Teen Titans: Arcanum
Arc Four Finale: Scarecrow
"…This is where the signal was coming from?" Beast Boy asked, staring at the smoking skyscraper with a nervous look upon his face. It stood in the center of town, and at the top a sign displayed the words 'Miskatonic Industries'.
"That's what the tracker is saying." Robin said, face grim as he walked towards the entrance.
"I-is there any way the tracker could be wrong?" A shiver ran down the shapeshifter's spine as the Titans approached the building.
"No. The scans of the gas match up to what Scarecrow has used before, and Cyborg's calculations have marked this as the origin point."
"Question is…" Raven began. "Why isn't the gas affecting us?"
Robin paused, standing in front of the glass doors. Then, he picked up a nearby potted plant and threw it through the glass, shattering the barrier inwards.
"That is something Scarecrow will have to tell us."
"Have they entered the building?" Scarecrow inquired.
"Yes lord." One of his servants—a woman named Jesten—replied.
"Good." Scarecrow paused, looking upon the statue of his master and spoke again. "Once they have ascended to the tenth floor, activate the gas systems."
"But my lord, the Titans won't be affected by the gases!"
"I do not need them to be affected psychologically, Jesten. Only visually."
Robin pressed the 'up' button next to the elevator doors, and the Titans waited while it descended.
"Why do we not just fly up to the tenth floor and just defeat the Crow of Scaring now?" Starfire asked the Boy Wonder.
"Because it's possible that he has prepared for an aerial assault." Robin explained. "Crane—and whoever he's working with—obviously spent a great deal of time setting this attack up. They—and he—would have installed countermeasures for us."
The elevator opened, revealing a small, plain silvery room.
"Gonna be a bit of a tight fit." Cyborg whistled.
"I think we'll manage." Terra commented.
While it was not a slow ride up the elevator, it was a very tense one. The closest anyone had actually come to destroying Jump City was Slade during the night Thunder and Lightning had visited the city, and that was through using a blunt tool. Scarecrow, on the other hand, was like a skilled surgeon using a scalpel, and this was not something the Titans were used to combating. While they had faced off against big threat before—such as Trident—none of them had even come so close to achieving total victory as Scarecrow was now.
The elevator doors opened, and the Titans were greeted by a fog of green gas so thick that it could not be seen through. For some reason, the air was still breathable. Robin grimaced. What was Crane's game?
"Titans! Stay close!" Robin ordered as he walked into the fog. Starfire followed shortly after, grasping Robin's hand as to not lose him in this blinding mist. Beast Boy turned into a field mouse and perched himself on Terra's shoulder, while Terra placed a hand on Cyborg's arm. Raven and Isaac on the other hand stayed separate, but both followed behind the trio in front of them.
The team wandered through the mist, until it began to dissipate.
"Cyborg?" Robin asked.
The taller Titan looked at the screen coming out of his forearm, only for static to suddenly take over the image. "Damn!"
"What? What is it?!"
"I've lost the signal, my communications are down, and—!" The cybernetic teen's eyes went wide. "I can't get a read on Isaac's vitals."
Raven gasped. "But that's impossible, he's right—!" She turned around, expecting to see the blue clad teen standing behind her.
There was no one there.
Isaac stumbled through the mist, feeling a light pull towards…somewhere. A small part of him told the mage that he was terribly lost, aimless without his teammates, and if he did not find them, he would soon perish.
The rest of him was following the voice that was on the wind and echoing in his very mind. It was her voice. The voice of the only person that had mattered to him for some time now. He had tried to let go, to move on as Raven had told him. But he couldn't. He NEEDED her. Needed her warmth, her presence, her reassurance. He needed to see her again, her forest green eyes, her small and knowing smile, the ways her expressions changed when he spoke to her of the outside world when he had first come to the place of worship.
The part of him that used logic and reasoning spoke of doubt, telling him that there was no way that Delta had survived Trigon's arrival, even if the place of worship lied on another plane of existence. The rest of him—the animal part of him—screamed at Isaac to rush towards the voice that echoed, telling him to find her and save her like he should have saved her before.
All the while, the voice of Delta the Homunculus called to him through the Gem.
"Come, Isaac. Come and find me."
"Okay…" Robin spoke. "Here's what we do. Three of us will look for Isaac. The other three will search this floor for whatever is causing this."
"I'll help look for Isaac." Raven said, voice trembling a small bit.
"Can't have you do that." Robin said, raising a hand as Raven began to protest. "I did some speculating on the way up here. It may not be the way he usually operates, but whatever is causing this may be magical in nature."
"Wait." Beast Boy interrupted. "You think Scarecrow—the scientist and psychologist—is using magic?!"
"It's not entirely out of the question." Robin answered. "While he might not prefer to use magic himself, Scarecrow clearly has an ally who has an interest in the mystic arts. Otherwise, the gas would have affected us as it affected the citizens."
Starfire's eyes widened. "You think that this was a trap set for friend Isaac or friend Raven."
Robin's mind flashed back towards the jewel that hung around Isaac's neck. How it had been glowing for days after Jinx had fallen into a vegetive state after she had touched it. How it seemed to gleam a strange ocean green after the incident with Slade after Terra arrived. How it did the same after the battle with Red X. How it had been glowing much brighter when they had come here.
"Yes Starfire. I do think that this was a trap."
He was close now. He could feel it in his bones. He had realized now that the voice was not Delta. But he proceeded anyway. He had a good guess of who the voice actually was, but he did not think that Scarecrow could use telepathy. The profile that Robin had of the former doctor suggested that Scarecrow would never resort to magic. Or perhaps this was not the Batman rouges doing at all. Maybe this was the mysterious third party.
Or perhaps, it was neither. Isaac looked down at the gem, taking note of the bright green glow, of the whisper that sounded like Delta, his father, and so many of the other people that he had met in his life. The mage's head began to feel light, and his vision began to blur. His legs began to feel as heavy as lead, and his arms as loose as jelly.
"Ah, so now you feel it." A voice spoke from behind Isaac, who glanced over his shoulder.
A man dressed in torn and ragged clothes that Isaac instantly assumed to be Scarecrow leaned against a wall behind the mage. "I had not expected the gas I made for you to work so slowly on you. I suppose I have that mask on your face to blame. It stinks of Azathoth." The man stopped leaning on the wall and walked towards the young mage. "But the mask is not what I am here for." Scarecrow stretched out his arms and held out his hand, palm facing upwards. "The Gem of R'lyeh. Give it to me."
For a moment, Isaac's hazy mind considered giving the gem to Scarecrow. He did not want it. It was clearly malevolent given what had happened to Jinx, and it seemed to want to go to Scarecrow. If he just gave it to him, he would no longer have to hear the whispers of the fallen. He could move on.
But then the part of him that reasoned spoke up. He knew what kind of man this Scarecrow—this Jonathan Crane—was. If he received the gem, more people would end up like Jinx, minds towards asunder as the gem unveiled the darkest bits and pieces of their pasts and used it against them. How many people would be harmed if Scarecrow used it? How many would survive such an event?
If you wish to keep it, then fight for it, my little one.
Isaac stepped backwards and drew the knife out of his coat pocket, extending it to the full length. "No. Never. Not even if you gave me my heart's desire."
Scarecrow chuckled. "Very well." The villain hunched over and drew a blade with the length of a man's forearm out from behind his back. "If you will not give it to me, then I will take it off your corpse."
Isaac swallowed the lump that began to form in his throat. Robin had given him a bit of training with the knife, but he had neglected to use it. He just hoped that he was well trained enough to fend off the madman.
Robin, Cyborg, and Raven rushed through the hallways and offices of the tenth floor, hoping to find the machine or whatever was causing this before more damage could be done. Eventually, the three came across a door that led to a meeting room.
"Are we sure it's here?" Raven asked, trying not to sound anxious.
"We've checked every room on the west side of this floor." Robin answered. "If it isn't here, then we'll go to the east." The world's youngest detective looked towards Cyborg. "Is the tracker still down?"
"Unfortunately." Cyborg replied. "But my audio systems aren't. There's someone—or something—on the other side of this door." The larger teen squinted. "Sounds like…they're praying."
Raven snarled. "We don't have time for this. Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"
The doors were launched inside as the sudden burst of magic rent them from their hinges. Inside of the room was a large generator that looked like it was both machine and flesh. At the foot of the abomination, was a man in dark robes prostrated in prayer in front of it. Robin ran towards the man as he began to stand and draw something from within his robes, and dealt a kick to the worshiper's sternum.
The man fell with a cry, and Cyborg rushed over to the mechanism, scanning it with his arm.
"I'm not entirely sure what I'm looking at, but from what I can tell, this thing is hooked to computers, phones, and other electronics all over the city!" Cyborg exclaimed. "Whatever this thing is, it's causing the gas to come out of all of the technology sold by Miskatonic Industries!"
Robin growled, turning towards the hooded man. "How do you shut it down!?"
The man laughed. It was not a sound of victory or joy. Merely madness. "Even if you did stop it, plan will soon be complete! Prophet Scarecrow will have Gem! Will become unstoppable! Will become herald for HIS RETURN!" Robin struck the madman in the face and turned to Raven.
"Is there a way that you can mess with it?!"
"There might be." Raven turned towards the machine and began to chant, eyes glowing blue instead of black, white, or red.
"What are you doing?" Cyborg asked.
"Techno Magic." Raven replied. "Something Constantine taught me and Isaac while he was over."
"Then why haven't I seen him do it more often when watching TV? Or playing video games?"
"Because it feels like taking a test you haven't studied for." Raven explained. "And according to our magic sessions in the past, Isaac isn't a good test taker."
The blue clad mage stumbled back as Crane's blade bounced against the black blade of the knife once again. They had battled throughout the halls of the office floor, both in what seemed like a stalemate. Arcanum could not pierce Scarecrow's defenses, and Scarecrow—for whatever reason—seemed reluctant to kill him.
The two combatants stumbled into a wide and empty room, with Arcanum rushing the former doctor again, attempting a wild downwards slash, which Crane easily blocked. The villain then delivered a quick kick to Arcanum's stomach. The teenager stumbled back, and Scarecrow delivered and upward slashed that shattered the mask. Arcanum's eyes went wide as the remains fell off of his face and onto the floor. Then, Crane kicked him again, sending him across the floor and into the middle of the room.
"…You could…have killed me…ten times by now…" Arcanum noted as he stood up, still sore from the last blow. "Why…"
"Haven't I?" Scarecrow finished. "Despite what I said earlier…my plan was not to kill you." Scarecrow lashed out his left arm in a sweeping gesture and spoke "Behold!"
Arcanum's eyes widened in horror as the floor beneath him began to glow with a bright green pattern—not just a pattern, but a circle with many strange symbols.
And he was at its center.
"You see Isaac…" Scarecrow began, as the wind began to pick up in the room. "I have no intentions on killing you. My master has a plan for you." An ominous green vortex opened up behind the blue clad teen. "And I will see them fulfilled."
As Crane finished speaking, a red and green blur slammed into the madman's back, launching him towards Isaac's position. At the same time, a section of the floor popped up and launched Isaac away from the vortex.
"You will be taking him nowhere!" Starfire spoke, Terra and Beast Boy standing beside her as Isaac rose from the floor.
Crane rose, a sound that seemed more animal that man escaping his throat. He stared at the group of teens, seeming to weigh his options. Then for a short moment, his eyes widened, and then he smirked.
"…It does not matter." He spoke at last. "We will meet again, Isaac." Crane stepped through the portal.
"And next time, things will be different."
Days later, Jump City had recovered from Scarecrow's sudden attack. It was discovered that all of the employees of Miskatonic Industries had vanished during the crisis. Further investigation revealed that said employees were all part of the same unnamed cult, who worshiped a supposed 'god' who slept at the bottom of the sea. As people were wont to do, the people of Jump City shrugged and moved on.
This was a regular occurrence, after all.
Inside of the skyscraper that used to hold Miskatonic Industries, Scarecrow's blade sat on the floor, perfectly undisturbed. Until that is, a familiar figure emerged from the dark shadows of the hallways and reached for the blade's hilt. Before it could do so, the butt end of a staff smacked the hand on the back.
"Careful with that, Red X." The older man said, withdrawing his staff. "While it is necessary for the plan, it was still in the presence of Cthulhu."
"Then what are we using it for?"
The man smirked. "Patience, my friend. We still need the other two conduits if you wish to obtain your goals." The man knelt down, and handled the blade with gloved hands, and then looked out towards Titans Tower.
"Soon." He promised. "Soon the world will be dim indeed."
Scarecrow and Miskatonic Industries will return.
In other new: I got a job! So I wouldn't expect this to update as frequently as it has before.