Chapter 14: Fear Itself
The smattering of gunfire, the boom of explosions and the clang of steel against steel. It all served as a beautiful symphony to Raven's ears. Would have probably been even more enjoyable if she was not kept pinned on an overhanging catwalk in the chemical plant, courtesy of that alien Starfire's annoying starbolts.
At least she had one consolation, Starfire had no chance to take to the air, or else risk flying into Raven's line of fire. As it was, Raven had to contend to fire small bursts at Starfire with her M4 carbine, keeping her pinned down as well. Around them, the sound of the other Titans fighting against sladebots could be heard clearly.
Clearly wanting to help her friends, Starfire peeked around the steel pillar she was using as cover and fired a wild barrage of starbolts. Raven responded by ducking and blindly firing the last bullets in her current magazine.
"Those starbolts of hers are becoming one hell of a nuisance." Raven grumbled irritably as she reloaded her gun before peering down the catwalk. That was when she noticed something she had missed earlier. Behind Starfire's cover, there a bunch of barrels marked with the warning sign that said they contained something flammable.
Good enough for her.
One well aimed bullet later, and Starfire's position was engulfed in fire. With one Titan dealt with, Raven rose from her cover and advanced along a catwalk in search of her next target. That target presented itself when a sonic blast demolished the support beams holding the catwalk up. Raven lost her hold on her M4, but at least managed to fire her grapple gun and safely swing down to ground level instead of crashing down with the rest of the catwalk.
She was however not given even a second to recover before Cyborg came charging at her like a bull seeing red. But Raven just smirked at him as she graciously flipped right over him, drawing one of her Desert Eagles halfway through and emptying the clip into his back at point blank range. Most shots just left dents in his armor, but one got lucky and hit at the joint of his shoulder, burying through the weaker armor there.
Cyborg grit his teeth as sparks started flying from the gun wound. Ignoring the pain, he spun around just as Raven finished reloading her Desert Eagle and retrieved the other. With a ferocious roar on his lips, he charged at her with a flurry of bone-crushing punches that were wildly thrown at her.
Raven actually laughed over his incompetence here. Sure, his strength was on a whole other level than her ever could be, but he completely lacked speed and agility. It was child's play for her to effortlessly weave in and out of his attacks, always staying just out of reach of his blows.
But as he tried a powerful swing at her, she ducked underneath it and darted inside his defenses. He was never given a chance to react before she pressed the muzzles of both her Desert Eagles into his left knee. Two bullets were promptly discharged and pulverized his mechanical knee before Raven leaped out of his reach again, leaving him to crumble to the floor with a cry of pain.
Nevertheless, he pressed on by forcing himself into a kneeling position and transformed his right arm into a sonic cannon. Raven was quick to leap back to avoid the sonic blasts coming her way before she fired away with her Desert Eagles at her unmoving target. The powerful .50 Action Express bullets mercilessly hammered his armored form until one glanced off the metallic part of his head.
The metal held, but it felt to Cyborg like someone had taken a sledgehammer to his skull. He lost focus on everything around him, and that was all that Raven needed as she reloaded her guns and took aim at the still human part of his head.
"Normally I'd say some catchy one-liner here, but I'm out of ideas for the moment." She stated just as she pulled the trigger. It never impacted against its intended target as Robin tackled Cyborg aside. Raven's face instantly lit up like a Christmas tree at the sight of Robin.
"Bird boy! It's so fun to see you again!" she exclaimed cheerfully at him. Robin just growled in anger as he brought out his bo staff.
"The feeling is anything but mutual, Raven." he snarled back at her. Her way of answering was by pouting at him.
"Don't be such a meanie here. We haven't seen each other for over three weeks now." Her face was suddenly split into that mischievous grin of hers that unconsciously sent chills up Robin's spine. "And I'm just dying to catch up on lost time."
Without missing a beat, she raised her guns again and opened fire on him. He desperately leaped aside, though not fast enough as a bullet went through his right shoulder. But he merely gritted his teeth and swirled around to throw a trio of explosive disc at Raven. The first two were blown apart before they reached their target, but the last one slipped past and detonated right in Raven's face.
Quick-thinking saved her from getting knocked out by leaping away. But Robin was quick to capitalize on his opponents momentary halt in fire and attacked. Raven turned back towards Robin just in time to watch him leap at her with a swing of his bo staff. She rolled under the first swing and tried to fire off a bullet in his face.
He just whacked her hand aside and the bullet sailed harmlessly passed him before driving a fist into her guts. It was quickly followed by a sweeping kick that knocked Raven off her feet. Robin tried to smash his boot into her, but she caught it with her hands and dragged him off his feet before rolling back up on hers.
Retrieving the guns she had dropped, she emptied the last bullets at Robin. He rolled clear of some, but several impacted against his chest. Thankfully the Kevlar held, but it still hurt like a bitch. Climbing back on his feet, while wheezing from the pounding his chest took from those bullets, he charged at Raven again.
Raven meanwhile flipped both guns in her grips and used them as clubs. A swing from Robin's bo staff was blocked, a low swing from one of Raven's makeshift clubs was dodged, a sweeping strike from the bo staff was deflected before a sudden blow from Raven's right club caught Robin by surprise and nailed him in his side.
He staggered back slightly, but was soon back on the offensive with a swing, then a thrust, then a low strike, then a high strike, then another thrust and finally an overhead blow that knocked one of Raven's guns out of her hand. A second blow knocked the other one out of her hand as well before a jab into her chest pushed her further back.
But Raven suddenly spun in a circle, drawing her broadsword along the way, and came back with a two-handed swing that cleaved Robin's bo staff in two. He barely leaped back in time to avoid a second swing, but was forced even further back as Raven pressed on with stabs and slashes.
Finally getting some distance between them, Robin brought out his retractable sword, just in time to block a decapitation strike. As the two became locked in a contest of strengths, Raven smirked mockingly at Robin.
"Come on, bird boy. Don't you learn from your past failures? You can't beat me in sword play." She mocked him just as she pushed both their swords aside and stepped forward to elbow him right in the face, followed by a pommel aimed against his head that he dodged. Robin tried to put some distance between them, but Raven pushed on.
She slashed high, she slashed low, she stabbed against his stomach, she aimed for his legs, she did a spin slash. Robin was barely able to keep up with the flurry of sword strikes that rained down on him. He knocked her sword aside and lunged at her, but she easily sidestepped the attack and gave him a small cut on his left arm.
It would have been more severe had Robin not twisted out of the way of the attack. He tried striking back, but Raven easily parried his strikes before knocking it aside and delivered a roundhouse kick that caused Robin to drop his sword. Giving a triumphant smirk, Raven rushed in for the kill.
So focused was she on Robin, she never noticed that a massive crimson fist was coming at her until it collided with her from the side and sent her flying into a support beam. While disoriented from the blow, she still had enough sense to leap clear of a second fist, though she did lose her grip on her sword.
"Okay, whoever did that is in sooo much trouble now." She muttered darkly to herself, just before her eyes landed on the culprit; Argent.
"Ready for another trashing, goth girl?" she asked cockily while smirking. But to her surprise, Raven just smirked back at her.
"If you're going to give me nicknames, at least have the decency to get them right. It should after all be gun wielding goth girl." She stated, right before she whipped out a Glock 19 from behind her back and opened fire on Argent. She hastily formed a barrier to protect herself, but one bullet slipped past and tore through her side.
With a cry of pain, she fell from her hovering position in the air. But her little distraction was all that Robin had needed as he leaped at Raven. A spinning kick disarmed her while a punch knocked her on her back. Raven however was quickly back on her feet, drawing her recently acquired kukri and counterattacked.
She slashed at his head, forcing him to bend backwards to avoid it, before lashing out with a powerful kick that Robin caught and twisted it, sending her spinning around in the air before impacting to the ground again. Raven struck out with her legs from her prone position on the ground, hitting Robin in the chest and forcing him back.
But barely had she got back on her feet before she got a taste of Tamarenian vengeance as Starfire smashed into her like a missile. Starfire slammed Raven right into a concrete wall, creating cracks in it, and kept her pinned against it while before powering up a starbolt in her hand.
"While you are a vile villain, Raven, I will offer you a chance to surrender now and avoid further harm done upon you." Starfire stated in a surprisingly furious voice. Then again, Raven had just shot three of her friends, anyone would be a bit pissed off from that.
"Thanks for the offer, but when it comes down to choosing between option A or option B, I always choose option C." Raven answered with a strained voice, courtesy of the great amount of pressure Starfire was placing on her chest. With that said, she dropped a primed grenade to the ground right between.
Eyes widened in disbelief, Starfire took to the air and flew a safe distance away, lest she be shredded by the blast. The thing was, it never came. It had been a fake. Raven was instantly off at a sprint while shaking her head in amusement.
"Was that alien really so stupid as to think that I would throw my life away that easily?" she muttered to herself as she made her way towards the exit. For a moment she considered turning back to retrieve her sword, she was after all rather fond of it. But in the end thought better of it. That sword would be pretty useless to her if she ended up in prison.
But Raven stopped dead in her tracks when a mangled sladebot was dropped right in her path, before it was crushed underneath a green gorilla. Raven crouched into a fighting stance, kukri held at the ready. Though before could attack, both Robin and Starfire came up behind her, blocking the way back.
Her escape was further hampered when Argent took up a flanking position to her right, clutching her wounded side but still able to fight on. 'Well, this just took a sour turn for the worse.' Raven thought grimly. Nevertheless, she would rather die than surrender to them, so she made ready to attack.
Unseen by all the combatants however, the broadsword that Raven had dropped suddenly became enveloped in dark energy. It suddenly began to levitate in the air as the energy around it began to build up in intensity. Without warning, that gathered energy exploded like a tidal wave, sweeping through the chemical plant and demolishing everything in its way.
The Titans and Raven only realized something was wrong when the building started rumbling as if a bombing run was being carried out. The next clue came when dark energy ruptured forth and surged towards them.
"Titans, move!" Robin shouted in alarm as he and his team scrambled to get out of the way. Raven took that moment to fire a grapple gun and swing herself up on an overhanging catwalk, but her narrowed eyes never strayed far from the dark energy running amok inside the plant, surveying it with suspicion.
"That's my power, but how the hell can it be loose like this with me still in control?" she questioned. This really should not be possible, Raven had her power well and truly locked away inside of her, it should not be possible for it to tear its way free without her knowledge.
The sound of metal impaling rock was suddenly heard right next to her, and when she turned to see what it was, she found her sword being impaled in the wall. Now her suspicions had grown even larger than before. Just what the hell was going on here?
Nevertheless, now was not the time to ask questions. Now would be a perfect opportunity to slip away while the Titans were scattered and preoccupied. But she would get her answers sooner or later.
With that, she silently slipped out a nearby window and vanished into the shadows of the evening.
Back inside, the dark energy that had earlier ravaged the chemical plant began to subside, until it had vanished completely. And with the threat gone, the Titans began to come out of whatever cover they had found.
"Titans, sound off!" Robin called out.
"Here!" Argent answered while leaning against a support beam that had miraculously survived, still clutching her bleeding side.
"Here!" Beast Boy answered as he swung down from his position on the roof, where he had hung like a monkey.
"Here!" Starfire answered as her boots made contact with the ground again, her clothes and skin a bit singed from earlier but otherwise okay.
"Here!" Cyborg answered as he tried to stand back up again, only to fall flat on his face as his busted knee gave away beneath his weight. Starfire quickly rushed over to Cyborg while Robin brought out his first-aid kit as he rushed to Argent.
"You alright?" Robin asked as he began applying bandages to the wound.
"I'll live, if that's what you're wondering." She replied. But as the Titans helped their wounded comrades, Beast Boy had a very important question on his mind.
"Uhm… does anyone know what that black thingy was that hit us and where it came from?" he asked while rubbing the back of his head in confusion. Robin had just finished bandaging up Argent just as Starfire came back with Cyborg's arm swung over her shoulder, the big guy having to utilize her as a crutch to remain upright.
"I have no idea." Robin answered truthfully, and it irked him to no end. That strange dark energy was unlike anything he had seen before, none of their known enemies had that kind of power at their disposal.
"Could it be a new trick of Raven?" Starfire asked, but Robin shook his head.
"I'm not completely convinced. Raven have always been using guns and swords, she has never displayed any superpowers." He answered. But while Starfire's suggestion seemed unlikely, it was the only one they had. Robin would just have to look deeper into this matter.
"Let's just go home, you both need rest and more medical attention." Robin finally announced while sending a look at both Cyborg and Argent. No one felt like objecting.
"Excellent work, Raven." Slade complimented her as she stepped inside their secret lair, cracking her stiff neck along the way. His back was turned to her and his single eye was staring at the multitude of screens in front of him.
"Though it is a shame that you were unable to fully complete your task." He suddenly added in a patronizing tone, never even having the good grace to turn around and address her directly. Raven sent a scathing glare at his turned back, wishing he at least could face her when criticizing her work.
"Cut the bullshit here, we both know you had no interest in that chemical plant whatsoever." She countered heatedly. While still not turning around to face her, Slade did raise a surprised eyebrow at that.
"And what makes you think that, dear child?" he asked in curiosity. Raven meanwhile folded her arms over her chest.
"You've never before cared about stuff like that, being more interested in robotics and whatnot. And now suddenly you send me along with four scores of your sladebots to steal some samples and wreck the plant? That hardly fits with your M.O." she explained. Slade actually chuckled at that.
"Perceptive of you, Raven." was all he said on the matter. Still, Raven was not satisfied.
"So since we've made it clear my mission held no relevance other than drawing the attention of the Titans, which I'm sure was your plan all along, I want to know; what was your real objective?" she demanded, still more than a bit pissed off. And at last did Slade turn around to face her, though the narrowed eye he sent her way could in no way be good news.
"Do not presume that just because you're my top agent that you can come and make demands in my own base." He stated in a cold voice that set the hairs on your back stand on end. Raven instantly recognized her blunder of antagonizing her boss and averted her eyes.
"Sorry. Had a rough evening and I'm still a little riled up." She offered as an excuse. Slade seemed to accept it and turned his eyes back to the screens.
"Yes, and while we are on the topic of your evening…" Slade suddenly said, just before all screens changed to security footages of the battle in the chemical plant. Or more specifically, to the part were a tidal wave of black energy washed through the plant. Raven instantly tensed up like a piano wire when she saw the screens, she had hoped he had not been watching.
Obviously it had been too much to hope for.
"This strange energy seemed to appear out of nowhere and nearly brought the whole plant down. I have tried to find its source, but none of the security cameras had been able to record it." Slade suddenly paused in his explanation and turned his head slightly to look at Raven over his shoulder. "Do you happen to know what it was?"
While remaining stoic on the outside, Raven was shaking in nervousness on the inside. She knew all too well what it was, and it was not something she wanted to talk about. Especially not with someone like Slade. Problem was, he was a master of reading people. He would probably sniff out a lie like a bloodhound.
Still, there was the small chance that he would buy a simple lie. Either way, it sure as hell beat telling the truth, something Raven had every intention of taking with her to the grave.
"No, never seen anything like it before." She eventually answered, doing an astounding work of both sounding and looking completely clueless and uncaring about it, a far cry from what she really felt on the inside.
"Very well, you're dismissed." Slade said dismissively before turning his attention back to the screens. Not about to look a gift horse in the mouth, though still careful to contain the relieved sigh that threatened to spill out of her lips, Raven quickly departed and headed towards her room.
But while Raven may think that she had gotten away with no trouble, it was in fact the complete opposite. Slade had easily seen through her façade of cluelessness. She knew something about that power, but for some reason she kept quiet about it.
For the sake of the contract set up between them that ensured Raven's continued loyalty to him in exchange for a certain level of privacy and continued free reign of accepting one-time jobs outside of his sphere of influence, Slade would not press the girl for answers. That did not mean he would look into the matter, far from it. He was just going the longer route here.
And while Slade continued with his plotting and scheming, Raven had staggered inside her room. It was of Spartan design with a bed and a closet. All other surfaces were devoted to housing her innumerable collection of guns and ammunitions.
Without any real care, Raven removed her belt and let it unceremoniously drop to the floor before she threw her cloak off into a corner. It was only with her sword she showed any real care, as she removed the scabbard from her back and carefully hung it up on a hook on the wall.
With her equipment more or less removed, she fell face first onto her bed, thoroughly worn out from today. It did not take long for blissful sleep to claim her as she drifted off to dreams that she hoped would not contain the usual bits of fire, brimstone and the end of the world at her father's hand.
For how long she slumbered was unclear, given that it was underground with no sun to go by and no clocks within the immediate vicinity, but it was clear what had woken her. The red light constantly flashing and the sirens making more noise than a graduating high school class was as clear a message as it could possibly get.
Someone who was either extremely brave or incredibly stupid had infiltrated Slade's base.
Raven flew up from her bed like a lightning bolt, her body instantly ready for combat. Though it seemed like her mind had still not fully left the comfy bed as she clumsily fumbled around with her equipment before, after more than five minutes, had strapped her belt and cloak back on.
Being in a general hurry about now, she forewent her sword and instead snatched up a P90 before rushing out of her room. Whoever had disturbed her beauty sleep was going to be in so much trouble once she got her hands on them. Within minutes, she sprinted into the main control room used by Slade.
"Alright, boss, who's ass am I going to be shredding today?" she asked just as she entered, but was met only with silence. It took her a few seconds to realize that Slade was not present. That was odd in her opinion, Slade would not just sit idly by when someone invaded his home. He would have been here long before Raven.
Now that Raven thought about it, the alarm had also gone silent, and the red warning light had been replaced by this place's usual source of light. This just got weirder and weirder.
"Okay, Slade. If this is another stupid test of yours, I'm shoving grenade so far up your ass you'll have to spit it out." Raven called out in irritation. She was definitively not in the mood for Slade's little games. But still no answer came forth.
Now Raven was starting to get a little anxious and raised her gun slightly in defense. A sudden noise from behind her, almost too soft to be heard, caused her to spin around with her gun raised high and finger poised over the trigger, only to be met by shadows.
If this was a horror movie, this would have been the part where Raven asked "who's there?", but she was not that stupid. Instead she kept both her guard and her gun high, cautiously moving towards the computer screens. Maybe the security cameras could shed some light as to what was happening.
But once again she heard the sound from before again, like silken cloth gliding through air. Raven furiously swirled around, eyes scanning for a target to lock on to. But nothing came up. A sudden movement in her peripheral vision caused Raven to face that way, meeting once again nothing but shadows.
Her steps towards the computer system now grew more frantic as the soft sound grew more frequent, and Raven could even swear that she saw something moving in the darkness on multiple occasions. But they were always gone before she could get a bead on them. This was seriously taking its toll on her nerves, as she was nearly jumping at every shadow now.
A shrill laugh that suddenly echoed from all around her caused her last nerves to snap and she let loose with her P90, spraying bullets in every direction. Only when her clip ran dry did she let up her fire and hastily reloaded. No more sounds or movement could be found in the darkness after that and Raven assumed she had scared them off.
By now, she had reached the computer system and began typing in commands, seeking to bring up security footage. But what she was failing to notice was that a tendril of black energy was creeping up behind her, like a snake sneaking up on a prey. She was only aware of it when she felt something cold wrap around her ankle.
"What the…" was all she got out before she was yanked off her feet and thrown around like a ragdoll, with her screaming like a little schoolgirl the whole way. Finally, it smashed her straight into the floor again before more tendrils shot out of the darkness towards Raven.
But she was not going down without a fight as she was back on her feet with her P90 held ready.
"Take this!" she roared as she started spraying the appendages with bullets. That slowed them down, but did not stop them as the bullets went right through them. Raven was thereby forced to retreat as the tendrils came ever closer towards her.
"Damn it, what the hell are you?!" she shouted furiously before she pulled out a grenade and lobbed it at them. The following explosions seemed to disintegrate them and Raven took her chance to flee down a corridor.
But even there she was given no reprieve as a bone-shilling screech came from up ahead. Raven froze up in terror when a massive bird of dark energy came flying around the corner, its four red glowing eyes locked upon her with murderous intent. With a sudden burst of speed, it flew towards Raven, ready to skewer her on its beak.
Gunfire proved to be just as ineffective on this creature as on the tendrils from earlier. With but a few seconds before impact left, Raven threw herself forward to dive underneath the creature. Her heart rate skyrocketed to unimaginable levels when she felt its cold form just barely missing her and passing on above.
Without a single second's hesitation, she was up on her feet and running like the devil himself was upon her heels. Maybe that was not such a bad analogue after all, since that terrifying bird had somehow turned around in the narrow corridors and gave chase with another screech that chilled Raven's blood.
"Chew on this!" Raven shouted over shoulder in false bravado as she lobbed another grenade back down the corridor. The following explosion obscured the corridor in smoke and debris, but the bird itself burst through it unharmed. And worse, it was closing in on her fast.
It had been a long time since Raven had felt true fear, so long in fact that she had almost forgotten the feeling. Now, that feeling was coming back in spades, and Raven did not like it one bit. Up ahead, an elevator was standing open like a pathway to salvation for Raven.
"Come on, come on, come on!" she urged herself on as she picked up speed, dumping her P90 along the way. The bird was still closing in on her, its massive beak opened wide to snatch Raven up into its maw. Closer and closer did Raven come to the elevator until finally she threw herself into the waiting elevator, scant seconds before the door closed and the bird smashed into it.
The elevator shook from the impact, and a large dent was even formed in the door. Raven meanwhile found herself leaning against the wall in relief as the elevator started up, heading down. She even let out a relieved sigh as she thought she had gotten away from whatever those things had been.
"Now I just need to get the hell out of here, get in touch with Slade and then…" her little moment of planning was however abruptly halted when she felt something slimy enveloping her boots. Looking down in alarm, she found what looked like goo was rapidly filling up the elevator.
"Plasmus?!" was the first thing that came to mind, but what the hell would he be doing here? She was never given a moment to think about it as the elevator was filled to the brim with the goo, drowning Raven as her supply of oxygen disappeared. Thankfully, it did not last for that long as the elevator reached its destination and the doors opened up, spilling its content out on the floor.
Raven emerged from this mess greedily sucking in much needed oxygen into her strained lungs. Since the goo showed no signs of attacking her any time soon, Raven took the chance to catch her breath.
"What… the hell… is going on here?" she asked herself between gulps of air. This place was becoming crazier and crazier with every minute in her opinion. Eventually she managed to stagger back up on her feet, eyes peeled for any possible threat. Not feeling like sitting in the open, she began moving down the corridor.
Barely had she advanced a few steps before the next attack came. This time it was in the form of rats. Thousands of black, four-eyed vermin that crawled out of every nick and crevasse like a black tide.
"Yikes!" Raven burst out as she pulled out her Desert Eagles and opened fire on them. Whether her bullets were effective or not against the rats were unclear, and in the end irrelevant because there was literally no end to them as they poured out in ever increasing numbers.
Sadly for Raven, the bullets in her gun ran out long before the rats ever did, and she was forced to hightail it out of there if she wanted to survive. Onward she ran through the corridors, the living tide of rats barely a few steps behind her. Ramming a door leading to a staircase open, Raven slammed it shut after herself before practically leaping down the stairs.
Emerging three levels lower, Raven could hear how those accursed vermin were bursting through the door and swarming down the stairs. But she found no safety here either. The corridor ahead of her was infested with those blasted tendrils from earlier, grasping and twitching in the air like the tentacles of some humongous beast.
"Caught between a rock and a hard place." Raven muttered to herself just as the first few rats came down the staircase behind her. Seeing as standing still and doing nothing would just result in her death, Raven drew her kukri and leaped into the awaiting reaches of the tendrils.
The first three had no chance to grasp Raven before she cut them apart. A fourth one came from the side and Raven tried to cut it as well. The kukri just went right through it as if it was air. Not letting herself stop to wonder about it, she pressed on, kukri wildly swing in every which direction to ward of the dozens of tendrils attacking.
One managed to snare itself around Raven's ankle, but she was even faster with slashing down against it. The kukri just passed through this one as well, but Raven found that there was no longer any solid mass holding her leg in place anymore and she sprinted onward.
More tendrils came at her in an attempt to ward her off, but Raven's own attacks with the kukri grew fiercer and she steadily forced her way through. Behind her though, the tide of vermin was unhampered by the tendrils and spilled out in their thousands into the corridor. Each and every one of them dead-set on tearing Raven to pieces.
Taking her last three grenades, she threw them back the way she came before making a mad dash the other way. Thankfully, it seemed like the subsequent explosion delayed her pursuers long enough for Raven to reach the end of her little gauntlet. By now, she was standing outside the door leading into the gym.
"Well, any place is better than where I just came from." She mused to herself before she opened the door and entered. But what she found inside was not what she had been expecting. There, standing in the middle of the room with his back turned to her, was Slade.
"So you've come now, dear child. I was beginning to wonder if the obstacles in your path had been too much for you to handle." He commented offhandedly, hands folded behind his back. Raven glared suspiciously at his back. This just reeked of a set-up.
"Slade. Just what the hell is going on around here? What are those things attacking me?" she asked harshly, not even trying to conceal her anger and frustration. At that point, he let out a humorless chuckle.
"Can't you guess? I've decided that you're no longer of any use to me, and that you should be disposed of to spare me further trouble in the future." He revealed as he finally turned around to face her. He brought out an extendable bo staff from his belt and assumed a fighting stance.
Raven narrowed her eyes at him. This did not just add up in her mind. Where the hell did this sudden change in attitude towards her come from? No matter, she would have all the time to wonder about it later on. Tightening her grip on her kukri, she lunged forward.
Slade easily sidestepped her, before ducking under a slash, then dodging a second one before striking out with a kick that forced her back. He was instantly on the offensive as his bo staff struck her in her side. A second blow was deflected with her kukri, along with a third and fourth, but the fifth nailed her in the stomach and forced her even further back.
He attacked again, but Raven leaped sideways, rolled along the floor, before coming up with a loaded Desert Eagle in her hand and aimed at Slade. Two bullets were fired, both of which were deflected by Slade's bo staff. A third bullet was dodged and a fourth bullet was never fired as Slade had closed the gap and grabbed hold of Raven's wrist in a vice-like grip, nearly shattering it.
Raven bit back to pain a lashed out with her kukri against his face. He leaned back to avoid it but never saw the kick that followed. It knocked him back and forced him to let go of her wrist. She instantly revered her grip on her gun to use the butt end of it as a club.
But Slade looked completely unharmed by the attack, merely cracking his neck, quite audibly I might add, before making ready to attack again.
"Tell me something, Slade. What brought fourth this sudden change of plans?" Raven asked curiously. Slade just narrowed his lone eye at her.
"Does it really matter?" he countered before he attacked again. Raven tried hitting him with her gun, but he just swatted her weapon away before blocking her kukri with his bo staff. A backhanded slap later, and Raven was lying on the floor, about to get back up again when a kick sent her flying along the floor.
The kick left her out of breath and she was coughing and wheezing as she staggered back to her feet, swaying a bit. She attacked again, but Slade just tauntingly kept sidestepping her as she struck again and again. A slash from her kukri aimed at his head was stopped when he caught her wrist and twisted it to the point that it nearly snapped.
Raven screamed in pain as she was forced to let go of her kukri. Not a second later did she receive a blow to her stomach, followed by another, then another, then another and finally a judo throw that slammed her into the floor hard enough to create a dent in it. But even then did she try to fight one as she was in the midst of pushing herself back up again.
That got her nowhere as Slade's boot came down on her chest with enough force to shatter a few ribs. She was left gasping for air while coughing up a good amount of blood.
"Why do you keep struggling? Would it not be easier for you to just give up and let me end this quickly?" Slade asked as he grinded his boot into her chest, eliciting pained groans and more coughed up blood. In the end, Slade just shrugged his shoulders.
"No matter. This will end now, whether you want it or not." He stated as he lifted his boot, making ready to bring it down on her skull. At first, Raven was silent, just kept staring at Slade with a strange look on her face. Suddenly, she did the one thing you never expect a person who is about to die to do.
She began laughing.
Confused by her behavior, Slade lowered his boot to the floor and glared accusingly at her. "What do you find so funny here?"
It took Raven a few moments to collect herself from the laughter, mainly because her chest was practically crushed from Slade's boot.
"I can't believe I didn't see it earlier. All that dark energy, so similar to my own, and now this uncharacteristic attack from you." she said mostly to herself when she had calmed down enough to form coherent sentences again.
"Just what are you talking about, Raven? Having a hard time accepting that I have no further use of you?" Slade tried to taunt, but Raven just smiled up at him.
"Cut the crap here, I know you're not Slade." She stated with conviction. Slade narrowed his eye at her in what could be interpreted as anger.
"You're delusional here, dear child." He countered, yet still that infuriating smile of hers would not go away.
"Say what you like, act how you like, it won't change anything. I know for a fact that you're not the real Slade." She said. Slade kept up his glare for a few more seconds before he apparently gave up. With a resigned sigh, his form became encased in dark energy.
Within it, his form began to change. He grew shorter, his body grew more slim and feminine, his armor was turned into a hood and cloak, and when he finally opened his eyes, there were four of them. Eyes as red as blood, like jewels from the pit of hell itself.
As the dark energy dissipated and Raven finally got a good look at the real face of her attacker, what she found was herself. Standing before her, was an exact replica of herself. But this double had, as stated before four red eyes, wicked black claws instead of nails and an even paler skin than her, almost like a ghost's skin. She looked like a daemonic version of herself.
"Congratulations, you saw through my illusion." The daemon-Raven congratulated, her voice raspy and unnaturally deep for what should be a girl's voice. Raven narrowed her eyes at this new form.
"Alright, just what the hell are you supposed to be? Some second-rate daemon that was jealous of my good looks and decided to steal them?" she questioned. In response, the daemon laughed, its shrill noise was almost like a screeching bird.
"Can't you figure it out? I never realized you could be this dimwitted. Then again, you are human. Your kind was never known for its intelligence." The daemon taunted. But Raven was not about to rise to the bait, that was never a good thing to do when dealing with daemons. Though she did rise from the floor and made ready to fight on.
"Since your primitive brain obviously can't put the pieces together, I'll do it for you." the daemon announced before it was surrounded by dark energy; or to be specific, Raven's dark energy. "I am you, Raven. I am the part you've repressed for all your life, the part you inherited from your father."
Well, that explained all the crazy stuff that had happened this night.
"Just how the hell can you be loose like this? Last time I checked, you were locked up tightly in the deepest and darkest pit I could dig in my mind." Raven asked skeptically. Once again, a taunting smirk split the daemon's face.
"I think you already know the answer to that question."
To punctuate that statement, Raven's sword suddenly descended from above and embedded itself in the floor between the two halves of Raven's soul. The last piece of the puzzle finally fell in place in Raven' mind.
"The Sword of Damnation. Cooled in the blood of daemons." Raven recited from memory.
"Correct. Funny thing is that it somehow gave the sword a daemonic taint to it. Therefore, I could use the sword as a conduct for my power, channeling it through the sword rather than through you. It also worked as a backdoor for me to sneak out of your mental prison."
Damn, who knew a simple sword could cause so much trouble? Had Raven known this earlier, she would have never picked up that blasted sword to begin with.
"Sadly, there are limits to how much of my will and power that can be channeled through this mere sword. However…" at this point, the daemon's smile grew more feral and sinister. "… The same does not apply to your body."
Raven instinctively took a few steps back while clutching her wounded chest. "I don't like where that is going."
"Father created us to be more than a pawn to a mortal. In fact, he created me as the harbinger of destruction, you were just an unfortunate byproduct of mating with a human. It's only right that I claim what is rightfully mine; your physical body." The daemon sneered wickedly as it flexed its claws menacingly. Raven was not fazed by this as she picked up her kukri.
"Father created us as nothing more than a tool to be used once and then thrown away. You may want to be his little lapdog, but I want a life of my own making. Father can go and kiss his red ass for all I care, and I'm going to kick your ass back into your little pit again." she countered fiercely.
No further words were exchanged between them, as daemon-Raven flicked her wrist and sent dozens of dark tendrils at Raven, who for her part managed to jump aside before they could have skewered her. Without hesitation, she made a mad dash towards daemon-Raven, hoping to end this quickly.
A barrier made of dark energy put a serious dent in her plans and she was forced to jump back as a section of the roof was torn off and slammed into where she used to stand. Raven drew her remaining Desert Eagle and opened fire on daemon-Raven, but the bullets just passed harmlessly through her as she just let them phase through her.
"That's the best you can do?" she questioned tauntingly before she sent a massive talon made of black energy at her. She back flipped to avoid it, but the movement took a serious toll as it felt like her chest might just tear apart from the strain it was put under.
"Dammit, need to end this fast." She muttered to herself as she rushed in again, doing her best to ignore her wounds. But with a mere contemptuous wave of her hand, daemon-Raven sent a wave of dark energy that slammed into Raven and sent her flying back.
"I'm truly going to enjoy your screams of agony as I tear you to pieces." She gloated, already tasting victory on her tongue. But Raven was not down for the count yet as she slowly and painfully pushed herself back up again.
"Alright, that did not work. Need a new plan here." She groaned out. Without explanation, her eyes were suddenly drawn to her sword, still standing impaled in the floor.
"If that sword could let her out, then technically it should be able to lock her up as well." She quietly mused to herself. It was a longshot, but it was the only shot she had. With her target set in her sight, she sheathed her kukri and was off running again. Daemon-Raven just laughed at what she considered a futile effort.
"You don't know when to give up, do you?" she asked in amusement as she formed a spear of dark energy and sent it after her. It closed in with such speed that Raven only had a few precious seconds to react. She managed to dodge at the last minute and continued running towards the sword.
But the spear just turned around and came at her again. It was scant seconds away from impaling Raven when she reached it. With a great heave, she tore it out of the ground and spun around to meet the incoming attack. Black steel met black energy in a brief shower of sparks.
And in the end, black steel won as the spear was cleaved in two and the two halves sailed harmlessly past Raven.
"WHAT?!" daemon-Raven burst out in outrage, seeing her attack getting neutralized that easily. Raven lazily spun her sword around in practiced hands before pointing its tip at her adversary.
"My turn." She said before she rushed at her. Daemon-Raven tried to stop her by summoning bolts and tendrils of dark energy and sending them at Raven. She cut through all of them with her sword.
In desperation, she sent her massive black bird from earlier at Raven yet that too ended up cleaved in two. Nothing daemon-Raven threw at Raven could stand up to the black sword in her hands, the sword that thanks to the secrets used in its forging has granted it an immunity to all things supernatural.
Daemon-Raven was forced to flee in the face of Raven's attack, something she noticed gleefully.
"What's the matter? Is the offspring of the big, bad Trigon afraid of a lowly little human?" she taunted as she laughed. The daemon gave an animalistic growl at the insult.
"You insolent fool! You'll pay for this!" she snarled hatefully at Raven as her hands became encased in dark energy. Twin streams of dark energy shot out, taking the form of two gargantuan snakes ready to tear Raven to pieces. They quickly lunged at her.
The first one Raven just jumped right over as it smashed into the ground, while the second one was decapitated with a vicious strike. Raven barely even slowed down from this and continued on unabated.
"What? You can dish out insults and taunts, but can't take it when someone returns the favor? That's just pathetic." Raven commented offhandedly as she closed the final gap between them. With a defiant hiss, daemon-Raven formed a barrier between them as a last layer of protection.
"That won't stop me, four eyes!" Raven shouted as she thrust the sword straight through the barrier, impaling the daemon seeking refuge behind it right in her stomach. The barrier promptly shattered like glass and the two combatants were left standing in front of each other.
"You wanted to get out my mind, correct? Well, I'll be happy to oblige on that account." Raven said cheerfully as she twisted the sword around in her belly. "Say hello to your new home for the rest of eternity."
The moment those words had left her lips, the dark energy daemon-Raven had unleashed began to get dragged into the blade. Even daemon-Raven began to slowly disintegrate into darkness and be sucked up by the blade, despite how much she trashed and screamed in outrage.
"NO! NO! I WON'T BE DEFEATED LIKE THIS! NOT BY THE LIKES OF YOU!" she howled in fury, causing Raven to shake her head in exasperation.
"Girl, you just did. So suck it up and get over it." She commented humorlessly as nearly the entire daemon had been devoured by the sword by now. Said daemon glared hatefully at Raven.
"Don't think this is over! No matter what you do, you'll never be rid of me! And when father finally comes, I will have won!" she snarled out, just before what was left of her body disintegrated. And with a final screech of fury, was swallowed up by the sword.
Then, without warning, the whole world inexplicably turned black for Raven.
With a startled gasp, Raven bolted upright in her bed. Her hand was instantly drawn to her pummeled chest, only to find that it was unharmed. No pain, no wounds, no broken bones anywhere on her body. It was as if she had never been fighting in the first place.
Quickly analyzing her surroundings, Raven found that she was still in her room. Her equipment still lay where she had deposited them and she was still lying in her comfy bed. From this, Raven was able to only draw one conclusion; it had been a dream.
But that left her wondering about what had transpired. Had it all been her imagination? Nothing more than a nightmare conjured up by her own mind? Slowly, with cautious moves, she rose from her bed and walked up to her sword, still hanging on the wall in its scabbard.
Cautiously, she grasped the sword and drew it halfway out of the scabbard. At first, all she saw in the black steel was a hazy reflection of herself staring at the blade. But then her reflection suddenly grew four eyes, glowing an infernal red. Raven suddenly had the feeling that her reflection was in fact looking at her, glaring with unbridled hatred.
"You'll never be rid of me." The daemon's voice echoed in her head. But instead of being unnerved or intimidated by it, Raven actually smirked cockily at the daemon in her sword.
"That may be, but now I know exactly where I have you. And that's good enough for me." She stated confidently before fully sheathing her sword again. All in all, it had been quite a promising night for her. She was finally rid of that infernal daemon half of her and had it locked up where she never had to worry about it again.
"Raven, report to the control room." Slade's cold voice echoed across the intercom. With a certain amount of happiness to her steps, Raven quickly suited up and strolled down the corridor to the control room.
"You rang?" she called out happily as she reached her destination, an action that caused Slade to spare a sideways glance at her.
"You're in a surprisingly good mood all of a sudden." He remarked. Raven just smiled at him.
"I just had a very lovely dream." She answered, still sounding extremely satisfied. Slade mentally shrugged his shoulders, not his concern anyway.
"Onto the matter I called you here for. It seems we have a guest at the front door." He revealed as all the screen suddenly became occupied by the same image. But it was who they were depicting that caught Raven's interest. She could not help but smile even wider.
"I'll show her in." Raven called over her shoulder, as she had already turned around and was half-sprinting towards the entrance. She never even bothered to wait and hear what Slade had actually wanted her to do. An action that caused Slade to shake his head in resignation.
"Children these days, always in such a rush."