Chapter Text
The sharp, acrid smell of metal and oil hung in the air as Cyborg worked, gently and lovingly lowering each finely calibrated new part into the inner workings of the T-Car, pausing occasionally to wipe the sweat from his brow and the grease from the paint job. The pungent scent of heavy machinery filled his nose with a sweet fragrance. Each part clicked into place with a musical clink that was music to his ears.
He'd been working for two hours now, upgrading his precious vehicle with the latest high-tech equipment, making sure everything fit snugly and worked properly. Like an artist hard at work on a beautiful painting, he slaved over the canvas of the car's inner mechanism with care and passion and now he was finally ready to place the last new addition into the engine compartment.
Cyborg handled the TS5 Auto-Injector very gingerly, taking great care not to bump the sides and knock anything loose. As it slid into place, Cyborg smiled and exhaled deeply. Perfect. He closed the hood, wiped his hands on a towel, and surveyed his masterpiece, proud as any painter or sculptor.
"Hey Cy!" Beast Boy chirped as he entered the garage. "Whatcha doing?" he asked.
Cyborg patted the hood of his car affectionately. "Just finished upgrading the T-Car."
"Again?" Beast Boy's face scrunched. "Haven't you already done that like three times this month?"
"Not like this," Cyborg said, eyes gleaming as they ran over the curves of his car.
"Yeah yeah, that's what you said last time," Beast Boy said dismissively. "It's just a car."
Cyborg put his hands on the car protectively, as though Beast Boy had hurt its feelings with his careless words. "This is a precise, finely tuned instrument, designed and made specially for combat, and put together with love and a lot of hard work. So you see, when you look at it that way, it's not just a car," he lectured, "it's art."
"Riiiight…" Beast Boy acknowledged doubtfully. He looked over the 'artwork' as Cyborg called it. "So how do you know the engine won't give out and stall on us in the middle of the chase again?"
"Because this time she has the TS5 Auto-Injector," Cyborg explained, inwardly clucking at the changeling's lack of enthusiasm and appreciation for his creation.
Beast Boy peered at the T-Car curiously. "What's that do?"
"Oh, just ups the engine efficiency tenfold and allows my baby to go from zero to sixty in the space of half a second."
Even the somewhat mechanically-challenged Beast Boy knew that was pretty cool. "Sweet!" he said, jumping into the passenger side through the open window. "So, can I can go for a ride?" he asked, putting his feet up on the dash.
Before Cyborg could reply, the lights flashed red and a klaxon began blaring out the signal that meant there was trouble somewhere in the city. Beast Boy scrambled in the seat, trying to rearrange himself into a more professional position. Cyborg calmly entered the driver's side and settled down to wait. In no time at all Robin, Starfire, and Raven were there in the garage, readying themselves for the ride into the city. Robin went straight to the R-cycle and began to strap on his helmet. Cyborg was secretly delighted when Raven and Starfire elected to ride in the car with him.
"Hey y'all, you're just in time for me to demonstrate the new additions to the T-Car."
"Oh, have you been doing the upgrading of the engines?" Starfire inquired eagerly. She clapped her hands in excitement. "That is glorious!"
The buckle of Raven's seatbelt wavered over the clasp. The empath looked ill.
"I… think I'm gonna fly instead," she announced, releasing the seatbelt and swinging back out of her seat. Cyborg frowned as she exited the vehicle, pulling her hood over her head while she slammed the door.
He shrugged. Her loss. Half-turning to the other two, he let an excited grin spread across his face. "Y'all ready? Here goes."
Cyborg slid the key into the ignition and turned it.
The engine rumbled to life with a triumphant roar before settling into a smooth, quiet hum.
Much ink has been spilled on the subject of the love between an adolescent male and his car. The bond was even stronger when the car in question had been painstakingly built by hand. Consequently Cyborg's eyes watered with joy as he listened to the gentle purr.
Picasso has nothin' on me.
"Cyborg!" Robin barked, cutting into his thoughts. "Come on! Let's go!"
The cybernetic teen grumbled as he shifted into gear and stepped on the gas.
Communists.
-TT-
Beast Boy had changed his mind and decided that zero to sixty was not a cool thing. His hands gripped the armrests of his seat in sheer white-knuckle terror. When the T-Car finally skidded to a stop and the doors popped open to let him out he collapsed onto the ground with an exaggerated shout of relief.
"Land!" he cried. "Sweet stationary solid earth!"
Cyborg shook his head as he got out of the car.
Critics are so fickle.
He had to put his thoughts elsewhere, though, in order to concentrate on the fight.
It was Cinderblock this time. He'd gotten out of prison (again), and was busy tearing up the sidewalk in front of a computer store.
One "Titans go!" and several minutes of fighting later, Cinderblock began picking up huge chunks of asphalt and concrete and began hurling them at the teenage heroes. Starfire blasted a few to smithereens with her starbolts. Raven's dark energy surrounded a couple and tossed them safely out of the way. Cyborg himself crumbled a few of them with his sonic cannon, before turning it on Cinderblock and letting the rock monster have a blast from it. Cinderblock stumbled back and recovered, brushed Robin and Beast Boy away with a hard swoop of his arm, and set his sights on the half-robotic young man. The concrete monster hoisted up a particularly heavy boulder and heaved it forcefully in Cyborg's direction. A starbolt shot into his back made him miss and the rock went sailing past Cyborg—
Straight into the windshield of the T-Car.
Sometimes he really hated his life.
Cyborg gritted his teeth to keep from growling and leveled his sonic cannon straight at Cinderblock's chest, knocking the rock monster back several yards down the street.
A few minutes later, after the fight, Beast Boy tentatively made a way to his friend's side.
"You know…" the shape-shifter began, looking at the newly damaged front windshield and the spider web of cracks embedded in it. "I betcha it could still qualify as modern art."
Needless to say, that did not improve Cyborg's mood. The cybernetic teen remained in a sour mood as a tow truck hauled his ruined masterpiece all the way back to the Tower, where he locked himself into the garage again, vowing not to come out until the damage done to his baby had been fixed.
"I betcha other artists don't have to keep rebuilding their creations," he groused as he pried the damaged windshield off and prepared to redo his 'artwork'.