Chapter One: H'ssiah's Lament
Lieutenant H'ssiah wasn't very happy.
He and the crew of the GIF Stormfront had managed to obtain something very, very valuable- a prisoner so important, so blessed with fame, that her fate alone could make or break Gordanian-Tamaranian relations. And they had lost her.
It wasn't his fault, of course. H'ssiah's duty to the Almighty Lord was to man the Stormfront and keep all its contents in check, and he'd done that just fine. It was said contents, however, that seemed to be the issue. Private Colonel Sm'izt and General Jon'z had been assigned to check on the prisoner. They were his best friends, the only people the Gordanian trusted enough to tell of the discovery. And they'd gone so far as to mess everything up! Damn them both- Zorg damn them to-
Calm down, H'ssiah.
H'ssiah knew it wasn't much getting worked up over. The prisoner had very quickly been restrained and led back to her quarters despite her stubbornness, alien strength and- strangely enough- a newly acquired power over energy. A team of scientists, quickly made the bumbling duo's replacements, dubbed the things she wielded xaniks. Starbolts. A very fitting name, given the translation of the prisoner's…
Koryand'r. Princess Starfire of Tamaran. How the Stormfront had managed to capture HER, H'ssiah would never be sure. And quite frankly, he didn't want to. The girl was scary, in more ways than one. (It said something that even Lord Tro'gaar, upon his visit to inspect the cargo, commented on her anger and persistent negative aura. Lord Tro'gaar usually did not hesitate to ignore an enemy's statistics and gut them.)
What had gotten the general's attention at present was the destination they were to deposit Koryand'r at; the Citadel, capital of Gordania and home to the headquarters of the Galactic Alliance (conveniently enough, currently manned by Gordania.) The men who currently ran the Citadel- Tro'gaar's lackies, from what H'ssiah'd heard- wanted to use the rutan'gah, to use a more alien term, as their servant. The word literally meant "slave". Koryand'r would become the Citadel's maid, and do whatever their scaly hearts desired. H'ssiah did not quite agree.
She was dangerous. A troq; while H'ssiah did not quite agree with the genesis of the slur, that of the Volkreggians' excuse to demean those they hated, he reasoned with the fact that the girl should not pose a threat. None at all, as the Red Lantern Razer would've said. Zorg, H'ssiah hated Razer. But he had a point in calling his wife by the term- she was his second, inferior to him, and where exactly was he supposed to be going with this?
Point was, Koryand'r was not to be made the Citadel's troq. H'ssiah would make sure of this. In his eyes, the only safe place the rutan'gah could be kept was a prison, where he would assign members of his crew to watch over her and protect everyone's safety (although the princess was very pretty, H'ssiah prayed they would not take advantage of it to partake in coitus. It would not end very well.)
The Gordanian sighed, looked over his files- the colony of Lexicon was having major political issues, from the looks of things- drank a bit of his exotic Earth bean blend, turned to the command centre's computer, which indicated that the Stormfront was flying past Spherus Magna, of all places-
Wait, WHAT? SPHERUS MAGNA?
Spherus Magna had violently exploded 200,000 years ago; H'ssiah hadn't been around to witness the event himself, unfortunately, but his friend's great aunt's great-great-great-grandfather thrice removed had actually been caught in the line of fire. Word had been passed down that the planet was destroyed! Disintegrated! The map shouldn't have even shown it!
Huh. Well, his computer had been acting a little strange as of late. Maybe he needed to tinker with it a bit. Or, for that matter, see if the damn thing had been right…
A quick glance out a large glass window, sure enough, confirmed his theory. The "Graveyard from the Great Beings" was alive and well, orbiting around a star a few hundred thousand kilometres from the ship's present location. Dark forces were surely at work here, illicit shadowy gods-
"Haaaaaaaaaah!"
Ooor slightly deranged warrior princesses, from the looks of things. Close enough.
How had Koryand'r even freed herself again? H'ssiah had taken the proper precautions this time. He'd fortrified the cage that she was kept in. Improved the stability and durability of her iron cuffs. Assigned many more people to her prison than was required. The only way this could possibly have happened was if somebody had fucked up again.
Lieutenant H'ssiah, as he rushed to the source of the Tamaranian's voice, hoped and prayed that someone had not fucked up again. In all odds, though, such piety was probably going to be moot.
"We're still not sure why you require our assistance, Miss…"
"I don't see why I should tell you."
"If you ever want to see the light of day again, you'll-"
"Calm yourself! My child, it is imperative that we know the reason we were summoned. It will help us gauge the ability and the extent to which we can aid you."
"Certainly not telling him."
"Are you dense? Are you retarded or something? I'm the goddamn B-"
"Forgive my… partner, kid. He's got more than a few screws loose. Would you like me to lead him out, so that you can talk to Supes and Di?"
The purple-haired pale girl stayed silent. The gem on her forehead gleamed in the dim light of the interrogation room. She tousled her silky blue robe, cold amethyst eyes readily ignoring the costumed freaks that had sat themselves before her.
Taking a moment to read the Justice League's emotions, Rachel "Raven" Roth sighed and turned to her kidnappers, still studying them closely. "I'd like that," she said in a raspy monotone voice.
The Flash- Raven couldn't fathom why a man would call himself that- grinned widely, taking Batman's hand and rushing out of the room. That left her alone with Superman, Wonder Woman, and as she was quick to discover upon her arrival here, Hawkgirl and Martian Manhunter. It seemed another, Green Lantern, was not in her confinement but remained vigilant. Raven just could not fathom that either.
Superman took a moment to ready himself before giving Raven a warm smile. "Well then, miss…"
"It's Roth," Raven spat, "and I don't know why you keep asking."
"Just… trying to be nice?"
The girl narrowed her eyes. "If you were trying, or at least putting in the tiniest modicum of effort, you'd let me tell you via my magic and let me go. Stop being so pushy."
"You'll have to forgive me for my 'pushiness', Miss Roth, but I believe that anyone who the Justice League helps should be treated as a human being, first and foremost-"
"Cl- Superman! Please! If the girl wants things to be this way, they should be allowed to be this way. I can't imagine someone like her would call us for nothing," Wonder Woman said hesitantly.
"No. No, I would not," Raven replied. She took a moment to steel herself before sighing. "I'll tell you why… but this must remain a secret. It's too dangerous for anyone besides your team-" here she looked Superman straight in the eyes- "to know. Understood?"
The Flash, who had just returned from his sojourn, waltzed in and stared at Raven, giving her jokey thumbs up. Bad move. She stared at him and growled, gaze turning red and briefly doubling.
"I said," Raven rumbled, now speaking in a demonic tone, "understood?"
Flash frowned. "I don't even know what we're talking about."
"IT'S-" Roth must have realized how strange she was acting, for her horroresque features quickly retracted- "ugh, I'm sorry. That's part of the problem I have. One of you should tell him what we talked about- quickly, though. We don't have much time." Wonder Woman nodded and turned to the man, relating to him the importance of Raven's visit. He must not have taken it very well, for he paled, eyes widening, and took a while to relax and nod.
"Good," Raven said with a small smile. Triggering her powers, she reached around with a hand of black energy and looked for a cup of herbal tea, which was quickly in the process of consumption. The mage took a deep breath before beginning. "My father is Trigon."
It's been a while, I know, and I apologize. Tumblr has fucking taken over my life- I've been so busy reblogging and answering asks and taking part in fandoms that I've had no time to write. Oh, and Teen Titans Go! was a thing that happened too. My positive position on the show still stands. When I say "I want", you say "Pie"?
This chapter does not feature Lewa, though he will probably most likely appear in the next one. I just needed to go through a bit of setup before getting to the main story. In terms of rewriting, I took the end of TT's first chapter (where H'ssiah learns of Starfire's escape) and Raven's visit to the Justice League, which was only briefly mentioned in Chapter 14, and mashed them together. I figured that getting those two plotlines over with now would enable me to get the rest of the fic going at a quicker pace. (If this wasn't the right way of going about things, please inform me.)
As always, feel free to review if you have any comments, opinions, or suggestions for the story. I'd love to hear them… if I hear any at all, that is… there's really no need for me to keep asking, is there?