Shift
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.
Warnings: Violence / Language
1 month later...
"Hello?" Raven growls, her cell phone's ringing pulling her from her calm sleep.
"Hey, beautiful, are you free?" Jinx's voice sounds.
Raven sits up, frowning at her clock.
"How did I forget to set my alarm?" she questions, running a hand through her mussed hair.
"Miss me already?" she asks with a smile.
"Yep. Which is totally unrelated, I promise. Giz got some intel. I would go at it on my own to give you a day to recover from the pure amazing that is me, but frankly, vampires scare the shit outta' me, an' I figured you wouldn't have the same problem."
Raven frowns in confusion then, trying to connect the statements and coming up short.
"Vampires… Gonna' have to clue me in, Jinx."
"Magical goblet supposedly belonging to that freaky Victorian chick that tried to get immortal from bloodbaths. I mean literal bloodbaths. Only so many types of people would want something belonging to her."
Raven's eyes widen as she makes the connection, slowly rising from her bed.
"Erzsebet Bathory's goblet," Raven clarifies. "Okay, that's kind of a dangerous one to have lying around. Give me an hour."
"Angelique?" Jinx asks, her smile making itself known in her voice.
"Sounds good to me. Hopefully they have my new order of tea in."
The cafe had become a common destination for their meetings while off-duty, and the two had become regulars to the father-son duo since their initial meeting there.
"We can only hope. Well, I'll see you in a bit. Ta-ta," the meta says in way of parting.
Smiling, Raven quickly goes through her morning routine before hunting down Nightwing.
"Best to have him not wonder too much on where my time is spent. I can't afford to screw things up for Jinx," she muses while floating silently through the halls.
She finally finds him, sitting in front of a monitor with Kori at his side.
"Any reports?" she asks in greeting.
"Yeah. Are you heading out solo again?"
"I have a lead to track down," she agrees. "Why?"
"Nothing. I'm just kind of disturbed at how good you are at being on your own. When this investigation's over, will being on a team again be difficult?"
"It's not that I'm good at it, necessarily, just that I have some very informed contacts," she argues with a shrug.
"I think I'd rather just not know, as long as you keep up the good work," he sighs. "Just be careful."
"What should I be watching out for?" she asks with a raised brow.
"Most of the criminals've been laying low for a while now, at least here in Jump. We got reports over the night that people have seen some of the Titans East around."
"Well, there's a name I hadn't heard in a while," the empath muses. "I'll definitely keep my eyes out. He'd definitely find it to be a good opportunity for some mayhem."
With that, she takes her leave, forming from a portal in the alley across from the cafe.
As the bell tinkles above her head, she finds Jinx already seated in their booth, a large jug of tea sitting on the table already.
"Good morning," she greets, taking her seat.
"Better now," the meta retorts, sliding a manilla envelope across the table to her. "Officially a month in… No regrets?"
Raven smiles at the nervousness coming from her girlfriend, brushing her foot along her leg beneath the table.
"Only that I didn't put more thought into a more sound excuse, so I wouldn't need to leave so early all the time. And that I wish I'd figured myself out sooner," she adds with a blush.
She quickly jots a note down on the ordering pad before Jinx walks it to the counter, Raven's attention going to the folder.
"So what's with the briefing?" she asks as her eyes move across the notes on the item.
"Giz finally agreed that you seeing the reports might help us out a lot. So this is the report he got from a tip to the D.M.A…. with the relevant names removed, obviously. Classified is classified."
"Wouldn't expect anything less. So, vampires, huh?"
"Hey, my blood belongs in me," Jinx justifies. "That shit freaks me out."
Smirking, Raven works her way through the report, a sense of foreboding taking form.
"So what do you think?" Jinx asks as she falls onto the cushion at the empath's side.
"Smooth," she deadpans.
Grinning, Jinx gives a shrug before leaning against her.
"I try."
"At any rate, I understand where your concern is coming from. Blood magic's never a good thing, and that woman could not have had any good use for such an item."
"But that's not what's bothering you," Jinx guesses, not missing her harsh frown.
"The report says that it was seen around Gotham."
"Any significance to that?"
"Maybe," she says without elaborating any further. "At any rate, I think we'd best eat, because from this report, there could be a lot of searching today, and that's just assuming that we don't get into a fight with someone of persistence and skill over it. We're going to need the nutrition."
As if on command, the waiter slides their plates to them, a smile on his face.
"Ladies. Is the tea to your satisfaction, Ms. Roth?"
"It is fantastic," Raven agrees with a smile. "Has business been good recently?"
"Matter of fact it has. Wouldn't happen to know anything about it, would you?"
"I'm not the only one in this city who enjoys good tea and a comfortable place to drink it in. Word must be getting around," she says with a shrug, only Jinx spotting her smile hidden in her teacup.
"Uh-huh. Well, enjoy your meals," he says before walking off with a smile of his own.
"So spill, Rae, why might Gotham be a problem?" Jinx asks as soon as he's out of earshot.
"There are people in Gotham I would rather not get their hands on something with the goblet's power there. More than the usual. Dangerous people hide in that city's shadows," she intones mysteriously.
"Y'know, I kind of get how they might've believed you about the mystery network, when you say stuff like that," Jinx mutters, frowning at her girlfriend's cryptic words.
Raven simply shrugs, letting none of her worry show…
************************
"You weren't kiddin' about the searching," Jinx sighs, the pair walking silently out of an empty warehouse that, against the rumors, is one of the rare ones that actually is empty.
True to Raven's words, they have spent several hours on the streets around Gotham, which border on Jump's.
Rumors have gotten them nowhere, and the more they search, the more a cold certainty is taking hold in the empath's mind.
As they begin heading in another direction, something stabs at her senses, a familiar energy making itself known to her mind.
Without a word, she wraps her hand around Jinx's wrist and begins moving in the direction of the source, a sigh leaving her.
"What is it, girl?" Jinx asks in a falsetto, laughing when Raven blushes.
"Shut up," Raven sighs, glaring at her girlfriend.
The lack of heat in the words and stare both does nothing to remove the expression from the meta's face.
"Seriously, what is it? We went that way before."
"One of those individuals that I mentioned is here. Best place to start looking."
"Okay, see, this is where you should be telling me what we're walking towards," Jinx says with a frown.
Raven begins to respond when they turn a corner and find a pair of men walking ahead of them, seeming oblivious to the rest of the world in their deep discussion.
Jinx's eyes don't miss the glint of gold in one of their hands, her eyes narrowing.
Her eyes move to the other man, widening in recognition at the short, blond man.
"Is that Impulse? I thought Wally was working with the kid, last I'd heard. What-"
"Inertia," Raven corrects. "Long story, think of him like the anti-Impulse. He's one of Sla- Deathstroke's peons."
She still couldn't believe the guts of the mercenary introducing himself by name to their team on their first encounter, and yet it had taken them until barely a year earlier to finally make the connections.
"Richard's still angry about it, I'm sure," she adds with an internal grin.
"Okay. So who's the other guy? I'm gonna' go out on a limb and guess speedy isn't why you're so-"
The man's face turns at something Inertia says, and his almost white hair catches the dwindling sun, looking entirely out of place on the apparent teenager's face.
Jinx's eyes widen as her comment cuts off, taking in the appearance of her formerly calm girlfriend.
Raven's eyes suddenly narrow to slits, an inexplicable sense of foreboding taking root in Jinx at the sight.
At the sight of the man, an inexplicable anger forms in the pit of Raven's mind, a growl sounding itself out within her. A red haze covers her mind, and with a more audible growl, she mentally sweeps it away, the fog vanishing even as her anger remains.
Memories come unbidden to the forefront of her mind, and she lets out another, even more audible, rumble as she forces the red tint to her sight away.
"Rae?"
"Allow me to apologize, in advance. You're going to likely see a very negative side of me in the next few moments."
Jinx gapes at her teammate as she stalks forward, the anger in her voice something formerly thought to not exist in the empath's emotional lexicon.
Wordlessly, Raven advances on the two, making no sounds and seeming to have no presence at all, even as the meta stares at her.
The whole street seems to become unnaturally dark, no clouds thick enough anywhere near their location, and a cold wind sweeps past them all.
"Slumming it, aren't you, Inertia?" she growls when she's in the villains' earshot.
Inertia jumps at the noise, the mystery man simply turning to face her with an amused smirk.
"Ah, you must be Raven," the man says, his voice carrying a strange accent.
"Brilliant deduction. I hope you weren't too disappointed with the gift your coronation afforded you. I put effort into it, you know."
The man's eyes narrow, anger flashing in his red orbs.
"Red?" Jinx mentally gasps, not sure if her eyes are betraying her.
"You two know each other?" Inertia guesses, edging away from the two.
As he moves away, the air between the pair seems to shimmer, as if an unseen fire ignites in the middle of them.
Jinx ignores her growing sense of foreboding and steps up to Raven's side, ready to act when she calls for it.
"Only of each other," the man laughs, the sound sending an inexplicable wave of disgust through the meta.
"You're going to be handing that goblet over to me," Raven demands. "Now."
"This?" he asks, raising the gold cup up for her inspection. "And here I thought you decided to just come and enjoy my wit."
"I would think you'd rather not, given the hospitality I offered you previously," Raven bites out, a strange rumbling quality coming through her voice.
Jinx audibly gulps, a chill running through her.
"What the hell!? Raven doesn't banter, that's my thing."
Her body tenses, her senses cast wide so she can react when the moment things get ugly inevitably comes.
"Inertia, could you do me a favor and occupy Ms. Roth's friend while we have a private discussion?" he calls behind him.
Jinx's eyes widen in shock at that, her face becoming pale at the casual use of the name. A brief sense of jealousy rears its ugly head before the look on Raven's face quashes it.
"If looks could kill, there wouldn't even be buildings around here anymore. Who the hell is this guy!?" she ponders in distress, wanting desperately to remove the expression from her girlfriend's face.
Inertia begins to move before a cage of Raven's soul-self forms, trapping him off the ground.
"Nothing to discuss. The terms are simple. If you want to walk away better off than they did, you'll hand me the goblet, now."
"I think I'd rather just see what you can do. Oh, and I should warn you my mind isn't one to be easily picked through as theirs were," he adds, seemingly at random.
"An unnecessary warning. I wouldn't want your filth on my mind. And I imagine that that will change once you no longer have your skin coiling around what you call your soul and your mind lays bare for what awaits you," Raven growls, the sound unnaturally vibrating the ground.
"But you'd know all about souls, wouldn't you?" he taunts.
"Um… Raven? Who the hell is he?" Jinx finally demands, not liking the growing fear in herself.
"She hasn't told you about me? I'm hurt, Rachel," the man laughs.
The mirth vanishes when a wave of black rushes towards him, the man jumping unnaturally high to dodge the strike.
"So rumors of familial temperament are more than rumors, it seems," he laughs. "As for who I am? Why, I am none other than Ms. Roth's betrothed."
Raven's eyes widen at that, before the fog returns. She vaguely feels a burning sensation in her forehead, but pays no attention as the gem in her forehead gains an unearthly, black glow.
The air becomes utterly still, and she meets the man's eyes, not realizing the red flecks that have begun to form in them.
"I should have sent someone else the second I knew I was right," she curses, fighting to wrest control from her anger.
The fight is a slow one, and her body moves of its own accord as she slowly regains her self-control back.
Jinx's heart skips a beat at the words, a cold fear gripping her mind in a vice.
As she stands frozen and analyzes the feeling, though, she finds it to not originate from his accusation, or the disbelief they cause.
What causes her reaction is the sudden shadows which fill the street with no discernible source, seeming to focus on obscuring Raven from view.
"Is that the trick you used to send my men back to me in emotional comas?" the man inquires, seeming almost bored with the display. "I was expecting something more impressive. The way our telepath told it, she made it sound like you had personally dipped their minds in Hell before sending them on their way. Oh, by the way, how is daddy doing, Rachel? I hear the man's come down with a sudden case of patricide."
The cement beneath the empath's floating form cracks in a massive spider web pattern, the noise like an explosion going off in the silent street.
"My name is Raven," the empath intones, her voice echoing off the buildings.
At the sound of her voice, Jinx stumbles back a step, her instincts screaming at her to turn and run while giving no further explanation. Her legs, however, remain rooted to the spot, her only cold comfort being that Inertia looks far more scared than she.
Only the mystery man remains unfazed, a toothy grin revealing unnaturally long and sharp incisors.
"Cool trick. I imagine that you're quite the pleasure to bed, if you growl like this regularly. Care to prove me wrong?"
A grunt sounds from Raven, and her slight levitation ends, her feet audibly hitting the ground. Her hand flies to her forehead, and a burst of black light sets off in front of her crouched body.
When the blindness fades, Raven stands tall once more, her eyes perfectly indigo once more.
"Apologies. It seems you invoked some very unfortunate triggers I habitually avoid."
Jinx's fear vanishes along with the sensation rising in waves from her girlfriend, her feet quickly carrying her back to the woman's side. She does not miss the quivering undertone to the woman's words.
"You must be quite a special teammate," he laughs, addressing Jinx. "I'm betting were you not here, I could have some real trouble on my hands, there."
When she lays her hand flat on Raven's back, she notices a definitive tremble to her body.
And yet, her touch seems to quickly calm the psychic, if even only a small amount, and a small sigh escapes from Raven's pursed lips.
"Raven, who in the hell-"
"I believe you knew my father, Ms. Diaz," he interrupts. "We both are men who-"
"Have delusions of grandeur, which are a trait of his family," Raven interrupts. "He's Brother Sebastian Blood IX."
Jinx pales at that, stepping closer to Raven's side.
"Oh, don't worry, I do not have the mental abilities my father used on your classmates and yourself in the H.I.V.E. Academy. And Rachel… sorry, Raven, if you want the goblet, all you have to do is take it from me, something you seem assured is of so little consequence you don't even want to waste the energy on it."
Inertia falls to the ground as Raven's energy retracts, her eyes suddenly glowing with sparks of black light.
"You can't say I didn't attempt a peaceable resolution, Sebastian. Jinx, a hand if you would?"
Her Cheshire smile finally makes its return, the meta's eyes glowing bright pink.
"From what I've picked up about you guys, if you're the new Brother, the old man's dead. That means the beating I owe him for fucking with my mind falls at your feet. I think I'm going to enjoy this."
"Much as I'd love both your lovely attentions, my bed's only big enough for two. Inertia, if you would?"
The speedster nods and vanishes from where he stands, rushing at Jinx with a fist aimed at her throat.
Still grinning, Jinx goes into a series of backflips, avoiding each of his strikes with a narrow margin.
His attention is so focused on hitting the feline woman that he notices none of the small bursts of pink light that forms between the ground and her palms with each of her handsprings.
When the ground cracks beneath him and his leg buries itself into a broken chunk of concrete, though, he takes notice as the meta moves back to Raven's side.
The women join their hands together, both pointing their index finger out.
A bolt of pink energy launches from them, sending off dark black sparks as it heads for Sebastian.
With a curse, he dives to the side, the ground exploding in a rain of rocks and dust where he had stood.
Sebastian's eyes glow red, and he snarls at them, revealing his fangs fully to the pair.
"A vampire!? Seriously?" Jinx bemoans.
Shrugging, Raven sends her soul-self out to swipe at the man, slapping him from the air with another attack as he rises.
He smacks into the side of a car, glass and metal crunching under the impact.
Raven begins advancing on him when a blur catches her eye.
She ducks just in time to dodge Inertia's punch, his body seeming to vanish as he chases after her in a barrage of attacks.
Something familiar makes itself known from the man, and Raven's eyes widen.
"Oh. That makes sense."
On his next attack, Raven clamps down on his wrist, her eyes glowing black.
"Expergefacio!" she intones, planting her other hand on his forehead.
Small columns of white light leave Raven's gaping mouth and open eyes, Inertia's whole body turning the color.
It quickly fades, and the speedster quickly drops unconscious to the ground.
"That's not fair!" Sebastian snarls. "Do you know how hard it was to work through whatever the hell Deathstroke has him addicted to!?"
"My heart breaks for you," Raven says as her soul-self carries the boy to a safe spot. "Can't say I'm surprised you'd lie about having your father's abilities. I'd certainly never want to associate with the man."
Exhaustion shows on the vampire's face, his expression one of worry for the first time.
"Well, your mind's out of my league, but I wonder about your friend. Think Ms. Diaz could hold up to par?"
Jinx gasps at that, looking at the unconscious speedster and unconsciously moving closer to her girlfriend.
"I have no doubt Jinx would stand against you just fine," Raven laughs.
Jinx's eyes widen at that.
She doesn't know where Raven got that much confidence in her abilities, but memories of Sebastian's father easily slipping past her defenses when she was younger leave an acrid taste in her mouth.
"Uh, Rae-"
"All the same, should you attempt to test it, I'm sure you understand the… consequences that could be reaped."
"Ha! Like you could really stand against me. You really shouldn't play with those connected to your existence. I learned much before my father left his mortal shell, and there are rather interesting ways of dealing with you. As you are now, I likely can't do as much, but oh, how I wonder at what would happen if you crossed that threshold."
Raven takes a step back as if punched in the face, shock registering on her expression.
Jinx stares at the woman with her own shock, fear rearing its ugly head again as she wonders over what could scare Raven.
In their distraction, the women fail to notice him slowly edging to the side of the road.
By the time Raven's mind clears enough to recognize it, he's already mid-way through his spin, a foot lashing out at the fire hydrant.
She immediately begins rushing through the air at him as the water springs high.
With a grin, he swings the goblet through the spray in an arc that brings it to his lips, the now red liquid within drizzling into his system and down to his chin.
His exhaustion vanishes without a trace, his entire body seeming to grow muscles where a wiry frame had been.
Raven attempts to stop her course, her momentum carrying her the small distance to him.
With a grin, Sebastian steps to the side. His hand shoots out as she passes him, the sudden pull on her hair ripping her head up while her body carries forward.
Her body jerks to a stop, Raven's eyes widening in pain as her neck muscles visibly strain.
Grinning ear to ear, Sebastian raises his arm and swipes it downward, Raven's body shattering the ground in the impact.
"Raven!"
The empath recovers quickly, spitting blood onto the concrete as she rises to her knees.
"Azarath Met-"
Sebastian jerks her back, hand going around her already bruised throat as she falls off balance.
"Uh-uh. Too late, Raven."
With a hiss of her own, Jinx runs forward, a bolt of pink flying at the man.
It collides with a neon explosion, and his hand releases Raven's hair as he flies backwards, many purple strands going with him.
Raven immediately takes flight, backing away from the vampire.
"Are you okay?" Jinx asks as soon as she reaches her, her tone full of concern.
"I'll be fine," the empath wheezes, wondering at the pain in her ribs' general location.
"I'd love the debrief right 'bout now," Jinx states as the vampire rises to his feet.
"Ouch," he unconvincingly says, dusting himself off.
"The water turned to blood. With blood, he goes from gawky little brat to supervampire, essentially. Damnit, I should've called in help before!"
"Probably right. And we are so talking about this when you're not looking ready to keel over. So what all can he do?"
Wincing, Raven straightens up.
"Rumors only, unfortunately. First time getting the pleasure of meeting 'im. Looks like the superhuman strength wasn't wrong, though."
With a laugh, Sebastian rushes forward, the street seeming to vibrate beneath his steps.
They move to get out of his way just as he reaches them, his fist whipping out into Raven's stomach.
With a gasp, she doubles over, bringing her head in alignment with his approaching knee.
She rises into the air, blood quickly flowing from her smashed nose.
With her tears obscuring her vision, she misses his reaching hand.
He presses on her forehead, slamming her down into the cement skull-first.
"You really should keep up with your combat skills, dear," he laughs with false sympathy. "Your magic doesn't do you a lot of good if you're gasping too much to say anything."
Anger begins taking over Raven's mind, this time becoming embraced by her.
A sudden surge of power flows through her, and with a hiss, she swings her legs up.
Standing overtop of her, he doesn't react fast enough to the attack.
A loud crack sounds as her feet meet his knees, and as he falls forward, she wraps her legs around his chest.
With a grunt, she pushes off the ground, going into a roll with him and coming to a stop straddling him.
Her fist lashes out, black energy sparking out as she connects.
His head whips viciously to the side, his lower jaw bent at an angle.
As he reaches for her, she jumps away, landing quietly next to Jinx.
"Rae-"
"I'm really wishing that booze works on me right about now," Raven gasps, finding her nose already in the process of fixing itself.
Her hand goes to the back of her head, coming away a startling shade of red.
With a laugh, Sebastian stands up sporting not a scratch, only the blood covering his chin and neck indicating the previous damage.
"And the invulnerability and regeneration are correct, as well. Okay… Jinx, I apologize. Your sentiments on vampires are not as misplaced as I had assumed."
"Damn right! So what can hurt him?"
Raven stares at the approaching vampire, a war battling itself out in her head.
"You can't afford caution with this one. Your confidence has already done damage that would render most metahumans unconscious. Doesn't much matter if you're still you if you're dead," a dark voice growls in her mind.
Her expression darkens, and sparks of black begin rising from her like a second skin.
"Jinx, step back a bit."
"… Why?"
"I don't want to end up accidentally hurting you. Holding back is a luxury that we can't afford just now."
Jinx's eyes widen, her body immediately flipping backward to separate them. The idea of all Raven's power being a sliver was enough to both terrify and amaze the meta.
Raven's eyes close, and a frown of concentration forms.
Slowly, her leash on Rage's influence slackens, her body immediately flooding with the power her demonic side affords her.
When her eyes open, they sport brilliant, glowing red speckling, the expression causing the vampire's advance to falter.
"Azarath-"
Snarling, Sebastian begins running at her, pushing his influence past her spell into Inertia's unconscious and vulnerable mind.
"Metrion-"
Inertia rises with glazed over eyes, immediately rushing at the sorceress's back. Sebastian leaps forward, swinging his fist at her throat in the hopes of crushing her trachea.
"Zinthos!"
With the cry rises a bubble of black flames, slamming in a concussive wall into her assailants.
A scream sounds as the flames work their way into Sebastian...
**********************
Author's Notes:
Erzsebet Bathory is the actual spelling of the name of Elizabeth Bathory, a countess who did exactly what I wrote, in the theory it would give her eternal youth. She's 1/2 of what Bram Stoker based Count Dracula on.
This is not the Titans East run by Bumble Bee. In this instance, I'm using the anti-Titans group that Deathstroke (Slade "Slade" Wilson in the comics) makes in the comics. Inertia is the speedster on their team, a clone of Bart Allen, who in the context of this story would be Wally West's apprentice, gaining powers from a drug that Deathstroke seems really fond of using on his minions and/or powerful steroids. Think I may be making this more complex than strictly necessary.
Expergefacio- Latin for "awaken"
Also, I'm pretty sure that Sebastian Blood's hands-down one of the creepiest characters in the Teen Titans series, if not the DC comics universe as a whole. Hope that came through well enough.
Hope you're enjoying thus far! I really enjoy writing supernatural fights, and I hope it comes through. Either way, let me know your thoughts. 'Til next time!