The Watchtower:
"Wonder if I have guard duty?" Raven speculates out loud as she and Diana makes their way to the teleporters on the station after retrieving the few things Diana was bringing with her home from her room.
"I wouldn't know, my mother has kept very tight about it all." The Amazon Princess replies. While the two years have not made themselves noticed on either of them Raven has modified her old uniform.
Having become used to wearing the Batgirl costume most of the time, she has changed her boots, still without heels, they now seem to reach halfway up her tights ending in tips on her front with two small trapeze-shaped openings with the long sides lying parallel with the edges of the boots. The last change that has been made is changing her leotard to match its color to that of her cloak, something the fewest notice due to the shadows cast by the cloak.
"Hopefully she won't have me fight Mera again." This has Raven turn her head, it wasn't often Diana said no to a fight if it was a challenge to her. "While entertaining, she is foul tempered." Raven nods at this, Diana can take losing a fight as long as everything is in good spirit and that spirit is maintained afterwards. If that was maintained, Diana would be quite willing to go another round later on, but if it wasn't, the offending party could end up waiting a long time for another round, something Dinah had noticed the hard way.
"Well Artemis at least would be happy with the break in formalities with such a challenge."
"That she would." Diana agrees as they enter the arrival hall, finding Donna and Cassandra waiting, the latter looking a little sour, since the initial meeting with Nightwing in Jump City she has changed her attire to a red sweatshirt with the W logo going around her chest and arms along with blue canvas pants. "Ready sisters?"
"Ready sis." Donna says sounding upbeat. Under a little guidance from the League and Diana in particular, she has lost the brutal edge she once displayed, something Donna had admitted was her trying to be more like Diana, since she didn't actually have Diana's level of strength, and shooting over the mark, since Diana rarely uses her full strength. Diana did use more force in the early days of the League, but that was an adjustment period for her as she had been used to only hold back during practice and she had to adapt to a world that wasn't built with Amazons in mind.
"Ready I guess." Cassandra sighs.
"Cheery." Raven notes as the four head up to the teleporter platform.
"There are no Conner's on Themyscira." Donna adds with a smirk, getting a glare from Cassandra.
"Good to go Ollie." Diana calls to the green archer mounting the controls as they have all taken up a pad.
"Have fun girls." Oliver replies before they are sent to their destination.
"Hmm, perhaps we should have arrived earlier?" Raven asks as they take in the milling mass of Amazons in front of the palace trying to get everything ready, even in the early morning light.
"Doubt it, from my experience this is like Man's World and will most likely continue right up till an hour or so before arrival." Diana shrugs as they make their way up to the palace gate, quickly getting ushered into the throne room that is in equal chaos to the scene outside. Hippolyta however seems like she doesn't see any of it as she is calmly talking with General Philipus and a few others, Io and the Grand Mason Heista, amongst them. But she looks up as the four enter.
"Sisters, good you have arrived. Philipus will have your assignments." She says before turning her attention back to the desk the group that is crowding around.
"I do." The bald general confirms. "Cassandra I have assigned you to Penelope's platoon for starters and I want you to report there now." Cassandra nods and leaves without a word, while the other three know she doesn't like it, she knows how society here works and that it is not wise to argue. "Raven, I am afraid I have to temporarily relieve you of your command during this visit, but your group is merging with Artemis', so they should be in good hands." Raven nods at this, but she is surprised and a little wounded about the development, but she doesn't let it show. "However, you and Donna are to report to Captain Mala. Princess, you know where you need to be, dismissed." Philipus says before returning to the table as well.
"Well, let me be the first to congratulate you sister." Donna says with a smile. "Welcome to the Royal Guard."
"Err, thanks, but aren't those only for riders?" Raven asks, a little taken aback, she had noticed that it was mostly the guard that used the horses available.
"Sure, but I guess you will be learning fast if you can't. Come one, Mala is not one to be kept waiting." Donna says before dragging Raven after her, leaving a slightly chuckling Diana to join her mother at the table.
Quarters of the Royal Guard, 5 minutes later;
"Sister Donna, Sister Raven. About time you showed up." Mala, a tall muscle-bound brunette with piercing green eyes and a stern face says as the two enter her small office in the part of the palace reserved for the Royal Guard. Like other elite guards, this one exists only to safeguard the Queen, being her closest guards at all time. During battle they will remain around the monarch, making sure she stays safe, unless she orders them to otherwise, being the only one with authority to do so. "Now since we are to receive these outsiders, a suitable Honor Guard has been appointed to give a suitable impression and provide an escort to the foreign monarch from the harbor and to the palace. Once there you have designated posts you will hold until the monarch is to be escorted back to the seas, understood?" She asks, the two nod. "Good, now you will understand that ten have been chosen for this task, by myself, Queen Hippolyta and General Philipus, and I will let you know that I am not happy about having either of you here, but such is the Queen's command. As is the command that you are to dress and arm yourselves as you would for battle, but I demand that you arm yourselves with a spear, whatever side arm you wish to carry I leave to you. Yes sister Raven?" She asks as Raven holds up a hand.
"Will the glaive I have suffice?"
"If it is long and pointy, yes. Since you will both stand out like sore thumbs regardless." Mala shrugs. "Now, I have to ask, since I know Donna capabilities and those the others, but do you ride?"
"No, ma'am." Mala takes on an insidious smirk at the admission.
"Then you have much to learn Sister, Donna will assist you. I count on you won't mess this up, or I will make sure your immediate future will become most unpleasant." She says flatly, getting a nod from Raven who remains blank to the other woman. "We meet for practice at the stables, tomorrow at dawn. Dismissed." Mala says and the two withdraw out into the small enclosed courtyard.
"Sorry." Raven says after the door is shut.
"Don't worry, just means you have to take a crash course." Donna shrugs. "So who much about horses and riding one do you know?"
"Errr, I think I know more about Spanish soap operas than horses. We didn't have anything besides birds on Azarath and they never held any interest for me when I came here." Raven admits.
"Hmm, we will have to put in extra hours on this, possibly admit defeat if you can't get it right. Mala is unfortunately in a position on making good on her threats." Donna sighs.
"So what do we begin with?" Raven asks.
"We have to get you a horse for starters. But we have to travel to get one, here on Themyscira the horses belong to one rider alone and will not allow others to ride them." Donna says as she begins to hover in the air. "To Cyos we go." She continues before zooming off, with Raven in quick pursuit.
"Last time we had the entire army with us, isn't this a bit risky?" She asks as she catches up with Donna as they fly over the sea.
"Large numbers also make for larger targets and we should be able to handle anything, or are you suddenly scared of a Cyclops?" Donna asks with a smile.
"No, of course not." Raven exclaims, wanting to make a point but shuts up, knowing she was about to enter into a verbal spar she couldn't win. "But I didn't know wild horses live there?"
"They do, sadly they are near the bottom of the food chain, but it assures that the strongest are the ones we use. Now after we find them, you have to approach them slowly. Like everything around here the horses are gifts from above, so they won't act completely like horses outside of Themyscira. When you approach the ones you want to work with are the ones that come to chase you away, you will have to assert yourself as the boss. The more skittish ones will back away, leaving only one to try and challenge you, it's important that you don't back down or appear aggressive against it as it basically throws a tantrum. You will have to wait for it to settle down and realize you aren't going anywhere, when that happens, you have to get on it and hold on for dear life as it gets used to you being there. If you fall off, you have to start anew either by chasing it down or find a new herd." Donna explains.
"Pity I can't just bring one of my father's demons for it." Raven says. After getting home Philipus had often talked to the others about the experience she had in the Pit and quite a few had come to Raven to find out if it was real or not, Hippolyta however had been quite firm about not wanting any of Raven's demons on Themyscira without her expressed permission.
"Doubt Mala would like that." Donna says. "But it would have been fun if it wasn't such an important occasion."
"Speaking of her, she doesn't seem too fond of us?" Raven asks as the island comes into view on the horizon.
"She suffers from a bad case of arrogance, something that unfortunately runs thick through most of the Guard since only Hippolyta can order them about."
"Why keep them like that, it's not like we are the Roman Empire where Hippolyta risks assassination?" Raven asks.
"Tradition, a thing from the mainland. Hippolyta's sister, Antiope the Elder, was the captain of the Guard back then, but as I guess you know, they couldn't stop Heracles and most of them were slain in that battle, Mala is one of the survivors from back then. So yeah, they are a group of elitists with three millennia without proper challenge." Donna says as they slow down, passing over the beaches.
"Charming." Raven shrugs. "So should we land?"
"When we spot a herd, so try not to look like a griffon." Donna replies as they spot the clearing Raven and the others encountered the Cyclops, finding it empty.
Flying further inland, they come across the largest clearing on the island, the one they practiced main battles in, finding something moving at the far end of the plain.
"Horses hopefully, or centaurs if not." Donna says as they slow their flight speed and altitude before landing some distance from the creatures, proving to be a large heard of horses, maybe forty or more members of various different pure colors. "Now you have to do the rest, and pull off the hood." She says, Raven nods and pulls it off and walks towards the herd at a normal pace, wondering if her demonic nature could prove a disadvantage, many animals did have a certain apprehension about her because of it.
At first the herd seems to not notice her at all and most of its members continue grazing while others seem to be playing or fighting with each other. Eventually though and unseen alarm seems to have been set off as the majority of the herd stop doing what they are doing in favor of looking at Raven, who keeps walking. After two minutes Raven is within a hundred meters of the herd before the majority of it seems to have concluded she is a danger and begins withdrawing, leaving a dry brown, a red, a snow white, a golden and a black or dark brown one, Raven can't tell which at this distance, to advance on her slowly with the red one in the lead.
Raven halts and lets them approach her in their own pace, the golden one and the brown one turn back at the halfway mark between them, the red one slows down as well before turning shortly after. The white also turns back, almost reaching her with the black one now studying her up close with deep brown eyes.
Raven looks into its eyes as well, finding them oddly calm, but she can see there is fire in them, something that suddenly explodes from within. As it whines loudly and rears in front of her, making her notice how big it is for the first time. Out of reflex she puts her right foot backwards, but she remembers Donna's words in time to pull it back in time for it to begin bucking wildly about, making Raven move to the side to avoid the hind legs that gets a little too close to her head. It keeps going for three minutes before it finally settles down, realizing Raven isn't going to run away.
"Easy, I'm not going to harm you." Raven says quietly as it stands and snorts. Reaching forwards with her left hand she brushes its fine coat as she slowly circles around it to stand by its side and begins letting her right hand wander as well, getting the feel of the beast, noting its breathing and slightly raised heart rate. "Easy." Raven continues, letting her empathy feel the beast as well, finding it actually bordering between excitement and anticipation. "Ok, here goes." She says as she jumps onto the back of the horse, again the fire is instantly reawakened, and it is only Ravens determined grip on the mane of the horse and her squeezing legs that keeps her seated as the horse bucks and kicks again to get her off. While it only last for a half a minute, the horse isn't done instead replacing the bucking with a mad sprint across the plain, forcing Raven to lie herself flat with the back of the horse as it gallops away, while she hears a shout from Donna somewhere along the ride. The horse gallops at the breakneck pace for several minutes before trying to dislodge her again with a round of bucking, failing again it tries galloping once again. It goes on like this for almost an hour, which Raven doesn't notice as she just keeps hanging on.
"You can let go now sister, it's broken, as they call it." Donna's words reach Raven and she opens her eyes to see both her and the horse were standing still.
"Why do my insides feel like we are still moving?" Raven asks without moving.
"Just gotten used to it I guess, it lasted a lot longer than usual." Donna replies. "But congratulations, now you've made it accept you. Now comes the tricky part, now you have to learn how to ride." Raven groans at this.
"Should we get back to Themyscira first? I'm missing a saddle." Donna laughs at this.
"And you will learn how to ride without it, like all Amazons." Raven groans again before Donna begins ordering her around, instructing her about what to do to make the horse do as asked. They work till the night claims the sky and the last light, with Raven rarely getting her feet back on the ground.
Later that evening;
"Think I am going to get cart wheeled." Raven complains at the feeling in her legs as they sit at the campfire with a young deer on a spear roasting over the fire, the horse having laid down behind Raven as well, as if wanting to remain near its new mistress.
"Na, that will take years of regular riding to do that to you and I think you'd need to have done it extensively as a child. Anyways, I think you are doing well and I am only worried about its crowd handling skills. Of course, we are just asking it to walk forwards and stop, other tricks will have to wait." Donna says while poking the meat with a twig.
"You sound like you do this for a living?" Raven asks, voicing the observation she had made during the day, Donna just seemed to know just what to do and what not to do with the horse.
"Back in the world I do it as a hobby. Photography has paid for a small ranch in Texas. You're welcome to visit you know." Donna replies as she pokes the meat again. It stings Raven a little, she likes Donna and always enjoys when she spends time with her, but she barely knows anything about her and she's not quite sure why that is. "Almost ready, hope you aren't squeamish about eating without utensils?" Donna says, breaking off Raven's thoughts.
"Wandered Asia's jungles for two months alone, I think I can handle this." Raven replies before wrenching a hind leg free. "But I primarily lived off fruit on that trip."
"Food is food." Donna agrees, taking the other leg. "Can I ask what Azarath was like? You never seem to mention it anymore?"
"Idyllic if you like monastic societies and weren't born me." Rave says. "But I don't mention it as often because I don't carry them around anymore, so they aren't on my mind as often. Having them in there was calming and a great help most of the time, but it was like never being alone. But I haven't forgotten them, and I still visit from time to time."
"Still, do tell, I've got New York and Themyscira." Donna continues between bites.
"Well for one thing, it was peace, no war, no crime, no weapons…" Raven begins her long tale about Azarath and its people, ending it when the deer is only a few bones in the fire. Because of the need to be on Themyscira at dawn, they set guards, changing between them halfway through the night.
The next morning;
"Rise and shine sister." Raven announces as she shakes Donna gently, who grunts before waking bleary eyed and sits up and stretches with a yawn.
"Morning already?" She yawns.
"Afraid so, if we want time to freshen up and change." Raven says as the horse gets up as well and shakes to get the blood circulation going.
"Well better get going then." Donna says as she stands up and stretches her back, Raven just smirks in the dark and takes the three of them in her soul-self and teleports them to Themyscira, something Donna doesn't realize before the buildings appear around her. "Whoa! Warn me next time." She says and stops stretching when she notes there are a few early risers out already in the square before the palace.
"Not my fault my soul self is pitch black." Raven replies with a smirk. "Anyways I will see you at the stable?"
"Yeah." Donna says before heading into the palace while Raven heads back to her dwelling by foot, the horse follows behind her.
As it turns out, Raven ends up arriving half a minute late, according to Mala, and promptly has the chore of stable cleaning to contend with as well as keeping up with the others. Fortunately the Royal Guard proves to be ill adept at riding in pretty formations, their experience is limited to combat formations on foot, not mounted parade.
Donna and Raven end up having to contend and rely on each other, since the Guard's prove Donnas words true, they are elitist and seem to have nothing but contempt for anyone not of their number, Raven and Donna included. And from the sounds of it, do not have much respect for the rest of the army either, something that does worry Raven. With the Guard being Hipppolyta's closest and more often than not only guards, she is vulnerable in case the Guard suddenly takes a dislike to her. Even if they seem devoted and almost worship Hippolyta. Donna agrees at the mention, but she says that the worry is unfounded and unlikely to change something as old as this unless it actually appears. Raven counters that she hopes she is wrong and will never be proven otherwise.
On top of it all, Raven has to contend with being Mala's 'how-I-don't-want-to-see-it' dummy and general punching bag for the Guard, finding herself the target of rude remarks and crude attempts at humor. Donna notes quietly that she shouldn't take it, Raven just shrugs with indifference. Donna however, often growls warnings when the jabs are aimed at her.
At the end of the day, they are both tired and grumpy and in for more of the same the next day. Where Donna finally snaps at one of the Guards that made a remark at her, warning them that if this would continue, Donna is prepared to fight them, which stop them for two hours. On a positive note for Donna; she is being charged with carrying the Royal standard, as per Hippolyta's orders, something that Raven can feel does not sit well with the others.
The group assembles again early Monday morning, with the King and Queen arriving at around ten and the escort having to be at the harbor an hour before that to receive them. Mala personally inspects each of them, making sure their equipment is spotless. She seems to be impressed about the degree Donna has managed to polish her silver armor, while grumbling about not being able to find anything on Raven's black armor, that has a belt added with a scabbard for Shadowfury hanging at her left side and a red cape to match the others who also have one, the niginata in one hand and the round shield fastened to the horse's harness on the left side.
As there were no flaws to be righted, Mala orders them to suit up and mount up in formation of two columns of five, with herself and Donna in the lead, on their golden and silver mounts respectively. Somehow Raven isn't surprised she ended up in the back, but she thinks it's probably for the best. Given the symbolism of having a dark rider at the forefront of a welcoming committee didn't seem to inspire positivity in most. Actually she has been wondering why she was chosen for this assignment at all, Artemis, Penelope or Antiope would have been better choices, in her mind, to represent Themyscira. Diana would of course be the obvious choice for this assignment, but Raven reasons she is going to be at her mother's side constantly, most likely as the Champion of the Gods, but chances are of course that she is receiving as Princess of Themyscira.
"Move out." Mala commands and the troupe begins slowly trotting out of the small square belonging to the stables, moving out of the Military Quarter it exits into and ride down to the harbor and heads south from there to the landing point where the Atlanteans would leave the water.
The ride is undertaken in silence, not that Raven has much desire to talk to the women around her, but it's like even the city is holding its breath in anticipation in the ascending light of the morning sun. Arriving at the landing point, Mala orders them to spread out in a line facing the sea and wait.
After almost two hours of waiting and not moving more than to slightly believe they still have joints, something Donna seems to take the hardest, surprisingly. They notice the city around them having awoken and is almost set for the visit, with a decent crowd having gathered behind the riders. And a large golden chariot, drawn by two white horses and with a single golden armored Amazon driving it. In the harbor the ships have been neatly anchored so that sufficient space is available for the monarch and any transport he chooses to arrive in that can sail in the shallow waters of the harbor.
At ten o clock, according to the great sun dial in the Military Quarter, a large square centered by a statue of Athena standing sentinel with a spear raised, a clear trumpet note is blown, as it happens at every change of hour. But the waters of the harbor remain undisturbed. Time passes, with some rumbling about punctuality, especially from Mala. Making Raven roll her eyes, sundials weren't an exact way of telling the time because of the seasons and Atlantis wouldn't have any of them anyway since Arthur had mentioned to Raven that it was so far beneath the waves that you couldn't see the sun from there.
Almost twenty minutes pass before something can be seen moving under the clear harbor waters, with two in the lead emerge, one a blond, long haired, man with a full beard, wearing only a green cape over his bare chest and wearing a matching pair of pants. In his right hand he carries a trident, the left has been replaced by a hook. His companion is a stern looking woman with long hair in the color of blood, wearing a skin tight suit that seems to be made of green fish scales. She is also carrying a trident while also wearing a diadem made from yellow corals making it look like a crown. Behind the pair, two rows of guards emerge; broad shouldered men with black chest plates with a stylized octopus depicted on them in silver, also they are wearing metal shoulder guards were black capes with a green inside are fastened and tall helmets that make it appear like they are each wearing a small metallic squid. These guards are armed with tridents like their regents at their front. The only exception is the young man with the crew cut hair, black eyes and red and black suit directly behind the king.
As they surface, they are all revealed to be riding on the backs of large sea turtles. The creatures gracefully carry their passengers over to the small, staircase leading up to the dock from the water, the first off is the King, who then assist his Queen off her mount. The others follow in pairs, delivering the total of twenty guards and the two monarchs who ascend the stairs, finding the chariot and the escort waiting for them.
"Greetings your Excellency, we are to provide you with an escort to the palace." The charioteer says as she steps down from the chariot and bows to the monarchs.
"Thank you soldier." Aquaman says, getting a nod from the charioteer who gets back into her chariot as the two monarchs mount it behind her. Without a command spoken, the escort riders line up behind the Atlantian Kings own guards before the company marches inwards to the excited murmur of the Amazons watching them pass.
From her place at the rear, Raven can hear the King and Queen silently marvel at the city they are passing through, while she tries to look like an experienced rider herself and try to keep an eye out for anything out of place. She is happy that this is not the case, but her worry rises slightly when the crowd begins throwing palm leaves onto their path right before they enter the large plaza before the palace.
Entering the plaza before the palace, the company is greeted by companies of spear-armed women and archers, who all stand completely motionless with their weapons at ease as they pass, even as the chariot pulls up to the side of the entrance to the palace, everyone is completely silent, the only noise is the Amazon escort galloping off to the side to stable their mounts before hurrying inside to reach the throne room. While the escort is doing this, Arthur and Mera are greeted on the steps of the palace by Cassandra, wearing a long white dress, who leads them inside.
The group jumps off their mounts at the stables, leaving them for others to tend and ready for their return while they sprint inside and quickly take up their assigned positions and stand immobile as if they had been waiting there all the time. Neither Diana, Hippolyta, General Philipus or the already present guards seem to notice them as they storm in, Raven can't help but smirk internally to herself at her and Donnas position to the left and right of the foot of the statue of Athena. In front of them Diana and General Philipus stand to the left and right of the back of Hippolyta's throne. The reason she smirks is the obvious lack of Mala's influence over it, which would probably have sent Raven and Donna to the opposite corners from their current position where they wouldn't be noticeable. The last of them barely have time to arrest the last movements before the bronze double doors open, admitting Cassandra first, followed by the guests.
"Your Highness, King Arthur and Queen Mera of Atlantis." Cassandra introduces before bowing and steps to the side and retreats to the wall by the door as Hippolyta rises from her seat.
"Honored visitors, welcome to Themyscira." She greets respectfully lowering her head shortly as Arthur and his men bow slightly to her and Mera curtsy.
"We are honored that you would receive us." Arthur replies.
"We have prepared a light meal before we hope you will participate in a small tour of the city we shall discuss politics in the meantime." Hippolyta says motioning to her right side where a small table with three seats is prepared.
"We would like a little lunch." Arthur agrees and nods at his guards who silently spread out, taking up places between the Amazon guards, which sets an odd atmosphere of three people having lunch and over thirty guards looking on in silence, at one point Raven is certain she heard someone's stomach rumbling.
But she is however certain that something is wrong, someone is feeling incredibly anxious about the whole situation, but she can't pinpoint anyone in her line of sight, and she isn't going to turn her head. Instead she focuses on the emotion and tries to pinpoint its location, finding it to be on the other side of the table. From where she stands she can only see one of the Atlantians and one of the Royal Guards, with the helmets on, Raven can't identify the wearer.
She begins thinking about the reason for being anxious, the worst case Raven can come up with is that someone is a traitor and something bad will happen, but she admits it could just be her making it all up, she has noted before that Bruce's paranoia has been affecting her even when he's not around, of course the numerous gassing's and other ambushes of her he had done didn't help. She lets the notion slip into the twentieth minute of the lunch, the crowned heads are all chatting away like old friends already, but Mera seems to study the guards around her like an animal looking for a potential challenger more and more while Arthur and Hippolyta are discussing fishing and the sea life around the island. Raven had noted Garth must have been a sort of vegetarian amongst the Atlanteans, even after getting over his childhood fears, as Arthur does not once mention disapproving of the Amazons fishing nets, something that caused Hippolyta to order the fisherwomen to remain on land for the previous week. Diana must have mentioned at some point how Arthur really did consider the seven seas his domain, and along with that he usually grumbles about is; waste dumping and over fishing.
If Raven didn't have her acute hearing, she wouldn't have noticed the distant 'crump' sound and the ensuring high-pitched whistling sound, that Diana, Cassandra and Donna also seems to hear, judging by their head movement. Realizing what it is makes Raven throw up a shield over the entire room, blotting out the light an instant before something impacts onto the roof in a deafening explosion that brings down much of the structure and has most of the people in the room fall onto the floor in yelps and cries of surprise.
"By Poseidon's beard!" Aquaman swears as he gets up from the floor, having spilled his drink onto his chest.
"Betrayal!" Mala yells as every Royal Guard is suddenly pointing their spears at the Atlantians who have done the same to them.
"Stop!" Raven yells. "This wasn't their doing!"
"Stand down!" Hippolyta orders. "That explosion would have claimed them as well!" Mala and the guards look at her in confusion for a second before relenting as the barrier evaporates as more explosions strikes the city.
"We are under attack!" Philipus yells as she has run to look out between the now ruined columns, the others quickly move to her side as well, spotting many dark shapes on the horizon. "Outsiders."
Raven picks up a definite sense of relief from someone and quickly scans the group around her right, spotting the one, she moves quickly.
"FOR ORM!" An Atlantian bellows before lunging at Aquaman with a curved knife aimed at the kings back, before getting shouldered into the wall by Donna. The group quickly turns in confusion to look at the guard, finding him glaring hatefully at Aquaman.
"I think we know who has led them here." Diana says angrily. "Time to find out who they are." She says and unfastens her lasso as the traitor is suddenly on the receiving end of several spears and tridents.
"No Champion, I think this one deserves another's interrogation." Hippolyta says while looking at Raven. "Do you agree your Highness?" She asks Aquaman who looks surprised at the suggestion before growing a wicked smile.
"I do indeed."
"Sister Raven, would you then kindly have this traitor divulge his information?" Hippolyta asks, Raven smirks as well as her armor closes as she transforms for the first time in months for a mission.
"As you command." She replies before walking to the still prone guard who stares in confusion at her as she lifts him off the ground. "Tell me everything." She says with blazing red eyes as his go wide.
Author's Notes: Nothing peaceful ever goes according to plan in the world of superheroes does it? :)
Btw, for those of my reviewers who have expressed their desire to see Nightwing a little more mauled for his actions; as Raven said, its been two years for everyone else and they have generally moved and with the knowledge that Trigon, dead as he is, was subtly nudging him on (imagine the Devil/Angel on the shoulders having been replaced with a pair of burnt bodies and Trigon egging him on; "Go on, do it. Do it!"). Where as this event has pretty much been in Richards mind for two years straight. And Raven did punch him across the room before knocking him out with a kick in the head :)
Next Chapter: Nazies... and lots of them... some jerks and one demigod.