Raven Roth and Damian Wayne: The Walk of Life (Book 1 Of 2)

Chapter Twenty Two

A/N: *Sneaks in* I'm, uh, i'm just gunna leave this here *Runs away*

Everyone remained silent as Raven visibly collected her thoughts. This was a rather large revelation. True she had no love for her father but Azarath having a plan, and equipment, in place to kill him was a big surprise. Regardless of the fact that it was kill him or have him kill her and the planet, the idea of ending her fathers life was weighing heavy on her mind already. "There are no other avenues we could take. Bar him from this world somehow, trap him somewhere else, possibly have Clark trap him in the Phantom Zone?" Bruce asked calmly breaking the silence. John rubbed his eyes between his thumb and index finger before letting out a small sigh. "Yes we could put him in the Phantom zone but honestly it wouldn't work or at least wouldn't last. The Phantom Zone may be a type of prison but Trigon isn't so weak and foolish as to be trapped in it mate. It's essentially just another plain for him to conquer and move on from. If anything you'd just give him a new army of monsters that are already there. I've gone over every book that even remotely mentions him. I noticed that Azaraths name started coming up a lot along side his and soon found out that they are, simply, opposite sides of the same coin. After millennia of skirmishes Azarath had had enough and formed a plan to deal with him but being a 'pure' being she couldn't do it herself, only a champion of Azarath could. Someone who had her protection and had been bestowed with some of her powers. Say may be a daughter of a villainous demon king trying to redeem herself." John explained as he let his gaze fall and stay on Raven. "Were there any clues to its location?" Raven asked with an expressionless face, expressionless to everyone but Damian. He knew her better than anyone and could see that John's words had struck a nerve somewhere, there was anger in her eyes. "The book says that Azarath hid the spear where her heart lies. Do you know where that might be lass?" John asked. "It would be the temple on Azarath, back home. Basically where the battle between my father and myself all started. Where I summoned him and single-handedly caused the destruction of an entire people." She replied looking down at her feet with a look of shameful regret. "That wasn't your fault. You were a child wanting to find her father." Damian defended only to receive a stern look back. "You and I know full well that were it you in my place, you'd never forgive yourself. So please Damian, don't try to play down my actions. It was my being a child and not listening that caused them all to die." Raven protested, visually getting angry at the situation. Bruce cleared his throat to stop Damian saying anymore. "If that's where you think we should look then that's where we'll go. However, for the time being I don't want you to go. If your father escapes while you're out of this room, then he'll be harder to beat. The house of mystery can make the journey I believe, correct?" Bruce stepped in. "Yea, the house can make it there. So, where's this temple found?" John replied, silently agreeing with Bruce. Raven collected her thoughts. "It's in the centre of the city, caved into the mountain itself. It's where I first summoned my father. He began his attack there, so it is likely to be the least damaged. The temple runs deep, we were not permitted to enter past the pray hall, so if anything is hidden there it'll be far beyond that." She told them. "Alright, I should be able to track anything that's remotely magical from there." Said John as he took to his feet. "I'm coming too." Said Zatana as she stepped into the chamber with them. "No Zee, you should stay here." John protested. "It would be wiser to have back up with you, there could be any number of traps or wards at this place, an extra pair of hands to deal with them would get us back here quickly." She retorted looking rather stern in her agreement. "What, don't think I can handle it?" John jested, not that it got him very far. Zatana deepened her scowl and John raised his hands in surrender. "We'll be back as soon as with the spear and then we can look at the next step." He said to Revan and the two Waynes with her as he summoned the house of mystery and stepped inside. "It's all going to be fine." Zatana reassured Raven as she followed John, closing the door behind her and the house slowly disappeared. The three were silent for a moment. "Are you hungry, thirsty, need anything?" Bruce asked, standing from the seat he was in. "I'm fine thank you father." Said Damian as he took Ravens hand to let her know that he was there for her. "I could use a water if that's alright." Raven asked. Bruce smiled "Of course it's alright. I'll be back down in a second." He said as he left the chamber. Neither of them said anything, they just sat together hand in hand letting the silence hold them. Across the cave from the chamber they could see people sparring and training on the simulators, they'd been working so hard for hours on end to be ready, for Bruce, for Damian and for Raven. Raven began thinking of how things used to be, how she always felt alone, on the outside, but now there were so many people coming together to help her and all she had to do was ask for it. She let herself smile as she thought about how if it wasn't for meeting Damian this probably wouldn't have happened. "AAGGHH!!" She screamed. "RAVEN?! What's wrong?" Damian called as Raven collapsed to the floor. She was clutching at her forehead. "AGH! NO!" Raven continued as she began to sob from fear and pain. Damian bolted up and hit the panic button inside the chamber. His heart was pounding "this is it" he thought. The bat cave flashed with red as the alarms went off across the whole structure, all simulations shut down and everyone's attention shot straight to the containment chamber. "Oh crapbaskets!" Squeaked Harley and everyone shared the sentiment. "Practice is over, everyone move. Kara, Karen, with me, lets go." Called Superman as he took off across the cave followed swiftly by Supergirl and Powergirl. Inside the chamber things were going south quickly. "Damian, run!" Raven cried as she struggled. "I'm not going to just leave you." He protested having moved back to her side. "I can't hold him back any more, if you stay you'll be hurt. Just go and come back for me, please, I can't lose you here." She pleaded as the crystal on her forehead began cracking, little fragments shattering off. Damian turned away closing his eyes tight as he contemplated quickly. "Damn it!" He yelled as he bolted out the chamber slamming it shut behind him hoping it would help, knowing full well at this point it wouldn't. "You did the right thing, go get everyone else quickly." Said Superman as he landed next to him. Damian ran off as fast as his legs would carry him. He wasn't going to beat Flash any time soon, but he certainly wasn't slow. Half way up the staircase a blood curdling demonic growl and thunderous crashes came hurtling up to his ears, stopping him in his tracks. Paralysed be fear, he slowly looked back from where he came, shuddering with every movement. "What's going on?! Raven?! Are you hurt?! Are you alive?! Are they alive?! Is he out?!" All these questions and more flooded his mind at once. "Damian?! Everyone is right behind me, what happened?" Said Selina as she reached him coming down the stairs. Damian couldn't hide the fear that had suddenly gripped him. He felt pathetic, but he didn't care, he felt like a child, like he was witnessing the prelude to the end of life. Tears started forming in his eyes. Selina grabbed him and held him to her in a tight, reassuring hug. "Shh, it's alright, we're all here. We're all here Damian. We're with you, we'll fight together, for you and Raven. No one dies today." She told him. Jason came charging down the stair and nearly collided with them, had he not seen what was going on he would have mouthed off, instead he silently walked up to the pair and put a hand on Damians shoulder. Damian remain almost frozen in place, looking up slowly he saw Jason. Jason looked calm, he even smiled at Damian when their eyes met. As Jason looked past Damian and down the stairs, his expression changed. His brow twisted in and down, nostrils began to flare, lips parted into a snarl revealing gritted teeth. In all these years, Damian had never, ever, seen Jason this pissed before. It was an expression share by the small group that had silently gathered behind his older brother. The looks may not have been as intense, but they were the same none the less. Jason, Dick, Tim, Barbra, Helena, Stephanie, Cassie, Luke, Kate and Bruce had all arrived to see the exchange between Damian and Selina and were all visible enraged. "Don't you worry D. We're going to win this. Let's go kick Damians father-in-law's ass!" Jason declared, cracking his knuckles. "Jason. Language." Said Selina as she stood up. "No." Said Bruce stepping forward "This time, that language isn't enough." He continued as he stepped to the front, looking down to Damian who was still a little shaken, but seeing his father like this, he was starting to settle. "What's our one rule?" he asked the group. "Never kill." Said Dick sternly. As Bruce lifted his cowl into place he straightened up glaring off down the stairs. "Not today it isn't. We kill this bastard." Bruce stated to everyone's surprise.

As this transpired, the crystal on Ravens forehead had completely disintegrated, causing red and black smoke to bellow out filling the whole Batcave. Raven had turned red and her four eyes had become prominent on her face. "Kal?! We have to make a move, we have to do something!" called Power girl over Ravens screams. "No. It's too late for containment. John told us that if the crystal breaks then there's no stopping him getting out. We wait until he's in the world and then launch our attacks and hope they get back in time." Said Superman as he stood watching. He did want to help, it was his nature, standing around while someone was in pain didn't sit well with him, but he could do very little. As Raven continued to cry and scream the smoke began collecting together, within mere moments it was taking shape and four large yellow eyes appear. As the smoke stopped pouring out of Raven, she collapsed to the ground from exhaustion and the smoked swirled above them. "Grab her now!" Superman called, and several vines charged across the floor, gently but quickly they wrapped around Raven and pulled here back to the vines origin, into the arms of Poison Ivy with Harley Quinn close to her side. "So, um, Red? This is kinda FREAKING ME OUT" Harley stated, "I know blossom me too, but we did sign up for it." She replied trying to sound calm and confident. Harley gently picked Raven up in her arms. "Please, please be safe." Harley said as she stood. "I will try. I mean I will. Now get her out of here." Ivy reassured and instructed, using her vines to give Harley a little push. As Harley took off towards the stairs she skidded to a stop at the bottom, letting out a little "eep". As she got there, so had the Bat family. "It's alright, get going Harley." Said Batman, in a way that made Harley shudder. She didn't respond, dared not to, she just took off up the stairs with Raven and didn't look back. Only Robin spared a moment to watch her go, hoping Raven was alright. "You can go with if you want to, no one would question it, we can handle this." Blackbat said to him. "She's fine, exhausted but fine. This is my battle to fight." He said turning his attention to the same thing everyone else was watching, well, what the bat family was watching. Everyone in the cave had their attention on the new arrivals. "Diana? Is it me or does..." Started Green Lantern before Wonder Woman cut him off. "Yes Hal, He looks very angry right now. They all do. For the first time since I've known him, Bruce is out for blood." She stated, causing everyone in her group to feel uneasy. As the moments went on the smoke let out a long deep growl that shook the entire cave and with it, its form became solid and signalled that Trigon, had arrived. "Go." Stated Batman and in a instant he had launched his grapple and headed up, Red hood had charged forward, Nightwing bolted left, Red Robin had taken off to the right, Batwing was airborne, Batgirl grappled to the right, Batwoman grappling left, Catwoman used her whip to swing up to the beams above, Blackbat fell in line behind Red Hood, Spoiler followed in Nightwings path and Huntress kept up with Red Robin. It took just a second, but Superman brought himself out of his daze and got to work. "Go low!" He called out to his group as he flew towards Trigon. Power girl, Supergirl and shazam followed his lead, they kept low to the ground as the soared toward their target. Trigon immediately clocked them and raised a foot to stamp them out. He was still quite nimble for being confined in the Batcave. As Trigon raised his foot up Superman called out an order and his group broke ranks and separated out into different directions. From nowhere a bright green noose appear around his neck and thick vines enveloped the ankle of the foot he was standing on. "GOING DOWN!" Called out Green Lantern as he pulled the noose downward and the vines yanked Trigons stable ankle across under him. As the pair pulled a man jumped into Trigons view, clenched fist raised behind him. Aquaman landed his punch square between Trigons four eyes with an impressive amount of strength which cause the play to pay off and Trigon to fall to the ground. With Trigon down the Bat family moved in all at once each of them focused on a single point. Bullets, batarangs, bombs, all the things they would and wouldn't ordinarily used went off concentrated of one spot, Trigons top right eye. With just a couple minutes work Trigon let out his first roar of pain as the smoke cleared to reveal a successful assault and a bleeding destroyed eye. Batman flicked his wrist revealing three Batarangs between his fingers. "Three to go."