Chapter 12
Dick woke up to noise. He opened his eyes blearily to see a TV somewhere by his feet. He listened to hear what the reporter was talking about and watched as the Joker was shoved into a police car, laughing uncontrollably.
"- And hopefully he should stay there for longer this time. Another thanks to Batman and Robin for taking down the Clown Prince of Crime and fuelling the ever going question, 'who are the dynamic duo?' Back to you Helen."
"Hey sleepy." Came a soft voice. Dick turned stiffly to see Rache at his side, squeezing his hand gently. He gave her a lopsided smile and stroked her thumb with his, before asking what happened.
"You tell me," she snorted, "I couldn't sleep so I was chatting to Alfred, next thing I know the Batmobile crashed through the waterfall and you're lying on this thing, unconscious." Dick winced when he realised that she'd been worried about him, and then he sucked through his teeth as he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen.
Rache looked panicked for a second, then she frowned slightly and asked if she could try something. He nodded and she stood up and let go of his hand, gently placing both of hers onto his bandages. He shot her a confused look, but she didn't see as she had closed her eyes. He had sort of expected her to say that strange mantra thing that she'd done before, but she murmured something slightly different.
"Mother Azarath, give me strength." She opened her eyes, and once again, they were glowing pure white. Dick felt a strange sensation where his gash was, like a soothing gel on his stomach.
When Rache blinked and her eyes reverted back to normal, she collapsed into the chair she'd been sitting in.
"Hey! Are you ok Rache?" He asked worriedly. She gave his a tired smile and nodded, asking him how he felt. He frowned, then realised that he felt normal. In fact, he felt great! He told her and her eyes glittered. Then, he carefully removed his bandages to see that where there should've been a painful looking slash-mark, there was a small scar. His eyes widened and the corners of Rache's mouth turned up as she pulled up her strappy tee and revealed her own scar on her side, claiming that they 'matched'. Dick grinned.
"What time is it?" Dick asked, yawning.
"It's uh," Rache checked the digital clock on the wall behind them, "It's 2 in the morning, we should probably get to bed." Dick chuckled and nodded. He jumped off the gurney and slid his hand into hers as they walked and she blushed slightly. He smiled to himself as they walked quietly up the stairs and when Rache made to walk into her bedroom, he pulled her gently into his room instead. She looked really tired, and he bet that the nightmares would plague her if and when she fell asleep, so he wanted to be there for her.
Dick led her into his bed and tucked her in, before swiftly changing into his pyjamas and sliding in with her. She wrapped her arms around his middle nuzzled into his chest as he put his arms around her waist. He had a strange thought that he felt like he was shielding her with his body as he lost consciousness for the second time in a couple of hours, drifting off into a dreamless sleep.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Rachel woke up to shouting. Someone was calling Dick's name, two people actually. She recognised the voices as Bruce and Selina, and the memories of last night came flooding back to her.
Oh my god. Dick I'm so sorry I fell asleep! She thought through the mind link that they kept open, too tired to actually talk.
Nah it's ok, but we should probably go and say hi to Bruce and Selina before they scream their heads off. He chuckled. She sighed and nodded, not wanting to get out of Dick's bed, he was so comfy and warm, but deciding that she didn't want the adults to get the wrong idea. The two dragged themselves out into the cold to see Bruce and Selina staring at them. Bruce looked shocked and Selina was grinning like the Mad Hatter.
"Before you say anything," Dick began, mainly looking at Selina, "We didn't do whatever you think we did." Bruce let out a sigh and grumbled something about 'not wanting to be a grandfather just yet' loud enough for the two of them to go beetroot red. Selina burst our laughing at the duo's expressions until Dick gave her what is known as a BatGlare.
After the morning's embarrassing start, they all headed down for breakfast, while explaining how Dick was magically healed due to more of Rachel's newfound powers. Bruce nodded, apparently not surprised and gave some exciting news.
"Today, you will be allowed to go to Mt. Justice, meet the rest of the team and get yourself familiar with the base before you officially join." Rachel looked at Dick grinning, and he grinned right back like a little kid.
"Ok, thank you Bruce." He gave the two a small smile before leaving for work at Wayne Enterprise headquarters.
Dick and Rachel scoffed down breakfast and got quick showers before getting dressed to discuss some things before they left. Some things were obvious, no real names, she didn't have to tell them who she was, and she needed a name and costume if she was going to be a superhero.
"Hmmm, how about Raven?" She asked. Dick grinned and said it was perfect.
"And about a costume…," she did a quick sketch on a notepad she had lying around, "What about this? I saw it in a kinda vision, what do you think?" She showed him the design.
"I think you're gonna fit in great." He said, his grin growing wider. She smiled at him and ripped off the page, which he ran down to Alfred. He then gave her a lowdown on who was on the team, properly instead of just stories.
"Ok so there's Aqualad, he's the leader and he's 17, there's Superboy and he's uhhh well, he's technically around 4 months old because he was a force-grown clone of Superman, but physically he's 16, Miss Martian is 48 Earth years old but on Mars she's also 16, Kid Flash is 15 and Artemis is 15 too." He said, all in one breath, which is quite impressive.
Rachel nodded, and by the time Dick had finished his little speech, they were at these strange tubes. He told them that they were called Zeta Tubes and that they teleported Leauge and team members to different bases around the world, but Mt. Justice was in Happy Harbour. He then explained that she's not on the system yet and so he'll have to go in first and override it to let her use the tubes. She nodded and with that, he put some shades on to hide his identity, powered up the tubes and left.
Minute later, the tube powered up again, and Rachel took a deep breath, and stepped through.
When she stepped out, she was greeted by a lot of faces. The team introduced themselves so that she could match names to faces and she was led into the kitchen to chat.
"So, what's your superhero names? How do you know Robin? What can you do?" A whole flurry of questions came at her from Kid Flash, who had said he could call her Wally when not in uniform. Aqualad, Kaldur, put a hand on his shoulder and tried to calm him down. Robin was chuckling at the scene and Miss Martian rolled her eyes, smiling.
"Well," she began, "When I'm in costume, my name's Raven, but in downtime, call me Rachel, Robin saved my ass when I got injured and I showed some of my powers so we got to know each other, and as for what I can do," she looked over at Robin, who nodded reassuringly, "I'm not 100% sure what I can do but hopefully with some training, I can stretch my wings." She smiled and the others, apart from Superboy and Artemis, who Rachel had a nagging feeling she knew, smiled back.
Robin put a hand on her shoulder and explained that her powers are along the lines of magic, but no one is sure how far they go. Everyone nodded and they chatted for a while, until Miss Martian, M'gann, perked up and claimed that she recognised Rachel from somewhere. She stiffened, before admitting that she'd been on the news because of what happened to her father. Some of them nodded sympathetically, though Artemis looked like she'd had a revelation, and they steered clear of that topic for a while. She'd got to know them pretty well but their get-to-know session ended when a female voice rang out through the room.
Unknown transmission coming. Accept or decline?
Kaldur frowned, and they all jogged into the briefing room after him.
"Accept." He answered and a holographic screen came up, showing the face of a tired and messy-haired woman in her mid thirties. Rachel's breath got caught in her throat because it was her. That woman He was in bed with. Her eyes widened and Robin seemed to pick up on her distress, shooting her a confused look she didn't see. The woman's eyes scanned the room before landing on Rachel and she gasped softly.
"My little raven…" she whispered, "It's been so long, my child." She blinked back tears.
"You don't remember me, you were just a baby. We don't have much time so listen carefully." Rachel was still in shock at what the woman had called her. 'My child'. Could she be..?
"Your father knows of your powers. You must have used them for the first time recently because he knows. I am hiding from him, but she will find me soon."
"But… my father is dead." Rachel said, frowning. The woman just shook her head sadly.
"Think child. He was not your father. Not your biological father anyway. Remember. You must." She pursed her lips, then her eyes widened even further, as the final piece swirling in her head clicked.
"No…" she said in a trembling voice, "I-it can't be… Him." The woman nodded gravely.
"It is. Go back to your old house, under the second floorboard in your room, you will find a book. Take it and guard it. You should hopefully already have the crystal in your keeping, as I put it in the pocket of one of your hoodies before you collected your things. It is extremely special and the book can tell you more than I will ever know."
There was a crashing sound from her end and her mother's eyes widened in fear. She whispered even quieter and gave a quick goodbye before telling Kaldur to mute and turn off their camera. He frowned but did so.
"Marie." There were footsteps and the camera didn't show the person who entered, but she knew who it was. It was Him.
"You served me well Marie, but I'm afraid you've reached your expiration date."
There was a whimper and a crunch as Marie's lifeless body fell to the floor.
"No!" Rachel screamed tears forming at the corners of her eyes. She felt Robin put a hand on her shoulder as the call ended everyone looked to her, who was in shock on her knees. Rachel lowered her head and stared furiously at the floor.
Robin helped her stand up and she looked to him for guidance. He nodded and she repeated the gesture, before swallowing hard and facing the rest of the team.
"I need to do as my mother instructed a-and find the book she mentioned." She stated and Kaldur offered to go with her. She gratefully accepted and it was clear that Robin was going too. They told everyone else they wouldn't be long and Zetaed as close as they could up to her neighbourhood.
Upon entering her old home, she raced straight to her poor excuse of a bedroom and lifted up the floorboard, the boys on her heels. She found an old leather-bound book with engravings in the front. There was otherwise no title and no indication that it was special.
She picked it up carefully, and Kaldur stowed it in his bag. They looked at each other uneasily and left as soon as possible. The place felt haunted, and for good reason too.
As soon as they all got back to the cave, they walked into the living room where the rest of the team was waiting.
Rachel set the book down infront of the group and they crowded around it, interested to see what was so important that Rachel's mother gave her life for it. Now that it was still, she could make out the symbols engraved on the cover. She strained her eyes to read them.
"Those who seek this knowledge, beware, for it can only be found by the demon king… or his heir." Her glance shifted to the team, who gave her supportive looks. She took a deep breath and opened the book. Nothing happened, so she scanned the first page. The page on contents.
"There are fact files here… spells too. I wonder if we can find more about…" she trailed off, tracing down the old page with her finger. Her blood froze as she stopped her finger on a name. Rachel Elisabeth Roth.
She quickly flicked to the next page, a file about her. She read out the information.
"Rachel Elisabeth Roth – The Raven.
Rachel Roth is the heir of the demon king, Trigon." She heard M'gann gasp, she'd probably heard of Him before. She continued. "The extent of her power is unknown at this age, but some knowledge had been obtained. Obtained? They say it like I'm some sort of test subject…" she shook her head and listed off the 'powers' she supposedly had.
"Telepathy, empathy, flight and spell casting. What's empathy?" She asked. M'gann spoke up and explained that you could sense people's emotions and guide them. She also explained that it links with telepathy, so if you have one, you most likely have the other too. Rachel nodded.
"That does make sense, I remember I could tell exactly how Robin felt when one of our friends asked him if he thought Kid Flash was hot," she chuckled a bit when she noticed Wally and Robin go slightly red, though Artemis seemed to look slightly shocked, but she brushed it off, "A-and I was able to calm uh, your father down when he was worried about you last night." She said and Robin raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"I didn't think anyone would be able to calm him down." She grinned and flicked to the next page, showing a red gem. She recognised it and panicked. She'd totally forgotten to get it!
"Uh hey Rob? We forgot to get that back." She said, pointing at the picture. Robin dashed off without a word, the Zeta Tube announcing his departure, and then his arrival a couple of minutes later. He raced back, panting, and gently placed the blood red gem in her open palm. She smiled in thanks and began to read.
"The Blood Crystal of Azarath.
The blood crystal of Azarath can hold the power of any immortal being and can transfer power to its user. Only two other blood crystals were made, the Blood Crystals of Metrion and Xynthos. These crystals are so powerful that the creators hid them away, and were never heard from again. I wonder what happened to them…"
The next two pages were about the sister crystals, and had the same information, though the crystal of Metrion was a deep purple, and the crystal of Xynthos was an icy blue. The next page onwards was about Him. Trigon. Her father.
"Trigon. Devourer of souls, enslaver of countless worlds, The Demon King." She swallowed. "An all powerful being born out of the eternal flame, and who's only goal is to… control the entire universe. He was born with a mysterious marking engraved on his arm, there is no modern word for it."
Rachel studied the marking. It was a circle with an arrow pointing down, the left half of the circle was shaded.
Rachel couldn't believe it. This monster was her father. Now she had two seemingly evil parents. And only one of the total three was alive.
For a while, the group pondered and discussed the book, even taking a look at some of the spells, but not many, just basic ones like levitating objects. After about half an hour, Rachel's eyelids started to droop, and she fell asleep on Robin's shoulder. He smirked, which turned into a scowl when M'gann and Wally cooed at them.
He gently scooped her up in his arms, taking the book with them, and took her to the room she'd be staying in when she was at the mountain. He tucked her into bed, and was going to leave when she mumbled, asking him to stay. He smiled and slipped in with her, after putting the book under the bed, for the second time in two days, and they drifted off to sleep.