At about five fifty-five a.m., Terra was jolted from her trance by Raven's sudden appearance in the form of a giant, black bird.
"Are you ready?" Raven asked telepathically.
Terra nodded grimly. "Let's go," she whispered.
They were both enveloped in blackness as Raven teleported them away from the apartment.
O-O-O
Raven and Terra were soon standing outside the Troy Observatory, located on a hill just beyond the city limits. Terra took a deep breath, she was exhausted from having stayed up all night, but was also ready to get the inevitable battle over-with. Without so much as a word to Raven, she strode quickly to the large doors and heaved them open. The other followed silently.
The interior of the observatory was spacious and, aside from the huge telescope, relatively empty. In the center of the floor stood Sound, looking extraordinarily pleased with himself.
"Cutting it a bit close, aren't we?"
"We're here," Raven stated simply.
"So stop whatever plans you have to activate the sinkhole," Terra finished.
"Stop it? Oh, no, there's no stopping it, you see, the seismic generator is on a countdown."
"Then what was the point in bringing us here?" Raven demanded.
Sound grinned. "I just wanted to make sure that the two of you had good seats for the show. You're about to watch me succeed in something my mentor never could: the total destruction of Jump City," he gloated.
"Slade!" Terra hissed, looking again at the familiar shades of orange and black in Sound's apparel. "He trained you, didn't he?"
"Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!" Sound declared.
Terra bristled, feeling chills rush up and down her spine as Raven's eyes turned red and tentacles of dark energy surged out from underneath her cloak, wrapping around Sound and lifting him off the ground.
"Where. Is. The. Device?" Raven asked, her voice taking on an inhuman tone.
"I thought-I thought it was obvious," Sound managed to choke out as the black vines squeezed him tighter.
Of course! "The cave! Raven, he's talking about the cave!" Terra shouted, mentally reprimanding herself for being so foolish.
The half-demoness tossed Sound against a wall, and was ready to teleport to the location of the seismic generator, when she and Terra heard a loud rumbling sound. The ground began to shake violently.
"You're too late!" Sound sneered.
Raven returned to her normal state and the heroines looked to each other, both with eyes wide in horror.
Had they really failed?
Tears stung at Terra's eyes and she clenched her fists. She could feel that they were once again turning color, but she didn't care. Everyone she cared about was in the city, and if she couldn't save it then she would, by no means, allow herself to fail at avenging it. Even if it cost her her life. Terra could now barely see through the yellow haze of energy that surrounded her as she brought her powers to bear.
-O-O-O-
Raven watched as Terra threw herself at their enemy, bombarding him with huge slabs of concrete and tile ripped from the floor. Sound was taken off-guard by the sudden assault and it took him a moment to retaliate, but retaliate he did, sending a shock wave of noise that sent Terra reeling. Raven was about to intervene when she saw something out of the corner of her eye.
-O-O-O-
Garfield stood at the entrance of the observatory with Pulse at his side. He was somewhat shocked to see Terra fighting Sound with such ferocity, matching the villain blow for blow. The blonde's anger rivaled that of Raven's red-eyed rampages. But the changeling also felt a pang of fear for Terra when he saw that her skin had become gray-colored, darker, even, than Raven's abnormally pale skin. The violet-haired girl sent him a knowing look before he, she, and Pulse leapt into the fray.