Tales From the Cave-Beauty & the Superbeast

The Forbidden Room

M'gann silently flew into the darkness that was the west part of Mount Justice. She could resist the mystery and suppress her curiosity no longer. She had to find out just what was so important in Conner's bedroom that he would forbid anyone to go near it.

The further down the hall she traveled, the darker and spookier it became. The chill in the air and the wind echoing through the hall, making strange noises, did not help matters at all. Nevertheless, the green-skinned maiden pressed forward, ignoring the little voices in her head that were screaming at her to turn back.

At last, she came to her destination. The door to his room had been pulled clean off it's hinges, allowing her easy access. M'gann hesitated for a moment before stepping inside. She looked around, surprised, to say the least. Before running away, she had been in Conner's bedroom countless times. By the time she had left, she had memorized every little detail by heart. But as she stood in it now for the first time in years, she found it was nothing like it was in her memories.

Conner's bed had been slashed and crumbled to pieces, making it a lumpy, tattered pile of ripped pillows and shredded blankets in the center of the room. His drawers had been broken and dumped onto the floor, leaving his clothes hanging all over the place. His knick-knacks and collections had been chipped and shattered, their pieces scattered on the ground.

M'gann caustiously walked around the room, taking in every little detail. This room had obviously suffered from Conner's countless temper tantrums over the years. Judging from it's state, Conner had only grown more reckless and destructive since she'd been gone. Not to say she didn't blame him. If she had been turned into a beast, she'd be pretty angry, too.

She stopped seeing something on his nightstand. It was an framed photograph of her and Conner that had been taken before he broke her heart. They were sitting on the couch, and they were both smiling at the camera. She was resting her head on his strong shoulder, and he had one hand firmly planted on her small waist.

M'gann gingerly picked up the photo and held it in front of her to get a better look. I can't believe he kept this..., she thought, running over the picture with the tips of her fingers. Upon looking at it more closely, she could see that Conner's face had been slashed with nail marks, rendering his image unrecognizable, while her face was still in tact.

She placed the picture down, looked up, and squinted to see. All the lightbulbs had been shattered, leaving the place in near total darkness, but there was a eerie blue glow coming from the front of the room. She slowly started walking towards it to investigate it's source.

Her auburn gaze fell upon a rose. Not just any rose. The reddest, freshest, most gorgeous rose that she had ever laid eyes on. The flower was sealed within a crystal glass case decorated with swirls and stuff that glittered like snow. But what really got her attention was that the rose hovered an inch or two off the table surface, like it was floating. M'gann knew at once that this rose must be magic of some sort.

Slowly, she took the tall dome in her hands and carefully lifted it off the table, her eyes never leaving her new discovery. As she set the case down on the floor, a shadow swiftly flew behind her, but she was so taken by the enchanted rose that she didn't notice. With wide, excited eyes, she slowly reached out to touch it's soft-looking petals—

—When out of nowhere, the dome slammed back over it with a loud CLUNK! M'gann gasped when she saw the swollen hand placed firmly on top. Conner had returned. He glared at her with his blue eyes, his face twisted in anger, making him look even uglier that usual. He looked absolutely infuriated, and M'gann knew at once that she had crossed a line.

"I told you never to come in here!", he shouted, stalking towards her. M'gann walked backwards, breathing heavily. "I-I-I'm so sorry!", she stuttered, so frightened that she was starting to cry. "I didn't mean any harm! I was just curious!" "Curious?! Curious?!", Conner roared, the volume of his voice rising with every word. "Do you have any idea what your curiosity could have done?! You could have doomed us all!"

M'gann finally stumbled and fell on her rear end. Her fear forced her to crawl backwards, trying desperately to get away from him. "I-I-I—" "Get out!", he bellowed, swiping a hand at her. She ducked just in time, and his claws slammed into a drawer instead, sending it flying to the other end of the room and splintering into pieces as soon as it hit the wall. "GET OUT!"

He didn't need to repeat himself. Terrified, M'gann scrambled to her feet and ran screaming out of the room and down the hallways, praying that Conner would not follow her. Her prayers were answered. Conner stood there for a moment, breathing heavily. He looked up at the doorway, and realization hit him. He had just driven away the girl he loved for the second time in his life. Devastated, he buried his hideous face in his deformed, claw-like hands.
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"Checkmate!", Kaldur proclaimed, beaming triumphantly as he secured his third win in a row. "Aw, man!", Wally moaned as he went digging through his pocket for Kaldur's win reward. "Not again! How do you do it?" "You're fast on your feet, I am fast on my mind.", he explained.

His good mood was dampened was when he saw M'gann run down the hall, panting heavily and looking frightened. "Where are you going?!" "I'm getting out of here!", she cried, grabbing her blue cloak and making a b-line for the exit. "What?! No!", Wally cried, his chess match with Kaldur forgotten. "I'm sorry, I know I promised, but I can't stay here a moment longer!", she called over her shoulder.

Wally and Kaldur hopped and wobbled after her. "Come back! Please! Don't go!" "Somebody! Anybody! Stop her!" The rest of the Team hurried in, crying and begging M'gann to stay, but their pleas fell on deaf ears as she floated off her feet and zoomed through the broken-down Zeta tubes into the blistering snowstorm.

The Team members arrived at the doorway just in time to see M'gann mount her horse and gallop swiftly off the mountain grounds and into the deep thicket of the woods. "NO!" "There goes our last chance to be human again.", Artemis sighed. "We're doomed. D-O-O-M-E-D, doomed!"