Pain
Grief beset Terra. A misery enveloped Terra that was so unbearable that she fell to her knees. Such a force of regret was insufferable and Terra broke under its weight. The strength visibly drained from her body. Starfire's words had cut so deep that it seemed to have pierced her soul. Tears flowed down her emotionless face. They trickled down the cold metallic plate that was her chest then fell in to the dark soil. So many lives had ended because of her, but they had all been bearable, because Beast Boy had always believed in her… loved her in spite of her sins. But now he was gone, and Terra fell apart. The world of rock, dust and shadows around her fell away leaving Terra empty and alone. She sat on the cold earth, curled her knees into her chest and shivered at the bitterness of existence.
Cyborg and Star could only watch. They had felt pain for the death of their friend but the morning exhibited by the brokenhearted girl who writhed before them shattered their understandings of the word pain. They could not look away from the crying young Terra, nothing of evil or wickedness could be seen in her, only anguish. The thoughts of revenge melted from their minds, and regret filled its place. Cyborg started to speak but the air that escaped his lips carried no words. When Starfire spoke her words where so soft they barely existed,
"Terra, we are sorry we thought you…" Star could not finish the agonizing statement; she stopped and looked down at her feet.
"No," Terra's voice was as cold and empty as her heart felt, "it was me. It was another… me." Terra slowly and simply started to explain Hunter and Type B, then she stopped, "What does it matter, none of it matters any more. I did kill him, if I had never come into his life he would have stayed alive and happy, nothing can change that fact." Terra hid her face between her knees. They sat within the rock chasm unmoving, the conscious and unconscious alike. When the echoes died away, the gorge was filled with silence. None of them moved, Cyborg stood, Star floated quietly and Terra sat on the cold stone crying. Then a voice from above them broke the stillness.
"I think they disserve to hear the story Terra. It affects them too you know." The three teens looked up. A strange young girl sat of the ledge above with her legs dangling over the edge. She was dressed in a strange looking jester suit and she was smiling. "So why not finish the tale. Tell of how Hunter had planned to use Ann to control people like us. Tell of how they used your clone to destroy a large part of the city turn the public against all our kind. Tell them Terra, because Hunter won't stop, and he will accomplish his goal unless we stop him." Terra glared up at the smiling jester,
"Wait, what was that?" Cyborg suddenly regained his ability to speak
"You two have no idea what I'm talking about of coarse. How could you, your just the same as the countless others who have no clue about the horrific fate that awaits them. That's why you trusted Hunter in the first place, when he sent you to kill Terra." Cyborg looked away in shame when Terra tried to make eye contact with him. The jester continued, "He's already got another assassin lined up to take you out, so you best listen if you expect to survive." The joker slipped from her perch and floated softly to the ground.
"Who are you?" Star was obviously confused,
"My friends call me Alice, but you kids can call me Sparks. I'm here to tell you what you don't know about this sorry state of affairs, you guys are sourly under informed on the mess you've managed to get yourselves in." She walked over and sat crossed legged on a large stone next to the edge of the gorge. "But first we need a fire, it's getting dark."
Sparks snapped her fingers and a small glowing ember appeared in the air, it floated down on to a small pile of foliage and ignited. The fire burned bright enough to illuminate the dark cavern, the sun was sinking in the west and the sun light was all but gone. Sparks smirked to her self and tuned to Cyborg,
"Big guy, go gather up your palls, they'll be regaining consciousness here in a sec and they'll need to hear this." Cyborg stood,
"You never really answered Star's question. Who the hell are you? For all we know you could be the other assassin." Terra glared up at Sparks through the fire.
"Terra makes a good point, how the hell do you know this Hunter guy?" Cyborg set Robin, Ann and Torrent gently to the ground as he spoke.
"Well, if I was working for General Hunter, then why would I tell you all about his secrets? As for how I know them, you guys aren't the only ones with powers you know. I'm a mystic, I can see what's going on in other parts of the world, but my visions are usually limited to the only most important events." Alice thought for several more moments then said, "So, I guess you're just going to have to trust me. I really don't have much time, so we should get started."
Cyborg and Starfire sat on either side of Terra, and Sparks started her story.
"Hunter was, and still is a general in the US Marines. He started in the lower ranks and worked his way up with surprising speed. That's when the organization that's trying to kill or control all of us took notice of him. They have an agent in almost every government around the world, but they never miss a chance to get another informant. Hunter has always had a deep seeded hatred for the gifted, something involving a death in the family. When the organization offered him a chance to control our kind in a world wide scale, he couldn't resist.
"Using the resources available to him and with the organization backing him up, Hunter began a project to create a super soldier, for the war he was planning to start. That's when he came upon Torrent over there. Hunter wanted to use his accelerated learning abilities, but Torrent slipped through his fingers. After spending considerable time and money looking for him he moved on. Next he attempted to gain access to the Teen Titans and their abilities, through Slade. I'm still not sure if Slade was working for him, or he was just being controlled. The first that Slade set out for was Robin, but Robin failed to be controlled just as Torrent had. Hunter realized that he couldn't subdue the gifted in to joining his side, so Hunter created the control disk, but Torrent was long gone and the Titans where obviously to strong to be assaulted directly.
"This is where you came in Terra, your path happens to lead you across the Titan and Hunter's agent, Slade. You joined the Titans and met Beast Boy. You stayed here instead of moving on in spite of your best instincts. But then you slipped from grace, didn't you. Slade gained your trust and turned you against the Titans, and for a while Hunters plan worked, you found the Titans weaknesses and you gave them to Hunter. Then Beast Boy almost changed your mind. Beast Boy stopped you from completely destroying the Titans. This scared Slade into taking the more direct and drastic approach of complete involuntary servitude. To Hunter's delight the control disk worked perfectly, but Beast Boy foiled Slade attempt of control yet again. Terra sacrificed her self to save the city she was meant to destroy. But you didn't die Terra."
Terra looked up in surprise, "What do you mean."
"I mean you're not a clone Terra, or at least I don't think you are. Hunter can't create a perfect clone yet, his breakthroughs in genetics are impressive but not flawless. You where frozen in a prison of rock for a long time, until Hunter found and revived you. That doesn't mean that you're the original Terra however. Somehow he split you right down the middle… good and evil to put it bluntly. Type B is the other side of you, that evil that's always been hiding within you." Alice stopped and starred down at Terra waiting for her to respond, and after several moments she did.
"So, I was evil…. or at least half evil. Deep down did I really want to do those horrible things… even to Beast Boy?" Terra looked up at Alice,
"Not all of them, your entire being cared for Beast Boy, so in theory Type B must love him too… that is if you really did love him. If that is the case, then I don't think that Beast Boy is dead." A gleam of hope appeared in the eyes of Spark's listeners. Any chance, however slight, that BB might still be alive gave hope.
"But why would he capture our Beast Boy? Hunter hates our kind." Star lifted from the ground and floated closer to Alice as she asked her question.
"Hunter has nothing against controlling and using us though. In Fact he'd rather use the gifted to fight the gifted, rather then use normal humans. He might be crazy but he's not stupid, and he's got the organization backing him. You shouldn't worry Starfire, your not one of us, you're an alien, Cyborg is a robot and Robin is just a normal human, none of you are in any danger here. We on the other hand need to find Beast Boy, but I'm afraid that in that I can not help you."
"Ok, then what do you suppose we do?" Terra was getting frustrated at Alice's vague expressions,
"Hell if I know, my power is in the present not the future, I just came to let you know what kind of deep shit your in. You've got decipher a way to get out of it. I've been running from Hunter almost as long as Torrent has, the sooner you take him out the better. When I get another vision you'll see me again, I'll see you around." Sparks stood and started walking toward the exit of the gorge.
"Wait your just taking off, why don't you help us!" Terra's yell echoed violently against the stone walls.
"Help you? What do you think I just did? Now you know what you're dealing with. As for fighting, that's never been my thing, I just tell people things. Catch you latter." Alice jumped in to the air and floated away.
Cyborg and Star went home to there tower with Robin, and Terra was left alone, Ann and Torrent where still unconscious from their fight with the Titans. The strange jester's predictions had left her a good many things to occupy her mind, the hope of Beast Boy being alive gave her a little strength but it was still just a hope. The prospect of being the better half of her former self seemed doubtful to her. Terra sat next to the fire rapped in her thoughts until Ann awoke. Ann sat up rubbing her eyes as if she had just been sleeping,
"Yawn! Whew, what happened?" Ann had that 'just woke up' look in her eyes.
"Well, the Titans are gone, they went home." Terra didn't look at the awakening Ann when she spoke, she just starred in to the flames thinking,
"Oh… did we win." Ann started to rub the sleep from the corner of her eyes,
"Um, I don't think either of us won. We just got kind of got interrupted." Terra told Ann about the strange jester named Alice and of her account about Hunter. Ann seemed interested at first but her attention broke when she saw Torrent lying next to the fire all cut up. She cried out and ran over to his side,
"Jesus, what did they do to him?" Ann began to inspect Torrent for injuries.
"Well he kind of took on all three Titans, he got their leader."
"I thought you said their where five of these guys."
"Yea, I don't know where Raven is, but Beast Boy…" Terra couldn't finish, because she didn't really know how to.
"Something happened to him didn't it?" Ann either used her physic abilities or she just saw it in the expression on Terra's face, but Ann knew that Beast Boy was dead. "Oh God, I'm sorry Terra, what happened."
"The jester said that Hunter might just have imprisoned him so he could use his abilities, but she was just guessing." The two girls starred in to the fire in silence. Then Torrent groaned and sat up.
"You're awake!" Ann leapt on top of Torrent embracing him tightly. She squeezed him hard enough for the air to get pushed from his lungs. He grunted slightly but smiled down at her none the less.
"You took quite the beating there Torrent, are you ok?" Terra managed a small smile. He turned to her and gave the thumbs up. "Well, we should get moving, can you walk Torrent?" He nodded and stood. They walked this time instead of traveling on a flying hunk of granite, they continued moving west away from the city, once again Terra tried to leave her problems behind, and as before it would not work.