"Abby, could you bring me the dummy body I made earlier? And the blood from the medical pod—the access code is H6E5." Thea could have summoned both with a simple spell, but she figured giving Abby something to do might keep her from spiraling into overthinking.
Abby, terrified by the increasingly grotesque monstrosity that had been extracted from her, didn't need to be told twice. She bolted from the room.
When she saw the featureless black figure still standing in the main hall, a nagging thought crept into her mind. Is my true nature... a black figure? A black body to match a black soul? Remembering the horrific mass Thea was working on, the idea that that thing had been inside her for years made her want to scrub herself raw.
But she knew this wasn't the time. Ignoring Swamp Thing and the others' questions, she retrieved a 500-milliliter storage container from the medical pod, hoisted the dummy onto her back, and hurried back. One thought dominated her mind: Finish this. Let me be normal again!
"That was fast." Thea noticed Abby's pale face and assumed her soul had been damaged. She offered a few words of reassurance before beginning the final step.
She forcibly shoved the monstrosity—now resembling a feral creature more than anything human—into the black figure's body. The dummy's formerly symmetrical frame swelled grotesquely before their eyes, expanding until it stood three meters tall and over two meters wide. Its already genderless form became even more nightmarish and grotesque.
The Rot-infused soul transformed the figure entirely. It dropped from an upright stance to all fours. Two additional arms sprouted from its ribs. Its featureless head split open, revealing a gaping maw filled with razor-sharp teeth. The creature roared at them in defiance.
Thea didn't indulge it. She poured Abby's blood directly into its open mouth—since it had no circulatory system, it didn't matter where the blood went.
Now came the crucial part. Thea began manipulating the flow of time around the creature. Finding an entrance to the Rot would take time, and this thing was already on the verge of going berserk. It needed to calm down first.
She set up a temporal barrier at a 100:1 ratio, then knocked the creature unconscious. By the time it woke up, it would likely already be inside the Rot.
"Abby, can you still sense a connection to this thing?" Thea asked, gesturing at the monstrosity.
Abby focused inward. "It's faint... barely there."
Thea nodded. That matched her expectations. Abby was destined to be the Rot's avatar. Even though Thea had severed the connection, the cosmic link couldn't be completely erased.
"I know this is difficult, but you need to reconnect with it. Controlling it is the only way we can learn what's happening inside the Rot."
"I can destroy it easily, but the hard part is communication. You and it were once one being. That faint connection makes you the only person who can control it. As long as it inherits your position in the Rot and doesn't wreak havoc, this whole crisis can finally end."
"Calm it down. Make it accept your control. This is your destiny, Abby. You can't avoid it."
Thea broke down the logic step by step, making sure Abby understood. Abby's tough personality finally kicked in. Better it than me. If all she had to do was talk to this thing, fine. She'd do it.
Following Thea's instructions, Abby used the lingering connection to reach out to the creature's chaotic mind, trying to soothe it.
The creature was part of her, after all. They shared the same origin. The unconscious body might have been still, but its soul was raging—until it sensed Abby's presence.
It was the same voice. The same essence. The fractured soul recognized its other half, and like an abandoned child, it began to weep in the soul realm.
The violent thoughts gradually subsided. The nightmarish soul duplicate slowly calmed under Abby's influence. Thea kept the spell active. The 100:1 time dilation was perfect—the slow passage of time would grind down its rage. Over time, it would adapt, accept, and eventually become accustomed to its new state. That process would reshape its personality. Slow-tempered beings rarely made good villains... or so Thea believed, anyway.
Abby's dark side wasn't something for public display. Thea quietly instructed her to keep soothing the creature, then stepped out of the room.
"Huh?" The moment she emerged, she realized things outside had gotten... lively.
"Mister, stop chasing me! I didn't mean anything by it, I swear!" A small cheetah—Beast Boy—was sprinting desperately ahead.
Behind him, Animal Man, Buddy Baker, was charging after him with a clenched fist, too furious to speak. Though Buddy couldn't shapeshift, he had a cheetah's speed. The two maintained a constant distance, one fleeing, one pursuing.
Thea looked baffled. She had no idea what was going on. Fortunately, this was her base—she pulled up the security footage and started watching.
She nearly burst out laughing.
While she'd been working with Abby, the adults had split into groups, chatting among themselves. That left the only two kids—nine-year-old Beast Boy and eight-year-old Maxine Baker—to entertain each other.
Unlike Swamp Thing, the Red's true chosen avatar wasn't Buddy—it was his daughter, Maxine. The eight-year-old girl was their official representative. Buddy was just along for the ride.
As the Red's actual agent, Maxine exerted an almost magnetic pull on Beast Boy.
Already a goofball by nature, Beast Boy had pulled out every trick in the book to make the little girl laugh. Thea's earlier "training" had apparently unlocked a new skill set—he'd somehow become a natural at charming girls.
He transformed into all kinds of cute animals—a tiny tiger, a little lion—making exaggerated expressions and movements in his small, comical forms. The girl, who already loved animals, was in stitches.
By the time Buddy heard her laughter and turned around, he saw Beast Boy mid-transformation into a baby elephant, spraying water with his trunk.
This little punk is flirting with my daughter right in front of me?! Buddy's rage exploded. What followed was the chase scene Thea had walked in on.
Buddy's pursuit looked fierce, but there was no real danger. He was a superhero and a grown man—he wasn't going to seriously harm a kid. At most, Beast Boy would get a good scolding. No one took it too seriously.
Batman approached Thea. "This place works well as a meeting hall. We should use it for future strategy sessions."
Ah, so you just don't want everyone cramming into the Batcave anymore and are looking for a replacement. Thea understood his thinking and nodded in agreement. Honestly, it was awkward holding meetings about world peace and humanity's future in a dank, gloomy cave. Having an official superhero headquarters was a good idea.