Eh…this one is kind of weird to me, there is no explanation on why I have this strangeness in it…its just me . Not many questions are answered…next chapter definitely . Hang in there.The characters may be a bit out of character, and might not be exactly what they would say in a situation like this, but I tried my best and I hope you like it. I must say…I never think its good enough.

Thanks for reviewing so far, glad are reading' this: mollykat, beautifully-evil,WindyDays,Kiozona.pop

Chapter 3

"Rae? Rae? Earth to Raven, snap out of it."

Cyborg gently shook Raven on the shoulder. She wasn't moving. She stood in a daze, staring at the girl. Her eyes were open wide, and her mouth was shut tight. All the color from her face had drained away. For a split second Cyborg thought that the girl and Raven could have been sisters.

"Raven? Dear friend Raven, are you alright?" Starfire rushed to Raven's side, despite the strange feeling, and snapped her fingers in front of her face.

"Raven." Robin stood there staring her directions. Whatever she had seen in the girl's mind had done this to her and it was his entire fault…all…his…it was his idea for her to go into her mind… What if it had somehow damaged her? Made her possibly mental? Or even…kill her? Or worse?

"Get away from me," Raven said sternly, exiting out of her daze, and clearing Robin's thoughts of her being dead. Cyborg and Star jumped back in alarm from her sudden outburst.

"Raven…what did you see?" Robin asked calmly, afraid of what the answer might be.

"Nothing… good," Raven said. He sensed the slight fear in her voice when she spoke, even though she tried to hide it. He knew her too well not to know she was scared. Scared for all of them.

The 'nothing good' was more than that, everyone knew, but what they didn't know, the unknown, was what they were really scared about. Too many questions that needed answers, too many questions they didn't even know they needed answers for.

They would see soon enough. It was there…too close for comfort. They would know soon enough.

"Umm…guys?"

Beastboy stood in the doorway, startling them all. They had all forgotten about him, which wasn't all that bad for a while. "What's going on?"

No one answered him. They all just stared at him, and listened to the clock ticking…

Tick…tick…. tick…. tick…. tick….

"And when was there ever a clock in here?"

"I don't know Beastboy. A lot has happened ever since you froze in time. I can-"

"Whoa, Whoa, wait a sec," Beastboy said, interrupting Robin. "You're saying I 'froze' in place?"

"Yeah, you did, and-"

"That's crazy! That isn't what I saw. I was laughing at that old dude, and then I was just in my room. I tell ya, it's some kinda teleportin' business. I bet its aliens… no wait, not just any kind of aliens. The Aliens!"

"No Beastboy, no aliens. You were-"

"Hey, now that I think about it, that old guy. I've seen him before."

"Where? When?" Cyborg asked.

"He was…stalking us or something the other day, you know, when we were getting pizza, that yucky chicken stuff, gross.. I don't get how you guys can eat that stuff…"

"Get to the point," Robin said.

" Then after the pizza Robin was forced by Star to wear that humungous fat cow outfit…heh, that was funny, you really did look like one of those grass eating mammals…anyways…then the old man was hanging around this freaky building….and then stalking us, and then…"

"I believe this is some kind of system of the Earthly men of old age?" Star asked.

"No not really. Unless he is totally berserk… which wouldn't be any surprise," Beastboy said. "Or he probably have nothing better to do…maybe he wants our autographs."

" What building was it?" Raven asked.

"Uhh…. hmm…. it was…. no wait…. uh…. oh uh…no…wait yea…no…"

"C'mon BB, we got no time for jokes," Cyborg said.

"It is not a game, friend," Star added seriously.

"Alright! Let me think…umm…well I can't remember really at this moment…something stinks around here…who's the girl?"

"We don't know," Raven said roughly. "Just answer the question."

Beastboy ignored Raven's nasty comment. "Sooo…. You're saying we got a stranger here?" He didn't exactly like the idea of having someone they didn't know in their tower. For the fact…it looked dead. Very dead, if anything could look more than dead. Was it even breathing? He began to get the chills. He didn't like it at all. An awkward silence filled the room. The clicking of the clock seemed to grow louder…and louder…and a bit louder…and louder….

"Ok, that clock is freaking me out," Cyborg said. "I don't even remember having one in here." He took down the clock form the wall and rummaged in the back of it. "Damn…a non-digital one, I mean, who sells these things anymore?"

"Oh! I remember now. The building was green. A nasty colored green…who would paint a building green!" Beastboy ignored the stares from the others. He had left out the part about the familiarity of his skin with the building. He probably could have camouflaged pretty well against it.

"The orphanage," Robin said.

" So this girl is definitely part of this," Star said.

"She has to be," Robin said.

"What is this?" Beastboy asked. "Please don't tell me you guys don't know either…"

"Sorry to break your heart Beastboy. We don't know," Robin replied.
Beastboy let out a heavy sigh.

Cyborg finished rummaging in the back of the clock and took out the big ole' batteries.

Yet…the ticking didn't stop.

"What's going on?" Beastboy asked.

"Time stopped," Robin said, glancing at the clock that was in Cyborg's hands. " Causing everyone in the city to freeze in place. And possibly the whole world."

"Except you guys," Beastboy said. "And…I'm guessing the girl too."

"Yeah. It was done by that old man who you through that chicken at."

"Dude! I didn't mean to! I mean, he just got in the way or something…somehow… it was supposed to be Cyborg who got clubbed by my," he cleared his throat as he earned himself a glare from Cyborg, "Ultra Super Tofu Chicken Deluxe!" Raven stared at him with a look that read 'you're an idiot'.

Cyborg finally decided to smash the clock.

"It was funnier though, the look on that old fart's face."

The ticking didn't stop.

"I don not like this," Star said, shivering. "I wish to know more about this man, so we can stop him."

"Beastboy, do you know anything else about the guy?" Robin asked.

"Yeah… the strangest part of him was…wait…I don't know, it's hard to remember…" Beastboy scratched his head, and thought his mind had gone haywire since he couldn't remember practically anything about the guy. Maybe his brain got all smashed up during this 'time' thingy…he didn't like the thought of it. Or wait! He knew it was the aliens…they were the type to do the "Brain Experiments". He stuck with his idea…it seemed more practical. Maybe the aliens forced his friends to say it wasn't them….and maybe his brain was worth something…

"Guys, whatever I do to this clock," Cyborg said, frustrated, "it won't stop ticking." He had smashed it on the ground with his feet, and now the remnants of the clock lay in a million pieces on the floor. "It's haunted or something. Man, that's weird."

"It…it isn't a regular clock," Raven said. "I know where it is from…but…I can't remember…"

"Something is terribly wrong," Starfire said worriedly, "I don't like it at all. This strange feeling…do you, friends, not feel this prickly strangeness?" The Titans nodded slowly, saying that they did feel it. "And then its s not remembering these….things that would help us at this certain time and event about this man. I believe the phrase would be that we sound like…crazy people?"

"More like clueless idiots," Beastboy said. "All these 'I don't knows'…now you guys know how I feel when you all talk about those confusing stuff….or whatever you…talk….about…. and then you just don't get it…" He laughed half heartedly, not sure what else to say.

"That's nice Beastboy," Robin said, "Star is right. We don't remember anything that has to do with this man, only the basics."

"Dude!" Cyborg exclaimed." He's done something to us or something… I don't like the idea of having us being called "The Clueless Idiots'' in exchange of the Teen Titans…what did that old man look like anyways?"

No one answered, they shook their heads or just shrugged. The ticking began to grow a touch louder once again. It didn't seem to be coming from the pieces on the floor. The sounds seemed to be coming from all around them, from the room itself, from the walls, from the air, overlapping over the soft buzz of Jump Town.

Raven stood still.

Cyborg looked around the room as if God was calling his name.

Beastboy screwed his face up in deep concentration, trying to think of being a smart wiz and pondering about those aliens…

Starfire felt cold…and began a habit of biting her fingernails.

Robin stared at the girl, as if he was expecting the answers to burst out of her…which they probably wouldn't. He wondered about Cyborg's crazy idea on 'beating' the information out of her…it could work…possibly…

Tick….tick…tick….tick…tick…tick…

Cyborg kicked around the pieces of the clock, and mouthed rude words towards it. He wished to never set eyes on another non-digital clock again…if he would, he would have a great urge to scream like a little girl.

Suddenly, the strange feeling that had engulfed the room and the people inside it faded away…

The girl's eyes slowly opened, and she sat up. Her face was deadly white. She looked out the window, at particularily nothing. The deep grayness in her eyes showed of great fear and pain. To the Titans, she looked like the long forgotten dead coming back to life.

What filled the room was the warmth of a regular city day.

The Titans didn't know what to. Beastboy's interesting comment of being complete and clueless idiots seemed to be coming true in their minds. The ticking became abruptly louder than it was seconds before, somehow…which didn't really make sense since it already sounded loud enough.

It sounded like a huge butcher knife chopping off people's heads, but without the scream of bloody murder or the stench of the blood. The Titans briskly covered their ears. The girl acted as if she didn't hear the booming/ticking noise. She kept on staring out the window, her depressing expression unchanging.

"WHO ARE YOU?" Robin yelled, trying to make his voice heard over the horrendous noise. He was glad and all that those thoughts of giving up had cleared his mind…but now this ticking bugged the hell out of him…and he wanted answers.

"No one…of importance," came the girl's sad and hopeless sounding voice. She said it so softly that the Titans were struck dumb that they could actually hear it when they barely heard what Robin said; they only saw his mouth movements. Freaky.

Finally, she looked towards the Titans. She didn't look directly at them, for fear of them seeking what she really was made for in this lifetime. Fresh in her mind, scarred deep in her soul, the knowledge her once lost brother had told her…yet she would have to tell them something. She knew. They would force it out of her. She would tell them something…

The ticking became unbearable. The Titans tightened their grip over their ears and winced in pain from the sound knocking them down…a force knocking them down towards the ground.

It became nonstop…becoming one within its self…one deathly scream…one bellow of anger, hatred and horror…. a screech of fiery and unknowingness….screech of an alien crying for more brains to eat (Beast Boy's thoughts)…children screaming for help out of a melting burning room….women yelling for their lost children…families dying together in a burning locked room without any hope for a chance to live their once happy lives….men yelling for help to get away from their death that was only seconds away…once loved teens screaming their bloody heads off to have the love of their life…a monster screaming in anticipation for killing its target that now gave up and let it be ….

"It's…a warning…"