A/N: Fear not, dear readers, for I live once more! This chapter seriously kicked my ass, between breaking a tooth, my phone bricking itself, and mandatory 60 hour weeks being instated at work, but it's finally done. But enough about me, time for the fun part of the author's note: reviews.
First up, I'd like to thank you all for your fic recommendations, but I've actually read all the ones suggested. Nevertheless, I'm grateful for the help.
(BTW, Prey Mate is my favorite as well).
xbox432: Thanks! I noticed the same thing, and considering I have literally zero relationship experience, it's a relief to know I'm doing well enough writing theirs.
Imouto's mad house: Don't you worry, he'll get his. Also, Raven's design for this fic was purely a stylistic choice; some iterations of Trigon give him six eyes, and I wanted to show that she's quite a bit more like her father than in canon, even more so than her siblings, which is why Eli only had four eyes.
VI
"Alright, everyone, we're doing things a little different today." The booming voice of the head combat instructor resounded throughout the gym. "Instead of the usual course routine, you'll be playing a tried and true American classic; an equalizer among students for decades." He pulled his arm from behind his back, and in his hand sat a large red sphere. "Dodgeball."
The center of the gym floor split open, the space quickly filled by a panel holding a line of rubber balls spanning the width of the floor. Most of the students looked excited at the prospect, while others stood in confusion.
"Uh, how does this help train us to be soldiers for hire?" Jinx asked.
"It doesn't." He said. "Not directly, anyway. It is the belief of HIVE's board of directors, as well as myself, that you all need more variety in the physical aspect of your training here, so we'll be switching it up every once in a while with an actual sport; keeps you on your toes, and I suppose it's good for your reflexes, too."
He looked at each student, pointing silently as he read what was on his clipboard, most likely taking attendance, before continuing.
"Couple of rules before we begin: maiming a fellow student will get you suspended, killing will result in your immediate expulsion. There will be no telekinesis, psychokinesis, or any other ability that will allow you to hold the ball with anything but your hands, your physical state will remain solid at all times, and no duplication. Okay, Cryo and Jinx, you're team captains." He pulled out a coin and pointed at Jinx. "Heads or tails?"
"Tails."
The coin was flipped. "It's heads; Cryo gets first pick."
"Let's see." Cryo tapped a finger to his chin. "I choose… Raven." Raven looked to Jinx with a raised eyebrow.
"It's cool." Jinx affirmed. "No point in making a scene about it."
Raven nodded, letting her cloak dissolve into her shadow, which left her in just her athletic wear. She walked over to James and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him down to her eye level. The fact that he was an entire head taller than her did nothing to detract from her intimidating countenance.
"I don't know what kind of game you're playing, or where this little obsession with me came from, but I feel I should remind you that, historically, testing a demon's patience does not end well."
Cryo held up his hands in the universal gesture of surrender. "I can assure you the only game I intend to play is this one here." He waved a hand to the dodgeballs on the floor. "The reason I picked you was for your considerable athletic prowess; it's got nothin' to do with my little… infatuation."
"Doubtful." Raven said. She attempted to search his mind for answers, but she hit a wall before she could get anywhere.
"You know, it's rude to invade someone's thoughts, Raven." Cryo smirked.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Raven released him from her grip, giving him a light shove and walking away. "Oh, and if I catch you staring at me, I will personally escort you to the gates of Hell."
"Anyway…" The instructor said. "Jinx, who's your pick."
"Gimme Pyro."
Erik looked between Jinx, Raven, James, and the instructor. "Fine. I thought you hated me, though?"
"Hate's a strong word." Jinx said. "I mean, sure, I don't like you, but I can't deny the fact that you're a good athlete, and since he got Raven, I had to settle for you."
"Whatever. Just don't expect me to go for her."
"Come on, you can't be that scared." Jinx insisted.
"I prefer the term 'survival instinct'."
"Ahem." The instructor interrupted them. "You can save your arguments for later; make your next pick."
Ten minutes and several acts of pettiness later, the teams were finally set up. Jinx was mostly satisfied with the players on her team, but she'd have felt a lot better about their chances if she had Raven.
As soon as everyone had a hand on the wall, a whistle was blown, signaling the start of the game. It was an instant mad dash for ammo, many students leaving indents in the wall where they had pushed off from.
Under normal circumstances, dodgeball was already a chaotic affair, with actual strategy usually taking a backseat to brute force. When it was played by teams of metahuman teenagers, that chaos increased tenfold. The sound of rubber impacting various surfaces was akin to thunderclaps, people were getting red marks left and right, and as fast as they were being stuck out, someone else was getting them back in.
Jinx moved with the grace of a professional ballet dancer as she skirted the other team's throws. However, for all her ability to dodge, she was left unable to make any kind of offensive move.
Raven, on the other hand, was scoring outs like an automaton. Dodgeballs were turned into wrecking balls in her skilled hands as students were thrown into walls as well as each other, a few unfortunate ones having to go to the nearest trash can to vomit before taking a seat on the bleachers to wait until they got back in.
Cryo was playing it safe, it seemed. He had elected to hang back, only taking shots when he deemed the risk worth it. Pyro, conversely, was going out of his way to make as many catches as he could to keep their team alive.
Not that they were particularly thrilled about getting back into the game.
Mammoth and Gizmo were not present for their team's current endeavor; Mammoth because he was simply too large a target for a game like this, and Gizmo had managed to get excused from having to play any actual sports for being at the opposite end of the spectrum; without technological assistance, he was at too much of a disadvantage to be effective. This suited both of them just fine, as neither cared for non-combative exercise.
"Hey Raven." Cryo said, making a last-second dodge. "Would ya' like to clue me in as to why you're goin' for everyone except Jinx?"
Raven exhaled audibly. "Not that it's any of your business, but I won't perform any action that would bring harm to her, and as I'm sure you're aware, I tend to be quite harmful to my opposition."
"I noticed." Cryo glanced at the other team's bench. "You could try letting up a little and throwing it at her."
"I do not operate at less than peak performance." Raven insisted as she caught a ball headed for the back of her head.
"That's understandable, I suppose." Cryo said. "Ya' know, I couldn't help but notice that you're a little… ignorant of Earth culture, yet you seem to know this game pretty well."
"We have a version of this game where I come from under the same name, except it's played using freshly severed heads, and the losers are fed to a behemoth. It's a very popular sport in Hell."
"I'll bet it is." Cryo agreed.
"Tell me, what exactly is the point of trying to win me over?" Raven asked, scoring a particularly brutal out that resulted in the unfortunate student losing two teeth. "You know next to nothing about me, and I know you have no connection to the politics in Hell, so why me? Surely there are other girls who would swoon at your attempts to be charming and would actually have some semblance of interest in pursuing a relationship with you?"
"Oh sure, I could have my choice of nearly any girl in this school," Cryo said, catching a ball that likely would have sent him flying back, had he not rooted himself to the ground with ice, "but none of 'em… fascinate me, the way you do."
"That's a common human reaction when faced with great power; demons, angels, gods, and the like are naturally harder to comprehend from a mortal's perspective. Is that all, then; you see me as some sort of challenge?"
"Well, I'll admit it's a factor." Cryo said. "But it's hardly the driving one. You've got a lot of qualities I admire: you're powerful, you don't hesitate to stand up to those who cross you, you likely have a realistic world-view, and you're definitely more than a little easy on the eyes."
"You've just described half of Hell and nearly all of Heaven." Raven sidestepped an incoming projectile. Having been standing only a few feet in front of Cryo, he didn't have enough time to react, taking an especially hard hit directly to the face and ending up flat on his back. At the same time, someone had finally managed to get Jinx, leaving Pyro as the last one on his team.
All but one ball had rolled out of bounds, which was now lying on the line separating the two teams. Raven and Pyro raced to get it, but Raven was faster.
Pyro was sweating bullets now as he realized he was barely a foot away from the girl who could probably annihilate him on a molecular level without lifting a finger. Raven spun the ball a few times in her fingers and pulled back her arm. Pyro shielded his face with his arms, expecting to hit the back wall, but he was surprised when he only felt the ball tap his chest once.
"What, that's it?" Pyro asked nervously.
"You need to relax more." Raven told him, letting the ball hit the floor. "Too much stress is bad for your heart." When the instructor officially said the game was over, Raven went over to the bleachers to speak to Cryo.
When she reached him, she saw that half his face now almost matched the colour of her own skin. "Your approach is tactless, and it's clear you have no idea how to properly speak to a demon, much less try to court one. Why don't you study up on what a hellspawn actually wants to hear, and get back to me with an attempt that doesn't fall as pathetically flat as you did out on the floor."
"Okay, what are we gonna see tonight?" Jinx asked her team. They had gathered in one of HIVE's many common areas, trying to decide on a movie genre.
"I vote sci-fi." Gizmo said. "Every time you pick, it's just some grisly slasher flick that was only made to give Hollywood another excuse to be as gratuitously violent as they can get away with. Those movies have no substance, and the plot is always the same: crazy bad guy kills teens because reasons."
"Alright, Christ, I didn't ask for a dissertation." Jinx said. "What about you Raven?"
"I'm fairly partial to the gratuitous violence, myself."
"Naturally." Jinx smiled. "Well, Baran, looks like you get the deciding vote."
"Uh, we don't all have to see the same movie." Mammoth suggested. "You guys can go see your horror movie, and me and Gizmo'll go watch the newest Transformers."
"Sounds good to me." Gizmo agreed.
Jinx scoffed. "And you wanted to tell me about no substance, and then go watch Explosions: The series."
"Least there's an actual story." Gizmo countered.
"Whatever." Jinx ceded. "I guess it's decided, then; Raven and I will watch some actual quality entertainment, while you watch the latest installment of Michael Bay's detonation fetish."
"Two tickets for Buzz Killer, please." Jinx told the ticket vendor.
"That's an 'R' rated film, girls." She said in a bored tone. "Either get a fake ID or get an actual adult to buy the tickets."
"Well… she's old enough." Jinx pointed to Raven. "She's a five-thousand-year-old demon from the nether world."
"Really?" The vendor asked, clearly not believing them. "Care to prove it?" Raven grabbed the edges of her hood and pulled it halfway back, dropping her disguise long enough for the cashier to get a good look. "Whatever." She sighed and gave the girls their tickets.
"So, what is this movie about?" Raven asked as they took their seats.
"Some dude's brother got killed by a drunk driving teen, so now he kills teenagers for drinking as revenge."
"I suppose all the real effort went into the different ways he ends their lives, then?"
"Probably, but that's what we're actually here for anyway."
"True." Raven agreed. "Humans have always had a fascinating level of creativity when it comes to killing each other; their capacity for cruelty easily rivals and even outmatches that of any of the denizens of Hell."
"Yeah yeah, people suck." Jinx said. "Now shh; the movie's starting." The movie was, as expected, a gory blood-fest with little in the way of creative storytelling. Still, the collective fear continued to rise as it went on, and Raven could taste it in the air like a gourmet chocolate.
About halfway through, another scent joined the fray. The pungent spice of malice was wafting about, mixing poorly with the sweetness and only growing stronger. Raven looked around them for the source, finding a middle-aged man in the back row wearing a trench coat and looking anxious, as if waiting for something.
She was going to ignore it, until he stood up and reached a hand into his coat. When he pulled it out, Raven could easily recognize the firearm as such. He aimed it in time with the movie, and pulled the trigger at the same moment a gun was fired on screen.
Red sprayed from a viewer in the front row, resulting in instant chaos. People went screaming toward the exits, and the man gunned down several more people before Raven teleported behind him, dispelling her disguise. He whipped around and his bloodlust turned to fear when he saw her. He quickly popped off a shot, and the force caused her head to snap backwards.
When she leaned forward again, her eyes were blazing red, and the man could swear he was getting a glimpse of Hell. The bullet he'd fired was in between her teeth, and Raven bit down, easily tearing through the metal. He went to fire again, and this time, Raven bit off the entire end of the gun barrel.
"What the fuck? What the fuck are you?" He asked, tossing aside the remains of his weapon and taking a step back.
"I'll show you." Raven said, just before teleporting both of them away.
Jinx was still reeling as she stood outside away from the crowd. Raven just caught a bullet with her teeth, and was almost certainly going to kill that guy. That thought was cemented as fact when a man's agonized scream tore through the post-shooting calm that had begun to settle. This was the first time Jinx had seen Raven that enraged. Her eyes had been glowing with more intensity than ever before, and there were traces of violet amidst the red.
The demon herself appeared walking out of an alley across the street, looking human once more. The corner of her mouth was stained red, and Jinx wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know the answer to her next question.
"Did… did you actually eat that guy?"
"Only partially." Raven said, wiping away the excess fluid. "Cowardice tends to ruin the taste of flesh and soul, but it's nearly impossible to sour the heart. Heroes and warriors, on the other hand, are quite the delicacy, but don't worry, this sort of thing is actually a pretty rare occurrence for me."
"Well, that's good, I suppose." Jinx said, then noticed someone walking down the street, looking over their shoulders repeatedly. "Hey, is that… is that Cryo?"
Raven looked where Jinx was pointing, and nodded once before she grabbed Jinx and teleported. When they emerged, they were in the shadows behind their fellow HIVE student. They silently followed as he went down an alley, stopping in front of a section of wall that would likely never draw attention unless one knew what they were looking for.
He pulled out the pendant they'd found in his closet, and pressed it into a near-invisible indent in the wall. The wall itself moved inward, before splitting down the middle to reveal a previously hidden entrance. Raven and Jinx waited the door closed and he was well inside before leaving their hiding spot.
"Think you can get us in?" Jinx asked as Raven cast her gaze to the door.
Raven shook her head. "No. The wards on this place were specifically designed to keep demons out."
"So, all we need is a key." Jinx said, tapping the indent. At her touch, the keyhole glowed the same pink as her hex magic, and the door opened again. "Or maybe we don't." She took a step inside, and breathed out a relieved sigh when nothing happened. She walked in a little further, but stopped when Raven caught her attention.
"I can't get in." Raven put a hand up the doorway, demonstrating her point when it refused to pass through, looking similar to what happens when someone presses on a computer screen. "We should go."
"Or…" Jinx prompted. "I could go in and see what's going down in there."
"I don't think that's a good idea." Raven argued. "We have no idea what they might have waiting for trespassers, and I can't protect you in there."
Jinx sighed. "You might have a point; can you not dispel the wards?"
"Not without alerting whoever put them up, and whoever that person was, is a very skilled mage. I'm not keen on the idea of leveling this building, or even the block, fighting an unknown opponent just to get answers."
"Alright." Jinx said somewhat sulkily. "Do you wanna head back to the school, or did you wanna do anything else first?"
"Not right now." Raven said, and together, they blinked out of existence.
When they returned to corporeality, the grounds were empty except for two people sitting on a bench: Melanie and Mr. Cell. They were about thirty yards away, but that was more than close enough to notice a couple of teenagers just popping up from literally nowhere. Melanie stood and said something to Mr. Cell that Raven and Jinx couldn't hear, and they smiled at each other before she started walking towards them.
"I hear you two had an interesting night; you in particular, Raven."
"Interesting is certainly one word for it."
"Is it on the news already?" Jinx asked.
Melanie nodded. "As well as pretty much every social media site there is." She pulled up a video on her phone and handed it to the girls. The video started with the man firing at moviegoers, and showed everything up to Raven's interaction with him, then immediately cut to outside, where his scream could be heard in the background. "Listen, I like you girls; you're great students, and you understand the world better than most of the kids here, but when the higher ups see this, and believe me, they will, they might think you're compromising the reputation, or even the security, of HIVE Academy, and expulsion is on the lower end of what they do to those they consider a threat to the school."
"I apologize for losing control of myself." Raven said. "But I am not sorry for defending myself, and I do not regret my actions. I will try to keep a better eye on my surroundings to avoid witnesses in the future."
"Well, that's not quite what I meant, but it will certainly suffice. On another note, are you both alright after all that; these kind of things can be a bit much to deal with, especially for teenagers."
"Uh, Melanie." Raven said. "I was raised in Hell; I've seen things ten times worse as casual entertainment."
"Point taken." Melanie said. "What about you, Jinx?"
"Well, I'll admit this is the first time I've ever seen someone murdered in person, but it's gonna take more than that to get to me."
"That's good to hear." Melanie said with a smile.
"So, you and Mr. Cell, huh?" Jinx said slyly.
"Why, I have no idea what you're talking about." Melanie said with a smirk. "Yes, we're trying out a relationship; it's been quite a while for both of us, and he's a very sweet man, and this really isn't a conversation to be having with my students, even if they are my favorite ones."
"Ms. Fields, playing favorites." Jinx mock gasped. "For shame."
"Only the teachers have to remain unbiased." Melanie countered. "I can have whatever opinion I please about students." Even Raven had to laugh at their antics, but something mildly concerning occurred to her just then.
"You know we forgot to get the boys, right?" Raven said after Melanie had left them for the night.
"Eh, they've got two feet and a heartbeat." Jinx said. "Right now, I need something to eat. I assume you're not hungry?"
"You assume correctly. Now, about Cryo. We need to figure out a way to see what he's doing the next time he enters that building."
"Actually, I think I have an idea for that, but you're not gonna like it."
"Cryo is hiding something dangerous." Raven reminded her. "It's obviously related to your powers, and I can't help but think it has something to do with why he wishes to be romantically involved with me. Whatever it is, I will deal with it."
"Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you."
A/N: Before we close, now that we've established that a true Raven centric harem fic really doesn't exist, would anyone like to see me write one? I can't promise it'll happen soon, as the idea I have needs to be developed more, and I need to get my update rate back down again, but I'm definitely prepared to do one at some point if people are interested.