A/N
*Hey guys, thanks again for sticking around for this next chapter. The support and criticism I've received so far has been incredibly appreciated and a valued motivator.
*A heads up for this chapter; there's gonna be depictions of torture and somewhat sexually graphic dialogue towards the end.
*I've been painfully slow to update. Sorry about that. I'm going to work on getting these chapters out quicker, but be warned that's it's still probably going to be a bit on the slow side.
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"I'm sorry I put you in this position. It wasn't fair of me to ask you to keep what I am secret from the others. I wanted to tell them tonight at dinner, but it wasn't right for them to have to find out like this."
Meeting my eyes steadfastly, Connor lightly squeezed the hand cradled in the warmth of his grasp and studied me for a moment before speaking.
"I understand why you were scared, especially after some of the….stuff I saw. I understood before all this too or I wouldn't have agreed to keep it secret, but when I saw…..no. When I felt – "
Connor bit off what he was saying with a look of frustration on his face. Staying quiet, I lifted my hand out of his hold and ran my fingers through his hair comfortingly; waiting for him to figure out what he was trying to say.
Closing his eyes and taking a breath, he leaned into the touch for a few seconds before looking back at me with a pained look.
"I – the whole team. We didn't just see those memories…when M'gann and Manhunter connected us to your mind, it was different from how we got our memories back. The others were able to disconnect before it got too bad, but….I wasn't just seeing your memories, Wolf. I lived them."
Not wanting to see the haunted look that had started shadowing his face, I closed my eyes but continued to lightly play with his hair. I could suddenly smell curdled milk, with a hint of metal intertwined. Emotional pain. Distress. Horror.
I couldn't tell who it was coming from though; him or me?
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Waking up, the first thing I noticed was that it didn't hurt. I was a little thirsty maybe, but otherwise I was actually pretty comfortable and pain free; something that I hadn't experienced in…..too long to remember.
Looking around and keeping an ear out for signs of breathing or footsteps, I found myself blissfully alone. It was night and the moon was barely a sliver in the sky, but it provided enough light to take in my surroundings.
As far as I could see there was nothing but an endless sea of sand spreading out for miles in all directions. The air smelled slightly off too, similar to India but not quite the same. Standing up, I immediately noticed something else was different. My neck – the collar was gone!
I was free. I had no idea how, but somehow I was finally, utterly free from the control of that bastard brain-machine and that damn trigger happy gorilla-man. Glancing around a second time, I stayed alert to any possible movement. As amazing as it was to have the oppressive weight of the device gone, it made me feel painfully suspicious. I'd already tried so many times to get it off myself but the collar was designed to read my intentions and use pain to redirect them if needed. If I purposely tried to break the collar, it would and had on numerous occasions, electrocute me.
The only way I could ever get the collar off was if someone else had removed it for me.
Twisting my head around to reach as close to my neck and shoulders as possible, I sniffed my fur enquiringly to see if I could detect the scent of whoever must have taken the restraint off. I was covered in an assortment of strange and unfamiliar scents, but it barely took a second for me to pause at the smell faintly coiled around my own base scent in curious surprise.
Hot damn. Words could never express just how fucking exquisite that smell was. It was a powerful, sexual, wild male essence that called to me in an almost painfully primal way. I briefly considered that the scent was somehow fabricated by the brain-machine; that this was all an elaborate trick or test of some kind, but immediately discarded the idea.
The brain-machine had his own twisted genius level intelligence, but he could never have created this.
No, whoever's scent I was detecting must have been the one to free me. He smelled mostly human, but there was a taste of something more behind it. It was possible he was like me; that he'd once been swept up in the strange blue light and changed into something else. I doubted he'd been turned into a wolf – no coincidence was that great, but it would be a relief to meet someone that had gone through the same thing I did.
I felt a wave of exhaustion hit me and despite having woken up just a few minutes ago I decided it was safe enough to lie down for a nap. I had no idea where I was and running around in the dark with no source of food or water sounded like a bad idea. The sand surrounding me was surprisingly white, making me feel safer knowing that my white fur would act as a near-perfect source of camouflage to keep me hidden.
Dropping down to the ground, I ignored the coolness of the sand with practiced ease and closed my eyes as I let the comforting smell of my rescuer lull me into sleep.
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When I woke up my eyes opened with a snap, the bright rays of the sun blinding me. Ignoring the spots dancing in my vision, I focused on my sense of hearing to tell me what was wrong. I heard a loud shuffling sound, and a man grunting tiredly.
"Sorry," he said apologetically. "I'm running on empty, I don't think I've eaten in a while."
Standing up slowly, I silently walked over to the petrified sand dune separating me from the strangers. Sniffing carefully, I smelled two humans; a female and a sweaty male. There was a faint click and the male spoke again.
"Whoa," he said in surprise. "My cupboards are bare; we've been out here over 24 hours." I felt a small tremble running through the ground and narrowed my eyes at the sound of something bounding towards us with alarming speed. Standing up to my full height, I spun around to escape but was unable to run before it landed near the two humans with a ferocious crash. I quickly found out it was some sort of creature, maybe even a man if the furious, guttural roars he released were anything to go by.
I heard the male from earlier cry out in pain before crashing into the dune with heavy force, causing the hardened sand to tremble with the threat of collapse. Listening closely but not wanting to risk getting involved, I crept forward until I could peak around the rocks and watched with interest as a tall, blond female flipped backwards with flawless ease before shooting an arrow at the man attacking her.
The arrow exploded, and I felt my jaw drop in surprise as the man continued to stalk forward angrily; his skin showing no sign of harm other than some soot sprinkled over his bare torso. Looking unbothered by his lack of injury but reeking of adrenalin and fear, the girl fired off another two shots in succession with the same results. Blond-girl's eyes searched around frantically, no doubt for an escape route when a mortar shell fell behind her attacker.
Both of them fell over from the force of the explosion, but only the man stood back up. A snarl twisted his handsome face when he looked down and saw the singe marks on his jeans and black boots. With incredible force he jumped higher and farther than any normal human being possibly could, landing on top of one of two tanks that had been quietly driving our way.
It was incredible. Rather than be afraid, I found myself in awe of him as I watched the man bend and rip through the tank with barely a grunt. A soldier popped out of the top and began shooting at him, but the bullets merely bounced off his chest; a couple even recoiled back with enough force to hit the shooter.
Distracted as he was by his destruction of the tank, he didn't notice the men sneaking up behind him with harpoon-like weapons attached to thick wire netting. I doubted they would give him much trouble but almost without conscious thought my body moved on its own and ran towards the fight, barking out a warning.
Tossing aside the useless metal in his hands, the superhuman brunette glanced my way before turning around completely to face the incoming enemy with a fierce scowl. Jumping up again when they shot their guns, he avoided the flying net completely and tackled three of his attackers with animalistic grace.
Deciding to commit fully to the decision of jumping in to the fray, I led my own attack on two men dressed in military garb. I studied my opponents for a moment, noticing one had a limp. Taking the slow movement of his right leg in to account I darted forward and bit his thigh, severing the femoral artery; knowing that he would bleed out in barely a minute or two. Falling down from the pain, the man cried out in agony as I turned to face his partner and took him out as well.
"Just whose side is he on? And where'd that huge wolf come from?!" Dressed in a strange, form fitting uniform and a mop of red hair brushing his forehead, the sweaty male from earlier questioned the wobbly blond incredulously.
"You really want to stick around and find out?" the archer asked rhetorically as she allowed herself to be swept up in a bridal hold. Without a second glance the man turned and ran, going so fast that he was barely a black blur in the distance. Feeling strangely unsurprised over the unnatural speed, I glanced back just to confirm their departure and stood back to watch as the mysteriously strong man from earlier continued dealing with the last of his opponents.
Off in the distance I heard a faint sound carry over the wind. Figuring it was worth an investigation and the strong-man had things covered on his end; I turned and jogged in the direction the sound had come from, hoping I wasn't running into a trap. Seeing a group of five men dressed similarly to the foreign soldiers from earlier, I leapt in for the attack, taking one down almost immediately before launching myself at the next.
For a few minutes I was in my element – attacking enemies that actually meant me harm, not ones that I was forced by the brain-machine to take care of for him. I could pretend I was defending my pack back home, my fellow wolves fighting beside me as we safeguarded our territory or went hunting for the next meal.
I actually got so swept up in the fantasy that as the last man dropped I closed my eyes and raised my bloody snout in the air to let loose a long howl of victory. As the last notes rang out through the air I opened my eyes in mild confusion when I didn't hear the symphony of voices that should have accompanied my own. Brought back to reality, I looked around me and only saw the paw prints of one wolf in the blood-soaked sand. Sighing, I turned around only to stop at the sight of the strong-man from earlier watching me with interest. Having apparently dealt with his own battle, he'd probably been drawn to the sounds of mine.
We watched each other for a few minutes, both curious but neither one willing to make the first move. Feeling annoyed with the stalemate after a while, I finally gave in and took a step forward. To my amusement the man stepped forward as well, his foot hitting the sand at the same time my paw did. In an eerily synchronized motion, we both stepped forward another four steps before stopping, our bodies close enough that we could smell each other while maintaining a safe distance. Sniffing the air, I felt my eyes widen in surprise at the scent coming from him. Furrowing my face in confusion, I took another step closer and sniffed again, only to once again smell…
Me. And it was to such a degree that in my mind it could only mean one thing.
I had no memory of having taken a mate, but the only person I could ever imagine letting myself get close enough to leave that deeply an ingrained scent of myself on was the one I'd choose to spend the rest of my life with; even have children with at some point.
As strange as the idea of having a mate I never even remembered taking was, these days I'd had a hard time keeping conscious thought for any long period of time; the forced growth my body had been put under recently was putting my mind under too much stress. I was blacking out and acting feral more often than not, so unfortunately it was completely possible that I'd somehow found and mated someone since the last time I'd been fully conscious and aware.
I studied my mate's face carefully, and outside of having the body of a man you wouldn't have ever thought he was a civilized human being. From his body language and scent down to the growls in his throat and the lack of humanity in the cold blue eyes staring back at me; everything about him screamed wild, feral animal. It was obvious in the way he moved and scrutinized me back that he was strong and more than capable of taking me in a fight; that he was an alpha male in his prime and knew it.
If I had ended up mating someone during one of my feral blackouts, I had no doubt this was the man I'd chosen.
Apparently he felt similarly, because instead of attacking he relaxed his stance and took a careful step forward before stopping and waiting for my reply. Letting myself relax into a casually alert position, I accepted the invitation and walked towards him cautiously. I left the last few steps open to keep some distance to be on the safe side before taking a look around and double-checking our surroundings.
Feeling secure, I stood and watched him for any change before deciding it was okay for him to meet me. Sensing my acceptance, he smoothly closed the distance and lifted his head carefully, his nose flared as he investigated my scent with a pleased gleam in his eyes.
Wanting to taste more of the delicious scent emanating from him, I licked his cheek carefully; only to be struck by an incredibly strong sense of déjà vu. Closing my eyes, I felt the edges of a sweet memory of standing with him in a different time or place, feeling safe and happier then I'd ever been before. I felt my mate lean forward into my fur, and the sensation jarred out of whatever memory I'd been swept up in, and it took me a minute to figure out why.
I felt my eyes widen at the realization, but otherwise didn't so much as twitch so as not to alarm the man leaning into me. Happiness radiated through me as I recalled that my body had been different in the memory. Smaller, and only standing on two legs – not four.
I was able to turn human.
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The screams of my mate rung out hoarsely. I'd lost track of how many times he'd been forced to release the sounds of his agony into the building over the last hour, but I knew I would give anything to make it stop. Trying to focus on something, anything other than the person most important to me being fucking tortured; I revisited the events leading to the moment of our capture.
We'd come across an unconscious male in the desert. For someone in the middle of what I still could only assume was India, the man smelled intensely of the ocean. My mate's first reaction was to kill the stranger to be on the safe side, but something had me hold him back. I was sure I'd never seen the human before in my life, but something about his scent was familiar; enough that it had my protective instincts flaring painfully, pushing me to defend the sea-boy from my mate.
The young male was obviously delirious from too much exposure to the heat. He woke up several times, however, muttering wildly in a language neither of us understood. At one point he'd become lucid enough to try attacking, but was too weak to follow through. Worried that he'd die before I could figure out why I even wanted him alive in the first place, I left my reluctant mate with the male and left in search of a water source.
It didn't take me long to run into trouble.
I got careless and quickly became overwhelmed by a small army of soldiers shouting in an unfamiliar language as they shot a net at me and took me down in an embarrassingly short amount of time. Desperately calling out for help, I let out a howl of warning to my mate and hoped he would be able to find me in time.
A minute passed, then two and still no sign of my human. The enemy soldiers were dragging me over to an armored vehicle with some difficulty as I futily tried my best to thrash around and gnaw at the rope net tangled around me.
A thunderous roar of rage echoed across the sandy clearing, and for a moment time seemed to freeze. I smelled an intense surge of fear and shock in my captors, and with vindictive pleasure watched as they were quickly knocked down one right after the other as my mate viciously snapped trembling rifles and tossed the foolish humans aside with a furious snarl.
It took mere minutes for my beautiful mate to completely incapacitate the enemy, and for a blissful moment I truly believed we'd get away.
Unfortunately, we hadn't anticipated our opponent's substantial backup. Trapped in the net, I was worse than useless as my human valiantly fought off the crushing wave of soldiers attacking him with little success. The sheer number of men made it impossible to even see my human anymore, swarming like ants over a crumb of food until they'd completely smothered him with their bodies.
They wrapped him in a strange rope of flexible metal, like thick wire. Unable to get free, he was helpless against the strange attack sent his way by an unnaturally pale man in a black cloak-like jacket. The cloaked-man didn't go near him, but the pleased smirk that appeared on his face when my mate fell over unconscious for seemingly no reason left me certain that this human was responsible.
With their prize subdued, the men let out a cheer of victory and loaded us on to separate trucks before driving away. My only comfort in the situation was the sound of the truck my mate was on following behind closely. I hated being separated from him; hated that I was the reason he'd been taken in the first place….but found a small part of myself selfishly glad that we wouldn't be separated.
Now I was trapped in a cage and unable to do anything while my mate was being tortured in the laboratory above us. Terrified, pissed off beyond belief – these insignificant words barely scratched the surface of what I was feeling at the moment.
Hearing a break in his screams I howled as loudly as I could, putting all my heart and encouragement into the desperate cry. A moment later an exhausted roar echoed back to me; painfully hoarse from overuse but no less sweet in the reassurance it offered. Feeling a renewed determination to break free I investigated the room I was in again, hoping to find some means of breaking out that I might have missed during my earlier frenzied attempts. The room was rather barren, and to my frustration there was nothing for me to reach even if I'd tried to turn human. Pausing as an idea started forming in my head, I examined the bars of my prison critically. As a wolf, I was far too large to pass through the space, but maybe if I were human…..
Before I could contemplate shifting into my human form further the door to the room opened and the disturbing cloaked-man from earlier entered. For a moment I panicked, afraid that I was looking at the brain-machine's successful attempt at getting himself a body.
Growling, I snapped my jaws at the stranger threateningly only to freeze in place at the alarmingly unpleasant sensation of fingers brushed through my mind.
"Interesting….." the man murmured with a terrifying gleam in his eye. I blinked, but there was something strange about it; as if the split second my were closed somehow managed to mask the speeding up of time. The next thing I knew, I was blinking groggily and staring at the man in front of me with confusion. It – he looked like my mate. I sniffed wearily. Hmm. He smelled like my mate too.
" –it's okay; we're safe. These–"
"Oh my god –"
"–team, they're friends."
I let out a sound that was half growl and half confused whimper. Something wasn't right. He was different, not as wild as before. The way he was speaking, the way he moved…it wasn't the same.
They did something to him. Or me.
"–really is human…."
I felt my eyes widen, but the darkness of my feral state only crept closer. My ability to think like a human was fading fast. I tried to bark, whimper, whine, anything to give him warning, but all that came out was a confused snarl.
"–memories. We're going to let you out –"
"Don't attack –"
"Watch out! She's –"
"–wait! Don't –"
A feral howl of blood-thirsty rage roared loudly in my ears, and I felt afraid for someone. I just couldn't remember who.
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When I woke up again, I was in an unfamiliar place and surrounded by enemies. A tall male dressed all in black approached me and made strange noises, but when I tried jumping forward to attack the intruder a short length of chain wrapped around my neck held me back from getting close enough to rip his throat out.
I snarled my fury at the group, satisfied when a wave of fear drifted from several members.
Good. Even tied up, I am not a wolf you want to fuck around with.
The man in black didn't come any closer, but another male dared to walk forward in his stead. I wasn't sure whether to feel irritated that I was being underestimated or delighted that I would get the chance to feel this foolish creature's blood drip down my snout as he –
Wait. This male smells familiar. Not….enemy…..? Smells like pack.
Distantly, I felt a small hint of human thought enter my mind. This…person? Yes. He's a person, a….human being. My human. I should let my human close; keep him protected.
But protected from what? He didn't smell afraid, only worried. Something smelled burnt too, and I knew it was him. Did the other humans do this to him?
Growling in frustration, I felt a headache knife through my brain, the dizzying and unfocused thoughts making it hard to focus. Warily, I watched as my human slowly made his way towards me, reaching a hand out to pet behind my ears when I didn't make a move to attack. He made noises like the other one had….speaking. Yes, he was speaking.
I just wished I understood what he was saying. A small green female hesitantly walked up, stopping short of my reach when I growled suspiciously. Raising her hand without another word, I found myself in another room with the others. We were surrounded by a dizzying number of images swirling around the walls, and I was vaguely able to recognize them as memories.
My human started speaking again, and I was relieved to finally start understanding some of what he was saying.
"Wolf – inside – head. M'gann – – team – use – memories – help to –"
Still feeling confused, I didn't have much warning before being plunged into memories I later knew for a fact were not all my own.
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(Note: Connor's memories will all be in complete italics. Everyone else's memories aren't in italics.
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Mt. Justice
September 26
No!" Connor exclaimed with an alarmed look on his face. Seeing the confusion from the others around him, he glanced back at the large canine next to him and quickly backtracked.
"No. Wolf is smart; she can follow body language and commands really well. Linking her mind to ours could overwhelm her – I don't think it's a good idea for this mission, especially without having practiced it first. Besides, she'll be with me wherever I go; worrying about maintaining radio silence while we're in Bialya isn't necessary."
M'gann shrugged and nodded, accepting his excuse easily even if she did give him a curious backwards glance as she walked into the red ship. The others followed behind her, with Wolf and Connor following up in the rear. Once Wally boarded, Connor moved to step forward and follow when he felt a delicate tug on the back of his shirt collar. Looking back, he was met with a small lick from the white canine behind him.
Connor felt his heart beat quicken as he looked into his companion's eyes and a brief flash of memory fluttered over his thoughts, barely more than a picture in time, of a young woman with Wolf's eyes smiling at him. Knowing M'gann would connect to his thoughts once everyone was on board, he quickly shoved the image down and leaned against the soft fur behind him, accepting the lick for the thanks he knew it was before moving forward again.
Bialya
September 27
Jerking back from the aggressively violent young woman he'd just woken, Kid Flash jerked back to avoid a reactive punch.
"Woah, hey. It's ok – I won't hurt you." Smiling in what he hoped was a nonthreatening way, he backed up a step. "I'm one of the good guys, you know, Kid Flash."
"….I've seen Kid Flash on the news," the blond teen replied disbelievingly. "He doesn't wear black."
Glancing down at his uniform with sheepish curiosity, he nodded good-naturedly. "Heh, yeah. I'm a little unclear on that myself. What about you?" he raised an eyebrow curiously and gestured to her costume. "Green Arrow fixation?"
Looking down, the blonde's jaw dropped in surprise. "Who put me in this?!"
"Um. Wow. I, um. I'm not touching that with a 10-foot –" he cut off at the suspicious glare sent his way. "…Never mind. Uh, so you know how to use that bow?" changing topics, he pointed to the forest green weapon sitting next to her.
"Yeah, my dad taught me." Stiffening, she glanced around suspiciously. "Dad," she growled. "He must have done this! Another one of his stupid tests."
"What kind of test?"
She shrugged nonchalantly. "He probably wants me to kill you."
Mt. Justice
September 06
Despite her obvious exhaustion, M'gann guided the bioship into a smooth landing with practiced ease. Slumping in her seat, the Martian tiredly announced their arrival and opened the door. Kaldur quietly thanked her and joined the others in unbuckling themselves and waiting for their turn to exit the ship.
"Ugh, I smell like swamp," Artemis complained.
"We just got the crap beaten out of us in the Louisiana Bayou by not one, but seven of the toughest enemies we've ever faced. We were electrocuted, gassed by creepy monster-vines, and almost drowned in alligator infested waters. Right now I'm kind of okay with smelling bad; it's the least of our problems," the speedster next her replied dryly as he slowly rose from his seat.
Connor was the first to exit, as he was closest to the door. Carrying a near comatose Wolf in his arms rather awkwardly because of her huge size, he quickly made his way down the ramp towards the green door leading deeper into the mountain. Wally watched them with concern, looking over at the boy wonder next to him with a questioning look.
"Probably taking her to Medical," Robin commented wearily. Nodding, the ginger followed behind Artemis as she limped out of the ship.
"Wolf might be the most banged up out of all of us. She really wasn't looking to good on the way back."
Bialya
September 27
"Well J'onn, the costume looks familiar but I'm not sure the new bod' screams 'Manhunter'." Wally commented, staring at the very female, very green person in front of him.
"You know my uncle J'onn?" Smacking her forehead, the Martian nodded with dawning comprehension. "Hello, M'gann, of course you do."
She pointed to the speedster. "You're Kid Flash – Wally."
Rotating, her finger turned to the blond next to him. "And you're Artemis."
"Whoa, hey, wait a minute there. Martian Manhunter's your uncle? Is that how you know my name?"
"Your name's really Wally?" Artemis asked with amusement. Looking embarrassed, Wally groaned and hid his face in his hands.
"Hey, it's okay," M'gann tried to soothe. "We're teammates; friends. I even made you cookies."
Bialya
September 27
"KF! Man is it good to see a familiar face." Robin stepped forward, raising his arm to meet Wally's in a fist bump.
"Hey, Rob! Memory loss?"
Snorting in annoyance, the boy wonder dropped the smile that'd been on his face and frowned.
"Yeah, dude. Six months."
Glaring at the lifeless soldiers around him with an unusually contemptuous fire in his eyes, Robin's leg twitched for a second as if he'd just restrained it from kicking the unconscious man on the ground next to him. Looking back up at his best friend, the brunette reached for his belt and withdrew a thin length of rope.
"Let's hogtie these creeps and compare notes."
Mt. Justice
September 06
"Wolf, wait!" Connor called out with a startled look on his face. He'd set her down on the table and turned around to input the examination command into the computer when he heard her fall down with a soft whimper. Jerking around, he was shocked to see her running out the door in an all-out sprint.
Trying to follow her, he accidentally bumped into a corner of the table, tripping him over and denting the metal surface. With a soft curse he regained his balance and took off down the hallway; reaching the closing doors of the elevator in time to see a panting Wolf watching him with fear. Unable to stop the doors from closing in time, he held himself back from angrily punching a hole in the metal keeping him from the canine and instead looked up at the numbers indicating what floor she'd get off on.
Feeling his impatience spike as the numbers slowly continued to decrease without pause, he decided to throw caution to the wind and run down the stairs at an adrenalin fueled speed that would have impressed his mentor, Black Canary. Desperately keeping an ear out for Wolf, he distantly heard the pinging sound of the elevator on the ground floor and the soft scratching of Wolf's nails against cool concrete.
Feeling a trickle of sweat run down his face, Connor wiped his forehead on the black t-shirt covering his shoulder and descended the last two flights of stairs. Finally reaching the bottom he paused and sniffed the air for his companion, giving a sharp nod at her scent before pushing open the door leading outside.
The wind was strong that night and quickly masked any sounds or scents that would have helped Connor find Wolf. Feeling frustrated, he took a step forward and was just about to run in a random direction and hope he was lucky when a different idea popped into his head.
Wolf sniffed at the air a lot, but when she really wanted to find something, she followed what she could smell on the ground. Dropping to his knees and immediately feeling the moisture of the grass and dirt through his jeans, the teen clone felt a brief surge of embarrassment. He was about to sniff the grass like a dog; Superman would never –
No. Screw Superman and what he'd do, this was for Wolf.
Shoving away the negative thoughts that had started forming in his head, Connor lowered his body closer to the ground and tentatively sniffed around until he caught the scent he was looking for. Crawling around, he followed the trail for a few feet before getting up and running after her.
Bialya
September 27
"So, we're a team?" Robin asked.
"The four of us and Superboy," M'gann agreed with a smile.
The boy wonder frowned, grabbing the remains of a torn black t-shirt with a red symbol on it from his utility belt.
"Then this must be his," he commented, holding the fabric up for the others to see. Brightening, M'gann kept her eyes glued to the shirt hopefully.
"Yes! Did you see him?"
"I think we did," Artemis piped in unenthusiastically.
Studying the fabric with a speculative look, Wally rubbed his chin and nodded. "Feral boy and that freaky dog of his? Some teammate," he griped.
"Dog?"
"Yeah, some ginormous wolf monstrosity that ran off with him after he freaking attacked us."
"He didn't know who we are," Artemis defended. "Hell, I don't know who we are."
"I remember Batman ordering radio silence; our team must work for him," Robin commented slowly; looking like he was furiously trying to search his mind for any other clues.
"Hey, how do you know we don't work for my mentor?" Wally asked with a smirk. "Whoa," he blinked in surprise as the thumb he'd jabbed backwards into his chest triggered his suit into changing from black into its usual yellow and red color scheme.
"This is so cool!" he cried out with delight, watching curiously as the others poked themselves several times to see if they could initiate a similar response in their own costumes.
"We look ridiculous," Artemis commented dryly; dropping her prodding hand when nothing happened. Next to her the red-headed speedster had taken to poking his chest repeatedly, watching with childlike fascination as he changed his uniform's colors back and forth with increasing speed.
"Quit touching yourself!" the blond ordered with an exasperated flair of irritation in her voice. Smirking, the redhead opened his mouth to reply when Robin decided to step in.
"Look, we need our memories back. Trying to move around or make plans without them is only going to make the situation more dangerous. If we concentrate and go over – whoa…." He trailed off; looking at the strange landscape of broken memories he and the others had unceremoniously been brought to inside the Martian's mind. It was like standing in a room full of hundreds of televisions, only instead of playing shows the screens revealed the team's various memories.
"…Well, this works too."
"I brought you into my mind to share what I've remembered so far, but I need your help. Together, our broken memories can form a whole…..If you open your minds to mine." M'gann volunteered cautiously, looking like she fully expected their rejection.
Alarmed, the group's archer stepped back with her arms raised as if to shield off an attack. "You want to paw through our private thoughts?!"
"I truly don't wish to intrude, but –"
"–You need to hack our minds to undo what happened to us. Got it." Flapping his hands in a 'get moving' motion, Robin looked at her expectantly. "Go ahead," he added for emphasis when it became obvious the young woman was still hesitating. Understanding she needed encouragement after a meaningful glance from the acrobat next to him, Wally stepped forward and flashed a charming if somewhat playfully cocky smile.
"My brain's all yours. Please, try not to let its brilliance overwhelm you," he invited magnanimously.
"Or underwhelm you." Robin couldn't help adding.
"Hey!"
Ignoring the indignant redhead, Robin tilted his head thoughtfully. "Y'know, I just realized that people are always feeling overwhelmed or underwhelmed, but what I want to know is why anyone isn't ever just whelmed?"
Looking at his friend oddly, Wally shook his head. "What does that even –"
"Fine, you can do your mind rape," Artemis grudgingly butted in with a hostile grimace. "But the last six months only," she added emphatically, glancing at the televisions around them with distrust. "And even then, only what you absolutely need."
The two boys frowned at the blonde's word choice, but otherwise stayed silent and nodded their agreement.
"–and the watchtower detected an immense power surge in the Bialyan desert. Spectral analysis revealed elements non-terrestrial in origin. I need you to find out what happened at that site and what landed there." Bringing up a holographic map of the country behind him, Batman pointed to the highlighted mission site for emphasis.
"Keep in mind that Bialya is a rogue state ruled by Queen Bee, not a member of the League's U.N. Charter. All communications are subject to interception so you must maintain radio silence at all times. Now M'gann," he called, turning to look at the Martian. "Have the bioship land in Kourak, on Bialya's border; two klicks from the hot zone. It will bring you –"
Wally looked through the binoculars carefully, keeping an eye out for any sign of an enemy presence.
"All clear." He directed telepathically, giving a thumbs up to the others. Glancing over, he watched in amusement as Wolf followed behind Superboy worriedly as the superhumanly strong teen carted the heavy supply depot strapped to his back down the ramp leading out of the ship. He almost called out to Wolf to reassure her, but figured the canine wouldn't really listen anyway.
For an animal, he mused, she was oddly human in how she acted around Superboy and the rest of the team.
"The Bialyans already control the site." Artemis commented as she and Robin watched foreign soldiers and scientists swarm the hot zone from a hidden overlook. A little over a mile away, the others nodded and continued to set up a temporary base camp while the team leader gave his next set of orders.
"Understood. Maintain position while we finish preparations and let us know if there are any changes."
"Got it."
Turning to face the others, the Atlantean pointed to a flat patch of sand. "Superboy, you can set up here."
Nodding, the half-Kryptonian carefully crouched down, setting the load on his back to the ground and unstrapping it from his shoulders. Walking over to the depot, Robin gave Wolf's back a quick pat and smiled before tapping a button on the depot that would release their equipment and allow him access to the computer installed in the machine.
"We'll be up and running in no time." Typing with his usual near superhuman speed, the boy wonder quickly had the computer do a scan of the enemy's camp; almost immediately finding what he was looking for.
"Jackpot! The site's lousy with zeta beam radiation and there's a concentration of non-terrestrial trace elements from the Bialyan's main tent."
"Are you able to discover the planet's origins?"
"Already working on it." Robin typed a few more commands into the computer, but quickly shook his head and frowned.
"Nothing's coming up in any known data bases both on and off world. A couple elements are recognized, but there's about twenty-three planets – including our own – that those elements are found on. Paired with the other unknown elements however, I'd have to say that whatever's in that tent's from a system neither earth or our allies haven't made contact with yet."
"I can check it out in camouflage mode," Miss. Martian offered.
"Good idea," their leader agreed after thinking about it for a moment. "Go, and be sure to maintain telepathic contact. Be careful, Miss Martian."
"I will, Aqualad."
"Aqualad!" They all gasped in shock, breaking out of the mindscape M'gann had brought them into.
"Where is he? What happened next?" Robin wondered worriedly.
"I don't know! That's the last thing I – we remember." M'gann replied, shaking her head unhappily.
Crossing his arms, Wally looked around as if hoping he'd conveniently find the Atlantean passed out on the ground next to him. "We landed over 24 hours ago. If Kaldur'ahm's been wandering the desert that long…..well, that's really not good for a guy with gills."
"Understatement. Now that I know to look for him though….." the boy wonder trailed off, pressing a couple buttons on his watch. Bringing up a holographic map, he ran a scan and examined the area's layout out closely until he spotted a red dot hovering in a spot near their position.
"He's close! But not moving."
Nodding decisively, he verbalized what they were all thinking.
"Let's go."
They'd found Kaldur quickly, but their leader was in a dangerously bad state.
"I can't restore his memories in this condition," M'gann stated helplessly.
"Then call the bioship. He needs immediate rehydration," Robin ordered with a steely edge to his voice.
"It's out of range," She shook her head regretfully before glancing at the redhead next to her hopefully. "Wally, you can get him there fast."
Looking a little unsteady on his feet, Wally was forced to refuse. "I'm sorry guys but he's too heavy, and I'm too low on fuel." Pointing a trembling finger to the blond next to him he tried to lighten the mood. "Right now, I couldn't even carry her – and she's surprisingly light."
Unsurprised, Robin nodded. He'd noticed his friend's worsening condition; it's why he'd intended to ask M'gann to levitate the Atlantean back instead of asking the starving teen next to him to take him. With how badly the teen was starting to shake and the amount of effort it was taking him to walk, it was obvious the speedster's metabolism was already starting go in to shock and forcing his body to cannibalize itself in order to keep his organs from shutting down.
Feeling a cool thread of suspicion lace through him, he turned to the green woman crouched regretfully by Kaldur.
"Why not just levitate him back?" Robin asked, already knowing the answer. M'gann shook her head stubbornly.
"I can't. I have to find Superboy." Seeing the looks of disbelief and anger on the other's faces, she quickly tried to explain herself. "Look, six months ago Superboy didn't even exist. He has no memories – just animal impulse and a giant wolf that still thinks she's under the Brain's orders to attack people. I'm the only one who can help him."
"Superboy's indestructible," Wally reasoned. "Just ask those tanks he destroyed earlier – with Wolf's help I might add." He continued pointedly. "Wolf might not even have been affected the same way we were, or at least to the same degree. Whatever memories she does or doesn't have, she was fighting with him earlier, not against. I think it's safe to say that those two are together and probably a lot healthier and happier than our dangerously dehydrated leader over there."
"But –"
"Superboy's fine, M'gann. It's Aqualad who needs your help."
Said Atlantean was an unnaturally pale color, and his moans of pain had grown noticeably weaker even in the short amount of time they'd been there. With angry steel in his voice, Robin commanded the Martian to take their incapacitated leader back to the ship.
"We'll figure out a plan to get to Superboy," the brunette promised. "But if Aqualad doesn't get immediate attention, his organs will shut down and he'll die."
The young woman reeled back in shock, and for a moment Robin thought he'd finally gotten through to her. The next words out of her mouth however left him flabbergasted, his hope of getting his Atlantean friend the medical attention he desperately needed dashed.
"No!" M'gann cried out, flying up into the air. "Superboy's in pain; we can't wait!"
"Damn it M'gann!" Artemis cursed.
In a desperate last ditch attempt to keep her from running off, Robin screamed after her quickly retreating back. "We still don't know what erased our memories! It could happen again! M'gann!"
Bialya
September 27
I was going to tear him apart. I would make him and all the others fucking bleed. They were going to suffer, gasping with their last breath to beg me for the mercy of death.
I glared at the pig-nosed little rat bastard scientist that smiled with sick pleasure every time he pushed the button that -
A shock of electricity tore through me and I let out another scream, nearly blacking out again. I almost didn't have the energy to give in to the painful cough that gripped me afterwards, but I forced myself to push through it and hack out the blood that was slowly choking my lungs.
I snarled with a heaving breath, watching droplets of spittle and blood spray out from between my clenched teeth and land on his white jacket. I wrinkled my nose in disgust as, rather than getting mad or looking scared about it, another wave of arousal and amusement wafted from the man torturing me. Chuckling, he increased the power on the computer and raised a finger over the red button that would send another shock through me, letting it hover threateningly.
"It's at shock level eight now," he taunted. "This next level might even kill you. To be honest though, it wouldn't surprise me if you did survive. I've been incredibly impressed with how well you've held up so far; the little boy you came with barely made it to six before fainting from the pain."
Dropping his hand away from the button, he casually walked over to the table I was currently strapped to; his smile widening. I tried to jerk and strain away, but was unable to move enough to avoid the caress he swept over the skin of my breasts and down my stomach.
"You look human, but inside this beautiful body of yours you're still a wild animal, aren't you? Barely more than a rabid bitch." With a snap of his hands he grabbed my chest roughly, tweaking a nipple with brutal force. Most of my body was numb from the electricity sent through it, but I could still feel the painful burn of humiliation and fierce anger left behind from his ministrations.
"Animals and women were built to withstand pain. They were born for the sole purpose of being taken to the limits of what their sanity can hold – and then being pushed some more."
Looking disappointed with my lack of reaction to his attack, I had barely a second to realize his next plan and clench my thighs together tightly before he snaked a hand down my torso; scratching his fingernails over my skin forcefully as he reached further south.
"You seem to be both a woman and an animal, a fascinating combination; one that I can't wait to explore the limits of."
Pausing just above his target, he splayed his hand over my stomach and rested it on the clammy skin with a curious look on his face.
"We tortured that boy you came with for nearly an hour and barely got a reaction," he began conversationally. "But the second he heard your screams, the artifact reacted quite intensely. Now my little bitch, tell me. What exactly is the nature of your relationship with that boy?"
I was way past the point of doing anything but snarl or growl. I snapped at him angrily, unable to retrieve enough of my human side to do much else. Nodding as if I'd given him the answer he wanted least, he sighed.
"I thought so. Not that I can blame him, really. Having a little bitch like you in heat and at your master's mercy; bent over on your hands and knees, begging for your master's cock…." He shivered and dug his fingers deeper into my stomach. "….Yes. That would be quite the treat."
Chuckling, he dropped his hand only to get up on the table, swinging his leg around to straddle me. The feeling of his arousal pressed against my stomach made my skin crawl, and not for the first time that night I felt terror flash through over his intentions. Placing his hands on either side of my head, the man's brown eyes gleamed as he bent over me, using the motion to grind himself on my stomach.
"I was always the child that wanted dessert before dinner," he whispered, his breath smelling oddly of black licorice. Wrinkling my nose at the odor, I snapped my head forward as if to bite him and he jerked back with an alarmed gasp. Glaring angrily, he brought his fist back and shot if forward, hitting my face hard enough to jerk it to the side and make my neck ache with the whiplash.
I was saved from further abuse with the sound of static crackling out of the radio on the table next to the control panel. The doctor on top of me watched the radio for a second, his eyes narrowing angrily when the device came alive with the sound of another man's voice. I couldn't understand the language being spoken, but whatever he said was apparently directed at my tormentor.
With a hiss of annoyance, he pushed himself off of me and got back down from the table, stalking over to the control panel with the stomp of a pouting child. Picking up the radio, he spoke back in forth with the other person for a few minutes, the two seeming to get in an argument over something. Looking angry, he eventually slammed the device down on the table with a dramatic sigh of regret.
"Unfortunately little bitch, the absence of your cries has been noted. I suppose you could take comfort in the fact that your dog-fucking little boy was able to tell the difference between recordings of your screams and the real thing…." He double-checked the power settings with a nasty smile and pressed the button.
"But I doubt you'll be left with enough sanity to do so."
Mt. Justice
September 06
He'd finally caught up with her. He was dripping in sweat, covered in grass stains, mud, and what he was pretty sure was wild rabbit crap, but he'd finally found the white canine.
Connor just wished she looked happier to see him.
Following the trail over the course of a mile, he'd eventually cornered a panicked and obviously exhausted Wolf in front of a barricade of trees. It hit him suddenly that he'd been so focused on going after her that he hadn't once stopped to consider why she might be running from him in the first place. It was a strange expression for an animal to have, but Wolf looked like she wanted to cry.
"What's wrong?" He asked, a strange buzz of fear shooting through him.
A pained whimper was his answer, but before the brunette could get close enough to examine her more thoroughly he found himself freezing in place at the sickening sound of cracking bone. Wolf hunched over in a half-crouch, eyes tightly shut and a harsh panting clawing its way out of her distorting jaws. Something seemed to ripple under her skin in a foreign way that distantly reminded him of an alien movie Wally had once made him watch.
Whatever was happening to Wolf was quick. Bones continued to break and reform into different sizes and shapes, body parts disappeared or changed. After barely two minutes had passed, a dumbstruck Superboy was staring at the sweating, trembling body of a naked and heavily scarred young woman.
"…..Wolf?"
It was dark out, and members of the team had long since cleaned up and gone to their respective homes. Batman had taken one look at the exhausted and injured team and decided the mission report could wait until tomorrow.
Connor was grateful for that. It'd been difficult trying to act normal. Like nothing was wrong. Changed.
Wolf was still outside.
No….
The woman Wolf had changed into was outside.
With a light blush and an odd twitch he couldn't quite suppress, Connor recalled with crystal clear clarity all the smooth curves that defined the naked body he'd seen just a few minutes ago. He'd received a basic education from the Genomorphs about the female human body, but to actually see it in person was completely different.
He remembered the way her long hair clung to the pale figure beneath it, the way it dipped and curved around her –
"– Connor. Are you okay? Where's Wolf?" M'gann asked curiously, looking around for the canine.
"Sleeping," Connor quickly lied. He couldn't bring himself to look the female Martian in the eye, and wasn't sure why. It wasn't as if she needed eye contact to read his thoughts, but the young man felt a strange surge of guilt pull his gaze down to stare at the ground uneasily.
"Oh. Okay, well, do you want something to eat? Kaldur just went to bed, but I'm still feeling kind of hungry. I could put together a couple sandwiches and –"
"No," he interrupted uncomfortably. "Not hungry. I'm just going to, um, go to bed."
Seeing the disappointed look on the Martian's face, he quickly added a word of thanks for the offer before turning around and heading for the elevator. When the doors opened however, instead of heading to the floor above he pressed the button that would take him back to the ground floor.
It felt like time had slowed to a near standstill, inside that small space. Feeling overwhelmed, Connor punched the 'stop' button and let out a long sigh.
Wolf. The giant canine he'd come to think of as a best friend and trusted confidant was actually human. Well, maybe not entirely human. But still. She'd hidden a huge secret like this from him. Had she been laughing at him the entire time? Was she a spy for The Brain?
Snorting, he leaned back against the cool metal walls and closed his eyes. No. Maybe it was pathetically naive thinking on his part, but he couldn't bring himself to believe that Wolf meant him any harm. That the time they'd spent together was all a lie.
Looking ahead at the closed doors in front of him, he could see a distorted reflection of himself in the polished steel. The face looking back at him was calm, even a little cheerful. It was weird and probably inappropriate, considering the situation.
He was being…illogical. He knew that. Superman would probably have reported her to the League immediately, or at least locked her up as soon as he'd found out what was going on. Superman would have handled things better. Superman…..
Superman wouldn't be feeling happy.
Connor knew he should be feeling angry, hurt, or betrayed…any of these things. It's what a normal person would be feeling. It's what the man he'd been cloned from would probably be feeling.
Studying his reflection, he focused closely on his mouth.
It was strange. Stupid. Abnormal.
He couldn't quite figure out why, but knowing that a human Wolf was waiting for him outside was making him smile.
Bialya
September 27
Snapping her eyes open and reeling back like she'd been slapped, M'gann jerked away from the dazed clone in front of her. Hearing the gasps and sounds of shock from the others didn't make her feel better.
It didn't take away the painful burn of betrayal and hurt.
"What the hell was that?!" Artemis called out angrily.
"Wolf's human?"
"Dude, not cool."
"You….you kept this from us. Lied to our faces!" M'gann accused. Grimacing at the headache pounding in his head, Connor nodded silently. Stepping up to the pair, Robin studied his half-Kryptonian friend seriously.
"Why?" the boy wonder asked simply. Sighing, Connor ran a hand through his hair anxiously before meeting his eyes.
"Look, it's – we were planning on telling you today; it's why I brought up the idea of the team having the dinner party we were supposed to have tonight before getting called in for the mission. It's just –"
"Wait, M'gann was the one that invited everyone over," Artemis interrupted with a suspicious glance to the Martian.
"Connor gave me the idea for it though. He was asking me all sorts of questions about what a dinner party was like and I thought it would be nice if….." M'gann trailed off uncertainly. Wrapping her arms around herself anxiously, she darted hurt-filled hazel eyes back towards the solemn clone watching her.
"I knew you guys would figure out something was up if I were the one putting the dinner together. Wolf thought I should do it anyway; she didn't want to trick you like that. I'm the one that decided to do it this way. I'm sorry."
Looking like he understood how inadequate the apology was, Connor shook off the last of the disorienting surge of memory sliding into his brain and shakily stood up.
"It's not a good time to talk about this right now," he stated with a deadly serious expression. Not even waiting for the others, he took off in a run down the hall where the hoarse sound of Wolf's tortured screams could be heard starting up again.
Mt. Justice
September 27
Shifting uncomfortably, Wally was the first to break the silence.
"Did anyone else see her body?" He asked. Whipping around, Artemis scowled angrily and punched him in the gut.
"Ugh, what was that for?!" He asked indignantly, cradling an arm over his stomach protectively.
"I can't believe you!" She hissed. "After all that's happened on this mission you're seriously gonna stand there and get pervy on her? What the hell is wrong with you?!" Frowning angrily, he stood up straight and crossed his arms.
"Stop jumping to stupid conclusions, I wasn't 'perving' on her! I was talking about all those scars and, and all the stuff that sicko was doing when we found her."
The female archer looked like she wanted to fight some more at that, but quickly deflated. Wrapping her arms around herself uncomfortably, she turned her head and looked away.
"I….there were just so many scars. And what that man was trying to do, I can't even…..that's every female hero's worst nightmare. It's what half the bad guys we put away promise to do to us if they ever get free."
Coming up behind her, Kaldur put a hand on her shoulder in comfort.
"Artemis, do you recall the conversation we had this morning?"
Blinking, she frowned for a second before comprehension smoothed over her face. Watching in understanding, he continued.
"Wolf is a prime example of how what we do matters. Though the Brain escaped we were able to save her and countless others from his torture. If you read the report from the Justice League, there were several people being held in the Brain's compound; because of us they were spared from being killed or worse. Being on this team isn't glamorous and there will be many difficult trials ahead but the work we do is incredibly important. As for that…..man," he continued darkly, "between what he had done to Wolf and the part he played in illegally transporting and experimenting on unknown alien artifacts, he will not be allowed out of prison for a very long time."
Dropping her arms, the blond archer straightened her back and gave a weary, if determined nod. Looking around at the others, she could see her own grim resolution reflected in the eyes of all her teammates.
All except one.
Turning away and closing her eyes, M'gann clasped her hands together tightly and turned her body away so the others wouldn't be able to see the fear and uncertainty tearing at the ruins of her control.
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A/N
*I hope this chapter wasn't too confusing. I wanted to stick to Wolf's POV, but I thought using the other's memories to explain the stuff going on in this 'episode' and part of the last one would be cool. I seriously prefer writing in third person POV over doing it in first, but I'll keep working to improve on my technique so it gets better.
*For those of you who may not know, a 'klick' is a unit of measurement used by the U.S. military (maybe other English speaking countries as well, but I don't know for sure). It's easy to hear the word 'kilometer' on the radio and mistake it for 'meter'. To avoid miscommunication on what distance to use, kilometers became klick, a more distinctive word that would be less likely to be misunderstood. Pronunciation of 'klick' is the same as the word 'click' or 'clique'. Two klicks, as mentioned in the story, is about 1.2 miles or 2 kilometers.
