Injustice 3: The Might of Magic (Book 3)

Raven:

Looking at the man in the sunglasses as he shakes and struggles to get out, I hover toward him.

"It's not me," the man shouts. "I'm not him! Let me go! Let me go!"

As I hover toward the man, I hold out my hand.

"Wait," I think, "Something is wrong. I sense...nothing. Is this some sort of trick? No, it can't be! I sensed him before, and he was filled with magical energy. More than I have ever sensed in anyone else. This person, however, doesn't seem to have much magical energy in him."

I lower my hand and look at the One Earth soldier as he keeps struggling.

"This is not the man in the sunglasses, but I sensed him nearby. It feels like he is extremely close. Like he is...right behind me!"

Turning around, I see another soldier standing behind me.

The Man:

"Attention all personnel," Superman says, all of us looking up at the speakers built into the walls. "Attention all personnel. Priority fugitive #1, the man in the sunglasses had broken into New Metropolis. I repeat, priority fugitive #1, the man in the sunglasses had broken into New Metropolis!"

As everyone is still looking up, I look down and eye the ID cards on everyone's chest. Moving fast but carefully, I grab the ID card of the soldier next to me and switch his with mine.

"ID check," the squadron leader yells, bringing out a scanner. "Everyone, bring out your ID card now!"

All of us line up, the leader scans our badges one by one. When he scans the soldier's ID, the light changes from green to red, and immediately, all eyes focus on him. I take a step back as everyone jumps him. They take his guns and hold him. A few seconds later, Raven appears before us, and a few seconds more, it's Cyborg.

I watch while subtly walking around the crowd as Raven holds out her hand. She's scanning the soldier, trying to detect his mana. However, she must have sensed the low mana in him. She lowers her hand and looks around. When she looks behind her and sees me, I wave at her.

"Hey," I say, "For the record, I am not sorry about this."

Before Raven can do anything, I grab her shoulder and pull back my fist. Throwing my fist forward, I punch Raven right in her face, knocking her back. Screaming as she slides along the floor and into the crowd of soldiers, Raven growls as she pushes herself up.

"She's not knocked out," I think. "No way. A punch like that should've knocked Raven out cold."

Blinking, I change vision and now, I can see the mana flowing through Raven. It's much more than before.

"No doubt about it. Raven is getting even more power. Not just from her father and the Lords but from the celestial alignment. I have to move fast."

Still growling, even though she's back on her feet, Raven looks at me with black and red eyes.

"Attack," she yells, pointing a smoking finger at me. Hearing this, all the soldiers let go of the soldier they were holding onto and get into a firing stance. With half the soldiers on their knees and the other half standing behind them, the soldiers raise their machine guns and aim at me.

Before they can fire their first bullet, I move faster and throw one of my kunai. The kunai flies through the air before unleashing a sonic burst. As the sonic burst unleashes, it deafens the soldiers, forcing them to drop their guns and scream as they cover their ears. Even Raven can't resist the sonic burst.

Screaming and covering her own ears, I run toward Raven, hoping to throw a punch and quickly knock her out. However, before I can reach her, a shadow shoots out from beneath Raven's feet. It lunges at me but I jump back, avoiding the shadow completely.

Landing on my feet, I watch the shadow move, covering the whole floor and walls. Lights around us break as a large, black humanoid figure pulls itself out from the shadow. With four arms and four red eyes, it smiles as it holds up two of its arms. First red flashes appear before a pair of longswords.

"Okay," I say, pulling from thin air my swords. "That's...a little too familiar."

While pulling back its hands with the swords, the humanoid uses its two other hands to throw itself at me. The second it can, the humanoid swings its swords. Jumping back, I use my hand to catch myself as I backflip away, dodging the humanoid's swing. Pulling itself closer, the humanoid goes for a straight stab this time.

Stepping and turning to the side, I watch as the side of the blade shoots past me, only inches from cutting me. Changing view, going from the side of the blade to the wrist, I slice the humanoid's wrist off.

The humanoid doesn't scream but it does pull itself back. Looking at its missing hand, the humanoid's face changes. It switches from an evil smile to a frown. As the humanoid keeps on looking at its missing hand, I rush forward and swing my swords, cutting the throat.

As the humanoid's head falls off, I hear the sound of wings flapping in the air. Turning around, I see Hawkgirl flying toward me. Swinging her mace down, I cross my swords and block her attack.

"You," Hawkgirl screams as she pushes her mace down. "What are you doing here?"

"Just here to kidnap a girl and prevent the end of the world," I answer. Dropping onto my back, Hawkgirl falls over and I kick her into the headless humanoid. Without the head, the body turns into stone. So when Hawkgirl crashes into it, the body breaks apart and the pieces fall onto Hawkgirl. With Hawkgirl buried, I look around for Raven.

"Where is she," I ask, holding out one of my swords. Raven may have disappeared but I can still sense her.

"She's nearby," I think. Turning back and forth, I step back and place my fingers against the wall. Closing my eyes, I feel tiny vibrations on the wall. "Shoot."

Bursting from the stone pile, Hawkgirl screams as she looks at me. Rotating her mace in her hand, an idea sparks in my head. 

"You're going to regret that," Hawkgirl says, spreading out her wings. Digging into the floor with one of her wings, Hawkgirl then swings it up. She throws pieces of the floor at me but I cut them into even tinier pieces with my swords. While I'm cutting the floor pieces, Hawkgirl jumps into the air and flies toward me. She pulls back her mace. As she pulls back her mace, I drop my swords and catch her mace.

"I'm going to borrow this," I say, headbutting Hawkgirl. Screaming as she stumbles back, Hawkgirl still won't let go of her mace. Recovering fast, Hawkgirl throws a punch but I shoot up my arm and block it.

"Let go," she yells, trying to pull her nth metal mace back, but she isn't the only one who wouldn't let go. I hold onto Hawkgirl's mace with both of my hands. Seeing this, Hawkgirl jumps into the air and hovers there.

My feet dangle in the air as I still refuse to let go of Hawkgirl's mace. Hawkgirl throws another punch and this one hits me.

"Ahh," I scream, enduring it as Hawkgirl punches me over and over. Pulling myself up, I press my feet against Hawkgirls' chest and shoot them out. Finally, pulling the mace out of her grip, I also kick Hawkgirl into the ceiling. I flip over while in mid-air and land on my hand and knee. Meanwhile, Hawkgirl falls flat onto the floor.

When I land on my hand and knee, I feel even more vibrations. Heavier vibrations. Much heavier.

"More people are coming. Soldiers and regimes. I have to move fast."

Now armed with Hawkgirl's mace, I look around for Raven. Holding out my hand, I scan the area for Raven.

"This is not normal. Raven isn't fighting me. Why?"

I don't have time to think of a possible explanation for why Raven is hiding. While still scanning for dark magic, I pick up a trail and follow it. Shooting out the mace, I swing it, hitting a wall. As I hit the wall with the mace, ripples run across it. The ripples create an opening and with that opening, I reach in and pull out Raven.

"Ahhhh," Raven screams as I pull out her from the wall. "How did you find me?"

"All that magic flowing through you gives you away," I answer before slamming Raven's head through a different wall. I stun Raven but she still isn't out. This time, I wrap my arm around her throat. Putting her into a chokehold, Raven tries to break out but can't. Finally knocking her out, I throw her body over my shoulder. About to run out of the hallway, I hear the sound of an arm cannon warming up.

"Cyborg," I say, turning around and looking the man in his eyes.

"What are you doing," Cyborg asks, his glowing arm cannon aimed at me.

"I'm trying to save all of you from making a big mistake. You know what I'm saying is true. This isn't Raven. At least, not the Raven we remember."

"We?"

Reaching into one of my jacket pockets, I pull something out and throw it at Cyborg. When Cyborg sees what is it, his eyes go wide.

"This--This is a----"

"A Teen Titan's radio."

Bending down, Cyborg picks up the radio. Black and yellow with a white T on it, Cyborg looks at it. He pushes a button and it flips open.

"Ho--How did you get this? I haven't seen this since the nuke."

"Robin gave one to each of us. You. Me. Raven. Beast Boy. Starfire."

"Robin?"

"Yeah. Robin, not Nightwing. The kid can grow up all he wants. To me, he's still the kid in the brightly colored jumpsuit."

It looks like Cyborg's voice is gone. He opens his mouth, trying to say something I think, but all I hear are gasps. While Cyborg is still trying to talk, I say something.

"Cyborg," I say, "Listen to me. Even if you have no reason to. Don't trust the Lords of Order."

With that said, I run down the hallway. I retrace the path the squadron took while I was with them. Making it back onto the rooftop, I then rip off a part of Raven's cape. Using it as a rope, I tie Hawkgirl's mace to her before throwing Raven into my mini jet and flying away.