[center][color=f6989d][h1][u]R A I L G U N[/u][/h1][b]( Runé Langley )[/b][/color][/center]

By the time the cab finally slowed down and pulled up before her new home, Rune Langley was already very exhausted from the long ride. She stepped out of the car wobbling slightly, her legs numb from being cramped in the seat for hours. After she picked up her duffel bag from the trunk and sent the driver off with a tired wave, she glanced down at the crumpled paper in her right hand: a printed map of Jump City, and a scrawny note from Beast Boy.

She smiled to herself, recalling her first encounter with the strange hero.

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[i]The siren blared furiously throughout the underground lab, hammering against Rune's ear with waves after waves of deafening wail. She swore under her breath. [/i][color=f6989d]Talk about bad timing.[/color][i] Her fingers picked up speed as they danced across the holographic keyboard; with each tap the neon light was changing from red to green. [/i][color=f6989d]Almost there.[/color][i]The last bolt retrenched with a low rumble and the reinforced metallic door hissed, slowly sliding open to reveal the very thing that she had been searching for.

It was quite a sight for the teenage girl: in the middle laid a huge, transparent cylindrical tube filled with water-like liquid; thick, heavy pipes sprouted out from both ends of it, connecting to a monstrous machine behind, which seemed to be built into the wall. She couldn't help shivering at the cold air blasting at her slim frame from within the room.

It wasn't the kind of time machine that she had expected, but she didn't have much time left to ponder about such trivial matters. She slammed her fist against the emergency lockdown button and the sliding doors closed in, waving smugly at the angry soldiers thundering towards her from far ahead. Once she was safely cut off from the chaos outside, she turned her attention to the complicated panels on the enormous device.[/i]

[color=f6989d]Awesome[/color][i], she thought sarcastically. Her contact only divulged the existence and location of this thing, but didn't mention anything on how to operate it. The muffled ruckus from beyond the door made her breath quicken - she had made it this far after losing almost everything, and she's definitely not going back to square one. Without a second thought she flicked on the switches to maximum output and the whole room rumbled, the machine humming to life. The liquid in the tube began to bubble, and for a split second Rune thought she saw flashes of images of a warless past swirling in the murky-white mixture.

As she was about to insert herself into the tube, the door suddenly groaned and caved inwards. The soldiers seemed to be setting off explosives to blow the door apart, to get in here. In that moment of distraction she lost her footing, falling head-first into the liquid. She struggled blindly for a short while before she realized she could actually breathe in this strange water. Once she calmed down, she felt the liquid swallowing her whole, a torrent of blurred colors and intelligible whispers bombarded against her head, the molecules of her body screaming to break apart...

She was vaguely aware of the door being blasted apart and the soldiers charging into the room, before she disappeared in a flash of blinding light.[/i]

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[i]Rune couldn't remember what happened after the soldiers barged into the lab. Her head felt heavy like lead, her body felt sore and numb - she shuddered at the sudden thought that she was being torn apart by the liquid in the time machine. She took in a deep breath and opened her eyes.

The smell that filled her nose was different from the stench of blood mixed with gunpowder and rust she grew up in; the things that filled her vision seemed ancient, almost foreign to her. She sat up, amused that she was lying on a wooden makeshift table, and a quick glance around her told her that she was probably in some sort of abandoned building, noting the odd screws and broken glass shards littered on the concrete floor. Her eyes zoomed in onto something ahead that was fluttering in the light breeze.[/i]

[color=f6989d]Isn't that...a newspaper?[/color]

[i]She slid off the table and walked towards the yellowed paper, picking it up gingerly. Her mouth curled into a grin at the date.

[color=00a651]"Feeling better?"[/color]

Startled by a voice behind her, she spun around, the barrel of a submachine gun ejected from her prosthetic arm pointing at the green figure before her.

[color=00a651]"Whoa, whoa,"[/color] the figure raised up his gloved hands. [color=00a651]"That's really some nasty thing you've got there."[/color] His wide, dark eyes fixed on the gun.

She narrowed her eyes at him.

[color=00a651]"Uh, yeah, introductions."[/color] His lips twitched into a lopsided smile, accented by the little jut-out lower tooth. [color=00a651]"I'm Beast Boy. I happened to pass by when you suddenly fell down from the sky and landed in front of me. I tried to wake you up, but you just kept thrashing around mumbling about things I couldn't understand. So I carried you here."[/color]

The girl lowered her arm, the barrel sliding back beneath the pale, porcelain skin. [color=f6989d]"Runé,"[/color] she said, unconsciously emphasizing the last syllabus. She then let out a loud sigh. [color=f6989d]"Jeez, please don't scare me like this. There are a lot of things I want to ask you..."[/color][/i]