Raven and Simon stepped out of the portal from Earth. They emerged on a balcony on a massive ivory tower, overlooking a bleached white city. It looked like a classical view of paradise, an ancient idea of a utopia. Weaver set his arms on a railing and looked around.

"Simon." Raven said, calling him to her. She started working her way down the tower's long flight of spiral steps.

"Why don't you just teleport us to where we're going?"

"Respect." They reached the streets and Weaver watched as hundreds of monks wordlessly walked through the city. "These monks have the power to do as they please, but they live as simply as possible. They walk everywhere, eat bread and drink water, live plainly. I could skip the work of walking there myself, but to do so would be to skip something they find to be holy. I don't practice religion myself, but I will respect the religion of those who deserve it."

"I see. Where are we going, exactly?"

"I'll take you to the Grand Temple. They'll begin to heal your mind while I go visit my mother. They'll heal the physical damage first, then restore your personality to it's previous state. They'll take good care of you, I'll make sure of it. They don't speak any languages you understand, so just lie back and let them do their work."

"So you won't be there for it?"

"Having too much on your mind would make your behavior more inclined towards that one thing. Since you don't know the monks, it won't affect you much. If I was there the whole time, when it was over, the majority of your thought processes would focus on me." He smirked at her, and she eyed him.

"And that's a bad thing?" She suppressed a light laugh and left the building, stepping into the stream of monks. He followed her through the throng, making their way to the temple. After several long minutes of trudging through crowds, Weaver saw what he expected to be the Grand Temple. It was massive, lavishly constructed, royal in appearance.

"That it?" he asked.

"No. I told you, these people live simply." Raven lead him into a plain, square building. The inside was dark, lit solely by candles. There were some non-descript pillars lining the room, separating it into three sections. A flat, stone table was situated at around waist height in the center of the room, with a circle of monks meditating around it.

"Just go and lay down on the table while I talk to the guy in charge. They'll take care of you, I promise."

"I believe you. Don't try to act like I'm nervous. I'm fine. Promise."

"I'm an empath, and you're an idiot." She kept walking, smirking to herself as he kept silent. He sat on the table and put his hands together in his lap and watched as Raven spoke in a language he'd never heard to one of the monks. Another approached him and gently put a hand to his chest, pushing him down onto the table. He settled into a comfortable position and turned his head to watch what was going on. She bowed to the monk, looked at him one last time, and left the temple.

A pressure entered his mind, and he tried to relax.

"Do not try to calm yourself. You will only make yourself more tense. Do not try, simply be. Do not be confused; I am communicating with you through your mind. All beings think in the same manner. Simply focus on getting through the process. It will be over quickly." He looked to his left and saw Raven standing in the doorway. She looked at him for a moment, and he saw something strange in her eyes. She seemed to tear up for a moment before she broke eye contact and turned around.

This doesn't feel right. This isn't right. Something is wrong. Very wrong. He tried to get up, but found that his body wasn't listening to him. His legs and arms wouldn't move, his chest was unresponsive.

"No! Stop! What do you think that you're doing?!" His vision began to fade as his mind numbed, the monks chanting around him ominously. He almost couldn't see anything when a deep voice broke the cloud hanging over his mind.

"Stop what you're doing!" He tried to lock onto it, but he couldn't, and lost consciousness.

"Wake up!" the voice commanded. His eyes snapped open, his memories racing by as he tried to recognize it, but he was too hazy to be able to tell.

"You killed somebody. You are a criminal, even if it was the right thing to do. But two wrongs don't make a right." The figure stepped into his view; Batman looked pissed. "You aren't going to be killed. I'm going to have a talk with Robin about what he just tried to have done to you. You're too resourceful to put in a regular prison. Green Lantern will be here momentarily to bring you to the Phantom Zone."

"Wh... What?"

"The Phantom Zone will effectively stop time for your systems. You won't need to eat or drink. You'll just float around, endlessly."

"You can't blame me for what I did, Batman."

"No, I can't, but that doesn't mean I can support it, either."

"Let me go, and you'll never hear my name again."

"You know I can't do that."

"I know things."

"Such as?"

"Things you want to know, Bruce." Batman froze for a moment, thinking what he'd just heard.

"I don't know who you're referring to."

"I know that Robin is Dick Grayson. I found several old newspaper clippings in his room and put two and two together. After the Flying Graysons died, Dick Grayson was quickly adopted by Bruce Wayne; he became just as antisocial as Wayne. Then, a month or two later, bam, Robin shows up, with nearly the same skillset as Dick Grayson. There's only one person with the amount of access to him to train him into a crimefighter, and that would be Bruce Wayne. Making Bruce Wayne either incredibly skilled for no apparent reason, or Batman."

"Good job. Too bad you won't have anybody to tell that to."

"Can you at least tell me everything that happened before you came in?"

"Presumably Robin assumed you would escape and had Raven bait you in. She could tell that your mind was damaged and agreed that she would rather see you dead than corrupted. She set it up to look like they were fixing you, but there's nothing you can do to fix brain damage like what you have. They tried to shut your mind down, but I intervened. Now, you're here." A door behind him opened, and a pair of heavy footsteps sounded off behind him.

"Simon Weaver. Time to go," Hal Jordan commanded.

I've been in here for... I don't even know how long. I can't track time here. I can see them all down there. This isn't fair. How long do they expect me to be in here? I can't stay here for long. I need to get back. I need to fix things. I need to find a way. How could Raven have done this to me?

I thought she was my friend.

I thought she loved me.

I thought wrong.

They aren't my friends. They want me to sit in here and do nothing for... I don't even know how long. Look at them. Robin's sitting there, going about his day. Weaver could focus on any object he could imagine. He was watching the Tower, observing his former teammates. Cyborg had been working out constantly. Raven was reading. Starfire, Robin, and Beast Boy had gone through it all like he hadn't even existed.

I don't deserve this. They all know that what I did was the right thing to do. I mean, what would they rather do, throw Black Mask into another prison that he'd just break out of?

Then again, that's what they did to me, and I'm sure as hell going to get out of here, somehow. I'll do it all. Break out of the inescapable prison, defeat the invincible enemies...

Bring life to the dead.