Raven stood, her back to her allies. She had defeated the darkness, but at what price? For now she battled against the very power that had help bring about her victory: her anger, the part of her that was her father, Trigon.
Mustregaincontrol,mustregaincontrol... She thought desperately over and over.
HATRED SHALL OVERCOME! Her dark half responded.
Mustregain... regaincontrol...KILL THEM, DESTROY THEM, TEAR THEM APART.
Must regain control...
RAGE WILL CONSUME YOU.
Must... regain... control...
Raven won her struggle, barely. She remembered what Crow had said just before she had escaped the darkness: 'You will never defeat Him. I'll have to take matters into my own hands.' He had said. Tired, exhausted and drained, Raven fell, only to be caught by Beast Boy, who was closest to her.
"Raven! Are you alright?" He asked, but she could not reply for she was unconscious.
"Man, that guy is really starting bug me." Cyborg said kicking some garbage. "It's like he knows everything about us now."
"Well, if that's true, then we're just going to have to come up with some new tricks." Robin said as he helped Starfire.
"We are not able to fight him like this, but I believe we have found a weakness: he does not like the light." Starfire said weakly.
"So what are we going to do? Get Doc light and ask him to shine some light when it gets dark?" BB asked as he carried Raven.
"Don't even joke about that BB, Light was enough of a pain in the butt last time." Cyborg said.
"We can't do anything about it now. We gotta rest and think up some plan for next time." Robin said.
The Teen Titans, exhausted, did not feel as though they had won. This wasn't so much a victory over Crow as it had been simply a matter of survival. They hadn't defeated Crow, had no idea of his motives and they didn't know what he was going to do next. It wasn't a very heartening state of affairs.
The Teen Titans returned to their tower to rest and finish the meal they had started earlier. Raven was in her room, lying in her bed. She was still tired from her own battles, both physical and mental. She just lay there trying to figure Crow and his actions out. She had too little information. She had theories, based on his abilities and his apparent interest in her, but there was too little to go on. If Robin could get any information on him, her suspicions would be confirmed or refuted; either way she would know. A knock sounded at her door.
"Yes?" She called out, she wasn't moving form the bed.
The door opened slightly and Robin peered through. In his hand he held a folder with a few documents.
"I have that information you wanted on Morgan Crow." He said, entering her room.
She was only mildly irritated that Robin was in her room, after all no one should go into her room, but she was too tired to throw him out, by force or by her power. She sat up and accepted the folder from Robin.
"How did you get this so quickly?" She asked.
"One of the people I know actually met the guy and he liked to keep meticulous records of the people he fought against so..." Robin left the thought unfinished.
"Ahhhh... thanks." Raven said.
Robin left the room, leaving Raven to look at the dossier. The first page was simple, vital statistics and a portrait. It seemed out-of-date for while it was indeed Morgan Crow's face in the picture, he appeared younger than when Raven and the Titans had faced him. The information on the following pages was far more useful to Raven though.
"Mother: Lenore Crow
Father: Unknown.
History: Lenore Crow was the daughter of a wealthy family in the village of Darkhome, in England. Due to a falling out with her parents she became a runaway and her family disinherited her. She came in contact with a religious cult (Name unknown, purpose unknown) and joined their membership. Testimony at this point is vague as most of those cult members were impossible to find. However, after speaking to Jason Blood, it was found that that cult was heavily occultist and practicing some of the more obscure forms of Satanism. During her time with the cult she became pregnant and it is believed that is why she left. At this point, based on accounts from eyewitness testimony, she was depressed and sought to take her own life, saying that the child was the child of a demon. It is unknown why she did not go through with it. The child she carried and birthed was male and named Morgan. There was no physical indication of the child being of non-human descent. However, Meta-Human abilities did manifest themselves when Morgan Crow reached six years of age. The cause of the incident is unclear, however, eyewitnesses outside the village state that shadow and darkness engulfed the village. There were no survivors and the village of Darkhome was wiped off the map.
I believe this incident to be caused by Morgan Crow because, national archives register he and his mother living there at the time and, second, because Morgan Crow was the cause of the near-destruction of Gotham via an identical method.
There is no record, either written or eyewitness testimony, that Morgan Crow was even alive during the next decade. His sudden reappearance a decade later and a continent away is, as of yet, inexplicable. I witnessed his first act in Gotham, as he absorbed a criminal into the shadows. I was unable, at the time, to discern his motives or intentions. Later on that day darkness began to spread through Gotham and the Justice League was called in to deal with Morgan Crow, the source of the darkness. I was the first to discover the perils of the darkness and shadows Morgan Crow can generate. Once swallowed by the darkness, the victim is then subjected to his or her greatest fear and/or worst nightmare. This produces self-destructive feelings in the victim and, given Morgan Crow's own behaviour, I believe these feelings are also produced in Morgan Crow.
While I was trapped within the darkness the remaining members of the Justice League were also in the process of being trapped. Because of my own nature as well as the nature of my nightmare, one that I have faced countless times before in my dreams, I was able to break free of those despairing feelings and break out of the darkness.
Using a flash bomb, I was able to force to loosen his hold on J'onn J'onzz. I do not believe that the light actually physically hurts Morgan Crow, rather that he is so unused to light. With the help of J'onn J'onzz' telepathic abilities the other members of the Justice League were freed and we were able to imprison Morgan Crow within his own darkness. It is unknown at this time if the prison is permanent or if Crow can escape on his own."
Raven put the document down and considered everything she now knew. It was undeniable at this point; there were too many coincidences, too many similar facts. The question was now, in light of the facts, could she fight him? In the end she didn't have much choice, it seemed. All things considered a conflict seemed unavoidable. She lay back and began to think about things. Deep within her mind, in a hidden place that even she was not consciously aware of, a part of her broke down and cried in sorrow.
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Many miles away, in Slade's hideout, Crow once more stood among the shadows of countless people. He looked out the window at the stars as he handled a hockey puck shaped device in one hand. All of the shadow beings behind him stood, waiting for him to make some decision, to commit some action. One in particular stood out from all the rest; the one closest to him was the image of a young woman who bore a striking resemblance to Crow. The face upon the shadow was one of sorrow. Crow once again raised the device he held to the light, examining it once more.
"Is this really the right thing to do?" He asked himself. "He's coming, that's a fact. It's because she's here. She isn't strong enough to stop him and there's nothing anyone else can do. It has to be up to me, only I can protect this world. Let this be my atonement."
He placed the device on his chest and it latched onto him. Energy crackled about it and him and the shadows around him writhed as if in agony emitting silent screams. Black energy burst forth from his eyes and mouth and he screamed. Only the shadow of the woman behind him seemed unaffected and she shook her head in sorrow.
In the Titan's Tower, Raven awoke suddenly, as if a loud noise had awoken her. She put a hand to her ear as though trying to block out some sound. She got out of bed, limping a bit as she walked and made her way to the roof of the tower. She peered out into the distance as though trying to find the source of the cry. Unbeknownst to her, a single tear fell down her cheek.
Raven Facts: You may be wondering why Jericho, a member of the Titans, would join with their enemies and hunt down his former allies. It seems the tainted souls of Azarath regained their strength and merged with Jericho shortly after Trigon's second defeat. The souls now needed powerful vessels for each of them to survive. Now possessed by this force, Jericho sought to acquire superhuman beings as vessels for the souls of Azarath. He used the Wildebeest Society as a front to kidnap the Titans to house the tainted souls of Azarath. During the soul transfer process, Jericho resurfaced briefly, begging his father to kill him; He was beyond help and killing him might destroy the twisted souls of Azarath. To spare his son any more pain and save the remaining Titans, Slade Wilson was forced to drive a sword through Jericho, killing him instantly. As the conflict continued, Phantasm is revealed to be Danny Chase, who is himself slain along with Raven's mother Arella as the Titans defeated the Wildebeests. Raven is transformed utterly and disappears (at this point, she is presumed dead). Of course since this is the second time she's being presumed dead, we all know she isn't.
Author Notes: I have given you a multitude of hints and clues and now a background on Morgan Crow. Can You guess who he is and what his interest in Raven is? I don't think it would take Batman to figure it out.
I recently saw some clips of the new Justice League series and saw Green Arrow as one of the new recruits. The way I see it, if I get to see him use his boxing glove arrow just once, I can die a happy man.
