Authors notes:
Updated 11/March/23: Re-wrote most of this chapter yet again for the fourteenth time.
Chapter 97
Tap-Tap-Tap-Tap
Today was just another normal day in the life of a Teen Titan. Chasing some lunatic in a brightly coloured suit through a psychedelic maze of illusions.
Mad Mod, a thirty something year old man who dressed like an Austin Powers ripoff, pranced through his maze of screens depicting anything stereotypically British.
Raven flew after the the man, trailing just behind Beast-Boy, Cyborg and Starfire. The noise of the place was irritating, but Raven cut through it and maintained focus.
Flashes of the Beatles, of red telephone booths, and pillar boxes passed their eyes. Images of the British Queen, as well as Palace Guards in bearskins, Buckingham Palace, red double Decker buses assaulted Raven's senses. Everything bright and colourful and British was flung at her, and all of it from the Sixty's period. All the while Rule Britannia blared at them. Though oddly the song lacked the lyrics.
Raven couldn't help but think them.
"Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves.
"Britons never, never, shall be slaves.'
"Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves.'
"Britons never, never, shall be slaves."
That might have been intentional considering Mad Mod wanted to hypnotise the Titans and use them as slave puppets for his own ends. Raven guessed being locked up for most of the swinging sixties really drove the guy insane.
Beast Boy flew as fast as he could while in the shape of an eagle, he dropped and morphed into his human shape.
"How can an eighty-something guy with no Super Powers be so quick?" Beast Boy asked before turning into a leopard.
"Because he's as real as his British accent." Cyborg said.
The four Titans were just a distraction because Robin was somewhere in the facility tracking down where the real Mad Mod was truly hiding. The four were chasing a construct of Mad Mod in his prime, in reality he was an old man in his eighties hiding somewhere.
In the flashes and psychedelic trickery he appeared to vanish between screens. Cyborg didn't hold back and bashed the wall down.
They'd reached a dead end. A large room that still displayed Mad Mods fetish for all things British. Raven's eyes jumped to one image on the wall of three hippy like people posing in front of a Police Box, but the clear windows indicated that it was not the TARDIS.
The screen turned into a black and white swirling pattern. A presence tried to force its way into her mind, but Raven pushed it back by distracting her mind with anything, a song, music, a rhyme.
"When its early in the mornin..." NO, NOT THAT ONE!
"Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, humpty dumpty had a great fall." It was how you prevented a hypnotic influence entering your head. You fill your brain with nonsense and the influence wouldn't be able to penetrate. Cyborg and Starfire did the same. Hanging out with Beast Boy meant they had a well of nonsense to draw from.
Raven waited for Beast Boy to ragdoll, despite being a source of nonsense he always had trouble thinking of nonsense in the moment. This time, however, he didn't rag-doll. When the screen appeared his form instantly blew up to that of a Tyrannosaurus and he attacked the screen, ripping it away with his dinosaur teeth revealing the facility on the other side.
There were a couple of large tanks labelled as 'liquid nitrogen' and a heat exchanger that Raven could feel was running on overdrive to power the whole place.
"Hey, the green boy is getting better." Mad Mod danced on a suspended balcony, he flung his arms out. "Now, bow down to the Queen, duckies."
A large machine appeared from the floor. It was a grey British pillar box with many armed and with the head of Queen Elizabeth. Robot soldiers like the red coated palace guards also appeared. Raven took a step back. The Queen Machine moved like a Dalek, and the Palace soldiers moved like Cybermen.
Another screen wall behind them opened and more giant robots came on the attack.
"You've got to be kidding." Raven said.
"Oh, they look so cute!" Star Fire beamed.
Paddington Bear, Andy Pandy, the Clangers, Pinky and Perky. Raven was really getting sick of being bashed over the head with sixties British culture.
"How does a guy like him pay for all this?" Beast Boy asked.
"Behold, the powerhouse that is British TV culture!" Mad Mod went.
"Yeah, we have no idea what these things are." Cyborg said. Raven's eyes shifted left to right with embarrassment. Mad Mod's face dropped, his thunder stolen.
"The Red Coats are coming!" Beast Boy called out. The robots were attacking.
The toy soldiers were child's-play to deal with, but the Queen Machine was a nuisance. It fired laser bolts from a central rotating body. Knowing Mad Mod these lasers would be set to stun rather than kill since he wanted them alive.
Starfire peppered the Queen Machine with star-bolts. But it barely made a dent. Cyborg was too distracted being overran by the soldiers but Raven sent a red telephone box slamming into them, knocking most of them off so Cyborg could throw the rest of them over his shoulder. His arm turned into his sonic cannon and he blasted the red coated robots.
Raven was surrounded by Paddington Bear and Andy Pandy. She flipped her hand, a stone slab was ripped from the ground and it flew upwards becoming a wall that she flung at them. Andy Pandy was sent spinning, half of Paddington Bears face was ripped off exposing the metal skeleton beneath and one red eye.
Starfire was distracted by the appearance of the Clangers. Their snouts wiggled and made whooping noises.
"Fellow none-Earthlings, why do you fight for Mad Mod? He is not nice!" She asked them. The Clangers whooped at her. Backing away from Paddington Bear Raven bumped into the back of Starfire.
"They're not real aliens, Starfire. They're characters from an old kids show."
"I see" Star Fires eyes and hands glowed as the embarrassment left her. She took aim and fired her star-bolts.
"Yeah, an easy mistake to make." Raven said dryly.
Beast Boy first turned into a bear and bashed the soldiers. But they were ganging up on him. To escape he turned into a bulldog and scampered away. He turned back into a human while he was in the clear, panting for breath.
"How do those things breathe?!" He exclaimed, before turning into a swan and he flew up to the gantry where Mad Mod stood. Beast Boy landed, spread his wings and Mad Mod retreated a few steps. Swans had surprisingly sharp claws. From his cane Mad Mod pulled a long sword. Transforming into a green lion Beast Boy took a swipe at Mad Mod.
Mad Mods forces were thinning, and the scrap pile was increasing.
Cyborg went after the Queen Machine while Raven held its weapons in place with her powers. One bash from Cyborgs fist and the machine fell dead.
The three Titans gathered and saw Beast Boy doing battle with Mad Mod who was expertly parrying all of Beast Boy's lion claws.
"Touche!" Mad Mod went as he was gradually pushed back. Raven appreciated the irony that Mad Mod was being beaten back by Britain's national animal. But she greatly doubted Beast Boy knew this.
The ground at the three Titan's feet began to quake and rumble. They looked around for the new threat that must be coming. They didn't notice the thing coming from around the corner behind them until they all turned as one to see it. It was a giant dog with hair so long it skirted the floor. It moved like a tank.
Their heads twisted back forwards as it shot towards them.
"We're being attacked by a giant Doogle." Said Raven.
"A what?" Cyborg asked.
"Don't ask!" They scattered as the tank like thing rolled over where they had just been standing. The giant dog tank fired lasers from its sides and its eyes as it tracked, traced and chased Starfire.
Raven raised her hands. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinth..." She was distracted by another threat leaping into the air and coming straight back down at her. A long spike extended from its underside.
"TIME FOR BED!" Said the thundering voice of a giant Zeberdee.
"I spent far too much time in the sixties." Raven thought, a little embarrassed that she knew what all these weird things were. She dived out of the way before its pike skewered her. The pike withdrew and it's spring underside smashed into the concrete. The creature leapt up into the sky again and began bouncing after her like a giant pogo stick. She couldn't stop for five seconds to gather herself as Zeberdee repeatedly attempted to smash into wherever she was standing.
Beast Boy flung his claws at Mad Mod, but the irritating Austin Powers ripoff was too good with a sword. When he leapt up onto the railing Beast Boy thought he was going to jump. As it turned out that was not his plan. The lion heard the balcony creak, and realised too late that Mad Mod had sliced into the supports. Beast Boy fell with the platform. He turned into a cat before he impacted the ground and caught himself. Turning back into a human and got up and gathering himself. He failed to see the giant Doogle coming up from behind him. He was forced to the ground on his front as it rolled over him from behind.
Raven watched him vanish under the machine and felt relief as he appeared from under it in a heap. She rushed over to him. His aura was fine, dazed but uninjured. She guessed the underside of that machine must ride high under its Doogle disguise. She pulled the dazed Beast Boy away just before Zeberdee's central spike skewered him. Beast Boy woke up to see a long pole had impacted right between his legs. An inch too closer and any idea of him being a father in the future was out the window.
Beast Boy pulled himself away while Zeberdee tried to extend its spring to pull itself free.
Raven went to assist Starfire and Cyborg with Doogle while Zeberdee decided to target Beast Boy instead. The giant puppet turned out to be a handful. If it didn't have a spike then Beast Boy would probably turn into a dinosaur and use its head to fling it into the ceiling and rip it apart. But the spike complicated things. He thought it was a great idea to hide among the cooling tanks of liquid nitrogen in the hopes of confusing its machine brain. Zeberdee's programming however, must've been set to 'extreme prejudice' because the thing rose up and slammed down into the tanks.
Beast Boy got out quickly before he became an icicle. He stood back and watched the destruction. Zeberdee rose up, but fell straight back down, his spring shattered. Raven turned and saw all the tanks rupture. Beast Boy was too stunned to run as a rain shower of liquid nitrogen fell around him. Raven's eyes went wide with panic, she rushed to his aid.
As the mist dissipated Beast Boy was left shivering with icicles descending from his noes and ears.
Raven sensed the nearby heat exchanger getting very hot without any cooling. Doogle came to a total stop and collapsed to the floor. All screens around them were displaying the blue screen-of-death. Mad Mod himself fell still, now just a basic robot skeleton with a smooth ball for a head.
Raven's danger senses lit up. She grabbed Beast Boy's shoulders to pull him away. The heat exchanger exploded. The blast flung the two clean across the room. The entire building was shaking and crumbling around them. Raven skidded with Beast Boy, through one of the screens and into a small, dark side room.
A slab fell down in front of them and darkness surrounded them.
Raven opened her communicator and activated its light as the rubble settled above them. They were in a small metal room which was probably more stable than the rest of the large complex. Pushing herself up off the floor she approached the wall, waved her hands and muttered a spell to allow her to pass through the wall. Raven's face clanged into the solid wall knocking her back.
Rubbing her nose and composing herself she re-examined the walls. It was made of psychic resistant material. Raven shook her head and wondered how on Earth bad guys keep getting a hold of this stuff.
"Raven calling anyone!" She called into her communicator. But she got nothing but static on it. She didn't want to be trapped with Beast Boy, it was all too tempting to murder him after the other night.
Turning the light around she saw Beast Boy, who was currently a shade of cyan. He was on his knees, hands up to his shoulders shivering with icicles still descending from his hair, nose and ears.
Raven snorted at him for being so careless. He looked up at her with those green, puppy dog eyes he sometimes got. Raven continued to stare at him like he was an insect she'd take great pleasure in crushing. She shook her head. The goth teen approached, pulled her cloak off and draped it over him fitting his head into the hood. The boy pulled the cloak tightly around him.
"Th... thanks." He said through chattering teeth. "I... I thought you were still mad."
"I am." Raven said, her eyes glaring fire. "But that doesn't mean I don't care." Beast Boy looked away.
"I thought I'd be an icicle for sure. That was liquid nitrogen wasn't it?"
"Yeah, we're not in the movies. Liquid nitrogen doesn't work that way in real life." Raven said. If he'd been beneath the tanks, or in the liquid then he'd be an icicle. But Raven knew that liquid nitrogen had a very low 'flash point' as the Doctor had called it. The liquid starts to rapidly evaporate to gas the moment it makes contact with room temperature air. Beast Boy was luckily the gas dissipated quickly or he would've suffocated.
"I'll keep that in mind." Beast Boy took few deep breaths and rubbed his hands over his shoulders to generate heat. "Won't you be cold?" He asked her.
"The cold never bothered me." Raven said. When he looked away she allowed a shiver to go through her.
They sat in cold silence for a long while. They were both confident their team mates would dig them out, they just had to wait. Raven sat in the lotus position and began too meditate, but Beast Boy clearly couldn't stand the silence.
"I'm... I'm sorry." Beast Boy said. Raven's brow furrowed as the emotions from that evening flooded her brain.
"Save it." Raven bit, not opening her eyes.
"But I am sorry. I shouldn't... I... I just wanted you to come out of your shell."
"You were showing off and trying to get away with shit." Raven accused. She sighed. "You make things so difficult sometimes."
"Yeah, maybe I do." Beast Boy admitted. Raven's ears twitched at hearing that. "But I do want you to come out of your shell. How long have we all been team mates? Years now. I did think maybe if the others knew about the stories then you'd share them with them too."
"Beast Boy," Raven said, "That is the biggest load of crap I've ever heard."
"It's true though." Beast Boy said, "Yeah, maybe I didn't think it through."
"Surprise me."
"I didn't realise the stories would go so dark, or you'd share something so personal." Beast Boy said. "But I can guarantee the transmission did not leave the Island. Your story is still safe." Beast Boy took a shivering breath. Raven got up and decided to look for an exit rather than listen to Beast Boy's immature attempt at an apology. She tested the walls, looking for any weakness she could exploit. "After you kicked me out I did some serious thinking."
Raven gave him a disbelieving look. 'Serious,' 'thinking' and 'Beast Boy' were words that did not work together.
"I realised if the Jump City media got a hold of that story of yours you'd be the next talking point for months. Asking questions like if 'you could be trusted to be a Titan.'" Raven was about to snap at him. "Just like they did with Terra when she went bad." Beast Boy looked down sadly. The tension in Raven's soul settled a little. So many people didn't buy that Terra at the last minute turned good and had saved the city. Some people will always see you as the bad guy. "For you, I guess that treatment would be hell. I understand why you hate me and I'm sorry. I don't want anything bad to happen to you."
He looked down and away. He pulled the cloak off himself and began to shiver.
"I'm a bad team mate." He said. The cloak instantly came to life with darkness and wrapped itself back around him.
Finding no other exit Raven came and sat down next to him to wait.
"You're always in your room. Why don't you ever get lonely? I don't like to see anyone depressed and isolated."
"I may be isolated, but I'm not depressed." Raven said, "I enjoy my alone time."
"That's what I don't get." Beast Boy said. "I feel sad and depressed when I'm alone."
Raven's head rolled to look at him.
"I'm built differently." Raven said, eyes addressing him. "I do... feel lonely at times, but I find people stressful, and noisy, and overwhelming. I need to be alone to recharge."
"So... we stress you out?" Beast Boy asked.
"You, especially." Raven bit.
"I don't mean to. But you know we're always here for you." Beast Boy said.
"Yes, I do. When I need you all." Raven said.
"We trust each other. So why do you still hide under your shell?" Beast Boy asked.
"I don't know. Why do you still hide behind your mask?" Raven asked.
"Mask? I don't wear a mask. Hey, wait! Was that a dig at my face?" His expression was amusing to her.
"Metaphorically." Raven said, she turned to look into his eyes. "You're the lonely soul, Beast Boy. You want to be liked. That's why you try so hard to be the funny guy. You watch too many movies and you think everyone loves the 'funny guy'. But the 'funny guy' is the mask and not a very good one. Underneath all that, beneath the beast like pride and confidence there is a scared boy who thinks himself a freak. Someone so desperate to be loved and admired by people around him that you wear a mask of humour, because you think people won't accept who you really are."
"Whoa, that's deep. I didn't know we had a psychologist on the team." Beast Boy said. "And you're someone who hides in the darkness from everyone because you're afraid of judgement for something you can't control. You're..."
"Don't try to psycho-analyse me, you'll only embarrass yourself." Raven said. Beast Boy smiled, Raven did a little with her eyes.
Beast Boy rubbed his arms under the cloak to generate warmth.
"You know, you could be a little nicer." Beast Boy said.
"And you could act a little more mature." Raven bit. "Every time you take two steps forward, you eventually slide one step back."
"Is my 'mask' irritating?" Beast Boy asked. Raven paused, she was suddenly uncomfortable.
"Your mask is fake, and it... reminds me of someone." Beast Boy opened his mouth to speak. "Utter one syllable of the name and I'm taking the cloak back."
"Okay, okay." Beast Boy shivered again. His skin was starting to turn back to it's usual green. "Listen, I'll try to drop the mask more, if you agree to come out of your shell a more." He held up his hand and extended his pinkie finger. "Deal?"
Raven looked at the small finger and gave Beast Boy a disgusted look. He began to retract the hand, disappointed. Raven sighed, shook her head and quickly looped her little finger around his.
"Fine!" She said. Then it suddenly occurred to her. "If you've just passed gas I will murder you right now."
"I'm too cold to pass gas."
"Keep it that way." Raven said, releasing Beast Boy's finger. She should douse him in liquid nitrogen more often, the cooling sensation seemed to have a drastic effect on his cognitive faculties. Raven subtly smiled at her own joke.
"What's so funny?" Beast Boy asked. The smile vanished.
"This." Raven said and tightly pulled the hood down over his face.
Beast Boy sat for a few seconds with the hood covering his head.
"I'm not afraid of the dark, you know." Beast Boy said.
"I know." Raven smirked while Beast Boy couldn't see her.
They sat in silence for a while. Raven drummed her fingers on her arms, wondering when the others would find them.
"The Master forced me into the Doctors TARDIS." Raven began, "And..."
"No, don't tell me." Beast Boy said, "Save it for the others. They'll want to know."
"Are you sure?" Raven asked.
"Yeah, I'm sure." Beast Boy said, and fell unusually quiet.
"What else do you want to talk about?" Raven asked.
"Nothing comes to mind." Beast Boy said, "You can meditate if you want."
Raven made herself comfortable and decided to get some rest instead.
Raven awoke with something leaning up against her. She lazily opened her eyes in the gloom in time to see the snoring form of Beast Boy sliding over her right shoulder and fall into her lap, a bubble of snot expanding and contracting over one nostril.
The goth teen went rigid with her arms wide. She almost pushed Beast Boy off of her for being so forward. If it wasn't for the fact he was sleeping she'd have kicked his arse. She held her breath until the outrage subsided. A black cushion appeared under Beast Boys head and it lifted him just enough so Raven could slip out from under him without waking him up. She gently lowered his head down to the floor. She let go too soon and his head banged against the floor by accident.
"Crap!"
Raven pretended to be asleep as Beast Boy jolted awake. She heard him yawn and stretch and sensed him look at the cloak he was in. He looked at Raven, her arms crossed over her chest. Her head rolled back so she could watch him between the cracks of her eyelids. The boy got up, stripped the cloak from himself and draped it over her. It was still warm.
He turned into a cat, at first and stretched in the way cats did. Then he change into a husky-dog. He padded around the room for a while stretching the pads of his canine feet to absorb the coolness from the floor.
The green husky turned and observed Raven, its head tilted to one side. She fully closed her eyes. The dog padded over to her and laid next to her leg. Heat radiated from the animal and helped to keep her warm.
Raven decided he could stay there.
With a flick of her mind her cloak flapped up and covered the husky's body, leaving the head exposed.
When Cyborg finally broke through the two snapped awake, got up and composed themselves before the dust settled.
Later that evening in the main living area of the Tower, -which also doubled as their command centre.- The three of the Titans sat on their couch facing a massive window that itself was about three or four stories tall and three times as wide. Beast boy was standing on a raised platform, his energy and bounciness restored while the other three sat on a couch facing him. He went into his spiel about tonight's movie.
Beast boy held up two disk cases for his stupid movies.
"Okay guys, tonight selection. Now tell me, what's cooler than a sci-fi horror?" The other three shrugged. "A sci-fi, horror, comedy."
This was met with subtle expressions of eyerolls from Cyborg, indifference from Robin and excitement from Starfire. In Raven's perspective Starfire had a child like view of quality. Raven once saw Starfire watching Telly Tubbies and asked where the aliens with Televisions in their stomachs evolved from. Raven really didn't want to tell Starfire the truth, but she had to learn eventually, embarrassment would be felt but quickly forgotten.
"There's either 'Zombies ate my parents brains', or 'Attack of the shadow creature from dimension Z." Beast boy said. Most of Beast boy's selections were awful B. movies, though once in a blue moon, when that self same moon is in the house of Aquarius, he could pick a gem that was half decent. He'd then boast about how great it was months later, even after several underwhelming movies with monsters Raven swore were made out of tin-foil.
Movie night was a Beast boy thing that they all took part in. They all had activities the others could join in on. Cyborg was all about video game tournaments, Starfire was all about sharing very unusual food from her culture, -which they made attempts to avoid because it was suspected some of it was not fit for human consumption,- Robin's thing was training, always training. Raven's was silence and meditation, but only Starfire was willing to join her in that activity. Tonight however, that would change.
The three Titans discussed the selections, which involved a lot of uninterested shrugging and uncertainty, which Beast boy either ignored or didn't notice.
"Or how about..." Beast Boy paused as if a drumroll should be occurring. He held up the case. "Revenge of the Surfboarding, Killer Bikini Vampire Girls!" As if on cue Raven slowly rose up through the floor behind Beast boy, catching Starfire's, Robin's and Cyborg's attention.
"I see that one caught your attention." Beast boy said holding up the disk that was directly in front of Raven's face. He turned around to insert the disk in the DVD player and nearly walked into Raven and her glowing eyes. "Ya!" He jumped back like a frog in boiling water and landed on the sofa between Cyborg and Starfire.
The trunk came up next and slammed down right in front of Raven. The top flipped open. Raven expected Beast boy to protest, but he saw quiet. Raven flung her arm out at the large window and it tinted itself black so no one could see in.
The four Titans watched in silence as she dug around for the next object to tell the story. Three of them leaned forward subtly. Raven felt like she was entertaining four children before bedtime. Beast Boy however, had his ears drooping. He got up and went to slink away. He barley made it five steps from the seat before he was spun around at the behest of Raven's powers and pushed back towards the sofa.
"Sit down." She commanded of Beast boy, he leapt onto the sofa like her voice was a cracked whip. She knew he wanted to listen to the story, and forcing him back towards the sofa was the nearest thing to an invitation he was going to get.
"Raven," Robin said, standing up. Beast boy also stood up, "You don't have to tell us what you don't want to." They both said together at once. Robin looked at Beast. Beast boys eyes didn't leave Raven's, his droopy ears betraying his mood.
Raven didn't speak at either Robin or Beast boy, she let her silence and her face express her thoughts. Which effectively said, "Do you want to hear this or not?"
Robin sat down. Beast boy hesitated as if he wanted to say something else, but nothing came to his mind and so he sat back down too.
Raven tilted her head to one side as her eyes examined Beast boy. She broke eye contact and looked down into the trunk, then back up at the four Titans. She held out her hands to them.
"Communicators." She wasn't going to take any chances this time. Three of the Titans unhooked their communicators from where they kept them and Raven gathered them up with her powers and put them on the table, ensuring they were all off. Cyborg however, held out his arm with the panel open to show his communicator, -which was built into his robotic arm,- and demonstrated that it was off. Not wanting to dismember Cyborg for the sake of the communicator Raven just shrugged and allowed him to keep his appendage.
"Where was I?" Raven asked, resting her hand on the table in front of them. Using two fingers she tapped out a rhythm.
A rhythm of four beats that repeated.
"That's what I could hear in my head." Raven said, "When the Master invaded my mind. A hypnotic sound of drums." She slowly began to speed the rhythm up of those beats to get across the insanity it might induce. "I could sense it, in his own head. Bottled up, forgotten, but it was strong."
Raven looked at the four Titans. They were paying attention, and so Raven pulled out the object she'd show to tell this story. The four Titans didn't know what to make of it. Or rather them.
Books. Stacks and stacks of books. So many books they shouldn't be able to fit into such a small box. The books were unremarkable, nor were they magic. They only had one thing in common, they were all books by the author Terry Pratchett. Raven hadn't read any of Pratchett's books in a long time, and it was for a very good reason. The stack contained all of Pratchett's books, mostly of his disc-world series. From 'the Colour of Magic', all the way to 'The Shepherd's Crown.'
Raven could swear she could see question marks sprout from the Titans heads. She left the questions to sprout and sink in before she continued.
"The Master forced me into the TARDIS with him. I wanted to fight back, but my mind was too numb. All that existed for me was the sound of drums. I didn't even notice the TARDIS engines as we took off, I was only semi-aware that we were leaving the planet and leaving the Doctor to fight the Daleks and escape the planet, alone...
Book 13
The White Noise of the Universe.
The whine and groan of the TARDIS engines sounded in an unusual pitch. Like the machine didn't want to be highjacked by the Doctors enemy. The Master flipped switches and buttons trying to get it to work, but the machine resisted.
The Christmas decorations still hung were they had been left, the meaning of them all but forgotten. The toy trains still went around and around the console, snaking around the room before disappearing down a corridor, whistling.
Having enough of the toys the Master kicked the train off the tracks to stop its clacking. He then opened one of the panels on the console and started fiddling with the wires.
The toy robots which were inside the train began to haul themselves out of the upturned carriages, as another toy train came and smashed into it. The tiny, humanoid creatures poured out of the train and began to riot with each other.
The Master looked at the small riot, he didn't like the noise any more than Raven did. He then noticed Raven looking at the infighting and the Master looked like he read something in her reaction.
"Oh Raven, dear." His velvety voice said. "Deal with these pests, would you?" Talking to her in a fatherly tone.
Raven held out her hand, the tiny creatures were scooped up in a black globe and they were funnelled down the neck of a tall vase in the garden area, next to all the clocks. She then capped it with a book to stop any noise echoing out. The vase began rocking from side to side but not enough to knock the book off.
The Master looked surprised at what Raven chose to do. "The Doctor's infernal morality." He waved his hand. Raven wasn't of a conscious mind to do anything but listen, she could not process this remark. The man returned to the console and became increasingly frustrated that he couldn't get something to work.
"Raven, dear. Come here and help me." The Master said. Raven walked towards the console. "Now, when I say so, operate that..." But Raven had raised her fist and brought it down on the side of the console in the one spot she knew would fix the problem. The wheeze and groans began to sound more normal. Or as normal as the time ship could sound with its worn brakes.
Again, the Master looked at Raven like she was a mystery to figure out. Like a puppeteer trying to find Raven's strings.
"Tell me about yourself, little Raven." The Master said, "What are you thinking, deep down?"
"I am thinking..." Raven's voice was robotic, "I am concerned for my Daddy, Master."
"I beg your pardon?" The Master asked, "Trigon?"
"No." Was Raven's flat answer.
"Ah, I see." The Master said, then he laughed, "You've imprinted on the Doctor. Like a dog with its owner."
"The Doctor is... my toy, I play with him." The Master didn't know how to take this odd statement.
"Look into my eyes, Raven. Let me see you." Raven did as instructed and the Master attempted to implant a suggestion. "What do you think of me?"
Raven stared for a few seconds before speaking.
"I think... you'd look cool..." a hesitation, "without your skin on."
The Master leaned back a little at that statement, clearly he didn't know what to expect, but he wasn't expecting that.
"I see much pain in your future. A burning... all over... then for the rest of this life... a stinging and soreness. Then for the longest time a sense of detachment" Raven continued on, "And I hear... I feel..." She raised her hand up to the console and began tapping onto the wood.
Tap-Tap-Tap-Tap! Raven went. Tap-Tap-Tap-Tap!
Tap-Tap-Tap-Tap!
Raven didn't consciously understand it. The Master took a step back from Raven's unblinking stare, he appeared to shrink away.
"Stop it." The Master's voice both cracked and commanded. Raven obeyed.
He feared her...
Good...
To Be Continued...
Authors notes: The Master usually hears a drumming in his head, something he's always heard in his original 13 bodies. In my head-cannon the Master was just mentally disciplined enough to tune it out in his original regeneration cycle. Until it became so loud in his Derek Jacoby/John Sim's incarnation that he couldn't ignore it anymore and it drove him insane.
Edits 10/April/23: Replaced how Beast Boy and Raven had their talk. Originally, Beast Boy apologised indirectly while talking to either Cyborg or Star Fire with Raven eavesdropping. But that just never sat right with me. After watching more of the series I reasoned Raven would be too stubbornly mad to talk and Beast Boy would be beside himself, wanting to talk but maybe not knowing how to approach it. So I decided to get Raven and Beast Boy trapped in an elevator type setting where the pair had no choice but too talk to each other directly. I was surprised at how well it all flowed tbh. I expected Raven to be difficult.
Another edit came in the action piece at the start with Mad Mod. Originally, it opened with Raven meditating in the tower and either seeing Azar or Russel(Changes to the story made me remove him from this chapter.) talking to them. But after watching the show a little more I decided to have an action piece with Mad Mod and naturally he'd attack them with sixties British TV icons.
So of the battle with thee giant Zeberdee and Doogle are somewhat take from an episode of the Goodies, where they did battle with a lot of British Puppet characers.