A Matter of Pride: Chapter twenty-three; Repeto

The plane landed, the passengers were thanked and bid a good day, and Rhea dragged Terra through the terminal. As before, she had trouble with the metal detector - namely, unwillingness to relinquish her clip.

"Honestly, 'Lani, why do you always wear that thing? It's not even pretty."

"Keb gave it to me!" Terra snapped. "I promised that I'd always wear it - and so did you!"

"Stupid of me, wasn't it?" Rhea agreed. She shielded her eyes and scanned the circle drive. A small dark blue car had just pulled up. Rhea smiled. "There's our ride. Come on."

She led Terra toward the car and climbed into the front seat. Not knowing what else to do, Terra clambered into the back. A man, perhaps late teens or early twenties, sat in the drivers seat. He looked normal, even nondescript, with cropped blond hair and brown eyes. He smiled pleasantly in the rear-view mirror at her.

"Delani Miller, isn't it?" he asked.

"I'm Terra."

"Of course you are," Rhea scoffed. She glared at the man. "Why do you care anyway? I told you already. Let's go."

The man nodded and began driving. There was no conversation as he wove through a small town, into the cornfields beyond. Terra marveled at the flatness of everything. She had never been this far east. There were no mountains. Not even a hill, really. Just... corn. Lots and lots of corn. And, occasionally, some soybeans. But mostly corn.

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They drove for hours, or so it seemed. Certainly long enough that Terra was thoroughly confused. She had long since cross-eyed from staring at endless identical rows of corn. Finally, the car pulled to a stop outside a small, run down building. It was a farmhouse, obviously long since abandoned.

"We're here," the man announced cheerfully, climbing out. He scurried to hold Rhea's door open, and then Terra's. Rhea accepted the gesture as if she was used to it. Terra, having never had someone hold a door of any sort open for her before, blushed and muttered a thank you.

Rhea approached the door and opened it without knocking. "We're here," she called. "And 'Lani is, too!"

The man ushered Terra through and closed the door after entering himself. Terra was shocked into complete stillness by who she saw (although, considering Rhea, she really shouldn't have been surprised). Slade was standing in the dimness of the room, looking utterly bored.

"It's about time," he drawled. "Dear child, welcome. I've been waiting for you."

"So we're going downstairs now?" Rhea asked eagerly, pulling off her tee shirt and jeans so that she was wearing her Slade uniform again. Being her, the man did the same and was revealed to be wearing the male version of Slade's uniform. It looked exactly like the outfit Beast Boy had described Robin wearing, except that it was about twice as big because Robin was a shrimp.

Terra had a very bad feeling about this.

"You've been a very bad girl, child," Slade chided. "Betraying me, killing your siblings, setting off that volcano..." He trailed off, looking at her. "So I've enlisted some help to help you see the error of your ways. Did you introduce yourself?" The last comment was directed to the man still standing behind her, leaning casually against the door now. He shook his head.

"Oh, let me!" Rhea said excitedly. "Delani, this is Repeto." (1)

"Sounds German," Terra said.

"It's Latin," scowled Repeto.

"He's sensitive about the name," Rhea explained. "Anyway, Rep here has an interesting power. Rep, wanna show her?"

Repeto looked thoughtful, then shrugged. "Miss Terra, if you would look this way, please..." Terra didn't want to. But she found herself turning and her eyes connected with his. They were a dark, sort of goldy-brown. Terra found herself instantly transfixed. She trembled, feeling something sift through her mind, and then gasped slightly at the rush of imagery that suddenly assaulted her.

She was eight. Keb and Rhea held either hand and all three were smiling broadly. Keb let go of her hand and ran a few meters. He picked up a rock and tossed it to her while Rhea moved away a few feet. She caught it and spun around, the rock spinning with her and then crashing into the rock face opposite. She giggled at the cloud of sparkles discharged. Keb tossed another and she repeated the move, but this time the rock struck a loose piece behind her.

Everything seemed to be intensified - the horror as three tons of rock smashed onto her brother, the pain as her powers exploded, the numb shock and the sight of Rhea's blood blossoming from a wound she had caused. Everything was sharp and clear and seemed to be moving so slowly, but over before she could think. Everything was like a dream. And when it was over, Terra found herself on the ground, sobbing. Her hands were on fire, as if the injury to them had been repeated just now, and her body ached from the impact of boulders and the effect of her powers.

Rhea was giggling. Slade said nothing, but Terra knew him well enough that he was taunting her inside. Terra refused to let so much as a single tear fall. She wouldn't cry in front of Slade or Rhea, or Repeto. It was a close thing, though. Terra's breathing was shaky as she struggled to stay the tears welling in her eyes.

"Fun, isn't it?" Rhea laughed. "Rep's powers are so cool!"

Repeto grunted lightly and Terra heard the barely restrained pride.

Terra blinked her eyes free of tears and took a shaky breath. She pushed herself to her feet and turned to the door, intending to leave. Repeto quickly moved to block it, shaking his head.

"Sorry, Miss Terra, you're not allowed to leave."

Terra scowled, determined not to give these people what they wanted. Her eyes glowed yellow, as did her hands, and her arms trembled slightly with the effort from keeping her cool.

"Move," she said.

"Dear child, I'm afraid that's simply not allowed." She felt Slade's boot plant itself in her back, between her shoulder blades, hard enough to knock the air from her lungs and knock her to the ground. The wooden floor had rotted away for the most part, baring the concrete foundation beneath. It swallowed her hands to the wrists and her bent legs to just above the knees. Rhea sauntered up to her and snapped a bracelet onto her forearm, just above the wrist. Terra recognized the bracelet. It was the same experimental kind that Slade had tested on her, draining her powers away. Rhea snapped a cord into place on the plain band and stood back. The bracelet glowed yellow. Terra's eyes widened with dread.

Then the pain hit and she wanted to collapse, but with her wrists and legs trapped she couldn't. Her eyes glowed vibrantly and her body trembled with hot-flashes of pain. Terra bit her lip to stop herself from screaming. She couldn't stop herself from whimpering, however, and she heard Rhea laugh quietly again.

Though her brain was foggy, Terra forced herself to think. She was obviously trapped here, with no way to escape or even move. Rhea and Slade were out to get her, she could tell that from a glance at them, and she didn't know Repeto at all, other than what his powers were capable of. He wouldn't help her.

Then someone turned up the power and Terra was unable to think anymore.

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(1) - I don't like the name, but it's better than Memoria. If I remember right, it's Latin for... recall, as in remember. Memoria sounded too girly.