Garfield Logan was numb. His entire world had crumbled at his feet when Starfire broke the new a few hours ago. Beast Boy had noted that Raven had not shown up at the breakfast table and he thought his lovely friend had decided to get her beauty sleep. He used to joke with her that if that was the case, she did not need any rest at all.
His jokes were corny, but they elicited a little tug at her mouth that the young shifter hoped could be turned into a full smile by him one day. But that was not going to happen now.
Everyone was handling the news of Raven's betrayal differently. Cyborg was angry. The large half man/half machine was always straightforward and to the point. He spent the first thirty minutes raging that Raven should have asked for their help instead of taking on the artifact herself. Starfire was uncharacteristically stoic, her eyes seemingly older than they were yesterday at the pizza party in the living room. Robin refused to accept it. He had already come up with two different plans of freeing Raven from the artifact that he believed had possessed her. Dick Greyson declined to take Starfire's version that their Raven...his Raven...had gone willingly with the entity.
Robin was winding down another plan when the doors hissed open and four figures strode in. Robin immediately straightened as his mentor, Batman strode in with Superman to his right. Behind him were two people Garfield had never seen before, an older man with a thinning hairline and a rather beautiful redhead in a catsuit. She was nowhere near pretty as his Raven.
Batman went straight to Robin and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's not your fault, Robin."
Robin did not respond but his shoulders drooped. Nobody saw Garfield though as he had changed into a fly a while ago and was at the top of the Titan's ceiling not wanting to be talked to.
"I understand your dedication to your friend, Starfire," Superman began. "But you should have let us know sooner. This artifact that your friend Raven has is extremely dangerous."
Starfire did not answer but was looking at the two people that arrived with them. Sensing the question, Superman motioned to them.
"This is Agent Coulson and Agent Romanova, they're assisting us with locating the artifact."
"It's good to meet you all," Coulson said with a gentle smile. "I'm sorry for the loss of your friend."
"She's not dead," Robin snapped.
"No," Coulson nodded. "But we don't know how much of the entity's personality has imprinted on your friend. I don't wish to be blunt but it could have consumed the Raven you know and is using her body as his vessel."
"Please tell us what we are dealing with," Starfire asked muted. "You wish us to assist you in the hunt for our friend so we deserve to know of the artifact."
"I agree," the red-headed woman said for the first time. "This is personal for them, Phil."
Phil Coulson did not argue but looked to Superman who gave his consent.
"Do you by any chance have one of those holographic thingies the Justice League has?" Coulson asked pulling out a crystal chip.
After inserting the chip and then ten minutes trying to find the remote, the holographic projector kicked a symbol of a flower Beast Boy did not recognize.
"To start, you know our names but not where we are from. In short, "Agent Coulson started. "we're from another reality, one that suffered an attack from Sovereign when he tried to emerge once before. We are members of a group known as the Iris initiative that monitors all different realities to watch for the return of Sovereign, the entity that is trapped between realities."
"So, this Sovereign is not the band that Raven has?" Robin asked studying the images that were appearing.
"No, it's a conduit to him. There were many at one point and he dominated the minds of those who wore them and called the Archons. Iris thought we had destroyed all the Archon Rings."
"What does he want with Raven?" Cyborg asked for the first time since the JLA's arrival.
"He needs a vessel to do his bidding. He cannot enter our reality on it's own as steps were taken to seal him away. In essence, it's like having a GPS but you're not able to put in the address to where you want to go. Your friend Miss Raven is anchoring him to this reality, allowing him to focus his energy and prepare to breach and enter."
"For what reason?" Starfire asked.
"To destroy it all, reduce it to it's smallest energy state and consume it is all we have been able to figure out. In the last war with him, His Army of Midnight destroyed another reality, consumed it. That's what we have been able to extrapolate."
"I don't understand it," Robin said pushing himself off and away from the display. "Why would Raven side with such a creature?"
"I believe Superman told me that you have demons in this reality and Raven is half demon. Could that side of her have forced its way out?" Agent Romanova asked.
"Raven had it under control and we never saw it much after Trigon was defeated," Robin answered.
"Which I must say was an exceptional feat, Robin," Coulson said kindly. "Batman allowed us access to some of the Teen Titan mission reports in our research of Raven."
"Raven had learned how to control her demon side, Agent Coulson," Robin continued after giving a glance to Batman who had gone to the corner of the room to watch. "The only thing I can think of is that she truly thinks she's helping. She's been under a lot of stress lately."
"Yes," Superman said. "Jump city has been under heavy attack lately and this artifact may have been the reason why."
"What do you we do? We can't just let our friend go without helping her!" Cyborg demanded. "I'm ready to kick whose ever butt we have to so we can bring her home."
"If she's doing this under her own volition, it makes her extremely dangerous. Sovereign doesn't have to exert his will on her. She'll willingly move towards his goal and accept the power he can channel to her as they go." Agent Romanova said.
"We need to stop her, without harming her if possible. Starfire, you mentioned they were searching for the artifact?"
"Yes," Starfire answered. "They believe the DIA has it."
"Which she is correct," Superman mused. "I had it moved there a year ago. I had no idea Sovereign would make a move this soon."
"Then that's where we will face her," Coulson said. "and I have just the team to help."
With that, Garfield flew away to his room. If what they were saying was true, his Raven was gone.