[authors note]

Sometimes when I miss this story enough I give it another go…

Chapter One has been revised.

Titans don't belong to me, etc etc.

-ch ten: it's time to begin, isn't it?-

The following morning, Vane was awake by 5:00 AM. She ate and drank enough to gather strength and reported to the basement for final training. The fact that there was a basement in an underground lair had amused her when she first found out, but she knew now there was nothing amusing about the basement. It was the place where she was tried and tested again and again, where she fought until she passed out, where she was beaten halfway to death, where she was pushed to her limit and beyond. Every day she was thrown to the wolves and withheld from mercy.

In the beginning her training had been especially cruel. When the sessions ended every day she'd been so angry and confused – why did they heal her bones when they would just break them again? Later she understood her strength, will and loyalty had to be tested before she could be officially invited to the Warehouse. It'd been bitter, terrible work. Vane knew the taste of blood so well from it. But she was so much stronger than she had been before. Even if she didn't agree with his technique, his technique agreed with her. Eventually Vane found that she could hit harder, run faster, stand longer. And her powers – how they'd grown. Hawaiian breezes became hurricane gusts. Haphazard hovering became hummingbird flight. True, Zephyr had taken a naïve fourteen-year-old girl and tossed her around like a doll.

It was bitter, terrible work. But it was worth it.

Since the advent of Zephyr's Red City takeover plan, she had seen less of the basement and more field work. Dressing like a civilian and being forbidden to use her powers without permission really peeved her at first. Flying everywhere really cut down on travel time and those black Chuck low-tops were cute but really not meant for hiking around the city all day. She missed her superhero costume especially. Nothing made her feel so powerful as a pair of thigh-high boots and a high ponytail. Of course, Zephyr realized this attachment awfully quick and set the entire dazzling get-up in flames…

"Are you paying any attention at all down there, or are you here simply as a punching bag?"

The image of her glory day suit dying in the fire dissipated at the sharp tone in his voice. Vane glared at the control booth in the rafters, imagining he could feel the daggers in her stare from where he sat beyond the wall.

"That's a much more attentive gaze," he said, sans humor. "Begin."

Two metal suits of armor twice her size dropped from the ceiling. They were Zephyr's own robotic fighting machines, and had also gone through as many revamps as Vane had gone training days. Typically she tested their autopilot, so the surprise could not be hidden from her grey gaze when she caught sight of figures beyond the red windshield. Within each cockpit there sat a techie: one a chubby, red-headed boy and the other a boy-figured blonde girl, both wearing crooked grins. Vane knew getting the chance to knock her around wearing daddy's armor was probably the highlight of their lives. She would be certain they found themselves enjoying it less than they'd planned.

The rest of the day she spent battling the techie suits, running obstacle courses and reiterating the entire plan for the following morning. Vane could recite the itinerary front and back and out of order, yet every last detail needed to be gone over again and again. If it was anything less than perfect, he'd have her head.

But if it was just that – simply perfect – Vane would be free.

It was still dark the next morning when Vane appeared in the alley next to Mario's Pizzeria. She was clad in her typical civilian outfit, except for one very superhero thing: a utility belt around her waist, decorated with an extensive amount of little metal dots. Attached to her belt they were no larger than a marble, but the tap of her finger print in a specific area would enlarge and flatten the bombs into mini-mines and activate a perfect camouflage.

Vane embodied her element impeccably, moving with a grace swift and quick, remnant of a gust of wind. First she covered the biggest intersection of the city and laid the bombs out from corner to corner. When they detonated they would reveal an army of techie troops in the hollow ground below. From there on she followed a specific route, tagging all the important things that kept the city alive. Banks, electricity, transportation, police. Everything she did would ensure there would be no city left, nothing to inhabit. Vane gave genuine credit to her master – he really would get his wish. And his wish was to destroy the entire city.

Little personal commentary played in her mind as she zipped from location to location like a bird. These were acts of duty. This was what she had been trained for. This was her purpose. She did not think of the lives. She did not think of the destruction. She did not think of the consequences.

But she did think of the Titans, who were already buried in their graves, just waiting for death. Would anyone ever find their bodies? Had anyone even noticed they were gone? Did Jump City honestly care for its heroes, or were they a convenience they could manage without?

Shit. A sudden moment of clarity broke her vacant stare, blinking rapidly to reorient herself as her lip curled at her own behavior. How could she get distracted by them at a time like this? Chastising herself, Vane hurried along to complete her work.

Finally every last bomb was in place. The city began to stir, unaware of the rapture that waited. Vane returned to the alley, but instead of slipping under the manhole she flew up the side of the building and found a place to stand beside Zephyr on the rooftop.

A moment went idly by before Zephyr spoke. He did not look at her and spoke instead into the grey light of the approaching dawn, "Well done."

"Thank you," Vane responded in a small voice.

Two years she'd lasted under his rigorous apprenticeship. The abuse had been great but the lesson was greater. She was smarter, and stronger, and more capable than she'd ever been. Her part in the city's demise was important. If all went smoothly, she would finally have his recognition.

"Vane."

His voice took her by surprise. She'd heard him say her name a thousand times, each time in that deep, condescending tone of his. Usually there were icicles attached to his words, slicing into her skin as she listened – but not this time. The venom laced within that syllable was heated, certainly, but not angry. He sounded almost… pleased.

The small brunette glanced over at her leader, somewhat startled find his eyes on her.

"Do you know what time the sun rises today?"

Her grey eyes narrowed in understanding. "I'll get in position," Vane confirmed, and stepped off the building's edge, guiding herself down easily. She slipped beneath the manhole cover for the last time.

Dawn broke.

The troops in the main room were on a special platform, just centimeters away from the above-ground, and below them stood Vane. Atop the Pizzeria, Zephyr detonated the bombs all at once. The titter that had begun as people awoke erupted into chaos when fire and smoke and debris exploded over the city. The main intersection came crashing down on to a pillow of air controlled by Vane. She lifted the chunks of concrete and tossed them back into the city, using her power to help the techie troops out of the underground and on to the street to wreak havoc.

Vane was due out there next, but she could not resist.

Silently she stalked down the hallway as the walls shook and the ground rumbled beneath her feet. She came to the last door and pushed it open.

The Titans, of course, were awake and alert. Robin slammed his hands into the glass and demanded, "Let us out. This is your last chance."

Vane let her head fall to the side and raised one eyebrow rather nonchalantly, lips pursing together as she considered him. Days of imprisonment had turned the usually level leader into a beast of rage. Again, he bellowed, "If you don't let us out, we will find a way out! And there's no way you'll stay alive if we do."

She nodded her head slowly and with one finger caressed the switch that would turn off the power-sensing electrical current. A half-smile haunted her expression as she let her gaze glide smoothly between the switch and the prisoners. "You've got it all wrong," she simpered delicately. "These are your last moments. There is no way out. And there's no way you're staying alive."

Letting her hand fall away from the switchboard she stepped forward. "This," Vane gestured grandly to the trembling room, "is happening." She breathed in and closed her eyes, the very thought filling her with relief. When she opened them, her grey eyes were glimmering. "And when it's finally over, I can be a hero again."

"You? You were never a hero," spat Robin. "You will always be a villain."

The earth above them was shaking; the bombs she had set earlier this morning had detonated. She looked through the open door at the lights in the hallway, which had begun to flash red. Vane slowly turned her gaze back on the Titans, whose expressions she could not read. They weren't stupid. Everyone knew what a self-destruct alarm looked like. A strange feeling passed through her core as she met Robin's masked eyes, his words echoing in her head.

The ceiling was crumbling, part by part coming down to the floor. She really didn't have any more time to waste. Whether or not panic ensued in the room, she would never know. She turned, closed the door and walked away.

Thank you for reading :)