Present Day
It was a quiet, cool night in Bellain City. Central Park was empty, save for two teenagers sitting on a grassy slope, silhouetted by the dim light of a nearby streetlamp. The girl spoke as a cold breeze blew a strand of her long, blonde hair out of her face.
"I can't believe that neither of us has been to Bellain before. It's so beautiful."
Her companion, a dark-haired boy with a slight British accent, replied. "Yeah, a sorry pair of travelers we are."
They laughed lightly and then fell into a comfortable silence. Terra enjoyed Erik's company. Even their more awkward silences were better than being alone.
After Terra had left Jump City, she had traveled from place to place. Much like she had done before she met the Titans. This time, however, was different. This time, she wasn't running, driven out because of her mistakes. She lingered, staying in one place for sometimes more than a week at a time. That was how she had met Erik, though she had first known him by his hero name, Pulse. He had the ability to manipulate energy, sending waves of blue at his opponent. He could erect shields of it as well, much like Raven could. They had met just a few days ago, but had quickly become friends.
The silence stretched on, each absorbed in his or her own thoughts. Terra cringed inwardly as the throbbing pain of another headache hit her like a brick wall. In the months since she had been freed from her stone prison, she had begun having headaches with increasing frequency and intensity. Recently, her powers had been acting up as well, surging and causing her to lose control. Terra wouldn't admit it, but she was scared. She didn't know what was going on and Erik was no help, even with his minor healing powers. He must have been thinking along the same lines because he looked at her then, his expression grim when he registered the pained look on her face.
"Your head again?"
She nodded in response, wincing at the pain that even that small movement caused.
"You know," he began hesitantly, "If you just told my more about your past, I might be able to help you figure out what's causing this." His voice was full of worry, but also curiosity.
Terra didn't respond. Erik didn't know anything about her past and she preferred to keep it that way. This is supposed to be a clean slate for me.
Suddenly, there was a loud explosion and the two jumped to their feet, Erik, slipping his mask over his eyes as he did so.
"I think it came from over there!" Terra exclaimed, gesturing in the direction of the new Wayne Industries building nearby. Pulse and Terra sprinted across the street, headaches forgotten.
O-O-O
People streamed out of the huge building, coughing on smoke that didn't appear to be accompanied by a fire. Out of the corner of her eye, Terra saw a dark figure retreat into an alley. She nudged Pulse with her elbow and they quickly gave chase. Their quarry was dressed in all black, with no visible distinguishing features. Terra noted that he had something clenched in one of his hands.
The thief ran tirelessly, but the same couldn't be said about Pulse and Terra, for they soon began to tire. Pulse fired spheres of blue energy, but all that did was exhaust him further, as the thief dodged each one with amazing agility. They chased him through a maze of alleys and backstreets until he emerged onto a crowded roadway. A motorcycle with a masked driver sped by and he leapt onto it. Terra quickly broke off a chunk of the sidewalks, apologizing to the few pedestrians standing close to it, as she and Pulse climbed up onto it and flew after the two crooks. The motorcycle weaved through the congested streets at a breakneck pace until it veered out of town and onto the highway. Without the rest of the city traffic, it was easier for Terra to spot their quarry and follow from the air. Even so, they began to fall behind again. All of a sudden, Terra stopped, nearly launching Pulse off the front of the concrete slab.
"What's wrong? Why did we stop?" He sounded worried and a little annoyed.
Terra remained silent, her gaze fixated on the horizon.
"Now we'll never know where they are going," Pulse said as he watched the motorcycle's tail lights disappear with the rest of the traffic leaving Bellain.
"Jump City," replied Terra with an air of certainty. Sure enough, the twinkling lights of Jump City and Titans' Tower were visible in the distance.
"Well, shouldn't we follow them?"
"Not now," she said, turning the block of cement around and flying back the way they came. "We don't even know what they took." I've purposely avoided going back there, too much history... Terra thought as she felt her stomach churn nervously. Her head had begun pounding again as well and she wanted to get safely back to the ground as soon as possible.
