North, East, West & South

San Francisco

Rachel is having a shitty day and decides to get some milk from the grocery store down the block since Gar had finished the last bottle. Her room is a mess but she didn't care. She washed her face in the bathroom and made her way to the elevator and hit the button to go down. "Ugh! I think I have a headache." She muttered to herself and wiped her palm on her face. She was still tired and sleepy but couldn't get any sleep the other night since Gar and Cyborg kept playing video games loudly. Her head hurts and she couldn't bear another loud noise. She supported her head with left hand and just when the doors were about to close shut, a metal hand bridges it and it reopens again.

"Hahaha! I totally destroyed you last night bro!" Gar screams out loud in laughter. It startles her and she opens her eyes to see the two that kept her from sleeping walk in. She's irritated but tries to keep it together.

"Dude I can't believe we played till morning! I'm gonna kick your ass tonight just you wait!!" Cyborg yelled out in excitement, "I can't wait for tonight! I'm so pumped, get ready lose!!" They keep laughing loudly as the door was about to close. She couldn't take it. The sound of their laughs pierced her ear drums and pounced on her head heavily. The headache got worst immediately and then a dark floating goo like cloud emerged from behind her. Cyborg and Gar heard the noise and slowly turned to see Rachel with her head facing down and dark mysterious goo floating behind her.

"R... Rachel? Are you alright?" Gar asked frightened. Cyborg extended his robotic arm slowly towards her and gently lifted her face up. Her face was pale and white, the red stone on her forehead began to glow and her demon eyes emerged and were glowing red. The goo quickly ripped Cyborg's arm off and broke the elevator doors and Gar and Cyborg leaned against the wall in fear.

"Rachel! Girl what's wrong with you?" Cyborg asked afraid to go near her. Rachel floated up in the air. The elevator began to shake and suddenly went downwards fast. Gar and Cyborg held each other and screamed at the top of their lungs. "Rachel! Stop please!!" Cyborg yelled again hoping to get through to her. The whole building began to quake and everything started to crumble.

"Hey what's going on?" Dick asked confused as held on to the door frame of Jason's room. He grabbed on tight but then the door just flew off its hinges and Titan tower leaned over about to fall. Jason leaps right out of the room when his bed rolled towards him almost crushing him to a pulp. He lands into the hallway but suddenly rolls down towards the glass windows since the building was leaning over. He crashes through the window about to fall but holds on to the edge of the walls.

"Dick, help!" He cried out in despair.

"Hold on Jason, I'm coming!" Dick replied. He slowly lets go of the door frame and leaps to the side of the pillar in the hallway. Suddenly the plants the halls rolled down and out the window almost hitting Jason on the head but he dodged it by swinging leftwards. But the plants pot his right arm which was keeping him from falling. He keeps calling out to Dick to hurry because his hand was slowly slipping off and he couldn't hold on any much longer. Dick wasn't about to let him fall, he remembers the way his parents died at the circus and would not forgive himself if history repeats itself again.

"I have had enough of you two! You kept me from sleeping all night, do you have any idea how much my head hurts!?" Rachel barked in rage causing the building to shake twice as much. The goo behind her kept increasing and she huffed and puffed about to bring the tower to its knees. Gar slowly moves closer to her.

"We're sorry Ra..." She grabs him by the neck with the black goo choking him to death. Gar couldn't breathe and his eyes turned red as tears rolled down his cheeks. Cyborg tried to free him but the goo held him against the wall and restrained him too. "R... Ra...Rachel... Plea... Please." Gar struggled to speak as his face turned blue.

"Gar? I'm so sorry." She apologized as she got back in control. Her eyes became normal, two human eyes. Her hair that was dancing in the hair fell straight. "I didn't mean to..."

"You're still choking him to death, let him down first then apologize!" Cyborg screamed at her while squiggling his way through the goo.

"Dick!" Jason yells out as his hand finally slips off. Dick dives in on time and grabs his hand, "Huh..."

"Gotcha! Don't worry." He's holding on to a side of the wall pulls him up.

She quickly floats down and draws all the goo back into her and Gar falls to the floor. She was speechless and had no idea what to say to them. She almost killed them and worst part was she loved the power and wanted to do it. "Gar I'm..." She tries to help him up but Gar draws back and falls a few times. He was in shock; Cyborg helped him up with one arm. "Gar? Cyborg?"

"Nope, something is wrong with you Rachel. Get your shit together, you almost killed us." Cyborg told her with a lot of concern and fear. The building continues to shake and leans further. "Fix it before the whole thing falls!" Cyborg yells again. She closed her eyes and slowly rises into the air and the tower draws back and stands firm again.

"Thanks Dick." Jason said trying to catch his breath.

"No problem. But what the hell caused that quake?" Dick asked thinking another lunatic was loose in the city. He runs to gather the others with Jason.

"Guys I think someone is causing an earthquake in the city. We have to go." Dick told them when he got to the elevator which was already destroyed.

"Don't bother, it's Rachel, her powers are wonky again. She almost killed us!" Cyborg snitched without hesitation. Rachel stared at Dick with a sorry expression on her face. Dick inhaled deeply, he had no idea what to tell her and that was the third time she had lost control and almost destroyed everything.

"Rachel..."

"Save it Dick, I almost killed Gar." She looks at Gar who was still frightened and inhaling deeply. Tears filled her eyes and she opened a portal to the streets and left. Dick was tongue tied. Cyborg took Gar inside and Dick picks up his ripped off arm and follows them to reattach it.

Rachel walks through the portal into an alley, covers her head with her hood and makes her way to her favorite grocery store, Tom's Groceries. She goes there for most of the things she need and she also made a new friend there, Todd, the guy behind the counter. It was Thursday and Todd's shift.

"Hey Todd." Rachel wakes at him as she entered. Todd seemed delighted and happy to see her there.

"Morning Rachel." He greeted back and Rachel went around the isles to get what she came for which was originally milk but she ended up buying a few pastries to drown herself in. She comes up to the counter to pay. "Whoa, isn't it a bit too early to be eating doughnuts and cupcakes?" Todd asked surprised.

"It's been a shitty morning." She replied with a smile on her face.

"What could've been so shitty that you need two boxes of chocolate?" Todd asked hysterically.

"I... I almost killed my friends and destroyed the whole house." She replied with a serious look on her face.

"Whoa, your powers again?" Todd asked with concern. Rachel had told him before about the way she sometimes loses control and the darkness takes over. She doesn't want to be like her father. "I really don't know what to say to you since I don't... You know, have powers?" He chuckled and Rachel smiled. Todd is a bit of a wimp and funny as well. Rachel enjoys the small talk she has with him. He's seventeen and a high school dropout. He's dad abandoned him and his mum who is a drug addict and he's now working at the grocery shop to take care of his mum. He has brown eyes and black hair with freckles on his face. "Maybe you should just let the darkness in?" He suggested looking at her with uncertainty.

"Are you nuts? I almost killed four people today; if I let the darkness in I might destroy the world." Rachel replied freaked out. She doesn't even want to think of what would happen if the darkness took over.

"Umm... Rachel? What's wrong with the red stone on your forehead?" Todd asked curiously as the stone glowed. A tiny crack appeared on it and Todd reached out to touch it. "It's glowing..."

"Glowing? Wait, that means..." Rachel muttered to herself trying to think but then Todd touched it and immediately Rachel disappeared.

"Ouch! Take it easy Dick, I know I'm half robot but I can feel pain too!" Cyborg screamed as Dick tries to reattach his arm. The wiring has been done perfectly but he just needs to reattach the metals with a few spare parts. Everyone is Cyborg's room which was very spacious and had lots of wires and tools lying around. He has a sleeping pod that he plugs himself into at night. Gar was attended to by Jason who seemed pretty angry about the whole situation.

"Look we can't have her going all demon whenever she wants. We have to do something or someday she's gonna really kill us." Jason pointed out, "I for one I'm not ready to die yet." Jason went on as he bandaged Gar's wounds. The goo had razor sharp blades within them that slit Gar's throat and arms and so as his stomach but luckily the cuts are not too deep.

"Guys, it's Rachel, sure her powers are out of control but she would never hurt us." Gar tried to talk them out of whatever they might plan to do to her.

"Yeah she won't hurt us at least not intentionally. The fact still remains that we could still die Gar. You love her I get that but we ain't dying for your love dude." Jason said as he threw the bandage across the room and walked out.

"Cyborg, come on. It's Rachel, she loves us." Gar said trying to convince Cyborg to be on his side.

"I'm sorry bro, as much as I hate to admit it, Jason's right. Rachel's a ticking time bomb and blow at any minute." Cyborg replied and left to get new upgrades for his arm. Dick gave Gar the "I'm sorry look" and left the room as well. Kori wasn't around. She had gone back to Tamara to sort things out with her sister, Komand'r. Gar was left to his thoughts. He's afraid that they might kick her out or worst, lock her up somewhere that doesn't allow her to use her powers.

Her eyes flickered and slowly opened and her sight was a bit blurry. The wind was filled with sands and so as her clothes. "Where am I?" She muttered and slowly got up and dusted off the sands on her body and hair. She looked around and all she could see was nothing but sands, she was in the dessert. "How the hell did I get here? Todd!" She remembered, "Todd!" She called out but there was no one there but her. "The stone, my powers must have transported me here but where exactly is here?" She asked herself and trudged through the sandstorm.