Odd One: Hello peeps!
Aonns02: Welcome all to the second chapter of this Halloween story!
Odd One: Enjoy... I think.
"Uh, hey Raven?" Beast Boy asked tentatively, knocking on her door. "You awake in there?"
Raven's door opened just enough for her to look out of. "Yes." She answered flatly.
"Uh, okay. Well Robin wanted everyone to go to the Common Room so we can get ready for the mission." The changeling said.
"Fine." Raven answered. "I'll be down in a minute."
She was about to shut her door when Beast Boy said, "Actually Rae, I was kind of wondering if you were alright." Raven raised an eyebrow at him. Beast Boy rubbed his neck nervously. "Well you've been in there since last night. And you haven't come out to eat all day. We're kind of worried about you." Of course what he didn't say was that he was the one who was worried. The others just thought she wanted to be alone.
Raven sighed. "I'll be fine... thanks for asking." The door shut.
The team stared up at the old asylum. "Is it too late to back out?" Beast Boy managed to squeak. And he had a right to: Ramsey Mental Facility was creepy as heck. It had been abandoned for about twenty years, so the building was dark and covered in brush/rubbish.
Robin nodded. "We just need to wait for one more titan to show up. Thunder and Lightning are patrolling the city tonight for us, and he was the only titan I could find that didn't have their hands full." If cued, a horn blew and Herald with Jericho stepped out. "As much as I liked to have helped, I promised to help in Steel City tonight. The Halloween parties always get nuts according to Bee." Herald said. Cyborg couldn't help but remark, "And you aren't going to one specifically with her?"
Herald seemed slightly flustered. "I will use my rights not to answer that. So long, guys." Blowing the horn again, he stepped through the portal and vanished.
Jericho waved and signed, 'So this is the place?' "Unfortunately yes. I do not like it." Starfire said, shaking her head and staring up at it. The blonde mute looked at the mental hospital and shuddered. 'Same here.' Robin placed a comforting hand on Starfire's shoulder and softly squeezed."Sorry Star, but we have to make sure these guys can't hurt anyone. Titans, no splitting up once we get inside. If we have to separate, stay with at least two in a group. If any of you find one of the half-demons, signal us immediately. If these guys are as powerful as Raven, we want to make the odds as even as possible." Robin ordered.
The whole group walked inside... unfortunately not noticing four red eyes staring from one of the trees.
Robin cast the light from his flashlight over the room they were in. Everything was run down and patches of mold and rot were everywhere. "It doesn't look like anyone's been here in a while." He turned to Raven. "Are you sure that they're here?"
Raven nodded. "Positive. I can feel them. They must be able to levitate and pass through solid objects like I can."
"Aw man!" Beast Boy groaned. "As if this wasn't creepy enough. Now we've got demons that can walk through walls?" Jericho smiled and put a reassuring hand on the changeling's shoulder, as if to say 'don't worry'. Beast Boy just shook his head and said, "Dude, how do you do that?"
Jericho raised an eyebrow and signed, 'What do you mean?' Beast Boy rolled his eyes. "You know, all calm and everything." Jericho put a hand to his chin. After a moment of thought, he just shrugged.
Raven took a step forward and said in monotone, "Come on. We shouldn't stay here any longer than we need to." Beast Boy shrank back a little and mumbled, "Jeez, someone's angry." Jericho stepped out of the way as Raven sent a glare at her teammate.
The titans made their way down the corridor. The sign, although faded, read 'North Hall'. Doors hung off their hinges or were completely gone. The artwork on the walls had their frames broken and some were sitting shattered on the ground. But something didn't look right.
Jericho was the one to point it out. 'There's no cobwebs. Or dust.' He signed. "You're right... it's like everything in here is just dead." Cyborg said slowly, glancing into a room where there was 'interesting' surgical implements and stains. "Why was this place shut down anyway?" Beast Boy asked. "Abuse of the patients, supposedly. I never could find the actual reason." Robin said, frowning. "Abuse? More like torture." Raven said, staring at a blood stain on the floor in another room.
Starfire shook her head sadly. "Is this how you treat the mentally ill on this planet?" She asked. "Not normally, that's why this place was closed." Robin said, glancing at glass splinters on the ground, possibly from a vase.
They all heard it at the same time. Someone talking. "Titans..." Robin held up his hand and motioned for Raven and Jericho, two he could trust to be quiet. The others stayed put. They crept down a switching hallway, one specifically for meeting with the psychiatrists. One of the rooms was lit up and there was chatter. "Raven, you go through the wall. Jericho, stay with me, we'll go through the door. Got it?" Both nodded and got ready to move in.
See-More creeped through the hallway with his helmet set on X-Ray. "Okay guys." He said, motioning for the others to follow him. "Everything's clear." Mammoth, Gizmo, Billy, Kyd Wykkyd, and Angel walked into the hall and looked around. "So what's up with this place?" Mammoth asked. He sniffed the air and then let out a loud sneeze.
Gizmo, who was standing in front of Mammoth, was almost taken off his feet. "Hey, watch it you giant doormat!" He yelled."Hey, there's mold in here. I can't help it." Mammoth said back.
Angel rolled her eyes at the scene before turning to her boyfriend. Kyd had a confused look on his face and he tilted his head, as if to listen to something. "Hey, Elliot, what wrong?" Angel asked in a whisper. Kyd Wykkyd shook his head and raised a hand to the others. 'Hey, shut up for a minute. Do you hear that?' "Huh?" Billy said with a raised eyebrow. He put a hand to his ear and listened. "Man, I don't hear anything." Angel looked at her boyfriend seriously. "Kyd, you're freaking me out."
Kyd shook his head and signed, 'I'll be right back.' Before the others could blink, he'd teleported. "Uh, what just-." See-More started. But before he could finish, Kyd had teleported back and he had an excited grin on his face. 'Guys, you'll never believe this, but guess who's here.' He signed. "Who?" See-More asked, changing his eye to a question mark.
'The Titans.'
Everyone shared a look of surprise for a moment before Billy grinned. "Oh man, this is too good." Looking around, he saw a door. "Come on. Let's get in here. We can't pass up a chance to scare the hides off Titans!"
He opened the door and everyone filed into the room, excited looks on their faces. Just to make sure that no one would wander in on them, See-More closed the door. The room was pitch black, so none of them could see anything. "Can someone find the light switch?" Mammoth grumbled. "I can't see a thing in here."
"Yeah, yeah. I got it." Gizmo shot back. Rummaging through his pack, he pulled out a flashlight. He flipped it on and the room was bathed in light. "That's better." See-More said. He looked around the room and then staggered back as he saw something in the corner. "Whoa!"
This caught the other's attention and they nearly jumped out of their skins at what they saw. Angel stared for a fraction of a second before she let out a blood curdling scream.
Everyone jumped when they heard the scream. "Who screamed?" Cyborg said. The rest of the titans had run up. "Titans, move!" Robin ordered. They burst into the room.
Gizmo was in hysterics, Billy had actually passed out, Angel had crossed herself and was praying, Kyd's eyes were locked onto the gruesome scene, See-More looked sick, and Mammoth was sick, he had barfed in the corner.
What was the scene? A body, tied to the wall. It was a man, and he looked so beat up you couldn't even tell who he was. A pool of fresh blood was at his feet. And a very familiar 'S' was carved on his chest: The Mark of Scath.
Jericho covered his eyes. Starfire gasped and Raven seemed to shrink. "Okay, what is going on?!" Robin yelled. The HIVE acknowledged the Titan's appearance for the first time. "Uh... it wasn't us!" See-More established quickly. "We kinda guessed that on our own, dudes." Beast Boy gagged.
Cyborg beckoned to See-More. "Let's get out of this room... and then you can start explaining why you are here." He said gently. After looking him over, See-More nodded curtly. He and Kyd picked up Billy and dragged him out.
When they were in the hallway, Robin looked them over. "Why are you here?" He asked. "Boredom, it's Halloween and we felt like having fun." Mammoth explained. "What the big guy said." Angel whimpered, fiddling with her scarf and looking ready to cry. "Did you see anyone?" Robin said. Everyone shook their heads (that was conscious.)
Billy slowly came to. "And now I'm sore... what did I just see?" He groaned. "A dead freaking body, you hick!" Gizmo shrieked. "I think I wanna pass out again." Billy said before standing on his own power. "You guys need to leave. We'll cut you a break tonight if you just leave and don't come back. This is serious business." Robin ordered.
See-More snorted. "You are kidding right? We just saw a freaking DEAD GUY. We wanna be involved." 'I know the mark on the man's chest. We studied it at the HIVE Ancient Doomsday class. The mark of Scath.' Kyd signed. "Pretty much, a bad ass demon. You have no idea what you are dealing with." Angel supplied.
The five main titans seemed somewhat awkward. "We kinda do, actually, dudes." Beast Boy said, grimacing. "And now this calls for a story." Angel said, hands on hips. She had obviously begun to recover of the shock. HIVE kids are built pretty sturdy. "None of your business-" Robin was interrupted by Raven holding up a hand. "We could use the help. I have... miscalculated the obvious threat. They aren't afraid to kill, and torture is probably a game to these lunatics."
Gizmo looked nervously at the titans. "Why should we help?" He snapped. "Because when they do lose, we don't want demons coming to eat us." See-More said cockily. "... Crazznots." Gizmo grumbled. See-More held out his hand to Robin. "We truce until we find the creepos and kick their butts to hell, capiche?" He said.
Slowly, Robin took the HIVE leader's hand. "Deal. Don't try anything, See-More." Robin threatened. See-More nodded gravely. "Hmm, wonder who's gonna die first." Billy said offhandedly. Everyone turned and glared at him. "What?" He said. "Billy, is that really appropriate?" Angel scolded. "Naw, probably not. But hey, this is kinda like a horror movie." Billy explained his reasoning. "Funny guy goes first. I'm screwed." Beast Boy groaned.
Billy duplicated into two and both snickered. "Nah, you'll go after the blonde does." One said. "Or the couple that screws around." The other said. "Hey!" Angel yelled. "I didn't name names, Angie." Both Billies said. "How do you live with this guy?" Raven asked Kyd. 'Pillow forts, heavy objects, and ear plugs. And occasionally tranquilizers.' Kyd signed.
(Okaaaay, they got off track at the end, but what can we say, they're HIVE.
Bye byes, remember to review!)
