A Former Titan

Tracking her through the desert hadn't been hard. He simply maintained his distance while making sure to stay down wind to avoid her noticing his trail of kicked up dirt. 30 minutes later and she had parked by a semi decent RV and began taking groceries inside.

With his enhanced vision he took in his target while he prepared to capture his first recruit.

Long blonde hair that extended to the middle of her back. Bright blue eyes on a round face with a small nose. Standing at 167cm with a rather slim build. She wore simple, brown hiking boots, black cargo shorts with a pair of similarly colored gloves tucked into the back pocket, an orange t-shirt, with a pair of goggles resting around her neck.

Looking at the photo his contact gave him he nodded in satisfaction at the match.

Tara Markov aka the sixth Titan Terra.

She had been reported KIA after a battle with Slade Wilson with the Titans stating she'd given her life to stop the city from collapsing. His contact had pulled up quite the dossier of her activities from before joining that team and after her supposed demise.

From an up and coming mercenary, to a super hero, to Deathstroke's apprentice, and now apparently she'd been moving around the globe stopping various ecoterrorists and damaging environmental hazards.

The info broker had stated that they'd noticed a distinct change in the 20 year old from her younger self. Whether that was a result of growing up, her near **** experience or something else he wasn't sure but it made little difference to Shane.

What mattered to him was the tactical advantage she could provide him with her power.

Being able to shift the landscape however necessary was a boon he couldn't pass up. With his body, adjusting to the landscape would be no issue but for his opponents on the ground they'd need some time to adjust.

For the flyers bringing a building down on them could provide all the distraction he'd need. Superman tended to prefer saving others over continuing a fight. Precious seconds he'd use to his advantage if it ever came to that scenario.

Putting his notes and thoughts of future battles aside for the moment Shane readied himself for the confrontation to come.

This was it. No turning back. He'd never used his venom on another Meta-Human or a woman so he had no idea how this would affect her. Still he had to see it through if he wanted a chance at achieving his goals.

Feeling his muscles ripple, his bones stiffen, and his nails become talons the merc launched himself forward, closing the distance in mere seconds. When he was in arms length he swung with everything he had.

Crash!

A wall of earth appeared between him and his target. Before he could retract his limb from the failed attempt a pillar of rock smashed into his torso knocking him away. Thanks to his reinforced flesh and skeleton he hardly felt little more than a thud to his sternum.

Rolling to his feet Shane spat to the side while keeping his eyes on the figure stepping from around her makeshift shield as she put on her gloves, a small frown on her face.

'Of course it wasn't gonna be that easy.' Shane thought as he stood to his full height and entered an unorthodox boxing stance.

"Who are you?" Tara asked placing her goggles on her eyes, "And what's this about?"

Shane said nothing and surged forward to engage and Tara reacted accordingly. With a wave of her hands rocks the size of his head came hurtling at him.

He ducked one, sidestepped the second and third, and put his fists through the next three before the former titan motioned with her hand for a seventh to nail him in the back of his head.

Stumbling forward Shane rolled forward with the momentum to continue his charge only for the geomancer to send away of dirt to trip him up.

Growling to himself in irritation the merc rolled to the side to avoid a falling barrage of stone and got to his knees with an annoyed glare pointed at his prey. She opened her mouth to say something but he wasn't in the mood to listen. Aiming his claws at her he fired them from his hands. They were still filled with his venom and he only needed one to hit to make her his.

Unless the they impacted another barrier of earth. Which they did and the blonde returned fire by hurling the slab of rock at him.

He leapt back to avoid the impact but Tara seem to have decided that if he wasn't in the mood to talk she'd pressure him until he did. Another wave of her hand conjured up a whirlwind of sand and rock surrounding Shane. Seconds later he was being barraged from all around.

It was a good idea he had to admit. He couldn't see her and on a normal person they'd be pulverized into submission. Nevermind all the dust **** them out and getting into the nose and eyes. She couldn't see him but if she had a tremor sense (which would explain how she was able to react to his initial surprise attack) she would know where to continue her ****.

But she didn't know the full scope of his abilities and he was going to use that to its full advantage.

With his enhanced body he endured her attacks for several minutes, throwing out coughs and grunts for her to hear while making token efforts to leave the dust cloud. After four minutes elapsed he fell to his hands and knees. The moment he did several chunks of earth rose up and closed around his limbs.

Satisfied with her work the former titan cleared away the cloud of dust and approached his trapped form. Wisely she stayed just outside his arms reach and kept a pair of rocks hovering over her shoulders ready to fire. The merc raised his head as best he could to meet her gaze.

"Ready to answer my questions now?" She asked with the sun glinting of her goggles. If she had done that on purpose Shane would applaud her. Breathing deeply Shane opened his mouth to answer.

"Wilson sends his love." He retorted with a growl.

Tara stiffened with a gasp leaving her throat and Shane made his move. From the small of his back a pointed razor sharp tail shot out and launched straight at his prey. She made a **** attempt to knock him **** by firing her hovering rocks at his head but the attempt barely got his head to budge. The sharpened tip plunged into the meat of her bicep and retracted like a viper.

The geomancer stumbled back clutching the wound and launched a wave of rocks at him...only to miss. She tried three more times only for her attacks to go wide before falling to her knees panting like she'd run a marathon before falling to her side ****.

The stone shackles fell away and Shane eyed her carefully before sighing as the tension left his body.

"Looks like it worked." He muttered to himself. Rolling his shoulders he grimaced at the sound of tearing fabric. Looking himself over he frowned at his tattered clothes before shaking his head. "Maybe I should think about getting some kind of costume at some point." He grumbled as he walked away to get his bike and park it next to the RV. Afterwards he'd take her inside and wait for Tara to wake up.

Hopefully under his control.