Hunting
Disclaimer: I do not in any way, shape, or form own the show Teen Titans, nor the various DC comics on which this fanfiction is based.
Raven lands silently on the ground of a shadowed alleyway, irritation showing through her usual mask of stoicism.
"A gem belonging to a cult based around blood rituals, and they just let it sit behind a thin sheet of glass! Unbelievable," she growls mentally, stomping unseen out of the alley.
The moment she'd seen the item on the list, she knew it was her priority. If they were so careless as to let items that dangerous just sit around, then she was going to choose which ones got priority from her for retrieval.
She'd heard rumors of it, of course, but had just assumed that if something like it existed, then it would either be in a vault somewhere or with the Church of Blood yet.
"After all, who would be stupid enough to let a gemstone connected to a cult known for blood rituals, and my father for Azar's sakes, go utterly unprotected? Well, apparently this planet," she retorts to herself, keeping her senses open as she mentally debates the stupidity of it all.
She had thought that with the likes of Doctor Fate in the Justice League, items like that would be kept in an inter-dimensional pit where none could reach them. The sheer volume of dangerous items listed as stolen, however, had quickly changed her opinion on Earth's skill with treating dangerous weapons.
The gem itself wasn't outwardly dangerous. Just a piece of Zandian rock, cut and refined, which had the innate ability to increase the powers and abilities inherent in whoever wears it.
The fact that the Church, and Trigon, were connected to the gem meant that it was undoubtedly more dangerous.
She had seen rumor, in some of her readings in the past, that the gem was the very magical battery used to supply the portal needed for Trigon's initial entry to Earth, partial though it may have been.
"If a mystic of real skill, with any level of true power, got their hands on that thing, it could be a potential weapon of mass destruction. And they just sit it in a museum!" she shouts mentally, turning down another alleyway.
Letting her senses expand, she forces her mind away from its ire, looking for her target.
The auras in the buildings around her fill her mind, the taste of their mundane emotions leaving her irritated.
Then, she catches what she was looking for, the specific taste she remembered from their last bout with Brother Blood VII. The Church left a very distinctive reek on the soul of humans, which, while unpleasant to find, made finding it very easy when you know to look.
That she had a partial roster of its members, and a general area of their residences, didn't hurt her odds, certainly.
Raven slowly lifts off the ground, flipping her hood over to cover her face as she rises.
By the time she reaches the exterior of the floor she needs, she feels the inky darkness of her soul-self wrapping soothingly around her, cloaking her in living night.
In the apartment of one Alexander Cruiz, the perfectly smooth white wall becomes alive, the man jumping in terror as a black spiral opens in the plaster.
Before he can even rise from his chair, a large hand made of the same black energy shoots out, slamming him bodily against the wall and pinning his squirming form there.
Other than the hard impact, though, no pain follows, the hand simply holding him up instead of crushing him as the long-time Jump resident had expected.
Raven materializes out of her portal, the black glow leading to her upraised arm.
"What do you know about gems, Alexander?" she asks, her voice seeming to echo off the walls.
"Ain't you one a' them Teen Titans?" he asks.
"We dropped the "Teen" a few years back. Now answer my question. Brother Blood's gem. It was stolen from a museum here. Sebastian's predecessor wouldn't have let that information go unnoticed, so I'm sure your newest leader hasn't, either. Who has the gem, Alexander?" Raven demands, taking guilty pleasure in watching the man pale and begin sweating before her presence.
"I ain't tellin' you nothin', bitch," he growls, ignoring the hand still wrapped around him.
In an instant, the room is coated with Raven's energy, and he drops to the floor in terror as he's released.
Raven's hood lifts on an unseen wind, and he stares slack-jawed at her illusion, red skin and four hellish, slanted eyes making his heart skip a beat.
"Thank Azar these fools don't know my tricks," Raven muses, strengthening the illusion against her prey.
"The Gem of Blood," Raven demands, her voice echoing within Alexander's head. "Who has it?"
"I… I don't know! I-It's n-not like I'm-m h-high up in the Ch-Church, or anythin'," he stutters, shaking before her demonic illusion.
"Sebastian, if he's anything like his father, will have you fanatics on the look-out for what's his, so don't bother lying," Raven snarls. "Who does he have you people on the lookout for?"
"The H.I.V.E. Five! He said that that Kyd Wykkyd guy would've made sense to be able ta' grab the rock without detection. Please don't eat me!"
Remembering the alarm that had been set off in a museum earlier that evening, Raven grins. To the cultist, however, her amused smirk is horrifyingly sinister, his mind made up that he's going to die today.
Noticing his hand clawing at his overworked heart, Raven places her hand on his forehead, a burst of power knocking him unconscious.
Casting her gaze around the room, she rights his knocked over chair and lifts him with soul-self. Brushing off the dirt from his floor, she places him back on the chair, leaving not a shred of evidence of her entry and attack.
Considering Nightwing's former mentor routinely dropped people head-first off tall buildings, Nightwing should understand the effectiveness of interrogation. Ideologically, however, he was still the same idealist boy he'd been when he first left Gotham.
Having cultists suing the Titans over intimidation tactics was a hassle she did not need.
Opening another portal, she vanishes from the apartment, coming out on the ruined carpet of a museum.
Her first thought is that the H.I.V.E. Five seems to have had a rather large disagreement, if the large splatters of blood and scattered wood, feathers, and glass everywhere were any indication.
Whoever had fought, Kyd Wykkyd's signature left in the acrid, burning sensation caused by one of his portals, the rest going with it.
"And yet the gem is not with them," Raven ponders, moving closer to the trail the gem's dark, angry signature left.
Shrugging, she flies through an open window and begins following the path of the gem…
With a loud pop, Zatanna materializes in the Titans' living room.
"Ta-daa," she intones, giving them a performer's bow, her tophat floating where her head had been.
The Titans stare at her, all clapping appreciatively at the entrance.
"You've improved, Zee," Nightwing muses, smiling. "I remember when you used to pop in with only half your clothes joining you for the journey."
Zatanna rises from her bow, a strong blush on her face. A cruel smile curves her lips, and she saunters over to the former Boy Wonder, throwing her arm around his shoulder.
"That's right, I have improved. And boy, how I remember so fondly when you were just so little and cute, Dick," she intones, pinching his cheek harshly.
"Ow, ow! Point taken, I give," Nightwing says, swatting her hand away.
Laughing, Zatanna pats the top of his head, moving over to take a seat at the table the Titans are around.
"So you guys go way back, huh?" Beast Boy asks, missing the somewhat jealous fire in Koriand'r's eyes.
"Yep," Zatanna chirped, smirking at Nightwing's growing blush. "I remember when he was just a little kid. He was so cute, the way he pined after everything with breasts."
Nightwing's blush turns dark red, and he opens his mouth to yell at the sorceress.
"But I'll be sure to fill you guys in on all the embarrassing stories of Dick's youth later. For now, we have business to attend to!"
With a snap of her fingers, a map of Jump City materializes before her on the table.
"So, if Nightwing agrees, here is where I think everyone should start. We should deal with the most immediately dangerous and available, first," she says, beginning to point at the map.
As they all look at the map, nobody notices Cyborg's glare, his thoughts on what Zatanna's presence means evident.
She may be a good teammate, but the fact that she came to watch his friend does not feel right…
Editor's Notes:
I'll admit that I don't know the Church of Blood's roster of characters outside of a few specific ones, so I basically made the intimidated middle-man up. Also, I'm using Sebastian Blood IX for this story, under the assumption that the Brother Blood in the cartoon was the 8th. This means the cartoon's Brother Blood, as I explained in the previous chapter, is dead. Sorry to anyone who liked that iteration of the character.
On my formatting: italics mean it's thoughts, italic bold means that it's a character using a doubled voice, like Raven in this scene, or screaming vigorously, and breaks in the italics means emphasis in the midst of the thoughts.
My plan is to upload a new chapter every Monday and Friday, and I'm hoping to get a lot done in advance before next semester starts for me.
All that said, I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Either way, let me know, whether your opinion thus far is positive or negative. See you next time!