Author's Notes
To minerbuilder12, there is about to be a lot more intrigue with this half of the story. Expect a lot of surprises and shocks.
To JP-Rider, Dr. Light got a good old taste of his old medicine so he won't be an issue for Raven (or any of the League) any more (especially since he's locked up for life without chance of parole or possibility of escape). You'll see how the time skip affects everybody soon after as well as what has happened between Raven and Ravager.
Remember, there is a roughly four-year time skip between last chapter and this chapter.
Now, let's continue the story.
Hard to believe it. It's been four long years. Four years since the Joker came to Jump City. Four years since that madman clown manipulated Raven into committing a massive crime spree by hypnotizing her. And four years since Raven was imprisoned because of it.
Looking back at that time, I thought, or rather I had hoped that the Joker's mass killing spree would not have picked up. That once it had ended, it would not continue.
Needless to say, my hopes have long been dashed. What happened, the killings didn't stop, at least, not at first. Whatever the Joker started is still going on. The Joker's death was only the beginning.
Two years ago, the killings resumed after a very long pause. I thought Kardiak and Overload were the last...well, they're mechanical, so technically they don't count as living, but regardless, they were sentient.
Getting back to the point, Control Freak tried robbing an electronics store with his souped-up remote. Just as he stepped in, the fat bastard drops dead of a heart attack, or that's what it seemed. When the toxicology came back in, Control Freak was murdered. Poisoned with a drug that triggered a fatal cardiac arrest.
A couple of weeks later, we found Kyd Wykkyd on a park bench with his throat slit wide open. From what we found, the teleporter was ambushed from behind and odds are the knife that killed him also killed Isabel Zavalos. See-More popped up five days later with a bullet in his head. The lack of rifling on the shell meant that we couldn't trace the round to a specific gun, but it also meant the shooter had to be close to him.
When we told Jinx, the poor girl was utterly heartbroken. She turned on them, made a new life for herself, but it didn't mean she took their deaths any less harshly. Of the remaining HIVE Five, I have no idea where Mammoth currently is as the brute is unaccounted for, Billy Numerous is still in prison, which odds are is the safest place for him, and rumor has it Gizmo and Private HIVE have fled to Saudi Arabia.
As we soon found out, it wasn't just here in Jump City that the villains were being murdered. A year and a half ago, Titans East found Cheshire laying in a swamp, half dead, severly dehydrated and without food, with both of her legs broken beyond repair. The mercenary will never be able to walk again as the degree of damage made it impossible to properly place a prosthetic, and she is currently in a wheelchair living at an assisted living center being checked on by Roy.
As for her sister, Tigress had her arm shot off by an unknown assailant. She tried to run away from him but she nearly drowned. We're lucky that Kaldur'ahm made it in time to save her and stop the bleeding. The damage, though, wasn't as bad as Cheshire's, and we could put a prosthetic on her arm, though it appears almost certain that her career as a gun-for-hire is over for good. We got traces of the bullet, which matched the round that killed See-More.
In Gotham, someone got to Eddie. The Riddler was injected with the same poison that killed Control Freak, only it caused a brain anyeurism in him, not a heart attack. It is kind of ironic that a man so proud of his mind was killed by it.
The killings actually got so severe that Red X surrendered, by which I mean he went on a theft and by the time we got there, nothing was missing, but his suit was just laying there with a note saying he was getting out of the game to protect his own ass. While I would have wanted to know who he really was, I can't say I blame him for his actions. At least, the X-suit was finally secured and now nobody will get to it. It's safe.
Even worse for us was that villains weren't the only ones being murdered. Even us, the vigilantes and so-called superheroes, were beginning to take losses. Pantha went missing two years ago, only to be found in a block of cement in Mexico a month later. Bushido was ambushed in Japan - got a knife in his neck. Based on the incisions, it was the same weapon that killed Zavalos and the same killer.
We, the Titans, weren't the only ones taking losses. Ray Palmer, the Atom, was shot in the heart, with the same type of bullet that killed See-More. Hawkman was ambushed and had one of his wings cut off in the attack and bled out. The League was too late to save him.
Plastic Man was trying to stop a mugging in Cairo but got frozen to death. Based on the type of equipment used, Mr. Freeze was our primary suspect.
Supes found Freeze three days later in Montreal, hanging from a noose. When he was found, the doctor had been dead for almost a week. No way this was a suicide - this was another murder.
And despite all of our efforts thus far, we are no closer to finding the people responsible for these killings. And no closer to helping Raven get out of Belle Reve,
Ever since Chase had told us nobody would take up our case and our appeal was rejected, we've been trying to get the ruling overturned. The trial, it wasn't a trial of whether or not Raven should be charged she committed under the Joker's control - it was a trial of whether or not Raven should be imprisoned because of who she was. It was a trial of character, not one of guilt. And they chose to put her away just because she was a half-demon.
No luck so far in getting an overturned conviction. Nothing that could get the case thrown out, no technicalities we can capitalize on.
As for us, the Titans, I decided to graduate up from Robin and took the moniker Nightwing. I never understood why I would pick that name in the future Starfire had traveled to. But, after the incident where Superman got sucked into Kandor, I understood and decided to go with Nightwing. o
And besides, Bruce has a new Robin of his own, a girl this time. Stephanie Brown, Cluemaster's estranged daughter, well, now orphaned daughter as after her mom died of a stroke, Cluemaster was killed about ten months ago by an explosive charge that was wedged in his heart and then detonated - probably the strangest of the murders thus far.. She's not afraid of the dangers that lurk in Gotham. Not like much of the criminal element, who hide out of fear they'll be murdered. Crime as a deterrent to crime. Interesting paradox.
Starfire and I have entered a partially-committed relationship - only our duty as Titans keep us from a fully-committed relationship. Beast Boy decided to take up a new identity of his own - Animal Man, one that certainly suits him and his powers, plus his age. Lastly, Cyborg is getting close to joining the Justice League - they've been looking at him for a while now, especially considering his skills. He hasn't joined yet, not for a while, but he did get us League-grade software, giving us much better technology, especially to monitor the string of killings.
In addition, some madman made a public threat to kill G. Gordon Godfrey. The biased reporter said he would never surrender to him. Rumor has it he is currently hiding as a fisherman in a small Fillipino village. So much for his bravery.
This whole thing reeks of conspiracy. Somebody jumped in on the aftermath of the Joker's attacks and began orchestrating this massive death spree. The question is who would gain the most from a mass killing of heroes and villains?
The Brotherhood of Evil? From what we checked a few months ago, the Brain was still in permanent cryostasis. Monsieur Mallah and General Immortus got out of cryo but neither wound up seeing freedom for all that long. Mallah's hideout was bombarded with artillery fire and a couple of shots did the brilliant gorilla in. As for Immortus, the old general was trapped in a pressure character until his head exploded! Well, that would be one way to kill an immortal man - suffocation until kaboom. Rouge is still in Belle Reve, and unfortunately close enough to deal pain to Raven. Psimon is rumored to be in Bialya working for the tyrant Queen Bee, and Phobia got arrested in St. Louis, but before she could end up getting to trial, she was stabbed to death by one of the other inmates. And besides, they would be targeting just us and be recruiting the villains.
Slade? The bastard's eluded our grip for years. He has the resources to pull it off, but not the motivation. What would the maniac have to gain from this? Besides, he would do most of the kills himself, and more consistently. Still, he's too dangerous to be left to his own desires.
The Legion of Doom? They've been in disarray for years. I'd be honestly surprised if they can agree on what pizza to order, let alone run an operation this big. I suppose having none of the members on speaking terms has something to do with this.
Brother Blood? After he lost much of his power because he tried to capitalize on Cyborg's cybernetics, and then went crazy following Trigon's defeat, he wouldn't have enough energy or intellectual capability to do much more than the basics.
Some other party has to be pulling the strings, but who? Who could orchestrate such a massive loss of lives? And who could do it on such short notice?
And as for Raven, the past four years have been molding her. She's a prisoner in the enemy camp basically, and if it weren't for Slade's daughter (of all people!), she'd be dead. Raven's become a bit more hostile and less talkative, almost as if we've become total strangers to her. Then again, we've only been able to visit her once a year - our last visit was a month ago. I tried reaching out to her with our bond, but it's sealed, as if Raven and I no longer have one. Though, judging by the inhibitor collar strapped on her neck, I doubt that she can even access the bond. And given her relationship with most of the other inmates, it must be a very lonely place for Raven to be - all she has for company is Slade's daughter, and I honestly cannot determine just their relationship - largely because Raven won't tell me.
Raven won't come out of this the same girl she went into it as - if she manages to get out of it at all. That's not a guarantee, meaning Raven may be gone into the abyss of no return. Belle Reve broke her, but I know she has part of her old self remaining.
And I'll be damned if Belle Reve destroys Raven and turns her into an absolute stranger.
This is Nightwing, signing off.
Nightwing has finished his journal log while in his office. It has been four years since one of his friends, Raven, has been sentenced to ten (now six left before she becomes eligible for parole) years in Belle Reve. The events over the past four years was like the chaos theory all because of Raven being under the influence of the late Joker and Harley Quinn, who is still MIA. He gets up from his seat as he heads for the door out of his office, Cyborg and Starfire were in front of him with startled looks.
"We were just about to knock on your door, man." Cyborg told the former boy wonder.
"Star, Cy, what's going on?" Nightwing asked the two.
"We need you this instant, Boyfriend Nightwing." Starfire exasperated.
"Why? What's the trouble?" Nightwing asked them.
"We have a report down at the park. We've found a body there and we could use your detective skills." Cyborg answered.
Nightwing understood the situation as the Titans head out towards the Jump City park so they can find the buried and butchered body parts buried into the ground. Animal Man changed into a dog as he digs up the remains of the body so Cyborg could analyze it. He manage to find a pale and decaying arm, as he uses his arms to pull the body out of the ground. The four looked at the body as they all share shocked faces.
"No way..." Cyborg muttered. "That looks just like-"
"Lt. Jim Grant." Nightwing finished as his eyes narrowed at the body of the man who stole the Demon's Hand from evidence lock up.
"That's the guy who took the only evidence lead in for Raven's case." Animal Man muttered.
The techno-organic Titan checks the body by using his red cybernetic eye to scan the body. Once he finished scanning, he reads the results of the time of death from his computer arm.
"Guys, I've found out his time of death." Cyborg said as he reads the results. "A whole month before he stole the Demon's Hand."
"But that would mean he didn't stole the Demon's Hand." Animal Man mentioned.
"Should we tell Chief Grant about his brother's corpse?" Starfire asked her leader/boyfriend.
"No." Nightwing replied. "He is still a person of interest in this whole conspiracy. Bring the body back to the tower so we can examine the cause of death." he orders as the Titans brings Jim Grant's body in a body bag so they can examine it.
Over at Belle Reve, it's been a very long four years for Raven. Ever since she was convicted for nineteen counts of first-degree murder under influence, one count of involuntary manslaughter, and several counts of grand larceny, she had been shut in this prison without possibility of escape or early release - she had another six years on her minimum sentence, and even then she could be denied parole long enough that she ends up dying in prison.
Waking up in her cell, Raven looked down to the bottom bunk of her cell to see Ravager, her cellmate, still asleep. The daughter of one of her biggest enemies, Slade, Ravager was the only person in Belle Reve that Raven was certain would not try to kill her. In fact, Ravager was the only inmate that would protect her.
First protecting Raven by brutally assaulting Rampage and Knockout, who had tried to murder her, Ravager later taught Raven how to perform cunnilingus, enabling her to avoid a sexual assault from Dr. Light. Later, when the doctor actually did attempt to rape her, Ravager bit his cock off, ensuring he would never be able to rape again, and with his new genitalia (a vagina), he quickly became a laughingstock and the bitch amongst male inmates.
Ravager then helped Raven fight off the countless attacks against their fellow inmates, and was teaching her how to fight hand-to-hand as without her powers, Raven was no stronger (if actually quite a bit weaker) than the average human being, primarily because of her demonic genes. It was just another thing Raven hated about her body, how she inherited her father's power, but not his strength or agility.
When the cell doors opened, Raven and Ravager got out of their beds and headed out to join the prison populace in heading over to the cafeteria for breakfast. The smart inmates made sure to leave the two alone, whereas some of the newer and more reckless inmates made an attempt to hurt Raven and Ravager.
Saying that these inmates failed was an understatement. Many of them ended up with bruises and/or broken bones while at least one prisoner found himself in a coma and another would end up requiring use of a motorized wheelchair and a feeding tube for the remainder of his life.
So, only the truly confident inmates would try to vent their anger on Raven, the former Titan imprisoned because of the Joker's actions. They just had to bide their time.
Entering the cafeteria, Raven and Ravager got up close to the front of the line to be given their breakfast by Lady Vic and Andre LeBlanc. After a two year stint as a server, Firefly was transferred from the cafeteria to the sanitation detail and the cook, "Ugly" was murdered by a group of his fellow male inmates. Vic volunteered to become the new cook as it got her out of structural maintenance and LeBlanc was chosen in a random draw to become the new server.
After getting their breakfast of oatmeal, toast, and water, Raven and Ravager headed over to their table to have breakfast. As usual, the two were awfully quiet, uncertain of what to say to one another. In the past four years, the two had practically got to learn everything about each other. Everything from their upbringing, to their training, to their lives before Belle Reve.
Once breakfast was over, the two were again separated for the day, first to the showers and next to their jobs - Raven off to her detail at the infirmary and Ravager off to her work at the prison maintenance detail. A little under a year ago, Ravager was transferred from her duty at the prison's manufacturing facility over to the prison maintenance detail, working on painting over the faded paint on the walls, and given how big Belle Reve was along with how she was the only one assigned to painting, she was only part of the way finished.
Heading into the shower, Raven stripped off her prison-issue shirt and pants before removing her underwear. A few months after the Titans' first visit to see Raven, they were granted permission (one of the last acts done by the now retired DA Adrian Chase) to send approved objects to Raven. And given how they heard about the Dr. Light fiasco, they sent Raven a set of undergarments to better conceal herself.
Hopping into the shower, Raven washed herself clean with soap and shampoo (another object sent by the Titans). Once finished with her shower, Raven got dressed and headed over to the infirmary for her shift.
Now, she was off to her shift at the infirmary with Doctor Musgrave, who was the only doctor present - despite her many requests, Warden Waller refused to hire on any new medical staff. Early on, a bit after being assigned to the shift, Raven asked if Doctor Musgrave was related to the Amanda Musgrave that was the foreman of the jury that sent her to Belle Reve. Julia denied it, saying that not everybody with the same last name is related - and Raven accepted it for it was the truth.
Upon greeting Musgrave, Raven's supervisor told her, "We've got a couple of new folders coming in for inmates being transferred to Belle Reve. I need you to go through them and verify their accuracy against their existing files. Got it?"
Raven replied, "Got it" and went to work checking the files. In her nearly four year stint as Musgrave's assistant in the infirmary, the two had gotten along rather well, with Musgrave rather sympathizing with Raven, especially considering how the doctor herself was the victim of child abuse and fled her abusive father at the age of 13. In fact, based on Raven's performance, if she wasn't an inmate there, Musgrave genuinely believed that Raven could become her replacement.
As for Ravager, as she worked on whitewashing the walls to give them back their luster, she thought about all she had been through in the past several years, especially with Raven soon becoming her cellmate. Initially planning on making Raven her "bitch", their conversations and time together had changed that plan extraordinarily. Ravager was highly protective of Raven, unlike Killer Frost, who prostituted Raven out as a punching bag and as a sex toy for most of the female inmates.
These feelings blossomed exponentially until around three months ago, when Ravager finally realized that she was actually in love with Raven. However, she never knew how to express those feelings to Raven, who had spent almost all of her life unable to feel, especially love. She knew about Raven's first attempt at romance, Malchior, which crashed and burned upon the realization he was a dragon bent on using Raven to secure his release. Ever since, Raven had refused to allow herself to feel love. For this reason, Ravager feared any attempt to express her feelings would go down in smoke as Raven would think she was merely using her. She was unsure of how to properly admit her love to Raven.
Frankly, she was inexperienced with love. She was plenty experienced in sex, but sex and love were very different things regardless of if they overlap. The two had only done it twice, and both times were out of necessity to help protect Raven - the first to teach her how to perform cunnilingus, and the second to keep any of the male inmates from taking Raven's hymen. Ever since, Raven was more than a little nervous to have sex again - and given what Raven had experienced up to that point, Ravager completely understood (even if she was a bit disappointed). Ravager's experience with one-night stands had left her unable to understand what true love actually was. Not father-daughter love, but romantic love, and especially if it was with another girl.
Ravager knew she was bisexual as result of her one-night stands, but she didn't know if she truly could love another woman. It seemed so taboo to be dating another girl, but she would have to accept it as it was true.
Ever since Raven arrived at Belle Reve, Ravager had wanted her as she knew what Raven truly was, that the two were more alike than they ever could have realized. That was part of the reason Ravager loved Raven so much and the reason she couldn't admit her feelings to Raven.
And Ravager knew she would have to before it was too late, before she lost Raven.
Over at the cell on the other side, Killer Frost, Raven's former cellmate who was cold like her heart, lay on her bottom bunk as she looks up at the bottom of the top bunk. On the top bunk was Frost's new cellmate, Madame Rouge. The former Brotherhood of Evil's top assassin was transferred here in replacement of Mist, whom requested to transfer to Blackgate to avoid further harm from Killer Frost(bloody bruises, head injury, fingernails taken off forcefully, not to mention the other unspeakable things Killer Frost did to her).
When Rouge moved in she claims superiority as the first time she came in Frost's cell, she curb stomp her and took the top bunk. At first Frost didn't like it when Rouge beats her at her own gain, but the two have one thing in common that settles their differences. Someone they have a vendetta with to settle the score with for the past two years...
Raven.
"If it weren't for Rampage and Knockout, we would still have that bitch feeding out of our hands!" Killer Frost shouts in anger as she wish to freeze someone to death.
"Of course, Lincoln." Rouge replied. "We have zhe right to do what we want with the demon bitch. But zhat bastard daughter of Deathstroke won't let us have her. Zhe real problem lies in zhe Ravager who iz zhe problem."
"Yeah, if only we could get Raven without getting into that one-eyed psycho's bad side." Frost wondered which gives Rouge an idea, a sinister idea.
"Then we must find a way to get zhe Ravager and Raven...separately." Rouge said as she jumps out of her top bunk as she face the ice villainess. "We have to take Ravager down."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, are you suicidal?" Killer Frost asked in a baffled manner. "You want to take on the daughter of one of the world's deadliest man, who has a questionable thing of kidnapping teenagers to become his bitch or whatever, and is known to take down most of the toughest prisoners here like Killer Croc, Rampage, Knockout, hell I don't think Girder's voice recovered from her five fingered larynx fractured attack. She's like, ten steps ahead of us."
Ignoring Frost's statement the French assassin smiled sadistically as she respond. "Then we shall get ahead of her. I've been in the Brotherhood of Evil long enough to think ahead of my enemies. Taking down zhe Titans one by one as zhey separated from each other was easy."
"Yet, you didn't expect that changeling to foil your plans and the result was to be frozen and defrosted here in Belle Reve, serving lifetime." Frost points out as Rouge glares at the ice villain.
Rouge smacks Killer Frost across the face in a high speed strike as Frost stumble down to the floor. Rouge then steps on top of Frost's crotch as she press it hard which makes Frost wince.
"Do you want to have that demon bitch in your fingers? Because I want to drag her down to a path of no return once we're done with her. So you're gonna help me formulate the plan." Rouge sneered towards Frost as she became more hostile towards her cellmate. She has been growing more hostile and violent over the past two years, maybe it was the sexual frustration for not having Raven as the prison bitch but Rouge was thinking darker.
Frost continues to ease the pain from her cellmate's hostility as she spoke. "R-Ravager has a job in maintenance. She's going to do some detail painting at Belle Reve so maybe...we can ambush her." she chuckled like a mad woman of this thought as Rouge laughs with.
"Of course. You shall ambush Ravager while I get Raven at recess. Without Ravager protecting her, we shall force the demon bitch to be back as our bitch!" Rouge madly laughs as she lets go of Frost who laughs along with. Truthfully Killer Frost wouldn't be near Ravager with a ten feet poll, but if it means getting Raven to be their bitch back, then any means necessary.
Back at Titans Tower, the Titans struggled to figure out what exactly had happened to Lt. Jim Grant. They had a lot of questions and not a lot of answers. All they knew was that somebody had killed him and then used his identity to steal the Demon's Hand from evidence lock-up.
As the Titans worked the murder, Animal Man asked Cyborg, "Have you looked at the lockup footage for the date Grant 'stole' the Demon's Hand?"
"I did, Gar. The man walking into evidence is an exact facial match to Jim Grant. There aren't any records of twins."
"Then we're dealing with a shapeshifter."
Then, Nightwing came into the main ops room to discuss what he found. Cyborg asked, "What happened to our victim?"
The aged Boy Wonder explained, "The body's decayed a bit, making it harder to figure out just what happened, but it's safe to say whoever killed him did not do so at the park. I'd say that Lt. Grant died from asphyxiation from strangulation. He was attacked from behind and had an elbow over his throat and a hand over his mouth."
"Doesn't sound like any of the killings in the past four years, which means we're dealing with another killer, Night."
"Aw, come on, Cy. We've already got at least three different killers, plus Harley, but now a fourth? There can't be any coincidence there."
"Of course, Animal Man. There is no coincidence at all. There's some sort of plan going on, and we desperately have to figure it out."
Suddenly, Starfire then came into the room with something. The Tamaranean princess said, "I may have found something pertaining to the Lieutenant Grant's murder."
Nightwing asked his girlfriend, "What did you find?"
Star explained, "I was going through his clothes, or what is left of his clothes and I found this in his wallet." She pulled out a card, wrapped in an evidence bag, and showed it to the other Titans.
Cyborg read it, "Argus. What the hell is it?"
Starfire continued, "I went through the fingerprints on the card. Grant never touched this card at all, and judging by the card's overall shape, it was tucked in his wallet after he died."
Animal Man commented, "A calling card. This Argus must be running the whole conspiracy, they must be responsible for Raven's imprisonment."
"Maybe, but they wouldn't leave a card just for nothing. They killed Jim Grant for a reason. To get the Demon's Hand from evidence lock-up. This is just one piece of the puzzle, and now we have our first step in solving it."
Little did the Titans realize was that every word they said was being recorded by the very card they had brought in.
Okay, this half of the story is going to be much darker than the first half, and now we'll be resolving the loose ends and revealing who is behind this conspiracy later on.