In Purgatory's Shadow

Chapter 10: Method to her Madness

Beginning notes:
In response to various complaints about certain elements of the previous chapter such as the fight scene being too short, Isis defeated too easily, and Robin throwing away his moral values, I have rewritten chapter 9 to fix all of those problems. So I strongly suggest that you go back and re-read chapter 9 before reading this chapter. Not from the start if you don't want to, just from the beginning of the fight scene. Enjoy.

"Get up!" Robin demanded of the defeated Isis. The beaten and worn girl reluctantly did as she was told and Robin clasped both of her hands in large, mechanical handcuffs. Her face was emotionless. Her eyes were distant. It wasn't like she was solemn or remorseful; it was more like she was waiting.

"When we get close to the bay, do you think you can hold her under a sleep spell?" Robin asked Raven as he began to lead Isis back down the canyon.

"Easily," Raven confirmed.

"That's what you were waiting for, wasn't it?" Robin asked Isis with a tug on her arm, "To get close to the water again? Well you're out of luck. We know all your tricks"

"You shouldn't be so cocky," Isis quietly advised.

"Shut up!" Robin spat as he pushed her forward, forcing her to begin walking down the canyon. Isis offered no resistance and began the slow trek.

"How are you feeling?" Beast Boy asked Terra as they followed the group.

"I'm fine," she answered flatly, truly vexed with how messed up her life was and convinced that it couldn't possibly get better simply by imprisoning her twin sister.

"Are you sure?" Beast Boy pressed, "She did hit you pretty hard."

"Thanks for the concern, but I can handle myself. I just want to go back to the Tower and pretend that this horrible day never happened."

The rest of the slow journey went on without conversation. They were all tired, worn, and beaten. All they wanted to do was call this day to an end and see a brighter tomorrow. But in less than a minute, Isis abruptly stopped. "Keep moving, we don't have any patience for your games!" Robin said with another push.

Isis jerked forward but stood her ground. The persistent smirk on her lips became broader, "…It's coming," she sang, "I can feel it."

"You are not in a position to be threatening us!" Starfire warned.

Just then, a small pellet of ice, no bigger than a marble, fell onto the ground. Isis stared at the pellet happily then turned to face the Titans with a smile, "It wasn't a threat."

In a second, another pellet of ice fell from the heavens, than another and another. Soon the ground was littered with them. It quickly became apparent to everyone that the worst of all possible luck had befallen them. It was a hailstorm.

"Raven! Knock her out!" Robin yelled. Raven tried to comply by merely beginning her mantra. But Isis only looked at her with feral eyes engulfed in blue light and a million pellets swept up from the ground and assaulted Raven like an enraged hive of bees. Raven shielded her face as the pellets swarmed and stung her.

Without order, the rest of the Titans came to attack Isis. But unfortunately, her minions were plentiful and constantly growing in number. All of the heroes were struck- rapidly and hard, from every possible direction. While the hailstorm came focused on the Titans like a plague of flesh-hungry locust, Isis brought some of her minions to chip away at that which bounded her hands. When her restraints where weakened enough, she broke her arms free and she swung her hands forward, silhouetted in the blue light.

There was nothing that the Titans could do; any hopes or efforts to separate Isis from her element were completely shot to hell. No matter how bravely they fought, they were simply out numbered a million to one. Isis backed them against a wall, her hands pushing them back with their command over the flurry of ice.

With the Titans completely pinned down, Isis deterred one hand to rise into the air. Above her head she crafted five jagged icicles, composed of airborne ice pellets.

"This is it, Titans!" Isis called out, "You have failed. It is impossible to fight me now. You might as well face it; you are all going to die. Perhaps you could have lived a little longer if you didn't insist on protecting my sister. Believe me, she is not worth throwing your lives away."

Without another word she signalled the firing squad to execute the row of heroes pinned against the wall. But at the last possible moment, Terra jumped in front of the helpless heroes. "Stop!" She yelled.

Isis's face shook in a start and she quickly willed her creations to spread out of the way, clattering harmlessly against the ground. "Get out of the way, Terra!" she demanded in a growl.

"No!" Terra shot back, spreading her arms out wide to protect her friends, "If- if you want to get to them, than you're going to have to go through me!"

Isis laughed, clearly seeing how afraid her sister was despite her bold actions, "You're powerless now! I've already gotten what I wanted from you. What makes you think you could possibly stop me?"

"I've already stopped you," Terra pointed out.

Isis frowned and brought another jagged icicle into creation, "One more time, Terra! Either move out of the way or I will kill you!"

"I'm not afraid of you," Terra stated with eyes squinted closed.

Isis took a moment to hesitate before she motioned to lunge her arm forward. But she simply couldn't. She even tried closing her eyes so that she wouldn't have to see but she just couldn't 't will herself to do it. Soon, she resulted in sending the icicle hurling against the far wall in a fit of rage. She then looked back at her sister in contempt.

Terra was at first shocked at Isis's actions, but then she slowly dropped her arms and stepped closer to her sister, "You… you can't do it, can you?" She assumed as she placed a hand on her twin's shoulder. Isis flinched but did not reject her, "As much as you hate me you can't bring yourself to cross that line. I know Isis; I know what you're going through right now. I've been there myself. Please don't make the same mistake I did. I can help you."

Isis's expression slowly became warm. She wore a smile, but it was not her characteristic smile of beastly intent, this one appeared to be genuine. She drifted an arm up and placed it on Terra's shoulder. Then, she looked her straight in the eyes and said, "…You're wrong."

Terra didn't have time to absorb that statement as Isis flexed her fingers and sent a sharp, frosty pain shooting through her sister's shoulder. Terra fell one knee, screeching in pain, soon to be shut up as Isis kneed her in the face. The poor girl spiralled to the ground near where the Titans remained against the wall. Beast Boy immediately came to her aid.

Terra, with a hand clasped to her face, looked up in horror as her sister created an ice platform and began to levitate a few feet over her. Her eyes have lost their humanity in the blue light, her hair rippled in the violent winds.

"Don't assume that just because I don't want to kill you, doesn't mean that I have anything against causing you a great deal of pain," Isis stated, even her voice had lost any compassion that girl managed to reserve, "Believe me, I've dreamt about this moment for far too long to get turned around by some sappy little speech you've made up on the spot. And truth be told, I can only kill you once. No, I want more than that from you, I want you to suffer for as long as I see fit!"

"Isis," Terra pleaded through the bitterly cold winds whipping her hair around, "Why are you doing this? I'm your sister!"

"Don't you dare ask me to justify myself!" Isis snapped, an extra burst of cold wind accented her anger, nearly knocking the Titans on their feet, "You know exactly why I'm doing this! Or have you forgotten what you did? If you have than you deserve to die right here and now!" She formed an icicle in the air and lunged it at Terra's feet. If nothing but to make her jerk back in fear.

She could deny or ignore it as much as she liked, she could live her life pretending that it never happened, but Terra knew exactly what Isis meant. There was no hiding it anymore; the truth was coming out, "No! Please Isis! I said I was sorry! I didn't have any control back then! I didn't mean to, it was an accident!"

"Terra, what is she talking about?" Beast Boy asked. She tried to answer him but couldn't find the words.

"You have done horrible things, dear sister," Isis continued, "Unforgivable things!"

"No Isis, don't tell them!"

"But this was your greatest sin of all!"

"Stop it!" Terra yelled as she used what remained of her power to send a flurry of rocks at Isis, which she effortlessly encased in ice before they could hit her and sent them souring back to her sister at twice the force. One of them hit Terra in the stomach, another in the shin. She fell to the ground wrenching in pain and looked up to her sister in one last plea for mercy, but Isis only returned a hate filled glare.

"Do you remember the look on their faces?" Isis asked, enjoying every torturous moment, "Yes, I bet you do. I bet that you're haunted by them every night. But somehow, that doesn't begin to make up for what you did!"

"Please… no," Terra wheezed through the pain in her stomach.

"You know what? I'm glad Terra, I'm glad that you've found some people who you can call friends, I'm glad that you found yourself a nice little boyfriend too, and even a nice place to call home. Because now I can destroy everything that you hold dear, I will obliterate all that you tried so hard to gain in your life! I will make you pay for killing our parents!"

The last part of Isis's confession echoed throughout the canyon. "Terra… is this true?" Starfire asked. But the poor girl didn't answer her, only began sobbing into her hands.

"Oh yes, it's very true. I remember that day all too clearly," Isis said before staring into her open palm, "Did you know… that I was still holding onto her hand; onto our mother's hand, when she was crushed between two slabs of rock," she quivered and let on a shallow chuckle, "Do you realize... the affect that can have on a 10-year-old girl?"

All of the Titans were speechless. Isis wasted no time in cutting both of her arms through the air. Upon her command, millions of airborne ice pellets linked together into long chains and twined around the Titans like pythons. All that remained free was Terra. She did not wish to kill them yet… at least, not for the moment. Seeing the reaction they had to the truth, she couldn't help but tell them more, if only to further torture Terra before she slit their throats.

She knelt down in front of Terra and gripped her firmly by the face, making sure that her sister kept eye contact with her. This was the moment that she has been waiting years for, and she was going to make it last.

"Do you remember how Mommy and Daddy always gave all of their attention to you?"

"Isis… that's not-"

"Shut up!" Isis spat, errant saliva spattered Terra's face, "Did you think that they cared for you? That they loved you? Of course you would think that, you were their favourite little girl, the one with all the power. Well, guess what my little natural disaster. They were AFRAID of you… WE were afraid of you! Have to keep Little Terra quiet and happy or else she'll loose control again and level another city block!"

"Leave her alone!" Beast Boy screamed. Isis only twitched an eye at him and his icy bonds coiled tighter around him. In this distracted moment, Isis didn't see Terra grip something in her hand.

"Isis… I have something to tell you…" Terra whispered.

"What?" Isis snapped at her, bringing herself back down to her sister's level.

"… You're a terrible sister!" And with that she swung an arm forward and shoved a gracious handful of dirt into Isis's eyes.

Caught in total shock, Isis stumbled backwards, loosing all concentration on whatever ice she employed to keep the Titans at bay. She rubbed her eyes vigorously, trying to get her vision back. She heard someone yell out "Titans, GO!" and the first thing she saw was a blurry mass of silver and blue getting bigger. Then it hit her… Cyborg's fist, that is.

Isis' vision narrowed as she staggered backwards, sheer willpower the only thing keeping her on her feet. She shoved aside the overwhelming desire to fall asleep and used it as a weapon, launching her weariness and pain against her adversary like a weapon all its own. She rapidly fastened a long staff for herself out of ice, drawing on the ambient energy of the storm. She was about to renew her assault on Cyborg when she caught a glimpse of Starfire out of her periphery vision; the fiery-haired alien swooped in low for an attack run. Isis feinted left to draw Cyborg's attention, then launched herself forward, using her staff like a pole vault to move gracefully out of Starfire's strafing run. Her boots impacted Cyborg's head with a satisfying smash as she completed her arc, letting go of the staff and landing on her feet. She reached a hand over her head to summon the weapon back to her after sticking her landing; she then launched it in Robin's general direction lest she be caught in the crossfire.

Beast Boy lumbered at her in the form of a charging mammoth, but Isis decided to ignore the threat and go after his primary weakness. Fastening two daggers, she rushed her sister, catching the emotionally crippled blonde by surprise. Terra struggled uselessly against the superior strength that the suit afforded Isis, and found herself rapidly driven back against the wall her friends had formerly been imprisoned against. The sound of an all-too-familiar chant greeted Isis' ears, and she was forced to divide her attention.

"My friends won't let you hurt me anymore than I'll let you hurt them!" Terra insisted.

"Really?" Isis asked, flicking her right wrist in one fluid motion, she morphed one of her daggers into a stable and firmly pinned her sister's opposing hand against the wall. Not missing a beat, Isis used her right hand to conjure up a shield against Raven's incoming barrage. The barrier did not last long, but then, Isis only needed a moment's respite.

The dark matter talon Raven conjured broke straight through the ice barrier and ripped into the wall. Raven stepped back in shock, thinking that she let on too much. No one could tell what happened as the dust raised from the impact obscured what was going on between the twins.

In a moment, two figures shot straight up from the obscurity on a floating ice platform. Isis stood in the centre with her arm wrapped around her sister at her front. She held a razor sharp ice blade at Terra's neck.

"I'll have to say that I underestimated you all!" Isis called out, "You are indeed tougher and smarter than you look. And I know all too well that the only reason why I have the upper hand right now is because of this favourable weather. But as soon as it stops my resources will become limited again… unless it doesn't stop; unless it never stops!"

"What the hell are you babbling about!" Cyborg yelled.

"If my dear sister can trigger and stop a volcano without even knowing what she was doing, imagine what I can do with this storm! I can see it now, a never ending hailstorm big enough to tear this city apart, bit by bit," she then yanked Terra closer and whispered in her ear, "What do you think Terra, will that make up for all of the homes you destroyed, all of the lives you ruined?"

"Isis, you can't be serious!" Terra retorted, "I know I've done a lot of bad things in the past but it won't help if you kill all of those innocent people!"

"I don't care!" Isis snarled into her twin's ear, "I'm only doing this to see you suffer! Anyone who dies to meet that end is entirely your fault! Their blood will be on your hands!"

"You're insane!"

"I'm not insane, it's the rest of the world that's crazy! Taking someone as terrible as you and making her out to be a hero, it's sickening!"

"And so what if you do? How many people will it take, Isis? A hundred? Five thousand? A million? How many people will it take until you're satisfied?"

Isis seemed to savour the reaction she knew she would get out of her sister before even responding. "Until there's no one left but just the two of us, sis. As it should be."

All of the Titans motioned to advance on her but she glared at them and brought the blade higher on Terra's neck. "Not so fast!" She warned, "In case you were all born yesterday, this is officially a hostage situation. And the deal is that you can't follow me, or Terra gets it!"

"You're bluffing!" Robin called out, "You said yourself that you couldn't kill Terra!"

"Oh, believe me, there are so many things that I can do to her that wouldn't involve killing," This inhuman statement sent a shiver down the collective spines of the Titans, "Congratulations, you've extended your life spans by a little bit. I'll be back to slit your throats when it is truly impossible to stop me. Say goodbye to your friends, Terra."

And without another word, the ice platform began to carry the twins off toward the city. Beast Boy wanted nothing more than to fly up there and rescue Terra. He shook with anticipation, but Robin gripped his shoulder and held him back, knowing that for Terra's sake, they all had to hold back. Isis never turned her back on the heroes until she flew out of vision beyond the cliffs.

In a moment after Isis and Terra disappeared, Beast Boy swung around to face Robin, "Why did you let her get away? We could have taken her!"

"We couldn't," Robin calmly explained, "None of use could have made it to her in time. Moral barriers or not, Isis is insane. I don't even want to think about what she's capable of doing."

"So we're just going to let her get away with Terra instead of taking the risk?"

"What have I told you before, Beast Boy? Fight smarter, not harder." He then flipped open a handheld device with a screen that lit up, displaying a map of the city and a blinking blue triangle slowly moving across the map. Beast Boy looked curiously at the screen and Robin smiled at him, "What? Do you really think that in all of that fighting, I wouldn't have put a tracking device on her? Now, come on, we have a city, and a Titan to save."

Author's Notes:
Woo, excuse me as I wait for the skin to grow back on my fingertips. Not only did I write this chapter, but before even touching it, I re-wrote the previous one. So any comments you have about the new chapter 9 can go in your review for this chapter. I hope that, with the truth revealed, you can understand why Isis is as messed up as she is. Heck I think it even explains why Terra s the way she is in the series. And believe me, as much as I love to write action scenes, I thought my head was going to pop writing all of the action that went into these two chapters. I can only hope that everyone can follow the action as well as I intended. Well, until next time, read and review or I'll eat all your waffles… and then you'll have no waffles for breakfast… and then you'll starve to death before lunchtime…. I really need to step away from this computer once in a while.