Car Trouble

Various tools appear and different machines are being used to cut, slice, polish, compress, and many other functions. After a while, Cyborg appears as he steps back to admire to shining surface of the car that he has been working on ------ his car. Climbing into the driver's seat, he presses a button, wild with anticipation. Nothing happens. Cyborg frowns and a thought cloud floats out as he rapidly runs through the things that he might have missed fixing. Then, a dim bulb brightens. Sliding a circuit into a slot, Cyborg punches the button again. With the barest fraction of hesitation, the car revs up and the engine starts to run smoothly. A satisfied look spreads across his face. (Music is played while Cyborg builds his car, a clip from the song "Rock The House")

The Titans are gathered in the basement as Cyborg proudly unveils the new Titan car. He requests for drumroll, and it comes.

Cyborg: "Drumroll please!"

(Stares at the green lemur pounding its chest.)

Cyborg: "Ladies and gentlemen... and whatever Beast Boy is..."

(The irate changeling morphs back into a humanoid form)

Beast Boy: "Hey Cyborg, you want a drumroll or not?"

Cyborg: (Contrite expression) "Sorry."

Cyborg continues to rant about his car, how fantastic it is and all the fancy gadgets in it. Then comes the moment he has been waiting for.

Cyborg: (With an ecstatic look) "It is my great pleasure to present for the first time anywhere, the thing you've all been waiting for, my coolest, hottest, fastest creation...

Raven: (Apathetically) "Just get on with it."

Cyborg: (Unabashed) "I give you, the future of Titans transportation, the one, the only... T-CAR!!!"

(Cyborg whips off the white-covering to reveal a sparkling bright car.)

Beast Boy: "Dude!"

Robin: "Ooh!"

Starfire: "Cool!"

(Raven makes no reaction)

Cyborg raves about the car's speed, auxiliary engine, the nifty and just plain cool facts.

Beast Boy: "Whoo-hoo!"

Robin: (Whistles)

Starfire: "Amazing!"

(Raven has fallen asleep. Several letter 'z's float above her head)

On to the entertainment system. Cyborg gives a demonstration of how huge stereos and speakers can be compressed into the car. An enormous speaker pops out of the roof of the car and blasts out music. The four Titans are blown backwards.

(All with hair mussed really badly but nonetheless with broad smiles on their faces)

Beast Boy: "Sweet!"

Robin: "Nice!"

Starfire: "It sings!"

(Raven's head appears in full screen, looking extremely bored)

Raven: "Can we go now?"

Cyborg does not appear to be affronted, in fact, he positively beams at Raven.

Cyborg: "You bet! Raven, I'll take you anyplace you wanna go."

Beast Boy: "Beach!"

Robin: "The movies!"

Starfire: (With a dreamy and delighted expression on her face) "The swamp moons of Drenthax 4!"

(Beast Boy and Robin crash to the ground with stunned looks on their faces)

Starfire: (Blushing furiously) "He said anything."

The Titans have no chance to argue with Starfire's chosen destination, because Robin's communicator chooses to ring at that very moment. Hurriedly picking himself up, Robin flips open the communicator to locate the source of distress.

Robin: (Grimly) "Trouble!"

(Cyborg slides into the driver seat in a flash.)

Cyborg: (Happily) "I'll drive!"

The scene changes and Cyborg is speedily driving the car down a narrow, winding road at an extremely fast pace. Starfire is seated beside him, with the three others behind. Robin is in the centre, while Raven and Beast Boy are placed near the left and right windows respectively. Raven is taking absolutely no interest whatsoever in the car.

Raven: (Loudly) "Are we there yet?"

Cyborg: (Growls, annoyed) "NO!"

(Raven resides back into her seat, undaunted.)

Meanwhile, Starfire is exploring the fascinating attributes of the Teen car. Pushing every single button within reach, Cyborg can only watch in horror as dozens of unnecessary functions are activated.

Starfire: (Watching the windshield wipers sweep from side to side) "Look, they are dancing!"(Clasps her hands together and smiles happily)

Cyborg mutters some unintelligible words but refrains from speech. That is, until he notices a dog hanging its head out of the open window, mouth agape.

Cyborg: (Crossly) "YO! I don't allow drooling on my paint job."

(Green dog realizes what it is doing and morphs back into Beast Boy)

Beast Boy: (Apologetically) "Heh... My bad."

But soon after, Cyborg's good humor returns and he presses several buttons, switching off the windscreen wiper. With a rapturous expression on his face, he announces that he is going to push the car to higher speed.

Cyborg: (Rubbing his hands together) "Okay now. Time to kick my baby into high gear and see what she can do."

(A split second later, Robin yells urgently)

Robin: (Pointing a gloved finger at scene before the car) "Stop!"

(Cyborg's finger freezes over the controls and he sighs gloomily)

The Titans barrel out of the car and dash into the shop with the neon sign "Cook's Electronics". Masses of people are frantically exiting the shop in question as fast as they can do so, and not troubling to stay calm. Bursting into the shop, the Titans all ready their battle stances amidst the wild chaos of shrieking. Well, all except one.

Cyborg: (Shouts) "Coming!"

Cyborg hums to himself as he carefully polishes the car's gleaming surface. Rubbing a cloth over the glistening edge, he notices two guys strolling casually up to him. The taller one is wearing black shades, while the shorter villain's beady black eyes stare at the car. Both are dressed in black outfits.

Sammy (Tall guy): "Dude! That is fast !"

Cash (Short guy): "Sweet ride... she yours?"

(Grinning in appreciation of talking to people who really understand cars, Cyborg halts his cleaning work to boast)

Cyborg: (Proudly) "Built her with my own two hands using the finest parts and cutting edge techno... ARGHHHHHH!!!!"

Sadly, the rest of his sentence is lost as he yells in acute pain. Raven stomps back to "Cook's Electronics", crossly hauling Cyborg by an ear with surprising strength for one less than a fifth of his size. No doubt spurred by immense irritation, Raven disregards Cyborg's physical discomfort. Cyborg is dragged away from the scene in a most uncomfortable position, feet raising small clouds of dust. The undignified mode of travel does not disturb the cybernetic teen; once again, his mind is foremost on the most precious thing ---- his car.

Raven: (As she pulls Cyborg away from his car, rolling her eyes in vexation) "Boys."

Cyborg: (Showing no concern whatsoever of ownself) "Oops, almost forgot to switch off the alarm."

The blue button on the remote deactivates the alarm, the car's headlamps flare once and settle down. As both Cyborg and Raven are looking at the scene before them, the barely concealed smiles and winks exchanged by the teenagers fail to capture their attention.

The Titans burst in and find the villain Overload rapidly grasping as many objects as he can hold.

Overload: (Greedily) "Mine, all mine!"

Robin: "If you're gonna take all that stuff, you better be ready to pay for it. Titans, go!"

The Titans jump into action. Robin's weapon proves useless as he is tossed back none too gracefully into the air to crash into the ceiling. The chant of "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!", levitating several heavy crates to pound the villain does more harm than good. Overload simply absorbs the boxes, laughing as he grows to twice his size. Raven falls back, stunned at the effect. Beast Boy, crouched atop a pile of boxes, winks at her. "Smooth move." He sarcastically remarks, before launching himself into the fray. The elephant is thrown back and star bolts rain on the villain. Overload uses a tendril of electricity to grip hold of Starfire, sending electric bolts jolting down her spine. As she slams into the wall, Cyborg confronts the villain.

Cyborg: "You're radio-hit. Picture this."

The canon on his arm releases a deadly blue missile. Overload howls in pain and angrily wraps a rope of solid electricity around him. Cyborg struggles vainly to get free, and suddenly has a brainwave.

Cyborg: (Grunting) "I bet you're not waterproof."

(Punches Overload to send villain flying into a water canister. Overload starts to panic as his power fades, due to several droplets of water that sprayed onto him.)

Robin: "Good idea! Titans, soak him!"

The Titans do exactly that. Black power envelops a water cooler to wrench it off its moorings, forcing the water to jet out of the pipe. Beast Boy gulps down a container full of water and a green elephant douses Overload with it. Starfire's bolts target the sprinkler system, and a generous amount of water gushes out. Robin grips a hose, which pumps out water at full speed to target Overload. The villain screams in fury and slowly diminishes to a red circuit. The Titans stand triumphant, albeit soaked, but victorious all the same.

The door to "Cook's Electronics" slides open and Overload is carried out rolled up in a rug. Cyborg jokes with Beast Boy how he will take Beast Boy out for a spin when Beast Boy points, mouth agape, to the place that Cyborg parked the car. Except it isn't exactly parked there anymore.

Cyborg: (Running out into the streets and shouting hysterically) "My wheels lock! My car alarm! My baby! Someone stole my baby!"

As he wails for the loss of the car, the two guys earlier introduced laugh in wild freedom as they speed through the streets in Cyborg's car.

The Titans try to help, but in vain. If possible, they aggravate the situation even further.

Cyborg: (Moaning) "No...no...no..."

Starfire: (With sad eyes, resting a hand on the cybernetic teen knelt on the ground.) "I understand your pain, Cyborg. When I was small, my favorite Zarnik was eaten by a rampaging Gloorg." (Eyes misty as she remembers the incident.) "Believe me, after your Zarnik has been inside a Gloorg, you do not want your Zarnik back ."

Cyborg: (Angrily) "My car wasn't eaten by a rampaging Gloorg, it was stolen!"

Beast Boy, of course, has to put in his two-cents worth of non-sense.

Beast Boy: (Grinning) "Hey, look on the bright side. At least it wasn't my fault."

(Robin glares at him.)

Robin: (Sternly) "Not helping."

Blushing embarrassedly, Beast Boy decides not to talk to Cyborg anymore. Robin tries to comfort him, but Cyborg is unconvinced. Cyborg is very upset, and gets angry when Robin says they need to send Overload to jail first and even angrier when Raven says 'it's just a car.'

Robin: (Firmly) "We'll help you find your car, I promise. But right now, we need to get Overload to jail."

(Cyborg looks up with a murderous light in his eyes.)

Cyborg: "No! We have to go now! Every second is a second she might get broken, or scratched, or jinked... (Voice starts to sound hysterical)

(Raven stolidly steps in and tries to reason with the paranoid Cyborg.)

Raven: (Reassuringly) "Calm down. It's just a car."

Unfortunately, the intended goodwill is ignored as Cyborg rounds on the girl, distraught.

Cyborg: (Clenching his teeth) "She's not just a car." (His face is inches from hers, eyes boring right into her black irises.) "She's my car, and I'm going to find her whether you guys help me or not."

With that dramatic speech, Cyborg stalks off, setting a brisk pace to search the streets for his beloved car. The Titans silently watch him go.

By the time he catches up with the guys, Gizmo has stolen the car. Failing to retrieve it, Cyborg wallows over his car and fourteen milkshakes until Raven, of all people, comforts him. They then attempt to retrieve the car, though Cyborg gets distracted by every little thing, from a scratch to tacky decorations. Then Overload steals the car and fuses with it, forcing Cyborg to destroy his precious car, only apparently it isn't his car anymore. Then Raven rescues the microchip, and helps him fix the car. The episode ends with her biggest smile ever.

Comments:

I'll finish it up later and post it for ep. Recap. If any one else wants to take it on, welcome. I just couldn't bear to discard it when my computer crashed after I finished the near done version. This was the backup. I hadn't the heart to redo it yet.