Following the sleepover, Jinx and Raven were fast becoming friends.
Now, Jinx frequently visited the Tower, and while she still loved to make mischief around Raven whenever the chance arose, said dark heroine was now much more tolerant of her. At the very least, Jinx's small-time pranks never brought Raven to violent anger.
At the present time, it was a cool October in Jump City and movie night at the Tower. Seeing as how Jinx had been coming over much more frequently, it was decided that she would provide the movie for watching. However, everyone made the mistake of not banning horror movies. Naturally, as it was only a week or two away from Halloween, Jinx decided to bring one of the scariest movies she had.
Only Raven and Starfire didn't cower away from the DVD box that Jinx held proudly. Cyborg, Robin, and Beast Boy clutched to each other on the couch. Leaning in to look at the featureless black DVD's box, Starfire read the blood-red title. "Friend Cyborg," she said in an inquisitive tone, "What is the movie titled 'THAT' about? Is it what people of Earth call a 'horrible' movie?" Raven whispered to her. "Um, a horror movie?" She turned to look at Cyborg, who held onto Beast Boy and Robin for support.
As Cyborg was too frightened to speak - Each of his mechanical parts rattling with how much he shook, and Beast Boy had turned into a squirrel so as to hide better and was tight-lipped - Robin decided to speak. "W, w, well," he began, "Yeah, it's...A horror movie. It's kinda...The sole reason why one or two entire generations are inflicted with an irrational of clowns." He ducked away at the cackling Jinx gave.
"You got it," she said. "Last time I showed this was at the H.I.V.E. Gizmo was holding onto me for dear life the entire time and wouldn't stop shaking for a few hours afterwards. Mammoth started crying like a baby. Waaaaah-waaah-waaah, heheh." She turned to Raven. "The monster in the film is kinda-sorta like what you'd find in Lovecraft's stories. I figured you'd appreciate Sinnyguise the Clown." Her eyes glinted mischeiviously.
[Author's Note: Yes, I'm purposefully invoking 'Bland Name Product' with that name. 'THAT' is based on a Shaman King character. Sinnyguise the Clown is from my own demented mine. Now, we continue the story.]
With a shrug, Raven sat down on the couch next to the boys. As Starfire took the other side, Jinx put the DVD in, started the movie, and did a few pirouettes to lean on the back of the couch and watch gleefully. It didn't take long for the real horror to set into the majority of the Teen Titans who watched.
Robin tried to look away from the movie, but couldn't help but keep looking back just in time to catch something scary. Cyborg's teeth chattered, his armor rattled, and Robin had to duck out of his grasp so that Cyborg wouldn't accidentally hurt him with a Full Nelson. Beast Boy, still a squirrel, leapt over to Starfire to be protected. Even as she hugged him into her chest, Beast Boy was too frightened to relish the moment at all.
Meanwhile, Starfire was so terrified that her normal skintone was starting to pale into the approximate color of the inside of an orange rind. As a matter of fact, the boys were also starting to look pale as sheets. By the time they were midway-through the movie, the four of them were huddled together - Too frightened to look away.
On the other hand, Raven...Was not really scared. She was impressed with the mind of whoever created THAT, but wasn't really scared. At one point, she cupped her hand to whisper up to Jinx. "Do you think that they really need to use all of the blood spattering in that part?" It was that moment that a quiet moan of fear came from someone in the group.
A giggle broke out of Jinx. "To answer your question," she said calmly, "I don't think it was entirely necessary. But they did do a good job on the effect." Raven nodded in agreement. As the two girls looked back during a particularly gorey scene, Jinx snorted back a laugh. "I never did figure out how that girl had so much blood inside of her." As the movie headed deeper and deeper into horror, Jinx gently tapped Raven on the shoulder.
Upon looking up, Raven found Jinx gesturing for her to follow her out of the room. Nodding, Raven said to the group, "I just remembered something I left in the Training Room. Don't wait up." The four of them - Now approximately crunched together into a ball - Gave no reply. "Yeah. Thanks guys." Hovering up into the air, Raven followed Jinx quietly until they reached a particular room.
Eyebrow cocked, Raven looked around. "Jinx...Please tell me what we're doing in the generator room. And I hope it's not to reveal that you're a triple agent." She turned a suspicious look onto Jinx. Snickering, Jinx raised her hands placatingly. It didn't serve to calm Raven that Jinx was too cracked up to speak for a while. However, it only took a little over a minute for the cat-eyed girl's giggles to subside.
"What if I told you," Jinx began, "That I've gotten Cyborg to tell me how to turn the whole Tower into backup generator mode? And that I've been studying on some fun ways that we can combine our magic?" Fishing through her pockets for a minute, Jinx retrieved a couple of small discs with strange characters.
Just a few seconds of inspection was all Raven needed to figure out what these discs were for. "I won't ask you where you got phantasm mediums," Raven said slowly, "So long as it's not from some illusionist who's going to wake up somewhere unfamiliar tomorrow with a splitting headache." Jinx shook her head with a little laugh.
Using a small bit of magic to determine that Jinx wasn't lying, Raven sighed. "Okay...I think I know where you're going with this. Why would I go along with this prank?" She was beginning to miss the horror movie compared to this.
But Jinx's next words stopped her cold. "Last Tuesday, everyone was too busy watching a new action show to unlock the tower while it was raining. They also forgot to drop the outer barrier that prevented phasing in. You were left wet and cold all night not because super villain such-and-such had trashed them and left, but because they were too busy watching a TV show." Her new friend's indigo orbs sparked with fury.
Immediately picking up on Raven's thoughs, Jinx said hurridely, "Beast Boy tends to get very talkative as a dog when you promise him a belly rub and treats. It wasn't hard to trick it out of him." She grinned. "Now whaddya say?"
No time was wasted on Raven's part in snatching up one of the discs. "Tell me how to work these things and give me the plan."
A nefarious smirk broke out on Jinx's face. Oh, the fun they'd have tonight.
"Alright. The chant is pretty simple..."
...
Back at the livingroom, thankfully, the movie was finally over. As the room exited theatre mode and all of the lights turned back on, it took a few moments for the Titans to all pull apart. Beast Boy was so traumatized that he was still shivering, unable to leave the form of a squirrel he had taken. Meanwhile, Starfire still clutched him tight.
Of course, Robin and Cyborg tried to blow it off. Plenty of "can't believe you were scared of that kid's movie" and "scared? You were the one holding onto me" and "Don't give me that, you were stuck to me like ugly on Plasmus"; so on, so forth. However, everyone abruptly flinched at a flickering noise. As all of the power went out and a loud thump could be heard, a high-pitched, shrill wail erupted and everyone was back together on the couch.
Up again as soon as the backup generators came on and reserve lights illuminated the room, Robin was back on his feet and ready for action. Cyborg was soon stood up as well, helping a stunned Starfire off the couch. Still shivering quite a bit himself, the Boy Wonder said in a sharp voice, "What the heck was that!" He moved over to make sure Starfire was okay. She tried to mumble an explanation of her own, but Robin chuckled. "Nah. I meant that girly scream that Cyborg made just now." He couldn't help but crack up a bit as Cyborg shot him a flat glare.
Just about to chew Robin out for that little comment, Cyborg was interrupted by a couple of screams farther out in the Tower. "Who was that? It sounded like a - ...Couple of...Girls..." He facepalmed with a loud clang as it donned on the others in due course. "Awww man, Raven and Jinx!" Immediately, he and the others were following the screams. Shook into lucidity, Beast Boy ended up leaping from Starfire's grasp and becoming a bat to seek out the other two girls. When the others caught up, he was in his normal form - Staring blankly.
Coming to a stop, Starfire shook Beast Boy lightly. "Friend Beast Boy, why are you staring? Have we not found Friends Raven and Jinx?" As she looked around, she saw that Robin and Cyborg were also frozen in their tracks. Turning her gaze up to what they were looking at, Starfire tried to figure out why they were so perplexed. Indeed, they had found Raven, Jinx, and the enemy.
Said enemies were a pair of massive beasts, almost rhinocerous-like, with fat, limbless bodies that were raised up like bulbous snakes. From either one's mouth extended a long, narrow, slime-covered tongue - And either one held Jinx and Raven in their grasps. Both girls blushed and sweated from exertion, trying to fight their way out. As the tendril-like tongues of the beasts gripped Raven and Jinx tighter around the midsections, certain features were pushed outward. The boys all stared in awe, Starfire looked between them.
Abruptly, Jinx shouted: "Hurry up and save us you dirty perverts!" Jumping to attention, Robin immediately produced a couple of discs which he tossed into one beast's gut. Following soon after, Cyborg rushed in to proceed with assaulting the other beast, while Beast Boy shifted into the form of a wild boar and stampeded the first beast back. The two girls were dropped to the floor, apparently unconscious, as Starfire flew into battle.
For a couple of minutes, the battle went on as such. However, Jinx soon peeked with one eye to see how it was going. She proceeded to get up and nudge Raven in the shoulder. Both girls sat up, watching the other Titans fight, before moving away. Getting an idea, Raven stopped Jinx from going further. The dark form of Raven's soul-self emerged and promptly wreathed them in its energies. Lifted up and phased through the ceiling, the two went unnoticed.
It didn't take long before the monstrosities being fought by the other Titans began to show signs of fatigue. Lolling about, the two fell against each other before sliding to the floor. Just as the 'victors' began to celebrate, however, both fallen beasts started to bulge and grow with sickening noises. The four watched in horror, trying to move away - But it was futile.
!
...Plop...Plop...Plop...Plop...
Shocked into silence, Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy stared blankly. Thick, viscous, and positively rank ochre-black sludge completely covered them. Wobbling, the group toppled like a bunch of bowling pins into the massive puddle.
Unbeknownst to them, however, the massive quantities of sludge and...Debris began to dissolve into nothingness. Soon, all that were left were the two discs that Jinx had produced for Raven and herself to use -
- Both of which promptly crumbled away without a trace.
...
Back in Raven's room, she and Jinx had been using a mirror to scry and view the event. At this time, Jinx had fallen right off of the bed and was laughing uncontrollably.
While her legs kicked around in the air, Raven stared down at the mirror's scryed image of the other Titans for herself. This had been quite a prank...
It started as a couple of repressed snorts, before Raven started shaking a bit. Promptly, Raven buried her face into a pillow and laughed just as madly as Jinx.
Fist slamming repeatedly onto the bed, Raven laughed with Jinx all night. The next morning was spent by most of the Titans recovering.
None of them have figured out the truth of that night to this day.
And Raven has obvious reasons not to tell.