Behind The Scenes 2 - Flashback
Well, the teaser got some attention. Which is good! Now we get to see how they got themselves in such a predicament...
"TITANS, GO!"
Robin's cry filled the space of the empty movie theater, his compatriots leaping into action. Derisively and perhaps unwisely, their foe laughed at them in mockery.
"Titans go, Titans go!... Go wherever and do whatever you like, Titans. You will fall and taste defeat at the hands of your arch-nemesis: Contrroool Frrrrrrreak!" He laughed again, pointing his remote at several small televisions he had set up in defence. Starfire was assailed by a squadron of miniature X-Wing fighters. Beast Boy would have been anxious to see if one of them contained a mini-Luke Skywalker if he wasn't being pursued by an artistically-exaggerated-in-size velociraptor. Robin was challenged to a duel by none other than the Witch-King of Angmar and ducked and swerved around his heavy mace. Cyborg was exchanging blows with Atom, a boxing robot. Raven found herself under attack by a brace of flying monkeys and, as she dodged, she curled a lip at them.
"Is this a witch joke?", she muttered. With a thought, blades of black energy appeared in front of each apparition and sliced them neatly in half. The disjointed parts dissolved into static before vanishing altogether. She examined the other enemies around them. "Okay... time to change the channel." She rocketed towards Cyborg and, with a not insubstantial effort of will, conjured a box around the fighting robot, Atom. She clenched her jaw and shut her eyes as the box compressed, compacting the robot like a car at a scrapyard. Her magic dissolved and a neat metal cube dropped to the floor, dissolving soon after. Cyborg looked at Raven, impressed.
"Nice one, Rae-Rae!" he cheered. Raven sighed.
"Don't call me that. Let's help the others" They moved towards Beast Boy and as he weaved, Cyborg was able to get a clean shot, eliminating the simulated predator.
"Whoo! Thanks, dudes. The movie versions are way scarier than the real ones," Beast Boy said.
"There's a difference?" Cyborg asked.
"Oh yeah, the real 'raptors were only-"
"Do you mind?" Raven said, interrupting Beast Boy. "We should probably help Robin and Starfire before we discuss paleontological accuracy in cinema. Cyborg, you get whatever Robin's fighting and I'll-"
"Wait!" Beast Boy cried. Raven jerked and looked at him in surprise. "That's the Witch-King, dude! He can't be killed by-"
"By a man," Raven agreed. "So that's what the movie version looks like? Hm. Not bad," she muttered under her breath. "Okay, I'll go after the Witch-King, you help Starfire." With that, the three of them leapt into action. Beast Boy leapt into the air as a gorilla, attempting to grab the miniature spacecraft out of the air with limited success. Cyborg took careful aim and blasted them one at a time. Raven approached Robin carefully, listening to the Witch-King's bluster.
"You think to slay me? No man can do so," he hissed. Raven alighted in front of him, conjuring herself an ebony sword with a dangerous smirk on her face.
"No man am I, you look upon a woman!" she said, stabbing the sword into the face of their enemy. The fake Nazgul shrivelled up and faded away and, though the effect was far weaker, Raven felt weakness and numbness in her arm. "Should have remembered that," she mumbled. Her attention was caught when Robin cried out.
"TItans, take cover!" Raven looked up: Control Freak was pointing his remote at the gathered heroes. They all scattered and dived for cover - except Raven. Her experience with the Witch-King had left her fatigued and, as she tried to move, she stumbled and fell. As she struggled to her knees, she heard two things at once: the tell-tale sound of Control Freak's remote and the voice of Beast Boy.
"Raven, look out!" he cried, throwing himself towards her. Everything turned red... then faded to nothing. Control Freak stamped his feet in frustration: he had hoped to get all of them at once. His tantrum was stopped short by Robin, who grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back.
"Where are they?!" he growled.
"Uhhhhh... Rob? I found 'em," Cyborg said uncertainly. Robin looked up. A TV connected to some unidentifiable technology was showing an old sitcom. There was Raven, looking grumpily at a nervous but grinning Beast Boy.
"Welcome home...(sigh)... darling."
Raven awoke with a groan. Her head hurt. Her arm hurt. Her knees hurt. Everything hurt. She opened her eyes and immediately squeezed them shut again: her vision swam and made the pain in her skull burn even brighter. Slowly, the pain lessened to a dull throb, and she dared to crack open her eyes. They opened wide in subsequent confusion. The movie theater was gone, replaced by a living room so bright and cheerful it made Raven physically sick. The doors were all white, along with the window-frames and stairway. The walls were all pastel blue and the furniture was art deco in matching colours. Raven pushed herself to her feet and was horrified at herself: she was wearing a dress, blue with polka-dots. She stammered uselessly for a moment when a nearby sound put her on alert. She relaxed when a green face appeared over the back of the couch.
"Oh man... what'd he hit us with?" he asked. His eyes opened. "... Why are you wearing a dress?" He stood up. "Why am I wearing a suit?" Suddenly, he started patting himself, looking for pockets. Raven pinched the bridge of her nose.
"What are you doing, Beast Boy?" she asked wearily. He didn't pause.
"Seeing if I got my communicator," he answered. Raven supposed that was a reasonable course of action, though she doubted they- "I need to take a snap of you in that dress! No-one will believe it otherwise." Raven retracted her unspoken statement.
"Never mind that, we need to work out where we are," she said, looking around her. Beast Boy gave up his search and did the same.
"Oh..." he mumbled. Raven waited for him to elaborate. He didn't.
"What?" she asked. He chuckled nervously.
"I uh, I think I know where we are. And why we're wearing these clothes," he said, carefully. Raven waited for him to continue with an impatient glare. "This looks like the house from Happy Campers. It's an old sitcom. Looks like I'm cast as Tom and it looks like you're..." his voice faded into an unintelligible murmur.
"I'm a what?" Raven asked. He swallowed.
"You're Lucy. Tom's wife," he squeaked. Raven didn't move but somehow appeared ready to tear him limb from limb as the bearer of bad news. Nothing happened. Raven looked around herself.
"Why... why did nothing explode?" she wondered. Beast Boy, following her line of thought, attempted to shift. Nothing.
"Guess our powers are nixed for now. I wonder what- Oooowwww!" he said, clapping his hand to his forehead. Raven forgot her ire and moved to his side.
"Beast Boy! What is it?" she asked. He shook his head, his eyes closed.
"It's my head. It's killing me! And for some reason, I want to..." he didn't finish but started walking toward the door. He sighed in relief. "I want to go outside. The pain is going. He watched with sympathy as Raven mimicked his earlier pose, suffering her own pain.
"And, for some reason, I want to go to the kitchen," she ground out. "And I somehow know where it is." She started walking, the pain vanishing. "It must be Control Freak. If we don't follow the events of the show, we get... prompted." Beast Boy nodded, concluding much the same. Their conversation was halted as he exited the house and she disappeared into the kitchen. The colour was different: the walls and furniture all yellow with white cupboards and appliances. She heard the announcer introducing the show, then Beast Boy. Then, with an air of defeat, she pushed through the door and delivered the line that appeared in her head.
"Welcome home...(sigh)... darling."
Ta-da! Okay, we all on the same page now? Excellent! A little short but now the premise is set, the story can begin in earnest. I hope you're enjoying it so far!
-Jack