Chapter 10-Devil's Truth Revealed
Deep within the Temple of Hades, the sounds of swords clashed within its walls, and the echoing sound of battle cries filled the ancient structure that had not heard such sounds for well over a millennia. For within these ancient temple walls, was a battle between Nightwing's sword with bo staff, and his cousin Dante along with Nero creating a 2 on 1 fight of the half-devils. It was a cutthroat battle with actions so precise, the slightest fraction of a mistake in the attack could cost any of the 3 warriors their lives, and on many occasions it nearly happened.
Nightwing was not as skilled as Dante and to some degree Nero as well, but made up for it with the martial arts training, which he used to beat back his opposition when needed, and landed a few hits in the process. Of course, that wasn't to say that Nightwing wasn't perfect either, as he had taken a pounding from Dante's sword skills, and Nero's Devil Bringer arm that got a few descent hits to his gut at one point before knocking the other half-devil away.
Several attempts had been made by the others to interfere in order to get Hera's Scepter, but Nightwing was able to dodge, block, and counter all attempts made. If the area he had been fighting was any smaller, then Nightwing would have already lost, and would have been taken away to the Watchtower under Maximum Security Level 5.
The last level Justice League had before the alternative would be the Phantom Zone.
A flash of what Mundus had shown Nightwing as the price of failure ran though the half-devil's mind before another flash in front of him happened a second later, and Nightwing saw Dante's sword Rebellion scraping against his sword Yamato in a deadlock. Nero had jumped to his feet at this point after being kicked hard into a wall leaving a spider web imprint of his body on the wall.
"Someone improved greatly after he left," said Dante grinning at Nightwing, who grinned back, and pushed Dante back before slugging him in the face into a broken pillar.
"What can I say? I do a lot of training," said Nightwing only for Nero to come at him out of nowhere hitting with a solid right hand through several walls.
"Apparently, not nearly enough!" said Nero flexing his demonic hand carefully since that blow really hurt.
"I've heard of family feuds before, but this is just ridiculous, and I don't have time for it," said Nightwing getting up and ignoring the blood running down his chin from the side of his mouth.
"It's all over Nightwing, just surrender peacefully right now, and we'll be able to deal with whatever Mundus has that's got you being his loyal follower," said Dante walking through the hole in the wall with Nero with both aiming their swords at Nightwing.
"Kiss my sword, Dante," said Nightwing spitting some blood unto the ground before standing fully though he wobbled a bit in the process.
"'Kiss my sword' you say? Nice comeback. WRONG ANSWER!" said Dante pulling out his grenade launcher from his coat and aiming at Nightwing.
"Aw hell!" said Nightwing before sprinting away just went Dante fired a shell at him and the explosion that was rocking the area around them.
"Stop what your doing you fool! You'll make the whole place cave in if you keep doing that," said Batman, who knew that explosives, and that of ancient temples didn't go so well.
"Shut up old man! This is devil business so butt out," said Dante firing another explosive shell at Nightwing, who avoided the blast, but was thrown into a broken pillar.
Reaching back, Nightwing grabbed Hera's Scepter finding that it was a little dented, and that it was covered in white powder from the debris from the attack.
"You certainly are worth a lot of trouble," said Nightwing connecting it back to his utility belt before getting off the ground finding a hole in the wall leading out to the surface.
"Come on out cousin. Don't think I won't blow this place and leave you buried here," said Dante looking around for his demonic relative only to find he wasn't around.
"Looks like he flew the coup," said Nero pointing to the hole in the wall leading to an untouched section of the temple.
"Looks like I'm going hunting," said Dante heading towards the hole in the wall that Nightwing used to escape only to be stopped by grappling wire wrapping around his body by Batman.
"Looks like the 'Game Commissioner' has something to say on that," said Nero seeing the human Dark Knight among them looking pretty upset at them right now.
"Care to explain why you were trying to blow up Nightwing?" said Batman, as the other members of the Justice League, and the Titans were wondering that too.
"Oh that?! That's just us messing around and a little bit being serious at the same time. Chill out," said Dante before Nero cut through the cable with Red Queen.
"Dude! You tried to blow up Nightwing!" said Beast Boy, as he was shocked that Dante did that, and was wondering what crazy family did Nightwing get?
"Only a little. Besides, he got away, and we still need to get that Scepter of what's her name," said Dante before putting away the grenade launcher and began the hunt for his cousin once more with Nero.
"This is getting out of hand. Nightwing is our problem, not theirs!" said Batman, as he didn't want the demonic side of Nightwing's newly discovered family helping with this, and felt they were making things worse.
"I agree with Dante on this pal. This is family business and you're not family. Deal with it," said Trish with Lady nodding in agreement and the two she devils ran off to catch up the others.
"They left quite a mess," said John, as he nursed his ribs where Nightwing's bo staff hit him hard, and saw the damage they inflicted in the area.
"We need to catch up with them and chances are, Nightwing is headed for the surface using a yet to be opened doorway. There were some temples that had them to ensure the priests escaped should a raid occur from an army worshipping another God. We need get there before him and cut him off from leaving," said Diana seeing Bruce's face seething in silent rage while barely holding it back.
Barely.
"We'd better hurry then. Chances are, there will be more fighting in the temple before Nightwing gets out, and even then I doubt he'll go quietly," said Etrigan, who was now sporting several slash marks on his form with a diagonal one on his face.
"Man when Raven gets out of her funk, she's going to be pissed, and I don't know who it is she'll be mad at," said Beast Boy sporting a bruised face, as he looked at Cyborg, who had a partially damaged right arm, and Starfire while not physically undamaged from the fight was drained from using so many star bolts.
"That's why were going to have you tell her the bad news about Nightwing when we get back," said Cyborg seeing Beast Boy go pale at that while pleading for the metal man to reconsider that idea.
(Titans Tower-Raven's Room)
Raven tried to keep herself calm despite what she had learned, as her bond that she had with Nightwing was being suppressed by Mundus, and was preventing her from reaching him. She tried several times, only to find that the more she tried, the more Raven found herself losing it, and finally she stopped trying so she wouldn't lose it entirely. Instead, she focused on the reason for Nightwing's betrayal, and wondered on what to do given the situation at hand.
'Should I take this to the Justice League. No! They would use it and me against him. They would lock him up or put him in the Phantom Zone and he would be lost to me forever. Still, there has to be someone in the League I could confide in without the whole organization knowing about it, and possibly helping Nightwing in the process. But who?' thought Raven, as she tried to find her center, and smiled for a second at the very thing connected to her, and to Nightwing that they helped create while feeling the amulet she was wearing now glowing with a radiant light.
She had her hand cover it, feeling the energy the amulet seemed to create, and welcomed it like a warm blanket on a cold night. It soothed her, comforted her, and told Raven that she must never give up no matter what happened.
Raven was so deep in the sensation created by the amulet that she never felt the demonic presence of the entity behind her, which was about to strike her down, and tear her away from Nightwing forever with its scythe.
The blade the demonic reaper held didn't get within 4 inches of her before a powerful barrier materialized and sent energy through the weapon to the demon itself. The end result was a startled Raven seeing the creature smoke in the air without so much as ash to show it had been in the same room with her.
Gazing down at the amulet, Raven saw it its glow soften, but the power behind it never left, as if the amulet could sense an enemy that was trying to harm its wearer, and protect the half-demon daughter of Trigon from harm. With this sudden realization, Raven had transformed into her soul self, and began to head towards Nightwing's location that all of her fellow Titans were at right now through her much lighter bond she had with them.
If she wasn't too late, then maybe she could get Nightwing to leave Mundus, and they could be a together again.
(Outside the Temple of Hades)
The members of the Justice League and the Teen Titans made it out of the Temple of Hades looking worse for wear, but alive give the battle they had endured from fighting Nightwing. They found that none of Diana's Amazon Sisters had seen hide or hair of their half-devil foe meaning he was still in the temple possibly fighting his demonized family too.
"At least we will be ready for that man when he appears and I'm going to win in our next confrontation," said Artemis, as she found her pride wounded severely by Nightwing, and was clearly seething with rage over losing to a man much less a half-demon one.
"Nightwing is not doing this fully of his own free will Artemis. He has become a victim and unwilling servant of Emperor Mundus. It has something to do with Raven, but we do not know what, and only those two outside of Mundus knows," said Diana, as her metal bracelets has slash marks on them, she had some bruising on her arms, and her uniform had small cuts that thankfully did not pierce her once clay body.
"True as that is Princess, this 'Nightwing' as you call him must be punished, and whether by Man's World laws or Amazon it must be done," said General Phillipus seeing how the half-devil had left his mark on the various heroes before her.
"The first thing we are going to do when Nightwing is caught, is find a way to remove that demonic blood from his body, and turn him human again," said Batman believing that if could remove the devils blood from Nightwing and turn him human again things would go back to what they once were.
"I still don't see the problem with friend Nightwing being part demon. Friend Raven is one and we get along with her just fine," said Starfire, as she didn't understand the man's desire to "cure" Nightwing, and treat the situation like the young warrior had contracted a disease.
Before anyone could say anything to that statement, an explosion was heard near a distant section away from where the Temple of Hades was, and shook the ground beneath all the heroes. Rushing towards the scene, they saw the fierce battle between Nightwing, Dante, and Nero taking place once more. Lady and Trish each had guns pointed at Nightwing, as they were going to fire should the half-devil make a break for it, and try to escape once again.
"They're fighting ruthlessly, as if they were sword enemies!" said Diana, as she had for all her years fighting arch villains never seen such fierce fighting taking place before her eyes, and with incredible savagery that these three half-devils were capable of.
Indeed, the trio of half-devils were fighting like they were facing a sworn enemy, and even Nero had taken a swing at Dante with his sword while finding that his demonic bloodlust was not letting him focus on just Nightwing. Dante in turn, had returned the attacks with a few of his own, and Nightwing at the time of this was in the middle of the two using his sword along with his bo staff.
Dodging one attack by Nero, Nightwing tripped his foe with his bo staff while locking blades with Dante, and was pushed back since Dante was using two hands rather then one. Quickly retracting the bo staff, Nightwing took out some smoke grenades, and threw them at the two half-devil with one in front of him so the two female devils couldn't get a clean shot at him.
Seeing possibly his only chance of escape, Nightwing rushed to a cliff edge to get out of the excavation sight with the Titans, Amazons, and the members of the Justice League hot on his trail with several Amazons already close to him preparing to attack.
"HTT-1 this is 'Hive Devil', what's your current position?" said Nightwing now deciding to use his code name in his earpiece to contact the Hive air vehicle.
"'Hive Devil', this is HTT-1, we are on our way, and will be near your location shortly for extract. We have your earpiece locator beacon on radar. Our ETA is at the very least 10 minutes and counting down," said the pilot, as he was piloting the craft of HHT-1, and following the locator beacon on Nightwing's earpiece.
"Extraction is going to be tight HHT-1. Ground is compromised. You need to extract me while you're still in the air. Repeat, you need to extract me while you're still in the air, and move pretty damn fast to avoid those that can fly after us," said Nightwing hoping that the pilot understood that he only had one shot of picking up his target.
"Roger that Hive Devil. We'll have the means to extract you prepared before ETA," said the pilot, as the transport had such equipment needed for such things, and he gave the command for someone in the belly of the transport to do it.
"HTT-1, you don't have the given ETA. You have until the next 4 minutes. Get over here right NOW!" said Nightwing before cutting off communications with the transport and began fighting several Amazons that were able to catch up with him while climbing up the cliff.
"You are mine demon!" said Artemis leaping at Nightwing in a surprise attack from a nearby boulder seeing her chance at stabbing at his unguarded back and taking Hera's Scepter in one shot.
Of course, that was before Nightwing spun around hitting Artemis with a high kick to the Amazon's face, and sent the Bana woman flying into the others. Nearing his destination upward, Nightwing made it to the top just before Diana came down on him from above, and he just barely dodged her attempt to grab Hera's Scepter by bending back a near impossible angle.
"And this ladies and gentlemen is why no one wants to play Twister with me at parties," said Nightwing getting back up and making a run for it, only to be stopped by a dome of green energy coming from Green Lantern's ring.
"You may have demonic blood in you, but unless you're the devil himself, I doubt you can escape this, and the others heading this way," said Green Lantern seeing the tired Nightwing panting and seeing the others closing the gap before having him completely surrounded.
"Okay! Okay! You got me," said Nightwing laughing slightly before putting his sword away and raising his hands up in surrender.
"Dude! How can you find this even remotely funny?" said Beast Boy seeing the grin on Nightwing's face.
"I don't find it funny in a cruel way. I just can't help, but look back at this crazy wild ride I went on fighting all of you, and how despite your best attempts...I still kicked your butts," said Nightwing letting out a chuckle seeing the others not as amused like he was.
Slowly, Green Lantern removed the dome of energy off of Nightwing, but kept the still glowing green ring aimed at the half-devil, and looked for any possible movements that would warrant another dome prison.
"Hera's Scepter, hand it over Nightwing, and come peacefully," said Diana extending her hand out to have him willingly give them the scepter rather then have it taken by force.
"Haven't you ever heard the old phrase 'finder's keepers and losers suck' before?" said Nightwing grinning further making the group that had him surround become more angry with him.
"She's being nice about this cousin. Quite frankly, I think we are all a little sick, and very tired of being nice right now," said Dante pointing his pistols at Nightwing while Nero took aim with his revolver.
"Join the club. You think I like being Mundus's servant? Any other day, I would gladly be Slade's apprentice all over again before going back to serving that demonic asshole, but I can't right now, and I'm not leaving here without this scepter," said Nightwing his own grin leaving him an was staring at Dante with deadly serious looking eyes.
"You keep saying that, but you never told us the reason, and I'm beginning to think there is no such reason," said Nero, as he was getting pissed off at hearing the same old story from Nightwing, and wanted to know the God damn answer.
"And I keep telling you that I can't!" said Nightwing getting frustrated by this, as he knew that if he spoke of what he learned, and the deal concerning Mundus came to light it would ruin everything.
"But I can," said Raven appearing behind the group that was behind Nightwing and made the half-devil turn around.
"Raven? Why would you tell them?" said Nightwing looking at her with his masked eyes while she looked back with her hooded one.
"Because if they know, then maybe they can help, and maybe you can give up serving this demon that uses this knowledge to chain you to him," said Raven removing her hood so he could see her face and the parting of her cape slightly revealed she was wearing his necklace.
"Don't," said Nightwing, as his voice was practically pleading with her, and what little of the bond they had left that wasn't being suppressed by Mundus was telling her not to either.
"Why should we hide this secret from them, when all it has done as a secret it cause us harm, and made everyone we call friends become suspicious of us," said Raven walking towards him and seeing him shift he head left and right cautiously at those around them.
"They aren't suspicious of you because you are innocent in all of this!" said Nightwing trying to make Raven realize that if she told them now all would be lost.
"So are you! So is our child!" said Raven seeing Nightwing tense at that while several gasps were heard, Beast Boy fainting, and several Amazons clenching their weapons tighter.
"Child? You mean Raven is pregnant?" said Dante seeing Raven not shying away from it and how she had no regret in being the Mother of Nightwing's yet to be born child.
"Yeah. Mundus...showed me horrible visions. Visions of what will happen to Raven and the child if such news reaches certain...people," said Nightwing his masked eyes never leaving Raven's own while the sorceress reached out touching his face with a gentle pale hand.
"You mean torturing and killing them both for being demonic," said Nero having seen that look of fear in the one he loved before she came around, but the world populous wouldn't be so willing to be open-minded, and may try to hunt them down.
The religious sects of the world would call for an all out crusade to find Raven to kill her along with the child.
"Yeah," said Nightwing, as reached out to Raven, and caressed her face while loving the feel of it in his hands with it being vice versa for her too.
"So in return for your loyalty, Mundus promised to spare Raven, and the unborn child from any form of harm if you served him like you are now," said Batman, as this had become a reason why he never like to mix this line of work with romance, and tried to stay away from romances.
"Aside from all of you, only Mundus, and myself know of Raven's pregnancy. Not even Brother Blood knows," said Nightwing, as he had made sure that the cybernetic psychic didn't learn the truth.
"Dude! How many times did you go at it?" said Beast Boy only to be hit on the head by Cyborg since that was a personal question and he didn't want it known they had done it in the back of his car.
"Enough apparently," said Nightwing seeing Raven put her hood up to hide her blush at the question since for her it was very personal.
"Regardless, you are under arrest for stealing a Greek treasure from its God, and will be taken back Themyscira where your fate will be determined by Queen Hippolyta," said Artemis, as she hated speaking it, but that was one of the two reasons why they were sent aside from retrieving Hera's Scepter, and the half-devil's judgment must be swift even if it meant brining Nightwing to Themyscira.
"What?" said Diana looking to General Phillipus, who nodded in agreement, as that had been the Queen's order, and while it was in some sense against the rules, it was the will of the Queen.
"She speaks the truth Princess. Anyone, who retrieves Hera's Scepter for ill purposes, is a threat to our paradise, and according to laws set forth by the Gods themselves, must be brought to Amazon Justice I caught," said General Phillipus, as she remembered the laws regarding the Gods wishes should any such item made by the Gods be used in such a way, and what was to happen to the man who retrieved it.
"A man being judged before man hating women. There's no part of that situation that I like," said Dante making Nero, Lady, and Trish smirk at that comment.
"Well I don't really care what your Queen wants and I'm sure as hell not coming quietly with any of you," said Nightwing drawing out his bo staff while Raven stood beside him with her powers active and aimed at the Amazons.
Raven may not have liked what Nightwing had done in serving Emperor Mundus, but she respected his reason, as he was protecting her like he did the team when Slade had placed nano probes, and forced him to be the man's apprentice. She knew Nightwing's love was unquestionable, how he would go above and beyond to protect her, even if it meant that he had to serve the very scum he fought to bring down, and make deals with them in order to ensure her safety.
Nightwing always fought for her in some shape or form, so it was only fair she fight for him too, and if it meant going against the current status quo? Then so be it.
"Get away from him Raven. You don't want to do this. Not with the kid you're carrying you don't," said Cyborg seeing that same fire in her eyes Nightwing always has and knew that she wasn't going to lose her love again.
"And what would you have me do Cyborg? Let the Amazons or the Justice League take him away to be punished for doing something out of love for me? For our child?!" said Raven glaring hatefully at the Amazons before her knowing that if they got their hands on Nightwing, then he was as good as dead, and she wouldn't have that.
Cyborg couldn't answer, as he didn't know what to say, and anything he did say would no doubt be viewed as betrayal in Raven's mind.
Sometimes being a big brother to Raven hurt her more then helped.
"Go," said Nightwing seeing Raven turn to him with a surprised look on her face.
"What? Nightwing why would you...?" said Raven, only to see the look on his face that told her to trust him this time, and to do as he said if just this once.
"Look into my mind Raven and see the location I want you to go in my head. Go there, as no one here knows about it, but me. Hurry!" said Nightwing showing her the place she needed to go, taking her Titan communicator, and at point she understood what he meant before turning into her soul self to fly off to that destination.
"She's getting away!" said Artemis, as she pointed at Raven while commanding one of her Bana Amazon archers to shoot her down.
The attempt was foiled by a Nightwing birdarang smashing the bow to pieces.
"Don't you know it's a sin to kill a bird as beautiful as her?" said Nightwing wondering well the hell his transport was.
"We'll make sure to tell her that when we bring your corpse before her," said Artemis, as she, and the Bana Amazons readied there weapons to force Nightwing into submission.
No sooner had they got ready for a fight that Nightwing moved his head slightly to the right, sporting grinning that was a devil's grin, and before anyone knew it, he had jumped high into the air. When he got high enough, Nightwing grabbed a cable deployed by the moving HHT above him with his empty hand, and began climbing up after putting away the bo staff.
"Now Nightwing's getting away!" said Dante firing both pistols at Nightwing while Lady, Trish, and Nero did the same with their guns hoping to wound Nightwing enough to make him lose his grip on the cable before falling hard onto the group.
No such luck in that plan, as the HHT got far away from their range of fire
(On the HTT)
"Welcome back sir," said one of the Hive soldiers on the transport helping Nightwing into the hold before the half-devil dusted himself off.
"What took you so long?" said Nightwing clearly displeased by the delay since he nearly got caught by his friends, the Justice League, and man hating Amazons.
"Sorry about that. We ran into some heavy turbulence on the way here delaying us a few more minutes. But at least were here and were able to retrieve you as planned," said the Hive solider grinning sheepishly at Nightwing.
"Yeah, but I lost my trench coat," said Nightwing since he really like his trench coat to begin with.
"What's the bug deal It's just a trench coat," said the Hive soldier before his face met Nightwing's fist and sent the man into the metal wall of the transport.
"Idiot," said Nightwing walking towards the front of the ship to speak to the pilot.
"Nightwing sir, we have a call from Brother Blood, and he wants a current status on the mission," said the pilot having reported in to Hive HQ that they got Nightwing.
"Tell Blood it was a success and that I got Hera's Scepter despite the opposition," said Nightwing seeing the pilot relay the orders back to HQ while he went back to take a seat to get some much needed rest.
As he rested, Nightwing had feeling that things were going to go from bad to worse, and it had something to do with this damn scepter Mundus wanted so badly.
(Far East-Unknown Location)
Raven transformed back to normal, as she landed silently on top of the mountain, finding the air a bit thin, but all the same pleasant, and clean without the scent of pollution that the cities of the world had. She could see why Nightwing told her to go here, as this was the home of the "True Master", and no one else knew its location except for an elite few people.
Fortunately, none of those elite few were looking for her, and if by chance one of them was they wouldn't expect to find a half-demon sorceress to look here.
"Hello? True Master?" said Raven walking up the steps of the house and knocked in the hopes that the warrior would answer.
After a few seconds, the door opened, and a very old lady stepped out with a cane looking at Raven with keen eyes before smiling at her, and acted like an old sweet woman.
"Hello there my dear. How can I help you?" said the old woman seeing Raven looking at her with a calculated look.
"Um...I'm looking for the True Master," said Raven, as she was kind of expecting an old warrior of the male gender, and not that of the female variety.
"Many have tried to seek out the True Master, but not many can see with their eyes, and open their minds," said the old woman motioning for Raven to enter her home.
"I'm not here to be trained if that's what you are thinking," said Raven finding the place had a serenity based lifestyle to it.
"Too bad. From the way you move, you could use it, and not rely on the powers you wield," said the old woman seeing the shock on Raven's face if only for a half a second.
'She's the True Master,' thought Raven knowing that this old woman was no ordinary old woman at all.
"I saw the surprise flash in your eyes my dear. You find this to believe, but not all great masters of martial arts were men, and I happen to be living proof of that," said the old woman sitting down in the kitchen area eating some sushi and a hot cup of tea.
"You are the True Master. The one that Nightwing mention when he left the Titans to train," said Raven, as she had been surprised by this, and she suspected so was Nightwing when he was Robin.
"So that is what my pupil calls himself these days. I must admit I'm impressed that you caught on so fast in who I was really was. You did much better then him, but then again you weren't so hell bent in getting to the top to train with me, and now that you are here we might as well talk. My name is Chui-Hui, but many call me the 'True Master,'" said Chui-Hui, as she sat down to finish her meal, and looked at Raven now sitting down across from her.
"Chui-Hui, I came here to seek sanctuary, and possible protection from outside forces that seek to end my life," said Raven seeing the woman look back her with questionable eyes that wished to know more.
"That is quite a request you ask of me. Especially, when I don't know your name," said Chui seeing Raven seem a bit hesitant in telling it.
"It's Raven," said Raven seeing Chui-Hui nod at this before sipping some tea.
"Ah, you are the one that captured his heart," said Chui-Hui seeing Raven use her hood to cover more of her face to keep the blush away.
"He told you about me?" said Raven, as she didn't know that Nightwing had talked about her to the True Master when he was still Robin, and anything else she didn't know about.
"Enough to know that he loves you. The fact that Nightwing told you to come here where no one would find you means that something has happened to my student," said Chui-Hui seeing Raven nod at her assumption since that was pretty much the case here.
"Will you give me sanctuary then True Master?" said Raven hopefully, as it would mean she could hopefully give birth to the child here away from all the evil of the world.
"I will, in return for telling me what has happened to my student, and why exactly you need sanctuary from the outside world," said Chui-Hui wanting to know just exactly what had happened to her student.
"Agreed. It all started just a few months ago when our team the Teen Titans was fighting a criminal named Slade," said Raven, as she began telling the grueling tale of what had happened since Nightwing left the True Master's home when he was Robin up until just before having her come to this peaceful mountain top.
Raven could only hope that where Nightwing was, he was alive, and finding a way to fight Mundus in his own way.
Nightwing was a Teen Titan and it's what a Titan does for a living
Fighting impossible odds.
(A/N: What do you think? Good? Bad? GIVE ME SOME REVIEWS! I had so very few reviews the last couple of times. COME ON! Until next time PEACE!!!)