It's amazing what can be accomplished when you're too sick to do anything except spend the day at home on your computer and write. Constructive criticisms, reviews, comments, whatever you want to call them, all are welcome and appreciated.

Chapter 10

"Attention, arriving at Rawl in twenty minutes," stated the ship's guidance system.

"Finally," Tinya exhaled. It had been more than a day and a half since she'd left New Metropolis, and she was more than ready to get off this ship. She jumped up from where she had been resting and reached into her bag to pull out a non-descript, all-black outfit with a mask to cover her identity. After she got dressed, she sat down at the pilot's seat and carefully guided the ship through the planet's atmosphere, landing in an area that would keep her ship well-hidden. Opening the ship's door, she took her first steps onto the planet Rawl and looked around.

The forest she had landed in was thick with trees, crowding out what little daylight was left. Still, Tinya decided to poke around for a bit before she turned in for the night. Strange animal noises sounded from all around her, making her wonder what kind of creatures occupied this wild planet. As she picked her way carefully through the forest, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched. The rustling from a nearby bush caught her attention and it was her only warning before a large ugly beast attacked. She was knocked to the ground when it landed on top of her. With its mouthful of sharp teeth hovering above her, she tried phasing her way out from under it, but nothing happened.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! She berated herself for forgetting to have Brainy's power-suppressing bracelet removed before she left. Without her powers, she was going to have to do this the hard way. Pulling her knees up to her chest, she kicked upwards with both feet as hard as she could and managed to knock the wind out of the beast. Clumsily, it stumbled off of her, allowing her the chance to regain her feet.

She kept her eyes on the beast as it began to circle her, looking for an opening. When it lashed out at her with its fearsome claws, she used her arm to block her face. She gasped in pain, feeling her skin torn open from the beast's strike. She quickly glanced down to assess the damage. A grin broke out despite the blood flowing freely down her arm because the beast's claws had managed to break the bracelet off her wrist. Now able to use her powers, she managed to escape back to the safety of her borrowed ship.

Once there, she cleaned and bound her arm with the first aid supplies she'd packed, deciding to leave the search for Dr. Londo's lab until tomorrow. She'd already had enough adventure for one day.

...

Tinya woke with the rising of the sun the next day. She grabbed everything she thought she'd need, and left to find the location of the lab. It was midday by the time she finally came across a building, which she assumed was where Dr. Londo lived. Carefully scouting the area around the building, she found the perfect hiding place to land the ship. Pleased with her success, she backtracked her way through the forest and waited until night had fallen to re-land the ship in the hiding place she had found earlier. She waited another three hours, just to be on the safe side. Remembering to pull a mask over her face, she phased her way out of the ship and entered the building.

The room she found herself in was thankfully empty. It appeared to be a supply room of sorts with various empty tubes, flasks, and other scientific equipment. She carefully edged the supply room's door open, checking the hall for anyone or anything that might be a threat. Everything appeared to be in the clear, so she slipped out into the hall. The building didn't have many rooms, which meant that it didn't take long to find the one she was searching for. After phasing her way in, she sagged against the door in relief. She let out a deep breath and straightened up to take a look at what she'd found.

Brin's room was neat for someone their age. His books were all lined up according to subject, and his desk in the corner was well-organized with a half-finished model sitting on top. Walking over to the desk, Tinya picked up the model. It looked like some kind of advanced cloaking mechanism for a shuttle or something. The design was intricate and complicated, far beyond what she could ever manage. She had a hard time reconciling the image of Brin patiently spending hours working on this brilliant piece of technology when Timber Wolf always seemed tense and on edge. Then again, it gave her hope because if Brin had this amount of focus and patience, then it meant that Timber Wolf also had those same qualities hidden away somewhere, waiting to be let out again.

Placing the mechanism back on the desk, she checked the window to see where her ship was in relation to his room. As luck had it, the ship was nearby. Heaving a sigh of relief, she got to work. It looked as if nothing had been touched since he left, and she did her best to keep things in order while she relocated everything she could from his room to the ship. When the room was completely empty, she felt an immense satisfaction at what she had accomplished. There was just one more thing she wanted to take care of before she left this planet for good.

Sneaking her way through the building, she searched until the found herself near a lab. Broken equipment littered the floor and shattered machinery that was undergoing rigorous repairs showed her evidence of what Timber Wolf was capable of. Off to the side, she found an office that looked like it had escaped the carnage, and Dr. Londo wasn't anywhere to be seen nearby. Curious as to what she might find, she went into the office and started going through his computers and notes. There were formulas, equations, DNA altering chemicals, experiments, side effects, and results compiled together.

As she read, she couldn't help but look out of the office and into the lab where she saw cages lining the walls, each with its own disfigured creature trapped inside. The notes Dr. Londo had made were perversely detailed in describing the procedures he'd performed on these helpless beasts. She was horrified at what had been done to them in the name of science. Her horror was quickly replaced by fury when she realized that the pain of these poor animals was only a prelude to what Brin had suffered through at the hands of this sick madman. How could someone, a father no less, do something like this to another human being?

Tinya's eyes narrowed in anger. Timber Wolf had it all wrong. He wasn't the monster. His father was, and his research wasn't science. It was an abhorrent violation against humanity, and she was going to destroy every bit that she could get her hands on. Phasing her way through anything and everything electronic, she destroyed everything that Timber Wolf had missed and dumped all of Dr. Londo's paper files on the ground in a pile before setting it on fire. As the flames started to spread, she turned the beasts in the lab loose as a finishing touch on her way out. Dr. Londo may have been outside any police or Legion jurisdiction, but he wasn't outside of hers. As the last of the creatures disappeared into the forest, she went back to her ship and set a course for home.

...

Tinya had been gone for almost a week by the time she got back to the Tower. Landing the ship on the rooftop, she gathered all of Brin's things together in a pile and slowly phased everything straight down to her room on the eleventh floor. For the longest time, the room next to hers had been empty because no one needed it. After what he'd been through, Timber Wolf deserved something more than the old room of a former member. He had come to the Legion looking for a new start, and this was the best way she knew how to give him that.

Settling the pile of items that she'd brought from Rawl on the floor, she glanced around and saw that everything was just as she left it. Exactly just as she left it, including the bags and packages from the stores where she had taken him shopping. She shook her head at his resistance to accepting help and made a mental note to confront him about it later. For now, though, she tied her hair back in a messy bun and got to work.

…

Five days, it had been five very long days since she had left. For five days, Timber Wolf had been kicking himself for the things he had said, wishing he could take them back and apologize. No one knew where she had gone, and the note he'd found on the floor of his room only gave him more questions. He had read it over and over again in an attempt to figure out its meaning, but no matter how much he looked at it, the words did nothing to take away the guilt he felt.

Timber Wolf,

When we joined the Legion, we made a solemn pledge to aid our fellow Legionnaires in times of peril, to keep their secrets safe, to accept their flaws, and assist in their times of suffering. I know that once you figure out that I'm gone, you will find a way to blame yourself. Well, don't. You have kept your word, and now it is time for me to keep mine.

Phantom Girl

Telling him that it wasn't his fault was all well and good, but who else was to blame? Lightning Lad hadn't been the one who put her in danger, Brainiac hadn't turned himself into a monster, Superman hadn't yelled at her, and it certainly hadn't been Saturn Girl who'd told her she was a liability. No, it had been him. He had done all those things. Now she was gone, uniform and flight ring left behind.

When Saturn Girl had told him that, she'd also mentioned the things that Phantom Girl had bought for him. Timber Wolf's only response had been to walk away. He had no intention of taking advantage of Tinya's generosity when he knew full well that he didn't deserve it.

Everyone was worried since she had left. She had disappeared without a trace and not even her mother knew Phantom Girl's whereabouts. Both Brainiac and Saturn Girl found it concerning that wherever Phantom Girl had gone, she didn't want to be followed. Even Lightning Lad had expressed that he thought she should've taken someone to have her back. Superman had suggested that maybe she just needed some space, but no one really seemed to believe it. The legionnaires' reactions made Timber Wolf realize that this team was closer than he thought, and no one seemed to blame him even though they had every right to.

He hardly left his room, too consumed with guilt to face anyone. His nightmares got worse night after night until he started reaching the point where he quit sleeping altogether, only catching slight naps here and there. After countless attempts to draw him out or talk to him, the other Legion members eventually left him alone with his dark thoughts. Between his guilt and lack of sleep, his nerves were frayed and his control was iffy at best. It was for everyone's own good that he kept to himself. He couldn't, he wouldn't, risk hurting somebody else.

Timber Wolf was laying on his bed, mindlessly staring at the ceiling, when he heard a call go out to all available legionnaires. A group of robbers had broken into the vault of New Metropolis's largest bank. Hearing at least six responses to the call, Timber Wolf ignored his conscience prompting him to go and help. His eyes drifted closed after a while. He almost reopened them when he heard a noise coming from the floor above him, but he reminded himself that no one was there. Eventually he started to doze, but a knock on his door woke him from his half-sleep. Glaring at the door, he silently willed whoever it was to go away. There was no such luck as they resumed their insistent knocking. He propped himself up on his elbow as he yelled, "How many times do I have to tell you guys to leave me ALONE?"

The knocking abruptly stopped. Silence filled his room once again, making him think that they had gone away. He started to lay back down when the last person he expected to see phased her way into his room. He was frozen in shock as Phantom Girl walked right in. "I must have missed the memo, so you'll have to tell me at least one more time."

"Phantom Girl?" His question came out sounding half strangled. His throat seemed to have closed up, making it hard to speak. He was having a hard time believing that she was really here, in full uniform with her flight ring back where it belonged.

"I thought you'd want to know I'm back," she said.

"Back from where?" He swung his legs over the side of his bed so that he was fully sitting up, facing her.

He didn't know what answer he was expecting, but it certainly wasn't, "Rawl."

"Rawl!?" Instantly, he jumped to his feet. He surged towards her, stopping directly in front of her. His eyes were wide as he grabbed her shoulders. He shouted, "What were you THINKING, going to that godforsaken planet by yourself!?"

"I had something I needed to take care of." The calmness of her statement was unsettling. It was as if she had simply run an errand, not gone to hell itself where she could have gotten killed or worse.

"That doesn't answer my question," he growled, his panic still not subsiding. "What possessed you to go there?"

"After what you told me that day by the bridge, did you think that I was just going to let it go?" She arched her brow at him, phasing out of his grip and walking over to sit on his bed. She sighed, motioning for him to come closer when he remained by the door. Reluctantly, he dragged the chair from his empty desk over to sit near her. She took a deep breath and began, "Look, I know things have been crazy since you got here, and that we got off on the wrong foot, but things have changed since then."

"What things?"

"Well, for starters, the fight with Drax's pets showed me that when we're not fighting, we work well together. I realized that I hadn't been being fair to you, especially when you carried me up eleven flights of stairs just to be nice." Her cheeks colored slightly. "I asked you for help when I couldn't use my powers because I felt like I could trust you, and I was right."

Her eyes turned apologetic. "But I made you angry, and we were attacked by those men. When I saw you lose control…" she sighed, looking down. "I was so worried that you wouldn't be able to change back, and when you did, I didn't want you to blame yourself for what happened."

"That still doesn't tell me why you felt the need to go to Rawl by yourself," Timber Wolf said, struggling to keep his voice even.

"I was getting there," her brow furrowed at his impatience. "Anyways, when we had that… discussion, I got the feeling that you didn't think you were human anymore." She held up a hand to stop him when he opened his mouth to object. "Don't talk. Just listen," she said, "I went to Rawl because I wanted you to remember who you are."

"I already told you, I know who I am. Just because I told you who I was, it doesn't change anything."

…

Tinya sighed at his statement. Obviously she wasn't getting anywhere using this approach. Timber Wolf was so obstinately stuck on the idea that he wasn't human, and she didn't know how to convince him otherwise. Well, that wasn't entirely true, she did have one idea... but it wasn't one she particularly cared to talk about. She stood up, walking over to look out his window. She felt his eyes watching her as she wrapped her arms around herself. Taking a deep breath, she asked, "What makes you think you're a monster?"

"You can't be seriously asking me that," he said flatly, coming to stand next to her.

She turned to look at him. "But I am asking."

"Look at me! I don't even look human!" He gestured to his face to make his point. Dropping his hand back to his side and his gaze to the floor, he said, "I can barely keep control anymore. It's not safe to get close to me. I'm dangerous."

"You're not the only one," Tinya said quietly.

"What are you talking about?" he asked roughly.

Speaking now as Phantom Girl, she told him, "Once, a long time ago, my hand partially solidified inside the body of my opponent because I lost my concentration for what seemed like only a few seconds." She stared out at the city as she continued, "It delivered a shock to his system and put him in the hospital for three months. I was told that if it had been longer, I could have killed him. Enemy or not, he didn't deserve that." She wiped a hand over her eyes before she met Timber Wolf's shocked gaze.

"I had no idea. Tinya –" he began.

"No," she cut him off, "I want you to see that you are not the only one who is afraid of what they might do," she said. "All of us are dangerous in our own way." She listed off their teammates and the potential dangers that each presented. "Saturn Girl could wipe someone's mind until there is nothing left but a vegetable. Lightning Lad could electrocute someone until they're dead. Brainiac could take over everything using his technology and genius. Even Superman, as awkward and naïve as he might be, could level a city with his strength or obliterate a crowd of people with his eyes."

Ignoring the way Timber Wolf was shifting uncomfortably, she challenged him, "So tell me, if each of us has the potential for that kind of damage, then aren't we monsters too?"

"No, of course not!" he exclaimed. He sounded frustrated when he said, "It's not the same thing. What you did was an accident, and as far as I know, none of the others would ever do any of what you mentioned. Besides, you still forgot one other thing."

"Oh, what might that be, pray tell?" She raised an eyebrow in question.

"None of you look like this," he said, pointing to his face again.

Tinya sighed and reached for his hand. Even though he stiffened at her touch, he didn't pull away. "You are missing the point," she said, moving his hand away from his face. She looked directly into his wolf-like eyes to say, "It's not about how you look, what you've done, or what you might do, it's about the fact that we all have fears and powers that can be dangerous if not controlled. You've been through far more than any of us can imagine, and you've survived. More than that, you've made a new life here with us, saving lives and helping people. A monster or a beast or Timber Wolf wouldn't do that on his own, but Brin would."

"Don't call me that." He backed away from her as if she had physically slapped him.

"Why not? It is your name, a part of who you are," she persisted, taking a step forward. She stopped short at his angry look.

"Who I was, you mean," he corrected, glaring at her. "I haven't used that name since I joined the Legion because that's not who I am anymore. Why won't you leave it alone? It doesn't matter what name I go by."

"Of course it matters," she argued. "Names are important."

"Why? What's in a name?" he snapped back.

"Everything!" she shouted, catching him by surprise. Tinya forced her voice back down to a normal level. "Your name is your identity. It is how you view yourself and how others view you. The reason I won't 'leave it alone' is because you are more than Timber Wolf to me." Her voice was very quiet as she said the last part.

Hesitating, she gathered her nerve and slowly approached the feral teen. He stiffened at her approach, but she carefully got closer until there was only an arm's length between them. His eyes warily watched her every move, his body unnaturally still.

Throughout her trip to Rawl and back, Tinya had given a lot of thought to the differences between Timber Wolf and Brin Londo. She wanted him to see what made him more than Timber Wolf. He remained completely motionless as she brought her hand up to his chest.

Touching near his heart, she said, "You are brave." She felt his eyes following as she turned her attention to his hands, pulling off the gloves that hid his scarred wrists from the world. She traced over the marred flesh with her fingertips that was evidence of what he survived. "Resilient." Bringing her gaze back up to his, she let go of one of his hands to brush her fingers across his forehead. "Intelligent.

"And, most of all, noble." Both hands came together until they were once more over his heart as she quietly told him, "All these things are what make you Brin, not Timber Wolf. You are not a monster."

"Tinya," he wrapped his bare hands around her gloved ones and held them. "What makes you so sure that I'm not?"

The uncertainty with which he asked the question told her that his resistance was weakening. It was asked out of a need for a real answer instead of a challenge or argument. So she gave him her answer.

"Because, I've seen monsters, and what they do to innocent people, but you have never hurt anyone who wasn't a threat, even when you lost control."

Seeing that he didn't know how to respond, Tinya decided that now was a good time to show him what she'd been working on. She kept ahold of one of his hands as she turned in the direction of his door. "Come with me, I have something to show you."

…

Timber Wolf wasn't yet sure how, but something had shifted in their dynamic. Again. It seemed like every time he thought he knew where they stood, this confusing girl would do something to change the rules on him. He couldn't even begin to guess what she was planning to show him. Mystified, he kept quiet as she led him from his room to the elevator. The light above the doors chimed as the elevator opened, and they both stepped inside. She took him up to the eleventh floor and led him down the hall, stopping one door short of her room.

She turned to him. "I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of setting up a new room for you. It was the only way I could get everything set up without anyone seeing what I was doing." The pink coloring her cheeks was distracting. He forced himself to focus as she said, "I hope you like it."

"I'm sure I will," he reassured her. To be honest, he didn't think it would be possible for him to dislike whatever she'd done. The fact that she had taken the time for such a project was in and of itself a gesture that he would not forget.

Phantom Girl smiled slightly and turned to use the access code to open the door before them. Timber Wolf could tell she was still slightly nervous as he followed her in. He stopped in his tracks when she turned on the light. In the middle of the room and against the wall, there was a fully made bed with black covers, and around the room he saw a dresser, desk, and two bookshelves filled with items that he recognized as his. He was almost in a daze as he walked past her, touring his new room for the first time.

He ran his fingers over books that he thought he'd never see again and then went over to the desk where he found the cloaking device he'd been working on before his transformation. Picking it up, he asked, "How?"

"I realized that you didn't have anything of yours here and figured that you must have left everything on Rawl, so I went to go get them. It was a quick in and out. I don't even think that your father knew I was there, but," she paused, "I'm sure he knows that someone was by now."

"Why do you say that?"

She bit her lip and looked away guiltily.

"Tinya," his eyes narrowed, "what did you do?"

"I may have set back his research a bit by phasing his computers into oblivion and setting fire to his notes…" She started fidgeting under his gaze. "And I may have turned all the animals in his lab loose as well."

He nearly dropped the device in his hand. She had been to his father's lab. The thought of her doing something so recklessly dangerous both angered and terrified him. If his father had caught her, who knows what he would have done to her? His father had been willing to turn his own son into a monster and would have had no problem running endless experiments on someone with special powers like her. His mind refused to imagine the pain he survived being inflicted on someone else.

"Before you get mad," she said, holding her hands up, "I found something in his notes that I think you ought to know." She faltered a moment but collected herself enough to say, "He put a tracker in you."

Timber Wolf's shoulders sagged. He suddenly felt weary. While this information shouldn't have surprised him, hearing it still hurt. It was just further evidence of his father's betrayal. Placing his hand against the wall for support, he asked, "Where did he put it?"

"In your arm," she answered slowly. Reaching out, she removed the cloaking device from his other hand and placed it back on the desk next to them. She pulled that same arm out and glanced up at him. "His computers weren't able to pick up the tracker's signal yet. I don't know how long it will take him to fix his equipment, but we can have Brainy surgically remove it before he finds you again."

"No." Timber Wolf shook his head. "No med bays or hospitals."

"But if we don't do this, then it's only a matter of time before he tracks you down."

Phantom Girl's voice was pleading, but he hated the thought of being in anything resembling his father's lab. The memories were too painful. "Can…" he faltered, "can you just phase it out?"

She looked surprised at the question, but wordlessly, she nodded. She carefully phased her fingers into his forearm and allowed her hand to drift down its length, coming up with a small device. After she released her grip, he held his hand out for the tracker. She dropped it into his hand, and he crushed it into pieces.

"Now, you're free of him," she said, stepping back to give him some space.

"For now." Timber Wolf let out a wry laugh. If only it were that easy. At her confused look, he explained, "If I stay here, he'll eventually find me again. Maybe not next month or next year, but someday he'll be able to find me. The Legion isn't exactly the best hiding place for someone running from their past."

"That may be true, but you know what's also true?"

He shook his head.

"Even if he does find you, you won't have to face him alone." Phantom Girl pointed to his Legion ring. "You see that? That ring is a symbol of the heroes that have sworn to protect each other. You're one of us now, and he's not going to change that."

There was a fierceness in her eyes and steely determination in her voice as she said, "If he tries to do anything to take you away from us, we will fight back."

Timber Wolf looked at her with a new respect. This petite girl with a big personality had a strength about her that couldn't be ignored. He had seen that she would do anything to protect her teammates and fight any battle on someone else's behalf. She had gone to Rawl, which was his equivalent of hell, and back just because she wanted to help him when he had done nothing to deserve it. There was nothing he could say except, "Thank you, Tinya. For everything."

Her expression softened as she accepted his thanks.

"I think I could use some time alone," he said, glancing at his desk. "There are some things I need to go through on my own."

She nodded and stepped closer to the wall that separated their rooms. She half-phased through before telling him, "If you need anything, you know where to find me."

"Yeah, I do," he said as he watched her disappear through the wall. Pulling out the chair by the desk, he sat down and started going through the drawers and finding his pictures, notes, and things he had collected over the years. The more he went through his stuff, the more he was reminded of the boy he used to be, a boy that wanted nothing more than friends and adventures beyond the secluded planet of Rawl.

He gave a dry laugh as he caught the irony of his situation. He had finally gotten what he wished for but at a terrible price. Catching sight of a silver chain, he pulled it out of the drawer he was currently looking through. It was a locket, his mother's locket, shaped in a silver circle with a pure white moonstone filling the center. He turned it over on its back to read the inscription; You are the moon that lights up my darkness.

The locket had been a gift that his father had given his mother on their first anniversary. He remembered hearing about how she had been the only one that truly believed in his father's potential and about how she was his father's greatest love. After her death, Brin had often felt like he had lost two parents instead of one. She truly had been the light in his father's life, and after she died, all that had been left was darkness. His father's experiments had started getting more extreme, and his conscience all but disappeared. If she had lived, Brin knew that his father would never have even considered the procedure that created Timber Wolf.

Timber Wolf's hand closed around the locket. For the first time since he had joined the Legion, he allowed the memories of his past to overwhelm him, remembering the good… and the bad. Behind his closed eyes, he saw images of his mother and father, he relived the lonely days after his mother's burial, he remembered watching his father become consumed by misguided scientific ideas, and he recalled in horrifically vivid detail the procedure that cost him his humanity. As the last memory ensnared him in its nightmarish grip, his breath started leaving him in panicked gasps. Frightened that he was going to lose himself again, he forced his eyes open.

Focusing on the lingering scent of jasmine in his room, he pulled himself together. He delved into his memories once more, starting with joining the Legion. He allowed those memories to fill his mind, memories of the team that had given him a new home, the legionnaires that had fought beside him, and of Tinya. Phantom Girl had been a puzzle to him ever since the first time they met. Stubborn, determined, meddlesome, protective, and kind, Tinya Wazzo had shown him what it truly meant to be a legionnaire. To aid in times of peril, to keep his secrets safe, to accept his flaws, and assist in times of suffering. Opening his eyes once more, Brin decided that it was time for him to accept that while he couldn't change his past, he could change his future.