A quick reminder of comic book history I am using: Richard Grayson (the show's likely Robin) was the first to be Robin. Bruce Wayne is Batman. Tim Drake is the current Robin; Richard Grayson is Nightwing.

I will make a sincere effort to update more frequently, but I can't make fiction a priority at this point. I do have rest of the plot set, but it's a matter of writing several consecutive action scenes that describe exactly what I've pictured. Writing is a break from the rest of my life, and it will have to stay that way for a while yet. Thanks for staying with the story.

Chapter Ten

Saturday June 13, 8:00 P.M.
Richard Grayson didn't have a plan, and all he could think was that Bruce would have found a way to make this work.

Richard had a few ideas, but he and Garfield were having no luck figuring out which idea might be start of a strategy. They had both scoured the cell and found no traps or surveillance. Garfield had admitted enhanced senses, and there was no logical way to affirm or disprove the statement. Richard's tentative ideas relied on a green lab technician's claim that he could take care of Mallah. If Garfield further claimed that he could smell common electrical components after so much time helping Victor with projects… Richard would take it on faith. Bruce could explain the logical approach later.

The real problem with edging their scattered ideas toward a cohesive plan was that neither he nor Garfield was giving the reasons behind the more impractical solutions. Richard said that he would fight Slade, but he could only give broad hints about martial arts training that sounded nothing like a justification for hand-on-hand with a very famous assassin. Garfield hadn't done much more than reiterate his claim that he could fight Mallah. Raven had yet to return from some bit of magic Richard didn't fully understand, but at least had a reason for her promise to deal with Rouge.

Richard couldn't tell a civilian that he was Nightwing, or even that he had a secret identity. "I used to be Robin" gave too many hints about the others' secret identities, and so would "When I say I can fight Slade, I mean that I have fought Batman to a draw." It had been just one time, when Bruce hadn't known that he was taking grappling lessons on the side, but it was more than most people would ever manage.

Garfield was more open about having some kind of power, but stubbornly avoided any line of conversation about precisely what that power was or what his limits were.

By an unspoken agreement, their plans were vague. The door's lock wasn't electronic, probably because the complex was built with metahumans in mind. Old-fashioned lock picking wouldn't be as common as metas that could short an electrical system with no effort. It worked to their benefit. Richard said he should be able to pick the lock with one of Raven's hairpins. He said nothing about the professional-grade lockpicks sewn into the hem of his shirt, and silently apologized for calling Bruce unreasonably paranoid.

They didn't think there were bugs on the cell, but they had already lost their phones and just might lose any other item that seemed helpful.

If they did decide to escape from the cell, and didn't trigger alarms or traps… there was no information, but Garfield had caught on quickly when Richard talked him through possible scenarios.

Richard was running out of possibilities to distract them both when Raven returned, with none of her earlier grace. Her shadow rose out of the floor with a sense of barely controlled urgency, and quickly slid back into her body.

"No one is within hearing range, but I have reason to believe that Slade will be soon," Raven said rapidly. Her words were precisely enunciated even in her rush. "Do you have a possible scenario that ends with us getting out of this room, and then the complex?"

"What happened?" Garfield asked, offering her a hand. She accepted, but only for the instant it took her to rise.

Raven was pacing barefoot as soon as she was on her feet. "Slade knows more than I thought. He knows that I am half-demon, yes, but he knows that there were prophecies about me. If he gets his hands on the true one, and causes that prophecy to begin, he could accidentally destroy the world. If the prophecy does not come to full fruition, then it will send my father back home, or maybe pull other demons here." It may or may not kill her, depending on how the texts were read, but her father was in no condition to combat demons. He hadn't been in a serious fight for years, and with a jinn binding his powers… he would be killed, no matter which came to pass.

"When you say destroy the world…" Richard said.

"I mean 'the end of all things mortal,'" she quoted. Raven shook her head. "I don't have time to explain, and I don't know who else is listening. Slade means to get the prophecy out of me by torturing the two of you. We need to move. If we don't manage to leave, then I will. I can stay away by astral projection. If I'm not here, then he won't know the prophecy, and will have to wait for me to return to have any hope of retrieving the contents."

"We don't have a plan," Richard said. He had to trust his instincts, and they said that she was telling the truth and that Garfield was on their side. He had good allies here. "Our plan is that we break out of this room, then find our way out."

"The hallways in this place twist, but it's a pretty straight shot to the main control room if you make a right," Raven said. "From the control room, the exit is on the other side, down a short corridor with bare metal walls. There are large doors that open into some sort of warehouse district. There's a back door to the left, but the turns are more complicated."

"What happens if we need to split up?" Richard asked. "We might find trouble. We shouldn't all be alone, but I'd do better if I were on my own. I'm not used to fighting with either of you."

Raven eyed Garfield for a moment. "I think Garfield and I could improvise quickly."

"I don't have much control, if we're really in trouble," Garfield admitted. This wasn't the time for details, but they had to know the basics. "My parents call it going Beast. I get really big and really good at fighting, but not so great with the verbal reasoning and communication skills."

There wasn't time for questions. Even from across the base, Raven could feel the sharpness of Slade's emotions. "We'll improvise, Garfield," she repeated. "You will be okay, Richard?"

"I've done this before," Richard said, tugging the lockpicks out of the lining of his shirt. The loose stitches broke apart when he pulled sharply. "I'll start on the door."

Raven took a hair tie from the inside hem of her dress. She ignored Garfield's surprised look. She and Kore liked to go flying, and sometimes one's hair just got in the way. She held out her hand and pulled. The shoes wobbled, slightly, but remained firmly on the ground. She glared, and formed a flat shield beneath the shoes with a decisive chopping motion. When the heels rose to her hand on the flat black disc of energy, she allowed herself a satisfied smile.

Garfield tried and failed to hide a very confused expression. "Um, Raven?"

"I'm not wearing them, if that's what you're asking," she said. "I might be using them, depending on how well shields work against robots. Richard, be careful. If the jinn was using the standard definition of company, there are one hundred of Slade's robots somewhere in the base, to add to Mallah, Rouge, and Slade." Raven weighed one of the shoes in her hand. "I'm only going to be doing this one-handed. I have a few more tricks up my sleeve. Want a weapon until you find something better?"

Richard only paused for a second. Tim was going to give him heck for this, he knew it, but if it meant he could take out more opponents before finding a weapon… "This'll be a new one." He took the shoe, which had a better weight than expected. The heel felt as if it had a metal core.

"So, what's the plan?" Garfield asked. "Just so we're all on the same page."

"Get out, stay together as long as possible, make for the exit, and then head for the Milton Hotel on 59th Street," Raven said. "My father is staying there, in room 808. He can help plan the next step."

"The next step… jinn," Richard said. He was beginning to understand why Bruce avoided the supernatural whenever possible. Any kind of magic made any plans turn into a sketchy mess. "I like it. You and Garfield stay together if we split. I've done some good work alone."

"Like picking the lock," Garfield said, glancing at the item in question. "It's nearly there, I can hear it."

Garfield looked resolved, and ready to do take on anything. Raven looked calm, but with undertones of a devastating competence. If Richard was going to do this, he couldn't pick a better pair of strangers.

He turned the lock pick just so, feeling out the last tumbler. It was ready to go.

"Alright, leaving the room in three… two…"

Saturday June 13, 8:00 P.M.
Jinx had meant to just speak to Victor. He had information she could use, and it was only fair to give a heads-up about Garfield.

Victor Stone was having a conversation with someone, which was unexpected, and he was on the eighth floor of the Milton Hotel instead of being in his own apartment, which was just odd. Jinx didn't know who else was in that room, but if they didn't know about jinn they wouldn't see her and wouldn't hear her. Victor would just need to excuse himself sharpish to avoid looking insane by talking to a phantom. There was not one bit of demonic protocol standing between her and speaking her mind.

"Victor Eliot Stone, what did I tell you about watching the bottle!"

Jinx didn't quite rage as she made her entrance, but she managed a very impressive high dudgeon. She waited a full two seconds for the response before fully noticing her surroundings.

She had granted a wish for Victor, and that was enough to give her a link to the man. She could find him, even when he was in the middle of a posh hotel room, and in the company of Trigon the Terrible and his cheerful Tamaranean assistant. Jinx had turned to see just why Victor was staring. Prompted by Trigon's immensely displeased expression, she began talking in the next instant.

"Trigon, sir, this actually saves quite a bit of time," Jinx said, quickly enough to make an auctioneer take notice. She could feel his powers flare, and knew that Kore had an upsurge of righteous fury and the urge to attempt to take out the genie to lessen Slade's power. If both of them were angry enough at the same time, even a jinn wouldn't be able to hold onto their power for long. They would definitely save Garfield, Raven, and Richard, but that would probably happen after they flattened her. "I'm on your side, here, but Slade got around Rule One by being a manipulative son of a bitch. Simon-says clause strikes again to make 'three wishes' a bit of a guideline, and the man talks like a lawyer. The only upside is that he thinks he thinks I'm an idiot, and never clarifies demands so well as the first wish."

"Tell me the pertinent details, jinni," Trigon growled.

Jinx did, for once in her life. Demons that lived to make Trigon any angrier didn't live much longer. "Slade wouldn't do this unless he thought he could get away with it. He stole my bottle from Victor at the dinner, then made a deal with the Brotherhood of Evil. The Brotherhood had been planning to kidnap Raven, and would have failed utterly. They didn't know about you, Raven, or Kore. Now, Slade's calling the shots, and the other two aren't happy about it. He sent me out to find the prophecy. I threw him off the scent by playing stupid and making him think there are scads of prophecies, but Slade knows there is a prophecy linking Raven to… you know," Jinx said, gesturing vaguely. There was only one prophecy, and she and Trigon both knew it. "He's planning to torture it out of Raven. Not by touching her," she continued quickly, "but by using the other two against her. I was going to get Victor to tell me where the library is and where you were staying, this is much more efficient."

"Why those two pieces of information?"

"I'm supposed to go to the library and find information. I'll pretend that I searched for ages and dug up the information. If you can help me come up with a misleading prophecy on the spot, I can work with it. If not, we could always try the classic double-team."

"What is the double-team?" Kore asked.

"Storm in the back, throw the bottle at Victor, wish Slade's wish and all following orders were null and void, and we're in business. I can take care of the rest from there." Jinx handed Kore a very neat map of Jump City, with the HIVE headquarters marked out. She looked less likely to murder on contact than Trigon. "I haven't found blueprints for the base yet, but the doors open up pretty easily. The code is still 4483—H-I-V-E, on a touch-tone phone."

Trigon's glare was impressive, even when it couldn't do anything. Jinx knew it couldn't do anything, because she was the one that was blocking his powers, and still felt the urge to sidle back a few feet. "I don't trust you."

"Vaporize me later if this doesn't help," Jinx offered impatiently. "I don't have time to convince you. Do you have a fake prophecy? A misleading prophecy? Something? The only one I know about is very legitimate, and would make Slade very happy. 'The gem was born of Trigon's fire' is kind of obvious, you think? Plus, I already know the real sucker, so I can't play very stupid if he asks the right question about prophecies and thinks to add 'be honest' again, or say it without an implied condition attached.

"I've been lucky. He assumes that I'm stupid, as mentioned, and that I wouldn't work against him just because he won round one with the mentioned wish. As soon as I have the chance, I'm going to work more directly against him as much as I can as long as I can. Don't tell me what Raven can do, don't tell me how well she can look after herself, because I barely know a thing about her powers and as such I can't block her very well."

Jinx tried to say everything else with a look. It was a very communicative look, really, because it was part 'I'm on your side' and part 'Work with me, here' and part 'Throw me a line' with just a bit of 'You're definitely not going to squish me when this all is over, right? Because I'm being as helpful as possible right now' thrown in for good measure.

It seemed to work. Kore was on her side, Victor had already believed her, and Trigon didn't say a word. He took a piece of blank paper from his briefcase. "You can't remove any books from the library," he said. "Not without initiating the prophecy's full lead-in. You don't really understand it, but from what you saw messing with the books that way would start a long drawn-out process. You're going to go to the library and copy down random passages, anything with the mark of Scath on it. Slade knows enough to recognize that, and he'll believe it's central to the prophecies." Trigon set the sheet of paper on the hotel suite's desk, with a pen beside it.

"This," he continued, "is Scath." Trigon set a document on the desk, where a strange symbol was prominent. "Jinx, if you would? Please copy the letter, so it will seem like your work, and the new prophecy, as it was given by Trigon. You have heard the original in its entirety?"

"Yes."

Trigon frowned. "Not directly from me, though. This is the prophecy concerning Trigon's child that you heard directly from him—that's the proper frame of mind to make it a mite more convincing."

Jinx didn't interrupt. Trigon was deciding to trust her, and perhaps to not smite her to ribbons when all this mess was over. She wasn't going to mess with a good thing when she had it. If he was going to state the obvious, she was going to let him state the obvious until they were back in a comfortable relationship. While he had covered the basics, she had sketched out a very credible mark of Scath with a conjured fountain pen. Slade could guess that basic black ballpoint wasn't her style.

Something in Trigon's posture shifted, and Jinx could believe that he was intoning a true prophecy, not a sham created in an attempt to save his daughter.

The gem was born of evil's fire
The gem shall be the portal.
The gate will open, twist the gyre
To bring the demons to the mortal.

Jinx had written the words down as he spoke. She finished just moments after he did, and studied her transcription. She had chosen to do the entire work in bright pink ink to annoy Slade, but to see those words in such an innocuous color…

"Well," Jinx said, when no one else spoke. "Thank you. That's much better than anything I would have made."

Trigon had already diverted his attention to the map Jinx had drawn. Kore relinquished it readily. "It's a true prophecy," he said. "It will give him no useful information, and runs close enough to the original wording to stoke his memory and make him believe it to be the first wording, but those words all are true."

"I'll zip to the library, then," Jinx said, coming to a decision. "I'll copy down some misleading things that I thought were prophecies, remember that I heard you say this nonsense pair of couplets once… no offense meant, but I'm getting this believable to Slade. I can try to get information to Raven and the others, or at least get information back. I think Raven saw Slade's information-gathering session, so she knows what he's up to."

"You think?" Trigon asked, starting to look angry again. That couldn't be good for his blood pressure, or her chances at continuing to exist with all parts attached and in order.

"I don't know if she can astrally project or do weird things like that, and I don't want to know, because I'm blocking her powers. I can't block her powers if I don't know about them," Jinx said, flashing warning glances at Trigon and Kore. "I knew about both of you, and there wasn't a whole lot I could pull there. Tamaranean powers are pretty straightforward, but you're still pretty dangerous given a weapon, yeah? As for you, Trigon, I'll try to give a warning if Slade gets stupid again. He's going to drain me dry before deigns to make a second wish, and if I get that tapped out, I bet you could break straight through my blocks on power."

"The library isn't marked on your map," Kore said. "Would you like assistance in locating it?"

Victor glanced at careful schematic of the city. "It's here. I've never seen anything like what you're talking about in the library, but…"

"Under the library," Trigon said. "Don't bother with the stairway or any of the chambers. Look at a few books, find some likely-looking passages, find something that strikes your memory."

"What's your…" Jinx hesitated. "It might be better if I don't know your plan, actually." She could turn into a liability at any time. "I'll check back in with information, but it might be better if we were more one-sided from here on out."

"How would we be able to tell if you were on orders or giving false information?" Trigon asked.

"Besides my naturally expressive self and my gift for bending the rules in any given situation?" Jinx shook her head. "I think you'll be able to tell, but any signs that I'd give would probably come out, too, and…"

"I think we'd be able to tell," Victor said. "If he told you to just act like yourself, you would still be different."

"That's the best we have," Trigon said. "Sounds like you're still with us, Stone. Jinx, do you need anything else?"

"I've got it. Library, then Slade, then playing it by ear." Understanding the dismissal, she disappeared, taking the sheet of paper with her.

Trigon moved to the next order of business. "Kore, we have phone calls to make. Stone, are you familiar with the area of town shown on the map?"

"Moderately."

"Good start. Are you familiar with hacking?"

"Not that I'd admit to in a court of law, but would you like the blueprints of the surrounding buildings and the base itself in a hologram or a PDF file?"

Trigon smiled thinly. At the end of the day, jinn or no, he was still going to hire that man.

Saturday June 13, 8:06 P.M.
"…one," Richard finished.

That was when it all went to hell in a hand basket.

Later, there was time for Raven to dissect exactly what had happened in the next few seconds. Richard had pulled the door open, they all paused for half a second listening for any obvious alarms, and then the three of them exited the cell ready for trouble.

They found trouble within three seconds, or perhaps it was more accurate to say that trouble had found them.

Their first obstacle was immediately apparent. There must have been some kind of silent alarm, because Mallah was charging towards them from the left. He roared at the sight of three prisoners in the hallway. Richard and Raven snapped into combat-ready stances.

Garfield took a deep breath, and looked at both of them for half a moment with something wild in his eyes.

"I've got it, wish I had time to save my pants for later, but… go!" he yelled.

Garfield started growing in the next instant, and his odd remark about pants suddenly gained context. Every stitch of clothing on him shredded as he grew to proportions to match Mallah, and the giant ape-carnivore-wolf-something behemoth charged forward to meet Mallah.

Raven and Richard glanced at each other. "I'll stay with him like we planned, if you find a way out take it and get help," Raven said. Even as she spoke, the hallway began to flash red from the alarm lights beside each of the hall's surveillance cameras. With a pneumatic hiss, two doorways slid open. Both Raven and Richard could see the gathered forces of robotic henchman moving toward those two narrow exits.

"I've got the one on the left," Raven yelled, already running toward it. Richard didn't waste any time asking if she was sure. He sprinted for the second door, and then her focus was on the robots. Only two could fit in the doorway at a time, so she just had to destroy them faster than they could leave to outflank her.

She figured out just which of her powers were available as she went, and flicked infrequent glances toward the left. Garfield-as-Beast was still okay, and he was driving Mallah back. A fast glance to the right showed that Richard was doing just as admirably. Raven hadn't known you could decimate a robotic army with a single stiletto heel.

Raven relied mainly on her shields, slashing one through a robot before opening the shield abruptly. The bent planes of energy were strong enough to break through the robot's internal circuitry, and to send it crashing to the floor. She could even use the technique on multiple robots at a time, speeding up the fight. The problem was that the robots were rapidly piling up in the entrance.

When there were enough of them, she shoved them backwards and up. The resulting pile of robot components was enough to block the door for at least a minute, and it gave her time to try the lit buttons on the control pad next to the doorway. The keypad's functions were labeled clearly, and the 'emergency shut' valve worked just as advertised. She knew that the doors could open again, when someone realized the change, but she had time for a little teamwork. She ran to Richard's entrance to clear the robots that were in his way, sweeping the broken pieces of metal aside. He acknowledged her help with a nod, and she settled a few feet back from him. He had the fight down to an art, and knew exactly which parts of the robots to hit to disable them. With a few, he hit what must have been the fuel tank even as he kicked them backwards. She only needed a visual line on the robots, so she stayed back and disabled the robots that hadn't yet made it into the doorway.

Raven only broke their pattern when there were only eight or so left. "Go," she said. "They think we'll be busy here for a while, and Garfield's fight is nearly over."

"Are you sure we should split up?"

"You can handle yourself on the way out, and someone needs to stay for Garfield. Find my father and tell him where we are, and he'll do the rest." She ignored the fact that his powers were completely blocked, from what the genie had said. Quite a few people owed Trigon favors. Raven smashed through the last of the robots with a particularly vicious attack, and waited a few seconds. When she saw no motion, she shut the second doorway.

Richard hadn't moved.

"If all goes well, we'll follow you straight out when Garfield's done with his fight," she promised. "You have the better chance of getting out. Go."

Richard finally nodded, and ran down the hall much faster than she would have managed. She was barefoot, and beyond that she had a sleeveless evening gown with Garfield's suit-jacket over it. Still, she had a few potential tricks up her metaphorical sleeves. She made her way down the hallway, methodically destroying each camera in sight as she made her way toward the fight. It seemed that Garfield was winning, but that would only lead to the issue she hadn't quite worked out yet when it came to "Beast."

Really big, check. Really good at fighting, check. "Not so great with the verbal reasoning and communication skills," and now she had a problem. How was she going to improvise a plan when he couldn't exactly collaborate? He might not understand English in this state of mind, and her other three languages weren't likely to be much help.

Sometime, Raven was going to let herself wonder her two allies. Garfield hadn't been surprised to change into Beast. Richard knew more about battlefield etiquette and fighting than martial arts classes would teach.

Garfield had been right about his chances in a fight with Mallah. Raven stayed back, as she would be little help in a very physical battle between two very large components, and she watched as Beast-Garfield hit Mallah against a wall. This time, Mallah slid to the floor and didn't get up again. She was mostly sure that the blow wouldn't have severely injured the gigantic gorilla, but didn't have time to check. She had more important considerations in mind. Mainly, she needed to try coaxing the green behemoth into leaving with her, even when she could feel his emotions as a disorienting swirl of anger and aggression.

"Garfield?" she said politely, when he didn't acknowledge her after a minute passed. He seemed to be checking that his opponent was unconscious, but she couldn't read any forms of curiosity. She only felt a dulled satisfaction from him.

The very large, very green animal turned toward her, and Raven started to wonder if she should have had a plan beyond "improvise" in place.