Windfall
Disclaimer: I do not in any way, shape, or form own the show Teen Titans, nor the various DC comics on which this fanfiction is based.
Raven snaps out of her stupor when Deathstroke's presence completely vanishes from her senses.
Muttering a curse, she pulls the book free from her belt, encased in a shell of black light.
Without comment, she walks towards the Titans, who stand gathered now in wary anticipation.
"What is it?" Nightwing rasps.
"It could be a trap, or it could be the end to the investigation into the heists," Raven sighs, glaring harshly at the small book.
"From the guy who showed up and started having us attacked… right, yeah, we can totally trust that," Kid Flash snarks.
Nightwing meets Raven's eyes, curiosity apparent even through his mask.
"Do you trust it?"
Raven stares at the book, appearing to the others to be attempting to gleam something from beyond its covers.
"I do not trust Deathstroke. That said, I don't doubt what he said before handing this over, either."
"Which was what, exactly? I couldn't hear you, over there," Troia grouses.
Knowing that the Amazon's bloodlust in regards to Match had been very barely the work of her brother, Raven decides it best not to goad her.
"Yeah, about that. You let Sla… Deathstroke get away. Any reason why?" Nightwing demands.
"Because I have more important things to do than bring a megalomaniacal mercenary in so he can escape prison and hurt officers in a few hours at most," Raven retorts.
"He's dangerous!"
Jinx snorts at that as she walks up to Raven's side with her almost forgotten duffle bag toted on her shoulder.
"He said he was going into hiding. Pick your battles, dude."
"Trust me, he really doesn't matter," Raven adds. "What matters is what might be in this book. He stated that he wants me to take care of things so he doesn't have to have another… episode… involving demons, especially ones related to me, I imagine. I don't trust him, but I trust in his desire for what my brothers may be doing to have an end put to it."
They don't respond to that, the tone of fear just barely peeking through in her mention of what her brothers are doing making them too hesitant.
Zatanna joins them then, glaring at Raven to let her know that spurning her apology will come back to haunt her.
Ignoring the sorceress, Raven's eyes release a pulse of light, and the book flips open within the soul-self.
For a moment, Raven freezes, waiting for the book to explode or possibly release a toxic dust much like what Nightwing had inhaled in his youth.
"Well, it's not rigged. That's a good start, I guess," Kid Flash muses, breaking the silence.
"He wouldn't need to rig it to set a trap up," Nightwing mutters.
"He's too pragmatic to do something that stupid right now. Dude, he beat your ass when you were younger. Get over it," Jinx snaps, causing the hero's eyes to widen.
"Uh, not to start an argument, but he did show up with a magic sword and two psychopaths to come and attack us, and they were definitely not pulling any punches. He doesn't seem all that together," Kid Flash responds.
"Oh, he's definitely nuts, but he ain't some kinda' monster or somethin'," Jinx retorts with a slight glare at the speedster.
"Not a monster!? He's come back from the dead twice, put Jump and my team in danger more times than I can count, and he worked with Tri-!"
Nightwing immediately cuts himself off when Raven's eyes snap up from the book, her eyes glowing slightly red in the dark.
"Do you actually know anything about him?" she poses, her voice like ice in the night's still air.
"After what he did to us, to you, are you actually going to defend him?" Nightwing asks, his voice just as cold.
"No. He's not anything resembling a decent person, and he's chiefly the one who caused my father to be able to come through. But you give him far too much credit due to how clouded you are, always have been, in regards to him. He isn't some monster lurking in the shadows, and I would have thought you'd be more jaded to your opinion of the man after this many years. He's a mercenary. A megalomaniacal, psychotic mercenary, who doesn't have qualms with enacting heinous amounts of violence to get his job done, but a mercenary all the same. He's hardly on par with anything that I could name monster."
"If I was seeing right, he was using Excalibur on humans. That would make him a monster in my book," Zatanna argues.
Raven's brow rises at that.
"Take it from someone who held that damned sword. If he had been a monster, if he'd wanted you all dead, you would be dead, before Jinx and I ever got here."
That gives them pause, and Raven capitalizes on it.
"As for his motivations, Zatanna of all people can attest to how ineffective lying to me is. So while I would believe that he's too afraid of demons after what my father put him through to take care of this matter himself, and that he'd instead easily put the burden on others, I also didn't detect any dishonesty when he spoke. So I am going to trust that he wants this all finished without himself being involved."
"Sounds good to me. Let's crack 'er wide open, then," Jinx muses while cracking her knuckles for effect. "Any speed-readers here, 'sides Rae?"
The next second, Kid Flash is standing between the women, a hand raised and a grin on his lips.
"C'mon, really? Speed's my thing," he muses.
Jinx snorts in response while the book floats in the air between the speedster and Raven.
"Unnecessary. You can have the book once I'm done," the demonling deadpans.
Before he can retort, Raven's eyes turn black, and the book's pages start quickly flipping over.
Despite her statement, Kid Flash's eyes move rapidly across the pages.
Jinx watches the display and gets the distinct impression that he's trying to compete in some way with her lover.
She finds Raven's reactions far more interesting, however, and she ponders telling the speedster not to bother.
Her lover's expression morphs quickly between intrigue, surprise, and horror before the last page is flipped.
The book soars through the air, landing in Nightwing's hand when he catches it reflexively.
"Give that to the Justice League. Tell them that there's a need for urgency in any searches they can create. Jinx, we're going. Now," she says, her urgency surprising the meta and causing a ball of tension to form in her chest.
"Don't you need a copy of that?" Troia asks.
"She has photographic memory and telepathy to share it with our team. Neat trick. Tell Cy when he gets back that we really need to catch up one of these times," Jinx responds while not breaking stride with Raven's quick pace.
"Cyborg knows how to reach me if you need us. Try not to need us," Raven adds before a nearby wall is enveloped in a spiral of darkness.
Her eyes flash black, and a dark, golden hue appears within the portal.
The women's pace doesn't slow until they're on the other side of the closed portal.
Jinx takes notice of the lush forest they seem to be in, and the air smells unlike anything she's experienced before.
With each of their strides, she finds a strange sort of energy filling her, as though the air around them itself is magic.
"Hey, Rae, care to share? Not that I mind some good cardio, y'know, but it'd be nice to know why we're in full-on panic mode right now, so I can join you there," Jinx muses.
"So stupid! Why did I just throw it through?" Raven mutters to herself, turning Jinx's blood cold.
"Uh, Raven?"
Raven's pace slows somewhat, and she takes a deep, calming breath to try to stay the adrenaline pumping through her.
"He's not a monster, but Deathstroke is certainly an ass," Raven growls. "That book of his paints a picture that suggests Le Fey is very active. He should've mentioned it before just letting me passively throw Excalibur back unprotected! No," she adds in disagreement with herself, "I should've picked up on him mentioning who likely was behind the sword's procurement to begin with and thought better of it."
Jinx pieces her lover's frantic argument with herself together, her eyes widening.
"Morgaine Le Fey is going to be going after the Lady of the Lake, isn't she?"
For a moment, the meta ponders how ridiculous the statement would have sounded to her in her youth, before meeting Raven and being introduced to many things she'd thought nothing more than mythology.
The idea of the evil sorceress, who Jinx only knows of from reputation, getting her hands on Excalibur makes her more than understand her lover's worry.
"So where are we?" she asks, still with no idea why the area feels so strange around her.
"Where Excalibur went. Honestly, I don't know Europe well enough to even guess where we are, but from what I know of Arthurian lore, we're certainly in the Celtic and British portion of the continent."
"Seriously, when this is all over, I'm going to need to take a vacation riding Air Raven. Is there anywhere on Earth you can't teleport into?"
Raven frowns in thought, seeming honestly unsure of the answer.
"Probably, but I haven't run across it yet," she finally answers.
A grin slips across her lips, and she slows until she's walking at Jinx's side.
"Though, as for the vacation, I think it's a lovely idea."
A slight blush creeping into Jinx's face, she turns her gaze to her lover.
Raven, though, doesn't tease her about the accidental innuendo, her expression hardening in the next second.
When Jinx's senses take in the sudden change in the air, she tenses in preparation for a fight as well.
They make their way out of the thinning trees, and find themselves on the shore of the biggest lake that Jinx has ever seen.
In the far distance, past the unseasonably thick mist rising from the water's surface, she can make out what appears to be an island.
Raven's hair begins moving around her as though alive, and her eyes narrow in concentration.
"Sióg Morrigain, bí imithe ó mo feic!" she yells, the words sounding like a snake's hiss to Jinx's ears.
As soon as the magic is enacted, Raven wheezes and her posture becomes hunched.
Jinx notices the circles under her lover's eyes turning nearly obsidian, and the demonling's aura dims before her eyes.
Even with her obvious exhaustion, Raven keeps her focus on the shifting mirage before them, causing Jinx to look as well.
As the meta watches, the mist vanishes, and with it, the island goes as well.
The lake seems to shrink considerably, insofar as Jinx can now see the forest and meadow on the other side, but it remains incredibly large to her perspective.
Without the thick mist, though, something else is revealed to the women.
A large barrier floats along the water's surface, the bottom curve just barely slipping beneath the ripples.
The bottom of the bubble is colored dark red, and Jinx gasps at the realization that a woman is floating inside the barrier.
The woman is dressed in a long dress painted in ribbons of rich browns and golds overtop a fabric the same color as the water below.
Her blood is running from an obvious wound from her left shoulder down to her stomach, a strange glow emanating from within the tear's edges.
"Azarath-"
Raven's eyes widen when Jinx's hand clamps over her mouth, the meta fixing a glare on her.
"Fuck no. You've been running on empty already, before you jumped us across the planet and cast away something that I'm guessing was really old school and hard to get rid of. You impressed me enough already. You're doing too much work. No more spells until you can recharge so you don't give yourself an aneurism," she declares.
Raven meets her glare for a brief moment before noticing the concern in her feline, pink gaze.
With a sigh into the meta's hand, she nods her understanding.
Satisfied, Jinx releases her hold and raises her own hand toward the barrier.
"Rihā karanā!"
Her eyes flash bright pink, and a bolt of neon light arcs from her open palm into the barrier.
At first, the barrier remains unchanged, but as the bolt continues ripping into the solid magic, it gives a large ripple and vanishes into a wave of steam.
A splash sounds a second later, and Jinx moves a step closer to the water's edge.
"Hey, don't just disappear on us. What the hell-"
Before she can fully form her question, the water explodes, and the same woman rises until her chest is above the water at the meta's feet.
"While I thank you for releasing me, there's no need for being rude. I've had enough foulness from my sister's visit to last me several centuries, thank you very much," the woman states in a smooth English accent.
"Look, lady-"
"I have a name," the woman interrupts with a glare.
"You've been bested on a very poor day for my patience, Nimue," Raven responds, surprising both women. "I sent you the sword back. Isn't it your job to safeguard it?"
"So you're the one who dropped it into Avalon. And a demon, at that. Interesting," Nimue retorts with a scrutinizing stare at the psychic.
"I just sent it home. Which is your domain. Why does she even want it? She's not had any interests in the sword before, as far as I know."
"She wishes to open something with it, as far as I know. And my dear sister arrived shortly after it dropped in, for a visit. Of course, I managed to hurt her some, too, thanks to Caliburn, Excalibur as you've come to call it, and was almost pushing her out of my domain. Then the soith managed to get me out of the water. Turned the whole thing to ice, for as long as it took to get the sword from me and trap me in that bubble with a very painful cut to show for the trouble. And then she was gone, leaving me to hopefully die."
"Uh, aren't you immortal?" Jinx asks.
"Of course," Nimue responds with a glare at the meta. "She wanted me to wish myself to die from the pain. That sword can create a great deal of vileness in the hands of ones aligned with Darkness and Chaos."
The way she says the two words gives Jinx the impression that she's referring to something much larger than concepts, and for a brief moment, she wonders on the way the sword's spirit had addressed her.
"How long ago did she leave, and in which direction?" Raven demands, breaking the meta from her reverie.
Nimue's biting retort is cut off when she notices the unsteady stance the demonling is in, her legs slightly shaking and her eyes seeming slightly glazed over.
Her eyes close for a moment, and when they open again, Nimue points behind her.
"She's going that direction. Taking her sweet time, too. I don't know where she's going, though; too many possibilities in Europe."
Raven nods her thanks and wraps an arm around Jinx's waist.
Before her girlfriend can protest, they sink into the ground.
As soon as they rise again, in the middle of an empty street, Raven falls to the ground with her eyes half-lidded.
Releasing an animalistic growl, Jinx lifts her up by her waist, hefting Raven's surprisingly light build with ease.
"Goddamnit, Raven. When you wake up, we're so talking about why being an overachiever's not a good thing," she grunts.
Looking around, she spots a car parked on the side of the road and her eyes narrow.
"Recludam."
The car's locks click out of place, and she drags her nearly unconscious lover over.
"No… time… to wassste," Raven slurs, seeming almost drunk.
"Yeah, yeah. Seriously, you're gonna' give me a damn heart attack one of these days, you keep this shit up."
"Sorry," Raven mutters, her body immediately relaxing once Jinx puts her on the passenger seat.
She seems to reflexively wrap around Jinx's bag when she puts it in the nearly slumbering psychic's lap, a small smile curling her lips.
Making a quick note of the car's license plate, Jinx does some mental math on how much replacing the vehicle when it inevitably is destroyed in their hands will cost.
With a curse, she moves into the diver's side and her eyes again flash pink when her hands touch the underside of the dashboard.
"Jīvita!" she hisses.
The dashboard glows neon pink before the light quickly fades.
Nothing happens after the spell is cast, and Jinx swears a small storm as she realizes how much every second really does count.
"Mērē sātha kāma, you damned machine. Jīvita!"
Another pulse of light moves through the car, and the engine roars to life in the next instant.
With her eyes struggling to remain open, Raven smiles at her lover.
"Improving," she murmurs sleepily.
"Damn straight! So you're going to go into your weird, zen trance that fixes your body, and I'm going to drive, and when you wake up, we'll have Excalibur and a nice, long talk about why for your own continued living, you need to start depending a bit more on me."
"Need a guide," Raven disagrees, though her eyes can no longer resist closing.
"Yeah? Who the hell's going to- Oh, don't you dare-"
Raven's eyes slip closed, and a pulse of black leaves her to spread through the aether.
While she starts pulling the car out, Jinx preoccupies her terrified mind by cursing in as many languages as she can think of at her stubborn lover.
Then, Raven gives a contented hum and her head rolls to the side, coming to rest on Jinx's shoulder, her unconscious body instinctively putting her in as much contact with the meta as it can while strapped in.
When the demonling's body goes still to the point of even her breathing being occasional, Jinx gives a huff and begins driving after the evil witch, much relaxed now that she no longer needs to contemplate knocking her lover out herself…
******************
Author's Notes:
sióg- Gaelic: "fairy"
Morrigain- Gaelic: old pronunciation of Morrigan, later Morgen, later Morgan/Morgana/Morgaine
bí- Gaeltic: "be"
imithe- Gaelic: "gone"
ó- Gaelic: "from"
mo- Gaelic: "my"
feic- Gaelic: "sight"
I was really loose here. The spell was basically "Begone, Fata Morgana, from my sight", but Fata Morgana (a type of mirage) is Italian and translating Italian to English to Gaelic left me with a pretty rough way of saying it.
Rihā kiranā- Hindi: "release/liberalize/set free, etc."
Caliburn is likely the old Welsh name that later became known as Excalibur.
Soith- Gaelic: "bitch"
Recludam- Latin: "unlock"
jīvita- Hindi: "alive"
Mērē sātha kāma- Hindi: "work with me"
Also, some fun lore facts. "Nimue" is one of the names given over the centuries to the Lady of the Lake of Arthurian lore, and as opposed to her title, she's actually the ruler of the entire island/realm of Avalon, in many tellings. For reference on where I was describing, look up The Loe Pool in Cornwall. There're a few different possible locations that her lake was based on, but that one made for the most dramatic I found. Also, her dress is inspired by the "The Beguiling of Merlin" painting by Edward Burne-Jones.
A lot of lore and notes this time around! As always, I hope you're all greatly enjoying yourselves. It would seem that there're still some issues to work out for the couple, but for now, get ready for some action. See you all next time!