"Well there she is; the hero of the hour. A week ago, that is." Mr. Terrific greets as Raven flies up to his perch in the monitor womb of the Watchtower.
"Ha-ha Michael very funny, so what's this mission you decided to send me on?"
"Only Batman would know, he's waiting for you in the prison wing." Terrific says with a smile getting raised eyebrow from Raven; that the man didn't know was exceptional, that much she had learned from her own week of monitor duty.
"Well, better not keep him waiting." Raven replies before teleporting away arriving outside the cell she had been detained in months ago, oddly enough she finds Dr. Fate inside, busy reading aloud from a book. Raven figures he is strengthening the wards in case they get some magical powerhouse again, like her if she goes bonkers, she notes inwardly.
"Could be for Zee, Jason or himself as well." Raven yelps as the quiet voice appears behind her, making her spin around to see Bruce standing right behind her. She immediately notices the smug smile on his face.
"So you found out how to mute your emotions I see." She sighs as he keeps smirking. "So besides proving a point, what do you want me to do?" The smirk disappears.
"For one you're late." She just stares at him; she had to do with solar clocks at best. "But it's a banality; prisoner escort." He says before turning around and walks back down the corridor, Raven quickly moves to walk beside him. "Prisoner is ready to be escorted, Mr. Terrific knows where to send you." He says before he stops and faces her. "And one last thing, the prisoner is not to suffer any 'lasting' injuries, and that is an order." He pauses to let her think it over for a few seconds, she notes down his underlining of 'lasting'. "Understood?"
"Understood." Raven replies and nods while wondering why he was actually telling her this.
"Good, I will see you later." He says and continues walking, revealing the prisoner behind the glass window, furiously battling to get out of a straitjacket while wearing a metal collar around her neck. Raven is about to protest, but Batman is already gone.
On the other side of the screen, Terra looks up noticing Raven staring at her and stops her struggles completely. Raven's internally bunches up her determination while thinking extra carefully over Batman's choice of words as she spots the swelling left area of Terra's face before a sinister smile spreads over her face. No broken bones, no lasting madness or mind tampering, but everything before that got the green light.
Terra's surprise is changed as Raven runs the hand print scan that opens the door to the cell. "Huh, so bat-breath sent the weakling?" Raven doesn't reply with words, instead she moves in quickly and punches Terra hard in the stomach, causing her to drop to her knees battling not to throw up. "God…that…hurt."
"I am going to make this simple so that even your mind gets it. I am going to escort you safely to somewhere hopefully deep and dark, but I am authorized to use force if I feel like it. And I will feel like it the moment you badmouth me or struggle against me, so please do go ahead with both."
"Heh…you don't have the balls to do that again." Terra says unfazed by the warning as she looks up even if her midsection hurts.
"Call this a demonstration." Raven says as she punches a small impression in the steel wall. "Do tempt me. Now come on." She continues as she grabs the back of the jacket and hauls Terra to her feet before forcibly shoving her out of the door.
"Same old Raven, always playing the hard Ice Queen while really being the little whiny bitch under façade." Terra sneers before getting slammed against the wall and lifted off the floor by the throat. "Put me down!" She croaks.
"Be very careful Terra." Raven says as she holds Terra's face right before her own as she removes her boots and changes shape into her winged form lifting Terra even further off the ground. "You murdered some people very close to me, and right now I am entertaining the idea that you never make it to jail, teleporters are after all very unpredictable; who knows? You could end up somewhere really unpleasant?!" Raven warns as Terra's eyes go wide at the sight, internally Raven is a little pleased that she is actually scared now.
"Y-you… wouldn't…" Terra stammers as tears begin to form in her eyes, she is terrified now.
"According to some, I will live for a very long time Terra; I will endure whatever this world will throw at me." Raven replies flatly before putting her back down and forces her to walk in front of her after collecting her boots.
"No...please… I'm sorry… I was told to do it!" Terra pleads as they walk.
"You suggested it and you wanted to do it." Raven replies flatly. "I have your memories Terra, I know what you have done, how you have done it and the sick satisfaction you had each time you were done. It is too late, you can't be saved." Raven replies as they exit into the main hall, finding Cyborg, Starfire and Beastboy there who just stare wide-eyed at the sight.
"Guys! Save me! She's going to kill me!" Terra pleads as Raven grabs the back of her jacket before she can run off, Starfire just looks away looking offended. "Please!" Cyborg just stares angrily at her while remaining motionless, as Beastboy moves a little closer. "BB?" Terra almost jumps into Raven as Beastboy in less than a second has turned into a tiger letting out a wounded roar before backing away growling menacingly with the hairs along his spine stands on end, if anything it told Raven volumes of how hurt Beastboy was.
"Hold up Raven, we have an incoming teleportation." Mr. Terrific calls as the two reach the stairs leading up to the pads, that come alive, forming a single big man in a brown costume that looks like Kid Flash's, like him as well, the man's hair is reddish brown. He looks in surprise at the two at the two at the foot of the stairs.
Raven narrows her eyes at him, as Terra seems to grasp some kind of hope. "Tara? What is the meaning of this?! Unhand her!"
"Not going to happen." Raven replies flatly.
"Brion! Where have you been?!" Batman asks in an angry tone from the monitor womb where he was sitting, hidden from view from the floor.
"That's King Brion to you!" Brion snaps back. "What is going on here?"
"You're in the way." Raven says. "Move."
"You will release my sister at once!" Brion replies stubbornly as he stands his ground.
"Move now, or be moved." Raven rumbles as she stands on the last step before the top of the platform, which still forces her to look down on Geo-Force.
"Brion, help me, they got me mixed up with someone, accusing me of all kinds of horrible things!" Terra pleads quickly before Raven lightly slaps her on the back of the head.
"Quiet you."
"That does it!" Brion snaps before Raven pushes him roughly to the side, sending him half way across the floor of the hall, landing at the feet of Batman who just stares at him while Raven forces the squirming Terra up the stairs.
"Ready to go wherever she is going." Raven announces to Mr. Terrific.
"Brion! BRIOOOONNN…!" Terra's scream is cut off as the two disappear in a blue flash while Batman drops a large stack of paper in front of the man at his feet.
"Your half-sisters file, read it. And that is an order 'King' Brion." Batman rumbles menacingly before walking away.
It is raining in the early morning hours as two figures appear on a gravel path leading up a hill where a large structure is squatting on its top. The bigger figure looses its monstrous appearance and folds up her hood before looking around for a sign about where they are while getting her boots back on.
"If you are looking for the sign, you need to walk down the hill." A voice says from the shadows of the bushes before a woman wearing a half mask, a tight blue costume and with two swords strapped to her back, steps out of the shelter of a large bush, and onto the path. "Who's the bimbo?"
"Ravager." Raven nods in greeting. "I see you have your swords back. "This is someone I am supposed to deliver, used to work for your father."
"No thanks to you." Ravager grumbles as a reply. "Hmm, I know who it is, I was supposed to off her as well before I tried you, seems you are in the right place then if I say Gotham I think you can guess."
"Uhh, bad luck Terra, you'd almost be better off with where I was going to take you." Raven says again growing the wicked smile. "So what are you doing here?" She asks Ravager.
"Waiting for you, of all people." Ravager admits with a shrug. "Part of the deal I made with the guy in the blue overcoat and hat; help out Nightwing and his squad and he would lead me to someone who could lead me to my father, left me here 10 minutes ago saying my guide would arrive in a flash. Where is he?"
"Going to kill him?" Raven asks while holding onto the straining Terra effortlessly.
"No, but I do want to kick the crap out of him." Ravager replies before pulling up her mask and eye-patch enough for Raven to see the empty eye-socket. "He got me doped up on so much serum I did this to myself to prove something to him."
"Hmm, follow me, but you better be prepared, he is not the man you once knew." Raven says before pushing Terra up the hill.
"He's here? How'd he get stuck there?" Ravager asks as she is taken by surprise and hurries to walk besides Raven.
"Met him here… two and a half months ago, roughly. You should know how I can maul people's minds."
"You know, I am beginning to like you better already. So what's he like now?" Ravager says, sounding surprisingly upbeat about the news, Slade had indeed warned her about the powers Raven had, which was why he needed her to be quick and merciless, because as he had told her, Raven could put her down with a thought if she was discovered.
"Nothing like you remember him I bet. But I would suggest you take off the mask, he's scared of his own."
"You're kidding?"
"Ask this one if I have a sense of humor." Raven replies with a smirk as she shakes Terra slightly as they come up to the parking lot before the large building that used to be mansion. "And here we are Terra, Arkham Asylum, your new home." As if the sky is in on her idea of fun, a bolt of lightning pierces the sky followed swiftly by the thunder.
"Y-You can't be serious! Only crazy people go here!" Terra stammers as she digs her heels into the ground as Raven pushes her to the doorstep.
"That's true, and I found your psychic evaluation lying on my bed some days ago. I think they intended for me to read it, but I didn't bother. So I guess there is a shrink somewhere who believes you should be here. Oh and just one more thing." Raven says as she turns Terra around and lifts her off the ground while her eyes turn to blazing red. "For the things you've done, you will pay for eternally and I will make it my business to get my hands on you when the time comes! And unlike you, I can wait the some 80 years it will take!" Raven warns before her eyes return to normal. "Now let's go see who you will be bunking next to." Raven says as she pushes the door open and drags Terra inside, followed by an amused looking Ravager. As it is early morning, there are only very few staff present in the almost too clean reception as the three enter. But Raven knows it is only this part that looks new, the rest of the place is almost the opposite.
An elderly receptionist in a nurse's uniform takes one look over her glasses at them as the approach. "Patient name?"
"Tara Markov, also known as Terra, transfer from the Justice League." Raven replies as the woman types it in.
"Ah yes, you are authorized to escort her right into her cell." She says. "What's with the bruise?" She asks as she notices the wound with half an eye.
"She squirms a lot, fell on her face I am afraid." Raven replies flatly, the woman just shrugs, she was well aware of the real reason, but she had ceased to care years ago. "Where do I put her?"
"Down the hallway there, take the first right and then down to the basement, there will be a guard there." The woman replies, waving her pen in the direction.
"Wait, there has to be some mistake! I'm not crazy!" Terra yells at Raven pushes her along.
"That's what most of them say deary." The receptionist replies with a tired smile before turning to Ravager. "And what can I do for you?"
"Umm, I was told, I could find…Slade Wilson here?" Ravager asks, unsure if Arkham knew the real name.
"It is a little late for visiting hour's Missy." The woman says with a disapproving look. "But what is your name?"
"Rose… Rose Wilson, he's my father, I didn't know he ended up here till a few moments ago and I have been looking for weeks."
"Ah well, since the man never seems to sleep, you can follow your friend down, he's down that way, and you can tell that other one that his time is almost up." She replies while beginning to fiddle with her hair net.
"Other one?" Rose asks in surprise.
"A young man, a mute." The woman replies without looking up to see Rose run down the hallways to catch up with Raven, catching up with her just as she is talking to a guard who motions for her to follow him, Rose notices he unfastens the pistol holster before unlocking the door, using a key card.
"Any idea why a mute would visit him?" Rose whispers to Raven, as they walk down a short flight of stairs before exiting into a circular corridor.
"I can think of one, but how much do you know of Wilson's other family?" Raven replies quietly, while Terra casts scared looks at the sleeping occupants of the cells they pass.
"He didn't have any?" Roses reply has Raven stop suddenly before turning to face her.
"He did, once, one that's still alive. And I think you are about to me one of them." Raven says before continuing around the corner, leaving a stumped Ravager behind that stares off into nothing for a few seconds before following, finding Raven talking quietly to a young man with voluminous curly blond hair and a strange purple and white getup that looks very 70'ties, while he is signing to her while Terra just stares into the wall behind him.
Raven looks down to Rose as she begins walking slowly towards them, the other man notices as well and seems to regard her with an excited gleam in his eyes. "Rose, mask off, or you will scare him." Raven whispers. The man immediately begins signing to her as she pulls off her mask and makes sure her long white hair is out of her way before stopping him.
"I can't sign language." She whispers.
"I will leave you to it." Raven says before looking through the glass. "Good to see you are feeling better." She says before moving on as the young man quickly pulls out a pad and a pen and writes something. Before showing it to Rose, who reads aloud.
"Hello, I am Joseph Wilson, your brother." Rose just stares at him, before reading on. "I'm very excited to meet you."
"I… I am very excited to meet you too… I'm Rose." She says as her mind is overwhelmed by the discovery.
"Rose? Rose is that you?" A man's eager voice draws them over to the window, finding a man dressed in white pants and a reinforced straightjacket smiling broadly at them with a wild stare in his one eye. "Hi Rose!"
"Dad..?" Raven's warning didn't prepare Rose for the sight of the almost emotionless man she had trained under to dance around a padded room barefooted.
"And here we are." The guard says as he pushes a code into a number-pad, unlocking the door.
"You can't do this to me!" Terra yells before Raven lifts her off the ground and carries her inside.
"Already done." Raven replies as the puts her down. "Do I need to remove the jacket?"
"No, she seems to need a little calming down before we can do that." The guard shrugs as Raven walks back out, slamming the door in Terra's face right before she crashes head first into it, landing her on her back as a result. "How'd you do that?"
"Empath, I can sense when people are near." Raven replies, also it was fairly predictable.
"Uhhh, do tell me more!" A manic voice says from the cell next to Terra's. "Ohh, what's it like? A slight tingle? Like sticking your fingers into cold water? Like grabbing hold of a 10.000 Watt fence?! AHAHAHAHA…!"
"Keep it quiet Joker." The guard sighs before shutting off the hatch into the maniac's dark cell. "Sorry miss, he does that to everyone."
"Don't worry about it." Raven says wearily, not sure if she should feel sorry for Terra or not, deciding not to bother.
"Uhh, keep it down you freak." A tired voice complains from another cell, one Raven recognizes instantly.
"It's best if that one doesn't see me or I fear he will wake everyone." Raven whispers to the guard.
"It's just Arthur, pretty harmless if you ask me." The guard shrugs.
"No he's not, and I know." Raven replies.
"Joe, who are you talking to, I demand to know who it is!" Light almost yells from his cell.
"Your choice, but you have to pass him to get out I'm afraid." The guard says. "I didn't catch the name?"
"Didn't give it." Raven replies before walking to stand right in front of a one armed Arthur Light who freezes on the spot at the sight of her. "Keep it quiet Light or am I going to have to come in there?" She asks sternly, causing him back away rapidly before falling over his bed and down the other side, taking his covers with the before cowering under them. "That was why he shouldn't see me." Raven notes to the guard. "Good day to you." She says before walking back, nodding to Rose, Slade and Joey as she passes them.
"You know, she is quite scary, don't make her angry." Slade whispers to his kids as she turns the corner, but she hears him.
"Mission successful?" Mr. Terrific asks as Raven appears again on the Watchtower.
"Yup, Terra has been delivered, mostly unmolested." Raven replies.
"Yes, only that one Batman gave her I see." The man says as he brings up the image of Terra's cell in Arkham. "Been following you since you departed."
"Why am I not surprised?" Raven asks appearing unbothered, guessing this was a test on Bruce's part. "So how fast would someone have been there if I decided to do something stupid?"
"I am not saying if you didn't see it." Raven thinks back on the short trip up the pathway, but she doesn't remember anything out of place.
"Nightwing, Robin, J'onn or Flash." She concludes, just getting a smirk from Michael.
"Good selection, and you're close." He says.
"No I'm not, it was Marvel, wasn't it?" Raven says after a few additional seconds of thought.
"Oh and how did you come to that conclusion?" Michael asks.
"If I decided to do something excessive, neither Nightwing nor Robin would be able to stop me in time. I remember J'onn mentioning he would be in Australia for a period. And I have noticed the difference in air pressure that seems to happen when the Flash moves quick enough to remain unseen. Captain Marvel could stay in the clouds and still see and hear me without me becoming aware of him, due to the range and the rest of Gotham. Also he can subdue me quick enough before I change."
"Heh, guess that's why Superman likes you, it was Marvel and it was Batman who set it up. It was a test to see what you would do if given the opportunity of being alone with her. Though Ravager's appearance was unexpected, it was judged to be inconsequential, considering her father tried to brainwash her into a killing machine. How did the reunion go by the way?" He asks changing track, while Raven just nods.
"A lot of teary eyes I didn't stay around too long." She shrugs.
"I mean the Wilsons." Michael cuts in, knowing she was deliberately getting it wrong.
"Slade was happy, Jericho was surprised but happy, Rose was dumbstruck that she even had a brother."
"Good, we did worry she would try to gut him. So what are you doing now?"
"Don't know really, don't you have to do paper work after each mission." Michael just smiles at her question.
"A true adherent of the Bat mentality." He says. "That is unfortunately exactly what you have to do, and a lot of it, considering all the stuff you have been doing and not been pestered with paperwork during it." Raven groans loudly. "Don't worry, it's mostly form based, but you have to do it sooner or later."
"I better get started then." She sighs in defeat. "Where?"
"Here if you want to, at least you will have company."
"That I will." Raven agrees as she sits down on the chair next to him.
Next chapter: it's party time.