"Hush now! Our prisoner awakens!"

Bruce Wayne sits up on the green, comfortable arm chair bound with many ropes, tying up his arms. His first instinct was to use his Tae Kwan doe, but the assortment of villains around him proved that notion to be suicide. Besides; he wasn't Batman this time…

The Joker snickers as Bruce drowsily remembers getting beaten up, his vision still a bit shaky.

"Good morning Mr. Wayne. Enjoy your little siesta did we?" smirks the Penguin. His monocle glinted and his tuxedo was polish.

The Riddler laughs along with the Joker in his green riddle patterned business suit and bowler hat. TwoFace just sits in a chair on the far, shadowed side, flipping his coin. His half mutilated face was smiling widely. His eye was on evil intent. But to Bruce's surprise; it was the presence of the Catwoman that troubled him most. She lay on the desk stroking her black cat. Her dark tights glistened from the dim lights of the dark room. The five super villains laughed together as Bruce falls off the chair, still dazed from his capture.

"I swear…" says Bruce getting up. "If Salina is…"

"Don't fret Mr. Wayne!" smiles the Catwoman in her purring voice. "She is quite safe, as long as you don't try anything foolish!"

"In other words; old two sides here is a really poor shot! Ha-ha!" laughs the Joker to Twoface's aggravation.

"Now, now then Mr. Dent." says the Penguin, seeing the fuming psychopath. "We're all friends here…"

"Except maybe Mr. Wayne here of course!" laughs the Riddler, he pushes Bruce back on the chair with his cane.

"I think this little huddle is getting a bit crowded…" seethes Twoface. "Three's company, but five's…"

"Spare us the sentimental Dent." says Catwoman. "I don't like working with you guys either, you murderers."

"What's wrong with murder for business?" smiles the Joker. "It's a killing! HAHAHA!" and he rocks back on a rocking chair.

"Why have you shown up Cobblepot?" says Bruce. "Did you get unmasked in this whole charade?"

"Don't get so cocky Mr. Wayne." smiles the Penguin. He chews a cigarette. "In your position, it is highly rejectable. As my plan goes, you will not leave here until the Bat has been dealt with. You are merely bait for the last demise of the Dark Knight. Once the hero has been finished by our efforts, you are free to go… and by then, your little information you have gathered will be of little use!"

"Everyone knows that you're behind this Penguin."

"Ah! But not for long!" and he flings his hat on the coat rack and sits at his desk. "You see, even as we speak a little surprise is on its way for my parade of peace as it is called through Gotham square. Naturally, I expect there will be trouble so invited as many police as they could afford to secure the peace. No doubt the Batman will be there also."

Bruce has his doubts about that, but he doesn't show it.

"And when he's there…!" continues the Penguin. "There will be a few accidents!"

"Namely you; being held hostage." snarls Twoface in a twisted grin.

"As well as a few treats devised by my self!" says the Joker.

"A fabulous show!" laughs Riddler.

"Puuuurrrfect!" purrs Catwoman. The villains laugh together in a strange, foreboding chorus.

"Batman will have no choice but to except a few conditions! Namely dieing to save your life." says the Penguin.

Bruce saw that the plan had a major flaw.

"He looks perplexed! Perfect for our hapless victim!" dances the Joker.

"Oh happy day! Batman's going to pay!" sings Riddler, and he and the Joker hold his cane and dance in a circle.

"Here we go again!" says Catwoman, rolling her eyes. "The two larrikins playing ring a round the pansy!"

"Don't you have to be getting somewhere Riddler?" says Twoface, restraining himself from blowing their brains out.

"Ah yes! Of course! My little Riddle for the Batman! Ha-ha!" and he runs off in a swirly dance. "Questions, questions; so many questions!"

"Why does he still bother to go on?" says the Penguin, pressing his security button. "Batman's going to die today anyway!"

"Oh don't be such a ninepin Fish breath!" says the Joker. "Batman has survived on countless occasions despite our best efforts. Why should this little party be any different? In fact I expect him to succeed, as does Riddler!" and he smiles sinisterly.

The Penguin turns to his colleague with a lopsided eye brow. "Mr. Joker, if I may say so; nonsense! My plan has been orchestrated to the finest detail. You helped yourself! It's foolproof!"

"Then it's bound to fail!" says Twoface, sipping at some wine.

"What am I supposed to do when our gang is so pessimistic?" says Cobblepot annoyed. "If you all know it's going to fail, then why bother working on it?"

"The kicks." says Catwoman, Joker and Twoface together. Bruce spits on the ground.

"I think it is time to get our guest ready." says the Penguin, and two large security men take Bruce away.

Salina was playing her cards riskily. She gave the excuse of extracting profit from Bruce's kidnapping to join the villains in order to save Bruce and Batman. She just hoped the others wouldn't see through her plan. She also hoped Bruce would understand later, if she succeeded…

…

Robin sat at Batman's seat in the underground laboratory. He taps into security systems and tunes in to all the bugging devices planted all round Gotham in search for Bruce Wayne. Alfred also sits nearby, receiving the Riddler's next clue.

"Three blocks have lost power sir." says Alfred. "But unfortunately, their pattern is random. No origin located."

"Where on earth can that signal be coming from?" says Robin, holding his head in frustration. "We've looked on the ground, underground, in the sky and even space! Where would he hide it?"

"This riddle may not help that much." says Alfred, handing Robin the next riddle…

I am the world, yet not the world. I hold up the world for a task, yet for a task I didn't.

Robin ponders the enigma. Alfred sparks upon something.

"The twelve tasks of Heracles, I think, master Dick."

"When trying to get the golden apples." snaps Robin. "He lifted up the sky in order for the titan to retrieve them!"

"The titan ATLAS." smiles the Butler. "Doomed to hold up the sky as punishment, until Heracles lifted the load temporarily for his own task. Nicely done if I do say so myself."

"Lips, no and atlas?" Robin goes over the clues.

"Backwards perhaps? Lips, no and atlas, spill on salt?"

"Could be…" thinks Robin. "But maybe there will be more clues to come in. I just hope he's okay."

"As do I sir."

…

"Come on Starfire, it isn't that bad!" says Beastboy. He is now very bushy at the top, with flowers and apples. He is basically a face in an apple tree. "I'm sure he'll call soon!"

"BUT IT HAS BEEN SO LOOOONG!" weeps Starfire. She had once again stayed up all night, waiting for Robin's daily check up. Once again, he had failed to communicate back. Her eyes had bags and her hair was a mess. Coffee mugs lay littered around the place. Her arm was sore from the pinching she had done to keep herself awake.

"C'mon star! He's probably just busy that's all!" says Cyborg, coming in with the newspaper. "He'll call soon." To himself, Cyborg was kind of glad Robin didn't call. He hadn't slept so well in days.

"Ha-ha! Get it?" laughs Beastboy, ruffling his leaves. "Call! Robin! Bird-call!" and he snickers. Cyborg rolls his eyes and sits down for breakfast.

"This is as like before." sighs Starfire, forcing a smile. "Maybe you are correct. Maybe I am over reacting. I am sure Robin is fine." but she feels pretty anxious all the same.

"I'm sure he… oh-oh!" exclaims Cyborg as he reads the main headline.

"What did you mean by that exclamation friend Cyborg?" says Starfire, wheeling over. Cyborg quickly pulls it away.

"Nothing! It's all fine!" he says nervously, trying to keep the paper away. "I… I just spilt some cocoa!" and he tips the mug. "See!"

"Oh yes I see." says Starfire (rather dense from her lack of sleep). "How clumsy. Yawn!"

"Phew." sighs Cyborg, putting the paper down (but still out of Starfire's eye sight). But unfortunately, Beastboy is able to see the article.

"EGAD! THE JO…" he starts, but Cyborg quickly spills the rest of the hot cocoa on him. "YEEEOWW!" he says.

"The what?" says Starfire?

"The… uh… JOKES!" says Cyborg, giving Beastboy a glare. Beastboy gets the message.

"Yeah! Uh… um… the JOKE!" he says, playing along. "Get it… um… Spill and … um… cocoa! That's so funny! Ha-ha… ha…" he says, desperately scrounging his head for a punch line.

"I think I shall get some rest." says Starfire, and she makes for the elevator. "Good day. Yawn."

"Phew! That was close!" says Cyborg as Starfire went to her room.

"She has to find out sooner or later CY!" says Beastboy, sapping up the cocoa. "You can't go hiding the bad stuff forever you know."

"You're just saying that because you don't have to do anything!"

"What do you mean? What are you suggesting? I'm stumped!"

…

"What are you doing tubby?" says Kitten, observing Control Freak (CtrlF) bent over, working on some electronics.

"Fixing another remote! What else?" he says, fusing some wires.

"HAHAHAHAHA! HOORAH AND ALL THAT SORT OF THING! CHEERS!" calls the old voice of Mad Mod upstairs.

"There he goes again!" says Mumbo, reading the newspaper. "What do you think he's up to chaps?"

"Whatever it is, I don't want to know." says Kitten, who didn't have a high regard of the old timer.

"I think I'm going to take a look!" says CtrlF getting up and stretching his short stumpy form. "I leant him my psychotic- turbo- elastic- fissional yesterday. I need it to finish my remote of doom5!" and he carries the almost completed remote upstairs.

"Well it's better than listening to 'The Beatles' down here!" sighs Kitten and she also goes up to investigate. Mumbo also goes up so he isn't alone in the room framed with goofy pictures of Mod with eyes that seemed to follow you around.

…

"I… I'm scared!" says Shy in the darkness. The confidence she had once gained was now diminished, as if some power was amplifying her emotions. Happy is somehow deludingly happy; probably snapping something in the darkness.

"Ha-ha! This is so fun! I can't see anyone! I hit a boulder! I like boulders! Whee!" she laughs and falls over.

"Waah! I'm so sad!" cries sad. "Someone just stepped on me! Sniff!"

"Sorry, let me help you up." says the culprit.

There is some distinct silence…

"Did you just…?" says Grumpy.

"YES I DID! SO WHAT?" shouts Mean? "I just found out I like being nice! Is there anything wrong with that?"

"No, but I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen." sighs Grumpy. "And I don't mean the pitch darkness. Every time one of us goes up, they come back completely different. It's warping our soul."

"Hey! I didn't change!" says Fight.

"Do we have to go through what you DID do again?" frowns Grumpy.

"Shutting up…"

…

"I don't like this at all." says Commissioner Gordon, surveying the parade. Everyone seemed happy in the large city square. Large queues at the food stalls, markets and at the concert hall. The commissioner would have been happy with the scene otherwise if it was not sponsored by the Penguin. "Are you sure Batman has more important things to do?"

"Believe me, he's pre-occupied." says Robin. He folds his arms and keeps himself alert. Gordon had his men positioned well. Pretty much the entire police force of Gotham was unleashed to watch the proceedings.

Cobblepot himself was amongst the crowd, watching the small skits being acted on stage. He was surrounded by a mass of bodyguards, whom Robin recognised from the many criminal line ups they had appeared in. He seemed to act innocently, enjoying the show. He was profiting from the parade, and Robin was sure he would get a lot more out of it to the demise of Batman.

When the giant pie costumed men appeared; Robin was uneasy. Not only were they surrounding the crowd, there were also many, many of them… they pulled out machine guns…

…

"Look Star! It isn't all that bad! Just keep calm!" says Cyborg, trying to reason with the distressed Starfire.

"Let me guess; she read the paper?" says Beastboy, watching Starfire pack her stuff with great speed.

"Just help me to stop her okay!" says Cyborg, standing in the way of Starfire. He's blasted down to the garage.

"Listen Starfire!" says Beastboy nervously. "I know the Joker is a dangerous guy, but Robin is with Batman too! I'm sure they'll be fine!" His leaves quake as Starfire starts yelling.

"HOW CAN YOU SPEAK SUCH WORDS? HE DID NOT CALL ME BACK!" she screams with tear fulls. "HE COULD BE IN SERIOUS DANGER! HE COULD BE HURT! HE COULD BE…" and she starts crying loudly. "I NEED TO HELP HIM!"

"We all do Star!" says Cyborg, walking drowsily up the stairs. "But we have our own problems. And YOU going up to Gotham may make things worse! In your condition you could really get hurt!"

"But Robin! He is facing too many foes! He needs us!" she cries, trembling. Beastboy notices that she looks a little pale.

"If you go, you will not only put yourself in danger." says Cyborg sternly. "You might also put Robin in danger as well! Do you remember the last time you were injured and Robin fought the Joker?"

Starfire remembers the horrible moment that Robin put himself in the way of the Joker's brutal attack to save her (The Joker, Chapter 11, The last Laugh) She felt helpless. She couldn't go, and she couldn't stay here and do nothing. She needed Robin; she needed to be with him in his troubles; that was what friendship was. And yet she knew that she couldn't go. She was torn.

"Err. Starfire? You don't look so good!" says Beastboy concerned. Starfire is now quite pale and her eyes were diluting. "Are you okay?"

"I… I…" she says trembling in her wheelchair. "I … I think I have… seitooc's!"

"Seitooc's?"

"Just a sec!" says Cyborg, and he reads through his downloaded Tamarian book of diseases and symptoms. "Seitooc's; Reverse repulsion disorder. A common ailment of combined excessive mental and physical stresses. Symptoms of obsessive eating, crying, self-consciousness and trembling. No cure; treatment of undisturbed and un-stressful rest suggested. Good grief! Why does this stuff have to happen to me?" wails the stressed cyber hero. He bangs his head against the wall.

"Hey! At least she can't go anywhere now right!" says Beastboy, trying to be optimistic. "Rest is what the doctor ordered! At least things can't get any worse!"

"NOOOOO! YOU SAID THE DOOMED WORDS!" shouts Cyborg, knowing full well the consequences of such phrases.

"What? At least things can't get any worse?"

"STOP IT! SOMETHING BAD IS GOING TO HAPPEN! I JUST KNOW IT!"

"Come on Cyborg!" says Beastboy, not being that afraid. "What could possibly happen?"

"Hi boys!" says the husky voice of Vain Raven from the top of the stairs. Her hair was clipped with extensions so her hair looked similar to Starfire's. She wore a top similar in design to Starfire as well, exposing her navel, with dark, tight fitting black leather pants. High heels of white shone out against the black attire. Earrings also sparkled and her bare arms were adorned with many bronze bracelets. "What's up?" and she struts down, flinging her hair from side to side. She flutters her thick eyelashes.

Beastboy just looks up stunned and his apples drop off to the delight of the waiting Silkie. Cyborg continues to bash his head on the wall and Starfire begins to raid the fridge.

…

"What the?" says Kitten as the trio invade upon the forbidden room of Mad Mod.

It wasn't too hard getting past the high security system installed by Mod. They just unplugged it. The lock wasn't too much trouble either as he had left the key in it.

A heap of old typewriters, sewing machines, two fridges, microwaves and cardboard boxes with clothes hangers sticking out lay jumbled with other strange devices that resembled the contents of a cluttered garage. A horde of hamsters ran on wheels to power the appliances.

"Eh what?" says Mod, turning around on his rocking chair. Naturally he falls off. "What's all this then?" he says getting up.

"Just calm down old man!" says CtrlF. "I just want my stuff back. I need to repair my remote!"

"Sorry! I'm the landlord here and I may take what I want!" he says, smiling a toothy, decrepit grin. "Now be gone you Yankees!" and he waves his cane around.

"Now just a second you crackly old toad!" says Kitten. "What's all this paraphernalia? A junkyard?"

"It's my centre of operations if you must know!" says Mod. "Here I will be able to take over every nuclear missile silo in the ENTIRE WORLD! I shall cause nuclear war and when the dust settles, I shall RULE THE GLOBE! RETRO MONDO TIME! YEAH-BABY-YEAH!" he laughs and falls over again.

The three villains have their doubts.

"But your computers are made of cardboard!"

"Pocket book friendly."

"You use hamster generators!" says Mumbo.

"Guinea pigs actually old chap!"

"Your main switch is a pencil sharpener!" says CtrlF.

"Considering what I have to work with, I think I did a jolly fine job Guv nor! Now excuse me! I have work to do!" he says, ushering them out. CtrlF spots his necessary item.

"Look! I just need to power my remote up okay!" and he grabs the device.

"Hang on! That's mine now! Just pop it back you fat chap!"

"Just for a second okay you Pom!" says CtrlF, not being very patient with the old coot. He begins to plug the device into his remote.

"I have a foreboding feeling." remarks Kitten. She's right.

"Insubordination! Surrender that back you American pest!" says Mod, and he grabs at the device.

"HEY! Don't do that!" says CtrlF, trying to fend him off, but Mod reaches the device and causes it to spark.

All four villains yell out as they are sucked into the strangely demented television vortex. Soon they are gone in the portal. The guinea pigs take a breather…

…

"Now everyone don't panic!" shouts the Penguin in the crowd. Everybody panics. Those that stand behind the attackers flee safely away, but those cordoned off are forced into a pen in the city square.

The 'pie men' open fire in the air and the crowd ducks down in screams. Even the Penguin and his bodyguards fall down. An umbrella pops up for added shielding. The police are completely at a loss, not being able to approach the attackers as they held the hostages. They move out of range as the gang fires at them. Some fifty or so in all.

"Everybody up! On your feet!" says one of the goons. "Facing the stage! Don't try nothing funny. Boss's orders!"

The tamed crowd do as they are told and face the stage. Many hundreds of hearts beat aloud. A strange gas filters across the floor to the audience's horror, and despite their efforts to block it; the gas is fast and works well. They all stand temporarily paralysed, staring bleakly at the dark stage. Even the Penguin stands transfixed. He needed it to seem as real as possible.

"Welcome my good guests! Please; no speaking while the show is in session. Seeing your current position, you need not applaud until the finale!" come the insidious voice on the loudspeaker. It is followed by a great cackling laughter. The Joker!

The lights go on and the stage is set. To the audience's horror, strapped onto a giant candle is Bruce Wayne. Bound by many ropes he struggles a bit, but uselessly. Under him and the candle is a large car sized cake, pink in colour and obviously a lot more dangerous than it looked. The Joker laughs again and appears through the raising platform centre stage.

"Be prepared for a spectacular bonanza of action packed entertainment!" chuckles the clown prince of crime. "Not only will it be featuring the demise of one of the city's greatest heroes, you will all get to share a piece of the cake when the fuse reaches the TNT amply provided. Of course, bits of Bruce Wayne will probably melt on it, but I'm sure that it will taste delicious all the same! What a Blast! HAHA!"

"What do you want Joker?" calls Commissioner Gordon on a loud speaker.

"I'm afraid you have me in a bit of a fix there dear friend!" smiles the Joker, with a faked expression of loss. "You'll have to see my solicitor I'm afraid (As YOU should be). He's highly recommended! May I introduce to the stage, my illustrious partner in crime, Harvey Dent!" and he bows with hat off as TwoFace strides in with machine gun ready. "Now for our next special guest!" and a spotlight suddenly focuses on a dark corner. Robin.

"Yes! Batman! The Dark Knight hims… what?" says the Joker, a bit upset. "What on earth are you doing all the way here? Didn't have enough of me in hop city?"

"I'm only satisfied when your carcass ends up in Arkham asylum Joker." says Robin, but he can't make a move. Too many guns and too many people.

"What a delightful young lad." says the Joker? "Now where's bat head?"

"He's busy."

"I find that hard to believe!" says the Joker. TwoFace is also unconvinced.

"If the Bat doesn't show up, Bruce is going to start getting a little hot headed!" says TwoFace, holding up a button. "One press and the candle will start to burn quite brightly."

"I'm telling the truth." says Robin, remaining calm. "Whatever you wanted Batman to do, you can do it to Me." he says defiantly.

"My! What a brave boy. But since you asked so nicely!" says the ace of knaves, he pulls a lever and Bruce and his candle roll off the cake and onto the floor. Another candle pops up in its place.

"I thought as much." says Robin.

"But I bet you didn't expect this!" says Catwoman, striding out. Robin is only a little surprised.

"I guess all your help was all a sham?" he says with slight agitation.

"You do the math Bird boy!" she says, and she lifts Bruce upright. "I couldn't let a ransom THIS big slip by!"

"All right! Get the show moving smiley!" snarls TwoFace, getting impatient about the formalities. "I want to see people burning, not dieing from losing bladder control from the anticipation!"

"Oh! Don't be so wet scar face!" says the Joker, waving his hand. "It's all the suspense you know! But you're quite right! Please step to the cake Boy blunder! Ha-ha! See! It's easy! HA! A piece of CAKE! Ha!"

As Robin stands near the candle, the spiral pattern comes unstuck and wraps itself around him. These binds weren't rope; steel cords.

"I thought we were reserving this for the Bat?" says TwoFace agitated and in eagerness to kill.

"Where's your sense of adventure?" says the Joker, his eyes gleam darkly. "We can have so much more fun when we kill off his friends first. It's all the more accomplishing. Like leaving the best dainties till last."

Bruce gives a glance to Robin who returns it. Catwoman also winks as well; her claws are extended behind the candle. Commissioner Gordon prays for a miracle. Alfred drinks some herbal tea in front of the television.

…

"So what do you think of my hair?" says Vain with mirror up. She applies some lip gloss.

"Cyborg!" says Beastboy weakly. "I think we need the straight jacket again! She's really lost it this time!" He whimpers as she puckers up.

"Okay; Starfire has broken legs and is sick, Beastboy is producing fruit, Silkie is eating the fruit and Raven's gone Mad." says Cyborg, holding his head in anguish. "Only another six days until Robin is scheduled to come back and we're completely messed up! WHY?" he mopes. "What did I do to deserve this?"

"Well, you weren't responsible…" begins Beastboy.

"Well… other than that!"

"You lied to Robin."

"AND that!"

"Then lied to him again…"

"Okay! Maybe I do deserve some butt whacking! But help me out here!"

"I SAID! WHAT DO YOU THINK OF MY HAIR?" yells Vain with added fury, not liking the lack of attention.

"Err… Fine! Great! Beautiful! Really good job! Fantastic" say Cyborg and Beastboy together, stuttering and faltering.

"Good! Thankyou!" she says, pleased. "What do you think Starfire?" she says to the kitchen.

"Mumberfull" says the ailing Tamarian as she stuffs her face with cake. She also stealthily reaches the cream doh nuts.

"Oh man! Not again!" says Cyborg and he rushes off to seal the fridge with his blow torch.

"Hey! I'm not finished here!" snaps Vain. "Oh well. You can say you opinion then Beast tree. Well?" she says with eyes fluttering.

Beastboy gets over ( or tries to get over) the fact that Raven is acting like a natural flirt and tries to see what could have caused so much change in his friend. What could have triggered such a drastic transformation to such a normally quiet and morbidly sensible girl, and if there was anyway to get the old Raven back…

…

"Oh happy day!" sings Happy, still prancing about around the little camp 'fire'. The day is still pitch darkness and the air is still cold, thin and somehow, in some frightening way; shrieking. Mean sticks her tongue out at the delighted Happy and proceeds in flicking pebbles at the slowly infuriating Grumpy.

"I feel so cold!" says shy whimpering. She huddles with Sad who is wearing down with dry eyes. "So… afraid!"

"Come on you wimps!" shouts Fight to the darkness. "I'm not afraid! Just show your faces and I'll give you a hoo-ha and ha-ho!" she says, punching the shadows. "I'm ready!"
"Just stay down you loon!" says Grumpy, more stubborn than usual. "You'll get us all killed. Though we're probably not going to survive anyhow!" she says with eyes up.

"Well! This is one pup who isn't going to go down so easily! I'll rip em apart! Oh yeah!"

"I SAID GET DOWN YOU IDIOT!" shouts Grumpy.

"AND ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE ME HUH?" says Fight enraged and battle blood flowing through her.

"Please do not fight…" says Shy cringing.

"Oh shut up you loser!" says Mean, slapping her over the head. "You guys are such cry babies! And you two are just plainly itching to bite each others heads off you cockroaches!"

"Just all of you SHUTUP!" snaps Grumpy. "No wonder we can never defeat Trigon with such a useless team! We might as well give up!"

"This is so sad!" cries Sad. Her eyes well up and she tries to bury herself in the dirt in grief.

"I'm so H-A-P-P-Y! HIPPY! I meant Happy! HAHAHA!" giggles Happy uncontrollably. She starts to roll on the ground, almost in pain from her laughter. "I… I… Ha! Can't stop… HAHAHA! LAUGHING! I'm soooo, SOOOO STUUUUPIIID! Ha-ha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"See! We're all going to die! Die!" says Grumpy like a heretic.

"That's it! I'm taking you out!" shouts fight and she lobs a great whopping left hook on Grumpy who flies across the ground. "That's more like it!" she says smiling.

"Please stop!" whimpers Shy, but she is far too quiet and no-body hears her… all except Evil Raven who watches from above in the many arms of her creature. She smiles as the emotions begin to feel the effect of Echelon's presence, as does she. Her evil begins to become overwhelming. She smiles coldly in hate, spite and sick joy as the Ravens begin to break apart from their own amplified emotions… Soon she herself will strike down…

…

…

…

Author's note

Inspirations to names in The Lancer and this fiction as taken from definitions from Google:

Seitooc's disease: Cooties backwards

Echelon: is the largest electronic spy network in history, run by the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, capturing telephone calls, faxes and e-mails around the world. ECHELON is estimated to intercept up to 3 billion communications every day.

Fresco: A painting technique in which pigments suspended in water are applied to a damp lime-plaster surface. The pigments dry to become part of the plaster wall or surface.

Kafka: Czech novelist who wrote in German about a nightmarish world of isolated and troubled individuals (1883-1924)

Sigma: A measure of the dispersion of random errors about the mean value. If a large numbers of measurements or observations of the same quantity are made, the standard deviation is the square root of the sum of the squares of deviations from the mean value divided by the number of observations less one.

Chroma: The part of the video signal that contains the colour information.

Tungsten: A rare element of the chromium group contained in certain minerals associated with high-temperature quartz veins and isolated as a hard, brittle, white or grey metal.

(See if you can work out why I named them as I did!)