"Ow!" Kid Flash cried out in pain as Robin crept up behind him. They'd been wandering around in the dark for some time now, wary of falling off the edge of the table upon which they stood. As soon as Raven & Mumbo had disappeared, the room had descended into darkness and mild panicking.
"Sorry, Kid" Robin apologised, not used to being so low to the ground nor the slight ache of walking on his knuckles. "I think I stepped on your foot"
"Dude! That wasn't my foot, that was my tail!" Kid Flash whined as he picked up the aching appendage and hugged it close so to avoid further injuries.
"It's so dark in here, I can't see a thing!" Superboy grumbled as he pulled at his obscenely large bowtie.
"Oh no, what a nightmare!" Ms Martian sassed, her annoyed voice crackling out of the handheld radio which she had shifted to.
"Sorry"
"M'gann, could you turn on a light, please?" Aqualad called out as he shuffled closer to the younger teens' voices.
"Sure"
CLICK
Robin's eyes roved over each of his friends as he took in each of their new forms (and trying his utmost best to fight the mischievous grin threatening to split his face). There was Kid Flash who'd been turned into a lanky ginger cat, Aqualad who was now a large grizzy bear dressed in his water bearers & a tutu and Superboy looked the most upset as a surly mouse with oversized ears & a polka dotted bowtie which obstructed most of his face & matching vest. Robin, himself, had been turned in a masked monkey complete with utility belt & cape. Which just left Ms Martian who was stuck as a green shapeshifting lamp.
"Dude! Why're you in a tutu?" Kid Flash chortled as his gaze landed on Aqualad, whiskers twitching in amusement.
"I don't know…" Aqualad glared down at the offending piece of clothing, "It is most uncomfortable" The atlantean then proceeded to rip off the itchy skirt & throw it aside, only to gasp in shock when it was replaced with another tutu. The next few moments were filled with an amusing scene of Aqualad trying to pull off the skirt as he grew increasingly frustrated with the magic used to keep it there. One would disappear and then it would be replaced with another, over & over again until the pile of pink skirts next to him grew into a mountain.
"What I wanna know is, how was Mumbo able to change us into animals?" Superboy grumbled, fiddling with both tie & vest.
"Mumbo's magic must be more powerful in here" Robin mused as he leant back against his tail like it was the most natural thing in the world. "Who knows what other tricks he's got up his sleeve? We've got to find Raven and get out of here!"
"Grr! Wait until I get my claws on Mumbo!" Aqualad growled so low in his throat that it almost sounded like a rumble, before pausing as what he'd just said seemed to register. "…Did I just say 'claws'?"
"Just be thankful that you don't have fleas!" Kid Flash grumbled as he scratched incessantly at the orange fur. Hearing this, Robin & Superboy quickly shuffled away from the cat as if doing so would prevent the two of them from getting his fleas.
RING~! RING~!
"…Uh, hello?" Robin picked up the green rotary phone which Ms Martian had changed into, (Which begged the question, where was the light coming from now that she'd changed shape?).
"Hello?! What've YOU got to complain about? I'm a phone!" Ms Martian snarked, annoyance heavy in her tone. "What's wrong with being an animal, anyway? At least you guys have LEGS! I can't even MOVE! And do you have ANY idea how hot a lightbulb gets—?"
"—Well, that was…" Kid Flash blinked dumbly as Robin reflexively slammed the phone back down onto the receiver to silence the woman shouting in his ear. It was so weird to see—or in this case, hear—Ms Martian sound anything other than chipper. Obviously she wasn't a two dimensional character, but it was still weird to see her so out of if they all thought that their transformation had been weird, he could only imagine what it was like for the martian, being forced to shapeshift into something against her will.
HONK!
Ms Martian was having none of that however, and quickly shifted into a large air horn which sounded, knocking both speedster and detective off of their feet. The cat and the monkey soon found themselves entangled in a groaning pile on the floor after they bowled straight through Aqualad's pile of discarded tutus and connected with a door which seemed to appear as if from nowhere. "Where did that come from?" Superboy didn't even bother to hide the smirk that spread across his lips as he bent to pick up the irate martian.
"Where does it lead?" Aqualad added as they convened on the plain panelled door.
"Probably into another of Mumbo's tricks" Robin grunted as he spat out a mouthful of ginger fur and scrambled to his feet. "But it's better than stumbling about in the dark"
Stepping through the door, the Team quickly found themselves back out on the same glittering street which they had been walking down before. Robin wasn't sure how long they'd been stuck inside the theatre, but he was sure that out here, there would have been some sort of sign that time had passed. Instead, the gleaming light still flashed and the stars still twinkled; even that gentle breeze which had buffeted them upon arrival had yet to move a wayward poster along the ground since they'd gone inside. "Great! We're right back where he started!" Kid Flash whined petulantly, shoulders & tail slumping down in defeat.
"And I'm still wearing a tutu!" Aqualad muttered irritably under his breath. Apparently it was bothering him more than he'd let on.
BOOM! RING~! RING~!
Caught off guard by the sudden change in weight, Superboy was forced to put down the martian-made telephone box. Inside, the phone rang off the hook, but no one was eager to pick up the phone and face the irritable martian on the other line. There was also something a little intrusive about standing inside what they knew logically to be their friend. Besides, no one wanted a repeat of the Mr Twister fiasco.
All eyes turned to their leader, silently nominating him to pick up the line, but he was without fingers and therefore out of the running. Kid Flash, Superboy & Robin decided that they would then decide by playing a quick round of Paper, Scissors, Rock instead. Robin was most upset when he pulled the short straw. He did not want to have to listen to Ms Martian shouting in his ear again, but alas. Shuffling inside (and tried his best to ignore his strange feelings about doing so), he picked up the receiver with trepidation in his heart. "Hello?"
"So, what does the great Mumbo Jumbo want with Raven, anyway?" Ms Martian calmly asked when he picked up. Robin let a sigh of relief hiss out from between his teeth when she didn't immediately chew his head off.
"No idea" Robin hummed before he turned to glance out the window at the sound of approaching sirens. "But right now, we've got bigger things to worry about"
"Ah! Killer gloves!" She panicked when the flurry of wailing ambulances skidded to a stop in front of them and released a hoard of disembodied cartoon gloves.
"I'm gonna have to put you on hold" He dismissed as he dropped the receiver and raced off to fight the gloves (which was a weird thought, in of itself).
Palming a batarang, Robin charged forward with determination glinting across every edge of his monkey body. Unfortunately—as they would soon come to learn—Mumbo had changed more than just their appearances, he had changed their tools and powers as well. What Robin had thought to be a batarang, turned out to be a rather ripe banana which simply splattered against the ground not far from where he stood. Silently, he wondered if the banana could still trip up these gloves; but that was before he was punted across the street and into a lamp post.
The rest of the Team appeared to be having a similar amount of luck. Kid Flash kept trying to run circles around the gloves, only to keep tripping over his own tail and gangly limbs. Superboy only just came up to knuckle-height on the gloves and without his super strength, could barely dodge the attacks thrown his way.
"Ugh! This tail keeps getting in the way!" Kid Flash groaned as he crawled out of the upturned rubbish bin he had crashed into. "How am I s'posed to run with this thing?!"
"At least Mumbo left me with my water bearers!" Aqualad stepped up, unsheathing the twin shafts from the pack on his back, only to find himself staring down a pair of gag flags which read 'Splash!' and 'Splosh!'
"Splash?" Kid puzzled, brow furrowed.
"Oh no…" Aqualad breathed in despair before he found himself squashed between a glove and the telephone box as he tried his best to win the thumb war
"Hey! Lemme help!" Ms Martian cried, "I could—I could prank call 'em!"
"I don't think that'll help, Ms M…" Robin trailed off as he rejoined the others after having picked himself out of the bent lamp post and slipped back over to his teammates whilst the gloves were distracted.
"Now what do we do?" Kid Flash groaned as the gloves encircled them like a pack of hungry wolves.
"We fight hand-to-hand!" Superboy growled, readjusting his bowtie before he lunged forward at a glove and proceeded to bite down on the thumb. Hard. If gloves could talk, Robin was sure that the flailing garment would have been howling in pain as it tried to shake off the persistent rodent.
Taking that as his cue, Kid Flash launched himself at the nearest glove with claws outstretched and a yowl sounding from the back of his throat. Fur standing on end, the speedster went full on feline as he bit and scratched at the ivory material, doing just about anything to satiate his irritation at the situation. He had to say, it was slightly cathartic ripping apart the fine threads. Going full feline did have its perks, but it also had its downsides; such as the instinct to chase after the brightly coloured ball of yarn that rolled on by and pulled his attention from the glove.
"Mrrow~!" Kid Flash purred as he batted the woollen object back and forth between his paws, tail happily twining through the air behind him; even going so far as to roll onto his back to play with the strings that threatened to entangle him. At least that was until a trio of gloves appeared, standing over him and knocked him back to his senses. "I don't like being a cat in this hat!"
"Hey, that rhymed!" Robin chuckled as the speedster ran passed, spouting poetry lines whilst he was chased by gloves. Though his own situation was not much better. As he'd feared, bananas weren't exactly the best weapon against giant sentient gloves, aside from staining the white material which seemed to irritate them to no end. Which was why the boy wonder currently found himself being chased up & down in the street by irritable and stained gloves.
Off to the side, Aqualad was still engaged in that thumb war, though he was slowly losing to the garment. Not even his atlantean magic could help him now. Nearby, Ms Martian, having shifted from the telephone box to try and help, currently found herself stuck as a megaphone that was being tossed back & forth by the rest of the gloves in a game of 'Piggy in the Middle'.
"Guys! I could use a hand, here!" Ms Martian wailed, growing dizzy from the constant juggling. Robin didn't even know gloves could be smart asses until the very ones that were tossing her about suddenly started clapping. It wasn't long after that, that the entire Team were bundled up together and chucked into the back of an awaiting ambulance.
"We're trapped in a hat, being manhandled by gloves!" Kid Flash groaned as he pushed himself upright. "What's next?"
"What next, you say?" Mumbo's voice echoed throughout the vehicle as the door slammed shut behind them, bathing the Team in darkness once more. There was only one light and it illuminated an old fashioned fortune teller—the kind that you find at fairgrounds—only this one was dressed up like a wooden version of the teal magician. "I see a future for you in show biz! A bright, but very short future! Mumbo Jumbo!
POOF!
Back in the birdcage and wrapped up tight in swathes of bandages (where she was certainly not sulking), Raven tried every mantra, prayer and spell in the book to get herself free, but nothing seemed to be working. Though Mumbo's pitifully sympathetic looks and incessant amused noises were certainly not helping. "…Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"
"Psst!" Mumbo hissed from the corner of his mouth as he readied himself for tonight's performance. "Try abracadabra"
"Abracadabra" Raven sassed sarcastically, mockingly complying with the teal magician as if to show him that his magic wasn't real magic. Only, she quickly found herself drowning in a bucketful of flowers, whose perfume made her nose itch.
"Ahaha~!" Mumbo chortled as he plucked up one of the flowers and squeezing the bud, used it to wash away the flowers with a spray of water. "That gag never gets old!"
"Ptuh!" Raven spat out a bubble of water as her ears drooped sadly about her face like wet socks.
"Here, a peace offering" Mumbo offered the wet rabbit a rubber duck.
"You pulled that outta your sleeve!" Raven refused.
"Must you overanalyse everything? Why can't you just sit back and enjoy the show?" He huffed, pocketing the bird and ripped off his sleeves before producing two more birds which fluttered to life with a flick of his fingers.
"Because it isn't real magic!" She replied just as irritably, exasperated that she even had to explain it to him. "Your act, this hat, it's all smoke & mirrors. You probably just hypnotised me into thinking I'm a rabbit and when I get home, my nose'll twitch every time a bell rings"
"Hm" Mumbo hummed as his sleeves reappeared, "That would be an interesting trick, but no!"
"As soon as I figure out how you're creating this illusion, your powers will be gone!"
"Knowing how the tricks work, doesn't make them any less real! If you look like a rabbit and hop like a rabbit, then guess what, kid? You're really a rabbit—!"
"Ow!" Raven hissed as he plucked a whisker from her cheek.
"—For real!"
Raven growled in frustration at the grinning magician, eyes narrowed at his lanky form as he trotted away, tossing some offhanded comment over his shoulder about gloves & sidekicks as he went. Which left the young witch to stew in her own thoughts upon the crate and watch as the teal people (who looked eerily similar to the stage show magician) hurried about, carting props here and there. Although she wasn't left alone for long because the rest of the Team finally returned to her, but not at all how she'd expected.
"Raven!" Ms Martian cheered, her voice echoing out of a green boombox, that caught the witch off guard.
"Um…" Raven blinked dumbly at the menagerie before her. Stuffed into varying sized sentient gloves (that walked on their fingertips like they were finger puppets), were a small monkey adorned in an imitation of Robin's outfit (mask included), a ginger cat baring Kid Flash's goggles, a surly mouse with an obscenely large bowtie and a tattooed grizzly bear who appeared to be wearing Aqualad's water bearers. In front of them all sat the aforementioned boombox, which was painted in a familiar green.
"Raven, are you well?" The bear—Aqualad—asked, struggling against the tight fit of the glove.
"Uh…" The witch gaped, her mind drawing a complete blank at what she was seeing, coupled with the notion that all of this might not be as fictional as she'd first believed…well, it was a wonder her brain hadn't turned to mush. "Yea—yeah, yeah, I'm—I'm good"
POOF!
In the time it had taken for the rabbit to formulate a response, the teal magician had returned to gloat over his victory. Though the cloud of smoke was probably unnecessary. "Y'know what they say: if you can't beat Mumbo, then join Mumbo!"
"Two minutes 'til showtime, Mr Amazing!" Called one of the stagehands as he ran passed with a clipboard clutched tight in hand. "You're great! I love you…!"
"Nn! We're not going to be a part of your show!" Robin growled as he struggled to get free, but he only succeeded in tipping his glove over to flounder on the ground.
"Oh! I think you will!" Mumbo chirped, "What I have planned for you makes me so happy, I feel like singing! Maestro?"
"Oh God no!" Kid Flash downright refused, not at all willingly to listen to the whiny man's voice in concerto. Not that Mumbo cared what the speedster—or any of them—wanted.
"5, 6, 7, 8…!"
"Quick! Robin! Stuff bananas in my ears!" The cat whined, turning to the monkey on the floor. "I don't wanna hear this!"
"No one wants to hear this, Kid!" Robin replied as his glove spun around in circles on the ground. It would've been rather humourous if the situation was different.
Don't bother getting up,
You're in my control!
No way for you to fuss 'n fight
I've taken all your powers
So lucky you!
You will be in my show tonight!
Suddenly free from their cages, the Team quickly found themselves stuck, not inside gloves or cages but encircled by a deck of playing cards that stood far too tall. Any Card shuffled forward, cards on either side and each holding a strange set of accessories for the sidekicks. Raven barely noted the apologetic look from Any Card's happier twin before she was shoved into a bedazzled bodysuit that shone so bright it made her eyes hurt.
She wasn't the only one of course, her teammates also suffered a similar fate. The bear—Aqualad—was shoved into a tiara & tutu combination, the surly mouse—Superboy—was strapped into bright red suspenders that rose up way too high on his waist, the cat—Kid Flash—had been adorned in a gorgeous diamond collar & bell (though it looked like weighed a hundred pounds), the boombox—Ms Martian—had shifted to a beaded lamp & wore gag glasses & clown shoes and the monkey—Robin—who'd been shoved into a blue tuxedo, the kind you might find at a prom. None of them looked too happy about it either.
You think you can defeat me?
Oh! How very droll!
Well, kiddies, one thing you should know,
I am the one with magic powers 'round here
I am the one who runs the show!
Now that they everyone was all dressed up in their 'costumes' the Team were unceremoniously shoved into an oversized chair and repeatedly stamped by a make-up brush. Across the way, Mumbo was in a similar situation only he seemed to having a pleasant time as he grinned at his reflection. Raven coughed harshly as she glared at him, choking on the white powder that threatened to suffocate her lungs and silently cursed the teal magician for his tricks.
I am the Master of Ceremonies!
So let me set you straight
With just a wave of my magic wand,
I'm Master of your Fate!
Mumbo stepped away from his boudoir where he had been primping for the upcoming show and plucked his aforementioned wand from the depths of his hat. Even from across the room and smothered between Aqualad & Superboy, Raven could feel the magical power radiating from the powerful conduit. He waved the wand about, flourishing it here & there as the dark was ignited by the light of a thousand coloured bulbs which lit up to spell out his 'title'
With just some hocus pocus & sleight of hand,
You all are under my command
Put them in their cages, keep them all apart
Places everybody! The show's about to start!
Raven didn't even have time to blink before she was once more plucked from where she lay, the breath snatched from her, and dropped back into the cage she had occupied earlier. Only this time, the rest of the Team all found themselves in a similar situation. Androgynous showgirls appeared at Mumbo's call and ferried the sour menagerie to their places hidden beneath the stage's trapdoor where they could still hear, but were unable to see or do anything.
He is the Master of Ceremonies!
So let him set you straight
With just a wave of his magic wand,
He's Master of your Fate!
Master of your Fate!
Master of your Fate!
Master of your Fate!
Now stuck beneath the stage, Raven didn't see how they even had a chance of a hope of getting out of there alive. Despite his obvious sleight-of-hand magic and elementary tricks, when backed up by those two powerful conduits (she still had no clue how someone like him had come across them) the magician was nigh unstoppable. Especially, considering their own magics and powers did not work inside their current bodies & inside the hat. Time was ticking, and now they would just have to wait and see.
Now for the greatest grand finale
And the reason why your here!
Tonight I will make the sidekicks disappear!
Forever!
