Chapter 5: Repercussions

"Raven?" Mark timidly whispered as he rapped sharply on her darkened door. The knocks were loud and abrupt, but not a sigh was heard on the other side.

"Rae please…" Mark begged silently as he hung his head sadly. "Don't do this to yourself. After what you went through…"

Silently, the door slid open on its wheels, gliding effortlessly on a pillow of air and revealed a hooded and cloaked Raven, her azure eyes slightly red and puffed.

"Rae this isn't like you. I-."

"No you're right, this isn't like me. I nearly killed him Mark. Don't you understand? I'm still losing control of my power. I made him re-live his worst memories, and they were more sinister, more frightening then any nightmare either of us could ever have."

"Could you at least-."

"Please, just leave me alone. I've had enough pity for today."

The door slid shut in front of Mark and cut his view of Raven off, leaving him standing once more alone, outside and helpless.

All I know...

Time is a valuable thing…

A sharp knock perforated the sullen mood that hung like a storm cloud in the skies above over the Tower and reached Robin's ears as he sat dejectedly on the living-room couch. With a heavy and sigh and equally heavy heart after witnessing Raven's loss of control he pushed himself out of his comfortable groove and proceeded towards the main door.

Watch it fly by as the Pendulum Swings…

Starfire turned briskly, her attention now diverted from recovering after her run-in with the false Robin to the door and the chance to greet a new friend. She promptly got up and exited her room, following the well-worn path to the front entrance.

Watch it count down to the end of the day…

Beast-Boy's elfish ears almost pricked up at the sound of the loud and abrupt knocking. He grinned his trademark grin and jumped out of his bed and into the hall, any plan to disrupt the day-to-day goings of his fellow Titans long forgotten.

The clock ticks life away…

Cyborg lifted his half mechanical head from locking Hale's cell and looked towards the source of the noise in the distance. His sonic receptors examined the noise sub-consciously, scanning for any perceivable threat. Finding none, he replaced the cover on the keypad that activated the locking mechanism in the room and briskly headed out.

It's so unreal…

Didn't look out below…

Mark didn't even notice the knocking of the front door. He was wallowing in his own thoughts, the rain his only friend now. Rain doesn't mock you, doesn't reject you, he surmised. He closed his eyes and sighed despondently and he leant his forehead on the cold panel of glass, fogging it instantly in the immediate area surrounding the contact of his warm skin.

"Azarath…Metrion…Zinthos…"

No noise. No disturbances, no unnecessary attachments in Raven's place of meditation. Her physical surroundings melted away, turning into a myriad of foreign colours and strange geometric shapes. Her ashen eyelids were shut tight, severing herself from invasions of light and sound…

The knocking of the door was lost on her ears. The noise simply washed over her tumultuously and disappeared. All she heard was her own voice, muttering her unique mantra over and over again, never faltering, never failing, always precise.

"Azarath…Metrion…Zinthos…"

Over and over again, she droned, determined to keep her emotions in check. Determined to…-

"You know you'll fail."

Robin opened the door hesitatingly, unsure of what to find in the black backdrop of the island. His masked eyes spotted two figures, but due to the angle he stood he could not make out any distinguishing features.

"It appears you hold the most sway in this town, am I correct?"

Robin spun quickly and faced the figure that had just spoken.

"And you are?" He asked abruptly, in no mood to play games.

"Chronis. Pleasure to meet such fine young specimens such as yourselves."

"Specimens?" Robin raised an eyebrow as he cautiously readied himself.

"But of course, you are easily manipulated into useful situations that would benefit me and my business partners, so yes, you are specimens. Or at least, the one you call Mark is."

"What do you want with Mark?"

"You do not understand, child, there are some matters that you should not involve yourself with, for the good of your well-being and that of your lady-friend."

"Anything that involves Mark or any of the Titans involves all of us. We're a team, just in case you haven't noticed."

"Oh I've noticed, and I'm sure you've noticed my Nuisance Removal Specialist here to my left."

"What are you talking about?"

"A simple task, Robin. Bring Mark here, and I will not kill you."

"Robin man, is everything ok? Who is this guy?" Cyborg asked slowly as he approached the door.

"Stay back, everything's fine." Robin warned.

"You are aware that everything is not fine? Bring Mark to me now, or I will retrieve him myself."

'You are not taking him." Robin growled, leaning back on his rear leg as he extended his arms out in anticipation of what was inevitably going to occur. And he stayed that way. In fact, the whole tower simply froze in the clutches of time, not a living thing moving, except for the dark figure in the doorway, his associate, Mark and Raven, and- strangely enough- Hale.

"Get him. Kill her and their prisoner."

The creature nodded and lunged inside, dodging the frozen figures of Robin and the rest of the Titans that lay in its way. Chronis leisurely waltzed inside, and the phosphorescent lighting of the main entrance room revealed him to be wearing a black rain-coat, complete with hood and black, heavy-duty boots. A black belt was strapped to his waist, and a glittering sword hung inconspicuously on his left.

"You fool Robin. How can you possibly hope to compete with the master of time?"

"He has some help, Chronis."

Chronis snapped his head around, looking for the source of the arrogant voice. His face curled up into a snarl as he spat the next words out.

"Demetrus! Do not meddle in my affairs! You have no authority here, by the laws of your pathetic code."

"Quite on the contrary, Chronis. The Teen Titans are my authority. Now, as their guardian angel, I'm sure you understand the fact that I simply cannot allow you to hurt any one of them?"

Chronis smiled a twisted grin.

"I'm not the one harming them, Demetrus. Psyche is."

A flash of light erupted directly in front of Chronis, blinding him temporarily and causing him to stumble back and shield his eyes. Once the light dissipated, another figure stood where thin air had been only moments ago. This figure, however, was dressed in a robe, coloured in a mixture of grays and whites, and brown sandles. His face was similar to Hale's, wizened, weathered and covered in short, graying hairs that complimented the thick black mop of hair he had on his head.

"'Psyche' has already been taken care of, Chronis. I think it's time for you to leave."

"I think you underestimate the strength of my associate, Demetrus."

"I think you should start running, before I declare you guilty of breaching the Lucifer contract. You and your sickening brethren were allowed to roam this planet, but I have been granted authority to banish you back to Hell if you step one toe out of line."

Chronis scowled and was about to retort, but a muffled explosion rocked the tower and blew scattered pieces of what appeared to be metal mingled with dead flesh all over the room.

"Now that my friend, is your cue to leave. If you do not comply, my superior will have a word."

The colour drained from Chronis' face at the mere thought of such an occurrence happening.

"This isn't over. I will get Mark, and I will kill you, and make sure your ashes are fed to the languishing demons of Hell. Mark my words, Demetrus. Mark them well."

Demetrus didn't bother replying, instead he simply erupted into a flash of light and disappeared.

This is my December…

Rain.

Dark, ominous clouds rolled in from the east, bringing forth a spectacular torrent of rain that spilt from the heavens above, accompanied by Mother Nature's music as thunder rumbled through the skies and lightening struck distant plains and scorched the earth below.

This is my snow-covered home…

Mark gazed outside his window absent-mindedly, the soft patter of water droplets striking his window doing little to calm his troubled mind. He may have seemed calm on the exterior, but beneath the coral blue eyes and pale skin, a storm even mightier then the one that danced to the tune of the dreamlands in front of his saddened eyes could ever hope to be seethed and raged.

This is my December…

"Why does she do this?" Mark asked despairingly to the night outside, as if hoping for an answer from the merciless lightening. He received none.

This is me alone…

Lightening flashed once more, and his still figure was silhouetted against the large window of his room. His whole bedroom was bathed in an eerie white glow, and strangely stayed that way.

This is my December…

Mark noticed this peculiar event and raised an eyebrow cautiously. He stood up and examined the night more thoroughly. There was no mistaking it, lightening had frozen in mid-strike.

Mark cautiously walked out of his room and proceeded down the corridor, silence being his only companion.

A shadow flickered, and out of the corner of his eye, something that didn't belong shot past and disappeared once more into the shadows. Mark's heart rate quickened as he crept at an almost stagnant rate towards the source of the disturbance.

A strange, metallic noise pulsated from the darkness, almost like someone-or something's- breathing that came to them in short, ragged breaths.

Mark's face paled tremendously once he realized what the noise was.

"Psyche." Was all he heard, and it lunged.

Raven opened her eyes abruptly.

"Mark…"

She jumped out of her bed and materialized through her bedroom wall, her cloak billowing and fluttering behind her. She levitated down the corridor, scanning for any sight of Mark, but she found none.

"There we are." Hale exclaimed as he stood up, now outside the prison that had held him only moments ago. "I didn't even need a spoon." He chuckled as he silently swung the door open, checking for any Titans. Seeing that the coast was clear, he swung the door fully open and crept outside, the carpeted floor betraying no noise of his movement.

"Now, all I need is…Wait. What the Fu-." A large mass of grey sped around the corner and knocked him square in the chin, snapping his head back as he tilted at an obscure angle, before falling on his back with a dull thud.

Hale groaned and pulled himself back up, rubbing his head in pain as he did so.

"I am up to here-." He gestured with his hand to his neck "With these god-damned Teen Superheroes and their whacked-out funhouse they call home. Who the hell lives in a giant 'T' anyway? I mean, what is the point!" He fumed as he searched for the unknown adversary.

His search didn't last long, and the foreign figure attacked again, but this time Hale was ready. He grabbed the lunging hand and struck with his own arm, latching on to the creature's throat in a vice-like grip.

"What the fuck are you? Some sort of Teen Titans watchdog?" Hale exclaimed as he watched the creature thrash wildly and claw at his extended arm. He gripped its throat tighter, causing the creature to thrash even more, and slammed it into the wall of the corridor.

"Will you-." Hale started as he rammed his fist into its face "-stop-" smashed its face again "-fucking-." and again "-MOVING?" He punched it a final time, and the creature became limp, its arms falling to its sides as its head lolled lazily to its left.

Hale examined the creature again to confirm its status before tossing it behind him and walking towards his freedom.

The creature was not finished, however. It growled slowly as it got to its feet once more and screamed an ungodly yell as it lunged towards Hale, its teeth bared and arms extended yet again in an attempt to tear open some messy holes. Hale however, was prepared. He never had intended to use his concealed grenade that he had hidden in his back pocket, but as the creature recovered so effortlessly from an attack that would have killed a normal human being, Hale could see he had no choice. Hale spun, the pin pulled and the lever held down as he aimed for his target. He found it, and he threw. The momentum at which the creature was traveling meant that even if it tried, it could not pull away from its current velocity. Its teeth were still bared, and that was the last mistake it would ever make. The grenade found its target, right between the creature's lips, and it instinctively swallowed the high-powered explosive. Within three seconds, the grenade exploded, and so did it, scattering the corridor and Hale with sickening amounts of metal and decayed or decaying flesh.

Hale screwed up his nose at the awful stench that followed and shook his arms and hands clean of the grey substance.

"The things I do…" Hale muttered as he approached a nearby window and broke it, allowing him to fling himself into freedom once more. He had a strange feeling though, that he would be back soon enough.