CH. 08: GO TO HELL

Just as the Titan's reached the shrine, the energy sphere hovering above it dissipated and the rings vaporized. The energy then formed into a pillar and shot down into the limestone pyramid below. Her vision blurring and her head spinning, Raven fell to the ground, with Kori barely catching her before she could crash. She gently carried the barely conscious girl down to the top of the steps as the rest of the Titans arrived.

'Raven,' Damian held his breath when he saw her. Her flawless skin had turned to an angry red, and her eyes glowed with the fires of Hell. She also looked drained, not just of her energy, but also of her life, her soul. She did not look like Raven and he did not like it. She was his friend, and whatever she went through would have to be avenged.

'Damian,' Raven spotted her friend on the back of a green horse. Shoulder's back, face stone cold, eyes locked with hers; he looked strangely heroic. She could feel his apprehension at her physical state, his concern for her well-being.

"You can get off my back, now," Garfield said to Robin, no doubt getting tired of transporting him first through the air and then across the desert. He was a Titan, not a pack animal. "Boy Bony-Ass," Robin climbed down but ignored the comment. Robin climbed down and walked towards Raven as Beast Boy reverted to human form.

As he approached, Raven felt the inexplicable urge to go to him. She stood up on shaky feet and promptly collapsed into him. To his credit, Damian gently let her rest against him, helping to hold her up until her strength returned. But, whatever momentary relief she felt at seeing her friend again, was soon to be replaced by despair. "You alright?" Cyborg asked, hoping that the dissipation of the energy sphere meant that the portal was now closed. It was not to be.

"Nothing is right," she said remorsefully as she rested her hand on Robin's chest.

As soon as she said that, cracks began to form at the center of the shrine. A hole quickly began to form and the limestone blocks began to fall away. "Run!" Starfire shouted as she took Raven in her arms. "Run!" As they raced down the steps, Damian risked a glance back at the shrine. He was rewarded with the impossibly massive head of the Devil himself!

A fire blazed on the top of a massive red head, two black horns, like flawless, polished obsidian, protruded from either temple. Two smaller horns extended from above the eyebrows. And four, large ovals of pure fire blazed between massive, pointed ears. Trigon had arrived.

More fires appeared as Trigon rose from the shrine, dark energy lancing across his whole body. As she saw her father for the first time in three years, Raven felt a wave of shame and terror wash over her. Robin felt it too. Trigon closed his eyes and the flames across his shoulder extinguished, replaced by a great flowing mane of white hair. When his eyes reopened they were burning with even greater intensity. "Well," Beetle spoke up, breaking the silence as Trigon's massive body rose from the shrine, "this sucks."

As if to drive the point home, Trigon's horns grew outward and sprouted a pair of tines, framing his already demonic visage with sharp spires of obsidian. He slowly floated down to the desert floor and landed with a massive thud that kicked sand up into the Titan's faces. He then took note of the nearest city and bristled with the thought of getting his genocide on.

The Titans could only watch helplessly as Trigon strode right over them, paying them no heed. Why should he? How were they a threat to him? "He'll bring Hell on Earth," Raven said as she watched her father move with casual purpose towards the defenseless city.

"How do we stop him?" Cyborg asked next.

"There's only one way," she replied and Damian recalled her story. He may be invulnerable to harm, but he could be beaten.

"You're going to put him back in the crystal," he looked to her.

"In the unlikely event that I can make it there," she said closing her eyes. Robin could feel her self-doubt.

"You'll make it," he said to her. "We'll see to it that you do."

"Robin's right," Starfire agreed. "Can you take us to where you sealed him last time?"

"Yeah," she replied. "I can try…" She was still feeling drained, but, with her father here, she could tap into the demonic energy a lot easier. Ironically, his arrival may have given them a chance to strike back. "But he's bound to have it guarded. I won't be able to seal him and defend myself at the same time."

"Leave that to us," Garfield said confidently. "Just think of us as your bodyguards." Raven nodded and stepped to the side to open a portal.

"Superman," Cyborg got on the communicator with the Kryptonian as the team's witch opened a portal that lead to Trigon's dimension. "Raven has a plan. The Titan's need my help," he knew that once they were through the portal they'd need all the firepower they could get.

"Where are you going?" Superman asked next.

"I'm going to Hell," was his reply.

"Somehow," Flash spoke up after resetting his broken leg. "I think he means that literally." Wonder Woman rolled her eyes and took off to show that this 'Devil' was nothing but a punk.

XXXXX

When he first stepped through and took in the sight of Hell, Garfield was reminded of some scenes from his favorite computer game series Starcraft. It looked like he had walked right into a Zerg Hive. The next thing he noticed was that he felt like had a sudden case of the flu. "Ohh," he groaned quietly as the others followed him through. "I don't feel so good." But he took a deep breath and sucked it up. He couldn't let the others down now.

After closing the portal, Raven explained more of the details of the plan. "The crystal can only be touched by me," she said. "He may have escaped it but he can't destroy it."

"I just hope he left a trail of bread crumbs," Beetle said as he looked around. Raven ignored the comment and led the way straight to the center of the realm.

As they walked along, Robin was bothered by something Raven had said. He moved closer both to protect her and so they could talk in private. "If no one except you can touch the shard," he whispered to her, "how could he have escaped?"

"I don't know," she said as they came to the main path, lined with giant bones. "No ordinary denizen of this place could touch it, lest they become trapped with him."

"So, someone else had to do it," Damian realized. "Someone not of this realm. But who?"

"It doesn't matter," Raven shrugged. "The only thing that matters is imprisoning him again."

"I've got your back," Robin promised as they came to a series of steps that led down to a web of flesh and bone bridges. In the center of the cavern was a tower of solid granite, glowing green from ethereal energy.

"Home sweet home," Raven said in a demurred tone. Robin looked at the bridges and did not like the tactical situation they presented. They'd been walking for five minutes but had yet to see a single demon. However, he knew that once they were on those bridges they could be easily pinned down and torn apart. Literally.

"Can't you just transport us inside?" Damian asked next.

"No," she replied. "It's shielded." Again, more evidence that something wasn't right to Robin. If she couldn't get to the crystal, then who could? In the back of the group, Garfield kept sweating, his heightened senses were having difficulty coping with the atmosphere in Hell.

Robin and Starfire flanked Raven as they progressed along the bridge towards the hovering spire. Both kept their eyes opened for any sign of an ambush. Strangely, none came even when they were in the center of the span, the best place to do it. Instead, as they approached the steps at the end, Raven hesitated and held her head, feeling a sudden headache. But it was not stress, she could sense the first wave coming.

Robin's attention was drawn upward by the sound of high pitched shrieking. At first it looked like smoke. But then, he noticed the two black masses flanking the spire were made up of hundreds of flying beasts that resembled demonic lampreys. As the Titans readied their weapons Garfield fought back the urge to vomit and fell to his knees.

Something was trying to get inside him and take charge over his transformation. It was failing due to Raven's spell, but that didn't make the process any better for him. "Garfield!" Kori cried out and raced to his side. Her concern was rewarded by two bat wings that sprouted from his back. Beetle was thrown to his butt by shock.

"Dude!" He shouted as the wings expanded over his friend. "What the hell!?"

Robin brought his attention back to the incoming hostiles. Like his fight with Beetle against the demons, he and Raven silently settled on a 'combined arms' strategy. She'd engage the hostiles from a distance while he handled the ones that got in close. Their synergy was superb. She'd blast targets out of his range and he'd cut apart the ones that tried to get in behind her. Then he'd come back around and strike at the next enemy, as if he knew right where it was. She too struck at beasts with barely a glance, instinctively blasting them apart with dark energy.

Starfire took to the air and drew off a squadron of beasts, blasting them with energy. Cyborg and Beetle covered their flanks, combining their firepower whenever a group of the creatures clumped together. But, Garfield was a problem. He was immobile and the Titan's couldn't move forward without leaving him exposed.

This also forced the Titans to be spread thin. Thus, leaving Beetle open to becoming wrapped up tightly by a lamprey. He struggled to break free, but the beast was too strong. A second lamprey came over to devour him. But, just as it struck forward it was grabbed by a giant, fur covered arm. Jaime could only watch as a giant, werewolf-lizard-demon with green skin literally pulled the lamprey apart. It then leapt at the serpent holding Jaime and yanked it off, spinning Beetle like a top.

When he came to a stop and fell to the ground he couldn't help but watch the green beast whip the lamprey around like a pool noodle and smash it to death on the ground. The were-beast then threw the carcass off the bridge to the pits of lava below. "Gar!" Jaime called out as the beast began to pant. "You still with us?" He asked the salivating, weathered creature. It took a few deep breaths before looking over and throwing up a pair of shaka hands, chuckling. The two then turned to resume the main fight.

The Titans were finishing off the last of the lampreys when Robin was taken airborne by one of the creatures. Raven blasted its body, freeing him before it could bite down on him. He took out his grapple gun and zipped himself back to the bridge, beheading a lamprey on his way down.

Meanwhile Beast Boy seemed to be having fun shifting into new beasts, thanks to the variety that Hell provided, and seeing what he could do. Now he was some kind of armored, demonic monkey, leaping from bone strut to bone strut, whipping the headless carcass of a lamprey like a flail. With their team reformed, the Titans quickly vanquished the last of the lampreys and ascended the stairs.

"Welcome home," a gravely voice echoed from above them as they reached the top, "sister." The group looked up at three rocky spires to see three familiar forms. These demons leapt down to the path in front of the Titans.

"It's the freak show, again," Beetle said as the Titans readied for a fight. Thankfully, they knew how to fight these things and with Cyborg, they'd wipe the floor with them. At least, that's what they thought.

Instead, Raven's three 'siblings' moved close together and their bodies started to bubble and sprout strange appendages. 'What the hell?' Damian quirked an eyebrow at the sight of the demon's bodies converging into one giant monstrosity. The monstrosity reared back and revealed its form to be that of some demonic Hydra.

The central head spewed a torrent of fire that scattered the Titans. Cyborg retaliated with a plasma blast. Beetle joined his side and fired away with his cannons. Both had to dodge razor sharp legs that slammed between them. Cyborg backed away with Beetle providing cover fire. Beast Boy leapt onto the left head and began to dig his claws into its carapace, hoping to draw it away from the steps leading to the spire. Starfire raced overhead and concentrated her fire on the central head.

Seeing a chance to get Raven to the spire, Damian took her hand and pulled her along towards the entryway. But, as they reached their destination, the left head slammed Garfield into a rock spire, throwing him off. It then turned its attention to the teens below. "Get inside!" Damian order, pushing her along as he turned to face it. He pulled a pair of concussion shuriken from a pouch and used them to blind the head as it raced towards him. He then rolled underneath and slashed upwards. Unfortunately, its under belly was just as armored as the rest of it.

Raven didn't want to leave her friends, but she knew that the quickest way to help them was to seal Trigon back into the crystal. Once he was trapped, all his minions would disperse. She just hoped the Titans would last long enough. She shot upward to the pinnacle of the spire where she could concentrate her energy and open it, revealing the inner shrine where the crystal waited.

She was still fighting to maintain her energy levels. But, between being forced to summon her father, opening a portal to Hell, battling the lampreys and now opening the spire, it was starting to take its toll. But, like Garfield had said, her friends were doing their best to buy her time and give her the chance she needed to win the battle for them. Little did she know, a shadow tracked her movements as she approached the platform.

Damian grabbed a handful of grenades and tried to toss them into one of the Hydra's mouths. But just as he was winding up the tail whipped around and sent him flying into Jaime, his grenades flying to the side and nearly taking out Cyborg. The Hydra turned to face the prone pair, preparing to barbeque them when, suddenly, a massive green chimera slammed into the beast, its flame blast missing them by a mile.

"Dude!" Jaime cheered his buddy who was now following the Hydra's example and had taken the form of a mythical creature to compliment the Titans' firepower. As he got to his feet, Damian felt something draw his attention to the top of the spire.

For some reason, he knew Raven was in danger, or about to be. Plus, it seemed too simple. Trigon should've anticipated they could get this far and wouldn't have just left three goons to guard the spire. Having those corruptors lie in wait at the Tower while his demons went after them at the fair bespoke a being that took precautions. "Cyborg!" He called out to Victor. "I need you to boom me up there!"

"I don't even know what's up there!" He shouted back as he ducked a tail swipe. "And with all that debris-!"

"Just get me close then," he said pulling out his grapple gun. "Raven will be vulnerable while she seals Trigon!"

As she approached the pit of fire, a small bridge system materialized to allow her passage to the central platform where the crystal still floated. 'It's still intact,' as she knew it would be. 'But no sign of how he could've escaped it.' There were no signs of any damage to the spire or pedestal. Nor did she detect any indication a summoning rite was performed. But she couldn't worry about that now. She came here to do a job.

But, as she reached out for the crystal she heard movement. On the opposite side of the crystal she saw a dark mass land outside the pit, followed by the sound of metal flying through the air. A split second after she heard that, the crystal shattered right in front of her, showering her with shards. She barely dodged the blade as it flew past and angled back around to its owner.

The Boom-Tube shot Damian out just below the rim of the upper spire. He immediately latched his grapple to one of the bone spikes that ringed the platform. He overflew the fire pit in time to see Raven get punched to the ground by a dark figure. He reoriented his angle and flew down to land between Raven and her assailant. When he looked up he was shocked to see a familiar set of armor, and a familiar face. "Grandfather?"