Masked

Deception

"Why did you steal the suit? What are you planning to do?"

"Whatever I want."

-

Chapter 6

"Raven?" 

Beastboy stirred from his deep slumber, shivering from the unnatural chill of the air. His eyelids strained to open, his dizziness begging him to surrender to dreamland. 

He managed to secure the strength to wrench his eyes open and once he did, the changeling shivered with unease. Instead of his cushiony mattress in Titans Tower, Beastboy found himself curled on the icy stone of a pitch-black cell.  He squinted to glimpse a window that was surely there, but there were none. The only sign of life in this void of a room was the unhealthy abundance of clown masks that littered the floor. 

"Raven, this isn't funny!" Beastboy scrambled to the nearest corner in fear. He wasn't sure if his mind was dazed from sleep, or if the distant maniacal chuckle that echoed through the hall was genuine.

"Ok, I give, I give! I promise I won't ever interrupt your meditation again, or tell Robin and Cy we're dating. Just get me out of nevermore 2.0!" Beastboy's whimpers turned to panic, as he frantically grasped the wall's bricks for an escape. 

"Nevermore? Oh, the little poem!" A high voice pierced Beastboy's ear, so insincere that it was almost comedic.

Almost. 

"Why must this generation read such glum material? Nobody likes a good chuckle nowadays." Beastboy swiveled on his heels, to see the reflection of a circus suit in the shadows. Long, bony fingers raised a discarded mask to Beastboy's petrified form and tied it on with a grin. "Pity." 

The changeling's heart was thumping with adrenaline. This was the sickly face that lamented the front page of newspapers, whose name was whispered in fear among heroes everywhere. He stumbled to the floor in shock, snapping the bleached cardboard off his face. 

"G-Get away from me, you psycho clown!" Beastboy summoned his deepest courage and began to rearrange himself for his signature transformation. "-Wha?" Expecting the low rumble of a gorilla to ripple out of his chest, all the shapeshifter heard was an undeniably human cry.

"Oh, that's not very polite. You should be taught some manners." The infamed jester giggled as he danced out of the shadows, his pasty hand clutching a gory crowbar. 

"See, all it takes is one. bad. day." His eyes were cold as ice, with pure emptiness behind the shrunken pupils. Heaving the steel bar above his head, an artificial cackle erupted from the lunatic's throat. "Don't worry. It will only hurt when you laugh." 

And with that last sentiment, Beastboy snapped his eyes shut and braced for the torture.

And Joker pummeled the cutting metal against his ribs.

-

"What did you do to Beastboy, you piece of shit?" Robin rarely cursed, but when his friends were in danger, his calm demeanor could shatter. And between X touching Starfire and Beastboy's disappearance, Robin was less bat and more bite.

"Woah, Woah, Woah." Cyborg held back Robin by the collar of his cape, much like a cat. The Titans had called an emergency meeting, desperately attempting to make sense of the metamorphic teen's departure. "As much as I don't trust X-no offense, by the way." Cyborg gibbered in admiration.

"None taken." Red X leaned against a counter, boldly claiming space for his own.

"Like I was saying, as much as I don't trust X, there's no way he could've interfered with BB's runaway plan." Cyborg pulled up a log from his scanner. "Security's been on the whole time. And your nanotech cuffs prevented him from using the teleporter."