Raven meets the Avengers

Chapter 9

Damian

Raven lost our little game. I look up at the spinny staircase that has the walls filled with endless books, where Raven said Sloth lives.

"Sloth! Where are you?!" Raven yells.

"You know, it's very rude to intrude on someone's home unannounced, little sister," a male voice purrs from behind me. I turn around and there a man is. Extremely attractive, and laid out on the sofa with piles of books surrounding him. Not exactly what I had in mind when I pictured Sloth.

"Sloth, have you teamed up with Envy, Greed and Wrath?" Raven demands. He rolls his eyes.

"Of course not, little sister. Father was always yelling at me to get off my ass. Like, bitch, that's my whole thing. I hate Father," he says.

"So would you be willing to help us? To piss Father off and keep him from bugging you?" Raven asks.

"Why? You can't hold him forever. I'd just be delaying the inevitable," he says, flipping the page.

"He won't escape. Not if we beat Wrath," Raven tells him.

"And how do you expect to? You're in constant pain and your powers are being slowly drained by keeping him locked up. Darling, you're dying," Sloth says. My blood goes cold.

"What?" I ask.

"Not now, Damian," Raven hisses, then turns to her brother.

"If I die, he's still stuck there. He still doesn't come back to yell at you. Besides, it's not like they can kill you," Raven says.

"True. But they can kill you, Pride. Since you renounced your sin, you aren't immortal. You were the strongest of us, Pride. From the moment you were born. Why did everything have to change? Why did you have to change?" Sloth asks her softly.

"You know why, Sloth. I don't want to be a sin. And certainly not immortal." I don't know how to feel about that. My grandfather had spent his whole life trying to be immortal. Raven had that, but gave it up. Like it was nothing.

"Just because you represent a sin doesn't mean you are the sin, little sister," Sloth murmurs.

"You really can't be talking," Raven says, eyeing him. He rolls his eyes.

"Fine. I'll help, but only if you visit me once a decade," he tells her. Raven rolls her eyes.

"Deal. Now get off your ass and come help."

"You sound like Father."

"With him yelling in my ear all the time, I think you should get a little bit of his attitude, don't you?" she teases. He rolls his eyes. I'm starting to think it's a family trait.