"God," Julia prayed, "Once Leo finds out who I am, he’ll torture me for sure! Please help me to be strong, and help my friends to get here quickly!

"Please also help Will and Gregory; I was able to keep the minions back long enough, but there are other Legion members who won’t give up so easily. Please help them to get away and get the info to the rest of the Titans!"

She looked up from her prayer to see Leo coming back. "Ivy, Green, leave us."

"What’s wrong, Leo?" Poison Ivy asked.

"Nothing," he smiled evilly, "Nothing at all."

Once the other two left, Leo walked up to her, "Well, Jules, it’s good to see you again."

"Can’t say the same about you."

He clicked his tongue, "How could you say that, Jules? We once were great pals; why, if I remember correctly, you even had a crush on me."

" ‘Once’ being the key-word here."

"I guess this means you won’t help me out? You won’t tell me what you and your buddies were looking for in the computers? You won’t tell me who was with you? You won’t tell me anything?"

She just stared at the prison wall.

"Well, if you won’t help me out the easy way, we’ll just have to do it the hard way. I’ll be right back." He opened the cell door and left.

Five minutes later he came back with another person; who she recognized as Telepath. Oh great! "God, please help me! I can’t let him get the information, I just can’t!"

"Well, Jules," Leo said, "I believe you’ve met Telepath once before. You’ve probably been wondering why you haven’t seen him ever since your first meeting. That’s because he’s been training himself to use his powers to the fullest. He’s gotten quite good and is improving daily. And you’re the first of your kind to see it first hand."

Leo opened the cell door and the two of them came in. Leo stayed by the door, but Telepath walked towards her until he stood about a yard away. He looked at her, studying her closely. Then he appeared to look through her head and into her mind. Then came searing pain, like a flaming coal inside her brain.

She tried desperately to protect her most important secrets, but slowly she felt control slipping away from her.

The pain grew worse, the searing hot coal pressing against the edges of her mind, almost seeming like it was trying to escape. She fought the urge to scream, which she knew would give Leo satisfaction. She wouldn’t let him have it.

"God please help me! Help me not to give anything away!"

And everything turned black.

____________________

A nine-year-old Raven fought hard to keep her emotions at bay. Even after being telekinetic for two years, it was still extremely hard for Raven to keep her powers under control.

She held back sobs and wiped her eyes. Meditation, she thought. That’s what I need. Maybe then my powers will stop.

Raven closed her eyes and concentrated, as her father had taught her. She’d done this quite a few times before, so she found her center relatively quickly. But this time it was different; she wasn’t alone.

She heard a voice inside her head, "Little girl, why are you crying?"

At first, Raven drew her mind away from the other presence. But then she came back; she needed someone to talk to. "I’m not feeling well," she said.

"It’s your mother, isn’t it? And your father isn’t trying to stop it."

"How do you know this?"

"I know a lot, Raven." he said, "I’ve been watching you for some time now. Your powers are quite impressive."

"I can’t control them."

"With some help you could. I can help you, Raven. I can love you."

Raven thought about this for a second, then asked, "Who are you?"

"A friend from the spirit world."

Raven started. She’d tried to contact the spirit world before, but her father said that no spirit would take interest in her until she’d reached maturity. Then why was he willing to be her spirit friend?

"Because I see great things ahead of you," the spirit broke into her thoughts. "I want to help you achieve them."

His words rang in her ears: "‘I can help you, Raven. I can love you.’" For so long she’d wanted a friend. For so long she’d wanted love. "Yes."

Raven sat up in bed. Julia! Something was wrong with Julia. But how can I know this? Raven thought, We aren’t connected in any way telepathically.

"It was probably just my way of getting out of that horrible memory dream," Raven decided aloud. "I’ve left that life; so why do I still have dreams about it?"



~Wolf Woman