Disclaimer:0i d0 N0t pWn Th3 T33N TiTnZ!1! (Translation: I do not own the Teen Titans.)

Gunsmoke And Black Roses—Chapter Twenty-Two

A little over a week had passed since Myntull had lured the Titans to his underground lair and attempted to kill Smoke with a powerful electric shock, inadvertently bestowing him with a new ability. Somehow, he'd appeared out of nowhere and disappeared into thin air after he'd attacked Smoke… apparently, he was becoming more powerful.

This, coupled with the fact that he hadn't been heard from in over a week, made our heroes extremely nervous. Smoke, still getting used to his newly endowed abilities, was particularly on edge.

You can imagine, therefore, their shock and nervousness when a strange signal appeared on one of Cyborg's radars one unassuming morning.

He was in the middle of tuning it up and performing a couple upgrades, when it had suddenly began bleeping wildly as a small flashing dot appeared on its screen. The dot had a small label nearby with an arrow pointing from the label to the dot.

It read: 'Unknown Object… about 241 feet in length… estimated weight of 1, 573 tons… traveling south-southeast at roughly 93 knots.'

The dot itself was situated out in the ocean adjoining the Jump City Bay that, in turn, was adjoined to the large body of water upon which the Titans Tower's island was located.

Whatever this thing was, it was huge… and coming straight at them at an alarming speed.

Cyborg was so startled at this realization that he jerked up off the ground he'd been laying on making adjustments… and struck it head on the bottom of the radar system with a loud metal clank.

Groaning and rubbing his head, he jogged out of the room, slammed the door, and started down to Robin's room.

He ran down a couple floors, through a long corridor, and eventually found the large door bearing the name, 'Robin'. He slumped over, breathing hard from the run down here.

He raised his metal fist and knocked softly but insistently on the door. The sound of soft, muffled footsteps ensued, and Robin opened the door a moment later. He had a wooden Bo staff propped up against his right shoulder and was dressed in a white martial-arts robe and sandals. Apparently, he'd been in the middle of training.

Before Robin could even ask what was the matter, Cyborg spoke in an agitated voice.

"Robin! Come here, quick! You're gonna want to see this…"

Seventeen Minutes Later, On The Roof Of Titan's Tower…

"How could something that big possibly move so fast?" Robin asked, scanning the horizon with a pair of binoculars.

"I don't know." Cyborg responded with a worried gaze over the roof at the sea. "But whatever it is, it's definitely on its way here."

The others, meanwhile, were trying to figure out what could be so large. Smoke sat idly on a corner of the roof, watching mildly interestedly his palms crackle with electricity. He sighed heavily. "Guys, it's probably not such a big deal, I mean… it's probably just a whale or something…"

"A whale swimming that fast?" Raven asked sharply. "That's not even possible."

Smoke just shrugged and went back to observing his hands while he practiced generating electricity.

"Maybe the radar just glitched or something?" Blackfire asked.

Cyborg shook his head vehemently. "No way! I was making tune ups on it just now… and I can tell you for a fact that it was in perfect working order."

Terra, Starfire, and Beast Boy were all stumped. Obviously though, everybody on the roof was wondering the same thing… was this, too, Myntull's doing? After all he'd done so far, it really didn't seem so unlikely that he'd be able to build a huge submarine or ship of some kind.

And if Myntull was behind this, they were in trouble… big trouble.

"I see something!" Robin hissed suddenly, getting everybody's attention. Everyone crowded around, straining their eyes to see in the distance.

"What is it?" Starfire asked.

"I don't know… but… it's massive…"

Robin turned a small knob on the side of the binoculars, magnifying the image so that he could see the rapidly approaching shape with more clarity.

Sure enough, something huge… a dark, indistinct blot on the horizon… was coming straight at the Tower. As it gradually became larger and larger, it also became clearer. And that's when Robin managed to make out a key feature of the silhouette… sails. White, billowing sails.

And then, the answer hit him like a bag of bricks in the forehead. After a moment of stunned silence, he burst into relieved laughter and dropped the binoculars. Everybody looked at him like he'd gone crazy.

"Uh… Dude… what's wrong with him?" Beast Boy leaned over and whispered to Terra, who could only shrug and stare concernedly in response.

Robin, taking a few deep breaths and managing to stop laughing, explained. "Guys… This isn't a threat to us. In fact, it looks like the cavalry's here."

A While Later…

Sub-Zero was a bit concerned to find the interior of Titan's Tower dark and silent. All the lights were turned off, no noise came from its halls, and there was absolutely no sign whatsoever of life.

As soon as he and Jinx stepped cautiously through the front door, they'd both sensed that something was amiss…

"… Where… is everybody…?" Jinx wondered aloud.

Sub-Zero looked around at the dark surroundings and sighed. "I guess they're not home… must be out stopping a crime or something…"

The knight, still carrying a massive armload of Jinx's luggage, started to make his way to her room to put her stuff there for her; she, meanwhile, decided to go to the living room and watch some T.V. whilst waiting for them to return.

… Biggest mistake she'd made in a while.

The moment Jinx stepped through the doorway into the seemingly deserted Titan's Tower living room, she was immediately blinded by a bright flash of color as all the lights suddenly flashed back on at once, along with… confetti? This followed quickly by the shout of "SURPRISE!"…

She screamed loudly, badly startled by all this, and fell backwards only to land on her back staring up at a huge makeshift banner reading, "WELCOME BACK!"

Jinx blinked a few times before her rattled brain began to comprehend what had just happened… and very quickly, she let off a soft groan of relief. Spending a while almost getting killed by a fiery tempered dark sorcerer can make one rather jumpy indeed.

After a moment of awkward silence, a few murmurs began to emerge.

"Whoa, dude… is she okay?"

"Perhaps such a sudden greeting was not a wise idea…"

"I hope she didn't have a heart attack… Zero'd kill us…"

"Speaking of which, where is Zero?"

With a slight twitch of her left eye, Jinx sat up and stared irritably at her friends, most of whom were staring back sheepishly at her holding noisemakers and other party favors.

"Hello to you, too…" She grumbled wearily, before thumping down onto her back and trying to let her heart rate slow back to normal.

Sub-Zero, having heard Jinx scream, came running into the room with sword drawn and looking absolutely murderous… until he saw the banner, confetti, and startled Titans, at which point he put two and two together and sighed heavily, sheathing his sword and helping Jinx to her feet.

"So… how'd everything go?" Smoke asked with a slight grin.

"Yeah! I don't suppose you brought us any souvenirs?" Beast Boy said jokingly.

For a moment, Sub-Zero looked slightly amused and stood motionless. But after a moment, his smile widened as he walked over and sat down on the couch.

"Actually…" He propped his hands behind his head and laid back on the couch. "… I did."

Then, with no warning whatsoever, he materialized a large, glowing, greenish bubble in his hand and hurled it straight at B.B.'s face, shouting: "Think fast!"

Beast Boy of course, who had a difficult time just thinking in the first place, just stood there dumbstruck. The bubble hit him dead on, and the next thing anybody knew, Beast Boy was dripping water onto the floor.

Sub-Zero and Jinx tried to contain laughter, but couldn't. Sub-Zero clapped a hand to his forehead and fell to the ground howling with laughter, while Jinx was practically in tears she was laughing so hard.

Everyone else, meanwhile, just stared silently at the soaking wet shape-shifter standing in front of them, who seemed to be the most surprised of all. Without a word, he changed into a large green dog and shook himself dry, slinging water all over everybody else and transforming back to himself again a moment later.

"Dude…" He managed to say. "How… how did you… DO that?"

Sub-Zero, after taking a few deep breaths and regaining his composure, sighed and began to explain everything that had happened since they left…

One Hour Later…

Robin blinked a couple times and stared blankly, masked eyes wide and confused. "… Uh… You're kidding right?"

"He's just yankin' our chain." Cyborg said with a grin.

"If I was yankin' your chain…" Zero began solemnly. Then, he raised a hand and materialized a small geyser of water in his palm. "… Could I do that?"

"It's all true!" Jinx insisted with a slight scowl. "If you don't believe us, that's tough; We both know it's true, though."

"Wait…" Raven said with a look of realization on her face. She suddenly strode up to Jinx. "Jinx… hold still…"

On the contrary, Jinx backed away hesitantly, looking worried. "Wh… what are you going to do…?"

"I'm going to read your memory." Raven said casually, stretching a hand towards Jinx's forehead… until said witch drew back fearfully again. Raven sighed impatiently. "Look, it's not going to hurt… really. Just hold still…"

She eyed Raven's hand warily one more time, but finally closed her eyes and held still, taking a deep breath.

Raven touched a hand to Jinx's forehead, pressing it there firmly. Raven closed her eyes and, a moment later, began to glow faintly with dark energy. Jinx shivered once, but after that she stood dead still, like a statue. Raven wasn't moving either, staying completely motionless.

In her mind's eye, Raven was being hit with a rush of memory and information all at once…

… The sight of whales leaping in and out of the water on a cloudy, overcast day…

…Climbing the ladder up to the top deck of Sub-Zero's ship and looking over the railing of the prow…

… A barren wasteland of black ash, lava pits, geysers of flame, and clouds of smoke…

… An alarming-looking figure draped in a crimson robe, with blazing yellow eyes and gnarled claws…

… Screaming and watching Zero getting sucked dry of powers by the sorcerer…

… And Sub-Zero's reappearance, followed by Lord Von Hellwing's defeat…

… The peaceful trip back to Jump City and Titan's Tower…

That was when Raven gasped and opened her eyes, clutching her own head now and stumbling away from Jinx. She looked as though something had stunned her; it was probably from the sheer amount of memories that she'd read at one time.

Thankfully, Cyborg caught her in time to prevent her from falling to the ground. She managed to stand up on her own a moment later. Jinx, on the other hand, opened her eyes and blinked dazedly, as if she'd just woken up. She swayed on the spot a couple of times, concerning Zero, but she didn't fall.

"They were telling the truth…" Raven said softly, nodding. "Everything they said was absolutely true. I just saw Hellwing myself… in Jinx's memories."

"I told you!" Jinx hissed, rubbing her head and still looking just slightly dazed from Raven's memory-reading.

"You're sure you're okay…?" Zero asked tentatively, still ready to catch her in case she fell.

"I'm fine…" Jinx mumbled. She was beginning to recover from the dizziness, and wasn't wobbling anymore.

There was an uneasy silence after all this…

"You know…" Robin spoke up. "There's something we haven't told you guys about, either…"

"What's that?" Zero asked, eyes widening in surprise.

At first, Robin said nothing at all. But then, he smirked lightly and turned to Smoke, who was standing behind Blackfire and yawning.

"Hey, Smoke… why don't you, ah… welcome Zero back."

The gunman blinked in confusion. Robin, who still had his back to Zero, winked knowingly… and Smoke began to catch on.

Smiling genially, he strode over to Zero, boots clicking against the floor. Once he'd closed the gap between them, he held out his hand for a handshake and said: "Nice to have you back, buddy…" However, there was something in his tone of voice that suggested he was hiding something.

Sub-Zero, gullible as he was, just smiled genially and took his hand. He was about to thank Smoke when…

Bzzap! "YOWCH!"

There was a bright flash of light and a few yellowish-green sparks as Smoke zapped Zero's gloved hand with a small jolt of electricity, causing him to yank his hand back and yelp in surprise.

This time, it was Smoke's turn to burst into laughter, Robin and Blackfire joining him after a moment. Everyone else just stared and sighed with anime-style sweatdrops. Sub-Zero was frantically blowing on his hand and Jinx just glared daggers at Smoke.

"Uh… Guess it's time I do some explainin', too…" Smoke said, stifling another guffaw.

For the next twenty minutes or so, the Titans filled Zero and Jinx in on everything that had gone on since they'd left.

By the time they'd finished all the explanations, they couldn't decide which was more improbable. A reanimated madman's brain with the body of a mechanical one-unit army… Or a dark, demonic sorcerer with a fiery temper and an unholy lust for power, among other things…

"Myntull…" Zero repeated softly. "… And you haven't heard from this thing in how long?"

"He hasn't made a move since he tried to off Smoke." Cyborg said with a shrug.

"Either he thinks he killed Smoke…" Beast Boy began. "… Or he's lying low."

"I know one thing: If he shows his ugly head again, he's dead." Blackfire snarled. "I owe that thing… big time."

"As do I… there's a chainsaw blade and a bullet with that freak's name on it." Smoke said darkly, his spiky hair crackling briefly with sparks and light.

"Well… look at it this way…" Terra said with a grin. "It's ten to one now. He doesn't stand a chance."

"True… but still, we can't underestimate him. He's heavily armed, not to mention armored… and as Smoke said: He's unbelievably intelligent. And getting more so very rapidly." Raven added pensively.

"That's fine. I've got some new things to teach him." Robin said, twirling his Bo staff.

"And any enemy of yours, is an enemy of mine." Jinx hissed.

The Next Day…

Smoke was in his room lying on his couch, watching a World War 2 documentary on T.V. Even this, however, couldn't hold his attention span for long.

Before the show was even half over, his eyelids began to get heavy and his vision began to blur. In a matter of minutes, he'd dropped the bowl of beef jerky he'd been eating and was snoring loudly.

Until… a sudden, loud knocking on the door jolted him forcibly from his sleep.

He jerked awake with a slight start, but yawned and switched the T.V. off to go see who it was.

He strode over to the doorway and opened it up.

There was nobody there…

The gunman looked around in confusion, and became slightly perturbed, thinking that this was yet another of Beast Boy's oh-so-clever practical jokes: Knock on the door and run away giggling like a giddy girl.

But that was only until he saw it: a box.

There, at his feet, somebody had left a small cardboard box with a small tag attatched, reading: 'To Be Delivered To: Smoke's Quarters, Titan's Tower, Jump City'.

"… What… the Hell?"

Curious, he bent over and picked up the package, inspecting it. It was fairly light…

Looking around to make sure nobody was around, he ducked back into his room and closed the door, locking it.

Once inside, he grabbed a large buck-knife out of one of his bench drawers. Carefully he cut the tape sealing the small package closed and opened it up. He gasped…

There, along with a bunch of cotton to provide cushioning, was a small walkie-talkie looking device and a letter.

With a shaking hand, he opened up the envelope and took out the paper within. It was written in an oddly jagged, yet neat, cursive hand in red ink.

'We have a common enemy. Contact me…'

And that was all it said… very short and to-the-point.

Smoke looked back and forth from the letter to the device and finally realized what the strange note meant.

Picking up the small radio thingamajig, he flipped a small switch on the side and spoke hesitantly into the receiver. "… Uh… H-hello…?"

For a moment, there was only static in response. But then…

"Hello Smoke. I must say, after hearing so much of you, it's a pleasure to speak to you one-on-one." The voice on the other end was male, very deep and soft. It carried a formal, business-like tone but… there was something oddly cold and venomous about it.

"… How do you know me…? And who are you?"

"Patience, my pyromaniacal friend. I've contacted you… because I have a business proposition… We share an enemy. And working together… we can, ah… take care of him. Once and for all."

A long pause. "… Myntull…?"

"Precisely. He has recently stolen some of my technology and has caused me quite a bit of grief. You are one of the few that hate him as much as I… and one of the few whom I can respect. You want to kill him? I can give you the information… I can give you the weaponry… I can give you the ammunition. As a matter of fact, I can give you everything you need… providing, of course, that you keep your end of the bargain."

"My end?"

"Do not tell your friends about any of this. Do not ask for my identity. And most importantly… remember who's in charge."

"… What?"

"If you are interested… contact me again in two hours. I look forward to working with you…"

And with that, the communicator shut off.

Well, things are getting… weird. There's some weirdo that says he can help Smoke kill Myntull… but he has to keep it a secret from his friends. Can Smoke trust this guy? Will he be willing to keep secrets from the people he trusts the most? And who is this nameless voice on the other end of the receiver?

Read and Review…

--Count Le Madphantom