AN: Okay, I had a rather long time of not doing a thing. Truth be told – my inspiration had left me and I was torn between writing a few new stories… you won't believe how many drafts I got half-done right now. So I decided to concentrate on this little story, and hey – I did it. I noticed a lack of Prototype X Teen Titans crossovers and I was like "Hey – combining these two has a LOT of potential, either including Alex Mercer as a Anti-Hero, a Villain (possibly the Big Bad) or as a Hero. I say – people should do more of this!"

So – this is not only a story of mine, but also a SHOUT to all the people out there to try a hand at this as well. Praise be to TT and Prototype wikia if you need 'em.

On a side-note – 3 little things.
1. A while back, with the help of 3 FANTASTIC stories from ZeroVX (go read!) I discovered TV-Tropes. ALL HAIL TV-TROPES! WAAAARGH!
2. My next update will be Hollow to Vampire – my other and a major story. Expect a new chapter in a few days, if you know what I'm talking about.
3. Lastly – VISIT MY PROFILE. I say this only because there an awesome (IMHO) Author Challenge I got in there. I'd be happy as I could get if someone took it up. Please? *puppy-dog eyes* You can see I'm desperate, lol.

And don't worry if it's a bit erratic at the beginning – it's meant to be that way. Also – the pairing are RobxStar, BBxRae and CyxSarah. If you're wondering who Sarah is – go read the comic based off the Teen Titans show, it's called "Teen Titans Go!" This fic is Rated M for a reason – Alex Mercer is enough a reason on his own, but to clarify – expect a rather large amount of gory action. Yep. Nothing too adult if you what I mean. Now – on with the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans and definitely do not own [Prototype]. Sucks to be me.

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"Mercer vs. Jump: Things Change! Part 1."

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It all begins with a single man. The man, himself, had very pale skin for whatever reason, because in the photos of his earlier life he seemed to have tanner skin. His eyes had a sickly tinting around them that looked like bags under his eyes, which were light-blue in color. The man wore a hood on his head, but under it his hair was brown, curly and slicked back although he rarely removed that hood from his head.
On his upper body he wore three layers of clothes: the first was a white shirt that wasn't buttoned all the way up, the second was a plain gray hoodie that he, again, always kept up, and the last was a black leather jacket with a red tribal design on the back. On his lower body he wore plain gray jeans and black shoes.

The man's name was Alexander J. Mercer.
And right now he had made one of the hardest decisions he ever had to make.

-Scene Break-

"Come on, we gotta go!"
"I have to stay…"
"No."
"I'm the only one who can stop it."
"Please Terra – you can't! It's too late!"
"It's never too late." … "You were the best friend I ever had."

A group of teenagers stood before a life-sized statue of a girl encased in armor. The statue was not really one, but an actual human being turned to stone. Under the statue lay a bouquet of flowers and beneath that was a sign that read:

"Terra
A Teen Titan
A True Friend"

And the group standing before the statue was none other than the Teen Titans themselves.

Robin, the Boy Wonder, dressed in his usual outfit consisting of the colors: green, red, yellow and the only thing in black, which was his cape. His mask covered his face, as always, but it could not hide the determined and somewhat painful expression he had while he looked at the statue.

Strafire, the Tamaranean girl, was standing beside Robin, to his left, wearing a mournful expression so rare to find place on her face. Her emerald eyes did not leave the sight of the girl encased in stone that stood before her.

Cyborg, the half-man half-machine, was standing behind the others, wearing a frown on his face. He was not really looking at the statue but trying to think of a way to free Terra from her stony prison without causing any harm to her body.

Raven, the half-demon witch, was standing to Starfire's right, her face obscured by the shade that her hood provided and no one could really see her expression. Not that she would be smiling – she rarely did.

And there was Beast Boy, the shapeshifter, who was the closest to Terra and the most hurt by her betrayal, most relieved when she broke free of Slade's control and the most sad she had to sacrifice herself in order to stop the destruction of Jump City.

The group stood there for a minute of silence and walked away, never looking back as they did, off to a new day. Their lives would continue as they always had – they would fight crime, save lives and escape situations most dire and in the end they would always come out on top over any villain the universe would throw at them. Finally as the figures of the teenage heroes faded away into the darkness of the passageway to the surface a lone shadow separated from one of the dark corners of the area, where it had hid away after following the said teens into this large underground cavern.

The figure stepped out into a more lighted area, revealing a young man in a black jacket, grey hoodie and jeans. From under the hood facial features of a certain man were visible to anyone, would they be present in the room. It was Mercer.
The man's eyes once again scanned the surroundings before settling on the incapacitated Titan. He slowly made his way closer towards the statue with slow, steady steps, which were the only sound echoing through the cave. Finally after a few moments Alex was standing before the stone prison holding the girl.

"I'm sorry about this, kid, but I have to do this." The man uttered quietly not expecting any kind of reply and not minding the fact that the girl inside couldn't even hear him. A small smirk tugged on his lips. "You're the perfect choice, really. Nothing personal… Terra."

And then with a swift motion Alex thrust his right hand forward with his fingers lined up and pierced Terra's chest right in the middle. His fingers have penetrated the stone surface and the skin tissue beneath, the armor proving to be not an obstacle at all. However the man stopped before he could make a really damaging effect… like shattering a part of her body or worse. His intention was to kill her and he had succeeded.
Next Alex concentrated, letting out the right amount of biomass through his fingers, infused with the variant of the Blacklight virus, or a part of himself in other words, but changed in a way so it would provide the desired effect. A few minutes passed with no change, aside from Mercer retracting his arm back, and the blood stopped flowing down from the wound… in fact he could see the wound slowly closing up already.

"Wow… didn't expect it to happen this fast." Alex mused. "Now to remove the outer layer."

And with a single punch he shattered the stone prison that held the blond girl captive, breaking her ribcage as a result as well. Before the body could fall down onto the stony surface below, which had once been a small lake of lava, Mercer grabbed the girl, picking her up bridal style, watching her body for any reactions. A shame that he did not have some kind of X-ray vision or something as that would make things so much easier. Not like he would just go and consume some Superman or something – that would be too dangerous even for him… and he survived a nuclear explosion, even if he was not in the center of it. If that were the case he would just disintegrate and nothing would be able to save him.
With a deep sigh the man started walking towards the exit.

"I not getting paid enough for this… wait – I'm not getting paid at all!" he complained to himself, walking out of the cavern.

-Scene Break-

She awoke with a startle, her body going straight into the sitting position as she gasped for air she lacked. Her body convulsed with pain, like her every nerve was burning and her every joint was broken. A shrill cry emerged from her as she rolled over despite the pain and then fell down from the bed she was lying on. She could hardly see through the tears and explosions of light and red before her eyes, but she could hear a door burst open and see a silhouette running towards her.
In the next second a pair of hands grabbed her shoulders, and even as she tried to wriggle herself free – she found it impossible to do so with the iron grip this someone was holding her in. She wanted to stop, but she could not – the pain was just too much.

"Dammit. I don't remember this being that painful for me…" she could hear a male voice through the agony.

In about 20 minutes of squirming and trashing about the pain faded away and the girl regained her sense enough to think. And with that she found herself unable to really recall anything – just blurry images and faded memories. She could not even remember her own name, and all she knew were the most common things and basics – like being a girl, a female, and a human. She also knew she was no normal human and instead had superpowers – she could control earth.
She heard the man behind her exhale and then she finally understood in what position the two were in. Both were sitting on the floor, their backs to one of the walls and she was practically sitting in his lap, while he was hugging her from behind… technically. In truth he had done so to constrict her movements as much as possible, keeping her arms to her torso and her body in a lock with his hands. He was taller, so his head was above her own right now.

"You alright now?" he asked in a low voice.

"… yes." She replied.

"Okay then. How do you feel? Describe this in detail – your physical condition and thoughts. This is serious." He demanded, more like ordered even.

She complied without question. "The pain is mostly gone now. I don't feel good though – I'm dizzy, weak and hungry. Also… I don't remember much about myself, not even my own name – just blurry images."

A few moments passed in silence after she finished, but she did not take the chance to look up and see the face of her… whatever he was. A companion? No – it was best to call him an acquaintance.

"Your name is Terra, ring any bells?" he asked her.

"I think so…" she saw a few new flashes and images of herself go through her head and she closed her eyes, grunting in slight headache. "I think something's coming back."

"That's a good sign." He deadpanned. She almost snorted at his unseen reaction, but his voice was evidence enough, and the situation she was in right now was not really funny too. "Tell me – do you have any kind of urges to… I dunno – become a mother to a breed of mutant creatures and ravage a few populated towns for the fun of it?"

The question left her mute for a minute, before she finally answered. "Umm… no?" was her response.

"That's an even better sign." Terra felt him relax and loosen his grip on her. "I don't think you'll be experiencing any kind of seizures anymore, so we can get up now, if you will."

Terra got up, feeling a bit unsteady on her legs and wobbling slightly, as she felt the weakness from before overcome her for a moment. She didn't stumble or fall, however, and stayed up on her feet turning around to finally take a look at her weird acquaintance. She studied him as he got up as well, dusting himself off and flexing his arms.

"Well Terra, we are off at a good start in our relationship. My name is Alex Mercer – but just call me Alex, since I don't like formalities much, and no use of the word 'Mister' or I won't feed you, seriously." he showed a sour face and threw back his hood, revealing his slicked back, brown, curly hair.

"Okay… well I'm Terra, and you already know that." She paused, placing her hand to her chin in thought. "Would you mind to fill in the blanks about how I got here? I don't remember much."

Alex regarded Terra with a cold stare, sending chills down her spine. His eyes were very cold and while the girl was not easy to intimidate, she felt something inhuman in the man's eyes. He then spoke. "I don't know much about you to begin with. I lived here in Jump City for almost two years now, but all I know about you is limited. Your name is Terra, and I don't know if that's your real name or not, you are a teenage girl super heroine, or at least you were… before something happened." Terra felt a sharp pain in her head as a menacing mask with a single visible eye appeared before her for whatever reason. Mercer continued in the meantime. "I don't know what happened, but the price for being a superhero was heavy and you had to stop a volcano from erupting beneath the city, you overused your power or something, sealing yourself up in a stone prison at the cost of saving the city."

The girl was assaulted by more hazy images, but she couldn't make anything out.

"So you died, so to speak. It all happened quite some time ago. The city was rebuilt and everyone had already forgotten of the disaster, at least partially." He paused again and pointed at himself. "Just the day before yesterday I saved you and brought you back, destroying the statue you were encased in. I had to result to a method I didn't like, but there was no other way. I wish there was." the last part was barely a whisper.

"What do you mean?" Terra asked, brushing aside a strand of blonde hair from her face. "Did… you do something to me?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "I had to bring you back, but any other way of doing so would result in injury severe enough to really kill you, so I had to make sure you wouldn't die when I broke the outer layer. It was impervious to most simple ways and heavy tools would just harm you."

"What. Did. You. Do?" she was beginning to get angry… and scared.

Alex once again gave her that ice-cold stare. "I used… genetic engineering, so to speak, to improve you, to change you. You were human, even with superpowers. Now? You're something more, and something less." He looked right in her eyes. "Now you're a… mutant… with the ability to shapeshift and control your body to a whole new level. I infected you, alright? Now you're Blacklight – just like me."

Terra took a step back involuntarily, and another one. "I'm what? Blacklight? What have you turned me into! You – you…!" she clenched his fists and lifted her hands in a fighting stance, ready to harm Alex for whatever the horrible thing he had done to her. And judging from the way he spoke it was definitely bad – otherwise he would boast about how cool it was.

"You don't wanna do this." He raised his hands in a peaceful gesture. "Trust me – I had no other way! But I'm here – and I'm gonna help you, okay? I don't wanna hurt you, Terra, but in case you go haywire I'll have to restrain you… and you don't want me to do that. Even if you were a powerful superhero and now you're like me – I still can take you down, if I need to." He lowered his arms and glared at her. "You have you idea what your new powers are, but I do."

This made the girl think. He said he didn't want to harm her and was willing to train her.

"I'm sorry, okay? I'm gonna make amends."

Was he really that desperate and was he really sorry about what he had done?

"You have amnesia and you don't remember anything. You don't know anyone."

He was saying the truth, but was his concern genuine?

"You've got nowhere to go but stay here with me." He extended a hand towards her. "No one will accept the 'new you' but me. Believe me when I say that."

Her shoulders slumped. "Why?" was the only thing she asked, letting him step closer. He placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. It was cold.

"Because I'm sorry. Because this is what you need. Because monsters need to stick together." He watched as she raised her eyes to once again gaze into his eyes. Funny – she was the first one and the only one he would ever do this to, and they shared the same eye color, as both their eyes were light-blue… like the clear sky on a sunny day. "I'm a monster and I made you into one too. You could say we are family now – you're the only one I have and I'm the only one you have. And believe me when I say only I will be capable to understand you and your new powers."

She felt the tears stream down her face.

-Scene Break-

Terra sat at the table in the living room on the first floor. She had learned that Alex was living in a private house on the outskirts of Jump City, where she had been living as a hero in the past, if her blurred and hazy memories were true and the man wasn't lying. Mercer was sitting on the opposite side of the wooden table with his hands crossed on the table's surface and his fingers holding the elbows.

"Okay, let me explain a bit more about your new powers." He scoffed, earning a questioning look from Terra as a response to which he only waved his hand. "Oh, it's nothing. I just didn't have anyone to explain this stuff to me when I was in similar situation." Alex seemed to recall something for a few moments and then his concentration returned as he continued. "First things first – your organism is no longer the same. Subconsciously you have recreated all the organs inside your body, without which a human would not be able to function. Your brain has, to be exact. My point is – you don't need those to function properly now. You don't need food; in a sense… you have no need for water, as your organism will not dehydrate because of the change. You don't need sleep, as your new body will never succumb to fatigue or pressure, unless you are greatly injured, and that can be handled with a different approach rather than sleeping. You won't age – your body will preserve you in your current state and your physical attributes will not deteriorate no matter what you do. Like, if you eat 100 pies out of simple curiosity you won't gain any fat or anything. Your "stomach" will just "burn" the things, so to speak."

"Umm, that's kinda cool. Not as bad as you said it would be." She smiled a bit, but stopped doing so under his cold gaze. "Right?"

"Well… anyway, moving on." He continued, somewhat ignoring her question. "You are also much stronger than a human. You can lift a car with no problem and hurl it at considerable distances with simple brute physical strength – a feat no normal human could do. As you… hmm… "evolve"… you will become even more stronger. Like me for example – I can lift buses, trucks and helicopters. I tried tanks, but they're a bit too heavy for me still." He side-glanced, earning a quiet snort from the blond girl. Seeing her reaction he brought his fist to his mouth and cleared his throat. "You're also more durable. As I said before your organism has changed and most bullet wounds, no matter the caliber, won't hurt you much… in time. No matter what organ the bullet may pierce you won't receive a mortal wound and instead will take overall damage to your biomass. In the beginning I was not too sturdy that way, but when you evolve you'll be able to regenerate most wounds aside from explosives. I hate those… and I hate the friggin missile launchers!" he coughed once, watching Terra as she covered her mouth with her hand, trying to hide her slight amusement.

"Okay… what's this "biomass" stuff you were talkin' about?" the girl asked, calming down.

"Your whole body is composed out of biomass now, instead of bones, meat, muscles, skin and clothes. Yes – even your clothes are a part of your body, like mine."

"Err… the clothes are a part of my body? But they are clothes!"

Alex sighed and put his index finger and thumb to his forehead. "Okay. The virus – let's call it for what it is – has not only infected you but also consumed you and rewrote your body and your clothes down on a genetic level. Copied them, assumed their look, became them – whatever! No matter how, it's now a part of your organism and although it took the texture and feel of clothes – that's your body right there, your biomass. Get it?"

"Holy cow! How did you get all this on your own?" the blond was in an array of emotions, ranging from confused and angry to desperate and sad.

"You don't wanna know, but it took me roughly a few weeks to get the basics down." He responded with a solemn look on his face. He'd look downright dark if he had his hood on.

Terra sighed, not resembling her cheerful and easy going self she once had been. For one – she did not remember herself acting so and two, well she was in some deep shit right now and there was nothing to laugh at or joke about. She may have been not as serious a few minutes ago, but the things Mercer explained… well they were grim to put it lightly. Very lightly put, at that even with all the positive perks. What he meant was that she was not human anymore and accepting it was not really easy.

"Anyway – the last thing you should know is that you're much faster than a normal human. You can go at the speed around 40 kilometers per hour right now or so. I started along that speed… maybe a bit higher, and I can't really say since I don't have a speedometer in my body. When you get stronger you'll be able to move at my top speed eventually – again roughly 180 km per hour or so."

"Whoa! This is sweet."

"Well yeah, and as much as I don't want to bring this up, there's one thing that makes all the perks seem not important. The downside." Alex paused, gesturing for the girl to follow him and stood up, making his way towards the closet door. "I'm sorry about this, but this is something you have to do, alright?" he assured her, looking really sorry for her right now, but his stare seemed to hold some of the coldness he regarded her with earlier. "Here goes nothing…"

He turned the knob and opened the door with one swift motion.

-Scene Break-

She wanted to hurl, she wanted to scream and cry, she wanted to wake up from this nightmare… but it was the harsh reality.

She just "consumed" a person and she found it to be a horrible and painful experience. She didn't want to at first and as Alex had predicted freaked out, declining his attempts to make her eat. So he made her do it – it was like he gave her an order and no matter how much she didn't want to she still found herself doing it, even if against her will.
The fact that the man was the worst of scum and a criminal made little to no difference. She, of course, knew he had been a criminal once his memories had settled in and her violent headache had stopped. Still – it was wrong and unnatural to do what she had done to him, even if it made the weakness in her body and mind go away.

She sat on the bed in the room where she had awoken today. It was her room now and Alex had already explained that before he told her about her powers and her curse. Eating humans was her ordeal now. He had assured her that with time and evolution she would no longer require regular feeding like she did now and she would be able to maintain and exercise greater control over her biomass for months without a single consumed human, like he could do now.

A soft knock sounded from the direction of the door that led into the room. Terra hugged her knees to her chest tighter.

"Terra, are you calm now?" came Alex's voice from beyond the door. For the meantime it was her only border – the thing that separated her and the monster that stood in the corridor. "Can I come in?"

"NO! Leave me alone." she could not let him in. She didn't want to. Not after what he had made her do.

"Come on, don't be like that!" he responded with a stern voice. "I had to do it. Would it be better if you found it out on your own? Would it be better if you had a gun to your head and the only way to survive would be to kill and consume? Huh?" he sounded angrier by the minute.

"I don't care!" she yelled back at the door in defiance.

"… I can't fucking believe this…" came a muffled voice from the other side. Terra suspected that were she human she would not be able to hear that. "You open this door right now! YOU HEAR?" he demanded.

"I told you – NO!"

"I've fucking had it!"

The door bust open, flying off its hinges and slamming into the wall as it arched free of the lock that had been holding it in place the minute before. From outside the angry Mercer stepped in, fires blazing from his eyes and his fists clenched. Terra jumped up and on the floor near the bed, her expression mirrored the man's own and her eyes flared yellow… literally.
Before she could do much he was already upon her, his fist raised for a punch. She had no time to manipulate earth from outside the house, so instead she reared her own hand and threw a punch towards his punch. Their arms collided and a gust of air pressure flew through the room in a spherical explosion. It seemed that for the moment their strength was evenly matched and Terra allowed a small angry smirk to appear on her face. However before she could react he had grabbed her by the neck with his other hand and turned around, whipping his hand and releasing his grip on her body, causing her to fly out of the room, crashing through the door frame and into the bathroom of the 2nd floor.

The girl cried out in pain and her body fell back on the half-broken bathtub. Alex stepped out of the room and into the bathtub before she had the time to recover and now towered upon her thin frame.

"I'm not some damn babysitter and I don't give a shit if you're having a fucking hard time accepting what you are now! You're not human and to survive you're going to have to learn to consume humans! You think I had a choice in the matter? You think I was any better off? I awoke in a morgue and in the next five minutes I had people shooting me!" he yelled all the time, waving his hand in front of him and swiping it at his side in frustration. "I had to man up and take all the shit flying at me, and eating people to survive was the least of my worries!" he grabbed her by the collar as she listened to him, shocked. "You're a monster just like me – accept it, live with it!"

A moment of silence ensued. And then she grimaced, tears streaming down her face as she began to sob and wail, curling up into a ball on the bathroom floor, paying no mind to the shattered bits of the door and the bathtub.
Alex released her abruptly, making a step back. True – he was not the patient sort and had no experience dealing with these things… he also had bad anger management, but he didn't want to snap like that. Slowly yet hastily he kneeled beside her and wrapped her in his arms, careful not to put too much pressure and trying to offer a firm, yet comforting hug.

"I'm… I'm sorry, okay?" he spoke. "I didn't mean it like that – I… shit. I'm really sorry."

He did not stop her from crying and screaming, but instead decided to try and comfort her if that was possible. Maybe she needed this, maybe she needed time or maybe she needed someone to pull through this. Someone who knew what it was like to be this way.

There was a difference between them though. He was Alex Mercer – his previous self had been a maniac, a psychopath ready to take the rest of New York with him when he went down. He was already twisted when he had been born from the body of Mercer. He had no difficulty doing the things he did as long as in the end he punished the people responsible.

Terra was just a child. She was a teenager girl and no matter her past she still had very little mental resistance… she also never really killed anyone. She had just consumed a human being not too long ago and, in short, he had made her do it against her will. She had a hard time dealing with all this. It had caused her to break down and she also had no wish to admit she was now a monster that preyed on humans.

He wished there was another way around this. He really did.

-Scene Break-

The two were sitting in silence at the kitchen table on the 1st floor now. Both had placed their hands on the wooden surface and both had lowered their gazes down on their hands. Both were staring into the deep dark of their thoughts instead of seeing the object in front of their eyes. The silence would be total and numb deafness would linger in the air if not for the occasional sounds coming from the street. The voices of humans, the sound of car engines, the dogs barking.

All else was silence.

"Listen…" he started and stopped abruptly. The room once again sank into the silence, as he was unsure how to continue. He exhaled and raised his head, hoping she would do the same. She did not. "… I just wanna say that I'm here for you. Now we're family. I'm your biological father actually, since you have been changed whole by me. I don't know if you had any family before but you sure do now… if you want a monster for a father."

She nodded, slowly, without feeling, without showing any change in emotion. Just a blank face and sad eyes.

"I already took care of making a normal life for you." He took a paper out of the pocket of his jacket. "You'll be going to a school – Murakami High. I think it's safe to use my surname so you'll be using that. We have to make a cover name though… so pick one. If you want to…"

"Tara." She said without much consideration.

"Tara? Okay. From now on you are Tara Mercer, daughter of Alexander Mercer. Age – 16, blood type O-. Can't have anyone trying to try and get you to be a donor, or have ease finding you one if we want to have the secret kept. Consider all your likes and make them into dislikes in public – you have to be a different person now and we can't risk someone who knew you recognize you. Even if they do – you have to make them think you're nothing like the person they think you are. Just a look-alike. Just a memory. "

"Yes… Dad." She forced out an answer.

"I'm sorry kid… I really am. But I need you. I can't tell you why, alright? Not right now, at least – so just be patient." He rose up and made his way to her. He placed his hands on her shoulders and squeezed them gently. "Hang in there… daughter."

-Scene Break-

The room was dark and nothing could be made out clearly. A single dim lamp hung down from the ceiling, giving some amount of light, but not enough to light the features of the two people sitting opposite each other. Both had hoods over their faces and their figures were obscured by the darkness, as they sat on opposite chairs.
The lamp flickered a few times, emitting a buzzing sound.

"Why did you do it? Why did you choose that girl?" one figure asked.

"Why her?" the other spoke. "Because she was the perfect choice, really. She had the experience no one else had, she had been through things that most did not with all their complicated lives. I needed someone who knew the thin line between a hero and a villain, someone who crossed the line both ways. I needed Terra."

"Weren't there any other candidates?" the other figure asked again.

"There were… but she was the only one who had nothing to lose. She was dead, in a way." One hooded figure lowered his head continuing. "I know that what I had done was something worse than death. It would be more merciful to kill her – but I needed her."

"Why?"

"I had plans, okay? I knew from the very beginning what I was going to do and all the horrible things that had followed were not accidents. My conscience is not clear – I made all those things happen." The hood rose. "I had no other way and this was the only thing I could do to make everything right."

The speaker paused, adding the last line.

"Heh. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, you know that?"

xxxxxXXXXXxxxxx
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Alex Mercer stood in the slightly darker part of the Murakami High School Hall leaning on the wall with his arms crossed in front of him and his legs crossed as well. All was going well for now or so he thought, shifting his gaze to Terra sitting near him on the chair in her new school uniform. Well – what everyone assumed was her school uniform anyway, for none except him knew that these were her regular "clothes" – just altered.

The first thing Alex went over with his "daughter" was her transformation and shifting abilities. Naturally, she could not shapeshift her limbs or any part of her body into claws or blades or anything at all, seeing as she never absorbed any other infected to gain their attributes. She never would as a matter of fact, as Alex doubted she would ever encounter any other Blacklight or Redlight monsters, as he had wiped them all out. All but one, actually, but thinking about "him" was too early at this point anyway.
So he taught her how to shift her clothes, seeing as she would need it sooner or later, and she informed him that she disliked her outfit she had at the time. He knew it was the one she wore when she served Slade, but she could not remember such a thing – so why was she disgusted with it? When he carefully asked her the question she replied that she didn't know why she disliked her clothes… only that she did for some reason. It seemed as if some parts of not only her personality remained, but also some of her memories – even if they were present on a subconscious level.

This was not good, but he expected some sort of complications – he wouldn't be Alex Mercer if he didn't expect problems. Although he smirked at the thought. 'I'm not exactly Alex Mercer anyway. At least not completely, even if he is the domineering personality, so to speak.'

Terra, or Tara Mercer as she preferred to be called now in public, had surprised him greatly during her training. She was quite efficient and an able learner – much like himself, and had little-to-no difficulty in learning how to shift her biomass skin portion of her organism.
It was like she had almost perfect control and understanding of what he had taught her. And it took her only 2 hours to fully master any outfit she wanted, even to the point of making changes as quick as Alex could, changing apparel almost instantly. However she had stopped at that and it seems she had difficulties in changing her facial features like eye color or hair color. Alex knew it would come to her in time.

But back to the business at hand…

Right now Alex and Tara were at the very first school meeting, just two weeks before the term would begin. Many other parents and their children were present as well – all those who were transferring to the school from other places or those whose kids just grew old enough to start going to school. They all divided into groups, so there were a few other people standing or sitting nearby.
The Principal of Murakami School – Mrs. Parker – was attending to most parents and telling them what they needed to do. Learning materials, uniforms for those who had none and general guidelines of the school – those were the things she explained. Alex already knew most of the stuff the woman had to say, as he had done extensive research on this school before deciding to send Tara here.

Finally it was their turn, and after the Principal explained things to the group of parents and their children, she asked for the Mercers to stay for a private chat. There was little need to be on alert, but Alex couldn't help but be suspicious – his lifestyle did not exactly help relax around people and after Mrs. Parker asked them to wait until the others of their group would go about their business he became rather tense. Naturally, only Terra was able to notice the slight change for some reason. She couldn't explain why, but she was sure that she couldn't read him that well, even after spending around a week living together with him, so it had to be something else. Maybe her senses had become sharper than they ever were? Maybe.

The three were alone now and Mrs. Amanda Parker smiled a most happy smile she showed for the whole evening.

"Mr. Mercer – you probably don't remember me, but I sure remember you." She started, making both listeners even more nervous than they were before. "I just wanted to say that I'm so happy and thankful for what you did for my daughter! If it weren't for you she would probably die from that car accident… I just wanted to thank you again." The woman proceeded to lightly hug Alex.

The man, himself, was rather shocked. On the other hand he relaxed greatly, seeing as the woman had nothing to do with his past.

"Dad?" the blonde girl beside him asked when the Principal moved back from the hug. Tara was really curious about whatever they were talking about.

"Oh, your father must not really remember, sweetie." The principal waved her hand and smiled kindly. "I'm sure Doctor Mercer is a busy man and has many patients, so it's no surprise. You see – two months ago my daughter got into a traffic accident in her car. Your father was the one who operated on her when she was brought to the hospital." The woman paused. Alex thought back to that time and indeed he could remember someone with a situation like that. "Your father saved my girl's life. The other doctors said he was a miracle worker and the best doctor Jump City had to offer – I'm sure it is so."

Terra looked up at Alex, watching him smile at the Principal. She had no idea he could smile like a normal person, but then again… he could be pretending to. What she was actually surprised about, though, was that Alex worked as a doctor-surgeon, and even though she remembered him say that he worked in some hospital – she knew nothing more than that. Perhaps it was his way to atone for the things he did?

"I was just doing my work, Mrs. Parker. And I'd do it again if I had to. The surgery was complex, but I was sure that your daughter's life could and would be saved." Alex replied in a modest and confident manner.

"I just want you to know that if there's anything Tara needs – she can come to me. I'm in your debt Mr. Mercer and if there's anything I can do…" she left the sentence unfinished, waiting for his reply.

"That would be wonderful, thank you." Alex smiled.

At least there would be no problems with school for Terra. That was a pleasant bonus that Alex could use in the future.

-Scene Break-

Ash Connors gently pressed the brakes, making the car stop just in front of the checkpoint of Jump City Prison. The man was dressed in a simple black military bodysuit with many pockets and had a handgun on his belt. He had short, dark-blond hair which was brushed backwards and oiled, making him look like some kind of old-style Mafioso, especially coupled with the hard glare of his brown eyes. A single scar ran through his lips diagonally.

Ash flexed his fingers as he kept his hands on the wheel, glad for his fingerless gloves. Finally a few seconds later a prison guard came up.

"Can I see your ID, sir?" he asked, seeing how the man in the car was dressed like.

Without a single word the man gave the specific ID to the guard, giving him one of his trademark glares. The guard cringed a bit and quickly examined the card given to him. Within moment he straightened out and saluted, giving the card back.

"We'll open the gates right now sir!"

"Now that's more like it." Ash replied sternly and turned away, not giving the guard a tiniest bit of attention whatsoever.

"Prick." The guard mumbled, sure that he could not be heard inside the checkpoint cabin as he pressed the open button, which raised the barrier to alooow the car to enter the prison's courtyard.

Without hesitation or pause Ash drove the car towards a parking space nearest to the main entrance of the prison and left it there. Then the man proceeded to enter the prison, where he had to show his ID a few more times, paying almost no attention to the guards. His glares and attitude, as well as his papers showed that he had a station which exceeded the guard's by far.
The man stopped before one of the cell doors in "Block D" and looked back to the guard who was escorting him.

"Open this door." Was all he said.

"Yes, sir!" the guard immediately did as he was told.

Ash told the guard to stay put outside and entered the cell, closing the door behind him. Not too far away, in front of him lay a man on his prison bed.

"Doctor Chang." Ash spoke his name instead of asking for it. He knew exactly who he was going to see here.

The Asian man stood up, watching the soldier before showing a sarcastic smirk.

"Hello there soldier-boy. What can Doctor Chang do for you today?" the man chuckled, amused with his own words. Ash was not amused however.

"I'm here to transfer you, so take your things and get out of the cell. Make me wait and I won't be as nice as I am now."

The words sunk in and the criminal decided that it was not a god idea to mess with the soldier. He quickly packed the things that he could take with him and together the two proceeded to walk towards the car. On the inner check out point the pair was stopped by a supervisor guard.

"Hold on a moment there. You may have the clearance to visit the prisoners without any interference on our side, but taking someone out of prison is…" the guard did not finish what he was saying as Ash interrupted him.

"I can and I will." He paused, taking out another card and giving to the guard. "I have direct orders for transfer. Clearance 'Redhawk'."

"Redhawk?" the supervisor guard repeated, full of surprise. He quickly examined the card and gave it back to Ash. "I'm sorry sir – I didn't know. You should have told us ab-"

"Now you know. So get the hell outta my way, boy." Ash once again gave the guard the trademark glare. "No questions asked. This is far above your level of clearance."

The two left the shocked guards behind them, getting inside the car and driving off into the distance. Once the car was out of the city limits Ash drove towards the sideway, stopping the car quite suddenly and turning off the lights. Doctor Chang looked at the soldier from the backseat with surprise mixed with fear. He didn't exactly know what to expect from his convoy.
Ash turned around, placing one of his hands on the back of his seat.

"Now that we can speak privately, Mr. Chang, I can disclose more information as to your sudden… transfer." Ash smirked with a corner of his mouth, further unnerving Chang. "I'm not driving you to a new prison – no. On the contrary – you are to be set free… if you accept a business propositions for my… associate." Ash made sure to pause in specific moments to underline some words.

"I'm listening." Chang finally allowed himself to relax. He could see that his possible future employer was not doing something legal.

"There are a few things we would need from you." The soldier started, no longer smirking. "Tell me Doctor Chang – do you still possess an army of Slade Commandos? My associate would require quite a few of those – probably hundreds, if not more."

"There are a few left, yes, but not that much. Maybe 50 or 60 of the ones that Mr. Slade did not use." Chang decided that lying would not benefit him here and came clean. "However… with enough resources and funding I could set a mass production going again and make the army for your… associate."

Ash smiled. "That's good to hear, Mr. Chang. My associate will give you funding and resources, but I cannot say how much." The soldier put the other hand to his chin and rubbed it in thought. "Anyway – onto other matters. He would also need an authentic Slade-bot with a custom made voice box that could imitate a recording in Slade's own voice. Is that possible?"

"Hmm. It is – yes. I have a Slade-bot available, although I would have to make the voice box from scratch." Chang explained.

"Good." Ash nodded. "One last thing – my associate would also require a special kind of robot built, but the specifics of it you would discuss together. All I know is that he would have to be quite high-tech and possibly look like alien technology." Ash paused, taking out the handgun from his belt holster. "Of course – you can always say no to the conditions of the pay for your freedom. However I would have to take measures to keep this conversation a secret." Ash nodded towards the gun he held in his hand, smirking at Chang.

"Oh no – no-no-no! I am quite sure that I could do all that! It's a fair way for me to repay you and your associate." Chang quickly replied. Perhaps too quckly.

"That's what I like to hear, Mr. Chang. I knew you would be a reasonable man." The driver put his gun away and turned back to the wheel. "Now… we are going to a special safe house where you will be working on all those things. It's provided by your new employer and it has a state of the art lab, just for you. Feel free to go back to your lab to retrieve anything you need, but please – be discreet. We don't want the police, or worse – the Titans, to know you are free."

"Certainly, Mr. …?"

"I'm sure we won't meet again. No need to know my name." Ash replied.

The rest of the way the two drove in silence and once Chang was delivered to the safe house Ash drove away. He arrived at the Junkyard and crushed the car in a compressor, making sure no one would be able to find the car anywhere. Maybe it was a useless measure, but he was going to do it anyway, fearful that the car number may be traced.

The man soon arrived in one of the alleyways of Jump City and stopped there, surveying his surroundings to make sure nothing was watching him. After he double-checked his surroundings the man changed – a mass of red-black tentacles and matter crawling through his body from head to toe. He quickly changed his appearance into one of a hoodie-wearing man in a jacket. He was no longer Ash Connors…

"That was easy." Alex Mercer emitted a single chuckle and put his arms in the pockets of his jacket, heading off towards home in a steady pace.

-Scene Break- -A Month Later-

It was just another normal day in Jump city. The people went about their business, cars made their way all over the city streets and the sky was clear, sun shining down warmly on the group of teens walking down the street.
One of the teenagers – a green boy who was shorter than all others from his group spoke first – a content smile on his face as he made his way forward.

"Our city is the greatest city ever." Beast Boy stated.

The other man who was walking next to him, Cyborg, responded. "Tokyo was pretty great, don'tcha think?"

"Tokyo?" Raven asked her teammate.

"Yeah, our last stop before coming back here… again. I mean we were back to town for just a couple of days after we defeated the Brotherhood of Evil and then we rushed off to Tokyo." Cyborg placed both his hands on the shoulders of Raven and Beast Boy, giving them a happy grin.

"I've gotta agree with Beast Boy – it sure is good to be back home." Robin spoke his own mind, agreeing with his green teammate, which was rare, but not impossible to happen.

Starfire was the last to speak, smiling widely and going up through the sky as she did, no doubt feeling great joy. "I too have missed out glorious city! I cannot wait to rent the videos and feast on the worms of sour guminnes!" the girl then stopped, opening her eyes in surprise and touching back to the ground. She gasped. "The worms are gone."

Before them stood one of their favourite places to hang out at, it's windows and doors barred with wooden planks and the building looking deserted and unattended to for some time now. A large yellow sign saying "CLOSED" was hanging on the front double doors.

In an effert to cheer the alien girl up Beast Boy came up to her and took a hold of her arm. "Come on Star! Marline's store is just around the corner." He said, dragging her along with him as he ran towards his destination. "It's got the best peanut butter squares in town." He assured her, stopping arbruplty with a surprised yell as he went around the corner and laid his eyes on the place where the store was supposed to be. "My peanut butter squares are gone!"

The rest of the team caught up to them.

"The whole block is gone; they're building a new office complex." Cyborg spoke as the 5 teenagers looked at the large construction site before them.

"Things sure have changed… guess we've been away for some time, and once the city was rebuilt some places have gone." Robin told the others as he examined the sight before them.

"Where am I gonna buy my books?" Raven questioned.

"I don't remember any bookstore." Beast Boy shrugged.

"That's because you never bought a book." Raven regarded the green boy with a critical eye.

"Hmmmm."

"And the auto shop that was next to the bookstore is gone too." Cyborg shared his memories of this place.

"I remember there used to be a toy shop… or was it a barber shop? I distinctly remember it was some kind of… shop." Beast Boy added, being his usual self, but this time no one thought of making any comments or rolling their eyes. They were too baffled by the sight of their favorite places now gone. The wind blew softly through the area where the Titans stood, as if underlining the mood that overtook the group.

"And I remember A.J.'s music store was over there." Starfire flew up towards an old-looking piece of a wall that was the only thing still left from the old buildings that stood here. And even it would soon be destroyed and taken away from this place forever.

Before anyone could respond, however, a white figure with a strange mask and red eyes came out of the wall, making the superheroes take their ready stances.

"I definitely don't remember that being there!" Cyborg spoke.

A moment passed as the group waited for the humanoid creature to act in some way before Starfire had to dodge a hand that slammed into the ground beneath where she had been a second before. That settled it – the thing was dangerous.

"Titans Go!" Robin commanded, once again issuing the order to mobilize and attack, like he did many times over the years.

The team quickly took their places, while the monster began swiping at Starfire who was the closest to it. The girl quickly floated away, letting Robin attack, and after the thing tried to hammer him down with both arms and the boy jumped high up into the air, he executed a masterful flip and launched a fly-kick attack, which resulted in his foot getting caught by the white thing, which slammed him into the ground and threw him away afterwards, where the boy collided with Raven and both went flying through the air and down onto the ground.
Beast Boy wasted no time and shifted into a raptor, charging the enemy. They collided and rolled on the ground, but with a single mighty punch the monster sent BB flying through the air and the latter flew into a steel pillar, falling down on the ground, reverting to his human form.

Then a large chunk of the ground fell on the other side of the street, dangerously near the civilians who had no means to protect themselves from such a force. It was there, as the dust settled, that he saw her standing in the crowd. The thin frame, the long blond hair, the crystal blue eyes.

"Terra?" he asked quietly, disbelief washing over him.

"Terra!" he yelled, forcing his body to move towards her as he began to run, but before he could reach his destination or make more than two or three steps, the creature picked up a bulldozer and threw it at the little green man, who had to jump out of the way so he could avoid damage. When he cast a glance towards the place where he had seen his friend he didn't see her, but all the other people. "Terra?" he asked once again, deciding to put off the answer for later.

He raced back towards the place where his team fought, numerous questions racing through his head that he couldn't get rid of no matter how hard he tried. Was it her? Did he really see her, or was it just a trick of the mind? Could she be free of her stony tomb? What would it mean if she was?
The answers had to wait.

In one of the back alleys of the street she stood, her features downcast, looking at the legs of the one standing opposite of her.

"He saw you?" the man asked in a grim voice.

"Yeah… he called out to me. He said "Terra". He knows my name." she raised her eyes, naught but sadness in them.

He sighed. "I know he does. I told you that you were a superhero. You… and them." he answered, looking straight into her eyes.

"I have these images going through my mind… they're my memories. They are hazy, but still there."

"You're not Terra anymore – not the girl she used to be, you never will be. You're someone else, someone new, someone different. Remember that." He placed his hand on the side of her shoulder. "If he finds you again – you have to make sure to tell him, and if need be show him that you're not her. We can't risk anyone finding out."

"… Okay." She lowered her gaze once again. She couldn't prove otherwise anyway – she didn't remember anything of Terra but the few bits she saw in her mind.

-Scene Break-

Terra stood before the door to the Mercer residence, or at least the only one she knew as such. Alex hinted a few times that there were a few other places he had bought in town in case he ever needed to relocate, for whatever reason, but the blonde guessed that no matter how secretive one might be – a human with superpowers always had enemies, or not exactly a human in her new father's case.
In public places such as the school or when both of them had something to do outside the house she always referred to him as "father" or "dad" or something along the lines, but when they were alone and no one else was there to blow their cover she couldn't force herself to call him anything but Alex. He had told her than is some sense he was her actual biological father now, but she still couldn't really go along with the idea… even if he was the only "father" she ever knew. She had no memory of her real father or mother, or if she had any sibling, as well.

The girl sighed once again and quickly inserted the key into the keyhole, turning it afterwards. She didn't want to draw this out longer than it had to be – it was better to get this over with now.

She quietly stepped inside the house, closing the door behind her. She considered shifting her school shoes into slippers at the same time remembering that Alex never did appear to be wearing anything except for his own plain black shoes, except the time he trained her to change her clothes. He had transformed completely that day a few times, never stopping the explanations. By now they had lived together for almost two months and she could already tell that he was the type to handle all explanations in a scientific type. Other than that she didn't know much about him – he was just secretive that way. His typical mood was a brooding one, and Tara couldn't remember if he smiled at least once – a real, cheerful smile. All she saw were false smiles he would give to strangers and the school staff, and those were pretty skilled, if she were any judge of that. He seemed to be a master actor the way he handled social interactions, but she didn't know if he had any type of previous career in the business.
One of the few true smiles she had seen him show were all smirks, and those were bordering on "vicious" and "cruel" types of smirking. Sometimes he scared her – he still did and still would, even if she knew he meant her no harm. Although she could never be sure.

The girl reached the living room, which took her roughly about 7 to 8 steps, and found Alex sitting on the couch. He had the same posture he always did when she saw him like this. He was leaning back on the sofa, with one arm on the back of the couch and the palm of the other one placed on his knee. His knees faced opposite directions. He was, more or less, in a sprawled position.
It didn't take him more than a second to acknowledge her presence, even though it was pretty dark in the house and the only source of light was on the other side from the entrance where Tara stood.

"Hey." He offered his usual greeting. It was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Hey." She responded in the same lazy manner he used.

Mercer removed his hand from his knee and lightly patted the place on the sofa beside him. She sat down to his right with both her hands on her knees, which she kept together. This was, perhaps, the first time he had told her to sit down beside him. There was no way he was doing it to show some kind of affection though – there was just no way. He did make a few clumsy attempts at the beginning, but those quickly ceased and never resumed. Besides she would feel weirded out if he started trying to comfort her.

"Tara." He began, taking a slight pause. "I think it's about time you and I had a little 'run' through the city." He looked at her, trying to gauge her reaction. She stayed rather impassive about his sudden words. "I've been teaching you all sorts of stuff to do with school and your shifting powers, but I need you to partake in a different sort of activity today. I have a little free time until late evening, so we are going to practice your…" he paused again, trying to find the best words. "… I guess people call it 'parkour' today, but I usually prefer not giving my movements a name."

He quickly rose up, patting her hand once. "Come on." He offered a typical polite shadow of a smirk that most people wouldn't even notice and started walking towards the exit out of the house.

"Great…" she muttered. 'Not a full few minutes in the house and we already go somewhere.' Tara concluded In her head and threw the school bag on the sofa, shifting out of her school uniform and into some casual jeans/sweater set on her way out.

-Scene Break-

Two people moved through the rooftops of Jump City. They were too fast for someone to really take some time and try to recognize them, and besides – the people in this city couldn't be surprised with people going through the rooftops, as they were used to the Teen Titans and whatever villains they pursued to be involved. This time, however, the Teen Titans were not involved.
Tara and Alex Mercer were doing their first practice run through the city. At the beginning Tara was pretty sure that she wouldn't be able to keep up with her father, but after the first few leaps, rolls and flips she found out that parkouring through the city came quite natural to her. She would even be surprised, if not outright freaked out, if it were not so fun. There was nothing quite like jumping from roof to roof of buildings and skyscrapers, wind blowing through your ears and nothing to support your body – best of all she would receive no harm after landing down on the adjacent roof or the concrete floor. The places where she landed was a whole another matter – they could take quite some damage if she were not careful and fast enough to remove the concentrated biomass from her legs.

Finally she and Alex reached a more shady side of town and stopped there, on one of the roofs of a 3 storied building. It was some shop or something. Terra still felt exhilarated and couldn't keep the happy smile off her face. Alex too seemed to be a little more cheerful than usual and that was a huge improvement.
Mercer turned to face her.

"So… how was that for your first run?"

She drew a few more breaths before answering. "That was awesome! I never knew you could do stuff like that, and… well… me too." She stuttered a bit, not sure how to form the sentence. The things she did just now were too difficult for words.

"I know. There's nothing quite like a run through the roofs for me. Guess that runs in the DNA, huh?" he smirked at her in a peculiar way.

"I guess." She shrugged, still not quite comfortable with the idea of calling him her kin, more-so a Father. The little fact that he had helped her find and eat quite a few people since he infected her wasn't helping her accept him. But after she had a few… meals – she didn't think of the deed as revolting and gross anymore. It was just "wrong" now, even if it was the only way for her to survive.

"Anyway – I brought you here for a reason. I've been tracking a group of criminals around the area, keeping a schedule on their activities and stuff." He explained, stepping on the edge of the roof and waving at her to come closer. "Since I need to give you a little training in fighting with your little abilities – they were a perfect target to pick. Dummies can only do so much." He smirked, turning away from her. She did manage to catch that expression of his – that vicious smirk that she was disturbed by.

"So what's the plan?" she asked him, not sure that she liked the whole idea. Suddenly the wind seemed to grow much colder, or was it her imagination?

"Simple – we go in, wreck their hideout, deal with them and come out." Alex squatted down. "They should be about to come back from a job. That white freak-o was causing havoc downtown and the Titans were busy dealing with him, so quite a few people decided to use that to their advantage." A single chuckle escaped his lips, as she squatted down beside him, mimicking his motions. "They won't have the chance to enjoy their profits for long." He said, with an air of finality to it and something else – it felt like a death threat.

Then they had to wait about fifteen minutes, which gave Tara some time to relax and calm down… and start getting tense after that. She didn't like what they were doing – it had the same concept that the Titans did. Find the bad guys, get in their base and make sure they paid for their crimes… but she had a bad feeling about what kind of punishment Alex was going to perform. She saw him consume a civilian once when she was coming home. Funny – but she just happened to stumble across the scene on pure chance, since both she and Mercer were going home, and he decided to have a little snack before that.
The fact that he consumed a living human, who was trying to get away and was pleading for help with a broken voice, with zero emotion and none regret or remorse whatsoever didn't add to his human nature in her opinion. In fact it was the complete opposite, and he did call himself a "monster" after all a few times during their conversations.

Maybe somewhere along the way he had accepted that he wasn't human. That didn't mean he did the right thing.

She was finally brought out of her thoughts by Alex's voice. "They're here. Six people – all wearing black leather jackets with a flaming skull on the back." He pointed at the group, who were already half-gone inside of their hideout. She saw Mercer frown. "Seriously – guys with jackets with flaming skulls on them. Typical. And cheesy." He stood up and made a step forward, dropping down to the ground after uttering "Come on".

She had no other choice but to drop down after him, making a dent in the asphalt of her own when she reached the ground. She would be lying to herself if she said she didn't feel a bit scared when she let her body step forward from the roof's edge, but after the landing was a success and not a single bone in her body was broken – the fear was forgotten, as if it was never there. She was capable of things few could dream of.

The blonde girl hastily followed Alex, running after him, for when she paused after the landing – he didn't. He went straight for the designated door. And without as much as a second thought he kicked it off the hinges, making it fly inside the guest room. One of the thugs was unlucky enough to be in the path of the flying door and he had no time to try to dodge away. The man slammed into the opposite wall, sandwiched between it and what was left of the wooden door.

"This is a raid." Came Alex's voice. It carried no amount of warmth in it – only ice.

The other thugs seemed to be an organized and trained bunch, which was rather surprising. They quickly reached for their melee weapons and guns. "Who the hell are you? A cop?" one of them asked, aiming for the intruder in the hood.

Just as Tara stopped behind her new father figure he replied. "I'll make you wish it were so." He turned his head slightly, addressing the girl behind him. "Take the ones on the right. Beat the crap out of them."

And both jumped into action. Mercer went straight for the first thug, delivering a straight punch to the jaw, which upon contact emitted a sickening crack, and the man quickly fell down on the ground, splattering blood from his mouth in a diagonal arc, which happened to be where one of his comrades stood. The other already pulled out a gun, but Alex followed up with a impressive sweeping kick, which sent the man spinning mid-air, until his body was sent away with a straight kick to the stomach. Brutal and effective.
Terra too resorted just to hand-to-hand combat, yet she held back her punches and kicks, aiming for the legs and sides of her opponents. She found out that despite little experience in such fights her immense strength and almost non-existent sense of pain she allowed her to easily overpower her opponents. Her movements were cut short as one of the men, who happened to have an uzi in his hands, unloaded half a clip into her body. Her eyes went wide and she stopped to look at her wounds in shock, only to see that there was almost no blood coming out of the wounds themselves, and the small amount that did dribble out was already oozing back… it was rather gross, but she could care less if that's what helped her stay alive.

Her gaze snapped back up and at the same very moment Alex's fingers encased the throat of the man who would have killed her, were she human. The only sounds that escaped the man's nearly crushed throat were sounds of chocking, before he had been flung onto the floor. The man's eyes focused on the hooded man standing above him, as the latter jumped up, lifting one leg higher so to deliver a crushing kick. Terra could only watch in horror as her new father's foot stomped down onto the thug, who managed to try and cover his face with his hands, emitting a shrill cry of fear… before both his arms were broken and his head was crushed with such force that the floor crackled around the area of impact.

"What- what the hell did you do?" Tara found her voice in a few seconds, terrified with the actions of her companion.

Alex only glared at her. "I killed him – that's what he deserves. He had no idea that you were anything but human, yet he shot you. And don't try and tell me otherwise!"

"I…" she could not. Desperately she tried to find a way to yell at him and tell him he was wrong, but she didn't want to sound absurd. "I don't want to sound absurd? As if I need logic to back me up! Was I always like this?" she wondered, not sure how she would have reacted before her transformation. Maybe she was just that cold of a person. Or maybe he was right about all this – she would have died if she were not Blacklight.

Alex used the moment of her hesitation, so evident on her face to step closer and put a supportive and calming hand on her shoulder. She jerked at the contact, but did not pull away. "Listen… Tara… daughter." He under lined, staring into her eyes and hoping she would not break away. "I know this is hard for you, but think about it like this. These people would not have hesitated to kill a teenage girl, who had no weapon on her as well. They are the worst kind of people… and what better way to help the world than to get rid of them? They aren't even worth consuming." His voice was quiet, yet firm and comforting. "Although we are not heroes, Tara. The very concept of our existence makes us sacrifice human lives to survive ourselves, we are a weaponized virus – Living Weapons of Mass Destruction. I was originally created as a tool for war, but I don't want that. I'm sorry that I can't tell you why I needed you, but in the end all sacrifices will be worth it, ok?"

Tara nodded weakly, trying to absorb and comprehend everything he told her. At least she now knew his origin, or at least the general, short version of it. What kind of sick people could create a thing… a man like Alex? Was his name even real?

"Tara, I need you to trust me, I need your help. Sometimes the means do justify the end. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Dad." She replied. Maybe she wasn't going to do things that humans considered to be good or heroic. Maybe she would do horrible things that people would curse her for, but in her mind – she didn't care. All she wanted was a place to stay, someone to call family and a purpose. Alex could give her that purpose and he was perhaps the only one to understand her now. Suddenly calling him "Dad" was not so alien or unpleasant. He needed her, as much as she needed him.

He chuckled. "That's my girl." And she couldn't resist a smirk of her own.

"Hey wait a minute… weren't there supposed to be more of these guys?" she suddenly whipped her head around, trying to locate someone hostile.

"No… I went ahead and took of them too while you were fighting. Power comes with age and experience." He said in a mentoring tone, raising his head proudly, perhaps for the first time displaying some other emotion than frustration or lack of emotions at all, not counting the fake emotions he showed others.

"Show-off." She nudged him in the side, giggling. They headed for the exit, leaving the bloody mess of dead bodies, and those simply knocked out behind them. "I think I can live this way. Not like I know of any other way." Tara thought to herself, smiling wryly. "Maybe something inside me just died… or maybe something changed – I don't know, but I don't care anymore."

-Scene Break-

"So you made her into a little second you." The voice from under the hood did not ask, but stated the fact, not needing any clarification. "You swiped away her doubts and told her you needed her support. A sure way to her heart – whether she knew it or not. You've done your research on her, I see."

Beneath the other hood a twisted smirk appeared, barely illuminated by the lamp hanging on the ceiling. "Yeah… I did. I told her what she needed to hear. I used her, played with her emotions, her wishes, her heart. I felt bad about it too – I still do, but I wasn't completely lying. I needed her – her specifically."

"My only question is 'why?' What for?" the other hooded person asked.

"Heh… she was an important link, you see. Terra had been a part of the Teen Titans and she also was Slade Wilson's apprentice. She was the link, she tied them all together more than they thought."

"What do you mean?"

"I needed to get to the Teen Titans and Terra was my ticket into the lives." The man under the hood sighed and leaned back on his chair. "Blackwatch never did give up on pursuing me and I needed to find a way to get them first. But I would never swoop down to Greene's level – I wouldn't infect Jump City, so I needed a different way to fight back."

"I'm afraid I don't follow you…" the person under the other hood raised their brow quizzically.

"I had Terra with me now… and we were gonna get through this together." The man looked away for a moment before continuing the story.

TO BE CONTINUED…