Superman:
He is keeping his anger and grief over the loss of Lois in check, but only just, and only because he knows he has to find out who took his wife and his city away from him.
He blasts through the ceiling and into the sky, he needs to be away from this place, and eventually comes to a halt high above the Earth where he lands on a passing satellite. He holds his breath and listens, blotting out the whirring noise of the satellite and hopes someone is saying something. But to his dread, there is nothing to be heard of voices from the planet below him, but then he hears the deep 'thump' of something. He waits and is rewarded with the 'thump' returning again, steady and powerful the thumping noise follows a set rhythm and Superman recognizes it as a heartbeat and one from something huge.
Knowing that he may be closer to an answer, Superman returns to Earth, burning a streak of white across the sky as he flies towards his destination; the Himalayas. He arrives in the cloud free region and feels he has to stop to comprehend what he is seeing.
Landing on the peak called Ama Dablam and looking towards Mount Everest north of him, a vast valley opens up before him before the mountains rise once more to top at the peak called Lhotse at the bottom of the valley while Everest rises behind it. Normally this place would be filled with sharp rocks and little in the form of vegetation along with the streams of freezing water running down from the mountains. But the sight that greets Superman is a valley that's covered in human skulls and bones while streams of blood runs between the remains, giving the place a horrid stink.
And at the far end of the valley, using the mountains themselves as its throne, sits a demon of gigantic proportions. It's humanoid and female, but it has the legs of a beast and tiny clouds seems to form around the towering onyx horns that rise above it's head that's otherwise covered by long gray hair. It's wearing a dark suit of armor that covers its chest and upper legs, but leaves its head and arms free. On it's face is set four glowing eyes.
"So, you return." The flat, rumbling, voice of the demon echoes in Superman's head. "Perhaps a little more willing to listen."
"Who are you?" Superman sends back guessing it was using telepathy.
"Hmm, appears the blow rattled your memory." The demon replies more to itself than to him. "So you may also have forgotten my offer?"
"Answer me!" Superman sends back as he takes off towards the demon, knowing that with the difference in size it wouldn't be able to react fast enough and he flies straight into its head. The collision is as sudden as it would have been devastating, but instead of harming the demon, Superman feels the pain shoot up his arms and body as he smashes himself into an object that doesn't move. He blacks out for a few seconds before he feels himself crash into the ground, having fallen thousands of feet.
He comes to himself amongst the skulls between the demon's feet. "You wear my patience Kal-El, look around you and see the futility of fighting me." The demon continues as Superman sits up and realizes what it meant. Around him lie the remains of people he can recognize. The long peaked shape of J'onn's head lies to his right, between his feet lies the broad and partially crushed skull of Mongul, on a stake further down the slope is the remains of Darkseid himself impaled and it goes on and on. Superman can see the remains of his friends and colleagues lie here, mixing their bones with their foes the powerful and the meek. He even spots the remains of Lobo and Doomsday amongst the remains.
As much as his rage is rising, Superman knows he will have to play for time in hopes of finding some weakness the others hadn't. And he flies up to have the demon's face in front of him. "What offer?"
"You can have all of this back, your adopted world and all who you wish to dwell on it, restored with no memory of the horrors I inflicted on them. But you will have to offer something to me in return."
"What about you?" Superman asks. "And what do I have to do?"
"I will depart; there is nothing left for me here." The demon replies. "As for what you must do." It continues and moves one massive arm from it's resting place to hold its palm upwards. As Superman watches, some of the bones from the valley beneath fly up to it and begin assembling themselves into four skeletons. When they are complete, they begin to glow red and the tissue and muscles grow onto them from out of nowhere before they are finally covered in skin. Superman recognizes most of them, despite states of undress and wild looks they have; one is Lex Luthor, the second is Victor Zsaz, the Joker just curls up into a ball and giggles, the last one however just looks around himself in bewilderment as long brown hair grows on his head. "Prince Uxas of Apokalips. All you have to do Superman, to restore your world and all you hold dear; is kill them."
Green Lantern
"Ring power levels at 50%." The ring responds as the Moon comes into view of John Steward, still slowing down from his hasty trip back from Oa.
"Green Lantern to Justice League." John says, hoping that the diversity of the League could do what the Lanterns couldn't, but his call isn't responded to. "John Steward calling the Justice League, answer me!" He barks, but still gets no reply. He sees why when he passes over the Moon and spots the Watchtower. "Scan for life." He tells his ring as he stops before the station, now half melted away by the looks of it.
"No life forms detected." The ring replies, confirming Johns fears, who ever had been on board had most likely burnt to death or been exposed to the countless breaches in the outer hull.
"Scan for abnormal concentration of emotional energies." He says and turns towards Earth.
"Located; high outlet of emotional energy. Location; Atacama Desert." It says as John heads for South America.
"At least there won't be anyone around."He mutters to himself as he passes through the thin atmosphere over the Andes and heads over the Atacama.
It doesn't take him long to find his quarry, to him it looks humanoid, only three times the height of a man and seemingly composed of absolute darkness, but seemingly engulfed in multicolored flames. Then it seems to strike the ground of the empty desert causing a massive tremor to pass through the region.
John shouts as he strikes, just before his beam connects with it, it turns to look at him with four shining eyes.
Flash
"Flash…" Wally looks up from his seat in the Hall of Justice cantina he's not sure how long he's been sitting here, but his idea was that if he stayed here long enough, someone would notice him.
"Who's there?" He asks, failing to recognize the voice.
"Oh, no one important." The disembodied voice replies but it sounds amused enough for Flash to realize it.
"Hold on, you're the one who who's done this to me!" He says.
"Perhaps." The voice replies. "Now, I gotta go, got some other stuff to do."
"Hey hold on! You got me, and you've gotten me good, isn't this the time you reveal who you are and all that?" Flash asks hoping to entice his foe to reveal themselves as they often did in situations like this. It was a thing for villains that transcended power, no matter how powerful or petty, villains just couldn't resist gloating. And Flash knew he had to be dealing with someone powerful, tampering with time or the Speedforce was a proof of that.
"Now why would I do something like that? You might escape, like you heroes always do." The voice replies, but continues to sound amused.
"Oh come on, you know I am not Batman and I am not going to figure it out on my own." Flash replies.
"You're right, you're not." The voice replies. "And perhaps that's your problem, you never had someone like me. Someone that nullifies that amazing speed of yours."
"Ah, yeah, guess that's true. But I have Zoom, and Captain Cold does have that field of his now." Wally continues, hoping he could gain something from this but only receives soft rumbling laughter as a reply.
"Ah yes, the man who controls his own time using it to imitate speed and a fool with his gadgets. You misunderstand, I control all time."
"Err… ok." Flash replies while drawing a blank, he doesn't remember anyone having that kind of power. "So, you sure you don't want to give me a name? You know, something that can be put in the files?"
"Don't worry, your friends will have one; left on your aged corpse." The voice replies and Wally has the sense of something leaving him as several people zoom past him.
Martian Manhunter
"Who… are you?" He asks as he sweats in the heat and his own fear in the presence of the burning entity he had seen pass through the outer hull of his prison.
"I am a friend." It says with a calm voice of a woman. "Things are bleak and it has it's hooks in you, hoping that you will be powerless now."
"It?" J'onn asks.
"The demon, you weren't prepared for its attack and it pulled you all in." The being replies. "This isn't real J'onn, but it is not in your mind either, it's in ours."
"Ours?" J'onn asks as he tries to beat down his own paralyzing fear as his thoughts connects the dots, this was why he couldn't remember anything about how he got here and knowing that something was inside his mind.
"The demon and I are one, but my whole self has been subdued, what I am is only a shade of what should be. I have not the power beyond appearing as I do, or things would be much worse for you." J'onn nods but remains curled up, he understands it, this thing was a subconscious construct and had to remain as it is or whatever the demon was would become aware of it. "The others were pulled in as well and some are playing into its hands."
"We are under assault." J'onn says to himself.
"You are, and without your help, everything might be lost." The being replies.
"If that is true… how can I trust you?" J'onn asks, fearing that the being was not what it presented itself as.
The being seems to lower it's eyes at the mention and moves towards him, he closes his eyes as it seems to cover him with it's fire. His mind becomes alight with panic, fearing the stinging touch of the fire and the smell of his own burning flesh, but he quickly realizes that he feels nothing but pleasant warmth, sorrow and determination. "…you know what to do." The words ring in his head as he opens his eyes and finds the being gone.
"I do." J'onn replies as he looks at the window and into the face of his own fear that needed to be strangled before he could act.
Starfire
Starfire is crying as she blasts through space, but it's not out of grief now, it is pure rage that makes her do it. The palace hadn't contained bodies with neat holes in them like the rest of the city, most of it had contained nothing at all, save for the throne room. The throne room had been a slaughterhouse, one of those things Starfire had seen in Earth movies. She didn't wish to think of what she saw there or think about what Galfore and his subjects had gone through, but she can't stop remembering the sound of her own boots sticking to the gore-drenched floor or the smell and certainly not the image of Galfore himself, seated on his throne with his chest and torso open and empty and his remaining eye looking at her with a look of sadness and pain he was powerless to stop. When Starfire had fled the palace, Blackfire had disappeared, leaving a message written in blood: 'The pizza will be served as you arrive.' Starfire knew what this meant and only so few knew her enough to know it as well she'd know and so she is flying as fast as she can, towards Jump City and the monster she used to call her closest friend that is a girl.
Huntress
She is sitting in an alley, trying to catch her breath and having discarded the part of her cape that gave the hood it's blocky form.
"Oh God…!" She groans and leans on the wall as the pains from her swollen stomach returns. "Oh God... what's happened to me?" She asks herself, still failing to come up with an answer to her situation and how she apparently jumped several months ahead in her pregnancy in only an hour or so.
"Helena." A flat voice appears in her head.
"Who?" Huntress asks and looks around herself but sees no one in the garbage filled alley.
"Don't be afraid of us, we wish only to help, step into the light." The voice answers as a point appears as a white spec before it grows rapidly to the size of a grown man and she gets to her feet. "Come, take my hand, all will be well."
Unsure about what to do and if this was even real or not, something tells her to trust this other person and she steps forwards to take the hand before being led through the portal.
She is almost blinded by the light on the other side, but as her vision clears she finds herself under a bright sky and amongst soaring stone and glass structures and surrounded by a group of people. Men and women wearing mostly concealing blue robes with beaked hoods. The one whose hands she is holding is dressed in a similar manner, but unlike the others, nothing can be seen under her hood. "Welcome Helena, to Azerath."
Hawkgirl
"Let me out! Please!" Shayera screams as she batters her fists against the lid of the coffin she been trapped in for far too long. "PLEASE!" She screams again and strikes with both hands. Much to her surprise the lid flies off with the blow and she is nearly blinded by the light.
"Okaayy…" She says as she sits up and is met with an endless sea of sand under a burning sun. "How did I get here?" She asks herself as she tries to work out how long she was trapped, which couldn't have been any longer than a moment or two. "Hawkgirl to Watchtower?" She tries but there's only static in her ear. "Watchtower come in?" She tries again but the lack of a response makes her sigh and has her take to the sky to see if she could see anything.
The only thing she sees in the endless sea of sand is a single chariot pulled by two black horses with a single rider at the reigns. It is heading away from her position at first, but then it turns towards her. She swoops down to meet him, knowing he was the best chance of knowing where she was. But the knot in her stomach grows with the closing of the distance between them, as her sharp eyes identify him as a dark skinned man, wearing only a golden skullcap and neck guard. She stops as she sees his face that light up when he comes closer.
"Hail Queen Chayera! What are you doing out here this afternoon?" The man Shayera recognizes, not as John Steward, though the resemblance is uncanny, but as Washa-Ri from the stored logs of the absorbachron Carter Hall found.
"This isn't good." She thinks to herself as he comes closer and slows down. "Ah… I am not your queen, I might look like her but I am not." She says knowing that it would be difficult to convince him of that unless they met Chayera.
"Oh? If you are not, did you happen to steal her clothes then?" Washa-Ri asks with a smile on his face as if she was just joking.
"Her what…?" Shayera asks as she looks down herself by reflex, she knew she had entered the warehouse in her usual yellow two piece set, but as she looks down she sees her bare legs poking out of a white shirt, sandals on her feet and now that she realizes it, the weight of a helmet on her head. "How…?" She asks before she suddenly feels faint and blacks out for a moment only to find her lying on her back with Washa-Ri leaning over her, looking concerned.
"My Queen, are you well?" He asks.
"I'm… not." She manages feeling as if something was trying to tell her something, but she can't remember what. "Take me home."
"Of course, hang tight." Washa-Ri replies and picks her up to take her away. Out of the corner of her eye Chayera thinks she sees a figure standing on top of a nearby dune, as she tries to turn and focus on it the wind kicks up the sand around it and blows it away with it.
Lady Blackhawk
Zinda is not sure if she is seeing what she is seeing through the glass surrounding her cockpit. Before her is a city on the American west coast, according to her navigational systems. What's wrong about it is how it looks with its towering buildings of glass and steel of a size that rivaled the height of the Empire State Building in New York and that was the only building of its kind, she knew that much.
She passes over a suspension bridge that connects the northern and southern half of the city and spots the weirdest building yet. A solitary multi-story structure built on an island in the middle of the bay shaped like a T.
"Unidentified craft, identify yourself and be prepared to be escorted." Her radio squawks as she passes over the strange building.
"This is BH-07, I have clearance number 2518630089. I am low on fuel, I don't know where the landing strip is and I need a secure line to the Pentagon." Zinda replies as she spots what she guesses are the escorts, just two tiny specs in the sky to her right.
"That's a negative BH-07. Proceed to Jump City International Airport, bearing course south-southeast, runway 05 will be made clear for you."
"It is urgent I speak with Colonel Tyson of Overseas Command." Zinda replies guessing she was talking to a civilian.
"That is a negative BH-07, you are to proceed to Jump City International Airport."
"Listen you, it is urgent I speak with Colonel Tyson and you are disrupting military efforts." Zinda almost barks back, she hates civilian air traffic controllers since they always made everything so difficult. Then there is a shriek as her escorts blast past her, almost causing her to dive to the side. "What the…?!" Se shouts as she looks after the jets that begins circling her much slower plane. "What the devil?!" She asks out loud because the Blackhawks were supposed to be flying the fastest and most advanced fighter planes in the war.
"Proceed to the landing zone, the authorization to shoot if necessary has been given." The controller continues.
Zatanna
She is still a deer in the headlights as her assistant runs up on the stage and wraps her in one of her spare cloaks before pulling her away. Zatanna always thought the concealing blue cape and hood that covered much of her assistant's face and the robe she wore underneath sent he wrong impression to the audience, but then again her assistant wanted to be taken seriously professionally and she wanted her craft to be the same way. Secretly Zatanna had worried she was moving into areas of magic that wasn't fit for an audience and more worryingly that her free time studies would get her into serious trouble one day.
"What happened up there Zee?" She asks as she has Zatanna sit down on a crate.
"I… Don't know." Zatanna replies with a sigh.
"Right… Stay here and I'll see if I can save the day." Her assistant says before leaving, making a knot form in Zatanna's stomach, because she feared she would do just that.
"That's it… my career is down the drain." Zatanna says to herself before she hears the beating of wings and looks up to spot a large black bird sitting on the rig above her.
"Interesting, so you do fear her." A voice says and makes Zatanna look back up at the bird that just remains sitting there.
"Who are you?" Zatanna asks.
"That s unimportant, what is important is that you realize that this is not real. The last month of your life you remember as preparation for this event has never happened and that you are currently playing into the hands of your adversary." The bird replies though it's beak doesn't move.
"What adversary?" Zatanna asks as her suspicion grows.
"My other side. My time is up, search your mind Zatanna, but be quick or you will die of hypothermia as your body lies freezing on the Himalayan slopes." The bird says before it takes off.
"Wait!" Zatanna shouts after it, but it is already gone and a roar of approval from the crowd outside reaches her. "Right on cue…" She says as the reminder of her own failure hits her, the realization comes a second later. "That's it!"
Beastboy
He is running all over the place, unable to make heads or tails of himself, or the many animals he just instinctively changes into after he had seen his parent's boat disappear over the edge of the waterfall down the river from their camp. His father had taken him over to look at it when they arrived here, and he knew it was at least a hundred feet down.
Meanwhile his friend was just standing watching him go berserk, he doesn't notice the thin smile playing out over her face.
Cyborg
"No matter how much of me is steel and plastic! I'm still more man than you'll ever be!" Victor shouts, out of his mind with rage at his own double. It had gone from taunting him to pushing and finally attacked him with an old branch. But against the cybernetically enhanced Victor Stone, the double had stood no chance when Victor flipped and had quickly ended up in a bear hug. "YOU HEAR ME! I AM A MAN!" Victor roars as he holds the double off the ground before tightening his grip and is rewarded with the sound of breaking bones and the double slumps down over his shoulder.
Black Canary
"Come on honey, I promise you'll keep winning." Roulette smirks as Dinah has been driven to her knees by the relentless barrage of accusations from the phantoms. "And I guarantee these will go away." She continues while waving at the ghosts.
"Why didn't you stop me?!" Roy cries.
"Useless." Someone else adds.
"Stubborn as a mule." Huntress continues.
"Go away, please…" Dinah sobs.
"He is the key Dinah, you know the truth." A familiar flat voice adds, but Dinah doesn't hear it.
Manhunter
"ORDER! I WILL HAVE ORDER!" The judge roars and bangs her hammer uselessly as Spencer brawls with the guards that's trying to subdue her.
Kate does a backflip onto the shoulders of one guard before leaping onto the judges stand and pushes her over. "What the hell?! You're no judge!" Kate asks as she sees the red skinned woman appear under the wig that's fallen off. "This isn't real."
The other woman just hisses at her and everything goes black for Kate Spencer.
Wonder Woman
Diana could see from afar that things were going badly in Athens as the flies across the ocean, like Themyscira it has been covered in smoke and fires, but she can't see or hear any signs of an ongoing struggle.
"Goddess, where are you?" She asks as she heads toward the Acropolis. As she flies over it, she spots a lone figure leaning her against one of the columns of the Acropolis. "Goddess, I am here." Diana says as she is quick to arrive by Athena's side as the deity clutches a wound in her gut looking terribly pale.
"Diana…" Athena replies without moving very much before Diana has her sit down. "What have you done… to bring such a thing to us…" She mutters.
"What do you mean? Did I cause this?" Diana asks in confusion as she takes a look at the wound after moving Athena's hand without any resistance, finding the hole in the goddess to leak light rather than blood.
"You did." A flat voice replies behind Diana, getting an angered grunt out of the wounded goddess as Diana turns to find a figure in a midnight blue cloak and hood that hides her features. "Stand aside, I am not finished with her yet." Diana needs no more to attack the stranger, only to get swatted aside and through the ancient temple's outer wall. "Now, where were we?" She asks Athena who huffs and wheezes as she tries to get her dying body to move as the figure walks over to her. "Ah yes." She says before vanishing in a puff of smoke while Athena is lifted into the air before she takes off.
"Goddess!" Diana cries as she races after her. It is as the flies she sees it, seemingly not fully manifested yet but colossal in size, with a human upper body but with four crab-like legs to support it as they span without effort the most of the city below, and with four arms, one pair longer than the others and it's head crowned with a large fleshy plate that reaches out behind it like a huge fan.
Diana pulls out her lasso and throws it to wrap around Athena's legs in hopes of stopping her. The resistance the creature feels draws its attention to her. "Do let go Diana, she is mine to claim." Diana hears the voice of the stranger in her head an instant before she feels like she crashes into a solid concrete wall, but her grip remains on her lasso. "It is too late for her Diana. But come, I desire your company." Instantly the crushing pressure disappears in favor of a push in the back that catches Diana off guard and sents her flying towards the creature along with Athena.
"NO! Goddess!" Diana cries as she looses her grip on the lasso, and is left to watch the deity hit the creatures chest before being sucked into it, leaving only the Lasso sticking out. "Monster!" She shouts as she is carried up to the creature's head.
"Finally you see." The the creature replies with an oddly satisfied tone in its voice as Diana looks at it before she recognizes the red skinned face of Raven.
"Raven?"
"Indeed." Raven replies without her lips moving, Diana only just feels it closing around her ankle before she has to try and fight off her own lasso as it starts to ensnare her. But for all her efforts, the Lasso of Truth is unbreakable and is as long as it's needed to be and after a few moments, Diana is nearly immobilized. "There. Comfy?"
"Why are you doing this? What happened to you?" Diana asks.
"I am cleaning my house, and it pleases me you've come." Raven replies before she starts to move, caring nothing for the damage her legs is causing the city beneath them as they push over and crush whatever is in their way. "I have simply realized where I should be and what I needed to do."
"And what's that?" Diana asks though she has already guessed it.
"This world is mine, to do as I please. I am in the middle of removing the rebels who think otherwise?"
"And what of our sisters?!" Diana asks, knowing her people would have resisted this Raven.
"Traitors reward, look down." Raven replies with indifference, Diana slowly does so, afraid of what she would see, and under Raven's massive legs they all hang lifelessly at the end of many ropes and chains secured to the limbs. "Rebels will hang until dead, their gods are consumed. So tell me beloved, which are you?" Diana's expression turns to grief and rage as she looks up at Raven again.
Dr. Fate
"Kent?" Inza croaks as she tries to breathe as she dangles over the ground in Carnages grip.
"Oh he can't reply, not if he wants to stay alive." Carnage hisses into her ear. "Imagine how we can put that to the test." What Carnage doesn't notice is how Fate looks up and his eyes flash and suddenly Inza is within the sphere chanting while Fate makes ready outside of it. "Clever."
"You go too far Carnage. Bellum!" Fate shouts and a great yellow ankh appears above Carnage before crushing her into the ground underneath them. "We knew that facing you were a risk this day, do not test our means!" He says as the ankh dissipates.
"Test?" Carnage asks as she gets back up. "Oh… I intend to tear you all asunder. BURN!" She shouts and a wave of fire rushes towards Fate who has a shield spring into being in front of him.
"More than most, Raven has instructed us in how to deal with you." Fate continues calmly. "Ezzir!" He pushes he hand forwards and Carnage is knocked off her feet by an invisible blow to her head.
"Has she?" Carnage asks. "Oh, that's rich… she doesn't have that knowledge. I know everything she does!" She continues as Fate's shield comes under the heavy assault of Carnages eye beams, forcing Fate to brace himself. "It's all lies from you Kent Nelson, isn't it?" She asks as she gets up while keeping up the assault. "You know nothing."
"You wouldn't know, Raven erased the memory of what we did." Fate says and the doubt in Carnage eases the pressure from the beams enough for him. "Ezzir!" He shouts again, but as the beams are directed into the sky he blast Carnage away a beam of his own. "Whatever you do Inza, keep chanting." He says to his wife before taking off to engage Carnage that's already returning.
Nightwing:
"You have to Rae, this is all in your head." Nightwing shouts from her palm.
"No it isn't… I would have found a way out by now." Raven replies as she sits in the empty space.
"It is. We are the Himalaya's and Carnage is running around in your body." Nightwing continues.
"Carnage is where I keep her." Raven shrugs getting a disbelieving stare from Nightwing before he thinks about it.
"Then explain why I am so small in comparison to you."
"Different dimensions affect us differently. I am a hybrid, you're only human." Raven shrugs, getting a sigh from Nightwing, he hated when she dug her heels in when he knew she was wrong.
"Now you are just being stubborn Rae." He says.
"Stay in here for long enough you'll be the same… It's hopeless, we aren't getting out of here." She continues.
The reply makes Nightwing look at her oddly. "Oh no." He thinks to himself as he realizes it; this isn't Raven, it's a duplicate of some kind. Despite her size and how closely she resembles her, there is no life in her eyes. And Nightwing is sure he was sent here on purpose and that Raven was somewhere else, the question was now how he got to her.
"Mind if you put me down?" He says and the colossus lowers her hand and lets him jump off. He sits down as well and looks up at it, he would have no chance if it turned hostile, so he sets his mind to think instead.
He runs through all the things both Raven, J'onn and Bruce had taught him about the mind. How it worked, how one could blunt parts of it, how one could teach it automatic responses and he thinks back especially to the trip they made to Tartarus almost three years ago. The memory of that place makes him realize he wasn't without power in this place. Like the vision back then had responded to his attack, so must this place follow him to a degree.
"What are you doing?" The construct asks.
"Thinking." Nightwing replies as he closes his eyes and thinks, perhaps the current difference in size was actually himself, thinking he, as an ordinary human, was so much much smaller in comparison to those like Raven who lived on the threshold of divinity. And then he turns his mind away from that, Raven was a person he knew and he knew her so well that the scale of her powers was nothing to her. To her, she was human, she enjoyed being human, she enjoyed running around in an outfit and doing heroics the human way, even if she got hurt and even if she could wave her hand and solve every problem in Gotham. She was as human as he and she was the same size as him. As he opens his eyes again, he smirks in satisfaction, the difference in size was gone but she doesn't appear to have noticed it.
"Thought of a way to get out?" She asks flatly.
"Perhaps, but I am afraid you can't come along for the ride." He replies.
"Figures." The construct sighs and looks down.
"I know you aren't Raven, you are something Carnage left behind to slow me down." Nightwing replies as he closes his eyes again, knowing the construct would now try to act hurt and make him stay. He pushes that image aside and thinks of Raven.
"I am… wait… what are you doing?" It asks, he doesn't open his eyes.
"Leaving." He replies as the place grows colder.
"No… NOOOOO…..!" The construct screams with a changed voice as Nightwing suddenly has a sense of moving with immense speed and the scream disappears behind him.
"Hold on Rae, I am coming." He thinks as he feels himself disappear.
Mount Olympus:
"Daughter." Zeus, the Sky Father, rumbles as Athena enters his throne room, where he is observing certain events shown on a floating globe of water. "I am concerned."
"You wouldn't have summoned me otherwise Father." Athena replies.
"Your project is failing." Zeus motions at the globe of water. "As I feared it would." Athena takes a look at the scene for a moment. "It is time for it to end."
"I will deal with it if I have to." Athena replies firmly. "Things are not lost."
"Daughter, I only permitted it to continue because it succeeded in what it was made for, but I will not allow it to become a threat. It will be dealt with now, before it becomes unstoppable." Zeus says as he rises from his throne.
"NO!" Athena booms and for a second her eyes turn dark and her skin turns icy blue as she is framed by lightning before she turns back, it is enough to stop the Sky Father. "It is my project, it is not lost and if it ever is, I will be the one to end it!" She rumbles before her voice turns softer. "Mortal plans are already in motion to resolve the current situation. Leave her be father, her fate is more than as our tool."
"You watch her daughter, you watch her closely." Zeus replies as he sits down again and Athena nod before she turns away to leave. "And know when your project has to end… regardless what you feel about it." Athena just stops at the door and turns slightly before answering him.
"I am the Goddess of War and Wisdom; I know what I am doing and what needs and doesn't need to be done. Do not concern yourself with her unless I tell you to. Also, if you fear her so, remember we are not the only ones watching." She says before leaving Zeus to brood, Athena was the only one of his children he tolerated this sort of behavior from, and with good reason.
"But that does not mean you are in charge."
Authors Notes: Sorry for the long wait, I will try and get the next bit out faster :)
Next chapter: Who is falling? Who is prevailing? Who is moving in the shadows? And who else has taken notice of the Daughter of Trigon?