The Burning Darkness

Chapter 4

Home Invasion

In a burst of flame Goryo appeared in his base of operations. His base was some form of underground complex. Surrounding him were various armor and weapons of varying types. Some were of the ancient style one would expect collectors from around the world to showcase in their homes, such as knight armors and swords. All of the antiquated tools were well maintained and immaculate. Others were of the more modern tastes. Guns and explosives were abundant, neatly covering the area.

As he walked out of his appearance area a loud bark greeted him along with a flurry of golden fur. He stopped as a 100 pound dog charged him full speed, and leapt onto him. He immediately caught the beast and chuckled as her tail furiously beat the air.

"Hello Lexi. Glad to see you didn't miss me too much while I was away."

As he continued to pet the great beast he and the dog both stopped mid exchange and turned to look at the area he had just appeared from. The tell tale shimmer left behind from his teleportation didn't cease as it normally would. He stood up and gently let his dog down and watched as the shimmer seemed to expand.

"That's odd. I had expected it to close by now." He mused to himself quietly. He looked down at his dog as she stared intently at the portal. Her eyes never left the portal and her tail continued its wagging, albeit with less enthusiasm.

Lexi was a pyrenees, retriever, and husky mix. She had a dark colored strip of fur beginning at the back of her head running down to the tip of her tail gradually getting darker till it reached the tip. She was a bright golden color from that strip to her unusually white underbelly. Lexi stood shoulder to paw 3' tall, and a good 6' snout to tail. He had sleek well groomed fur and a slightly rotund belly, due mostly to her Pyrenees heritage.

"Lexi, let's go get some dinner. I bet you've been hungry while I've been away."

She let loose a loud bark of agreement and sprinted out of the room leaving her master in the dust. Before he followed her he turned back to watch the portal for a moment and went to take care of his only companion.

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As Raven finished reading the note to her friends she checked all their faces. The expressions held only exacerbated the emotions she was feeling off them. Her empathic abilities had been more sensitive since she had begun dating beast boy and times like this didn't help.

Cyborg wore a look of sheer disbelief. He had been around the world and fought numerous super humans. He had heard death threats for years and had been close to death more than most of the other titans. Yet he still seemed flabbergasted at this.

Beast Boy was still incredibly angry. He stared daggers at the note, seemingly attempting to ignite it with his eyes alone. Whoever this man was that had beaten his friend and eyed his lover had accidentally put himself square at the top of his shitlist.

Starfire was trying her hardest not to cry as she continued staring at the man in her arms. Blood slowly leaking out of his nose and some severe bruising already forming all over his face. She clearly had either not heard or ignored the note as she began to walk towards Raven.

"Raven, we must return to the tower so Robin can rest. When he is well we must find this man who hurt him and stop him." Her eyes were pleading her friend to take them all home. Raven turned to her friend and placed a glowing hand on Robins forehead.

"I can heal him now Starfire. Just hold him steady." Raven's glowing hands began to transfer her energy into Robin's body. The swelling went down immediately and the blood flow from his nose ceased almost as quickly. The bruising to his arms faded as well. Within moments it was as though he had merely fallen asleep In Starfire's arms. Starfire's eyes lit up with joy seeing his resting, undamaged, face.

"Goryo was right, he didn't suffer any severe damage. That last blow was meant to merely knock Robin out. If he wanted he could have killed him, but chose not to for some reason. When he wakes up we are gonna have to go out of our way to look for some information on this guy."

Beast Boy walked up, still not happy. His mood had improved since he watched his friend heal, but he still wanted to hurt someone. Cyborg spoke up as he followed Beast Boy over.

"lets head back to the tower. I already called the T jet back and you all can fly home. I'll meet you there once the jet gets back."

Starfire nodded her agreement and began her flight back home. Raven watched as she left and felt a strange disturbance behind her and looked where Goryo had teleported. It was faint, but she she could feel a dark energy left behind. Her attention did not go unnoticed.

"Rae? What's the matter?" Beast Boy spoke up as he took a position next to her. The entire time trying to gauge what she was doing, and trying to see whatever it was she was seeing.

"Nothing, just felt a strange energy flow from the spot Goryo left from. I'll see you at home. I am gonna check this out. Maybe I can get a reading on the energy so I can sense for it when Robin wakes up."

Beast Boy frowned, clearly not happy with the idea. He stood there for a moment trying to think of what to say to her.

"I'm not leaving Raven. I don't wanna leave you alone in case he comes back and tries something. It's too dangerous." He said resolutely

Raven turned back to him with a look of annoyance on her face. She appreciated his concern, but he seemed to forget she was probably the most powerful member of the team and didn't need a babysitter for something this simple. If he returned she could easily teleport back to the tower herself before he could lay a hand on her.

"Garfield, go home. You need to get some rest. I'll be home shortly I promise. If he does comeback I'll teleport back immediately and he won't even see me. I'll be fine. Please." As she said the she walked over and gently placed a hand on his cheek to calm him. For some reason a simple exchange like this always calmed them both and helped them feel better.

He sighed in resignation as he nodded to her. He reached forward and gently pulled her in for a kiss as the T jet landed behind him. He stood with her in his arms with his lips gently pressed against hers for a long moment and took a step back. She gave him one of her small smiles to reassure him, and she turned back to her work. He took one last look and turned into a falcon again and took the skies.

She felt him leave and began to focus her mind on the task at hand. She could feel a very strong dark energy that was completely foreign, yet strangely familiar. She began to walk closer as she inspected the source of the energy. As Raven walked around the site she caught something she was surprised she hadn't caught before. There was a slight shimmer floating about eight inches off the ground extending to around four feet above the base.

The distortion of light wasn't light reflecting off the remains of the portal, it was light being absorbed by the portal in some small way. She began to reach out to the remnants with her powers. Gently allowing her own aura to probe the remnants. At first there seemed to be no reasonable response for the opening. As she pushed more energy into it it suddenly opened into a gaping black hole reaching from the ground to six feet up, and easily six feet wide.

She jumped back and cut her flow of energy to the portal ready to react if anything came through, but nothing came. She saw the portal slowly begin to close. In a strangely rash decision she walked up to the portal and placed her hand on it. As her hand made contact the portal expanded and encompassed her whole being instantly. Before she could react she was somewhere else.

"That can't be good." She thought to herself as she berated herself for her carelessness. She knew better than to interact with a strange remnant of dark magic before, but she had done it anyway. Now she was Trigun know's where, without help, and a potentially pissed off boyfriend at home wondering what's taking her so long.

She took in her surroundings quietly and carefully. She inched out of the dark enclosed concrete room to see what looked like an armory of some sort. There where weapons from throughout history covering the walls. As she began to examine the room more closely, a loud bark and pounding of feet came into the room. A large golden dog came charging straight for her.

" Oh no…" she thought with a hint of panic. She assumed a stance prepared to defend herself when the beast stopped in its tracks. Its tail was wagging profusely. Its long tongue sitting out as it panted and eyed her excitedly. It released a whine as it gently laid down eyes still on her and tail wagging hard.

She watched the dog quietly for a moment waiting for it to attack. When it did no such thing she slowly began to back towards the portal she had arrived in. With her first step back the dog's tail wagged with less intensity as it began to whine louder. It's originally jubilant eyes were taking a sadder descent.

Raven began to feel somewhat sorry for the poor animal. It looked as though it had wanted to play and she was denying it. She had always had a soft spot for dogs. She refused to tell anyone else. It just seemed like the kinda thing that was better kept to herself. She, against her better judgement, dropped to one knee and motioned quietly for the big dog to come over to her.

The dogs joy almost choked the empath's thoughts as it sat up and gently trotted over to her and licked her hand. It's tail resumed it wagging and it laid down on her now bent knee. Raven groaned at being trapped under what easily was a hundred pounds of cuddly fur. She began to rub it's belly as she removed her leg. The dog rolled completely onto it's back and let out a contented huff as its tongue hung out of it's mouth.

Raven couldn't help but let out the faintest of smiles. She loved the times when she and beast boy would cuddle on the bed or couch and he would take the form of a dog. She would just lay there and pet his belly or scratch his ears as he rested next to her. She had thought of asking if it would be alright to get a dog of her own, but decided against it as the poor animal would probably not receive the attention it deserved with her crime fighting activities.

"LEXI! HERE!" Raven's musings were cut short as a short command was given to the dog. Lexi rolled over and sprinted to her master's side.

Goryo's eyes were ablaze for the second time today. Not for the thrill of battle. Instead, with rage at the woman before him who had entered his home and dared touch his companion.

"oh shit." Raven thought.