Author's Note: We're getting to Betrayal and Aftershock now! Thanks for sticking with me so long. When I'm done taking Terra through Aftershock, the real plot begins at last! Hurray! (So far, this has all been set-up and character development disguised as a plot.)
A Matter of Pride: Chapter twelve; Destroy
Beast Boy moved in front of her, shielding her, and Terra cowered behind him.
Slade stood and moved toward them. The carriage swayed gently with the shift. He grabbed Beast Boy by the collar and tossed him away. "I have plans for you," Slade said coldly, ignoring Beast Boy as he scrambled to keep from falling. "You think you can just run away from me, Delani Miller?"
"Let her go!" Beast Boy morphed a dinosaur - Terra was at a loss as to what kind, but he had big pointy teeth - and roared, leaping on Slade. Terra moved away from them with jerking, unsteady steps and moved toward the now nonexistent door. She thought about jumping out, but... she couldn't leave Beast Boy. Slade threw the dinosaur off and moved toward Terra again.
"Terra, run!" Beast Boy cried.
"Stay where you are, child," Slade commanded. Terra couldn't have moved anyway.
"What do you want with her?" Beast Boy demanded, moving protectively in front of Terra. Slade threw him out of the car and then leaped out, himself, landing beside Beast Boy in a crouch with one balled fist poised above the Titan's face.
"You mean, she didn't tell you. Strange. I thought you were friends." Beast Boy moved away from the fist and fell off the car. Slade stood as Beast Boy flew up again, a hawk, and then landed as a tiger. He attacked. Slade defended and counterattacked, throwing Beast Boy clear across the ferris wheel and onto the top of the car where Terra still stood. She reached up to check on him, but Slade was fast approaching.
The battle continued, each participant constantly just one mistake away from death.
"You think you know her," Terra heard Slade snarl at one point. "You know nothing. She never even liked you."
Beast Boy lost it. Screaming with rage, he threw Slade as far as his gorilla arms would allow.
"Beast Boy, c'mon! Please!" Terra begged, flying up beside him. He looked at her, and then at Slade, and shook his head. The battle resumed, ending seconds later with Slade pinning Beast Boy down. "Fly!" Terra screamed. He heeded her this time and flew to safety while Terra spread her arms and focused her power on the earth beneath the ferris wheel.
"Terra, no!" Slade yelled.
Terra looked at him, bowed her head, and continued with her work. "I won't let you hurt my friends," she said.
Slade laughed. "Dear child, you don't have any friends."
When it was buried, she escaped to the ground. Beast Boy was waiting. Together, both shaken, they ran. The House of Mirrors loomed before them and, without thinking, they entered.
When had her life gotten so screwed up? She had once been Delani Miller, an innocent young girl with a loving family and not a care in the world. How had it gotten like this, a tight-rope walk between life and death, misery and happiness, friends and... Slade? She was slipping. Whichever way she fell, happiness had long since ceased to be an option. There was no happiness to be had. If she joined Slade and the Titans didn't kill her, she would live under his tyranny and their hatred, despising them and being despised by them for the rest of her life. If she joined the Titans and Slade didn't kill her, she would live with their distrust. She would be a wolf among sheep, kept close because she was dangerous, given no leash whatsoever.
Their reflections ran before them and Terra could see the fear reflected in her eyes. Her clip caught the dim light, flashed, and then went dark as she turned her head. Beast Boy ran ahead with single-minded determinedness.
They reached a circular section of mirrors and Beast Boy stopped, reaching for his communicator. "What? Where is it?! Terra, lemme have your communicator!"
"I... don't have it."
"Then we have to get to the Tower - come on!"
"Beast Boy... I can't go back. Ever."
"What? Why not?"
"Because she's not your friend." Slade's reflection filled the mirrors. "She's my apprentice."
"Liar!" Beast Boy snarled, throwing himself at the mirror. Slade continued speaking, Beast Boy breaking mirrors after every phrase.
"I found her." Crash. "I trained her to control her impressive powers." Crash. "And then I sent her to destroy your team." Crash. "From the inside out." Crash.
Terra retreated, wanting to escape, but Slade barred her way. He continued to speak to Beast Boy, but his eye never left Terra and she was petrified by it.
"LIAR! Terra would never - "
"Beast Boy," Terra said quietly. Her weak, shaking voice cut through Beast Boy's enraged yells easily and echoed, bouncing eerily off of the mirrors. "It's the truth." He looked at her, an easy task since all the reflections had cracks running through them. Terra bowed her head.
"Terra..." Beast Boy was begging her to tell him it was a joke, to smile and walk toward him, laughing. She bowed her head. "But... why?"
Terra glanced at Slade, but he had vanished. She took that as an invitation to speak to Beast Boy. "Slade... he helped me... saved me, from myself. I didn't tell you about that, but..." Terra shuddered. Her injuries had resulted in more scars for her every-growing collection. "He... he said I owed him... and he wanted an apprentice." Her voice shrunk to a whisper. She crossed her arms as if warding off a chill and hunched her shoulders, anxiously awaiting his judgment. He glared at her silently and turned away. Terra took a step forward, reaching out a hand as if to rest it on his shoulder. "Beast Boy, you said you'd be my friend no matter what."
Beast Boy turned enough to swat her hand away. "Slade was right. You don't have any friends."
By this time, Slade had returned. "Apprentice. Come." He was rubbing salt into the wound. Terra looked at Beast Boy, standing with his back to her. She retreated to Slade's side and, together, they retreated into the shadows. Before losing sight of Beast Boy, Terra forced herself to look at him. As she watched, he collapsed sobbing on the ground.
---
Slade punished her for that expedition. She was given no freedom for months but received beating after beating as reward for her impertinence. He never wounded her badly, preferring to stick to small wounds that would heal quickly, but hurt a lot. She was given nighttimes to nurse her own wounds and the beatings resumed in the mornings. Terra endured for weeks. She had always been good at that. But the beatings became too much for her. She knew that these were retribution for her past crimes, and not just helping the Titans; for the deaths of her parents, Rhea, Keb, countless villains across the country, for every lie she had ever told, she was now beaten. The physical pain and the self-imposed mental torture was awful.
"I was - acting," she told Slade, hauling herself to her feet again. "I thought - Beast Boy - would trust me more if I fought against you."
He struck her again, sending her sprawling once more. "Maybe you will learn not to lie," he sneered, "or at the very least to lie convincingly."
But by far the worst punishment he inflicted on her was the confiscation of her butterfly clip. On top of everything else, she had failed Keb now, too. Though her promise had been silly and childish, she had always clung to it. The promise to always wear her clip was often the one thing that kept her from becoming a merciless killer.
A merciless killer. That was what Slade wanted her to be.
Terra lost track of how long since she had admitted her loyalties to Beast Boy. Slowly, the beatings became fewer and fewer and the training took up more and more time. Slade gave her a special uniform, cold metal plates that covered less than she was comfortable with (though, really, they covered everything that was supposed to be covered). Slade allowed her to cover her arms, legs, and stomach with bandages, to stop her scars from showing. While cruel and strict, he was not completely heartless. Just mostly.
Terra grew stronger. The special suit boosted her strength and she worked every day to reign her powers. By the time Slade proclaimed her ready to truly be called his apprentice, she was exactly what he wanted. Cold. Merciless. Unafraid to harm or even kill innocents. He hammered into her the few rules that she was to follow: Obey him, and only him. Be ruthless. Be thorough. And always, always, follow through on your threats.
Towns up and down the Pacific coast fell prey to the blond girl as training exercises. They were small towns, all of them, with populations only a fraction of Jump City's and no real resistance. Pacificsville qualified as one of these towns. Terra never went near Pacificsville on her training exercises. Slade had never heard of Pacificsville, and Terra wasn't telling, so there was no punishment for being merciful.
Slade, ever the paranoid villain, moved headquarters to a place deep underground. It was located inside a volcano and the lava swirled at the window, always dangerously close to spilling in and killing them. It was here that Slade finally decided to take her on as his assistant, not just an apprentice.
"You have doubts in the past. Made mistakes. But all that is behind you, isn't it?"
Terra bowed her head, forcing herself to remain completely still. It wasn't as hard as once it had been, remaining like a statue while Slade pounded her with questions and commands. "Yes," she answered, her voice carrying the now familiar note of steel much like the one in Slade's.
"You belong to me now, don't you?"
"Yes."
"From this day forward, will you serve me and me only?" The unsaid reference to the night in the amusement park, when she had claimed to be acting to gain Beast Boy's trust further, hung between them as clearly as the question itself. His hard stare only added to it.
"I will," Terra answered without pausing.
"Will you obey my every command?"
"I will."
"Will you fight at my side forever?" He held out his hand, showing her the red-orange pendent with his symbol on it. Terra knew that it fit into the groove on her uniform. Terra hesitated, a part of her former self creeping up and demanding that she stop this foolishness. She looked between her master and his symbol for a few seconds. His eyes were glinting coldly. Terra squashed that part of her mind and took the red-orange adornment.
"I will," she pledged, fastening it into its groove. Slade's eye narrowed, but Terra knew him well enough to know that he approved.
"And will you destroy the Teen Titans?"
Terra bent her head slightly. Her blond hair fell in front of one eye, the wave that had always been restrained by her clip before. That stupid clip. She allowed a feral smirk to curl over her lips. "I thought you'd never ask."