RAVEN
Raven had been debating with herself for almost a day and a half before she finally got the nerve to leave her small, old-fashioned cabin, in the middle of nowhere. Of course that would have been great, had she not walked back in, two seconds later. She was very mad at herself right now because, she had fought in wars and done all kinds of crazy stuff without being the least bit scared, but now she was terrified about going to talk to some old... friends. Well there was the little fact that they had kicked her out, and for such a little thing as yelling at some world leader.
She could do this, all she had to do was tell them what she had to say, leave, then watch as someone else went and saved the world, piece of cake. If it was so simple why was she still sitting in her old orange chair, which she probably should have tossed, like twenty years ago? Probably for the same reason she could not remember the last time she left this house. The anser was not complicated at all, she was terrified of all people under the age of four hundred. She was tired of the loss, if she went out that door now, she would get caught up in all that pain again.
As all these thoughts flew through her head, that old chair she was sitting on, slowly gave way, until, it broke. Raven looked up in shock when she realized that she was now sitting on the floor. "ALRIGHT," she cried out at the ceiling, shaking her fist. "I'll go." Muttering curse words under her breath, she prepared to go to town.
The profanities continued all the to town, as she had quite forgotten how far she was from the little village, especially when you had to walk. When she looked for a cabin in the middle of nowhere, she really didn't plan for all contingencies. As a result of this slight oversight it took her around two hours to walk to the small town of Lilrin, and it took her another half hour to find a working vid-booth.
When she finally found said booth, she sat down, praying her credit chips were up to date, and started fiddling with the controls. She had forgotten how complicated life had become. When she finally figured out how to use this newer model she spoke into thin air.
"Obsidian, directors office." The Immortal said to the machine, trying her best to sound composed and not harassed in any way.
"One moment please," the computer replied, in that overly cheerful, female voice, that always made Raven want to reach in and strangle it. She sat, there waiting to be connected, silently cursing, dreams, fate, immortality and everything else that led to her sitting here, in this tiny town, desperately trying to contact people she disliked.
"This is Obsidian," said another overly cheerful voice, as a fake, overly done, female, face appeared on the screen, "Please state the name of the person you would like to address and the reason for trying to contact them, They will be informed and if you would leave your name and address they will try to get back to you."
Raven silently counted to ten and said in her best, I'm talking to an idiot, voice, "I am Raven, otherwise known as Hele Debuan, Eve Aphrodite, and several million other names. My reason for calling is that I have reason to believe the world will end." She glared at the machine as it showed no change, "Tell Walter Elsinger, that Raven vid-phoned him, to tell him that there is some big cataclysm coming and that I'm in my cabin should he wish to come pick me up and find out more!" With that she slammed the end button, and stalked off in the direction of her cabin.
Two days later she was sitting in her cabin, very ticked off, all the work she had went to and the blaurgs couldn't even bother coming. As she fumed, she heard a knock at the door. Grinning she got up and glided towards the door.
"Hey, took your sweet time, didn't you." Raven said trying to keep from sounding smug, as she opened her front door. Her smile faded as she saw the person at the door. It was a young, blond, women, probably the secretary to someone's secretary, certainly not who she expected.
"Well, You are a very hard person to track down Miss Downs." The women at the door said, with a slick smile that told Raven the women did not want to be here babysitting someone she thought of as nothing but a crazy ex-employee. Raven flinched at the name she hadn't gone by for years, trying not to show the other women that she had struck home. First blow had been set.
"Please, call me Raven." That was all she would say to this stranger. "Are we going now, I was ready days ago." She kept her voice tart, trying stop the other women from getting the upper hand. Obviously her initial assessment was quite wrong, this women was obviously quite the mover and shaker to know that name.
"My name is Erica Stone." The women said, the irritation showing in her voice now, as Raven walked through the door without her.
"I didn't ask," the thief replied with pure satisfaction showing on her face. She walked out of her cabin and into the waiting hover without even looking back. Game, set, and match.
The two women didn't speak for the whole way to Obsidian. Miss Stone was obviously analyzing Raven and Raven was busy trying to reorientate herself with hovers and stop the torrent of images that kept threatening to bubble forth from her sub-conscious, from her dream. The hover was much more luxurious, then when she last was in one, but she had never been in a limo hover before. Soon they were at headquarters, which hadn't changed much, much faster then she remembered being possible.
Ms Stone made way too much of a show when giving her official badge to the guard on duty. (Raven actually remembered tutoring the guard, who was a telekinetic, when she used to work here.)
"Hello, Krisian," She said to the familiar guard, with a smile on her face. "Good to see you again. I hope that you kept up your lessons."
"Raven, it's good to see you're back and yes I have." Krisian said, quietly, as she handed Raven her guest pass. The two women exchanged a nod, then Raven quickly followed Ms. Stone into Obsidian, home of the League of Extraordinariness. Again the ageless thief had to fight her strong impulse to flee.
She then saw the one person who kept her from bolting from this building, from running and letting the world fall into whatever this new threat was, alright so she would never actually do that but she was quite tempted. The beautiful, sweet, innocent, luckster, Penny Charmer. She was much older then Raven had last seen her but it was definitely her. When the girl saw Raven she ran over with a smile.
"Are you back to stay?" Penny asked hesitantly, trying not to let hope leak in to her voice or face. She had jumped with hope at every vid call, every present, every small visit but not this time.
"Sorry, Pen. As soon as I deliver my message, I'm outta here." For the first time that thought actually made her almost cry, but just for a second. "Sorry kid, I gotta go. I'll probably be gone and out of this situation by the time you get out of your next class." She wanted to stay and talk but her "escort" had went on ahead without her and now had quite the lead. She didn't want to admit it but the place was different and she was a tad afraid of getting lost. So with one last remorseful look back she ran up ahead.
She went so fast that she didn't hear Penny quietly mummer aside, "That's what you think."
The immortal was very thankful for her great stamina, because she wasn't puffing when she finally caught up to her "guide." The other women looked at her with scorn when arrived beside her.
Her whole body tensed as she recognized the room that they had stopped in front of, the briefing room. She was going to have to present her dream in front of strangers and people she didn't trust or like. She walked cautiously into the room, trying to watch all the different inhabitants of the chamber.
"Thank you for coming Raven," Walter Elsinger said. To Raven's surprise his voice was actually quite welcoming. She nodded to him, mentally thanking him for his unexpected kindness of not making it seem like she had crawled back. Though this treatment put up her "internal radar," why was he being so nice to her. She grew even more wary as she walked up to the podium at the front of the room.
"I'm glad to be here," if Walt could be nice then so could she, unless she found out it was a scam, then he would really be in for it. As she regained her bearings she silently cased the room. Everyone who was there, she either recognized or knew their type, except an elderly gentlemen sitting in the corner, watching her intently. He seemed different somehow. She shook it off and got ready to say what she came there to say.
"I came here to tell you about a dream I had." She could see all the heads shaking, and hear the murmur of disinterest, already, and she had just begun. The room was filled with politicians and bureaucrats, who probably had never actually fought a war in their lives. With a deep breath, she continued. "I know I'm not a oracle, and I really am glad of that, but I also know that this dream either has happened, is happening, or will happen. I also know that others are involved." People by now were beginning to look like they were just going to stand up and walk out of there. "I know it's sounds crazy but..." She trailed of it was if a bomb went of in her head, suddenly the pictures started to make sense. "Someone's going back, to change history, to destroy the first League!" The words came haltingly but it all was starting to fit in her head, now she knew why she received the message. She had known the original League, so she would be more receptive.
A women in a tacky grey suit stood up and asked the very question on everyone's minds, "What do you want us to do about this?"
Raven yelled back, "Go back in time, stop him."
Another suit stood up and said, snidely, "Do you have any proof to back up your strange claim?"
Hanging her head a bit, Raven said in a quiet voice, "no." With that one word she knew she had lost.
By now two security thugs had come and were pulling her out of the chamber, as she went she heard one of the petty bureaucrats yell angrily, "We will not violate temporal law just for your hallucinations. As she left she saw the old man nodding almost as if he expected this.
While walking down the hallway she shook off her guards, she could walk out on her own accord, thank you very much. Thank goodness Penny was in class and didn't see this. For goodness sakes, most people don't even get kicked out of the single most important building on this planet once, let alone twice twice.
As she walked she suddenly felt faint, as if she was under water, she saw confused images, and all she could hear was a pen, scratching on paper. Raven shrugged it off, thinking, I tried, there's nothing more I can do. In her heart, of hearts, though, she still felt as if there was something more she could and should do.
That night as Raven slept fitfully in a hotel room, waiting to go to her little cabin, the old man was writing a message, on old paper rather then typing it on a terminal. Though he didn't write much, he was very careful with the wording and placement of each sentence. This was obviously a very important note for him. It read like this,
Raven,
I know you are correct, meet me at the Skinner pub, I will try to explain everything. Do not give up yet, you are just uncovering the pieces to the puzzle.
signed,
a concerned friend.
He leaned back in his chair and smiled, yes, everything was going according to plan. She has started to figure it out and the others will soon follow. This will work. His old eyes closed as he thought of what tomorrow may bring.
As his eyes closed the dreams began again for The immortal, the half-Atlantian, the tech-void, the brothers of the elements and the telepath.
Authors comments to reveiwers
LADY LILRIN: Thank you for "going to the main event" and for you kind words, I'm
really glad you like it, hope you enjoyed this chapter and the slight tribute to was you in there.
Krisian Rose: Thank you for telling me about the tenses shifting, it's been fixed. I wrote something very similar in my trailer for this fic so that's how it got confused. If you like Aquial already your going to adore her by the end, sadly she is not in this chapter. As for what the old man has in store I could tell you but that would ruin the story. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and
your slight tribute.
Raven had been debating with herself for almost a day and a half before she finally got the nerve to leave her small, old-fashioned cabin, in the middle of nowhere. Of course that would have been great, had she not walked back in, two seconds later. She was very mad at herself right now because, she had fought in wars and done all kinds of crazy stuff without being the least bit scared, but now she was terrified about going to talk to some old... friends. Well there was the little fact that they had kicked her out, and for such a little thing as yelling at some world leader.
She could do this, all she had to do was tell them what she had to say, leave, then watch as someone else went and saved the world, piece of cake. If it was so simple why was she still sitting in her old orange chair, which she probably should have tossed, like twenty years ago? Probably for the same reason she could not remember the last time she left this house. The anser was not complicated at all, she was terrified of all people under the age of four hundred. She was tired of the loss, if she went out that door now, she would get caught up in all that pain again.
As all these thoughts flew through her head, that old chair she was sitting on, slowly gave way, until, it broke. Raven looked up in shock when she realized that she was now sitting on the floor. "ALRIGHT," she cried out at the ceiling, shaking her fist. "I'll go." Muttering curse words under her breath, she prepared to go to town.
The profanities continued all the to town, as she had quite forgotten how far she was from the little village, especially when you had to walk. When she looked for a cabin in the middle of nowhere, she really didn't plan for all contingencies. As a result of this slight oversight it took her around two hours to walk to the small town of Lilrin, and it took her another half hour to find a working vid-booth.
When she finally found said booth, she sat down, praying her credit chips were up to date, and started fiddling with the controls. She had forgotten how complicated life had become. When she finally figured out how to use this newer model she spoke into thin air.
"Obsidian, directors office." The Immortal said to the machine, trying her best to sound composed and not harassed in any way.
"One moment please," the computer replied, in that overly cheerful, female voice, that always made Raven want to reach in and strangle it. She sat, there waiting to be connected, silently cursing, dreams, fate, immortality and everything else that led to her sitting here, in this tiny town, desperately trying to contact people she disliked.
"This is Obsidian," said another overly cheerful voice, as a fake, overly done, female, face appeared on the screen, "Please state the name of the person you would like to address and the reason for trying to contact them, They will be informed and if you would leave your name and address they will try to get back to you."
Raven silently counted to ten and said in her best, I'm talking to an idiot, voice, "I am Raven, otherwise known as Hele Debuan, Eve Aphrodite, and several million other names. My reason for calling is that I have reason to believe the world will end." She glared at the machine as it showed no change, "Tell Walter Elsinger, that Raven vid-phoned him, to tell him that there is some big cataclysm coming and that I'm in my cabin should he wish to come pick me up and find out more!" With that she slammed the end button, and stalked off in the direction of her cabin.
Two days later she was sitting in her cabin, very ticked off, all the work she had went to and the blaurgs couldn't even bother coming. As she fumed, she heard a knock at the door. Grinning she got up and glided towards the door.
"Hey, took your sweet time, didn't you." Raven said trying to keep from sounding smug, as she opened her front door. Her smile faded as she saw the person at the door. It was a young, blond, women, probably the secretary to someone's secretary, certainly not who she expected.
"Well, You are a very hard person to track down Miss Downs." The women at the door said, with a slick smile that told Raven the women did not want to be here babysitting someone she thought of as nothing but a crazy ex-employee. Raven flinched at the name she hadn't gone by for years, trying not to show the other women that she had struck home. First blow had been set.
"Please, call me Raven." That was all she would say to this stranger. "Are we going now, I was ready days ago." She kept her voice tart, trying stop the other women from getting the upper hand. Obviously her initial assessment was quite wrong, this women was obviously quite the mover and shaker to know that name.
"My name is Erica Stone." The women said, the irritation showing in her voice now, as Raven walked through the door without her.
"I didn't ask," the thief replied with pure satisfaction showing on her face. She walked out of her cabin and into the waiting hover without even looking back. Game, set, and match.
The two women didn't speak for the whole way to Obsidian. Miss Stone was obviously analyzing Raven and Raven was busy trying to reorientate herself with hovers and stop the torrent of images that kept threatening to bubble forth from her sub-conscious, from her dream. The hover was much more luxurious, then when she last was in one, but she had never been in a limo hover before. Soon they were at headquarters, which hadn't changed much, much faster then she remembered being possible.
Ms Stone made way too much of a show when giving her official badge to the guard on duty. (Raven actually remembered tutoring the guard, who was a telekinetic, when she used to work here.)
"Hello, Krisian," She said to the familiar guard, with a smile on her face. "Good to see you again. I hope that you kept up your lessons."
"Raven, it's good to see you're back and yes I have." Krisian said, quietly, as she handed Raven her guest pass. The two women exchanged a nod, then Raven quickly followed Ms. Stone into Obsidian, home of the League of Extraordinariness. Again the ageless thief had to fight her strong impulse to flee.
She then saw the one person who kept her from bolting from this building, from running and letting the world fall into whatever this new threat was, alright so she would never actually do that but she was quite tempted. The beautiful, sweet, innocent, luckster, Penny Charmer. She was much older then Raven had last seen her but it was definitely her. When the girl saw Raven she ran over with a smile.
"Are you back to stay?" Penny asked hesitantly, trying not to let hope leak in to her voice or face. She had jumped with hope at every vid call, every present, every small visit but not this time.
"Sorry, Pen. As soon as I deliver my message, I'm outta here." For the first time that thought actually made her almost cry, but just for a second. "Sorry kid, I gotta go. I'll probably be gone and out of this situation by the time you get out of your next class." She wanted to stay and talk but her "escort" had went on ahead without her and now had quite the lead. She didn't want to admit it but the place was different and she was a tad afraid of getting lost. So with one last remorseful look back she ran up ahead.
She went so fast that she didn't hear Penny quietly mummer aside, "That's what you think."
The immortal was very thankful for her great stamina, because she wasn't puffing when she finally caught up to her "guide." The other women looked at her with scorn when arrived beside her.
Her whole body tensed as she recognized the room that they had stopped in front of, the briefing room. She was going to have to present her dream in front of strangers and people she didn't trust or like. She walked cautiously into the room, trying to watch all the different inhabitants of the chamber.
"Thank you for coming Raven," Walter Elsinger said. To Raven's surprise his voice was actually quite welcoming. She nodded to him, mentally thanking him for his unexpected kindness of not making it seem like she had crawled back. Though this treatment put up her "internal radar," why was he being so nice to her. She grew even more wary as she walked up to the podium at the front of the room.
"I'm glad to be here," if Walt could be nice then so could she, unless she found out it was a scam, then he would really be in for it. As she regained her bearings she silently cased the room. Everyone who was there, she either recognized or knew their type, except an elderly gentlemen sitting in the corner, watching her intently. He seemed different somehow. She shook it off and got ready to say what she came there to say.
"I came here to tell you about a dream I had." She could see all the heads shaking, and hear the murmur of disinterest, already, and she had just begun. The room was filled with politicians and bureaucrats, who probably had never actually fought a war in their lives. With a deep breath, she continued. "I know I'm not a oracle, and I really am glad of that, but I also know that this dream either has happened, is happening, or will happen. I also know that others are involved." People by now were beginning to look like they were just going to stand up and walk out of there. "I know it's sounds crazy but..." She trailed of it was if a bomb went of in her head, suddenly the pictures started to make sense. "Someone's going back, to change history, to destroy the first League!" The words came haltingly but it all was starting to fit in her head, now she knew why she received the message. She had known the original League, so she would be more receptive.
A women in a tacky grey suit stood up and asked the very question on everyone's minds, "What do you want us to do about this?"
Raven yelled back, "Go back in time, stop him."
Another suit stood up and said, snidely, "Do you have any proof to back up your strange claim?"
Hanging her head a bit, Raven said in a quiet voice, "no." With that one word she knew she had lost.
By now two security thugs had come and were pulling her out of the chamber, as she went she heard one of the petty bureaucrats yell angrily, "We will not violate temporal law just for your hallucinations. As she left she saw the old man nodding almost as if he expected this.
While walking down the hallway she shook off her guards, she could walk out on her own accord, thank you very much. Thank goodness Penny was in class and didn't see this. For goodness sakes, most people don't even get kicked out of the single most important building on this planet once, let alone twice twice.
As she walked she suddenly felt faint, as if she was under water, she saw confused images, and all she could hear was a pen, scratching on paper. Raven shrugged it off, thinking, I tried, there's nothing more I can do. In her heart, of hearts, though, she still felt as if there was something more she could and should do.
That night as Raven slept fitfully in a hotel room, waiting to go to her little cabin, the old man was writing a message, on old paper rather then typing it on a terminal. Though he didn't write much, he was very careful with the wording and placement of each sentence. This was obviously a very important note for him. It read like this,
Raven,
I know you are correct, meet me at the Skinner pub, I will try to explain everything. Do not give up yet, you are just uncovering the pieces to the puzzle.
signed,
a concerned friend.
He leaned back in his chair and smiled, yes, everything was going according to plan. She has started to figure it out and the others will soon follow. This will work. His old eyes closed as he thought of what tomorrow may bring.
As his eyes closed the dreams began again for The immortal, the half-Atlantian, the tech-void, the brothers of the elements and the telepath.
Authors comments to reveiwers
LADY LILRIN: Thank you for "going to the main event" and for you kind words, I'm
really glad you like it, hope you enjoyed this chapter and the slight tribute to was you in there.
Krisian Rose: Thank you for telling me about the tenses shifting, it's been fixed. I wrote something very similar in my trailer for this fic so that's how it got confused. If you like Aquial already your going to adore her by the end, sadly she is not in this chapter. As for what the old man has in store I could tell you but that would ruin the story. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and
your slight tribute.