What is this? A new chapter? In less than a month? What sorcery is this? And can I stop speaking in questions?
The answers are, A) this is a new chapter, B) yes, C) yes, D) no sorcery was involved in the making of this chapter, and E) yes I can.
So without further ado, I present the next chapter of House of Mirrors!
Disclaimer: sarcasm Of course I own Teen Titans /sarcasm.
Chapter Nine
Teen Tyrants Universe
Red Hood sighed, and rubbed his temples in an attempt to soothe his headache. Tensions were running high amongst the Tyrants. Several shouting matches had started over the last few days, and even a few fist-fights. So far, superpowers hadn't been involved, but it was only a matter of time before that happened.
A beeping noise interrupted Red Hood's dark musings.
"What?" Red Hood growled into his communicator.
"Announcement: The inter-dimensional transporter is finished," droned Gadget in reply. "Statement: I have begun preliminary procedures to activate the portal."
A feral grin spread across Red Hood's face. "About time," he said. "I'll be there in a few minutes."
"Acknowledgement: The portal will be ready to open when you arrive," said Gadget.
Red Hood shoved the communicator back into his belt, then grabbed his helmet and shoved it on. He opened his door and almost walked straight into Arsenal.
"What do you want, Arsenal?" asked Red Hood.
"I've had it with you, Hood," Arsenal said, raising the cannon hidden in his prosthetic arm. "There's been too much risk, not enough reward, and no money involved. And because of your bad leadership, I lost my arm!"
"Look, Arsenal I didn't know about the Brotherhood—"
"You may not have known, but you should've figured it out!" yelled Arsenal "You knew we'd get their attention by resurfacing, but you didn't warn us about that!"
"What do you want, Arsenal?" asked Red Hood. "Do you want out?"
"No," said Arsenal, the cannon in his arm whining as it built up charge. "I want your head splattered against the wall."
Red Hood acted fast. He used his left arm to knock Arsenal's arm cannon out of the way, causing the shot to go wild and burn a hole in the roof. Red Hood's right arm swung in a punch at Arsenal's chest, winding him. Red Hood then jabbed two fingers into Arsenal's throat, causing him to gag. Finally, Red Hood dropped down and swept Arsenal's legs from under him. Arsenal landed on his back with a groan, and Red Hood casually pulled out a knife and held it to Arsenal's throat.
"Had enough?" asked Red Hood. "Or do you really have a death wish?"
Arsenal grimaced, before he sighed and lowered his head to the floor in defeat. "You win, Hood."
Red Hood smirked under his helmet. "I figured you'd see it my way."
The leader of the Tyrants turned and walked away, leaving the former archer in shame on the floor. As he walked away, Red Hood saw Be—no, Menagerie—walking towards him.
"What happened?" asked Menagerie.
Red Hood shrugged. "Arsenal just tried to kill me," he said. "Nothing to worry about."
Menagerie nodded. "Lots of fights have been breaking out recently," he said, almost to himself. "This never happened when Rage was alive."
That stopped Red Hood dead in his tracks. It was true. Whenever all the Tyrants had gathered like this before her death, everyone had managed to avoid killing each other, unlike what had happened in the last week. Had she… no, no, she could only sense emotions, not manipulate them. Unless she lied…
Red Hood shook his head. It was no use worrying about it now; after all, she was dead.
"Menagerie, gather everyone up and meet in the main room," said Red Hood. "Gadget's finished."
"Finally!" said Menagerie. "I've been wanting to cause some chaos for a while now."
Teen Titans Universe
"Hey, green bean!" yelled Cyborg with an evil grin on his face. "Want some of my pizza?"
Changeling grimaced. "Dude, that's covered in meat! I'm a vegetarian!"
"Vegan," corrected Raven.
Changeling looked at Raven in confusion. "Whuh?"
"Vegetarians don't eat meat, but they eat other animal products, like cheese and milk," said Raven. "Vegans, on the other hand, don't eat any animal products."
"Rae, this is me we're talking about," Changeling replied. "Did you really think I'd know the difference?"
"Of course not," said Raven. "That's why I'm telling you now."
"You do realise he's probably gonna forget and just keep calling himself a vegetarian, right?" said Cyborg.
"Yeah, I know," said Raven. "I just wanted to call him out on it for once."
"Can't argue with that," said Changeling, before turning back to Cyborg. "Anyway, "I've been most of those animals at some point! It'd be like cannibalism! Do you know how gross cannibalism is?"
"Are they always like this?" Argent asked Raven.
Raven shook her head. "They used to be worse. The two of them would argue about it at least once a week. Nowadays, they just do it every now and then for fun."
Argent shook her head. "You lot are crazy," she said.
"We all are," said Raven, looking over the assembled Titans. "That's why we're Titans."
Argent opened her mouth to argue, but no words came out. She tried again, but still said nothing.
"You know, I can't find any witty responses to that," said Argent eventually. "I think that means you might be right."
Raven smiled, but her expression soon grew stern as she saw something off to one side.
"Teether!" yelled Raven. "What have I told you about…"
"Wait, what's that?" said Red Star, pointing at something down at the street below the balcony.
Everyone gathered at the edge to see what Red Star was pointing at. It was a strange, twisted mass of something. There was a loud crack, and the mass expanded into an oval shape, flashing black and yellow.
"Hey, that's an interdimensional portal!" said the Flash.
"A what?" asked Changeling.
"And how do you know what one looks like?" asked Nightwing.
"It's a portal made by a machine used to travel between alternate dimensions," said the Flash. "And I know what one looks like because I've been through one."
"So who would try to reach us from another dimension?" asked Tempest.
"Killowat was from another dimension, right?" asked Ravager. "Maybe it's him."
"Killowat's dimension was not the only alternate dimension we visited," said Starfire softly.
Nightwing nodded, resting one hand on his utility belt, ready to draw weapons if they appeared.
Something fell through the portal, landing on the road with a metallic clunk. It was a helmet, one that covered the whole head, and was painted red, with two eyeholes covered in reflective white glass. It took Nightwing a few seconds to recognise it, but once he did, he yanked out a bird-a-rang and hurled it at the helmet. Once he had thrown the disc, Raven immediately created a shield around the building. Argent wasn't sure what was going on, but she followed Raven's lead and created a second shield.
Nightwing's bird-a-rang hit the helmet, and the helmet exploded when the bird-a-rang connected with it. People out on the streets had given the area where the portal had appeared a wide berth, and had started backing away when the helmet had appeared. Once Raven and Argent had their shields up, most of them had realised something was wrong and had started to run. Even so, the shockwave still knocked several people off their feet, and those that had been too close were either injured by the shrapnel, or suffered a few broken bones, thanks to the shockwave. After the explosion, Raven and Argent lowered their shields, and the Flash ran up to the blast site, carrying those with broken bones to the nearest hospital, while Raven flew over and started treating the less serious injuries, the cuts earned from flying debris. Several of the faster, flight capable Titans, like Starfire and Troia, began escorting people out of the blast zone and away from the portal.
"What the hell was that?" asked the Herald.
Nightwing pulled out his communicator, so those that were helping the injured could hear what he had to say. "That explosion was caused by the Teen Tyrants. The Tyrants are from another dimension. We met them when we were trying to get Killowat back to his home dimension. They are basically evil versions of us, so be prepared to fight someone with the same skills and powers as you."
As the Flash ran towards another civilian, a dark yellow-green blur raced out of the portal and smacked into him. Several other people poured out of the portal, and all of them had expressions that made one thing very clear. They were here for blood.
Nightwing recognised the last three out of the portal. Three of the four remaining members of the original Tyrants team. His opposite number, Red Hood, stared back at him. Both leaders shouted their commands at the same time.
"Tyrants, ATTACK!"
"Titans, GO!"
This is the first chapter to feature scenes from both universes. Previously, I wrote a chapter of the Tyrantsverse, then wrote a chapter of the Titansverse. That was mostly to highlight that the two universes were much different from each other, and that both universes operated independently of each other. I also just wanted to explore different stories in the Titansverse, because there was no overarching villain threat yet, while I had the continuous plot of the Tyrants in the Tyrantsverse.
Next time, the battles begin!
-ShortyBoss.