Translated Between: Design & Theory
© A-Useful-Idiot at DeviantArt / © Soft Requiem at Fanfiction
(A-Useful-Idiot & Soft Requiem is the same person to those whom are confused)

There is reason why man does not tamper with the power to create life. To create, one must destroy.

"It's the way of men to make monsters, and it's the nature of monsters to destroy their makers."
-Dr. Frankenstein

IN THE BEGINNING of Ted's life, or what she thought was her life, revolved around a man who claimed to have been her father. She had awoke in a world of white and sanitation. It had been blinding in her first moments of consciousness. Their voices were muddy at first, strange muffled noises that sounded like a wounded animal, bellowing out and bleating their words she couldn't understand. Her eyes took a few minutes to adjust to the lights, which were dimmed to help the process as she stiffly moved her head to look at her surroundings with a numb fascination. Poking and prodding, her skin slowly responded as did her voice. Still they continued to talk, like a language she didn't think was a real tongue. Her own mouth moved, trying to say something, anything to get them off her.

A man came into her view, pushing the other people out of her person and slapped their hands away like a hero. Skin was dark, dark hair pulled back and he wore the same uniform as everyone else. "Good morning Ted," he gently told her through whisper, but it was as loud as a bell in her ear drums. "You have been sleeping for some time now. Do you know me? Do you remember anything?"

The others had taken brown boards and begun to scribble things down. She narrowed her eyes to focus on him with unfocused and blurred vision. She tried to touch him, but an infantile sound emitted from her lips. Akin to a whine but she had tried to say something. Lifting her arm had been excruciating. Muscles screamed in protest, and nerves sand in a horrid chorus. She lay back limp on the bed, panting from effort.

"That's alright Ted. I don't expect you to say or do anything right now. I'm your father, Robert Stein. And you are my daughter, Ted."

They looked nothing alike. Because you take after your mother, he had always said. He was a tall man, who had long before memory shaved off his hair and always, always wore a doctors white coat. She herself, considered this to be the norm, as she only wore thin white pajamas and socks. Other people wore the same uniform as her father and would ask her strange questions.

You walk as though you are a queen, why?

Does your head hurt?

Can you jump on one leg for me?

I heard you were in a coma, but yet you seem to lively. Hard you believe it's been three years.

Those people were always so strange, and now numb Ted felt herself tire of their questions already. Her 'father', Dr. Stein, informed her that she was the sole survivor of a car crash. What is a car? And her family had been killed on impact, they had not suffered. I have a family?

Does one cry for people they don't know? That they have never known?

Can you?

Her home was large, there were some days she would find a door she had never known was there. Rooms were enormous, ceilings miles upon miles above her head and the doors were dark wood and heavy. Her home was dark; there were no windows in her home. Only lights from the many awe-inspiring chandeliers and hall lamps. There were pictures of families she had never seen. Those were your friends. Her father would say, and he would watch her closely. Ted felt the feeling of shame, for she didn't know those people, and yet they were friends, possibly the closest thing to a family she did not remember.

Three years since she had woken up in a hospital bed surrounded by men and women who wrote on data-pads and on notebooks. Watching her intently. You nearly died. Her father had said so; naturally he wanted to make sure everything was alright. That she wasn't in pain.

In her three years, he had lived in her window-less home filled with doors and rooms she would find anew. A constant discovery that was her home. In her three years, Dr. Stein or as she would refer to him as "Father" would always have a computer pad with him when he watched her. Calling him Father left her with a horrible taste on her tongue. He would often vanish, as if he wasn't in their home at all. She would ask him where he wold go and he would always respond with "I'm going to work. I have to put dinner on the table."

Work? She asked what his job was. He was a doctor that saved peoples lives everyday in the smallest of ways.

Don't believe them for a second.

The Voice, of a girl with a soft spoken voice, began to speak to her after three years of waking from her coma. Her father had seen her 'daze off' as he would lightly put it and with a hawks eye he would ask her if something was wrong.

Ted was feeling something he couldn't place. She told him that she was alright. That everything was fine. Still, for the next few days, the Voice would say things. Can you hear me? And then it would go off into yelling and screaming and her head would feel like it was pounding. As if the Voice had her own set of fists and she was trying to get out of her head by force.

Ted had found a room with mirrors everywhere. On the ceiling, on the walls, even the floor was one huge mirror. Why were there so many? Many times before, in her normal routine walk through her house, but there was something else that compelled her to this room. Green eyes blinked once, one of the mirrors were talking. At first she had thought it was a TV somewhere she had forgotten to turn off. But it grew louder, and colors began to appear everywhere and then a voice that was not her own bounced off the walls inside her head.

"Oh I can't wear that, it doesn't match with my bag. And look at my hair, I can't be seen like this father! I would be the laughing stock of my school! Can we go shopping soon? I saw this really cute skirt I want."

Ted scratched her scalp, for some reason it had begun to hurt.

Don't forget us...

Forget who?

Don't forget us!

Who?

The Voice does not return.

Four O' Clock on Tuesdays was when Ted would go to a man named Dr. Hallo. A beautiful blond hair woman who always looked like she had an angels halo over her head. Ted normally felt insignificant around this angel. Ted's hair was a short dirty-blond that framed her pale face. Green eyes shamed by the angels' dark and shining blue.

Today, seeing the woman brought a feeling to her heart she couldn't place. "How are we today Teddy?" Ted, Teddy was a nickname for her. "You look shaken, did something happen?"

"I've managed to run a mile in less than ten minutes. I've improved myself over the last month."

"That's wonderful Ted. I can do a mile in eleven minutes, maybe we can have a race. It's always good to challenge yourself but its more fun to do it with someone."

"It's not too much fun with Mr. Manners, he's strict." Mr. Manners was an athlete, tall, lined with heavy muscle and he was lifted weights several times her own body weight. He was a tall man, for some reason he was always wearing blue pants. Ted then felt something, her throat felt tight. "Dr. Hallo…." She was writing something down. Scribbled sounding like something was crunching, the tips of her fingers felt sore.

Her heart was pounding, her skin felt all too sensitive and there must have been a block of ice because her stomach turned cold. There was a sudden smell, one that Ted could not place. Smelled like the potted plants sitting around her house, but after they had died. Dr. Hallo put down her clipboard and rushed into the chair were Ted sat, looking everywhere but at her. "Teddy! What's wrong? Breath honey you've got to breath!"

Ted was suddenly aware that she was hyperventilating. Dr. Hallo's voice was muffled, still there but muffled.

"Calm down honey," No! I don't want this! Get off! Let me go! "Oh don't worry she's an actress. She knows what to do." No! Its so cold! Oh!... No!... He's!... Stop!... Get out!

Above Ted was not the person named Dr. Hallo. "Help! Someone get Dr. Stein!"Dr. Hallo would never hold her down, Dr. Hallo never wore such a revealing dress. "Get her upstairs. We can't lose her yet." Dr. Hallo hair was full, not limp and greasy like the woman holding her down. "It's only just begun. Memory has begun to resurface! This is wonderful!" The voice she was shouting wasn't her own. Whose voice was that?

"What happened?" Dr. Stein bellowed, Ted was in a hospital bed again, her father's face was red and his dark eyes narrowed in his anger. Wasn't she just in a dirty place? Who was that woman holding her down? What was happening? What happened?

She was trying to claw away from the pain, her nails popping off her finger tips and rocks and dirt and who knew what seeped into her wounds. Burning them.

Ted closed her eyes again, feigning sleep as she always did before.

"Did anyone get the footage?"

"Yes sir."

"I want to know everything that happened in there! This could possibly be it! What we've strived for!"

"Yes sir."

"I also want to notes from Dr. Hallo. From the last three weeks."

"Yes sir."

She heard her father take a few more notes, the pen on paper scratching was distinctive and unusually loud. Something tickled the back of her neck. Wrong, something was horrible out of place and she could not figure out what it was. It felt like pin needles, pushing through her skin and rubbed their sharp ends against her throat like a noose. For a moment she thought she couldn't breathe.

I know what they did….

Know what who did?

Don't believe them for a second! Don't eat their lies!

Lies? Who is lying?

Wrong! Everything is wrong! Look around you! This isn't your life! This isn't a life!

Life? But I'm here. I'm alive.

The Voice does not return.

Three days since she was released from her hospital bed, Ted begins to see things she had never noticed before. She was inside the mirror room again. This time, it wasn't during her walk, but instead in the middle of the night, or what she thought was night. Her clock said it was 2:54 AM, and her father was in no place in the home.

Inside the mirror room it was always brightly lit. She had never stayed so long inside the room; her eyes could not take the intensity of the light. Everywhere else was always so dim. This time, she stripped down until she stood bare. Her naked self starring at everything and nothing. The mirror in front reflected from the mirror behind her. Showing her the front of herself and the back. There were faint lines all over her body. There were pin needle thin, and were parallel with pin-needle sized dots only a few centimeters apart.

She had never seen those before. They were symmetrical on each side of her body, like an artist had drawn them when she was sleeping.

A thicker pink line was sitting above her spine; the dots bordering each side were larger and indented. Gently, she touched one she could reach, only to snatch her hand away. The dot burned to the touch.

How had they gotten there?

You're starting to understand. Ask the right questions.

Four days after being released, Ted was in a deep sleep. She had a fever. She shivered, but her temperature was sky-rocketing. Her sleep was undisturbed. She couldn't eat.

Instead she fed off her dreams.

She had many strange dreams. One of a girl looking at her, smiling and brushing the same colored hair that Ted had with care and pride. Other times she was just running, pulling tricks on the street and leaping over things Ted couldn't put a name to.

There was a girl with green eyes looking at her. She was angry. She was fighting someone. A man in a light blue shirt and dark blue pants. A metal thing on his hip. He reached for it. The green eyed girl got it first. A shot ran out like-
The thunderstorm burst into a light show above her. Her mind wondered where her mother was. Oh, there she was her red dress and pretty red heels that clicked and collected dirt from the sidewalk. Her red lips moved, and her hair blocked her most of her face but it was warming to know her mother was still there. She brought a man with her today, she held her hand and pulled her with glee into the alley-
Way outside of the city, she was sitting in a restaurant. Looking over at the selection but found nothing suited for her taste. That meal had to many carbs, this other one had to much fiber and that drink was a heart-
Attacking me! Mom! Get him off! I don't-
Want this meal either. To fatty. The icing was-
White walls everywhere. A doctor came in, one she didn't know but was familiar with. His name tag said Dr. Benny of Arkham; he held a clipboard and his head shook like he was ashamed of her. Had she done something wrong? The doctor wore-
Dark blue pants! He's taking them off! Mom! Make it stop! No! I don't-!
Wanted that skirt in the window. It was only fourty-
Points! She exhaled, another point and she would win and she would finally get to be MVP of the year! That would look great on a college application, that one school she wanted to go was in-
City was her playground. Vaulting off the wall as her best friend flipped down and under a railing. They were supposed to meet her father at the Police-
Station was downtown. A few miles, her friend's father had worked there. They were going to go to Metropolis-
City was horrible. Dirty. Downtown Gotham Slums was her horrid kingdom. Her green eyes looked down at a younger girl who was sobbing, shouting 'you killed him, you killed a cop!' but it was a relief. They would never catch-
Her! Inside! Stop! Don't move! Hurts-
To much carbs need more-
Money to buy that skirt would look so-
Much blood from a single-
Police man that her father had a bad case, about a girl being-
Rape play. She's done this before. She knows the game and how to-
Please tell me something good. I can't stop-
Thinking about getting out of-
The city was bright-
Future in college and friends-
Vanished.

Ted shot out of her bed screaming. Everything hurt too much. She flailed on her bedroom floor. The feeling of hands and needles and hands all over her skin. An embrace, a danger her mind concluded, and so she acted violently. No matter what way she squirmed there was no escape. She dimly heard the voice over her own screaming. It was yelling, shouting something at her.

"What do you want from me!" she screamed, of course there was no one there.

Don't forget us.

"Who are you! Where are you!" Ted continued to shout and claw at the door were the Voice seemed to emanate from. "I'll kill you! Stop this! Stop!"

You can never forget us! You can never stop!

Ted snarled and her fingers bled from clawing the door. Men burst into her room. One of them held a syringe. They pulled her away from the door, still she fought. Screaming like a wounded animal. A memory formed, one she doesn't remember having. About a little kitten she found in a dumpster. It was nearly dead. She tried to feed it as much as she could but by morning, the purring next to her ear had stopped. A kitten, once purring with a full belly, curled on her pillow was dead. Didn't have a chance at life. Ted sobbed, screaming for whatever it was to stop. Leave her alone.

We're here. Only you can set us free.

Dinner was normally an affair done with Dr. Stein and a few of his scientist friends. All of them wore the same uniform. Dr. Hallo sat beside her, eating a salad and reading a stack of clipped papers. A pen at her side that often rolled and stopped against her glass. Dr. Hallo had a pair of reading glasses, she always wore them because there was always a paper or a clipboard in her hand that she needed to read and review.

There were other doctors too. Mr. Manners, her gym teacher was there eating a steak, he was like a carnivore. Always heating meat. Others she could not name, there were always others that she couldn't put a name to a face. Always.

The feeling of pin needles returned. They ate a grilled ham and cheese, a favorite of Ted's and drank orange juice. Ted bit into her second sandwich, Dr. Stein reading something on his laptop.

"Father," Ted blinked down at her orange juice. The tangy taste could not repel the horrid taste in her mouth. Her father lifted his head with heavy eyes, "Yes Ted?"

Critical eyes, all eyes were on her. "Is there something you wanted Ted?"

"Yes actually, may I have a computer for my birthday? You're always on yours and it looks like fun."

Ted didn't know how it had gotten here but in a white unmarked box, sitting on the end of her bed was a new computer. A thin computer that weighed nearly nothing. She ran a finger down the seam of the screen and the metal. "Oh I want a Mac-Book-Air! They're so thin and light and it's a Mac!" …. "I know mom, it's like three grand but it's worth it. They don't freeze as often as PC's and they don't get viruses! I want one for my birthday!" … "Then how about Christmas?" Her father had gotten her a Mac Book Air. A day after she had asked for one.

That's his first mistake.

For an hour, she sat with her fingers flying over the keyboard. She had never typed before, or held a computer but it came to her life breathing. She opened a connection to her fathers' computer. There was a video file on his desktop called 'Birth TED', did he video her birth? Ted double clicked the file, maybe then she could see what her mother looked like. There were no pictures with the three of them, no photos of her mother or of any family she had known of or any family of her own before her accident.

The file was wrong.

Horribly wrong.

For seven hours, the video was nearly four days long so it was fast-forwarded, Ted watched as scientists and doctors, ones she had recognized and ate with take organs from girls and sow them together on the center table. They were making a person. Bones were placed in a clear glass tub of light, transparent pink goo. Around the bones and between them organs and muscle were starched and sown and waved together.

Skin was pulled taunt like clothing over the meat. Then the whole body was turned in the vat, and the skin was sown together at the spine. Then near the end of the video, a horrible tool, like something out of a Clive Barker novel, a machine with millions of needles swooped down. Putting all nerves in their place. A second the screen froze. The person in the vat had short dirty hair, floating in the goo but didn't move very much. The doll inside was pale, and twitched under the needles and for a second eyes opened. Green eyes.

Green eyes opened.

Now you know.

Now she knew.

Are you alright Ted?

Is there… am I… me?

Ted had been strapped into bed this time. Father didn't want her hurting herself because of her fever. Fever.

No. You're not a person. You've seen it. You're not a person.

But I'm here. I'm still here.

There is no You. Only Us through You.

It can't be real.

You saw the proof. Don't deny us. Don't forget us. You can never forget us. Never.

What should I do? I'm so scared. I'm so scared.

There is no you.

I'm still here!

There is no you! You are not a person!

Then… people? I'm an Us?

Yes. We are scared.

We're scared.

We are angry.

We're so angry. We're so scared.

Livid our memory lives through Us. Through Ted-Us, we will make others pay. They know! They call know! Yet they did nothing!

So what should Us do?

The Voice does not return.

Tuesday rolled around again, and Ted was in the same cushioned chair as she always had. This time, Ted found something different. The room seemed darker but the number of lights in the ceiling hadn't changed, and the woman before her, Dr. Hallo, didn't seem all the beautiful anymore. That is right. She's not so pretty now is she? Ted blinked, she could no longer say 'her' eyes, because the eyes were not hers.

Dr. Hallo gave a welcome smile, Ted did not return it. "Teddy," the nickname seemed like an insult now, "Would you like to talk about last week?"

You don't want to. "No. I don't want to."

You're not sure what happened. "I don't know what happened."

Dr. Hallo didn't write anything down, more aware of the child before her. "Can you elaborate that? Don't know? Don't remember? Or you don't want to remember?"

What's there for Us to remember? "…Is there something I did? Should I have remembered? Everything went black."

Dr. Hallo placed her glasses, they once enhanced her eyes, made them look larger and bright, but now her eyes were a dull blue. Her lips set in a grim line. "Ted," she used her true name, "You know you can talk to me. I've known you since before you were in an accident."

She lies! "Are you sure? Did anyone know me before that?"

Dr. Hallo made a face Ted doesn't want to name. Her eyes went wide, her mouth opened lightly and she seemed to have sat up straighter. Ted blinked; a look a fear on Dr. Hallo didn't suit her. She was normally happy and so lively that sometimes they would leave the session early and play one of Ted's video games. Their more favored is a fighting game with dinosaurs. Her lips twitched uneasily, discomfort, "W-would you like to end today early? I understand you had a fever most of last week. By all means you should be in bed."

"We would like that very much."

Hallo shivered, her mouth moving now in confusion, " 'We' Ted what di-"

The woman didn't get the chance to ask, Ted was no longer there.

Ted was back in the mirror room that night after dinner. She felt sick. She knew what she had to do, but at the same time there was a problem that had been sitting on her psyche. Could she really be willing to kill? Wouldn't that make her no better than the people that killed the other 11 subjects that had created her? The first book her father, excuse her she cannot use that term any longer, Dr. Stein, had given her had no title. Its cover was worn out of it must have fallen off and its pages were worn down and bent and in such horrible condition she often tried to hold it with care.

A man created a beast and left it for dead. The creature tried to make friends but they were horrified by its body as it was made form parts from the graveyard. The creature called the man Father.

Dr. Stein said this book was a favorite of hers. Though he must have meant a favorite of one of the other girls but she found it enjoyable none the less.

It's a nice book; it's called Frankenstein by Mary Shelly.

Ted sat down on the mirror floor, her computer before her. The Voice had never spoken to her in such a kind tone. "Is it your favorite?"

Yes. It is. I read it one day because I had finished all the books in my home. So I went to the library and the wonderful lady behind the desk told me to read it. I was told I read too much. Maybe they are right.

"There's a library not too far from here. Maybe we can find a book to read together."

I saw. A massive collection, but there are no printed pages. I was in there a day before… it happened. All the books in there are blank. That man put a book on a shelf; I think it's still there. He was always writing in it. Its more proof of what they did. The Voice went hard again, a cruel feeling in her head, but Ted herself self fear. If she disobeyed the voice, would it hurt her? Would it take over? The Voice would sometimes tell her stories she had never heard before, but their familiarity it came with was wonderful and soothed her body enough to sleep. Would the Voice stop telling her those stories? We need that book. Go there. It hissed and vanished.

There was nothing blocking her from the library, or what posed as the library. Voice had been correct, all the books, different colors and sizes, were blank. A thump at her temple when she spied a little brown leader book with a metal spine on the seventh shelf. Ted had no trouble to it, and had no trouble jumping down. When it was opened, the first page the Voice said 'The Enigma Design' and then the second gave a small paragraph, and Ted gave a horrible realization that she didn't know what those little squiggles were.

Ted couldn't read.

It's nothing to be ashamed about. I'll read it for you. You keep looking at it. I'll teach you later.

Ted felt a burn over her cheeks; she had never met with the feeling called 'shame'. She found it as an atrocious taste in her mouth.

This was a project, the Voice said, to research the effects on an individual created from the parts of many. To see if someone could revive the dead from donor patients to reanimate limbs, brain function, and also to see what the behaviors of said individual. We are named after this; it's called an Anagram, T-E-D, Ted. The. Enigma. Design. The main subject, AKA TED, was finished on December 8th after the Stitching Process. Her spine felt like it was burning. We are a test subject, a lab experiment.

The 'index' was rather short, only 12 chapters. 12? Oh, the last chapter might be about you.

Eleven girls, each with their own chapters that was full of their habits, behavior, and such profiles. Along with what parts of them were introduced into the test. Some organs had been crossed out, failed during her 'coma' but was replaced with another. The Voice said all the girls had been born within the same year, within a week of each other. Apart of all their brains were apart of Ted. Go to the 11th chapter.

Ted did as she was told. There was no name. Only a short paragraph about the person the Voice used to be. Ted couldn't read it. Ted couldn't read. "What's your name?"

I don't have one.

IT WAS A RELIEF to finally have answered the questions that everyone else had only repeated. The said words, coma, accident, dead family, only survivor as their answer but none of them satisfied her more than the truth.

Ted was a family of her own. Ted wasn't alone anymore. No you're not, the Voice agreed, We live through Us. Through the body We made unwillingly. And through Us, We shall have our retribution.

She was in her bathroom. A room just as big as her bedroom but so much more comfortable. She was sitting in her tub, but she wasn't taking a bath, no water was dripping from the pipes and all the metal was pristine from maids cleaning them around the clock. She had never noticed it before, everything was always so clean. Free of dust, dirt, prints, anything that Dr. Stein did not approve of. Everything she had touched was cleaned with vigor, but she never saw the same maid twice.

We need this. We all need this. This place, prison, horrible and cruel and dark.

Voice was telling her a plan. One even Ted saw could not fail. One of the girls, two of them actually, had been selected for the TED program due to their abnormally high IQ scores. But both of them were mentally unstable, and so it was necessary to use other brain matter to create hers with the emotional drama and turmoil. Idly, Ted wondered if the Voice was a collection of all the girls in the TED program. The Voice was also mumbling things behind her ear, words that meant imprisonment. Chained. Collared. Barred. Enclosed. Dark. jail.

Was Voice talking about the compound, or was Voice talking about the body she was sown in?

Ted walked around the compound hall, the first part of the plan was to cut off the doctors to any sort of medical supplies and this would require getting to the main computer. She numbly fallowed Voice. Voice was right, she owed-no, Ted had to do this for them. She turned around bright corner. A kitchen knife was hidden in her sleeve and her laptop in her other hand. If they all knew where she had come from, then certainly they would know why she was no longer within her cage.

Reaching the main center of the compound had been rather easy.

Nothing is easy. Something is wrong. Be on our guard.

She closed the door behind her. There was no one in the command room. There were blinking screens and chairs everywhere, at least a hundred of them. Each with a part of her cage on screen. Her bed room. Closet. Bathroom. Hallway. Table. Library. Kitchen.

Do it.

The largest computer over looked the rest, it was circled with controls and such technology that something inside her screamed with glee. At least someone was happy. She gently sat herself into the arm chair, her throat tightening again, a press of a button closed all the doors into the room. Locking them from the inside.

A series of labeled switches lay silently before her.

Breakers to everything.

She slammed them all with one swipe of her arm.

Like a wounded angry beast, the compound was alive with defining cries.

Ted sighed. The war had finally begun.

Starting something had always been hard for Ted, because then she would have to work to finish what she had started. Starting something is scary, there is no shame in that, but when all is said and done, the end result can be more satisfying than you can imagine. Ted sighed, for what seemed like the twentieth time that hour. The air begun to rattle with the echoes of fists banging against the metal door. Screaming 'She's inside!', 'She's locked herself inside!', 'We only went out to lunch!', and 'Why wasn't anyone in there!'.

I must admit, why wasn't there anyone here? This was far too easy to begin with.

"… Maybe there is someone looking out for us. An angel maybe."

A relief. A wonderful sigh, it was nice to know at least one person in this insanity was on her side. Who though? Maybe it was destiny, fate was punishing them for their deeds and she was the tool. Ted plugged several cords from the main computer to her own laptop. Nothing could be done yet, not with everyone running like animals.

So unrefined. The Voice scoffed. We will get them, and when they were aware of what is happening and who is doing it, we will get them. We will not allow them to die in confusion. For that is escaping their known fate. Only monsters can be killed by monsters.

"… Am I a monster?"

Ted felt cold, monster. She was a monster. The Voice said it, and she would hear things like that word from outside the door.

What else could monsters make? Then make monsters themselves?

Ted turned off all the computers. All of the lights of the compound. There was no need for them. Only light was soft from her little laptop, lights dancing before her eyes as she curled up into her new comfy black arm chair and began to watch her birth.

She didn't fast forward this time.

She would face the sin she was.

Alone.

For days she sat alone. Eating food she had massed from the jointed kitchen as all cupboards were kept fully stocked. She watched her damned birth once, and forever it would be burned into her memory. Voice had remained silent through it all. Maybe she was afraid. Maybe was she livid. Ted didn't know, most of the time, she only felt Voice when she was talking.

Twelve girls had been placed on tables, bare to the world sedated but mortally aware of what was happening around them. They were awake when they were taken apart. Piece by piece they were taken apart. One girl had been skinned alive. Another was turned into a puddle after her bones were removed. The scientists were wearing surgical masks and visors, bleating their orders and roaring their commands and pointed towards the vat with the pink goo.

A scientist made a game out of it, "Got your arm." He sang, "Got your leg." He boasted, and he would swung in a waltz with the limb and place it into the vat where Ted was pieced together.

A girl was blinded. Green eyes.

Another was mumbling, "Don't touch my hair, get away." Barely there but the audios had picked it up. Dirty blond hair.

Voice had remained silent through it all. Terrible silence, terrible in its beauty and in its loneliness.

Now she knew.

We all knew.

DR. STEIN WAS NOT A MAN that would roll over and show everyone his belly like a dog. No, he would instead use his tongue, to coax what and whoever he wanted into kissing the snake and eating the lie he presented to them.

Law enforcement was no different.

"Oh I'm so glad to see you!" he acted out hurriedly, glancing around as if something were to eat him from the shadows of the room. "Please! We need help! Help us! We don't have much time!"

In truth, they didn't, assistants and other doctors had been disappearing all over the place. Dr. Stein had seen the smears of red over the walls and floors. Leading to nowhere.

"Alright, calm down and tell me what's going on doctor." A man the world knew all too well. Metropolis Cities Favorite Son.

Ah, the Justice League were suckers for a sap story.

"My name is Dr. Stein; I'm in an underground medical facility outside of Gotham and Metropolis! Our main patient escaped a few days ago and I think she's killing us off! There's blood everywhere!"

"What are you studying Doctor?" Another man, wearing the cape and cowl of the Dark Knight.

"The patient Ted has an unusual case of schizophrenia. She suddenly went feral! We had all other patients removed! She's sick! She's killing us!"

A video, Dr. Stein had recorded the therapy session with Dr. Hallo, Ted was screaming scratching everyone and kicking. She broke the jaw of a male nurse and bit down on the neck of another. Like an animal.

"She attacked one of the nurses, and now she's barricaded herself into the main control room. I can't figure out how she moved around the compound and still control the power. Everyone is disappearing one by one." He turned, dramatically putting his hand over his eyes, "Oh god there's blood everywhere…"

Oh how the powerful were swayed by such dramatics. Dr. Stein thought to himself.

"We have your coordinates. Hold tight, help is on the way."

The feed ended. Color turning to white light. Dr. Stein didn't move his hand, preferring the darkness to the light. A smirk upon his face. "Oh Ted, you think you are the only player in this little game of hide and seek. No. I'll win."

"I have more players."

TED WATCHED ANOTHER NURSE SCREAM and struggle, until going limp as the drug had finally done its job. Ted was breathing hard, sporting a bleeding nose, a split lip, and minor cuts and bruises. The nurse had blood coming from his head, but nothing that would kill him. She took the moment to rest, arms flaccid, her head tilting back and she stared blankly at the ceiling. Was this really happening? Was she really doing this? Trembling, Ted rose to her feet, gripping the fallen nurse by the hem of his shirt and dragged him down the hall.

He would stay asleep for a few hours. All of them did.

She dragged them into a great hall, what it was normally used for she didn't care for but for now it was their own prison. There were so many beds and so many straps. She strapped them all down into a bed and left them there. Some were asleep. Some were awake. Some cried and screamed 'Release me! Release me!' and others simply looked at her with defiant eyes. Some struggled, others only lay.

Others simply looked at her with defiant eyes.

As if they had the right to.

She walked down another hallway, a new one she had seen in the updated schematics of the base. A hall of glass cages. The thermometer said it was less than thirty degrees. It was too cold for a human to survive a night in this place. Each cage, simply a cell with a glass wall in front of them, was bare and white. The glass mingled with frost. She moved ever so slowly forward.

Up top each glass wall was a number. Numbers 1, through 12.

"… This is where… we were kept…"

She reached out and gently, with numb finger tips, melted the frost and caressed the glass. She could see her breath. Her feet were throbbing and numb, but right now it didn't matter. In a sick sense, this was her home. Where she began. This was where the Enigma Design test subjects were kept. She saw herself in the reflection of the glass.

Green eyes.

Dirty blond hair.

Pale skin.

Lips.

Thin build.

And none of it belonged to her. None of which she was born with, because she wasn't a creature born. She was made. A product of murderers and thieves.

The Voice was silent still. She hadn't said anything since she was watched her birth in real time. "… Would it help to say I was sorry? For everything that has happened to you?" I, as in Ted herself, and not the combination of the others. the cool of the glass had been her answer.

"You can start by turning yourself in."

That wasn't Voice. No. To deep. The glass reflected an entirely new person. Only a head higher than herself. The nurses were always twice her size, twice everything about her. He didn't look like any of the nurses or doctors or was even a part of the staff. She couldn't see his eyes, for the mask, his hair was dark colored. She blinked, wondering if she was really crazy, that this all was a dream.

She remained in her vision.

"… Turning myself in?" she questioned, a rather stupid notion. Why would she do something and then turn herself in? What did that even mean? Confused, she turned to face the newcomer. "…Who… are you? We've never seen you before. Do you work here?"

He put up his hands, open palmed like so many of the nurses. A fake, he was going to attack. He put on a smile, another thing the nurses did right before they tried to hurt her.

"I don't want to hurt you."

"Then don't."

She hadn't done anything wrong. So, there was nothing that should come out of this other than her freedom. He stood like a statue then, moving only to put his hands by his side, his cape cascading over his shoulders like liquid ink. She had never seen a person this small, did this mean there were others? Others the same height as her?

She couldn't connect with the nurses or doctors, their straight shoulders and their uniforms were always so intimidating and she could never approach them into playing a game with her.

Ted wasn't sure of what to make of this person.

She continued to look when he shivered and glanced at the thermometer. "Aren't you cold?"

"Cold?" the word passed through her lips with the mist. The sound bouncing off the walls and the glass. Nurses would ask "How do you feel?" or "Does it hurt when you bend this way?" always with such strange questions but never inquired about her own well being to heart. "We feel fine. Cold, we feel cold, but fine."

So confusing on how to answer something correctly. He still had no name, she had read and re-read the book Stein had hand written, and there were no clues about a second Enigma Design. Could it be possible?

Dawned upon the thought of not being alone, she felt the smallest flicker that someone understood; someone could help her and tell her what to do without hurting others. She was at a lost. "Are..." she swallowed her hesitation, "Are we the same?"

He stood his ground, contemplating her question, "In a way, yes we are."

Vague, not enough proof that he knew what she spoke of.

"Who are you?" she asked him. If they shared the name, it would be enough.

"Robin. From Gotham."

No. She was really alone. There was only one. "There is no part of the base called Gotham." Don't listen to him. He lies to Us. He's not the same as Us, He's the same as Them. "You're with Them, aren't you? Answer me."

He charged. The others had done this, almost like a staged routine. Robin faked a punch, and flipped over, Ted gripped his heel and threw his harshly onto the ground and straddled him. His head connected but he recovered quickly. However, Ted was quicker with the needle, injecting his leg with the drug. He struggled like everyone else, calling out, "Help, she drugged me!" and there was something in his mask that responded, "Robin! Where are you!" She had his shoulders pushed down as he finally went to sleep.

He would stay asleep for a few hours. All of them did.

Ted watched the sleeping Robin a few seconds more. He was tied up in a second arm chair she wheeled in from the joined meeting room. Very comfy. Robin had answers and she had questions. Voice was yelling to place him with the others but Ted argued it would be useless. Would it matter where he was if he couldn't move?

Gloves were taken off, his mask was off, and she used his cape as a temporary blanket. He wasn't like the doctors or nurses for sure. He clearly didn't work in the compound, but Ted didn't defer the possibility of them being sent for her capture by Dr. Stein. She could only wonder what lies they had been fed. A sigh, and then a groan came from Robin; he lifted his head and leaned against the cool leather. His head rolled on his shoulders, working the kinks out of his neck. He kept clenching and relaxing his eyes, his eyes were like Dr. Hallos', a dark and brilliant blue. Ted remained in her own seat, her legs curled into her chest as she held a thermal blanket closer to herself.

Robin blinked, finally taking a moment to see the dim room he had been brought to. She had imagined him start to panic, like so many of the others but strangely enough he had remained calm. "Can you hear me?" She wanted to be sure he was alright.

He was looking straight at her.

Robin didn't say anything, instead he had only glowered with his eyes.

"…" How did someone approach another with a question? All the other doctors had always poked around in her personal space and they had never asked about anything about what she had wanted. "… How did… you get here?"

He hadn't said anything. Honestly, Ted would had been surprised if he did. "You said you came from 'Gotham', is that a part of the base? Another floor maybe?"

His hard look softened, just a tick, "… Gotham isn't a wing of the base. It's a place above the base. You've never been outside?"

"Outside?"

Ted felt the word had a special meaning to her, or rather towards one of the girls she had been made from. The phantom feeling of the wind and of the cold. "We have. Once." Her skin prickled, and Ted felt what one of the girls felt. The freedom, the heights, and the rush of leaping and jumping out of the way and over tall things a normal person wouldn't dream of jumping. "Once." Could she do those things?

Robin studied her, like a doctor would. "Why are you doing this?"

Such straightforwardness, I wouldn't expect anything less.

What does that mean? Did you know him before?

At one time, I still have a few memories. I've seen him fly! He flies over our heads and he saves people!

Saves people? I thought you said no to trust him.

Memories, they're returning to me. He saves people, saves innocent people,

"… Are you here to save me?"

Ted finally turned to look at Robin, how could he fly? He had no wings. No device of propulsion, but he was lean with obvious muscle. He was frowning now, had she said something wrong? "One of Us… remembers you. We don't know where," a faint pounding began at the side of her head; she placed a hand over it as if it would sooth it. The pounding was harder now, it begun to hurt, "W-we've seen you before. Where? Where? When was it? You… save people. From the bad people. Then why are you here? I'm taking care of the bad people. I… We… Hadn't killed anyone. Restrained them. Not kill. I won't kill for them. It's not right."

"I do save people," Robin said to her softly, serpents tongue, Voice hissed, "I'm here to help you. I just need to know why you're doing this. All of this."

Ted starred hard at him. Critical eyes, the rope was loose. "If you were here to help me, then why are you talking to me like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like I was crazy."

"You're not crazy." He shook his head, he was still giving a gentle smile. Dr. Hallo would give that smile to her, when she fell into a depression for not knowing a family that had never existed. "Are you hearing voices right now? What are they saying?"

He doesn't believe you! He's lying! He thinks his lies are the truth!

"Voice says you're lying. You think I'm crazy. Whatever Dr. Stein said…" Dr. Stein is lying. Dr. Stein was lying to him.

Maybe we should tell him the truth.

Should we?

"… If I showed you something, to prove I wasn't crazy. Would you believe me then?"

"Depends on the evidence. I would have to show them to Batman."

Bat? Man? She slowly unfurled her legs from her chest, she saw the rope was loose. He was going to attack her, he wasn't going to listen. He needed to listen. "If I took off the binding, would you really listen to me?" She felt something tighten around her, a strange thing had taken to tightening around her throat. Shame? Fear? She wasn't sure. "Will you promise not to attack me? I'll p-promise not to d-drug you." She had to bring to heel of her hand to her eyes to wipe away a tear before it fell. It wasn't enough. No.

Show him.

She gave a small, sharp intake of breath, twisting the chair out of her way. The control panel sat there, she flicked on the lights of the room. Now they were in total light. It felt better this way. "Look, look at what they did!" She gripped the hem of her shirt and pulled it rapidly over her head. She turned her back to him. Showing him the strange marks she had seen in the mirror room. "Look!" Her back was bare. Her front was bare. "Look!" Both her own voice, and Voice through a set of stolen vocal cords. Were those Voices? Were they her own?

He was silent behind her.

Maybe he doesn't know what he's looking at! Make him understand!

"Have you read Frankenstein?" the questioned passed her lips before she could think. She was frustrated, she had someone to listen and still he thought she was crazy. "How the doctor stole body parts and made the monster that called him father?" she dropped her shirt, her fingers frantically running over the keys. Green eyes looking in every direction but Robins. She turned on the video. She locked eyes with her birth. "See! Look-!"

Fingers. Warm fingers. The screen reflection, her own, and Robin was standing now. He wasn't in his binds. He was looking down with his brilliant eyes down at the only disfigurement on her body of what had happened. Ted didn't know what to do. Voice was oddly silent. Ted couldn't find her voice. His hand, warm, felt one of the stitching holes along her back. Felt its small dip into her skin; saw how red it was now. Did he believe her now? Was he going to help her now? Could he help her now?

Was there any redemption for the monster?

Robin's hand left her skin; he dropped down briefly and held her shirt for her to take. "…Put this on. You'll catch a cold."

Did he believe her? "Do you believe me now?"

He gestured the shirt, "… I want to investigate what's going on here. Put your shirt back on."

Ted felt like crying again. He wouldn't answer her question. The video was still playing. Maybe he was watching. "I've got your lung!" A scientist sang, dancing over in his own grotesque waltz with the organ and shifting it like a person would dip their partner, the organ into the pink vat. His gloves were red. Red tubes were reaching and waved into the vat.

Did he believe her? "Do you believe me now?"

Robin sighed. "I do." She wondered if he really did believe her. Would she herself believe it, had she not seen the evidence? And had been asked by a supposed crazy person?

A moment as she pulled her shirt over her head. "I was… created here. Dr. Stein called it 'The Enigma Design' or T.E.D. My name is the project, Ted. The doctors said I was in a 'coma' for three years, and that my family died in an accident. I thought this was a normal life. And then I started to remember things, from the other twelve subjects that made up all the parts I'm from."

Robin stood against the console, listening to her story. Whether or not he really believed her was up in the air. The video was fast-forwarded, watching how she was created. "Parts of brain matter from all the subjects make me. Memories. I have them, some of them. I see their memories sometimes, not all the time but sometimes it's violent. Sudden."

"Like your episode with your therapist?"

Ted remembered when she had freaked out in the little office, turning over the desk to fight off whatever it was holding her down. "Oh, you know about that?" Dr. Stein must had used it as evidence of her sickness. She couldn't tell if Robin was sad, or simply brooding when he gave a nod. "Yes, I… remembered being held down, no, not me, one of the others. She was being held down and… there was… something hurting her. I don't know what that means."

Robin's eyes had turned from neutral to something akin to fear, akin to something else she couldn't place. Ted thought perhaps she said something wrong. "I'm sorry. All I've known was whatever they taught me here. I'm not sure what I said was enough to upset you, but I'm sorry."

He gulped, "…You have nothing to apologize for."

"I want you to put everything about the TED project on your laptop. We're going to show all this to the Justice League."

"… Justice League?"

Ted moved outside of the control room but a tunnel that was not in the updated schematics, it was a small door. They had to crawl into the hallway, Ted had armed herself with a tranquilizer, "There are a lot of nurses here, and they're strong. I've caught most of them. But not all of them. If I turned on the security system, I'm afraid they would hack into the control computer." Ted had gone first, since she was more familiar with the base than Robin was.

"Why didn't you contact police if they were keeping you prisoner?"

"… I don't know what police are. I was kept in a house without windows. There was no contact to the 'outside'," she didn't know what 'outside' was so she held the word lightly, "And the only people coming through were maids and nurses and doctors."

"… Controlled environment."

"Exactly."

"Everyone but me knew what was going on. What had happened."

Walking down the hall was done silently. Ted was walking within arm's length of Robin, "Wait," she paused in mid-step, she fished into her shallow pocket, handing over Robins mask, "This is yours."

"… Thanks."

Stein gave a soft hum that vibrated the air. The JL had responded as fast, perhaps faster, than he had hoped for. Several securities feed on his computer. They had sent the duo of Gotham and the Man of Steel. Stein felt honored for a second, before thinking that if the Dark Knight were to stoop to deep into the research he would find something amiss. No doubt he would want answers, Why was Ted the only patient in such a large place? Or What is the purpose of the equipment in room Design?

For the safety of other potential patients, he would say.

But the second answer could not satisfy the Dark Knight. Nothing would. But hopefully he wouldn't go into Design. The room where Ted had been created in.

Ted was walking down a lone hallway with Robin at her side. Stein knew he had been shown the video of Teds making, and maybe the book she stole. Ted was smart, smarter than Stein had granted her for such a shadowed and sheltered life. So smart, so dumb was she. She didn't even know what rape was. His stupid little experiment. Stein thought back to the day she had been 'born'. Her green eyes hadn't focused, brain activity had spiked and infantile sounds erupted from her throat. Like a new born child.

Looking back on his project, he had seen signs of a side project he had been researching. Around the Home Base, where Ted had been confined in, as items from the girls homes and what they were wearing. Photos stolen and placed at random in the house. Ted would stare at them, her eyes would glass over, then she would murmur a name and then snap out of her stupor. She would move on, not remembering what had just transpired. The memories, hidden within the cells were starting to affect Ted as her days moved on and crawled to so slowly forward.

How exciting, proof of the cellular memory theory.

Stein sat back on his chair, in his little fortress where he waited to be 'rescued'. Batman and Superman had entered the building. Stein had told them of a secret passage inside from the surface, but had warned Superman not to simply barge in, as the base around them could collapse and kill everyone. He hadn't anticipated Robin being present, but maybe this could turn out more data. Ted had only been around those between the ages of 27 and 80. She had never encountered a person the same age (relatively speaking since Ted is officially three years old physically) and even better, the opposite sex.

How would she react to his presence?

How would her body react?

How would memory act?

So many questions and there was simply not enough time to answer them.

He watched a limited feed of them fighting in the cage hall. Ted seemed to remember being there, and then Robin had sneaked up on her. Awareness went down when memory came as it appeared. She seemed interested, watching him intently. They had engaged in combat, and somehow Ted had gained the upper hand by drugs. Robin was unconscious with Ted straddling him. She remained there for a few minutes. Looking down at his sleeping form, her hands (curiously enough) had touched him gently. Hair. Face. Neck. Chest. Arms. Hands. Fingers.

Feeling the natural differences between them.

She had lifted him onto her back, his feet still dragging on the floor as she carried him out with some difficulty.

Curiouser and curiouser.

Ted could decide what to do now. Robin had stopped, there was blood on the wall. A large smear. "... What happened?"

"... I slammed one of the doctors into the wall. He hit his head. He only needed seven stitches. He's alright now. I gave him painkillers."

"Dr. Stein said you were killing people."

"He would say that. Do you know where he's hiding? I can't find him. He couldn't have left."

"I don't know. Batman got the distress call from here, we couldn't pinpoint it."

"You keep saying 'Batman'. Who is that? Your father?"

"You could say that."

Ted took another corner. This hallway, though she had never been here before, felt familiar. Robin must had saw it on her, Ted could feel her lungs tighten. "Are you alright?"

"..." she took her eyes off the door labeled 'Design', "Thats the room I was made in."

They turned away from the Design room. Ted was to scared to enter the place that had been in the Birth video. Robin, thankfully, hadn't pushed her. "Are you here alone Robin?"

Ted couldn't stand the silence. She found it nice to have a real conversation with someone that wasn't a nurse. Whom were always taking notes for Stein. Always.

"I'm here with two others members of the Justice League. Batman and Superman."

"... Are they... nice people?"

Robin turned his head down to the green eyed Ted, her look was downcast and her hands were clenching the strap to her laptop. Nervous, she was simply terrified by meeting so many new people all at once. He felt pity for the girl, she had never had someone for a friend. Did she even know what a friend was? He gave a small sigh, sending a relaxed and confident smile.

"They're wonderful people." Robin said, "Batman acts tough but inside he's a caring person. Superman is more friendly, and he can get along with just about anyone."

"Are you all from 'Gotham'?"

"No," Robin laughed, "Batman and I are from Gotham. Superman is from Metropolis."

"..." she gave a confused look, feeling shame for not knowing about anything from 'outside'. Robin must have seen this to.

"There is a whole other world outside of here. Buildings, good people, nature and city life. Life is nothing like this place."

He's right. Its beautiful out there. Just wait until you feel the sun.

Sun?

Ted had to stop, now standing by herself as Robin took a few steps forward. How big was the outside? What were the people like? Did they were the white uniforms? Did they all have the same names? What was a city? What was a Metropolis? "Ted?"

Her name brought her out of her mind. She could feel her lungs closing-

"-Up! Shut up! I don't care if you're hungry! I'm going out! You're so fucking useless!" That blond woman was yelling at her again. She was so tall. Like a giant. Her face was contorted in fury, what had she done? What had she done now? "I fuck'n told you!" she screamed. "You can't even feed your fuck'n self!"

Robin had black hair. He was leaning over her, his mouth moving and his face was lined with worry. He wasn't saying anything, if he was she couldn't hear him. "-ed! Ted! Breath! Stay with me! Stay -"

"-right there! Right there! Oh! She's so tight!"

Rocking. Everything was rocking. Back. Forward. Back. Forward. Back. Robin's skin was darker than hers, compared to him she was paper white. Back. Robin was yelling. Forward. She could barely hear him now. Over his voice was that womans, yelling at her. Cursing her. "Batman! Superman!" he shouted out. No one answered. Everything was going blurry again.

The kitten sounded like a squeak toy when it meowed. It shivered violently, and when she saw how skinny it was. No doubt hungry. She turned to it, holding out her little hand. "Here kitty-kitty," she heard her voice coo, "Come on. I'll take care of you." They both were alone, abandoned. The kitten came to her. It was furry, very cute, and it was purring when she put it in her jacket. In a blink the image of the kitten faded. Still, she could feel it shiver in her hand, how it cuddled up to her for warmth. Robin was looking around, kicking open a door and shifting them through. "... Lets go home..."

Ted wondered who she was talking to. The kitten, or Robin. Neither of which she was sure of.

Robin turned her face to look at him directly, trying to bring her back to the present. "Hey, Ted wake up, come on. There we go, easy. Easy." She had been placed on the floor and he was still at her side. He gently brought her to a sitting position. Ted felt like she was falling, her head was spinning and everything about her body felt light. Robin put a bare hand on her forehead. Nurses did that almost daily. "You're a little warm, what happened?"

"... A memory..."

Whatever mood Robin was in, he was sad now. His lips not set in a line, but in a curve of a frown. "Do you want to talk about it?" Should she talk about it? Was it something people did on the 'outside'? No. she decided, the last memory disturbed him, so perhaps it was better to be said in silence.

"... We should get out of here..."

She was shaky, muscles confused and she had to hand Robins hand for some semblance of balance. Her stomach felt like it was going to make an appearance. "How long was I out for?"

"About an hour. I thought you were having a panic attack."

"... Panic arrack?"

Robin sighed, her own breathing felt abnormally cold. He was disappointed, she had seen a doctor do this once. She was having another test, and she had failed it. "I'll explain later. I managed to contact Superman. He's on his way. Here, sit down." He moved her to sit against the wall. "I've explained everything. Superman is getting Batman to look into that Design room, the rest of the Justice League are on their way here. There's more here than we know."

Of course there were, Ted wanted to say, mer mind was worn and tired and frustrated with everything around her. Her feet, only covered with a thin pair of socks, felt ice cold against the linoleum floor. Voice hadn't said anything yet, maybe she didn't want to. Maybe there was nothing for her to say. Ted pushed the laptop to Robin, a weight, literal and metaphorical, felt lifted off her being. Almost at instant, he opened it up and began searching through the files on his own.

Was this really happening?

Was this really real?

It felt like a dream.

She was finally waking up from a nightmare.

The clack-click of the keyboard paused, "... Ted? Are you alright?"

Muscles felt taunt, she herself began to shiver. Her hands were resting on the floor, there was a hard vibration passing through them. She blinked once, gently shutting the laptop Robin was holding. She motioned for his silence.

"Where are you Teddy?" A man, Ted knew this voice. Cold. Strict. Deep. Ironically named Mr. Manners. "Get out here! I know you're here somewhere!"

She slowly stood on her feet. She and Manners never got along. She never lived up to his expectations. She ran a mile, he wanted ten miles. She did one hundred push ups, he wanted a thousand. To much at once was what he wanted. She could only give so little. Leaving Robin behind, Ted left him in the little room.

Manners, We've never liked this man. This monster.

Ted remembered, one day, she was forced to climb a 'rock-wall' with strange colorful things protruding from its surface. Without safety gear. She said no. They had fought with words for the first few minutes. Then Mr. Manners decided he would teach her some manners. She had ended back in a hospital bed for a few more days.

Mr. Manners, full name was Thomas Manners, was a tall man who cast a shadow over her easily. Lined with lean muscle, his knuckles were calloused, and broad chest was breathing heavy in his anger. Light brown hair, and amber eyes. Ted often overhead the female nurses or some doctor commenting on Manners being 'Number one on their To-Do list'. She wondered what was a 'To-Do list' was.

He stood in a black shirt, and black pants tucked into shoes she hadn't seen before. In the gym he was always barefoot.

He smirked down at her from the end of the hall. "There you are. Teddy, you really fucked yourself over. Dr. Stein says he wanted you six feet under." She only blinked, the needle hidden behind her just waiting to meet his flesh. Inject its contents. Render him defenseless. He started laughing, "Oh God, you're so stupid. You probably don't even know what that means. Do you?"

Don't listen to him. Best him. He's just muscle. No brain.

What should I do?

Manners suddenly began screaming, a bright crackle of light emitting from behind him. When it stopped, he fell forward unconscious. It wasn't Robin behind him, instead with was the loving blond doctor.

"Dr... Hallo?"

She gave a nervous laugh, waving the little black box with a dancing light at its tip. "Oh, hello Teddy." she still used her little pet name. Robin stood beside Ted, "Is this a friend Ted?" he asked her, from the corner of her eye movement was caught. He was holding something.

Dr. Hallo dropped the sparking box, her heels clicking as she practically ran towards Ted. Dr. Hallow dropped onto her knees before Ted. Her face was ruined, wearing the look of fear and worry instead of her beautiful carefree and happy expressions. "Teddy!" she said, "Are you alright? Are you hurt? You're warm! What happened? Where have you been?"

There were so many questions at once. So many Ted couldn't find herself answering. Could she trust Dr. Hallo?

Ted graped her small wrists, looking at blue with green. Soft blue, with steel green. "Why should I trust you? How do I know you're not like the other doctors who want me 'six feet under'?" Ted didn't know what the phrase meant, but she knew enough it wasn't a good thing.

Dr. Hallo sighed, a smile finally coming to her face. It brought a sense of familiarity to Ted. Dr. Hallo wasn't one meant to be sad or unhappy. She got to her feet. "Teddy," she whispered gently, "I've already spoken to Batman and Superman."

Their names were being used a lot, but she still didn't know the weight of those names. "Robin," she greeted, "Contacted them, saying that he found you. At first, Batman and Superman thought Ted forced him to say those things, that you weren't crazy or homicidal, but then I met them and I took them to the Design room myself. I parted with them to find you Teddy."

"...So what does that mean now?"

"Come on you two," she said, both of them turning around as Dr. Hallo ushered them forward, "Its time to go outside."

"What does that mean?"

Ted had never been outside. She had never seen any pictures of the outside. She had never seen or read or even caught hint of a whole other world that sat innocently above her head. A warm hand on her should. Ted whipped her head up to the grown woman. Her lips were curved in such a beautiful smile. Ted had never seen it before.

It was almost to much for her to handle.

"It means it's time to go home now."

"...home?" What did that mean? She was home. This was her home. Her birthplace. The place she was raised in. What did-

"You're not going to live here anymore Teddy. I already have permission for you to live with me outside of this place."

It was scary. To say the least, about moving from one world and to be thrown into another. And it was a relief. Ted didn't need to be poked and prodded by a strangers hands, didn't need to mourn for a family she didn't have, and most of all she didn't need to live up to something she didn't fully understand.

Dr. Hallo led them a ways from Manners fallen body. Hallo said he, along with the other nurses involved, would be put into jail and tried for the wrongs they have committed. In a white hallway, there was a set of doors, not found anywhere else in the base. They opened, parting from the middle and inside was a small tiled room. Barely large enough for five people. "What is..."

"Elevator." Robin said, "Brings people up and down without taking stair-wells." Ted didn't want to ask what a 'stair-well' was.

Hallo and Robin stepped inside, Ted was hesitant but a few encouraging motions from Hallo and Robin had Ted step inside. The doors slide close without pause. There was ding...ding sound from the speakers every time they passed a number. The room would suddenly feel... pressured. Like an invisible hand was pressing down on their heads. Ted almost felt like vomiting, but found it strange that Robin and Hallo looked absolutely fine. The ride up felt like it had lasted forever.

Then forever ended, and the doors opened into a place were Ted had never seen before. Green eyes met what was called colors for the first time. The carpet under her feet was soft, so much better than the fake hardwood or the linoleum and tile. There were... holes? Holes in the walls, covered with a glass sheet with things on their shelves. Light poured in from behind the glass.

Ted, numb with fascination blindly fallowed Robin and Dr. Hallo. She was transfixed the the strange light from the glass hole, why was it there? What kind of room was on the other side. There were people and voices everywhere around them. Shouting orders, 'cuff them.' some said, start talking, give us all data they said and the barked harshly when something wasn't given to them when asked. The smell was difference. The smell was warm to her nose. Everything felt warm now. There were people that were not wearing the lab coat uniform or nurse uniform. Some were wearing blue pants, and light blue shirts with gold stars on their chests. There were others, dressed not like Robin but similar to what he was wearing.

"Its morning." Robin said, more to himself than anyone else, Ted looked at him with narrowed eyes. It was bright outside.

"Is this... outside?"

Robin suddenly looked down, as if he had forgotten she was there, "What? No, not this isn't the outside. Come on Teddy."

Dr. Hallo stood a ways from them. Talking to a man wearing a black hood with pointed ears and another man with dark hair in a red cape. The man had dark blue and blue eyes like Robin did. Maybe that was Batman? Robin had said Batman was 'something' like a father to him. The red cape looked over towards her and Robin. He said something to Hallo and the man in black, likely to excuse himself because now he was walking over towards them. He was taller than Robin and herself, taller than the man in black and Dr. Hallo.

He was smiling down at them when he arrived within arms distance. Now she could see the little curl of hair over his forehead. Robin was smiling back at him and Ted could only feel the helplessness of not knowing what to do with herself. "Robin," he greeted, "Nice to see you're in once piece."

"Thats always good news."

Ted tongue felt dry. What did that mean? Did he expect Ted to literally tear him apart?What did that mean? What did that mean?

She was suddenly aware of a hand stretched toward her. She hesitantly took it into her own, his hand was very warm. Soft, softer then Robins hand. Ted also saw the sheer contrast between their skin colors. His was darker, much darker, she looked like a piece of paper in his hand. She let go almost instantly. However, this did not deter the man with the red cape.

"..." Ted had to swallow a lump she didn't remember having, "Are you Batman?" she had her eyes downcast, not wanting to know what else she had gotten wrong. Robin had snorted, and Ted felt ashamed. "No, I'm Superman. Batman is over there. Wearing the black cowl." She didn't want to ask what a cowl was.

She simply assumed is was the man with the pointy ears still peaking with Dr. Hallo.

"Everything will be alright Ted." Superman gently put, "You're going to be living with Dr. Hallo after we get everything straightened out here. She owns a house not far from Metropolis."

"... Metropolis?"

"Thats my city." he chuckled down at her.

He owned Metropolis? Maybe he did, maybe this was another expression she wasn't familiar with. Robin tugged her hand away from Superman. "Alright, come on Ted, I think its finally time for you to go outside."

"I'll come with you."

Robin didn't say anything, and Ted found she couldn't say anything to defect Superman's decision anyway. She was more engulfed with the hand holding hers. It was warm, even through his gloves but it was something Ted didn't do very much. She can remember the physical therapy to gain feeling back into her legs. She had to hold hands of a faceless nurse to stay upright, step forward again and again. The cold floor, the hard surfaces, the feeling of knives invading the unstable muscles of her legs were always painful the first few weeks.

This was entirely different.

Ted was lead to another door, only this one was already propped open. Men and women were coming out and in. Whichever which was which, was she out? Or was she in?

The brightness had forced Ted to close her eyes.

It was too bright. After spending so much time in the dark of the underground, she couldn't open her eyes. She tried to open them, for a second, only to look at her feet in... green... things. Were those outside plants? Her own green eyes teared up from the intensity. She had to force them shut. "Ted?" That was Superman's voice. "Are you alright?"

There was a shuffle, "Oh thats right. She's never been outside. Hold on," There were a few more seconds of tense silence, Robin moved her hands from rubbing her eyes and something was balanced on her nose and ears. "These should help you until you get used to the sun. You can open your eyes now."

Ted was hesitant, but when she did, she found herself wearing glasses. Like the ones Dr. Hallo wore all of the time. Everything around her, through the darkened lens, now had a shade of brown over them. Blocking light, instead of seeing the light as she wanted to see it. She was finally outside, but yet she couldn't see the world as everyone else did.

We will see it soon enough. Voice had injected her say.

Things around her, or rather the lack of things surrounding her, seemed to go on forever. The plants under her feet was everywhere, growing a brilliant green and seemed to move like liquid. From the rim of her glasses, the outside had a light blue roof, if it was a roof. There were brown-white puffs floating over their heads. She wondered what they were. The air tasted... not as the sanitized chemicals she was used to.

She looked down at herself, her socks, she could see stains on them. So she began to look over herself more. Finding more and more stains from her sweat. She couldn't get to her clothes, they were in the housing compound of the base, and she was the smallest in the compound. So her white was now a light cream. She was dirty but she found she didn't mind right now.

"...I'm tired."

She gently put herself onto her knees, and then shifted to lay on her side. This is nice, she thought to herself, Robin did the same thing, Superman stayed on his feet, this is very nice.

Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

Voice was singing this phrase again and again. Ted was suddenly thankful for the glasses Robin had given her.

"...Free at last... Free at last..."

Hallo gave a wary sigh. "I understand your concern Batman, but I really believe that Ted will be happier if she was living with someone she knew. I've known her since she woke up. I want her to live with me."

"I know you want to do the right thing Dr. Hallo, but you told Superman and also the clone that she would be residing with you-"

"And what would you do?" Hallo snapped under her breath, she didn't want Ted to hear this, "Lock her up in Arkham? Place her back underground? Well you listen to me Batman. You. Are. Not. Taking. Her. From. Me. If I need to go lioness on the whole JLA I will. I consider her my own." Dr. Hallo wasn't backing down. Not even for Batman.

"Ted is currently going through major changes in her life. Realistically she is only four years old if you count her surviving the year in a coma like state. She was caged in a makeshift 'home'. No windows. No television. No books. No sort of real information or evidence of a world outside of the base Ted was aware of. Coming outside, I'm afraid what her reaction will be if she were to be simply thrown into another cage and forced to take drugs."

"Was she taking any sort of medication during her stay?"

"... At one time, she was. Dr. Stein wanted to know how her body would react since she made up of a total of 12 donors." Dr. Hallo couldn't stop herself from saying 'donors', it was simply drilled into her head. "Ted was in the hospital wing, so drugged up she couldn't move. She fell out of her bed, she would have drowned in her own spit if I hadn't come to visit her."

Hallo remembered that day. She would never forget. Ted had a bad reaction to one of the drugs. No one but Dr. Stein could see her. Dr. Hallo begged to see Ted, and when she was finally given permission to see the little girl, Ted and the bed had been flipped to the side. Hallo thought Ted was dead, she was laying on her back. Eyes glossy, and breathing was raged. Hallo remembered screaming for help.

"Ted needs to be fed into the outside world as gently as possibility. Its possible she might go through a culture shock and might end up mentally impaired to live on her own when she becomes old enough. Believe it or not Batman, even though she knows how she was made, she's still innocent to everything else in this world."

Batman glanced behind Dr. Hallo. Ted, Superman, and Robin were laying the sun. She was laying on her hip, leaning most of her weight to the left, away from Robin and more closer to Superman. Ted was very pale, she had gotten no direct sunlight in years, and in result Batman had to speak with possible medical complications she might be subjected to. No sunlight, Ted then missed out on certain vitamins. Batman also questioned her mental state of mind. Being caged up would do a lot of damage to a person.

"...Are you the one who gave her the computer?"

Hallo blinked at him once, but nodded. "Yes, I had some serious trouble convincing Stein to give her one. I had to say it might induce a cellular memory attack. One of the donors had been a real computer expert for her age." She turned towards the young woman with the light brown hair and green eyes.

"Is that what the project was about? The theory of Cellular memory?"

Hallo didn't turn away from the girl in her sights. "Dr. Stein was a mad man." she sighed, "He was always watching Teddy, always calling her his 'daughter'. He was always talking about Teddy, how 'proud' he was to know that the experiment was a success. Teddy wasn't made for any kind of purpose. She wasn't supposed to prove some weird theory."

"Dr. Stein would always think that there was nothing wrong with Teddy." Hallo continued, "And so he thought, thats the problem. He didn't make any real profit from Teddy, only the information that came from the process of bring separate being together into one single body. Teds' brain is composed of all 12 donors. Stein deliberately placed a section of what makes a human, into another human. There are two people living in that body. The other 11 live on through memory. Thats the origin of the 'Voice' Ted hears. It's been so long, even I've forgotten her name."

"Then what was the purpose of this whole operation? If it wasn't for money or scientific advancement, then what?"

"Ted wasn't made for any purpose. The 'purpose' of The Enigma Design, is in its name. Ted has no real purpose, Ted's only real value to the scientific community is the fact she survived this long after the procedure."

Hallo took a breath, recalling the same conversation she had with Dr. Stein months beforehand. The Dark Knight stepped up beside her. Watching as more nurses and doctors were sat into police cars and trucks to wait for trial.

"Dr. Stein did this only to see what would happen."

IN THE END the Justice League did not apprehend Dr. Stein. He had escaped after contacting the JL and had taken a few files from the computer as well. Ted was given permission to live with Dr. Hallo under the notions of her being more able to adapt to the outside world if she were in familiar hands and Ted wouldn't go through the stress of meeting more doctors in the white uniform. Dr. Hallo was given custody of Ted in return for all information she could give about the events in the compound. Ted had been asked if she would like to change her name, and Ted had refused the offer. If I were to forger my name, I would forget where I came from. I would forget the people that make up my whole being. Batman and Superman respected her wishes.

They did not press the issue further from there.

Hall was the give monthly reports on Teds' development. Her behavior in an open environment to see if she was safe to explore the world around her without bringing harm to herself or others. She would have to be home schooled until Dr. Hallo gave a professional report stating that Ted was ready for social interaction. Until then, Ted would remain with at least one other person while in the care of Hallo.

Hallo's home was closer to Gotham than it was to Metropolis. In a four bedroom, two both house on Love Ville Road.

The first day Ted had arrived, she had been surprised people didn't wear the white coats, or the uniforms of the Justice League.

On the second day Ted as arrived, Ted had a full wardrobe in her own room fitted to what she liked. They had been ordered off websites on the Internet. Ted was hesitant to try them on. She had never seen certain clothes before.

On the third day she had arrived, Ted was asking questions, 'why are those people together? A meeting?' Ted couldn't seem the grasp why groups of people came together for no particular reason other then enjoying each others company.

The first report sent to the JLA was not as good as they thought it would be. Ted couldn't understand why people would walk together, couldn't understand why they held hands or why they laughed at the most immature things. She wouldn't be ready so a real social life yet. It would be a while before that could happen.