He rushed across the street, spinning in place as if the vehicle might suddenly appear. "No no no no no—"
"Hey, look on the bright side." Beast Boy's attempt at helpfulness fell flat. "At least it wasn't my fault."
"Not helping." Hikaru shot him a look that made the shapeshifter laugh nervously.
Robin stepped forward. "We'll help you find your car, I promise. But right now, we've gotta take Overload to jail."
The villain grumbled wearily inside his blanket.
"No!" Cyborg's voice cracked. "We gotta go now! Every second we wait is a second she could get scratched or dinged or—"
"Calm down." Raven's flat tone cut through his rising panic. "It's just a car."
Cyborg's head whipped toward her, his expression somewhere between heartbreak and fury. The air practically crackled with tension.
"She's not just a car," he said quietly. Too quietly. "She's my car."
He stomped away without another word.
"Cyborg, wait—" Robin started.
"I'm gonna find her whether you guys help me or not!"
The team stood in uncomfortable silence as he disappeared around a corner.
Hikaru caught Raven's eye. She looked away first.
They handed Overload over to the authorities—two officers carrying the insulated villain toward a transport van. As the doors closed, Hikaru walked over to where Raven stood apart from the group.
"Hey."
She glanced at him. "What?"
"I know you don't get Cyborg's attachment to his car." Hikaru kept his voice low, conversational. "And to be honest, I don't fully understand it either. But he clearly put his heart, sweat, and tears into that thing. That's probably why he got so worked up when you dismissed it."
Raven's expression didn't change, but something shifted in her eyes. She looked back toward where Cyborg had disappeared, then nodded.
Robin was coordinating with the police when Hikaru rejoined the group.
"So what do you say, guys?" Hikaru addressed the team. "Wanna go help Cyborg find his car?"
"Obviously," Donna said immediately.
"I'm in," Kid Flash added.
"Yeah, we can't leave him hanging like that." Beast Boy looked genuinely concerned now that the initial shock had worn off.
Robin nodded. "Agreed. Let's split up and search—cover more ground that way."
"I'll help too," Raven said quietly.
Robin's mouth quirked into a small smile. "Alright then. Wonder Girl, Beast Boy—take the north side. Kid Flash, Robin—east and west. Raven, Seraph—you two check south. Cyborg's probably already covering downtown."
They split up, each team heading in their designated direction. Hikaru and Raven took to the air, scanning the streets below for any sign of the distinctive T-Car.
"What made you decide to help?" Hikaru asked after a few minutes of silent searching.
"I just agreed to help look for a stolen vehicle."
"Yeah, but you didn't have to. Especially after..." He trailed off.
"After I said it was just a car." Raven's voice remained neutral. "You were right. It wasn't about the car. It was about what it meant to him."
They flew in silence for a while longer, covering block after block of Jump City's south side.
"Balance," Raven said suddenly. "You said earlier it's about balance."
"Yeah."
"I've been thinking about that." She paused. "Maybe... maybe feeling bad about hurting someone's feelings and wanting to make it right—maybe that's part of the balance too."
Hikaru smiled. "Maybe it is."
They found Cyborg at a drive-in restaurant, sitting despondently on the curb. Fourteen empty milkshake cups littered the ground around him.
"Fourteen milkshakes," Hikaru observed as they approached. "Not a good sign."
Raven sat down next to him. Cyborg barely reacted.
"What are you doing here?" His voice sounded hollow.
"Looking for your car," Raven said. "Soon as we turned Overload in to the police, we all split up to search the city."
"Might as well stop looking." Cyborg stared at the empty parking lot. "T-Car's probably halfway to Metropolis by now." He picked up another milkshake cup, realized it was empty, and set it down again. "From the day I designed her, I knew she was gonna be special. And I worked so hard—every fuel injector, every spark plug—I made her perfect. I put my heart, soul, and circuits into that car." His voice cracked. "And now she's gone forever." Pause. "Maybe you were right. Maybe it was just a car."
"Maybe," Raven said quietly. "Maybe not."
Cyborg looked at her.
"When I use my powers, I have to put a little of my soul into whatever I'm moving. I become a part of it, and it becomes a part of me." She met his gaze. "That's kinda what happened here. It wasn't just a car. It was... your baby."
Cyborg's expression brightened slightly. "Yeah. Yeah, exactly."
Raven nodded.
"Thanks, Rae."
"Hey, Cy?" Hikaru tilted his head, listening. "I think someone's eating onion rings in your baby."
The distinctive crunch of fried food carried across the parking lot. Cyborg whipped around, his eye going wide.
There—at the far end of the lot—sat the T-Car. Two teenagers were visible through the windshield, the driver stuffing his face with food while his buddy laughed.
A waitress rolled up on skates. "Hey! You didn't pay!"
The driver just gunned the engine. The T-Car peeled out, tires squealing.
"THEY'LL GET KETCHUP ON THE SEATS!" Cyborg roared.
Hikaru spread his wings. "Come on. I doubt they can outpace us if we fly."
Cyborg hesitated, eyeing the distance between them and the rapidly escaping vehicle.
"Or," Hikaru added, "we could commandeer a vehicle to chase after them?"
Cyborg looked torn for a moment, then nodded reluctantly. "Fine. But this—" he gestured between the three of them "—never leaves us. Got it?"
Hikaru and Raven exchanged a look. They both nodded.
"Alright," Hikaru said, golden threads of solid light extending from his hands to wrap securely around Cyborg's waist. "Hold on."
They launched into the air—Raven flying beside them, Hikaru's wings beating as he carried Cyborg using his light threads who hung suspended looking deeply uncomfortable.
"I hate this," Cyborg muttered.