First, there was Neutral. Time passed and Evil emerged. This disruption of balance can never stand, so Good rose to challenge Evil in an eternal struggle; a clash of two titans so to speak. The feud lives on forever, and can resurface at any given moment in any given location in our physical plane. Particularly, one of the Teen Titan's most dangerous nemeses had made his presence known once again. And this Evil that disrupted the Neutral balance of the universe had a name that could leave distaste in the mouths of some.
"Slade…" Robin said in a hateful tone.
"Robin." Slade calmly responded. "After all this time, I'm flattered to find that we're still friends"
'Friends? Robin is bitter in tone.' Katatz thought to himself. Well, not really to himself.
'It's sarcasm. Slade uses it to play his mind games.' Raven telepathically thought to Katatz.
'Seems sensible enough.' Katatz mind spoke. 'Now if you do not mind, I wish to seclude my thoughts to myself. Close this telepathic link, please.'
"What are you up to this time!" Robin commanded out of his adversary.
"I call it 'the Oblivion Matrix'." Slade replied as he displayed a complex machine behind him. "My machine is wired to the Earth's Mantle. Once activated, it will force an eruption. The following sea of lava and fire will make the city go… up in smoke."
"Freak." Beast Boy commented. "What is up with you and always trying to destroy the city?"
"That's an easy question." Slade answered. "What kind of villain would I be if I did not attempt to obliterate everything?"
"Obliterate…" Katatz said to himself.
"Yes." Slade responded. "You must be Katatz. An alien juggernaut is quite an addition to the Titans. With so much strength on your side, you should have no problem bringing me to justice."
"No problem at all…" Katatz said gritting his teeth before hastily leaving the briefing room.
"Katatz! Where are you going!" Robin asked.
"I lost one civilization. I won't lose another!" Katatz yelled as he made haste.
"He has the right idea, Robin." Slade calmly stated. "The city faces the threat of cataclysm and you stand here listening to my doomsday threats." Upon this statement, the visual communications link was severed.
"We have no idea where this Oblivion Matrix is." Robin said. "We're on the brink of disaster and we don't even know where to start looking."
"The place from which Slade communicated to us seemed familiar." Starfire inquired.
"The docks." Raven said.
"Warehouse 32 to be precise." Cyborg replied. "Slade was able to jam the Titan mainframe's tracers, but not mine."
"Good work, Cyborg." Robin said as he pulled out his Titan's com-link. "Katatz, would you at least like to know where to start looking for Slade?"
No answer.
"There's a red button on the side of the communicator. Hold that in and respond." Robin ordered.
"You need not inform me." Katatz answered through the com-link. "I can sense his presence from this facility."
"Alright, then when you get to Warehouse 32, wait for us." Robin commanded as he ended the transmission. "There's no way I'm letting this turn into another Chronoton Detonator incident. Titans, Go!"
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Katatz weaved through traffic with his hovercycle that Cyborg had created using the remnants of his damaged space pod. For his first ride, he maneuvered quite nicely. And surprising enough, he was able to abide by some traffic laws of the city. He had Cyborg to thank for that, but it made no difference now. Katatz had to get to Slade.
'I never had the chance to prevent the destruction of Arcania.' Katatz thought to himself. 'Now with this Oblivion Matrix, existence is once again threatened. But this time, I can do something about it.'
"Katatz! Do you copy?" The sound of Robin's voice once again spoke through Katatz's communicator.
"No, I cannot duplicate myself." Katatz answered.
"That'll do." Raven's voice spoke through the communicator.
"I recall Slade pulling a similar stunt like this a long time ago." Robin recollected. "Slade threatened to freeze time indefinitely by destroying all Chronotons with a Chronoton Detonator, but that was merely a ruse to conceal a trap. I'm guessing that this is also a trap. Be ready for anything and expect things you might not expect."
"Chronoton Detonation? How did you fall for that?" Katatz boldly asked. "There is not a detonator strong enough to freeze time indefinitely, and if there was, nobody could possibly feel its effects."
"We know that now. And speaking of now, now is all that matters." Robin stated.
"Of course." Katatz said. "But remember, there is no better teacher than Time. Learn from it or you are, how you say, fucked." The transmission was promptly ended.
Within the confines of the T-Car…
"How prophetic…" Raven said with a small amount of amazement.
"Yeah." Beast Boy said as he laughed. "Out of all the things he learned so far, the first thing he says is 'fuck'." Beast Boy continued to chuckle afterwards.
"You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?" Raven inquired.
"Robin, what shall be your battle slogan when we confront Slade?" Starfire asked.
"I don't know." Robin said. "I was thinking something along the lines of 'the Oblivion Matrix really does cause destruction. It causes us to want to destroy you', but it's a little long-winded."
"Well come up with something quick, because we're almost there." Cyborg said as he raced towards Warehouse 32.
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The Docks. For the most part, these docks are just like any other. They're the center operations location for overseas imports and exports. However, this time around, the import was six teenage heroes attempting to stop obliteration from exporting itself throughout the city. With a screeching halt, Katatz stopped his hovercycle at the entrance of Warehouse 32. On the outside, it was like the other warehouses, aside from the gigantic "32" plastered on the building walls. Inside was a different story; the Oblivion Matrix.
"I can feel it. He is here." Katatz said.
As he dismounted from his hovercycle, the T-Car stopped next to the Arcanian, and the other five Titans quickly vacated the custom-built automobile.
"Ha! If you thought you were gonna get first dibs on Slade, then forget it. My baby here is the fastest thing on wheels." Cyborg gloated.
"Uh… fascinating." Katatz answered.
"C'mon, we don't have time to waste. Let's move." Robin instructed as they entered the warehouse.
Warehouse 32. Just like all the other warehouses, except with a "32" plastered on each outside wall. The inside warranted no differentiable description, as it was too dark to really take in the structure's inner surroundings.
"Dude, we came all the way out here to stop his doomsday! The least Slade could do is kick on the lights!" Beast Boy moaned.
At his "request", the lights flicked on, and the Titans found themselves surrounded by Slade's sentry drones.
"I preferred the darkness." Starfire said.
"Tell Slade that we have our own oblivion in store for him." Robin taunted. "Titans, go!"
"Begone!" Katatz exclaimed as he thrust his arm into the air, causing multiple towers of energy to emerge from the ground, shafting each sentry drone and causing their demise. The attack not only reduced the drones to scrap, but it pierced through the ceiling and destroyed the lighting in the room. As the roof was reduced to Swiss cheese, the moonlight seeped into the room, as Katatz said, "You're right, Robin. We don't have time to waste. We need to find the Oblivion Matrix."
"That was quite the light show." A voice spoke from within the veil of the darkness. "Tell me, do you do encores?" A figure emerged from the darkness. A figure that was Slade.
"Slade." The Titans said in despising unison.
"Where's the Matrix!" Robin demanded.
"That question can be answered with another." Slade said in his calm demeanor. "If I want to destroy this city, why would I easily divulge that information? Come now, Robin, you were my apprentice back in the day. You should know me better than this."
"I know how much you need to be brought to justice…" Robin said as he squinted his eyes.
"And I know how incapable you are of performing such a tall task." Slade said as he entered a charge too fast for typical Titan eyes.
'He is fast… but not too fast for me.' Katatz thought to himself.
Before the Titans could react, Slade was in striking distance. Slade went for a punch at Robin, but Katatz's quick reflexes intervened as he caught his fist. Almost instantly, they broke into a scuffle; a flurry of fast punches and forearm blocks to be precise. And after two fists collided, both Slade and Katatz knocked each other back into a backflip, landing on opposite ends of the bewildered Titans into fighting positions.
"Man, they're fast!" Cyborg commented.
Slade entered a normal tall-standing stance and said, "Impressive, Katatz. It has been a long time since anyone has truly been able to match my fighting talents."
"I have been trained by the best…" Katatz mentioned.
"Robin, I hope you're able to grasp all of this." Slade insulted. "I may no longer be under Trigon's power, but since I broke free of his control, there has been… 'substantial rub-off'. He's not sovereign to me, but I possess greater strength than that he originally bestowed upon me, and it's because I've harnessed that strength and enhanced it. Face it, Robin… I'm big game; too big for you."
"You may have strength, but the bigger they are, the harder they fall." Robin said. "We have our mission! We need to disable the Oblivion Matrix! Katatz, I'm counting on you to beat Slade! Everyone else, let's move!"
"You're starting to put aside your pride. You might consider dropping the 'boy' in 'Boy Wonder'." Slade taunted once again as he pointed to an elevator. "That elevator will take you to an underground passage that will lead you to the Oblivion Matrix… amongst other things."
"Yep, this is a trap." Raven said.
"Well, the Matrix is not in front of us." Starfire said.
"Star's right. We just gotta go down there and be on guard. If we're gonna start our search, it might as well be down there." Cyborg said.
"Titans, go!" Robin said as the Titans charged towards the elevator. One by one, the Titans boarded the lift.
'Katatz!' Raven telepathically spoke to her teammate.
'Is… something wrong?' Katatz responded.
'Slade is capable of horrible things. This is your first confrontation with him, so you don't understand what it's like to stare him down.' Raven spoke. 'Please, be careful.'
'You have nothing to worry about.' Katatz spoke as he smiled towards his half-demon partner.
The elevator began to penetrate into the ground, and soon the Titans were out of Katatz's sight. He was alone with quite possibly the most dangerous man in Jump City, placed with the tall order of having to defeat him in combat.
"I am a super soldier; genetically enhanced to be physically superior to any human." Slade bragged. "I was bestowed an awesome power by a demon overlord. I grow stronger as the days pass. And yet here you stand, ready to fight the most powerful man in the world. You really are new to the Earth."
"How about we skip the babbling and do battle." Katatz defiantly proposed.
"As you wish…" Slade complied.
