Max stared at the great expanse of the universe before her, the ever-changing ebb and flow of energy. She saw the planets and their people, marvelled at the suns they circled and the moons that shadowed them. Billions upon billions upon billions of souls, some warring, others resting peacefully. The endless chaotic beauty of it all stunned Max.

Then, from the very centre of it all, stirred something primal and ancient. It called out and from within Max herself came an answer.

"And so it begins."

Chapter 8 Examination

"You're saying you just put her in there? She didn't resist?" Ellia asked, studying the footage of the cell with increasing interest. "Just like that?"

"Don't sound so sceptical," replied Green Lantern, the newest recruit of the GL corps. "Once we had her in a sphere it was easy to move her. Then we took her here and she hasn't moved since."

Ellia tuned out as Flash appeared. He strode straight past GL and went to the monitor; there, he froze, and stared at the screen. From where she stood she saw his shoulders tighten, his whole body pulse with a darkness. No one else could see it but she could. What was it about this girl that, in a blink, troubled him? Then she pulled herself up. Why did she care? Why was she even here? These people weren't her family. They weren't her friends. Given the chance she rather suspected none of them would be emotional if, one day, she simply vanished.

In the ominous silence of the viewing room she imagined simply blinking out. GL was too wrapped up in seeming like he knew what half the controls on the desk before them meant. Flash was consumed by the video footage and Ellia was about to leave when the door behind her slid open. She turned. It was Batman, followed closely by a masked Bart Allen. In his Impulse uniform, modified for his adult frame, he still reminded Ellia of the youth she met twenty years ago.

"Any change?" Batman asked, looking directly at GL.

The new hero blinked, looking more bewildered than anything for a moment. Then he shook his head, a shadow of solemness passing over his face. For a moment there was a glimmer of what he might be in the future, rather than the joking, doe-eyed GL before Ellia.

Flash turned suddenly to them and blurred to the door, half turning back to Batman. "A word."

The two of them slipped out. GL took his leave, too but Ellia doubted it was to join the conversation outside. Ellia went to Impulse's side, silent as she regarded him. With guarded eyes he watched the girl on the screen, saying nothing. His silence said it all. She didn't judge him for it. For as long as she had known him he had been quick to love. He wore his heart on his sleeve. Usually. At that moment there was a shadow of hesitation in his eyes.

In the quiet of the room the two of them watched on, silent and trapped by their own thoughts.

"Why the hell is my daughter in a cell, Batman?" Wally asked, his eyes blazing.

Bruce regarded him calmly from beneath his own mask. "You read the report. This is just until your daughter reasserts control."

"If," breathed Wally, his eyes downcast, full of secrets and guilt. After a moment those eyes flickered back up to Bruce, warring with several decisions before him. "She'll come out. When she does…"

"Do you want to see her?"

Wally clearly looked like he'd want nothing more but shame filled those eyes. Slowly, regretfully, he shook his head and sighed. The estrangement of the past five years and likely all the damaged past that had been prior weighed heavily on Wally. Heavier than anything before. What had Wally done to drive such a collosal wedge between he and his daughter? Before that moment Bruce hadn't asked, partly out of respect for privacy, and partly because it hadn't been relevant. Yet Ava's arrival and shocking powers changed that. If Ava accepted the help to be trained, to be helped, then she'd cross Wally's path eventually. Bruce didn't know Ava but who was to say how she'd react? Would she lash out violently in an attempt to deepen the divide? Or simply bolt in the opposite direction, untrained in whatever power currently controlled her? Power like that was dangerous to so many people, particularly if untrained.

And as for the threat on the League? He needed Ava to stay, if only to help unravel what she meant by it. Whether it was a premonition, not that he liked trusting in those too much.

"I need to know if there will be any problems, if she chooses to stay," inquired Batman neutrally, his own words with several silent questions.

Wally looked away. "I'll keep my distance. If I do that she'll stay."

"I have to ask-"

"What happened?"

Bruce nodded. "Yes."

"It's a long, complicated and messy history for another day." Wally froze for a moment, his eyes shutting as if in pain; after a pause they snapped open. "Ava will be awake soon." Without another word Wally blurred away.

Bruce returned to the viewing room. He paused by the doorway, lingering as he watched Ellia and Impulse. Ellia was at least a decade or possibly older than Impulse yet they looked scarcely a day apart in age. Their heads were bent slightly towards each other, their bodies reflecting different states of mind. Where Impulse was tense and impatient, restless to see Ava – the one trapped – it was Ellia who seemed curious, leaning faintly forward.

"Ellia," he called out and, as she turned he beckoned to the door. "With me."

She glanced back at Impulse for a moment, then shook her head and followed Batman out. As he strode down to the elevator he heard the patter of her feet behind him, trailing quietly. If she was curious as to where she was going she hid it. In typical Rewire fashion she observed, she decided and then she acted. At the end of the hall they stepped into the elevator. Ellia stood aside as he swiped his hand over the controls and they went down. It didn't last long and the elevator soon whirred open. Batman strode through and Ellia quickly followed. At the entrance to the cells Batman stopped and looked at Ellia.

"I asked you to stay because of the nature of your abilities," he began slowly. "I need to see if you can tell me anything."

She regarded him for a moment, then nodded slowly and followed him inside. The only cell occupied pulsed with a dull glow. Batman lingered half way to the cell, letting Ellia drift forward, as if drawn by the light. With each step her own body began to glow, as if her own powers were responding to the call of Ava's – two kindred spirits reacting. He moved beside her and froze.

Ellia's eyes had turned white.

Nitri sat in the shadowy office, surrounded by boxes of her weapons and her equipment. She was alone, which was best. Her mood had only soured, even as the items she'd requested had come without issue. It was all too easy. The whole thing set her on edge. She'd scrutinised every file on her target, on both of them, as it turned out. Two targets, not one. She scanned the documents. How had two escaped? No, one hadn't even been captured like Ava. The other had simply slipped through the net.

That's what bothered her the most.

Behind her the door clicked open. She didn't turn her head. The cameras she'd secretly arranged about the warehouse, more for her own awareness, told her Agent Marlow had come. Despite Nitri's strict orders to be left alone. She clenched her fists, willing her temper to dwindle, for that raging fire to quiet.

"I said I did not want to be disturbed," said Nitri in a low, icy voice, cold enough to freeze a planet. "Or did that order escape you?"

"We've found something. One of your traps was scans uncovered something," said Marlow in a remarkably calm voice, as Nitri's own rage was nothing more than a child's tantrum.

Nitri spun around on her chair, eyes flickering with a tempered surprise. She'd set her scans to look for very specific things across the entirety of the internet, dark or otherwise. That, and she'd set out other types of scans – more elemental and energy-based types. The former would be triggered by many individuals but if the secondary was triggered as well – well, that'd mean her target had tripped up.

"Which one?" Nitri carefully hid her interest.

Marlow looked a little uneasy. "Um, all of them."

"All?" The chances of both types traps being triggered was rare but every single trap to be triggered seemed like a colossal error on her target's part. It seemed monumentally lucky for someone who didn't believe in luck. Was Ava really that stupid? Or was it an open declaration?

"What would you like us to do?"

"Nothing. I'll see to it," said Nitri as she stood to her feet, moving her documents into neat piles. She turned to Marlow, who stared at her expectantly. "Yes?"

"You're part of a team. Remember that," she said softly.

Nitri paused and stared back, her eyes flickering tempestuously. "That sounds like a threat."

Marlow turned and strode to the door. There, she paused, half turned back. "It is what you make of it."

When Marlow was gone it took several deep breaths for Nitri not to storm in there and shred the others. Tear them limb from limb. She'd done everything that was ever asked of her and still they'd saddled her with babysitters on her first real mission out. Like she was incapable. She wasn't. She was Savage's finest soldier. It seemed, however, few seemed to grasp that concept.

She carefully paced her room for several minutes longer before she calmed enough to go out. With a deep breath she strode into the next room, acutely aware of the eyes that followed her. Ignoring them she went to the computer set up on the far wall and sat down, setting to work. Closing her eyes she drew on her power, sinking into the tugging streams of energy that flowed around her. She drifted into the computer seamlessly and began to work. Carefully, she examined each trap and the findings, pouring over every detail. When she was gone she slowly withdrew, letting the energy slowly ebb back within the walls she'd built. As the last bit of energy trickled into place she opened her eyes and saw the reflection of the others in the screens.

"It would seem an unknown element has appeared. For now, we sit tight. She's out of our reach," informed Nitri, studying each of their reflections, wondering if any would doubt her. It wouldn't surprise her.

"I didn't think anywhere was out of our reach," murmured Marlow.

Nitri spun in her chair. "She's in the care of the League right now. My guess is they're keeping her until she's out of that trance. Then I imagine they'll try to recruit her – or they'll offer some aid to her."

"If she's with the League how will we get to her?"

"She can't stay with them forever. She won't. From what we know she's a 'free spirit'. Her own nature will betray her. Besides, from what we know about her, she'll leave at some point and when she does we'll be ready."

Marlow didn't seem entirely convinced.

Nitri raised her chin and stalked back into her room. There was plans to make and if she stayed in that room any longer she was liable to add to her body count.

Bart watched her from the other side of the energy field, waiting. Even Ellia's strange interaction hadn't so much as stirred a response. Ellia had simply come out of her trace, murmured an apology and fled with a dazed look in her eyes. Bart had caught her in the hallway on his way down. He couldn't forget the haunted look in her eyes.

As he stared at Ava now he wondered what Ellia had seen. What was inside Ava that scared Ellia? In all the years he'd known Ellia she'd never shown anything but the coldest reserve and critical gaze. Nothing but composed, confident and proud. She even gave Batman a run for his money in the stoic department.

"Are you even in there, Ava?" He whispered, his voice floating eerily amongst the faint buzz of electricity. "You have to be. I don't believe anyone could control you. You're too bloody stubborn."

Ava stared back at him, her eyes as indifferent as before, blazing white. She gave no indication she even heard him. He sighed. They were strangers. Five years had set out a divide between them. Before, he'd distanced himself from the girl, seeing that look in her eyes. Now, as very much a woman, her gaze was impossible to read, her mind a puzzle. She spoke with a fire she didn't hide anymore, a confidence she displayed proudly.

"A fate bound to a course preordained," murmured an unfamiliar, ghostly voice – right from Ava.

Bart froze. "What did you say?"

Ava seemed to turn her head a fraction to him. "When it emerges from its age old slumber a force must rise and a price must be paid. Do not attach yourself to that which does not belong to you."

"Ava doesn't belong to you."

Slowly, Ava exhaled, a thin steam of energy drifting off her. "You have been warned. Continue at your peril."

The light suddenly died from her eyes, normal irises colouring back. Ava sucked in a shaking breath, then her eyes rolled back in her head. Then she began to scream. Agony tore from her mouth, sharp and ear-splitting, ragged against her throat. She crumpled to the floor, writhing like a creature possessed. Through her hagged screams came broken cries for the pain to stop.

Bart disabled the wall and blurred in, bundling her up into his arms. She thrashed like a wildcat but he held on, blurring her out of the room, right up several levels to the ward. The second he rushed in their only on call doctor, a young woman of thirty or so, froze for a second; instinct surged within her as she rushed over. She quickly tapped a ear-piece and fired off commands, then turned to Ava, whom Bart had laid out on a bed.

"Hold her down," ordered the doctor, rushing back with a syringe in hand.

As Ava screamed with a pain that shredded him inside the doctor drove the syringe into her and plunged the contents into her. In a flash, Ava stilled, her eyes falling shut. She fell limp against the bed, her breathing soft and steady.

"Is she okay now?"

"I've sedated her. You'll need to step out. I want to run some tests to be sure," she said, dismissively; after a pause, she added with a glance to the door, to the distant sound of a wailing alarm. "You better let the others know what just happened. I don't want to be disturbed."

"Let me know when she wakes, okay?"

The doctor turned to him. "Are you her partner? Or family?"

Friend, he suspected, wasn't a good enough reply. He looked away. "No."

In the corner of his gaze he watched her eyes soften. "Is there any family within the League?"

"None that she'd want around – trust me."

For a moment she appeared to want to push the matter but eventually nodded, understanding. Bart withdrew, not before casting a final look back at Ava. Still as the dead, glowing faintly.

Tate sat in the dark of a shabby 80's looking apartment, nursing a glass of whiskey from a stolen bottle and his silencer on his lap. Shadows danced amongst the moonlight splashed across the carpet, patterned with the half-broken blinds, moving softly in the breeze spilling in. He had to crack the window. The apartment wreaked of something dead and mouldy food. He drew the glass to his nose, savouring the smell in his nose as it overpowered the rancid stench around him. Closing his eyes for a moment he enjoyed a small sip, swirling it liberally on his tongue before swallowing. He quickly finished the remainding and set the glass aside.

With a sigh he glanced at his watch and frowned. His target was late, which was strange given how punctual they were meant to be. Tate's sources were never wrong. Instinct stirred within, his senses sharpening. The second trouble came he'd vanish. It'd do no good to really be seen, especially if it was by people hunting him – or Ava.

A little over thirty minutes later when Tate began to seriously contemplate leaving there was a faint jangle of keys beyond the door. He stilled. A familiar cold calmness washed over him, steadying him. The door cracked open, a stirring wind fluttering in, as a cloaked man shuffled in, clutching a brief case in one hand, holding a phone to his ear in the other.

"I told you, no. I won't do it, Max. Not this time," he said, hurriedly as he shut the door behind him, locking it. He paused, likely noticing the cleaner smell and the breeze, and slowly turned around.

Tate flicked on the lamp beside him and pointed the gun with a wicked smile, gesturing with his now free hand to the phone. Slowly, the man murmured a goodbye and hung up.

"Who the hell are you?" The man asked, a thread of fear in his voice.

With a chuckle Tate leaned forward. "Someone you're going to tell all your little secrets to. Come little bird, sing me a song."