All was dark. The jail cells cast terrifying shadows on the floor, the bars creating stripes over prisoners that were, for the most part, asleep. A prisoner who had scarred the wall of her cell in permanent marker with her name, Madame Rouge, was the first in the hall. She lay with black hair thrown carelessly across her face, held fast in the embrace of a dream-state. Snoring softly, she muttered something to the tune of, "Zat Jinx. . . . She vill vegret zis."
Beyond her, a thick-plastic walled cell held a tall, robotic-looking twenty-something. He paced, occsasionally striking the brick wall that bordered his cell in a irratic pattern. An echoing thump would always come between his pounding, and the man would strike back. It was too obviously a communication system.
That was why it was held in the blackness of night, as anyone could see. The being on the other side of the wall, a dragonlike figure, leaned up against the wall. His cell was not normal; he was much larger than anyone else in the prison. He was leaned up against the wall, using one wing-end to throb out the beats that were words to the other inmate. Suddenly, they both fell silent and still. A guard's voice rang into the night. "Alright, Gary. This is your last strike-if you fall asleep again, or a prisoner escapes, you're fired."
Another deep voice, long since hardened by manhood, reached the two men. "Of course, sir. I won't even close my eyes until my shift is relieved."
"You'd better." Then, the silence greeted their ears once more. The first prisoner banged out two simple throbs on the wall, and the second rapped on the bricks once. The second prisoner stood, stretching, and held his wings out as far as they could go. Then, he spoke in a raspy voice. "Time is running out, Raven. You're about to wish you had never even met me."
Then, in a flash of magic and light, he morphed into what looked like a paper human. He waved a hand over the lock on the door, and it scraped across the ground as it opened.
The robot-boy stood in his cell, and, slamming a huge fist into the thick plastic, broke free and stepped into the hall. As the other prisoner turned the corner and joined him, he nodded. They walked to the end of the hall, stopping at Madame Rouge's cell. "Give zat Jinx my love vhen you catch her, please."
"Of course. She, too, will pay." The first prisoner spoke for the first time.
The two escapees made their way through the hall, passing other prisoners who were mostly unconscious. Nodding to those who were awake, it became obvious these two were the chosen ones among the group.
At the end of the cells sat a door that was slightly ajar. The paperlike prisoner stepped up to it, careful to not let his shadow edge into the stream of light coming from the open door. The guard sat inside, snoring loudly and his head bent to his chest in a posture similar to that of a sherriff in an old-time jail. He nodded to his companion. "Old Gary here isn't going to have a good morning, now, is he?"
The robot-boy cackled into the hall as they slipped past the door. "Not on my watch. It's a good thing, too."
After moments of dark brick halls and salutes of farewell from the other inmates, they made their way to a large double door marked "Cafeteria. Exit To Courtyard Inside."
Pushing the doors open, the pair walked silently across the empty room, the tables obstacles they simply pushed out of their way. The neon green "EXIT" sign was obviously their destination. Once those doors were opened, a concrete field lay beyond them. They turned and made their way past a tall basketball hoop in the full moon's light. An electric fence fused with barbed wire proved a difficulty to pass, after they had both gotten electrocuted.
The robotic boy struck the generator, disabling the fence, and they pulled themselves through it. They climbed the hill beyond, standing at the edge. A bay dropped below them, and in the light, a small island on the bay's far side could be seen. A tall, yellow-lit, T-shaped tower stood tall on the island, protecting the city spreading out on the other side of the water. The two escaped prisoners growled at the sight of this tower, and then they spoke.
"I, Malchior," The paper being began.
"And I, Adonis," The robotic-boy continued.
"Swear to be the evil behind the ultimate demise of the Teen Titans." They spoke in unison this time. "And especially the pair known as Raven and Beast Boy."