Last Act

Chapter 4 – Labyrinth

When Raven came to, she found herself bound and in some sort of basement, presumably that of the theater, with her wrists tied behind her. Raven knew she had been wounded from the impact of whatever it was that knocked out, because sticky, red blood was dried all down her arm and her head was killing her.

Mumbo, or one of them, sat in a chair a few feet away, reading from a large book, obviously unaware at his prisoner's recent awakening, as she had not uttered a sound since. The door to the little room was closed, but the lock was not turned. Raven knew that if she could get past the magician, she was free, at least free to move about the basement until an escape route to outside was located.

Raven came up with a plan. She groaned loudly, causing Mumbo to look down at her. She then rolled her eyes to the back of her head and gave a good, loud, hacking cough. Raven leaned to her left, as if she was about to pass out, struggled to right herself, and fell to the other side, hitting the ground with a little more force than she intended. The act had the desired effect. Mumbo jumped up, apparently unhappy to see that his captive was probably in need of medical attention. He nudged her limp arm with a shoe, and when she didn't move, bent down to check her breathing. Raven held her breath for over a good minute and was beginning to feel the effects of the oxygen deprivation when he pulled away. Mumbo jumped up, flinging open the door and disappearing, crying, "Mumbo!" again and again as he went.

Raven sat up and took a deep, calming breath. After settling her emotions, she spoke aloud with authority, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" the bonds which bound her broke from the dark force that tore through the room. A bare light bulb, the room's only source of light, exploded, sending a shower of sparks on her head and plunging the room into complete darkness.

She stood shakily, felt for the door, and exited the room. Unfortunately, a new panic set in. Raven was alone in a black labyrinth of the theater basement, and she had no way of knowing where she was, or where anything was for that matter. Feeling along the walls would only get her so far.

Ironically, for a demoness, she had never been fond of the dark. More specifically, what could be hiding in the dark, just seconds away from attacking. Raven forced herself to not succumb to those fears now, knowing that they were in no way a productive way of spending priceless time and energy.

But what could she do? Well, she could wait, hoping help would come to her, or slowly make her way around the dark basement of the Delta City Performing Theater. She opted for the second, but kept a mental note of every turn she made, so that if need be, she could return to the room she awoke in.

TT

Robin woke up in a similar predicament as Raven did, but more than one grinning Mumbo Jumbo was looming over him. Robin blinked, half squinting his eyes from the brightness of the room. He gasped, and tried to bring a hand to his face, before realizing that he was bound at the wrists. His sunglasses were gone! There, before strangers, his identity was practically revealed. A rage swelled within him, an intense hate for the putrid, heartless beings with the cruel smiles that stood above him. Had they only done this to anger him? He wanted to hurt these wretched people, but he could not. And although he would have liked to attribute his restraint to his self-control and righteous, superhero nature, the ropes around his wrists probably had more to do with his inaction.

"Why am I here?" Robin asked through clenched teeth.

"For the same reason you had Mumbo put in jail," said one of the Mumbos with glee.

"Someone believes that you do not deserve to be free anymore," another added.

"That you're a menace to society, always imposing your own ways and ruling like a dictator from your high perch above the common folk," the last finished.

"Squelching all the fun is no way to live. You must comply. You must learn." The second insisted.

"The Titans shouldn't be in control when they have no sense of fun at all, don't you think, Robin?" the first grinned.

"Do you have Starfire?" Robin asked, ignoring their lecture.

The third Mumbo smiled evilly. "The alien girl? She has been done away with," he said with a casual wave of his hand.

Robin cried out in sadness and anger, surprising the Mumbos quite a bit.

"I didn't mean we killed her," the third one replied to his outburst with a grin, "She has been appropriately apprehended for meddling with Mumbo's business. She's been taken care of."

Robin tried hard not to sigh in relief. But Starfire was still in danger, even if she was not dead. He had to get away and find her! And Raven, oh no, what happened to Raven? He was still wearing his jacket, but would not risk getting the communicator confiscated by doing anything stupid like taking it out with the Mumbos in the room. But how to make them leave?

Robin felt with his hands at the ropes that bound his hands behind his back, and thanked the gods that it was only rope. He felt the knots that kept him captive, and knew that if they could be undone, he could escape. Suddenly, Robin had an idea. He had to keep the Mumbos talking.

"So, are you all clones of the real Mumbo Jumbo?" Robin asked.

"Yes and no. That's a complex issue," the first replied.

"But the simplest answer is yes, we're technically clones, copies of the illustrious Mumbo," the third said.

"And why did you capture Starfire, Raven, and me?" he asked.

"We've already explained that to you! You don't deserve to be free," the second repeated, "You need to be changed."

This wasn't working. He had to get them to not notice that his hands were busy at work untying the binds at his wrists. But how?

"What would you guys do differently then, if you ran a city?"

That was the perfect question to ask. The Mumbos answered eagerly.

"No schools! No jobs! People doing as they please!" cried one.

"Parties and fun, twenty-four seven!" added another.

"Magic would rule, reality would bend!" the last said.

"And most of all, Mumbo would finally receive the respect and honor he deserves." The second replied. They went on, listing things they would change, and what life without the 'pesky, boring governments' would be like.

Robin's fingers and wrists were raw from the ropes, but the knots were finally undone. He held onto each end of the rope, giving the illusion of him still being bound.

"May I please stand up, Mumbos? I won't try anything, but my legs are falling asleep," he cut into their chatter.

"Fine, but if you do anything funny, you'll be sorry," one warned.

"Ok," Robin complied, carefully standing. His head still pounded from the impact of his fall, but he pushed aside the pain, concentrating on the current task.

'Now or never,' he though to himself. Robin counted to three and attacked. He threw a punch at the first, catching him off guard and sending him toppling to the ground. The second and third cried out, and lunged towards him.

Robin quickly sidestepped to the left, and executed a flawless kick that made the third howl in pain and clutch his hip.

"You're going to wish you hadn't done that," the second warned. Robin caught him in the chest with a hard punch, and the second Mumbo toppled over, the air knocked from his lungs.

Thinking ahead, Robin grabbed a folding chair that one of the Mumbos had been using, and rather than fight with it, Robin sprinted for the door, found it unlocked, and dashed out, closing the door behind him. He remembered that a chair could be used to keep the door closed in a pinch, if it was propped correctly against the doorknob.

Remembering spotting a light switch near the door in the room he had just escaped from, Robin quickly opened the door just an inch, silently grabbing the old light switch firmly and tugging it off then to one side, which had the desired effect. The light switch broke off, and the room was left in darkness. He slammed the door again, leaving the Mumbos shouting in confusion. He jammed the door with the folding chair, and backed away, proud of his work.

Robin noticed how dark the basement was. The inky black seemed thick enough to suffocate him. He had to get out. But how? He couldn't cry out, there were bound to be more Mumbos looking for him.

He stooped and began to crawl along the walls, keeping one hand against it and the other in front of himself as he inched along on his knees, the cheap commercial carpeting burning his skin as he crept across it. He felt more protected than he would standing, and he figured that it did not matter anyway how he chose to move about. His suit pants had already been ruined by blood and holes, as he had apparently been dragged to the room in which he woke up.

……….

It seemed to Raven that she had been walking slowly for years. But in reality, she had no way of knowing what time it was, or even what day it was. She had long since forgotten the way she had come, and there was no hope in returning.

Raven wondered if there were any beings around her, maybe someone from the police looking for her. The empath stopped. Raven focused on calming herself once again, listening into the darkness for anything.

She heard a small sound, a light shuffle as of a predator trying to creep quietly towards its prey. Or was it only far away, giving the illusion that someone was muffling their steps? She did not know. Raven knew that she could cry out, and hope for the later. But what if it was Mumbo, or one of the Mumbos, coming to find her?

She sensed an aura or fear exuding from the halls, so strong that it was almost overwhelming. Raven decided to call out. She would rather be recaptured than spend much longer in the labyrinth of twisting hallways, perhaps only walking in circles. Perhaps the aura of fear belonged to that of a fellow captive, perhaps Robin or Starfire…?

"Hello? Is someone there?" she cried, straining her ears to hear any response.

Robin was afraid. How long had he been crawling? There were no signs of an exit. Was this actually the basement of the theater? Could it be another one of Mumbo's horrible illusions? Was it all a dream? A horrible nightmare?

He heard a muffled sound. A voice of a female, quietly echoing through the corridors.

"Is someone there? Who are you?" Robin yelled.

Either Raven's mind was paying tricks on her, or another voice had answered her back. It sounded like… Robin! Could it be?

"Robin! Robin! Is that you?"

"Raven!" he responded. A wave of relief swept over him. "Just stay where you are! Keep talking! I'll find you!"

Raven could hardly make out her leader's voice because of how it echoed through the hallways, but she heard his order to stay still. She complied.

"Robin!" she called.

Robin strained his ears. Her voice was getting louder. He must be getting closer. Robin rounded another corner, then another. Jumping to his feet, he tried to quicken his pace, ran into a wall, and stumbled.

"Robin! Was that you? Are you alright?" the worried empath called.

"I'm getting closer, Raven! Don't worry." He reassured her.

A few more minutes passed, and now she could hear steady footsteps, a good deal louder than they had been before.

"Robin?" she called again.

He rounded the last corner. There she was! He heard her voice right in front of him.

"Raven!" he cried, reaching out for her.

Raven felt his hand brush against her outstretched one. She grabbed his wrist.

"Robin, you're alright!" Raven said.

He pulled her into a hug. She could feel his heart beating rapidly.

"I thought I'd be wandering along forever!" he replied. Robin reached up to her hair, but pulled away when he heard her rapidly draw in a breath. "What's wrong, Raven?" he asked, worried.

"Before the end of the show, when I left the building, I opened the door on the right like I was told to and Mumbo was there! I don't know how, but he was. Then, another one. The second Mumbo hit me in the head with something, and I blacked out. When I woke up, I was in a room with the laceration," Raven recapped.

"Raven, why did you do that? Why didn't you go for help?" Robin asked, anger rising.

"Robin," Raven started. He could feel her looking him straight in the eye, even in the darkness. "I would never leave you like this." She reached up to the side of his face. "Robin! Your glasses!" She drew back her hand.

"I know," answered the voice sadly. "I woke up without them." Robin felt his fury returning as he remembered.

They swapped stories of what had happened to them after waking up, and Robin couldn't stop laughing after Raven told him about her fake fainting. A stroke of genius, he told her.

"So, if we were the ones Mumbo was after, why would he kidnap all those other people too?" Raven asked.

"Maybe just to lure us to one of his shows, but I don't know yet. It doesn't make any sense."

"At least we're together now."

"There's just one problem now, Raven."

"What?"

"We're still stuck in this basement."

"Do you have you communicator?"

"You know what, Raven?"

"What?"

"I'm an idiot. I've been wandering down here in this maze and I haven't checked yet."

"Smart, Boy Wonder. Really smart."

Robin took out his communicator, and turned it on. He was rather unhappy to see that the screen was cracked, probably from when he fell, but at least it did work.

The narrow hall was bathed in an eerie green light when it turned on. Robin glanced up at Raven. Sure enough, part of her hair was matted down with blood and her arm was covered in it. She still had the single white carnation tucked in her dress front. He noticed that she was staring intently at his face. He remembered. His mask was gone.

"I've never seen your eyes before, Robin," she commented, then looked away and blushed when sense returned to her and she realized that he obviously might not want her to see them.

"Well, you're the first Titan," he sighed, turning his attention back to the communicator, flipping to a "call Tower" option. He pressed a red button, and held the communicator so they could both see the screen.

TT

It was six in the morning when Cyborg heard the call from his bedroom. He rushed to the communications room. The caller identification announced that Robin was attempting to contact the Tower. Cyborg yelled for Beast Boy, who groggily appeared a few moments later.

"Wha's happenin'?" the changeling slurred, voice thick with sleep.

"Robin's calling!" Cy shouted.

"Robin? Lemme talk to him! Lemme talk to him!" the green teen cried, hopping up and down like a seven year old, forgetting how tired he was.

Cyborg received the call, and Robin and Raven's faces blinked onto the screen, barely visible and drowning in the darkness that surrounded them.

"Man, we were worried about you guys! Where are you? And Robin, what happened to your mask?" Cy asked.

"We're probably in the basement of the theater, and my mask was stolen by three Mumbo Jumbos."

"Three, huh?"

"Yeah. They say they're like clones."

"Did you find Star?" asked Beast Boy.

"Unfortunately, no, but we did figure a lot of stuff out. All the disappearances were probably just done to lure us to one of the shows. Mumbo wants us locked up. Something about us being cruel dictators, no fun, yada yada. Can you come find us?"

"Not sure. Let me run a test." Cyborg tapped on some keys on a keyboard, and after a moment, a grey shape appeared on Robin's communicator screen, with a small, red blinking dot lost in the middle.

"That's the outline of the theater, and the blinking dot is you guys,' Cyborg's voice boomed. "You're about fifteen feet below ground. Man! That basement is huge! You could be lost for weeks in it! I'm bringing up the blueprints now. I'll walk you through it. Don't worry."

"Thanks, Cyborg. I don't know what we would do without you," Raven said gratefully.

"Probably die of starvation," he grinned. "Ya ready, guys? Ok. Turn to your right, then go down the hall until you get to a crossing…."

TT

Forty-five minutes later the birds stood blinking in the sunlight.

"Thanks Cy, we're out! I'll hail a cab and be home in a while," Robin thanked him.

"No prob, Robin. See ya."

Robin smiled at Raven and put away his communicator. She gave a shadow of a grin back.

"Well, we're out!" he said.

"Yes, finally," Raven replied absently. She was still looking at his eyes. "Robin?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you wear a mask?"

"Well, why do you wear a hood?"

She did not answer the question, stepping towards the street and waving a hand in the air for a taxi instead. A cab stopped and they got in, soon on their way back home. They were glad to be out alive, but couldn't be truly happy knowing that Starfire was still captive somewhere, maybe even in the theater they had just escaped from.

A.N. Dun dun dun! What will happen next? What's with all the Mumbo Jumbos? Will the Teen Titans ever find their beloved Starfire? Find out all this and more in chapter five, coming soon to a computer near you!

In the mean time, please review! I want your opinions – how am I doing so far? I can only make my story better if you tell me how. :)