CH 3: THE SECOND ENCOUNTER
The Control was fading, she could feel it. She had expected the pain, but she hadn't been expecting the exhilaration. It was as though she had lived her whole life behind a pane of cloudy glass, filtering the sights, the sounds, the smells, the tastes, the feel of the world. Emotions she had never felt were breaking free, sharper and more vivid than anything she had felt before. She stopped a second in a dark alley as another assault of pain ran through her body, leaving her breathless. The pain was worth this feeling of true freedom; No cages, no chains, no more tests. After another second of rest she began again down the dark lonely alley, she could sense him, he was here. She was afraid of him, she needed to leave. She had to get far away, when the effects of the Control faded completely he would find her easily; and she wasn't sure she could control herself. Her powers were being unleashed, and with them came the voices. They were giving her a headache that was far worse than the withdrawal pains.
But she had to ignore the pain, he was coming for her. This fear, this wasn't something she was used to. The closest emotion she had felt to fear before was anxiety. The fear was like a void, she had to ignore it. With a frustrated grunt she felt all the giddiness that came with her newfound freedom fade away as the sky above suddenly became cloudy and rain poured from the black clouds above. She tore off, running as though the hounds of hell were at her heels. Not knowing where she was headed, but knowing she was safer moving than standing still. But the pain kept her from running for long, she collapsed on the edge of a condemned zone, an area of buildings in ruin. With a sigh she pushed herself to her feet and crawled inside the closest building, she wouldn't be able to run anymore. The fear struck like a knife to the heart, the floor beneath her began to freeze; But then a new emotion arose as though in defiance: Courage. No more running, it was time to stand and fight! In a flash the ice turned to fire she quickly leapt away in shock, but the fire vanished as quick as it had come. A clash of thunder came from outside… She wasn't sure if the storm outside was her doing or just an annoying coincidence, but either way it was extremely irritating.
Let them come, when they did it would be time to see exactly how tough their little monster was.
Robin looked at his watch worriedly, time had run out; The Control would have faded by now. "This isn't good. Time's up and we haven't even found her yet!" he growled kicking a nearby can in frustration.
"Maybe we should check out that random storm cloud over there." Raven commented as though it were the most obvious place ever.
"Why would she be hiding where it's raining?" Beastboy demanded grumpily.
"She's probably the one causing the storm." Cyborg noted thoughtfully, "That Sullivan guy said they weren't quite sure what her power was after all."
"Good idea, let's go. I'll call Sullivan on the way." Robin exclaimed pulling out the walkie-talkie Sullivan had lent them.
"Do we have to? That guy's creepy!" Beastboy commented dryly.
"I don't like him." Raven agreed grimly.
"See, even Raven thinks he's creepy!" Beastboy cried dramatically.
"Are you forgetting how badly she beat us without her powers. We need his help whether we like it or not." Robin stated darkly before calling Sullivan. "Let's go! They are already on their way."
The Titans arrived at the condemned zone a minute later, to their surprise much of the buildings were already destroyed. "I thought demolition didn't start till next week." Cyborg commented look around at the destruction, only one building remained; though it looked ready to collapse. "You think that's where our girl went…." Cyborg began, before the building he was pointing at was struck by a huge bolt of lightning, the girl dived out through a wall before the building randomly exploded. She looked incredibly angry and seemed not to notice the titans.
"Oh come on! That was the last building, now I'm stuck in the rain…" as she said this the rain drops suddenly turned to gigantic hailstones. Her eyes seemed to glow red with fire, and her hands suddenly caught fire. "Oh god, stop, drop and roll!" she cried out dropping to the ground and rolling wildly, freezing everything she touched. Then she noticed the stunned Titans. With a growl much like that of a wild dog she leapt to her feet and glared at them with her golden eyes, that no longer looked human but were remarkably like that of a wolf. "What do you want?" she snarled, revealing teeth that more closely resembled fangs. The ground in front of Beastboy spontaneously exploded making him leap back and yelp.
"We're here to bring you to justice." Robin declared pulling out his staff, making her laugh evilly. The ground in front of Beastboy exploded again.
"Why me?!" He groaned in irritation. This seemed to frustrate the girl as well.
"I don't know!" she growled again catching fire, but this time instead of panicking she closed her eyes and breathed deeply and the fire went out.
"You're out of control, you're coming with us." Robin said grimly, the girl's eyes ripped open and she glared at him with intense hatred.
"I'm not going anywhere. But you are!" She growled before throwing a fireball at where he had been standing, he rolled out of the way only to have to dodge another fire ball. Beastboy turned into a tiger and charged at the girl, but stopped a few feet short of her. Where the girl had stood was now a gigantic black wolf growling a challenge. Beastboy turned into a Rhino, the wolf grew to the same size.
"Hey! That's not fair!" Beastboy moaned in annoyance. In response the wolf breathed fire at him, he quickly transformed into a rat and scurried out of the way.
"What are you, a wolf or a dragon?" Cyborg demanded seriously before shooting his cannon at the wolf's head. But the beast had melted down into the girl again who was glaring at something other than the titans. They turned to see Sullivan marching his troops into the ruined area, Sullivan bearing an evil grin.
"Good job keeping her here Titans, we'll take it from here." he said with a commanding air pulling out a mean looking rifle. The girl began to shake visibly, though whether it was from fear or rage was unclear. The storm grew worse and random objects began to wildly explode, the girls hands caught fire once more. Though as she began to stalk toward Sullivan the ground froze beneath her with every step.
"I thought you were superheroes, not mercenaries for hire." she hissed at the Titans. Before any of them could respond, she added. "Working with killers, so much for being the good guys. 'Warriors for justice' as many call you. If you want to fight with him, fine, you'll share the same fate."
"You seem to be forgetting who the killer here is, Anima. Or was it someone else who killed Rufus and Lucy in cold blood?" Sullivan replied darkly. Anima smiled evilly, shrugging.
"I don't deny that, but wasn't it you I learned from, master. You murder every day of your wretched life. You are the one who started this, you killed David… And you are going to have to pay for it." Anima growled boldly, the fire on her hands raging even fiercer. The Titan's turned to Sullivan, confused. While Sullivan just smirked evilly. "Your friends seemed shocked, why don't you show them what you really are? After all, these eyes come from you." she hissed pointing to her wolf-like eyes.
"Surrender now, before we have to use brute force." Sullivan growled, his eyes fading from gray to gold and his teeth growing into fangs and leveling his rifle at her chest. In response Anima threw a huge ball of fire at him, it seemed to bounce off an invisible wall. Though it blocked her from view for a brief moment, and she began to race off in the other direction, but the Titans barred her path. With a roar she transformed into the black wolf once more, slashing at the closest Titan, Robin, with razor sharp claws. He almost dodged but the claws grazed his legs.
"Robin!" Starfire screamed gliding to his side, Anima tried to bolt again but this time Beastboy, in the form of a T-rex, and Raven barred her path. The wolf was again replaced by the girl, her eyes mostly human. Though this was hardly an improvement, the air around her swirled like a flaming tornado with random molten rocks mixed in. She began to march forward determinedly, so focused on the Titans she seemed to have forgotten Sullivan who took the opportunity to shoot at her chest, though the swirling winds diverted the bullet and instead it struck her side. She let out a beast like roar and swirled around to face Sullivan, who had thrown aside his gun and was beginning to change; His men beginning to shiver and back up. They wanted to be as far away from their leader as possible.
"Holly Hell, the guy's a werewolf!" Beastboy shrieked, comical as he was still in T-rex form.
"You watch too many horror movies, he's just a shape shifter." Raven commented rolling her eyes as Sullivan finished transforming into a gray bi-ped wolf, somewhere around seven feet tall. Anima glared at him with intense hatred, but the swirling aura faded as she clutched her side. The titans were too far too see how bad the wound was, but from the way she shook it was obviously the bullet didn't just scrape her. Sullivan let out a delighted growl as her legs shook beneath her. But the look on the girls face made it clear she wasn't about to give up. The air seemed to suddenly get very hot and heavy and her eyes started to glow.
"Anima, surrender now! This is your last chance to make it out of here alive…" Sullivan roared, still in wolf-form. The titans took a step back. Not sure what the girl was doing, but sure that they didn't want to be close to her when she did it.
"Liar, even if I gave in now you would see me dead. So I might as well go out with a bit of a bang." Anima hissed darkly, the ground beneath her began to crack and split. Sullivan let out a growl and ducked down, the rest of his team turned and ran. The titans looked around in confusion, not a hundred percent sure what was going on. But a second later Raven instinctively protected them with an energy shield. Just in time to save them from the massive explosion that easily could have killed them. Though the force of the explosion managed to knock them all out.
