I can feel some of you staring at me from all around the world. Is it true? Did Allen finally update JL Vs. TB? Well, I'll leave the explanation for why this update took so long down below. For now, I hope you all enjoy the first chapter in four months! Even if it's a little short!

Since Last Time: 21 more Favorites, 19 more Followers (Total: 362 Favorites, 398 Followers)

Updated: March 8th, 2020 1:39 A.M. (MST)

Disclaimer: I did warn since I didn't own this that there'd be some major delays.

Chapter Fifty-Four: An Unwanted Encounter

Thmmm…

A set of doors opened, and Raven appeared with Batman, Superman, and Nightwing. She was silent and calm as they escorted her out of the hallway into a large open circular room. She glanced around as she walked.

On her right were the stairs to the Zeta Tubes. The polished floor shimmered with alien technology coursing through it underneath. On her left, the room opened up into a large circular dome. There were pillars along the circumference that acted as supports, but allowed the heroes inside to have a wonderful view of the Earth down below.

It didn't take much common sense for her to figure out where she was at.

'So, we're on the WatchTower.' She thought blandly. 'No idea why they'd worry about us escaping from up here. It's not like I could possibly form a portal back down to Earth from space. And I bet Gar has an animal up his sleeve that can survive burning up through the atmosphere.' Raven thought sarcastically.

Her original suspicions that they were doing this to them just to be ***es were confirmed. Making sure they wouldn't be able to plan an escape. Yeah, like that would ever happen.

She didn't voice it aloud. Even though she didn't have her powers helping her anymore, she could tell that Batman and Nightwing wouldn't have liked her sarcasm. They were already treating her like the crud under their boots. No point in making them throw her in hell earlier than she already was. Only Superman behind her appeared to have any sort of friendliness, though he probably wouldn't have saved her from the other two if she started to bad mouth them now.

They left the room and entered another hallway.

'How much longer are we going to walk for? It's like they're trying to put as much distance between us as possible.' Raven thought almost angrily to herself.

In reality, it had been the first time since Midway City that they had been separated like this. Where they hadn't known where the other was at and had no way of getting to them. Even when she had been angry with Gar, he hadn't been completely out of range of her senses. But now her senses were dulled along with her powers, and her heart ached within her chest without him being nearby.

She hadn't realized, even when she had been royally pissed with him, how used she had gotten to his constant presence being around or somewhere nearby. No, not just used to, how much she'd come to rely on him being nearby. Now it seemed as if a part of her had been left behind. A surprisingly large and important part of her that almost made her want to cry.

'Azar, I'm sounding like one of those dumb Twilight novels now.' Raven thought in slight annoyance. 'I'm stronger than this! I can put up with a few moments of separation!'

…

'… although maybe I can understand that author's point of view a little bit better now than before.' Raven then admitted to herself. Being separated from the one you loved… was an emotion Raven never would have imagined experiencing in her lifetime. And yet, she was experiencing it now. And it sucked. A lot.

…

Thmmm…

Finally, after some more time, one last set of doors opened. Raven walked through and found herself on a balcony. The view of space stretched out before her, with the Earth visible down below.

"So, move me from a security tight cell to a wide-open balcony in space. That makes a lot of sense." Raven said sarcastically.

"This is the bottom of the WatchTower, and all the other doors to this balcony will be locked. You'll be the most secure here." Batman muttered under his breath.

"Just don't try and jump. I'd hate to see you burn up in such a long fall, old friend." Nightwing said gruffly. It was almost like he was inwardly hoping that she would jump.

Raven was almost sickened at how her old friend, her old leader, whom she had trusted so much before, had been changed from what he was to nothing short of a prideful snotty uptight little prick thanks to Zatanna's magic. It made her miss the old Robin. Her reliable friend and older brother figure. "I didn't plan to, my fearless leader," Raven replied dryly.

"Good. We'll leave you to prepare the portal to Outer Perdition, and then when it's finished, we'll bring you your green mutt so you can leave this world together." Batman said.

"Exactly as you deserve to go," Nightwing muttered almost angrily.

Raven clenched her fists at that. She knew deep down that he wouldn't have been that way if it wasn't for what Zatanna had done to him and Cyborg and Starfire. Despite that, she wanted nothing more at that moment than to throttle him and to mutter every demonic cuss word she knew as she did it.

She kept calm though and simply stared at them. They walked back down the hallway where they had come. Superman had remained silent for the whole exchange.

Thmmm… Click!

The door slid closed behind them and locked itself.

Raven turned back around and walked up to the edge of the balcony. She leaned on the railing and looked out at the starry expanse in front of her. 'There's nothing I can do now but wait.' Raven thought with a hint of depression. She didn't even feel like meditating to try and pass the time...

It certainly was a way to go. She couldn't really think of many other villains who had gotten it as worse as her and her boyfriend. Not even the Phantom Zone was near enough in punishment to describe what would await them in Outer Perdition. And it was all because she was Trigon's little gem. His precious, world-destroying portal. She could at least understand why she'd be worthy of such a punishment. If it had only been her, she would have welcomed it as punishment for having destroyed the world.

But to punish Gar with Outer Perdition too? Never. He was too sweet. Too naive. Too innocent for such an evil place. He was far from deserving it. He deserved heaven way more than hell.

He might have been optimistic about it. He might not want to be separated from her. And she might have not wanted to be separated from him. But somehow, on the inside, Raven knew that if they were thrust down into hell together; what the changeling would see there would destroy him. The evils of that horrid, wretched wasteland would destroy the great goodness that dwelt in him.

Even if they were, by some miracle, able to somehow escape hell into a different dimension where they could live in peace, he would never be the same changling ever again.

…

…

'Knowledge, do you know if there's anything I could do that could prevent all this from happening? I can't just stand here and let them throw both me and Gar into Outer Perdition.' Raven thought.

…

She didn't get a response from her mind. 'Knowledge?' She thought again.

She got no response again.

'Hello? Knowledge, Rude, Wisdom? Is there anyone there?' Raven thought confusedly. Usually, her emoticlones bothered her so often, it was a surprise that she wasn't hearing them now. 'What's up with them now?'

On the inside of Raven's mindscape…

'Hello? Hello?' Raven's voice sounded in her mindscape. 'Why aren't you girls speaking to me?'

"Don't worry Rae! We're still here! We just can't communicate with each other at the moment!" Happy yelled at the dark starry sky above them. A sky that was blocked by a translucent ceiling.

"Yeah. It's not like we can ****ing leave our mind when we feel like it!" Rage bellowed up at the ceiling that hovered over their mindscape.

'Hello? Hello?' Raven called from the other side of the ceiling. Her voice sounded a little muted, but they could still hear it.

"Knowledge! Why can't that freaking ugly witch hear us right now?!" Rude yelled angrily.

"I don't know. It's possible the handcuffs she's wearing are blocking her connection to us and Nevermore since we're a source of her power." Knowledge guessed.

"I swear we're not trying to hide or anything Raven!" Timid yelled in a slightly scared voice.

"Yeah, I never hide from a challenge! And I'd never hide from someone who'd want to hurt our BB!" Brave yelled up above as she struck a fighting pose.

"How are those handcuffs capable of doing this?!" Rage yelled angrily.

"Well, it's possible her cuffs are inlaid with netherite. That's at least one material from hell I can think of that's capable of being enchanted to block a demon's powers." Wisdom said.

"Hmmm, if we somehow escape and get these cuffs off, we should keep them. They might prove useful later in life." Lust said to herself. It was likely she was thinking about what Gar had said earlier.

"That's not fair! We've always been able to talk to her and annoy her before! Why does a stupid pair of netherite handcuffs keep us from doing that now!?" Rude asked.

"I don't know bitch!? I don't hold every answer in the universe you know!" Knowledge said angrily as her frustration got to her.

'Hello? Hello? Can anyone hear me?' Raven's thoughts said to them.

"YES! WE CAN HEAR YOU YOU STUPID UGLY FAT-BOTTOMED BITCH! NOW STOP PRETENDING TO IGNORE US AND ACTUALLY OPEN YOUR (Bleep)ing EARS!" Rude yelled so loudly the realm shook with her voice. The other emoticlones covered their ears because of how loud she was.

In the real world, Raven only felt a streak of anger and frustration. She also felt a slight headache, and one of her hands gripped the side of her head. "Ugh, this is useless. I'm not getting anywhere doing this." Raven said out loud.

'She's got that right.' Rude said snidely in her mind. Raven couldn't hear anything her emoticlones tried to say to her.

Raven groaned. 'I still don't understand why they put me out here. There's nothing to do except look at the stars until they're done preparing the portal for Gar and I…' Raven thought sadly.

She couldn't use her powers. She couldn't talk to her emoticlones to figure out a solution. She couldn't do anything except jump off this balcony and let nature take its course. But if she did that, then she'd be leaving Gar to be portaled to hell all by himself. Unless she simply met him after he got there. After all, it was likely if she died now that her soul would be sent to hell anyway since her human soul was tainted with the darkness of being half-demon...

…

"If only there was a way to save him…" She'd do anything if she could save at least him.

…

Thmmm.

The door behind Raven slid open again. Raven turned almost in surprise towards it. 'Are they already finished with the portal-' She started to question in her mind.

"Hello there, Raven."

Raven was shocked. Dressed in her familiar tuxedo outfit, with her signature magician's hat on her head, was none other than Zatanna herself.

"It's been a while."

Author's Notes:

Yeah, to sum it up, I've been busy. Busy in another fandom (Rising of the Shield Hero). Busy with college. Busy with writing a real novel (not a fanfiction for any fandom). And busy with life in general. I did not mean to not update for as long as I have. But there's one other reason why it's been so long. I'm near the end of what I have written in terms of the updates I had prepared for this story. And I haven't had the time to continue from my outline. Which sucks, because I'm near the end of this story, and I want to finish this, but I want to make sure I have enough time to capture the epicness of what I have planned so I don't slight you readers. But, again, I'm so busy that I don't have a lot of time to devote to this. (And the fact that I'm doing another summer semester isn't going to help)

Please, have some patience with me. Also, don't leave multiple reviews asking when I'm updating next. I seriously don't know. I appreciate the thought, but PM me instead if you're wondering when the next Update is. I'll see about when the next update comes out. Hopefully sooner than this one did. And hopefully, it'll be longer too. At least you all know now that this story isn't dead to me.

Till Next Time

Allen