Author: So now you get to see how Ruba's fairing with Slade. :P She's kinda.. y'know, trying to get used to life and all that. xD You get to see her train a bit, Slade's lecturing, her awareness to how her powers operate, which Slade has already figured out to some extent. Then you get to see the big moment of her officially becoming Slade's apprentice, Sari talking to Raven, explaining to her a bit about his past, about Ruba and finally Silvy running into San. Chapter 7 you'll find out about San's real first name and a bit about her back story. n_n Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I only own those that I've created. Sari (Barrett), Ruba (Cecilia), Silvy (Roger) and San. DC Comics belongs to the respective owners.

Her days were spent wisely, a mix of studying and training. Slade had insisted she go by a schedule and so they made one. She'd sleep from 10 PM to 6 AM, get up, breakfast, training until 11 AM on various activities, then she'd study three topics; two of Slade's choosing and one of her own. Afterwards she'd shower and do several tests Slade and Wintergreen designed, ranging from memory, mathematical equations, formulas and maps to simple IQ and personality examination.

For lunch, at 4 PM, she assisted Wintergreen in the preparing of their meal and her cooking skills were picked apart by his scrutiny. To finish the night she read books or trained some more before sleep encompassed the remainder of her night and the schedule would cycle.

Three days had passed in this fashion and she welcomed the routine. It gave her a sense of normality.

The bad part is.. her sleeping hadn't improved any. She'd still have nightmares and wake up shaking. On the first night Slade had been confused and Wintergreen comforting. He was like a foster parent who actually liked his children. That was how he felt. Kind.. and gentle, but reserved and polite.

He had walked over, hugged the sobbing girl and Slade had simply stood in the doorway, asking her questions. He said her mind was overloaded because of her bottling and her psychological breakdowns would happen when she was at her weakest.. sleeping, that is. Her dreams displayed her agony and in return for the strain she placed on her body her mind terrorized her. It was like a warning system, he said. If she continued to bottle she'd keep having nightmares in the middle of the night.

This was slowly changing. Slade gave her many methods to vent. The first he implemented was a journal. He said to write down all her thoughts, memories, anything she felt like writing. It helped, but only a little. The second he made her do was confront the issue in her mind, but she couldn't figure it out. How could you confront bottling? By countering it?

She was stressing herself out.

So much for normality. Slade was a very strict teacher, but under his guidance she was improving dramatically. On this day she found herself in what they dubbed the 'Bunker' room. Reinforced walls meant to hold bombs out and people in or the other way around; civilization out and something dangerous in.

In here she couldn't hurt anything or anyone and it was where she trained her powers.

Red energy sizzled into being, trailing up from her eyes like translucent smoke. Test dummies were scattered about and her current assignment was to hit one at a time without disturbing the rest. Some were easy, some tricky.

She crouched, shifting her feet to prepare for what she was about to do.

Slade stood by the far wall, the glow of the ceiling lights making his armor shine as he was decked out in his suit.. as always. She could have swore he wore it even when he slept.

"There is no time limit. Take out each target at a time, at your own pace, with just your energy. No physical combat." She nodded her understanding, smiling. Oh, this was going to be fun. "Begin when you are ready."

She inhaled, focusing.. and yet even calm she could feel her energy burning like lava, ready to destroy everything. She needed to gain control and something told her Slade knew how.

She dashed forward, her glowing right hand sweeping up and toward the target directly in her path and the energy followed, slinging up like a beam claw. It struck the dummy, charring it and causing it to topple onto it's side.

She turned, sliding on her boots, crouching and tried to fire several bolts at a target, but a surge hit and instead of bolts a beam burst forth to slam into the target, throwing it against a wall. She cut the energy, watching it fall of the floor with smoke rising from it.

"Why aren't you trying?" Slade's sharp voice was cold and she sensed a mocking quality to it, yet humor beneath.

She grumbled aloud, "I am."

"You can do much better than this."

"Just watch!" She darted like a motorcycle, feet running at a decent speed. She jumped, spun and fired several bolts at targets that flashed by.

When she landed she heard a chuckle coming from Slade and turned to examine her work. She'd only gotten one of the targets and the rest were shifted from the wind, but untouched.

"This is pathetic. Stop holding back."

She spun on her heels, glaring at the man. "I'm not! I can't control it enough!"

"You're as pathetic as the Titans." Slade said coolly, unemotional and disinterested.

"Hey! You're not being fair! This is difficult. I don't know how to properly channel and wield it. I'd love to see you try!" She growled.

"Life isn't fair. I could do better than this. Such a disappointment."

Her eye twitched and she clenched her fist, anger bubbling in her chest. Was all he going to do insult her? That wasn't fair.

"Come now, Cecilia. Perhaps I should give you back to the Titans. You're useless in this stage."

That's it! No more!

Aggression filled her body and she screamed a childish curse before she turned to tackle the assignment. She'd show him! She ran at a dummy, red energy zapping out to stab through the torso, severing the top from the bottom. As they clattered to the floor she was already onto the next target, a hand flickering horizontal to slice the chest with her glowing hand. She then jumped, flipped and sliced the back, taking off toward another the moment her feet hit the ground.

She was like a trained killer, precision lining her form and strikes, bolts sent forth to hit the farther targets while she hacked and slashed the closer ones in a stream of acrobatic stunts.

Finally when the last marked dummy fell to her feet she turned to survey the room.. and realizing she'd done it.

A slow clapped echoed and she saw Slade carefully walking toward her.

She glanced down at her hands in awe, watching the crimson colored material fade away and leave her skin unmarred. "Woah.. how did I do that?"

"The key to your powers-"

She looked up at him, scrunching her eyes.

"-is anger." He stated as if matter-of-fact.

She frowned. "Wait.. you think.. anger is my solution?" She started to laugh. "That's rich. Then next you'll say something stupid like 'emotional instability is the reason you can't control them'." She said between laughs. Of this was too funny! How were her powers connected to an emotion or emotions? That was stupid!

"Laugh all you want, but the reason your powers are unstable is because you suppress your anger, you bottle. It's why you wake up in agony every night. It's why your anger is tripled when displayed." He explained.

Her frown returned and she tapped her jaw, considering this. There was some logic to his reasoning.. and she had noticed how much more her accuracy was when heated with rage.

"You don't utilize that aggression in you, which turns into negative energy that hurts others who come into contact with you unless they match you; whether in power or emotions." He went on, circling her, making her feel small under his hawk-like gaze.

She pursed her lips, letting this sink in.

"Don't you realize when you're angry you have more control over them?" He asked and she nodded in response.

"Actually I have, I just never gave it much thought.." She muttered, body tingling with apprehension. So that was why Sari had full control. It must be from being calm and collected all the time.

"A single emotion fuels your powers or shuts them down. Your chi, as they say, influences what emotion has a hold of you." He chuckled softly, pausing in front to turn and face her. "No one can touch you because you hide your true emotions, you bury them deep inside. When you learn to utilize your anger.. you will gain control and in turn be able to have contact with anyone."

"Aahhh.. I see." She mumbled to herself, stroking her chin with a thoughtful expression. Yeah, that did make sense, the way he put it.

She straightened herself, shrugging. "So I just need to confront my emotions then, 'utilize my anger' as you said. Am I right?"

He nodded. "You could never have control with the Titans. You didn't have room to let your anger out. They would have shunned you. With me you can be as angry as you want, yet you need a middle ground. Full control with use of your rationality and intelligence."

She turned her head to the side, staring at the closest dummy, the one cut in half. "I was so deadly when I was angry.."

He followed her line of sight and she heard that smile once more in that smooth voice. "You can become an exceptional fighter.. and I have need of you."

Her lips dipped toward the ground and she looked up at him, he looking down at her, and she stared into that single steely eye. Her own cloudy emeralds glistened.

"You.. need me?"

He placed his hands onto her shoulders. "Do you swear to serve me.. with every breath?"

She was mesmerized by that cold and unblinking stare. "I.. do."

"Will you stay by my side, as my apprentice?"

"I will."

"Good.." A sense of success radiated from the man. "Tomorrow you will don your uniform and we begin training in earnest. I will make you into a legend that all shall know and respect."

She liked the sound of that.

Sari had this sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, like the calm before the storm, and he could sense a desperation rising in his chest. He stood atop the tower's roof, hands glowing with blue energy.

He jabbed and punched at the air, practicing his movements, testing his body. He threw a leg up but lowered it, crouched and sweep kicked the ground, then jumped, back-flipping to land on his left foot, right arm extended out.

"You move with such grace." A voice spoke up, interrupting him. He lowered his arm and leg, shifting to the side to see who it was. Raven stood with her arms crossed, cape billowing in the air behind her.

"I guess." Was all he said.

She walked over and he bent down, squared his knees and threw out slow punches, each arm retracing once the other took it's parallel place.

"How'd you learn to control your powers?" Raven asked, taking a seat just outside the bounds of six feet from him.

He smiled and spun, dropping as he did so and yet once he touched ground he didn't stop, merely flipped himself and bounced back to his feet like a break dancer would. He sighed, standing straight for a moment, staring up at the red sky above as the sun dipped over the horizon.

"Believe it or not both Ruba and I are great at parkour. Scaling buildings, jumping from roof to roof, owning the streets like we were ninjas. We were fantastic. It was natural. When we were on the road I had to give her other options to use besides her unstable powers. My dad taught me martial arts when I was with him. He'd been an instructor before he was killed, taught me self defense and when it was just Ruba and I we furthered our fighting skills. She was fast, her small frame allowing for more mobility. I had strength and grace, plus stamina and endurance. She always got tired easily, but I paced myself."

He could see Raven frowning at this.

"I know, I didn't answer your question. I'm getting to that. Throughout our time together Ruba was.. jealous of me. Why could I control my powers and yet she couldn't when we were so similar? I never understood it. I equate mine to being calm all the time. I couldn't tell you how or when I got control, but I just always had it since I got these powers."

He inhaled sharply and Raven folded her hands into her lap as she watched him.

He moved to take a seat in front of her, crossing his legs. "I'm part of a test, a means to verify the use of enhancing chi to visibility. You see chi is the body's life force or natural energy, whichever you wish to associate it as."

He chuckled and she nodded. "So this test you- and her -undergone gave you energy manipulation, by internal transferred external?"

He smiled. "Yeah. Project Energy Court, a group of eight kids with special DNA. They injected each of us with a chemical they called Energica Tresta Lu, or energy enhancer. They had fancy words for it all. I was the oldest so the scientist told me about the project and why they did it. They were trying to create a team based on the positions and rank of an actual court, like the kingdoms in fairy tales, but also like those of playing cards. Be warned I gave them all nicknames."

He held up his hands, closing them to clenched fists. "Like I said there are eight in total. Ruba is the highest, the prodigal one. She is the 'ace'." He lifted the thumb of his left hand. "I am the second, the 'king'." The pointer finger went up next. "The third is Ember who is green. She's the 'queen'." His middle finger rose. Then his ring finger. "Fourth is Ody, he's our black energy 'prince'."

He paused. Raven nodded for him to continue.

He lifted the pinkie, the last of his left hand. "Then we have San, who is our white 'princess'. After her is Atty, our golden 'bishop'." The thumb rose on Atty's name. "Seventh is Vito, our purple 'jester'." His pointer lifted. "And finally the eighth is Silvy, the grey 'knight'." The middle moved.

He then lowered his hands, pleased he remembered all that. In truth he had actually been the one to give them nicknames when under the scientist's care. They were simple and were taken from the name of their colored energy to help remember who was what.

"Our time with this scientist was short lived as the day arrived when it ended. Ody was let out for a physical examination- a malfunction had happened in the system and his data on height and weight had vanished so they needed to record it again. He killed the scientist and all of his assistants." He lifted a hand and made a waving gesture with only his fingers, wiggling them. "We divided and went our separate ways. Ruba followed me."

He then moved to stand, but Raven grabbed his arm and he halted, giving her a quizzical look of confusion.

He sat back down and she asked her final question. "Just how powerful would she be once she had control of her full powers?"

At this he winced as if a wound had been inflicted on him and he glanced to the side, eyes lowered into slits. "As the ace her powers were meant to be the strongest of the eight. She was the central piece, according to the scientist." He returned his gaze to her face, blue eyes filled with worry. "She would be very dangerous. In theory, untested of course, she is supposedly capable of destroying a city with a single build up of power. Right now she can only do simple things. Combat on a small scale. If your villain Slade manages to train and strengthen her.. It's only a matter of time before Jump City will be wiped off the face of the Earth and all of us along with it."

He rubbed his face, a habit he had.

She growled her frustration and this drew his attention back to her. Her eyes were narrowed at him. "You have to get her back. You're the only one she'll listen to. We have to separate her from Slade before he completely sinks his teeth into her."

She rose, cape flowing.

"Raven.. we have no clue where she is."

She half turned, staring off into the distance. "We'll have to search all of the villain lairs we've overlooked."

He stood, smiling. "Thanks, Raven."

She didn't say anything, just sank into the ground at her feet.

Yeaaahh, Silvy was supposed to be searching.. and yet he'd spent every day since he got here partying with some people he met. They invited him to this sweet party thinking he was legal-age and so he played it off.

He'd woken up just a few hours before, hung over on whatever he'd had to drink the night before. Tons of sodas since he disagreed with alcohol. His father had been a motorcyclist who was also a drunk. Wasn't much of a father, but it wasn't like he was a terrible guy. He loved to party and more often than not he was stuck home alone while his dad was roaming the city. What a life. He just wasn't a parent like he should have been, yet this hadn't bothered him. The ever indifferent knight, as his old friend had called him before he'd left.

But, like was already mentioned, his father died when he was younger. He'd been killed, along with his working wife, while Silvy had been away. He'd lost his parents.

The party last night had been situated on the side of town in an old warehouse. At around 2 AM he'd staggered outside to get air, drunk on sugar and exhausted from dancing. He'd sat down with his back against the wall and had apparently passed out. That was where he had woken up at. Laying on the ground, dizzy and hungry.

People had reacted to a young male with metal-like hair, jet black eyes and a biker appearance better than he had expected. They'd been shocked at first, then awe, then they were fine with him once he relaxed into the crowd.

Even among people who chose not to judge him he had felt isolated, the black sheep of the herd.

He felt this strange feeling, like something was about to happen, so he moved to stand, shaking his body to make himself more aware. His hawk eyes scanned the street as he caught his balance and began to walk, bent on back-tracking to the hotel he was staying at. He needed to find the two energy users in this city and then move on.

Suddenly he felt arms wrap around his waist and a body press against his back. Out of pure reflex the hands were grabbed, his knees bent and he flipped the person over his shoulder and onto the ground, moving to straddle the body down to see just who it was.

It was a form clad in a brown cloak, features hidden by the baggy cloth and drawn hood.

"Who are you?" He snarled, pinning the hands down.

A soft giggle followed and he felt something tickle his wrists and flesh beneath his gloves and he turned his head to study the source; energy was floating around the person's hand (as he was looking at the right one) but it was the color that really caught his attention.

It was white.

He peered down at the face, his black eyes wide.

"San? Is that you?" The person didn't answer, just flashed a smile.

He released a hand to reach up, pulling back the hood and his eyes widened further at what he found beneath.

Rich brown eyes with equally chocolate hair that was pulled into a sloppy ponytail at the base of the neck. A scar flashed on her neck, a small crescent moon shape just above her collarbone.

He pushed himself up, letting her go and offered a hand. He pulled her to her feet when she accepted and she beamed that eerie trademark smile of hers.

Even with the scientist she had been creepily interested in him.

"What.. are you doing here?" He asked, gesturing toward the city around them.

She lifted a hand, pointing it at him before dragging it down toward his feet. "You." The energy had since faded from her hands and she leveled her frozen brown eyes at him. "I came here for you." She lowered her arms.

"..why?"

She tapped the side of her skull. "Even before the project I had a down-low ability I was born with. Visions. I can see glimpses of the future. Things that can be.. or will be." She sighed, her chirpy demeanor gone for the moment. "I had a vision recently and I saw you, here, in this city. So I wanted to see you.. but on the way here another vision hit- this city is likely to be destroyed in several days."

His eyes narrowed at this information. "I have to warn the other two before that happens then." He turned and started to walk away, but she called out.

"Wait! What other two?"

He froze and stared at the ground. "Ruba and Sari are here." He answered. "I came here to gather them. I was planning to unify the energy users if I could." He clenched his fists. "I know I have no right to say it, but we all belong together, as a group. We shouldn't have scattered like we did."

She pursed her lips, fingertip touching her chin. "While I do agree with you in the whole unity thing we have.. a.. slight problem."

He arched his right brow, remaining quiet so she would continue. What problem?

She scrunched her eyebrows, a look of disgust on her young face. San was the youngest of the 'group' at 14 years old.

She connected the dots of who Ruba was and a cold shiver raced up her spine. The girl in the vision.. "I believe something bad has happened to Ruba.." She went on, trying to figure out how to explain what she had seen in a vision.

"What do you mean?"

"She.. hold on. Before I say anything just know this. My visions are a path of the future. It's not something that is definite. It can change. It's just one of the more possible futures." She raised a hand to scratch the back of her neck. "So.. in one of my visions.. Ruba kind of.. destroys this city."

She brought the hand around to twiddle her thumbs, a nervous look on her face.

"..there's more. What are you not telling me?" He demanded, seizing her shoulders to make her look at him. His cold black eyes met her empty brown ones and she closed hers.

"She's in a man named Slade's grasp. She... in that path she kills you and Sari.. and almost gets me.."

His eyes narrowed and he shoved her back, turning on his heels to go find Sari to stop this. She watched him walk before she ran after him.

She had to help in any way she could.