A/N: Alright, so welcome to Chapter 1 of Gilded Cage. This is a fic I'm writing based off of a prompt by ROLF-Wolf-Of-Thunder, titled 'What Happened?', which you can look at here: '/s/10533913/2/Propmts-Plots-Challenges', though it may contain some spoilers, though nothing too huge. So yes, I'll be using some artistic license at times, but all credit for the idea goes to ROLF and I hope he enjoys it.(apparently it doesn't like web addresses. That's also not a typo on my part.)

I was a lot happier with this chapter than the previous one. I even did it in one sitting. Even if it was a lengthy one. Still, if you spot mistakes or room for improvement, throw it at me, lay it on me, whatever you gotta do. Also, i don't own Teen Titans, or the original idea for this story.

Chapter 1 - Three-Fold Cage

NIGHTWING, WAKE UP, THERE'S A PROBLEM AT THE CAGE!

The call slammed into Nightwing's brain like a physical blow, instantly waking him up from the nightmare that was already dimming in his memory. His dreams were a problem for another time though, if what he just heard was true.

Swinging his legs out bed and quickly getting dressed, Nightwing thanked the gods that Starfire was a heavy sleeper. She'd trained herself to wake up instantly to the Titans alarm, since criminals never seemed to sleep, but other than that it could be difficult to wake her. That suited Nightwing just fine, with his penchant for keeping odd hours himself, especially when he was in what his friends would call his 'obsession' mood.

The mask wasn't strictly necessary - everyone in the Tower knew who he was these days, and it was no secret to his caller either - but it was a habit he'd gotten into ever since leaving Batman's side and he barely even thought of it anymore. Finishing with his uniform, he headed for the door, with a last look back at Starfire's sleeping form, wishing he could go back and join her. With a sigh and shake of his head, he entered the Tower hallway, making his way to his study so he could contact the origin of the call directly, as well to check up on the Cage.

Nightwing tried not to think of the Cage when he didn't have to. He hated the necessity of it, how excessive it was, but he told himself that some things just had to be done, for the greater good. Even if he lost sleep over it and guilt gnawed at his insides. It's what she would've wanted...he thought to himself, not to become a monster.

Arriving at his study, he took a deep breath and readied himself for anything. Opening the biometric lock on the door, he strode in as the lights flicked on and the computers started booting up, the door auto-locking behind him. He walked purposefully towards a dark corner, deliberately kept in shadow and out of prying eyes. It was here he kept various reminders - some of his past failures, some of how much he still had to learn. Here a suit from his time as Slade's apprentice; there a black and orange mask; a Batarang; his old Robin suit. And one more thing, almost out of place, what looked like a red gem.

Opening the case it was in, Nightwing passed his hand over it and it lit up, while next to it part of the wall slid outward, revealing a small room. It was just big enough for him and a computer set-up, and it wasn't part of the original blueprints of the Tower. When the door swung closed behind him, symbols lit up with a gentle glow along the walls of the secret room, sealing the room from any possibility of being spied on, magically or otherwise, except for very specific signals.

He pressed the power button on the computer, and as it was starting up, pulled his communicator from his belt and put in a call to Zatanna Zatara. It came through as audio only, but it was obvious she was agitated.

"Jesus Dick, it took you long enough, I told you there was a problem! Have you had a chance to look yet?" she asked him in a rush, clearly flustered. Part of Nightwing was glad there wasn't a video feed, so she couldn't see him pinching the bridge of his nose.

"No Zee, it's 3:20AM here, you woke me up and I just entered the room," he explained calmly, without a hint of his frustration showing. "Couldn't you have looked in on her yourself? Surely it would have been quicker." The computer was asking for a login and a password, so he typed those in as he waited for a reply.

"I would have, but I'm tied up with Justice League work at the moment and it's too important to put on hold, even for something like this," he could hear the frustration in Zatanna's voice and he nodded, even though she couldn't see it, as he pulled a glove off to scan his fingerprints. He'd heard that recently there had been a sharp spike in various magical crimes or incidents and most heroes with magical knowledge were called on to help stem the tide, so to speak.

"It's fine," Nightwing told her, "I've just had trouble sleeping lately. Alright, surveillance is coming up, anything in particular I'm looking for?" he asked, silently hoping that nothing would be wrong. He didn't know how he would break it to his team if something was wrong, one way or another.

"I'm...not sure. Just, anything out of the ordinary?" Zatanna asked hesitently, and Nightwing sighed loudly as he changed the video feed to full screen. "That's not very helpful Zee," he said, "you know I'm not good with magic." He frowned at the screen and used the controls to move the camera around. Everything seemed normal, no changes from his weekly observations. The magic symbols and patterns etched deeply into the center of the floor, walls and ceiling glowed brightly with power. The equipment along the sides of the walls seemed to be functioning normally and the reading on the side of his screen agreed. But there was something off...

"Well I'm sorry Nightwing, but I don't have specifics," Zatanna all but snapped at him. "All I know is that the alarm for the mental containment went off, then the fail-safe activated shortly after that. Hopefully it was some kind of false alarm but..." Nightwing barely payed attention to her, absorbed in trying to figure out was off about the room. And then it clicked and he inhaled sharply.

In the very center of the room, right in the middle of the glowing magic circle, was a structure somewhat resembling a birdcage, a very large one. This wasn't what had grabbed Nightwing's attention though, since the room had been built around that cage. No, what had shocked him and made his spine stiffen was that, instead of a purple haired woman inside, there was darkness. Darkness and four glowing points of light, staring directly at him through the camera. He shuddered and quickly panned the camera away.

"Yeah, something's happened alright..." Nightwing informed Zatanna, filling her in on what he'd just seen. "Is it a problem? What does it mean?" he asked her.

"...Of course it's a problem, but I don't know how big," Zatanna replied, concerned. "She's still contained, so at least the rest of it is working, but it seems like she has self-awareness again, even if it's subconscious..." she mused to herself, muttering different possibilities and solutions to herself quietly, before snapping out another question to Nightwing. "Are you sure there's nothing else different in the room apart from Raven? There was also a tiny fluctuation in the perimeter spells. It happens sometimes, but with this timing...it might not be coincidence."

Nightwing slowly panned the camera around the room again. The room was designed to be fully viewable from every angle by camera, and it was supposed to be perfectly lit so there were no shadows, but the different magics working in the room cast their own shifting light, which sometimes conflicted with each other and could trick the eye. And was it just him, or were filaments of Raven's soul-self reaching out of the cage, or were they just normal shadows - where there shouldn't be any at all?

"No, I don't particularly see anything else in there...but the lighting is stranger than usual. I don't suppose you could pop in to look things over?" he asked hopefully, but knowing what kind of answer he'd get.

"Damn it. You know I would, but I really can't get away from here for at least three days," Zatanna was clearly annoyed and Nightwing could hear the dull thud of an impact from the other side. She must have hit something. Nightwing sighed, resigned to his fate. "Alright Zee, I'll go have a look around. Can you zap me in there?"

"Sure thing, though I can't teleport you right into the room. Be careful, hey. I don't need to tell you what will happen if Raven gets loose while you're in there..." she said, worried about him. Before he could give a reply, she incanted a spell, "Dnes Gniwthgin ot Snevar Egac!" and Nightwing disappeared in a puff of blue and purple smoke.

Ja'Riha sat patiently in his hole in the floor, watching the camera placed in one corner sweep every inch of the room. He was aware that the person watching would come and check in person regardless, but if nothing appeared wrong it would give him precious time and hopefully an advantage if it came to any trouble. He switched his gaze to the middle of the room and the burning eyes that stared at that camera as if they could follow the electronic signals, see the person at the other end and tear them limb from limb. Who knew, maybe they could. Anything was possible with this one.

A Three-Fold Cage, Ja'Riha thought with disgust. He'd seen them before in his time as a slave, of course. Even been subjected to one before, though he tried not to think of it. This one was different to the ones he'd seen, but he could guess how it worked easily enough; the giant magic construct on the ground around the cage, glowing blue and white, with lines of symbols running away in each cardinal direction, up the walls and to a mirror construct on the roof- that would be to block any and all magical workings from inside. He also noticed the orange symbols circling the walls at regular intervals, which he knew blocked teleportation, since he'd tried that before the more physical way. The cage itself was the second part, obviously designed to trap the physical body, but this one seemed modified too, with each bar being made of a different metal and magical sigils spiraling up and down each one. These, however, didn't have much of a glow anymore. Most were dark, but a few had a fitful violet light. Probably the last aspect of the cage, Ja'Riha thought, and what some considered the worst - the mental part.

He wished he'd been able to get here sooner, but it had taken a couple of years since he came to this plane to reach this moment. Ja'Riha had heard only rumors about her before he came to Earth; a half demon destined to bring about the end of her mortal planet, but who had somehow turned the tables on her demonic father, Trigon the Terrible, defeating him utterly. It was this that had inspired him to seek her out, in the hopes she could help him, only to find that no one seemed to know where she was anymore.

It had taken him a long time to put together that her team mates, her friends, had turned on her for some reason. It took even longer to find out what happened after that, not to mention a lot of favors to dangerous individuals and dealing with the underground magic community. He'd recently gotten the tip that she was buried deep down on the outskirts of town though, and the spike of magic he'd felt just hours before had proven it. So, using his shape-shifting ability, he'd changed himself into a Hell-hound, locked onto that fading magic scent and followed it down into the ground, digging straight through steel, soil and stone with claws as hard as diamond and his demonic strength.

Things had gotten a bit more dicey once he'd hit the magical wards, but they'd just proven that he was on the right track and he was determined not to waste any more of the time he had left. So again, he'd activated his ability and this time, changed into the demon equivalent of an earthworm. He was roughly twice the size of a normal earthworm, had segments which would break most predators teeth - assuming one were to try - and had a multitude of small, sharp teeth. Adjusting to the new form after a few moments, Ja'Riha had kept tunneling, knowing he was close now and confident that his small size would get him past any magical scrutiny.

He'd been right, he reflected, as he focused again on the scene in front of him, just in time to see the camera stop moving - and to see the eyes swivel in their dark enclosure and focus on him. If he'd been in humanoid form, he would have swallowed convulsively and broken out into a sweat. As it was, he knew it was time to get to work and free the person before him, though it seemed like she'd already started, with the mental cage broken and a strand of her power leeching out into the major circle. But Ja'Riha knew she wouldn't have time to get fully free and he couldn't see what condition her body was in underneath her power anyway. He was willing to bet it wasn't good though.

Leaving his hole, he quickly transformed himself back into his human shape. Though it hurt to shift so quickly, he didn't have time, so he used a life time of practice and bundled up the pain of skin, muscles and bones stretching and growing in seconds, of organs growing, shrinking and disappearing in the blink of an eye, and shoved it all deep down to deal with later. It left him pale and sweating, but fully functional until he could collapse screaming in private. He took a deep breath an opened his eyes and they glowed a pale yellow as he looked around the room, watching the interactions of magic with his demon sight, trying to find the best place to break through.

He wished he was better at energy manipulation, but being a slave in the demon realms didn't really lend itself to improving ones abilities, unless they were useful to the task you were assigned. And no slave owner would ever let their property learn what they might use to break free. Not that it had stopped Ja'Riha, but he was far from proficient. Guess I'll just 'ave ta brute force it, he thought to himself, frowning and looking around again, noticing something he'd passed over earlier.

There, chest high in the corners of the room. He looked closer and saw especially compact magic circles, almost spirals really. They glowed a pale red, but he could tell they were powerful and definitely offensive. Nothin' for it, he looked at the cage and noticed that the eyes had retreated, along with her soul-self, until it just barely covered her skin, the red orbs hovering just over her forehead, staring at him.

"Looks like ya know what I need ta do," Ja'Riha directed at them, walking over to stand out of the path of fire for when those 4 spells went off. And they would, he knew. "Hope yer ready fer a bumpy ride miss," he told her, before breathing deeply and gathering his power.

A yellow glow, similar to his eyes, enveloped his whole body as he concentrated, flowing up and down like light playing on water. The spells in the corner, sensing it, started charging up, the pale red glow intensifying until it was almost painful to look at. With a shout from the depths of his soul that shook the room, Ja'Riha snapped his eyes open and slammed one of his feet onto the very edge of the giant construct on the ground, smashing his power into it like a pick axe into rock. And just like rock, the construct splintered and magic rushed out, pushing him back just as the four lethal spells in the corner reached their peak and flashed like miniature suns, launching their magic in a blazing path straight towards the center of the room, igniting the very air as they passed.

The eyes in the cage flashed a crimson to match them and the darkness rushed out from the woman to cover the interior of the cage, water vapour pouring out of it and instantly freezing again as a void was formed, snap freezing the bars of her cage. The superheated magic barely even paused as they vaporized the now brittle metal bars of the cage, evaporating even the steam that momentarily formed. When they touched the void inside, however, their energy was sucked right out of them, then thrust back out into the world, scything through the remaining spells in the room like a blade of light and cracking the floor, melting the metal on the walls and roof. Dirt and cement dust rained down on Ja'Riha as he picked himself up from the floor, shaken, glad those spells and that energy blade hadn't been anywhere near him, or else there'd be a Ja'Riha shaped outline on the wall.

He peered through the falling dirt and debris, the fading light of the spell circles showing melted steel hanging from the roof like demented stalactites, electrical wires swinging and whipping back and forth, cement thrusting up from the floor like spikes - and a perfectly circular area inside the mostly ruined cage that was untouched. Inside that, he could finally make out features of the person he'd come to rescue and it made him shake with rage. She was sitting with her knees up to her chest, face lowered into them and emaciated arms curled around them, with numerous tubes and wires sticking out and running into the floor. Drugs and probably something that barely kept her from dying of starvation or dehydration, Ja'Riha growled to himself, his demon side rearing it's head. Drugs didn't exist in the demon realms - when suppression was needed, spells or physical force worked - but since coming to Earth he'd seen more people die from them than were saved.

He walked over to her and also noticed that her feet and hands were shackled together, with a chain leading between them and also to a collar around her neck. She was also naked and had yet more tubes inserted to remove her bodily wastes. Her long hair had mostly hidden that from further away, but now he could see they'd stripped her of everything; dignity, magic, awareness, anything that made her a living, thinking being. Ja'Riha flexed his hands and reached down, snapping the chains that held her with ease. They'd reduced her to mere flesh, but now, she was free, like he was free.

He gently pulled the tubes and wires from her, careful not to cause any damage in her current state. She would heal it now, but her strength was better saved for other things. He bent and lifted her into his arms, noting that she weighed almost nothing, trying not to move her too much. From what he'd found out, she'd probably spent the last 10 years in that position, barely able to move a muscle. The pain would be terrible when she tried to move. He noticed something covering her mouth. A magic talisman of some kind? Disgusted by the entire ordeal, he pulled it off her and ignited it from pure spite.

That's when the magic sigils that still held power on the walls behind him rearranged themselves into a door and opened, revealing a figure in a dark suit with stylized blue wings over his chest.

Nightwing opened his mouth to remind Zatanna that he was always careful, but before he knew it, he was removed from Titans Tower and deposited in a room below ground on the outskirts of Jump, courtesy of Zatanna's magic. He looked at his communicator and saw that she'd already disconnected.

"Damn it Zee," Nightwing sighed, "you could have at least stuck around in case there was trouble." Shrugging and putting the communicator back on his belt, he turned to door which would lead to the stairs down to Raven's...to the Cage. Quickly entering a different login and password to before, he pressed his finger to another panel and let it take a drop of blood. This served two purposes; it served as another security measure and it also temporarily altered the spells throughout the building to accept his biological signature. Finally, he lined his mask up with another scanner and sent an encrypted data pack to it through his masks infrared communications, enunciated a lengthy vocal pass code, and watched the lights along the side of the door all turn green. It unlocked and he pushed it open, slowly making his way down into the depths, trying to delay the inevitable.

He hated coming here. Seeing it in person was so much worse than through a computer. It made it more personal, though he knew that was ridiculous. How much more personal could locking up your friend and team mate - body, mind and soul - get? He sighed and shook his head, trying to remain impersonal, to be the Hero of Justice that the world expected. It worked, if only on the outside. Halfway down huh, Nightwing thought, glancing at the marks on the wall to gauge how far he had to go.

He remembered the day they put her in here. He didn't think he could ever forget it; the rage in her eyes as they'd locked her up and put her under, a cover for the soul crushing pain of betrayal she felt that her friends, her family, could do this to her. She'd fought until the very end, her emotions far beyond control, but by then she'd had no energy left, thanks to Zatanna joining the fray earlier. She might've won if that hadn't been the case. And what then? Nightwing thought. Would it have been like Trigon all over again? Or worse?...Or would nothing have happened at all? Such thoughts tormented him at night, but he knew that he couldn't risk it - the world couldn't risk it - so he'd done what he thought he had to, and he'd gotten his friends to help. Raven's friends. The Justice League had listened to him and his team later and reluctantly accepted his judgement, though he knew some of them were uneasy about it. After all, she hadn't actually done anything.

Lost in his thoughts of the past, Nightwing failed to notice the slight shaking under his feet for a moment, but then his gut screamed at him to move. When you fought super powered villains for a living, with a broad range of powers, you learned to listen to your instincts. Without thinking, he leapt down the stairs to the next platform. Just as he landed, a blade of energy speared through the wall down below and continued up through where he'd been standing but a moment before.

Cursing and ignoring the debris falling around him, he pulled his grapple out and attached it to the stair rail before leaping out into empty space, quickly passing the remaining few staircases and platforms, the floor quickly approaching. Hitting the brakes and detaching the grapple chord, he sprinted down the short hallway at the bottom towards a door that normally glowed orange, but right now was flashing red and blue.

The emergency protocols, good!

Normally, he'd have to go through similar security like above, but in the case of emergencies - which this clearly was - if you'd already cleared the first checks, the magic would automatically open a door into the room when it recognized you. So as Nightwing approached the glowing symbols, they stopped flashing red, swirled into a spiral and glowed a steady blue. The metal they were inscribed on split open and slid into the walls, giving him a clear view of the destruction, and who stood in the center. Nightwing ran into the room and confronted what he could only call a demon.

The creature stood head and shoulders taller than him, and he wasn't exactly short anymore. He basically rippled with muscle, though he didn't look particularly bulky. No, he was well proportioned and it was all muscle, no doubt with supernatural juice to throw behind it too. He was also naked for some reason and Nightwing could see scars covering almost every inch of him. His skin had a leathery look to it, though it was hard to tell because his mask was filtering out dust particles and compensating for low light, but he thought it also had a yellow tinge. His eyes, they were definitely yellow, and glowing fiercely, though he only had two, compared to Ravens four when she went demonic. Poking out of his short black hair, he could see two horns, not large and one of them looked broken off. It could almost pass as human - but at the same time, it never could.

Getting over his shock, Nightwing pulled his Eskrima sticks out and fell into a defensive posture, unsure of the threat this creature posed and preferring to let it make the first move. Considering the time and place, he didn't think it would be friendly.

It turned to face him fully, and he saw that it was holding Raven in it's arms, free of all restraints and oblivious to the world. Or he supposed he'd be dead already.

"So, yer the one who did this," it said to him in a rough voice, lifting Raven up slightly, as if he didn't know what it meant. When the creature had opened it's mouth to speak, he noticed that it's teeth were pointed and he shuddered internally. Demons.

Frowning at it, Nightwing said, "Put her down and no one has to get hurt!" He didn't think it would work, but he could dream. As he expected, the demon in front of him just smiled and chuckled, but those eyes held a different emotion than humor and he clenched the weapons in his hands.

"I don't think that's going to happen, Sir," it's eyes glowed brighter as it spoke to him and from what little he'd heard, it's speech improved as well, "you see, I need this little thing to give me a helping hand and indirectly, it'll help you pathetic mortals as well. Though considering what you've put her through, I'm sure she'll fix that..." it chuckled darkly and turned away from Nightwing, not interested in a fight, apparently.

Nightwing gritted his teeth and prepared to leap into battle. He couldn't let it go, especially not with Raven. He also wanted to know what it had been talking about. Maybe it had something to do with the rising magic incidents? Before he could take more than a step or two though, the demon, with Raven in it's arms, disappeared in a swirl of yellow smoke and sulfur, leaving words behind like a prophecy; "Let Justice be done, though the Heavens Fall..."

Nightwing cursed again. He'd been doing that a lot lately, he absently noticed in a distant part of his mind. Putting his Eskrima sticks away, he got his communicator out and dialed Zatanna. If she hadn't already felt what happened here, he had to fill her in. Then he needed to have a meeting with his team.

He wasn't looking forward to it.

Exciting, no? What will happen next? How much will Raven remember when she wakes up? How will she react to her half-demon savior? How will the Titans and Zatanna react to a Raven on the loose? And where's Jinx during all these shenanigans? Many questions will be asked and fewer still answered, tune in next time, whenever that may be!