Time seemed to fall away when the crack of the gunshot echoed across the cold landscape. It was only the jump and crumble of Garfield that told Robin who had been shot and who was the target.
"Cease fire! Cease fire!" Steve Rodgers roared into his comm piece. "Bucky! No, go on the shot."
"I didn't fire, Steve!" Bucky Barnes' voice peeled through the activated earpiece Robin had turned on as soon as the star-spangled hero had approached. "I have seven unidentified individuals approaching from the north. Close formation and loaded for bear. I'm zeroing in on their sniper."
Robin rushed forward towards his two friends, his mind focused on the one kneeling over the fallen shapeshifter. The young man skidded to a stop when Raven's head jerked up. Thick tears ran down her face leaving a wet streak, but her eyes had gone pure white, a sign he knew, that she had summoned her soul energy and was on the verge of attacking.
"You...You...you tried to kill me and...and he saved me," Raven choked out between silent fits of sobbing.
"It wasn't us, Raven, we got incoming-"
"LIAR!" she screeched, her voice resounding through the area and cause the Titan's leader to stumble. The blast of energy was palpable.
"Raven..."
"Robin, they're here."
Coming into the light of the campfire and moon, Robin saw the armored men, their uniforms tinged with green. The L on their chest plate told the man who exactly they were.
"Luthor Corp," Robin said for his teammates to here.
"What should we do?"
"I think we need to retreat, Robin." Captain America said laying his hand on the man's shoulder.
The masked Titan turned back towards Raven and saw her cape billowing about her, energy pouring off of her like a waterfall.
"The moment is gone," Steve said, his voice low. "We need to get out of here before she turns on us."
"Luthor corp?"
"It's a grave of their own making," Barnes said grimly over his radio.
As Raven marched towards the newcomers with fury in their eyes, Starfire shot forward and snatched up Beast Boy before making a desperate run for their side. The Teen Titans began their sprint for their side of the woods when the first scream of the Luthor Corp soldier was crushed in his armor by Raven's invisible power.
'I lost her.'
When Jinx and Blackfire, along with their soldiers broke through the opening, they found Raven sitting cross-legged in the dying campfire. Surrounding her were the bodies of soldiers who had been thrown away once they were killed. The young woman had her eyes closed, and the two skidded to a stop before quickly motioning the Midnight soldiers to stay put.
"My lady?" Jinx ventured as she approached.
Raven's eyes flew open, and the golden light spilled out, having consumed her beautiful purple irises. She stood and looked at each of them with a crazed look at none of them had ever seen before.
"Iris has shown their hand," Raven growled, her voice filled with hatred. "And they killed one of my best friends."
Jinx winced and noted the pool of blood she had been meditating by. The young chaos witch's heart began beating faster as Raven ripped of her cloak she was most known for and threw it on the log with disgust.
"What can I do for you, Mistress?" Jinx ventured, feeling the urge to comfort the woman she had inadvertently pledged her life to. So many times the pinkette had tried to talk herself out of this whole possible extinction level event but could not pull herself away from the violet-haired woman she followed.
Raven's glowing golden eyes rested on Jinx's face, and she quickly looked away. There was power in those eyes, a power that seemed dangerous and destructive.
"You wanted to follow me, you wanted to be with me to the end," Raven said walked closer and rested a cold hand on the side of Jinx's neck.
"Of...of course, my lady,"
"Good."
Jinx let out a whimper as the hand fastened like iron around her throat. "Raven?"
Raven reached up with her other hand and seemed to peel a sliver of metal away from the band that rested on her forehead. A second later, the sharp piece was jammed in the back of the Pinkette's neck sending a way of agonizing pain through her. Jinx tried to hold in the scream, but the sheer agony ripped it out of her lips. Before it got any further, Jinx found Raven planting her lips on her own, deadening the screaming and sending a way of pleasure through her mouth counteracting the searing that now had spread up her spine towards her brain.
It finally subsided, but Raven did not break the passionate kiss on her lips, Jinx melted as she felt her mistress' tongue exploring her mouth. The dark sorceress finally released her hand, blood covering one and the other gently setting the Pinkette down on the ground from the wave of dizziness that attacked.
Jinx felt different. She felt her body responding to an energy that was pulsing from the penetrated spate. She gingerly reached back and touched the place Raven had slammed the metal spike and found that it had formed a small plate in a diamond form. The other thing that attracted her to the dead man's armor was the golden light. The Pinkette leaned over and found that her own eyes had taken on a golden glow. They were nowhere near as bright and strong, but it was there.
"And you Blackfire?" Raven purred as she strode towards the Tamaranian who had begun to back away. "You only sided with Midnight because t was against your sister but I know what you want. You want power and this sliver can give it to you."
"At what cost?" Blackfire retorted but found her back to a tree.
"You'll be my knight in the battle against the monsters who abhor peace; you will be granted a channel to the power of Sovereign through me. And it will only cost your loyalty and obedience until released."
Jinx watched from her place on the ground as Raven and Blackfire came face to face.
"I'm not looking to clock any bedtime with you, Rae Rae, like ol' Jinxie over there."
Her hand movement was like, but Raven had her hand locked around Blackfire's jaw before she moved.
"Then I will have to kill you," Raven said without hesitating. "You know too much about our plans and are a threat to the peace that will come."
"So...I don't have a choice."
"No, you don't."
"Fine," Blackfire said, a tremor of fear in her voice.
Grabbing her shoulder, Raven spun Blackfire around and planted her forehead on the tree, exposing her neck. Jinx watched, and she pulled another sliver from the Archon Ring and dug it into Blackfire's neck. Komand'r did her best, but her pitiful cry came out as Raven took her time wedging it in.
Jinx's heart became cold at the thought of Raven torturing Blackfire. She had been quick with her, but the Pinkette had been loyal from the beginning. After a few minutes, it was over, and Blackfire pulled herself up from the ground wiping the tears from her eyes and sniffling. Her eyes had also taken on a golden glow.
"You didn't have to take your time."
"Of course not," Raven said dismissively. "I enjoyed it."
Jinx pulled herself to her feet and looked towards where the Titans and those from the alternate dimension had fled.
"We need to go, my mistress," Jinx said feeling the warm pulse of enjoyment at the title radiate from her new master. "It is more important we open the gate than fight right now."
"Agreed," Raven said gesturing to the troops. "Return to camp and prepare to move. We're going to release Millennium."
"Robin, that was foolhardy," Batman said as Robin came through the tent of the headquarters that had been set up.
"Shut up," Robin growled at him. "I don't need you or anyone else to tell me how to handle my team. Raven was going to give me THE FUCKING RING."
Silence reigned for a second until Captain American strode in.
"We had it," Steve said his blue eyes scanning the faces with a cold calculation. "Until some idiot for Luthor corp sent in troops."
"We didn't know they were here," Superman responded from his corner where he had been working with Green Lantern on a computer.
"Beast Boy's dead," Robin said simply. "Because of them."
"He's not dead, Robin," a voice called from the tent opening. A young man stuck his head in with a brilliant smile. "Doctors have him stabilized. It seems his shifting powers also means his organs are quite where they are supposed to be. He's in a drug-induced coma until we can safely wake him."
Robin let out a sigh of relief, and Rogers gave him a warm pat on the shoulder.
"Cyborg went back for surveillance," Bucky said as he leaned his rifle in the corner, his metal arm glimmer in the fluorescent light.
"And?" Superman asked.
"The girl Raven turned two of the other girls; I think you call them Jinx and Blackfire, into Archon Knights."
"So, it's begun," Phil Coulson said from the seat where he had been thinking. "She thinks Beast Boy died and had turned on us. Sovereign will use that to get himself here."
"We need to move through," Robin said. "She's going to be opening a gateway."
"A gateway?" Phil asked puzzled. "You can't open a gateway here for Sovereign; the alignment is not right."
"They're letting in something called Millennium," Steve responded.
Phil Coulson's head jerked up, his eyes wide with horror. "Are you sure?"
"Heard her say it to her new toys," Bucky answered. "What is this Millennium?"
"Sovereign's right-hand bug," Agent Coulson answered standing and grabbing his folders. "Superman, we need to mobilize now. Millennium was not supposed to be reachable. If he is, this changes everything."
The jeeps and heavy trucks had flown down the bumpy roads at breakneck speed while the two ARGUS hover jets carried the prize. Raven stood at the open hatch letting the bitter cold wind cut through her bare skin. She had refused any jacket that had been offered to her, preferring the suffering of her body over the agony in her heart.
Since leaving the clearing where Garfield had died, the blood and his dead body continued to play over and over again in her mind. It was maddening, and even Sovereign's attempt to comfort her had been rebuffed. Even though they had not been able to communicate as they had once done with all the preparations, she had let Jason read the emotions that she would instead use this pain and anger to accomplish the mission. This had become for Beast Boy, the only one who wanted peace like her.
"Approaching the coordinates, Ma'am," the pilot called out over the wind.
Raven's mind zeroed in on the spot as if she could sense the inter-dimensional doorway. Without waiting for the ARGUS ship to land, she merely threw herself out in the frozen air and allowed her power to keep her afloat until her feet gently touched down on the spot. The trucks rolled up creating a 300-foot perimeter around her.
Machine guns, energy weapons, and ex-superheroes and villains took up their positions. They knew the order, defend the spot until death or success.
Blackfire and Jinx stepped out of the hoverjet carrying the octagonal obsidian stone with white, ancient glyphs carved in it. The stone was glowing eerily in the white of the moon mixed with the gold from their eyes.
"Blackfire. Defend this place until Millennium is through or I have died," Raven instructed. The Tamaranian nodded curtly and flew over to organize the fighters.
"I am going to be severely weak after I open this gateway," Raven said to Jinx making sure she had full eye contact. "and helpless for a few moments."
"I shall protect you, mistress," Jinx said with a curtsy. "At the cost of my life."
"Help me get this stone into place. We have a portal to open and a reality to save."
A/N: To those of you who have been on this ride with me, I just wanted to give you a bit of a heads up. With her belief that Beast Boy has died, Raven has gone full dark mode and is necessarily a villain for now. I know some readers aren't a fan of this type of things, so I wanted to give you fair warning. I'll make sure to put any warnings before the story starts in case it's something you are not interested in reading.