Categories > Cartoons > Teen Titans > You Idiot...
Author’s Note: Thought or Emphasis; Flashback; Thought or Emphasis in Flashback
I do not own Teen Titans, but I wish I owned Beast Boy’s Doom Patrol mask. It’s so adorable! Not to mention its E-Bay potential, heh heh… Anyway, read and review.
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Teen Titans: You Idiot…
Part V
A little over a half hour passed since the Titans took care of the “distraction.” Cyborg finished changing the bandages on Beast Boy’s back. To the mechanical medic’s relief, many of his cuts already healed, attributed to what Cyborg called his “beast blood.” The little guy never ceases to amaze me.
Cyborg heard the door of the infirmary slide open. The cybernetic half of his brain deciphered whose footsteps entered the room.
“Hello again.”
“Hey.” He knew the Titan’s identity, but Cyborg’s head still had not turned from his work.
“This is… day three, right?”
“Yep.” Cyborg looked to the computer on the left. Much like his wrist computer, the lines dictated Beast Boy’s vitals in the familiar color scheme.
“I guess I’m taking your advice.”
“So you did.”
“But I’m only here because I need answers.”
“Okay.” Cyborg turned around to meet Raven’s pallid and placid face. “Do you want to be alone, or…?”
“No, it’s fine.” Feeling chivalrous, the robotic Titan offered his gothic teammate a chair.
While Raven adjusted her seat closer to his patient, Cyborg had a thought that he wished he could have saved for a better occasion, certainly not one such as this. Considering the last big moment he uttered said thought, he hoped it could have related to the two in front of him. He could not take it back, however, and he almost mouthed it before stopping himself.
It’s about time.
Beast Boy’s skin had lost its original color, the green of the lush African jungle he once called home. Now its verdant pigment was faded, like an old shirt left in the wash. If his eyes were open, they would be dull, lacking the usual life and exuberance of the once-joking Titan. Underneath the respirator mask, the light fog showed his weak breath. The soft beeps of the heart monitor, showing blue plains and hills against a silver sky, stayed at even time.
Despite such a weakened condition, his observer noticed that the youngest of the Teen Titans would not be a boy for long. Were it not for the bandaged wound, his abs would show some definition, a result of the Titans’ missions and, unknown to anyone, his own personal training. His chin even showed some very thin green stubble. His shoulders, however, still did not seem nearly as developed. With a little more training and time, Raven mused, maybe the boy would make some heads turn. It wouldn’t be my head, of course…
Raven looked up from her reverie at Cyborg’s words, not far from her own thoughts. “Yeah, I noticed too. He’s not such a kid anymore.”
At that statement, Raven suddenly remembered something, and almost gave a chuckle. “I’m still not calling him Beast Man though.”
Cyborg only half-heard this, as Raven merely muttered it to herself. “Huh?”
“Nothing.”
Cyborg shrugged it off. As the two half-humans looked at the green teen, neither realized that they were both thinking of the same day, a day that left Raven and Beast Boy in a similar situation as this…
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It started with his attitude. To put it nicely, Beast Boy was…a jerk. He shoved Robin aside to scarf down his food, which was already strange enough—except the boy wonder’s breakfast was ham and eggs. He even ordered Starfire to get a soda while hoarding the TV—quite a feat when the one he talked to was a princess, and a super-strong one at that. It was fortunate for the green changeling that she was also a mild-mannered princess.
Then he started lashing out. He was much too serious after he lost a video game race to Cyborg—the metallic Titan did not think his friend’s claws could be so sharp. The others decided not to call him for it, since they attributed it to a fight that happened last night. The youngest Titan did not look too happy then, even after the messy defeat of the super-suited braggart, Adonis.
One specific outburst, however, took it too far. A simple bump into Raven started it.
“Sorry.” The cloaked sorceress was engrossed in a favorite novel of hers and did not look where she stepped, so she took the blame.
“You better be. Why don’t you watch where you’re going?” Beast Boy blasted, not even breaking stride as he prepared to turn the corner.
Raven glared at his passing form as she picked up her book. “On second thought, I’m not sorry, and you’re a jerk.”
That did make him break stride. He jerked back around and changed direction. “You know, Raven,” he stepped closer with each word, “I’ve been a really nice guy for a really long time.” The once haughty voice now became darker. “I’ve put up with your insults, and your attitude, and I’ve had it!”
His face by now was mere inches away. Raven could feel his hot breath and hear his increased heartbeat. His teeth gritted, making his feral face look like one of a predator whose home was threatened. Fiery orbs of green met calm pools of violet.
“Consider this a warning. As of last night, Mr. Nice Guy has left the building.”
Rather than leave it alone, Raven chose to analyze the last few moments. The boy in front of her was different. Some of his words sounded formerly repressed, yet twisted now out in the open. The emotions she felt flying away from him were just as convoluted as those words. What is all of this? Anger? Fear? Arrogance?... Lust? She fought a shudder as she replied to his “warning.”
“Is this the part where I’m supposed to be intimidated?” A very small part of her was.
“No, this is!” The changeling cried as he shifted into the form of a Sasquatch, with its fists poised to strike…
Somehow, the team stopped him. Robin was less than pleased at his teammate’s attitude and the others were certainly confused at the scene they prevented.
By then the Titans were convinced something was certainly amiss beyond his being a sore winner. Even then, no one realized that behind those eyes was something other than human. No one knew that the team would later pursue it after hearing a horrible scream. No one knew that that…Beast… would hurt a friend.
“She’s alive, but she’s in some kind of trance.” Cyborg explained. The semi-conscious form of the resident half-demoness floated inches above an infirmary bed, a telltale sign of her self-enchantment. Her face was not in its normal scowl, but completely blank; her daily mission was finally accomplished. With the indigo cloak laid to the side, her teammates were able to see the light scratches on her limbs as well as a slight wound on her left shoulder, the injuries left behind after the attack and her unwilling journey.
“She’s healing herself.” Robin concluded.
“And you’re telling me… I did that to her?” Disbelief displayed itself on the shape-shifter’s face, as usually did his emotions. Steel-titanium alloy shackles chained the rest of him down to a chair on the opposite side of the room as Raven’s bed. Cyborg recently attached the heart monitor to him, which beeped steadily and calmly. “That’s impossible!”
“We found you with her.” The masked leader had his back turned to his captive teammate.
“No. I wouldn’t! I mean, we had a fight, but I would never—” His thoughts were just as garbled as his words. No, no way, not to her, she… she’s my friend! I--
Starfire interrupted, keeping a distance away from the one interrogated. Beast Boy was a friend, of course, but with what she saw in the sewer, she was unsure what to think. “She was in your teeth.”
WHAT? “That’s a LIE!” The heart monitor spiked for that moment.
Robin turned abruptly and stepped over to him, brown eyes looking squarely at the metahuman behind the domino mask. “I’m going to have to ask you to keep your voice down.”
Beast Boy, suddenly losing the flame in his eyes, looked down to his hands. They quaked under the metal bindings, gripping the ends of the chair arms. His eyes slid over to his comrade’s condition. Could I have…? No… maybe?
“What’s happening to me?”
Cyborg told him. The fight the previous night put Beast Boy in contact with unstable chemicals, slowly changing him from within. The cybernetic hero confused him with his jargon, something about recombinant DNA, but he forced himself to stay focused.
When Cyborg finished explaining what was going on within Beast Boy’s body, and what he finally did, the reaction was instant. He was shocked.
“Raven… she’s gonna be alright, isn’t she? I mean…” The shape-shifter’s eyes were still unwilling to blink. “…she’s not moving.”
The medic said nothing. Emerald orbs that once looked in worry now turned away in guilt from the one he wounded. If he kept running free in that bestial state before the Titans detained him, it could have been much worse. I could have…
“What have I done?”
Cyborg could not remember a face so morose before then. It only appeared again when it came to BB and someone else, but he refused to bring that up right now. The last thing he wanted to think about was funerals when the one closest to her laid there in front of him.
To everyone’s semi-relief, the team later found out that Beast Boy was not the creature that attacked Raven. True, he did transform into a Man-Beast, but he was not the only one. The same chemicals that changed him affected his earlier opponent as well. Apparently, the animal that was Adonis came to the Tower to get revenge on Beast Boy, but encountered Raven instead, leading to her harm. The Titans, therefore, found Beast Boy with her for one reason.
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“He saved me.”
“What?” Yet again, despite his electronic ears, Cyborg did not catch Raven’s words.
“He saved me.” She repeated. “And he used that Beast form to do it. Again.”
Cyborg caught on. “Just like that time—”
She snappily interrupted. “Yes, I know. How could I forget?”
“Yeah.” Cyborg replied with a sad chuckle. “That day was weird for everybody.” Moving over to Raven’s side with a chair of his own, Cyborg decided to change the subject and shift into big-brother mode. “But forget the past. Will you be okay now?”
“Yes already!” she blurted and jerked her face to meet his. Catching herself, her voice slipped down to its normal pitch as she turned away. “Stop asking me. As I said before, I am only here for answers. I have none, so there’s no reason for me to stay anymore.”
Cyborg, as per big-brother protocol, accepted his teammates’ attitudes. He could not add his two cents, however, before Raven continued. “I will be fine. People come. People go. People get hurt. Even… ahem… even…” Her throat got a little tighter as she fought to say his name.
“Even Beast Boy.”
The clipboard at the end of Beast Boy’s bed crashed into the closest wall. The onyx glow disappeared.
“Um… I’ll get that.” Cyborg gave a light pull and dislodged the object. One of the main tactics he used when helping his family’s problems was patience. He asked questions for their wellbeing, not as an interrogation. No hiding it now. She’ll need to get it off her—
“He’s just so annoying!” The outburst made Cyborg drop the clipboard. Yep, just as I thought.
“He could have just let the blast hit me! He could have just let me die!” Raven barely suppressed her voice through gritted teeth, and Cyborg could swear he felt his chair was floating a bit off the ground. “But no, he had to stand there, he had to save my life, and now he’s like this!” She gazed angrily at her savior. “Why did he have to be so… so stupid!?"
Cyborg had some ideas, but he decided to keep them to himself, out of respect to the one being insulted. Besides, he knew Raven was not truly asking him, but the so-called fool. “I would try to answer for him, but I think he should say that for himself. You should ask him when he wakes up.” The robotic teen placed a hand on the violet-haired Titan’s shoulder. “And he will wake up, Rae.”
Raven heard him, and her gaze softened. Her eyes fell down to her hands, and the amethyst orbs began to sting. She blinked a few times and saw her hands again. A lone tear left its mark on her right hand.
“You idiot… Why?"
I do not own Teen Titans, but I wish I owned Beast Boy’s Doom Patrol mask. It’s so adorable! Not to mention its E-Bay potential, heh heh… Anyway, read and review.
-------------------------------
Teen Titans: You Idiot…
Part V
A little over a half hour passed since the Titans took care of the “distraction.” Cyborg finished changing the bandages on Beast Boy’s back. To the mechanical medic’s relief, many of his cuts already healed, attributed to what Cyborg called his “beast blood.” The little guy never ceases to amaze me.
Cyborg heard the door of the infirmary slide open. The cybernetic half of his brain deciphered whose footsteps entered the room.
“Hello again.”
“Hey.” He knew the Titan’s identity, but Cyborg’s head still had not turned from his work.
“This is… day three, right?”
“Yep.” Cyborg looked to the computer on the left. Much like his wrist computer, the lines dictated Beast Boy’s vitals in the familiar color scheme.
“I guess I’m taking your advice.”
“So you did.”
“But I’m only here because I need answers.”
“Okay.” Cyborg turned around to meet Raven’s pallid and placid face. “Do you want to be alone, or…?”
“No, it’s fine.” Feeling chivalrous, the robotic Titan offered his gothic teammate a chair.
While Raven adjusted her seat closer to his patient, Cyborg had a thought that he wished he could have saved for a better occasion, certainly not one such as this. Considering the last big moment he uttered said thought, he hoped it could have related to the two in front of him. He could not take it back, however, and he almost mouthed it before stopping himself.
It’s about time.
Beast Boy’s skin had lost its original color, the green of the lush African jungle he once called home. Now its verdant pigment was faded, like an old shirt left in the wash. If his eyes were open, they would be dull, lacking the usual life and exuberance of the once-joking Titan. Underneath the respirator mask, the light fog showed his weak breath. The soft beeps of the heart monitor, showing blue plains and hills against a silver sky, stayed at even time.
Despite such a weakened condition, his observer noticed that the youngest of the Teen Titans would not be a boy for long. Were it not for the bandaged wound, his abs would show some definition, a result of the Titans’ missions and, unknown to anyone, his own personal training. His chin even showed some very thin green stubble. His shoulders, however, still did not seem nearly as developed. With a little more training and time, Raven mused, maybe the boy would make some heads turn. It wouldn’t be my head, of course…
Raven looked up from her reverie at Cyborg’s words, not far from her own thoughts. “Yeah, I noticed too. He’s not such a kid anymore.”
At that statement, Raven suddenly remembered something, and almost gave a chuckle. “I’m still not calling him Beast Man though.”
Cyborg only half-heard this, as Raven merely muttered it to herself. “Huh?”
“Nothing.”
Cyborg shrugged it off. As the two half-humans looked at the green teen, neither realized that they were both thinking of the same day, a day that left Raven and Beast Boy in a similar situation as this…
---------------------------
It started with his attitude. To put it nicely, Beast Boy was…a jerk. He shoved Robin aside to scarf down his food, which was already strange enough—except the boy wonder’s breakfast was ham and eggs. He even ordered Starfire to get a soda while hoarding the TV—quite a feat when the one he talked to was a princess, and a super-strong one at that. It was fortunate for the green changeling that she was also a mild-mannered princess.
Then he started lashing out. He was much too serious after he lost a video game race to Cyborg—the metallic Titan did not think his friend’s claws could be so sharp. The others decided not to call him for it, since they attributed it to a fight that happened last night. The youngest Titan did not look too happy then, even after the messy defeat of the super-suited braggart, Adonis.
One specific outburst, however, took it too far. A simple bump into Raven started it.
“Sorry.” The cloaked sorceress was engrossed in a favorite novel of hers and did not look where she stepped, so she took the blame.
“You better be. Why don’t you watch where you’re going?” Beast Boy blasted, not even breaking stride as he prepared to turn the corner.
Raven glared at his passing form as she picked up her book. “On second thought, I’m not sorry, and you’re a jerk.”
That did make him break stride. He jerked back around and changed direction. “You know, Raven,” he stepped closer with each word, “I’ve been a really nice guy for a really long time.” The once haughty voice now became darker. “I’ve put up with your insults, and your attitude, and I’ve had it!”
His face by now was mere inches away. Raven could feel his hot breath and hear his increased heartbeat. His teeth gritted, making his feral face look like one of a predator whose home was threatened. Fiery orbs of green met calm pools of violet.
“Consider this a warning. As of last night, Mr. Nice Guy has left the building.”
Rather than leave it alone, Raven chose to analyze the last few moments. The boy in front of her was different. Some of his words sounded formerly repressed, yet twisted now out in the open. The emotions she felt flying away from him were just as convoluted as those words. What is all of this? Anger? Fear? Arrogance?... Lust? She fought a shudder as she replied to his “warning.”
“Is this the part where I’m supposed to be intimidated?” A very small part of her was.
“No, this is!” The changeling cried as he shifted into the form of a Sasquatch, with its fists poised to strike…
Somehow, the team stopped him. Robin was less than pleased at his teammate’s attitude and the others were certainly confused at the scene they prevented.
By then the Titans were convinced something was certainly amiss beyond his being a sore winner. Even then, no one realized that behind those eyes was something other than human. No one knew that the team would later pursue it after hearing a horrible scream. No one knew that that…Beast… would hurt a friend.
“She’s alive, but she’s in some kind of trance.” Cyborg explained. The semi-conscious form of the resident half-demoness floated inches above an infirmary bed, a telltale sign of her self-enchantment. Her face was not in its normal scowl, but completely blank; her daily mission was finally accomplished. With the indigo cloak laid to the side, her teammates were able to see the light scratches on her limbs as well as a slight wound on her left shoulder, the injuries left behind after the attack and her unwilling journey.
“She’s healing herself.” Robin concluded.
“And you’re telling me… I did that to her?” Disbelief displayed itself on the shape-shifter’s face, as usually did his emotions. Steel-titanium alloy shackles chained the rest of him down to a chair on the opposite side of the room as Raven’s bed. Cyborg recently attached the heart monitor to him, which beeped steadily and calmly. “That’s impossible!”
“We found you with her.” The masked leader had his back turned to his captive teammate.
“No. I wouldn’t! I mean, we had a fight, but I would never—” His thoughts were just as garbled as his words. No, no way, not to her, she… she’s my friend! I--
Starfire interrupted, keeping a distance away from the one interrogated. Beast Boy was a friend, of course, but with what she saw in the sewer, she was unsure what to think. “She was in your teeth.”
WHAT? “That’s a LIE!” The heart monitor spiked for that moment.
Robin turned abruptly and stepped over to him, brown eyes looking squarely at the metahuman behind the domino mask. “I’m going to have to ask you to keep your voice down.”
Beast Boy, suddenly losing the flame in his eyes, looked down to his hands. They quaked under the metal bindings, gripping the ends of the chair arms. His eyes slid over to his comrade’s condition. Could I have…? No… maybe?
“What’s happening to me?”
Cyborg told him. The fight the previous night put Beast Boy in contact with unstable chemicals, slowly changing him from within. The cybernetic hero confused him with his jargon, something about recombinant DNA, but he forced himself to stay focused.
When Cyborg finished explaining what was going on within Beast Boy’s body, and what he finally did, the reaction was instant. He was shocked.
“Raven… she’s gonna be alright, isn’t she? I mean…” The shape-shifter’s eyes were still unwilling to blink. “…she’s not moving.”
The medic said nothing. Emerald orbs that once looked in worry now turned away in guilt from the one he wounded. If he kept running free in that bestial state before the Titans detained him, it could have been much worse. I could have…
“What have I done?”
Cyborg could not remember a face so morose before then. It only appeared again when it came to BB and someone else, but he refused to bring that up right now. The last thing he wanted to think about was funerals when the one closest to her laid there in front of him.
To everyone’s semi-relief, the team later found out that Beast Boy was not the creature that attacked Raven. True, he did transform into a Man-Beast, but he was not the only one. The same chemicals that changed him affected his earlier opponent as well. Apparently, the animal that was Adonis came to the Tower to get revenge on Beast Boy, but encountered Raven instead, leading to her harm. The Titans, therefore, found Beast Boy with her for one reason.
---------------------------
“He saved me.”
“What?” Yet again, despite his electronic ears, Cyborg did not catch Raven’s words.
“He saved me.” She repeated. “And he used that Beast form to do it. Again.”
Cyborg caught on. “Just like that time—”
She snappily interrupted. “Yes, I know. How could I forget?”
“Yeah.” Cyborg replied with a sad chuckle. “That day was weird for everybody.” Moving over to Raven’s side with a chair of his own, Cyborg decided to change the subject and shift into big-brother mode. “But forget the past. Will you be okay now?”
“Yes already!” she blurted and jerked her face to meet his. Catching herself, her voice slipped down to its normal pitch as she turned away. “Stop asking me. As I said before, I am only here for answers. I have none, so there’s no reason for me to stay anymore.”
Cyborg, as per big-brother protocol, accepted his teammates’ attitudes. He could not add his two cents, however, before Raven continued. “I will be fine. People come. People go. People get hurt. Even… ahem… even…” Her throat got a little tighter as she fought to say his name.
“Even Beast Boy.”
The clipboard at the end of Beast Boy’s bed crashed into the closest wall. The onyx glow disappeared.
“Um… I’ll get that.” Cyborg gave a light pull and dislodged the object. One of the main tactics he used when helping his family’s problems was patience. He asked questions for their wellbeing, not as an interrogation. No hiding it now. She’ll need to get it off her—
“He’s just so annoying!” The outburst made Cyborg drop the clipboard. Yep, just as I thought.
“He could have just let the blast hit me! He could have just let me die!” Raven barely suppressed her voice through gritted teeth, and Cyborg could swear he felt his chair was floating a bit off the ground. “But no, he had to stand there, he had to save my life, and now he’s like this!” She gazed angrily at her savior. “Why did he have to be so… so stupid!?"
Cyborg had some ideas, but he decided to keep them to himself, out of respect to the one being insulted. Besides, he knew Raven was not truly asking him, but the so-called fool. “I would try to answer for him, but I think he should say that for himself. You should ask him when he wakes up.” The robotic teen placed a hand on the violet-haired Titan’s shoulder. “And he will wake up, Rae.”
Raven heard him, and her gaze softened. Her eyes fell down to her hands, and the amethyst orbs began to sting. She blinked a few times and saw her hands again. A lone tear left its mark on her right hand.
“You idiot… Why?"
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