Chapter 1: The Raid
Titan's Secret Safe House, Location: Classified
The tall and dense clumps of the lush, green blades of Elephant Grass blew gently with the light breeze. Water from the nearby river acted like a natural mister, cooling down the visitors that stood nearby in a small clearing of Bermuda Grass. One was a middle-aged woman with pale-grey skin that reflected off the vicious sun's rays. Her long, violet hair fell well past her shoulders and bellowed at the ends due to the wind. Her long blue cloak whipped with the wind, exposing her leotard and long, black boots. Across from her stood a younger version of what could have been the same person, had it not been for the little girl's green chakra, cloak, and the specks of emerald invading her amethyst eyes.
The two faced each other, the youngest standing in a fighting position with her arms up in defense and her little legs standing firm in the soft grass, her dark green boots standing out against the lighter yellow green ground. The elder stood with her arms at her side, and her blank stare pointed towards the child.
"Are you ready, Arella?" The women asked in her typical, monotone voice.
The little girl nodded her head, some of her long, violet locks falling in her face, forcing her to blow them away with a huff. "Ready, Mother."
"Go!" A blast of obsidian magic was sent barreling towards the small child. The girl reacted instinctively, a black shield forming over her crossed arms. The blast was strong, strong enough to push the girl a couple steps back, but not enough to break her shield. A few heartbeats passed while Arella's mind tried to catch up with what was happening. With a grunt, she sent a pulse of her own magic back at her mother, breaking the stream of opposing magic and sending the women back a couple of feet.
. . . Rip her apart . . .
There it was again.
Arella shook the voice off, getting back to her training exercises.
Arella was about to send another blast at her mother, but she got her attention, "Use the items around you! You'll expend less energy that way!"
"Oh yeah," Arella retracted her magic, then re-extended her emotions over a few large rocks around her. They floated into the air and began dancing around her mother in an almost playful, teasing manner. At first, she thought Arella was simply playing with her powers, but that theory was shot to hell when the rocks began shooting at her one by one. Arella giggled a bit watching her mother deflect her attacks, so she sped up her attacks . . . faster . . . and faster . . .
"Arella!" Raven was beginning to become exhausted, the large rocks coming at her from every angle. "ARELLA!"
The young sorceress gasped, wrangling in her emotions, but not before a loose boulder hit Raven in the back of the head. "Mother!" Arella screamed in fear as she ran over to her fallen mother. She came close to jumping her mother, but changed her mind last second, and instead took a couple steps back. Her hands were held up to her chest as she anxiously fiddled with her fingers. Hot, fresh tears ran down her red cheeks, and her breath quickened and became shallow. The wind picked up again and began swirling around the child, sending mud, rocks, and sticks flying about. "Ma…Ma…Mama I'm…so sorry Mama, I…"
The mother sat back up with a loud groan. She was covered in mud and blades of grass stuck to her wet skin. She looked up to see her young daughter sobbing and hyperventilating. Her maternal instincts kicked in, and forgetting her own pain, she pushed herself up on her legs and walked up towards the panicking child. She used her own powers to block the flying objects that came her way.
When she was only a few inches away for the small girl, she bent down on her knees and took the child's head in her hands. The girl looked at her mother with frightened, tearful eyes. Her mother's face was emotionless as she leaned her head down, and touched their foreheads together, their chakra's glowing as they clicked together. An instant wave of calmness and security washed over the young girl. The last of her tears rolled down her cheeks and dripped into the earth. Her breathing became deeper and more even, and her arms fell to her sides.
Her mother, once satisfied with her daughter's condition, broke their connection by pulling away. She looked down at her daughter and gently rubbed her thumbs over the girl's hot cheeks, cleaning away the last of her tears. The girl's eyes were focused on the ground under her, too ashamed to meet her mother's gaze.
"I'm sorry, Mama." She whimpered sadly.
Her mother pulled the girl's small body into a loving embrace, one of her arms wrapping around the girl's thin waist and the other holding her head. Without hesitation, Arella wrapped her short arms around her mother's neck, her head burying itself into her mother's shoulder. Her mother stroked her daughter's long, silky hair as she whispered into her sensitive, pointy, little ears. "I love you, Arella. Never worry about me. You could never hurt me. I just need you to promise me something."
Arella nodded her head and her mother gently pushed the girl back, her hands now gripping the girl's shoulders. Arella met her mother's deep amethyst gaze. She could feel her mother's serious mood, and the deep rooted protective nature that she always felt off her mother.
"Promise me Arella, that you will do everything in your power to control your rage. That part of you is not the true part. You are not that monster, and I never want you to feel like you are, but you must learn to control that part of you, or else one day it may take control and never give it up. Promise me, you won't allow that to happen."
Arella searched her mother's eyes, seeing concern, worry, and worst of all, fear. What she could not decipher was rather that fear was for her safety or her mother's. A part of Arella told her not to make that promise. It was the scary voice that constantly whispered in her mind, telling her terrible things that would sometimes make her lash out or run to her parent's bedside in the middle of the night looking for sanctuary. Her mother once told her that the voice was not her friend, and that whatever the voice said was never true. She often tried to ignore the mysterious, deep-throated voice, but sometimes the ideas it came up with sounded so…good. Other times, she wouldn't even know she was obeying the voice until after the damage was done, and she was left to face the consequences. Now the voice was back, telling her that her mother was wrong, but if there was one lesson Arella learned, it was that Mother was never wrong.
"Okay, Mama, I promise." Her small voice squeaked as she nodded her head.
"That's my girl." Her mother's lips twitched up in a faint smile and she placed a brief kiss on top of Arella's head.
Suddenly, the warm air became chilling and the pressure dropped as well. A weird feeling built up in Arella's stomach, and her mother's smile quickly replaced itself with a frown.
"And here we have the elusive Raven. A solitary creature that prefers the company of books then to that of human contact. Highly intelligent, but drawn to all things green." Came the sarcastic, English voice of the demon king, dressed in his typical red Armani Collezioni three-button suit.
"What are you doing here, Landon?" The mother's gravelly voice was laced with suspicion and annoyance as she looked past Arella and stared pointedly at the nicely dressed demon. Instinctively she brought Arella closer to her.
"Now, Raven darling, is that any way to greet an old friend?" Landon pretended to be hurt by her sudden rudeness.
"It is if that friend only shows up when there is danger, you need a favor, or both." The women retorted, but he only shrugged.
"I suppose there is some truth in that." He said, then dropped his gaze to the little girl hiding under her mother's cloak.
A wicked grin crepted onto his face. "And who is this lovely young thing?" The demon king approached, Arella stayed at her mother's side, but she watched the king with curious eyes. Landon dropped down to the 10-year-old's height. His dark brown eyes meeting her purple-green ones.
"I believe we haven't had the pleasure of being properly introduced, little one." The king extended his hand, his smile never leaving his face. "Landon, King of Hell, at your service."
The girl eyed his open hand doubtfully.
"It's okay, Arella. He won't hurt you." Raven's last comment seemed directed more as a threat to the demon king than as comfort to the little girl.
Upon her mother's approval, Arella extended her tiny, pale hand and Landon instantly accepted it. He gripped the small hand and brought it to his lips, placing a polite kiss on her knuckles. The little girl blushed and quickly brought her hand back to the safety of mother's cloak.
"Now, darling, it's only polite to give your name after someone has introduced themselves to you. Honestly, has your mother taught you nothing?" He glanced up at Raven, who ignored his taunt.
"Arella Rita Logan." The girl recited like a line from a play she had to memorize.
"Alright, Arella, your training is over for today. Go teleport home, your father should be there." Her mother ordered. Arella immediately voiced her objections, but one stern glare from her mother was enough to make the child obey without another word. Once the young girl was swallowed up by a large black hole, Raven finally relaxed.
"Why did you come here, Landon?" She asked again, as she used her magic to begin removing the mud and debris from her person.
"I was in the neighborhood and decided to drop in on my favorite chromatically challenged family." With a snap of his fingers, all the dirt that had been on Raven vanished, and any cuts or bruises she had disappeared with it. Raven let out a sigh, but thanked the king anyway. "Anytime, darling. Now about your little training session."
"I knew it!" Raven interjected, raising a finger at the king. "This is a business trip."
Landon rolled his dark eyes at the women. "Of course, it's a business trip. All my trips are business trips. Now back to the topic at hand. I know what you have been teaching that girl, but it will never work."
"What are you talking about?" Raven growled at the overly-confident demon.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about. The girl has a power inside her that could end us all, and all you are doing is adding fuel to the fire." Landon spoke calmly as he folded his hand together behind his back.
"I'm teaching her to suppress and control her demonic side, just as I was taught, and just as I taught my other two children." Raven explained, doing her best to suppress her own rage at the king's insult to her parenting.
"That may have worked for them, but for the girl, it's like fixing a leak with a band aid. It will not last forever, and when it fails, she'll drown."
The metaphor hung in the air as Raven allowed this warning to sink in.
"No." She objected. "You're wrong! My daughter will never fall to the darkness. Never!"
Landon simply blinked at her outburst. "So, what's the plan exactly? Tell her to stay away from the darkness and move on with life? That's not enough."
"Then what do you suggest?!" Raven's heart froze as she thought of her daughter being corrupted by her own rage. A vision of Arella covered in the Marks of Scath filled her mind, but she quickly pushed it away.
"You need to teach her about the darkness, show her the darkness, show her the consequences. You cannot hope to control something you suppress. That's not how it works." Landon implored. "That's exactly why you became Trigon's bloody portal! The only reason you survived is because of your friends were crazy enough to go to hell and find you."
"And Arella has even more friends and family than I had." Raven added.
"But what if that's not enough this time." The demon king challenged. "Trigon will try to return to this realm, and when that day comes, wouldn't you rather her be strong enough to resist him, rather than hope she'll come out the other end alive?"
Now this made Raven really think. Could this arrogant king of Hell, be right? Would giving into her demonic side, really protect Arella from her malevolent grandfather?
"Raven, please, all joking aside, let me help. I don't want her to be Trigon's plaything any more than you do. If you let her come with me, and learn how to properly use her demonic powers, spend some time in the darkness, she may just be strong enough to stop Trigon before he even knocks on the door." Landon was a lot of things, but she never would have pegged him as a beggar. Yet, here he was, practically pleading with her to give in to him. He had to feel strongly about this, if he was asking for her permission before he acted. However, no matter how important this was to the king of Hell, there was no way on Earth or Hell that she would let him take her daughter away from her.
This made Raven's answer easy. "No." She said meeting her scowling gaze. "I'm sorry, Landon, but she is my daughter. My responsibility. I will train her how I see fit, and use every last drop of my powers to make sure she is safe. My mother sent me away, because of my proclaimed prophecy, and I swore to myself that I would never do that to my own child. Keeping safe is important, but so is showing her love, kindness, and friendship. Those are what saved me in the end, and they will save her too."
Surprisingly Landon wasn't surprised by her answer. Memories of his own daughter being taken from him long ago helped him to understand her decision. That didn't mean he had to like it.
"While I respect your passion, and I understand your answer, darling, I must implore you to reconsider." He pushed one final time.
Raven narrowed her eyes at him, her own death glare rivaling his. "Read my lips, Landon. Not. Going. To. Happen."
"Very well. Can't say I didn't try." His eye darted from Raven to the thick brush of grass behind her, where a pair of amethyst/emerald eyes widened at being caught. "If you need me, you know the number."
Raven snorted, "Still 666?"
He smirked, A black cloud of smoke covered the demon king, and as quickly as he came, he vanished, leaving behind a confused Raven and a perplexed little girl.
Titan Tower West, Jump City, CA
Present Day
A lot changed over the years, that much is certain, and inevitable, but none more than the tower that stood guard in the bay of Jump City. The one shaped like a giant T. Though it had been there for years, it had gone through intensive remolding, and not just adding on rooms, or enlarging the ones they already had by putting their own bathrooms in them. No, the most impressive of these remodels was the enormous underground training facility, equipped with the latest and greatest in combat training, which was where the newest group of young heroes found themselves this morning.
With the combat simulation at the ready, the group of five teenage heroes began their training exercises to start the day. Of course, only one of them was excited to be up at five in the morning. A streak of gold zipped through the air fighting off her airborne opponents. Special armored bracelets helped her deflect the shots that were aimed at her.
Wonder Girl landed, while a red blur ran past her. "Gotta watch your back, Cassie." Impulse teased.
She rolled her blue eyes, removing a rope from her belt to lasso a hologram, and swinging it at another that stood behind the speedster. "How about we call it even."
He shrugged, "Works for me," and zipped off to help his teammates.
A young man stood surrounded by the computerized ninjas. With eyes glowing a fiery blue, large balls of fire shot from his hands and began consuming them. Once the way was clear the balls of fire shrank before merging to become one, then floated by his ear.
"Not bad," he told it, "still a bit slow on the afterburner though . . . whatdoya mean I don't know what I'm talking about?!"
"Reed . . . !" Instinctively Reed docked for cover just as a young woman with short spiked pink hair soared over him kicking away two of the ninjas in a splits kick. Once he hit the ground, she threw her arm at another group of charging ninja's, shards of crystal flying out of her arms and hitting each of them in the heads. " . . . watch out." She stood up straight, placing her hands on her hips in a sarcastic manner.
"Heh," he rubbed the back of his neck nervously, ". . sorry." Chloe Daniels rolled her cobalt blue-eyes, before crystalizing her leg to send a spin kick to attacking ninja's behind her.
The holograms continued to come down on the team of Titans, well all but one who was safely floating in a meditative trance high above the training floor. She took a few deep breaths, the emerald chakra stone on her forehead acting as a third eye allowing her to see the battle field below her. With her eyes glowing a pale green she recited the spell.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Dark olive-green tendrils shot from the recesses of her cloak impaling each of the ninja warriors below turning them into digitized ash. Once the dust had settled (figuratively) the group of young heroes gathered in the center, the young sorceress floated into the midst of them.
"Nice shot, Ary." Reed complimented, the small fireball sitting calmly on his shoulder, twitching with hot energy.
With the hood of her dark green cloak hiding her face, she glared at him. "It's Arella."
"Wait, I thought Maria called you Ary?" Impulse asked.
Her eyes narrowed, "She's a unique circumstance that I shouldn't have to explain to you."
Impulse and Reed looked puzzled, "It means only her sister and brother can call her that." Chloe, with her arms folded and hip jutting out, informed them as she stood beside the cloaked girl, sending her a smirk, "And me on occasion."
"Only 'cuz my magic doesn't work on you," Arella grumbled.
A small aqua colored ruby sparked from her revealed midriff. "I still can't believe your dad allowed THAT." Reed gawked.
"Who said anything about him allowing it?" She grinned.
"That's enough." Wonder Girl stepped forward, but was specifically glaring at Arella. "I know you have the ability to wipe everything out in a single blast, but you were told NOT to use so much power."
The gothic sorceress scowled at her team leader. "Well sorry you all were taking too long." She mocked an apology. Wonder Girl narrowed her eyes even more at her sarcastic team mate.
"This is a training exercise. It's not about time, it's about endurance. What would happen if you used all your magic at once, and found yourself drained during the heat of battle?"
She scrunched her face, pretending to think. "I'd probably get the hell out of there."
Reed and Impulse shared a snicker, while Chole simply smirked at her best friend's comeback. Before Cassie could retort, another figure approached the group. She had light green skin, with dark emerald eyes and hair. Her ears came to a point and her nails were short and sharp like claws. She wore a tight spandex suit, sporting her family colors, purple and green. The suit hugged her hourglass frame perfectly, and when she spoke, her short fangs glistened in the light.
"And how do you suppose you'll do that?" Questioned the older new comer, known as Maria. If Arella was bothered by Cassie's annoying attempt at a lecture, she sure wasn't going to be in the mood for this.
"No one asked you." Her weak comeback made even herself cringe.
"No, no. I want to hear just how little miss 'all powerful sorceress' gets herself out of danger without the use of her powers." The green-haired women pushed, a knowing smirk spreading on her lips.
"Okay fine!" Arella finally gave in. "I'll…I'll…I'll hitch a ride with my pal Chloe over here." She said as she wrapped her arm over the pinkette's shoulders.
"Like hell you will." Chloe said as she shrugged Arella's arm off. "No one is riding me."
impulse and Reed glanced at each other. "Nope, to easy." smirked the speedster, but that only earned him an annoyed sort of smoke and tiny crystal flex from her nose.
"Oh, come Chlo!" Arella batted her big, purple-green eyes. "Not even for little ole' me?"
"Sorry Ary, but you gotta be at least this tall to ride this ride." The dragon knight lifted her hand a few inches over both their heads. "And that includes these two idiots." She said with another glare in the direction of the snickering boys.
"Alright," The oldest announced. "Arella, you know this already, but since you never seem to grasp the concept I guess I'll just have to repeat it again. Do. Not. Use. All. Your. Magic. In. One. Strike. Do I make myself clear?" The women stared the younger girl down.
Arella rolled her eyes. "Yes, Mom." She said with dripping sarcasm. Maria was not amused, but before she could scold the girl, the blaring sirens of the mission alert interrupted their little chat.
"Trouble. Titans Go!" Maria shouted as she quickly teleported out of the room. Cassie flew off in the direction of the exit, Impulse hot on her trail. Arella grabbed Chloe's arm and the two were swallowed up in her own portal, leaving an irritated Reed behind.
"Man, why am I the only one stuck getting around the old fashion way?" He asked as he threw his arms in the air in exaggeration, and begin the long trek to the common room. The fire ball on his shoulder flashed a few times, as if it were trying to speak.
"What do you mean, you can get there faster than this? You can't do anything without me telling you to."
Flash. Flash.
"Well I don't care if you were just stating a fact. It was a stupid fact." The brunette continued to banter with his pet fire ball as they were the last to exit the room.
"Well look who finally made it." Reed had finally made it to the common room in time for Impulses comment.
"I thought we agreed you weren't allowed comments like that since you get everywhere in two seconds anyway?" he growled, the ball of fire floating around him flashed in agreement. "You said it."
"Anyways," Maria got everyone's attention, "this is our bad guy for the day." With a couple commands typed into the computer, the round silver haired face of a man flashed across the screen. Everyone gave a collective gasp, then growls of rage. "I don't think I need to tell you just how important this mission is," Maria continued, "Marcus Cassidy is one if the worst sex traffickers in the world and he's setup shop in our own backyard. Now that he's surfaced again we CAN'T afford to lose him again." There was a silent wave of agreement amongst the group. Maria motioned for wonder girl to take over.
"Not only do we need to make sure we get Cassidy alive, but we also need the location of every one of his operations, and get any and all captives out a safe. Bart, you'll be responsible for hacking their computers. Arella, you and Maria will work on getting the innocent out of there, while Reed and Chloe will take care of any obstacles that we'll run into. And I'll make sure Cassidy is going nowhere. Sound good?"
Everyone gave a nod of agreement, including, to everyone's surprise, Arella. She had excepted a long time ago that she was essentially babysat during missions, especially by wonder girl, who still didn't fully trust her, and Maria when she was there. It was different when her older brother, and Maria's twin, Mark was around since Arella felt genuine love and concern when he was with them, plus he wasn't such a tight ass. Chloe, whose emotions Arella couldn't feel, was also genuinely concerned during missions, unlike the rest of her teammates, but again she stopped arguing a while ago.
"Alright then. Titans..."
"...GO!"
The group of young heroes took off into the construction site, Impulse zipping through to a nearby trailer, Reed, or the Fox, threw a slew of fire balls that began reducing the automatic weapons being fired at them to Ash, and any that planned on escaping were blocked in by a stream of red hot fire from above.
A pale green rhino charged towards a mobile home looking building, a bubble of dark green energy that helped to shield her from the gun fire. Rhino Maria smashed through the trailer, Arella continuing to shield them.
"Good job Maria, leaving a huge hole open for the bad guys!"
Maria shifted back, "Just keep that shield up!" was all she could say. Arella growled in frustration, but from the safety of her barrier, saw a blur of dark pink and sapphire scales land in front of the gunfire, and changed into solid diamonds, resulting in the bullets bouncing off her sold form.
Arella dropped the barrier, "Thanks Clo." and she took off down the trailer were Maria was already waiting for her.
Huddled around her was a group of malnourished, dehydrated, beaten and frightened young women, each giving off a mixture of fear, gratitude and uncertainty.
"Arella, you need to teleport them to the Jump City Police Station."
Now Arella knew that the magical power that she inherited from their mother was stronger in her, and would make sense for her to teleport them to safety. However, since the two sisters never really got along, Arella didn't really think about the next words that came out of her mouth. "well why can't you do it?"
Maria gave a look of annoyance and disbelief as if Arella was only batting her into admitting that her younger sister was better than her in this regard. Before she could scold her, a rough explosion rocked the earth beneath them. "Arella just get them out of here!". Maria changed into a squirrel and scurried out of the trailer to join the battle outside. The group of women looked up at the young girl with confusion, not sure what was about to happen.
"Hang on," she advised. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos." Her dark green ethereal energy washed over the group and herself transporting them to somewhere safe.
It was a full thirty minutes later before Arella could get back to the battle. Once the women were situated, Arella informed the police department where they were and that they could use the backup. Once she emerged from her portal, she was met by a disturbing sight. A gentleman with a large blaster in his hands was shooting beans of green light at her teammates, a weapon she recognized as a power canceling gun. Fox, and Maria were already down, but Impulse, Wonder Girl and Chloe, still in her dragon form, were attempting to take out the gunman. Before Arella could help her friends, her pointed ears picked up the sound of a rocket launcher being fired and the projectile coming right at her. instinctively she threw up a shield around herself but the resulting explosion knocked her into a nearby Office trailer. she broke through the wall knocking around papers computers and documents but was unharmed. she quickly got to her feet and flew from the trailer to her teammates. out of the corner of her eye she saw Marcus Cassidy climbing in to an SUV to make his getaway.
Kill him now!
There is was. the deep guttural voice that had haunted her for years once again commanding her to kill, to rip, and to dominate. But a roar of her friends in peril got her attention.
DO IT!
Once again Arella fought the voice back, a practice that was becoming tiring, and done for her teammates. summoning all her remaining energy, she wrapped her team in her power and teleported them all to safety.
Arella, still dressed in her uniform, stared blankly at the ceiling of her bedroom, which just happened to be her mother's old room, a pair of large headphones covering her ears to drown out the conversation taking place down the hall. she had heard it all before. Maria and Wonder girl would argue that Arella screwed up while Chloe would stand up for her, and would most the time end up right. These arguments we're often likened to the fights between the former Doom Patrol leader, and her grandfather, Mento, and her dad. But Arella stopped participating in the fights years ago, some they always ended the same. "trying to protect you", "we're in charge" blah, blah, blah. Again, Arella stopped caring a long time ago.
Glancing at the clock on her nightstand she decided it was time for bed. She stood, keeping the headphones on, and undid her cloak and kicked off her boots, when something caught her eye. Within the folds of her cloak that she hadn't noticed till now, were loose pieces of paper that she didn't recognize. she scooped them up and began sifting through them, discovering that they came from the trailer that she was thrown into earlier. Looking through the stack she didn't see anything that Impulse wasn't able to download, but one stood out from the rest.
It was a photograph of a younger looking Marcus Cassidy with a woman and two kids taken in front of a sign that led to a campsite.
Huh, why would he have this with him? Is this a safe house?The deductive reasoning skills that had been hammered into her by Nightwing began to put the pieces together. This MUST be a safe house. Why else have this photo? Yes! this had to be it! I gotta tell Maria!
Why?
There it was again. That infernal voice that was with her twenty four seven. At first it was bothersome, but now...now it's presence brought something out in her.
A familiar...itch.
Taking the photo in her hand she headed for her closet rummaging for a trunk shoved into the back.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
She froze, extending her senses beyond her door.
She relaxed when she felt it wasn't her sister, her esteemed leader, or Chloe, but she still wasn't wanting company.
She floated to the door, opening it just a crack to peer at her visitor.
"Hey Arella," Reed greeted nervously. He was a slightly taller boy, with shaggy auburn hair that came down to eyebrows, forest green eyes, and a splash of freckles painted along his cheeks.
She waited a beat. "Um, hi?" She responded awkwardly. She could feel his anxiety and apprehension, it was practically chocking her, but perhaps the most unnerving emotion she felt from him was attraction. She was used to picking up unsavory feelings from guys, but this poor kid had it bad for her. It was somewhat flattering, and if she were a normal eighteen-year-old girl, she probably would have returned the feelings. Reed was, after all, one of the sweetest and most attractive guys she knew. He was honestly the only guy outside of her family that didn't make her want to send him to the pits of Hell. However, she was not a normal girl. She was Raven's daughter after all, and she certainly did not inherit her father's people skills.
"Hey!" He said with a sickenly sweet smile.
"You already said that." She deadpanned, hoping he would catch her disinterest and leave her be.
"Heh, heh. Right." He laughed anxiously as he rubbed the back of his neck in an old nervous habit, much like her father and brother. "So, um, I just thought I'd check in on ya. I know today didn't go quite as well as we wanted, but at least we got those girls out, right?"
Ugh, she should have known. Every time a mission went awry, she was to blame. Every time she was blamed, Reed would show up at her door to try and cheer her up. She supposed it was nice of him to care so much, but it honestly didn't bother her anymore. What was bothering her was this interruption.
"Thanks, Reed." She replied with a fake smile. "That helps. Now if you don't mind, I was just getting ready for bed." If the boy picked up on her lie, he didn't show it.
"Okay! Yeah, um, great! Okay, I'll, um, see you tomorrow?" He stuttered as an embarrassed blush creeped up his freckled cheeks.
The dark-haired demoness simply nodded her head. The lovesick boy waved goodbye as he stumbled down the hall to his room. Arella watched him go for a quick moment, making sure he was in fact going to his room. Once she was sure she was in the clear, she used her powers to slide the door shut.
Arella raced back to her closet and her trunk. She was already shaking with anticipation, but she had to calm her nerves, she couldn't afford to be jittery. This was a secret mission, after all, and blowing up things in her room or around the tower was not exactly stealthy. Opening the trunk, she proceeded to dress herself in its contents which consisted of a one-piece, skin tight, pitch black leotard and black sweater, with black leggings and boots. To finish the outfit, she placed a black mask with white mesh over her eyes just like Nightwing's.
She grabbed the picture that held the name of the campsite. Camp Catalina. She knew that campsite. It wasn't too far from here.
Stuffing the picture into her boot, she threw her hood up over her face, and with a flick of her wrist, a black portal grew out of thin air. Without looking back, Arella stepped through the portal, leaving her home behind.
She couldn't remember her first time. All she remembered were colors and shapes, the stench of metal and the feel of sticky hot liquid. Once the smoke cleared and she saw the after effects of what she had done, she vomited, she vomited so much there was blood tearing form her throat. There was one other thing she remembered about the experience though.
The pure, untamed, exhilaration. The feeling was... orgasmic. She had to do it again . . . and again . . . and again. And now she was here, washing the warm sticky liquid off her hands at the sink. She no longer blacked out. She no longer vomited. She no longer felt nervous. Now it came naturally to her, and she remembered every second of it.
She felt a chill run down her spine at the memory. Their cries for mercy, their pathetic attempts at pleading for their lives, just like the women they ripped from their homes. She felt it. She felt their delicious fear, their intoxicating pain, she felt every inch of it and GOD she had never felt so alive! The best part was justice had been served, justice for those women, and everyone in the future whose lives they would have ruined had they been allowed to live. She did a service, she did the right thing. She finished washing her hands and moved into the living room, taking count of the bloody corpses that were strewn across the floor. Marcus Cassidy and five of his men were dead by her small, delicate hands.
"Okay," she sighed, "Now it's time for the hard and boring part," she opened a portal to a pocket dimension and removed a few cleaning items. Bleach, gloves, towels, plastic wrap, and trash bags, "Cleaning." By the time she was done, there was no way on heaven or earth she would be found out.
It took her about two hours to clean the cabin of blood, "Note to self, put plastic wrap around everything to minimize cleaning." she told herself. She glanced back at the bodies, making sure they were all wrapped neatly in plastic bags. "Alright, time to go." She opened a portal and with another wave of her hands the bodies floated through the portal to their final resting place. She glanced around the cabin, and being satisfied with her work followed after the corpses.
She had done a perfect job.
Too bad she had forgotten the broken security camera.
Russia.
She enjoyed exotic places, the wind blowing through the trees, a babbling brook in the distance. It was peaceful, even though the earth was disturbed by several holes dug into the ground for Marcus and his friends. The last body was placed into the hole, and she began moving dirt to cover them up.
"The best part about these powers, no shovels." she said to herself.
"I agree,"
Arella jumped out of her skin, the body falling to the ground with a crash and dirt exploding in every direction. She spun around, not sure what to think of whoever had disturbed her . . . but she knew him.
"Hello darling," Landon greeted coolly, "Fancy a chat?"
Author's Notes:
So another jam-packed chapter! Arella has been a naughty girl. Will Landon set her straight? Find out in the next chapter!
Lot's of OC's being introduced in this story. Tell bearhow and I which one's your favorite in your review!
If you have tumblr, make sure to check out bearhow's latest drawling of Chloe Daniels!
A big thank you to all who have reviewed so far! Y'all are the best! To those who are just now joining in on this story, please leave bearhow and I a review! We would both really appreciate it. So much time and energy is going into this story, so please, if you read, take 30 seconds to drop a review! It goes a long way!
Until next time,
L.B.
Disclaimer: Landon and Chloe Daniels owned by bearhow. Arella Logan and Maria Logan owned by Lou Buggins. Reed owned by both of us. All other character's property of D.C. Comics.