Author's Note: This story follows the Cartoon Network show, not the comics. It diverges from the show shortly before the 2-part episode "Aftershock."
Chapter 2: Mirror Four
Gizmo struggled to get out of the net Robin had thrown over him. He used the sharp trailing edge of his left wing to cut through the net. Robin made no move to stop him, because just as he wriggled from the net he found himself staring into Cyborg's sonic cannon. Gizmo was resigned to recapture, but—
A wall of dirt shot through from under the pavement, throwing Robin and Cyborg high into the atmosphere. Slade rushed forward and dragged a surprised Gizmo away from the Titans, who were falling back to the surface. Cyborg landed roughly on his back, creating a dent in the pavement, but the more acrobatically-skilled Robin landed on both feet and charged in with his staff.
Slade saw Gizmo and Terra standing idly. "Take Gizmo back to headquarters—I'll distract the Titans!" ordered Slade. Both villains came back to reality, and Gizmo hopped a ride on the flat rock that had earlier delivered Slade to the area. Slade and Robin continued to duel with their staffs. Robin was slowly gaining the upper hand, forcing Slade to backpedal rapidly.
Terra and Gizmo stood on the rock, surrounded by a yellow halo. It was not long before greenish-yellow energy bolts whizzed all around them. A yellow bolt hit the rock and shattered it, making Terra and Gizmo both fall towards the ground. Gizmo still had his wings, though, and Terra called up another rock to stand on. They were still under fire.
Terra maneuvered her rock down to the ground and jumped off, then positioned the rock to shield Gizmo from the starbolts. As the rock was destroyed she brought up more from the ground. Her diversion worked; the starbolts started to head for the rocks instead of Gizmo, and he was able to disappear over the horizon. Satisfied, she called a smaller rock and surfed it back to Slade's cave. Gizmo was already inside. In addition, she also noticed that there were two Cinderblocks. Surprised for a moment, she remembered that one of them was fake. But the other one, then, had succeeded in escaping.
At the other side of the city, about 20 of Slade's robots hastily retreated, the rest having been crushed, eaten, or telekinetically broken. Beast Boy and Raven chased and destroyed the robots as they split up and tried to escape. However, they had failed their most important task, which was to stop Cinderblock. The robots were expendable; they could be easily replaced.
The Titans were not completely without consolation that day. Robin and Cyborg captured Slade, finding to no one's surprise that it was a robot and not the real Slade. However, Cyborg decided to dissect the robot and learn how it worked.
Gizmo, Cinderblock, and Terra were unaware of Slade's (robot's) capture. None of them were surprised when (another of) Slade('s robots) joined them in the cavern. "You may all take the rest of the day off," he said. "You have done well. Tomorrow we have another mission."
Slade called the villains newly at his disposal to the conference room. "Today," he announced, "we will be taking a space trip. We will be going to Tamaran for a recruitment campaign. We will be leaving this afternoon." Slade walked out of the room to prepare the spaceship (which was actually a copy of the T-Sub with rockets attached). The others shuffled back to their rooms to get their belongings.
Four hours later, one of which was taken up by preflight checks, the fake T-sub rocketed off into space.
Three weeks later the T-sub landed in a desert expanse on Tamaran. The cockpits opened, and the four villains emerged. Just over the horizon in the distance was a Gordanian prison compound. One particularly high tower, guarded by several Gordanian guards, was their target.
In the top of the tower, using Gizmo's binoculars, eight uniformed Gordanians with large rifles could be seen milling about. Gizmo aimed carefully with his machine gun and fired a burst.
One Gordanian suddenly fell over, four bullet holes in his chest. The others were immediately attentive. As they rushed over to him worried, the head of a second Gordanian exploded in a burst of green blood. Bits of what was formerly his brain splattered over the remaining six guards. Realizing that they were being sniped, they rushed for the intercom. The first guard to reach the intercom managed to activate it before he fell forward against it, leaving more green blood on the panel. Yet another guard leaned over the dead body and shouted into the speakerphone "This is the east tower we're be—"before his head, too, disappeared in a shower of blood and brains. Only four guards remained; the nearest one completed his sentence: "—being sniped!" and shortly thereafter keeled over with three holes in his chest leaking blood. The other three hurriedly ran down the stairs in the center of the tower. Another tracer carved a furrow through the hair of the last guard as he disappeared under the wall of the tower.
"Look!" Terra pointed at one side of the prison compound. Groups of guards were spreading out in all directions. Two groups were approaching them. Three of the guards in one group were drizzled in blood.
Slade pointed to the left. "Terra and Cinderblock, run over there and make a distraction!" he ordered. There were no rocks around—only sand dunes, so Terra had to run through the sand. Cinderblock, who was much bigger, quickly attracted the attention of the Gordanian search parties. The guards aimed their rifles and fired. Orange laser beams blackened the concrete monster. Many of the rifles soon stopped, however, after Terra's earth powers dumped enormous sand dunes upon the Gordanians. Hands emerged from the piles of sand and struggled to dig out. Amid the confusion Slade and Gizmo rushed up to the tower that had earlier been cleared of guards. Gizmo had many gizmos on him, including a wire to pick locks, which proved to be useful. The door was picked open quickly, and Slade rushed into the tower and up the stairs. Gizmo didn't have to run the stairs, because he simply flew up.
Slade reached a single small cell, with a metal-barred door. Once again Gizmo picked the lock open. Inside, a tall, shackled teenage girl was sitting against the wall. Slade took a welding torch from Gizmo's backpack and cut through the chains.
"Who are you?" she wondered out loud.
"That is not important right now. We need to get you off the planet," replied Slade. He took her hand and pulled her to the only window, using Gizmo's welding torch to cut through the bars. "Fly through!" he ordered, pointing through the now-open window. She crawled out of the window and jumped off, hovering in the air. Slade used his grappling hook to rappel down the wall, while Gizmo stepped through the window and used his wings to avoid falling. Slade motioned in the direction of the T-Sub, just over the horizon, and they sneaked away unnoticed by the Gordanian guards that were buried under sand.
Slade piloted the ship, and after destroying two Gordanian snubfighters with the sonic cannons, set a course for Earth.
Finally, there was time to talk. "So who are you?" asked the teenage girl again.
Slade turned toward her. "My name is Slade. I am recruiting heroes to put down a rebellion on Earth. I need your help. Can you help?"
"Okay..." she said, "but you don't even know who I am. Why would I be able to help?"
"Blackfire, I want your help because your sister is involved in the insurgency."