Chap. 8

Origins and Guitars

"Okay, what do you know about Slade?" asked Robin. "From what we learned, he used to be a sergeant in the army back in '69." answered Bart, coming up from the couch. "He was an incessant perfectionist, always looking for any way better himself. Then the army came out with some sort of super-drug that was supposed to increase a soldier's senses and make him unstoppable. However, they hadn't tested it on humans yet and they needed volunteers. I think you can guess who joined up. Anyway, the drug backfired. Slade went into a coma for weeks, and when he woke up, he was erratic and dangerous. Eventually, those side-effects died down, but as far as the scientists could tell, the drug had failed. Of course, that's he wanted them to think. In truth, Slade's speed, strength, and all his other senses had been amped up. But it also caused him personality to take a much darker turn. He left the army and over the course of the next few decades built himself a considerable empire. Eventually, the army figured out what was going on, and sent an assassin to kill Slade. He failed, but he did manage to take out Slade's right eye. His other senses more then make up for the loss though. Anyway, Slade believes the best way to gain power is to take out the heroes in cities one at a time. He thought we posed a threat, and he spent the last couple years trying to take Springfield." "Thankfully, those people are crazy enough to drive even Slade off." Said Brett.

"Eventually, Slade turned his attention to Jump City. We don't know why, but something about you guys seems to interest him. However, there might be one thing here to interest him more." "And what's that?" asked Robin. Brett picked up the conversation then. "This might be it." Suddenly, Brett opened his hand and the image of a large, circular gem appeared floating above his open palm. "Oh.. what is it?" asked Starfire, staring at the image in wonder. "It's called the Cytorian Gem. Supposedly, it has inert magic that can turn someone into the 'ultimate warrior." "So? I don't think that Slade is interested in a magic rock." said Robin. "Neither did we, but then Slade stole everything he supposedly needs for the ritual. All he needs is the gem, and that'll be coming to the museum in a few days. Luckily, the thing passed through Springfield a few days back, and I managed to plant a bug on it. If Slade or any of his droids come for it, we'll know." "All right." Said Robin. "Then it probably makes sense for you guys to stay here for a while. That why when Slade goes after it, we can go together." "Well, if you're sure.." began Brett, but then the other BRATS began to yell their acceptance. "I'll try to keep 'em in line." was all Brett could say.

With the BRATS living with them , the Titans found their Tower slightly cramped for the first time. Besides that, most of their roommates had some difficult habits. Bart constantly played practical jokes, including putting a small stink bomb in Raven's room that almost got him sent to an unknown dimension. Milhouse had to constantly medicate himself for various problems, Martin continually talked about science that no one wanted to hear about, and Nelson and Ralph hogged the video games, causing Beast Boy and Cyborg to nearly kill one another in boredom. But since Slade hadn't made any kind of move, all they could do was wait. But then one day, one of the BRATS earned his keep...

"Come on, you've been on for an hour!" whined Beast Boy as he begged from his hands and knees. "And your point is?" asked Nelson, as he kept on playing. "Look either give us the game or we're gonna cripple your freaking hands!" yelled Cyborg, as he tried to wrest the controllers away from Ralph. Meanwhile, Bart was handing Starfire a can of nuts (yes it's an old joke, but she is an alien). "Thank you Bart, these cashews look most delicious." She said as she opened up the can. Of course, then a bunch of paper snakes popped out, causing Star to scream in surprise. Bart however, laughed hysterically. "I didn't think this was funny anymore, but I was wrong." He said between breaths. Star just glared at him. Meanwhile, Martin was explaining to Robin the idea of chemical fusion. "So you see, if the core of the acid is simultaneous fused with the properties of the amino, then but carrying the..." "Please shut up." moaned Robin as he covered up his ears. Suddenly there was a loud, snotty, inhaling noise as Milhouse took yet another nasal spray. "Uh, can I talk to you guys for a minute?" asked Raven, motioning to the other Titans. The five teens quickly formed a huddle. "Look, I don't care if they know about Slade, they can't stay here." snapped Cyborg. "Yeah, they're driving me crazy." agreed Beast Boy. "Hey I can't stand it either, but we can't let Slade steal the gem and they're our only link." hissed Robin.

"Why don't we ask Brett to do something with 'em? I mean, he gave them their powers, they've got to listen to him." Beast Boy whispered. "Wow. That's actually a good idea." Raven said. Breaking up the huddle, Robin called out to the group, "Hey, do you guys know where Brett is?" "I think he's outside training." Nelson replied, never taking his eyes of the video screen. "Training?" Cy asked. "Yeah, he does this every day." Bart said, coming off the couch to move over to the Titans. "I'm sure I can show you where he is. He tries to change location every day, but I think I can show where he is now." "Then lead the way." Robin said, gesturing for the boy to do just that.

Bart lead the Titans outside the Tower, to the small beach that existed just on the curve of the island. True to Bart's word, they found Brett there, engaged in some kind of training. He was stripped to the waist, his muscular body impressive despite all the fur that covered it. The bat held his sword aloft in the air, and was moving it about in graceful patterns in the air. But what most of the Titans noticed first was the strip of cloth around the bat's eyes, hiding his view. "What is he…" Beast Boy began, but Bart quickly hushed him. "What's he doing?" the green one whispered back. "He does this everyday, to better his awareness." Bart explained, quietly. "Brett's eyes are his weakest sense, so he trains doubly hard to make sure his others are at their absolute peak." "OK, but how does this do that?" Robin asked. "Watch." Bart replied.

Just then, Brett reached into his pocket and pulled out three circular disks. One by one, he flipped them out to almost all sides of him, in a triangle pattern. As he regained his proper grip on his sword, the disks suddenly began to grow and twist into different shapes. In less then a second, the bat was surrounded by three large, deadly looking androids. "More stuff from the thirtieth century. They make absolutely no noise." Bart said. Then the droid's eyes activated, and they began to lurch forwards towards Brett. But the bat simply pulled his sword into a defensive position. Suddenly, one of them swung its arm back (in complete silence) and swung it down towards Brett's head. However, just when it seemed to hit the bat, Brett suddenly flung himself to the ground to the right of him. Angling his sword upwards, the bat sliced through the arm as though it was air. The droid lurched back, clutching it's wounded arm, but the other two continued to advance. But Brett flipped back to his feet, just as they threw their fists at him. Brett suddenly moved his arms up, allowing the massive steel arms to just miss him, then he wrapped his arms around them. The bat then flipped himself backwards, dragging the two droids onto the sand with him. The second he stopped moving, Brett flipped himself back to his feet. Picking up the sword that he'd dropped to grab the droids, he turned the blade down and prepared to ram it through the droid's chest. But the one he had already injured had regained it's footing, and was pointing it's arm at him. Suddenly, that arm morphed into a huge cannon, which fired black plasma energy at the bat.

Yet once again, this proved an advantage for the bat. Just as the beam was about to hit him, Brett angled his sword up, catching the blast and angling it into the head of the droid to his left. The machine's head exploded in a mass of metal and circuitry. Brett quickly drove his sword into the other's chest, shutting it down in a haze of sparks, then began to run towards the one remaining droid. The machine quickly began to fire its weapon at Brett, but for all the shots it took, Brett deflected them all back at seemingly light speed. And all the time, Brett kept advancing on the droid until finally, he took a huge leap over it, then twisting in the air, he brought his sword down through it, cutting it into two identical halves. As the two pieces fell to the ground, Brett finally gave a sign of exhaustion, as he fell to his knees and draped over his sword began breathing hard. The Titans stared in amazement; unable to believe he had done all that blind. "And he does this every day?" Robin asked in disbelief. "Everyday. Today was actually a bit slow." Bart said. "Still, he deserves congratulations." Starfire said, as she flew over to the form of the bat. "Star wait!" Bart yelled, but the young alien gave no notice. Landing next to the bat, she placed her hand on his shoulder and prepared to give a speech congratulating his efforts. But she never got to, because Brett suddenly shot up, grabbed her hand and used it to throw her down to the ground, and drawing his sword, he held it over her neck, preparing to drive it down. And he would have, had Bart not yelled out, "Brett STOP!" The blade stopped just an inch above the girl's throat, and as the others came around them, Brett said, "Aw crap, what did I do now?" "You almost impaled me?" Star said nervously. Pulling off the blindfold, he looked down at Star and cursing himself, helped her to her feet. "Sorry Star. I just don't think when I'm like that." He apologized as he sheathed his sword. "I get so into it, it takes a few minutes for me to calm down. Until then, I perceive everything as an enemy. It's involuntary." "It is all right, I guess." She said. "I tried to tell you." Bart said. "Now why don't you tell Brett whatever it was you wanted to talk to him about?" "What's up?" the bat asked, almost as if nothing had happened. "Uh, I think we'd best talk over there." Robin said, pulling Brett over to a further side of the isle. As Bart sat down and watched them walk off, he asked Raven, "Something else, isn't it?" "Yeah. I just hope he doesn't send somebody else to the emergency room." The empath said coldly, as she watched Robin talk to the bat.