by Steve Korte
“Oh yeah, I’m back—” he started to say just as Robin and the other Titans arrived.
Before Beast Boy could finish his sentence, Robin’s hand darted out, grabbed the butterfly, and popped it into his mouth.
Gulp!
“Pure protein!” he declared happily, then looked around. “Hey, where is Beast Boy?”
“I’m pretty sure that was Beast Boy you just swallowed,” said Cyborg.
“Ewww, spit him out!” said Raven.
“No way!” said Robin. “Pure protein!”
It was another day in Jump City and another robot was crashing through the streets. This one was over one hundred feet tall, with four long arms that smashed into buildings and toppled automobiles. Fortunately, the Teen Titans were on the scene.
“Teen Titans, go!” called out Robin.
Beast Boy jumped in front of his teammates and declared, “This one is mine, bro!”
Pop!
Beast Boy transformed into a ferocious green gorilla and charged at the robot. Seconds later, the robot slammed one of its giant fists right into Beast Boy’s face.
“Owwwwwwwwwwwww!” yelled Beast Boy as he crashed to the ground. His teammates noticed with concern that the robot’s fist was still attached to Beast Boy’s face.
“Ow, ow, ow,” Beast Boy groaned on the sidewalk.
“Yeah, that’s gonna hurt tomorrow,” observed Raven.
One hour later, in a private room at Jump City Hospital, the Teen Titans gathered around Beast Boy’s bed. The robot’s fist was still wedged into Beast Boy’s face!
“Stay with us, Beast Boy!” Robin called out to his friend. “We are not going to lose you today!”
Robin then turned to Raven and said, “I need a bone saw!”
Poof!
Raven magically created a bone saw, which Robin used to hack off big chunks of the robot’s hand.
Raven then created pliers, which Robin used to pry off the last bits of the fist.
“Foreign object removed!” Robin said triumphantly, tossing the shards of metallic hand onto the floor.
Beast Boy quickly raised his hands to cover his battle-scarred face.
“Oh, man! My face! My beautiful face,” he whimpered.
“Stay calm, Beastie,” said Cyborg. “We’ve all had battle wounds. Let’s see how bad it is.”
Beast Boy slowly lowered his hands.
“Eeeeeeew!” cried out his teammates. “Cover it up! Cover it up!”
“Bandages! We need bandages!” yelled Robin.
Raven magically created bandages that quickly encircled Beast Boy’s entire head.
“It’s just going to take a little while to heal,” Robin said reassuringly to Beast Boy.
Cyborg, Raven, and Starfire all looked doubtfully at Robin.
Six weeks later, at Titans Tower, a still-bandaged Beast Boy sat up in bed as his teammates gathered around him.
“All right, Beast Boy,” said Robin. “Let’s see how you’re healing under there.”
The bandages were removed. And the Titans screamed again.
“Eeek! His face! I cannot look at his face!” cried Starfire.
“Wow, gross!” observed Raven.
Blorg! went Cyborg as he threw up.
“Cover him up! Cover him up!” yelled Robin as new bandages were wrapped around Beast Boy’s face.
“See you in six weeks, Beast Boy,” said his teammates, and they left the room.
Another six weeks later, the Teen Titans again stood next to Beast Boy’s bed.
“Okay, time to take off the bandages,” said Robin as the other Titans looked on nervously.
When the last bandage was removed from Beast Boy’s face, the other four Titans gasped.
“You’re finally healed, Beastie!” said Cyborg.
“Yeah, but how does it look?” demanded Beast Boy.
There was silence from his teammates. Raven and Starfire glanced at each other nervously. Robin looked the other way while he rolled up the bandages. Cyborg was busy polishing a scratch on his armor.
Beast Boy frowned and grabbed a mirror. He then let out a moan when he looked at his face and saw the jagged red scar that started on his forehead and descended below his right eye.
“Oh, man!” he cried. “This scar is huge!”
Pop! Pop! Pop!
Beast Boy rapidly transformed into an elephant, then an ocelot, and then a puma. All three animals had the same jagged scar on their faces.
“My beautiful face—it’s ruined!” he wailed.
Cyborg tried to reassure him. “C’mon, bro. It’s not that bad. Right, guys?”
“Well, um…” said Raven. Robin and Starfire were silent.
Cyborg glared at them and then said to Beast Boy, “Well, I think it makes you look tough!”
Beast Boy replied in a sulky voice, “Yeah, right…”
Cyborg put his hand on Beast Boy’s shoulder and said, “I’m serious! Who’s the toughest person you know?”
Beast Boy considered this question for a moment and then answered, “Raven.”
“Wow, really?” said Raven with a smile. “Cool!”
Cyborg looked annoyed. “No, I mean, who’s the toughest man-person you know?”
Beast Boy looked up at Cyborg and said, “You’re the toughest man-person I know.”
Cyborg quickly stuck his tongue out at Raven, then continued, “Bro, do you think I started out that way? No! I used to be an average-looking dude, minding my own business, until my body got all messed up in a crazy accident. My papa hooked me up with all these robot parts, and after that I got a few scars of my own. Those scars are what make me tough!”
Starfire nodded in agreement and said, “On my planet, one is not a true warrior until he or she has earned scars from victories.”
“For reals?” asked Beast Boy doubtfully.
“Yes. For the reals, Beast Boy,” she said.
Raven moved closer and said, “And I think it makes you look…”
She paused. Beast Boy’s eyes widened.
“Yes? It makes me look… it makes me look…?” he questioned.
Raven sighed and then said reluctantly, “… manly.”
Beast Boy’s face lit up with a wide smile.
“It is a pretty rad scar, Beast Boy,” admitted Robin.
Pop!
Suddenly, Beast Boy changed into a tall green ostrich and grabbed the mirror again.
Studying his feathered face, he said, “Hey, what’s up with that ostrich? Why is he so manly? Oh, it’s just the rad scar on his face!”
Beast Boy jumped out of bed and swaggered over to Cyborg.
“C’mon, dude!” Beast Boy said. “Wanna go and be tough?”
“You know it, Beastie!” said Cyborg with a grin. “Something tells me that we’ve got some tough times ahead of us!”
And so began the tough times of Beast Boy and Cyborg. The two of them soon became more inseparable.
When Cyborg lifted a barbell weighing three hundred fifty pounds, Beast Boy was on a bench right next to him, straining to lift a fifty-pound barbell. When Cyborg wore a leather jacket, Beast Boy donned a leather vest. When Cyborg grabbed an electric guitar and played a blistering guitar solo, Beast Boy strapped on a bass guitar and hit deep, rumbling notes that shook the walls of Titans Tower.
One night at the dinner table, Robin reached for the last slice of pizza, but he quickly drew back his hand when Cyborg started growling at him.
Cyborg then grabbed the slice of pizza, cut it in half, and shared it with Beast Boy.
“Tough dudes gotta tough it out together,” said Cyborg, as he and Beast Boy happily munched on their pizza.
After two weeks of toughness, Cyborg and Beast Boy were relaxing in the living room, playing video games and seeing who could burp the loudest. Suddenly, Robin burst into the room.
“Dr. Light is on a rampage downtown!” he yelled. “Titans, go!”
The team rushed out of Titans Tower. They quickly surrounded the vi
llain Dr. Light, who had the power to blast dangerous light rays from his fingers. He was standing in the middle of a busy intersection with his hands extended, zapping cars and lampposts with blinding-white rays of light.
“One tough cheetah coming up!” said Beast Boy with a smile.
Pop!
A scar-faced green cheetah charged at Dr. Light and knocked the villain off balance. A laser ray erupted from Dr. Light’s hand and zapped a nearby building, slicing into it!
The Titans looked up in dismay as a giant chunk of the building came loose with a horrible screeching sound. Soon, it toppled over and came crashing down toward them.
“Got it!” yelled Cyborg. With one hand, he easily caught the falling debris and saved the Titans.
“Whoa, that was super-tough!” said Beast Boy with awe.
Cyborg smiled as he tossed the wreckage aside and then flexed his metal bicep and said, “Thank the scars, Beastie!”
Zap!
Dr. Light was still shooting rays at them. While his teammates jumped back into the battle, Beast Boy had an idea. Just as his teammates wrestled Dr. Light to the ground, one more beam shot above Beast Boy’s head. As fast as he could, Beast Boy jumped up in the air with his left arm extended.
Pow!
Beast Boy’s left hand was hit directly by Dr. Light’s blast! Suddenly, there was no longer a hand at the end of Beast Boy’s arm!
After Dr. Light was turned over to the police, the Titans gathered around Beast Boy in the Titans Tower living room.
“Beast Boy, your hand… it is gone,” said Starfire with concern. “Are you feeling well?”
“Never better, Star!” said Beast Boy with a grin as he extended his left arm and marveled at his missing hand. “How cool is this?”
“Don’t worry, Beast Boy,” said Robin, who was carrying a small glass container. “I’ve got your left hand in this jar. We just need to figure out a way to reattach it to your arm.”
As Robin said that, the hand in the jar kept changing forms, from hoof to paw to claw.
“You’re lucky that your animal superpowers are keeping your hand alive,” observed Robin.
“That’s so gross,” said Raven.
“I got this, Beastie,” said Cyborg as he grabbed a toolbox and crouched down in front of his teammate. With pliers, screws, a welding gun, and chunks of metal, Cyborg quickly fashioned a robotic hand and attached it to the end of Beast Boy’s left arm.
“Okay, Beast Bud,” said Cyborg, “this should help you adjust until we figure out how to reattach your hand.”
Beast Boy couldn’t believe it. He held his left arm in the air and flexed the fingers on his new, shiny, immense cyborg hand.
“Don’t worry, Beast Boy,” said Robin. “It’s going to be okay.”
“Okay, dude? Are you kidding?” replied Beast Boy. “It’s going to be awesome!”
“Are you not upset with the loss of your appendage?” asked Starfire with surprise.
“Why would I be upset?” said Beast Boy. “I now have this sweet robot hand to go with my manly scar!”
Pop!
Beast Boy transformed into a giant green grizzly bear and reared up on his hind legs, proudly roaring, as he displayed his robotic hand and fuzzy, scarred face.
“I have to admit, that is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” said Robin.
“Amazing!” agreed Starfire.
In a quiet voice, Raven added, “So hot…”
Grizzly Beast Boy quickly jumped over and gave Raven a tight bear hug.
“What was that you said, Rae-Rae?” he asked.
Blam!
Raven knocked Beast Boy onto his back and glared at him. “Nothing!” she said.
Inside the jar, Beast Boy’s left hand gave a thumbs-up.
“Check it out,” said Beast Boy. “Even my old hand loves it!”
Cyborg was watching all this with dismay. He turned to Beast Boy and said, “Listen, Beastie. Robot hands are tough and all, but losing body parts isn’t a good idea!”
Beast Boy frowned at his friend and said, “It worked for you, dude!”
Robin pulled Beast Boy’s original left hand out of the jar and said, “Maybe Cyborg’s right. Let’s see if we can reattach this hand so that you—”
Swooooooosh!
Before Robin could finish his sentence, Beast Boy’s former left hand jumped in the air and yanked up on Robin’s underpants, giving the Boy Wonder a wedgie! Cyborg, Starfire, and Raven all laughed. Beast Boy looked grim.
“Beast Boy, you are not laughing at the hand’s mockery of Robin?” asked Starfire.
Beast Boy’s eyes narrowed and he grimaced to make his face look as tough as possible.
“Beast Boy would have thought that was funny,” he said with a frown, “but I’m a man now. Call me Scar Man!”
Pop!
With that, Scar Man transformed into a giant bald eagle with a scarred, feathered face and a gleaming cyborg hand at the end of his left wing.
“Whoa,” said Raven with quiet admiration. “So tough!”
For the next week, Scar Man strutted through Titans Tower, enjoying his new life. Each time he walked by Raven, he winked at her. He always made sure to wink with his right eye, since that was the one bisected by his facial scar.
“So very tough,” she had to admit.
Meanwhile, Robin and Cyborg labored in the medical lab. Robin was desperately trying to deep-freeze former Beast Boy’s left hand by cramming it into a cryogenic tube. But the hand was fighting back. It transformed into a seal paw and slapped Robin in the face.
“Ow, quit it!” said Robin.
“What is it with Beast Boy getting his hand blown off on purpose?” said Cyborg with dismay. “I was just trying to cheer him up by telling him that scars were cool. But now Beast Boy has taken it too far!”
Raven floated by with a dreamy look on her face and said, “Not Beast Boy. His name is Scar Man.”
Cyborg frowned and yelled after her, “His name is Beast Boy!”
“Did someone call me by my former name?” asked a voice from outside the lab. Suddenly, a large canvas bag came flying through the door and landed on the table in front of Robin. Cyborg and Robin viewed the bag with dismay as it thrashed and jumped up and down on the table.
“What in the world—” began Robin as he cautiously opened the canvas bag.
“Eeeeek!” screamed both Robin and Cyborg.
Inside the bag were assorted former body parts of Beast Boy, including one eyeball, two legs, a right arm attached to a hand, and a left arm that was handless.
“What have you done, Beast Boy?” cried Cyborg with horror.
Clonk! Clonk!
Robin and Cyborg turned around and gasped with astonishment as a twelve-foot-tall robot marched into the lab. Atop the robot’s massive body sat Scar Man’s tiny green head. An eye-patch appeared over his left eye. The scar surrounding Scar Man’s right eye seemed to glow as he glared at them.
“Don’t sweat it, dudes,” he told them. “They’re just some lame body parts I’m not using anymore. I thought you might want to keep them on ice.”
“Eeeew!” said Robin as he dropped the canvas bag on the floor. Instantly, former Beast Boy’s body parts jumped out of the bag and went scuttling out of the lab.
“Wait! Come back!” screamed Robin as he ran out the door to follow the body parts.
“Why did you do it, Beast Boy?” asked Cyborg sadly.
“Just decided to make myself a little tougher,” Scar Man boasted. “And it’s Scar Man!”
Raven floated by again and looked admiringly at her teammate. “You can say that again,” she murmured.
For the rest of the afternoon, the giant robotic Scar Man sat in the Titans Tower living room, his arms crossed and a big frown on his face. Nearby, Cyborg was yelling at him.
“You do not get it!” Cyborg insisted.
Scar Man shook his head and said, “Oh, I get it. I used to have little-kid arms and legs. Now I’m bigger and m
anlier than ever!”
Suddenly, Robin burst into the room. He was chasing former Beast Boy’s left leg, which jumped under the couch.
“Come out from there right now!” Robin commanded, bending over to search for the sneaky leg.
As he did that, former Beast Boy’s right leg hopped into the room and kicked Robin in the rear, knocking him over.
Cyborg chuckled and said to Scar Man, “Okay, I have to admit that was kind of funny. But what you have done to your body is not an improvement!”
Robin was curled up in a ball on the floor while former Beast Boy’s two feet started kicking him.
“Can I get a little help here?” he pleaded.
Meanwhile, Raven was in her room watching her favorite TV show about enchanted horses, Pretty, Pretty Pegasus, when she felt something tug on her cloak. She looked down and saw former Beast Boy’s left hand pulling on the edge of her cloak. The hand was holding a note, which it passed along to Raven.
Raven opened the note and read the horribly messy handwriting. It said, “I have my eye on you.”
“I don’t get it,” Raven said as she looked down at the hand. It pointed up in the air, and when Raven looked up to the ceiling she saw former Beast Boy’s disembodied left eye.
It winked at her.
“Okay, that is so not tough,” she thought to herself. “That is just gross!”
In the Titans Tower kitchen, Robin was sitting at a table, struggling against former Beast Boy’s right arm in an epic arm-wrestling battle.
“If I win, you agree to go into the cryogenic tube,” the Boy Wonder said.
Just when it seemed that Robin was about to defeat former Beast Boy’s arm, it transformed into a gorilla’s arm and smashed Robin’s hand to the table.
“Ouch!” cried Robin as former Beast Boy’s triumphant arm bounced out of the kitchen.