Fan Fiction ❯ Power of Denial ❯ Getting Closer ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, unfortunately. Any views or opinions expressed in this fan-fiction are strictly those of the author, me. The latter statement is probably just a formality, unless I somehow work my love of all things Canadian (GO CANADA) into this fan-fiction. This fic spawned from a post I made on a RaeBB message board I occasionally frequent. I want to start a fourth fic so badly now that I have this great idea, but I just wouldn't have the time.

 

Please Read and review. Constructive criticism wanted.

 

Chapter 3: Getting Closer

 

Noon had come and gone for Titans' Tower, and most of the chaos had left with it. Hours had passed since the last incident revolving around the green changeling, and the tower was now at an unbelievable state of peace considering the panic that ensued earlier. Of course, Beast Boy was still rather freaked out about the strange occurrences happening around him, but he was mostly keeping to himself in an empty corner of the common room. He did not dare sit down or even touch anything around him. The last time he did, the couch was transformed into a pink monstrosity that declared some girl's (at least he prayed that it was a girl) love for him.

 

`I haven't even met this girl,' Beast Boy thought to himself as he paced in an extremely small circle in the dark corner of the room. `The least she could do would be to just come up and say hi like a normal person. I'm sure she could have rented a jet ski or something, at least a paddle boat. Or, better yet, there's that ferry that runs from the tower to the city. I mean, that's his job, and it's only a five dollars per person and twenty per T-car. I don't know why Cyborg calls that dude a money grubbing piece of slag. Every time Cyborg pays the man, he's always laughing at one of Cyborg's jokes, though I never have heard Cyborg tell him one but that is beside the point. Whoever this chick is, there's no reason for her to go all out like this. I know I'm irresistible, but everyone at least has some self-control. I don't even want to think about what she's going to change next. I don't even want to know. Maybe if I stay right here without anything around me, except these stupid annoying hearts, she won't be able to do anything else. Yeah, that's exactly what I'll do.'

 

Meanwhile, on the far opposite side of the room, three other Titans were having a private meeting at the kitchen area table. Shortly after the couch had been transformed into its overly pink present state, a theory that was easily proven by the letting on the couch entered Robin's mind. The theory itself seemed harmless enough, but the deeper meaning beneath the obvious first glance conclusion concerned Robin greatly. The fact was that whoever was doing this could do anything they wanted within the tower without a second thought, and that was unacceptable.

 

“All right Titans,” Robin began seriously, focusing directly on the other two seated with him briefly, we need to… Starfire,” Robin sighed slightly annoyed, “you can look at our new pink couch later.”

 

Starfire immediately snapped her head back to Robin and blushed embarrassed. “I am sorry, friend Robin. I was just wondering if the re-coloring of the seating indoor furnishings was the proper course of action for the Earthly courting ritual. If so, then I would wish for one of my seating furnishings to be re-colored soon… Robin.” Starfire was beat red at this point in her confession, and only Robin seemed to notice when she barely whispered his name as an afterthought.

 

Beast Boy sighed a sigh of relief and stopped pacing around in circles. It had almost been two hours since the couch was revamped. It was only a little more than an hour from the time the hearts appeared to the ruining of their couch, and it due to the time now cumulating, Beast Boy was beginning to wonder if the worst was over. Nothing had happened in a while, and maybe nothing would happen anymore. At least, that is what he had hoped.

 

Suddenly, the door to the common room swished open to reveal… no one. Beast Boy let out a breath that he did not know he was holding. The last thing he wanted was to see Raven again and screw things up three times in a row. But his relief was short lived when he saw what had triggered the door in the first place. It was a single red streamer on the floor, but this was not an ordinary streamer. It seemed to anyone that saw it that it was alive, because it was wasting no time as it slithered on the floor straight towards Beast Boy.

 

“No, Starfire,” Cyborg laughed at the naivety of the young, alien princess. “Ruining my favorite place to sit in the whole tower is definitely not part of our earthly courtship rituals. See, usually, it's the guy who makes the first step and tries to get the girl, and the proper way to do it is with some flowers or something. Or, doing it the normal way, the person, guy or girl, would just walk up to the one they were crushing on and tell them they liked them. They would definitely not go to all these lengths. I would say this girl is crazy, but I think that is pretty obvious. I mean, she actually digs Beast Boy, dog. Beast Boy! That has to be a sign of insanity, or something close to being fatal at least.”

 

Robin sighed and his eye began to twitch in frustration. “Guys, we don't need to be losing focus here. Right now, we need to think of a way to handle this situation on our hands. This is serious. We need to find a way to stop it as soon as possible.”

 

Beast Boy back away slowly and was about to call the other Titans over to help, but the streamer swiftly coiled up and jumped up towards the changeling's face. Silently, the red streamer wrapped itself tightly around Beast Boy's face, blocking his mouth and any noises from coming out of it entirely. He could not call for help, and he was alone in his plight. The changeling reached up with his hands and frantically tried to peel the streamer off of him, but it seemed as if it were permanently stuck to him. He was just glad that the only thing he had to deal with was the streamer.

 

As if on cue, the door to the common room once again slid open, but there was far from nothing on the other side. Slowly, a being so vile, so evil emerged from the other side, and unfortunately, it did not travel alone. A small, light purple furred stuffed teddy bear marched into the room, but it stopped and seemingly offered its paw to something behind it. Another paw shot into the common room from the hallway, taking the offered paw gladly. Moments later, a green furred teddy bear was led into the room by the purple one, and they both eyes Beast Boy evilly.

 

“But Robin, Starfire spoke obviously confused, “although my planet believes in arranged marriages, if love is ever found within these, it is meant to be cherished like nothing else. Why would you want to stop this most obvious display of one's love for friend Beast Boy? Surely, whoever this girl is deserves to love as much as you or me.” Though Starfire put on a cheerful front, both Robin and Cyborg could tell that she was getting angry at the masked Titan for implying that they extinguish someone's chance at love.

 

“Of course, Star,” Robin stated quickly to avoid a Starbolt to the head. “I just meant that we need to be prepared for any situation that this occurrence could bring. Look at what we know so far. There is someone out there that, let's say for all intents and purposes, has a crush on Beast Boy. It may be more. In fact, I am leaning towards obsession but for now, let's just call it a crush. We also know that this person is intent on expressing their affection for Beast Boy through these signs, which reveal that this girl at least has the power to create these things out of nowhere.”

 

The two teddy bears marched paw in paw towards the retreating changeling, slowly starting to close in on him when he backed into the wall. The purple furred teddy bear had a green heart on its stomach that “I love you” in scripted red letters. The green furred teddy bear, however, had a light purple heart on its stomach that read “I love you too” in the same style as its counterpart's. Despite Beast Boy's look of sheer horror on his face, the stuffed bears continued to advance until they were at the base of the changeling's legs. As soon as they were at they destination, they wrapped their paws around Beast Boy's legs and gave each of them a warm hug.

 

`Well,' Beast Boy thought, unable to speak, `that wasn't so bad. It's not like they tried to -'

 

A loud almost ripping sound could be heard at the feet of Beast Boy, and his head immediately shot down to see exactly what was happening. To his surprise, the changeling saw that the two teddy bears were holding a roll of duct tape each, and had begun to tape his feet and legs to the wall. Panicking, Beast Boy tried to jerk his legs free, but to his horror, the duct tape did not leave him any room to squirm free. Out of desperation, Beast Boy attempted to transform into a small animal, but was shocked to find that whenever he tried to use his powers, the duct tape would just glow a soft green and he would not change at all.

 

`Okay,' the emerald Titan thought panicking. `Last time Cyborg Duct taped me to a wall, it didn't do this to me. I am so screwed, and the others are not even paying attention so that they can save me. SHOULDN'T THEY HAVE HEARD THE DUCT TAPE?!? I'm doomed.' Unfortunately, while Beast Boy was distracted by his own thoughts, the two teddy bears had already climbed on each other's shoulders and duct taped his arms to the wall as well. Beast Boy was now trapped and completely helpless. helpless.

 

“What bothers me about all this,” Robin continued completely unaware of the chaos occurring behind him and the other two Titans, “is that whoever can do these things can do them in the tower freely. We have no protection against it as far as I can see. Whatever they do, we are stuck with, and that is just not acceptable. There's no telling what all they could do or what kind of damage they could inflict on us or the tower without us even having a chance to fight back.”

 

“Listen, man,” Cyborg laughed slightly, “I think that you're getting all worked up over nothing. The two things that have happened so far have been relatively harmless. Even if you count when Beast Boy threw one of those hearts at me as a danger, they really can't do much. As long as this chick likes Beast Boy, we're going to be stuck with these minor annoyances. You worry too much Robin, we'll be fine.”

 

“We have no guarantee of that, Cyborg,” Robin shot back almost yelling. The masked teen took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down before speaking again. “Let me put it this way, Cyborg. Beast Boy sat on the couch and it was changed. What is to keep this girl from doing the same thing the next time Beast Boy is in the T-Car? Would you feel good about a pink paint job?”

 

Cyborg's eye went wide at the very mention of something happening to his baby, but then narrowed furiously. “We need to find a way to stop these things now. There's no telling if any of this is permanent or not. I will not have some crazed loon trashing my baby… I mean, I won't have her tormenting my best friend, Beast Boy.”

 

The door to the tower common room once again silently slid open, but Beast Boy sighed mentally in relief when he saw that it was Raven entering this time. He was sure that she would be able to help him. That is, unless she preferred the peace and quiet his bindings provided her. He only hoped that she could find it in her heart to forget what he had said to her previously.

 

The first thing that the dark Titan saw when she entered was a giant blob of pink attacking her violet eyes, but her eyes widened in shock when she realized that the assailant was actually their couch. She had no doubt that their newly vibrant colored couch was the result of beast Boy's secret admirer, but for some reason, she could not help but feel a little bit angry that someone was fighting for the affection of Beast Boy. However, she quickly pushed such feelings away from her mind and began searching the room for the changeling. Her eyes fell upon the three Titans at the kitchen table conversing about something, but she could not have cared less about what that was. Her attention was focused elsewhere.

 

“Have you seen Beast boy?” Raven asked emotionlessly, hoping that the trio could shed some light on the whereabouts of the changeling.

 

“He is presently in the corner on the opposing side of this room, friend Raven,” Starfire answered without turning to face her friend.

 

Raven found this odd, but her confusion immediately left her mind when she turned around and faced a rather disturbing scene. Beast Boy had been… duct taped to the wall, and it was obvious that this time it was not Cyborg's doing. It was something far more sinister that had done this to Beast boy, and raven's eyes narrowed when she saw that they were not quite finished with the changeling. Two teddy bears were at the feet of the green Titan with a can of pink pain that they got from God knows where, painting little hearts on the changeling's uniform. Needless to say, Beast Boy's eyes desperately pleaded for help from Raven.

 

“Besides,” Robin continued after Starfire answered raven's question, “we all know about Beast Boy's previous track record with girls. First, we have Terra, who was talked into believing that we did not care for her and she willingly fought us and him ruthlessly. More recently, we have Raven, who he will never openly admit to liking, but it is so obvious how he flirts with her day in and day out. It's sick you know? How can anyone not see when someone is flirting with them like that? Can you guys understand it?”

 

Robin looked up at his two teammates to see Cyborg staring at him like he was a idiot and Starfire blushing for some strange reason. He raised an eyebrow in confusion, but decided that it was probably best just to continue on. “Anyway, we all know he likes Raven, but all he does is make her mad. I'm almost positive that she's going to kill him one of these days. Obviously, Beast Boy is not as good with women as he wants everyone to think. If and when trend continues, whoever is making these things in our home might hold a grudge. When that happens, we'll be helpless. As leader, it is my duty to look out for dangers, and all that I see in these harmless occurrences is a potential to become very dangerous very fast.”

 

“Beast Boy,” Raven whispered panicking before rushing over to his aid. Roughly, Raven threw the teddy bears away from the changeling and ripped off the streamer blocking his mouth. Immediately, Beast Boy gasped for air ad began breathing heavily as if he had forgotten how it felt to breathe through his mouth. “Are you okay?” Raven asked with genuine concern in her voice.

 

“I-I guess,” Beast Boy choked out, “but I can't say the same for my uniform. Remind me to get changed after this. Can you get this tape off of me? Somehow, it won't let me transform with it on me.”

 

Raven nodded, and began trying to pull the duct tape off of her friend, but having no luck at all. “Azerath Metrion Zinthos.” She whispered and a black aura began to appear around one of the strips of tape, but just as soon as it appeared, it was gone. “What the…” Raven stated dumbfounded. “Azerath Metrion Zinthos…” Nothing. “Azerath Metrion Zinthos.” Nothing. “What the heck is going on here?” Defeated, Rave returned to trying to manually rip the duct tape off of Beast Boy's body.

 

“So what do you suggest we do?” Cyborg questioned seriously.

 

“Well, we can try and find this girl,” Robin answered, “and help her get together with Beast Boy, hoping that he doesn't screw things up. We can let things continue and hope they just blow over, keeping Beast Boy well away from your car in the process, Cyborg. Other than that, there isn't anything we really can do about the girl or Beast Boy, but we can do something about her powers. Cyborg, I want all of our rescores set on trying to reverse the things she does. If we figure out how to do that, then we'll be safe from whatever can happen, good or bad.”

 

While raven was distracted helping Beast Boy, there was a dark flash of black in the center of the room between each group of Titans and a mysterious figure was deposited on the common room floor. Speedy, member of Titans East, looked around the room in confusion, almost instantly noticing Raven and beast Boy's plight. “What the Hel-” His sentence was cut short by a dark aura surrounding his body. When it released him, something sinister had happened. Speedy had been transformed into a chibi version of himself with wings and heart tipped arrows, and he also wore a diaper for reasons that are too disturbing to mention. The chibi Speedy smiled at the two tormented teens and gripped his bow and a special heart arrow tightly. Chibi Speedy took aim at the two Titans, and fired his arrow.

 

The arrow was headed straight for the unsuspecting pair, but in a puff of pink smoke, it was replaced with a rather large net with a pointy heart tip at each of the corners. With its increased size, beast Boy saw it immediately and panicked. “Raven!” he shouted urgently, hoping to warn his teammate of the impending danger to come. Hearing the desperation in the changeling's voice, Raven let go of the strip of duct tape she was pulling on, and jerked herself face to face with Beast Boy. Yet, that would be her downfall.

 

Alerted by Beast Boy's cry, the three Titans shot up from the table they were seated at and spun around only to be met with utter chaos around them. Two teddy bears were hugging and dancing in a circle in front of them. A tiny, masked cupid was floating above the pink couch. Red streamers had appeared hanging from the ceiling. Yet, in the center of all the chaos stood Raven and beast Boy, trapped beneath a net connected to wall. Neither were able to move, but that ability would not have done them any good a in this situation. Both teens were wide eyed in shock because not only were their bodies pressed roughly against each other's, but when the net hit them, it forced Raven's lips against Beast Boy's.

 

“What the hell just happened?” Cyborg asked in disbelief, too shocked at the scene before him to move. It took a while for the Titans' brains to register exactly what position raven and beast Boy were trapped in, but as soon as they did, they ran towards the two hoping desperately to free raven before she killed someone, mainly Beast Boy.