The Mark of Scath is at the center of the holographic board at the underground lab. To the sides of it, are the pictures of the corpses of Mark Peterson, the woman at the alley and the two cops. Richard studies them with an analytical gaze, chin in hands, and as he rests his elbows on the keyboard.
He has spent the last few hours down there, looking at the case, trying to find something he may have missed. That's what he always does. Obsess over a case so he does not have to think about anything else and face his other problems, in this case, his argument with Kory. You could argue that's the reason he became Robin in the first place.
Victor descends to the lab. Richard looks at him and turns back to the board.
"Didn't know you had come back" Victor says. "Where is Kory?"
Richard doesn't answer. "Why did you put them together?" He asks without looking at him. "The symbol with the murders."
"Thought there could be a connection. These murders happen, while this symbol appears on the mouth tape on a bomb hostage."
"You think Mad Mod could be behind the murders?"
Victor shrugs. "Don't know, call it a hunch."
Richard thinks about it. "Seems unlikely… and we are sure Light didn't commit the murders, right?" he asks.
Victor nods. "Yeah, checked with the manager at the club, had an alibi for two of them."
Silence. Richard looks at the screen.
"The symbol, you know what it means?"
"Not exactly, but it has something to do with Raven?"
Richard turns to him. "Raven? What does she have to do with all this?"
"The first time I saw this symbol was in her file." Victor takes a step forward and access Raven's file on the holographic screen. He starts going through the pictures in the file until reaching one showing the burned cornfield where she was found. It's the same S-like symbol as the one on the tape. "Whatever it is, its related to Raven."
"Yes, I know what it is."
Richard and Victor turn around, meeting Raven standing at the door of the lab with her arms crossed.
"How long have you been there?" Victor asks confused.
Raven shrugs. "Not much." She looks at the screen. "A year ago, I had a dream about this old library. I found it a hundred miles or so from Jump. When I got there, found it abandoned, and that symbol..." she points to the screen. "engraved in the entrance. It is the Mark of Scath."
Silence.
"What does Mod want with it?" Victor asks. Raven shrugs.
Richard thinks about it and turns to the screen. He starts typing, searching anything related to the Mark of Scath. Some news about the discovery of the Mark of Scath appears. Theres a picture of it. It's the same S-like symbol but tridimensional and bathed in gold, the size of a football ball.
Raven widens her eyes. It had been found. "No…" she murmurs to herself.
Richard looks at her. She may be knowing more that she says. He turns back to the screen.
Victor reads the article. "Was found by an American expedition. It will be brought to the country in the following days, beginning a tour through some of the cities, including…"
"Jump City" Richard finishes. Silence. He thinks. "I bet that's when Mod will attack" he says looking at Victor. Silence as they make eye contact.
"Oh no, no, no, I know that look, you are thinking of taking a gamble" Victor says referring to Richard. "We are not doing this shit again!" He raises his voice. "We are not stealing it so that he can't get it. We are not making the same mistake as we did with Deathstroke."
"That's probably why he put the symbol on the tape" Raven adds.
"Yeah, he is counting on us to steal it."
"But the last time we did it, we ended up freeing Raven from Starlabs" Richard argues.
"And almost destroying the city" Victor answers.
Silence. Richard thinks. "You are right, we don't know enough, we can't just jump blindly into this."
"Thank you."
"That's why first we are going to investigate." Raven and Victor look at him. "We are going to visit that library." Victor doesn't look convinced. "Look, with these murders we've been passive, waiting for the next one to occur."
"Yeah, we were forensics, basically."
"Exactly, from one crime scene to the next. With Billy, he made one hit, and we stopped him. We took initiative, we have to get back to the driver seat."
Victor thinks about it. "Fine."
The door of an apartment opens, revealing Kory on the other side. She steps in. Its hers and Richard's apartment, she hasn't been here since the fight with Richard. She looks around, natural light coming from the window and the moving boxes to the side. The place seems untouched, meaning probably he hasn't been here either. She walks to their room, grabs her bag and starts putting her clothes in. She knows she is probably making a rushed decision, but she doesn't care, she isn't planning to come back. She moves to her nightstand to grabs some of her things when she suddenly notices a framed photo of her and Richard, both smiling. She looks at it, for a second, her look softening. She sighs as she grabs it and puts it down, not wanting to look at it.
She stands up and turns around, but before she can take a step, she stops.
"That clorbag" she swears. This should be an easy decision. She looks outside through the window. Theres a bar there, just crossing the street. Maybe the alcohol could help her, at least that's what humans say.
Nightwing, Victor, Raven and Gar stand in front of the library. The entrance is a grand affair, with towering columns to the side, the door opened, from the other side only darkness being discernible, along with the scent of aged paper and wood. An underlying chill coming out of it. Raven looks up. Standing on top of the library is a flock of ravens, looking straight down at them, as if they knew who they are. Gar gulps.
Nightwing focuses on the symbol on the entrance. "The Mark of Scath."
Victor nods. "It's the same as the tape."
"Dude, what are we even going to find in there?" Gar asks, clearly trying to convince the rest of the team not to enter.
"Only one way to find out" Nightwing says as he takes a step forward. Victor behind. Gar takes a deep breath and follows them.
"Wait!" Raven says getting their attention. "We shouldn't enter."
"What's inside?" Victor asks.
Raven shakes her head. "I didn't go far, just know its an evil place, nothing good happens in there."
Nightwing and Victor trade glances. "You are not telling us all, aren't you?" Nightwing questions. Raven looks down. "That's what I thought, come on." With that he turns around once more, walking to the library.
Raven watches them as they continue walking. "Richard, why isn't Kory with us now?" She shoots back, a last resource to stop him from entering.
Nightwing stops, he narrows his eyes as he turns around and looks at Raven. She doesn't even blink as he looks back at her. Silence between the two of them. Victor and Gar alternate their gazes from one to the other.
Finally, Nightwing turns around. "We are going in." All four of them enter the library.
Inside, they are surrounded by complete darkness, rain dripping inside. Victor lights a flashlight from his shoulder illuminating their path as they continue. They haven't gone far when, suddenly, two pairs of red eyes appear on Raven's face. She gasps, her eyes turning back to humans.
Nightwing turns to her, concern in his eyes. "Raven?"
Then, out of nowhere the entrance of the library starts collapsing on itself, debris falling and dust clouding their view.
"Watch out!", "Dude!", "Move!" are some of the incomprehensible shouts that echo in the darkness.
Once the dust clear, they are able to see the entrance completely covered by debris, blocking the exit and incoming light, now only Victor's flashlight illuminating the room. They trade glances.
"Only one way out" Nightwing says as he turns around going into the darkness. The other three look at each other and follow him.
Victor moves his flashlight to the side illuminating countless shelves with countless old books on each. Ravens flutter in the upper reaches of the long-disused facility. Loud squawks can be discernible throughout the place, making Gar uncomfortable, as he tries to remain with the group.
"Dudes, even without the creepy librarians, I'm not digging this place." They all ignore him as they continue walking.
"This place is old, very old" Raven says.
"Don't go away from the flashlight" Victor warns. "Without light, you die in this kind of place."
"I wish Kory was here" Gar whispers. Her green energy beams sure would have been helpful as another source of light. Nightwing ignores him as he continues.
They hear a loud caw as a raven flies over them, they duck, the raven passing over them and disappearing into the darkness. The group trades glances as they get up and continue walking
With the corner of his eyes Gar notices a shadow moving. "What was that?!" he yells quickly turning, the group stopping.
Victor looks at him. "What was what?"
"That thing! The thing that moved!" Gar points to nothing in particular.
"I don't see anything, man."
"We are being followed" Nightwing says he continues walking, the others behind him.
Gar notices a drawing of the creature, engraved in one of the walls. "Raven! Raven! Look."
"Yeah, I saw it" she says as she continues walking. Gar looks at the creature. It clearly has a relationship with this place, maybe here is the key to finding more about it. He runs back to the group.
After a few minutes of walking, they reach a blank wall at the end of the passage, a dead end. Victor pans his flashlight around, no apparent exit.
"Now what?" Victor asks no one in particular.
Nightwing appears in deep thought, he turns to Raven. "When you were here, where did you go?"
Raven shakes her head. "I never made it this far."
"Dudes, what are we even hoping to find here?" Gar asks. No one answers.
Nightwing goes back to inspecting the wall. Raven looks at him. "There's nothing here. Can we go now?" Before she can turn around, the two pairs of red eyes appear again in her face. She gasps, as in cue, the wall in front of them moves out of the way, revealing a narrow dark descending staircase.
Gar freaks out as he jumps back but tries to play if cool. "Secret passage, cool."
The red eyes disappear on Raven. Nightwing looks at her, he noticed it. "It was you, wasn't it?" Raven doesn't answer. "The evil inside of you, it is leading us this way."
Raven looks at him and nods. "I'm afraid so."
Gar takes a sniff near the passage door. "The air is thicker down there."
Before Nightwing can take a step forward, Victor grabs him by the arm. "You sure we should go down there? Who knows how long that stairs go. Are we sure we want to find whatever is down there?"
Nightwing looks at him. "Like you said, we should investigate before we act."
"You hear that?" Victor asks motioning to the passage, where no sound is coming from. Nightwing doesn't answer. "Exactly, not even the crows go down there."
Nightwing ignores him and points to the passage. "This is the way." With that he walks forward, disappearing in the darkness.
"Is this about Kory?! You can't just ignore your problems!" Victor yells. No answer.
Gar crouches, transforming into a green rat and follows Nightwing.
Raven looks at Victor. "I can't leave him alone." She steps forward and follows them.
Victor watches them go. He really doesn't want to go down there. "Dammit… Gar goes down the creepy stairs, and I can't?" He says to himself. He sighs. "I wouldn't hear the end of it." He takes a breath and follows them disappearing into the darkness. "And we keep going deeper."
Kory is sitting at the bar counter, melancholy on her eyes as she taps with her fingers the wood of the counter. She hasn't drunk anything yet, just stayed in silence, thinking.
A petite bartender woman approaches her. "Is there anything I can serve you?" She asks a bit shyly while she cleans an empty glass.
Kory looks at him. "Can't I just here in silence?"
The bartender lets out a small giggle. "Sorry, bar policy, you must order at least one drink, I just work here" she excuses herself with a smile.
That earns her a small smile from Kory. She looks at a board where the different drinks are written. "What should I order?"
"It depends on what you want."
"I want to forget" she answers instantly.
The bartender thinks about it. "I would have to say whiskey." Kory nods. The bartender turns around, grabs a bottle of whiskey and pours some in a small glass. She pushes it forward to Kory.
"Leave the bottle" she says. After all, her kind has a better resistance to alcohol than humans.
The bartender looks at her, a bit worried. "Okay, but if something happens, I'm calling you a cab." She leaves the bottle and moves to the side, serving other clients.
Kory stays alone. She grabs her glass and downs it in one gulp. Yeah, it felt like water. She grabs the bottle and fills the glass again. It will take a while to the alcohol to start affecting her. Two cops pass behind her and recognize her. One of them tips his cap in respect, appreciation on his eyes and they both walk by. Kory rolls her eyes, a little annoyed, they shouldn't be thanking her for killing Light, after all, he was innocent of commiting the crime they think he did.
Her mind goes back to Richard. Damn him and his morals. Can't he understand where she is coming from, why it affects her so much, he didn't even give her a chance to tell him. Or maybe she didn't want to tell him. She trails as she thinks back to the past
A teenager Kory is strapped to a stretcher on a dark room. She tries to move but finds she can't as she struggles to get out. A dark figure comes to her side, a huge syringe on his hand as he sticks it on her arm. Kory cries in pain as the syringe's contents run through her blood burning her.
"Please stop!" She cries as her eyes start flashing green.
Kory stumbles to the floor as she is thrown into another dark room, the door closing behind her. Her arms and neck filled with syringes marks. She moves to the side, hugging herself as she cries.
Koma is on the other side of the room, with other Tamaranian girls to her side. She sees Kory and walks up to her hugging her. "You okay, sister?" Kory nods without looking at her. Koma notices the marks on her body. "Did they also touch you?"
Kory looks at her. She shakes her head. "No, they did not, why…?" her words dying down on her mouth. "Did they…?"
Koma doesn't answer. She just nods. Kory covers her mouth as she gasps and hugs her older sister tight.
Kory downs another glass of whiskey, yeah, still water. She fills it yet again, half of the bottle left.
They descend through the staircase, barely being able to see the step below. With each step, the difficulty of breathing increasing, the air getting thicker. Nightwing is the one leading the group, a green rat on his shoulder. Behind Victor and Raven.
Victor becoming wary with every step he takes; he looks at the panel on his arm. "According to this, we are around five hundred feet underground." No one answers, not wanting to voice their fears.
Nightwing notices something, an inscription written in the wall; he freezes as he stops descending.
Raven also notices it. "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here" she reads. Silence.
"Dante's inferno" Nightwing says. He looks at the rest of the team. "According to mythology, that's the inscription over the gates of hell." The green rat on his shoulder looks at him, as if trying to convince him to stop. Nightwing looks at him for a second before he focuses on the road ahead. "We move." With that, he continues descending. Victor and Raven trade glances and follow him.
After a few minutes of descending through the staircase, they finally reach the end. In front of them lies a long corridor, large wooden statues made of stone to the side. They continue walking.
Victor focuses on the statues. Each one around seven feet, they look human with cloaks covering their faces, huge scythes on their hands. He turns back in front. He doesn't notice as the eyes of one of the statues suddenly move, his gaze following him.
Raven suddenly stops. She notices something written in the wall and walks to it. The group follows her, with Gar turning back to human. Victor illuminates with his flashlight. Raven looks at it. It looks like an altar with a hole in it. Next to it, there's a long text engraved on the wall, written in Sanskrit.
"What does it say?" Nightwing asks.
Raven reads as she follows with her finger. "Here lies him, the one who all owns, the one who all destroys, the one who all conquers. Here he was imprisoned… Trigon his name, chaos personified, the most dangerous demon to step foot on the face of earth." At the mention of his name, a loud wind passes sending chills down their spines. They trade glances. Raven continues. "The monks guard this place, their mission to prevent anyone from freeing him."
One of the statues behind them slowly moves its scythe.
"Why would anyone free him?" Nightwing questions.
"The monks made sure he couldn't escape. But he found a way. The Mark of Scath."
Silence.
"Oh great!" Victor says. "And now this Mark of Scath is on its way here to Jump, sure convenient."
Gar points to the hole over the altar. "I bet that's where the Mark of Scath goes."
Raven continues reading. "Thats the key to freeing him, but he can't do it on his own, he needs a mortal to free him." She pauses. "Trigon is cunning, he knows how to get what he wants from others. Be warned, even in his imprisoned state, he can communicate with the outside, access their minds, and call them."
Nightwing looks behind suspiciously. He felt something, he doesn't know exactly what, a hunch. However, he doesn't see anything unusual. He turns back to Raven.
"Many monks had to be sacrificed. He will concede whatever their deepest wish is to whomever frees him…" Raven stops as she turns around, alarmed. "A couple of weeks ago, I had a dream about Jump City, that's why I came back."
"He called you" Nightwing says.
Raven nods. She thinks back to Malchior "I met a guy a few days ago, he also had a dream about the city, I think he also was called."
Nightwing thinks about. "We have to assume he also called Mod, that's why he knows about it."
"Who know who else he called" Victor says. "The promise of fulfilling their deepest wish must be impossible to resist."
Gar brightens as he looks at Raven. "That's why you summoned me, the creature! Just like he is calling everyone to free him, you called the creature to protect you! The guardian!"
"Or he call you too" Victor points out.
Raven rolls her eyes. "Gar, again, I didn't…"
Before she can finish Nightwing notices a scythe coming to meet Ravens neck. "Raven, watch out!" He jumps forward and with his esgrima sticks blocks it. He looks up, there in front of him is one of the statues, its eyes flashing red.
Victor turns around illuminating ten or so of those statues standing behind them, watching them threateningly. They widen their eyes. "What the fuck?!" He fires his canon, the statues moving away and attacking them.
Nightwing pushes back the scythe and does a cartwheel, avoiding the attack of another monk. He raises his esgrima sticks just in time to block another attack. He can barely see them, it's too dark. He raises his leg, pushing the statue back, and throws a batarang at it blowing its head. However, it doesn't stop as it continues swinging its scythe at him.
Victor continues firing his cannon at the statues approaching him. One of them manages to sneak from the side and swings its weapon cutting him. Victor yelps in pain as he staggers backwards. "Okay, now you made me angry." He transforms his canon back into a hand and delivers a mighty punch to the closest statue destroying it. He then moves to the next, delivering another punch, but it's blocked by the monk using the scythe, and before he knows it, another statue is cutting him in the back. Victor again screams as he falls to the ground.
Raven, using a black shield made of her own energy, is protecting herself from the attack of three monks, each trying to cut through using their weapon. From the corner of her eye, she notices Victor on the ground trying to protect himself as three statues cut him with their scythe. She concentrates on the statue closest to her and throws it against the statues attacking Victor, getting them away from him.
Victor quickly stands up and fires his canon, creating separation.
Raven raises her shield again just in time to block an upcoming attack, but it isn't enough as she is sent to the ground. The scythes of two monks go down on her, but she fades through the floor just in time to avoid them, reappearing behind them, and back to defending herself.
Meanwhile, Gar, in rat form, is escaping from the attack of five monks at the time, running through the floor, barely being able to dodge some of the attacks.
Nightwing is struggling against two of the statues, blocking their attacks. A third one joins the fight, attacking him and cutting through his new suit. He yelps as he jumps back. He looks around, everyone seems to be struggling against the statues, they can't maintain this fight in the darkness for much longer.
He notices Gar running away from the statutes. He throws an electric disk at the feet of the statues chasing him, paralyzing them just before they hit Gar. The rat runs up to Nightwing and climbs on his shoulder. Nightwing breathes as he tries to think. He moves to side, barely avoiding another attack. They can't go back the way they came, there are too many of them that way. The only way is forward. He blocks the attack of two statues, pushes them and jumps back. "Raven! Vic! Run! Forward!"
Raven looks at him and nods. She runs to Victor, grabs him and phases them through the floor, appearing a few feet in front of Nightwing. They run forward.
Nightwing looks at the rat on his shoulder. "Go!" The rat obeys as he climbs off him and follows Victor and Raven.
Nightwing moves away from another attack, throws a roundhouse kick to a close monk. He looks up, what appears to be a whole army of statues behind him. He takes out a smoke bomb, throws it to the ground and runs behind the rest of the team. The statues running closely behind him.
Raven runs until reaching the edge of a large cliff, only darkness visible on the other side and an endless pit below. Victor comes from behind and grabs her before she loses her balance. They look behind. An army of statues behind, chasing Nightwing. They look at each other.
"Go, I'll catch you" Raven says.
Victor nods, as he takes a deep breath and jumps forward, disappearing into the darkness. Raven jumps behind. Gar makes it to the cliff and jumps, hopeful of being able to transform midair.
Nightwing comes in last, jumping without even thinking about it just before the statues reach him, his figure fading into the darkness. Everything goes dark.
Koma looks at Kory straight in the eyes, her hands on the side of her sister's head. "Kory looks at me, this is our chance to escape, you have to follow me." Kory nods. "Don't have mercy on them, they didn't have it with us, and neither will now, you understand? They don't deserve mercy. Its them or us." Kory nods again. "I understand, Komi. I will do what I must."
Kory is still at the bar, the bottle of whiskey empty as she just pours the last of it into the glass. Although she isn't as drunk as a human would be after drinking a whole bottle, she must admit her senses are not working at the fullest of their capabilities, her hands shaking as she fills the glass.
She is about to down the whole glass when suddenly a beer bottle shatters on the ground behind her, startling her. She turns around, seeing the bartender on the floor picking up the pieces of glass, next to her is a table with three men, all of them laughing their asses off.
"Sorry" the bartender says looking down in shame as she picks up the pieces.
"You lot should be mare careful" one of the men says in a British accent as he continues laughing. They probably tripped her. The man places his foot over her back and pushes her down. She lets out a low cry as the pieces of glass hurt her hands.
"Would you mind?" Kory yells from her place, their laughter giving her a headache.
The men stop as they look at her. "Stay out of this, lad" one of them says.
"I would very much like that, but I cannot with your laughter that is causing me the headache and that you insist on harassing the woman providing me with alcohol" she says in an angry tone, not exactly sure if she had made sense. The bartender takes advantage of the distraction and leaves the men.
One of the men stands up facing her, another grabs him by the arm trying to stop him. "Mate, remember that Mod told us to stay on the low for the next few days" he says. Kory's ears perk at that.
The other brushes off the warning and walks up to Kory. He punches the counter and looks down at her, clearly trying to intimidate her. "I dare youla to repeat that." Kory doesn't say anything, his voice really annoying her. "How about ya get the fuck out of here, whore?"
In a quick move, Kory grabs him by the head and slams him into the counter, then lifts him up and throws him to the ground. The other two quickly stand up, prepared to fight her. Kory raises her arms ready to fire a green beam, the men watching her waiting for the next move. After a few seconds, no energy beam comes from her hands. Confused she looks at her hands. "What?... That is the unlucky." She turns back to the men, who trade glances and charge at her.
She catches the fist of the first one, twists his wrist, and punches him down, knocking him unconscious. The other grabs her from behind, but she quickly spins around and headbutts him pushing him back a few feet. Kory then grabs a fork from one of the tables, the man throws a punch at her, but she meets him with the fork sticking it in his fist as he cries in pain.
Kory then grabs him by the coat at neck level and raises him off the floor. "Now, care to repeat what you said about the Mad Mod?" She questions.
Richard's eyes shoot wide open, panicked he looks around. Everything is dark, only darkness surrounds him. Who knows how much he fell through the cliff.
"Where…?"
He suddenly feels his right hand being intertwined with another. He looks to the side, where a smiling Kory is looking at him.
"Greetings, Richard."
"Kory?" He mumbles confused.
She notices his confusion. "Richard, are you alright?" She asks still smiling.
"I… I thought… you…" he again says sounding confused.
Kory cocks her head to the side. "You seem rather pale, Richard."
"I…"
Kory shrugs. "Come on, Richard, I want some of the ice-cream" she says walking forward and dragging him with her.
"Ice-cream?" He looks up and is surprised to find they are at the Jump City carnival on the pier, with the Ferris wheel and food stalls to the side, the place crowded with people, all oblivious to them.
They start walking, Richard watching in awe as nobody seems to be paying attention to him, no cameras flashing, no incoherent shouts at him, nobody worried about the Dick Grayson or Nightwing alter ego. They reach an ice-cream shop, where they are served by a polite man with a mustache.
"What would the happy couple like?" He asks.
Kory pokes her tongue out as she thinks. "I believe I would like… chocolate and strawberrie, please."
"Very good choice" the man says as he starts serving the ice-cream on a cone and hands it to her.
"Mrs…?"
"Kory" she answers with a smile.
The man nods with a smile and looks at Richard. "And the gentleman…"
Richard looks at him, he doesn't recognize him. "Richard." He takes a couple of bills. "Oh, no, no, its on the house" the man says rejecting being paid.
Richard nods at him with a smile as they both turn around, continuing to walk.
"Are you sure you did not want some of the ice-cream?" Kory asks while she licks her ice-cream.
Richard looks at her. "I…" he shakes his head and smiles. "I only want you." With that he closes the distance between the two of them, kissing her.
"Stone! Stone!"
Victor suddenly opens his eyes, confused. He looks around. He is sitting on the bench of a football stadium. His face completely human. He looks down, he is wearing his old college football uniform, minus the helmet.
"Stone! Do you hear me?!"
Victor looks up. The coach is yelling at him. "Coach?" He asks confused.
"Get your head on the game, Stone. Come on, you are in." Victor stands up and puts on his helmet.
The teams get in position, Victor moving to the side as a wide receiver, as he observes the defender he has in front. The quarterback calls the play, and the ball is snapped.
With that, Victor gets shot like a bullet in a dead sprint forward, the defender tries to tackle him, but Victor runs past him like a moving train. The quarterback drops back, scans the field and throws the ball at Victor. He catches it while in the air between two defenders, continues running, does a spin move to avoid a fourth defender in his way and goes on. Touchdown! The crowd goes crazy as it roars in excitement. Victor throws the ball to the ground and shouts wildly, hyped as he flexes his muscles. The team coming in behind to celebrate with him.
Gar slowly opens his eyes and gets up. He is on his bed at his old bedroom. He looks around, the room seems untouched, no furniture on the floor, no blood, no dead bodies. He hears the sound of a radio coming from outside.
With suspicion, he gets up from the bed and slowly walks out, careful not to make any sound. He reaches the kitchen where his eyes completely widen. There in front of him are his mom and dad, both alive, acting as if nothing happened. The dad is sitting in front of the table reading the newspaper, a cup of coffee in his hand, while his mom is standing at the counter cooking, moving to the beat of the music coming from the radio.
"Mom… dad…" he whispers.
Both of them turn to him.
"Gar, you are awake" the mom says in a sweet tone.
"How you doing, champ?" Dad salutes.
Gar looks confused. "I…"
"Sweetie, are you feeling alright?" Mom asks, a worried look on her face. She walks to his side and kisses him on the forehead. "Now, why don't you come and have breakfast with us? I made you your favorite, tofu waffles" she says motioning to a plate with waffles over the table.
Gar nods and sits next to his dad, still confused.
"Don't tell me you've grown too old to sit with your old man" dad jokes as he nudges him playfully.
Gar smiles for the first time. "No, dad." He then proceeds to take a bite of his food. Mom joining them, sitting next to him. Gar looks at them, a smile on his face, they seem like a happy family again.
Raven opens her eyes, nothing nor nobody around her, only darkness, and silence. She looks around.
"Hello?" She calls, but theres no answer, only her echo.
She takes a step forward when suddenly two pairs of giant red eyes appear, making her gasp and stumble to the ground.
"The day is coming" a deep voice coming from the eyes says.
Raven widens her eyes. The evil side of her. She clutches her head. "No, I won't let you control me…" she whispers.
At that, the voice laughs. "Raven, I already have control over you. The murders, do you think you did them? That you had anything to do with it?" the voice says.
"What?"
Images appear of her using her dark energy to kill Mark Peterson at the tenement building, the woman in the alleyway, and the two cops at the warehouse, the two pairs of red eyes on her face.
"No..." she whispers. Raven thinks as she looks at the eyes, they seem familiar. She again widens her eyes, realization hitting her. "You... you are the one who has been controlling me, there's no evil side inside me, it's just you! Trigon…" she shoots.
"The portal must be open!"
"What does it have to do with me? What do you want from me?!" She questions.
"You are the key to everything. You were made for this, Raven, I made you with this purpose."
"What?!... You made me?" She asks, not wanting to believe it. "I'm…"
"My daughter, Raven. You are going to destroy the world" Trigon says ending with a laugh.
Raven remains silent. "You'll never get the Mark of Scath! My friends won't allow it!" she yells.
Trigon laughs. "Child, your team is under my control, they will do it for me."
Raven pauses, confused. "What?"
Images of Richard, Victor and Gar appear, each in their own fantasy. "I showed them their deepest wish, and they did the rest. They would rather live in their own fantasy than face the world."
"No…"
Richard continues walking through the pier, his right-hand fingers intertwined with Kory's, a smile on his face, he is enjoying this new anonymity.
He suddenly notices a mirror to the side, he stops.
"Richard?"
Richard ignores her as he looks at the mirror. It is his reflection, but with one particularity. He has a black mask with pointy ears that covers the top half of his face. "No…" The Batman mask.
He walks up to it, leaving Kory behind, the whole world around fading. In the reflection, he is now wearing the complete Batman suit. He touches his face with his right hand, the reflection copies him, but with the suit.
"No, I… I'm not you!"
His reflection smiles back at him and nods. He raises his hand showing blood all over them, the creepy smile never leaving his face.
"No!" He roars as he punches the mirror, the mirror shattering, but the smile still visible in the broken pieces of glass, blood now coming from his hand, as he looks down, out of breath.
Victor is at a late-night party on a big house, the place filled with people and loud music buzzing. He has a beer bottle on his hand as he chats with some of his teammates, a smile on his face, he missed the after-game parties.
A girl approaches him. "Excuse me, are you Victor Stone?" She asks.
Victor looks at her with a smile. "I am" he says flirtatiously.
The girl blushes. "I just wanted to say, you were impressive."
"Thanks, beautiful."
The girl looks around. "Would you want to talk in a more private place?"
Victor smiles. "I'd love to, after you" he says motioning to the stairs leading to the top floor.
Once they reach a bedroom, Victor grabs her by the waist and they start making out, when suddenly she stops. "What is that?" She asks, a bit of fear on her face.
"What?" Instinctively, he takes his hand to his face, where he is surprised to find metal. "No." He quickly turns to the side to a mirror, where his reflection is completely robotic, no trace of human flesh. "No! No, no, no."
He crumbles to the floor, clutching his face. "No, please no! I don't want to go back to this!"
Gar is still having breakfast with his family. He is almost finished with his food when he is interrupted by an alarm on his dad's phone. Dad looks at it, frowns, and looks at mom. "Dear, we have to go." Mom nods as they both stand up.
"What?" Gar says freaking out a little. "But you just got here."
"We will talk later, son, they need us at work" dad says without even looking at him.
"But…"
"Gar, theres been an emergency. Will you be alright on your own?" The mom asks.
"No! No, I won't be!" Gar says raising his voice. "I need you!" He gets up and tries to grab them from the arms but is unable to stop them. His eyes start turning green. "Don't leave!" Tears coming from his eyes, claws growing on his hands. "Don't leave me alone!" This can't happen, not again. He starts growing, his clothes barely fitting him, fur growing on his skin.
"Don't miss us, Garfield" the mom says as they both exit the house, leaving Gar alone looking at the door. He collapses on the floor and starts crying, his body going back to human, his clothes a little torn.
"Please don't leave. I can't do this alone" he cries.
Richard opens his eyes, in front him is the broken mirror. He looks down where he notices Kory on the floor, a pool of her own blood below her. "Kory!" He yells as he rushes to pick her up. Her opened eyes to the side, with blood coming from her forehead and multiple bruises on her cheeks. "No, no, what did I do?!" His reflection on the mirrors still laughing. "I'm sorry, Kory, I dragged you into this, I dragged all of you into this" he cries. Suddenly, a batarang materializes on his hand. Unconsciously, he starts bringing it closer to this cheek. He presses the tip to his cheek and starts tracing a symbol with his blood, the Mark of Scath.
Victor reaches to his face, grabs the metal and with great forces tries to rip it off his face. He screams in pain as he pulls it off, flesh coming out as well as blood, a lot of blood. He holds the metal up, showing his face totally disfigured, as he cries. The Mark of Scath engraved on his disfigured face.
Gar once more gets up, as he starts growing, his eyes turning green, fangs growing in his mouth, fur coming from his skin and enormous claws in his hands. It's the creature. He lets out a loud roar as he lunges at the door destroying. He then moves around the kitchen, destroying everything in his way, the table, the counter, the family photos, everything as he lets out another roar. On the counter is on display the Mark of Scath made with his own claws.
"Please stop!" Raven pleads as she watches them, shocked.
"They will open the portal for me, with your help" Trigon says, laughing.
"No…"
"You can't stop it."
"No…" she looks at Trigon. "I won't do it… and neither will they! I know them. They are not this thing you are showing me, they are good people, they won't fall for your tricks… I won't let them!" She yells raising her voice. She closes her eyes and starts concentrating, repeating her mantra. "Azarath, Metrion…
"You can't save…"
"Zinthos!" With that her eyes open, both glowing white as the whole place becomes white.
Raven opens her eyes, out of breath, she looks around. She is on the floor outside of the library. Victor, Gar and Nightwing next to her, all of them appear out of breath, looking around. For a moment, she thinks she sees the two pair of red eyes on their faces, but it quickly fades away. The men exchange glances, confused, neither wanting to share what they had experienced.
"It was all a dream" Victor says.
Raven nods, not wanting to deepen.
Nightwing stands up, as do the rest of the team. "Is everyone okay?"
"Define okay" Raven says.
They all nod. "What happened?" Gar asks.
Nightwing looks at Raven. "Raven got us out." He stays silent for a couple of seconds, thinking back to what Raven read about Trigon. He looks at Victor, who appears to be thinking the same thing. They make eye contact and nod. One decision being taken. They must steal the Mark of Scath, before it falls in the wrong hands.