Arny lay asleep in his chair with his feet propped up on the desk. The TV picture automatically cuts to loud static which snaps him awake.
"...hurr-Welp!" He quickly sits back up. "Okay! we're back with Bobcat Goldthwait..." Arny pauses and looks around the studio. "What... where am I...?" He spots the TV is now transmitting static. "Moltar! what happened to the feed?!" He looks over at an empty bandstand that took up part of the studio. "Did I fall asleep Zorak?" He soon realizes that no nobody was there. "Oh... heh... looks like I did fall asleep..." He quickly grabs the remote and switches channels. "Okay, on with the show..."
THE DISPATCH
Part 17: Words Of Great Power
(MSP) Sinister Dark Ambient Background Music - Dark Rage
Beast Boy tried to speak but his vocabulary was reduced to a jumbled mess. "B-but t-they... I-I saw...!"
"What You saw were solid illusions manifested by them. They were merrily an augur of the inevitable fates of your friends." The figure turned away, focusing it's attention on Cyborg once more. Beast Boy scrambled to get back up. "W-wait... hold up... your telling me that my friends are actually still alive?! but they've been sucked into another world that's somehow worse than this?! ...and don't even know it?!" He flailed his arms about at the rather outlandish explanation. Without turning away from it's task at hand, the stranger continued.
"That is correct. As of right now, your friends have become prisoners to a world that is Not what it seems." It resumed working on the bionic man's internals and started fiddling with his circuitry, the power read-out was now displaying 14%. "They created a world that feeds on their Anguish and Anxiety, placing them in an epidemic where all their heroic methods are unable to save the city... Or Themselves."
Beast Boy stared with his mouth agape, the figures hauntingly deep voice ensured him this was not an exaggeration. "Bu-but w-what about us? w-what kind of hellish world have me and Cyborg been sucked into?" He whispered, afraid to know.
The stranger paused amidst it's work for a second time, which didn't seem to be a good sign. It took a heavy, deep breath before placing the set of pliers aside. It slowly turned it's gaze back to the young changeling. "Unlike the others, you and your robotic friend were not sent to another world. When they were released, they were able to tear through the very fabric of time and space. Everything that was within reach of the facility, lost an entire Decade in a matter of seconds."
Beast Boy went cold when he heard that. "No... way." He whispered, tears in the corners of his eyes.
"I'm afraid so, This is the Real World." With that said, the stranger turned back to it's work. Beast Boy fell silent with his gaze fixed to the floor, unable to believe all the horrible things that had happened. "Why'd this have to happen?" He whimpered softly, tears began flowing freely. "How long have we been in this world…?"
"Too Long." The stranger uttered from under it's ascot. "But long enough to acquire the Strength, Knowledge and Willpower in order to survive." Beast Boy looked up at the figure while wiping away his tears. "Huh...?
Bzzzt! Bzzzzzt! Tuh-t-t-t-t-t-tzzzzzt!
Cyborg's torso gave off a few blue sparks as the stranger cautiously reconnect his damaged wiring. It looked over to see the power read-out had now reached up to 21%. His familiar blue glow had become a lot brighter and his robotic eye was now a dim red. Cyborg's brain activity was increasing, his memory was scrambling. Images were whizzing by at a hundred miles an hour, static accompanying it. Memories of battles, missions, friends… it was all mingling together.
"Your friend will soon be with us, he just needs time for his system to reboot." The figure then removed the jumper cables and stood back from the robotic man's form, having performed a miracle in such a short time. It then withdrew a book from within it's cloak and opened it up, it searched through it until a particular page was found, then without hesitation... it tore the page out. "You are going to need This." It said, shoving the paper into the now flabbergasted teenager's hand. "Memorize those words. You will need to recite them in correct order for when the right time comes to use them." Beast Boy looked down at the torn page to see as list of twelve words, scribbled down in bold crayon.
Just then, Cyborg let out a soft moan as he slowly regained consciousness. Closing the book and tucking it away, the stranger looked back the Tin Man's body. "He has at best fifteen minutes of power left, so be ready to break the news to him about the circumstances." Beast Boy winced at the sobering thought. God, how would he tell Cyborg about all that has happened?
(MSP)
Cyborg could hear a distant voice, but was unable recognize it. His vision was coming back. "Cyborg?" He heard another voice, this one a lot closer and found it to be Beast Boy's. His red light became fully active as the green teen leaned into his vision to see.
"Grass... stain?" Cyborg finally manged to speak, his organic eye coming open at last.
"Cyborg! thank god your awake!" Beast Boy cried, almost hugging his immobile teammate.
"Yo... what happened man...? I feel like I've had mah circuits knocked outta me." He mumbled and tried to sit up, only to find that a large amount of feeling was missing from his body. "Um... BB? I can't feel mah arms... or mah legs for that matter." Beast Boy's relieved expression changed to that of nervousness and guilt. "Well-um... I wouldn't try to get up straight away Cy... your... in serious need of a repair job..." He reveled, holding up his served left arm for him to see.
(MSP) Sinister Dark Ambient Music - Haunted
Cyborg felt the atmosphere around him go cold almost instantly. He looked over at the stump where his limb used to be. "Mah arm!" He tried to reach out and grab it with his right arm, only to find it was partly hanging of by a few strands of wire. "Mah other arm!" He then looked towards Beast Boy with pleading eyes. "BB! ya gotta help me sit up man! I gotta know the extent of mah damage!" The look of fear was clear as day on Cyborg's face.
Putting the detached limb aside, Beast Boy leapt forward to help. "Alright dude but... it's not a pretty sight..." He then morphed into a gorilla before slipping his large green arms around Cyborg's body. Carefully, he began easing him up into a sitting position. His torso gave off a few blue sparks, and he winced in pain. "Aaaah! mah legs!" Cyborg shrieked upon discovering the reason for his lack of feeling below his waist. "Just what the hell happened to me man?!" Changing back to human, Beast Boy was quick to answer.
"I really need you to stay calm Cy… cuz, something went wrong, dude. Very wrong. Like Wicked Scary wrong." Cyborg knew Beast Boy only used the name of that movie when he was being dead serious. It was like a curse-word to him. "You and I are all that's left. You see, when we opened that vault, something got loose… something bad." Cyborg knew that to be true, given his current state. "That was just the start…. Whatever we set loose found the others. All of the others. Except me and you." Cyborg squinted, trying to understand. He'd never seen Beast Boy look so panic stricken, as though he were about to start crying. Cyborg wondered what on Earth was so bad… what had happened to the others? What had they turned loose? what the hell had reduce him to missing most of his body? "How were we supposed to know the research base was hiding some kind of gateway thingy! It got out as we were chasing after that intru…" Beast Boy paused, then spun around.
The unknown figure was gone.
(MSP)
"What the... where the hell did he go?!" Beast Boy gasped, realizing they were the only ones left in the room. "Err... where the hell did who go BB?" Cyborg looked around the mostly dark and empty room. "T-that weird mystery guy! h-he's here! a-and he was able to hook you up to a generator and bring you back!" At hearing this Cyborg gazed down and was startled to see his exposed power cell. "Yo, your not seriously tellin' me that this is the work of the same guy who gave us the slip back at the research base?" Cyborg looked at his green teammate as if he were speaking in riddles.
"I-I know it sounds too crazy to believe but... ya gotta trust me on this Cy, cuz of right now... he's all the help we've got!"
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Raven heaved a sigh, having passed the time doing what she did best. Reading. She sat on Beast Boy's bed in the usual Indian-style position, Beast Boy's book in her lap. She'd started at the beginning, and read more than thirty pages so far. "Mmm…" she said, turning the page.
The book went into great detail, telling the world through Beast Boy's eyes, from his time spent with the Doom Patrol to the adventures he had shared with the Titans, ones that Raven remembered. She learned of his distress when Cyborg had quit the Titans. She saw through his eyes the day that Robin had been revealed to be red X. His voice appeared in the back of her head, reading along as she went. She soon began to notice, little by little, his growing affection for… well… herself. What also caught her attention was where Beast Boy explained how he always worried and cared for her, and would do anything to make her happy or smile, even if the jokes were on him. She also read the part where he expressed how sometimes her sarcasm did hurt his feelings and how he'd try to laugh it off.
Did he really spend so much time thinking about her…? flipping to the next page, her brow furrowed from the page's title.
Experiment for an Antidote.
Experiment? What experiment? Raven had never known about this. But then again, she didn't know a lot about the other Titans pasts. The page went on to detail the events that lead up to how Beast Boy received his powers. It told how when he was a kid, Beast boy was bitten by a green monkey, which carried a fatal disease called the 'Sakutia,' Virus. It then told how his dad, being a geneticist, gave him an experimental drug, hoping that it would be strong enough to fight it off. Otherwise... he'd die. Fortunately it worked, but it made his immune system a lot weaker. And the side effects were pretty bizarre. Suddenly he had green skin, sharp teeth, pointed ears... and the ability to morph... a small price to pay for being alive. But... Beast Boy didn't seem to think so... especially when she read how his parents died a short time after.
Raven bent forward slightly, clutching the book in her hands. The silence was so thick in the room, that you could have heard a pin drop. But that was nothing compared to the inner turmoil and disbelief Raven was now experiencing. Never in million years did she ever expect him to come out with something like this. To slander his own identity. To admit how much it bothered him, when she herself had made several cold remarks out of simple frustration. Now turning into deep regret. But what made things even worse was the fact that she had truly been judging him from the outside. Not having a clue to the true pain he was feeling deep down on the inside. Like her, he too shared a deep tragedy... the one actual thing that they had in common... and the most important of all. Suddenly it all made sense as to why Beast boy always targeted her with his corny jokes, and drove her insane by always trying to make her laugh. Because he really did know what she was feeling... and cared enough about her to try and make her happy. Only she was too blind to see it.
Raven's head slowly began to shake. "Why? Why didn't you ever tell anyone about this?" She whispered to the book, as if it would answer back. What she read was more than what she was going for. It was so much more than what she was able to take in at one time. She never knew he was capable of such writings, it was overwhelming. Raven closed the book and set it back on the desk exactly as she found it – when suddenly Robin ran passed the doorway. "RAVEN!" He called out in a panic. The dark girl jumped from the bed, staggering across the room. "Robin! I'm over here!" She quickly called out into the hall.
(MSP) Kevin MacLeod - Echoes of Time v2
Robin skidded to a stop and ran back towards her. He began whispering loudly, as though not to attract attention. "There's been an alert from below the tower! Something triggered the sensors in the basement!" Robin's quick, panicked breathing was hard to miss. "It was too dark to make out anything on the monitors, but the audio managed to pick up sounds of frantic banging!" There was a tense pause as the two stood in the dreary corridor.
Raven spoke in a low voice. "I have a confession to make. Over the course of the last few hours, I've been increasingly paranoid about someone or something coming into the tower. And I don't think its one of thous lights, it feels different. I can't explain it, but I can sense it." There was another pause before Robin responded. "Can you sense it's location?" Raven shook her head. "No. It's too far away, I'd have to be closer."
"Then we better regroup before it finds a way inside. lets go and get Starfire." As he turned away, Raven's eyes widened. She'd gotten so engrossed with reading through Beast Boy's book, that she'd completely forgot about her task of checking in on her fellow teammate. A sense of guilt washed over her as she followed Robin, tugging at her cloak and internally berated herself for getting side tracked. Robin was desperate just to reach the sanctity of another bedroom, but... Starfire's door didn't seem to be getting any closer. When he finally reached it, he could have cried out of relief. "Starfire?" He called out, finding her door to be wide open. Sensing something was wrong he rushed forward, grabbing the door frame as he entered the room."Starfire!" Her lights were on, but the alien princess was nowhere to be seen.
"Where is she?!" Robin cried, looking around in a panic. "Where could she have gone?!" He then spotted Starfrie's distinctively pink backpack. It lay unzipped with all it's contents spewed out across her circular bed, as though it had been emptied in a hurry. He took a closer look and caught sight of one particular item that clearly didn't belong. He picked up a white piece of paper and frowned deeply at what he saw.
Remember
-Don't look into the light.
-Don't move. They see motion.
-Don't produce light. They will see.
THE
STROBE
?
Raven soon joined him and immediately felt more guilt at finding the room empty. Robin read the message over again before showing it to the dark girl beside him, it was written in handwriting she didn't recognize. It sure as hell wasn't Starfire's writing, but who else could have wrote it? and what was it doing in the alien princesses room? why did it seem like she left in such a rush? to many disturbing questions were arising from this. Raven looked over the items on the bed, a small digital camera caught her eye, a blinking red light told her it had only just been turned on. She curiously picked it up to examine it. Turning it around and holding it up, she was startled when the camera unexpectedly flashed. Having snapped a picture by accident, she looked back at Robin who seemed to be deep in thought.
The strange message then fell from his grasp as a disturbing realization hit him, and he went pale. "The basement! she must have sensed something and went to investigate ...and that something is probably down there!" With his lightning quick reflexes, Robin bolted out the door and down the hall. "Robin!" Raven shouted before running after him. "Don't go alone!"
(MSP)
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(MSP) Ambient Background Music - Cicada 3301
Beast Boy had spent the last ten minutes telling Cyborg everything that had happened to him up to this point. When he was finished, he looked up at him.
"Woah… man..." Cyborg whispered. "That is just…"
"Messed up?!" Beast Boy added for lack of a better words. "We're completely powerless against this world Cy! I'm well and truly scared…!"
Cyborg sank down, his shoulders sagging. He had never seen him in such a terrified state, there was little to no doubt about his tale of events. All he could do now was try and help his best friend who needed him now more than ever. He looked at his stub of a left arm and compared it to his partly detached right arm, trying to see how bad the damage was. "I can't use either of these arms, their wires are all melted together. And mah legs have fared no different." He mumbled, studying the damage with a mechanic's eyes. "I take it we ain't got no power in this place?" Beast Boy nodded.
"The whole city's got no power dude." The bionic man happened to notice the portable generator that had been used to power him. "Yo, that's one of mah own generators. Just how the hell did that mystery guy know how to use it?" He looked up at the changeling who shrugged. "I dunno dude... I didn't get a chance to ask him." Cyborg nodded somewhat soberly, feeling the stumps of open circuitry where his limbs used to be. He frowned and looked towards the green teenager, his expression hardening.
"BB... I'm gonna need you to cut off the power to my limbs…" he mumbled. "They each have their own individual battery, but I can't get a radio signal to them to tell them what to do while they're detached…"
"Um... sure thing Cy." Beast Boy nodded understandably, having helped repair his robotic friend once before. He picked up a set of pliers before reaching carefully into his open chest and he started fiddling with his circuitry. Cyborg gave him vital instructions on what need to be disconnected. Beast Boy was just thankful that Cyborg was awake to tell him what to do. Eventually, all electrical ties to his limbs were cut.
"Well… I'm glad that's… over…" Cyborg's battery gave out, and he sagged forward.
Beast Boy stood back from his motionless body. There was no 'Beeping' noise this time, just his very dim blue tint. Beast Boy let out small whimper, finding himself all alone once more. His mind then shifted to the torn out page that he'd received from the strange figure. Taking a closer look he discovered the words to be cryptic, but legible...
LUSSA
KARS
OLIVIKA
FENIC
MORCANA
TYMA
MALUS
LARSUS
OLKAS
MORTYM
IXIAM
RAKA
They were handwritten in black crayon and were accompanied by a small gun-sight symbol with no plus-sign in the middle near top right hand corner. The words seemed to glitter as though they held great power. "Hmm, these look like they belong in one of Raven's spell books..." He glanced down at the torn up cloak that draped over his body, he really wished Raven was here. She'd know what to do. Slipping the piece of paper into his pocket, he turned back to his unconscious friend.
"Don't worry Cy... I'll get you home..." He rubbed his eyes, not knowing how long it had been since he'd had sleep. It felt like an eternity. Beast Boy picked up the Tin Man's severed arm, knowing it would be futile to simply try and force it back on. He threw it distastefully across the room. It landed with a metallic clang, and moved no more. Turning into a gorilla, he carefully lifted him up from his table/bed before morphing into a horse, this allowed Cyborg's torso to lie hunched over across his back. Satisfied with his precious cargo he turned to make his exit from the room.
He felt like a lone horse in a western, carrying a fallen comrade through the battlefield... and the war was far from over.
(MSP)
The TV screen fills with static again as Arny talks to someone off camera. "...originally they used to say: 'Couples skate next, two girls may not skate together' ...and then like a couple of years later they'd say: 'Couples skate, two girls may not skate together, two boys may not skate together.' ...but they'd say it like: 'Who'da figure? two boys may not skate together...' He then sees the static on the monitor.
"...are we rolling?" Arny quickly turns to the viewers. "Welp this is the point of where all bets are off people! who knows what the Titans will encounter in the next chapter." He rubs his sleeve covered palms together. "I'll see ya there!"
