Disclaimer: The Teen Titans are not mine.

Gunsmoke and Black Roses—Chapter Fifteen

"I… I just can't believe it… he can't be back. He just… it's not possible!"

Smoke was on the couch in the living room, Blackfire and Robin in the room with him. All the others were asleep; it had been early morning when Smoke had pulled up into the Titan's Tower garage and stumbled his way up to the living room. Blackfire had been sitting up waiting for him, and Robin had been awake anyway making some adjustments to his Bo staff.

"Maybe… maybe he survived the blast in the first place." Robin said slowly.

"But then, why would he replace his body with a 15 foot tall robot?" Blackfire asked skeptically.

Robin sighed heavily and shrugged in defeat. "I… I don't know."

Blackfire turned her attention to the injured gunman on the couch. His shoulder was badly burnt and bleeding from Myntull's laser weapon. Robin had immediately bandaged it when Smoke got back. Of course, Smoke had some medical supplies in his pack, and probably could've done it himself, but… he'd honestly forgotten he'd been injured. He had been preoccupied with… other things.

"Does it still hurt…?" Blackfire asked after a minute, examining the bloodied bandage covering his shoulder.

"Well… Not really. When you've got a pain tolerance level like me, you don't really notice…" He said honestly. "Besides, don't worry… I heal fast."

"Still… it just makes me… er, us, worried." Blackfire corrected herself quickly. She knew though, she was probably more worried than Robin. She just didn't want Smoke to know that.

Smoke sat silently, staring at a nearby wall with a pensive expression. He was grappling several things in his mind at once. First of all, should he tell Robin and Blackfire that it had been him that'd bombed the military base in the first place…? Would Robin and the others shun him for it? And what about Blackfire? … She'd be disgusted with him… but then again, it would be the honest thing to do. And… if you can't tell the truth to your friends… then whom CAN you tell it to?

"… Uh… Robin… Blackfire… There's something… something I need to fess up about." He began in a soft shaky voice.

"I know, I know you entered the Monster Truck competition." Robin said dismissively. "Don't worry, nobody's mad about that."

"No! Not that…. I mean… something more… serious."

Blackfire looked at him oddly, a gleam of confusion in her eyes. "But… Smoke, what d'you mean?" Deep inside, though… Blackfire wasn't really sure she wanted to know.

"I… It…" Smoke took a deep breath to steady his voice. "… It was me, all right? I did it. It's my fault."

Robin cocked an eyebrow in confusion. "What was your fault? Smoke, you haven't done anything wrong…."

"You saved all those people! You stopped that… that thing, and killed off those monsters of his!" Blackfire insisted.

Smoke sighed and shifted uncomfortably, turning so that his back was to them. "There are things you don't know about me…" He said softly.

Before they could respond, he continued with his back still facing them as though he was afraid to meet their gaze. "I blew 'im up. I took out that base. It was me. It wasn't a gas leak, it wasn't a crate of faulty explosives, and it wasn't a malfunctioning electrical system… It was a pissed off genetic construct. Me."

"It's my fault, all of it's my fault." He continued again, while Robin dropped the roll of bandages he was holding and Blackfire's eyes went wide as tires. "If I… If I hadn't of blown him up, I… he'd still be a human. He'd still be harmless. But no… They got his brain, and they made something else out of him. Something… completely insane, and less than human. And now, he's a threat to this whole city…. All because of me."

And before his stunned friends could react, he got up and left to his room in the garage, entirely silent all but for the clicking of his cowboy boots on the metallic tower floor.

An Hour Later…

"So… what's happened?" Terra asked nervously, sitting in one of many seats placed around a large table in the living room.

"It's… it's about Smoke." Robin explained. "I called everybody here because there's something important you guys should know about. Smoke…"

"Yeah! He got first place in the monster truck rally!" Cyborg blurted out. Everyone looked at him oddly. "Uh… I was watching it on T.V…." he explained.

"And he saved everybody from that… brain thingy." Beast Boy added.

"That 'brain-thingy', is actually what I needed to talk to you guys about…" Robin said seriously.

"What about it? It's a brain in a bot… It can't be that tough." Beast Boy scoffed.

"It's not that, but… it's the brain IN the bot that concerns me…" Robin pressed a small button on the underside of the table, and a screen lowered from the ceiling. A projector emerged from the table a moment later, and Robin switched off the lights as he started up the small projector.

The first thing to appear on the screen was a black-and-white photograph of a small, bald man with pince-nez glasses. He wore a lab coat and khaki dress pants with boots. A surgical mask was tied around his neck and his wrinkled skin indicated a great deal of age.

"This…" Robin explained. "… Is one, Professor Karl Stefan Wagner. Leading international expert scientist in robotics, weapons R&D, and genetics. He was hired by the U.S. Government in 1984 to lead the way on a top-secret military project… the project to create the ultimate soldier."

"… Smoke?" Starfire asked uncertainly.

"Exactly." Robin nodded. "Of course, he wasn't 'Smoke' to them… he wasn't even a person to them. By them, I mean the scientists working on the project… I've been doing some research and I've come up with some of the particulars of the experiments…" The Boy Wonder retrieved a small page of notes from his belt. "Let's see… Their main goal was to create a single, perfected super-soldier… and once they'd made sure it was the product they wanted, kill off the original and use his cells to clone an entire army of them… far superior to our existing troops."

"Some tests preformed on the prototype super-soldier included… Pain tolerance tests involving boiling wax, vibrating knives, breaking of knee-caps, and… industrial-strength jackhammers…"

Robin paused as everyone's eyes went twice as wide as they were 30 seconds ago.

"… As well as constant blood tests, in which they drew as much as1/4 a gallon at a time. This, though it would seriously weaken or kill a normal person, was only an annoyance to the subject, whose body rapidly heals wounds and regenerates lost bodily fluids such as blood…"

"Tha… that is… so heartless." Starfire whispered shaking her head.

"No wonder he got outta there as soon as he could." Cy said with a grimace.

Robin nodded solemnly and clicked a button on the side of the projector. The picture of Prof. Wagner changed to a large picture of smoking and flaming rubble with fire trucks and ambulances parked outside with fireman, medics, and policeman.

"As Beast Boy told the other day…" Robin began, "… The Jump City Military Base was recently bombed. The perpetrator was never discovered, but there were no survivors… however, both of those facts have now changed. The perpetrator WAS discovered, because he told Blackfire and me himself. And there WAS a survivor."

In response to his teammates confused looks, Robin sat back down and sighed heavily. "It was Smoke. He blew up the base."

The response was immediate.

"No! Smoke would have never…!" Star began, but her voice trailed off.

"Dude… you mean… he did all of that?" Beast Boy asked.

"He… killed all of them?" Terra asked, her voice barely a whisper.

There was a moment of shocked silence as everybody tried to digest everything they'd been told.

"…You can't possibly blame him!" Blackfire blurted out suddenly, causing everyone to jump slightly and turn to face her. "You can't look me in the eyes and say that you wouldn't have done the same thing he did! It's not his fault!"

"You're right." Robin agreed with a nod, trying to calm Blackfire down a little. "But still… He broke God-Only-Knows how many laws that night, and still… he kept a secret from us."

"So did Sub-Zero." Raven added.

Robin turned to face her in confusion. "… Huh? Zero? What's he got to do with this…?"

"Smoke told him he was going back. But he made Zero promise not to tell." Raven explained. Now, it was her turn to get some funny looks. "… I sensed some sort of worry and deception coming from Zero before he left so… I took the liberty of reading his mind… I probably shouldn't have, but… I was suspicious… and wrongly so."

"Wait… you… knew?" Robin asked dumbfounded. "And you didn't tell anybody?"

"No. I knew Smoke could handle himself, and… well, honestly… I agree with Blackfire. They deserved what they got." She mumbled.

Robin stared for a moment, but then just shrugged and sighed. "Well… anyway, I think somebody should go talk to him." Robin said after a minute of silence. "I still think he went overboard a bit, but… I agree. It wasn't his fault, and he had every right to do what he did, I guess."

Robin jerked his thumb to the staircase leading down to the garage. "Like I said, somebody needs to go talk to him… he seems a bit…" he paused, searching for the right words. "… Depressed."

While all this was going on, Smoke was in the garage, tossing his backpack, along with a few tools and several bags of chips and some candy bars, into the passenger seat on his truck, which now had normal sized tires again.

Pulling a black marker out of his pocket and a stack of post-it notes from the glove compartment in the truck… he scrawled out a quick note, and stuck it to the door of his room. Then, getting into the truck, he reached for his keys and was about to crank up the engine…

"Wait! Smoke, wait a minute!"

He froze stiff, and looked up through the windshield to see the garage door fly open and Blackfire bolt through. She flew over to the side of his truck and yanked the door open on his side.

"What are you doing?" She demanded. "Where are you going?"

Smoke sighed heavily and slumped back in his seat. He looked at her sadly. "It's better if I go…" He said. "I've caused way too much trouble for you guys already. And now, I have to go deal with what I've done."

"With what you've done…?" Blackfire repeated in confusion.

"Myntull. He's out there, somewhere. And he's not going to stop. He's going to hurt people, commit crimes, destroy buildings, whatever he has to do to get me to come fight him… because it's not the city or you guys that he's after… it's me."

"Then we'll help you! You can't fight him by yourself…" Blackfire insisted fiercely.

"Blackfire… They've already done so much for me…" He muttered uncertainly.

"That's because we're your friends. And a friend wouldn't let you face this by yourself…" her gaze softened and she put a hand on his shoulder, where the bandage had been. "… Smoke… why? Why do you torture yourself like this?"

Smoke shook his head and turned away from her. "I just can't get rid of the feeling that it's my fault. And besides, If I hadn't…"

"No. Don't even talk about that anymore. We've already agreed that none of this is your fault. Please… stop beating yourself up like this. And stay with us!"

He looked up from floorboard, hazel eyes wide and questioning. "So… nobody's pissed at me?"

She said nothing in response, but floated up a little and gave him a sudden hug around the neck… and kissed him on the cheek. "No… We're on your side." She said softly, resting her head on his shoulder.

What Blackfire didn't notice, was that Smoke's face had gone as red as an apple. He opened his mouth several times as if to say something, but only dry silence came out. Blackfire looked up at him in concern, loosening her hug somewhat…

"… Huh? Smoke… are you okay?" She asked in concern.

He grinned dumbly and nodded… right before slumping forward onto the steering wheel, passed out cold from shock and sheer giddiness.

Thirty Minutes Later…

A pair of gold-hazel eyes suddenly blinked open. It was Smoke, and he was just now waking up. He sat up groggily and realized he was in his room, on the sofa.

"Aw, dammit…" He muttered. "She didn't kiss me… It was just a dream." He slumped back down onto the couch.

"… Ahem." Somebody cleared their throat from behind him… he sat up again, looking around in confusion… he turned around…

All of his friends were standing outside the door to his room, staring bemusedly at him.

"Uh… I mean… Yeah, because I…" He searched desperately for some excuse. "… Did I say that out loud…?"

"Yes." Raven said completely flat and deadpan.

"Don't worry about it…" Robin said, waving his hand dismissively. "… There's something else you should know…"

"Uh… what's that?" Smoke asked nervously.

"That we don't blame you about that whole going-berserk-on-the-base thing, Dawg." Cy said solemnly.

"Yes… Someone in a situation such as yours… would have had every right to do so…" Star said softly with a nod.

"Blackfire was right. We're not mad, and we don't want you to leave…" Terra added. "… and… listen, I'm sorry about the other night, I… was just a little irritated. No hard feelings…?"

Smoke blinked for a sec before saying "Uh... sure. No hard feelings." He looked around at his friends gathered around his door. "Guys… I… I'm not real sure what to say…"

As it turns out, he didn't get the chance to say anything; at that exact moment, the alarm went off and blared throughout Titan's Tower…

"What in the…?" Smoke asked, having nearly jumped out of his skin.

"It's the alarm! There's some kind of trouble…" Robin explained.

Smoke and Blackfire looked at each other for a moment before following the others to the operations room.

Cyborg fired up the huge monitor screen, displaying a map of the city. Various labels displayed different locations, and a mark labeled 'Ocean Mist Hospital'. A small spot next to that, the one that normally displayed whomever was doing the troublemaking, only held a small question mark… indicating that the computer's database did not recognize the criminal.

"Okay… It's the hospital." Robin nodded. But he seemed confused. "… I don't get it. Who'd rob or attack a hospital…?"

"It matters not. We must stop them." Star said determinedly.

"Right. We'll take the T-Car…"… that just leaves…" he looked over at Smoke and Blackfire. "Uhh… I don't suppose you'd mind ridin' with Smoke…?"

Blackfire and Smoke glanced at each other for a split second, right before looking away hastily, Blackfire blushing and Smoke clearing his throat and trying to look casual.

"Uh… yeah, sure. I don't mind." Smoke said quickly. "Uhh… unless you'd rather fly, I mean…" he said quickly.

"No… I wanna ride with you." Blackfire said softly. "I'd get tired out flying, anyway…"Forty Five Minutes Later…

After arriving at the hospital, which had thankfully been evacuated, it didn't take our heroes long to figure out something big had gone down…

The doors were blown off the hinges and black scorch marks were everywhere… It looked as if two or three S.W.A.T. teams had attacked the place…

"Whoa… not good." Was the first thing out of Smoke's mouth when he got out of the driver's seat. He held the door open for Blackfire, and they walked over to where the others had already gathered.

They entered the building and found signs of what looked like a large scale assault of some kind… the only other time they'd seen things like this, was when dealing with Brother Blood's H.I.V.E. soldiers.

Cyborg had switched on his shoulder light and was leading the way with Robin. Beast Boy and Star followed shortly after, then Smoke and Blackfire, with Raven bringing up the rear.

"I don't get it… everything's still here, I think… it's just destroyed." Smoke observed. "So… If they didn't come to steal anything… then what did they come for…?"

"I dunno… but we've got to stay alert… chances are that whoever did this is still around…"

They walked a bit more, and suddenly Smoke heard a very slight noise from the hallways ahead… like footsteps…

"Guys!" He hissed, motioning for them to stop. "Listen!"

Raven shifted uncomfortably. "I… I don't hear anything…."

"Are you sure it's not just your nerves, man?" Cy asked.

Beast Boy chimed in. "No… he's right; I heard it, too."

"Beast Boy and Smoke have very impressive hearing…" Star reasoned. "… perhaps they hear something we do not…?"

Smoke strained his ears hard, trying to pick up whatever the noise had been. He heard another sound…

Clumsy, shuffling footsteps… soft grunts… and the sound of cocking guns… then, it hit him.

"GUYS! GET DOWN!" Smoke yelled urgently. An instant later, he fell to the floor, dragging a startled Blackfire down with him… After a second of surprise, the others followed suit.

"Why are we…?" Raven started, but gasped and went silent when a glowing blue sphere of energy when sailing over her head, followed by a barrage of the same blue blasts. The plasma fire decimated the hallway, and the Titans would've been wiped out if they hadn't ducked.

A moment later, the gunfire stopped… and a group of tall, ugly, green creatures with silver armor stepped out with plasma guns.

"Its those Orc things again!" Blackfire shouted, flying up from the floor, and charging up a blackbolt.

(A/N: If Star's energy blasts are called starbolts, it makes sense that Blackfire's are called Blackbolts, right? So, I'm not sure if they're really called that, but I'll refer to them as such anyway.)

Starfire quickly did the same, eyes shining emerald. "They are the monsters from the stadium?" She asked her sister, whom nodded in response.

"Yeah…" Smoke nodded, getting up from the ground "and they just made the biggest mistake of their unnatural lives…"

BLAM! BLAM!

A couple of roars later, three Orcs fell dead to the ground. The rest of the brutes, enraged, opened plasma fire again.

"Guys, we gotta find some cover!" Cy shouted, almost getting seared by a glowing blue plasma beam. "These beams'll take us out in no time at this rate!"

"This way!" Beast Boy hollered, motioning to a room. Everyone ran in and Smoke bolted the door, placing several chairs on it to form a makeshift barricade.

"This isn't gonna work for long! They'll shoot down the door!" Terra moaned.

"That's what I'm planning on…" Smoke grunted. Everyone looked at him in confusion.

Meanwhile, the Orc soldiers were trying to figure out where the Titans had gone… they checked room after room to no avail. Finally, they realized only one remained unchecked…

With a huge fist, the Orc Sergeant reached out and grabbed the knob… and ripped the door right out of it's frame with a metallic screech… Only to find himself on the wrong end of a sawn off shotgun.

"… How ya doin'?"

BLAM!

BLAM!

BLAM!

BLAM!

The other Orcs were drenched with green goo as the sergeant was absolutely splattered by a point-blank shot. A four-shell reload and a double-cock later, Smoke was ready to go again.

"Guys!" He pointed at a back door to the room. "Get out, find the rest of these things and wipe 'em out!"

"What about you…?" Black asked.

"I'll be fine… just go and take out the rest before they get out!"

After a moments hesitance, they did as he said and left him standing alone.

The other creatures, recovering from their shock, roared and charged him with guns drawn. Smoke was hit in the gut with a direct stream of plasma, causing a searing pain to shoot up his body… but he never flinched.

Instead, he let fly with shotgun bursts, slaying the monsters one at a time as they came, pausing only to reload. He grunted and jerked every time a shot hit him, but he kept his focus.

He pulled the trigger, and the last Orc of the group fell, it's entire left side blasted clean off.

Smoke popped in more needleshells from his backpack, and looked around breathing heavily… making dead sure there were no more.

He made his way over to a small hospital cot, and fell on it gripping a bleeding wound on his side. He knew it'd heal quickly; they always did… but his rest was short lived.

He suddenly heard the beeps and buzzes of his Titan's communicator. Taking a deep breath to steady his shaky voice, he opened it up and answered.

"… Y-yeah…?"

"Smoke! Are you okay?"

"Yeah… I'm good… where are you guys? Did you kill 'em?"

Robin was wiping green goo off of his Bo staff as he answered. "We got 'em… but there's a problem!"

"What kind of problem?"

"Myntull! He was here!"

Smoke sat bolt upright in the small cot. "Myntull? Here? Where…?"

"He… he escaped… we couldn't stop him! Smoke, he… he took her!"

"Took who?" The gunman demanded.

"Smoke… Blackfire. He's got her… They're gone."

Smoke dropped his communicator with a clatter.

That's the end of that chapter! I'm sorry it took so long to get up, but I've been out of town a lot of late…

Anyway… Read and review as always, please!

--The Mad Phantom