Raven did not how long she slept. All she knew was that when her eyes finally opened, she was laying on her side cramped and arm asleep. She winced as she tried to push herself up and back on to her knees. There was no way to tell how much time had passed as the windows were too small and too high to really see anything out of. The only thing that had changed was that the guards who had been watching her were gone.

She closed her eyes and tried to listen, her empathic powers damped by the meta restraints that kept her from using her power. There was silence all around her.

"Hello?" she called out with her voice barely above a whisper. Her throat was dry and the sorceress was thirsty.

"Hello!" Raven called out again stronger but all she heard was the echo of her voice inside the large room.

She was not fastened down, which was a plus. The girl had been made to stay on her knees with her hands restrained behind her back but the guards did not chain her in place. Raven slowly pushed herself to her feet groaning as her legs protested after being stuck kneeling for so long.

Gingerly, the ex-titan made her way to the door and peered through the bars that allowed others to look in. The drab hallway was empty. She used her hip gently on the door and to her surprise and fear, it swung open.

'It's a trap, it has to be a trap.' Raven thought to herself. She wanted to go right back to her place on the floor and wait for her punishment but the nagging feeling of something was wrong would not leave her.

Carefully walking through the myriad of hallways, she finally came to a rusted door that looked like the one they had brought her through early. The window was too dirt stand to see anything out of it so Raven took a deep breath, used her hip to push up the lever, and leaned on the door to get it to swing open. The girl let out a curse as she lost her balance and landed hard in the dirt.

She laid there with her eyes closed waiting for the shouting and possible bullet to the back of the head but nothing came. There was silence except for the night insects singing their heart out. Opening her eyes slowly, Raven peered about in consternation as she found the camp bathed in twilight but empty.

The mystic titan pulled herself to her feet once again and peered about. It was the same set of rough tin buildings in a semi-circle surrounded by a high chain-link fence but it was empty of any movement or life. Even the vehicles were all gone. Where had everyone gone?

"Hello?" she called out again a bit unsure.

Raven sensed it first, something behind her. She spun and found herself standing in front of a tall, insect-like creature whose yellow eyes glinted in the light of the orange streetlamps that still were on. Her heart trilled in fear, bound and powerless against the Kaz-Kal creature that stood there in front of her.

It stood with a stoop on its hand legs, polished organic armor over its own torso. They were hive-minded but individually intelligent. She should know as she had used her powers to burn her imprint into the minds of a hive of them that had taken up residence in Boulder. Her stomach turned sick at the thought that she had forced herself on to the minds of these sentient creatures.

It's raised it's claw-like hands at its approach, it's wings vibrating slightly in anticipation. Raven closed her eyes waiting for it to slice her ligaments to paralyze her. Kaz-Kal, for their sentience, had an appetite for eating their prey while they were still alive.

What was surprising was when she felt its claws slash at the binders that held her in place. Before she could even process what was happening, they fell to the ground with a clatter and she felt her magic flow back into her like a dammed up river finally free.

Raven's eyes fluttered open as she turned to surprised at the Kaz-Kal that had freed her.

"Uh...thank you." The girl said rubbing her wrists.

"Why thank?" she felt it pulse at her as it chittered in its language. "You are the queen."

This was one of the imprinted, the Kaz-kal forced into servitude to the Midnight Empress.

"I...I'm not the queen. I have left Sovereign."

"No Sovereign. Allegiance to Queen." it said through its telepathic connection. She reached out slightly with her mind and sensed hundreds of them in the woods waiting quietly. Had the approach of the hive forced them to retreat? Why had they left her?

"Where are the people in the camp?"

"We do not know, Queen," it said. "We found metal hive empty when your scent brought us here. We have only found the acid mind of the delicious flesh."

Raven felt a hint of excitement as she recognized that description. "Is she still alive?"

"We have not harmed her. Even though we are hungry."

"Where is she?"

The command had been mental but the sky filled with the buzzing of the Kaz-Kal as a few brought the kicking and swearing Blackfire to her and dropped her on the ground in front of Raven. Blackfire tried to force herself back on to her feet but The larger insect aliens forced her back on her knees in front of the dark sorceress.

"X'al! Really? I've got to kneel again?" Blackfire growled looking up into Raven's eyes. Her eyes glittered in anger with a bit of fear.

"Well," Raven grinned. "I know how good you are on your knees."

A slight blush came to the Tamaranian's face but Raven giggled and pulled the other woman to her feet.

"Thanks," Blackfire said rubbing her wrists where the insects had her pinned. "Wasn't sure if you'd be in such a forgiving mood thanks to their arrival."

"What happened? Where is everybody?"

"From what I heard, they're on their way to Ngawa, Tibet."

"Tibet? Why?"

Blackfire's eyes turned hard as she summoned the two sentences that ripped through Raven.

"Last stand. Sovereign has regained his strength."

Ngawa was a beautiful, little city part of the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture
in China. Honestly, Robin never thought he would come to China as the government was still very much against outside influence even with the existence of Metas. At present, it didn't matter since Beijing had decided to resist Sovereign and was now a burning hole in the ground. When the Batjet flew over, Robin could not comprehend the destruction at the twisted metal and thousands of fires that were consuming the city.

He had chosen to ride with his old mental, even though they did not get along and the trip had been silent. They had moved out so quickly, the leader of the Teen Titans was upset for leaving Raven behind.

There was no choice, he had been told. Sovereign was on the move and it wouldn't matter if Raven was a prisoner or not if the psychotic godlike inter-dimensional alien was successful in destroying the known reality.

They knew he was making his way to Ngawa, the location that the temporal coordinates of Coulson pointed to being the weakest point of their reality here on Earth. Sovereign was going to rip the entire dimension apart if they didn't stop him.

"Got any location on him?" Batman said into his earpiece.

"Negative," Iron man's voice came back. "Last we saw him was in Beijing and he was making his way to Hong Kong. Looks like these little excursions are still tiring."

"The Midnight Shadow isn't helping," Superman's voice came across the speakers. "We've already engaged her in Chongqing. We may be able to rebuild the city after that battle."

"We need to get to Ngawa and set up our last stand before he gets there," Batman continued. "Harass and distract as long as you can. This is going to be our only chance."

There only chance. They had been battling for over a year now with much of the world either burning or petrified that they would be next. His team had been torn apart with the devastation, destruction, and betrayal. Only habit kept them together. The haunted look in Cyborg's eyes, the pain in Beast Boys when he laughed or spoke to long. Starfire seemed to be forlorn and hopeless. He was pretty sure she had given up a long time ago but continued to fight because there were no other options.

When they arrived to Ngawa, the Batjet set down in the outskirts near a Buddhist temple. The beautiful spire climbed toward the sky while the orange and yellow monks had come out to see them. Batman and Robin hopped out along with blue beetle and Wonder Woman making their way towards the spot Batman's gadget was taking them.

"The demon will come from the sky, " Wonder Woman said pointing upward. "He has no need to walk and that is how he has struck the last two places. All those who can fly need to meet him and his horde in the air to buy you time to get a lock on him."

Robin was doubtful the same tactic with the recharged Big Quantum Cannon. Sovereign had to know it would come into play.

"Robin, Meet up with your team and move towards the foothills. Start setting up markers for automated drones to help with triangulation. If we can put up enough firepower, we might be able to clear a path to Sovereign." Batman said motioning towards the thick treetops that covered the hills.

Robin nodded and tapped his comm to send the coordinates to his team. They were going to set up but Robin had reached the point that he did not have much hope. He had lost his friends to this war and Raven was responsible. There was no way for them to come back from this that he could see.

Was reality worth saving if he could not have his friends?