It was silent; not even a stutter of breath was exhaled. The place looked like it could contain a town with how gigantic it looked, towering over a hundred feet, built with titanium alloy to withstand most ballistic projectiles. It houses multiple cages; each containing an individual, yet no one shows the bare amount of escaping. Everyone stares in the center in horror; protruding eyes stare fixedly, eyebrows that dared to surpass their hairlines, and posture slacked in mortification.
The place was built in the shape of a dome, with the ceiling built with thick reinforced glass to allow some natural light against artificial lighting that coated the ceiling too bright. It housed two, thick sliding doors located in the north, heavy enough to creak in agony when footsteps resonated from the other side.
Those contained inside instantly switched their gaze to the doors, breath still held in anticipation, each one looking at each other trying to make sense of what was happening. Yet the new company remains silent, eyes heavy as they sweep from the terrified captives to the center.
The center contained the central headquarters, with a towering ray that pointed upward, machinery slightly humming in activity. Controls lined circular to the towering ray hugged its proximity, with multiple screens displaying several codes scrolling too fast for the naked eye to comprehend.
Yet that is not the source of fear. Brother Blood clicked his tongue in disappointment upon seeing what remained of soldiers on the control chair. There laid upon the controls where bloody entrails of what could be identified their digestive system, blood freshly dripping, spreading towards everywhere, stench invading the whole room of metallic scent; it has stuck to the back of his throat and he found out that he cannot swallow, as if the thick stench has found its way to his throat.
Remnants of the controls -if you could even still call it that- were coated with claw marks, each looking enough to have cut in at least three-inches deep. Each claw marks containing at least five slits, giving him the information that a human could have done this. Several embedded marks were coated with blood, if he glanced closely maybe he could tell even remains of intestines lined up with those.
The scene offered nothing but brutality: with jaws separated from the skull, flesh hanging off of what remained to make up the mouth; eyes plucked out and rolled down towards the floor, limbs twisted in the most gut-wrenching position he has ever seen; and, stomachs opened as if they were offered as an offering.
He scanned their captives, each shaken up as he was internally. His face tenaciously stayed stoic, devoid of facial emotions, yet the balled-up fists hidden inside his white, pristine cloak shakes intensely. He clenched his jaw and dared to approach what could have been classified as a slaughterhouse closely. With how the soldiers were slain he came to the conclusion this was a one-sided battle. No blood trails lined up where the suspect had gone, he looked back to where he entered, questioning those thick doors for an answer. The entire area was built to lock in these captives of theirs, with a strictly-distributed code the only way to go in.
The doors where he originated from groaned again, and he looked back in surprise and fear. The lights flickered wildly, coating the room with darkness and light simultaneously before bursting out from overload. Glass shards showered everyone, and he exhaled, the moonlight only their source of light and the door offered nothing but the abyss, yet he knew something was housed inside the void. The room grew colder than it was supposed to be, the atmosphere felt strange, as if fear had become an essence and it infiltrated the room.
Brother Blood yelped in fear as black tendrils suddenly lashed out from the doors, instantly locking into him, hungry for his flesh. He desperately puts up a telekinetic shield, but it failed to protect him as it shattered to pieces, a sharp tendril having broken the barrier, heading straight to his left eye.
The villain voiced out his pain as he screamed, falling to his knees as he tried to clutch what remained of his vision. Unsatiated, the tendrils continued to seek him, snaking towards his body and piercing his body. He shudders in terror, body lies still in compliant as a figure emerges from the void. A growl rang out, coated with several guttural octaves as if it did not belong to one, it rang and echoed throughout the dome, increasing in intensity as it neared the crumpled villain.
Brother Blood choked and he forced out blood through his mouth with painful fits of cough. He has backed into the towering ray located in the center, and he stares helplessly against the approaching figure, with two pairs of crimson eyes focused on him, he can only stare.
"Scath-..." He manages to voice out in a hoarse voice, the tendrils in his body never stopping its tortuous dance around his body, coating him with his own metallic blood. The figure neared him, and he desperately raised up one arm, palm opened up in surrender.
"Scath! This was not the deal!" He desired to say more, yet his captives decided to buy time for his timed destiny, death was calling and it was just at bay, waiting for its opportunity to bring him to the afterlife.
"Raven! Stop!" The figure stopped, head canting to look at the Titan's leader. Robin was locked inside a yellow, spherical cage, with a white foundation built to support the weight. The leader was lacking his usual belt, leaving him weaponless and defenseless. The rough treatment on the heel of his gloves suggested that he abused his hands too much banging against the yellow coating of the cage.
Several cages beside him also housed the honorary and founding Titans, looking equally roughed up as him, devoid of their weapons, specifically-crafted neutralizing chains bound in their wrists. All of them looked equally terrified of Raven.
Raven looked at them, smiling when they cowered under her gaze. The fear that emanated from them was nothing but ambrosial to the demon coated in the blood of her prey. A hearty purr found its way out of her throat as she licked her canines and she looked back to her prey, the main course of her meal.
Ignoring the pleas of her leader, she squatted down to level their eyes, with hands placed on each knee, black, thick claws hugging the curve of her joint. This one in front of her that shared the same emotion with others tasted the best. It was raw fear, coated in the thickest layer of regret. She resumed her abuse, delighted in the moans of pain that Brother Blood voiced out.
He gurgled in his own blood, a thick stream of scarlet liquid trailing from his closed left eye. His remaining eye was half-lidded, unable to stare at her. She growled, a clawed hand forcefully grabbing his chin to jerk it, her prey groaned in pain, an eye that lost all its hope stared back at her.
"Moral lesson? Never make a deal with the demon. Even Slade learned from it." Raven said, yet was it still her voice? It retained her monotone voice, yet it was laced with something else, it was rich, heavy, and sinister. Guttural noises from the back of her throat played a part, helping her purr in satisfaction as one a feline would. Her voice seemed to originate everywhere, omnipotent if you could call it. Resonating within the room, sending chills to the captive heroes.
"Would you like to discover something? A heart tastes best when it is filled with regret and fear." She purred along the statement, proving her point as she recalled the memory. The Titans have grown silent and still at the information, once again repeating their actions when they saw her slay those soldiers like fresh meat.
"A shame… that I won't be able to taste yours." She grinned, showcasing her rows of sharp teeth hiding beneath her lips and before the villain could do anything, a circular flame emerged from where he lay, continuing to grow before demonic runes appeared in a crimson glow. A portal opened up and anguished voices rang out, skeletal fingers emerged and clutched to him for dear life, and he found himself screaming in dread. Those myriad skeletal limbs used him as leverage as it hoisted and skulls appeared from the portal, it continued to crawl towards him, eventually clawing towards his face, ripping apart his flesh as he was dragged down to the depths of the portal. His last terrified plea for help was his departure from this realm.
A sinister laugh coated the room, darkness covering the room responding along with her pleasure. The shadows danced as if they were alive; rejoicing along her path of madness and destruction. She finished, and the shadows stilled, the ambient atmosphere returning as the essence of demonic aura was called back from the darkness of her cloak. She looked at her handiwork, smiling in satisfaction.
She glanced back at the caged heroes, and she found herself raising her blood-coated claw, licking off the crimson drink that she recently enjoys the taste of. They recoil out of fear, bodies pressed against the cage as if it would help them. What they knew of her before: fearless, merciful and caring, was thrown out of the window. What they only saw before them was a demon filled with savagery, an unsatiated desire for madness, and perhaps, even yearns for their lives.
She walks towards them slowly, a predator cornering her meal. They stilled under her command, yet fear still buzzed in their eyes, heart pounding in fear. Her white locks bobbed against her brick-colored skin as she took a languid pace towards them. Dried blood chipping off her body as she took a step after another, they all knew none of those belonged to her.
She dropped her gaze towards her terrified leader, the tip of her claw tapping against the yellow cage that crackled from the disturbance. Her pairs of crimson eyes glowed, alerting the detective as he clenched his fist, attempting to protect himself, even if he knew it was meaningless.
She smiled; the leader grimacing in utter horror and fear as rows of sharp teeth revealed itself.
"I think it's time I follow my heritage, Robin."