LOOTING DC #41. Raven
Jake tugged the Lasso of Truth, weighing his options.
Now wouldn't be the worst time to portal into the Web.
Quick exit. Clean getaway.
But with a devil circling and demanding his power? That move might be suicidal. Opening a gateway now would expose everything - his power hub, his soul-thread, maybe even the throne.
So for now?
Let it ride.
Besides-
How bad could fighting demons be?
He exhaled slowly, voice low, eyes hard.
"My power, huh?"
He stepped forward - loose stance, loaded presence.
"You act like you've already won."
Beat. Blink.
"Allow me to introduce myself."
Fire. Launch. Flip. Yank.
Jake tore through the air - collided with a demon mid-snarl.
Twist. Swing.
CRACK.
His heel slammed into the brute's skull, spine-twisting the fiend into a faceplant. Volcanic rock cratered beneath the weight. The body folded like it forgot how bones worked.
Jake landed crouched, clean.
Cinematic.
He almost quipped-
Then the voice answered.
"SEEMS LIKE MY HENCHMEN NEED A WORKOUT."
"YOU MIGHT MAKE DECENT TARGET PRACTICE."
There it was. The unspoken command.
Krrrr...
A chain dragged across molten stone, trailing a rising scythe. Fire licked metal. Joints cracked. Crawlers crept in from the dark, eyes glowing with promise.
And the first demon-
Was already getting back up.
Jake blinked.
"Okay."
Little much for one guy. But sure.
Then came the screech-
And every weapon dropped.
Blades slammed the earth. Debris erupted skyward like a volcanic bomb. If he'd been a second slower, he'd be red mist.
From a distance, it probably looked like giants swatting a gnat.
Jake reappeared on the crater's edge, arms folded.
"Meh."
He shrugged, dry and unimpressed.
"Your coordination's trash. Motivation? Worse. I'm guessing... low-tier demons."
Tap to the temple.
"Not that it makes you easier to kill. But we could be here all night."
"And I've got plans."
He vaulted forward, dodged a cleave midair, rebounded off a scorched post, then drove his heel into a crawler's skull. Crunch.
Something shadowed snagged his ankle. He snapped twin weblines and yanked, twisting through.
Weird. Shadows usually didn't stick. He filed it.
No holy water. No crucifix.
So how was he exorcising them?
No idea.
But hey - improvising was kind of his thing.
He fired a line - ripped the blade-arm off a charging demon. The limb kept swinging like it hadn't gotten the memo.
Jake ducked a screeching swing, kicked a horned one in the teeth, then slammed his palm into its skull.
"Rule of thumb," he muttered.
Didn't work.
"Right. Zombies. Not demons."
Time for the mid-fight briefing.
His webs?
Mostly useless.
When he tried to pin one, they powered through like tanks - or just respawned in a puff of brimstone from the infernal altar behind them.
Swing. Slash.
Chop a head? Grew back.
Twist. Kick.
Crush a ribcage? Didn't care.
They were built like they had regeneration subscriptions and hell's best pharma hookup.
But one thing stood out.
The further from the fire, the slower they healed.
Still, even a half-charged demon was a problem. He was burning stamina fast.
Only trick left?
The Lasso.
His one-way ticket out.
Maybe it was time to bail. Build a suit that could actually punch back against magic. Raven would have to-
Then he heard it.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"
He froze mid-pull.
A blast of black flame hit a charging demon, ripping through it. The thing screamed - then disintegrated into embers, shredded from the inside out.
The smoke parted.
And she emerged.
Dark cloak. Calm step. A presence like silence with intent.
Jake blinked. Exhaled slow.
Then grinned.
"You've got to be kidding me…"
🕸️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕸️
The battlefield seemed to shift when she arrived - like the air forgot how to breathe.
A ripple of silence followed her: black cloak, floating stillness, that dense, quiet aura that felt like a loaded spell waiting to fire.
But something about her was different.
That cloak…
"Duck," she said.
Jake obeyed - no hesitation. Instinct or something deeper.
A wave of shadow surged overhead, slicing clean through the demons creeping behind him. Not a sound. Just smoke and collapse.
BZZZT-
A blade split the air where his head had been. Jake rolled, let it carry him into a slide past her flank, then sprang into motion - straight for the demon that swung too slow.
"Azarath…" she began - then paused.
He moved recklessly, but there was form in it. Efficiency. He fought like someone who didn't plan to win - just refused to die.
But this wasn't a battle of grit. Not here. Not against him.
This was her father's realm. And only magic would end it.
Then she saw it - the golden glint at his hip.
Wrapped in reinforced webbing. Ancient. Radiant. Undeniable.
The Lasso of Truth.
How he had it didn't matter.
"Use the Lasso," she ordered, sharp and direct. "It works on them."
He heard her mid-air, mid-swing. Dropped the strike. Pivoted.
Right. He'd seen it as an exit.
Not a weapon.
He unraveled the Lasso, snapped it to his wrist, and cracked it forward like a whip.
Golden light arced. The line snared a charging demon by the throat - and pulled.
The demon didn't bleed.
It unraveled.
Fibers peeled apart. Shadows shredded. Its body dissolved into ash, caught in an invisible wind.
Jake landed light. Eyes wide.
"Well damn," he muttered. "That'll do."
He looked up at the remaining horde.
Sighed. "Only an entire army left."
A hand caught his shoulder.
He turned - Raven. Eyes forward. Standing behind him. Literally.
"What comes next is worse," she said. "Stay close. I'll protect you."
He blinked.
That word. Protect.
No one here had said that. Not once. Every encounter so far had started with a threat or a punch.
And here she was - cloaked in darkness, calm as death - choosing to stand beside him.
Voluntarily.
"Wow," he said, quieter than he meant. "That is… thanks?"
She blasted a demon. He caught one mid-charge and unraveled it.
"Thank me after I save you from my... from Trigon," she said, hesitant but still flat.
Jake froze mid-swing.
"…Trigon?" he asked. His pulse jumped.
He'd been too busy staying alive to ask why demons wanted his head. Figured it was just another cosmic bad day.
But Trigon?
That was a different weight class.
"Why?" he asked, tightening his grip on the Lasso.
"You tell me," Raven said. "I've been tracking you. Trying to find out."
He hesitated.
The vision. Her voice. The Web of Life.
It clicked.
"Oh," he muttered, vaporizing another demon. "Yeah. That might be it."
Raven paused mid-cast. "You remembered something?"
"Kind of." His voice was flatter now. "We should definitely shut that portal."
If Trigon got through-
If he reached the Web-
That wasn't just Jake's problem. It was everyone's.
He sliced through two more, then dropped beside her.
"Got a plan for that?" he asked.
Raven gave him a dry look. "Portals like these are hard to close. Not unless you've got some special relic like the Demiurge. Or the Magdalene Grimoire?"
Jake blinked. "The what now?"
"Spellbook," she replied. "Tailored for Chaos magic. We'd also need Order magic. Which is… hard to come by these days."
Jake exhaled. "So we're screwed."
"Not if I teleport you out," she said calmly. "Protecting you is why I'm here."
Jake tightened the Lasso.
"Yeah… maybe don't do that yet," Jake said, sidestepping a lunging demon and flinging it back with a webline.
"Because I might have that special relic."
Raven blinked. "You what? You actually have the-"
Jake cut her off, parrying a claw swipe with the Lasso.
"No. None of whatever magic-sounding thing you said."
He flicked the golden cord forward, wrapping it around another demon's throat. It disintegrated in a clean spiral of smoke and ash.
"I've got this," he said simply.
Raven's eyes narrowed, tracking the shimmer.
"Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth," she said. Not a question. Recognition edged her tone. "How did you get it?"
Jake ducked a flying blade, somersaulted, landed beside her. "Long story. Not important."
He checked the Lasso's glow - still strong. Still surging. Still charged 9/10. Could it...
Another demon screeched and charged. Raven blasted it apart mid-sentence.
Then - flatly, calmly, amid chaos - she asked, "Are you a good person… or a bad one?"
Jake paused - briefly. Just long enough to be honest.
"Does it matter?" he said, yanking the Lasso and vaporizing another fiend.
"No," Raven answered, without missing a beat. "But I'd still like to know what I'm getting myself into."
Demons circled. Shadows stirred. Another wave forming.
Jake exhaled.
"I am what I need to be," he said. "Whenever. Wherever."
He glanced her way, voice low behind the mask - dry, tired, and darkly amused.
"Call me the Spider."
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