Part 4: Victims

"Guys?" Terra asked the empty lounge.

She was rather surprised. She had expected to find Beast Boy and Scalpel in the room, or at least Scalpel due to his condition.

But no. Apparently they had decided to clear out. Which was VERY strange…couldn't Scalpel barely move?

Maybe they had figured out how to get their powers back! She'd have to raise them on the communicators…

Except her stomach again reminded her that it needed something put in it. She groaned and ran for the kitchen.

It was a pity that the hallway Terra had re-entered the lounge in was as such an angle that she couldn't see the drying blood on the ground. Unfortunately, the angle she COULD see had come from when Beast Boy was bleeding from the shoulder, and most of that blood was in scatters of drops that blended in with the ground at a distance. The bloodier trek to the couch was blocked from Terra's current view.

Also, she wasn't in the most observant state, as she headed for the table, reaching for the bowl full of chocolate bars and scarfing down three before she grabbed a 2 Liter bottle of Pepsi and taking a long drink from that.

A loud thump startled her, and she nearly choked on her drink. Sputtering, feeling the carbon dioxide bubbles burn her throat, she dropped the Pepsi bottle, and it hit the floor, the liquid spilling out. She cursed and reached down to pick it up, pulling it upright…

And THEN she saw the blood.

"What the hell…"

Terra quickly followed the path of blood to the couch, gasping at the large amount at the base of it. She reached down and ran her fingers through it. It certainly felt real.

"Guys? What's going on…" Terra said, as she stood up and turned around.

And found herself face to face with the white masked figure who had crept up on Savior.

This time, however, he was holding a knife.

"This seemed SO easier in the old days…" Cyborg groaned as he strained his shoulder against the double doors.

"The old days were an hour ago Cy." Robin pointed out from his position.

The three had finally made it to the armory, which had quickly decided it wasn't going to let them in: the door command panel was fried even worse then the panel Savior was currently slaving over. But Batman hadn't trained Robin for nothing: The Teen Wonder had quickly formed a back up plan. One might wonder if he had been deliberate in ensuring that in said plan he did as little physical work as possible. The plan consisted of him using small amounts of explosive to blow out the sliding part of the doors and then pry open handholds, and then Cyborg and Starfire had to do the rest and pull the door open manually. It was working, but it was hard, and Robin had said he couldn't participate so he could watch for "stress points" that he could blast to make the job easier. Cyborg had no idea what he was talking about, but he went along for the moment. Though he really didn't much cotton to it.

"Almost there guys." Robin said.

"Robin, we have pried the doors open enough to fit through, must we really engage in further sweating and shoving…" Starfire said.

"We have to be able to shove a crate through Star."

"Can't we just toss all the guns through and then disassemble a crate, toss that through, and then…" Cyborg suggested.

"Sorry Cy. But time's against us. Really, should just take another minute at most." Robin said. Cyborg groaned, and Starfire was muttering to herself in her language.

It actually took another forty-two seconds, and then Robin stepped into the armory, turning on a flashlight as he hunted for the light switch in the totally dark room.

"Man, it's black in here. Shouldn't there be some residual light from the hallway?" Cyborg said.

"I will…Brukay Qerty! My abilities are sealed!" Starfire cursed.

"Relax guys. I found the switch. Let there be light." Robin said, as he found the handle that activated the lights and flicked it on.

The room illuminated…revealing several dozen crates of various sizes. Some were already open, but that didn't alarm Robin much: the Titans had firearm training occasionally. You never knew when you needed to use a gun.

"Ok guys. Cyborg, you empty out that crate. Starfire, you and I go through some of the others, pick out a selection of stuff." Robin said, tossing Starfire a crowbar. The three went to work, as Cyborg began emptying a crate that was full of assault rifles, picking out half a dozen of them and throwing the rest aside. Robin and Starfire occasionally went over and added guns of various sizes to Cyborg's chosen, and he began carefully putting them back into the crate. After working for twenty minutes the Titans had a nice selection, and Starfire and Robin filled two packs with ammo and an extra pack with miscellaneous stuff. The three found a wheeled carrier for the crate and the three were struggling to lift it up onto said carrier when they heard it.

It sounded like a very low moan, but it was enough to make Starfire jump with a shriek, nearly causing the crate to topple over. Robin and Cyborg cursed as they struggled to finish placing it on the carrier, even as Starfire reached into the crate, grabbed a handgun, and began pawing through one of the bags for a clip of ammo.

"Star, what is it?"

"There is something out there! I heard it!"

"Star, that was just one of the crates settling. This room's temperature must have changed slightly by opening the door…"

"Robin, could you stop listening to the rational part of yourself and listen to the part down HERE?" Starfire said, indicating her stomach. "There's something out there!"

"Star…ok Fearless, let's go scout." Cyborg said.

"Take a weapon!"

"I think we'll be ok." Robin said, as he withdrew his staff and headed for the door. He darted around the corner of it…and found nothing.

"Nothing here."

"Same here." Cyborg said from his position on the opposite of Robin. "Hello? Any of you guys out there? If you're playing a prank, stop it, you're scaring Kory."

"And it's inappropriate!" Robin added.

There was no answer.

"I know I heard something." Starfire said, but she was removing the clip. She pocketed it and stuck the gun into the back of her skirt, hoping she had recalled the type of gun right and that it wasn't one of the brand that automatically chambered a round when the clip was inserted. If it was, there was still one bullet in the gun and she didn't want it misfiring: Robin often made flattering comments about her rear and she didn't want a bullet in it for ANY reason.

"Star, you're being paranoid. There's NOTHING out there." Cyborg said.

"I still have a bad feeling." Starfire said.

"It's ok Star. Even if you're right, we'll protect you. We're Titans: nothing can stand before us, even WITHOUT our powers." Robin said.

"Says the only guy on the team without said powers. I wonder…" Cyborg said as he went around and began to push the carrier, heading back to the elevator. This time, he didn't care how long they had to wait: if the elevator still worked, they WOULD be going up it…

Terra stared at the figure for a few seconds before she reacted, as her feelings went from surprise to fear to confusion to amusement back to confusion and finally settled as a mix of the last two.

"Well, hello!" she said. "I didn't expect to see YOU here. Ghostface, isn't it?"

The figure known as Ghostface, who had joined the ranks of slashers with Wes Craven's Scream trilogy, nodded. Terra smirked.

Now…you must understand…what do you think seemed more likely to her: that some of her friends were playing a prank, or that a serial killer had come to life from a movie and was now threatening her?

"Nice trick. Is this all fake, or some animal blood? Pig, maybe?" Terra said. "So, who's in there? Can't be Nigel, he can't move. That you Gar? Aren't you a little short to be a psycho killer?" Terra joked. "You know Gar, this really isn't the best time for some silly game. We're powerless, and besides, don't you know that…"

The knife slashed out.

Which Terra hadn't been expecting. She had expected to be chased a bit first. So she was left totally off guard when Ghostface struck, his hunting knife catching her in the left arm and slicing open a deep wound.

"AHHHHHHHH!" Terra recoiled, more shocked then hurt. The two quickly switched. "AHH! YOU FUCKER!" Terra screamed, reacting on instinct as she raised her right hand…

And then remembered she couldn't throw rocks. Her powers were deactivated.

Ghostface slashed out his knife and sliced through Terra's glove, laying her palm open to the bone. If he'd aimed a little higher he might have taken off some fingers.

Terra screamed and recoiled some more as blood began to pour from her wounded appendage.

Ghostface brought up his other hand, revealing it was clutching something. It looked vaguely like a tape recorder…until he spoke into it.

"I think you have me confused with someone else, bitch." Ghostface said, the distorter changing his voice into an eerie electronic noise, and then with a quick jerk he had put the distorter away and was lunging at Terra, knife raised.

Terra dodged aside and Ghostface flung himself onto the couch, his overenthusiasm working against him. Terra took advantage and tried to run, her mind roiling at this sudden event. What had happened? They were supposed to be watching horror films, not starring in them!

And, deep down, a part of her chimed in with a thought.

Hey, remember what happened to Drew Barrymore in the first Scream?

Ghostface was already back up and lunging at her, and Terra dodged away, trying to think of a plan of action. But her reptile brain, which commanded all the primitive actions, was overwhelming her logical side, and it kept telling her the same thing: run.

Ghostface lunged again, the knife whistling by Terra's back as she dodged, as Ghostface blundered into a wall. But there was nothing amusing about it, as Terra turned and ran back for the couch. Ghostface gave chase, at least until she reached one of the televisions, which she grabbed and threw at him in a burst of adrenaline. The appliance struck him in the shoulder and sent him stumbling back with a muffled curse, as Terra ran for the nearest door.

And found it locked tight.

She turned and the knife stabbed at her head, nearly slicing her ear off as she jerked it aside. Ghostface was ready this time though, and he punched her in the gut, doubling her over. But Terra had enough wherewithal to keep moving, trying to stay away from that knife, as she lunged out under Ghostface's arm and ran for the kitchen.

Another line of burning pain shot through her as Ghostface yanked out his knife from the door and grazed her back, slicing open another line that began to bleed. But her legs still worked, as she ran for the kitchen, Ghostface at her heels. Maybe she could grab her own knife or a frying pan or something…

And she slipped on the Pepsi she had spilled.

She went down with a scared yelp, immediately tried to get up, and only succeeded in twisting her ankle and falling down again. She heard Ghostface behind her and turned.

He was standing above her, his head cocked slightly. Despite the never changing mask, Terra could tell he was amused, as he brought his now bloody knife up and wrapped his other gloved hand around it lightly, wiping the blood off. No sooner had he done that then he'd pulled out his distorter again.

"End of your scene, girlie." He said, and then he lunged at her.

Terra threw herself backwards and rolled, and Ghostface went tumbling down where she had been, his knife slicing off a few errant strands of hair. This time, Terra attacked, kicking the masked killer in the side of the head and sending him rolling with an angry grunt. She got up as he sprang back to his feet and lunged at her once more.

Terra grabbed the door of the fridge she was next to and threw it open, slamming the heavily loaded door into Ghostface's body. His head instinctively went down at the blow…right into the freezer door as Terra threw that one open and slammed it into his face. He flew back and hit the ground, and Terra turned and ran for it.

Ghostface got up and tried to go the other way out of the kitchen in order to cut her off, slashing at her, but Terra dodged again and Ghostface fell over the couch due to his constant overdoing. Terra stopped and finally remembered that while the other doors may be closed and locked, the door she had entered the lounge in wasn't, and she did a quick U-Turn and ran for said door.

Ghostface's arm snaked around the side of the couch and slashed the knife out, slicing a deep wound into the back of her thigh. Terra screamed and went down, as she felt the gloved hand grip her ankle. She tried to pull away, but even her desperation couldn't overcome the madman's grip that Ghostface had on her leg as he pulled himself up. She twisted around, putting herself on her back, noticing out of the corner of her eye the TV she had thrown at Ghostface was nearby.

And Ghostface yanked himself up, planted his knees on her shoulder, and stabbed the knife down.

Terra got up her hands and caught Ghostface's wrists as he tried to finish his fatal stab. The point of the knife stopped two inches from Terra's eye.

Her arms quaked with strain as she fought to keep the knife away, but she was at the disadvantage in physical strength and leverage, and one of her hands was wet with her own blood, and the knife, millimeter by millimeter, slid down towards her…

"No…no…" Terra said, as the knife seemed to fill her vision.

Ghostface didn't reply: he just kept pressing down…

And then he screamed as Terra twisted her leg and brought her knee up, slamming it right into his testicles. The knife slipped to the side and sliced open Terra's cheek as she twisted her head, but she ignored the pain as she reached out and seized a large chunk of glass in her left hand, and even as that cut into her fingers she brought it up and rammed it into Ghostface's chest. He bellowed, and Terra pulled herself forward enough to get her feet up under Ghostface and shoved him backwards. As blood ran down her neck from her sliced face she stood up, and turning she began to stagger away, limping due to her injured leg.

"YOU BITCH!"

That strange electronic tone somehow managed to startle her again as she turned around, and her eyes widened. Ghostface was getting back up, and the bastard had actually pulled out his voice distorter to talk to her, as he grabbed the shard of glass with his hand and yanked it out.

Panic flooded Terra again. That had been her best shot without her powers and with her injuries and he had shrugged it off. She had to run, get help, get away…

So she turned and started to run, as best she could, as Ghostface tried to get up himself, but it was clear her stab had hurt him as he fell forward on his hands and knees, which let her get some distance, but it didn't last long as he got up and started after her again.

But it had been enough time for Terra to reach her door, and she headed through it. She went past the elevator and headed for the stairs. If she could just get down a flight…

Ghostface appeared in the doorway, his shadow flashing briefly over Terra, but she didn't falter, she was at the balcony that overlooked the lower floor the stairs led do, she just had to…

And Ghostface hurled his knife.

The blade spiraled through the air…and impaled itself into Terra's upper back.

She suddenly stopped like a switch had been turned off. She gave a brief whimper…and then she fell, trying to feebly grab onto the balcony on the way down and failing as she hit the floor.

Ghostface approached her as she twitched, blood starting to pool around her. He reached into his left sleeve and withdrew another knife, wanting to make sure that if he had missed her spine or her lung, that he'd finish her off.

Terra was ineffectually trying to reach behind her and get the knife as Ghostface's form fell over her, and she looked up.

"Time to die now." He said into his distorter, and dropped it as he swung the knife up.

And Terra twisted her arm the extra half-inch it needed and yanked the knife out of her back and thrust it forward, stabbing Ghostface right in the middle of his chest.

"……Huh…?" Ghostface said. Without the distortion, the voice sounded male…but who could be sure? In the course of the Scream films, there had been a total of five people behind the Ghostface mask, and only one had been female…but who knows which one of them had tried to slice Terra to ribbons?

All Terra knew was that despite her agony, she'd scored a hell of a hit, as Ghostface staggered back, his knees beginning to wobble, as he gripped the knife she had plunged into his chest and tried to remove it, even as he fell to his knees, started to collapse…

And then reared back up, screaming, taking his hands away from the knife completely as he charged Terra, swinging his own blade at her face as he bellowed his rage and his desire to kill…

And Terra ducked under him. Ghostface yelled in surprise and then screamed as he stumbled over Terra's body, hitting the balcony, and then Terra yanked her shoulder up, using the leverage to fling Ghostface over the balcony entirely.

His scream was short and cut off with a dull crunch.

And then there was no noise at all.

Slowly, Terra pulled herself up. Her whole body felt liquidy, but she couldn't stop now. There were killers in the Tower…

The red all over her body was sliding over her vision…

Terra collapsed at the head of the stairs, dead to the world and maybe just the first word in that expression.

And if not now, soon.

"Something is wrong Tim. I can feel it." Starfire said. Robin sighed.

"Starfire…well, is there anything I can do to convince you that you're just being paranoid?"

"Have all our teammates radio in, see if they're all right." Starfire said.

"All right." Robin said, as he reached for his communicator.

"Give you something to do at least." Cyborg said from where he was standing in front of the elevator doors.

"Vic, I don't think…"

"The elevator is coming! I can hear it!"

"Then why is it taking so long?"

"I don't know, some glitch! It seems to keep going up and down without stopping on our floor! But it will stop here eventually! I'm not lugging all that up the stairs!" Cyborg said, pointing to the crate of weapons.

"I must admit that does not sound like fun Robin." Starfire said.

"Hey, I know, but we're working on a time table here…may as well raise Raven and Savior first, see if they've figured out what's going on here." Robin said, and turned on the communicator. "Robin here gu…"

The hissing static gave Robin pause, and it also made Starfire's eyes start to dilate again.

"Ah come on…" Robin said, fiddling with the device. "Anyone, come in! Anyone! Come on! These devices were designed to be impossible to interfere with!"

"Robin…there IS something wrong. This proves it." Starfire said.

"Anyone? Come in! Anyone! Fuck and damn!" Robin cursed. He tried switching frequencies. More static.

"Robin, we have to do something." Starfire said.

"I'm beginning to think the girl's right Robin." Cyborg said, as he turned around to face the two.

"Is anyone there? ANYONE?" Robin, acting like the two weren't there. Cyborg sighed.

"Cyborg…we must get ready. Our friends…they may not have known…we must…it may already be too late…" Starfire said, bringing her hands to the lower part of her face. In the back of his mind, Cyborg heard the elevator coming down again and hoped it would stop on this floor this time.

"Look Star, don't panic." Cyborg said. "Yeah, this powers thing is weird. So is this static. But if this was part of something larger, I doubt Slade or the Lord would have the patience to wait this long, let us stew in our own juices, and wonder what's in the shadows until we snap. I think this is just something that is weird but is mostly coincidence. Now just calm down. Nothing has happened to our friends, and nothing…"

And the elevator stopped behind Cyborg.

The doors slid open.

And the arms of the zombies reached out and grabbed the robot, yanking him back into a rotten mass of flesh and terrible hunger.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Cyborg screamed as he suddenly found himself yanked backwards and surrounded by pulling, grasping, yanking, tearing hands and the sensation of teeth biting at him.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Starfire screamed as the doors opened and revealed a horde of humans, except they weren't humans: their clothes were all torn, dirty, and decomposed, their flesh rotten, falling off, showing muscles and veins and organs and bones, a horrific stench coming from it all and an even greater feeling of desire, a horrific desire.

"HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Cyborg screamed, as Robin finally turned…

The hand clawed for his eyes.