A/N: Hey! Thanks for all the support for my first chapter! This chapter is a little longer, so enjoy! And you will begin to notice my chapter system is a little different than other stories.
Behind the Mask
Episode 1. (Continued)
It was a breezy summer's day, and, like the Titans, Jump City's citizens seized the opportunity to go to the carnival. The Titans arrived at the carnival later in the afternoon and got their tickets. They found and sat on a park bench and decided on their first ride.
"May I suggest we go on the giant wheel first?" Starfire recommended.
Robin shook his head. "We'll save that for last. Besides, it's a better view of the city at night."
"Let's go on a roller coaster!!" Beast Boy suggested.
"Awwww yea!" Cyborg agreed.
"Whatever," Raven rolled her eyes.
"Then it's settled," Robin said, getting up with the rest of the team as they walked to their destination. Raven and Beast Boy would glance at each other from time to time, and when they'd catch themselves looking at one another, they'd make a face. "What are you looking at?" Raven snarled. "Sorry!" Beast Boy replied sarcastically. "Almost thought I was at the freak show!"
"I hate to break up this love affair you two've got going on," Cyborg interrupted. "But we're here."
Raven went crimson. 'Love affair?'
"Come on guys! We're up next!" Robin shouted from the front of the line. Starfire waved for them to join them. Beast Boy turned to Cyborg. "Go on without me! I'm gonna get it all on film!!"
"Suit yourself!" Cyborg shrugged. Raven walked towards the other Titans, and looked back at Beast Boy before getting on the ride. After the ride, the four Titans found Beast Boy and headed for a different ride.
"It was unusual!" Starfire squealed in delight. "I was flying, but I did not have to use my powers!"
Robin smiled. "I'm glad you had fun." He addressed the others when he asked, "Where to next?"
Three teenagers, two boys and a girl, were walking down an alleyway downtown. The largest of the three kicked a can as they walked. He complained. "I can't believe we failed! All because of the Teen Titans! Now we have to go to summer school!"
"The H.I.V.E. offers summer school?" The shorter teen asked.
"Even then, that's not until July!" Said the female. "In the meantime, we must do something to pass the time away for a month!"
The shorter teenager suddenly jumped up and down. "I've got it! The carnival's in town!"
"Gizmo, you may look like an six-year-old, but it doesn't mean you should act like one!" The female rolled her eyes. The teen she called Gizmo growled. "What I meant, Jinx, was to go to the carnival and mess with the rides and cause mayhem and destruction!"
"C'mon Jinx! I like his plan!" The giant teen agreed.
The girl they called Jinx sighed while addressing the giant. "Mammoth! Don't encourage him!" A ringing interrupted Jinx. It was Gizmo's phone. "Hello??" Gizmo answered.
"Since when does Gizmo own a phone?" Jinx asked Mammoth as Gizmo was consulting with the person on the phone. "Since when does he have the money to afford a phone?"
"Since he made it!" Mammoth replied. Gizmo finally got off his phone, and Jinx continued. "Anyway! What are we? Preschoolers? Going to the carnival..."
"Well, the boss-man thinks otherwise." Gizmo shrugged.
Jinx and Mammoth exchanged glances, and realizing whom Gizmo was referring to, simply said, "He's not our boss."
Gizmo grinned evilly. "If he can get me out of summer school, he is definitely my boss!"
Mammoth's eyes went wide. "He can do that?"
"If we get the job done right!" Gizmo grinned evilly.
"And the job is?" Jinx asked.
"What it's always been!" Gizmo replied. "Destroy the Titans!"
"Hey, check it out! A haunted house!" Robin indicated. Cyborg laughed. "Alright! Bring on the scare!" Robin and Cyborg glanced at each other, and raced each other towards the front door as if they were little kids.
Raven sighed. "This is a haunted house? Whatever..."
Beast Boy (with his video camera) eyed Raven and smirked. "You saying that 'cause you're scared?" Beast Boy suddenly morphed into a chicken, clucked, and changed back.
"I can tell it's not haunted because I can't feel any ghostly presences."
"Hello!! This is a carnival! There wouldn't be a real haunted house at a carnival!"
She huffed. "You'd be surprised."
Beast Boy glanced at Raven. "I feel a bet coming on." The changeling extended his hand for Raven to shake, but the goth girl walked past him.
"I'm not touching you!"
Beast Boy ran after her. "Hey, wait up!"
Meanwhile, Starfire stayed behind. "Must we observe this house of horror?" She gulped. When she realized no one was there to reply, she quickly ran after the other Titans. Little did the Titans know, three super-villain teens were watching them...
The Titans were now in the house. Robin and Cyborg led the way, then Beast Boy (recording) and Raven, and finally Starfire, who had grabbed on to Raven's cloak. Raven turned to Starfire and growled. "EEP!" Starfire then tugged on her hair. The lights went dim and she screamed.
"STARFIRE!!" The four Titans snarled.
Starfire, now covering her mouth, apologizing, "I am sorry, please proceed!" The four kept walking further into the house. The floors creaked as the teens stepped on the rotten wooden floors. Suddenly a skeleton jumped out at the five teens. Robin and Cyborg jumped, Beast Boy jumped and landed in Raven's arms, while Starfire screamed and blasted the skeleton with her eye beams.
"STARFIRE!!" The four Titans barked.
Cyborg eyed Raven and Beast Boy suspiciously, and Raven, realizing she was still holding on to Beast Boy, descended her arms, making the changeling fall to the ground. Beast Boy landed on his stomach, his head face to face with the fake skeleton skull. Beast Boy blinked his eyes and reopened them to a real skull that reeked of decay and maggots pouring out of it. Beast Boy shrieked and jumped back up.
"D-D-Dude!! Did you all s-see that!!" Beast Boy exclaimed, recording the skull.
"Quiet!" Raven demanded. "I feel a presence."
"Ugh! What's that smell?" Robin asked, now covering his nose.
"Told you to hold it in, man!" Cyborg nudged Beast Boy.
Beast Boy stomped his foot, "But the maggots and the skull—"
"ENOUGH!" Raven shouted. "We need to get out of here!"
"Oh, what made you come to that sudden conclusion, Raven?" Beast Boy asked sarcastically.
"C'mon guys!" Robin said, now getting in between them. "Let's just get out the way we came in."
"And which way would that be?" Starfire asked. The Titans stopped and turned to look at Starfire. She was facing the wall, where the entrance should have been, but there was a table and a vase of dead flowers in its place.
"But that's where we came from," Robin said now joining Starfire. "Wasn't it?"
Suddenly, the lights went out, and the room was pitch black. Before Starfire could scream, a hand grabbed hers, and she couldn't tell who's hand she was holding. Candles were lit and Starfire could see it was Robin's. She gave a small smile as did he. Cyborg grinned. "This is the best haunted house I've ever been in!"
"Um, Cyborg?" Raven began.
"Yea?"
"I don't think this is fake."
"So what you are saying," Starfire said sadly. "Is that the house of horror that is not... is?" No sooner had Starfire uttered those words, howls and moans echoed inside the house.
"Do y-you hear that?" Beast Boy's voice cracked.
"Hear what?" Raven asked irritably.
"There's something moving!" Cyborg whispered. In unison, the Titans looked up at the ceiling. "Bats!" The half-robot half-human concluded.
"Flying rodents aren't my thing!" Robin said, taking out his staff. The bats swarmed the Titans. Robin began hitting them with his staff, Cyborg was blasting them with his gun, and Starfire shooting beams from her eyes and hands. When they realized there were too many to take on, they stopped fighting. "Titans!" Robin shouted. "Split up!" Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Raven went upstairs, while Starfire and Robin went to the basement.
Cyborg led them up the stairs, and into a room. "It looks safe here!"
"Look! Windows! We can get out of here!" Beast Boy exclaimed. Suddenly, the curtains closed by themselves. Beast Boy reopened them and instead of a window, it was a brick wall like the rest of the house. "Okay, weirdness!"
"Can't we just blast these walls?" Raven asked.
"One way to find out!" Cyborg's arm turned into a gun and he blasted the wall, but the wall didn't break. "Damn!"
Raven growled. "It's Jinx's magics! She's doing this!"
"Wow! She's gotten good." Beast Boy nodded.
"HEEEEELP!!"
The three Titans turned. "Did you here that??" Cyborg asked.
"SOMEBODY!! HELP ME!! PLEASE!!"
"Dude, someone's in here!!" Beast Boy exclaimed. Cyborg was about to exit the room when the changeling asked, "Uh, Cy, where are you going?"
"We're heroes, man! We gotta save them!!"
"Cyborg, let's think logically!" Raven began. "We don't even know where they are! We don't even know if it's a real person! It could be another one of Jinx's trick to split us up!!"
"I don't care, I'm going!" And Cyborg left. Raven looked at Beast Boy. "We should go after him!" Suddenly, she could no longer see Beast Boy and everything turned pitch black. There were flashes, and she heard someone laughing... someone who should have been dead for months... the flashes were now becoming images. An orange figure had shown up, then faded, and with the black background, it looked like...
... Slade's mask...
Raven?
RAVEN!!
Raven blinked. She saw Beast Boy staring at her. "What? What is it?" She shook her head, and Beast Boy continued. "We can't just stand here! We have to go after Cyborg! C'mon!" And he tugged at her arm and both ran outside the room.
Meanwhile, Robin and Starfire were in the basement. "Is there a light switch anywhere?" Robin asked. Starfire's hands filled with green orbs of energy, producing light. He smiled at her. "Thanks." He became serious. "Let's try breaking the walls." Starfire shot beams out from her eyes and hands, but the walls wouldn't break. "Robin! Suppose someone has bewitched the house!" Starfire suggested.
"Jinx!" Robin exclaimed.
There was a moan that made Robin and Starfire uneasy. "Um, Robin, was that you?"
"I was hoping it was you!" Robin said, now taking out his staff.
Silence.
Starfire lit the room, and there were coffins all around them. "Um, Robin..." A coffin moved, and the two Titans inched away. Suddenly, a coffin burst open and soon all them were breaking open. Inside the coffins were...
...zombies.
Starfire and Robin were about to turn around, but the door closed and locked on them. "No!" Robin said, trying to open the door. He turned around and helped Starfire fight off the zombies. Starfire threw beams at them and kung-fu-trained Robin fought them off. When they thought there were no more zombies, more were coming out of the coffins. Starfire quickly blasted the door open, and both Titans made their escape.
"HEEEEELP!!"
"Do you hear that?" Starfire asked.
"Yea! Let's go!" Robin said.
"Where is it coming from?" Starfire questioned.
"SOMEBODY!!"
"Upstairs!" Robin replied. Starfire led the way and Robin followed behind. When they were half way up the stairs, it collapsed, and Robin almost fell through if Starfire hadn't caught his hand. "ROBIN! Hold on!"
"HEEEEELP!!" The girl screamed from the attic. "That is it! I'm calling daddy!" She pulled out her cell phone from the purse and turned on her phone. "What?? 'No service'??" She stuck the phone back in her purse. "Great! I never wanted this job anyway! I knew I shoulda gone out for dinner break!"
"Where are you??" Came a voice.
The girl paused. 'Did someone hear me?' The girl listened again, hoping her ears weren't deceiving her.
"Say something!!" The voice said again.
She went up to the door. "I'M UP HERE!! IN THE ATTIC!! SOMETHING IS SO WRONG WITH THIS HOUSE!!"
Cyborg ran down the hallway and found, "Huh? More stairs?" He ran up the stairs and tried opening the door. "Are you in here?"
"Yes! And I'm locked inside! Are you a locksmith?"
"I'll have you outta there!" Cyborg said. "Now stand away from the door!"
The girl did as she was told from the other side. 'What's he gonna do, kick it open?' Suddenly a blast of blue energy burst through the door, making the girl scream. Cyborg entered through the large hole through the door. The girl screamed again. "Let's go!" He said, taking her by the hand. She shook her head, pulling her hand away from his, still screaming. "Wh-What are you?"
Cyborg rolled his eyes. "There's no time for that, Princess!!" He picked her up from the legs and threw her over his shoulder. "YO!! I WANT ANSWERS!!" She began pounding on his metallic back. He ran down the stairs and back to the room Beast Boy and Raven were supposed to have stayed in, but they were gone. "BB? Rae? Where'd those two go?"
"We lost him!" Beast Boy growled.
"No duh," Raven said sarcastically. "Let's go back from where we came from."
"And which way would that be?" Beast Boy asked. They turned around, and instead of a hallway, there was a dead end.
"Wait!" Raven said.
"It's not like I'm going anywhere!" Beast Boy said sarcastically.
"Shut up!" Raven snapped. "Jinx's powers are weakening! I can feel it. We need to move at my signal." She grabbed on to his hand.
"What are we gonna do, walk through the wall??" Beast Boy asked.
"NOW!" And Raven pulled Beast Boy into the wall with her. They made it out on the other side safely. Beast Boy's eyes went wide. "How did we—??"
"Jinx is responsible for making the wall appear behind us!" Raven explained. "When her powers weaken, the wall, and everything else she makes appear in this house, becomes transparent, therefore we can walk through her objects. But if we aren't fast enough and we walk through Jinx's objects when her power strengthens, we could get trapped!"
"So, let's find everyone else and get the hell outta here!!" Beast Boy exclaimed. They looked down and realized they were still holding hands. Both pulled her hands away and blushed. "Let's go!"
Starfire was still holding on to Robin's hands. "I will levitate and you will ascend as well!" She flew up, pulling Robin, and once he was out of the hole, she gently placed him at the bottom of the stairs. Robin smiled. "Thanks!" Coming toward them was Cyborg carrying an angry girl over his back.
"Cyborg?" Starfire began.
"I found her trapped in the attic." Cyborg explained.
"Uh, hello??" The girl said from behind Cyborg. "The blood is rushing to 'her' head! Can you put me down??" Cyborg did, and Robin continued. "But where are Raven and Beast Boy?"
Cyborg grinned mischievously. "Who knows what they've discovered!"
"We've discovered a way out!" Raven said along with Beast Boy.
"HOW??" The three Titans and the girl asked in unison. Raven explained everything to them as she had explained to Beast Boy. "Any questions?"
"So you are suggesting," Starfire began. "That we walk through the wall where the door should have been?"
"That's exactly it, Star! That's the only way out!" Beast Boy replied.
A/N: Okay, I'm stopping right there... Will Raven's plan work? Who's the girl trapped in the attic? Will they get out and defeat the H.I.V.E.?? Tune in next time...
-kiki
PS, In the meantime, please write me a review!!