Cyborg Circuit Overload
Page 4
He clawed his way over the edge of the whirlpool bath, and flopped, steaming, flat on the roof.
After he had cooled a bit, Cyborg moaned, “Why was the hot tub so hot?”
“Because you’re human,” replied Raven, “and humans feel way more pain than robots.”
“Yeah,” Robin agreed. “Sorry, Cyborg, but it’s—” He froze with his mouth open, realizing something important. “Hang on,” he said. “Wow, we can’t even call you Cyborg anymore, can we?”
Cyborg raised his head off the ground. “You can’t?”
Beast Boy turned into a blubbery manatee and peeked at Cyborg from the hot tub. “Yeah, bro,” he said, “you’re just a fleshy guy now.” A smile lit up Beast Boy’s whiskered face. “Fleshy Guy!” he exclaimed. “That can be your new name! Man, I’m so great at naming things.”
Cyborg squinted. “I’m not sure I want to be—”
“Fleshy Guy,” repeated Robin, rubbing his chin.
“The Fleshy…” said Starfire, testing the name uncertainly. “Guy.”
Raven floated down to Fleshy Guy’s level and tilted to peer at him. “You don’t want to be a cyborg again, do you?” she asked.
“No,” Fleshy Guy, formerly Cyborg, replied. “I just have a lot to learn about being a real boy. That’s all.”
“That’s the spirit, Fleshy Guy!” said Beast Boy. He transformed into a little cricket and hopped on his friend’s shoulder. “I’ll be your guide to being a human! Just follow me.”
Over the next few hours, Beast Boy tutored Fleshy Guy on the basics of being fully human. He helped his teammate get dressed in jeans and a T-shirt and taught him very important lessons about bones, reflexes, shoes, and, especially, deodorant.
In the kitchen of Titans Tower, Beast Boy opened the refrigerator. “You still like food?” he asked over his shoulder. “Well, you’re going to love it even more, Fleshy Guy!” He started tossing out snacks.
Fleshy Guy grabbed the food and gobbled it down frighteningly fast. He laughed maniacally. “These snacks taste so much better in my human belly!”
“That’s what I’m saying, Fleshy Guy,” Beast Boy replied. He turned into a squid so he could use his tentacles to clean out the fridge faster. When the fridge was empty, he moved on to the dry goods pantry.
Fleshy Guy kept eating like a garbage truck. “This is so good!” he cried, crunching a mouthful of dry pasta. He coughed out a puff of orange powdered cheese.
Beast Boy grinned. “If you think that’s good,” he said, “wait until you try this!” He pressed a hidden button on the wall, and the kitchen shuddered and echoed with a grinding noise.
A secret hatch in the kitchen table slowly slid open as the lights dimmed in the room. Clouds of smoke issued out of a hole in the table as a mysterious, shadowy object rose into view on a platform.
“Once every three hundred years,” Beast Boy explained, “all the major food groups align in the cosmos.” He opened the refrigerator door, and the low light from the fridge lit the smoke around Beast Boy dramatically. He raised his tentacles and chanted, “Taco, burger, hot dog, pizza!” The smoke began to clear. “All coming together as one to form…”
The kitchen lights flashed on brightly, revealing a heap of mixed-up food dripping with cheese and grease on the table.
“El Burdigato Supreme!” shouted Beast Boy.
Fleshy Guy started to drool uncontrollably.
In the blink of an eye, Fleshy Guy had consumed the massive jumble of food. He tottered into the living room and slumped onto the couch, his stomach swollen and achingly full.
“My human belly,” groaned Fleshy Guy.
Transforming into a cricket again, Beast Boy jumped onto Fleshy Guy’s arm. He stared down at his teammate’s pulsating stomach. “Huh,” he chirped. “Maybe we overdid it. Just a little.”
Fleshy Guy shot Beast Boy an annoyed look, but then his stomach rumbled horribly. He cradled his tummy with his arms. “What was that?”
“That is the Burdigato,” replied Beast Boy.
Then Fleshy Guy’s stomach growled again, this time much louder and angrier. He hoisted himself to his feet, his eyes wide and worried. “Uh-oh,” he muttered. He rushed down the hall toward the bathroom.
A moment later, Beast Boy’s communicator buzzed.
“Hey, Beastie,” Fleshy Guy whispered over the communicator. “Uh… can you come in for a sec?”
“Why?” Beast Boy asked, laughing softly. “You need help?” The human Beast Boy walked down the hall and entered the bathroom.
When Beast Boy got a look at what was going on in the bathroom, his eyes nearly bugged out of his head. He covered his mouth in horror, and then uncovered it to holler, “What are you doing with your feet in there?”
Fleshy Guy blushed in embarrassment. “It’s been a while since I’ve used one of these, okay?” he replied.
By the time they had gotten that mess cleaned up, Fleshy Guy felt much better, and it was time for bed.
Beast Boy, back to being a cricket, curled up to sleep on Fleshy Guy’s shoulder as his friend tried to get comfortable on the stiff slab he had used to rest and recharge while he was a cyborg.
“Great first day, Fleshy Guy,” Beast Boy said sleepily. “Isn’t being a human awesome?”
Fleshy Guy twitched on his slab, shifting awkwardly, his limbs flopping with weariness. “Why… is it so hard… to move my body?” he asked.
Beast Boy opened one cricket eye, looking a little annoyed that Fleshy Guy’s wiggling was keeping him up. “Because you’re tired, dude,” he replied. “Happens to all of us. You just need to recharge your batteries!”
“That I can do,” said Fleshy Guy. He reached up, grabbed the electric helmet that hung over his slab, and pulled it down onto his head. It switched on automatically, blasting sizzling bolts of voltage into Fleshy Guy’s human brain.
Fleshy Guy screamed in shocked pain.
Beast Boy nodded, chuckling. “I can see where you might have misunderstood me,” he said.
The next morning, Fleshy Guy dragged himself out of bed. Beast Boy was already up and gone, and Fleshy Guy could hear the low voices of his teammates talking from the kitchen. He barely had the energy to stand up, but he stumbled and weaved out of his room and padded down the hall barefoot into the kitchen.
Raven, Robin, Starfire, and Beast Boy were perched on stools at the kitchen counter, eating cereal with comic books open beside their bowls.
“Good morning, the Fleshy Guy!” said Starfire.
Fleshy Guy shaded his eyes with his hand as he wobbled by the counter.
“Ah,” said Raven, “you decided to sleep in, huh?”
“Sleep in?” Fleshy Guy protested. “I barely slept at all. This human body keeps sloshing around and making weird noises.”
He slid onto a stool and pulled a comic book closer to himself. “Today I just want to relax and read comics,” he said, picking it up by its edge. “Ow!” he cried, holding up a bleeding finger.
“What happened?”
“That is a cut of the paper,” Starfire explained with a shudder. “It happens to those of us without metal hands.”
Fleshy Guy sucked the tip of his finger. “Well,” he said, “I don’t like it.” He stood up to leave, and stubbed his toe on the leg of the stool. “Ow!” he screamed, hopping.
“Got to watch those toes, bro,” said Beast Boy.
“What is wrong with your weird soft bodies?” Fleshy Guy yelled. “I can’t take this anymore!” He burst into tears and dashed out of the kitchen, sobbing.
“Poor the Fleshy Guy,” sighed Starfire. “I feel sad about his sad.”
Beast Boy started to slide off his stool as a giant slug. “Maybe I should go check on him.”
“No,” Robin said. “This is a real-boy problem.” He stood up, staring pointedly at Beast Boy’s slimy green slug body. “It should be handled by… a real boy.”
In his room, Fleshy Guy stood before his closet, staring at the various metallic su
its he used to wear as Cyborg. With a deep sigh, he pulled out one of his sets of everyday robot armor and held it up to his chest.
It glinted beautifully in the light.
Fleshy Guy tried to fit the arm piece around his human arm, but it wouldn’t stay attached. He struggled with it, getting more and more upset—
A knock on the door made him whirl around, his eyes red with anger and tears.
“Hey,” said Robin, peeking around the doorframe, “is there a real boy in here that needs cheering up?”
Fleshy Guy didn’t reply. Instead, he refocused on getting his metal suit onto his human body.
“Hey, hey,” Robin said, gently calming Fleshy Guy down before he hurt himself. “Being a human boy isn’t that bad, you know.”
“Are you kidding?” replied Fleshy Guy. “It’s horrible! I can’t imagine anybody living a single day like this—”
He suddenly realized that he was talking to Robin. Who had always been totally human.
“Oh, right,” Fleshy Guy said, staring at the floor. “Sorry.”
Robin shrugged, not particularly insulted. “Sure, we humans can’t fly,” he said, “or lift cars or reach the top shelf without a stepladder—”
Fleshy Guy raised an eyebrow at that. “I can still reach it just fine,” he said. He looked Robin up and down. “You’re short.”
Robin frowned but forged ahead, ignoring the mild insult. “There are plenty of really awesome things about being human,” he continued. “So go back to being a robot if you want. But first,” he said, slinging his arm around Fleshy Guy’s shoulders, “let me take you on a Real-Boy Adventure!”
The next hours were filled with Robin leading Fleshy Guy on a celebration of the joys of having a human body. They ate delicious food, listened to cool music, took relaxing hot-tub baths, and worked out in the Titans Tower gym.
Then Robin took Fleshy Guy to the airport for the next part of their adventure. Fleshy Guy was amazed that he could walk through the security metal detector without setting off the alarms!
Robin and Fleshy Guy flew to the Rocky Mountains, where they skied and sledded and wrote their names in the high-altitude snow… with a water gun.
Next stop on their adventure was the coast, where Fleshy Guy and Robin hit the beach. They jumped around in the ocean, surfed, and then relaxed on the sand to soak up some rays.
Laughing, the two beach boys slapped their bare bellies, grooving to their awesome rhythms.
They kept up that same rhythm as they danced that night under streetlamps in the rain.
Robin and Fleshy Guy ducked into a concert hall, where Batman was up onstage. Batman blew everyone away with an insane guitar solo, rocking out to a crowd of real boys.
Exhausted but happy from their Real-Boy Adventure, Fleshy Guy and Robin returned home to Titans Tower.
The first thing Fleshy Guy did was collect all his robot parts in a box. He carried the collection through the living room, where his teammates were chilling out. “Man, I never knew what I was missing as a robot,” he said, showing his friends the box of parts. “Guess I don’t need these anymore.”
Robin smiled as Fleshy Guy dumped the metal armor down the trash chute.
That’s when an alarm rang through the Tower. Warning lights flashed along the walls.
“Crime alert,” growled Robin.
Starfire ran over to a monitor and checked the readout, with Raven peering over her shoulder. “The alarm,” said Starfire, “it is coming from—”
“The pool?” said Raven, pointing on the monitor at the Tower roof.
Beast Boy’s mouth dropped open in horror. “Our hot tub is getting stolen!”
Fleshy Guy, Beast Boy, Raven, and Starfire rushed upstairs to their rooftop pool. They immediately recognized the robbers carrying away their hot tub. They were Mammoth, Jinx, and Gizmo, three of their archenemies from the H.I.V.E. Five! Well… Mammoth was doing most of the heavy lifting.
“Drop the hot tub, creeps!” Fleshy Guy ordered.
Mammoth put down the whirlpool bath. He, Jinx, and Gizmo faced off against Fleshy Guy, Beast Boy, Raven, and Starfire by the edge of the roof.
Gizmo peered at the team through his green goggles. “Whoa,” he said. “Cyborg, what happened?”
“Cyborg’s gone,” replied Fleshy Guy. “I’m… Fleshy Guy!” He struck a heroic pose, flexing his impressive human muscles.
Robin cleared his throat behind Fleshy Guy. “I think he was talking to me,” he said.
Everybody whirled around to look at Robin, who was wearing Cyborg’s old metal armor!
“Booyah!” Robin cheered.
Beast Boy turned into a dog and tilted his head quizzically. “Robin?” he asked. “What are you doing?”
“You heard me,” Robin said. “Booyah!”
“Stop saying my catchphrase,” insisted Fleshy Guy.
“Sorry,” Robin said with a clanking shrug. “It’s my catchphrase now. Comes with the suit.”
Confused, Fleshy Guy stepped toward Robin. “So… the Real-Boy Adventure,” he said, his voice surprised and hurt, “the skiing, the beach, the dancing, the tummy thumping… was all that just to get my robot parts?”
“Uh… yeah,” replied Robin. “Why would I ever be human when I can have rocket boots?”
Robin reached down and pressed a button on the metal footwear. “Rocket boots!” he hollered.
But corkscrews and pinwheels and a fishing rod popped out instead.
“Uh, sorry,” said Robin. “Still working out some of the bugs.” He stomped his boots and turned to face the three villains. “Now, H.I.V.E.,” he growled, “prepare to—”
The rockets in Robin’s boots ignited. He screamed as he was blasted sideways on jets of fire. Tumbling out of control, he knocked Beast Boy, Raven, and Starfire off the side of the roof with him. They all shrieked as they fell out of view.
Only Fleshy Guy remained standing by the hot tub.
Mammoth, Jinx, and Gizmo glared at Fleshy Guy. Mammoth punched his palm as they stepped closer menacingly.
Fleshy Guy stepped back. “Don’t hurt me,” he protested. “I’m just a weak little human.…”
Then Fleshy Guy realized something important. He might be human, but that didn’t mean he was weak! Just because he was no longer mostly metal didn’t make him less of a hero. He narrowed his eyes in determination and planted his feet solidly on the rooftop.
“Just like you,” he said.
In a flash, Fleshy Guy whipped a series of comic books at Jinx. Each one sliced her with nasty paper cuts. “Sorry,” he said. “Put some ice on that.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Fleshy Guy saw Mammoth charging toward him. Rather than run or avoid the attack, Fleshy Guy turned and barreled right toward the giant villain.
Before they smashed together, Fleshy Guy dropped down into a slide… and kicked Mammoth in the toe.
Mammoth bellowed in pain. He hopped on one foot, holding his injured toe.
“Ha!” laughed Fleshy Guy.
Gizmo activated one of his gadgets. Long spindly spider legs poked out of his backpack, raising him up for a dangerous attack. Those legs had sharp points!
Fleshy Guy ducked and rolled, dodging the spiked spider legs. Then he whirled around, grabbed Gizmo, and tossed the little villain into the hot tub.
“Ah!” Gizmo screeched, his spider legs waving in pain. “Too hot! Too hot in the hot tub!”
As Starfire and Raven carried Robin back onto the roof, and Beast Boy flew up as an eagle, Fleshy Guy admired his work defeating the H.I.V.E. all alone with no robotic armor.
Fleshy Guy raised his shirt and slapped his belly in a musical rhythm of power and victory. “Now that’s what I call a Real-Boy Adventure!”
Cover
Title Page
Welcome
We ♥ TV CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
Scary Teri CHA
PTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
Real-Boy Adventures CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
Bonus Activity
Copyright
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 DC Comics.
TEEN TITANS GO! and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and © DC Comics.
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Cover copyright © 2015 DC Comics.
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First ebook edition: April 2015
ISBN 978-0-316-33337-5
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