The wind had picked up a bit as her footsteps echoed down the pavement. The soft moan brought a chill of future rain that caused Raven to pull her dark cloak tighter around her. Getting out of the tower was easy as everyone had passed out from the fighting. She could not shake the feeling that sang softly inside her head, and there was nothing to stop the young Azerathian of finding the answer.
There were so many possibilities to consider. A magical artifact or being could be reaching out to her from one of the many planes, or it was merely a trap by her father, Trigon. Her mind burned to know what it was, what had found its way into her only place of refuge.
The subway station entrance loomed in front of her, and she quickly went down without hesitation. A few late-night commuters glanced at her as she kicked an empty burger wrapper off her foot blown there by the breeze. The air went from soothing rain to the stench of diesel and urine. She like the dark but the subways were horrible places.
'It's section 13.'
Some people would have been superstitious about the number, but she would have embraced it. It was a misunderstood number much like people misunderstood her. Raven liked her friends; she just wanted them at a distance. A distance none of them were willing to keep.
Beast Boy especially. The young, green, Teen Titan thought he hid his infatuation with her but it was so obvious, it was obnoxious. The way he would stare at her when he thought she couldn't see him, the cute nicknames she quit growling about, and just the way he said her name. She when you had a demon lord after you to bring around the end of the world, romantic relationships was not that interesting.
The appearance of a map brought her back to reality, and the gray-skinned Titan stopped to study it. It was large and covered most of the wall opposite of the track, but the glass over the top was stained with all sort of grotesque liquids and dirt. She found Sub-section 13 to be farther down the way. A five-minute walk took her there, but a padlock to the lower entrance stopped her.
Raven bit her lower lip as she studied the lock. It was not that it was not difficult to break, it was the act of breaking it. As irritating as his speeches were, Robin's moral compass had unfortunately rubbed off on her. Only hesitating for a moment, summoning a bit of the dark magic in her, he black tendril snapped the chain with ease.
Quickly pulling the chain away for the handles with a rattle, the young girl disappeared into the inky blackness beyond.
The darkness did not bother her though Raven did wish she had some light. It was at these moments the young girl realized how alone she was and how quickly a situation could turn against her. There was no doubt that the demon sized of her made the young woman powerful, but she had been overwhelmed before.
It was the dirty bulbs down the corridor that gave Raven a bit of peace. They shed their feeble light enough to illuminate good sections of the long passage that had not been used in years. The rattle of a subway train shook the room sufficient to cause a bit of cement dust to descend. The buzzing in her brain got stronger.
It pulled at her gently, calling her name softly like a mother calling her child. Memories of her mother wafted through her mind, the sweet scents of her world of Azerath that she had not ever visited. The song in her head had many promises.
'You're a fool, Raven. You know these always turn out to be traps.'
It was true. So many times things that sounded good turned out to be horrible traps meant to maim or kill herself or her team. On the other hand, it was not like her team wasn't trying to get her killed in some of the fights. Raven rubbed her arm that was still bruised from the fall.
She was tired of them. Tired of being used as a target under the guise of protecting the city. She wanted more than that. The rattle of the train was closer, and Raven lost her balance. As she supported herself on the wall, her heart gave a leap as it broke through and her body tumbled forward.
Crossing her arms across her face, Raven tried to tuck and roll but did not go far. The little alcove between walls was only a few feet deep, and the soft mud supported her on impact. Raven pushed herself up and peered around her. The light from outside barely filled the little cavity. The unheard song vibrated loudly that her teeth chattered.
'It's in here.'
Raven began to feel around in the dirt for a few minutes, but as she was losing hope, her hand brushed something cold and hard. She wrapped her fingers around it and pulled. The song instantly went silent. Pulling herself back out into the corridor, she looked down at what she had.
It was a strange thing that the girl held. It was a ring that almost resembled a halo. The metal was flawless and amplified the light around it that bounced of its sheen. It was distinctly a few degrees cooler than the air around her.
Raven turned it over in her hands a few times trying to figure out what it was but there was nothing. No latches, no instructions, no buttons to tell her what it was. All she could make out was that it was a solid black ring of unknown material.
Tucking it into her cloak, she made her way out of the subway tunnel. More research was going to be needed.
"Clark!"
Clark Kent turned from his conversation with Hal Jordan as Diana walked up to him. Of course, at the Hall of Justice, they were dressed in the attire that the world knew them the best at.
"Sorry to interrupt but you need to come to the command center. J'Onn was calibrating the sensors for the new Wayne Satellite when the system locked up."
"Locked up?" Superman asked after excusing himself from Hal.
"Yes, It's displaying some strange symbol. A purple wreath surrounding a black circle."
Diana could see immediately that it meant something as the curiosity of Superman's face turned to stone silence. His pace picked up.
He strode into the room in time to see Bruce Wayne catching up to him.
"You heard?" Superman asked.
"Yes," Batman responded. "I hope this is a false alarm."
Once inside the command center, Superman tapped a few buttons sealing the room. The glowing purple symbol she had described as plastered across the screens. Both Clark and Bruce began to type on their panels entering the sequence of commands as they were needed. The symbols finally disappeared, and data started to scroll.
"Midnight Protocol?" Diana asked concerned. "I've never heard of the Midnight Protocol."
"No one is supposed to, Diana," Clark responded as he moved to Bruce's side.
"It's confirmed, Clark. Sensors are detecting a burst of sovereign particles in the western side of the United States. Somewhere in...Jump City." Batman read off from the data.
"Jump city. Isn't that where your ward is?" Clark mused.
"Yes, I'm not sure if we should bring him into this yet."
"Agreed. How's the saturation?"
Bruce checked another reading and frowned. "It's saturating. We need to begin connection establishing."
"Bruce. Clark," Wonder woman said with a frown as she put her hands on each of their shoulders. "What is going on?"
"If we don't act fast, the end of reality."