32 Productions Presents…
A HIVE Team StoryThe HIVE Team In…
"A Cry for Help"
Chapter Two
Child's Room
Raven gagged at the sight of the extremely girly room. Pink wallpaper with little white unicorns…fluffy pink carpet…lampshades with frilly lace…and all the freaking dolls! The bed sheets had little bunnies on it for crying out loud. There was a little girl playing with the dolls. She wore a little yellow sundress and had yellow ribbons in her hair. One thing did make Raven smirk. The girl was "playing" by ripping the heads off the dolls and switching them.
Raven: How wonderfully violent. Who is this?
Sureshot tilted her head, frowning.
Sureshot: …me.
Raven: I see. Interesting hobby you had.
Sureshot: I hated those dolls. My parents kept buying them for me. I hated it all. The room. The clothes. I wanted blue walls. I wanted a blue carpet. I wanted sheets with baseballs on them. I wanted to wear shorts and T-shirts.
Raven knelt down next to the child, taking in the look of delight the girl had as she ripped the arm off one of them dolls.
Raven: A tomboy, hmm?
Sureshot: I suppose so. I may have liked baseball, but I liked ballet dancing too. While I leaned toward what would have been considered "boy habits" I didn't steer completely away from being a girl.
Raven kept staring at the girl. Something seemed…wrong. She couldn't place it. Then it hit her.
Raven: You're kind of skinny…
Sureshot: Am I?
Sureshot knelt next to Raven. Raven was right. While it wasn't completely noticeable, she did seem a bit…gaunt. The little girl's cheeks were sunken in. Her eyes were too.
Raven: We're here on this day for a reason. Something must have happened. What was it?
Sureshot stood up straight and rubbed her chin.
Sureshot: I can't remember. It has been a while.
The doorbell rang. Rather then answer it, the little girl got up and ducked into the closet. Raven snickered.
Raven: Afraid of strangers?
The doorbell rang some more…then there was knocking. Finally there was a loud crash. Raven looked confused but Sureshot kept her blank face. People came in. There was a whimper from the closet. One of the men opened the door and pulled the girl out.
Man: Come on…it's okay. We're going to get you ou…
The girl pulled her fist back and socked the man in the jaw. Raven laughed as the man fell over, his nose bleeding.
Raven: Nice jab.
Sureshot: I didn't like strangers.
The little girl kicked and screamed, giving the people who had come in bruises and busted lips.
Raven: So I see.
They took the little girl out. On the couch were two corpses. Judging from the state of decomposition, they had been dead for a few weeks. Raven regarded them like someone might judge a piece of modern art, looking at them at every angle.
Raven: Hmm. My, my, my. Now what, pray you tell, happened here?
Sureshot wouldn't look at the corpses. Raven grinned and grabbed her head, forcing it in the direction of the bodies. Raven's mental projection was stronger then Sureshot's.
Raven: What happened?
Sureshot: …suicide.
Raven: Double bullet eaters, eh?
Sureshot: Exactly. So I was left alone with two heavily bleeding corpses. I brought them downstairs…
Raven: You dropped them. They've got broken bones.
Sureshot shrugged.
Sureshot: I'm about seven or so. It's not easy to carry bodies around. So I tried to live my life, pretending they were alive. I'd talk to them and pretended they talked back. Unfortunately…supplies run out. Eventually people catch on.
Raven was getting bored. She decided to try and move on. Sureshot's initial reaction to her parents' bodies was amusing, but apparently she got used to them quickly.
Raven: What happened next?
Orphanage
Raven looked around. So many children…happily playing on swings and slides. She sighed. How she longed to raise her own child…just to prove that she could do a better job then her own mother. Her own mother…the bitch who wouldn't even give her mentally distressed daughter a simple hug. Raven often wondered what it would be like to raise a child. Would it rebel against her…? No…no, not her child. She'd show it the "right" path. If it dared to try and live a "normal" life…or Trigon forbid, become a superhero…she'd kill her offspring herself. Who would the father be? Anyone would do, really. She was interested in seeing what Shade's DNA would do when mixed with hers. In theory it would create a very powerful being. …but such thoughts were for another day.
Raven: Where are you?
Sureshot pointed over to a tree. Now dressed in the shorts and T-shirt she wanted, the little girl was sitting in a tree, watching everyone like a hawk.
Raven: What are you doing?
Sureshot: …waiting.
Before Raven could ask what she was waiting for, a boy passed by the tree. The little girl leapt down, tackling him and slamming his face into the dirt. Little Melissa kicked him a few times before spitting on him.
Little Melissa: I can TOO play baseball!
Naturally the little boy ran off crying. Little Melissa glared at the staring kids before climbing back into the tree. Raven snickered.
Raven: Violent little girl, weren't you?
Sureshot: Yes. At first it was just people who angered me.
The scene changed to Little Melissa beating up a girl, screaming about putting paint in her hair. Little Melissa did indeed have a large splotch of green paint on her ponytail. The next scene had Little Melissa with much shorter hair. Obviously the paint wouldn't come off. Now she was chasing somebody with a hockey stick. Raven was hysterical with laughter. This was too much. The more she saw, the more she liked this Melissa.
Sureshot: I didn't think you were the type who laughed much.
Raven: (wiping her eyes) Of course I am. Just not at what most people laugh at. I don't like jokes. Somebody slipping on a banana peel isn't funny either. Somebody getting clubbed in the kneecap…that's funny to me.
Sureshot: As time went on, I became more eager to fight. I found excuses. I purposely jumped to conclusions and attacked. The feel of my fists connecting with their frail flesh and bone…I enjoyed it.
Raven raised an eyebrow. She watched as Little Melissa picked up a small wooden stool and hit somebody with it. Wow…this wasn't even funny anymore. Not to say she didn't want to watch. It just didn't make her laugh.
Sureshot: I thought I'd never be adopted and frankly I didn't care. As long as they brought more people for me to try and beat up, I was content. Then they came…a couple in fancy clothes.
The scene changed to a group of kids sitting on a bench. One of then was Little Melissa. Her face was scuffed up and she had a black eye. Apparently her last victim fought back.
Sureshot: I remember wondering who these people were and if they really knew what they were getting into. Adopting seven kids? All of them problem children? It didn't make sense.
The group of kids was taken into a large van. Sureshot and Raven joined them in the back, not that anyone could see them obviously. Raven sat down on one of the kids, her body passing through them. She crossed her legs and folded her hands in front of her.
Raven: Where are we going?
Sureshot leaned against the wall.
Sureshot: STAR Labs in America.
Raven: …you're Canadian?
Sureshot: Yes. Why?
Raven: Nothing.
STAR Labs Facility
Raven was treated to a bizarre montage of training scenes. It wasn't the happy sort of training "look at me I'm getting stronger" montage either. Kids were dropping dead. But not Melissa. As time went on she kept progressing, getting faster and stronger while her companions dropped like flies. Ever so often she was shown Little…who was getting progressively bigger…Melissa getting an injection.
Raven: What's in the needle?
Sureshot shrugged and gestured toward her body.
Sureshot: Not sure exactly. I figure it's why I look like this. Some sort of bizarre steroid.
Raven nodded. She had wondered how Sureshot got so damn huge. And to think some guys LIKED this sort of look. Then again, who was she to judge? Her boyfriend scratches his ears with his feet. The scene changed to Melissa and a boy getting helmets put on their heads. These helmets were connected to a large computer.
Sureshot: Knowledge implantation. Teaches us all we need to know in record time. At the same time it helped suppress troublesome emotions like pity…and just about everything else. I struggled against it the best I could. My companion, however, failed to do so. He collapsed under the strain. They progressed him further into the program, reducing him to a mindless puppet. I couldn't let that happen to me. The very idea was…repulsive. I began wandering the complex at times. It was decided that I couldn't escape so they let me. That's when I found them.
The scene changed to Melissa entering a room, walking with her hands behind her back. There was a familiar green boy in a clear tube. He was covered in sensors and such things. Curious, Melissa approached the tube, tilting her head.
Melissa: Another experiment. If I had any pity within me, I'd extend it to you.
The boy seemed to be able to hear her. He glared at her before shifting into various mockeries of animals. None could break free.
Melissa: Don't hurt yourself. I'm not insulting you. I too am an experiment. Part of some ridiculous super solider program or some such nonsense. …it's not fair is it? What did we do to deserve such fates?
The green boy spoke. There must have been a microphone inside the tube, because his voice came from a speaker.
Green Boy: What are they doing to you?
Melissa: Stripping me of my emotions…and soon my free will. I…I'm running out of the desire to fight. When that happens it's over for me. It's only a matter of time…unless…unless I can escape from here.
Green Boy: Pfft. Yeah right.
Melissa rubbed her chin in thought.
Melissa: How do you get air in there?
Green Boy: Small vent in the floor.
Melissa: How small can you become?
Green Boy: Nice thought, but these things will kill me if I become too small. I can't take them off either.
Melissa: …
Melissa walked over to the control panel.
Melissa: …excuse me a moment.
Melissa left. The scene jumped to her return. She came up to the control panel and pressed a sequence of buttons. The sensors stopped glowing.
Melissa: You can escape now.
The green boy shrugged. What did he have to lose? He turned into an insect thing and flew through the vent. He came out on the other side and turned back to normal. Melissa tossed him a pair of pants.
Melissa: No sense in wander around this complex naked.
The green kid put the pants on, tearing the legs so he could walk without tripping.
Green Boy: Where'd you get these?
Melissa: From the scientist who's neck I snapped after he told me how to release you.
The door opened. Melissa and the green boy turned, ready to fight. In stepped another familiar figure, an African American lad with a cybernetic body.
Cyborg: Yo, what the hell…!
Melissa looked ready to attack. The green kid stopped her.
Green Boy: Whoa, whoa, whoa! He's just like us!
Melissa: …another experiment with a free mind?
Cyborg: Who's this?
Green Boy: This is…er…what IS your name?
Melissa: My name is Melissa Dratter.
Green Boy: Garfield Logan…I used to go by Beast Boy, but that doesn't work anymore.
Cyborg: Victor Stone. What are you doing?
Melissa popped her neck.
Melissa: Leaving. Care to join us?
Outside Lab
Raven watched as the three escapees ran out into the night. They were banged up. Victor had numerous dents in his body. Both Melissa and Gar had cuts all over. Melissa seemed to also be nursing a bullet wound.
Victor: They'll be on us in a second!
Gar: It was a nice run, dudes!
Melissa: Fortunately for you two, I'm neither a quitter or one to act impulsively.
Melissa reached into a pouch on her belt and pulled out a flat remote. Pressing it caused the building to start to explode in a chain reaction. By the time the trio reached the nearby woods, the building was in ruins. Gar laughed loudly, glad to both be free and to have his captors dead. Victor looked pretty happy himself. Melissa took the backpack she stole off and pulled out a medical kit.
Melissa: Garfield, come here. You're bleeding badly. I have no idea of your healing capabilities, but it would be in your best interest to have your wounds dressed.
Gar did notice he was feeling light headed. He allowed Melissa to patch him up the best she could. Then she started on herself.
Victor: Well…we're out of there…what do we do now?
Gar rubbed his bandaged shoulder.
Gar: I dunno…people like us…normal lives aren't gonna happen.
Victor: Yeah. And they'll be looking for us soon.
Gar: …well…first off I need a new name. Garfield isn't going to strike fear into my enemies…and Beast Boy just doesn't work. …those scientists used to call me a "changeling". That's what I'll be called. The dreaded CHANGELING!
Changeling took a fiercsome pose. Melissa and Victor stared at him.
Victor: In that case, I guess that means I'm Cyborg.
Changeling: Changeling and Cyborg huh? …dude, I bet the newspapers will say we're a couple.
Cyborg shrugged.
Cyborg: Then we blow up the newspaper building.
Changeling laughed and agreed. Melissa finished her wounds and stood up.
Melissa: While you two are probably the closets things I have to friends right now, I'm afraid I can't stay. The things they did to me could have terrible consequences. I'd…I'd hate to do anything to you.
Changeling: What are you going to do?
Melissa sighed.
Melissa: The only thing I know how to do. Kill. Fight. Maim. Hurt. Steal.
Cyborg: Super villain?
Changeling: Getting into politics?
Melissa: Actually…I was leaning more toward bounty hunting…or a professional assassin.
Sureshot walked in front of Raven's view and everything went white.
Sureshot: I've shown you everything. Now will you help me?
Raven thought about it for a moment. Finally she nodded.
Raven: A deal is a deal, I suppose. Take me to the day it started and we'll peel back the layers from there.
Sureshot nodded.
END PART TWO