Note: I wrote Trigon and Angela...have fun?

How is it, Trigon wonders, that the screams of his naysayers have the same effect on him as the rare and wondrous, mortal sound of a John Coltrane track, melodious and transcendent. Their insides turned to liquid at a click of his fingers, their eyeballs melted into their skulls, seeping from their orifices, the way a song travels through him, only less painful. How is it, he wonders, Rachel believes all she can do is spit black matter and turn blue in the face. Maybe that one is obvious though, raised and hidden by Melissa, taught to fear it and fight it. But he wonders how it is, that she doesn't realize every time she thinks she's resisting the Raven; she's really, only making her stronger.

He steps out of a portal and he's back in the suite, dusting bone ash from his hands and suit. He watches the door Rachel sleeps behind, or pretends to, and listens to the steady thrum of her fragile heart. Such a wasteful organ, and bringing her so much suffering. How is it, such a small and inconsequential muscle (inherited from her mother) in her chest can control her and lead her away from him, away from herself? It's something he truly cannot fathom, and certainly cannot allow to continue.

Bee makes herself known behind him, slurping meat from the bone, then crunching the bone down to the marrow and slurping that, too. "She hasn't made a sound,"

Trigon smiles. He hears music coming from her room, a disco song filling his head when he peeps. She has taste. His smile grows bigger, and proud, she's blocking him from her thoughts, already she is learning.

"I don't appreciate being demoted to babysitter," Bee spits.

His smile stretches wide and cold, and his eyes bleed clear. "I don't appreciate the tone." Straightening his shoulders, satisfied her attitude has been corrected when she hunches over her leftovers, he sighs. "If it makes you feel better, I wouldn't leave you to babysit a corpse,"

Bee stands. "Then why did you leave me here?"

"The same reason I left Raven here, right now, you're useless to me." Trigon says. "I took care of the organization myself; I prefer a clean house."

"We still have a problem." Bee says. "We can't break the last seal until we have it, and we don't have it. The Raven," she snorts, "isn't the Raven at all, and Asa remains in the shadows instead of by your side."

Chuckling at the puny demon, he joins her at the table and starts to fill his plate. She has no sense of self-preservation and it's what he likes most about her. "I am the future, bub, this world waits on me and I shall deliver unto them, a new beginning."

"You know where the seal is?" She questions.

He opens his palm, glancing at remnants of dust and rubs his fingers together, and then he tucks in. He picks at the fragrant crab, pulling its legs apart. "This seal is very special, it's the most important one, do you think I would lose sight of it," he glances over his shoulder. "that I'd let anyone, or thing lose it?"

"Then what are we waiting for?" Bee asks, shaking with anticipation and bouncing impatiently.

Trigon glances over at Rachel's door and turns back to the window, cracking his teeth against the hard shell. The night has come in and lights from the buildings blink like stars. He peers out into the mortal world through human eyes, limited eyes. The scope of their vision is tunneled, the colors soft and bright, ridges smooth and distance short. How beautiful the lie the mortal's live, all is well as far as the eye can see, but their existence is transitory. They've been lied to from the moment they exited their mothers' bodies, their senses unrefined, purpose primitive and their insatiable needs unsatisfied.

Such simple beings, running wild like animals, surely, they were made for this; to be ruled, subjugated, led. Humanity without choice, without the burden of freedom was freedom itself. He was going to end their scramble for power and bring them to their knees, and they were going to bow with gratitude. They will bow down or they will burn with the world, their flesh washed away by fire, and their rebellion turned to ash.

The feral beings whisper about him in their churches, homes and make TV villain out of him, all the while bringing on the apocalypse themselves. They fear him. They fear each other, but they should've been fearing themselves. But soon Raven will be ready to take her place at his side and together they will burn down all hatreds and the mortals will come together once more, for one cause, to serve him and scrub the world clean.

"We are waiting for a seed to grow," Trigon says, finally.

"It's taken too long already for your little seed to grow up," Bee says, smacking her lips together. "She's grown attached to the humans."

"If you want a fruit to grow, you must first plant many seeds, bub." Trigon smiles. "The one I planted in Raven has already taken hold."

"Then what seed are you talking about?" Bee asks.

"I have been inside the minds of the ones she cares about most. The ones who believe, naively, that they can save her. I have seen their worst fears, deepest regrets," he inhales the food in front of him with his eyes closed and breathes out, slowly opening them again. "They are barely together, held at the seams, but I know their futures because I have seen their pasts. All it would take to unravel them is a gently tug," he makes a soft motion like plucking a fruit from thin air.

"Angela," Bee deduces.

"I didn't leave her behind because her job is done," Trigon says with a smug grin.

"But what if she turns against you," Bee cries. "She has before. And the last time she had her arm. Angela may have brought the Raven into the world, but she is still human, like the rest of them."

"Her loyalty is mine," Trigon says. "I have something she wants more than anything in the world."

"More than her own demon offspring?"

"More than anything," Trigon echoes.

"And the seed in Raven," Bee says. "when will that bare fruit?"

Trigon turns to face Bee with his arms laced behind his back. "Do you know, in the mortal world, there is such a thing as broken heart syndrome?" he flickers a smile at her.

"Raven's a demon, like us, we don't possess them. How would you break a demon-,"

"Not a demon's, bub," Trigon shakes his head. "A child's heart."

Bee raises her brow. "How do you break a child's heart? Eat it?"

He reaches forward, across the table, closing the distance between them. Rachel's heart still beats steady in his ears, music still plays around her thoughts like a merry go round and meanwhile his black seed grows roots. "You take the thing that matters most to them," he makes a fist. "and you crush it."

Bee's smile is wicked. "Angela is the fist."

"Angela is the seed." Trigon corrects. "I am the fist." He broadens his shoulders and settles back. "Raven wishes to be human like them. She pines for them. Their guardianship. Their love." He clenches his jaw, and his nose flares. "This mortal world has become a disease, and I intend to cure her of it."

Angela watches from the window as Donna rushes from the front desk, flinging the motel room key into the air for Dawn to catch. She's trapped in Hank's truck, but over her shoulder, she can see Dick pulling Kory's limp body from Donna's, into his arms while Gar and Jason stay on the lookout. She snickers, the boy doesn't exactly look inconspicuous with a cape around his shoulders. It's almost as if he fears he'll forget he's Robin if he takes it off, and she wonders if he's wearing it so Dick doesn't forget either.

"In here," Dawn says, pushing the green door open, making way for Dick as he carries her in.

Angela can still feel the heat of Kory's blast all around her, the hairs on her arm are still rigid, her skin still warm, and the smell, it lingers in her nose and throat. Kory took a bullet for Dawn, and then blasted each uniform in front of her in a blaze of glory. It was a sight to see, and her body hair stood in excitement. It was beautiful. Mesmerizing. She was breath-taking. It was a show she did not want to end, but did, and as soon as the last man fell to his knees, so did she.

Excitingly, she'd turn every last one of them to ash, and all without touching a hair on her friends' heads. Dawn had fallen to her knees trying to catch her, and it was Hank who lifted her and carried her to Donna's truck with Dick and Gar on his heels.

Angela doesn't realize she's leaning on the door until Hank rips it open and she almost falls out. She winces, glaring up at his banged up face when he grips her tight, glancing around before he drags her across the lot and into the motel room with everyone else. He kicks the door shut behind them and slams her into the lounge chair in the corner of the room that faces the bed Kory now lies in. "Don't move," he growls.

She flashes him a grin and turns her attention back to the gang. Dawn sits Hank at the edge of the other single and rummages through her holdall, emptying it of its contents until she finds gauze, safety pins and other shit to clean him up with. His left eye is bloody, and so is his nose, and as he shrugs out of his jacket, it becomes obvious as he bares his teeth that injury hides beneath his shirt, too.

"Hey," Dick crouches beside the bed and gently taps Kory's face. "Kory," he whispers. "wake up."

"Is she going to be okay?" Gar asks, his voice shaky, as he sits next to her. Dick doesn't answer. "Dick? Dick-," he says with more emergency, and Dick looks up at the boy, like he's hearing him for the first time.

"Yes," he clenches his jaw. "Alright. I promise."

"Hey," Jason almost vibrates, he's so excited. "Your girlfriend's a badass, she fucking supernovered those assholes," and Dick glares, "she's going to be okay, though, right," he adds. "I mean, you said she would-,"

"Kid," Hank starts. "Shut up,"

"I take it, from the sheer panic," Dawn says, "She's never done that before,"

"No," Gar answers, flinching from the heat when he touches her arm. "Dick, she's burning up, what do we do?"

"Uh," Dick stands up, and rakes a hand through his hair. "Donna see how many towels are in the bathroom and soak them. Jason, Gar, go find as much ice as you can, we're going to fill the bathtub."

Donna is up before he can finish his sentence, and Jason is heading to the door, but Gar hesitates. "No," he says. "I want to stay,"

The boy is traumatized, a blind person could see it. It's all getting to be a bit much, and she can't blame him, after all, she'd warned him, and it turned out she was right. His glance in her direction every few seconds was confirmation.

"Hey," Dick's voice calls Gar back to him. "It's okay. You'll just be a second."

Gar gives a fraction of a nod and follows Jason out of the room, his eyes flickering up at her one last time before he pulls the door shut. Donna emerges with three drenched towels and she and Dick work on wrapping Kory in them.

Angela studies Dick, how his heart hammers at his throat and sweat collects along his hairline. He looks grief stricken, from the moment Kory went down, it was as though he'd forgotten his own bruises, and probably would've carried to the truck too, if Hank hadn't beaten him to the punch. There was a small tremble in his hand, almost invisible if you weren't watching closely, and his jaw was tight, his lips pressed together as he exerted effort, trying to contain a panic she could see practically vibrating under his skin.

"You okay?" Donna asks, and he nods. So, she isn't the only one who noticed, but Dawn's voice buts in before he can answer.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Her eyes don't leave Hank's eyebrow as she finishes cleaning it up and presses a clean gauze to it.

"I have no idea what we're doing, we're just trying to cool her down or whatever," Donna answers, because it seems, Dick can't. He's too busy squeezing up and down her arm, wringing the towel over her skin.

"Maybe she's dead," Angela offers, and they all glare at her, and Gar is back in the doorway, horror etched on his young face.

"What?" He cries, balancing several bags of ice in his arms, as Jason juggles several more.

"She's not dead," Dick growls. "Fill the tub, she's going to be fine."

"Dying then," Angela adds, smirking when Gar shivers at her words, hurrying into the bathroom with Jason behind.

"Hey lady, I suggest you shut up, too," Hank warns, shrugging back into his jacket.

"Unless you want to take a nap in the trunk," Donna adds.

Dick swallows hard, and leans close, examining Kory closely, his eyes traveling the curves of her face. "Kory," he says.

"What's our next step?" Hank stands, "cause I hate to state the obvious, but we can't say here. We're not even fifteen miles outside Ohio."

Dick stands, turning to them. "There is no next step," he says. "not until Kory wakes up."

"I mean that's reasonable, she waited around for you-," Angela offers, watching between the two men. "But what if she doesn't-,"

Donna glares. "Can I punch her now?"

"She just overexerted herself," Dick stresses.

"We need to think here," Dawn says. "if she wakes up in an hour, or a day, or two days – what do we do next? We need to lay low, and figure out Trigon's play."

Gar emerges from the bathroom and moves to Kory's side, nudging Donna a little as he does. "Sorry," he mutters. "What exactly is this doing?"

"Hopefully," Donna sings. "cooling her down."

"We need to be on the road, putting distance between us and those chargrilled fuck-bags before they regenerate or something," Hank continues, an angry red molting his neck.

"I said we're not going anywhere until she wakes up," Dick snarls, and Donna rolls her eyes as Hank takes a step closer and Dawn reaches for his arm.

"You're not in charge anymore, Dick," Hank goads.

"If Dawn were lying here, you would want to make sure-,"

"She was lying there, asshole," Hank shouts. "Or did you forget already?" he shakes his head. "Convenient, since it was your fucking fault."

"Hank, stop." Dawn says, standing between them.

Dick swallows. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean-, of course I didn't forget."

"Sorry?" Hank spits. "Fuck you, Dick."

"You want to hit me, Hank," Dick tilts his chin up. "Do it," he snarls. "Do it, cause I'm tired of your bullshit. You don't like me, fine, you're not fun to be around either, but we have more important shit to deal with." He opens his arms. "so, the way I see it, you have two options,"

Donna shifts off the bed and circles it, standing at Dick's shoulder. "We don't have time for this, kids."

"Donna right," Dawn adds.

Hank steps a toe in front of Dawn, his chest almost bumping against Dick's. "Oh yeah, and what's that?"

"Leave us here, watch the world burn from your living room window," Dick warns. "Or get over yourself,"

Hank breathes hard and fast, his face and neck reddened and his jaw rock hard. "There's a third option. I could punch you in your stupid face."

"Hank," Dawn holds his elbow and looks up at him. "She saved my life back there. We're exposed and it's not ideal, but we can wait a little while longer, just a little, to make sure she's going to be okay,"

Hank swallows. His shoulders drop, his face softening when he looks down at Kory. "Fine," he says. "Fine, we wait, because we owe her." glaring at Dick, he adds. "But we don't owe you a fucking a thing, you understand me?" he stalks over to the door. "I need some air," and it slams behind him.

"Oof," Angela cries. "He really hates you."

Donna crosses the room, snatching a wet towel from the bed and stuffs it into Angela's mouth. "If you take this out," she warns with a smile. "I throw you out of the damn window."

Dick rubs his tired eyes, and glances down at Kory, and then he starts pacing.

"Hank has a point," Dawn starts. "I know you're worried about her, we all are, but we may have to take her like this, keep an eye while we're on the road-,"

"No," Dick asserts.

"Dick," Donna pleads. "Hank's a hothead, it's old news at this point, but he's not wrong. We need to get as far away from here as we can, and we need to do it now,"

"And go where, Donna?" Dick asks, desperation weighing in his voice. "Another motel. My apartment? Yours?"

Jason leans around the door. "Tubs full." He shrugs. "-ish,"

Dick's attention snaps to the bed as Kory stirs, and he rushes to her side. "Kory," his voice breaks a little, and he crouches beside her, sighing with relief. "are you okay?"

He reaches over the bed, gently brushing back her curls, like he's forgotten they're not in the room alone, because when he remembers, he snaps his hand back, instead placing it behind her to help her sit up.

"What happened?" Kory glances around the room, pressing her hand against her head.

"You saved me," Dawn says.

"We thought you were-," Gar drops his gaze when she looks at him, confused.

"Hey," she watches him fight back tears and grabs his hand. "I'm okay. I just – I don't what happened, this power just – surged through me. Took over."

"We think you used too much at once," Donna shares.

"You're getting stronger," Dick offers a small smile, masking his fear. Poorly, if anyone bothered to ask Angela.

"How do you feel?" Dawn asks. "Can you move – can you stand?"

"I think so," Kory moves off the bed slowly, and with Dick's hand for support as he helps her onto her feet. "Where are we?"

"Bout ten miles outside of Ohio," Jason says.

"We should move," Kory says. "Now."

"We have nowhere to go," Gar says.

"How about one of the safe houses," Jason suggests. "There's one in San Fran, Bruce says it's all yours, long as you need it."

"You told Bruce?" Dick asks incredulously.

"A demon comes out of another fucking dimension and you don't?" Jason argues. "He wants to help, you know, and your girl's going to need a real bed. Real food, after that sonic boom." He glances down. "But he has one condition – he wants to see you. In person."

Dick sighs.

"Beggars can't be choosers," Donna adds.

Dick glances at Kory, and sighs, turning to Jason. "Give me the co-ordinates."

"Sweet." Jason sings, freeing his phone from his boot.

Gar glances at Angela and she smiles. She's caught every frightened glance he slipped her way, with his glassy eyes and red nose. She can almost see his thoughts running rings around him. He's wondering if she was right, and if she was, what it means for him, if his fate is sealed.

She watches by the door as Jason, Gar and Kory leave for Donna's truck. They decided to split up and take different routes to the safe house to make sure there's no tails. The fresh air seems to have done Hank good, because he's got a little color back in his cheeks, but she sees it now, how fraught with tension he and Dick's relationship is. It's fraying at the seams, and with Dawn in the middle, right where she shouldn't be, in Hank's sweet spot, where's he's insecure and raw with pain. She wonders why, why Dawn doesn't definitively stand at his side, instead of between them. And why Hank stands in front of Dawn and instead of beside her.

Angela groans as Donna's grip on her arm tightens, but with a washcloth now turned into a gag, it's all she has in way of a response.

Jason is the first to climb in the back while Dick transfers some of their bags to Donna's truck, but Kory stills, noticing Gar's movements to the truck are slow and hesitant.

"Are you okay?" She dips her head low and draws his eyes up to her.

He nods, burying his hands in his pockets.

"OK," she steps back. "Then we should go. Get in."

"You can't do that again," Gar blurts, and she turns back to him, her brows questioning. "I don't – I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

Kory cups his shoulder. "Nothing bad is going to happen to me. I promise."

"You can't promise," Gar shrugs. "Dick promised, and he almost," he swallows. "and Rachel's gone, so,"

"Look at me, Gar," Kory says, and he does. "I'm okay, but I promise I'm going to be more careful. I just exhausted myself, that's all. You don't have to worry about me," she smiles. "I should be worrying about you."

"Maybe we can worry about each other," Gar smiles lopsidedly.

Kory huffs out a laugh. "OK," she says. "You need a hug?" she teases.

He chuckles, giving a nonchalant shrug. "Nah. M'good."

"OK, well," Kory pulls him into an embrace, and he immediately reciprocates, tucking his arms under hers briefly, before peeling away. "Maybe I do."

"Kory," he says, pulling the truck door open. "There's something I need to tell you – when we get to the safe house."

"OK," Kory says. "We'll talk. That I can promise." She closes the door once he's inside and breathes deeply.

Dick hands a piece of paper to Hank. "Co-ordinates," he says, glancing at Angela. The whispers and passing notes like school children is for her benefit, she knows, but she doesn't care where they're going, she doesn't need to know because she's exactly where she's supposed to be.

"Got it," Hanks says, deadpan.

"See you soon, I guess," Dick nods at Dawn and hugs Donna, and then he makes his way over to her truck where Kory stands waiting for him. "All good?" he asks, gently brushing his hand against hers as he passes.

"Yeah," she says, climbing in as he rounds the bonnet.

Donna says something about snacks for the road as they pull away, and Hank excuses himself, ignoring Dawn's attempts to explain herself, to go wait for them in the truck, taking Angela with him.

She wasn't sure at first, when Trigon whispered things in her ear about them, but now she knows she should've have never doubted him. She was in Gar's head already, and watching Jason, circle Dick like a bright-eyed boy, wanting nothing more than to prove himself to the first Robin. He was going to be just as easy.

What she didn't account for was the cracks expanding between he and Hank, and Hank and Dawn, cracks that may be big enough to wriggle herself into.

But mostly, what took her by surprise, was Kory's blackout emotionally compromising stayed at her bedside and tried desperately to conceal how frantic he was underneath, followed by the visible relief that spread through his tense body once she woke up.

It leaves her wondering if Dick Grayson is falling in love, and if he is, how she can use it to break him.