The Ravager - No More Heroes: Part 2 (#55-61) 2nd Edition

The VRA facility interrogation room was about as dull and bland as possible, made specifically to numb a person's mood. Plain grey walls, a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling above, and no clock, making it impossible for one to tell how much time had passed inside. Rebecca Chavez estimated that it had been maybe three hours since anyone had been in to see her, but she couldn't be sure. She'd been sitting at the lone table in the room, silent and alone, for what felt like an eternity. They were trying to break her, she knew.

Isolate a person long enough and insanity would set in, hallucinations began. It was a well known torture technique. They would come back eventually, try to get her to talk again, and when she refused they'd leave her alone for a longer period of time, a period of time she had no way of keeping track of. This wasn't standard police interrogation by any means, but then, these weren't standard police officials, either. This was the VRA, an agency of power drunk b**tards out to ruin the lives of any superhero that wouldn't answer to them, not to mention those associated with those heroes.

That's why she was here, arrested and taken in just for being involved with Ravager, who patrolled the streets of Silverstone City at night. When Ravager failed to register, they had come after her, taken her in by force with some super powered goons of their own. Then, they had taken Becky, Holly, and even Circe and her daughter, Lyta. As far as Becky was concerned right now, they could all go to hell.

The door to the room finally opened, revealing a familiar person. She had really come to loathe this man, Agent Croft. He had a way of crawling under a person's skin, even when remaining perfectly calm and cordial.

“Rebecca Chavez... how are you? I hope these past few hours haven't been too taxing.” Sitting down at the table across from her, Croft passed over a can of soda. “Thought you might be thirsty.”

Becky made no move to accept the offering, instead folding her arms across her chest and glaring at him.

“Fine, have it your way,” he said, taking the can back.

“Where's Rose?”

“She's being transported to one of our more secure facilities, built especially to handle individuals like her,” Agent Croft explained.

Becky's jaw tightened, but she didn't lose her cool. Not yet, at least. “And Holly?”

“The girl has been handed over to social services and placed back into foster care. It was the natural approach when both people looking after her were... no longer available.”

Now she lost her cool. At this revelation, Becky slammed her fists down on the table, lurching partially out of her seat. “You can't do that!”

Croft folded his hands calmly in front of him. “Actually, according to the law, we can.”

“She doesn't belong in foster care, you son of a b*tch!” Becky was fully on her feet now, leaning across the table. “She belongs with us, people who love her!”

“I'm afraid love isn't enough in this matter, Rebecca.” Agent Croft leaned back in his chair, straightening out his tie. “With the charges against you and your partner, neither of you will be fit to take of her anymore.”

Taking in deep, seething breaths, Becky glared a hole through the man. She wanted nothing more than to lunge across the table and rearrange the b**tard's face, but that wouldn't accomplish anything. It would only make things worse. “Should I even bother asking what you did to the others?”

“The woman known as Circe is currently in one of the other rooms down the hall, under charges for attacking a VRA official,” he said. “As for the girl, Lyta, she's been taken to one of our children's facilities, where we'll be able to monitor the growth of her power.”

“Screw you,” Becky muttered, slowly sinking back into her seat. She retained her hateful glare. “You can't just take children from their parents like that.”

“I'd respond to that comment, but then we'd just be heading towards redundancy,” Agent Croft replied, clearing his throat. “Let's move on, shall we? Currently, you're facing up to sixty days of imprisonment for your involvement in aiding the illegal vigilante known as Ravager. We're prepared to reduce the sentence, or drop it altogether, if you'll just cooperate with us.”

“So you've told me already. Three times.”

“Yes, and you've turned us down all three times. But, we're patient. There's still time to change your mind.”

Becky slowly leaned forward, fingers clutching the edge of the table tightly. Her eyes narrowed, gleaming with ire. “Listen to me very carefully, you slimy pr*ck. Nothing you say or do will get me to help you. Any information you're looking for from me, you're not getting it. End of story.”

“I would urge you to reconsider.”

“And I'd urge you to f**k off.”

Croft gently tapped his fingers on the table. “You are aware that refusing to cooperate with the VRA can multiply the length of your sentence, correct?”

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Becky threw her hands up in the air and sank back against her seat. “Of course it can, why not? You've already thrown due process out the window, why not make up more crap while you're at it?”

“ If that's how you feel, then I suppose there's no further need to keep you here,” Agent Croft said, standing from his seat. He briefly fixed his glasses before marching towards the door.

“Why do I get the feeling that you don't mean you're letting me go?” Becky muttered.

Opening the door, Croft waved in a pair of VRA operatives, these ones dressed in uniform and carrying heavy duty stun guns. “Take her to one of the holding cells, while I go fill out a report. She can begin serving her sentence now.”

---

A large transport vehicle rumbled along the road through Metropolis, heading west past Queensland Park. Two VRA operatives sat in front, one driving and the other talking quietly on a cell phone in the passenger's seat. In the rear section of the vehicle, divided by a wall with a small, barred window, two prisoners awaited arrival at the holding facility, where they would be serving their ninety day sentence.

One of the prisoners, a man with reddish hair and one arm amputated above the elbow, leaned back casually against the side of the vehicle, staring at the ceiling. The other prisoner was Rose Wilson, still out cold from her recent arrest the previous night. The blow to her head had been a strong one, and put her in dreamland for well over sixteen hours.

As the minutes went by, Rose slowly began to come around, eyes flickering open. A small groan escaped her throat, as she realized a throbbing pain deep in the back of her skull. She tried to put a hand to her forehead, but soon discovered that her wrists were cuffed behind her back. Normally, she'd be able to snap the chain with little difficulty, but with an inhibitor collar around her neck, all of her enhanced attributes were null. Try as she might, she couldn't wrestle out of them.

The other prisoner turned to look at her. He leaned forehead, resting his arm against his thigh. “Rise and shine, Rose. Have a nice nap?”

Squinting her eyes, she glanced over at the man. Her vision was still a little fuzzy, but she knew that voice. She'd heard it many times before, though not in a long while. Even with it being so long ago, though, there was no mistaking it. “Roy?”

“In the flesh.”

The man was Roy Harper, formerly Red Arrow of the Titans, and also father to Lian Harper, the girl that Rose acted as a nanny for several years ago. They'd been friends for a while, at least during that time span, but he pushed her and everyone else away once his life went to hell after Lian died. What he'd been doing since then, Rose had no idea. She hadn't heard anything about him in almost three years.

Breathing in deeply, Rose took a moment to gather her senses. When her vision finally cleared and the throbbing in her head began to subside a little, she let out her breath and stared at him. “So they got you, too, huh?”

“From what I understand, they got everyone,” Roy said, with a small shrug. “Or at least almost everyone. Those who already registered with the VRA went and switched sides in a hurry, then started tracking down the ones who hadn't. I got ambushed by Stargirl and Blue Beetle.”

Rose furrowed her brow. “You mean they turned on each other just like that?”

“Just like that.” Roy sighed, leaning back against the truck wall. “Either the VRA has one hell of a persuasive registration policy, or there's something else going on.”

“There's always something else going on,” she muttered. “This whole thing reeks of foul play, everything from how the bill was handled to putting my father in charge.”

Roy nodded. “Yeah, I saw that. If Slade's involved, something is seriously wrong.”

“Somehow, he got a presidential pardon. Who the hell gives a guy like him a pardon?”

“No one I'd want to meet.”

Uttering a long sigh, Rose hung her head and stared at the floor. Her thoughts slipped back to Becky and Holly, wondering where they were and if they were alright. Circe and Lyta, too. Wherever they were, she just hoped they were safe.

After a brief pause, Roy folded one leg over the other and pursed his lips. “I notice you got a new eye.”

Rose lifted an eyebrow, bringing her gaze up to him again. “I notice you didn't get a new arm.”

“Funny,” Roy said, frowning slightly.

“So where are they taking us, anyway?”

“Stryker's Island,” he explained. “Once the new law passed, the VRA took over ownership and retooled it as their maximum security holding facility. It's where they keep the unregistered vigilantes.”

Rose frowned, shaking her head. “So no lawyer, no trial, no nothing. Just straight to the cell.”

“And it's all completely legal.”

Curling her hands to fists, Rose stood up. “Well, they're out of their minds if they think they're gonna keep me there.”

No way she was going to let herself be held in prison like this. New law or no new law, this wasn't right. None of it was. The VRA and everything it stood for was a sham, she was sure of that. She just had to figure out the secrets behind it, figure out a way to shut it down.

“And I suppose you have a plan to escape, right?” Roy asked.

A small smile spread across her face. “Please, I always have a plan.”

Ten minutes later, the transport vehicle slowed down to a stop in front of a small set of docks at the West River. There, another team of armed VRA officials waited for them, just outside the ferry that would take them across to Stryker's Island, or rather, the new VRA Maximum Security Facility.

The two guards in the front of the truck got out and went back to open the rear doors, while another two stood behind them with their weapons at the ready, just in case the prisoners tried anything. The moment that the doors opened, Rose leaped out and kicked the closest man to her in the face, sending him to the ground. The other operatives converged on her instantly, but she wasn't screwing around. Her hands might have been cuffed behind her back, but she didn't need them to take out a few goons.

Sweeping her leg behind another, she tripped the man to the ground, then ducked below an incoming projectile. One of the agents fired his weapon, a strange gun that emitted a concentrated sphere of electricity, meant to stun and incapacitate non lethally. Unfortunately for him, all he managed to do was shoot his buddy before Rose kicked up and knocked the weapon out of his hands.

As the gun flew through the air, Roy came to the edge of the vehicle and caught it, spinning it around in his hand to grab the trigger. “You know, I might only have one arm-” Quickly and accurately, he took aim at one of the guards and fired. The man went down, twitching and spasming. “-but you still should have restrained me.”

“Save the quips!” Rose said, spinning around and knocking the final guard out cold. She looked over her shoulder to see the group of guards near the docks already on their way. “Time to move!”

Rose allowed herself a quick moment to crouch, bringing her cuffed hands down and then jumping her legs backwards, thus bringing her arms in front of her body instead of behind. They were still chained together, but at least now she could use them, and it made sprinting away from the pursuing VRA operatives a lot easier.

The pair soon found themselves in Suicide Slum, one of the more run down areas of Metropolis, also one of the more dangerous. Of course, they weren't concerned so much with that as they were with the heavily armed guards chasing them. Fortunately, they had a bit of a lead and were able to duck into an alley to hide for the time being.

After waiting several minutes, Rose slowly peered out of the alley, trying to make sure that the coast was clear. “No sign of them so far...”

“Any ideas on how we're going to get away?” Roy questioned. “Something tells me we won't be difficult to pick out of a crowd.”

“Uh, I didn't really think this far ahead. But if you come up with anything, feel free to mention it.”

Roy paused, looking up at the building next to them. “Well, a lot of these buildings are abandoned from the looks of it. We could find a place to hole up in, wait them out until night. Then we can figure out another course of action.”

“Hmh... I guess that's not too bad of an idea,” Rose said. “See if you can find a suitable place, I'll keep an eye out.”

Moving back down the alley, Roy began inspecting the nearby buildings for one that would work as a temporary hideout. Rose stayed at the front of the alley, positioning herself behind a dumpster and looking over it for any signs of the men chasing them. For the time being, though, it appeared that she and Roy were safe.

That was, of course, until she heard voices coming from the other end of the alley. “There they are!”

Already halfway crawled inside a window, Roy forced himself to duck back out and start running in the other direction with Rose, as the men pursued them. He briefly turned to fire off another one of the electrical pulses from his weapon to keep the men at bay.

“I thought you were keeping lookout!” he shouted.

“Well excuse me for not having eyes in the back of my head! Just move!”

The two sprinted down the street, ignoring the couple pedestrians here and there who gave them odd looks. When a second squad of VRA operatives appeared down at the end of the street, cutting them off, Roy grabbed Rose by the arm and pulls her down another alley.

“This way!” he said, firing another shot at their pursuers.

They didn't get very far, however, before coming to a dead end, with a high brick wall blocking their path. Rose looked around quickly, searching for any means of escape, but the only thing around them were smooth walls. Nothing to climb on, no windows to jump through, or anything like that.

“Well, isn't this just fantastic?” Rose said, shooting Roy a hard glare. “Good going!”

“Well how was I supposed to know? Come on, let's double back and-”

“Hold it!” a VRA official ordered.

The VRA squad now stood at the mouth of alley, blocking the only escape. As the guards began to advance towards them, Rose took a defensive stance, not ready to go quietly. She'd put up as fierce a fight as she could before they took her in again.

However, she never had the need to do so. Before the VRA squad made it very far down the alley, a massive gust of wind suddenly ripped through the street, focused on the armed men. The dozen or so operatives suddenly flew through the air, tumbling farther down the street along with piles of garbage and other debris.

“Uh... did you see that?” Rose asked. “Tell me you saw that.”

“I saw it...” Roy said. “Not sure if I believe it.”

“What was it?”

At that moment, a figure appeared in front of them at the end of the alley, a woman with long red hair and a pair of glasses, wearing a business suit. “Don't just stand there, come on!”

Snapping out of their surprised stupor, both Roy and Rose ran after the woman down the street. Within several minutes, the woman led them to a car parked on the side of the road and got into the driver's seat.

“Quick, get in,” the woman urged, already starting the engine.

Needing no second invitation, Rose threw open one of the doors and slid inside the vehicle. Roy hurried around the other side and got in next to her. Once they were in, the tires screeched as the car took off down the street, leaving the VRA long behind.

Finally able to relax, Rose sank back in her seat and let out a cool breath. “Thanks.”

“Don't mention it,” the woman replied. “Figured you two could use a hand.”

“But why help us?” Roy asked.

“Because I hate the new EPRA law as much as you two.”

Rose paused a moment, sitting up straighter. “Alright, and who are you?”

“Call me Karen,” she said. “Karen Starr. It's safer that way, at least for the time being.”

“Karen Starr...” Rose narrowed her eyes, thinking carefully a moment. She'd heard that name before. “You mean... the head of Starr Industries?”

“The very same.”

Rose lifted an eyebrow and stared at the woman's reflection in the rear view mirror. “So Karen Starr is just a secret identity, huh? Because I know that wind wasn't just a random act of nature.”

“Ah, yeah... super breath,” Karen said, with a small chuckle. “Not exactly the most glamorous of my powers, but it has its uses.”

“Really? Super blowing?” Trying to stifle an amused laugh, Rose leaned closer to Roy and whispered, “I could think of a few things that would be useful for.”

Karen's gaze suddenly shifted up to the rear view mirror. “I also have super hearing.”

Rose slowly met the woman's gaze in the mirror, clearing her throat. “Uh... right.”

“So where are we going, anyway?” Roy asked, looking out the window.

“Well, I was looking for my cousin, the reason I'm even in Metropolis today,” Karen said. “Haven't been able to find him, though... I was about to head back to New York City when I heard your little predicament and came to help.”

“New York City, huh?” Rose leaned back in her seat, pursing her lips. “Haven't been there in a while.”

Karen nodded. “We'll head to my apartment; I have a couple of people like us waiting there.”

“You mean 'unregistered vigilantes'?” Roy said.

“Yup. And we're going to figure out exactly what the hell is going on.”

A smirk spread its way across Rose's face. “Now that I can get on board with.”

The drive from Metropolis to Park Slope, Brooklyn took approximately three hours. By the time they pulled up outside the apartment building, the sun was setting, casting a wave of orange light over the horizon. The three occupants inside the car waited a while, until the street was relatively clear, before finally getting out.

As they approached the building, Rose glanced down at her still cuffed hands and tried to hide them close to her body. If people were to see the handcuffs on her, chances were that it would raise a few suspicions. Then again, the collar around her neck didn't help much, either. Fortunately, she didn't have to worry about that for very long.

“Here, let me get that for you,” Karen said, grabbing the cuffs and snapping them effortlessly. She quickly did the same to the inhibitor collar, then threw the pieces into one of the bushes outside the building entrance.

Blinking a couple of times, Rose turned her gaze towards Karen and frowned. “Thanks... though you could have done that like three hours ago.”

“Hey, I was driving,” she said. “Besides, you didn't ask.”

“Well maybe I would have, if I'd known you had super strength, too.”

Karen smirked. “And that's not all I have.”

“Of course it's not...” Rose muttered, groaning out an annoyed breath.

“If it's all the same to you ladies,” Roy said, “I'd rather continue this conversation inside.”

Karen nodded, leading the way inside. “Right, come on. The others are waiting inside, though keep in mind we'll probably have to relocate soon. With the amount of heroes the VRA has at their beck and call, they probably already know who I am. Odds are, they'll send a team here eventually.”

Rose folded her arms again, staring at her. “We don't even know who you are.”

Turning his attention to Rose, Roy furrowed his brow curiously. “You don't?”

“You're telling me you do?”

“I thought it was obvious,” he said, giving an absent shrug.

Rose paused a moment, then swung her gaze back to Karen. “Wait, so who is she?”

“Inside, people,” Karen urged. “Let's continue this inside.”

---

When they finally made it up to the apartment, Karen pushed the door open to lead them inside, then let out a relieved breath. “Well, I can finally take this off.”

Reaching up to her head, she grabbed hold of her hair and... pulled it off. As it turned out, the long red hair wasn't her hair at all, but a wig instead. Underneath was a head of blonde hair that fell down around her chin. She then took her glasses off, too, and tossed them in a small basket near the entrance.

“Wait...” Rose muttered, taking a closer look at the woman. The wheels were finally starting to turn, as she recognized the face and matched it to a well known superhero. “You're kidding, right? Karen Starr is Power Girl?”

“Shocking, I know,” she replied. “But you can just call me Kara when I'm not in costume.”

Rose lifted an eyebrow. “Kara, Karen, Power Girl... how many names do you have?”

“Enough to keep my identity a secret.” Kara turned back to her, giving a knowing smile. “That's the whole point, isn't it?”

“I suppose...”

Following Kara into the living room, they were greeted to the sight of two other unregistered heroes. One of them, a tall red haired man in jeans and a T-shirt, Rose didn't recognize. He sat casually on the couch, watching the news, which currently detailed the recent superhero arrests. The second person, though, Rose did recognize. Even out of costume and instead dressed in jeans and a hooded sweatshirt, there was no mistaking the woman, especially not with the red gem embedded in her forehead. Sitting cross-legged in the middle of the living room, Raven concentrated in meditation, eyes closed and levitating several inches off the floor.

Gallery

“I'm back,” Kara announced, throwing herself down into an armchair. “Picked up a couple of strays, too.

“Wally?” Roy said, taking a few steps forward. “That you?”

Looking over at the group, the red haired man on the couch sat up straighter in surprise. “Roy? Man, where the heck have you been? Haven't seen you in years.”

“It's... a long story,” Roy said. “So they got the Justice League, too, huh?”

“Yeah...” Wally sighed, folding his arms across his chest. “The VRA showed up at the Hall with damn near an army to take us in. We tried fighting back, but it was all I could do just to get out of there. Fortunately, they didn't have anyone who could catch me. After that happened, I went looking for everyone I knew, anyone who might not be under VRA control yet.”

“Any luck?”

Wally shook his head. “Not much. I managed to meet up with Power Girl here, and then Raven found us, going on about our friends being made into 'soulless vessels' or something like that... she didn't really elaborate before she went into sleep mode over there.”

Rose crossed her arms and stared over at the entranced Raven, who seemed to be shutting out everything going on around her in order to maintain her meditative state. “She found anything useful?”

“Dunno, she's been meditating like that since yesterday,” Wally said. “Hasn't even eaten anything.”

“Well, it has to have something to do with this whole VRA fiasco, right?” Rose questioned. “And how they suddenly got everyone who registered with them to go out like trained attack dogs and take down everyone who hadn't.”

“Let's hope so.” Wally gazed at Raven intently for a few moments, his eyes narrowing. “We need all the information we can get if we're going to fix things.”

“We will,” she assured. “They're already broken enough as it is.”

Breathing out a heavy sigh, Kara rested her chin against her fist and blew a stray hair out of her face. “If we're going to figure out what's going on, we need to start at the beginning, with the passing of that Extraordinary Persons Regulation Act. There is no way something like that ever should have made it through to become law, let alone in a matter of a few months.”

Wally scoffed. “No kidding. The thing didn't even get amended once, in spite of the League's efforts to point out everything wrong with the bill in the first place. With how that thing was worded, the VRA ends up having absolute power when it comes to the regulation of superheroes.”

“And let's be honest,” Roy added, “when's the last time all sides of congress have completely agreed on anything the first time around?”

“Then there's Slade.” Rose narrowed her eyes, bringing her fist into her palm. “It's no secret to the government that he's one of the world's most wanted criminals, yet the president of our country gave him a full pardon, then put him in charge of the VRA. Tell me nothing shady is going on there.”

“I don't think shady even begins to cover it,” Wally said. “Not only do they now know almost all superhero identities, but they also have most of those individuals working for them.”

Roy nodded. “Obediently and without question. Almost like-”

“-they're being controlled...” Raven slowly opened her eyes, as the others turned their attention towards her. Still levitating in the air, she moved her hands to her knees and gazed down at the floor in front of her, distant, sorrowful. “I understand now... why Wonder Girl and all the others I examined felt so empty, so emotionless.”

Kara tilted her head to the side, pursing her lips. “Is that what you've been doing this whole time?”

“Yes...” she explained. “I have been projecting myself elsewhere, locating our fellow heroes, our friends... All of them, cold and unfeeling.”

“Because they're being controlled somehow?” Wally asked.

Raven nodded. “I believe so. Not just in that they are being given orders and following them... something is forcing them. I do not know what... but I can feel it within them... free will is gone, replaced by artificial instructions constantly being delivered into their minds... telling them how to think, how to act, how to feel...”

“So let me get this straight,” Rose muttered, rubbing her fingers tiredly against her eyes. “The VRA takes these registered heroes and somewhere during the process... brainwashes them?”

“Something to that effect, yes,” Raven affirmed.

“Well this just keeps getting better and better.”

Roy brought a hand to his chin, thinking deeply. “Alright, so put all of this together and you get... what?”

Wally cleared his throat awkwardly, scratching his cheek. “I don't mean to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but...”

“You don't, trust me,” Kara said, shaking her head. “At this point, it wouldn't surprise me.”

“But if that is the case... then who's in charge?” Rose said. “How high up does this go? And what are they hoping to accomplish?”

A small pause passed between the group. They gave each other careful glances, contemplating the gravity of the situation. Something bad was going on here, and so far it looked like they were the only ones who could stop it.

Eventually, Wally stood up from the couch. “That settles it. I don't know how, but we're going make things right. They think they can just take away my family, my friends... no way.”

Sitting up straighter, Roy gave his friend a hard look. “Your family?”

“Yeah...” Wally bowed his head, breathing out a heavy sigh. “Linda and Jai for 'associating' with me, and Iris so they could 'monitor the growth of her power'.”

Clenching his jaw, Roy brought his hands together and gave an understanding nod. “We'll get them back, Wally. We'll fix this. Somehow.”

---

Slade Wilson sat quietly at his desk, going over several reports regarding the recent arrests and detainments made by the VRA's various facilities. As expected, it was a lot of information to go over, and there were a lot of names on the list. From what he could gather, they now controlled at least 95% of the superhero community. That lingering five percent was where his concerns now resided.

As he turned the page of one of the files, his office phone rang. He ignored it for several moments, before finally reaching over and lifting it to his ear. “VRA Director Slade Wilson speaking.”

He recognized the voice coming in over the line; it was not an easy one to mistake, especially considering the amount of time the two had spent working together to organize this. “Yes, of course. Everything is going smoothly, as expected... No, not yet.”

Rummaging through the papers on his desk, Slade pulled out a specific sheet of paper and glanced it over. “The next batch is going through as we speak. It more than doubles our current numbers. No, no fatal incidents to report; every implantation has been a success thus far.”

Leaning back in his seat, Slade took in a deep breath and stared up at the ceiling. He tapped his fingers gently on the arm of his seat, listening carefully to the man speak. “A small number still remain unaccounted for, but we'll find them. We have plenty of information to locate them now, so it's only a matter of time. Of course, I'll update you shortly. Goodbye.”

When he hung up the phone, the intercom on his desk suddenly clicked on, followed by his secretary's voice on the other end. “Mr. Wilson, Mr. Smalls is here to see you.”

“Send him in, Cindy.”

A short few moments later, Holocaust walked into the office, with his large arms folded across his chest and a frown on his face. “Bad news.”

A small sigh escaped Slade's lips, a hand coming up to his forehead tiredly. He supposed it was only a matter of time until someone made a mistake somewhere. “What is it?”

“Just got a report from Metro,” the man explained. “Two prisoners escaped from the transport to Stryker's and got away.”

“And which two prisoners would they be?”

“According to the information, it was a man named Roy Harper and a woman... Rose Wilson. They were last seen heading east, aided by another unknown woman; red hair, tall, glasses, powered.”

A silence passed over them for a brief time, until Slade leaned forward, folding his hands in front of him on the desk. “I see.”

“This girl...” Holocaust started, shifting his weight slightly. “Any relation?

“My daughter.”

“And you still had her taken in? Seems like a waste... With that kind of relation, she'd have done better working for us.”

Slade brought a hand to his chin, falling back into his seat. “Let's just say that we haven't gotten along in quite some time. She never would have agreed, not willingly.”

“So you sent her to the facility... got it.” Holocaust straightened himself, bringing his hands back across his broad chest. “In any case, what do you want us to do about it?”

“Track them down, what else?” Slade said. “The tracking device in Rose's collar would be a good place to start, see if you can pick up a trail.”

“Right,” he said, turning from the office. “I'll put together a team.”

As Holocaust moved towards the door, however, Slade raised a hand, urging him to wait a moment. “Oh, and Leonard... don't come back without them.”

---

The small group of heroes remained in Kara's living room still, continuing to discuss how to handle the VRA. Several empty boxes of Chinese takeout were strewn about, their dinner of choice. Considering the fact that the VRA was most likely on heavy watch for each one of them, they found it better to be safe and have food delivered than go out and get something.

Sitting on the couch, Roy carefully twisted a robotic prosthetic arm around on his severed stump, until finally it snapped into place. When the red lights on the side begin to blink on, he tested it out, clenching the robotic hand into a fist and slowly releasing it. “Much better. Thanks for the run, Wally.”

In the past couple of hours, Wally had gone and retrieved the gear from both Rose and Roy's places of residence, considering they weren't nearly as effective without. Given the nature of his powers, it hadn't really been much trouble for him, either.

“Not a problem,” Wally said, with a dismissive wave. “Figured you could use the extra hand.”

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Roy folded his arms across his chest, tapping his fingers a few times on the prosthetic. “Hilarious.”

“Aren't I always?”

Rose knelt off to the side of the room, going over the gear spread out in front of her, including her armor, swords, and a carefully assorted allotment of gadgets. She went through each of them, taking note of exactly what she had for future reference. Given the circumstances, she probably wouldn't be able to call up Batman for more when she ran out.

“Looks like everything is here...” she muttered, tapping a finger against her chin. “Were there really only two smoke pellets left?”

“Uh, pretty sure,” Wally replied. “Hold on, let me check.”

In the blink of an eye, the man vanished, accompanied by a gust of wind that knocked over the empty takeout boxes. Kara let out a small groan at this, as she came forward to clean up the mess in her apartment. By the time she finished throwing away the boxes, Wally was back, standing in the middle of the living room again and tossing over a small round pellet.

“Found one more floating around under your bed. Should really be more careful where you put your toys. Especially the one in your sock drawer.”

Rose flinched, eye twitching slightly as her gaze shifted hotly up to the man. “You went through my drawers? That's private!”

“Uh...” Wally shifted a little, clearing his throat. “No, actually. That was supposed to be a joke.”

“A... what?”

“But now we know,” he said, walking casually back across the apartment.

Feeling a numb sensation crawling its way through her body, Rose slowly turned back to her equipment and packed the gadgets into her belt. She could feel their stares on her, could sense what the men were thinking at that private bit of information. Even Kara lifted a hand to her mouh and let out a small laugh, smirking with amusement.

Kill me. Someone just kill me now.

“In any case,” Kara said, lightly clearing her throat, “we need to move out soon. I don't know how much longer this apartment is going to be safe, so suit up and get ready.”

“Uh, yeah, I'll just be... getting dressed.” Mumbling quietly to herself, Rose took her armor with her into the bathroom to get changed.

Roy and Wally went to find their own private corners of the apartment to do the same, while Raven and Kara remained in the living room. Ever prepared, all Kara needed to do to get into costume was strip out of her suit, as she already wore her white leotard underneath. She then began fishing around the apartment for her gloves, boots, belt, and half-cape.

Raven, too, slowly pulled off her sweatshirt and began changing into her more traditional cloak and robes. However, her expression was distant, almost vacant. She was contemplating what they had learned recently. Everything about this situation unsettled her, formed a sick sensation deep in her gut.

“Their pain...” she breathed, clasping her cloak together with its red brooch. “I could feel their pain, you know.”

Adjusting the cape around her shoulder, Power Girl glanced over at the empath and narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean? Whose pain?”

“Our friends... the other heroes...” Raven bowed her head, pulling her hood up to conceal her face. “Whatever is controlling them is hurting them. They may lack emotion, but... they can still feel... and I sense pain in all of them.”

Releasing a small breath, Power Girl placed a hand on the woman's shoulder. “We'll help them, I promise. Everyone that the VRA took from us, everyone they're controlling, we will get them back.”

“I pray you are right... because if we fail, the consequences could be catastrophic.”

A few moments later, the others began to file back into the living room, Wally dressed in his traditional Flash uniform, Roy in his Red Arrow outfit, and Rose in her Ravager gear.

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“So, what's the first course of action?” Red Arrow asked. “I wouldn't mind busting into the VRA HQ and grilling Slade for some answers. Maybe after we beat him around a while.”

“No, not while they still have people they can use against us,” Ravager said, shaking her head. “We should concentrate on freeing our families and friends first, the ones the VRA locked up. Once they're safe, then we can worry about hitting Slade with everything we got.”

“Right,” Power Girl agreed, nodding. “But question is, where do we start specifically?:

Flash folded his arms. “Their minimum security facility. That's where they keep everyone who was 'associated' with the unregistered heroes; it's were my wife and son are.”

“And Becky...” Ravager murmured.

Testing the strings on his bow, Red Arrow gave a small nod of approval. “Alright, and after that?”

“Definitely the children's facility, where they keep all the powered kids,” Power Girl stated. “I don't care what laws they're enforcing, those children don't deserve to be locked up and studied like lab rats.”

“Let us hurry...” Raven urged. “Time is already running thin.”

“Alright, everyone-” Ravager's words abruptly cut off, as a flicker of precog burst through her head. “-get down!

Not two seconds after her warning, there came a large explosion of hot wind and flames at the front of the apartment. The wall erupted inwards, sending a shower of debris inside the living room and knocking all but Power Girl off her feet. Through the dust and smoke appeared several figures in the hallway beyond, one of them with his body wrapped in flames.

Another man, dressed in a brown and tan costume, peered closely inside the apartment and sniffed the air. “You see? I told you I had the right place. Could track them from a hundred miles away.”

“Good work, Blake,” Holocaust said, moving past the kitchen and spreading his flames to the rest of the apartment. The rest of of his team moved in behind him, consisting of Killer Frost, Scandal Savage, Knockout, and the aforementioned Catman. “Now, take 'em out!”

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Within moments, pandemonium erupted within the apartment. As the heroes began to recover from the sudden explosion, Holocaust's team moved in for the attack. Bright orange flames grew rapidly, consuming the apartment and filling the space with thick, black smoke.

Fortunately, Power Girl was already on the defensive, throwing herself forward into the enemy group head on to give her allies a chance to regroup. By the time they did get back to their feet, Power Girl launched backwards through the living room, crashing into the sofa.

“Alright, the big ugly one hits a little harder than I expected,” she muttered, getting back to her feet. “Nothing I can't handle, though.”

On that note, she suddenly flew back the way she came, tackling Holocaust and dragging them through several walls until exiting the building somewhere outside. A red and yellow streak then raced across the room and crashed against the large, red haired Knockout, sending both of them tumbling back into the hallway beyond.

“I got the amazon!” Flash shouted, disappearing from sight with his opponent.

Grabbing the faceplate to her helmet, Ravager snapped it into place and turned on the built in air filters, then drew her swords ran straight for Scandal. “The clawed b*tch is mine!” Leaping over a burning coffee table, Ravager engaged the woman, blades clashing and clanging together.

Red Arrow took this opportunity to let loose a flurry of arrows, one after another at Catman. Unfortunately, Catman managed to nimbly duck, dodge, and dive around furniture, to avoid the projectiles and close the gap between the two, engaging in hand to hand. No longer able to use his bow to shoot at close range, Red Arrow instead used it as a melee weapon, swinging it ferociously with a mix of kicks and other strikes.

This left Killer Frost and Raven to square off against each other. For the moment, Raven made no move attack, instead staring at the frosty blue woman with contemplative eyes.

“It's a little hot in here, wouldn't you say? I think we need to cool things down a bit.” Raising her hands up into the air, Killer Frost rapidly absorbed the surrounding heat, instantly dropping the temperature. Soon, the flames extinguished into nothing more than a cold mist. Then, she held her arms forward and directed a massive wave of ice forward, as a wide, murderous grin slashed across her face. When Raven suddenly vanished into thin air, however, she faltered, lowering her hands and blinking curiously. “What the- where the hell did she go?”

Raven suddenly appeared behind her, through a mass of dark haze and energy. By the time Killer Frost realized what was going on, that same blackness engulfed her, pulling her within a separate world all its own – Raven's soul-self.

---

It was dark inside here, and cold, too, even for her. Killer Frost's body was constantly supercooled, yet she still felt an uncomfortable shiver tingle its way up her spine. And then, a massive figure appeared before her. It was that woman, Raven, but much larger and distorted, and downright... evil looking.

“What... what the f**k is going on?” she said, taking a step backwards.

“You are a deeply disturbed woman...” Raven said. “I can feel the hate in you, the murderous intent... you have killed many times before and you will do it again...”

“You sound like my therapist...” Killer Frost muttered, charging her hands with a thick wave of ice. “I hated my therapist.”

“You must... atone,” Raven replied, opening her arms wide. The blackness began to spread again, engulfing and consuming Killer Frost. The frosty woman thrashed about, trying to throw it off, but in this world, such a thing was futile. “Feel the pain you've caused others... feel what your victims have felt.”

The only sound that followed was a shrill, horrified scream.

---

Ravager ducked below a horizontal strike, the woman's dual arm blades slicing harmlessly overhead. Moving forward, she slashed her swords upwards at the now clearly exposed body of her opponent, but Scandal was no slouch either, throwing herself to the side and avoiding all but a couple of small cuts across her side. Ravager parried the next strike, then spun forward and exploded her elbow squarely against the woman's face.

“Not as easy when I have my gear, is it?” she said, lunging forward again.

Scandal crossed her arm blades in front of her, deflecting the swords and then kicking her leg forward. The boot landed hard against Ravager's stomach, forcing her backwards and on the defensive again. “You're right; you're actually putting up a fight this time!”

Out in the hallway, Flash ran circles around the far stronger, but far slower Knockout. Every time she threw a punch at him, he simply moved out of the way with more than enough time to spare. In fact, he moved so quickly from place to place that, to Knockout, it almost looked like he was teleporting.

“Hold still, cur!” she shouted.

“You're getting closer!”

Whirling around again, Knockout swung her arm forward, having every intent of punching the man's head clean off. Just as it looked like her knuckles were about to connect, though, Flash suddenly disappeared from sight.

“Oh, almost had me that time!” he declared.

Growling in frustration, Knockout turned to attempt the same thing yet again, and as expected achieved the same results. Now, though, Flash decided that he had played around long enough. Moving far faster than she could keep track of, he unloaded on her, though was careful not to go too far.

“You seem pretty durable,” he said, “but I wonder how you'll fare against a few thousand supersonic punches.”

Within seconds, he finished his attack, then pulled back and watched as the dazed woman teetered on her feet for a moment, before finally toppling to the floor, exhausted and battered.

---

Outside the apartment, Power Girl whirled the large man around and around, finally whipping him towards the ground with thunderous force. Holocaust crashed into the sidewalk, causing the entire street to shake and a small crater to form at his point of impact. Nearby citizens on the streets ran away screaming in a panic, terrified over the two super powered individuals engaged in combat. The blow didn't seem to faze Holocaust that much, though, as he quickly crawled his way back to his feet.

But Power girl didn't give him a chance to recover, flying in like a rocket and delivering a punch to his face with such ferocity that it created a miniature sonic boom in its wake and sent the man careening into the air. Before he got too far, she flew up to meet him, speeding above and then delivering a double handed blow to send him straight back down again. Once more, she super sped her way ahead of him again and caught him with her fist as he crashed against her. Finally, she threw him lightly to the ground and brushed her hands together.

“That outta do it,” she said, looking down at the man. “Gotta hand it to you, though, you sure can take a punch.”

As she began to return to the apartment, however, Holocaust suddenly rose up from the ground again, cracking his neck from side to side and breathing in deeply. A swirl of flames burst around his body, growing hotter by the second.

“Not bad,” he said, curling his lips into a smug grin. “Now it's my turn.”

Swinging his arms forward, the intense flames leaped from his body. Power Girl stood her ground, throwing her arms up and enduring. Her body was Kryptonian; a little heat wasn't going to bother her. She didn't know how up to speed this guy was on Kryptonians, but so far he was doing a lousy job in trying to beat one.

Through the flickering flames and smoke, her sharp vision noticed him charging her. Ducking out of the way of his attack, she sent another titanic punch into his gut that lifted him airborne. She quickly flew up alongside him and took hold, continuing her ascent.

“What the hell you doing?!” Holocaust said, looking back down at the ground.

“Taking you for a little ride,” she replied. “If I can't put you down the old fashion way...”

“You'll what, drop me from thirty thousand feet?” A loud, boisterous laugh burst from Holocaust's lips, as the flames surrounding his body burned hotter. “Ha! Good luck!”

“Not quite what I had in mind.”

Power Girl continued flying higher and higher, well past the clouds. Though the searing flames had already begun to scorch and burn her costume, they slowly weakened and died as the oxygen thinned out at such a high altitude. Eventually, the fire extinguished completely, leaving the man dazed and delirious.

“You think... this is gonna stop... me?” he uttered, voice shaky and fading.

Soon, he finally slumped forward in Power Girl's arms and passed out cold. Quickly, she began her descent again, heading back towards ground level.

---

Back inside the apartment, Catman tackled Red Arrow through a table. The two went down hard, several long wooden splinters jutting up and stabbing into Red Arrow's side. But the impact didn't take him out, as he used the momentum to flip Catman up over his head, then while still on the ground raised his bow, nocked an arrow, and fired upside down at the airborne man. The projectile zipped through the air, piercing the side of Catman's leg. Red Arrow seized the opportunity to spring back to his feet and run at the downed man, delivering a crippling kick to the face. This time, Catman stayed down.

Meanwhile, a disarmed Ravager spun around another vicious strike and slipped behind Scandal. Jumping upwards, she landed on the woman's shoulders, clenched her thighs tightly, and then flipped backwards. Her sheer strength and momentum forced Scandal into a backwards somersault, ending with her head smashing into the floor. The woman went limp a moment later, collapsing and unmoving, but still breathing.

A short moment later, Raven reappeared and opened her cloak. A black mass spilled outward, as Killer Frost tumbled to the floor, curled up into the fetal position and shuddering with her eyes wide in horror. The others looked over the scene curiously for a moment, eyes focusing on the almost catatonic Killer Frost.

Slowly, Ravager moved her gaze up to the stolid empath. “The hell did you do to her?”

“I made her feel pain...” Raven said. “All the pain she has caused her victims, all the terror, the agony. She will recover... eventually.”

Clearing his throat slightly, Red Arrow leaned in close and gave Ravager a quiet whisper. “She always was a bit scary.”

“Uh, guys, great that we won and all,” Flash said, suddenly appearing next to them, “but we should probably be going. I just did a sweep of the block, and the cops are almost here. I think I spotted another VRA squad on its way, too.”

The side wall abruptly crashed inward. Power Girl came forward, taking in a couple deep breaths while trying to fix her scorched costume. “Flash is right, we need to get out of here now.”

“Allow me,” Raven said, lifting her arms above her head. As the sounds of sirens began to fill the air, the heroes disappeared into Raven's dark energy, teleporting through space to their destination.

---

“This is wrong,” Becky muttered. “Hijo de puta, this is wrong...”

Lying on one of the two cots hanging from the wall, Becky held her hands behind her head and stared up at the bottom of the top bunk above her. The prison cell was small, nothing more than a square space with a sink, a toilet, and the two aforementioned cots. Instead of iron bars, however, the front wall was composed of thick, clear Plexiglass, completely unbreakable for the women inside.

“No lawyer, no trial, bogus charges...” Becky rubbed her eyes, sighing. “They just throw us straight in a cell.”

“Not to mention forcing us to wear these atrocious orange jumpsuits,” Circe replied, leaning over the side of her bunk and looking down at Becky.

“You shouldn't be trying to make a joke out of this,” Becky said, narrowing her eyes. “It isn't funny. None of it is.”

“And what would have me do instead? I am mortal now; I don't have the power to help us.”

Becky brought a hand to her head, squinting her eyes shut in annoyance. “I don't know, try to sound p***ed off, maybe? Or at least a little upset? You've barely said anything since we got here.”

“You think I'm not angry? That I'm not furious? Because I am. These people took my daughter away and have the audacity to cage me up like an animal. If I had my magic still, not a single one of them would escape my wrath. I would burn them all to see Lyta safely back to me, in my arms again.” For a brief moment, she stared at the wall across from her, fingers gripping the side of her cot tightly. A bright flare of rage began to form across her face, though she quickly stifled it away and uttered a cool breath, relaxing again. “But I can't. I'm stuck here, powerless to do anything.”

“Then why have you been so calm this whole time?”

“Because lamenting and complaining about it won't make the situation any better.” Circe's voice grew quiet, as she rolled back over on her mattress. “Instead, I've been spending my time contemplating.”

Becky furrowed her brow. “Contemplating what?”

“How I'm going to get my daughter back once our sentence is complete, and how I'm going to make them all suffer for what they've done.”

Before Becky could respond to Circe's claims, a loud, high pitched alarm blared through the facility. Sitting up, she scooted off the cot and hurried to the Plexiglass wall, watching as a team of guards sprinted down the corridor, weapons at the ready.

“They're in the east wing!” one of the guards shouted. “Stop them!”

Becky continued watching until all the guards in their cell block were gone, heading to the other side of the building to apparently deal with some kind of threat. Eventually, she turned around again and sat on the edge of her cot. The shrill alarm continued to ring loudly in their ears, forcing her to raise her voice in order to be heard.

“What do you suppose this is all about?” Becky asked.

“Probably some idiot trying to escape,” Circe said, with a shrug. “Can't imagine that ending well.”

Suddenly, the door at the other end of the corridor exploded inwards, blown off its hinges with several red colored arrow shafts stuck to the edges. Instantly, Becky sprang back to feet, trying her hardest to peer around the corner of her cell through the clear wall. She spotted two figures entering into the hallway, both dressed in costume. One of them she didn't recognize, a man in red leather carrying a bow. The second, however, she knew all too well.

“You know, for minimum security, you'd think they wouldn't have a building that was teleport proof,” Ravager muttered, running down the hallway.

“Well you know, that would just be too easy,” Red Arrow replied. “Besides, it's much more fun this way.”

“Let's just hope Power Girl and Raven's distraction lasts long enough.”

Ravager and Red Arrow stopped when they reached the proper cell, finding both Becky and Circe inside. Smiling widely, Becky pressed a hand up to the clear wall. In response, Ravager pressed her own hand against it as well, on the opposite side.

“Dios, am I glad to see you,” Becky said.

“Didn't think I'd leave you behind, did you?”

Becky laughed. “Didn't even know you'd escaped!”

“Less talking, more breaking out,” Red Arrow urged.

Pulling her hand back, Ravager reached back over her shoulder and drew her swords. “Right, get back.”

Once Becky was clear, Ravager quickly made several precision cuts along the Plexiglass. Normally, this wouldn't have much of an effect, but ever since Batman had upgraded her swords to be five times sharper, the blades cut through the barrier like paper. Instantly, the Plexiglass wall fell to pieces, allowing the two women inside an escape point.

“Come on!” she said, waving them along. “Let's get the hell out of here!”

---

Several minutes later, the group retreated to a secluded alleyway, a short distance away from the facility. Three others individuals waited for them, one of them being the Flash. The woman with him was Linda Park-West, his wife, and the young boy was his son, Jai West. Both were dressed in identical orange jumpsuits.

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“You both sure you're alright?” Flash asked, carefully inspecting his family.

Reaching forward, Linda embraced her husband in a warm hug, breathing in deeply “We're fine, hun. Just... thank you for getting us.”

“Yeah... it really sucked in there,” Jai muttered.

Flash narrowed his eyes. “Hey, language, mister.”

“Well it did...” Jai said quietly, shrugging his shoulders.

A small sigh left Flash's mouth. “I know. We would have freed everyone if we could have, but there's too many people in there; we can't bring them all with us.”

“Wally, what about Iris?” Linda asked. “Is she...?”

“We're going after her next,” he assured, “along with every other child the VRA wrenched away from their parents.”

Standing off to the side, Becky watched the reuniting family and uttered a deep sigh. “Things have really gone to hell, huh?”

“You don't know the half of it,” Ravager said. “I'll fill you in later.”

Finally, Power Girl and Raven found their way back to the designated meeting area, floating down to ground level from above.

“Everyone here?” Power Girl asked, looking around the alley.

“All present and accounted for,” Red Arrow said, nodding.

“Good, then let's get out of here. Raven, you know the place, right?”

Raven nodded, raising her arms up again and enveloping them all into her soul-self once again. “I'll have us there shortly.”

The underground safe house reminded Rose a bit of Batman's bunker, except much better lit and much less of a 'cave' vibe going on. In fact, the place was more or less just a big apartment, complete with all the normal amenities: kitchen, bathrooms, living room, television, computer, bedrooms, laundry room, etc.

“So, you're sure we're safe here?” she asked.

“One hundred percent,” Power Girl said. Reaching up to the clasp on her cape, she removed the red garb and draped it over the back of a couch. She then turned around to lean back against the couch, holding herself up with her arms and casually crossing one ankle over the other. “This is the subbasement of the subbasement; nobody knows about it but me. I had it built beneath the Starr Industries Building a while back just in case I ever needed a safe place to hide.”

Rose tucked her helmet under arm, giving the area another quick scan. Wally had already changed out of his Flash costume and back in his civilian clothes, while talking with his family on the other side of the room. Roy left a short while ago to take a shower, and Raven had shut herself up in one of the bedrooms to meditate. Circe, too, opted to be alone in the same fashion, finding a quiet room for herself.

“Hmh, good call,” she said.

Becky stepped forward towards Power Girl, clearing her throat briefly before extending a hand forward. She shifted nervously on her feet for a moment, while scratching the back of her head with her other hand and smiling rather awkwardly. “I, uh, just want to say thanks for helping us, and, um, it's great to meet you. I've seen you on the news before, read about you in the papers sometimes... you lead the Justice Society, right?”

“That's right...” Lifting her eyebrows, Power Girl reached out to shake the woman's hand, though she couldn't help but notice where Becky kept looking. “And you're welcome, too. But try to keep your eyes up, alright?”

“Wha- oh! Oh my- lo siento!” Becky exclaimed, eyes going wide. “I didn't mean to- I mean I was just-”

Uttering a small groan, Rose smacked her hand against her forehead and then pulled Becky away from the rather well endowed woman. “Easy with the eyes, Rebecca. Let's not be a perv.”

“Well I can't help it!” Becky insisted, giving Rose a sharp look. “They're just so- and then with the big hole in the costume- and they're so-”

Folding her arms across her chest, Power Girl chuckled softly to herself, fully amused at the woman's awkward behavior. “It's alright, really. I get that a lot. Though, admittedly, it is usually from the men.”

“Ay caramba...” Becky bowed her head, cheeks flushing. “I think I need to take a shower. I'll, uh... I'll just be going now.”

“I'll be there in a few,” Rose said, watching the woman disappear down the hall.

Once Becky was gone, Power Girl glanced at Rose and smirked. “She always like that?”

“Not usually, no...” Rose paused a moment, her own gaze drifting back and locking onto Power Girl's chest. “Then again, I don't think I've ever seen her in the presence of a woman carrying around a couple of watermelons before.”

“Flattery and sarcasm,” Power Girl said, lifting an eyebrow. “Now that's a new combination.”

“Yeah, I'm great like that,” she replied. “Anyway, when are we making our next move? The more time we waste here, the longer those kids have to endure whatever the hell the VRA is subjecting them to.”

Power Girl nodded. “Tomorrow. It's late right now, and the team has been through a lot tonight. Best to give everyone a chance to rest and recover; the next place is probably a lot better guarded than the one we just came from.”

Pausing slightly, Rose shifted her weight and breathed outwardly. Her gaze quietly found its way to the floor. “I wouldn't really call us a team. More like the only ones left who can do anything.”

“Better than nobody left at all.”

“I suppose... I just hope it's enough.”

---

Formerly serving as one of the world's most premier prisons for dangerous super powered criminals, Stryker's Island had since been turned into the VRA's maximum security facility, where they kept all those superhero vigilantes who failed to register. At least, that was what they told the public. In reality, there was something much more sinister at work here, and the man currently rummaging around the laboratory was at the forefront of it.

Professor Hugo Strange pursed his lips in contemplation, as he examined the broken surgical equipment in front of him, including a bent scalpel, twisted drill tips, and dull saw blades. Not a single tool had managed to break through the girl's tough exterior. Granted, he had had this issue before with a few other subjects, but never to this degree. No, a Kryptonian's durability was something altogether different. It looked like he was going to have to make a special request.

“Don't go anywhere, my dear,” he stated, heading for the phone on the wall. “I'll be right back.”

His subject, of course, wouldn't be going anywhere at all. The young Kryptonian and member of the Justice League, Supergirl, was currently and completely unconscious, not to mention heavily restrained on the surgical table. Even if she did miraculously wake up in the next twenty-four hours, she wouldn't be able to move. Not even her levels of strength could break out of those specially designed inhibitor straps, tested to resist super powered forces of over one million tons. Needless to say, they were not being careless when it came to holding certain individuals.

Strange removed his glasses and let out a long sigh as he dialed the number. Five rings went by before he finally got an answer, a callous voice appearing on the other end.

“What is it, Hugo?” Slade asked. “I trust your work is coming along smoothly?”

“Quite,” he replied. “However, I have run into a small snag. Seems that I'm going to need some special equipment for this one.”

“Let me guess, the Kryptonian girl?”

“Precisely. None of my instruments can pierce her invulnerable hide.” Strange briefly glanced back at the unmoving Supergirl. “I'll be needing a drill bit with a Kryptonite tip in order to make the implantation. Otherwise, she's useless to us.”

“Have you tried an inhibitor collar?” Slade questioned.

Strange's eyes narrowed. “Don't insult me, Mr. Wilson. That was the very first thing I tried. Unfortunately, alien physiology doesn't work the same as ours. Our current inhibitor collars are built to suppress an individual's metagene, thereby neutralizing their powers. Or, if the individual is magic based, we can apply our magic dampeners to prevent them from accessing their power. But aliens do not possess a metagene or operate by magic; their abilities are a natural part of their evolution, meaning we have no current technology that can negate those powers.”

“Spare me the science lesson, Professor,” Slade said. “I get it. You'll have your drill by tomorrow morning.”

“See to that, and you'll have your very own Kryptonian at your disposal.” Hanging up the phone, Hugo moved back across the lab and began cleaning up the broken tools, dumping some of the more irreparable pieces into the trash. When finished, he removed his lab coat and made his way towards the exit, flicking the light off on his way out the door. “I'll be back for you in the morning, Supergirl.”

After exiting the laboratory, Strange headed down the corridor to the third door on the left. This brought him into another room, the subject recovery chamber. His most recent subjects leaned back against slanted tables, with thick, reinforced straps holding them in place without falling. Heart monitors were hooked up to each of them, emitting a steady cacophony of electronic beeping.

“Veronica, how are their vitals looking?” he asked.

The blonde woman sitting at a computer on the opposite side of the room swung her chair around slowly to face him, removing her glasses and letting out a tired sigh. “Vitals are completely stable, and none of them are showing any abnormalities. Seems to be a another successful batch.”

Pausing, Strange glanced over at the subjects, the remaining members of the Justice League: Cyborg, Batman, Donna Troy, Green Arrow, and Jesse Quick. “Good. See to it that you activate them before you leave; I want them operational by tomorrow.”

“Of course,” Veronica said. “I'll get to work on it now.”

When Strange left the room, Veronica turned back to her computer and began running several programs. The heart monitors beeped faster for a moment, as the activation process began. Shortly after, the beats returned to normal. Now all that was left to do was to wait for complete functionality, which should take approximately six hours. In the meantime, she could use a hot shower and a long nap. Turning the computer off, Veronica got up from her desk and exited the room, shutting the lights off behind her.

For a short while, the only illumination in the room came from the steady blinking of the monitors. However, several minutes later, a bright red glow appeared, emanating from Cyborg's robotic eye. Though the human part of his brain was still dormant, inactive and awaiting functionality, the machine part of his brain worked on overdrive.

Detecting foreign programming...

Activating defense protocols...

Local firewall activated...

Processing...

Foreign programming removed.

And then, Cyborg's normal eye suddenly flew open, while his lungs inhaled a deep, shocked breath. He swallowed a hard lump in his throat and attempted to move forward, only to find himself strapped down to the slanted table. It didn't take much in order to break free of them, however, as he stumbled forward and waited for his systems to boot up.

“The hell am I?” he uttered.

The last thing he recalled, he and the rest of the Justice league had been fighting against a small army of other heroes under the control of the VRA... and they had lost. After that... nothing. Everything was blank, just a wall of darkness in his mind. Instead of trying to think about past events he couldn't remember, though, he instead focused on the present, turning his attention to the room surrounding him. When he realized that his friends were tied up and unconscious, he immediately attempted to wake them.

“Guys? Come on, hey, time to get up!”

Of course, that had little effect, as they were completely unresponsive. Lifting up one of his arms, he flipped open a panel and activated his bio scanners, trying to get a read on their condition.

Scanners say they're out cold... he thought. No signs of waking up any time soon, either. Okay, plan B.

Moving away from the unconscious Justice League, Cyborg sat himself in front of the computer. When he dispersed the screen saver, he found the system requesting a password. Within moments, he interfaced himself with the computer and began going through its system. The password came to him in an instant, allowing him unrestricted access to all of the computer's files, data, and information, downloading it all into his own system.

Several minutes into his hacking session, however, particular pieces of data began flying through his head. He suddenly realized where he was and what was going on. This was a VRA facility, and what they were doing...

Once he finished downloading the computer's entire hard drive, he pushed himself back in the seat and stared at the screen, partially mortified. “This is bad... this is really bad.”

If the data he had just received was accurate, then he needed to figure out some way to stop it, some way to fix what the VRA was doing, and fast. But he couldn't do it here, not under the noses of the VRA itself. He needed to escape... but how?

---

“So, you're going to free the children tomorrow?” Becky asked, looking up at Rose from the edge of the bed.

Rose, in the middle of examining her armor for any damage that might need repairing, didn't look back when she responded, instead continuing her work. “We'll try to, anyway. With some luck, we might even be successful... and after that, we take down the VRA headquarters, pay a little visit to my dad, and find out what's really going on.”

“And I suppose you'll be leaving me behind, right?”

Pausing, Rose turned now to glance over her shoulder, giving Becky a narrow gaze. “Haven't we had this conversation already?”

“Yeah, well maybe it's time to bring it up again,” she insisted.

“Becky, I don't think-”

“No, just listen to me, okay?” Becky stood up, folding her arms and walking up to Rose. “If you think you're going to go running off on some crazy mission without me, then you're loco. You really think you can just leave me here, waiting and hoping you come back again? What if you don't?”

Hardening her gaze, Rose looked squarely into Becky's eyes. “I will.”

“You can't promise that, Rose. You know you can't promise that. The situation is a bit different than what you're used to.”

“Which is exactly why you shouldn't be coming along,” Rose explained. “We just freed you, I'm not going to throw you right back into harm's way!”

Becky placed her hands on her girlfriend's shoulders, fingers holding firmly. “I'd rather be in harm's way with you than out of harm's way waiting around helplessly for you to come back.”

“And I'd rather not get my girlfriend hurt, or arrested, or worse!” Rose retorted. “I'm trying to protect you.”

Becky frowned, glare intensifying. “I don't need protecting! Christ, Rose, you've been spending all this time training me, getting me to improve, but you won't let me help you. If that's the case, then what's the point?”

“The deal was to teach you how to better defend yourself, so hopefully my life wouldn't catch you in the crossfire,” Rose said. “I was never trying to train you to become my crime fighting partner or anything. If that's the notion you got, then I'm sorry, but it's not going to happen.”

“Right, because you're so much better.”

“Yeah, I am!” Rose countered, brushing Becky's hands away. “Like it or not, I've been doing this for years. I have the experience and the skill to handle this kind of stuff. You don't.”

“You forget I've been a cop for five years,” she said. “I'm not exactly new to fighting crime!”

“Being a cop won't stop some super powered goon from punching your head off!” Rose shouted. “The stuff I deal with is a little more dangerous than your average thug with an uzi, and now with the VRA having nearly the entire superhero community at their disposal, you'll just end up getting yourself killed! You can't help, Becky! I wish you could, but you can't. That's just the way it is!”

Clenching her jaw tightly, Becky folded her arms across her chest for a moment, glaring hotly at her girlfriend. At the moment, though, Rose didn't feel so much like a girlfriend as an arrogant, egotistical b*tch. Even if she was putting Becky's safety first, at the moment it just came across as condescending.

“You know what? Fine!” Grabbing a robe off the bedpost, Becky slipped it on and made her way towards the door. “Whatever. I'll just wait here and pray you don't die. Like I always do.”

“Where are you going?”

“Away from you!” Becky slammed the door behind her, rattling the frame as she walked out into the hallway and headed back to the kitchen area. Maybe some coffee would help calm her down, though she highly doubted that. When she did finally make it into the kitchen, she just stood there a while, leaning against the sink and taking in deep, steady breaths.

It was dark right now, most of the lights shut off a while ago with everyone going to bed, but she made no move to turn them on. She rather preferred the dark at the moment. When the kitchen light suddenly flicked on, however, she looked up to see a familiar figure standing there, dressed in powder blue pajamas.

“Oh, uh, P-Power Girl...” she uttered, almost at a loss for words. “Hi.”

“Please, I'm in my civvies,” the woman replied. “It's just Kara.”

“Uh, Kara, right. Sorry.”

“So...” Kara breathed, hands coming to her hips. “That sounded like some fight.”

Becky blinked, flinching slightly. “Wait... you heard that?”

Smiling slightly, Kara pointed to her ears. “Super hearing. And with the way you two were yelling...”

“Oy...” Holding a hand to her head, she lets out a frustrated groan. “It's just... I feel so useless around her, you know? I mean, she's great; she's strong, fast, smart, and can kick a whole lot of ass. But me... I'm just me. Sure, she might be training me on the side, but a lot of good that does when she won't even let me help her.”

“Sounds like she's just protective.”

“Yeah, I know...” Becky muttered. “She cares, and that's great, but I'd rather be out there fighting with her. Of course, when it comes to that she just treats me like a kid, like I'd just be getting in the way. And maybe she's right, sure, but maybe she's not. Maybe I'd do just fine.”

“Hmm... sort of a 'never know until you try' kind of thing, right?”

“Exactly.” Breathing out a heavy sigh, Becky lowered her gaze and rubbed her temples tiredly. She was starting to get a rather aggravating headache. “But it doesn't matter anyway. Not really a whole lot I can do about it.”

Kara folded her arms across her chest, leaning back against the counter and thinking a moment. It wasn't everyday that she met a person quite like Rebecca Chavez. In spite of the anger and the frustration in the woman, Kara could see a good deal of determination in her, too, and a desire to do good. The only problem was that Becky didn't have the means to do it, at least not in the way the superheroes around her did.

“What if I said I might have something that could help?” Kara asked.

Becky lifted a curious eyebrow. “Help me how?”

“Come with me and I'll show you.”

The small group of heroes gathered in the living room the next morning, preparing for their inevitable assault on the next VRA facility. It was a brazen move to be sure, but with the way things were, they didn't have many other options. They had already been branded fugitives, so they might as well act like fugitives, and they weren't about to let innocent children, powered or not, be held prisoner away from their families just so some scientists could study their abilities.

Securing her swords on her back, Ravager took a moment to look around at the others. The heroes were all there, including The Flash, Red Arrow, Raven, and of course, Power Girl. Wally's wife and son were there to wish their dad luck, and even Circe sat off to the side, watching them. But Becky was nowhere to be seen.

Curious, Ravager looked over to Power Girl. “Hey, have you seen Rebecca this morning? We... sort of had a fight last night, and she never came back to the room.”

“Oh, Becky?” Power Girl lifted an eyebrow, thinking momentarily. “Not sure... I imagine she's probably still testing her new suit.”

Narrowing her eyes, Ravager gave the woman a hard stare. “What do you mean, 'her new suit'?”

“Hey, Rose! Think fast!” a voice shouted.

Ravager turned suddenly, not only in response to the voice, but also a flicker of precog flashing through her head, and brought up her arms to block an incoming strike. The long metal pole swung viciously, caroming off her forearms with a force much greater than it should have. A miniature shock wave erupted from the point of impact, flipping her backwards through the air and over the couch. She only barely managed to twist her body around to land on her feet in a crouch.

“And that was the low setting!” Becky exclaimed. “I can shatter concrete on high!”

Becky moved in again, racing at a speed far greater than she should have been able to, and lunged in with surprising skill. The spinning kick that she delivered came with a grace and precision that she had never shown before. Though Ravager managed to sidestep the kick, a follow up blow from the butt of the staff caught her off guard and launched her backwards again, tumbling head over heels. As she scrambled back to her feet, she stared at her girlfriend with eyes wide, half in panic.

What the hell is going on?!

When Becky made another move, Ravager was ready for her, and the two exchanged a brief series of blows – yes, exchanged blows. Never before had Becky ever been able to land a solid hit on her during their spars, but right now the woman was fighting like some kind of possessed demon. She was faster, stronger, her movements more elegant, precise. Furthermore, the strikes that Ravager landed barely seemed to have an effect. Becky kept coming, completely unfazed, and in moments tripped Ravager to her back with a sweeping blow to the back of her legs. Before Ravager could make a move to get up, the end of Becky's staff twirled around and planted itself straight against her throat.

“Not bad, ah?” Becky said, grinning widely. “Do I pass the audition?”

Ravager just stared up at Becky, blinking in confusion from behind her faceplate. She couldn't put into words how utterly dumbfounded she was at the moment, having no idea what just happened. From what she could tell, Becky had somehow made a monumental leap in ability overnight, and it must have had something with the costume she currently wore, a rather tight, though durable and armored power suit, with metal guards on the shoulder and arms. Its armored plating also extended up to her head, adding more protection everywhere except a spot to allow her hair to flow out.

The others, meanwhile, watched in equal surprise, mouths hanging open and astounded. A few moments later, though, Red Arrow's expression shifted into amusement. “Wow... she really handed it to you.”

Flash agreed, nodding his head. “Yeah, that was...”

“Rather amusing,” Circe remarked, smirking slightly.

“I know, right? This thing is amazing!” Becky exclaimed.

Blinking a couple of times, Ravager slowly reached up to move the staff away from her throat, then sat upright, still staring. “Becky... the hell was that? And what are you wearing?”

Walking forward, Power Girl gestured at the suit and smiled. “Ladies and gentleman, I give you the latest prototype from Starr Industries' Tech division. The X-suit is a state of the art piece of equipment designed to increase a person's natural attributes to the maximum and beyond. By keying into the wearer's bio-electric signature, it works with the body to increase strength, agility, speed, reflexes, stamina; you name, it does it. Originally meant to be a tool to help workers in dangerous jobs more easily and safely complete their daily tasks, it also makes for one heck of a superhero costume.”

“Well you certainly got the sales pitch down...” Ravager muttered.

“Thanks, I've been practicing,” Power Girl replied. “You don't think it comes across as a little too cheesy?”

Ravager said nothing in response, merely glaring at the woman.

“So, what do you think?” Becky asked, taking a step forward and helping her girlfriend back to her feet. “With this thing, I can do everything you can; maybe more. I can help you now, Rose. I don't have to sit on the sidelines anymore.”

Ravager paused a long moment, looking over Becky's suit carefully. “Becky... I don't like this. You can't just... put on a costume and suddenly become a superhero.”

Narrowing her eyes slightly, Becky frowned and held her hands to her hips. “So even when I'm perfectly capable of handling myself, you still don't want my help. Is that it?”

“It's not that, it's just-”

“In case you didn't notice, Rose, I just beat you. Don't tell me you're a sore loser now.”

“I just don't want you getting hurt,” Ravager said, her eyes softening. “I... you know how much you mean to me, right?”

Letting out a small breath, Becky reached up and put a hand on Ravager's shoulder. She then reached up to remove the woman's faceplate, so she could look into her eyes. “About as much as you mean to me, ah? You know that's why I want to be there with you, why I need to be there with you. If you're putting yourself at risk like this, then so am I. That's just the way it is.”

A small pause passed between them. Ravager lowered her gaze, a sigh escaping her lips. She was fully and completely against allowing Becky along, but at the same time, what could she really do to stop her? No matter what Ravager did, short of tying her to a bedpost, Becky wasn't going to wait behind again, not now.

She doesn't know what she's getting herself into...but I can't stop her. God help me, I can't stop her.

“Fine... you can come,” she said, finally giving in. “Just... don't get yourself hurt, alright?”

“Hey, you watch my back and I'll watch yours. Deal?”

Looking up again, Ravager gave a small smile. “Deal.”

---

“Well, at least they had the courtesy to put this place in the middle of nowhere,” Red Arrow said.

The group sat on a rocky outcropping, overlooking the buildings down below, about five hundred yards in the distance. All around them stretched the seemingly infinite Arizona desert, a vast expanse of dry, red rocks and earth, and dead shrubs. The compound wasn't exactly on the main road, either, instead about three miles down a barely visible dirt path.

“Probably to discourage the kids from trying to run away,” Flash added. “Only place to go is miles of desert.”

Ravager turned her attention to Power Girl. “What do you see down there?”

Squinting her eyes, Power Girl carefully observed the compound in the distance with her super vision. She was silent for a moment before finally reporting her findings. “Several guard patrols, five men per squad. Can't see inside the buildings, though; the walls must be lead-lined.”

“And I cannot teleport inside...” Raven said. “They have taken... many precautions.”

Flash huffed out an annoyed breath. “Who wants to bet I can't vibrate through the walls, either?”

Standing up and holding her staff against the ground, Becky took in a deep breath and glared down at the compound. She was motivated, determined, and yet also held a degree of eagerness and excitement; this time around, she got to be one of the heroes. “Alright, so what's the plan? How do we get those kids out of there?”

“Well, our goal here is to free everyone, right?” Ravager said. “So, essentially we need to take over the entire compound. I say we go with the full frontal attack, work on subduing all the guards and gaining control of the facility. That way, we can stick together and watch each other's backs.”

Raven nodded. “I agree... They are likely to have many security protocols that would prevent a stealthy infiltration. We must... force our way in.”

“Fine, as long P.G. leads the charge,” Red Arrow said, leaning against his bow.

Raising an eyebrow, Power Girl glanced back at the man. “Quick to throw me to the wolves, I see.”

“Of course I am, you're our only heavy hitter,” he explained. “Get in there and cause as much damage as possible; we'll back you up.”

“Well, I suppose I can live with that...” Power Girl stated, floating up into the air. “Alright then, let's get down there and introduce ourselves, shall we?”

---

“Hey, do you see that?” one of the guards asked, squinting into the distance.

The east patrol suddenly stopped and looked over to where their squadmate was pointing. In the distance, about two hundred feet up in the air, was a small white dot fast approaching, with a flicker of red trailing behind it.

Another guard stepped forward and held a hand up above his eyes, trying to shield the bright sunlight. “I dunno, maybe a bird or something?”

“Could be a weather balloon,” another suggested.

“What the hell would a weather balloon be doing out here?”

Before they could further discuss the possibility of what it might be, their buddy threw himself at them, pushing them out of the way. “Jesus, look out!”

Two long, hot beams sliced across the ground nearby, kicking up dirt and dust into the air. Of course, Power Girl hadn't actually been aiming at the squad, instead only intending to cause chaos and distract, but the guards didn't knew that. As far as they were concerned, some super being was trying to kill them. When she swooped in from above and began targeting empty vehicles and patches of dirt, several more squads came running in from throughout the compound to stop her.

As if they could stop her. They could try all they wanted, but none of them had a way of breaking through her tough, Kryptonian skin. Bullets bounced off, stun weapons merely tickled, and blunt objects had no effect whatsoever. This allowed her to create as much mayhem as possible, while subduing every person she came across. Granted, she wouldn't really hurt them... much. They just needed to sleep for a while.

As several more teams poured out of the surrounding buildings, a red and yellow blur zipped into the compound, rocketing from person to person and knocking them out cold. They never knew what hit them, as The Flash moved far faster than their eyes can register, although he was plenty careful to not accidentally kill anyone. A short few moments later, the rest of the heroes arrived.

Staying near the back of the pack, Red Arrow unloaded shot after shot, each arrow finding its target and putting the victim down with a powerful, stunning electric shock. Raven levitated upwards, holding her arms up and projecting her soul-self outwards in the form of a giant raven that swooped down onto her enemies, throwing them backwards and holding them down. Ravager, however, took a much more direct approach. She leaped forward into a small squad, fists at the ready, and when she found the openings she needed, she put them down with hard blows to the head.

And then there was Becky. Showing no fear or hesitation, she sprinted forward with shocking speed, hitting somewhere around fifty miles per hour by the time she reached the nearest group of guards. They took aim with their weapons, but she was already out of the way, leaping through the air and flipping over them, while swinging her staff down in mid jump and striking two in the sides of their skulls. When she landed, she twirled around and swept low, tripping up another, and then lifting the metal pole skyward to catch the fourth man in the bottom of the jaw, knocking him clear off his feet.

“Ha! Did you see that?” she exclaimed, grinning broadly.

Turning her gaze, Ravager looked over to notice another stray guard running up behind Becky with a stun baton. “Look out!”

Without so much as turning around, Becky sidestepped the blindside attack and whipped her staff up over her shoulder, smashing the man in the face and sending him hurtling backwards. “You worry too much, Rose, I got it covered!”

Breathing out a brief sigh, Ravager moved to the side and caught a guard's arm in mid attack, twisting it harshly and snapping bone. A follow up knee to the face knocked him out.

Meanwhile, a lone guard took cover behind a jeep and lifted his radio up to his mouth. “Are you seeing this?! We need backup out here! They're tearing us apart!”

A small hiss of static came in, followed shortly after by a somewhat annoyed female voice. “Yes, I'm aware of what's going on.”

“Well then where's the support?!”

“Soon, just try to hold out a little longer,” the woman replied. “It's not like any of you are dying.”

When the radio clicked off, the guard blinked down at it and then threw it away in frustration. As he went to look around the jeep again, watching the Kryptonian woman creating all sorts of destruction to the property, a crimson arrow suddenly zipped through the air and planted itself against his chest. Blinking, he stared down at the shaft for a brief moment before a powerful electric shock surged through him. Within seconds, he passed out.

---

Inside the main office of the facility, Amanda Waller leaned back in her seat and tapped her fingers against the desk in front of her. She couldn't say that this little attack on the compound was unexpected; with everything going on, she would have been surprised if the remaining free heroes didn't try something like this. However, she had been hoping that her team would be a little more capable than what they had shown so far. Then again, with a Kryptonian and the fastest man alive leading the charge, it was no wonder why they were failing so miserably.

But all that was about to change. Looking across her desk at the six individuals standing in her office, she simply gave them an affirmative nod. “Bring them down.”

---

It didn't take long before all the guards on the outside of the compound were down and out, bodies quite literally strewn everywhere. They were all still alive, though, and would eventually make full recoveries. While the others regrouped, The Flash took a couple seconds (quite literally) to move all the unconscious men into more comfortable positions, lying them down on their backsides in neat rows.

“Alright, that's everyone,” he said, rejoining his teammates. “When we're done here we can take them to the nearest hospital, but they should be fine.”

Power Girl nodded. “Alright, let's get inside and–”

Long before her words finished leaving her mouth, a blur sprinted in from seemingly out of nowhere and tackled the Flash from behind, throwing him wildly across the desert ground.

“Wally!” Red Arrow shouted, running forward.

When The Flash finally rolled to a stop, he sprang back up to his feet and held his head, trying to shake himself out of the daze. “Alright, who's the coward with the sneak attack?”

Looking back in the direction that he was attacked from, Flash got a clear view of the person standing there, the one who had blitzed him from behind. The blue jeans and black T-shirt with an S-shield on it might not have been the trendiest superhero costume ever, but it was certainly recognizable.

“Superboy?” Ravager uttered, blinking.

“You shouldn't have come here, Rose,” Superboy said, his tone stolid and hollow. “None of you should have come here. Now we have to take you down.”

Ravager narrowed her eyes. “We?”

Turning their attention back towards the main building of the compound, they noticed another group standing there ready for a fight, a group consisting of familiar faces: Red Robin, Wonder Girl, Static, Bombshell, and Beast Boy.

Ravager's heart sank at the sight. “Oh... crap.”

Holding his bo staff at the ready, Red Robin led the charge. “Titans, take them out!”

As the Teen Titans begin to make their attack, Ravager took charge and called out the match-ups. “I'll take Static, Raven you got Bombshell!”

Without saying a single word in response, Raven took to the air, enveloping herself in her soul-self and preparing a defense.

“Power Girl, Wonder B*tch is all yours!” Ravager stated. “Becky, take Beast Boy!”

Becky looked back quickly to her girlfriend. “I don't know which one that is!”

“The green one! Roy, you're on Tim!”

“Way ahead of you,” Red Arrow replied, already taking aim with his bow.

He let the arrow loose with pinpoint accuracy, but Red Robin merely spun his staff and swatted the projectile out of the air, allowing him to close the distance and make a leaping attack that forced Red Arrow to jump back out of the way. Red Arrow followed up with a second shot, but the arrow missed again, as Red Robin ducked away to the side.

Flying in on a levitating slab of metal, Static sent out a vicious bolt of lightning. Ravager's reflexes and precog allowed her to dodge, but only barely. It reminded her of the time they had both fought in the Dark Side Club tournament a few years back. Static had been mind controlled then, too, though in that case he'd at least been fighting it. Whatever was controlling them this time seemed to have an unyielding grip.

Power Girl and Wonder Girl collided midair with thunderous force, grappling with each other momentarily. Eventually, Power Girl managed to flip them around and throw her opponent off towards the ground. The earth cratered beneath Wonder Girl upon impact, but the blow didn't seem to faze her, as she recovered and flew into the air again only seconds later. This time, Wonder Girl led with a punch to the face, sending Power Girl spinning upwards into the sky.

Power Girl slowed herself to a stop in enough time to fly out of the way of the next attack. Swopping around behind her opponent in an instant, she sent a hot beam of heat vision into Wonder Girl's backside, burning away part of her shirt and blasting her forward like a rocket. Wasting no time, Power Girl sped forward again, catching up and delivering a double, overhanded blow to the back of the head.

“Sorry kid, but you're not my league yet,” Power Girl stated, gazing at her downed opponent from the sky.

However, in spite of impacting the ground a second time with astonishing force, Wonder Girl flew up again a short few moment later, blitzing through the air and delivering a hard series of blows to Power Girl's face and midsection. Power Girl finally managed to catch one of Wonder Girl's punches, as well as blocking a kick with her other arm, but suddenly reeled backwards in response to a headbutt straight to the nose. Then, Wonder Girl swung her around wildly several times, throwing the woman with every bit of her power into the ground.

“I'm more than just in your league!” Wonder Girl shouted, floating back down to earth.

Power Girl uttered an irritated groan, pushing herself up to her hands and knees briefly and brushing the dirt from her costume. “That's it, no more messing around.”

---

On the other side of the yard, Becky squared off against the green kid, holding her staff at the ready. It would help if she had any idea on what this guy's powers were, but for now she'd just wing it.

“So, uh, what do you do?” she asked.

Beast Boy suddenly shifted into an eight foot tall grizzly bear, growling and and charging straight her. Becky's eyes went wide, as she leaped up and over a wild claw strike. She landed nimbly on the other side, turning around and spinning her staff to catch the grizzly in the backside. A small shock wave burst out from the tip of the pole, sending the bear hurtling forward, but after a brief moment Beast Boy recovered and morphed into a falcon, flying up into the air above her.

Shielding her eyes against the sun, Becky gazed up curiously, watching as the bird suddenly fell into a dive, coming downward with tremendous speed. “Not sure what you plan on doing like that, but I always did like baseball.”

Lifting her staff up like a baseball bat, she took a stance and waited for the falcon to come into range, intent on swatting the thing for a home run. When the bird abruptly transformed into a hippo, however, she shifted her stance quickly, having only a fraction of a second to react before the two ton animal crashed to earth, smashing her against the ground.

Fortunately, her suit not only allowed her to react quickly enough, but also prevented the massive animal from flattening her. Lying on her back with the hippo caught against her palms and feet, she started to push, limbs shaking violently as she struggled to heave the load upward.

“Get... off!” With one final, desperate shove, she sent Beast Boy several feet into the air, allowing just enough space for her to roll out from under it in the second or so the hippo was airborne. Retrieving her staff, she stumbled back up to her feet and took in several deep breaths. “Come on... that all you got?”

This time, Beast Boy morphed from a hippo into something that looked like a velociraptor straight out of Jurassic Park. The dinosaur uttered a shrill shriek and then made its charge.

Becky deadpanned, sighing deeply. “Ay caramba... I had to ask.”

---

Meanwhile, Flash and Superboy squared off, slowly circling each other.

“You sure you really want to do this?” Flash asked.

“Why not?” Superboy countered. “I'm fast, too. Almost as fast as Superman. Almost as fast as you. And I'm a lot stronger.”

Flash smirked slightly. “Kid, you're nowhere near as fast as me.”

“Why don't we find out?”

In an instant, Superboy disappeared from his current spot, blitzing forward in attempts to take his opponent out with one blow. But The Flash was faster, reacting before Superboy even made it halfway to him. He could tell that Superboy wasn't holding back, so neither did he, reaching speeds he didn't normally need to hit in a fight. As a matter of fact, none of the Titans were holding back; whatever was controlling them was pushing them to their fullest. If he or the others on his team tried to hold back like they normally did in battle, they would lose. Hopefully the others had already figured that out by now.

Flash did have to hand it to him, though; Superboy was fast. Probably one of the fastest there was next to a speedster. But, in the end, he wasn't a speedster, who had many more tools at their disposal when it came to speed. Now, if Superboy could get a couple solid hits in, he might have a chance, but he'd never get that opportunity. Once The Flash amped it up, there was little Superboy could do. In fact, most of his attacks started to slow down, becoming sluggish. The only chance he had had to land a blow was at the beginning of the fight, and now that chance was long gone.

“Feel yourself getting slower yet?” Flash asked.

Superboy rushed forward again, but he wasn't even breaking the sound barrier now. A few more seconds, and he was barely at Olympic level speed. By now, The Flash didn't even have to try in order to avoid him.

“That's the feel of your speed being drained from your body,” Flash explained. “The longer this fight goes on, the slower I make you. And then, I do this.”

Knocking out a Kryptonian with sheer blunt impact wasn't easy. It required an astounding level of force, and how exactly do you measure force? Mass times acceleration. What level of force do you get when you multiply the mass of one's fist accelerating at greater than light speed? Well, we'll leave the math to the mathematicians and just call it what it is: a lot. When Superboy went down, he stayed down. He likely wouldn't be getting up for a while.

---

“Damn it, hold still!” Bombshell shouted, darting her gaze around frantically.

Flying forward again, fists glowing with quantum energy, she took another swing at Raven. And just like the last ten times, Raven simply teleported out of the away. It was really starting to frustrate her. At least, that was what her mind was being told. With every failed attempt, the signals came in stronger; she had to subdue this woman!

“Amy... you are a strong woman,” Raven said, calmly. “You don't have to do this. Whatever is controlling you... fight it.”

“The hell are you talking about?” Bombshell questioned, eyes narrowing. “Nothing's controlling me!”

Uttering a small, distant breath, Raven teleported out of the way of another attack, then raised her hands and splays her finger apart. “If reason will not work...”

Suddenly, a grip of telekinesis latched onto Bombshell and swung her downward. Letting out a surprised yell, the metal-skinned woman crashed against the ground hard. Really hard. Telekinesis wasn't a power that Raven used often, so it was no wonder that Bombshell had forgotten about it. Now that she remembered, though, she suddenly realized just how much of a mismatch this really was, as Raven lifted her up and slammed her back into the ground repeatedly. It didn't do much to actually hurt her, but it did put her in one hell of a daze, rattling her head quite a bit.

When Bombshell finally felt the telekinetic hold release her, she stumbled back up to her feet, teetering. “Goddamn... hey, what the hell?!”

A black mass began to form around her, swallowing her. In a brief few moments, Raven's soul-self completely engulfed her, drawing her within and imprisoning her.

---

Crackoom!

Another hot wave of lightning ripped towards Ravager, forcing her to lunge to the side again. She could feel the heat as the bolt boiled the air around her. Sliding across the dirt, she pushed herself forward again, sprinting at Static. Before she made it even halfway to him, though, he unleashed another electrical blast that pushed her back on the defensive again. In spite of what some might think, dodging lightning wasn't exactly the easiest thing to do in the world, even when she can see it before it happened.

At least she was lasting longer than the last time they fought, but she knew it was still only a matter of time until he landed a hit, and although her new suit was largely insulated against electrical attacks, she'd rather not have to test just how protective it was if she didn't have to. She had to go for all or nothing.

Spinning out of the way of another lightning bolt, she sprinted forward again, then leaped into the air, a second blast rippling below her. Leading with her knee, she exploded a powerful blow against the side of Static's face, but at the same time felt an electrically charged punch erupt against her ribs.

As the two tumbled to the ground, Ravager uttered a small groan and rolled over onto her knees, bringing a hand up to clutch her side. Her body was numb and tingling, but at least she didn't feel any more damage than that. The new insulation in her armor seemed to hold up pretty well. Unfortunately, her strike didn't put Static down for good, a wide field of lightning crackling around him as he pushed his way back to his feet.

“Damn it, why can't you just stay down?” she muttered.

As if on cue, a small boom erupted from behind and sent him plummeting back to the ground, unconscious. Standing behind him, Becky twirled her staff in one hand and carried an unconscious Beast Boy in the other.

“Need a hand?” Becky asked, grinning.

---

“I said. Stay. Down!” Power Girl shouted.

Pushing her foot downward, she forced Wonder Girl's face back into the dirt, preventing her from getting back up. Breathing deeply, Power Girl wiped the blood from her split lip and gave one final stomp for good measure. Wonder Girl's strength finally faded along with consciousness, as her body went limp beneath Power Girl's heel.

“That's better.”

“Hey! A little help over here!” Red Arrow exclaimed.

Some distance away, Red Arrow and Red Robin's fight had spilled over towards a small storage shed, one wall of which had a hole through it. Several smoking arrow shafts burned in the ground around them, while Red Robin struggled to get his attacker off of him. Red Arrow knelt against his backside, pinning him against the ground with the bow's string pulled tight around his neck.

This hold lasted only a second longer, as Red Robin finally managed to flip Red Arrow off and deliver a punch to the jaw. Trying to regain control, Red Arrow ducked back and took a swing with his bow, battering the Titan in the head and finally putting him down.

“Stand aside...” Floating into range, Raven opened her cloak again and projected her soul-self into the air. The black mass reached outward, engulfing each of the unconscious Teen Titans and swallowing them back beneath her cloak. In moments, they disappeared. Dropping back to the ground, Raven fell to her knees momentarily and held a hand to her forehead. “They will be... safe there. Until we can figure out how to fix what's wrong with them.”

Breathing out a long breath, Ravager hung her head and slowly rose back to her feet. “Good... glad that's over.”

“We're not finished here yet,” Power Girl stated. “Everyone, split up into smaller groups and search the compound. We have to find those kids.”

---

As they walked down the corridor of one of the main buildings, Becky tapped her staff casually on her shoulder and glanced over at Ravager. “So, uh... not bad for my first time out, right? I mean, come on, admit it, I was totally awesome.”

Lifting her eyebrows behind her mask, Ravager slowly looked over to her girlfriend. For a moment, she just stared.

Becky brought her hands to her hips and frowned. “What?”

“Nothing, you just... you were pretty good out there,” Ravager said.

“But?”

Ravager shook her head. “No buts. I didn't know how you'd fare in a battle like that, even with the suit... but you handled herself really well. I'm proud of you.”

Breaking out into a wide grin, Becky threw an arm around her girlfriend and chuckled. “Dios mio, anyone else hear that? My girlfriend is proud of me! Isn't that sweet?” Of course, there was no one else around at the moment. Becky and Ravager had broken off from the others to cover more ground. “So, where do you suppose everyone is, anyway? I figured they would have least saved some defenses for the interior.”

“They must have thrown everything they had at us,” Ravager said, looking around carefully. “We did the same to them, after all. Question is, though, where are the kids?”

Pursing her lips, Becky moved her gaze to the left. Squinting through the small glass window of a door, she spotted something strange and moved closer to investigate. A few moments later, her eyes went wide. “I think I just found them.”

A second later, she pushed her way through the door, revealing what appeared to be a cafeteria beyond. Rows of long tables lined the room, each with dozens of children of all ages sitting down and casually eating. They ranged anywhere from five to maybe fifteen years old, each of them taken from their families and held here.

“They're just... eating,” Becky said. “Like normal kids.”

Ravager frowned. “You call that headgear normal?”

Each child had been outfitted with a strange, helmet-like device that wrapped around their heads, with wires and blinking lights. Approaching the nearest kid, Ravager looked closely and waved a hand in front of the boy's face. No response. The boy just blinked absently and slowly continued to eat his sandwich.

“Dios...” Becky breathed. “They're like zombies.”

“How much you want to bet it's the sci-fi helmets they got going on?” Ravager lightly touched one of the helmets, contemplating briefly whether or not to take it off. “Must... pacify them or something.”

“So what do we- oh my- Rose!”

Glancing upward, Ravager looked over to where Becky pointed and felt her heart jump. Springing back to her feet, she rushed over to the young, purple haired girl at the end of the table. “Lyta!”

Of course, there was no response, as the girl merely continued eating and didn't even acknowledge their presence.

“Can we just... take the helmet off, or what?” Becky asked.

“I don't know... there's no telling what it could do to them. We need to find somebody who can figure out how these things work. We need to help these kids.”

---

Pushing the door open, Red Arrow narrowed his eyes and looked around. It looked like they were in some kind of laboratory, with a bunch of medical and chemistry equipment out in the open, apparently having been in use not too long ago.

“What the hell is all this?” he wondered. “What are they doing with these kids that they need this crap for?”

“I don't know...” Flash said, “but I intend to find out.” In an instant, he disappeared, moving through the building at high speeds.

Red Arrow blinked a few times before realizing that his friend was gone. Uttering a small breath, he held his hands to his hips and started making his way through the lab. “I hate it when he does that...”

He found The Flash a few minutes later in one of the last rooms in the building. At first, he didn't realize what was going on, but it didn't take long to figure it out. Halfway across the room, he froze when he saw the rows of machines lined against the wall, each one containing a small child strapped down and hooked up to a bunch of wires and needles jabbing into their bodies. Small forceps forced their eyelids wide open, preventing them from blinking, while heart monitors kept track of their systems.

“Dear god... “ he uttered, slowly bringing his gaze towards Flash. “Wally, is that Iris?”

Flash knelt on the floor in front of one of the machines, a small girl clutched in his arms. The girl made no noticeable cognitive actions, lying limply and staring straight off into space, a weird helmet wrapped around her head.

“She's not responding, Roy. I... I'm trying to reach her but all she does is stare.”

“Must be the helmet she has on,” Red Arrow said. “They all have one.”

Moving towards the machines, he started to unhook the children. Not a single one uttered a word or so much as looked at the two men in the room. They just stared... motionless, unthinking.

When all the other children were safely out of the machines, Red Arrow walked over to his friend and put a hand on the man's shoulder. “We'll help her, Wally. We'll help all of them.”

---

“No, I don't care what you think is supposed to happen here!” Waller shouted. “The facility is compromised, and the team you sent me didn't help! If you want to keep this place under control, you need to send more backup immediately!”

The phone that she had been screaming into suddenly went dead, clicking off. Eyes going wide in surprise, she glared down and then angrily threw it across the room. “Damn it, Wilson!”

That was when the door to her office suddenly burst inward, flying off its hinges. Standing there in the entrance was a very angry, dirtied, and scuffed up Power Girl, staring a hole through the woman. Behind her stood the more reserved, quiet Raven. Marching into the office, Power Girl approached the desk, grabbed it with one hand, and tossed it through the wall with minimal effort. Then, she reached forward and grabbed Amanda Waller by the shirt collar.

“You think this changes anything?” Waller asked, eyes narrowing. “The VRA will come down on you harder than ever.”

“Then it's a good thing we plan on crippling them, isn't it?” Power Girl stated.

“You're out of your minds, all of you.” Waller lifted a hand, trying to yank Power Girl's grip away. It was, of course, futile. “The VRA has complete power. When it comes to you people, we are the law!”

“News flash,” Power Girl said, “just because the law gives you permission, it doesn't make you any less of a criminal for what you've been doing here, and sooner or later you'll answer for it. You all will.”

A short while later, the team regrouped back in the apartment bunker beneath the Starr Industries building. With them were all the children from the facility, still equipped with those strange, brain numbing helmets. They didn't dare attempt to take the things off without knowing exactly what they were dealing with and how to do it safely. For all they knew, simply unhooking the wires and removing the helmets could cause permanent brain damage; that is, if permanent brain damage hadn't already been done.

“Okay, so that Waller woman and the Teen Titans are in Raven's... soul thingy,” Becky said, trying to get recent events in order, “the injured guards we transported to the nearest hospital, and now we have a bunch of kids with brain drain helmets on that we don't know how to properly take off... what next?”

“We find someone who can and will help these children,” Power Girl replied. “Waller likely knows how these things work, but she isn't helping. That means we're going to need someone with tech experience... a lot of tech experience. I'll see what I can dig up.”

A short distance away on one of the couches, Circe looked up, holding her daughter closely in her arms. Lyta lay there motionlessly, a blank, faraway look on her face, completely unresponsive. “But they can be helped, can't they?”

“I promise we'll do everything we can,” Power Girl said, “but until we find someone who can examine and determine what kind of danger removing those helmets poses, then the only thing we can do is be patient.”

Circe wasn't the only concerned parent in the room, though. Linda and Wally, fresh out of his Flash costume, sat with their daughter, Iris. The girl's twin, Jai, was also nearby, studying the helmet curiously.

“Is there anyone left that hasn't been compromised by the VRA?” Wally asked. “There has to be someone we can contact about this.”

Power Girl sighed, lowering her gaze. “I really have no idea, Wally, I'm sorry. Everyone I know of who might be able to figure it out is already under the VRA's control. There might be someone who works in my company with the proper experience, but even then I don't know if we can trust anyone to not turn us in.”

“Well we'd better come up with something fast,” Roy said, leaning absently on his bow. “These kids don't deserve this...”

Nearby, Rose leaned back against one of the couches, arms folded and eyes slowly glancing from person to person. Suddenly, a small flickering red light caught her gaze. Turning towards Raven, she narrowed her eyes slightly. “Uh, Raven, you're blinking.”

“I'm... oh.” Looking down, Raven noticed that the brooch of her cloak was steadily blinking with bright red light. Carefully, she reached up and unclasped it, allowing her cloak to fall to the floor. Turning it over, she presses a small button on the back of the brooch and then raised it to her ear.

“Uh... what's she doing?” Rose asked.

Straightening himself, Wally gave the empath a long look, eyes focusing on the brooch. “That isn't just to hold her cloak together; it's also her old Titans communicator. Well, I imagine she still uses it since she's still on the Titans, but the only people who know the proper frequency are former members.”

“So someone's trying to contact her,” Rose muttered.

“Must be,” Wally said. “Question is, who?”

“Yeah, and is it someone on our side, or a trap?” Roy wondered.

Breathing outwardly, Raven lifted her cloak back up and reattached it around her shoulders with the brooch, then began to disappear through her soul-self. “I'll be... right back.”

Power Girl blinked, taking a quick step forward. “Wait a minute, where are you-”

But a second later, Raven vanished into thin air, the black mass completely dissipating.

“And she's gone,” Becky said, scratching the back of her head. “Where do you think she went off to in such a hurry?”

Looking up to her husband, Linda's expression lifted, hopeful. “Do you think it's someone who can help with the children?”

“That would be nice...” Wally said, shifting his gaze, “but somehow I don't think we're that lucky.”

Holding his bow over shoulder, Roy let out a long breath and glanced at the floor. “With everything that's been happening lately, we could use a little luck.”

“Anyway, I guess we should find a place where we can adequately keep the children for the time being,” Power Girl said. “They seem to at least be capable of basic functions, so sleeping and eating shouldn't be a problem... though I might have to go shopping for some more food. I don't think I have enough for all of them in that little fridge.”

“Don't worry about that, I'll go,” Wally said. “I can get the shopping done faster, and you're still in your costume anyway.”

“Alright, but at least let me give you some money to-”

Her words never got a chance to finish leaving her mouth before the dark flicker of Raven's soul-self suddenly reappeared in the middle of the living room. As Raven rematerialized, however, they quickly realized that she wasn't alone. Standing next to her was a man quite familiar to most of them.

“So I hear you could use a tech expert,” Cyborg stated, folding his arms across his chest.

Eyes going wide, Wally ran up to the man with a big smile. “Vic! Oh, man is it good to see you! What happened? I thought you got taken with the rest of the Justice League.”

“I did,” he replied. “In fact, the others are still under VRA control as we speak.”

“Well how did you get away?”

“Long story, but I'll try to be succinct,” Cyborg started. “I woke up a couple of days after the Justice League was attacked and taken, in the VRA's maximum security facility.”

“You mean where they take all the heroes who didn't register, so they can serve their sentence?” Becky said.

Cyborg nodded. “Exactly. Only they aren't locking up the ones who fail to register; in fact, they're doing the same thing to everyone, whether they registered or not.”

“Controlling them somehow, right?” Power Girl narrowed her eyes, jaw tightening. “Brainwashing or whatever method they're using.”

“Yeah. By the time I woke up, the rest of the Justice League was already unresponsive, in the process of being 'activated', as they call it. The only reason the same thing didn't happen to me was because they didn't account for the computer half of my brain.” Reaching up to his head, Cyborg lightly tapped the metal side of his skull. “My security protocols took over and eliminated the process before it could compromise me. Then, when I couldn't get the rest of the team to respond, I hacked into the VRA's computer systems instead to learn what I could. From there, I pretended to be controlled like everyone else, until I got to a point where I could break away and contact someone I could trust.”

“And what did you find from their files?”

“Nothing good. For starters, they're controlling people with these.” Holding out his fist, he uncurled his fingers slowly to reveal a long, needle-like device with one rounded end and a bunch of integrated wires. “They're called neural stems.”

At the sight of the stem, Rose and Becky's eyes instantly went wide.

“Jueputa...” Becky breathed. “Rose, isn't that...?”

Rose slowly nodded. “Yeah...”

“You know what it is?” Cyborg questioned.

“I've come across them before,” Rose said. “Last summer I busted a sub sect of the League of Assassins, led by a man named Shao Shen. He's the one who created them... or at least the scientists who worked for him did. They used the stems to control people around the city, trying to build some kind of force for... something. I never did find out what his ultimate plans were; stopped him before that became an issue. Last I heard, though, they were causing their victims' heads to pretty much explode. Apparently, they've been improved.”

Becky folded her arms, tapping her fingers gently. “But the entire stash was confiscated following Shen's arrest. After his trial, they were destroyed so they couldn't be used again. Where did these ones come from?”

“Not from Shen, that much is certain.” Rose paused a moment, then suddenly held a hand up to her forehead and groaned, a sudden revelation hitting her. “That must be how my father got his pardon. They're controlling the president, congress... sh*t they must have the entire government in their pocket. They're the reason that messed up bill went through the system so fast, why this whole law got made in the first place...”

“Alright, I'll bite,” Roy said. “Who are they?”

“Hell if I know, whoever's pulling the strings. But you can be damn sure we're gonna find out.”

Lifting up the device closer to his eyes, Cyborg gave the thing a long look, then turned his attention fully back to the others. “Whatever the case, I did manage to have my systems run a full diagnostic on a stem's capabilities, as well as how to properly neutralize them. If I have time to work, I might be able to create a counter device that we can use break others out of the VRA's control. In the meantime, let me see what I can do for the kids.”

---

Slade Wilson sat back in his seat, one hand raised to his chin in thought as he watched security footage from the earlier attack on the VRA's children facility. He took careful note of the individuals involved, began contemplating the best ways to plan for them. Power Girl, Red Arrow, Flash, Raven, and of course his daughter, Rose. Then there was the one he didn't recognize, the one in the odd power suit. While he didn't fully know the woman's capabilities, she didn't seem to be that big of a threat.

What worried him the most was the fact that they were able to capture the Teen Titans. Should they figure out a way to disrupt the neural stems, then their numbers would grow and they'd be a much larger pain. Nothing he and the VRA couldn't handle, of course, but still a pain.

Eventually, he grew tired of studying the footage and clicked his computer off. Then turned to the man sitting in the corner of the room. “They'll likely attack here next. You know that.”

“Of course I do,” the man replied. “And you'll be prepared, won't you?”

“I always am.”

“Good, because when I put you in this position, I was expecting a lot.” The man shifted his stance, standing straighter. “Your name has a certain reputation, after all. So far, though, I've been... disappointed. Two of our facilities have been attacked in as many days, you've been quite incapable of stopping the culprits, and now they're coming after you. If they should capture you-”

“They won't.”

“But if they do-”

“They won't get a word out of me,” Slade assured. “Client confidentiality is one of my highest priorities.”

The man paused a moment, eyes narrowing. “I should hope so.”

Leaning forward, Slade firmly folded his hands in front of him on the desk, staring intently at the man. “Just remember, when all this is over, you had better follow through with your end of the bargain. It's the only reason I agreed to this hostile takeover to begin with.”

“Oh, I will, most assuredly. In fact, I've already located her.”

A brief pause passed. Though Slade showed no signs of a shifting demeanor, he did straighten slightly in his seat, eye narrowing. “Where is she?”

“In a safe location, away from this country and under the impression that both you and Rose have been long dead. As for her exact coordinates, they will be disclosed when you clean up your mess and get my plans back on course.”

Slade's jaw tightened slightly, his gaze intensifying. “Have them ready.”

---

On her way back down the corridor from the bathroom, Rose turned the corner and very nearly walked right into Cyborg, narrowly managing to turn to the side just before collision. “Oh, sorry. Didn't see you there.”

“It's cool, it happens,” he said.

A small, awkward silence descended over them for a few moments. Shifting her weight, Rose reached up and crossed her arms over her chest, gaze moving off to the side. “So... everything taken care of?”

“Yeah, the helmets have been disabled and Raven just finished reuniting all the kids with their families.”

“I see... that's good. And the Titans...?”

Cyborg turned his head, nodding back in the direction he'd just come from. “In the living room, last I checked. Took a while, but I was able to disable their neural stems. They're just... readjusting. You know, they could see everything that happened when they were under control, they just...”

“Couldn't do anything to stop it?”

“Yeah.”

Rose dropped her gaze, a deep breath exhaling past her lips. “...I know what that's like.”

She briefly recalled the days that Slade had her under the control of his mind bending serum, the same serum that gave her her enhanced abilities. When she had finally been freed of that control, looking back on everything her father had forced her to do... it had been horrifying.

“And how have you been, anyway?” Cyborg asked. “I mean, I heard a lot from Dick, but I don't know the details... he says you've come a long way.”

“Ha, yeah that's one way of putting it,” Rose said, laughing quietly. “I've been... good, at least before this whole sh*tstorm happened.”

“Heard you're raising a kid.”

A broad smile suddenly spread itself across her face. “Yeah, Holly. She's the sweetest damn girl you'll every meet, I swear.” And then, her expression hardened again. “But the VRA took her, shoved her back into foster care... When this is all over, I'm tracking her down and I'm never letting anyone take her again.”

Cyborg nodded understandingly. “Hopefully that'll be sooner rather than later. But that's good, Rose. I'm glad to hear you're doing well.”

Rose smirked, lifting an eyebrow. “Remember the good old days, when you used to attack me on sight? Now here you are wishing me well.”

“Well, things change. People change.”

“Heh, yeah, even me.”

On that note, Cyborg's expression grew a bit more serious. Rose knew that look; she hated that look. It meant that he was about to act like a scolding, yet concerned older brother.

“But there are some things that you still need to take care of,” he said. “When's the last time you talked to the Titans?”

Breathing outwardly, Rose looked away again and frowned. Damn, she hated lectures. “Aside from that one time me and Tim crossed paths, not since the incident... so about two years.”

“You need to talk to them, you know that. After what happened with Bart, after you left them, cut them out... you need closure. You all do.”

“Yeah, I know.” She paused, bringing her arms over her chest again. “I just... I'm working up to it.”

“You've had two years to work up to it, Rose. Now's as good a time as any.” Saying nothing more, Cyborg gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder, then continued past her down the hallway.

Rose uttered a long, frustrated sigh, then held a hand to her head and gazed in the other direction, towards the entrance to the living room.

As good a time as any... right.

Breathing in deeply, she finally continued moving down the corridor and entered through the doorway into the living room. Most of the Teen Titans were there: Tim, Conner, Cassandra, Beast Boy, and Raven. Bombshell and Static were missing at the moment, though, which was probably for the best; those two weren't involved in the whole Bart incident, so there was really no need to drag them into this. Her words were meant for the others.

Speaking of them, the current conversation they'd been engaged in instantly ceased the moment that Rose entered. All eyes turned towards her, though no one said anything, only staring.

That is, until Cassie broke the silence. “What are you doing here?”

Hostility right off the bat, probably should have expected that. At least from Wonder B*tch anyway.

“Well, if we're keeping track,” Rose said, glaring at the blonde haired woman, “saving your asses and helping free you from mind control, after someone went and betrayed the team in the first place.”

Cassie began to rise out of her seat, a hateful frown forming on her face. “I see you haven't changed one bit.”

“Both of you, knock it off,” Tim said. “We're not here to fight with each other.”

“What do you want us to do instead, just make up nice with her?” Cassie turned her gaze, glaring at Tim now. “Have you forgotten what she did?”

Tim shook his head. “No, I haven't forgotten, but it's been a long time since then. It was a mistake, an accident, and maybe it's time we move past it.”

“Yeah, I mean... we can't hold a grudge forever, can we?” Beast Boy said.

“Maybe you can't.” Cassie once again brought her attention to Rose, eyes narrowing. “But I don't just go forgiving someone who gets one of our friends killed, someone whose life couldn't hold a candle to Bart's.”

The group went silent again, unsure how to react to Cassie's harsh words. Swallowing slightly, Rose folded her arms across her chest and took in a deep breath. She knew that Cassie loathed her, even before she got Bart killed, so this reaction didn't really come as a surprise. But apparently those two years since the incident had done nothing to even remotely soothe Cassie's opinion. If anything, it had only gotten worse.

Rose sucked in another small breath, finally ready to speak. “Listen-”

“No, you listen,” Cassie said, coming forward and poking a finger against Rose's chest. “From day one, I knew you were trouble. You were arrogant, self-centered, barely got a long with anyone, and you were constantly putting the rest of the team at risk for your own agenda. And that's not to mention all the times you ditched us, just to come crawling back again. But we always took you back, always gave you a home, a family, and what did you do to repay us? You continued acting like the same inconsiderate b*tch you've always been!”

Conner blinked a few times, rising from his seat. “Cass-”

“No, Conner, don't say anything,” she said, never taking her eyes off Rose. “Just don't. I need to get this off my chest. Rose, you've never cared about anyone but yourself. You've never listened, never considered how your actions might affect the people around you, and while you always said you considered the Titans your family, you did nothing to show that you actually cared. And you know what? You will never change.”

Rose's eyes slowly narrowed at the woman, her heartbeat starting to elevate. She forced herself to remain calm, though, instead just pursing her lips and staring intently. “Well, I can see this was a mistake...”

“The only mistake was ever letting you on our team in the first place.”

“Yeah... of course.” Rose nodded slowly, then turned her head away, heading out of the living room. Obviously this wasn't going to work.

Cassie scoffed, shaking her head. “And there you go, running away again.”

Rose stopped dead, jaw clenching and fists tightening. Taking in a deep breath, she suddenly whirled back around and stared coldly at the woman, pointing at her. “Now it's your turn to listen, got it? Ever since I first came to your little team, you were nothing but cold and condescending to me, just because of who my father was and what he did to me!”

“I'm sure the fact that you're mentally imbalanced had nothing to do with it,” Cassie remarked, rolling her eyes.

“I said, listen!” Rose snapped, coming closer. “You never gave me a chance to be anything other than the b*tch you saw me as! Nothing I ever did would have been good enough for me to crawl out of the gutter you had me in! And even when I thought we might have been warming up to each other, every time you started treating me with a little respect, I make one mistake and it's all gone, just like that! Had to start from scratch all over again, every time! So yeah, I was b*tchy, I was selfish, I was arrogant. That's what you had me pegged as, so that's all I ever was, no matter how much I tried to be otherwise! You want to know something that will blow your mind, Cassie? Everything you just said right now? You were right. One hundred percent, undeniably right!”

Rose allowed a brief moment to pass for Wonder B*tch to absorb the information. In spite of the apparent confusion on Cassie's face, she didn't say anything, probably too busy wondering where exactly Rose was going with this.

“Except for one thing,” she continued. “That I'd never change. Because you know something? I have changed. I've changed a lot. I hate that it took Bart's death for it to happen, but that's what gave me the wake up call. Bart was my friend, too, you know. I might not have been open about it, or been all goody goody with him like the rest of you, but I liked him, and I never wanted him to die. It was my own stupid decision that got him killed and I spent a lot of time hating myself for it. And I'm sorry, alright? I never got a chance to say that, but I'm sorry! For Bart's death, for being a sh*t team member, everything!”

Another moment of silence passed between them, this one longer than before. Cassie folded her arms and glared back at Rose, jaw tightening and eyes narrowing. Eventually, she managed to utter out a cold response. “Sorry doesn't bring him back. And I don't care how much you think you've changed, Rose, it doesn't make things any different. Just stay the hell away from me.”

Their conversation was suddenly interrupted, however, not by one of the other Teen Titans sitting around the living room, but by a different voice coming from the doorway. “Dios mio, what's with the shouting? Can hear you from the other end of the bunker.”

Everyone turned towards Becky momentarily, but no one said anything, not at first. Rose and Cassie were still seething at the other, trying to calm themselves down in light of the new, unrelated arrival.

“And who are you?” Cassie asked, eyes shifting briefly.

“Rebecca Chavez,” she responded. “You're... Wonder Girl?”

“That's me.”

“Well, uh, nice to meet you. And all the Titans, hey.” She gave the group a little wave, smiling slightly. Her attention fell on Beast Boy momentarily, her demeanor suddenly shifting nervously. “Oh, uh, sorry about having to beat on you earlier, BB. No hard feelings?”

Beast Boy waved off the comment. “It's cool, given the circumstances. Don't sweat it.”

“Right, good. Still sorry, though.” Becky then turned her attention back to Rose, putting an arm around the woman's waist. “So you coming to bed or what?”

At this comment, Cassie's eyebrows suddenly lifted, eyes widening. A small, amused scoff snorted out of her throat, as she looked over at Rose. “Wait, wait. You and... her? You're joking, right? That's just... wow, I do not believe that one.”

Again, Rose's gaze narrowed at the Wonder B*tch, heart rate quickening. “What's the matter, jealous?”

“Right, as if. I don't swing that way, least of all over you.”

“Oh come on, we both know you wanted me,” Rose chastised, folding her arms and smirking. “That's why you could never keep a boyfriend for more than a couple months. Hell, just look at Tim and Conner over there, how long did they last? And refresh my memory, but I'm pretty sure they're the ones that dumped-”

The rest of her words were lost, as Cassie's fist cracked into Rose's jaw, sending her crashing to the floor. Instantly, the entire group of Titans were on their feet, moving to restrain her.

Becky, however, was the first to jump to Rose's defense, stepping right in between them. “Malparido! The hell is your problem?!”

“She brought it on herself!” Cassie shouted. “Now get out of the way!”

“You touch her again and I'll-”

“You'll what? Scratch me? Just move!”

Time tried to get between the two women, pushing them away from each other. “Everyone just calm down! Cassie, you're going too far, leave them alone!”

“Shut up, Tim, this isn't your problem,” Cassie stated, pushing him out of the way with minimal effort. “It's hers. Now, out of the way!”

As Cassie went for Rose again, Becky attempted to stop her. Unfortunately, she didn't have her suit or her staff at the moment, so when she tried to push the woman back, things didn't go so well. With a single arm, Cassie shoved Becky out of the way, putting a lot more force into it than she should have. For a brief moment, Becky was airborne, then crashed into the living room table, splintering it in half on the way to the floor.

“Becky!” Rose was suddenly on her feet, forgetting all about Cassie or anyone else, only wanting to make sure that her girlfriend was alright. Kneeling down next to the broken table, she reached out and helped the woman into a sitting position.

Becky groaned, holding a hand to a small, bleeding cut on the back of her head. “Dios... that hurt.”

“It's alright, you'll be fine,” Rose said, brushing back a strand of hair out of Becky's face. “Just a scratch. Can you stand?”

“Si, it's not that bad.” Uttering another pained breath, Becky gradually rose back up to her feet with Rose assisting her.

Slowly turning her head, Rose gave Cassie a brief, but venomous glare. “Are you happy now?” Then, she helped Becky limp back towards the doorway. “Come on, let's get you to bed.”

Cassie just stared at them as they left, a very evident frown on her face. She tried to keep her head high, not wanting to admit even to herself that she had probably gone too far. Eventually, she turned away from the others and stormed out of the room. “B*tch.”