93. For the Queen of Strings part 4

"All right, people," Robin's voice echoed against the bulkheads. "There's no turning back now. Let's stick together and follow me."

"A little obvious with the 'no turning back now' part, Lieutenant Redundant," Control Freak griped. "If you're scared, just say so. Don't try dragging us into your little paranoia."

Robin frowned. "Did I say you could speak?"

CF smirked. "No."

Robin groaned and ran a hand over his head.

I walked past Control Freak, nonchalantly elbowing him in the chest. Whump!

"Ooof!"

"Hey!" Sandy complained, her goggled eyes blinking. "Stop taking the fun from me!"

"Mommy always said I had the body of a punching bag," Control Freak said. A beat. "I think that would explain some things."

"Shhh," Robin hissed with a hand raised and approached the middle of the corridor ahead of us.

We were in the bowels of the Titans' Tower. A huge, blue-slate of metal wormed around to form a labyrinth in the rock of the Bay island's bluffs, and erected within the artificial caverns of this place were huge, pointless expanses of space. Perhaps Silas Stone intended for the area beneath the Tower to be a bunker of sorts for storing gargantuan pieces of equipment. Otherwise, it was nothing more than a huge 'cave' of cold emptiness interrupted here and there with the occasional, suspicious trickling of water from the ceilings above.

And it was all hauntingly familiar…

"Do you actually know your way around this place?" Sandy whispered.

Robin nodded without looking. "Like the back of my hand. Which is the least I can say about Noir. The poor guy was lost in here during his rookie days."

I blushed.

"Were you really?" Sandy asked.

I hand-signed.

She giggled. "You were doing laundry, huh?! You must have been cold!" A beat. She suddenly blushed.

"So that's why you were chosen to escort me!" Control Freak smirked at the volunteer. "For every fanboy, there's a fangirl!"

"Not for you, there ain't," Sandy upturned her nose and folded her arms.

"Wow, I think I'm aroused."

Whump!

"Oof!"

I smirked.

"If we proceed forward down two corridors, we'll come to a path on the left which will take us to a set of doors leading to the Tower's basement level," Robin said, leading the group forward again.

"This isn't the basement already??" Sandy remarked with a crooked look on her face.

"Nope," the Boy Wonder shook his head. "Just the start of things."

"Wow….you could store a lot of gizmos in here," Control Freak marveled.

"None that you should be concerned about."

The fat fanboy smirked and gestured with his handcuffed wrists. "Think you took my blindfold off a little too early, bird boy?"

"If I'd known there was anything classified to your eyes down here, I would have had Sandy leave them on. Besides, if you notice too much, I could always conk you over the head with my staff and have done with it."

"Cuz I'm already seeing stuff," Control Freak remarked and glanced to the side— "WHOAH!!! Is that….Is that…."

"Is that what?" Robin raised his eyebrows. He looked to his right. "Oh. That. It's Starfire's space pod."

Resting silently beneath a partial cover of canvass was the Tamaranian craft which Starfire used in arriving at Earth. It had been untouched since Cyborg, Robin, and Speedy used it to contact the C.S.A.I.T., which turned out to be an artificial construct reprogrammed by Blackfire.

"Sleeeeeeeeek," CF drooled. "Can I touch it?"

"No."

Control Freak hobbled over and touched it. "Very sleek!"

Robin clenched his gloves. "What part of 'no' do you not understand?"

"Both letters. Now do you have a camera?! I want to be snapped standing next to this thing!"

"In case you've forgotten…," Robin couldn't help but smirk slightly. "That belongs to the same redheaded superheroine who beat you within every inch of your life last time we did you in."

"Yes…well…love hurts."

Robin sighed. "We really must get going—"

"Pleeeeease!!! Can I just at least sit in the cockpit?"

I glanced at Robin.

Robin glanced at Sandy.

"Okay, Sandy. The Switch. Now."

Control Freak's crusty eyes bulged. "The Switch?"

Sandy pulled out a tiny black remote from a special satchel and bit her lip. "This is gonna hurt me more than it hurts you." A pause. "Okay, maybe not." She clicked it.

ZAP!!!

"OWIE!!!" Control Freak jumped as his handcuffs momentarily shocked him. "Holy Jawa!!"

Robin smirked. "Music to my ears."

"Hey!!" Control Freak winced and stepped away from the spacecraft while frowning at Robin. "Is that ethical treatment of a prisoner?!"

"Probably not."

"Pffft!! This is going on my report."

"Since when were you writing a report?"

"Since when were you shocking me?"

"Sandy…"

ZAP!!!

"DAH!!! JEEZ!! SON OF A DECEPTICON!!"

"Now where were we?"

Control Freak cleared his throat. "Uhm…," he sweatdropped and rubbed his manacled wrists against his thigh. "W-We were heading down the corridor."

"I thought as much."

I looked to Sandy and gave her a thumb's up.

She winked and pocketed the tiny control away.

The four of us proceeded along the cold, dank halls. I caught up with Robin as we walked side by side. I let him lead. I sure as hell didn't know how to move around that place…

"Something's wrong…," he whispered to me.

I craned an ear closer to him.

"Things are missing," the Boy Wonder hissed. "There were once a bunch of lattices here…."

I raised an eyebrow over my shades.

"Metal crossbeams. Light ones. And when I say 'light', I mean ninety pound iron slabs built for concrete reinforcing. They must have been left here by Silas Stone's construction crew during the erection of the Tower. But they're gone now."

I scratched my black head of hair above my bandanna and glanced left at the empty metal crevices bordering the corridor.

"All that it amounts to is…," Robin spoke, "…they've been down here. The Titans, the Puppet King, the hostages—whoever. They were down here and doing stuff before we arrived."

I swallowed.

"We should be extra cautious…"

I nodded.

Our arduous journey was merely a three minute long silent romp through the corridors—a few twists and turns—till we got to the sealed doors Robin had prophesied. Typically such a trip would take less than a minute, but the Boy Wonder insisted on our slow and careful speed. I couldn't agree more…though I was getting rather edgy about the presence of a certain convention fodder:

"So….like…why have doors here if they're gonna be sealed all the time?! The flooding water is BENEATH US right now!"

"If I were you, the last thing I'd wish for was water," Robin muttered as he knelt and examined the doors. "Those electrical inhibitors on the handcuffs wouldn't be so friendly with it."

Control Freak blinked. "You mean….if that wave of water would have hit me—"

"Yes, my conscience is very clear on what would have happened," Robin grumbled as he continued examining. He opened a satchel on his left shoulder and produced primacord. He stretched it all along the groove of the door while talking. "Be happy and secure in the fact that we're not the types to leave you to dead even when certain teammates of ours neglect certain construction issues when building an underwater tunnel…." The end of his speech was stressed with a minute growl.

Sandy smiled cutely. "I won't say anything if you won't!"

"Control Freak, Will you?"

"Pfft…what's the point?"

"Will you say anything, Noir?"

I blinked.

"Allright then," Robin stepped back, wiring the primacord to a detonator. "Stand clear!"

We kept a safe distance.

He switched the detonator.

PHWOOOMB!!!!!

A ring of fire ate through the cord and the seals in one of the doorframes in turn. The metal reinforcement melted away and slowly the door fell loose of its holding and CLANKED! to the floor of the basement on the other side.

Sandy winced. "You think we made too much noise?"

Robin said, "You think that it's gonna matter at all anymore soon?" He looked towards me and motioned with a glove.

I nodded and followed him slowly through the melted doorframe…

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Robin peered around one path of the hallway while I looked down another.

There was silence, darkness, and absolutely no one.

"Hang on a sec…," Robin whispered. He reached into another pack and pulled out infrared goggles. He flipped them over his eyemasks and tapped a button. A tiny whining sound hit our ears and our ears alone. The tips of the lenses glowed green and he looked both ways down the tunnel.

I couldn't help but feel neglected with my useful black eyes for a moment there…

"All clear," he said.

I motioned for Sandy and Control Freak to come along.

"Don't mind me saying this…," the fat one uttered, "…but this is about as exciting as watching Patrick Stewart's hair grow."

ZAP!!

"DAH!! She did it without asking this time!!"

"Sorry," Sandy blushed. "Finger slipped."

"Well, you're both going to have to draw back soon," Robin said as he lead us up a metal flight of stairs in the basement towards another door. "Admittedly, I was a bit too cautious on the last door we opened. But this is where the going will get tough."

"How so?"

I hand-signed to Sandy.

"Ohhhh," she nodded. "Security systems. Gonna take a while?"

"It's not an issue of time," Robin said as he reached the door and I with him. "Howbeit…accuracy."

"Accuracy?"

"We have sensors to take out…sensors that we can't sense very easily. If you pardon the pun."

"I'll pardon anything as long as Thelma here doesn't go Green Mile on my ass again!"

"Shh!! Enough talking," Robin motioned the two back as he approached the door. "The two of you hold back and keep your mouths shut or else this mission is a bust!"

Sandy nodded and drew herself and the amused fiend back down a few steps.

Robin slowly gripped the door handle with his glove. He reached into a pack with another hand and brought out a sensor with wires attached to tiny pliers. He placed the pliers over the edge of his glove—not contacting the skin. He eyed the meter on the sensor for a minute before looking at me. "Thermal sensors are offline."

I nodded. I remembered that Robin's gloves were resistant to temperature change, but also served as great readers for fluctuating heat or cold.

He put the sensor away and grabbed another, different one. He planted it against the wall a few inches above the handle. It slowly started beeping.

"Magnetic trigger," he whispered. "He put the sensor away. He held a glove out. "Hand me the destabilizer."

I reached into a satchel on my right chest and plopped it in his grasp.

He pressed a button and waved it around the area where the sensor had beeped. A green light flashed.

"Great. It's dead now," he said. He handed me back the destabilizer. We could now open the door without the magnetic system registering an entrance from the basement and setting off an alarm to alert the Puppet King. It was something Cyborg—in all his limited genius—set up. And we knew just how to move around it.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Creeeeeeak!!

Robin and I slowly—together—opened the door to the first floor of the Tower.

His eyemask squinted and I peered through shades at the dimly lit hallway. Everything felt eerily normal. It was quiet. No hostages. No Titans. And certainly no Puppet King.

Neither of us spoke.

Robin reached into his utility belt and pulled out a flat, metal dish. He unsealed it and blew gently against its side. A fine powder floated out into the air close to the ground. Red lasers were criss-crossing through the room. Finely tuned to trip at the slightest movement of an arm or a leg.

Robin put the dish away and pulled out a gun and an EMP Dart.

"Spot for me, Noir…," he whispered gently.

I pulled my shades off and glared upwards. The red lasers were blinding…but they were only partially visible due to the powder in the air. I followed the crimson lines till I found a single source of them. There was one of many chargers in the top corner where the wall met the ceiling across from the door a few feet. I pointed directly at it.

"Ah….I see it now," Robin whispered. He loaded the dart into the gun, twisted it, and charged it. He took a deep breath and aimed with both hands around the base of the gun. He squinted one side of his eyemask. "Better make it count…"

I took a deep breath.

Robin aimed.

I sweated.

Robin aimed…….

Pfting!

Swiiiiish-Clink!

The dart struck dead-on, sparked, and died. The laser charger shorted out. Tiny sparks of electricity branched outward and soon all of the chargers linked to the struck one on the ceiling shorted out in turn. The lasers shown in the powder disappeared. The hallway was clear.

"Whew…," Robin admittedly exhaled. He pocketed the gun away and looked at me with a weak smile. "You'd think we were doing all this to enter Raven's room or something."

I wished.

Robin hissed: "Pssst!" and motioned towards the other two on the metal stairs.

Sandy and Control Freak tip-toed to join us in the hallway.

"I don't get it…," Sandy muttered. "There's nobody here."

"They must be on another level," Robin remarked.

I hand-signed.

Sandy read me and looked at Robin. "Don't we have to settle communication with the law enforcement outside?"

Robin nodded. "Indeed. Let's just hope that the fact we haven't triggered a response from the Puppet King already is a good sign that we'll get there unhitched."

"Where is 'there'?"

"Third floor. Cyborg's room."

"Let's get to it then…."

"Follow me," Robin gestured and dashed down the hallway towards a stairwell.

I let Sandy and Control Freak go ahead while I covered the rear.

The fat fanboy smirked: "Cyborg's room! Now I'll finally get to know if the rumors are true that he's run by a Macintosh!"

ZAP!!!

"AUGH!! DAMMIT!"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

SWIIISH!!!

The automatic doors to the lab opened.

Robin and I dashed in. Him with his staff. I with Myrkblade.

Nobody was there.

We breathed easily.

Robin motioned for the other two to come.

Sandy hurriedly led Control Freak inside.

Robin pressed a button and the doors slammed together shut and locked.

"Okay….so far so good."

"So far….so little," Sandy remarked. She pulled her goggles off a bit and rubbed her eyes. "Just how many people supposedly were capture?"

"Dozens," Robin said. "Well over one hundred, total, if you count the Titans too."

"Then they all must be jammed up somewhere!" Sandy exclaimed. "I'm not seeing a single one of them!"

"There may be a way to get some answers…," Robin's voice trailed. He walked over to a wall of computer consoles along the length of a wall in Cyborg's room. He scratched his chin and attempted imputing commands through the keyboard.

"Whoah….did we just fall onto the set of Tron?" Control Freak beamed.

"Hardly…," Robin hummed. Typing. "I'm attempting to tap into the main computer and locate where the Titans and the hostages are."

After a few more keystrokes, the computer emitted a buzzing sound.

Robin gritted his teeth and pounded the computer console. "Dammit! Just as I thought!"

"What is it?" Sandy walked over.

Robin typed in another flurry. "By controlling the Titans, the Puppet King controls the Tower's computer. He's bypassed most of the command prompts."

"Well, you're the Titan leader, right? Can't you override them?"

"It'd take time. Even with Noir here to provide a secondary identification."

I simpered.

"Oooh! Oooh! Start a self-destruct sequence and then call it off at the last second!" Control Freak exclaimed. He smirked at me. "I've always wanted to see that up hand."

I sweatdropped.

"Shut up…," Robin grumbled while typing. "If I'm right, then I should still be able to access some of the more intermediate commands without much hassle."

"Like what?" Sandy asked.

Robin finished a keystroke. There was a pleasant beeping sound. He smiled and looked at the rest of us. "Communication systems have been freed. The Tower's defenses can no longer access transmissions to and from an outer source."

"Excellent!" Sandy smiled.

Robin flipped open a communicator with a Star Trek sound and spoke inside: "This is Robin. We're in. Can anyone copy? Over."

A pause.

Staticky sound.

Then….

"Snkkkkt!! Robin, glad you could make it," replied the voice of Decker's Lieutenant. "You're making good time."

"Let's save that judgment till after the hostages are freed," replied the Boy Wonder into the communicator. "Right now, the four of us are in Cyborg's room—which doubles as the technical hub of the Tower. Apparently, most of the computer access has been refused to me. I can override it, but I'd rather take a chance and look for the hostages on my own before something bad may happen to them. As of now, we've ascended to the third floor of the Tower—and yet we still haven't seen anyone. I'm beginning to think that the Puppet King has who we're looking for on the stories above us. Tell me…do you or your men spot any lights or any activity through the windows on the upper floor?"

"Negative. There is a dim light on the third floor from the Tower's top. But no sign of anything going on in there."

Sandy seemed curious.

I looked at her and hand-signed: 'The Main Room'.

She mouthed: "Oh."

"Lieutenant," Robin spoke, "…I'm going to try and keep in touch with you as I continue this infiltration. Any information I find about the hostages, the Titans, or the Puppet King—I shall make it known to you."

"Affirmative, Robin. I must ask though: Has he been of any assistance to you, yet?"

"Who?"

"The prisoner."

Robin glanced over at Control Freak.

"Ooooh!! Get a lode of this!" the fat fanboy stood besides an electronic eye-scanner that hung from the ceiling on metal levers and supports. He pulled it down with his forearms and manacled hands so that the two socket pieces faced us. "'Johnny Five….Alive!!'" he impersonated, then giggled his head off.

Robin sweatdropped.

"All in good time, Lieutenant. Robin out."

The Boy Wonder flipped the communicator closed. He began typing away on the keyboard and staring at the screen. "We may have a bit of a deterrent in our trip upstairs," he said—as if he was reading the computer screen the entire time he was talking over the communicator.

"What's that?" Sandy asked.

"According to this," Robin pointed at the screen. "The stairwell above the fourth floor have been sealed tight. And I don't mean something as flimsy as what we've burned through already. These things were built to withstand the fiercest of Slade's attacks….or a earthquake. Whatever came first."

I smirked.

"So what'll we do?!" Sandy exclaimed.

"Halo Lan Party--??"

"Shut up!!"

"Heheheheh…"

Robin cleared his throat. "I can still get up there."

"How?"

"Easily. I'll just need some help."

I nodded and walked forward--

Robin held a hand up. He bit his lip. "Um….sorry, Noir. Not you."

I raised an eyebrow.

Robin reached into his utility belt. He whipped out a taser and an extra, retractable rod. He tossed both at Sandy.

The girl awkwardly caught them with a gasp. She looked at Robin with wide eyes. "M-Me?"

"Yeah…," Robin nodded. "Just like me…..y-you're kinda small."

"Pfft! Barely!" Control Freak scoffed.

I looked at him.

Whump!

"Ow!!"

"We have to take the ventilation shafts," Robin said. "They're the only way."

"Jeez….you'd think Slade would think of that," Sandy remarked.

"True," Robin nodded stoically. "That's why Cyborg had the plasma fields installed to burn any robot crawling through them alive."

"Er…..," Sandy gulped.

"It's okay. I know how to disarm them."

"I would hope so," Sandy took a shuddering breath, pocketed the staff and taser, and pulled the goofy goggles back down over her eyes. "Well….I-I'm not one to back down from a challenge."

"I'd say not!" Control Freak said. "The soonest I'd try climbing through one of those chutes, I'd get royally stuck!" he glanced over at Robin and smirked with an obscure pride. "That's not something I regret, mind you."

"Well aren't you special," Robin muttered. He spun around and typed a few strokes on a nearby computer console. "To be honest, it would relieve me to have you stuck some place where I can't hear your cheese puff saturated voice. But as gruesome a truth as it is, I'm going to need your input and wealth of silent movie knowledge."

A wall opened automatically, and inside were extra communicators. Cyborg's room was stocked.

Robin grabbed one. He tossed them at me.

I caught them.

"That's for Control Freak," the Boy Wonder pointed a gloved finger. "There'll come a time when we'll need him to yap off about the Puppet King. In the meantime, you can contact either me or the Lieutenant through the morse code signals in your metal arm."

I nodded.

"Lords knows I'm going to need you badly, Noir," Robin said. "But at the moment…you're on babysitting duty."

I sighed and limply nodded.

"Hey! It isn't so bad!" the pudgy villain walked over and nudged me with his shoulders. "We can talk anime! I bet you're a real Rurouni Kenshin fan!"

I glared at him. I turned my body just right so that he could see the threatening hilt of Myrkblade in my scabbard.

Control Freak gulped and simpered: "Or I could yap off about Leonard Nimoy's narrative exploits through the latter decades of twentieth century television."

I sighed, shook my head, and desperately hand-signed to Sandy: 'Come back soon'.

She giggled with a nod. "Hang in there, handsome." She then hooked an arm playfully around Robin and led him to the door. "Come on, Boy Wonder. We have a marriage ceremony to crash."

"Um….," a flustered Robin nodded in tow. "Yeah. Exactly." He pointed back at us as they unlocked the door and stepped out. "If anyone comes knocking on the door….cut their strings first and ask questions later!"

SWIIIISH!!!

They were gone.

I walked to the door and locked it from the inside. I took a deep breath. I turned and forlornly looked at my 'partner' through my shades.

Control Freak rubbed his chin. "Tell me, shinobi, am I the only one disturbed by that boy's tights?"

Knock! Knock! Knock!

I jolted.

I unlocked the door.

SWIIISH!!

Sandy.

"Here…take this…," she tossed me the tiny black remote. "Might come in handy," she winked.

SWIIIIIISH!!

They were finally gone.

I held the remote…..and glanced at Control Freak. Bravely, he smiled. "I mean…..Robin's pants are practically screaming 'good morning, world!'"

ZAP!!!

"DAUGH!!! BRING IT ON!!!"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Robin and Sandy ascended the only stairway they could, and soon they were on the fourth floor.

"Just around this corner, and we'll find one," Robin muttered as they snuck down a dim hallway.

"Find one what?" Sandy blinked through her goggles.

"An entrance to a ventilation shaft."

"Oh yeah," she nodded. A beat. "And the plasma?"

"One step at a time."

"You're a very pragmatic Titan."

"I have to be."

"I bet the Titans all admire you for that."

"Well, actually they get rather annoyed," Robin sighed. A beat. He smiled faintly. "Except Starfire."

"Oh?"

"Yeah…she's rather………..tolerant of how stiff I can be."

"Hehehehe."

Robin paused. He glanced at Sandy. "Something funny?"

"You said 'stiff'."

"Yeah??"

"………..never mind."

Robin rolled his eyemask and motioned her along. "Come on…," he whispered.

The two rounded the corner….and froze.

Robin: "………."

Sandy: "………."

Both blinked at the same time. Or at least one can assume that Robin was blinking in tune with Sandy.

"Uhm….forgive me for being the one to make an outburst but….," Sandy slowly looked over at the Boy Wonder. "Please say this is one of the girls' doing."

Robin slowly shook his head. His mouth hanging open in dumbfounded shock. "I didn't even know there was a doing! What the heck is this?!?!"

The walls of the corridor were decked with sashes of velvety material. Fake plants had been situated against the wall, surrounded by glittery decorations above an assortment of rugs and wooly spreads across the floor. There was a definite air of pageantry in the Tower's interior now. It looked and felt like some bastard child of a Victorian house and an Arabian harem.

"Did Silas Stone have a knack for designing church lobbies?"

"Give me a second…," Robin flipped out his communicator with a Star Trek sound. "Lieutenant, this is Robin. Come in."

"Go ahead, Robin. We hear you."

"If I recall right…the mind controlled Titans also robbed from various businesses in the City. Am I correct?"

"Yes, unfortunately so."

"Were any of the businesses…," Robin winced, "….er….a craft store or something?" A pause. "Make that a warehouse…"

"Why….um….yes, Robin. Didn't you read the report?"

"Refresh my memory."

"The Crystal Petal. It's a huge arts and crafts warehouse southeast of Downtown. Near Bayside Plaza. There was a huge break-in there shortly after the City-wide kidnappings."

"Was…..like….a good deal of their inventory grabbed?"

"Indeed it was. Almost half of their stock."

"That would explain it…."

"Explain what, Robin?"

"Let's just say that I'm starting to get in touch with the Puppet King's interior motives…..over and out."

Sandy sweatdropped. "I-I suppose the Puppet King wants to have a marriage ceremony in style."

"Yeah, well…," Robin pocketed the communicator away. "You and I are here to deliver the divorce papers forcibly."

Sandy chuckled. "Okay…now that was pretty lame. Do you actually say that sort of stuff all the time??"

Robin gasped. "Holy Shadow Puppets!"

Sandy giggled. "See! There you go again—"

"No!" Robin hissed and pointed at a shadow against the decorated wall from around the corner. "I seriously mean it! Someone's coming!"

"…………," Sandy blinked. "Wow."

Robin looked all around for solutions. He glanced directly up. Luckily, a ventilation shaft grate was directly above them. He took a breath, jumped, bounced sideways off a sashayed wall, and reached up in mid-air to grab the edge of the grate. CLANK!! It swung loose. Robin dangled. He gritted his teeth, grunted, and swung his lower body up. Effortlessly, the Boy Wonder snaked up into the shaft.

The shadow loomed closer from around the corner. It was large and hulking.

Sandy gulped and wrung her hands. She nervously looked up and whispered hoarsely: "D-Don't leave me!!"

Already, Robin was stretching an extended metal staff down from his grip high above.

Sandy jumped and grabbed firmly to the lower end of it.

Robin lifted her swiftly and closed the shaft's grate behind her.

They rested—cramped together and panting—as the dark figure passed underneath them.

Robin's eyemask squinted as he leaned his head down slowly to peer through the gaps in the grate.

With a zombie like march of titanium feet, Cyborg walked hulkingly down the length of the hallway. He was……..clothed. Clothed in a dark, shiny suit of sorts….fitted big to accommodate his metal immensity. It almost looked like a tuxedo…complete with a bow tie. His human eye glowed a frightening, pale blue. Under his arm were three or four of the missing metal lattices from the cavernous underground of the Tower. He was transporting them…

"This is bad," Sandy whispered and looked at Robin. "The Puppet King is dolling up your friends."

"He did a nice number on the coattails…"

"Huh???"

Robin shook his head. "Never mind. It's best we avoid Cyborg. Obviously our villain of the night has him doing some awful bidding. Most likely wrapped up in this whole 'marriage' theme and crap."

"You don't suppose he's the Queen of Strings, do you?" Sandy nodded her head towards the grate.

"Um…….wh-what???"

"Never mind…."

"Come on, let's go," Robin said, scurrying down the ventilation shaft. His voice echoed against the thin, metal cramping them in. "We're limited on time, and our main concern is finding the hostages."

"Just how do we know when we're close to them?" Sandy asked, hobbling after the Boy Wonder on her hands and knees.

"I've got a hunch…," Robin said. "If Cyborg's getup is a clue…then all we have to do is follow the rice."

"Huh?"

"The frillier the hallways beneath the shaft, the more decorative, the closer we'll be to the center. And besides," he smirked bitterly. "If I was to throw a wedding reception in this Tower, there's no better place than one spot in the entire building."

"The lavatory?"

"The gym."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Dum… dum… dum… dum de dum… dum de dum… dum dum dum… dum da dum… dumdum da dummmmmm."

Control Freak hummed.

I stood by the door. Absent mindedly tapping the end of Myrkblade against the floor of Cyborg's lab. Breathing stressfully. Feeling anxious….

"Budum… ba da… daa da da da-du-dum… ba da… daa da da da-du-dum… ba da dum dada… dum dadaa."

A beat.

The fat fanboy chuckled. "Heheheheh. John Williams… gotta love him!"

I gritted my teeth and slowly glared over at him.

"Oh….I'm sorry, am I getting on your nerves?"

I slowly nodded.

"Great!" he smiled. ""Dum… dum… dum… dum de dum… dum de dum…."

I groaned. My fingers tickled the plastic surface of the tiny black switch in my pocket. But I refrained…..

Miraculously, CF ceased his humming on his own. He was glancing at me sideways. "So…like…is that really a cybernetic prosthetic you have there?"

I looked at him curiously. A beat. I mouthed 'oh'. I held up my metal left hand and flexed the titanium knuckles. I shrugged.

"Looks fake," he spat.

A red artery in my forehead pulsed vividly.

"Now Skywalker…," Control Freak leaned casually against a computer console on the far side of the room and smirked. "…that farmer boy had a prosthetic to die for. Of course, it was only his hand that was chopped off and not a huge chunk of his forearm like you. But he had it covered with fake skin. Couldn't they have—I dunno—at least done that with you? Cuz that's not gonna win any girls, I tell you what!"

I gritted my teeth. I had the sudden urge to show him how 'real' those metal knuckles of mine could be. But I restrained. I restrained…

"I once this girl at a convention before my first run in with the Titans. Her D&D name was Havielle Moon. She was a dark elf ranger, but at the convention she was dressed as Seven of Nine and nobody would know the difference. Anywho, she had a prosthetic left hand because she was born with only three fingers and---" Control Freak paused. He blinked. He looked at me and smirked. "Hey, is that arm of yours water proof?? Otherwise….that's really gotta suck, dude. Ha ha ha!!"

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and attempted to meditate.

"I hear they're recreating the Adams' Family for t.v. They need a new, realistic hand to convincingly play 'Thing' in modern day. You don't think you could…I dunno….get some fake skin and volunteer for that, perhaps? They'd kill to get a big name like you cameo starring on their pilot episode. Not to mention the fact that—come two years from now when they allow middle fingers to be expressed on network prime time without mishap—you could be a regular media astronaut—"

ZAP!!!!

"AAAAAAH—HA HA HA HA!!! IT WAS ABOUT TIME, YOU GUTLESS CARDASSIAN!!!"

I smirked.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Um….please tell me this is where Santa comes down…," Sandy whimpered.

"No," Robin shook his head and stood up straight at the bottom of a tall, vertical shaft leading upwards. "This is where we go up."

"W-Would now be a good time to tell you that I'm afraid of heights?" Sandy murmured.

Robin whipped out a grappling hook. "Actually, now would be a good time to remind yourself why you volunteered to join this effort in the first place."

The girl sighed and closed her goggled eyes. "Y-You're right. I know exactly why I tagged along, Robin…"

"Good…then explain it to me sometime," the Boy Wonder aimed the grappling hook up and fire. POW!!!!

SWOOOOOOSH

The hook flew on the end of the cord for a good five seconds of eternity before striking the distant ceiling of the vertical chute above.

CLANK!!!

It was almost to the end of the cord's length.

Sandy whistled. "That's a long way for one's life to flash before her eyes on the way up."

"Don't sweat it," Robin smiled persuasively. "Grab onto my back. We'll go up together."

"Er….," Sandy bit her lip. "Are you sure th-that we can both fit on the ascent?"

"Positive," the Boy Wonder pulled the cord taut, checking its integrity. "I'm as thin as a rail."

"………………and myself?"

"We'll fit."

Sandy sweatdropped. "Yeah…."

Robin grabbed ahold of the grappling hook handle tightly and scooted around in the cramped base of the chute. "Okay. Get on my back. The gym's waiting."

"J-Just how sure are you that the gym is the place we're looking for?" Sandy stammered while wrapped her arms around his torso.

"About as sure as I am that I can carry us both up this chute!" Robin smirked.

"A-And remind me…h-how sure are you again?"

"We'll find out in a sec." Robin's gloved finger clicked a button on the handle.

"Lovely—EEP!!" Sandy cringed and hugged tightly to Robin's back as cord retracted and the two swiftly ascended via the pulley-like cord.

Robin felt her trembling. "Relax! I do this sort of thing all the time!"

"This is not like the data entry and math tutoring that I'm u-used to!" Sandy exclaimed, muffled into his shoulder.

"We'll be fine," Robin smiled as the two approached the top of the vertical ascent. "Just as long as there's no sudden jolt or violent vibration to cause us to—"

"ACHOO!!!!"

Robin's body shook from Sandy's biological exclamation and his gloves slid out of grip from the grappling hook. "DAAAH!!!"

His nimble body fell like an anvil.

"AACKIES!!!" Sandy vaulted off of his plummeting body, spun her arms like a pinwheel, and somehow managed to grab onto the grappling hook—howbeit with her finger pressing the button that caused it to lose slack.

SWOOOOOSH!!! "AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" Robin fell.

SWIIIIIIIIIIIISH!!! "YAAAAAAAAAAAAK!!!" Sandy followed a few feet above with the grappling hook launcher.

Robin was always prepared. He gritted his teeth and spread his legs. His metal-tipped boots scraped into the sides of the ventilation shaft. SCRIIIIIIIIIIINK!!!! Sparks flew as friction took over. Soon Robin was planted still in the middle of the shaft with his feet in either wall, Sam Fisher style. He looked up, panting.

Sandy fell, flailing. Terrorized, fish-lensed eyes pulsing down at the Boy Wonder through her goggles.

"Don't worry!!!" Robin shouted and spread his arms up. "I got you!!!"

She bit her lip and--

WHUMP!!!!!

"!!!!!!!"

Robin's boots skidded down a few extra inches as he came to a stop……………..…with Sandy collapsed in such a position atop him that his face was directly in her chest.

Any sudden movement would mean the collapse of both teenagers down the length of the vertical chute.

A beat. A very dreadful and horrific beat.

Sandy bit her lip and blushed furiously. Even as she looked down, she couldn't see Robin's eyemask nor his nose beyond herself.

Slowly, the Boy Wonder's voice came forth…and it was succinctly muffled as he uttered: "The less I….…have to…….explain this, the less……..I have to move……...my lips……Understand?"

"Uh huh," she blushed even more.

The Boy Wonder pointed up blindly. "See….the red button….on the grappling…..handle?"

"Y-Yeah…."

"Hold on…..to the handle….and press….the red button….firmly…." There was an awkward stutter to the way he said 'firmly'.

"Okay….I-I think I can d-do that."

"Then please do it……..right now."

"O-Of course….ahem…"

-Click-

Whurrrrrrrrr.

Sandy slowly ascended via the mechanism.

"I-I'll pass the thing d-down t-to you when I'm at the t-top….okay?"

Robin gasped for air once he was 'free' and nodded with a red face.

"Y-Yeah….," he panted. "Good idea."

A beat.

He looked up the shaft with a crooked expression.

"You're not wearing a bra??"

FWOOOSH!!

The lone handle to the grappling hook dangled fiercely down and bounced off the top of his head.

BONK!!

"OW!!"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"So….why didn't you keep the goggles?"

I looked up from a computer console at Control Freak. I lifted an eyebrow from under my shades.

"From Wyldecarde!!"

I grumbled and shook my head.

"Seriously! That was way killer cool!" the fat fanboy gestured from where he sat on the edge of a medical bed. "You looked like what would happen if Vin Diesel and Fabio had a lovechild….with a sword!!"

I sighed and faced the computer. I tried typing…once.

It buzzed at me.

I gritted my teeth.

"It must pay to be a bad guy, right?" Control Freak smirked. "Man…you should leave the Titans and join me. Wyldecarde and Control Freak. We'd be fighting multiple fronts!! At Vegas hotels, you'd be slicing into money vaults with your gambling cards and I'd be waltzing into the Star Trek experience, holding people for ransom!"

I looked at him funny. I mouthed 'ransom??'.

"Yeah. To be paid in Magic the Gathering Cards! What else?!"

I brought a hand over my face and wished for Armageddon….

"But only if you wear the goggles, man. And if you wanted, once I get one of my remotes back, I'd zap it and make it—like—sentient and stuff. Your goggles could talk to you! Tell you if a bad guy's hanging around a corner!! Sentient eyewear can do that. I zapped a pair I bought from the Sunglass Hut one day and—I swear to God—every department store I walked into practically turned into a Victoria's Secret right before me! Ha!!"

Silence.

"Th-That's what I got arrested for first…," he muttered, a little embarrassed. "Sunglass shoplifting."

More silence.

"You don't talk much, do you?"

ZAP!!!

"ARGGH!!! I'M SERIOUS!! And just what is it that you're hiding with them shades anywho?? And don't you dare say optic blast beams!!"

I stared at him. I suddenly smirked. I waltzed over…whipped off my shades…and snarled with monstrous black eyes.

Control Freak turned pale as a ghost. "Mother of the Matrix…." WHUMP!!! He slumped over on the medical bed. Unconscious. Stiff as a board.

I chuckled breathily, slipped the shades back on, and resumed typing on the computer keyboard.

It buzzed at me again.

So I hit it.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Robin paused amidst scurrying through the shaft.

"What is it?" Sandy asked breathlessly from behind.

"I hear voices…," Robin stated. "…lots of voices."

"The h-hostages?" the girl remarked.

"Better yet…," the Boy Wonder smugly smiled back at her. "We're almost at the gym."

"Okay. You're good at your hunches."

"That has yet to be seen," he said and motioned with his head. "Come on. Let's get a good look."

"How?"

"One of the grates."

"Y-You mean…we're in one of those lonely ventilation tubes hanging h-high above the gym and st-stuff??"

"That's an accurate way to put it."

Sandy gulped. "It's only a few dozen feet of a drop, r-right?"

"Don't worry," Robin insisted. "I won't make you look down if you don't want to," he said. "Just be ready to hand me the communicator."

"Okay…," Sandy nodded. "Just stay here with me, please? Don't be pulling a Dustin Hoffman."

"Uh….y-yeah. Whatever."

A pause.

"Get it? C-Cuz this is a wedding we're sneaking up on—"

"I said 'whatever'."

"Oh. Right."

The two sneaked ahead. But just as Robin reached the grate, he paused and looked back at the goggled girl.

"By the way, I've been meaning to ask you. Just what made you sneeze in the vertical shaft down there?"

"I dunno. I think I m-must be allergic to boys or something."

"I see. Well….thanks for giving me something to be proud of."

"Anytime."

And with that done, Robin peered down through the gate at the proceedings of the huge gym below.

….

And his eyemask bulged.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

If one were to combine the sets and art designs of "Moulin Rouge", "Amadeus", and "Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas" and somehow combine them into on conglomerated meatball of color-vomit pageantry, that would come close to the equivalent of the Titan gym's appearance on that evening.

Rich, ornamental rugs were splashed across the floor where—once—exercise equipment used to reside. The walls were splashed with windowless curtains and tapestries galore. There was no electric lamp in use in the entire place. Instead, huge brass stands supported candlesticks and torches with flickering flames of amber aestheticism.

The hostages….were dancing. Ballroom dancing. With happy glowing eyes of blue. Man and woman. Across the floor. Elegantly dressed. Attired in such a fashion as to suggest something akin to late eighteenth century France. The men had frilly suits with coattails. The women had huge hoopskirts and powdery complexions.

The décor, the dancers, the entire vomit bag of brainless elegance circled like a hurricane around a focal point in the center of the gym. A luxurious throne atop a mountain of furry throw rugs. And sitting on that throne—looking almost as dazed as those truly being mind-controlled—was the Puppet King himself. He held a scepter one hand and danced the finger of another one around stoically. It was like some bland attempt to achieve something akin to musical felicity. It hardly worked, for the Puppet King's eyes were just as lifeless and googly as ever. The only legitimate sign of life was the eerie bobbing motion of his wooden chin.

And hanging above everything…above the chaotic, zombified merriment, were the missing metal lattices from underground. They hung on tense aluminum strings from the ceiling and glowed in rainbow colors, representing the souls being manhandled by the Puppet King's reawakened power.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Well…," Sandy remarked while glancing down through the vent. "I suppose you can add 'costume warehouse' to the day's thievery list."

Robin's eyemask thinned. "The last time we faced off against him, he only had one control to steal our minds with. Now he's turned ordinary slabs of metal into dozens of them. But…..how…" A pause. He glanced at Sandy. "From what you've read…is it possible for the third phase of the Puppet King's curse to grant him power to control minds once again?"

"I'd say so," Sandy nodded. "Until the whole 'Queen of Strings' thing is acted out."

"And when is it acted out?"

"That's nerdboy's department. Not mine."

"Right," Robin nodded. He pulled out his communicator. "I think it's about time I make a collect call—"

Suddenly, Sandy gasped. She pointed down through the grate. "Look!"

Robin did look. And also did gasp. "Oh what the Hell is this…"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Cyborg walked in. Perfectly tuxedoed. Carrying more lattices under his arm.

But he was not alone. There was a dark figure, robed in black with a dark top hat topping the ensemble.

"Everyone!" the Puppet King's wooden body lumbered up to his feet atop the throne and he waved his scepter. "Cease the festivities momentarily! The magician has arrived!"

The mind-controlled mass stopped and swiveled about. Ladies cooed and gentlemen applauded.

Cyborg—his human eye glowing—looked up towards the ceiling.

His emotionless voice droned with a sterile, stoic 'act': "Now presenting!! The marvelous mistress of the dark arts!! In full dedication to the entertainment and enlightenment of his glory's kingdom…the Magnificent Raven!!"

Sure enough, the dark robed figure parted her garmet and tipped her top hat off. A very pale and tackily suited Raven (to make Mumbo Jumbo jealous and consider a 'gothic' streak) curtsied to the crowd and adjusted her sleeves. "Abra cadabra!!!" she exclaimed in perfect un-Raven fashion.

A dark sphere rose up out of the decorated gym floor. Encased in this dark sphere were four hostages. The last to be brain controlled. Two cops, a city official, and the rich and famous Veronica Vreeland.

"!!!!" Ms. Vreeland gasped and looked all around at the people. "What's going on here?!?! Where have you taken me?!?!"

"Silence while the magic act is in session!" the Puppet King growled. He pointed down with a threatening scepter from the throne. "Do you dare disgrace the sanctity of this ceremony?!"

While Cyborg attached aluminum strings to a blank lattice and pulled it up to the ceiling via a pulley, Vreeland looked around I fear and uttered:

"You can't be serious!! Since when did Howdy Doody pull an Al Qaeda?!"

"I am the Puppet King!!" the wooden thing cackled. "Reawakened from the depths of silence by the sheer power of love itself!! You, my dear….you will respect the Queen and join us in festivities!! And then you can worry later about the exorcism of your diseased society of ignorance and disprespect!"

"N-No!! I've heard of you on the News before!!" Vreeland shook and quivered. "You t-take people's bodies over and try and destroy their souls!! You can't take me!! I-I'm…..t-too important!!"

"In the aura of my bride to be….," the Puppet King's googly eyes settled menacingly on the woman, "…you are nothing but a peasant! Embrace the glory that is the destiny of the stars!!"

The wooden puppet waved his hands to the sky.

The latest metal lattice started to glow with the curse's magic.

Vreeland gasped. "N-No!!" She jumped up to her feet and tried desperately to run away. "Y-You can't do this!!"

The magician Raven flicked her wrists. Her eyes glowed a bright gray-blue and Vreeland was held in place by telekinesis, along with the other three struggling, protesting prisoners.

The lattice shook. Four streams of multiple colors shot down towards the prone bodies of the soon to be mind-controlled.

"Someone!! Anyone!!" Vreeland entreated the people and the Titans. "HELP!!!" Her cries fell on deaf ears.

FLASH!!!!!!

The four bodies jolted as the colors made contact…and then they settled, as if suddenly soothed or relaxed. Dumb smiles lit their faces as their eyes glowed a gentle blue. Vreeland looked the most serene of the bunch.

The Puppet King pointed to a few offhand 'partygoers'.

"Take them to the powder rooms," he said. "Tell them to get properly dressed for the ceremony. I won't have this sacred evening dishonored!"

The few zombie-like, uniformed citizens nodded and made off with the new four.

Cyborg walked over firmly—bouncer like—and stepped up to the Puppet King's throne. He leaned over and whispered something into the wooden figure's craned ear.

A beat.

The Puppet King nodded, his googly eyes twirling. "Go take care of it…," he gently said to the android Titan.

Cyborg's glowing eye pulsed. He bowed, turned around, and slowly walked out the door.

Then the Puppet King stood up. "Ladies and Gentlemen! The moment you've all been waiting for!!" A strange warmth seemed to come over his wooden complexion—if that was even possible. He gestured gracefully with a hand over at the double door entrance to the gym on the far side of the interior. "My bride to be. My precious. The soon to be Queen of Strings! Pay homage, for she appears before you now!"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Robin gripped the grating as he stared down from above. "Now we're getting somewhere."

"This should clear some things up," Sandy nodded with a whisper.

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Magician Raven floated over towards the doors. She did a curtsy, flicked her wrists, and slowly pulled them open with black telekinesis. What appeared on the otherside was a stagecoach. That is to say, it was a stagecoach insomuch as it was hastily assembled by bits and pieces of haphazardly scavenged tools from the entirety of the Tower. A rickety metal platform on rickety wheels ricketily rolled into the entrance of the gym. A canopy of overlapping curtains and veils hid a gracefully thin and feminine figure inside. The 'coach' was enflanked by four citizens dressed like medieval, Spanish guards—complete with glowing eyes of possession. And drawing the 'coach' was a blatantly green Clydesdale horse. Beach Boy the equine gracefully pulled the wheeled platform in. His horse nostrils flared and his beady eyes glowed a bright blue. He came to a stop and reared his hooves with a glorious neigh while the ballroom dancers clapped and cheered in robot-like fashion across the floor of the gym.

The Puppet King took a dashing step off the throne and extended his wooden hand in a pose befitting a midget prince charming. "My darling….my treasure…my one and true love…show your heavenly self so that we all may marvel at your greatness and beauty!"

The guards flanking the coach pulled the veils loose as the figure inside stood up in a shimmering gown of white and glittering blue that matched her glowing, cyan eyes. In fluid, watery motion Starfire stepped down. She lifted the hem of her skirt as she reached the floor then held her hands to her side as she swiveled prettily over and stood by the Puppet King's proud side.

She smiled liquidly and leaned her head to the side. It was Starfire's voice that came out…even if it sounded like Starfire's voice being filtered through a sheet of breakable glass.

"I am so very much anticipating our destiny together….my beloved…."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"……………………………………..," Robin stared.

"Er….," Sandy bit her lip. "Not good."

"Tell me about it," Robin droned emotionlessly. With a tight jaw, he reached a hand back to a satchel and pulled out a handful of flammable throwing discs. "Give me some elbow room."

"Wh-What for?"

"I'm going to kill the Puppet King."

"Uhh---Huh?!?!?"

"It'll only take a second," he reached a gloved hand to open the vent's grate.

"Robin!! For crying out loud, hold it right there!!" Sandy gripped his wrists.

"I'm going to kill him. Simple as that." He finally looked at her, perplexed, like she was suddenly an animal struggling with him. "Sandy, what're you doing?"

"What are you doing?!?! You can't just KILL him like that!!"

"Why not?? I sure can!! I can kill a hundred of his splintery asses!! Blindfolded and with my knees deep in peat moss!!"

"Well…let's at least make sure that whatever we do—violently impulsive or not—we make sure that it'll definitely cancel out the curse and stuff."

"Meaning…"

"Let's make that call to Control Freak," Sandy begged, staring into his eyemask. "Please?"

He sighed, glaring down through the vent. "Very well then."

"Whew….," she breathed.

He pocketed the discs back and whipped out his communicator. "We'll get some of Control Freak's advice and free the curse."

"Exactly what I was thinking!"

"Then I'm going to kill the Puppet King."

Sandy sweatdropped. "L-Let's just take it as it comes, okay?"

"Whatever…," Robin angrily muttered. "Noir. Come in. This is Robin."

-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-

"Noir?! Are you there?? Come in!!"

I jumped. I whipped the communicator out and clicked a morse code response. I smiled, happy to hear from my leader--

"Give the communicator to Control Freak. We need his information. Now."

My black eyes blinked. I bit my lip. I looked over to where the fat villain still lay silent…unconscious on the medical bed.

"Noir?? This is important!! Give Control Freak the phone now!"

I rushed over and gently slapped the fiend's pudgy cheeks.

He didn't even budge.

I slapped harder…wincing.

Nothing.

I whistled in his ear. Waved my hand over his face. Snapped my finger over his eyes. Sweated….

"Noir??? Noir??"

I spun around, looking for something. I gasped. I ran to a wall panel, opened it up, picked up an extra communicator, rushed back over to the bed, and held the communicator over by Control Freak's ear.

I flipped it on with a Star Trek sound.

Instantly, Control Freak woke up with a gasp. "Uhura?!?! Who's hailing us?!?!"

I snapped and pointed at the first communicator that Robin was squawking through.

"Huh???" the chubby villain blinked his crusty eyes. "Oh yeah. Evil puppet and stuff. Ahem." He snatched the phone from my grasp and cradled it with a smile between his shoulder and double chins. "Control Freak Hotline. Is this an obscene phone call? I hope it is!"

"Cut the crap, Control Freak. I need help."

"Oh do you now?"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Robin peered down through the grate while speaking hoarsely into the communicator. "It's about the last silent two reeler of the Puppet King."

"'Strings in the Stars'?"

"Yeah, that one. Was there anything in that short movie that resembled a bunch of marionette string holders hanging from the ceiling??"

"Is this a trick question??"

"No, you inflated Doritos whore!! I mean every word of it!!" Robin snapped, frightening Sandy with the possible giveaway volume of the exclamation. "Was there anything in reference to the actual puppet strings evident in the silent movie?? Especially regarding the 'celebrators' of the Puppet King's and Mary Lou's wedding?"

"Puppet strings? No. The story and plot was cheesy enough to pretend the camera wasn't catching those godawful things. However…"

"Yeah???"

"A lot of reference was made to stars being overhead the characters…," Control Freak's voice explained. "It was a running motif in the last movie."

"Care to be more specific?"

"Well, there's the honeymoon in the stars. Ya know, with the Puppet King, Mary Lou, and the catapult?!"

"You already told us that one."

"Hmmmm………Here's something interesting then."

"I'm listening…."

"The Puppet King in the story—after beating Big Dog—invited the entire townsfolk to the wedding ceremony. But not all of them came. The ones who failed to came never got to celebrate the marriage. The Puppet King griped and said it was because they were 'ignorant' and 'arrogant'. He believed that the royal townsfolk too wrapped up in themselves to possibly see the stars couldn't share in his and Mary Lou's glory."

"So….you mean….," Robin eyed the multicolored, mind-controlling lattices hanging from the gym's ceiling, "….the ones who did attend the marriage—"

"Knew about and saw the stars."

"'Stars'…..," Sandy breathed.

Robin narrowed his eyemask. He uttered: "Did the attendees of the wedding see stars overhead?"

"Most definitely. Great effects they had in that short movie to simulate it too—"

"Were those stars of many different colors??"

"Ha ha ha ha!!" Control Freak's voice guffawed. "Robin, it was a silent picture!! You think there'd be any color?!"

Robin groaned.

"But……"

The Boy Wonder brightened.

"There were colored slides of the stars. Three different colors. A green slide. A blue slide. And a red slide."

"Hmmm…," Robin stared out the grate. To his half-surprise, the lattices were glowing exactly those three colors and nothing else. "Well I'll be damned…."

"Damn you!! Hehehehe!"

"………they're the exact same colors."

"I'd imagine so. It's all fitting in with the curse n'stuff!"

"Any parallel motifs of the colored slides and the celebrating townsfolk?"

"Not really. But it's safe to say that you never see those townsfolk in the movie until the marriage scene. And that takes place at night!"

"Point being…."

"The 'ignorant' townsfolk had a single moment in a deleted scene of the last two-reeler. And in it, the setting was at day."

Sandy gasped. "Don't you get it, Robin??"

Robin sighed and put on a brave smile for her. "Enlighten me. I dare you."

"The hostages are the townsfolk!! They're the partygoers of the wedding ceremony and the lattice 'controls' with their multiple colors—"

"Are the stars. Right," Robin nodded. "And the ignorant townsfolk—"

"Are those outside the Tower threatening to die as well when the fusion reactor goes critical!"

"They're ignorant because they're not in here….," Robin thought aloud, "….seeing the stars. Or in this case, the lattices…"

A beat.

Robin brightened. "What would happen if the hostage 'celebrators' were made to think it was no longer night??"

"So….we destroy the lattices?" Sandy exclaimed.

"Nah….," Robin stroked his chin. "Can't be that simple…."

Control Freak's voice broke in: "Just because the stars are gone, it doesn't mean it's no longer night!! Night is relative!!"

"Except by one definition," Robin smirked. "When it's nighttime, the sun is below the horizon."

"Unless you live in Alaska during—"

"Shhh!! Stop complicating it," Robin hissed. He rolled his eyes under the mask. "Robin out."

"But—!!!"

Robin flipped the communicator off and looked at Sandy. "If we were to somehow….simulate the sunrise so that the mind controlled hostages were to believe—according to the Puppet King's cursed scenario—that the Sun was rising—"

"Then we'd free them of the curse!" Sandy grinned. "They'd be just like the 'ignorant' people outside the Tower! Completely in control of their thought processes!"

"The Titans too," Robin nodded. He looked forlornly down through the grate. "And that means Starfire," he sighed.

Sandy raised an eyebrow.

Robin once again realized that the lights of the gym were out and the only thing lighting the place up was firelight and glowing lattices. "We've got to get to the Main Room."

"At the top of the Tower? What for?"

"I can control the lighting systems from there. With a bright enough pulse of the gym's lights—or any lights for that matter—we might be able to turn the tables on the Puppet King."

"And outnumber him succinctly so that we can win back the Tower and stop the Fusion Reactor's overload!" Sandy remarked.

"Yup," Robin said. He motioned for Sandy to follow as he crawled over the grate and down the chute. "The solution's in sight if we just hurry. All it means—though—is more vertical climbing adventures."

"Hehehe," Sandy giggled and followed Robin over the grate. "How about letting you go first this time—"

SNAP!!!!

The grate fell out from underneath her.

"AAAAAH!!!" Sandy shrieked and plummeted--

"SANDY!!!" Robin dove back and grabbed for her.

He missed her ankle.

Zombified patrons looked up. So did the Puppet King and Starfire—their hands clasped together.

Sandy's goggled eyes twitched as she howled in terror all the way down---

POW!!! SWOOOOOSH-WHIP!!!!!

"NNGH!!!" Sandy grunted as she was saved a mere foot from smashing into the ground. Robin—high above in the hole formed in the chute—was holding Sandy by a taut grappling hook. He strained and gritted his teeth….sweating with the last minute effort.

The 'guards' and Magician Raven walked over and menacingly approached Sandy's figure. The upside down girl simpered and waved at all the glowing blue eyes fixed on her. "Eheheheheheh….h-how's it hanging?"

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Control Freak blinked at the communicator. He handed to me. "Got disconnected."

I took the device from him and looked at it. I had a worried expression on my face.

"So what if they're in danger?!?!" he shrugged and chuckled. His chins warbled. "Better them than us, right?!"

SMASH!!!!!!!

A hole was punched through the double doors to the lab.

Control Freak gasped and hid behind the bed, covering his face with manacled hands. Eventually, he peaked through his parting fingers…trembling.

I took a step forward and unsheathed Myrkblade. CHIIIING!!! But I froze and my jaw dropped upon seeing who it was.

A tuxedoed Cyborg peered through the fresh hole. In a stoical fashion befitting the Terminator, the blue-eyed android uttered: "You were not invited to this wedding."

"Uhm…..," Control Freak gulped and smiled up at me. "I believe this is your department, shinobi."

I reminded myself to give him the 'Vulcan' finger later.

SMASH!!!!!!!!

Cyborg possessively growled and punched/kicked his way through what was left of the door before charging at me with full, titanium force.