Disclaimer: The Teen Titans are not mine.

Gunsmoke and Black Roses—Chapter Nine

It was in a large, dark, auditorium-like chamber… The only light was coming from a single, dimmed spotlight that projected onto a person standing up front…

"Ladies and Gentlemen… he is not yet dead."

A man in a white technician's coat with khaki pants and black dress shoes spoke to an audience of similarly dressed men and women. He had blonde hair and a matching mustache and was standing upon what looked like a makeshift stage or podium.

Next to him, was a small operating table with a large white tarp thrown over it. The tarp seemed to be concealing something on the table, for there was a large bulge in it…

"His body was completely destroyed in the blast. The explosives were, after all, placed directly upon his head. However…" The man paused and looked up, revealing he was wearing a pair of dark shades that obscured his eyes completely. "Using the most advanced surgical techniques, the most potent medicines, and all the advanced tools and facilities out our disposal, we have just produced a modern medical miracle. We have resurrected and preserved the most valuable part of him of all…."

Smiling eerily, the man suddenly turned and yanked the white, cloth tarp off of the little surgical table. For a moment, nothing could be seen, but then…. The spotlight slowly and fluidly moved over onto the revealed object…

A collective, startled gasp of shock and horror could be heard coming from the crowd…

The lead man spoke proudly and calculatingly… "His mind."

There, where the bulge in the cover had been, was a human brain in a jar. It floated there, pulsing and gurgling sickeningly, in a glass jar full of a bizarre, bubbling, foaming blue liquid. Faint signs of smoke and steam were coming from the opening at the top of the jar.

"Friends and colleagues…" The man bowed and waved a hand gracefully towards the large jar. "I present to you, our own… Professor Karl Stefan Wagner."

Later, at Titan's Tower…

"That's it… I think I've got everything!" Jinx stated brightly, smiling and wiping her forehead gently with a pale gray hand.

Sub-Zero stared bemusedly at the massively tall and heavy pile of suitcases, boxes, backpacks, and bags before him. He had suspected that Jinx was a "heavy traveler", but… God, he hadn't expected this. In the interest of staying on his girlfriend's good side, though, he decided not to comment upon it.

"Ah, that's… great, darling. Now… all we need to do is get all your stuff into the cargo hold, and we'll be ready to go." He said.

"So are you guys, like, taking a cruise, or something?" Smoke asked curiously, sitting on the couch munching a bowl of popcorn. He was watching Cybrog and Beast Boy play some video game.

"Well, you could say that…" Zero chuckled with an amused nod.

"We're taking Zero's ship!" Jinx purred affectionately.

Smoke raised his eyebrows in surprise, and he laughed softly. "So, you really weren't kidding about having your own ship, eh?"

"Nope!" The knight stated proudly. "Fastest ship in existence… that I know of, anyway." He added.

"Tell me about it…" Robin groaned from behind them. He was in a chair, and had been listening to the radio. "It made us sick within five minutes of getting on it…."

"Anyway…" Sub-Zero interjected, changing the topic. "… I guess I should start packing… It takes a few days to get home, and we should probably leave soon."

"Looking forward to seeing the folks, huh?" Smoke asked, thinking to make some conversation.

Sub-Zero's back was facing to Smoke, but… he saw Zero stiffen visibly at this comment. The warrior did not reply…

"Uhh... Hey, Smoke… how about some target practice?" Cy asked quickly, getting off that subject. "You and me… in the gym."

Smoke, having the short attention span that he did, quickly agreed. "Sweet! I haven't had the chance to shoot at anything lately…."

Cyborg got up off the couch, which groaned slightly under his weight, and quickly made his way out of the room. Smoke jogged after him.After they were out of the room, Zero seemed to loosen up a little, and exhaled deeply.

"Sorry guys…" he whispered softly. "I shouldn't have reacted like that…"

Jinx immediately hurried over and hugged Zero's middle from behind, wrapping her arms around his midriff comfortingly. "It's no problem…" She said insistently. "I know that you…" She cut off, looking just a bit hesitant.

"Yeah, it's all right…" Raven added slowly and calmly from a nearby chair. She was sitting and reading one of her thick books. "We know… that you don't like to talk about your parents." She finished Jinx's sentence.

"… Thanks, guys…" Zero said softly, and he turned around to give Jinx an affectionate kiss on the neck. She purred softly and closed her pink, cat eyes as he did so… but they stopped and blushed when a certain green shape shifter cleared his throat loudly and emphatically.

"So… Are you guys going to be gone a couple weeks, or what?" Beast Boy asked. With Cy gone with Smoke, he was rooting around in a shelf, looking for a movie to watch.

"Well… it takes about four days to get there… and we'll probably stay about a week, so… yeah, almost two weeks." Zero nodded to indicate the affirmative.

Sub-Zero walked up to the big pile of baggage Jinx had packed for herself, and grunted softly as he gathered it up in his arms. He started walking out the doorway on his way out to the ship.

"Wait for me!" Jinx purred loudly, going out after him.

Sub-Zero and Jinx made their way out to the Cliffside. Jinx told him she could carry some of her bags, but he insisted he had it. She just felt guilty that he was lugging around all her stuff. Although… she felt a bit better to see that Zero definitely seemed to be more cheerful than he'd been in a while.

After a long walk, and a lot of conversation between the two, they were standing above the massive cliff edge above the sea. Very carefully, Sub-Zero sat Jinx's pile of bags on the ground and silently breathed a sigh of relief, mentally thanking the good lord that he didn't have carry that stuff much farther… When he leaned back up from the ground, his back popped audibly, causing Jinx to gasp and immediately ask if he was all right. Again, he assured her he was just fine…

"Okay…" He said softly, rubbing his gloved hands together in anticipation. "Here it goes…"

The young knight reached down into one of the many pockets on his gray belt, and rummaged around, as though looking for something in particular. After a moment of searching around, he produced a small, metal whistle. It's silvery surface sparkled in the sunlight as if highly polished.

Licking his lips and taking a deep breath, Zero blew into the whistle with as much force as he could muster. It produced no noise whatsoever, but rather, it almost seemed to cause a sudden chill to run through the air…

Jinx grinned as she realized what he was doing. She'd seen him summon his ship once before, when they had gotten home from his island the first time. It was… a magnificent sight, to say the least. So needless to say, she was looking forward to seeing it again.

Soon, there was a slight buzzing sound from deep underneath them… it was very familiar to Zero, but for Jinx, it was only her second time to have heard it. It seemed muffled and echoey… Soon, the soft noise began to grow rapidly. It seemed to grow and inflect, becoming more and more centered within the large expanse of clear, blue water below them.

After a minute or so, it had become a loudly gurgling roar, and the water began to churn and foam. It was like a massive whirlpool forming, capped by large waves and violent sprays of white foam.

As geysers of water began to shoot upwards with incredible force, something else was coming up. A monstrously large and shadowy shape was rising from the deep. Then, it rose above the surface to reveal it was Zero's ship.

As it came gracefully to the surface, the frothing and bubbling of the waters calmed down. The unearthly noise began to fade back out. All was suddenly dead calm, and Zero's ship was visible.

The Fryse Wyrm, as Zero called it, was now before them.

Jinx laughed and clapped, delighted by the giant waterworks display that had just taken place before her eyes. Zero chuckled and bowed.

"Beautiful! I've never seen anything like that!" Jinx said. "Well… except for the last time you did that…" She added sheepishly, blushing just a little bit.

"It's useful…" Zero said with a smile and a nod. "After all… I wouldn't want anyone stealing my ship, now would I?"

Sub-Zero turned towards the massive, whitewood galleon that floated before them. As he raised his hands and concentrated, his palms began to glow with a faint, bluish-white light.

A moment later, there was a loud 'Whoosh' as a beam of pale blue frost sprayed forth from his hands. It spiraled quickly in the air a few times, and then made a turn toward his ship. Hardening into a large, thick sheet of ice, it formed a frozen bridge between the edge of the cliff and the ship's deck. This, of course, was how Sub-Zero always boarded and left his ship.

Sub-Zero bent over, and grunted softly as he carefully lifted the big stack of luggage into his arms again. But he didn't go up the ramp just yet.

"Ladies first?" He offered to Jinx, and he would've bowed or made a polite motion with his hand… but he was thoroughly weighted down at the moment…

She blushed and giggled. With a careful step she started up the ice ramp. Zero followed along behind her… he wasn't really worried about her slipping; she had extremely good balance, and she was light on her feet, as well.

Once on the deck, Zero kicked open the large trapdoor that led down below-deck and jumped down into the dark pit it. There were the faint sounds of him storing Jinx's stuff , and then he came climbing back up a couple minutes later, breathing heavily and slouching in a tired manner.

"Okay… I guess this is it…" He murmured to himself. Then, he turned to Jinx. "… Are you ready?"

She smiled brightly back at him. "As ready as I'll ever be!"

Back at the Tower…

"Man… I gotta admit… you're good." Cy congratulated.

Cyborg and Smoke had just finished their little target match. It had been a close race between the two; Smoke was extremely good, but Cy was no pushover with his sonic cannon either. At the end, however, Smoke's dual revolvers had destroyed exactly four more targets than Cy's cannon. Smoke had taken out 98 targets in 10 minutes… Cy had taken out 94 targets, also in 10 minutes.

"Thanks… I guess shooting's one of the few thing's I'm good at." Smoke chuckled, blushing slightly and fiddling nervously with the straps on his overalls. He wasn't used to such open acknowledgment.

"You did excellently. Personally, I think I'm definitely gonna be sleepin' a lot easier knowing you're on our side!" Cyborg joked, getting a hearty laugh out of both of them. Then, Cy got a kind of cunning look in his eyes…

"Say… Smoke, could you come with me for a few minutes..? Got something to show ya while we're down here…"

"Sure. No problem…"

Cy walked off in the general direction of the Titan's Tower garage… and motioned silently for Smoke to follow. With a casual shrug, he followed along behind him.

They walked along for several minutes, neither of them saying a word. The awkward silence was beginning to make the gunman a bit nervous… And where was Cy taking him, anyway?

"So, Uh…" Smoke paused and cleared his throat. "Where we goin', anyway?"

"Oh, you'll see… It's kind of a surprise."

This caused Smoke to gulp slightly. He wasn't sure about his current situation, but in the military… surprises were NOT good things…

Finally, they reached the garage… there, parked next to the T-Car, was the large humvee that Smoke had "Acquired" earlier…

"This way…" Cy said, a smile slowly growing across his face. Smoke nodded and followed.

When Cy finally got to where he was going, it was nothing but a door, with a small sign hanging on the doorknob that read: 'Spare Tools/Parts'.

"Uuhh…. Spare tools and parts?" Smoke asked, thoroughly puzzled.

Cy laughed, and reached over to the little sign… with a quick spin of his large, metallic hand, he spun it around to the other side, which normally would have been nothing but a big blank, but …

There, in large, black, bold letters, were the words: 'Smoke's Quarters…'

In front of the young gunners stunned face, Cyborg's grin grew even more pronounced than before. Cy turned the knob, and swung the rusty, metal door open with a creak.

It was no longer a room of old junk…

It was a big room, with a large, wooden, red-and-white bull's-eye set up at one end, several gun-racks and gun-cases mounted at various places on the wall, a large T.V. with antennae, a gamestation, and a remote, and last but not least, a camouflage recliner with a matching camo couch.

At the end of another wall was a large, metal workbench with tools and parts of every imaginable make and model. It also had a red fire extinguisher mounted on the wall next to it… just in case.

Several posters all over the wall displayed titles of movies such as: The Godfather, Evil Dead 2, Dirty Harry, and The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly… Fittingly enough, most of these were what you would call, "shoot 'em ups"…

The ceiling had a small, somewhat rickety fan with a single light bulb. Next to this, a large, highly polished disco ball had been mounted.

Whilst Smoke just stood there absolutely speechless, Cy burst in to pleased laughter.

"Well… Looks like I did a good job, huh?" He asked with a nod.

This seemed to snap Smoke out of his funk somewhat. "Holy… you mean that this is MY room, now?" He demanded.

"Yep… I just felt kind of guilty about you always sleeping on the couch and hanging out in the living room…" The bionic teen explained. "So, I cleaned up this old storage room and made a few orders…"

Cyborg motioned toward the well-stocked drawers upon the shiny workbench. "I know how you love to fiddle with guns and ammo and explosives and whatnot, so…" He shrugged sheepishly. "I ordered a bunch of stuff like that to keep you busy. But please… don't blow up the Tower." He joked. "Robin would have my mechanical ass…"

"Geeze, Cy, I… If I didn't think crying would make me a pansy, I… I'd probably be tearing up right about now. I dunno what to say…"

Cyborgs slapped his friend on the back and, were it not for Smoke's superhuman strength, he probably would have knocked him down.

"Don't say anything. And don't tell the others…" Cy warned hesitantly.

"Huh? They weren't in on this?"

"Well, uh… No. Just me. And if they knew I did all this without them, they'd probably be mad at me… for leaving them out of the loop, I mean."

"I get it… Sure, I won't tell 'em."

"I'll tell them the first chance I get, now that it's finished."

"Cy, I… I really do appreciate all this…"

He cut Smoke off mid sentence. "Say no more, dawg… Don't even mention it. After all… that's what friends are for, right?"

After a moment, the full weight of this statement sunk into Smoke's thick skull, and he smiled widely.

"Yeah, I… I guess it is."

In A Secret Underground Facility…


"The new Mark 90 Battle Mech is ready, sir!"

"Excellent… prepare the old man's brain… but don't drop the jar, or the eggheads will be… upset, with us…"

These words were spoken by a pair of tall, shaved-headed men wearing full military uniform and holding submachine guns.

"Right away, sir!"

One of the men whistled to a nearby group of guards, who had been milling around in a small group. He motioned toward a large, metal door with a chain nearby.

Immediately, they saluted, shouted "Sir, Yes Sir!" in exact unison, and jogged over toward the door.

Grabbing the chains, they began pulling them down… and the large door began slowly grating open, revealing a large black shape behind…

When the door was fully open, it was revealed completely…

It was a large, robot. It's dull silvery surface clashed dissonantly with the spots of jet black in certain areas, such as the head, arms, and legs.

The robot itself seemed to be about 15 feet tall,probably several tons in weight,and was vaguely humanoid; it had two arms, two legs, a head, and… a tail. It stood upright on two legs and held the arms by it's side. The tail curved up behind it's back, in an arch.

It was armed to the proverbial teeth, as well.

It's left arm was a long, nine-barreled Minigun, truly a gat to be reckoned with. It's right arm, on the other hand, was outfitted with a huge, shining, and deadly-looking Buzzsaw, with a serrated, round blade that looked absolutely lethal; it seemed as though it could cut through anything.

The technical terror's arsenal continued with it's long, whip like tail. It was very thick, and looked very strong. The tip was ended with a large, pointed, and razor-sharp hook.

The robot's weapons tech didn't end there, either. Mounted on it's shoulders was a pair of large, square, rocket launching turrets… already loaded with heat-seeking missiles.

A large jetpack was built right into the thing's back, presumably for the purpose of flight, and large metallic wings with cruel, jagged edges jutted out from the sides of the jetpack. The wingspan was about 12 feet.

To cap off it's overwhelming ordinance was a large device attached to the forehead… it somewhat resembled a small satellite. It was, in reality, a beam weapon that fired a searing-hot laser beam.

The most prominent feature of this magnificent machine, though… was a small "Cockpit" style area on the head. It showed through from the front, covered by tempered, bulletproof, waterproof, fireproof, and sealed airtight glass. It was filled with a strange, frothing, blue concoction.

"Excellent…" The leader hissed wickedly. "Bring… his brain."

A technician in a surgical mask and white laboratory coat came running in, carefully holding the same brain from before…

Using a ladder set up by the guards, he climbed up and opened up the top of the battlemech's head… Carefully, with a look of mingled disgust and excitement, he places the brain in the bizarre, churning mixture, and closes the lid. Using a large welding torch handed to him by a lab assistant, he sealed up the top, making sure that it would stay closed.

Everyone backed off nervously…

Immediately, as though the big machine had a life of it's own… Small metal tentacles were seen emerging from the innards of the bot and entering the chemical-filled "cockpit." They slithered around in there, a bit like odd, mechanical snakes… and without warning, suddenly lashed out and wrapped themselves around the still-pulsing brain.

The entire bot sparked, smoked, and shook for a moment… and then, it began to move of it's own accord…

Their celebration was short lived, however… the bot raised it's gatling gun… and opened fire for no apparent reason.

Most of the guards and scientists were killed off instantly by the rain of bullets… all but one.

"Wagner!" He screamed. "What the Hell are you doing?"

The thing… Spoke. It was, without a doubt. Karl Wagner's voice, but with a slightly static and mechanical quality, as though coming from a speaker.

"I am not Wagner… call me… Myntull."

And then, the thing sliced the screaming guy into two halves with it's whirring buzz saw, splattering the floor and walls with blood… for the first of many times.

The Doc's back. And he's even crazier than before, because now he's a giant robotic supervillain calling himself, Dr. Myntull This will no doubt cause problems for the Titans, Especially Smoke… and why did this happen just as Zero and Jinx left, and Smoke was getting ready to ask Blackfire out on a date? Oh well…

As always, read, review, and let me know what you think…

--The Mad Phantom