Teen Titans Halloween Chiller 2014
[I don't own Teen Titans.]
Starfire was asleep in her room, her head hanging over the foot of her bed, as that was the most comfortable for her. Silkie snuggled next to her. Both were awakened by the beeping of her communicator on the nightstand next to her head.
"Starfire? It's me," Raven said over the speaker. "Uh, I'm outside your door. Can I come in?"
Her hand fumbled around until she grasped the communicator. "Yes," she said, forcing her eyes open and pressing the remote to open the door.
"I'm really sorry, Starfire," Raven said as the door closed behind her. "I hate to bother you. I should be able to handle this…" Raven looked tired, as though she had been avoiding sleep for as long as possible.
Starfire got up and put her arm around her. "It is okay…You had the dream again?"
"Yes."
"About the man of shadows burying the box outside?"
"Yes…and I saw what was in it…" Her eyes were preparing to release tears and her lip was quivering.
"Hush," Starfire said gently. "Would you like to sleep in the bed?"
Raven shook her head, and Starfire led her over to the comfortable chair and gave her a small blanket.
"I don't know what is wrong with me…I don't want to depend on anyone else…but I just can't be alone right now."
Starfire stroked her hair. "Raven, you are never alone. We are all here for you. Beast Boy said-"
"I don't want to talk about him."
"Would you like me to sit up with you?"
"No, you go back to sleep. I'll just read for a while."
She opened the book that she had brought, and Starfire lay back down with Silkie. After a while, Raven heard both of them snoring, but she remained awake for a long time.
.
.
The next morning, Beast Boy and Cyborg were having a video chat with Argent on the big screen in the common room. BB was wearing a new bathing suit.
"So you got the togs and sunnies I sent?" Argent asked in her New Zealand accent.
"Right here!" he said, standing up to model the outfit and he put on the sunglasses.
"Let's have a look at the bum then," she said with a naughty smile.
"Um, there aren't really any homeless people around the tower…"
"Choice, love!" she laughed. "No, turn 'round."
He did so, and she nodded appreciatively.
"And you blokes promise that you'll show a girl a good time? It's not all going to be training, eh?"
"Oh, we promise," Cyborg said. "Girl, you're gonna have the time of your life."
"Then I'll be seein' you next week, loves."
"Ora kia!" Beast Boy said proudly. "See, I said it backwards so it means 'goodbye'!"
She laughed. "Sweet as."
"Sweet as…what?"
She laughed even more, and blew him and Cyborg a kiss as she ended the transmission.
"Talking to your girlfriend?" Raven had silently entered the room, and didn't sound particularly pleasant.
"She's my friend," he replied. "She's your friend, too. And she's coming to visit in a week."
"I'm sure you'll have a lovely time," she said, walking to the kitchen.
"Yeah, I bet she will actually do things, and not just stay in her room all day and ignore me!" he called after her.
Cyborg was a little puzzled by the undertone of that exchange - even though Beast Boy and Raven had certainly clashed over the years - but he shrugged it off. After a moment, he said what was really on his mind.
"Tonight is movie night, and Control Freak has a pre-release cut of 'Terror Tuesday'!"
"Dude, I know! I can't wait."
"So we're just letting anybody come over now?" Raven asked, returning to the room.
"You know, it's Starfire's outreach program," Cyborg explained. "If we make an effort to be friendly to certain borderline criminals, they might permanently abandon crime. She convinced Robin to give it a try…"
"Plus, he's got the inside track on all the new movies and games! His blog is so popular, it can make or break a new release. So the studios give him sneak previews, and he's got one for us!" Beast Boy said.
Starfire entered. "Yes, I am glad he is not being the criminal. I would just prefer he not sit next to me. His hands tend to do the…wandering."
"Just show him a box of tampons. That will make him behave!"
"Classy remark, Beast Boy," Raven snarled. "Real mature."
"No, I'm not making that up! I read it on the internet. It was in some kind of a fan fiction story about us."
"People write stories about us?" Cyborg asked.
"They need to get a life," Raven monotoned.
Robin entered the common room carrying what looked like a postal package, wrapped in brown paper. "Does anyone know who dropped this off? It's way too early for the mail delivery."
No one knew, but it looked like a present, and Starfire was eager to open it.
Cyborg was more jaded. "Every time we get something like this it turns out to be something weird. Remember those puppets? Let me scan the box."
He did so. "Nothing. Seems like its just pieces of plastic."
Robin tore off the paper and opened it. It was a collection of hockey masks, each with one half black and one half brown. There were two eye holes, but they all noticed the uncomfortable resemblance to…Slade.
Robin read the attached letter, and summarized it for the rest of the team, "Sounds like a local company is manufacturing these, and wanted to get our endorsement."
"Not likely," Raven commented.
"Agreed," Robin nodded. "Cyborg, after the morning workout, let's take a look at the security camera recordings. I want to see who dropped this off, and why we didn't get an alert."
.
.
The day passed uneventfully and as evening came, all the Titans, except Raven, were again gathered in the common room, watching the boat cross the bay that was carrying Control Freak.
"What did you find out about that package?" Beast Boy asked.
"Nothing special," Cyborg replied. "It was just a very early delivery by UPS, that's why no alert sounded."
"But we did find something last night," Robin added. He pressed some buttons and the screen displayed night vision footage of the south lawn. For a second or so, there seemed to be a dark figure moving against the background. Then it was gone.
"Did you all see that?" Robin asked. "That shadowy figure has the same approximate biometrics as Slade: height matches, arm length approximately matches-"
"Um, what 'shadowy figure'?" Beast Boy asked.
"Robin, there's nothing there," Cyborg said patiently. "Like I said before, it's an artifact of the enhancement of the recording. There was no heat signature, no footprints in the ground, nothing…"
"Starfire, did you see someone?" Robin asked.
Uncomfortably put on the spot, Starfire paused for a moment. "Truly, I did not."
She hesitated further, not knowing if she would be breaking Raven's trust if she spoke of her dream. But it could be important. "Friend Raven has had the unpleasant dreams though-"
She was cut off by the alert announcing Control Freak had arrived.
Raven entered the room. "Looks like he's here…whoopee."
Author's note: Beast Boy's remark about Control Freak's aversion to feminine products may be because he read the fan fiction story 'Where No Man Has Gone Before' by Coeus.