you given any more thought into what we asked?" He said after moment.

Cyborg seemed to freeze, then he lowered his eyes to his hands. Dropping them to his sides he met each of the Titans East eyes and gave a nod.

"I have. And I accept. You need me here. You need me more."

At this, they erupted into cheers and grins. Cyborg smiling with them, and even though Danny felt like he'd been punched in the gut, he smiled back to Cyborg when his friend met his eyes.

It took the better part of the night to repair the Tower back into a fortress and less of a B&E waiting to happen. While the other Titans had retired to the secondary living room, Cyborg was finishing the last mainframe computer when Robin called. Danny stood up from the couch he'd been resting on, he'd let his ghost side drop thirty minutes ago to recharge, he gave a wave when Robin appeared across the big vid screen. Their friend in full uniform and looking very much like his usual self.

"Hey, Robin." Danny said, sticking his hands back into the front of his jeans pockets.

Robin's mask lifted slightly.

"Interesting clothing choice."

Danny gave a shrug, "Well, the cold doesn't really bother me so why hide it? Or are you referring to the sea turtle tank Aqualad lent me?"

Robin gave a snort before tilting his head to Cyborg.

"Status report?"

Cyborg slid the massive hard drive in place before standing up and grinning.

"Everything's going well. The Towers up and running, we successfully defended her against one of Brother Bloods attacks and we're ready to start hunting him down."

"Really? From what I heard, you needed to have your systems rebooted." Robin said, he spoke this calmly but for the concern that drew harsh lines across his face.

Danny had to take a step back from how fast Cyborg whirled to face him, his white aura electric from rage.

"You told him?"

Danny forced his shoulders to relax as he met Cyborg's eyes, neither noticing Robin's mouth parting slightly on screen, hurt passing before he smoothed it away.

"Hey, I needed Robin's help in order to reboot you. So don't take my head off." Danny said keeping his voice even, as Cyborg continued to glare at him.

"It doesn't matter what happened," Robin cut in, drawing both teens back to him, "the Tower is fully operational, both of you can return home to help locate Professor Chang. He escaped from prison two nights ago and we've been unable to locate him." Robin said, his tone firm and calm.

"No."

Danny turned back to Cy in surprise, to see his friends' fists clenched at his sides and his aura a tangle of luminescent colors.

"No?" Robin answered, his voice deadly now, his jaw clenching.

Cyborg met his friend's eyes on screen and stepped forward.

"I said no. I'm staying. The Titans East asked me to stay on as their leader and that's exactly what I'm going to do." Cy declared, his spine straight and head tilted up in defiance.

"You only want to be there in order to hunt Blood out of your own vendetta; not from the responsibility of being a leader or a teammate." Robin growled his fist clenching as he leaned forward.

"This isn't about a vendetta, I'm ready to lead. To have my own Tower, my own team. This is supposed to be a good thing!" Cyborg snapped.

"Leading a team isn't supposed to be a big moment. Especially if it means you quiting from a team that already needs you! My team!"

"This isn't about you!" Cyborg yelled.

"No! It's all about you." Robin said, his voice quiet but for the fury buried in those words. "You talk about being a leader as if it's a rite, but you snap at anyone whom you assume is a threat, even your friends, which means you're being nothing more than a selfish child!"

Cy jerked back at this before stepping forward.

"I don't care what you think. I'm staying. And right now, I don't care if I never see or hear from you again!"

With this, Cyborg slammed his palm on the console and disconnected the call. The room darkened in a flash before the soft ambient lighting turned on. Cyborg stood there, breathing in long-smooth motions. When he straightened up to look at Danny the halfa could only see an overcast aura, how shuttered his eyes were.

They both stood eye to eye, silently accessing each other.

"Are you staying or going?" Cy finally asked, his voice calm and polite, devoid of all the rage Danny had just witnessed.

"I'm going to return to Titans Tower." Danny answered, after a moment's thought.

He watched as Cyborg gave a nod before turning back to the computer. The same grey aura choking in its weight. Danny had no idea what it meant but he did know this was something his friend needed to figure out himself.

So, Danny stepped forward and lightly tapped his friend on the arm.

Cy's eyes snapped to his.

"Walk with me to the roof and see me off?" Danny asked, trying to give his best, I-know-we-are-not-on-good-terms-but-I-still-care, smile of reassurance. While Danny is pretty sure he sort of botched at giving that smile, the lines at the corner of Cy's organic eye relaxed the tiniest bit, and Cy gave a nod.

"Sure."

The walk to the elevator was quiet, as was the ride up. When they exited to the outside, Danny felt himself inhale the biting salty air. It's coldness a welcome reprieve from the battle stale air. The newly fallen snow had done well in dampening the world and bringing quietness to contrast the loud, abrasive sounds of humans and their cities.

"Rob wasn't kidding, you aren't cold?" Cy asked, his living flesh breaking out in goose bumps.

Danny rolled his eyes, "Does no one get the meaning of 'ice core.'" He replied with an exasperated smile.

Then, Danny let his core rush over him, and without a thought, let it diverge before him into two blue rings and soon he was Phantom. He rose from the ground. And even though that strange aura was still around his friend, Danny reached forward, and was so grateful when Cy took his arm.

"No matter what, I'm still here for you. We all are." Danny said, he pulled back and ignored the way Cy gave a slight flinch, as if he'd prepared for Danny to snap at him.

"Thanks, man."

Cyborg felt Danny give his palm one last squeeze before letting go and in a swirl of green light, his friend was gone. Standing in only the dark now, Cyborg bowed his head, pulled his spine straight, and pivoted, refocused. His eyes were only on the Titans East doorway as he strode inside. He joined his team in the smaller common area. All of them, nervous, straightened up when he surveyed them.

"Be in the training area at 0600." Cy said, feeling his chest warm at the way they smiled in relief.

"And Phantom?" Bumblebee asked.

Cyborg shook his head.

"He decided to return to Titans Tower. See everyone bright and early."

Cyborg left to eager and bright smiles, each Titan East seeming to look forward to tomorrow's possibilities. When the doors slid shut, every member went slack and cold, eyes red, focus dull, all energy gone with no semblance of who they were in their aura. Loosely, Speedy drew out a HIVE communicator from his belt.

"It worked, Headmaster. Cyborg doesn't suspect a thing."

"Good, my pupils." Came the smug voice, "And what of my errant apprentice?"

"Gone."

"For the best. Now, our plans can begin without worry."

Danny often finds the feelings of clarity and determination become far more uncertain the closer one gets to that which they care most for. And he's not immune to this, fear is scratching away at his mind the second he teleports back into his room in Titans Tower.

His room is exactly as he left it, papers everywhere and couch cushions on the floor from Raven fleeing and his haste to depart. It feels as if he's not been in this room in years. But he pushes aside the anxiety and transforms back into flesh and blood.

First things first, before Danny even wants Raven to see him, he wants to be in clean clothes and hair not smelling of Steel City. So he quickly showers and works on calming his heart. Though as he walks the halls, Robin's room is before Ravens and the door is open wide, sunlight flooding the artificial hall light with yellow rays and Danny has to breathe as he's hit with a different haze that is his friend's aura.

Tampering down on wishing he'd just teleported to Raven's room and ignoring that if he'd done that, it would have been very rude. And he can't in good conscience leave his friend to go through what he's obviously going through, Danny stepped inside. He finds Robin sitting on a meditation mat, facing the sea.

Strangely, Robin was wearing civilian clothes. His mask replaced with wraparound sunglasses and hair free of product. Funnily, Danny notes that Robin's hair likes to stick up in odd places.

All Robin does is tilt his head slightly in acknowledgement as Danny joins him on the floor. He crosses his legs and looks to the ocean.

"Waiting for someone?" Danny asks after three deep breaths of silence and an aura alight in pain.

Robin gives a half grin and a grimace.

"If I say yes but that it wasn't for you, would you take offence?"

"Not at all. Do you want me to leave?"

Robin's shoulders drop as he draws up one knee.

"Not really."

Danny doesn't look to his friend but nods all the same.

"How did everyone else take it?"

"Not well. Star was in near tears, Beastboy was simply lost, and Raven cracked the monitor."

Even though Robin is perfectly still, his heart and breaths even, muscles lax, the noise of his aura keeps filling the room, almost becoming a physical sound, and the dichotomy of this was only worsening.

Yet Danny knew he could do nothing until his friend asked. So the halfa sat there and tried to ignore how Robin's aura was so incessant, it was starting to make him dizzy. Five more deep and silent breaths, then, as the oceans tides had started to shimmer and blend with the sunlight as crying tears, Robin's breath hitched and drew up short and staccato.

"Did…did I do the right thing?" Came his broken voice.

Danny looked to his friend now, and a hollow pit sprouted in his stomach. Was this how Jazz felt every time she'd needed to comfort him, knowing she could do nothing for her little brother? Fix nothing for the person she loved, who was dealing with things that could and did break others?

This hurt in ways Danny hadn't known he could feel.

For so long, he was the one carrying everything. Now he found this family, and each were weathering under weights no one should bear. And Danny felt wretched, he couldn't lift this for Robin, he couldn't mend this pain. All he could do is what his older sister did. So, Danny took a breath, felt Jazz's breath fill his lungs, and felt her words move through his lips, "Robin, you did everything right. Now, it's out of your hands and it's for Cyborg to work through. All you can do is wait and let it move past you."

"But I won't be there to help him." Robin said, his frame beginning to tremble.

So Danny scooched closer until they were shoulder to shoulder then he linked their arms together.

"No, you aren't. But he's watched you lead, seen you train, and has learned through your friendship."

"And when he needs our help? He probably won't even call." Robin said, his scowl deepening.

Danny wasn't sure how he could answer, for he wasn't sure. He knew Cyborg wasn't above asking for help. But he'd also seen that pride and blind determination to stop Brother Blood. Thankfully, he felt the warming rays of Starfire's aura as she entered the room.

"Then we will check-up on him. For a good leader does not turn away assistance because of their quarrels." She said firmly, coming to sit on Robin's other side, linking her arm in Robin's. Danny gave a small smile to her and disentangled himself, seeing how Robin's aura was finally settling. As he moved to close the door, he heard Starfire quietly murmur.

"This is a good form of human camaraderie?" She asked.

Robin's quiet laugh and response of, "yes, it is," gave Danny hope, and he sent a thankful thought to his sister for always being needlessly pushy. He asked for her support one more time when he arrived at Raven's room. Danny stood there, then gave a knock. The door swished open and there Raven stood. Her hood down, and dark circles under her eyes. She met his eyes then looked away.

"Hey."

Danny slowed his quickening heart, "Hi, can we talk?" He asked.

He waited as he watched Raven shift on her feet, her amethyst eyes cloudy and unfocused, then she moved her arms and crossed them under her chest as she stepped back into the room. Her unsure eyes met his, as if she'd lost a battle.

"Sure."

Even though it wasn't a steady invitation, Danny knew it was a chance. So he stepped inside and closed the door.

Cyborg was up an hour before training, he used that time to haul as much of the drones as he could onto carts for transportation. In doing this, he was able to see the craft and work that had gone into them. True, they had been mass produced, which presented the question of where the materials had been gathered and where they had been assembled, but each had also be critiqued by human hands; one whose expertise was frightening in how well they'd handled the finite programming. That also made disposing of them a far greater problem.

It had the new leader pondering this when his team arrived for their first training session.

Aqualad and Bumblebee where the first to arrive. Both looking tired but at least alert. Speedy followed behind, pace slower and his fiery hair disheveled. So, it surprised Cyborg immensely when Más and Menos were the furthest thing from awake, both boys yawning as they came to stand next to the archer. The brothers using each other as sleeping supports.

Cyborg was fairly certain the boys were even alternating who went in and out of consciousness with the way they would sway, come to, and then sway in the opposite direction.

However, all were true to their word as the clock hit 0600.

"Good morning, Titans East."

"Is it good?" Más mumbled, stretching up a little before coming back down and linking his arm with his brothers.

"I think it is only morning." Menos confirmed, nodding sagely to his brother.

This caused Aqualad to grin and lift an eyebrow playfully to the brothers, "For being the fastest you sure are slow to wake."

Speedy gave a huff and pulled out his comb. "Hey, sleeping is an art as is waking up, scales."

"Sí." Más and Menos agreed.

Cyborg had to force himself not to laugh but he couldn't forgo the smile nor hide his amusement.

"Well, how about this for the morning warm-up, we're going to gather all the drones and load them up on a transport to be properly disposed of in Happy Harbor."

"Why not here in Steel City?" Speedy asked, putting his comb away as he came to, hair now perfect.

Bumblebee stepped forward and met Cy's eyes in understanding, "You're worried about leaving your tech exposed."

"I am. While the drones weren't as advanced, we can't risk any piece of it being reverse engineered. So, let's get crackin'."

Clean up took two days and one shipping container filled to the brim of every last drone. Bumblebee closed the storage door and keyed the lock in place.

"Alright, our Tower is officially back to the original Cyborg only." She said, grinning fondly at him as she met Cyborg by the garage door, the lights automatically flicking off.

"Guess you'll have to make do." Cy said, turning to the side and letting her walk out first. The elevator ride up was comfortable and they got off on the main living deck, walking into the rest of the team all sitting down for dinner.

"What is this, scales?" Speedy asked, as he hesitantly used his fork to poke at their dinner resting in the center of the table in a massive cast iron skillet, slices of hot naan on the side. Aqualad swatted said fork with his wooden spoon.

"It's delicious, is what it is." He said primly, before growling lightly, "and don't call me scales."

"You always say that when the atlantean name is too difficult to pronounce to us landers." Bee replied as she moved to grab her tea from the fridge, then joining them at the table, next to Más and Menos, who were already heaping a healthy amount into their bowls.

"Ture, I did modify it for your biology." Aqualad freely admitted.

Cyborg looked at the savory, steaming dish and felt dread.

"Oh no, there's no meat in this, is there?"

Aqualad shot him a look and gave a smirk before taking Cyborg's bowl from him and as he filled it, he spoke, "Have you ever considered the possibility that Beastboy simply isn't a good cook?"

Before setting the bowl down in front of the mechanical leader with a thunk, as if in a challenge.

"Is that seaweed?"

"Yes, with a hearty helping of other greens, veggies, beans and above all else, spices."

Cyborg had to admit, it did smell heavenly and everyone else was heartily digging in, even Speedy hadn't mumbled a word, having already finished his first bowl and going for a second.

Aqualad took his seat next to Cyborg and waited, his own bowl in front of him remaining untouched.

"What?"

"Old rules, the cook doesn't eat until all others have."

"You should try it, Sparky." Bumblebee said before biting into her naan.

So, facing his fear, Cyborg picked up his spoon, made sure to get a little of everything and tried it. The explosion of salt, rich in spicy heat and a sweet finish alone had Cy moaning, between soft greens and the firmness of roasted veggies, it kept a perfect balance of texture.

Cyborg had to put his spoon down and look Aqualad dead in the eye, feeling all of the Titans East hold their breath.

"Beastboy can't cook." He declared.

The atlantean burst into laughter along with the others.

"I told you; you'd like it!" Bee sang.

"It's great!"

After dinner had passed, and the team retired to their rooms, Speedy was drying the dishes while Cyborg sat at the round table and finished the transport details on his holo-screen. Dismissing it, the archer heard him yawn, before he stood.

"Well, I'm off for some R&R."

Speedy gave a hum, content to let Cyborg leave except for the sudden incessant feeling scratching at his mind.

"Wait, when will we be able to get those drones transported?"

"Hmm? Martian Manhunter says in nine days." Cy answered, his fingers absently tapping on the tabletop.

Speedy put the last dish away and started drying his hands.

"Will you be able to pull any residual chemicals from them? I mean for tracking purposes? The Tower did a number on them."

"True, but I was able to pull from some of the ones Phantom took out. Got the computer in my lab analyzing them now, so one can only hope. May be able to trace their manufacturing location. See you tomorrow, Speedy." Cy said, turning and heading out the door.

"See you tomorrow." The archer replied, his frown now gone with a small smile. When the doors firmly closed all traces of the archer vanished. His hands fell to his sides as a soft gasp of pain left his mouth, then he knew no more.

Except the world held a red tint to it. In this hell scape, he walked the halls of his new home, heading down into the garage and waited unmoving as each teammate joined him.

"Report." Bumblebee said.

"Transport will be in nine days. Cyborg has samples being analyzed in the lab now." He answered, watching as Más held out his hand so a communicator was in the middle of the group.

Over it, he heard a chuckle that made every nerve come alight in his spine in a desperate attempt to run. He stayed bound in place and told himself that he'd wake up soon.

"Good. A cargo unit will be there tomorrow for replacement. Bring that unit to me, my students."

In a flash, a holo-map, looking violet in shade, appeared of Steel City where a beacon shown flashing in the old automotive plants.

Aqualad shifted in the shadows, "Coordinates received."

"Aqualad, contaminate those samples."

"Understood."

"Excellent. See you tomorrow night, my students."

The communication ended, and Más lowered his hand and Roy felt himself join his teammates in saying, "See you tomorrow, Headmaster." Instead of screaming.

Why wasn't he screaming?

One by one, they filed out, and vainly, Roy tried to reach forward to grab Aqualad's shoulder. He could almost feel his fingers twitch but soon the atlantean disappeared down the hall, heading towards the lab and Speedy's feet carried him past his friend and before the archer knew it, he was in front of his room.

The door opened to a void of darkness and Speedy knew he was screaming, though his throat never moved, and he pulled his legs back, even as his feet pushed him forward. The darkness engulfed him. And Speedy was bolting upright in bed, the sheets tangled around his boxers, half on the floor, his hand holding his short knife before him.

"Computer, lights." Roy ordered hoarsely, instantly they flicked on, the glow soft as starlight revealing that he was safe. His bow and quiver were by his bed, his uniform folded on the chair at the desk, the only thing amiss was that Roy had forgotten to remove his socks. Trembling slightly, he yanked them off and tossed them towards the closet. All the while breathing out the words that he was safe.

He was safe.

Shoving the knife back underneath his pillow, Roy collapsed on his bed and blinked around the red blotch in his vision. He closed his eyes while facing the lamp on his nightstand and for the rest of the night dozed in a restless slumber.

The next morning, Cyborg began running them through drills. And while it was by no means easy, Speedy couldn't shake the weakness pulling at his bones, nor the aggravation which scorched beneath his chest when he loosed his arrows too slowly, or reacted too late.

"Speedy, don't forget to breathe, otherwise you'll tire out to soon." Cyborg called from the console while he repositioned the drones for a new attack.

Roy landed and bit back his retort.

"You got it, boss." He said instead, wiping the sweat from his forehead away with the back of his vambrace.

That was the only reprieve he got. Soon Roy was dodging again, gritting his teeth as he tried to overcome the fatigue, because slowness got people hurt. Injured. Roy could almost hear the pling, pling of nails hitting the rubber casing of the Towers pipes, 1/8" away from scale's flesh…a drones laser clipped the side of his shoulder, and Roy grunted and cursed before pivoting and drawing his short knife, threw it to the place where the drone would be. The blade embedded straight into the laser and sent the thing crashing to the ground.

The drone sparked and fizzled on the training room floor before a stunned Cyborg.

Dismissing the console with a swipe, Cyborg walked over, palms in the air.

"Hey man, don't be afraid to go a little easy, this is just an assessment." Cy softly spoke, so as to not draw their teammates away from their own tasks.

Bumblebee, Más and Menos were on the far side of the gym closest to the windows overlooking the sea, she was taking the brothers through a series of gymnastics exercises that had the boys undivided attention.

Only the tilt of her chin gave away that she knew something was amiss. By the small pool, Roy could see Aqualad sitting cross-legged on the floor, his attention on controlling the movements of the water with every breath he took, making waves form and then disperse. It made something hot boil in his blood.

Rarely had Speedy actively seen Aqualad in close combat. And they very well couldn't make use of two long range fighters. Snapping his eyes back to Cyborg, Roy let out an explosive amount of air before going to retrieve his knife.

"You don't need to be assessing my long-range abilities. You know what I can do with a bow. You should be focusing on Aqualad's close range combat. Have you seen how actively he avoids fists? It's gonna get him killed." Roy snapped, turning back to Cyborg and sheathing the blade.

He meant for this speech to get Cyborg off his back but instead he met their new leaders steady gaze and somehow felt as if he'd bared too much of himself. It made the archer acutely aware of how tight his shoulders had become.

Then, Cyborg nodded, made a quick note on his arm and said, "You're right. Hey Aqualad, get over here!"

Cy called, giving an easy grin as the Atlantean turned to look at them before rolling gracefully to his feet and jogging over. Roy suddenly wished he'd kept his big mouth shut and his temper in check.

"Yeah?" Aqualad asked.

"I want to see your hand to hand against Speedy. Both of you without your powers or weapons." Cyborg said, directing that last bit to Speedy, who grimaced before unclipping his quiver and setting his blades to the side.

"This is not what I had in mind." Speedy grumbled. Aqualad lifted one dark eyebrow and smirked.

"Oh? You mean to say you wanted a chance to actually win." He said, moving further onto the mat, rolling his shoulders before pivoting to face Speedy, every ounce of his body broadcasting confidence yet for the tight pinch of worry about his eyes, but this was so small it shouldn't be mentioned.

The almost arrogant ease in which Aqualad moved set Speedy's blood pressure rushing behind his ears, trying to build itself into a decent blush. He refused it on principal.

"You wish, scales." Roy snapped, enjoying the frown of irritation his nickname pulled from Aqualad.

From behind him, he heard their leader sigh, and Roy could almost feel them testing Cy's patience.

"Remember, just an assessment," Cy stressed, "First one pinned for three second ends the fight. Go!"

Roy decided to go in hot, aggressively setting the tone of the fight. Determined to find out how comfortable Aqualad was fighting on land. It comes as a surprise the ease with which scales can move, despite having a larger build. He wove around Roy with quick steps, circular turns, and blocks that were forcing Roy to reconsider how much strength he put behind his blows, lest he tire out.

As he dodges a palm strike which would have winded him, Roy realized this is what scales is going for. Wear his opponent out, then take them down. So, he chose to breathe harder, watching the way Aqualad's nostrils flare, taking in the scents, how the gills in his neck moved to draw in a greater amount of oxygen, then he steps in closer. When Roy deflects a stronger punch, he doesn't have to fake how it makes his arms tremble.

The exact moment Aqualad switches to offensive, Roy anticipates; he remembers how the atlantean takes down weaker opponents without hurting them. His first strike always has enough force to stun, then his second is to get them on the ground and apprehend them with little injury. Roy knows if he can't down Aqualad before the second stance, the atlantean will realize what he's playing at and change tactics. Then Roy will royally lose this fight.

Feinting a retreat, Roy backs up, and Aqualad follows, throwing a punch with his left arm, the archer calculates the force scales puts in it and moves into his friends' space, barely dodging the outstretched arm. Speedy feels a rush of pride at seeing Aqualad's surprise, causing the second lid in his friends eyes to blink, showing for half-a-second the two deep indigo-violet iris' beneath; before Roy slams into the atlantean's chest, slots his legs in place, pivots and as Aqualad is falling back first to the mat, Roy grabs that outstretched arm, they both go down and Roy's still moving, securing his legs over Aqualad's neck and chest. He hears Aqualad snarl and buck, tightening his trapped arm in an attempt to break the hold, but Roy's got his palms in place over Aqualad's left wrist and palm. Then he's bearing his weight on Aqualad's chest, hears a rushed word of, "Don't!" and pulls Aqualad's body towards him and the pinned arm as well.

He intentionally doesn't use a lot of force and was already going to halt his move because Roy was only trying to show Cyborg that Aqualad often underestimates the durability of humans, which could get him in trouble if he's ever confined in closed quarters, but suddenly there is a terrible pop and Roy can feel the grind of Aqualad's shoulder tearing out of place under his thigh. Roy releases his hold, sits up and watches in horror as Aqualad rolls onto his right side, back towards him in tense lines of pain, his left shoulder bulging unnaturally.

"How…" Roy says dazedly, hearing the thud of Cyborg's boots coming towards them, then he's kneeling by the atlantean's side, scanning the shoulder, mouth set as he looks over the readings.

"Aqualad…" Cyborg starts to say but Roy can't breathe, and his voice feels unbearably loud in his ears.

"That shouldn't have happened. I didn't even use enough strength for a human! I…"

He hurt Aqualad, his teammate, he miscalculated.

Again.

Aqualad's pain ridden eyes dart up to meet his and Roy nearly throws up right there, because the atlantean was waving Cyborg away and pointing to him in concern. When Cyborg finally looks his way, Roy couldn't be here anymore.

"Speedy, I'm gonna need you to breathe in and hold it," Cy said, gently helping Aqualad to stand and making to step towards him.

Roy feels himself shake his head violently, and he manages to stumble up onto his feet.

"No!"

Then he's running out the door, a chill set deep in his bones, his vision tinted in surreal colors of red. The tactile sensations of his friends' shoulder being ripped out of place, the cool warmth of a palm in his playing over and over across his skin, and from it the horror of how his strength and temper always end up hurting those he cares for.

Roy wonders if he were a prisoner within his own body.

Aqualad was sitting on one of the hard medical beds, arm protectively cradled in front of him, the ice cooling his overstretched muscles and numbing the pain, waiting for Cyborg to finish the scans of his shoulder. It had taken some work to ease the top half of his uniform from around the bulge. But now it sat folded along with his gloves on the seat next to him. He can tell by the thunder cloud of a frown on his leaders face as he reads over the results that there will be a conversation.

Cyborg sets the data pad down, removes the ice, and slowly, and with the ease of having done this many times, they work through resetting his shoulder. When it finally clicks back in place, Aqualad lets out a groan and unclenches his teeth, sitting back up. Cyborg quietly helps him put on a soft cotton shirt that clasps with a simple velcro-strip over his left hip, leaving bare his whole left arm, the electric burn scar that wraps around the whole of his bicep for all to see. Finally, as Cyborg finishes setting the sling in place, an automatic self-regulating ice pack taped in place, did the man come to stand in front of the atlantean, eyes dark with sympathy.

"You don't have to tell me how, but we do need to talk about a treatment plan." Cyborg says, his words are low and filled with such care and without judgement that it nearly makes Gar'remnyth pitch forward from the flood of relief.

Instead, he nods and manages to get out a wet, "Thank you."

Cyborg gives a tight nod, then reaches for the glass of water and pain pills he'd put on the counter and hands them over.

"My scans indicate the current passed through your heart and exited from your right foot. Not counting your weakened shoulder, what else are you experiencing?"

Gar'remnyth looks down to his bound arm and sighs, "My left arm spasms at times and I can't grip as well as I should. Finite motions are difficult, and as this is my dominant hand, problematic when I need to hold a physical weapon."

He looks back up to watch as his leader makes quick notes in his pad and finds it easier to keep those memories locked away.

"Anything else?"

Now for the worst of it, Gar'remnyth thinks, ignoring the screaming that if he tells Cyborg this, he'll have no use, won't matter; like how he hadn't mattered even to his King.

"I— I can't communicate to my fellow sea peoples. I can't even hear them." He whispers.

Cyborg isn't writing anymore, his human eye blown wide, and it has Gar'remnyth bracing himself for the inevitable.

But gently, a warm metal hand is coming up and cradling the back of his head as Cyborg carefully tugs him forward into a hug, tucking his head underneath his chin so that all Gar'remnyth can see is the flowing circuitry of his leader.

"Aqualad, it's alright." Cyborg whispers, it makes something ache inside Gar'remnyth.

Cyborg pulls back, but his hand he leaves firmly on Gar'remnyth's right shoulder, his face solemn, eyes leaving no room for the Atlantian to doubt his words.

"Your injuries are only months old. Aqualad, you're still healing. Have you had any aid from your people?"

The fact that Gar'remnyth can only sit on the med bay and tremble is answer enough. Cyborg has to close his eyes for a moment but when he straightens up and opens them, they are tempered and are only focused on his friend.

"Alright. I'll need to run some more tests but for now go get some rest. We'll talk tomorrow to go over a treatment plan." Cyborg says.

In a daze, Gar'remnyth stands and deftly gathers his uniform, as he heads for the door, thoughts of how useless he is war with the comfort of a steady hand holding him. It makes Gar'remnyth stop and turn to regard Cyborg as his new leader, who's cleaning up the med bay.

"Does this mean I'm still apart of Titans East?" He asks, wondering why those words were so difficult to get out, and for a moment the room shifts and the overhead lights are no longer tinted pink.

Cyborg stops what he's doing and the sheer look of disbelief that Gar'remnyth would even consider that he wasn't is reassurance enough.

"Aqualad, even if you decide to leave, you'll always have a place here."

Gar'remnyth can only duck his head so that he can take the weight of this.

As he's heading back to his room, the hallway right before flicks on its lights. He nearly stumbles as he turns towards it. Nothing is there, just doors and the one with the side stairwell. Gar'remnyth feels his heart begin to race but he walks down the hall anyways. To the stairwell door and sees how the handle is warped and bent, as if one were trying to stop themselves.

Vaguely, he knows the door leading to level twenty-three will have the same warped metal, that Cyborg's lab samples are tainted…

Dread knots deep in his stomach as Gar'remnyth's eyes trace the patterns of the metal and he knows that pattern will fit his left palm. The pain in his shoulder ignites, hot as fire and Gar'remnyth shudders as he feels the strangeness of another pain, one just as red, hovering out of sight but there nonetheless.

The hall light flicks off again, startling Gar'remnyth and the thing behind his vision overwhelms him once more.

When the door to the med bay quietly swishes closed, Cyborg has to brace both his hands flat on the countertop and simply breathe. He's seen a lot in his life, hell, he's been through a lot. But for a moment, Cy remembers how much life can still hurt.

It's only been a few days and he has to push back the growing terror that these Titans are following him. Listening to him and already holding his opinions above theirs. That they do see him as their leader. And even though they're hurt, and broken in certain ways, they're trying. They're strong, and still they asked him to do this.

So, he presses his palms and focuses on the particulates of the wood grain and counts until he feels grounded again. He finishes straightening up the med bay then hails Bumblebee. She answers on the second ring, her holo-screen pulling up to show her in the kitchen holding two cups of tea. Cyborg can just make out the small living room and a splash of red hair poking above a mountain of blankets. Más and Menos were slowly approaching said mound, each holding a large bag filled to the brim with tacos from the place they knew the archer loved.

"How's Speedy doing?"

"Better. He had a panic attack but he's coming out of it. How's Aqualad?" Bee asks, concern lining her eyes even as her hands steadily pour a generous amount of honey in one teacup. Cyborg fondly notes that it has a cartoon archer of the fox from that one Disney movie on it.

"Recovering. Bumblebee, do you know about his injuries?" Cy asks, intently watching how she stills. She puts the honey away, and then looks back to him.

"After we destroyed Blood's second school, Aqualad helped me track him, but he still split his time working with me and his duties to Atlantis and Aquaman." Bee starts slowly, a frown darkening her face, "Then he disappeared for two weeks, I couldn't contact anyone. You know how secretive Atlantis still is." Bumblebee said, scorn buried deep within her words, "They could actually be destroyed and we'd never know," She says with a grin that is anything but cheerful. "Then he showed back up, I've helped treat some of his nerve pain. But no, he's not told me anything." Bee finished and Cyborg could see how much not knowing pained her, replacing her anger with only the concern of a friend.

"Thanks." Cyborg said, with a nod Bumblebee dismissed the screen.

This left him with few options, but he was team leader now, and so, Cyborg bit back his pride and then called Titans Tower. It rang for what felt like eternity and just when Cyborg began feeling the sting of betrayal. Of no longer being answered by his former team, his friends…the call picked up with Beastboy nearly slamming face first in the monitor in his haste to answer it.

For a moment, the new leader couldn't tell if he was relieved or disappointed that it was Beastboy who answered.

"Cyborg, you called! I mean, what's up?" Beastboy asked, deliberately straightening up and settling into an easy posture, hands on his hips, only his ears gave him away with how they twitched, betraying his nervous energy.

It made Cy's chest ache fiercely and want to drag his friend in a headlock to ease his friend's worries.

"Hey man, would you mind doing me a favor?"

"Ah…depends on the favor?"

"I need you to go to my…old…room and pull Tram's contact beacon. It's atlantean tech, so I hadn't gotten around to integrating it to my systems."

Beastboy visibly relaxed, "Sure. Where is it and what's it look like?"

"Rob should know. Will you have Raven or Danny bring it as soon as possible."

"Oh. So, I guess that means…of course it means that. You're really not coming back?" Beastboy said, dropping his gaze to the ground, all bravado gone.

Cyborg had to remind himself about the titans currently under his care. But his friend needed him too.

"I'm sorry. I'm leader of Titans East but Beastboy that doesn't change our friendship."

Well, that was officially the last thing I should have said, Cyborg thinks, internally cringing but forcing himself to keep it out of his reassuring expression.

For a moment, Beastboy looks mutinous but then it passes and he gives a tight smile.

"Yeah, alright. I'll go find Rob and we'll get that communicator to you. Be safe, okay?"

"You got it, B." Cy answered.

With a half wave and green eyes not meeting his, Beastboy disconnected the call.

Cyborg waved to the dark screen anyway.

About an hour after dinner, Cyborg enters the living area to find Más and Menos sandwiching Speedy on the couch, both boys fast asleep with the crown of their heads pressing into each of the archers' sides, using his mountains of blankets as their make shift pillows. Roy had freed his upper body from his couch blankets and was calmly watching a live feed from one of the national parks showing the star darkened woods.

Karen noticed him tense slightly as Cyborg walked in, but how he relaxed when all their leader did was pick-up the many food wrappers on the coffee table and quietly ask the archer if he wanted more tea. She couldn't hear her teammates response but as Cyborg joined her in the kitchen and seeing as he got the water boiling, it made her chest ache fondly.

"We're not like your team back home, are we?" She stated, gently shooing him out of the way lest he add to many tea leaves to the steeper.

Cyborg pulls the honey from the cupboard instead and met her eyes with a small smile.

"No. A lots the same, a lots different."

Karen gave a vibrating hum and handed him the mug of tea, watching Cyborg stir in the honey. She waits until he'd dropped off the mug and rejoined her at the island, both sitting on the bar stools.

"You said you helped Aqualad with the pain."

She knew this was coming, if Cyborg was going to lead them, he needed to know them.

"I studied neurology at university. And after my mutation, well, I'm far more attuned to electrical signals. So while I don't know much about atlantean physiology…"

"You were able to glean enough to help." Cyborg finished and Bumblebee gave a nod.

"What about Speedy?"

Karen gave a snort, shooting the archer a quick glance over her shoulder, one filled with fondness.

"Hothead? Found him while every lead I had tryin' to track Aqualad went dry. Can't honestly remember what I said that made him want to stick around. But I think he prefers getting his ass handed to him over drowning in a bottle of Hendricks."

"You handing him his ass or Aqualad?" Cy snarked and Karen couldn't stop her bark of laughter and she had to suppress her giggles at the way Cyborg was suggestively wiggling his eyebrow. She lightly shoved him with her shoulder.

"You noticed that, too?" She said.

"Hard not to since he only reaches for his comb when he thinks Aqualad may notice him."

"I think he's still in denial." Bee freely admitted.

Both fell into an easy silence. When the room became washed in violet light, Karen and Cyborg turned to see Speedy stretching before going to pick-up both brothers. They all looked so precious, even if Bumblebee knew Speedy was going to regret carrying all that weight in the morning.

"Goodnight y'all." Speedy whispered quietly.

Both bid him a goodnight.

Cyborg turned back to the table and pulled out a data pad, flicking it on.

"Is something wrong with your tech?" Bumblebee noted, seeing how it was washed in violet light. Cyborg gave her a confused look.

"I have the blue light turned down, if that's what you mean?" He said, opening one file that seemed to be filled with atlantean medical texts and the other of Aqualad's scans.

Karen shifted in her seat suddenly feeling uneasy, as if someone were watching her. But she pushed it aside as Cyborg pointed to where Aqualad had sustained his injury.

"Now, when helping him, how strong a current do you use and where?"

Together, they worked late into the night. Pouring over medical texts and forming a better treatment plan to aid their friend.

It was around 1am when Karen jolted fully awake in bed.

"Who's there?" She hissed, raising her fist to the pitch-black room. Why couldn't she make out her bedroom?

Desperately, she realized this was a night terror and testing it, she waved her palm in front of her face. Nothing. Not even shadows could be seen. Yep. Another night terror.

Instead, Karen focused on her breathing, and worked to bring herself to wakefulness. Just as she felt the humming of her electricity arcing in her palms did a sudden wave of sheer malicious evil drop down on top of her.

Karen screamed as the world came into focus but through the haze of red. She watched as her golden electricity dissipated and felt as she swung her legs out of bed and got dressed. In black terror, Bumblebee realized her body wasn't hers. It was a familiar feeling and as her feet carried her to the garage hanger, where Speedy was opening the doors to allow Más and Menos to load up the shipping container onto a ship while Aqualad directed a fake to land in its place with the waves he controlled, Karen didn't scream. Her rage would only be used against her.

Instead, she let her body go completely, became a passenger above even the red haze. Up here, she looked through her neural network. Searching her mind, finding the connections needed, they were all firing, blazing with light and heat and it took time and a good ear to seek out the connections that would electro-shock her whole body. Strong enough to kick that bastard out, but not enough to send her into the next life.

Just like riding a bike, Karen chanted, searching and there! She found it and before Bumblebee could even contemplate how much this was going to hurt…again, she lit up her body like a Christmas tree strung with EDM strobe lights and came crashing back as the only driver in Her body, to find Brother Blood examining Más and Menos running on a treadmill while Speedy and Aqualad off-loaded the destroyed drones by hand. Both boys fatigued from the hours of work.

"Stop!" She screamed, drawing her weapons and taking to the air, buzzing furiously.

Brother Blood looked up from his notes and growled.

"Honestly, I must be getting old, this can be the only explanation. Students, bring her to me." Blood ordered.

Bumblebee had only a moment, she shrank down and dodged Más and Menos, she sent a small zap near their joined hands watching how they jolted away from each other. She reached for her communicator at her hip and felt nothing there. That was when a wall of water slammed into her and she went careening across the room catching snatches of drones being manufactured, a man in a gray hazmat suit building red and silver prosthetics, then she hit a support beam. When the world swam back into focus, Karen found herself back to her normal size, strapped standing to a table. Her team surrounding her.

"No. Wake up! This is real, fight it!" She begged, struggling against her bonds.

Brother Bloods laugh sent ice down her spine, but she bit back the fear and the wave of menacing energy trying to reclaim its foothold.

"I'm afraid your friends are gone." Blood said, walking around the table and grinning at her, his teeth on display and his eyes swirling in madness.

"Now, you're going to give in, my darling student." He said, increasing his focus on her and Bumblebee had to bite the inside of her cheek bloody to keep him out.

"Sir, preparations for your surgery are complete."

Abruptly, Bloods mental presence vanished as he turned away and Karen let out a sob as she once again looked to her friends.

Realistically, she knew their chances but above all else she hoped Aqualad could break free and of them all, he had the best chance at hearing her.

"Aqualad," She tried, fighting past how even her voice hurt, "Aqualad, please, this isn't fake. It's real. You can smell, it's real." She whispered, hearing the man discuss with Blood the outfitting process of armor, disposal of limbs and entrails.

A flicker of confusion passed over her friends' face. Then Aqualad blinked, right arm coming up to hold his injured shoulder, and he saw her.

Karen felt her heart leap in her throat.

"Bumblebee?" He scratchily said.

"Oh no you don't." Blood said, and Karen screamed as the man suddenly appeared behind her friend, his arm grabbing the junction of Aqualad's shoulder and digging into the nerve bundle at the same moment he yanked the teens face to meet his violent red eyes. A pained shout left her friend.

Tears streamed down Karen's face as she watched black eyes bleed red, then his body went lax and Aqualad was back to standing at attention and her friend was gone. And when Brother Blood turned his eyes upon her, Bumblebee felt him latch onto her pain.

This time, she couldn't keep him out.

Now, with all five of his students proudly standing before him, his sentries being made and Professor Chang bringing forth what would soon be his new body, Brother Blood spread his arms before them and grinned.

"In a matter of hours, I will be made anew, and we will begin recruitment. Return to your Tower and wait for my signal. Then, we shall begin."

Placing their arms over their hearts, his pupils bowed.

"Yes, Headmaster." They all spoke, each inflection, each pitch all unified. Music to Blood's ears.

With a wave, he dismissed them all. Walking through the door, he entered the small office, retrofitted as a surgeon's room. Blood stripped off his white robe and got onto the operating table and looked at the prosthetics that would soon become him. Professor Chang, stood off on the side, eyes blood red, saw in hand.

"I do believe we are ready to begin." Blood ordered.

The professor got to work.

Training for the day had been long, but productive.

Sure, Cyborg knew they had much to improve on. While Speedy had become more cautious, no longer impulsively acting and allowing his temper to drive him, Aqualad now seemed determined to do all he could to provoke said temper. The benefit from this however, came from the fact that both were quickly learning when to alternate from long range to short range attacks, covering the others blind spots.

Más and Menos were another story. Both tended to simply act, switching from one erratic move to another. Resulting in general mayhem at best and at worst, if they were separated, both had very little knowledge of hand to hand. By far, Bumblebee had the greatest analytical mind, and Cyborg relied heavily on her during training as she was quickly able to get everyone under control so that Cyborg could correct their missteps and run the drills again.

They'd only taken short breaks, resting briefly for lunch then resuming until late afternoon. As such, Cy felt the need to make his hearty 3 meat and spaghetti as a reward. Especially when he noticed how much the twins were yawning. The spices alone had everyone drawn to the lounge, their mouths watering long before it was ready.

The two-hour simmer time made it worth it however, and easily Cyborg lifted the metal pot and placed it on the table. He lifted the lid and after the first wave of steam wafted in the air, it brought back memories of his grandma.

Fondly, Cyborg gazed at her creation before belting out, "Dinner's ready!"

Those simple words had every one of the Titans, except Speedy, surrounding the steaming pot, bowls and spoons at the ready.

"Woah, Cyborg that smells incredible!" Aqualad said.

Más and Menos seemed to be having a mental break at the thought of meat from a chicken, meat from a pig, and meat from a cow all coming together as one sauce.

"It seems too good to be true!" Both exclaimed, falling back in their seats with awe.

Bumblebee shook her head at the boys' antics but placed a hand on her hip and turned her amused eyes to Cyborg.

"What did we do to deserve this, Sparky?" She asked.

"Well, I know we're still working on the team thing. That these last few days have been all kinds of stressful and that we've had a rocky start, but this is my way of saying, 'Thank you. Thank you for choosing to let me lead you.'" Cyborg said earnestly. The truth of these words hitting him for the first time; that he hadn't expected to lead them. They had asked him too. This wasn't his big moment, but his duty.

Robin swam before behind his eyes.

He almost missed grabbing the thermal arrow that would have imbedded itself into his chest. Cyborg stumbled back and hit the ground, hard.

"You're welcome." Speedy answered, face expressionless and the lens of his face mask glowing an ominous red.

All their eyes began to glow.

"No."

"Hate to disappoint you, Sparky," Bumblebee said, trailing off as she came to stand beside Aqualad, something twisted in her grin that was the same across Aqualad's.

"But you're not our leader." He finished, raising his hand letting water collect and swirl menacingly.

They attacked, and Cy kicked up and hit the table, sending it and its steaming contents, flying. As his team scattered, Cyborg got to his feet and jumped over the railing. He hit the floor below and dodged the volley of arrows sent his way.

"Come on! Brother Blood is controlling you, fight it!" He screamed, grunting as Más and Menos blurred into focus before they nailed him in his gut.

As he headed for the water, he used the freefall to activate his emergency beacon, opening a single channel, desperately coding one thought in 1's and 0's that would reconstruct without emotion, save for the understanding of what it meant, "Compromised, my team. Blood, help them," then he hit the water where Aqualad was waiting, black hair flowing around vile red eyes.

Cyborg knew nothing more.

"I Know Anger, I Know Peace, I Know Darkness & It Knows Me.

And It Knows Me."

-Avi Kaplan

Rising

Part IV

When awareness finally came, Cyborg was surprised that he even woke. He could feel the last of his nano cells leave his lungs clear of the water that had almost drowned him. But in his throat, he could still feel the rawness.

He was awake. But in some ways that was worse; for his team surrounded him, blankly staring at him without care, only in servitude of their master.

"No." Cyborg groaned before a coughing fit took him, but that pain was nothing from how he couldn't stop looking at each of them: Más and Menos, Speedy, Aqualad, Bumblebee.

"No."

Behind them were four blank faced gold sentries. His friends stood as still as the drones, drawing only enough breath to keep functioning.

Cyborg screamed, he roared and yanked at the shackles keeping him bound to their round table, where he was now splayed upright like a specimen to be ripped apart.

Yet the louder he yelled, the more deafening the silence.

And in it, he heard the answer; no one could save them.

Valarie decided that madness enjoyed silence. Either that, or it was the draftiness of her apartment that kept the cold such an ever-pressing friend. And that tended to dampen anyone's mood.

Its kiss felt nothing like Danny's, as warm as a lake in winter. She already missed his warmth. How over and over, Danny would blanket her overheated skin and lap against the bellowing fires of her hate. Now, after dragging herself out of bed to the silence of her chilled apartment, sitting on the sunken middle couch cushion, an empty bottle of scotch shoved under the lumpy couch pillow, and before her, weapons strewn across the coffee table; she wondered if madness enjoyed the freezing suffocation of cold.

And cold she was, but for once was it madness, or clarity? They felt so alike.

All day she spent here, dressed in nothing but sleep pants and her old red tank that had that hole right by a seam which she kept meaning to mend but never found the wherewithal to; she'd already disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled every weapon twice, polished and sharpened every blade, and meticulously recounted every moment Danny had encompassed her.

How often had he kept her hatred?

And what had he received?

Her love? Her scorn?

She felt her leg break under his boot.

Felt the kindness of hands intertwined.

With care, she set the Red Huntress visor back on the table and clasped her palms together.

Valarie was no stranger to dichotomy.

She'd been used by Vlad, and from that wound, worked with the Guys in White. After all, at least she knew where she stood with them. Then, she'd gone to Blood because if she could hunt whom she loathed, what of the rest?

Arms straining against themselves, breath fogging in the air, she looked at her visor, and Valarie let out a shuddering gasp, knowing that this kind of clarity brought madness. Because when had she let her hatred fabricate such simplicity?

Danny, she'd called him nothing. But his cold human hands warmed and stole the silence away.

Human – Ghost.

Halfa – Danny. Danny. Danny

When Valarie let her silent screams out, bent over so her forehead could rest across the visor, she knew. The madness had been her; her heart raging, always raging with the truth, begging that she stop being such a simple doll picking only one action, one recourse. Why had she not chosen violence?

Madness loved silence for the clarity it could bring, and oh, how it could hold one captive from the inside out. Valarie would have been lost, frozen, as she looked back on her life with no way to move forward except for the tiny click of a transmission being picked up, which, in the cold dampened room, resounded as a phone going off in a concert hall, or a priest dropping the lantern in the middle of cantos.

It was so jarring, the isolation was shredded apart, and Valarie gasped, breath coming as frantic puffs of air, lifted her head out of her hands, and heard the faint sounds of the street, the groaning of machines, the clamor of neighbors she'd yet to meet, and there it went again – the faint click of a transmission inside the helmet she couldn't reconcile as having been herself.

But it had been her, and Valarie refused to deny that.

Dazedly, she gathered herself together, fighting down the revulsion as she slid it on and heard a distorted signal broken into fragments.

Over and over, it kept repeating.

When its garbled words broke through, she dawned her armor. For what felt like the first time, Valarie was moving with her heart.

"Do you like them?"

Blood asked this with genuine inquiry as he emerged from a portal, placed a hand delicately in the middle of golden drones back, his own form staying hidden in the shadows of the room.

The table strained but didn't break against Cyborg's struggles.

"They're gaudy tin cans." Cyborg rasped, eyes never straying from his friends' forms. Searching for a flicker, an ember of them beneath the smothering consciousness that was Blood.

The man let out a displeased grunt, effortlessly walking closer without appearing to have moved. It made an ugly fear curl at the base of Cyborg's neck.

"That's disappointing. As soon, they will be made like you."

For a moment, Cyborg failed to comprehend this implication.

Only his heart, only the terror that made him jolt on the table, his body trying to escape from what it knows to fear, understood. Then Blood's words made sense, as the vile man stepped into the overhead light, casting harsh lines down molten machinery and human flesh.

"What? What have you done to yourself?" Cyborg said, unable to stop himself from asking this. Meeting the man's now hybrid eyes. How the majority of the man's skull is now machine. Cyborg found himself swallowing the retch of bile back down his throat as he took in the full extent of Blood's augmentation.

Brother Blood tilted his head, a frown on his lips as if it never occurred to him that Cyborg would be disgusted by this.

"Really? I have connected myself to everything. I would think you would hold more gratitude towards the very technology that's keeping you alive; or are you just jealous it looks better on me?" Blood asked with a smirk, as he came to stand in front of Cyborg only just out of head-butting reach.

"You look like a psychopath."

Cyborg met those burning red eyes as metal fingers with steel claws flashed and gripped his jaw so hard an ache bloomed up behind Cy's ears and wrapped around the base of his skull.

He refused to let the pain show.

Blood let out a twisted snarl, wrenching his hand back to fevorishly turn towards his captive students.

"Even after…you still hold a will to defy me. How?" Blood demanded, pivoting sharply to gaze back, his left palm moving to rest on Speedy's shoulder, completely at ease among those he'd trapped.

"I'm not telling you anything." Cyborg snapped, feeling how those words tore from his mouth. He wanted them to imbed their defiance into his friends, to have them wake-up, to have them freed.

Blood let out a disgusted huff, his metal claws now clicking in short deliberate patterns across his red burnished silver arms.

"Pity." Blood finally said, his eyes losing their anger as he looked over Cyborg once more, a morose grimace passing over him before dying as a breeze.

"Trial and error is such a messy affair. But rest assured, once I have learned your secrets, once I've pried them out and made my students into perfection, none will stand in my way."

The metal cuffs holding Cyborg to the table strained ominously but didn't break against his struggles.

"Don't you touch them!" He spat as the world focused to a burning intensity.

Blood gave a venomous smile.

"Oh, you won't be alive to know who survives because the sentries will disassemble you for study. After all, I have no use for students with discipline issues."

As Blood said this, he lifted two fingers to shoulder height, his palm facing out, a swirl of solid red kinetic power. The energy arced off and snapped its teeth around his friends and in a red mist, everyone Cyborg had sworn to lead, to protect, vanished in the rapture. Taken by the man he hated.

Around him, the command center closed as a lock box in heavy metal panels, the overhead lights brightening to an eye searing degree. No doubt to help capture every moment of his death in high definition. Cy vaguely thought, watching as the golden drones ambled towards him, each with an array of tools.

Cyborg wondered, in a small numb part of his mind, if they were the same tools Más and Menos had used.

Then all at once Cy knew, he failed. It hit him so hard he lost his breath. His friends were going to die or live in an existence worse than hell. Uncaring for himself, Cy distantly observed as the drone holding the circular saw drew the blade closer to his chest, its rotations so quick, barely a hum issued from the metal.

Then there was a single sound of metal being ripped apart and in astonishment, Cyborg realized that it wasn't from his own body. But that of every drone, as all four lost their heads. Their bodies hitting the ground in resounding thuds.

"How?" He managed to say, unable to look away from the smoking remains. Because this couldn't be real.

"We received a distress call." Starfire answered.

Her voice a bell, resounding and freeing Cyborg. He tore his eyes away to see her walking into his prison, her palms still smoldering, eyes returning to their vibrant forest green as she gave him a smile so true, this could only be real.

As she drew closer to him, he saw Beastboy following close behind, worry clear on the changelings face but dimming as he assessed the room.

Finally, Cyborg looked behind them and saw the ecto-green portal swirling across the metal wall as a tidal pool, its waves almost, but never quite touching the runes of dispersion blazing in black fire. The two Titans having found their way around his security measures. Usually, Cyborg would have been left grumbling at this but as Robin stepped through the portal, followed next by Raven and Danny, all Cyborg found was relief.

Robin gave him a nod. "The message was from Red Huntress, and we came." He said, watching solemnly as Starfire ripped away the shackles holding Cyborg upright.

Cy's feet hit solid ground. He locked his knees in order to remain standing, as he looked at his friend.

It made Robin shift minutely in place, his now almost floor length black cape falling over his shoulders to conceal him.

"I hope we're not too late." Robin added, almost hesitantly, as if afraid those words would resume the argument between them.

Instead, Cyborg felt himself give a desolate laugh as he began to rub the ache from his wrists.

"No. I've been in charge for less than a week and already my teams' lives are on the line." He said, never looking from Robin.

"What can we do to help?" Robin asked.

This made Cy freeze.

"You're not going to…" Take charge? Cy didn't finish this, as Robin shook his head. Finally coming close enough to place a firm black gauntleted hand on Cy's shoulder.

"No. This is your Tower. Your team. And Blood your enemy. We're yours to lead."

Cyborg shuddered but gave Robin's hand a squeeze.

Then the leader of the Titans stepped back and rejoined Beastboy, Starfire, Raven and Danny, each looking to him.

He took a breath.

"Blood has augmented himself with my tech to enhance his psychic abilities. He plans to augment every victim to keep them under his control."

At the growing horror in his friends' eyes, Cy held up a hand.

"We have limited time. Danny, do you have a way to contact Red?" Cyborg asked.

Danny gave a tight nod, "I do."

"Good. Then ping her all of our real time locations."

With this, he knelt and connected a cable from his arm to the base of one of the destroyed drones' skulls.

"Cy, what are you doing?" Beastboy asked.

Not looking up, Cy spoke, "Pulling the location for these tin cans. Blood would need a separate facility of operations after we reset the security when the tower was attacked. And while he may know all of my systems, he doesn't know me. Got it." He growled, snapping the cable out and standing to face his friends.

"Beastboy and Robin, get my team to safety, sedate them to stop Blood from calling them. Starfire and Danny destroy the drones and tech. Raven you're with me on Blood. Support each other as needed." Cyborg ordered, with all in agreement Cy looked to Danny.

"Take us to the south pier, warehouse 15."

Danny moved to hover before them, eyes glowing a fierce ghastly green, his deadly white aura a fog around them.

In one moment, Cyborg watched as the room he'd been trapped in disappeared in a swirl of green light.

Danny hadn't wasted any time, choosing to drop them on the manufacturing floor. At their backs were drones operating the machines, constructing themselves across many process lines.

In front of them was the observation room, retrofitted as the surgical room. It was separated by panes of sectioned glass. Brother Blood hovered over the Titans East, each lying lax on the steel tables. Above their heads, mounted on the far wall were newly minted limbs, wire harnesses, and gears, all easily grabbable. At the foot of each table simple trash bins. Professor Chang was in the process of divesting Speedy of his uniform when they landed, and Cyborg didn't even savory Brother Blood's momentary shock as the man turned from the five to see them charge.

"Titans, Go!" Cyborg yelled. Then he, Raven, Robin and Beastboy charged. The observation glass shattering from five concussive disks Robin threw.

Then they were over the wall. Cyborg barreled headlong into that mad man sending them through the wall, Raven right behind.

Robin ignored his worry as he saw the smoke rising from the hole. Instead, he turned to Beastboy just as the changeling screamed, "Duck!"

Robin dropped down and spun right as Professor Chang came hurtling past him with a bone saw in hand, screaming nonsense.

Quickly, the changeling dodged around the aging and clearly possessed doctor, grabbled a surgical tray and hit the man right in the back of his head. The professor went down in a flail of limbs, skidding across the glass riddled floor to stop beside the windows.

"Thanks." Robin said, quickly walking over to handcuff the man.

"No problem." Beastboy replied before his eyes turned over to their friends.

"How do you want to do this?" He asked, waving his arm before them.

Robin stood and pulled up a holo-map of the building on his gauntlet, both keeping an ear to the fight taking place on the main floor.

"After I sedate them, take them down this corridor to the loading dock and into a van. Follow protocol JL-Gaslight." Robin ordered, already moving to Más, a small capsule and mask in hand, the click of a compartment on his belt closing. With deft movements, Robin had the mask over Más' face, a small hiss from the vile being released and soon the boy's red tinted eyes were closing. Robin was already taking the mask off and moving on to Bumblebee.

Beastboy shifted into a silver back gorilla form, carefully making his way to the young titan, when several loud booms wretched the air. He felt the heat rush across his fur. Every instinct told Beastboy to turn towards the battle, but the sight of Más, helmet off and exposed, kept him grounded. Gently as he could, Beastboy had him cradled in his arm and soon he was ambling to the door and disappearing down the ramshackle hall.

"Phantom, you are faring well?" Star yelled from where she was surrounded by drones on the far end of the manufacturing line. They were swarming her in droves, working in tandem to limit her movements and keeping her from flight. Still, she held her own, her fists and eyes a maelstrom of power and her hair a flag of red as she twisted and turned amongst the growing pile of smoldering parts.

Danny pulled himself out from the collapsed structure of catwalks, cursed in the language of the Far Frozen, then impaled three drones with one of the broken support beams.

"I'm fine!" He yelled back, the echo of his voice distorting strangely off the beams. He dodged multiple sonic shots and then froze another pack of drones before slamming into them at high speeds to shatter their frames. Along with their sheer numbers, the drones were now aiming to use the destroyed machines as projectiles in an attempt to disorient the two Titans.

Still, Danny saw that they were making progress. He continued to fight, and when an opening presented itself, the halfa looked to the operation room where he could make out Beastboy leaving the room with Speedy in one giant arm. Leaving only Robin and Menos.

Abruptly, the roof exploded, and Danny turned intangible flying forward to catch Raven as she came in falling, a wave of red kinetic energy in her wake. They tumbled mid-air for a moment until he righted them both. Forming a shield against the bombardment of energy blasts, waiting for Raven to get her bearings.

"You alright?" Danny asked, noting how her hair was plastered to her skin, her violet eyes met his before she focused on him.

"I am." Raven said, moving to take flight, her hands aglow with her magic.

Danny turned in the air, hovering back-to-back with Raven, then he lowered his shield. Together, they resumed the fight. Danny taking out a small number of drones that were about to drop down on Starfire from above. As he moved to use his own telekinesis, he heard Raven give a startled gasp, then she was grabbing his hand and turning to meet his eyes, her own violet blown wide in fear.

"Blood took Cyborg." She whispered.

"Help Star," Danny said, waiting only the second needed for Raven to trade places.

Then he hastily turned invisible, flying to Robin, who was gathering himself off the floor of the operations room. The tables overturned, and mechanical body parts thrown everywhere. He moved his cape and lifted a sleeping Menos in his arms, heading for the door. Not stopping even when Danny came back to visibility.

"Burn this room, now." Robin ordered before crossing the threshold and disappearing around the corner.

Danny did so, letting his ectoblasts become wild and without control. Soon the entire room was engulfed in green flames. Splitting himself, he sent his copy to help Raven and Starfire finish the remaining drones before going after Robin.

The leader already far down the hall, feet pounding into the concrete, his breaths short but controlled as Danny flew up to join him. With ease, Robin passed Menos over to Danny never breaking stride, then he fully began to run.

"Blood has Cyborg." Danny said, flying shoulder to shoulder with Robin.

"I know." Robin answered, his scowl thunderous even as his aura bled panic.

"When he and Cy came back, Blood saw his students missing, he lost it. We need to get to Beastboy."

At this, Robin took a sharp left that only Danny's reflexes kept them from colliding. Robin opened the exit door to the loading dock and there they found Beastboy, as a gorilla, gently loading Aqualad into the passenger van he commandeered. The other Titans East sleeping peacefully inside.

Startled, Beastboy looked at his friends before changing back.

"Robin, Danny?"

"No time," Robin said, bolting past Beastboy, around to the front, and into the driver's seat to jump the van while Danny placed Menos with the others and shut the doors.

The van started and Robin climbed out as he motioned for Beastboy to get in.

"That sedative with last six hours. You know who to contact, don't tell us where. Go." He ordered.

Beastboy gave a pained sound but got in, floored the gas, and the van went squealing out of the garage.

Once the headlights were gone, Danny teleported them back to the main floor. They found Starfire, Raven, and his clone piling the drone's destroyed bodies onto the many burning pyres. The smoke a black cloud around them.

"Where would Blood take Cyborg?" Raven asked flying over to meet them, soot streaked across her left cheek and nose. Robins frown deepened.

"I don't know, we need to…"

He was interrupted by the ping of a locater beacon. Robin opened the map and Danny gasped.

"That's Val's." He said.

Robin snapped the communicator closed and met his teams' eyes.

"It's at Titans East Tower. Raven, smother the flames. Phantom, get us there."

Raven cast the spell a thick grayish fog, smothering the fires as if they'd never been, and once she flicked her violet eyes to Danny, he teleported them to the roof of Titans East.

Whatever he'd been expecting, Danny wasn't prepared to find Valarie in a pool of her own blood while Cyborg charged the man with only one arm.

"Valarie!" Danny screamed, rushing to her side with Raven beside him. Carefully, he rolled her on her back as bleary golden eyes tried vainly to focus on him.

Raven's hands deftly pulled away the armor around the Red Huntress' midsection. She placed softly glowing white palms upon the gaping wound before she screamed and Danny watched in horror as Raven was ripped away from Valarie in a firestorm of red. Then every part of Danny alit in pain, and he howled feeling his body following suit as he became engulfed in violent red energy.

Desperately, he tried to move, to struggle, but the vice grip of Blood's powers were pressing down on him from every point. Going deeper, until it felt as if the man were trying to shatter his ice core. Blood's very mind a crushing stone upon him.

Through a red-washed night, Danny vaguely could make out Cyborg looking at him, his hybrid eyes frantically darting side-to-side before his lips moved. But Danny couldn't hear, only the sound of Brother Blood's deranged laughter pressed in on his ears.

"Titans, Go!" Cyborg had meant those words when he'd charged Blood, barreling the man through the wall and into the abandoned office rooms. As he and Raven threw everything they had at Brother Blood, Cyborg knew one thing. He never wanted this man anywhere near his friends again.

A particularly nasty blast from Raven had Blood staggering back as the glass windows shattered.

Blood's grin made Cyborg fire his sonic canon.

It was deflected with ease.

"Now, is that any way to treat your teacher?" Brother Blood said, his eyes turning red, and Raven gasped. Her hands coming together, palm to palm, as she battled Bloods will. Her chakra gem glowing in black as her violet eyes were rimmed in vile red.

"Raven!" Cy yelled before he charged, unleashing a volley of short blasts.

Brother Blood dodged them all. But he was having to move backwards, and amidst Cyborg's fury, relinquished trying to ensnare Raven.

"Oh, this is fun." Blood taunted, sending a palm blast of energy right into Cy's stomach sending him stumbling back.

"But I'm afraid you're trying my patience. Oh students," Blood called, clearly expecting his thralls to answer.

It cost the man dearly when he heard nothing.

"Where are my students?!" He screamed looking to Cyborg, as he picked himself up off the ground.

Off balance, Raven wove her strongest command and wrapped Blood in it.

He gave a holler as she flung him outside, through the broken windows, and into the night. She flew after him.

Submerged in her black magic, Raven felt Blood strain as she held them aloft. "It's time for you to sleep." She spoke, using the talons of her magic to pierce into his mind.

Brother Blood let out a roar so wretched, it had Cyborg freezing in his haste to get to windows. But he witnessed the moment when the man chose to electrocute himself in red fire, breaking Raven's hold. The burst of energy he sent hurtling as a lightning storm, struck Raven in her chest. She was violently thrown backwards, disappearing over the building, and then Cyborg was wrenching away from the windows, shielding himself as Blood came flying into the room coated in his malicious will.

"You insolent, boy!" Blood screamed, throwing punches haphazardly but with such power each blow broke through steel as if it were sand.

"When are you going to learn you don't defy the Headmaster?!"

Cy saw an opening, stepped through the man's guard, and managed a fierce upper cut before stepping out of Blood's reach, avoiding two razor sharp claws that tried to slice open his arm.

"Never." Cy growled, settling back into his defensive stance.

Something changed in Blood. Cyborg felt it in the way the man stilled, his red eyes seeming to almost darken into poison.

"Then I will take you apart." Blood swore, his mechanical chest heaving as he lurched himself upright.

Cyborg knew he was going to charge but that still didn't prepare him for how fast Blood could move when he put all his powers behind it.

The blow that hit his side sent him flying back into the operating room. Cyborg heard more than felt the steel tables as the bent and warped under him.

Blinking plaster dust out of his eyes. He looked at the world upside down, and saw Robin's crouched form, masked eyes locked on his. The Titan leader shifted his cape tighter around whomever he was protecting. Masked eyes flicking upwards at who he knew was coming.

It made Cyborg roll over and push himself to stand, getting upright before the crunch of boots sifted over the rubble.

Cy watched as Brother Blood stalked through the gaping maw, his face twisted into something sinister as fury red eyes swept through the empty room.

"You've taken my pupils. My school. I'm going to destroy you." He said, voice bare in a snarl, then red power latched onto Cyborg.

It felt as if he were being flung through a wound of reality, the void actively trying to rip apart the world and then Cyborg was stumbling feet first onto the pavement of Titans East Tower.

The next feeling came when Blood emerged and ripped his chest plate off. Behind the man, two golden drones appeared in the same red wave, moving stoically to the edge of the roof: awaiting orders.

"Feeling a little exposed, are we?" Blood said, a snarling grin showing his teeth as Cy lurched backwards.

Frantic, he started scanning the damage done while hastily trying to put distance between him and Blood. Cy knew it wasn't nearly as bad as having had the man's fingers shoved into his circuitry, but it still wasn't good. Not when Blood looked like he wanted to make sure Cyborg stayed awake the entire time he was pulling him apart.

Cyborg grit his teeth, opened his sonic canon and aimed for the man's chest right as Blood lunged.

When the sickening slice as his arm being separated from his body was felt, he refused to scream. The nerve endings screaming at no longer feeling anything below his elbow. Cy dove onto one knee to avoid Blood's second attack which would have separated him at the shoulder. Half his attention on disconnecting the part of his mind awash in horror not having his limb. But doing so required time…

And Cyborg knew he didn't have that as he watched Blood stand tall, his whole body crackling in arcs of power.

"Now Cyborg, I do recommend you hold still for this process." He said, energy swirling in hand, he lunged forward only to suddenly twist away as a volley of shots hit the ground before him.

Cyborg knew those weapons discharge and there she was, Red Huntress flying towards him, her eyes pure fire behind the visor. She never let up on the barrage, coming to hover beside him on her board. Valarie kept her eyes on Blood, predicting where the man would move as surely as the man himself knew.

"Get on, we need to leave, now!" She said, firing three rounds so quickly it forced Blood to step back and shift away in a strange mad dance.

As Cyborg tried to fit himself behind her on the narrow hoverboard, he saw why.

She was aiming to kill.

But it was all for nothing, for right as he'd secured his hand around her waist did everything fail. Valarie gave a hiss as the cartridge ran out and in the time it took for her to draw her second, Blood tore into her mind.

"Val!" Cy screamed, grabbing her at the waist as they awkwardly tumbled back onto the roof. Her form hunched over and taunt, waves of agony ripped at her mind.

Blood was grinning, hands splayed wide and body lax.

"My former student. So nice of you to come home. Kill him."

Cyborg let Val go. He'd have to shock her and hope it kept her down. But as she jerkily stood to face him, Cy froze.

For Valarie's eyes were a torrent of red but he could see her; and what she was going to do.

"Val, don't!" He said, trying to get to her.

But with a flick of her wrist, she released the catch of her long knife, woven into the fabric of her arm guard, and plunged it deeply into her abdomen before drawing it out and flinging it over the ledge in a glittering trail of silver and crimson.

As she went down, Cy knew he was screaming while he awkwardly caught her. A small part of his mind thinking how odd it was he could only catch her with one arm while his shoulder spasmed uselessly.

"Val, Val hold on." Cy said, desperately scanning the wound and the amount of blood she was losing.

Behind him, he heard Brother Blood scoff.

"I guess I really do need to start from scratch."

Cyborg was on his feet and charging Blood before he thought.

All Brother Blood did was laugh.

Cyborg didn't even see when Blood severed his leg above his kneecap. He heard the crash of it as he landed harshly on his side, the pavement cracking around him as a web. Rolling onto his back, he gazed up into the night sky streaked with clouds.

"Look at you, Cyborg!" Blood sneered, from somewhere too close and getting closer.

Then red engulfed him, and it felt as if he were being hung by metal hooks dragging him slowly upright to meet Brother Blood's scorching eyes and ginning face.

"So worthless now, just like your classmates."

And with a tilt of his head, blood yanked his captors closer, and horror lit Cyborg anew as Robin, Danny, Raven and Starfire surrounded him, their faces frozen in pain as Blood held them aloft, pulling their muscles so tight barely allowing them to draw breath.

"Cyborg," Robin gasped, his jaw spasming strangely as his lips began to tint blue.

"No," Cy moaned, watching as Blood twitched a finger and Robin drew in a hiss of air.

"It's a pity," he drawled. Walking around the circle, briefly pausing before Danny, his eyes roaming over his former protégé, "such potential, lost." He stated, turning his eyes back to meet Cyborg.

"A waste, really." Then with ease, Blood tore into their minds and Cyborg had to ignore their choked off screams. Only listening for the sound of when they were able to take breath in-between the violent twitches as red began to overtake their eyes.

Blood stalked forward, the two golden drones finally moving away from their silent posts, coming to march two steps behind their master as he advanced on Cyborg.

"You should have accepted my first offer. I would have made a man out of you."

"Go to hell." Cy snapped, meeting the man's eyes head on. Because if this man was going to kill him then he wouldn't see him falter. It made Blood roar in hunger and fast as a snake, he grabbed Cy by one of his main internal capacitors within the center of his chest with both fists, and yanked him close.

So close, Cyborg could feel the man's rabid breaths.

"You insolent child!" Blood screamed, as he flooded Cy's veins in his power. It rushed through his circuitry as venom and Cy gagged as he felt it sweep through his mind, reverberating Bloods words one-hundredfold.

"Where is it? I've combed through your blueprints, peeled back your armor, stripped off your machinery and still you defy me!" He spat, his voice was cacophonous now. Cyborg couldn't see anything but red yet even then, he would not yield.

"Where, in this vile contraption, is the part that allows you to resist?"

What part resists? Cy thought, how odd? When over and over, all he could see was himself; standing before Blood in that school able to feel his real hands and knowing, this isn't true.

Over and over Cy witnessed himself.

He saw as Blood fought, took, and stole parts from him, his friends, and so many more that had been trapped by this man.

What part resists?

Myself.

Cyborg opened his eyes and saw past Blood.

"It's not in the circuitry." Cy said, mapping out the missing pieces within Blood that would never be filled, he overtook them in a tidal wave of blue.

"It's not the machine that resists; it's me, my spirit. That's the part you can't break!" Victor said, pushing his will through the struggling man, who now was desperately trying to sever their connection.

Cy looked over to the sentries and commanded his tech to come home. Piece by piece, Victor remade what had always been his. Now standing on his two feet, Cyborg held Brother Blood in his grasp, until desperate, the man yanked himself away and landed hard on the ground. His eyes crazed in disbelief and fear.

Cyborg looked down and proudly grinned, "I don't need you to make me a man; I already am one."

At this, he felt when his eyes burned white, Blood gave a gutted cry before slumping boneless to the ground at Cyborg's command to sleep. Instantly, the confinements suffocating his friends ceased. They landed gently on the ground.

All of them moved into action.

Raven rushing to Valarie's prone form along with Danny while Robin went to Blood to administer a sedative.

Starfire walked over to him, her forest green eyes steady.

"Cyborg, you are unharmed?" She asked nodding to his healed chest plate and limbs.

"I am. My team?" He asked, the knot of dread still tight as he turned to Robin, who'd stood and faced them.

"Beastboy is taking them to Martian Manhunter. They're safe." Robin assured.

The relief nearly made Cy go weak. Instead, to stop himself from falling, he yanked his spiky-haired friend into a hug. Robin gave a squeak but soon returned it easily.

"Thanks for sticking with me." Cy whispered.

Robin pulled back and grinned. "Always."

"Cyborg, do you have the infirmary ready?" Danny called, gently floating over, worry around his eyes but Cy noted how is aura had dimmed, so he trusted that Val was going to pull through.

"I do. We'll take both Val and Blood there." He said.

At his friends confused looks he elaborated.

"To keep Blood in an induced coma until Marin Manhunter deems us free of his influence and he's successfully in power dampening cuffs."

The next few hours passed in a tense blur as they waited in lockdown for the Martian and another Justice League member to make contact. All of them sitting around Val's bed as she slept, pale but stable.

When the Martian Manhunter arrived, he glided in silently. Undetected by everyone, save for Cyborg. He observed quietly as the Martian gazed around the room before stopping on him, his calm red eyes assessing, then he gave a nod and became visible.

"Greetings," he said, startling the other four Titans.

"I am pleased to say you and your team are free of influence." He said, motioning to each titan, then his eyes fell to Brother Blood. The man asleep on a cot in the farthest corner of the room.

A deeply disturbed look passed over J'onn's face before settling into sadness as he once more looked to the Titans.

"My deepest apologies that you had to face this man." He said, a reprimand buried there.

Robin calmly placed a hand on J'onn's forearm before moving to stand beside Cyborg.

"It comes with the job." He said, no trace of anger that would have been present months ago.

J'onn merely hummed, "Indeed." He said, "the Flash has returned your teammates to the main living area. We will handle the clean-up of the warehouse."

With this, he flew over to Brother Blood, attached the handcuffs, and tracker beam, and then they were gone in a flash of white light, leaving only a fading afterimage.

In the silence, Danny stood from where he'd been sitting beside Raven, at the head of Valarie's bed, and gave a tired smile.

"Well, what's left of the warehouse, anyways. It's pretty much melted per you and Robin."

At the deadpanned delivery, to Starfire and Raven's utter lack of caring that they'd destroyed a building, Cyborg burst out laughing and found he had no desire to stop.

It felt wonderful, and soon his friends joined as well.

Cyborg decided he rather liked the Flash. The Scarlet Speedster apparently thought that after their ordeal a full assortment of baked breads and sweets were needed. As well as somehow managing to turn the living area into a mountain of blankets and pillows. Unfortunately, he'd taken them from every room and closet in the Tower, so it forced Cy, Star, Raven, Danny and Robin to find open spaces within the mountain of blankets to get a few hours of slumber.

Cy had near about sat on Más, Menos and Beastboy, thinking the couch had been free. Now, he'd situated himself in the loveseat next to them. And had been drifting in and out wakefulness. From here, he also had the best view, so that every time he woke, he could see every one of his teammates. To the mounds that were the small speedsters, and a changeling haphazardly contorted around them like a four legged octopus, snoring lightly.

To below them, back pressed up against the base of the couch, Aqualad was bundled on the floor, where he slept on his right side turned towards Speedy. Somehow, Roy had rolled under the coffee table, making the only visible part his hand, which had snaked out from under a vibrant primary colored duvet to grasp loosely around Gar'remnyth's wrist sometime during the night. Cyborg hoped it was so Roy could reassure himself that his friend was okay, but he also knew from the way Roy gripped, it was more accustomed to holding a blade.

Still, when Gar'remnyth had blearily opened his eyes, second lids flickering to adjust to the room, he'd only readjusted his arm to aid his blood flow before falling back into an exhausted sleep.

Bumblebee had been placed on the chaise lounge with no more than five comforters which surrounded her, allowing coverage to maintain warmth and with many pillows strategically placed under her stomach and chest for support as her wings were free, twitching every so often. Something Cyborg figured the Flash had learned from Hawkgirl.

Starfire had ended up on the floor below Karen. Strangely, the tamaranean had chosen to sleep on her back, legs resting up and over the lounges armrest, toes nearly brushing Karen's hair.

Cy would have been concerned but he figured every one of them needed at least two showers a piece.

Raven had opted to contort herself around the coffee table, fitting between the narrow space of the chaise lounge and Starfire. Perhaps because it was where the greatest amount of blankets had ended up. The only reason he knew she was there was the hills and valleys of said blankets, and that she had taken her cape off and was using that as yet another blanket. Its midnight blue fabric turned black in the dark of the room.

Cy figured from Raven's curled position, he placed her legs near Speedy's head, her back towards Starfire and her head close to Danny, who was lying beside the coffee table on his left side, turned towards Speedy and Raven.

Danny had let go of his ghost side hours ago, and was the only titan sleeping on top of all the covers. His ectoplasmic ring on his right index finger giving off an eerie green glow. But something Cyborg now found comforting. He watched it intently for a few minutes, as odd circular patterns swirled within the gem. Such a small thing giving the illusion that Danny was still Phantom – albeit in jeans and a tank top – it was better this way, because at least Danny's temperature was a cool 66˚F instead of freezing; for Robin had fallen asleep next to Danny, and very quickly, he'd ended up moving towards the halfa until their backs were firmly pressed against each other, breaths in deep unified movements.

Still, Cy checked Rob's vitals, he noted how his friend was beginning to become chilled, a layer of goose flesh rising across his skin, even though his body continued to press closer into Danny, the reassurance of another person outweighing the growing discomfort.

Quietly, Cy stood, grabbed his own blanket and carefully laid it over his best friend then headed to the kitchen.

"We've finished clearing the warehouse and alerted the authorities." J'onn softly said as the Titans walked down the dimmed hallways of the tower. When they arrived at the living room doors, they swished open, and Cyborg finally saw his friends resting, the dread that had held deep in his gut ceased as he took a reading of their vitals.

"Why are their sleeping cycles identical?" He asked, turning back to J'onn as Robin came to stand beside him, his masked eyes determining the same by observing the rise and fall of their chests.

J'onn met Cy's eyes and touched the center of his forehead before moving his hand to encompass the room.

"I have placed them in a gentle restive sleep." Martin Manhunter said, moving further to the side to allow Danny, Starfire and Raven to see.

Cyborg nodded in understanding when J'onn continued.

"With your permissions, I would do the same with you." He said, turning to meet their shocked eyes.

Robin shifted on his feet, head tilting quickly to Cyborg before he looked to J'onn.

"I don't really think that's necessary." Robin said, a frown pulling on his lips, clearly uncomfortable but with no hostility.

J'onn lifted one palm and gave a lone call in his throat, like the sound of a bird mourning over the pain of another.

"Please, I understand your hesitance. But all of you have battled a man with no care nor regard to who you are. And while triumphant, your minds need to heal the frayed edges of yourself. With my help, it will ease your minds into recovery and cease any residual fraying." J'onn explained.

At the hesitance Robin still showed, Raven came behind him and wrapped her hand in his.

"He's right, Robin." She whispered, "Your minds aren't used to dealing with psychic attacks. Even briefly, we were assaulted with his full mental presence. A sleeping trance, done by another telepath, will help." She said her violet eyes meeting the deep reds of J'onn's, they held a conversation that had the tense lines of Raven's neck and shoulders relaxing.

This eased Robin's fears, then he looked over to Cyborg and gave his agreement.

Cy did one final scan of his sleeping team, and of his friends beside him before meeting J'onn's eyes.

"Alright, notify the Justice League that for the day, both Jump and Steel City will need to be added to the watch roster." He said, holding out his hand. J'onn took it and gave a reassuring shake.

"Of course."

When his eyes lit with his power, Cyborg marveled at how J'onn's mind was so different, so warm as a desert sunrise. The heat of his red eyes sweeping over them all seemed suffused as the heat of a banked fire.

For Cyborg, he felt it layer his circuitry before it became an echo as his systems processed and filtered the power out. Nonetheless, he felt the release of something raw and aching be soothed that he hadn't even known he'd been willingly ignoring.

From the looks of his friends, each of them must have realized the same. How odd, that he'd accepted this pain as normal, an injury overlooked, in order to keep moving. Now righted, he felt his body as it should be.

Shortly after, he and the Titans had settled in, and while he didn't need to rest as they did, Cyborg wasn't arrogant to assume he was recovered. Even now, as he moved about the kitchen, he took his time, still feeling the remnants of what Blood had caused. Carefully, he walked and found it scared but no pain remained. With each daily task, brewing coffee and tea, Cy felt the growing ease of his nerves and circuitry unhindered. Elated, he decided to add to the pile of fresh breads and sweet buns by baking his grandma's cornbread. She'd always done that when he was a kid, breaking it into chunks and adding it to a glass of cold milk. She'd then hand him a spoon and together, they'd sit on the porch steps, and she'd tut when he let her old dog, Blu, have spoonful's from his glass.

He had just finished cutting it into warm even slices when he heard the faint stirrings of his friends and knew they'd be alright.

By mid-afternoon everyone was up and relaxing outside on the banks of their home. The sun had decided to shine, and the sky kept only the thinnest of clouds across the horizon. It was a small thing, but the life it brought to Steel City and Titans East Tower was profound.

Speedy, Beastboy, Más and Menos had goaded Starfire and Bumblebee into a game of volleyball, while Aqualad and Danny were swimming in the ocean. Well, Aqualad was swimming, Danny was sitting in the water like a rock and was busy taunting Robin, nettling him to join.

"I swear, the water's fine!" He called, making a show of dunking himself before coming back up, his clothes drenched as he waved his hand in the air so as to emphasize the ring. Robin crossed his arms and pulled his cloak closer, clearly calling bullshit.

Cyborg watched from where he sat in his lawn chair, grinning as Raven came over to join him in the empty seat next to him. Her eyes following his gaze, a smile briefly lighting her face.

Robin said something that had Danny feigning hurt before the Titans leader had to dodge a wave of water that shot after him from Aqualad.

"Your mind has settled." Raven noted, Cy tried not to, but he still tensed.

"I have."

"Figured out what you're going to say?" She asked. Meeting his eyes calmly, the warm wind pulling gently at her long bangs which framed her face.

Cy chuckled, "Nope." He replied.

Raven tilted her head in acknowledgment before settling more comfortably in her seat to watch the scene before them.

Danny now seemed intent on trying to create an ice bridge over the moving tides as Robin ran across them. Aqualad on the other side, rolling the waves, clearly intent on breaking it apart.

In all, it looked like a nonsensical game of the floor is lava, and it was gathering the attention of the other Titans. Raven truly did smile at how Danny was seriously concentrating as Robin deftly yelled out instructions.

Cy leaned back and lifted his eyebrow as he noted how happy she was.

"So, did you and Danny work it out?" He asked, watching a small flush rise in her ears but she met his eyes and although they were still worried, he saw she was choosing to not focus on it.

"No. We're figuring it out."

Robin gave loud yelp of horror as in a midair leap, Aqualad destroyed his next ice sheet. He hit the freezing water and emerged almost as quickly in the same splash as he bolted to shore a shivering mess. Beastboy eagerly jumped in the air yelling, "Me next!"

By early evening, Cyborg gathered the teams in the main briefing room, his heart tripping anxiously in his chest.

Everyone was sitting quiet and comfortable in their casual clothes. Star and Raven having borrowed from Bumblebee. While Speedy had lent Robin some spares. Beastboy had given Aqualad his best puppy dog eyes and was now wearing the Atlanteans favorite lander shirt that was covered in blue whales, although it hung looser around the changelings form, and he'd needed his silver belt to keep the surfer shorts up. With the Titans East sitting on his right and the Titans on his left, Cy could almost forget they were heroes.

"Here's the thing," Cy started looking down at his hands on the table before clenching them and looking up to meet each member.

"Aqualad, Bumblebee, Speedy, Más and Menos, I have never felt so honored to be the leader of Titans East. But when I accepted, I did so out of selfish reasons." He said, choosing his words slowly so that he knew he meant them.

"In doing so, I placed each and every one of you at risk and I also endangered the lives of the team that I was formerly a part of. For this, I am so sorry. I hope we can move forward, and I hope you can forgive me."

He met everyone's eyes before taking a breath, beside him, Bumblebee took his hand and in her eyes, he saw her compassion.

"Come on, Sparky. You know we do. You couldn't have predicted what Blood was planning. And I want you to know, even if your motivations were wrong, you have been a good leader." She stressed giving his hand a firm squeeze before letting go.

Speedy, who sat at the end of the table, leaned forward, placing both arms on the table, his usually arrogance gone.

"You telling us this, proves that." He added. Sitting next to him, Más and Menos gave small nods, their masks gone to show identical faces, both having to brush their curly black hair away from their brown eyes. Aqualad gave a hum, the sound not human in its low vibrating depths but resonated warm agreement.

"Thank you." He said, hoping they could feel how deeply this meant to him. "But, I need you to know, Titans East is something you formed. All of you came together and made yourselves a team. You don't need any of us to prove your worthy Titans here in Steel City, and you know we'd never leave you without aid or support, which is why I want you to know, I'm resigning as your leader. Will each of you accept?" Cy asked.

He saw the shock pass across the three oldest members. But above all, he also saw understanding.

"I do." Bumblebee said first.

Aqualad next to her, put his hand in hers, left arm trembling slightly but his eyes were full of respect.

"I do." He said.

Speedy gave a huff, clearly fighting against his own wants but he bowed his head and then moved to look at Cy, "I do." He finally said.

Then everyone looked to Más and Menos, both boys stubbornly silent. Speedy gave a gently nudge to Más, and if it had been anyone but the fiery archer, they wouldn't have accepted.

"We do, Señor Cyborg." They sullenly said together.

Cy gave them a grateful smile, "Thank you, Más and Menos," he said while Speedy and Aqualad drew the boys close to their sides, relieving the brothers hurt somewhat.

Then, Cyborg turned back to Bumblebee. "I'd like you to be the interim leader until you take a formal vote." He said.

To this, she gave a nod. "Of course, I accept." Bumblebee said, her voice hiding well her momentary surprise.

With that, Cy now faced his next worry. His friend, and former leader, sitting on his other side. Cyborg turned to Robin, the Titans leader stoic but not unkind as his black domino masked eyes met Cy's.

"Robin, I'd like to be reinstated as a member of the Titans, if you'd have me?" He asked.

"Of course we'd have you!" Beastboy exclaimed from where he sat between Raven and Danny. Raven elbowed the changeling softly as she shushed him.

Robin broke out into a grin as he held Cy's eyes.

"What he said. Welcome back, Cyborg."

Welcome home.

Robin's voice echoed in each syllable.

Cy grinned, "Thanks, man."

Robin gave a small nod before he looked to Bumblebee.

"I'd like to set up a rotating roaster, and training schedule, to help our teams better know how to work together." He said.

"That'd be good. Meetings for sharing intel would also be advantageous." Bumblebee added. Neither leader noticed how the other teens groaned at the possibility of sitting through a logistics meeting.

Más and Menos were the first to cave.

"So boring! Can we go anywhere else?" They asked, the pleading look on their faces rivaled even Beastboy's. It had everyone in the room smiling and both Robin and Bumblebee blushing in embarrassment.

"Of course." She said, everyone then moving to stand.

"Great!" Beastboy exclaimed, leaping to his feet with a sparkle in his eye, "Más, Menos, it's time Cy and I kick your butts at Game Station!"

A downright wicked twinkle lit the brothers faces as they rushed off with the changeling in tow.

"Yo! I'll be there in a minute!" Cy called but he looked to Aqualad and motioned for the door.

"Walk with me?" He asked.

The Atlantean hesitated briefly standing behind his chair but then he seemed to reassure himself and moved to join Cyborg. Both walked together side by side, at ease down the hall, heading towards the living area.

As Danny stood, he me Raven's eyes. She reached over and took his hand quickly before letting go.

"I'll go check on her." She said before exiting the room and turning to head towards the infirmary.

Starfire, from where she stood beside Robin, caught the exchange and then turned to regard Speedy, who'd watched them in mild confusion.

"Speedy, we will be departing soon. Let us collect the blankets and pillows and return them to their proper place." She said, and even though it was an odd request, Speedy shrugged his shoulders. Knowing well enough what it meant, before following Starfire out of the room.

Alone now, Danny joined Robin, both stood shoulder to shoulder, wary and alert. Bumblebee observed them both and she shifted her wings behind her back to ease their growing tension.

"Let me guess, this is about Red?" She said. Not bothering to hide her distaste for the Huntress. She still remembered that woman at the HIVE, and she'd done her fair amount of research into her past and the violent obsession she held, particularly towards Phantom.

Briefly, Phantom met Robin's eyes, a silent message passing between them, before something loosened in the set of Phantom's lips and he turned to meet her, those pale green eyes so unnatural without their glow.

"Yes." He said, "well, more like a favor." He added.

Bumblebee lifted an eyebrow at this.

"I've read up on her, Phantom. So a favor for her, coming from you? I'm curious. What is it?"

So, she listened.

When the sun was moving crossing into dusk, streaks of the darkened night sky more visible than light, back in full uniforms, the Titans were ready to depart.

The T-Car hovering over the water as everyone hugged and said their goodbyes.

"Thank you, again." Cy said, giving these words to each member of Titans East as he bid them farewell.

Aqualad gave him a fond smile, "Thank you for leading us into being a team." He answered, giving a startled grunt as Speedy swung an arm over the Atlantean's shoulders.

"What scales said," He replied, smirking at feeling his friend bristle beneath him.

"We'll see you again soon." Bumblebee assured.

"Sí." Más and Menos said, no longer worried.

Robin turned to Cyborg; his usual confidence set once more in his stance.

"Ready to head home?" He asked.

"Yeah." Cyborg said, finally feeling truly at ease.

As they walked to the car, Cy saw the contemplative look on Beastboy's face as the changeling looked at Star, Raven and Danny sitting in the back seat.

"B, you're turning into a cat. I don't want any drool on my seats." He threatened.

"Ah," Beastboy groaned before a fluffy, richly green Maine coon cat jumped in and settled in Star's waiting arms.

On the passenger side of the car, Robin laughed as he climbed in front.

Cyborg got in, closed the driver door, and flew them home.

Once the T-Car's headlights were lost amongst the waves and horizon line, Bumblebee turned to her friends and teammates.

"Alright, I'll see everyone on the training room deck at 0700."

The boys all gave their confirmations and headed inside, each going their own ways.

She made her way to the infirmary, finding Red Huntress awake on the elevated bed, exhaustion drawn in lines under her hazel gold eyes, her normally flushed skin sunken, and her hair hung in tangles around her face and shoulders. It had Karen feeling sympathy but what she noted most was how it seemed that burning fire, that had always been pushing that woman's every move, was absent. How, with it gone, the Huntress seemed lighter, and the woman had no idea what to do with her freedom.

As Bumblebee sat down on the chair at Valarie's bedside, she could see that there was still an air of disoriented shock. Nonetheless, when the huntress met her eyes, Karen gazed easily back, thinking through her words carefully.

"Cyborg told me you were aiming to kill." She said, watching how the woman blinked slowly, then her eyes blew wide, lips pressing together so hard they lost color, but she gave a nod.

"It was the only way to get him off that roof." She said.

Karen sat back in the chair, mindful of her wings.

"I know. I've made the same choices." She said.

Still exhausted, Valarie couldn't hide her surprise at Karen's admission. Or the way her quickening breaths aggravated her wound.

At her sides her hands fisted in the sheets.

"Say what you mean." Val said, the hardness of her voice not covering her weariness.

"You're in Titans East Tower. Join us, this is a different choice." Karen said easily, already expecting the scoff Valarie would give. She wouldn't let it deter her.

"Join the Titans East?" Val said in disbelief, as if she needed to make sure she'd heard correctly.

"Yes."

"Why? Why offer this?" Val snapped, her voice cracking.

Karen stood and placed her hands on the bed rail, letting her eyes settle over where she knew the bandages would be.

"Because I remember you, at HIVE. I also heard Cyborg out. And, I listened to Phantom." She said, at his name, Valarie seemed to break open. The huntress tore her eyes away to stare out the doorway into the dimmed hall.

"Danny,"

When she spoke his name, Bumblebee knew.

She gave a hum, her decision made.

"If you stay, I'm going to pair you with Speedy. You two have much in common. I'll have him stop by at 0800 to hear your answer." She said, moving to the door.

Valarie jolted; all defensiveness returned.

"I won't accept out of pity." Val said, her pride a force Karen knew she could come to respect. She gave the huntress a telling smile.

"Phantom knew that. As do I."

"Then why?" Valarie asked, confused and teetering on a ledge both women were aware she stood over.

Karen came to stand at the foot of Valarie's bed and met those molten hazel eyes firmly.

"Because, if you stay, that choice to kill, the one you made alone, won't be the way out. Not when you have a team. Think it over." Karen said before quietly turning and heading out the infirmary doors. She only looked back briefly to see Valarie having turned towards the evening night, the glow of the city like banked embers wanting to ignite.

While flying back to the Tower in the T-Car had its perks, it was still wonderful to arrive home and be able to stretch their legs. Cyborg set the car down in the garage and everyone eagerly piled out. Walking out into the warm air and grass dotted ground.

"Oh man, it's good to stretch my legs." Beastboy said, raising up onto his toes and extending his arms high above his head.

Cyborg gave him a firm shove in the middle of his back, enjoying how Beastboy stumbled a few steps before righting himself.

"Because you had so little leg room." He noted, motioning to the side as they watched how stiffly Danny and Starfire were moving. Raven, though by far the shortest of the three, and having been subjected to the baneful middle seat, had the advantage of using her magic to alleviate her discomfort. She gave a wicked snicker at the sound Danny's back made after a particularly loud pop from a stretch Starfire was taking them both through.

At his mournful eyes, she took pity and placed a glowing white hand over his left hip to send a small wave of magic that had him giving her a blissed look of thanks.

Robin gave a chuckle, shaking his head and waving Star away, as he'd had the advantage of at least extending his legs in front of him for the duration of the ride.

"Alright, we'll resume normal operation and…"

He abruptly stopped when he saw Danny gasp, a mist of blue escaping his lips that had the halfa transforming, his glowing green eyes scanning the sky.

"Titans, get ready." Robin quickly ordered, all of them taking stances and gathering close together. Cyborg started his tracking program, his optic eye surveying the land around them.

"I don't see any ghosts on my radar." He said tensely, continuing to scan the bay.

"Danny?" Robin said from where he stood next to the floating titan.

"I'm not sure." Danny answered, eyes sweeping up and over, confusion furrowing his brows.

Then, suddenly before them, the sky ripped open by way of five jagged claws and Wulf was stepping through. His 8' bulky form relaxed as he smiled at Danny with his sharp fangs.

The Titans all lowered their stances and Danny, Starfire and Raven touched back to the earth. All sighing in relief.

"Wulf." Danny said, before the animal ghost moved aside to allow another through, the woman who emerged was so small in comparison, but her aura was one of weighted power.

"Queen Dora?" Danny said in surprise but his tone fond.

She gave a pleased smile at the halfa. Lowering her head for a moment in respect.

"Sir Phantom, it has been a passing of seasons, yet it is still good to meet." She said, her voice, like Danny's held echoes of power. However, the Titans noted hers seemed huskier, as if her vocal cords were far deeper than her form shown. Around her neck, the heavy blue amulet she wore never shifted nor moved with her flowing dress.

Then she moved to the side and the last of their party came through. Danny immediately tensing, his palms pooled his ectoblasts as the Titans watched a knight in black armor, with a cape and flaming plumes of purple fire, touched down. With him, the portal closed.

His burning eyes were all that was visible from his visor, it was clear in them he held his distaste for Danny, for his hand was also firmly on the hilt of his sword but he made no move to draw.

"Fright Knight?" Danny said harshly, at his sides, he could feel his friends taunt and waiting for his silent direction.

Though it pained him, Danny turned his eyes away from the man to look at Queen Dora. She was calmly hovering, the plaits of her blonde hair shimmering with her aura.

"Queen Dora, why is the Fright Knight with you?" Danny asked, his eyes searching for any sign she was under his thrall.

He amulet shimmered ominously but her red eyes held no grievance at his doubt.

"Peace," She said, holding up one blue hand, "I come bearing news of preparation. The Fright Knight was chosen by the council to accompany me." She answered moving forward to Danny. She closed her palm and lowered it before holding her arm out towards Danny, a look of expectancy in her red eyes.

Danny dispersed his ecto-blasts and cautiously took a step forward until he stood before Queen Dora.

"Preparation, for what?" He asked, raising his hand and holding it underneath her waiting fist. His confusion worsened when he heard the Fright Knight give a snort of all things.

Queen Dora ignored this and placed her waiting fist in his open hand, then she uncurled her fingers and Danny felt the weight of a very familiar ring settle in his palm.

Dread, heavier than lead settled low in his stomach.

She withdrew her hand and clasped them before her as Danny looked down to see the Ring of Rage glowing green against his white glove.

"For your 19th year, and the coronation, as King of All Ghosts."

Then she, the Fright Knight and Wulf, all knelt before a stunned Danny.

AN:

For all the many years I've not written a single line nor word, thank you to everyone who still reads my story.

Notes about this chapter:

I wanted to show more of the characters names, who they are outside of their hero personas.

Yes, I took some creative routes, especially for Aqualad's character. I adopted his injuries from multiple timelines, but one thing that just grated on my nerves was his name: Garth…NOPE.

He's from Atlantis! So, I drew upon the other young man who also wore the mantle of Aqualad, Kaldur'ahm from Young Justice. I structured our Aqualad's name accordingly, while still trying to keep the consonant structure of "Gar."

To pronounce his name, think: Gahr-rehmm-neeth. His nicknames are: Gar'rem and Gar.

The same way Kaldur'ahm was Kaldur or Kal.

For Roy, aka Speedy, I opted to mix his histories as well.

I chose our two favorite speedsters to be young, as in 12.

One thing I never wanted to change was how powerful Cyborg's arc was in facing Brother Blood. I hope I managed to stay true to this. It was difficult for me to shift into Cyborg's mind, as I've often kept to Danny's.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Read and Review.

-Rin

Upcoming:

Season Four – TV Rots Your Brian No, Brain