Categories > Cartoons > Teen Titans > To the End of the World . . . and After
To the End of the World . . . and After
A Teen Titans fic, by DrT
Chapter V – the Plan
Raven reveals her plans for the end.
*
“We cannot access Azarath, because you hold the keys to the dimension. We therefore ask you to save us by granting us Azarath.”
After a brief moment of silence, Songsten asked Raven softly, “This interferes with other plans?”
“It does, but that hardly matters,” she replied, perhaps a bit too quickly. “How many people do you plan on taking through, where would you go, and when would you do it?” Their numbers wouldn’t count towards the number the Green Lanterns would rescue. Adding to the total number rescued would be very welcome.
“At least a thousand of us,” Motlop replied. “Perhaps as many as four thousand. While we have not physically been to Azarath, many of us have Dreamwalked there. We have talked with the first Azar and her successors, and some of the others who lived there. The city occupies a mere one plateau, once with mystic shields that made it appear as if it were floating suspended in space are ignored, with now-abandoned fields around it, in the middle of a small continental area, perhaps a bit smaller than Australia. There are six such mini-continents. One of those others would match our needs, where we could live mostly as our ancestors did. It would still be close enough for trade with the other communities living there, if all sides desire it.” He thought about what Raven had said. “We sensed the end would come sometime next March. Would there be a problem with us leaving early?”
Raven nodded. “If the Clatorian sense they have been discovered, they will attempt a swifter takeover, which would start with taking over those who they sense are key individuals. If they detect groups leaving dimensionally, especially to dimensions where people haven’t gone before, they could take over members of your groups before you leave. You’d be leading them straight to your refuge. In addition, the Green Lantern Corps hope to rescue a small population. If the Clatorian pick up the pace that likely wouldn’t happen.”
All three looked sobered at that news. Finally Motlop said, “If we had three days’ notice before anything is started, we could leave within that time.”
“We would be moving closer to ten thousand,” Chu-Hui stated. “We would prefer to go to Azarath City and the areas around it. Nanda Parbat would occupy a valley nearby. Most we could move within the three days Motlop has mentioned, but if possible, a few dozen should go ahead of time. The times they leave could easily be staggered so that the move is not suspected.”
“We will be moving all of Shangri-La at one time,” Songsten stated. “This would likely be the most noticeable move to these . . . Clatorian you called them? But while the event would take several weeks to finish preparing, and three people would have to go ahead at least a day in advance, the actual movement would be accomplished within an hour.”
“Finish?”
Songsten nodded. “We have long prepared for such an eventuality, should conditions in the outside world force us to leave. If the Honorable Chu-Hui would have no objections, we would occupy a site on the same continent, although just over two hundred kilometers distant. Between our various settlements, sited near different natural resources, we should be able to function and even thrive once we have adjusted to a new world.”
“We would have no objections.” She turned to Raven. “Although Shangri-La has held itself slightly distant from our communities, and more aloof from the ‘outside world’, we have always enjoyed good relations with them.”
“That is so,” Songsten agreed. “That is particularly true of Nanda Parbat; its very existence has prevented many from disturbing us.”
“I would have to consult others about your making the trip,” Raven told them frankly. “If it is felt you can prepare without alerting the Clatorian and can leave shortly before, well, the end if a way to expel them is not found, then I will agree, of course.” She turned to Chu-Hui. “I would have to implant the Key into a girl or woman. She would need empathic powers stronger than what I sense in you or Mister Motlop, but not necessarily as strong as Abbot Songsten has. Her mystical connections and powers will also need to be on the order as any of the four of us. Do you have one or more such women you might entrust the Key to?”
“What are the age limits?” Chu-Hui asked.
“She must be at least eight if young, and young enough not to have finished menopause if she is mature,” Raven stated frankly. “I need not add she should have a strong sense of duty?”
“Indeed no. I believe we have at least one such.”
“May we inquire in how this upsets your plans?” Songsten asked directly, seeing Raven was not going to bring that up. The way she agreed showed that it was her plans they were interfering with, after all.
“While we hope to find a way to kick the Clatorian out without destroying the planet, that might not be possible,” Raven answered. “In that case, we hope to make the retribution so strong they will leave this dimension alone for some time. I am involved in those preparations. This will mean I will be on Earth until literally the last minute or so. I had three ways of leaving at that last minute. Going to Azarath would have been my second choice, and the only one with nearly one hundred percent chance of success. If I am no longer the Key, I cannot take that option; it would cause too many disturbances and it might lead the Clatorian to you. If they had only followed me there, I could have eluded them, but you wouldn’t have that option. But like I said, with the chance to save so many, it is not a sacrifice. Or if it is, it is one I am more than willing to make.”
The three looked at Raven for a moment, and then Chu-Hui stood. The two men quickly followed her lead. All three then bowed to Raven in respect. Humbled, Raven stood and bowed to them in turn. “If you three could stay here a few more days, I might have an answer for you.”
With Raven as the mediator, the Corps and the three mystics quickly agreed to terms. Chu-Hui said she would send however many candidates she could find to meet with Raven early in the New Year.
*
Raven had her ‘special projects,’ but still managed to go on enough missions with the team that the criminals of Jump didn’t fully notice her absence. Cyborg was also working part-time as a consultant to some of the special projects. In any event, Kid Flash and Jinx had joined the team full time, so even if a few adversaries might have wondered about Raven and Cyborg’s occasional absences, they could hardly take advantage of them.
While Robin did not have to worry about his team being short-handed, he had much else to worry about. Even ignoring the possible approach of the end of the world (having suffered through that worry once before actually made it slightly easier the second time around), there was still plenty for him to worry about, for he was by nature a worrier.
First was a large scale up-tick in jewel robberies around the world. Not of jewelry stores, but of several major suppliers. In just the first three weeks of December, almost one percent of the supplies of jewelry-quality diamonds had been stolen, and nearly two percent of the industrial grades. Other jewels had been taken from other wholesalers, but in smaller amounts. Worse, while it looked like the Justice League was investigating things, Robin could tell it was just for show. Perhaps it was merely a huge coincidence that Raven had been missing from the Tower each time the jewels were stolen.
Perhaps.
Second were the deliveries. Sure, the Titans did a great deal of on-line and catalog shopping, and hence had a lot of deliveries (although well-screened after the incident with the Puppet King). But Raven had had many large crates delivered, and wouldn’t explain them, other than saying, “Christmas.” As the Titans had always had low-keyed holidays, and Raven had been the lowest-keyed of all of them for Christmas, that didn’t exactly add up. She was also spending more time than usual with Cyborg in his high-tech workshop. Even stranger, when not away, working with Cyborg or in her room, she was spending an extraordinary amount of time meditating on the common area sofa, but only when Beast Boy was there playing video games.
Third, Robin could add three mystics, the crisis, and Raven and come up with their wanting to claim her home dimension. All he got for his inquiry was, “The Lantern Corps is supervising.” Still, Raven had him book rooms at the nearby Ramada through early January for visitors from various parts of the Himalayas.
As Robin held the door open so that Cyborg could bring in the Christmas tree, Robin wondered about what Raven and the big man were up to. So far, he had let slip just one little bit of information: Cyborg was making Raven a holo-ring. That just added to Robin’s confusion about what all Raven might be up to.
*
Christmas Eve, 75 days before the end of the world.
It almost never snowed in Jump City, although there was often a dusting on the higher mountains just inland by early December. There hadn’t been a white Christmas on record, and this year was no exception. It was still a somewhat chilly, clear night. There might even be a touch of frost if the light wind out of the north held. The more dangerous or eccentric criminals of Jump City had not been active for two days; hopefully that would hold for a while. All Robin was picking up on the police and emergency channels were the normal background events of any big city – troublesome to the police and fire departments, but nothing they needed to be called out for. Even Jump’s S.W.A.T. hadn’t been called upon.
After dinner, Raven called the group into her room. Not even Starfire had been in the room for nearly three weeks, and all the Titans were shocked at how bare the room was. All of Raven’s truly personal effects were gone except for a few large books of magic, a group of modern paperbacks that looked like text books, and her meditation mirror. Even the giant stuffed chicken, which only Starfire knew usually lurked between the drawers, in the space under the middle of Raven’s vanity, was missing. The only object other than her meditation mirror visible on either the dresser or the vanity was a cheap hairbrush – the tortoise shell set Starfire had given her the previous Christmas was gone.
There were also fourteen large wooden trunks on the floor, arranged in rows of seven.
“I have regular presents for you tomorrow,” Raven told them, “but I have some things to give you tonight. Should . . . should we fail to stop the Clatorian, I hope you all plan to escape rather than stay.”
“I have the places in the evacuation for six of us,” Robin pointed out. Only Raven seemed to be missing.
Raven flushed. “I will have to make my own way, but if that’s your way of asking if I’m planning on staying, the answer is no. So, there is both a weight limit and a size limit to what we are allowed to take as personal effects.” And no one would call them generous.
“I have managed to set a number of spells on these trunks. They will shrink down. Cyborg, pick up the left one of the first two trunks and tell us how much it weighs.”
Cyborg did just that, and announced, “Seventy-eight kilos, thirty-six grams.”
“The inside of all of these have been magically expanded and lightened. All of my books are in that one except these ones I still need. Most of my truly personal things are in that or the other one. . . .”
“Even the chicken?” Starfire teased.
“Yes,” Raven agreed, not happy to reveal she still had that chicken after all these years, and that she valued it enough to take it with her, “Even that. You can set it down.” The stuffed chicken alone would normally have easily taken up nearly all of the space in the trunk even if compressed, never mind the few thousand books Raven had packed into it. “Now watch.”
Raven shut the trunk and then took an x-acto knife and made a slight slit on her thumb. She smeared a little blood on the center clasp and muttered something under her breath. In less than two seconds, the trunk was now just three inches long and about two inches high. “How much does it weigh now?”
“A hundred and fifty grams!”
“The upside is that this spell, unless you break it, will hold for at least twenty years, more likely thirty to thirty-three. The down sides are it can only be shrunken once, and can’t be opened for two hundred days. So, once you seal and shrink it, you can’t get at it for a while, and you can never shrink it back down. The internal expansion should hold for at least sixty years.”
“Brava!” Jinx said, clapping. “That is some outstanding magic!”
“Thank you. I have to do the spell, but it has to be your blood. You each have two.” She seemed to hesitate.
“What is it?” Robin asked.
“I do have something else, but, well. . . .”
“Not for me and Jinx?” Kid Flash asked gently.
“I couldn’t do seven,” Raven told them, although strictly that wasn‘t entirely true.
“It’s no problem, and we appreciate the trunks.”
After a bit of discussion within the group about the trunks, Flash moved all the trunks to their owners’ rooms and the two said their good nights.
“Is this where you finally tell us what you’re up to?” Beast Boy asked.
“In a minute. Robin announced to the press he is changing his name to Nightwing. . . .”
“I don’t know if we’ll keep code names in the future, but if we do, Jason or Tim can be Robin,” he put in.
“Are you going to stay Beast ‘Boy’?”
“Yeah,” he mused, “maybe it is time to be called Beast Man.”
“So, instead of BB you want to be BM?” Cyborg teased before Raven could.
Seeing the reaction to that, Starfire asked, “Excuse please, what is the BM, and why is it amusing?”
“Garfield, as much as I’ve teased you back through the years, I refuse to allow you to call yourself a bowel movement,” Raven stated. “And no, you can’t be ‘Beast Dude’ either!”
“I’ll think about it,” he mumbled.
“Nice dodging, but that brings us back to what you’ve been up to,” Robin pointed out.
“True,” Raven agreed. She looked over at a drawer in her desk.
“Nope,” Robin stated. “Information first, presents second.” Even Beast Boy agreed on that.
“Alright, but. . . .” Her shoulders slumped.
“Rae, we’ll still like you,” Cyborg assured her.
Raven sat on her bed and looked at the floor. “Think about what happens if nobody finds a solution.”
“We know what happens,” Cyborg pointed out.
“What’s to stop the Clatorian from moving on to any other planet in our universe that one of their universes has a dimensional connection to? They’ve tried others before Earth,” Raven reminded them. “So, I’m not on one of the teams looking for a solution to the current problem, my job is to insure they don’t try again if the worst happens.”
“That’s a big order,” Cyborg stated, a bit surprised. Then he frowned in thought. “But how could you prevent them from attacking another planet?”
Raven heaved a large sad sigh.
“You can’t be serious!” Beast Boy exclaimed after a moment’s thought.
“What?” Cyborg demanded, for once behind his friend.
“Oh no!” Starfire wailed.
“What?” Robin demanded. Then he got it. “Raven . . . is your father going to be involved?” he asked before Cyborg could voice the same thought.
Raven merely nodded. Then she sighed again. “Four days before the Green Lanterns push Earth into the invading dimension, the small-scale evacuations start. Eight hours before the end, they should be finished.” She hesitated, but then went on, “If possible, it would be nice if you could stay with me until then, or at least the night before. In any event, well before that last day I should have a ritual prepared. I’ll finish it about thirty minutes before the end. Trigon should be trapped in this dimension for up to twelve hours by it. I will have the authority to cede the Earth to him. The transit between dimensions should take just over thirty minutes. Part way through, if Trigon has agreed to terms, he will be released.”
“It’s going to be bad for people when the transit occurs,” Robin stated. He added gently, “Won’t it be worse, adding Trigon into the mix?”
Raven shook her head. “We’re ceding him the planet, but not the people. They will die no matter what, but he will not have dominion over them. If he doesn’t agree, he will be trapped on Earth for a total of twelve hours, but he will have no real power. He would be next to helpless. If he accepts, he holds mystical title, and by attacking his property, all the universes the Clatorian have invaded are open to him. Since all sentient life in those dimensions are destroyed before they move on to the next, it will mostly affect the Clatorian.”
“Can he beat them?” Beast Boy asked.
Raven shrugged.
“Can he even function in that universe? The physical laws are supposed to be different in the universe they’re invading from,” Cyborg said.
“Trigon can adapt to any universe,” Raven answered. “And supposedly he was born into a dimension more like that one than ours is. If Trigon fails, he fails, but it should take him millions of years to win if he does. In any case, the hope is it will distract the Clatorian for some time.”
After a moment of hesitation, Robin asked, “Raven, does this ritual and trap of yours require jewels?”
“According to prophecy, what is my title?” Raven retorted.
“The Gem,” Robin conceded.
“Yes, I am, directly or indirectly, behind the diamond and other jewel robberies. You’ll notice that prices haven’t been affected – the companies, and insurance companies, have been told that if their prices do not change and no claims are made in the short term, all the jewels or their equivalents will be returned in a year, plus two percent, and they will be. If they can be replaced, then you should wonder why the robberies were even necessary. The answer is, the jewels have to come from the planet Trigon is being called to and contained on, and the replacements wouldn’t necessarily be from Earth.”
“And there won’t be a shortage?” Starfire asked.
“There is actually a huge inventory of diamonds,” Raven replied. “Yes, so far we have taken about one percent of the reported stock of jewelry-quality diamonds, but the actual numbers would make it well under a third of a percent of the real stock. No one is being hurt by this.”
“Will you really be able to get away?” Beast Boy asked, worried. “When . . . if . . . the end comes?”
“I should be able to,” Raven answered. “When I started off, I thought I would have three ways out, but you know those groups are taking over Azarath.”
“They would not allow you to come there?” Starfire asked, a bit puzzled that the groups wouldn’t allow their benefactor access.
“They have no say about it,” Raven replied. “When I had the Key to the dimension, I could enter it freely. Because of all the traffic that will be going to Azarath in the days leading up to the end, for safety it will have to be sealed off for at least three hours before the Earth is moved into the Clatorian dimension. If it was empty and it was just me going at the very end, there wouldn’t be any real danger of the dimensions bleeding over into each other because the connections would not have been recently active. We can’t risk that now.”
“So how will you be saved?” Beast Boy demanded.
“One of two ways,” Raven told him. “First, know that having a Green Lantern at the ceremony, or anywhere actually on the planet for that matter, would throw the transfer off. If there’s not too much interference, I can moved off by the League teleporters.”
“They won’t be out of range at that point?” Cyborg asked, knowing the Watchtower would be moved well out of orbit by then.
“At the extreme range,” Raven admitted. “There is only a thirty percent change of that working. I can, however, transcend into a roughly parallel dimension with at least a ninety-six percent chance of success.”
“And then?” Robin demanded.
“Then I stay there until I can be rescued.”
“You can’t come back?” Beast Boy demanded.
“Beast Boy, there would be no Earth to come back to,” Raven pointed out. “And no, I can’t just pop back at a prearranged time without some assurances. The only universe I will easily be able get to at the projected time is one that intersects with this one every so often. And before you ask, it’s about every fifteen months.”
That stunned the others into silence.
“What’s more, the first intersection would not be ‘in tune’ enough for me to return in, although it might be possible to exchange some information, maybe even physical letters. I could only possibly return on the second, fourth, and seventh through ninth intersections.”
“And after that?” Starfire asked.
“After that, they would likely be too far apart for me to make the jump,” Raven admitted.
“So. . . .”
“So, if the Lanterns have to push the Earth into a different dimension and if I am unable to be teleported, then I would only be able to return after about thirty months, sixty, a hundred and five, a hundred and twenty, or a hundred and thirty-five.”
“Or never,” Beast Boy muttered.
“Or never,” Raven was forced to agree.
Into the long silence that exchange created, Starfire finally said, “I do not understand. There must be the solution – the Warp came from the future, so that future must exist!”
“Apparently not,” Robin said sadly. “Superman used to regularly travel to the late thirtieth century; something about a sort of cosmic Justice League called the Legion of Super Heroes or something like that. He tried to travel to them to find out the solution and found that he couldn’t travel to the future anymore for some reason.”
Raven shrugged. “The future is always in flux. Warp came from a potential future, not a guaranteed one, and Superman used to travel to a potential one as well. If the problem is solved, that future may be accessible again.”
Starfire’s shoulders dropped in defeat.
A Teen Titans fic, by DrT
Chapter V – the Plan
Raven reveals her plans for the end.
*
“We cannot access Azarath, because you hold the keys to the dimension. We therefore ask you to save us by granting us Azarath.”
After a brief moment of silence, Songsten asked Raven softly, “This interferes with other plans?”
“It does, but that hardly matters,” she replied, perhaps a bit too quickly. “How many people do you plan on taking through, where would you go, and when would you do it?” Their numbers wouldn’t count towards the number the Green Lanterns would rescue. Adding to the total number rescued would be very welcome.
“At least a thousand of us,” Motlop replied. “Perhaps as many as four thousand. While we have not physically been to Azarath, many of us have Dreamwalked there. We have talked with the first Azar and her successors, and some of the others who lived there. The city occupies a mere one plateau, once with mystic shields that made it appear as if it were floating suspended in space are ignored, with now-abandoned fields around it, in the middle of a small continental area, perhaps a bit smaller than Australia. There are six such mini-continents. One of those others would match our needs, where we could live mostly as our ancestors did. It would still be close enough for trade with the other communities living there, if all sides desire it.” He thought about what Raven had said. “We sensed the end would come sometime next March. Would there be a problem with us leaving early?”
Raven nodded. “If the Clatorian sense they have been discovered, they will attempt a swifter takeover, which would start with taking over those who they sense are key individuals. If they detect groups leaving dimensionally, especially to dimensions where people haven’t gone before, they could take over members of your groups before you leave. You’d be leading them straight to your refuge. In addition, the Green Lantern Corps hope to rescue a small population. If the Clatorian pick up the pace that likely wouldn’t happen.”
All three looked sobered at that news. Finally Motlop said, “If we had three days’ notice before anything is started, we could leave within that time.”
“We would be moving closer to ten thousand,” Chu-Hui stated. “We would prefer to go to Azarath City and the areas around it. Nanda Parbat would occupy a valley nearby. Most we could move within the three days Motlop has mentioned, but if possible, a few dozen should go ahead of time. The times they leave could easily be staggered so that the move is not suspected.”
“We will be moving all of Shangri-La at one time,” Songsten stated. “This would likely be the most noticeable move to these . . . Clatorian you called them? But while the event would take several weeks to finish preparing, and three people would have to go ahead at least a day in advance, the actual movement would be accomplished within an hour.”
“Finish?”
Songsten nodded. “We have long prepared for such an eventuality, should conditions in the outside world force us to leave. If the Honorable Chu-Hui would have no objections, we would occupy a site on the same continent, although just over two hundred kilometers distant. Between our various settlements, sited near different natural resources, we should be able to function and even thrive once we have adjusted to a new world.”
“We would have no objections.” She turned to Raven. “Although Shangri-La has held itself slightly distant from our communities, and more aloof from the ‘outside world’, we have always enjoyed good relations with them.”
“That is so,” Songsten agreed. “That is particularly true of Nanda Parbat; its very existence has prevented many from disturbing us.”
“I would have to consult others about your making the trip,” Raven told them frankly. “If it is felt you can prepare without alerting the Clatorian and can leave shortly before, well, the end if a way to expel them is not found, then I will agree, of course.” She turned to Chu-Hui. “I would have to implant the Key into a girl or woman. She would need empathic powers stronger than what I sense in you or Mister Motlop, but not necessarily as strong as Abbot Songsten has. Her mystical connections and powers will also need to be on the order as any of the four of us. Do you have one or more such women you might entrust the Key to?”
“What are the age limits?” Chu-Hui asked.
“She must be at least eight if young, and young enough not to have finished menopause if she is mature,” Raven stated frankly. “I need not add she should have a strong sense of duty?”
“Indeed no. I believe we have at least one such.”
“May we inquire in how this upsets your plans?” Songsten asked directly, seeing Raven was not going to bring that up. The way she agreed showed that it was her plans they were interfering with, after all.
“While we hope to find a way to kick the Clatorian out without destroying the planet, that might not be possible,” Raven answered. “In that case, we hope to make the retribution so strong they will leave this dimension alone for some time. I am involved in those preparations. This will mean I will be on Earth until literally the last minute or so. I had three ways of leaving at that last minute. Going to Azarath would have been my second choice, and the only one with nearly one hundred percent chance of success. If I am no longer the Key, I cannot take that option; it would cause too many disturbances and it might lead the Clatorian to you. If they had only followed me there, I could have eluded them, but you wouldn’t have that option. But like I said, with the chance to save so many, it is not a sacrifice. Or if it is, it is one I am more than willing to make.”
The three looked at Raven for a moment, and then Chu-Hui stood. The two men quickly followed her lead. All three then bowed to Raven in respect. Humbled, Raven stood and bowed to them in turn. “If you three could stay here a few more days, I might have an answer for you.”
With Raven as the mediator, the Corps and the three mystics quickly agreed to terms. Chu-Hui said she would send however many candidates she could find to meet with Raven early in the New Year.
*
Raven had her ‘special projects,’ but still managed to go on enough missions with the team that the criminals of Jump didn’t fully notice her absence. Cyborg was also working part-time as a consultant to some of the special projects. In any event, Kid Flash and Jinx had joined the team full time, so even if a few adversaries might have wondered about Raven and Cyborg’s occasional absences, they could hardly take advantage of them.
While Robin did not have to worry about his team being short-handed, he had much else to worry about. Even ignoring the possible approach of the end of the world (having suffered through that worry once before actually made it slightly easier the second time around), there was still plenty for him to worry about, for he was by nature a worrier.
First was a large scale up-tick in jewel robberies around the world. Not of jewelry stores, but of several major suppliers. In just the first three weeks of December, almost one percent of the supplies of jewelry-quality diamonds had been stolen, and nearly two percent of the industrial grades. Other jewels had been taken from other wholesalers, but in smaller amounts. Worse, while it looked like the Justice League was investigating things, Robin could tell it was just for show. Perhaps it was merely a huge coincidence that Raven had been missing from the Tower each time the jewels were stolen.
Perhaps.
Second were the deliveries. Sure, the Titans did a great deal of on-line and catalog shopping, and hence had a lot of deliveries (although well-screened after the incident with the Puppet King). But Raven had had many large crates delivered, and wouldn’t explain them, other than saying, “Christmas.” As the Titans had always had low-keyed holidays, and Raven had been the lowest-keyed of all of them for Christmas, that didn’t exactly add up. She was also spending more time than usual with Cyborg in his high-tech workshop. Even stranger, when not away, working with Cyborg or in her room, she was spending an extraordinary amount of time meditating on the common area sofa, but only when Beast Boy was there playing video games.
Third, Robin could add three mystics, the crisis, and Raven and come up with their wanting to claim her home dimension. All he got for his inquiry was, “The Lantern Corps is supervising.” Still, Raven had him book rooms at the nearby Ramada through early January for visitors from various parts of the Himalayas.
As Robin held the door open so that Cyborg could bring in the Christmas tree, Robin wondered about what Raven and the big man were up to. So far, he had let slip just one little bit of information: Cyborg was making Raven a holo-ring. That just added to Robin’s confusion about what all Raven might be up to.
*
Christmas Eve, 75 days before the end of the world.
It almost never snowed in Jump City, although there was often a dusting on the higher mountains just inland by early December. There hadn’t been a white Christmas on record, and this year was no exception. It was still a somewhat chilly, clear night. There might even be a touch of frost if the light wind out of the north held. The more dangerous or eccentric criminals of Jump City had not been active for two days; hopefully that would hold for a while. All Robin was picking up on the police and emergency channels were the normal background events of any big city – troublesome to the police and fire departments, but nothing they needed to be called out for. Even Jump’s S.W.A.T. hadn’t been called upon.
After dinner, Raven called the group into her room. Not even Starfire had been in the room for nearly three weeks, and all the Titans were shocked at how bare the room was. All of Raven’s truly personal effects were gone except for a few large books of magic, a group of modern paperbacks that looked like text books, and her meditation mirror. Even the giant stuffed chicken, which only Starfire knew usually lurked between the drawers, in the space under the middle of Raven’s vanity, was missing. The only object other than her meditation mirror visible on either the dresser or the vanity was a cheap hairbrush – the tortoise shell set Starfire had given her the previous Christmas was gone.
There were also fourteen large wooden trunks on the floor, arranged in rows of seven.
“I have regular presents for you tomorrow,” Raven told them, “but I have some things to give you tonight. Should . . . should we fail to stop the Clatorian, I hope you all plan to escape rather than stay.”
“I have the places in the evacuation for six of us,” Robin pointed out. Only Raven seemed to be missing.
Raven flushed. “I will have to make my own way, but if that’s your way of asking if I’m planning on staying, the answer is no. So, there is both a weight limit and a size limit to what we are allowed to take as personal effects.” And no one would call them generous.
“I have managed to set a number of spells on these trunks. They will shrink down. Cyborg, pick up the left one of the first two trunks and tell us how much it weighs.”
Cyborg did just that, and announced, “Seventy-eight kilos, thirty-six grams.”
“The inside of all of these have been magically expanded and lightened. All of my books are in that one except these ones I still need. Most of my truly personal things are in that or the other one. . . .”
“Even the chicken?” Starfire teased.
“Yes,” Raven agreed, not happy to reveal she still had that chicken after all these years, and that she valued it enough to take it with her, “Even that. You can set it down.” The stuffed chicken alone would normally have easily taken up nearly all of the space in the trunk even if compressed, never mind the few thousand books Raven had packed into it. “Now watch.”
Raven shut the trunk and then took an x-acto knife and made a slight slit on her thumb. She smeared a little blood on the center clasp and muttered something under her breath. In less than two seconds, the trunk was now just three inches long and about two inches high. “How much does it weigh now?”
“A hundred and fifty grams!”
“The upside is that this spell, unless you break it, will hold for at least twenty years, more likely thirty to thirty-three. The down sides are it can only be shrunken once, and can’t be opened for two hundred days. So, once you seal and shrink it, you can’t get at it for a while, and you can never shrink it back down. The internal expansion should hold for at least sixty years.”
“Brava!” Jinx said, clapping. “That is some outstanding magic!”
“Thank you. I have to do the spell, but it has to be your blood. You each have two.” She seemed to hesitate.
“What is it?” Robin asked.
“I do have something else, but, well. . . .”
“Not for me and Jinx?” Kid Flash asked gently.
“I couldn’t do seven,” Raven told them, although strictly that wasn‘t entirely true.
“It’s no problem, and we appreciate the trunks.”
After a bit of discussion within the group about the trunks, Flash moved all the trunks to their owners’ rooms and the two said their good nights.
“Is this where you finally tell us what you’re up to?” Beast Boy asked.
“In a minute. Robin announced to the press he is changing his name to Nightwing. . . .”
“I don’t know if we’ll keep code names in the future, but if we do, Jason or Tim can be Robin,” he put in.
“Are you going to stay Beast ‘Boy’?”
“Yeah,” he mused, “maybe it is time to be called Beast Man.”
“So, instead of BB you want to be BM?” Cyborg teased before Raven could.
Seeing the reaction to that, Starfire asked, “Excuse please, what is the BM, and why is it amusing?”
“Garfield, as much as I’ve teased you back through the years, I refuse to allow you to call yourself a bowel movement,” Raven stated. “And no, you can’t be ‘Beast Dude’ either!”
“I’ll think about it,” he mumbled.
“Nice dodging, but that brings us back to what you’ve been up to,” Robin pointed out.
“True,” Raven agreed. She looked over at a drawer in her desk.
“Nope,” Robin stated. “Information first, presents second.” Even Beast Boy agreed on that.
“Alright, but. . . .” Her shoulders slumped.
“Rae, we’ll still like you,” Cyborg assured her.
Raven sat on her bed and looked at the floor. “Think about what happens if nobody finds a solution.”
“We know what happens,” Cyborg pointed out.
“What’s to stop the Clatorian from moving on to any other planet in our universe that one of their universes has a dimensional connection to? They’ve tried others before Earth,” Raven reminded them. “So, I’m not on one of the teams looking for a solution to the current problem, my job is to insure they don’t try again if the worst happens.”
“That’s a big order,” Cyborg stated, a bit surprised. Then he frowned in thought. “But how could you prevent them from attacking another planet?”
Raven heaved a large sad sigh.
“You can’t be serious!” Beast Boy exclaimed after a moment’s thought.
“What?” Cyborg demanded, for once behind his friend.
“Oh no!” Starfire wailed.
“What?” Robin demanded. Then he got it. “Raven . . . is your father going to be involved?” he asked before Cyborg could voice the same thought.
Raven merely nodded. Then she sighed again. “Four days before the Green Lanterns push Earth into the invading dimension, the small-scale evacuations start. Eight hours before the end, they should be finished.” She hesitated, but then went on, “If possible, it would be nice if you could stay with me until then, or at least the night before. In any event, well before that last day I should have a ritual prepared. I’ll finish it about thirty minutes before the end. Trigon should be trapped in this dimension for up to twelve hours by it. I will have the authority to cede the Earth to him. The transit between dimensions should take just over thirty minutes. Part way through, if Trigon has agreed to terms, he will be released.”
“It’s going to be bad for people when the transit occurs,” Robin stated. He added gently, “Won’t it be worse, adding Trigon into the mix?”
Raven shook her head. “We’re ceding him the planet, but not the people. They will die no matter what, but he will not have dominion over them. If he doesn’t agree, he will be trapped on Earth for a total of twelve hours, but he will have no real power. He would be next to helpless. If he accepts, he holds mystical title, and by attacking his property, all the universes the Clatorian have invaded are open to him. Since all sentient life in those dimensions are destroyed before they move on to the next, it will mostly affect the Clatorian.”
“Can he beat them?” Beast Boy asked.
Raven shrugged.
“Can he even function in that universe? The physical laws are supposed to be different in the universe they’re invading from,” Cyborg said.
“Trigon can adapt to any universe,” Raven answered. “And supposedly he was born into a dimension more like that one than ours is. If Trigon fails, he fails, but it should take him millions of years to win if he does. In any case, the hope is it will distract the Clatorian for some time.”
After a moment of hesitation, Robin asked, “Raven, does this ritual and trap of yours require jewels?”
“According to prophecy, what is my title?” Raven retorted.
“The Gem,” Robin conceded.
“Yes, I am, directly or indirectly, behind the diamond and other jewel robberies. You’ll notice that prices haven’t been affected – the companies, and insurance companies, have been told that if their prices do not change and no claims are made in the short term, all the jewels or their equivalents will be returned in a year, plus two percent, and they will be. If they can be replaced, then you should wonder why the robberies were even necessary. The answer is, the jewels have to come from the planet Trigon is being called to and contained on, and the replacements wouldn’t necessarily be from Earth.”
“And there won’t be a shortage?” Starfire asked.
“There is actually a huge inventory of diamonds,” Raven replied. “Yes, so far we have taken about one percent of the reported stock of jewelry-quality diamonds, but the actual numbers would make it well under a third of a percent of the real stock. No one is being hurt by this.”
“Will you really be able to get away?” Beast Boy asked, worried. “When . . . if . . . the end comes?”
“I should be able to,” Raven answered. “When I started off, I thought I would have three ways out, but you know those groups are taking over Azarath.”
“They would not allow you to come there?” Starfire asked, a bit puzzled that the groups wouldn’t allow their benefactor access.
“They have no say about it,” Raven replied. “When I had the Key to the dimension, I could enter it freely. Because of all the traffic that will be going to Azarath in the days leading up to the end, for safety it will have to be sealed off for at least three hours before the Earth is moved into the Clatorian dimension. If it was empty and it was just me going at the very end, there wouldn’t be any real danger of the dimensions bleeding over into each other because the connections would not have been recently active. We can’t risk that now.”
“So how will you be saved?” Beast Boy demanded.
“One of two ways,” Raven told him. “First, know that having a Green Lantern at the ceremony, or anywhere actually on the planet for that matter, would throw the transfer off. If there’s not too much interference, I can moved off by the League teleporters.”
“They won’t be out of range at that point?” Cyborg asked, knowing the Watchtower would be moved well out of orbit by then.
“At the extreme range,” Raven admitted. “There is only a thirty percent change of that working. I can, however, transcend into a roughly parallel dimension with at least a ninety-six percent chance of success.”
“And then?” Robin demanded.
“Then I stay there until I can be rescued.”
“You can’t come back?” Beast Boy demanded.
“Beast Boy, there would be no Earth to come back to,” Raven pointed out. “And no, I can’t just pop back at a prearranged time without some assurances. The only universe I will easily be able get to at the projected time is one that intersects with this one every so often. And before you ask, it’s about every fifteen months.”
That stunned the others into silence.
“What’s more, the first intersection would not be ‘in tune’ enough for me to return in, although it might be possible to exchange some information, maybe even physical letters. I could only possibly return on the second, fourth, and seventh through ninth intersections.”
“And after that?” Starfire asked.
“After that, they would likely be too far apart for me to make the jump,” Raven admitted.
“So. . . .”
“So, if the Lanterns have to push the Earth into a different dimension and if I am unable to be teleported, then I would only be able to return after about thirty months, sixty, a hundred and five, a hundred and twenty, or a hundred and thirty-five.”
“Or never,” Beast Boy muttered.
“Or never,” Raven was forced to agree.
Into the long silence that exchange created, Starfire finally said, “I do not understand. There must be the solution – the Warp came from the future, so that future must exist!”
“Apparently not,” Robin said sadly. “Superman used to regularly travel to the late thirtieth century; something about a sort of cosmic Justice League called the Legion of Super Heroes or something like that. He tried to travel to them to find out the solution and found that he couldn’t travel to the future anymore for some reason.”
Raven shrugged. “The future is always in flux. Warp came from a potential future, not a guaranteed one, and Superman used to travel to a potential one as well. If the problem is solved, that future may be accessible again.”
Starfire’s shoulders dropped in defeat.
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