'Rorschach's Journal, August 11th, 1996.
'Half of me is disgusted, the other half is angry, why is that? Because we recently face this berk of a cockney calling himself Mad Mod. Now I'm half British, my father while born here in Jump City, both his parents were full English, so his accent and term were British as well. My British half is disgusted at the disgrace that Mad Mod is, while my American half is angry at the way he treated all of us. Here's how I remember it, only a day after the experience.
'We were minding our own business no crime that day, I just put Cynefrith's food down for him to eat when gas starting seeping through the ventilation. Cynefrith tried to burn it off with his special blue fox fire, but it did work, we all fell unconscious.'
Nightwing woke with a start, he looked down finding his hand trap in the arms of a chair and his ankles clasped to the legs. He looked to his side finding everyone else strapped to similar chair beginning to wake up themselves.
The sat in a weird room with a checked floor.
Beast Boy turned to them "Am I the only one who doesn't know where we are?"
"Why you're right where you belong my duckies." A voice from the top of the stair called. Rorschach looked up and his masked changed expressions to one of surprise and confusion.
The voice continued "You're in school!" a man stood at the top of a staircase before jumping feet first onto the banister and slide down it before landing before the six. He woke a Union Flag jacket and twirled his cane "That's right lads and loveys, you're the only students at Mad Mod's Institute for Bratty Teenage Do-gooders. And its high time someone taught you sprogs a lesson." The ruby on the top of his cane started to glow.
Nightwing looked to the others "Titans move." The six started struggling and trying to use their powers to escape their bonds, but to no avail, Mod approached playfully.
Starfire commented first "My Starbolts are useless."
"Special designed chair love." Mod said, "Can't have those pesky superpowers interrupting my lessons, now can I?"
"Excuse me sir." Rorschach called "Forgive me for not raising my hand but its current restrained by Nth Mental. But I've already graduated."
"Then consider this further education. Now don't get you knickers in a twist you little snot, I didn't go through all the trouble of building this school and filling your tower with knock-out gas you to finish you off lickety-split."
"Then what do you want?" Raven said.
"Just what I said dearie, to teach you lot a lesson. Yes, I've been watching you children misbehave, and I hate misbehave children." He turned their attention to a bunch of painting, initially Andy Warhol-like portraits of Mod.
They turned around and displayed the team's exploits as he listed them of "Fighting crime. Saving lives. Interfering with the plans of hardworking villains. Why you lot are nothing but a bunch of troublemakers, but you'll learn your place soon enough. You see I'm older then you so I'm bigger, badder and better. You're in my world and you won't get out until you learn some proper respect."
"In everything do to other what you would have them do to you," Rorschach said "Matthew 7:12. If you want us to respect you, you should give us respect as well."
"We will get out," Nightwing said "and when we do…" Mod waved his cane and a bell sounded.
"Oh dear, there's the bell my duckies. Off to class.", the squares their chairs stood upon opened up as trap doors and they fell door.
Nightwing landed in a classroom with a massive chalkboard and a pair of busts statutes of Mad Mod's head. Speaking of the Mod, the chalkboard started to draw image of his face and he began to talk "Now how can I teach you anything if you won't sit still and listen." A claw attached itself to the teen's head as Mod continued "One of my hypno-screens ought to get your attention, and it'll erase everything in your brain and well.", the screen and the entirety of the walls turned into a hypnosis disk. As he struggled to look away Nightwing cause his chair to fall over breaking the armrest which crash on the floor. Seeing the cuffs, he produced a skeleton key from his glove and picked the lock. With his hand, free he ripped the head claw off and threw it the screen shutting it down.
"Naughty snotty," Mod called as the former Boy Wonder broke out of the chair "If you're going to destroy school property, school properties going to destroy you." A missile burst from the screen and the burst turned out to be robots, with lasers and buzz-saws "Right then, count along with Moddy." the countdown went along the busts attack, Nightwing hide behind one its counterpart shooting the head off. Running out of time Nightwing jumped into the screen and ran for his life as the missile launched, it blew up just before reaching him so he survived the blast. He got up and brushed himself off "There's goes my shot for prefect attendance." He joked.
"Don't be so sure my little ducky.", Nightwing looked around and saw Mod standing at the end of an optical illusion corridor "You may be out of the classroom, but class in never dismissed.", Nightwing ran towards Mod and Mod ran towards Nightwing then he began walk onto the celling of the corridor, when the two met in the middle Nightwing jumped but couldn't reach Mod as he spoke "Next lesson, physics. What goes up, stay up." And he ran off laughing making Robin growl "Until I take it down." And he chased the Mad Teacher.
They went into a room resembling a work by M. C. Escher. Then into a situation with the upside-down Mod only for the room to flip and Nightwing fall onto the new floor. Mad Mod then ran down a corridor at a junction, Nightwing followed but the corridor turned to a wall and he ran in it "How did he?", Mod then run through the other corridor and the former Boy Wonder followed. He opened the door finding himself in the first room they woke up in.
Someone whistle and Mod stood on the top floor by some stairs "You may as well chuck in the sponge laddie, you can't catch the like of me.", Nightwing disproved this by using his acrobatic skills to leap to the first floor.
Mod wave his cane as Nightwing reach the next flight of stairs. Said stair started to move like a down escalator matching the former Boy Wonder's speed and somehow extending to further, make it hard to reach Mod.
Said Blighter rubbed his fingers waiting "Now what did I tell you? Children today won't lessen to their better, must learn everything the hard…" a Bird-a-rang cut Mod off, he just dodged it and turned angry "Hey! Oi! No throwing things while teacher is talking."
Nightwing pulled out his grapple and fired it at the door, Mod ran off into said door as Nightwing pulled himself from the stair, up to the top floor, and kick his way through the door. Then he faltered.
He stood in an exact replica of room he just left, and Mod nowhere in sight, "You've got to be kidding me."
"No!" cried a voice, his heart stopped "Starfire!"
The cry came from the library.
He climbed up a bookshelf finding it a complex labyrinth. Starfire cried again and Nightwing saw another hypno-screen, this time a book.
Starfire struggled to get out of her chair with her eyes shut "I will not read you book of evil and swirls.", a pair of arms clasp the side of her head and made her look straight forward as Mod spoke "Now, now love it's for you good, nothing teaches discipline and respect like a brain erasing trance.", Star shut her eyes again but the finger of the clasped forced them open. She gasped.
Out of the roof a giant rubber stamp came down and smashed to chairs in front her leaving the word 'Overdue.' In its wake as Mod continued "Besides if you won't stop squirming, I won't stop squashing." It started approaching her, she screamed as it came down. Nightwing flew in with his flap and knocked them both out the way.
Starfire smiled as her boyfriend cut his way through the restraints when she broke free she hugged him before asking "Are all the school on your planet this horrible?"
Before Nightwing could respond the books started to fly at them like birds or bats, she took hold of him and they flew to the top of the bookcase, Starbolts and Bird-a-rangs flew at the books blowing them up.
They went through a door and shut it quick, the last books blew. Safe for now.
"Thank you for saving me." Star said before kissing him. Nightwing smiled at first but his expression changed "Don't thank me yet Star, Mad Mod still has us right where he wants us. I know we can take him, if we could just get our hands on him. But every time we get out of one trap…" and sound cut him off as more of the robot-bust appeared behind them unveiling an array of weapons, the former Boy Wonder finished his sentence grumbling "There's another one waiting." He got into a fighting stance, but Starfire grab hold of him and dragged him off.
"Run my duckies!" Mod called "Run all you like, but you'll never get out." The corridor they rushed down turned into a spiralling pit.
Finally, they landed in a large chemistry lab. Mod spoke again as they made their way through it "It's no good procrastination really, because sooner or later you'll both end up like him.", Starfire gasped.
Beast Boy sat in his chair looking straight at a hypno-screen mumbling nonsense with a blank expression saliva running like a waterfall from his mouth, Mod spoke again "A model student that one. Lovely. Sits there quietly, never thinks about misbehaving. Matter of fact, he never thinks at all." Mod laughed. Starfire tried to waken Beast Boy as Nightwing worked his way through the restraints. She got fed up and turned to the screen and charged her Starbolt.
"Wait," her boyfriend said moving her arms down "Trust me."
The liquids in the lad start boiling over and spilling onto the floor. The acids began burning away at the chair. Nightwing handed Beast Boy to Star, she flew over to the door and the former Boy Wonder jumping and surfed across the room on the remaining chair to meet them. He triumphantly shut the door.
Back in the first room Starfire tried to wake Beast Boy again. They heard a load sound "Mad Mod." Nightwing said and they hide. Starfire reluctantly held Beast Boy's mouth shut, much to her disgust.
Shadows appeared on the floor and the two conscious Titans charged. Finding themselves about to attack Cyborg, Raven and Rorschach. Starfire let her attack disappear "Oh how glad we are to see you.", the other recovered and Nightwing grumbled "This place is making me crazy."
"Tell me about it." Cyborg said, "Mad Mod's wacked out computer lab nearly crash my hard-drive.", Starfire turned to the other two "Where did out captor send you?"
Raven opened her cloak "Gym." She said showing her leotard placed with a basketball attire, complete with knee pads.
Rorschach spoke next "My quoting of the Gospel of Matthew got me sent to religious studies, Mad Mod tried to initiate me into his Cult of Personality. Have you found Beast Boy?"
Gibbering and babbling Beast Boy crawled up to the five. Nightwing explained.
"Did you try this?" Cyborg said, grabbing the changeling's ear and belching. Beast Boy started laughing, his sense of humour out did the hypnosis "Nice one!" he said before looking at his uniform "Uh, how did I get here and how come I'm covered in drool?"
"Wonderful." Starfire said, "Now all we need is to locate and exit.", Cyborg readied his canon "Or keep on blasting till we make one."
"Easy," Nightwing said "last thing I smashed tried to smash me back. I'm sure this whole place if booby-trapped."
"Agreed." Rorschach said.
Beast Boy whipped the saliva of his uniform before speaking "And how are we supposed to get out?"
"We're not." Raven said "Don't you get it? Mad Mod's just going to keep messing with us until…"
"We mess with him." Nightwing said clenching his fist "That cane of his controls everything in here, we take the cane."
"We take control." Cyborg added.
"And take him down." Beast Boy finished before adding "Oh I'll find him, the demented dufus is never hypnotising me again." As he finished a picture sprung from the wall and became a hypno-screen, sending Beast Boy out cold. Rorschach and Starfire caught him.
"Come on." Mod said as his appeared via elevator checker place "Won't you ever learn? You're in my world duckies you can't win." And he ran off though some door.
"Titans Go!" Nightwing called and he, Cyborg and Raven ran off. Starfire called back "But, how do we?"
"Make in laugh." Cyborg called back.
"I'll handle this," Rorschach said, "You know I slept like a log last night."
"Slept like a log?" Star asked.
"Yes, I woke up in fireplace.", Beast Boy started laughing hard "Good one! I got to remember that one."
"Don't thank me, thank the late great Tommy Cooper. Now come on."
They follow Mod who rode a Vespa scooter though a picture gallery of art all in Mod's image. Then through a sea of hole which everyone fell through at least once. Up an infinite spiral staircase, which Mod turned into a slide, make all the boys slide down and almost be eating by a crushing machine. Finally, into a corridor of doors causing a Scooby-Doo meets Alice in Wonderland scenario.
After several chases Nightwing got the group to try one door each. Once all clear they tried the last door, only for a massive dinosaur to roar at them and Mod to be at the end of the corridor and disappearing behind a sliding wall.
Nightwing lifted the head of the bust and found a switch. The wall opened and they found themselves look at an exit to the open landscape.
"No way." Raven said.
"It that what I think it is."
"I don't think so," Rorschach "Mad Mod wouldn't let us out that easily, if at all."
"One way to find out." Nightwing said and they walked towards it. They burst through the canvas and shock overtook them.
"Told you." Rorschach said getting up and walking back into the first room "We're right back where we started."
Mod appeared on piece of floor which flipped over "Of course you are my duckies." he tapped his cane on the floor and it float up as a platform "Class is over. And you lot haven't learnt a thing. That a failing grade for each blooming one of you. There's only one thing for it.", the doors shut behind them "You'll have to repeat the entire lesson!" six chairs appeared, as did more busts-bots and the walls collapsed to show a massive hypno-screen. Which of course made Beast Boy go docile, Raven held onto him.
"Time class my duckies, everyone back to your seats."
Rorschach scoffed "It not as if there was anything interesting in your lessons."
"Titans," Nightwing called "get that cane!"
The robot started firing. Raven created a shield. Cyborg charge meeting Nightwing and Rorschach, he threw Nightwing up before he and Rorschach started punching and blasting the robots.
"Ow! No roughhousing! Do I have to separate you lot?" he clicked the ruby on his cane and checker on the floor became pillars shooting out from the floor, disorientating the Titans.
The robots still came, Nightwing jumped from pillar to pillar before grabbing a flying robot. A door floated in mid-air, Nightwing flipped from the robot before it ran into said door. He threw a Bird-a-rang at Mod, but the blighter started to float.
Raven and Rorschach used their respective magic to repel and destroy the robots. A blast caught their attention as Cyborg flew off a pillar down to them.
"Little help here?" the blue witch holding up Beast Boy "I don't do funny."
"You asked for it." Cyborg said taking her hood off. He put his finger in his mouth.
"You're not?" Rorschach said, his mask turned disgusted before the mechanical jock stuck the saliva ridden finger into Raven's ear. Beast Boy laughed again "Awesome" he cackled, before he looked about "Not again!", Raven grumbled and she placed her hood back in place.
More robots appeared. Beast Boy turned into a rhino and charged at them. They started getting overwhelmed and taken down. Beast Boy forced to look at another screen. But not before Starfire kicked a sawblade bot into a screen and ripping through the canvas.
Nightwing reached Mod and tried to hit him, Mod dodged and levitated on his cane all causal "Oh give it a rest snotty you've already lost." he pointed to the other Titans all back in the chairs and struggling to get out, apart from Beast Boy of course.
Nightwing pounced at Mod and tried to grab the cane, but he went straight through it. He looked back realising how Mod could defy gravity and make such a bizarre world 'It isn't real. Time for a reality check.' He looked at the rip in the screen, he ran through Mod, jumped, flew into it and landed in a square metal tunnel. He began to take whatever he could find out of the sides, wire, circuits, panel, anything not nailed down and more thing which were.
The other Titans still struggled but then the screen started to turn to static.
Mod step forward "Um, minor technical hitch my duckies, pay no mind I'll fixed in a…" he didn't finish as he started to flicker and static before disappearing.
Finally, the Titans broke out. Rorschach checked his restrain "They weren't Nth Metal at all.", picture frames feel, the screens went up showing they in fact stood in a large technical studio.
Rorschach looked around "Must have been some low-level suggestion field make us think we couldn't get out." He turned to the other "Let find a way out of here and find Nightwing.", they nodded a before he and Starfire took hold of Beast Boy.
Nightwing jumped into a control room as it blew up.
"My machines!" an aged but familiar voice yelled, the real Mad Mod, a sixty-year-old man walked out grumble "That meddling little snot will pay for…" he turned around and gasped as the former Boy Wonder stood in front of him. Nightwing grabbed him by the collar and dragged him up, the old man laughed quietly and adjusted his glasses "Hello guvnor."
"School's out Mod, and you looking at about twenty years of detention."
They climbed up a ladder Cyborg at the top open a porthole like door into the sunlight "Oh yeah this is definitely the real deal."
Raven climb out, then Rorschach who stretched "It's good to have some fresh air." he stepped out the way as Mad Mod landed having been launched out the tube followed by Nightwing "School always seems smaller after you graduate doesn't it." He looked back to wait for the others.
Raven rolled her eyes "Just don't excepted me to go to any reunions."
Starfire emerged with the still hypnotised Beast Boy as the complained "I cannot awaken him, I have tried tickling him, all manner of bodily noises and the word underpants. I fear that this time his brain is gone forever."
"Beast Boy had a brain?" Raven commented, to everyone's surprise the changeling started laughing before realising what she said "Dude, that's not funny."
Rorschach scoffed "You seem to think so." He said as the other began to move, Cyborg taking hold of Mod.
"I totally have a brain" Beast Boy said, "I just don't use it much."
'Mod had taken us to an old oilrig off the coast. I took the liberty of scanning his technology and files. The HIVE hired him to try and take care of us, after Deathstroke they appear to be desperate. Anyway, his real name is Neil Richards, once a tailor in Carneby Street, in Soho London, so maybe he's not a cockney, but sadly to me the London accent does sound like a cockney.
'Why he became a master of hypnosis and holograms I have no clue. Another thing which confuses me is why he went through the trouble of gassing us and have us go through that nonsense when he could he have simply used his hypno-screens like he constantly did to Beast Boy. I guess he fell into the stereotypical idea of trying to humiliate us before enacting his eventually plan, was the HIVE watching him? I do not know, once his suggestion field went down my Clair-cognisance, my intrinsic acquisition of knowledge kicked in and if the HIVE had been watching they were long gone.
'Part of me wishes to give Mister Richards alias Mad Mod congratulations for his showmanship. But as I said most me hates him for what he did.
'Anyway, I once we knew where we were I contact Commissioner Thatcher and he organised with the Coastguard a few boats to pick us and Mod up. You wouldn't believe how happy Cynefrith and Silkie were to see us safe. Not to mention how sad Cynefrith was for not being able to save us, I told him he was young, it was fine.
'When I spoke with my family about this my father joked that Mod must not have heard Pink Floyd's 'The Wall', which has the lyrics:
'We don't need no education,
'We don't need no thought control,
'No dark sarcasm in the classroom,
'Teacher leave them kids alone'
'Very appropriate.
'Of course, the others questioned me on my quotation of the Bible, because throughout the time we all knew each other I never showed any sigh of being religious.
'I am not religious, I am a Secular Humanist, I don't have a religion, but that doesn't mean I don't agree with some of the things religion says, because deep down they are moral and ethical guidelines for all humanity. As a humanist, which many famous people were, Einstein included, I don't think humanity is inherently evil but not innately good either, we can choose which way to go, and at different levels of good and evil. Unlike most in my category I do believe in supernatural event, I mean I'm a Mage. Doctor Fate said a man with the alias Hellblazer and a friend of Zatanna share similar views, though he warned I should stay as far as I can from him, a con-artist with ruthless cunning, as well as a chain smoker, I swear not touch anything with tobacco. Still I've got a feeling I'll run into him eventually.
'Jump City is still adjusting to the Boy Wonder's change of identity, I mean it's good he kept his mask and hairstyle, not a complete change but I've seen people seem confused. I don't think I'll ever change my appearance, the silhouette is unique among the other, not to mention after the history I learnt while regaining my magic the look is integral to the persona of Rorschach, I think I subconsciously made it that way.
'I have nothing else to write for this entry I will write again when I have a chance.'
Author's Note
And before you comment asking me about my religion I myself am a Church of England Christian.
Mad Mod is one of my favourite villain, I did have fun writing his one, but I don't think anything's going to top Bunny Raven.
And if you haven't please vote on the poll on my profile page to help me decide on how the future of this story will go.