Chapter Twenty-Seven
Beast Boy stormed into the tower, raging up to his room and shutting the door. Nightwing knew that training that night wouldn't do them any good. Beast Boy was enraged and Terra didn't seem much better off. Damian was controlling his anger, but he was quietly fuming and Nightwing needed to cool off a bit as well. As soon as he got to his room, he was stopped by Raven, who seemed to want to say something. She just walked into his room with him and sat down.
For a while, neither said anything. It was over an hour until Dick spoke.
"Slade gave me a certain ability that I think will help you more than it helps me." He said. Raven raised an eyebrow curiously. Dick crossed the room, taking her gently in his arms and kissing her tenderly on the lips. As he did, the knowledge passed between them. It wasn't the kiss that passed the knowledge. It was more that it was easier to access someone's mind when they were so unguarded.
Raven nodded.
"Access Denial. I don't know if this will keep Trigon out. Not permanently anyway. But I think this might weaken him if we attach some form of backlash to any attempts he makes. If we modify the spell properly, we could effectively lock down our universe and make each lock Trigon tries to open more painful and damaging than the previous one.
"It would take some research. Do you have any serums that will allow me to go without sleep for a while?" Raven asked. Dick nodded.
"I don't sleep. But I imagine I could make you one." He said, cutting his wrist and bleeding into a vial, watching as the liquid turned greyish-blue, then turned cobalt blue with silver sparkles throughout it.
"This will allow you to go without sleep for three days. After that, I suggest you get at least a few hours of sleep before trying to take another one of these serums." Nightwing suggested. Raven nodded, draining the serum and handing the vial back to Dick, who washed it out and put it out to dry. He then went up to Raven's room with her and the two began to study magical texts in order to find a way to keep Trigon out as long as possible.
Dick found a spell that would keep their minds connected to the barrier, and thus, as soon as Trigon began trying to break through, they would know, and could fight back, making sure that Trigon spent as much energy as possible just trying to break through. There was a chance, however slim that eventually he would just give up and work on a different universe. That option wasn't much better, but at least they would be protecting their own universe.
He shared the spell with Raven and began working with her on casting the spell, doing it multiple times to ensure multiple layers of protection for their universe. There could potentially be drawbacks to sealing off the universe. If extrauniversal beings who had no ill-intentions tried to get in, they might not be able to. Still, they had to focus on what was best for the universe at the moment. Nightwing and Raven went through every book in Raven's library until there was only one left… Melchior's book.
Nightwing only knew a little bit about what had happened. He knew that an evil dragon had gotten out and that Raven had been involved. She didn't offer information about it, so he didn't ask.
"Hey, Rae… This is the only book that's left. This Melchior guy… He was one of the most powerful magic users in the universe, right?"
"Yes… But I'm not willing to call upon him. I can't be sure that he won't try to escape and there's no guarantee that he'll help us."
"Okay… I have some contacts because of Bruce. Maybe Zatanna Zatara can help us. I can call her immediately. She owes Batman a favor… Well, he may already have called on it. But I can try." Dick said, getting on his communicator and putting in Zatanna's coordinates.
"Hello? Zatanna Zatara, how can I help you?"
"Hey, Zatanna… It's Dick Grayson."
"Ahh… It's been a while. What can I do for Batman's first Robin?" She asked. Dick's eyes narrowed.
"We're having a bit of a problem. Raven's father…"
"Trigon… That monster is coming back?"
"Assuming we can't stop it, yes. We need your help with banishment and sealing magic. Raven is exceptionally powerful, but we can't find a spell powerful enough in her library to seal the universe from a being as powerful as Trigon." Dick said.
"I see… Yes, I'll be right over. I might be able to help you." Zatanna said, hanging up.
Less than a second later, the television came on with Zatanna's face on it.
"Hey there, beautiful. What can we do for you?" Cyborg asked, smirking confidently at her.
"Good evening, Victor. I see that you've had work done on you. Is your human appearance only skin deep, or have you truly been transformed back into a human?" Zatanna asked interestedly.
"Well… Come on in. We'll go over everything we can with you, Zatanna." Jason said, opening the door. Zatanna immediately teleported to the sitting room, where she looked Cyborg over, knocking on his head and the rest of his body.
"Mm… Your bones are much denser… But your body is almost entirely biological now… Except for the bones… Fascinating. The person who worked on you made your bones biomechanical.
"But they made your outer body, muscles and flesh entirely biological. Who had the biomechanical knowledge to do that? I should be fascinated to meet such a mechanical wizard." Zatanna said. Cyborg blushed slightly.
"Well, recently the Titans have undergone some changes… As you can see, we have three generations of Robins amongst us now. Terra is back.
"Robin is Nightwing now, and he has some new powers that he's spread around a bit. He was able to modify me to make me look entirely human. But my skin is nearly impenetrable by normal weapons and my bones are biomechanical, so I still have all the functions of my former Cyborg body." Victor said.
"And he has done the enhancements on all of us. Our powers are much greater than they were. He has made us powerful enough hopefully to fight the Trigon." Starfire said.
"I see. He's mastered his powers quite quickly. I need to see Dick… He was the one who called me. They're looking into magical defenses that they can place on our universe."
"Zatanna! You got here quickly. Thank you." Dick said, striding into the sitting room and taking her up to Raven's room, where the young mage was waiting for them.
"Okay… You're looking for defensive magic, likely barriers that you can place around the universe that will impede and hopefully even harm Trigon, am I correct?" Zatanna asked. Dick and Raven nodded.
"Yes. We're hoping to stop Trigon before he even gets here. We doubt he'll give up on getting in, but if we can weaken him even a little bit before we have to fight him." Raven said. Zatanna's eyes narrowed.
"Such defenses would work if Trigon was using a gate to enter our universe. There's every chance that it will effectively teleport into our universe. However, some extra defenses still wouldn't go amiss. What exactly are you looking for in your defenses? I need you to be as detailed and specific as you can."
"Multiple layers, as thick as you can, with backlash on each layer. We need each layer to hurt to get through so that even before Trigon gets here, he's taking damage."
"Alright, so divine magic… That's not my strong point. My main focus is arcane magic. But I have some experience with divine magic. Enough to at least know some practitioners of it. Can I make a call?"
"If you think it will help, by all means." Dick said. Zatanna nodded and got on her phone.
"Hey, Ciceron… This is Zatanna… There's a situation and we could use your expertise at Titan Tower… That's right, Jump City. Come as quick as… Possible. Hey, Ciceron… Nightwing, Raven… Meet Ciceron, she prays mainly to Hecate, but she's been known to pray to other deities on a situational basis."
"Hey, Ciceron… We're trying to shield our universe from a visit from Raven's father."
"Ah, you're Trigon's daughter, yeah? You're prettier than I thought you'd be. Anyway, divine barriers. I take it you want Holy Barriers that will actually hurt your old man, yeah? I thought so. Let's see… We're gonna need layers… Layers upon layers if we're to really keep the old bastard out."
"We're not looking to keep him out indefinitely. We just want to make it painful and difficult to get in so he has to use a lot of energy to do so." Raven said. Ciceron raised an eyebrow.
"Well… Your voice is hardly gorgeous, but that's beside the point right now. I think I can oblige. We need netted layers, ones that not only form layers, but act like chainmail. It makes it harder to break since the overlapping links force him to expend a lot of energy. Unfortunately, that uses a lot of energy for me to put such barriers up, and my energy won't fully recover until I remove the barriers or they break. But for you guys? Anything. First of all, this requires blood.
"A lot of divine magic requires blood, and I could use the blood of more than one powerful mage. As it happens, there are four in this room. Nightwing, you aren't as experienced as the rest of us, but your blood has some level of magic in it, and it's powerful because you're powerful. So let's go. Everyone cut themselves and bleed in this cup. We'll draw a magic circle on the ground and set up the ritual. How many of you here know Adamic? Mm… Raven, you do… Zatanna.
"Raven, teach Nightwing Adamic and we'll be ready." Raven nodded, kissing Nightwing passionately on the lips, passing the language to him telepathically. It was an odd language, both similar and dissimilar to all other languages on earth, and it seemed so powerful and immutable, like it had never had to evolve.
"The language isn't actually called Adamic. It's just that nobody knows the name of the First Language, so those who know it call it Adamic."
"I know." Hecate said to Raven, finishing up the circle, making sure it was big enough for all of them to sit around. She took some candles and doused them in the blood that was left and set them equidistant around the circle and scattered some salt around it before sitting down at the left side of it. Raven sat down across from Ciceron and Nightwing sat down next to her. Zatanna sat down next to Raven and the four joined hands.
Nightwing joined all their minds so they could all chant as they set up the defenses around the universe. Nightwing took a breath and began chanting with the rest of the mages and the circle began to glow a deep red. It was a little disturbing. The circle pulsed, waxing and waning in brightness and strange, phantom noises sounded around the room. They were praying to Hecate, pleading with her to grant them the power to defend against Trigon.
Ciceron then began chanting alone, describing the parameters of the defenses, the number of layers… 777… The density… Nightwing didn't understand the description… The thickness… Each layer was to be as thick as the Earth's Core, both inner and outer, and the composition… Chain links of divine energy that would injure Trigon with divine energy every time he tried to penetrate it, and would continue to do half again as much damage for every second he continued to attempt to penetrate the barrier.
There was a good chance that Trigon would be at least very tired when it got to earth. And if it wasn't, well… They had done all they could to prevent its arrival, and they could only then fight with all their ability. Nightwing sighed and headed to his laboratory and turned on the Global Titans Communicator, bringing up all Teen Titans.
"Robin! You got a new outfit!" Wally said cheerfully. Jinx growled irritably.
"Do you have any idea what time it is? I was sleeping, thank you very much!" She snarled. Nightwing laughed nervously.
"Sorry… This is urgent. Raven's father is coming back. I'm not sure exactly when, I'm not sure exactly how. But we're preparing for the worst.
"We're setting up barriers around our universe to make it difficult for Trigon to get through. They'll release severe backlash against him, hopefully. But I'm not confident they can stop him entirely. That said, I installed a failsafe in all of you that will protect you from Trigon's petrifying effect.
"Immediately after Trigon comes to earth, you'll all be protected from him, and you'll be teleported to our side to fight him. Sorry I didn't get your permission, but anyone who accepted the enhancements, which I can see includes all of you, will all teleport to where Trigon enters, wherever he enters. That will include all of us. I only ask you all to be ready." Dick said. Ravager nodded.
"I see… We've gotten some intelligence that Slade is working with you."
"Yes… Although I'd be just as happy if he wasn't. Did Slade train you, Rose?" Robin asked. Rose shrugged.
"A little bit. He wasn't really around enough to give me more than basic training. I kinda had to train myself. I'd've been happy to have a master like Batman who could train me every day."
"Maybe offer yourself as his next Robin. Batman's assistants never last forever. They either die or quit."
"Meh… Batman isn't really my style. I'd be just as happy to work on my own. But these clowns still need me… Especially those two…" She said, redirecting the camera to Wally and Jinx. Jinx was pushing Wally away while Wally was trying to kiss Jinx. It was obvious she wasn't actually unhappy about him kissing her. Just embarrassed to be doing it in public.
"Jeez, Wally! At least let's do this in one of our rooms!"
"Ooh, Jinxy wants to take this all the way tonight…"
"I DO NOT! FUCKING PERVERT!" Jinx shrieked, punching Wally in the stomach, showing that her powers over luck had only increased over the years. Nightwing suspected that his enhancement pills and the insects he sent had something to do with it.
She had manipulated the luck immediately surrounding his attempt to avoid her punch and effectively eliminated it. Now, Wally was kneeling on the ground, clutching his stomach and gasping for breath.
"Hey… You've gotten… A lot stronger, Jinxy…" Wally gasped between heaving breaths. Jinx scowled, blushing and dragged Wally up to his room and threw him inside, striding away in a huff.
"Sorry about that, Nightwing… So you were talking about Trigon coming back. You're sure that we'll all be able to get together when that happens and that we'll all be safe?"
"Yes. I've made several assurances. Even if Trigon's power cancels out the powers that he gave her, she still has the powers that I helped her grow in herself. I'm hoping that the protection I placed on all the Titans will avail her." Nightwing said. Ravager nodded.
"I see. Well… You said you've been contacting magic users to help you set up barriers against Trigon?"
"Yes. But no amount of barriers will last forever against a nearly omnipotent being like Trigon." Nightwing said, looking away from the screen as a huge bang came out of his room.
"Sorry, Nightwing! A big of a complication on the Barrier Ritual!" Zatanna called. Nightwing shook his head, taking out a bottle of water and taking a long drink.
"So… What other skills have you advanced in yourself? You seem like the type who would prioritize physical and combat abilities. But no reason to completely limit yourself."
"Well… I'm learning a little bit of alchemy. Raven is helping me with that. My alchemy is oddly intuitive. I turn my blood into Aether and enchant the Aether with the effect I desire. I imagine that more complex solutions would require more than a bit of blood.
"But for now, creating explosions, enhancing physical and mental abilities, freezing and incinerating… They're all simple enough. I doubt I could make anyone immortal with just some blood. Well, I could… But I also risk killing them by doing that. How are your team's abilities coming? You've taken to using the time dilation chamber, I take it?"
"Yes… It feels odd in the chamber, like time is a little odd. But it's effective to say the least. We can get weeks of training in in just an hour at the longest. How is Victor doing? My intelligence suggests that you removed his robotic enhancements." Ravager said. Nightwing shook his head.
"Hardly… I inverted his robotic enhancements. I turned them into an endoskeleton instead of an exoskeleton. He has all the same abilities, but the appearance of a full human."
"Interesting." Rose said, a grin crossing her face.
"Did you gain any insight into the metal that Cyborg used or making more intelligent machines?"
"I could if I wanted to. I've already created a non-radioactive supermetal I'm calling Soskotium. Beat Boy wanted to call it Upyourtanium."
"Tell me about this metal."
"It's half as heavy as aluminum, but twenty times stronger than titanium. It's effectively indestructible. It doesn't melt until 5,000oF and boils at 15,000oF. However, it can be made pliable when ordered to yield. It will continue to yield until it's commanded to resist. Once it's told to resist permanently, it will never yield again.
"It will yield again only under one circumstance. When a telepathic command to change is issued to it, it will yield again. This will allow buildings made out of this metal to yield if it becomes necessary to make them bigger or knock them down." Nightwing said.
"Great… Can I send you a list of weapons our team could use?" Ravager asked.
"I don't see why not. But about Trigon. It's not urgent right now. But I do need you to step up your teams' training… All of you." Nightwing said, addressing all the other Teen Titans. They all answered in the affirmative, and the connection cut off, leaving Nightwing alone. He headed back to his room to find Zatanna and Ciceron still there, finishing up the barriers.
"Alright, all the barriers are completely set up. There are 666,666,666 layers. I know it seems kind of derivative. But that's as many layers as we can create with our combined power without having to sacrifice any long-term power. And given the crisis that may soon face earth, neither of us can afford to sacrifice any long-term power.
"To simplify, we connected all of the barriers to this silver pendant. Put it on Raven, who will maintain it with her own magical power. The power of our barriers are already in it. It just needs a token amount of magical energy to maintain it. As long as she's wearing it, it will glow slightly and radiate an almost inaudible hum. If it stops doing either of those things, contact us. It's a sign that Trigon has begun to break through the layers. And… That's it." Zatanna said cheerfully, heading out of Dick's room.
"Alright… Well thank you very much. We couldn't have prepared this well without you." Dick said, taking the two women to the front door and thanking them one last time before they teleported away.
"Well… I think we're about as ready for Trigon's appearance as we can possibly be." Dick said. Raven nodded, feeling less certain.
"Even all those hundreds of millions of layers won't stop my father forever, and when he gets here, he'll be even more enraged than he would normally be. After all, he was stopped by my betrayal of him. His anger is already immense. I hope this time to be able to focus my powers and capture him rather than simply banishing him. It would allow me to keep track of him. But I'm not sure I'll be able to without magical assistance.
"Dick… I need to train you in actual magic." Raven said.
