Raven's face was in the dirt.
She couldn't remember how it got there.
Raven pushed herself to her hands and knees as she struggled to remember. Her mind was filled with white light. All she could see…
I can't see!
Panic washed over her. She reached for her face.
No, wait. The flash blinded me. It'll clear…I hope.
She pulled the hood over her face. It might be a little late, but there was no telling if there would be another attack.
Who's attacking? Where are the others?
{I was set up...}
"So dark…" The voice was low but on the verge of cracking.
She went to a crouch. Dr.Light. I might've guessed.
"So dark, in the dark…"
He was moving. Circling.
"Don't do this." She summoned her power, and cast it out as a hemisphere around herself.
He shrieked.
Raven got to her feet. She turned slowly, listening for him. "Doctor--"
Blasts hammered at her shield, as rapid and powerful as Starfire's Starbolts. She focused every ounce of her will to maintain it.
The blasts stopped. Raven's skull ached from the effort to hold them back. She noted grimly that her shield still held—and her vision was marginally clearer.
If I can just hold out until I can see again…
"Light…defeats darkness…" her opponent rambled.
I wonder how well he can see…
"Light destroys darkness…"
{I will not be destroyed…}
She gambled that his mental state could be used against him.
"I'm still here" Raven grated, then immediately dropped her shield and threw herself forward.
The air above her erupted in light blasts.
She sent her powers out again; a shadow no light could dispel spread away over the ground. It surrounded everything it touched: she could "feel" trees, benches, lampposts…
It flowed up the sides of his boots.
His screams reached a new octave. Chunks of the ground between them flew in all directions as he blasted at her advancing power.
If he keeps this up, he'll hit me anyway!
Mentally, she grabbed him by the ankles, hauled him into the air, and dropped him head first.
His scream stopped abruptly as he hit the ground.
Raven dismissed her power and cautiously stood up again. Dr. Light's prone form was a hazy blob of light; every light-producing gadget on his suit was at maximum output. That he stood out like a lit flare in a windowless room--and she still hadn't detected him--was a testimony to how flash-blind she'd been. He was shaking; choking sobs wracked his gaunt frame.
{He tortured me…}
She felt sorry for the wretch. It was her anger that had swallowed him up and left him howling at the touch of her powers. Even though he was a criminal, his crimes hadn't justified the punishment of insanity.
Raven reached out with her mind, and disassembled the battery pack in his suit.
She wasn't so sorry that she wanted to be blasted again.
As the night closed back in, Raven strained to catch a sound—any sound—of her friends.
{All alone. Set up…}
No. She'd been the first hit, that much she was certain. While she had been dazed, there had been time for him to trap the others. They would be charging up any time now…
…Unless he hurt them. Unless he wasn't alone…
She turned around, to get her bearings.
There it is. The rise in the path…
Dr. Light's ragged breath betrayed his movement; Raven turned to face him. He clamped into her shoulders and slammed her back into a tree before she could react. She fought to recapture her breath. Pinpricks of light danced in the darkness behind her eyes.
He lifted her off her feet by the neck and shoved her into the tree again.
She forced her eyes open. His face was a twisted mask. The night vision goggles he was wearing hung askew across his nose and cheek. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. The muscles around his left eye twitched.
No one home to reason with. Have to concentrate…throw him away…
{I will not go quietly!!}
Her lungs screamed for air…
She planted her boots in his chest, over and over. She clawed at his wrists…
"So cold", he grated.
A gray film crept up from the edges of her vision.
If I lose consciousness, he'll kill me.
{Stop him…}
He'll kill me if I don't stop him…
{Kill Him!}
Something caused Dr. Light to turn…
{Kill Him, Kill Him, Kill Him…}
Raven felt release. She was falling…
{KILL!}
For a second time Raven's world exploded--this time in black.
And red.