Music echoes around the studio as Arny is seen break dancing to an 80s classic.
S-S-S-S A-A-A-A F-F-F-F E-E-E-E T-T-T-T Y-Y-Y-Y SAFETY DANCE!
DUNDUNDAHDUDUNDUNDADADUHDA.
Arny turns around in mid-dance and freezes on the spot, seeing that he had company. "Huh?... OH!" He quickly snatched up the remote and switches off the instructional dance video. "Hello again!" He greeted fairly quickly. "Back for some more scary fun, are you? Alrighty! I won't disappoint! However, there's something I need to address first... why is it so easy for children to break into the Pentagon in South Park? ...ah well, I guess that's just one of the many unsolved mysteries of life." He then changes the TV channel to the frozen screen and unpauses the video.
THE DISPATCH
Part 15: Eternal Emptiness
(MSP) Sinister Dark Ambient Music - Haunted
The small group of heroes emerged into the long, empty hallway with Robin taking the lead. Raven walked along side him while Starfire reluctantly trailed behind them. Raven quickly informed the masked detective that after the loud noises and vibrations woke starfire up with a fright, a bright light appeared from the crack under her bedroom door. Turning into another hall, they reached Raven's room. Robin found the door had been left open. Cautiously stepping inside looking inside, he was surprised to see a fairly large number of books piled on the floor. Raven turned towards her teammates.
"I recently remembered something I found that the escaped intruder left behind, I think it might hold some importance." She withdrew the vellum she had obtained. Showing Robin the crumpled piece of skin. "Um... what is that Raven?" He immediately took interest. "It's called vellum, also known as animal skin. It has been inscribed with a number of Alchemy symbols, thirteen to be precise. The large one at the top is the binding symbol we found at the research base."
Robin took hold of the vellum, examining it's markings. "Did you find anything about what they meant?"
"Yes, I was able to find and decipher two of the symbols. One is called 'Mortym.'" She emphasized the word. "It was used to help place things in a state of absolute dormancy. These symbols are old and I don't think all of them are from earth."
Robin stared at the ancient skin with a hint of suspicion. "So just what was our mysterious trespasser planning to do with this?" He questioned allowed. Raven titled her head in thought. "I don't know, we're all still in the dark about what the exact true nature of the ritual was. What we saw could have been assumed that the figure was conducting a type of summoning, but from what I've just read about one of the symbols meanings, it seems to be suggesting the opposite."
The tanned alien who had been mostly quiet until now, spoke up. "Perhaps... it was the ritual to reseal a threat... whatever it may have been." Robin looked over his shoulder at her with a raised brow. She no longer seemed to be in a trace, but her voice was still unusually calm. "Raven, you said something about the floating light getting in." He turned back to the dark girl. "Yes... but this time it was bright blue and it wasn't flickering like before. It just hovered outside my door until it disappeared, and that thing from outside flew off and left."
Handing her back the vellum, Robin displayed a look of unease as for what he was about tell his already disturbed teammates. "I uh... caught something... strange on the security monitor, just after the tower stopped shacking." He now had both girls undivided attention. "It err... well I think it would be a lot easy to explain if you both saw it for yourselves." He turned and walked out of Raven's room, turning right into the hallway. He walked a few yards down the path, as he neared the corner, it suddenly dawned on him that his teammates hadn't followed. Glancing behind him, he saw the two female titans just standing outside raven's room.
(MSP)
He called to them. "Hey... aren't you two coming?"
They didn't respond.
(MSP) Kevin MacLeod - Blue Sizzle
Confusion crossed the Boy Wonders face, he turned to face them. "Um... girls?" He called out to them again.
They remained silent.
Robin started pacing towards them. "...Starfire? ...Raven? are you two okay?" His confusion grew to concern, it was like they were oblivious to his presence.
"Robin… ah…" Starfire uttered above a whisper.
Robin was now sprinted forward. Reaching the two girls he grabbed their shoulders, though they were still unresponsive. They just stood there... facing away from him... side by side... completely motionless.
"HEY! Starfire! Raven! What's wrong!" He discovered that Starfire had turned such a discolored, pale version of orange, while Raven had clenched her teeth. Suddenly, a familiar clicking noise could be heard coming from the other end of the hallway. Robin looked up ahead and gasped.
The flickering light was slowly coming towards them from around a corner.
The two girls stared at it with wide eyes, like deers caught in the headlights. Realizing they were in danger, Robin hastily yanked the two girls back by their arms, directing their focus away from the flickering light. Robin pulled them all the way back into Raven's room, as soon as they entered, he released them and slammed the door shut. Raven slowly came back to their senses, quickly wiping the sweat from her brow. Starfire... having previously looked into the red light, began to feel empty inside.
Robin stayed close to the door, listening out for the clicking noise. It was getting louder... louder... louder until it was right outside the door. He braced for battle, clenching his fists and ready to reach into his utility belt and throw a 'Bird Bomb' into the hallway. Whatever had taken over the world was not going to take him or his friends! The flickering light could be seen through the crack under the door. Robin held his breath while Raven stood in front of Starfire, ready to back Robin up with any means. The flickering light remained outside for just over a minute, before it started moving again. The clicking noise faded as it got further away, leaving them in total silence once more. A few seconds passed before Robin leaned forward with his ear pressed against the door. "It's finally gone. I think we're safe now."
(MSP)
The tension within the room ceased. Robin looked back to see Starfire peering over Raven's shoulder. Still pale to the point of looking white, she stared back at him. The pure, unbridled fear poured from her eyes. Raven, although not as badly affected was clutching at her chest, her heart racing as she tried to calm herself down enough to retain her powers. Both girls were clearly shaken up. Whatever this unseen threat was, it had powers like nothing he'd ever seen before. With the threat no longer being limited to the outside, he realized now that he had to rethink his strategy. Robin stared down at the floor, hands covering his face. Sometimes he felt like he had a good handle on this whole situation, thinking rationality and logically, but other times... he felt like bawling.
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
(MSP) Audionautix - Deep Space
Beast Boy hurriedly made his way down the corridor. His throat dry and parched. Pulling on the straps of Starfire's backpack, he soon came across another door. The name 'RAVEN' was written on a plaque, in all capital letters. Beast Boy stared at it for nearly a minute, debating on whether it was even safe to take a look inside. He knew, he'd only brave the empath's room because she wasn't there. However, under the current circumstances, he doubted it mattered anymore. Getting the lighter back out, he took a few deep breaths. So far, everywhere he'd been was either empty, a mess, or a real nightmare... just what would he find in Raven's room? a room that was supposed to be dark and scary? Having no other choice, Beast Boy slid the door open.
Holding the lighter into the darkness, he slowly looked around the room. The bedroom was silent. Still. A room holding it's breath. He looked around it with the eyes of one about to bolt. The creepy flame-like decorations were still on the walls. Raven's happy-sad theater statue sat on its pedestal in one corner. Her giant antique globe of the planet Earth stood in another. And, of course, there was her bookcase filled with books against the wall. The dark on dark colors gave the whole place a dark, moody outlook. Beast Boy scratched the back of his head, wondering what he was even doing in here? the one piece of technology that Raven acquired was a hand cranked record player sitting on a small table near her closet. It must have been over a hundred years old.
A tall cabinet caught his interest. Feeling curious and knowing perfectly well Raven would've killed him if she knew, decided to see what was in the cabinet. The heavy double doors opened with a creak. Surprisingly, it's many shelves were crammed with a colorful array of modern items. There was a necklace that he recognized as one of the ones that Starfire had given all of them on Blorthog Day. There was a large stuffed chicken at the bottom, the kind you might win at a carnival... it looked vaguely familiar. And there was a stack of hand bound leather books... "Huh?" Beast Boy saw a book that didn't seem to belong with the others. He wiped the dust away to reveal the title, 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' Beast Boy snorted at the irony. Why would Raven even have a book on science fiction? ...unless it was supposed to be found... acting on a hunch, he flipped it open. It was quite a bit older, and the pages were yellowed. Harry Bates the author was.
There was writing under the signature.
The handwriting was scrawled and the date was recent. Was it Raven's? Come to think of it, he'd never seen her write anything… it wasn't much to read, but it left him puzzled.
Dear Beast Boy or Cyborg,
If either of you are reading this, it means we've failed and they got us all. I'm sorry. We tried to locate you in time, but we must have been too late. They're super-powerful now. If they got all three of us, that means you two are the only ones left who still have a chance at survival. I'm so sorry I failed... I need your help. I am injured, near death, and too weak to fight my way out of here. I am all alone... In the name of Azarath, please save me... I'm counting on you... both of you.
Love,
Raven
Beast Boy eyed the closing remark, love. That was so unlike her. Dark dots were all over the page, though. Tears? She almost never cried. Had she truly hidden this note specifically for him or Cyborg to find…? He flipped through the rest of the book, but found nothing else. Placing the book back inside the cabinet, he continued searching around.
He saw the antique record player and went over to it. There was a dusty stack of records piled next to it, and he looked at the first one. "Clair de Lune by C. Debussy... sounds like some kinda expensive French restaurant." he mumbled and began looking though the stack. "Piano Sonata No. 2 in Bb minor. Funeral March by F. Chopin... Pavane for a Dead Princess by M. Ravel... what kind of a person listens to this stuff?"
(MSP)
There was a record already on the turn table. His curiosity growing, he looked back, making sure there was no lurking threat. He took hold of the handle and started cranking it to wind up a mechanism. After a minute of experimenting, he finally got it to play. Soon a hauntingly beautiful and sad melody filled the room.
(MSP) Mysterious Ambient Background Music - The Rake
As it played, he walked around aimlessly.
Taking a closer look at her bookcase, it looked as though someone had ransacked it, but otherwise it was fine. Her fiction books remained untouched, and he found them dusty. No one had touched them in ages. He pulled some books out from one of the shelves, and noticed a word had been scratched into the shelf:
ALONE
Most of the books were in the same incomprehensible language; the letters weren't even in the English alphabet.
He put the books back, he did notice more words carved into the shelves, this time in neat gothic handwriting:
The rain in this world are my tears
There was something else, written very small in a corner. He bent down holding his lighter close to read it:
Why go on living?
Wow. A wave of sadness came over him as he realized just how unhappy she must have been since... whatever had taken over. Not even her own destiny to destroy the world had driven her to such extent of depression. But then he noticed something else even smaller written below it:
HOPE
He looked down at the floor for a moment, taking it all in. He remembered something Robin had once said, that Raven was the most hopeful person that he knew.
A light breeze passed through the room. He froze on the spot and slowly glanced over to see the heavy black curtains that covered the window. Somehow, they were being blown by a small wind... from the inside. He shuddered lightly, clutching the lighter in defense. He cautiously went over to the window. Pulling back the curtains, he was immediately confronted with a disturbing sight.
A massive, gaping hole was blown through the armored plating.
Beast Boy was hit by a wave of cold air. The reinforced shutter covering the window had exploded open, as though a missile had hit the tower. Beast Boy quickly surveyed the damaged wall, placing his hand on the remaining crumpled metal. No... the damage had been caused from the inside. He heard it groan in protest. It was barley holding up. Something had been blasted out of the tower... but what? a few moments later, he peeked out the hole again. The thick, murky fog was still outside. He couldn't see around to the front of the tower, as well as the ground below. It was all completely empty except – hey, what was that? Beast Boy leaned down, peering out over the ledge. Caught on a piece of perturbing metal was Raven's cloak gently flapping against the tower in the light breeze. "What the –?" He reached down and pulled it back inside.
Raven's cloak was a mess. It was torn straight down the middle, and the hood was completely gone. Beast Boy bent forward slightly, clutching the cloak in his hands. "Raven…" he whispered softly. His hands shook and he squeezed his burning eyes shut. "Where did you go…?" his voice had cracked with emotion. She was gone. They all were. Swallowed up by the unseen force that had plagued the city. He'd guessed on her own that Raven had fought whatever had come for her… and apparently blew a hole in the side of her room in the process. These things slammed into him like a tun of bricks and he could feel his legs threatening to collapse.
He shakily made his way over to her cowl-shaped bed, almost in a daze. Not knowing how long he'd been in this horrible world, he didn't know how long it had been since he'd slept, thinking his internal clock was completely screwed up. Sitting on her bed, it's springs groaned in protest, as if ready to give out. He brought the cloak to his nose. It was stained with patches of dry blood, rain water and burns. But… his superhuman sense of smell was able to catch the distant scent of herbal tea and lavender. It was there that he openly wept. Beast Boy drew his legs up to his scratched up chest, burying his face in the cloak. As he sat there, struggling to keep breathing normally, only now did he realize just how much the gothic Titan had really meant to him. He gazed down at the sheets where Raven had lay so many times. His breath caught in his throat, He… he liked Raven. He admitted this to himself silently... he liked her a lot. He was hit with the realization of just how he truly felt about her... about all his friends, but Raven in particular, was special to him. There was no other way he could put it. She was the forbidden fruit of the team.
He couldn't pinpoint exactly when he discovered that he had growing affection towards the dark empath, he guessed it was during those rare moments where he'd see her smile. It was always directed at someone else, but when it appeared, it was a sight to behold. Oh, how he'd longed to make her smile... or laugh for that matter. Heck, his mindless jokes and quirks aimed at her had all been stabs at affection, only to be turned away each time. None of the others knew of this, which he was most thankful for.
(MSP)
The record finished playing, and was making a clicking sound as the needle hit the end each time it went around. He quelled his tears and sat there motionless for a moment. "Get a grip, Garfield. Raven wouldn't be sitting here crying." He croaked to himself, still thoroughly upset.
He finally got a hold of himself and slowly rose from the bed, removing Starfire's backpack, he gazed longingly at the tattered cloak. Then… he put it on. Curling into what remained of Raven's cloak, he found solace in the small warmth that it provide. The brooch was missing, so he expertly tided the torn fabric ends together, as though it were an ascot. Raven's cloak draped protectively around him, almost lovingly. He inhaled her scent again, his animal instincts prickling. He slid the backpack on over the cloak and looked himself over. The cloak barely covered most of his body, it was so badly damaged, but he liked it.
He took another look through the large hole that Raven had created, sighing softly he closed the curtains to conceal it once more. It was time to move on. He made his way over to the door, before he could open it he stopped and listened.
There was movement outside in the corridor.
(MSP) Haunting Atmospheric Soundscape - Nothing in here is quite how it seems
Beast Boy held his breath as the distant noise of what sounded like scrapping metal coming from behind Raven's door. Whatever was outside didn't hang around as it rushed passed the door until it faded out down the corridor. "Um... that was... weird." Beast Boy stared at the door, trying to think of a reason not to open it. Heaving out a sigh, he slid the door open and peered out into the hallway. It was dark and empty, with no trace of a disturbance. He stepped out, and froze as he spotted a large shape disappear behind a corner. "What was... dude..." His thoughts traveled to the mysterious people/animals that he'd gotten brief glimpses since this whole ordeal started. Just who or what were they? he was no closer to finding out, all he did know was, they seemed to be leading him somewhere... but just exactly where? he knew there was only one way to find out.
Sighing in defeat of his own instincts, he started in the direction of the unknown shape. The hallway was now unnaturally colder and darker, and seemed a thousand times longer than it ever had. Arriving at the corner, he edged himself around it. It was too dark to make out anything, but he could hear frantic footsteps up ahead. Did they know he was following them? he continued to wonder down several more corridors, treading quietly as he could. Every now and then he'd hear the same sound of metal scrapping just off in the distance. He emerged into another corridor, coming to a complete stop at what he saw next.
Up ahead, the door to Cyborg's room had been opened. A large black mass was lying in the doorway. Fighting down a shuddered, he moved towards it ready to deploy another one of Robin's gadgets. The large mass was suddenly dragged into Cyborg's room, out of sight.
Beast Boy froze again, not at all expecting that outcome. The sudden sounds of metal being slammed against something caught his attention. He sneaked over to the door and leaned up against the wall. It all went quiet for a moment, then the room was lit up by electric sparks. Startled by this, Beast Boy morphed into a housefly and discreetly flew into the room, landing on a nearby cabinet. Turning around the small green fly stared in absolute disbelief at what was taking place.
The darkly dressed figure from the research facility was here, working on Cyborg's torso.
(MSP)
The video feed cuts out. Arny puts down the remote and leans back in his chair. "We're not far from the climax people! there's only a handful of chapters left... at least with this story." His eyes shift back and fourth mischievously. "It won't be long now! but in the meantime, I'm gonna start off the new year by watchin' the Russell Crowe show." Arny switches the channel to Comedy Central. A theme tune starts playing.
Born in New Zealand in 64, A hot-headed actor named Russell Crowe.
He loves to act but he loves one thing more, Fightin' Around the World!
