Disclaimer: All DC characters are owned by their owners, none of which happen to be at this moment. Brant and Fee are mine. Some other people too. Not that you'd need them anyway.

Warning: There is stuff here.

In the beginning, awaited the seed of the end.

Act Five: Dance of the Damned

Chapter twenty two

The second thing Jinx noticed was Shimmer screaming. The first thing, she wished she could forget. It'd been some time since she and Mammoth has sparred, and the larger man had always pulled his punches. Apparently, she never really appreciated that fact enough. The cavern wall slamming against her back afterward was a good reminder to be thankful for the small things, when she could see strait again.

Ravager looked from Jinx's slumping form to the preposterously dressed youth striding slowly up the tunnel they'd just flooded, then back to the the rampaging form of the enormous man named Mammoth before setting on a task. "Terra, try and minimize the damage, Flash, with me,"she yelled over the din, turning to the unknown behind them.

Things had been normal till he showed up. Therefore, he was the issue.

Kid Flash turned and saw what Wilson was about, cursing again the cramped quarters. Speeding ahead of her, he borrowed a page from a recent fighting game that had been popular and leapt into a flying kick from a dozen yards away.

Normally, such a thing would never connect, but he happened to have sped up to around 200 miles per hour before launching himself. With a satisfying crack the youth he impacted flew backwards, slamming into a wall hard enough to rain stone and dust down into the tunnel.

Shimmer watched in horror as her brother attacked those near him, Jinx the first to fall to his surprise attack. She'd seen the lingering glow of red in his eyes and knew that the person behind them was the new Brother Blood. Her fear of that man and his power was almost the rival to her worry for her brother, snared by that same talent. "Don't hurt him! He's under Blood's control!"

"Lady, I'm trying but he's not really cooperating much," Terra snarled, her already waning reserves getting dangerously low as she pulled stone pillar after pillar up to deflect the man's brutal strength. Raven joined her shortly, as Jinx stood and shook off the hit she'd taken.

Black spheres encased the man's hands, slowing his punches and sapping his strength, every movement a fight to simply budge them. The strain on Raven was minimal, but her attention being split so many ways was telling. Trying to look behind them at the state of Ravager and Flash, she slipped and one of Mammoth's fists whistled dangerously close to her head. "Easy big guy, I think we need to get you some air...

"Everyone, regroup!" Hoping her gambit would work, Raven started unfolding her essence along the floor, letting it seep around through cracks and contours there silently. Soon, everyone nearby was in it's range, but Ravager and Flash were taking too long to return. "Faster Wilson; West! Now!"

The two broke off and returned then, an unphased Blood following slowly after, unhurried. "Now where do you think you're going?" He asked, his voice slithering between his lips and making Raven wince. Something familiar was there, she just had no intention of figuring it out this time.

The moment the two rear guard were in place, she dropped her hold on Mammoth, the man stumbling forward suddenly at the release of his bonds. Terra took over then, encasing his hands in the same rock he fell on, holding him for the precious moments Raven needed-

Cold swept over them all, as nothing itself swallowed them, leaving a momentarily stunned Brother Blood in their wake.

She'd chanced to take them as far as the Tower, but that seemed too precarious, with Mammoth under uncertain conditions. Deciding instead to fix on a location Ravager had been preoccupied with, Raven unfolded the motley team some hundred yards behind Robin's position in the residential sector.

"Robin!" Kid Flash called, pulling their leader's attention to the motley team that materialized behind them. Turning he found a curious sight, but not one he was surprised by. Signaling Cyborg and Beast Boy to hold the line, he turned to the errant group, pulling out his Comm to recall Starfire as well. Running to bridge the distance, he took in the scene with a slight smile.

Mammoth was shaking off something, a girl he didn't immediately recognize kneeling by his side and looking up into his face worriedly. Kid Flash and Ravager were looking around confused, while Jinx leaned against Raven, a bandage around her shoulder leaking through slightly. A familiar man, large and muscularly framed under his rather conservative suit stood nearby a stunning blonde, who seemed either to be in shock or dazed, wavering slightly with her eyes shut. Terra looked up at the sky overhead and smiled faintly, before fainting away.

"Hotspot, regroup to my position, sorry to send you on a lark," Robin keyed to his Comm, still coordinating the many teams as he took in the state of the crew before him.

"Roger boss, just getting some more flight time in," the flame-wielder smirked, before signing off. Robin was quietly glad of his humor – so much was going sideways here that any chance at some lightening of the mood was welcome. Looking back to his errant teammates, he took stock and sighed. Almost all of them were in bad shape, and he needed to get a few to the medical bays in the Tower. "Who's able to relieve Cy and Gar, they've been hammering on crazies for an hour, and we need to pull back and strike at the command, rather than trying to plow through."

Ravager stood forward immediately, as did Flash, the large man he recognized as the bodyguard from the other week looking around then shaking his head. Raven looked up and around her, shaking her head slowly, shifting her power to heal those around her. Picking out Wilson and Flash, Robin waved them on, while motioning for the the bodyguard closer, meaning to figure out who he was. It was the eyes that clued him in, and looking back to Jinx he made the connection, "You're Brant, right?"

Nodding, the man stayed silent, turning so he could keep the pink-haired girl in his line of sight.

Bothered by the number of variables, Robin swore to himself but was happy there weren't any other surprises immediately. As he was taking stock of their resources, the local authorities moved up behind them, closing on the rear line of the offensive. Moving to converse with their captain, the Titan found it wasn't just police, but National Guardsmen that were in force this time. "Good to see you guys, we're kinda outnumbered."

"Surprised you held it as long as you did, we'll take over this part. Any word on the crazy out in the financial district?" the captain asked, waving his people forward, riot shields and batons at the ready against the crazed mob ahead of them.

Shaking his head slowly, Robin sighed, "We have people down, but we'll get to it soon. Seems like the town is going to hell... recently..." Snapping his head around, the young Detective looked at Raven sharply, gritting his teeth.

"Raven, can we get everyone to the Tower in about ten minutes, I think something serious is up," Robin called, walking away from the motorcade and riot geared forces marching to meet the Zealots directly.

Looking up from the injured, she seemed to consider before nodding. "I'll ah... need to take Jinx with me. Tapping too much power, I need her to bleed off some of my emotions to draw on my powers so much," she noted, looking away briefly. Robin made a note to ask her about this, but simply nodded for now. Things weren't going to get prettier anytime soon he felt, so anything at all that could give them an edge was welcome.

"Do it, we need to get out of here and regroup." Turning he pulled out the increasingly present Comm and keyed for the Tower itself. "Robin to base, who's on watch?"

"That'd be me, Fearless," Superboy chimed, leaning forward so Robin could see him. "What's up?"

"Trouble, as usual Connor," he replied, figuring on his next step. "Get the medbays ready, we have injured inbound. Speedy, probably Kara, Jinx, Mammoth, Ravager, Terra's probably just drained but her too, and likely Argent, Beast Boy and Cyborg."

"Next time tell me who's not injured... what the hell hit you guys?" Robin could hear the orders given on the other side of the Comm, Tower watch being the default leader in his absence. Happy that at least things were running efficiently if difficultly, he ran a hand through his hair.

"I'm afraid that's exactly what's hitting us," before Connor could ask what he meant by that, he closed the Comm to direct their evacuation. "You're Shimmer right?" When the girl by Mammoth nodded, he gave her a reassuring smile, leaning down to check on the large man's injuries himself. "Don't worry, right now we're all friends. Will you two be ok to get move to the Tower for some help?"

Nodding, Shimmer worried that Mammoth hadn't completely snapped back to himself. The hypnosis Blood, the previous one, had used was powerful but without time to program it well, tended to need eye contact. Mammoth shouldn't be recovering so slowly, "We'd appreciate any help."

Robin moved on, but stalled from a noise by the front line. He heard a name, and it chilled him at once and made his blood turn to fire.

Gripping his knee in bloody hands, Kid Flash fell with a cry, as Ravager stood by with a look of shock and betrayal on her unmasked face, slumping to the ground with the butt of a shotgun slowly moving away from her stomach, the impact winding her heavily. She seemed uninjured from the blow, as the the man who struck her lifted her onto a shoulder. Standing, his back to Robin and the other Titans was a silhouette he'd never mistake, but which he was desperately not pleased to see.

Clenching his teeth, Robin snapped a hand to the side, signaling Raven to go. She draped an arm around Jinx's waist and fell into shadow, as the Titan's leader glared at the man who single-handedly had nearly broke him and every one of his friends.

"Slade."

I oOo I

Raven wasn't one to mince words, so when Robin had motioned her off as he did, she didn't ask questions. "Hold tight, we're going to be doing a lot of shifting," she murmured to the Thief in her arms, who was protesting as much as holding her.

"That's fine and all, but do you have to carry me-EEEeee!" Falling through shadows suddenly, they reappeared a dozen feet away as the building wall Raven had been nearest exploded into rubble. "What the hell was that?"

"Him," Raven mouthed, glaring ebon eyes down the street at the man flying directly at them.

Glancing over her shoulder, Jinx's brow narrowed, but she stepped to the side of the Titan, giving her room to move. "Can you get the others on your own?" She asked quietly, keeping her eyes locked on the speeding form approaching them.

"Yes. But I'm not leaving you," the empath replied, sheathing her arms in black as she ripped a pair of lamp posts free, mimicking one of Robin's ready poses, the weapons mirroring her.

Smirking, Jinx took a breath, letting it out slowly. "Don't be silly. Something serious is up, and besides," grinning as her own eyes flared neon and black, the witch closed her fists with a crack, the force of her entropic power snapping around her hands like liquid flame. "It'll take you five minutes to go shadow-diving and get all the others home safe, if this fool's occupied.

"So come back in four," she snarled, jetting forward as if launched, curving the wind around her with a thought, forcing the air to fill the space she was in and riding those currents. The small conversation with the Other lurking inside her mind had opened up something, a reserve of understanding about her powers.

Luck had nothing to do with it. It was chance, probability. And she could play it like a harp. Bending air around her by making it's probability to shift into the space she was in, was child's play. Smirking at the surprise in her speed and sudden lunge registering on the unknown enemy's face, the witch voiced the one thing she'd taken from that conversation, laid low and dazed from the injury to her shoulder. "Nothing impossible..."

Clenching a fist, Raven watched as the one she cared about ran headlong into an unknown threat. Cursing her father and the madness of the day, she dropped her weapons and folded in on herself, not wasting the opportunity Jinx gave her.

She'd have to trust the girl to be alright, when she returned.

Psimon hadn't planned on running into the one his Lord sought so soon, but then neither did he expect a perfectly calculated strike to simply be ignored. Grunting in pain from a sudden impact, which felt like being hit with a sledgehammer in the ribs, the psion flew backward into a wall, dazed for the moment.

The thing riding Jinx cackled, a darker violet licking along her own neon force, as it leaked from her eyes, wafting on the air and dissipating as she moved. The man had struck at her with a blast of force, but she'd been able to see it coming, or rather react instantaneously to the strike by rolling to the side in her flight. Still adjusting to the odd prescience diving so deep into her powers was offering, the girl missed the telekinetic ally lifted lamp post Raven had discarded rising up and swatting her away like an errant insect. Jinx fell to the ground with a muffled thud, her impact softened by a line of shrubbery below. Coming up to hands and knees, she glared at the man dragging himself from the rubble of the wall she'd knocked him into.

Rising from the debris, Psimon snarled, his entire body shaking as he concentrated, and the area around him answered. Brick, mortar and cement broke free of their anchors, in a range amounting to a sphere around the psion. Veins defined on what skin was visible on his face, the telekinetic bent his will on all the matter, a strain even for one as mighty as him.

No more child's games. No more props, or silly attacks. He would utterly crush this brat, and be done with at least one annoyance. Permanently.

With a feral scream, the altered man drove the matter and debris in a crushing rush, collapsing it in a ball that got smaller, smaller, and denser as he twisted each molecule, forcing them to shift and adjust to his will, fitting mortar to pipe to cement on a nearly chemical level. As he watched, the equivalent of an apartment building's worth of material and mass was crushed into a ball, perfect and floating, six feet in diameter.

Panting, he grinned, feeling the vindication of slaying a foe when a small tap lighted on his shoulder. Turning to the voice at his shoulder, eyes wide, he was thrown to the ground by a fierce strike, the outline of it arcing neon like electricity. "Nice trick. My turn."

She'd seen the trap as it was sprung, but apparently the telekinetic fighting her hadn't been briefed on her recent... changes. Even if it was a recently learned talent, teleporting wasn't so hard as she remembered. With a cry she snapped a hand back, willing an entropic blade of force from her fist, slamming it with all her strength into the wiry man's jaw. Psimon's head snapped back on his neck, the motion on it's own sending him into a tumble to the ground, beyond the blow itself knocking him unconscious. Jinx's stared with manic glee as the man fell, the aura around her fist replenishing itself after veritably discharging with fatal force into the man. She didn't bother trying to fathom the effects of that much concentrated chaos jolting into someone with the intent to kill would cause, and didn't care.

Flinging her hand at the now falling sphere of concentrated city block, she laughed, a low, unpleasant sound that seemed to reverberate on itself. The thing listed to the side, unbound by Psimon's will, falling suddenly from it's position in air. Pink arcs of energy sent it careening directly for the misshapen man, and with a sound and impact that blew out windows two blocks away, the globe hit the crater and didn't move again.

Wavering where she floated, the pink-haired girl fell back to the earth, the fight over. Stumbling in her weariness, she thought to lean on a wall and relax till Raven returned, when her eyes widened suddenly. A pain like... a crowbar prising at her skull wrenched at the Thief, driving her stark upright. Slamming her head into a nearby wall, she gripped at her temples, eyes unseeing. Gulping a breath of air, Jinx screamed at the city around her, the sound resonating much further than it should have. Primal force screamed in her veins for release. She'd been drawing deeper and deeper on that thing, the Other inside her and it was getting harder to resist it, To keep that thing that was vitally Jinx in the front of her mind, and not the insidious and tempting call that seemed finally to make itself apparent. It had been quiet, almost unheard behind every thought, echoing in silences and resounding in the darkness behind her closed eyes for so long it seemed.

She was growing weary of resisting it.

I oOo I

Far away, blue eyes snapped to the sky outside a cheap hotel window, their owner stopping mid-word in a communication she was reading from the Watchtower, JLA central command. "Oh... no."

The two John's started, each consumed in their own thoughts as Zatanna burst into the room, looking for all the world as if she was scared. "Whats going on?" Stewart asked, instinctively sheathing himself in the uniform of the Lantern Corps, knowing whatever had her so worked up would be something he needed to act on.

Constantine worried at a tooth with a pick, sighing as he pulled a smaller pack from his duffel, slinging it over a shoulder. "I guess I should be happy I got to see this day, but damn, I kinna wish I'd gotten to go to a club first."

Looking from one to another, the Lantern glared, his eyes glowing a dangerous green in his annoyance. "What is it?" he asked again, not liking being left out of the loop.

"It's begun," Zatanna whispered, snapping herself out of the small stupor the backlash of whatever had alerted her wore off. Grabbing her hat and wand, she didn't bother opening the window, simply blasting it free of the wall. "We're too late," was her only reply, as she sped out into the midday air, leaving her two companions behind.

"To late?" the Lantern asked, looking to Constantine for an answer.

"End of the world mate, weekly feature down here. And it looks like we have the good seats."

The ex-Marine, having spent enough time in active duty to fully justify it, said the only thing that came to mind at that moment. "Fuck."

I oOo I

Raven had just spirited the last of the Titans to the Tower when a magical backlash of massive proportion nearly sat her on her rear, preparing to slide into shadow one last time to retrieve Jinx.

It had been tricky, when she got back to the main body of her team to find them wearily fending off what seemed to be an incensed Slade. Only Robin's quick thinking had saved them, but at a price.

That price was Slade Wilson himself, sitting and glowering at the young Detective as they sat at a table, inside of the Tower. Sparing her little more than a glance, the young leader asked what was wrong, but she only shook her head, folding away in shadow without another word.

His attention free, Robin turned it back to their unwelcome guest. "She'll be fine. The armor deflected the majority of the impact."

Eye narrowing in the cyclopean mask that shared the same colors as his daughter's, the mercenary-made-villain simply glared at his one-time apprentice. "You realize that this is your fault, don't you, boy," voice cast low and dangerous, the man didn't bother to mask the threat in his words.

"And I take responsibility for it, unlike you," Robin shot back. "She trained under you. She's your daughter, Slade. What she chooses to do with that training on the other hand, is her choice and hers alone.

"Don't lay the blame of who she is on me. She's chosen to be a Titan. But don't mistake that as absolving you of everything she is, Wilson," looking like nothing less than a young man with something foul in his mouth, the young Detective turned to get a glass of water.

Slade practically shook, sitting there being lectured by a boy, but regardless there was truth in his words. This boy, after all, was his one-time chosen apprentice. "Robin, make no mistake. If anything happens to Rose, I will kill you. I don't have the sentimental bend to keep loose ends hanging around like you do," Rising, Slade pulled the mask he wore free, revealing an older man with white hair to match Roses, his patch-covered eye the opposite of her own. "Look into my eye, boy," he hissed, spinning Robin around and forcing the young man to spill his water all over the taller man.

Slade didn't so much as blink, reaching out and forcing Robin's face up. "I promise you, if the Titans cause my only surviving child to come to harm, I. Will. Kill. You."

Shoving the man away, Robin sat his glass down hard enough to crack it. "Unlike you, we take care of our own," Robin snarled, his patience nearing it's end. "What the hell was that with Kid Flash? Explain that."

It was a compromise, Slade being there. Every other Titan was all for settling bets then and there, as young Wally West lay bleeding, his knee a ruin beneath his hands. Robin had to think fast, since his team was already battle-weary, and Slade looking crazed himself. He also needed to get Ravager to medical, her injury more serious than anyone wanted to admit. Telling Slade that they could do more for her than any hospital, or himself, he'd made a deal with the devil as it was, allowing the masked mercenary into their home as a compromise to get everyone there quickly.

He didn't have time for a battle, not with Flash and Rose bleeding to death in front of him.

"You throw children into a war, Robin. Surprised someone got hurt?" Mirthless, the jibe wasn't meant to be answered. "Listen, and well. I've lost two of my sons to these petty wars; my own and yours. I refuse to lose Rose. I don't care what cost." Leveling his glare on the young Detective again, Slade made it clear that he intended his words to be taken with as much gravity as possible. "You're all collateral damage waiting to happen, as far as I'm concerned."

Slamming his hand down on the table, Robin was suddenly staring down the barrel of a drawn pistol, but regardless he didn't flinch or look away. "And I'm telling you, we're a team. We don't leave anyone behind. Not me. Not Terra. Not Rose," reaching up, he shoved the barrel away from his face and sat heavily, glaring at the man across from him. "And it's impolite to point."

Smirking briefly, Slade sheathed the weapon and sat again, considering the youth before him. "You know what's going on. Do you think you can really protect her?"

"If anyone can, it's either you, or us," Robin answered, candidly. Glancing away, Slade nodded once, the rest of that statement not needing to be said. 'And she chose us.'

In the medical bays, Cyborg, Bumblebee and a nervous Shimmer worked from bed to bed, tending to the wounded as the various machinery of the Tower did as much as it could. Cyborg himself was in bad shape, most of his armor dented, or breached entirely, but only superficial systems had incurred any damage. A flesh wound, he'd called it. A night in the maintenance bay would see him good as new, but for now, he was the most able to assist the medbay computer in getting his battered team back in order. "Shimmer, get Connor. We need to ask him about Kara," he said quietly, finishing up on the stitches in Kid Flash's leg.

Messy work, but the young transmuter had been amazing help. Cyborg was stunned when he noticed that the speedster's knee was already mending, half healed but in all the wrong ways, when they'd arrived. Needing things to operate that there was no way he could get in time, he'd remember that Mammoth's little sister could synthesize anything she touched, into something else, and so had fed her some data on one of the medical computers.

Fifteen minutes later, he had a healing suppressant, and the material needed to do some real work on the injured youth. The operation had been messy, and long, but the results were looking good. Flash's healing was astounding, as fast as the young man himself, all Cyborg needed to do was set it in the right direction. Godspeed did the rest.

Bumblebee stood aside, as he approached. She was working on Ravager, the young woman sustaining an aggravated wound to her side by an armor piercing round tearing into her scaled mail. The result wasn't much different than a grenade going off in a concrete channel. Twisted metal had broken loose and complicated the injury, which was dangerously close to her spine and kidney. "Crazy girl, fighting while chewed up like she slept with a shark." Bumblebee nodded, going to check on Mammoth, where Shimmer was. She didn't want the worried sibling disturbing his rest, regardless of her concern.

"I've had worse dates than sharks," a strained voice replied, making him grateful again for computerized nerves rather than knee-jerk reactions of flesh and bone. Looking up, he met the one shock pale blue eye of Rose Wilson, as she lay motionless, watching him.

"Jesus, Rose. How long have you been awake?" the metal Teen asked, his hands stilling as he worried something was wrong beyond her injury. The girl simply should not be awake at this point.

Laughing once, wincing as the motion shot through her like electricity, the silver-haired girl stilled. "Since incision seven."

Cyborg would have paled if he could. He was currently on around the twentieth incision, cleaning up the wound and removing shrapnel. "Girl, you've got some solid steel balls in that armor," he murmured, looking up with his lips pursed. "How is the pain?"

Quirking a lip, she raised the opposite arm, pointing to her eye, the one obscured by the patch she was always wearing, "This was a ten. This," motioning to the ruin of her side, she let her hand fall back where it was. "Around a four."

Shaking his head, the Titan went back to his duties, trying to ignore the fact Rose was awake and watching him as he cut into her again. "Want me to get you more drugs, this isn't something most people want to watch," he asked, hoping for his own nerves she'd accept the offer.

Nodding once, she simply looked away, closing her good eye. "Up the clinical dosage to fifteen times, and make it a non-salinated drip. My metabolism eats that stuff like candy."

Cyborg debated making Shimmer magic him up some more medical supplies, before they parted company. With Rose on the payroll, it may be necessary.

Mammoth still hadn't woken up, but they assured her it was just a healing sleep, not an injury itself that keep him from waking. Shimmer sat and worried at his hand, big enough to engulf her head but slack as it lay on the large medical cot. "It'll be ok, Baran. I won't let Blood near you again," she murmured, cursing herself for not backing out of that fool's errand, that led them back to the ruined Hive headquarters.

"He was part of why we all made it out of there," a voice said, that she recognized belonged to Brant. She turned, looking at him briefly, his arm in a sling. Managing to avoid injury but being in the middle of the action the entire time, he had jumped in front of one of Slade's shots, blocking the round from striking Raven and Jinx as they'd made a hasty exit for some errand Robin had sent them on. Realizing that was likely why he seemed so tense still, she nodded once.

Running he hand over her brother's slack cheek once more, she stood and motioned for the door. She didn't want to wake him, unless he was ready. Stepping outside into the small foyer that passed for a waiting room in the Titan's medical wing, she sighed and slumped, letting the tension of the last few hours finally show. "I know. I know he was brave and wonderful." Shaking her head, she sat heavily, not looking up from the floor. "Blood is dangerous. We've... we've all been too long around him and that damn hypnosis.

"I hate it," she hissed, leaning back finally. Brant simply stood nearby, nodding slowly.

"He'll be fine. Cyborg said it was just a programmed weakness, that the other Brother Blood had instilled in them," sitting nearby, he settled his injured arm away from the arm rest, and leaned back himself.

Shimmer grinned slightly, realizing this was the first time she'd ever seen the man relax. "Are you worried about Jinx?" She asked, needing to break and keep the silence at bay. Silence let her think. Thinking meant worry.

"I'm worried that what's been eating her up inside will get the better of her," he said cryptically, shaking his head slowly. "Too much has happened, too quickly. It's as if the hand of the clock is being sped up, and we, she particularly, is striving to keep up."

Sighing, Selinda looked to her hands and then back to the man. "What about Fee? She seemed... I don't know. Broken, or something, in her mind after the battle Jinx and Raven fought."

"It was a bit... excessive," the bodyguard admitted, remembering the manic flurry of his own charge, the deadly light she wielded like blades from her hands and a glint of madness in her eyes. Beyond that, was the nightmare-made-woman that Raven became, loosing lesser horrors in legion on the hapless drones. "I've never seen the like of that. I hope never to again."

"Yeah..." shaking the memories off, Shimmer looked up as Bumblebee came in, minus her powered suit and the more recent medical smock and mask. "How are they, Karen?" she asked, memories of the girl's time in the Hive giving her a name, if little else. She'd been in a different area, and was only superficially aware of the dark-skinned girl and her past. Mammoth spoke well of her, regardless of her role in the downfall of the Hive; real kindness and a good personality seemed to be qualities to separate her from the crowd.

Perhaps that was why Cyborg trusted her with such critical tasks as healing his friends.

"They'll be fine, everyone seems to have been just knocked around more than anything," the other woman said, joining them in relaxing. "Rose and Flash were the worst, Kara's just sleeping off some psychic attack according to Connor, and Mammoth pretty much the same. Other than that... well I guess Raven and Jinx, when they get back and everyone's accounted for."

Brant fidgeted, an odd sight for a man of his usually calm demeanor. Shimmer raised a brow, but knew the reason for his anxiety.

It had been an hour or more, and yet Jinx and Raven were still unaccounted for.

I oOo I

"Jinx," the quiet voice called to her, again. She wanted to shove it away but it seemed to be wrapped around her. "Jennifer, come back to me," it coaxed, and with a feeling like swimming through mud, she tried to find the voice, if only to punch it in the face so she could sleep.

Blinking at the lack of light when she opened an eye, Jinx none the less found it too much and closed it again. "Holy fuck what hit me," she groaned, the spike of pain shooting through her skull enough to make her nauseous.

She recognized the chuckle, the light rasp familiar like her own bed. Raven's hand, she assumed it was hers, with her voice so near, smoothed her disheveled hair from her forehead. "Apparently, most of this block."

"Right, I was playing catch with Atlas," the Thief quipped, going still as her own voice set up some nasty reverberations in her head. "Ow." Trying to sit up, a gentle pressure lay against her chest, pushing her back down. Not willing to open her eyes quite yet, she made an unhappy noise.

"Stay down, you're winded and it was a bit... trying, to get you all sorted out when I showed up." Raven's voice was quiet, thankfully, but her words were worrisome. Jinx knew she didn't get hit by the city block she'd dropped on that psycho, but it felt like she had.

Sighing, she relaxed for the time being, content that Raven was near at least. "What do you mean?" she asked, trying to piece the last moments after the fight back in order. So far it wasn't working.

Raven looked to the devastation, the mass of crushed and compressed city block resting nearby, a smaller crater cradling it inside the larger one that had spawned it. The forces needed to do that kind of damage were stupefying, but she knew those weren't Jinx's hallmarks. That she'd gone toe-to-toe with someone who had done so, made her sick inside. "I had to shove you back into one piece. You and your... twin were fighting, when I got back." Recalling the sight, Raven's lips thinned. She'd arrived soon after that explosion of magical energy, washing over the town and everyone in it. Soon she'd have to look into what it had done, on it's own, but her immediate concern had been Jinx.

Finding the girl, she was instantly reminded of the odd attack on her mind, as the thing she saw was that same face, and semblance. What looked like a shadow, an inverse image of Jinx seemed to be grappling with the prone Thief, vying for purchase as it was literally dragging itself free of her. Seemingly bound, the image was only a torso, folded out of Jinx's own and struggling it appeared to pull the rest of her form free of the Thief's body when Raven had shaken off her initial shock and knowing noting else to do, had used her knowledge of magic to rebind the thing back to Jinx, worrying that perhaps she was doing more harm than good.

At hearing Raven's comment about her Twin, Jinx winced. Things made much more sense. "Sorry, things have been getting difficult recently." Not wanting to burden the Titan with more, she quieted, and lay back.

"Stay still, I'm going to get us to the Tower," Raven said, but rather than the now-familiar chill of her power washing over her, she instead heard a muffled thump and the Titan hiss in pain. Snapping her eyes open, she winced, but took in the scene with photographic clarity.

Between them stood a luminous green barrier, the light it seemed made of trailing back to a man in a familiar uniform. "John?," she murmured, the light spearing into her eyes and making them water.

Recognition lit in his eyes, but the barrier remained, as Raven stood and seemed to bow slightly. "Remove the gimmick. Now," her voice low and rasping more than just a moment before, Jinx could guess where this was going already.

Closing her eyes and taking a steadying breath she flipped forward, standing suddenly. The motion made her feel sick, but she fought it down. "Put it away, John. Who else is with you; the League doesn't do solo assignments," she asked, ears and eyes alert for any treachery. She had no reason to truly fear the League, but at this point she felt it foolish to wantonly endanger herself or Raven, regardless.

A khaki clad man, ragged and rough stumbled up, a glinting something in his hand, while behind him Zatanna walked up, her uniform, as Jinx ruefully recalled, in place. "Ah," was her only response, stumbling slightly as Raven shot her a glance, questioning. In answer she shrugged, closing her eyes again. She didn't need them. "I imagine... this has something to do with us. Me and that avatar of Chaos riding inside my skull and you with the apocalypse written on your pretty hide," she murmured, voice cast for Raven alone.

The Titan turned slowly and snapped a hand in a small gesture, a black slice of nothing bisecting the light from the Lantern's ring, letting her make contact with the Thief. She'd had too many things try and keep them apart recently; the League, the Hive, Blood... all of it. She wasn't dealing with it any more. To hell with the rest of the world; she wanted some small time with the one she cared about, and at this point, Trigon himself would have to wait if she was at stake.

Zatanna's eyes widened, as she took in the amount of power needed to simply... force one of the Oan rings like Raven had. "She's gotten stronger," the witch murmured, voice cast for those nearby.

Constantine sighed, looking to his companions with a look of long suffering. "Well, black magic woman, what's the order of the day?"

Raven's eyes narrowed, while Jinx barely stood where she was.

Zatanna sighed, their orders, despite her own attempts had been clear. Time had run out, on their gambit to contact and asses things. Jinx was on the verge of being overshadowed by her Demiurge, and here was Raven, her entire body scribed with a spell to open up hell itself. Raising her wand, she cast the first stone. "Restrain the demon; secure Wrangler. We take her back to the Watchtower."

That's when Raven had decided that enough was enough. "Fuck. You."

The shadows around the three League operatives literally opened up, clawing, snarling arms grasping and grappling with the three as they stood there dumbfounded. Constantine, most used to dealing with demons swore, turning his weapon to bear against the Darklings that surged up at him, "Christ, what the hell is this?" firing a round of blessed silver, the shot obliterated a shadow, but more rose up from it's place, all bearing the four wicked slashes for eyes marking them of Skath.

Raven bore those same eyes, as her hand snaked out and took Jinx's own. "Mercy?" She rasped, her voice a thing of dry branches grating against windows at midnight. Jinx merely nodded, before curling against the Titan's suddenly mobile cloak, the thing whipping around and enfolding her.

Staring out at the beleaguered League operatives, she sighed. "Lucky, that she's feeling compassionate. For I am not." The two ceased to be, where once they had been and the operatives found the demonic shadows suddenly only the stuff of imagining, having no power in Raven's absence.

"Well, Zee honey, I think that could have gone better," Constantine muttered, while the other John looked incredulously at his ring, unbelieving it would fail him so dramatically. Zatanna shot him a withering look.

"Watchtower said to neutralize the primary threat," she murmured, shaking her head and sitting heavily in the afternoon gloom. "I know we could make contact with the Tower and find them, but it'd be a cool welcome, at best," she mused, kicking at a stone. Their initial plan to contact Jinx, and then by proxy Raven to assess the situation before time grew short seemed to have failed almost as they took it. Now, it was all down to damage control. "No choice – they went there. We go as well."

"Now hold on a bloody moment," Constantine argued, sheathing his shotgun with a sound of finality. "Three of us, against a tower full of hormone-laden, teenage, superpowered brats?" His brow raised as he shook his head. "No 'ay in hell."

Rolling her eyes, the witch muttered a spell and reached out, hooking a finger into his coat. "Oot gniog er'uoy."

"Daft wit-!" The protesting Briton's cry echoed over the Bay city ruins, as the three followed Raven's example and ceased to be there.

I oOo I

Raven stumbled, more than landed, onto her bed, falling flat as the shifting from shadowrealm to her room finished. "Mmph. You're hurt. Need to get you to the medbay," she mumbled, exhausted from expenditures of the day.

Her guest was little better, simply toppling over where she'd appeared, curled up on the floor. "Can't believe you did that. Isn't there like a fine or something for being a hero, and attacking League members?" Murmuring, she closed her eyes and pulled more of the errant blanket from Raven's bed onto herself.

"Don't bleed on that, it's silk," the Titan chided, clearing her mind enough to check in with the others. "Robin, Raven here. Back to base."

"Copy," was the terse reply. Rolling her eyes, Raven figured he was in another of his typical bad moods. And people called her Emo. "Right, bandaids. Biiiig bandaids," she muttered, moving a few steps before deciding flying was just easier. "C'mon you."

"No. Sleepy," Jinx complained, muttering about bleeding on sheets when she was snatched up by Raven's kinesis. "No faaaair. I was comfy."

Smiling slightly, the Titan wrapped her cloak around the girl, opting to use her own power to effect one, for the moment. When Jinx sighed and settled into the azure cloth, Raven shuffled them to the bay, too exhausted to teleport again. "Medbay, Raven here. Two inbound, one injury. Prep for Jinx," she signaled onto her Comm, not surprised when a relieved looking Cyborg answered.

"Well, small dark and ghastly's back. Get any candy while you were out?" Ever the one to joke, even with his head literally dented, or perhaps because of... the metal Teen still brought a smile to her face.

Smirking, she stumbled, her vision unfocusing in her exhaustion. "No, but I picked you up a sandwich," she muttered, making sure Jinx floated unjostled nearby.

"Oh, awesome," Cyborg practically cheered, "I was getting hungry. What kind you bring me?"

"Knuckle," the stoic girl answered, without missing a beat.

I oOo I

Bumblebee had seen some bad fights, and the aftermath of them before, but this took the cake. "So here's the rundown... and I'm listing everyone, seeing as they're in the damn beds," eye twitching, she dared anyone at the table to argue, as she continued.

"Injuries currently limiting the functionality of members;

"Jinx, with a gunshot wound to the shoulder, a mild concussion, possible psychic backlash from an unknown source, general exhaustion.
"Brant, with a fractured tibia, resulting from a gunshot wound," Glaring at the masked mercenary present, she none the less continued.
"Ravager, massive internal damage to the torso and abdomen, who is restricted to bed rest for one week, minimum unless I release her.
"Kid Flash, suffering an obliterated patella, and an exposed and ruptured knee capsule. Recovery uncertain, one week minimum observation.
"Mammoth, due to massive psychological trauma, but who is physically alright.

"Other injuries minor and not restricting roster activity. List follows," clearing her throat, she began the task of calling out various injuries the Titans and their allies had suffered at the hands of their recent enemies.

"Raven, exhaustion,
"Terra, exhaustion.
"Beast Boy, minor mental strain, exhaustion.
"Cyborg, chassis damage, superficial systems malfunction.
"Supergirl, minor psychological trauma.
"Starfire, chemical burns and minor contusions.
"Shimmer, psychological and mental strain.
"Speedy, minor contusions, fractured rib.
"Argent, exhaustion, minor contusions, minor concussion.
"And I've got a fucking headache this big," holding her hands out at their limit, the girl turned and left, leaving the meeting to progress without her.

Running a hand through his hair, the young Detective sighed. "We really got it handed to us out there. Where did Blood get all these shock troops?"

Slade, leaned back, but made a derogatory noise. "Did you ever recon the old Hive, for the number of people there?"

Nodding, Robin pulled up the lists and broke them down into the different categories. "Drones, school officials, students, faculty and active agents not qualifying otherwise," he said, pointing out the various numbers.

"List the approximate number of Zealots, by what Raven's team and yours observed," the mercenary suggested, causing Robin to rankle in his seat. Regardless, he entered the data. "Now, remove the approximate death toll listed by Shimmer and Mammoth's reports, and those confirmed arrests and reports from the police, as well as known loose individuals," Slade said, and Robin got to work.

A few moments later, a new set of numbers appeared and Robin's eyes widened. "No way. That's just not possible."

"When you remove all other options, what remains must be true," the mercenary said quietly, watching the slightly flickering screen. The numbers weren't exact – they couldn't be. But it was too close to be coincidence. Blood had either acquired, forcefully, a massive number of new recruits... or he had resolved to build his army out of any survivor, regardless of age or ability he could find.

Robin's fist creaked with the strain of his clenched fingers. "Brainwashing everyone.. that goddamn monster. We have to go in there, and shut him down."

Slade gestured to the remaining readout, from the medical lab and shook his head slowly, in answer. "With what? Your team is in shambles. If he strikes out again, there won't be time to muster, much less stop them. You're resources are limited.

"Mine on the other hand, are currently... untapped."

Robin was nearly ready to launch a scathing remark when Cyborg, looking as weary as he'd seen him, came in on the nearby display. "Bad news, Fearless. League is knocking." Looking over his shoulder, the metal Teen's mouth thinned to a line. "I hate coincidences."

"You and me both," Robin sighed, gritting his teeth. One more complication... "I'll be right down." Rising without another word, he'd almost reached the door when he stopped, head shaking slowly.

"Why did you attack the city, us, so many times?"

Slade, knowing he could be the only target for such a question, stood and rotated his shoulder, the bones cracking loudly. "To test you. Because I was paid well. To show Rose what she too, one day would face."

Nodding slowly, the young Detective didn't turn, but also didn't continue on his way to meet the League. "Did I pass?"

"Flying colors," the man said, with a slight smirk lifting his lip.

Robin was still a long time, immobile. Finally, seeming to resolve some internal struggle he sighed. "Call your resources. Name your price."

"Very good. My services are never cheap... but in this case I think you may not mind so much the bill," pulling a small remote from his belt, the mercenary simply clicked a trigger switch and replaced it. A smug look on his features, he crossed to where Robin stood, laying a hand on the young man's shoulder. "And as for price...

"Train her. Remove her faults. Your time under the Bat, your training with various masters, and your age... remarkable talent." Looking down the hall to the medical bays, the man's eye seemed to harden, his expression going cold. "When she comes back to me, I want her perfected. See to it." With nothing further to add, Slade Wilson moved past the immobile Robin, on his way to oversee whatever assistance it had been he called.

Unsure if he'd made the right decision, Robin regardless knew that if Slade was offering them help, the obvious answers to how and why and at what cost were never all that was there. Something else would be added, come apparent and he knew that it'd be trouble for the Titans. He only hoped it wouldn't cause them more grief than what it prevented. Gritting his teeth, the young man turned to the monitor and keyed in a communication sequence only he knew.

"Master Richard, how nice to see you again," the careworn face of his one-time minder answered almost immediately, a small smile apparent on his aged features. "Shall I get-"

"No, not this time, Alfred." Shaking his head, he was still wary to call on, or call at all, Bruce. Things had not gone well, when his former mentor had asked for him to release the Robin identity, for a new apprentice to take up. Regardless, he'd done so, but still used the colors for the time being. Things were moving more and more it seemed, to push him to that new persona. Shrugging to himself, he decided that soon he'd finish the new suit, and things would be complete. No reasons to stall, then. "I was actually looking to talk to one of the family."

Blinking once, a sign that he was surprised, the Wayne family butler nodded. "And who may I contact for you, Master Richard?"

"I need to talk to Barbara Gordon."

"Right away," Alfred answered, keying the video to standby, the connecting notice on the screen showing Robin that he was routing the call to the intended recipient.

Shortly a large, stylized eye logo appeared, taking the place of the video feed. "Oracle," it answerer simply, in a voice he knew despite the mechanical filter it was being fed into.

"Barbara, it's Richard."

The feed closed down and a woman his own age looked up into the camera, glasses in place above a slight scowl. "It's been a while, Rich. What has you calling on the Bird's nest these days?"

Shaking his head, he smiled regardless. "Not really needing the team, but I'm glad to hear the Birds are still doing alright," he said with a slight tinge of nostalgia. The Birds of Prey were a code they used for a small force of rag-tag heroes, that Barbara had collected info and favors from, and occasionally used as operatives. It wasn't a regular thing, by any means, but it sometimes kept them in contact when something big was up, around his area.

"So is this a social call? You know this isn't a webcam show," she joked, reaching off the video screen and retrieving a takeout box of Chinese.

"Sadly, no. I need some information," Richard replied, noting the playful smile on her features. It had been some time, since he'd been in contact with his longtime friend and ally, something he hoped to change soon. "Brother Blood, Trigon, whatever you can dig up on Rose Wilson and Slade Wilson, and if you can manage it," smiling warmly, he leaned closer to the screen, mocking to peer around the edge, "clear some time for a visit. It's been way too long."

"A tall order and a social call, my my, it is indeed my lucky day," the redhead drawled, smiling as she entered information into her systems. "This'll take a while to finish up. I'll get back to you on that schedule day. Are we a pair or should we double?"

"Double," Robin replied, noting only a slight dimming of Barbara's smile. It had been a while since the two had been somewhat closer, back in Gotham really, but still he missed the Commissioner's daughter, her humor and wit. "You know where to find me," Robin said as way of parting, not trusting himself to much else in that way.

"Sure thing, chief," she said with a smirk. "Just look for the spike in FashionNews on illegal use of spandex colors."

"Not for much longer," cutting the feed, he leaned back and considered his options. The League had sent him more resources, almost as the surge in Blood's forces and his own agenda came. Then there was the psychic that had surprised Kara and Speedy's team, and almost gotten the better of them. Too many coincidences. But if there were a common thread tying them together, Barbara could find it.

Since her crippling at the hands of the Joker, she'd taken up a new role, that of Batgirl far behind her. Never one to sit idly by, as Robin and his mentor knew well, she'd started using her massive network of contacts to start information brokering. The benefit had been immediate and amazing, and outside of the Watchtower and the Manhunter's own efforts, not much rivaled her ability to gather intel, particularly when it came to matters relevant to the hero community.

Robin's Comm bleeped, and he growled at it. "Robin here."

Connor's face appeared on the screen, looking somewhat confused, "Fearless, you call in the cavalry?"

Blinking in confusion, Robin keyed the meeting room computer to display the security network, "No, what's up?" Asking while accessing the data himself, he wasn't surprised when Superboy informed him of their new arrivals.

"League just showed up," sliding his glasses up back into place, the young Kryptonian turned and keyed off the Comm, while Robin inspected the new visitors via the Tower security.

"Oh this..." Looking over the three assembled outside the Tower doors, growing more impatient by the moment, Robin couldn't help but sigh. "This is not going to be good."

I oOo I

"There you are," Jinx mumbled quietly, as Fee shuffled into the room, looking more waifish than ever in the oversized t-shirt and cargo pants she'd borrowed. Sometime during the fight in the wreckage of the Hive, her clothes had been torn and ruined, so on arriving she'd asked Terra for something to wear, the two being closest to size.

Nodding, the demoness pulled up a chair and sat beside her mistress, looking over her injuries with a worried expression creasing her brow. "How is your shoulder?" She asked, reaching out to run a hand along the prone girl's arm, settling the thin sheet over the IV's there.

Smiling slightly, the weary girl sighed. "Not so good. I heal fast, but it'll be sore and in bad shape for a few weeks I think." Eyes closing, she settled back into the pillow further, looking pensive. Fee worried at the room, straitening, fixing things to be more comfortable when Jinx called her back to the bedside. "What can you see?"

"Pardon?" Opening her eyes, the succubus looked about the room, not seeing anything outwardly wrong, till her vision swept back over Jinx herself. Her sharp intake of breath told the prone Thief all she needed to know.

"That bad... huh." Wincing slightly, Jinx sat up and looked down at herself. "At least I'm all me at the moment, I guess. Little things have been slipping, you know?" When her demon ward nodded, the Thief grinned slightly, "Oh well. So... what do you think will happen?"

Fee looked away, trying to avoid the question, moving to the window slowly. "I've never had anyone with this... problem," she searched for a better word, but really could think of no other. "I'm sorry, Jennifer. This is my fault."

"How do you figure?"

Sighing, Fee turned and resumed her pacing, Jinx's coral eyes tracking her as she walked the perimeter of the room. "If you'd not taken that Mirror route-"

Jinx's laughter cut her off, as she leaned back in the bed, forcing it to creak slightly. "Nope, try again. It was there before then."

"Regardless, if it hadn't woken up," the succubus stated, refusing to accept Jinx's dismissal of her role in this, "things would have taken much longer to get to this point."

"Perhaps," Jinx agreed, staring at her feet thoughtfully, bunching the sheet with her toes as she lay. "Tell me, what do you know about something called the Demiurge?"

Eyes wide with surprise, Fee sat and worried at her lip for a moment, scouring her memory for all she knew of the idea. "Well, depending on the source... it's the name for Chaos. In it's creative form, at least. Think of it this way..." holding up a hand, she paused, gathering her thoughts. "Ok, this hand is the stuff the universe is made of, but without bonds. Kinda like universe soup.

"This hand is like um..."

"Jello molds?" Jinx offered, making the slight demoness giggle.

Nodding, Fee went on. "Universe Jello molds, now," wiggling the soup-hand, she went on. "So, in the generally taken idea on how this universe began, there was the Demiurge, and the Shaper." She wiggled the Jello mold hand at that point. "When the Creator decided to make things, it's will was carried out by those two forces.

"The Demiurge spun the stuff of creation, and the Shaper gave it form."

Jinx considered this a moment, her eyes distant and unseeing. Fee nearly asked her if she would like her to leave, so she could rest when the Thief took a deep breath, "so... I get it now. By chance um, I realize you've probably used those names or heard them used for a while now yeah?" When the blonde demon nodded, Jinx smirked. "Figured so. So this... Shaper. I get the feeling it wasn't just a force, faceless with how you said the name, was it?"

Shaking her head, Fee looked away again, growing nervous. "No, the Creator formed the Demiurge and the Shaper to make this universe, but when the Shaper wished to craft things of it's own design, the fundamental ideal of it was lost. The universe made, he wasn't needed to keep it turning, but still was far too powerful to be unmade. Besides..." Sighing, Fee met the Thief's eyes and held them, gold on coral. "He was said to be the most beautiful of the Creator's design."

"And so wasn't destroyed, merely cast down," Jinx added, reaching up to rub at her eyes. "And now he runs a piano bar in Los Angeles."

"So you've said," the demure demoness replied, reaching out to take Jinx's hand. The Thief squeezed her fingers lightly, laying back with a sigh. "Jinx, what did you do, there?"

"Made deals," the other girl said, quietly. Fee figured that was all she'd get for an answer, but nearly a minute later Jinx spoke again, voice cast quietly. "I wonder... what I've done. I mean, if this plan of his saves Raven, that means her father looses, right?" Laughing quietly, she seemed to be speaking more to herself than her demon ward.

"But does it end there? What kind of thing could he want with... " trailing off, she looked down again, eyes unfocused to Fee's gaze as her coral eyes rested on the rise and fall of her breath. Or perhaps she was seeing something only she knew.

Sighing, she banged her head on the bed, startling Fee. "Lucifer, you bastard, what are you planning?"

A/N: Laying groundwork for an entire universe is tiring. I should note, here, that I'm COMPLETELY AU'ing the DCU at this point.

I wanted Oracle, an in-transition Nightwing, as well as the motley Titans from this continuity to mingle with a certain mix of young heroes already in the DCU. So basically... I think I should rig up a timeline, and some sidework to get the foundation more secure. So people know what's going on.

So much going on... next should tighten the focus down a bit in places.