The Russell Crowe show comes to a close as the ending theme tune play out.

Tugger's whistles blowin', means we must be goin'...
no more Russell Crowin' for yoooou.
But now don't you start to whine, I'll see ya again next time...
cuz there's plenty a' more a fightin' left ta doooo.
Makin' movies, making songs and fightin' round the world.

See ya next time everybody!

"Hah ha! that shortly lived show will never get old!" Arny switches the channel back to the paused video. "Alrighty, I won't keep you people waiting any longer... so here you go!" Straight away he unpasuses the TV.


THE DISPATCH

Part 16: The Informant

The Boy Wonder was disgruntled. No... disgruntled didn't even begin to cover it. He was completely and totally confused and flustered. Annoyance was only a slight part of his current emotions. He was busy agonizing over the whole situation. Most of his mind was tempted to disregard all the warnings and go outside to face the unknown threat that was invading the city. He and his teammates had attempted to try and intercept... whatever the threat was... only to have the confidence completely drained from their bodies. They were now forced to keep a low profile within the tower, but he wasn't sure how long he would be able to keep this up. Robin was in a state of mental chaos. The thought of this was hard to wrap his mind around.

He found himself sitting in front of the large viewing screen in the common room. A new message alert was now displayed on the screen. He sighed, unsure of whether he'd get any straightforward answers. He opened the file.

He was greeted by three words:

I am alive.

(MSP) Ambient Background Music - Cicada 3301

Robin stared at the short message, it was soon followed by a longer paragraph below it.

Sorry I was gone for so long. Power went out where I was, so I've relocated. Trying to slowly make my way towards the west coast, so my reception is a bit spotty. A storm rolled in and I caught sight of something in the sky. If you ever see one of these things GET AS LOW AS YOU CAN. And if you see the blue light, DO NOT let it shine on you.

Attached to the message was a video link. Robin instantly opened the link. The screen went dark for a few seconds, the sound of rumbling thunder could be heard. Just then, lighting flashed for a second. A brief glimpse of an abnormally large shape was seen behind a row of tree tops. It went dark again for a few seconds. The lightning struck again, lighting up the sky for a little longer. Robin could clearly see a giant dark shape gliding slowly across the night sky. It was the same bizarre shape that he'd seen captured on the security system earlier. The screen went black and the video ended.

Robin quickly typed back a reply.

This is Robin of the Teens Titans, I'm so glad to hear from you. Are you okay?

He instantly received a response.

Yeah, I'm doing okay considering what I've been through.

Robin took the opportunity to try and get some more information.

Why should I not let the blue light shine on me? what happened that makes you say that?

There was a long pause before he received another message.

Well when I got outside I saw someone running away, and when the blue light shined on them they uh... well suffice to say it wasn't pretty.
I took cover inside and I just heard yelling, but this time it sounded like the person was in agony.
It's just quiet now.

Robin quickly typed back a reply.

Where are you currently located?

The message browser remained blank for over a minute. Robin began typing again.

What's going on? are you still there? please message me.

Surprisingly, another message appeared almost immediately.

I'm trying my best to keep calm as I type this, but I think there's a dead body in the street. There's no way I'm taking a picture of a dead body. This is too gruesome.
I'm just going to try to avoid it.

Robin gasped, the situation was taking an even darker turn. Another minute of silence passed before another message was posted.

Listen, I might sound insane but I think something is covering the sun. If the sun went out you would see thousands of stars but we don't. We would also feel different, earth would just float out into empty space but we are in orbit. The sun is still there but something is covering it.

The masked detective was stunned at this possible discovery. He decided to send the unknown informer a message detailing the current events.

Hey there, our situation has been getting steadily worse since that first message you sent us. We were forced to barricade ourselves inside our own tower. There's been several points where I could see those lights, mostly just flashing on our security monitors. One of those lights found a way inside the tower and seemed to be... patrolling... they seem to act intelligently and sentiently. I also caught sight of that wired ship. The one shaped like an origami. It periodically floated above the tower at random times, I guess trying to scoop out survivors. Speaking of which, has there been any news on government institutions or the military? I hope for the best for every one in this disaster.

"I hope this info is worth something." Robin muttered as he sent his message.

There was another long, intense wait before he finally received a much needed reply

I have a piece of advise a little obvious but useful. If you hear a shuddering sound and flashing lights, get on the ground and do not move. If you think you have time, hide in a room with no windows or if you're outside, hide in a ditch. I also have something else to share. Military ain't a good idea. Firstly I tried to go to the police station, but it was empty. Then I went to a military base. I heard gunshots and there were dozens red lights and hundreds of people who appeared to be... mindless. It sounds ridiculous I know but... they were all standing in the same place for about ten minutes. I left as fast as I could.

One final sentence was then separately added to the message.

The body is gone. Didn't see what happened to it, but it's not in the street anymore.

(MSP)

The perplexed leader rubbed a gloved hand roughly over his temple, staring blankly into the computer screen. His mind no longer focusing on the agonizingly small print on the screen. "Robin?" Came a voice of unease. Robin jumped several inches into the air and whirled around in his computer chair. Raven was standing in the doorway.

"Oh, hey Raven." Robin said, brightening visibly. "So um... hows Star doing? is she okay?"

Raven ventured across the room and stood a few feet behind him. "She hasn't displayed any signs of irregularity, but she has been very quiet. But I guess that's to be expected..." Raven trailed off and seemed to stare at nothing. Robin noticed this and quickly acted. "Uh... Raven? what about yourself? did you feel any different when you saw the light?"

His concerned voice brought her back to the question at hand.

"I err... did feel... weird... in a way that I can barley describe. It had some kind of control over me and Starfire. It's constant flashing was hypnotic, I tried to shut my eyes or look away, but I couldn't. It was pulling us into a trance, and our inner fear only strengthened it's power... we were completely at it's mercy." She gravely admitted.

Robin looked down at the floor, a groan of frustration escaped his mouth as the weight of the situation continued to pile on his shoulders. Now it was the fearless leader's turn to be asked about his well-being. "Are you alright? you look troubled." Robin lifted his head towards her. "What? oh, sure. I'm fine," He said in the smoothest way possible, but his forced up and very fake-looking smile betrayed him. "Are you sure?" She asked him skeptically. Robin nodded. "Sure, I'm just... at a complete and total loss..." He hung his head once again, the smile now gone.

"You are worried about Starfire, as well as how we're going to get through this whole ordeal." Raven stated. Robin marveled at the female ability to sense the roots of emotions. "I guess you could say that." Robin said, giving a distressed sigh. "I just hope she can pull through this and still retain her bright positivity." Robin openly hoped. "As long as shes staying in your room, she'll be safe from anymore encounters." Raven awkwardly spoke. "Um, actually... she went back to her own room."

"WHAT?!" The Boy Wonder nearly jumped out of his chair a second time.

"Not long after you left, Starfire began talking again. She pleaded with me to take her to her room. She didn't say what for, just that is was urgently important." Raven calmly explained.

"And you left her there by herself?!" Robin was now visibly tense.

"She claimed it was a Tamaranian thing, something that she had to to do in private, so I told her to keep her door closed and not open it unless it's one of us." Robin eased down a little. "I thought we agreed that your room was most secure?! Star has already had an unseen presence in her room. There could be something else in there waiting for her!"

"She assured me it wouldn't take long, but I can go back and check on her if you want." She advised him. "I'd really appreciate it if you would Raven, I can't run the risk of losing anyone else. We're already missing half of the team as it is." For the first time she could remember, Raven could see genuine confusion and even a bit of fear in the leader's eyes. "Yes... I am still aware of that..." Raven soberly uttered, shifting her gaze to the floor. "I'll go and check on Starfire." She slowly turned away and left the room. Robin frowned, the thought of Starfire or Raven being abducted by an otherworldly light sauce and whisked away to God knows where... Robin tried not to think about it.

(MSP) CO AG - A Gothic Symphony

It was almost midday, but you couldn't tell because it was still dark out. Raven made her way towards Starfire's room when she soon came to a section where the corridor divided. It was there that she caught sight of Beast Boy's room, his door had been left opened for reasons unknown. Had it been open all this time? she couldn't remember. Standing silently in the empty hall, Raven's suspicious began to arise. She peered back towards the other corridor, half afraid the flashing light-thing was at the other end waiting for her. Scolding herself for such a childish notion, Raven faced the other hall. With a defeated sigh she nervously walked down the darkened hallway towards Beast Boy's room. She had only been down here a few times. In the past, it was always he who had been seeking her out - either knocking on her door almost every day, interrupting her mediation, or pestering her with silly remarks when she was in the common room trying to read. Although he had sort of cooled down in the past few months, she realized.

Raven warily approached Beast Boy's room, she prepared for the worst and peered into the entrance, finding it to be as dark as the hallway. Reaching in with her arm she flicked the lights on. The room was unoccupied. Feeling a sense of relief, Raven cautiously entered the dimly lit room.

It really had been a while since she had been in here. She remembered a bunk bed, empty pizza boxes strewn about and clutter everywhere. He still had the bunk bed, the top bunk now being used to store toys, she eyed the infamous 'Help Me Count' monkey that would cry out at random times. Hopefully he had taken the battery out, she thought. The clutter on the floor was largely picked up, although she did see one empty pizza box on the floor near his desk.

Wait, Beast Boy has a desk? he had a huge computer monitor and keyboard on it, some art supplies scattered about and some carved wooden animals in a box. Lent up against the wall were two guitars, an electric one and an acoustic one respectively. She remembered pictures of animals on the walls, and they were still there. The biggest one being that of a T-Rex, one of Beast Boy's favorite animals. Raven glanced at the poster. It hung on the wall staring at her and seemed to follow her around the room… she shook the uncertainty out of herself.

The box of carved animals was within reach, she pulled it over and took some out. There was a majestic lion, an African elephant, and a rhinoceros. They were very skillfully crafted, someone had spend a lot of time carving these. She set all the animals out on the desk, although the giraffe was not able to stand because one of it's legs had broken off. Raven wondered if Beast Boy had carved them himself? though it was hard to picture him ever going through the time and effort. These were just too well done. "He must have bought them from somewhere." She declared. "That would make more sense." She carefully placed them back inside the box and looked around some more.

What caught her attention next was really shocking to her, on the opposite wall was a small bookcase, filled with books. There was even one on the night stand next to his bed. She walked closer. What was he reading…?

She saw that the small book was in a forest color like Beast Boy's hair. It was a hardcover book with a running wolf engraved in the middle of the front cover. She looked at the top inscription written in silver italics, which read 'Of Animals and Heroes'. Beast Boy's real name, 'Garfield Logan,' was inscribed on the bottom right of the book.

She knew she should just leave the room, but her curiosity about Beast Boy's book got the better of her. Looking around out of habit to see if she was all by herself, she sat on his bed, heaved a sigh and wondering what to do. She picked up the book and opened it to the first page. On top of the page read the title 'Through the Eyes of an Animorph'.

"Yep, this ought to be interesting," Raven said to herself. Taking a breath, she started reading.

(MSP)

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
(MSP) Kevin MacLeod - Apprehension

Beast Boy remained hidden in his housefly form, staring at the mysterious figure. It had it's back turned to him, but he recognized it's gloomy attire. The dark silhouette of a cloak that had been shredded at the bottom, along with a large rounded hat donning it's head. Cyborg's form was laid out on his charging table/bed which the figure appeared to be... experimenting on. This left the young shape-shifter disturbed and confused. Just how and what was it doing here? had it somehow gotten sucked into the same nightmarish hell that he was experiencing? and just what was it doing to his immobile teammate's body?

With the possibility of his friend's life being in danger, he quickly flew up towards the ceiling. The green fly landed on an overhead light fixture, crawling to the edge so he could got a better look of the situation. He could see the figure was poking around the Tin Man's exposed chest. Suddenly, a bright fountain of electrical sparks lite up the room as they flew out from his chest. The figure jumped back and shielded itself within it's cloak. Beast Boy was instantly blinded by light, he let out an inaudible squeak and flew off to the the right side of the room. A puff of smoke poured out from Cyborg's internals. The figure waited for the smoke to clear before cautiously stepping forward to survey the damage.

(MSP)

The green housefly perched itself on a nearby shelf that was loaded with hardware, blinking to get it's multiple vision back. The figure stared at the bionic mans form. It stood motionless for an uncomfortable long time.

It then let out a low growl.

"I know your here!"

(MSP) Dark Ambient Music - There is nowhere left to hide

Beast Boy froze, completely taken off guard.

"Show yourself, NOW!" It spoke in that low gruff voice from before.

Beast Boy couldn't tell if he was talking to him or an unseen presence, that was until he crawled out from behind the hardware. Even though he was no bigger than a paperclip, Beast Boy was mortified to see the figure had turned around and was staring up, directly at him!

"I said NOW! don't try to hide!" It reached inside it's cloak as if ready to deploy a weapon. Beast Boy instantly snapped back to reality, not wanting to be taken out so easily, he immediately flew into the air, transforming into a large tiger, rolling onto the ground, quickly turning back to face the intruder. A pair of blue tinted goggles met his sight, shooting him an ominous stare, almost as if looking straight into the green tigers soul. The rest of it's face covered by a darkened ascot. The intruder made no movement in response whatsoever. It merely stood there, not taking it's obscured eyes off him, an unseen cold stare following his every move.

Beast Boy kept his head low to the ground, his front paws leaning down, his hind legs remaining upright, a growl rumbling between his sharp teeth. He was prone into position like that of cat about to pounce on a mouse. The figure still had one arm tucked inside it's cloak, with the other reaching for something he couldn't see. Beast Boy opened his mouth, twitching his whiskers, giving a better glimpse of his ferocious fangs.

The two were caught in a standoff off that went on for at least a minute, until the intruder very cautiously began to withdraw it's arm from it's cloak. Beast Boy refused to back down and lifted his shoulders, about to push off against the ground.

"You Seriously don't want to do that." It now spoke in a cold yet slightly less menacing voice.

This stopped Beast Boy momentarily. He gave a confused look, tilting his head slightly, but still not dropping his guard. It took this moment to reveal that his hand was empty. "You don't want to hurt me as much as I don't want to hurt you." It then turned away from the green tiger without a second thought.

Beast Boy slowly eased back into a regular stance, returning to human form. "Dude...! just who the hell are you?!" He exasperated, flailing his arms about.
"Just be glad that I am Real and not an incarnation formed by them." The stranger returned to the Tin Man's body, completely ignoring his question.

"H-hey wait a sec! I-I don't even know what's happening! o-or why I'm even here!...a-and just what exactly are you doing to my..." He stopped his rambling when he reached the table/bed. "...injured friend...?" His jaw falling slightly when he saw Cyborg's condition. His metallic friend was slowly regaining his blue glow, his robotic red eye was no longer flashing or beeping. It would just flicker every few seconds, showing a sign of life.

(MSP)

The stranger stood at his side, holding a pair of jumper cables, which were hooked up to a portable generator that was silently running on the floor. Was it trying to jump-start Cyborg's system? from all the times he'd watch the bionic man repair or upgrade himself, this did seemed to be the case. The stranger attached the jumper cables to his power cell and glanced at the power read-out on his half detached right arm. The percentage number was displayed at 7% and was steadily beginning to climb.

"Your... your helping him?" Once again he was thrown of guard by another turn of events, he faced the stranger. "B-but why? you don't even know him?" It bent down and pulled out a toolbox from under the table/bed. It took out some pliers and a screw driver. "I know that he will Die here if he doesn't resurrect his power supply." It then began working on his tangled wiring. "Besides, it would be unfair for him to perish like this, not after being stuck in suspended animation for all this time." Hearing this statement, Beast Boy quickly brought up a long awaited question.

"Um... dude? how exactly did you get pulled into this... this... this nightmare?!" The stranger paused in his work and lowed it's head, letting out a low grown of defeat. It then turned it's gaze on the changeling. From what it could see behind it's tinted goggles, he looked wary, desperate and scared. "I suppose a rational explanation is need for all this, but don't expect every detail." It then looked around the room, uncertain that they weren't alone. "We can't talk for long, so just listen and don't ask too many questions, Understood?" Beast Boy nodded hesitantly.

(MSP) Sinister Dark Ambient Background Music - Dark Rage

"That night at the research facility, a Transition was due to take place, a transition that I was tasked with preventing." It glanced behind the green teen towards the open doorway, when no threat emerged it continued. "The vault that you and your friend here discovered was a Gateway."

"Aaaa... gateway?" Beast Boy raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, a gateway that separated the world from a powerful force that was consumed of nothing but Eternal Darkness and Sin. When that vault was opened, they were unleashed upon the world. They were able to hide in the undergrounds, quietly looming beneath the city. Then just over the coarse of a few days, they slowly began to take over."

An icy chill went up and down Beast Boy's spine. "No way, man." He whispered, not wanting to believe it. "So what was that bright orang-y light thing that nearly fried me and Cyborg?"

"That was the them entering your world, to insure that they won't get imprisoned again, they destroy the building that housed the vault. It was only a matter of time before the whole town began to go stir-crazy. They never knew what hit them, no one was safe, not even the remaining Titans could stop it."

Beast Boy stood back in disbelief. "No way. They wouldn't have just stood back and... wait! what do you know about the other Titans?!" The stranger stared long and hard at the green teenager, knowing that this question was fully unavoidable. It huffed out a sigh before answering.

"Something else happened after the vault was opened, the entire foundation of the research facility was unceremoniously pulled through a vortex."

Beast Boy shuddered visibly, feeling hot tears in the corners of his eyes. "Oh man..." He whispered as it dawned on him. "Robin, Star... Raven too…" He fell back against the table/bed, sliding down to the floor. "What happened to them…? He whispered. "Where did they go?" The stranger moved forward until it was right next to him. leaning down to his level, it's gravely voice responded in a rather sober tone.

"In spite of what this world may have you believe... your friends are still alive."

Beast Boy froze, looking up at the strangers towering form. "Wah-wuh... what?! " He cried out in confusion.

"Yes, but they don't have much time left. The vortex sent them to an alternative world. A world created by them... and they don't even realist it."

(MSP)


The TV abruptly pauses. "In the immortal words of M. Night Shyamalan..." Arny stands up dramatically with his arms spread out. "What a twist!" Sitting back down he addresses the audience. "So, at long last, Beast Boy has uncovered something about this whole ordeal. But will the Titans be alive long enough for him to come to the rescue? Or will they be consumed by the unknown evil?" Arny shrugs. "As your host, all I can say is... stay tuned!