Titans: Elemental

Chapter 45: Fear Itself, Part 1

We return to Jump city with dark storm clouds and flashes of lightning patrolling the night sky.

During this, at a video story, a crowd of panicking customers bursts out and breaks for cover. Inside, a clerk screams and backs across the floor. Some large thing with many long, sparking appendages rears up before her, causing her to stumble down, showing this thing as coaxial cables. The main body, a large television set whose static-filled screen frames an evilly grinning face with narrowed red eyes.

It brings two of the cable ends together, striking an arc, and leans toward the imperiled young woman; she cries out and shields her face.

Suddenly, the perpetrator of this crime presses a button on a frightening looking remote control.

This stops the big screen in its tracks, wipes out the static, and leaves just a blank expression on the face.

The remote's user is standing atop the shelves near a wall of video screens, and, well, he looks like the biggest nerd in the world. Fat, long straggly hair, dressed after the fashion of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Chewbacca in Star Wars, a dark gray overcoat topping off the ensemble: this is Control Freak.

Control Freak, "okay. Either you admit that Warp Trek Five, which reunited the entire original cast of the classic TV series, deserved to be on your, 'Favorite Rentals', list, or…."

When he says the movie name, he points the remote at the screens and brings up an image of a green-skinned starship crewman to make his point. After he finishes saying this, he aims the device toward the television monster, and it comes back to life. The clerk scuttles back toward the candy counter!

Clerk, "please! I-I don't even know what Warp Trek is!"

Control Freak, "and that, my little tribble, is why you must be destroyed!"

Another button pressed; the screen roars, strikes sparks from two cables, and reaches toward her. She screams and dives over the counter to get out of striking range.

She is behind the display and looking up fearfully; the thing floating steadily toward her hiding place.

Before it can get to her, though, a sonic cannon blast drives it off to one side. Control Freak covers his face as dust flies back from the area of its collision with the far wall. He looks up with a gasp; and at the entrance is where the Titans have arrived on the scene and Vic has his weapon at the ready.

The overweight movie nut hops nimbly from one shelf to the next, approaching them.

Control Freak, "Well, well, well. If it isn't my old arch-nemesis…. Ses…. The Titans!"

BB, "um, yeah. Who is this guy?"

Vic shrugs, equally puzzled.

Bryan, "he looks like a guy I wedgied in high school."

They all get their answer when the screens all come up showing an image of Control Freak at the click of his remote.

Control Freak, "I am the master of monsters! I am your darkest nightmares come to life! Pull back again. I am…. Control Freak!"

The genuine article stands up into view on the end of this and produces applause and clapping with the right button.

Raven, "a couch potato with a souped-up remote. I'm petrified."

Rose, "with an outfit like that, who wouldn't be scared."

Control Freak, "you will be. You will be."

Jack, "okay, I'm a movie buff, and even I have to say; get a life."

Control Freak laughs and fires up the controller; near Raven, a video drop box grows considerably and turns its deposit slot into a toothy mouth. She gasps and backs up from its expanding shadow as it growls in a very rusty manner.

The drop box stomps toward her, when Vic leaps in and hits the thing broadside with a flying shoulder to knock it away, but it soon recovers and locks up with him.

Vic, "don't worry, Raven", he picks it up, "I can drop the drop box!"

He tosses it across the store; it fetches up against several sets of shelves, and he leaps in with a yell to do a little old-school clobbering.

Control Freak points his remote at the clearance section and yells, "here a a blast from the past!"

When he presses the button, an old VHS player sprouts long legs made of wires and began stalking out of the hallway and attacks Jack, who quickly freezes it and smashes it as several more chase after him!

Jack, "this is why I switched to DVD!"

Dick, "get his remote!"

He dashes across, followed by Starfire, Blackfire and BB.

Control Freak, "show's not over, Titans. And if you thought Part One was scary, just wait for the sequels!"

Blackfire, "why? It's gonna suck anyway!"

He aims his remote at the two cash registers; as the cowering clerk cries out in fear, evil faces appear on the price displays and the handheld scanners float up of their own accord.

The Titans, save Vic, look from here to Control Freak, who has dropped to the floor and now brings a set of shelves to life. The video boxes on the top level are red while those below are white, and most of them fall away to leave the unit with two eyes and a snarling mouth. It moves in.

Now the others look elsewhere and see the portly enemy twirling around the floor. Another click, this one with the remote aimed under his upraised leg, and at a large cardboard cutout of an alien in samurai armor. He jumps in the air and brings to life a cutout of a large robot with glowing eyes. Its eyes glow red as it brings the blade back for a swing, to the sound of the geek's laughter. The bewildered Titans look at it all and then to Control Freak, who waves derisively at them.

The two-dimensional samurai warrior and Dick face off, and as the former charges, the latter brings his fighting staff out, extends it, and leaps away. He comes down behind it and sends it flying with a well-placed swing; in an instant, though, it stretches its body and strikes at him like a snake. Dick is sent flying across the room.

Rose begins using her sword to block laser blasts sent at her by the robot as Bryan shoots at it with his laser gun.

A stream of coins lances through the area like a machine-gun fusillade. Here comes Starfire and Blackfire, swooping through with the two cash registers in hot pursuit and spitting their change at them. The chase swings low down one aisle as BB backs into view at its far end. The mutated set of shelves is bearing down on him here. In no time flat, he has transformed into a roaring tyrannosaurus rex; the unit screams shrilly, all its "teeth" and "eyes" falling out, and he tears into it.

Meanwhile, Raven skids backward away from Control Freak as he approaches at a leisurely pace.

Raven, "you like bad movies, right?"

She levitates several scattered videos and propels them toward him. His first response is to work the remote, bringing them to a stop in midair.

Control Freak, "yeah, but they like you!"

He sends them right back at her; they line up into an unbroken string, like a group of dominoes laid end to end, and wrap her up from shoulders to waist.

Vic, meanwhile, has hoisted up the shelving unit BB fought, its "face" is back together, and slams it to the floor. He wipes his hands smugly, but his mood quickly changes to one of surprise.

Vic, "huh?"

Control Freak, once again spinning across the floor, hits a button. Behind Vic, the candy counter is affected; all the goodies leap off the shelves and come snarling after him.

Various candies, "eat him…. Who's delicious now, big man?"

Bryan lands nearby from the robot punching him and says, "you gotta be kidding me!"

The sugary horde leaps at him and attaches itself all over his body; he cries out and tries to back away.

Vic, "bad candy, bad candy! Get off! Hey, hey! Stop that! Stop! That's not yours!"

The cash registers rocket across, spilling bills here and there, with Starfire and Blackfire now chasing them and firing starbolts. Staefire shoots one down with ease, but the other takes evasive action and slows down to fall in behind Blackfire. It then starts to fire off coins; she is thrown briefly off balance, but gets herself under control and bounces off a wall straight back at the thing. One point-blank shot puts the crazed piece of retail hardware out of action for good.

Their boots touch down amid the clinking change and fluttering currency. Starfire picks up a coin and looks at it with a curious smile. An instant later, one of the big-screen monster's cables whips into view, wraps her up, and gives her a shock that forces a loud squeal out of her. She is quickly hauled toward the face with Blackfire blasting starbolts at it as Dick backs into view, trading hits with the cardboard samurai-now back to original humanoid form. It goes into a new charge, and he gets a wingding ready. With a brilliant white streak slashing across the area, the weapon finding its mark, and he comes down from a leap. Behind him, the figure has stopped in its tracks.

He runs off after a moment, it falls apart, having been split down the middle by his throw.

Rose is dodging the robot over and over until a huge ball of frozen VHS players hits it, breaking it apart!

Jack approached Rose as she says, "thanks."

Jack, "no problem."

That set of deranged shelves slides backward into view. Its "face" shows how scared it is, and for good reason, as we see when BB charges in as a bull and gores it. The thing skids farther and crashes into other shelves, throwing up a curtain of dust. Out comes the green Titan, back in human form and badly dazed from the collision. He staggers a bit, and stops when another cardboard cutout is partially in view. This snaps his brain back into its groove; he stares silently for a second and then flails his arms with a high-pitched scream.

The display's base shows a movie title in red letters that look as if painted in blood, "Wicked Scary."

Above this are several tentacles issuing from under the hem of a long, tattered robe a figure is wearing. They are very tall, hood up, no facial features visible within except for one glowing red pinpoint of an eye.

BB, "dude! Wicked Scary is out on video?"

Stars appear in his eyes; Control Freak comes up next to him, his eyes doing likewise.

Control Freak, "I know! Director's cut, digitally remastered, alternate ending, it's great."

Jack actually goes up and says, "God I love horror films!"

But then he has to run off as another VHS player attacks him!

Bryan and Rose face-palm at the geekiness. Especially since even Jack went crazy over the film.

BB, "cool!"

The happy moment ends when he realizes that this man is actually an enemy.

BB, "not cool."

Control Freak grins nastily and fires up his remote. The display then comes to life. Those tentacles flash toward BB, who lets off a terrified scream. Raven is still bound by the videos she tried to sling at the foe. Her legs are free, and she backs up as a swarm of cassettes floats toward her; each has long loops of tape hanging down, and the reels have become red eyes. Those loops snap out and bind Raven from head to toe. She starts to topple backward, then gathers herself and breaks free with a mighty burst of her powers.

Raven, "you don't scare me."

BB, "look out, he'll eat your brains!"

The Wicked Scary cutout goes after him; a moment later, more tape strands from the flying cassettes lash toward her and she dives away.

Vic crawls along the carpet as the mad candies chew on him.

Vic, "ow, ow, ow, ow, OW", he stands up, "ALRIGHT", he tears several candies loose, "if y'all are biting Cyborg, Cyborg's biting back!"

He shovels the handfuls into his mouth, chews happily, and swallows.

Vic, "mmm-mmm! Never knew evil tasted so good."

The others scream in fear, detach themselves from his body, and beat a hasty retreat. As he stands there grinning, a loud rumble makes itself heard from within: what he just ate has disagreed with him violently. His face goes slack, then green and sweaty.

Vic, "oh, boy..."

He rushes out and vomits into the first trash can he finds.

Inside, Starfire is still held fast in one of the big-screen monster's snaking cables as Blackfire tries to free her, but Dick's wingding flashes across and cuts her loose before sticking in the ceiling. He rushes up, staff ready to swing, and lands a thundering blow that would shatter the screen of any normal television set. This one just gets knocked backward, hard, and crashes into the wall. Dick leaps and catches the still-bound Starfire, whose cables fall off when they both touch down.

He looks across the store and sees Raven and BB backing toward each other from their respective threats.

Jack, Rose and Bryan are dashing across the store from more of the old tech that had been brought to life with evil intent.

Behind Dick, Control Freak's laughter makes itself heard; he moves aside to show the villain standing in the aisle. A button pressed, and the insane television moves back into the free-for-all. A swinging cable forces Dick, Blackfire and Starfire to dive in opposite directions; when he lands, he looks up at the ceiling. He looks at the sprinklers on the ceiling. The big screen closes in, and Dick makes up his mind and brings out two wingdings. Making a huge leap that takes him higher than any regular pair of legs can carry a person, he lets them fly; they weave all over the place and slice through all the sprinklers.

Water gushes down from the broken pipes. The attacking cassettes yield under the deluge and tumble to the floor; the cardboard display softens and crumples, and the VHS players fall to the ground in a sparking mess. BB laughs, Raven smiles, Bryan and Jack high-five, Rose kicks one of the tapes, and the clerk peeks up over the counter. Last to go is the television; a big drop of sweat slides down the edge of the screen, the static winks out, and the face becomes very uneasy. Sparks crackle from the shorting circuits as it topples backward and crashes to the floor at Control Freak's feet. He voices a strangled cry.

Control Freak, "my remote! I can't live without my remote!"

Dick takes it away and grabs a fistful of shirt.

Dick, "ever think maybe you watch too much TV?"

Control Freak, "this isn't over! You hear me? This isn't over!"

Vic has returned now.

Raven, "looks pretty over to me."

BB waves his arms excitedly as Vic staggers a bit, moaning and clutching his gut.

BB, "guys!"

He ducks, video boxes fly up into view, he is rummaging on the floor, and Vic's stomach rumbles anew. The Titan who overindulged claps a hand to his mouth and runs back out to vomit again.

Bryan, "I'll go help Vic get everything out of his system."

Rose, "better you than me babe."

BB stands up, holding a copy of Wicked Scary. The hooded creature is on the cover, as are a couple of terrified people.

BB, "check it out! Movie night!"

At the counter, the clerk has not yet gotten to her feet. He sets the video down and starts to fish around in the pouches of his belt. Raven stands behind him, her posture and face showing just how little she thinks of the whole run-in, and Dick, Blackfire and Starfire drag Control Freak away.

Blackfire, "let's hope we don't see this guy again."

Dick, "I doubt this is the last of him."

BB, "um, I-I know I've got my rental card somewhere."

He removes one boot and shakes it to see if the card is stuck in there. The video is thrust into view toward him.

Clerk, "just take it!"

He blinks bemusedly down at the offering.

Jack, "heh, that's a pretty good reward."

….

Later at the tower, we see a room whose walls display a wealth of objects connected with the Titans' previous adventures, with Dick at the far end. We now see glass cases in the center of the floor, holding more items. This is the evidence room of Titans Tower. Dick goes to a small pedestal; his shadow falls over it, and he reaches into view to set Control Freak's remote atop it. A burst of feedback is heard over an intercom speaker, shaking him out of his brief reverie.

BB, "Dick! Emergency! Get up here, now!"

He runs for the door and soon gets to the living room, which opens to admit him. Rain is heard outside.

Dick, "report!"

BB stands on the far side of the coffee table, while the other Titans are on the couch.

Dick, "what's the problem?"

BB holds up the video, "the problem is, it's showtime, and you're not in your seat."

Dick steams at having been called up for something as trivial as this, and a vein throbs in his forehead. As Raven reads a book, Starfire holds a large bowl of candy.

Starfire, "Victor? You are certain you do not desire unhealthy sugar candies?"

He recoils and moans weakly.

Vic, "make it go away…."

Bryan is already digging into some popcorn he made as Jack gets closer to Raven. Rose looks terrified about watching the movie.

Dick vaults onto the couch.

BB, "ladies and gentlemen, get ready for the scariest night of your lives. Maybe Control Freak's monsters didn't scare you, but this movie is going to freak you out."

The last word puts him right next to Raven, who has not looked up from her reading.

Raven, "whatever."

Dick, "it can't be any creepier than the documentary on hot dogs Starfire made us watch."

Blackfire, "oh God, I couldn't eat pork for a week after that!"

Starfire, "it was fascinating! I had no idea that Earth people ate so many pigs, and insects."

Her words set off a new wave of indigestion in Vic's gut; his face goes green, and he hangs over the back of the couch to vomit once more. Luckily, there was a can there for him to empty his stomach into.

BB, "yeah, yeah, bugs and hot dogs, big deal. This movie is supposed to be cursed. When people watch it, strange things happen."

He leans toward them and his face goes red.

BB, "and creepy evil things."

His complexion returns to normal as he backs off and laughs maniacally. Lightning cracks out through the windows behind him. Not a bit of this has changed Raven's demeanor or made her close the book.

Raven, "just start the movie."

Jack, "yeah, I'm eager to see how scary it is."

Rose, "I'm not!"

Rose covers her remaining eye with her patch and snuggles closer to Bryan.

BB's face falls and a vein throbs in his temple as he pulls out the television remote. The screen fills with static and blacks out.

The movie's title fades in, appearing as it did on the box.

….

We see the Titans in the middle of the movie. They all look utterly terrified as it plays out.

The lights have been shut off, so that the only illumination is from the screen and the night sky outside. They all stare as the sound of low, unearthly chuckling comes from the speakers. Starfire has grabbed the end of Dick's shirt and is huddled behind it. Rose closed her eye tghtly as she snuggled into Bryan more. Jack was actually holding onto Raven!

….

As the movie finished up, the thunderstorm outside got worse and worse.

In the movie, a woman backs up in the approaching shadow of the tentacled creature seen on the box and screams in pure terror. The screen snaps to black, against which the word "END" fades into view in big red letters.

They are still frozen from the sheer horror of what they have just witnessed; Starfire's eyes are now shut tight. BB carefully peeks up from behind the couch, he has been hiding here the entire time.

BB, "is it over?"

Jack, "dear God, I hope it is."

Starfire, "I dare not open my eyes to find out."

Blackfire also peaks out from behind the couch and says, "I'll never be able to sleep again after this."

Rose, "I'm not moving my patch back until it is!"

Vic, "now I'm really sick to my stomach."

Bryan, "I can't even finish my popcorn."

Dick, "I've fought psychotic villains, robot commandos, and giant oozing monsters-"

Raven's hood is down, but she quickly composes herself, puts it up, and turns away as Dick continues.

Dick, "-but THAT is the scariest thing I have ever seen."

They all trade wide-eyed stares for a long, tense moment, and then break out in exuberant laughter and chatter.

BB, "did I tell you or did I tell you?"

Blackfire, "God, you were right!"

Starfire, "thrilling, Beast Boy! It was wonderfully horrible!"

Jack, "you made a good choice, dude."

Vic, "yeah, when she went into the basement-"

Dick, "-and it was right behind her and she turned and-"

Bryan, "-that bloodcurdling scream!"

Vic, "I was freaking out! I wanted to turn it off."

Rose, "same here!"

Raven turns the rest of the way back and puts her hood down as BB leans over to her.

BB, "so…. Come on, Raven, admit it. You were totally scared."

Raven, "I don't do fear."

Jack, "come on babe, admit it!"

Raven, "not gonna happen."

…..

Later that night, the raging storm continues on. Sheets of water pour over the windows.

We sew Raven, asleep in bed. A flash of lightning shows a profile view of her, sitting up with a sharp gasp. She has taken off her cloak to sleep.

She looks out the window, then across the room. She gazed at her four-eyed drama masks, and finally to a bookend statue that looks like an enlarged copy of the small black birds in her mind world that Jack, BB and Vic went to.

Raven, "maybe I should consider redecorating. Like a motivational cat poster?"

She looks out uneasily for a moment more and then settles back down to sleep. All is quiet until a piercing scream rips through the air and snaps her bolt upright again; it sounds just like the one in the final scene of Wicked Scary.

….

Raven runs into the living room with her cloak on.

Raven, "who screamed?"

The other Titans have gathered there and switched the lights back on.

Dick, "sounded like something from the movie. Did we leave the TV on?"

Blackfire, "don't look at me."

Starfire, "we did not", she picks up the video, "and the movie is right here."

Jack, "is it still in the case?"

Starfire opens it and says, "yes."

Out go the lights.

Vic, "okay. That's creepy."

He extends a small flashlight from his shoulder and turns it on.

Bryan begins shining a light from his cybernetic eye and says, "you took the words right out of my mouth."

Swiveling slowly in place, Vic lets the beam play over the kitchen, from counter to tables. Dick steps into the circle of light.

Dick, "the storm. Probably just tripped a circuit breaker."

Rose, "right, that's gotta be it."

That's when a tentacle reaches into view to touch his shoulder. Giving it only a raised eyebrow, he says nothing else as the others cry out; now he smiles.

Dick, "okay, Beast Boy, you got us", he pushes the tentacle off, "good one."

The onlookers remain stock-still as BB leans into view next to them.

BB, "uh…. Dude?"

Jack, "that ain't Beast Boy..."

Now both of Dick's eyebrows are all the way up as he turns his attention back toward the source of that touch. Vic and Bryan's flash moves that way, and rests on the robed one-eyed terror now standing in the room. It rips away the garments to show all of itself: blue-gray skin, mouths all over its body, long tangled hair, two normal arms in addition to the tentacles, and a large red eye to either side of the one seen under its hood. It backs up and lets off a primal roar; the Titans stare, their feet nailed to the floor with terror.

The couch is grabbed in one long tentacle and tossed aside with ease; now many others lash out and force the nune to scatter. Dick tries to deliver a kick, but gets knocked backward before he can drive it home. He tumbles past BB, who becomes a T-rex and roars in the creature's face. Its answering yell scares him so badly that he changes into a cat and runs off with a startled, little yowl.

Jack tries shooting fire at it, but it merely swats it away and sends him careening into the kitchen.

Bryan and Rose back up as the thing smiles broadly from all its mouths, but its mood goes sour when a starbolt blasts into its back. It turns and finds Starfire and Blackfire floating in midair; they throw several more shots, which it deflects with one arm before snaking two tentacles up and seizing them. They are reeled in with screams, at which point Vic jumps up to wrestle with the monster. As the three Titans struggle against it, Raven steps up.

Raven, "Azarath Metrion Zinth-"

Lightning cracks out as she cuts herself off sharply. Her hands, which should be black with her powers by this point in the incantation, are still completely normal in appearance. She regards them with considerable surprise.

Raven, "my powers!"

Dick and Bryan rush in to give Starfire, Blackfire and Vic some backup and are seized; BB, as a falcon, swoops along next and dodges a swipe. He turns into an octopus just before reaching the three-eyed face and wraps all eight of his own tentacles around it. Jack starts trying to freeze the tentacles as Rose swings her sword around to try to slice into them. Dick, Bryan and Vic redouble their assaults on the limbs that hold them, and Raven begins a charge. It is cut short when a tentacle slams into her, driving her back next to the stairs that lead up to the side door.

Jack, "Raven!"

The monster disappears without any warning and leaves the other Titans tumbling to the floor in a heap. A cry is heard from Starfire.

Starfire, "someone's claws are on my grebnacks!"

BB, "heh…. My bad."

Bb stands up in human form, whatever form he had taken, some part of it touched her in the wrong place, and the other Titans in the pile straighten up as well.

Bryan, "um, do grebnacks mean…?"

Blackfire, "yes."

Rose, "ew."

They are thoroughly bewildered by this turn of events. Vic's shoulder flashlight has retracted, and Bryan has deactivated his eye's light.

Vic, "there was a monster here, right?"

Jack, "last I checked. Something did throw me into the kitchen afterall."

Dick, "but where did it go?"

Starfire, "and from where did it come?"

Rose, "and how the heck did it get into the tower."

Bryan, "million dollar questions."

BB, "hel-lo? Isn't it obvious? The movie's curse! Watching it opened a portal to another dimension. The monster came through the portal, now it's going to hunt us down and eat us! And I'm probably delicious!"

After he finishes, the others are having big trouble swallowing even one word of this theory.

Vic, "or…?"

Dick, "Control Freak must have escaped and come to the Tower to get his remote, and take his revenge."

Starfire cries out and steps aside; Raven is behind her.

Raven, "but that doesn't explain why my powers aren't working."

Jack, "yeah, none of our powers were affected. So why Raven's?"

Vic, "if that remote can turn candy evil, who knows what else it can do?"

Bryan, "for all we know, a whole lot worse."

Dick, "whatever's going on, we need to get to the bottom of it. Split up and search the Tower!"

All but BB scatter. He turns into an octopus again and yanks them back, then resumes human form.

BB, "split up? Split up?! Did you not see the movie? When you split up, the monster hunts you down one at a time, starting with the good-looking comic relief guy", he grabs Dick's tunic, "me!"

He shudders and curls himself around the shoulders of the leader, who struggles to pull him off during the next line.

Dick, "get a grip, Beast Boy! The monster's not going to eat anybody."

Rose, "least of all you."

Jack, "he's right though. Splitting up isn't a good idea. "

Raven, "he's right. There's nothing to be afraid of."

A violent lightning strike throws its glare over her and makes everyone face the windows for the next bolt.

….

Reviews:

Bailey Radcliff: glad you enjoyed the chapter.

Canadude2029: thanks. Glad you liked those things added in.

TheGoldenYoshichu: I'm really happy you enjoyedy what i did regarding Spike.

….

This episode honestly scares me more now as an adult, then as a kid.

Strange, hmm? And this is coming from a guy who never got scared by King Ramses in Courage the Cowardly Dog.