"Aaaah yes," a voice whispered out. It was a young voice, but it was cracked and strangled by cynicism, bitterness, and dementia beyond its years. "At last, here is the final piece. I already have the golden artifact and the stillborn specimen." A spidery hand crawled over to a glass case, hanging from a long silk-robed arm. It carefully traced the brief and faded text which accompanied the relic:
Discovered in Andes foothills, 1743 by anonymous explorer. Skull of large rodent, full body believed to be over two feet long. Teeth and cheekbones contain unusual amounts of copper and lithium. Species unknown.
The hand carefully reached out and wiggled its fingers. The voice mumbled some words in an archaic tongue. The infrared beam which surrounded the casing deactivated and the pressure-sensor burnt out. The hand scampered out of view and retrieved a glass cutter, with which it made a perfectly round 6inch diameter incision. It then lifted and carelessly punched straight through the glass, cutting itself badly in the process. The voice laughed.
"Freeze!" Robin yelled. The figure fiddled idly with the skull, then put it back in what was left of its case. He slowly turned around to face the boy wonder.
The man before them couldn't have been more than 25, but already his hair was bone-white. He must have been seven feet tall, but was diminished by his hunched posture. His arms and legs were gunshafts of sinew, gaunt but powerful. His face was split by a grin that was constantly trying to extend beyond the boundaries of his mouth, exposing his row of surprisingly clean and healthy teeth and terminating in bleeding cracks at either side. His eyelids were stretched wide open, and the pinhole pupils within were constantly sliding, pointing anywhere but in the same direction.
"Hands up!" Robin ordered. The man raised his hands into the air. He then flicked his left hand as if swatting a fly, and a sharp curving whip of cold air knocked back the titan like a nine-pin. "Freeze," he replied.
He must have some kind of ice powers, Robin thought. As soon as he got to his feet he flung a pyrotechnic batarang, which the man dodged. The man wiggled his fingers, and Robin was seared by a sheath of golden fire. Alright then, temperature manipulation powers. Robin thought. He flung several standard birdarangs at the sinister man, who flailed his arms yelling "Transaive!" and the birdarangs paused in their course, then began fluttering about in random directions. Robin stared in disbelief as the small cluster of birds that was once his ammunition flitted off towards the Egyptian wing of the museum.
"Who…what are you?!" he yelled in frustration. The man looked at him straight in the eye, and the insane grin threatened to split his head in two.
"I am the Mad Antimarion. I am a wizard of great power. I bear the mark of Slath, and I have at my disposal the reagents to cast the most blasphemous curse in all of grammary!" His eyes spun round so violently in his head that a stream of tears coursed forth. His entire body convulsed in throws of violent laughter but no sound escaped.
He's a stark raving loony, Robin thought. He flipped open the com link.
"Titans, GO!"
"24 seconds till he calls us for help! You owe me twenty bucks!" said Beast Boy to Cyborg."
