Title: Mirrors

Rating: PG…for fighting

Type of story: One-Shot

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except the idea that Slade really is…

Robin stood in his room sipping at a cup of coffee even though it was noon;he had been up all night trying to figure out who in the world Slade was. Yet, so far he only had one suspect and it seemed too impossible to be true.

Bruce Wayne, Batman.

That was the only person who would be this clever, have no special powers, besides Trigon's fire, and seem to know every move that the Titans would make. Then something clicked. Robin's mouth dropped as everything fell into place, all of the previous thefts seemed to be in a perfect pattern, and the next was obvious. Today…in thirty minutes.

Robin pulled open his Titan-communicator and pressed the intercom button. "Titans, we've got a Slade hit at the 19th street compound, it's going to be in thirty minutes, so let's get there and set up an ambush!"

So far, the Titans had held their own rather well. After their ambush attack onto Slade's thievery, he had been after a chemical that had been used by the plant before it shut down, they had managed a few good hits, but once again, Robin and Slade sparred.

'There's still a shot,' Robin thought as he dodged yet another of Slade's blows, his eyes were fixed upon the one-eyed mask that had shirked every attempt to discover the man behind it.

"Come on Robin," Slade's silky voice made the hair on the back of his opponent's neck stand up, "at least try."

'He knows every move that I could possibly do…so what if I tried something random?' A flying kick sent the Boy Wonder sprawling backwards into a strong steel beam that supported the ceiling. "Try this on for size!" Robin lashed out with both feet and then grabbed Slade's shoulders and gave his nemesis a strong head butt, this was followed by a sharp knife strike, which used the sharp edge of the hand nearest to the pinky, to the back of the neck.

Slade crumpled as the bright blue light of Cyborg's sonic cannon lit up the compound. "That's the last of them," Raven whispered through the silence.

"Is he-?"

"-Not dead," Robin finished, as the Titans gathered around the armored body of their arch-foe.

"I wonder who should take the mask off him?" Raven said sarcastically.

"Robin I believe." The floating Starfire whispered seriously as the rest of the Titan's rolled their eyes at her naiveté.

Robin peered over the mask, he had seen the face before, but there had been no flesh at the time and he had been unable to tell who Slade was. His stomach was fluttering and there was an itching in his hands. 'It's now or never…' "Titans, I give you…the true identity of Slade." 'Please don't let it be…'

He reached down and gripped the mask in a gloved hand, then pulled, there was a click as the mask released, showing the handsome face beneath, a familiar one.

"That's not possible!" Robin whimpered, the mask dropped from his frozen hand, and he stumbled back away from the revealed answer to the question that had kept him guessing for so long.

The Teen Titans all stood gaping at the older, more mature face of their leader. "Robin," they breathed in unison.

And yet in front of them lay the body of a thirty year-old Dick Grayson, who bore a strong chin and long black hair tied back in a ponytail and was beginning to return to consciousness. Raven, being the only one not overcome with emotions, had enough sense to handcuff Slade before he became truly awake.

"Ohhh…" Slade's head turned and his eyelids slowly fluttered open, "So it's finally happened…" Most of the Titans drifted away from Robin as he fumed, glaring with all of his might at the unmasked Slade. "I believe I owe you an explanation."

"Damn straight," Robin hissed, wishing he could find the courage to strangle his older self.

"Maybe we should listen to what he has to say before turning him in…?" Raven croaked in her deep voice, "His explanation just might answer all of our questions."

Robin nodded slightly, then turned his attention to the handsome face of the older man. "Talk."

Slade nodded and leaned back, his gloved hands curving up against the cuffs, "My name is Richard Grayson…and I share the exact same DNA as Robin here. There is no difference between us except a few years and some hardships, but I'm sure that you already knew that…you all want to know why your leader would come back in time to make it harder for you, what happened to all of you in the future, and what could be there that could make me come back here to get away. The answer is simple, but it might take a little time to explain…"

"We've got plenty of time," Cyborg growled, "now get on with it."

"Very well…in about three years to the future, a civil war broke out on Tameran, so Starfire left to help, but she never returned. We stuck together, but without Star to keep us from bickering, we quickly grew apart, well, it was more like I grew apart. We faced a criminal for a few years, and he was the last villain we ever fought against together: a masked man named Slade. He stole several things, each time defeating us and getting away.

"I left the team and after that, the Titans never saw Slade again. Cyborg became the new leader and recruited Jinx and a girl named Firestaff. I worked with Bruce for a while as Robin, but soon broke off and worked solo as Nightwing…that's my favorite suit to this date.

"Soon after I left, the Bat got some new sidekicks…Timothy Drake, the new Robin, and Barbara Gordon, the commissioner's daughter, 'Batgirl' they called her." Slade's face lit up in a light smile, "She was a beautiful girl, and you know how times fly; one day we were on our awkward first date, the next thing I knew we were walking down the aisle.

"After that, everything went wrong, it turns out Slade had used the stolen parts and an abandoned warehouse to manufacture almost invincible robot soldiers and he declared war on the world…Barb was killed, as well as our daughter, Star."

All of the Titans stared with sadness as Slade lowered his head and a single tear dropped to the ground; a gloved hand wiped the red eyes and then his face turned towards the ceiling.

"That still doesn't explain it…" Beast boy muttered; then Raven's hand swatted his head from behind.

"Of course it does…he assumed the Pseudonym of 'Slade' so that when the true Slade showed his face, we would be ready to face him, even facing defeat we would be able to triumph. You're quite clever…"

"I used all of the strategies that the future Slade did, so you should be able to defeat him. I had hoped that there was just a little more spirit and obsession in my younger self; while I never could figure out the strategies of Slade, I thought that just maybe your Robin would be able to."

"So why did you torture us like you did?" Robin was still obviously mad, but it wasn't nearly as bad as before, "And what was the point of those Apprentices? Terra and me?"

"Terra was corrupt in my time, she was out of control and used her powers to harm innocent people. By apprenticing her, I gave her control and a distinct choice between good and evil, of course then she melted my body but that's old news. By apprenticing you Robin, I was able to see how you would react in times where there was a split-second choice to be made, and also to see how much you would risk for the lives of others.

"You Titans still can defeat Slade, I've given you enough of a challenge so that you will all probably be able to challenge the real Slade. He'll kick you when your down, when you're on your knees begging for mercy, and torture you friends and family just to see you suffer. Don't underestimate him."

Slade stood and the handcuffs that he had been picking as he talked snapped off, "The first sign is the loss of the Yellow Egret Crystal."

The Titans made no movements to restrain him, and Slade drew a knife to swiftly cut off the length of hair hanging in a ponytail and dropped it to the floor, then pressed three buttons on his wrist. "Farewell Titans." And his body simply dissipated into the stream of time, leaving a pregnant silence in his wake.

"Bye…" Raven answered into the deathly still air. All of the Titans stared at the same spot, at the shining black hair lying limp on the floor.

"It's a perfect match…except there's a couple grays." Cyborg said, holding the DNA results in his hand.

"He told the truth, we all know it…" Raven said, "I can tell when people aren't telling the truth…he didn't lie."

"Hey guys…?" Beast Boy called from the den of the Titan Tower, "You might want to come here for a sec."

The Titans rushed to their shape-shifting friend, who was staring at the large screen in front of him where a smiling newscaster happily, yet seriously, reported that there had been a break-in at the Harten City Museum, and apparently only one thing was missing. The rare Yellow Egret Crystal.

"Titans, GO!" Robin yelled.

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