Part 1: Opening Credits
It's different on the other end.
Or so Robin thought as he slowly lifted his leg and took one more step, moving the distance like he was taking trench territory in World War I, his senses screaming and his brain charged with adrenaline.
Nothing happened.
Yet.
Something was due to happen eventually. And sooner rather then later. Very soon. Patience was not something that occurred in these situations.
Robin had certainly learned THAT.
Robin looks a bit off from what we can see in the dim light. He appears to be in one of the hallways on the floor on which several of the Titans live. The Titans all used to live on one floor, but the addition of Terra, as well as Savior, Gauntlet, and Scalpel (Writer's Note: First time reading me? Ok then. Terra never left and hence never went bad. Savior is my OC. Gauntlet is the author Bobcat's OC. Scalpel is the author Jedi-and's OC. That's all the info you're getting if you're new! So either go read some of our work or blunder on, I have a horror story to tell) had spread them out. Robin was currently outside his love's Starfire's room, though he couldn't really tell for sure if it WAS her room due to the spastic lighting.
Robin, as mentioned, is a bit off. His mask is missing, as is his cape. His utility belt looks torn and ragged. His hair is wild, his battle outfit is sporting a few holes, and there are slight bloodstains on a few parts that speak of previously received wounds. But his eyes are sharp and his movement is steady and clear, if immensely tense. In his right hand is clutched his metal bo, held out in the optimum angle of his self developed fighting style. He will be ready to bring it to use.
If he even gets to.
There is a chance he will not.
He wonders where his friends and allies are. Scattered far and wide again, despite what they willed? Are they hurt? Dead? Anything has become possible in this strange world Robin has found himself in this night.
I should have listened to Noel.
Robin slowly turns, trying to look at every shadow. As mentioned, it was different.
When it happened as normal people knew, it seemed so obvious. Behavior seemed so stupid, and fates so deserved.
But when you were actually in it…
Robin wished he still had his mask. He could have fitted night vision lenses in and scattered the shadows in a piercing green glare. But it was gone. And perhaps with it his chance to survive.
For the shadows hid so much. You didn't need a certain place. All you needed was the dark. The dark to conceal, until it was his time…
I hope Cyborg's all right…Robin slowly reaches out and presses a button, and the door to Starfire's room (it WAS her room) slid open. Robin's slow form suddenly comes alive as he dives forward, rolls, and comes up, looking around.
Nothing. The darkness has even managed to mute the normal brightness of Kory's room.
He wondered if something worse blighted it.
He stood up, looking around, trying to keep his mind clear, fighting against mystical interference as well as his human instincts, which may aid him in survival but will NOT help him in this situation. Wondering where it was. Where HE was.
Wondering if he had friends now.
Trying to keep all that he has learned from another master of the darkness, his mentor, Robin took another step.
Nothing.
Robin makes no sound while moving. His breathing, very careful and regulated through his nose, makes no noise at all.
He doesn't think he sounds silent though. His thudding heart sounds like war drums to him. Maybe HE can hear it as well. Maybe he'd examine it first hand…
Robin started to breath in as he took another slow step.
And froze.
When he had started to inhale, his nose had kicked it, and he had smelled it.
On top the smell was of rot, of flesh long given up life but not yet removed from the world. And beneath it…a powerful, wild, vicious scent, not easily identified, that spoke of a willpower so fierce and demonic that it managed to drive such flesh despite that it flew in the face of all the laws of life and death, of a rage so undying that it made the dead walk.
And under that…
Something that Robin's nose could not properly identify on the surface but, deep deep down in the primordial core of his being…it was a scent that could not really be called a smell but an ESSENCE, something that awoke the dark side and made it scream that something was coming.
If one had to identify the smell…it was the smell of evil.
And the fear and fury that it awakes in Robin fires up through his being and blasts into his arms, as he starts to turn, as he starts to bring the staff up…
As the blade comes slashing down.
(Several hours earlier)
"I'll give Mumbo credit, it was an oldie but a goodie." Cyborg said as the Titans walked into their lounge.
"I do not see what was good about it Victor." Starfire said. "Had it not been for Friend Nigel's accurate throw, we might have suffered dear…"
"It's an expression Kor. It means that what Mumbo did WAS bad, and we were lucky we got away with what we did." Terra said.
"Hey, it's MUMBO. How bad could it be?" Beast Boy said, as he tossed himself onto a couch and stretched contently. "Ah, it's good to be home!"
"Yeah, it's…HEY! Where's the remote?" Cyborg cursed. He began tearing up the couch cushions.
"It's here, in the freezer." Gauntlet said, opening the iced section and extracting a plastic bag from which he drew the black remote.
"What the heck was it doing in there?"
"I wanted to make sure it could be found." Gauntlet said, sitting down and turning on the TV. They flipped to a local channel as Robin and Scalpel finally came in, waving as if they were directing a car.
"WHAT? Why aren't we the top story?" Beast Boy yelled as the news came on.
"We're old news." Robin said, as Raven finally floated in. Carefully held in front of her was a serrated orb about the size of a basketball, colored black (though with Raven's black energy covering it you couldn't really tell…or could…or…), Savior by her side.
"They just need an excuse to rip into us and we didn't give them one." Savior commented, his innate intense dislike of the media shining through.
"Oh don't be sour Noel. We won and we're all ok." Terra said.
"Yes and no."
"Oh ok, BE grumpy." Terra said, and turned to her fellows sitting on the couch. "Ok, unless something comes up, it's our annual movie night! Who's going to get them this year?"
"We are." Savior said, indicating him and Raven. Terra opened her mouth in shock. "And we'll be taking Gar, Vic, and Rob with us. Relax. You'll get your junk."
"Hey! That's not junk! It's tradition! And might I remind you…"
"Yes yes. We'll go in a few, ok?" Savior said, as the four of them finished walking through the lounge. They walked carefully down the hallway to the elevator.
"We'll take it from here guys." Savior said. Robin nodded and left, though Scalpel, the team doctor, stayed with the two, just in case, as they rode the elevator down into the hallway that contained the evidence room, and then he went ahead to punch in the code for the door.
"Why's wrong sweetie?" Raven asked quietly.
"I don't like being powerless." Savior replied.
"Hey Noel, relax. You weren't the only one Mumbo made powerless with this thing. We were still able to beat him, which should prove the old adage that it's not the weapon who makes the man." Raven said, giving her lover a slight grin. Savior tried to return it, but it was clear he was still grouchy.
"All clear." Scalpel said as he walked back. The three carefully guided the mystical orb (which Mumbo had called the Eye of Archetypal, and which he had used to zap the Titans and render half of them without their gifts. It still hadn't been enough to beat them, and Raven had reversed the effects before the Titans had dumped Mumbo in jail. It was there that Savior's aggravation had greatly increased: it was Oct 30th and the police thought they were kids in costume at first. It was a good thing Noel hadn't decided to prove he wasn't by yanking down a wall. Once that was done, the Titans had carefully taken the orb back to their Tower to make sure its effects didn't activate by accident) through the door and into the room, which was strewn with both colorful artifacts, important objects, and more then a few dangerous weapons the Titans didn't want getting back into the hands of their enemies. Savior noted with annoyance that Control Freak's remote control was, instead of being tightly locked up, in its "display" mode.
"Scalpel, seal that pedestal, will you?"
"Ok…" Scalpel said, as Savior turned away, the Shimmer flowing from his hand and pressing a button on the wall. A new pedestal emerged from the floor, and Raven carefully placed the orb on it. Four prongs emerged from the base, balancing the crystal.
"Ok, all clear." Savior said, relaxing. "Nigel, close them both."
"I'm trying." Scalpel said, pressing at another control pad. "The keys don't seem to be…agreeing with me…"
Sparks suddenly shot from the panel, sending Scalpel back with a slight yelp. Savior made a small growling noise deep in his throat and headed over. He tried keying in the codes to make sure it wasn't something caused by Nigel's very sharp hands. All he got was a few more sparks. With a louder growl he shot out the Shimmer, yanking the panel off the wall so he could examine its guts.
"I swear, twenty million spent on security and all we get is lowest bidder junk!" Savior cursed as he nosed around the wires. "Ok, I think this should do it…"
The door to the Evidence Room closed and locked.
When Raven managed to pry it open a few minutes later, she had learned a few new things.
Like the fact that Noel knew a lot more swear words then she thought. When he had run out, he had actually started cursing first in Tamaran, Starfire's alien language (which had been comical), and then Blacktrinian, Scalpel's language (which, due to its harsh, nasty tone, wasn't so comical). Realizing that Noel was just going to keep getting more and more wound up, she had finally taken a shortcut and tapped into her unique empathy/emotion powers and literally SUCKED the growing rage out of her love. Normally Noel would have protested…but apparently he didn't want to be mad either. He just couldn't find a reason NOT to be mad.
"Ok, for tonight we'll do the Halloween thing, but tomorrow, before we go trick or treating or costume partying or anything we are GOING DOWN HERE AND FIXING THIS!" Savior said, as he used the Shimmer to close the doors and pressed buttons on the panel outside until he heard the lock click in. He guessed they could leave the two devices "exposed" for tonight: it wasn't like anyone was going to try and get into the room without the Titans knowing about it way in advance.
"All right, let's fire up the car and go get the movies. Nigel, go tell the others to start setting up the TV's." Savior said.
"Right-O." The alien replied, giving one of his wide toothy grins.
"I don't see why they need horror films, that's scary enough." Noel deadpanned.
The trip was delayed another two minutes as Scalpel proceeded to chase Savior down the hall a few times.
(About an hour later)
"The kings, have returned!" Gar Logan (Beast Boy) said, bounding in clutching a bag of videos and DVD's.
"Did you get everything?" Tara Markov (Terra) asked.
"Almost." Robert Candide (Gauntlet) said, coming in holding his own bags. "The good news is, because our junk is so much more popular, there was hardly anything for Noel!"
"Shaddup." Noel Collins (Savior) snapped as he walked in. He was holding six bags of snacks with the Shimmer.
"Relax Noel. At least your secret shame was in." Raven said, carrying two more bags, which she tossed to Victor Stone (Cyborg), who eagerly began to rip at them to extract the goodies. She gave him a wry grin.
"Shut. Up……." Noel griped. "I can't believe someone beat us to the Dario Argento films."
"Hey, that's good. Last year we had to suffer through them." Tim Drake (Robin) said.
"The only reason you SUFFERED was because those films were actually SCARY, unlike most of this self parodying nonsense that passes for horror. I mean, where are the scares in such horrid junk as Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things? Give me Suspiria or Tenebrae any day. God knows that's infinitely better then Attack of the Giant Leeches or that Tom Savani grossout Maniac."
"Gross out? Who got all those Japanese horror films two years ago and nearly scared Kory and Tara to death?" Raven pointed out.
"That was WELL-USED gore."
"It made me question the sanity of an entire culture." Kory Anders (Starfire) said dryly, which was RARE for her. Everyone looked at her, and her face promptly resumed its joyful normalcy. "Well, while Friend Noel may not be content, that is not an uncommon thing, and besides, we must get started! We only have so much night and there is that persistent need for sleep…"
"Could someone unhook those?" Nigel Hastings (Scalpel) said from where he was: on the ceiling, upside down like a bat. For some reason, he could understand movies better that way. He was indicating the tangled wires of the headphones that were clustered around the three TV's that were set up around the giant one. Considering there were about 20 pairs of them, it was a pretty big mess. Noel got to work as the other Titans staked out seats, set up chips and candy and soda, and argued good naturedly on who was going to get to watch what first.
"Gar, you OWN most of those zombie films, we should watch the rented stuff first…"
"Which self-mocking slasher revival film shall we watch first…"
"Should we put that on first or save it for last…"
"Ok it's nearly six, if we cut it off at two and with the general running time of 90 minutes and four TV's…"
"I wish they'd had the Blair Witch Project." Noel said to Raven as she checked on how the untangling was going.
"Well, what can you do? You could have gotten the sequel." Raven said. Noel gave her a wry look. "Ok, cue the complaints on how utterly horrid Blair Witch 2 was…"
"It wasn't HORRID, per say. The first film worked so well, and was actually SCARY, because it took the whole concept of the horror film and turned it on its ear. Blair Witch 2 tried to do another take on the whole manipulating the genre, but in the end they just couldn't mesh all the tricks well and the whole thing came out a big mess. That's probably why all the copies of the first one were out while the sequel stayed there."
A light rumble of thunder came from the window.
"At least we beat the storm back here."
"Yeah, good thing that's going to hit tonight. I hear it's gonna be NASTY. But since it hits a day before, we don't need to worry about it ruining trick or treating. Instead, it just provides atmosphere." Noel said, as he finally finished untangling all the cords.
The first splatters of rain began to hit the window fifteen minutes later as the Titans finally decided on everything. Beast Boy placed all the films on the "main" VCR as every sat down in front of their chosen TV. Each group got a TV and enough headphones for the whole group if they wanted to watch, so there would be no arguments on who got to watch what. The group was setting up the snacks so everyone could reach what they wanted. It took a while, but it was better then all the previous years when lack of planning had led to a lot of arguments.
A bolt of lightning exploded in the distance as everyone finally sat down. Beast Boy stepped in front to do his little speech. He started and then a loud boom of thunder drowned him out.
"Gonna be nasty." Noel repeated, sitting at the far end of the couch. Raven was with him as well as Rob and Nigel, who had heard that Noel would be watching his guilty pleasure first and wanted to see it for themselves.
"All right people. We have done this before, and you know it well. From the sheer horror of the original Japanese The Grudge to the sheer HORROR of Attack of the Killer Refrigerator…"
Another bright lightning flash, followed by another gigantic boom. The storm was sure moving quickly, Noel mused. It might pass them by soon…
"It is time to forget the scary things in real life and look at the scary things in the world beyond that screen. So my dear Titans, I, Garfield Logan…"
The brightest flash of lightning yet. And that was saying something considering the lights were still on: one of the Titans with a distance skill would turn them off when the movies started…
"The night beckons." Beast Boy said, as he picked up his headphones, all the other Titans either holding theirs or having it on their laps. "So, let us go out and walk…but beware. The Boogeymen are out."
And outside, the heart of the storm ignited once more above the T-Tower as a huge bolt of lightning blasted down and struck the lightning towers attached to the roof. They were supposed to direct the electricity harmlessly into the ground.
Except something went wrong.
Maybe a connection had frayed, or a compartment had broken. Or maybe something had been attached to something else that wasn't supposed to be attached. Or maybe some dark power just had a brain fart.
As down in the dimly lit Evidence Room the exposed panel that Noel hadn't fixed suddenly glowed, and then electricity crackled out of it, hunting for a target and finding it immediately.
Control Freak's remote.
The electricity coursed around the powerful device, and it began to glow red. The electricity built in intensity and then fired out, striking the Orb of Archetypal and enveloping it in crackling fury.
For a moment the energy seemed to feed back and forth between the two, building in intensity and fury…and then it fired back into the exposed security system, breaking through safeguards as it quickly blasted to its destiny.
As it fired through the electrical systems and into the TV and VCR/DVD settings, engulfing them in red energy even as more tendrils fired up to the headphones all the Titans were in the middle of putting on.
"What the…!" Tim managed to get out.
And then the energy hit them.
It was oddly…peaceful.
And then the lights went out.
Silence.
"…….Ok, NOW what?" Noel said.
To Be Continued