Oblivion
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.
"You'll have as much luck getting to Morpheus as they will," Constantine points out.
"Actually, how would you get to him? I mean, I get that you're really smart, Rae, but I don't get how you even know about the guy. You, either," Jinx adds with a pointed finger at Constantine.
"It wouldn't be easy, for sure. Few would be stupid enough to try it, the way I think they'll have to if they want to get their hands on the keys. I won't need to go that route," Raven responds.
"You aren't just gonna' sleep and suddenly wake up there. It don't work that way," Constantine argues. "As for how I know about it, I've been in situations before that 'ave given me an opportunity, of sorts. Never met them or anythin', but I've figured out they're there."
"Demons have a more in-depth knowledge of the arcane parts of reality than humans. While I avoid being one where I can, I've dealt with a few, and have gotten a number of books and stories out of them," Raven adds.
"Which goes to my point. They're more informed about this than you. Hell, if I've heard right, you've been chasing their tails for a year now, and you're only figuring things out in the last few days. They're going to be ahead of you here, too. And they're definitely not going to be as easy to find as you think."
"Jared tracked me down using my aura. Given his explanation, it's similar to the rest of them. As I now understand what his aura felt like, I can search for the others the way he did me."
Constantine frowns, flicking his latest cigarette into the darkness.
Jinx grimaces as it lands on Jared's cheek, the now-brown skin burning under the embers.
Noticing her lover's emotions, Raven points at her dead brother, and darkness envelopes his body.
The next moment, his corpse is gone, Raven's eyes never leaving Constantine's.
"They'll know that. They aren't stupid, if they've been going like they have for so long without gettin' caught. I almost guarantee that just the same way you're thinking of how to hide yourself, they'll know how to keep outta' your sights until they've got a claw in your throat."
"Especially when they figure out he's dead," Jinx adds with a frown. "I hate ta' say it, Rae, but I don't think we're going to be ending this as fast as we should. We don't have any idea where to start looking for them. The Church's got the artifacts, but I doubt they'll know where their bosses are."
"No killing two birds with one stone, then," Raven muses. "If it was easy, this would've ended months ago."
"They're lookin' to open the Hellmouth. That's not some random hole in the ground. There'll be talk. Word'll be going around to all kinds of circles, especially now that you outright told so many groups what's happening."
"So we're going hunting for rumors? Not my idea of a good start, but it's better than when we've been flopping around in the dark hoping a lead would find us. The Oblivion would be a good place to look."
Raven quirks a brow at the meta, a slight smirk on her lips.
"What? It's got the right kind of people," she mutters defensively, a blush forming.
"You're right. I'm just wondering if they'll allow you inside," Raven responds.
The demonling's amusement is lost on Constantine, even while the meta's face turns dark red.
"It wasn't that bad!"
Raven chooses not to answer, a chuckle sounding at the meta's fidgeting motions.
"Only one way to find out. That is a good place to start."
Constantine's expression darkens, the women practically seeing his inner struggle.
Finally, he gives a grunt and meets Raven's gaze.
"When you're done there, head to Los Angeles. There's a piano bar called the Lux… If the Oblivion doesn't give you any good leads, you're almost guaranteed to find somethin' there."
"More help than I expected. I'll keep that in mind," Raven answers with a grateful nod.
"Yeah, don't thank me. You'd best hurry. And just tread carefully, if you step foot in that place. Especially you," he adds with a glance at Jinx.
Something about the warning causes Jinx's heart to speed up, his expression offering her no reassurances.
With a nod, he starts walking down the road.
Before either woman can further question him about the Lux, he seems to vanish, the darkness of the night utterly swallowing him.
"Nice guy," Jinx huffs.
"I'd take him over Etrigan, if we ever needed to work with mystics from the League," Raven offers.
"Well, yeah, obviously, but still… Ah, well, doesn't matter."
Jinx turns her attention back to Raven, concern once more shining in her expression.
"So are you okay? Really okay?"
"Jinx, I told you-"
"Yeah, I get it. No love lost between you and any of them. But you just tore his ass apart. You've gone a long way to avoid casualties if you could, even working under Steel where you could do it legally."
Her hand rests on Raven's shoulder, the meta refusing to let her break eye contact.
"If you're okay, then I'm glad and I'll shut up. But don't pretend to be fine over that, Rae. It ain't good for you."
Raven releases a sigh, her entire body relaxing at Jinx's touch.
"I'm fine, Jinx, I promise. There is no room for mercy with demons. He made it clear he was more demon than human, and he made threats I couldn't allow to happen. If I didn't do it, we'd both end up killed. So while I don't like the idea of killing, my family is an exception to my stance I'm more than willing to make."
Jinx stares into her gaze for a moment longer before nodding in acceptance, though her hand doesn't leave the demonling's shoulder.
"Alright. So, Gotham it is… We makin' a quick trip to their Church while we're there, or is it too obvious?"
"It's possible they'll use it. I don't think they'll have them there now, though. It is the most obvious, but it is also the most heavily fortified… They will use it once word gets out, and they will act quickly. They're a vast organization, and have many places to hide their trinkets."
"So we give them some time? Gotta' say, not in love with the idea, after how much time they already have on their side," " Jinx mumbles.
"It would take us hours to search, even with my teleportation. Better to wait for them to bring everything together for us."
Nodding, Jinx presses herself to Raven's side.
"Well, let's get goin', then. If we can't get them, best to find your brothers."
Darkness envelops them once again, though it is far more comfortable than their escape had been.
When they come to rest, they find themselves in front of an unassuming alleyway.
A set of concrete stairs drops into the ground, a small neon sign similar to the many others filling the city hanging above as the only indication it exists.
Jinx's senses come alive as they descend the stairs.
Magic pulsates through the air, becoming stronger with each step they take.
They finally come to a stop after what seems like an eternity, a plain door standing before them.
An arcane symbol glows on the wood, casting an unnatural light through the darkness.
Raven stares at the sigil and wonders at its meaning, the language one she'd never seen before or since discovering the Oblivion Bar.
It's a strange place, trapped in its own pocket dimension and only accessible to magicians.
Those magicians who found it, though, were many in number, and she'd understood that even recluses such as Doctor Fate and Etrigan enjoyed the company within on occasion.
If a normal human happened upon the door, they'd be greatly confused to find the lack of knob on top of the door, though Raven had heard that the symbol served as an illusion to make it seem nothing more than a dead end under some stairs, to most.
Wind picks up in the stairway, throwing Raven's hair around in its wake.
Her eyes flash white while her hands rest against the surprisingly cold wood.
"Claustra ingeriorem, ita ut vadas!"
The symbol flashes brilliantly, and when their vision returns, the door is open.
As soon as the women pass through, it slips silently closed once more to lock them in.
The various conversations around the bar quiet somewhat as the women move further in.
Raven feels her pulse race as gazes lock on them.
The edges of her vision darken, and she frowns when tightening her mental barriers doesn't shove the ugly emotions down.
With their attentions on the inhabitants of the room, neither woman notices how much brighter the red becomes in Raven's eyes as they move towards the bar.
Looking up at the shift in volume, the man behind the counter suddenly grins at the approaching women.
"Well, hello there," he says in greeting. "Never got to thank ya' for paying off the damage."
At Jinx's sudden, brilliant blush, Raven snickers despite the strange anger rushing through her.
"It was Thanagarian booze and I was having an off day. C'mon," the meta complains with a glare at her laughing fiancé's back.
"Well, no harm, no foul. It was paid off fast enough," the bartender laughs. "And it pushed me to set up some better wards. Haven't had any tech blow up since."
Jinx curses under her breath, glaring harder at Raven.
"That wasn't all on me," she defends.
"Hence why I paid it off," Raven quips.
Jinx frowns at the slight offness to her voice, but finds herself interrupted before she can inquire about it.
"So, business or pleasure tonight, ladies? Doesn't seem to be any trouble in paradise, this time 'round."
The statement causes Raven's expression to darken even further, though he doesn't react to the shift.
"Unfortunately, the part about trouble in paradise is not true. I'm looking for information. Don't care which side it comes from, and I'll pay for what I can get."
The hair on Raven's neck rises as a great deal of attention focuses back on her, the previously returning conversation dying again.
Pretending not to notice the suddenly ratcheting tension, the bartender gives her a nod, though his grin shrinks a bit.
"Got plenty of that to go around, here, dependin' on the pay and what you're lookin' for. Anything in particular?"
"Five people and a location. Information on any of it will help, and chances are good I can pay whatever cost it brings about."
"'cept souls," Jinx interrupts with a growing glare. "Not that this is the place for that kinda' shit, but still, needs to be said."
"Except my soul," Raven agrees with a light blush at his returned grin.
"She's got you whipped somethin' fierce."
"Can't complain. Better than the alternative," Raven muses. "But most other prices are on the table."
"You're gonna' need to be more specific what you're lookin' for. What we're workin' with is a pretty broad range."
Raven considers her options, the realization that she hadn't prepared a way to not outright say what she is looking for occurring to her just then.
With a sigh, she steels herself for the coming reaction.
"People are trying to open the Hellmouth. I'm looking for anything on where they are, or where it is, and I don't have time to play games."
The room goes utterly silent, Raven's body tensing up at the emotions suddenly flooding the air and slipping past her defenses.
Her barriers slam even more tightly in place as Jinx presses into her back, staying between her and all of the glaring patrons.
The bartender's grin is gone, his expression hard.
"News to me. Where you hear somethin' like that?"
"When I made the six people planning it drop to five," Raven says, her voice seeming to echo in the silent air. "If people will know more about the whole thing, they'd be more likely to be here than anywhere else in the dimension."
"You tryin' to speed things up or slow 'em down?" a voice snarks from a nearby table.
"There's not going to be any trying. I'm going to stop it from happening," Raven snaps through grit teeth.
Raven turns from the bartender, sending a cool glance around the room.
She finds a variety of emotions meeting her, from suspicion and hate to what seems to be downright amusement on some.
The amusement angers her more than the rest, and she clenches her hand hard to fight the burn forming in her forehead.
"Like I said, I don't have a lot of time, and I really don't care. Good information's why I came here. If nobody knows anything, then it's your loss on not keeping your ear to the ground enough, which I certainly can't speak down on given how recently we've figured it out."
Her eyes turn almost entirely red then, and several people rise from their seats as the air grows colder.
"If any of you do know something, though, make no mistake. If you don't tell me, or at least sell me what you know, you will be screwing yourselves just as much as me. No need to be stupid here."
"I'd say you comin' in here actin' tough for a damn halfbreed and tryin' to scare information up is pretty stupid," a woman across the room muses with a laugh.
The red in Raven's eyes glows in the gloom of the bar, Jinx's body giving off pink sparks in concern.
The transition of her lover's mood sends the meta's heart racing, and her eyes widen at the small nexus of black smoke collecting at Raven's feet.
"Make no mistakes here. Most of you seem to know who I am, or at least have an idea. Me being half-blooded means nothing for what I'm capable of."
"Trust me, people, she's been having a bad day. You don't want to push those buttons," Jinx adds while fighting off the urge to grab the demonling by the shoulders and shake her.
"Did you really come in here to start a fight? Because I'm not havin' that shit in my bar," the bartender growls.
Sense leaks into Raven's mind, and she sends her senses outward.
Her frown deepens when she finds nothing that would affect her psyche in the room.
She does, however, feel something ugly and worringly familiar in the depths of her own mind.
The realization is like cold water being dumped on her, and the anger cools in the same instant.
"I respect the neutral ground this dimension stands as, and would not do anything stupid to risk myself or anything in the universe at large. I came here with an unfortunate lack of thought into how to present this information, but as Jinx said, I'm having an off day."
Her eyes move across the room once again, her eyes almost entirely red now while her dress shifts as though alive around her ankles, despite the lack of anger.
"However, when I stop this from happening, if I find out that a single person in this bar is, or was, helping the Sons of Trigon in their game, regardless of where they fall in alignment or power, I assure you that I will give them the same end that's in store for those five. I'll even do it right in here, if said metaphorical magician were cowardly enough to fall back on this as a safeguard, on this neutral zone, if need be. Nobody benefits from Hell rising, and even the wards on this bar wouldn't stop me if the person was acting to aid such an event."
The gloom vanishes from the room at the same time her gaze returns to being indigo, her dress becoming still once more.
"I assure you that what I just showed you was not theatrics, if there is any doubt to those who don't know who, what, I am. I can back my threat up, as heavy-handed as it was. As I said at the start, I'm willing to pay for what you know. Where are any of the Sons of Trigon, or where is the Hellmouth? If nobody has anything in answer to these queries, then I have elsewhere to be, and it will be your loss on a substantial trade."
"Not the smartest way of askin' for info. You should've played your cards closer to the vest," the bartender grumbles.
"Normally, I would not have made a point of being rude about this. Normally, there isn't a group threatening the universe at large. Subtlety isn't in the agenda tonight. If people here want to help, great, there're groups in motion already that they can help, and if no information's available, I'll move on to my next destination where I likely can get information. So, any takers?"
Nobody responds save for glares, though a few patrons seem to be readying for a fight.
Still more seem queasy, making Raven feel guilty for breaking potentially devastating news in such a harsh way.
She focuses on the glares to ease her conscience, a nod turning her head.
"Your loss," Jinx sighs.
"A shame," Raven agrees.
They make their way to the door, Jinx heading out first.
"Take my warning to heart, ladies and gentlemen. If you're abstaining or planning on helping fight this, then I apologize for ruining your evening, however, I will offer not a single moment of mercy to any aiming to end this universe as we know it."
The door slips closed behind Raven, her words echoing in the still-silent bar…
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Author's Notes:
Claustra- Latin: "Barriers"
ingeriorem- Latin: "lower"
ita- Latin: "so"
ut- Latin: "we may"
vadas- Latin: "be merry".
I've never re-written a chapter as much as I have this one. I went through a good three shifts to the entire tone of the scene before I decided to continue Raven's more demonic behavior traits. Also, I already have the idea written for the story of their first trip to the bar, and it's a far lighter story. The good news is that even when this story's over, I've got quite a few ideas to write out inside-stories to kill any future boredom.
This chapter, while frustrating, was also pretty fun to write, and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did. I can honestly say the next chapter is one that I've been looking most forward to writing since I started this story, so I'm hoping it turns out as well as I think it will.
As always, be sure to leave your thoughts, positive or negative, and I'll see you all next time!