LOOTING DC #39. Raven Hunt
The sun rose over Gotham. Jake was already up.
He hadn't slept. Too many questions. Too many targets. But one thought stuck:
What comes first?
Tech? Obvious pick. He could upgrade the suit, rig scanners, slip spyware into League systems. Real coverage and wide exposure on intel. Stuff a looter could build an edge on.
But high-grade tech lived in dangerous places - WayneTech, League hubs, Metropolis... The BatCave. Suicide runs, every one of them.
Then there was magic. The Crimson Moon wasn't running on solar panels. He had no idea how to cause it - but he was pretty sure Wi-Fi wouldn't help.
So magic might be the real priority.
And then there was the baseline: Food.
The Web of Life didn't run a kitchen. And with only nine charges left, Jake couldn't afford to get stuck in there without supplies.
What to do...
What. To. Do.
Jake drummed his fingers on the edge of a rooftop. Now would've been a great time to have allies.
No - minions. "Allies" sounded too sentimental.
It was time to start thinking like a strategist. Delegate. Send others to get their hands dirty while he kept the bigger picture in view.
But who?
He had Artemis. Or - he hoped he did. She felt like someone who'd stand with him when it counted. After last night, maybe he could sway Roy and Jade too - if not for him, then for Lian.
That trio could cover the tech front.
But magic? He was flying blind.
His Spider-sense had hinted at Zatanna and Constantine - both capable, both dangerous. Both squarely aligned with the League. That made them... complicated.
Then there was Raven.
He hadn't met her. Not even seen her. But something - some gut instinct wrapped in spider-thread - told him she was different. That she'd listen.
And then, of course, Batman.
Jake snorted. After that one encounter, Batman had said to find him and work something out. Maybe he'd meant it. Maybe not. Either way, if the man was willing to help even a little - especially on the tech side - it was worth trying. At least until his morality complex kicked back in.
Decision made.
He needed to move. First up: the easy ones. Artemis, Roy, Jade - tonight.
But Raven?
That had to happen now.
Which meant one thing.
Time to finally leave Gotham.
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It'd been - what? Three days? Yeah. Probably. Three days since that strange connection. Since she'd heard her father's voice again. Since her cloak shifted, now webbed with a faint, spider-threaded mosaic.
Three days of pretending she was fine.
Three days of sidestepping the Titans' concern. Three days of dragging herself through each breath like it weighed a hundred pounds.
Exhaustion wasn't new. Raven lived with that dull ache - existential, quiet, constant. Not depression. More like... spiritual erosion. But whatever she'd experienced during that astral moment - it had pressed something heavier onto her back. Something that hadn't left since.
So she'd pulled away. Claimed she needed solitude.
Not for peace. That was gone. Buried with Azarath. No - she was searching for clarity. For answers.
For the Spider.
That's what Nightwing had called him the moment he noticed the change in her cloak. "Spider," as if naming him summoned something bigger. And Raven - through her empathy, her magic, whatever bound her to the arcane - had felt it too. A thread that tugged at her soul.
She didn't know what he was. Or who. But she knew he mattered.
Trigon would hunt him. Raven felt that like a chill under her skin. The Spider, whatever he was tied to, posed a threat - or a key. And that meant Trigon would try to take it.
So Raven had made a choice.
The Spider's morality didn't matter. Good. Bad. Gray. None of it changed the fact that her father was worse.
She had to find him.
And then, whatever it took-
Protect him.
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Jake had been wondering for a while now - what were the chances the Titans existed at the same time as the Team?
In this chaotic mashup world, it seemed more than possible. Hell, his spider-sense had that weird, webbed feeling again - like a whisper through reality that he was right to consider it.
Damian was the current Robin. Red Hood was active. That at least meant Nightwing had to be around, and if Nightwing existed, then the Titans probably did too.
More importantly, Raven's existence made it not just plausible - but practically confirmed.
So, with that in mind, his next move was obvious: find Titans Tower. That meant heading to Jump City - and still making it back to Gotham by nightfall.
Teleportation would've been great about now. But Jake didn't know the first thing about magic. No advanced tech, either. No Zeta Tubes. No Boom Tubes. Just vibes and desperation. He really needed minions. There was way too much to do, and not nearly enough him.
On the bright side, if he managed to get Raven on his side, teleporting to Gotham might not just be a dream anymore.
For now, though, he had to go manual - swing or drive. But swinging all the way to Jump City?
Yeah, hell no.
That's when he noticed it - a sleek black bike cruising casually down the opposite side of the street. Godsent! The rider was taking their sweet time, treating the thing like it was a newborn kitten on wheels.
Jake squinted. It was a thing of beauty. Sleek. Responsive. Wasted on someone going that slow.
He timed it.
Just a few blocks...
And then-
He dropped down.
One web shot - clean and fast. The rider was yanked off the seat mid-cruise and left dangling from a lamppost like a confused ornament. Jake didn't even look back.
He wasn't here to make friends.
Swinging down, he landed smoothly onto the bike, catching the handlebars with ease. He half-expected it to be biometric-locked - this was the DC Universe, after all - but the moment he twisted the throttle and felt the engine purr under him?
No lock, just raw speed.
"Bless your unencrypted soul," he muttered, grinning under the mask as he tore down the street, veering hard into a sharp right.
Gotham to Jump City - one illegal joyride at a time.
He swerved through traffic, heading straight for Gotham Bridge, weaving between lanes like he'd lived on two wheels his whole life. Familiar territory made it easy - he was getting used to Gotham's layout.
But once he hit open road?
Yeah, then he'd need GPS.
Good thing he had a phone. Cracked to hell from all the wreckage, sure, but still technically functional - aside from the occasional signal drop and minor "exploded battery" smell.
He mapped the route, double-checked for traffic... and finally paused.
There it was. The one thing he hadn't actually considered when he stole the bike.
The distance.
And more importantly-
The time.
Gotham to Jump City: ~3,000 miles.
Estimated time at max speed (no stops, no traffic, no sleep, no cops, no demon patrols): 40 hours.
Jake stared at the screen, then looked up at the road stretching into the distance.
"...Yeah. This was a dumb idea."
But the engine purred, the city blurred behind him, and his gut told him Raven wasn't going to wait.
So he revved the throttle and leaned forward.
Let's ride.
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[Zombie Road, Wildwood – 13 Hours from Gotham]
One moment, everything was calm. Just another sunny afternoon in Wildwood.
Then the trees began to move.
Not with wind - there wasn't any. They twitched, buckled, like something under them was shifting.
The road groaned. A sharp crack split down the centerline, tearing asphalt open from forest edge to shopping center. Beneath it - firelight. A rift. Magma pulsing beneath spiderweb-thin fractures.
People froze. Phones came out. No one spoke.
Then came the hum.
Low. Mechanical. Too deep for speakers. It crawled under skin, burrowed behind teeth. No screams yet.
Then - flame.
A column erupted thirty feet high, blasting skyward in a pillar of molten light. The first shape clawed through - horned, massive, bone-plated. It hunched, sniffed, eyes glowing like forge coals.
Then another.
And another.
Gasps turned to shrieks. Phones dropped. Panic burst all at once.
People ran.
More demons crawled free. Wings, chains, molten claws. One dragged a spiked flail across the ground, carving a trail of sparks. Another screeched loud enough to shatter car windows.
From the tree line, shadows slithered forward - long, twitching things with inverted limbs, bone-thin and crawling like spiders across invisible walls.
A deer bolted across the road - one demon swiped without looking. It crumpled midair.
The rift widened.
Webbing - black and veined with red, spread across the ground like rot. Cracks split the pavement. Power lines snapped. Lights died.
Then - silence.
Before the rampage began.
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