Disclaimer: The Teen Titans aren't my property, sadly.

Gunsmoke And Black Roses—Chapter Twenty-Five

"I must say… I always knew he was a simpleton. But this is low… any fool could have seen this coming." Myntull rumbled, chuckling darkly. "… I am ashamed any creation of mine could possibly have been so daft."

"True." Slade agreed, also chuckling behind his half mask. "… But when their arch-enemy is involved, some people… tend to be a bit shortsighted."

Myntull and Slade were standing in a dark, dingy, underground laboratory beneath Slade's lair. Myntull was currently filling a needle syringe with the green chemical that Smoke stole recently.

"The fool… and he honestly never realized who you were?" Myntull hissed in amazement.

"He never once suspected." Slade confirmed. "His little friends told him about me, I'm sure. But he never put two and two together…"

Slade glanced at the gunman in question, unconscious and strapped to a small, rickety, iron operating table with a thin white sheet and a lumpy old pillow… both covered with numerous blood-stains…

"Is the chemical ready for injection?"

Myntull nodded his huge metal head, his brain-juice foaming and bubbling. "Yes. But I should warn you… once I've administered this, he will be completely uncontrollable."

Slade's exposed eye narrowed. "We no longer need to control him… we only need him to serve as a distraction…" He paused. "Explain to me one more time what this substance is?"

Myntull's silvery chest-area jutted out proudly. "This…" He grated. "… Is a type of substance derived from a combination of highly potent steroids, pure adrenaline, and fast-acting hallucinogens. Once it enters the bloodstream, the host becomes… berserk. Insane. Dangerous… and utterly wild."

"Good. That should prove an adequate decoy for his friends while we make final preparations. Inject it now."

Myntull hesitated. "Are… are you sure? Right now?"

"… Are you questioning me, Doctor?"

"Oh no! Of course not! Here… I'll administer it immediately…"

Although Myntull easily dwarfed Slade in size, he still seemed to fear and respect him…

Carefully, he inserted the needle into Smoke's arm… and injected the sizzling fluid.

… And in his sleep, Smoke moaned.


Robin was not having a good morning. The moment he'd woken up and walked out of his door, he'd noticed immediately something was amiss…

This time of year, the weather should have been bright, balmy, and sunny… and most of the time it was.

This morning, however, it was pouring down rain. Cloudy skies and bitter gusts of wet, cold wind blew all around the city. Strange weather… very strange.

Next, Blackfire had stumbled into Robin's room, badly distraught and helped along by Sub-Zero and Cyborg. She seemed to be straining to hold back tears and couldn't quite manage to speak without her voice breaking and wavering.

"Something's wrong… Smoke is missing." Zero had sighed. Blackfire swallowed a lump in her throat and nodded.

"H-he… he left sometime last n-night… late at n-night… he hasn'-t c-c-come back." She stammered, between gasps and wiping of her eyes. Cyborg patted her on the shoulder.

"He left a note." The bionic teen said, motioning towards Zero. The knight nodded and removed said note from a pocket on his belt. He handed it to Robin, who read it quickly and frowned.

"… He still hasn't come back yet?"

"N-no… what if something… something…" Blackfire swallowed again. "Something h-happened to… him…"

Robin opened his mouth to speak, about to console the overwrought Tamaranean… when another overwrought Tamaranean and a pair of frowning sorceresses burst into the doorway… Starfire, Raven, and Jinx.

"Robin… we've got a problem." Raven said.

"… Another one?" Robin groaned. "What now?"

"Titans East got roughed up badly last night." Jinx explained.

Tearfully, Starfire handed a Titans communicator to Robin. He took it and turned it on… "Hello?"

The first thing his saw was Mas… or was it Menos?… Sticking his small head up and babbling panicked in Spanish. In the background there was yelling and arguing.

"¡Es un desastre¡Hemos sido atacados; una persona misteriosa trató de matarnos!"

"Oh for the love of… Gimme that, Menos!"

The face on the screen switched to Aqualad, a large bandage on his face and holding one arm painfully. "Robin! We need some more medical supplies at the Tower, A.S.A.P.!"

Robin's masked eyes widened in shock. "What happened?"

"Well, we're okay… for the most part… but Speedy… he's in bad shape. He was shot."

"Shot?"

"Yeah. You knew we were asked to guard that chemical, right?"

"I heard about it, Mm-hmm."

"Well, it was stolen. Whoever the guy was… we didn't stand a chance; he couldn't have been human…"

"Okay… just hang tight guys. We'll be over there as soon as possible! Robin out…" He deactivated the communicator.

Robin looked to his dismayed comrades and groaned. This was going to be one helluva day…


Myntull and Slade were discussing plans and operations… until they were suddenly interrupted by a massive explosion.

They hurried into the laboratory, only to see it in shambles. A hole had literally been blown through the roof, presumably with dynamite, and the ground above had been blasted up in a tall tunnel… a ray of sunlight shone down from above. Smoke was awake… and he'd blasted his way up.

Slade laughed softly. "… Perfect."


A Few Hours Later…

The supplies had been delivered to Titans East's Tower without incident. While they were there, they'd helped patch up Speedy, who was, thankfully, going to be fine with a bit of rest and some frequent bandage changes.

Also, a bit of a flirting session had come up between Cyborg and Bee, prompting a fit of sniggers from Beast Boy… though neither of them seemed to notice.

Aqualad and Sub-Zero had remained deeply engaged in conversation most of the time they were there, discussing Zero's only recently discovered ancestry.

Mas Y Menos had made a few more attempts to woo Starfire… to limited effect; they quickly ceased when Robin gave them a rather cold glare.

Raven was using her powers to help heal Speedy, while Terra and Jinx were having a conversation with each other in the main room.

Blackfire was the odd person out. She didn't say anything the entire time they were there, but rather, stared pensively out the window at the stormy day outside.

When they left Steel City on the way back to Jump, they thought maybe Smoke would be waiting for them at the Tower.

They were half right. He was waiting for them… but not at the tower.

About a mile out from the Tower, near the office building district, Starfire happened to be gazing out the window of the T-Car… suddenly, she gasped and grabbed for Robin's arm.

He looked over at her, somewhat alarmed by her sudden shock. "Huh? What's wrong, Star?"

She pointed out the window.

A particularly large office building nearby, empty at this time of day; it was lunch break, had a very familiar vehicle parked outside… Smoke's souped-up humvee truck. And up on the roof, a dim figure was standing… bolts of lightning were coming down on him as if he were a living lightning rod… but he didn't seem troubled. In fact, he stretched his arms out, as if enjoying every single volt.

Blackfire had noticed this, too. "… No… Smoke?"

Cyborg pulled the T-Car over and blinked. "What the…? What's he doin'?"

"It doesn't matter. We've got to get him down from there; he could slip and fall!" Blackfire said, badly disgruntled.

Putting the T-Car in park, they got out. Zero, who'd been riding with Jinx using his 'ice-gliding' trick (With an umbrella so that they wouldn't get wet) noticed this and stopped also.

They made their way into the building; the doors were luckily unlocked. They took a couple of elevators up to the top floor and then took a flight of escalators up to the roof.

"Smoke! Where've you been, dude!" Beast Boy called, motioning to get his attention.

"Yeah, why are you up here? And why…" Terra paused uncertainly. "Why… are you in those clothes?" She asked squeakily, referring to his Slade uniform.

Smoke said absolutely nothing. He stood still as a statue. Everybody yelped and stumbled back when another lightning bolt thundered down from the sky and lit him up like a trailer park at Christmas. Still, he didn't even flinch.

"Smoke…? Answer us!" Zero said, confused.

No response.

Hesitantly, Blackfire hovered over and put a hand on his shoulder. He jerked as if struck; she gasped and floated backwards. Then, he turned his head around to look at them… prompting a collective gasp from the group.

Something was wrong… very wrong. Smoke looked exactly as before, with the exception of the clothes and the… the eyes… his eyes. Lifeless and hollow, they stared out from deep sockets, with a shadowy ring under his eyes. He looked… like death warmed over.

Then, before anyone could react, he laughed. Without warning, he burst into uncontrollable laughter; he howled with mirth for no apparent reason. It was… frightening.

He let out a noise that might have been a growl or a sob or a laugh or all three in one… and fired a massive jolt of electricity at his bewildered friends.

Before they had time to recover, he leapt into them, tossing Raven to the side, tackling Cyborg to the ground in the process… when Robin tried to stop him; he punched him hard enough to send him slamming into Star, sending the pair reeling across the wet, bumpy rooftop… Kicked Beast Boy into Terra, then, lifted them both up and hurled them on top of the others.

He turned to Blackfire, speechless and stunned with shock, glaring at her with those animal eyes, empty and maddened-looking. He made a motion as if to pounce on her, but… he froze. He stood stiff as a board. Then, he fell to his knees clutching his head.

"No! Black… can't… Star…" He groaned loudly, stuttering badly and making no sense. Finally, he managed to turn towards his stunned friends and utter one intelligible sentence. "Cybo..borg…shoot… me… now…!"

The robotic hero's eyes went wide. "… What?"

"Sho…shoot…now…dammit… kill… can't control… Blackfire, Myntull…." Once again, he was making no sense, but was writhing around on the ground as though in intense pain.

As the others got up and approached him, Blackfire and Zero knelt at his side.

"What are you talking about?" Zero demanded. "You're not making any sense!"

"Please… kill… me… hurry! No time! Myntull… chemical…" He shuddered and coughed. A long silence ensued in which the only sound was a soft sob from Blackfire.

Then, suddenly: "My fault… all… my fault. I've done it… helped… them…"

He shrieked abruptly, and leapt up, knocking Zero away but not touching Blackfire. He dashed over to the side of the roof, and did a swan dive off the building. Blackfire and Star screamed, while the others scrambled to look over the edge… just in time to see Smoke's truck hauling ass towards the Tower.


They lost track of him on the way back, but when they entered the living room of the Tower, there was no question he'd been there. A large tape recorder sat on the couch and a computer had been booted up and was displaying a file on Slade and Titans East.

"What… what is his deal?" Robin demanded. "Something has to be wrong with him… why did he attack us? Why was he in those clothes?"

"And… he sounded… crazy." Raven said slowly. "He was raving like a madman on that roof…"

"Guys…" Zero had noticed the tape recorder. "I'm going out on a limb 'ere, but… maybe this'll shed some light on the situation…"

As they gathered around, Zero took a deep breath and pushed the play button on the recorder.

"… Hello. This is Smoke. I don't have much time… but I have to tell you… everything. Everything I can. A couple days ago, I received a package telling me to contact a certain person in exchange for information on Myntull's whereabouts. Using the small radio that came in the box, I followed those instructions… I was a fool."

"The man wore a mask. I never saw his face… but now I know… Oh God… If I had known who… who… Slade…" There was a pause and the sound of a sigh. "It was Slade, but I was too ignorant to even realize it. He told me he'd give me Myntull if I worked for him."

"Once again, I made one of my last mistakes. I did what he said… I invaded Fort Steel in Steel City… stole a chemical from some guards with superpowers… whom I now know were friends of yours… Titans East. I never knew… had I but known…"

"It makes no difference, anyway. Myntull was working for Slade. They put that stolen chemical in me and now I'm a threat to everybody and everything. I'm an idiot. I'm a damned fool! If I had just… thought… thought any of his out…" There was another pause, this time with a coughing sound. "They were right. They are still right. They'll always be right: I'm a monster. And I can't even trust myself anymore… I attacked you… I'm so sorry…"

"When you get here to the Tower, I'll be long gone. Gone from the Tower… Gone from Jump City… Gone from a world I never belonged in. Goodbye… for the last time. And… I… I'm sorry. Oh God… what've I done…? I'm… s…s…Sorry…"

The last sorry suddenly gave way to a loud screaming noise, followed by static on the player; then, the recording reached its end, going silent with a rusty click.