Legends Never Die

By Talitha the Little Girl

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans or Deathstroke the Terminator, however the OCs are mine.

Clone Chaos!

Deathstroke placed the grappling hook on the edge of the rafters and tugged at it. Satisfied, he scooted toward the edge before stepping off. It was at least a fifty foot drop, and so he carefully lowered himself on the cable - the rafters were in the center of the room, so he had no wall to rappel down.

As soon as he reached the floor, he pressed at a button on his belt and the grappling hook abruptly closed into itself and withdrew to his pouch. Deathstroke nodded - the technology of this era was so much better than what he had to use three hundred years ago, though by no means did it dimish his skill.

Staying silent for a moment, he listened for any newcomers. No footsteps fell, so Deathstroke made his way over to the computer he had seen the HIVE agents working on. Upon reaching it, he snorted. Those idiots hadn't thought that somebody could make this far into the base and had left their hardware unguarded.

Fools.

Deathstroke, however, didn't press on the button labelled RELEASE - there had to be a catch. He narrowed his eye, and again took in his surroundings. There were two doors, each on the wall opposite of the other. Forunately for him, however, Deathstroke was behind the tubes - it would give him a cover for a short while. Besides, as long as he remained near the clones, the henchmen won't dare to fire; they would have to engage him in close combat... of which he was the sole master.

Satisfied with the layout of the room, Deathstroke pressed the button; a hissing informed him that the tubes had begun to open. The five clones moaned as fresh air met them, and they groggily opened their eyes. Deathstroke waited, however. It would start soon.

Just as he expected, red lights began to flash and an alarm blared. It wouldn't be long before the lackeys would come running into this room. Deathstroke noted with curiousity that the clones flinched upon seeing the red lights, but he pushed the observation aside as he hurried forward and grasped Logan's arm - the boy was so tiny, Deathstroke doubted that he could handle the jump down from the prison he was in.

"Get up, and jump down! We need to get moving!" At his words, the dizzy teenagers nodded and managed to clumsily make their way down. Deathstroke clutched at his staff - something was wrong here. No goons had appeared yet. "Kids, I think we're in for a rough fight. Stay on your guard."

The clones shared a look, and gulped. At least Deathstroke was on their side.

The door opened abruptly, flooding the fungus-ridden gloomy cell with light. The beings inside it winced and groaned as the bright onslaught blinded their eyes, if only temporarily. Soon, their sight cleared enough for them to see the man in the purple robes standing in the doorway.

"Listen, clones! The alarm has sounded - the primary clones have somehow broken out. You are to detain them, and contain them until we are able to put the leash on them again. Is that understood, clones?"

CN-5 nodded as he answered for his siblings, "Clearly, master!"

The man gave a curt nod, and stepped back to allow the eight monstrous clones to exit the room. "One last thing, clones, do not even think of cooperating with the primary clones to escape, for it is impossible."

BR-13 whimpered as he left the cell last; he cowered as he gingerly stepped past the man in the purple robe. The man had brutally beaten BR-13 in the past, and the clone wasn't too eager to give him another excuse to do so. "We... are... GOOD clones! We... will NOT... side with our... BROthers and... sisTERS!"

The man sneered at the most bestial of the clones. "Shut up, you pathetic creature. Do your duty!"

BR-13 narrowed his four black eyes as he followed his siblings down the corridor; he, along with NR-130 and CR-70, could - for some reason - sense the two SR clones. They weren't far off... soon they would finally meet the primary clones.

And for once and all, prove their worth to the masters. After all, they were the good clones.

Deathstroke widened his eye. "Oh dear." The five teenagers peered around him, and let loose frightened gasps.

In the west doorway stood the eight monstrous clones.

Deathstroke narrowed his eye as he crouched down. He whispered to the clones behind him, "I'll handle them all. If one of them heads toward you, call for me - you can't use, let alone control, your powers yet, and they certainly can. Be wary." The teenagers swallowed, unable to speak; fear had overtaken them.

CS-54 lifted her cannon arm; aiming it toward Deathstroke and his charges, it began to hum and glow with an unearthly green light. Deathstroke swept out with his leg and knocked the five clones beside him to the floor; just as Deathstroke himself ducked, the beam missed them and hit the wall behind them. Debris crashed down in a billowing dust flurry.

Encouraged by their sister who had struck first, SB-47, SN-23, and BN-66 sprinted forward to the five teeangers, but Deathstroke halted their progress by flipping SN-23 into SB-47 and dodging BN-66's bear claw.

Unhappy with the masked man that had harassed their siblings, CN-5, CR-70, and NR-130 quickly joined the fight. CS-54 decided to enter the melee as well. Deathstroke allowed himself a quick smirk - seven dangerous enemies. This would be fun.

As he fought, Deathstroke was careful to keep an eye on the eighth clone, BR-13. So far, the mutant had been merely observing the fight along with the five awestruck teenagers. Meanwhile, Deathstroke ducked CN-5's wild punch before leaping backward to avoid NR-130's soul-self claw. CS-54 grabbed onto Deathstroke's staff, and he immediately felt by the force with which she took it that he wouldn't be able to win the staff back.

So he let the staff go, and as he frog-leapt over SB-47, he withdrew two katanas from the shealths on his back. Moving smoothly, he swiftly blocked CR-70's sonic blast with the swords, and then he delivered a kick to the wolf BN-66's chin. The clone went down.

This only made the other clones angry. SN-23 snarled as he along with SB-47 and CS-54 hurled starbolts toward Deathstroke, who unerringly dodged them all. CN-5 growled as he attempted to run behind Deathstroke - but the man was far too experienced, too clever for the clone's attempt. Deathstroke shealthed his katanas, then grabbed CN-5's arm and hurled him into CR-70.

Their heads collided, and they slumped beside BN-66. Only four remained; SB-47, SN-23, CS-54 and NR-130. NR-130 was potentially the most dangerous, because she was a Raven clone, so Deathstroke leapt toward her. The startled clone didn't have time to react before he jabbed her with a sedative. She began to twitch and moan as she lowered to the floor.

Soon, NR-130 had blacked out, and Deathstroke barely had time to duck as CS-54, SN-23, and SB-47 let loose another barrage of starbolts in his direction. While anybody else would have berated Deathstroke for not taking down the Starfire clones quickly, he knew that the clones would let Starfire's temper carry them off, and not to mention, the Tamaranean herself had trained for years to reach her level of skill. The clones themselves were barely three months old.

He definitely didn't need to concern himself over their deadly power; they could barely wield it. Indeed, he could work it to his advantage. Deathstroke hopped around the room like a grasshopper, dodging the three clones' starbolts - all they had succeeded in was frustating themselves.

SB-47 was the first one to snap. Roaring, she revealed the Beast Boy in her - she swelled into an angry creature which Deathstroke had never seen before; it looked like a combination of a bear and an ape. She swiped out at the man with her one arm, and he dodged it, swept out with his legs into hers. SB-47 lost her balance, and Deathstroke quickly made his way over to SN-23 and CS-54.

CS-54 was another dangerous clone; being a Cyborg clone, she undoubtedly inherited Cyborg's brilliant mind and being a Starfire, it was obvious that she had inherited the Tamaranean's tenacity. However, CS-54 was largely a cyborg, and cyborgs are still machines. Despite the technology improvements, machines still go haywire.

Deathstroke flipped over SN-23, landed behind CS-54, and before either could react, popped open the small covering on CS-54's back to reveal a jumble of circuits. The masked man quickly inserted a scrambler; CS-54 screamed as electricity crackled around her.

She fell forward, unconcious, and Deathstroke ducked to avoid SN-23's angry swipe. SB-47 had recovered and joined the fight as a frightening jaguar. Deathstroke held back a snort; when were the Beast Boy clones going to learn that it was far too easy to knock out cats? One merely had to hit on the precisely right spot. The mercant struck SB-47 on the side of her head, and she went down. SN-23 shrieked savagely as he lashed out at Deathstroke, but he dodged the blow.

Tiring of the fight, Deathstroke withdrew the stunner and quickly blasted SN-23 with it. Watching the clone collapse, he turned his attention to the last clone - BR-13.

Their eyes met. Like before when they saw each for the first time, BR-13's four black eyes were full of pain. Deathstroke almost felt bad for the critter. He hefted up his stun gun, aimed between BR-13's eyes and squeezed the trigger...

BR-13 roared; before the laser hit him, a black force ripped out of him and enveloped the room. Deathstroke felt himself being grabbed around his waist and hauled backward, and yet he didn't slam into the wall.

The yanking continued for a long moment, and then the cold blackness disappeared, along with the odd sensation, and Deathstroke found himself in an old corridor. Cursing, he realized that the clones were not with him; BR-13 had teleported him away. To make the matters worse, it looked as he had ended up in one of the closed-off areas of the base.

It would take a while to get out and retrieve his targets.

Damn clones.

Lucy shushed Mark as the duo paused at a door, listening through it. "Quiet, Markie!"

Mark held back an annoyed scoff, and instead whispered, "You haven't told me where we're going."

"Ah hasn't? Mah bad. We're goin' ta the mainframe, an' y' coulda work yer computer magic, Mark, an' wipe their files on the clones." Mark nodded in agreement as Lucy opened the door and led him down the hallway. "It's not far... jest gotta go through a few rooms an' hallways ter get there."

"Okay." Mark hesistated for a moment as the two jogged through the room. "...Lucy, the lack of people are making me nervous."

The redhead glanced around. "Yah, this is weird, but remember the alarm that sounded a while back? Ah bet everybody went ter the Center where the Seven give us directions. Ah'm excused, naturally, because as the manager, Ah'm supposed ter go t' the mainframe anyways an' try ta find somethin'." She flashed a grin at Mark. "Perfect cover!"

Mark smirked as they reached the second door; Lucy opened it, and soon they were sprinting down the corridor. "So, we're erasing the files on our clones or on all clones?"

"Ah'm hopin' we can erase everythin', but if we cain't, then we jest kill the information on our clones. Ah don't want the HIVE after 'em again!" Lucy's voice had gone steely; it amazed Mark how much she sounded like Mama in that moment.

Soon, they reached the end of the hallway; Lucy opened the door, but this time the room was occupied. The four officers scrambled out of their seats upon catching sight of Lucy - they had been playing poker.

"Madam!" They saluted her, but Mark could hear the tremble in their voices.

Lucy, playing her part, scowled at the henchmen. "What'a y' doin'!? Playin' cards!? Didn't y'all heard the alarm, or are y'all deaf? Go!" The lackeys quivered and scurried out of the room, casting fearful glances at Lucy; they never even noticed Mark.

Lucy snorted once the goons were out of earshot. "Slackers. Gonna report 'em. C'mon, Markie, we're almost there!"

Mark hid a grin as he followed his sister - it was highly entertaining to see somebody else recieve her wrath for once. Lucy opened the door, and they hurried through yet another hallway; this one, however, was a fork.

Lucy led Mark right, and before long, they were standing before a heavily reinforced door. Lucy punched in the code and the door slid open. The redhead flicked on the light as Mark made a beeline for the large computer's controls.

Making himself comfortable, Mark cracked his knuckles before he began typing. Lucy, meanwhile, closed the door behind her and strode toward one of the two other doors and typed something in the control panel.

"What are you doing?" Mark couldn't help asking.

"Ah'm changin' the password, so they won't bother us," Lucy answered as she joined Mark.

"Why not change the password to the left door, too?" She glanced back at the door in the question.

"That one been shut fer centuries now. The control panel's broken beyond repair - nobody uses it anymore." Her voice had an odd note in it; Mark glanced at her briefly before returning his attention to the screen: he was close to cracking the code.

"What is it, Lucy?"

She swallowed hard before replying, "Oh, nothin'. It's a bunch o' myths."

"Tell me them. We have time, this code isn't easy to break. Besides, I'm curious," Mark encouraged Lucy. She sighed hard before nodding.

"Fine. Myth is, the Titans - Robin the first, Wonder Girl the first, Cyborg, Starfire, Beast Boy, an' Raven - died here. In fact, the story said that Wonder Girl died in this very room," Mark actually stopped typing and stared at Lucy in horror before remembering himself and returning his attention to the screen. "Don't say Ah didn't warn ya. Anyways... the story says tha' Wonder Girl an' Robin were the only ones still alive when they came through that door."

Mark widened his eyes, though he kept his focus on the screen. Lucy gulped before continuing, "They say that the reason nobody uses the door anymore is because Wonder Girl broke the control panel so badly, they couldn't fix it. Tha's why they built this third door." She paused, and shook her head. "Gah! Like Ah said, it's jest a bunch o' myths."

Mark nodded. "Yeah, but it's still creepy."

Lucy glanced at her brother, and nodded. "Yah, spooky."

Both fell into silence. If Troia really had died here, in this very room... the pair shuddered and returned their attention to the screen - Mark had broken the code. Mark let loose a whoop of trumiph as Lucy scooted in closer to peer at the screen.

"There! Erase it, Markie!"

Instead, he opened it. "What y' doin', Mark?" Lucy stared at her brother. He glanced at her as he reassuared,

"I'm taking a quick look - I bet there's some important information in here."

Lucy sighed. "Fine, but it better be fast!" Mark nodded, and as the duo began digging into the archives, they quickly discovered interesting facts.

"Lucy!" Sensing that he had gotten her attention, Mark continued. "Wow - they're really desperate to get Rich! Apparently he's more valuable than all the other clones combined because he's a Troia - that's Wonder Girl the first - clone."

Lucy frowned. "Why that be? One woulda thunk it's the other way, that it's the Starfire an' Raven clones who are rare. Ah doubt that it's easy ta make clones from those two, they ain't human, remember?"

Mark nodded. "I figured the same, but it says here that the Troia DNA was stolen and then lost for over two hundred years!" They shared an amazed glance. "In fact, it was actually Tempest - who was Aqualad the first, Flash - he was Kid Flash the first, and Arsenal - that's Speedy the first - who stole the DNA strain and hid it! The HIVE eventually hired a bunch of merchants to find it..." Mark stopped to gasp. "It was Deathstroke who found and returned it!"

The redhead snorted. "Deathstroke is a merchant, he'll do anythin' fer money."

Mark nodded, however he added, "But remember, some of Deathstroke's kids were Titans. For that reason, one would think that he would aid the Titans a bit more, don't you?"

Lucy shrugged, and Mark continued to scan the screen. "Hey, Lucy?" His voice held a funny tone. She glanced at her brother in concern, and he cleared his throat. "You know how Mama always introduces Danielle and Caity as twins to any strangers?"

His sister nodded, and Mark continued. "Turns out they really are twins," Lucy gasped.

"That ain't possible!"

"I know, but listen to this! 'The SR clones are highly unstable - and yet much more stable than any combination of S or R clones - and so unlike the purely human clones, which are produced in masses of thirties or forties, we create only one SR clone at a time, and only three SR clones were allowed to exist at a time, because they were highly difficult to monitor. This concerns the batch TA; SR-109ta was a failure. SR-110ta was faring far better than average. SR-111ta died in two days. However, on the fourth day, we discovered a phenomium unheard of; there was a second clone growing in the test tube along with SR-110! We dubbed it SR-112ta. Contrary to expectation, the two clones were not identical, despite the fact that SR-112 had apparently spilt from SR-110. It remains to be seen how their bond will affect the first twin clones in existance.'"

When Mark finished reading that, Lucy leaned against the back of the seat, her eyes wide in amazement. Meanwhile, her brother was shaking his head. "Impossible - impossible! Lucy, you know how I'm studying genetics as a minor - I'm being serious, that is not possible! Twin clones just don't exist!"

"Yah, but Markie, that makes sense! Danielle an' Caity always do everythin' together, an' didn't ya heard 'bout the dinosaur scenario back at the tower? Momma said that the girls' powers seem t' work together!" At Lucy's words, Mark sighed as he returned his attention to the screen.

Muttering "Impossible..." under his breath, Mark typed in a few more keywords. Soon, another window came up - the health records of the five clones. "Hey, Lucy, here's their health records!"

Lucy straightened up and listened as Mark rattled off: "Apparently Rich's eyes are light-sensitive, but the clonists put protective lenses in his eyes when he was a few weeks into development. Will... they cut off his arm and legs because they're atrophed and replaced them with cybernetic limbs. Logan..."

His eyes widened; Lucy began urging him to say it. "C'mon, spit it out! What is it, Markie?"

"Logan doesn't have an immune system!"

"What!" Lucy gasped in horror.

Mark was quick to add, "Wait - it's not as bad as you think!" Raising his voice to be heard over Lucy's scoff, Mark continued, "The clonists used the NIS technology. You know, using nanobots in place of immune system for those with AIDS and HIV. They adapted it for Logan... if he gets a scratch, he'll instantly heal!"

Mark glanced at Danielle and Caity's information, and snorted. "The girls, nothing we don't know already. Danielle's deaf in her right ear, and Caity's blind in her two red eyes."

Lucy slumped forward; shaking her head, she mumbled, "Man, it's crazy. How come those kiddies got so much problems?"

Chuckling, Mark answered, "The cloning technology is far from perfect, especially when there're multiple DNA sources, and much less if the DNA strains were from supers... actually, I'm surprised Danielle and Caity have so few problems, considering they're only a quarter human!"

Lucy snorted lightly at that remark. "Mebbe because when Caity split off Danielle, she took half o' the problems with her?"

"Heh, maybe you're right!" Mark snickered as he typed more on the controls. "I don't think there's any more important information - not that what we just learned wasn't important, it certainly was interesting…" He glanced at his sister. "Shall I erase all the files now?"

Lucy nodded. "Yah! Normally Ah'd copy the files before deleting it, but the HIVE jest added the anti-burning technology ter the mainframe... if y' try t' copy it, ya end up with a really nasty virus."

Mark rolled his eyes. "Not that it would bother me - viruses fear me. But here goes! Erasing the files in three... two... one!" They high-fived each other as the monitor beeped while the files were being destroyed. Mark glanced at the time displayed on the screen, and wondered, "Do I have time to delete the rest of the files on the other clones?"

Lucy hesistated. "...No. We gotta get out o' here! We been here far too long! Good job, Markie." With this, Mark logged out and the duo rushed out of the right door, eager to share the news with Mama.

Deathstroke held back a curse as he glanced around at the rubble - his suspicions had been correct; indeed, he had been sent to the broken-down section of the base. He had been wandering for a half an hour to little success. However, he had noticed that several corridors displayed recent usage - he was currently tracking those hallways.

The footprints in the heavy dust ended abruptly before a door. Deathstroke narrowed his eye, and crouched down to inspect the prints. Along with the steps, there were also drag marks - something heavy had been lugged though here recently. Standing up, Deathstroke peered at the door. Normally, he would have already gone inside, but this time, his gut was screaming at him. Something was wrong here.

Composing himself, he ran his hand over the control panel and the door slid open. The sweet odor of rot immediately wafted out, and Deathstroke fought himself to stop from gagging. Squinting his eye to protect it from the dust drifting in the air, he stepped into the room.

Once his sight had adjusted to the darkness, Deathstroke spotted a small switch near the door. He activated it, and dim lights flickered on. He glanced upward, curiously noting the stains and wear on the ceiling - apparently, this room had not been improved upon in a long time. Then he lowered his gaze, and met a surprise.

The green chimpazee laid few feet from him; the primate had began to decay. Deathstroke wrinkled his nose as he stepped closer, observing the dead creature. Yes, this was Frost Queen's companion... Mojo Jojo, if he recalled correctly. He had seemed to died from torture injuries.

The merchant shook his head slightly, and straightened to take in his surroundings. It was absolutely covered with bodies; he actually couldn't see the floor. A very few of the corspes, all near the door, still had flesh on their bones. Some bones were still fresh, but most were old and a few even had fossilized. Deathstroke felt horror rising in him, even though he would never admit it. This place... he could barely believe it. The sheer magintude of it stunned him.

It was a graveyard.

Psy groaned, and immediately regretted it; a spiltting headache threatened to tear his mind apart. "Jon?" Who... Marcy. Psy cracked open an eye, and was met by Mama's worried face hovering just above him.

Next to Mama was Frost Queen. She also looked concerned. "What... happened?"

The two women glanced at each other. "Ya were tortured, Jon." Mama answered him; there were tears in her eyes. "An' so was Hansika... she doesn't look good."

Psy struggled to sit up, though he was far too weak; Mama and Frost Queen both hastily steadied him as he tottered. They gently lowered him to the ground. Mama glanced at Frost Queen before speaking, "I'll go an' put some more bandages an' medicine on Hansika again. Barbara, ya stay here an' watch over Jon an' Jay."

Frost Queen curtly nodded, and Mama stood up to move toward Healer. Frost Queen then glanced at Psy. "Jon, are ya feelin' okay?" She hesistated, aware of how silly it sounded. "Well, better than before."

Psy lowered his brows in confusion. "Before?"

The elderly woman blinked at him. "Yes, ya woke up a few times before, an' we gave ya some water every time. Don't ya remember?" Psy shook his head. "Hmph. Ya must've been hurtin' bad if ya don't remember."

Almost on cue, Psy groaned as another jolt of pain shot through him. Frost Queen abruptly grabbed him, and then gently pulled him onto her lap, away from the cold floor. Psy's eyes met hers, and for the first time since he had awakened to find himself in a different world where his sisters were thirty years older (and fat, though he would never say that to Marcy) and just were not his sisters, he could, at long last, see the face of his sister. Not the face of an old, hard woman, but the face of his baby sister Barbara.

Psy, finally, felt at ease with his far-too-old sisters. "Hey, Barbs? Thanks..." Psy mumbled as he slipped into slumber once more.

Frost Queen smiled - and it felt so good to smile again after many years.

Deathstroke gulped as he backed toward the door, and just as he was about to exit the room, something stopped him. He narrowed his eye, and glanced over his shoulder at the bones. His gut, again, was persisting him. Deathstroke normally followed his instincts.

He swirled around and strode into the heart of the room. Pausing for a moment, he withdrew his extra collapsible staff (CS-54 still had his main one) from his belt. Stepping gingerly around the litter of bones, he began tapping on the wall.

Thunk.

Thunk.

The wall was solid. However, something was unusual here. Deathstroke moved on to the next wall; he began tapping it.

Thunk.

Thunk.

Tap.

When he reached the center of it, he found the wall was hollow. Aha. Deathstroke crouched low, and brushed away the thick layer of dust.

There - a tiny crack. It was a small door in the wall. Deathstroke withdrew a dagger, and jammed it into the crack. Grunting, he managed to pry the door open, and after clearing the bones to make way for the door, shoved it away from the wall.

Thick, stale air drifted out; Deathstroke choked for a moment and leaned back to clear his breath. After a moment, he was certain that he would not suffocate on the terrible air, he moved forward, bending to enter - the door was roughly five feet tall - and activated his flashlight.

The beam of light landed on a skeleton; Deathstroke - for the first time in a long while - was truly shocked as he took in the sight. There were six skeletons, each one grinning manically at him. His light swept over them; one had a black mask and black-and-blue costume: the skull was blown apart by a bullet. The second one had a star-strewn uniform on which the stars still flickered and moved. The third one's machinery had wasted away to nothing except for the steel frame and a few wires. The fourth one was draped in a heavy cloak, and four empty eye sockets glared maliciously at him. The fifth one was a beheaded large cat; its skull rested beside the body. The sixth and last one was certainly not human, and had purple armor.

Deathstroke rocked on his heels as amazement flooded him.

Nightwing. Troia. Cyborg. Raven. Beast Boy. Starfire.

The Teen Titans.

Author's Note: Again, I have several points which I would like to discuss. Firstly, the mainframe room - yes, Donna Troy (Wonder Girl or Troia, whichever you're most familiar) really did died in that very room. It's up for debate whether her ghost haunts the room...

Secondly, the concept of clone-twins. If cloning ever becomes a reliable reality, I doubt this would ever be possible, but as identical twins have proven, occasionally the zygote could spilt into two. Therefore, identical clone-twins is a distant possiblity. However, Danielle and Caity are a weird case, because they're not identical. The scientists fail to come up with any answer, and so they decided to blame it on Raven's demonic genes.

Thirdly, the NIS technology; it stands for Nanobiotic Immune System. Originally developed for those suffering from HIV and AIDS, the doctors eventually expanded the availability to those with a compromised immune system. As CB-91 (Logan) had formed without an immune system, they added NIS to his body.

Lastly, the Titans' skeletons... I bet you didn't see that coming! Aha! Read on, my dear readers!