Episode 11: Weakness

Tamaran, 7 Years Ago

Starfire had never felt more miserable in her life. She lay in the palace gardens, looking up at the sky, wishing it were all a cruel joke. Even though it had been almost a whole year since Zadkiel had left for good, and their betrothal had come to a sudden end, but all the pudding of sadness in the world could not make it hurt any less, and it certainly could not bring him back.

She had remembered vividly that day she had to say goodbye to him. She knew their fathers had fought before, but this time, as her father explained, there were some things that had been said that could not be unsaid.

Starfire had nearly broken down when she had to hug him for the last time. "I will miss you greatly," she said, fighting back tears.

She felt him sigh as he held her close, hands warm as they wrapped around her, his forehead pressed to hers. "On my world, we do not have a word for this 'goodbye,'" he said. "Instead, we say 'until we meet again.' And that is a promise I intend to keep."

She let her fingers run across the bridge of his nose, right where his scar was, remembering how they met. "I hope that is true," she said.

In her heart, she had known this was not so. This was the rekmas, the drifting apart of friends. He was not coming back. Her father had forbidden his people from returning. She sat back up, looking at the dull garden, desperately missing all the wonders he had shown her on his own home planet. She watched Galfore chasing around her brother as they played and sighed. They looked like they were having fun.

That was the other problem weighing on her mind. Starfire was getting older, and her father was beginning to express that her openly emotional nature was not becoming of a royal. It was now not just a childhood phase, but a potential weakness. It was…unfair, she realized, but it was her culture, her people's way of life.

Starfire looked at her reflection in the garden pond. She remembered that day when Zadkiel had told her not to let Blackfire's opinion of her shape who she would become. "Promise me, princess," he had said, "do not let them change who you are."

She threw a rock into the pond, watching the ripples shatter the reflection. "You are not here anymore," she shouted to the reflection. "What do you know?"

She knew she did not mean it, but she could stand it no longer. Unable to hide her sadness anymore, she ran back into the palace, tears streaming down her cheek. Her distress did not go unnoticed. As she passed by the library, Rulore heard her and followed. Before Starfire could protest, she was already scooped up into her strong arms. She took her back to the library, where her mother was waiting patiently on one of the semi-circle couches. She turned off the reading light above, ready to talk. "I do not wish to interrupt," Starfire said, trying to find an excuse to just go.

"No one is interrupting anything," Rulore said, sitting Starfire between them. "It's not like we were doing anything important anyway."

"Ahem," her mother coughed.

Rulore kissed her forehead before sitting down herself. "Fine, the history of the Tamaranean War of the Clans has some importance," she sighed, "but we needed a break anyway. We're here to listen."

Starfire wanted nothing more than to make herself so small she could disappear. She had never realized how much she missed him and what he represented to her until he was gone. In fact, she had never realized what had been missing until then, as if a veil had been lifted. Now, with all of that gone, she had learned what she hated most. "I feel so alone," she said meekly.

The two women shared a look. While neither had been sad to see the chief and his warriors leave, they knew that it was not all for the best, but there was little that could have been done. "You miss him, I know," her mother said softly, holding her close.

"He understood," Starfire said, beginning to cry again, "Father says I have to…I cannot be myself. I do not want that, and he understood."

This was an even harder discussion to have, they both knew. Her mother sighed. "It is not that your father wants this to happen. He is just trying to protect you."

"From what?" She asked this between sobs and looked to each of them for a legitimate answer. "You say that all the time, but you never tell me what you are protecting me from."

Rulore could think of several answers. She had enough stories to tell about her time with the Gordanians, and the burn scars to prove it. She was tempted at that moment to explain, but knew better, to wait until she was older. "There are just many dangerous people out there, Koriand'r," she said instead, "people who, if they knew how you felt, and who you loved, would destroy you with it."

"We only do that because we are scared," Starfire grumbled, remembering something Zadkiel had told her. "If we did not let fear control us, we would find we had more friends who could help us."

Her mother stroked her hair, having a good idea where she got a notion like that. "Perhaps he was right, but when your father and I have so much to lose…" She looked deeply into her daughter's eyes. "It's a risk we cannot take."

"I still miss him," she said.

Rulore thought for a moment before speaking. "Do you remember what your mother calls me?"

"She is your grodsa'ar," Starfire answered.

Luand'r smiled at Rulore, thinking of fond memories. "Right, and do you know what that means?" Rulore continued.

Starfire thought for a moment. Such a word was an abstract concept, and not easily understood, even by adults. "It is a love greater than all others."

Rulore nodded. "Something like that, and what have I always said about it?"

"That we only have one chance in our lives to find our grodsa'ar," Starfire recited, having heard her say it so many times.

"Exactly. If that is anything like what you felt for him, then, believe me, you two will find each other again. You go to great lengths to get back to them."

Jump City, Present

A green dolphin jumped back and forth across the ocean playfully. Beast Boy transformed back into a human as he reached his friends relaxing on the beach. "Best afternoon ever!" he said, spitting out a mouthful of water. "Wish we could do this every day."

He had talked them all into a day at the beach. The weather was starting to get very hot, and it was perfect weather for it. Robin had taken to showing Starfire the art of building a sandcastle. Though still awkward at times, they were making their casual friendship situation work. Cyborg snoozed on the blanket under the umbrella while Raven sat a few inches away, curled up and reading. Archangel sat on a rock on the edge of the sea, enjoying the sensory experience of one of his favorite places on Earth.

Robin kept periodically checking his communicator. "Don't expect too many like it," he said. "Criminals get bored this time of year."

"Oh, I know, who wants to play chicken?" Beast Boy asked, ignoring Robin.

"The chickens are so adorable," Starfire beamed, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "How might we play a game with them?"

"Um, it's not quite like that," Robin said, beginning to explain.

Meanwhile, Beast Boy took to looking for a teammate. "How 'bout it, Raven?" he asked.

"Do I look like I want to play?"

"Cy?"

He took a deep breath, not happy to be disturbed from his nap. "Look, I can make it if I need to in water, but the less time I put my circuits at risk, the better."

Archangel heard all the commotion and came to join them. "You are playing a game?" he asked.

Beast Boy shrugged. "You'll have to do. Okay, so one of us needs to get on the other's shoulders."

"Simple," Archangel said, picking him up.

Beast Boy sat atop the alien's shoulders. "Um, yeah, easy as that," he said awkwardly. "This could work." He grabbed Archangel's horns. "And hey, it's like I can steer you with these."

He started turning Archangel's head a bit, as the held the horns like a bicycle handlebar. "Do that again," Archangel said with a growl, "and I swear to Malakb, I will…"

"You guys going to play or what?" Robin called.

Archangel waded, waist-deep, in the water. "Oh, I so got this," Beast Boy said with a playful smirk. "Cy, you gonna ref?"

Cyborg only waved his hand. "Just don't kill each other, okay?"

Both Starfire and Archangel proved to be sturdy when it came to holding their partners up, so the match became more between Robin and Beast Boy. The two wrestled about, Robin seeming to take the advantage. "No powers, right Beast Boy?" Robin said.

In truth, Beast Boy had been thinking about it. "Wouldn't dream of it," he lied. "Hey, what's that over there?"

"You really think I'm that stupid?"

Beast Boy grunted, briefly escaping Robin's grip. "I was hoping, but this'll have to do."

His hands pushed Robin square in the chest, and he toppled off of Starfire's shoulders. "Whoo! We did it. Nice work, goat-boy."

Beast Boy did not get too much time to gloat both he and Archangel were tackled by Starfire. Robin had righted himself as he was standing behind her. "Uh, Star, chicken isn't a tag-team sport."

Beast Boy splashed up. "What gives, Star?"

"Minor error in explaining the rules," Robin said.

Starfire, however, had other concerns. "Where is Archie?"

Archangel slowly came to, feeling an odd sensation in his lungs. He was breathing, somewhat, but it felt forced like he was not the one controlling it. As he opened his eyes, he realized that it was because of a rather intimate gesture from Beast Boy. He bolted up, forcing Beast Boy off of him and started retching water. "What were you doing?" he shouted between gasps.

"Uh, saving your life," Beast Boy said, crossing his arms. "Mouth to mouth was the only way, so don't flatter yourself."

Archangel was still coughing and sputtering. "You almost drowned," Robin said, "in shallow water."

"You may have noticed on my homeworld, there are no large bodies of water," Archangel answered. "I never learned how to swim. I thought I would be fine in shallow waters until someone made me lose my orientation."

He stopped Starfire before she could get into the five-hundred verses of the Poem of Apology. "And with your fire powers," Cyborg added, "I imagine you and water do not mix."

"Call it a weakness then," Archangel laughed hoarsely.

Robin folded his arms, thinking deeply. "It's been a while since we've done any serious training to work on team weaknesses."

"Do not feel as though you must be doing anything special on my account."

"No, really, we all need it. Starting after lunch, that'll be the first thing we do. In fact, I've got a particular idea about how we can do this."

"Way to go, goat-boy," Beast Boy said sarcastically, clapping Archangel on the back. "Just what we needed: more training."

The training grounds outside the tower had been drastically reorganized. The usual course was replaced with metal-reinforced walls, forming a maze-like structure. Robin stood outside, pacing. "There are going to be situations," he began, "where a strength of yours that you take for granted is going to be taken from you, and only one or two of us is equipped to handle that situation. The idea of these training sessions is to prepare you for these moments of weakness. Each of us is going to come up with a different exercise for the rest of us. The idea is to give each other a weakness to deal with. Archangel's come up with this one."

Archangel crossed his arms. "Yes, well, one of the greatest challenges I've faced is overcoming my inability to see. There may indeed come a time when a villain presents a weapon or a power that will inhibit your ability to see. I have devised this course to train for that. There is a test dummy hidden within this maze. Your objective is to retrieve it. Certain obstacles will pop up in the maze. Avoid or fight them off. You will do all of this blindfolded."

"Sounds easy enough," Cyborg said with a shrug.

Robin smiled. "I had a feeling you might see that. I designed these special blindfolds for everyone so that they cannot bypass them with their powers. Remember, this is to test your ability to work without sight. So, Cyborg, your sensors cannot simply use X-ray vision to get past these."

"Aw, man," Cyborg grumbled.

"Starfire's and Raven's cannot be blasted away by their powers."

Raven held the black cloth. "These obstacles are to mimic people right?" she asked. "Are they going to have human simulation?"

"You mean will you be able to sense them?" Archangel said. "We have designed some of them to mimic pheromones of humans expressing fear or anger to see if you can identify civilians over an enemy, but no, they will not have what you require to sense their emotional presence."

Raven sighed. "I can work with that."

"Beast Boy's will change shape with him," Robin continued, "so it won't 'just happen' to fall off."

Beast Boy scoffed, "What makes you think I would cheat like that? I've already got a foolproof plan."

"Whatever." Robin began to cover his own eyes with his blindfold. All five heroes stood at the start of the maze. "Fire it up, Archangel."

Archangel stood at the control panel, and pushed a button, starting the timer. The five Titans rushed into the maze.

Robin felt somewhat confident. He had handled a similar challenge while in search of the One True Master. However, upon entering the maze, there was not too much of a challenge. There were no noises he was listening for. He just had to figure out where to go. This meant stumbling around and feeling for the walls. He figured Archangel probably figured this stuff out by smell, and could determine how far he was away from people and walls. Certainly, something he would need to work on.

Starfire also felt as though she had an advantage. She had known Archangel for some time. She thought she had observed all his usual techniques and tricks for navigating. This proved harder than she thought. She heard some sounds in the distance of what she assumed to be the obstacles and headed for them. That was simple enough. When she found a passage where plastic discs were being launched at them, she found it was very tricky. She tried listening for them, but there were too many sounds and they went by too fast. She just wanted to get out of the maze at this point.

While Cyborg was a bit unsure of this exercise, he did come up with a clever solution. To navigate the maze, he felt around on his arm until he was able to turn on some sonar settings. Like a bat, he would get a ping every time he got close to a wall. Too easy, he thought. He was not sure what he would do for the other obstacles, but he was set for now.

Raven felt pretty powerless. Her original plan to try extending her sensing abilities fell flat. With no living beings, other than her teammates nearby, she did not have any idea how to figure the layout of the maze. What she could do was send her soul-self out to try and destroy any obstacles before she took a step. It was not the best method, but it would do for now.

Beast Boy felt like he was on top of the world. With an arsenal of any animal at his beck and call, he could transform into enough stuff to smell, hear, and feel everything around him. He handled every obstacle with ease. So confident in his abilities, he had forgotten he was not the only occupant of the maze. Out of nowhere, he slammed head-first into someone.

A buzzer went off, and the timer stopped. "Okay, stop for now," Archangel said with a sigh.

Beast Boy sat up, his head spinning. "Ugh, I feel like I just got hit by a truck."

Cyborg was running up to him, his blindfold already off. He quickly assessed the situation and knew who he had run into. "More like a Tamaranean, but same thing practically."

Cyborg and Robin decided to combine their efforts for the next exercise. "So, what do all four of you have that Cyborg and I don't?" Robin asked.

Beast Boy already had a witty remark at the ready, but Cyborg stopped him before he could get too far. "We can't fly."

Beast Boy deflated a little. "Oh…"

Robin continued. "So, we've devised a couple of exercises that will test your flight abilities, and challenge you to go without them. Your first task: climb that cliff without flying."

The four Titans turned around. That now explained why they had left the tower for this drill. Before them, was a tall cliff local rock climbers used. Indeed, the boys had set them up with a good challenge.

It was several minutes later when Archangel heaved himself up onto a ledge. He lay there, catching his breath, his chest getting large as he took in deep breaths of air. It had been far too long since he had ever done such climbing. "Archie, you must proceed in the catching up," Starfire called from above. "Beast Boy has already reached the top."

Indeed, if anything had been proven during their training, it was that Beast Boy did, in fact, have the skills to fit any challenge. "You know what, you can just…" Archangel began, in no mood for more bragging about Beast Boy.

"C'mon slowpokes!" Beast Boy hollered.

Archangel grunted and grumbled to himself, but managed to get up and continue his climb. It seemed to be Raven who struggled the most. She did not have a plethora of options like Beast Boy. She did not have Starfire's strength. Nor did she have any natural skills in climbing, like Archangel. She only had magic, and she could not use her levitating abilities.

Raven had barely made it a quarter of the way up. Physical challenges were not her forte. She assessed her situation once more. There had to be something she was missing, some trick she could use to get out of this situation. That was the point, right? To think creatively to solve a problem in less than ideal conditions? Wait! That was it!

Robin said she could not use her levitation abilities to fly herself, but he had not said anything about the rock itself. Concentrating hard, she tore off small pieces of the cliff, big enough for her to walk on with ease. Slowly, she used those pieces to form a levitating staircase of sorts. It required a lot of her energy, but she was able to use that to beat Archangel and even Starfire to the top. She was exhausted when she reached it though.

For the next exercise, they were allowed to fly, and in fact, encouraged to do so. The next lesson involved maintaining their balance in flight as Robin and Cyborg shot projectiles in their direction. Beast Boy, at first, excelled because he could keep changing into smaller and smaller flying creatures until Cyborg shot him with something flat enough to catch him in bug form. It was Archangel who really did well by hearing the objects as they soared by. Raven and Starfire had speed on their side, but they did get tripped up a few times. "Remember, you're supposed to not let a distraction stop your concentration."

Beast Boy heaved a flat piece of metal off of himself. "Yeah, and I'm sure this wasn't an excuse just to throw stuff at me."

Cyborg shrugged, trying to fake innocence. "It may have been a nice perk."

Because Starfire and Raven's powers relied on emotions, the two were able to devise a way to have the boys work on controlling their emotional reactions in battle. Raven conjured false visions of villains they had faced to elicit certain emotional responses from the boys. She did not try anything too drastic, like having Robin face Slade, but she did occasionally push her friends' limits. Starfire added other sounds and smells to add to the emotional atmosphere from her place at the control panel. This was mostly for Archangel's benefit, but it did help keep the others on their toes.

"Did you really have to use those pheromones?" Beast Boy asked, glad to be done with the test.

Raven answered dryly. "Hey, not all villains are going to try and distract you with anger or your past. Some will try to seduce you."

Archangel still kept his head low, his face red as a beet. "Well, Starfire did not have to use so much."

Cyborg clapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, it's a natural reaction. Could've happened to anyone."

That was little comfort, and it did not make him feel better to learn what was coming next. With Beast Boy in charge of the next drill, everyone was apprehensive. He seemed to have an entire list of stuff he wanted to do. Robin was, in fact, surprised, considering Beast Boy was always the first to complain about training.

Yet, here they were, back at the beach, ready for his swim lessons. "Okay, dudes, swimming is really easy," he began.

"Yeah, because you can sprout gills," Raven said.

He ignored that comment. "All you have to worry about is your feet. They're what keep you moving.

"And breathing?" Archangel asked apprehensively.

"Pfft, easy. You just have to know your limits and how to not waste what air you have. You've got an advantage there, goat boy. Now…"

Unfortunately, it was not much of an advantage. Hooves proved to not be all that useful compared to feet. And with water rushing through his ears and nose, he found himself disoriented fast. "It'll just take some getting used to," Beast Boy said, trying to reassure him. "You usually figure out how to find your way around places."

Robin was trying to drain some water out of his ears. "You know what, I call this a full day. How about a break for pizza?"

"That was an awesome training session!" Beast Boy said. "Can we do it again?"

Everyone was still getting used to seeing Beast Boy actually excited about training. Archangel only lay flopped on the bench of their table. "I am glad you are happy, but I cannot say the same for myself," he said.

Raven nudged for him to sit up while she sat beside him. She too looked very exhausted. "Well, of course, Beast Boy enjoyed it. He was the only one actually succeeding."

Cyborg was already busy loading their training stats into his system. "Well, not like he was perfect, but yeah, he did do pretty good."

"Well, it's probably pretty easy when you can turn into any animal," Raven said, burying herself into reading the menu.

Beast Boy puffed out his chest. "It's called adaptability."

Robin nodded. "More often than not, Beast Boy's ability to choose from different adaptations was what helped him at least endure most of the challenges."

This compliment from Robin gave Beast Boy a new sense of ego, and it was not wasted on the usual fight he had with Cyborg over what kind of pizza to get. Everyone, by now, had learned to just stay out of the way of this fight so as to order quickly. Starfire only occasionally would add in a suggestion for such an odd combination, and nobody could decide whether to laugh or explain to her why it did not work.

Only the beeps of their communicators put a stop to the argument. "Every single time!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "C'mon, heroes gotta eat too."

"Come on," Raven said, dragging him along.

While Mumbo Jumbo was considered more of a nuisance than a threat, he was still an issue to be taken seriously. Thankfully, he rarely strayed from his MO. The Titans had already arrived at the bank he had chosen to rob this time. "Your act's starting to go stale," Robin said. "You just perform the same old tricks."

He jolted, hearing their voices, but then recovered by saying, "Well, you know what they say: practice makes perfect."

A swarm of white doves flew out of his coat sleeves, blocking the Titans' visual of him long enough for Mumbo to disappear. "After him!" Robin called.

Cyborg and Raven had the best odds of finding him. Between her ability to sense living presences and his sonic monitor, they could at least somewhat track him. Still, Mumbo was known for his unpredictability, and Cyborg and Raven found themselves dodging and wearing through random streets, hot on his trail. Not surprisingly, they ended up running into each other, still no physical sign of Mumbo.

"Maybe he's been running through the sewers," Cyborg said.

"Or over the rooftops," Raven said. "Face it, he could be anywhere."

Cyborg pounded his fist against a wall. "There has to be some way to figure out his tricks."

"Ah, ah, ah," a voice said. "A magician never reveals his tricks."

A line of colorful handkerchiefs tied together fell upon them, entangling them and eventually tying the two together. Mumbo had been waiting for them in the alley. He smirked. "Now then, where are the rest of my lovely volunteers from the audience?" he said to himself.

"Right here," Robin called, opening his bo staff to its full length.

"Hm, neat trick," Mumbo said, pulling his own wand, which also sprung open, "but it's been done before."

Twirling it like it was nothing, he took to a quick melee with Robin. He was actually surprised Mumbo could keep up with him. Perhaps he had been practicing to make himself more of a threat. Still, this fight did not come without the usual silliness expected of Mumbo. Every time his wand struck Robin's staff, some cheesy magic prop would pop out. Flowers, handkerchiefs, feathers, everything kept coming out of the end. It was a good distraction technique. Robin had to admit, and it always took him by surprise.

When white smoke billowed out of the end, Robin knew he needed to act fast or Mumbo would make his getaway. What he did not expect was to find himself trapped in one of Mumbo's magic boxes. "Time for a brief intermission," Mumbo giggled to himself.

He ducked around an alley, almost hit by a blast of flames. Archangel was just overhead. "This next trick's going to get a little dangerous," he said.

As if coming from nowhere, Mumbo seemed to pull several chainsaws from his coat and started juggling them. This at least gave him a barrier between him and Archangel, who was trying to find an opening to attack. The constant whirring of chainsaws kept him at bay, though. He tried launching flames at him, only to have the magician swiftly vanish from point to point.

Frustrated with so little success, Archangel took out his horn. That seemed to rattle Mumbo, and he dropped his juggling act, narrowly missing being sawed in half. "I don't take kindly to hecklers," he said. "Mumbo Jumbo!"

Under the spell, Archangel was wrapped in a straitjacket and tied with chains. He became land-bound as a result. "Let's see if you get out of that," he said triumphantly.

That only left… A starbolt blasted the wall behind him. He also saw a green bull rounding the corner. Not to worry, there were still plenty of tricks up his sleeve. He quickly conjured up a red cape and proceeded to taunt Beast Boy like a matador, all the while deftly avoiding Starfire's attacks. "Well, you've been a wonderful audience," Mumbo said, throwing up the cape, "but I really must be going now."

As the cape came down and covered him, he vanished. Starfire pulled it up as if hoping he might still be under there. "Ugh, magicians," Beast Boy groaned.

It was not as though he left a hard trail to follow. Starfire and Beast Boy were able to catch up to him. "Hm, time for a classic," Mumbo said, reaching for his hat.

"Watch out!" Starfire called. "We do not wish to be in his hat of unpleasantness again."

Instead, Mumbo began to pull out two long ears, and it soon became apparent that what was in there was much bigger than the hat. Before them stood a tall, giant white rabbit. "Take good care of Nibbles for me, will ya?" he called, dashing on ahead.

The large rabbit, which was almost as tall as some of the buildings, stood there for a moment, his nose twitching. "Oh, he is so adorable!" Starfire squealed.

"Um, yeah, Star," Beast Boy said, "but it's a giant rabbit!"

At Beast Boy's outburst, it started making loud, ground-rattling hops away. "And now we gotta go stop it before it destroys the city," said Beast Boy.

"Just great."

That should keep them busy for a while, Mumbo thought. But just as he turned around to stroll away, Raven was already waiting for him. "Show's over," she said in a low voice, bordering on a growl.

"Ah, I see it's time for my grand finale," Mumbo said.

She raised an eyebrow. "What? You going to put us in the hat again?" she asked.

He smirked. "You wish."

It seemed as though every trick he had magically burst from his hat. Every trap spilled out, capturing any loose Titans that may still have been running around. Mumbo was willing to let things go, but the Titans had persisted. Now, it was personal.

For the second time today, Beast Boy felt as though he had been hit by a truck. As his head slowly rolled over to one side, he started to come to. Only vague flashes of the moments before came back to him. He remembered Mumbo robbing a bank, and for some reason, he could not stop thinking about rabbits.

As the rest of his body stirred, he quickly became aware that his wrists and ankles were bound to what appeared to be a giant bullseye. This could not be good. "Good morning, sleepyhead," nasally voice said.

Mumbo Jumbo had been waiting. "Where the heck am I?" Beast Boy shouted. "And where are my friends?"

Mumbo only shook his head. "Typical hero. You think if you just demand answers, I'll tell you everything. But, I suppose you've earned some answers. Welcome to my fun house."

Knowing what was probably in store for him and his friends, this place was probably anything but fun. "It's where I practice all my new tricks. Right now, I'm in need of a few guinea pigs."

He knew trying to break free of the bonds was a foolish idea, but he tried anyway. "Where are my friends?" Beast Boy demanded.

Mumbo only wagged a finger at him. "I think that's all I'm willing to share right now. I'm getting bored. So, let the fun begin!"

Beast Boy swallowed, wondering what the villain could possibly have up his sleeve. Mumbo came over to the big bullseye and gave it a spin. Slowly, Beast Boy watched the world go round and round. "What are ya going to do? Make me dizzy and throw up?" he said, trying to sound tough.

"Something like that," Mumbo said.

Beast Boy heard a loud thwack as something hit the bullseye, just to the right of his ankle. It was a circus throwing knife. "Uh…okay, dude, joke's over," Beast Boy said with a nervous laugh.

"Oh, but we're just getting started."

Archangel was more than a bit confused. At best, he knew his environment was some enclosed structure, a small room, he figured. He was still in the straitjacket, but at least he still had free movement of his legs. There were no doors, he realized, or if there were, they were not within reach. He could pace the perimeter of the room, finding it was no more than a glorified box.

When he heard a click, followed by the sound of running water, he began to worry. It became apparent that water was running down into the box, slowly filling it up. Of course, it had to be that.

Well, first things first, he thought. If he had any hope of getting out before the box filled up, he needed to free the movement of his hands. He tugged and struggled against the straitjacket. Why on earth would such a tortuous device exist?

Raven awoke with a start, only to find she was surrounded by darkness. Attempting to feel her way around, her hands were met with resistance not a few inches from her face. A little more feeling around, and it was clear that Raven was in a box. Had Mumbo buried her alive?

She centered herself, taking a few calming breaths. If that really was the case, then panicking about it was not going to help. If she was to figure this out, she needed to conserve air.

But instead, she heard a shifting noise, one of wood being moved around. No, it was her box; it was spinning. The rotations started slow but picked up in speed with each turn. Yet, it came to an abrupt halt not long after it had started.

Raven squinted into the light as the box was opened. Something did not feel right. She was on one of Mumbo's stages, no doubt being used for his latest act, but there was something else very odd. She felt shorter, at least that was how it felt from her perspective. So help him, Azar, if he turned her into a rabbit again.

It was only when she stole a glance at the mirror in front of her that she figured out what was going on.

Indeed, she was in a box, or rather three boxes stacked on top of one another. Unfortunately, said boxes had scrambled her up. Her legs were now in the box above her head, and her torso in the one above that. It did not hurt, but it meant that she was trapped in one of Mumbo's tricks. "Just great," she muttered just as the boxes shut again to begin another round of scrambling.

Starfire was rather confused by her situation. On the one hand, it did not appear as though she were in any immediate danger. She was simply in an empty room, her hands tied to colored scarves that formed chains coming out of two hats on either side of her.

But nothing with Mumbo was ever simple. When Starfire tried to fly away, naturally, the chain of scarves only increased as she pulled more and more. Eventually, like stretchy elastic, once she reached the end of the line, it pulled tautly. That was when the magic came into play. The chain would then recede, reeling her back in like a fish.

Well, simply flying was out of the question. She then attempted to sever her bonds with her eye beams, but without any success. They were resilient to starbolts.

This seemed to be quite an inescapable puzzle, she thought. She tried to think of Raven or Robin. If anyone was good at puzzles, it was them. What would they do?

Much like Raven, Cyborg discovered he was sitting in pitch darkness. Unlike her, he at least had some free range of motion. From what he could gather, he was in a circular room. It was difficult to discern much else. He wondered how long he might be in here, or for what purpose Mumbo had in mind.

At first, he had pounded the walls with everything he had. None of his gadgets had any effect. After several minutes of that wasted effort, he had resigned himself to sitting and waiting to see what would happen. After a while, he heard the walls moving. As if a giant were picking it up, Cyborg could see a small sliver of light as the walls were lifted up. He scrambled up and ran towards it. That could be a horrible idea, for all he knew, but it was better than nothing. But just as quickly as the walls went up, they started to go down. Just before he was plunged into darkness once more, he could see Beast Boy in the distance, strapped to a spinning wheel. "B!" he called out in frustration.

As he felt the claustrophobia of being stuck once more, Cyborg noted that he heard some shifting sounds, like stone grinding. Again, the walls started to come up, but again, he wasn't quick enough. This time, he could make out Archangel, trapped in a box filling with water, but no Beast Boy in sight.

He slammed his fists to the wall. This did not make any sense. It was as if he had been moved around without knowing it. What sort of game was Mumbo playing at?

But as he played this game of cat and mouse, it finally started to make sense, piece by piece. He was in a giant shell game, and he was the marble. Mumbo's magic only gave him the illusion that he was not moving.

This was just great, Cyborg thought, bemoaning his fate. This would be impossible. No matter what he would do, he wouldn't be fast enough or strong enough to get out of this the simple way. He would have to outthink it, and he hated the idea.

Robin did not know anything about where he was. It had started out simple enough. He was tied to a chair, left in a pretty bland room. Of course, that was only to lull him into a sense of calm, he knew.
If he had to take a guess, Robin would have said he was in some sort of funhouse, obviously with no intention to be fun for him. He was now standing in what appeared to be a hall of mirrors. Very well, he could play that game.

He reached out his arms, trying to feel the difference between a solid mirror and empty space. He slowly shuffled along, thinking he had found an opening. Almost instantly, what had, moments ago, been a path was now a solid mirror.

Robin heard Mumbo's high-pitched giggles as if coming from a loudspeaker. "Not so fast, Boy Wonder. This is my funhouse, which means my rules."

Great, this was going to be about as unpredictable as dealing with the Joker. At least Mumbo was not as murderous. But, this meant all logic and reason was out the window.

Even worse, it meant he could not have control of the situation. With no rules, for that was pretty much what it was under Mumbo's control, there was no hope of figuring this out.

He made another attempt to move to an opening, hearing the shifting of walls in the distance. All he succeeded in doing was face-planting into yet another mirror.

Archangel was now up to his ankles in water. Thankfully, the box was large enough that it took a while for it to fill up. He had barely managed to burn off the straight jacket, though almost singeing himself in the process. But, after all that, he needed to be finding a way out of this before it got too close. Flames and even his sword were doing no good. The one idea that struck him as genius was his horn. Surely the vibrations could break the glass.

He took in one of the biggest breaths of air he could and let it loose. The box shook for several minutes, and Archangel was certain his own eardrums would burst, but the box held firm. Water continued to pour in. It was now up to his knees.

All Starfire had succeeded in doing was getting herself further tangled up. She had attempted to twist the scarves this way and that, hoping to tangle them and prevent them from receding. Instead, she had created a tangled web of scarves, and she was the fly trapped in it. She struggled and fought, slowly realizing she was absolutely trapped.

Cyborg made a running dive at the next opening, just like sliding into home plate, only to nearly have his fingers crushed as the walls came down again. He was so close!

He sat up and huddled himself in the center of the room. This was madness and he could not take it anymore. He was tempted to give up. Surely one of his other teammates would figure out how to get out of their own traps and could help him. But then, what if they were the ones who needed saving? Cyborg had to keep trying.

Beast Boy thought he might throw up. Between all the spinning and the near-misses with the knives, his stomach had done enough flips for one day. He could barely move, let alone struggle anymore against his restraints. He knew what was going on, though. Mumbo was trying to confuse him and make him lose focus.

By some miracle of chance, Robin had made it out of the hall of mirrors and now faced a room full of doors. This would mean even more wacky, irrational logic. But he could get out of one trap; surely he could work his way out of the next.

Sure enough, as he opened the door, he was either back in the exact same room, or in a totally different room filled with doors. He growled to himself. He had to get out of here before he went crazy.
Raven felt that her situation was starting to get hopeless. In all this time, having her body scrambled continuously in this magic box, she had learned nothing that could help her figure it out. She, like the rest of the Titans, knew this situation could only get worse.

Robin had been stuck in this funhouse for who knows how long. For every one room he could get out of, he would spend what felt like hours trying to figure out the next one. Whether it was mirrors, doors, spinning tunnels, or any combination thereof, he found himself getting progressively more frustrated. Annoying and harmless Mumbo may be, but he was infuriatingly difficult to deal with, bar none.

At present, Robin was walking through a rather dark room. Occasionally, he saw a few trapdoors overhead, but they were well beyond his reach. As of yet, he had found no solution to this problem and only kept walking until Mumbo would hopefully try to trip him up with one of his illogical rules to this place. At least then, he might have a chance of finding a way out.

Not for the first time today, Robin realized just how smart Mumbo really was. If any of his friends were in similar traps, then Mumbo had tailored them to their own weaknesses. Not the physical weaknesses they had practiced on today, but mental. Robin was in a situation he hated above all else: He was in a world outside of his control.

He knew his friends joked about him being such a control freak, but they were right, to an extent. Robin was still used to the old habit of having to take responsibility for everything. That was what he had been taught. And as leader, he let that extend to his team. He felt the need to shoulder the burden of everything. Every failure was his own, every threat to his friends' lives was something he should have been able to prevent, and every shortcoming they had was something he had to fix. Mumbo did not just lay traps. He had condemned them to their own personal hells.

But one idea struck as he dwelled on these thoughts. Mumbo had created this world to be without rules. So, Robin did not need to play by them because they did not exist. If no rules existed, he could make them up just as much as Mumbo did.

Robin decided to test this theory out. As he walked along, where he knew a door should have been above him, it was now right at his feet. As he opened the door, he could see that he might fall down. He had turned the room upside down to suit his needs. As he slid down into the doorway, he knew he had the upper hand.

Cyborg had run himself ragged. There was just no way it could be done. He had exhausted every possibility. He could not outrun it. He could not destroy it. What was he missing?

But that was just it. This was not a test of strength or speed. It was not a time for action. It was a time for thinking. But Cyborg was a man of action. How was he supposed to solve this with thinking?

For several minutes, he watched the walls go up and down at various intervals, knowing full well that his friends were just on the other side in need of as much help as he.

What could he do? The walls never came up more than a few feet, just enough to maybe slide under. Even then, they moved too fast. He was more likely to only get partway through before it came down again. What would be the sense in having only part of himself out?

Wait! That was it! Cyborg had to act fast before the next time it came up. He quickly detached one of his legs and slid it under in a hurry the second the walls came up. He might not be able to get out all in one piece, but he was the one person who could come out in pieces. There would be the matter of finding all his pieces again once he was fully out, but he could worry about that later.

Starfire had to stop and think as she remained tangled in the web of scarves. She had only succeeded in getting stuck even further the more she pulled and tried to knot them. Clearly, this was not the mental puzzle she had thought, so what was the solution?

At least a dozen different ideas ran through her mind at once, and she was tempted to try them all. But the longer she thought, the more she realized how each one of them could fall apart. She needed a plan and fast.

But that was just the problem. Starfire always had speed on her side, and that meant she rarely gave herself time to stop and think. Fatal mistakes could be made because of hesitation, Robin had always taught her. Yet, no one was in any immediate danger now, that she knew of anyway. Now it was important to take the time to think.

To begin with, she needed to undo these knots, even if that meant she would have the scarves recede back into the hats. If she could start from the beginning, that would at least be something.

She looked around and began to see how the knots could unravel. Slowly maneuvering her arms, she began to take apart the web she had created. Bit by bit, she was no longer in a bigger mess than when she had started.

Now at the beginning again, she needed to think about what she could do. Perhaps she could at least find out what she was dealing with. She slowly started to pull on one of the scarf chains. At the very least, she could figure out how much distance she had. Slowly and steadily, she continued to pull, one hand at a time. As she pulled, it occurred to her that this felt a lot longer than it had before.

Starfire was now filled with a sense of hope. So long as she was slow and patient about it, there may actually be an end in sight.

When it came to villains, Raven hated the crazy ones the most. They took logic and threw it out the window. That made Mumbo one of the most annoying in her book. She was still frustrated she had found no clues or had come up with any ideas on how to get out. It was not like she did not have plenty of time to think. Being shuffled around in a box all day, she certainly had plenty of time to think. The problem was every idea she had was too complex and made too much sense for something like whatever Mumbo could cook up.

Mumbo knew how much Raven used her power of reasoning to solve problems, and she hated that he was torturing her with it. She just could not give into stupidity.

But maybe that would be what she had to do to get out: give into the craziness. But was that not what she had been doing this whole time? She had been sitting, waiting for an answer.

Then she looked at the mirror. It was so stupid, it just might work. She was only scrambled because her rational sense of perception told her so. When the box closed for its latest round of scrambling, Raven worked hard to concentrate on what she wanted to see in the mirror. When it opened again, Raven looked, willing herself to see herself unscrambled. And it was so. She cautiously took a step out of the box, feeling how real it was to be back to normal. Now to get that blue-skinned nut.

The water had risen high enough that Archangel had to float. Eventually, though, the water would reach the ceiling, which he could just feel overhead. He was carefully taking in what were probably his last few breaths. What could he do?

Of course, it had to be this. He still could not swim, no matter what Beast Boy had taught him. He had to adapt, he kept telling himself. Ever since coming to Earth, he had had to make a lot of adjustments to get used to the new world around him.

Lately, he had been taking that for granted. He had gotten used to his surroundings, so he rarely challenged himself. Okay, time to adapt, get oriented. He knew there had to be a way.

One last thought occurred to him. Rooms like this had to have a way to drain the water, even if that was closed off for now. Just as the water filled the last few inches of the box, he took the biggest breath he could. That could last him several minutes with his lung capacity.

Time to orient. He could not hear properly or smell in this situation. But he could feel pressure differences. That was it! Archangel followed the increasing pressure in his head to swim to the bottom of the room. In time, he touched the bottom. He let his hands feel around the floor, trying to search for some clue, any indication of a drain.

It did not take long to feel around the entirety of the floor as it was a smaller room. Eventually, he felt the subtle difference between tile and metal. There it was. Feeling for the edges, Archangel took out his sword and started to use it to pry off the metal covering. Wrenching it back and forth, the covering lifted, and he felt the water start to drain. Following pressure currents upward, he now went to where there was air.

Now, there was still the matter of being trapped in this room. Nothing could penetrate that glass. But at least now his life was no longer in danger. He did not have to think long on the matter. He heard two loud booms followed by the sound of cracking.

"Archie, you are unharmed!" Starfire said triumphantly, scooping him up in a hug as she flew through the hole in the glass.

"Looks like we got here just in time, Cyborg added.

Beast Boy could not take any more of this. The disorienting spinning and the shock to his system every time one of Mumbo's knives struck the bullseye had worn him down.

"You're not making this fun, Beast Boy," Mumbo taunted.

This was, of course, the worst situation he could be in. He already had enough trouble as it was staying focused, and now with these other distractions, he did not have a prayer. "Gotta focus," he grunted.

Concentrating was not his forte, but he had to do it. If his friends were still in trouble, he had to help. He had to fight back. With a pained effort, he transformed into a monkey. At least now he had a tail. At least now, he had a chance.

Now came the tricky part. He had to really think to move his tail into the right place. "What are you doing?" Mumbo asked, now becoming suspicious.

Beast Boy only answered by grabbing one of the knives with his tail and throwing it back at Mumbo. "What do you think you're…"

He kept maneuvering to pull the knives out of the bullseye and throwing them back. At least now, Mumbo had stopped throwing them at him. That was one distraction out of the way.

"Why you little…I'm going to-"

"Show's over," Robin said, clocking Mumbo from behind.

Beast Boy slowly felt the wheel coming to a stop, as Raven slowed it down. His head was spinning more now that he was not spinning. "I think we've had enough training for today," he said before collapsing into Raven's arms as she tried to support him.

"Agreed," Robin said, picking up Mumbo, "but we do have one more stop to make."

The others had caught up to them. "But, how are we to get out?" Starfire asked.

Robin looked around. "If it's anything like what I went through, I have a few ideas."

Mumbo gulped, knowing he was finished.