Fly! FLY!
Raven kept those thoughts always circulating in her head as she continued to scream through the air, throwing whatever should could behind her, always running from the undead burning force that was chasing after her, demanding the his message be delivered.
If I can just make it for the next few hours-Raven bit back that thought with a hiss of how stupid she was.
I froze time! It doesn't matter now! All I can do is run.
All I ever do is run from fate…
But there's nothing I can do…
Nothing…
Nothing?
And all of a sudden, as she raced down one street, she caught eyes with a familiar figure still moving in a world stopped dead by the Titan. That black form that continued to prance in glee even in this time gone mad out of hand.
Their eyes met. Raven stared in disbelief as they passed each other for eternity.
Valentine smiled and waved hello while her teeth clenched the straw of her soft drink.
And they were gone just like that, Raven and that glowing man that was chasing after her.
Valentine scrunched up her face in annoyance as she spoke to herself, "That's not cool at all… Rae-chan's got a suitor."
Silent Night sounded through to her ears alone, though in this frozen world even sound waves stopped moving. She pulled out her phone.
"Yes, Freezie?"
"How much longer are you going to prohibit us from leaving Olympus Height?"
"I don't think much longer… oh, Freezie, remind me to check the clocks back home when I get back."
-
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V For Vendetta: Acte 1
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Some days had passed since Raven's birthday, and every time she looked down at her palms, she could feel the inscriptions burning underneath her skin, just waiting to rip her body apart into pure energy to allow… him through.
She couldn't do anything. She couldn't even hug herself to feel some comfort. All the warmth she felt seemed like the sweltering heats of coal burners, no comfort, only sweat and toiling to feed a destructive force that gave nothing back.
She couldn't meditate. One day, Beast Boy had simply pulled on of his practical jokes again, and she fumed it off in her mind. Never mind, that just a quick Azarath Metrion Zinthos and everything will feel better-
Her mind was instead treated to a front row seat of the brutal future image of a petrified Beast Boy, clawing at the air as stony faces of terror gripped his body like some bizarre sacrifice, the sky burning red, the sea a molten lava flow, the world turned to ash-
Raven punched a wall in her room, hissing at the pain. Anything to make sure that memory didn't return.
"What's… happening to me…?" She whispered to herself, falling to the floor.
She knew full well what was happening. She was just warming up, getting ready to burn the world to cinders.
There was nothing she could do to avert this.
(666-1134 Call me, Rae-Rae-chan! XOXO)
The number still held out strong in her mind, taunting her with every fiber of its being. She couldn't get rid of the thought. No matter how many poems or written works or other memories she tried to pile on top of it, it still remained like some fond childhood memory, clinging to its last and whispering sweet temptation to her whenever she didn't have anything else to think about.
"No! I won't go to her… I won't ever ask her… never…"
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A week or so later, she found Robin in the records room again, replaying that fight with Slade, over and over, fingers crossed over his mouth as he burned his white eyes out at the mark the formerly dead villain revealed on his brow.
"Robin… how long have you been looking at this?"
"As long as I need to if I want to figure out what this mark has to do with Slade."
It's the Mark of Scath! It means Slade's now the servant of the most powerful demons ever! And I'm his portal…and you'd hate me…
"You mean all night again. You really need to take a rest."
"Don't worry Raven, I will soon."
Robin continued to watch. Raven was silent and headed on out. Maybe Cyborg had some decent conversation about matters not pertaining to the utter domination of the universe. So she headed down to the lower levels of Titan's Tower, to Cyborg's engineering laboratory of a room.
"So… what's up?" Raven attempted dryly. Cyborg was fiddling with the molecular structure of some metal. That had the sorceress curious.
"You're usually playing games with Beast Boy now. What's this, then?"
"Not now. Not after what I seen Slade do… I was hoping I might be able to pull some alloy together to throw of that fire trick of his." Cyborg half explained to himself and to Raven.
Raven frowned. She somehow felt longing for the more annoying but familiar days when Cyborg and his shape-shifting punching bag went out at odds on a Gamestation, cheering out randomly and annoying her reading, while Starfire was off making strange alien concoctions instead of double-timing her patrols to make up for her friends delving into research about something she knew but didn't want them to discover.
"Look, you guys do enough for me. You need breaks like everyone else."
"Don't worry about me, little girl," Cyborg reassured, eyes ever concentrated on an anti-Slade metal, "I got plenty of batteries to spare, so chill."
Waste your batteries on something ELSE!
Raven realized she slammed her palms onto the desk, shaking it, after Cyborg asked what was wrong.
She excused herself with a "Nothing, I just need to… meditate."
Even my friends are tiring out from all this…
(666-1134 Call me, Rae-Rae-chan! XOXO)
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The week after that Raven choked, her eyes widening with surprise as she felt her cup of herbal tea slip out of her stopped hands and onto the table, slapping the green liquid across the surface.
"Friend! Is something the matter?"
"Dude! What's wrong?"
She barely kept her hand from shaking as she brought her hands to her lips.
"Nothing!" She quickly threw back as she rushed out of the Ops room, panting.
I can't taste. I can't taste.
She couldn't feel the refreshing warmth of her favorite tea slide down her throat. She couldn't even taste the coolness of the air as she ran. All she could feel was the heat. The heat in her tongue welling up against the sides of her mouth.
I can't taste. I'm losing everything, so slowly…
The heat in her mouth was becoming unbearable, like the bottom of her mouth was about to melt right out and leaving burning pieces of glowing molten rock to hiss on the carpet and send everything up in flames-
Raven dashed for the washroom, and dove her mouth under the tap she forced open, drinking and drowning, if she could just cool her tongue down-
Starfire caught up beside her, "Friend! Are you all right? Was the tea of herbs too hot?"
Raven looked up and tried to give a disarming smile, "Yeah that was all… it was just too hot."
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Sleep only gave her nightmares, meditation only told her the future, her friends only reminded her of inevitable, and her own mind taunted her towards temptation.
Nothing gave her pleasure now. There was only one source left she could trust to not betray her.
Raven thus dove into her books. Spell books, books of history, whatever, Raven just let her mind race through the words, just keep reading, keep your mind full, do your bit to help your friends. Find that symbol; find some loophole in her fate. Raven just kept going through her endless archives, searching ever searching. As soon as her concentration waned on one article, she simply threw it away and picked up the next one.
Sometimes she read four at once. Whatever it took.
Don't ever sleep Raven, don't ever think, just keep your mind full. Keep looking, there's got to be a clue somewhere.
By the end of the week, she had read all her books over five times. Nothing.
(666-1134 Call me, Rae-Rae-chan! XOXO)
"NO!"
She toppled a bookshelf with a vicious thought.
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How long has it been since she left her room? She only went out to eat food she couldn't taste, or to fly out and fight crime she couldn't feel. The warmth around the chakra crystal on her forehead seemed so immense she never took of her hood when she left her room. Goodness knows if any of her friends noticed her forehead glowing as well for all she knew.
Sometimes she wondered if her vision was even losing color.
All that was left was the heat in her body that was growing every day, steadily. At first she would have scoffed at the miniscule changes, but as it grew, like grains of sand in an hourglass, she began to detest it, feeling the power inch slowly, ever slowly, driving her mad with the infinitesimal time it was torturing her with the fact she was getting ready to destroy the world.
She barely cut herself short from screaming in her mind to get it done and over with.
No, she had to be patient. She had to wait. An opportunity would reveal itself eventually.
If her body didn't fail her first.
No, keep that mind full. Back to the books. Perhaps there's a clue I missed.
(666-1134 Call me, Rae-Rae-chan! XOXO)
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(666-1134 Call me, Rae-Rae-chan! XOXO)
(666-1134 Call me, Rae-Rae-chan! XOXO)
(666-1134 Call me, Rae-Rae-chan! XOXO)
(666-1134 Call me, Rae-Rae-chan! XOXO)
"NO! SHUT UP!"
Black burst everywhere, cracking glass, ripping fabric, rending wood and stone.
"Raven, is something wrong? I thought I heard something." Robin's voice came through the door.
"No. You must have imagined it. I was just reading."
"Is there anything I can help you with?"
"No… there's nothing to help here… I'm fine…"
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Raven sat on her bed.
(666-1134 Call me, Rae-Rae-chan! XOXO)
I won't. I won't give in.
Raven could almost hear Valentine's giggles as her mind replied with a mock voice:
Why not? She's only a phone call away…
She's a witch of the worst kind. She'd only be using me. She's the enemy.
She knows things you don't. She knows about the Underworld. And don't you use people too? You use the Titans to feel better about yourself. You just want to forget that you're going to kill everyone one day. But now that the cat's out of the bag… or is demon a better animal?
Shut up! I never use them. I'm a Titan just like them. She's butchers the dead for science experiments, she dabbles in taboo spells. The memory she placed on me is proof enough of that. You know full well as I do that she'll take advantage of… curse.
She'll follow you to the ends of the earth if you can prove it. She's a hedonist. She only follows power, and you're power. If you can't trust her, you can trust her addiction. She's offered you an alternative. She's offered you a chance for freedom. Is your stubbornness about some already dead people and a few illicit spells going to stop you from saving the world?
If Slade went up and suddenly said his quest for world domination was for humanitarian purposes, and he gave several good arguments, does that erase what he did to Robin? To us?
She's a far cry from Slade. She's not the type to lie.
What makes me think that? She's liable to do anything.
Demons deceive, but they never lie.
I can do this without her. My friends are looking into this everyday.
But you already hate to seem them like that, spending hour after hour trying to find answers you already know. You've looked through all your books over and over, and you've found nothing. Why don't you tell your friends about what you know? Because you're afraid of what will happen when they find out. She already knows so much. It's true, my friends don't understand the world of magic, they don't understand the underworld. They can't help you with this. She can help you immensely.
I…I need to meditate…
(666-1134 Call me, Rae-Rae-chan! XOXO)
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It was the dead of night again. The two birds found each other in the Records room again, Robin scanning through Slade's actions once more.
"Raven, are you alright? You haven't left your room for a few days."
"I'm…fine."
If you completely disregard the fact I haven't slept in weeks, I can't feel anything, I'm about to fall apart mentally, and I'm close to destroying all of mankind…
"Oh."
Silence. Slade said something in mute on the screens.
"Robin, can I ask you something?"
"Yeah?"
"But you have to promise not to tell anyone else about this. No one."
Boy Wonder turned around with concern, "Raven, what's the matter-"
"Are you going to promise or not?"
"Alright, I promise."
"Robin… say that the world was destroyed, and you and Slade were the only ones left. And if Slade knew a way to reverse it all, but he needed your help, would you?"
Silence. Screens flickered.
"I… I don't know. That's a hard question. It means I would have to trust somebody I hate. But if it means saving the world, I guess I'd have no other choice, though it wouldn't stop me from keeping an eye on him and turning him in right after."
"I see. Thanks."
"No problem."
Raven turned around with a flourish. Something about the question set off alarms in Robin's head.
"Raven, where are you going?"
"Just out. I haven't been out in a while. I need fresh air."
That was the final answer as she walked out of the room.
Robin frowned.
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The payphone in its perfect symmetrical box stood there in front of her under the lamppost taunting her.
"It's just a phone call, Raven." She chided herself, eyes rolling as she walked forward.
She knew it was anything but.
Six-six-six-one-one-three-four.
Several seconds.
Several more seconds.
Raven was beginning to write the whole thing off as a twisted prank by Valentine.
Suddenly:
"Hallo? Who's this? I don't recognize your ring tone. Speak freely before I summon fire and brimstone upon ye!"
"Valentine, it's me."
Several seconds. Raven inwardly groaned as she could easily picture Valentine's slowly rising squeal and the grin that was crawling onto her face with realization.
"RAE-RAE-CHAN! You finally called! I missed you! How's life? Never mind that, I already know. Some suitor proclaimed some words of undying love to you and you two exchanged marks to remember each other! I'm jealous! Here I thought you cared about me-"
"Shut up. I need your help to fight him."
"Honto-ne? That's Japanese by the way, but really? You want my help?"
Raven ground her teeth as she muttered, "Yes."
"Hmmm… say the Magic Word. A pretty one."
"You have got to be kidding."
"Oh, and with a cherry on top"
"I don't have time for this, Valentine!"
"Raven! Help! Something's wrong with my arm! It seems to be magically moving towards the disconnect button! Say it! Say it fast! HEEEELLLP!"
Raven gave a disgusted exhale, "Valentine! I need your help to challenge Trigon! Pretty Please With a Cherry On Top!"
"…Wow…I didn't expect you to actually listen to a weak human's demand. Where's your sense of pride, Rae-chan? You're a demon, threaten me with bloody death!"
Raven's face darkened murderously, "You…"
"Ah, never mind that, it's the thought that matters! Locium, Vindai, Mundo, Accel!"
The sudden memory of the abandoned Groovy House dance club came into Raven's head through the phone.
"I always wanted to have a dance with you Rae-Rae-chan! Come meet me!"
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Raven found Groovy House's ancient neon light half flashing alive, artificial cocktails and bubbles flashing in and out of existence while the pink title to the building flashed erratically.
The sorceress found it just as incessantly gaudy as Valentine's tastes. The front door was boarded shut, so Raven merely took flight to the roof, where the broken skylights allowed her to land in gracefully.
Lit by the moonlight through the opening above, Raven looked about at the moldering conditions in the dark around her. Over turned tables and moth eaten fabrics, broken chains and grim and dust everywhere.
"I'm here, Valentine. Show yourself." The cloaked girl shouted into the air.
A giggle only returned through the grating speakers.
"I'm so happy you could come, Rae-rae-chan."
"Stop calling me that. It's annoying."
"Oh, but it's so cute! It suits you perfectly!"
"Cut it out. Come out here so we can talk for real, Valentine. Enough of these games."
"Not yet. Not yet. I still have to ask you something. Why are you here?"
Raven snorted, "What kind of question is that?"
"Answer! It's your intro to your second class to the Underworld."
"Fine. I'm here because I need your help to stop Trigon from destroying the world."
"Wrong! That's not the right answer! Find another one!"
"What do you mean another one? That's all the matters, I have to stop Trigon-"
"No, no, no! That's not the right response. It's not about stopping; it's not about saving the world. I'll tell you why you're here. You're here because you want to challenge Daddy to the throne. You hate his guts, and you're going down there to coup him to death, to usurp his kingdom! It's not about them, it's not about the happy people. It's about you. You're always so selfless Rae-chan. Always taking the pain into yourself and closing everyone else off to protect them. You need to be selfish. You need to want. It's about me. Me, me, me. What I want, what I can get out of this, and if the happy people get something nice out of it too, good for them. You're not here for the world. You're here for Daddy's power, because it will make you strong."
"That's not true!"
"It's going to have to be if you're going to survive an assault by demons. Not just the cheap stuff you saw in Otherside, but the real deal. Stop thinking about others and care only about yourself. It shouldn't be that hard… after all, you are a demon."
Raven turned around to a particular source of sound with her own of hatred, yelling at a speaker in the darkness that promptly became consumed and pulverized by it. The other speakers laughed.
"That's it! That's it, Rae-Rae-chan! Hate me with every bit of your being! Your fancy ideals aren't going to save you from demons, only primal sin! Lust for death! Bring wrath upon their heads, envy their lives, be gluttonous for their flesh, take pride in every aspect of your powers, put sloth into your refined self, and care only for being greedy for their red souls! You're strong, Rae-Rae! Prove it to me one more time! Prove that you're worthy to be my Queen!"
The lights flared open, blinding Raven above and below as the dance floor came alive with amorphous shifting glows. The speakers began to play a tune that picked up speed in time.
Time goes by… so slowly… Time goes by… so slowly…
At the sound of toppling furniture out of her vision, Raven twisted around to catch the sight of a lean, white, bald creature in a business suit, cracking its joint experimentally. A pair of bat wings stood out from one shoulder, while it dourly looked on from under its sunglasses.
More of them emerged from various cover, forcing Raven to look about her, as she was trapped in the center of the room on the dance floor, while Valentine produced Orcmen gazed at her indifferently from table areas above.
The moment the music kicked into high gear, the creatures leapt at her, fists and other limbs raring to beat Raven's head in.
Raven swung under a group of self-projectile beasts, swirling around with a fierce "Azarath, Metrion Zinthos!" Metal railings around the room were torn from their positions and wielded about as a bludgeon by Raven's will, smashing bunches about at a time and sending them across the room with each blow. Valentine's white minions were durable, though, as they quickly stood up from each collapse to leap into the fray again. One of them managed to duck under Raven's swings to pull back and launch a fist into the side of her face with enough force to send off her feet and towards the opposite side of the room. Twisting around in the air, Raven's flying form looked under herself and threw her arms back to send debris at the enemies upside down in her vision. Several were struck down, but they simply rose again to give chase.
"That's not the way to go about it, Rae-chan! These guys aren't human! Tear them to bits! Show no quarter!"
One of them grappled the Titan about her waist. She hissed, and a mere thought had the Orcman turning black and sent right into the ceiling. Several more simply tackled her while her concentration was on the last. Raven thus found herself in a stunning recreation of her last visit to Otherside, the various white beasts planning to crush her from mere body weight.
"Na-ni? Again? Are you wasting both are time with this? C'mon, put some back into it! You're never going to impress Daddy that way."
A snap of the fingers followed on the speakers, causing the Orcmen to squeeze even harder, threatening every inch of breath out of Raven and every bone to shatter.
Eyes widened.
NO!
Black threw the Orcmen off her and Raven was up, teeth clenched and fangs bared, growling while her eyes shone red for blood, her body glowing red lines across her body. Throwing out her arms, darkness spread out like a phosphorus blade, lashing against all that were unfortunate to get caught against them.
They weren't getting up again, bodies crumpled to pieces. The music played on wildly.
One of them tried to dive towards Raven from behind. She simply gave a wild sneer and lashed out her palm, catching the creature by the face, before black glowed on her hand, sending the Orcman through the wall with a claw of energy.
Raven… was alive.
She could feel again. She could feel her fist burning with power as she smashed her hand into one of them from across the room.
She could taste again. She could taste the heated air flows around her, instructing her, telling her where they were coming from, where to turn next, where to attack.
She could meditate. This was her meditation. She didn't need to think any more. She just lost herself in the mantra of destruction about her, swinging her arms and gashing everything in her vision.
She felt so warm. It was like a blanket of comfort, surrounding her, nurturing her. She had all the peace she needed. All she needed to do was take it from her surroundings.
It was so right.
The glass dance floor under her hissed with exhaust as several portions rose into the air, revealing metal gantries under it that contained more Orcmen in reserve. Raven only grinned.
More! More! I want to keep feeling this peace as long as possible! Send them all! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry, hurry, hurry, HURRY!
She kept lashing out her black energy about her, cleaving metal, shattering glass, scattering minions.
Through the debris as she sent another one of the Orcmen through the steel reserve cages that were above the ground, Valentine flung herself out of it, grinning wildly like her Queen, book trailing beside her.
"Dracanis Talze Serk Fernar!"
The fat heavy leather tome flew in front of Valentine as she slammed both her palms into the back, while the front cover spat out a widening stream of flames. It swallowed Raven completely.
Next thing the foundation sorcerer knew, her cheek was smashed against the glowing floor, her body prostrate on her knees while Raven gave a fang filled grin as she gripped Valentine by the back of her neck.
"Scum! You should know your place." Raven laughed.
Valentine finally had a chance to see this new bird, and her gasp caught up in her throat. Words couldn't describe the lines of power painting down across Raven's form, the sheer marvel.
"You're… beautiful…"
With that, Valentine slammed the heel of her shoe into Raven's stomach, a magic circle having been printed on the sole.
"Actis."
The contact of Valetine's show to Raven's lower torso promptly exploded. As the demon stumbled backwards, Valentine swirled about and slammed her gloved palms onto the ground, "Ivine, Rosso, Speriat, Scien!"
Several artfully engraved spears ripped out of the ground just behind Raven, catching the back of her cloak in its blade and entrapping her arms between the rods. Valentine quickly drew herself to her feet and reached inside her blazer. Another iron-wreath canister of what she called Holy Water was produced, and she hurled it into Raven's trapped body.
The hissing steam wasn't enough to defeat the cloaked entity, but her roaring and thrashing was enough to wake her up a bit better. By the end, a Titan was panting in her impromptu prison, glaring at Valentine. The witch in a black suit walked up and slammed both her hands on either side of Raven's head.
"So, did you like it?"
Raven choked and looked away.
"You must have. I could see it on you. You enjoyed the power."
"I'm not like you, Valentine."
"You're going to have to be if you want to survive an invasion into the Underworld. Why are you here, Raven? Say it out, speak what's true to that demon in your heart."
"I… I hate him… I really hate him. I… I want to go down there and beat him to a pulp, take everything away from him because he tried to take everything away form me. I'll punish him… I'll punish him and his servant for everything they've done, I'll make them pay, I HATE THEM!"
"That's right! You do! Is this about friends? About the world?"
"NO! This is between him and me! I'm going to finish this! He doesn't control me!"
The spears retracted. Valentine took Raven by the hand.
"My Queen. You are a true demon. You are ready to challenge your father for the right of his throne."
Valentine fell to one knee, looking up with total prostration.
"And I, you're servant, Valentine, am ready to follow you and assist you in any way I can."
With that, Valentine brought her lips to Raven's jeweled hand.
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Meet me at that library. I'll give you an hour to get ready. Don't bring anything with you, just yourself. Don't worry about me; I'll handle the trip. Just say goodbye to your friends on this realm. I do, after all, understand what it means for you to be leaving this home for who-knows-how-long.
Raven stood in the dark of the Ops room, basking in what she felt would be an eternity before she would come back. A farewell.
They had to know why she was going. So she wrote.
Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Starfire:
I have to leave. I won't be gone for long, but I don't want you to follow me. It's too dangerous where I'm going for any of you.
You've done so much for me, I can't express how thankful I was to have any of you still with me, but this is something I have to do on my own.
I know who Slade's working for. His name is Trigon. He's an extremely powerful demon from the Underworld, and he's planning to conquer this realm.
I'm his daughter.
He was planning to use me as his portal to enter this realm, because demons can't usually get through the seal that block off the two worlds. It began last birthday. Slade put the inscriptions on me that will activate it at the right time. But I'm not going to let that happen.
That's why I'm going to fight my father. Only I can do it, because I'm Raven, a demon, daughter of a demon.
I won't be alone. Someone I don't trust, but who I need is guiding me to Trigon.
Don't look for me. This is something only I can do.
I don't know if I'll be coming back, so this is the only chance I've got to say it.
Thank you,
-Raven.
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"Heave, ho, D'! Heave, ho!" Valentine commanded to the cowboy, as the majority of the Foundation stood in the car park for the witch's vehicles. Several large crates were beside a bus being loaded, the unfortunate task being given to Devil Hand.
"Dude! This is really heavy!"
"More back into it then! I need this ready before the night is over!"
Terra approached, concerned, "Are you going somewhere, Valentine?"
"Just a short sabbatical! I'll be back, quick as a wink!"
Mr. Freeze entered the chamber at that, "And what is the exact nature of this trip?"
"Nothing really! Just a short camping trip with my Rae-Rae-chan!"
Devil Hand's face made some hilarious contortions of disbelief, "WHAT?"
Valentine dismissed the assertion with a wave, "Daijobou, the Japanese say. She's a trust worthy girl. Besides, it'll be the two of us, so we'll have to rely on each other."
Terra frowned, "Still… I don't trust her very much. She's scary. How long are you going to be gone, Val'?"
"Hmmm… a week, maybe two."
Freeze was quiet, before calmly moving another cylinder to his mouth, smoking it, "Two weeks. No more. You make higher quality cylinders than me. Any longer and I shall have to enact disciplinary measures on you."
"Don't worry, Freezie! Quick as a wink! I'll be sure to bring souvenirs for all of you!" Valentine snickered as she jumped into her loaded bus.
"Bye, Valentine!" Terra waved.
"Remember, stay out of Wisconsin! The people are scary there!" Devil Hand advised, hands cupped around his mouth.
"Remember Valentine. I do not appreciate lateness." Freeze merely warned through his frosting cylinder.
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As Raven entered the ancient library, she noticed a glow absorbing the center of the massive stone room.
"Ah! Rae-Rae-chan! You came! Mitte, Mitte!" Valentine squealed as she approached her master, leading her by the arm towards the glow.
In the center of the room, five giant pillars had been raised, flanking the sides of a giant orb, arching machinery swirling about the sides of the glassy sphere while several smaller green globes orbited around it. Below the central orb, a clear pool lay, humming with blue energy at the edges, the surface like a liquid mirror, reflecting the ceiling above.
Settled about the magic machinery were crates and tables, all laid with engraved and rune-cared firearms of all shapes and sizes. Bullets were interspersed everywhere lazily, and computers monitoring the condition of the giant machine lying about.
"Look! Look at all this I brought for you! Pure refined, true quicksilver, the priest Shaft's magic orb, and it's still full of power! I have a real Philosopher's Stone brought here, and it's ticket in! We're ready, Rae-Rae! We're going in!"
Raven looked about her, taking it all in as her servant gushed.
"What's… what's with all the guns? I was kind of expecting to see you bring an army…"
"Rae-chan. The Underworld is a very vicious and nasty place. Bringing ghouls would only be a hassle. They're too dumb and slow for anything down there. And we need guns. They're powerful. When we're in the Underworld, they're going to come fast and strong. The moment you start wasting time shouting out spells, they're going to be tearing you to bits. You can only rely on your own strength now, Rae-chan. And this."
Valentine walked over to the stockpile of weapons and pulled out a smaller handgun, just as rune-carved as the rest. The witch proffered it to her demon.
"I don't use guns."
"You're going to have, to Rae-Rae-chan! Anything to pack a punch! You can't just rely on one weapon forever."
"But if we're going to be gone as long as you say… what about running out of bullets? And I'm skeptical about how strong bullets are against demons."
"You'd be surprised! They are physical matter just like us, so you can blow them apart with enough effort. As for ammo, don't worry! I put all sorts of spells on all the guns. Low-recoil spells, velocity spells, time-loops spells for infinite ammo… Come on, Rae-chan! It's only a forty-five Colt Government!"
Raven sighed, and took the firearm and the holster that was offered.
"Oh yeah, Rae-Rae-chan! Drop the cloak. I got a present for you…"
Valentine whipped out a blood red cape, black spells stitched into both sides of the fabric, a black brooch pinning the cloak-like work together.
"A cape for a queen! It's got a lot of protection spells, so you should be a little safer."
"Does it have to be red?"
"Hey! Red's your family color! Take some pride."
Raven decided to swallow it and accepted the spell-encrusted cape, "What about you?"
"I got something too!"
Valentine pulled on a heavy black coat that stretched over her own form, metal plates bolted onto the outside arms and tail of the clothing. Vibrant green lines wove itself across the black fabric. On the back, spelled out with the same color were the morbid words:
-Born to Kill-
"Like it? It's a full metal jacket! And the neat thing is that it has this huge hammerspace in it, so I can put all these guns in here…"
"How many?"
"Dunno. I lost count after seven hundred."
Raven snorted, but watched as Valentine walked over to the pile of guns and shoved more of them into two large rucksacks made of the same fabric as the full metal jacket.
"Do you really need so many guns?"
"Yeah! I'm probably going have all of them destroyed by the time we get back. The Underworld is a really nasty place!"
"I'll take your word for it…"
Hauling the two large sacks over each shoulder and strapping them to each other, Valentine turned around with a smile, "We're ready! Step into the pool!"
The two of them did.
As the stood in the glow of the machine above them, Valentine advised one more time, holding a red stone in her hand.
"Remember Rae-Rae-chan. This is only knocking on Daddy's door, and he's not happy to see his girl come home, and everybody's going to try and shut you out. What are you going to do about it, Queen?"
Raven's eyes darkened under the play of shadows and light about them, "I'll rip my way through. I'll do anything to be free of him."
Valentine grinned, "That's my girl…"
She dropped the stone.
And they sunk through the quicksilver and into world underneath.
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Episode 12: "V For Vendetta: Acte 2" – This is it, Raven. Welcome home. But this is only the beginning; the homecoming party's just begun. Together… together let's give them a celebration they can't forget!
