Batman and Jason stared at each other while heroes, monsters, and traffickers fought each other in the background. The Red Room amphitheater was a battlefield of violence, escrima sticks cracking against skulls, plasma cannons discharging, the roar of metahuman abilities colliding, but in this moment, the world narrowed to just the two of them.
Jason's expression was guarded, his jaw tight, but there was something raw beneath the surface. Something that looked like hope mixed with anger and grief.
"So," Jason said, his voice rough. "You just gonna stare at me, or do I get a hug?"
Batman didn't move. His white lenses were locked on Jason's face, cataloging every detail, the slight discoloration of scar tissue along his jawline, the faint burn marks on his neck, the way his shoulders were set in a defensive posture even now.
"Answer my question, Jason," Batman said, his voice low and gravelly. "Did you kill the Joker?"
Jason's face twisted into a scowl. The faint hope that had flickered in his eyes died instantly, replaced by something cold and furious.
"That's the first thing you say after seeing me alive again?" Jason's voice rose, sharp and bitter. "After all these years and that's it, you want to know if I killed the damn Joker?!"
He took a step forward, his fists clenching at his sides.
"Yeah, I did," Jason spat. "And I'd do it again if I could. I'd throw him into the pit that revived me and shoot him all over again. So what are you gonna do now, Bruce? You gonna arrest me for killing your buddy? I didn't know he meant that much to you."
Batman's jaw tightened beneath his cowl. His fists clenched, the armored gauntlets creaking slightly from the pressure.
"He didn't," Batman said quietly. "But you know the rules, Jason. You know what we stand for."
"Rules?" Jason laughed, the sound harsh and mocking. "You and your goddamn rules. How many people has the Joker killed since you locked him up the first time? How many kids? How many families? And you still won't cross that line."
"Because if I do," Batman said, his voice hard as steel, "then I'm no different than the people I fight."
"Bullshit," Jason shot back. "You're just too scared to admit that some people deserve to die. He was right about you."
The tension between them was thick enough to cut with a knife. Around them, the battle raged on, Wildcat throwing haymakers, Zatanna chanting backwards spells, Cyborg's sonic cannon blasting through reinforced walls, but neither Batman nor Jason moved.
Then Batman's hand flicked to his utility belt.
Jason's hand dropped to his holster.
A batarang whistled through the air, spinning end over end. A gunshot cracked through the chamber, the muzzle flash briefly illuminating Jason's face.
The bullet flew past Batman's cowl, missing him by inches, and struck a H.I.V.E. grunt in the head who had been sneaking up behind him. The man dropped instantly, his body crumpling to the stone floor.
The batarang struck another grunt behind Jason, the weighted edge slamming into the man's temple and knocking him unconscious before he could bring his weapon to bear.
Batman and Jason both turned slowly, looking at the fallen enemies, then back at each other. Jason smirked, sliding his gun back into its holster. "Well, just like old times."
Batman's expression didn't change, but there was the faintest shift in his posture, a subtle relaxation, an acknowledgment.
"Tell me, old man," Jason said, pulling his helmet back on with a sharp click as the seals engaged. "Can you keep up?"
"Shut up and fight," Batman growled.
The two moved like demons.
Batman and Red Hood stood back to back as a wave of H.I.V.E. soldiers and bio-engineered monstrosities surged toward them from all sides. The grunts wore tactical armor and carried advanced energy weapons, while the scientific abominations, hulking, misshapen creatures with exposed musculature and glowing veins, lumbered forward with inhuman strength.
Batman moved first, his cape snapping out like a living shadow as he launched himself into the fray. He ducked beneath a wild swing from a grunt, drove an elbow into the man's solar plexus, then pivoted smoothly to deliver a devastating knee strike to another attacker's jaw.
Behind him, Red Hood was a whirlwind. He fired his twin pistols, each shot finding its mark, kneecaps, shoulders, weapon hands. When a grotesque, eight-foot-tall bio-construct lunged at him with clawed hands, Jason didn't hesitate. He holstered one gun, pulled a combat knife from his belt, and drove the blade into the creature's exposed throat, twisting viciously before kicking the body away.
"You're getting slow, old man!" Jason called out, his voice crackling through his helmet's modulator as he shot another grunt in the leg.
"Focus," Batman snapped, throwing a cluster of explosive batarangs into a group of advancing soldiers. The detonations sent bodies flying, smoke and debris filling the air.
A massive metahuman woman, easily the size of a car, with gray, stone-like skin and glowing red eyes, charged toward them, her footsteps shaking the ground. She roared, her voice echoing through the chamber, and swung a fist the size of a boulder at Batman's head.
Batman reacted instantly. He threw a batarang at her legs, the weighted projectile wrapping around her ankles with a reinforced cable. The woman stumbled, her momentum carrying her forward, and Batman and Red Hood moved in perfect synchronization.
Batman drove a powerful uppercut into her jaw, his armored gauntlet cracking against her stone-like skin. At the same moment, Jason delivered a brutal hook to the side of her head, his enhanced strength amplified by the kinetic force of his punch.
The metahuman woman's eyes rolled back, and she toppled backward, crashing to the ground with a thunderous BOOM that cracked the stone floor.
Jason chuckled, rolling his shoulders. "I guess you haven't lost your touch."
Batman didn't respond, but there was the faintest hint of approval in the way he adjusted his stance.
I continued my fight with Blud if you want to call it that. He wasn't just powerful, he was durable. Every punch I landed should have shattered bone, but his body absorbed the impacts like reinforced steel. And worse, he was using the chaos and confusion of the battlefield to his advantage, constantly searching for metahumans to feed on, whether they were corpses or still alive.
I drove a knee into his ribs, feeling the impact sent him flying, but Blud barely flinched. He grabbed my leg mid-strike, his clawed fingers trying to dig into my calf, only to hurlme across the pit.
I twisted in midair stabilizing myself, and landed in a crouch. My blood was beginning to pump, my anger slowly rising, and I could feel the familiar heat building in my chest.
Donna came in like a missile, her silver lasso glowing with divine energy as it wrapped around Blud's torso. She yanked hard, slamming him into the ground with enough force to create a spiderweb of cracks in the stone floor.
"Now, Caius!" Donna shouted.
I launched myself into the air, my fist cocked back, and came down with a devastating axe kick directly onto Blud's chest.
The impact created a crater in the ground, the shockwave rippling outward and shaking the entire reinforced cavern. Dust and debris filled the air, and I could hear the groaning of stressed metal and stone.
"Take it outside!" Red X yelled through his mask, his voice sharp with urgency. "You're gonna bring the whole place down!"
Blud roared, his voice echoing through the chamber, and launched himself at me with terrifying speed. I backhanded him mid-lunge, the force of the blow sending him flying toward the same wall he'd punched Conner through earlier.
After flying through the mountain his body skipped across the air like a stone on water, crashing through the outer wall and tumbling onto the snowy runway outside. A private jet sat on the tarmac, its engines still running, and I could see several patrons, corrupt diplomats and traffickers, scrambling to board the aircraft.
Blud landed near the jet, his body smoking from the impact, and his eyes locked onto the fleeing passengers. One of them was a metahuman woman slaves, her skin glowing faintly with bioluminescent patterns.
"No!" the woman screamed, trying to run. "Not my Stacy!"
But Blud was faster. He grabbed her by the throat, his claws digging into her flesh, and sank his fangs into her neck.
The woman's body convulsed, her glowing skin dimming rapidly as Blud drained her blood. Within seconds, she was pale and lifeless, her body collapsing to the ground like a discarded doll.
I reached him too late. And I felt something slipping inside me.
Blud threw his head back and roared, the sound echoing across the mountain range. It was a sonic attack, a high-frequency scream that made my ears ring and my vision blur.
I winced, the attack catching me off guard, but then I calmed myself in that instant and adjusted my TTK field to block out the sound, creating a protective barrier around my eardrums. The ringing faded, replaced by a dull hum, and I focused on Blud .
He was grinning, his fangs dripping with blood, his eyes wild with feral madness.
I didn't give him time to recover. I flew at him, driving my forehead into his face with a brutal headbutt.
His nose shattered, blood spraying across his face, and I didn't stop. I grabbed him by his neck, pulled him close, and headbutted him again.
And again.
His face was a bloody mess, his features barely recognizable, but I kept going. My fists drove into his face over and over, each punch fueled by the rage boiling inside me.
I thought about the children. The ones he'd sold. The ones he'd hurt. The ones who would never see their families again. The ones who died in the dark believing they were forgotten and unloved.
I thought about Raven. About what he'd done to her. About what he was going to do to her.
The blood high Blud was high was clearly dying down and it looked like he was about to pass out.
My blood was boiling. My anger was rising, and I felt the restraint I'd been holding onto start to slip. I grabbed Blud by the head, my fingers digging into his skull, and my eyes flared gold.
"You hurt so many children," I roared, my voice raw with fury. "You hurt my friend! Don't you dare pass out on me!"
My eyes ignited, and twin beams of golden heat vision lanced into Blud's eyes.
He screamed, his voice cracking with agony, and I didn't stop. The heat vision intensified, the golden light shifting to blood red with a black hue as my TTK aura flared around me, crackling with violent energy.
"Please!" Blud screamed, his voice breaking. "Please stop!"
"Did you ever stop when those children begged?!" I yelled, my voice echoing across the runway. "Were you gonna stop when Raven was going to beg?!"
I cut the heat vision, my chest heaving, and reached into my belt. I pulled out the sealed titanium cylinder Jason had given me earlier, the one glowing faintly with cryo-indicators.
I opened it, revealing a small glass vial filled with dark red blood.
"You want blood so bad?" I said, my voice cold and venomous. "Then drink this. I got it just for you."
I shoved the vial into Blud's mouth and kicked his jaw shut.
The glass shattered inside his mouth, the blood and shards hitting his throat. He coughed violently, blood and glass spilling from his lips, and his eyes widened in horror.
"What... what did you give me?" Blud choked, his voice weak. "This blood... it's... it's tainted."
I leaned in close, my voice low and deadly.
"You probably never drank the blood of someone with HIV," I said. "How does it feel to have your immune system destroy itself?"
Blud's eyes widened in shock and terror. His skin, already pale, turned sickly gray, and he began to convulse.
"You... you're a monster," he coughed, blood dripping from his mouth.
"I did what Batman would have done," I said coldly. "I just need you weak enough to move."
"Caius!"
I turned to see Conner and Donna landing beside me, their faces a mixture of shock and concern.
"What did you do?" Conner demanded, grabbing my shoulder.
"I did what was necessary," I said, my voice flat.
Conner's eyes dropped to the titanium cylinder in my hand, and he saw the label.
MIA DEARDEN
His eyes widened. "Caius... where did you get this? Mia hasn't been seen since Invincible attacked the Tower."
"I asked a friend to find her," I said. "And get her blood. After telling her what it was for, she gladly said yes. I also promised her something else."
Donna looked at me, her expression worried. "What did you promise her?"
"A cure," I said simply.
Their eyes widened in shock.
"You... you know something we don't," Conner said slowly.
I didn't respond. I just grabbed Blud by his neck and dragged him toward the entrance of the Red Room.
"Where is Raven?" I demanded.
"I got her," a familiar voice called out.
I turned to see Nightwing approaching, carrying Raven in his arms. She was wrapped in a thick robe, her face pale and her breathing shallow.
I walked up to him, my expression softening slightly. "Let me hold her."
Dick looked at me for a moment, then nodded. "Here you go."
I took Raven gently, cradling her in my arms. She felt so light, so fragile.
"Thanks," I said quietly. "Where are the twins?"
Dick sighed. "They disappeared the moment I turned my back. They really are his kids."
"Yup," I said. "But right now, we need to be ready to wake up Sleeping Beauty."
"And how do you plan on doing that?" Dick asked.
I took a deep breath, calming myself. The blood-red aura with the black hue around me flickered, then shifted back to gold.
I placed my forehead against Raven's, closing my eyes, and reached out with my mind and my TTK.
I sent the mental message, clear and strong:
You're safe. The Titans have you. Please come home, Raven. Come home, Rachel. I miss you.
Raven sat in a dark void, meditating. Her navy blue hooded cloak cast a shadow over her face, and the emptiness around her was absolute.
Then she heard it. A Warm familiar voice.
Come home, Raven. Come home, Rachel. I miss you.
Her violet eyes snapped open.
"Caius?" she whispered.
The void around her began to shift, the darkness peeling away like layers of paper. Light flooded in, blinding and overwhelming, and Raven felt herself being pulled forward.
But then the light twisted.
The world around her changed.
She was standing in the middle of a burning city. It was dark with the bright moon in the sky, and the ground was littered with rubble and bodies. In the distance, she could see the Titans Tower, or what was left of it, It was half destroyed.
Floating in the air above the ruins were several figures.
Batman and Superman lay dead on the ground, their bodies broken and lifeless.
Wonder Woman, Supergirl, and Starfire knelt before a towering figure, their heads bowed in submission.
The figure wore an imperial royal red cape that billowed in the wind, and his eyes glowed with a cold, golden light.
Her eyes widened when she noticed who it was.
It was Caius.
His voice rang out, cold and commanding, echoing across the ruined landscape.
"Earth and the Sol System now belong to the Intergalactic Empire of Viltrum. So says I, Caius Dawn, Sovereign of New Viltrum and the Viltrumites."
The crowd around Raven erupted into chants, their voices rising in unison:
"ALL HAIL SOVEREIGN DAWN! ALL HAIL SOVEREIGN DAWN! ALL HAIL SOVEREIGN DAWN!"
Raven stood frozen, her body trembling, as the chant grew louder and louder.
Then Caius turned his head, his glowing golden eyes locking onto her. He moved instantly, appearing in front of her in the blink of an eye. His arms wrapped around her, pulling her close, and Raven felt her body freeze in fear and awe.
She felt like she was looking at a god. Her body was trembling as she wanted to kneel and beg for his love. No matter how much she wanted to fight this feeling. It made her scared of him.
"It's just as you predicted, Raven," Caius said softly, his voice warm but laced with something dark. "Now let us reign in a new era together."
He leaned in, his lips pressing against hers in a passionate kiss.
Raven's mind screamed at her to resist, to fight, but her body betrayed her. As she wrapped her arms around him, submitting to his majestic aura, her will crumbling beneath the weight of his presence.
In the distance, two large figures floated near the moon, their features blacked out and unrecognizable.
Raven's eyes snapped open, as she was kissing Caius. Her lips were pressed against his, and she could feel the warmth of his breath, the strength of his arms holding her.
Caius's eyes were wide with surprise, his expression frozen in shock.
Raven pulled back, tears streaming down her face.
"It can't be," she whispered, her voice breaking. "You wouldn't."
And then she passed out, her body going limp in Caius's arms.
I stared at her, my mind racing, my heart pounding.
"Raven?" I said softly.
But she didn't respond.