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Stone Prison

By: Demonabyss

Chapter 8: Seeking

Man, this feels nice, weird, but nice. It feels like soft blankets surround me and yet, not. It's so comfortable; I'm not sure how to describe it. I knew many people wanted me six feet under, never thought I'd agree with them, huh, go figure. It feels like my very consciousness has connected to the earth in this area. God this is weird. Almost all my senses sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell have all been modified and fused with my sixth sense. Touch has been modified so that I can now sense every movement they make on the ground and even through the trees somewhat. Every footstep, every hole dug every thing that's spiked into the ground, even every shift in balance I can feel if I concentrate enough. Taste and smell have been fused and modified so that I can tell what is where. I can what is rubber, what is leather, what is blood, what is metal, and what is wood that is touching the ground, again if I concentrate enough. I don't though; last thing I want to know is what someone stepped in.

Sight has been reduced to next to nothing. I can feel were light is and isn't but beyond that nothing. Sound is weird. I can hear through the earth but it's very distorted, like static or a record store's worth of songs all being played at once. There are too many people here for me to listen to what's going on as all the vibrations are being mixed together. There's also this weird, I don't know what to call it, whispering kind of. It's faint, but I can hear it clearly through the noise, I just can't understand parts of it. It's like listening to a transistor radio and the message is breaking up. 'Terra find e ar on . Se ne s h p. op hi from me g. St t g n. Sa m il ren.' Beyond that, I couldn't get much from the whispering. Other then someone or something was calling to me I had no clue as to what they wanted. The survivalist in me sternly said not to trust it, but another part wanted to, though I couldn't tell you which part. As I said, this is too weird.

All my senses only extend so far. They seem to fade after a good distance. It's so weird being like this. It's similar to when I was in the stone after the volcano, but different. For one thing, I was delirious and my mind was damaged when I was in that statue. Here, my mind is clear and working just fine, I think. Another thing is that in that statue I couldn't feel a thing, but merged with the ground like I am right now, I can feel a lot of things. I can still feel my body, my true body, but it feels like when you first wake up too early in the morning, it's able to move, but you don't want to move it. Wonder what's going on up there? Let's see here.

(Normal POV)

Terra concentrated her new senses to see what was going on topside. She was at least fifteen to twenty feet below the surface so she wasn't worried about them finding her just yet. Lots of people up there, mostly just standard soldiers of the military, the Justice League had left, believing her to be long gone. Normally that would be the case, if she hadn't buried herself. All the Titans had left, except for Raven. She had stayed behind to search for any clues. Terra could feel her aura a mile away, even if she wasn't merged with the ground in the area.

Raven stayed behind while the others went looking for Terra in the nearby towns and cities and to see whom else was after her. If there was one thing the Goth was learning from all of this, it was that Terra was a master of misdirection, even more so then herself or even Slade. She had led the Justice League, the Titans, and everyone else on one wild goose chase after another. Purposely leaving more clues then there should be to force them to check all the leads out while she walked away unnoticed. Raven was probably one of the few people who were realizing it wasn't Terra's powers they had to overcome; it was her mind.

The purple haired girl surveyed the area trying to piece together what happened while the military scanned it with various devices, ignoring the odd feeling of being watched. Terra caused this destruction, no question about that, but why? This didn't fit with her pattern so far these past few months. So far, she had been lying low, using stealth, disguise, and misdirection to survive and now she suddenly lets loose a good chunk of her power? No, that didn't fit. What probably happened; was that these idiots tried to capture her and she simply lost it. Having this happen to herself more then once, Raven knew how bad losing control could get and could recognize the signs. So the 64-dollar question now was, where was she hiding now?

Terra sensed Raven starting to feel out the area, looking for her. 'Oh no, I will not have miss anger-management-problem sniff me out now that I'm so close to Jump City. Think Terra, there's got to be a way to get her, and everyone else for that matter, away from here,' she thought as she started to reform her normal self.

Her body separated from the earth, changing back into the standard types of stone her body usually was as her senses righted themselves once more. Slowly but silently, Terra swam through the earth, taking her bags with her and making as little rumbling as possible. She entered a massive boulder, still undetected, and formed her eyes on the outside of it to take a look around. It was then she saw a VTOL aircraft unguarded and unlocked. She smiled under the surface of the boulder as she got a wicked idea.

Raven continued to search through the area with her power still unable to shake the feeling that someone or something was watching her. It was then she noticed something. It was very slight but it was there in the ground. Something was going on down there. However, before she could pinpoint it, it was gone as quickly as she had sensed it. She continued to walk around, looking for any trace of where Terra had gone. There were a few rumblings as she walked, most likely aftershocks of what Terra had done here. 'So far, Terra has left clues for us to follow to throw us off her trail. So why is it there are no clues this time?' Raven thought as she looked around the area and at the soldiers searching it. It then hit her as to why. 'It's because she never left here at all. She's still here!' her mind whirled as she heard one of the VTOL aircraft start to power up. As she blown by the back draft of the engines, she caught a glimpse of the one flying it, Terra.

The blonde haired girl quickly took control of the aircraft, ascending quickly just as the military started to give chase. 'Perfect. Now lets play follow the leader,' she thought as she flew the craft. Being a wanderer, she had run into her share of military bases, both in use and abandoned, and had piloted a couple of the vehicles there. Also, Slade required her to train in the use of various machines incase she ever needed it, against the Titans or otherwise. She got a good distance in front of the pursuing military before she implemented the second phase of her plan. Her eyes glowing gold with concentration, multiple dust tornadoes appeared behind and a little in front of her craft, forcing the ones following her to dodge them, barely.

The pilot of the military craft closest to Terra was trying insanely to avoid the tornadoes as he pursued the ship as it headed southeast. He watched the ship he pursued weaved and dodged the tornadoes easily though barely as they formed. However, it failed to weave just right and suddenly went into a tornado. A moment later it came out the other end and suddenly shifted to high gear, going as fast as these aircraft could in a straight line southeast as the tornadoes behind them died down quickly. The pilot and the other military aircraft all followed suit, determined not to let this meta-human escape.

Raven flew back to Jump City in deep thought. 'Terra had been there the whole time, waiting for the right moment to escape. How are we supposed to catch her if she's always two steps ahead of everyone?' she thought as she flew. She was broken out of her thoughts by her communicator beeping. She picked it up and opened a line. "This is Raven."

"Raven, did you find anything?" Robin's voice came over the device.

"We missed her again Robin. Terra was hiding there underground the whole time since the second upheaval. She just made a break for it, stealing one of the military's aircraft and heading southeast, fast. The military is pursuing her right now," she explained in her monotone voice laced with a slight regret.

"You mean we were standing right on top of her and we never knew it!" Beast Boy's voice came over the communicator, sounding both astonished and ticked.

"We have to get to her first. We'll prep the T-Ship and go after her. We'll pick you up on the way," Robin's voice came, ignoring Beast Boy's comment.

"Don't bother, we won't catch her," Raven said calmly.

"Friend Raven, do you not wish to get to Terra first before the military does? There is no telling what they might do to friend Terra," Starfire's concerned voice said over the communicator.

"That's not what I mean Starfire. What I mean is that Terra has tricked, evaded, or sneaked past everyone every step of the way so far. More then likely she's sent the military on false trail while she's heading someplace else. We'd just be running around for nothing if we attempted to follow her now," Raven explained calmly to the alien.

"Raven's right guys. Terra's outsmarted everyone, even the Justice League, again and again and the only reason we're able to get any leads on her so far is due to dumb luck. Best thing to do now is to wait and see what happens," Cyborg said logically.

Robin's sigh came over the communicator before he spoke to Raven. "All right, come back to the Tower and we'll see if we can come up with anything. Robin out."

Question looked over the information again, making sure he didn't miss anything, especially what was in plain sight as Terra had said. So far, five forces were after her, each for their own reasons. The Titans to regain their friend, the Justice League to secure a possible extreme national threat, the government for either experiments or to have her incarcerated, the Hive to recruit her as a powerful new member whether she wanted to not, and one criminal organization led by a centuries old crime lord. A well-known crime lord named Ra's Al Ghul. A formidable opponent of the Batman, he owned a criminal empire that was dedicated to making his dream of a "purified world" a reality. In truth, the thing he wanted was the annihilation of humans on earth as well as their civilization. Living for centuries due to the substance that came from "Lazarus Pits", he had much experience and time to achieve his goal, only being stopped by people such as the Batman and the Justice League. Question now knew it was his criminal organization that had initially attacked Terra in Dakota, most likely to capture her. The real question, no pun intended, was why? Obviously, it was because of her powers, but to what end? What would Ra's need Terra's incredible powers for? There were meta-humans, aliens, and other creatures just as powerful as Terra, true not many but there were still some, that he could pay for or acquire much more easily, so why Terra? What use would he have for Geo-kinesis that powerful? He could want to sink cities, but that didn't seem like his style. He wanted to wipe out the entire human race in a single stroke, so again why Terra?

Question stared hard at the screen in thought. 'What am I missing? What have I over looked?' he thought over and over again as he looked at the data. Terra's words then rang in his mind once more. '"They're too blind to see the clues that are in plain sight." I wonder, could it have something to do with the Lazarus Pits?' he thought as he started pulling up data on the pits themselves to see if there was anything about them, Ra's could use to make his "dream" a reality. Under his mask, his eyes widened as he read the mission log provided by Batman relating to one of the pits. He then chuckled to himself. 'Looks like Terra was right. The best clues are sometimes in plain sight,' he thought as he read the mission log much more carefully. He absently wondered how Terra was doing but shook it off, as he was sure that she was fine.

In a large mansion in an unknown location stood a tall man with a black pointed beard, black hair with gray stripes, and dark green eyes. He stood watching the sunset silently until someone entered the room. It was the dark haired woman who had been pursuing Terra for some time. The man turned to her and frowned slightly. "Where is the girl?" he asked coldly.

The woman bowed before speaking. "I'm sorry father, but she completely destroyed all forces attempting to capture her, including ours. Considering the amount of power she wields, it may not be possible to capture her directly," the woman explained meekly.

The man scowled again. "Then it seems we will have to try a different approach. I refuse to let such power as what that girl has be wasted. I shall meet with the girl myself and convince her to join me," he stated confidently.

The woman looked up, surprised. "Are you sure that is wise father? This girl has far more power then most of the Justice League and from what information I have gathered, she has no qualms killing with it," she stated in a worried tone.

"That is precisely the point my daughter. She is too powerful to be taken by brute force. Subtler means are required to assure her part in my plans. For now, just find her and I'll deal with her myself. You're dismissed Talia" he ordered sharply.

"As you wish father," the black haired woman said calmly as she went out to complete her mission of locating one specific geomancer.

Terra laughed to herself as she watched the military go chasing after the aircraft. Hotwiring the autopilot while creating those tornadoes hadn't been easy, but it was worth it to send the military on another one of her wild goose chases. When the craft had gone into that tornado, she had jumped out using the winds created by the rocks to safely carry her down while they continued that pointless chase. They'd be halfway to Florida before that thing either ran out of gas or they shot it down and by then she'd be in Slade's abandoned underground fortress, safe as a bug in a rug. "What a bunch of idiots," she snickered to herself as she started walking towards the nearest road to hitch a ride to Jump City. As she walked, in the way back of her mind, unnoticed, the whispering from before spoke very softly. 'Be safe my daughter.'