An Author's note: Since people have been asking…(okay, it's only been Agent who has been asking but still) about what happened to our old villain Sumal, well here is a bit about what he was doing as the Titans were wandering around Azarath being chased by the Uglies and being captured by crazy guys.

Coming up, a coincidence that could only happen in a fiction!

Chapter Twenty-Two

Meanwhile…

Back at his interdimensional lair place, Sumal was busy practicing using Raven's powers. And he was getting good at it. Unlike Raven he did not have to deal with the powers getting out of control, mainly because they were trapped in a necklace instead of actually being inside him. Because of this he had mastered in weeks what had taken Raven years to accomplish.

The fact that he was an emotionless sociopath kind of helped as well.

His mind kept going back to those kids, especially Beast Boy and Raven. Beast Boy because the shape shifter had basically ruined his plans for the child of Yog-Sothoth, and Raven because…well she was a half-breed and she had escaped.

Sumal hated Halfbloods.

Especially after…that one.

Sumal gritted his teeth as he remembered that ugly little half-breed, what was his name again? Oh, yes, Sanath. Sumal remembered how he had found the boy while he had lived in Azarath. Sumal had found Sanath after the boy's mother had died at the hands of his slightly crazy minotaur father. Sumal had taken him in, and at first Sanath had thought that he had found a friend. He had been wrong. Sumal treated Sanath worse than a dog. Sumal had made Sanath do exactly whatever the wizard had wanted, no matter how horrible, and if the Halfblood every objected…well Sumal knew many ways in which to torturer a person, and he had been glad to demonstrate them.

Soon, Sumal had noticed Sanath had developed an odd habit of talking to himself, and it sometimes seemed that there were two or three different Sanaths taking up residence in his body. One was a reasonably normal young man, another was a vacant, emotionless creature that would come out whenever Sumal beat the boy, and that happened often.

The third, a raging monster, had come out the day Sanath left Sumal's home permanently and escaped back to Azarath. On that day something in Sanath had snapped, and not only had he escaped, he had destroyed quite a bit of Sumal's lab in the process. That fact was the only reason Sumal had grown a firm dislike of Halfbloods. He could have lived with Sanath's departure, but he did not like the fact that the Halfblood had chosen to destroy a good portion of the wizard's life work on the way out.

It had taken Sumal years to get everything back on track.

Sumal wanted to get Raven back, not because she had really done anything. Just the fact that she lived and breathed was enough excuse for Sumal to destroy her, at least in his mind it was.

Sumal finally decided that it was time. He felt that he had master's Raven's powers, and now all that he had to do was find another copy of the book. He knew where to look, after a few days of scrying he had located another copy. It was in Greek, but that was no problem.

Sumal prepared go back to Earth. Once he had his new copy he planned on paying a visit to the Teen Titans.

He still needed a sacrifice.

Miskatonic University, located in the city known as Arkham, surprisingly close to the madhouse that imprisoned some of the worst criminals in the world. That in and of itself was reason be wary of the place, but MU had a bad reputation all its own: There was the incident with a man named H. West, none of the professors even talked about him, as if his very name had become taboo. Then there was the expedition that had gone to the Antarctic, and had resulted in death of many of the members, and the survivors had come back slightly insane. There were rumors that the place had been…poisoned by something.

It was also the one place where one could find a copy of the Necronomicon.

"So you have no idea who took it, huh, professor?" Kid Flash asked the elderly gentleman in front of him. It had occurred to the young hero that if there were anymore copies of That Book around, than Mister Steal My Powers would try to get his hands on it. It had taken Kid Flash weeks to find even a hint of the stupid book, but his search finally turned up this place as a possibility. Unfortunately the book had already been stolen, and Kid Flash could guess who had taken it.

"This has never happened before; I don't think anyone even knew the book was here."

"So no one has every shown any interest in it?"

"…no, there was an incident in…1928 I believe. A man named Wilbur Whateley attempted to break in and take the book. He was killed by the guard dogs, I think. From what I've read in the police report he was a bit of a strange one. A bit on the deformed side as well."

Something told Kid Flash that this might be important. "What do you mean 'deformed'?"

"The reports kept claiming that he was some sort of monster from another planet or something insane like that. All a bunch of balderdash, of course, but the reports could make a fine horror story."

"I see," said Kid Flash. "Do you think I could take a peek at those reports?"

"No problem, young man. But I tell you that they are useless. Still…" the old librarian paused "Some of these people who believe in this are very dangerous. If there is someone mad enough to take this seriously, than you are dealing with a very disturbed individual."

"Thanks for your help, Professor Pickman." Kid Flash said as he started examining the evidence.

Kid Flash had to differ, after looking at the reports and reading the descriptions he was positive. This Wilbur Whateley was not a human at all, in fact, Kid Flash was certain that this guy was similar to, if not the same, as the creature Sumal had originally summoned.

Although this was an interesting fact, it did not really help the situation at all. Kid Flash could not find a single stupid clue, and it irritated him to no end. Finally giving up, Kid Flash decided to go back to the tower. He had no idea how to fit all that he had learned into something coherent, but maybe Robin would…when he got back.

However, the minute that Kid Flash walked through the door he was attacked by a familiar black energy. He was lifted almost to the ceiling and held there, and that was a bad thing. Without his feet on the ground he was in trouble. At first he thought that Raven was back, and this was her idea of a joke, but that hope was quickly quashed when a pool of black energy formed itself into Sumal.

Kid Flash glared at the wizard, whose expression did not change.

"Where is the girl?" Sumal asked.

Kid Flash responded the only way he knew how "Bite me." He said.

Sumal slammed Kid Flash into a wall and asked his question again. Kid Flashes answer was about the same. It went on like that for some time, Sumal torturing Kid Flash and Kid Flash not saying a word. Finally, Sumal stopped and dropped Kid Flash to the ground. Kid Flash wanted to run, but he had taken such a bad beating that he could not even stand.

"I suppose, then," Sumal said "I'll just have to wait for them…won't I?"

Kid Flash felt something sharp pierce his leg, and he looked back to see Riki nipping his leg and injecting him with poison. He felt woozy, and was soon fast asleep.

While Kid Flash slept, Sumal waited. Like the spider familiar he had taken, he waited for the other Titans to return.

Especially the Halfblood.

An Author's note: This was not really meant to be a full chapter. Rather it is a bit of an interlude to answer Agent's question on what Sumal was doing. Sharp-eyed readers will also spot some more Lovecraft references. The city of Arkham and MU are all Lovecraft's creations, as are some of the "facts" in the description (I know that the Arkham funny farm was from the Batman series, but the city and the university came from Lovecraft. It is funny, isn't it?). The name Pickman also came from Lovecraft, but it is not the same character, just a relative of the original Pickman. The date was the date that Lovecraft published The Dunwich Horror. I own none of this information, or the Teen Titans.

Next time it will be back to Azarath for us! Hope this little minichapter will tide you over until then!