Raven looked on in shock. The world seemed to slow to a stop as she was violently pulled out of her own dark energy. She dangled helplessly from the hood of her cloak as Slade held her up with just a single arm. Raven was frozen. So many things coursed through her mind so quickly, she didn't have to time focus on any of them. She just looked straight ahead in front of her where her dark energy continued to take form as the sun rose behind it. The sunlight was stretched out on the earth casting long shadows from small objects. Time began to catch up with her and reality struck when her dark energy disappeared in front of her and Terra along with it. Raven was all on her own now.
Slade threw his other arm around her. He held the collar his omnidroid had tried to put around her neck just moments ago... and like a devastating attack, he slammed the collar on the front of her neck sending the other half whipping around the back of her neck locking in place in front of her.
Raven let out a long cry of anguish and a bright flash of white light shined from the symbols on the collar. Ravens eyes glowed white like the collar for a moment and then quickly faded. The symbol's bright white color faded into a dim but constant glow.
Raven closed her eyes as if she were exhausted. Like her energy and youth had been sucked from her leaving her weak and fragile.
Slade released his grip on her hood and she fell to the cold floor landing on her knees. She was too weak to hold herself up even on her knees. She felt helpless. She hadn't felt like this since Robin found her as a little girl when her father had begun his reign of terror on the earth. Her mind drifted into unconsciousness and she fell to her side laying in the dirt.
Slade stepped closer to Raven's limp body and looked down at her, laying unconscious and unable to fight back.
"Remarkable," Slade reveled in his victory, "it seems the ancient order really knew what they were talking about."
He lifted a foot to Raven's shoulder and rolled her over to ensure there was no doubt she wasn't a threat. Raven rolled to her back and her arm fell lifeless to the floor next to her. She moaned as if in extreme discomfort but didn't wake from her unconscious state.
Feeling more confident, Slade knelt next to her and reached down into Raven's cloak. He was searching for something... When he found what he was looking for he chuckled softly. He pulled out her communicator and started breaking it down piece by piece as if he were rebuilding it from the inside out. Once he heard a single beep he stopped what he was doing and chuckled once more.
He raised his hand to his ear as if pressing a button to communicate with someone, "Rouge, I'm patching Raven's signal to your counterfeit communicator. I'll leave the rest to you."
"I must admit... You are a much smarter and more terrifying villain than the Brain," Rouge laughed in Slade's ear piece, "rest assured I vwill finish what we started."
Slade began to put the communicator in his pocket but he couldn't help but notice something else was in Raven's cloak with the communicator. He reached in once more to pull out something he wasn't expecting... A small copper coin valued at only 1 cent.
Slade snickered as he turned the penny over in his hand. He remembered this coin. It was the same coin she held as she became the portal for Trigon's arrival.
"You'll need much more than luck from a lost penny this time, Raven." He sneered. He knew she couldn't hear him but it felt good to say such despicable things to his enemies and his confidence only grew as his omnidroids began appearing from the elements around him one after another in droves.
Hours later Raven slowly began to regain consciousness. She groaned as her eyes began to slowly open. Her vision was blurred at first but as they began to focus she noticed her wrists had iron cuffs with chains on them. This sent of jolt of adrenaline through her veins. She sat up quickly to see she was laying on the cold smooth surface of a concrete floor.
The room she was in had no windows but had a single light that lit up the entire room. It was a relatively small room. Something like a bedroom for a toddler or small child. As she looked around, she noticed the walls had symbols like the ones on her collar. They were written all over the walls surrounding her as if the room were a back-up collar in case she managed to get out of the collar around her neck.
She stood up and realized just how dizzy she was. She stumbled for a moment and the sounds of her chains rattling echoed through the room. After a short moment she regained her balance and the dizziness faded. She started to walk towards the only door in the room but before she could take more than three steps her chains locked up and tugged on her wrists, sending her arms back behind her, stopping her in her tracks.
She looked back to where she was just laying. The chains on her wrists weren't just bound together, they were bolted to the ground in the center of the room. Raven took a longer look and she could see it was just one long chain going from one wrist, thread through an iron loop bolted into the concrete, and connected to the other wrist.
She walked back to the center of the room where her hands would have the most freedom in their current situation. She pointed her hands at the iron ring with the chain running through it.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinth-AHHH!" Raven let out a painful cry. The collar around her neck still had its glow of white symbols but when she recite her enchantment the glow intensified and drained all energy from Raven causing her pain before the glow returned to its dim shade of white.
She reached up to her neck and felt around the collar looking for any weakness in any spot but she wasn't the least bit surprised when she found none.
Raven let out a sigh. It really did seem hopeless at his point. She couldn't get herself out so her only hope was her friends. She knew that Slade was smart enough to take her communicator but she decided to check anyways.
She reached into her cloak and her eyes went wide. She could care less that her communicator was missing. She knew it would be. But when she didn't feel the small jagged surface of her most treasured possession she began to tremble. Her hand was darting to every corner of her pocket hoping that it would somehow miraculously appear out of nowhere but when she came up empty handed she fell to her knees and began to weep.
The sound of unlocking from multiple heavy locking mechanisms began to fill the room over her sobs and the door swung open behind her breaking the circle of symbols on the walls.
"Looking for this?" Slade said with a devilish tone as he stepped inside.
Raven whipped her head around hearing his voice and her eyes locked on what he was holding up. Her face went dark with rage. She looked like she was going to tear him apart one body part at a time. Usually this kind of emotion would send Raven into an uncontrollable state. Her eyes would turn red and her voice would change, but instead... the collar around her neck just glowed a little brighter as if absorbing all that raw emotional power.
Raven didn't care that her powers were being suppressed by this steel ring around her neck. Her anger was boiling over and there was only one thing she had her mind on.
"Give. That. Back." Raven said softly with the most gruesome tone in her voice.
Slade looked at the coin and began to mock her, "what is it that your friend said? ... Oh I remember, find a penny, pick it up-"
"SHUT UP!" Raven screamed as she rose to her feet, "I said give it back!" She lunged towards him only to get reeled back by the jolt of the chains locking behind her.
"You're not the one who needs any luck right now, Raven." Salde respond without hesitation. He put the penny in his pocket and stepped closer to Raven just out of reach from her chains. He sounded like he knew something and was hiding it from her. Something evil.
"What... what do you mean?" Raven asked cautiously. She wasn't sure if she really wanted to know the answer to that.
"Madam Rouge..." he hissed, "she is paying him a visit as we speak." He towered over her looking down at her with total control.
"That's not possible. She would never be able to get into the Tower no matter who she pretends to be!" Raven shot back with angst.
"Normally you'd be right," Slade respond, "but lets just say... you will be the last thing he ever sees." He squint his one eye showing how serious he was.
Raven's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. If Rouge was disguised as herself would her friends be able to tell? Do they know her well enough to spot an imposter pretending to be her? Her mind ran wild with a dark imagination.
"No..." She trembled, "no! They would know! They could tell it's not me!" Raven shouted as if trying to convince herself. But she still had a lingering doubt in her heart. After all... she has always kept her distance. She never opened up to anyone unless it was absolutely necessary. Her friends only knew so much about her... and that was her own fault. She thought it would be best if they didn't know her. She thought she was protecting them but now... for that reason... it could be the end of them as she knew it.
Raven began to panic. It was possinle she might lose him after all. After everything he survived he still wasn't safe. Her face wore visible signs of fear and anxiety from the situation she had no control over and her desire for the coin Slade had tucked away vanished.
Slade saw this reaction. It was just a mental game to him. Slade was simply testing the waters to see if his suspicions were accurate and her reaction told him everything he needed to know.
He was about to speak when his ear piece fired up and a transmission started coming through to him.
"You vwere correct. The green one's affections have changed. He admires the dark one now." Rouge sounded angry. Like she was running from the fight but she wanted to go back and continue fighting. But even she couldn't take them all on at once so easily...
"It seems the feelings are mutual," Slade respond as if they planned this all along, "this may work in our favor." He turned and began walking out of the room, "it's time we began phase three." He stopped at the door looking over his shoulder at Raven.
"Understood," Rouge respond as the communication cut out.
"Cheer up Raven," Slade said darkly, "you're boyfriend will be coming to see you very soon."
Raven looked up at him with hope in her eyes but she didn't like the sound of that. What was he planning? Was he talking about Beastboy? Why did he want him to come find her?
"And when he gets here," Slade continued turning back to the doorway, "you can both suffer together." Slade's voice trailed off in a dark tone. Much darker than usual. He stepped out of the room and the door slammed behind him with a loud crash like iron clashing against iron. The sound of heavy locking mechanisms whined and clicked one after another making the door seem impenetrable.
The silence returned and Raven slowly dropped to her knees in the center of the room. She was completely confused as to what was going on. After everything Slade had said to her it almost sounded like he was implying Beastboy was coming to save her but the thought of that made her stomach churn. Because if that were true it could only mean one thing...
This was just another trap for Beastboy but this time... she was the bait.