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Post by Admin on Dec 27, 2005 21:51:10 GMT -5
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Post by Admin on Dec 27, 2005 21:52:01 GMT -5
Teen Titans
Issue 2: “Serpent’s Tooth, Pt. 2”
Written by David Charlton
Cover by Ramon Villalobos
Edited by David Charlton |
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Post by Admin on Dec 27, 2005 21:53:41 GMT -5
Robin stared aghast at the dire pronouncement of the Azarii elder.
“His name is Trigon the Terrible, and if ever he finds his way into our reality, we are all doomed!”
“Are you telling me that Rachel’s father is the devil?”
Coman nodded grimly.
“And that the Church of Blood wants her because she will somehow wake their messiah, this Brother Blood, and herald in the apocalypse?”
Another nod.
A sudden dread filled him for the welfare of his friends. He had sent them off without the slightest inkling of what they were dealing with…
He flicked on his com-set, and repeated Donna’s name several times, then Roy’s and finally Kory’s… No answer.
“Damn.” He snapped, heading for the door.
“Where are you going?” Coman demanded.
“To help my friends.” Robin shot back at him.
He tore open the door, and Rachel stood there, still stunned by what she had heard.
“Rachel…” Coman reached out to her tentatively.
“So it’s true, then.” She breathed in her soft voice. “ I am the Raven… The Dark Daughter… These powers I have come from Him…From Trigon…”
Robin regarded her cautiously, his hand dropping to his utility belt.
“That shouldn’t change who you are, Rachel.” He told her. “Who you want to be. We all have the power to choose our own destiny.”
She absorbed what he said, and nodded thoughtfully.
“I want to come with you to help your friends. To save Wallace.”
“Rachel, no!” Coman was startled into passion. “You cannot simply walk into the Church of Blood! You are all they need to awaken their---.”
“I am no sacrificial lamb.” Rachel shot back heatedly. “Nor am I the pawn of anyone. Trigon, Brother Blood or the Azarii!”
“Dear girl, your powers…! You must learn to control your emotions…! It is too dangerous---.”
Robin cut off the elder. “Are you sure?” He asked her.
Rachel nodded decisively.
“Good. Because I could use your help. Let’s go.”
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Post by Admin on Dec 27, 2005 22:01:57 GMT -5
“Before we leave, I must collect a few things from my chambers.” Rachel explained to him as they walked through the halls of Temple Azarath. “Rings my mother left to me. They help me to focus, and channel my energies, to contain my power…”
Dick glanced over at the mysterious girl at his side, and wondered what he had gotten himself into.
On their way to Rachel’s rooms, they passed an elaborate shrine of silver and marble. Candles glittered on the surface of the bier, and fresh-cut flowers were everywhere.
“The Tomb of Azar, our holiest prophet and leader.” Rachel explained reverently. “I keep her Tomb. My mother told me that my rings once belonged to Azar herself…”
But Dick was distracted. The tomb was flanked on either side by effigies in dark clothes, slashed with blue. They even wore a kind of domino mask, almost in the shape of a batwing…
“What are those?” He asked, intrigued.
“Nightwings.” Rachel explained. “In the teachings of the Temple Azarath, they are the ceremonial guardians of justice, and the persecutors of the wicked. They are known and feared by the Church of Blood, and all the minions of Trigon, as a kind of archangelic avenger.”
Dick felt his mouth quirk, the idea springing fully formed into his head.
“Would you say these nightwings would strike terror into the hearts of criminals, and other cowardly, superstitious lots?”
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Post by Admin on Dec 27, 2005 22:02:24 GMT -5
Wally was barely conscious when they dragged in the others. His mind was so numbed by the drugs and the metabolic suppressants, he almost didn’t recognize them, but the severe faced Mother Mayhem trailed behind them, gloating over her victory.
“Here are the rest of your friends, Kid Flash. As you can see, you children have proven no match for the ancient might of the Church of Blood.”
Acolytes chained the others to the wall on either side of Wally. He saw that they were all still unconscious, and judging by the twitching and moaning, in the throes of some terrible nightmares. He saw Wonder Girl, Speedy and Starfire--- but where was Robin?
He was still at large, still free. There was still hope. Dick Grayson would never abandon his friends.
“Why are you smiling?” Mother Mayhem demanded. She stepped up to Wally, and slapped him sharply across the face. “Where is the Raven, boy! Tell me, and I will release your friends from the tender mercies of Sister Psychosis!”
As if to punctuate this, Starfire let out a low, piteous moan.
Wally bit his lip, and looked into the mad eyes of his tormentor.
“When Robin gets here, you guys are gonna be in some trouble…”
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Post by Admin on Dec 27, 2005 22:02:50 GMT -5
“X’hal, no!”
Princess Koriand’r looked on helplessly as her little brother was led to the executioner’s block. She lay at the feet of her Citadel master, Lord Damyn, and he yanked the chain, welded to the iron collar around her neck.
“Be still, slave. Or me kill him twice.”
Around them, the tropical paradise that was Tamaran burned, her father’s capital city in flames as the Gordanian shock-troops pillaged.
But this had not happened! She had willingly gone into slavery to spare her homeworld this fate! Now, Ryand’r was being led to the chopping block, as the four-armed Branx executioner raised the ponderous vibro-ax over his head…
It came down with a sickening thud, and her little brother’s head rolled from his trunk, to join his mother’s and father’s in a bloody pile.
“Ryand’r!” Kory wailed, pounding the inerton mitten that covered her hands against the ground. Lord Damyn laughed, and cuffed her roughly upside the head.
“That’s it, me warned you! Branx, kill him twice!”
She could only watch helplessly as the four-armed brute dragged the bodies of her family into a single pile, then began hacking at them with the vibro-ax.
The sight of it all but drove her mad. She curled up into a ball on the bloody ground, convulsed with mind-numbing grief and rage, the laughter of Lord Damyn ringing in her ears.
“I can end this, child.” A deep, sonorous voice penetrated her consciousness. A calm, sure hand was laid on her trembling shoulder. Koriand’r raised her tear-stained face and regarded the figure before her. He was a virile figure, pulsing with power and confidence. He wore a flowing crimson cape with a high collar, a lamb’s hide and a skull mask that covered the top pf his face, but she could see his fiercely glowing red eyes, burning hungrily. “I can take you away from all this, make the suffering stop… Only take my hand!”
Her brother’s last cry ringing in her ears, Starfire reached out and took the hand of Brother Blood…
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Post by Admin on Dec 27, 2005 22:03:25 GMT -5
Roy Harper thought the room looked familiar. He glanced around again at the bare plaster walls, the paint peeling, and the human refuse twitching in the corners…
Of course. This was the heroin den in Star City where he used to buy all his junk.
“C’mon, Speedy, this here’s the last of the real good stuff…”
The speaker was Doozer, the gap-toothed dealer who had first introduced Roy to the drug. He now held out a small packet of the white powder, grinning his bombed out grin at Roy. “Go on, take it, this one’s on me.”
Roy was about to refuse him, when he looked around, and noticed that the users drooling and shivering in the corners of the room were all familiar to him. He didn’t have very clear memories of his mother and sisters, just some old photographs. But he recognized them now, staring up at him with bombed out expressions, track marks on their arms, and bruises on their faces where their pimps abused them…
His mother stretched out at him a skeletally thin arm.
“You can run away again, Roy, but you can’t escape this… It’s in your blood, baby. You’re a junkie and a loser, just like us…”
Staggering backward, Roy bumped against the wall, and slid downward. Doozer knelt at his side, and tapped his arm, prepping the vein.
“I got a dose already for ya, Roy.” The dealer cooed comfortingly.
Staring at the woman he remembered as his mother, Roy did not struggle as the heroin was pumped into his bloodstream.
The familiar sensations washed over him almost instantly. He drowned in them, willingly sinking beneath the waves.
He came up at the sound of another familiar voice.
“I should have left you an orphan.”
He opened his eyes and squinted at Oliver Queen, his adopted father. The look on his face was one of pure disgust. Oliver had in his hand a red fletched arrow, which he snapped and dropped disdainfully in Roy’s lap.
“You’ll never be my son. I disown you. I never want to see you again.”
Roy silently beseeched Ollie’s retreating form, unable to summon any sound but a pathetic groan.
Oliver was gone, but a new figure took his place. A tall, commanding figure in a scarlet cape, the top of his face covered by a skull mask.
“You are alone, child. Abandoned.” Said the stern figure, his blazing red eyes staring down at Roy. “But I will take you in. I will make the hurting stop, and give you a home. Only take my hand!”
Roy stared at that powerful hand extended to him, and, weepingly, took it.
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Post by Admin on Dec 27, 2005 22:03:49 GMT -5
Donna Troy glided over the skies of Themyscira, returning home at last, but unable to shake the foreboding feeling that everything was horribly wrong. The island below her was dark, somber. She landed in the courtyard of the palace, amidst a band of grieving Amazons.
“What’s happened?” Donna beseeched the crowd of mourners, running between them to the commotion around which they were all gathered. It was a funerary pyre, upon which sat the bodies of Queen Hippolyta and Princess Diana.
The priestess Penelope was singing a dirge, exhorting Gaea to gather these two heroes to her breast.
“No!” Donna cried, and would have thrown herself atop it as well, had not General Phillipus pulled her away.
“Keep away, girl.” The stern-faced general of the Amazons commanded. “We don’t allow strangers into our solemn rituals.”
“Strangers?” Donna looked up at her. “Phillipus, since when am I a stranger on Paradise Island? I am your sister, Donna, foster daughter of the queen…”
“I don’t know you.” Phillipus pronounced and as one, the assembled Amazons draped a mourning cloth over their heads. “And the only daughter of Hippolyta lies dead at her side, slain with her mother because we were not strong enough to save them…”
The words struck her like a blow. She staggered backward, the tears burning her eyes.
“I should have been here. I should have been home…”
“You have no home here, foundling.” Phillipus didn’t even look at her. “I don’t know you.”
Donna fled, crying. She ran and ran, tears clouding her vision, until she at last collapsed at the foot of a marble statue. She buried her head in her arms and wept.
“You never belonged here, child.” A rich, comforting voice came from above. Donna lifted her head, and saw that the statue was actually a man: he was perfect, as if chiseled from marble, and swathed in a red cape, his eyes blazing through the skull mask atop his face. “You have no past, no family. But I can give your life meaning. I can give you a future… You have but to take my hand!”
Behind her, Donna heard the crackle and roar of fire as the funeral pyre was set alight.
Wiping away her tears, she reached out to Brother Blood, and he clasped her to him like a cherished prize.
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Post by Admin on Dec 27, 2005 22:04:58 GMT -5
Rachel had left Dick Grayson to his own devices as she gathered her mystical talismans. The rings were great golden baubles that she slipped on her fingers as if strapping on a sword. As soon as she did, she felt a subtle presence in her mind, and a calming serene voice whispered to her: The sins of the father need not be paid for by his seed. It is given only to you, Dark Daughter, to redeem them. But beware! He will tempt you! Become who you are, Raven, but remember power is only as good or ill as she who wields it, and that your destiny is yet to be written!
Azar help me, she implored, but the voice spoke no more.
With a great sigh, she donned the dark cloak of an Azarii novitiate, and pulled the pointed raven’s cowl up over her head until only the bottom half of her face was showing, and stepped out of her chambers to meet her companion.
Expecting the flamboyant red, yellow and green figure she had last seen, she was caught off-guard by the young man before her in the shades of blue and black.
“I figured we could use the psychological advantage if we’re going to invade the inner sanctum of the Church of Blood.” Dick explained, putting on the jagged domino mask. “I had to scavenge some stuff from my utility belt, but these new wrist gauntlets should do just as well. And it was about time I put the short pants and bright colors aside, anyway. You can call me--- Nightwing!
In the shadows of her hood, Rachel arced a finely sculpted eyebrow.
“Well chosen, Richard. And to our foes, I will be known as--- Raven!”
A smile spreading across his face, Dick nodded approvingly. “Alright. I like it. Nightwing and Raven. The Church of Blood won’t know what hit ‘em. But now, the Cathedral is all the way across town, so I was hoping you could do that, you know---.” He wiggled his fingers vaguely. “--- that teleportation thing you do…”
“It is not teleportation.” She explained, but gestured him closer. “I have a gift for shifting through the astral planes that bridge the gulf of time and distance.” She raised her pale arms and Dick stepped up to her just as a dark, billowing cloud arose around them. “It is the least of the gifts I inherited from my father…”
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Post by Admin on Dec 27, 2005 22:06:28 GMT -5
Far below the business offices of the Cathedral of Blood, in a subterranean chamber hollowed out of the earth itself and lit only by torches, Mother Mayhem led a long procession around the vast underground lake that bubbled and boiled as if it were a living thing. On a small island in the exact center of the lake sat an ornate stone altar, connected to dry land by a thin walkway of stone.
The black-robed acolytes of the Church of Blood were ranged in a semi-circle, facing the altar when Mother Mayhem raised her voice in a rhythmic chant. All the others took it up instantly, and the dread words echoed amongst the stalactites.
Brother Blood, awake in power!
Scourge of sinners, arise in might!
Now at last comes the hour,
Show us to your Holy Light!
From the crowd, a young blonde-haired acolyte stepped forward and ceremoniously let fall her robes. As if entranced by the chant, she walked purposefully out onto the lake, crossing the walkway to the altar on the island. Her eyes shining brightly, Mother Mayhem followed the nubile young woman, and helped the sacrifice to lay on the cold stone surface.
Brother Blood, awake in power!
Scourge of sinners, arise in might!
Now at last comes the hour,
Show us to your Holy Light!
High above, atop a rocky ledge, Nightwing and Raven appeared, unnoticed. Dick took in the scene with a growing sense of horror and outrage. He watched as Mother Mayhem stood over the girl and brandished a glinting blade.
“She’s going to kill that girl.” He gasped, but Raven was distracted.
Her head jerked, as if she were listening to a far off whisper.
“Wallace is in pain.” She announced with certainty. Her eyes glittered darkly at Nightwing from the depths of her hood. “Great pain… He’s being tortured!”
“Go help him.” He commanded. “I got this here!”
She vanished in a puff of black smoke, just as he ejected a swing-line from his gauntlet. He hurled it with expert ease, wrapping it securely around a stalactite, and launched himself off into space!
Nightwing sailed across the chasm of the vast underground chamber and was spotted instantly. The chanting abruptly ceased as the acolytes all looked up, pointing and gasping, as the young man swung low over the boiling lake. He executed a flawless somersault and landed with a gymnast’s grace atop the stone altar.
Taken completely by surprise, Mother Mayhem shrieked as Nightwing kicked the knife out of her hand, sending it splashing into the lake. He bent to pull the young blonde girl to her feet, but the girl hissed at him and shoved him off the altar.
“This is my destiny!” The girl cried, and without a second look, flung herself into the bubbling lake!
Nightwing watched in horrified amazement as she sank beneath the fetid, reddish water, and did not resurface.
“The power of Blood will not be denied!” Mother Mayhem had recovered, and was running back across the stone runway. “Brother Bolt! Sister Fury! Sister Scorch! Kill the nightwing for the glory of Blood!”
Dick braced himself, taking a fighting stance on the stone walkway, brandishing the twin shatterproof polymer Escrima sticks he’d been teaching himself to use for months.
And three of the newest acolytes on the shore of the lake dropped their robes, revealing familiar figures: Brother Bolt nocked an arrow to a red bow, Sister Fury clanged together her silver wrist bracelets, and Sister Scorch took to the air in a blaze of stellar fire.
“For the glory of Blood!” Roy, Donna and Kory proclaimed in one fierce voice.
Aghast, Nightwing prepared to meet the onslaught of his brainwashed friends.
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Post by Admin on Dec 27, 2005 22:07:39 GMT -5
Kid Flash’s body jerked against the chains that bound him to the slimy wall as the torture rod of the Father Confessor sent another charge of electrical shock through him. Wally screamed, but did not lose consciousness, glaring at the helmeted sadist before him.
“Why do you resist, boy?” The zealot wheedled, his rod smoking. “You’re friends have already succumbed to the power of Blood! Your body can’t stand much more of this, I assure you. Just tell me where the girl is, and this all can end!”
Blood trickling from his chin, his heart beating erratically, Wally looked into the eyes of his killer and spat: “I’ll die before I betray her.”
The Father Confessor’s eyes grew wide behind his faceplate. His face reddened, his fury building up to a boiling point--- Wally was breaking him!
“Where is the Raven!”
“Here, pawn of Blood.” A soft but sharp voice said.
And suddenly someone else was in the room! The girl stepped out of the shadows, her dark robes fluttering around her like the wings of her namesake!
The torture rod was swung, trailing crackling energy, but she caught it in her hand, absorbing the pain that sizzled up the length of her arm. She did not release it, but pulled the triumphant Father Confessor close, her teeth clenched in controlled agony. She reached out with her free hand and grabbed his faceplate. Her body acted like a conductor, the charge of the torture rod leaping from her to its wielder!
“A taste of the pain you inflict on others!” She seethed, her body bucking even as she gripped the rod and the monk’s faceplate. He spasmed, smoke rising from him…. Cracks appeared in his armor and his faceplate shattered. His agonized expression was made more horrific by the blood pouring from his eyes and nose!
Raven broke the connection a second before his heart failed, allowing him to crumple to the floor.
She rushed to Kid Flash, putting her hands to either side of his face.
“Oh, Wallace, what have they done to you?” She caressed him, wiping away sweat and blood. “What have you endured so that I might be free…?” His sacrifice seemed incomprehensible to her. She shrugged back her hood and there were tears in her eyes.
“Rachel?” Wally moaned weakly. “Get out of here… If they find you here, they’ll kill you…”
“Hush now, Wallace. I will hide no more. Nor will I allow others to suffer in my place.” She put her forehead to his and her brow furrowed in deep concentration.
Wally felt his body suddenly relax, and he thought: This is it, I’m dying! But he started feeling better. All his pain dissolved in a serene bath of solace, slowly but steadily sluicing out of him. He could even feel the damaged tissue and nerves mending, strengthening, even! He barely noticed how Raven gasped, her chest heaving and her teeth gnashing against each other.
But then she dispelled it, too, in a supreme effort, like a spirit being exorcised!
Wally gaped at her, feeling as if he could run a marathon. He vibrated his hands and feet out of the manacles, and caught Raven by the shoulders, staring at her in wonder.
“Whoa.” He said after a long moment.
All but recovered herself, Raven clutched him urgently.
“Wallace, you must go to help Nightwing! In the cavern beneath the Cathedral--.”
“Wait: who?”
“Your friend, Richard. He has taken a new persona and is in battle with the forces of the Church! I sense the others are there, too, but there’s something different about them. Something wrong!”
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Post by Admin on Dec 27, 2005 22:08:16 GMT -5
Starfire, or Sister Scorch as she had been rechristened, was the first on the assault, strafing the stone causeway with starbolts. Nightwing backflipped out of the way, and sent a batarang hurtling at her. It struck her head, and she was sent corkscrewing downward. Dick had a tense moment before he realized she would avoid the deadly lake and fall on dry land on the opposite shore.
Sorry, Princess!
“For the glory of Blood!”
Dick looked up in time to see Roy, or Brother Bolt, running straight for him, his bow already drawn and the arrow nocked. Donna, the expression on her face living up to her new name of Sister Fury, was only half a step behind him, but due to the narrowness of the causeway, only one of them could come at him at a time. Dick took advantage of this, and rushed to meet them.
He dodged the arrow, knocking it aside with an Escrima stick, rolling into his opponent. Brother Bolt brought up his bow like a quarter staff, and swung. But as savvy a fighter as Roy was, Dick was smarter. He used his momentum to vault over Bolt, using his friend’s shoulders as a sawhorse, extending his legs and driving his feet into the oncoming Sister Fury.
Donna was nearly as powerful as Wonder Woman, so the blow didn’t really hurt her, but it caught her off guard. She fell backward with an audible {oof!}, but did not lose her footing. In the space between one heartbeat and the next, Nightwing whirled and kicked out Bolt’s legs, sending him sprawling and dazed.
But Fury came at him like her namesake. Nightwing raised his fighting sticks just in time, and the two engaged in a rapid exchange of blows that the naked eye could barely follow, the shatterproof polymer Escrimas striking sparks off the Amazon bracelets. Dick struggled to keep up with the flurry of motion, but ultimately, he could not beat Fury at her own game--- so he stopped trying. The flick of her eyes over her shoulder, and the high-pitched whining sounded alerted him just in time. He threw himself to the stone causeway just as Scorch’s starbolt whined past where he had been--- and struck Fury full on!
She went down, rolling backward in a smoking heap, as Scorch howled in frustration and swooped around for another strike. ..
Bolt was on his feet, and taking aim with another arrow…
And already Fury was recovering, and looking like she could tear him apart with her bare hands…!
He was trapped and Hell was about to rain down on him from all sides!
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Post by Admin on Dec 27, 2005 22:10:10 GMT -5
A sudden jerk, and then the world was whizzing past him at a dizzying speed.
‘’Bout time, Wally.” Dick grinned as Kid Flash carried him out of danger and across the lake of blood to the far shore, his boots hissing on the water’s surface.
“Nice costume.” Wally deadpanned with a grin of his own. “Batman’s gonna be pissed you’re riffing on his theme, though.”
“He does brood on things excessively doesn’t he?”
Raven had appeared in the sky over the lake, hovering temptingly close to the enraged Scorch. The alien princess was caught up by the witch, Raven’s touch on her head instantly draining all aggression out of her. Starfire blinked, confused, then stared at Raven gratefully.
“X’hal, what happened to me!”
But there was little time for talk. Fury rose off the ground, streaking for her new opponent. Starfire intercepted her, yelling her friend’s name even as she poured a bolt of stellar energy at her, forcing her back. Raven reached out for the grappling pair, and her finger tips brushed Donna’s furrowed brow--- and the Amazon’s face cleared, Blood’s influence falling away.
“Kory… Is that Rachel? What hap---?”
A hail of arrows flew up at them, most bouncing harmlessly off Wonder Girl’s bracelet’s, thanks to her quick reflexes --- but one ricochet grazed Raven’s cheek, and a thin line of blood appeared on that otherwise alabaster surface.
In a blur, Wally streaked passed Roy, a blow to the chin laying his friend out cold.
But the damage had been done. And Dick saw it all with perfect clarity, as if in slow motion: a single drop of blood dripped down Raven’s cheek, and fell into the bubbling lake below…
“No!” He warned. But it was too late.
The lake erupted in a torrent as the blood of the Dark Daughter did its work!
The Titans found themselves huddled together on the little island in the middle of the lake, boiling red water spraying all around them. A vortex arose from a point out on the lake, and a figure became visible within it, his arms raised in triumph…
The acolytes on the shore picked up the paean to their dread messiah, and their chanting grew to a fever pitch.
“I live! I live again!”
Standing on the surface of the churning lake, as if the laws of physics did not apply to him, Brother Blood exulted in the adoration.
Their faces close together, trying to be heard over the tumult, Nightwing said to Wonder Girl: “We have to keep him away from Raven! Hit him hard and fast!”
Trusting him implicitly, Donna took to the air, fist-first towards Blood.
She rebounded violently against the pulsing aura of vitality that surrounded him, slamming into the roof of the cavern high above. Starfire’s bolt ricocheted harmless off the power field as well, and Kid Flash swerved away at the last second before sharing Donna’s fate. Speedy, who was coming to in Raven’s arms, took one look and groaned: “Who woke up gruesome?”
“Actually, you did.” Nightwing snapped.
“Everything’s always my fault.” Roy muttered, but found enough aplomb to flash a smile at Raven, whose lap he lay in.
Donna landed badly amidst a crowd of acolytes on the shore, and they swarmed her. Starfire was about to fly off to her rescue, but Nightwing forestalled her with a hand on her arm.
“Wally’s got it.”
Kid Flash zoomed through like a hurricane, and the acolytes fell away like tenpins hit by a bowling ball.
Brother Blood stepped onto the causeway and was met by Mother Mayhem, a fanatical light burning in her eyes. She held out a white muslin robe and draped him with it, the fabric absorbing the blood that dripped off his body.
Blood called out, his voice echoing across the cavern: “Where is my bride, whose blood has awakened me from my centuries long slumber?”
On the island, Raven stood, and pulled back her hood, tilting her chin up bravely.
“I am Raven, the Dark Daughter.”
Blood regarded her for a long moment and the voices in the cavern stilled. Slowly, he held his open hand, pouring every ounce of his will at her!
Before she realized what she was doing, Raven stumbled forward towards him, summoned by the very force of his burning, hungry glare.
“Starfire, get him!” Dick called, lunging for Raven.
Only too happy to comply, the fierce alien Princess swung her hands up and shot a blistering starbolt at Blood. But the villain was ready for her, responding with a crimson energy bolt of his own. The two blasts met each other and fused for a moment--- until Blood’s won out, and recoiled on Starfire! It struck her full on, and she was thrown backward into the altar, dazed.
Nightwing swept Raven off her feet, pulling her back; but she turned her gaze on him, and something red glowed from the depths of her eyes! With a word, she sent him sprawling next to Starfire, every muscle in his body numb. She kept walking towards Blood’s outstretched hand.
Roy leaped atop the altar and shot an arrow with a nitroglycerin tip at Blood, but it exploded harmlessly off his force field.
On the shore, a crowd of acolytes went flying as Wonder Girl and Kid Flash fought themselves clear. Donna flew over their heads and landed on the causeway between Blood and Raven, holding out her hands and imploring Raven.
“I can’t let you do this, Rachel. Snap out of this! This is not your destiny!”
“My name is Raven.” The Dark Daughter reached out and grabbed Donna by the face. Into her, she poured the worst nightmares, fears and insecurities of the gathered assemblage--- Raven was an empath, and had the ability to not only sense the emotions of those around her, but to transmit them! Donna sank to her knees in terror. She covered her face with her hands and sobbed as Raven stepped around her, almost to Blood.
“No!” Kid Flash sped across the causeway towards her, but he did make it. With reflexes impossible for a mortal, Blood reached out and intercepted him, seizing Wally by the throat.
“Who are you children that persecute me?” Blood demanded, aggrieved. He shook Wally like a rag doll, dangling his feet off the causeway.
“Sinners and unbelievers, my lord.” Mother Mayhem, still at her master’s side, told him. “Fit only for you to bathe in their blood and take their strength for your own!”
Wally choked, trying in vain to loosen Blood’s grip on his throat.
“Fools!” Blood hissed. “The Day of Blood cannot be denied! Come, my bride, and stand at my side as I dispatch my enemies!” As he strangled the life out of Kid Flash, he bent his gaze again to Raven.
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Post by Admin on Dec 27, 2005 22:11:50 GMT -5
Wallace was dying--- and for the second time that day because of her. She understood that, somewhere deep within herself. But outwardly, no matter how much she struggled, all she could do was submit to the overpowering will of Blood.
That’s when the words of Azar came back to her: Become who you are, Raven, but remember power is only as good or ill as she who wields it, and that your destiny is yet to be written!
The Titans had rallied around her, were spending their lives on her behalf, but Blood was just too powerful. He would bring his dread crusade to the world, and drown all the world in blood!
Wallace would be dead in moments…
She had power--- more than she knew, she realized. All that remained for her was to claim it!
Her eyes rolled back in her head, and she searched the core of her being--- and all time and space compressed into a single, crystalline moment! Raven found herself in a macabre realm where Euclidean geometry had no bearing, and nightmarish creatures buzzed around her like bat-winged insects. She recognized nothing and yet felt frighteningly in-synch with this plane of existence…!
“Father!” She cried. “I have come to claim my legacy!”
“RAVEN.” The voice throbbed through her being, echoing across the universe. It instilled in her a fear unlike any she had ever known, causing her flesh to rise. “MY DAUGHTER… AT LAST!”
And before her, amidst the miasmic chaos of space, opened two pairs of eyes that blazed demonically.
“Father! Trigon!” Raven gasped.
The eyes bore down upon her with savage intent, but were still only the barest glimpse at the majesty that was the god of this terrible realm!
“YOU ARE MY DOORWAY INTO THE PHYSICAL PLANE. OPEN YOURSELF TO ME, RAVEN! THE UNIVERSES WILL TREMBLE AT OUR COMING!”
Her father’s voice vibrating through every fiber of her being, Raven suddenly and instinctively realized a profound truth: her very mortality was what bound Trigon to reality. Only through her, did he have any power at all in the material realm. And she could draw upon that power--- could she but contain it!
“I will not be your tool, Trigon!” She declared. “I claim only what is mine by right of birth! I will be who I was meant to be!”
A deep, hearty chuckle utterly lacking in mirth followed.
“IT MATTERS NOT WHAT YOU WOULD OR WOULD NOT BE, DAUGHTER. YOUR DESTINY IS WRITTEN! WALLOW WITH THE MAGGOTS A WHILE AND GROW INTO YOUR POWER. IT IS YOURS, FREELY GIVEN! TASTE IT! REVEL IN IT! FEEL ME THERE EVERY TIME YOU STRETCH FORTH YOUR HAND…SOON YOU WILL BE A FIT COMPANION FOR AN ELDER GOD! AND THEN I SHALL RETURN TO CLAIM WHAT IS MINE!”
With that, the eyes blazed brighter than a sun, and sent Raven tumbling endlessly into a void…
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Post by Admin on Dec 27, 2005 22:14:21 GMT -5
She stood before Brother Blood on the causeway, staring out the hand stretched out for her. In his other hand, Kid Flash was gasping out the last of his breath…
Raven threw her arms up, her robes billowing around her dramatically. Her will once again--- and supremely!--- her own, she faced her adversary and in her eyes blazed a terrible power that was not there before!
“Release him.” She commanded in a voice both hollow and pulsing with demonic vibrations.
Much to his own apparent surprise, Blood found himself dropping Kid Flash, who fell, heaving for breath, to the ground.
“What dread will compels me?” The re-born fanatic gaped at her. “With whose voice do you speak, girl?”
Red storms brewing behind the limitless depths of her eyes, a small smile played upon Raven’s ruby lips.
“I have laid claim to my father’s legacy, Blood. But the will is my own. Beware the Dark Daughter!”
As she spoke, a shadow that glowed with its own ebony light sprang from her body, taking the form of a raven. Blood gaped up at it, as its wings spread, but his cry was lost as the intangible form enveloped him!
Kid Flash raised his head in disbelief at what was occurring in front of him. Was this the shy, desperate and hunted girl he had fallen for those weeks ago? The one whose eyes now glowed red as she pressed her psychic attack on Brother Blood? Her soul-self was wrapped around the spasming form of the fanatic, as if seeking to crush him!
On the island of the altar, Nightwing, Starfire and Speedy watched in helpless horror.
“Rachel!” Wally called to her, even as Mother Mayhem fled in panic, and the crowd of acolytes started screaming. “Don’t do this! You’re not a killer!”
Her concentration was fierce, as Blood struggled against her in a contest of wills. But her attention wavered when Wally grabbed her by the shoulders and tried to get her to look at him.
“If you do this, you will fulfill their prophecy of you! You will become who they fear and hope you will be!”
This struck home. Her brow furrowed, and Raven’s eye’s flicked over to Wally’s, reading the truth and fear there.
This moment of uncertainty was all that Blood needed; he exerted a massive force of will and burst from Raven’s control, shattering the astral projection of her soul-self into a million ectoplasmic shards! He raised his voice in a cry of triumph, even as Raven wilted to the ground!
But the concussive blast of their confrontation pulsed out in waves of force that pounded the cavern roof and the very foundations of the building above. Stalactites were shaken loose from above, and fell to the heaving underground lake, causing boiling bloody water to spray everywhere. The ground itself tilted, but Wally kept his footing as he sped down the causeway towards the island, Raven draped over one shoulder and Wonder Girl over the other.
Brother Blood, whom only seconds before, was crowing his triumph, was thrown to the ground in the seismic upheaval. He had barely enough time to crane his neck upward and see the spiked trio of falling stalactites! His cry was cut hideously short under the shower of rock and dust.
“This entire place is coming down!” Nightwing yelled to his team, now all gathered around him. “We’ve got to get out of here!”
They all watched in frustration as Mother Mayhem sealed the only exit to the cavern with a thud of finality.
“I--- I can save us!” Raven muttered, still weak from Brother Blood shattering her soul-self.
“Are you sure?” Wally pressed her, as a particularly large rock splashed down too close by, splattering them all with burning blood.
Raven stood, collected herself and said: “I have never teleported so many before, but we have no other choice! Join hands in a circle around me!”
They did as she bade them, but they had all seen her confrontation with Blood, and exchanged nervous looks with each other. If this concerned Raven she did not show it. She raised her arms, the rings of Azar glittering on her fingers, and drew up a curtain of black smoke around them…
The Titans vanished just as the tiny island sank beneath a tide of blood…
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Post by Admin on Dec 27, 2005 22:14:57 GMT -5
The sun was just starting to come up over New York City as Raven drifted off into sleep in Roy’s king-sized bed. She had not wanted to return to Temple Azarath that night, and Roy was generous enough to offer her his hospitality until she felt comfortable to do that. Donna and Kory had returned to Themyscira House for some well-earned rest, while Dick and Wally drank coffee on the terrace and watched the sun come-up.
Roy sauntered outside to join them.
“Well, the fall of the Church of Blood is all over the news this morning.” He flopped down into a lounge chair near the others. “That reporter Bethany Snow is spinning this as if we attacked a harmless charity organization and murdered its figurehead!”
Wally snorted disbelievingly.
“What about the Church’s attack on Temple Azarath, their attempted abduction of Rachel, torturing me, you, Donna and Kory, the death of that delusional girl who drowned herself in that underground lake---.”
“Not a word.”
“The Church of Blood is very well connected, here and internationally.” Dick reminded them. “We haven’t heard the last of this.”
“Well, with Blood himself dead, I doubt---.”
“Did you see a body, Roy?” Dick asked. “Because I didn’t. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Church come back from this stronger than ever.”
Neither Roy nor Wally contradicted him.
“And I think we should ask Raven to join our little team.” Dick went on. “She has awesome powers, and may need some guidance…”
Wally glanced sharply at his friends.
“I think asking Rachel to join the Titans is a great idea, Dick, but you almost sound like you don’t trust her.”
Dick returned Wally’s stare evenly.
“I’m not sure if I do.”
“Now just wait one damn minute!” Wally snapped. “You’re not buying all that Dark Daughter crap, are you? She’s not a demon or anything like that, no matter who those monks say her father is!”
“I just think she could benefit by using her powers for the common good.” Dick said calmly. “Help set her moral compass…”
There’s nothing wrong with her moral compass.” Wally got up, setting his coffee down angrily. “Rachel brought me back from the brink of death and saved all of our lives in the end. That’s all the assurance I need.”
Not waiting for his friend to reply, he muttered something about going in to check on her.
Wally West was angry with himself, he admitted as he walked through the penthouse. He had allowed his emotions to get the better of him, when he knew Dick was just being sensible. And he had lied. He was as unsure as the rest of them. He wanted to trust Rachel, more than anything else in his life, it seemed. But he was right there during her struggle with Brother Blood. He felt the emanations of power, and the joy of it, coming from her. And he found it hard to forget that, even after he had seemed to get through to her, she still had not ceased her fatal attack on Blood, had only been distracted from pressing it.
He cracked the door to the master bedroom, and glanced inside the darkened room to see Raven tossing uneasily in the bed, the sheets twisted around her, and her brow furrowed. She was mumbling something in her tortured sleep that Wally could not understand, but was sure he would not like.
Yes, Raven had more power than any of them were comfortable with.
And Wally West feared she didn’t know how to control it.
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Post by Admin on Dec 27, 2005 22:16:26 GMT -5
The End?
Join us next month for a new writer and a new storyline!
And don't miss Nightwing, a new series coming in January!
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