Authors notes: Some edits to the prologue to make Garret more the focus, plus a few things here and there to make Garret more sympathetic. I want him to be more a tragic character who the Mask takes advantage of. I'll let you guys be the judge of whether or not I'm successfully communicating that.
(EDIT 30/Jan/2025: Tightened up some of the writing and updated some spelling errors
Chapter Three
Mayhem in the Neighbourhood.
Something odd was happening. That's all Garret could think. But he couldn't put his finger on it. Blasting through the city at five times the speed of sound, throwing an armoured truck through a bank's main entrance and wrenching the vault door open with his teeth all seemed perfectly normal to him.
He had a feeling he wasn't in his right mind, but something told him to relax and just enjoy the ride. It's not like he didn't have any input, but it was like he was controlling a video game avatar and this was one, big, interactive cutscene.
There was only one thing he knew.
With him the revolution had come. All prisoners will be released. The oppressed will rise up. All shall be equal. Dogs and cats shall live together. Down with capitalism!
The five Titans raced through the city following a trail of money through the streets. They traced the masked man to one of the rougher areas of the city where the man stood atop a burnt-out car and was throwing money to the wind. People in rough and worn clothing were rushing around trying to grab the cash. The Titans had to push through them all to reach the masked man.
"Drop the cash, Mellon Head." Cyborg shouted, pointing his sonic cannon at him.
"Who said that?" The green headed man turned to the metal man. "Pft. Racist!"
The Titans surrounded the masked man on five fronts. Beast Boy turned into a lion and prowled like a cat about to jump on a mouse. Robin took some handcuffs from his belt and cautiously approached.
"You gonna come quietly?" Cyborg asked. "Or is this gonna have to get ugly?"
"Oh, I see." The green man nodded like he understood. "I'm being threatened by the child division of the fascist police!"
"Dude!" Beast Boy had turned back into his human form and had crossed his arms over to point in opposite directions. "You've got this backwards. You're the bad guy here!"
"These people are starving!" The green man flung his arms out and he spun in a circle to address the street. "What are you doing to help them, exactly? The money is insured anyway. The Government will foot the bill."
Raven felt compelled to open her mouth and say, "Do you know exactly HOW the Government will foot the bill?" But she forced herself to keep quiet until the urge went away. She didn't want to voice her opinions in public in case someone was recording them.
"You're still breaking the law." Robin said and made ready to grab his staff from the sleeve on his back.
"Do any of you know why you're opposing me?" The masked man asked. "Do you know what you're doing?"
"Do you have any idea what you're doing." Cyborg asked in counter.
"I'm robbing from the rich, and giving to the poor." The mask man said.
"I think that's a 'no.'" Raven said.
"Alrighty then!" The masked man plunged his hands into his pockets. "If that's the way you want to play it." He pulled something very large out of his pockets. "Try it, punks!" They were both technically guns. But they were a mass of barrels, pipes and mounted rocket launchers. It was more like something a child would draw in an attempt to make the best gun ever.
The Titans stopped, unsure. The guns fired. Out of each barrel came a small flag with the word 'Bang' on it.
"Dude!" Beast Boy leaned back in awe. "Does anyone need to change their shorts after that?"
"Just you." Said Cyborg.
The man reached for the triggers again. Raven felt something weird. Like reality had just been subtly altered.
"Look out!" Raven called as the guns went off like they were machine guns. Bullets rained down towards Cyborg and Robin. They dodged out of the way no problem. Cyborg rolled and fired his sonic cannon. The green guy stepped aside with the poise of a dancer. Cyborg fired again and again. Each shot the masked man danced around, narrowing avoiding each shot.
In a lull of the battle Beast Boy's lion form leapt onto the masked mans back, pushing him off the car and to the floor. Starfire grabbed the bag of money and hauled it onto her back.
"Woah! You're breath stinks!" The masked man said while holding onto Beast Boy's incisors. The kid wasn't intending to bite him, it was just to scare him. "You know, you smell like you're a walking zoo."
In a whirl of motion Beast Boy's lion form was now laying strapped down to a dentist chair. The green man had altered his clothing so he was dressed as a dentist.
"Now, stay calm while I administer the anaesthetic." He told the lion. He produced a large hammer and bashed Beast Boy on the head with it. Actual stars erupted from his ears and circled his head.
A blast of dark energy forced the man off his feet and sent him rolling. Raven was at Beast Boys side in an instant. Her teeth were bared at the masked man while she felt Beast Boys cranium to check for brain damage. "You okay?"
He slowly morphed back into his human shape. "Dude, anyone get the number of that hammer?"
Raven clamped her hands over his skull and felt his brain, aura and mind. She pressed firmly on his skull and rebooted his mind and healed the damage. It was just a shame she could only heal it, not improve it.
Beast Boy blinked back into life. "Whoa, what happened?" He looked over Raven's shoulder. "Hey, he hit me!"
"Nicely deduced."
The masked man stood swaying on his feet as the Titans surrounded him again. Beast Boy was now a bear. Raven had her hands splayed like talons with dark energy all around her. Starfires eyes were glowing and Cyborg's arm was ready to fire.
Robin adopted an offensive stance with his staff. "Titans, Go!"
The green man screamed. His mouth opened wide enough to swallow a grapefruit. A wooden sign with the word "YAHHHHH!" painted on it sprung from his mouth. It went straight back down his gullet. He wound himself up like a cartoon character, literally twisting himself completely around his mid section couple of times ready to run. He took off and...
The five Titan's blinked, their eyes wide. He'd took off in five separate directions at once, each split clone left a dust trail.
"Yeah, nice try!" Cyborg opened his wrist-mounted computer. "But I can track where you really went." He tapped a few keys, and his face dropped.
Beast Boy turned back into a human. "Well, where did he go?"
"Umm..." Cyborg pointed. "That way." He pointed another way. "That way." He pointed in another direction. "That way. That way. And that way."
"Narrows it down." Raven commented.
"Split up." Robin said, "Beast Boy, Starfire take to the air. Cyborg, take the left. Raven, take the right. I'll go straight." There was no arguments. Beast Boy turned into a pterodactyl and flew into the sky. Starfire following. Robin, Cyborg and Raven went alone on foot into the concrete jungle.
Cyborg was heading back in the direction of the T Car. He had is arm cannon out as well as all kinds of sensors and monitors checking for any movement. Whoever they were following, they were clearly a super power being. But the Titans had taken down worse people, bigger monsters and...
Cyborgs face dropped in horror. "Oh no! YOU MONSTERS!" He ran for the T-Car. Its wheels were removed, it was sitting on bricks and it had been stripped of its chairs and headlights. He reached in and pulled out the steering wheel. It wasn't attached to anything anymore. "Now I'm pissed!"
"Hey!" Someone tapped him on the shoulder. It was the green headed guy, now dressed like a police man. "You can't park there, it's a handy-cap zone. I'm afraid I'm going to have to give you a ticket." The masked man took out a pad and paper and wrote something up. Cyborg looked at the man like he didn't know if he should punch him or keep his hands firmly on the steering wheel and just say 'yes, sir' and 'no, sir.' The masked man tore the note page and handed it to Cyborg. The Titan looked at it in disgust.
It was a cinema ticket. "Oh man, not 'Shark Boy and Lava Girl!'"
The masked man took the ticket from Cyborg and tore it up. "Okay, we'll forget the whole thing. Just get this hunk of junk off the road, and... WAIT A MINUTE!" The masked man was suddenly holding a bag containing a white powder.
"Hey, where did you get that from? That's not mine!"
"I found it in your pocket."
"I don't wear pants!" Cyborg snapped gesturing to his robotic legs.
"Thanks for the admission. I'll add public indecency to the charge sheet." The masked man cut into the little bag with a knife, put the bag up to his nose and took a big whiff. When he pulled the bag away soap bubbles were all over his face. "Yeah, that's some good soap powder. Get's your whites nice and clean."
The teen shoved his sonic cannon into the guys face. "I already have one unfunny green asshole in my life." The masked man looked off in a particular direction as if he should see something. He wiggled his eyebrows at literally nothing. Was someone there? Someone Cyborg couldn't see nor sense? He grinned from ear to ear and sped off to put distance between himself and Cyborg.
Cyborg fired his sonic cannon and the mask man jumped around avoiding every shot. How was he doing that?!
He got a clear shot and fired. The green man spun on the spot and had changed his clothes to that of a matador. "TORO!" He cried as the beam went through his red cape. He moonwalked around the next few shots, then made several jerky movements before putting a pair of sunglasses on.
"Oppa Gangman style!" He danced like he was riding a horse.
"Oh man, I hear enough of that from B.B.'s play list!"
The masked man spun around again. He was now wearing a black tuxedo and he was facing away from the Titan. Cyborg took aim. The man spun around and a shot rang out from the gun he had.
Something hit Cyborg in the chest and the giant cyborg staggered back. There was a nice dent in his chest plate. Cyborg looked up at him. The guy had actually taken a shot at him! While looking at the masked man a blood like substance descended from the top of his vision and dribbled down. But his computer didn't say he'd suffered any head trauma? He whipped his brow he discovered the source of the red stuff was merely a tomato that had smashed into his head. "You are really not funny!"
The masked man spun around and swirled up to him. When he stopped he was dressed like a Roman warrior. He thrust a trident into Cyborgs hands.
"Let's go old school!" The masked man stood back with a ball and chain in his hand. Cyborg shrugged and hefted the trident in his hand. The Titan shrugged. They two warriors circled each other, the tension was high and they were about to throw down. Cyborg prepared to thrust the trident. The masked man looked past Cyborg.
"Whoa, whoa! Timeout!" The masked man said making a T sign with his hands. "Wait right there, don't move!" In the next instant the man sped past Cyborg. Cyborg turned. He didn't have time to blink as a cement truck rolled backwards towards him and stopped. "Let a rip!" The masked man was in the driving seat. Before he could move cement poured down where he stood and covered him. The mixture hindered his movements, but his motors could still push through.
With a whirl of motion the masked man surrounded Cyborg with several heat radiators, lit fire pits and wrapped electric heating blankets around the teen. This shouldn't work, and yet it did. The motors couldn't overcome the concrete. Not without significant leverage.
The masked man ran up to Cyborg and wrapped his knuckles on his chest.
Another twist and a whirl and Cyborg was on the lower end of a giant see-saw. The masked man stood atop a building ready to jump onto the higher end. "Off to the Gulag with you, my capitalist friend"
Miles away a concrete statue vaguely shaped like a man impacted the bay and sank like a stone.
Thanks to his advanced cybernetics Cyborg could hold his breath a really long time.
Robin overheard something and was running towards Cyborgs location.
A shadowy foot stepped on the roof of a car in his way. Robin came to a stop and looked up at the green headed man, now dressed in the robes of a kung-fu master with a long, white beard. He moved his arms in an uncoordinated way and he made all kinds of grumbling noises that sounded like he was imitating the stereotypical Japanese speech pattern from very badly dubbed movies. "Come, Karate Kid. We do battle. YAHHH!"
The green man leapt at Robin. The young boy grabbed the masked man by the wrist, shifted his momentum and centre of gravity and threw the masked man into a pile of rubble.
The masked man climbed out of the mass holding his rubbery head. "You're Kung-fu is good. But you lack discipline, Robin-san!"
"I am perfectly disciplined." Robin said with intensity. He smiled and waved for the man to come at him.
"We'll see who the King of Kung-fu really is! HOA HOA!"
He leapt into the air with a flying kick.
"OW! OW! OKAY, ITS YOU, ITS YOU, ITS YOU!" In two mere seconds Robin had stepped aside, grabbed the mans leg and redirected his momentum. The masked man face planted into the floor. Robin got on top of him and locked his arms in such a way that a small amount of pressure bent them in ways they were not supposed to.
Robin got his cuffs out and slapped them on the green man, then pulled out his communicator. "Guys, I got him."
"Don't count on it." Said the masked man waving at him from the roof top. His arms were free. Robin looked down to see he was standing on nothing but solid ground. "Bye!" He cartoonishly grinned. He stretched his body and catapulted himself away.
Robin got up to give chase, but fell forwards into the dirt. The cuffs he'd put on the masked man were now around his ankles.
"I lost him." Robin said into his communicator. "Be wary. This guy is full of tricks."
Beast Boy soared through the air as an eagle. He came to a stop when something shot past his field of vision. Someone was shooting at him!
He looked down and saw the masked man on the ground wearing a hunters guise and holding a shot-gun with a scope on it. "Yeeahaaa!" He said in the voice of a hill-billy. "Billy-bobs gonna eat tonight!" The scope glinted. On instinct Beast Boy dived bombed just as a shot went straight through where he'd been soaring. He skirted the ground and morphed into a velociraptor and he rushed to take a bite out of the masked man.
"Clever girl." Said the masked man, faking an Australian accent. He stamped the ground and kicked up a boulder from the street. "Look out, it's the meteor!" He whacked it with a bat he'd somehow materialised and the boulder went straight for Beast Boy. He had to break off his attack and dive for the curb. The boulder sailed over him with inches to spare.
As he composed himself and still in his dinosaur form. The masked man stood over him in black clothes, along with a black jacket and black framed glasses. He also wore a wig that looked literally like carpet than hair. "Ah... you are aware. Umm, that... that thee... um... the velociraptor is... Umm... actually supposed to be a much... much... much smaller dinosaur."
Beast Boy returned to his human shape and burst out laughing. "Dude, you sound just like the guy from the movie."
"You know, you're the first person I've made laugh." The green man relaxed. "It's a tough crowd."
"My friends don't get good comedy." Beast Boy got up and dusted himself down. "And for your information, it was a teenage Utah Raptor."
"Oh. Like that movie. Attack of the Utah Raptor vs. the Robo-zilla!" The green man smiled.
"Yeah. You've seen it too?!" Beast Boys face lit up.
"I had the whole AotUR series on boxset and DVD!" Beast Boy went starry eyed at finding a fellow B-Movie fan.
"Sweet! What about the..." Despite Raven not being there he still felt her smacking him to focus up. "Sir, I'm gonna have to ask you to give yourself up." Beast Boy said in the best, intimidating voice his squeaky tones could muster.
"Oh, you're adorable." The masked man patted him on the head and scratched him behind his ear.
"I am NOT!" He whined like a kid being fussed over by his parent.
"By saying that you're cuteness just went up ten points." The man wiggled his teeth.
"Why are you robbing banks?"
"Oh no, no. I'm no Robin. The names Garret!" The masked man pulled on his face until it morphed into an oval faced man with short hair and a dazzling smile. "Aye, this is Robin Banks. They don't just collect the myths, they put them to the test!"
Beast Boy burst out laughing. "I don't know who that is, but it sounds fun." Realising he was losing focus again he quickly composed himself. "No. Why are you stealing from banks?"
The masked man shifted back to his original form. "Cos banks steal from everyone. You put your money into a Four-Oh-One-Kay annnnndd it's gone! You try to save a bit of money, aaaaaand it's gone. You put money away and it loses value by the second, and don't get me started on..." Beast Boy nodded but his mind was wandering. He had no idea what this guy was talking about. The guy was now talking politics. He babbled about Republicans or something... Weren't they the good guys from Star Wars before the fascist empire took over? Beast Boy's knowledge of politics barely extended beyond what he'd seen in the Star Wars prequels, and he hadn't really understood that either. They were most boring bits. He just nodded his head and slowly reached for the call button on his communicator to signal where he was.
Oh wait, the man had stopped talking and he was still bobbing his head. "Sorry dude, I kinda tuned out."
The masked man knocked on Beast Boys head and his skull produced a wooden knocking sound. Oddly, it didn't hurt.
"Kid, I like ya." Garret said walking around like he had control of the situation. "So stay out of my way, I'd hate to hurt you. Frankly, if it wasn't for the wearers gooey feelings I'd gut you like a fish."
"The gooey feelings of what?" Beast Boy shook his head. "I kinda like you too, but I can't do that, sorry." He leant forward and knelt down. When he sprung up it was as the mighty T-Rex. He roared in the masked man's face right before he turned into a green headed Fred Flintstone and brought a wooden club down on Beast Boy's head. The skull of the T-Rex was tougher to get through than a lion skull so it only dazed Beast Boy. He shook his giant dinosaur head and turned into a goat and charged at the masked man. He flipped Beast Boy end over end and before he knew it he was tied up from the legs and wrists. A pole had been pushed through his looped legs and arms, and he was dangling over an open fire at his back.
The masked man now looked like a TV chef. He sprinkled salts and seasoning over Beast Boys goat form. "Now, preheat the fire to five thousand degrees, bake for twenty minutes and if there is still life in him." He shrugged. "Then he's a witch."
The masked man turned a dial on the wall. Despite it not being connected to the fire it still got really hot all of a sudden.
"Make sure to turn the goat over at least once a minute or it'll be SSSSSSSSMokin'!"
Beast Boy changed back into his human form.
"I've changed my mind. You're not funny!" Beast Boy scowled.
"Sticks and stones, mate." He said while imitating a famous movie pirate. "Three fascists down, one to go. Where is little miss Fake Tan and Passport photo face?" He twisted and sped away.
Beast Boy struggled against his bonds. He tried turning into a dinosaur, a bear, and a gazelle. No luck. He tried a whale. His mouth emitted a cross between a whale moan and a human scream. The transformation reverted back to human. His bonds wouldn't let his arms or legs shift to the correct positions, when he tried to morph it was like he was going to rip his arms off.
He thought briefly of turning into a small animal and escaping that way. Then he looked at the fire pit beneath him. He wasn't sure he could morph into something and avoid falling into the fire. Even a bacterium would perish from this heat alone.
"Umm... help!"
To Be Continued...
Authors notes: These battles were really fun to write. Though I'm used to writing for Raven, Starfire and Beast Boy, I think I'm starting to get the hang of Cyborg and Robin at last.
Keep in mind that the Mask removes all the wearers inhibitions. That little voice in your head that tells you not to do something. Yeah, the wearer loses that.
Mayhem in the Neighbourhood is a reference to the old Mayhem comic, where a proto-Big Head/The Mask character was created.
I know Gangman style was created around 2012 while this story takes place around the mid 2000's. But it was too good a reference to leave out. So just take it as a little bit of creative indulgence from me, alright? Cheers. ;)