"All men hate the wretched; how then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things! Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, they creature, to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us."
-Mary Shelley, Frankenstein


SUNLIGHT, BRIGHT AND WARM AND BLINDING it glistened with near tear-inducing trauma to green eyes. The bright Tuesday had not started off as warm as it was now. Superboy had not returned for three days since Kaldur and her dinner, and the nights were colder then she had ever remembered and more terrible then she had wished them too be. The dreams of the girls had come more and more often now. Sometimes yelling. Sometimes standing there and looking at them with defiant eyes, scornful and life threatening. Longer, and waking from these dreams were becoming harder and harder to do without someone there.

This bright Tuesday was almost as if other forces were conspiring against her current mood. The weather was slowly improving, or so Ted had watched on the morning weather channel as Superboy made a small batch of French toast. The bench still felt cold, and Ted could not feel the warm breeze but instead only the near frozen gloom as the man she waited for sat down, on the other side of the bench.

A man with cold eyes, whose eyes would almost never leave her while she sat at dinner with other members of the Enigma Project within the dinning hall of the Home Base. He looked almost strange without the lab coat, and he had cut his hair and a strange smell hung in the air from him. His cold eyes did not meet hers, but his lips were curled up in such a fashion that she did not try to stop the shiver that cascaded down her spine.

"My little daughter," he sighed, "You've grown. How much do you weigh now? Last I knew you were one-hundred-and-twenty-seven pounds. Hallo must be feeding you on a calorie based diet. Hasn't she?"

Ted did not answer him. Looking a head, a white letter gripped between her hands. She wondered if this 'meeting' was such a good idea. She had gotten the letter by a strange man in the fruit stand. He looked familiar, and he knew her name. She pictured him wearing a doctors lab coat and saw that it was one of the doctors she would have dinner with in the Home Base. He said "You know who this is from. Don't tell a soul now darling" and left the stand for the original owner to take over.

Ted didn't tell where she was going. Not Robin. Not Superboy. Not Kaldur. Not even the Justice League.

Why hadn't she told the Justice League that she was going to meet with a murderer, Ted wasn't so sure of now. It almost looked like a good plan, meet with her father and get some answers and turn himself over peacefully with the fear of Batman looming over her shoulder. It was almost euphoric feeling to leave the safety of the mountain and the safety of the JLA. Now that feeling is gone, and only left being its dead fleeting children of let-down and post-doom.

"My tiny little daughter," he sighed again, "I am very pleased that you're healthy. Has the Justice League been good to you?"

"…They've been good."

"For you? Or for them? I was told that they wouldn't allow you into a public school."

"You know, public school really isn't all that it's cracked up to be." He sighed, "With teachers out to get you and other students' hell bent on making your life miserable, and high school is just all of that even worse. I can't even imagine why you would want to attend such a dirty and filthy place. Don't you watch any TV?"

Ted did not answer, if she did, she would only be repeating something that he already knew. Stein was a man who would want to know everything about his subjects whether they are working for him or if he had made them. He was also a man who would never give a direct answer to a simple question in the belief that nothing was truly that simple. Ted had often tried to have even the smallest of conversation with her father. Every time, she spoke in such a strange and queer sentence structure that she didn't believe it was a language.

What was my mother like? She would ask him at dinner time when he was present. Hallo and the other doctors would be taking out notebooks but there was never a time when she thought this was strange. They had done that a lot and so it had become apart of what Ted had once thought was normal.

Which one? Stein would answer. Ted could not ask any more questions because she knew if she did, Ted would not get what would be considered an answer. Resulting in Ted putting more distance between herself and Stein, as much as it had pained her back then.

"Why did you want to meet with me father?" Though everything this man had put her through she still called him father. "Why now?"

"Well it's almost your birthday and I thought 'What the hell why not' and so here we are."

"…My birthday isn't for a few months father."

"Really? Well maybe I just wanted to be nice."

"I know you're not a nice man."

"Indeed I'm not." He chuckled, "But then again I did make you."

"Out of a series of murders."

"Technically, they weren't dead when they were…" Stein paused to find the correct term, "Disbanded and put back together. I didn't kill anyone."

Ted could recall a time when she fallowed Stein like a puppy would its owner. Watching him and wondering what he was doing. Being around him kept the nurses and their prodding instruments away from her person, if only for a moment. Stein had once been the light of Ted's little life. There was never a day where she didn't want to be with him, to learn and to show and hopefully impress how much she had learned from him. Stein always seemed to know what she was doing, at any time, and knew how much she knew. She could never get him impressed about much of anything she tried to do. She had once performed one-hundred push-ups in ten minutes, Mr. Manners was somewhat impressed but Stein always wore that grin, like he knew everything about anything you asked him about and he would always be that higher knowledge.

"But I didn't let anyone live. I couldn't allow it, if I did, the families of the girls would have banded courageously together for a single purpose, and do you know what they would have done to you?" Stein's dark hair was tied back, she noticed, before it would have reached his mid back, but now it graced his shoulders like strands of ink. Bleak and terrible, she touched it once, and Stein had allowed it. The strands falling through her fingers, black and terrible. Bleak and terrible. As to his question, whatever those parents would have done, it would be bleak and terrible.

"The souls of those subjects wouldn't rest until their bodies were complete."

She dreamed about them taking what was theirs. Taking everything back and left only a blood stain that was once Ted.

"Their mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters would have torn you apart."

"…I know."

"Now answer me this, would you let them? If you answer right I'll give you some answers about yourself."

Would you let them? Would you let them? Would you let them? Would you let them tear you asunder? In her dreams, she would see herself begging them to leave her alone and stop touching her and tearing her, but there was no sound coming from her throat. Maybe that was already taken, because it was never hers to begin with. Unlike Superboy, he had grown everything about him DNA was something that could be stolen, but compared to an arm or an entire skeletal system, a strand of hair would easily be thrown into the breeze. Superboy owned everything that was his. Ted didn't. Superboy was a clone, therefore needing another DNA strand to make the clone embryo (or so she read) therefore it wasn't the Superman's complete DNA.

Superboy had a father, Superman had a son.

Ted had a monster, monster created monster.

"…I would let them."

"…Care to explain?"

"I'm not a person. I'm multiple, I'm Us. Those girls didn't have to die, and I would like to know that if I ever do die, those parts would be returned to their owners. These eyes are not mine." She looked at the palms of her hands, "These hands are not mine." Then her fingers racked through her hair, "Not even this hair is mine. One day, I'm going to give what once was theirs back to them."

Stein threw his head back and gave a hearty laughter, one that Ted didn't find amusing or flattering. "Oh how poetic!" He starts clapping his hands, "Bravo-bravo! Bravo! Oh my stupid little girl," he used 'stupid' as an endearment, not insult, "My stupid little Ted. You really think they would care if you wanted to give your body for them? Oh no, they would not hear your words or your reason. They would throw you down and take-take-take until you was nothing but a memory."

She dreamed about them taking what was theirs. Taking everything back and left only a blood stain that was once Ted.

"I would let them."

She was startled with a bundle of CD cases and a rather thick book was dropped unceremoniously into her lap.

"You might think that I'm giving you a purpose Ted. That our little meeting today would tell you that I really did care about you and that I would turn myself over to the Justice League but life, as you don't know it, doesn't work like that." He was standing before her now, tall, dark, bleak and terrible. "There are always flies on the walls and people working in the background." He learned forward, that grin or sinister smile never left his face. "Sometimes, things appear that they have changed, but in reality they haven't. Teddy," he sighed, almost sounding disappointed, "What will you do now if I told you the truth?"

His shadow was everywhere. Terrible. Horrible.

"Do you really think that you're free from the Home Base?"


Green eyes stared bleakly ahead of her. Watching, dimly aware of people passing and going, staying and leaving. Her father had left hours ago, and she still remained as if she were waiting for his return. Do you really think you're free from the Home Base? Again and again and again, Stein was an echo within the walls of her mind. Voice had not returned, she had stayed silent as if she had finally died, Ted would often kid herself into thinking she would be taking a nap at the most inopportune times. Do you really think you're free from the Home Base?

You lived with Dr. Hallo... Kaldur once asked her, and in her stupidity, she hadn't thought twice about it. She's never taken you to museums or aquariums?

Ted took a quick inhale, a shaky breath and it should have calmed her. The weight in her hands was like grim reminder of her deed, one that she should have informed the League about, or at least Robin. She had remained on the bench, and now the blinding light was slowing drifting into the soft glow of dusk. A horrible action, Ted decided, one that cannot be over looked or hidden away. The Batman was the Greatest Detective of all time, as Ted learned from articles and news reports that Hallo would leave on (Hallo left the TV on that day, how could Ted not see it) and Ted knew that there wasn't any way that Batman could not overlook her absence from the Sanctuary.

She was scared to return, fearful of the repercussions of her actions and didn't want to think about what he would do to punish her. Ted remembered when she had walked out of the house to buy a book without tell Hallo where she was going. She had been gone from the house for more than an hour as she stopped by the café to purchase a hot, foamy drink Hallo was fond of. Hallo had been waiting on the porch with a stern look that could have rivaled Mr. Manners when she had performed a less-than satisfactory workout. She had been confined to her room for two days without TV, and her books.

What would the Batman do?

What would the Superman do?

Do you really think you're free from the Home Base?

The sun had set, and the breeze was more chilling as darker clouds rolled in, but it wasn't as chilling as the images within Ted's mind. She was afraid. This could not be ignored or attempted to cover up, he would know she was lying at an instant and she had read that covering things up would make everything worse. Robert Stein, a man who she called her father, had never really punished her. Never used much measure of discipline but taught everything she knew. For the first year of her life, Robert was everything she knew. She stayed with him and asked him questions that he rarely answered straight and she stayed with him through medical checkups and it was easy to speak to him rather then the faceless nurses. Do you really think you're free from the Home Base?

What will you do now if I told you the truth?

She was afraid; Ted was so scared that her stomach threatened to reveal her lunch and breathing became something of a chore. Breathe was shaky and cold, and her skin felt like pin-pricks. She shouldn't have come here, this was a terrible idea.

Do you really think you're free from the Home Base?

Do you really think you're free from the Home Base?

Do you really think you're free from the Home Base?

"… thank you."


ABSENSE OF A TEAM MATE had bothered Kaldur more so than he had thought. Ted had been missing since lunch, and upon further investigation he found that she was nowhere within the base, even Superboy didn't know where she was. Megan did a quick mental scan, and Ted had been far because she was outside of Megan's telepathic range. It had started to rain harshly outside, and weather reports stated there would be a severe thunderstorm warning in act until the next morning. High speed winds coupled with sea-side wave height had not given the comfort of mind that Ted was alright outside.

"You seriously mean she's out of the base?" Superboy seemed to have a hard time believing such a story because it was widely know that Ted didn't have a sense of direction. "She never goes anywhere alone."

"I know Superboy." Kaldur agreed, Ted was scared to go into places alone. "But I can't find her anywhere in the base. I thought you might know where she went. Why did she sneak off like that?"

The two males were side by side with each other, heading towards the back gate where it would lead into the thin spread of trees and woods and then into the city. "This isn't like her." Superboy said. "She must have had a reason."

Kaldur gave him a side glance, Ted had Superboy had a closer relationship that he often put into question. The two were like a pair, almost always together and sometimes they weren't talking. Simply enjoying the company of the other. As of now, Superboy was wearing his usual naked expressive look, wearing what was identified as worry and anger. Why hadn't Ted say something to Superboy? Why was Superboy upset?

"Can I ask you something Superboy?" When Kaldur received no audible answer, he decided to take the chance and continue, "…I have been wondering, is there something… between you and Ted?" What was it? Kaldur asked himself, what was it that made Superboy and Ted act like magnets towards the other? Honest to himself, it had been a question that had been bothering Kaldur. He couldn't see what it was, and as far as Kaldur knew, Superboy knew as much of Ted as Kaldur himself knew.

"Of course there is," Superboy stated, taking long strides towards the hall, "We're friends. Friends talk to each other right?"

Kaldur nodded, unsure of how to continue; clearly Superboy was missing the over all question.

Kaldur turned to walk, briskly, into the main hall where the large monitor sat and the transport gate waited for the next arrival. The hall was empty, except for the drip-drip-drip of water that fell from the presumably missing Ted. Her heels clicked rather softly, almost soundless, against the hard floor. She was soaked, she wasn't shivering but her head was bent forward and she was clutching a plastic bag hard and close to herself as if someone was going to come out of the dark and take them from her. Her hair was wet and was tussled from the wind, almost looked black now, and she was paler than ever. She didn't formally acknowledge them as they entered but Kaldur found his throat choked by the look on her face.

Defeated.

Beaten.

Woe.

"Teddy!" Superboy gasped, he rushed up to her, she didn't do anything, didn't look up or respond. "Where have you been!" Ted did not respond. Superboy didn't look very worried now; instead he was allowing his frustration to peek its ugly head, "Where did you go? Why didn't you tell me where you were going? What if-"

Drip-drip-drip went the raindrops and the teardrops. "…Teddy?"

Superboy moved closer to the female of the three, she was now starting to shiver; Kaldur's gills had scented what he knew as fear and distress. Bitter, tasting like cold and dead algae from the depths of a contaminated sea. Distress was also cold, and it was the bitter sweetness of distress that always attracted the predators and hunters to the wounded and fallen. Ted was not injured, but Ted was injured. Not in pain but hurting. Bleeding and not bleeding. Superboy must have smelled the cold scent because he was suddenly taking in deeper breathes and Ted's knees were shivering violently.

Drip-drip-drip went the raindrops and the teardrops.

Kaldur watched helplessly, Superboy moved even closer to the shaking figure and bent slightly forward. Arms coiled with lean muscle with the strength to bend any metal on or off Earth were gentle when they scoped Ted off the ground slowly. She hung her head over Superboy's shoulder as the said male was holding her thighs close to his lower stomach. Ted did not let go of the plastic bags. She was still dripping with water, the dampness of the air mixed with the salt of the rain and the tears reminded Kaldur of the world outside, of the world that some were innocent of and should retain such innocence. Superboy gave the atlantian a look that said 'Do Not Fallow' and the image of the guard dog came back to Kaldur.

The clone began his walk to Ted's room, whispering things that he would only say to Ted in the only tone Ted had the honor of hearing. "Everything is going to be alright. Everything is alright now." His voice low and gentle, any anger he had felt was gone but the smell of defeat and distress perfumed the air with its horrible stench. "Everything is alright now."

Drip-drip-drip went the raindrops and the teardrops.

Kaldur was left alone in the main hall with the transporters. The one nearest him began to hum to life and the computer informed through its speakers; "Recognized. Robin." And walking through the light was the said hero; in his uniform rather then his street clothes. "Hey there," Robin greeted rather cheerily, sometimes Kaldur forgot that the human senses were not as sensitive as his own or Superboy's. "Batman wanted to make sure that the power generator was still running. This storm has half the city without power. Why is there water in here? Is there a leak?"

"No, we do not have a leak." Kaldur sighed; the depression in the air was starting to get to him. "We had a false alarm."

"False alarm?"

"Not that kind of false alarm."

"What happened?"

"…Ted went missing earlier and she had gotten caught in the rain."

Suddenly, the taste of the air went rancid.

"Recognized. Batman."

Kaldur could still hear the Drip-drip-drip of the raindrops and smell the salt of the teardrops in the distance.


SUPERBOY CARRIED THE SILENT AND WEEPING weight as one would carry a drenched kitten.

Gently and warmly. He couldn't tell if his words were offering any sort of comfort but she had stopped shivering. Ted had not spoken a word, she only clutched the plastic bag closer and closer and Superboy was sure her rubs must have been in pain under the pressure. He set her down gently on her feet, holding her shoulders for moment to be sure she wouldn't collapse and went to their shared bathroom for a towel. He immediately went for the largest and fluffiest, which was a pink towel, and came back quicker than he had left. He chose it wiser to keep his mouth shut as he gently wrapped the small woman in a cocoon and he didn't try to ask her to place the bag down. He rubbed her arms to work some warmth into her body, under his hands she felt cold as ice.

"…What were you doing out there Ted?"

She would often speak to him gently, and he was amazed and ashamed on how quickly he would fall to that gentle voice. He looked down at the tiny figure, she looked smaller when she was wet and her clothes stuck to her like a second skin. Ted did not lift her dark haired head and she didn't do much more then take a shaking breath. Superboy had seen her take her pill that morning, so whatever 'illness' she had was not currently the criminal that was causing Ted not to respond.

So he crouched down, enough to look at Ted's face and saw that she had stopped crying. Her lips were a light blue, but she was starting to shiver now and Superboy took this as a good thing. "Teddy?" He tried again, and once again he had failed. Ted was still not responding. Whatever turmoil she was going through right now was captivating her entirely. She did not respond to him, and not to Kaldur. He could feel the water through the towel and knew that she must have been out in the rain longer then what would be deemed healthy.

"I'll get you come dry clothes," he stated gently, "Can you take off those wet ones? No one here wants you to get sick."

Ted did not respond verbally, but her shaking hands placed the bag on the floor in a puddle of water that she made and without little to any hesitation she began to strip herself of the wet clothes. The cloth had to be peeled from her person, and Superboy turned away to fetch new clothes. He yanked out her 'Love' shirt, a new bra, panties, a black pair of skinny jeans and ankle socks. Superboy placed everything on the bed for Ted to redress herself. She kept her back to him, and he bent low to get her wet clothes out of the way and dropped the towel to get the water on the floor. He had seen the marks, he wasn't sure if they were scars or not but dare not ask, and its color was off by miles. Normally it was pink, meaning she had it for a long time, but now it was getting closer and closer to a dead pink and if he leaned closer, which he did, he could see that there was a ling of black dead center with her spinal cord. He had never seen this black line, and he could not investigate it further when Ted pulled her 'Love' shirt over her head.

Though Ted didn't have his sense of smell, it was the strange, almost tasteless smell of gravel and city smog that he knew of only one person to have. It wasn't Robin, Robin had a warmer smell, it was the same but warmer. This taste and smell was cold and harsh and often made Superboy give the owner of this smell his complete attention. She must have sent the shadow under the door. The Batman knocked on the door with four quick raps and the smell of dread and fear returned. Ted was shivering again, as she put her socks on, and Superboy knew that she wouldn't be brave enough to answer her bedroom door. Afraid and ashamed.

So Superboy did the one thing he knew how to do, stand up and stand tall. He had pictured the Superman would have done with anything he came across. He stood in front of the source of fear, and the fearing person. He used the command key to open the door and he could taste the panic behind him. In the hallway, the dark figure that was Batman stood taller than him, foreboding and gave no sense of hope that there was nothing wrong. It seemed that everything was wrong.

"…Ted…" his voice growled and there was the unsaid threat of harm if he was denied what he already knew. Now the air stank of fear and salt. The Batman smelled of anger and frustration, he looked stiff and lucid at the same time and Superboy knew that it must have been directed at Ted for she had done something she shouldn't have. Behind him, Superboy could hear that Ted was trying to keep from sobbing; she was putting her shoes on, another pair of heeled boots. Then there was a rustle of the plastic bag.

"You are coming with me."

It was all that Batman said and it was all that he needed to say. There wasn't a person alive, other than the Superman, which would deny the Batman of something he wanted done or have someone else do. His order was stronger than law and in a sense of word his orders was law. The tiny girl fallowed the dark figure as a dead person would fallow the reaper. Superboy fallowed them to the command room, and could only watch with helpless dread when Ted was wrapped away to another unknown location away from the safety and security offered in Mount Justice. Away from the safety and security that was him.

Away from Superboy.


CHILDREN WOULD CRY when their peers were angry and steaming and they knew that it was towards them. Ted was wrapped to a place that was unfamiliar and unknown and it was dark but brightly lit. There were no windows and there were no mirrors. She debated whether or not she should explain to Batman her sides of why she had met Robert Stein without the permission and without telling the League but all debates were crushed when she was forced to sit in a lonely chair in what seemed like a pit. There was only one single light on her, and then on the raised stands lined with chairs with their own individual lights. Ted was alone again. Batman had left, but only for a minute or so before he had returned.

He returned with members of the League, Superman and Batman in the center of the eight members. She didn't want to think about what he would do to punish her. Ted remembered when she had walked out of the house to buy a book without tell Hallo where she was going. She had been gone from the house for more than an hour as she stopped by the café to purchase a hot, foamy drink Hallo was fond of. Hallo had been waiting on the porch with a stern look that could have rivaled Mr. Manners when she had performed a less-than satisfactory workout. She had been confined to her room for two days without TV, and her books.

What would the Batman do?

What would the Superman do?

Do you really think you're free from the Home Base?

She tried in vain to find a kind face, but as it would seem everyone was angry with her actions. Hallo was not present, and Ted wondered if she was just too disgusted with her to even look at her. Hallo had been the one to free her, and it was Ted that went back to the man that had her locked away.

"Ted Hallo." Superman's voice was a booming force that vibrated through her chest and shook everything that made her, "Between the hours of one PM, and eight PM, you were announced to be outside of the base inside Mount Justice without any active members of Young Justice. Is this true?" His voice offered nothing similar to mercy. She didn't have a chance.

"…It's true."

It shouldn't have happened like this! Inside herself she could feel Voice screaming and screaming and it was getting harder to hear the questions from the council. Stupid and naive! "Whom did you go to meet?" You should have told them!

"I went to go meet with my father." Ted found something close to safety by starring ahead of herself at the symbol of the JLA. It did not scowl at her, nor did it scorn her or sneer. It ignored her, and it gave nothing and took nothing. Possibly the only neutral thing she could bare to look at. "I went to see Robert Stein."

"How did you get in contact of Robert Stein?"

"I was shopping, getting things for dinner when a vendor man gave me a letter and told me not to tell anyone anything. He said I knew who it was from and then he disappeared." Stupid child! "They letter told me of a meeting place and date and it was signed D.S."

"Why did you not inform the league of this meeting?"

"I-I thought that if… If I met with him. And got to talk to him, that maybe I could convince him to turn himself in."

Funny, Ted thought, when she had first met Robin, turn yourself in was one the first thing he had said to her. If one wanted forgiveness, they would confess to what they had done, and all would be alright. So she thought that if she convinced her father to do such, then maybe she would have her father back. That maybe she would have something close to a family. She would not lie and say it wasn't nice to see him, because it was nice to see her father once again. Knowing that he was alive and knowing that maybe one day they could talk to each other without the cryptic phrases and hidden knowledge.

She could feel that members thought she was stupid, Voice was calling her that now, Stupid child! Naïve child! Again and again in repetition. She could feel them looking at her with the same faces as doctors would back at the Home Base. With unguarded disappointment and unmasked frustration. All of it her fault, none of it was their fault.

"Regardless of your intentions you know that meeting and even being in contact of the fugitive Robert Stein is a violation of the contract both you and your guardian Doctor Hallo agreed to sign." Batman's voice seemed louder than that of Superman's. "You did not directly contact Robert Stein but the point is that you still met at the specified date and location without backup or defense."

"I must inform this council that Ted is a specialist in hand to hand combat. She is more than able to handle Stein in a one-on-one. I will also mention her striking knowledge of medical data that would also help her in combat with an enemy." This was possibly the first time Wonder Woman said something in her defense. Superman fallowed, "That maybe true but the point remains that Ted went to this meeting alone."

"The point of this meeting is addressing the fact that Ted was in contact with Stein. It doesn't matter if she went alone and should not be taken into consideration in the judgment of this case."

The rest of the council gave murmurs to each other, all of them keeping their voice low as such she wouldn't hear them. What were they talking about? No doubt her stupid mistake. There were harsh words between Wonder Woman, Batman and Superman and they called a quick ten minute recess. Ted was too remain where she was until further notice. She hoped they would not forget she was sitting there. Ted did not look away from the symbol before her. She had never known the league to be such a frightening thing. It was horrible and she had caused this torture to continue. They were angry that Ted had met with him, they were angry because she had left the mountain and left any sort of device behind to meet with him. Outside interference. Outside of their control.

Outside of the controlled environment.

Do you really think you're free from the Home Base?

She bent forward and rested her forehead on her knees and laced her fingers through her hair.

"… I thought I was…"


RECESS HAD ENDED VIOLENTLY and between the forces of the top three members of the League there were no chances of them settling down. That had been hours ago. Ted was escorted out of the meeting chamber and placed in a room with two chairs single chair and a single steel table that had a belt looping over the surface of it. She didn't want to know what it was there for. The room was white, white tile floor and smooth white walls and all at once Ted felt like she was inside the Home Base again. All she needed now was the white pajamas and she would be Home Based again. This was a terrible room.

She starred ahead at a single door. There was no handle on this door but she knew the outline and knew that it was an exit. She felt small, and at the same time too large for this room. The walls felt like they were breathing, closing in on her, and then expanding. Testing her and teasing her. This was indeed a terrible room and she wanted, needed, to get out.

Do you really think you're free from the Home Base?

… Is this is the Home Base?

Unbeknownst to the Design in the white room, Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman were standing before a set of monitors of different perspectives of the girl in the single white chair in the little white room. Wonder Woman had stated in the meeting in hushed tones that she has had enough of the attitude towards the small female. Lately, Batman and Superman have been rather distant towards her and it was starting to become a problem towards their judgment.

"We haven't been 'distant' as you claim," Superman tried, "And why are you putting this on us? We're here because she made contact with a murderer and mad scientist and didn't inform the League of her actions."

"I know what she did Clark, and honestly I'm not sure if we should fault her for that. I've spoken to doctor Hallo, Ted stills views Stein as her father. She still thinks that there is some good in him. Even discovering what he had done she still cares about him." The Amazonian was fuming at this point, putting her in League Court like this, as if she was the one who killed twelve people and sown them together. It was disgusting. "In Ted's mind, she's thinking of ways to prove herself that she can help others without bothering others. So with this state of mind she put herself in danger, which is apart of the Young Justice Contract she and Hallo signed, and met with Stein."

"I stand on my decision. She is to be taken out of Young Justice," Batman growled, "And placed in a psychiatric ward to determine if she is capable of being around others."

"See!" She barked, "This is what I'm talking about! You want to take her away and lock her up! No! Let me finish Clark!" Superman had opened his mouth to defend Batman, but enraging the woman before them wasn't wise. "Ted wanted to see her father! So she did! She's mentally a teenager and teenagers break rules! It's what they do! Regardless of Ted's origins and first impressions punishing her to that extent is inexcusable."

There was silence after the booming that was Wonder Woman. Batman stood firmer than Superman. It was clear that his choice of punishment wasn't going to budge but the shifting look on Superman said otherwise.

Inside the white room, Ted felt like she was slowly losing her mind. The walls were to bare, this wasn't home, but it could have been the Home Base. She was inside the Home Base again. Inside Home Base. Home Base. Home Base! "…need to get out…" she whispered to herself, her chest felt like it was on fire. Burning and freezing. "…have to get out…" A cold sweat, paranoia, Voice kept saying that this was called claustrophobia. Voice kept saying to stay calm. Stay calm and everything will be alright.

On the monitors, Ted was looking around the room and her mouth was moving calling out for someone. The speakers would pick up her voice; pathetically she called out 'I'm sorry! I thought I was doing something good! Please let me out! Let me out!' and she had even gotten up to explore the bare room. She was fingering the creases of the door. She wouldn't be able to open it, she didn't have the strength to overcome the air pressure that kept the door closed and forced it to open. "I agree that it was wrong for her to meet with Stein without the consent of the League, we all agree on that, but we still haven't heard the whole story."

She leaned forward, pressing a switch and the girl on the screen flinched when a crackle of a speaker turned to life. "Ted? Can you hear me?"

"I can hear you. Wonder Woman?"

"Yes. This is her speaking. I want you to tell me what happened when you met your father."

Ted was looked around, trying to find the speaker that was hidden away behind a false panel. "Will you let me out if I do?"

"I promise I will," she spoke gently, as if coaxing a frightened lamb closer to the butchers shop, "I want to know everything he said to you and what you said to him."

Ted was shivering, visible on the screen. She was still trying to claw her away out of the door. "He said a lot of things. He knows, he knows."

"What does he know?"

"He knows I couldn't get into a public school. He knows that you wouldn't allow it. He started asking me strange things. Would I let the families of my donors tear me apart?" The girl on the screen was starting to breath hard, scared, all three League members could see the signs of panic. "I told him yes. Then he said that the families wouldn't care, they would 'throw me down and take-take-take' and I thought about a dream I've been having and I see my donors doing that. 'Throw me down and take-take-take'."

As if it were some sort of comfort, she starting to hug herself and rub her arms to make some warmth. She started to walk around the table, looking down trying to calm herself down.

"Then he said he didn't care about me and that he wasn't giving me a purpose still. Then he said that there were people working in the background. He said things looked like they changed but they didn't."

Another step, another gasp.

"What will you do now if I told you the truth. He said."

Another step, another sob.

"Do you really think you're free from the Home Base? He said. And then he gave me that bag full of stuff and I swear I didn't look through them! Now please! Open the door! Its like the Home Base here! I don't wanna go back there! Don't send me back!"

Now the lamb was bleating pleas of release, begging and sobbing. Superman couldn't move, watching the horror unfold on the screen as Ted attacked the door in her panic.

Her fingers left trails of red.


FREE AT LAST FREE AT LAST THANK GOD ALMIGHTY FREE AT LAST, it was the first phrase that Voice said when Ted laid out in the grass outside of the Home Base. Now she was singing it joyfully when they were released from the white room and Wonder Woman was the first person they saw. The tall Amazonian led her away, leading the shaken child away from the source of fear and despair. She said Ted would be going back to Young Justice. She had also wrapped Ted's fingers with white bandages after she had skinned them trying to escape the room that looked like the Home Base. Ted couldn't look at her, feeling the shame of having another panic attack after so long. Hallo had been doing exercises with her, if Ted ever felt her heart rate increase it was getting harder to breath, she was supposed to close her eyes and count. Just keep counting. And Ted felt the shame of not remembering the lesson. Now the green eyed girl had been fitted with a strange device around her ankle, only an inch thick and it clamped around her ankle with a strange red light.

"It's a tracking device," Wonder Woman explained to her inquiries about the thing she was forced to wear, "For the next two weeks, you won't be allowed to leave Sanctuary. This will tell us if you leave the premises. You're free to walk around inside the base, but nowhere else."

"But what if there's a mission? Would I be allowed?"

"No honey," Wonder Woman sighed, "Not until your two weeks are done."

Ted sighed, this was much better then what she had been expecting, she had feared the worst and the worst had not come. Her hands felt like they were burning, and the pain felt well. Every time she twitched her fingers, the burning would return with a biting force and Ted was reminded that she wasn't in a 'disbanded' state.

One day, she would be 'disbanded', and until that day came everything that made TED Ted, would belong too Ted. Until that day.

"...Ted?" Wonder Woman asked for her attention and was granted, "You left that place, the Home Base. You know that right?"

Ted took a moment to study Wonder Woman. Hair as black as night, lovely blue eyes and full red lips. Girls on the television looked up too Wonder Woman as a role model for all women. Little girls would say to the camera that they loved Wonder Woman because she showed all other girls that they didn't have too be 'house wives' and had the power to defend their selves and others if need be. Ted had never understood this, what was so different between a man and a woman? She was looking down at her, at Ted, with those blue eyes that reminded Ted of doctor Hallo. Ted looked away, forcing her to tear away from familiar eyes.

"...I haven't thought so lately..." Wonder Woman made a gesture, a simple incline of her head for Ted to continue. "When my father-I mean Stein, asked me if I really thought I left the Home Base. It got me thinking. The more I thought about it, the scarier everything got."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean... Hallo used to tell me not to leave the house because I wasn't ready to be on my own. Stein used to never let me out of his sights. He used to fallow me with a pen and a notepad and I didn't think it was weird. All the nurses did that. Stein knew everything I was doing. Hallo knew everything I did at her house too. Home Base was a controlled environment. I think Hallos' house was too."

Her head felt fuzzy, and the burning in her hands reminded her where she was and where she could have been. The taller lady with the long dark hair pulled her close, her hand rubbing gently to make heat and to calm still tense muscle. "Everything is going to be alright." She said down to Ted, but there was no feeling of comfort and there was something inside Ted that told her 'Nothing will be alright' and Ted could feel another shiver violently and Wonder Woman pulled her closer. "…I never left the Home Base…"

Ted started whispering to her the mantra over and over and Wonder Woman pulled her to her breast and rocked her gently. More sobs rocked the little body, and all Wonder Woman could do, as powerful as she was, could do nothing but offer "Everything is going to be alright." And when Superman quietly came into the space, was glared off and the look she sent him said clearly 'Get Away'. The man of steel left as quietly as he entered, and Ted sobbed until she was sure she wouldn't be able to cry for the rest of her life.

"…I never left the Home Base…"

Wonder Woman stayed by her side and acted as a Batman repellant. Outside of the Sanctuary, Wonder Woman gave her one last hug and told her she did in fact leave the Home Base because she was here. Ted didn't know what she meant but at the time everything didn't make sense. Her head felt like a cotton ball, and her eyes hurt from crying, but in some strange sense she felt better than before. Her hands burned, but it was a good burn.

Upon her return, Ted found that she had been away for nearly a whole day and the first person to greet her return was Kaldur. There had been inquiries about anklet but Ted informed the team leader that she had done something wrong (she couldn't tell the whole story without telling the whole story) and simply put it that it was League business and it would not affect the team performance but much of anything. It wasn't as if Ted fought in battle, she could fight, she knew how to defend herself (she had managed to drug and knock out Robin after all) but in a fight with a seasoned villain she didn't stand a chance. Superboy didn't say anything when she returned to their shared bedroom but made space for her to crawl in and he pulled her close.

The night with the League had been cold, but the feeling of ice from Superboy made Ted feel that nights alone in the Sanctuary were colder. Now the ice was melting and by midnight, Ted was gently disturbed by the strange purr that was Superboy. His hand was placed gently over her own; her fingers no longer burned but instead throbbed, caused by the weight over them. Ted wondered what the throbbing was, the pain in her fingers or was it Superboy's pulse?

Ted and Superboy slept until late into the next morning, neither were disturbed or sought out for and both were thankful for it. Superboy still hadn't asked anything when he passed her a pill from her bottle but leaned onto her shoulder as she swallowed the medication and water.

"…What happened?" Superboy finally asked, gently and almost softly but the natural deepness of his voice would never revoke that growl he had whenever he spoke. "Where did you go?"

"…I went and met with my father…" Ted would never lie to Superboy because she knew he could see through her, she told him softly that she had to strain her own ears just to hear herself. "I had gotten a letter from him, after two years. He wanted to speak with me, and so I went."

"Your 'father'?"

"…yea…"

Superboy knew for a fact that rarely, and rarely was an understatement, did Ted ever speak of the man she called her father. Megan would talk about her family and 12 sisters back on Mars and sometimes Bart would talk about his family and his uncle and his mentor. Between Ted and Robin, family was a seldom topic they would venture and as if they were scared of something, avoided the topic whenever they could. It was when he was arguing with Kaldur about a shirt, there was a hand sign on it and Kaldur was trying to explain that it was a 'gang sign' and acted it out before him when his hearing, enhanced by the genes of the Superman, caught the words "She was abused, her father wasn't a nice man." And with all the confusion Superboy exploded and somehow the store did too. Her father wasn't a nice man he had heard Robin say, Hallo had said that Ted had situations with heights that ironically grounded the fear of heights and lastly coupled with the scar along her spine cemented the fact that her father wasn't a nice man. Yet Ted still went to meet with him.

Superboy was not as insensitive as to ask about the abuse Ted had been victim too, he was not so cruel as to make her relive the pain too simply put his own pain at rest. Superboy would always wonder what Ted's life was like before living with Hallo but it was enough too know that she had been in pain, and now she was not. That was enough for him. If she wanted us to know, she would have told us Kaldur once said, and since Ted hadn't told them anything as of yet, there would be no pushing for her to open old wounds.

However there was the pain of not being told where she went and the feeling of mistrust was still present. If she wanted us to know, she would have told us. Would she tell him what was wrong with meeting her father (other than the obvious) that the League had to take steps and forbidding her from going outside? "What happened?" he asked her, finding the courage to do so, he was still leaning his forehead against the back of her neck, "When you met your father?"

"…" there was hesitation, and then Ted released a gentle sigh, "We talked a bit." She admitted, "Over at the park a few miles from here. By the pond, he said some things and I said some things. Then we went our separate ways."

"What did he say? You came back and it looked like you were in shock."

"He told me the truth Superboy."

For some reason, whether it was because of her throbbing fingers or because of the twist in her chest, she felt it would have been better knowing the truth than to live in the false light of ignorance. "And I said thank you."


FREE AT LAST FREE AT LAST but now freedom had become a prison. Ted was now eight days into being on house arrest and the team had left the night before on a recon mission. The red light of her anklet was a constant reminder that she could not put on her favorite boots and she also couldn't go outside to the book store after finishing all of her new books. She had given thought to re-reading her other books, but she had already memorized their contents and thus it would do nothing but bore her further. Ted was lying on the couch, flipping through channels she had never seen before but she couldn't find something that would entertain her. She had to put on a skirt today, and the last three days, because she owned no shorts and her jeans would not fit over the anklet.

The skirt was a red one; it would flutter and tickle her thighs when she walked but she had never worn it very often because she had always preferred wearing her jeans and boots. A black long sleeved shirt kept the cold of the room away. Since she could not leave the base, she was subjected to amounts of paper work she didn't know was possible to do in a single day.

Again and again, Batman would send test after test after test not to just to keep her occupied but also to further the punishment. Ted had begun to watch an educational video about the harm of street gangs and how to spot them when a com-link came through the main computer.

A message from Robin, they were coming back from their mission and should be arriving in the next hour or so.

He wanted the med-bay prepped and ready for use.

Bart gave a whine when she rubbed a muscle relaxant into his calf, Ted was stayed silent through most of it but it was always better this way. Megan had a few cuts but they were nothing serious. Superboy had no real injuries that needed her attention, and Kaldur only had some bruises that needed some gauze, but it was Robin she was worried about. She could hear him have some slight trouble with breathing and he was instructed to stay in the med bay for x-rays.

"All right Bart," she sighed, "You're done for now. I want you to do your regular stretches but afterwards to rub this," she handed him the tube of muscle relaxant, "into any and all sore areas. You should use it twice daily for the next five days, then that stop using it."

"Thanks doctor."

"You're welcome Bart."

Never before, had Ted wanted Bart to leave her presence then right now. Ted knew she should feel guilty, but for some reason she could seem to want to feel guilty. He left the room in a blur, and she could hear Robin shifting around in the back room. He was likely trying to escape the tests.

"Robin," she called, "Are you still having trouble breathing?"

Ted could feel the fabric of her skirt shift and tickle her thighs as she walked past the door and through the white curtains. Robin was sitting hunched over on one of the medical beds he was previously laying on, and it was clear he was in some pain. "…Robin." She sighed, almost disappointment was in her tone and she watched as Robin struggled to stand up.

"Stay there," she pushed him back gently, "I'll get some pain medication."

She turned her back on him, "… Why did you go see Doctor Stein?"

"I need you to take off your shirt. I need to see if you have any broken ribs."

"Answer me!"

Ted didn't want to face this, not now and never. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that Robin had not started in his shirt but instead was looking accusingly at her person. She had deserved it though, Ted reminded herself, and she did deserve it.

"…he wanted to talk to me…"

"Stein isn't your father!"

"And neither is Batman yours! But you still see him!"

Then there was silence. The room was warm but there was now a cold air breezing between them. Cold air was the only thing between them. Rarely would Robin speak to her, and even rarer so would he spend time with the team that did not include being a team. Why should she speak to someone who clearly didn't want to be her friend?

Robin was stern now, hard as stone and maybe harder than Superboy. Harder than Superman during the trial. Ted was alone again, and she could feel something in her stomach that wished to make appearance but she swallowed it back down. Her hands no longer burned, and she didn't need to wear bandages on them anymore but the cuts and scrapes were still on her skin, rough with skin and scabs.

"…I know it seems silly and maybe downright stupid to say this… but even though I know everything he's done, I still care. I still see him as my father…" The medication was dropped into Robins hand and they were chased down his throat by the water. Ted instructed once again for Robin to remove his shirt, and Ted removed the stethoscope around her neck. "He's killed people, and I don't doubt that he might be insane but he was the one person I knew that would help me while I was still in the Home Base. I didn't mind the strange questions and the weird requests because all I needed to know that I did something that made him proud of me."

"He kept you in a cage."

Robin's heart rate was normal, and feeling the skin revealed there were some fractures but there was nothing broken. A few torn muscles and dark bruises but nothing physically broken. "And he was the one who called the Justice League. Have you ever thought why it was Stein that willingly called the Justice League? The Home Base was underground; I wouldn't have been able to go anywhere because I didn't know what a staircase or an elevator was. I wouldn't have stepped in one had you not been there with me. Why would he call the Justice League if the cage with in another cage?"

"I know it was wrong," Ted continued, "But I thought it would give me the chance to see him, and maybe even give me some answers. I thought about talking him into turning himself in, but he always guessed at that. I'll admit, I think it's nice to know he hasn't been hurt. I'm sorry, I know its wrong to say that but it's the honest truth."

It was strange talking to the boy now, in such a detail that Ted found herself forgetting to think about opening her mouth. The honest truth was never hesitant to reveal its ugly head. Her fingers prodded the soft skin, feeling the textures of the bruises and the bumps of harder muscle and rib bone. Her finger ran down the light section of skin where a scar sat, innocent and not innocent. 'A badge of honor…'

"…You still went." Robin said, low and Ted had to strain her ears to hear him correctly. "You still went even though you knew of the dangers." The heat from his skin was different from what she felt in her fingers, her hands were cold, and everything felt so much different because her cuts were still healing over. She often wondered if everyone felt this way, if all skin was soft but Kaldur had put that curiosity to rest.

"If Batman had done something you didn't like, and he vanished for a few years, and then turned up again, would you go and see him?"

"It's different with Batman. He's never killed anyone."

"Would you go see him?"

Ted pressed her question, finally leaning away from Robin but not turning away form him. The masked boy bit his lip, his frustration seeping through his body language and it said 'Do Not Come Near Me'. Normally, Robin was making a stupid joke about being 'whelmed', one of which she didn't understand but simply let the subject be. She curled a lock of hair behind her ear. "…would you see him Robin?"

"Of course I would…" he sighed out, almost sounding exhausted, "All I'm saying is that… you went to see him alone. I can't believe that you of all people did that! You know he's dangerous! You knew he could have captured you or-or worse!"

" 'Worse'? Robin, I know I might not be that smart to the world outside of the Home Base but I can guarantee you that there is nothing worse than knowing you're a product of murderers and thieves. He's the only thing I have towards a real father, a little something of a family."

Now Robin was silent. Now Robin understood. The subject of a family, one that she thought she had, but the truth was she never had one to begin with. It would be like to promise a small child that after doing all their homework, and get all good grades in school that they would be rewarded, but no one said if the reward would be good or bad until the last second. Then for all the hard work, the child would be thrown out of their home, and left alone in the dark of the night were predators roam and filth thrives. A family, something that influenced all life on Earth. Powerful and often taken for granted.

And then there was the knowledge of knowing that you were not a product made of love.

A mother would love her baby unconditionally, even if she only met the father in a bar, and she never saw him again but she would love the child. Mothers that had children that they didn't want, with fathers they didn't want, were rarely loved the way a mother should love their baby. A child of rape and thievery. How different was Ted in those ways? Created by a mad man who stole children from mothers, cutting them up and sowing them back together as if it were an macabre art project? Robin was ashamed to think of Ted as the poor monster Dr. Frankenstein created, for it had no name, and in reality, neither did she. She was a project, and everywhere she went the weight of knowledge of her origins forever haunted her.

For she was not made from love.

And nether was Frankenstein's monster.