32 Productions Presents…

A Teen Titan Fan Fiction The Teen Titans in…

"The Gremlin"

Chapter Three

Robin and Gremlin

The eerie feeling that he had been through this before continued for the teen wonder. The fighting style was…it had to be… He jumped back, putting distance between them.

Robin: Just who the hell are you?

Gremlin: Robin…surely you don't expect me to supply you with all the answers.

Robin's eyes widened. That clinched it. The voice was different due to the digital alterations, but the tone was unmistakable…yet…Gremlin was too short...

Robin: You're just like him…

Gremlin froze in mid-step. His body shook with rage.

Gremlin: (softly) Just…like…who?

Robin: Deathstro…

Gremlin jumped forward and brought his foot down. Robin moved right just in time to save his skull from a nasty impact. Gremlin pointed at him, his other hand clenched tightly.

Gremlin: I'm NOTHING like him! You hear me, Robin! Do you!

This was interesting. As dangerous as Gremlin seemed to be, he had a weakness of sorts. It was risky, but maybe if Robin angered him enough, he'd make a mistake. How very Spider-man of him to think of that.

Robin: You're exactly like him. The way you fight, the way you sound…everything about you screams "Deathstroke".

Gremlin leapt forward with a bellow of anger and grabbed Robin's cape as he tried to flip away again. With a fierce swing, he slammed him against the side of the truck. Gremlin gripped him around the throat and slammed him against it again.

Gremlin: What was that? I couldn't hear you over the sound of your cries of pain.

Gremlin pulled his fist back and punched Robin in the stomach, HARD. It hurt even more because he was pinned to the truck and couldn't move back with the blow. Robin let out a weak sound of pain before coughing violently. Gremlin let him go and he collapsed to the ground. Gremlin bent down and grabbed him by the back of his neck. He lifted him up slightly so that he was on his knees.

Gremlin: Don't pass out on me yet, Robin. I'm not through with you.

Now that he thought about it, maybe pissing him off wasn't his best idea. He slowly reached down for his belt. Gremlin tossed him and he skid briefly along the pavement when he landed. Gremlin turned to the others.

Gremlin: Yes, just as I planned. In order to halt its progress, they attack the treads. It won't be long now. You see, Robin, I designed that robot to counter all of their special abilities. They don't have a chance. None of you ever did.

Gremlin walked over to Robin casually. Robin pulled a canister from his belt and held it closely. He rolled over on to his back. Now…if Gremlin would just be so kind as to let him near his ugly mug… Fortunately for him, Gremlin decided to pick him up by his shirt for further taunting. Villains…how predictable. He sprayed the contents of the canister onto Gremlin's mask. Gremlin dropped him and staggered back, wiping at the eye lenses of his mask.

Gremlin: Can't…see…what was that!

Robin stood up and smirked.

Robin: Spray paint.

Gremlin: You smug little…

Gremlin was cut off as Robin brought his foot across the metal mask. Despite the pain he was in, that was one of the most satisfying things he had ever done. Gremlin swung blindly, but Robin dodged it and kicked him across the face again. This time Gremlin's mask flew off. Before Robin could get a look at his face, he covered it with his hand. Gremlin's voice was full of panic and sounded strangely muffled. Now it sounded even less like Deathstroke's.

Gremlin: No! Get back!

Gremlin pointed his arm at him and began firing blindly. Robin jumped back, not wanting a razor blade stuck in his face.

Tank Fight

When they ripped off the treads, the device on its back beeped and it started floating. Now it was faster and more maneuverable then before.

Cyborg: It's no good…we can't stop it.

Starfire: It has an answer to all of our powers, what can we do?

Raven thought for a moment then was struck with an idea.

Raven: That device on its back…would you say that was the thing preventing me from using my powers?

Beast Boy: Yeah…why?

Raven: Maybe…maybe it can't do both at once…Azarath Mentrion Zinthos!

The light fixtures on the robot were covered with dark energy and crushed into a useless state.

Shade: What the…?

Starfire: Of course…if it is using the device for transportation, it cannot block Raven's power any longer!

Raven: Exactly…your turn, Shade.

Shade grinned and cracked his knuckles.

Beast Boy: …dude, didn't you just say you hurt your hand?

Shade bit his bottom lip. Yes he had…and now he was pretty sure he had broken his already damaged fingers.

Shade: (pained) Shut up. Just shut up.

Shade created a giant battering ram.

Shade: Star, if you would.

Starfire grabbed the battering ram and flew back for extra distance. Shade created a wall behind the tank.

Shade: Little help, Raven. It's not easy to do this with one hand.

Raven: You just want to be in my head again, don't you?

Raven wove her powers around his. There was no sudden burst of emotions like the first time their powers met (and Shade found himself slightly disappointed). Starfire charged forward, slamming the ram into the thing's chest and bringing it into the wall behind it. She kept pushing until she managed to force the battering ram to touch the wall. Needless to say the tank was scrap metal.

Robin and Gremlin

Gremlin had Robin down. Robin was exhausted. How could he fit that much ammunition into his suit? It wasn't bulky at all. The fact that he had several razors imbedded in his legs and chest didn't help. Gremlin raised his other hand and talons emerged from the fingers on his suit.

Gremlin: I hate you so much. When I'm done with you not even Bruce will be able to tell who you are…were…whatever.

Robin: (stunned) Wh…what did you say?

Gremlin: I…I don't know…I…I meant to say Batman and…

Gremlin's hand was grabbed by a large metal one.

Cyborg: Game over, freak.

Gremlin: No! You…you can't have defeated my robot…all the time and effort I put into it…checking and rechecking its design... How could you have won?

Raven: It's called multi-tasking. Look into it.

Starfire helped Robin up as Cyborg grabbed his other hand and started to pull it away from his face.

Gremlin: (freaking out) No! Stop it! Don't! I don't want to…!

Beast Boy: Dude, it's a standard thing. When people in masks fight, the loser has to take off his mask…or his hand…you know what I mean. Let's see your face.

The reasons behind his mask became very clear when they pulled his hand away. His face was hideously deformed. His voice was muffled due to the flesh that stretched over parts of it, keeping him from opening it very far. He had no nose, just a pit in his face. His eyes were unnaturally wide and covered with a thin film. That explained why he had such a hard time aiming when his mask had come off and why he didn't just pull his mask off (well that and his extreme ugliness) when Robin covered the lenses with paint.

Beast Boy: …okay, put his mask back on! Seriously, I'm gonna hurl!

Shade yanked out each of the blades in Robin's body and Raven healed the wound if it started gushing blood (a few blades hit arteries). Robin sighed and picked up Gremlin's mask.

Robin: Tell us who you are and you get the mask back.

Gremlin: Give me the mask first.

Robin: …Cyborg, you got a good grip on him?

Cyborg: Yeah. He ain't going no where.

Robin put the mask back over Gremlin's hideous face. The eyes lit up, visible even underneath the paint.

Gremlin: That's better…so hard to breath without this thing. As for who I am, I'm the one you replaced.

Robin: Pardon?

Gremlin: I was groomed to be Deathstroke's apprentice since I was created. I'm a clone of Deathstroke himself.

Raven: No wonder Deathstroke wears that mask.

Gremlin: He doesn't look like this, you ignorant…! Never mind. That's not the point. The…disfigurement is a result of an error in the cloning process. I've always had to wear some sort of mask. He taught me how to fight, how to plan, and gave me all the books I needed to learn all that I know about technology. Yet once he heard about YOU, he dumped me like a sack of bricks.

Robin looked confused and more then a little angry. Whether it was at Gremlin or just the thought of Deathstroke was unclear.

Robin: Why?

Gremlin: How should I know! All I know is that he drugged me one day and I woke up floating naked in a tube.

Shade: There's a delightful mental image. Thanks for that.

Gremlin: He locked me away like some broken down machine that was no longer useful. ME! His own flesh and blood in the most LITERAL of sense! I was stuck there, staring straight ahead for God knows how long. It all blurred together after a while. Then one day a huge earthquake hit the place and the tube shattered. When I went to kill Deathstroke, I found out he was already dead and YOU were to blame. I thought about smashing Terra, but it occurred to me that she was also the reason I was freed from the tube in the first place. So I turned to killing you. I mean, what else was I going to do? …you saw my face. This is all I have.

Beast Boy rubbed his chin.

Beast Boy: Okay…what if that's what he wanted?

Gremlin: Who wha who wha?

Beast Boy: I mean, Deathstroke was king of whacked out evil plans. Maybe he created you, trained you, then locked you away so that if he died, you'd take revenge on his killers. I bet he even made you all ugly on purpose.

Gremlin took that in for a moment.

Gremlin: …then…in getting my revenge…I was doing exactly what he wanted. He used my hate for his own gain… I'm a tool…I'm just a fing tool…

Gremlin kept repeating that he was a tool in a soft muttering voice. He stared off into space. Occasionally he chuckled or sobbed which really freaked the Titans out.

Starfire: …though he attempted to take our lives, I cannot help but pity him.

Gremlin: (soft mutter) Just a tool…I was just his tool…

Raven: …I can relate.

The others gave her a questioning look, but she said nothing further.

Shade: So we ship his ass to jail now?

Robin: No…no, there's a better place for him then jail.

Titan Tower: Med-lab

The Titans were…

Unknown Area

G-9: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a second.

Gremlin: What now? I'm almost done here!

G-9: There is no way you know what happened with them next. Come on, tell me the truth.

Gremlin sighed.

Gremlin: Would you stop asking stupid questions and LISTEN?

G-9: …you realize you're yelling at a computer, right?

Gremlin: …I hate you.

Titan Tower: Med-lab

The Titans were patching themselves up. Robin had a few wounds that required stitches despite Raven's best efforts. Shade needed to fix up his hand and Beast Boy wanted to know what was wrong with him. …meaning why he couldn't change. We're not talking mental help.

Starfire: Robin, do you believe they can help Gremlin?

Robin: …probably not. I've dealt with a lot of nutcases before Starfire. They never got any better. In fact, most of them got worse.

Raven: And being pummeled by a giant bat had nothing to do with that.

Robin gave Raven a look. She shrugged.

Raven: Sensitive subject. Sorry.

Cyborg finally got a print out of Beast Boy's tests.

Beast Boy: So what's the verdict? Am I dying? Am I disintegrating cell by cell?

Shade: "Disintegrating"? Big word there, Grass Stain.

Cyborg: Nah, it's nothing like that. The chemical you got sprayed with forced your DNA to stabilize.

Beast Boy stared at him blankly.

Beast Boy: …say what?

Raven: (patronizing) You got hit with transformation no-no juice.

The others laughed as Beast Boy gave her a dirty look.

Shade: (wiping fake tear) Oh man. That was good.

Raven: …uh…thanks?

Beast Boy: …not funny.

Unknown Area

Gremlin: And that's how it all began, the end.

G-9: Hold on there. How'd you get out the asylum? When did you recover from the shock?

Gremlin laughed.

Gremlin: Please. I never broke down at all. As if the idea that Deathstroke had planned it all never occurred to me. It was all a clever ploy. Escaping from jail would have been much more difficult then escaping an asylum where everyone thinks I'm near comatose. You know those nano-machines I injected myself with?

G-9's image shifted to that of a model of an insect-like robot.

G-9: Yes. The self-replicating nano-machines. You use them to heal faster, promote increased physical strength and resistance to pain, and various other thing.

Gremlin: Ah, yes…my favorite creations.

G-9's face returned to the screen, looking hurt. Gremlin sighed.

Gremlin: Besides you, of course.

G-9: Are you ever going to build me that body?

Gremlin: Would you stop asking me that? Where was I? Oh yeah. I cut myself and put a drop of my blood into my doctor's coffee mug. During therapy, I used them to control his mind.

G-9: But the nano-machines were designed to break down after they exit your body to prevent anyone from replicating them.

Gremlin: So I had to work fast, didn't I? The point is, I escaped and the good doctor hung himself.

G-9: He felt that bad about letting you get away?

Gremlin laughed in a more evil fashion.

Gremlin: Not exactly.

G-9's eyes widened.

G-9: You made him kill himself!

Gremlin: Exactly. I had confessed everything to him. He couldn't be allowed to tell anyone.

G-9: That's…horrible.

Gremlin: You wanted to hear the story.

G-9: Well, you're a crappy story teller, sir.

THE END