Last Act
Chapter 5 – The Trapdoor
Once back, safe at the Tower, Raven sat in her room meditating, chanting her mantra to help restore the gentle equilibrium of her emotions that had been damaged by the past day's events. The soothing words calmed her, putting her mind at ease. She had risen a few inches from her bed.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos… Azarath Metrion Zinthos… Azarath Metrion Zinthos…"
"RAVEN!" the changeling's yell broke her calm mood, and she fell to her bed with a groan. 'So much for rebalancing my emotions,' she grumbled to herself.
Donning her hood, Raven stepped to the door of her room, opening it just an inch. There stood the grass stain, smiling. "Robin says we're all going back to the theater to look for Starfire!"
That was on the top ten list of things she definitely did not want to hear at that time. Raven growled and shut the door. If she could have, she would have slammed it, but electric doors aren't easy to slam, so she settled for yelling, "God hates me!" as the door whooshed closed.
Raven walked into the front room five minutes later with a look on her face that said, "Mess with me and die."
"Everything ok, Raven?" the Boy Wonder asked with concern.
"Oh yeah, everything's great. We just escaped from that hell hole and now we just can't wait to get ourselves back into trouble."
"Raven, this isn't about us. It's about finding Starfire and bringing her home before anything really bad happens to her," Robin replied, always the voice of reason.
"This time, it won't be so bad," Cyborg cut in. "We're all bringing flashlights, and no one will forget their communicators," he said, shooting Raven a look.
Raven rolled her eyes and scowled at Cyborg.
The four superheroes arrived in the T-Car at the Delta City Performing Theater early in the afternoon of the same day the birds had escaped from it.
Cyborg parked the car on the opposite side of the street, before speaking up.
"I've downloaded the blueprints of the theater into everyone's communicators, so make sure you refer to those. We're each a different colored dot. I brought enough flashlights for everyone to take two, just incase one dies, but I doubt BB or I will need them."
Robin added, "I'd like everyone to check in with me every fifteen minutes. Include a status report, and make note of anything suspicious or if you see any of the Mumbo clones. And please, try not to alert them of our presence. The last thing we need is psychotic clones after us. Although they look identical, their voices are different. Don't be fooled. We can cover more ground if we all split up. Beast Boy and Raven will take the right side of the basement, and Cyborg and I will take the left."
"Aw, but Raven'll kill me!" Beast Boy whined. "Can Cy 'n me switch?"
"Beast Boy," Robin answered solemnly, "We are a team. We work together. Part of that is learning to overcome our differences when we need to. And right now, you need to."
"Yeah, suck it up grass stain," Cyborg added.
"Titans, go!" Robin called. The team left the car, armed with communicators and flashlights, and walked toward the building.
"Raven and Beast Boy, you enter here," Robin commanded, motioning toward a flight of mossy, old, concrete stairs that led to a rusted metal door. The changeling gave a little salute and they were off.
Cyborg and Robin rounded the building to the left side, carefully stepping through the dense shrubbery and weeds that led to another hidden door.
"Yo dude, what's that?" Cyborg asked, pointing towards a dark trailer hidden in the trees behind the theater.
"I don't know, but it looks like it could fit a whole lot of people. Perfect for getting away with abductees. I'll bet it's involved. Good thing you spotted it."
The two teens strode toward it cautiously. Cyborg drew his sonic cannon, ready to defend them in case of an attack. He crept as quietly as possible to the back of it, carefully opening the back door, which was unlocked. The doors creaked and groaned on their hinges as they swung open, revealing an empty space. Completely empty. From the dusty, dirty, look of it, it appeared as if the trailer hadn't been used for a while.
"Well, it was a good idea," Robin said. "C'mon. Let's get inside."
TT
"You go to the back, I'll go to the front," Raven ordered Beast Boy.
"Fine, Miss Bossy Boss, have it your way," he mumbled, scowling.
Raven sighed and swished away. Beast Boy changed into a bat, and with a mighty screech flew away to the back of the theater basement.
Raven smiled to herself. How much difference a flashlight and her communicator made while wandering alone in this maze. Had it really been that very morning she was creeping along, terrified at every sound, struggling to remain calm? And now she was back again, ready for more, ordering Beast Boy around.
Now, because of the flashlight, she could see the bugs and spiders that crawled along the walls, and was relieved that she did not notice them earlier, as it would have certainly fueled her fright. She could also see doors every now and then, and kept glancing at her communicator's blueprints to see if it was just a closet, or a door that led to another hall she had yet to explore. When she came to closets, she carefully stepped through the walls, just to take a peek and make sure it wasn't full of captives or Mumbo clones.
Beast Boy flew through the halls. A normal bat would have had quite a nice picnic in there, with all the bugs that clung to the walls and cobwebs on the ceilings.
He came to what he perceived to be a door, dropping down to change into a small bug. He crawled along the wall until he found it, and then squeezed under the doorway. He changed into a bat again to detect any movement, found none, and left the room to resume his search.
Robin walked through the halls, panning the walls with his light. He breathed in deeply, and a sour odor filled his nostrils. Looking up, he discovered that the ceiling had significant water damage and was rotting away. He shuddered.
A small sound made him freeze. It sounded like a gasp. Just a small intake of breath, the kind made when one is surprised, like someone would be to come across a masked teen in the pitch black darkness of an old theater basement.
He wheeled around, shining the light down the hall the way he had come, then the other way. 'Strange,' he thought. Nothing.
Cyborg strode down the corridors quickly, but was careful to catch the whole passage with his robotic eye. One interesting feature he had recently added to himself was the ability to record what he saw through the eye, and play it back or burn it to a disc so others could see what he saw. He decided that might be helpful for a mission such as this one.
His footsteps were rhythmic and heavy, his tread even and sure.
Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, creak, thud, thud, thud, thud….
He stopped, turned, and went back a few feet. He heard it again, a spot on the floor that was apparently not as stable as the surroundings. Bending down, he ran a hand over an edge to the carpet. It was wet and slimy, but instead of pulling back his hand, he tugged the carpet. It gave easily, pulling back to reveal a wooden trapdoor. Opening it carefully, dim light flooded up and he could hear muffled talking. Closing the door carefully, he pulled out his communicator.
Meanwhile, Robin walked on, making a mental note to reinvestigate the spot where he had heard the noise if he had time. His communicator chirped. It was Cyborg.
"Cy, did you find something?" he inquired.
"Yeah," came the quiet response. "Some sort of trapdoor. You gotta come see it! I hear voices and there's light coming from it. I-"
He was cut off by a slightly nasally voice. "Hey, you're not supposed to be here! Mumbo! Mumbo! Intruder!" Robin heard Cyborg's yell in the background. There was a loud noise and the transmission ended.
"Cyborg! Cyborg! Are you there?" Robin cried, forgetting his own order to remain quiet.
He quickly called Raven and Beast Boy's communicators. When they answered, he hissed, "Cyborg has been captured. Be on the lookout for anyone following you guys, they're probably onto all of us now. Be careful! I'm going to find him. He said something about a trapdoor. If you don't hear from me in a half hour, get out! Don't look for me, just leave. Come back with help. Robin out." With that, he began his quest to find his best friend.
Cy's tracking dot on the screen had vanished, but Robin raced to where he had seen it last. As he was much lighter than his friend, his footsteps did not make the weak spot on the floor groan in protest. He had to jump up and down, trying to build up enough force that the trapdoor would give a bit when he landed on it.
After a few minutes of making himself look like a complete fool, he felt a slight difference in a section of flooring, and knelt down on the carpet, feeling for the trapdoor his friend had spoken of. He felt along the carpet's edge, and noticed how it peeled up, instead of being connected to the wall. He pulled it up quickly, and the carpet came up in his hand. A shadow of a smile crossed his lips.
Cracking the trapdoor open, he could see the light and hear the sounds Cyborg had told him of. 'Here goes nothing,' he thought, and jumped down through the hole in he floor.
TT
Raven decided it was time to team up with Beast Boy. Was she scared? No. Well, maybe a bit. But it seemed pointless for them to wander separately, not knowing if they were the only Titan left uncaught. She called his communicator and within minutes they were together.
Raven noticed that her green teammate's complexion had paled noticeably.
"I can't believe they got Cyborg," he said, fearing the worst had happened to his friend and videogame partner.
"He's a strong guy, Beast Boy," Raven reassured him, "He can take care of himself."
TT
Robin landed silently an all fours, like a cat. He rose to full height and looked around. He found himself standing in another hall, the trapdoor about a foot above his head. The new hall was musty, obviously wet and unable to dry completely because the trapdoor above it was almost always kept shut. The rough, concrete walls were slimy and the concrete floor completely saturated. To reduce the likelihood of someone noticing he had entered the secret passage, he shut the wooden door over his head quietly.
He crept down the hall, staying to one side of the wall. A muffled voice gradually grew louder. It sounded like Mumbo, no big surprise. But either he was carrying on a conversation with himself, or more Mumbos were there as well. Robin stopped before he saw the speaking people, to make sure they could not see him.
"Finally," cried the maniacal voice, "We almost have enough people. We will be unstoppable! And we will at last set into motion the plan that will result in a perfect earth."
"But what about them, Mumbo? Three of them are still free."
"Yes, the two most powerful ones are still loose."
"Never mind that! Soon enough they will be ours. Do not worry."
A voice came from directly behind Robin. "No, now only one of the most powerful ones is free, Master."
Robin nearly fainted from the surprise. He didn't want to see who had spoken the words. He already knew who it was. He recognized the voice. It was Starfire's.
TT
Beast Boy and Raven walked down the passages, unsure of what to do next. They decided to look for the trapdoor that had been spoken of. Neither of them had seen where Cyborg had been before his signal had vanished, but they knew that Robin was around the same place. Therefore, they knew that they would find the trapdoor if they found Robin. It had been only ten minutes after Robin had called them, warning them to be extra careful now that two Titans were missing. It seemed like an eternity had gone by.
"Oh no," BB said, his voice cracking.
"Is something wrong?" Raven inquired.
Beast Boy showed Raven his communicator screen. Robin's light had blinked off. They were the only two Titans left in the labyrinth.
Raven drew in her breath quickly. She didn't know what she would do if Robin was gone for good. She would probably die.
"Robin said we should go get help if anything happened to him," the changeling timidly said.
"We can't leave him like this, Beast Boy, don't you get it? Our friends are gone. The police can't help us now. By the time they got here, Mumbo would be gone. I just know it. This is our battle to fight. Are you with me?" Raven asked.
The green teen hesitated, but then nodded in agreement.
"Our battle..." he repeated.
Raven smiled grimly.
TT
Robin turned around. "Starfi-"
His voice died in his throat. It wasn't Star that stood behind him, but a Mumbo clone. "Master, Mumbo, Robin is here!"
No, it wasn't Star. She sounded harsher, eviler. But it was definitely her voice, he knew that even through the diabolical facade. The clone with Starfire's voice grabbed him roughly. She wouldn't ever try to hurt him, would she?
"Excellent, bring him here!" Mumbo responded. Robin was dragged into an opening, where candles flickered against the stone walls. Robin gasped. There must have been thirty Mumbo clones in the area! They all turned to stare at him as he was forced into the room. "Bring him to the chamber, please."
"Yes, Mumbo," answered Star's voice.
He walked willingly to where he was led, knowing that in any fight he would definitely loose against all the clones. There was a large, Plexiglass box with a control panel near by on a stand. The box was simple, with what looked to be a shower head at the top and a drain on the floor. Hands roughly pushed him into the box, and the Plexiglass door slid shut with a bang. A lock was turned.
The original Mumbo walked over with a bounce in his stride, obviously happy to see the leader of the Titans at his mercy. Once at the control panel, he tapped in a simple code. The showerhead made a gurgling noise and a thin, dark gas began to fill the box, blocking out the light. Robin held his breath, but the gas kept coming. He refused to cry out, even as it stung his flesh. His eyes watered as the gas hit them. He felt nauseous. He had to get out! Robin couldn't hold his breath any longer. Coughing racked his chest and he felt lightheaded, suddenly very dizzy. Robin closed his eyes. Just for a moment, he told himself. Just a moment….
Just minutes later, he awoke. He was strapped down to a wooden table by metal chains. Mumbo Jumbo was looming over him, smiling evilly. A Mumbo clone was wheeling away a metal contraption from the crude operating table.
"Rise, my friend," Mumbo commanded.
He rose. He was a Mumbo Jumbo clone.
"What is your name?" Mumbo asked.
"I am Mumbo Jumbo, Master," answered the voice of Robin.
A.N. There ya go. Chapter 5. Want to know what happens next? There's only one way to find out. Look out for chapter 6, coming at you soon.
But before that, make sure you review! I love hearing from people with something to say about my writing. It just makes me feel all happy inside.
