Chapter Six
A masked promise.
The next morning Beast Boy stretched and left his room at eleven O'clock with his hair and suit disheveled. He yawned. He knew the others would have an attitude over him getting up so late, but what did it matter? He was ready to fight crime whenever and it'll only take him a few seconds to look good. Unlike girls who take forever. Was he right? Beast Boy could feel an imaginary grey hand about to smack him for thinking that. Thank God Raven couldn't read minds.
Actually, she could, and she had threatened to read his mind if he didn't stop sneaking into her room. That would be worse than pulling up his internet search history.
As he walked past the trophy room he felt his head drift to the door. He walked past and tore his eyes away from it.
A strange noise entered the air. It sounded strange, like a battle. Like chaos. Like fun.
Beast Boy turned back and entered the trophy room. He was drawn to a particular display case. The one that contained that weird mask they'd found the day before.
It glowed green at him. His mind fell into a relaxed state as his pupils contracted. There was so much fun to be had, and no one will shout at him if he only puts this mask on. It would also protect his thoughts from Raven's prying mind.
An image of a man in a big rubber head gloating over the potential death of children slapped Beast Boy in the face. His pupils returned to their normal size. He blinked and looked into the masks eyeholes. It glowed green again and Beast Boy felt the same calming aura wrapping around him.
Beast Boy rapidly blinked, jammed his fingers into his ears and tightly shut his eyes.
"I am not listening. I am not listening. Lalalalalala!" He'd been hypnotised one too many times before that he recognised when something was trying to put a fluence on him. Beast Boy walked away towards the door. "OOF!" He bumped into the door frame and felt his way around it before jamming his fingers back into his ears. "Not listening. Not listening. Lalalalalala!"
Beast Boy didn't notice Raven had stepped out of his path. "Not listening. Not listening. Lalalalalala!" A concerned look spread over her staring face.
"I don't want to know." Raven shook her head.
"Hello!" Came a voice. "Is there someone there? Hello. I can't see, but I know you're there."
Raven stopped at the open door of the trophy room. She entered cautiously. That hadn't been a voice on the air. It was a voice in her head. She could sense the vibrations in the aether and followed them back to its source.
The source was the mask sitting unassuming on its plinth.
"Did you just talk to me?" The mask sat inert in its case. Raven felt stupid.
"No." It eventually said. Raven's brow dropped. It spoke in a soft British accent. "It's so nice to meet someone telepathic I can talk to. I am..."
"Nope!" Raven turned and strolled away.
"Hey, wait? Where are you going? Please, don't leave me alone!"
Raven stopped, but did not turn back to it. "Yeah, I'm not falling for this again." She had been tricked by a talking ledger a few months back. So shoot her for being wary of talking, inanimate objects.
"I want nothing from you but a few hours conversation."
Yeah, so did the ledger. If the mask hadn't chosen a British accent to talk to her in then Raven may have been willing to talk. Raven had a thing for British accents as they reminded her of someone she deeply trusted from a long time ago. This meant anyone rooting around in her mind would choose a British accent to make her feel at ease.
"I apologise. I am technically only part of a consciousness. I build the rest of myself around whoever wears me. Or whoever I am in contact with. I just wanted to put you at ease and not scare you away."
"People up to no good generally do that." Raven said, edging her way around to look back at the thing. She looked into the masks eyes. Oddly, this conversation wasn't draining, at all. Just like talking to Malchior while he was trapped in his book, it didn't sap any of her energy. "Cut to the chase. What do you want, I'm busy not talking to cursed objects."
"I want to apologise for what I did. Robbing the bank. Trying to spark a revolution. Dumping your mechanical friend into the bay. Cooking the green boy. I even said some horrid things to the orange girl."
"Starfire, Beast Boy and Cyborg. Use their names." Raven corrected. The inanimate face of the mask did not alter its subtle expression.
"And you. I really hurt you, Raven. For all that, I deeply apologise."
Raven wasn't hurt. She was used to abuse by now. "I'll meditate on your apology." She turned away again.
"Wait! What did I say?" The voice was getting emotional. "Please. All I want is to exist. Is that so bad?"
She turned back, a smugness to her mind, but accusation in her eyes. "You want me to grant you existence? By... what? Wearing you?"
"Just for a little while, please!"
"Yeah, you can fuck right off!" Raven turned her back to it and was making for the door.
"I only turn into a reflection of what is inside someone's mind!" It said hurriedly. "Garret's mind was full of anger and resentment, and his politics. Is it any wonder I turned into... 'that!'" She was about to shut the door. "I can make your face work!"
Raven stopped. "What?"
"I can sense you have trouble communicating your feelings externally." Raven looked back. "You fear people get the wrong impression of you. You're not emotionless, you just have them under control. You're not cold, you just don't know how to express your feelings without unsettling people. You often wonder if what you show is taken as insincere. Or if someone suspects there is something more deeply wrong with you than just being half-demon."
"Get out of my head!" Raven snarled, stamping back towards it.
"I can preform that task for you." The mask said. "Put me on, grant me existence and I will translate your feelings. You'll finally be able to communicate with your friends properly, and they will know how much you love for them without having to sound cringy."
Raven's eyes narrowed. "If you weren't such a cool design I'd throw you into the fire for that."
"Your mind is clean and ordered. You're the first wearer in a long time who might not drive me insane. I'll finally be at peace while existing, and you get to be sociable. You don't even have to use any of my reality warping powers. You can just wear me like you would that cloak and take me off whenever you please."
She knelt down to bring her down to its level.
"If... if it's too much for you, you could always pull me back off. At least then I'll know there is no hope for me. I'll never find someone suitable to wear me."
Raven could see herself reflected in the display case. It was like her head was already sitting inside the Mask.
"Two words." She croaked, and raised a finger for each word. First the mid, then the fore-fingers in the reverse. "FUCK... OFF!" Raven spun on her heels and glided out of the room. The cloak billowed out behind her and the door slammed shut with finality.
The mask sat in its glass case and silently waited. The green boy was the best target, but it's simple tricks couldn't fool the boy into putting it on. That girl though. It had thought she was not worth going after, but underneath that resting-bitch-face there was a desperation that the mask intended to exploit.
There was no mention in any of Raven's literacy of a wooden mask that granted magical powers. There was reference to a jade mask with similar properties however, but it was barely a footnote with little info about it. Raven had told Robin as much and left him to it.
Robin worked at his computer using the usual reference materials. Criminal records, news reports. Stuff like that. He searched for reference to wooden-masks, and a big green head.
A file came up. "The Big Head killer."
Robin opened it up. The photos suggested this was the same guy, with the same powers.
His eyes dropped. This wasn't right.
According to what he was reading Big Head was revealed to be the Joker of Gotham city. Big Head operated in Edge City on and off in 1991. The Joker operated out of Gotham City around the 2000's. Why would he drop using such chaotic powers?
The logical solution was that the Joker wasn't Big Head. Or at least, not the original one. He was just the last person to wear that mask before it vanished for about five years. The mask must go from person to person. If Robin's hypothesis was true, coupled with what he was reading then that mask grants people power but at the cost of their souls.
Robin accessed the Bat-computer to look up more information. Indeed there was a file marked 'Big Head' that was attached to the Joker's. It didn't tell Robin anything he didn't already know. But there was another file attached to it.
'The Mask – contingency code: Big Head.'
Robin opened it.
Raven was playing with her friends. It was some stupid game Beast Boy and Cyborg had come up with. It had something to do with unicycles and stale French loaves they'd found in the back of the cupboards. All Raven knew was that there was a goal, and you had to get a beach ball into it. She wasn't interested in playing it, but she foolishly agreed to referee for it. Which meant she had to pay attention.
Beast Boy swung his loaf and the ball sailed from one side of the court, field, or whatever. Cyborg raced over to the other side to defend his goal and went on the attack. It was all amusing to watch, especially when the boys began to lose their balance. Raven was tempted to interfere just to see Beast Boy get angry and frustrated. She held back on such a miss-use of her power.
"Come on Raven, give it a try." Beast Boy said at half time.
"I thought I was refereeing." Raven said, unsure.
"Come on." Beast Boy stood in a welcoming stance. "Just try it out. You never know, you might enjoy yourself." She was already enjoying herself.
"Somehow, I doubt that." Raven's face relaxed, but fell into a grumpy expression she didn't know she was radiating. She hated when people tried to get her to do new stuff. It wasn't that she lacked confidence, she lacked the energy. But to get him off her back Raven picked up a unicycle and perched herself on top of it with perfect balance. She took a stale French loaf and rolled onto the court. Oh god, please don't let anyone see her doing this.
She batted the ball with her French loaf, but she was not used to the movements necessary to preform the game. She went after it and hit it again, and again. The game was a lot like polo, and she was starting to enjoy herself. She relaxed her face and attempted to communicate that with a small smile. Beast Boy had earned that much at least. She turned around and saw Beast Boy recording her with his camera, Cyborg behind him.
Raven jumped off the cycle and called the camera too her, her face utterly livid. Beast Boy shrank away with his arms up in a defensive stance. He scuttled and hid behind Cyborg.
"Games in session, get back on the pitch." Raven hissed at Beast Boy.
"It's a court." Beast Boy said nervously.
"Whatever!" She snapped. Cyborg and Beast Boy went back to playing their game.
Raven opened the camera to record him. She waited for just the right moment, then froze his wheel making him fall off, somersault and bang his head. A subtle laugh escaped her throat. Served him right. She hastily hid the camera as he got up and looked around. Raven was going to put this footage on a loop so she can play it back to herself in depressing times to cheer her up.
While the game was in session again Raven opened the camera and rewound the tape to see that clip again. She pressed play, but she'd gone too far back.
"B.B put that away." Cyborg said over the cameras speaker. Beast Boy clearly ignored him and continued filming.
She could see herself riding the unicycle. Her face was pulling a... Her face dropped. That wasn't a good smile. She was pulling a face alright. She looked constipated. She ran her hands over her face and tried to rub some feeling into it.
"Jeeze, what's wrong with her?" Came Beast Boys voice from the cameras speaker.
"I don't know. Is she in pain?" Said Cyborg.
This was shortly before the camera was ripped out of his hands and it sailed into Raven's hands. Raven's spirit deflated. What was wrong with her? But she had tried, she tried so hard!
"GOAL!" Beast Boy whooped, "Oh Yeah!" He turned to Raven as if to make his feat official Raven looked up at him. Beast Boys face dropped. "Hey Rae, you okay? What's wrong?" Raven dropped the camera, pulled her hood over her face and stormed out with her shoulders rounded. "Hey, where are you going?"
"What did you do now?" Cyborg said like this was a common occurrence.
"Nothing!" Beast Boy snapped. He looked at Raven's trail. "I don't think I did." He took a step forward. "RAVEN!" He called out. His ears dropped. "IF IT WAS ME, I..." His face fell in defeat. "whatever I did, I'm sorry."
The alien girl stared at the mask in the case. Something had called her there, but she couldn't do anything but stare at the mask in the glass case. Her hand reached up and grasped the glass case. Her other hand shot out and grabbed her wrist making her let go. She looked warily at the mask, turned and left the trophy room.
This was getting irritating. Usually teenagers would fall over themselves to taste the power it could provide, but these teens didn't have that temptation like they were content with what power they already had. Even the half man/half machine had only looked curiously at it and moved on. The green boy was avoiding it all together now and the white boy in the circus outfit only glanced at it as he came and went.
Then it'll wait. Someone will come by it sooner or later.
The door opened and someone rushed in. Her face was frowning more than usual and her eyes glowed with desperation.
The grey girl approached and stared at the mask long and hard as if silently threatening it.
"You get existence. You make me normal, okay?"
If the mask could smile, it would. "Deal."
Raven lifted up the glass case and picked the thing up from its perch and gently replaced the glass case.
The mask had a warm feeling to its wooden texture, and eyes you could swear were looking right at you, despite them being hollow. It was smiling at her, like a trickster, but it was a smile as mysterious as the Mona Lisa's.
"So... I just put you on my face?"
"Yes."
Raven turned the mask over in her hands and stared at its inside. The wood grain was more pronounced. If she put this up to her face she'd certainly feel it.
"Try anything and I'll send you to the bottom of the Mariana Trench."
The mask didn't glow. It didn't need to. Her arms buckled and brought the Mask closer to her face.
The air around her began to grow cold. Raven didn't mind. She was used to the cold.
The door to the trophy room opened. "Raven?" Robin asked, "What are you doing?" The Mask was vanishing into Raven's hood. "No! Raven. No! Stop!" Robin rushed towards her.
A thunderclap as the mask made contact with her face. A stifled hiss escaped her mouth like she was a snake that had been stepped on. The wood grain of the Mask pressed into her face. It burnt! A blast of energy erupted from her core and Robin was flung backwards into more display cases. The wooden mask rapidly turned to rubber and...
Just as quickly as it had started. It stopped.
What? Was that it? Raven expected some kind of energetic transformation. But that was a very controlled. She could feel her fingers on her face. She lowered her hands, but the mask had seemingly vanished.
"Raven, are you okay?" Robin said, getting up from the floor.
"Sorry about that." It was her voice, but less croaky. Lighter. More human.
She looked in a mirror that ran along the wall. She was wearing the same clothes as before. Her body was the same shape, same size. It appeared the mask had done nothing to her. Her hood had fallen further down her head leaving her entirely in shadow.
She reached up and pushed the hood down. She found the mask. Her face appeared to be covered in a thin layer of rubber. Everything else about her features seemed unchanged. Except for her teeth and eyes, they were a little larger than normal, and her nose a little smaller, but nowhere near the comical proportions that had appeared on Garret.
"At last, a balanced host." Raven reached for her neck and felt where the mask ended. She traced it to the back of her ears, which were flattened and covered. Yet she could hear perfectly clearly. Something was missing too. It was like there had been an annoying buzzing in the world that had only just now gone away.
She blinked. Her eyes and mouth looked more animated than usual. She was smiling. It looked natural! She smiled some more, then lessened it. Then shifted her face around as if to try the fit.
"Raven!" Robin got to his feet and rushed to her side. "Raven, what were you thinking? Are you okay?"
Raven felt her face. "I feel... I feel... fine." She pulled a smile and she didn't have to put any thought into it. What was truly amazing was that the drain on her energy was gone!
She looked up at Robin. Tears were welling in her eyes.
"Robin. I feel so... I feel normal." She leapt at him, Robin prepared to defend himself, but she wrapped her arms around the teenage boys neck in a hug, burying her face in his shoulder. Robin froze, unsure what to do. "I feel like a real person, and it feels wonderful!" She cried into his shoulder. "Thank you. Thank you."
Hidden from view the jaws of the mask became larger, and the teeth became like baseball cards. Raven didn't notice her mouth smile evilly.
"You're welcome."
It quickly deflated back to normal before she noticed.
To Be Continued...
Authors notes: I've often said that the Mask doesn't just turn your face green and rubbery. It encases your head in a crazed, grotesque rubber head. But I've broken this rule for this story because the mask is up to something... ;)
One of the things that held this chapter up was the inciting incident that would persuade Raven to put on the Mask. I've taken example from my own personal experience as an autistic person, because the one thing I never liked to see is old home movies of me. I hate looking at myself because looking at me from the outside I can tell there is something wrong with me, but I couldn't see it being locked in my head. I could be as happy as punch, but look miserable. That was the back bone of Raven's motivation for trying on the mask. The second part of it is that Raven wants to show her friends she enjoys their company. She probably wonders if her friends feel the same way about her as she does looking at herself. Beast Boy's recorded comment confirms her suspicions.
The Mask talking to Raven was something I was also debating with myself whether to do or not. The Mask has been known to speak to a potential wearer before, first done to Stanley Ipkiss in the first issue and later to Cathy at the start of the Mask Justice arc. It's either something the comic Mask utilises to make people aware of it, or it's the wearers own psyche recognising the Mask's power telepathically. Given the mask has a consciousness, I'm thinking the former.
I didn't want Raven to put the Mask on immediately, as there is no drama in that. I wanted her to be wary and of two minds. Giving the Mask a British accent served two purposes. The Mask would've chosen a voice that would put Raven at ease instead of the unearthly tones employed in earlier comic book mask escapades. But unfortunately, a British accent coming from an inanimate object would instantly send Raven's bullshit meter into alarm given what happened earlier with Malchior.
The next chapter might take a while as I try to figure out what kind of Mask Raven is going to be. I have some ideas, but I'm debating over how far I want to go with it.
Cheers
-TimeLordParadox