Hi guys, this chapter's another glimpse (just a glimpse) into the past of Terra and her friends. Oh yeah, and a prelude to some big fights. Hope you like it.

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Glossary:

Pistolet Yarygina: The current (2003-) Russian police and military standard issue handgun. It looks suspiciously similar to the Browning Hi Power and is also quite mechanically similar. It fires a "hot loaded" version of the standard 9mm parabellum rounds from a 17 round clip.

MARPAT: New US Marine Corps camouflage pattern derived from the Canadian "digital cammo" pattern that uses a series of many squares, each of varying size and colour, to create a pixilation effect. At a glance, it doesn't look very effective, it and it's Canadian counterpart don't look very effective however the MARPAT cammo pattern was commissioned and created after studies revealed that it's Canadian counterpart was more effective than anything else.

Ka-Bar: Combat knife manufacturers that supply basically the entire US armed forces and several other armed forces. Their main feature is the black, non-reflective coating covering the entire blade except for the cutting edge.

Smith and Wesson Model 29: The original .44 Magnum Revolver. It's big, powerful and intimidating. Dirty Harry's weapon of choice. Still in production and widely regarded as a classic. A must have for collectors, devout Dirty Harry fans and people who need to compensate for their ridiculously undersized genitalia.

Cross-Draw holster: A hip holster worn on the opposite hip to the shooter's shooting hand that requires the shooter reach across their body with their shooting arm to grasp the gun. Well suited to guns with long barrels that would be too slow to draw from conventional hip or thy holsters.

Zulu: Photonic alphabet for the letter Z. Whilst most associate the photonic alphabet with the military, it is commonly is used over radio or other transitions to avoid confusion due to poor reception. Pilots and truckers in particular quite commonly use the photonic alphabet.

Spetsnaz: Russian elite special forces. The training course which Spetsnaz operators undergo is essentially torture even by Russia's laws which are farley lenient on the subject. However the particularly high quality of the soldiers that this training course produces is more than enough to make the authorities look the other way. Spetsnaz soldiers are some of the toughest and best trained killers in the world. Consequently they are particularly sought after for mercenary work. They are up there with the likes of Delta Force (the most elite US special forces unit, their existence ahs never been officially acknowledged), the SAS (the original and arguably the best special forces unit), the SASR (Australian sister unit to the SAS) and the Sayeret Matkal (Israel's most elite special forces unit, responsible for some of the most crazy yet brilliant operations the world has ever seen including the Entebbe rescue)

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In a dark room somewhere, Jinx, Mammoth and Gizmo neat before several seated figures wearing purple H.I.V.E. robes. The room was only lit by a projector screen showing footage recorded from Gismo's shoulder camera. The three adolescents knew that failing to kidnap their target when they had him trapped and out numbered 3-1 would lead their superiors to question their usefulness. They also knew that H.I.V.E. members who had ceased to be useful were disposed of. Naturally they were shaking with fear.

The voice belonging ing to the first of these robed and hooded people was that of an old man

"This is an outrage! Your mounting failures against the Teen Titans have not only cost the H.I.V.E. many precious resources, but you're actions have repeatedly humiliated us. It's time we made an examp…"

The robed and hooded figure was silenced by another identically clad figure raising his hand.

"Let us not be too hasty, brothers and sisters." The voice was that of a British male. His speech was eloquent and well annunciated. "These three are some of our most treasured instruments. I do not deny that they have failed us. But against the Titans, none who still live have performed better. Even with vastly superior resources, Brother Blood fell against them, now a mere shadow of his former self incarcerated in Steel City Prison."

"Slade…"

"Slade is most likely dead. The circumstances of his last bout with the Titans would quite plausibly leave no remains. "

A third robed figure spoke, this one had a rough edged, business like, female voice.

"Tell me brother; you of all people are not one to show mercy without reason. Enlighten us"

"Pay attention."

The robed figure pressed a few buttons causing the footage to re wind to the point Angela was standing next to Terra's rocky form, then zoomed till they filled the screen.

"Though Brother Blood's academies for the gifted have been lost, they have not been our only sources for recruiting and training gifted individuals. There are various training facilities into which we arranged for a particularly gifted student to be planted. This was done to evaluate the facility and its potential usefulness. If such a facility was found to be useful we would infiltrate its ranks, sway its teaching and recruit the products and use them to do our bidding. Several terrorist training camps around the world were taken over this way to recruit and train the H.I.V.E. soldiers used to protect our facilities. These two, I believe, may come from a particular US government research and development facility. Fortunately, I have instructed two of our operatives involved in that operation to wait outside. Given the nature of this hearing I thought it convenient to have replacements and executioners on hand. If the council has no objections, I will summon them"

The room was silent save for a soft moan from Jinx. The teenager clearly did not want to die.

"Very well. Cain! Yuri! Enter!"

A large man wearing the uniform of a H.I.V.E. soldier and a fifteen year old boy entered. Like all H.I.V.E. soldiers, this one's uniform was designed to hide his features making him look inhuman and intimidating. The only thing unusual about him was that instead of the standard issue H.I.V.E. laser pistol, he wore a Pistolet Yarygina in a tactical hip holster.

The boy had very pale blond curly hair and piercing bright fluorescent green eyes. He was a little taller than Jinx (not including her hair) though instead of her slender figure, he possessed a substantially boarder and more muscular one. He wore black combat boots, woodland MARPAT camo pants, an olive green T shirt, a sheathed US military spec Ka-Bar bayonet and a Smith and Wesson Model 29 with a blued finish and a molded, rubberized grip in a black cross-draw holster. Were it not for his attire and weaponry, he could have passed as a choir boy.

"Cain. Approach me and surrender your weapons"

The boy, apparently known as Cain, strode forward to the robed figure and handed over the large revolver and the combat knife. The robed figure carefully examined the revolver before taking hold of it and flicking out the cylinder. After checking the chambers to find six .44 magnum rounds, he flicked the cylinder back into place.

"This is a very nice gun."

"Thank you sir."

"Cain, look at the two figures in this image. Can you identify them?"

The boy stared at the screen for a second, clearly concerned.

"The stone figure appears to be a highly faithful representation of the geomancer test subject Teresa, better known as Terra. However it is quite possible that the statue is actually her, the geomancers were known to turn to stone when they over exerted themselves. The semi-transparent one is almost definitely the only known successful optical camouflage subject, Angela."

"You are apparently troubled by this image. Tell the council why."

"This image raises questions about our operation with Facility Zulu. Terra was deployed three months before we hit the facility, but why is 'she' wearing a prototype neural interface suit with Slade's markings all over it when Web supposedly destroyed them all? Also, if the facility and its occupants were all eliminated, why is Angela still alive? Most concerning of all, why am I unarmed when the person who was handling both of these aspects of the operation is still armed and standing approximately five meters behind me?"

"Why indeed? Yuri, this is your chance to explain yourself. Chose your words carefully, or they may be your last."

The large man in the H.I.V.E. soldier's uniform spoke with a heavy Russian accent. His voice and body language betrayed no hint of fear.

"The failure was not on my end but that of our under cover operatives. They failed in their mission of keeping Dr Hurst from talking, consequently he alerted Web who left for Steel City, destroyed our production facility and eliminated all the other scientists on the project team while my men and I were in transit for our mission to take Facility Zulu. As for the invisible girl, we were not informed we had to be dealing with any invisible targets."

"Yuri, how long were you a member of the Spetsnaz before you came to work for us?"

"Five years."

"What rank did you hold?"

"Sergeant Major."

"That would make you a squad leader. And I don't doubt that the Russians taught you how to deal with subordinates who became traitors?"

"If you implying that…"

"I am implying nothing, the facts speak for themselves. The neural interface suits were supposedly all destroyed, yet you were guarding our production facility and one of them mysteriously turns up with Slade's markings on it. Apparently you thought we wouldn't notice the electronic transfer of five million dollars to your account from one which Slade used to launder money and fund his activities. "

"But I…"

"Cain. Dispose of this traitor."

Yuri wasted know time drawing and firing his Yarygina. The round struck Cain in his left shoulder though Cain kept coming. Before Yuri could get a second shot off, Cain had disarmed him, despite the wound in Cain's shoulder still oozing blood.

Jinx, Mamoth and Gizmo rose to assist Cain but were ordered to remain still.

As their duel turned into a hand to hand death match, Yuri called on all the skills of his Spetsnaz training. Even though Cain put up a good fight, Yuri was clearly the faster, stronger and more skilled opponent, landing several blows that should have killed Cain but the boy just didn't die. Cain eventually got a break, getting a clean blow to Yuri's throat. As Yuri gagged, Cain continued to pound Yuri's throat, crushing his trachea causing him to choke to death. After the large man stopped writhing in pain and went limp, Cain reached down for Yuri's throat and checked for a pulse.

"Kill confirmed."

Cain had won but he was a mess. His face was bruised and bleeding, his nose was at an angle, clearly broken and his shirt was soaked in blood. With his right hand, Cain clicked his broken nose back into position before removing his shirt and using the dry parts to wipe the blood off his face.

"Well done Cain. Retrieve your weapons"

Cain approached the robed figure, holstered the revolver and grasped his bayonet. Instead of holstering the knife, he dug jabbed the black blade into his shoulder and dug around it for a moment until the sound of a bullet bouncing on the floor could be heard.

"Must you do that in here?"

"My humble apologies, Council."

Cain used the remains of his shirt to wipe the blade of his bayonet and then the wound in his shoulder. He turned to the three other teenagers in the room, Ka-Bar still unsheathed and a slight glow coming from the blade's edge, the only part not covered in the black coating. His faced had completely healed and the three horrified teenagers could see the flesh and skin of his shoulder growing back before their eyes.

"That will no longer be necessary, Cain. This footage changes our priorities. For bringing us this footage, you three have earned a chance to redeem yourselves. I am placing you at Cain's disposal."

Cain sheathed the knife and turned to face the robed figures.

"What should I have them do?"

"You were indeed right about the statue being the geomancer test subject, Teresa, turned to stone. We know of this condition and we know that there was a treatment with a small success rate. In this case, the survival of the patient is in-consequential as long as the neural interface suit she's wearing survives. Your primary objective is its recovery. Your secondary objective is the elimination of the optical camouflage subject, Angela. She knows too much to risk letting her live. Your targets of opportunity are the Teen Titans. They must be made to pay for the damage they have done to the H.I.V.E. and for the shame that came with it."