When Horror Turns to Waking Nightmare

They had quite a bit of a haul, the two of them. Tim had to shake his head a bit. To be fair, both him and Cassie should have been loaded up with everything won from all those games, but maybe it was the aspiring to be a Teen Titan with maybe a future in the Justice League talking here, which was why some lucky tots got a few gifts from their winnings.

The stall workers weren't happy. Oh, they were happy to take their money, but having to fork over more than they were willing to part with had to leave a bad taste in their mouths. But they were done with their rampage and heading to other areas of the boardwalk now.

So far, Tim had been slowly but surely enjoying himself. It was a nice change of pace, he had to admit. When practically every night was a patrol and he was managing a herd of superpowered teens in a way that felt like he was herding cats, the breaks that were allowed always felt so much better.

How much of his life had he been devoting to crime fighting? Years at this point, and he was starting to feel like he was missing out. The calling was always strong, and then the rush kept him involved. But to really sit down, or do something to enjoy life, how much of that had he missed?

"I don't know about you, but I think we need a little cool down," Cassie remarked, the giant chicken tucked under one arm while the other arm managed the rest of her remaining prizes.

Now whatever could that mean? As straightforward as she could be, there could be times when Cassie could be as cryptic as the best of them. Maybe he had a disadvantage here, not being used to going to places like this, or even doing things like this.

So, the only response he could give was, "Any ideas?"

"Well…"

Okay, she did have an idea, and the fact that they were still walking, him keeping up while following at the same time meant that she was already leading them to this cool down. With the screams of the roller coaster riders in the background, the white noise of the people around them, and a din of generic carnival music, there was no telling what exactly the blonde had planned.

Though the shadows on the boardwalk itself and their movements hinted at something. Tim raised his eyes up and around, and soon spotted what looked like a decent candidate.

"I don't think they'll let us take all of this with us," he remarked.

"Eh, they'll let us set it down nearby. That's what they did the last time I came here," Cassie shrugged in response. With a glance to him, she rolls her eyes before adding, "This isn't an amusement park. Not one of the big ones anyway. Otherwise there would be lockers and a distinct lack of games. Just chill. It'll be fine."

It wasn't that he was worried about any of their prizes being stolen. He could care less about them. Just leaving anything with perfect strangers gave him a bad taste. He had learned the hard way about putting too much trust into people. You never really knew who they were. They were capable of anything, including deception.

Trust had to be earned. Even taking a chance, like with Miguel, was asking to lower the defenses. At least with Miguel, there was still checking out his story and figuring out what was the truth and what wasn't. So far everything had come back solid, but they were far from finished with that background check.

There was no time to do any checks like that with the staff here. He would have to go out on the limb that Cassie was signaling and take it.

His head tilted back as he took in the sight of the ride that was going to be the "cool down." Large in size and an icon that everyone would recognize. Compared to a roller coaster, it was a damn near snail's pace. It also meant there wouldn't be room to put much of anything with them.

A Ferris Wheel came with many options on how to view it. If he didn't know any better, he'd say…

No, this was just a way to pass time and have some fun. There was no way it could mean anything more than that.

"Oh man, oh man, oh man, it got Kid Flash! What are we gonna do?!"

He was panicking. No ifs, no ands, no buts about it, he was panicking. And why shouldn't he be?! There was a monster in the Tower and it had already made off with one of them! Not just any of them, but the literal fastest one! If it could get its slimy tentacles on a speedster, what chances did any of them have?

None, Beast Boy was ready to conclude, already back to being human, and already starting to lose it.

"What we're gonna do is stay calm," Cyborg said loudly, and glared at him. "We are not going to lose our minds yet."

"I don't know, losing our minds sounds like a good idea," Miguel said, and Beast Boy couldn't agree more.

"And how will that aid us in rescuing our friend?" Ah, sweet, Kori—ahem, Starfire said and she sounded serious. "Kid Flash needs us. We must save him."

"Where the hell are they going?" Cyborg muttered, his human eye squinting. The shapeshifter waited with bated breath, waited for a solid plan, and he knew he wasn't up for that. He was freaking out, seriously! "Don't tell me we got a blind spot!" Oh no. Oh no! "We got a blind spot and that thing dragged Kid Flash right into it. Damn it, who designed this system?"

"Do you know the general area?" Raven cut in, approaching Cyborg.

"Yeah. Close to the training rooms…it got there quick."

"Then that is where we will start our search," Starfire decided.

Beast Boy was not liking this plan, but he wasn't about to abandon Kid Flash to his grisly fate. Hopefully it wouldn't be grisly, but if it got bad, then at least make it quick. Slow deaths were not nice to think about. But to go save their friend from being torn apart, limbs plucked his body, internal organs everywhere, various digestive fluids dissolving tissue, skulls cracked opened, brains plucked out, all those mouths chewing disgustingly, screams that went to chokes and rattles and…and…where was he going with this again? Oh right, to save their friend, they needed to leave the safety of the rec room, such as it was, and venture into the unknown that now lived in their home.

He sought out Terra, her eyes looking glazed over for a second before shifting back to their normal shade of blue, and she noticed him. She looked uncomfortable, but nonetheless gave him a wan smile as if to try and bolster his spirits. It was working, to say the least and—

It was large, dark blue, and towered over Terra. Scraggly arms stretched out of a thick, scaly torso, insanely long claws ripping out of the four fingers, a long snout that resembled a crocodile's was open to reveal several rows of serrated teeth, two wrinkles implied they were eyes, and a hunch in the back made it slump at all times. A thick tail laid still on the floor, nearly hidden by the pair of legs in which the knee joint was inverse compared to theirs, and the feet themselves were two-toed with round, thick nails emerging from the scaly skin. Large nostrils flared with each breath taken yet did not make a sound whatsoever.

Beast Boy's jaw dropped open, his eyes as wide as…as…they were really big, okay, and he pointed a finger right at the new monster that was standing right behind Terra, but he made no sounds other than a cracking peep that was barely heard by anyone.

"Dios mio!"

But someone else could use their voice, and soon a lot of attention was being drawn to Terra who frowned at the scrutiny.

"What?" she asked.

Starfire burst into action, rocketing right at Terra who cried out and ducked, allowing the Tamaranean to ram into the new blue monster without having to worry about hitting the geokinetic. Two-toed feet tore into the floor, digging trails through the surface as it was pushed back.

Rearing back, Starfire threw punch after punch into the monster's torso, getting grunts out of the thing though it stopped being pushed back. Starfire then upped the ante as her hands lit up with her green mojo and started adding burning into the mix. When it came to fighting monsters, burning was always an option.

Beast Boy shifted into a hawk and raced his way over to Terra where he returned to his handsome self. "Are you alright?" he asked, hands placing themselves on the blonde's shoulders.

"I could have used some warning, but yeah, I'm…" Terra began to answer but her voice trailed off. That could not be a good thing. Especially not where there were monsters running about.

Cyborg swore, and Beast Boy looked over his shoulder to find a third creature was in the building. This one was more a pale pink, but you could see all the gnarly blood vessels running through its body because of that. Its upper body was all swol and bulging, but the lower part was neglected and scrawny. It was a wonder it could even stand at all.

The face was flat, like it had been scrunched together against its will, but the underbite promised a lot of pain with sharp, crooked teeth. The eyes were…dots. Lots and lots of dots, like a spider's, which indicated to the shapeshifter that this one was going to be hard to sneak up on. His attention was then drawn to two small ears that were rounded and flicked, and to be honest they were a little cute which was in stark contrast to everything else about it.

It had both of Cyborg's arms gripped into two powerful hands, Cyborg's arm cannon pointed right at the ceiling so he was out of luck using it on the new creature. The monster's jaw seemed to unhinge itself, and it snapped bite after bite at his best friend's face, a lot of them aimed for Cyborg's fleshy part.

Raven's black-colored mojo wrapped around the pieces of the island bar that were scattered across everywhere and then began throwing them at cyborg's attacker. Surprisingly, each projectile Raven threw bounced harmlessly off the pink monster's body, the monster not even registering it was being it.

Okay, he had a choice. Help out Starfire or help out Cyborg. He was only one shapeshifter and he hadn't learned how to split himself into two yet, so he could only pick one.

From the corner of his eye, something streaked through the air and struck the pink monster in the face. It felt this and reared back, snarling at whatever hit it only for its head to jerk to a side. It was hard to tell what was happening, but whatever it was, Cyborg used the distraction to wretch one of those large, pink arms to a side, rip his arm out of the grasp of that huge hand, and deck that ugly mother right in the face.

Back went Cyborg's titanium arm, then forward it went to land punch after punch with into that ugly, ugly face, and did he mention how ugly that face was? It was ugly. However, things got a little tense went the pink monster caught the next punch with its mouth and wouldn't let go.

Okay, so Cyborg was the one who needed help—

"Oh, you just done made a bad mistake," the teen cyborg smirked, his arm changing into its cannon form with the end of the titanium barrel replacing the captured hand. A second later, there were a bright flash where the pink monster's head had been and down went the rest of the body.

Okay, so Starfire was the one who needed help.

While Cyborg pulled away from the freaky pink monster, he gave a flat look to…Terra? Why was he doing that? "I didn't think you'd actually take my suggestion seriously."

Now Beast Boy's attention was turned to Terra who had three balls of dirt forming right in front of her. Oh sweet, it looked like that one thing from that one movie, um, what was it called it again? It was a sequel, he remembered that much. He was sure an x was involved.

Anyways, Terra had at least two of these dirty balls orbiting around her, at least until she shot them off at the blue monster that Starfire was handling. Two of them went right up the nostrils while the third struck right between…um, he wanted to say eyes but those were wrinkles, so right between the wrinkles.

The monster started whipping its head about, making weird sounds like it was trying to snort out those clumps of dirt that Terra had just rammed up its nose. In mid snort, Starfire's fist got it right in the jaw, and you could see the lower part swinging widely in a way jaws weren't meant to do.

Green light blazed around her hands, and Starfire began knocking her monster around like a ragdoll, hit after hit that now started to leave a burning smell in the air. It was enough to have the shapeshifter wrinkle his nose at the stench.

Well, it seemed like everything was under control. Starfire was seconds away from a KO, Cyborg was casually walking away from his monster, so he figured he'd stay by Terra's side, just in case. Who knew what would…would…

Because his back was to it, Cyborg didn't see how the pink monster was sitting up. The small face looked worse than before, but it didn't seem bothered by it. Quickly, he went straight to tiger and growled, which got Cyborg to stop. Frowning, his bestie slowly looked behind him, and then swore as the pink monster was getting back onto its feet.

"You have got to be—" Cyborg began to swear.

And then a large fist slammed into the side of the pink monster's head. Well, calling it a fist was a bit of a stretch since it was purple and looked like it was made of bricks. Ridiculously big, the brick fist continued back until it abruptly cut off, Miguel's much thinner arm sticking out of it. Man, it was like the guy was—no wait, he was wearing those bricks of his like they were two fist-shaped gloves and props to that. It looked good.

Now, had he been Miguel, the shapeshifter would have made a quip or some kind of joke at the monster's expense, but the Latino only tried to deck the pink monster with his other overly huge brick fist and landed that hit too. There was some strength in that one since it pushed back the pink monster.

Raising up both of those brick glove things, Miguel brought them both down on top of the monster, smashing it bodily into the floor. That looked like it hurt a lot. There were even cracks spreading along the floor and from under those brick-shaped fists.

Well, it looked like that was handled. What could he do? He'd been standing around watching everything and now he needed to get in there and show what he could do. Back to the blue monster he turned his attention.

The blue one was shrieking in anger, swiping at the air to defend itself from Terra only for Starfire to come in, land some hits, and then back off to let Terra distract it once more. Now, how would he—

Suddenly, the blue monster spun its body, its thick tail swinging and striking Starfire as soon as the Tamaranean went in to do some more up close and personal damage. She was knocked right into his direction, and quickly he shifted into a gorilla, catching his friend only to find both of them knocked back, his leathery feet sliding against the floor.

Just as they managed to stop, the blue monster was on them. Starfire kicked with both of her legs even as her back was pressed into Beast Boy's torso. The monster snapped open its jaws and brought them down in time to catch the kicking feet.

The Tamaranean was pulled off of the green gorilla and out of his grasp. The blue monster was whipping its head about which had Starfire being flung to and fro, her body even hitting the couch, the floor, and even Beast Boy as he tried getting back up. Forcing his eyes open, he caught a glimpse of that blue bastard making a run for it, dragging Starfire with it.

He gave a bestial snarl, forcing himself up, but by the time he was back onto his feet, the blue monster was running into Miguel and throwing the Latino guy off balance. This gave the pink monster a shot, which it took, as it tackled the Mexican teen onto the floor. The purple bricks dissolved as Miguel's' head smacked against the floor and that sounded like quite the crack.

Attention changed to someone else in need, Beast Boy tried to tackle the pink monster but got in Cyborg's way who yelled and fired a blast of energy up to the ceiling in order not to hit him. Gorilla teeth clenched, he gave a push with his legs, and leapt at the pink monster.

He was there. He was there. But he was a hair away from making contact and the pink son of a bitch moved. It lunged straight ahead, which took it right out of Beast Boy's jump path. Not only that, it was dragging Miguel along with it. Catching himself with his hands, the shapeshifter skidded across the floor until he was stopped by a wall. He heard Cyborg yell out and that was followed by energy burning through the air.

By the time he was able to look, he saw the last of the pink monster pulling Miguel with it out of the rec room, and the blue monster was nowhere in sight.

The only appeal was that it was a trope. What had she been thinking? Ferris wheels. So slow and so…predictable. Back and up until forward and down, and you did that in a circle for however long the maniac at the controls felt like. There were stops, getting old riders off and putting some new ones on. Sometimes you were high in the air, others you weren't.

But it did give you time to think, and Cassie was certainly doing a lot of that in silence. She glanced to her seat mate, a chicken-themed stuffed animal placed between her and Tim. The guy was looking straight ahead and it was hard to tell if he was enjoying this. She wasn't, but that mistake was on her for once.

So, "Ever ride one of these before?" It was her poor choice for once, so she was going to own it and take responsibility.

"When I was younger," Tim answered, shrugging his shoulders. "I remember it being a lot more fun then."

You know, she'd let him have that one this time. However, the words he spoke had gotten her thinking. "Your folks don't seem so bad. You don't talk about them much."

"Like you talk about your mom?" Tim replied, glancing at her. Looking straight ahead again, "There's lots of stuff I don't talk about, same as you. It's not because I'm hiding it, it's just never been too important, I guess."

Cassie found herself nodding. By now he would have heard about her mom, probably from her or one of the others she had complained to. Still, it threw her a little off guard because of the instinctual thought of "how did he know about her?"

"That's not the only thing you don't talk about," she said. They were going downward as the Ferris wheel moved, coming to a stop while the folks in a seat two ahead of them were being released from the safety bar holding them in. "You don't talk about a lot, and you really don't talk about what it was like in Gotham. You hear all the stories. What was it that caused you to really move out here?"

He had that look on his face. You know the one. It was the one where you knew that he was seeing something other than what was right in front of him. Because of that, he didn't immediately answer. In fact, he said nothing while she just sat there, waiting, even as the giant wheel they were riding came to a stop not once but twice.

There would have been a time when she would have pestered him if Tim had kept quiet for longer than two seconds. This wasn't that time anymore. Too much had changed, both with her and in her life. Cassie waited patiently, though she wondered if she was ever going to get an answer.

"We came home." The blonde had to blink away the stupor she had falling into, wondering if she had actually heard that. "It was just another day. You heard about how things were getting back then. Mom, Dad, they both did their best to keep it away from me. But we were running late, got back after dark, and…"

It was the way he was talking that kept Cassie quiet. Tim was telling a story, and she knew it was his. "I don't remember exactly…I didn't pay too much attention then. Had the door been open? Someone forgot to lock it? I don't remember the lock clicking, but we went inside. It was quiet at first, like it always was. We turn on the lights, everything's good. We get a look around, and there's guns aimed at us.

"Everything's a blur then, but there was yelling, screaming, I'm on the floor, and my mom is too. Dad was trying to talk them down, gets pistol whipped. The burglars want to know where the good stuff is. Open the damn safe unless you want a bloodbath. I still remember those words, because it made me really scared, and also because the guy who said it had an accent. I think it was Australian."

Tim went quiet again. He has that stare, the thousand yard one. "I play it in my head sometimes. How it could have gone bad. What could have happened to make it worse. What I could have done to stop it. Dad needed to go to the hospital for some stitches and that was it. Some of our stuff was taken, pawned off. Money, whatever they could get their hands on, credit cards. Those were canceled as soon as possible, but it scared the crap out of Mom that they'd come back because of it.

"There was no Batman. Everyone thought he was dead. The city was getting worse. People dressed up and called themselves Jokerz. And I was mad that nothing would ever be done. The cops were busy with everything else and had no time for burglary in the suburbs. I hated it. I wanted to make it right. Then I find two others who felt the same way. The rest was history, until I did something stupid and got myself into the kind of trouble that gets you and everyone you know killed.

"I think the tipping point, though, was when my mom's sister was murdered. Mom and Dad decided to leave Gotham behind and start somewhere new. It was just good timing that I did that stupid jump onto that van around that time. We came out here, and then…" Blue eyes looked up and towards her. "...you and I have a run in."

Indeed the rest was history. "I remember thinking you were some annoying guy, being a buzzkill. Who'd've thought?" she remarked.

Tim nodded and looked straight ahead. The wheel stopped again, but it wasn't their stop just yet.

Until then, they would keep riding their wheel, going around in a circle for however long it took.

This was getting bad. No, this was getting worse.

First Kid Flash, now Starfire and Miguel. There were four of them left now, and Cyborg was determined to keep it that way. They would need everyone they could muster if they were going to be able to rescue the missing three.

In the meantime, he was activating the lockdown on the Tower. Whoever designed it was clever, because somehow they had hidden away countless sheets of metal that would slip out from whatever hiding place they were kept and cover up the whole building. Even now, the windows were being blacked out as those metal sheets covered them up. Nothing would be getting out, but nothing would be getting in either. This also meant the rest of the party was stuck here too with at least three otherworldly monsters.

And it wasn't even Halloween yet, what the hell?

"You think we should be doing that?" BB asked, watching the windows.

"We got three monsters we don't want getting out, so yeah, we should," Cyborg confirmed. Glancing around at the rest of the rec room, he did a headcount and weighed what their resources were.

It was him, the Grass Stain, the twig that was Terra, and Raven. Some power houses, but some of them more for specific situations. Beast Boy had the animal kingdom, but only so many could fit in the Tower, and the ones small enough, who knew if a squirrel stood a chance? Something like that was too small, cute, and useless. Maybe in another reality, but not this one. Terra had earth powers, but she was always cautious about using them inside the Tower; she didn't want to make a mess and understandably so. There was himself, and he was limiting what he brought to the table for the same reason as Terra. That hole in the ceiling was going to need some patchwork. Lastly, there was Raven, but for her having a mess only made her stronger as that gave her a lot more weapons to use.

Then there was the rec room and the mess. The TV was still intact and he wanted to keep it that way. Priorities, you know? But there was another issue.

"Anyone know how those two got in here? The door was closed, I think locked too," he asked, turning back to his remaining three teammates.

"I just saw one standing behind Terra. I don't even know how it got there!" Beast Boy exclaimed.

Terra shook her head. "I don't know how they got in either. Maybe they snuck in when the first one got in? Or when it got Kid Flash?" she suggested. Not bad ideas, but how would they have missed them in the first place? Those things weren't teeny tiny, you know. "You don't think they popped out of thin air, do you?"

"No way," he said. "Maybe we were distracted. Not anymore, but it does mean that this room isn't safe. We need to relocate, go somewhere where we can hole up and defend ourselves better." Glancing to Raven who had been very quiet this whole time, "What do you think?"

Raven didn't say anything, not for a while. Her hood was pulled over her head and her cloak hid away the rest of her body. When she did talk, "I can't sense the others."

Cyborg frowned. It was no secret that Raven was able to keep track of them through some unexplained means. It was an aspect of her powers and the cyborg had left it at that. If she spent enough time with you, she'd be able to find you in a city's worth of people easily.

"What do you mean you can't sense them?" It was a question that needed to be asked. Rescuing their friends was a high priority too.

"It doesn't make any sense. They were here, I could feel Starfire and Kid Flash, but as soon as they were out the door… It's impossible," his oldest friend here explained, turning to face him. Getting a good look at her face, Cyborg was surprised to see how shaken up she appeared, which was a first. Normally she was calm, stoic, and had the best poker face he had ever seen.

"I have some security footage, I can narrow down where they're not, but…" He did not want to say this part, he really didn't, but this was their friends they were talking about. "...maybe we need to get closer. Maybe those monsters are interfering with everyone's minds, or something."

"I doubt that," Raven stated. Okay, now she sounded like her normal self. "We haven't seen anything other than physical abilities and some sentience. They're strong and can plan. Not a good combination for us."

"We don't really need to go out there, do we?" Beast Boy squeaked out.

"Unless we want to let the others have eggs implanted in them and whatever comes out deciding it wants to do the same thing to us, then we're going to need to," the cybernetic teen answered grimly. Looking towards the still open door, he continued, "We can go to the garage. It's big and designed to take a lot of damage so we can really fight to our best, and there's other weapons down there. We'll have more options. The sooner we leave, the sooner we can get down there."

"But isn't that, like, in the basement?!" Beast Boy's voice was starting to crack. He wasn't done with puberty, was he? "That's a long way from here! And—" Green eyes widen and there's dramatic intake of air. "—what if there's more of these things? Ones we haven't seen?! They could be lying in wait, waiting to ambush and drag us off too! We could be sitting ducks out there!"

"BB, we're sitting ducks here too," Cyborg managed to cut in. "We're damned if we do, damned if we don't, but the only thing I know is that we have to do something. Might as well be on our terms."

It took some more persuading, and a lot more morale boosting, but the end result was that the four of them were trekking through a dark hallway at a snail's pace. Every door was a potential threat, and Cyborg took to locking every single one they passed. Based on what little the security footage showed, he knew none of the others were in them, so he wasn't inadvertently locking their friends in.

This was their home but right now it had suddenly taken on the feel of enemy territory. That didn't make sense. As far as he knew, those things had only showed up in what, the last thirty minutes? The last hour? Or were they always here because someone hadn't checked to see if some ancient Native Americans buried their dead here and they were now living on sacred ground?

"Guys, what if the tower's built on an ancient Indian burial ground and now we're being haunted to death?" the green shapeshifter asked.

Oh great, now he was starting to get paranoid like the Green Bean.

"That is stupid," Raven responded. "There has not been any inhabitable life on this island so there aren't any cemeteries. Stop letting your mind run wild, or better yet, do what you do best and stop thinking. It shouldn't be that hard."

"Hey, somebody needs to think of these things," Beast Boy argued. "Say, what if we're dealing with aliens who teleported in? Oh crap, that could do that right now and behind us!" A green head whipped about. "Okay, nothing so far. But they could be…behind every corner…!"

"Beast Boy. Chill out," Cyborg reprimanded. Also, stop putting him on edge. His nerves were getting frayed as it was. His right arm was still in cannon mode and perpetually parallel with the floor. Pointed straight ahead, anything that came from the front would get the kind of sunburn that you wished could kill you.

"Yeah, you're starting to creep me out." An unexpected assist from Terra, but much appreciated. "We don't need to make things scarier than they already are."

"Speak for yourselves," Raven muttered. Though much of her face was hidden by the shadow cast by her hood, her eyes peered out and shifting a bit too fast than what was normal or typical of her.

Eventually, they reached the elevator. This would be the fastest way down and who wanted to go down several flights of stairs? The only downside was being stuck in a small box that was lowered by a cable and you didn't know what would be on the other side of the doors once they opened. It was a risk, but one they would have to take.

"Can we do something about the lighting?" Terra asked, looking around. "Why are the lights off anyway?"

The silence that followed was her answer. Cyborg didn't know why the lights were off…but…now that he was interfacing with the Tower—

"That's not right," he muttered.

"What's not right?" Beast Boy demanded.

"The lights are on," he reported. "Electrical grid is running and there's nothing interfering with it."

"But…that doesn't make any sense!" the green shapeshifter squeaked, half whispering and half yelling.

Tell him about it, but here he was looking right at the impossibility. Was there a glitch? In the system, in his system, what could it be?

Not wanting to think about it further, he pressed a button on a control panel, the doors opening swiftly. Of course they would; everyone had been in the rec room, so that meant riding the elevator up to this floor. No wait time.

However, none of them entered. There was a good reason for that. For one, it was dark in the elevator, much like the hallway they were standing in. For another, a pair of red eyes opened up in the inky darkness, followed by another pair, and then another, and then another.

There was something in there.

His hand hadn't gone far, and so he pressed the button again. The doors slid closed while the four of them stared. Something started hitting the closed doors from the other side, multiple thuds that were easily heard.

"I think I want to use the stairs," Cyborg said. There were no objections.

It was a tense stroll to the stairs, where lo and behold, you could see the standard exit sign glowing in the dark above the stairway door. Something was still working. Of all things.

"Make sure to keep an eye up as well as down. We could get ambushed from either direction," he warned as he took point. The door was pulled open and he held his arm cannon up, slowly slipping a leg into the stairwell while his human eye darted from left to right, up and down, searching for any signs of danger.

The others followed after him, the door closing behind them as they began their descent. His titanium feet clomped with every step he took, booming in his own mind. This was a bad time to be a cyborg; they needed stealth and who knew how good those creatures' hearing was?

He threw a suggestion over his shoulder, Grass Stain responded with a dog, something that had better hearing, better smelling, and would be able to alert them if anything came after them. Sure, it added the clicking of nails against the floor, but it wasn't as loud as his metal feet were.

It was excruciating how long it took to go down flight after flight of stairs. Their pace was deliberately slow, every door to the stairwell checked and eyed with paranoia in case they abruptly opened. Eyes always peered around the next turn of the stairs and always glanced back up and behind in case anything tried to come from those directions.

It was stressful, nerve wracking, but eventually they made it to the right floor. Once more, Cyborg took point with exiting, a much larger hallway greeting him. They were on the final trek. A couple hundred feet and they'd be at the garage.

"Almost there, guys. Keep your eyes peeled," he told the other three.

Just because you were at the final stretch didn't mean the danger was gone. If anything, you were at your most vulnerable because you let your guard down at this part. And now he was thinking like Grass Stain here with the paranoia and movie tropes. Maybe when this was all over, he would start tinkering around and make a new gizmo or seven just to remind himself that reality was a real thing and governed by a certain set of laws of physics.

Or maybe those laws were still in play because BB slipped ahead in his doggie body, his posture tense and rigid. He sniffed loudly, green tail curved but still. "There's something here," the shapeshifter warned.

Cyborg tensed up and looked around, searching the hallway for a sign of anything. He pulled up and utilized as many scans as he could, but so far nothing was coming up. It was starting to look like they might be a glitch in his body. He was going to need to get it looked at later. In the meantime, he positioned himself in front of Raven and Terra.

"Can you figure out where it is?" he hissed.

BB shook his canine head. "No. I'm smelling something off. And I'm hearing something, but it's not loud enough."

"Raven?" Another extra sense might be helpful.

After a few seconds, "I'm not sensing anything."

He'd asked Terra, but they weren't exactly standing on rock or earth so whatever answer she could offer would be limited. "Careful. Slowly. Beast Boy and I will take point. Keep your eyes peeled and if you see anything, don't worry, just scream. Now let's go."

Much like with the stairs, their progress was slow. Even if the hallway was straight forward, every nook and cranny was eyed as a potential anger. Animal senses were picking up something, and even though Green Bean was freaking out, he wouldn't straight up lie about his senses. If something was in here, then something was in here.

But where?

Halfway to the garage, they would find out the answer.

Even with hindsight, there was really no way for any of them to know that they were being stalked from above. The darkness in the hallway allowed it to blend in with its black skin, and since most people rarely considered looking up, it could cling onto the ceiling and wait to launch its ambush.

That was precisely what it did. Once the four of them had passed under, the latest creature to introduce itself, emerged from above, lowering itself slowly. With Cyborg and Beast Boy more focused on what was ahead, that left Raven and Terra watching their sixes, and both of them were noticeably shorter than the cyborg. Tentacles kept just above the girls' heads, waiting and waiting until—

The thump gave away the attack. Cyborg spun on his heel, but it was already too late. Terra was snatched up before she could even scream, a tentacle thick with puckering suckers wrapped around her mouth while others did the same with her body.

The clumps of dirt zoomed in to impact what was a very soft yet unyielding, fleshy body, Terra's makeshift weapon sticking into that bulbous body and not bouncing off or out of it. From above the blonde's head, four pairs of red eyes gleamed, glaring at them for an instant, and then pulling back, taking Terra with it.

"Terra!" Beast Boy shrieked, racing around Cyborg while shifting into a gorilla to try and save his oldest friend.

Raven flared with that black juju of hers and released a blast of it that streaked down the hallway and struck at the newest creature's head. Much to Cyborg's surprise, the black creature's head was not taken off and there was no discernable damage to see. Raven looked as surprised as him, and since she was expressing it, you knew this was a big deal.

You know what else was a bigger deal? The further this thing dragged Terra, the further Beast Boy was from him and Raven. If he didn't stop, then there was a good chance they'd lose the shapeshifter. It was a tough call, he'd knew he might make an enemy for life here, but what other choice was there?

"Raven! Stop him!" he snapped at his oldest friend, if that's what you could call it.

The sharp tone of his voice got through to her, and the cloak and hood wearing teen responded by firing out a wave of her power that wrapped around Beast Boy's large primate form. The gorilla came to an abrupt stop even as the last of Terra was swallowed into the hallway's darkness, and as soon as that happened…

"TERRA!" Beast Boy shrieked, struggling against Raven's power and slowly pulled back to them.

It hurt to hear his best friend like that, the snarls and screams of the now taken blonde's name echoing throughout the corridor. Cyborg could try to tell himself that this was for the best, but even he felt shitty for this. Someone needed to remain in control, though, and he would do it. He had no choice but to.

How did Red—

Of course! Red Robin and Wonder Girl were not in the Tower. That meant they could be reinforcements! Why hadn't he thought of that before?! Alright, new plan.

"Drag him with us, it's not far from the garage," he ordered Raven. He didn't wait for a response as he began running the rest of the way. Inside his head, he brought up a contact list and ran through all the numbers until he reached the one he was looking for.

The Tower might be on lockdown, but their communication lines weren't. They better pick up.

Slow footsteps carried the two teens along a pier, one that was attached to the boardwalk, and right now was much quieter and less crowded. It was a little bit of a break, to get away from the lit up attractions that tried to energize you and get you to get on and ride or play until you ran out of cash.

Everyone needed a breather. Cassie felt this was as good a time as any. When things get heavy, you gave a person time to regroup. The blonde found herself glancing at the teen from Gotham, thinking over the story he had told her.

As he had explained, it had happened during a time, a three year gap really, when Batman wasn't around. Inspired, he became the twerp that had annoyed her after moving from one coast to another. He wasn't that twerp anymore. Maybe she had gotten used to him, or he chilled out, or it was both.

It only mattered that he had felt comfortable enough sharing that much with her. Tim had always been secretive. Not that she could point fingers; she didn't share much about herself other than what was right in front of your face.

Speaking of, there was an explosion, one that caused both of the teens to stop and look for the source. By then there was a second explosion, and then a third, and light lit up the sky. Right, there had been a fireworks show scheduled for something. Mass produced rockets were fired up into the sky, deliberately over the ocean, and creating quite the spectacle.

Cassie had seen a lot of things in a short period of time, some of which did involve explosions and fire, so you'd think that something like this would hold no interest for her. Well, you'd be wrong again because there was nothing dangerous about this. This was safe, normal, and the reds, blues, greens, and yellows all clashed with one another on purpose.

It was surprising to her that she could still find some kind of beauty in this world.

Several moments later, the blonde realized that the two of them had been standing there in silence, neither saying anything to break the moment. With red and green clashing while blue melded in, she turned her blue eyes to the boy who had agreed to come here with her. It was mostly his profile she saw, the one eye she could see watching the show in the sky. The light from detonated fireworks colored his face while the darkness of night shaded it.

As if sensing he was being watched, Tim looked to her with a neutral expression. His eyes did all the expressing, giving away curiosity. Still, neither said a word, and as the seconds ticked by it seemed as if they were moving closer.

In her arms, she still held that stuffed chicken and her hand did not relinquish it. Her body subconsciously turned so that the carnival prize was not obstructing anything as the two teens' bodies moved closer and closer.

A particularly bright red lit up the sky and with it came the rapid clapping of several much smaller explosions. This had the effect of hiding the rush of blood to the face. For a second, Cassie wondered how the two of them had moved so close and neither had mentioned it. There was surge running through her veins, her heart pounding faster and faster.

There was a part of her that had always been spontaneous. Live for the moment. Enjoy the here and now. It was reigned in because of the responsibilities of taking care of a group of superpowered teens, but it hadn't gone away. Just hibernated. Much like how she suggested an early night, this part of her gave a prompt and like so many times before, she gave in to it.

Yellow flared as the blonde closed the distance and lips met. People drunk on romance would claim it to be a wonderful, transcendent—whatever that meant—moment. A perfect meeting that was nothing but pleasure. For theirs, heads bumped awkwardly, noses couldn't decide where they should be, the lips pressed sloppily against one another until they pulled back and eyes peered into one another.

Breathing was deeper, shoulders raised up and down, mouths were parted open, and for the first time Cassie could see through Tim's eyes how out of his depth he was. Curiosity was now confusion, and there was vulnerability there too.

It may not have been perfect, but she wouldn't have had it any other way.

More booms in the air, and Cassie moved back in, this time tilting her head to the right. Lips pressed, but noses didn't tango, though teeth did clash. No tongues. Way too soon for tongues, though what was the appeal for those? Back she went, once more boring her gaze into Tim's. Her heart was pounding, pounding, and she could practically hear each beat in her ears. Chests expanded then shrank just as quickly.

Maybe one more…one more wouldn't hurt, right?

The world decided one more would, and so interrupted the only way it could: with a sharp beeping that came from one of Tim's pockets.

Just like that, it was broken, and Cassie felt herself both mourning it and getting insanely furious because who had the balls? Maybe it was her imagination, but Tim seemed not to want to break the moment either, but he wouldn't be who he was if he shied away from his responsibilities.

His hand went into the pocket that she swore she was going to set on fire, and removed the communicator that was intended to be standard issue for the Titans. Now that communicator had to die, and she would kill it with fire as well.

No sooner had Tim opened it that Victor's voice blared out. "Red? You there? You with Wonder Girl? We got a problem!"

Tim blinked rapidly, taken aback. "Slow down, what's going on?" Ah, and there was the strong authoritative voice that usually came with a domino mask.

"Tower's infested with monsters. I got it locked down, but they're picking us off one by one. We need backup and we need it now!"

Whoa, whoa, what? "What do you mean, monsters?" she demanded because this was not what she thought tonight would bring.

"I mean monsters! Both of you, I'm leaving the rooftop open, but get here before we all—aw shit. I think one of them is trying to get in! Hurry your asses up already!"

The call went dead, and now the two of them were looking at each other for a different reason.

Something was ramming the door. Their sanctuary was already being targeted.

Raven was taking deep breaths, doing her best to remain in control. Not that anyone could say that being locked in a large room with Cyborg and Beast Boy was the best scenario, but right now that was her reality, and it was not reassuring.

Personally, she would have preferred Starfire. The Tamaranean exuded a calming influence, particularly at the eve of battle. That influence was desperately needed, but right now absent since she had been taken much earlier.

Nearby, Cyborg's precious T-Car rumbled to life. Ah yes, its assortment of weaponry. Compared to the rec room, they were better armed down here.

"Everybody, use your A game because we're about to have company," the larger male ordered. To the green shapeshifter, "BB, think you can get into the air? Whatever comes in, see if it can take a ton falling onto it."

There was still some bitterness from before, and for once Beast Boy did not appear the fool. His eyes were much too hard that it was discerning, his body language was hostile, but he gave a sharp nod though no words, and a second later wings were flapping as he went up. There was much more space in here, and that also included the ceiling. It was hard to see where Beast Boy had gone, but he was hiding in the darkness up there, waiting to make good on his own ambush.

This left herself. Something unusual was happening. She had noticed back in the rec room, and there was no way she could deny this without putting anyone else in danger. For some reason, her powers were not having any effect over these creatures. Even the blast she had used to try and save Terra had not worked, and it had taken an impressive demonstration of will to keep the beam concentrated while not holding any of her might back.

That had still done nothing, had resulted in Terra being spirited away, and Beast Boy's foul mood. Raven knew her powers still worked as she was able to haul the shapeshifter back into the garage against his will, his will no match against hers.

There had been yelling between the two male Titans, and Raven felt her nerves fraying even more. Time was up faster than anyone had anticipated, and something was ramming into the closed and locked door to the garage. The dull thuds indicated that they still had time which meant assessing all they had available.

Since using the T-car as a blunt weapon would get her onto Cyborg's shit list, the empath turned her attention to the workbench and all of the industrial grade tools it possessed. Drills, wrenches, screwdrivers, even saws were available. A blow torch, a vice, and…those were what she recognized. Maybe it would be more effective to throw the whole bench?

There were also the various parts and inventory that were organized and placed out of the way to make for more space. Many crates and boxes had to have some weight to them, did they not? She could also hear the complaints and grumblings that Cyborg would treat himself to, but that was not her problem.

Her head perked up. That was a particularly powerful thud right there. Someone was determined. Time was running out.

The T-car hummed quietly. Cyborg's arm cannon was aimed at the door, its barrel glowing softly. Beast Boy remained high above in the shadows. Raven gathered her power and allowed it to grasp onto Cyborg's tools and inventory. Now all they could do was wait.

Wait for the thuds to end.

Hmm. They really had stopped. No, this was just the quiet before the next storm. To let down their guard now was to expect catastrophe. Four of their own had already been taken. Could they afford to lose anyone else?

It was soft, which was why any of them may have missed the first groan. The creaks, on the other hand, weren't as simple to ignore. Metal whined, and then something began to poke through the edge of the sliding door. Growing indentations suggesting the warping of the metal barrier as the creature on the other side was determined to get through.

With great suddenness, the door crumpled, crunching up as a mass of tentacles wrenched it to a side. Racing in, the very first monster they had encountered this night slithered, tentacles whipping around, claws extended, and mouths wide open and shrieking.

Then it shrieked for a different reason as nearly 15,000 pounds of elephant landed right on top of it. There was a different crunching, the insides of the creature annihilated by the weight and gravity both. There was a choking, internal rattling, and then the creature fell still.

Elephant dug into the monster's back, a streak of sadism that Raven hadn't known the shapeshifter to possess. However, the hunter was now the hunted, and captured. Cyborg raised up his arm cannon so as not to accidentally engage in friendly fire.

"Quite an entrance," Cyborg whistled as he took a few steps forward.

"Can we get on with saving the others?" the shapeshifter demanded sharply.

Raven frowned, but said nothing. Her eyes moved back to the garage entrance, noting how large the door was and how much of it had been damaged. There was enough room for this creature to have slipped in, but the thuds from earlier had indicated something bigger. Something with eyes, many eyes. Six of them…oh no.

The damaged door was torn off as a large, dull brown abomination charged in. A gaping mouth was opened wide with rows upon rows of teeth gleaming with lethal intent. Its first target? None other than the angered shapeshifter who stood out in the open and right in its path.

Not for long, because the elephant disappeared in an instant, Beast Boy obviously shifting into something smaller. This left a new target, and that was the tentacled monstrosity that the green idiot had previously crushed. Now it was trampled, if you could call it that, by the much larger beast, one that was using multiple arms to drag itself further into the garage. It moved with incredible speed, and this now made Cyborg its potential next victim.

Missiles fired from the T-car's headlights, and the explosives detonated in the large mouth, bringing this new creature up short as it reared back. A beam of energy slammed into the exposed throat—if you could call it that—and cause more damage that way. Several more missiles were fired, landing against any exposed part of the brown monster's body, flames and smoke blocking it from sight if only for a moment.

Moments always end, though, and out of the smoke did it emerge, snarling. At least it did until Raven levitated a crate of miscellaneous parts and crammed it into the opened orifice. A second crate followed which got an exclamation of dismay from Cyborg, but he could shove that too as now the monster had to worry about not choking.

On its back, a green elephant appeared, pinning it down. With green tusks, it stabbed into the back of the monster's head, shoving it down. The multitude of arms that once dragged the body rotated and tried to grab at the elephant, the intent to remove the pachyderm obvious, but it seemed Beast Boy had found that one spot that was common to every body in existence: the one spot that no hand could reach naturally without significant aid.

But the creature's lowered end was still in play. Ignored until now, it acted much like a whip, even as it slipped past what remained of the garage door. Back and forth, left and right, it moved until it built up enough speed to lash out. It did not go for Beast Boy, but it did aim for her.

Raven brought up a spherical barrier in time to meet the tail. The tail did not meet her, but the recoil it caused shattered her shield and she was flung back by the shattering. Her eyes wide, unable to comprehend this latest development. She had been more than confident that her barrier would have been able to hold out, but to be destroyed so quickly?

Her back slammed into a wall, then her rear landed atop stacked boxes which caused those to fall out of place and pillow the floor beneath her. It was not a soft landing by any stretch of the imagination.

Parts scattered from boxes and crates that had broken open due to her body dislodging them. Some of them were under her, making it very uncomfortable to lay there. Raven raised her head up, grimacing, but one look had her eyes widening.

Beast Boy was still pinning this massive creature down, and Cyborg was evading the whipping tail expertly. The cyborg was yelling, trying to aim his arm cannon up that large mouth and perhaps incinerate it from the inside out. That was not what had Raven watching in shock. What did was that the creature spat out one of the crates that she had shoved down its throat earlier, and that was one that Cyborg was unable to dodge. He was knocked back, then shielding himself as the second crate was ejected, crashing on top of him.

The brown monster tried to rear up, but it could not lift up a large elephant. Then it rolled, and that dislodged Beast Boy whose green form vanished instantly. The long, elongated body writhed about the garage, and would have struck the T-car next had the vehicle not fired another volley of missiles while going back in reverse. While that was surprising, the empath figured that Cyborg was not knocked out and was controlling the vehicle himself.

The six, glowing, red eyes found her, the monster stilled, then it snarled while lunging towards her. Gathering her wits, she instinctively threw up another shield, then cursed herself for doing something so stupid as the barrier shattered against the creature's might. Damn it, she should have teleported herself instead! She could do that now! She…she was freezing up…

Two things happened next. The first was that a green, constrictor snake collided with her, wrapping around her and using its body to protect her while it rolled the both of them out of the way. The second was Cyborg picking himself out from under the crate that laid atop him, running with all his might towards the T-car while the vehicle fired a missile at himself, Jumping and turning his body, he used the detonation of the explosive projectile to radically change his trajectory while adding some additional speed which placed him right in front of the monster's maw as it came down, attempting to devour the empath whole.

"Get a taste of this!" Cyborg snarled just as he disappeared into the closing mouth. A hollow shudder rocked the monster's body as it came to a stop. In fact, everything came to a stop. Silence reigned as nothing happened.

Then the large, brown, and surprisingly agile creature did an about face and rushed its way out of the garage. Silence resumed and left only two Titans to suffer under it.

From within the grip of a certain shapeshifter, Raven watched and waited for the return of perhaps her oldest friend, an event that a part of knew would never happen.