Clash
Terra landed her rock in a clearing of trees, several miles from the city limits. When the rock dropped from her control Terra hit her knees, her powers where still returning. The memories of the pain and suffering her powers had brought down on her friends caused Terra had pledged to never manipulate the earth again. Loosing control this at this stage in the game could cause an earth quake large enough to destroy the city. That promise had assured that her abilities remained in its fledgling state. It now took even more concentration to keep her power restrained. The expenditure of energy had drained her. Terra felt in even less control of her abilities then when she first met the titans. Ann crouched next to her and asked,
"You doin' ok there hun? You look tired." Terra waved her away as she flopped down on her back and sprawled out on the granite slab. Her chest rose and fell as she rapidly breathed in and out. She looked even more drained then Ann had when she pulled Torrent from the mob of militia. Torrent looked down at her smiling. He hunched over and grasped a small piece of metal attached to Terra's hip, there was a pause then Torrent ripped the piece clean off. Surprisingly there was no agonizing pain like the last time Terra had removed a chunk of her artificial body parts. Torrent crushed the tracking devise in his hand then smiled back down at the stunned Terra. She was thinking to her self that she would never get used to that crazy smile of his, when suddenly the expression on Torrent's face changed. His smile didn't fade but his eyes did make a concerned look, and he glanced behind him, then he looked back down at Terra,
"Three people are approaching, ten miles away; they'll be here in eight minutes." Short and to the point, Torrent never was all that much of a speaker. He turned and began to walk toward the trees.
"Wait, how can you possibly know that?" Terra stood surprisingly quickly when she spoke, considering her weakened state. Torrent half turned and pointed at his ears, and grinned ever wider.
"Just trust him, ok. He's never been wrong." Ann started to follow him, "Who do you think it could be?" Terra's eyes furrowed in worry,
"I know exactly who it is, but where are the other two?" Terra looked east,
"It's your Titan friends isn't it?"
"Most of them, it couldn't really be any one else."
"Who ever it is I don't want to risk another capture, we might not get so lucky and escape next time." Ann grabbed Terra's arm and lead her toward Torrent who was waiting at the tree line.
The hill the three fugitives where forced to climb was incredibly steep, rocks slipped under foot and hand holds broke free as they scaled the cliff. Torrent pushed ahead of the other two, Ann and Terra managed to keep up, but not with considerable difficulty. When they reached the summit, however, Torrent stopped and turned to help the girls up. Once they had crested the hell they turned east and began to run. They ran past trees, lakes, gigantic rock upheavals, animals, for several hours they ran. The three teens where in exceptional shape, being forced to fend for your self for the majority of your life will do that, so the long run didn't really affect them much. Terra, in fact, was beginning to recover from her fatigue caused by her power exertion. They ran in to a large stone gorge that had been carved from the mountain by a river that had once flowed through the rocks. They stopped and looked back behind them,
"You hear anyone following us Torrent?" Terra was panting slightly still but not nearly as bad as before. Torrent didn't answer. He was sporadically glancing around him sniffing the air. Torrent looked at Ann expecting an explanation, Ann shrugged. They where silent for a long time, listening for any sound from their pursuers, the girls heard nothing but Torrent's eyes fixed on the mouth of the crevice they where hiding in. Terra and Ann turned and saw three shadows standing at the mouth of the crevice. Their black silhouettes contrasted the red sky behind them. Terra immediately recognized all three, Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg. The first thing that flashed through her mind was Beast Boy, millions of scenarios where projected in her mind that would have explained his absence, none of which concluded well. Terra panicked and began to glance around her speedily in search of her green love, but he did not appear. Next she realized that Raven was also not present, she was shocked, and Terra had thought that Raven would have jumped at the chance to confront her. Then Ann whispered a question in her ear,
"Um, are those the people you where talking about?" She sounded surprisingly calm. The fact that their pursuers had caught them didn't seem to bother her very much.
"Yes, the big one's Cyborg, the floating one is Starfire and the one in front is Robin." Terra looked back at the Titans, they where still just standing, waiting. Ann whispered another question,
"Man, why do they dress like that?" Terra glared at Ann then turned to call out to the motionless Titans.
"Where's Beast Boy?" A twinge of pain managed to escape her lips as she spoke.
The Titans didn't even look at one another, the moment Terra finished speaking they flung forward screaming at the top of their lungs. Robin hurled three explosive disks, Star flung her green bolts, and Cyborg fired his sonic cannon, all at Terra. She gasped and sheltered her face with her arms in an attempt to block the appending impacts. Moments ticked past and nothing came, so Terra timidly peeked over her defense. Robin's disks, Starfire's bolts and Cyborg's beam hung in mid air unmoving. Next to Terra, Ann's eyes and crystal gleamed white. Her powers had frozen the projectiles just before they had inflicted their destruction. The Titans seemed shocked, then Ann raised her hand, the missiles twisted to face their masters, then Ann set them loose. Robin dove forward, Star flew upward, but Cyborg didn't react quickly enough and caught all three detonations directly in the center of his chest. He was flung backward out of the crevice, pasted the trees and over the cliff.
Star flew downward at Ann screaming in; each of their eyes blazed in furry, one green the other white. Sweat was already forming on Ann's brow, she had never used her power in combat before and the image of the shrieking warrior that now charged down at her drove fear into her heart. She looked around her but Torrent was no where to be seen, and Starfire was closing in. The distance between the two girls was closing astonishingly fast. Just as Star raised her fist to strike, Ann raised her hands in defense. A detonation rang thought the stone valley, and Star was sent skyward with smoke trailing behind her. Ann fell to her knees and fainted from the lack of energy left in her body.
Robin stood and wiped the dust from his shirt. His dive had allowed him to successfully avoid the explosion, unlike poor Cyborg. Then he saw Terra standing a few feet in front of him, she still had the look of surprise on her face, she hadn't even tried to run away. Robin lunged at her with his hand outstretched preparing to knock her down. Torrent hit him from the side, in a burry movement he grasped Robin by the neck and slammed him down against the hard stone ground. Air was knocked out of Robins lungs and his vision blurred when his head cracked hard against a stone. The world spun and he lay motionless for several seconds, but when his eyes cleared and the environment steadied he saw Torrent standing over him. Torrent smiled happily down at his dazed opponent, Robin though of the teeth of a wolf as he starred up at Torrent's gleaming grin. Then in a quick smooth movement Robin grasped a flash grenade from his belt and flung it up in Torrents face. Robin closed his eyes but Torrent caught the full blast at pointblank range. He screamed and grasped his eyes, even staggered back a few steps. Robin flipped back on his feet and drew his staff. He glanced at Terra who was backing away from the two fighters. He would deal with her after he dealt with this crazed half blind wild boy, when Robin looked back at Torrent however he saw that Torrent was already shaking off the effects of the flash-bang. This unexpected speedy recovery shocked Robin, but it did not shock him enough to cause him to hesitate. He brought his staff down across Torrents face with all the strength he could muster. The force shattered his pole in two. Flinging the ruined weapon aside Robin set on Torrent with his bare hands, just as the wild boy looked up Robin struck him across the jaw with a right hook, then a left to the solar plex and another right to Torrents temple. A barrage of kicks pummeled in to Torrents right side, Robin laid every thing he had in to him. With mind-blowing speed kicks and punches where dealt out. Terra stepped forward and screamed out for Robin to stop. Robin paused only long enough for Torrent to hit the ground. Then he turned and smiled at Terra, she immediately froze. Terra saw the glee in that smile, and it was a million times worse then Torrents crazed grin. Then she gasped as Torrent slowly stood.
Robin saw the look in Terra's face change as she looked past him. He turned and saw his battered opponent standing behind him, Torrent swayed slightly as if he could barely stand, and he was bruised and bleeding. Regardless of his injuries Torrent was still grinning, Robin's smile twisted into a snarl he drew a new staff from his belt and lunged once more at Torrent. Robin brought the staff down to strike Torrent across the face as before, but unlike before Torrent casualty stepped to one side and let the pole miss its target. Before Robin even realized that his attack didn't make contact with its mark, he was struck with Torrent's elbow across the face. The staff flew from his hands and Robin staggered backward. Torrent grasped the Staff mid air, and smiled as he looked up at his attacker. Blood streamed though his hands as Robin held his shattered nose, such a strong blow so quickly from a weakened opponent was very unexpected, but Robin wasn't planning on making any more mistakes. Robin glared back at Torrent the flicked his hand clean, blood splattered against the rocks. He reached for another staff but found his belt empty, so he grasped another flash-bang and flung it at Torrent. Robin covered his eyes just as the explosive detonated. Smiling to himself again he dropped his hands from his eyes. Torrent struck his across the face with his staff, the blow knocked Robin off hit feet and he hit the ground on his back again. Torrent had dashed forward just as Robin threw the flash-bang so the bright light had ignited behind him. This time Robin didn't stay on the ground, Torrent threw rod aside and grasped Robin by the collar and lifted his to his feet. A right hook struck Robin in the jaw, then a left to the solar plex and a right aganst Robin's temple. Torrent then delivered numerous kicks to Robins right side. Torrent unleashed an exact copy of the beating he had received from Robin with shocking precision. Down to the placement of every punch and the force in every kick, the techniques Robin had spent a lifetime to learn and perfect had been passed on to Torrent in a space of a few seconds. Robin fell for the third and final time.
Torrent turned from Robin and smiled at Terra. His smile faded until it was almost undistinguishable when he saw Ann lying on the ground behind Terra. He was covered in bruises and small cuts, and he limped as he began to stagger over to the unconscious Ann. Then a blast of blue energy caught him in between the shoulder blades, the force brought him to his knees. Torrent turned to face his new opponent but was stuck with a hail of green energy bolts. The resulting explosion sent Torrent sprawling. He landed in a motionless heap at Terra's feet.
Cyborg and Starfire entered the crevice once again. Terra bent over and checked Torrents pulse, strong but slow. The two remaining Titans stopped when they where directly in front of the kneeling Terra. Cyborg had a large section of his armor missing, enough so that you could see the internals of his mechanical body. Star's entire front side was charred black. Cyborg spoke first,
"Why'd you do it Terra? Why?" Pain poured from every word,
"You attacked us! What I did to you all those years ago was wrong but I was going to leave you alone, Hunter…"
"Shut up, you speak the lies!" Terra had never seen Starfire so angry before, "You shall pay for your killing!" She flew down to Robin's side and felt his face.
"That's enough talk, your going down Terra." Cyborg lifted his sonic cannon. Terra stood, starring defiantly up at Cyborg as he loomed over her,
"Do you really think that's going work?" Terra glared back down the barrel.
"Why shouldn't it, I've taken out criminal's like you before with this baby." he didn't smile.
"Look where you are." Terra's hands began to glow and her eyes gleamed bright yellow, the walls of the stone valley rumbled deeply, smaller rocks came loose and tumbled down, "Is there any doubt in your mind that I could have crushed you at any second?" Cyborg and Starfire looked around with a new dawning sense of horror, the sonic cannon slowly dropped until it faced the ground.
"Why have you not then?" Star stood from Robin's side
"I'm not evil no matter how much you think I am. Their was one you who used to believe that… where's Beast Boy." Shock showed on both the Titans faces, and then Cyborg glared back at her,
"Don't play stupid Terra, I don't care if you crush my body. I will get revenge no matter how many bodies I have to go through." The glow faded from Terra's hands,
"Revenge? Where is Beast Boy!" panic rose in her voice, Star's face seemed to soften as she realized that Terra really did not know. Her hand touched Cyborg's shoulder, he looked at her and calmed slightly. Star paused as if to consider, then she spoke.
"Beast Boy is dead Terra… you killed him."