I do not own anything relating to the Teen Titans.

Opening the Closet Door a Crack – Chapter 23

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The ferocity of the attack by their green teammate caught the other titans off guard. Although he hadn't morphed into another animal, he was attacking the six foot pillar with all of the bearings of one. The sight of the shapeshifter clawing at the barrel shaped post and trying to tear it with his teeth was profoundly disturbing.

"Raven," ordered Robin, "get that idiot away from there." The shout was tinged with hints of disgust. Raven looked at the titan leader with surprise. For him to make such a comment was highly out of character. While she bristled inwardly at the tone of the order, she realized that it was entirely possible that Beast Boy could injure himself as he threw himself bodily into attacking whatever this pillar was.

However, removing him from the attack proved more difficult than she expected. Placing a bubble around him did nothing as the bubble also enclosed the pillar. As she attempted to wrench him away from the pillar, he holding on with both hands and his teeth, something remarkable occurred.

The pillar began to come apart. Or, rather, it began to unfold. As Raven used her black energy to pull the changeling away, he grasping onto it, a piece began to unfurl from the main section. It creaked and cracked until it finally came away from the main body.

It looked like a large, leathery wing, about seven feet in span.

The revelation that there was more to these pillars than first evident came as a shock. To Raven, it was sufficient to make her lose focus and her magic dissipated. Robin looked to Starfire, as if seeking explanation, Starfire looked curiously at the wing, as if she realized she should recognize it, but just couldn't place it.

It was Cyborg who had the most upsetting reaction.

"AAAAAUUUGGG! WINGS! NO! DON'T LET THEM GET ME!" And he ran shrieking from the room, through the portal and back to the T-Jet.

Seeing everything falling apart, Robin swiftly gave the order, "Raven, stop staring and get that asshole out of here and back to the T-Jet. Knock him out if you have to. When you're there look for Cyborg. Starfire, as soon as you can, pick up that…thing…and move it away outside our immediate quarters. Not too far as we'll have to investigate it later."

Both of the girls looked stunned at the boy wonder's speech. The invective that he used to refer to their friend was far out of keeping with his normal behavior.

"What are you waiting for, MOVE!" With that, Raven resumed trying to extricate Beast Boy from the object. While they had stopped, he hadn't. He had let go of the now unfolded wing and resumed his attack on the body of whatever the object was. Now that he was able to get inside of the entity, the ferocity with which he attacked redoubled. He was actually tearing bits and pieces off of whatever the thing was. Tearing at the top, an odd appendage unfurled from the body. It mimicked the five pointed configuration of the room, resembling a stalk with a five pointed end. Looking at it, the remaining human titans were hit by a wave of revulsion, something primal that disturbed their fundamental acceptance of reality.

After having unfolded this hideous appendage, Beast Boy backed up, ready to launch himself again at the thing. Raven took advantage of his separation and quickly encased him inside a black energy bubble. He immediately began to howl, throwing himself at the bubble in a desperate attempt to resume his attack on the entity. Raven levitated the bubble through the portal and immediately followed it.

Once Beast Boy's attack had ceased, Starfire took action. Flying at full speed towards the half opened entity, she quickly picked it up and flew towards the airlock to the larger room. Unwilling to take the time to wait for the lock to work, the warrior flew through the airlock, shattering it and letting the frigid, sub-zero air back into their enclave.

"DAMN!" shouted Robin. "Ten hours work ruined." With that, Robin raced to the portal entering it before the bone-chilling cold could affect him.

"Raven," he shouted as he entered the T-Jet, "How are Beast Boy and Cyborg?" He then stopped dead in his tracks. Beast Boy was still captive in the black energy globe, but he had seemed to settle down. While not fully normal, he was no longer tearing at the bubble trying to escape. He looked confused more than anything else, as if he wasn't certain what was going on.

However, it was Cyborg that truly stopped Robin.

The cybernetic teen was in the far corner of the galley, hiding behind one of the chairs, his arms over his head, rocking back and forth. Over and over he was muttering, "Don't let them get me, don't let them get me." Raven was crouched next to him, her hand on his shoulder trying to get him to calm down.

"Ra…", he started. His voice broke. Trying again, he said, "Raven, what's the matter with him?"

The grey sorceress looked at the titan leader. "I'm trying to get a read on his emotions. They're completely chaotic, running everywhere. Most of it is tremendous fear. There's only so far in I can go before it affects me. Then everyone's REALLY in trouble. Right now, the best I can guess is that the accumulated influences of the Necronomicon and that statue of Cthulhu in the Order caused him to be open again to these Outer Gods that Starfire speaks of. One of the characteristic sounds that he and Beast Boy were hearing was wings. Apparently, the actual sight of these wings was enough to cause a major panic attack. I'm trying to project calm and peace into his mind, but it will take a while."

She got up and approached Robin. "AND AS FOR YOU!" The anger in her eyes was evident. There was even a hint of four eyes, showing that the anger was sufficient to bring her father's influences to the fore. "What the HELL was that all about? How DARE you speak of Beast Boy like that! I want the TRUTH out of you for once. Maybe you can lie to Starfire, but you're not going to lie to me. What's going on with you? Are you being affected or not?"

Raven realized at that last statement, she had gone too far. Robin's rigid controls over his mind came down hard. Before, he was projecting a combination of anger (presumably at Beast Boy) and concern (obviously for Cyborg). Now, with the focus on him, he withdrew again, hiding behind his mask of stoicism.

"I'm fine. I'm not having any problems with voices or wings or anything like that. Of course I'm concerned for Cyborg, he's my best friend, outside of Starfire."

"And Beast Boy?" Raven's eyes narrowed, almost challenging Robin to say or do something that would degrade him.

The boy wonder let out a deep breath. "I lost my temper. I didn't mean it. He makes it so difficult at times."

"If anything, you should be glad about this one. It's obvious his animal instincts took over again against one of these Cthulhu followers. We'd have had no way to know our possible danger without him."

"Yeah, he makes a great watchdog." At that Raven used her black aura to pick Robin up and pin him against the wall.

"You better watch yourself, bird boy" she spat out in anger, "I CANNOT believe you said that about your friend. Assuming that you still consider him your friend. Right now, if there's a problem on this team, it's YOU, NOT HIM."

"Whether you like it or not Raven, Beast Boy is out of control." Robin wasn't backing down. "He's showing less and less ability to handle his animal instincts. He's always been lazy and irresponsible, but his abilities and experience made up for them. Without those, there's no way we can trust him."

"Like we can trust you, Red-X?"

The anger that flittered across Robin's face was terrible to behold. He very seldom let his temper get the better of him, but right now, he was mad. The only thing that saved the situation was that Starfire happened to fly through the portal to interrupt them.

"Friends, I have disposed of the thing that was affecting Beast Boy. I have placed it in the outside chamber." She stopped and looked at the situation. "What is the problem? Raven, why have you pinned Robin against the wall?"

Both Robin and Raven took a deep breath and attempted to calm down in front of their friend. Raven let Robin go. "It's all right, Starfire, Robin were just having a little discussion that got heated. I need to get back to Cyborg now. He's in serious difficulties and will need as much healing as I can give him, which isn't much. It's too embedded in his mind now to be removed. We'll have to keep him calm and handling familiar tasks. He can't be let near anything that will set off a panic attack again."

"Meanwhile," Robin interrupted. "We need to set up another airlock to replace the one you flew through. Please be careful next time, we're down to our last portable airlock." With that he turned and left Raven to go to the storage lockers, Starfire following him.

Moving back to Cyborg, Raven opened up her empathic abilities to her cybernetic friend. The turmoil, the chaos within his psyche was almost more than she could stand. It was obvious that his mental state was delicate at this stage. The various influences that had hammered at his self awareness and his mental defenses were incredibly strong. Without a lifetime of mental training and discipline, Raven herself would have had difficulties with these eldritch influences. The best she could do right now was to keep him tranquil and protect him from any additional shocks. Whether any of this could be reversed, well, personally, she thought it a long shot, but hope was eternal. A certain green changeling taught her that, though she was loathe to admit it.

After several minutes of tending to her metallic teammate, Raven's attention returned to the catalyst for the most recent incidents. Inside the black globe, Beast Boy was lying down, apparently asleep.

"Not surprising, given what he just went through. Wonder if it's as much of a strain having animal instincts take control as it is losing emotional control?" Raven pondered. "I know I need a few hours of meditation. Probably wouldn't hurt to leave him in the bubble during that time. At a minimum, it would keep Herr Robin off his back. What the hell is his problem? I need to talk with Starfire as soon as possible; something is definitely going on with him. He's NEVER been this dictatorial. And for him to immediately go after Beast Boy…..Azar, I swear these three are going to be the death of me. Never mind, meditation first, investigation later."

With that, and staying within sight of the now sleeping Cyborg and Beast Boy, Raven assumed her lotus position and began to chant her mantra.

Roughly an hour later, Robin and Starfire came aboard the T-Jet after having replaced the shattered airlock. Although Starfire showed little effects from their labor, Robin was exhausted. Between the initial setup and attempting to replace the broken airlock in major subzero temperatures, he had pushed himself as far as was humanly possible. Once he was back aboard the T-Jet, he saw the situation. Raven was meditating, slowly bobbing up and down roughly a foot off the floor. Cyborg, still behind the chair, but now reclining against the wall, was fast asleep. Inside Raven's black energy bubble, Beast Boy was lying down, periodically twitching, as he regained control over his animal instincts. Robin's face tightened.

"He's getting more and more difficult to deal with. He was never very reliable and now we can't go a day without him going out of control. I'm debating whether to throw him off the team now or give him another chance."

Startled, Starfire looked at Robin. "But, Robin, Beast Boy is our friend. And it is obvious that these animal instincts of his are of major help in determining what is of danger to us. Why would you want to remove this assistance?"

"Because he's uncontrollable. Like any wild animal, you can't tame him, you can only hope that he won't turn on you. More and more, it looks like there's a very good chance he will turn on us."

"Beast Boy is not a wild animal."

"We'll see. Anyway, it'll take another several hours before the camp's temperature is approaching freezing again and we can make a stab at going back. I'm going to take a catnap. We don't know what will happen the next time Beast Boy is set loose." With that, Robin moved up to his compartment of the T-Jet for a quick nap.

Starfire watched the young man that she had tremendous admiration and affection for depart. It was odd, she thought, at how determined he was to think the worst of Beast Boy. It concerned her greatly that the team was shattering almost before her eyes. She wanted desperately to speak with Raven, but the purple-haired girl was meditating and, given the situation earlier, Starfire wasn't surprised. Their talk would have to wait.

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It's getting tougher and tougher to decide where to put the chapter breaks. There's a lot coming down the pike and I'm trying to decide whether shorter, more frequent, chapters are the way to go or longer, less frequent. I know what will happen. I've actually plotted out most of the final eight to ten chapters (depending on length). Everything I've written has been leading up to these final chapters. And I haven't even started the fourth (and final) arc.

Meanwhile, as always, I appreciate the hits and the reviews. I will admit to some disappointment regarding the last chapter. NO ONE caught my little joke. Either no one reading this is a "duck" person, or I made the reference too esoteric. The Offeltonians (or Awfultonians, as it should be written) of the High Andes are a reference to a fantastic story by Carl Barks, comic book icon, who wrote tremendous stories of Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge. One of his greatest stories was "Lost in the Andes" where Donald and nephews came across a civilization where EVERYONE was square shaped. They were the kindest, nicest folk alive. Donald named the city "Plain Awful" because the people lived in such poverty. The ONLY law of the town was that nothing could be made round, since everything in the town was square, including the inhabitants. Just thought I'd throw that in for amusement's sake, of all folks, Starfire would have heard of them. Oh well, next time I won't mix genres.

As for my reviewers,

ForceIsStrongWithThisOne – Coming from the master of cliffhangers, high praise. I enjoyed very much making Starfire the 'expert' on geometrical architecture. I've always thought that the writers did not do enough with Starfire's background and non-human perspective. And now that I'M done with the current Ganguro section, yeah, I can't wait for the next chapter to pop up. Mine do not seem to garner the same amount of reviews and interest that yours do (small wonder).

Hawkgirl90 – You know, the 99 bottles came at me out of nowhere. Just thought it would be funny and I couldn't wait to put it in. Just the kind of thing BB would do. Believe it or not, I AM trying to keep the titans in character. (PS, don't forget your homework, it really IS important, so says the 50 year old geezer.)

Jewel – Thanks for joining up. Glad you are enjoying the story.

Ijpowers92 – Another new reviewer. Again, my thanks for reading (and catching up to all of the chapters, difficult when there are 20+). I recognize that the most 'logical' thing to do is call in the reinforcements. However, no hero EVER does this (don't ask me why). I've avoided the entire issue by taking out the radio. By the way, there was no reason before this for them to call for help. As far as the titans are concerned, they've been looking for Randolph Carter (remember him?). The architecture will remain nebulous, I'm afraid, however, the temperature will play a key role in the next couple of chapters.

Punk – My thanks for your compliments. Glad you are enjoying it.

Novus Ordo Seclorum – Amazing, isn't it, that heroes (or writers) always find what they need to keep the story moving along. We are only beginning to scratch the surface of the BB/Robin tension. Next chapter will be a complete focus on the two. Hopefully, you are now getting some feel for the depth of Cyborg's issues. And we haven't reached the bottom yet.

Until next time my friends, sleep well.