A new story featuring the animated Teen Titans, their alternate universe antagonists, The Teen Tyrants, and a few other surprises from other corners of the Titans universe.
As a rescue mission goes awry, Raven discovers a terrifying plot working right underneath the Titan's feet. Betrayal, conspiracy, and some evil familiar faces are coming for the blue Titan, but why?
Chapter One: ENSNARED
Jump City really had a serious problem with its rundown abandoned facilities. Whether downtown, by the bay, or even underground, it always seemed like there were endless options for exploring the remains of some deserted former business. One such place in particular, a worn out mine near the city limits, was currently being probed by a familiar blue cloak waving overhead. For several minutes it flew in circles across a wide area stopping often to hover and observe, what little there was to see, anyway. Nothing but stone for miles around, the ground littered with metal debris, tires, broken equipment, and in the middle of it all a massive gated entrance leading into a mine in the mountain's base. This is where the blue cloak finally touched down.
"Raven calling Robin…over."
The blue member of the colorful group of heroes known as the Titans pulled out their famous yellow communicator to check in with Titans Tower, currently engaged in a search and rescue operation. In fact, that same yellow communicator was the very reason for her being stuck wandering the desert right now.
"Robin here. What's your status? Any sign of her out there?" the leader of the Titans returned her call with a static-filled reply. His picture on the screen barely visible.
"If she is here, she's not hiding in the rocks," Raven replied dryly. "Someone as pale as her would probably stick out in a place like this."
"According to Cyborg, that's the l-st known location where her comm-cator was active." The poor reception of the outlying area continually caused the leader's feed to cut out randomly. "She's pro-ly inside the facility itself."
Raven looked up at the gate entrance as the fuzzy communicator spoke. "…which means I'm going have to go inside to get her… Swell..."
"Just use the radar on your comm-cator to try and pinpoint hers. Even if you d-n't find her, see if you c-n get your hands on her locator and br-ng it back to the Tower. Maybe it can g-ve us a cl- where she might-sssssssssssssssh"
"Robin? Robin?!" Raven raised her voice at the glitching machine in her hands, shaking it in frustration.
The Boy Wonder's feed had annoyingly cut to total static mid-sentence. At the very least, he was able to get the order out beforehand and uploaded the GPS coordinates for the missing communicator to Raven's device. Its signal was weak, but actively blinking yellow on the screen. Raven sighed, rubbing her temple at the faulty equipment her team was working with and began walking towards the armored door in front of her. Raising her hands, she summoned a black mass of telekinetic energy, completely covering the thick metal and forcing both doors to creak loudly open wide enough for her to walk through.
"You better be in there, Argent," the blue Titan grumbled to herself.
Once inside, something odd immediately caught her eye. The edges of both metal doors were heavily scraped and marked with ashy residue, as if they'd been forced open. Parts of the mine may already have been in ruins due to whatever incidents caused it to shut down, but it'd been deserted for years. Why would anyone force their way inside a useless broken husk like this?
Even more disturbing was the fact that several lights were on. They were dim, some even flickering, but they brightened enough of the large entranceway leading deeper into the facility, where even more lights could be seen. Whether or not it was her missing fellow Titan, Raven was now uneasily sure of one thing; this place wasn't empty anymore. With a deep breath, she raised a fist clenched in her crackling black energy and moved forward, keeping a sharp eye out for anything.
"No, really, Argent. It better be you in here…" she repeated.
The honorary Titan in question had been out of communication for some time. She had reported in to Robin and the others upon her arrival to the States days ago, claiming to be investigating some criminal she tracked down who'd been causing trouble in her own country. Not unlike the Titans previous excursion to Japan, but very much unlike that previous venture was the fact that her radio went dead almost immediately after showing up. Something about this was very wrong. In the past, Argent had proven to be a totally capable hero with no problem calling for backup if needed. Then again, the communicators issued to all the honorary Titans around the world had caused massive problems for the team as well. Who could ever forget when the Brotherhood of Evil borrowed them for a quite unexpected reunion? Whatever was going on, Raven was determined to get an answer…no matter how disgusting it was walking further into this dump.
"Nice…" she murmured sarcastically, taking in all the sights of rusted metal walls, discarded drilling equipment, and the clouds of dust filling every breath she took.
But suddenly, an unsavory image caused her to freeze. A door leading down another hallway, like the front gate, had been damaged, and recently from the looks of it. Fresh slices around the empty doorway were evident, as well as a subtle red dots and smears where the cuts sat. Blood.
Raven's eyes widened as she quickly picked up her pace, looking down at her communicator. The signal was still weak, but her own personal pixel on the screen was getting closer to its target. And after seeing the bruised and beaten walls, she needed to move.
A left turn here, a right one there; many hallways diverged from one another leading to a primary digging site. This place was like a labyrinth, but with tons of littered, tetanus-infested pieces of old machinery to step on. Raven gave up on her foot speed and became airborne, or at least as much as the ceilings would allow. She'd considered phasing through the walls to save time, but such a trick was risky in any place she wasn't already familiar with. One wrong move and the girl could end up stuck in a wall. As she got closer and closer to the blinking dot ahead, she couldn't help but notice even more signs of struggle on the walls around her. More cuts, more dents, more cracked ground beneath, and even charred spots where small explosions could have ignited.
At last the destination became visible as she flew forward to a large, hollowed-out chamber of dirt and rock. She stopped in the middle of the room and lowered down, checking to see that her dot on the screen was now on top of Argent's. Before her on the ground were several large chunks of rock unnaturally placed in a pile. Thinking the worst, Raven spread her arms and said aloud her magic words.
"Azarath – Metrion – ZINTHOS!"
As if on cue, each boulder lifted itself in the air to be discarded by Raven when it appeared nothing was beneath them. One by one, she chucked them all until there was nothing left but a yellow object alone on the floor. Finally. Raven again touched the ground to pick up the lost communicator, which unfortunately was without its owner.
"Argent…" she muttered.
Raven reached for her own communicator to report her find to Robin, but spied something foreign sticking out from the lid of the device. A little scrap of something. She flipped it open to discover exactly that, a small piece of notepaper stuck to the screen. Blank on the side facing her, but when turned over revealed handwriting which read:
"Heads Up"
For a split second there was dead silence, but as Raven lifted her head, suddenly the obvious registered to her. Behind her she could hear a faint grunt in the air, as well as the sound of boots clanking off the metal guard rail surrounding the dig site. Time seemed to slow to an almost grinding halt as she turned around to see an armored figure leaping down at her, a sword in each of its hands raised up high and swinging down fast.
*CLAAANG!*
A loud sound of metal colliding with surface pierced the room. The pair of swords did make contact, but only at a round wall of black shield that the blue Titan managed to form just before a fatal hit. Her arm shook slightly from the impact while trying to hold back the blades still pressing down hard. As the dust settled, her attacker was revealed.
"Not bad, Raven," the assassin cooed at her. Raven clenched her teeth at the remark.
Before her was a familiar face with an unmistakable eye-patch. Long, silvery white hair flowed from her head, while the rest of her was clad in that despicable blue and orange military suit covered in metal guards, a constant reminder of her upbringing. Rose Wilson, or as most knew her...
"Ravager…" Raven gritted her teeth as she tried pushing back her opponent's weapons. "How…unpleasant to see you…"
"I'd love to stay and catch up," said Rose, easing one of her swords off the shield, "but I'm afraid I can't drag this out too long. I have a delivery to make."
With her free hand she attempted to swing her blade underneath the shield at Raven's exposed legs, but of course it wasn't going to be that easy. Said legs levitated in great haste to avoid the swipe. Now back in the air, Raven readied her own hands for battle. Both crackled with her energy building bigger and bigger around her fists, preparing to lob a large wave of black magic at Rose. But before she unleashed it, Rose's words echoing in her head caused her to hesitate. Delivery of what?
"What have you done with Argent?!" she demanded, aiming both fists squarely at Rose.
But the assassin showed no fear at the threat. Sticking a sword in the ground, she quickly pulled a blinking metal object from a pouch on her belt and raised it up.
"You'll have to ask nicer than that," Rose teased, clicking the object.
Raven's annoyance was growing, made evident by the masses of energy in her hands growing more and more erratic. She prepared to fire, but was interrupted by several ear-piercing booms from the ceiling. With little time to act, Raven realized the trigger in Rose's hands detonated the stone above both of them. She flew higher to meet the craggy rocks crashing toward her, releasing the energy meant for Rose and instead using it to catch as much rock as possible and keep it from flattening her.
Rose meanwhile saw an opportunity in the empath's distraction and unsheathed a handful of throwing stars from her pouch, hurling them upward. Unfortunately, said stars quickly bounced off the very same rocks now coated in Raven's magic and heading her way. Not only had the Titan managed to use Rose's trap as a shield to her blades, but was now in possession of several deadly weapons herself, which were now racing at the armored girl at alarming speed.
With a frustrated groan, Rose grabbed her second sword and sprinted towards the exit of the chamber, determined to try to lure Raven into the tighter space of the hallways where her telekinesis would be more limited. But before she reached the end, one of Raven's boulders crashed its way in front of the door, blocking her only way out. She turned to see several more headed her way as Raven forced them onward to overwhelm her. With a defiant leap in the air and catching the surface of one of the boulders by piercing her sword straight into it, she attempted to steady herself to escape the onslaught. However, she didn't have enough time to maneuver her way to a stable position and ended up in an explosion of dirt as the rocks crashed into the opposing walls.
The shaking room was now filled on all sides by a ton of dust. Raven coughed while floating closer to where Rose fell, hoping to see anything indicating where the girl might be. Unfortunately, that last attack, while devastating, now sacrificed her visibility on the battlefield, which was a horrible state to be in when facing an opponent known for sneak attacks. Raven readied herself while peering around the rubble until something shiny blinded her eyes. The glint of one of Rose's katanas now lied underneath a boulder, seemingly half buried, possibly with its wielder close by. Raven slowly inched towards it, attempting to clear away some of the dust with a wave of her hands.
"NOT GOOD ENOUGH!"
A sudden roar came from behind as Rose bolted out from a cloud behind Raven. The Titan couldn't react fast enough to repel her this time, but unlike the last ambush, this time Rose's now empty hand was outstretched while her remaining sword lied in wait. One quick grasp at Raven's cloak was all it took to rip her off guard, and as she pulled its wearer back. Rose swiped her blade forth, missing anything vital on the Titan but slicing her garment almost clean off. Luckily, Raven's hands were up and allowed her to magically push her foe back before the sharp edge could return.
"Lucky girl," Rose spat through her teeth, spitting out some dirt from the crash before.
"Look who's talking," Raven shot back. "You sure you're up for this?"
Rose did look strained. The fight was proving tougher than anticipated, and the visible wear from the damaged inflicted by Raven was becoming more and more apparent as it stretched on.
"Maybe you should've asked your dad to come along. You look like you could use a hand," Raven taunted as black wings began sprouting from her back, her powerful Soul Self manifesting from behind her for another, more decisive attack.
Rose's eyes widened, but then she smiled, lifting her katana up and resting the blade on her shoulders, almost casually.
"First of all, a hand is an excellent suggestion," Rose said with a chuckle, and with her free hand raised her other to form a cone around her mouth. "And second, TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH!"
"What?" was all Raven could flatly reply. Instinctively, she glanced behind to whatever Rose was calling out. In the distance, she could make out a shadowy female figure blurred by the dust clouds, but clearly standing atop one of the craggy rocks launched before, now floating freely in the air.
"No…" was all Raven could say at the sight of her.
But before she could even react she felt the ground beneath her swelling and crumbling, several mounds of it rising up like giant fingers and closing in around her. Her arms and legs were forced close to her sides as she was quickly caged within the relentless rock. She struggled to free a hand to try and focus some energy to break it, but it all happened so fast. She was stuck.
"I figured you could handle her yourself, but you were taking too long. Got boring," the figure said, slowly floating closer and out of the dust. Riding on the rock was none other than Slade's second apprentice herself, the former Titan turned traitor…
"Terra…" Raven uttered in disgust. The blond earth-mover gave a mocking head nod and bow in response.
"Hello Raven," Terra said sweetly, but quickly raised her glowing yellow hand, already clenched in the same shape as the fingers of earth now locked around Raven. "And goodbye."
With a grunt and a thrust of her arm, Terra flung the mass of rock holding Raven in place straight forward, careening towards the wall in the distance. Raven, realizing she had little time, closed her eyes and tried to concentrate. In a few seconds, energy manifested from the gem on her forehead and poured forth to cover her entire body in a dense silhouette. Not a moment too soon, as her cage collided with the wall, but didn't stop there. She found herself moving within what felt like hundreds of feet of the earth itself until eventually she broke through to the other side.
With a crash erupting in a combination of stone and black magic, Raven was back outside the mine, her body thankfully shielded by her fast-formed armor and free from the crushing and bludgeoning of the cage and walls. Though her body was protected from the rock, she was completely exhausted from the relentless pounding and mental exertion of her Soul Self fighting it off. Said magic shielding soon after disappeared, retreating back inside her chakra.
She lied motionless on her back, breathing heavily, eyes blinded by the bright hot sunlight beating down. Unable to move for what seemed like forever, a shadow finally stepped up slowly forward to block the sun. As her vision began to return, she could see Rose's arrogant smirking face. Raven tried to lift herself up, but could barely rise enough to rest on her elbows, and when she tried to move one of her legs the ground below molded itself around the ankle to hold her. Terra now stood behind the grounded girl with no intention of letting her move a muscle.
"Good save there, Raven," Rose's voice said with such sickening confidence while she lifted her katana. "But like I said…not good enough!"
Raven flinched, expecting a finishing thrust, but instead found herself faced with the tip of a sword inches from her chin, pinning her helplessly down. Her heart beat heavily in her chest as she looked up the blade to the face of its master.
"So, do it already," Raven said grimly, unable to defend and tired of being toyed with.
Suddenly, she could hear Terra snickering from behind. She then glanced quickly to see her holding out a pair of heavy looking metal shackles. The metallic clinking sound they made when opened was truly unnerving, and Terra made sure to display them thoroughly to the beaten Titan.
"That's not part of the plan…yet," Terra chuckled.
Raven stared at the shackles, but Rose lifted her chin with the tip of her sword and pulled her gaze slowly back.
"I already told you," Rose began, lowering her tip downward, "I have an important delivery to make today."
Raven could only watch as the sword made its way to her jeweled belt, where on the side her communicator hung. With a quick thrust and a burst of smoke from the device, Rose had now destroyed any chance of contacting help from the others. The sword then resumed its position before Raven's face, almost within kissing distance.
"And the sooner you surrender, the quicker it gets done."
Raven felt a twinge of fear in her heart, but wouldn't let it show on her face. If this was going to be the end, she wasn't about to give these two the satisfaction of her fear.
"Actually," she said weakly, "I think I'd rather die."
Rose smiled, pulling her sword back up over her shoulders, again in that casual way.
"That's a shame," she said, winking over at Terra, "Because we need you alive…"
Before she could even look to see what that wink was about, Rose raised her leg and delivered a kick to Raven strong enough to soundly knock her unconscious. The last thing she could hear before all went dark was:
"Phase one…done."
Muted and muffled voices came and went, but for the longest time there was nothing but a dizzying darkness. Everything blurred. Everything deafened. Nothing clear. All that could be felt was a constant sensation of momentum, lift, and pull, tug and tighten, and a cold air over bare skin was always evident. Heaven knows how much time was passing between tired eye openings. Could have been hours passing, or possibly even days given how much the hazy grip clouded her sense of time. But slowly, things once again began coming back into alignment; feelings becoming sharper, pieces of memory reforming, and a massive throbbing headache growing more and more by the minute. When one regains their consciousness, physical awareness breaking through the numbness of sleep is always a challenge, especially when everything hurts, you have no idea where you've woken up…or who is with you.
"Look at that, she's awake," a voice said.
"Good timing," said another, both familiar in tone, "Then she can walk the rest of the way."
Raven's eyes reluctantly blinked open to familiar company, but unfamiliar surroundings. The light outside had grown darker and the sound of wind blowing across desert was no longer in the air. Her body lied on the ground and reflexively tried to stretch itself out after being unconscious for so long, but found itself locked in place. This finally snapped her to attention as she realized her wrists had been bound behind her back and her neck uncomfortably tethered by a metallic collar. Again by reflex she began to pull and struggle against these restraints, but that only earned the sound of snickering from the two sets of legs she could now see by her side. With a sigh, she rolled slightly over to confirm the obvious.
"Rise and shine," Terra said, kneeling down with a length of chain wrapping her wrist.
"Up and at 'em," Rose added, "We're going for a walk, just the three of us."
The amount of condescension in their words was just painful to listen to, as if they were all just friends out and about. Raven's scowled between the two, her eyes then drifting to the chain in Terra's hands.
"Like I have a choice?" the empath asked pointlessly.
Without hesitating, Terra reached out with the hooked end of her chain, latching it onto Raven's collar and giving her a tug upward.
"On your feet!" the blonde demanded, a harsher tone this time. When Raven failed to immediately comply, she gave the leash a much stronger pull until the strain on her neck was too much and she had no choice but to stand.
Raven was a bit wobbly in the knees at first, her exhaustion still present from the fight before, but Terra made sure to straighten her stance with her firm grip on the chain. Raven attempted to snipe back at her holder, but before one word came out she felt a sharp pain at the small of her back, an all-too-familiar sensation of a bladed tip poking her ever so slightly. Tilting her head, she could see Rose now behind her, a short sword pointed forward, and could feel her wrist cuffs being hooked by yet another chain. It was clear now that Rose and Terra intended to become a convoy, with Raven as the cargo in the middle.
"Try to run, or try anything stupid," Rose paused, inching the sword, "and you know what happens."
"Thanks," Raven groaned at the pressure of the tip, "I think I got it."
"Good." Terra beckoned the captured girl forward with another tug. "Then walk."
With no other option and a sword at her back, Raven reluctantly obeyed and trudged along with her abductors, silently cursing them both for this degradation. It was only now that she was no longer distracted by the two's taunting that she could finally take in her surroundings. Apparently, while she was knocked out she'd been transported to what seemed to be a shipping yard, empty and peppered with towering stacks of huge metal crates for what looked like miles. There were endless gridded paths through all of them, but the structures were so tall you couldn't see over them. Perfect for those wishing to hide in plain sight. Up ahead of the trio sat a large gated warehouse, possibly some kind of main office building for the yard. Whatever it was, Raven was sure she didn't want to go inside.
Without even skipping a beat, Terra with her available hand commanded a large chunk of earth to rise up and push the sliding metal door open for the three. Raven couldn't help but remember back to the dark mine shaft entrance and how she felt she would regret entering, even if it was for a friend. But her hesitation earned her another prick of the sword and a rough shove from Rose.
"Keep it moving!" the silvery girl barked.
Once inside, the innards turned out to be no more impressive than the mine shaft, possibly in even worse condition. Raven found it hard to believe that these two's choice of base would be in such bottom-of-the-barrel condition, but on second thought it seemed like the perfect place for scum to fester. There was nothing to see but another door, one that lead to a wide hallway of shining skylights overhead. Shining *red* lights. Equally as curious as the color was the fact that the hallway up ahead was dark until a new red light appeared overhead in tandem with the three walking girls. Every few steps forward, a new red glow. Raven would applaud the theatricality of it all were it not for the fact that it was clearly meant to intimidate her.
"Impressive light show," she took a chance and dared to mock the two. "But if you're trying to scare me, you'll need a better trick."
The pair of villains looked at each other, then Terra glanced at her captive.
"Believe me, that's not us," she mused, getting a raised eyebrow from Raven.
"Speaking of which, you take her from here," Rose said, unlocking her section of Raven's bonds. "I'm gonna give the good news."
Terra nodded, pulling Raven ahead of her so she could walk behind and keep an eye on the girl. Rose split from the two and made her way down a different path. Amid the changing of the guards, Raven heard a tiny beeping escape from Terra, to which the girl raised her hand and clicked a hidden earpiece.
"We're here," the blonde said aloud, and in response the tiniest feedback from the miniature speaker could be heard. Terra smiled once the message finished. "Sounds fun."
Raven eyed the girl behind her, she despised the audacity of all this.
"Spare me the "bad girl" act and just say where you're taking me!" the tone of Raven's voice grew more impatient by the second as this show dragged on.
"The same place we're taking your friend," Terra replied softly.
Raven's eyes flew open at the mention as she remembered, Argent. In all the chaos she forgot she wasn't the only one captured. Clearly, Argent had been ambushed before she could reach Titans Tower and her communicator was used to send a luring distress signal to any unsuspecting help. Raven turned to face her opponent, inviting Terra to grip both hands on her chain.
"What have you done to Argent?!" she demanded loudly, taking a step forward. "If you hurt her…"
She couldn't even complete her threat, she was so angry. Her mind so filled with vengeful thoughts that she failed to hear footsteps coming from the hallway end opposite them. Terra's eyes peered over Raven's shoulder, then met her own.
"Why don't you ask her yourself?" the blond returned, pointing behind the empath and formed a golden glowing fist.
Before Raven could properly turn around, the ground beneath her feet shook her loose, throwing her balance and tripping her forward. Terra seized the opportunity and tugged the leash hard so as to land Raven on her knees rather than flat on her front.
"I swear," Raven growled, "When I get my hands on –"
Again, she couldn't finish her threat, but this time not out of anger. What stepped forward before Raven made her mind go numb for a few moments. She managed to stutter a word or two in disbelief, trying her best to come up with a coherent thought…but to no avail. Standing but a few feet away from her was the girl she'd come to save. Argent. But she wasn't on the floor like Raven, nor was she locked in binds, not caged or collared in any way. She stood freely, clad in a sharper, more venomous looking version of her normal costume, her hand shimmering with the scarlet colored radiance her energy gave off. Worse yet were her bright red eyes coupled with a devilish smirk aimed delightfully at Raven's kneeling form. But worst of all in this terrible sight was the company Argent kept beside her; a gagged, struggling captive levitating just to her left, arms and ankles bound in the hellish red glow of Argent's powers. Starfire, it seemed, had also fallen victim to this trap…
"Star…fire…" Raven stammered, still tongue-tied and trying to process what she was seeing. "Argent…"
"Raven," Argent answered back, taking a couple of steps forward to address her, "Long time, no see."
Raven looked up, but couldn't speak, couldn't move, couldn't do anything. This was…wrong. This was all wrong. It couldn't be happening. Clearly she didn't wake up after her fight with Terra and Ravager, and all of this was some kind of bad dream brought on by fatigue. If only that were true. But reality came flooding back once Argent spoke again.
"I'm sure you have a lot of questions, but I'm afraid we don't have the tim—"
"WHY?!" Raven barked, interrupting her. Starfire meanwhile attempted to choke out a garbled word of warning to her friend, a pointless endeavor. Argent ignored the girl's insolence and instead leaned down to come face to face with Raven.
"You'll find out soon enough," Argent cooed, "both of you."
"You…you set us up?! You're behind all this?!" Raven spat, trying to keep her anger in check.
Argent held her smile, but shook her head. "Not exactly."
As if on cue, the hallway around them began to change, the walls around the four slowly coating with a black mass of sparkling energy. Both bound heroes glanced from side to side in confusion as they noticed an energy similar to Raven's own slowly engulf the entire area upon which they stood. The two villains present, however, showed no surprise, no in fact they seemed delighted, as if they'd been waiting for this too long already.
"Looks like she can't wait anymore," Argent commented. Terra nodded and snickered.
The energy soon walled the group, obscuring everyone inside and reducing their images to blank shadows. This went on for a minute or two until at last the blackness dissipated and everyone appeared in a new location.
"How…" was all Raven could get out. Her mental state had all but been taxed to death after a day's worth of being tossed from location to location against her will. What now?
This new place wasn't much of an improvement from the last. Simply a wider chamber of the same abandoned warehouse, though they were likely deep underneath it now due to the cavernous appearance of the walls and floor. Speaking of, said ground beneath Raven's knees was a blackened symbol scorched in the earth stretching out wide, but contained in a circle around the four girls. To each side of her were two thick, red crystalline structures poking out just above the ground. She couldn't focus on any of it, however, as before her again a dozen or so feet away was Rose, already present leaning on the hilt of her katana.
In an instant, the chains binding Raven's wrists together suddenly shattered, as did the leash that bound her to Terra, though the collar remained fastened around her neck. Before she could even rub her wrists, Raven's arms were pulled outward to either side, unable to protest.
Terra saw her cue and wasted no time. She powered her hands, flushing them with her glow, and soon after the two crystals on either side of Raven burst from the floor and surrounded her wrists, the mineral taking special care to separate and reform around them and freeze them in place. As the pillars grew, Raven's ankles followed suit and were forced into the crystal as well, which parted just the same for her feet and solidified tight once secured. As soon as she was fixed in an X shape and raised in the air, the crystals finally ceased.
Raven now hung helplessly, not able to move even an inch from her binds, which began glowing a faint light upon settling. Around her, Argent and Rose gave a subtle applause at Terra's handiwork, mockingly approving Raven's predicament. Starfire could do little but muffle in remorse in her own prison. The combination of one friend's treachery while watching another in peril was almost too much for the poor girl to bear.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Raven shouted, still not convinced she wasn't still stuck in a dream as opposed to these crystals. "This can't be happening!"
"Oh?" a lone voice echoed, though the source of it unknown. "Is that so?"
Raven looked around, trying to see if it someone on the ground had joined with the other three, but there were no new faces she could see. That is, until a red flare shined in her peripheral vision and she turned back around. She shuddered.
"Seems real to me," the voice said, now floating in front of her in human form…Raven's form.
Without warning, a hand stretched out, whose sharp finger pierced the fabric of Raven's leotard and began drawing under her chest, slicing the outfit as it went. Another trailed along her waist around the small of her back, revealing more of her pale skin as it circled her belly. The spandex dropped to the floor as Raven froze. Her cloak and most of her leotard were now destroyed, and she hung vulnerably before a smiling mirror image of herself.
"Y-you…"
Raven's tied tongue continued to deny her. Too many things had happened today to stunt her speech, but hands down this newcomer before her was the linchpin of the whole nightmare.
"Well, technically you, but hey, no one said alternate universes were easy to understand," said a familiar poisonous voice, one heard a long time ago in a previous clash.
Red Raven, the vicious leader of a rogue group of Titans from a parallel Earth, thought to be safely sealed away from this one, now floated a mere arms reach from the trapped blue Raven. Though similar in shape, the two mages couldn't be more different. As was evident by the wicked doppelganger's pink hair and eyes, Red had far more in common with this Earth's Jinx than Raven. This time around her appearance differed, as instead of a jeweled belt and leotard like before, she now sported a long flowing loincloth garb more suited to a priestess of Trigon. The blood red cloak, however, same as before, remained as a painful reminder of who this evil twin represented. It was an outfit the original Raven would sooner burn than wear. A sickening sight.
"Excellent job, ladies!" Red called down to her partners and bound alien below, the villains nodding their achievement. "And now that preparations are complete and my assistant has joined us, the real work can begin."
Assistant?! What in the world was this witch talking about?
"Whatever you think you're doing…" Raven began coldly, a glare of pure hatred staring daggers at the smiling red version of herself, "Whatever's going on with Argent…when I get out of this, I'm going to…"
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHAAAAAAAAA!
A sharp hiss blared in the chamber as Red Raven reached out a hand to touch the crystal binding Raven's arms. With a mere palm resting on it, the gems radiated bright crimson upon contact and seemingly shocked the girl in between. Raven felt drained, as if life itself had been sucked from her body as it ached and twitched from the energy. Her head hung as she panted softly, trying to recompose. Meanwhile, the cause of her pain floated closer, taking Raven's chin in her fingers and lifting her gaze up.
"Oh, Raven, this was never about Argent," Red cooed, "and it's not about your little alien princess down there, either."
Red shifted her grip from Raven's chin to the collar still wrapped around her neck, snaking her index finger around its ring and tugging her closer. Raven wanted desperately to turn away, but had no choice but to look into her counterparts bright eyes.
"It's about you…and what you're going to do for me."
And that's part one for you. Some vile things seem to be slowly unfolding, and now both Raven and Starfire are caught in the center of it. Why and how is Red Raven here, how did she recruit both of Slade's former apprentices, and why in the world has Argent done this to her friends?
All these questions and more coming soon.
FUN FACT:
Several scenes of this chapter have been illustrated beautifully by the wonderful artist, Megs-ILS. You can find her work, as well as these scenes, on her Tumblr page and other social media. Look her up and enjoy her various galleries of excellent fan art.