Teen Titans: The Goddess Reborn: Chapter 3
I don't own the Teen Titans or the Justice League
Chapter 3: Flight
It was raining that night, the night that Terra walked the streets of Gotham City. She avoided shadowed areas, well knowing the reputation of the place. Most people didn't bother to look at her; she'd finally managed to get out of Slade's neuro suit, and found some old clothes that (mostly) fit in a nearby dumpster. They consisted of a pair of simple black sweatpants, a long-sleeve gray shirt, an old hooded jacket, black fingerless gloves, and black shoes. The shoes didn't fit well, and her feet were cramping.
She fit in nicely with the crowd she was moving with.
Rainy night. She kept walking. There really wasn't anything else to do. Her stomach rumbled. She considered turning herself over the Justice League; at least they'd feed her. But something told her that was a bad idea.
About then, she saw the sign: HELP WANTED. It was a crudely drawn, hand-lettered sign in front of an antique shop. Well, why not?-she thought to herself, opening the door. "Uhm. Erm." She cleared her throat, looking for some sign of life.
A large woman in the back poked her head up over the counter. "Yes? Can I help you?"
"Erm. I, uh, saw your sign out front. Is…is that job still open?"
"Yes, it is. Do you want it?" The woman noticed that the slim blonde needed a bath. Homeless? Quite possibly.
"Uh, yeah. I mean, yes, I do. I, I really don't care what it pays."
The woman looked longer at the blonde. Yeah, she really needed that job. "Okay, it's yours. You'll be stocking in the back room. You said you don't care what it pays; that's good, 'cause it doesn't pay much. But," another long look, "I got a spare room upstairs. I'll be honest with you: it's a rathole. But you can stay there if you like."
The blonde gulped. She had to squeeze her eyes to keep from crying. Finally, she'd caught a break. "Yeah, I'll, I'll take it. It, it doesn't matter what it looks like."
"And what's your name?"
"Terra."
"Tara?"
"No, just Terra."
"You mean, Terra, as in 'Terra Firma'?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Huh. Well, I have to confess that's a first for me. Never heard of anyone named that. That's…unusual. You from around here?"
"Uh, not really."
The large woman—whose name was Melanie—hadn't exaggerated one bit about the room. It was a pesthole. Except the pests were more of the insectile variety than the rodent type. The place was cockroach heaven.
And the toilet didn't work.
The shower barely worked, producing a stream of ice-cold water that half-trickled, half-ran, out of the spout. After all she'd been through, however, the blond barely noticed it.
Now for the toilet.
The problem was revealed to be fairly simple, just a broken chain. A pretty easy fix. However, at that exact moment, it was a fix that was beyond her, financially. She looked around, seeing if there was anything she could tie it up with. It would be temporary, but perhaps it would last long enough…
Wait. She did a double take. The chain was whole.
Okay, that was a little weird. She was sure it had been broken. True, the light in the small bathroom was very dim, coming more from the outside through a small window than from the bulb overhead, but still. How did she see broken chain when the chain wasn't broken?
Maybe she'd had such bad luck lately that she was expecting it. Or maybe she was just hungry. She knew she had certain powers over the Earth and rock, but toilet chains? Uh…probably not.
But for now, she was so exhausted from her day, using her powers like that, that she fell asleep almost before her head hit the pillow.
…
It had been a couple of weeks. Robin was on monitor duty when they got a call on the secure wavelength the Justice League used to communicate with them. The image of Batman formed on the screen. "Robin." The Dark Knight inclined his head. That was the most greeting he ever gave.
"Sir. Something tells me this is about Terra? Have you found her?"
"No. But what we have found is disturbing." Robin waited. He'd long since learned that Batman spoke at his own pace. Asking him questions was usual futile. He imparted what information he imparted on his own schedule. "It seems the king of Markovia has an interest in your errant teammate. An unhealthy one."
"Terra is supposed to be his illegitimate daughter. He's certainly waited long enough."
"He certainly has. I'm sure her emerging powers have more to do with his interest than any late-blooming paternal feelings. But there are indications that she may have made an appearance here, in Gotham City."
Robin raised an eyebrow. "Gotham City? Your home turf. Do you think Terra is aware of the Markovian king's interest?"
"Uncertain. However, you should know we did find the bodies of several black ops agents."
"Bodies?"
"Bodies. Extremely dead ones. And no identification. However, I don't think Terra was directly involved with that. The MO didn't seem to fit."
"What was the MO?"
"Blades and teeth."
"You're right. Doesn't sound like something Terra would do. So….we're looking at a third party, then. One willing to kill to achieve its goals. This just keeps getting better and better."
"If she bears any responsibility, I'll have to treat her as I would any killer." (Typical Batman, thought Robin: he has to handle this on his own.) "So if Terra's directly involved…" He let the sentence hang, but Robin could read the rest: I'll have to put her down.
Hard.
After the connection was broken, Starfire, who'd been present during the conversation, came up to him. "Robin, do you believe friend Terra is behind these killings?"
"If you'd asked me that when we first met her, I'd have said no. But remember, she had that training under Slade. I'm sure he taught her how to kill; I don't like to think about how he taught her, but I'm sure he did. She certainly tried to kill us. I, personally, believe that it was only her own internal set of morals that held her back, kept her from using lethal force. I'm sure he wanted her to.
"But as I told Batman, it doesn't sound like her, like the way she'd kill someone, if she were going to. You remember, with us, she used her elemental powers. So, if she'd just pulled a gun on, say, Beast Boy, that would have been out of character for her. No, I think this is someone else. One black ops team taking out another black ops team.
"So…Even though there's no proof, I'd say the 'knives and teeth' group are NOT the Markovian group. Governments typically employ standard humans, though I suppose it's not beyond possibility that some could have covert teams of enhanced entities, it isn't supposed to be that way. You remember the addendum to the War Powers Act: enhanced power beings are not supposed to be affiliated with any government.
"But…that only applies to those who actually signed the Accords. And I checked, and Markovia didn't. So…" He fell silent. "I can understand why the king of Markovia wants Terra. Same reason Slade did." The two of them fell silent at that, remembering how close Terra had come to killing them all. And her powers were still developing… "We need to find her before either the Justice League or the others do."
They left the room and moved down the hallway. "I feel the much sorrow for her," sighed Starfire. "Everyone wants to use her as a weapon. Even as they did me."
He looked at her in surprise. "Star? What do you mean?"
She wouldn't meet his gaze. "I was trained by the Warlords of Okaara. It was expected of me, that when my training was complete, that I would be a soldier in the ranks of Tameran. We were to be frontline troops, in our war with the Citadel. In a way, much like I am now." She grimaced, remembering, arms across her chest, as though to block out the memory. "Only far less the voluntary."
"You…told me about being trained. But I always thought that was to, to help you reach your potential."
"It was. But there was a reason for it."
He thought about that. He'd never realized what a grim life she must have led before coming to Earth. Starfire had never expressed much desire to return to her world. He knew there was some sort of treaty involved with that…that she was not allowed to return due to certain parts of said treaty. But he'd never really understood why she'd never even expressed a desire to visit, to work around loopholes in the treaty. He was confident he could have found some.
But she'd never asked. Now he knew why. She didn't have any family back on Tameran. The closest she had…
…was a sister who'd sold her into slavery to their enemies. He wouldn't have wanted to return to that, either.
She'd once mentioned a brother whom she was close. But he'd disappeared years ago, and she had no idea where he was. He shook his head. She'd never asked for his help, so…
He refocused back on the current problem. Starfire knew she had but to ask, and he'd break the laws of physics, if he had to, to help her. "But, Starfire…something's not right."
"What do you mean?"
"Something about this whole thing. I could see a government sending out black ops personnel to retrieve her. But this other group…something about it just plain smells."
She sniffed. "I smell nothing. Except your cologne."
"I'm not wearing cologne," he said, absently. "It's a figure of speech. It seems like the workings of some other group, but who?"
"Perhaps the Brotherhood which is Evil? Or the HIVE?"
Again he shook his head. "Technically, yeah, it sounds like it could be their MO. But they don't usually kill. Of course, they've never gone up against people who did, and I'm pretty sure black ops types AREN'T armed with stun guns. So maybe they had no choice…but I don't believe it."
"Do you believe Terra has done this?"
"No. Oh, she could, using her elemental powers. She COULD, conceivably, have formed knives from, say, crystal—and by the way, Batman did mention the shattered remains of a crystal knife they'd found in the area—and I suppose she could have created an animal surrogate, from, say, rock, that could make it seem like an animal had killed the agents, but…it would be a stretch. Thing is, I don't believe Terra would kill. Not at this point. Unless…"
"'Unless'?"
"Unless…she's no longer sane."
The two of them looked at each other in silence.
…
Raven was still trying to pick up the pieces of Beast Boy's mind. It wasn't an easy job.
He hadn't said a word since they'd come back from patrol. His last words to her were to her expressed his fear that Terra's soul was in danger. Raven knew, from her own experience, that could be a real possibility.
She'd never really given any thought to the mechanism by which Terra's powers worked. In a world full of enhanced beings, she had, she was honest with herself enough to say, simply assumed that they were purely physical. Out of the ordinary, true, but physical, much the same way that, say, Superman's powers were. He came from a different environment, where different laws of physics were involved. So did J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter. Different environment, different physical abilities. Terra's had been given to her (she'd always assumed, and comments from Terra herself had led them all to believe) by Markovian scientists, the same ones who'd given her half-brother, Brion, aka Geo-Force, his powers. An experiment in genetic alteration. She'd always thought it rather cold of her father, King Viktor, to allow his geneticists to experiment on his own children, but then, she was no stranger to uncaring fathers, herself.
But Beast Boy's suspicion (or intuition?) had seriously eroded his grip. He was certain that the girl he'd loved was in danger of losing more than her life. That would trouble anyone. "C'mon, Gar. We don't have any proof that she's even in danger. I understand you're concerned about her; considering how deeply you feel about her, that's understandable. I won't say she's NOT in danger. But her SOUL in danger? You're 'feeling' could easily be completely false."
He said nothing for a long time, and she thought he wasn't going to reply at all. Then, "I'm not wrong, Raven. I know how it sounds. But I'm not wrong. Something is bad wrong with Terra, and I can't get you to believe it. You," he looked up at her from where he was sitting on the floor of his room, "of all people, ought to know about that."
Raven had to admit he was right. She of all people ought to know about someone's whole being, all that they were, being taken in some sort of weird enchantment. That was what had almost happened to her. "Then," she said, softly, "I'll go with that." And she rose up. "I'm going to devise a 'finder' spell specifically for her, Gar. Wherever she is, I'll find her."
…
At that moment, Terra was just settling down to sleep. It had been a hard day for her; Melanie hadn't exaggerated about the work. Stocking in the back room required all the strength she could manage.
She tossed and turned. She couldn't get to sleep. Her mind was racing in a thousand different directions. The image of a green boy kept coming up in her imagination. Yeah, Terra, she told herself, a green boy. That's new. And…you're thinking of him NOW? Why do you suppose that is?
I don't know, she told herself. I just don't know.
….you're the best friend I ever had… Where had those words come from?
I could use a friend right now, she thought to herself. A good friend. Melanie has been nice to me, but…it's not the same.
She got up, got dressed, and slipped out of the building. She wasn't really sure where she was heading. Oh, right. She could use some things from the store. And payday had been yesterday, so she had some cash. Briefly, she wondered if she could open an account with a local bank, but how? She had no ID, no Social Security card…nothing. No, she couldn't open an account with a bank.
So…now what?
On she walked. The wind whistled around the corners of the buildings. She'd never realized just how DARK Gotham city got. Even the streetlights couldn't seem to dispel the choking darkness.
"Hey, cutie!" There were some boys on motorcycles lounging around in one of the larger alleyways. "You lost or something?" He leered. His buddies laughed. "Go on, Jeff!" smirked one. "She looks like she could use a date!" One she hadn't seen grabbed her from behind. "Yeah, definitely some prime date material!"
"Let me go!" But of course, that only made them laugh.
Something in her snapped. You wanna laugh?—she thought. Okay, laugh at THIS. And Terra summoned her power.
The alleyway became a whirlwind of rocks, dust, and gravel. The gangers yelled when the dust got into their eyes, and yelled louder when the rocks and gravel ripped into them. All through it, Terra stood at the center of the vortex, calmly, her hands out to either side, face raised to the uncaring night sky. It was like she was in another world…she was the Earth and the Earth was her…
She couldn't tell how long it had been, but something brought her back to reality. The bikers lay in crumpled heaps, strewn from one end of the alley to another. Many were covered in blood, and a couple—including the one who'd grabbed her—had a lot of their skin removed, literally sandblasted away, leaving them looking like something out of a slaughterhouse. Oh, god in heaven, thought Terra. What have I done?
Had it been her? She couldn't remember anything after the ganger had grabbed her…but she must have done this. I've killed people, she thought. Then her eyes widened as something occurred to her: this was Gotham City, Batman's territory. If this didn't get his attention, nothing would.
She probably had a better chance of eluding Superman's X-ray vision, or Zatanna's magic, than she did Batman. Running, she knew, was pointless, but it was all she knew to do.
She ran. She ran completely unaware of a pair of eyes watching her from the rooftop of a nearby warehouse.
…
Back at Titans' Tower: Raven had drawn her magic circle and was commencing her chant. She'd devised a finder spell specifically for Terra, but it was based on what they knew of her. She hadn't told Beast Boy, but if Terra had…changed, in some fundamental way, the spell would be no good. Like calling a disconnected phone number.
The smoke from the incense filled the room, assisting her in focusing her mind. Terra, where are you?—she thought to herself, all the while not allowing her inner conversation to affect her outward activity. She'd long ago learned to disconnect her innermost thoughts from her spell-binding. It was a survival characteristic most of the better sorcerers had.
The smoke from the censer floated around her. One tendril seemed to hesitate, then pointed to the east. The idea came into her mind, Gotham City. But where in Gotham City?
The smoke curled, forming shapes and outlines.
She focused the spell, striving for more accuracy. But her spell seemed to be blocked by some powerful force. But what could it be?
Again, she refocused the spell, striving to clear away distractions in her mind. And then she saw it: a small, shabby building in the slums of Gotham. Not far from Arkham Asylum. Not far enough, she thought. It was their biggest fear—hers and Beast Boy's—that Terra would end up in Arkham, with a control collar on her, in amongst the absolute worst thugs anyone could imagine. Without her powers, the only way she'd survive there would be…but Raven didn't want to think about that.
But if she was in Arkham, they'd have to break her out. There was simply no choice in the matter. Well, thought Raven, it won't be the first time we've bent the rules a bit. Terra, in spite of her crimes, was one of their own, and the Titans took care of their own.
But Terra didn't seem to be in Arkham, actually, which caused Raven to let out an involuntary sigh of relief, a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. No, the place where she was living was… She picked up her communicator
"Gar? I've got a lead. But we need to hurry; it looks like, from the way my spell was acting, that we may not be the only ones after her."
…
"So what have you got?" asked Evan. Lana had been sitting cross-legged now for the better part of the day, and he was getting impatient. Patience had never been a strong suit for him, anyway.
"I can barely see her…Gotham City, a small, unkempt building, right there in the midst of those ridiculous humans'—Ow!" She recoiled suddenly, almost falling backward. He caught her.
"What was that? I've never seen you react that way, before!"
"Neither have I," responded a shaky Lana. "Something…something powerful interfered with my spell. Never…never felt anything quite like it before." She drew in a ragged breath, and turned to him, wide eyed. "Evan, we have to find her. HE'S looking for her. That's what I sensed: something powerful, ancient, and evil!"
"Great," said Evan, sarcastically. "As if we don't have enough to worry about. Justice League, Teen Titans, and Markovian troops. What's one more thing in the mix?"
"You know HIM. This wouldn't be the first time he's shaken the planet to its very core," said a grim Lana. "Again." She glanced up at the moon. "Come on. We'd best get started. Gotham's a ways off."
…
Terra retired to her room, exhausted. Melanie sure hadn't been kidding about the work.
Of course, she could have used her elemental powers to assist her, but something told her that was a bad idea. She was trying to keep out of sight of both the Justice League and Batman…what happened the other night was almost sure to attract his attention. A stocker with elemental, earth-moving powers…she may as well send up a signal flare.
She could hide from Superman's X-ray vision, and, here in Gotham, she was just another in a teeming throng. He might, conceivably, pass her by (though she couldn't really bring herself to completely believe that). But Batman? Never, but never, underestimate Batman.
In fact, she thought, and this did nothing for her ability (or lack thereof) to sleep: he probably already had found her, and was just biding his time. But for what? She wondered why he hadn't already apprehended her, turned her over to the League.
On an instinctive level, she knew that more than the League was hunting for her. She couldn't have said how she knew, but she knew. She didn't know who, or why, but she never questioned, in her mind, that there were OTHERS out there, searching for her. And not the Titans or Batman, either. Somebody a good deal more dangerous, at least to her.
She was beginning to remember more and more about her time with them, and very little of it was good.
But one thing that WAS good was her faint memories of the green boy. She knew, on that instinctive level, that if she could just get to him, and him alone, that he'd help her. But every time she thought of him, another memory surfaced: a dark girl in a blue hooded cloak. Terra knew she was the LAST person she needed to see. It would be better, she knew, if she just surrendered to the League than go to that person, whoever she was. And she knew she was with him. Always.
In fact, she shuddered, if the dark girl did find her, she could easily be the last thing Terra did see.
She groaned, turning and twisting in bed. The memories—and the voices-were coming back; she wished they hadn't. Had she done all THAT many things wrong? But these feelings of guilt just wouldn't go away. She turned over on her face, and wrapped a pillow over her head from behind. "Come ON," she muttered at the memories. "Go AWAY. Surely, I couldn't have been THAT bad!" But…
…she couldn't help but feel she had been. Bad enough that the girl in blue would want to kill her.
You were bad, said the voice in her head. You were very bad. You mistreated people who were kind to you…
"GO AWAY!"
You know it is the truth.
"I don't know any such thing!"
Yes, you do. That is why you don't want to go the Titans. The dark girl would kill you because you were bad. You hurt her friend. You were bad.
"I didn't!"
Yes, you did. You remember enough to know that.
You should have used the knife.
"No!"
Yes. You are bad. Very bad.
Terra scrunched the pillow around her head even tighter, but the voice-that-was-not-a-voice could not be silenced.
…
It was night time when Lana and Evan arrived at Gotham City. The first place they checked was Arkham Asylum. After all, it was possible that Terra had already been caught, and that would be the logical choice for whoever caught her—presumably the Justice League—to put her. "I doubt there would even have been a trial," said Lana. "Just stick her in there and forget about her."
"Would they really do that?" wondered Evan. "No trial? Just boom, here's your new 'no key' apartment, miss?"
Lana shook her head. "Humans haven't changed a whole lot since I was here last," referring to the incident that had resulted in her fall from Ultimate Grace. "They still treat people who are different like a sack of dog feces. And that feeling leads to just that sort of action. No, they'd probably figure it was for the 'greater good,'" and here she made air quotes with her fingers, "get the freak out of sight and mind ASAP. The more time she spends on the outside, the more chance there is for something to go pear-shaped. It hasn't been all that long since the days of the witchcraft trials. Then you have the McCarthy era; that was actually called a 'witch hunt.' The same dynamics apply. If you fear something, you don't try to understand it, you just either lock it away or you kill it. Or you find a scapegoat to explain your problems away. Same difference." She shrugged, her slim shoulders lifting underneath her heavy full-length black cloak. "Humans are so stupid. Sometimes I wonder if they ever actually evolved all that much since the trees.
"The rest of the time, I don't wonder. I know they haven't."
"Now, Lana. Keep it down. No point in airing your political views, not here and now. Besides, we're here to protect those same humans, ultimately."
"YOU are," she corrected. "Me, I'd just as soon-"
"CAN it, Lana!" He glanced up nervously. "You know it's a bad idea to say things like in public. Wait 'till we're back at the Citadel. It's altogether too easy to attract HIS attention. That was what got you in such serious trouble last time."
She grunted. "Oh, alright." She shifted her stance, propping one foot on the railing. Shielded by their respective cloaking spells, the two were on the roof of one of Luthorcorp' tallest skyscrapers. Even Lana had to admit, the view was spectacular. "How can it look like a glorified garbage dump at street level but look so magnificent from up here?"
"Oh?" he grinned, "So you DO think the humans can do SOME things well, eh?"
Again a grunt, this time combined with a sniff of disgust. "I never said they don't do ANYthing right.
"The plagues were outstanding work."
…
In a darkened cave, underneath Wayne Manor, Bruce Wayne, aka Batman, sat before his monitors, elbows propped on the control panel, careful, as always, to keep from accidently hitting any of the controls. He had a lot to think about.
He'd found the Markov girl less than three hours after she entered the city. He'd been on the lookout for her ever since the Justice League had received word that she was no longer in the cavern where her petrified self had been. Somehow, he had suspected, even then, that she'd gravitate to Gotham. It seemed like every super powered villain did, sooner or later. And there was little doubt, in his mind, that she constituted a threat, though he hadn't actually put the word "villain" to her just yet. That was the only reason she was still free.
He'd been working on ways to stop her, nullify her powers, without killing her. At this point, he was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt: young people make mistakes, and it was possible she was one of those young people. Add super powers into the mixture, and you had a recipe for disaster.
And, in spite of her evident power, she had not caused any major disasters. Instead, there had been a string of small earthquakes, usually accompanied by petty thefts of shoplifting, usually of food items, with some clothing mixed in. No banks, no liquor stores, no pharmacies…none of the usual places that someone of villainous intent usually hit. And the earthquakes themselves, aside from these last two, had all been small and localized. That, to him, indicated that she was not motivated by evil impulses. Even someone with no powers can, if they set their minds to it, cause untold trouble if they really want to. So, he was leaning towards the "non-villain" mindset.
But that didn't change the fact that she had caused damage, and even some fatalities. He knew about what had happened to the gangers in the alley; in fact, he'd known about it almost as soon as it happened. He hadn't really been too surprised, or even dismayed by it; people like that tended to live short lives, with a violent end in their near future. In the end, he'd have had to take them down, himself. Terra had just beat him to the punch.
But that didn't change the fact that she had killed, and in his city. If her powers were that much out of control…
…he couldn't afford to wait that much longer.
…
Terra practically scampered back to her small third-story apartment. Closed and locked the door behind her. "Wayta Go, girl," she told herself, leaning up against the door, trying to catch her breath. "Get accosted by a street gang, and kill 'em. And in Gotham City, yet. Why don't you just go light up the Bat Signal? It wouldn't be much more obvious." Nervously, she crossed over to the window and looked out, as though expecting to find the Dark Knight hovering right outside it.
He wasn't there, but what she did see disturbed even more: down in the alleyway behind the building were two shadowed forms, gazing up intently at her window.
…
"Aw, man," muttered Cyborg, "C'mon. This can't be real. Are you sure Terra did this?" The Titans had convened at the alley where Terra's assailants had met their fate. The police had cordoned it off, and were allowing nobody but law enforcement agents in.
They'd received a call from Batman less than an hour ago. He'd directed them to the spot, and told them what they could expect to find. Batman himself was nowhere to be seen; no-one was surprised by that. Aside from Commissioner Gordon, Batman didn't really get along all that well with the authorities. "You sure TERRA did this?"
"Batman is," said Robin. "And, look at the place. Torn up, rocks ripped from the ground, gouges in the walls all around. If it WASN'T Terra, it's somebody who has similar powers, and I don't know of anyone like that. Raven?"
Raven was in a standing trance, trying to reach out into the etheric void, to "read" the past from the rocks and earth around her. "I'm…sensing a presence, but I can't say it's Terra for sure. If it is her, her aura has changed. But we aren't the first ones here."
"Batman was probably-*"
"Not Batman. I'm sensing two nonhuman life-forms. They passed through this area less than an hour ago."
"Nonhuman life forms? Could they have done this?"
"Doubtful. You remember the MO from that other site. Teeth and blades." She gestured around her. "You're the detective. Do you see any sign of either here?" He shook his head without replying. "And I doubt any of the Markovian special ops teams have been this way. If so, I'm pretty sure they'd have got what they came for.
"Terra."
"Of course." Robin nodded. "If I were any hypothetical black ops group leader, I'd certainly be a bit stealthier than this. These dangers would be shot, not...this. And the black ops would already have Terra: a tranq dart shot from a distance. No, this was definitely done by someone with earth-moving powers, and, also by someone without much control over those same powers. That spells 'Terra' in big screaming letters. Commissioner?" Gordon turned to them, from where he'd been conversing with the precinct captain. The Titans had kept their voices down. Cyborg wondered where the Justice League was. "Did you uncover anything other than this?"
Gordon shook his head. "Negative. What you see if pretty much all we've got. Oh, we've got some names on the victims, but that's not very helpful. This looks to be a one-time occurrence, not an ongoing killing spree. At least," he muttered to himself, "not yet."
Robin spoke up. "Any indication of any suspicious characters in this area?"
Again a shake of the head. "Robin, in the part of town, EVERYbody's a suspicious character. The only reason we-*" meaning he and Batman—"thought to call you at all was the MO. Street gangs go at it all the time here, and deaths aren't that uncommon. But death by rock whirlwind…well, that's a little different." He lowered his voice. Cyborg and Beast Boy, along with Starfire, were still a bit shellshocked over the scene of devastation. "You think it might have something to do with your truant member?"
"It's possible," said Robin guardedly. The last thing Terra needed right now was an APB put out on her as a killer. An out of control enhanced being…that would give the officers all the excuse they needed to shoot to kill. "I have to get with my…sources on this one." Meaning Batman. No doubt Robin's mentor had already conducted a full forensic sweep of the area, and had probably gathered more information than the locals. He turned to lead the team away. "There are other beings who could have done this." But he had to admit, this MO smacked of Terra.
Another factor in this was that the Justice League had not arrived. Robin had a hunch Batman was responsible for this. Superman or J'onn J'onzz, or, for that matter, Zatanna or Green Lantern, would have no trouble tracing any individual leaving the site of the massacre, and, from the way things were shaping up, that would be only one person. This was Batman's way of giving the Titans a head start finding Terra before the League did, and Robin appreciated it. It was pretty much a lead-pipe cinch that, should the League capture her, it would be neuro suit and off to Arkham ASAP. Superman especially, wouldn't put up with her killing anyone, even if they'd provoked her in some way.
Starfire came up to him, took him aside. "Beloved, do you think friend Terra is capable of this?"
"I think she might be, accidently." He replied. It really wasn't difficult to figure out what had happened.
Street gang, accosting young girl, probably all by herself…only this young girl was no ordinary girl. He wondered what exactly they had done to anger her so. Though frankly, given the circumstances, that part wasn't too hard to figure out, either.
Beast Boy was sticking close by Raven. "Rae? Anything?"
Raven shook her head. "Nothing of any help. If this was Terra's handiwork, her aura's changed since we knew her. That might be why my spells couldn't locate her at first. But these other two I'm sensing…I can't really tell much about them. Only that they're non-humans of some sort, and at least one appears to have some command of magic of some form or another."
"Do…do you think they might be what I was sensing? About Terra's soul being in danger?"
"Gar, I just don't know. I won't say it's NOT possible, but usually, things or entities of that magnitude would have registered on my senses a long time before now. No, I suspect what you're sensing—if you are really sensing something real, and it's not just a product of your worry—is specifically oriented to Terra and Terra alone."
"That doesn't reassure me, Rae."
She put a hand on his arm. "I know, Garfield. I know."
…
Terra flipped the screen back into place, backing away across the room, hands to her mouth. Who could those people be? They'd already been looking right at her when she caught sight of them…
Gradually, slowly, she slid across the room towards the window. Maybe if she got a better look…
The alleyway was empty.
…
The Titans retreated to a more isolated region, an alleyway across the street from the scene of the massacre, and Robin made a call on a very special channel very few people even knew existed. "Robin," said the unsurprised voice that answered.
"I'm sure you know where we are and what we've found. Anything else we need to know?"
"Only that I've tracked you're missing member to a small antique shop on Thirty-second street. There's evidence that Markovian operatives may be closing in around her. There's another party at work, and they don't seem aligned with anyone else in my files."
"Could they be agents of Markovia?"
"No. They're a separate power altogether. Don't underestimate them; they're not ordinary humans. And I can't keep the League off this much longer."
"Markovian commandos, and some weird, unidentified agents. Great. Anything else?"
"Only that you'd best hurry if you want to beat either of them there. I can't stall the League much longer. And don't underestimate these wild cards."
…
A head-achy Terra woke up in a dark room. Where- This wasn't her bedroom. This wasn't her bed. She could sense a presence in the room with her. "W-where…am I?" She sat up, noticing that there was a nightstand beside her bed with a glass of what appeared to be water, and some pills right beside it. Pain pills, maybe? She didn't know, and she wasn't about to just swallow any old drug she happened across. In her experiences, Terra had encountered drugs, and had once briefly experimented with a drug given to her by…she couldn't quite remember who. That was after a particularly bad—well, actually, catastrophic—mistake on her part, involving her powers. The pills had only made things worse, not better. Under their influence, she'd lost control again, worsening the problem.
"I see you're awake. Good. Don't be alarmed," said a strange voice. Terra whipped her head around. Standing over by the door were two strangers: a man and a woman, both clad in dark clothing. "We've no intention of harming you," said the woman. There was something odd about them both, though Terra couldn't put her finger on it.
Terra felt of her head. "Who are you?"
"I'm Lana, and this is Evan."
"Did you…knock me out?"
"In a way. We had to get you out of that apartment, and quickly. Your friends, the Titans, were closing in on you. The Justice League just now found out about you, and your whereabouts. I'm sure you've detected them hunting for you. Plus you're being hunted by agents of your father, King Viktor. I doubt they want to wish you a happy birthday."
"Uh…o-kay. But…who are you two? You're not with the Titans, at least not as I remember them, and you don't look like Justice League."
"We're not." The strange woman glanced at the man. "It's…a little difficult to explain properly here. How's your head?"
"Clearing. What did you do, clobber me over the head?"
The woman laughed. It was not all that pleasant a sound. "No. Just a gas introduced into your air conditioner. It's harmless, but if your head is still hurting, feel free to take those pills."
"What are they?"
"Nothing bad. It's ibuprofen, prescription strength."
"Er…" Terra was still hesitant. Her head did still ache, but she wasn't sure she could trust these people. "I'll, uhm, pass." Would they force her to take an unknown medication?
The woman shrugged. The man hadn't said a word the entire time. "Suit yourself. But you'd best get dressed." Terra suddenly realized she was wearing a pair of sleep pants and a tee shirt. The last thing she remembered was, she'd been wearing her street clothes.
"You say that like I'm supposed to go somewhere. And you still haven't told me who you two are…or, should I say, WHAT you are. I can tell you're…different."
Again the woman glanced at her companion. "It's a rather long story…but the short version is, you're a very important person, more so than you can even imagine, and we believe you to be in danger. Serious danger. We need to take you to a safe location. Until we get you there, you're under our protection."
"Some protection," muttered Terra, holding her head. "I get 'protected' like that much more, I might get a concussion."
"Oh, come on. It's only a headache. We know what we're doing. Take one of those pills. And, for what it's worth, we ARE sorry for the…shall we say, the ABRUPTNESS of our…introduction. But you ARE in great danger, both from foes mortal…and otherwise." The way she said that brought chills to Terra. A non-mortal foe? Who or what could that be?
"Why? What have I got to do with all this?"
"Look, get dressed. Evan and I will try to explain everything on the way. But our cloaking spells can only do so much. The League knows you're here; Superman or Zatanna could probably break through our spells if they focus on this spot. You really don't want them to find you. So we have to go."
Terra quickly changed into the clothes they'd laid out, with the man turning his back. Evidently, they were serious about staying with her, but Terra couldn't decide if she was a guest or a prisoner, or, perhaps, both.
Downstairs: the two had insisted on taking the stairs. "No elevators," grunted the man. They were the first words Terra had heard him speak. "And we need to hurry. I can feel the Eye searching for us even now."
"The Eye? What eye?"
"The Eye we're trying to avoid. If you never see it, count yourself fortunate."
There was a black limousine waiting for them on the street down below. After a careful look around, the pair escorted an increasing nervous Terra into it. Hah, she thought. Everybody has warned me about not accepting rides from strangers…
…so why do I feel so edgy all of a sudden?
The man Lana had called Evan suddenly growled, and Terra had to keep from jumping. It had sounded like the growl of a wild beast. "Hurry, Lana! He's found us!"
The two of them practically threw Terra into the car, with Evan slipping into the driver's seat. The vehicle pulled out immediately, and sped down the street. "Lana, Terra, get down!" Both the women ducked down in the seats, but not fast enough to keep Terra from witnessing what happened next.
Suddenly, there was a huge sound like a great ripping of fabric, and the building they'd just come from lit up like a Halloween jack-o-'lantern; Terra could almost see the interior. There was no fire, just an enormous reddish-yellow LIGHT that seemed to come down from the sky, illuminating the entire building. It reminded her of the Martian heat-ray from the old War of the Worlds movie she'd seen once.
(What was this image of a green boy that flashed through her mind when she thought of that? Who WAS he, that she should remember yet not remember him?)
The whole building flashed into light, and was gone.
Terra looked on in horror. Everything, Melanie, all her few possessions…gone, in an instant. "That," said Evan from the front seat, "was the Eye."
To be continued…
Hey guys sorry if this took me so long I was very busy with work lately. I hope you guys like it please read and review if you have any questions you can just PM to me.
