A Matter of Pride: Chapter nine; Spy
Two months, at least, had passed. Terra had so much more control over her powers than she could ever remember having. Slade deemed her ready for her first mission.
"It's one you'll like, I think," he told her idly. She toyed with the metal bracelet on her wrist, a newer version of the first he had used; it kept her powers under firmer control than she could by herself and wasn't painful at all to her. "I'm sending you back to the Titans."
"What?!" Terra wasn't so much angry as shocked. Slade was the bitter enemy of the Teen Titans, everyone knew that. To send his apprentice into their midsts...
"You'll be a spy," he added. "You will appear their friend, infiltrate their ranks, and report back to me. Is that clear, Delani Miller?" He only called her that when he wanted to be sure she was listening, and every time it stung like a slap across the face.
No. She wouldn't do it. Slade would use her to destroy them. She wouldn't allow him to hurt her friends. Wouldn't... "Yes, master." Couldn't disobey him. She owed him her life, her control, everything.
"Good. I'll show you the way out. You'll know your way from the entrance, I suppose." His tone didn't change in the slightest, but Terra could see the satisfied gleam in his eye. He turned, making a slight gesture that she should follow, and walked off. Terra followed.
Slade pressed a button embedded in a solid wall of what seemed to be rock. It opened with a harsh, grating whir and Terra threw up her hand against the bright sunlight. Slade, ignoring her discomfort, handed her the butterfly clip he had deemed 'an unnecessary adornment' not long before. Terra took it and immediately clipped it into her hair. She felt naked and exposed without it.
"I've installed a communication device into your clip," Slade drawled. "I will be able to hear everything you say and everything that is said to you. You will give me a report each night before going to bed. Is that understood?"
She wouldn't. She didn't want to spy on the Titans. There was no way she was going to agree to thi - "Yes, master," Terra replied faithfully.
"Good. Now get going. I'll let you know when my plan is to proceed."
By now, Terra knew better than to ask what that plan was. She stepped into the outside world and looked around, trying to gage where she was. The devastation only a hundred meters away gave her all the help she needed. Terra shot a look at Slade, but the door had already closed, hiding him from view. Terra sighed. For months, she had been no more than five miles away from Titans' Tower. How would they react, knowing that Slade's headquarters were so close? Well... not that they knew... and not that she would - could - tell them.
Terra walked to the place where she had been in such trouble before, the place where the boulder had landed on her last chapter. Only a pile of rubble remained. She picked up some small stones and slipped one into each glove and boot. She needed to impress the Titans, and this would ensure that she would be safe if she messed up.
Terra clambered aboard a boulder, wary of it after her last encounter riding one. It bucked and pranced like a horse, sensing her fear. Terra snapped at it and flew off.
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She landed with a slight grunt and allowed her boulder to rest at the base of the Tower. Terra tucked her knees up to her chest and sighed. She couldn't just show up, could she?
A volleyball thumped down in front of her from the roof. Terra reached out for it and looked up to the roof. She smiled. Or maybe she could just show up. Terra stood and, silently, lifted herself closer to the roof.
"I'll go get it," she heard Beast Boy say. Her heart kicked up its pace a few notches at his voice. She tossed it back onto the roof, braced her hands on her hips, and put on her cockiest expression. With a small burst of her powers, she lifted herself the last few meters and surveyed the Titans calmly. It was quite breezy on the roof, resulting in her hair blowing back.
"So. Which team am I on?" She took a moment to enjoy their expressions of shock, all except Raven of course. Beast Boy and Starfire recovered first, the result being identical shouts of 'Terra!' and a slightly violent race to get to her first. Starfire won this race and gave her an enthusiastic hug.
"Hello, my friend!"
"Star-fire!" She choked out."I've still got bruises - from the last time you hugged me! Ugh." Terra heard her back cracking multiple times. Starfire, thankfully, released her. Terra took a few seconds to straighten herself out (literally) and then Beast Boy claimed her attention. He was blushing cutely and stuttered through his words.
"T-terra! Y-you're back! I mis- uh, h-how's it going?" He swung his shoulders nervously and dug a toe into the roof. Terra grinned and hugged him. He melted into a small puddle of green gloop.
"Great to see you, Terra," greeted Robin. Beast Boy sprung back into himself. "Welcome back." Despite that Slade was listening to every word, Terra felt truly happy to be with her friends again.
"Take anything you want from the fridge and don't let the door hit you in the butt on the way out," monotoned Raven. "I'm going inside to meditate."
The moment of truth. Terra wished she had prepared better. She was flying by the seat of her pants here and didn't like the feeling. Her life, her pride, her friends hung in the balance. Slade held all the cards and controlled every move she made. Not a good feeling. Terra mentally shook herself.
"Actually... I kinda wasn't planning on leaving this time. I wanna take you up on your offer; I wanna be a Teen Titan!" There. That wasn't so bad.
There was no response. The Titans stared at each other. Terra wilted. They had decided that she wasn't fit to be a Titan after all. She hadn't even gotten far before crumbling. Slade was going to kill her. Terra turned away, her voice a bitter monotone.
"Sorry. I didn't realize the offer had an expiration date. I'll just leave now." Terra made to run onto her rock and get herself to, like, Europe or something when a strong hand on her shoulder stopped her.
"The offer didn't expire," Robin explained. "We're just... concerned. Last time, well..." He was referring to her powers, trying to dance around the subject so as not to hurt her feelings.
"It's just... you couldn't exactly... You couldn't... uh..." Beast Boy was dancing, too.
Raven was the one who didn't dance. "You couldn't control her powers," she snapped, aggravated with her teammates. Terra smiled. Was that all? That wasn't so bad.
"Don't you get it? I ran away so that I could practice," she lied enthusiastically. "Look, look!" She ran back to her rock. As soon as she was on it, the rock dropped sharply and she with it. Another small burst of her powers glued her hands safely onto it. She called three more boulders from the ocean-covered part of Titans' Island and rose again.
Terra swooped and showed off for the Titans, stretching her fragile, newfound control to its limits. She ended by letting her four boulders separate to the four cardinal directions, centered on the tower. They shot together, she on the southernmost boulder, only a meter above the roof of the tower. The Titans threw themselves to the floor but Terra jumped smoothly off, landing in a low crouch as the boulders changed direction, moving upwards. Control was getting harder and harder to maintain. Terra threw up her hands, grunting from the effort of keeping herself in charge. Two at a time, the boulders collided with a tremendous bang and a burst of light like fireworks. Cheers greeted the end of this display. Terra bowed.
The Tower rumbled beneath them and all eyes were instantly on her. There had been nothing in the way of unintentional power-surges. She shrugged. "Wasn't me..."
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Author's Excuses: I can't tell you how sorry I am for not having this up, like, a month ago... It was really hard for me to write, for some reason. -sigh- Feel free to yell at me or whatever. I'll try to have the next chapter up within a week, but as I'm still fighting writers' block it probably won't happen.