Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, or related content from DC comics.
Warning: This chapter contains some graphic scenes of violence (but it does not involve mutilation or such) as well as scenes inspired by a certain The Dark Knight movie and its sequel.
Another note on the characters, because this is a rather serious chapter, most of the Titans' characters will be portrayed as they are in more serious situations (so we won't get to see Beast Boy's or Cyborg's or Jinx's fun sides this chapter, for example.)
"Speech"
Thoughts
Enjoy!
"What the hell is this thing?" Nightwing panted, still hammering away at the black dome that had suddenly appeared out of the ground. None of them were able to see through it or penetrate it any way. The others were all sitting down, panting, the obsessive Nightwing being the only one still trying to break through. That man was a bit stubborn sometimes. He just didn't know when to give up.
"That's not going to work, Nightwing," a familiar voice sounded from behind the Titans, and out from the shadows walked a man in a black and orange mask.
The Titans, who were on the ground recovering just a moment ago, suddenly jumped up, warily eyeing the villain. But they knew better than to make the first move on him, especially when he was the one approaching them.
"What do you want?" Nightwing's tone was laced with ice.
Slade chuckled softly. "I'll ask you the same question. What do you want?" Before waiting for an answer, Slade took off his mask, revealing a screen underneath it. The real Slade appeared after a moment, gesturing to a three paneled computer monitor behind him. On the first screen, there was an image of several isolated traincars with many people in them, stuck on a bridge that had been broken on both sides, leaving the people no way out. Several bombs were underneath the bridge segments, each marked with Slade's symbol on them. The second screen presented a huge cave with bombs all over the ceiling and many people tied down onto the floor below. On closer inspection, those prisoners were many of the villains they had previously fought, like the H.I.V.E five, Dr. Light, and others. And the final screen showed one of Slade's old bases, the one right underneath the Titans' tower, also with many bombs on the ceiling.
"So, Nightwing. As I said, what do you want? Will it be your home? The citizens of your city? The criminals you worked so hard to keep in jail? Who will you kill, Nightwing? You can't possibly save them all."
The black haired hero snarled at his arch enemy furiously. "You're my first target, Slade! I know you're hiding the detonator to those bombs somewhere, and I'm going to beat it out of you!"
"That's... not quite true. You see, I have come prepared this time. In the past, my previous plans failed because I did not have a backup. This time, there is a certain special person I have in each group, one with the detonator to another group's bomb. Should anyone try to escape, they are instructed to blow up the others. If they do, they get to live. If they disobey, everyone dies. Of course, I forgot to mention to them that the bombs are rigged to blow up in 3 hours anyway. But hey, gotta give people a little hope. Happy hunting, Nightwing."
The screen buzzed and turned black, leaving a very agitated Titan holding the deactivated body of a Slade robot. Nightwing roared with rage and punched the screen, knocking the head clean off the robot.
"Starfire, you go get the train! With your strength, you might be able to carry it to safety. Terra, you take care of the people in the caves-"
"But they're villains! They can take care of themselves! We should just-"
"No buts! Knowing Slade, he has some way to jam their powers, and we can't just leave them to die. Most of them are just petty thieves. If the old HIVE is there, you can also go find Jinx and get her to help you. She probably won't leave her old friends to die so easily. But make it fast. And Cyborg, take care of the Tower. Beast Boy and I will wait here and see what we can do."
"What about Slade? Won't he just detonate the bombs the instant he sees us?"
"You'll have to find a way to deactivate them or negate their effects. We don't have the time to search for him. I know enough about him to know that he's not going to get caught so easily. And I'm not sure I can face this Wraith one on one, so Beast Boy has to stay here. Go! We don't have time to discuss this!"
"Stay safe, Richard," Cyborg used his real name to show his concern for his leader. "Star, Terra, let's go!"
Raven faced Wrath warily, a dark expression on her face. She seized his body with her powers again, attempting to move him, but he met it with what seemed to be his own soulself, an incarnation of red like her black raven, and dispelled her magic. Raven frowned and cast her powers in a hollow sphere around him, slowly tightening it until it began to crush his body. And again it was dispelled. She was forced to dodge aside as her other brothers came in, each of them casting their own soulselves at her in the forms of red claws. She guarded with a shield and retreated into the shadows, hoping to gain an edge by blending in with the darkness. The demons carefully followed her into the shadows, eyes searching in the black void. Evidently they did not have the telepathic or empathic powers that she did.
Suddenly she lashed out with tendrils of darkness, striking vicious blows against her brothers, against Envy, Wrath, Sloth, and Lust, who were all knocked back and momentarily stunned. Gluttony, however, merely ate her energy, and Greed absorbed it in a similar manner. Gritting her teeth, she formed shrinking spheres of darkness around each of them again, hoping to crush their bodies before they could react, but to no avail, her powers were canceled by theirs. She sensed a malicious force behind her and dodged aside again, narrowly avoiding a slash of Wrath's red energy, and shielded herself when the rest of them attacked. Disappearing into a portal below her, she reappeared on the other side of the room.
"You even extended the barrier underground," she seethed at Wrath, who merely chuckled.
"Watch yourself, sister Pride. The longer you stay here, the more susceptible you are to your demon side."
"I am in perfect control, thank you," she hissed back spitefully. "But you should be the one watching yourself, dear brother. If you're not careful, I'll fucking kill you!"
Suddenly two black claws reached up from the ground beneath the demon and ripped through his body, causing him to scream in pain. She pressed the assault and invaded his mind, taking care to raise a shield around herself first so that the others could not interfere. Wrath and Raven both fell limp as they began their mental battle while the other demons beat on her shield, vainly attempting to break through.
What makes you think you can control me? Prideful though you may be, you are still weak, Raven. I see all of your insecurities, your despair, your cowardice. Your fear that the demon within you will take over. You fear being one of us, don't you.
Raven's willpower surged up and blotted out the voice tempting her Rage. I'm the telepath. You don't dictate what emotions I feel, I dictate yours. Face it, Wrath, you'll always be my little brother. You'll never be stronger than I am. How pathetic. The eldest of a demon lord's son with much more battle experience and you're still weaker than me. By your standards, father should disown you, you disgrace.
Wrath's voice was suddenly angry; she had forgot that he had a hot temper too. Well, no duh. Shut up! What would you know of what father should do?! You're the one who betrayed us, your family, and your heritage! Open your eyes, Raven, sister! All these stupid mortals and traitorous humans surround you, attack you, shun you, and nearly kill you for who you are, and you still trust them more than us, your brothers?
You are no brother of mine! All you care about is destruction and power! You're evil! Don't you dare talk to me like that! Raven loomed over him ominously, and Wrath, in his anger, could not help but admit that he was a little afraid. Her demonic side began to show through her hooded visage, four eyes gleaming savagely above a hissing mouth of pointed teeth. I gave you a fair warning, Wrath. But if you don't want to listen, fine. Your mind is mine then.
Demonic Raven loomed high above mental Wrath, and now the rage was completely gone from the demon, replaced with a dreadful fear of his younger, but elder in terms of power, sister. Power surged from Raven's darkness and tore into Wrath, destroying his rage entirely and leaving him with nothing but a tiny bundle of other emotions, foremost amongst them a strange incarnation of the demon garbed in a pure white color. So this is what is left without your rage. Happiness. I suppose it is only right, that without your sin you become the opposite of what you once were. Now, why don't you just lie there in peace while I take care of your brothers.
The real Raven opened her eyes and instantly felt a wave of nausea come over her. Exerting her telepathic powers was never exactly easy, especially not on one of her demon brothers. And she had almost been overcome by her own demon side during that exchange as well. Fighting to keep the violent urges inside of her down, Raven stood up and lowered her shield. It was a horrible idea.
Dizzy from overexertion of her powers, she was unable to block the demons' attacks and was slammed into the wall by five pairs of glowing red claws. Raven cried out and felt several of her ribs break. She coughed up mouthfuls of blood and closed her eyes, desperately trying to focus on her center.
"Brother!" The demon brothers noticed Wrath's unmoving body on the other side of the room. "Wrath! Get up! What's wrong with you!"
Ten pairs of red eyes glared hatefully at the violet haired girl and the claws slammed into her body harder. Raven screamed and spat out more blood. "What have you done with him! Traitor!"
Raven opened one eye, face still contorted with pain. "I... thought... you weren't... supposed to... kill me-" she was cut off as a hand closed around her throat.
Envy's dark smirk struck a note of discord within her heart, bringing up her suppressed fears... and rage. "You know, Pride, you're not the only telepath among father's children. There is one other..." Both of their bodies slumped as this time, Raven's mind was invaded.
"Jinx!" Terra caught sight of the pink haired girl walking along the side of the road, looking glumly down at the ground.
"What," was the moody reply. "Am I in trouble or something?"
Terra looked at her quizzically. "No, nothing like that. I need your help," she rushed on without waiting for a reply. "Slade's captured a bunch of people and among them are your old friends and-"
"Yeah, I know. He kinda said it on the giant screen in the middle of the city. Nobody would have missed it. So let me guess, you want me to help you get my old friends out of trouble?"
"Um, yeah," Terra looked at her awkwardly, sensing the moodiness practically radiating off the other girl. Looks like we have a new Raven in town...
Jinx sighed. "It's probably a trap, you know. I've worked with Slade before, so I know... he's just going to use them as bait and we're going to be the fishies walking right into it. And those guys probably agreed to it too. They want to see us dead."
Terra held up her hands. "Whoa, calm down girl. No need to be so pessimistic. What's wrong?"
The pink one shrugged. "It's nothing. I'll be fine. It's just..." she sighed. "Never mind. We've got something more important to do. Are you sure this isn't a trap?" She looked at the blonde suspiciously.
"I... dunno. Nightwing was all like we have to save those guys even if they're villains because every life is precious blah blah blah... but I suppose he's right. We can't just let them all die. Like take your friends for example. They're not like super evil, right? They just steal stuff but they're not actually out to kill people, right?"
Jinx glared at Terra. "They're not my friends anymore. They probably think I've betrayed them," she looked really sad at that thought, "and now I'm alone. An outcast. But whatever. I guess you're right. My old friends wouldn't work for Slade... willingly, at least... not after how he's treated us before. We'll just have to be extra careful in case he set us up or sumthin'."
Terra nodded and lifted them both off the ground on a platform of rock, speeding North to where the cave was supposed to be.
Cyborg carefully dismantled the bombs one by one, cutting the red wires on each of them to short out the detonation sequence. The base of Titan's Tower had already been weakened by one of Slade's attempts to sink it before, when he had used those worm things to drill through the rock supporting the tower. If the bombs went off, it would definitely undo the work Raven and Terra had done to restore the base.
"In hindsight, I probably got the easiest job out of all of us," he muttered to himself, a little guiltily. "I hope the others can handle it. I better finish up fast so I can go help them."
Suddenly his hand slipped and he cut the blue wire instead of the red one. The bomb he was holding began to glow brightly and shake in his hand.
"Oh shit!" Cyborg tore it off of the rock and threw it downward, causing a massive explosion in the empty space beneath him. "Phew. That was a close one. Don't even wanna think about what woulda happened if that thing went off here. Well, no harm done. Nobody'll know."
"Oh, really?" Slade's voice sounded right next to his year, and Cyborg practically jumped off the ceiling of the cavern. "Wha- What the hell? H-How did you get so close without me detecting you?" Cyborg jumped down and landed on the ground 50ft below, pointing his sonic cannon at Slade. The shock on his face disappeared quickly and was replaced by a grim focus.
"Are you sure you want to point that thing at me? What if you accidentally hit one of these bombs?" Slade decided to toy with the man; he was really quite good at taunting people. Rubbing people the wrong way was just something that came naturally to villains. Cyborg's eyes narrowed in anger. Normally, he wouldn't have been so mad even when fighting a villain; most of them, he had to admit, were relatively harmless and only focused on stealing things. So he could afford to find a bit of humor and relax a bit, even when he was fighting for justice. But people like Brother Blood and Slade... they were embodiment of real evil, like Trigon was, though the demon was evil to a greater extent. There was something about his hatred for those people, their blatant disregard for human emotions, life, freedom... something that made him hate them with a fervor that was only surpassed by Nightwing's hatred. He would never forgive people like them.
Cyborg's tone was unnaturally cold and dangerous when he spoke. "Don't mess with me, Slade. You're going down, here, and now."
"Shoot me then!" Slade's visible eye flew wide open and his voice was mocking, daring. "But I know you too well. You wouldn't dare. You're too afraid of failure, that you'll miss and screw everything up. That's right. You're afraid you're too weak."
"Try me." Cyborg shot at Slade, who dodged aside right before it hit him. And luckily, no bombs were hit.
"Looks like you finally grew some balls, metal man," Slade jumped down from the ceiling and faced the hero in a fighting stance. "Your mother would be proud to see that her boy's all grown up. Too bad she's dead."
"Shut up!" Cyborg shot at him again, missing, but then jumped forward aggressively, catching the villain somewhat off guard. Slade grunted as he barely blocked the flurry of kicks and punches and jumped back to gain some distance.
"I'm afraid the only way to shut me up is to kill me, Cyborg. I've grown rather fond of talking. You should try it some time."
Less talking, more buttkicking! the Titan focused harder on the situation at hand, not giving in to Slade's provocations. They fought back and forth, evenly matched, neither able to gain the upperhand.
"You've really improved a lot over the years," Slade commented as he jumped back once again. "It seems like just fighting with you won't get me anywhere."
"You mean I'm going to kick your ass right here, right now, and drag you to rot in prison."
Slade merely chuckled at that statement. "I had hoped not to have to use this, but since you enjoy running your mouth, here, have fun with your new present!" The villain pulled out the detonator and pressed one of the three glowing buttons on it. The bombs on the ceiling exploded, but there were too few remaining to really cause much damage, and the tower did not sink at all.
Cyborg stared at the explosions for a moment before turning back to Slade, voice filled with confidence. "Looks like you misjudged your little explosives, didn't you. You fucked up hard, and now you're going to pay for it-"
"I did not fuck up at all," Slade murmured with a hint of amusement. "If you hadn't been so angry, you might have noticed your surroundings a little better before now." He gestured to the floating catwalks that they were standing on and Cyborg's eyes widened as he saw a bunch of bombs underneath the one he was standing on.
"No!" The bombs exploded and sent the hero falling down into the pit below, battered and unconscious.
Slade snorted and jumped down after him, landing right beside the fallen Titan. "Worthless fool," he muttered, kicking Cyborg in the side, hard. The half machine man's body flipped over and all he gave off was a soft groan. "Maybe if you had spent your time wiring your brain a little better rather than make all your stupid toys, you might have been able to beat me. But, I guess foresight was never your forte." Slade muttered to himself like a madman as he picked up the hero's body and hauled it off back to his base. Perhaps he was a little insane, but hey, most mastermind criminals were. It wasn't something unique to him.
"Cyborg? Friend Cyborg? Why do you not answer me? Please, friend, answer!" Starfire shouted at her communicator, which only showed her a screen of flashing black and white pixels. She frowned and tried again. "Cyborg? Are you there?" Silence.
Starfire frowned worriedly and dialed a different number. Nightwing appeared on her screen, his face a mask of frustration and worry.
"Starfire!" He shouted at her a little too loudly and realized it afterward. "Sorry, I'm just a little jumpy right now," he continued more softly. "Any news on Cyborg? I heard him yell and tried to contact him back but he hasn't given me a response."
Starfire closed her eyes and shook her head, a sad expression on her face. Nightwing pounded a fist on the ground, anger and nervousness beginning to take their toll on his mind. "Well we can't worry about this now. Stay focused on the mission at hand. Go and try to help those people, Star."
"But what if friend Cyborg is in danger? Won't he need our-"
"No," Nightwing replied flatly. "Our first duty is to the city. Our friends come after that. Besides, Cy can handle himself. Look, we don't have time for this. Just go." He didn't yell like he normally did, but there was a burning intensity in Nightwing's voice that suggested that he was not to be messed with at the moment. Starfire sighed and merely nodded. She often worried about Nightwing. The way he behaved was so... there wasn't really a word to describe it but Batman-ish... at times, especially when it came to crime fighting. He was almost fanatical in his pursuit of justice, willing to sacrifice anything to bring the bad guy down, himself, his friends, anything that made him happy. The obsessiveness with which he fought was only matched by that of his mentor, and no matter how much he wanted to deny it, Batman really had rubbed off on him. All I want is everyone to be happy... On Tamaran, we would not have let fighting the bad guys get in the way of our friendships. A small smile appeared on her face. I remember when sister Komiand'r was little... she used to steal lots of things from other people and Galfore would get so mad at her... but he still loved her like he did me. Oh, we were all his little bumgorfs, no matter what we did... Of course sister Komiand'r is now a little bit crazy. She sighed.
I just wish we could be close... like we once were.
Starfire came out of her thoughts as she looked down and saw the train wreck on the broken bridge. Squinting more closely, she saw all the little bombs underneath the bridge, each with a Slade symbol on them. Oh, what do I do... What if he just blows them up when he sees me... Oh, all those poor people... Starfire was notoriously indecisive sometimes; without some impetus to drive her to do something, she would never come to a decision on what to do. But Nightwing had told her - no, he had ordered her to save those people, no matter what the cost. There wasn't any choice in the matter.
Forcing down the butterflies in her stomach Starfire cautiously approached the train cars, but upon closer inspection, found that there was nobody inside them.
"Hello? Anyone here?" Silence. She tried again a little louder. "Helllloooo?"
This time she heard a faint cry coming from the car in the far back. Flying carefully through the cars, as some of them seemed to be on the verge of falling apart, she approached the door tentatively. The crying sounded like it was just behind that door, although it was strange and somewhat gurgling, like a baby was crying but also choking in the process.
Starfire opened the door and found the train car filled with people bound and gagged, and a single baby tied to the ground in the center, wailing with a slightly choked sound. But something is very wrong here. There were many more people on the computer Slade showed us. Perhaps he has moved them? Starfire walked over to the baby and did her best to put on a smile, even though she could not help but feel afraid inside. Afraid for all these people, afraid that she might not be able to save them. And afraid for all the others that were missing.
Grunting, she tore apart the ropes holding the baby to one of the poles on the train car and held it in her arms, trying to figure out why it was crying so strangely.
"Oh, whatever is the matter, little one? Are you hungry? Do you have... the gas?" She patted it on the back a couple times and it opened its mouth to burp. And then she saw what was wrong. Inside its mouth, someone... Slade! You #$^% $%!... had taped a minibomb, and it was causing the baby to choke a bit every time it tried to cry. Starfire looked around angrily, eyes glowing green, before looking back down at the baby in her arms.
"Stay still, little one, let me get this thing out of you." Starfire tried to reach inside its mouth, but the baby bit down on her wrist. Starfire winced in pain and tried again. How could anyone do something so horrible? Even Slade would not have gone this distant to reach his goal, at least in the past he would not. She frowned and looked down sternly at the baby before seeing something written on its white shirt.
"Turn... around..?" She said it slowly, slightly confusedly. The alien princess spun around quickly as she sensed something enter the room and was met with a face full of Slade's fist. She flew backward, taking care to protect the baby as she hit the ground. Slade did not give her a chance to retaliate. He reached into his pocket and drew out a detonator, and she was sure he was grinning wickedly beneath that mask.
"No! Slade! If you dare to press that button I will-"
He pressed the button. "You will what, exactly?"
Starfire screamed as she realized every single person in the train car had a bomb somewhere inside them, and that every single one of them was about to go off. The explosion tore out the bottom of the traincar and the bridge underneath it, sending the alien flying down to the river below. Her eyes were wide with shock and anger as blood rained above her for a few seconds and Slade emerged from the train car, unharmed. She might have been okay, being a resilient Tameranian, but those people... those poor people..! Starfire clenched her muscles and teeth together, eyes glowing furiously at the villain who was busy brushing off some dirt from his arms.
"Come now, my dear girl. You didn't actually think that I'd let all these people live once you came to save them, did you?" He gestured to the area underneath the rest of the bridge, where the rest of the people that were supposed to be on the train cars were hidden, a hologram hiding them from the sight of anyone who might have been randomly flying overhead. That would explain why she hadn't been able to see them.
Starfire prepared to leap at Slade, but he pressed another button, setting off the remaining bombs under the bridge. The alien gasped in shock and flew down to try to prevent the train cars and rocks from crushing the helpless people. Slade calmly jumped down from the falling rocks and landed beside a growing mountain of debris and... well, people who were probably not okay inside of the rubble. The river slowly turned red after a moment, a diluted shade of blood that was thick with... other things.
And then a hand punched out of the mountain of rocks and out emerged the upper body of a coughing red haired girl, who had not sustained this damage as well as she had sustained the previous attack. Gasping for breath, and only getting the scent of blood and gore reaching her, Starfire felt the rage boil inside her. But she was still stuck in the rocks. Slade climbed up the debris and grabbed her hair, turning her head up to face him.
"Enjoy the fireworks?" He murmured, dodging aside as the girl shot two green bolts of energy from her eyes at him. He laughed, a much more chilling laugh than she had ever heard before. Taking out his staff, he beat the helpless girl until the world went black.
You are jealous. You resent the fact that you have never and will never fit in among mortals, sister. I can see all your worst fears, the grudges you still hold because of your Envy... You hate that the people you trusted betrayed you. Your once friends, your only home in this world had abandoned you. You hate people judging you because you are part demon and you hate, most of all, yourself, for not being able to control your powers. But it is okay, sister. All is not lost. Though you may Envy those with family and friends who actually care for them, you do not have to suffer the fate of loneliness and persecution. We are here, sister. Your brothers will protect you from the pain of solitude. You do not have to be alone, nor do you have to be the odd one out any more.
Raven struggled, not from the grasp of the red claws that were still pinning her to the wall, but against Envy's invasion of her mind. You think I'm going to believe you? You're a goddamn demon! And though I only share half my blood with you, I know perfectly well the lies and deceit that you can use to play with me.
But that doesn't make you any less jealous, does it.
Get out of my head! You don't belong here!
Envy's snicker echoed throughout her mind. They both knew that she was in denial. But Raven's willpower, when she actually wanted to fight, was a monstrous entity. Suddenly, above the demon, a figure cloaked in scarlet rose up from the darkness in Raven's mind. It stared down hatefully at the tiny demon at its feet. Leave before I kill you! Its voice was laced with a much deeper one, giving off the sensation of incredible power. Envy stared back at it, slightly daunted. The scarlet Raven smirked. You may think that I am the envious one here. But you are, more so than I am. You're envious of my power, aren't you? You're envious that I have the mental strength to keep my demon side at bay and resist the destructive urges that consume all of you! You're jealous of everything, whether it is power, real friends, or happiness! You know as well as I do that your brothers would easily turn on you if you posed a threat to them. And you still call them your family? Please. Face it Envy, you're just as alone as I am! You're just too afraid to admit it!
I...
And you're not just afraid of them abandoning you. You're afraid that they're stronger than you. You're afraid that father will label you weak and disown you, and then have your pitiful 'family' turn on you and destroy you. You're jealous and scared, much more than I am. Willpower's scarlet cloak suddenly began shifting to a darker color, one more like blood. Now get out, before I destroy you! You'll find that meeting my demon will not be pleasant.
Envy gasped and woke up, taking several steps back from the girl pinned to the wall, who was now breathing a little more easily. Raven opened her eyes, which now had a dangerous red glimmer behind them. Her mouth twisted evilly. "You're weak," she muttered. "How pathetic is that for a demon? Weaker than your brothers and your little sister."
Envy glowered at her in fury and gathered magic in his hands. "Very well, Pride, let's see how you deal with this!"
A bolt of red energy hit Raven's chest and disappeared. A moment later, several beams of crimson light flew out and took the form of different figures - Nightwing, a miniature Trigon, the Batman, and a dark shadowy figure that made Raven's breath stick in her throat. Her heart pounded with fear at the sight of that thing. Her own demon grinned at her and nibbled at her collarbone - evidently, it had inherited Lust as well.
"I might be called Envy, but fear is my domain as well. You would do well to remember that, dear sister."
This isn't real, this isn't real, this isn't real... She gasped as the red claws released her and Nightwing kneed her in the stomach. Okay, they're real. Looks like I either have to fight them, or... Her eyes shifted to Envy, who was visibly weaker. Evidently his spell consumed much of his stamina. If I take him out, it should dispel these creatures. I just have to control my fear and not let it affect my fighting.
Raven disappeared into the ground and a moment later she emerged behind Envy, striking a savage blow on the demon's back with a black raven claw. She pounded into once more before she was blocked by a red shield that Sloth conjured up to protect his brother with. The other three demons closed in around her and she disappeared into thin air once more. Reappearing beneath the shield this time, Raven evoked the full power of her soulself and disappeared with Envy into her soulself's dimension.
You're done for, she whispered to her brother.
Envy's eyes flew wide open as the torrent of all of Raven's suppressed emotions hit him at once, unimaginable fury followed by an abyssal fear, coupled with the gloom of years of depression, soaring joy, euphoria, mirth, lust... the strange absence of love... darkness, and above it all, the looming threat of a four eyed monster gleaming beyond the tempest of her temperament. His brain could not handle it all and he overloaded.
Envy fell back to the ground, unconscious, and his constructs of Raven's fear disappeared. But now Raven was exhausted and wounded, and there were still four of her brothers left to face her. And she was losing control of her demonic side. Breathing heavily, she dodged aside again, feeling Rage and the demon slowly break through her mental defenses.
"Nightwing? Whaddaya want?" Jinx mumbled at the picture of the Titans' leader, who had a very worried look on his face.
"I can't seem to reach Starfire. I don't want to assume the worst right off the bat, but it's possible that she was... taken down," he took a deep breath. "Just be careful. Slade might have sent up a trap for you guys, and I don't want to lose any more of my friends today." His face disappeared.
"I told you!" Jinx told her golden haired companion. "We should retreat, Terra. We've already lost Star 'n Cy-"
"Nightwing didn't tell us to fall back," Terra shot back. "He only said to be careful."
"Well then you can count me out. I'm not walkin' into an obvious trap, miss I'm-overconfident-and-I-can-beat-all-those-bad-guy s-by-myself."
Terra looked at her strangely, slightly concerned. Jinx was almost never this moody. "Jinx, don't try to deny it anymore. Something's wrong, and you're going to tell me what it is. It's not like you to act like this."
Jinx closed her eyes. "You wouldn't understand. Doesn't matter. 's not a big deal. Sorry for bein' a bitch. Let's keep going."
Terra muttered something to herself, vowing to question the former villain later about her strange behavior. But she let it drop for now. They had to see what they could do about this whole situation, although the fact that Starfire and Cyborg had gone missing made her nervous. As a geomancer, she was strong, but she didn't want to take her chances against something that had been able to beat them, especially with a horde of villains around. She looked at Jinx to see if the pink haired girl shared her sentiments and was met by a glare. And then Jinx relented after a moment. "Yeah, I'm nervous too," she admitted. A look of annoyance came over her face. "I don't really want to do this either, but someone's gotta do it."
Terra nodded and they traveled in silence, both of them feeling the uneasy atmosphere settle about them as they neared the entrance to the cave that Slade had shown them. It was eerily silent, much to quiet for the heroes' likings, since there was supposed to be a mob of villains stuck in this cave after all. But there was no sound at all, not even the sound of the slightest breeze or water dripping.
"Terra."
"Yeah?"
"It's too quiet. Sumthin's up. Be on guard," Jinx's eyes flashed pink and she tensed up.
They proceeded cautiously into the cave, taking care to observe all of their surroundings for traps or possible hiding places. But they found nothing except discomfort in the ominous atmosphere. Eventually they came to an area that was dimly lit with a bunch of torches, where there were several unconscious villains tied up on the ground. "Dr. Light, Adonis, Atlas, Cheshire, Warp, Trident, how many people did he capture?"
"Dunno," Jinx looked around and prodded a sleeping Plasmus with her foot. "Some of these guys are pretty harmless, but some of 'em are dangerous. Just get rid of those bombs and let's get outta here." The girls rose up on a rock platform to the ceiling and stared at the devices.
"I remember Cyborg tellin' me that it's usually the red one."
"...What? And why would he tell you something like that?"
Jinx blushed. "We... met when he was undercover at the HIVE academy. And I was talkin' about wires, ya airhead."
Terra smiled a little. At least Jinx was starting to act more like herself again. And then she frowned and hit the other girl on the head.
"Hey! What was that for?"
"I'm not an airhead."
Jinx giggled a little. "Whatever. Let's just get this over with." She slowly cut one of the red wires with a jagged rock and waited nervously for some reaction. Sure enough, the bomb's screen showed "disarmed" after a moment, prompting a sigh of relief from both of them.
After disarming all the bombs, they continued deeper into the cave though a patch of darkness before reaching another area, filled with a bunch of old HIVE academy people. Some of them were awake and when they saw the two Titans walk into the light, their eyes practically bugged out of their heads, but any attempts at greeting were blocked by duct tape over their mouths. "Gizmo! Mammoth!"
Jinx rushed over to her two old teammates and ripped the duct tape off of their mouths. Both of them howled in pain before glaring up at her. Jinx smiled and rubbed the back of her head. "Whoops. But wow, you guys haven't changed a bit even though I haven't see in you forever!"
Gizmo glared at her. "Still can't believe you ditched us for those lousy peanut brained Titans. Why are you here, anyway?"
Jinx glared back. "To save you, you ungrateful asshole."
Gizmo's eyes widened as he remembered something. "You guys have to get out of here! It's a trap! Slade tied us up here to lure you in and-" Gizmo was cut off as his eyes turned red and he fell asleep.
"Get out of here! Otherwise you'll both-" Mammoth was also knocked unconscious before he could finish his sentence.
Brother Blood walked out of the darkness and faced the two Titans, smiling wickedly. "One face I haven't seen in a very long time, and the other I've never seen at all. Greetings," he bowed graciously before looking up again, eyes turning red.
"I don't think so," Jinx's eyes turned pink and she remained unaffected. Terra, however, was unprepared as Brother Blood invaded her mind.
"What the hell are you doing to me?" The blonde struggled as if she were in the grasp of a gigantic, invisible hand. She shook her head wildly, trying to rid herself of the villain's influence, but he slowly took over her mind.
Jinx attacked Brother Blood immediately, hoping to stop the process of taking over Terra's mind, but he dodged aside and managed to evade her attacks. How the fuck is this guy so fast? He's supposed to be old, goddammit! Jinx muttered under her breath in frustration. Brother Blood had never been easy to fight, even without his mind control abilities. And now she was forced to cartwheel away as Terra joined the fray, eyes glowing with red light.
"You know, my old pupil, it would have been so much easier if you had just let me finish teaching you!" He spat out as he threw several punches and blocked Jinx's hexes. "But my offer expired a long time ago. You'll be... learning... from Slade now."
"I'm not gonna be learning from anyone, Professor Blood," her voice was laced with sarcasm. She darted past Brother Blood and Terra, making her way back into the darkness, hoping to find a way out. Terra made a move to chase her, but Brother Blood held up a hand.
"That won't be necessary. She's doomed anyway."
Jinx looked over her shoulder, puzzled at why Brother Blood would just let her go, until she sensed something in the darkness with her. A large man in a metal suit appeared in front of her, staring the Titan down. Jinx's mouth and eyes were wide open with fear, and she fell to the ground, backing up until she hit the wall. All the while, the masked man advanced on her. She ducked under a powerful kick and threw a couple hexes, bringing the ceiling of the cave down on him, but the man dodged aside and leapt at her. Why the fuck are all these old dudes so fast anyway? She jumped as he tried to slide tackle her and then fired off a few more hexes before running away. Her pursuer grunted as they hit him, but they didn't see to do any damage.
Wait a second... that's not right. My hexes didn't do anythin' at all? She looked back, puzzled, and faced her attacker. Slade charged out of the darkness and took another face full of hexes. He was sent flying back as Jinx turned around to run again, but she came face to face with the real Slade.
"Damned robot clones," she muttered to herself, looking up frightfully at the man's menacing figure. He kicked her, hard, into the unbreakable clutches of his robot clone. Jinx struggled a couple times, hexes flying out everywhere, and something broke inside the robot, shutting it down. She smirked.
"What now, Slade?" She looked at him triumphantly.
"What now? You're still caught. Just because my robot shut down doesn't mean you broke its arms."
Jinx looked down and mentally facepalmed. She always forgot about those little things... well it was a pretty big deal in this situation. She gave off a noise of irritation as she threw out hex after hex, but was still unable to break the robot's arms. Of all the times for me to get bad luck, why now? Why did I have to get the stupid powers that manipulate probability of all things? Why couldn't I just get the normal ones that like... blow stuff up or something? Stupid bad luck. She threw a couple hexes at Slade as he closed in, but he merely dodged them again and kicked her in the gut.
"Lights out. Maybe you'll have better luck when you're dead," he murmured, and slammed his fist into her solar plexus.
Raven was knocked back again, slamming into a wall with extreme force as the demons charged forward. She disappeared into a portal and reemerged on the other side of the room once more, trying to catch her breath before they came after her again. Throwing up a shield, she blocked the first attack, and the second, but cracks began to appear in it as her brothers continued pounding away. She was simply too weakened at this point to fight effectively. Raven gritted her teeth, eyes blazing white from underneath her hood. Beams of pure black energy shot out and met with red shields.
"Give it up, sister," Greed spoke silkily, as if he were a businessman. No surprise there. "You are one of us," Lust continued. "Give in, give in to your demon blood, Pride. There's no way you can beat the rest of us."
"I'll die before joining you." Inwardly, she wasn't so sure about that. Greed can mimic my abilities so I won't be able to do anything to him. Gluttony seems to be able to absorb my energy blasts, so I'll have to take care of him some other way later. Sloth can sap my strength merely from touching me, so I have to avoid him at all costs. I have to take down Lust first...
She struck with all of her strength at once, focusing an intense beam of pure white light at Lust. It, however, went straight through him, doing absolutely no damage at all. The problem is, Lust has the power to manipulate senses, if I remember correctly. He can make me see and hear things that aren't there. I have to use my soulself to find him. Raven dodged around as her brothers leapt at her, trying to tear her apart with blasts of red energy and with their red soulself claws. She landed heavily on the ground and coughed up some blood, her broken ribcage not feeling very happy with her.
"Azarath metrion zinthos," she muttered under her breath before they could attack her, and suddenly her soul grew until it shrouded the entire area in a darkness that no eyes could penetrate. I won't be able to hold this for very long, but I'll at least be able to confirm Lust's location. Panting with the effort of maintaining her powers, Raven gathered up what little strength she had left and fired another beam of pure white at Lust.
The demon howled and screamed as it formed white lightning around his body, causing excruciating pain. But it was not enough to take him down. As the darkness faded a few moments later, Raven collapsed to the ground, completely exhausted. And then her eyes flew open as she felt a foot stomp on her back. Sloth, ironically, had taken the lead and now sapped all of her remaining strength, leaving her hovering on the border of subconsciousness. Everything was blurry and wavered back and forth in front of her eyes, except for Lust's angry four eyed glare.
"You had many chances to do this the easy way, sister, but we're not putting up with this any longer. You're going to join us, whether you like it or not."
"So what are you waiting for?" Raven spat out. "Why don't you just knock me unconscious and drag me to wherever father is?"
"You're not getting off so easily," another voice above her spoke. Greed. She felt his hand remove her hood and touch her head.
"What are you..?" She was cut off as Sloth stomped her into the ground harder. Honestly, she wasn't sure how she was still conscious.
She sensed Greed walk over to Wrath's unconscious body and kneel beside it. He did something for a few moments, then got up and moved to Envy's body. And they both got up and closed in around Raven.
"You know I can copy your abilities to some extent, right? I might not be as good at healing as you are, but its good enough to cure their minds. And now, dear sister, you are doomed."
Raven hissed at him. "Yeah? And what are they going to do that you could not? You're just wasting your time here. Kill me already."
Wrath's soulself slammed into Raven's body and she could feel several other bones break. She blacked out momentarily, the pain overwhelming her brain.
"Control yourself, Wrath. I know you're royally pissed off, but father won't be happy with you if you kill her."
Wrath merely grunted in response and retracted his energy. Greed knelt beside Raven and touched her forehead with two glowing blue fingers. Just enough to wake her up... Raven gasped as everything rushed into her mind past her broken mental barriers, the pain, her anger at her brothers, their swirling emotions - though from most of them the primary emotion she could sense was anger, especially from Wrath - the fact that almost all of her ribs, both of her legs, and her left wrist were broken... She bit her lip to keep from screaming and the blood drained from her face, leaving her paler than ever. Her brothers chuckled evilly and she could sense their anger fade, replaced with a sensation of victory.
"Now, while she's still recovering-"
"What the Hell do you think you're doing?" She managed to gasp out and Wrath turned to stare at her.
"You're aware that each of us, including you, can induce and amplify our sin in another person," he smirked as Raven's eyes widened. "Your human half is too weak now, Pride. Now, unleash the demon within yourself and join us!"
Raven felt the surge of emotions within her as her brothers poured their powers into her body. Lust, Envy, Sloth, Greed, Gluttony... and finally Wrath, like a finishing blow. She didn't even have time to protest. The demon broke free of its cage and shoved her human half into it.
Her brothers stepped back, sensing the surge of power within Raven's unmoving body. "It's all over now," Wrath murmured, as demon-Raven stood up, hood raised over what seemed to be an empty void. It stood there, completely still for what seemed like the longest time.
"Sister?" "Pride?" All of them spoke at the same time.
Four red eyes opened and demon Raven growled at them. "You are no brothers of mine!"
A mass of tentacles swarmed out from underneath her cloak and shot out with tremendous force, breaking through the demons' red shields and encircling their bodies. Wrath glared at Greed. "You have the greatest ideas in the world, brother. Let's just induce her more powerful form to attack us. As if we didn't have enough trouble with her human form already."
Greed shrugged. "I didn't know that her rage would be directed at us. But we can still take her down. Demon or not, she can't possible take all six of us."
The demon brothers gathered their strength and repelled the tendrils of darkness and faced their sister, who had now grown to a monstrous size, her head brushing the top of the dome. Raven howled at them and from her mouth spewed out black energy laced with streaks of crimson light. With their combined strength, the demons blocked it with a red shield and retaliated. Their beam of red energy was met with demon Raven's own dark power, and the beams pushed back and forth, neither able to gain an edge over the other. But the demons still had strength to spare while demon Raven was struggling to hold her own against them. Slowly, she was overwhelmed and flew back as she was struck. Instantly, six pairs of red claws pounded into her and latched on, dragging her down to the ground. Still growling at them, demon Raven let loose a howl of rage, sending them flying back with sound waves alone. But it wasn't enough.
They attacked her again and again until there was nothing left but a very bloody Raven laying on the ground. Besides the broken bones, it seemed that they had also injured several of her internal organs and torn a gash on her throat. Her face was bruised and beaten, her eyes shut tightly, blood dripping down her chin.
"Perhaps we overdid it? She looks very dead to me."
Wrath knelt down and touched her chest. "Her heart still beats. Greed, heal her, and then we'll take her back to see father. Maybe he'll be able to get her demon to work with us."
"I don't think so..." The demons all looked down in shock as Raven's eyes flew open and spoke, somehow, with a torn throat. Teeth bared in rage, Raven rose up and lashed out with her soulself, striking out randomly with supernatural power. The demon brothers backed off slightly but then realized that she wasn't aiming for them at all. The black dome around them began to crumble. Shards of black magic fell on them and the demons hissed, dodging this way and that.
"Later, brothers," she whispered, and disappeared into a portal.
As the dome crashed in around them, the brothers turned back to the spot where Raven should have been, only to find it empty.
"You... idiots!" Wrath hissed at them. "How could you let this happen?"
Lust frowned. "We were distracted. If she had done that at the beginning of the fight, we would've easily stopped her."
"I wasn't even aware that she could still remain conscious, let alone cast spells and shit," Envy muttered. "Besides, what are you blaming us for? You failed to stop her too."
"Cut the chit chat. We've gotta get out of here before we're discovered by those Titans," Greed muttered, and the six of them disappeared into red light.
A moment after they were gone, Raven reappeared on the ground underneath the shadow of a huge rock. She would have smirked, but she didn't have the strength to. I can't believe I fooled them with that. They should've known that I couldn't have gone far in the condition I was in. It's a good thing I took to wearing this black cloak, or they would have discovered me for sure. But still, camouflaging into the shadows like that... they should feel ashamed. Raven gasped for breath, feeling like her whole body was on fire. Am I going to die? The world blurred once more and a ringing sound in her ears blocked out all other noise. Better than giving in to my demon side, I suppose.
She caught sight of a shadow darting towards her, but her eyes began to close against her will. The last thing she saw was the image of a blue bird on the man's chest before everything went black.
A/N: Raven's pretty strong, isn't she?
I gave her a lot of powers from the comics as well as some from the show, so she's bound to be powerful, but keep in mind that she still only managed to take out two of her brothers before almost going down.
It should also be noted that while demon Raven is more powerful in terms of destructive force, she might not actually be as strong as human Raven because she doesn't take time to calculate and think of the best way to deal with the situations. (After all, demon Raven is notorious for being consumed by Rage and just blasting out stuff everywhere rather than using her mind - this puts her at a disadvantage when outnumbered/overpowered)
Hopefully you enjoyed it, and remember to review!
