(A/N: Not really much to say, mainly because I don't want to spoil anything, but I will say that Eagle Eye's story will be told in this chapter. There will be new evidence and the analysis of the evidence from the previous chapter.)
X~I~X~I~X
Beast Boy and Starfire led Shaggy and Scooby down the hall to their living/monitor room; the doors opened and they all walked inside. The two were in awe of the size and space of the room.
"Like, wow, this is one groovy pad!" Shaggy exclaimed.
"Ri'll say," Scooby agreed with a giggle.
"I shall prepare our feast," Starfire floated a short distance to the kitchen.
"Dudes, wanna play some video games?" Beast Boy asked, holding up three controllers.
"Heck yeah!" Shaggy happily replied as all three raced to the couch. As soon as they sat down, Shaggy just couldn't help but to notice the view, "Like, wow, that's some view."
"The game is about to start," Beast Boy told them.
"Like, what game are we playing?" Shaggy asked.
"Spacecraft Race VI!" Beast Boy excitedly replied although it sounded more like an exclaim or a declaration.
Before Beast Boy could press 'play', a black blur appeared out of nowhere, causing Shaggy and Scooby to jump out of their seats with a "Zoinks!" from Shaggy and a "Rikes!" from Scooby. They jumped over the couch in almost a diving position and hid behind it. They relaxed when Beast Boy said that it was just Red-X and looked over the sofa with amused and relieved expressions.
"What does everyone want?" he asked, "I'm ordering pizza."
"But what about the feast?" Starfire whined. As if on cue, some of the food she was preparing dropped onto the floor, causing Shaggy and Scooby to gag at the sight of her feast.
"Cheer up, Star, we can have a feast... next holiday!" Beast Boy tried to cheer her up. He was also sweating bullets out of nervousness and unsurety of her response and reaction.
"Alright, I will save it for this upcoming Ay'zurd Eyihshcul," she began to put away everything she took out.
"Aww, like, now I feel bad," Shaggy frowned.
Beast Boy slouched the upper part of his body over the couch and whispered to them, "Dudes, be glad we're not gonna be eating her food, we'd all probably end up puking the entire night."
Before Shaggy could say anything, Red-X rudely chimed in, "Hurry up, I don't have all day."
"Oh, sorry X, let's see," Beast Boy thought for a second, "anything that's vegetarian and plain cheese is fine, too."
Shaggy and Scooby shot up from behind the sofa. "Like, we'll have one of everything," his voice was only slightly shaky, due to Red-X being a bit intimidating, but kept his words together; he even threw in a good-natured laugh at the end.
Red-X raised an eyebrow at their request, but instead of questioning them, he just talked into his phone and ordered. He then looked at Starfire, "What'll it be, cutie?"
She looked rather disgusted at his flirting, but answered nonetheless, "Olives and those tiny spicy green peppers, please."
"Does she mean 'jalopeaƱos'?" Shaggy whispered to Beast Boy.
He shrugged, "Probably, but who knows." He held up the three controllers, "Ready to play?"
Shaggy slung himself back over the sofa and sat down, while Scooby just leaped over and landed on the cushion next to him. "Like, let's play!" Shaggy replied excited.
"Reah, ret's play!" Scooby giggled.
Red-X turned off his phone and sat down next to Scooby, placing his phone next to him on the cushion. "Count me in!" he picked up a spare controller.
"Like, the more the merrier," Shaggy smiled.
"Reah," Scooby agreed, "the rore the rerrier!"
"Like, Beast Boy," Shaggy started eagerly, "start the game."
"I'm already on it, dudes!" Beast Boy exclaimed and started the game.
As soon as he did, they all picked the colors and names of their spacecrafts. Beast Boy colored his green and purple and called it 'Space Beast', Shaggy colored his green and brown and called it 'Shagman', Scooby colored his brown and blue and called it 'Scooby-Nader', finally Red-X colored his black and red and called it 'Nightmare X'. When they were done, Beast Boy pressed 'start' and they were off.
"I'm gonna bash all of you!" Beast Boy shouted, or rather declared, enthusiastically.
"In your dreams!" Red-X replied with a childish rejoinder.
They started to play and just moments after Robin, Cyborg, Fred, Daphne, and Velma walked into the room. They immediately noticed the boys playing their video game and Starfire rinsing some of the dirty dishes in the sink.
Starfire noticed them and beamed, "Greetings, friends."
"Hi, Star," Robin smiled back at her.
"Hey, guys!" Fred tried to get both Shaggy's and Scooby's attention, but they were too focused on crashing into one another.
"Shaggy! Scooby!" Daphne called out to them with no success.
"Let me do it, Scooby Snax!" Velma called out in a slightly louder voice than both Daphne and Fred.
Shaggy and Scooby threw their controllers up and turned around to face the rest of the gang. "Scooby Snax?" Scooby asked, linking his lips.
"Like, where? Where?" Shaggy asked eagerly.
"Nowhere, guys, we just wanted your attention," Velma told them.
The two scowled at that, turned around, and continued to play the game when their controllers landed in their hands. Once again, their attention was away from the gang and on the game.
"What game are they playing?" Daphne wondered.
"Looks like they're playing Spacecraft Race VI," Cyborg answered. "Booyah! My favorite game!" he jumped over the sofa and plopped down next to Beast Boy, causing him, Shaggy, and Scooby to be levitated at least five feet off the couch. All three were unfazed by this and continued to play their game, they landed and were still unfazed by this and just concentrated on the game.
"Watch out, puppy, I'm gonna ram you," Red-X crashed his spacecraft into Scooby's, almost causing him to crash into the nearby side wall.
"Like, hey, no one crashes my dog," Shaggy roughly side bumped into Red-X.
"You've just dung your own grave, bean stock," Red-X pushed Shaggy's craft away, causing it to crash and explode into the side wall.
"Hey, like, not cool," Shaggy whined.
"Too bad, bean stock," Red-X mocked.
"Don't worry Shaggy, Scooby and I will avenge you!" Beast Boy claimed as he and Scooby rammed into Red-X.
"Now you've just dung even deeper graves," Red-X speed his craft away from Beast Boy and Scooby.
Scooby rammed Red-X into the wall, so now he was sandwiched and can't get away. "Ri've rot him!"
"That's what you think, puppy," Red-X used his craft to crash and burn Scooby's into the wall. Scooby whined and pouted. "It's just you and me now, grass stain," Red-X taunted and smirked behind his mask.
The two boys were now completely focused on the video game and continued to repeatedly bash into each other. At one point Beast Boy side swiped Red-X, causing him to momentarily lose control.
Red-X growled, "You're going to pay for that!" He bashed his spacecraft into Beast Boy's and forced it to the side wall. Beast Boy was able to do a reverse maneuver, so that Red-X was now gliding against the side wall.
Beast Boy smirked, "Sorry, X, but this race is mine!" He bashed into Red-X one last time, it crashed and burned into the side wall, and crossed the finish line.
"Yeah, Beast Boy! Beast Boy! Beast Boy!/ Reast Roy! Reast Roy! Reast Roy!" Cyborg, Shaggy, and Scooby cheered in unison. Red-X said nothing and crossed his arms in anger.
Beast Boy turned around, "Who wants to play the next round?" he asked Robin, Starfire, Fred, Daphne, and Velma, who were all talking in the kitchen.
"I'll play," Fred answered.
"Why not?" Robin shrugged.
"Like, I'll play again," Shaggy answered.
"I'll play again, too. I want a rematch," Red-X almost growled.
Cyborg looked at his communicator when it beeped, "Oh, sweet, pizza's here," he stood up and began to walk away, "I'll be right back."
Fred and Robin sat down on the couch and picked the colors and names of their spacecrafts. Fred colored his yellow-green and orange and called it 'Mystery Machine'. Robin colored his red and yellow and called it 'Leader'. Shaggy and Red-X didn't change theirs since they were playing for the second time.
By the time Cyborg came back with all the food, Fred's spacecraft was already destroyed and Robin and Shaggy were teaming up against Red-X, trying to get him out of the game. Daphne, Velma, and Starfire help Cyborg setup all the food, soda, and plates on the counter.
"Someone go get Raven, tell her it's time for dinner," Cyborg told no one in particular.
"I shall fetch her," Starfire offered.
"I'll go with you," Velma told her and they left to go get Raven out of room and eat dinner.
"Yo, dinner's here!" Cyborg called out. By that time the game was over and Robin was the winner, much to the anger of Red-X.
Everybody on the sofa got up and rushed to get their food. Shaggy and Scooby took stacks and stacks of pizza and other things with them to a table. Beast Boy and Cyborg did the same with theirs.
"Dudes, pizza eating contest?" Beast Boy asked with a mischievous smirk.
"I'm game," Cyborg replied.
"Like, you're on!" Shaggy replied with a laugh.
"Rount re in," Scooby agreed with a giggle.
Just as they were about to start, they were stopped by Red-X, who was already holding a plate with two slices of pizza and a can of soda, "Wait, you should even it out first."
"Hm?" Cyborg thought for a second, "Good idea." They evened out the amount of food each one had and they were ready to begin.
"On your mark. Get set. Go!" Robin shouted enthusiastically from the kitchen.
By that time, Starfire and Velma walked back in with Raven in tow. "Not even going to ask," Raven muttered.
"Let me guess, another pizza eating contest?" Velma asked.
"Yep," Fred answered. "You might wanna eat before they run out of food."
"Which will be sooner than you think," Daphne added. Sure enough, they were already almost halfway done with all their food.
"Robin, when we're done, can you show me the crime lab?" Velma asked.
Robin nodded, "Yes, I can."
Everyone, minus the four chow hounds and Red-X, who was busy enjoying the show, were now either eating on the couch or at the counter in the kitchen. Robin turned off the video game and turned on the TV.
It took about ten minutes for the foodies to finish with their eating contest. All four were now slouching on top of the tables.
"It's a tie!" with that Red-X declared the contest to be over. He threw away his plate full of crumbs and empty soda can.
Beast Boy never could figure out how he ate and drank with his mask on. No one else didn't really seem to care all that much - not even Robin; quite surprising.
Before long, everyone was finished eating and was either sitting on the sofa or the floor, except for Robin and Velma, who were having a conversation in the kitchen, and Raven, who was about to head back to her room. Before Raven could walk down the hallway leading to her room, a news alert had taken over the TV screen.
"We interrupt this program for breaking news," the news reporter said, "a security camera video has just revealed the newest victim and newest theft by the deceased hero turned villain, Eagle Eye."
Sure enough, a video from an alleyway security camera showed Eagle Eye throwing his lethal red feathers at a tall man dressed in white and gray - a common low-level thief named Andre Le Blanc. Le Blanc was not known for his speed and reflexes, the feathers pierced his white clothing and skin, pinning him to the ground. His once pure white clothes now colored with his blood. Eagle Eye jumped in front of Le Blanc and tore the sack that held what he stole out of his left hand and took out what looked like a transparent skull. He cackled and disappeared, leaving Le Blanc to suffer from his injuries.
"Oh, wow!/Jeepers!/Jinkies!/Zoinks!/Rikes!" Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby all shouted in unison in reaction to the video.
"Oh, dang!" Cyborg shouted in reaction to the footage as well.
"Dudes!" Beast Boy pulled on his ears.
Robin gritted his teeth and growled, slamming his fist on the counter in frustration. He gritted his teeth so hard, they started to painfully grind. Starfire came over from the couch to put a hand on his shoulder. Velma did the same since she was standing right next to him.
"Uh-oh, looks like Robin's about to go into 'obsessive-detective mode' again," Red-X deadpanned. Robin just glared at him. "Well you are. We all know that look."
Robin growled at him and turned his head to Velma, "I'll show you where the crime lab is."
Fred checked his watch, "We should probably hit the hay pretty soon."
"Yeah, like, the sooner we wake up, the sooner we can eat breakfast and play more video games!" Shaggy laughed.
"That's not exactly what I meant, Shaggy," Fred told his skinny friend.
"Huh?" Shaggy and Scooby questioned in unison. They then looked at each other and begged on their knees, "Please, please, please don't say it."
"Sorry guys, but we've got a mystery on our hands," Fred flinched slightly when they fell backwards.
Starfire couldn't help but giggle at the sight, neither could Beast Boy and Cyborg, who were laughing their butts off. Not even Robin, who was just about to show Velma the crime lab, couldn't help but crack a smile. Even Raven cracked a small smile and Red-X coughed a chuckle and grinned behind his mask.
"Come on, I'll lead the way," Robin led Velma to the elevator and they went down to the floor directly below them.
"Well y'all can stay in the spare rooms if you'd like," Cyborg told Fred and Daphne, who were waking up Shaggy and Scooby.
"Sounds great," Fred grinned.
"Yeah, like, sounds great," Shaggy sounded like he was under some stress when he and Scooby came to.
"Fred, Daphne, you two and Velma can stay in the room down the hall from Raven's," Cyborg told them, he then looked at Shaggy and Scooby, who were still on the floor, "Shaggy, Scooby, you two will have to stay with X," he pointed his thumb back at the mysterious anti-hero.
The two cowards gulped in unison and Shaggy asked, "Aren't there, like, other rooms?"
"There are," Cyborg confirmed while scratching the back of his head, "but they're mostly used as storage rooms and the only other room you could stay in is directly above the basement."
They now shook as if they were freezing almost to death, "Like, we'll take X's room over the basement any day!"
Red-X rolled his eyes behind his mask, "Follow me you two."
They stood up and began to follow, Shaggy turned back to their friends, "See you guys later."
Very early the next morning, everyone was still asleep in their rooms. Cyborg laid vertically on his flat metal bed, Beast Boy laid on top of his bunk bed in a tackle of blankets, Fred and Daphne were asleep in their room, Raven slept calmly in her's, Starfire laid on her bed with her feet on her pillow and head at the foot of the bed, Shaggy and Scooby snored in the room they were sharing with Red-X, Red-X wore earmuffs to block out their snores as he slept in his bed, and Robin and Velma were passed out over the keyboards in the crime lab.
Their peaceful sleep was disturbed, however, with alarms blaring throughout the Tower. Everyone - except for Beast Boy - shot awake and got out of bed, immediately.
"Everyone, to the living room, hurry!" Robin shouted over the comm.
Shaggy and Scooby were clung tightly together and shaking violently - or 'cowarding' as they sometimes like to call it - too afraid to go see what all the commotion was about. Red-X was about to leave the room, he looked back at them and rolled his eyes, then grabbed the bottomless pit cowards and teleported out of the room with them.
He teleported them to the living room, where Robin said to meet; they were the first ones to arrive. Raven arrived just seconds later, along with Fred and Daphne. Starfire was the next to arrive and Cyborg was the last to arrive with a still-sleeping Beast Boy in tow.
"What's going on?" Daphne asked in a tired voice.
"Yeah, what's up? Are we under attack?" Cyborg asked, activating his sonic cannon.
Robin was turned, typing something on the computer, Velma was at his side, watching the computer screen. "That's what I'm trying to figure out," he answered. He leaned back and turned his head at them, "All the alarms say we're under attack, but there's nothing coming up on the cameras."
Cyborg kept his sonic cannon activated, "Maybe they're invisible."
"Maybe, but I doubt it. Remember? We upgraded the computer to be able to track the heat signature of someone who could be using a cloaking device," Robin stated.
Cyborg looked dumbfounded, "Oh right," he deactivated his sonic cannon.
Shaggy then started to quiver, "Maybe he's not coming up on the computer because he's a real ghost!" he jumped into Scooby's arms.
"Or Silkie just ate through the wiring again," Raven deadpanned.
Starfire frowned at what she said, but wasn't very surprised and agreed with her, "I cannot help but to agree with Raven, Silkie has been eating an awful lot as of late."
"Whatever's going on, we should," Fred yawned halfway through his sentence, "get back to bed, we'll need it."
Velma yawned and joked weakly, "No argument here."
"I'm pretty tired, too," Robin commented.
"In that case," Cyborg yawned loudly, "see y'all in the morning."
Raven teleported along with Fred, Daphne, and Velma back to their rooms. Red-X did the same with Shaggy and Scooby. Starfire half-slept, half-floated back to her room. Robin and Cyborg walked to their rooms while dragging an out-cold Beast Boy.
By morning, everyone was wide awake and eating breakfast in the living room. Shaggy, Scooby, Beast Boy, and Cyborg were having a breakfast eating contest, much to the annoyance of the rest of the gang and the other Titans, but Red-X found it strangely thrilling to watch.
As soon they finished, the five of them joined everybody else - except for Robin, Velma, Raven - on the sofa. Robin was trying to pull up something onto the TV using the computer, but was having trouble and needed help from Cyborg. Velma was most likely in the crime lab doing some kind of research. Raven was probably reading a book or ancient scrolls in her room.
Robin and Cyborg finally got what Robin was trying to pull up on the TV screen, it appeared to be an old newspaper article. Velma and Raven walked in together, they appeared to have been having a casual conversation. Velma was holding all the evidence from the crime lab and Raven was holding one of her many ancient books. Raven sat down next to Beast Boy, who was sitting next to Shaggy, who jumped into Scooby's arms when she sat down.
"Velma, wanna have the honors of telling everyone what we found?" Robin asked.
Velma nodded and held up three plastic bags, a red feather in two of them and the glow stick they found in the other, "We found that the feathers are made of a non-metallic polyresin. A little more research showed that it was first developed by the CIA as a defense weapon for Special OPs and that someone purchased hundreds of them more than six months ago."
Beast Boy then chimed in, very confused by this new information, "So someone molded them into looking like feathers?"
They both nodded, then it was Robin's turn to speak, "Analysis showed that the feathers were painted with several layers of red acrylic spray paint and that the chemicals in the glow stick were put on long after the paint dried."
Daphne then put the pieces together, "Whoever is behind this was probably putting more of the chemicals onto the feathers at the docks, but then Shaggy and Scooby showed up, saw what happened to the van, and ran off to get the rest of us."
Fred then added, "So they chickened out and dropped the glow stick in their rush to escape before Shag and Scoob could come back with the rest of us."
"Seems plausible," Red-X remarked cooly.
"Here's the kicker," Robin started again, grabbing everyone's attention, "chemical analysis of the paint shows that the two feathers in Velma's hand were painted with two different kinds of acrylic paint, which could indicate more than one perpetrator."
"Think it could be Billy Numerous?" Cyborg asked.
"Doubtful, Billy's an idiot," Red-X contradicted roughly.
"What about the other members of the HIVE?" Starfire suggested. "Gizmo is highly intelligent."
"This all seems a little extreme even for them," Cyborg refuted, "they usually just stick to robbing banks, jewelry stores, tech stores, museums, and other places like that."
"Before you guys get carried away," Robin chimed in, "Raven's got something else to add."
Raven sighed, "The item stolen last night was a crystal skull. According to this book, there are thirteen crystal skulls in all and they have... paranormal powers. These skulls can both heal and kill people, forestall catastrophic events, and give one visions of the past and the future."
It took time for everyone to digest this information, but it wasn't easy. The thought of a skull potentially ending their lives was a lot to take in.
Then Daphne remembered something, "I thought that only twelve of the thirteen skulls were ever found?"
Robin nodded, "Yes, but some months ago, a hiker found the missing crystal skull just a mile outside of the city limits."
"This is all great, but what's this got to do with Eagle Eye?" Red-X asked roughly.
Robin glared at him and sighed, "I suppose it's time to tell you the story of Eagle Eye. In the 1950s and 60s, crime was everywhere and although villains were plentiful, but there were few heroes to stand up to them. In a small town in Oklahoma, there was a man named Russell Youngman, he was arrogant and often claimed to be a direct relative to the hero Vigilante. One day while walking home, he was robbed and shot right in between the eyes at close range. He survived the attack, but doctors thought that he would forever be blind. When he came to, however, it was the opposite, he found that he could see things from up to miles away. The injury had changed his personality as well, he was no longer arrogant, instead, he was noble and always willing to lend a hand-"
Robin was rudely cut off by Red-X, "Cut to the chase already, kid."
Robin shot him another glare and continued, "He later heard about the high crime rates in California and moved to Jump City. The people were both grateful and terrified, since many people during this time didn't know if heroes could be trusted or not. Eagle Eye proved himself and the people loved him for being their protector. Then, exactly fifteen years to the day he became a hero, the city honored him with a parade. Although he went in costume, he wasn't armed with anything and wasn't very skilled at hand-to-hand combat. The parade came to a premature end when someone broke into a store and stole everything inside. Eagle Eye wasn't going to let them get away with it and hunted them down. Just an hour later, he spotted a suspicious looking man with a hook for a hand. He confronted the man, only for several men to surround him and start shooting at him from all sides. The people were grief stricken by the news and the all perpetrators but the man with the hook were captured."
"But why would a hero come back as villain?" Fred asked.
Red-X shrugged, "Who knows," he stood up, "Maybe he saw what happened to his city, maybe he just did what's common amongst good people who cross the line: turn to the dark side." The way he said it was almost in a taunting way, but it also sounded like he was heavily implying something.
X~I~X~I~X
(A/N: Finally, I'm done. This took a lot of time and effort to get done, believe me. I'm way worn out. I hope you guys like the direction I'm taking this story and its characters.
Now you guys know what's so important about the crystal skull in the collage. I took inspiration for it to be in this story from the show "Ancient Aliens" on the History Channel. I love that show, I watch it every Friday night.
For those of you who are wondering, "Ay'zurd Eyihshcul" means "best friends" in Russian. Just like what I did with the worm creature from the previous chapter, it's spelled backwards.
Eagle Eye's death takes inspiration from the death of the hero Deadman. Deadman was killed by an unnamed assassin often called "The Hook". At least that's how it is in the cartoon, "Batman: The Brave and the Bold".
I apologize if the evidence doesn't make any since, but it's still something and most of it I went off of memory from years ago. Speaking of which, I know I'm basically strongly implying that Slade could be the culprit - forget it, it's not the case, he's not the villain. I can't say who it is, but I will say that the possibility of it being more than one person is probable.
If you guys haven't heard, I'm starting an origin story on a "Teen Titans" villain. It's almost done, I'll probably publish it either later tonight or sometime tomorrow. Even though it's not done yet, I already think of it as my one of my better stories.
Happy Easter everyone! Normally, I wouldn't update this until Easter Sunday, but I'm going to be busy these next couple of weeks. Once again, Happy Easter!)
