Chapter 46: Furlough 6

And they say

That a hero could save us

I'm not gonna stand here and wait

I'll hold onto the wings of the eagles

Watch as we all fly away

Someone told me

Love would all save us

But, how can that be

Look what love gave us

A world full of killing

And blood spilling

That world never came

********

"It's been six minutes since the initial explosion," Nightwing explained, his voice coming through the communicators as the wind rushed by the group. He, Mercury, and X-23 were being carried by Raven while the rest flew under their own power. "Emergency responders are on their way, but we will be there first. Civilian evacuation is a priority."

"What caused the explosion?" Winman asked as he navigated the sky on his hoverboard. Six of his drones followed in a loose formation.

"The exact cause is unknown, but there are sightings of a large, extremely muscular dark-skinned man running around and destroying the buildings. Apprehending him is also a goal but evacuation takes precedence. If anyone runs into him, radio the others and move to intercept if possible."

""Understood.""

Nightwing noticed Raven didn't respond with the others but filled it away for later discussion. This was hardly the first time she hadn't spoken up when prompted.

The smoke from the burning shopping center, one of the largest in San Fransico, was visible long before the buildings were. A towering plume of black fumes filled the afternoon sky, and the Titans could hear sirens and screams as they approached the disaster.

The area was devastated.

The parking lot was the center of the blast, with a large hole gouged out of the middle. Concrete, metal and piping lay exposed in the deep hole that was now filling up with sewage from the ruptured lines. Cars had been blasted to the side in a ring, toppled over on their sides and upside down.

The buildings were not better off.

They were all on fire, and most of the roofs had collapsed to one degree or another. 

Large glass windows had shattered, sending shards like millions of tiny knives at the hapless shoppers.

The dead and the dying lay everywhere.

Screams, cries for help, wailing, and begging resounded through the air.

"Titans! Go!" Nightwing cried, landing with a roll and sprinting for one of the nearest buildings. Pressing a button on his neck, a gas mask rose to cover his mouth and nose.

Already briefed on the way over, the young heroes dove into action with the confidence of long experience.

Except one.

Raven flew over the parking lot, righting cars and freeing those trapped inside.

As she levitated the injured and the dying towards a safe spot for the paramedics to treat when they arrived, she felt no confidence. 

Even the sombre resolution that her teammates held was wholly absent in her.

As she gently lowered a woman screaming in pain due to the shrapnel in her legs to the sidewalk, all Raven felt was guilt and fear.

********

The fight left Raven at the Elden Lord's words.

He knew.

He knew everything.

Woodenly she floated to sit on the ruined frame of her bed, uncaring for the woodchips, destroyed sheets, or shards of glass that covered the floor.

What was the point of running anymore?

With Raven's emotional surrender, the chaos caused by her powers subsided.

For a long moment, everything was silent in the Titan's room. Her dark curtains had been shredded by the exploding window panes, letting in the barest hint of light from the fading sun and the much brighter blues of Ranni's Dark Moon.

Mikeal's smile, so teasing and smug a second ago, softened slightly as he watched her collapse.

"Hey," he said softly, a teasing note in his voice. "Relax. It's just an apocalypse. Not the end of the world or anything. Think of it as another Tuesday." He paused, realizing how absurd his words sounded. "Scratch that. It's Tuesday. You don't have the energy from the weekend left over, like on Monday, and you still have the rest of the week to go. Tuesdays are the worst. I'd rather have an apocalypse."

There was another long moment of silence, this one slightly more awkward, as Raven stared at the man in disbelief.

"Jeez, tough crowd," he sighed.

"What do you want?" Raven asked again, her voice firmer than before.

"I already told you," Mikael smiled smugly again. "I want to stop the apocalypse. One of them, at least. You guys have one every other week, and I am not bored enough to spend all my time dealing with them. This one just looks more fun than others."

"You can't stop him," Raven said softly, drawing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. She stopped looking at the man, staring at the debris-covered floor but not seeing it. "No one can. He's too strong. You might have conquered worlds, but he rules dimensions. This is just another one on his list."

"It's like you didn't listen to me at all. Everything dies. No exceptions. The big jalapeno is just a jumped-up imp with delusions of adequacy. I can take him."

"You can't!" Raven insisted, looking at the lounging man once more. At some point, he had flipped himself in the chair, his head hanging down in the air and his feet on the back. His hair brushed the ground as he grinned up at her. "No one can. I've talked to everyone I can think of. Dr. Fate. Dr. Strange. Constantine. I even managed to ask Morgaine le Fey. None of them have ever heard of anyone ever stopping him. Once he sets his sights on a dimension, it is his. He is inevitable."

"That's my line," Mikael said petulantly. Then he frowned for the first time in this conversation. Flipping himself right side up, he suddenly met her eyes, looking serious. Draconic eyes bore into Raven's own, and she swallowed nervously at their intensity. "You talked to all these people? About Daddy Daddy Do?"

"When I first arrived in this dimension, I was looking for all the help I could get," Raven nodded, thinking back to those early months. Lost and confused, before meeting her fellow Titans, she had wandered the world alone in search of anyone who could help her.

"And they did nothing?" Mikael asked, looking dubious. "Didn't try and banish you? Kill you? Stop Clifford, the big red dog? Nothing?"

"They didn't believe me," Raven shook her head, subtly clenching her fists at the memory. "Most thought the dimensional walls would hold him back like they have before. Those who realized I was his daughter, a half-demon, they thought it was a trap. They thought he was controlling me. They'd be opening the way in trying to stop his arrival." Raven smiled wanly at the man rubbing his chin in thought. "He is not known to be a good father."

"Hmm," Mikael hummed, eyes narrowing. Then he shook his and refocused on her. "No matter their mistake, never fear. I am here!" He puffed up his chest and sent a cheesy smile her way.

As if to reassure her.

It didn't.

*********

X-23 found the suspect in under a minute.

The smoke obscured her senses, so it was more a factor of luck than skill that she noticed the towering black man with four glowing red eyes crash through a wall in one of the buildings. A movement in the corner of her eye had drawn her attention, and she saw his back disappear into the smoke-filled halls.

"Target spotted," she called out to her communicator as she sliced through a door with her claws. The people trapped inside clamoured out, coughing and wheezing from the smoke, but since they were mobile and no one else was in that room, X-23 was already turning to chase. "The mail store. Pursuing."

"I'm nearby," Mercury called out. "I'll be with you once I get this last guy out. Try to drag him into the open. The buildings are already unstable."

"Everyone else, keep evacuating," Nightwing called.

"Copy," X-23 called as she hurried to follow the trail of destruction the man was leaving behind.

The mutant felt her annoyance rise.

This entire attack was pointless. 

Destruction for its own sake. 

There was no reason to attack a shopping center. No money in it. Nothing valuable or significant.

She could be training, getting better with every spar against one of the best teachers the world had ever seen.

Instead, she was here. 

A bunch of people were dead, and more would follow.

X-23 looked forward to taking out this frustration on the attacker's hide.

She was so caught up in her feelings that the mutant was almost defeated when the monster of a man burst from the wall to her side.

Sheetrock, wood and metal blasted away as hands the size of plate lunged to grab X-23.

Only instincts, long ingrained in her through training, saved her.

That, and Laura was short.

At over eight feet tall, the giant of a man was so massive that his head carved through the ceiling. His arms were so thick with muscle that each was as wide as her waist. 

While all that suggested superhuman strength, it also limited flexibility and mobility.

X-23 tossed herself bodily out of the way, rolling on the ground and coming up in a crouch, claws extended in preparation.

Four red eyes glared at her as he snarled.

X-23 snarled back.

She lunged at him, claws extended to carve chunks from his flesh.

He smacked her aside with a massive fist.

X-23 smashed into, and through, two walls before landing and carving a groove through the dirt of the park behind the buildings.

She was on her feet in a few seconds, wounds already healing.

She snarled again.

Partly at the four-eyed man charging at her. 

Mostly at herself.

It pissed her off that he had managed to get the drop on her.

It pissed her off more that she hadn't killed him yet.

"Grrrrr," she growled, the ability for speech lost in her rage.

She lunged for him, ducking under another punch and impaling one set of claws in his side.

He roared with rage and pain, grabbing her by the arm and tossing her aside closer to the buildings again.

She landed on her feet, ready to charge once more.

A tendril of liquid metal wrapping around her throat stopped her.

"You don't deserve it," a female voice growled in her ears. "If I can't have a body, no one can."

X-23 lashed out, claws separating the chunk of silvery substance holding her tight.

Whoever this was, they were pissing her off too.

"Die!" The strangely familiar voice snarled.

If the red haze of rage that consumed X-23 had been less dense, the mutant might have cried the same thing as she lunged.

Instead, Laura snarled as she tried to kill her best friend and teammate.

********

"You can't win!" Raven insisted, standing from her and glaring at the irreverent man. "I can't stop him. You can't stop him. The League can't stop him! No one can! He isn't something like an Endbringer! You can't fight him and beat him back. When he arrives tomorrow, that is it. The End!" The debris started to float around her room as her emotions rose again.

"I am sensing a lot of negativity in you," Mikael leaned back on his chair on two feet and stapled his fingers together as he looked at her in mock seriousness. "Let us talk about that. What are the stressors in your life? How is your relationship with your father?"

The chair under the Elden Lord shattered.

Mikael didn't move, still holding his position in mid-air like some bad magical therapist.

Raven had never wanted to strangle someone more.

Perhaps sensing she was near her breaking point, he finally took mercy on her.

"In all seriousness," Mikael sighed, standing up and ignoring the items whirling around the room. "No one and nothing is invincible." 

He gently rested a hand on her shoulder as his smile turned sympathetic. 

She flinched at his touch before relaxing. Usually, proximity to people increased her empathic abilities to an uncomfortable degree. Skin-to-skin contact was almost painful. But Mikael and his family were different. She felt nothing from them.

He still removed his hand when he noticed how uncomfortable she was.

"What do you have to lose?" He asked softly. "Either the world is destroyed tomorrow, and nothing we do will stop it, or we can stop it if we put forth the effort. I hate people who give up due to their circumstances without even trying. Even if a struggle is fruitless, it is never without meaning. Even if only to ourselves."

Raven stared into the draconic eyes of a man she had only met a few days ago and felt a sense of vertigo.

In a brief, very minor flash of Insight, she realized a tiny fragment of the Truth.

In her mind's eye, she saw a man walking alone through ash as worlds crumbled around him. As walls rose up in front of him, he kept moving forward.

Battered. Bruised. Beaten.

Broken.

But never bowed.

Worlds would end and rise again long before Mikael ever gave up.

"What do you want?" When she said the words this time, even she was surprised by the acceptance in them. She still had no confidence in his ability to defeat her father, but Mikael was right.

What did she have to lose?

"I want to kill the devil," he said with a smile, realizing the implications in her tone. "And I need your help to do it."

********

Regarding search and rescue, Mercury was hands down the best Titan.

Her form didn't have to worry about air and smoke, it could flow through the tiniest cracks, and her shapeshifting allowed her to become anything needed to help civilians evacuate.

Mercury, the liquid that is, boiled at over six times the temperature of water. So long as she avoided active power lines or getting too much of her body separated, the heroine was one of the best heroes in the business.

This was why, despite Laura's call coming only a minute after their arrival, she had already rescued a half dozen trapped or injured men and women.

There was quite a bit of luck to it, Mercury would argue. She seemed to find those in need easily despite not possessing the enhanced senses of her teammates.

Nevertheless, she had evacuated the building incredibly quickly by the time she received the call and would have gone to aid X-23 right away had she not caught sight of a form shrouded in the shadows of the smoke.

"Help!" The man called out.

"I'm nearby," Mercury called out to her friend, moving back inside the building. "I'll be with you once I get this last guy out. Try to drag him into the open. The buildings are already unstable."

In times like this, Mercury was incredibly envious of Laura's mutation.

Healing, enhanced senses, and claws were soooo much better than shapeshifting and a body that couldn't feel anything.

Remembering the barbeque from yesterday, the one she couldn't eat, doubled the envy the young woman felt.

"Help!" The man called again, somehow even further from the entrance than before. Was he lost in the smoke?

"Here!" Mercury shouted, trying to draw him closer. "This way!"

A burning support beam fell on her, splattering her body across the floor.

It only took a moment to reform and press forward, but Mercury couldn't help but wish she had Starfire's strength and flight. She would have just caught the beam.

And she could have sex with her hot boyfriend.

One of many things Mercury would never experience.

From a hole in the wall, billowing smoke into the air, Mercury saw X-23 blast across the grass of the nearby park and the massive man chase after her.

Super strength would also be good.

Life just wasn't fair.

All thoughts of rescue were lost to the young woman as she watched the brief clash.

All she could think about was all the things they had that she didn't.

It wasn't fair.

She didn't even realize she was strangling her best friend and teammate.

********

"How?" She asked, still not believing she was going along with this absurdity. "He is literally invincible."

"He is," Mikael nodded. "Make no mistake, I am not underestimating Tri-hard in the least. If we were both at the peak of our powers, he would wipe the floor with me and most things in this dimension. I might have infinite power, but so does he. And he can bring more to bear at any given instant than I can. So I'd lose."

"You are not making me feel confident in your chances," Raven snarked, falling back on her default defensive response as she crossed her arms and glared up at him.

Why did he have to be so tall?

"I said that is only if I fought him at his peak," Mikael rolled his eyes. "I am not stupid. I do my homework. You forget we have the home-field advantage."

"What does that mean?"

"If Tri-Hard 2: Tri-Harder is so powerful, why can he not just barge in and wreck this dimension? Why does he need you?" Mikael asked rhetorically. "Dimensions have their own protections, walls that do not come down easily. On top of that, we have people like the Sorcerer Supreme who reinforce them and ward off intrusion attempts. To be honest, he should be here with you, not me, but," Mikael shrugged. "I haven't been too impressed with him lately. I get he is busy, but he is never around when you need him."

"Dimensional walls," Raven forced the man to refocus before he went on another tangent. "How do they help?"

"Right," Mikael continued. "Think of each dimension as a castle. Walls, defenders, standing armies, the whole nine yards. You can theoretically burst through the fortifications, but doing so is difficult and inefficient. Much easier to have someone on the inside to open the gate for you."

"Me," Raven said plainly, the pit in her stomach growing. 

"Exactly," Mikeal smiled at her. "Whether you want to or not, you will lower the drawbridge to let him in."

At that moment, Raven wanted to die.

She wished she could just disappear, never to be seen again. To never be a threat to her friends. To the home she had known and grown to love in the last few years.

She should never have been born.

"Jeez," Mikael sighed again.

Then he flicked her on the forehead.

Right on the Mark of Scaith. 

"No need to cry," he said with a roll of his eyes. Raven glared up at him, rubbing her hurt head. "That's a better look on you. I hate damsels in distress. Even if the world ends, you should face it with a glare, a pun, and a middle finger. Not with tears."

"Fuck you," Raven snarled, a floating book smacking into his head.

He didn't flinch, just smiled down at her.

"There you go," Mikael smiled at her before continuing. "I wouldn't feel bad if I were you. He would just have a different kid even if you died or were never born. When dealing with beings of that power and longevity, it is not a matter of if but when. At least until they are put down for good."

"So, how do we do that?" Raven asked, feeling more desperate than ever before.

********

Winman focused on keeping the woman steady as she lay on his hoverboard. Its program would follow him, but she had thrashed in her pain enough that he was worried she would fall.

Since her lower half had been crushed by part of the roof, getting her back on the board would take time.

Time better spent saving others from the wreckage.

The focus was easy to achieve for a tinker, even for Chris.

Long hours in a Tinker Fugue contrasted heavily with his struggles in class due to his dyscalculia.

The focus was what he needed now.

Focus on not paying attention to the screams. The crying. The begging.

The still bodies he stepped over.

The blood on his hands.

Ignore the woman lying limply on his board, her eyes glassy and empty.

Ignore the man wailing to the sky as he caught sight of her.

Ignore the guilt of leaving the still-warm body with the grieving husband.

Focus.

Focus on directing his drones.

Focus on the next building.

Focus on being a hero.

It was an innocuous thing that knocked the focus so dearly gained from Winman's mind.

A penny.

Right side up.

Lying there on the sidewalk in front of a store. The afternoon sun and the flickering flames glinted off of it, drawing the hero's attention.

Winman pocketed it absentmindedly as he rushed into the building.

It was supposed to be good luck.

But his focus had been lost.

The front of the next store was thankfully already empty, but Winman was ready to dive deeper into the wreckage, just in case, when another small detail caught his eye.

The cash register had fallen in the chaos and popped open. Cash and coins spilled out over the ground.

A drone gathered it all in a few seconds.

It wasn't like anyone would miss it. If Chris didn't take it, it would just burn.

And he had been eyeing a new pair of shoes anyway.

No one else was in the building, even after he had his drones sweep again to be safe.

It also gave him time to empty the safe.

Winman was detaching the golden watch from a limp wrist when he heard the crash from the front of the store.

Followed by the distinctive roar of the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Beast Boy.

He wanted the money!

Not if Winman had anything to say about it.

It was his!

Well, it would be when no one was alive to take it from him.

********

"Going back to our castle example, even if you open the gate and drop the bridge, it doesn't mean he wins right away," Mikael explained. "He still has to go through the process of conquering, of making the castle his. Until he does so, no matter how large the gate, he still can't bring his whole force to bear. Power and army both. If he could, the sheer wave of manpower from multiple universes would be enough to drown this one instantly."

"So, he's weaker on this side and can't bring a huge army over." Raven summarized, beginning to see where the Elden Lord was going with this plan.

"Right," Mikael nodded. "There will be a brief period where he is in our dimension where his power is still infinite, but he will not be able to channel the same amount. Where he can't bring everything to bear because the dimensional walls will still be in place. He wouldn't want to either, lest he risk his already conquered dimensions being attacked by other multi-dimensional foes. The problem with wars of conquest is you always have to worry about multiple fronts opening up in your back if you overextend. Once he wins, he can focus on consolidating this dimension with his others. Until then, he is vulnerable in a way he would never be in his own home worlds."

"Ok," Raven turned his words over in her mind. There was still a major, obvious flaw to this plan. "That doesn't mean you can beat him."

"It does," Mikael shook his head. "I will be able to bring more to bear than he will. That is how a home-field advantage works."

"How do you know?"

"Because one of my wives has dealt with Three's Company before," Mikael shrugged. "I haven't seen any proof that this version differs from the other. And, as I said, we have nothing to lose since he's coming either way. If I do find I can't win, whelp, at least I tried. I'll take my Family and peace out."

"You'd leave?" Raven asked, for some reason feeling oddly hurt.

"Of course," Mikael gave her an odd look. "Why would I stay and die? If there is no choice, I'm all for fighting to the end, but you'd be surprised how often running away is a valid option. It's the end of your world, not mine. This isn't the first world I've left to doom, either. But don't worry, it won't come to that. I have a lot of tricks. So let's kill satan. Or at least a version of him. Satan zero point two: demonic doo doo, if you will."

Raven didn't know what to say to that.

Mikael wasn't wrong, she knew that, but at the same time, it didn't sit easily with her.

Thankfully, the Elden Lord continued.

"Now, we come to the part I need your help with. The entire reason we're having a little pow-wow now is because there is something you can do to help. That, and I wanted to let you know I'm going to gank your dad. I'm nice like that."

********

Fire was not a good matchup for Beast Boy.

Ignoring that most of his instincts were urging him to flee, the simple fact was that most animals did not deal well with fire.

Fur burned just as easily as flesh.

Beast Boy ignored the sting of the flames with the long experience of someone who'd been doing heroics since he was a child. 

A trick Mento had taught him, counting down from one hundred and skipping all prime numbers, helped him keep his transformation up as the last of the evacuees rushed away.

Once done, however, Beast Boy let his burden fall and turned back from his gorilla form to put out the flames on his costume and blow off his singed hands.

Fun fact: pain hurt.

The green hero let out a coughing chuckle a the joke, deciding to remember that one for later during training with Shishou.

"Status of the Safeway?" He asked in his communication with his teammates. 

No one answered.

They must all be occupied.

Even as his eyes watered from the pain and smoke, Garfield turned into a hummingbird and flew to the grocery store. Rising air currents caused by the fires made flying not impossible, so long as he chose the appropriate animal.

You are reading story Rapturous Rhapsody at novel35.com

Landing in the destroyed entrance, Beast Boy transformed back again.

"Is there anyone in there?" He shouted before turning into a monkey and scrambling inside. He climbed over the fallen isles and smashed produce, idly popping a grape in his tiny mouth as he continued to look around.

No-one.

Someone else must have already cleared it, Beast Boy thought, munching on a pop tart.

Better safe than sorry.

Besides, he was a bit hungry.

The green hero spent a few minutes checking the break room, the office, and even the bathrooms. He also lifted up or slithered under the fallen isles in case anyone was unconscious under them.

Empty.

Beast-Boy was about to leave the building to rendevous with the others and capture the perpetrator when the most delectable smell he had ever sniffed wafted into his nose.

Well, second most delectable smell.

Beast-Boy didn't think anything he ever ate would top the barbeque from yesterday.

With his stomach rumbling, the green man threw aside the half-eaten watermelon to find where that delicious scent was coming from.

He found its origin in a still bubbling vat of oil in the deli.

Eagerly, he lifted the pan from the vat and grabbed hold of the crispy delight in it, uncaring that his flesh sizzled from the intense heat of the metal.

Beast Boy moaned in satisfaction as he shoved the chicken tenders in his mouth.

The only issue was they were a bit too crispy. They had been in the oil too long. 

They needed to be fresh.

Beast Boy became a wolf and ripped through an entire pack of raw hamburgers. Then a steak. Then a chicken.

It wasn't enough.

It was old. It had been frozen.

Fresh meat.

Fresh meat.

So hungry.

So very hungry.

As he chewed on a link of sausages, Beast Boys enhanced senses caught a particularly loud scream from outside.

He froze.

Fresh meat!

Leaving the half-eaten meal behind, Beast-Boy dashed for the exit, transforming into one of the largest carnivores the planet had ever known as he did so.

FRESH MEAT!

********

"What should I do," Raven asked, ignoring his last few sentences with the skill of someone who lived with Beast Boy and Winman.

"We need to make sure to capitalize on our advantage. We do that by setting the stage in our favour. I don't need to tell you that it will be destructive if I throw down with the ol' four eyes. We don't want that. So we need to choose an appropriate battlefield."

"Where?"

"Here," Mikael said, spreading his arms and gesturing around the room.

It didn't even take a second for Raven to realize what he was talking about.

"Titan Tower?" She asked in disbelief.

"The ocean around it, to be more specific," he corrected with a shrug. "So long as we keep the showdown to over the water, I can promise nobody will die. If not, I will need to be concerned about civilian casualties and not able to fight at full power. Your job is easy. When the time comes, you need to be in, or near, Titan Tower."

"How will I know when it's time?"

"I expect it will be pretty obvious," Mikael smirked. "Either the portal will burst from you like the chest-burster from hell, ha, or he will use minions. It will likely be the latter. World conquering invasions requires certain dramatics. Malevolent rituals, blood sacrifices, Latin chanting, that sort of thing. Assume any incident tomorrow is a trap set to capture you. Your job is to be caught as close to the ocean as possible. The tower would be best, so stay here unless necessary, but near the port would work if you can't manage it. I'll take care of clearing personnel."

"If it's a trap, we should tell the others," Raven said, but Mikael shook his head. "We won't tell them about him, just that it is a trap."

"Then they'd ask a bunch of questions you can't answer," Mikael continued to shake his head. "Remember, you need to be captured. We need them to succeed. Your teammates would never allow that to happen. And if we told them the truth, they'd get the League and other heroes involved. Who would also interfere and, since we have less than a day, we don't have time to persuade them. This is our only chance to control the battlefield. I promise you, none of your friends will die. Neither will you. No matter what happens."

Raven hesitated. She was torn between hiding her shame from her friends or telling them that the shady godslaying dragon was trying to convince her to help summon her satanic father so he could kill him.

Mikael's words sealed her choice like a devil on her shoulder, whispering in her ear.

"If this works like I want it to," the Elden Lord said. "You will never have to worry about Tommy the Lightish Red ever again."

"Ok," Raven took a deep breath, steeling herself. "Ok. We'll do it your way. I won't tell anyone, and I'll stay in the tower. If I need to leave, I'll lure them back. How do you know they, whoever they are, won't just bring me somewhere else?"

"Like us, they only have one chance," Mikael explained. "If they can teleport, they might bring you away, but if they can, we wouldn't be able to stop them and will just have to deal with it. If they can't, then the tower is an excellent place to summon Timmy the Toddler since he is a big bastard. A respectable demon lord needs elbow room, you know."

"You have an answer for everything," Raven snarked.

"What can I say," Mikael pretended to buff his nails on his shirt. "I am very... thorough. I only do something risky with a plan. And this one is one of my best."

"We're going to die," Raven deadpanned. "We are all going to die. But what the hell. Might as well go out with a bang."

"That's the spirit," Mikael grinned at her.

"By the way," Raven said, realizing something that should have been obvious. "How come nobody has come here? We haven't been subtle, and I know Nightwing is watching you."

"I've covered us in an illusion since I sat with you. Another thing one of my wives has been teaching me," Mikael shrugged. "As far as they know, I annoyed you to eat dinner and then you stormed off. 'I' have been watching Scathach take out her annoyance on your friends since."

"If you don't want them to find out about this meeting, you will need to help me fix my room. It's a mess."

"Fix what," Mikael tilted his head in question. As he spoke, the room around Raven shimmered, and, in an eye blink, it was back to its pristine form. "Nothing happened."

Then he was gone, dissolving into pale blue starlight.

Within Raven's chest, the most insidious of demons grew. 

The one demon she had been fighting her entire life but would never destroy.

Hope.

********

Nightwing's 'defeat' was the quickest and most understandable.

Even his former mentor, Batman, would have fallen for it. 

In an emergency situation, when you find a man crumpled on the ground in a heap but still alive, you should rescue him, right?

It's what a hero would do, after all.

And if he doesn't respond to your calls, you should pick him up and carry him to the exit. That is just common sense.

Not that the lanky man was hefty. 

In fact, he was incredibly skinny. 

Skellatal, really.

Like he hadn't eaten in weeks.

Nightwing would need to remember to tell the paramedics to take extra care.

Once he got outside, of course.

It seemed so far away.

Almost not worth the effort.

Nightwing put one foot in front of the other, purposefully at first.

Then steadily.

Then occasionally.

Then he stopped.

Five feet from the door.

This was good enough, wasn't it?

There was hardly any fire here. And the ceiling looked like it would still hold up for another half an hour.

Plenty of time for a break.

A small breather.

Nightwing had been tired a lot recently.

He had been dealing with Batman's paranoia, intense training, spying on a country-sized dragon, and making sure his teammates were dealing with things.

Then this happened.

He deserved a break, didn't he?

Nightwing worked hard. Harder than most heroes.

All the buildings had been searched, right? He'd been keeping track until just a while ago.

Any that he missed, the others would get.

No one had to know if he just took a break.

A quick nap.

Five minutes. Ten max.

And he was sooo comfortable here.

Sure his beard was itchy, and his clothes were tight around his bulging stomach, but that was fine.

The ground was warm, and a piece of metal was as good a pillow as anything Bruce used.

He'd slept in worse places during his training.

With heavy eyelids, Nightwing watched the smoke rise into the night sky.

Oh, look. That was Raven.

Man, look at her work.

Nightwing's eyes drooped some more.

He didn't see the green star-bolt smash into her from behind.

He didn't see Raven fall from the sky.

Nightwing was already asleep.

********

He was perfect.

The perfect man had never existed before Him. He was as tall as her, with dark hair and pale skin. His pointed ears and four red eyes gave Him an otherworldly charm that was just... perfect.

"Can you do something for me, Starfire?" He was so kind, asking her. 

She'd do anything for Him. 

Anything.

"Yes!" She chirped happily.

He smiled at her, and she almost melted into a pile of pleasure.

"I need to talk to Raven." Starfire barely registered a massive man walking up to them, four red eyes glowing in malicious joy as he crushed a car between his hands. Her eyes were locked onto Him. "Bring her to me. Quickly."

"Yes, sir!" She saluted like Boyfriend Nightwing asked her to do. She hoped this made Him happy. 

Then she flew off to do as He asked.

She felt terrible for Friend Raven, but He had asked her to be quick.

So she was.

The star bolt caught her teammate in the back, disrupting her concentration and causing her to cry out in pain as she fell.

Starfire caught her.

"Sorry, Friend Raven," the tamaranean apologized happily, carrying the goth by one of her legs. "Please be coming with me."

"Wha-" the pale-skinned woman grunted in pain and confusion.

They didn't have far to go.

Starfire found Him right where she had left Him. Waiting for her.

There were two more men with Him, all four eyes and pointy-eared, but they didn't matter.

Only He did.

"Hello, sister," He said to Raven.

Were they family?

Was Friend Raven going to be Sister Raven?"

"What did you do to her," Sister Raven asked Him. Only she did it rudely. If she wasn't His sister, Starfire would have hit her. Instead, the alien dropped her to the ground and looked to Him for approval.

"Go find my other brother," He ordered her. Starfire was happy to do so, though she wished He would look at her instead of Sister Raven. "You'll find him by your leader. Probably asleep."

"Yes, sir!" Starfire saluted again, happy to be of service.

Dick would understand.

He was perfect.

********

Raven watched Starfire fly away, the guilt and fear in her all-consuming.

What had she done?

She should never have listened to the Elden Lord.

But the die had been cast.

Now she truly had nothing to lose.

"What did you do to Starfire," Raven demanded, standing before the four unfamiliar men.

Sons of Trigon.

Her brothers.

"Honestly, I barely even talked to her," the man controlling Starfire shrugged with a casual smirk. "You know how mortals are. They'd do anything for a pretty face."

Raven's teeth clenched in anger as they laughed.

"She's still better than the other two girls," he continued. "Envy and Wrath barely had to even do anything, and they were tearing each other apart."

"I wanted to kill them," the massive one made out of muscle and rage snarled. "So easy. Squish. Like bug."

The others laughed harder.

"Do you want to see some pictures?" The one in a suit and tie held out his phone for her to see. Even from feet away, Raven could see Winman rifling through the purse. Beside him lay the corpse of the previous owner. "You like it? I have discovered I am quite fond of this world's 'social media.' I do believe it will get quite a few 'likes.'"

They howled in mirth.

Raven clutched her fists so tightly that she felt her nails pierce her skin.

"The green one had to be the stupidest," the fat one joked. "'I don't eat meat.' He does now!"

No matter how annoyed Raven had been yesterday, it absolutely paled before the absolute rage she felt at that moment.

She wanted to kill them.

To smash their faces into the concrete and bury them beneath the debris.

Raven wanted to tear her brothers limb from limb, to see their laughing faces contort in pain and agony.

At that moment, it did not matter that Raven had lost control of her emotions.

There was nothing left to destroy.

"Here you are, sir," Starfire announced as she arrived, carrying a lanky man in her arms.

The man, long-haired and in a leather jacket, looked asleep as he crumbled to the floor and stayed there.

Not out of weakness but pure laziness.

"Now that we're all here and have had our fun," Lust smirked at Raven, his arm wrapping around her teammate and fondling a breast. Starfire moaned in pleasure. "Let's get down to business."

"It is time to fulfill your destiny, dear sister," Greed smirked down at her.

"Never!" Raven snarled as she gathered her magic. 

Screw the Elden Lord's plan. 

She was killing them here and now and rescuing her friends.

All fear, guilt and despair disappeared as rage consumed her.

They would not get away with this.

Raven would have thrown herself into the fight, heedless of the wisdom of her actions if a hand hadn't been gently but firmly placed on her shoulder.

Raven froze.

"That is quite enough," Glynda Goodwitch silenced the Sons of Trigon with a glare.

For the first time, the blonde huntress let Raven feel her emotions.

Concern for her and her team.

Anger at the men in front of them.

Love for the woman at her side.

Exasperation at the man waiting for a plan to come together.

But not one ounce of fear.

"A teacher has a duty to correct their students when they take the wrong path," Glynda said, the shopping center repairing itself behind her. "And to excise bad influences."

"I just think this will be fun," Scathach twirled her spear with a bloodthirsty smirk. "I will be making sure they understand where they failed tomorrow. For now, I do hope you put up a fight."

"We don't have to fight," Lust smiled at the pair, stepping forward with a hand extended. "Come here."

Glynda raised an eyebrow.

Scathach was more direct.

"Argh!" Lust screamed in pain, staggering back and clutching the stump of his right arm.

His brothers just watched, unsympathetic in the least for his plight.

"I dislike men of style and no substance," Scathach said, tossing the severed limb over her shoulder casually. "Now, will you make this interesting or not?"

"How's this for interesting, you bitch!" Lust snarled, red magic gathering in his good hand. 

He released the energy, not towards them, but to the sky over the nearby park.

The red energy tore through the afternoon sky like a comet before vanishing into thin air over Glen Canyon Park.

There was a beat of silence.

"Was that supposed to do something?" Glynda asked, unimpressed.

No sooner had the huntress spoken that a hole was torn in reality.

Taller than a sky scrapper and as wide as the park, it glowed a malevolent red and orange. Like a bloody wound in the sky, it pulsed and bled angrily.

Looking at it physically hurt Raven.

"Your husband," Lust spat the word like a curse. "Made things easy for us. It has never been easier to breach the Walls. Now choose. Try and stop us, or try and protect this pathetic city. No matter what, we win."

As he spoke, demons poured from the tear in the sky. Big ones, small ones, scally, furry. Countless variants from countless conquered worlds. Some beautiful enough to make you cry. Others were horrific enough to make your eyes bleed.

The screaming started immediately.

Scathach was gone in an instant, leaping skyward and spears impaling a demon she used as a springboard to ascend higher.

She smiled the whole way.

Her husband gave her the best presents.

Glynda continued to stare at Raven's brothers, still unimpressed.

"Is that it?" She asked, feeling underwhelmed. If it was, they were making her life hard. How was she supposed to play along if they were this pathetic?

She hoped they had more to offer.

"No," Lust snarled once more. "This is. Kill her!"

Starfire charged.

The Titans, baring Nightwing, who had gathered under the influence of the Sons of Trigon, also charged.

Glynda sighed.

"Run," the blonde told Raven. She spoke as if asking someone to do their homework. "I shall take this opportunity to give them a 'midterm.' We will be going over their and your performance tomorrow. I expect you to be there."

Then Winman tried to blast her with a cannon.

Raven didn't see the result. 

She was already fleeing toward the ocean.

Six demons chased her, but the most insidious one was in her heart.

Unlike yesterday, this flight was over in seconds, though it covered half a city.

It was the difference between running towards something compared to running away.

The ocean, glittering in the sun, had never looked so beautiful to Raven.

It was then, when Raven felt joy at the blue waters, and her hope was at its peak, that a massive body smashed her from the sky.

She crashed into the beach, the air leaving her lungs in the brutal halt of momentum.

A hand, steely and implacable, held her head in place.

Blinking the black spots from her eyes and fighting to remain conscious, Raven's blurry vision struggled to make sense of what she was seeing.

Superman?

What?

"Hello, sister." Four red eyes on the famous Kryptonian face told Raven that this was no hero. "So good of you to visit. I've been waiting a while."

"Envy," Greed greeted casually as the five men arrived, Sloth slung over Wrath's shoulders. "Everything good?"

"I had enough time to set up and enough materials at hand," he answered, still holding Raven's head down into the sand.

"Then we should get this show on the road," Greed said, crouching down and tweaking Raven's nose with a smug smirk.

"You knew where I was going," Raven realized.

"Of course we did." Envy raised Raven to her feet, still holding her fast. "Just like we know your little plan with the dragon. Daddy dearest has been keeping a very close eye on you. The Elden Lord made that possible when he weakened the Walls."

They were in a large ritual circle, spread roughly over the sand using gallons of blood. A dozen nearby bodies were its clear source.

"He's very proud," Sloth said slowly, his voice an uninterested drawl.

"Trying to cheat Trigon the Terrible," Lust shook his head in mock disbelief. "We couldn't believe it when he told us."

"So we had to try it ourselves," Gluttony said, binding one of her arms to a crude metal cross. Wrath roughly did the same to her other. Envy prevented any escape with his firm hold on her skull. "Only we're hunting dragons AND demons. And you are bait for both. Or did you not notice how we had something planned for both of your 'teachers.'"

Surrounded by six demonic siblings in a ritual circle made from the blood of the innocent while they casually explained how they would crush a plan that was already a gamble, Raven felt her last fleeting spark of hope die.

She gave up, sagging against the bonds of her crucifix.

"Time to fulfill your destiny, dear sister," Greed repeated, plunging a dagger into Raven's chest.

She didn't resist.

Like all the worst demons, hope fled right when it was needed.

********

Sorry for the late release, IRL stuff kept me. I also didn't have time to do all the edits I wanted, but I am pretty happy with it.

Won't say much. Next week will be the finale of Furlough. I'll see you then.

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