Hey everybody! I hope you're still in the mood for more Teen Titans work from me, because here's a brief oneshot! For those of you who are wondering why I'm doing this instead of the beginning of the promised multi-chapter story to follow Black Star, this oneshot was assigned for me to write as a challenge from Bearhow and GolemXIV to make sure that I was still capable of adequately getting inside characters' heads after notably screwing up in my efforts to do so in at least one of the chapters for Black Star. And I currently have good reason to believe that I have passed that challenge. But I'd best allow everyone the chance to read and decide for themselves what to think about this oneshot! But first, some much needed context. This oneshot? This takes place a good couple days or so after the episode 'Deep 6' from the 1st season of the Teen Titans cartoon. It also serves as a very slight lead-in to my upcoming new TT multi-chapter story, The Enemy Below. Finally, the POV this oneshot is told from? It's that of one of the villains to be featured in The Enemy Below. Crazily enough, the villain whose POV I wrote in for this oneshot? It's not Trident. Who is it, you may ask? Sorry, no spoilers (or at least no obvious spoilers for more casual fans of Teen Titans or the larger DC universe; some of the more hardcore DC fans, on the other hand, may be able to pick up on some slight (or not so slight) details that could yet be a dead giveaway as to who this villain is). Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy this oneshot and leave plenty of feedback!

A/N: But first, I do not own Teen Titans, or anything else DC-based. And yes, that includes the yet unnamed villain whose POV I chose to write in and get inside the head of for this oneshot. Got that? Good. Onward with the oneshot everybody!

Reflections in Ice

Cold. Paralyzed. Unmoving. I stand imprisoned. Frozen in ice. Forgotten in the darkness of dry subterranean caves deep beneath the ocean waters. In any other situation, my being in a location so close to water would be a delight. But now, the fact that I'm positioned in this way serves to mock me. I know not how long I have been stuck in my current imprisonment, nor how long it has been anymore since I last basked within the peaceful waters of my original home. But even that place, as impossible as it has now proven for me to ever return, is somewhere I'd much rather be then my current whereabouts.

I've spent much time in my icy prison. More than enough time to think. More than enough time to reflect. More than enough time to remember. I remember my old home, and how happy I was with the forgettable, yet comfortable life I lived there. I remember how I felt content with that kind of life, how I believed my life would forever stay that way, and how I would have been more than happy with that belief coming true.

But I had been wrong before. I remember the sad day that I was taken from my land of birth against my will. I remember the desperate, yet futile, effort I made to return straight home, only to end up marooned on a completely different land instead that not even my original captors had intended to visit. I remember trying to approach the natives of this land for help, and how scared they were of me. I remember finally meeting a group of people who didn't fear me, and in fact seemed to sympathize with me. They even promised me to help me return home, and I trusted them.

But I had been wrong before. To this day, my rage still flares at the thought of how they broke that promise. I know not whether they intended to do so. Neither do I care. All that matters now is how I am even now still marooned on that very foreign land I crashed upon all those years ago. Maybe it's been an entire century now since that fateful landing. Maybe it's been only a single year. I do not know. I do not care.

They trusted my care with a different group of humans, supposedly so that they could help in figuring out a way for me to return home while they were busy with other things. But that was not true. The people they left me with cared only to study me and keep me forever trapped with them. For many days, perhaps even months, I kept myself in denial. But the reality inevitably became impossible to ignore. And when the day finally came with an opportunity, I seized it. Ironically enough, that opportunity came in the form of one of the very people I'd initially trusted to get me back home.

For a good long while I took advantage of that man. I needed only to remain in contact with him and he did everything I asked. The wait was long. But it was worthwhile, or so I thought. When I had all I needed, I cast him aside and made my move. It was clear now that I would never return to my land of birth. Fate it seemed, wished for me to make this land I was now marooned on my new home instead. To that end, it was also clear that I would have to eliminate the natives of that land, or perhaps put them under my control. For clearly, these natives, despite my initial hopes, could simply not be trusted.

I made my move. To this day, I still fondly remember making that move. I remember the great battles I fought. The powers I'd thought I'd never need to use finally being unleashed. The pride and joy I felt at bending this land's natives to my will, terrorizing others that I didn't bend to my will, and furiously battling eight in particular that I neither controlled, nor terrorized. And as fate so chose in its infinite sense of twisted humor, one of those eight was the very man that I'd used to make this whole great battle possible in the first place. But battle him and his companions I did, and I still take pride in doing so to this day. And I remember how even then I still felt that nothing could stop me.

But I had been wrong before. By sheer impossible luck, the ones I'd initially trusted to return me to my home and was now fighting against stumbled upon the one thing that could halt me in my tracks. And in doing so they reduced me once more to the lowly being whom they'd once falsely promised would help return to his home. In my once more weakened and pitiful state, I would have gladly accepted being killed by them. I had fought bravely against them, but they had bested me. It would only have been right for them to claim my life as a trophy. That's how it always was in the stories I heard.

But I had been wrong before. It turned out, they couldn't even do me the justice of giving me a dignified death. No they could not. Instead, they froze me in ice, just enough to immobilize me, yet still allow me to live. Then they placed me in this subterranean cave system and left me to rot.

To this day, I still remain frozen and immobile within the darkness of that cave system. To this day, I still remain alone with only my mind and thoughts to keep me company. I know now more than ever how I will never return to the land I once called home. I refuse to entertain the false hope that doing so is even remotely possible anymore. I also know how it is still very unlikely indeed that I will make this land I am doomed to forever remain marooned on my proper new home. But that knowledge certainly doesn't stop me from entertaining myself with the possibility of someday still succeeding in exactly that. What else can I do? There is very little else one can do but think to oneself when frozen in ice as I am. At least, except for also occasionally listening to the occasional odd and intriguing sound. Like the distant keening call of what I heard the natives above my prison refer to as a whale for instance. Or the popping of air bubbles somehow formed deep beneath the water's surface. Or the hissing of steam from underwater fissures. Or the footsteps and voices of an unexpected explorer in the same cave system as me. . .

Wait. Footsteps and voices? In the same cave system as I? I listen carefully. I am not just hearing things. Someone is coming. It appears I am no longer alone in this cave system. I raise my single eyebrow in confusion. Whoever is speaking seems to be speaking as if multiple people are conversing. Yet the voices all sound exactly alike. Is it a single person insanely talking to himself? I hear multiple voices speaking all at once. No, it is just multiple people who somehow share the exact same voice. Perhaps maybe they are clones of a single being. I certainly know how that works.

I see the beings speaking enter the cavern I am in. It appears that they are indeed clones. They see me. They look at each other. They start talking amongst each other. I do not fully understand what they are talking about. But I get the basic idea. They are prisoners just as much as I am. They are also quite arrogant and confident in themselves. But yet, with the right words, perhaps they could be my allies. Or if not that, maybe at least a suitable means to an end.

Part of me wonders if this idea is truly wise. I have trusted natives of this planet before, and I already know all too well how that turned out. Trusting these beings trapped alongside me in any capacity could yet be another mistake. My instincts even now scream that this will indeed be exactly that.

But I've been wrong before.

I blink my single giant red eye.

And just like that, this oneshot is over. Once again, I hope you all read, enjoyed, and review this oneshot! It at all possible, I desire at least 2 reviews for this oneshot in order to guarantee posting of The Enemy Below (though I will gladly also accept more than 2 reviews, regardless of when I post The Enemy Below ^_^). All in all, hope you all enjoy what I have to offer with this, and continue to look forward to The Enemy Below!