Multiverse: Deathstroke-Chapter 458: Mission Salvage

"Did something happen between you and him?" Raven, with a gossip-hungry look, leaned close to Donna's face, whispering in her ear.

"Don't talk nonsense. Nothing happened. I heard Olympus plans to have him marry the three big goddesses."

Donna helplessly tugged at Raven's little face. Raven, thanks to her habit of making faces, had cheeks that could stretch into all sorts of weird shapes.

"You non-sorcerers might not get it, but Earth's gods have had their mystical fire stolen by the Upside-Down Man. They might still be strong warriors, but they're not gods anymore."

Raven didn't mind Donna messing with her face, instead speaking in a mysterious tone.

But Donna's thoughts veered away from Raven's hints. She was still mulling over the current situation.

"So you're saying that even without Cheetah and the others using the Tears of Extinction, they could've taken down Poseidon?"

Raven puffed out her cheeks, pushing Donna's fingers off, her little mouth letting out a 'pfft' sound.

"Yeah, Poseidon's just a slightly tougher old man now. Even you could go god-slaying."

"Then didn't Circe notice?" Donna frowned, scanning the battlefield around them. It was time to move forward. "Because it seems like Lex Luthor doesn't know about this."

"First, magic world stuff gets handled by the magic world," Raven said, dropping her playful tone as Donna got serious. "Second, Circe's lived for millennia. She's fought Olympus solo for millennia! You think she'd spill her secrets to Luthor? I don't see it."

Cyborg had been listening nearby, leaning on her dual hammers for a break. She didn't like finishing off wounded enemies—it wasn't her style.

But she had no reason to stop Donna, so she just watched.

At this point, she chimed in: "Villains are like that—each with their own schemes. We think Luthor's built a legion, but they're probably all plotting separately, not united."

Raven grinned and nodded, linking 'unity' with 'villain alliance'—the funniest cold pun she'd heard.

Villains only band together for profit. Unity? That concept doesn't even exist in their heads.

Right now, Luthor wasn't just fighting the Justice League and the world—his own side was backstabbing each other too.

No, she got it wrong. For them, there's no 'own side.' Just themselves.

As a Titan and a good kid, Raven naturally kept the intel she'd pieced together to herself, locking it away with magic instead of telling Batman.

Like they say, magic world stuff stays in the magic world.

As Trigon's daughter, she knew more dark truths than everyone combined. If she spilled everything, Batman'd drop dead.

This morning, she'd seen Batman—scruffy, sitting alone in the monitor room, bolted into his armor, unable to move, looking haggard.

Aside from his eyes still holding that old calm, Batman wasn't doing great.

He was running on pure willpower. Since the Collective landed on Earth, he hadn't rested for a second, handling endless tasks.

So Rachel figured it was best not to burden him with magic world stuff. She'd tell Wonder Woman when she got back.

Things were fine as is. Rachel had long been fed up with the gods—now they could taste life as mortals.

"So... that rumor you mentioned? I heard it too." Rachel smirked, poking Donna's cheek. "Now Athena, Artemis, those gals—maybe they're not even a match for you."

"What?"

Donna grabbed Rachel's hand, pulling her along. They needed to reach the ship's front, the bridge, to find the enemy leader and more intel.

Raven rolled her eyes, half-annoyed, keeping watch while snarking at Donna:

"Keep pretending, huh? If you weren't smitten with that guy, why'd you suggest he take command? You know we're all allergic to that black-and-yellow warning color. I see Deathstroke and can't breathe. Starfire sees him and feels like she's been hit by a sniper. And Garth? He'd relive his days as a rat."

Old Deathstroke had indeed tormented the Teen Titans with all sorts of tricks. Even Rachel got nabbed once, locked in a big glass tank laced with Nth metal fibers, nearly drowned.

Not just them—even Cyborg, now in the Justice League, feared Deathstroke.

She'd heard during the Metal event, Cyborg had even confronted Batman over Deathstroke.

Fear of Deathstroke outweighed fear of the Bat. Even Cyborg dared raise his voice at Batman—and he's just a lone Cyborg.

"You're spouting nonsense again. Lay off the soap operas." Donna let go of Rachel, letting her walk on her own. "My sister seems to like him a lot. I don't."

"Oh, come on, admit it. For my bestie, I'd stomach Deathstroke leading us temporarily, so you two can be together forever. How's that?"

Raven fluttered her big eyes, staring curiously at Donna.

Donna shot her a look, tossing her hair. "We might as well disband."

With that, she quickened her pace down the corridor, like she was fleeing for her life.

Raven squinted at her back, then glanced at Cyborg, tilting her head. "Donna just won't admit it. I can feel it."

This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

Cyborg clearly didn't want to meddle too much in teammate drama. She had no beef with Deathstroke, and rationally, a tactical genius joining would be a huge plus.

"I think Deathstroke's fine. If he's even half as good as the intel says—not even that—he'd outshine our two boys by miles."

"Sigh, whatever. Let's focus on getting back safe first. Keep moving."

As they pressed on, no enemies appeared. The ship's signs pointed to it being no fancy flagship.

Leaky pipes lined the corridor ceiling, coral and mold grew in damp, dark corners, and the stench—like rotting fish—was awful.

Lighting was near nonexistent, the gear and setup looked ancient, and no more foes showed up.

Donna found the answer.

This was a supply ship. Passing a warehouse, they spotted thousands of tons of frozen alien fish—food for the alien fleet.

The aliens they'd fought earlier? Not even a combat reserve—just armed warehouse workers.

"Well, at least we've got something. We've got fish!" Raven quipped again.

Cyborg smashed an ice block with her hammer, pulled out a fish, and scanned it with her armor's tech.

It was just a fish—an alien one, sure, but harmless. Protein makeup safe for humans too.

Pure food, not some fish-shaped bomb.

"What do we do now?"

Cyborg turned to Donna, one hand on her hammer, the other holding the frozen fish, standing in the dim warehouse light, looking utterly lost.

Their team had clearly picked the wrong target. The biggest ship wasn't a flagship—it was a supply vessel.

They'd seized the aliens' fish stash, but this wasn't their only supply ship, and they didn't just eat fish.

They'd have other food. These fish were just a side dish for their massive fleet.

Now it was up to Donna to lead the team.

They had a window before aliens on other ships noticed them—time to either retreat or dig for intel.

Donna chose the bridge, hunting for info.

Best case, they'd find the enemy leader's location, the fleet's supply points, or—jackpot—their next move.

They'd come this far into enemy turf. They couldn't just haul back a few fish, right?

The ship's enemies seemed fully cleared. Time to hunt for intel.

The three girls agreed, heading to the bridge, skipping the random cabins to save time.

Behind them, Beast Boy finally got nabbed by Aquaman. Aquaman had used his water control, surrounding him from all sides.

Realizing the girls had moved on, leaving them behind, they dropped the antics and chased after, wading through corpse piles.

The ship looked like a sailboat outside, but the sails were just barrier generators, part of an Earth-encircling net with other ships.

On the bridge, Raven took out the last few enemies. The group started checking the ship's data storage.

An alien ship meant high tech—Cyborg's domain.

The others began searching enemy bodies for extra clues.

Of course, this wasn't a job for a sorceress. Grunt work like that fell to the warriors.

With all three girls staring at Aquaman and Garth with numb, blank looks, the boys wisely took over corpse-looting duty.

Raven's shadow magic was efficient—soul attacks left little external damage.

The fishmen died gruesomely—blood gushing from every orifice, faces frozen in terror, like they'd seen something horrifying before death, too scared to feel the pain.

But their clothes stayed intact, easy to search.

Nothing valuable—just small shells and aquatic plants. No clue why they'd pocket that stuff.

"Gum, maybe?"

Beast Boy tried a piece of seaweed. In beast form, his stomach could handle a lot.

He spat it out instantly. The taste was indescribable.

In bear form now, he hurled a huge puddle, earning even more disgusted looks from the girls.

Luckily, Cyborg found intel on the alien computer. She called over a resigned Donna and a near-exploding Raven to study it together.

The boys dodged another bullet—otherwise, Raven would've tentacle-tied them for sure.