Hey there everybody! Ready for more Teen Titanic awesomeness? I certainly hope so, because here's a new chapter! In this chapter, the Titans put the new information given to them by Slade to good use by paying a much needed visit to the local Jump City headquarters of the mysterious Brotherhood of Dante. However, they will not be the only ones paying an unexpected visit. Here's to hoping you read, review, and enjoy!

Again, I do not own Teen Titans. Now with that out of the way, onward with the fic!

Chapter 8:

Silence in the Library

Half an hour later, the titans found themselves standing in the city block where the address they'd been directed to was located, staring blankly at what appeared to be a dilapidated and ruined warehouse with nonplussed looks on their faces. "This is the Jump City headquarters of the Brotherhood of Dante?" Robin asked in disbelief.

"I don't know what to tell you man," said Cyborg. "My internal GPS says that this is the exact address that Slade gave us."

Robin stared back at the derelict ruins before him, his eyes narrowed, and said, "I knew we shouldn't have trusted Slade. Now we've just gone on a wild goose chase."

"I wouldn't be too quick to dismiss this as a wild goose chase," said Raven. "I can sense a very distinct aura of magic around this area."

Robin's eyebrow rose, and he gestured at the area before hissing, "Well what element of the area could possibly have any magic involved?"

"Dude," said Beast Boy. "Have you forgotten what section of the city we're in? From what I hear, all manner of supernatural stuff is rumored to be kept here. Heck, the very road we're standing on could have some sort of supernatural element connected to it."

"Perhaps maybe this ruined building we're seeing is not what's actually there," Starfire suggested.

The other titans looked at her in shock. "What do you mean?" Robin asked.

Starfire interlocked her fingers together as if she were wringing her hands, and then said, "On my planet, there were some Tamaranean spell casters that I know of who were capable of creating illusions so realistic that one could never know they were illusions until one tried to touch them. Perhaps maybe the ruins that stand before us is just an illusion that's been casted upon this area as a shield to hide this fortress we seek from unfriendly prying eyes?"

Upon hearing this suggestion, the other titans briefly gaped at Starfire with facial expressions that were half shocked and half impressed. "You mean a glamour," said Raven.

Starfire thought to herself. "If such an illusion is called a glamour, then yes," she said.

Robin thought to himself. "It would certainly make sense," the boy wonder said to himself in his mind. He turned to Cyborg and said, "Cyborg, do your eyes have a feature that could allow us to determine whether or not this is truly a glamour?"

"Let me take a look," said Cyborg as he proceeded to fiddle around with his ocular functions. A few minutes later, Cyborg squinted at hard at the apparent ruins in front of him, and then nodded his head before saying, "Yep, definitely a glamour, I can see the real thing now."

Robin and the other titans apart from Cyborg looked at the building in front of them, and then squinted as they began to focus intently on it. Sure enough, a few minutes after they started intently focusing their attention on it, the building appeared to flicker and turn blurry like a hologram before eventually solidifying into the form of what looked like a small temple.

At the sight of this, Robin nodded. "Yep," said the boy wonder. "We're definitely at the right place." He turned to his teammates, gestured towards the building, and then said, "Let's go in."

One by one, the five teenage heroes proceeded to walk up to the doors of the building and enter it. Cyborg even made sure to close the door behind him so that it made an obvious clicking noise as the door settled into its fully closed position. Little did they know that an ominous pair of jet black dragon-like eyes were staring out at where they'd just been from a nearby darkened alleyway. Seconds after the door to the building they'd entered was closed, the eyes narrowed, and an ominous draconic growling noise was uttered by the being they belonged to.

. . . . .

At the sound of the door opening, the man at the front desk located within the main foyer of the building looked up from his paperwork towards the door. While he showed no outward signs of emotion, he was secretly feeling very surprised and honored on the inside to see none other than the Teen Titans now standing inside the local Jump City headquarters of the Brotherhood of Dante.

"Welcome," said the man. "What brings you here?"

The titans walked up to the desk, and Robin leaned up against it to look the man right in the eyes before saying, "This is the local headquarters of the Brotherhood of Dante; am I right?"

The man at the desk briefly allowed a stunned look to pop up in his dark brown eyes before he hastily recovered and calmly responded, "Could be. What do you wish to know?"

Robin took a deep breath, exhaled, and then said, "Alright Mr.," he directed a quick glance at the man's name tag, "Templesmith, the Brotherhood may or may not be aware of this, but Abrahamic demons are at work on a terrible plot. While we don't yet know very much, we know enough to be aware that if the plot they are currently attempting isn't foiled, then they could very well end up causing Lucifer himself to be capable of escaping from Hell and bringing about the apocalypse earlier than originally prophesized."

At the sound of this, the man took on a very clear interest, and he leaned back in his chair before saying, "Well I certainly must admit that this information is certainly unsettling. We haven't heard news of Lucifer making an escape attempt for centuries. How did you find out about this? And better yet, how did you find out about this organization?"

Robin looked at his teammates, silently asking them whether or not to tell the full truth. The sight of the up and down nods they made was enough to convince him of the answer. He looked back at Mr. Templesmith and replied, "You are familiar with us right?"

Mr. Templesmith nodded. "Indeed I am," he responded. "Hard not to be familiar with you considering how you're the local celebrities around here."

Robin nodded, and then said, "Well last night, five demons broke into our tower and attempted to kill us. We were lucky enough to figure out a way to overcome them in the midst of our resulting battle against them, but we then had to set up our tower so that it would be well defended against further demon attacks. This morning, as a result of one of our defense measures, we managed to interrogate the larger force that had sent the five demons that tried to assassinate us before, and from them we learned that they were summoned by two mortal villains who are currently in a partnership with Lucifer himself and have been offered information they need to help aid Lucifer in his current plans in exchange for having us killed."

At the sound of all this, Mr. Templesmith gulped, and then leaned forward with his chin on his hand. "I'll say, you have quite a situation on your hands. Very well, tell me what you want to know."

"I presume you have a location in this building where you store all your documented information on what you deal with?"

"Yes."

"Well we need to access it," said Robin. "If we're to stop whatever this plot of Lucifer's is, we need to know what the information that he offered to give the two villains he's working for in exchange for our deaths is. And I have a feeling that if there's anyone who has a document containing this information, it's this organization."

Mr. Templesmith thought to himself. "The archives are located further within the headquarters, but access to them is only allowed to official members of the Brotherhood of Dante."

"I understand that," said Robin. "But with the current circumstances, now's not the time to follow tradition."

"I really can't allow you to enter . . ."

"Listen," Robin growled as he leaned forward more threateningly towards the Brotherhood of Dante member. "This is serious business we're dealing with, and I'm talking end of the world level serious. The only option we have for figuring out a logical theory of what Lucifer's current plot is short of testing our luck in asking Lucifer, a higher ranking demon, or one of the two villains who are now working with them is accessing your records. And if we don't access them and get ourselves adequately prepared for working to foil this plot by accessing the information in your archives as soon as possible, then the entire world could be overrun by demons, and that's before they somehow figure out a way to bust out Lucifer himself. So what's more important to you right now? Following protocol? Or saving the world?"

Mr. Templesmith gulped, thought to himself, and then nodded his head up and down before saying, "Very well then." He stood up from his desk, gestured towards a hallway that led further into the headquarters, and then said, "Follow me."

The Titans proceeded to follow the Brotherhood of Dante member out of the foyer and further into the headquarters down the hallway they entered. As they made their way through the hallway, the titans began to notice other members of the Brotherhood milling around in the hallway as well. While they all briefly happened to direct a glance at the unexpected guests, not one of them otherwise showed any signs of surprise or emotion at the sight of the titans. "Azar would be very intrigued as to how they were trained," Raven thought to herself.

"I'm sorry if my colleagues seem to be rather rude," said Mr. Templesmith. "From a young age, all members of the brotherhood are trained to masterfully conceal our emotions around strangers. By keeping our emotions hidden, it becomes far more difficult for demons and other beings with mind reading capabilities to latch onto them and use them to their advantage. It also helps in setting up the ideal atmosphere for whenever we happen to make any interrogations."

Robin nodded. "I can see what you mean," he said out loud. Raven also nodded, showing no sign of emotion on her face, but feeling slightly impressed on the inside.

A few minutes later, they reached what looked like a large circular room with a large golden statue depicting what looked like an angel standing on a mountain extending his sword towards a roaring seven headed dragon positioned on the same mountain. Upon closer look, the statue had a plaque that said 'Michael and Lucifer: The Final Battle'.

Upon sight of the titans gaping at this statue, Mr. Templesmith nodded, gestured at the statue and said, "Indeed, this statue depicts the archangel Michael himself doing battle with Lucifer in the midst of the Apocalypse. This same image serves as the emblem of our organization as a reminder for how we stand to preserve the cause of Michael and the rest of Heaven against the followers of Lucifer."

The group came to a stop directly in front of the plaque and statue. Mr. Templesmith turned to face the titans and gestured towards the walls of the room, indicating how there were eight hallways that led in and out of the room, each in a different direction. "This room is considered the inner sanctum and hall of duty, where this statue serves as a reminder of our noble goal. Each of these hallways leads to a different area of the headquarters."

He pointed at the hallway directly behind the titans from which they'd just come. "As you already know from just leaving that hallway, the hallway behind you leads to the main foyer, located in the south wing." Next he pointed at the hallways located to the left and right of the one he and the titans had just exited. "The hallway behind you located to your left leads to our living quarters, and the similar one behind you to your right leads to the mess hall."

Mr. Templesmith then proceeded to point at the hallway entrance located on the exact rightmost side of the room. "This hallway," he began, "leads to our training facilities. In that area, we train for battle and missions." Then he pointed at the hallway entrance located on the exact leftmost side of the room and continued, "Whereas this hall leads to our executive offices and the room where we all gather to hold meetings."

To finish up his explanation of the area, Mr. Templesmith turned his head and gestured towards the three hallway entrances located behind him and the statue. "The hallway to the left among those three leads to the area where all the initiates take their studies. The hallway to the right among these three leads to the workshop where we make our weapons and other items, the lab where we conduct scientific studies, and a sort of miniature museum depicting a collection of our knowledge. Finally," he pointed directly at the hallway entrance in the very center of the area he was indicating and said, "This hallway is the one I am currently going to lead you down, because this is the hallway that leads to our library and archives. At this time, you may now follow me to this area." Upon saying this, Mr. Templesmith proceeded to make his way around the statue and directly towards the hallway he'd indicated to lead to the records hall. The titans followed, eager to get to their destination and begin their work on researching to find the information they'd come for.

Right as they were two footsteps or so away from entering the hallway that led to the library, the titans and their guide heard a voice behind them state, "I see we have visitors." The five teenage heroes and their adult guide turned around and saw another man dressed in what looked like the robes of a priest.

Mr. Templesmith nodded his head, bowing it slightly as if in respect, and then said, "Indeed we do master." He turned to face the titans and gestured towards the newcomer before explaining, "Titans, this is Master Balthazar Novak; he is the head of the Jump City division of the Brotherhood of Dante."

Robin directed a closer look at the man who'd now been introduced. "He certainly looks the part," he admitted to himself in his mind. While the man looked as if he was at around the mid 40's in age, Robin could see the signs of the stress that came with being a major leader. The man's already pale blonde hair was showing signs of becoming a very sickly white, his face appeared to show signs of a haggard and worn look, and Robin could also see a look in the man's eyes that screamed how very weary he was from the pressures and trials that came with his job.

Abruptly realizing that some courtesy in manners was required for this situation, Robin made a polite smile and extended his hand towards Master Novak. "It's an honor to meet you sir," he said. Novak gave a weary smile, and returned Robin's gesture in a firm handshake.

Upon finishing the handshake, Master Novak looked intently at all five of the teenage heroes, and said, "It is certainly unexpected for us to be seeing you here in our headquarters. May I ask to what we owe the pleasure of your presence here? And for that matter, perhaps you'd be so kind as to explain how you found out about us?"

Raven stepped forward. "I know this might sound hard to believe since you might not yet be aware of it yourselves, but very recently, a large number of Abrahamic demons have risen from Hell and walked the Earth. From our recent experiences with them, we have learned that they were serving as pawns in a plot that could eventually allow for Lucifer himself to escape from Hell earlier than apparently prophesized."

Master Novak's eyebrow raised, his steely gray eyes hardening at the news, and he said, "I'll say. This is a very serious situation. How it is you have found out about this news?"

"We learned it from a group of demons we captured when they came to our tower in an attempt to kill us," Robin responded.

At the sound of this, Master Novak's glare softened slightly, for now he had heard solid evidence to the potential truth of what he'd now been informed of. "You heard this from the demons themselves," he stated. "How do you know for certain they were telling the truth? Did they swear on Lucifer's crown?"

"Yes," said Robin. "Not to mention they were under threat of exorcism."

Master Novak closed his eyes, and nodded his head. "Then indeed they were sadly telling the truth. Such a vow is unbreakable if made by a demon. That in mind, the world is indeed at risk of being in very terrible peril." He opened his eyes. "Very well, how can we help?"

"Whoa," Beast Boy stated. "Hold on, you actually believe us?" Belatedly realizing how rude he might have sounded, he lifted his hands up as if in surrender and said, "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you trust us but, well I wasn't expecting you to believe us that quickly. I mean, considering how secretive you guys are, I'm kind of surprised that you seem so willing to trust relatively complete strangers like us so quickly."

Master Novak nodded, his face showing that he understood, and he said, "A fair point young shape shifter, and indeed we do know the perils of being too quick to trust complete strangers without being given good reason. Fortunately, we have the luxury of knowing for certain whether or not those we are talking to are trustworthy."

Novak lifted up his right arm so that the titans could get a good look at his hand, which they could now see had a platinum ring with an emerald on it. "Contained within this gem," Novak explained, "is a powerful charm that allows the gem to change color in accordance with the level of stress in one's voice. Simply by looking at it while people we are speaking to are talking, we can tell whether or not the people speaking are telling the truth by noting what color the gem is. If the people speaking are telling the truth, then the gem stays green. But if the person is lying, then the gem turns blood red like a ruby. The gem on my ring has remained green for the entire time you've spoken and told me about this escape plot of Lucifer's you've managed to catch wind of, so therefore, I know for a fact that you were indeed telling the truth. And presumably, so did Mr. Templesmith." As if to confirm what his master had suggested, Mr. Templesmith showed the titans his own ring, which also had a gem that was still emerald green.

At the sight of this, Beast Boy nodded his head with an impressed look on his face. "Well that's certainly cool," he thought to himself. He then looked at Robin and said, "Ok Robin, you can go ahead and explain how they can help us now."

Robin nodded, looked at Master Novak, and stated, "Master Novak, one thing that I didn't yet mention already is that the demons that were sent to kill us were not just sent to kill us out of spite, or even directly by Lucifer himself. You see Master Novak, from what we've managed to learn, Lucifer is currently in the midst of a partnership with two human villains we know as Slade and Vandal Savage. While the two of them, or at least Savage anyway, are willing to help him in his current plan, there is one bit of information they apparently need in order to be able to do so that Lucifer is currently refusing to tell them unless they first have us killed. The demons we learned all this from didn't know what that information is, so we're trying to find out what sort of information might qualify. And as far as we can tell, the only source we can turn to apart from Lucifer, a member of his inner circle, or the two villains currently working for Lucifer, is your organization.

"With that in mind," Robin continued, "for the sake of getting ourselves adequately prepared and at work in foiling this plot as soon as possible, my teammates and I wish to directly access your archives and hopefully find out the information we seek from there."

Master Novak thought to himself, and then said, "While I do understand your reasoning, I'm not entirely certain whether or not I should grant this request. As I'm sure Mr. Templesmith has told you, it is unheard of for us to grant direct access to the records to anyone who isn't an official registered member of this Brotherhood."

Robin took a deep breath, exhaled, and calmly responded, "I understand that, but in light of the current circumstances, this small breach of protocol might be the only way to avert a potential apocalypse. Believe me; my teammates and I have already had to deal with the effects of an apocalypse before when Trigon attacked, and I am willing to do anything to prevent a second one from occurring. And I have a feeling that you don't want Lucifer to succeed where Trigon failed any more than I do."

Master Novak sighed, nodded his head in understanding, and responded, "You are right in that regard, but still . . ."

Mr. Templesmith placed his hand on the master's shoulder in a companionable gesture and said, "Let them access the records master."

"Jonah," Master Novak began warningly.

"You heard what they said," said Mr. Templesmith. "And you know they're telling the truth. See your ring? The gem's still green. And besides, they have a point. The Brotherhood of Dante hasn't had to deal with a plot of this magnitude staged directly by Lucifer and his followers, much less with Lucifer himself, for centuries. It would be a miracle for us to find any member or executive alive today who has any experience with this kind of situation, much less one with a mental state sufficiently healthy enough to be of any assistance."

He pointed at the titans. "The last few plots that have been attempted and foiled weren't even foiled through our own efforts. And Lucifer wasn't even directly at the helm of the events that unfolded for those plots. Besides, when Trigon rose, the Teen Titans were able to fight him off and defeat him long after the entire Brotherhood of Dante had been turned to stone by his presence. If there's anyone who can help us foil this newest plot of Lucifer's, it's them. Trust me, this breach of protocol they ask of us will be a small price to pay."

Novak thought to himself some more, and then sighed, nodded his head up and down with his eyes closed, and stated, "I don't like this; but if the world's safety depends on it, then so be it."

"You mean?" Starfire asked.

"Yes," said Novak. "I shall allow you to directly access our library right now." He turned to face the entrance to the hallway that would lead to the library. "Come," he stated. "Let us head there straight away. We've got no time to lose."

. . . . .

Meanwhile, back outside the headquarters, the hidden figure that had watched the titans enter the building from a hiding place in a nearby alleyway was now standing about a foot or two from the front door. The being, a large black demon, was glaring intently at the door with its eyes narrowed to the point that its pupils were now even more slit-like than usual. It snarled, licked its chops, and growled silently to itself, "This is definitely the Jump City fortress of the Brotherhood of Dante. Whoever allowed for the titans to come here certainly knew what he or she was talking about."

"Master?" came a voice behind the black demon from a slightly higher elevation. "Is there anything to report?"

The black demon turned its head and lifted it up sufficiently to look directly at the being who'd spoken. The being in question was easy to recognize as a standard Luciferian wind demon with its purple scales and eyes, purple-feathered wings that served as arms, taloned bird-like feet, serrated beak-like mouth, tuft of purple feathers on its head, and long tail with another tuft of purple feathers at the tip. Unlike the black demon, this demon was about a foot or so shorter. As for why the black demon had to look up at it, the wind demon was currently perched on the edge of a balcony that adjoined with a room on the second floor of an abandoned and dilapidated apartment complex.

The black demon grunted, pointed at the apparent ruins that stood directly in front of it, and said, "Indeed there is Imbix. In fact, I have managed to stumble upon two treasures at once. The Teen Titans are definitely here, and better yet, I now have reason to believe that this building is in fact one of the many headquarters bases of the Brotherhood of Dante."

The wind demon's eyes widened, and it took all its willpower not to squawk in delight. "That's . . . that's excellent news."

"Indeed," said the black demon, who looked back at the doors to the building and said, "If this building truly is what I think it is, then I now have the opportunity to both eliminate the Teen Titans and to deal a powerful blow against the Brotherhood of Dante."

"Well what are we waiting for?" the wind demon squawked. "Let's get it done!"

The black demon raised its right hand as if to signal to stop right as its underling was about to take to the air. "No Imbix. Not yet. I'm waiting for the right moment to strike. And besides, my first priority is to take out the Teen Titans. If there is time after that task is done, then maybe I will stay to wreck further havoc on this base; but the titans come first. And on that note," he looked back at Imbix, "when I go inside to battle the titans, I will be doing it alone."

Imbix pouted. "You always get all the fun," he warbled bitterly.

"I'm serious Imbix," the black demon growled. "Stay put. I can't allow for the risk of someone seeing you flying around in the sky and causing a citywide panic. You know that his Malevolence doesn't like it when we bring widespread attention of mortals to ourselves before he's deemed it to be the proper time."

Imbix glared at his superior and hissed, "Well if you'd just let me go in there with you, then maybe I'd be sufficiently entertained enough to not stray from hiding to seek entertainment."

"I've already told you," said the black demon. "Your assistance won't be necessary. I'm powerful enough that I should be more than capable of taking on those five children alone without much effort. And even if I did need your assistance, I still wouldn't be able to bring you with me. In case you haven't noticed, this building has been built on hallowed ground. Of the two of us, I'm the only one who can so much as place a single foot on the floor of that building. Sure you can fly over it, but it will be physically impossible for you to even enter the building, much less set one of your feet on the floor."

At the sight of the deepening mixture between a glare and a pout on the wind demon's face, its superior sighed, and then said, "Look, I'll compromise. When I do battle with the titans, it will be in the library; and I know for a fact that the libraries in these headquarters always have reinforced glass roofs. As long as you stay above the roof, and thus within the glamour, you are free to watch me battle the titans through the roof and entertain yourself that way. Savvy?"

Imbix thought to himself, his head at an angle indicating his being deep in thought. Then he nodded. "Fair enough," he stated.

"Good," said the black demon. He turned his head to look back at the hidden local headquarters of the Brotherhood of Dante, and then said, "Now you wait right here while I scope the area to try to locate the library. When I'm about to do battle with the titans, I'll give you a signal and you can fly right over to take your seat for the show. But remember, do not attempt to intervene. Even if you do manage to break the glass of the roof, the warding won't let you enter; believe me I know."

. . . . .

"You don't seem to have very much security," said Cyborg.

Master Novak chuckled, and said, "Appearances can be very deceiving young warrior. I'll admit, we don't have any of the big fancy security technology that you have in your tower, much less the everyday gadgets that make up most mundane security systems these days. But trust me, this building, and all others that serve as headquarters for divisions of this brotherhood are much tougher nuts to crack than they might appear at first glance."

"How?" Beast Boy asked.

"Well for one," Master Novak replied. "All of our headquarters buildings are shielded from the sight of civilians and other humans who aren't considered official members or don't look hard enough by glamours. Since most people rarely ever look at glamoured objects hard or long enough, they almost never see our headquarters bases for what they really are."

Beast Boy made a silent 'oh' upon being reminded of how the headquarters was shielded from sight by a glamour, nodded his head, and then said, "That's true."

Master Novak nodded. "Also," he continued, "we have several security measures in place for keeping out unwanted demon visitors."

He pointed at the floor and stated, "For example, this building, and all our other headquarters bases are built on hallowed ground."

Raven nodded her head upon hearing this. "Definitely a smart idea," she stated. The other titans looked at her as if asking what she meant. "Hallowed ground has a similar effect on demons as iron boundaries. For the majority of demons, it's physically impossible for them to step foot on hallowed ground. But unlike with iron, demons can fly over hallowed ground. And also, unlike iron, hallowed ground only works on minor demons. Higher ranking demons, particularly knights of Hell, are able to enter hallowed ground without any difficulty."

"Indeed you are correct," said Master Novak. "Fortunately, we also have magical wards on the building that are designed to keep out all manner of demons from both low and high ranks. Admittedly though, I'm not entirely certain as to whether or not they're powerful enough to keep knights of Hell at bay. And believe me, I've tried my hardest to get my superiors at the Brotherhood headquarters in Jerusalem to give their consent for an upgrade in the warding, but I highly doubt that they're all that keen on granting that privilege just yet in light of how long it's been since the brotherhood's last encountered a knight of Hell."

At the sound of this, Beast Boy gulped, and anxiously looked behind him. While he still wasn't entirely an expert yet on the high ranking demons that were apparently known as knights of Hell, he was now starting to get the feeling that in light of what he'd heard said about them combined with how difficult it had been to battle the minor ranking demons he'd already encountered, he did not want to meet a knight of Hell at any time in the near future.

Sometime later, Master Novak said, "Here we are."

The Titans looked ahead and saw that they'd reached a set of double doors that appeared to have a pair of lightning bolts engraved on them. As the Titans watched, Mr. Templesmith proceeded to walk up to what appeared to be some sort of electronic lock and press on the numerical buttons as if entering in a code. Second later, with an electronic beep, the doors opened, revealing a large library.

Mr. Templesmith stepped to his right, gestured towards the open doors, and said, "Step this way, and you may begin your work."

Rendered speechless by the sight of the enormous library, the titans entered, looking carefully around the room. "I'll say," said Robin. "We sure have a lot of books to look through."

He turned to face Master Novak and Mr. Templesmith. "Which section do you think will be the most likely location for a book containing the information we're looking for?"

"Section X," said Master Novak. "But I'd recommend you take a look at our online database on the computer first; it's faster, and we also have a chapter in there devoted entirely to both confirmed and theorized escape plans of Lucifer. Granted, this current plan of his at work might not be in there, but it's a start."

Robin nodded, bowed his head in respect, and then turned to face the other titans before saying, "Come on team; let's move."

"Wait."

The titans turned their heads to face Master Novak. "The password is Beatrice," said the Brotherhood leader.

"Beatrice, got it," said Robin. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," said Master Novak. He turned away and said, "Come on Mr. Templesmith, let us leave our guests to their work." The two adult men proceeded to walk away. But Mr. Templesmith made a point to direct a wave at the titans as if to say 'good luck' before the doors closed.

Robin faced the other titans and said, "You heard him team. Let's get to work." In a flash, the five teenage heroes made their way over to the computer, which they could see lying right near the very back of the library. Upon reaching the computer, Beast Boy hopped up on the seat in front of it while the other titans gathered around him to watch over his shoulders.

At a speed that left Cyborg gaping in shock, Beast Boy typed in the password that had been given by Master Novak, and the main menu of the Brotherhood of Dante's electronic database came up on the screen. "Alright guys," said Beast Boy. "We're in. What should we look through first?"

"Start at the beginning," said Robin. "As proven from last night and this morning, we're nowhere near as familiar with these enemies as we ought to be. It's best we start at the beginning and continue on from there so that all five of us can be up to speed instead of having to always rely on Raven; no offense."

Raven nodded as if to say 'none taken,' her face as blank as ever.

"Beginning it is then," said Beast Boy. He clicked on the link that said 'Prologue.' The main menu screen changed to a prologue page, which the titans proceeded to read. Not one of the titans made a sound as they silently read the document that would begin their current quest for knowledge.

. . . . .

At exactly 7:00 pm, the titans had managed to read a surprisingly large portion of the database. And as would be expected, they'd learned quite a lot of information that they'd never would have suspected.

"To think that The Divine Comedy was in fact a true story and we didn't even know," Robin said to himself.

"You can say that again," said Beast Boy. "Man, Dante must have had some serious balls to willingly undertake such a journey."

Robin nodded in agreement. "Makes me wonder if he felt the way I felt when I traveled alongside Slade to search for Raven when Trigon was here," he stated.

"Don't remind me," said Beast Boy.

At the sound of the slightly jealous and bitter tone in Beast Boy's comment, Robin directed a glance at the green boy from out of the corner of his eyes with his left eyebrow raised. Seconds later, after thinking calmly to himself, he decided to let the matter drop for the moment. "I'll worry about this later," he thought to himself. "Right now, we've got more important things to worry about."

"I'll certainly admit that it was very informative to read all that stuff in there on demons, angels, and their respective afterlife realms," Raven stated. "And I will definitely say that it was very helpful in boosting my understanding of their respective hierarchies as well."

"Don't forget what it said in there about Purgatory," Cyborg stated. He looked at the computer screen and said, "I sure as Hell was taken by surprise when I learned about those things called Primordials. I know for a fact that the Bible never mentioned them."

The other titans nodded in agreement, for that particular bit of information Cyborg had mentioned had proven just as much of a surprise for them as it had for their partially robotic friend. According to the Brotherhood of Dante's database, the Primordials had been the very first animals God had created after allowing for the actual planet Earth and solar system itself to come into existence. However, in spite of how Lucifer had apparently found them to be very entertaining creations, God himself had eventually come to label them as too dangerous to coexist alongside any of his future creations after observing their violent and savage behavior that far exceeded what he wished to be present in any of his future creations. And as a result, he'd created Purgatory and locked them all away in there.

Over time, Purgatory had come to eventually become a place for the souls of those who'd been neither good enough for Heaven nor bad enough for Hell to go to after death where they could overtime prove themselves worthy of being transferred to either of the other two afterlife realms. As for the Primordials themselves, they had ended up getting themselves both a job and a partial source of food as a result of God's allowing for souls to come to Purgatory. The job was that they would serve as a Purgatorial 'police force' of sorts. And as for food, the concept was that as long as the souls in Purgatory followed the rules of battle properly according to the regulations of Purgatory, the Primordials would satisfy their hunger by eating purgatorial beasts; on the other hand, if the souls got overly violent, repeatedly violated the rules of the Purgatory battles, or attempted to escape, then the Primordials would eat them and thus cause them to cease to exist for all eternity.

Beast Boy soon shuddered at the memory of the information on Primordials. "I can definitely say that I'm glad the Big Man upstairs had the sense to lock them away in Purgatory before he created humans and all the other animals that exist now. I certainly wouldn't any creature as savage as those things roaming the Earth. After all, judging from their description, I'm thinking that even the Beast would be horrified by them."

"Correct you are," he heard the Beast say in his mind. "Those things you now speak of are much too vile, even by my standards." Beast Boy made no sign of having heard the Beast.

"And while I'm at it," said Beast Boy. "I'm sure Robin found all that information we've gathered on the knights of Hell and Lucifer himself worth coming here for."

"You can say that again," said Robin. "And I'll definitely admit that it was nice of the Brotherhood of Dante to have their names written down in here. Believe it or not, I actually recognize the names of all five of those demons from my religious teachings. As for Lucifer," he shuddered, and then continued, "I hate to say this, but I'm seriously hoping that we won't ever have to encounter him in our lifetimes. Trigon was bad enough."

"No kidding," said Cyborg. "But on another note, when I go to Heaven, God and the angels are going to have a lot of explaining to do."

Robin sighed mentally upon hearing this. He'd had a feeling that all this studying wouldn't help Cyborg feel any better about his personal crisis of faith. Making a note to think about it some more later, he said to Beast Boy, "Is there anything else you think would be useful to look through before we go home?"

Beast Boy pointed at a link and said, "It says to see this section for further information on Lucifer's escape plots."

"Access it," said Robin.

Beast Boy clicked on the link, and thus opened up a document that contained information about confirmed (and foiled) escape plots of Lucifer that had occurred in the past as well as multiple theories of potential plots to be attempted in the future. Upon sight of this, Robin placed his hand on Beast Boy's shoulder and said, "May I sit here?"

Beast Boy got up, and Robin sat down on the chair before beginning to intently read through the document. As he read, he couldn't help but whistle as he found himself learning some very surprising information about how multiple major events that had occurred in the world both during his lifetime and before then had been connected in some way to Lucifer and his efforts at escaping Hell without hardly anyone even knowing about his personal involvement. In fact, according to the section with the confirmed plots, Lucifer had even apparently been partially involved with Trigon's efforts at the apocalypse two years ago.

"Dang," said Beast Boy. "I so didn't see that coming."

"Speak for yourself," said Raven.

"I must admit," said Starfire. "Learning how this monster has been involved in so many events without our knowledge makes me feel most uncomfortable."

"I'm certainly not surprised," said Cyborg. "But for now, the important thing for us to worry about is whether or not any of these theories the brotherhood has on potential future plots could possibly involve the information that Vandal Savage wanted us killed for."

In that instant, right before Robin could resume his reading of the document, the titans all heard an ominous hollow voice from behind them hiss "That is a secret for me to know and you to never find out."

Startled, the five teenage heroes turned their heads to look behind them, only to find that there appeared to be nothing behind them. At the sound of hollow laughter that split the air seconds later, Beast Boy tapped into his animal instincts and senses, Raven tapped into her empathic sensing, and Cyborg began scanning the area. Beast Boy growled, and said, "I can sense that there's someone here, but I can't say for certain where."

"Whatever this thing is," said Raven. "It's in the area, but I can't fully pinpoint its exact location."

Cyborg didn't even have a chance to say anything before the titans suddenly felt what appeared to be a strong breeze blowing around them through the library. And as the five teenage heroes reflexively positioned themselves as if to shield themselves from the force of the wind, they noticed that their shadows, and also those produced by all the bookshelves and other objects in the library appeared to be flowing like rivers towards the very center of the library, where a large vortex of shadowy energy had now formed right on the floor. Fueled by the shadows merging together to allow it to form, the vortex expanded until it completely covered the Brotherhood of Dante emblem illustration engraved on that part of the floor.

As the titans watched, the ground suddenly started shaking beneath their feet, and a large dark figure slowly rose from the vortex. Its clawed hands were the first to rise up from the shadowy portal, followed by its dragon-like head and the rest of its body before finally ending with the tip of its long fur tufted tail. The portal closed and vanished from sight when the creature's tail was a foot or so off the ground, and the being landed softly on the floor on its feet.

The titans barely had a chance to fully process the fact that an unexpected intruder had now appeared in the library right in front of them before it lifted its head up to look directly at them, its ominous black eyes agleam with pleasure and its teeth bared in a snarl of predatory glee. "Hello Titans."

And just like that, another chapter is over. And for that matter, major cliffhanger! Dun, dun, dun! On that note, I hope you enjoyed this chapter nonetheless and that you leave a nice healthy batch of reviews (and I especially recommend that you guys review, even if you are a guest!). Feel free to comment on whatever you wish to comment on in your reviews and feedback to. I especially hope you enjoyed my introduction of the Brotherhood of Dante. I feel very proud of myself for how I did on them. And I especially hope you're looking forward to figuring out how things go between the epic battle to come between the titans and their unexpected demonic assailant (and for that matter, care to guess just what sort of demon this particular demon is in regard to the hierarchy of Hell?). Again, I hope you enjoyed this and are looking forward to the next chapter to come!

Coming up next: The Titans find themselves fighting one of their toughest battles yet against the powerful demon that has now arrived in the library with them. Can the titans successfully hold their own against their newest opponent? Find out, in the next chapter!