A low hum perforated the cold steel walls giving life to the machine as it soared effortlessly through the void. The once white paint that coated the interior of the ancient relic dimly reflected the singular hanging light that illuminated the small room. Four deep green cots lined the walls to either side of the heavy door, empty footlockers hidden beneath the cold wire framing. At the rooms center knelt three men, their hoods drawn over their heads and their hands palm down on the grey floor. A dark crimson circle surrounded the three as they silently sat in meditation.

The room seemed completely still as if the ship that carried them across the stars were not traveling through the bent fabric of space and time. It would only last a moment longer as an impact caused the lights to flicker and the heavy frame to shake. Another moment passed before the light was fully snuffed out to be replaced by a dim red glow that hung from under the lower wall panels bathing the walkways in an eerie crimson light that matched the metallic liquid that pooled on the ground.

The men, seemingly unperturbed by the interruption, slowly drew their meditation to a close as they righted their bodies still sitting upon their armored greaves. The metal of the door behind the leanest man began to bend apart until it fell away and three larger creatures stepped into the room drawing long beam rifles on the hooded figures.

"Do not fight and we will not harm you."

The creature that could be identified as the leader of this small squad spoke in a confident yet calm voice, trained by time and experience. The first man slowly stood from his spot and turned to his would be captor coming eye to eye with the blue creature.

Time stood still as the mercenary's hard eyes gazed into a pair of glowing red ones, a silent fire burning behind them. They held such control in them but something lay deeper. A bloody terror that was the history of the man. Evil wrought by bare hand and blade alike that ended in only torment and fear though neither emotion seemed to exist in the man who harbored and cherished such memories.

A second passed without a movement but the next gave way to a flurry of motion. A second pair of fiery red eyes opened and the mercenaries on either side of him turned their guns on themselves before pulling the trigger. Their leader's eyes opened wide in disbelief at the horror that had occurred. The fresh scent of burnt flesh lingered in the air and the man took a long deep breath as if appreciating the wretched smell. As the stale air entered the mans lungs a smile began to take his features baring the vicious maw of sharp white teeth.

The sight made the battle hardened mercenary quiver in his armor. Slowly the red glow of the mans eyes seemed to grow brighter until he could no longer see. He felt his senses retreat and his mind become caged as the will of the man before him became his own. His body turned and walked out of the room entering the hall of other foot-soldiers. Within a moment he raised his weapon and took aim on his own allies, screaming from the confines of his cage to stop.

*click*

The trigger lead made contact with the pin, completing the circuit of the beam rifle and releasing a harsh line of overheated plasma.

*click*

Another creature fell to the ground, the place where his head had once sat now a steaming hole.

*click*

The shots continued outside the door as the other two men stood, looking to their Brother.

"Shall we end them, Jacob?"

Jacob, the lean built man before them turned and raised a hand to the back wall of the room. Three large black claymores leaned against the wall and the center one began to levitate toward him until it sat firmly in his grip.

"I believe we shall."

With that he turned and exited the room, his brothers following close behind him.

—

A flurry of hair lay splayed across the pillow. The azure tint of the hood below it lost in the violet color of her hair. Frustration festered in the features of the teenage girl knitting her brow as she sighed heavily into her dark room.

It had been three hours since Robin had returned to help translate the etchings she'd acquired and even with the soothing aid of herbal tea she found herself completely annoyed. Not with the room's other occupant but more so with herself. Ever since he'd returned she found that after short spans of time her eyes would always drift to the young man and linger on his strong features.

Thankfully her antics had gone unnoticed either by the intense focus Robin had upon her laptop screen or pure luck as she was certain her wandering eyes were not very subtle. Either way his seeming aloofness to her circumstance and inner struggle was the only fleeting feeling that brought her any comfort in her situation. She had half a mind to enter Nevermore in search of the offending emotion that caused the duress to her peace but that would mean asking the boy wonder to leave which she had no intention of doing. At this point she had rationalized that she just wanted to know what the inscriptions meant and sending him away would only prolong the translation process but there was another force driving her to keep him present in her room.

"Yes!"

The confident voice brought her back from her thoughts and she sat up on her bed to look down at the spiky hair that poked up over the foot of her mattress to her left. She carefully moved a few sheets of loose paper to the side as she slid forward to sit on the edge of the bed to see the screen of the computer.

"Did you find something?"

Robin turned to look at her, beaming with pride at his own discovery. Raven's eyes trained on his own. She tried to keep her face barren and emotionless but found herself failing as she looked at him.

"Yeah, I found the last character for the inscription. . ."

He turned back to the computer as Ravens did the same. He thankfully did not notice the heat that began to gather in her cheeks. 'What the hell is going on' she thought to herself.

"I'm just finishing up the rest of the translation."

Robin typed away at the black backlit keys of her laptop for a few moments more before the text translation of the inscription appeared in full on the screen.

*The first of father, the sin of pride,

Fulfilled her calling to scorch the skies,

The witch betrayed the father's will,

Now burn she must, her blood to spill.*

Each read the lines one by one, subliminally attaching the same cadence as the prophetical words she had spoken the day she'd ended the world. A moment of silence lingered as they each processed the words and their meaning.

It didn't tell them much more than they already knew. She was born, she destroyed the world, she betrayed her father and banished him to another dimension, and the hooded men in her dreams sought to burn and kill her. Pretty straight forward. She read over the lines again.

*The first of father. . .*

'The first' she thought to herself. Did that mean she wasn't the only child of the inter dimensional demon? The idea of there being others like her was both comforting and terrifying. To think that others existed with powers as volatile as her own without the same upbringing gave her reason to believe such individuals would be far more chaotic and evil.

"Did Trigon have other children?"

Once again his voice pulled her from the cloudy enigma of her mind. Evidently he had followed the same train of thought. Raven took a few long moments before offering her simple response.

"I don't know."

Her eyes met his again for a moment, fleeting concern in his eyes as he recognized the conflict in her own. A part of her wanted there to be others, so she could claim she was not alone. The other part of her knew the repercussions of the that possible truth being the danger that may yet lurk in the world. She glanced away only to evade the emotions that flowed freely from him but found her eyes fixed upon an object that lay on the floor next to him. The Greek dictionary that she had purchase from the library lay open on the floor, the strange characters staring back at her.

'Why Greek?' She thought for a moment pulling her brow together in an inquisitive look. Her thought was cut short as the alarm began to sound flashing red lights in her otherwise dark room.

"Trouble"

They both said simultaneously, standing and exiting her room.

—

It took only a few minutes for the titans to reach their destination. The moon reflected off of the puddles of mud and water that littered dark dock street. A large decrepit warehouse shadowed the five heroes as they made their way into the building in search of their criminals.

"So. . . Do we actually know what we're looking for?"

The green boy spoke with a bit of concern and fear creeping into his voice. Clearly the shady abandoned metal district refused to let him be at ease.

"The call just said there was some abnormal activity in this area. Probably some drug runners or something."

As they crossed the two-story tall threshold of the warehouse a small light flipped up from Cyborgs shoulder to help illuminate the dark open room. He quickly trained the light on a line of plastic tables in the center of the room, stacks of white bricks covering their surfaces.

"Well there you go."

The titans gathered around the tables as Cyborg scanned a few of the packages determining their chemical buildup.

"Well it's coke alright. But who the hell is moving it?"

As if on cue a group of strong masculine figures stood at the entrance to the warehouse barring their exit. Each Titan turned to face them as a voice pierced the echoey silence.

"Wouldn't you love to know."

The voice was unmistakeable. The deep and heavy sound of the tatted man slapped a scowl to Robin's face.

"Rancid."

He muttered beneath his breath as he hunched his shoulders in anger. He may not have been arch-nemesis material but the fact that he'd managed to beat him once before never truly sat right with him. It still stood as yet another mark on his tarnished record of crime fighting.

"I'm sorry, what was that bird boy? You're gonna need to speak up!"

He shouted across he room, a large smile tugging at the muscles of his face. Starfire noticeably became more irate at the man, still defensive of the young leader that stood beside her. Robin ignored the comment as his mind switched to strategy, sizing up the opponents and devising a plan of attack. 7 men stood in the line all adorned in heavy leather jackets or vests along with blue jeans, easily identified as a biker gang. Some carried pipes or tire irons while others sported brass knuckles. As his eyes scanned up and down the kind he noticed that of the men only two of them really stood out. Rancid himself, and another man roughly the same size as Cyborg, a large black beard covering his lower features and the tan skin of his chest only obscured by a denim vest. The other 5 seemed average in size though still strong in build to keep up with the "biker" vibe no doubt. The titans behind him seemed to watch his gaze taking subtle hints at his plan before he finally shouted the command.

"Titans, Go!"

Immediately the titans and the bikers sprang into action. Robin rushed directly to Rancid, throwing punch after punch at the muscular man though he managed to dodge most of the attacks and even place some counter punches. Cyborg ran toward the towering bruiser and the two began wrestling for dominance. Despite the strength of Cyborg's circuits the biker kept up well as each tried to topple the other. Beastboy and Starfire took the attention of three of the average bikers, starbolts flying as the men chased a green cheetah across the room.

This left Raven with the last two bikers, normally not an issue for someone with powers like her own but the stress of her mind put her on edge forcing her to stay defensive. She feared that with her bubbling emotions and her sleeplessness she could easily cause serious harm if she weren't careful so she took to keeping distance between her and her enemies and throwing objects at them with her telekinesis. The tactic worked for awhile as they spent their time dodging her attacks and when they got close enough to swing she would place a barrier between them before falling through the floor to reappear elsewhere. She replicated this multiple times before one of the men shouted at her.

"Come on, bitch, quit running! "

One of them shouted. In normal circumstances the phrase wouldn't have affected her but in her weakened state of mind the word 'bitch' seemed to trigger her focus. 'Fine, I'll quit running.' She thought to herself as she planted her feet and stood her ground. She trained her eyes on the bandana wearing man who'd offered the insult. Her right hand stretched out to raise subterranean rocks from beneath the concrete flooring, forcing the offending man to jump from side to side to evade each rock as they erupted from the floor. Raven's teeth gritted together in anger as his agility allowed him to dodge the attack unscathed. She thrust her arm back down sending each of the rocks back at the man at astounding speeds. If they'd hit the man he would have been knocked unconscious for sure but alas each throw was a miss.

She felt rage bubbling within her but a cool feeling washed over her and the heat of the fight began to drain from her. It took a full 3 seconds before she realized what was happening. A hard sharp pain throbbed from the back of her head as she unwillingly fell to the floor. In her anger and haste to be rid of the insulting man she had forgotten about the other biker. Her attacker stood over her for a moment, a few drops of her own blood dripping off of the lead pipe to the ground before her face. Another moment passed as she could not move but watched as the two men began to run off in the distance. As their figures left their superimposed position she recognized the fight in the distance. Robin fought Rancid hand to hand as he had before, both now with bruises and cuts to show for their efforts. He was barely holding up one on one, the added threat of two additional men could be too much for his skills. She tried to open her mouth to shout, to warn him but she could not and she silently watched the man in the bandana tackle him to the ground. They stood around him, kicking at his downed body and beating him with the lead pipe.

"No!"

She finally shouted. The surge of pain emanating from the bond pushed her body to overcome the shock. She stood as quickly as she could though she could feel the pain in her skull crying for her to stop. The pain didn't matter, she needed to protect him. Caution to the wind she darted for the trio of men, discarding her telekinetic abilities in favor of a more personal weapon. Black talons of soul energy protruded from her hands as she neared the men.

She aimed for the man with a lead pipe first, hitting him square in the temple and forcing him to stumble before collapsing to the ground unconscious. Her left arm then swung striking the other man in the chest. She extended her soul self throwing him across the interior of the room crashing into crates on the far side. She finally turned her attention to the tattooed biker who'd cause the man on the ground before her so much pain in their past encounters. She could not withhold her own power as she lashed out punch after punch of soul enforced fury. She missed with each swing as he dodged and retreated from his footing though never removing his eyes from the dark empath. Finally as her right arm fully extended she felt a warmth envelope her whole hand. Looking she found it wrapped up in his long strong fingers. She followed the trail of his arm back to his face which sat with a satisfied smirk.

"You don't like it when someone messes with your boyfriend, do ya little bird?"

The phrase shot rage through her body as she brought her other arm to attack. As she did he ducked and she felt his shoulder drive into her gut knocking the wind out of her. In the confusion she failed to realize her boots left the ground against her volition and the world flipped in her view as her back hit the ground with an audible *thud*. She lacked the strength or coordination to move but was soon snapped back to reality as she felt the sole of his boot press against the socket of her arm, still in his grasp.

*crack*

Bone snapped and her elbow fractured out of it's socket. The sudden rush of pain caused a quick expulsion of her powers pushing Rancid away but only stumbling him back a few feet. She quickly withdrew her arm to her chest as she felt the compounding pain of the wound begin to takeover. She hadn't even recognized it but as her arm had been broken her mouth had opened in a harsh, pained scream, gathering the attention of her allies.

Beastboy and Starfire put the finishing touches on their enemies while Cyborg finally gained the upper hand. He picked up the large bearded man and threw him directly at Rancid, knocking him to the ground. It would be moments before they were all upon him but he was quick to his feet and even quicker as he grabbed Ravens hood and yanked her up to stand in front of him. She felt cold steel flush against her temple as he walked backwards with her in his choke hold.

"Keep off or your little bird gets a makeover."

Each of the titans stopped dead in their tracks and Robin sat up from his spot on the ground, blood slowly oozing from the gash above his brow and the bruises around his chest swelling from the internal bleeding. They watched in horrifying anticipation as Rancid backed his way deeper into the warehouse a black bull barrel revolver pressed hard against Raven's skull. He was surrounded with nowhere to go and the slightest movement from the titans could throw him in a panic but his movement were calculated. All in the next moment he pushed Raven forward and she stumbled to the ground, falling on her broken arm. He pulled at a black sheet revealing the gang's bikes and mounted his own before quickly speeding out of the warehouse.

"Star, tail him!"

Robin shouted from the ground, trying to stand but failing. Starfire began to approach him but the glare of determination he gave her forced her to nod before reluctantly flying away. Cyborg rushed to Robin's side helping him to stand as he clutched at his beaten chest. Beastboy ran to Raven as she shrugged his hand off her shoulder, standing on her own. She pulled her hood up to hide the excruciating pain that would be evident on her face and hid her mangled arm beneath her cloak as well to avoid questions. She suddenly felt glad she'd taken the extra time to change before the fight.

"Raven, are you okay?"

Beastboy said, heavy concern in his voice.

"Just peachy."

She said in her deadpan monotone as she brushed past him, barely touching her broken right arm against his torso and wincing as she did. Luckily he neither heard her nor saw her face as she made her way to Robin.

Her mind had become an empty void as her powers focused on mending her crippled limb. The lack of connection she felt from both her allies and more specifically from the bond with Robin made for an eerie silence within the confines of her mind. Still she needed to assess her leaders wounds. As she neared him and Cyborg, Robin tried to wave her off but she pushed past his objections placing a soft hand against his hard chest. For a brief moment they exchanged each other's pain and Robin's face contorted from the intense concentration. As quickly as she'd placed her hand she removed it turning to Cyborg.

"He has internal bleeding and I can't heal it. We need to get back to the tower."

She stated as plainly as she could walking past Beastboy yet again on her way to the T-car. All three of the boys watched her as she moved away with confusion and concern engraved into their features. After a few moments they followed, Robin leaning on Cyborg for support as he limped to the car.