Cyborg Circuit Overload Page 3

  A long, uncomfortable silence hung over the slumber party in the aftermath of Robin’s dare.

  “I was going to pick the truth,” said Starfire.

  “Oh,” said Robin. He smiled at Starfire nervously. “Would you do all that stuff?”

  Starfire winced. “No.”

  “I see,” said Robin. His back and shoulders slumped. He pointed his thumb behind him. “I’ll be in the blanket fort.”

  Robin got up and shuffled into his fort, vanishing into its draped blankets.

  The other Titans sat in their circle, grimacing as they listened to Robin moan within the tent.

  “Why, Robin, why?” he sobbed, though muffled by the fort walls. “You had to put it all out there. Stupid! Stupid! She thinks you’re a jerk! Why doesn’t she love me? My teeth are straight! They’re so straight.…” His voice collapsed into weeping.

  Cyborg sat up straight and smiled. “Oh!” he said. “I got a good dare!”

  In no time, the Titans snuck out into the moonlit night. They crept to a certain mansion… and hurled eggs at the gargoyles on its roof.

  The front door opened with a loud creak. Batman, wearing a fancy robe over his costume, appeared in the rectangle of yellow light spilling out. He glared into the darkness.

  “Oh no!” hissed Cyborg. “It’s old man Batman. Run!”

  The Titans scattered, scrambling back to the Tower.

  “Woo!” said Cyborg as they settled down in their slumber party circle again. “That was fun!”

  Beast Boy transformed into a parrot. “That’s what I’m talking about, bro!”

  “Are you feeling better about the night-time?” asked Starfire.

  “You know what?” replied Cyborg. He settled back onto his sleeping bag. “I think I am!”

  The other Titans wriggled into their sleeping bags, getting comfortable.

  Robin smiled sincerely at Cyborg. “I’m glad you decided to stop acting like a big dumb baby,” he said. “Well, good night.”

  He turned off his electric lantern.

  The room fell into darkness.

  Cyborg sat up, screaming his head off. He launched rockets again, blasting the entire living room… and everyone in it.

  The other Titans groaned in pain.

  Robin clicked the lantern back on.

  The room was toast. The couch had been blasted backward, and it smoldered with low, smoky fires. The Titans were blackened and charred, their sleeping bags exploded and ruined.

  “Everybody safe?” asked Cyborg. “Pretty sure I heard Scary Teri.”

  His teammates glared furiously at him.

  “Okay,” Robin growled. “I think there’s only one way to fix this.”

  Raven, Starfire, and Beast Boy nodded solemnly. They all got up and closed in on Cyborg, who took a step backward.

  “What are you—” said Cyborg, raising his hands in defense. “No. C’mon, you wouldn’t.…”

  Cyborg’s teammates shoved him, armed with only a flickering candle for light, into a dark room with a mirror, and they shut him inside.

  “I don’t want to play Scary Teri,” protested Cyborg, his voice tinged with panic.

  “Just do it, Cyborg,” insisted Robin.

  “You guys don’t understand,” cried Cyborg. “She’ll destroy us all!”

  “Say it first,” Robin demanded.

  Cyborg shook his head, staring into the candle flame. He took a deep breath, gathering his courage. Then, in a rush, he shouted, “Scary Teri! Scary Teri! Scary Teri!”

  Robin leaned close to his side of the door. “See, Cyborg?” he called. “Isn’t that better—?”

  The door exploded outward. Cyborg tumbled out, smashing into his teammates and knocking them to the floor in a heap.

  A purple ghoul with a shock of white hair floated through the smashed doorway. Scary Teri wore only tattered rags. She bared her sharp, ghostly teeth, raising her arms to threaten the Titans.

  The Teen Titans screamed, huddling together in terror.

  “What did I tell you?” moaned Cyborg.

  “She’s so scary!” cried Robin, ducking his head.

  Scary Teri let out a vicious hiss.

  Beast Boy turned into a tiny mouse. “Her ragged clothes!” he squeaked.

  Scary Teri dropped her arms and peered down at her shredded garments. “I just bought these,” she said.

  Starfire shuddered. “Her ratty, unkempt hair!”

  “I didn’t have time to wash it this morning,” said Scary Teri, patting her head.

  “Her dirty, ugly face,” Raven added.

  Scary Teri frowned, insulted. “This is just how I look.”

  “Oh,” said Robin.

  “Sorry,” said Raven.

  “No, you’re right,” replied Scary Teri. “I should really take care better care of myself.” She emitted a heinous, blood-chilling shriek as she shriveled and stretched into a huge, horrifying, hideous demon skeleton with long white hair.

  The Titans screamed and fled into the living room.

  “How do we defeat her?” asked Raven.

  Cyborg glared at Raven. “Wow, that’s a weird way of saying, ‘Oh, Cyborg, you were totally right. Sorry for making you relive your childhood trauma.’” The blank looks of all his teammates made him drop his scolding. “We need a mirror,” he replied.

  “I have several full-length and handheld mirrors in my room,” said Robin.

  Beast Boy turned into an eagle and looked down the hallway. “But she’s blocking Robin’s room,” he reported.

  “To the blanket fort!” Robin declared. “Go, go, go!” He rushed toward the entrance to his tent.

  With a shrug, Raven followed Robin, and the rest of the Titans hurried after her. They ducked into the folds of the fort’s entry tunnel seconds before Scary Teri, still a terrifying skeleton creature, wandered into the living room.

  The Titans crawled through a narrow tunnel of blankets, scrambling toward the interior of Robin’s fort.

  “Did you seriously put a mirror in here?” asked Raven as she crawled.

  “Among other things,” replied Robin.

  Robin climbed out of the tunnel, standing up. His teammates gathered around him in the foyer of a magnificent mansion inside the blankets. A grand staircase swept upward to a higher floor, a chandelier dangled from the fabric ceiling, and a pretty little fountain burbled in the center of the entry chamber.

  The Titans gasped and murmured, wowed by Robin’s handiwork.

  “Is that a basketball court?” Beast Boy asked. He turned into a giraffe and craned his long neck to peek down the hall of blankets.

  “No,” said Robin. “That’s the bowling alley. The basketball court is in the basement.”

  “Cool!” cheered Beast Boy.

  “Yeah, yeah,” said Cyborg. “It’s impressive.”

  An enormous crash outside the fort shook the blanket walls.

  “But there’s a demon lady trying to eat our souls!” yelled Cyborg.

  With another bone-jarring thud and the sound of tearing fabric, Scary Teri ripped her way through the fort ceiling. She had transformed into a massive pterodactyl with demon eyes, and she screeched in evil triumph.

  Scary Teri dropped through the ceiling. She changed on her way down into a gargantuan lump of flesh with tiny arms and legs. Her mouth took up most of her grotesque body, and she lashed out with her long tongue at the Titans.

  Robin, Starfire, Raven, and Beast Boy were trapped behind her, cornered in the fort. Only Cyborg had access to any exits.

  “Cyborg,” called Robin around Scary Teri. “You have to get the mirror. It’s in the second guest bedroom.” He pointed to a murky doorway across the room.

  “But—but—it’s dark,” whined Cyborg. “Scary Teri could be in there.”

  Scary Teri screeched again as she whipped her long tongue closer to his teammates.

  “Scary Teri’s right here, dude!” hollered Beast Boy.

  Then Scary Teri snagged Beast Boy with her ton
gue, wrapping it six times around his squirming green body.

  Beast Boy screamed in horror.

  The mirror demon yanked him into her vast open mouth and devoured him.

  “Beast Boy!” cried Starfire.

  Cyborg tightened his hands to fists. “Okay,” he said, setting his metal jaw in determination. “I can do this.” He marched through the dark doorway and disappeared into the gloom beyond.

  Moments after he’d entered the room, Cyborg let out a shout in the darkness. The tinkle of shattering glass chimed in the fort. Cyborg came running back into the front hall, his hands empty.

  “I couldn’t do it,” he panted. “I’m sorry.”

  Scary Teri smiled. Then she lassoed Starfire with her tongue and gulped her down. Starfire’s scream was cut off as Scary Teri swallowed her.

  “There’s another mirror in the second-floor rumpus room,” Robin told Cyborg. “Go!”

  Cyborg nodded. “Got it,” he said. He sprinted up the stairs… into another pitch black room. This time, he only lasted seconds before hollering in horror as the sound of breaking glass echoed everywhere. He ran out again.

  “I thought it would help if I closed my eyes, but I just tripped,” he explained.

  Raven screamed as Scary Teri lapped her up with her tongue and chomped her down.

  “Look,” Robin said, trying to stay calm although he was terrified and desperate. “There’s one more mirror. First-floor dining room. You can do it. Just because you’re scared doesn’t mean you’re not strong—”

  Robin couldn’t finish his sentence. Scary Teri ate him.

  “Mmm,” said Scary Teri, licking her giant blubbery lips. “Scared souls. So tasty.” She faced Cyborg, her eyes glowing hungrily at him. “You’re next, little boy!”

  Cyborg cringed back. But then he opened his human eye. It wasn’t filled with fear. It glinted with steely courage.… Then something snapped. He stared her down.

  “I’m not a little boy anymore,” he yelled at Scary Teri.

  Cyborg ran, shrieking like a frightened child. He dashed past Scary Teri, ducking under a swipe of her sticky tongue. Cyborg rolled across the fortress floor, hopping to his feet at another dark doorway. With a deep breath, he charged inside.

  A split second later, he ran out again with a small pink hand mirror in his grip.

  Cyborg held the mirror up to Scary Teri.

  “Scary Teri isn’t scary,” Cyborg chanted. “Scary Teri isn’t scary. Scary Teri isn’t scary!”

  The silver surface of the mirror swirled. A churning portal opened into another dimension. With a whooshing sound, the portal vacuumed Scary Teri toward its vortex.

  “No!” shrieked Scary Teri. She grabbed the blanket walls, struggling against the mirror’s sucking pull, but the fabric tore. The blankets ripped apart, pillows toppled down everywhere, as Scary Teri vanished into the whirlpool in the mirror. The fort tumbled down, collapsing in the living room of Titans Tower.

  When the dust had settled, the blankets squirmed. Cyborg flipped the bedding off him. The other Titans lay around him, coughing but free from Scary Teri’s stomach.

  “Ha!” said Cyborg, pumping his fist. “I finally got you, you scary witch. Best sleepover ever!”

  His teammates cheered… before collapsing into coughing again.

  That night, Cyborg yawned as he plodded into his bedroom. He lay down on his recharging platform. “Bedtime,” he muttered. “Lights out.”

  Cyborg clicked off his light.

  His little night-light glowed nearby.

  Cyborg turned off the night-light, too.

  A moment later, Cyborg whispered in the darkness, “Scary Teri. Scary Teri. Scary Teri.”

  The Teen Titans gathered at Robin’s request on the roof of Titans Tower. Robin stood in front of a large, squarish object covered by a tarp.

  “Titans!” exclaimed Robin. “Exciting news! I’ve just installed a heated hydrotherapy chamber!” He leaned toward his teammates, expecting them to cheer.

  Starfire, Raven, and Cyborg merely blinked blankly at the Boy Wonder.

  Beast Boy turned into a sloth and hung from an air-conditioning vent, yawning. “Not exciting, bro,” he muttered.

  Robin smiled. “Would you be more excited if I told you it was a…” With a magician’s flourish, he whipped off the tarp.

  Underneath was a steaming whirlpool bath filled with bubbling water.

  “Hot tub!” squealed Starfire. She raced toward the water, with Raven and Beast Boy right behind her.

  “Now, wait,” Robin protested, “the hydrotherapy chamber is only for post-training soreness—”

  Raven and Starfire hopped into the tub, luxuriating in its soothing, burbling heat.

  “Let us do the time of the party in a large container of warm water!” Starfire sighed. “The jets feel like tiny florthogs nibbling at your norbobs!”

  Raven laughed, low and mellow. “Bubbles,” she said.

  “Everyone out!” Robin ordered. “The tub is for—”

  Robin didn’t get to finish his sentence, because Beast Boy launched himself into the tub, transforming into a hippopotamus before he hit the water. A giant splash drenched Robin.

  “Hot tub!” Beast Boy bellowed.

  Soaked and grumpy, Robin turned around to look at Cyborg, who hadn’t moved. “At least you respect my orders,” Robin said.

  “Oh, it’s not that,” replied Cyborg. “It’s not that at all. It’s because I”—his human eye narrowed—“can’t”—his robot eye flashed red—“enjoy”—Cyborg tightened his metal hands into steely fists—“hot tubs!” he hollered.

  All his teammates gasped in surprise and dismay.

  “A robot body is great for a lot of things,” Cyborg explained. “Looking real shiny. Hacking Robin’s very personal data files—”

  “I’m sorry?” interjected Robin.

  “And being real, real, real tough,” continued Cyborg. “But enjoying the warm, bubbly embrace of a hot tub just isn’t one of them.” His shoulders slumped and he heaved a deep sigh. “Sometimes I wish I were a real boy again. But I’ve searched the world, and there’s simply nobody who can—”

  Raven popped her wet head out of the tub. “I can do that,” she said.

  Cyborg blinked at her. “Excuse me?”

  “I can make you human again,” Raven told Cyborg. “Because, you know, magic.”

  Instantly, Cyborg reached into the hot tub and pulled Raven up in a hug.

  She endured his embrace patiently.

  “Why didn’t you ever say anything before?” Cyborg asked.

  Raven shrugged. “Come on,” she said. “It would take way too long to list everything I can do with magic.”

  Beast Boy turned into an elephant, and he held out one giant ear. “We want to hear the list!”

  The other Teen Titans turned toward Raven, waiting.

  Raven rolled her eyes. “Ugh, fine,” she said, and she began to recite her magical skills. “Teleportation. Telekinesis. Flight. Read the minds of animals. See in the dark. Turn water into any other liquid except for ginger ale…”

  It took nearly four days for Raven to get through the entire list of what her magical powers could accomplish. Her teammates, enrapt, listened the whole time. Finally, she reached the last few items.

  “Summon a meteor,” she continued, her voice gravelly from talking nonstop for so long. “Devour the souls of the wicked. And… perfectly crack open walnuts.”

  Beast Boy transformed into a green toucan. “Walnuts are hard to open,” he said, impressed.

  “Okay, enough yammering,” said Cyborg. “I got some hot tubbing to do!”

  That night, Raven prepared her mystical enchantment in the Titans’ yard. She drew arcane symbols on the ground, with flickering candles glowing at the points of most intense energy. Starfire, Beast Boy, and Robin watched respectfully from the sidelines. Magic could be so dangerous!

  Cyborg lay in the center of the symbols, looking nervous and excited. “Is th
is going to hurt?” he asked.

  “Nope,” replied Raven. “I won’t feel a thing.”

  Cyborg glared at her.

  “Ha,” said Raven. “And you guys say I’m not funny.”

  None of the other Titans changed their expressions at all.

  “But seriously,” Raven continued, “this will be extremely painful.”

  Before Cyborg could even gulp, Raven threw her head back, and chanted, “Azarath Metrion Zinthos!”

  Glowing beams of black-and-purple magical energy shot from Raven’s outstretched hands. The radiating power surrounded Cyborg, wrapping him up in a cocoon of dark force. He wriggled as he floated a few feet off the ground.

  Then Cyborg let out a horrible scream, and he writhed in pain. “The agony!” he cried. “The agonizingly agonizing agony!”

  In a blinding flash of power, Raven completed her magical spell.

  The robot parts of Cyborg’s body pulled free from his human form, falling to the ground with metallic clunks and thunks.

  Cyborg twisted in the air and turned upright. His feet lowered, until he was standing on his own.

  Without his metal armor shell, he was completely human.

  And completely naked.

  His teammates covered their eyes and screamed.

  Raven quickly handed Cyborg a towel.

  He covered himself, and the other Titans sighed in relief.

  Cyborg stared down at his body, which was entirely healthy flesh. His eyes were bright with amazement and happiness, and he laughed with pure joy.

  “You did it,” he breathed. “I’m human again.”

  Raven nodded in acknowledgment of Cyborg’s thanks, hovering cross-legged in the air beside him. “Now, I have to warn you,” she said, “your human nervous system is very sensitive compared to your robot body—”

  Cyborg laughed. “All I’m hearing is hot tub hot hot hot hot tub!” He sprinted toward the tub and leaped into the bubbling water.

  Immediately, he popped up again, screaming in pain. “I’m being cooked alive!” he screeched.