Poor Twisted Me Chapter 18
Hi everyone! I'm back. It was pretty fun down in south Carolina, but I'm not going to go into detail, because I know everyone's dying to see if Beast Boy's dead or not. No pun intended. The only bad part was that I got three huge bug bites and they ITCH LIKE HELL!
On a bit of a darker note, I received my first flame a couple weeks ago from someone named ocdsugar. But she did take note of what I would accept, so I won't get mad. The only part that was unnecessary was when she called me dumb, since I have an IQ of 157.
Anyways, review answering time!
Snea- Hey, that's a good idea. I will make it extra long!
Mrs. Myxztipik- What do you mean by 'doing the dishes with this story'? I didn't quite get that part. But anyways, thanks for reviewing!
Living Impaired- I don't know what you did to deserve this! Maybe it's because you like an author who goes on so many trips! Hehe.
Fanfic Gurl- hey! You're back! What's up? And I'm updating! See? I am right now!
Loviegurlie- Thanks! And there will be a lot more chapters, now that you ask. If the two other acts are as long as this one, it might go up to 60 chapters! Holy crap. Wow, that's gotta be, like, 720 reviews! Am I the only one who likes to see how many reviews I get per chapter?
Daeren Ryft- Yeah, that whole sandwich fetish just popped into my head. Ever have that? Ideas that just pop into your head at random? I do.
RavenxWill- Thanks for taking my advice, but it's really my fault in the first place. I was venting frustration, and it was wrong and insensitive. I'm just glad we both stopped fighting.
On with the story!
Robin nudged Starfire in the shoulder, trying to catch her attention. The Tamaran looked around and said, "What is it, Robin?"
Robin pointed to the paintings and said, "Star, I think we have trouble."
Starfire glanced at the static canvases and saw nothing. Exhaling deeply, she said, "Robin, those are just normal paintings. I see nothing extraordinary about them."
Robin's face read of genuine shock as he glanced at the inert images.
"But the people inside them were moving a minute ago!" the masked leader said with a tone that reminisced of slight disappointment.
Cyborg shook his head and turned to Robin. "I think you're getting a little paranoid, Robin. Maybe this place is getting to you," the hybrid said, placing a hand on Robin's shoulder. He was about to add more when the sound of insidious laughter, almost like a hyena's laugh, cut through the silence. He whipped around and saw the aforementioned people laughing inside their paintings, much to his alarm.
Robin pointed a finger and said, "See! I told you! I told you!"
A cloud of blood-red smoke appeared in front of the row of pictures, drifting about lazily, yet forebodingly. It finally split into five different clouds; one for each painting, and each section enveloped a canvas, coating them in their ruby haze. The piercing laughing continued until the paintings glowed a dark mix of black and gray, the gray striped interlacing with the black. A lone, disembodied skull popped out of one, like it was a portal, and roared. It pulled itself out of the painting, bringing its full body into light. Most of its form was incorporeal, save its skull head. It had ghostlike arms and a cloak that you could see through, and it carried a large, Reaper-like scythe in its right hand. Its entire body was a dark shade of black, with its scythe tainted red. Soon after, four more spirits just like it emerged from their respective paintings, each holding their own scythe.
Robin growled and grabbed his bird-a-rang. "Titans, GO!!" he said, before throwing his bird-a-rang at the nearest spirit. To his surprise, however, it sailed right through it and hit the wall. The spirit he threw it at turned to face him and roared, advancing with surprising speed. It swung its scythe at Robin, who ducked nimbly to dodge it. The demon kept pressing forward, slashing with its huge weapon while Robin continued to dodge with grace and agility, until Robin found that he had been backed up into a wall. The spirit took one huge swing, but Robin ducked and slid under the ghost's ethereal bottom. The demon, however, had quick enough reflexes to jab the scythe backwards, hitting Robin in the back as he slid under.
Cyborg took out his sonic cannon and fired at the spirit attacking Robin, but his attempt failed as well. The energy blast hit the spirit right in the arm, but like Robin's bird-a-rang, it sailed through it and blew a considerably large hole in the wall. Frustrated, Cyborg fired again and again at the demon, but each failed like the last. Unaware of the spirit that was approaching behind him, he continued to fire in rage until another ghost slashed him across the back with its jagged scythe, although fortunately hitting the mechanical side. Cyborg was knocked forward from the force of the blow, sailing into the ground a couple yards in front of him. Turning onto his back, he spotted the nearing spirit with enough time to jump out of the way. The demon's scythe cut into the stone floor, leaving a huge gash you could have buried a person in. Cyborg bounded back up and leapt backwards, hitting another spirit in the process. The new demon turned its attention to Cyborg, and with a roar, swung its scythe at the hybrid. Cyborg blocked the attack with his left hand, snapping the scythe in half as they made contact. Grabbing the blade as it broke, Cyborg held it in front of the demon and made a mocking face.
"I got your weapon, I got weapon!" Cyborg gloated in a singsong voice. The spirit took one look at him as bits of fire began to drift out of its mouth. Opening its mouth wide, the ghost spat a huge torrent of fire at Cyborg, flames branching out in every direction. The hybrid managed to duck in time to avoid getting hit head on by the inferno, but still got the top of his head singed.
"Today just isn't my day," Cyborg lamented as he rolled to the left to dodge another blaze.
Starfire threw a volley of starbolts at the three lingering spirits, all of them missing. Each attack only served to attract attention to her, however, as each demon sprinted towards her. Reflexively, she flew up above the chandelier, her three antagonists following her.
"Azareth Metrion Zinthos!" Raven yelled, her hands glowing black. Each of the spirits became coated in black and was hurled up into the wall, causing rocks to fall off of the ceiling from the impact. One stone fell down and hit a ghost on the skull, bouncing off of it and rolling to the ground.
All of a sudden, it hit Raven.
"Starfire! Robin! Cyborg! Their skulls are the only parts that can you can hit!" she yelled, oblivious to the spirit that had recovered and risen up above the chandelier, readying its scythe. With a large swing, it cut the chain keeping the chandelier up, causing the decorative piece to fall down to the ground- right in Raven's way.
Starfire saw the impending danger and flew to help. "Raven, look out!" she said, shoving her friend out of the way just in time, mere seconds after a deafening 'CRASH!' shook the room. Raven looked back at Starfire and said, "Thanks, Star."
Starfire smiled and said, "You are most welcome, Raven."
Robin jumped up to avoid a low swing from his attacker's scythe, and swung his Bo-staff at the monster's head. Making direct contact with the forehead of the skull, Robin jumped back to avoid any retaliation. The spirit shook off the attack and charged forward, swinging its scythe wildly. Robin blocked each attack with his staff with ease, rolling underneath the demon's ethereal form and swinging at the monster's skull mid-roll, knocking it into a nearby wall.
Raven fired a round of black energy spheres, taking careful aim to hit the skull. The attacking monster was knocked down again and again, until another spirit saw the fight and flew up behind Raven and, using the end of its scythe, rammed her in the back.
Robin saw his Azareth friend's predicament and rushed over to help. Just as the two spirits were about to attack her, Robin jump kicked one in the head and smashed his staff against the other. Robin helped her up and said, "This isn't working. We need a plan, now!"
Raven nodded and said, "You're right. I think I have one. Just tell everyone to get behind me."
Robin nodded and yelled, "Everyone! Get behind Raven!"
Raven, not taking notice of her teammates scrambling to do so, began focusing her energy on the remaining spirits.
"Azareth Metrion Zinthos!" she yelled as the entire bottom half of the room began glowing black. The five demons saw this, and looked on curiously before the floor came rising up quickly, crushing them into the ceiling before they could react.
Raven sighed and fell down onto the ground, exhausted. Just as she did so, the wall from which the now empty paintings lay began to rise, revealing some kind of door that had a hole in the middle and an eerie, blood-red handle shaped like a skull.
Robin walked over and tried to open the door, but his efforts were futile. The door simply wouldn't budge. He sighed and punched the door in frustration, which served only hurt his knuckles.
Cyborg looked over at Robin and said, "Didn't you swipe that key we found just before that freakishly large spider attacked?"
Robin thought back for a minute and realized he was right. Grinning despite the throbbing pain in his knuckles, he said, "Cy, you're right!" Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the spherical key and placed it into the socket. Sure enough, the door rumbled and rose up to show...another corridor.
Cyborg groaned and said, "Jesus Christ monkey balls, what is with this guy and corridors?"
Raven looked at him and said, "What is it with you and 'monkey balls'?"
Cyborg thought for a minute, then shrugged. "I dunno. Just a catchy phrase."
Raven rolled her eyes and said, "Whatever."
"Damn it!" Izevm yelled, throwing his crystal ball aside, causing it to shatter against the hard floor. As it shattered, a wisp of red smoke drifted up, changing into the head of a dragon and roaring at Izevm before dissipating into nothingness. Izevm growled and, with a snap of his fingers, the crystal ball reassembled itself.
Izevm sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "The master won't be pleased with this...travesty."
Straightening himself up, he approached the large mirror and stood in front of it. The mirror glowed black with red stripes streaking the black shade. A few seconds later, the shadowed head of Izevm's master appeared, wearing a very impatient look on his face.
"What is it? Don't tell me the Titans have gotten past our defenses again!" the disembodied head screamed, rage in his voice. Izevm cringed slightly before continuing, "Yes, they did, Master, but I do have some good news."
The head looked at him with disregard and spat out, "Fine. At least you haven't totally screwed up."
Izevm nodded and said, "I did manage to kill one of the members." Izevm's master looked at him with interest and said, "Did you really? I never thought you could actually do it. Pray tell, which one was it, Izevm?"
"The green one, sir. Beast Boy is his name. He's the one who can change into animals and also dresses"
The head laughed and said, "Not bad, Izevm, not bad. You may still be useful to me."
Izevm chuckled nervously before pressing onward. Taking a deep breath, he asked, "How should I dispose of them, my lord?"
Izevm's master turned his head upward in a gesture of thought. About half of a minute passed before the head responded with, "They are in the third hallway, correct?"
"Yes, sir."
"Activate the second booby trap. You killed the pet on the third room, first floor, correct?"
Izevm nodded and grinned with pomposity. "Yes, I did. He was quite the handful," he said, sucking in his chest.
"Don't let it go to your head. If they get past the trap, send Black Muse to the second floor. He'll dispose of them with ease," the head said, disappearing after his last word.
Izevm shuddered. He didn't like Black Muse.
"Okay, all I'm asking is that when you were going out with this guy, did he ever seem sadistical, homicidal, and/or insane?" Cyborg asked. Raven groaned and replied, "First of all, it's 'sadistic' not 'sadistical'. Second of all, he seemed perfectly sane whenever I was around him. He must have snapped sometime after I left."
Cyborg rolled his eyes and said, "Gee, you think?"
Robin groaned. They had been going at it for about five minutes now. Well, at least Cyborg had.
"Okay, and did he ever have a really weird fascination with dark and creepy corridors?" Cyborg said, not willing to give up.
"No! Now will you stop annoying me?!" Raven yelled, her temper beginning to take the better of her. Cyborg cringed and said, "Okay..."
Under his breath, he said, "Must be that time of month."
SMACK!
Raven must have heard that one, since the left half of Cyborg's face now sported a comical hand-shaped mark that glowed a bright red.
Starfire couldn't help but giggle. It helped keep her mind off of Beast Boy's absence and the intrinsic eeriness and vice of the tunnel. For the time being, at least.
Cyborg rubbed the side of his face and mumbled under his breath. Raven turned around and said, "What was that?"
"Nothing, nothing at all."
Raven considered reading his mind, but decided he had been going through enough, with Carmen being dead and his best friend missing and all that jazz.
A loud rumbling that reverberated against the rock walls of the corridor interrupted Raven's musings. She whipped around reflexively, but saw nothing. Shrugging it off, she began following Robin down the corridor again. It must have been her imagination. All of a sudden, the walls of the hallway began closing in on them, moving slowly but surely.
"Titans, run!" Robin said, and began sprinting down the corridor, followed by Starfire, then Raven, and then Cyborg. The masked leader pointed at the end and said, "Look! I see the light!"
Sure enough, there was the light at the end of the tunnel. Cyborg thought for a moment while running, and then said, "Light at the end of the tunnel? That's got to be symbolic, or something. Unless it means, like, we're near the end of the tunnel."
Raven groaned. Even now, he had time for jokes. At least it almost made up for Beast Boy not being here. Almost.
Robin watched as the light got closer...closer...and he was there! He sprinted out of the end, sighing in relief as he saw his comrades make it out of the tunnel one by one. Cyborg, being the last one out, looked back at the still closing tunnel. They had made it out by a lot, into a very dimly lit room with bars on the windows like at a prison, which added to the bloodcurdling aura of the room.
Cyborg groaned and said, "Oh, come on. That wasn't dramatic at all. It's nothing like in the movies where they make it out by, like, a second. It'll be at least another minute before that closes. How anticlimactic."
Raven groaned and said, "Will you stop with the jokes? I am really not in the mood!"
Cyborg made a weird motion with his head and said, "Well, Ms. Cranky, why don't you ask what everyone else thinks?"
Robin butted in and replied, "Actually, Cyborg, it is starting to get on my nerves."
Starfire nodded. "Yes, it is getting irritating," The Tamaran said tranquilly.
Cyborg growled and yelled, "YOU TWO STAY OUT OF THIS!"
Raven rolled her eyes and said, "You want me to slap you again?"
"No, ma'am."
"Why is it so dark in here?" Starfire said, using a starbolt as a makeshift torch. Robin thought for a minute and said, "Hey, wait a minute, if it's so dark in here, then how could we see light at the end of the tunnel?"
"Don't you start, too," Raven said irritably. Robin put up his hands and said, "Hey, I was just asking."
Starfire began walking forward. About two seconds passed before she began hearing, "Idiot son of an asshole, he's the idiot son of an asshole, he's our president!"
"Who the hell is singing?" Raven said tetchily. Cyborg laughed and said, "Hey, it's NOFX. Don't dis NOFX." After another death-glare from Raven, he shrank back and said, "I'll stop talking now."
'You sure as hell better."
Starfire stopped for a moment to make sure they weren't going to start killing each other, then resumed walking. All of a sudden, she stumbled and lost her balance. She looked back to see what she had stumbled over, but couldn't make it out over the darkness. Crouching down and bringing her starbolt closer, she was able to make the image clearer. It appeared to be a person, but she still couldn't see that well.
Starfire gasped as she suddenly realized whom it was.
"Beast Boy!" she screamed. The other Titans turned around quickly, eager to see their companion. Raven rushed up over to Starfire and asked, "Is he okay?"
Starfire shook her head and said, "No he does not respond. Maybe he is unconscious."
It was then, when Starfire lowered the starbolt to get a better view of Beast Boy, that she saw the large sword protruding from Beast Boy's stomach and the large pool of blood underneath him.
"No...no...no!" Raven said, her eyes welling with tears. With out warning, she fell onto Starfire's shoulders and began sobbing uncontrollably. Starfire felt her eyes water, then erupt into full-blown weeping.
"And...the last...thing...I ever...said...to him...was to stop being so stubborn!" Raven bemoaned, sobs interrupting her laments.
Cyborg didn't know how to react. Beast Boy...dead? He could only feel himself fall to his knees as he started to take in what had happened. Tears began to stream down his face as he said, "Beast Boy...no, this can't be true..."
Raven lifted her head up from Starfire's shoulder to look at her fallen comrade. As her glance turned to the protruding sword, she saw something engraved on the handle. She couldn't quite make all of it out, but the lavishly colored, gold plated 'I-Z-E-V' told her enough. Suddenly, her eyes began glowing a bright red, and Starfire drew back as she heard several explosions echo throughout the room.
"I'm...gonna...kill that little bastard!" Raven yelled, her voice gruff and demonic, nothing at all like her normal voice. A large flare of dark energy shot out around her, leaving large scorch marks wherever they hit. With astonishing speed none of the Titans had ever seen before, Raven flew up a flight of stair in the back of the room, leaving bits of black energy in her path. Robin raced after her, saying "Raven, wait!"
Starfire flew after Robin, trying to keep herself from sobbing further.
Cyborg, however, stayed behind for a moment. Crouching down on one knee, he lowered his head and said, "Goodbye, Beast Boy. You were a good friend and a great man. I'll never forget you."
With that, he rose up and began following his teammates.
"I swear to God, even if it's the last thing I do, I will make you pay, Izevm!"
Izevm waited idly, sitting in his ridiculously lavish chair, watching the Titans race up the lengthy stairs through his crystal ball. Chuckling he said to himself, "My dear Cyborg, how foolish you are."
Out of the blue, Izevm heard a loud swirling sound. He turned around to see a large cloud of red smoke form in the large mirror he used to make contact with the master. The head of his master appeared, looking furious.
"Izevm! Why have you summoned me!?" the head roared. Izevm cringed and said, "But I did not summon you, my lord."
Izevm's master growled and spat, "Well, it sure as hell was someone!"
Izevm drew back and said, "But master, I had no reason to summon you! The Titans are still climbing that stairs!"
The disembodied head thought about that for a minute. A huge grin spread across his face as he realized what had happened.
"I think I know what happened," he said with a chuckle. Turning to Izevm, he said, "I have new orders for you. You can possess the dead, correct?"
Izevm nodded curtly. His master grinned wider and said, "Good. Possess the green one and make sure you get to the Titans before Black Muse does. If they don't suspect anything, then they will get all happy and go through a whole routine. Just grit your teeth and bear it. Once they are done, fight with them against Black Muse."
Izevm gulped and said, "Fight against one of our own? But why, master?"
"Because it's a win-win situation. If the Titans lose against Black Muse, then they will be out of the way and you can reveal yourself to Black muse and say it was my orders. If the Titans win against Black Muse, then they will most likely be dead tired. That's when you attack. Understand?"
Izevm nodded again and said, "Yes, my lord."
With that, the head disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. Izevm shuddered and assumed an incorporeal form. Flying through the floor, he looked around for Beast Boy's corpse. Upon finding it, he flew into his body and took control over his dead brain. Unfortunately for him, taking over Beast Boy's brain awoke Beast Boy as well.
'Huh...dude, what happened?' Izevm heard as he was still in the process of taking total control.
'I'll tell you what's happened. Your dead and I'm using your body to destroy your friends,' Izevm responded mentally.
'What? Izevm? How'd you get in here?'
'Because, you fool, I can take over the minds of the dead and make them do my bidding. Now shut and let me take over your mind in peace.'
'No! I won't let you! I'd rather go back to being dead than this!' Beast Boy said, almost regaining control. But his efforts were futile, as Izevm gained complete control within seconds.
'At least that's what'll happen to you once I'm through,' Izevm retorted. Looking through Beast Boy's eyes, he eyed the sword still obtruding from his stomach. With one hand, he grabbed the handle of the sword and pulled it out, spilling blood all over his pants.
Izevm grinned and changed into a bat. Beginning to fly up the staircase, he mentally said, 'Now, while we're waiting, why don't we look at all the embarrassing memories you wanted to keep buried?'
'How about we don't?' Beast Boy mentally replied with anger. Izevm chuckled and replied, 'No, I think I will. Let's see...last year, when the other Titans were out, you rented a porno and put it on Robin's credit card...how interesting!'
'Well, Robin's the kind of guy who's stupid enough to write his credit card number on a piece of paper so he won't forget, and leave it on the counter! And anyway, there was a "buy one, get one free" deal!'
'Hm...you don't say...and when you were six, you threw up in your dad's suitcase and blamed it on your stuffed animal...weren't you a little prodigy?'
'Okay, that was a little stupid, but I was only six!'
'Sure, whatever you say...and what's this "noodle incident"?'
Just as Beast Boy was about to retaliate, Izevm saw Raven sprinting up the stairs with astonishing speed. Stopping in front of her, he changed back into neutral form. Raven halted immediately and stared.
"Beast Boy?" she said softly, before throwing herself onto him and pressing her lips against his in a passionate kiss.
'Oh yeah...' Izevm thought, gloating. Beast Boy mentally growled and reacted, 'Will you just shut up already?'
Raven pulled away from the kiss and took a moment to look at Beast Boy/Izevm.
"Beast Boy, I thought you were dead!"
Beast Boy/Izevm chuckled and said, "Yeah, umm...they don't make swords like they used to?"
Raven raised and eyebrow with suspicion, but stopped when she saw the huge gash in Beast Boy's stomach from the sword. "Beast Boy, you're hurt!"
Beast Boy/Izevm waved his hand and replied, "Ah, it's nothing. Just a flesh wound."
"And why are your eyes black?"
Izevm wasn't prepared for that one. Beast Boy laughed mentally and said, 'Ha, she got you!'
'Shut up, you asshole, and give me a moment to think.'
Beast Boy/Izevm shrugged and said, "Oh, they are? I had no idea. Maybe it's a, uh, disease?"
Raven looked at him quizzically. "A disease?" she said, but shrugged it off and embraced Beast Boy/Izevm tightly. Nuzzling her head in his shoulder, she smiled and said, "I'm just so happy you're alive."
"I wish I could say the same..." Izevm said, with a hint of malice in his voice. Raven looked up and said, "What was that?"
"Nothing, nothing at all."
"Raven, wait up!" Cyborg said, running up the stairs after. Upon seeing Beast Boy, he stopped in his tracks and rubbed his eyes. Upon confirming his sight was fully functional, he ran over to his comrade and yelled, "Beast Boy! You're alive" The hybrid embraced Beast Boy in a tight hug, saying, "Beast Boy! You were dead! Now you're alive! How the hell did that happen?"
Beast Boy/Izevm ducked to get out of the hug and said, "Never mind the details, what matters is that I'm here."
Cyborg looked at him perplexedly and said, "Why are your eyes black?"
"Can we forget about my eyes for a minute?!"
Just as Cyborg was about to say something else, the sound of Starfire and Robin's voice stopped him. Starfire, who was flying very quickly to catch up to Raven, nearly crashed into Beast Boy/Izevm before stopping herself in mid-air.
"Beast Boy! You are unharmed!" Starfire yelled before throwing her arms around Beast Boy/Izevm and squeezing him tightly. Very tightly.
"Starfire...can't breath...seeing stars..." Beast Boy/Izevm said, his/their face turning red from lack of oxygen. Starfire let go and said, "Beast Boy, I thought you were dead!"
Beast Boy/Izevm groaned and said, "Yes, I know, can we please get over that?"
"Impossible!" came Robin's voice. "I saw you! You were back there in that room, and you were dead, and you weren't alive! How did this happen?"
Beast Boy/Izevm snorted and said, "Gee, you seem happy to see me."
Robin sighed and said, "No, I am, but you had a freaking sword in your stomach, for crying out loud! And why are your eyes black?"
Beast Boy/Izevm groaned and said, "Look, let's just get over the fact that I'm alive and here, and can we please just go up these stairs and fight the next monster?"
Robin looked at him suspiciously. "How would you know there's another monster at the end of these stairs?"
Izevm stumbled on that one. "Uh, I don't? I was just, uh, guessing! Yeah, guessing!"
'You won't get away with this, you bastard!' Beast Boy yelled mentally. Izevm just chuckled.
'My dear Beast Boy, I already have."
Woohoo! Everybody saw "Betrayal" Saturday, right? Ha! I knew Terra was a filthy traitor! She'll go to hell and die! Ahem...sorry, got a little carried away. But aside from that whole Terra/BB date thing, it was awesome! Especially the whole 'you don't have any friends' part.
Ahem...
Sorry about referring to Beast Boy's physical form as 'Beast Boy/Izevm' but I just wanted to make sure people would know when Beast Boy and Izevm are arguing and when Izevm is using Beast Boy's body. Anyways, this is Ozzy signing out.
