Chapter 13: An Unexpected Ally
Now when she looked back, almost two weeks later, Terra could admit that running away in such a hurry might not have been the best course of action. Sure, she had been pretty mad at Beast Boy for breaking his promise to her, but now look where she was; in even greater troubles than before. Money was tight, food was running low and she had no place to sleep.
Definitively should have planned this out better in advance. Now here she was, stranded and alone in Los Angeles, trying desperately to stay off the radar. Who she was hiding from, she was not that certain. Her instincts were just telling her to lay low for a while, and she was not about to question her instincts.
Dressed in a brown sweatshirt with a hood covering her face, Terra discreetly slipped through the crowd of people moving to and fro along the sidewalks. Her destination, unknown, even to her. She just went wherever her legs would carry her. No purpose, no plan, no reason. That was pretty much what her life had spiraled into.
The prospect of stabilizing her life again did however exist just ahead of her all the time. She could have moved on with her life, like she always did. But every time she even thought of trying, Slade's haunting words came back to torture her, poisoning her with doubt and uncertainty.
No one could help her, no one could understand her. That was the sad truth in her life. She was alone. She had no one in her life. Why bother trying to change it when she will most likely mess up again, like she always does? As she passed an alley, she could hear some kind of struggle going on in its depths.
Casting a quick glance to her right, she found about three thugs had ganged up on some unfortunate victim, who by now lied bleeding and whimpering on the ground. People just walked right past the entrance of the alley without so much as a glance, either not hearing or caring about the commotion going on inside. 'Most likely the latter.' Terra thought bitterly.
As the thugs' taunting laughs reached her ears, Terra felt anger boiling up within her and took a few steps towards them. That was about the only advance she made before she stopped herself. Just what was she doing? Or, a better question; what did she hope to do? March right up to them and beat them around with her powers?
Bad idea. Really bad idea. With her luck, she would most likely bring the whole neighborhood down on their heads. And that would just set off yet another witch hunt screaming for her blood. Everyone would turn on her, like they always did.
With trembling lips, Terra stepped back, even as the victim's pitiful cries of "Help!" and "Mercy!" rang out. Even though they were so quiet and raspy that they could be barely heard, each word stung with such poisonous pain in Terra's soul that she could barely keep herself together.
"This is what you get for trying to double-cross the Capule family, pal." One of the thugs sneered as he flipped out a stiletto knife. The victim's whimpering increased in volume as his bloodied and broken body tried to will up the strength to move, only to come up empty and prompting more laughter from the gathered thugs.
"Nighty night." The knife wielding thug said sweetly, right before he plunged the knife straight into his victim's throat. The whole time, Terra watched the spectacle absolutely mortified. Maybe not such a great idea to do when dealing with murderous thugs. Exemplified here by one of them turning around and spotting her.
"Hey boss, we go a witness here." He called over his shoulder. The breath that Terra had been in the midst of taking got stuck in her throat and her whole body tensed up. But that only lasted for a second or so before she sprang into action. Fighting, you may think.
Wrong!
She did the one thing that came naturally to her. She ran. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, never once sparing so much as a glance back. Whether the thugs were following her or not did not matter to her, she just wanted to get as far away as possible.
Well, there was at least one comfort in her life; as long as she held a low profile, no one would find her. And besides, as long as the thugs never found her again, what was the worst that could happen?
Traffic was always a killer in big cities such as this. You could be stuck in traffic lines for hours on end if you were really unfortunate. However, it seemed like there was at least one person in Los Angeles who had come to a conclusion regarding this dilemma. 'Screw traffic rules!'
It was for this reason we find a young girl, dressed head to toe in a leather outfit and wearing a helmet, weaving through the slow-moving cars on a black motorcycle. Without a single care in the world, she raced right through a crossroad at over 100 miles/h. against red light and in full view of a police car no less.
"Holy shit! Did you see that?!" the policeman riding shotgun exclaimed in shock.
"Oh, I saw it alright. And I'm putting a stop to it." The policeman at the wheel stated with conviction before he turned on the sirens and blasted off in pursuit. The reckless girl they were chasing only spared one look over her shoulder before she accelerated. In and out of traffic she weaved, the pursuing car struggling to keep up on the tightly packed roads.
More sirens blaring away indicated that reinforcements had arrived, and now there were over a dozen police cars in pursuit. But the girl just pushed her motorcycle to max and shot forward like a bullet. The police tried to run her down, but she kept driving through the most densely packed sections, making it all but impossible for them to close in without ramming civilian cars.
Ahead, a supermarket loomed above the nearby buildings. And it was at that point that the girl did something truly reckless. She swerved tightly to the right and drove off the road.
"Where the hell's she going?" one of the pursuing policemen asked. His answer came when the masses of people fled away and created a clear path towards the mall's entrance.
"Oh no, she wouldn't." he stated in horror while shaking his head. But oh yes, she would as she raced towards the entrance with full throttle. Just before she would have rammed the glass doors, she pulled out an Uzi and emptied its clip into the door. She easily smashed through the weakened door.
People fled from her path in panic as she raced down the corridor of the mall at breakneck speed. She spared the people not even a single glance as she blasted out on the other end like a motorized rocket on wheels. Two wheels firmly planted on roads again, the girl was racing away yet again.
But her little move had not been as effective as she had hoped, as there were still cars pursuing her. She darted into the heavy traffic again and speeded on with all haste, heading towards a bridge passing over a highway. The police cars continued to pursue her relentlessly.
But as she arrived halfway over the bridge, she found the opposite end was blocked off by police cars, and more came up behind her. She was trapped. One of the cops ahead of her steeped out of his car with a megaphone in hand.
"Attention! We have you surrounded here! There is no escape! Turn off your engine and step away from your vehicle with your hands behind your head!" he called out, sounding mildly bored by his speech. Obviously he had been giving that line far too many times already.
But the girl did none of the tasks given to her, instead she kept revving her engine as if in preparation for a hasty get-away. She cast one look forward, then one look backward before looking sideways. The cop meanwhile was growing uneasy. In his books, when a criminal refused to cooperate, it meant they had a trick up their sleeve.
"I repeat, turn off your engine and step away from your vehicle with your hands behind your back! This is your final warning!" he called out before putting away the microphone and drawing his sidearm. Still the girl did not comply.
Without warning, she gave the cops ahead of her a two finger salute before she gunned her engine and speeded away.
Straight towards the edge of the bridge.
"OPEN FIRE!" the cop bellowed as his shock wore off, but the order came too late as she was already sailing over the edge when the first bullets started flying through the air. Gravity soon took hold of the bike and dragged it down towards the ground again, where it impacted heavily against the road. But no damage seemed to have been done as she was racing away the moment her tires made contact with the road.
A police helicopter was quick to pick up the chase from the air. But up ahead, the highway went into an underground turret. The girl drove on, but managed to turn round and flip the bird to the helicopter before vanishing underground.
"All units. Suspect has entered a tunnel, heading towards centrum." The pilot called through the radio. Barely a few minutes later, police cars were positioned at the other end, waiting for the girl to come out.
She never did.
Hundreds of cars drove by, along with a school bus, a trailer, a camper, a truck carrying cars and another one carrying motorcycles. Heck, even a biker gang passed through the tunnel, but no sign whatsoever of the girl. Finally, after an hour, they gave up and the search was called off. But had they been paying more attention, they would have noticed that the truck carrying motorcycles had had one extra when it exited the tunnel.
With the coast clear, the girl slipped out of hiding a raced away again. Though this time she avoided drawing attention to herself. Finally, she drove inside an empty alley, where she shut down her motorcycle. Glancing around to make sure she was alone, the girl finally removed her helmet, letting her shoulder length violet hair to spill out.
Not being able to contain herself any longer, Raven began laughing and whooping in joy. Nothing like an adrenaline pumping chase through densely packed roads to relieve boredom.
"That was fun. But those cops gave up waaay too easily." Raven commented before she gave a tired sigh. "Barely been gone three days and I already miss Jump City. Especially the bird boy, he could always provide me with entertainment."
Melodramatic thoughts aside, Raven quickly got off her motorcycle. She glanced up at the rooftops looming way above her and gave one of her mischievous grins. Reaching into her belt, she pulled out her very own grapple gun. 'Mr. Cyclops at least provides with some sweet toys.' Was the humored thought that went through her head as she sailed through the air, towards the rooftops.
Performing a graceful flip, she landed on the rooftop to gaze out at the city, as it was basked in the first rays of the slowly rising sun.
"Look out, Los Angeles! Raven's in town!"
Cameras flashed in such a large number that you became almost blinded by their intensity while microphones were thrust straight into your face by overzealous reporter begging for a statement. That was happened about every time a big shot walked away from court a free man, even though everyone knew he was a criminal.
Yep, just another day at the office for Joseph Capule, head of the Capule family. While secretly wishing he could just pull out a gun and shoot these scavenging vultures, he managed to keep a cool and indifferent aura around himself as he confidently walked along the path cleared by his personal bodyguards.
Finally, he reached the road, where a black limo stood parked and waiting for him. One of his four bodyguards immediately broke rank to hastily open the passenger door for him. Joseph never so much as spared a glance to the bodyguard as he entered, followed swiftly by his four guards. Soon enough, the limo was driving away.
Inside, the atmosphere was tense as Joseph glared at the gaunt and gray haired figure sitting opposite him with a briefcase in hand, held almost like a shield against Joseph's ire.
"Well?" he asked icily. The gaunt figure gave an audible gulp before he began speaking.
"The prosecution has been solved as of now. While not all charges have been officially cleared, we should have them gone by the end of the…"
"I don't care about that shit, Nelson! I wanna know who ratted me out in the first place!" Joseph interrupted with a furious shout that caused Nelson to jump in his seat. He was in no mood for pleasantries here. Taking a few moments to pull his nerves back together, Nelson continued.
"We have tracked down a number of moles within your organization, all of which have been disposed of. However, from what we've been able to gather, they were all acting under the influence of an outside source."
Joseph's eyes narrowed into dangerous slits as he glared murderously at Nelson. "Who?"
"Well, we are not completely certain as of yet, the trails are leading to several prominent figures. But the most likely suspect as of yet…"
"JUST SPILL IT ALREADY!" Joseph finally exploded. He did not care who it was that had done this. Someone had had the balls to challenge Joseph on his home turf, putting his whole family in the crossfire in the process, and he was going to pay in blood.
"We believe it was Slade." Nelson finally concluded. And just like that, all air went out of Joseph. Slade. He really should have seen this coming. That one-eyed psychopath had been trying to usurp his business for months now. It would stand to reason that he would attempt a move like this.
With a tired sigh, Joseph leaned back in his seat. Now what the hell was he supposed to do? Go after him? Yeah right, if he had a death wish. No, there was only one option; play cool and let the enemy come to him.
"Nelson, send word out to the boys to make ready for war. And could someone contact…" that was about all he managed to get out before a high caliber bullet tore right through the head of the driver. The limo went out of control and slammed right into a parked car.
Above them, on the rooftops, Raven smiled in satisfaction over her work. A clean headshot between the eyes, courtesy of the Desert Tactical HTI Sniper Rifle currently aimed at her target. She had along the way ditched her biker outfit in favour of her usual attire.
"Gotta love modern weapons. Makes it easier for an assassin to dispatch a target from a distance of 500 meters than to put on her pants." She muttered to herself while ejecting the spent cartridge.
Down below, the surviving passengers were in the midst of crawling out of the wrecked limo. Years of training caused Joseph's bodyguards to quickly close ranks around their charge while scanning the roads for signs of threats. Not that they would have seen much beyond the throng of spectators that had been drawn to the scene in curiosity.
"You alright, sir?" one of the guards, a black man with sunglasses and bald head, asked in concern.
"I'm alive, that should count as something." Joseph muttered back. Meanwhile, Raven had identified her target among the bodies and had taken aim again. Right between the eyes of Joseph.
"See ya, buddy." She stated maliciously before she pulled the trigger. But a mere second before the bullet would have impacted, the black man sprang into action. His hand shot out like a striking viper and actually snatched the bullet right out of the air. All Raven at first could in response was blink owlishly at what she had seen.
"What. The. Hell." She muttered. Zooming in on the hand holding her bullet, Raven found that some strange blue ethereal energy was enveloping it. By taking into account the obviously impossible feat, Raven was quick to draw a conclusion that caused her to groan in irritation.
"Great, a metahuman. Just what I needed." She stated irritably. Ejecting another cartridge, Raven fired another bullet, this time aimed at the metahuman. But instead of catching it this time, the guy drew a kukri and coated it in the same strange energy from before he sliced the bullet in half.
"Okay, not good. Not good at all. Time for a strategic retreat." Raven announced as she packed up her gun and slipped away, just as police sirens could be heard approaching.
Night was falling upon the city, but that did not diminish the level of activity going on. If anything, it only grew more careful to not be detected by the wrong kind of people. This was made obvious by the shady creeps lurking at nearly every corner of some rundown alley. And the way they kept eying Terra as if deciding whether she was a potential customer or a potential undercover cop made her nervous.
So she ducked her head and weaved her way past them, trying to keep as much of a distance as possible. So far, so good. It seemed like she had nothing to worry about here for the moment.
"Well, well, well. Look what we have here, boys."
But as always, fate seemed to just looove to do stuff like this to you when you least want it. Without paying attention to exactly where she had been going, Terra had accidentally stumbled right into a group of five very mean looking thugs. Before Terra even could think of running, the group had her encircled, while wearing disturbingly lecherous grins on their faces.
That was never a good sign when you were outnumbered five to one.
"Are you lost, girlie?" one of them, a guy with a Mohawk haircut, asked while not-so-subtly eyeing her out. Terra felt bile rise up in her throat when she found there was more than one pair of eyes checking her out.
"No, I'm merely passing through here." She half lied. True, she was just passing through, but she really was lost. The thugs just chuckled wickedly at her as they began circling her like hungry sharks smelling blood.
"That so?"
"Yeah. And if you don't mind, I'd like to be on my way here."
If she was hoping for a form of compliance from the thugs, she was to be sorely disappointed as their little circle grew smaller around her. Normally, these guys would pose no threat to her whatsoever. But despite her powers, she still felt nervous around these thugs.
"Why the rush? Can't you hang around with us for a little while?" the unofficial spokesman of the group inquired sweetly. "I'm sure we could have loads of fun together."
The way he said the word "fun" made Terra sick to her stomach. These guys were truly a despicable group in her eyes, and she was not that all too keen on spending any longer in their disgusting company than she needed.
"Thanks, but I'd rather just go home now." She countered, even though she technically had no home. But there was one factor she had not taken into consideration. The fact that these thugs did not take "no" for an answer, especially when their prey appeared to be physically weaker than them.
It was made clear here as when Terra tried to step out of the circle, Mohawk guy, as Terra had begun to mentally call him, grabbed both her arms and forced her back into the middle of the circle.
"Not so fast, girlie. I'm sure if you gave us a chance, you'd find us to be really entertaining company." He stated, that same lecherous grin still in place as he gave her a more thorough check-over. "I'm sure you'll at least prove entertaining."
Now Terra truly felt like throwing up. But she could not help but also feel a twinge of fear at what he was so blatantly implying. This was ridiculous! She should not feel scared of them! With her geomancer powers, she could send them all flying to mars with just a flick of a hand. But she dared not.
She dared not use her powers on them. What if she lost control again? How many innocents would she hurt this time? How log until she was running away in fear again? After what had transpired in Jump City, her hope and courage had been all but shattered. And the truth was, that no matter how much these thugs may intimidate her, it was nothing compared to the fear she held for her own powers.
Not that it meant that she was planning on just rolling over for these punks. She would rather die before she did that. Before Mohawk guy knew what hit him, Terra did a very dirty move on him by targeting the pair of jewels that every man holds dearest with a knee. While he did not scream in pain, it was obvious from the way his eyes rolled back into their sockets that it had been a fatal blow. A high pitched whimper later and he was down on the ground in a fetal position.
But Terra never had a chance to celebrate her small victory as his buddies suddenly ganged up on her. Terra may have been a powerhouse when using her powers, but when it came to hand to hand she was outright pathetic. And that was putting it mildly. It was not long before they had used their superior street strength to lay Terra low with kicks and punches.
Terra desperately tried to crawl away, but a powerful blow to her back sent her sprawling. A boot planted on her back prevented any further escapes.
"You little bitch! You're so going to regret that!" the one keeping her pinned snarled hatefully from above her. Not long after, several hands seized her and hauled her off roughly. Terra tried to fight back, having a pretty accurate guess as to what awaited her, but she stood no chance against them in her battered state.
From the rear of the group though, the whimpering of Mohawk guy could be heard as he shuffled after his gang, and that brought a small smile to her face. At least she had left her mark.
For how long they dragged her battered body along, Terra had no idea, but they seemed to have reached their destination as they entered an extremely rundown building. Terra did not get a very good glimpse of her surroundings as her field of vision was mostly limited to the thugs dragging her along the floor, but at one point she did managed to catch a small glimpse of a large room they passed. It looked like they were manufacturing drugs here.
It was barely a few moments later that she was roughly thrown inside what looked like a storage room. Though she could not see it, Terra more than heard the door slam shut behind her. Fervently she hoped that they had simply locked her in alone. Those hopes were dashed to pieces when a pair of boots entered her line of vision.
Letting her eyes travel upward, she had to admit that she was not that much surprised to fund Mohawk guy standing there.
"I'm going to make you pay for that kick earlier." he snarled out in utter contempt. But even though Terra felt a chill travel up her spine, she could not help but feel some form of satisfaction over that his voice was a few pitches higher than normal. But that small victory quickly lost its shine when he started undoing his belt.
Not good, not good at all.
Guard duty. Was there any other job in the history of jobs that could possibly be any more boring? Sure as hell did not feel like that for the two thugs guarding the door of the secret drug factory. Both were carrying AK-47's and one of them was leaning against the wall opposite of the steel door leading outside while his partner was half slumbering in a nearby chair.
A sudden knock on the door had both of them tensing up and grasping their weapons. The one leaning against the wall cast a quick glance at his partner before he approached the door. He quickly opened the hatch in the door to peer out. What he found was a young teenage kid, one of the delivery boys that ran errands on their behalf.
"Password." Even though he recognized him, the rules made it clear that he still needed to speak the password if he wanted in.
"There is no damn password, you dipshit." The boy answered. The guard always felt like shaking his head every time he heard it. Seriously, who the hell came up with a password like that? Though he did notice that the kid looked extremely nervous for some reason. There was even sweat breaking out on his brow.
"You okay there, son?" he asked curiously. The question seemed to snap the kid out of his stupor as he stammered out some barely cohesive sentence.
"N-no, I meant yes! Yes, I-I'm fine! I'm more than fine! I could write a book about being fine! That's how fine I am!" the kid rambled on. The guard just waved his hand dismissively as he began unlocking the door. Not his concern anyway. Probably something hormonally teenage related.
But as he finally opened the door to let him in, he was caught off guard by the kid being roughly thrown aside by a petite figure that had stood behind him. The next thing the guard knew, he had an AA-12 shotgun shoved right in his face. One pull of the trigger later, and he was sent crashing into the wall behind him.
The second guard was desperately trying to rush up from his chair, but barely got anywhere before the blue cloaked assailant stepped inside and blasted him out of his chair. With the immediate threats neutralized, Raven turned back towards the kid lying in a whimpering heap on the ground outside.
"You should consider a change of career, pal. Now go home, while I'm still in a good mood." She warned him. He was off like a meteor. With that little nuisance dealt with, Raven advanced inside the building, AA-12 held high and at the ready. Her entry had apparently not been the most subtle one, as she was met with gunfire when she came to the first junction.
Raven quickly took cover before she stuck her gun around the edge and fired blindly at her targets. It must have done some good since she at one point heard someone cry out in pain. But her twenty round magazine soon ran out and the enemy fire intensified.
"I hate it when I'm the one stuck at the wrong end of a shootout." She grumbled out while reloading her gun, all the while bullets continued to fly past her.
"Alright. Enough's enough." She stated as she pulled out a flash bang from her belt. Priming it, she hastily hurled it down the corridor. Gunfire came to a sudden stop and cries of alarm rang out just moments before the flash bang went off. Raven wasted no time as the second it went off, she rushed down the corridor.
Her first target was dispatched with a shot to the chest, with Raven never even slowing down when taking the shot. The next one was using a drum barrel as cover. Two rapid shots straight through the barrel eliminated him. The third one had taken cover inside a janitor's closet. He tried to come out and stop her, but Raven slammed the door right in his face and pushed him back in, throwing a primed grenade in after him before continuing on.
The fourth one had blindly stumbled right out in the middle of the hallway. He did not last very long with three shots to the chest. The fifth one was blindly spraying bullets in every direction, hitting one of his own in the process. A headshot later from Raven and he was down while Raven herself sprinted right past him.
The sixth one was hiding behind a juncture and was frantically rubbing his eyes in an attempt to get his sight back. It returned to him just in time for him to catch a quick glance of a barrel before Raven pulled the trigger once and moved on.
The last one had managed to recover from the flash bang and was in the midst of raising a pair of Uzis at Raven. Without hesitation, Raven ran right up to him. She leaped on top of him and used him as a springboard to launch herself right over him. She performed a somersault in midflight and put two shotgun blasts straight into his back before she gracefully landed on her feet.
Advancing forward, she found a pair of double doors right ahead of her. They were suddenly kicked open and two muscle bound thugs stormed out. Five rapid shots later from Raven and they were down for the count. She strolled past her latest victims and entered the room they had just left.
What she found was what at first glance would look like a lab. But the experienced ones would easily recognize it as manufacturing drugs. Currently, there were a handful of workers huddling together in fear inside. Raven loosened her grip on her AA-12 and lowered it so as to show she meant no harm to them.
"Alright listen up! I've got good news and bad news for you! The good news is that you'll all be given the night off! The bad news is that within the next hour or so, you'll all be out of a job! So scram!" she ordered them. No further encouragement was needed as they all bolted out of the room.
Cleared of obstacles, Raven pulled out a bottle with a piece of cloth tied at the top. From the other side of the room, another pair of double doors were kicked open and a whole posse of gun wielding thugs stormed in. they stopped dead in their tracks when they caught sight of Raven as she brought out a lighter.
"Any of you big bad boys thirsty?" she asked sultry as she lighted the piece of cloth. "Don't worry, the drink is on me."
That was about all the warning they got before Raven hurled the burning bottle right at the masses of samples and ingredients. As it shattered, and the flammable concoction inside it was set aflame, the unstable and highly flammable ingredients caught fire as well. Within minutes, the whole room was ablaze.
The thugs backed away in fear, lest they become burned alive. Raven meanwhile took the chance to retreat out a side door. But someone seemed to have spotted her in amid the inferno as bullets quickly came flying her way. She in turn emptied the last five rounds in her clip at them, killing three thugs.
She tackled the door open right before a hail of bullets would have shredded her before she slammed the door shut. Having entered an area temporarily abandoned, Raven let out a relieved sigh as she leaned against the wall and wiped her forehead clean of sweat.
"I would love to say something like 'I love the smell of burning drugs in the morning' but since it's in the middle of the freaking night, it would somehow not fit that well." She commented to herself. She was about to call it a day and go home when she heard the faintest of whimper coming from down the hall.
Immediately on high alert, Raven reloaded her AA-12 as she silently crept down the hall. She passed a few doors, but the sound was not coming from any of them. Finally, as she reached a room that was labeled "storage room" did she hear another whimper, followed swiftly by a male voice snarling something that sounded like "shut up".
Without hesitation, Raven blasted the lock to pieces before she kicked the door open and stormed in, gun held at the ready. What she found inside was a really ugly guy with a Mohawk hairstyle using a young blonde girl as a living shield while pressing a gun to her head.
"Drop your weapon!" he shouted at Raven, who for her part looked completely untroubled.
"Funny, I was about to say the same thing to you." she calmly retorted. Though she could not help but wonder about the girl, she looked so damn familiar to Raven. She had seen her somewhere before, but where?
"Now why don't you drop your gun, before you hurt yourself?" Raven pressed on, sounding as sincere as she could. It was obviously not working.
"Shut up! I have the hostage here! I'm the one in control of this situation!" he shouted with a near fanatical desperation.
"You're pointing a gun at a girl I've never met before. That's hardly what I would call being in control." Raven pointed out. It was a bluff in a way, she had met the girl somewhere. But where exactly had…
Wait! Blonde hair, check. Petite body, check. Deathly thin, check. Now that Raven actually took a good look at her, she was astounded that she had not seen it immediately. It was freaking Terra that thug was holding hostage!
Small world we live in, small world indeed.
While careful to look as indifferent as before, Raven was a swirling mass of worry right about now. She could not let Terra come to harm because of her actions. It would not be right. Plus, Slade would not be happy to hear that his latest candidate had met an untimely end.
"Don't act so high and mighty. If you didn't care about this girl, you would have pulled the trigger already." The thug pointed out while pressing his gun harder against Terra's head. Internally, Raven grimaced. He did have a point there. It was obvious that this guy had a couple of more brain cells than the average goon. By now, he was leering maliciously at Raven.
"Now, do as I say and drop the gun." He ordered while cocking his gun. Hesitating for a few seconds at first, Raven eventually complied as she held her left hand up in a non-threatening gesture while the other hand was slowly laying the gun on the floor. But as she began to stand up again, the thug never noticed how Raven discreetly slipped a knife out from her boot.
"I did as you asked, now let the girl go." Raven ordered. But the thug merely grinned at her as he removed the gun from Terra's template and aimed it at Raven instead. But before he got a chance to pull the trigger, Raven hurled her knife at him and it knocked the gun right out of his hand.
The thug had about enough time to utter a single curse before Raven was upon him. She grabbed his arm and yanked him off Terra before he delivered a kick straight between his legs. Between the painful shriek he let out and the blow to his stomach that followed up, he uttered a weak "not again". The blow to the stomach caused him to double over in pain and Raven finished him off with a knee to the face.
Having dealt with him, Raven hurried over to Terra, who had crumbled together on the floor the moment he had let go of her.
"You okay, Terra?" Raven asked as she shook her shoulders. Terra did not respond at first, but eventually she looked up and made eye contact with Raven. At which point her eyes widened in surprise, and a little fear.
"You." she managed to choke out. Obviously she recognized Raven from their last run in, not the best first impression Raven had to admit. She was tempted to tease her a bit, but it was at that point that the smell of smoke assaulted her nostrils. She cursed mentally to herself, she had completely forgotten the fire.
"Sorry, no time for pleasantries. This whole place is going up in flames as we speak, and we need to get the hell out of here." Raven stated as she stood back up and retrieved her AA-12 from the floor.
She cautiously peered out into the hallway, in case there were enemies out there, before she cast a concerned look back at Terra. "Can you walk?"
Terra nodded weakly as she staggered back to her feet. Even though she wore clothes, Raven could still see the signs of a brutal beating on her. She was fighting just to stand upright. Yet she still persevered, Raven had to give her credit for that. Sadly, now was not the time for compliments, not if they wanted to survive.
"Good, now let's move out." Was all Raven said before she sprinted out of the room with Terra in tow. For the next few minutes, all they did was run down hallway after hallway, having to turn back on several instances due to fire blocking their way. Finally, ahead of them lay a door with the text "exit" stamped above it.
"Finally." Raven muttered as she sprinted towards the door. Terra was about to follow when she heard something behind her.
"Stop right there!" someone shouted from behind the girls. That someone turned out to be a thug aiming a Beretta M9 against them. Instincts instantly took over, and Raven spun around to fire three rapid shots at him. He was dead before he even hit the ground.
"Idiot." Raven muttered as she turned to keep walking. But Terra was not moving. Her eyes were locked on the bleeding corpse lying on the floor in mute horror. She tried to speak, but her words were dissolved into nothing before they even reached her throat. Raven finally noticed she was the only one moving and turned back in surprise towards Terra.
"What the hell are you doing, Terra? We gotta move right now!" she shouted to her, but Terra was unresponsive. So with a resigned groan, Raven sprinted back to her.
"Come on, we ain't got all day!" she stated as she grabbed Terra's shoulder and roughly dragged her along. That at least seemed to snap Terra out of her trance as she struggled to keep up with Raven. Kicking the door open, the two of them ran out into the cold night air. The moment they were outside, Raven gave a relieved sigh.
"Well, at least they did not have a posse waiting for us outside." She commented. But Terra was not listening to her, she kept staring back the way they had just come from. This had been the first time she had ever seen a human getting killed like that, and it had shaken her to the core. Seeing her companion's expression, Raven walked up to her and squeezed her shoulder reassuringly.
"We can't stay here any longer. This place will be crawling with cops any second now, and I ain't too keen on spending the night in a cell." She said. Terra slowly turned her eyes towards Raven and gave her a small nod. That was all that Raven needed as she began leading Terra away from the scene.
It was hereby official; the universe was out to get him. First Slade tips off the authorities about Joseph's illegal operations, then a Deadshot wannabe tries to waste him on his way home from the court, and now someone had the nerve to torch one of his drug factories. Along with wasting more than a dozen of his best men!
When Joseph got his hands on the perpetrator, he was going to skin that bastard alive! But alas, such fantasies were of no help to him now, as he stood amid the burned out wreckage of his small factory.
"Anything, Ghost?" he suddenly asked. In response to his question, the black bodyguard from earlier stepped forward.
"Nothing to report as of yet. And whoever did this is without doubt long gone by now." He answered calmly, looking as emotionless as a statue. No, scratch that, a statue could display more emotions than what this guy was doing about now. The answer prompted Joseph to angrily kick the ashes he was walking on while spouting out a list of curses that would give a catholic priest a heart attack.
No doubt the cops were already on his track again thanks to this. Now he would have to spend even more time and money on shaking them off. At this rate, he would go broke before Slade's assassin even had a chance to finish him off.
"Boss, we've got a survivor!" someone shouted from amid the wreckage. That caught Joseph's interest as he was in motion within seconds, his bodyguard Ghost mere steps behind him. What they found when they arrived were two thugs standing on either side of quite an ugly individual with a Mohawk hairstyle crouching on the ground, cradling his male anatomy while rocking back and forth.
"Get him on his feet." Joseph ordered with a sneer. The two thugs hastily grabbed one arm each and hoisted him to his feet. The man looked like he could barely stand, so the thugs held their grip on him.
"Now tell me, who did this?" Joseph harshly demanded of the man, who flinched from the authoritarian tone. Nevertheless, he managed to squeak out an answer.
"It was some gun swinging chick wearing a blue cloak." He answered meekly. Ghost instantly perked up, something that did not go unnoticed by his employer.
"You know who this is?" he asked suspiciously, receiving a nod from Ghost.
"Her name is Raven. She's an old student of H.I.V.E. Academy and a notorious mercenary. She mostly operates in Jump City but has been known to work abroad as well." He explained before he paused in hesitation. "Rumor has it that she's also in the employment of Slade."
That last tidbit of information caused Joseph to let out another string of curses, though this time she let out some physical frustration by kicking the guy with the Mohawk hairstyle right between the legs. The two thugs holding him took that as a sign that their work was done and let go of him, letting him fall to the ground while clutching his battered balls.
"Send word out to all my lieutenants. Tell them to start search and destroy. I want that girl found." Joseph ordered Ghost, who nodded his head in understanding.
"Dead or alive?" he inquired. Joseph seemed to consider the options for a while before answering.
"Alive if possible. Dead, just as good." He replied nonchalantly, a feat in itself considering how he just wanted to wring someone's neck at the moment. Ghost gave a short bow before striding away to carry out his master's orders. Left alone, Joseph's eyes hardened as his hands balled into fists.
If it was the last thing he did in his life, he would make this Raven pay with every ounce of his being. Before the night was over, she would truly grasp the true meanings of fear and pain.
The two girls were silently slipping through the alleys until they entered an old apartment complex. Creeping up the staircase, they eventually arrived at a room on the third floor that Raven opened up.
"Come on in." she said to Terra as she strolled inside, throwing off her cloak onto a nearby armchair that she passed on her way to the kitchen. As Terra herself hesitantly entered, she found the apartment of simple design. A kitchen and living room linked together, a bathroom and a separate bedroom. Furniture was in the form of a couch and two armchairs in the living room along with a table and four chairs in the kitchen.
"Make yourself at home." Raven called over her shoulder while rummaging through her fridge. Terra stood rooted to her spot at first, unsure whether she should stay or not. I mean for crying out loud, barely a few weeks ago, that girl had been pointing a freaking minigun at her!
But then again, who else could Terra turn to? So, while making sure she always had Raven within her line of sight, Terra took a seat in the couch. Feeling a little awkward with the silence, Terra tried to initiate some small talk.
"Sooo… you live here?" she tentatively asked. Raven shrugged her shoulders.
"Meh, only while I'm working here. Once I'm done, I'm heading back to Jump City." she answered nonchalantly before she emerged with a can of beer in hand. "Want one?"
Terra stared wide eyes at her, numbly shaking her head. Raven just gave another shrug before closing the fridge and popping the can open. She casually strolled over to an armchair standing opposite Terra and plunked down in it, taking a swig from her can. Taking notice that Terra was still giving her a shocked look, Raven raised an inquisitive eyebrow at her.
"What?" she asked curiously.
"Raven, was it?" Terra inquired, receiving a nod before she stated her problem. "You're a minor. Isn't it illegal for you to be drinking?"
At that, Raven could not help but smile in amusement. "You're asking me, a mercenary who makes her living breaking laws left and right, whether it is against the law or not to be drinking at my age?"
All Terra did was duck her head and uttered a weak. "Point taken."
Descending into an awkward silence after that, they each occupied themselves with something. Raven with drinking her beer, Terra with sitting with her head lowered and refusing to look at Raven. Finally, Raven had had enough of that.
"Okay, that's it. If you've got something to say to me, then say it already." She stated irritably, causing Terra to finally look at her. There was a certain amount of anger in her glare, but also a bit of fear and trepidation.
"You killed him." Terra said in a voice bordering on a whisper. Raven cocked her head sideways in a confused manner.
"Who?" she inquired curiously. That caused Terra to grit her teeth in anger.
"You know full well who I'm talking about! That man back at the drug factory!" she accused heatedly, nearly leaping up from the couch. A raised eyebrow was the first answer she received from Raven.
"That's what bugging you? Me killing someone who would have killed us?" she asked for verification. When all she received was an ever colder stare, Raven could not contain herself and snorted in amusement.
"Girl, those assholes held you captive, and were going to waste both of us. They don't deserve your sympathy, 'cause they'd never give you any." She lectured Terra. But she was not about to fold just yet.
"That doesn't mean you had to kill him! You could have just knocked him out!" Terra practically screamed at her.
"At over 10 meters distance with you standing between us while my armament is designed for killing? How the hell could I have knocked him out before he pulled the trigger?" Raven questioned. Terra was left stammering for a few moments.
"I-I don't know! Couldn't you have…?"
"Why do you even care so much about a bunch of assholes who captured you?" Raven interrupted her, before a suspicious gleam entered her eyes. "And on that note, how did they even manage to capture you in the first place?"
Immediately, Terra turned her eyes away from Raven. That had been a question she would have preferred to avoid all together.
"They had me outnumbered. Got the drop on me, ya know?" Terra meekly offered without looking at Raven. Had she done so, she would have seen the skepticism in her narrowed eyes.
"I've seen you in action. If you had wanted, you could have sent those baboons flying to the moon." She pointed out, before a thought struck her. "Assuming, of course, that you used your geomancer powers."
By now, Terra was fidgeting nervously in her seat. The unspoken accusation was as clear as daylight in Raven's sentence, and Terra had not the heart to deny it. After all, what was the point in denying the truth? By now Raven had emptied her can of beer and leaned forward in her seat, giving Terra a critical look.
"So I guess I should rephrase my question; why did you not use your powers on them?" she asked flatly. Now Terra was full on squirming in nervousness.
"Why should I tell you anything?! It does not concern you at all!" Terra countered heatedly as she glared at Raven. For once, Raven did not respond with some sarcastic reply or witty comeback, but instead stared deeply into Terra's eyes with unnerving seriousness.
"You're right, it does not concern me in the slightest, and it's your choice whether you want to talk or not. But it might help you to talk about it. At least, that's what I've heard." She stated. Once again, Terra hesitated. She really did not want to talk about it, but at the same time she really wanted to let it out.
In the end, she came to a conclusion; 'What the heck, might as well give it a try.'
"I'm…" she began hesitantly, pausing out of fear and uncertainty. "… I'm afraid to use my powers."
Raven said nothing, she just sat in silence and listened. She did however give Terra an encouraging nod for her to continue, which she eventually did.
"Ever since what happened at Jump City, I've been afraid to use my powers. I have no control over them, and I hurt people when I try using them. Even Beast Boy saw me as a threat." She confessed. That last part however caught Raven's interest.
"What does the green buffoon have to do with this?" she asked in curiosity. If anything, that question brought forth anger in Terra as her hands tightened into fists.
"He knew that I did not have full control over my powers. He swore that he would never tell anyone about it, but he lied. After what happened in the diamond mine, he told his team leader. He broke his promise because he thought I was dangerous."
A simple nod of her head was all the reaction that Raven gave to Terra's little deduction, but said nothing concerning her own speculations. 'More likely that bird boy figured it out on his own.'
"This power, it's caused nothing but misery for me. I can't stay in the same place for long without people driving me away." Terra continued in depression with her head hung low.
"And for that reason you're willing to just stand around like a walking target when a bunch of nasty thugs decide to jump you for your money?" Raven questioned calmly, in stark contrast to her usual demeanor. Terra bit her lower lip at that, an action that did not go unnoticed by Raven.
"They did something more than a simple mugging." Raven stated, not asking. Terra weakly nodded her head.
"The… the Mohawk guy. H-he was g-going to…" she tried to finish her sentence, but her voice failed her and turned into a sob. Not that she needed to finish, Raven had already deduced what the guy had been planning to.
"Did he…?" Raven asked, she also finding the word too uncomfortable to speak out loudly. Though she did not need to either, Terra knew all too well what she was asking about. And internally, Raven let out a relieved sight when Terra shook her head.
"He was going to, but he never got that far until gunfire starting echoing down the hall. I guess he found other priorities." Terra tried to jokingly answer. Though the joke sounded hollow to both of them.
"So if I had not shown up, he would have done… it, and you would have done nothing to stop it?" Raven questioned yet again. By now, Terra's lips were trembling in fear while her hands were fidgeting with each other.
"W-what could I-I h-have done? He w-was m-much b-bigger and s-stronger than…"
Her little breakdown was promptly halted when Raven threw her empty can straight at Terra's head. Her mouth snapped shut and her head snapped up in surprise. Not from pain, that hit had barely hurt at all, but more from shock at what Raven had done. Raven for her part looked completely untroubled.
"Thank you for shutting up, it was starting to get on my nerves." She said flatly before standing up and walking up to Terra, forcing her to look up at Raven to make eye contact. Though for some reason she was unable to keep it up for long, the way that Raven was staring at her made Terra uncomfortable.
"I can understand if you're hesitant to use your powers, considering how little control you have, but that's not what you're truly afraid of." Raven began, lifting up a halting hand when Terra was about to protest. "What you're really afraid of is being rejected."
Of course, Terra tried to deny the accusation, but was once again silenced by Raven. She was far from done with her.
"Don't even bother denying it. You're afraid of people hating you and casting you out. That's the real reason you never stay for long, and that's why you refuse to use your powers now."
Without warning, Raven drew one of her Desert Eagles and pressed it against Terra's forehead. "I could pull the trigger any second now and send you off to an early grave if I wanted. Would you just sit there like some pathetic twelve year old waiting for your death?"
Terra had no answer at the moment, she was far too scared by the possibility that Raven just might pull the trigger. Naturally, she let out a relieved breath when Raven removed the gun and holstered it again.
"It's not wrong to be afraid. Fear is often a crucial factor in keeping us in line and not do something reckless. But you can't allow that fear to rule over you, and you most certainly can't allow it to be your death. If you're gonna die, then you should at least die with the dignity of knowing you fought your fear." Raven stated.
"You had it rough with the Titans. Sad story, but don't let it weight you down. Learn from it instead, and grow stronger from the experience." With her little speech finished, Raven picked up her cloak and strolled towards the door. "Feel free to stay here for as long as you wish, I'll be heading back to Jump City soon anyway."
Terra followed her departure with her eyes, not speaking until Raven had her hand on the door handle. "You're going to kill more people, aren't you?"
Pausing with the door half open, Raven turned her head slightly to look over her shoulder at Terra.
"Yes." Was all Raven said before fully walking out of the apartment, closing the door behind her. For the briefest of moments, Terra was tempted to maybe try to stop her, but instantly decided against it. Not like she could have stopped Raven anyway.
That left Terra alone in the apartment to silently mull over what had been said within its walls. And as much as she liked to deny it, Raven's words had hit right on the spot and had shaken her up quite a bit.
It had also sparked a question in Terra; did she really want to live in fear of rejection for the rest of her life? Would she really die, simply because she was too afraid to defend herself?
"Have you guys heard the rumors?" a rough looking thug asked his five buddies that were sitting around the table playing poker.
"What rumor?" another one asked curiously as he threw a couple of more dollars onto the board.
"That Slade has sent a hitman to waste our boss." The first one revealed while peering at his cards.
"Yeah, I heard that too." A third one stated.
"I heard that he has sent none other than Raven." the forth one added conspiratorially. The first three gave him unsure glances.
"Nah, that can't be true. Surely Slade would not go so far as to send her of all people." The second one speculated. At that point, the first one grinned maliciously as his eyes landed on the fifth player, an ugly fellow with a Mohawk hairstyle.
"Why don't we ask our esteemed colleague here. 'Cause if I'm not mistaken, you had a little 'run in' with Slade's hitman, am I right?" he asked sweetly, earning snickers from the other three and an angry grumble from the Mohawk guy. Thankfully for him, their focus was quickly back on the game.
The first one spread out his five cads, revealing a queen, a nine, two fives and a six. The second one had three tens, a four and a seven. The third one had a jack, two sixes and three eights. The fourth one had three twos, one five and one three. The Mohawk guy had a queen, two kings, one ten and one nine. The Mohawk gut grinned in victory.
"Sorry fellas, but this round goes to me." He stated proudly. He was about to collect his money, when suddenly five cards came sailing down from the roof onto the board. In curiosity, they lifted the cards to see what they were. They were all aces.
"Sorry, boys. But I think my hand is the best." A feminine, and to the Mohawk guy painfully familiar, voice said humorlessly. Without warning, Raven landed on the poker table and swung her feet straight into the face of the first guy. He was unconscious before he even hit the ground.
Raven leaped right over the second one and knocked him out with an elbow to the neck before dodging under a clumsy swing from the third one. She delivered a punch to his gut and a punch to the chest before delivering a roundhouse kick to the side of his head. The fourth one had drawn a gun and fired at Raven, but she managed to dodge the poorly aimed shots and disarmed him with a thrown knife.
He was never given a chance to recover before Raven attacked. She delivered a kick to his stomach before knocking him out with a haymaker to the underside of his chin. That only left the Mohawk guy standing, and he tried to foolishly charge at her with a knife. Raven gave a bored sigh as she grabbed his hand as he thrust it had her and twisted until he yelped in pain and was forced to let go.
Raven finished him off with a knee to his most sensitive, and abused, region. He collapsed to the ground, groaning in pain. With those nuisances dealt with, Raven began inspecting the area for signs of clues. Her eyes finally landed on a cellphone, which she immediately picked up and began inspecting.
"Alright. Let's see if I can find you with this." Raven murmured to herself as she brought up the connection list and scrolled down it until she found Joseph's number. She immediately dialed that number and waited for the call to be picked up. No one answered, but Raven still found his location.
She heard his ringtone right behind her.
"So you're the one that have been causing trouble for me. The infamous Raven." Joseph stated smugly to her as she turned around to face him. Within seconds, Raven found herself surrounded by Joseph's thugs, all aiming their weapons at her. If that was not bad enough, that metahuman from before stepped in between her and Joseph.
"Now, why don't you come along peacefully and I don't have to harm that pretty face of yours… yet." Joseph said sweetly, clearly enjoying his position of power. Raven's eyes traveled over his bodyguard, to the masses of thugs surrounding her. Now, she may be prideful, but she was neither stupid nor suicidal.
So with that in mind, she raised her hands in the air. A sign of surrender.
They brought her down to the docks, after they had stripped her of all her weapons. There, they had promptly chained her up with the help of handcuffs by her hands in the middle of a boathouse. Joseph was currently walking back and forth, rubbing his shin in thought, while two thugs were busying themselves beating up the defenseless Raven.
Finally, Joseph held up his hands and the two thugs stepped away from Raven, leaving her dangling from the chains. Joseph walked up to her and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him.
"Why don't you just tell me what I want to know? I'm not asking for much, simply a small piece of information I can blackmail Slade with to back off, and in return you can walk away with your life." He offered. Raven's way of answering was by giving him a crazed grin with her bloodied teeth.
"Hey, I may be a merc, but I still have a rep to keep intact. If words get out I spilled the beans on my employer simply to save my own skin, I'd lose a hell of a lot of credibility in the villain community." She stated humorlessly, sounding as if the hour of beating she had just received was child's play. Joseph gritted his teeth as his hold on her tightened.
"Not a lot of use that credibility of yours will be if you're dead." He snarled at her, hoping to intimidate her in some way. Yet still that infuriating grin of hers was still plastered across her face.
"Maybe so, but at least I'll know you'll not be that far behind me. And that's good enough for me." She revealed smugly. By now, Joseph had lost all sense of patience and slapped her harshly across the face.
"Tell me what I want to know, or I swear to God I'll make your last hours alive a living hell!" he shouted at her with a rage fuelled by desperation. Raven slowly turned back to look him straight in the eye. That same grin was still on her face, but Joseph recoiled slightly from the glare she was giving him. It was void of any emotion, save hatred and pain that set his hairs on end.
"You're about 16 years too late for that, Joseph." She revealed calmly. He had no idea what it was about this girl that suddenly unnerved him, but he knew that he should not feel it. He had her tied up, beaten and defenseless with a host of his toughest men at his beck and call. Yet despite this, he still felt intimidated by this one little girl glaring at him with eyes that held far too much pain for a sixteen year old to have.
Maybe that was why he decided that he would be getting nothing out of her and decided it was simply best to dispose of her now.
"Ghost, kill her." he ordered while stepping away. While some of the thugs stared at one another in confusion over this sudden change of plans, Ghost acted without question or hesitation. He walked up to stand in front of Raven, staring deeply into her violet eyes as he drew his kukri.
With the gentlest of touches, he dragged the blade along Raven's cheek, at one point giving just enough pressure to draw a tiny sliver of blood. But Raven never so much as flinched from his actions, something that Ghost silently admired her for. He stepped closer, grabbing the backside of her head with his free hand while positioning the kukri against her throat.
"Any last words?" he asked politely. Raven gave him another one of her cocky smirks that always managed to infuriate everyone.
"I'll save a seat for you in hell for when you get there." She said in humor. Ghost showed no visible reaction to her word beyond a small nod.
However, before he could slice her throat open, the massive double doors leading inside were smashed open by a stone boulder. The boulder flew onward, scattering thugs in every direction, before landing in the waters outside. They were never given a reprieve as with a battle roar, Terra came flying in on a second boulder.
The second she came within the thugs' line of sight, a particularly ugly one with a Mohawk haircut was on his feet and pointing an accusing finger at her.
"You! I remember you! You're that little…" he never got further as Terra caused the ground right between his legs to fly upwards, nailing him yet again in his manly possessions. Plus sending him flying into the air a few feet.
"Who's next?" Terra asked cockily. The thugs' way of answering were by first looking at each other, then opening fire on her with everything they had. Terra formed an earth wall to protect herself while sending quakes through the ground, causing many of them to lose balance.
Terra was instantly upon them by launching dozens of fist sized rocks at them, knocking dozens out while the rest dived for cover. It proved in the end useless as Terra caused the very ground they were standing on to launch them high into the air.
While this was happening, Ghost lost interest in his victim and turned towards the bigger threat. That proved to be a mistake as with newfound strength, Raven lifted her whole body up from the ground until she was hanging upside down. She quickly tangled her legs up in the overhanging chains to steady herself while she pulled out a lock picker hidden in her sleeve. Wasting no time, she began working on the handcuffs.
"Who knew those escape lessons back at H.I.V.E. Academy would come in handy?" she mumbled to herself as the handcuffs clicked open and she flipped back down to the floor on her feet. Looking around the boathouse, Raven spotted her equipment lying on a table a few feet away.
She made a mad dash towards them without a second thought. But while the thugs may have been distracted by the blonde girl chucking rocks at them, Ghost was not so easily distracted. When he cast a quick glance back at his prisoner, his eyes widened in shock when he found her free from her bindings and running towards her equipment.
One thug stood in Raven's path, but he never even had a chance to shout out a warning to his mates before Raven elbowed him right in the throat and knocked him over. She reached her equipment, at which point she hastily strapped her belt back on and grasped her sword. But the noise of running footsteps behind her caused Raven to spin around, drawing one of her Desert Eagles in the process, and emptying an entire clip at whoever tried to attack her.
She was however to be disappointed as Ghost used his kukri, covered in the same energy from before, to slice through all of the bullets. He never even slowed down to do it, and Raven was forced to drop her gun and jump back to avoid a vicious slash aimed at her stomach.
But he was relentless and pushed on with lightning fast slashes and thrusts that steadily forced Raven back. She tried to draw her broadsword, but Ghost would not allow that and suddenly lunged forward with a slash that caught Raven by surprise. It slashed open a wound along her right arm, nearly causing her to drop her sword from the shock and pain.
"You're outmatched here, little girl." Ghost said menacingly as he advanced upon Raven again. She had by now been forced out on a wooden pier, where their duel continued. Ghost slashed high, she ducked. He slashed low, she sidestepped. She tried drawing her sword, he came in with five rapid slashes that forced her even more back.
He advanced on her with a flurry of thrusts, but Raven suddenly rolled underneath his strikes and came up behind him. Before he could turn around, she delivered a kick to the back of his knee, forcing him down on his knees. Raven wasted no time in drawing her broadsword and lunging at him.
But he rolled clear of the first thrust before he deflected the second one and slashed open a wound on Raven's thigh. She bit a back a cry of pain as she staggered back from the attack. Ghost took his time to calmly stand back up on his feet while wiping the blood away from his kukri with a napkin.
"Do you see now why you're outmatched here? Your rudimentary skills are no match against my decades long experience." He arrogantly proclaimed as he made ready to attack again. But Raven was not about to sit back and let him come to her. Instead, she struck first, taking him by surprise.
She thrust high, she slashed low, she spun around to deliver a two handed blow, she tried sweeping his legs, she thrust against his chest, she did an overhead slash, she held her sword low and thrust high. Ghost was steadily forced back under this endless stream of attacks, having no chance to strike back with his much shorter weapon of choice.
But Raven was beginning to get tired out. Her wounds were still bleeding, and her body was still battered from her earlier interrogation. Ghost saw this, and began to press onward again. A fist suddenly slipped past Raven's defenses and knocked the wind out of her, nearly causing her to double over in pain. But she still had enough sense to block an incoming strike from Ghost.
The two became locked in a contest of strength, with Ghost looming above her and pressing down with all his strength while Raven was trying to hold him back with one arm. Seeing his imminent victory, Ghost smirked down at her.
"This is the end for you, Raven the mercenary." He said condescendingly. But to his surprise, she just smiled right back at him. His answer as to why she would do such a thing came when he felt a gun being pressed right into his stomach.
"Try blocking these, big boy." was all Raven said before she emptied the entire clip straight into his gut. Ghost began coughing up blood as his grip on the kukri failed and he staggered back from Raven. The kukri finally slipped out from his fingers, hitting the ground just seconds before Ghost himself did.
Taking a few seconds to catch her breath, Raven eventually staggered over to Ghost to find him still alive, though just barely. He was dragging in ragged and unsteady breaths while blood was leaking out of the corner of his mouth. Raven placed the tip of her sword against his chest, where the heart was located.
"Seems like you'll be going to hell before me. So why don't you be a good boy and save a good spot for your boss for when he gets there." Raven said just before she plunged her sword straight through him. He drew in one last ragged breath, and then he grew still.
With her opponent dealt with, Raven drew her sword out and began staggering back inside the boathouse. But she stopped herself when she was about to pass the kukri. Gazing at it in curiosity, she slowly bent down and picked it up. She turned it over in her hands a few times before, with an approving nod, shoved it down her belt.
Had she been paying more attention to her broadsword, she would have noticed that for a few seconds, it pulsated with a dark energy eerily similar to her own. Finally, Raven staggered into the boathouse, where she found every thug thoroughly knocked out and Terra sitting happily atop a pile of unconscious thugs.
"You okay there, Terra?" Raven asked nonchalantly while sheathing her sword. Terra meanwhile gave her a look of disbelief.
"If I'm okay? That's what you're worried about? Look at yourself, would ya! You're bleeding girl!" she burst out. Raven smiled mischievously.
"I ain't got time to bleed." She answered in a gruff tone. Terra blinked at her in confusion.
"What?" she asked. Raven could not contain herself and laughed at her face.
"Sorry, just a movie line I've always wanted to try out." She answered between laughs. At first, Terra looked shocked, but then she could not contain herself either and burst out laughing as well. But their little moment of humor was promptly ended by Joseph as he appeared with a loaded revolver.
"I'll kill you both!" he roared as he began squeezing the trigger. Raven was about to react, but Terra was faster as on pure instinct, she sent a massive boulder flying right out of the ground. Straight at Joseph. They both had time to see his eyes widen in panic before the boulder hit him. A squashing sound was heard seconds later when the boulder came into contact with the wall.
"Ouch." Raven muttered to herself, otherwise not having any other reactions to the sudden death. Terra on the other hand was standing as still as a statue, her eyes locked onto the boulder she just crushed Joseph with. Raven noticed this and cautiously approached her.
"Terra?" she asked concern. But Terra never so much as looked at her as she approached.
"I killed him." she suddenly said, mostly to herself. Raven had by now come up right next to her and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"First time killing someone?" she asked, receiving a nod in return. "How do you feel?"
"It's strange, I know that killing is wrong. Yet despite that, I still don't feel bad about killing him." Terra admitted monotonously. Raven slowly nodded her head in understanding.
"Did you enjoy it?" Raven suddenly asked. Terra instantly swirled her head at her, eyes wide in fear and outrage.
"No! God almighty, no! I could never enjoy it!" she nearly shouted before dropping her tone. "I just don't feel any guilt over it either."
The two of them were silent for a few moments until Raven said. "That's good."
Terra once again looked back at her, this time in confusion. So Raven elaborated for her.
"Those that feel guilt or sorrow over killing someone are not fitted to do such tasks, but someone who actually enjoys taking a life should be locked away forever." Raven explained, receiving a slow nod from Terra. Suddenly, the sounds of sirens approaching could be heard.
"Cops are coming. We should get out of here before they show up." Raven said. Together the two of them made their way towards the door. That was when Raven spotted a familiar guy with a Mohawk hairstyle.
"Wait." She said to Terra before she staggered over to the barely conscious guy. Seeing who had approached him, he tried to give her a hateful glare.
"And what do you want, you little…" was all he got out before Raven delivered the strongest kick she could muster straight in-between his legs, causing him to scream like a little girl. With her task done, Raven hurried back to Terra. Said girl was looking at her with a confused, albeit amused, look in her eyes. Raven just shrugged her shoulder.
"For good measure." Was all she said before walking out, followed by an amused Terra.
Hours later, when the first rays of the slowly rising sun were beginning to climb over the horizon, we find both girls standing together on a road just outside of Los Angeles. Raven's wounds had all been bandaged up and she was back in her biker outfit while leaning against her motorcycle. Terra was standing in front of her, backpack slung over her shoulders.
"Well, I guess this is it." Terra said awkwardly. Raven just smiled while nodding her head.
"Yep, my job's done here, so I'll be heading back home. And I take it you want to lay low for a while." she stated. The two stayed silent for a few moments after that, neither quite certain what more to say.
"Listen, Terra. I don't usually say this very often, but… thanks for the save back there. I owe you one for that." Raven suddenly said. Terra held up her hands while shaking her head.
"Nah, no biggie. Besides, we're even." She tried to wave it off, but Raven would have none of that.
"No, I'm serious here. You ever need anything, don't hesitate to ask." She stated with conviction. Terra could not help but scratch the back of her head sheepishly.
"Well, I gotta go now. So see ya around." Terra said. Though just as she was about to walk away, Raven placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I think you did good work back there. You really got talent for this sort of work." She complimented her. "But you don't have to do this alone. You should take up Slade's offer."
Hearing that, Terra's eyes widened in shock and she swirled around to face Raven. "How did you know about that?"
"In case you've forgotten already, I do happen to work for him." Raven stated. But Terra was still looking skeptical.
"Listen, I can understand if you prefer to go solo. Heck, I tried that myself when I began my career. You know what happened?" Raven asked, receiving a shake of her head. "I got busted on my first night."
If anything, Terra looked more shocked than before as Raven continued.
"I had to enroll at H.I.V.E. Academy for about a year before I could head out on my own again." by this point, she placed both her hands on Terra's shoulder. "It's your choice whether you want to accept or not, but I really think that Slade can help you her. It doesn't even have to be a permanent deal, you can just learn what you want to learn and then head out on your own again."
For several seconds, Terra stared into Raven's sincere eyes. Doubt and uncertainty making themselves known again. What should she do? Should she take the offer or keep on walking by herself?
"I… I need time to think." She finally said in a quiet voice, though Raven still heard and gave an understanding nod while stepping back. She quickly mounted her motorcycle and put on her helmet. Before she started up her engine she had one last thing to say to Terra.
"See you soon, blondie!" and then, with a two-finger salute, she was off. That left Terra alone on the road as she stared after the fast shrinking form of Raven. Finally, when she was out of sight, Terra gave a small smile.
"Yeah, see you soon." She said quietly to herself as she began walking away, towards a new day.