In Purgatory's Shadow

Chapter 6: Lesser Evil

Somewhere in a slummish part of the city, an abandoned hockey rink sat in a state of disrepair. Within it, a certain green changeling was finally awakened to his surroundings. Once his vision had become clear, he would have bolted up at his unfamiliar environment save for the fact that his entire body felt like it had been mashed into a slushy machine, "Oooohhhoh, I think I have a brain freeze in my whole body." He groaned. The most he could figure out from his position was that he was lying on a hard wooden bench, covered with a fur coat (of which he only prayed wasn't real fur). His chamber was small, couldn't be more than 10 feet square, and all of the walls around him seemed to be made of solid concrete. The only light source being from the open doorway… "The door's open!" He thought to himself as he rolled over to try to stand, but only fell roughly on the ground, as his limbs were still terribly stiff and sore.

He moaned from the pain of his ribs hitting the hard floor as an earlier injury came back to haunt him. He then noticed that a thin figure eclipsed the light from the doorway. "So you've finally rolled out of bed," Isis mocked. Beast Boy cringed as he saw that the girl was reaching for a water bottle at her belt. But to his surprise, all that she did was neatly place the bottle down on the ground beside his head. "Drink it, you're very dehydrated." Beast Boy looked on in confusion as she motioned to close the door, "I'll see about getting you some food," She said with absolutely no hospitality, "Oh, and if you have any ideas about transforming into something really big to smash out of here, I suggest you look up," Beast Boy followed her finger and gasped as he saw that the ceiling was littered with razor sharp icicles prone to run him though if he were to provoke them.

"Wait!" Beast Boy spoke up, "Why are you doing this?"

"Because you're no good to me if you die," Isis answered bluntly before she closed the door and fastened several locks, leaving him in utter darkness.

Left to his own devices, the first thought that crossed Beast Boy's mind is how to escape. He gripped the water bottle then rolled over onto his back, bringing the bottle up to his face, but not to drink. Robin once told him that when forming an escape plan, one needs all of the tools he can get. He then thought about the other tools at his disposal, that being the fur coat and the icicles hanging above his head. Nothing of particular intelligence graced his thoughts on the matter. Until he recalled some old spy movie when the hero, in a similar predicament, faked death to get the guard's attention. It then occurred to him that Isis needed him alive, yet at the same time left him with a death trap to keep him from getting any big ideas. He then formed a brilliant plan. Well, brilliant for his capacity. But it all had to be executed at the right moment, when Isis would come back to check on him. All that he needed to do at the moment was pull the fur coat over him and try to rest his body while keeping one ear open. He needed to be ready and able to transform if this was going to work.

Starfire cringed as a flash of lightning crossed the sky, despite carrying an umbrella, she had been out in the storm long enough to get plenty wet and cold. She then noticed that her communicator was chiming and she floated over to the shelter of a nearby building, shifted her umbrella against her shoulder, and opened up her communicator, "Yes, Robin?"

"Have you found anything, Starfire?" Robin asked, his image and voice coming out with a bit of static from the storm.

Starfire shook her head, "I am sorry, but I have found nothing that will lead us to Isis or Beast Boy," she then wiped some snot from her running nose, "May I come home now?"

Robin was about to give her permission when Raven chimed over the other line. Her image just as garbled as Robin's, "Are you saying that you can survive floating around in the sub-zero vacuum of space, but you can't take a little thunder storm?"

Robin diverted his attention to Raven, "And how are things on your end?"

"There is nothing on the beach that tells where she went. Or if there was, it's probably washed away by now."

"I doubt Isis is the kind to leave footprints anyways," Robin deduced, "Maybe we should try looking around the warehouses at the harbour. Unless you want to come in and-"

Raven cut him off, "No, I can keep looking. You just work on getting some answers from that sister of her's."

"You mean Terra," Robin corrected. But Raven cut out without a response. He shook his head then turned back to Starfire, "If you want, you can come in now and I'll take over your shift."

Starfire gave a "Thank you," before ending the communication.

Back at the Tower, Robin rubbed his eyelids as he placed his communicator back on his belt. Heavy rain slid down the large window of the common area like a waterfall as Robin made his way over to the semicircle couch where the golem girl sat with her knees up to her chest, staring distantly off into nothing.

"How are you feeling?" Robin asked as he sat down.

"I don't!" Terra responded sharply, almost in a sob.

"Oh… right." Robin rubbed the back of his neck. "Care to tell us about your sister or what she wanted from you?"

Terra took too long to respond so Cyborg, whom was standing silently by the window, spoke up, "How about telling us what 'the Gaia' is supposed to mean?"

Terra still wouldn't respond as depression had taken a hold of her. Robin pressed on, "Terra, please, Beast Boy is out there somewhere, and right now you're our only hope of finding him!"

Cyborg moved closer with a more sympathetic approach, "Look, I understand what you're going through right now. I can't feel anything either, and almost all of the senses that I have left are run through a computer program. But the important thing is that you're alive and kicking. And right now we're trying to see to it that BB stays the same way."

"The Gaia… It's a curse in our family," Terra finally spoke up, but almost as if she was talking to herself, "We're twins but she was the lucky one, she was born without it. I don't know what it is; I don't even know why we call it that. All I know is that it is the reason why I had too much power to control, why I'm like… this, and why all I can do is hurt people wherever I go!"

"Terra, I know that you're going through a tough time right now," Robin consoled, "but everyone makes mistakes, and everyone has something dark in their past. But that'll never change who you are right here and now."

Terra studied him for a moment then turned her head, "How can you say that after all that I've done to you?"

"Raven would call it lesser of two evils, I'd like to think of it as a chance to redeem yourself." Robin said as he extended a hand out to Terra.

She looked at his hand then looked back up to his face. A slight smile crept up the side of her stone features, "I thought you said that my last chance was my last chance."

"We've all had a year to think about our mistakes," He returned a smile.

"So what do you want me to do? I certainly don't know where my sister would be hiding so should I be out there with Starfire and Raven searching the city?"

"No, from what we know, Isis is still after you- after the Gaia. And she's probably holding Beast Boy for hostage negotiations." His attention was diverted as Starfire stepped through the door, "We both have our trump cards in hand, the question is, who's going to make the first move?" and with that he stood up and walked towards Starfire, "Don't worry, we'll find him. Everyone here should rest up if they can," He said before leaving to take up the search.

As the door closed behind him, Terra sighed silently to herself, "I don't sleep either."

Back at the abandoned hockey arena, the blonde ice princess walked down the hallway carrying a few bags of chips and candy bars in hand, contemplating to herself whether this stuff was okay to eat after sitting in the rink's vending machine for so long. But it was no real concern to her whether or not Beast Boy's prison meal was stale. As she approached the storage room where she was keeping the Titan captive, she heard a growl akin to that of a grizzly bear, followed by progressive pounding on the door. She ran the rest of the distance to the door and yelled on through to the other side, "Didn't you hear me the first time! If you keep doing that those icicles will come down and KILL you!" Her protest was met with a crackling sound followed by a shatter and a beastly yelp. She cursed as she rapidly undone all of the locks and swung the door open to see a lifeless mass of fur lying on the floor, pierced though with the icicles that she warned him about. "You idiot," she scoured as she stepped into the room, "I can't believe that you… wait a minute, aren't you supposed to be green?" She had just realized that she had been duped in time to turn around to see a green spider monkey claw it's way from above the door frame to outside the chamber, landing in the hallway in human form.

He glared at her as he took the door in solid grip. Swiftly slamming it shut before she was able to send the icicles after him. The frosty lances exploded against the opposition of the steel door. Beast Boy quickly worked his was down the series of bolt locks, securing his captor in the cell. Isis punched the door in vein, letting the dull ring accentuate her frustration. "She's not the same as you remember her!" She screamed, "You don't know what she's become!" Her protests were left unanswered, as the changeling had already made his way down the hall- to freedom.

The streets and alleys of the city stood in quiet solitary as the rain finally let up. The silence only to be broken by a crimson motorcycle pressing it's way though, leaving the afterimage of its taillights in the hanging mist. Driven by raw determination, Robin scanned left to right as he barrelled down each street. If it wasn't for his honed reflexes and heightened awareness of his surroundings, he surely would have run over Beast Boy as the green changeling came stumbling out of an alleyway right in front of him. He fishtailed his bike onto its side and skidded to a halt a near foot from making Beast Boy's day any worse.

Robin leaped off his bike and gripped his friend by the shoulders, rambling at him with a flurry of questions concerning where he's been and what happened. Beast Boy only responded by swaying loosely from his collective injuries and dehydration. "Hockey," He muttered with his eyes half open before falling limp in his friend's arms.

"Everyone," Robin spoke into his communicator as he sat the semiconscious Beast Boy onto the back of his motorcycle, "I've found him and we're coming home."

About half an hour later, Cyborg awaited the return of his comrades in the Tower's garage. The large mechanized doors to the underwater tunnel, which connects the Tower to the city streets, beeped and whirled in a kaleidoscope of metal, clearing the way for Robin to roll through with Beast Boy in tow.

"I found him running around the slums," Robin informed, "he's a little worse for wear but at least he's still alive."

"How ya feeling?" Cyborg asked as he helped Beast Boy off the bike.

"All in all, I think my butt has had enough kicking for one evening," Beast Boy half jokingly responded as he tried to rotate his sore arms.

"You're a real trooper," Cyborg smiled, "Here, I've got something that'll help things along. It's a medicinal anti cell damage injection." He took the liberty of applying it to Beast Boy's arm, "It'll fix up any permanent damage you would have had from Isis turning you into a Popsicle. But I tell ya, if you hadn't done that little frog trick of yours, a truck load of this stuff wouldn't help you."

"What can I say," Beast Boy grinned, "when you can turn into every animal, it helps to do your homework."

"Well, it's good to have you back," Robin patted him on the shoulder, "We've all been worried about you, especially Terra."

Beast Boy shot a look at him full of pure confusion, "Terra! What are you talking about?"

Robin studied his friend's expression, "What was the last thing you remember from your fight with Isis in the cavern?"

"Um, I remember that I had her right where I wanted her, then she did this thing where she froze me from the inside out and started roughing me up… and I don't remember anything after that." He then thought about the question for a moment, "Wait, are you saying that Terra is alive? And here?"

Beast Boy sprinted for the stairs calling the girl's name while Robin tried to stop him, "Wait, there's something you should know first!" he yelled in vein.

Somewhere in the tower, a sad little Golem Girl walked aimlessly down the halls, she was lost in her own deep thoughts when she heard a familiar voice frantically calling her name and getting progressively louder. "Beast Boy? N-No!" she quietly said to herself, not even beginning to fathom how she'd confront him in her current form. Panicking, she slipped down another hallway to escape the object of her affection.

In her retreat, she bumped right into Starfire, "Why do you avoid him?" Starfire asked, getting right to the point.

"Starfire, I- I can't let him see me like this! Please, you have to cover for me!"

"There is nothing wrong with you, Friend Terra. And I shall not 'cover for you' as there is nothing that you need have hidden," Starfire said in a serious tone.

"Look, now's not the time for the old speech about how it's what's inside that counts. I just don't know how Beast Boy will take seeing me like this!"

Starfire sighed, "I think he'll understand," She said as she gently placed a hand on Terra's shoulder and turned her around to face Beast Boy, whom was surprised to see her like that, but was in no way repulsed.

"Terra? Is that you?" Beast Boy asked in astonishment.

Terra shied in response "Um… h-hi Beast Boy, I'm sorry that-"

She didn't finish as Beast Boy walked right up to her and wrapped his arms around her without hesitation. Almost coming to tears, "They all told me you were gone! But I never gave up! I never stopped hoping!" Terra tried to comfort him; she slowly returned the embrace and tried to put as much of herself into it. But it was difficult for her; she couldn't feel him hugging her, and she was sure that all he could feel was cold stone.

Robin silently came up beside Starfire, "I guess he had to find out sooner or later," he said, observing the two recollecting a year's loss.

"They are very close to each other," Starfire nodded, "But what are we to do now, about Isis?"

"We know where she's hiding and she doesn't have her hostage anymore. I say that we take the advantage while we can."

Moment's later, all six of the Titans congregated within the living room with Robin standing before them with the large screen pulled downed displaying a digital overhead map of the city.

"We've got a fix on her location" Robin said curtly, gesturing to the map. "We shouldn't waste time. The longer we let her be, the longer she has to ambush us. I'm not letting her make fools of us twice."

"She doesn't need time." Cyborg shook his head. "It's an abandoned hockey rink. She's got all the ammo she needs at her fingertips. If we go barging in, she's gonna make us regret it."

"Sneak attack." Robin nodded. "We're gonna need some coordination on this one."

"I say we cut off the water supply." Cyborg suggested. "Granted, she's already got plenty of ice there to work with, but no reason why we should let her make more."

"Agreed." Robin gave his consent. "Star and Raven can go in through the roof. Cyborg can cut the water supply and come in through the basement. Beast Boy and I will try hitting the place from behind. "What about you, Terra? She's your sister."

"Which should make this my fight, not yours." Terra sighed. Once again, she was dragging the Titans into her own problems. Her comment brought silence from the rest of the team, broken after several beats by Raven.

"And now we see but through a glass darkly." She said quietly, almost to herself.

"I'm sorry?" Terra repeated.

"I know it hurts." Raven explained herself. "But sometimes, you have to look in the mirror, even when you don't like what you see."

"Isis and I haven't gotten along since before I can remember." Terra sighed, an eerie picture, since she didn't respirate in her current form. "But I never knew she would turn out like this. Now I'm watching her make the same mistakes I made, and I wonder if this is all either of us our good for."

"That's not true." Starfire interrupted, placing a hand on Terra's shoulder.

"It must be!" Terra said forcefully. "We just keep repeating our sad history."

"I too, have a sister." Starfire said sadly. "We are siblings, but there is little about us that is the same. My sister, Blackfire, is not my mirror image. In fact, she's really not a very nice person. And even though she is my sister... she is not me."

"But don't you feel responsible for her? Don't you feel like her actions are your fault?"

"No matter what Blackfire does, she isn't me." Starfire explained.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I use my abilities for what I wish. I am committed to making myself a better person. I wish to be someone my K'Norfka can be proud of. Blackfire does not. And Isis doesn't either."

Terra shuttered and closed her eyes, pretending that she could still breathe or cry, "Can you just… give me a moment?" She didn't wait for consent as she turned and walked right out of the room.

Robin nudged Beast Boy; "Maybe you should go talk to her."

Terra!" Beast Boy called as he caught up the Golem Girl just as she was about to disappear into her room. She stopped and slowly turned around, giving Beast Boy her attention, "Please, tell me what's wrong."

"What's wrong? Do you mean everything that's messed up in my life or just the fact that we're planning an assault on my own flesh and blood? Ironic that I used that phrase, isn't it? Seeing as how I have no flesh and blood! It just seems that no matter how hard I try, no matter where I go, all I end up doing is hurting people. Even when I tried to stick it out on my own, I only caused trouble when I wanted to help. I should have just given it to her; I should have done what she told me. Then I wouldn't be stuck like this. Then I never would've let myself get used by Slade. Then I never would have hurt so many people." Terra whimpered, making a sound that was akin to crying, only she no longer had tears to cry.

"Then we would never have met you," Beast Boy added, "Look, you can't blame yourself for everything. Isis is the one who messed with us, not you. In fact, you pretty much saved me in that cavern"

"Saved you?" Terra spat, "Don't you get it Beast Boy? It's my fault that you nearly got killed and was kidnapped in the first place! If anything else this is my fight. I feel that I can't risk dragging you guys into it anymore."

"Don't think like that. In case you haven't noticed, we Titans have a habit of getting involved in things that don't concern us. But this, this is completely different, you're a Titan, and if anyone has a problem with you, they'll just have to deal with all of us!" Beast boy pressed his thumb against his chest.

"It's not just that Beast Boy," She said as she placed both hands on his shoulders, "Ever since I… came back, like this… when you hugged me earlier… I can't feel anything, or smell, or breathe, or cry, or taste anything. I can't even sleep."

"Terra… I didn't know… what…"

"Look, this is something that I shouldn't be telling you," She looked around the hall, "But I think Isis can cure me. The thing that causes my powers to go out of control, why I turned to stone, and why I'm like this, it's all caused by something called the Gaia. And Isis is the only one who can take it from me."

"And what happens when she does?"

"I don't know, but it's better than living like this. I know that Robin wouldn't approve, giving something so powerful to our enemy. But I just can't stand it anymore- living in this shell of an existence."

"Terra, please don't do anything stupid," Beast Boy begged, "We can help you. You're one of us, and nothing that you did in the past can change that."

"You're so eager to forgive me when I'm not even ready to forgive myself," despite not being able to feel him, she embraced Beast Boy in a long hug, "It's my fight Beast Boy, my family, my curse, and my problem. I can't let any of you get involved anymore. I'm sorry, I truly am."

She then let go, stepped inside her room and closed the door. It took Beast Boy a moment to realize that Terra had slipped her communicator into his hand, "Terra?" he asked through the door. After a moment with no response, he opened the door to find the room empty, the far window pulled open with a free breeze flowing through, "No! Please no!" he said in shock before running down the hall to warn the rest of his friends.

Clear across town, back at the old abandoned hockey rink, Isis, whom at great effort managed to escape from the prison, was taking out her frustration on the poor, defenceless zamboni machine. "The stupid, annoying, little freak of nature!" She cursed as she pierced the machine with ice broken off the rink floor to ascent each proclamation, "I can't believe that I let him trick me like that!" Her venting was abruptly halted as she felt a familiar and alluring presence. She devilishly turned around and looked up to see Terra standing in the frame of a long since broken window up in the rafters. "Terra… how nice of you to come. Are you ready to let your sister make all the bad things go away?" The solemn Golem Girl offered no response as she floated down to ground level, "That's right, mom always said that we should share," She grinned with an evil laugh.

Author's Notes:
Wow, over 4,000 words, that's certainly larger than my average entry. But then again, I had a lot I wanted to cover in this chapter, which also explains why this chapter took so long to write. Well, that and since I have two stories going on at the same time, I keep them both up by alternating between the chapters. I just noticed that this is the first chapter of IPS that doesn't have a fight scene in it. Guess I'll have to make up for it in the next chapter, eh? Mwa ha ha ha ha ha! Anyways, I also have a little treat for you. Just follow this link provided below and you'll see character designs for Isis and Terra as the Golem Girl. For those of you who don't read my Time Capsule story (check out the author's notes of chapter 7 of that story for character designs of the Time Capsule cast) I am an artist first and a writer second. Well, until next time, bye.

You know the drill, just replace all the (dot)'s with actual dots in the URL. And replace the (colon, slash, slash) with well, you know.

http(colon, slash, slash)forums(dot)titansgo(dot)net/viewtopic(dot)php?t5195