Hello to the Night
Chapter One
1
September 24th
"Well," Cyborg said as he tapped a few keys on the computer. "Since we're using the Tower as the haunted house, we'd have to be able to… cancel it, right? Can't live like that."
"Right," Robin agreed.
"So, I wrote a program that will make all our haunted effects go away after a certain hour."
"That hour being?"
"Two in the morning."
"Great, so we're entertaining guests until two in the morning," Raven commented dryly. "Maybe this isn't such a good idea."
"Too late, Raven," Robin told her. "I already got permission for civilians to approach the Tower. We're locked in, now."
And so the work began. First, they wallpapered the entire tower (except for the evidence room and the Titans' bedrooms, which everybody wanted to keep private) in a type of wallpaper that would peel off if you tugged hard enough. Then, they painted that wallpaper black.
After that, the physical construction began. A few of the rooms in the Tower gained something mechanical to add to the effect.
The training room got a "weight-machine monster," the computer lab received a robotic mannequin that appeared to drop from the ceiling and "attack" visitors and the kitchen became the proud owner of the first ever evil toaster.
But Cyborg and Beast Boy were particularly proud of the living room. Together, they had managed to rig the couch so that it would appear to attack the haunted house's patrons.
Raven had to admit that they were good tricks.
Many of the rooms would be populated only by Raven's illusory horrors, inspired by the things she had accidentally done after watching Wicked Scary. Of course, she wouldn't use the Wicked Scary trademark monster. No, she had something else up her sleeve.
As if Raven's too-real illusions weren't enough, the Titans themselves would all be present in the haunted Tower. Beast Boy would morph into a T-Rex and Cyborg would emerge from the shadows and pretend to shoot his sonic canon at the haunted house's patrons. Robin would haunt them like a ghost, appearing and disappearing at random. Starfire would use her powers to cast an eerie glow, and throw green bolts of energy. Those bolts would, of course, fizzle out before touching anyone.
If all went well.
"We launch at sunset on October 4th," Robin said, turning to face them. "Let's have fun, okay? Test run is on September 30th."
.
.
.
September 30th, 9:02 PM
The Teen Titans assembled in the evidence room. Robin's disembodied voice gave them a valuable piece of information he'd held back.
"Hey!" Beast Boy shouted, even as Raven settled into lotus position— three feet in the air— to conjure the illusions. "You never said we were scaring the Justice League!"
Robin laughed maniacally as he emerged from the shadows silently enough to make the Dark Knight proud. "Always wanted to do that," he chuckled. "Sorry, BB. The JLA didn't want you all to know."
"And why not?" Raven asked.
"They think it'll be scarier if we're desperate. Let's just take the scary up a notch… or seventeen." He looked around at the assembled. "Now, let's get this show on the road!"
.
.
.
The JLA entered Titan Tower. The walls were black and spattered with a dark substance Batman only needed to glance at to identify as blood.
He and Superman exchanged glances, but continued moving.
"Robin? Raven?" Flash called. "Cyborg? Beast Boy?"
"Starfire?" Wonder Woman was the one who called out this time.
The Tower did not answer.
The members of the Justice League shrugged to each other.
Batman noted the strange signs written in blood on the inside of the elevator, and Superman looked slightly troubled. "They've got the walls covered in something like lead," he whispered. "I can't see anything with my X-ray vision."
"Smart kids," Flash laughed.
The elevator stopped for no reason, and the doors opened.
So they stepped out, into a room just as black as all the other rooms they'd seen. A small, still figure lay on the floor in a pool of dark liquid.
Closer examination revealed the figure to be Raven's corpse. Something had ripped open her stomach, seemingly from the inside, and the back of her head appeared smashed in... Or out.
Someone had scrawled the words "Azarath Metrion Zinthos" on her forehead— in her own blood.
Wonder Woman gasped, Superman looked revolted while Flash and Aquaman looked faintly green.
Batman felt hollow.
Something was wrong with this picture. This was a haunted house… this wasn't Raven.
Was it?
...
...
Say hello to the night
Lost in the shadows
Say hello to the night
Lost in the loneliness
Say hello to the night
Lost in the shadows
No one knows
-- Lou Gramm, Lost in the Shadows