Chapter III: Welcome to the Mad House

Kim and Ron had finally arrived at Titan Tower after a long day of school. The two scrambled over twelve mud-covered children in soccer uniforms before reaching the sliding side door of the minivan. As then finally found their way out, Kim walked over to the open driver's window.

"Thanks again for the ride, Mrs. Peterson!"

"Oh it was nothing! It was the least I could do after you lead my boys to safety from that hailstorm at last year's Junior State Cup!"

"It was no big, really." Kim said modestly.

The heroine and her sidekick rang the door-bell to Titan Tower. Starfire answered the door greeting them with a warm smile.

"Hello friends and welcome to our home!" said the chipper Tameranian. Robin descended the staircase to greet them just as they entered.

"Hey guys, thanks for making it. Our facility is the government provided housing unit for the Teen Titans. We call it Titan Tower." informed Robin

"You mean that you guys actually get PAID to fight crime? That is so not fair!" Ron said amazed that the state authorities had provided the Titans with such a tasteful and lavished abode.

"Starfire and I will show you around." Robin led the way.

Robin made an attempt to give Kim and Ron a brief tour of the tower but Ron haden't even make it past the living-room before Beast Boy and Cyborg asked him to join in their video game land-party. Ron had no will to resist.

"Ok, that's just freaky." said Kim as she, Robin, and Starfire watched the three boys scrambling around the room like a pack of hounds searching for the third controller for the gaming console that was evidently misplaced.

"You have no idea. We can let them be for now. I have unveiled a lead, follow me." Robin led Kim and Starfire to his room where endless papers and documents were strung about.

"As we briefed you earlier, our teammate was incapacitated by a third source during our bout with Shego and Drakken. I'm not certain who that source was, but I can take an educated guess." said Robin showing them still video images of the dart striking Raven.

He lifted the British flag from the museum up so that the two girls could see it in its entirety. The flag had "Castle England" embroidered across the top left corner.

"Castle England? Can it get any broader?" said Kim at the sight of the seemingly obscure embroidery.

"Castle England was a Dinner Show a few miles out of town. Due to its poor location and people's lack of interest, it was forced to close only after a year of being conceived. That's where he wants us to go" Robin informed her.

"He?" she asked confused by the unfamiliar name.

"Mad Mod." Robin said noting Kim's bewilderment. He turned his back as if he was gathering papers to cover the genuine smile across his face. He found Kim's puzzled expression to be frankly adorable. He wasn't about to sacrifice duty over personal feelings however, so he continued showing the girls all of the evidence he had so far collected.

"Mad Mod is a perhaps the cleverest villain we Titans have yet to face. In our first encounter with him, we practically ran in circles until I finally broke down his methods of entrapment. Mod is a technical wizard and has a large array of advanced cybertronics at his disposal so taking him down won't be easy."

"But why choose an abandoned theme park?" questioned Kim.

"What better place to construct a mad-house? He is our only lead to Raven and time is against us. Starfire, round up the other's now. If there is one thing Mad Mod is known for, it's his lack of patience." said Robin. As Starfire fled to gather her teammates, Kim sifted innocently through a stack of papers on Mad Mod. Kim was becoming more and more endearing to Robin though he couldn't put his finger on why. Maybe he was being narcissistic, liking her for being so similar to himself, or perhaps he just has a thing for girls with orange hair.

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Beneath the busy streets of Jump City:

"I'm telling ya, Dr. D., this is a bad idea! We're stepping into unknown territory here, I mean you know nothing about Egyptian magic and you have forged an alliance with some guy that went to school with your pops whom you don't even know! This has BAD written all over it!"

Drakken was becoming increasingly irritated by Shego's persistence. He looked up at his flat-panel monitor as the face of his new chum appeared. The man had a seriosuly outdated red 70's shag, blue-tinted glasses, a thin build, and a sports coat baring the design of the British flag.

"Have the taken the bait?" Drakken asked.

"Of course they've taken my bait, the buggers always do. The little duckies are all lining up in a row." said Mad Mod with a sure grin.

"Well they better had or I-"

"Or you'll what?" interupted Mad Mod with a grave, heavily accented tone. "You had better learn your place, Drakken, before Moddie has to teach you a lesson in respect!" declared the ageist Mod.

Drakken didn't retort to the threat having just been upstaged by a man older then he is. Shego smirked at Drakken as she watched her predictions begin to animate.

"Bloody hell, some bloke has just breached the perimiter! I have some business to attend to, it appears that one of the little brats have arrived earlier then anticipated. Tommorow morning I expect to meet you both in Jump City Park, and you had better bring the girl!" said an irritated Mod switching off his communication link.

Drakken and Shego stared at the empty moniter.

"Yep, definetly a bad idea." Shego restated as she filed her already sharpened nails.

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Ron had just finished chowing down on some snackage as Robin approached him.

"Where's KP?" asked Ron.

"She's looking through some material on the case. Mind if we talk?" said Robin using non-threatening mannerisms.

Robin led Ron to an ocean-view balcony. Ron blankly stared as he finished slurping his cup of chocolate milk.

"So umm… you're Kim's side-kick, huh?" said Robin not making eye-contact. The crushing sound of the waves below broke the pause between sentences.

"Side-kick sure, but we've been best friends since Pre-K. The side-kick thing is just a bonus really." said Ron casually.

"Bonus? You mean you actually enjoy being someone's side-kick? Someone always telling you who to be, where to go, what to do?" questioned Robin.

"Nah, it isn't like that with us. I mean me and KP are partners. It's nice knowing she's got my back. Not saying I never help, you know I save the world too… well, almost as frequently. We got a good thing going on."

"Being just friends you mean?" asked Robin.

"Yep, Kim's one of a kind."

It was just the verbal jackpot Robin was waiting to hear, 'Just Friends.' He smiled and exhaled with a subtle sigh relief. "She certainly is, isn't she?"

There was no more talking, just the softening surge of waves. Ron and Kim eventually made their way back home in Middleton. Robin didn't sleep. He sat on the balcony until sunrise.

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"Morning Kimbo!" yelled Ron as he burst into Kim's room. Rufus peeped out from his pocket and stretched as he yawned.

Kim buried her head under the pillow only to have it ripped away and tossed the floor. Her bed-head was pretty extreme.

"Whoa! Get a bush stat before that thing reaches out and grabs someone!" yelled Ron referring to her untamed orange mane. As Kim peered out her window she saw the Titan's futuristic vehicle waiting on her. It was a student/work day so she was free from school. Unfortunately, she had but a single day left to turn in her term paper. She quickly primped herself and packed some of her belongings into her back-pack before joining the others. The Titans, Kim and Ron all piled snuggly in the T-Car.

"You said Castle England is a few miles out of your city, right? It's going to take us hours to drive to Jump City at this rate." said Kim.

"This isn't no ordinary car, girl! This is my baby, the T-Car; New and Improved!" declared Cyborg proudly.

Suddenly, the T-Car blasted its way down the pavement. As it converted from car to boat to jet, it sped and short-sliced its way across lakes and highways trimming a long ride into a thirty minute excursion. They arrived at the abandoned and decrypted entertainment facility. The teen-team stared depressingly as the worn welcoming sign said "Welcome to Castle England's Knight-time Dinner Spectacular!" The parking lots had been overgrown with hordes of berry-plants. As The teens stepped foot from the car, Starfire was the first to question the red juicy substance of which she stood upon. After a quick examination, Robin drew an easy conclusion.

"Strawberries." he said.

The land surrounding them had been completely over-run by the free-roaming plants. Even the mock-castle's moat was dried up and reduced to a fruit-pit.

"Strawberry Fields surrounding an abandoned amusement park? This about rates a 9.8 on the weirdness scale." said KP in addition to Robin's comment.

They walked cautiously over the permanently grounded drawbridge and under the portcullis until they reached large wooden double doors. Robin turned to Cyborg and Starfire who knew exactly what to do. Starfire aimed a star bolt at each of the two hinges on the right door and Cyborg mechanically morphed his forearm into a heavy-powered laser cannon aiming it dead in the center of the left door. Robin bowed his legs like a cowboy expecting Kim and Ron to do the same. Kim and Ron reluctantly replicated his awkward position. As they did so, Beast boy scurried as a ferret beneath the trio's legs and shape-shifted into a Wooly Mammoth.

"GO!" ordered Robin, while mounting the green mammoth. This signaled his teammates into action. Star and Cyborg blasted the doors open and followed in behind Beast Boy whose mammoth form plowed through the anchoring debris. They all came to a sudden halt as they entered a large multi-storied room. The foyer of which they stood had wide black and white checkered floor tiles and duel staircases leading to a single centered door on the second floor. Robin wasn't the least bit surprised. They were inside a replica of Mad Mod's original School for Misbehaved Children! The portcullis was released, blocking the exit behind them.

"Well well well, my duckies, back for another educational helping from Moddie are we?" said the cane-wielding British fellow with a cheesy grin. "Perhaps this time you'll actually learn something!" The proud Englishmen stood at the top of the staircases with the door to his back.

"What you're about to learn is a lesson in pain!" replied Kim.

Mod chuckled amusingly as he looked at Robin, "So this time you brought some friends along, Eh? Well guess what, duckies, Recess is over! Today's lesson; Music! Let's take a little diagnostic test, shall we?" said the maniacally laughing anglophile.

Mad Mod pressed the button at the top of his cane and made a dash through the door behind him. Kim instinctively prepared to sprint after him before being stopped by Robin's arm. Beast Boy morphed into a cheetah also prepared to follow Mad Mod.

"No, hold your positions! Chasing him is exactly what Mad Mod wants us to do. I'm not going to fall for anymore of his twisted tricks if I can help it!" said Robin determined not to duplicate any mistakes of his past experiences with the Mod.

A rope with two heavy weights on either side shot suddenly from behind a mounted photograph aimed directly at Starfires' levitating legs. The rope circled her which grounded the unsuspecting Tameranian to the tile below. The floor, with four square tiles equaling one hatch, suddenly gave way beneath them to expose three separate hollows. As the divided teens descended, the opening by which they fell was instantaneously replaced by the retractable tiles leaving them all shrouded in complete darkness. Overhead lights loudly began to ignite one at a time in the dim, dingy stalls. Now split in thirds, the pairs must prepare themselves for what ever insanity Mad Mod has in store!

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Beast Boy and Robin stared dizzily at the ceiling above after having just dropped an estimated twenty feet. Both boys laid sprawled out in the exact same position that they had landed in, feeling only numbness through their bodies.

"Yo Robin, you there?" the seemingly paralyzed Beast Boy asked without even turning his head.

"Yea." replied Robin with defeat in his voice. "I'm here."

"So much for out-smarting Mod, eh?" joshed the changeling.

"Don't make me hurt you." said Robin

"We really, ...fell... for that one!!" giggled BB.

A loud punch echoed throughout their confinement followed by a high-pitched girly scream. Beast Boy didn't say another word. And a wise choice it was.

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