My mom, although a little hesitant, allowed me to stay home for the day. I spent much of my day pondering Robin's words. I knew I had to make a stand against Jane... I just need some time to build of my courage.
To tell the truth, I'm just scared out of my wits. Even if I do muster up the strength to confront my decade-long demon, what would happen? I'm not so much afraid of the action, but more of the consequences that will result.
I awoke to the crack of thunder. A bolt of lightning flashed outside my window, illuminating my room for a brief second before returning to complete darkness. I reached for my gun holster, rolled out of bed, and hurried to the door. I entered Ops, but the others had already left to confront Control Freak, the city's biggest and evilest nerd, who was terrorizing a technology store.
I hurried into the store, simply titled "VIDEO". As the door opened, I jumped back as an electrified wire whipped at my feet.
"Hey, guys," I said, eyeing the floating DVD player looming in front of me, "did I miss anything?"
"Absolutely nothing. You're lucky." Raven said. She lifted her arms and wrapped the DVD player in her magic. I pulled out my pistols and shot lasers from each. They hit the player, and it exploded.
Control Freak, a boy with long red hair, beady black eyes, and wearing clothing that I assumed represented different kinds of his favorite TV shows and movies, pressed buttons on his remote and brought furniture to life. A cardboard cutout of a samurai lunged at me. I sprinted out of the way. I turned back to the samurai as he raised his red-bladed sword.
A sword, huh? I said, glancing at my pistols. Two can play at this game.
I connected the top surface, the barrels, of my pistols together. The muzzles closed as the guns turned into the rain guard and grip of a sword. A two-foot-long, silver blade shot out from the rain guard, startling me and making me stumble back a few steps. I gripped the sword in both hands and shot the samurai a challenging glare. The cardboard cutout charged. He slammed his sword down, and I brought mine up to block. The blades clanged, which confused me considering his sword wasn't even made of metal. The samurai bore more weight down on me. I rolled out of the way, and his sword cut into the ground. I hurried behind it and slashed my sword. The blade cut through the cardboard's torso, and the samurai crumpled to the ground in two halves.
Seeing the broken technology laying at my feet, I grabbed the rain guard of my sword and pulled at it. The blade retracted back into the guard, and the handle turned back into my double pistols.
Behind me, I heard Beast Boy scream. He stood in front of a poster of a green-cloaked monster with tentacles poking out from the bottom of the cloak. A single, red eye glowed in the darkness of the hood.
"Wicked Scary is out on video? Score!" he said.
With a devious grin, Control Freak pointed his remote at the cardboard and brought to life. Beast Boy shrieked and ran away while the cardboard monster chased him. Raven backed away as a bunch of jellyfish-like VCR tapes mummified her in their film strips. Using her magic, she blew the film off.
"You don't scare me." she said.
"Run away!" Beast Boy cried as the cardboard monster chased him.
Cyborg, sick of possessed candy eating at him, decided to eat them. However, eating the candy made him actually sick, and he sprinted out of the store to go vomit into a trashcan.
Wrapped in the electrifying wires of the giant screen TV, Starfire wearily dangled from being shocked so much. Robin threw a birdarang at the wire and it sliced through it. With his bo-staff and my sword, Robin and I swung at the TV and sent it flying back into the wall. Robin caught Starfire before she could crash to the ground.
"Robin, the sprinklers." I said, looking up at the multiple sprinklers installed into the ceiling in case of a fire.
Robin pulled out his other birdarang, and he threw at the ceiling, slicing through each of the sprinklers and showering the room. The possessed technology and cardboard cut outs collapsed to the ground. Why they had the smart idea to install a sprinkler system inside a video and technology store, I don't know.
"No! My remote!" Control Freak cried, pressing multiple buttons to try and make it work.
Robin snatched the remote from his hands and grabbed the collar of Control Freak's shirt. "Maybe it's time you lay off the TV."
"This isn't over, Titans! I swear it!" Control Freak said, flailing his arms in the air.
"Guys, check it out!" Beast Boy dove into a pile of movies. Cyborg came back into the building, clutching his stomach, but it was only for a few seconds before he ran back out. He pulled out a copy of Wicked Scary. "I know what we're watching for movie night!"
"All right! It's time for the party to get started!" Beast Boy said, rubbing his hands together. Starfire, Cyborg, Raven, and I sat on the couch while Beast Boy paced in front of us. He grabbed the intercom microphone. "Robin, get in here! It's an emergency!"
"That's not really the best way to get him in here." I said.
"Maybe not... but it is the most effective."
"What happened?! What's the problem?!" Robin said as he ran into the room.
"The problem is... it's showtime, and you're not in your seat!"
Robin scowled as a vein pulsed on his forehead. He jumped over the back of the couch and sat down in the spot next to me. I glanced over at Raven, on my other side, as she focused on the book in her hands.
"Ladies and gentlemen, get ready for the scariest night of your lives!" Beast Boy said. "Control Freak's monsters didn't scare you, but this movie's definitely will! There are tales that point to it being cursed. When people watch it, strange and evil things happen."
"Whatever. Just start the movie." Raven said.
Beast Boy scowled and pressed the play button. The lights in the room shut off, and the TV screen began with the title written in red letters.
I'd go into details as to what the movie was about, but I'd run the risk of dying if I had to retell it. Let me just sum it up in two words: pants-soakingly terrifying.
The movie came to an end, and all of us stared at the screen with petrified expressions.
"Please tell me it's over." Beast Boy whimpered as he poked his head out from behind the couch.
"I thought I was sick before..." Cyborg said, his face turning green.
Raven shook the fear off her face and slipped her hood on. The other Titans looked at each other and burst into laughter.
"Was I right or was I right?!" Beast Boy said.
"Thrilling, Beast Boy! It was wonderfully horrifying!"
"So, Raven, admit it. You were totally scared." Beast Boy said to Raven as she pulled her hood off.
"I don't do fear." Raven said.
Late in the night, I sat in my bed and stared at the ceiling. Any moment now, Raven's fears would manifest into creatures from the horror movie and terrorize the Titans. She would learn the hard way of dealing with her fears.
A bloodcurdling scream filled the Tower, and my skin prickled with chills. Even though I expected it, it didn't mean I was prepared for it.
I walked into the hallway at the same moment Raven did.
"Did you hear that?" I said.
"Yeah. Where did it come from?" Raven said.
I shrugged and shook my head; an obvious lie, but Raven seemed too nervous to notice. We ran into Ops, where the other Titans had already gathered.
"Who screamed?" Raven said.
"None of us did. It sounded like something from the movie. Did we leave the TV on?" Robin said.
"We did not." Starfire said. She held the movie case up and opened it. "The movie is right here, too."
The lights shut off.
"Okay... That was creepy..." Cyborg said.
Cyborg turned on his flashlight and scanned the area.
"The storm must've caused it. It probably tripped a circuit breaker." Robin said. A tentacle wrapped around Robin's shoulder. The others and I yelped. He swat the tentacle off. "Very funny, Beast Boy."
"Uh...?" Beast Boy said, who never left my side.
Robin turned around and came face-to-face with the monster from the movie. It reached up and ripped off its cloak, revealing its true body. At least a dozen tentacles were attached to its body, and at least 10 mouths chattered their black, razor-sharp, teeth. On the sides of its head were two more red eyes. It lifted the couch with one of its tentacles and tossed it to the side. With a piercing shriek, it swung a tentacle at us. We jumped out of the way.
The Titans tried to fight against the monster, but their attempts were futile; they ended up wrapped up in one of the monster's tentacles.
"Azarath... metrion... zin-!" Raven said, thrusting her hands towards the monster. No magic, however, was produced. She gasped and backed away. "My powers..."
Beast Boy transformed into an octopus and latched onto the monster's face. The others tried to pry themselves away. Raven ran towards the monster, but it knocked her back against the wall. The monster disappeared, and the Titans landed in a pile.
"Uh... What the heck just happened?" Cyborg said.
"Hello! Isn't it obvious?!" Beast Boy said, waving the movie case in our faces. "I told you the movie's cursed! Watching it opened a portal to another dimension! The monster came through the portal, and now it's going to hunt us down and eat us!"
"Or... this must be Control Freak's doing. He probably escaped and came here to get his remote and get his revenge." Robin said.
"But what about my powers?" Raven said.
"If that remote can turn candy evil, who knows what else it can do?" Cyborg said.
"We need to get to the bottom of it. Split up and search the Tower." Robin said. The Titans headed for different doors.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait a minute!" I cried, bringing my friends to a stop. "Haven't you ever seen a horror movie before? Splitting up is the number one rule of what not to do."
"She's right!" Beast Boy cried, clinging to Robin like a koala. "The monster will hunt us down, one-by-one, starting with the good-looking comic relief guy: me!"
"Enough, Beast Boy. The monster's not going to eat anybody." Robin said, prying Beast Boy off of him.
"He's right. There's nothing to be afraid of." Raven said. The room filled with white flashes of lightning.
Together, the six of us walked down the hallway. Cyborg led the way with his flashlight while the rest of us trailed behind.
"We've got nothing to worry about... right?" Beast Boy said, clinging to my arm.
"Um... ask me in the morning." I said, and Beast Boy's face paled.
"Help me... Help me..." A child's voice echoed through the hallway, freezing us in our spots.
"This way." Robin said. The voice led us to Beast Boy's room.
"Help me..." The voice came from the closet. Robin walked over and opened the door. He opened it, and a mountain of clothes burst from the small room and buried us. On top of the pile was a toy monkey that played tiny cymbals.
"Help me, help me, help me count! One... two... three... four...!" the toy monkey chanted.
"Um... That's not mine." Beast Boy said with a sheepish blush. He took the monkey and threw it back into the closet.
After climbing out of the clothes pile, we left Beast Boy's room.
"Oooo, look out, y'all! Big, scary monkey!" Cyborg snickered.
"Yeah, Raven! You should've seen the look on your face!" Beast Boy said.
"You mean this look?" Raven hissed as she scowled fiercely at Beast Boy.
"No... That's more angry than scared."
"I already told you; I don't get scared."
A roar from the dark hallway rumbled the ground. The monster from the movie emerged from the darkness and lunged at us.
"Titans, move!" Robin cried, and we sprinted down the hallway. The monsters' nails slid against the walls, the teeth-shattering noise adding to its terrifying roar.
We turned a sharp corner, and the Titans hurried through the nearest door. I looked over the edge of the pit of darkness. Robin grabbed Raven, Starfire grabbed Cyborg, and Beast Boy transformed into a crow. They pulled themselves out and back into the hallway.
"The monster's gone." I said.
"Then we are safe... for the moment." Starfire said.
"Okay, admit it. Don't even try to tell me that didn't scare y-AAH!" Beast Boy screamed as the tentacles of the monster wrapped around his body and yanked him down the hallway. He disappeared into the next room, and the door closed. Robin sprinted over and pried the door open, which led to the evidence room.
"Give me some light." Robin said. Cyborg turned on his flashlight and shined it into the room.
"What are we looking for?" Cyborg said.
"Something that shouldn't be in here."
We entered the evidence room. I walked past many different items used by villains, including one of Mad Mod's busts, the Puppet king himself, and one of Slade's masks. We stopped at the left-hand corner of the room, where Control Freak's remote rested on its pedestal.
"The remote's still here..." Robin said as he picked it up.
"Then how is the Control Freak able to conjure these monsters?" Starfire said.
"Control Freak's not the one behind all this." I said, looking directly at Raven.
"Why are you looking at me? Whoever is really behind this, we have no reason to be afraid." Raven said.
Robin turned to us. "Fear! It all makes sense now! The movie, the monsters, Raven's powers... If Control Freak isn't behind this, it has to be-"
A pair of glowing red eyes appeared behind Robin, and tentacles wrapped around his arms and mouth. Robin tried to pry the tentacles off, but they yanked him back. He began to phase through the wall. Starfire and Raven grabbed onto him, but the tentacles flicked them back. Cyborg and I grabbed his hands and tried to pull him out, but his grip slipped out of our fingers. The momentum knocked us to the ground.
"Robin!" Cyborg cried as he hurried back to the wall, but Robin was completely gone. He growled and punched the wall down. Clenching and releasing his fists to calm his anger, he turned back to us. "I don't suppose any of you know what he was going to say."
Starfire and Raven shook their heads.
We searched the Tower for Beast Boy and Robin, but there weren't in any of the places we searched.
"Robin? Beast Boy?" Starfire called as she used the light of a starbolt to search behind the kitchen counter.
"They aren't here. We've already looked here." Raven said.
"We've already looked everywhere." Cyborg said.
"Almost everywhere."
Another flash of lightning illuminated room, as well as Cyborg and Starfire's terrified expressions.
Cyborg opened the door to the basement. A long staircase descended into the darkness. Cyborg turned on his flashlight to light the way. We climbed down to the bottom of the stairs.
"It appears our friends are not here! Let us leave and see if they-" Starfire said, making her way back towards the stairs. I grabbed her arm and pulled her back over to my side.
"Nice try. We have to get to the bottom of this." Cyborg said.
Using Cyborg's flashlight and Starfire's starbolt, we ventured deeper into the darkness. Something skittered nearby, and Starfire yelped and threw her starbolt in the direction of it. The starbolt exploded.
"What is it?" Cyborg said.
"I-I saw something!" Starfire said.
Cyborg pressed the side of his head and scanned the floor. "Night vision scanners aren't picking up anything. Let's keep moving."
Starfire looked over her shoulder while Cyborg and Raven continued walking. I followed her line of sight and saw a flash of red scurry across the ground. Starfire screamed again and attacked the spot with her starbolts.
"Please, stop. There's nothing to be afraid of, all right? It's probably just a few rats." Raven said.
Starfire's face paled as she looked above us. "Those are not rats!"
We followed her trembling finger and saw a cluster of red-eyed rat monsters perched on a beam above us.
"Run! Run!" Cyborg cried, and we turned around and ran towards the staircase.
The rats surged towards us like a tsunami. Starfire tried to keep the rats at bay with her starbolts, which caused her to lag behind.
"Starfire, look out!" I cried halfway up the stairs.
The rats had climbed onto the beams above Starfire, and they jumped down and landed on her. She flailed around to shake them off, and she fell to the ground. The rats began to cover her. Frantically, Starfire shot starbolts at them, but they outnumbered her. She let out a bloodcurdling scream as the rats covered her. Cyborg lunged towards the pile of rats, but they vanished, along with Starfire.
"No..." Raven said.
"Let's go." I said, grabbing Raven's arm and pulling her towards the stairs.
"Wait! There may still be a way to save her!"
"If that thing gets us, nobody will be getting saved. We have to get out of here and get back with help." Cyborg said. He summoned his cannon and took the lead. We headed up the stairs and back into the hallway. "We'll get through this, all right? No need to be scared."
"For the last time... I am not afraid." Raven said as she climbed up the stairs and down the hallway.
"And when are you finally going to admit that you are? Once the monster has taken all of us?" I said.
Raven turned back around. "What are you talking about?"
"I know why all of this is happening. It's because-"
Cyborg's flashlight turned off. I turned around, and he was no longer there. A mechanical shriek filled the hallway, and a black pterodactyl flew towards us. Raven and I ran down the hallway.
"The elevator!" Raven said as it came into view. Raven frantically pushed the button. The pterodactyl grew closer.
"Raven, any minute now!" I said, pressing my back against the elevator door.
"I'm trying!"
The door opened, and I tumbled back into it. Raven hurried inside. The doors closed, and the pterodactyl slammed into it, leaving a dent in the door.
The only light in the elevator were the fleeting openings that leaked moonlight into the window. Raven heaved a sigh of relief.
I looked at the ground and gasped as black liquid quickly filled the cramped space. I gasped in air as I submerged. The elevator door opened, sweeping me and Raven through the hallway and into Ops.
"This is all because you won't admit you're afraid, Raven. That movie terrified you, but because you refuse to say it did, the monsters were created through your bottled up emotions." I panted as I climbed to my feet, slipping slightly in the black liquid.
"And you think you're any different?" Raven said, shaking liquid off her hands.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You scold me for not admitting my fears while you do the same thing. If anyone's the hypocrite here, it's you."
"That's not true!"
There was a loud bang at the front door, and it groaned from trying to get open. We backed away from it. One of the side doors emitted a guttural roar, and the monster from the movie burst through the doorway. We ran to the other door, but a million pairs of red eyes fill chased away the darkness. The sea of monster rats filled the room. A few scurried onto my feet, and I violently shook them to fling them off. Raven and I climbed onto the coffee table. The monster from the movie slammed its hands into the table, and we lost our balance and fell to the floor. Raven pulled me to my feet, and we climbed onto the window sill.
I pressed my back against the glass. The monsters crept towards us. The glass turned black, and four, glowing, red eyes stared at us. A giant rat emerged from the window and grabbed me with its claws.
"Raven!" I cried, thrashing to try and break free as the rat lifted me into the air. The rat roared, its hot breath blowing my hair back, and gave me full view of its multiple sharp teeth.
"Azarath, metrion, zinthos!" The air filled with the black and white aesthetics of Raven's astral magic. The giant rat melted into the magic, and I fell to the ground.
I looked up and saw Raven lying on the ground, crackling with black energy. My friends hovered over her. I hopped down from the window sill and joined them.
"Are you okay?" Robin asked Raven.
"You're... all okay?" Raven said. Cyborg offered a hand to her, and she took it and stood up.
"It's like I told you. Your powers manifested your fears into those monsters, which is why you couldn't use them." I said. "When you finally accepted your fears, you gained your powers back."
"You mean Raven made all those freaky things happen by accident?" Beast Boy said.
"Uh... sorry?" Raven said.
Light gradually filled the room, and we looked out the window and to the rising sun. The light chased away the cloudy darkness.
Raven turned to me. "Sorry about calling you a hypocrite."
I waved my hand dismissively and smiled. "It's okay. In fact, I think you're right. I got frustrated with you because you wouldn't overcome your fears, when I've been doing the exact same. This episode, and seeing you muster up your courage, is just what I needed. If you have the strength to face off against monsters and demon rats, I've got no excuse."
Raven smiled, something strange yet pleasing to see.
