As she pushed herself up from her bruised knees, Raven felt that dull, post-battle ache cling to her bones. Her limbs slunk, weighted like solid led. As her heart thumped in her skull, wracking her slender frame, she stood and looked to her leader as he finished the job. After a messy fight, they’d managed to knock out and subdue the thief that had infiltrated the museum. Police force stood on alert outside with their weapons, awaiting the signal to intervene and take their foe away. The empath calmed her breath, regaining composure as best she could, given her injuries. Her violet eyes watched as her teammates approached the fallen man, a heap on the cold, fractured tile.
Robin gave a nod to Cyborg, who knelt down and administered a quick and sharp injection to the neck. Harmless, but enough to keep him unconscious whilst being transported by reinforcements. After all, this was no ordinary thief. No ordinary villain, at that. And as the five gathered together in the aftermath, their tense temples and sombre eyes expressed the same concern: What business did an elite criminal like this have in robbing a lowly museum?...
Cyborg was the first to speak.
“So Psimon was after… this thing?” he said, standing over the crystal shard laying amongst the shattered glass that once guarded it.
“Looks like it,” Robin returned. “Question is, why?”
And a good question it was. Psimon was with the Brotherhood. He was no low-grade villain, but a powerful one, of whom the titans saw little of in their everyday work. He had no reason to come to Jump. To a museum. So what intentions had he had for this curious jewel? Surely, this surpassed a motive of money alone. The Brotherhood wanted this for something else.
Raven took a step closer, and just as Starfire went to speak, all heads swung to the left as the crystal skidded across the floor to land at the cloaked girl’s feet – entirely on its own.
“… Okay, am I the only one who saw that?” asked a confused Beast Boy, before their leader shushed him. Raven stared at the gem along with her team, though unlike the others, she felt a certain compelling force rise within her, almost calling her to pick it up. As she bent down to do so, the sound of Robin uttering “be careful, we don’t know what it is” sifted through her ears. She proceeded slowly, but as her stretched fingers reached toward the relic, it emitted a silver glow and began to shake in place. The unexpected motion snapped her back to the room, her arm instinctively pulling away.
“That’s… normal,” she stated, a brow lifted.
“Whatever it is, it’s important. And now, it counts as evidence,” said Robin, bringing order back to the situation. “We’ll have to take it back and investigate, but we can’t touch it.” Everyone nodded, including Raven. He looked to her. “Do you think you can send it back?”
She answered by casting the item in a black sphere, lifting it from the floor with no contact at all. It was still once more.
“Good. Starfire and I will take care of Psimon. You three, make sure that goes to the Evidence Room. We’ll see you back at the tower.”
Hours had passed since the fight. Robin’s orders had been followed, yet even with the crystal two floors down from her bedroom where she sat, Raven couldn’t shake the image of it from her mind. It was as if it had a voice. One that could pull her to it. She had meditated, read, even tried to nap. But this thing plagued her like some unfinished chapter. Were the others feeling like this? Like the investigation couldn’t wait? She was sure Robin would be doing his research in his room, but would case files and data logs really find anything?
She tore her eyes from the ceiling, and found herself making for the door. With static in her brain, her feet carried her down flights of stairs, already knowing their destination. Perhaps if she could… just look at it again. For reference. She could try to find a scroll on it, if one even existed. She needed to do something, regardless. After all, if Psimon was after it, then it possessed some kind of power.
The metal of the door slid open with a clink. She lingered at the doorway for a moment, watching the room cast in shadow. Uncertain, the girl moved forward. Her steps were almost silent as she drifted through the many objects relating to all manner of crimes. But when she reached it, she came to a halt. It sat there, upon a black podium, lifeless. Her brow creased and face grew taut as she stared down at it. Slowly, a pale hand unveiled itself from beneath her cloak, and was raised before her cautiously. She hesitated, a part of her knowing what might happen should she proceed, but the magus did so all the same.
Carefully, the tips of her fingers neared the shard, which emitted that same glow as before. Her lips pressed together, a tension in her throat, and she reached out to touch it. On contact, the crystal seemed to burst open in a flare of light. Raven gasped and stepped back, knees beginning to bend as if engaging in battle stance. Her eyes were soldered to the sight before her, unable to even blink, until the light diminished like a fizzled flame.
And once it did… what stood in its place granted her all the answers she’d needed of its purpose, and its power.
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
titsay
amandla
