teenwonder | ᴙ 06 [Action/Written]

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ᴙ 06 [Action/Written]

[Missions are stupid. They're harrowing and dangerous and only ever give volunteers a glimpse into the world outside the Luceti compound. And Robin's spent a month working in one, providing services for evil people and feeling dirty the entire time.

So naturally there's an experiment when he gets back. Because of course there's an experiment. It's hard to research current events with all the chaos happening everywhere, leaving Robin feeling painfully uninformed in terms of his usual ~~stalking~~ accuracy.

It's customary for Robin to filter things when he uses the journal. It's a tool of their captors, and important to keep as low of a profile as possible when utilizing its services. The problem he hasn't quite realized yet is that the journal has helpfully autocorrected the spelling in his proper names, effectively breaking the filters and leaving his messages open for all to see. It's annoying and something he's having difficulty fixing. How nice to be back in Luceti.]

[(Broken) filter to Aang]
Sorry for cleaving without notice. Hack now. We can lick up your training when you're ready.

[(Broken) filter to Cyborg]
Hey Cubist,
Seems lime you're here. Don't bitter looking for me. Ill be around.

[....Okay, that didn't go well at all. He'll huff and try to make a beeline for Community House 5 instead, sidestepping the chaos overtaking most of town. He might get sidetracked through someone's garden or by colliding into an exceptionally frantic person-running-late, but eventually he'll make it back to his apartment.

He might make a few door-related missteps though. Apologies if he's stepped into your bathroom or out of your bedroom closet.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You sure? Cuz I'm pretty sure we do that all the time, man.

[Heck, Cyborg has a quasi-canon, semi-girlfriend that's just a civilian. And someone they save.]

[NOPE. LIES. You are obviously a clone, sir. Or a malnosso robot in disguise. Or a resurrected zombie-Cyborg lacking critical brain function.]

Not under these circumstances we don't. There's no way of knowing how trustworthy any of them are.

That's why we- [Make friends with them, but. He hasn't seen Robin in two weeks. And even longer for Robin.]

How long you been here?

Long enough.

[Long enough to know this isn't the first Cyborg who's allegedly been in Luceti. And if that Cyborg wasn't actually sent home, but was instead kept by the Malnosso all this time, then he was probably compromised. There are so many ways for this to go terribly. What is your angle, obviously-not-Cyborg?]

This is usually the part where the new person talks about what happened last when they were brought here. [Did Terra happen? ARE YOU DEAD YET, CYBORG? Robin's fairly sure you died in his timeline.]

It's gonna be a long story. This kid told me the last thing you remember was Terra. That right?

[It'll be easier if he can just nip that in the bud.]

[Aang why do you talk so much?]

Yeah. What about it?

[Good luck on the nipping, bro. That bud's had a long time to bloom out.]

That was over a year ago. A ton of stuff happened since then. The day I got here, we'd just finished saving the world from the master of all evil.

Oh yeah? Tell me more.

[Because this is a Robin who believes none of that. Way too easy.]

How about we sit down first? I gotta feeling this is gonna take awhile.

We can if you want. [Even though the plaza benches are presently giant teacups. Whatever, Luceti.]

[He'll go sit by the fountain. Because it's still a fountain. Robin can sit wherever.]

I'll start with where you left off. Terra? She saved us in the end.

[Cyborg goes into how she kept it all from collapsing on them, but in the end when they found her, she was stuck in stone and Slade was long gone.]

[Beside Cyborg is fine for now. Because teacups.

It's a story that makes more sense than it should. It falls into line with the version he experienced during that "day home" simulation. The problem is that Aang was part of that simulation and probably told Cyborg all about it. There's no way to be sure. Robin hates not being sure.]

And everyone survived. [Robin is still not believing this story. Sorry, bro.]

The five of us, anyway. And the rest of Jump City. Like I said, Terra and Slade didn't get out of there. Anyway, that ain't even the interesting part. So you remember HIVE, right?

[Cyborg will start going into detail about that. His infiltration, his amazing power to resist mind control, and a casual reference to Bumblebee also being undercover there. And Brother Blood being a douche.]

[...Okay, all that stuff is pretty cool. Not real at all, but pretty cool nonetheless.]

So if the bad guys are training each other, it's only a matter of time before there's a swarm of them. [They're so gonna need some more Titans. A lot more titans.]

That was his plan. We shut him down there, but he was still planning for a comeback. But we had a bunch of other stuff to deal with first.

[He's going to gloss over some of this stuff. He decides not to mention Red X, since Robin doesn't need that hanging over his head. He does go into Starfire being a princess. And going into space. Because that was pretty cool. The virus? That's not getting mentioned. Neither is Raven's secret love affair or whatever the hell it was that Mad Mod did. So before getting to Brother Blood's return, he talks about Slade's mask and how that all went down.]

He did a number on you, but Doctor Cyborg? I gotcha patched up good as new.

[And Robin does pay attention. He's on edge when the subject of Starfire is approached, and excited about the space stuff. But then the "Slade"-word happens and NOTHING IS OKAY.]

You said there was a chemical compound? And you're sure it came from that mask? [Because Slade had plenty of chances to drug the hell out of Robin before that -- maybe it was something they just hadn't been testing for. Maybe Terra wasn't the only mole. THIS IS HIS PARANOID FACE, CY. Haven't you missed it?]

Yeah, man. It's me, remember? I triple checked it to be sure. It was just waiting for the right moment.

[And that feels like an accusation. He is so not impressed.]

[It's not quite an accusation. Yet.]

And what if the right moment was triggerable elsewhere? It could be a compound available in other places as well. If there's a twist in the timeline as you remember it, anything can cause it.

It's just more blackmail.

Blackmail? Timelines? You ain't making any sense, man.

If Slade's poisoned me, the catalyst could come from anywhere. [Does he need to draw you a diagram, bro? It would probably look like one of the crazed diagrams already littering his apartment space.]

Look, the poison was in the mask. The activation signal? That came from somewhere else. Lemme keep going and you can make your own guesses about that.

[Maybe Slade was alive at the time. But he doesn't know if Trigon would let him activate that. They never got a clear answer on it.]

Fine, then. Keep talking. [ut whatever ground Cyborg actually covers, Robin's still going to be chewing on this Slade thing.]

[Next part of the story is about Aqualad showing up, teaming up with Bumblebee, and saving the city from Brother Blood. Then he mentioned that incident with Beat Boy's mutation and a casual mention of dealing with some other villains in between that time and Cyborg heading over to help with the Titans East. He doesn't mention his intentions of leaving the team there. Just about what ends up happening and about the final showdown.]

So I went home with all of y'all and the Titans East put Bumblebee in charge. So that all worked out not so bad.

[As much as Robin's attention has been shifting in and out while he's trying to process Slade's relation to everything ever, the Titans East expansion grabs him anew.]

You know, I've been thinking about doing something like that here. There are a few people who've got what it takes. I think they'd do well in a team.

Yeah, like who? Cuz I'm thinking we might need to recruit with just the two of us here.

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