Loud cheers rang throughout Jump City. Children ran around waving mini-flags and a circus was parading through the town with gigantic balloons, clowns and all other sorts of entertainment for the citizens celebrating Childrens' Day. Blimps were one of the most attracting amusement of all also because the Teen Titans were part of the exhibit.
"Dude, this is so awesome! We even get our own blimp!" Beastboy exclaimed.
"Hey, we're still on patrol, Beastboy. You can go walk around, but just keep a watchful eye out for any villains." Robin said. He pressed a few buttons on his communicator. "In an event as big as this, anything could happen."
'I'm bored out of my wits. Why did I even come here?'' Raven blew a pink streamer, annoyed. Streamers and balloons were everywhere, filling the blimp with many different colors.
She got back to her book. The man hid in the shadows, trying to get away from...
'It's A Small World After All' blared out of the speakers. She glanced at the speakers, irritated.
She exhaled, smoothed the page and turned her eyes back to her book. The man hid in the shadows, trying to get away…
"It's a small world after all," She cringed.
The man hid in the shadows, trying to get away from…
"It's a small world after all,"
Twitch, twitch…
She narrowed her eyes into slits and forced all concentration on her book.
'One more time…' She thought of all the possible things that could happen to the person working with the songs.
She glared at the speakers, daring them to sing another verse. The music stopped.
The man hid…
"100 green bottles, sat on a wall,"
She slumped. This was no use. There was too much noise.She made up her mind to go read someplace else, preferably a more remote place.
Raven picked up her book and stepped down from the multicolored platform. She noticed a book store with glass doors ahead, just next to a bank. Perfect. I can choose my book, and then get my money from the bank and pay. She nodded contentedly and made her way over.
At the bookstore entrance, she watched a mascot sign autographs for the children, just outside the bank. She watched for a little while longer, and then turned to go into the store, but something caught her eye. Just a few feet away from the mascot, there was someone wearing tinted glasses, a khaki hat and the same colored coat which reached down to his ankles, standing at the ATM machine, his gloved fingers quickly tapping the keyboard.
Nothing suspicious about that, only thing was that the bank was closed, and they had locked all the ATM machines for that day.
She walked to the figure and gripped his shoulder securely in her right hand. "What do you think you're doing?" She demanded. The form merely giggled in a high-pitched voice, giggling so crazily as if it were mocking her. She spun him round hard, so his coat, glasses and hat fell off. Her hand fell off his shoulder as her violet eyes stared into its clear, plastic ones. And her mouth dropped open.
His head was like a thin sag stuffed with a bit of cotton, that the tip of its head was sagged. His body was very skinny and stitches ran all over it. It didn't say anything, just cocked it's head to one side, tauntingly and laughed the same high pitched laugh. By this time, everybody had run away from the area when they saw the stitches.
He twisted his body in an angle that Raven had never seen anyone else twist. He walked steadily towards her, grinning madly. She snapped out of her shock and lifted up some objects to throw at him. He easily dodged everything, still advancing towards her. She couldn't do anything much, just to call the others for help. She threw one last streetlamp at him and switched on her communicator as she hid in an alleyway.
Robin's smiling face appeared on the screen. They were still on the blimp. "Hey, Raven." He noticed her expression. "What's wrong?" He asked in a concerned tone.
"That's what's wrong." She outstretched the communicator around the wall towards the grinning figure, leaping gracefully over debris still approaching Raven.
His face fell. "Ragdoll?" He had a grim expression. "We're coming, stay as far away from him as possible." He instructed. Then the screen went blank.
"Azarath, metrion, zinthos!" She lifted a garbage can and threw it at the Ragdoll, he used his hands as a boost and pushed himself on the garbage can as it was shooting towards him. It bounced on the pavement and rolled to a stop. The Ragdoll seemed to find this funny. He laughed, this time in a usual tone.
"Ragdoll!" Robin and the rest of the team appeared. The Ragdoll scowled a bit. Robin and Cyborg were upfront of Ragdoll, Starfire and Beastboy were on the right, Raven was behind and on his left was a big brick wall.
"Give up, Ragdoll." Robin said his Bo-staff in his hand.
All the titans edged closer to him, trapping him in a wide circle.
The Ragdoll growled, then giggled. He reached into a pocket and threw a smoke bomb at Raven and disappeared into the smoke. Raven coughed and covered her nose and mouth. The gas evaporated as the others came running towards her.
"Well, that was a new villain." Cyborg commented.
"Ragdoll." Robin closed his Bo-staff. "When I was with Batman, he was one of the most dangerous villains we had to face. I don't know what he's doing here, but I'm going to find out." The titans turned to Raven, coughing.
"You okay Raven?" Robin asked.
"I'm fine." She answered. "If you all wouldn't mind, I'd like to return to the tower to read."
Up on the brick building, someone was watching them.
"Oh Raven
You'll soon see that there are more things
Than a living Ragdoll to fear. A lot more to FEAR."