Teen Titans Fan Fiction ❯ Journey Through Life ❯ Episode IV: The Sum of His Parts... Is Only Human ( Chapter 4 )

To those who reviewed:

Jinx+Kidflash 4 evah: Thank you for reviewing; it was getting frustrating putting so much effort into this and not knowing what people thought about it. So first of all, thank you for being my first review. Glad you are enjoying the relationship between Starfire and Robin: it goes without saying that they will get together in this fic. Raven and Beast Boy need to go through a lot (emphasis on lot) of changes before either of them is ready for a relationship, but I will eventually bring them together as well. And I am sorry to disappoint you, but Jinx is most likely going to end up with Cyborg: I kind of got hooked on them liking each other in “Deception.”

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Author's Note: You might have noticed from the title that this is not going to be the fourth episode. As I said in the introduction, changes are being made to the series, and while the fourth one is personally one of my favorite episodes, I do not have the skill to put it in so early. Lightning and Thunder will eventually make an appearance, but only after I come up with a more practical way to introduce them, (I realize I am trying to rationalize a cartoon, but bear with my insanity please).

This is somewhat more original than the others, since I'll be combining two episodes with a little originality in here. The reason for this is I couldn't figure out a way to make Fixit relate to Slade, and I really liked the Atlas episode, but had the same problem. Therefore, after giving it some thought, I've decided to change Atlas up a little bit and try to combine those two episodes. Just so you all know, this is the first time I've ever done something like this, so if it sucks, I apologize in advance and comfort myself with the fact that I gave you due warning this chapter might not be any good. This chapter is going to focus primarily on Cyborg. I will try to keep some character development in the others, and I will definitely include Slade, but Cyborg will be the star of this chapter. That being said, here is Episode IV in my series.

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Episode IV: The Sum of His Parts… Is Only Human

Robin grunted and panted as his fist shot out. The blow landed almost too quickly to see and the punching bag went soaring back. As Robin pivoted his foot from the punch, he brought up his leg and snapped off a round kick to another bag to his left. He landed to his left again and fired off a double rib smash to another bag. Robin's foot snapped up and he executed a sidekick to the fourth bag. As he landed, Robin sensed the first bag swinging back and dodged to the right. He hit the second bag with a knife strike while kicking forward at the third bag. The four bags, each weighing over two hundred pounds, continued to swing back and forth, forcing Robin to multitask and keep his eye on all four of them to avoid getting bowled over.

Starfire flew above Robin as she avoided a hailstorm of laser blasts. While they were not lethal, Starfire had no wish to be hit by the lasers, as the blasts they emitted were highly painful. She flipped over and flew with her back facing the ground as she tossed five starbolts at the drones. Only three of them impacted as the machines dodged her attacks, retaliating fiercely. Starfire frowned: her chances for a perfect score were lost now, but she could still try to get as high an attack-to-hit ratio as she could.

As Starfire flew around the workout room, she saw Beast Boy as a tortoise walking on a treadmill. Beast Boy pushed his body as he went as fast as he could, getting up to seven miles an hour. He then shape-shifted into a bighorn-sheep and continued, getting it up to over thirty miles an hour. As Beast Boy began to pant, his form turned into a cheetah as he really poured on the speed. After a few minutes, he leapt off the treadmill and onto a series of bars and thick columns with handholds. Beast Boy transformed into a gorilla and began swinging across them, hitting a button on the first panel.

Raven, upside-down and keeping herself aloft and balanced above a needle as Blackfire had trained her to do two weeks ago, took a deep breath as she saw the light go on. She had gotten much better at this exercise, though she still insisted on using some power to keep her cloak from slipping down over her face. As she exhaled, she focused her mind on the next part of her exercise. “Azarath… Metrion… Zinthos,” she breathed as the columns where Beast Boy was moving began to float into the air. Beast Boy had to continue his way around, swinging to and from ledges and bars that were now moving around. Starfire weaved through the columns as she dodged and circled around, destroying two more drones by causing them to crash into the walls. Her starbolts flew around, causing Beast Boy to dodge them as well in this training exercise.

Cyborg was not taking part in this three-person exercise. Instead, he was doing a combination of squats and benching. He stood underneath a giant sled that was being filled with one-hundred pound weights. As he squatted down, part of the structure rested on his back while he kept a firm grip on two handlebars. He pushed himself up from his position and squatted down again, raising his arms up as he did so. Pushing himself up again to a standing position, Cyborg then leaned back slightly and brought the machine down to his chest three times. He then placed it back behind his neck and continued. After every five reps he would say “more,” which would signal a voice-activated computer to drop another weight on.

Robin stopped his training as he saw Cyborg struggle with the weights. Now somewhere in the four-thousand pound range, the sweat was pouring down the biomechanical teen's face.

“Come on Cyborg, push!” He shouted, encouraging his friend.

“What's it… look like I'm doing?” Cyborg grunted back as his muscles strained under the weight. By now, the others had also stopped their exercises and had come down to see Cyborg's strenuous workout.

“Punch it, Cy! Straight through the roof!” Beast Boy shouted as he encouraged his friend.

“Yes!” Starfire jumped in. “Inform that large mass of metal who is the supervisor!”

“Uh… go, Cyborg,” Raven said, not used to cheering on her teammates.

Cyborg was encouraged by the support his friends were trying to give him, but he still felt his muscles screaming for relief. Now just standing hunched over, Cyborg was putting every bit of effort he could muster into simply keeping the mass of metal up, never mind lifting and moving it around. He dimly heard the cheers of Robin, Beast Boy, and Starfire, but his attention was fixed on his left forearm, on which was a display showing his energy output. As it reached one hundred, Cyborg felt his knees begin to give out on him.

“It's no good!” Cyborg shouted as he struggled. “Shut it down,” he cried to Robin.

The excited teen refused shook his head as he brought his fists up, cheering Cyborg on. “No way, Cyborg! I won't let you quit! Come on, push!”

“I can't,” Cyborg said as his muscles started shaking badly, “take any more.” Unfortunately, this last word triggered the machine again, and it added yet another hundred pounds.

“Yes, you can!” Robin shouted.

The added weight was too much for Cyborg, and he felt his legs about to buckle. “No… I… can't,” he screamed as he leapt forward, letting the two ton machine fall behind him with a tremendous crash. He lay there, panting and covered in sweat as he felt shame burning his cheek. He looked up through a sweaty glare at his leader, who was smiling at him and offered a helping hand.

“I give you a nine for the dive…but two for the landing,” Beast Boy said jokingly. Cyborg got to his feet, refusing Robin's help, and walked past everyone, purposely bumping into Beast Boy on the way out. “Nobody asked you,” he snapped as he kicked the doors open and let them slam behind him.

Cyborg slumped against a wall sideways, shaking with embarrassment and rage. As he tried to calm himself down, Cyborg rubbed the human side of his face with his hand. The touch of cool metal on his head did nothing to assuage his anger: it merely exacerbated it. He looked at his hand and remembered what his life had been like before he had been transformed into this mixture of nature and technology.

“Cyborg, what happened back there?” Robin asked as he pushed open the doors of the gym, anxious about his teammate's mental condition. Cyborg had failed before but he had never reacted so harshly.

“Get off my back,” he snapped as he began to walk away.

Robin, undeterred, simply walked up behind Cyborg and grabbed his shoulder, forcefully spinning him around. “I'm on your side, remember? I was just trying to get you to kick it up a notch.”

“I don't have another notch!” Cyborg said, his fury coming back and swallowing up his guilt over snapping at Robin. “I'm not like you, okay? When I say I can't, that means that I can't! And since I'm the one with the scanners and sensors plugged into my own body, maybe you should take my word for a change instead of insisting that you always know better!” As the other members of the team came out to see what was going on, Cyborg began to stomp down the hallway before guilt came over him once again. He sighed and leaned against the wall, slowly lowering himself until he was sitting. Everyone else walked over to him and sat down next to him, patiently awaiting the explanation.

“When I was an athlete…” Cyborg began, “when I was… human, I loved pushing my limits. I loved how I could get stronger, faster, better, just by trying harder than I ever had before. Every time I worked out, I would go until my muscles screamed for relief, but I never gave it to them. I would push myself so hard it would be all I could do some nights to crawl into bed and go to sleep. But it paid off, because I felt myself improving. Whenever I was on a team, my coaches would always tell me to give a hundred and ten percent,” Cyborg explained. “And I always did,” he added wistfully.

“You still can,” Robin asserted.

Cyborg shook his head sadly as he stared at his hands. His face twisted into something like hatred as he looked at the metal appendages before he sighed and turned away. “My muscles are mechanical now. Limits are built in. No matter how hard I want to try, a hundred percent is all I've got. I might be stronger than I ever was before, but it came at a price: I've reached my limit. As high as I am, I can't go any higher. Some people worked out to get to a destination Robin,” he said, thinking of a way to relate his feelings to the spiky-haired leader. “I never did. To me, the workout was about the journey. Not a day goes by when I don't wish I could get my old body back. I'd take it, flawed and fragile, over this shell.”

“I didn't know,” Robin said gently. He realized how hard it was for Cyborg to bring up his past: there was an unspoken rule about the Titans that they never discussed their past. How they got where they were now was their business. They were free to share, but no one did. Robin admired Cyborg for talking about and decided to keep quiet; thinking anything he might say could be interpreted the wrong way and set the cybernetic teen off again. He was surprised that Beast Boy also managed to keep a quiet tongue. Starfire and Raven simply stared at Cyborg with look of understanding, if Robin was reading them right.

“Well, now you do,” Cyborg said shortly. They all realized he was feeling embarrassed and vulnerable, and they looked away as the six and a half foot tall teen got to his feet and walked away.

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Amidst the sounds of machinery, Slade looked down at the table where his project was. He lightly picked up a delicate tool and continued working, his eye illuminated by the sparks being flown. As he put down the tool, Slade cracked his neck and looked over at a clock.

“Hmm. Only three hundred and seventy four hours: much quicker than I expected,” he mused to himself. As the behemoth rose from the table, Slade picked up a computer chip and looked with satisfaction at the humanoid creature. “So, what would you like to call yourself,” he asked after inserting the programming.

“Alpha.”

“Alpha. Fitting. Well Alpha, go and have some fun…”

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Music filled the air as the sun shined down on the park. Frisbees flew through the air as kites soared above. Laughter filled the air as the citizens of Jump City took advantage of a beautiful spring weekend. In a section of the park, the Teen Titans were joining in on the fun. Cyborg looked around at the fellow picnickers and sighed deeply, a smile of content on his face. The Titans had thought getting him outside would be good for him, and despite his failure at the gym three days ago that had continued to hang on his mind, Cyborg couldn't help but feel his spirits lift when he looked around.

“Mmm-hmm,” he smiled to himself, “would you look at that. A little sunshine, a little breeze, nobody clamoring for photos; only one thing could make this day better.” Cyborg pulled the top off a grill and put a large slab of meat on a plate. “Two and a half pounds of baby back ribs,” he said, licking his chops. He carried his food over to a table where Robin was eagerly making his way through a pair of cheeseburgers and Starfire was slurping on a straw. Beast Boy was turning some of his vegetarian food over a grill as Raven sat comfortably under a tree with a book. She kept her cloak with her but the hood had been lowered. Every so often she would pause and look around at everyone else with almost a wistful look on her face.

“Sure turned out to be a great day,” Cyborg said as he sat down. Robin simply nodded, his mouth filled. “Hey Rob, you never told us how you got the paparazzi off our tail,” Cyborg said curiously, remembering the days when the Titans had been unable to go anywhere in public. While Robin might be able to disguise himself, a green teenager, android, alien, and sorceress were harder to hide.

“Simple. I told `em if they didn't leave us alone, we'd leave,” Robin said as he shrugged. “No one wanted to take that chance,” he said. Cyborg whistled at the threat, wondering if the vacation Robin had scheduled a year ago had something to do with it. The police and citizens had been unusually happy to see the Titans return. He shrugged mentally, telling himself it was in the past and now the Titans could enjoy the benefits.

“Anyway, glad I did: if I hadn't we couldn't enjoy this day,” Robin said.

Cyborg nodded, smiled, and began devouring the ribs, sucking his fingers to get the grease and barbeque sauce off. “Man, I love picnic food!” Cyborg exulted.

“Agreed, Cyborg,” Starfire said with a large grin as she flushed from the sunlight. “This tangy yellow beverage is truly delightful,” she said as she took the straw out of the bottle and began drinking straight out of the bottle. Catching the label, both boys stopped scarfing their food down and looked at her.

“Uh, Starfire,” Cyborg began, not quite sure how to tell her. He looked at Robin, who had much more experience with things like this, usually being the one to explain Earth customs to the alien.

“That's mustard,” the leader said with a slightly queasy look.

Starfire smiled and nodded as she hugged the large jar. “Is there more?” she asked hopefully, not noticing the boys' grossed-out looks.

Meanwhile, Beast Boy pulled one of his tofu-dogs off the grill and gave it a sniff. He smiled and licked his lips and placed it on a bun before grabbing the other one as well. “My tofu-dogs are cooked to perfection,” he grinned to no one in particular. “Yo, Raven; try one,” he called over to the girl under the tree. Her eyes moved from the sky over to Beast Boy as he walked over to her and held one out. “They're loaded with soybeany goodness,” he tempted.

Raven ignored the food as she locked eyes with Beast Boy. “I respect that you don't eat meat,” she said, reminding him that she never bothered him about tofu like Cyborg did. “Please respect that I don't eat fake meat,” she asked.

Beast Boy shrugged as he walked over to the table. Raven kept her eyes on him as he went to Starfire and grabbed the mustard bottle. One furious yell and a snarl later, Beast Boy walked back over to the tree whimpering and ate his tofu-dogs away from the alien.

A while later, Cyborg picked up a football and ran out to a section of open field. “All right, y'all,” he called over to the rest of the Titans. Who wants to play some foo-ball?”

Robin, Beast Boy, and Starfire ran over, eager to get into the game. They gathered around Cyborg and realized Raven wasn't there. They turned around and saw her still under the tree.

“Raven, you want to play?” Beast Boy invited.

The empathy fixed her eyes on the group and shook her head. I'll be referee,” she offered.

Cyborg and Robin got on one side of the ball while Starfire and east Boy waited on the other. Cyborg waited for Robin as he called out numbers and colors. “Red, twenty-three! Hut, hut, hut!” On the third one, Cyborg hiked it back and then dashed past the defensive line, leaping clear over Beast Boy.

“One Jump City, two Jump City…” Beast Boy counted as Starfire flew after Cyborg to block him. Robin was waiting for Cyborg to get down the field far enough.

“You can run, you can fly, but you can't catch Cy!” The android laughed as he zigzagged down the field.

“Five Jump City,” Beast Boy shouted as he dashed forward to tackle Robin. Robin shouted out in shock as he saw Beast Boy change into a charging triceratops. He leapt backwards, jumped onto the snout, and ran straight down the back. Robin leapt off and fired a pass downfield.

Cyborg turned around, running backwards as he aimed at Starfire, who was throwing weak starbolts to make him dodge and hit her out of the sky with a blast from his Sonic Cannon at minimum power. As he ran towards the ball, his arms outstretched, he didn't realize that his bright blue lights were starting to dim. “I got it! I got it! I-” Cyborg's cry of victory was cut off as his face froze. His entire body stopped moving and he stood completely still: hands still outstretched and feet frozen in the middle of a running stride. The football hit him in the side of his head, and Cyborg slowly toppled forward onto the grass.

The other four Titans ran over to him, calling his name and stood over their friend. Their concern turned to full-fledged worry when his mouth and normal eye closed and the red light of his eye implant winked out.

Starfire poked Cyborg in the fleshy half of his face as she called his name a few times. The red light came back on, though much dimmer than normal and the Titans, still worried, relaxed slightly.

“`Reserve Battery Activated',” sounded in Cyborg's head as the same words flashed in front of him. His eye opened and his electronic eye processed a grainy, poorly tuned version of his four teammates. “`Power Remaining 01:00:00',” flashed in his HUD and began ticking down.

“What's wrong with him?” Raven asked as she tried to probe his mind. She could sense some brain activity, but no discernable thoughts came through to her.

“Is he gonna be okay,” Beast Boy asked anxiously, hating himself for not being able to help his best friend.

“Shh: I think he's coming to,” Robin ordered as he saw Cyborg's human eye flickered. “Are you all right,” the leader asked as he offered a hand to Cyborg. Cyborg grabbed the hand and felt four pairs of hands helping him up.

“Yeah… thanks,” he grunted as his team helped him over to a chair.

“What happened,” Beast Boy asked. Cyborg, though suddenly very tired, did not miss the lack of a joke.

“Something musta gone wrong with my systems,” Cyborg said as he raised his forearm. He focused his mind and brought up his power readout. His left forearm brought up a screen showing a nearly drained bar graph and a timer reading 59:37. “Ah, man,” Cyborg whined as he realized the problem. My power cell's dying.”

“Dying!?” Starfire nearly shrieked in a panicked tone.

“It's only a battery,” Cyborg explained, reassuring her. “I'm fine. Happens every several months. Just a natural part of being unnatural,” he said.

“So what do we do?” Robin asked, wanting to help fix the problem.

Cyborg picked up the football and handed it to Robin. “You keep playing,” he said firmly, not willing that his teammates give up the beautiful day as well. “I go home and change power cells.”

“You sure you don't want help?” Beast Boy asked as he watched his friend walk away, shoulders slumped.

“Just `cause I can't have fun doesn't mean y'all can't,” Cyborg said dejectedly. As he walked down the path to the Tower, Cyborg looked in a melancholy manner at the sunny sky, the temporary shutdown weighing heavy on his mind. “Sure was a nice day,” he grumbled.

“Cyborg,” said an excited young voice. The android looked around, surprised. He turned around and saw a young boy about ten years old running up to him. “Whoa, it's really you!” The child said breathlessly, face flushed in excitement from meeting a superhero up close. “You're my favorite `cause, look,” the boy said grinning as he pulled off a baseball glove to expose a flesh colored prosthetic forearm and hand. “You're just like me!”

“Uh… yeah, I… I guess I am,” Cyborg stuttered. He looked down at the child and wondered why he was not bitter about having lost a body limb at such a young age. He then noticed that the child had clearly modeled his arm after his hero: the arm had splashes of blue and silver paint on it. Cyborg's own outburst from the other day sobered him and he smiled at the kid. “Well, if you're just like me, let me hear a `boo-yah!'” he grinned.

“Boo-yah” the child shouted as he mimicked Cyborg's Sonic Cannon. Cyborg smiled at the youth when a beeping caught his attention. He looked at his forearm and opened the display panel. He saw his alarm going off with the communicators of the other Titans making their way towards the crime.

“Cool,” the boy breathed as he saw the intricate workings of Cyborg.

“Nice meeting you, kid, but I got butt to kick,” Cyborg said before dashing off. He checked the timer again and saw he had only a little over forty-three minutes left. Cyborg closed it and shut power down to all non-essential functions of his body, giving himself some more time.

As he passed an electronics store, he glanced inside and an idea occurred to him…

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Robin and the other Titans (minus Cyborg) quickly made their way over to the source of the trouble. As they rounded the corner, weapons prepared, they saw nothing. As Robin looked over the scene, he noticed a seven-foot tall and five-foot wide hole in the wall. As he peered inside, a sight of absolute destruction met his eyes. Robin stared: there wasn't anything in the store that had been left untouched. As far as he could tell, nothing had been stolen; whatever had done this seemed to be far more interested in creating destruction than with theft.

“Titans, search the place,” Robin ordered as he motioned Starfire to join him.

“You have thoughts about this conundrum,” the alien asked hopefully as she joined him.

“I don't get it. There was a bunch of valuable things here, but nothing was taken. Everything was just smashed. Whatever did this is either trying to intimidate us or leaving behind a hidden message,” Robin ruminated aloud.

“And he's strong too,” Beast Boy commented as he dragged out a steel bar twisted into a pretzel.

“Of course: Alpha is the strongest,” a new voice said as it smashed its way through a wall. The Titans immediately prepared for a fight, but the creature simply stayed still, moving into the light. It was a gold and red robot, and it looked more than capable of sowing the destruction that they had seen. It charged the Titans, but simply passed them and ran down the street, knocking over signs and flipping cars and buses over.

As the Titans raced after it, they were confused about the creature's motives.

“What is this thing?” Beast Boy asked as he briefly turned human before becoming a falcon again.

“Not sure, but he's causing too much trouble: we have to bring him down,” Robin confessed as he held on top Starfire's hands.

“Agreed. But I wonder, will we not simply giving him what he wants?” Starfire asked. “This `Alpha' seems intent on proving he is stronger than anything else.”

“Maybe. But robots like that don't just appear. They have to be created. We have to find out who made him, and why they set him loose,” Raven reasoned as they tracked the robot to a junkyard.

They landed just as the robot grabbed a crane and began hammering away it. As it tore its way through the steel, Alpha laughed and sent the crane falling to the floor. “Pathetic machine. Alpha is more powerful than you!”

“Hope you came looking for a fight,” Robin shouted as he got Alpha' attention and threw a few explosive disks. “`Cause you definitely found one!” Starfire left loose a few starbolts as Raven pelted him with her telekinetic blasts. Alpha took these attacks without even a grunt as he picked Beast Boy, who had transformed into a bull, and threw him into a wall. Beast Boy tumbled down the hill of trash and landed with a groan near Raven.

“This guy's is pretty tough,” he groaned as he got to his feet. Raven said nothing save to pick up three large chunks of garbage, one of which looked like a washing machine, and threw them. Alpha charged through them and punched at Raven. She ducked under the tremendous attack while Beast Boy became a gorilla and roared at the robot, which he was now taller than. Beast Boy punched Alpha in the face, but the blow merely glanced off the metallic face. Alpha picked Beast Boy up and hefted the shape-shifter above his head, laughing. A powerful sonic blast hit him in the chest and sent him soaring through the air. Starfire hit the startled robot with a beam of energy while she tossed Robin at him. As the leader cracked his bo-staff over Alpha' head, the robot seemed not to notice. He had eyes for only Cyborg, who was standing with his Sonic Cannon pointed at Alpha.

“Cyborg? What are you doing here?” Robin asked from across the junkyard.

“Joinin' in,” the teen said as he walked towards the group. “Now who said y'all could start the party without me,” he said with a smile and a wink. Alpha roared and charged for Cyborg, who flipped over the giant robot and sent him charging into a shield of Raven's energy.

“Go home,” Robin said as he took out a birdarang. “Get fixed; we can handle this without you.”

“I won't let you guys fight alone,” Cyborg said stubbornly as he readied his Sonic Cannon again.

“And I won't let you put yourself in danger,” Robin countered.

“I got it covered,” Cyborg said, turning around to show Robin a few high voltage batteries wired to each other and himself. “External battery pack,” he explained with a grin. “Teen Titans, go!” the android shouted before Robin could protest.

Alpha smashed his way through Raven's shield and grabbed the girl. He sneered at her as she struggled in his grip before Starfire and Beast Boy tackled him physically, the latter as a gorilla again. Alpha got up and shrugged the two off him before Robin came at him with a double kick. Alpha caught the teen by the shins and smashed him into the alien and changeling. Cyborg leapt in with his fist outstretched, but Alpha snatched him out of the air and forced him into a drum barrel. The robot laughed heartily as he knocked over Cyborg and kicked him into Raven, who wasn't able to react quickly enough and was bowled over. Cyborg blasted his way out of the barrel and tackled Alpha.

As the two robots hit the ground, Alpha shoved Cyborg away, and the robot looked down at the android. “Alpha will fight you,” he said as he readied himself. “Alpha will prove to be the better fighter.”

“You do not want to start with me today, man,” Cyborg cautioned as he converted his cannon back to a fist. “Especially not just to prove your better.”

“Alpha never loses,” the robot said as he glared at Cyborg, his mind focused on one thing alone.

“First time for everything,” Cyborg replied with a grin. Alpha roared and charged Cyborg, bringing his fists up just before he reached him. As his large fists smashed down, they cracked the ground and would have sent Cyborg stumbling back, had he not already leapt over the attack. As Cyborg landed, he pushed off the ground and rocketed at Alpha, hitting him with a volley of body blows. Alpha staggered back from the attack before finally catching one of Cyborg's fists in his own. Cyborg struggled to get free but Alpha's grip was too strong. The robot grinned sinisterly down at Cyborg before bringing his other fist up and delivering a crushing blow to the side of Cyborg's face.

As the two fought, Cyborg realized that he was going to need backup quickly. He knew how to fight better, having taken boxing, wrestling, and grappling while in school, but Alpha was much stronger than Cyborg could afford to be in his weakened condition. As he leapt back to dodge a hook punch, Cyborg leapt up and tried to kick Alpha in the face. Alpha quickly grabbed Cyborg out of the air and smashed him into the ground. Cyborg struggled to get up when Alpha seized his arm and threw him into a wall. Stunned again, Cyborg could not react in time to avoid being grabbed a third time and smashed into the ground. Alpha raised one foot and smashed it into Cyborg's chest, sending his body through the floor into a hole below the ground. As he sat up and groaned, rubbing his head, a loud beeping caught his attention and he looked at his power supply. His face paled when he saw his external power backpack lying away from his a few feet away. Knowing he had at best only a few seconds, Cyborg leapt for the outside world ten feet away and barely made it. As his hand caught the ledge, his system shut down and he hung there for a few seconds before his grip slipped and he tumbled back down into the cavern.

Meanwhile, the other four Titans were just getting up. They looked up to see Alpha with a large object slung around his shoulders.

“Fools,” Alpha laughed before he ran off. “Alpha never loses.”

Robin looked around and tried to locate Cyborg, but he could not see him anywhere.

“Titans: he's got Cyborg!” the leader cried, galvanizing the other Titans into action.

As the Teen Titans rushed after Alpha, they were unaware their comrade lay not twenty feet away in a pile of rubble. In the darkness, a pale hand motioned towards the deactivated android. Small robots made their way over to Cyborg and picked him up, pulling him into the darkness…

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Minutes later, the Teen Titans were scouring the town, but could find no trace of the robot.

“So, what was that all about,” Beast Boy asked as they made their way back to the tower.

“Not sure,” Robin confessed. “But we can't let Alpha get away with Cyborg.”

“But why did he kidnap Cyborg in the first place,” Raven asked as she flew beside them. “He didn't steal anything else. He didn't even seem interested in us until we put up a fight.”

“Yeah, it's like Star said: he just seemed interested in proving he was stronger,” Beast Boy agreed.

“But why?” the alien asked.

“Maybe he's got a Napoleon complex,” Beast Boy joked.

“Except that he's seven feet tall,” Raven reminded him.

“It still doesn't make any sense,” Robin said to himself. “Even if he wanted a fight, why would Alpha want to take Cyborg?” Robin said, his mind already focusing on the tasks ahead. “Beast Boy, I want you to comb the scene of the crime. See if you can find anything that came off him and then see if you can find a scent. Raven, I need you to search the city and see if you can detect anything that might be a robot's thinking or Cyborg's. Starfire-”

“And what kind of scent could I get off of metal,” Beast Boy asked indignantly.

“And how do you expect me to find Cyborg in a city of eight million? Face it Robin: we have no way to track Alpha. We have to wait until he attacks somewhere again,” Raven told him as they took off again. Robin frowned but did not contradict the girl.

As they reached the Tower, Robin went inside and went up to his room. He stood over a table and began to think. The door opened behind him and he saw the shadow of Starfire come up behind him. Robin looked at a map of Jump City, tracing the route from the store Alpha had wrecked to the Junkyard, and from there possible escape routes, trying to find a connection between them.

“Robin, you must relax,” Starfire said as she placed a hand on his shoulders. She frowned when he did not respond, his muscles tensing up even more than they were already. Starfire did not know much about human physiology, but she knew the kind of stress Robin was placing on himself was unhealthy.

“I lost him, Starfire,” the leader said as he put his head on his hands and groaned. “He's one of the team, and one of my best friends, and I lost him. He's out there somewhere, almost out of power, and it's my fault.”

“It is all right Robin: we do not hold you responsible,” Starfire said in a soothing voice.

“But I am responsible. I let him get involved in that fight. I should have forbidden him, or came back here with him while he changed power cells so I could have restrained him, or-”

“He was malfunctioning. He should not have tried to help,” Starfire reminded him, thinking it would make Robin feel better.

“I tried to stop him,” Robin whispered, his tone almost like that of a child, “but he's Cyborg.”

“Shh,” Starfire said as she wrapped her arms around Robin's shoulders. She floated the two of them over to his bed and rubbed his shoulders as he just sat there. After a few minutes he looked up and gave a feeble smile at Starfire.

“You always know how to make me feel better, don't you,” he said softly.

“You put too much on yourself Robin,” she said. “You are not perfect, nor do we expect you to be. When you make a mistake, we deal with it, and we know that you will do your best to fix it.”

Robin smiled and opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by an alarm. “We found Alpha,” Raven's voice said over the intercom. “Transmitting his location now.” The Titans quickly left the tower and made their way to another store that had reported the large mechanized terror.

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“Online… Charging…” sounded in Cyborg's head as the same words flashed across his vision. He groaned as he opened his eyes and a horizontal band of white light crossed the middle of his robotic eye before widening to fill the entire view. His human eye opened and shut quickly as he saw bright overhead lights. He extended his hand to blot out some of the light and moaned.

A male spoke from the darkness in a very level almost monotonic tone: “You are operational.” Cyborg looked around and tried to activate his night vision, but it was still shut down. The speaker moved from the darkness into the light and Cyborg got a good look at his rescuer: a tall android figure enveloped in a long robe that was similar to Raven, sans hood and black. His entire body was hidden except his face, which was flat and angular with two glowing blue slits for eyes. Instead of hair, circuit pathways covered his scalp, and his skin was the pale color of one who hasn't seen the sunlight in a very long time. The man spoke again as Cyborg took in his appearance. “That is good.” Cyborg looked down at his chest and saw a series of wires plugged into him.

“What's going-“

“Rest, friend,” the android said as he placed a hand on Cyborg's forehead. “Your new power cell is not fully charged.”

“Who are you?” Cyborg asked as he stifled a yawn. He was exhausted but he knew he had to make sure he was safe before he slept: his body was in too weak a condition to fight again. “I am called Fixit,” the machine said as he walked away from Cyborg. “You were broken. I brought you here to be fixed,” he explained.

“Where's `here'?” Cyborg asked as his drowsiness nearly overtook him.

“Please, rest. All will be explained when you awakened,” Fixit said. Unable to find any deception in his voice or manner, Cyborg leaned his head back and closed his eye, his weary mind desperate for sleep.

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As the other Titans made their way to the disturbance, they saw a series of craters and broken walls. “I'll say this much for Alpha: he's easy to follow,” Beast Boy kidded. No one else laughed as followed the most likely path the villain had taken.

A few minutes later, they found Alpha, who still had the large object slung around his back. “Titans, get him!” Robin shouted as they quickly attacked the robot. Alpha laughed as he dodged most of their attacks, keeping his hostage around his back while firing his own cannon at the Titans.

“Humans provide no challenge,” Alpha sneered as he took off what was behind his back and ripped it in two. All movement stopped as the Titans looked on in horror, expecting to see blood gush from Cyborg's organs being ruptured. As he threw the item at them, they dodged and waited, terrified of what they might find. As they walked over to the object, they were relieved to see it was only a steel girder that had been bent and twisted around. They turned around to see Alpha with both his arms extended, the twin cannons charging up. As he fired, Raven erected a shield and struggled to keep the team centered. As Alpha increased his power, Raven let the shield's anchorage drop and the Titans went soaring back, unstable but protected.

“No challenge at all,” he smirked before stomping down another block.

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Cyborg woke up again, this time feeling recharged and ready to move around. He sat up and flipped open his display panel in his arm again. He received a pleasant surprise when he saw that he was recharged and back to full power.

“Charging is complete,” Cyborg heard and recognized the tone as Fixit's. He turned to his right as he saw the android reveal himself from the shadows again. “The new power cell is functioning properly,” he said, and Cyborg could tell from the tone that it was not a question but rather a statement. He still decided to treat it as a question as he stood up from the table and stretched his back, sighing as he felt some of his back tissue stretch. He cracked his neck; enjoying hearing the vertebrae pop slightly as he rolled his head around.

“Yeah,” Cyborg said with a smile as he stood up from the table. He flexed his biceps a couple of times as the cables plugged into his back detached themselves. “I'm feeling better,” he said as two robots came near him and began scanning his body over with some infrared lights. “Lots better,” he said, smiling at his benefactor to show it was a compliment.

Fixit did not smile or acknowledge Cyborg's gratitude in anyway except as a fact. “Of course you are. I am Fixit.” He walked over to a pile of junk and began sifting through it. “Things come to me broken. I make fixes,” he continued as he picked up a piece of machinery. “You came to me broken, and I made fixes to you,” Fixit said as he studied the part. “Let me see…” he said as he began picking up the objects, studying them, and then releasing them. Cyborg stared as he saw the objects did not fall but remained hovering around his head. Cyborg waited for Fixit to say something else. But all he heard was Fixit's mutterings. “Yes… yes… hmm… pity… interesting… the damage is too extensive… perhaps if we can find another processor…”

“Well, thanks… for everything,” Cyborg said as he waved goodbye and began to leave.

Fixit stopped immediately and the components he had suspended in midair hit the ground. He turned around and advanced across the chamber towards Cyborg. When he spoke, there was a new note of urgency in his voice. “You cannot leave,” he said as a few of his robotic companions turned towards Cyborg.

Cyborg turned and looked at Fixit. Despite what Fixit said, there was no hostility in the tone, and so Cyborg was confused rather than threatened. “I can't?” he said, hoping for clarification.

“You are not fixed,” Fixit said as his voice returned to normal, “…not fully.”

“I'm not?” he said, confused. He brought up a display in his HUD, but his general diagnostic sensors didn't register any problems.

“My examination revealed many flaws,” Fixit said. “Serious flaws,” he added as he narrowed his eyes.

“Serious?” Cyborg said, his tone turning fearful. He began running more specific scans as he turned towards the cybernetic medic. “How serious? What's wrong with me?”

“There is no cause for alarm,” Fixit said as he held up a reassuring hand. “More fixes are needed. More fixes will be made.”

“But- I feel fine,” Cyborg said to himself as he turned towards Fixit. “Are you sure I'm-”

“Quite,” Fixit said in a firm tone. “Will you remain? It is for the best,” he said. Cyborg considered. Fixit had repaired him without demanding anything in return. His computers couldn't detect anything that had been introduced to his programming, and his human brain couldn't sense anything different with his thinking. And Fixit had even offered to make more repairs, but hadn't pushed himself on Cyborg, asking him instead. On the other hand, Cyborg wanted to find Alpha and get into another fight, but if he wasn't functioning at full power, would he still be able to defeat him?

“Well… I guess,” he said reluctantly, deciding that he would need all his power to stop Alpha. He opened his forearm panel and brought up a communicator link, turning away from Fixit. “Lemme just tell my friends where I am.” With his back turned to Fixit, he did not notice that the android's eyes had turned red. All that Cyborg noticed was when the display panel for his built-in communicator opened it was garbled beyond recognition. “Whoa,” he exclaimed, his eye opening in alarm and surprise. “Something really is wrong with me.”

“Rest now,” Fixit said as he put a hand on Cyborg's shoulders. When Cyborg turned toward him, Fixit's eyes were glowing blue again. “You may contact your friends later.” Cyborg climbed up on the table as Fixit laid a hand on his forehead. “I am sure they are not too concerned,” he said in a reassuring tone.

Cyborg looked up at this strange man and muttered “maybe they should be,” so softly that Fixit could not hear him…

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Robin snarled as he saw Alpha arrive at a dock and begin tearing things apart. He took out his bo-staff and Starfire flung him at the robot with a yell. Alpha looked up just in him to get Robin's bo-staff jabbed into one of his eyes. He roared in pain as Starfire fired a barrage of starbolts at him combined with Raven's telekinetic blasts. The girls paused enough for Beast Boy to ram into the robot as an ox and push him into some wet cement. As the robot got bogged down in the sludge, Robin leaned in with a menacing glare.

“Where. Is. Cyborg?” he snarled. Alpha stopped struggling for a moment and looked at the human.

“What are you talking about, human? Alpha does not know this `Cyborg'.”

“The other one of us. The one that has the cannon,” Robin roared.

“Oh, that one. Yes, where is this `Cyborg'? He was the only one who came close to matching Alpha's strength. I must find him and beat him to prove that Alpha is more powerful.”

“What do you mean,” Robin asked, not quite believing the robot didn't know Cyborg's location.

“You kidnapped him from the junkyard,” Raven accused as she narrowed her eyes at him.

“Why would Alpha take a trophy,” the robot asked, his tone expressing genuine confusion.

“Wait a second…” Beast Boy said as he rubbed his head, trying to figure it all out, “if Cy's not with Alpha, then he must be… back at the junkyard!” He exclaimed, the other three Titans joining in with the last four words. As they raced off, Alpha freed himself from the concrete and began following them; eager for a rematch with the only other person he had found who could compete with him in strength.

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Cyborg sat on Fixit's table as the returns of all his diagnostics ran through his mind. “I don't get it; all my sensors say I'm fine,” he said as he rubbed his head.

Fixit approached Cyborg with a couple of tool floating around his head. “Your sensors are incomplete,” he said as he hooked a couple of wires up to Cyborg's shoulders and chest. “Mine are more… precise.”

Cyborg gave a nervous laugh as he laid back and took a deep breath. “Guess I'm just getting kinda nervous, you know,” he said, trying to spark a conversation. Fixit's eyes and face remained impassive as he directed some tools onto a tray and got more. “How long am I gonna be down here, anyway,” Cyborg asked anxiously, knowing that he didn't want to be out of the fight against Alpha too much longer.

“Fixes could take some time,” Fixit said as he came back with two more tools. A cable descended from above Cyborg's table and Fixit plugged it into the center of his forehead. “Besides, why would you want to leave?” Fixit asked as he the cable began to glow red. “Look around you, look at yourself: you belong with us.”

“No, I don't,” Cyborg said quickly. He smiled at Fixit to show that he had not meant it in an insulting manner. “I mean, you've got a nice place here and you've been really cool to me, but…I couldn't live down here,” he said as he looked around the place. “I don't know how you can,” he said in a sad tone.

“What do you mean?” Fixit asked in a perplexed tone. “The power supply is adequate; replacement parts are easy to find-”

“I need more than that!” Cyborg exclaimed, trying to make the android see that he was not all robot. “What about sunlight? What about fresh air? What about food?”

“I do not require these things,” Fixit said as the cable disconnected. “And when fixes are complete…” he said, as he began walking away, “… neither will you,” he finished, his words ringing ominously in Cyborg's mind.

Cyborg got up and pulled the plugs hooked into his body out. “You know what? I'm feeling all right now,” he said kindly but firmly. “So thanks anyway, but I'm just gonna go,” he said as he got up, turned his back on Fixit and began to walk away.

Fixit turned from his work and put more urgency and command into his voice than when Cyborg first had tried to leave. “Stay.” As Fixit's eyes glowed red again, a couple of dozen small robots moved into his way and blocked his path.

“Yo, what are you-” Cyborg's protest was cut short as one of the robots extended an arm and grabbed his wrist. “Hey, lemme go!” Cyborg struggled as his other arm was grabbed too. Spark plugs emerged from the tops of the robots and began to charge up. As a stream of electricity streamed through Cyborg's systems, the human half of his mind began to become disorientated. As he slumped to the ground, Cyborg struggled weakly against some steel binders that were placed around his torso.

Fixit looked at the moaning android with a detached expression on his face as he gestured to the table where Cyborg had jest been lying. The table tilted until it was nearly vertical, and Cyborg was carried over to it and placed on it. “Fixes are not yet complete,” Fixit repeated as he gazed at Cyborg impassively. “Your biological components are imperfect…” Fixit declared, sending a jolt of fear through Cyborg. “… and they must be replaced.” Fixit motioned towards a door, which hissed open.

On a support frame was an array of secondhand robotic parts- enough to replace every remaining biological portion of Cyborg's body. Cyborg let his eye rove over the parts, seeing a right side of the skull, a bicep, a thigh, hips and stomach, part of a lower leg, portions of a back, and other pieces. He locked his human eye with the right robotic eye, picturing it on his face. “No,” Cyborg whispered in a horrified tone. He just lay there, not struggling, as Fixit walked up to the parts and began putting the finishing touches on them. A mask descended from the ceiling and latched onto Cyborg's face and his world went dark…

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As the Titans arrived at the park, Robin ordered them to fan out and search. As Robin started rooting through trash piles big enough to hide Cyborg's frame, Beast Boy changed to a bloodhound and began rooting through where Cyborg had come to help to pick up his trail, while Starfire observed from above and Raven sat and meditated, trying to find some sort of Cyborg's consciousness remaining.

“Hey, I found him,” she said with her eyes still closed. The other Titans rushed over to her as she pointed down and to their left. “I can feel him. He's still alive, but his mind seems… tense. And afraid. I don't know what's going on, but we need to get to him.”

Robin nodded and took out a small wire from his utility belt. He placed it on the ground in a circle and stepped back as he ran a small electric current through it. The wire detonated, cleaving a hole through the ground. “Beast Boy, check it out,” the leader said as they stood on the edge. The green Titan didn't even make a joke; he simply nodded and turned into a bat before flying down the hole. Using echolocation, he realized the cavern floor was only about ten feet deep and he let everyone know this when he had reached the bottom.

As the other Titans joined Beast Boy, they looked around for any clues that would tell them where Cyborg had gone. “Found his battery pack,” Robin said as he held up the mangled batteries that were wired together. “He must be somewhere close by,” he deduced as they continued walking. As they walked further from the hole where sunlight streamed in, the cavern got darker and darker. “Star, can you give us some light?” Robin asked as they continued on their way. Starfire lifted one of her hands and charged up a starbolt, substituting it for a torch. The Titans looked around for any trace of their metallic friend as they advanced into the gloom…

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Cyborg came out of the sleep he was in and tried to open his eyes. He struggled to open his right eye when a voice sounded throughout his systems as the same words flashed across his vision. “Biological components removed. Repairs complete.” A flash of fear shot through Cyborg's system.

“Awaken, friend,” Fixit said with a happy tone in his voice. “Awaken and see your new face.”

Cyborg's vision flickered and flashed into view. He looked down at his hands and saw they were the same as they had always been. Despite the signs he had received, Cyborg dared to hope that he was still partly human. He tried to sigh in relief, but realized that he could not. He tried to gasp and then simply breathe, but it was impossible for him now.

To breathe required lungs.

Cyborg dashed to a mirror and gazed in horror at his new body. Every scrap, every last vestige of his human body was gone, replaced by a new robotic part. He rubbed a hand against his new face disbelievingly before sinking to his knees, drowning in despair. As he tried to cry, or even convulse, Cyborg's anguish turned to rage and he stood up. He smashed his fist through the mirror and screamed in fear as he tumbled through it. As he fell, Cyborg saw the organs and other parts of his human body swirl around him. He watched the flesh rot off the bones before the bones disintegrated and he hit the floor. He staggered to his feet and looked around. He saw the Titans sitting at a pizza parlor.

“Guys, look what happened to me,” he said as he walked up to them. All four of the Titans looked at him, puzzled.

“Um… how are you again?” Robin asked politely but confusedly.

“It's me… its Cyborg,” the robot said, hoping his friends would see past his new face.

“You cannot be our friend Cyborg. Our friend Cyborg is only half machine, and you are all,” Starfire said as she looked at him.

“No guys, it's really me. Raven, read my mind: you'll know that I'm not lying.”

The dark telepath looked at Cyborg like he was crazy. “I can't pick up any thoughts off a machine. That's all you are.”

“But… but I was changed into this,” Cyborg said as he sank to his knees. “BB, don't you remember how I used to eat meat in front of you just to tick you off?”

“Um… dude… you can't eat meat. You can't eat anything. You're just a robot!” Beast Boy said as the Titans gave Cyborg a pitying look before leaving.

“Poor thing. He really needs to be reprogrammed,” Robin said as they walked away.

Cyborg screamed in rage and fear and his eyes snapped open. He took a deep breath and almost cried in relief when he felt the air enter his nostrils.

“Do not be afraid,” Fixit said calmly as he stopped working on the new parts for Cyborg and walked over to the android. “You were dreaming. Dreams can cause undue anxiety, and sleep will not be necessary once fixes are complete.”

Cyborg remembered the very real danger he was in as he started to struggle against the steel band that held him down.

“What if I don't want to be repaired? What if I like me this way?”

“Such thoughts come from your imperfect biological components,” Fixit said as he resumed his work on the parts. “They will be replaced momentarily,” he said as he finished the touches on the new mask for Cyborg.

“Not if I can help it,” Cyborg vowed to himself as he concentrated. The tip of his middle finger popped off and began walking around the steel bands. As he zoomed in, Cyborg saw the imperfections in the steel and focused his strength there. As he applied strength to the micro-cracks, they began to stretch and break. Cyborg continued struggling quietly, hoping to be able to escape while Fixit was preoccupied.

Just as Cyborg was almost free, he saw Fixit stand to his full heights and turn around. “I am ready. We will begin now,” the android declared.

“Perfect timing,” Cyborg grumbled as he decided to break through the weakened bands with brute force. He let out a yell and burst free from his restraints before running for the door. Fixit's eyes glowed red and the door sealed itself in response. Cyborg gasped as he reached the door and smashed his fist against it. The door gave a little, but Cyborg knew he wouldn't be able to smash his way through in time to avoid being captured again. “I didn't want to have to do this, but…” he left the end of his sentence unfinished as he reconfigured his arm into the Sonic Cannon. He aimed at Fixit, restraining the strength so it would only blast him back without doing any long-term damage, but the weapon fizzled out as only a wisp of smoke appeared. Cyborg looked at it disbelievingly.

Fixit advanced towards him, his eyes red again. “Your defensive systems have been disabled for the procedure,” he explained. “They will be reactivated when fixes are complete.” Cyborg snarled at him and charged, but a gesture from Fixit sent several metal tentacles snaking down from the ceiling. They caught Cyborg just before he got close enough to tackle Fixit. More tentacles extended from the old table and began to pull Cyborg back towards it. Cyborg activated treads on his boots that would give him better traction and he began to slowly make his way towards Fixit. More tentacles grabbed at him and Cyborg struggled until his arm started to beep. He glanced at it and saw that he was exerting one-hundred percent of his power in trying to escape. He made one desperate bid for freedom, managed to close his hand around Fixit's cloak, and pulled it away.

Cyborg sucked in a shocked gasp as he saw a jumble of internal organs heavily interwoven with cables and switches. There was even a small, fully jointed robotic arm that protected a small beating organ that Cyborg assumed had at one point been a heart. Fixit simply looked at Cyborg with seemingly no trace of anger or embarrassment at having had his innards exposed. “The biological malfunctions are growing worse,” he said as Cyborg was yanked back to the table and restrained. “We must begin at once…”

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“This is pointless,” Robin snarled in frustration as they wandered around the cavern.

“I admit, Robin, it does feel like we have been here before,” Starfire said as she looked around at the dark surroundings.

“Sorry I can't pinpoint him Robin: my powers only give me a general sense of where he is,” Raven said.

“Guys, let's go back to the battery pack. Maybe I can pick up a scent off there,” Beast Boy suggested as the continued walking.

“Does anyone remember where it is?” Robin asked as he thought the idea over.

“Shouldn't it be over by the sunlight,” Beast Boy asked as he jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. The Titans nodded and retraced their steps to the battery pack. Beast Boy transformed into a bloodhound and began moving in a straight line after tracing Cyborg's scent…

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Cyborg struggled against his bonds but this time Fixit had tied him down much more securely. As he wriggled his body, trying to get some leverage, he saw Fixit come over to him and pull out the replacement parts. The table tilted back until Cyborg was lying down and Fixit gathered a few of his tools. He held them above his head and grabbed one that began to spark. He leaned down and began to apply it to Cyborg's skin. Cyborg screamed as the electricity ran through his flesh, shocking his nervous system and stunning him. His hand twitched convulsively as Fixit began to dig the tool in.

A crash from the door barely caught Cyborg's attention, stunned and disoriented as he was. Fixit, on the other hand, whipped around, his robe showing part of his exposed organs, to see what the disturbance was. Robin was standing in the center with a birdarang in his hand, ready to fight. Raven's eyes were glowing white as Starfire prepared a pair of starbolts. Beast Boy crouched next to Robin, not sure what to do but ready nonetheless.

“Guys, get me out of here!” Cyborg shouted, knowing that his friends would do anything they could to help him. The Titans immediately rushed at Fixit, who merely stood there. As his eyes glowed red, the entire floor began to glow white. Robin and Beast Boy were stunned and driven to the floor when electricity ran through the floor. Starfire immediately stopped and turned to Robin while Raven growled and levitated a few objects to throw at Fixit. The tentacles that had restrained Cyborg now snaked down again and wrapped themselves around Raven and Starfire, shocking them as well. Starfire cried out and fell to the floor from the current and was hit from the one still going through the floor. Raven barely managed to keep herself aloft, struggling to keep her objects levitated to throw at Fixit when the tentacles pushed her to the floor and she finally collapsed.

Cyborg looked on his horror as his friend began twitching and lost consciousness. He felt the terror that had been stilled when his friends had arrived wash over him again as he realized there was now nothing to prevent Fixit from his insidious intentions. As Fixit walked over to Cyborg again, for the first time Cyborg heard frustration in the android's voice. “I hope these interruptions are at an end. We must fix the biological malfunctions before they become any worse.”

Cyborg tried to struggle again but knew it was useless. As Fixit bent over him again, another explosion drew both of their attentions. Cyborg saw Fixit glare for the first time as his eyes glowed red again and sent the electricity streaming up and down the floors. A laugh that sounded very familiar came from a hulking that was now obscured by the smoke filling the hole. Alpha stepped through the hole, his body absorbing the electricity. Three strides brought him up to Fixit, whose eyes were blue with shock.

“Alpha demands a fight with this robot! Release him!” Alpha roared as he stared down Fixit.

“I am not a robot!” Cyborg protested indignantly, but both of them ignored him.

“I will not release him. Not yet: he will be done when fixes are-” Fixit was swatted across the room with a brush of Alpha's hand as the robot quickly ripped Cyborg free of the restraints and threw the android across the room. Cyborg let out a shout as he tumbled through the air and smashed through the wall. He wearily got to his feet as Alpha came charging through the hole after him. Cyborg rolled to his side to avoid a punch before pushing himself up and using his arms to propel himself into the air. His feet touched a wall and he kicked off, launching himself at Alpha.

Alpha let out a kick that caught Cyborg right in the stomach and rotated his torso as he slammed into the floor.

“Come now, robot,” Alpha taunted as he scooped Cyborg up and threw him into a wall again. “Where is your strength? Perhaps I need to motivate you,” he laughed as Cyborg got up. Alpha began to charge at the fallen Titans, provoking Cyborg into a rage. He got to his feet and tackled Alpha. As the two metal bodies scrapped across the floor, Cyborg used the momentum to get to his feet and hefted Alpha over his shoulders and into a table. The robot got up laughing as Cyborg charged in, his right hand turning into his Sonic Cannon. Alpha braced for the weapon to fire, but just as last time, it fizzled out and died a moment before Cyborg reached him. Cyborg looked at his weapon in dismay as Alpha picked him up and threw him into the ground. Cyborg rolled away again and began working his circuits, trying to repair the problem. He kept his head down as he ducked underneath furniture to stay hidden. Alpha turned one arm into a cannon and began blasting tables and other objects out of the way to find the wayward robot.

“Come on, just give me a few more seconds,” Cyborg muttered to himself as he focused his mind inwards and began going through his security files.

As he began to access his weapons protocol, he heard movement from behind him and peeked out to see Beast Boy charging Alpha. The robot laughed as he took out the green bull with a single punch. “Humans provide no challenge,” Alpha sneered as Beast Boy fell to the floor, unconscious once more. “No challenge at all,” Alpha reiterated as he put his foot above the green teenagers head and prepared to stomp down. Cyborg accessed his weapons and quickly fired his Sonic Cannon at full power. The force of the blast caused Alpha to stumble forward and drop to one knee. He quickly turned around and launched one shot from his own gun that went directly into the muzzle of the Sonic Cannon. Cyborg looked in disbelief at his damaged weapon and began to charge, but Alpha held up a hand to stop him.

“Hold. Alpha will defeat you. But later, in a fair fight,” he said as he looked down at Cyborg. “No weapons,” he said as he looked to the damaged Sonic Cannon, “and no friends,” he said, motioning his hand to the fallen Titans.

“No!” Cyborg shouted as he advanced a step. “We finish this now!”

“As you wish,” Alpha said as he turned his hand into a cannon again and pointed it at Beast Boy. The muzzle began to glow red, and Cyborg saw that Alpha was willing to make the second stipulation of their fair fight a reality wither way.

“Wait,” he said, causing Alpha to pause. “Fine. When and where?”

“The old stadium at the far east side of town,” Alpha said as he extended his other hand. As he powered up his weapon and fired, Cyborg let out a shout of protest. The unconscious people were now encased in an energy shield. Alpha walked over to it and picked it up as he turned to Cyborg again. “Arrive at five p.m., if you dare, and I will let you have your friends back,” he said as he began walking away with the four Titans and Fixit in tow.

Cyborg returned to the tower around noon and set to work on fixing his Sonic Cannon. When he was done, he double checked all his systems, freed his access to his weapons system, and removed the inhibitors Fixit had placed on his strengths for the procedure. As he strode out of his room, Cyborg passed by the gym again. He glanced inside and saw the training sled. His failure from the other day gnawed at him, and Cyborg felt his confidence drop slightly. He shook his head and exited the tower, making his way to the stadium.

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Alpha sat in the stadium on a large throne-like chair that had been made out of twisted metal. He kept his eye focused on the door on the other side of the stadium as the Teen Titans stood inside his barrier. Alpha had been impressed that they had been able to crack the shield, but he had continued to repair it as they took breaks.

“You can't hold us here forever,” Robin snarled as he glared at Alpha.

“Do not be a sore loser, human,” Alpha responded as he kept his eyes on the door, waiting to see if Cyborg would appear. “Alpha is better than you. Better than all.”

Starfire's eyes glowed green with her anger as she clenched her jaw. “You are nothing but a… a… Zolwarg Tubek-Plixing Zordmorker,” she shouted.

“Yeah!” Beast Boy chimed in as he sat down sulking. “What she said.”

“Watch your tone!” Alpha said as he got up and stared at Starfire. “Alpha is the greatest. He deserves your respect.”

The two glared at each other for a few moments before Raven chimed in with her usual sarcasm. “So… do we get bathroom breaks?”

“What are bathrooms, and how may I break them?” Alpha asked as he looked at the telepath. Every one in the shield stopped moving and stared at Alpha, each wondering how to explain to a robot how human bodily processes worked.

“Yo, Goldilocks!” came a voice from the stadium. Everyone turned to see Cyborg coming in from the entrance at the other end of the stadium. He walked unhurriedly to the middle of the field and stared at Alpha, every motion of his body conveying toughness. As he stopped he jerked his head from side to side, cracking his neck as he did the same with his knuckles. “Let's do this!” he said simply.

“I did not think you would come,” Alpha taunted as he began walking out to meet Cyborg. “Humans scare so easily,” he said smugly.

“I'm only half human,” Cyborg said indignantly as he pointed to himself with his thumb.

“And half of nothing, is still… nothing,” Alpha said dismissively. He raised a forearm and began switching lights off. Cyborg figured each light stood for a different weapons system as his scanner showed less power going to the arms. “I want a fair fight, human, so I shall willingly forgo my arsenal.”

“While you're at it why don't you shut off your big fat mouth?” Cyborg shouted, getting sick of Alpha's taunts that were directly at him and his friends.

Alpha took off with a roar of rage towards Cyborg and Cyborg matched him as he charged the robot in turn. Alpha dipped under a hook punch and rammed Cyborg in the chest with his shoulder. Cyborg grunted as Alpha picked up him and threw him into the old seats. Cyborg got up with an angry growl and saw Alpha barreling straight up the steps. A metal fist slammed in to Cyborg's chest and sent him flying backward through a wall of the crumbling stadium. Cyborg flexed his fingers on his left hand, turning it into a grappling hook. As he tumbled to the ground, he fired it up and latched it onto a wall. He hauled himself up and struck Alpha in the chest with both hands.

Alpha went soaring back and landed on his back. Cyborg leapt from the steps and landed with both legs into Alpha's chest. The two robots sank into the ground from the force and weight of the attack.

“Yeah!” Robin cheered as he watched the fight.

“All right, Cy,” Beast Boy encouraged as he pumped a fist into the air.

“Kick the butt,” Starfire shouted. Raven stayed silent as she continued watching. She knew the only chance they had of escaping was for Cyborg to beat Alpha into submission: the shield, even when Alpha was not focusing on it, continued to replenish itself. It seemed to block her powers from extending outside the field, and she did not want to test sending her consciousness outside, unsure if she would be hurt.

Alpha pushed Cyborg off of him and the two robots circled each other, their hands up in boxing stances. Cyborg ducked under a roundhouse punch and fired a string of body blows. Alpha grunted as the blows came in and caught one. He whisked Cyborg off his feet and flung him down hard. As Cyborg's body sank into the ground, he tried to raise himself. He knew that Alpha would continue to inflict these kinds of blows and stop him from attacking. Sure enough, Alpha yanked him up and hurled him into the far wall. Cyborg fell to all fours after his body came out of the wall. Alpha rushed in, unwilling to give the biomechanical teen a breather. Cyborg looked up and saw a broad grin on the robot's face. This taunting look was all it took to get him fired up again and Cyborg leapt to his feet with a loud growl and moved in fast. Their clash erupted great dust clouds, obscuring the view of the two from the view of the other Titans.

As the dust cleared, they saw the two mechanical fighters locked in a test of strength. Alpha continued putting on the pressure; slowly pushing Cyborg back and making his feet grind the dirt. Cyborg's face, twisted up with the strain, glanced at his power readout and panicked when he saw it was maxed out again. Alpha glanced at it and laughed as he relaxed slightly, keeping Cyborg at his limit. “It seems you have reached your limit,” Alpha taunted. “But Atlas has power to spare,” he said as he began to increase his strength again.

Cyborg was forced to his knees and used every remaining wisp of his strength to stand again. Alpha raised his fist and one final punch found its mark on his jaw. Cyborg grunted and flew back in a graceless arc. The Titans stared bug-eyed while Fixit remained impassive.

“He lost,” he said with no emotion. “Perhaps he would have not have had fixes taken place.”

Cyborg hit the dirt face first and tried weakly to get upright. Alpha put his foot on Cyborg's back, angering the teen at this sign of submission. “No one defeats Alpha,” he said as he looked down at Cyborg. “No one.”

As humiliating as it was, Cyborg tried to comfort himself with the fact that he had given it all he had. “Fine,” he growled through grit teeth. “You win,” he conceded. “Now let my friends go.”

“No,” Alpha said as he walked away. This one word caught everyone but Fixit by surprise.

“But,” Cyborg protested as he got up on all fours, “…you said that-”

“Your friends will remain as my trophies,” Alpha said as he sat down again. “And there is nothing you can do about it,” he taunted.

“Starfire gasped as Beast Boy pounded on the sphere. “Cyborg,” he said in a pleading tone.

“Please,” Raven said, trying to encourage him.

“Get up, Cyborg! Get up and fight! You can still beat him,” Robin yelled. Trying to put it as an order in the hope Cyborg would listen to him.

Cyborg, still on the ground, looked wearily toward the group for a moment and then turned his face away. He looked at his forearm panel, still showing maximum power on all fronts. “No. I can't,” he said in a remorseful tone.

“Fool, Did you actually believe you could defeat Atlas? I am all robot…” Alpha said as he pushed a button, causing the seat and the energy sphere to sink into the ground on a hidden elevator. “…and you are only human.”

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Cyborg trudged along a sidewalk, mind whirling with anger and sadness. “How could I…” he said out loud, the question unanswered as he became full of self-loathing. “They were counting on me and… I just couldn't do it. Alpha was right,” he said as the mechanical part of his brain began to dominate his thinking. “My one hundred percent couldn't match Alpha's. He's better than me. He is a winner, and I really am nothing but a loser.”

“So that's it, man? You're just gonna give up,” his human side answered. “I never knew I was such a coward.”

Cyborg winced at the self-depreciating thought, and while it felt weird to have a conversation with (and be insulted by) himself, he still responded out loud to his inner thoughts. “What else can I do?”

“You can go back and fight! Give it everything you have!”

“I gave everything I had. I gave it my all: a hundred percent.”

“That wasn't good enough. Give more.”

“I have nothing else to give.”

“Your friends are in trouble; you have to go back.”

“If I go back, I'll have to fight again.”

“You have to fight. You have to win!”

“I can't win.”

“Why not? When has there ever been something you couldn't beat? That rock monster, Plasmus, those probe droids, the army…”

“That was different. The Titans could help me. Alpha is stronger; Alpha is faster: he's just a better robot.”

“But you aren't all robot!”

“I know: I'm only half-human.”

“No, you're only half-robot! Half of you is human, and that's the half that can beat him!”

This last thought jolted Cyborg's depression. He looked down at his forearm panel again and saw he was at ten percent overall, with both sides of his body using the same amount of power. His resolve strengthened as he socked a fist into his palm. “Time to take it up a notch,” he said as he turned around.

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Alpha strode around the locker room, bending metal and praising himself for the victory. “So what do you think, humans?” he asked as he struck a pose in front of the Titans.

“I think you can go fuck yourself,” Robin snapped as he glared at the metallic bully.

“What was that?” Alpha said in a menacing tone as he towered over the unintimidated Titan. “No human tells me what to do,” he declared as he reached in and prepared to grab Robin. A blast from a cannon on his back startled the robot and he turned around to see Cyborg with his Sonic Cannon extended.

“You sure about that? Because I'm human, and I'm telling you to let my friends go,” he said as he converted his arm back into a fist. The two looked at each other for a moment before launching themselves at each other. Just as the two were about to connect, Cyborg dodged to the left and snapped his leg out in a kick. The blow stopped Alpha's momentum and caught him by surprise. Cyborg capitalized on the robot's stupefaction and seized him by the shoulders before throwing him into a wall. Alpha rubbed his head as he got up and Cyborg rushed in, his newfound confidence showing itself as he hammered away at Alpha's body chassis. As he ducked under a hook punch, Cyborg rushed in, his confidence causing him to forget prudence, and caught an uppercut to the chin. He went soaring into the air and slammed through the ceiling, which was also the stadium floor, and landed in the dirt. As he rubbed his head, Cyborg looked up to see Alpha roaring as he leapt up and tried to slam himself down on the Titan. Cyborg quickly rolled to the side and a column of dust shot up from where Alpha had impacted the ground.

As the thick curtain of dust cleared, Alpha was revealed embedded up to his waist in the ground. His head and torso rotated one hundred eighty degrees to smile sinisterly at Cyborg before he climbed out. In the background, the Titans and Fixit were raised on the elevator back to ground level.

Cyborg backed up to avoid a series of jabs before he caught one in his hand. He quickly balled up his right fist and pointed it at Alpha, who laughed at Cyborg's inferior reach. His laughter was cut short, however, when Cyborg ejected the arm from his shoulder, catching Alpha in the jaw. As the behemoth went flying back, Cyborg turned his left hand into a grappling hook again and launched it at Alpha, catching him around the leg. Cyborg grunted and turned his arm and body, swinging Alpha around like a rodeo. He let go and sent the robot tumbling along the ground. As Alpha sat up he saw Cyborg walking towards him, his right arm attaching itself once again to his shoulder.

“Still got power to spare,” Cyborg asked sarcastically as he activated his Sonic Cannon.

“Plenty,” was all Alpha said before pulling a buried electric cable out of the ground and thrusting the flickering free end against Cyborg's chassis. His deception backfired, however, when Cyborg channeled the energy into his Sonic Cannon, causing the attack to do more damage than intended. Alpha groaned under the attack and was sent careening into the wall. He began pushing buttons on his chest and reactivated his weapons systems. Unwittingly, he also turned off the energy field, freeing the rest of the once-captive Teen Titans. He cried out in shock as he saw his mistake and quickly tried to run out of the stadium, his probability scenario telling him he had only an eight percent chance of victory against Cyborg at full power and the rest of the Titans.

“Titans: Go,” Robin cried as he fired a grappling hook to take him to the other side of the stadium. He touched down in front of the exit, cutting off Alpha's escape. Alpha simply glared at him as the other Titans landed nearby. “You wanted a fair fight? That's what you're going to get,” Robin declared as he glared right back at Alpha.

“Five against one? This is a fair fight?” Alpha asked incredulously.

“I thought `humans provide no challenge',” Beast Boy said, mocking Alpha with his own words as he turned back from a hawk into human again.

“And we will not be participating in the fighting,” Starfire added.

“Think of us as referees,” Raven explained as the four Titans stared at the once cocky robot.

“It's just you and me,” Cyborg said as he walked up to Alpha, cracking his neck again. Alpha sneered at him and cracked his knuckles. The last pop had barely died away when a fist rocked Alpha's vision. Cyborg back-flipped as Alpha slammed a fist down where he had been standing and fired a blast from his Sonic Cannon. Alpha staggered back from the attack and activated two of his own weapons. As one hand became a machine gun, the other formed into a torch. Cyborg's eyes went wide as a blast of fire streaked towards him. He backpedaled furiously to avoid the heat and racked through his weapons to try to think of a counter-attack. As screens came up on his HUD, Cyborg almost didn't notice Alpha's chest chassis opening up to form a third cannon.

A flash caught his attention and Cyborg saw a bright green ball of energy heading for him. He quickly activated his foot thrusters and hopped out of the way. As he flew into the air, Cyborg fired half a dozen rockets from his shoulders. Alpha aimed his machine gun at them and shot three out of the sky before the others hit him. Cyborg landed as Alpha was hidden behind a plume of smoke and flicked both his wrists. A small chain saw popped out from above his left hand and began spinning. Cyborg adopted a defensive stance as three foot-long claws extended from between his palm fingers on his right hand and waited for Alpha to attack. As he inched closer to the robot, Cyborg dodged to the right as another blast of fire came at him.

Alpha roared in rage as Cyborg continued to dodge his long-range attacks, confident that he would be able to keep Cyborg at bay. What Alpha didn't count on was Cyborg turning his right arm into his Sonic Cannon and firing it at the ground, kicking up smoke again. As Alpha activated his other visions, he realized the dust was obscuring all of them except his heat vision. As he brought it up, he saw that Cyborg had already gotten in close. The chain saw lashed out and sliced through some of the armor on Alpha's left arm. Cyborg snapped his arm out and used the flat side to knock Alpha's other arm to the side. The claws stabbed into the chest and Alpha quickly head-butted Cyborg to get him away. As Cyborg staggered back, he saw that the blows he had inflicted on Alpha had disabled most of his external weapons.

Alpha growled and pressed a button on his waist. Cyborg charged in but stopped when he saw another field erect itself over his friends again. The Titans looked around at the shield and immediately began hammering away at it but quickly realized the shield was just as strong as the other one. Cyborg looked back at Alpha, who pointed behind Cyborg. Cyborg glared at him for a moment and he turned around. He saw a cannon mounted on the stadium ceiling swivel towards his friends and begin to power up.

“In ten minutes, that will have enough power to smash through that shield and annihilate your friends,” Alpha laughed. “Unless, of course, you can kill me before then. The cannon is hardwired to me: as long as my processor is on, it will continue to follow its pre-programmed directions,” Alpha said as he tapped his head. Cyborg began to shake with rage as he charged Alpha. The larger robot charged right back and leapt into the air as he got closer. Cyborg was caught by surprise by this tactic and Alpha seized him by the shoulders and threw him away. Cyborg hit the earth and slid across the dirt, his armor gouging out pieces of the ground until he came to a stop at the chair that Alpha had been on. Cyborg climbed to his feet, running through his weapons. He had depleted most of his weapons except for his Sonic Cannon, which wouldn't pack enough punch by itself to destroy Alpha. An idea popped into his head and activated some panels on his back. The metal flipped around, producing solar panels that would absorb the energy from the setting sun. Fortunately, the stadium was still full of sunlight, and Cyborg brought up a small screen that would let him know when he had enough power.

He looked down at the throne and slammed his hands into it. Cyborg growled as he strained his muscles, ripping pieces of the chair off. Alpha laughed as he charged in, thinking Cyborg was just randomly destroying things in a fit of rage. As he came closer, Cyborg turned around, wearing the large pieces of the chair as a couple of boxing gloves and slammed them together. Cyborg rushed at Alpha and ducked under a fierce hook punch before retaliating with a vicious punch with his right hand. The metal surrounding his hands gave him a more extended reach, and Alpha stepped back from the force behind the strike. Cyborg stepped forward with a left uppercut, snapping the other robot's head backwards and continued the assault with a jab from his right arm.

Alpha staggered back from the attacks as Cyborg circled around him, inflicting blows wherever he could. Three more shots to the body and face later, Cyborg realized he needed to get Alpha on the ground: the `gloves' were starting to come apart from the abuse they were taking. One more uppercut sent Alpha's head up and Cyborg followed up with a kick that knocked the large robot off balance. As Alpha fell to the ground, Cyborg climbed on top and began hammering away at Alpha's face, pieces of metal flying everywhere as his weapon came apart. As the attacks continued, Alpha's body began to sink into the ground from the sheer weight of the two combatants combined with the force behind Cyborg's strikes. The android tossed the remaining pieces of the chair away when they became too small to use effectively and grabbed Alpha by the shoulder. Bringing the face up, Cyborg continued to hammer away at Alpha's face until parts of the external plating were removed.

Cyborg finished with one last punch that sent Alpha's head snapping back and took a deep breath, the exertion catching up with him. He breathed heavily for a few moments before hearing Alpha's taunting voice again. “That's all you got? I thought you were going to provide me with a challenge,” he sneered. Cyborg grit his teeth in frustration and raised his fist again but Alpha knocked Cyborg back a couple of feet with his hands before kicking out and launching Cyborg across the stadium.

Alpha charged Cyborg's fallen body but his momentum was broken by a barrage of Sonic Cannon blasts. Cyborg was up in no time and charged in, popping the knuckles out in his left hand to produce spiked tips. He caught a blow to the face for this distraction, but quickly found his footing and grabbed Alpha's arm in a lock. He drove the robot to the ground and lashed out with his left hand, his knuckles tearing away part of the cheek from the face. Alpha muscled his way out and caught Cyborg's hands in his own. Cyborg struggled to keep Alpha at bay when he saw on his HUD that the solar panels were done charging. He grinned as a panel on his chest opened, and the solar energy that Cyborg's body had been collected was channeled through a cannon and blasted Alpha away, the sheer heat melting most of his external armor off.

Cyborg ran at Alpha's stunned form and leapt off the ground. He twisted his body in the air and kicked out with both feet, hitting Alpha square in the chest. At the exact moment of impact, Cyborg activated his foot thrusters again, and combined force sent Alpha again into a wall. The stadium looked as though it was about to collapse, and Alpha himself was looking the worse for wear: his body dented and scratched up by the onslaught Cyborg was unleashing. He stayed completely still, luring Cyborg closer to see if he was finally deactivated. As Cyborg got closer, Alpha sprang to his feet and knocked him back. Cyborg snarled and rushed in, but a kick from Alpha sent him against a wall. As he tried to get out, Alpha seized his wrists and slammed his forearms and wrists to the concrete, keeping Cyborg pinned to the wall.

Alpha grinned savagely at Cyborg as the latter tried to free himself. As he struggled against Alpha, Cyborg's power readout climbed to ninety-eight percent, throwing a scare into him as he continued to push himself. “What's the matter? Running out of steam?” Alpha taunted as he likewise increased his strength. Cyborg gazed at his friends, trapped in another field with no protection from the cannon, as his body was slowly pushed against the wall, cracking it and embedding him in the concrete. He poured every bit of strength he could muster into freeing himself, but was met only with derisive chuckling from Alpha. They both glanced at his forearm as the readout starts beeping and saw it had maxed out. Alpha narrowed his eyes as he stared down at Cyborg. “You have reached your limit. You have failed. Now you can watch your friends die,” Alpha taunted as he watched Cyborg continue to struggle. “You cannot win.”

“Yes…” Cyborg grunted as he continued to push himself, “…I…” he ground out as he braced his back for the push, “CAN!” he roared as his arms began to push out from the wall. Alpha's eyes widened in shock as he put all his strength into his hold. Cyborg's power meter cracked and began to quickly rise again until it hit one hundred thirty percent. Alpha snarled as he felt Cyborg's arms push his own back and for the first time in the fight became truly scared of what Cyborg was capable of.

With a scream as tortured as his muscles, Cyborg pushed himself off the wall and lifted the huge metal body over his head. He slammed in down into the ground, embedding the head and torso of Alpha into the ground. He quickly yanked it up and pulled the head clean off the shoulder, destroying Alpha and disabling the cannon countdown. “Boo-yah,” he muttered before slumping against a wall and collapsing.

The Titans, free from the shield, ran at Cyborg to make sure he was all right. They hoisted him shakily to his feet, and Beast Boy grabbed Cyborg's wrist and thrust the arm into the air as a referee would do in a boxing match. “And the winner by Technological Knockout: the Mechanical Maniac; the Bionic Bruiser; the Relentless Robot; the Unstoppable Android; the One, the Only, Cyborg!” He announced to the other Titans, who cheered for him. Cyborg grinned feebly and slumped again as they leaned him gently against the wall.

“He'll be all right,” Robin told the Titans, ever the practical leader. “Right now we need to find out where Alpha came from,” he said as he began to inspect the robot's frame. The other Titans joined him, not noticing that Fixit had emerged from the shadows of a room to pick Cyborg up and take him away.

“What the…” Robin muttered to himself as he pulled off the endoskeleton of Alpha. A message had been carved into the metal, and Robin's blood became heated as he read it.

Robin,

I'm pleased to see that brute force wasn't enough to stop you and the other
Titans. Take pride in that you have saved your city, since Alpha would have event-
ually destroyed it. I'm proud of you, and that doesn't happen often. I'll be in touch…
Slade

“Guys, look at this,” he said showing it to the others. Their faces were shocked as they read the message recognizing the name from the man who had hired the HIVE FIVE to destroy them.

“Cy, get a load of this,” Beast Boy said as he called over his shoulder. Not hearing a response, he turned around and saw Cyborg was missing. “um… guys, where's Cy,” he said, drawing the rest of his team's attention.

The Titans immediately converged on where Cyborg's body had been and saw a note pinned to the wall.

I have taken your friend. He is not in any danger: he is being fixed. His exhaustion
during this fight proves that he needs to be fixed. Since I fix things, I will fix him. I will
return your friend to you when fixes are done- Fixit

The Titans immediately took off for the junkyard, knowing the danger their vulnerable friend was in…

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Cyborg groaned, his head pounding as a bright light shone in his eyes. He winced as he felt a sharp tool dig into his shoulder and turned his head to see that he was restrained. As Cyborg looked around, his hazy mind trying to put things together, he recognized the surroundings as Fixit's cavern. Above him stood Fixit, bent over him and hard at work. Two other tools hovered around him and Fixit exchanged the tool he was holding for another and removed a piece of Cyborg's armor, letting it clatter to the floor. Fixit took the robotic face off the rack and Cyborg tried to free himself from his restraints, but knew that he was too exhausted from his fight with Alpha to get loose.

“Do not resist,” Fixit said as he looked down at Cyborg. “It is for the best.”

“No, it isn't!” Cyborg protested as he tried to reason with the single-minded entity.

“Yes it is,” Fixit said as he put the finishing touches on the mask. “You biological components are imperfect and must be replaced.”

“But it was only because of my biological components that I was able to defeat Alpha,” causing Fixit to pause.

“That is an odd anomaly,” Fixit conceded. “But if you did not have the biological components in the first place you would have been able to defeat Alpha in the first battle.”

“Please, don't do this.” Cyborg pleaded as Fixit stood over him. “If you take out my biological components…” he said as Fixit lowered the mask over his human face, causing his voice to sound as though it was coming through a speaker, “…you take out the best part of me: the part that makes me who I am!”

“Your memories- your `self'- will be preserved,” Fixit reassured Cyborg as his eyes glowed red. The face he had placed on Cyborg's face attached itself to the other side of his head. The port on his forehead opened and a cable extended outward, plugging itself into Cyborg's new face, right between the eyes. “I will download them into your new brain.”

“No…” Cyborg pleaded as he struggled, “you can't do this, please! You don't understand!” Cyborg felt the cable on his new face begin to access his human mind and screamed from the pain.

Fixit shut his eyes to access Cyborg's memories and gasped as scenes began flashing through his mind…

Starfire, Beast Boy, and Raven worked together as they went through their training rigmarole… Robin and Starfire glancing shyly at each other at the picnic table… Starfire hugging the mustard jar… Cyborg and Robin staring at her in disbelief… The Titans gathering for the football game… Robin backing up for a pass… Beast Boy turning into a dinosaur as he charged Robin… Cyborg's arms extended for the football… The Titans looked at him as he came to after his shutdown… The boy with the artificial hand running up to say hello, his hand colored like Cyborg's…

Fixit cried out and staggered back from the table, falling to his knees. The table and doors, no longer under Fixit's control, opened by default. Cyborg rolled off the table and felt his new metal face off and groaned in relief as the Titans burst in to the unexpected scene.

Robin took view of the room and walked over to Cyborg, putting away his weapons. “You okay,” he asked as he helped the teen to his feet.

“Yeah,” Cyborg breathed as he slumped against Robin, who almost collapsed under his weight. He motioned for the other Titans to come over and help him, and as they made their way to the exit they heard Fixit speak in a whisper.

“So… beautiful.”

They turned around and saw the medic with a sad face as he stared at his hands and then around him. Cyborg shrugged his friends off and weakly went over to the android.

“I had forgotten how beautiful, the world…” Fixit trailed off wistfully as Cyborg reached him. “…through your eyes,” he said as he looked up at Cyborg.

“Through human eyes. The same kind you have,” Cyborg said gently, reminding Fixit that he wasn't all robot either.

“Perhaps I am the one who needs to be fixed,” Fixit said as he looked at his hand, the flesh calloused from working with tools so much and nearly grey white from lack of sunlight.

“And maybe I'm the guy who can help fix you,” Cyborg said as he hoisted Fixit to his feet. Fixit smiled and the Titans helped Cyborg and Fixit out of the chamber.

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The next day, the Titans were once again outside, enjoying a beautiful day. They had delivered Fixit to the authorities, who had assured the Titans they would get the recluse psychological help with integrating back into society.

“Look at this,” Robin said as Cyborg stood over the barbeque. Cyborg took the metal plate from Alpha's chest and read the message.

“So, Slade wants to destroy the city. The question is, why?”

“I don't know, but I will find out,” Robin said in a determined voice. “And he won't get away with it.” The two Titans were silent for a moment before Robin glanced down Cyborg's forearm. The power readout screen was still cracked from the night before: obviously Cyborg hadn't noticed.

“Guess we better get you a new one of those,” he said, pointing to it.

Cyborg looked to where Robin was pointing. “Don't need it anymore,” he said dismissively. “My body may have its limitations, but if I put my mind to it, there's no limit to what I can do. After all, I'm only human.” Robin nodded and walked away towards Starfire to sit down with her once again. Cyborg looked at the two and shook his head before a voice calling his name distracted him.

“Cyborg! Hey, Cyborg,” a young voice called. Cyborg turned around and saw the boy from before running up, this time with a friend in tow. His mitt was gone and his sleeve rolled up, exposing the prosthesis again. “See,” he said to his friend proudly, “it's Cyborg. He's just like me!”

“Cool,” the other boy said, almost breathless at meeting a Teen Titan in real-life.

“I am just like you,” Cyborg said as he knelt down to get at face level with the two youths. “But it's not your arm that makes us the same,” he said as he pointed to the hand, “it's the stuff connected to it,” he grinned as he moved his finger and poked the boy in the chest.

Both youths beamed at the robot and Cyborg smiled back before picking up a football. “Now, go deep,” he ordered, and they ran out, laughing. Cyborg waited a few seconds before letting the pigskin fly, smiling as he watched the two boys play…

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Well, sorry this took so long. I rewrote the thing about three times, once when I was halfway finished, and then the last weekend in August I was away, so no work got done. Then school started and since I'm enrolled in five classes (one of them an Honors Seminar) and will soon have to be doing classroom observations, it took me a lot longer to get this done, especially since I wanted the last fight scene to be a couple of pages at least. I hope that the wait was worth it.

Updates will probably be a little slower now that I am in school again, but please bear with me: I do enjoy this and do not plan on stopping. Also, sorry for the shorter fight scenes between Cyborg and Atlas: I wanted to make the last one seem more… epic, I guess is the word I'm looking for. Well, hope it was decent; please review and let me know what you thought of it.