It was kind of surreal how the screaming and shouting and twisted gurgling noises coming from the TV weren't keeping his attention near as much as the coffee he was drinking. What was this? His third cup? Fourth? Hell, he couldn't remember between stalking back and forth from the kitchen to munch on some of the left over candy from the Halloween party back at the main Tower. Dinah had warned him about drinking a ton of coffee with candy already on the stomach. Something about the last time she did it and how she was pretty sure Ollie clocked her going ninety miles per hour on a skateboard babbling about being chased by four turtles and a giant rat or…somethin'. Or maybe she'd just gotten a frickin bad stomach ache and he hadn't been listening again.

Roy was only snapped out of his thoughts when Garth suddenly let out a small squeak and slapped his hands over his eyes. He blinked at the Atlantean, for a moment forgetting that the television had even been on to begin with. Once he remembered that they were in the middle of a horror movie marathon, he grinned and laughed shortly.

"God, for a second there I thought you were Wally. Impressive pitch, that sounded just like him."

Garth scowled a little and lowered his hands just enough to look at him. "I told you that I didn't like horror."

"And I told you that no one's hold'n ya hostage in here!" Roy pointed out, swishing the last of the coffee in the mug. "If it's freak'n ya out THAT much, you can go to bed or leave or somethin'!"

"Um. No, I can't! You've got this thing blasting! -And knowing you, you'll only turn it up louder if I leave the room! Or worse, connect it to the Tower speakers so then I can hear that…disgusting gurgling noise from anywhere in the tower!"

Roy smirked and let out a short chuckle. "…damnit, Garth, you know me too well. Suck all the fun outta my Halloween. …I oughta beat you for it."

"You're punishing me enough by watching this horror marathon…while you drink all that coffee and eat all that candy." He pointed at the cup, his eyes narrowing a little. "Seriously, that can't be good for you."

"Oh-ho, speaking of which—" Roy pressed the mug's rim to his lips and swung his head back, swallowing the gulp of coffee in an instant and letting out an exaggerated 'ahh!' as he lowered it again. "Well. Wouldja lookit that? I'm out've coffee. Time for a refill."

Garth slowly shook his head as Roy pushed off the couch, flinching briefly as a low, clicking and gurgling started seeping from the TV speakers again. "…at least make some popcorn while you're in there."

"Yeah, yeah, quit yer whine'n."

Roy strode around the couch and straight ahead towards the kitchen. He whistled loudly, bouncing the mug back and forth between his hands and glanced at the note Karen had left sitting on the counter for them. It had your typical night routines, like locking down the tower, double checking the scanner and other forms of shit that Karen normally did, he knew how to do but was too lazy to do and Garth sort of knew how to do. Which meant he'd be stuck doing it—wait.

He paused, standing there a moment and squinting before taking a few steps backwards and looking down at the note.

Karen's instructions were listed in their usual, obnoxiously orderly fashion. An underlined title at the top and then a thoughtfully numbered list of instructions and notes in the order they were supposed to be performed in. But on the bottom of the paper, scribbled messily and at an odd angle, were three words.

"Where were you?"

Roy's brows etched together as he stared at the sentence. "…hey, Garth. Did you see this list Karen left us?"

"Myeah? What about it?"

"…did you write on it?"

Garth looked up from grabbing the remote, turning the volume down on the movie as he shook his head. "No. Why?"

"…nothing." Roy snorted, scowling as he turned away from the counter and continued toward to the microwave. "Karen's probably just screwing with us since she got stuck with the twins and their 'keep it G' Halloween fun. Tch. Gar pulls better pranks."

The Atlantean grunted, leaning back as he looked into the kitchen. "Speaking of which, what do you think Vic's gonna do when he finds out Gar's the one who left all that chocolate in the back of the T-car?"

Roy smirked broadly at Garth's reflection in the microwave door before opening it and reaching into the cabinet above it, tugging the box of popcorn out and plucking a bag from it. The image of the cyborg's near-popping veins as he burst into the tower's command center earlier that day was still stuck in his head. But even better was the remaining memory of Gar's expression as he slowly shrunk himself into a mouse and hid under the sofa. Part of him wished they'd stayed longer to see if the little grass stain had been caught.

"Heh. I know what I'd do: beat the shit outta him," he mused, tossing a bag into the microwave and swinging the door shut. "But Vic's a bi—"

The words cut short in his throat and his body went rigid as the reflective microwave door clicked into place. Just feet behind him, right beside the counter and note stood a young woman. She wore a wet-looking pair of torn jeans and a discolored blue top. Her messy, shoulder-length blond hair coiled around her head and face in an almost tumble-weed like state, and the left side of her skull was crimson and dripping with blood. Through her hair she stared at him with eyes wide with rage.

Roy spun around to face her and gasped shortly when he found himself facing nothing. Just an empty path from the command center couch to his position at the buzzing microwave. Garth stiffened, his eyes widening and expression becoming confused. "—What? …What was that about?"

The archer glanced rapidly around the kitchen. Nothing looked disturbed, moved or shifted. He looked back to Garth. "…you didn't see anything just now?"

"Uh. …No."

Roy turned his head sharply back to the microwave only to see exactly what he had seen the first time he had faced it: Garth's reflection looking his way from the couch in the command center. Nothing more. Nothing less. No bloody-haired girls.

His shoulders gradually relaxed and he looked back to the Atlantean, blinking for a moment. Garth continued to eye him. "I really think you need to lay off the coffee and candy, Roy. …and the horror movies can't be helping your sugar-hyped nerves."

Roy scowled, whipping back around to rip the microwave door open and pull the popcorn bag out, tearing it open. "Shut the hell up, Garth. I'm not frickin five years old…or Wally."

Garth snorted. Roy grabbed a bowl from the cabinet and poured the popcorn into it, shoving it aside and grabbing his coffee mug again. He stormed to the sink, picking up the steaming pot and freezing half-way into pouring the liquid out. He stared at it. Scowled. And roughly shoved the mug and pot into the sink.

Whatever the hell Dinah had been getting at, she was right. Coffee on a candy-stuffed stomach probably wasn't a frickin good idea. And if Garth teased him about it again, he was definitely going to talk Kori into crawling down his stairwell, gurgling the whole damn way down.