The Commencing.

Chapter Two

…

A black Mercedes sped down the highway as the sun rose over the horizon. The car ride was silent as the passengers stared onward.

Raven gently ran her hand over the nice upholstery of the car. "You got a nice vehicle." She spoke, breaking the silence that had filled the small space.

"Family Heirloom." Richard responded, still facing forward.

"From the circus?" She questioned, tilting her head towards him.

He tightened his hand on the steering wheel. "Different family." He told her vaguely.

"Did that different family teach you how to fight like that?" She asked.

"Something like that." He said before slowing down and pulling up into the parking lot of a small a diner.

…

"What can I get you guys." A friendly waitress asked, pen and pad in hand.

"A coffee, black." Richard told her.

"Make that two." Raven added quietly.

"You sure you don't want a hot chocolate or something?" Richard suggested, causing Raven to glare up at him.

"I'm not a child, Richard." She shot back, tensely.

"Okay." He acknowledged, before glancing at his menu. "I'll get a number 5, scrambled." He said handing the waitress his menu.

"And what about you, Sweetie?" She asked Raven.

"Just the coffee." She told her.

"Make it two number 5's." Richard told the waitress, before turning back to Raven. "You need to eat something."

Raven sighed. "Did you feel like eating after you watched your parents die?" She asked him seriously.

"No." He answered. "But I had people force me to eat, because they knew I needed to take care of myself." He told her as the waitress brought them their beverages. They both took a sip of their drinks before Richard spoke again. "Tell me again, how you knew about my past at the circus?"

Raven slowly set down her mug, and gradually let out a deep breath. "Over the past year, I've been having these vivid recurring dreams. One was this Alien with this light energy, forced into slavery and abused. The other was this green tiger, that had horrible experiments done on him. And the most resent one, was you." She paused, looking up at him sympathetically. "Watching your parents fall to their death, because someone cut the trapeze rope." She told him as he continued to stare at her, his face clearly showing how skeptic he was about it. "The dreams are so real, and I can feel everything they felt." She said glancing down at her mug. "All the pain, grief, and vengeance." She said glancing back up at him. "I know you still feel that way, vengeful." She said reaching and hand out and touching his. "I can sense it."

Richard yanked his hand away from her. "How can you know that?" He asked in disbelief.

"I don't know." Raven said shakily, looking away from him. "My mother would never tell me. I know she knew something. But every time I asked, she would say I don't need to understand it right now." She sighed as she looked down sorrowfully. "And now I will never know."

"I wouldn't be so sure." Richard said, pulling out his phone. "I am a detective after all." He told her as he put information into the device. Raven watched as his eyes moved around the screen, quickly reading what it displayed. "You moved around a lot, I see." He noticed.

"Mother told me it wasn't good to stay in one place for long." She said before furring her brow in insight. "Those creatures said my father was looking for me?" She recalled.

"There're connected to your father?" Richard questioned, briefly looked up from his phone. "Do you know anything about him?"

"Mother never talked about him." Raven said shaking his head.

Richard continued to read when he suddenly looked at his phone curiously. "You were born in a convent?" He asked, looking back at Raven. She looked at him surprised; the information unknown to her. "In Gotham." He finished with an annoyed sigh.

…

Richard body tensed as they sped down the interstate, heading back to the place he swore he would never return. It had been three years since he had left Gotham, and he dreaded going to the city, or rather, dreaded running into his old partner.

"Your anxious." Raven spoke, turning to him.

"You can sense that, huh." Richard responded, facing the road.

"Very strongly. Is Gotham where it happened?" She asked.

He sighed heavily. "Gotham is where everything happens."

Not much was said during the long day and a half's drive. Richard kept his eyes on the road most of the time, though he would often glance over at the girl in the passenger seat. Raven looked depressed and unstable, as she leaned on her arm against the window, staring off at nothing in particular. Every time Richard ask himself, why he was going so far out of his way to help her. Moments like this would remind him, as he recalled himself in the same situation.

The Mercedes eventually turned down a long dirt road on the outskirts of the city. Before finally pulling up to the large old convent. The car parked, as the two stared at the deserted looking building.

"Are you getting a bad feeling?" Raven asked as they sat in the car.

"Gotham never gives me a good feeling." Richard responded before opening his door.

They left the car and slowly walked up to the building, before knocking on the large doors. It was eerily quiet, the only sound that could be heard was crows in the wilderness surrounding the convent. The pair looked at one another, wonder if the building was as abandoned as it looked, when the door started to open. An elderly Mother Superior answered the door with a smile. "Hello, can I hel-" She stopped as she stared at Raven in surprise. "Angela?"

Raven and Richard looked at one another before facing the Mother Superior again. "Angela was my mother." Raven told her.

"Raven!" She gasped. "Oh, my dear child, you have returned! And look at how big you've gotten." She said excitedly, before ushering them inside. "Please, please come in." Raven took one step inside, when the air suddenly shifted and a cross on the wall fell to the ground. Mother Superior turned to Raven and smiled thoughtfully. "It's good to have you back."

Raven stared strangely at the emblem on the floor, as Richard cleared his throat. "Is that normal?" He asked.

"When Raven's here, yes." Mother Superior answered, her smile never faltering, as she gestured for them to sit on the couch in the living aera. "Can I get you guys something, tea, lemonade?" She offered.

"Some answers would be appreciated." Richard suggested.

"Oh of course." She said happily. "But wouldn't your mother be better fit to answer them?" She asked and Raven couldn't help but glance down sorrowful. "Oh, I see…" She said in understanding, as she slowly sat down as well. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"My mother didn't tell me anything about my upbringing or my father." Raven explained. "She always said it wasn't the time, or I didn't need to know right now. But there's something inside me." She said looking down at her hands. "And I need to know what it is. And what it means. And why it's happening?" She said desperately.

Mother Superior looked at her sympathetically. "I'm sure you have lots of questions."

"I'm not even sure where to start." Raven admitted despairingly.

"How about how you know Raven's mother?" Richard suggested.

"Oh, it's a long story." Mother Superior began. "On a stormy night your mother, Angela, was about the age you are now, when she came knocking on our door. She was absolutely terrified and claimed she was apart a very unholy act." She looked down, struggling with how to phrase her words. "Your mother was a victim of a cult."

"A cult?" Raven questioned, in disbelief.

"Now don't blame her, even the strongest have come victim to cultist temptations. They groomed her with promises of security and love. And all she had to do was give herself to the demon, Tigon."

Raven stared at the ground, her eyes wide as Richard looked at Mother Superior questionably. "Tigon?" He questioned.

Mother Superior got up and walked over to an old bookshelf, before pulling out an ancient hardback. She blew the dust off before opening it, and walking back over the pair on the couch. Raven stared at the sketched picture of him, clearly seeing the similarities between him and the creatures they fought in the ally. "Why would my mother?…" She stopped, not understand how this could be possible.

"Tigon is enormously powerful and can change form. Your mother said he disguised himself as a handsome man to charm her. But once she was won over, he changed into his true form before…" She paused uncomfortably. "Before forcing himself on her." She tried to say cautiously.

Richard turned to Raven, who was gripping the sides of the book in her lap tightly. "Maybe we should take a break form the story." He suggested.

"No. I want to hear it." Raven spoke up. "I need to know what happened."

Mother Superior let out another long sigh before continuing. "After the ritual, Angela fled. But the damage was already done. She came here and pleaded for us to help her after she found out she was pregnant." Mother Superior smiled softly, as she reached over and rested her hand on Raven's. "We prayed every day until you were born." She told her as a Sister entered the room with a tray of tea and cookies. "Thank you, Sister." Mother Superior said as she severed her guests. "Things defiantly shifted when you came into this world." She said, continuing the story. "But we believed as long as we raised you in the house of god, everything would be okay." She said taking a sip of tea.

"Then why did we leave?" Raven asked.

"Your mother wasn't fond of how were handling things." She spoke vaguely. "She grew concerned with how we were raising you."

"Well, how did you raise her?" Richard asked.

"Raven dear, you are immensely powerful, and we could see that from the beginning. We needed to be cautious around you." She tried to explain. "So, we were distant. And we made your mother distant as well. Emotions are your enemy. Any feelings you had, whether they were sad, scared, or angry, were dangerous." She told her as Raven glanced into her teacup, staring at her malicious reflection. "We restricted you, and kept you from your mother. But Angela didn't like that. She thought you were too isolated, and that we were to distant and cold. So, one night she took you and left." Mother Superior's tone turned apologetic. "Raven, you must understand, me and the other Sisters cared for you deeply. We didn't want to treat you so coldly, but it's the best way to contain your abilities."

"No, I understand." Raven spoke, putting down her cup.

"We truly feared the worst after you left. Without the sanctuary of the church, Tigon could track you down. And once he finds you…" She paused.

"What?" Richard asked, looking at her seriously. "What will happened if he finds her?"

Mother Superior reached over and turned the page of the book, to reveal a sketched picture of destruction and devastation. "He created you to be his doorway to earth. You are his beacon."

"His portal." Raven said, recalling what the creatures had told her.

"He can't get here without you. So, he will do everything in his power to find you." Mother Superior told them.

"So, as long as I stay here, I will be safe; The world will be safe." Raven decided.

"That's what we hope." Mother Superior said optimistically.

"Wait..." Richard interrupted. "So, you want to keep her here. But you aren't even sure this place will protect her?"

"It is the best place for her." Mother Superior insisted.

…

Raven and Richard followed Mother Superior as they walked down the dark, long, hallways of the convent. "This is our kitchen. And down there is our library." Mother Superior said gesturing to the rooms.

"Are you sure you want to stay here?" Richard asked looking at Raven.

"Yes." Raven told him, as another cross on the wall fell to the ground. "It's the best place for me."

"But they aren't even sure this place will protect you?" He reminded.

Raven sighed. "Is there another option?" She asked. "My mother constantly moved us around, and he still found me. This might be the best place for me to hide."

"And this is your room." Mother Superior said, turning to a securely locked door. She unlocked the door with a key, and then undid three deadbolts.

"Is that really necessary?" Richard asked in concern.

"Yes." Raven answered before Mother Superior could.

The room was small, and didn't have much in it. There was a bookshelf full of books, and a small dresser with a mirror over it. Along with an old, iron bed, next to a white crib. "I guess you won't be needing that anymore." Mother Superior said with a light chuckle, before pushing the crib out of the room.

Richard looked around in concern at the lack of windows, and all the crosses nailed to the walls. "Raven, I'm getting a bad feeling about this." He told her.

"Didn't you say Gotham never gives you a good feeling?" Raven responded.

"Yes, but this is… I don't know…" He sighed. "There's no windows." He said gesturing to the walls.

"I think that's for the best." She told him.

"I assure you; she will be safe here with us." Mother Superior told him, as she put an arm securely around Raven.

Richard looked at Raven seriously. "You sure about this?" He repeated.

"I'm sure." She said forcing a smile. "Richard, I sincerely appreciate you helping me."

"You brought her home." Mother Superior said gratefully.

Richard handed Raven a card with his phone number. "I want to you call me if you need anything; for any reason." He told her sternly. Raven looked at him and smiled, before running up and hugging.

"Oh careful! Don't get to carried away." Mother Superior said cautiously. "You must remain calm and in control."

"Right." Raven nodded. "I hope to see you again someday." She said to Richard.

He smiled lightly. "I hope so too."

…

Richard got in his car before giving the convent one last look. Something was troubling him, something he couldn't quite put his finger on. And it caused him to feel very hesitant with leaving her. But if this was where she felt safe, then this is where she needed to be. And with that he started his car and drove away.

…