Bereft
Bialya: 12:22am, September 4th, 2010:
P.O.V Matthew Spectre
Uhh, my head. I come too and see the moon shining down onto me. I sit up as I hold my head. What's going on? I look around and see nothing but sand and dunes. "I'm in a desert?" I say aloud as I get to my feet. I look around. "Where am I? How did I get here? Why am I here?" I say as I feel the Rider buzzing in my head. "Calm yourself, Matthew. This is just temporary." The Rider speaks to me. "Rider? What's going on? What's 'temporary'?" I say as I hear him sigh. "Your memory has been tampered with. You have been unconscious for the last 2 hours. I've been trying to restore your memories but it's a blurry hassle." He says as I shake my head. "My memories are gone? How far are we talking?" I ask. "Six months. It's currently September." He says as my eyes widen. "Six months!" I shout as I feel him growl in annoyance. "Restoring your memories is going to take some time. I have to focus so can you can be considerate and shut up." He says as I shut up, I don't want to piss him off. I hear a solid thud as I turn and see a boy, roughly 16, land not far from me. His shirt is torn as he gazes at me with animalistic fury. "Who the hell are you?" I say as he screams and leaps at me. I twist my body, almost like instinct, and grab his arm before tossing him into a judo throw. I force him deep into the sand with such force that it surprises me. Whoa. The boy kicks his feet up and sent me reeling. Damn, he packs a punch. He leaps with a yell and throws a barrage of fists. I dodge out the way with such skill and speed that I'm questioning, 'what the fuck did I get up to in that six months'. I catch his fist and throw a fist back as the feral boy reels back with pain. "My turn." I say as I send heavy hooks and uppercuts to him. He tries to fight back but my newfound skill is keeping me from being hammered.
"How the hell am I doing this?" I shout to myself as I block the overhead and duck under the hook before delivery an upwards elbow. The feral boy backs up in pain but I grab him by the head and bring him into my knee, a crack is heard as the boy holds his head. I look at him as I see the broken nose, bruised cheek and purple eye. He roars at me but I duck under and flip him over my back. Channelling the Rider's power, I throw a powerful side kick into the upside down boy's back. The force sends him far as he skids across the sand and lands face first into a rock. "I suggest we move away from here before he walks up." The Rider says as I nod aimlessly and just run...not caring where I end up.
Later that day:
After running for hours, it didn't seem to be me any favors, I decided just to walk. The Sun was beginning to rise and I decide to pass the time by trying to wrap my head around the situation. "Where the hell has the time gone? What have I been doing? And who the hell was that who attacked me?" I ask aimlessly. "First, time hasn't done anything, your memories have just been closed off. Second, you have working on a team overseen by the Justice League. Thirdly, that was one of your teammates, the Superboy." The Rider says as I just can't be bothering asking anything anymore. I'm on a team apparently and one of the teammates wanted to kill me. Perfect...just great. "Hold for a minute. I'm putting some pieces together." He says as I still stand for a minute. After a while, my head starts pounding ferociously. I scream in agony as I hold my head.
Memory Flashback:
"Maintain radio silence at all times." Batman says as he reviews the mission to us. "What if something goes wrong?" I say as he turns to me. "Miss Martian will maintain a constant mental link throughout your mission. If something goes wrong, regroup and if need be, contact for extraction." He says as I nod in acceptance.
Memory ends:
"Aaaah!" I yell out as I fall to my knees. "Miss Martian? M'gann?" I say aloud. "It seems that the memory wipe is more refined than I thought. I thought I could have gotten more but the strain on your mind is getting the best of me. I can't continue like this. With M'gann's help, we could be able to restore yours and the team's memories." The Rider says which to him sounds normal but to me just sounds like a bunch of nonsense. "Ok? Soooo...how do we find this 'M'gann'?" I ask. "You might not know her but I do. I know her soul, just walk and reach out with my senses, we should be able to find her." He says as she just nod, he knows more than I do, might as well try. I reach out and sense any souls on the vicinity. The Rider's senses can reach about a mile away but that is stretching the senses a bit much. I walk in a random direction to where some rocks are. I sense the soul of a nearby presence and this one, I do know. I run over as I shout. "Dick! Dick, you there?" I shout as I reach the rocks. I turn and see Dick standing there with a black shirt with Superman's symbol on it. "Dick." I call out as he turns to me. "Oh, Matt. Thank God. You have no idea how good it is to see a familiar face." He says as we boy shake our hands. "Trust me, I know what you mean." I say as I look down at the shirt. I take it from him as I look at the symbol. "You know something?" He asks. "Yeah. The Rider is trying to fix my memories but he's having a hard time. But this shirt, it must come from the Superboy. The Rider said that he was my teammate or something." I say as Dick ponders. "A team? What team? Who are our teammates?" He asks as I shrug. "The Rider only told me that Superboy and a Miss Martian, I believe are part of the team. He was able to piece together a memory though. Batman told us to maintain radio silence." I say as he perks up. "I had the same memory. The team must work for him." He says as I nod. "The Rider did say that the team is over seen by the Justice League, maybe Batman is the one who oversees us especially." I say as he nods. We head off into the desert, hoping to find something or someone. Dick pulled out his hologram as he spotted something. "Hold up." He says as we stop. "I put a GPS tracker down, somewhere east of here. About 15 miles that way." He says as he points east. "I hope you have water in that belt because that is a long walk." I say as he shrugs. We head east towards the tracker, maybe whatever is there can help us.
That night:
"We've been out here all day. I don't know how you managed to go this whole way so I applaud you." I say as Dick mock bows. "Well, thank you, kind sir. But I wish I could remember why I put a GPS tracker here." He says as we look over a sand dune as we see a weapons catche...right in the middle of nowhere. "Huh? Guessing that's why." Dick says as he goes to check it out but I pull him back down. He looks at my questioningly. "I sense a trap. Over a dozen souls, all men lay in the sand around the catche." I say as we look again, and low and behold, we see just faint outlines of the men. "Let's go surprise them, shall we?" He says as he jumps forward and lands near the catche. I follow after him as the men all burst from the sand. One of them speaks Bialyan. "Her Majesty wants them alive!" He says as Dick throws a smoke bomb. All the men cough as the both of us work in tandem. My superior strength and Dick's skills are shown to be too much for the soldiers. I throw a chain at one of them, he panics as I swing him to Dick, who throws a spinning wheel kick to the man's temple, knocking him out cold. Three of the men shoot me as they just burn when they enter my body, I trunk back with blazing eyes as I see them shit themselves in fear. A black blue speeds in front of them as it takes their weapons. "I hold that. Thanks!" The blur says as one of the men sneaks up behind me as I turn sharply and snap his neck.
The blur stops and grins at the soldiers. I see him and notice that he looks a lot like Kid Flash but with a black paint job. The supposedly Kid Flash runs forward and barrels through some of the soldiers as I swing my chain and cut a man in half as he body burns to cinder. I turn and see a man throw my punch which I catch. I break every bone in his hand as I lift him up and bring him down on my knee, his whole back shatters from the impact. Dick and Kid Flash are dispatching the soldiers like nothing. Some of the soldiers are sent flying by an unknown force as I look up and see a green woman beaming down to us. Must be Miss Martian. The soldiers that are knocked down get up and all charge me. I smile as I let some of the Rider's power out. Lighting one of my chains on fire, I twirl the chain in a 360, completely incinerating them all. The last man backs off and runs in fear. I whoosh of air and he is wrapped in rope. We all turn and see a blonde girl with a bow stating down at us. She slides down the fun and stares at everyone, when her eyes meet mine, they widen in fear as I read her soul. "I know you." I say as she loads an arrow and points it at me. I light a chain but Dick and Kid Flash stand in between is. "Matt, what are you doing? She helped us, its alright." Dick says as I stare a hole through Artemis. "Been trying to find her for a while, damn bitch shot an arrow at me." I say as she growls. "Of course, you would only tell half the story, Ghost Rider, and I haven't forgotten the scar that you left on me." She says as I notice the burn scar. "Keep pointing that arrow at me and I give you more than a scar." I growl out as my eyes blow with fire. I feel a force pressing on me and I see the Martian with her eyes glowing and her hands pointed at me and Artemis. "Friends, please. Don't fight. We're all on the same team." She says as I growl and back off. Artemis does the same. I growl at her as she stares hatefully at me. "Ok, now thats settled. Let's compare notes on how and why we are here and why we don't have the last 6 months of our memories." Dick says as I nod.
"So we really are a team?" Dick asks as Miss Martian answers. "The five of us and Superboy." She says as I pull out the shirt. "So this is his." I say as she gets exicted. "Yes! Did you see him?" She asks as myself, Artemis and Kid Flash scoff. "I think we did." Artemis says as Kid Flash followed up. "Some teammate, he attacked us. But it did look like someone gave him a beating." He says as I speak up. "That would have been me. I run into him almost as soon as I came too. I was able to overpower him. Strangest thing was that I used moves that I don't know but was able to do. The Rider said that instinct can't be affected by memory loss." I say as Miss Martian speaks. "Hello Megan! Zarathos can help us, he has knowledge of the telepathy. He can help restore our memories." She says as I look at her confused. "Who the hell is Zarathos?" I ask as I feel the Rider in my head. "Me, Matthew. My name is Zarathos. You already know this but like before your motors have been erased." He says as Miss Martian's eyes glow as the scenery around us changes.
We appear to be in a black void but with purple lightning. Broken mirror shards float around us as we see the factures memories. "Weird isn't it. Being in someone's head." A voice says as we turn and see a fiery figure walk out of the void and take shape. Black eyes form as well a sharp teeth. The body doesn't look solid but just condensed fire. "You're him. The Spirit of Vengeance." I say as he chuckles. "Yes...but you already knew that." He says as everyone stares on wonder and fear. "I've brought you all into my mind. I was able to piece together a few things but I need your help. Together our broken memories can form a whole." Miss Martian says as the Spirit speaks. "I'll also be helping, focusing all your minds together and footing the pieces in. It's a big puzzle in retrospect." He says. "Only problem being that our minds have to be open for that to happen." I say as Artemis backs off in anger. "You want to go snooping in our private thoughts?" She questions as Miss Martian hold her hands up. "I have no wish to intrude. But-." She starts as Dick follows up. "You need to hack out minds to restore what happened to us. Got it." He says as the Spirit stand next to Miss Martian. "M'gann will piece your memories back together. I'll be keeping any personal information or private thoughts out of the picture. They are your secrets and thoughts, if you want to keep them to yourself that's fine but I'll be making sure that nothing slips through." He says as we all stare at Artemis. "This isn't going to overwhelm my brain is it?" She asks. "Or underwhelm you. Hey, why isn't anyone ever just whelmed?" Dick asks as I roll my eyes. Artemis sighs and looks at Miss Martian and the Spirit. "Last six months only. Plus only what you need." She says as Kid Flash walks over and holds her hand. The Spirit focus his fire while Miss Martian sends blue hands that rest on our heads.
Robin's Memory:
"The Watchtower detected an immense power surge in the Bialian Desert. Spectral analysis revealed elements non terrestrial in origin. Find out what happened at the site, what landed there. Bialya is a rogue state ruled by Queen Bee, and is not a member of the U.N charter." Batman says as an image of a beautiful, dark skinned woman with fancygarments is shown. An angry scowl is present on her face. That's a big turn off. "All communications are subjectto intersection. Maintain radio silence at all of times." He says as Matt speaks up. "What if something goes wrong?" He asks. "Miss Martian will have the mental link up constantly. If something does go wrong, regroup and contact for extraction." Batman says as he continues the brief. The scene changes. "You'll land in Kourak, on Bialya's border. I look around with my scopes and see that the cost is clear. "All clear." I say as I grin back to the rest of the team.
Kid Flash's Memory:
"The Bialyans control the site." Artemis says as the both of us, look over a sand dune and see a large tent surrounded by soldiers and tanks. The scene changes. "Set up here." Robin says as Superboy places the catche down.
Artemis's Memory:
"We'll be up and running in no time." Robin says as he types away. "Jackpot! The site's lousy with zeta beam radiation." Wally says as Robin speaks up. "Detecting no terrestrial trace elements from the tent." He says as M'gann speaks up. "I'll check it out in camouflage mode." Matt walks over to us while wrapping a chain around his arm. "I'll go with him, just in case, things go south." He says as Kaldur agrees. "Good idea, go."
M'gann's Memory:
"Be careful." Superboy says as I smile on the inside. He does care. "And maintain telepathic contact." Kaldur says as I nod. "I will Aqaulad."
Matt's Memory:
"Please look out for her." Superboy says to me as I go to follow M'gann. "Don't worry. She'll be fine. She's tough." I say as he nods. " He so has the hots for the Martian." Zarathos tells me through our private mental link. I smile and follow after M'gann while agreeing with Zarathos. "They both have the hots for each other." I say as Kaldur comes up to me. "Too not to cause to much of a scene of things go bad. This is as covert as we can get. No fire nor explosives." He says as I smirk. "No promises." I run after M'gann, time to get this mission done.
The Real World:
We all gasp as our memories come back. "Aqualad!" We all shout in unison. "Where the hell is he? What happened after that?" Robin says. "I don't know, that's the last thing I...we remember." M'gann says. I stare at Wally and Artemis. They look at me as I smile and glance down at their hands. They break about before looking away from each other. "We have been out here for at least 24 hours. An Atlantean in a desert is already bad news, but now...we have to find him and find him fast." I say as I turn my attention back to Robin and M'gann. "Now that I know to loof for him...he's close! But he's not moving." Robin says as I reach out with my senses. "Found him." I say as I run towards a small cluster of rocks. I jump over one and see Kaldur laying there. He's mumbling something in Atlantean but I can't understand what. "Zarathos. What's he saying?" I ask. "Altantis is not a forte of knowledge. Me and water don't get along, understand?" He says as I nod. Fair enough.
M'gann kneels beside him as she focuses on his mind. He's stilling mumbling though. "I can't fix him in this condition." She's says as Robin speaks up. "He needs immediate rehydration. Call the bio ship." He tells M'gann. "She's out of range. But you can get him there fast." She says to wally who shakes his head. "I can't. I'm almost out of juice and he's too heavy. I wouldn't even be able to carry her." He says as he points to Artemis. She scoffs in response. "Can't you just levitate him back?" Artemis asks. "I can't. I have I have to find Superboy." M'gann says as she gets up. "Kaldur needs you help. Superboy can survive, but Kaldur is in critical condition, if we don't get him some water, he's not going to make it." I say to her. M'gann holds her head in pain. "No! Superboy's in pain!" She shouts as she flies off. "M'gann, wait!" Artemis calls out. "We still do t know what erased out memories! It could happen again!" Robin follows up but M'gann continues on flying. "We can't stay here with our thumbs up our asses. Robin, track the bio ship. We need to get Kaldur out of here." I say as he nods and brings up his hologram map. Myself, Artemis and Wally make a makeshift carrier for Kaldur.
We make our way to the Bio-ship. I drag Kaldur along the sand, being the only one here with super strength, it wasn't too much of a hassle. Robin holds us up. "Quick! Over there!" He whisper yells as we duck behind a rock. A squad of soldiers pass us by. Kaldur is mumbling again, something about...Tula? Wonder who that is. "Shh, Kaldur. Quiet now." Artemis says soothingly as Kaldur quietens. Myself and Robin look over the rock and see a squad of about a dozen soldiers walking by. "We can't risk a firefight with Aqualad KOed like this." Robin says as I glow my eyes. "You sure? I can deal with pretty easily." I say but Robin waves me off. "Kaldur needs help, we can't risk exposure." He says as Wally's stomach starts grumbling. "I'm way out of juice." He says as Artemis checks her quiver. "And I'm almost out of arrows." She says as I turn and see Robin gone. "I hat it when he does that." I say, I keep a lookout as I hear Wally and Artemis talk about something. "Hey, you never said why your dad would want to kttk! me." Wally says while he drags a finger across his neck. I glance to see Artemis look in my direction before facing away from Wally. "I..I got confused by some old movie I saw the other night. About a ninja girl whose ninja dad order her to kill her ninja boyfriend cause he was from a rival ninja clan." She says as I chuckle under my breath. Smooth, nice save. "So, I'm your ninja boyfriend, huh?" Wally says, winding her up. "Hey, amnesia, remember? Completely forgot how truly annoying and vexing you are." She's says as I feel an argument coming. "Oh, like you're the goddess of congeniality." Wally says as I groan. "Fuck sake, just make out and get it over with. God, when we get back to the cave, I'm locking both of you in a closest so you can sort out your problems...if other things don't happen." I say while laughing. The both of them move away from each other and pout. "Agreed. They need to get a room." We turn and see Robin behind us. "Dude, where the hell were you?" Wally asks as Robin smirks. "Breaking radio silence. We trunk and hear Robin's digital laughter as a loud boom goes off and dust and sand kicks up. The groaning of the soldiers can also be heard.
"That's our cue. Let's go!" He shouts as I pick up Kaldur's carrier and drag him away from the soldiers. On our way to the Bio-ship, Zarathos picked up a huge psychic battle going on in the back of our subconscious. When asked why the others haven't noticed, he simply said that they are not him. I asked him if he could cross the link and see if he can help, he agreed and told me that he'll be back.
P.O.V Change: Zarathos
After leaving Matthew, I travelled the link and found where the battle was taking place. Shimmering into existence, I see M'gann fighting against a pale man with his brain exposed behind a membrane material. I watch as M'gann fights this psychic on equal footing but her experience is showing. While strong in the mental arts, she is not adept to battle against as strong or stronger psychics. Maybe something to bring up to the Manhunter.
The pale psychic gets bigger and blasts black beam of brain power at M'gann who dodges while splitting into many copies of herself. She shoots him either own green blast from all her copies as the pale psychic screams in pain. She seems to be holding out quite well. I stay back and watch the battle happening. The pale sound around in a vortex as he sends the copies flying. M'gann slows herself as she conjures a shield, very reminiscent of Superboy's shield. The pale man blasts M'gann with a blast from his brain as M'gann tries to hold agaisnt him. Suddenly, Superboy manifests in the psychic battle. The pale psychic continues his attack as M'gann forms a bubble around herself and Superboy. I still out of the way as the combatants are so focused on each other, they haven't noticed me... amateurs. "He's too strong." M'gann says, almost finitely. "You're strong. And I'm stubborn...together." Superboy says as M'gann smiles. Holding up their conjoined hands. "Together." She says as the both of them stare hatefully at the pale psychic. "Get out...of my head." M'gann says with venom as both of them throw their hands forward as a blast of M'gann's psychic power breaks through the pale man's and hits him dead centre on the brain. He screams in absolute agony. Superboy finally notices me as he nudges M'gann. The both of them stare at me as the pale psychic is banished from her mind. I nod my head at their accomplishment as I shimmer out of the link.
I meet back up with Matthew in the Bio-ship. "How are they?" He asks as I chuckle. "They will do very well together. Very well indeed." I say as Matthew smiles.
Bio-ship, Quarc, 2:32am, September 5th, 2010:
P.O.V Change: Matthew Spectre:
After smiling at Zarathos's statement, I hear M'gann's voice in my head. "Hey everybody, I got Superboy. Here's back to normal and we're on our way.". After she finishes, Kaldur wakes up with a gasp. "Who are you? And how did you get inside my head?" He shouts as Artemis and I ease him back down on the table. "Hello Megan. Aqualad's memories. I knew I forgot something." M'gann says as I raise my eyebrow. Sure, whatever you say. "Aww, man. Me, too. I didn't get a souvenir from the mission." Wally says but M'gann follows up. "Don't worry. Got the souvenir thing covered." She says. Her anticipation and joy makes me both nervous and exicted. Why's the hell did you bring back...
Unknown location: No P.O.V
"The Martian girl escaped with both the Sphere and the Superboy." The pale psychic, Psimon, says to the unknown entities. "That hardly matters." A new voice, female, responds to Psimon's report. "What matters is the successful test of our new partners delivery system." The woman says as recording comes up. In Bialya, a boom tube opens as the Sphere is thrown out. "More tech will come. Tech that will put the Sphere and the perhaps even the Superboy to shame." The woman says Psimon looks down and then up. "I tried to erase the Rider's memories. The host body did but the Spirit was unaffected. When I tried, he noticed my presence. I left before he could identify me." Psimon says as an old man's voice chuckles. "It doesn't matter. Soon the Rider will be under our control...besides, soon enough...my benefactor will have him wrapped around her finger."