DISCLAIMER: I OWN WHAT IS MY OWN.
The Spectrum of Light
By Corvus no Genmu
03: Rampant Fear
"She still hasn't come out of her room?"
"Shoved everything she could in front of the door, not that I needed to be reminded of trying to trespass in there…" Farbe-Tier flinched as he pressed the cold compress to his bruised cheek, thankful that none of his teeth were broken.
Secret fussed over him, hovering about like a mother hen. "She didn't have to hit you so hard, not when you're… well…"
"Not in a constant rage?" Farbe-Tier flicked his vibrantly orange hair out of his eyes. "Just as well she did, I'm not sure I would have withheld the urge to strike back in that state." He shot a glance at his ghostlike friend. "Don't think that you're off the hook either. You should have realized that ice cream doesn't work well with her kind."
"What? How would I have known that ice cream is like alchohol to Tamaraneans?" asked a bewildered Secret.
"Somewhere between the rocky road and chunky monkey I think," muttered Farbe-Tier. "On that note, no ice cream for a month."
"Aww! But Farbe—"
"Not up to discussion. We made a deal and you broke it. More than that, you put Blackfire in serious risk intentional or not. You should have known how dangerous it is to give her food that might well be poisonous to her! Mein Gott, Greta! She could have wandered off, drunk out her mind, and gotten lost in the Catacombs. Do you understand me? Blackfire could have gotten hurt, or worse, and it would have been your fault."
Secret didn't answer, she didn't have to. She was sitting down on the chair opposite him with her head bowed and shoulders quivering as teardrops fell and vanished like smoke on the table. Farbe-Tier was up and moving as the words whispered like the wind, "I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"
Farbe-Tier embraced her in a hug, stroking her hair soothingly. "I'm not angry at you, Greta… but I am disappointed. You've learned your lesson from this, ja?" A jerky nod. "Then you know who you should really be apologizing to, ja?" A hesitant, shy nod. "Good. In that case, I'm off. I don't think that I'm Blackfire's favorite person right now after all." He chuckled though it was a dry, empty sound. "I've a lot of errands to run so I don't know when I'll be back."
Secret watched him go, knowing what he wasn't saying. I don't want to be around Blackfire because all I'm doing is making her recovery worse for her. I'll be back when Blackfire's armor is done and hopefully use it as a peace offering. At least, that's what she assumed Farbe-Tier was thinking and she'd be right in a way. Just as Blackfire was also correct in thinking that as she had stayed behind the door to the kitchen, listening in on the entire conversation from beginning to end and disappearing back to her room with Farbe-Tier and Secret none the wiser. If she was correct in assuming that Farbe-Tier would not return until her armor was fully repaired then that meant she had quite a bit of time on her hands, which was a blessing really.
She had a lot of thinking to do.
Titans Tower, Jump City's most iconic sight in all of Jump City though its standing still numbered in months rather than years. It was located just off the coast of the city, not quite spitting's distance but still close enough that swimming to the island was not too out of the question for those insane enough to do so. Shaped like a giant 'T', it was hard to imagine that no villain had ever considered any serious means of assault against the Tower but then, the only ones who ever walked within the massive T-shaped building were the Titans themselves and the three graduates of the H.I.V.E. who had even tried to reconstruct the Tower in their own image during their brief stay. Since then, the Titans had upped the security somewhat but nowhere near enough for someone like Farbe-Tier.
A day had passed and for the first time in a long time, Farbe-Tier found himself completely bored out of his mind and craving for something more than his usual want of jewelery or money. The previous few adventures had taken place long into the night and well into the morning and, sad as it was, he had grown used to the late hours and while Jump City was an interesting place during the day, it seemed almost lackluster in the hours of the night at least in terms of thievery and the sort. What fun was there to be had in robbing a place hours after it closed, with the chance of running into the Teen Titans dropped almost to nill? Farbe-Tier loved the thrill of the hunt, even if he was often the prey rather than the predator.
Tonight was going to be different.
Having already gone to see if the repairs on Blackfire's armor were nearly complete, which sadly they weren't to be finished until the next evening, possibly even that following morning, and finding… well, not really a lack of desire more like a lack of drive in stealing anything of mediocre value, at least to his own tastes, Farbe-Tier had planned to spend the evening checking out some movies that had caught his eyes when he saw… it.
The fat idiot who held it in his meaty palms called it a remote and used it as such with surprising control of it and its powers. Greasy-McStupid, or Control Freak as he proclaimed himself, was every bit the stereotypical geek and proceeded to unleash unholy hell upon the video rental store while raving nonsensical facts about something or other, Farbe-Tier wasn't paying too much attention having his arms full with a frightened cashier, the both of them hiding behind the counter as Control Freak continued ranting.
Until the Titans showed up.
Needless to say, the day was saved and Control Freak was sent to jail but his precious remote remained in Robin's hands to be stored in their secure evidence room located within their Tower. Farbe-Tier barely managed to get away without being seen what with the teenaged cashier hugging him and thanking him profusely for protecting her like he did. Not that he did it intentionally mind you, the moment any one of the constructs actually happened to spot him, they turned tail and rushed one of the Titans, screaming in fear.
Thus, Farbe-Tier found himself dripping wet on the shores of Titans Island, carefully making his way towards the dark tower. Slopping back wet yellow hair, Farbe-Tier happened a glance up at the Tower's glass walls and blinked in surprise. He carefully walked up the rocky field towards the Tower, his hand weaving through the air as faint yellow tendrils appeared and disappeared with his motions.
"Okay… that's strange… what on earth could do they be doing up there?" He paused at the base of the Tower and looked upwards at the one lit window up near its top, where the common room was. Farbe-Tier's eyes narrowed, the room's lights were off but by the flickering of varying shades and colors, the television was not. "Are they… watching a horror film?" It made sense in a way, the shining beacons nearly startling in their intensity at least to Farbe-Tier's eyes.
However, only four could be called beacons while the fifth was a star, its shine far more intense than the others…
And it was growing brighter.
The television was turned off and the shadows remained. Farbe-Tier closed his eyes and stretched out his senses, waiting until there was no one in the common room. He smiled, yellow energy weaving through his hands.
"This will almost be too easy." A crack of lightning lit up the night and for the briefest of moments, Farbe-Tier's face had become almost skeletal in the flickering light.
"Who screamed?" Raven asked, racing—sorry walking briskly into the lit common room where the other Titans had gathered, all having been awakened by the sound of a woman's screaming for her life, her voice echoing in the dark hallways of the Tower.
"It sounded like something from the movie." Robin frowned, glancing at the large monitor screen. "Did we leave the TV on?"
"We did not." Starfire shook her head, quivering slightly as she held up the video, still in its case. "And the movie is right here." As if waiting on her words, the Tower's power system suddenly shut down and the room was shrouded in darkness.
Cyborg glanced around, deeply concerned that the emergency lights hadn't shown an inclination of turning on. "Okay. That's creepy." A small flashlight lit up on his shoulder, as Cyborg carefully looked around before focusing the light on their fearless leader. Lightning flashed outside once again and rain began to fall in a torrential downpour.
"The storm." Robin glanced at outside, frowning as lightning shot by the window, too close for comfort. "Probably just tripped a circuit breaker…" It was a poor excuse, he knew it, but as long as it kept the more emotional members of the team from freaking out… Robin glanced down as a green tentacle appeared on his shoulder and he managed a small smile. "Okay, Beast Boy, you got us." He brushed the tentacle off. "Good one."
Raven, Starfire, and Cyborg all remained staring in shock as a small green changeling stepped forward, all four quivering in fear.
"Uh… dude?"
Robin's eyebrows met his hairline and he turned around in a quick spin as Cyborg moved his flashlight to reveal a familiar robed one-eyed terror that was standing in the center of the room, dark green tentacles wavering in the air. Its breaths were ragged and came in steamy puffs as its sole crimson eye focused upon the group of scared heroes. A scabbed hand with sharp metallic claws reached up to the cowl of its cloak and tore it away as the creature beneath it swelled to monstrous proportions.
Blueish green skin covered in scars and half-healed scabs, a face that appeared badly burned with a single pupil-less red eye blazing beneath long, ratty black locks. Black fangs lined the inside of a slavering mouth mimicked three times over on a human torso that melted away into tentacles that slashed through the air like whips. The Creature's black fangs lined in a terrible smile before it tilted back its head and roared.
A tentacle lashed out and with frightening ease grabbed the couch and tossed it straight at the Titans. They scattered as the couch crashed to pieces on the floor and found themselves occupied with the Creature's tentacles which moved like vipers against them. Robin spun past the one focused on him, leaping at it for a kick to the Creature's face but he was smacked aside like a fly, rolling past Beast Boy who had transformed into a tyrannosaurus. The dinosaur king unleashed a primordial roar in the Creature's face who, for a brief moment looked almost amused, responded back in kind, scaring Beast Boy so badly that he shifted into a cat and high-tailed away from it with a frightened yowl.
Now the Creature sported a smile on all of its mouths but its jovial mood turned dark as a starbolt struck it from behind. It turned, teeths gnashing in a loud snarl as Starfire unleashed several more starbolts upon it, which it blocked with a single raised arm before lashing out with a tentacle and whipping her down to the floor. She screamed under the Creature's ice-like touch as Cyborg jumped upon its back, trying to wrestle it down to the ground.
"Azarath Metrion Zinth—" Lightning shot past the tower, a monster illuminated upon the glass and though badly startled, Raven's powers did not manifest as black light upon her hands and she stares at them in surprise. "My powers!"
Robin, his eyes focused entirely on Starfire, rushed in upon the Creature and was immediately caught in another tentacle, held up and away from the alien princess. Beast Boy, in the shape of an eagle, swooped down at the Creature's eyes, raking at its eyes with his claws before shifting into an octopus and performed a rendition of another horror monster by hugging the Creature's face with everything he had. Those still trapped within the Creature's own tentacles redoubled their efforts in breaking free, while Raven did something both brave and foolhardy.
She charged at the thing, her hands bare of weapons or magic and got a tentacle to the sternum for her efforts, tossing her to the back of the room, next to the stairs which gave a good thwack to her head.
And just like that, the Creature was gone as though it were never there to begin with and the Titans in its grasp fell to a heap on the floor.
"Eeek! Someone's claws are on my grebnaks!" Starfire exclaimed.
A small popping sound, a sudden shift from beast to boy.
"Heh… my bad." Beast Boy apologized, hastily standing up and away from Starfire. Fool he might be half the time but Beast Boy was a creature of instinct and Man's instinct of preservation in the face of righteous female fury was not one to be denied.
"There was a monster here… right?" asked Cyborg, his robotic eye shining as it went through a variety of visual ranges to try and spot a trace of the Creature and coming up with nothing.
"But where di it go?" asked Robin, a hand on the damaged couch, the only distinct piece of evidence of the Creature's short-lived existence.
"And from where did it come?" asked Starfire, shuffling closer to Robin.
Beast Boy shot them all incredulous looks. "Hello? Isn't it obvious? The movie's cursed!" He waved the box around before realizing he was touching it and dropped it to the floor and skittered away from it. "Watching it opened a portal to another dimension. The monster came through the portal, now it's going to hunt us down and eat us! And I'm probably delicious!"
The others stared at him for a long moment.
"Or…" supplied Cyborg.
"Control Freak must have escaped and come to the Tower to get his remote—and take his revenge." Robin glanced back at Raven as she stepped forward into the light of Cyborg's flashlight.
"But that doesn't explain why my powers aren't working."
"If that remote can turn candy evil, who knows what else it can do?" Cyborg held a hand to his stomach, remembering that particular folly of his all too well.
"Whatever's going on, we need to get to the bottom of it. Split up and search the Tower!" ordered Robin before he and the others scattered. Except for a bewildered Beast Boy who shifted into a giant squid and pulled them all back before resuming human form.
"Split up? Split up? Did you not see the movie? When you split up, the monster hunts you down one at a time, starting with the good-looking comic relief guy." Beast Boy grabbed Robin by the front of his vibrantly colored uniform and started to shake him back and forth. "ME!"
"G-G-Get a gr-grip, Beast Boy!" Robin pulled himself free from the frightened changeling's panicked grasp. "The monster's not going to eat anybody."
"He's right. There's nothing to be afraid of." Raven agreed in her usual monotone voice, her eyes almost deadpan with her lack of expression.
"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure of that…"
A crash of lightning sends an intense flash of light over the Titans and turns their eyes to the windows and the sight that awaits them turns their blood cold with fear.
It is humanoid only in build, what with its four, long and bony arms stretching out across the glass where thin, clawlike fingers grip the smooth material with little effort despite the torrential downpour. The legs are almost canine in build but are built to be too large, too humanlike to be considered as such. The head is also like a dogs but the ears are more like those of an elf, long and pointed back along the yellow, furry mane of the skull, and its snout… The flesh and muscle is gone and yet its mouth still moves open and a long red, wet tongue licks at bony fangs. The eyes are inverted, black on white, except for the third, terrible eye that sits upon the forehead that glowed with golden light as the miasma around the monstrosity's body twisted and turned as though it were alive. Alive… and hungry…
This was a creature Raven knew well thanks to the archives that was her own personal library, a monstrosity from the lands of the Orient that dined on human flesh and drank the bitter-sweet tears born from fear.
A rakshasa.
It didn't matter who screamed first, it set a reaction off and soon the whole room was awash in a sea of screams before five terrified heroes took the better part of valor and ran as though their lives depended on it. The rakshasa's bony jaws clacked togethered, its tongue dancing between venomous fangs.
"That went better than I expected," said an immensely pleased Farbe-Tier. The rakshasa slowly phased through the glass and stepped down into the Tower's common room. He shook himself free of the water that clung desperately to his fur before looking down the hall the Titans had retreated through. The third eye upon his brow slowly closed and with it, the miasma of fear that surrounded Farbe-Tier vanished beyond mundane sight but it was still there, flickering at the edge of perception.
Farbe-Tier's grin was a touch mad, his inverted eyes gleaming with strange moral depravity, small flickerings of yellow light sparkling amidst his golden fur. "Run and hide, it will not matter. You cannot escape from your fears!"
Whether by fortune or pure dumb luck, the Titans somehow managed to stick together in their mad dash away from the monstrosity that had attached itself to their window leering at them with madness in its inverted eyes.
"Wait a minute…" Robin pushed himself to his feet. The others were still trying to catch their breath. "Did anyone else get a look at that thing's eyes?"
"Its eyes?" panted Cyborg. "Man, who cares? That thing was scarier than that other thing!"
"Rakshasa." Raven stood calm and collected though there was a faint tremble in her shoulders. "That was a rakshasa."
"Is that a common creature on this planet?" asked Starfire, looking downright terrified at the idea.
Raven shook her head. "They're supposed to be gone, just like—" She cut herself off and her eyes narrowed. "It's him…"
"Who are you talking about, Raven?" asked Cyborg before his human eye widened in surprise before narrowing in a rage. "That little steampunk!"
"I have my suspicions." Robin hesitantly stated. "But we've got no proof that it's him."
"Who are you guys talking about?" asked Beast Boy.
"Yes, I too am most confused. Whom are you referring to?" Starfire asked.
"Farbe-Tier," said Raven, her statement accompanied by a sudden thunderclap of lightning that bathed the dark hallway with a sudden flash of light. The sound of thunder echoed as a new sound grew in the shadows, the sound of haunting laughter.
"Found out so quickly…" Yellow miasma floated through the hallway like fireflies. "I thought you'd take a little longer to realize. Tell me what was it that gave me away?" The Titans stood back-to-back in a large circle, weapons and powers at the ready for another attack. "Ah, it was my eyes wasn't it… Now you see why I try so hard to hide them, makes me rather hard to miss doesn't it?" The miasma swirled above the Titans in a slow circle.
"How are you doing this? What have you done to my powers?" growled Raven, powerless as she stood glaring up at the haunting light.
"What have I done?" The miasma paused before suddenly scattering, vanishing away through the walls as lightning crashed once again. Laughter echoed throughout the Tower as Farbe-Tier speaks, his voice fading with every word. "You shouldn't be scared Little Blackbird, it isn't I who summoned that Creature here. The true summoner is a lot closer than any of you think."
"I am not afraid!"
Another crash of thunder and a swarm of tentacles lashed out of the darkness, ensnaring Beast Boy and pulling him back through the open doorway at the end of the hall. The changeling tried to shift but a black spark of energy shot through his green body and as he was pulled through the hallway and into the darknnes he had time enough to scream.
"What did I tell you? Funny guy always goes fiiiiiirst!" The door slammed shut just as the Titans caught up. Robin struggled to force it open and the slowly gives way until Cyborg joins the spike-haired leader and together they force the doorway open to find nothing but darkness. No light, no sound…
No Beast Boy…
Starfire gasped. "Beast Boy! He is—"
"Gone…" whispered Raven.
"Give me some light." Robin ordered.
Cyborg noded and his flashlight lit up as a high-intensity beam that slowly panned across the room and its numerous display cases and covered walls. "The evidence room. What would Farbe-Tier want in the evidence room?"
Robin didn't answer and walked into the spacious room with firm resolve, until he found the one podium with its new occupant still present.
"Control Freak's remote." Raven muttered.
"Right where I left it." Robin muttered.
"Then perhaps Farbe-Tier is being untruthful?" asked Starfire. "How could the Control Freak conjure these monsters without his technology?"
"What reason would Farbe-Tier have to lie?" Robin shook his head. "It doesn't make sense…"
"Maybe Control Freak has an extra remote. I mean, we got nine…" suggested Cyborg, not really buying into the idea that Farbe-Tier wasn't somehow involved, still quite sore over the joyride the punk had in his car.
"Well, whoever is doing this, they're not gonna scare us." Raven declared, drawing Robin's eyes to her.
"The summoner is closer than you think… That's it!" He faced them, turning his back to the wall, heedless of the expanding shadow. "The monsters, Raven's powers—the answer's right in front of us! If Farbe-Tier isn't behind this, it has to be—" Gleaming red eyes snapped open in a field of oblivion as tentacles lashed out, binding Robin's mouth shut.
The tentacles pulled him back tow the wall, phasing through the shadows just like before but Robin's body proves to be every bit as stubborn as his teacher and he manages to resist the pull as Raven and Starfire reached him and tried to pull him free before more tentacles emerge and swat the girls away like flies. This new ones further ensare Robin and he slowly starts to disappear into the wall just as Cyborg grabs ahold of Robin's free hand and begins a tug-of-war with the Titans' leader as the rope. The Creature's grip is too strong even for Cyborg and Robin is torn away, vanishing into the shadows.
Cyborg dashed to the wall, pressing against it with his hands but it doesn't yield. "Robin!" He lets out a frustrated groan before cocking a fist back and punching out the wall. Debris flies everywhere as a dust cloud rises up from the human-sized hole in the wall.
There is no one there on the other side and a despondent Cyborgs turns to look upon the stunned girls. "I don't suppose either of you know what he was about to say." They shake their heads and Cyborg looks down at the ground before he turns and walks away, the girls quickly following after him.
The room is still and quiet, the only sound being the echoing of footsteps and the tumblings of loose architecture. A clawed hand suddenly pierces through the undamaged wall. Three more appeared before Farbe-Tier slowly stepped through the wall, the yellow miasma that surrounded his body shining despite the third eye upon his brow still being closed. He held his hands, all four of them, inspecting the glow of miasma.
"Their fear is rising… and with it so too do the effects of Little Blackbird's powers…" A sickening smile spread on fanged jaws. "Do I detect a hint of pride in you?" No response, not that he was expecting any as he slowly looked about the room before his eyes set upon the demonic looking remote control. "There you are…" He picked it up but spared a glance at a nearby case and nearly choked, the miasma spiking brightly for a moment. "What is that doing here?"
The object in question rested on a small podium surrounded by bullet-proof glass, standing with the aid of strings attaching to the glass. It was a small wooden puppet with an oversized head with a vastly undersized crown atop its head. Lifeless as it was, the thing was more befitting evidence as whatever gave it life as the Puppet King vanished with the destruction of its control. The glass shattered with a burst of golden light and the thing slowly floated over to Farbe-Tier's waiting hand.
He looked at the puppet with clear disdain, glancing out the corner of his eye at the wall where several other puppets rested, noting the familiar likeness they shared with the Titans. His glare returned once more to the puppet in his hands and his third eye opened with a sudden flash of yellow light. He dropped the puppet to the floor, holding out the hand that touched it as though it were suddenly diseased.
"Coffin wood…" Farbe-Tier whispered. "It is made of coffin wood!" The miasma swarmed the puppet, reacting to Farbe-Tier's silent commands and the puppet was vaporized with nothing left but a small pile of ash. The ashes settled on the floor before a small cloud of green smoke started to rise upwards from the remains and in a flash of golden miasma, it too was gone.
Looking immensely satisfied with himself, the rakshasa twirled the remote like a gun and blew pretend smoke from its draconic mouth. A twist of the wrist and the remote was gone and pleased with a job well-done, Farbe-Tier started to leave when his eyes chanced upon a single solitary mask amidst sheets of newspaper and a large variety of broken gear that bordered on the insanely obsessed. The mask itself wasn't anything spectacular by any means, it was colored black on one side and a dull orange on the other, that left side being the only one to have an open slot for one's eye.
The miasma around Farbe-Tier's rakshasa body froze in an instant, all four of his hands clenching painfully tight. The tremor started in the fists and moved slowly upwards until Farbe-Tier was visibly shaking like a leaf in the middle of a terrible windstorm though the miasma that surrounded him still remained frozen, its ethereal light began to ebb in a strange pattern much like a human heartbeat. Farbe-Tier's inverted eyes were wide as they stared into the depths of the mask but it was not the mask that he saw, but a man standing tall with a dominating presence over two small cowering children, all three staring with cold, acussing eyes.
All at Farbe-Tier.
Robin walked the halls of Titans Tower with a frown on his face though the day had barely began, if one did not include the previous night's events such as they were. Like the others who were 'taken' by the Creature, Robin did not know for sure where he was or what had happened to him, only becoming aware when Raven had at last admitted to her fear and regained control over her powers, returning him and the rest of the Titans returned to the Tower. Farbe-Tier hadn't been seen or heard before Robin had been taken but according to Cyborg and a thoroughly frightened Starfire, something had occurred a short while afterward.
Desperate to try and find him and Beast Boy, the shrinking band of heroes had returned to the common room to try and begin a new search there when a terrible sound echoed throughout the Tower. Cyborg's circuitry nearly overloaded from the frequency of the scream, for surely that's all it could have been, and poor Starfire was still shivering at the memory of the sound. As the screaming reached its crescendo, Cyborg's sensors red a massive power output that had expanded until it suddenly collapsed in upon itself. This was shortly before the aftershocks of yellow miasma literally slammed into them.
They weren't hurt, not more than a few bad bruises but that wasn't why Robin was searching for the epicenter of the explosion.
He slammed his fist against the button on the wall and stepped into the lit evidence room with a scowl on his face, his cape billowing behind him as he moved. His keen eyes caught the empty pedestal that held Control Freak's remote first before a fresh sweep brought him to the shatter glass case that once held the Puppet King. He kneeled down and carefully wiped a finger against the floor, noting the small pile of ash that littered it.
Why would Farbe-Tier bother to take the remote but destroy the Puppet King? As much as he know about him, Robin wagered that the thief would steal anything of rarity and there was plenty more to take in the evidence room. Glancing around, Robin smirked slightly and shook his head. Not that there was anything there that the "Quality Thief" could define as valuable.
Still… how did Farbe-Tier even know about Control Freak's remote and why would he go to such risks to take it but leave so much behind? Then there was the Puppet King… as far as Robin was concerned, the thing wasn't truly alive or dangerous but it was still evidence… Farbe-Tier had to have known that so again why would dig himself a deeper hole?
Finding himself with more questions than answers Robin rose and started to leave, glaring at Slade's mask as he always did when he paused. He slowly stepped back and turned to face the mask fully, a frown on his face as he stared at it. Something was wrong with it but he couldn't tell what. Reaching up, Robin hesitantly started to lay a hand upon it when the doors suddenly swooshed open.
"Are you here, Robin?" Starfire asked, a faint quiver in her voice. She was clutching the large stuffed chicken that Raven had given her from their last trip to the carnival like it was her only friend. Obviously, she had not managed to sleep well that morning…
"I'm here, Starfire. It's alright. C'mon, I'll make us some breakfast, I think there's some mustard still left…" Robin 's hand dropped away from the mask and he led Starfire away to the kitchen. Had he a moment longer in time, he would have seen that there was a wicked surprise waiting in that particular mask but as that particular trap had no reason to be sprung, the Boy Wonder would have had the chance to look inside the mask and see something truly terrifying.
It was another symbol but this wasn't anything like the one that had branded itself on Cyborg's old arm or the one Raven had seen on the hood of their "borrowed" car. The first was unrecognizable and the second just gave a strange feeling of déjà vu in a certain empath. This one was made of a circle just like the others but that was where the similarity ended. At its top was a pair of lines that jutted upward where a small curved connected them like a helmet while the base had a smaller pair that jutted downwards before curling upwards like arms raised upwards in victory… or terror…
This was vastly different than the previous symbols not because of its difference in design… but because this was not a symbol that was strange and unique.
Robin knows this mark but more than that, he knows who carried it like a banner across his chest.
Had he seen it, the Boy Wonder would have done everything in his power to bring Farbe-Tier down, his assumptions made under a biased opinion of that marking. He would have even tried to fix old bridges had he realized even the faintest of inclinations that mark had with Farbe-Tier. As it is however, the mark would remain unseen for months to come and in the days that would up to its discovery… well, needless to say there will be more important things…
For the future, as the Titans know it, is about to change in ways they couldn't possibly imagine.
"Farbe, is that you? I thought—Oh my god! Farbe!"
"It's nothing, Greta… I'm fine really. It looks worse than it is."
"Then it has to be pretty bad!"
"Really, I'm fine. I just need to—"
"Farbe? Farbe! Wake up! FARBE!"
To Be Continued...
On the next wavelength…
A Ray of Hope