"What the fuck..."
As Li Jie spouted nonsense, everyone outside the dream watched the images on the golden cocoon rapidly shift from Azarath being slaughtered by Trigon to the stairs of the Eastern District Precinct's new building. Raven was racing downstairs with something in her hand, her expression a mixture of terror and a faint hint of satisfaction at a successful prank. Li Jie chased after her, carrying that familiar brass-buckled belt.
Inside the dream, Batman and Zatanna instinctively stepped back, clearing the path for the pair chasing each other so they wouldn't interfere.
"Uh... uh..."
Zatanna stood there for quite a while before finding the words to ask, "Bruce, does this mean..."
"It means that, in Raven's mind..."
Batman also hesitated before answering, "The Sheriff is already more terrifying than Trigon."
He straightened up, pressing his back against the wall as he watched their figures run back up from below, shouting.
"That's impossible! He's just a cop..." Zatanna said in horror. "How could he have more power than Trigon?"
"He doesn't actually have more power," Batman replied expressionlessly. "In reality, Trigon hasn't truly broken through to Earth yet, but the Sheriff's belt may have already landed on Raven's backside."
"But..." he said thoughtfully, "this level of stimulation isn't enough to wake her from the dream. She needs something stronger..."
"Stronger?"
Outside the dream, Li Jie thought for a moment, cleared his throat, and shouted, "Run, Raven, run! Harleen's coming to squish your cheeks!"
Crack!
Several fine cracks instantly appeared in the golden cocoon's hard shell, spreading like a spiderweb and continuing to widen. The entire shell creaked and cracked under the strain, and the precinct stairs and pursuing figures in Raven's dream shook violently, like a TV signal with a loose connection.
"Almost there."
Batman grabbed the stair railing