Last Act

Chapter 6 – Deception and Scheming

Raven and Beast Boy traveled quickly. The sooner they figured out what was happening, the better. Maybe there was still time to save their friends. There just had to be; they were the Teen Titans. There wasn't a villain they couldn't take down, or an obstacle they couldn't overcome, including this one.

"Raven?"

"What?" she replied primly, keeping up her rapid step.

"I just wanted to say... thanks."

"For what?"

"For being nice to me even though you hate me."

"Hate you?" Raven stopped walking suddenly and peered down at the shape shifter, cocking one eyebrow. "Who says I hate you?"

"Well," the changeling fidgeted. "You never laugh at my jokes or anything, and you're always glaring at me, or threatening to barbeque me and feed me to poodles or something."

Raven sighed. "No, Beast Boy. I don't hate you," she replied after a moment.

Beast Boy grinned broadly.

"Thanks. Well, I just wanted to clear that up. Ya know, in case we die," he said.

Raven glared at him.

"Don't talk like that," she demanded. "We are going to get out of this. All of us are."

TT

Deep underground in the secret room of the theater basement, the original Mumbo was briefing his newest addition to the clone throng, Robin.

"We'll wait until they're apart, then retrieve the strong one for me. The other will be easy to catch when she is out of the way. After all five Teen Titans belong to my army, there will be no one stopping me. You know what to do?"

"Yes, Master," the clone said with a slight bow. He left the secret chamber.

TT

"The trapdoor should be around here, Beast Boy," Raven said. "Help me find it."

"Fine. Are you sure it's this hall?"

"Pretty sure. Or maybe it's the next… it's kind of hard to tell when they're identical. You start at this end, I'll begin at the other."

"Aye aye, Cap'n!" Beast Boy said with a salute before hurrying away.

TT

Mumbo-Robin saw his chance. He coughed, not too loudly, but so that he knew Raven could just hear him. He was right. He heard Raven stop moving, and knew her ears were straining to locate the source. She was listening. Good. Another cough. She shined her flashlight his way, but he was hidden behind the next corner. The light did not catch him.

"Who's there?" Raven called quietly.

"Raven? Is that you? It's Robin!" the clone responded in barely more than a whisper.

"Robin, what happened to you?" she asked, beginning to step towards Robin.

"Raven, stop!" he cried sharply.

"What? What's wrong?" she inquired, halting. His harsh tone scared her.

"I, uh, think there might be some clones behind me. Turn off the light."

Raven hesitated then obeyed. The flashlight was flicked off, and she began to step towards him again.

"I think I might have found Starfire and Cyborg. Come with me."

He felt her hand brush his side. He quickly stepped away. "Don't do that!" he ordered.

Raven gasped. What was wrong with him? He wasn't normally so angry sounding.

"Just follow my voice," the clone began a bit more gently.

Raven, again, complied. They stepped around another bend in the hallway and he stopped. Quickly, he wheeled around, clamping one hand over her mouth and struggling to restrain both her arms with the other. Raven shrieked in surprise, trying to free herself from the steely grasp of her captor.

She had been caught completely off-guard! Was this Robin? She was so tired of being mislead, so tired of not understanding. She brought her hand to Robin's head, feeling his hair. She screamed again. It wasn't Robin. It was… Mumbo Jumbo.

Beast Boy turned at the sound of the empath's yell.

"Raven, I'm coming!" he shouted, turning. He sprinted up the long corridor that separated them, rounded a corner, and shined the flashlight across the struggling people. He immediately identified Raven, but who was that she was being held by?

Mumbo! Or one of them, at least. He was a bit hard to recognize without his usual black top hat covering his thinning white hair.

Setting down the flashlight but leaving it on and pointed at the fight so he could see, he changeling morphed into a snake, and quickly slithered to join the fray. He sunk his fangs into the Mumbo's ankle. He heard a loud yelp, but it sounded like Raven, not the clone.

"That was me, idiot," he heard her hiss. Raven felt the thin trickle of blood make its way down her ankle, and prayed to God that Beast Boy wasn't venomous.

He would have apologized, but in the interest of conserving time, changed into a bear and ascended on who he was sure was Mumbo. Grabbing him around the waist, he flung the clone against a wall, before changing into a tiger and growling deeply, ready to pounce on the enemy.

"Stop! I surrender," the clone said, raising a hand in defeat, apparently not too eager to be attacked by a gigantic, growling tiger.

Beast Boy remained as a tiger, not sure the clone wouldn't attack if he reassumed his lanky, human form. But what really confused him was that he recognized the voice, and it wasn't Mumbo Jumbo's. It was Robin's,

"Who are you?" Raven asked angrily.

"I am Mumbo," the clone replied in monotone.

Beast Boy assumed his human form once again.

"Dude, but your voice sounds like Robin," Beast Boy said.

"That's how he fooled me," Raven told him, anger rising.

TT

To Robin, it was like being inside of a dream. He was fully aware of what was happening around him, but he was unable to move, talk, or even think.

He was also aware that the body he inhabited looked foreign, but it was his. Its looks had been changed, and another being was currently controlling it, but he ultimately owned it. That much he knew, even subconsciously. Robin struggled to take control, but was unable, not knowing what he could do. He felt so utterly helpless. He wanted to cry out, to tell his friends to run, to save themselves, but Robin couldn't. All he could do was watch.

TT

Raven was confused. She chanted her mantra and felt in the direction the clone was sitting in, straining to detect an aura that would show if Robin was near. She felt… nothing. Like the being was dead. It had to be just another, regular clone. Another shell of a servant without emotions, a mind, or a soul.

Then she felt it. An aura so feeble, so light, that it only lasted a moment. But it was one of angst, one of worry and fear. Hidden away, tucked behind physical sight, she knew Robin was in that body. It had to be; no clone was capable of showing emotion.

"Beast Boy?" she said.

The tiger briefly averted his eyes from the clone to Raven, telling her he was listening.

"I think that's somehow Robin. I can sense him." Not waiting for a response, she began to step towards the clone. It was still sitting where it had been thrown, eyeing the approaching girl carefully. "Robin? If you can hear me, give me a sign."

TT

Robin could die. He heard Raven calling, but could not answer. He could not do anything. Struggling, he pushed himself to control the body, to regain what was rightfully his, but to no avail.

TT

"You don't know what you're talking about. I am Mumbo. Robin is dead." The clone said, without a trace of emotion.

"Dead! He can't be dead!" Beast Boy cried.

"That's a lie!" Raven angrily insisted. Kneeling by the clone, she laid a hand on its shoulder. It tried to draw back, but she wouldn't let it. She tightened her grip. Now it was stronger than ever, the feelings she knew belonged to Robin intensified as she touched him.

She stared into the eye of the Mumbo clone, willing Robin to respond, to show a sign that he was present.

TT

Robin knew Raven was trying to find him, trying to communicate with him. But it wasn't working. He was still as powerless to respond as ever. He couldn't comprehend the words she spoke, but Robin could read it in her eyes. Emotion that she so rarely expressed filled them.

TT

"He can't respond," Raven said, voice wavering slightly. She turned to face the bewildered Beast Boy, who still didn't know why she was so sure that this was Robin or why this stoic, creepy even, dark teen was suddenly emotional when she would hardly crack a smile any other day.

Confused, Beast Boy asked, "Is that... is that really Robin?"

"I'm certain," she responded quietly, "But he's powerless. His soul is there, he just can't respond."

She sighed, and tried to talk directly to Robin again. "I know you're in there. I just know it. Please try, Robin, try hard to control it. I know you can. I believe in you."

With that, she bent, cupped the clone's chin in her hand, and kissed him.

TT

Robin could sense the power she shared surge through his being. He was filled with new hope, if he only knew how to channel it. 'This is my body,' he willed fervently, straining to take control.

He knew the clone was pulling away, trying to shake away Robin's source of power.

No! He had to find his own power, his authority over the body again. He felt her love, so intimate and strong, and knew he just couldn't lose with her fighting for him. He would not let Raven down.

Robin collected every ounce of everything he could muster in his being, and concentrated it on the sole purpose of gaining the control of the clone.

He felt… he felt! He could feel. He felt Raven's kiss, and that was enough.

He had thoughts, and although he knew his physical body was still different, he had control over its mind, at least temporarily.

Raven sensed his joy, and pulled away. He felt the new control fading, his ability leaving him again. Again mustering all he could, he took hold of the empath's wrist. The power, although weaker, plateaued again.

Raven glanced at Beast Boy.

"Raven, that was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen you do," he said slowly, enunciating each word, then, more align with his character cried, "EEEWWW!"

"Oh shut up. It was the only way to reach him," she told the changeling, then refocused her attention to Robin. "Robin? Can you hear me now?"

It took Robin longer than usual to format the simple sentence in his head, but he was certainly grateful for any sort of speech he had. "Yes, Raven. Thank you."

"That's what friends are for," she replied with a tiny grin. "Now, you need to explain a few things to me. Tell me what happened."

Raven and Beast Boy waited for him to begin, which took some time. Robin knew the clone part of this being he currently shared was not actually alive, but it was warring for dominance all the same. He had to struggle to suppress it, knowing for a fact that the only way he could was through the help of Raven's power.

Robin spoke simply and slowly. "I went through the trapdoor and saw Mumbo and his army. A clone with Starfire's voice captured me. I was put in a case and was knocked out. I awoke on an operating table. I had this body and could not control it." The talking had exhausted him. He sighed, tiring visibly. The clone was winning the battle now, and every second of control did not go by without great effort.

Raven saw his quite visible fatigue. "Robin, you are weak. I need to think. I need you to let go of me now, but I'll help you be strong when you need to be. I promise."

He was reluctant to release her wrist and relinquish his power to the putrid clone, but did so in trust of her promise. As he let go, he felt his power slip away rapidly, until he reassumed his dreamlike semi-consciousness.

TT

Raven turned and sighed. She knew the clone was back in charge, at least for now, and she suspended poor Robin in a black force field bubble a foot off the ground so he wouldn't get away.

"Raven kissed an old guy, Raven kissed an old guy," BB chanted.

"Grow up, will you?" Raven admonished.

"That was totally pukatronic," he said, ignoring her comment, then sobered slightly and added, "But sorry for biting you."

Raven nodded "From what Robin said, we can assume that all these clones walking around are actually people Mumbo kidnapped and changed into copies of himself. I'm sure the other Titans could vouch for that, but I'll be dammed if I'm going to kiss Starfire or Cyborg." Her nose wrinkled slightly at the mere thought. "Now the problem is, how do we reverse this effect?"

Beast Boy tapped his chin thoughtfully. He walked to pick up the flashlight, so they could see a bit better. "Ooh, ooh I know!" he cried suddenly. "Dude, Robin said something about Mumbo giving him surgery or somethin', right?"

"He mentioned an operating table," Raven agreed slowly, crossing her arms.

"So why don't we just reverse that thingie and all the people will go back to normal!" He gave a huge grin, like he had just figured out the meaning of life.

"Beast Boy, you're a genius," Raven replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes, "To bad you skipped over a few minor details, like how the heck is the operation done? We couldn't figure that out, and why would Mumbo agree to reverse the process?"

Beast Boy's smile deflated. "We could threaten him?" he suggested meekly.

Raven mulled that over. "Actually, Beast Boy, you might have something there."

The gigantic smile reappeared on his face.

"But how to go about that… we could turn the clones against him, but that would be nearly impossible…"

"Not to mention you'd have to kiss a whole lotta old guys," Beast Boy added helpfully.

Raven ignored him. "And if we can't actually turn the clones, we could make him believe that using only Robin... No! That wouldn't work…" Raven continued to think aloud, mumbling under her breath. Beast Boy was standing by, but not knowing how to contribute, and having no more brilliant ideas, contented himself with casting bunny and dog shadows on the walls using the flashlight and his hand.

Raven glared at him, and he stopped. "I have an idea. We'll…" she glanced at the changeling, "I don't know why I'm saying 'we.' Why don't I just go do this and leave you to your shadow pictures?"

"No, Raven!" he whined, "I want to help."

"Well, you could go get the police for me," she said, hoping he wouldn't notice the fact that she could easily do the same with a press of a button from her communicator.

"Ok, I could do that," he smiled.

"Good boy. Have them wait near the back. Tell them to be quiet; I don't want Mumbo knowing what you're up to."

Beast Boy agreed to the task and used his communicator to guide himself to an exit.

"It's show time, Robin," Raven said with a grin, letting him down from his transparent, dark confines. She leaned down and kissed him again.

A.N. Ladies and gentlemen, chapter six. If you could spare just a moment more of your time, I'd be thrilled if you reviewed!