Boogeymen Gaiden: The Thief Of Always
Part 1: Murmurs of Red
When Gauntlet opened the drawer, his favorite shirt wasn't there. After a few seconds, he realized that none of his shirts, or pants were there either.
"…Did I forget to do laundry this season?" Gauntlet said, pawing through the clothes. Instead of his usual shirts and jeans, the chest of drawers was now full of dark green one-piece outfits, along with strange metal headbands. As Gauntlet discovered, much to his annoyance, they were the only clothes in his room save the boxers he'd gone to sleep in and the towel he had tied around him.
"…this stinks of Gar." Gauntlet said, and having no choice, ultimately dressed himself in the strange costumes. The clothing felt odd on his form, like he was wearing a heavier version of a leotard. At least his shoes were the same.
"I guess he's still sore about me signing him…up for that…Meat of the Week…club…?" Gauntlet said as he exited his room, staring at the rusty metal wall in front of him. After a moment, he turned around to confirm that his room was still there. He then turned around to look at the rusty wall and the dark hallway it was attached to.
"…do we have an enemy called Rustman?" Gauntlet said, looking down the hallway. "Anyone? Hello?"
Gauntlet's voice echoed down the hallway, generating no response. Running his thumb over his gauntlet-ring, Rob debated for a few seconds and then reached for his communicator.
Only to realize it was nowhere in his costume. Returning and tossing his room also failed to turn it up.
"Oh great. Did someone buy a cursed tree for Arbor Day or something?" Gauntlet said, manifesting his namesake and heading down the hallway. After a minute of wandering, he exited out into a familiar sight: the Titans' kitchen.
With one notable difference: the woman sitting at the table with her face in a bowl of cereal.
"Ack!" Gauntlet said, sprinting over and pulling the woman out. "Are you…"
The words died in Gauntlet's mouth. The strangeness of the situation had kept him from noticing the woman's familiar faded robe, and the particular gray pattern in her hair. But brought face to face with the woman made it crystal clear.
It was his mother.
Cold to the touch beneath his hand.
"OH GOD-!"
The needles flew out of nowhere, burying itself in Gauntlet's arm.
His Gauntlet arm, to be precise. The ancient tech stopped the thin blades before they could reach flesh, even as Gauntlet instinctively recoiled away from the attack. Miho's head dropped down to the table again, revealing the similar needle buried in the back of her neck.
"Well…that's new."
Gauntlet didn't recognize the raspy voice, but he recognized the movement quickly enough to dodge out of the way of the next spray of needles.
"On the other topic, I think He abandoned your cursed line a long time ago, Candide." The form said, slipping out of the shadows. The gray unisex uniform the figure wore completely obscured its gender, and the only distinguishing characteristic besides it was a long strand of cloth tied to the figure's head, said strand a mix of colors arrayed in perfectly organized stripes. "But don't worry. You can go speak with your whore of a mother…"
The grey figure, much like Gauntlet had, just barely dodged the yellow energy fist before it smashed a hole through the wall where it had been.
"…Also new." The grey figure said. "Well, heaven help me if I ever seek boredom!"
The figure flicked a hand out, Gauntlet barely able to follow the motion to see that the gray form had touched its multi-colored headband. Inside of a second, color flashed over its drab uniform, turning the whole costume crimson red even as it slashed out said hand towards him.
Gauntlet immediately re-manifested his shield in front of him. The needles impacted on it…and exploded, spraying out a scarlet mist. Gauntlet felt the temperature drop by what felt like a hundred degrees, the teenager recoiling backwards as frost manifested on his clothing and hair, it's talons of cold digging into his muscles and bones.
"Ugh. Time to…take this outside…!" Gauntlet said, doing a side roll and leaping towards the window…
Or rather, where he thought the window was. This time, he was confronted with a pulsing green wall of what appeared to be some sort of crystal. Gauntlet recovered well, turning his planned-escape into a tight ricochet off said wall; needles impacted where he had just been, exploding into a green fog of their own that immediately began dissolving the mysterious barrier. Gauntlet hit the ground and rolled into the nearest doorway, which lead to a familiar hallway of the Titans Tower that Rob had walked down a thousand times before.
"Okay Freddy or Mad Mod or WHOEVER you are, SHUT OFF THAT LOTUS EATING MACHINE RIGHT NOW!" Gauntlet yelled, sprinting down the hallway. "NOT FOOLED ANY MORE! NOPE! NOT AT ALL!"
The needles erupted from the shadows. This time, they exploded when blocked, throwing Gauntlet out of the hallway room and into what appeared to be some sort of laboratory.
"I suppose it's only fitting that the joke who somehow got the last laugh on the Ito clan would babble nonsense in the moment of his demise." The color-based assassin said as s/he appeared from the darkness, the shifting costume now a deep purple.
"You know, the idea of camouflage is to be the same color as your environment." Gauntlet said.
"It served well enough against your mother."
The fist slashed through the air at the color assassin, before veering away at the last moment. Gauntlet spun with the move, whirling the energy weapon around and slamming it into the caught-off-balance assassin, hammering him/her against the wall and pinning them there.
"Whatever's in that needle BETTER WEAR OFF." Gauntlet snarled.
The assassin's sole response was to whip out a hand towards the wall. Gauntlet saw the assassin's outfit change to orange a second before the needles struck the wall, erupting with such blinding light that Gauntlet felt like someone had rammed said needles directly into his eyes. He staggered back, trying to recover his sight and protect himself.
"There is no cure for mortality, fool. Much like stupidity." The raspy voice whispered in his ear, Gauntlet completely unaware of his attacker's presence until they spoke. "But you are an ill I will gladly…"
Gauntlet lunged forward, and the assassin recoiled to defend. It was a wasted effort, as Gauntlet did not attempt an offense. Instead, he literally charged at the wall that he was only vaguely aware was in front of him.
"YEAH I'M GONNA GO NOT BE FOOLED SOMEWHERE ELSE!"
The yellow energy fist slammed into the metal before Gauntlet. It gave beneath Gauntlet's attack…
With a sensation that somehow alarmed Gauntlet even more. It felt like he was punching through a cross between old fruit and a rotten tooth instead of a steel and wood wall. The sensation was made worse by the fact that Gauntlet's sight still hadn't quite recovered…
Which it abruptly did. Far too fast.
Just in time for Gauntlet to see the wall in front of him tear away, vanishing into a whirling abyss that was painful to look at. A moment later, Gauntlet felt a force seize onto every cell in his body.
"Come on in, Robby-Bobby. It's one hell of a time."
"…okay, leaning away from Mad Mod." Gauntlet said, and then the void consumed him.