Selling gold is surprisingly easy if you have family in India.

My cousin worked there and he knew a guy and after sending a small sample with a friend that was travelling there on Sunday for verification, the contracts were being drawn up to sell the gold to several goldsmiths across southern India.

No one asked me where I got nearly twenty five kilos of gold. They checked if it was authentic, and after they found it was, wanted to buy it off me.

Slightly under market price, sure but even so, I've got the orders and I will soon have over a million dollars to my name.

But that wasn't something we had to worry about right now.

Now, we were getting ready to travel to The Access.

Elizabeth had learned a lot from searching for Angela's homeworld since it only took her until Wednesday of the second week for her to find the Access.

The five of us stepped through the portal when Winston gave us the go-ahead, and we were soon faced with The Access himself.

"Oh thank fuck!" He cried.

I shook my head, "What?"

"The Web of Life's been a bit off-kilter ever since Gwen vanished and Trigon's Seal is set to break and without Raven's metaphysical resonance, putting him down would probably have wrecked earth!" He groaned, "Now, tell me what happened."

Gwen spoke up, "Got kidnapped by an extra universal slaver I and the others managed to get away, basically through sheer luck and one of us is able to make portals that can get us home. She managed to find this place after some… let's just call it strange information."

"So par for the course for one of you spider people I guess." the Access hung his head in his hands, "I don't know why that Brother thought he could stabilize his half of the multiverse with a Tap into the Howling, but of course that's how it would end up."

Raven looked up at us, "Does this have something to do with how my universe apparently destroys itself repeatedly?"

"It's half a multiverse, it isn't stable in the least. Your Brother managed to tie the life force of your universe into a cycle of rebirth so every time it is destroyed, it's recreated. The same souls stick around too, so sometimes memories come along for the ride. Usually, it's the same person but from different circumstances. Trigon's a big pain that way. He's powerful enough that he can drag along some memories and the like."

The four of us looked at each other before turning back to him, "Anyways, will there be any issues with us coming and going?"

The Access shrugged, "Short trips away from home should be fine. Raven just needs to fulfil her destiny of killing Trigon in this cycle and Koriand'r doesn't have a massive fate, I'll put you in touch with Death, she'll be able to clear things up. Gwen's a little tougher since she's tied into the Web of Life. I'd speak to Master Weaver if I was her, but she should be able to get away for visits."

We nodded, "So, what's the situation?" I asked, "I' assuming you will give us a ride to meet with Death and Master Weaver, and then what?"

"They will handle things from there most likely." The Access stated, "Well other then you coming and going for your universe. I'm assuming that you have some form of reliable transport?"

"A portal generator of sorts," I state, "we can set it up fairly freely, so we can afford to take some precautions."

He nodded and pulled a few small rods from his belt, "Here, snap these and I'll come to check on your portals. If that's all, I'll pop over to get Death so that we can see Raven and Starfire back to Jump City before seeing Spider-Woman off to Master Weaver."

We nodded and watched the man disappear.

We waited several minutes before I pulled out a couple of decks of cards, "Blackjack anyone?"

We were most of the way through our second game before our host returned, this time with a gothic young woman in tow.

"Well, I see you are having fun." He said, "Death can Raven and Starfire off, and unfortunately Master Weaver doesn't want any non-spider totems to visit the Web of Life, so I'm afraid you are going to have to split up."

I nod, "Can we meet up with her after the meeting? Gwen doesn't have the equipment necessary to open the portal without us."

His eyes flickered over to Elizabeth and nodded, "Once it's done I'll bring her to you and then give you a ride to her earth."

As The Access disappeared with Gwen, Death opened up a portal for us, Titans Tower visible in the distance.

As we stepped through, I turned to death, "I'm a big fan!'

"I hope you aren't like most of my fans." She said cheerfully, "But then again, you aren't dressed in an oversized leather cloak and ranting about ruling the world, so I suppose you aren't quite the type. Where did you hear about me?"

"In a book. I think I'll let Raven fill you in on the rest if she's comfortable." I shrug, "do you have a holiday due soon?"

"Eh, I can't leave the universe but I can take a week off sometime next year." She shrugged, "Why?"

"I have a feeling that Angela would love to chat with you. She's a doctor and I think she'd love to learn more about the process of death from well… Death!" I laugh, "She's saved a lot of people and I think she'd want to know what happens after you take them away."

Death nodded, "Call me Deedee, and I think I'd like to meet her too."

"By the way, is Morpheus good?"

Deedee looked at me, "You heard about that?"

"Yeah…" I wince.

She nodded, "Yeah, he escaped a few decades ago. "

"I'm assuming he's taken care of Dr Destiny then?" I asked worriedly.

Deedee nodded, "Yeah, you don't need to worry about him. Morpheus made sue his little gadgets don't work anymore either."

I exhaled, "Okay, one less thing to worry about ending the world without warning them."

"I… I can't really defend my universe. Your universe isn't like that?"

I nod vigorously, "As far as I know, nothing is waiting in the wings to end the world if we have an off weekend."

Deedee grinned, "Well aren't you lucky then!"

"Tell me about it," I said, "Out of the six universes we know about, two of them are basically on the verge of collapsing and all the others but mine have planetary threats just arbitrarily kicking around. I take that back, my world has nukes, so I guess I do have something that can end the planet pretty arbitrarily, but I'm working to fix that."

Death nodded, "Well, here's to hoping that you haven't missed anything weird about your universe."

I think about the ROB that presumably got me into this situation and shudder, "Yeah, and let's hope that there's a way to stop interuniversal slavers from fucking with our universes if they get bored."

"Was that what happened?"

I shrug, "I'll leave it to Raven to talk about it with you if she wants, I can't give my input into that situation. My own experience was much more absurd."

Deedee looked at me, "I think I can see that."

It took a few minutes but we were quickly met by the other Titans. Robin, Beastboy and Cyborg were all dropping down in front of us. Deedee left to get back to work, and we left with the young superheroes.

The meeting went quickly, and before long, we were in Titans Tower.

Robin looked at the portal apparatus I was setting up next to a meditating Elizabeth, "The Justice League's next meeting is on Saturday. Can we expect you there?"

I motion to the portal frame, "Raven can give us a call and I'm usually in the headquarters on the other side anyway."

As the portal flared to life. the stabilizer ring was wrapped up by the mechanical arms that exited from the portal upon its opening. It quickly collapsed into itself, leaving a small silver disk hovering in mid-air.

Grabbing it, I moved the opening of the portal up against the wall, tweaking it on my end as the drone on the other side flew it over to the base complex.

We settled in for a quick chat, Raven revealing what had happened to her and Starfire as well as my part in this mess.

Eventually, though, we were interrupted by the appearance of the Access and Gwen, who was looking a little shaken.

I let her hug me as Raven walked over and the Access transported us to Gwen's apartment.

I looked around, "I think I'm not the only one that needs a cut of that gold."

Gwen blushed, "That would be nice…"

"I'll earmark some for you," I promised, "Van Dyne should have some contacts to get those sold."

She nodded.

As we set up the portal in her closet, I saw a set of disassembled web-spinners, "Huh those look pretty simple."

Gwen looked to see what had caught my attention, "Oh, those. The carousel is jammed up. I keep meaning to take them to Janet, but I keep forgetting."

"Mind if I take a look?"

With her consent, I took a look at them, picking them open with a set of jewellers screwdrivers she had for basic maintenance. A rock had gotten into the system, so after giving it a good cleaning, I put it back together.

She stapped it on, and grinned as it spat out a fresh stream of web, "Good job!"

I nodded, "The tracks are still a bit dented, so I'd recommend taking that to Janet anyways, but those should work for emergencies now."

She gave me another hug and we engaged the portal to get back to the compound.