Making his way into another area below the underground caves, Ra’s proceeded to check up on Raven who laid motionless on a sacrificial alter. The alter was right at the middle of a pentagram which was drawn with blood they had extracted from her while she was sedated, blood related to Trigon.

Already lit candles were placed at specific points on the pentagram, completing the magic circle. Ra’s walked around the consecrated grounds, supervising how far they had gotten with the preparations.

“Good morning, father.” Talia greeted, from beside him.

“How are the preparations going?” He asked his daughter, Talia.

“Smoothly, all going according to plan.” She replied.

“As expected, make sure everything is in order by tonight.” He ordered.

“How about our intruder?” She inquired from her father, trying to conceal her curiosity.

“I admit his mental will far exceeded my expectations, at first he was unaffected but with time he eventually succumbed and is being held captive in the deep layers of the dungeons.” As Ra’s spoke with Talia, she observed Ra’s ceremonial coffins were rolled in.

“What are those doing here? You don’t need them for the ritual, do you?” Talia asked, wondering if the Head of the Demon wished to transfer his soul into the body of an actual demon child.

“Of course not.” Ra’s answered as he slowly walked around both coffins, inspecting the sacrificial blade as Talia followed by his side.

“I finally got my hands on an exceptional vessel, although he was quite elusive.”

“He?” Talia inquired, hoping at the back of her mind that Ra’s wasn’t about to do what she was thinking. “You mean Tom?” She demystified.

“That’s right. Tonight I will transmigrate my soul into his body so I gain full possession of his powers and vessel.” Ra’s made a sudden stop as he turned to her.

“By possessing both his unknown powers and that of Trigon’s, I will be reborn with so much power that I could finally shape the world as it should be.” He said with an barely noticeable hint of excitement in his voice.

“You don’t seem pleased with the idea.” Ra’s pointed out, taking note of the unreadable expression she had on.

“It’s a great plan, I was just taken by surprise that’s all.” Talia replied. “So that kid matches your definition of a perfect specimen for a vessel?” She asked. Although she was not sure of what made Tom so special but she finally realized why Ra’s wanted Tom to join the League when he first heard of a kid who effortlessly slaughtered a number of his assassins.

“You don’t have to worry about anything, daughter. You and Damian would join me at my side as we create a new and peaceful world, we would put an end to humanity’s evil which has deeply poisoned the earth.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Father, I look forward to the day you birth this dream into reality. It would be an honor wielding my blade in support of your vision .” Talia declared unto him as she was starting to have second thoughts about helping Tom stop her father.

Her earlier objective was to stop her father from dabbling with some kind of ancient magic which had no guarantee of subjugating Trigon, a demon who is known to be the personification of chaos and destruction.

As Ra’s left to go prep up for the ritual, Talia was perplexed coming up with the right way to tell Tom that she betrayed him, but also try convincing him that she wasn’t his enemy.

A wave of relief swept past her as she remembered Tom was in a dungeon cell and was soon to be injected with another dose of what he was previously given.

She let out a deep breath of relief as there was no better timing for Tom to be held captive in a dungeon. The ritual was to take place at the rise of the full moon that night and Tom was to be pumped full of another shot of his high.

…

The one mistake they made when capturing him was leaving his wrist watch on. After waking up to the dimly lit cell about half an hour ago, Tom woke up with the worlds biggest hang over, reminiscing on the nostalgic feeling of being ran over by a truck.

“It’s finally morning.” He muttered, reaching for the side of his head as he awoke to a banging headache.

“Damn, that’s one hell of an hangover.” It immediately came to his notice that his wrist watch was left on him and the thought of using it to laser through the locks of his cell was quite tempting.

As Tom surveyed the surroundings, he ran a quick assessment of his situation when it came to his notice that he could almost feel the vibrations of elementary particles on the ground he had his hands on.

Shutting his eyes, he tried bypassing the banging headache and ringing in his ears as he focused on reconnecting and strengthening his mental amplitude to wielding his powers.

About thirty minutes later, he was able to sort out a bit of his messy head and get a weak grip on his powers. “It’s about damn time.” He said with a smirk as he got an hang on his powers and levitated a few inches off the ground but fell back down as his powers flickered.

“I might only be at twenty percent and that should be enough, only downside would be I can barely focus on one thing at a time.” He mumbled.

He could have probably started up his search for Raven that minute but instead he stayed behind to gather his strength, laid back as he tried adapting to the hangover from the vertigo when he heard the sound of people approaching.

The gate at the entrance to the dungeon was swung open as two assassins cautiously approached his cell.

“His acting a little differently from earlier, I think the drug is out of system. We have to warn the others.” One informed the other who immediately jolted back out the entrance he just came through.

*Haha Haha*

“Haha, very funny.” He sarcastically remarked upon hearing the laugh of mockery from the other.

“He’s still knocked out on his ass, “You could some see for yourself.” He called the other, barely able to contain his laughter.

“There’s no need to approach him like he’s some wild animal. He should still be under the influence, after all the type of vertigo he was exposed to was so concentrated that it would kill a normal individual. “ One whispered to the other, playfully slapping his head as he was almost scared to death by the thought of Tom having regained himself.

They quickly hushed themselves as they cautiously draw on to the bars of his cell. “Hey, where did he go?” One asked the other with a frightened voice as they noticed Tom was no longer laying there as he was doing about a second ago.

“Gentlemen.” They froze right that instant as the voice addressed them from behind. “Welcome to my dungeon, it’s the best low budget getaway you could get around these parts, except with terrible customer service, you guys really suck at that.” He added as they simultaneously raised their hands in surrender.

“Get in the cell.” Tom instructed, following behind them as they complied and went into the cell.

Without saying another word, Tom ripped off one of the metal bars, easily bending it to seal the cage. Since the locks had already been broken by him about half an hour before they came for him.

As he made his way to the surface, he came up to the night time, with a full moon high up in the night sky. “Oh, shit.” He muttered as he realized his watch meant eleven PM and not eleven AM.

The ritual was bound to take place at twelve midnight when the moon is at its apex, that was why they came to grab him so both rituals could be done before twelve thirty.

Enraged by this realization, he knew he definitely had to hurry if he was going to stop Ra’s al Ghul from getting his hands on the power of Trigon and definitely off Raven.

“Face me Ra’s, or are you too busy hiding behind the skirt of your daughter!!” He yelled, amplifying his voice as it reverberated through the halls.

“His awake, he must have regained himself before the guards were able to inject him with another dose.” Talia said to her father who seemed like he was infuriated, but looked pleased by how reluctant Tom could be.

“Finally, it would have been quite a bore if that was all it took to keep him down.” Ra’s said with a smirk tugged to the side of his lips. “Place her on the alter, we shall begin the ritual before he makes it down here.” He instructed.