Teen Titans: Terra: Recalled to Life
Was that a voice?
"You were the best friend I ever had."
How could it be? The dead don't hear voices.
"You were the best friend I ever had."
The dead don't see bright lights coming at them out of nowhere, either.
But it's happening!
Hm. Those bright lights I can't be seeing coming at me out of nowhere seem to be getting bigger and stronger…should I be worried? But why? What do the dead have to worry about, anyway?
Just before they hit, a thought crosses my dead brain: am I being recalled to life? If so, why?
And…just who the hell am I, anyway?
The blond picked herself up out of what looked like a small mountain of rocks and gravel. "Oooooh," she groaned. "Wha…what happened to me? Feel like I just got hit over the head with an active volcano…heh. Obviously, THAT'S not possible. Maybe I was in a car accident?
"Er…what's a car again, now?"
…
The blond stumbled out of the cave. On the way, she passed by a bronze plaque lying in the rubble. Picked it up.
It read, "Terra. A Teen Titan, and a True Friend." Where had it come from?
And who was Terra?
…
Titans' Tower: Beast Boy had been restless for days now. It was really getting on Raven's nerves. "If you don't quit pacing," she told him, a half-smile on her normally sober face, "I'll be forced to put a spell of enchanted sleep on you. Then you'll only be able to wake up when you feel True Love's First Kiss." The way she said it, he could hear the capital letters. Her smile, hidden behind her book, got even broader. "That should keep you out from underfoot forever." The two were alone in the Tower, the others having been called out on a peculiar case.
Beast Boy stopped pacing at once, but not out of fear. He turned to his comrade. "Was that supposed to be funny?"
Raven's head snapped up. She'd never heard Beast Boy, Garfield Logan, use THAT tone of voice, to ANYbody, let alone HER. "Are you saying," he continued, "that I'll never know this 'true love' you're talking about? Or are you saying it's a good way of getting rid of me once and for all? Or maybe both?" His glare actually made her look away.
She gathered herself, putting her book down, and looked at him. "It was a joke, Garfield. I-"
"That's BEAST BOY, to you. And I've heard better jokes." And with that, he stormed out of room, leaving a stunned Raven looking at the door he'd slammed on his way out. Had she just heard what she thought she'd heard? Garfield Logan, actually standing up to her? The only time something similar had happened was when he'd been briefly mutated into a superbeast by an accidental shower in some recombinant DNA. She hoped this wasn't like that…then again, maybe that was the wrong way to hope. If his attitude was the result of his internal emotions, conflicting feelings, the problem could be a whole lot more difficult to resolve.
She sighed. She'd played a part in this. Gar was her friend, and, now that her attention was called to it, she realized that what she'd said had crossed over the line. It was only right that she do what she could to fix the problem.
She got up, making sure to mark her place in her book, and followed his trail of emotions down to his room. She experienced a brief moment of fear-hesitation: she'd been just outside Garfield's room that terrible night when Adonis, also mutated into a superbeast, had emerged and attacked her. She was finding that she still had issues there.
She signaled for entrance. "Garfield? It's me. Let me in."
Silence.
"Come on, Garfield. You know we have to talk this out. I want to apologize."
After a long, long moment, when she was just about to turn and leave, the door swished open. She stepped in.
Beast Boy was sitting, cross-legged, on the floor, in a lotus position, obviously trying some of the meditation techniques she'd taught him. She'd never actually seen him do that before. Whatever he was going through must be bad. And she hadn't helped any. She got down on the floor by him, crossing her legs. He steadfastly ignored her, eyes closed. "Look, Gar, I…I'm sorry. I meant it as a joke, but, as you said, it was a pretty lame joke." She sighed, looking at the floor. "I can imagine how I'd feel if someone said that to ME. Never to have a true love, just sleep forever to be out of everybody's way. Yeah, that wasn't much joke. And…and I'm sorry, Gar. It was inexcusable of me."
He still didn't say anything. "I remember that awful time when Malchior betrayed me and hurt me so badly. You were there for me. And that business with Adonis…you fought for me, defended me. You saved my life, in spite of the fact that we'd just had a horrendous argument." She looked up at the ceiling. "And then, just now, I had to go and…say what I said. I'm sorry, Gar. I just didn't think before I spoke."
He sat silent for a long time. Then, "You saved my life from Lord Trogaar, when he first came to Earth, looking for Star. And numerous other times since then." His voice was calm and distant. Yeah, this was bad.
She hitched closer. "But I wasn't there for you when Terra…when what happened, happened. And I haven't been must use finding any counterspell. But I shouldn't have used that as an excuse to, to not be there for you. And, and…I'm afraid I did.
"I didn't know what to do, Garfield! I could literally feel your pain. It was like a sharp dagger digging into my mind. I could shut it out—that's all I know to do, with my own emotions-but in doing so, I shut YOU out, too." Now she looked at him, looking straight into his eyes, her purple orbs meeting his green ones. "Can you forgive me?"
He visibly melted, his expression becoming less severe. But no less hurt. "Of course, Raven. You know I'd forgive you of anything." And Raven, being Raven, could see what he thought but did not say: BIG SISTER.
"Thank you, Garfield." And Raven did something she'd only done once: she leaned against him and put her arms around him, laying her head on his shoulder. "Thank you for being there for me. And," and here a mischievous look crossed her face. He didn't see it in time, so wrapped up was he in the sensation of RAVEN actually HUGGING him. She quickly leaned over even further and planted a light kiss on his cheek. "And THAT'S for saving me from Adonis. It was long overdue." LITTLE BROTHER, she thought to herself.
He blushed. Truth was, he liked this new Raven, and found her attentions to him to be…rather nice. But it was probably all just guilt on her part. "Yeah, well, you'd'a done it for me."
"But you DID do it for ME. You saved my life. And…maybe more." And they both knew what she wasn't saying.
Back when they'd fought at the gene-splicing plant, Adonis had implied an attraction to Raven. In many such battles, that wasn't such an uncommon trope, particularly of those villains who were too full of themselves (which included about ninety-eight percent of the total). Of course, she'd simply faded out of his grip, standard tactic, and given it no more thought. But that night when Adonis came, looking for Beast Boy and finding her, he'd attacked her. Robin's fear had been that the Adonis-beast had actually been trying to rape Raven, when the Beast Boy beast intervened, saving her. That had answered the question of why Beast Boy had taken her from the relative safety of the Tower: he was trying to get her to medical help that the Tower might not be equipped for. On some primal level, he sensed this was no ordinary assault.
So one of the first things they'd done, as soon as they could, was to have Starfire check her for signs of penetration. There were none, thank Azar.
"Well, anyway," she said, her arms still around him, "I hereby swear to lay off such unfunny jokes. And no more name-calling, either. And…and I'll even promise not to morph you into a rat anymore."
"Whoa, now. You do all that, the others are gonna wanna know who you are and what you did with Raven. Maybe just…no more unfunny jokes?"
"Deal." She stuck out her hand, and he took it.
"Deal." He seemed a lot better. Raven didn't really know HOW to "be there" for others, except by the example Beast Boy had given. But if this was it, or the beginnings of it, it felt….kinda nice.
…
The blond wandered out into the desert. She instinctively avoided the cities, though she knew that, sooner or later, she'd have to go into one to resupply on some things. How would she get them? Well, she'd just have to figure out a way.
How had she done so in the past? She remembered bits and pieces of her life. Was she the "Terra" the plaque spoke of? A "Teen Titan and a True Friend"? Her? She couldn't remember any specifics.
Should she look up these "Teen Titans"? They might have some information on who she was, if she was the "Terra" the plaque spoke of. But something told her that might be a bad idea. But why couldn't she remember?
"Am I Terra? If so, who's Terra? WHO AM I?" And voices from the past answered her…
….bastard child of the king of Markovia…
…subject of an experiment into enhancement in humans…
…runaway…
…failed hero…
…former member of these "Teen Titans" (whoever they were)…
…traitoress…
"NO!" She sat down and held her head. "No! I'd, I'd never do that! I'd never be that!"
But you did and you were, answered the voices.
"No," she sobbed. "Never. I'd…I'd never…"
But you did and you were.
She had brought the bronze plaque with her, and now she drew it out and looked at it more carefully. Try as she might, she couldn't glean much information from it.
Drifting purely on instinct, she made her way to the desert where she'd originally encountered the Titans. Some things, some rock formations, rang a bell…but others filled her with a kind of nameless dread.
Oh, good. There was a handy cave over there…
She tripped over something, but caught herself without falling. Looking down, she saw a crystal made of some bluish white substance. It practically gleamed in the fading light.
She picked it up…and quickly put a finger in her mouth. The crystal was no ordinary crystal, it had somehow been forged into a blade, a knife, with an incredibly sharp edge. But who could have forged it so? It was a work of exquisite craftsmanship, whoever did it.
Turning the crystal knife over and over in her hands, she got the most peculiar sensation from it. This crystal knife hadn't been flaked or carved; it looked almost like it had been somehow cast, like an ice sculpture formed by pouring water into a form and freezing it. There were no markings on it…it was just pure sharp crystal shard of a kind she couldn't recognize.
"But then, I don't recognize ME, so that shouldn't be all that much of a shocker!" she told herself.
…
"I dunno, Raven. It just seems like…I can't get Terra off my mind." The two of them were still sitting, cross-legged, on the floor of Beast Boy's room. Raven's eyes tracked over the room, decorated with posters, comic books practically everywhere one looked, and the occasional souvenir. Over in one corner was an easel, set up, with some oil paints.
"Gar…have you taken up painting?" Raven would never have believed it of him. It just didn't seem like the sort of thing he'd do.
"Uh, yeah. I've tried my hand. So far, all I've managed to do is splash paint. Except for one thing."
"What's that?"
He got up. She levitated up and followed him over into the corner, where he had an old filing cabinet. He opened it and pulled out a rolled up piece of paper. "Except for this. And, Raven, I swear to you, I did this in my sleep." And he unrolled the painting. "I woke up…and here it was."
Raven gasped. It was a perfect representation of Terra, nearly as clear as a photograph, as he'd last seen her, standing all alone in the ever-more active volcano, still wearing her Slade armor. Her hand was outstretched, and Raven knew she was levitating the rock Beast Boy was riding on back into the caverns, the passageways to the outside—and safety.
But there would be no safety for her. She had to stay, she'd said, and stop this. She was the only one who could.
The painting had managed to capture Terra's exact, sorrowful expression: GOODBYE, GAR.
YOU WERE THE BEST FRIEND I EVER HAD.
…
Out in the desert: the blond girl was sitting in the cave she'd found, looking steadfastly at a small campfire. The flickering flames mocked her.
I can't remember, she thought to herself. Or, rather, I can, but I can't be sure if what I'm remembering is true. All those things…
….bastard child of the king of Markovia…
…subject of an experiment into enhancement in humans…
…runaway…
…failed hero…
…former member of these "Teen Titans"…
…traitoress…
I couldn't have been all of them, could I?
Yes, replied the voices. You were.
She looked at the sharp crystal dagger in her hand. It was very sharp.
You should do this, whispered the voices. You know you should. It is only justice.
You do not deserve to live.
And she slowly placed the more-than-razor sharp edge of the dagger against the soft flesh on her left arm, just above the wrist…
Titans' Tower: Beast Boy suddenly sat bolt upright, eyes going wide, as if he'd been jolted with electricity. Raven looked at him in alarm. What was this? "Garfield?"
"She's in danger. I, I have to go…" And he morphed into a falcon and started for the window.
"Wait, Gar! I can get us there much faster!" He flew back to her, and sat on her shoulder, careful not to dig his claws into her. But even so, she could feel him vibrating like a tuning fork.
She summoned a teleportation field and they two of them faded from sight.
…
Terra placed the crystal knife against the soft flesh of her left arm. Just do it, said the voices. It will be over with quickly.
But I don't want to die!—she screamed, in her mind, also losing a physical scream of anger, fear, frustration, and a host of other emotions. She fell to her hands and knees, the crystal blade shattering, her power radiating out from her…
…
Raven and Beast Boy materialized in the cave where they'd built the small shrine to Terra. "No!" Beast Boy fell to the ground, looking at the rubble that had once been the love of his life. "No." This last more quietly. He began to cry.
Raven came up to him, kneeling beside him, putting her arm around him. Even without telepathy, she knew what he was thinking: Terra, the statue, had somehow been shattered, and this was all that was left of her. "Garfield. Look." She pointed to the rubble, the gravel that littered the floor of the cave. "There isn't enough here for it to be…her. All of her, anyway."
He sniffled, wiping his nose. "Y-yeah. You're, you're right, Rae. But…but I can smell her. She's alive. Where is she? WHERE IS SHE?"
"Calm down, Gar. We'll find her." She got on her communicator. Cyborg was on watch, and she quickly filled him in. "So you see, Victor, we've a bit of a situation here-*" But she got no further.
Without warning, a powerful seismic shockwave rocked the entire cavern. Raven immediately threw up a force-field around them, just in time to keep them from being crushed underneath tons of rock. "Come on, Gar!" And she summoned a teleport gate…
Miles away: the blond had finally spent her anguish. She just remained there, on her hands and knees, sobbing. Why? Why was this happening to her?
For once the voices were silent.
…
Back at Titans' Tower: Raven had summoned the others into an emergency meeting. "So you see," she said, "we may have a…situation here." The others nodded, solemn expressions on their faces. "From the evidence, it seems Terra is no longer in the cavern." She cast a glance at Garfield. His face was expressionless, focused on an inner something only he could see. He hadn't spoken a word since they'd returned. "I don't know how or why, but it seems she's been freed from her stone prison. That earthquake we felt was no natural earthquake."
"We have to find her," said Robin, tightly. "Uncontrolled, Terra's power can do untold damage. And she's always had control issues." He punched a button on the conference table and summoned a holographic map. "Here's the cave where she was. Cy, did you get anything like a reading on an epicenter for that quake?"
"No, Rob. And that's strange; I had sensors set up, ready for this sort of thing. But I didn't catch anything like an epicenter."
"And I can't sense Terra, either," Raven interjected, again casting a worried glance at Beast Boy. He hadn't moved. "For some reason, I can't get any sort of reading on her location, or the location of the quake, which, I presume, would have been hers."
"So we do it the old fashioned way: we go out and look." Robin gestured to Cyborg. "Cy, you and Star take the southern part. I'll cover the western area…Raven, you…" he stopped, looking at Beast Boy, "you and BB take the northern part. Especially cover that area where we first saw her. Okay? Okay. Titans, go!"
The group fanned out. Starfire and Cyborg heading south, Robin heading west…
…and Raven and a still-silent Beast Boy heading north.
…
"Gar? Gar. Talk to me." Raven was levitating them both on a night-black disk of pure magic. She wasn't totally comfortable with Garfield's silence, and thought this might be a good way of giving them some time to talk. She sensed he needed to.
Garfield's soul was a maelstrom of emotions. It wasn't just his confusion over whether or not Terra was alive. No, this went deeper. Much deeper. "Gar?" She was getting concerned.
She deliberately slowed the disk down and sat down upon it, cross-legged, the way she had in the Tower. She gestured for him to join her, and he did, but she sensed he still wasn't completely with her. It was like his body was on autopilot. "Gar? What's going on?" she asked softly. Whatever it was, it was something she couldn't seem to make sense of. This was too complex of a feeling for her to completely comprehend it.
"I…" he began, then stopped. "Raven, it's crazy. I think I'M crazy."
"You're not crazy, Gar. Just tell me what you're feeling."
…
Miles away: the blond had managed to regain control of herself. The voices were silent. She sniffled, wiping her eyes and nose on the back of her hands. She'd always heard that crazy people heard voices. Did this mean she was crazy, then? It must.
She didn't know what to do. In the past, she could sense, she'd always run from her problems. But how far and how fast do you have to run to get away from yourself?
…
But Beast Boy wasn't the only one who senses were on high alert. High atop a skyscraper in Jump City, two very unique individuals were gazing out towards the desert. "Do you feel her?"
"Yes. I also feel her anguish. We haven't much time."
Evan turned to her. "We've had thousands of years. Why the rush all of a sudden?"
"Because right now she's part human. Humans are vulnerable to HIS influence, you know.
"And we're not the only ones hunting her." And her head tracked towards the north. "Some others are looking for her. One, I sense, could easily be trouble. Serious trouble."
…
During his outing, Robin had swung by the cavern where Terra's statue had been. It wasn't that he doubted Raven's report, but a good detective always checks his facts.
Fact: the statue that used to be Terra was in pieces, rubble. Fact: there wasn't enough of it to account for the totality of Terra's mass. She hadn't been that big a person, but still, there simply wasn't enough mass here. Which meant a sizable chunk of matter was missing. Either it disappeared into another dimension…or it walked out under its own power.
Of the two, the latter was the most probable.
…
"It's more than just…her being in danger. It's something like…more than just a physical danger. Like her soul is in danger. But how could that be?" He turned wide, uncomprehending eyes upon her. "I mean, no matter what, there's no way I should be able to sense something like that, should I?"
But Raven was shaking her head. "Gar…when two people are…close enough, and when the danger is great enough, anything is possible. And you and Terra were fairly close, at least as two people go who weren't…well. But you have to consider: what you're feeling may not be the truth, you know…just a feeling that she's in danger doesn't mean she's in quite the danger you're afraid she's in. After all," she said with a sigh, "Let's face it: just about the entire time we knew her, Terra was in danger from some source or another. So your feeling she is could easily have some merit even though it's just a feeling." she shrugged. "It would be understandable for you to feel that way. But I admit, all things considered, the fact that we can't find her, or any trace of her, does indicate something's going on. Just what, I don't know."
The desert: the blond had finally succumbed to sleep. She'd been exhausted, feeling drained. Food was a problem; she knew she'd have to do something about that before long. There were certain plants in the desert that were edible, but they were not in great abundance, and right then, she was very hungry. So she'd probably have to go into town, find a way of getting something.
There were dumpsters, but some dimly-remembered experience also told her there were other ways, too. Hard to put a bar-code on an orange.
She dreamed…
It seemed like she could see over a wide range of the desert, almost like she could see from the air. But with a shock, she realized, in her dream, that she wasn't seeing from the air so much as she was seeing from the ground. Like she was UNDER THE GROUND SEEING UP.
The strangeness of it caused her to wake up, gasping. Now, that was just freaky. Seeing up, from under the ground? How much sense did that make? She didn't have X-ray vision.
Speaking of, she suddenly became aware of something probing, looking around. The idea of something looking for her caused her to look, to sharpen her senses. With another shock, she realized that she could see…a whole lot more than she had been seeing.
It was like she could see from the Earth's viewpoint. Not from orbit, but as if every rock, every spot of ground, was a spy-cam, that she could see through. And with those numberless spy-cams, she saw something that definitely caused her alarm.
She saw Superman, flying over the desert, his head turning one way, then another. She saw Zatanna, seated cross-legged on a plateau not far from where she was, her hands held out in front of her, molding a ball of energy in which images appeared, images of the desert all around her. Dr. Fate, floating over the landscape, his helmeted head turning one way and another. The Batplane, soaring high in the air….it seemed like every member of the Justice League had been called out. But who could they be looking for? Had to be an Omega-level threat, to be this many of them. Darkseid, maybe? But since when did Darkseid hide, anyway? Mordru? But, likewise….
With a shock, it came to her: THEY WERE LOOKING FOR HER.
…
"Guys, I've got good news and bad news. Which do you want first?" Robin's voice came over the communicator.
Beast Boy sighed. "Let's have the good news first."
"Okay. We…have some help in locating Terra."
"You don't say that like it's particularly good news."
"In a way, it's not. Seems that earthquake reached all the way to Gotham City. So the Justice League is out here looking for Terra, too."
The Titans had assembled by a stone mesa. Now they looked at each other in alarm. They knew Terra, but to the Justice League, she was just another enhanced being, possibly an evil one. Especially if she'd caused an earthquake.
"We have to find her before they do," said Beast Boy. "There's no telling what they'll do to her!"
Robin looked at Raven, who looked back. Actually, there was EVERY telling what they'd do. Neuro suit to keep her powers in check, then a lifetime sentence in Arkham. It was the only way to treat someone whose powers were out of control.
That's assuming she allowed them to take her alive.
…
"I can't let the Justice League find me!" Terra thought frantically to herself. She was very careful to move as silently as possible; Superman's super hearing could detect a gnat's wing from miles away. But how to dodge his X-ray vision?
Lead. Lead had to be the answer. But if she brought up enough lead to shield her, the seismic rumbling would be a dead giveaway…
Wait. Gold was a good radiation blocker, just as good as lead. And it was yellow. That would also block Green Lantern's power ring. But how to do it?
She could sense some small masses of gold down deep in the ground. But the "gold rush" had pretty well depleted it…
…and that's when she noticed several nearby rocks turning yellow…
"No freakin' way," she whispered to herself. She'd tried creating crystal, but that was just rearranging elements. It was silica, lead oxide, potash, etc. All elements found in nature.
But gold was an element all by itself. You couldn't just create gold from, from ordinary rocks.
On the other hand, had she ever tried?
Cautiously, she wrapped the gold around herself, and very slowly, sank into the Earth.
…
"She calls herself Terra. She's an earthmover, a geomancer. Former member of the Teen Titans, former apprentice to Slade Wilson. Rumor has it she killed him." Batman was, as always, terse and to the point."
Superman grunted. "She deserves a medal, then. You're convinced she was behind that earthquake?"
"Yes. There were no fault lines in that area. No warnings. Nothing."
"You talked to the Titans?"
"Yes. Robin told me nothing, which, in itself, tells me everything. This is gonna be a race."
"But why would she cause an earthquake? And how did she get out of that stone prison?" Zatanna paused a moment from casting her location spell.
"She has no control over her powers. I've traced her path across the country. Almost every place she's been, there's been earthquakes of one magnitude or another. That's not coincidence.
"As to how she got out, your guess is as good as mine."
"So what do we do when we find her?" asked Superman.
"Our orders are simple," interjected J'onn J'onzz, over the communication lines. "If we can't subdue her…"
"No," said the Man of Steel, resolutely. "I won't be party to killing some teenage girl just because she's got a problem with her powers. Most of us have had such problems at one time or another. There's got to be another way. There always is."
"Nobody's suggesting killing her. We're not assassins. But we'd have to subdue her somehow, maybe get a control collar on her. That would neutralize her powers, and she could stand trial."
"TRIAL? For WHAT? SHE'S A TEENAGE GIRL!" Superman was aghast.
"For being a party to the attempted takeover of Jump City. That IS a crime, Clark."
"But she saved it!"
"I'm sure that'll count in her favor. But she has to stand trial, if only to be exonerated."
"I hate to agree with him," said Wonder Woman, from her invisible jet, high over the desert, "but he's got a point. If we just give her a pass, then every supervillain that comes along will be able to say, 'oh, I just lost control of my powers. No big; I'll do better next time.'"
"That's still sounds a bit harsh."
"It has to be this way, Kal-El. We don't MAKE the law, we uphold it, whether we like it or not; it's right there in our name. Besides, I understand the King of Markovia has his agents out looking for her. It's better we find her than he does."
Still Superman grumbled. "We could teach her, train her. I could take her to some deserted planet, where she could practice…"
"We'll see," said Batman, more to pacify Superman than to agree with him, "but first, we have to get past the legal matters. Then we can talk about alternatives."
"Something else," said Hawkman, "we'll also have to put a guard around her, probably some of us, control collar or no. If the Markovian King has his sights on her, you know he's got some black ops teams out looking for her. Put her in any sort of prison, asylum, hospital, what have you, you may as well advertise where she is."
"Agreed," said J'onn J'onzz, "we'd already discussed that. And I believe we have a perfect solution. IF we can just find and subdue her. Zatanna? You said you had a signal?"
"A kind of numbness would be a better way of describing it. But it's gone now."
"Where was it coming from?"
"The west. I couldn't pinpoint it any better than that."
"Then we'll focus our efforts on that area."
…
"I believe that's the last of them," said Lana, wiping her tri-bladed knife on the mask of the recently deceased Markovian agent. The commandos had been superbly armed and trained, but that hadn't helped them one bit. She looked skyward, where the vultures were already gathering. "We'll let the local organic disposal team do their duty." She turned to Evan. "Any sign of her?"
"Nothing" said the werewolf. "And I can't figure that out. I should be able to track her scent, no matter what. The only reason that shouldn't be…" he looked at her in alarm, "would be if she's….changed, biologically, somehow.
"If so, then that makes it all the more important that we find her. Biological changes in humans often brings out the worst. If that's true of her…I don't even like to contemplate what might happen. The earthquake the other day could be as a walk in the park." He sighed. "I only hope the Earth would survive."
"That makes one of us," growled the fallen angel.
To be continued...
hey guys sorry this took me so long to finish I hope you guys like it.
