Hunters of Justice

by trestwho

Remnant has fallen, its cities captured and its greatest defenders defeated at the hands of the alien conqueror, Brainiac. In the aftermath of his victory, the people of Remnant's last hope lies in the hands of two teams of students, whisked away to another world. A world where Gods walk among them.

20. Finding the Trail

Hunters of Justice (RWBY/DC)

Chapter 14: Finding the Trail

---

"Ugh," Yang groaned as she continued to stir the eggs with one hand, using the other to shield her eyes from the light of the morning sun. "When will this week end?"

"Saturday," Blake dryly replied while laying down on the couch.

"Don't you go smart on me, Blake." Yang couldn't help but lightly smile, and even though her back was turned to Blake, she could tell that the Faunus was amused. Yang then felt her smile drop as yet another tired sigh escaped her lips. "Seriously though. This week was just been non-stop."

"Tell me about it, girl," Garfield replied as he surfed through the tv, trying to find something mind-numbing to watch. "I haven't worked this hard in years. I think Dick's having Gotham Flashbacks."

Yang sighed again before refocusing on the task at hand. Jump City's crimewave was showing no signs of abating anytime soon. She and the others had been working themselves to the bone just to try and stem the tide, preventing the city from falling into outright chaos. The JPD themselves were working together with the Titans to try and stop it, and the only consolation everyone had was that, thus far, no major supervillains had been involved. Only losers, such as Killer Moth.

Nora almost clobbered his daughter though, when she tried to steal Ren as part of a jealousy ploy. That was an interesting sight, almost as interesting as when Pyrrha fainted at the sight of Kitty's boyfriend, Fang. How a guy could survive with a literal spider for a head or be somehow able to make out with a normal human girl escaped her, and frankly she didn't want to know. The memory of that almost made her hurl just like Jaune did when it happened.

At least she can say that she punched a spider in the face, so she had that going for her.

"Do we have any leads as to why this is happening?" Blake asked just as a groggy Ruby and Weiss shuffled into the kitchen. The former heiress sighed deeply as she made herself comfortable, pulling out her scroll to read the latest Daily Planet article. Her eyes briefly scanned the headline – 'Crime Wave in Jump City' by Lois Lane – before beginning to read.

"Dick's starting to come up with one," Garfield answered, a frown forming on his face. "He hasn't told me yet, but he's usually on top of this kind of stuff. If he says someone's behind all this, I believe him."

The girls nodded at this before continuing with what they were doing before. They sat together in silence as the others trickled in, each showing signs of exhaustion. Koriand'r's once pristine fiery hair was now disheveled and frayed, dark bags forming under her eyes. M'gann wasn't much better, her body a whiter shade of green than normal as she struggled to keep her current form. Jaune and Pyrrha trudged in soon afterwards, the boy half-asleep while Pyrrha yawned heavily. Cyborg managed to appear mostly the same, yet the bag under his eye betrayed his current state. Ruby chalked it up to his being part robot, although she couldn't help but notice he appeared to be distracted somehow.

None of them even compared to Raven's current state, which drew everyone's attention as she walked inside. A dark miasma seemed to form over her head, reflecting the storm of emotions swirling inside of her. Her eyes were lidded, with dark bags that seemed to be much deeper than everyone else's. Raven's arms were stiff and tucked against her body, and she was hunched over as she practically stomped over to the far side of the room. Everyone wanted to say something, but no one did. They weren't quite sure how the half-demon would take it, but it was obvious that the stress of recent events was getting to her. Ruby felt a pang of guilt and pity course through her, only to sharply look away when Raven felt it and turned to glare at her.

"Eep!" Ruby squeaked, shoveling down her cereal to avoid Raven's ire. Raven stared at her for a few more moments before sighing.

"Sorry, Ruby. I didn't mean to do that," she said, sinking further into her chair. "It's just… I'm so tired…"

"Rae," Garfield began, moving closer to her in order, "don't worry. We're your friends, and we understand completely."

Raven looked towards everyone's smiling faces and sighed before smiling as well. "Thank you." She then turned to face Ruby and smirked knowingly. Ruby stared back half-confused, which only increased once the others caught on and began to look towards her as well. Kori was easily showing her excitement, bouncing up and down in her seat while M'gann smiled warmly.

"…What?" Ruby finally asked, and Yang chuckled.

"Don't 'what' me. Don't you remember what happens tomorrow?"

"…Halloween? Speaking of which, I'm really looking forward to that. I'm gonna be a vampire!"

Yang laughed heartily and shook her head. "No, silly, although that does sound pretty cool. I want you to think hard."

Ruby narrowed her eyes and stared at her sister. She wondered what game her sister was getting at before Weiss groaned.

"Oh, for the love of – Your birthday's tomorrow, Ruby," Weiss finally stated. Ruby stared and blinked towards her partner for a few moments as her statement registered like a lightbulb turning on.

"Oh yeah, it is." Ruby hummed and tapped her chin. "Huh, so much had been going on recently it must have slipped my mind."

"Why am I not surprised," Weiss groaned, causing Ruby to childishly puff out her cheeks. That changed to squawks of indignation when Kori could no longer contain her excitement and flew over to the red Huntress, grabbing hold of her tightly and spinning her around.

"Oh, yes! I am the most excited!" Kori exclaimed as she continued to spin Ruby around. "Friends M'gann, Garfield and I have been planning the festivities for the last week! There will be cake, and presents, and-!"

"Star!" Victor interrupted Koriand'r's rambling. "I think Rube's had enough."

"Huh?" Kori looked down to see she was still holding a dizzy Ruby, a dazed expression on her face while her face appeared to be slightly green. With a gasp, Koriand'r gently placed Ruby on the ground, who wobbled in place before righting herself.

"I'm okay!" Ruby wobbled again, only for Kori to catch her. "I'm okay… Thank you…"

"I am most sorry!" Kori apologized, only for Ruby to wave her off.

"Eh, it's fine. Don't—"

Ruby was interrupted by a loud klaxon, indicating the Titans Tower' intercom had just been turned on. Immediately, everyone's attention was directed towards the speakers housed in the room's ceiling, waiting for the announcement they had been waiting for all morning.

"Everyone, meet me in the conference room," Dick calmly announced then turned the intercom off. As soon as it did, the heroes rose out of their seats and made their way downstairs towards the heart of Titans Tower, stopping by a large set of sliding metallic doors. The doors opened automatically as they approached, leading to a circular room with a round table in its center and a large TV monitor embedded into the wall. At its head was Dick Grayson, dressed in his Nightwing uniform, displayed on the screen was a young red-haired woman wearing glasses and a green coat. The screen showed she herself was in a room filled to the brim with monitors and various other surveillance equipment, several of which continued to run in the background.

"RWBY, JNPR, I want you to meet Barbara Gordon, otherwise known as Oracle." Nightwing announced as Barbara turned to face them. She smiled and waved at them, and the others waved back.

"Hey, Barbara. Name's Yang," Yang said. "This is my sister Ruby, my partner Blake, and Ruby's partner, Weiss."

"And I'm Jaune," Jaune announced shortly before directing her to the rest of his team. "This is Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora."

"It's nice to meet you all," Barbara replied. "I just wish I could meet you all in person."

"So, you're the one who was coordinating everything in Gotham," Blake pointed out, clearly impressed. Barbara smiled and nodded, and Blake nodded back. "I'm impressed, Barbara. Where'd you learn to do that?"

"Oh, you know. You pick up a few things here and there," Barbara replied with a smile on her face. Her smile then dropped as her face flattened into a more serious expression and she began to type into one of her many keyboards. "But enough about me. We've got business to discuss."

Taking that as their cue, the assembled heroes all took their seats among the table, turning their chairs as needed to look upon Oracle. She had already begun to manipulate the screen to her advantage, minimizing her face to a single corner of the screen as various CCT feeds and documents took up the rest.

"As I'm sure you're more than aware of," Oracle continued, "for the past few weeks Jump City has experienced a marked increase in the crime rate. Current estimates place it to a near 400% increase since Mumbo's last incident. Given how the crime rate increased shortly afterwards, I'm willing to bet my life the two are interconnected."

"Makes sense," Jaune agreed, rubbing his hand across his chin while resting one leg on his knee. "Everything started falling apart shortly after that. Tell me, how abnormal is a crime rate this high in Jump City?"

"Very," Nightwing answered darkly. "The last time Jump had a crime rate this high was in the immediate aftermath of the Darkseid War. Things like this don't happen naturally here, which led me to believe that this crime rate increase was artificial."

"Artificial?" Weiss asked. "You mean someone is manipulating all of this."

Nightwing nodded as Oracle redirected a few feeds onto the screen. "Once I came to this conclusion, I brought Oracle in to assist in the investigation. Through her, we were able to narrow down a list of suspects who would be behind this latest excalation."

As though prompted by his words, Oracle brought up a list of mugshots and dossiers, several of which RWBY and JNPR recognized instantly. As with Gotham, they saw Lex Luthor and Ra's al Ghul among the suspects, but to their surprise large red 'X's were emblazoned on each. The other two, however, were not, but the two teams couldn't recognize them. The first was a middle-aged man with a thin beard around his mouth, one eye covered in an eyepatch and wearing a set of orange and dark-blue armor. The second was simply a silhouette of a tall, imposing figure.

"Who are they?" Ruby asked, and Oracle moved to answer.

"Slade Wilson, otherwise known as Deathstroke the Terminator," Oracle stated. "Former U.S. Special Forces and participant in a top-secret experimental super-soldier program. The process gave him enhanced strength, durability, reflexes, and more. In short, he became a meta-human in all but name. The problem is that, shortly after, he left the military and became a mercenary. Several of his contracts have resulted in him coming into conflict with the Titans repeatedly, and he's attempted to destroy them several times in the past. His most successful attempt involved a young meta-human from Markovia named Tara Markov, codenamed Terra, infiltrating the Titans to destroy the group from within."

Beast Boy growled and ground his teeth at the mention of Tara. RWBY and JNPR could easily tell that the girl was a sore subject to the boy, with Ren and Nora instantly recognizing it as going beyond the mere facets of even an intense friendship, but chose to say nothing and allowed the Titans to continue.

"Think this might be one of his attempts to kill us?" M'gann suggested, leaning forward in her chair. "Getting us exhausted trying to stem a massive crime wave would soften us up substantially, and if I'm reading this correctly, he was spotted shortly before the crime wave began."

"M'gann, for once I hope it's Deathstroke," Nightwing replied, "but unfortunately, he's not the prime suspect this time. Oracle's confirmed that he left before the crime wave hit, and hasn't interacted with the city since."

"Maybe he's working from afar? It wouldn't be the first time," Cyborg added, obviously hoping beyond hope that the second man was not the root cause of recent events, but Oracle shook her head.

"The evidence suggests that, however faint, he's currently on a long term contract with Lex Luthor on security detail. Guarding shipments and research facilities from authorities. Say what you will, but at least the man honors his contracts."

"That's…unfortunate." Starfire frowned before moving her gaze to the other man. "Who's the other?"

Nightwing looked back at Oracle and nodded. At once, the image of Deathstroke was crossed out and replaced with that of a now filled in silhouette. He was a tall, imposing man, with balding hair stylized to look like horns wearing priestly garbs. A wicked smile was adorned on his face, but before anyone could say anything, an intense force emerged out of Raven that made them recoil slightly.

"Brother Blood," Raven hissed with such venom that it surprised RWBY and JNPR.

"I've heard that name before," Weiss interjected, "but you guys haven't yet elaborated on him. Who, exactly, is he?"

"Brother Blood, real name Sebastian Blood VIII," Oracle replied calmly. "He's the leader of the Church of Blood—"

"It's not a church!" Raven interjected angrily, causing everyone to turn to face her. "It's a damned cult that worships my father!"

Pyrrha let Raven's words sink in for a few minutes before feeling her eyes widen. "Wait, as in they worship Trigon?!" Unlike his apparent worshippers, the other Titans made them fully aware of who, exactly, he was. A dark god from another dimension, one who had enslaved countless worlds over the centuries, and was possibly the most powerful adversary the Titans had ever faced. According to Beast Boy, Raven had formed the Titans just to deal with him.

The fact that a cult that worshipped him, of all things, sent warning signs blaring through everyone. Nightwing saw the alarm grow on everyone's faces, as well as the justified anger on Raven's, before lowering his palm to get them to calm down. Once they did – waiting a not-quite considerable time for Raven to do so – he continued.

"Raven's account is accurate. Brother Blood leads the Church of Blood, a Trigon-worshipping cult that believes mankind is inherently sinful. To outsiders, they espouse an embrace of this 'truth' and encourage people to submit to their vices in search of enlightenment; but in reality, they desire one and only one thing: to summon Trigon to our world so that he can bathe it in fire and blood."

Oracle pressed a few more buttons on her end and opened a few more feeds, several of which began to play at once. "The evidence, admittedly, is scarce. They've made sure to destroy all evidence they can get their hands on. Cameras, security guards, intimidation, and more." Oracle couldn't help but let out a confident smirk. "But, obviously, not everything. They've left behind a few scattered clues around certain hotspots of activity."

"Such as?" Blake asked, and Oracle pulled up an image of a burning apartment building. Jaune recognized it immediately as the one he and his team jumped into to try and save anyone still trapped inside. They only managed to save a single firefighter and a family, but from what he heard the father didn't make it.

"A few hours before this building was set on fire, CCT cameras caught a few individuals wearing red robes with face masks walking by the premises repeatedly over the span of hours." As Oracle narrated, the men and women in question were shown walking by. "Church doctrine demands that worshippers wear those garments everywhere, thus allowing them to be noticed by the cameras in the first place while concealing their identity."

"Why hasn't the police picked up on this?" Ren pointed out, and Oracle simply highlighted another short video of the same building.

"Because this guy," she said, circling around a seemingly inconspicuous individual, "didn't wear his when he went inside. Records show he'd been a tenant for the past two years, renting a room on the top floor. On the day of the arson, he got up in the morning, went to work, and came back later that night to eat dinner with the other residents. During that event, he disappeared from internal security cameras for ten minutes, came back to finish eating, then went up to his room. At midnight, whatever sabotage he did set the building on fire, killing himself and twenty other people who were unable to get out in time."

Yang recoiled at this news. "He… killed himself? Why?"

"He's a fanatic," Raven curtly answered. "They all are. Any sacrifice is worth it to bring their lord to the real world, even immolation.

"That's not all," Nightwing continued. "Several individuals reported that their social media accounts, including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, posted compromising and scandalous subject matter online without their consent, some of which wasn't even real. The hacks were concentrated among those with violent or controlling spouses or loved ones, which often resulted in violence. Said individuals were also stalked by incognito Blood cultists beforehand, likely scoping out their targets."

Ruby frowned at that, remembering one such incident. At least it answered how the compromising photos were posted online in the first place.

"Similar events have transpired across the city for the past few weeks, all of which Oracle has managed to trace back to a Blood cultist. But that isn't the biggest piece of evidence." Nightwing motioned for Oracle to continue, and the wheelchair-bound girl immediately pulled up a security camera placed across the street from Blood's church in the heart of Jump City. To everyone's surprise, they saw Brother Blood, umbrella in hand, escorting a man they recognized as a normal looking Mumbo Jumbo inside. The video fast-forwarded to just thirty minutes later, when a now terrified looking Mumbo sprinted out of the church, tripping on the wet concrete as Brother Blood watched on.

"God…dammit…" Cyborg cursed, clenching his fists. Beast Boy was similarly enraged and turned to face his leader.

"It's obvious he's behind it," he emphatically stated. "We need to stop him, now."

"I must agree with friend Beast Boy," Starfire added, "Whatever the Brother of Blood's plans may be, we cannot allow them to come to fruition."

M'gann, Raven, and RWBY/JNPR all nodded in agreement, however Cyborg remained relatively composed. He kept his breathing steady, then looked over at everyone.

"As much as I want nothing more than to simply barge in to kick ass and take names, it wouldn't work. Not with what we have now," he pointed out.

"What are you talking about? Of course it would?" Ruby pointed out, only for Weiss to see where Cyborg was getting at.

"… No, it wouldn't," Weiss sighed and frowned. "It's not conclusive. The hacks can't be directly traced back to the Church of Blood, their robes would prevent the police from identifying their faces or appearance. It's a miracle even Oracle managed to pick up on their subtle movements. Mumbo's appearance in Blood's church before his incident can be argued by him as simply trying to provide comfort to a clearly troubled man. The arson can be explained as the action of a single man, not done because a cult leader told him to. Any competent lawyer, which they most assuredly could afford, would be able to argue against such circumstantial evidence in a court of law."

"You seemed to catch onto that real quick," Beast Boy pointed out, and Weiss nodded.

"My father did it all the time."

Blake nodded at Weiss' statement before leaning forward across the desk. "So, we need more concrete evidence, then. Something he can't lawyer his way out of. Any leads there?"

"Yes, actually," Oracle replied. "For the past few weeks, the Church of Blood has been ordering substantial amounts of supplies from overseas. They told authorities that they were simply food and other such materials meant for their congregation, but whomever they bought their food from wouldn't send Deathstroke to secure it."

Illustrating her words, Oracle pulled up a CCT feed of the docks, showing a large cargo ship entering port. Standing inside the ship's bridge, barely noticeable, was the armored visage of Deathstroke watching over the ship. Once again, the Remnantians were impressed by Oracle's ability to even pick up on it. Had she not done so, it most assuredly would have slipped them by completely.

"They've had a few more shipments since then, all on regular intervals. If the pattern holds, another one should be coming in tonight," Nightwing added. "I already have someone on site at the docks to watch over everything, and we'll be meeting up with her soon to stake the place out."

RWBY and JNPR nodded, understanding the plan almost immediately. They simply go in, wait them out, and intercept the shipment as it enters port, and catch Brother Blood red handed.

"Sounds good to me," Yang stated, cracking her neck from side to side as she did. "When do we head out?"

Instead of an immediate answer, Nightwing looked her in the eye and shook his head. For a moment Yang wondered why, only to catch M'gann's eye and finally remember.

"Oh, is that today?" Yang asked in complete surprise. "I completely forgot."

"I remembered," Ruby cut in with a haughty look, only for her sister and team to look at her with an incredulous look.

"You remembered our weekly session with M'gann but not your own birthday?" Weiss asked, and Ruby shrugged.

"What? We've been doing them since we've arrived on Earth. It's regular by this point."

Weiss couldn't help but slap her head at her leaders' statement before looking at the rest of the Titans. "Ruby's skewed priorities aside—"

"HEY!"

"- if you need any assistance from us, we can always call it off and host it another day."

"We'll be fine," Nightwing replied with an understanding smile. "Consider it a day off."

"…okay, if you're sure," Jaune stated, seemingly unsure of Nightwing's decision yet at the same time grateful. A day off from everything sounded amazing in his mind, and he could tell the rest of his friends thought the same.

Nightwing nodded then folded his arms behind his back. "We'll remain in radio contact with both you all and Oracle during the operation, and we'll let you and M'gann know if we need assistance."

Yang flashed a thumbs up as the rest of her team and JNPR nodded in understanding. Nightwing nodded back then looked at the rest of the Titans, sans M'gann.

"If that's everything, it's about time we head on over. Don't want to keep her waiting."

Following Nightwing's order, the on-duty Titans rose out of their seats and exited the conference room, undoubtedly heading towards the garage as Beast Boy complained about how they got days off but he didn't. Ruby couldn't help but wonder what vehicle they would take before deciding on the T-Sub, figuring that was the best option for staking out a dockyard. She and the others then turned to face M'gann, who was smiling at them comfortingly.

"Well, then. Shall we begin?"

---

From a submerged entry port on the base of Titans Island, a large orange submarine swam out silently over the undersea reef. Watching through their individual bulbous canopies, the Titans carefully monitored their approach to the Jump City dockyard, checking their instruments as Cyborg drove them in.

"I'm just saying, man. It's unfair," Beast Boy whined through the intercom.

"Garfield, get over it," Raven shot back. "You'll have your day off tomorrow when we celebrate Ruby's birthday."

"I know, but still…"

Despite himself, Nightwing couldn't help but smile at the two friends' bickering. It was a welcome change of pace from Raven's recent bout of extreme moodiness. A return to normalcy. The warm smile on Starfire's face told him that she felt the same way.

Nightwing smiled back before flattening his face, refocusing himself on the task at hand. His mind ran through the possibilities of how events might transpire, whether they would go perfectly according to plan or if they would fall flat on their face. He dreaded to think of worst-case scenarios but think of them he did all the same. If there was one thing Batman drilled into him, it was to plan for every scenario.

That wasn't to say he'd go as far as his father did at times, not that he couldn't understand why Batman did what he did. After all, Titans Tower was equipped for one such possibility at Raven's request.

"We're approaching the docks now," Cyborg declared, snapping Nightwing from his ruminations. Looking up, he saw that Cyborg's statement was accurate. The T-Sub was located directly underneath the central dock, resting on the ocean floor. Taking his cue, Nightwing activated a few buttons and watched as the submarine's active camouflage systems activated, causing the sub's photoreactive panels to shift colors and textures to blend into the ocean floor. Once it was completed, Nightwing placed a rebreather on his face and directed a thumbs up to the rest of his team. The others signaled back after preparing themselves, and a moment later their cockpits slowly became filled with seawater.

Once they were all filled with water, the hatches opened and allowed the superheroes to gracefully swim out towards the far side of the docks. Beast Boy, unsurprisingly, had the least amount of difficulty as he simply turned himself into a fish and swam across the seabed, Starfire and Raven swimming after him. Starfire had a rebreather of her own over her face while Raven was content with generating a magical sphere around her head. Cyborg, too heavy to swim, merely walked along the ocean floor, Nightwing swimming over him with a pair of flippers deploying from his suit's boots.

The team soon reconvened underneath their entry point. Pointing his finger up repeatedly, Nightwing signaled the Titans to swim up towards the surface. They did so silently and without question. Moments later, their heads broke through the waters' surface where they then proceeded to scan for any watchful eyes. At the same time, Cyborg hacked into nearby security cameras to remove them from view.

"Coast's clear," Nightwing whispered as he motioned for everyone to get out of the water, eyeing a lone ladder on the far side of the docks. Swimming towards it, they each got of the water before quickly finding cover among the many assorted shipping containers. They soon found a perfect vantage point on top of a mountain of containers, one that would ensure they'd be able to keep eyes on everything while at the same time preventing anyone from seeing them. Raven, Starfire, and Beast Boy flew towards it, Starfire holding Cyborg in her arms at the same time, while Nightwing merely grappled to the very top.

As the heroes began to assemble and place surveillance gear around the site, Nightwing began going over the plan one more time. "The ship should be coming in around midnight, well after the dock workers have left for home. The ones who are left are those likely on Blood's or Luthor's payroll. Our job until then is to figure out who is who.

"Once the ship does arrive, we are not going to attack right away. Our purpose here is to gather evidence, not make arrests. I'd prefer if no one even knew we were here. At the same time, Beast Boy will infiltrate the ship and disable the engines from underwater, preventing any possible escapes. If things get hairy, we go loud. Concentrate on bagging everyone and destroying any defenses while keeping the evidence intact. That's our priority."

"Got it."

"Understood."

"Question," Starfire stated while politely raising her hand. "Is there anything in particular you think we should go after?"

Nightwing shook his head. "A server, shipping manifest, things of that nature. Evidence that we can tie directly to Brother Blood. Any specifics, however, I don't have an answer for."

"The manifest's a lost cause," a woman said, catching the Titans off guard. "It'll be forged and altered. What you guys will want won't be on it."

Nightwing and the rest of the Titans looked up to see a young girl in her late teens staring down at them with her cat-like pink eyes. Her pink hair was stylized to look like horns with black bands holding the ends together, with a purple and black outfit completing her witch-like appearance. Raven couldn't help but frown at the girl's presence while the others looked at her apprehensively, except for Starfire who was jubilant.

"Jinx! So happy you could join us!" Starfire exclaimed with a smile. Jinx smiled back before leaping down to join the rest of the Titans with a twirling flip, landing on her feet like a graceful cat. Standing upright, she walked over to join Nightwing at the edge of their platform to overlook the dockyard.

"Jinx," he greeted. "Thanks for the assist. Sorry for the short notice."

Jinx chuckled. "You're not sorry." Nightwing didn't answer, causing Jinx to take it as an affirmation before continuing. "Seriously though. There I was, just chilling in Central City, living with my boyfriend, when I get a random call in the middle of the night asking me to come back down here and help you guys take down Brother Blood. I could have gone without seeing Ms. Dark and Broody over there for a few more months."

Raven growled in annoyance, but Jinx waved it off. "Raven, seriously. Take a chill pill. You lose control right now, at me just ribbing you, and this entire operation is a bust."

Rather than respond, Raven just huffed and walked to the far side of the platform. The Titans watched her go, and Beast Boy awkwardly shrugged before walking over to join her. Cyborg and Starfire, meanwhile, joined Nightwing and Jinx on the overlook. Seeing them, Jinx let out a smile, although towards Cyborg the smile was a bit more genuine.

"Why is she here?" Raven grumbled as Beast Boy patted her back.

"You remember what Nightwing said," Beast Boy replied. "She used to work under Brother Blood a few years back when she was still part of the HIVE Five. She knows more about his operation than any of us."

"A simple phone call would have worked…"

Ignoring Raven's snide comments, Jinx continued to talk. "In all seriousness, it's good to see you goody-two-shoes again. Still all in on the hero thing, right?"

"Yep, and that isn't likely to change anytime soon," Cyborg replied before letting out a smirk. "What about you? How's life in Central City?"

"Dull." Jinx sighed and leaned against the interior wall. "I'm still under probation, – speaking of which, me helping you technically counts as a violation of that, so if I'm going down, you're going down with me – so I can't really do anything. Can't even help Kid Flash with his hero work."

"How is Wally, by the way?" Starfire asked. Jinx smiled warmly in response, and Starfire responded in kind. "Oh, that's so sweet!"

"He's a sweetheart really," Jinx clarified. From the back of the platform, Beast Boy gagged while Raven rolled her eyes. Seeing Jinx acting like a lovestruck schoolgirl with Kid Flash was not something she wanted to see of the former supervillain. Continuing, Jinx said, "He wanted to come and help, but I told him to stay back home.

"After all," Jinx' expression flattened, remembering the last time she and the rest of her former team interacted with the zealot, how he took control of their minds and turned them into meat puppets, and growled, "he's mine…"

"You may need to get in line for that," Nightwing replied, tilting his head towards Raven.

Jinx turned back to face Raven for a brief moment. "I'm willing to share if you are?"

Raven didn't respond for a moment before nodding. Jinx nodded back before looking back down. "Anyway, back to why we're here. I've been staking out this place for almost a day, figuring out who's on Luthor's payroll."

"You can tell who they are?" Beast Boy asked, joining the discussion, and Jinx nodded.

"Mmhmm." Jinx then proceeded to point towards several scattered individuals. To the untrained eye, they appeared as normal as any other dock worker. "I knew several of them back in my HIVE days. Gizmo would smuggle parts in through them, and I suspected they'd still be in the game even now. Not only was I right, they expanded to a few more people."

"You didn't let the police know about smugglers?" Raven countered, but Jinx stared back.

"I did, and they're still here. In case you've forgotten, Luthor's got his little paws everywhere, and he's not about to let his workers go to jail for smuggling. That could tie things back to him, and he can't have that. Although, if you fail too much…" Jinx left her sentence hanging, but the Titans saw no need for her to finish the thought. They understood what she meant.

"Did anything interesting happen last night?" Nightwing asked, and Jinx nodded.

"A smaller shipment came in. It was…weird, though." Jinx frowned, causing the others to look at her.

"What do you mean?" Starfire asked.

"I mean, that 'Oracle' lady led me to believe that Blood was bringing in weapons. Guns, rocket launchers, and so on. I saw that, but…" Jinx paused, thinking over her words. "There was…something else. A completely sealed cage; several of them, in fact. I couldn't see inside, but the workers were scared shitless of whatever they held. They were so focused on keeping their guns trained on it that they didn't notice me swiping whatever I could off of them."

Nightwing and the rest of the Titans looked at each other in worry before looking back at Jinx. "Did you find out anything else about these cages? Names, what was in them, anything at all?" Raven asked, and Jinx shook her head.

"Not much, but apparently they've been bringing small amounts over for the past few weeks. Only a few per shipment of varying sizes." Jinx looked back down at the dockyard before looking back up. "I think he's planning to undergo some sort of ritual with them, but exactly what I have no idea."

"Did you get a scan on them?" Raven followed up, subtly doing the same with her own magic.

"I control probability, not magic." Jinx frowned, annoyed at the admittedly common misconception, before sighing. "But, whatever was inside that cage… It felt like pure evil."

---

Ruby laid back against one of the couches, her eyes tightly shut as she steadily breathed in and out. She appeared to be asleep, as did the rest of her friends, but she was anything but. Instead, deep in the reaches of her mind, Ruby sat inside her old dorm room in Beacon Academy. Everything looked and felt exactly as she remembered it, from the precarious bunk beds held together through rope and carefully placed books to the posters on the wall. She even saw Zwei's dog bowl tucked away in one of the corners, and Ruby couldn't help but let out a warm smile at the memory.

"It looks lovely," M'gann said as she sat across from Ruby on Yang's bed. Ruby nodded as she regarded the White Martian. Only the two of them were in the room, yet at the same time Ruby knew that this wasn't the case. After all, in the real world, they were in the same room.

One of the many benefits of their therapist being a psychic.

"It was," Ruby agreed, walking around the room and feeling her hand rub against one of the desks. "A lot of happy memories happened here." The Red Reaper then paused and frowned. "We were supposed to be here for three more years. We barely got through one before…"

Ruby's words trailed off, but M'gann understood exactly where she was going. "It's not your fault, Ruby. You or your friends, for that matter. The fault lies squarely on Brainiac's shoulders."

Ruby sighed and sat down on a chair. "You see, I know that. I didn't choose to blow up the world, he did. But, at the same, I can't help but feel as though I could have stopped him. It's dumb and wrong, but…"

"It's not dumb," M'gann interrupted. "What you're feeling is perfectly natural. We all go through this. 'What if I did this' or 'What if I did that'. Would things have turned out differently? After the Imperium Invasion, I myself wondered if, had I managed to become enlightened earlier, could I have turned the rest of my original species down a lighter path. Prevent them from trying to conquer Earth."

M'gann breathed in deeply through her nose and looked at Ruby. "But you can't account for everyone. People make their own choices, whether they be wonderous or terrible, and you can't control everything. At the end of the day, Brainiac was too powerful for any of you. Planets far more advanced than Earth or Remnant have tried and failed to stop him.

"Yet, at the same time, the fact that you made it as far as you did is commendable," M'gann emphasized. "You and your friends had been fighting non-stop for two days, fought Brainiac anyway, and managed to live to tell the tale. Through the eight of you, Remnant still lives. Don't take that away from yourself."

"…yeah, I suppose you're right." Part of Ruby didn't fully believe that, but at the same time she appreciated the sentiment. Sighing again, she laid out across her bed and stared up at the makeshift canopy. "I had another nightmare last night. Same one as always. Brainiac comes to Earth, kills all my friends, and captures me. It always ends when he reaches for my eyes."

M'gann nodded, recognizing Ruby's frequent nightmare. She had been experiencing them intermittently ever since she arrived, but instead of focusing on how that wasn't going to happen to her, M'gann tried a different approach. "Why always the eyes?"

"It's what he was interested in when he captured me, why he captured me. But, even after all the tests with the League, they still don't know why he was interested in them. They're just…normal eyes."

"That's not true," M'gann stated, causing Ruby to look towards her. "They're your eyes. That makes them unique."

Ruby smiled, appreciating the pep talk from M'gann, and chuckled. "Thanks. For…everything really. To all of you. You and the League, you guys took us in when you didn't have to. All of us really appreciate it."

"Ruby, you're my friend. All of you are my friends. There's nothing I wouldn't do for any of you."

M'gann smiled warmly at Ruby, and the young girl smiled back. M'gann then felt her concentration relax, and the White Martian was brought back to the real world. She looked around the room to see all of teams RWBY and JNPR asleep on their couches and chairs. M'gann's mind was connected to all of them, independently yet synchronized. Her ability to do so was honed through years of practice, allowing her to concentrate on everyone's individual needs at one time.

Each of them had their own similar and unique psychological needs post-Brainiac, which M'gann had been carefully documenting and advising the team on ever since they had arrived. Nightmares, tremors, tell-tale signs of PTSD. Back when the teams were in the League's custody, Diana and others had overseen their therapy, but M'gann had taken over it once they had arrived at Titans Tower. She was happy that significant progress had been made, yet at the same time knew it would take years for them to fully move on.

That was by far their biggest hang up, M'gann noted as she wrote down notes on a legal pad. As she expected, each of them (not necessarily to the same degree) blamed themselves for what happened to Remnant. That if they were stronger, things might have gone differently. That they could have defeated Brainiac and possibly put the cities back. Yet, at the same time, they also knew that thought was fallacious and harmful. The fact that they recognized that was a massive relief to the Martian girl.

As she wrote down more information, psychic conversations with the other Huntsmen and Huntresses trickled in. All played out separately from one other yet at the same time took place in their old dorm rooms at Beacon Academy. Jaune was still unsure about how he felt towards Pyrrha, knowing it was intense but not whether it was merely an intense friendship or a romantic one. More than anything else, the boy was terrified of losing his best friend over them. Pyrrha felt the same way towards her partner, and M'gann advised both to take it naturally, perhaps even try one date when both were ready. Apparently, Ren and Nora, who had gotten a great deal more codependent on each other lately, were even willing to go on a double-date with their teammates to help them through any awkwardness.

Blake was currently talking about the guilt she feels about leaving her parents behind in Menagerie. She had left them on poor terms and, now that Remnant was gone, worried that she'd never see them again. Yang, on the other hand, talked about how she feared losing everyone. It took a while for it to come out, but apparently Yang's mother had abandoned her and her father when she was just a baby. The irony of the two partners' contrasting issues was not lost on the telepath. M'gann emphasized to Blake that her parents, no matter what, loved her despite how she may have left, and she comforted Yang that she didn't have to fear her friends and loved ones leaving her. She was most confident of that, given how their bonds as friends had strengthened ever since their ordeal.

Weiss, meanwhile, talked about how much she missed her sister. She knew Winter lived through the battle, but she still worried about what happened after. Towards the rest of her family, Weiss unfortunately held less…fond sentiments. She still missed them, but no where near the level of her sister. M'gann suspected that there was quite a bit more to unpack there than Weiss let on, perhaps enough to warrant more dedicated sessions to later. Other than that, she had managed to compose herself well, although she was pouring herself into learning everything she could about the world as a coping mechanism. Weiss had defaulted towards a studious mindset, which M'gann supported yet at the same time urged to keep in moderation.

All of them felt a little bit like freeloaders, however, given how none of them had been able to pay for the things they wanted. M'gann was more amused by that then anything else yet jotted it down all the same. Overall, she was happy with how the two teams were progressing, to the point where she was recommending that they scale back their sessions from once a week to once a month. Sighing to herself, M'gann leaned back against her chair and pulled out her communicator, texting her brother to ask for a status update.

'Anything?' she texted, sending the message soon after. A moment later, her T-Phone buzzed as Garfield responded.

'Nothing yet. Raven's moody, though. Still doesn't fully trust Jinx. Can't say I blame her, but I've been trying to calm her down,' he responded. M'gann nodded at this information, expecting things would turn out like this.

'Give her time. I'm sure she'll come around soon.'

'I know. Gotta get back. Luv ya, sis.'

"Love you, too, Gar.'

---

Several, agonizing hours of stalking later, with the moon high above the dockyard, a lone ship finally came into view. It was small, carrying a single cargo container on top of its hull. Nightwing saw the name 'White Portuguese' emblazoned on the side, yet according to Cyborg's databanks, the ship sunk years ago during a voyage in the Bermuda Triangle. Obviously that wasn't the case, but the name did little to tell the Titans who owned the vessel beyond 'baseless' suspicion.

"That's it. That's the ship," Jinx confirmed over the radio in a low whisper. "They only bring in one or two cargo containers, unload them into trucks, then leave. In and out in thirty minutes, with no one else the wiser."

"Doesn't hurt that they've disabled the security cameras. Got them playing an endless loop," Cyborg added. "They're working now, of course. Camera feeds looking over the entire dockyard, going straight to Titans Tower."

"Nice job, Cy," Beast Boy congratulated his friend. Nightwing could feel the smirk on Victor's face, but he had to keep them focused.

"Beast Boy, get in position. I don't want that ship to leave if we can help it," he ordered. Beast Boy quickly acknowledged it and, disguising himself as a tiny bird, flew out over the water then turned into a fish, disappearing underneath the waves. None of the criminals currently unloading the crate from the vessel seemed to notice him, and Nightwing nodded to himself. Things were going to plan, but he refused to let himself rest on his laurels here of all places.

After all, it was when things appeared to be going to plan that they tended to go terribly wrong.

High above him, hiding behind the largest of the dock cranes, Starfire watched over the assembled criminals as they worked, taking note of their numbers and weapons. There was about ten dockworkers assisting dozens of armed men, taking inventory and making sure that nothing was out of place. Her eyes kept track of the few that held rocket launchers, specifically on the munitions that she couldn't recognize.

"Cyborg, what are those?" Starfire asked. A few moments passed before he replied.

"Can't tell. Experimental weapons, obviously, but there's no record of them in anything I can access."

"What are they firing?" Nightwing asked.

"That's just it. I have no idea. Whoever made those things didn't want them analyzed. Cyber security's top notch, and it'll take me a while to break through."

"Do it. I don't want any surprises."

Starfire could feel the apprehension in her boyfriend's voice, his concern for his teammates' lives and safety overriding everything else. It was one of the many things she loved about him. Despite being the weakest among them, he still fought twice as hard, if not harder, than anyone else she knew. She wasn't surprised he'd take the threat of unknown munitions seriously.

That wasn't to say she wasn't. Should a fight break out, those weapon would be the first to go.

"Move it, move it!" one of the armed gunmen yelled out as crates of weapons and equipment were unloaded out from the crate."Make sure those aren't damaged! Any that are come out your paycheck!"

"Don't rush me, you brute!" a docker countered as she inspected a rifle. "We're getting paid good money for this shit, and the last thing I want to find out is that these weapons are defective."

"These are top of the line LexCorp weapons. Their quality is assured."

"Uh-huh." The woman sounded skeptical, while the man simply appeared annoyed. "Where'd you get them, anyway?"

"Things disappear," he darkly answered, gesturing to the rifle in his hands. "Like you if you don't shut up and get those things loaded."

Rather than appear intimidated, the woman merely rolled her eyes and shut the weapons case and directed the arriving truck to begin loading them. It was unmarked, with no logos or even license plates to distinguish it, which the Titans assumed to be a precautionary measure against watchful eyes. Nightwing flipped a tracking device in his hand, eyeing the trajectory he'd have to throw it to reach the truck, when a loud commotion redirected his attention back to the White Portuguese.

"It's coming out!" another gunman shouted. At once, every available weapon was trained onto the cargo container as a pair of dock workers nervously went inside with a forklift. A few moments later, a large, windowless metal crate was lifted out of its previous confines, and whatever creature it held banged repeatedly against the metal.

"What in the world..?" Cyborg asked in both curiosity and horror as he scanned the box with every frequency. "I'm not detecting anything in there. No thermal signatures, no heartbeats, nothing…"

"Well, obviously something's alive in there," Starfire noted.

"I wouldn't call it 'alive'," Raven clarified, trepidation in her voice. "I wouldn't even call it dead. More like…whatever the opposite of life is."

"See, I told you. Whatever's in that thing is pure evil," Jinx added, but Raven shook her head.

"Evil implies choice, knowledge, higher brain functions. Whatever this thing is, there's no real mind I can detect. Just an engine of pure destruction."

Everyone paused at Raven's remarks, letting them swirl in their minds.

"Well…that's disturbing," Starfire finally said.

"I swear to God, if there's a mini-Doomsday in there…" Cyborg half-joked, trying to somewhat lighten the tension.

"Don't joke about that, man," Jinx replied, and Cyborg shamefully sighed. Nightwing, meanwhile, kept his eyes centered on the crate, only for one particularly hard movement to knock it off the forklift and onto the dockyard.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" a gunman shouted as he and others raised their weapons towards the object as it continued to rattle and shake, the creature inside roaring unnaturally. The forklift operators were eyeing it fearfully, even as the head gunman directed them to pick it up.

"Hurry up! Get that thing loaded, now!"

"But-!"

"Does it look like I care? Hurry up!"

With a sigh, the drivers moved the forklift over to pick the object up, only to suddenly back off once the crate moved again. With an angry grunt, the gunman moved over to threaten the worker, only to stop once a loud clang erupted from the White Portuguese.

"Will you snot-for-brains hurry up!" a shrill voice shouted as its owner stepped out onto the ship's deck. It was a young child, no older than fifteen, yet completely bald. He was wearing a green jumpsuit with a grey backpack, and he regarded everyone with annoyance and disdain.

"Oh, shit…" Nightwing cursed, immediately recognizing the boy as Gizmo. The rest of the Titans did as well, and weren't happy about it.

"What the hell?!"

"When did Gizmo get here?!"

"Jinx, explain now!" Nightwing demanded, and an equally panicked Jinx began to stutter out an explanation.

"I-I don't know! He wasn't here yesterday!"

"She's lying!" Raven countered, absolutely furious. "This is a trap, I knew it!"

"No, it's not! You think I want to work with that idiot?!"

As the two continued to argue, Starfire interrupted. "Um, it's not just Gizmo."

True to Starfire's word, from behind Gizmo emerged four other criminals they instantly recognized. Mammoth, Billy Numerous, Kyd Wykkyd, and See-More.

"You chumps need some help with that?" Mammoth asked with a smug smirk as he walked over to the fallen crate. The forklift operators didn't answer, merely allowing the hulking man to easily lift the box over his shoulder. The creature inside thrashed about and roared, and for a moment a look of nervousness creeped into Mammoth's face, but he just as quickly disregarded it and placed it inside the truck.

"There, problem solved."

"Goddammit, it's the whole HIVE Five…" Cyborg cursed. From behind his mic, they could hear the faint sound of Cyborg priming his weapons. Nightwing both understood and agreed with the action, his own hand hovering over one of his utility belt's many pouches.

Things had just gotten a lot more complicated.

"Nightwing, what do we do?" Starfire asked. Nightwing ran through the options in his head. The odds of a fight breaking out had increased exponentially, almost to the point of being assured, and with that in mind he changed the plan accordingly.

"Change of plans," he replied, pulling out a wing-ding as he did. "We attack when I say so. Beast Boy, disable the engines. Raven, Jinx, disable the truck but don't destroy the smuggled goods. Cyborg, Starfire, get yourselves in position."

"On it."

"Understood."

"You got it, boss man."

Beast Boy squeaked in response, likely having turned himself into a mouse to infiltrate the White Portuguese, but Raven did not. Instead, Nightwing looked around, trying to find her, and to his horror he saw a dark miasma form over where the half-demon was hiding herself.

"Raven, calm down!" Nightwing ordered.

"I'm…trying…" Raven grunted out. "That creature, it's…messing with me…"

True to Raven's word, the creature inside the sealed cage thrashed about even more as it appeared to sense Raven's distress.

"Get it together, girl!" Jinx cautioned, but the creature thrashed even more. The HIVE Five and the smugglers had begun to pick up on the creature's increased agitation, many of whom began to raise their weapons.

"Uh, guys?" See-More nervously asked, his lone eye widening as he backed up a step. Billy Numerous did the same while Mammoth clenched his fists in preparation of a fight. Kid Wykkyd, however, remained impassive as his eyes began to search the area. The cage thrashed about even more, throwing itself from side to side, causing the remaining gunmen to point their weapons towards it apprehensively. Several clicks were heard as safeties were turned off, yet despite the increased tension Gizmo merely grunted in annoyance.

"Bunch of pie-for-brains," Gizmo cursed while pulling out a data pad and pressing it. Electricity then burst from within the cage, electrifying whatever was held within. A bloodcurdling roar was heard from behind the sparks, and the cage thrashed about even harder. Gizmo frowned and increased the voltage in response, and after a few moments the thrashing finally died down. The child prodigy waited a few more seconds before finally smiling and turning the cage off, snapping his fingers as he pocketed the device.

"There we go," he said triumphantly, but rather than feel impressed one of the smugglers marched up to him angrily.

"You idiot! You could have killed it! Do you know how much that thing is worth?" he shouted, but Gizmo scowled instead of backing down.

"Well then, how about you go check? I don't care if it lives or dies, I already got paid. The way I see it, keeping it alive is your problem," Gizmo countered and mockingly pointed towards the truck. The smuggler grunted angrily before directing one of his men to check the container. A woman nervously gulped and stepped towards the cage, her body glistening from a nervous sweat. She slowly opened a small sliding window and peeked inside, shining a flashlight as she did.

"I don't—" she started, only to jump back as the creature slammed against the wall between them. She screamed in fright as the cage rattled more and more, outward-forming dents appearing as the creature attempted to break free. One dent was slashed open with a large white claw, and a single glowing red eye peered out at the terrified smuggler before Kid Wykkyd finally teleported her to safety.

"OPEN FIRE!" the gunmen shouted before a barrage of bullets rang out towards the cage. Sparks and ricochets erupted from the cage as the creature thrashed in pain, only to finally stop and slump over. The barrage didn't stop for almost a minute afterwards, only ceasing when a small cloud of black smoke billowed out of the many holes in the cage.

"Cease fire, cease fire!" A few more shots rang out after the order was given, and the Titans watched silently as the criminals reloaded their weapons and hoisted the cage out. They looked inside the cage, hoping to catch of a glimpse of the creature's corpse, only to see nothing.

"Wh-what the hell was that?!" the recovering smuggler asked as her coworkers tended to her.

"A waste of assets," the lead gunmen responded before turning to Gizmo and the rest of the HIVE Five. "I thought you were supposed to keep that thing contained?"

"Nah, see, our job is to keep the shipment safe from any would-be do-gooders," Billy Numerous clarified under a southern drawl. "Cops and Titans and such. Keepin' that thing alive was the last thing on our minds, givin' how dangerous it was."

"Good riddance," See-More muttered under his breath. "That thing gave me the creeps."

Kid Wykkyd remained silent and impassive alongside an annoyed Mammoth as Gizmo and the other criminals began to argue. The Titans, meanwhile, continued to record everything.

"What the hell was that?" Jinx asked. None of the Titans nor the security cameras had managed to peek inside the cage as it was being lit up, only catching the white claws and red eye, and they were utterly lost as to what the creature was. Raven, meanwhile, seemed to calm down as the miasma around her faded.

"Raven, you okay?" Cyborg asked, and after a moment the half-demon responded.

"I'm fine…whatever that thing was, its effect on my mind is gone now…" Raven admitted, and Nightwing sighed in relief. He then turned his attention back towards the criminals. They were beginning to pack up and leave, and Nightwing began to issue the order to attack, only to notice with alarm that Kid Wykkyd had suddenly disappeared. The HIVE Five and the other smugglers had just noticed this as well, wondering where the black-cloaked teleporter had gone.

"Uh… Where's Kid? Starfire asked. Nightwing moved to answer, only for his instincts to kick in. He quickly turned around just as a dark portal opened behind him, from which the supervillain attempted to deliver a kick to Nightwing's head. Nightwing easily caught it and flung Kid Wykkyd against the wall of a shipping container he was hiding behind. He prepared to punch Wykkyd in the face, only for the supervillain to smirk and teleport away. Nightwing managed to stop his fist from striking the aluminum container and immediately brought his fingers to his ear.

"TITANS, GO!"

Just as he gave the command, shouts of the criminals and supervillains rang out. Shots began to fire alongside rockets against spells and starbolts, and a screech of metal announced Beast Boy as he turned into a blue whale from the inside of the White Portuguese.

"Goddammit, my ship!" a voice rang out as Starfire dodged rocket fire. From above, she could see the dock workers scurrying for cover as the armed and dangerous criminals fired at her and her teammates. The ones with rocket launchers continued to fire their weapons towards her while others fired at her friends. As she continued to roll between rockets, she saw Cyborg burst from his hiding place and fire his sonic cannon at a group of mercenaries, their bullets pinging harmlessly off his chassis while the sound waves sent them flying back. One merc grabbed hold of a fifty-caliber machine gun and began firing it, forcing Cyborg into cover, but Raven then erected a shield to block the heavy rounds. Behind her, much to Raven's obvious displeasure, Jinx began throwing hexes towards their opponents. She struck a pile of wooden crates with one, causing them to topple over and crush a group of mercenaries into unconsciousness.

Starfire, rolling out of the way of another barrage of rockets, threw some starbolts and struck the shooters center mass, knocking the weapons out of their hands and the breath out of their lungs. The heavy machine gun turned to fire at her, only for a wing-ding to suddenly strike against the man's head, distracting him long enough for a snake-formed Beast Boy to coil himself around the man and constrict. The gunner screamed in agony before losing consciousness, then the green-skinned boy turned himself into a gorilla to pound on a few more criminals nearby.

"Bunch of amateurs!" Gizmo snarled as four spider-like legs ejected from his backpack. The Titans were easily beating the hired goons in no short order, and if he didn't act soon then everything would be a bust. His gaze turned towards the truck, where he saw that despite a person trying to start the vehicle, it wouldn't start. Snarling, Gizmo then forcibly lifted one of the fallen mercenaries to his feet and glared into his eyes.

"Get you and your men out of here!" he ordered before throwing him back.

"Wh-what are you going to do?!" the mercenary asked while getting himself to his feet.

"Our jobs." Gizmo looked at Mammoth, and the brute looked back and nodded while cracking his knuckles. Then, Mammoth picked up a nearby shipping container and hurled it towards Raven's shield, shattering it and forcing Raven and Jinx into cover. Cyborg dove out of cover as well once Mammoth proceeded to charge through the concrete pillar he was hiding behind. The metallic young adult retaliated by morphing his fist into a giant club and socking Mammoth across the jaw, spinning him around.

"Uggh!" Mammoth grunted as he steadied himself. Then, with a confident smirk on his face, he cracked his neck and began to circle Cyborg. "For a puny man, you hit pretty hard."

"Oh, I can do a lot more than hit hard, Mammoth," Cyborg taunted while flexing his arm back. With a wordless roar, both of the fighters charged at each other and engaged into a brutal brawl, throwing punches, kicks, and elbows wherever they could.

Nightwing, meanwhile, was engaged in a fierce melee with Billy Numerous and his many clones. The Texan supervillain assaulted the Gothamite from all sides. With each clone being his own individual, it made combating all at once a challenge.

"Gotta admit," Billy said as he dodged one of Nightwing's punches and retaliated with a kick, which the superhero proceeded to catch and pivot, hurling the man into one of his many clones. "I always respected the fact that you kept up so much without powers. Props."

"Does it look like I want your approval?" Nightwing asked as he backflipped away from a pair of Billy clones attacking him from the side, causing them to hit each other instead. He then spring-boarded off his hands and flipped again, this time throwing a trio of wing-dings into different clones, where they then exploded into a concussive blast and knocked the clones back.

"Nah, just professional courtesy, really." Billy, seeing how two of his clones were out of commission, merely generated two more in their place and was none the worse for wear. He continued to assault the Titan leader from all sides, continuing to produce more and more clones at the same time.

"Still," Billy continued, "you're interfering with my work. Sorry, but a man's gotta get paid."

"You know there are other ways to use your powers legitimately, right?" Nightwing rhetorically asked as he deflected several clones' blows at once, retaliating with his own in kind.

"Yeah, I know, but where's the fun in that?" Billy smirked at his own remark, while Nightwing sighed regretfully. Any further thoughts were interrupted by repeated assaults by numerous clones, forcing Nightwing to throw down a gas pellet and zip away in the ensuing confusion.

See-More, focusing his attention on Beast Boy, fired an ocular blast from his helmet's singular eye towards the Titan. Dodging it by turning himself into a sparrow, Beast Boy flew forward in retaliation, zipping back and forth to prevent the ocular blasts from striking him. Once he got close enough, he turned into a gorilla and threw a powerful punch, only for See-More to generate a force field around himself from his eye, causing the furry fist to recoil back.

"Aagh!" Beast Boy grunted as he turned back to normal, shaking his fist. "That hurt!"

"Better you than me!" See-More replied as he fired another ocular blast, which Beast Boy quickly dodged by turning himself into a mouse, albeit not without a few singed hairs. Scurrying forward to meet the supervillain, Beast Boy turned himself back to normal and delivered an uppercut, knocking See-More's head back. Seizing the initiative, Beast Boy threw another punch into his gut, causing See-More to nearly double-over. Then, as the Titan reared his fist back for another blow, See-More shot his head up and shot Beast Boy square in the chest, sending him flying back.

"Gaagh!" he screamed as he flew into a pile of wooden boxes.

"Beast Boy!" Raven screamed as she fended off an attack from Kid Wykkyd as he teleported in from behind her shield and threw a punch towards her head. Raven ducked underneath and attempted to fire a swath of psychic energy at him in retaliation, only for Wykkyd to portal away. Raven growled before ducking underneath one of Jinx' thrown hexes, striking one of the few remaining mercenaries attempting to assist the HIVE Five.

"Hey, watch it!" Raven shouted angrily towards the former supervillain.

"You watch it!" Jinx retorted as she threw another hex towards a group of criminals, shattering their guns in their hands. "And pay attention, while you're at it!"

"Grrgh!" Raven growled, her fist glowing, only for another mercenary to make himself known. He was attempting to jump-start the disabled vehicle, and Raven nonchalantly ripped the man out with a dark tendril before moving on. Jinx scowled at her behavior before noticing Gizmo attempting to assemble a piece of machinery. She then ran towards her former teammate, causing Gizmo to drop what he was doing and attack her with a stab from his mechanical legs.

"Hello, Jinx," Gizmo said, venom dripping from his voice. "Long time no see."

"Would have preferred not seeing you again, to be honest," Jinx admitted as she threw a hex towards Gizmo. The young boy scowled as he leapt to the side, pulling out a pair of energy pistols strapped to his backpack and began to fire towards Jinx. She dove for cover behind a concrete slab, ducking her head down while Gizmo continued to fire.

"Not so tough now, are you, Jinx?!" Gizmo taunted, his voice muffled by energy blasts. "Think yourself a superhero now? Newsflash, snot-brain, you're nothing more than a no good traitor!"

"Better a traitor to you idiots than have to deal with your whining all the time!" Jinx countered as a plan quickly formulated in her head. "Plus, I nearly blinded myself staring at your bald head all the time."

"IT'S A MEDICAL CONDITION!" Gizmo shouted as he replaced his spider-legs with a jetpack, flying up to get a better angle and continuing to fire at his former teammate and forcing her out of cover.

High above them, Starfire, having finished with the rocket-wielding criminals, continued to chase after the fleeing remnants, only to hastily stop herself as a screaming Cyborg flew by her. The Tamaranean deftly caught him and returned him to the ground just as Mammoth lifted up a forklift and charged towards them prongs-first. Starfire responded by firing a concentrated beam of ultraviolet energy, striking the forklift and sending Mammoth skidding back. Cyborg soon joined her in the assault, firing his sonic cannon at high frequency. Mammoth felt his ears ring in pain as he struggled to keep his makeshift shield up, but eventually the pain grew too great and he let go to try and deafen the noise, allowing Starfire's attack to strike him dead-center. He bounced against the concrete repeatedly before pushing himself up, spitting dismissively as he did.

"Heh, that all you got?" Mammoth asked before charging forward once again. Cyborg looked at Starfire and nodded, and the two charged forward to meet the brute head on. Ducking underneath Mammoth's gargantuan fist, Cyborg uppercutted while Starfire fired several starbolts into his back. Mammoth screamed in pain and thrashed around, only for Starfire to fly above his head and kick down just as Cyborg lifted him up from the waist. Mammoth's head impacted the concrete hard enough to slightly crater it, but Mammoth merely growled and swiped Starfire away like a pesky fly.

Starfire briefly tumbled through the air before righting herself. Flying upwards with her hands glowing bright green, she took the opportunity to look around the battlefield. Her friends were still fighting against the members of the HIVE Five, the rest of the mercenaries long gone, while the truck still remained behind. With no one trying to make off with the evidence, and Raven taking the time to prevent anyone from outright destroying it, Starfire looked to where Nightwing was currently engaged with a mountain of Billy clones.

It was more akin to an acrobatic retreat than a straight up fight, but that was beside the point. Making her decision on the fly, Starfire's body glowed bright green as she flew towards the combatants at top speed, plowing into the surprised Billy clones and scattering them like bowling pins. As they attempted to straighten themselves, Starfire reunited with Nightwing and took stock of his injuries.

"You're hurt," she noted, but Nightwing merely shook his head.

"I'll be fine. The truck?"

"Still here, Raven's magic is preventing anyone from messing with it." Starfire briefly glanced down to look at the assembling Billy clones. "How are we going to beat him?"

"Billy can only make so many clones at one time before he overloads," Nightwing replied. "He's nearing that limit."

Starfire, immediately catching on to Nightwing's plan, smiled and floated back up. Without saying a word, she flew back down and fired several starbolts in rapid succession at Billy Numerous and his many clones, forcing the ones not directly hit to dive away. At the same time, Nightwing threw several concussive wing-dings at Billy.

"Why you little-!" Billy growled as he created more clones and sent them after both heroes. The Titans split and fled deeper within the maze of shipping containers as a red tsunami raced towards them. Occasionally, both would turn around to briefly fire back, forcing Billy to create more clones to compensate. A ringing in the back of his mind was beginning to form, but he shrugged if off as he continued his pursuit. Eventually, his wall of clones came across a dead end. Rather than turn around, he simply created more and, together with the rest of his clones, lifted the shipping containers over their heads to look at Nightwing and Starfire on the other side. Billy smirked, then threw the container towards them, only for the Tamaranean to merely catch it and place it to the side.

"…ya know, sometimes I forget how strong you are, Starfire," Billy admitted.

"Thank you!" Starfire exclaimed jubilantly as her eyes glowed. Soon after, she fired beams of ultraviolet energy out of them, striking multiple Billy clones at once and forcing the others back. At the same time, Nightwing deployed a net from behind him, trapping the clones from both sides. Feeling alarmed, Billy started to create more and more clones with reckless abandon. The strain on his body increased, but he powered through as Starfire's assault began to weaken.

"Why don't y'all just give up?!" Billy suggested as he started pushing through. "I promise that-!"

He never got to finish his sentence as Nightwing tossed several bundles of small disks into the crowd of clones. The disks latched themselves across their bodies, and Billy didn't even have a moment to guess what they were when electricity coursed through them. He screamed in agony from the voltage, his clones spasming before, one by one, they began forcibly reuniting with the original. Each reunion caused Billy to scream even louder, and once the final clone rejoined him, he fell into unconsciousness. Nightwing quickly tied him up and chained him to a steel pole, at which point Starfire lifted him up and flew them both towards the battlefield.

They smiled once they saw the tide beginning to turn in their favor. Beast Boy continued his fight against See-More, the young villain attempting to simultaneously protect himself with his forcefield while attacking with his ocular blasts. Beast Boy, meanwhile, relentlessly attacked his opponent with seemingly no regard to the hits he was taking, content with merely wearing See-More down. Evidently, judging by the villain's heavy breaths and slightly torn outfit, the tactic was working. He was, however, sporting several wounds along his arms and chest, something that the Titans would obviously look at later.

When See-More fired yet another blast at Beast Boy, he turned himself into a rhino and charged straight through the attack. Panicking, and knowing his force field wouldn't be enough to stop the charge, See-More enlarged his eye like a balloon as he tried to fly away, only for a hastily thrown hex to strike him back down and into Beast Boy's path. See-More flew back from the hit, slamming into a metal wall, and cracked his helmet completely off. His real face, complete with two eyes, was briefly exposed before he fell into unconsciousness, and only then did Beast Boy turn back to normal and begin to nurse his injuries.

At the same time, Mammoth was thrown into the wall next to See-More's unconscious body. Before the brute could reorient himself, Cyborg ran up and delivered a flying knee into his gut, causing him to double over. Cyborg then proceeded to wallop the man repeatedly across the head with heavy cybernetic fists, finishing off a dazed Mammoth with a dual sonic cannon. The sound waves rattled Mammoth's mind, and for a moment he screamed before falling over.

"Good riddance," Cyborg remarked as he helped Beast Boy tie the two villains up.

Far away from them, Raven continued her fight against Kid Wykkyd, whipping tendrils and throwing magical swaths towards him while he continued to dodge with his portals. Eventually, he formed a portal underneath Raven and attempted to pull her in, only for Raven to turn around and reach through the portal and grab him instead. Surprised, Wykkyd barely let out a grunt before Raven forcibly pulled him through with a tendril. Then, with a snarl on her face, she slammed him repeatedly against the ground before throwing him against the truck. In a daze, Raven proceeded to bombard him with dark magic for several moments, the hints of a manic grin appearing before she stopped herself. Wykkyd stared at her for a scant second before falling over, unconscious, and after Raven confirmed he was alright she wrapped him up with magical chains. She regarded him for a few more moments in deep contemplation before a large creaking sound redirected her attention.

She quickly found the source to be Jinx, having enacted her plan to trap Gizmo among several wires from nearby cranes. The wires were threaded and strung him up like a spider's web, yet despite his obvious predicament he continued to thrash and curse at them like the child he was.

"You let me out of here this instant, you dweebs!" he demanded as Starfire tied him up and brought him down. Lying on his back, Gizmo stared up defiantly at the Titans as they stared down upon him, regarding them with cold indifference.

"You're not in a position to demand anything, Gizmo," Nightwing reminded him as Raven rejoined the others. Seeing Beast Boy's state, she carefully walked over to check his wounds, but he waved her off and smiled instead. Cyborg, answering Nightwing's unspoken command, went over to check on the truck, while the Titan leader began his interrogation.

"Now then," Nightwing continued, "we have a few questions for you, if you don't mind."

"Oh, like I'm going to answer your stupid questions," Gizmo replied. Nightwing stared for a few more moments before nodding.

"I figured as such." Nightwing then stood up and looked at Raven, tilting his head towards Gizmo. Suddenly the young genius felt a pang of fear course through him as the furious half-demon towered over him. She elongated her body to unnatural levels, dark tendrils ejecting out of her body as her hood covered her face.

"H-hey! What are you doing?!" Gizmo fearfully asked as he attempted to futilely get away. "S-stop it!"

"What's the matter?" Raven asked, her voice sounding warped as her cloak opened, revealing a seemingly endless shadow underneath. "Afraid of a little dark?"

Then, without warning, tendrils wrapped themselves around Gizmo and proceeded to slowly drag him inside. He flailed and screamed in fright as she continued to drag him forward, the Titans looking stoically onward.

"J-Jinx! Help me!" Gizmo begged, but Jinx (knowing the game the Titans were really playing) shook her head.

"Not until you tell us what we want," she reminded him. As the void grew ever closer, Gizmo flailed one last time before relenting.

"Alright, I'll talk, I'll talk!" As soon as he said the words, Raven immediately let go and returned to normal. The Titans all looked at him, Gizmo taking the time to bring his breathing back under control, before returning their gazes.

"Wh…what do you want to know?"

"For starters," Nightwing began, "when did you and the rest of the HIVE Five start working for Brother Blood?"

"Blood?" Gizmo replied. "You'd think I'd work for that freak after what he did to me? Pfft, as if."

"You're lying. You'll do anything for a quick buck…or to save your own skin." Jinx pointed out. Gizmo didn't answer, glaring at her, so she continued. "So tell me, which is it?"

Gizmo remained silent, apparently unwilling to answer. With a sigh, Nightwing snapped his fingers and Raven prepared to start again, only for Gizmo to quickly drop his composure and break.

"Alright, alright! Geez…" he declared. He took a few steady breaths, and continued. "Look, I don't know what he wants. Me and the Five were hired only recently, supposed to make sure you dweebs wouldn't try to interfere."

"Great job there," Beast Boy joked.

"Yeah, sure, laugh it up. You won't be laughing once his plan works." At Gizmo's declaration, the Titans grew silent and stared him down.

"You know what his game is? Talk, now!" Raven demanded, hoisting him up to her face. Gizmo looked fearful once again, only this time Jinx took the young villain away from her. She stared her down before looking at Gizmo.

"You heard the lady. Talk," Jinx said.

Gizmo paused, wondering whether or not he would take his chances with the Titans or with the crazed madman who'd hired him. Seeing Raven's enraged visage, he quickly made his choice.

"They didn't tell us nuthin," he admitted. "Didn't even know I was working with the guy until we were halfway here. But the mercs…they liked to talk when they didn't think I was listening. They didn't know much, either, but all they knew was that whatever Blood's plan is, it involves those things. Set them loose in the city or something."

"The creatures?" Starfire asked, and Gizmo nodded. "What are they?"

"Lady, I have no idea," Gizmo darkly answered. "If I were you, I'd get out of this city before he makes whatever he wants to happen actually happen."

The Titans regarded Gizmo for a few more moments, studying him to see if they could get anything else, before noticing Cyborg rejoin them. A frown was on his face, and in his hands was a single datapad.

"Bad news, guys," Cyborg said. "The gunfire destroyed most of the evidence. All I got was this."

"Can you get into it?" Beast Boy asked, slightly disappointed.

"I could, but without the decryption key it'll take a long time. Security—" Cyborg was interrupted by a squawk from Gizmo as Jinx lifted him up and turned him over. Ignoring his indignant shouts, she tore off his backpack and opened it, fishing her hand inside before grabbing a small USB stick and tossing it to Cyborg.

"How did you-?" Gizmo began.

"Please, you and I both you couldn't help yourself."

Gizmo remained silent for a moment. "…Alright, you got me there."

Cyborg, nodding in thanks, scanned the USB for harmful substances and found none. He then downloaded its contents into his memory banks, allowing him to access the datapad.

"Alright, I'm in. Thanks, Jinx."

"No prob, Stone," Jinx replied with a knowing smirk. Cyborg shook his head in amusement while the other Titans looked at Gizmo.

"So…uh… I'm going to jail, aren't I?"

"No, you're too young, dude," Beast Boy replied. "You're going to juvie!"

"That's the same thing!"

---

They rounded up the criminals as best they could. A handful managed to escape, mostly the upper echelons, but overall the Titans and Jinx considered the operation a success. Cyborg was already downloading the gathered information into the dedicated server at Titans Tower. The police were loading the handcuffed criminals into armored cars, preparing them for detention while confiscating anything they could get their hands on.

"So, what now?" Jinx asked, leaning against a building's exhaust pipe.

"Just gonna decipher and compile everything," Cyborg replied. "Should take about a day or so, with everything that's on here."

"And once we do, the Brother of Blood will be vanquished." Starfire smiled brightly. Jinx couldn't help but share in her enthusiasm. Even when they were enemies, the Tamaranean was always infectious. She then turned her attention towards Raven, who remained offset from the others.

"Yo, Dark and Broody over there," Jinx called out. "What's up?"

Raven turned to regard Jinx for a moment before sighing. "Just…thinking about everything. That creature, it…overwhelmed me, for some reason."

"Any idea what it was?" Beast Boy asked, but Raven shook her head.

"No, I don't, but that's not what scares me." The Titans directed their full attention towards Raven, who took a deep breath and continued. "Before it went berserk, something was channeled through it. Whatever that creature was, it acted as a conduit for dark magic…magic I recognized."

"What do you mean?" Nightwing asked, alarm steadily growing. When Raven looked back up at him fearfully, he immediately understood.

"That magic…was the same kind I use. The kind I get from my father."

Raven's words hung over everyone like a guillotine. Their breaths hitched, and for a moment no one knew what to say.

"…Shit," Jinx finally broke the silence. "Please don't tell that means what I think it means?"

"Possibly," Nightwing admitted with a gulp.

"Trigon…" Beast Boy murmured before looking at Raven.

"Friend Raven, you have nothing to fear," Starfire declared while walking over to an increasingly distraught Raven and hugging her. "He can't get through without going through you, and you are the strongest person I know."

"Am I?" Raven asked, breaking away from Starfire. "I'm a time bomb. I lose control for an instant, and he gets in. What if all that's been going on has been just been to get to me? All the stress, and anger, and fear…"

"Rae, trust me," Beast Boy interrupted and placed his hand comfortingly on her shoulder. "We're not going to let that happen to you. We're your family."

The Titans, following Beast Boy's example, smiled warmly towards Raven. She looked upon them for what seemed like ages before sighing and smiling in turn.

"You good?" Jinx asked once she felt the moment was done. Raven looked back at her and sighed.

"Maybe. Once everything calms down, I'll be fine. Sorry for—"

"No need to apologize. I get it, I'm not the most trustworthy person on the planet. If it makes you feel any better, I sometimes steal a piece of candy when I go shopping."

The Titans stared at her blankly. "…Really?" Cyborg finally asked, and Jinx shrugged.

"What, it's a piece of candy. Who cares? Besides, a year and a half ago I used to rob banks. That's progress, in my book."

Cyborg sighed at her answer, as did the other Titans. To his surprise, however, Raven actually chuckled. Jinx smiled triumphantly at this before stretching her arms.

"Well, it's been fun and all, but I better head out," she stated.

"You're leaving already?" Starfire asked, and Jinx nodded.

"Yeah. Don't get me wrong, it was nice to see you guys again, but frankly if I'm away from Jump City for any longer the feds will start asking questions. Ciao."

Jinx waved at the Titans as she ran off, the Titans waving her off as she jumped down from the rooftop and out of sight. Part of them wanted to extend an invitation to her for the next day's festivities, but at the same time knew she wouldn't accept. Jinx didn't seem to be the type of girl to do birthday parties.

"Are we good to celebrate tomorrow? Now that we possibly know what Blood is planning?" Raven tentatively asked, still nervous.

"Maybe not," Beast Boy admitted. "But the way I see it, if Blood's entire plan hinges on you snapping under the stress he's caused, the best way to counteract him is to make yourself less stressed. Stop playing his game and play a different one. Celebrating Ruby's birthday might be the best way for us to do that."

"As friend Beast Boy says, 'there's no party like a Titans party'," Starfire quoted, and Beast Boy smiled.

"Exactly! And if that creep does try something, we'll go in and kick his ass."

"That doesn't mean we should let our guard down," Nightwing interjected as they arrived at a secluded section of the docks. Pressing a button on his gauntlet, the T-Sub broke through the water's surface and opened the canopies, allowing the Titans to hop inside. "Cy, I want constant surveillance on the Blood Cathedral. He does anything, I want to know about it."

"Will do," Cyborg responded as he hopped in the pilot's seat, strapping himself in. "I'll also start forwarding the information out to our friends in the media. Get him so wrapped up in allegations he won't be able to do anything other than 'defend' himself."

"He's usually cut back when evidence of his wrongdoings came out in the past," Starfire noted, nodding in approval. Raven looked at her teammates for several moments before nodding. The stress of the last few days was getting to her, causing her to lash out when she really shouldn't and she doubted charging straight in would make things any better. For all they knew, jumping straight in was Blood's exact plan. No, it was better to wait for Cyborg to finish decrypting everything in the data pad, allowing them to catch Brother Blood and preventing the slimy man from getting away as he always did.

No matter what happened, Raven vowed he wasn't going to win.

---

Brother Blood sat grimly in his red-leather chair, nursing a cup of wine in his hands. His latest shipment was supposed to arrive half an hour ago, only for it to never show. He already knew what had happened, so when one of his followers burst into his office in a panic he calmly turned his head to address her.

"Father, the Titans! They—" she began.

"I know, Margaret," Blood interrupted, taking a drink of wine in the process. The girl silenced herself, waiting for her leader to finish before he swallowed and regarded her again. "How much was lost?"

The girl gulped nervously before answering, "Some of the mercenaries were able to escape, but the HIVE Five and the other unfortunate souls weren't so lucky."

"Hmm… So much for hired help," Blood frowned then pressed on, "And the shipment?"

"Destroyed," Margaret admitted. "There was an…incident involving the Dark One. It tried to escape, so the mercenaries killed it."

In a striking reaction, Blood snarled at the news in absolute fury, sending Margaret into a brief fit of fear. Brother Blood quickly composed himself, however, and calmly sighed.

"That's…unfortunate. It seems as though the Titans are beginning to catch on to our plans," he talked to himself before waving the girl away. "Go, I must commune with the Allfather."

"O-of course, Father Blood." Margaret bowed and shuffled out of the room, closing the door behind her. Brother Blood waited for a few more moments, hearing the sound of her footsteps fade away. Once they fully disappeared, Blood snapped and angrily threw his wine glass against the wall, splashing the red liquid against the mahogany walls and sending shards of glass flying. One managed to slice him across the face, sending a trickle of blood running down his cheek, but he paid it no heed as he stomped towards an empty wall.

Pressing his hand against a single panel, a secret door appeared in the floor next to him, revealing a staircase that led down to a small chamber. He walked down the stairs, entering a small room lit by candles, the walls stained dark red in a dripping pattern. Some splotches were duller than others, while some were still quite fresh. Memories flew through Brother Blood's mind as he walked towards the far end of the room, of the various activities and rituals performed in this consecrated hall, those most sacred to his flock. He stopped in front of a large metal altar and knelt, staring up at the stone statue of a snarling Trigon. Taking a deep breath, he began to pray.

"Lord Trigon," he began, "it appears as though our enemies will soon be at our door. I seek your guidance."

For a moment, all was quiet. Not a sound was heard, only the sound of Blood's own breathing. That silence was broken as a load roar echoed from the stone statue, its four eyes glowing red before bursting into flames. With a load creak, the head turned to face Brother Blood intensely, but rather than showing fear the zealous priest appeared relieved.

"Lord Trigon, a pleasure as always," Brother Blood greeted warmly, but if Trigon shared such sentiments he didn't show them.

"Insect," Trigon began, his booming voice echoing with the voice of a legion, "do not pretend to regale me as though I were one of your petty sycophants. My patience runs thin, even with you."

"Of course." Brother Blood stood up and dusted himself off, no longer playing the part of a dutiful worshipper. "My words ring true, however. It appears as though we may have overplayed our hand, and the Titans are beginning to catch on. There's no doubt in my mind that they will put the pieces together soon. I suggest that we—"

"YOU DARE TO COMMAND ME?!" Trigon boomed, his voice sending Brother Blood flying back a few feet. The fire spewing from Trigon's eyes intensified, and the room began to warp and glow from the intense heat. Blood began to feel terrified, but rather than show it, he merely stood up and dusted himself off again.

"Of course not, Master. I was merely trying to make a suggestion. I am your most humble servant on this sinful world, and live to do your bidding."

The fire raged for a few more moments before subtly going down. Pleased that his words appeared to have a calming effect on the demon, Blood pressed forward. "What do you suggest we do?"

"My daughter's walls are crumbling," Trigon replied, "Even now, after her pitiful attempts at reinforcement. Soon, there will be nothing left of them. All I need is one, final push on the weakest stone, and my path will be opened. Call off your agents. Allow them to believe their present course is the correct one. Then, when the time is right, strike. Do this, and you will experience power you have never had before."

For the first time in the entire conversation, Brother Blood let out a wicked, toothy grin. "Of course, Master. Is there anything else you require?"

Trigon, pleased with his servant's obedience, chuckled. The sound sent shivers up Blood's spine, but he paid rapt attention towards them. "Yes. You know what I desire. Make it so."

Brother Blood nodded and calmly walked back up the stairs, the stone statue extinguishing itself as he did. He walked to his office's door and opened it, where he saw Margaret sweeping the floors of the main hall with a broom. Brother Blood stared at her for a few moments, studying her with his intense eyes.

"Margaret, my dear?" Blood called out, causing the girl to stop what she was doing and look towards him.

"Yes, Father?"

"Could you come with me, please? The Allfather requires of you."

[~][~]

Hello, everyone! Here's the latest chapter of Hunters of Justice. Sorry for the long wait. Real life happened. Once again, special thanks to NaanContributor and Jesse K for all their help with this entire story. It wouldn't be half as good without them.

Now, onto the Q&A:

MadTitan9: Yes, those were references to Rooster Teeth. I'm glad that someone managed to catch those. I can't answer the spoiler questions, obviously, but rest assured that I have plans in store.

Hey It's That Guy: Probably not, to be honest. I love the Tower of Babel storyline, don't get me wrong, but they're here for another purpose/because it's something Batman would do. Elements might appear, but probably not the entire storyline.

RandomName3064: Well, as of this chapter they've been on Earth for almost two months. I try not to give a definitive timeline for multiple reasons. At least in terms of dates and such. Just know that everything is taking place on a natural, consecutive basis. As for other RWBY characters, rest assured that I'll be revisiting them in the future. The way I see it, by starting with RWBY/JNPR I'm able to keep the initial focus constrained rather than throwing everything together all at once.

Zander2212: God dang... That is a thick skull.

Vein Bloodborne: I'm happy that you like the story. As for Kori's kissing to learn languages, trust me I want to incorporate that but it has to be natural element to the scene, you know?

Jacob9594: I'm glad you like the Batcomputer files. I have a lot of fun writing them.

Guest 1: The League highly suspects it.

captaindickscratcher: You'll have to wait and see what Project HUNTER_BAT entails as well as 'evil' versions of RWBY/JNPR. As for weapon upgrades, I want the heroes to develop them on their own rather than just be given them, you know? Makes the upgrades appear to be more natural. Sure, some will obviously be built by others, but even then much of the design was heavily influenced or directed by the characters themselves. Case in point, their new uniforms.

Cloud-0: I plan on touching more of the Green Lantern side of the universe eventually. Don't worry, you'll get your wish.

TM Calypso: You'll have to wait and see what exactly comes of these Contingency Files.

6tailedninja: BM is Batman in the audiolouge. And I'm glad you like the Batcomputer Files chapters.

Dracus6: The only one of those I can unoquivically confirm is Renora, as that is a sacred cow no one shall touch. As for Arkos and RWBY ships, you'll have to wait and see whether or not they end up happening. One of the things I want to do with this story is explore the full possibilities of the crossover, and while shipping won't be a major focus, I do want to explore some fitting crossover pairings and not just canon ones. I won't say what they are, but we hope that they come across as natural and fitting.

NexusPrime42: We have plans on the Two Brothers, but you'll have to wait and see.

mastergamer14: Again, you'll have to wait and see on the Two Brothers.

That's all for this update. See you all next time!