Who's the King of the Jungle? (Pop Quiz: Katarznya Dolinski)

Katarznya Dolinski; a girl who's made quite a name for herself, whether it would be considered good, or bad. Maze had decided that, she had the potential to do great things for him, if she'd be willing to accept his help...and if she proved to be what he thought she was. She was...a hard one to pinpoint, but, soon enough, she was found, just like the others, where they were most comfortable. For Katarznya, it was the city. The metal that masked the earth. The technology that made man think that they mastered nature. It was time she learned what nature truly was capable of...



Quipedalia! It was the name that Maze had chosen. Nestled calmly in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, it was their own island! Blink, Solstice and Rail were all very excited when they found out that Maze made such an uncharacteristic purchase. But, to their dismay, Maze made it very clear that there was an important reason for this island before they could use it for their own desires. Solstice volunteered to be the first to oversee the testings on the island. They would try to use this site as much as they could, so, the first was even more important to pull off successfully.

Back to Katarznya...she was carefully plucked from her every day life and placed deep into the jungle. If she fought to find her way out of the jungle, she would eventually hit a very high cliff. A deadly drop off into the ocean and a pouch of hundreds of shard like rocks. She could turn to travel deeper in the jungle, too, however, but what she'd find there could prove to be...far worse. Maze had revealed a few mutated experiments in his tests but...never said where he was testing a creating them...In the center of the island was a mountain. Possibly, at one time, it could have been a volcano, but, now, it was the most lifeless thing on the island. It was tall enough to have ice and snow at its peak. As the sun would set...there would seem to be a shine, as if metal was on its peak.

Now, a question that had invaded Maze's mind for far too long would be answered! Who has really mastered the other? Man...or nature?

Urghhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.
Uhggggggggggggggggh.
...
...
...

"UGH!!! WYŁĄCZ, ŚWIATŁA, KURWA!”*

Not the most gracious of morning wake-ups that Katarzyna has had ever since she “met” and “rented” a “place to chill” from an old woman who spoke only English and was, therefore, easier to “get on the bandwagon” when it came to not notify the authorities that a internationally wanted, pre-convicted, fugitive villain was bunking in her basement, not to mention bumming off whatever she found in the fridge. It was pretty messed up (especially because she had the old woman believing that Kat couldn’t speak English and Polish, which she could, and well, too), but what wasn’t messed up about a sixteen-year-old girl who robbed banks to fund her crazy weapons-of-quite-a-great-amount-of-destruction designs with a criminal track-record that included betraying the Teen Titans whose name under which she had once belonged to by going ‘mucha loca’ on all of them, then went super crazy one in particular, ultimately destroying the humanoid robot called “Model Eleven” simply because she was pissed off that he had run a few background check on her... that, and because it was very for a metal and electricity manipulator to destroy, a roughly ninety percent metal, ten percent electrical current piece of aluminum.

Katarzyna Dolinski––better known as “Backlash,” (a fitting title for someone who was fueled so graciously by revenge)––was about to short-circuit her “adopted” abode, but was feeling relatively not too enraged today; in that light mood, she simply shot her “landlady” another warning. Kat, of course, could turn off the lights herself, but... last night’s list of activities had included a hardcore raving with some hardcore “questionable substances,” and getting out of bed was that last thing she wanted to do.

“OI! ZY MÓWI PANI PO POLSKA, KURWA? JESTEŚ W POLSCE.”* ]Kat yelled melodramatically, her words dripping with pretty darn spiteful irony. No answer. “YOU. LIGHT. TURN OFF,” Backlash mocked with childish amusement. No answer. Okay. Enough being civil, she decided, still screwing her eyes shut under the blazing, garish light that worsened her headache (which may or may not have been caused by pounding music and heavy drugs) as she dragged herself from her relaxed sleeping posture.

Instantly, Katarzyna knew that was horribly, horribly wrong.

First, her fingers had not grazed the soft, plush cushions of “her” king-sized sofa lounger; they had touched what felt like dirt. Unless she had passed out somewhere abundant in moist dirt (which was highly unlikely, since she lived in a technological, industrial, and overall urban city), that was an impossibility. Second, a sudden waft of fresh, tropical air had filled her nostrils instead of the pungent smell of lazy, uncaring teenager. Unless the “landlady” had bought one too many air fresheners, that was an irregular happenstance. Third, she could hear the sound of flipping annoying and loud and unpleasant birds in the not-so-distant distance. Unless that trash-community just outside Warsaw, Poland, had become a resort and point of interest for a boatload of birds, that made no sense either. In conclusion, Backlash was either having one h-ll of an awesome and seriously potent hallucination or was actually on the vast, tropical, unfamiliar slab of an island located in the middle of no where that she was gawking at now.

“What the––?" she muttered as her eyes scrambled to adjust to the naturally fierce Sun, “where the––? How––? CHRIST, AM I DEAD!?”

Katarzyna vaulted to her feet and became the alert, physically superior, and coordinate gymnast that she had been trained to be; however, despite this factor, she might as well have been a used battery thrown into someone’s overgrown backyard: useless, lost, unfamiliar, out-of-place, and completely, utterly, out of her element. A quote from Melman, a pansy giraffe from Madagascar echoed from somewhere in her subconscious: “Ahhhhh! Nature! It's all over me! Get it off!” The electromagnetic rebel suddenly felt uncannily close to Melman the giraffe, which admitting only emphasized just how obscure she felt and what a huge dent had been made in her enormous, steel ego... and it hurt, hard.

After a series of pinching, patting, slapping, and even punching herself to discern whether she was dreaming or not, Backlash finally understood the inevitable truth. And when nothing that Kat could fathom that could possibly make the situation worse, she discovered something worse: her arm was gone... or at least the metal prosthetic that served as a makeshift arm that not only did so, but was the source of her abilities to bend metal. The one she was most familiar with. The one that completed her, the one that made her feel human, which was exactly what she was.

...only human.

A memory flung itself to her present state of mind (or lack of) that informed her that she had taken off the prosthetic arm before she went to bed, just as always. Never had she made such an error as grave as this one. Now... now the only thing left of that infamous villain, killer, robber, destroyer, betrayer, ex-Teen Titan, and vengeful rebel was a girl, an island, and the unknown just waiting to spite her.

---

Blink, Rail and Solstice had been working incredibly hard for Maze in this past month in the Americas and, to Maze's amazement (haha), he was actually finding himself short of employees. Because of every one of his henchmen off working their own quizes, he decided that he might as well oversee this test. Afterall, this place is, was and has been in many senses, the only home he's ever known...

Years ago, a child was stranded on this island along with his mother and father. A cruise to the less traveled areas of the ocean was supposed to be exciting...spontaneous...an adventure...but...what the family found was far more than they desired. A negligent maintenance crew and a large reef was the doorway...the island the destination...

Miles away from Katarznya...a screech wailed through the thick jungle and all the way to the shores of the frightening island. Something was coming...and quick. She wouldn't be safe for long. A harmless rustle from the nearby trees was the signal before three creatures crashed through, looking for food...for blood.

Spoiler:

These creatures were fast and as near to the ancient velociraptors as anything living today. Their claws, razor sharp. Their bite...even sharper...