Terra Firma

by Legend Maker

Nothing is given to man on earth. Struggle is built into the nature of life, and conflict is possible. The hero is the man who lets no obstacle prevent him from pursuing the values he has chosen. Will you die, Terra? Or live by this example?

4. Part 4

Part 4: Terra Corpus, At Mens Ignis

The force of the punch thrown by Onyx would have sent Cinderblock reeling. Against Terra's unpowered and flimsy form, it should have quite literally shattered her body into jelly.

And if Onyx had been working by himself, that was the punch he would have thrown.

But he wasn't, and he had his orders, even if he disagreed with them. But he owed Puff too many favors to argue with her, and even if he found her lapses into sadistic cat and mouse games distasteful, he listened.

So instead of a swift, driving blow to smash the life from his foe's body, he instead cocked back his arm and lashed it out in a backhand-esque swipe that was more like a slap then a proper punch.

The purpose was to give the girl enough time to dodge, but not enough time to avoid the blow entirely.

And that was what happened, as Terra tried to recoil, but couldn't quite make it…

And even catching the glance she did was devastating, as pain exploded through her right shoulder and side, as gravity briefly abandoned her and she flew through the air.

And she wished gravity had taken a longer holiday as she landed, and more pain blasted through every part of her body as she awkwardly tumbled across the street, the unforgiving stone slamming fierce impacts through her even as it scraped off upper layers of skin on her legs and midriff.

Stars and darkness exploded in Terra's vision, and the void loomed, eager to swallow her whole.

In the end though, it backed off, as the pain instead took another stampede through her body, too much even to cry out. Instead, Terra just emitted a wracking gasp/cough from where she lay.

"HEY!" The trucker yelled. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING! LEAVE THAT GIRL ALONE!"

Onyx just looked at the trucker with a low gaze that spoke of business.

Give the man credit, he didn't turn and run. Instead he turned and rummaged in his truck, and yanked out an overlarge gun ( .357 Magnum, someone had penile issues) as he turned back to the rock man…

And screamed as a corrosive gas washed over his hands, turning his gun to slag and badly searing the hands that held it, and even as the man let go of the ruined weapon in his pain Puff dropped down, her face a mix of angry resentment at the attempted interference and savage joy at getting to deal with it.

"Back off, jackoff!" She snapped, and fired a blast of concussive gas from her hands, sending the trucker flying and bouncing across the ground much like Terra had a moment earlier. Unlike Terra, when he stopped moving, he didn't start again.

Though Terra couldn't believe the said movement she was engaging in, as she tried to push herself up. It seemed like every inch of her body was screaming in pain: how could she even blink, let alone get up?

Once, she'd loathed her powers. Now, with them missing and with her having been trained to will the ground to soften via various means to lesson impacts, Terra was beginning to see a definite upside to them, perhaps even more then before.

Still, as hard as it had proven to be, Terra could see a definite comfort in said hard ground in her pain-fogged mind. She wouldn't mind lying down on it for a bit. Maybe four days or so.

Unfortunately, reality broke through her stupor and made her realize she probably didn't have four seconds.

"That's right Onyx! Crush her into a blonde puddle!" Puff yelled. Onyx said nothing, though he rolled his eyes a bit: though Onyx could very easily crush Terra into said 'blonde puddle', Puff's tone meant that she really wanted Onyx to toy with the girl for some time before delivering anything resembling a death blow. Onyx sighed inwardly: Puff always thought she had the makings of a criminal mastermind, and that her bounty hunting and her current 'lowbrow' criminal career was just a step there. But the fact was that with her stalking this former metahuman who had purposely put herself in harm's way for some reason Onyx couldn't fathom when she could have very easily grabbed all the money taken from the bank and run, not to mention her vicious insistence on a drawn out death instead of a quick one spoke more of what she was at her core, and said core didn't demonstrate mastermind behavior, though Onyx would never tell Puff that. He tried to make the argument that Puff was angry over being challenged, then mucking around trying to find the girl, not to mention the bizarre events that had disabled Hotstreak and sent Carmen-Dillo into the distance to god knew where…but in reality he knew that Puff could care less about their makeshift team. She was just plain mean.

Normally he didn't have a problem with it. His heart WAS made of stone after all, and not just in a literal sense. And even when he did, he remained silent. Puff was the boss.

And so he started for the girl again, who was actually trying to get up. Either he'd pulled his punch too much or she was a lot tougher then he thought. Probably the former. She looked like a stiff breeze would blow her over.

Terra could see Onyx coming, and her muscles screamed to get up and run, but her nerves screamed back to get bent. Fortunately, Terra's innate survival instincts, the animal intuition honed by her time on the street, came to back up her anger, and she managed, somehow, to get to her feet.

Just as Onyx loomed over her.

Terra tried to run, but her jelly-like legs sent a memo that they weren't really up to a prolonged sprint, how about a lurching gait that was almost comical?

It served…in a sense.

Onyx raised his arms, his fists lacing together, and then they pistoned down.

They missed Terra by a foot, but the impact tremor of the blow threw Terra right off her feet, and as she sprawled painfully on the ground again Onyx lifted his arms up from the ground and headed for Terra again.

This time she didn't get up in time, as Onyx's foot lashed out and slammed into her body, and she once again found herself flying.

And landing with no safety net, never mind the original kick.

Terra didn't really know how breaking bones felt. But if the amount of pain that crashed through her body DIDN'T indicate what bones breaking felt like, she didn't really want to know.

Onyx snorted. That kick had been a LOT more of Onyx scooping and lifting Terra with his foot to send her flying then an actual contact strike, but hey, that was what Puff wanted, as he glanced behind him. Puff had actually flown down to the ground and reformed her legs, and she gave Onyx a thumbs up. So he had to keep doing this. Fine, fine. He was going to ask for some extra percentage in the money split later though.

Terra wondered, in a brief moment of lucidity, why she wasn't dead. She really should have been, and part of her wouldn't have minded that much if it stopped the pain. She was definitely damaged. Her right arm wasn't working that well, and her chest was fully reciting the warranty of what kind of blows it was designed to handle, and getting hit with a bullet train was not covered, please try and refrain from having any such collisions in the future…

And yet…she found herself trying to get up again.

Must be a head injury. Yeah, she'd definitely been knocked loopy.

But a deeper part of Terra said that if she didn't do something, ANYTHING, fast, she'd be knocked right off the mortal coil.

And so she looked at Onyx coming at her, a casual stroll, no rush, and she grit her teeth even as a fresh copper taste filled her mouth from a bloody lip.

…he was made of rock. It was her only chance, as she raised her left hand.

Come on. She didn't need to drop a mountain on him. She just needed a flash, a spark, a sputtering burst of heat, enough to take part of his rock form and inflict some kind of disability: twist an ankle, cramp a thigh, give him an ice cream headache, ANYTHING.

Come on. This was far more desperate then being kept out of jail. This was life and death. Surely there were fumes left in the tank. Surely she could do something. Surely she could reach down deep and find one last surge of strength to save herself after what she'd done to save others…

And she found…nothing.

The well was completely tapped, and no amount of desperate hope was going to produce results.

She'd wanted so badly to be a normal human.

Be careful what you wish for.

And so Terra stood there, despair blooming on her face, as Onyx once again loomed over her. He'd seen what she was doing and felt a slight touch of apprehension, but that hadn't slowed his walk, and he'd been proven right.

"Hey." He said. "At least you tried."

Terra didn't know if she was being genuinely complimented or insulted, but while she couldn't find her power she found she could find the rage again, as she screamed and lashed out with her left fist.

All she got from that blow to Onyx's stomach, as one might expect, was a fresh blast of jagged pain. It was a minor miracle she didn't break any fingers.

Maybe she should have gone for the eyes. That was one of the less noble techniques Robin had tried to teach her: eyes were vulnerable, and if you were in desperate straits…

But it was too late for that, as Onyx sighed and began coiling up a fist, then changed his mind in mid-coil and instead just tucked his primary finger under his thumb…and then after another brief thought uncoiled that finger and placed his weaker ring finger under it instead.

And as Terra looked up, he used said finger to flick her in the face.

He may as well have fired an artillery shell right between her eyes.

Her head stayed together, as amazing as it might seem (then again Onyx was pulling his punches. A lot), but that fact was lost on Terra as she left the ground again, doing a small slight arc before she crashed onto her back.

Her head lolled back on her neck, her eyes staring and blank.

A thin trickle of blood began to leak down her forehead, but Terra paid it no mind.

She seemingly had no mind left to pay.

---

Onyx groused: damn it, despite his efforts he'd hit her too hard and made her a vegetable. Puff might be unhappy.

Then again, hell, he'd indulged her bloodthirst enough, as he turned around.

"I think that's it." Onyx said.

"What? Ah maaaaaaan, it was just getting good." Puff complained.

"Maybe if she weighed more then my average meal, it might have lasted longer. Come Puff, we've wasted enough time here."

"What about her head?"

"You can remove it, I'm in no mood." Onyx said as he began walking away.

Puff pursed her lips, wondering if it was worth the mess of removing the girl's head…nah, she'd live with this. Maybe next time Static would realize she was serious business.

"Dumb ho." Puff commented, looking at the blonde girl's broken form. Whatever had she been thinking?

---

What my friends taught me…I tried so hard to remember it…but was it all worthless without what made me their friend…why…why did you abandon me?

Oh child…I never wanted to…

…what…

I was never angered with your connection…but…child, you made your choice to use it that final time…it was an unnatural use, an abhorrent use. It caused me agony…I do not hold anger or grudges, child of my will, but there are consequences to every choice…

I…just wanted…to save the world…

You wished to save life child. The life of the world and the world itself, they do not always stand as one. All life has been struck from my being before, and I continued on.

So you would use that as an excuse to abandon me? Like everyone else? Are you no better then THEM!

I am beyond such things, my child…but remember…by that fact, in many ways are you…

I'm nothing…

Only if you want to be. And I know you don't. As I know what you are.

A worthless teenage girl who's dying in the street?

Remember what I said of our link, my child. And remember what I said of myself. There is the life sprung from earth and then there is the life of the earth. And just because one has ceased to be does not mean that all has ceased…

And with that, Terra found herself blinking.

The sky stared back at her, moments before her head exploded with a deep, throbbing ache to join in the rest of her body. Terra seized and then heaved, breaking into a series of wracking coughs, even as blood continued to run down her face.

Unfortunately, said cough drew the attention of the leaving pair of villains, as Puff whirled around.

"You idiot Onyx! She's still breathing! Go finish the job, you lazyass!" Puff snapped.

"Odd…did not think…"

"DO IT!"

Onyx probably would have cared for Puff's tone less if he weren't a touch mad himself. It didn't speak well of his strength if this slip of a girl could keep getting up from his attacks, pulling the punches or not. Well, enough of that.

Terra was barely aware of the pair, as she rolled onto her stomach and tried to get up, continuing to cough and gasp. What had just happened? She could remember a voice, on the faintest edge of her mind…but even that was fading:

Even if one seems finished there is always the other…

But before Terra could find out just what that meant, even those words faded, and she found she could remember neither the words nor the context.

And she didn't have the time: Onyx was coming.

Terra looked at him, and wondered why she'd come back. She barely felt like she could move any more, much less fight or run. And Onyx didn't look very happy.

Maybe this was the part when someone came riding to the rescue. Hell, at this point, she'd even welcome Slade Wilson.

But as Onyx's footsteps drew close, she realized no one was coming. She was alone. What to do?

She looked up at Onyx, and in a pain-fevered moment, almost made the peace sign.

"I'm done with this." Onyx said, as he rolled his fingers, the thick stony digits giving off a series of deep, resonate cracks.

Terra had no words for him. She'd always sucked at saying goodbye.

"So long bitch!" Puff said, and waved.

Which was when the headlights flared on behind her.

Unfortunately for Puff, said headlights were not followed by a shrieking noise of tires, as the mutant girl whirled around to see KITT charging at her. He'd even completely muffled the engine noise as he lanced at her, having turned on the headlights several feet from the girl to get her attention.

That was roughly when he dropped the engine silencer doohickey Cyborg had installed and let the powerful motor roar like an animal.

And Puff looked very much like the proverbial deer.

"…damn."

And she fared as well as one, as KITT slammed into her, sending her crashing over the hood, up and over the windshield, and bouncing off the back of the car before she fell off in a thrashing, bone-snapping tumble.

Onyx snapped around to see this happen.

"PUFF!" He called.

That was all he got to say, as the headlights that had illuminated Puff now lit on Onyx…and abruptly cut out as they slid aside, revealing mini-missiles.

"Crud." Onyx said.

The tiny explosives lanced out and detonated against the stone giant, and he got to experience what he'd put Terra through as he flew through the air and crashed into a car, crushing it beneath his weight, as KITT did an insanely tight turn and shrieked to a stop next to Terra.

A new pair of missiles slid out, as Onyx, his chest smoking, tried to sit up, and did so to see the sight of said arming.

"CRUD."

The projectiles flew once more, and Onyx vanished in the explosion. It was really quite cool.

Terra couldn't vouch for that though: she was lying face down on the ground, barely conscious, her body a mass of deep bruises and contusions, not to mention a myriad of cuts and scrapes. Somehow, she hadn't broken any bones: this was either an indication of insane luck or that Terra listened to the commercials for milk while she growing up way too hard.

The door opened, and a mass of slithering metal wires emerged from it and took hold of Terra, and as she mumbled the wires pulled her up and placed her in the front seat, even as the car shifted around her.

"Activating Revitalizer Array." KITT intoned, as several flat looking scanner thingamabobs came out on coiled metal ropes and scanned bright green glowing beams over and across Terra's body, back and forth, back and forth.

And amazingly, it seemed like the deep bruises faded some, that the cuts and scrapes stopped bleeding. They didn't vanish entirely, but Terra at least looked like she was alive now.

A fact that came quite clear to her as she sat up with a surprised gasp.

"Well what do you know, it worked. I didn't relish driving you to a hospital, the parking fees are ridiculous." KITT said.

"Kitt…" Terra mumbled, her head still groggy. But she was aware that while she still hurt, it was a lot less then she'd felt 20 or so seconds ago. "What the hell…was that…"

"An attempt by Father Cyborg to duplicate the healing effects of your teammate Raven via a series of…well you're still recovering from a concussion so I'll save it for later. He hasn't gotten anywhere near fully replicating the extent of her abilities, and he might never, but as you can see, the prototype has its uses. He installed it in me and forgot to take it out when something else distracted him, in case you were wondering. Lucky for you, huh?"

"…yeah…yeah…" Terra said, as she blinked away the last of the mental murk. "KITT! Thanks for saving my ass and all BUT WHERE WERE YOU?"

"Uh, well you see…"

---

KITT had actually flipped himself up quite soon after Hotstreak's lucky blast. Unfortunately, he'd gotten distracted.

"Hey baby, what's your make and model?" KITT said as he stood parked next to a pink Thunderbird. "Weren't you in that movie Christine? Because I think I'm seeing stars in your…"

"WHAT DID I EVER DOOOOOOOOOO…!" Carmen-Dillo wailed as he rolled past KITT.

"…oh right, the mistress!" KITT realized, and slammed on the gas as he activated his tracking device.

---

"…it took me some time to recover. Sorry for the delay. I did my best."

"…I guess." Terra said, as she checked herself in the mirror. She still looked like Miss Roadkill USA, but at least she didn't feel like it any more.

"And I TOTALLY got her serial number!"

"What?"

"Nothing, never mind, where are the police, with the villains defeated it would be best if they returned before…"

And then with a groan of tortured metal, Onyx pushed himself free of the fiery wreckage and stepped from it, his clothes badly damaged and his skin covered with soot. But besides that, he didn't seem very badly harmed.

"WHAT? THAT BASTARD MADE ME WASTE MY ULTIMATE ATTACK!" KITT yelled.

"…but it saved my life!" Terra said, mildly offended.

"I had any number of penultimate attacks that would have done the same thing!"

"Oh, and why didn't you use THOSE then?" Terra snarked.

"I thought the ultimate attack would finish him off instantly."

"Well, it didn't, but third time's the charm! Fire missiles!"

"I don't have any more missiles."

"What? You only have four missiles? Why do you only have four missiles?"

"Lady Terra, I have an absurd amount of devices crammed into me. Miniaturization will only take you so far…"

Onyx bellowed and charged at the car.

"ACK! OKAY! FORGET THE MISSILES! SHOOT HIM! USE MACHINE GUNS!"

"I don't have machine guns."

"WHAT? WHY NOT?"

"I'm not a pure combat vehicle Lady Terra, plus you insisted Father Cyborg give me a minibar."

"Not a pure combat vehicle? Then why do you have MISSILES?"

"Because Father Cyborg believes everything is better with missiles."

---

MEANWHILE, AT TITANS TOWER.

"I better not hear you dissin' my rims again!" Said the Jive-Talkin' Moped to the badly scorched and soot covered living room, as some trace ash drifted into the new crater in the floor.

"…WHY THE HELL DOES THAT THING HAVE MISSILES?" Noel lamented.

---

"OKAY, FINE, I DON'T CARE, SHOOT HIM! WITH ANYTHING! NOW! NOW!" Terra yelped as Onyx closed in on the car.

"Affirmative!"

And a projectile launcher popped out of the right hand front door…and began shooting Onyx with soft foam balls.

Onyx, who'd stopped to block, preparing for a far more serious assault, was briefly stunned into immobilization by the ludicrous nature of what HAD been used.

His expression was mirrored on Terra's face.

"Was that a Nerfzooka?"

"Yes, in retrospect, a poor choice. Attempting Plan B!"

And a new cannon emerged from the left side of the front of the car…and sprayed Onyx with itching powder.

Onyx recoiled and snorted, but the irritant seemingly again had no effect on his hard stone skin, even with the missile and explosive damage it had endured.

"And the itching powder cannon…well let's just say we can scratch that off our list." KITT said as Onyx glared at the pair with vindictive eyes.

"STOP WASTING YOUR PROCESSING POWER ON PUNS! SHOOT IT WITH SOMETHING WITH IMPACT!"

"Roger. Activating the steam powered toad cannon!"

And before Terra's stunned eyes, the rear seats opened up and a 'retro style' cannon emerged, and indeed fired ribbiting projectiles right at Onyx.

They made him recoil a bit in surprise. He fared much much better then the toads.

"…steam…powered…toad….WHAT?" Terra ejaculated.

"Steam power is cool." KITT replied.

And Onyx had finally lost his, as he roared and charged again.

"ACK!" Terra yelled, as KITT apparently decided that at the moment discretion was the better part of valor and locked his rear wheels while he abruptly jerked his front ones to the side and burned rubber, causing his front end to slide out of the way of Onyx's crushing fist at the last second, as KITT released the lock on his backwheels and peeled away in reverse, away from Onyx, who rapidly gave chase.

"Oh great, now what do we do, drive backwards until we get away or hit a wall, whatever comes first?" Terra asked.

"Sounds good to me!"

"But…we…you…you….YOU'RE AN EMBARASSMENT TO HENRY FORD!" Terra blurted out, unable to think of anything else resembling an insult. The fact that she didn't want to run away when moments ago she'd nearly been dead spoke quite well to the widely and rapidly seesawing world of superheroics, which could go from comedy to tragedy in a snap and then snap back, if the earlier events of Carmen and Hotstreak's defeat abruptly changing to the type that defined Onyx's pursuit of Terra wasn't proof enough.

Strangely enough, it worked, as KITT slammed on the brakes, stopping on a dime. Good thing Terra was wearing her seatbelt.

"Wow, good thing I was wearing my seatbelt." Terra said.

"Eh, those things kill more people then they save." KITT said.

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Well you clearly heard me."

"Oh yeah. BLASPHEMER!" KITT yelled.

"Yeah fine, now that we're not running away, FIND SOMETHING TO HIT HIM WITH!" Terra yelled, pointing at the still charging Onyx: they'd put some distance between him and them but it wouldn't last long.

"Arming the Popcorn Mortar!"

"NO!"

"Arming the Jellyfish Slingshot!"

"NO!"

"Arming the Beer Grenade!"

"DID CYBORG ONLY INSTALL ONE SERIOUS WEAPON IN YOU OR DO YOU WANT TO BE SMASHED?" Terra yelled.

"I am what Father made me." KITT said.

"Why do you make these things?"

"Hmmmmmmm?" Cyborg said, as he peered out of the hood of the high tech car that would eventually become KITT.

"I mean…I've heard the stories. You'd think you'd be more interested in, I dunno, protesting against product testing on animals, or something." Terra said from where she sat.

Cyborg gave Terra a very serious look, and the blonde realized she'd just stuck her foot in her mouth.

"SORRYSORRYSORRY! I'll never talk about serious stuff again!" Terra protested.

"It's all right, though you should think before you speak." Cyborg said, and sighed as he fetched a rag and began wiping his face. "My earliest memories are of working on my dad with cars. He might be gone, and I might be different, but that will never fade for me, no matter what parallels you might draw."

Then Cyborg grinned goofily.

"Now, where do you want the Diesel Powered Chainsaw Gun?"

"…the WHAT?"

"The Diesel Powered Chainsaw Gun! You never know when you're going to run into Tree Aliens from Dendros IV!"

"…HAVE you?"

"Well no…but my motto has always been, be prepared."

"I thought that was the Boy Scout's motto."

"The little creeps stole it from me! Remind me to sue!"

"Really Vic, why would I need a Diesel Powered Chainsaw Gun?"

"Well…I suppose you don't…but…" Cyborg said as he looked wistful. "When I got a little older, I used to come up with parts I wanted to install in the cars my dad and I worked on. All kinds of silly stuff: sundae makers, silly string guns, and that was to start: they got a lot weirder. And he'd always just kind of smile and nod his head, and go 'Whatever you say Victor'. In a way, I missed that more then the cars. But now I'm old, smart, and experienced enough to actually BUILD these ridiculous gadgets…and well, I found new partners in it in Gar and Tim. So I always try to install at least two 'ridiculous' gadgets into my babies. I figure between them and another weapon to do harm, well, it serves as a grounding force. Plus, come on, what could be cooler then a Diesel Powered Chainsaw Gun?"

"Gee, I dunno, a Nuclear Pea Shooter?"

"…WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT?"

Terra facevaulted.

"Uh Cy, this car IS going to have something in the way of traditional defenses, right? Or is my sole line of protection going to be making my opponent think he's having a bad acid trip?"

"Of course Terra. There's a time for fun and then there's the rest." Cyborg said, as he pulled himself out of the car's guts again and walked away. "You know, in a way this acts as a microcosm on machines. They're always getting more complicated, and in a lot of ways, more and more frivolous. And sometimes the most effective things are the simple ones that came first."

And as Cyborg spoke, he reached up to the nearby wall and removed a very large piece of metal that Terra had initially mistaken as some kind of bizarre art piece. Now she saw what it was: a large and potent battering ram.

"Sometimes you wanna go with the frivolous. And sometimes, you just gotta hit 'em hard and hit 'em fast. The best solutions are the simplest ones."

"…indeed you are KITT." Terra said. "Hold the weapons, I have a better idea."

"Well I suppose statistically that had to happen eventual-" KITT began as Terra quickly located the switch she needed. Cyborg had been true to his word: it was prominent and labeled. The front of KITT shifted and the ram sprang out and locked.

"…that?" KITT said in a small voice.

"Get ready to kick the tires and light the fires Ding Dong Daddy." Terra said, as she yanked down on the stick.

"…This isn't a very good idea Michael. Let's have a lengthy debate about the pros and cons of..."

Terra stomped on the gas and KITT took off screaming down the street, as Onyx, having almost reached them, stopped dead.

"Oh dear, I forgot about your ADD." KITT lamented, as Onyx filled their windshield, as the rock meta saw what was coming and tried to set his legs.

He only succeeded partially, as KITT rammed into him and Onyx's feet began to tear up concrete as he was pushed backwards, even as he growled and tried to gain the advantage in leverage.

KITT was a very fast car, and even with the immense strength of Onyx pressing on their front the car continue to tear down the road, while Onyx tore up the road…but his presence in front of KITT couldn't be ignored forever, as Terra could see the Speedometer beginning to dip.

"Hey KITT, have the batteries recovered any from my Smoothies binge?"

"That depends. Would you mind turning off the AC?"

"Oh the things I sacrifice." Terra said as she flipped off said AC and then flipped open the top of the main drive stick, revealing a red button. "To infinity, and beyond!"

And she pressed the button.

And hyper-nitro engines activated as fire belched from KITT's exhaust pipe and buried the speedometer right off the circle, as Onyx yelled and KITT's tires screamed…

As Onyx found the road ending right in the side of Topeka's City Hall.

Which unfortunately was a very large stone style building.

"Oh dear. I hope he's insured." KITT said.

The wall was thick enough so that Onyx didn't go through it, but he nearly did, as the massive impact rang through the air, KITT's battering ram being partially crushed and Terra's face ramming forward, plunging into the instantly-opening air bag.

"….ow. My nod." Terra said, leaning back, a bit dazed. "Now you see Kitt, THIS is where you should have directed your safety measures commentary."

"I still say that belt kills more people then it saves."

"Based on WHAT?"

"Rumor and anecdote, mostly."

Terra would have facevaulted again if she hadn't been sitting down.

"Is it over? Are we done?" Terra asked, looking at Onyx's prone form lying on KITT's hood. "Is he still alive?"

Though he lacked the proper organic muscles to do it the traditional way, Terra could still see Onyx tense up.

"Oops."

"RARRRRRRRRRR!" The stone giant roared, as he reared up and tried to push himself free from the trapped situation he found himself in.

"ACK!" Terra yelled, and not knowing what else to do she slammed her foot down on the accelerator get, shoving Onyx backwards and pinning him against the partially wrecked wall. Unable to free himself as long as Terra did that, Onyx instead began furiously pounding on KITT's hood.

"HEY! HEY! I'M A CUSTOM JOB! CUT THAT OUT, BOTH OF YOU!" KITT yelled as his driver and his attacker furiously tried to find a solution to their problems.

"THEN DISABLE HIM!" Terra yelled.

"CRUSH YOU!" Onyx bellowed.

"All right, that's it! ROCK CUTTING LASER!"

And a laser cannon emerged from the seat behind Terra…and sputtered out a few sparks before dying.

"Which would have worked if you hadn't thrown back so many Smoothies you drained the batteries again after one turbo boost!"

"FORGET IT! USE SOMETHING ELSE!" Terra yelled.

"Oh the hell with it. LASER CUTTING ROCK!"

"What?"

And a small catapult popped up from the trunk of the car, and as Onyx's eyes were drawn to it, it launched a small boulder that smashed him clean between them. The giant shuddered and then fell limp against the hood again.

"…okay…that was so ironic I really can't believe it worked…did it work?" Terra said, staring at Onyx.

"…nope." Onyx said, and reared up and began pounding again.

"AHHHH! NEW WEAPON! NEW WEAPON!" Terra yelled.

"Oh for crying out loud, when this is finished I'm going to ask for a spot in the opening credits, I do all the work." KITT said. "Lady Terra, trust me."

"Trust yo-?"

And then Terra's accelerator abruptly stopped working, as KITT shuddered and then drove backwards, freeing Onyx much to Terra's surprise.

But before he or she could do anything, KITT acted, as his badly battered (even with his heavy armor) hood lid flew off and a massive cannon rose from within the engine block.

"In your face, Trapster!"

And then the cannon spewed out a thick, unpleasant smelling liquid that struck Onyx and forced him backwards, and even as he hit the wall ruins behind him Terra could see the material beginning to harden. It was some kind of powerful adhesive, and before Onyx could pull himself free he had been coated in another several layers of it which also began to firm.

Within seconds Onyx was sealed in a massive gooey cocoon, the glue staying wet just enough so he couldn't muster enough strength or leverage to pull or break free.

"…a glue gun?" Terra said.

"Or maybe I should say Paste Pot Pete. That name has a certain nostalgic value, after all…" KITT said to himself.

"What?" Terra said, confused.

"Never mind. Father Cyborg installed a copy of the Handbook of some place called the Marvel universe in my hard drive, and I like to use everything I have."

"That would explain the toad cannon."

"STEAM POWERED toad cannon."

Terra was about to reply again when Onyx reminded the pair his mouth wasn't glued shut by roaring loudly at them, as he continued trying to break free from the ultra-dense epoxy resin, thrashing and bellowing…

"And don't forget the mint." KITT said, as the review mirror opened up to reveal a small dart cannon that fired a pellet right into Onyx's roaring mouth and down his throat.

It wasn't a mint: it was an immensely potent tranquilizer, and it hit Onyx like a ton of bricks, as he shuddered and then went limp, finally down and out.

For a brief moment, silence.

Then Terra slapped the dashboard.

"You dumb car! Why did you use that stuff to BEGIN with?"

"Hey, don't you watch Sailor Moon? What kind of a show would it be if Usagi used the Moon Tiara Action in the first few seconds of the fight?"

"THIS ISN'T A MAGICAL GIRL ANIME!"

"Well you'd be surprised what…" KITT abruptly trailed off.

As Terra saw the movement. And it wasn't from Onyx.

"DANGER WILL ROBINSON!" KITT 'yelled', as he tried to throw himself in reverse and drive away.

Too late.

"GRARRRGGGGGHHHHH!" Puff screamed in a guttural noise of rage as she struck.

KITT had thought he'd balanced it properly in giving the Bang Baby an indication of his presence but not enough time to react when he'd run her over, but he'd been wrong: Puff's talent had subconsciously kicked in. But only having about half a second to act, it had kept the girl from going full smoke and being unharmed by the car ramming into her: all it had done was lessen the damage inflicted as she'd been thrown over the vehicle and crashed onto the street, where she'd laid in bewildered pain for some time (and nearly gotten run over by KITT AGAIN when he'd been driving in reverse to get away from Onyx) before her body finally reorganized itself for her to get up and act. It had stunned her for a bit, but KITT had failed to inflict a seriously disabling injury when he'd run her over, and the time he had bought had been spent trying to deal with Onyx.

And now it seemed like KITT and Terra's time was up, as Puff exhaled out a virulent purple cloud and tried to envelop the car and Terra in the corrosive mist.

Terra screamed.

And KITT activated his specialized ejector seat, which instead of hurling Terra straight up into the air where she would have probably broken her legs on landing and been a sitting duck, used far less force and a redirected throw to essentially throw Terra over the door and out of the car. She hit the ground on her left thigh, snapping out a cry at the pain, but even as she landed her training kicked in and she rolled to lessen the impact and put more distance between the car and Puff's deadly cloud, even as KITT squealed in his own agony.

The mist was mostly concentrated on KITT's left side, as massive acid scars bloomed on the armored bodywork and turned the two tires to molten slag that promptly stuck to the earth as firmly as KITT's glue cannon. The inside of the car caught the outer edge of the cloud and suffered various minor damage, though in Terra's case said minor damage would have still been serious burns, and worse if she'd inhaled some of the toxic attack.

Out of the frying pan again, as Terra managed to get to her feet, staring in horror as KITT's left side burned and melted, and then looked up at the floating Puff, who didn't need to be close to show the utter fury burning in her eyes.

The fire was coming, and it was now at its maximum intensity. Neither Hotstreak or Carmen-Dillo had taken Terra seriously enough, and even Onyx in his final moments hadn't really thought much effort was needed. Puff, on the other hand, was in the grip of a full on psychotic bloodrage that would rival a shark, and it was focused squarely on the de-powered Titan.

So she did the only thing she could do, once more: she ran for her life.

"YOU'RE DEAD BITCH!" Puff screamed, and gave chase. She didn't even bother looking at her trapped partner: her attention was solely on avenging her humiliation.

"Why…" KITT lamented as the Bang Baby flew over him in pursuit of his owner. "Why…was I programmed to feel pain?"

---

The streets were oddly abandoned.

Good, Terra's mind thought crazily as she sprinted in an overwhelming panic down the middle of the street she'd just turned onto. It meant she wouldn't get run over by a car. Or that Puff wouldn't hit any innocent bystanders. That was a lesson always being drilled into her: watch for innocent bystanders. Don't just act blindly, you'll hurt innocent bystanders. Handicap yourself, there are innocent bystanders. Personally Terra, while understanding the purpose, really wondered about the point: fighting in a city with superpowers more often then not would produce immense damage no matter how much the heroes tried to prevent it. Villains tended to lack scruples that way.

Especially when they were in the midst of screaming mad rages, as Terra heard the cry of fury behind her and risked a turn of her head.

As Puff blasted an ultra-high impact gas blast from her hands and sent several cars flying and tumbling through the air. Terra yelped and ducked slightly as the cars flew, and while none came any closer then five feet from her person, having vehicles crashing down around you was rather nerve jangling to say the least. Terra somehow found even more speed to add to her pace, but Puff was in rapid pursuit.

And zapping down and to the side. Terra's eyes widened.

Puff inhaled and then blasted out another deadly cloud of acidic smoke. The only thing that saved Terra was that Puff had to pause briefly to inhale and exhale, and in that time Terra had run forward several feet and out of the way of the caustic vitriol as it melted away a portion of sidewalk and the front of a building.

Well, guess they'll be using the back door for a while. Terra crazily thought. Serves them right for cowering inside and leaving me to be a target out here all by my lonesome. How dare they act smart and sensible?

And then the concrete next to Terra exploded as Puff blasted a fierce concussive gas blast right at the teen, and she yelled as she was pelted by sharp shards of debris, stumbling badly as the ground beneath her shook. But she regained her balance…

For roughly 1 ½ seconds, before Puff's second blast slammed into the ground right behind her and sent her half-stumbling half-flying forward, as she reached the end of the street and crashed into the side of a car with a painful thump.

But that let her keep her feet, as she lay there and gasped for a few precious seconds.

And then whirled away as Puff's deadly acid engulfed the car, melting the far less tough vehicle to molten slag as Terra ran for her life again.

"That's right, run bitch!" Puff yelled, and fired another concussive blast that went over Terra's head and slammed into the building across from her left, blasting a destructive path along the side of it. And Terra was sure Puff had missed on purpose. She was toying with her.

And Terra was at a loss on how to keep her from doing anything. She was grounded with no weapons and Puff was airborne with her own body functioning as a weapon. What the hell was she supposed to do, throw a grappling hook at her? God she wished she had her powers…

She saw her target coming, and she struck.

A whirling tornado of stones and dirt bloomed up from the ground and blasted at her attacker, who vanished from view. Terra felt a brief surge of elation…

Until her target re-appeared, having swiftly flown around the tornado, and as Terra yelped and tried to change the whirlwind's direction her attacker struck, raining down bolts of green energy that exploded on the ground on Terra, causing her to lose her balance and fall on her rear end. Which, due to the lack of padding, hurt more then she liked. Her dirt cyclone quickly vanished as the buzzer above the training course went off.

"Reset. Try again." Cyborg's voice said over the intercom.

"Are you all right?" Starfire asked as she landed, her concerned face mostly concealed around a goggles and breath mask combo that would protect her eyes and lungs from Terra's dirt-based offenses: it make her look like a reject from a Star Wars casting call but it worked.

"Yes. NO!" Terra groused. "I had you!"

"Well…not really. You…arranged your dance moves in an obvious way?"

Terra stared.

"Oh yes, you choreographed it too much. I think even the beginners of flight combat on my planet would have been able to avoid it."

"Great." Terra grumbled. "I can't even defend myself with a big dirt tornado."

"Ah Terra, do not be discouraged." Starfire said as she pulled off her mask. "You must remember, I have the higher ground. In my planet's war tactics and yours, that is inevitably the stronger position."

"So what, do I make a BIGGER dirt tornado?"

"Well no…Terra, I believe you are going about this the wrong way. You are, um, throwing out the bathwater before you put the baby in?" Starfire said, trying to properly use Earth metaphors.

"Close enough."

"Your weakened position should be addressed first. With you on the wide-open ground and I in the air, I have many attack options. You need to lessen them. Conceal yourself. Distort your position. Make it so viewing you requires a certain angle. Anything that hides you in some way is in your benefit."

"Do I have to?" Terra again grumped, but this time in a friendly sarcastic fashion. "I like my idea of a bigger dirt tornado better."

"Make one as large as the island, it will not catch me!" Starfire retorted…then abruptly looked worried. "Um, Terra, it would probably be best if you did not make one as large as the island, I am certain that will produce MUCH unhappiness with the customary scofflaws."

Terra once again stared.

"Um…usual suspects?"

"That's the one." Terra said as she got up. "And as for my dirt tornados Star, I say that size doesn't matter."

"Oh Terra that is untrue, you see…"

"DON'T FINISH THAT SENTENCE! DON'T FINISH THAT SENTENCE! TRAINING! DO! WE! NEED! UP!" Terra yelled.

Though in the end Starfire was right: Terra couldn't catch her with a dirt tornado.

And now she lacked the power to make a dirt clod, much less a whirlwind of debris.

And without her powers, how could she possibly deal with her circumstances of being wide open and exposed? Run in zig-zags? Crawl under a car? Maybe she could find a conveniently open manhole she could jump into. And maybe if that happened, she could find some mutant turtles who knew ninjitsu to beat up Puff for her…

And then the next gas jet lanced at her.

But it didn't hit her. Indeed, it didn't seem to be aimed at her.

But rather the rather large pickup truck to her left.

Terra felt the pressure wave, even as a low WHUMP! noise thudded in her ears, and even as she turned her head to the left she saw the truck flying at her like a bat out of hell.

It seemed to go in slow motion, as she tried to dodge, turn, and recoil all at once, as her feet gave way and she started to fall, as the giant truck filled her vision even as her head went back…

She could have sworn she felt the tire brush her cheek.

And then the truck flew past her, having missed her by the proverbial inch, as it crashed into two other cars parked across the street and Terra fell painfully onto the ground once more.

"AH DAMMIT!" Terra heard Puff scream up in the sky, and her eyes snapped skywards as the floating gas mutant came to a stop, glowering at Terra…for a second, before she held up a hand and a new gas projectile began swirling into existence.

"Dodge THIS." She snarled, and began throwing back her arm.

As a bright spark of light caught the edge of Terra's vision, and suddenly reacting on instinct on what that meant, she threw herself as flat on the ground as she could as she simultaneously curled into the fetal position.

As a shredded wire or a sparking something met gasoline and the truck and cars suddenly went up in a gigantic one-two explosion. Puff's attack was canceled outright as the shockwave slammed into her and sent her tumbling backwards as she screamed curses, and Terra felt a heat on her back and legs so intense she swore it raised blisters.

But what she didn't feel was red hot shrapnel piercing through her spine or other places she didn't really need a hole, and after a few seconds she blinked her eyes open, rolled over, and managed to get up…and then recoiled as flaming debris crashed down around her. Luck had sided with her once again: she had a few seconds. To what? Start running down the street again until Puff's little game of Duck Hunt DIDN'T end with the dog laughing at her…?

And then she saw it: another alleyway.

And once she saw it, even before she realized it she was running for it.

It wasn't the best option, but at the very least it narrowed Puff's vision: she couldn't attack from ALL angles, she'd have to attack from just one…of course, that also meant Terra was hemmed in and couldn't really avoid the attack, like with Hotstreak before, but hell, she desperately needed a change of perspective, even if just for a few seconds. If she could get out of Puff's sight maybe she could duck under a car or into a building or…

…unless it was a…

Terra had already run partially into the alleyway when she saw that it was: a dead end.

And her heart sank below her knees once again: she'd screwed herself. By the time she stopped her forward momentum and turned around, Puff would surely have cut her off. And this was a solid brick wall that went up to the roof of the building, not a climbable fence.

After all her brushes, death had decided he was going to take her. They'd find her liquefied remains mixed in with melted garbage. There probably wouldn't be enough of her left to bury in a matchbox…

And then the door opened.

And Terra's beginning to falter steps seized and then redoubled their efforts as Terra tore down the alleyway for it, even as a clueless employee stepped out of the door with a bag of garbage, even as he began bringing a lit cigarette to his mouth.

Terra didn't bother saying anything: she just slipped around him and ran into the building.

"What the-HEY!" The young employee yelled as he whirled, dropping the bag and losing his cigarette, as he turned and began chasing Terra into the building. "You can't go in there! You-!"

"MOVE IT ASSWIPE!" Puff snarled as she flew down into the alleyway and slammed the young man into the nearest wall with a point-blank gas jet, knocking the poor bastard into blissful slumber.

As Terra ran out of the back room and found herself sprinting through a convenience store, as a rather confused older man stood up from where he was watching TV behind the counter, his face a mask of confusion.

"Who the hell…!" He said as Terra ran through the store.

"GET DOWN!" She managed to spare as she hit the door and, with a brief tinkle of bells, ran out onto the parking lot and hit the street again.

"Wha-?" Was all the man could get out.

As Puff blasted her way out through the back, literally, as twin jets of gas from her hands blew through the store and turned it into a giant whirling mass of rubbish within seconds, the counterman blown off his feet as massive amounts of cigarettes rained down on him, even as Puff flew through the mess and blew the doors and most of the front of the store off with another blast of concussive force, flying out through the spraying wreckage as she tore after Terra.

Who had managed to find another place to flee into at the end of the street: a bowling alley that went by the name of 'Barmey's Bowleroma", which was a reference Terra swore she could have caught if she wasn't so busy fleeing for her life as she slammed open the door.

She realized too late the downside of running through a bowling alley: there would be people in it.

And there was.

But at least it wasn't league night.

"GET DOWN!" Terra screamed to the shoe clerk as she ran past him.

"Hey wait, come back! You can't wear boots on the…!"

The double doors exploded into the building as Puff blazed in, and Shoe Clerk found himself in a mirrored predicament as Convenience Store Clerk as he was buried in stacked show boxes.

Strangely, Raymond Haarmaan paid little to no attention to the sudden explosion of noise: he was poised at his lane, ready to try and break his personal record, which in his dull life was an accomplishment he would have greatly appreciated.

But life picked the worst time to get interesting, as Terra ran past him.

"WHAT THE, HEY!" Haarman yelled as Terra ran up the alleyway. "WHAT THE HELL ARE-!"

And like all his fellows, Raymond was cut off as Puff blasted twin blasts of potent gas after Terra, only to have them slam into a stacked row of bowling balls and send them all flying, as players screamed and did their best to get out of the way.

As Terra reached the end of the lane and dove, smashing through the pins in a series of painful jolts…

As Puff fired off another blast, barely missing Terra as she rolled into the inner workings of the pin setter, jumped off, and fled into the back. The blast hit the end of the alleyway instead, and the shockwave promptly blew over every single remaining pin.

As Terra found a door in the back room she'd managed to flee into, throwing it open as she ran into the alleyway and out onto the street.

No Puff. Had by some divine chance…

Never speak of chance, as the wall of a nearby building behind Terra exploded outward, Terra yelping as she barely avoided the flying debris.

"I DON'T THINK SO BITCH!" Puff screamed as she flew out, and Terra groaned inwardly and redoubled her efforts: despite her two detours, her situation had quickly turned back into 'Run Forrest Run'. And she didn't even have the option of a football stadium to try and escape into.

Meanwhile, inside the bowling alley, the very stunned but mostly unharmed patrons were picking themselves up from the mess Puff had made.

"…okay…that doesn't count, right?" Haamaan said. His friends just gave him a look. "Just saying!"

"Hey, if knocking all the pins down is a strike, and three strikes in a row is a turkey…what's knocking down every pin in the whole building?" One patron who'd probably had a beer too many inquired.

The answer he got was to be barraged with more drinks: in this case, cups of soda.

But as you might remember, this story is not called 'A Bunch Of Guys Go Bowling'.

"YOU'RE DEAD BITCH!" Puff screamed. Okay, so she was repeating herself. Angry criminally insane metahumans were not the most creative of people. "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?"

Terra didn't really care. What she did care about was the fact that she heard Puff inhaling, and she knew what THAT meant.

And this time Puff wasn't fooling around, as she sprayed out her mordant gas, as it slammed into the street and began melting it away as the gas jet tore down the road behind Terra, who threw a terrified glance behind her and somehow found more energy to run as the fatal mist burned up behind her.

And Puff wasn't letting off, for as even the blast slackened Puff inhaled again, as deeply as she could, and once again sent her acidic attack down onto the street as it pursued Terra, rapidly eating up the distance between them.

Terra could swear she felt her shoes melting, could swear she felt a hot touch upon her bare skin, could swear she saw purple on the edges of her tunnel vision…

Which is probably why she didn't see the fire hydrant.

Though it was pure luck that she didn't slam into it in such a way that she shattered her kneecap. Instead her foot and ankle caught it, Terra almost running around it before she tripped and sprawled onto the ground, doing a rather crude roll as the rest of her momentum abruptly bled off.

As Puff's mist engulfed the fire hydrant and was suddenly dissipated as it exploded upward. Terra gasped in surprise as water rained down on her.

But not as loud as Puff as she shrieked and slammed on the brakes so hard you could swear you heard her body screech.

Terra stared at the floating form, distorted through the tower of water the broken fire hydrant was putting up, and thinking that damn, that was the second hydrant she'd wrecked, she was going to owe the fire department a fortune at this rate.

"NICE TRY!" Puff screamed down at Terra as she got up. Terra blinked. What?

"YOU KNOW HOW MANY TIMES PEOPLE HAVE TRIED THIS TRICK? YOU THINK I'M STUPID? YOU KNOW WHO I AM?" Puff screamed, and then she flew back and fired a concussive gas blast at a nearby car, which flew through the air and crashed down on the fire hydrant, providing a crude but working plug.

Unfortunately, that cost Puff several seconds as Terra had begun running again, trying to make sense of it. Nice try…she just stops…she doesn't like water. Or maybe just liquid…

Great, so all she had to do was find a Super Soaker. Or do a rain dance. Or run until she ended up in New Orleans. Even WITH this knowledge…

And then she saw it. Not a fire hose, or even a knockoff water pistol.

It was a subway station, with a stairway going directly underground.

Which definitely sounded better then running down any more streets, as Terra broke for the stairs.

"COME BACK HERE!" Reached her ears, as she was halfway down the steps. Damn, and she'd hoped she'd get in unseen.

Well, at least she was getting in without paying: the station was deserted. Terra had no idea if that was due to the same possible evacuation that had left the streets empty (there were those guys in the store and bowling alley, but they could have just been told to stay inside, while public facilities like this may have been cleared) or something else, but she wasn't complaining, as she leapt the turnstile and ran down the second flight of stairs.

She heard the blast behind her as Puff gave chase, firing down into the subway as she herself went down the first set of stairs in a supposed try to hit a possibly just out of sight Terra. All it did was tip Terra off that Puff was still behind her but not right on her ass, and she needed that, and something else, as Terra crossed her fingers…and was rewarded. It was a united two-train platform, rather then a split pair with a standing position between them. That meant that there was room for two trains instead of one, and that was potentially going to be very important.

As Terra leapt down onto the tracks, stumbling a bit and gasping as she headed, if but for a moment, towards the electrified and hence dangerous third rail, and then she had her feet again and was running.

She had no idea if Puff could see her or not, but she couldn't turn back down, as she ran past the exit of the station and into the inky murk beyond.

The far inkier murk then she had been expecting. Subway tunnels weren't exactly lit up like airport runways, but they still had a fair bit of light from various sources for maintenance crews and the occasional emergency. But this subway tunnel, while lit enough so that Terra could still (basically) see where she was going (which would be important considering the aforementioned third rail), was far darker and shadow-filled then expected or preferred.

Well, on the plus side, it might help hide her from Puff, as Terra fled down the darkened tunnel.

She hoped it wouldn't split. Terra had wanted the larger two-train 'side by side' tunnel because if god forbid a subway train started heading down the tunnel, she could just get on the other side to avoid it. If she'd been forced to flee down a singular tunnel, then she'd have virtually no place to hide if a train came along, save for pressing herself up against the wall and praying her stick-like frame would actually serve her for once. Then again, if the tunnel split, it might give her a chase to lose Puff. Of course, a maintenance door would be just as nice: it might lead to a flight of stairs out of the place. If she could even see it in the murky gloom she was still fleeing through, as her footsteps and rapid breath echoed through the darkness.

Indeed, they were the only sounds Terra heard, as she continued running…but no sooner did she become aware of the lack of noise then she suddenly became aware of a few other things. Like the fact that her legs were on fire and her lungs felt like they were being clawed by a wild animal.

Despite herself, Terra's pace slowed and then stopped, as she fell to her knees and took in great gulping lengths of air. Very stale, murky, and unpleasant air, but Terra didn't much care as long as it went into her lungs. Her legs abruptly cramped, and Terra groaned and tried to remember how to massage them to try and relieve said cramps.

Well, at least she'd finally konked out in a (somewhat) safer place. Hell, she'd gone a lot longer then she would have ever expected, fear for her life aside. She might have been unable to put on any muscle weight, but it appeared her cardiovascular training had worked.

Still, she didn't want to stay still, so she, her teeth gritted as her breathing finally started to slow, pulled herself up and began to stagger forward, kneading the muscles in her thighs and calves. If she survived, she wasn't going to be able to move for days, she suspected. Still, she had to survive first, and that meant escaping Puff, who Terra was pretty sure still in pursuit, quiet aside.

Yes, she did not like how dark this subway was. She'd been in a few in her wandering days, and even slept in a closed down tunnel once (and wasn't THAT a fun experience). Had she heard that Topeka had only very recently built their subway, or was she imagining that? Maybe if that was the case and the subway was brand new it had fallen behind schedule and been opened before all the final touches had been added, like more lights. Now it was lit enough to see but not enough to banish a deep unease. Puff could be hiding in those shadows. And even if she wasn't, who knew what was? She had heard homeless people lived underground in various cities, why not here? Then again this wasn't New York, which was honeycombed underneath by so many criss-crossing opened, closed, and sealed off tunnels that it would have given Crete's labyrinth a run for it's money. If this was new, the homeless probably hadn't moved in. Properly. No, she'd probably just run into the Morlocks or the Mole People. The way her luck was running…

Something loomed out of the darkness before her, and Terra jerked and took a step back…then relaxed. It was just a subway train.

One that was clearly empty. What was it doing here, left in the tunnel? Had the evacuation of Topeka extended to stopping the subway trains and herding out the passengers?

Then Terra, as she got closer, managed to spot the problem: one of the front wheels was removed. Must have been a minor accident that had required a replacement. Probably late that night or something. But was that proper procedure to just leave the train here in the tunnel? Oh who cared? Whatever the case, she had to go around it.

The thought, as Terra went around the train and began walking beside it, occurred to her to go into the train and see if she could find any weapons. Wait, bad idea. While she was futzing around Puff might come along and Terra would find herself trapped, unless by sheer good luck Puff dismissed the train and just flew on. But Terra doubted that would happen. Hell, she should really start running again, now that she was rested some. Then again maybe she should have kept walking. The tunnel was still as quiet as a tomb (charming thought there): if Puff was still coming Terra was sure she'd hear her. Maybe she'd gotten lost. Maybe she had piss-poor night vision. Maybe some C.H.U.D.S' had eaten her. She…

Heard something, as Terra stopped. A low…

Rumbling. Coming from the tracks. Terra looked down and froze, as she realized what that meant.

She whirled around, wondering if she should run back the way she came, but wait, she had no idea which way the train was coming, she might be running right towards it. Could she hide under the stopped train abandoned in the tunnel? No, too damn dark, she wouldn't be able to tell if she was properly underneath it, as she turned around again, which way was the train, with the greater dark she should have been able to see it easier, which way was it coming, she needed to know…

And Terra turned around again and saw it, the faint light in the distance, coming the way Terra had just come.

She'd crossed about 1/3 of the length of the abandoned train, and she had a sinking feeling that she didn't have enough time to run back that way.

Only one choice left.

"…meep." Terra said, and turned and sprinted down the tunnel.

The darkness was starting to lighten around her, but that wasn't a good thing: it meant the train was approaching, and fast. A crazy thought entered Terra's head: Puff had been AWOL not because of being lost but because she'd taken the time to steal a train to run Terra down with. Indeed, Terra was suddenly certain if she turned around she'd see the crazy cruel grin of the black girl in the driver's seat as it bore down on her.

In the end, she didn't turn around, as she quickly realized that it didn't really matter if it Puff, a subway conductor, or Woody Harrelson driving the train, she still had 100,000 pounds (at least) of metal charging at her back and she knew that while trains had brakes they couldn't stop on a dime, and while getting hit at 20 MPH would be better then getting hit at 90 MPH the subtleties were pretty much lost on a 100 ton metal train.

The 100 ton-at-least train that was eating up the distance between them at a pace beyond Terra's fears. And so Terra once again ran for her life, the tunnel and subway next to her blurring in her vision.

As she suddenly heard the terrible shrieking noise behind her as the subway suddenly had its brakes applied, which ruled out Puff driving it, but it was still coming at her, she could feel the weight pressing down on her, the terrible pressure that would obliterate her as thoroughly as Puff's acid breath, and the worst part was she couldn't even blame it on malice, the train was just in the wrong place at the wrong time…

The screeching of metal filled her ears as Terra saw her shadow shorten at her feet…

And then the train beside her was gone, and Terra hurled herself to the side and landed painfully as the subway blasted past her. She rolled once and came to a stop, gasping, as the train continued to drive past her, even as he kept slowing down.

Once again, she'd shown death her cards and he'd had a bum hand.

Terra shifted, rolling over some as she tried to get up…

And froze as her arm almost came down on the electrified third rail. Her limb locked up literally a centimeter from it, as Terra's eyes went wide as saucers.

She swallowed hard, and then carefully lifted her arm back up and away from the deadly rail. She had to watch for that card up death's sleeve. He clearly had several.

Pushing herself up, trying to ignore the new pains from her rough landing, Terra turned and saw that the train had finally come to a complete stop down the tunnel. Glancing behind her, she walked/staggered up to it, even as the door at the back opened up and a flashlight shone out at her.

"JESUS LADY! Are you okay?" Asked whoever was holding said flashlight, which was currently shining in Terra's eyes as she recoiled.

"Fine. Great. Everyone should do it." Terra said, as she reached the train and grabbed the rail, partially pulling herself up as the train conductor helped her the rest of the way. Now that it was clear that she was relatively okay, the train conductor went from relieved to angry.

"…WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING DOWN HERE?" He yelled as Terra, pretty much tuning him out, walked up the subway car, ignoring the curious and angry looks from the several passengers, some of whom had probably taken nasty tumbles when the conductor had abruptly slammed on the brakes. "ARE YOU TRYING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED?"

"Actually no. Long story." Terra said.

"Hey, where are you going! You could have derailed us! Or caused an electrical fire! You're under arrest!"

"Can you arrest me? No? Then get someone who can, I'm not going anywhere." Terra said as she reached the exit door to the car, opened it, and then opened the entrance door to the next car and started making her way up that one. She figured she'd do that until she hit the front car, to try and ween her brain off its need to keep moving.

The train conductor looked ticked, but he couldn't think of much else to do about the girl except turn her in at the next stop, as he made his way up to the end of the back subway car and opened the small control booth door. A subway usually had several places from which it could be driven: a traditional front end and a various number of smaller control rooms scattered through the subway train cars.

"Head control, head control, this is Vigil driving the 12 East line, you're not going to believe this, but we just had a…"

The back of the subway car abruptly exploded and passengers screamed and ducked for cover as the door went crashing through the car, and Terra, almost to the end of the second car, whirled around as her heart abruptly seized and filled with ice. Oh no.

"YOU THINK WE'RE DONE, YOU BITCH?" Puff screamed as she flew through the smashed end of the subway. "WE HAVEN'T EVEN STARTED!"

"Aw JEEZ." Terra groaned, and turned and ran for it again, quite possibly setting a speed record as she opened the twin doors between cars before her and fled into the next car.

"HEY! WHAT IN THE WOR-!" Subway conductor Vigil yelled as he turned…

Puff punched him aside, and Vigil groaned and fell back into the control room.

And, surprise surprise, his arm caught on the throttle as he fell, yanking it all the way down.

The subway lurched back into motion, even as Terra fled through her current car and Puff smashed her way into the second. Terra had opened the third set of doors and was halfway through the forth car when Puff came to the doors leading to the third car and tried to once again blow it open. However, she apparently hit it at the wrong angle, as the door was only torn partially off its hinges instead of all the way off. Terra could hear Puff shriek with frustration at this, but she wasn't complaining, as she opened and fled through her latest set of doors.

But she knew very well she was going to run out of cars, and quite soon. How many cars did the average subway have? 8? 10? She was just entering the sixth, even as Puff smashed through her brief obstruction and continued her furious chase.

"Now arriving at Garrison Station." Said an automated voice as Terra fled into the seventh car. Arriving? Maybe she could get out…damn it, the subway was going WAY too fast, there was no way it would slow down enough to stop at the station (a problem Terra was strongly suspicious that Puff had somehow caused, which she had), and she was already exiting the seventh car, how the hell was she going to get off…

Then, as she began running up the eighth car, she saw it on the wall: a large fire extinguisher.

And she suddenly had a crazy idea.

And considering the noise behind her, she didn't really have any other options.

And as Puff smashed her way through her fifth door, Terra grabbed the extinguisher off the wall, dragged it along a few feet, and, as the two lone passengers in the eighth train stared at her in shock and confusion, she hefted up the fire extinguisher and with a snarling groan rammed the base against the subway window.

The passengers cried out, but Terra ignored them, focusing entirely on the window, which seemed undamaged, so Terra, somehow finding the strength to keep the immensely heavy fire extinguisher up, reared back and slammed the base against the window again.

No dice, or so it seemed, but Terra wasn't giving up just yet as she took a few steps back and then charged, lancing the base of the fire extinguisher out once more.

A spiderweb of cracks splayed across the window, and with that result giving her one last burst of strength, Terra ran back and then forward, smashing the base one final time into the window as it exploded into a shower of blunt, gummy fragments, spraying in and out of the subway.

Terra dropped the extinguisher and pushed what remained of the window out of the way.

As Puff tore through the door into the car next to Terra.

And Garrison Station suddenly appeared in the windows, as the subway train drove past various shocked onlookers.

"I'm crazy." Terra said as she ran backwards several feet. "I'm crazy I'm crazy…!"

And then she ran for the window.

"GODDAMN CRAZY!" She screamed, as she jumped off the closest chair and hurled herself through the window and out into the station platform.

Fortunately, for once, she landed on something soft. In this case, it happened to be a large male commuter, who was driven to the ground as Terra flew into him.

It was too bad Terra missed the comical look of shock on Puff's face as the subway flew past Terra and off into the subway tunnel. It was worthy of an internet meme.

"…sorry, but thanks man! You saved me from a lot of pain!" Terra said from where she lay sprawled on top of the commuter, and planted a big kiss on his face before she scrambled up and ran for the exit, leaving an immensely confused and winded man lying on the ground.

"You, call the cops!" Terra yelled at a random passerby with a cell phone, and then started up the stairs to the street.

As Puff flew out of the tunnel, her face once again alight in snarling fury. In truth, she HAD gotten a touch lost when chasing Terra into the subway tunnel, and unlike Terra, she had been less aware of her surroundings. Which had ended up causing the train Terra had fled from and then through to come up behind her and splatter her gaseous flying state all over the place, which HURT. Hurt and re-ignited her anger all over again, once she'd put herself together again and resumed the chase. And then the girl had gone and pulled that Jackass-esque stunt to get away. For a powerless slip of a blonde, she was becoming a bigger headache then Static, and that just spiked Puff's anger higher. She wasn't going to lose the bitch, if she had to chase her all the way to hell itself.

And Terra could hear that anger in her screaming, as she reached the top of the stairs that exited the subway.

Out onto a street in which there were actually people and cars. Well, scratch running down the street again.

What she needed was water. Puff clearly did not like water. But where was she going to get water? Maybe she should have tried to use the fire extinguisher on Puff instead of using it to break the window, but too late for that…

She needed water and better ground, as she ran across the street (provoking a few angry honks from motorists) and started up the sidewalk there. But where could…

Then she saw the sign, and she at least had some kind of answer, as she jerked to the right and headed for the side door of a large, older style building.

And that was where Puff saw her heading as she got out of the subway herself, and her eyes sparked.

"No way bitch." She snarled, and flew after her.

---

The sign had actually advertised that the building Terra was running into was hosting some kind of scientific symposium/luncheon: Terra had picked it because she figured that due to that it wouldn't be locked and she'd be able to get in. Of course, what she'd do when she got in, she had no idea. She needed water…and with Puff right on her tail, she needed it FAST!

---

"Gentlemen, I give you an item that will revolutionize warfare!" The scientist at the podium said to the room of fellow scientists and a few reporters, as his assistant unveiled some kind of firearm. "This water gun…"

The quiet room abruptly filled with noise as a door on the left side of the room slammed open and Terra ran through.

"Never mind! Nothing to see here!" Terra called as she ran past the podium and headed for another door on the opposite side of the room.

"…AS I WAS SAYING." The scientist at the podium (he hated being interrupted), as Terra tried to open the door…and abruptly found it securely locked. "This water gun shoots water with such pressure as to instantly incapacitate any normal human being!"

"What if somebody had a vulnerability to water?" A reporter asked, as Terra furiously shook the door and punched it.

"Well then, it might kill them outright." The scientist said. "Unfortunately I cannot really test it…"

And that was all he got out as Terra ran back, jumped onto the podium, grabbed the gun…and abruptly ran back to the door and slammed it against it as hard as she could, finally breaking it open.

"NOOOOOOO! NOT MY WATER GUN! IT WAS PROFFESOR HERMAN WHO BUILT THE DOOR BREAKING GUN, NOT ME!" The scientist wailed.

"Well I had…wait…WATER GUN?" Terra said, as she looked at the now thoroughly wrecked and useless weapon. "DOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!"

"Security!" The scientist at the podium said as Terra threw down the broken weapon that could have been her salvation if she'd been paying any attention while trying to get through the door and then ran through said door. "SECURITY! SOMEONE-!"

"COME BACK HERE!" Puff screamed as she burst into the room.

Terra barely saw her as she closed the broken door shut as best she could and whirled around. She found herself in a large open room that had been converted into a dining area, probably where the luncheon was going to happen. It was empty save for one janitor who was staring at her, if one didn't count the many tables and chairs and the long buffet style food stretch.

Terra heard the chaos erupt in the room behind her, and briefly felt terrible. But she couldn't control what Puff did, and she ultimately had to look after herself first, as she looked around for an exit door.

She found it…past the food-covered table…one section of which was filled with jugs of water.

Terra's eyes focused on it. Well, it wasn't as good as the water gun, but wet was wet.

"What the hell are you fancy invention-people DOING?" The janitor asked, referring to Terra's sudden entrance and the noise that had followed in her wake. Terra didn't bother answering as she ran for the table. "And I thought you sticking 25 plugs into one socket was bad enough, don't you know how hazardous that is…?" The janitor said, pointing to some electrical hazard that apparently bothered him.

"Sir, you'd better run." Terra said, as she grabbed up the biggest jug of water she could and ran back to stand beside the door.

"Run? What have…!"

The broken door exploded open again as the podium went flying through it, and a few scientists fled through it to the exit on the other side of the room. The janitor quickly decided he didn't care what was going on and should probably not hang around to find out, as he fled with the scientists, even as Terra hefted the jug.

A pause.

The form flew through.

And Terra threw her water.

And soaked the professor as he was hurled through the door, as her eyes went wide at her mistake.

She'd been faked out.

"Crap."

The blast of concussive gas slammed into her side and sent Terra flying as she crashed into a table and flipped and rolled over it, knocking over the table in turn as she slammed into the ground, the wind knocked from her.

"You're not listening, are you?" Puff said as she strolled in. "You think I'm stupid. They always do. The only stupid one here is YOU, bitch. Don't you know who I am?"

Podium Scientist was groggily getting up. Puff growled at him and he made an odd squeaking scream and ran, heading for the exit door a few of his colleagues and the janitor had already used. Puff ignored him, as she headed for where Terra lay.

"Well believe me bitch, the last thing you're going to be screaming is my name…"

Terra kicked out with all her strength, and the table slid over the ground and rammed into Puff's legs and torso, eliciting a gasp from her as it hit her before she could turn gaseous. Terra scrambled to her feet and ran for the same exit door Podium scientist had just fled through.

"Oh no, no more Road Runner shit." Puff said, and fired another concussive blast.

It took Terra square in the spine, as she jerked and collapsed, her whole body briefly going numb. Her old friend pain came in the wake of that, but Terra almost didn't feel it as she tried to get up again and escape…

As Puff floated down in front of the exit doors, and with a wicked grin she slammed them shut and exhaled her potent acid onto them. The metal aspects melted and fused together, cutting Terra off from fleeing.

That way, as she whirled her head, looking at the other door she'd come through and tried to ambush Puff by, as she sprang up and sprinted for that one in turn.

"I SAID DROP IT!" Puff yelled, as she charged up another concussive gas blast. She didn't fire it at Terra this time though: instead she aimed at and blasted a chair, which slid across the floor at high speed and slammed into Terra's legs, sending her falling/flying backwards in a snapping flip that nearly caused Terra to break her neck. But her left shoulder took most of the impact instead, leaving her lying on the floor again with fresh waves of pain.

Puff quickly flew across the room again, slammed the mostly broken doors as shut as she could, and also gave them an acid bath. It wasn't as firm a seal as her first attempt, but it would do…

As Terra lunged at Puff, throwing another jug of water at her.

Puff jerked to the side, as the water sprayed on her just sealed exit. Too close. Time to crack down.

"Nice." Puff said, and backhanded Terra as hard as she could, sending her staggering back. No sooner as she recovered her feet then Puff was right in her face.

"Boo!"

Terra tried to swipe Puff with the now empty glass jug, but Puff swatted her arm in mid-blow and caused her to lose her grip, moments before Puff buried a fist in Terra's gut. As the blonde doubled over with a wheeze, Puff grabbed her by the hair and slammed her knee up, sending Terra snapping back up and backwards as blood sprayed from her nose.

The small of her back rammed into another table, cutting off her escape, and before Terra could do anything Puff was right in her face again, slamming a nasty right hook across Terra's cheek. Starts exploded in her eyes, and strange colors joined them again as Puff added a left hook in turn. Terra's head snapped with the blow, as she nearly fell down from the impact. And the only reason she didn't was because Puff grabbed her.

"What's my name, bitch?"

Puff uppercutted Terra up onto the table, and then seized it and flipped it over, as Terra crashed down onto the ground and then had the table flipped over onto her, forcing the air from her lungs once more in a rasping wheeze.

Puff cracked her knuckles: she remembered her boxing lessons better then she'd thought. They'd serve her well, as well as some improvising.

The table shifted: Terra was trying to get free.

Puff stomped on the table, and another pained gasp sounded from beneath it.

"Yeah. What's my name!" Puff yelled, and stomped on the table again. She couldn't tell if the cracking noise was the table or Terra's bones, but it was all good.

"That's right." Puff said, as she walked around the table. "You better DAMN! WELL! REMEMBER!" Puff snarled, punctuating each word with a stomp.

The table shuddered, and Puff decided to take it up a notch, as she turned gaseous and floated up. This would probably crush her ribs to a splintered mass, but eh, what could one expect from such a thin stick of a girl?

Puff floated up some more, trying to judge the precise distance needed without harming her own legs.

And underneath the table, Terra agonized, trying to get free, trying to think of some way, any way, to escape this with her life…

The metallic snapping sound was loud and unpleasant, and it made Terra wince as she heard the small, mournful howl. She turned off the training course and headed down into it, where a green fox had its left foot securely caught in a trap it had been unable to avoid.

"Ow. You all right Gar?" Terra said with concern.

"Yeah, ow. It's okay. This isn't like normal hunting traps, no sharp ends. Still smarts, ow! Like getting your hand slammed in a car door." Beast Boy said, as he adjusted his bodily position to try and look at the trap better.

"You want me to…?"

"No, I should see if I can get out of it myself first." Beast Boy said, as he tried to get leverage with his other paw. "I find it helps if I approach animal problems with a human perspective, it gives me a better idea what to become when I'm put on the spot, and such."

"What would a real fox do?"

"More likely then not? Chew his own foot off." Beast Boy said, as he struggled with the trap, noting Terra's look of disgust. "Yeah."

"You know, for the expression 'Clever like a fox', that doesn't seem very clever."

"Cleverness is relative. Don't confuse what makes sense to you to what makes sense to animals." Beast Boy said as he tried another angle. "To an animal the foot is trapped, and if they can't move, they will die. So they sacrifice a foot."

"I'll take human thinking."

"Ah, but that doesn't always bring perfect results now, does it?" Beast Boy said, and grinned. "There's a fable…of a fox and a cat…the fox bragged to the cat that he had a hundred ways of escaping man's hunting hounds, and the cat said he just had one, he ran up a tree. Well, the hounds came, and the cat ran up a tree, but the fox was so busy trying to decide which one of his hundred ways he wanted to use to escape that the hounds caught him and tore him to pieces. I think you see the metaphor."

"Right, when evil threatens, run up a tree."

"No no Terra. I'm just saying that human thinking, yeah, it's powerful and all that, but it's also complicated. Easier to screw up. Animal thinking, instinct, it might be simple and it might not work out for the best, but when your human brain is panicking, or scrambled, or overwhelmed, sometimes the best thing to do is seize onto your gut reaction and go with that. Sometimes that calls for chewing off a paw…"

And with a clank, the trap snapped open as Beast Boy finally found the sweet spot. He turned back to human form and rubbed his wrist.

"And sometimes not. They have their merits, both of them. Learn to control both, and even the darkest situations will have solutions."

"…wow. And here I thought your knowledge was limited to vandalizing Wikipedia." Terra joked. Beast Boy gave her a playful push and smiled. Terra smiled back.

"Just keep it in mind. Understanding your enemy, your friends, your options, that's all important. But sometimes it gets in the way of what we may or may not know about our selves. And sometimes the only way to go when your foot is trapped is, well, whatever you can sink your teeth into."

And so, Terra found a tree to run up.

As Puff turned fully solid again and plunged down towards the table.

And Terra did the only thing she could think of and shoved the table up as hard as she could.

If she'd had super strength, the table would have pasted Puff in the air. But Terra had less then average strength, and so you'd think pushing the table up like she was bench-pressing it would do nothing.

You were wrong: it did something. It caused a slight adjustment to where the folding leg was.

So instead of stomping the table, Puff ended up stomping her foot down on the upside down two-pronged setup.

The impact drove the table down and smashed Terra's elbows into the ground, but the immensely awkward landing turned Puff's attempted stomp into a bouncing twist-ricochet as she shrieked and fell, the pain in her ankle keeping her from concentrating as she splattered onto the ground chest first.

Terra groaned, and then pushed again, shoving the table off of her and crawling her way back onto her feet as Puff herself tried to recover from the impact.

Terra spied the water jug setup on the food table again, and staggered over to it, seizing a jug in each aching arm and then turning around as Puff hobbled to her feet.

"Ow, damn, you goddamn…!" Puff cursed as she got up, hopping on one foot.

Terra threw the water at her.

And Puff blasted herself backwards with gas jets from her hands, throwing herself out of the way of the spraying liquid. Terra's eyes widened…as Puff blasted another two-handed blast into Terra, sending her flying backwards as the jug flew out of her hand and sprayed water across the room.

But unfortunately, nowhere near Puff, as Terra found herself on the ground again, as she and Puff struggled to get up.

They got up at roughly the same time, but the vicious look that once again adorned Puff's face indicated the situation clearly: Puff could strike at a distance, and Terra could not.

"You want a drink so bad?" Puff snapped.

And then she thrust her hands out, the attack too fast to dodge, as Terra was thrown backwards through the glass jug setup, falling over the table as the legs gave out and the jugs fell and crashed down everywhere, spilling the water all over the floor and all over Terra even as she was pummeled by several of the heavy flagons.

Puff looked satisfied as Terra's weapon setup fell apart, even as she tried to put more weight on her ankle. Damn, that girl had more miracles to pull out of her ass then where a saint had used the bathroom, a habit among superheroes villains bitched about quite a lot. Apparently it even extended to them when they didn't have powers.

Though it looked like Terra had run out of them, as she lay amongst the wreckage of the table and glass containers, staring with blank eyes across the room.

"Had enough?" Puff challenged.

Terra remained on the ground. For a moment Puff almost walked over to her and curb stomped her, but stopped at the last second.

Smart, as after a few more seconds Terra twitched, and then slowly began pulling herself up.

"Oh what's this? Really." Puff taunted…and then saw it.

Somehow, Terra had managed to hold onto one jug, about 2/3 of the way filled with water.

And with a scream, Terra charged, swinging her arm back as the liquid sloshed inside the container, as she snapped her arm out and sent the water in a shining gush out of the jar and towards Puff.

….who sidestepped it easily, having seen it coming a mile away. She heard it splash on the wall behind her.

Terra faltered at the sight, and then collapsed, the jug rolling from numb fingers.

Puff grinned again.

"You know, unless Carmen comes rolling through the wall and flattens me, I think we can say this game is over."

Silence.

Terra's eyes flicked to the wall. Puff laughed nastily.

"Oh come on, you actually thought it would HAPPEN?" Puff snarked, and then kicked Terra as hard as she could.

Terra, in a tiny part of her head, suspected there might have been some gas projection from Puff's foot as well, as she found herself flying through the air again, landing on another table and feeling it collapse beneath her. It cushioned the impact a bit, and hence made her pain about, oh, .07 percent better then if she'd landed on the floor.

"You really are a blonde. How about we continue on with making you a redhead?" Puff said, referring to the blood from Terra's wounds staining her hair, as Puff reared back and tried to stomp on Terra again.

Terra rolled out of the way, seized a chair, and got up as she swung up with all the adrenaline she could muster.

The chair phased through Puff, who grinned that terrible cruel smirk of hers once more and then blasted acidic gas from her mouth, striking the chair and burning it away as Terra howled and let go of it, clutching her hands from the trace gas that had touched her.

Puff smashed her in the face with another punch, and Terra went down again.

"What's my name, bitch?" Puff said, and kicked Terra while she was down, rolling her over onto her back. Terra coughed, blood emerging from her mouth (albeit from injuries to said mouth rather then her lungs, but at this rate…)…and then amazed herself by trying to get up again.

Only to have Puff punch her down again.

"Yeah! What's my name, bitch? What's my name?" Puff said, as she did her best Muhammad Ali impression and danced around a bit.

"…need a new line…" Terra mumbled.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did you forget who was killing who here?" Puff said, and blasted Terra into the ground with a finger gas blast.

"Come on! Get up! It's no fun if you just lie there!" Puff said, and kicked Terra again. That didn't even get her to roll over.

"Oh, have we finally given up? About damn time." Puff said, as she grabbed Terra by the hair, yanked her mostly limp form up, and then, finding a nearby upright chair, shoved Terra into it. Somehow Terra fell onto the chair without breaking it or knocking it over.

Puff waited for Terra to find one last burst of adrenaline and jump out of the chair to try another futile attack, but none came. Instead Terra just looked at Puff with bleary eyes, one side of her face starting to swell, her body out of anger, defiance, and even fear.

"Man, I don't know what they feed you, but it's a goddamn pain in the ass." Puff snarled, as she realized just how much effort she'd had to expend to get to this point. The cops and authorities had done virtually nothing, and here this powerless girl had through insane luck and her fancy car pretty much ruined Puff's whole scheme. It made her angry all over again.

"So, where do you want to start?" Puff said as she began charging up another concussive gas blast. "The arms…or the legs?"

"Actually…maybe the nose." Terra whispered.

"The nose? Why would…" Puff said.

And then she discovered it, as Terra mentioning her nose caused Puff to subconsciously use hers, as she sniffed…and smelled the acrid scent.

"Now what's…" Puff said, as she turned around.

And saw it.

The massive amount of plugs and extensions that had all been put in one socket to feed lights and movie projectors and who knew what else was in flames, the setup melting into a gooey mass as the fire licked the wall and floor, trying to expand itself.

Onto a wall with a clear wet spot.

And as Puff gasped to herself, Terra somehow found the energy to chuckle.

"They're way too sensitive you know."

As Puff's eyes followed the darkly colored smoke from the small fire as it finished drifting it's way up to the ceiling and the-

Sprinklers.

Which exploded into action and unleashed a torrent of driving water down across the entire room, and Puff screamed as she was engulfed, her body spasming as her powers shorted out.

Terra couldn't believe it had worked. Hell, she could barely believe she'd managed it in the first place, that her brain had managed to remember Robin's lessons on observation and deduction well enough to put together the several tossed off memories and comments about smoke detectors, electrical fires, and the overloaded plug with the sprinklers she'd spied on the ceiling during one of the times she'd been lying on her back. That she'd actually managed to fake out Puff and throw water on said overloaded electrical setup to start a fire to trigger said sprinklers.

But as Puff thrashed and screamed, Terra knew there was one last part, as she reached deep down inside her, down into the very core of herself, and as Puff turned around Terra then leapt off the chair and charged, ramming herself into Puff, forced into solidity, and sending her down onto the ground as she fell on top of her.

Maybe some people would have found it titillating as the two thrashed on the floor even as water continued to pour down on the room, but to Terra it was pure brutal survival, as she rained down fists on Puff's face, flailing, trying to land a decent blow.

"AHHHH YOU BITCH!" Puff screamed, as her hand lanced up and seized Terra's ear, and as Terra yelled as she felt Puff try to rip the whole haft off Puff slammed her with another punch, knocking Terra sideways as Puff rolled over and took the top position, screaming as she actually indulged in the cliché and tried to claw Terra's eyes out, raking a gash across Terra's cheek before Terra got a leg up and over Puff, yanking her backwards and off her, pouncing on her again and landing a solid punch to her jaw, but the blow seemed to hurt Terra's hand as much as it did Puff and as Terra recoiled Puff nailed her in the throat. Terra gasped, grabbing at her airway, even as Puff got a leg up and lashed out, nailing Terra square in the forehead with her boot heel and sending more interesting colors exploding across Terra's vision as she reared backwards and fell on her back again.

And she had no time to get her bearings, as Puff jumped on her again and locked her hands around her throat, completely cutting off her wind. Terra's eyes went wide, and she thrashed wildly, trying to break free, but Puff had all the leverage, not to mention the strength advantage, and Terra found to her horror she was trapped as surely as if her neck was in a vise.

Or a foot trap.

Terra tried to think of something, as she flailed, punched, tried to get her legs up, but Puff's position was too strong, and Terra's strength was starting to fade, the corners of her vision was starting to creep with black, as Puff forced her thumbs down, grinning that savage, violent grin, like any predator out of the jungle that had finally brought down its prey even after a long, hard hunt.

"God, what a goddamn farce."

Terra's pupils dilated as she saw Noel, her teammate, suddenly standing next to the thrashing pair, but of course, he wasn't really there, he was just in her head, a hallucination from her situation, like in the car when her biggest problem had been some misguided and overzealous hillbillies an eternity ago. This time her problem was lack of oxygen, and like last time Noel, unlike his pretentious codename, was going to be no help, as he looked at her sadly.

"All the advice and help my teammates give you, and this is where we end up. You on a slab." Noel said with disgust. "They'll all be shocked, but not me. I always knew it."

A tear leaked from Terra's vision: why did her last thoughts have to take the form of THIS…

"You're a failure, Tara Markov. I always knew. I could see it in your eyes." Noel said.

See her future in…

Eyes…

EYES!

GO FOR THE EYES!

And with strength she didn't know she had and with a voiceless scream Terra's arms stopped their mindless thrashing as she extended her thumbs and rammed them as hard as she could right into Puff's shining, malevolent orbs.

She had no idea if she actually damaged them or just hurt them, but as the soft sacks recoiled under her thumbs so did Puff, letting Terra go as she screamed in agony, her hands clawing at her face and Terra's devastating strike, as air came back to Terra's lungs and her brain came afire once more, as Puff swatted her arms away even as she held her bleeding face…

As Terra's hand came across another empty glass water jug, seizing it in her fingers and swinging it up, smashing it across Puff's face.

Puff almost flew off, crashing onto the ground, and before Terra even knew what she was doing she had jumped back on her, pistoning her fist down into the Bang Baby's face, lost in one final blast of animalistic fury, as she screamed wordless rage and punched Puff again, and again, and again, and then in one last explosive blast seized Puff by the hair, reared her head up, and slammed it as hard as she could against the floor, and again, and again, and then she was punching her once more, and then once again slamming her head, and again…

And then it was gone, the anger burned out.

And Terra realized her foe was unconscious.

She'd won.

Still, she knelt/lay there for a moment, searching for any more movement, and when none came she slowly slid herself off the Bang Baby's prone body, sitting on the ground nearby, taking deep, ragged breaths, feeling the water continue to wash over her.

Blinking, she looked up, and found that dream-Noel was still there. Strangely, she wasn't surprised.

Indeed, she took it as a chance to flip him off.

Failure THIS.

And, perhaps even more strangely, Noel gave an approving chuckle.

"Don't let it go to your head." He said, and then he was gone.

Terra stared at the spot where her mind had conjured him, even as the sprinklers finally began shutting down, as Terra slumped down. God she was tired. So very tired.

She had enough energy to look once more at her fallen foe. She'd done it. Somehow she'd done it.

….no, she hadn't. She'd had help. Maybe not in body, but in heart, and in spirit.

Terra coughed, and allowed herself a slight smile.

"And now." She told Puff's unconscious form. "Your name is mud."

The best part about being on her own was no one was around to groan.