Outside the frozen form of Raven, Dr. Fate sits cross legged in mid air while he works and observes the progress of the others. It all happens at once, the tormenting visions are dispelled and Raven stirs in some way. "It is time to return." He says to the others before he begins pulling them all free. He forms a shield in front of himself and a platform as the rocks in front explodes, sending fragments splattering all over the place along with nine people that end up in a pile on his platform.
"That better be a woman's hand I can feel on my leg." Antiope warns from beneath the pile.
"It's mine." Shayera replies before seeing the face of the woman on top of her. "Io, any chance you can get up?"
"No such luck I'm afraid." Io replies. "Oh, hey Diana."
"I think there is someone on top of me." Diana notes as she can feel the weight on her back.
"Cy, get off!" Beastboy complains to the mechanical man crushing him.
"Whops, sorry ladies." Cyborg says sheepishly as he picks himself up, quickly dragging Beastboy off Diana's back. And the pile slowly untangles itself.
"Why am I glad Penelope was not in that pile?" Diana mentions as the others get up.
"I'm glad for that as well sister, because that was quite amusing." Penelope smirks as she watches the group, with Philipus at her side. Nightwing, being the expert acrobat he is, had twisted in the air and landed on his feet and is already standing besides Dr. Fate who is staring at the rock in front of him.
"She's still in there?" Nightwing asks, grabbing the attention of the others, he had since put his mask back on.
"No, she is awake." Fate mentions as Ravens figure begins to move, as she tries to pull herself free. "It's safe to touch it now." Fate says, Nightwing and Diana immediately begin digging into the clay to get her free, Nightwing at the stuff hiding her legs and Diana pulling at her waist.
"Nightwing can you get hold of her legs?" Diana asks.
"Got them." He says having put his arms around behind her knees.
"Pull on three. One…two…three!" They both heave heavily; making Cyborg worry if they will get all of Raven out, with a sucking sound the three tumble back onto the platform as the rock let's go. Diana and Nightwing quickly get up to see Raven thrashing around on the ground with bound hands and feet.
"Get it off her." Cyborg says from the side as he notices Raven is suffocating due to a large clump of clay stuck to her face.
Diana quickly but gently scoops most of it off before, Dr. Fate conjures a stream of water that washes the rest away. As her mouth becomes free, Raven vomits up a fair amount of the stuff that had worked its way down into her throat.
"Ew…" Io adds at the brown puddle. Raven continues to dry heave as Diana rubs her back, while her demonic shape fades away. Nightwing has in the meantime been examining the chains around Ravens feet.
"What are these symbols?" He asks while getting his lock-picking tool out.
"Hmm, they are meant to drain and confuse the ones locked in them." Fate replies after taking a look.
"Umm, far from being the wisest around here, but considering what she has been going through. Won't Ravens powers go kinda nuts if we take them off now?" Beastboy asks, before diving behind Cyborg as the Amazons all give him a hard stare.
"He has a point." Fate adds, without appearing affected by the stares that turn in his direction.
"No Amazon is to be bound." Artemis says firmly.
"I wasn't suggesting she remain bound." Fate defends. "But she will be unintentionally dangerous being around in such a sate unless she can regain control after such an ordeal. If you will allow it, I can put her in meditative trance where she can work to calm herself. We can move her without waking her, while she is in it."
"Do it…" Raven wheezes from the ground. "Don't want to blow you all to pieces." Fate nods at her before his eyes pulse and she closes her eyes as if asleep.
"You can remove them now." He says, Nightwing quickly unlocks the chains, tossing them aside. "Stand back, I will remove the remaining stone fragments before they become active again."
Fate lets a golden glow surround Raven and the remaining muck slides off her and the others before being scooped off the platform. Revealing the tattered remains of Ravens leotard and the scarred body that was supposed to hide under it. The Titans feel sick to their stomachs, both Cyborg and Nightwing can tell many of the injuries are recent and barely healed; Beastboy's mind is reeling as he notices a bump on her head, the spot where Terra hit her. The others regard it silently, some silently thankful none of the greater wounds had followed her out.
"Whatever torment's she has endured has apparently left their marks." Fate mentions as a pale blue aura surrounds Raven and she floats a bit above ground.
"Diana, you brought her cloak?" Artemis mentions, it had not gone unnoticed amongst the amazons that Diana had kept Ravens favored clothing article with her almost constantly since finding it in her room.
"Of course." Diana replies while getting out the cloak from a pouch fastened at her back. As she fastens the material around Raven, it seems to respond to the proximity to its owner and flattens itself to float horizontally beneath her.
"Seems we have got what we came for, we should get back." Antiope mentions.
"Quite. Artemis can you direct us to the Gate or any other exit?" Fate agrees.
"Dooms Door should be in that direction if I am not mistaken, but how will we get through it?" She asks after pointing in a direction.
"It's a good point, last time me and Shayera came through while the door was being resealed after Faust went inside." Diana says. "And we had Hades' permission to leave."
"Umm, can I suggest something?" Beastboy asks, working up the courage to speak again. "We could perhaps ask the Ferryman?"
"You want to ask Charon for a ride out of here?" Artemis asks. "Hope someone brought a few coins." Nightwing slaps his forehead.
"Now I get why Batman wanted me to bring this along." He says while fishing out a pouch that jingles with the sound of coins, Diana smirks.
"He does have a plan for everything." She says.
"Maybe, but Charon's dock is almost twice the distance from here when compared to the Gate and we have to pass Cerberus to get to it." Artemis adds.
"Then we had best get going. Artemis you know the direction." Fate says as he begins moving his platform.
"That way." She says while pointing back the way they came. "Be on your guard, I'm sure Hades will have noticed us by now." They all begin keeping an eye out as they begin flying out of the Web, with Beastboy, Diana, Fate and Hawkgirl taking to the air. Cyborg keeps his eyes glues to his long ranged scanners.
They travel in silence through the Web, moving at a slower speed than when they entered, caution weighting down on them all. They are all tense, as if they all feel like they are being watched, but none of them dare say anything, as if speaking will result in springing an ambush. By Nightwing's reckoning it takes them almost 15 minutes before they see the warm glow of the city, unfortunately the city is not all that is noticed.
"Guy's we got incoming, and lots of them." Cyborg says gravely as his scanners lighting up like a Christmas tree.
"Hope you men know how to fight." Penelope says while putting her helmet back on.
"We don't look like this because we think it's fun." Nightwing replies annoyed while he gets the two T-batons he carries in his boots out.
"We are going to face a horde of bloodthirsty demons and you plan to club them to death?" She continues.
"And do you expect to handle them all using just your hands?" He replies while taking a few swings.
"Quiet you two." Diana orders from up front, not wanting to deal with a fight now.
As they near the last row of rock columns Diana orders the others to hide behind it before she etches forwards to have a look around it.
"I know you are there, my child!" Hades' deep voice yells from the other side. "Come out! There is no point in hiding." He says while looking directly at Diana as she sticks her head out before retreating to the others.
"He's right, he's got an army waiting out there." She sighs as she comes within hearing range of speaking.
"So what do we do about it?" Artemis asks.
"I'm tracking groups from the main army heading around behind us." Cyborg notes.
"We have no choice; we have to meet him, unless Fate has a portal ready to take us out?" Diana replies, Fate shakes his head at the question. "We'll let's go; we might catch him in a good mood." She doesn't sound optimistic when she turns and leads the others out of the Web.
The wasteland between the Web of Stone and the city is choked by the army of demons assembled on it; the amazons aren't surprised to see it consisting mainly of the same kind of beasts they fought beneath Themyscira two weeks ago. The figurehead of the army stands head and shoulders above the rest. The group, with Diana in the lead, lands in front of him. As they land, a sickly creature steps out to confront them, it is one of the smaller ones, practically radiating the demeanor of a whipped dog.
"Great, Lord Hades wishes to know why you trespass in His realm and seek to steal from Him; His rightful property." It peeps as it looks up at Diana while rubbing its hands.
"Hades has no claim on the soul of Raven, let us pass." Diana replies, doing little to hide her distrust of the god in front of her.
"I lay claim on any soul within my realm, as you know." Hades replies as the servant shrinks back.
"By what right do you lay claim on one that is yet amongst the living?" Diana demands. Behind her, Beastboy pokes Nightwing in the ribs while pointing at Raven, who is still in the trance Fate put her in.
"No, we give her as much time as we can." Fate whispers, guessing Beastboy wanted to wake her for the extra power.
"The invader was found within my realm alongside Medusa, I credit her presence here as proof of her involvement in the rebellion I just crushed." Hades states with a small smirk of satisfaction.
"Raven shut herself inside your realm when Medusa threatened to bring Briareos into the mortal world." Diana counters; getting a chuckle out of the hell lord, Nightwing quickly hides the piece of paper Batman gave him in Ravens hand.
"An amusing story, but lies do not become the carrier of the Lasso of Truth. I am afraid you must all share the Trigonians fate." He replies and waves a hand at the group, an unseen force sends them all flying back, except Raven, who's sleeping form merely glides further back before halting. The others can't react before they all slam into the Web column behind them, trapping them all in the rock, Hades holds out his hand, commanding the rock to leave their upper bodies and faces exposed. "Now maybe I should torture you all in front of the Trigonian or her in front of you? Since you obviously care so much for it." He says while striding closer to them all.
"You keep the hell away from her!" Cyborg yells before popping open one of his shoulder pods and fires three missiles that whistle as they streak towards their target, Hades doesn't even break stride as he walks into the explosions.
"How amusing." Hades chuckles as he is almost at where Raven is floating. "The Trigonian has been such a treat to have here; I do hope you will prove equally entertaining." He says while letting a finger hover just over Ravens left arm, he has one brief contact with her shoulder, but the effect is immediate as black lightning bolt leaps into him. "ARG!" Hades withdraws his hand swiftly in surprise at the shock.
Raven opens her eyes, as the ward she set before falling into the trance makes her aware of an undesirable presence near her. The 15 minutes was far too short a session, but she had managed to regain much of her senses in that time with the help of Hemon and the others.
"You!" She says coldly as she notices Hades' armored form uncomfortably close to her; she quickly puts some space between them.
"RAVEN RUN!" Beastboy yells, drawing her attention to her friends.
"Do it sister, we will endure!" Penelope adds, Raven feels the note in her hand and reads it once quickly before crumbling it.
"No, I won't leave you to his mercy." She replies flatly while staring at Hades. "Listen to the truth Hades, Lord of Tartarus. I was not sent here as part of a rebellion, I came here willingly as the rebellion threatened the mortal world. Let us go."
"Still the same old lie, you will join the others!" Hades says sternly.
"So be it." Raven shrugs as she sends out a black blast wave from herself, sending all the nearest demons to the floor. With the demons down, Raven quickly chants what was written on the note before they can get up and grab her.
"Dike, Goddess of Justice, hear my plea!
Come Dike, discern what is false and what is true!
Come Dike, as I leave justice, to you!"
None of those hear the verse understands it, as it is spoken in Hellenistic Greek, but backwards. To Fate he feel an unexpected opportunity arise. As the last syllable leaves Ravens tongue a pale light appears over her that grows rapidly in its brilliance, scattering the demons who all flees the light. As the light dies down, a tall blond woman in a white dress stands before them all. She is evidently blind as she has a white piece of cloth tied over her eyes, in her right hand she carries a sword and in the left she carries a scale.
"Dike has heard your plea young one." The goddess says softly.
"Dike! You hold no sway here!" Hades bellows at his colleague.
"Silence Hades! I hold sway over all souls from the mortal realm." Dike snaps while pointing her blade at him, before facing Raven again. "Now then, the evidence shall be uncovered." She says as a pale white aura surrounds her before it spreads to all the parties, Raven remains motionless, the captives and Hades, who growls at it. The scales in Dike's hand sways a bit before one side is forced down. "I see great injustice having been committed by your hand Lord Hades, the woman before you had no part in the rebellion and neither does the party that has come to retrieve her. Justice will be served!" She says as she swings her sword at the ground, emitting a blinding flash. And the parties find themselves in a different setting.
Elsewhere:
Raven blinks in confusion as the fiery pit, Hades and her friends have vanished. She looks around and finds herself in a slowly turning square tunnel consisting of book racks, with the view at both ends revealing sunlight from a fine summer day and structures that reminds her of the ancient aqueducts the Romans built, only they are all in while marble and defy gravity as they adds to the tunnels length. She gets slightly nauseous as she looks down and sees she is not moving with the book cases under her feet, seemingly standing on a seemingly invisible floor.
"Don't look at the walls, makes your head dizzy." A woman's voice says behind Raven who turns around in surprise, seeing a woman with red hair fixed in a bun and a white jacket sitting at a wooden desk while writing something down on a white laptop in front of her. A large green rug stretches out from under the desk, forming a square island; there's one other person present as well as a single vacant chair. "Have a seat." The woman says as she nods at the chair, Raven walks onto the rug while studying the people present. Unlike the woman, who seems preoccupied by her laptop, while seated in an old green chair with a low back and detailed carvings in the dark wood lining the arm rests and legs, the small owl sitting on the back of her chair seems very interested in Raven as it stares at her. Behind the woman with the owl stands an old man, he would have been very tall if age had not bent his back to the degree it has. He is dressed in a brown cloak that hides most of his facial features, except for the long snake of white beard that rolls out from under it and the tip of a pointed nose. In one hand he holds a wood cane to assist his walking, and in the other an hourglass, which Raven notes has stopped running. He doesn't seem to notice her. Raven eyes the chair suspiciously, not trusting to actually sit in it. "Don't worry, it's just a chair." The seated woman adds without looking up.
"Who are you?" Raven asks.
"Ah, the old issue of trust." She continues as she closes the laptop, and looks at Raven. "Please sit and it will be made clear." Raven sits down on the edge of the seat, which seems to amuse the woman. "Now to your first question, but not the one asked; you are on Olympus, and this is my study." The woman says while waving an arm at the surroundings. "You are here, between two ticks of the clock, thanks to the one behind me, you know him by many names no doubt, but we usually call him Chronos." She says while taking a look at the old man who remains motionless. "Not much of a talker, but he has his place." She continues as she turns back. "And I am Athena." She says waiting for a reply.
"You're gods." Raven realizes, she had noticed it when she saw them, and the same with Hades and searching her memory of the other gods. They all seemed like there was much more of them than the body they presented themselves in.
"Quite so. I am one the principal deities the Amazons worship, after the All-father Zeus of course. As you know; I am the Goddess of War, Civilization and Wisdom amongst other things. The first title the mortal world, for some reason, keeps putting onto my half-brother." She grumbles the last part.
"Forgive her, she merely feels offended when hers and her brother's titles get mixed up." Chronos rasps.
"Umm, why am I here?" Raven asks, noticing Athena has begun staring off into the distance, the question bring her back her focus.
"An excellent question; you are here for two reasons Raven, the first, and to you the most selfish on our part, is that we would like to meet the one who has caught the attention of so many of the others and to let her know that we will listen to her prayers, if she does pray that is." Athena says as she leans back, unbothered by the owl jumping up on her shoulders and hoots once.
"I am afraid I have not prayed for many years." Raven replies. "As I suspect you know, the only one who ever answered was my father."
"Which is understandable. But just know if you pray from now on, we shall be listening at least." Athena continues; Raven nods at this; listening to a prayer is different than acting on it. "Anyways, you are here now, the instant before Dike transports you all to a different place than the borders surrounding the Web of Stone. I brought you here because I know Dike's sentence and that you will need help to carry it out, Dike knows you are here and that this is happening and it has gone into her calculation of the sentence. Now this is what must happen; for you, our champion and your friends to make it out of Tartarus, Hades must be incapacitated for he can and will bar your path if he is not. But as you know from bitter experience, no one can actually die in Tartarus and Hades recovers much faster than anyone else. I know of your powers of manipulating the web of emotions and I will remind you to think of that when you face Hades, for it is a powerful weapon in Tartarus. But you will need to get close to him as he guards himself from you, because of the attack you conducted on him when he entered your mind. But you will need to survive long enough to break his defenses, to do that I give you this." She says while pointing behind Raven, who turns around in the seat and sees a rack appear on the edge of the carpet, on it hangs a suit of black armor. "Fresh from the forges of Hephaestus; the Armor of Vengeance. Unknown to you mortals, Hades greatly angered Hephaestus when the broken Annihilator armor was re-forged by Hades and incorporated into his own suit, against Hephaestus' wishes. Hephaestus sought out the Oracles and was told he should wait until the Child of Destruction appeared; when you did, he immediately set to work, the result you see now." Athena explains as Raven gets up to study the suit.
The suit is full plate-mail like the armor she wore before the Door, but it is a complete set with the armored leggings and arm sections the Amazon version shuns. Where the joints are, the rigid metal pieces are linked by chainmail, making it easy to move around in. Like Penelope's armor, the armguards are each equipped with three scallops. It is evident Hephaestus is an artist as the plates are all sculpted to resemble the muscle's that they protect. The gauntlets break the pattern by detailing the bones instead and the fingers end in claws. The helmet is what catches Raven's attention the most, like the Amazon version it is made to resemble a creature that has swallowed the wearer. Unlike the Amazon version, it is not a great bird, but a version of Raven's own demonic face, complete with four eyes. The only mark of any kind is displayed prominently on the center of the chest plate, a silhouette of a volcano with three trails of smoke rising out of it. At the armor's feet lies a long scabbard with a sword in it.
"Hephaestus explained that the armor will, when inactive, add to your normal strength, durability and agility. It also offers superior protection against mundane weapons, but it will not stand up to direct hit from Hades' weapon of choice, Grond; Hammer of the Underworld, but that is Hephaestus's way of not making anything too powerful. Also it is made so it will never be cumbersome, more like a second skin really. When activated however, the armor will literally become a second skin and boost the mentioned abilities even further." Athena explains while getting out of her seat to inspect it as well, Raven senses a small degree of jealousy coming from her.
"But how do I activate it?" Raven asks as Athena comes closer, absentmindedly noting she was wearing a matching knee-long skirt with the jacket and heeled shoes.
"Simple, you change into that other guise you have while wearing it. Ah, almost forgot, the armor will make you completely immune to fire, I think you will enjoy the look Hades will give you when his breath won't affect you." Athena smirks before picking up the sword. "Now this is Shadowfury." She says while pulling the sword out of the scabbard, the blade seems to moan as it cleaves the air; Raven quickly notices the interesting feature of the four red glowing eyes on each side of the pommel that leave streaks of red behind when moved. The long blade is made to look as if it is sticking out of the mouth of a demon, with its long tongue snaking out onto the blade. "This blade was forged long before you were born, it took him much toil to make, but within it, Hephaestus trapped the essence of a great servant of your father. The blade itself will not prove a match to Hades Annihilator armor, but will cut anything else found in Tartarus. Do not be alarmed when you wield it, but it will surround itself and its wielder with flames when connected with the armor. Perhaps if you live long enough, you will master both items to a greater degree. Now let's see you with it on." Athena snaps her fingers and the armor is suddenly on Raven and Shadowfury is in her hand. The armor fits as if it was a tailored suit, but Athena is quickly pulling at various parts to make sure it all sits correctly, ignoring the flames that start to crawl from the blade and up Raven's arm.
"You're right; it does feel like a second skin." Raven admits while looking down at herself, Beastboy and Cyborg are going to freak when they see this. Her cloak is still on her, hanging over her shoulders with the hood folded back, while attached to her shoulders.
"Now you look like a warrior ready to face the world. Or the devil on his throne." Athena notes. "Now remember, no matter how much you may look it, you can't defeat Hades physically, for that you are not yet capable of, and remember what I told you. But other than that, you have the blessing of Olympus to remind Hades he is as much a prisoner of Tartarus as his servants are. You look miffed." She notes with a smirk.
"It feels odd to receive such gifts from you; I hardly believe I am worthy to draw breath…" Raven is cut off by Athena.
"Shush, you have been most worthy since the day your dread father breathed his last. Now before we send you back to your task, Apollo sends his well wishes and a gift of healing." She says before putting a glowing finger on Ravens chakra, the effect is instantaneous as Raven can feel all the wounds and scars she received in Tartarus close and disappear, along banishing the memories of their creation to a far corner of her mind.
"I will do my best to prove worth of your blessings." Raven says while lowering her gaze, while part of her mind wonders if she is just being played as a piece in a game of chess between the gods.
"We know you will, now go show him why my brother wanted to recruit you." Athena says before the sand in Chronos's hourglass begins flowing again and Raven vanishes from Olympus. "Come Chronos, lets us join the others for the spectacle that is about to unfold." Athena says as she turns to the old Titan.