Chapter 18

Red walls, boiling lakes of molten fire, the screams of tortured individuals in the distance. Harry did not have to look around for more than a few seconds to realize he had been sent to a very bad place. And Nora stood right beside him.

"You were seriously going to stab me?" Harry asked her.

"Really, that's what you're going to say?" Nora asked. "No, where are we Nora? Or, thank you for rescuing me from being reduced to ash, Nora? Or anything along that. You were the one who forced my hand!"

Harry had no more words for this. They were in a very bad place. And that was not counting what happened to Harry's team. Several of his girlfriends, his lovers, Harry had no idea how to reach them.

"First, you're welcome," Nora said. "And second, we're in the place where Trigon had been imprisoned. It was the only place I could logically send you….send us….because there's no way Trigon's going back here, after working so tirelessly to get out of here."

Listening for something, Harry noticed two rather large and rather ugly gargoyle looking guards moving past. The smell of brimstone and decay tickled Harry's senses. His skin tingled.

"It was the only thing I could think to do to save you," Nora said.

"The Team, what happened to them?" Harry asked.

Nora sighed. Oh, no thank you once again. Harry did not think of the bigger picture. His health was more important than the health of them overall.

"You can start over again."

Harry, fed up with this entire situation, grabbed Nora and slammed her against the wall with a primal force. The breath had been taken out of her body, and Nora realized she had no magical powers in this realm. But, Harry still had his super strength and could rip her in half. He would not rip her in half, would he?

Nora did come inches away from stabbing him. Would Nora actually drive the Kryptonite dagger into his heart?

"You answer my question, witch!" Harry hissed.

Nora felt goosebumps coming down her arm. This had been the angriest she ever saw him and most likely this had been the angriest he ever been. She took a deep relaxing breath.

"Relax, Hadrian, we're on the same team," Nora said. "It's just….you left them behind…..to start anew in a new life...what's to stop you…."

"As you said to me, don't speak of what you don't understand," Harry said.

"Hey, listen, we're survivors...we pick up the pieces after someone shatters it," Nora said.

"No, you curl into a ball and let a demon lord pull your strings, and don't care who you hurt."

Okay, that was harsh, but not entirely unwarranted. Thankfully, Harry let up on the grip, mostly because the echoes got darker. They affected Nora greatly, because she kept hearing people scream out in anguish.

"Trigon will destroy everyone who crosses him," Nora said. "He was going to murder you as a last parting shot to me because...well Trigon believes what he believes."

Nora's emotions almost caused all to be lost. She lost several people to her thanks to them. Her mother, her best friend, her father was in that final battle with the Justice League because he thought he was doing best for her. He was wrong, and it got him killed.

"My soul's here," Nora murmured. "Trigon followed through…."

"It's not entirely unsurprising you don't have a soul," Harry darkly said.

"You know, just because I lost my soul, doesn't mean I don't have a heart, and…."

Nora stopped before this argument could get any worse. Someone had been coming. Nora had no magic to defend them, neither did Harry, and Harry was running on reserves. Nora had no idea how long the stored solar energy would sustain his powers.

A cloaked figure appeared, and eyed Harry and Nora very carefully. She placed a hand out and motioned for them to follow.

"Okay, we're going to follow her, aren't we?" Nora asked.

Harry nodded. He was suspicious, but they did not have much choice. The guards were becoming more abundant and Harry figured now Trigon departed from the realm, they would be taking out a pound of flesh on someone and it would be Harry and Nora.

From behind a magical illusion, Mareena and Zatanna breathed heavily. The exertion strained them. The rest of the Team and the Titans, minus Harry and Raven, had disappeared. Rebecca paced back and forth like a caged animal, looking very anxious at the entire attack.

"We have to find her, wherever she is," Rebecca said.

"We will," Kory said gently. "We will."

"We can't hold this forever," Zatanna said.

"We don't have to hold this forever, just long enough," Mareena said. "It would be a lot easier if Harry's here but it looks like…."

"Maybe if we run back in time before this happens, we could have a do over?" Jesse asked Whitney.

"Oh, that's a bad idea, trust me," Whitney said.

Too many bad experiences with speedsters going back in time soured Whitney on even trying. Besides, they had enough demonic entities circling around, to add Time Wraiths to the nightmare. And the biggest, baddest demon of them all, Trigon, sat on what was once the Tower.

"Oh, how can someone be that terrible?" Dawn asked.

"Because, it was the way he was born," Holly curtly replied.

Miss Martian, in her trance, tried to lock onto any trace of Harry. Artemis and Donna leaned down next to her and Megan clasped their hands in support, breathing in a couple more times.

"He's out there, I can still feel him," Megan said. "But...there's a wall preventing me from completely reaching him."

"Call me crazy, but I think that he's...where Trigon was," Artemis said.

That did not fill Megan with visions of happiness and pleasure, oh no far from it. It filled her with some kind of mortal dread and she hoped Harry would find a way.

"He's got to find a way out," Kara said. "We...we can't….can you find a way to trace him?"

"If it were that easy," Mareena said. "We could send Trigon back there himself."

"Oh, trust me, it's not going to be easy to take down Trigon," Zatanna said. "But, we can't break through the barrier."

"Watchtower's not responding either," Helena said. "And I've made calls to Central City, Gotham, Star City...Metropolis...nothing….."

Helena tried to take control of the situation. A chilling feeling spread through the air. Something certain members of the Team did not feel since the night they had been trapped by Doctor Destiny. Only, this was not inside of a simulation, this was completely real.

"I'm an Amazon," Donna said. "We don't hide, we fight."

"Can we do this?" Artemis asked.

"We either stand proud or cower,' Anissa said. "I know what one I'm voting for."

The members of Team and the Titans murmured in agreement to Anissa's bold declaration. Thankfully enough time had been bought for some kind of strategy.

Nora and Harry followed the cloaked figure down the hallway. They made their way to a pathway, and Nora kneeled down on the ground, with a heavy breath.

"The path you seek is down that way," Nora said. "If there's anything left of her...she'll be there...although I doubt she'll be much help."

"What about you?" Harry asked.

"I'm heading...down a much more dangerous path," Nora said. "Story of my life really. But, it was set in stone before birth."

"There's no such thing as being set in stone," Harry said.

The woman in the cloak stepped back and they realized why. There had been a thundering, of about thirty demonic figures coming down from the depths beneath.

"Thirty against two," Nora murmured. "Those are bad odds."

"Yes, for them," Harry said. "Do you trust me?"

Nora paused and nodded. Harry clasped Nora's hand and jumped high into the air out of the grasp of the fireballs from the creatures. Harry swooped down and detached a rock which caused one of the creatures to fall down onto the ground.

The spear which had been in the creature's hand came up and Nora caught it. Nora came down, piercing through the heart of the demon and pierce it.

Harry swept down the tunnel, knocking them down with a large burst of super breath. He dodged the attacks and disarmed one of the demon's quite literally. Throwing the demon's detached arm to the ground, Harry proudly clasped the sword and chopped off the heads of the demons leading to them.

"You won't succeed!" the demon growled.

The ugliest, and the loudest demon rushed towards Harry until Nora swept in and drove the spear into his ankle. The demon grabbed Nora by the throat and hoisted her up off of the ground.

"You should….get her and find the way out!" Nora gasped.

Harry picked up a large axe and drove it into the back of the skull of the demon. Nora fell from her perch and landed in Harry's arms. She stared in his eyes, breathing happily.

"You never listen, do you?" Nora asked.

"No more than you."

Nora met Harry's eyes longingly for several seconds. She leaned in and kissed Harry on the lips, surprising both Harry and herself.

Harry pulled away, the imprint of Nora's moist lips left on his mouth.

"I know, now's not the time," Nora said.

A tingling feeling of magical energy erupted from her fingers. Okay, maybe now was the time. Because that kiss sparked Nora's magical abilities, which sent her off guard. Nora sent a blast of high intense magical energy, crushing the bones of the demons which fought her.

Harry smiled and supercharged the axe in his hand. He swung it and decapitated three of the demons in one go from a blade of razor sharp magical energy.

Trigon leaned back against the throne, smiling down at his subjects. The world's heroes, turned to stone. Those pathetic children who tried to fight him, perished in the interest. Nora Darhk and her foolish heart, banished. Oh, let her be reunited with her soul, they would be consumed by demons for all eternity.

An arrow hit the base of the throne and blew it up. It knocked Trigon back a little bit, only for a super fast blur to start punching at him. It was like flies hitting the broad side of a barn to Trigon. Trigon flicked the attacker away.

Kid Flash flew backwards and Wondergirl dove down, fighting side by side with Hawk. Both of the powerful warriors send Trigon back up, and then Supergirl hit Trigon in the chest with a full intensity blast from the Heat Vision. Starfire beamed him in the chest and Nightwing and Robin detonated grenades underneath Trigon's feet.

Thunder came down, with a boom which rattled all of San Francisco. With Zatanna and Mareena sealing Trigon into a magical bubble.

Trigon broke free from their attacks and sent the team flying backwards. He dodged the most powerful spells the magic users could muster up.

Arrows deflected off of his skin, until one finally impaled Trigon in the arm and caused him to stagger.

"Nth metal arrow," Red Arrow said. "Expensive as fuck to make, along with harder than hell to get right."

"And only enough to cause Trigon a minor annoyance," Kid Flash said.

"Playtime's over."

A beam of light shot out and knocked all of the young heroes onto the ground. They screamed out in utter agony, as Trigon milked in their misery.

They were fools to try and oppose him.

The last demon fell. Nora could have departed for the gate at any time, but she saw this one through. For better or for worse, she stood side by side with Harry, in the fight.

"You should go and get to Raven," Nora said. "The fight through this gates is my own."

"How do you plan to get out?" Harry asked.

"The same way I came into this world," Nora said. "Screaming and covered in blood."

Harry just had no idea what to make of what Nora was doing or what she hoped to accomplish. Nora was not planning on leaving, was she? For a brief second, Nora considered Harry and pulled back from him.

Harry watched Nora place her hands on the gate and being sucked into it.

The figure put a hand on Harry's shoulder and pointed Harry forward. Harry walked down past a corridor. In the corner, a terrified young girl with purple hair sat, hovered against the wall.

"Who are you?" Raven asked.

"A friend," Harry said. "Come on, I'm getting you out of here."

"No, you can't...it's...I deserve this," Raven said. "I know what happened! I couldn't stop him! Look at me...this is all that's left...the small part of innocence I once had, condemned to a life of damnation."

Harry placed a hand on Raven's shoulder and helped her to her feet. She walked with Harry putting the young Raven underneath his arm.

"The best thing to do if you think that you're to blame is to fix your mistakes," Harry said. "Bring me back, and together, we can stop Trigon."

"NO!" Raven fearfully yelled. "You can't….you will be ripped apart...and the world needs Superman."

So, she did realize who Harry was. Harry wrapped his arms around Raven and pulled her close to him.

"I know you're scared," Harry said. "But, Superman won't have a world to protect if Trigon takes completely over. There's still time, there's still hope, but only just."

Raven bit down on her lip and nodded. The two departed and stood outside the gate.

"I don't like this place," Raven said. "It's a bad place."

"Nothing will hurt you while I'm here," Harry said. "Not even Trigon."

"I wish...I could be as strong as you can," Raven said.

"You are strong, Rachel, you just need to find your own strength," Harry said.

And speaking of strength, Nora was not coming out of the gateway. Harry could not wait around forever, but he was not leaving anyone behind. Raven clasped his hand tightly when the two stood.

"I saw the look in Nora's eyes, the darkness, the fear," Raven said. "She's….she won't survive that place. She's lost forever."

Harry put his hand on the gateway, bad idea as his hand started to turn black. The minute it retracted, Harry returned it back to normal.

'Fucking hell, Nora, where is he keeping your soul?'

"You need to leave."

The cloaked figure spoke for the first time. Female, with a soft, almost uncertain voice when she did it.

"And tell Claire...tell her that none of this is her fault."

Okay, now Harry was confused. Regardless, he steered Raven out, holding her close.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes."

Raven closed her eyes. Courage, strength, all gotten by the faith Harry had into her. She summoned all the strength possible to open the way out of Trigon's own personal hell.

Harry cast one last mournful look towards the gateway, before they exited the realm.

Trigon stood atop of the various heroines who dared defy him.

"This game is tiring," Trigon said. "This time there is no mistake. I will watch you die with my very eyes."

Trigon summoned a burst of power. The extremely powerful demon erupted with waves of energy of power and the heroines tried to summon up the resolve to break free from their chains.

A very powerful golden dome erupted and knocked Trigon's own attack black to him. Shattering the throne he sat on frim the impact he came back from.

Up in the sky, Harry dropped down in front of Trigon.

"Hadrian Kent," Trigon said. "Or would you prefer, Superman? It matters little in the end, because you will break before me."

Harry's eyes glowed when approaching Trigon. The wreckage of the former Teen Titans base, turned into Trigon throne, littered the ground around them.

"Let's finish what we started earlier," Harry said.

"Yes, let's," Trigon said.

Trigon and Superman hit each other with all they had, a concussive force of energy erupting through the area. Someone would have to give, sooner rather than later.