Back to Reality, or something like it

Raven opened her eyes slowly, taking in the gray skies over head and the hallow buildings all around her. She couldn't remember coming outside, or ever seeing the city this deserted. Slowly looking around, she didn't see a single sign of life. Few windows in any of the surrounding buildings were still intact and as she looked around more and more began to worry her. Light poles torn from the ground, a fire hydrant lying beside a barely bubbling spring produced by it's removal from the concrete sidewalk.

Rising to her feet, the gothic girl looked down at herself. Her cloak was missing and her uniform was in tatters, still she couldn't remember for the life of her how she managed to get out on the street, nor what had happened to the city. Mental exhaustion kept her from even attempting to levitate, leaving her walking. As her mind replayed events, she wanted to break down and start crying. Somewhere deep down she had always loved her green companion, but now she would never see him again. There would be time for that later though, she had to find out what had happened in to Jump City and she knew where to find the answers. She began to walk to Titans Tower. She began to walk home.

As she walked, Raven looked at the streets along the way. Many stores were looted, occasionally a car would be spotted, but always empty and many times trashed. Slowly shaking her head, she picked up her pace.

Moving for over an hour, she encountered no sign of a single living creature. This was unsettling, not a stray dog or cat to be seen or heard.

A sudden noise caught her attention. It was a whirring sound, like when something cuts through the air fast enough to displace it and make a sound. Standing still, she looked around, violet eyes widening when she realized it was coming from above.

A large silver machine, shaped like a bullet with glass casing around the top nose dived toward her. Backing up a few steps, she paused when it set down and the top opened back on an invisible hinge.

Raven didn't realize she was moving backward until her back hit a cement wall. From within the vehicle came two creatures, each in identical black uniforms with crimson capes. The first was blue skinned with large tusks sticking out of an impossibly large mouth, It's bald head jutting forward so far the eyes were invisible. The other looked almost human, except for the extra eye on each cheek blinking furiously. Beneath his black bangs, was a bird outline with four eyes drawn in the center. Glancing back to the first, she noticed the same marking on his forehead.

It was then that the scent hit her, one that she had not had the displeasure of smelling in years, since her days on Azarath. It was pungent, like the smell of burning flesh, only more distinct, with a mixture of sulphur. The scent of demons.

Demons? In her new home? She had seen one place fall to her father's kind, not another. Anger quickly welled up inside her and she tried hard to fight back...........nothing. There was no strain against her powers, no willing against herself to keep in control. Nothing.

Still surprised she placed her hands in front of her and concentrated on sending the two creatures into another dimension. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos."

Nothing happened.

Looking in utter confusion at her hands, she didn't hear anything the two demons said as they dragged her to the ship that had brought them there. One thing did catch her attention, if only for a second. The words "Supreme leader", somehow, this brought forth images of her father.

Still she was in emotional turmoil. The man she loved was dead, her powers, the one thing she could never remember being without, had failed her, and it appeared that Trigon, her father, was going to take another home from her. Somewhere deep inside, she screamed, for anyone looked at her face, her eyes became as hallow as the surrounding windows.

_______________________________________

A sharp slap brought Raven back to reality. She immediately sent a death glare to the possessor of the hand. Her eyes couldn't hide the shock as she stared at the woman before her.

This type of demon she definitely remembered, it was the same breed as her father. Three yellow eyes staring at her, the fourth covered by a patch tied within tendril like locks of white hair. On her chest was a symbol that was quickly becoming familiar, a bird outline with four eyes in the center.

The demoness' body was clothed in a black uniform, the same as the two monsters before, except for the red symbol on the chest. Her voice was a rasping sound, that bit into the air like a venomous cobra. "Who are you, you little bitch? And where did you learn of those incantations?"

The room around her was enormous, the ceiling arching up thirty feet in the air. Pillars lined the walls a good hundred feet in all directions. Two large doors stood directly opposite to where Raven was now shackled to the wall, and a few more on the surface to her left.

A dozen demons of various looks stood around, all clad in the same uniform, and all with the same symbol on their foreheads. The one directly in front of the captive was the only female there.

Another sharp slap brought her attention to the demoness in front of her. An angry glare passed from one woman to the other, both already tired of the other's existence. "Who are you, and where did you learn those words?"

The shackled girl shook her head, closing her eyes and then opening them again. "What words? What are you talking about?"

An electric charge went through her body, while the red skinned woman laughed. "The words of magic, Azarath, Metrion, and Zinthos. Where did you learn them?"

A voice in Raven's head spoke softly, a vicious whisper. It was Rage, and what she said made total sense. For the first time in her life, Raven let the emotion's words seep through her lips. "It would take too long to explain, but I have three other words that are meant for only you. Go. Fuck. Yourself." Even as another charge went through her body, Raven couldn't help but smile. For once, Rage had done something right. It was none of their business, nothing about her was their business.

The demoness whirled around, looked at the other demons, who in turn began staring at Raven with hungry eyes. "Do with her what you will, just don't kill her. The Supreme Leader will get the answers from her."

Crimson cape fluttering, she turned to leave at the exact instant the two doors flew forward. The metal plates falling from their hinges and banging loudly against the ground.

From the opposite side came two men, one was dressed in dark gray pants and no shirt. He held a large rifle looking gun in each hand and a lit joint between his lips. Blond hair fell partially in his face, almost hiding blue eyes. The other wore a bandana to cover his face, piercing gray eyes looking at all the shocked demons around. His head was scraped bald, several scars covering it. He was dressed in a dark gray uniform, a jagged blade in one hand and a gun in the other.

The blond man grinned, took a long drag on the drug between his teeth, and spoke. "Ya'll havin' a party without us? Garlo's not gonna like that. Are you Garlo?"

A voice filled the room from beyond where the doors had been. "Not in the least Ted, not in the least." A man walked swiftly between the two at the doorway, standing in the lead for all to see. He was tall, and lean, gray pants and long sleeved shirt covering his torso, and black gloves over his fingers. Over his body was a cloak that Raven identified immediately, it was one of her's. Holes had been ripped just below the shoulders, allowing the man to put his arms through to wear it almost like a coat. The hood was pulled down, and though it didn't hide what was under it, the mask did. It was made of metal, and depicted a monstrous face, with elongated fangs sticking upward, and untamable fur in all directions. The eyes were empty sockets, allowing the captive girl to see the emerald green orbs staring out from behind them. "What's wrong boys? Did out invites get lost in the mail."

All this had taken the space of five seconds, and the demons stood speechless. Now however, there was a rustling among the beasts. Raven caught a few words here and there, but couldn't make any sense of it. She had seen the face on the mask before, it was Beast Boy's beast form. Words like "Garlo", "Shifter", and "unstoppable", didn't even scratch the surface of her mind.

It was then that the demoness charged from nowhere, and all hell broke loose. Ted, and the nameless man in the bandana, ran into the crowd and began tearing their way through. Shots rang out, wounds were screeched over for an instant before silence echoed. Two men against twelve and the demons seemed to be less willing to fight then the men.

The demoness had attacked the man in the mask, and consequently been punched directly in the face with out hesitation. Now the two warriors stood several feet apart, staring at one another. The white haired woman was in a battle stance, bur the man appeared to be just standing. Raven wasn't fooled though, his arms limp at his sides, ready to strike at any second, his feet firm and far apart so he could balance on either one or jump into the air with in a split second, it was the stance of a predator.

She could almost feel the cocky grin on the masked man's face as he spoke next. "You know, if you wanted my attention so badly, you could have just kissed me. It would have been better for your health than attacking me, at least you wouldn't have died." He dodged an attack, bringing his knee up as she passed to hit her gut. She rolled over his knee, using the momentum to land on her feet.

"I have heard what happened, so that isn't exactly true, now is it GARLO." The last word was said with a mixture of emotions, hate and anger being at the surface.

"Touche." It was the last word said as he ran forward and threw a fist into her throat. She fell to the ground coughing, her hand clasped around her neck.

Turning, the hooded man saw the rest of the demons already killed, and looked at Raven. "You two, find the control room and release the shackles." They men left as their leader made his way to the captives side. "Why did they want you?"

A voice in her head said it was better to trust him than the demons. Still, she lied. "I don't know."

"Does it have something to do with the war? Do you know something, about them not reproducing anymore, some plan of theirs, something?"

The girl shook her head, "War, what war?"

"Don't be stupid, the demon human war. The one we have been waging for the past three years. Since the Supreme Leader took control of the planet. You know about the Supreme Leader right?" The voice behind the mask was firm, on the verge of being harsh.

Raven nodded, "I know about Trigon, leading his armies here."

A laugh came from the man before her, hearty and good natured. "Where have you been girl? Trigon, ha, I wish. He would be a cake walk."

The dark woman suddenly fell forward as the shackles came undone, collapsing into the figure's arms. "Obviously you forgot what has been happening these past years, so here's a refresher coarse. Demons invade, Supreme Leader takes control. Resistance forms. There, your up to date." Setting her down, he moved over to the still immobile demoness and threw her across the room. Lifting her by the throat with one hand, he placed her hands in the shackles that had held Raven only seconds before.

Raven went over the thoughts in her mind. There was no way she could have been asleep for three years, and if her father hadn't led the demons, who had. Even if all this was true, how did this person know her father. This world already seemed so different then the one she had been grieving in only hours ago. What else was different here? Had the Titans ever even been formed? It was all just too much for one woman's mind.

She fell into unconsciousness just as the two men returned. Garlo pointed to her. "Ted, John, take her. And be careful. They had her alive for a reason, she may not even know what it is."

The two nodded and carried her slowly from the building.

The masked man turned to leave, just as the demoness regained her senses. "The Supreme Leader will hear of this Shifter, and when she does there will be hell to pay."

He halted in his tracks, turned and moved to within inches of the woman, completely fearless. Raising his hand up, he pulled his mask off and stared into her eyes.

A slight gasp escaped her lips, "You're.....you were her...."

Garfield Logan, Garlo, the most feared human in all the demon armies, smiled. His green lips revealing sharp fangs. "That's why your still alive silly girl. I want your master to hear of this. And before I forget." He pressed his lips to her's a bruising kiss that allowed her to bite his lip, not that he cared. After breaking it, he leaned forward to whisper into her ear. "Give you precious queen that, and tell her it was from me."

Replacing his mask, he turned and left the room. He could hear her howls of rage for miles as he walked back home.

His smile had faded, the resistance, known by their enemies as the Titan Menace, had won another small victory. Another grain of sand in the hourglass of time tilted in their favor. The shadow of war still hung heavily over the world and he hadn't heard from the other stations in days. Garlo only hoped that the girl they had recovered could help them somehow.

If not, all that was left to do was pray.

_____________________________________

In Raven's mind a question was being posed, by an unlikely source. Rage itself. "If this world is so different, could he still be here?" Raven awoke with a start. Her mind was in jumbles. She had heard there was a thin line between love and hate, but Rage almost sounded like she genuinely wanted to see Beast Boy again. It was disturbing to say the least.

Getting into position, she began to meditate. Perhaps some answers would come in her subconscious, because her conscious was getting nowhere.