Issue #19: "The Trigon Empire" Pt. 3

The day hadn’t been going that well for Plastique. First of all, he’d been stretched to his limits by an extra-dimensional Dark God, then, while posing as Nightwing, he’d inadvertently professed his love for Wonder Girl, thus driving away Starfire, and then, as if that wasn’t bad enough, Donna had turned out to be possessed by a shadow-being and had tried to tear him apart.

And then there was now. He should have been saving the day, like the true hero he was, but here he was instead, lying on the ground, twisted out of any sort of shape that he wanted to be in. It was time to call in the cavalry, so he reached out once more to the Titans communicator that Gar had left him with, and tried once more to get in touch with her.

Maybe this time Starfire would answer.

Wally West was stuck in the darkness, screaming, his super-fast senses making each second seem like a year. He wondered if this older Raven realized the pain she was putting him through, and then she gave him a swift glance, one that few others would have noticed, and he realized that she did. Her smile told him that.

Meanwhile, Roy Harper stood opposite her, in this strange warped future, unable to release his arrow, the tip of which was resting on her forehead. He couldn’t even move to take out the gizmo that his late daughter had given him, which would teleport him to outside Titans Tower, although since that was now the Raven’s Lair and Trigon was waiting there that wouldn’t be a big improvement.

“It doesn’t matter how you kill me,” he said to her. “The Universe will be dead soon enough anyway if your father has his way.”

She just smiled a narrow smile. “All those deaths, all those intense final emotions. One final exhilaration. There are worse ways for it to end.”

“You enjoy the pain of others?” asked an unbelieving Roy, suddenly observing that her cloak of darkness had now spread out from Roy to envelop Woodchucker.

“Don’t lecture me, Roy,” she said, raising her arm, wearing a familiar bracelet around her wrist, to brush his arrow aside. “I thought you of all people would understand my... addiction.”

“What happened to you?” asked Roy, unable to believe the Raven that he knew would turn into this thing before him.

Raven smiled again. “You still think this is your future? You think the woman that died in your arms is your daughter?”

“Don’t talk about her,” said an angry Roy, who surprised both himself and Raven by managing to take a step forwards.

“This isn’t your future,” Raven continued. “You think I’d let all my enemies just go and change my past? No, Portal never understood his powers, but my scientists did. I just gave all of those ‘heroes’ some hope – it had been so long since I tasted hope.”

“So, this isn’t our future then?” said Roy, stunned.

“This isn’t even your Universe,” began Raven. “Your daughter bringing Trigon here will destroy two Universes, rather than one.”

“And you want to let that happen?” asked Roy.

“No,” she replied, with a tinge of sadness in her voice, “but there’s no way to stop him. I’ve got lots of trophies in this lair of mine, but not what we really need - a deus ex machina.”

Then the Raven fell silent, deep in thought, and suddenly the darkness lifted, leaving Kid Flash and Woodchucker to drop to the floor.

“Come with me,” she ordered Roy.

“You’ve got something?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said, a smile once again on her lips. “It looks like my reign of terror can continue, and as for you... Well, I’ll be merciful and let you return to your Universe.”

And with that, she turned, and Roy suddenly saw the quiver on her back... his quiver. Not waiting for him, she led the way up a spiral staircase, her laughter almost drowning out the screams coming from above.

Near the top of the Raven’s Lair, Roy followed Raven into a large room and saw that all the screams he’d heard previously were coming from a small machine.

“Menacing muzak,” explained Raven. “I’ve got an image to maintain.”

Roy looked at her skeptically, wondering if her evil was just an act.

“If I tortured people all of the time, it would start to get boring,” she said, by way of an explanation. “Trust me. I’ve tried it.”

The look on her face told Roy that she wasn’t joking.

“So, where’s this deus ex machina?” he asked, eager to change the subject.

“It’s not quite a deus ex machina,” explained Raven, picking up a cube-shaped object. “Less of a God from machine and more of a machine from the Gods.”

Roy looked at her blankly.

“It’s called a Mother Box. I got it from your mentor who got it from a Fury. Still, that might never happen in your world. Anyway, it can open a portal between dimensions and send Trigon back to where he came from.”

And then you’ll just let us go back home?” asked Roy.

Raven nodded, a smile appearing on her lips.

Roy looked at her in disbelief. “What’s the catch?”

Her smile grew wider. “Does there always have to be a catch?”

Trigon looked down at Element, as he posed yet another philosophical question.

“If you can destroy a Universe, Lord Trigon, could you also create one?”

Trigon scratched his chin at this latest query. “Actually, I wish to ask you something. Your questions are obviously designed as a diversion. What is the point of such a diversion, when you know that I cannot be defeated and that my wrath is most terrible?”

Before Element could answer, beams blasted from Trigon’s eyes to the spot where Element was standing.

As Dagon, Raven and Arrowette looked down in shock at the resultant crater, a voice was suddenly heard from behind Trigon.

“We wish to answer your question,” said Element, as Kid Flash set him down.

“Very well,” said a bemused Trigon. “I will grant your last request.”

“Well,” said Roy Harper, taking a step forward. “Maybe you are undefeatable, but I’ve had demons in the past and I defeated them. You’re just the latest in a long line.”

And with that, he fired an arrow, with a pinging box attached to it, into the air.

Trigon saw the arrow sail past him and yawned, but then suddenly a loud BOOM filled the air, and a hole between dimensions was opened above him.

“There’s no place like home!” yelled Roy, as Kid Flash created a tornado, and Element, having now had time to grow accustomed to this strange land, took control of the air around the boom tube opening.

“You think your breeze can move me?” asked an incredulous Trigon.

“No,” replied his young daughter stepping forward, “but it can drag that boom tube towards you.”

Trigon looked up, and suddenly found himself sucked into the hole in the sky above him.

“Goodbye, father,” said Raven, for what she hoped would be the last time.

As the boom tube hovered in the sky, Flash suddenly heard his Titans communicator beeping. Looking down at it, he saw Plastique’s distorted face on it.

“Plastique’s got through to us... but how?”

Roy suddenly looked back at the Raven’s Lair and cursed. “She got us to send him back to where he came from,” he realized. “Back to our Universe.”

“Quick!” yelled Roy, motioning to the others. “We’ve got to get home and stop him.”

“How?” asked Kid Flash, who had instantly gathered everybody by Roy’s side.

“With this,” he said, showing them the teleportation gizmo that his daughter had given him. “With the boom tube opening a hole between our Universes, this can transport us back to Titans Tower.”

“Good luck,” said Arrowette, stepping away.

“But, Delia,” said Woodchucker. “You can’t stay here.”

“But this is my Universe,” she said, looking over at the Raven’s Lair. “It’s time that I stopped running away and confronted my demon.”

“But I -” started Woodchucker, as Roy activated the gizmo.

And with that, they were gone. She looked up in the sky, at the boom tube that was starting to close, about to close her pathway to the place she’d called home for the last year.

And then she saw a large red hand thrust out of it and grasp the edge of the tube, and suddenly Trigon was pulling himself back out through the hole.

“Thought you could get rid of me that easi-” he began, and then the boom tube finally closed, cutting him off at the waist.

As the top half of his body plummeted down towards the ground, Arrowette suddenly felt a chill in the air, as she saw Raven standing there, next to her. And then her attention was diverted by the loud sound of Trigon’s upper body hitting the ground.

She looked again at Raven, but Raven’s interest was with Trigon’s remains as they quickly turned to dust and were blown away by the breeze.

“Is he dead?” Arrowette asked, facing the woman who had killed her parents.

“You can’t destroy evil,” she replied. “Surely you’ve realized that by now. He’ll be back. The parts will once again form the whole. It could be microseconds, minutes, months or millenia, but he’ll be back.”

“So, are you going to kill me now?” asked Arrowette, suddenly finding herself unable to move.

“You’ll keep,” said Raven, as she turned from Arrowette and returned to her tower.

Six hours later, Roy Harper stood on the roof of Titans Tower, looking out at the sunset.

“I’m sorry about your daughter...” began the voice behind him. “I can help... with the pain.”

He turned around and saw Raven standing there. This was a different Universe, but he couldn’t be sure it was that different a Raven.

“I don’t need any help,” he said, and then left Raven alone on the roof as the sky grew darker.

Epilogue

For the first time in a long time, the pain started to subside for her. Opening her eyes once again she was surprised to find the bright light above her no longer on.

She tried to look around, but felt a sharp pain in her neck. As she flinched, she became aware of a figure standing over her.

“Don’t worry, Carrie,” said a voice. “You’ve had lots of injuries, but you’ll return stronger than ever. The Flamebird will rise from the ashes.”

“You... you saved my life...” said Carrie, her voice ragged.

“No, I just decided to make your death more glorious,” explained the voice. “Now, go back to sleep, Carrie. Your time is almost near.”