I would like to thank everyone mostly 2011Gokurocks18110411, who has been following this story so far and reviewing *nudge nudge wink wink to everybody else*, on staying with this story. Truthfully I did not expect to get this far but you my fans have helped me keep going. I am working on other story ideas, but nothing is set yet I have a list of shows that I plan on writing about on my profile page. So take a moment and go check it out and tell me what you think. I might give you guys a sneak preview on one later ;)
I am either going to write a Oran High School Host Club, High School of the Dead, or a Love Hina story next. Haven't really decided yet maybe you guys can help me.
Disclamer: Look at the other chapters I am tired of writing it down. You know what I own and don't own.
Ch. 10 The Masks we wear
Blitzkrieg Journal
Entry # 58
Family. That is what the Titans are to me. This feeling I have being with them being whole. Complete. They are my family, true I do miss my mother, brother, and sister, but I know that they would want me to be happy. Although I am still abit shock about my father being from this dimension, and I can't help but wonder about me. Does me being here threaten the balance of this dimension. Does that mean that I can pursue a relationship with Raven, do I even deserve her, could I do that to Beast Boy. I don't know this is all confusing me greatly maybe I should mediate on this matter.
I don't know what my future holds I know that I have a lot of big time villain gunning for me like Trigon and my…..and Slade, but I will defeat them all and come on top no matter what they throw at me.
When Trigon comes I WILL defeat him, I WILL remove his existence from the face of this reality and I WILL free Raven no matter what.
I…..
I was interrupted by an itching sensation on my right hand I got up and went to the bathroom. I removed my shirt and look in the mirror. Underneath the skin of my right arm there was a faint outline of red and black plates. With the red curse markings running up to the length of my arm, the palm, fingers, and underside of my arm were blood red and that almost seemed to glow. I also had small claws on all five fingers. Right now only my hand is showing a full transformation.
It seems that the curse is moving at a steady rate, like an hourglass. I guess when my entire arm is 'uncovered' that is when I become Trigon's servant. Thankfully the chemical that Slade hit me with has giving me an enhanced regenerative factor which has slow down the process considerably. When I could have had weeks or months, I now have months to a year to find a cure or counter-spell. I began wrapping my arm with a bandage.
Slade, I don't know I should be thankful that he injected me with chemical X or what. I ran some test and found out that I now have: Enhanced Reflexes, Strength, Stamina, Senses, Immunity, Speed, and I will age slower than the average human. We have already discussed the Regenerative Healing Factor. Combine that with the knowledge of the archive.
I am the perfect soldier.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
The alarm rang though Titans Tower.
'Well time to work,' I thought as I pop a few pain killers in my mouth, for my arm. Just because I have high regen does not mean it takes away the pain. I grab my coat ran out my room.
Normal P.O.V
It was quiet. A red microchip rotated slowly in the air, floating under its own power. Then, a female figure clad in black armor with steel plating in key areas stepped forward. The figure's face was covered, the entire face black with a red-orange circle in the center whose edges touch both eyes. The steel-gloved figure reached towards the chip, only to cock an eyebrow in surprise at the sight of a spiky-haired teen hanging upside down off of who-knows-what.
"Tell Slade if he wants this, he can come get it himself!" Robin said dropping from his perch and delivering a kick that sent the thief tumbling across the darkened area. The lights coming on, the other five Titans formed up around him, as well as revealing that the chamber was stuffed with supercomputers.
"Hello Titans the name is Zero, let's play," Zero said giggling as a laser beam then lanced down from above as a section was being cut out of the ceiling. When the portion of the ceiling fell, it then gave way to a large cloud of dust before several more figures like Zero, except they look male, leapt in. "Attack." Zero ordered childlike.
Back flipping back to his friends away from the laser beam that cut across the floor, the new arrivals came right at them. Robin blocked and dodged several blows from his opponent, then tried a counter kick but was deflected, his opponent whipping out a brass knuckle-like blaster with a muzzle on the front edge and opened fire. Carrying himself out of danger, Robin performed a bout of acrobatic tricks before retaliating with a jumping roundhouse kick that sent his opponent into the far wall. At the same time, Starfire was avoiding the shots of the squad member who was leaping after her, only to get blasted by a starbolt and sent rolling across the floor. Another one however jumped even higher, and with his knuckle-like blaster sliced the lens of one of the overhead spotlights. When it began to fall, Robin quickly leapt through the air and moved her out of the way just in time, saving the Tamaranian from being crushed. When they landed however, three squad members were about to take aim at them, only for a computer cabinet to bulldoze them to the side.
"Amazing what you can do with computers these days," Cy said as he clapped his hands, Beast Boy fighting one of the would-be thieves as a chimpanzee, clawing and biting at it. Blitz was fighting the leader with an animalistic fury, his attacks leaving Zero no choice but defend. Finally one of her minions kicks him away. "See you later bro." Zero whispers as she gave a wave and disappearing saying, "Destroy them. Bring the chip, and Blitzkrieg."
Elsewhere, Raven was strafing backwards through the air and avoiding another one's laser beams, her opponent flipping around in mid-air before sending off a large blade-like blast at her. Creating a blade at the last second, the two pieces of the ground that were hit had deep holes in them. The next moment it rushed her, giving her no quarter to attack, leaving her on the defensive until it suddenly kicked her legs out from her, blaster aimed at her face point-blank before-
His head exploded, complements from Blitz's shock cards. What remained of its head was nothing but sparks. Blitz came over and gave the robot a slight push knocking it down. He turned to Raven, "Heheh. Looks like you owe me Rae," he returned and spun around. One of the robots was trying to rush at him before two large computers slammed into the would-be assailant's sides, wide eyed before he turns back to Raven. "And now we're even now. Works for me," Blitz said helping Raven to her feet. Raven smiling as Cyborg had busted out his sonic cannon and was blazing away, Starfire joining him with a fusillade of starbolts, one of their targets leaping impossibly high and avoiding the blast. The next moment he pushed off the wall and grabbed the chip in a flying grab, his steel-booted feet racing for the door. Robin quickly chucked a bird-a-rang at it, the projectile striking the thing's hand and sending the chip flying through the air.
"Mine!" Beast Boy suddenly called out after disengaging from his target, transforming into an anteater mid-run and lashed out with his tongue, grabbing it mid-leap before he slid across the ground to a wall, only for one of the commandos to stomp on his tongue and make him lose his grip on the chip. "Bluuugh. That tasted so nasty," he groaned as the four of the six commandos, two unable to move, dropped a smoke bomb and made their escape.
"Titans! Go!" Robin shouted making their way down the only hall in the room, soon coming into another chamber like the one they were in before, only with five additional doors at 60 degree increments from the center. "Split up!" he then ordered, the group going out the remaining five tunnels, Blitz looks over his shoulder to see Robin looking around the room before he looked around, blaster in hand in case one of Slade's flunkies tried to get the jump on him.
Following the split-up, Robin had removed one of the floor grates and come across the one who had the chip, the other five being decoys. Following him down the tunnel, the thief tried to escape to the outside by carving out a new exit at one of the tunnel's ends. There was a short confrontation with Star almost falling out of the sky and to the unforgiving ground below, but Robin had been able to capture the would-be thief and unmask him, only for it to be a highly advanced automation. Behind the mask was a screen, from which Slade, the one who had hired the HIVE, was pulling the strings behind the theft. Cryptically, Slade conveyed upon Robin the importance of patience. Something he had yet to grow into after going solo.
Back at the Tower Beast Boy was trying to get everyone to slack off a bit and watch some movies. One of them had ninjas, while the other involved a Godzilla monster. Raven wanted nothing more to read her book, and so responded with sarcasm, whereas Cyborg wanted to watch them both. While Raven had no desire to watch movies, she looked off to the side to see Blitz staring out into the night.
"Hey Blitz. Is something bothering you?" Raven asked while Star had left the room in an attempt to get Robin to "potato the couch" with them.
"Yea, Slade and Zero," he said Raven nodded her head understanding.
"How did you know that those... Sladebots were…well bots?" ask Cy who was wondering on the way Blitz handle the bots.
"Slade doesn't strike me as someone who relies on human help."
"What about that Zero character,"
"Who knows? Anyway….those Sladebots though. We only encountered six, one for each of us, but they fought like commandos. What happens if he sends an entire army after us? I can't help but worry."
"Hey, don't worry about it man," Cy said trying to ease off his worries. "As long as we have each others backs, we don't have to worry about stuff like that. They may have numbers, but we've got skills on our side," he said clenching a fist.
"Hmmm... For some reason I have the feeling that things are going to get a lot more complicated," Blitz then said.
And interesting," A new growling voice rang though his head.
"Who are you?"
"Oh you will find out soon enough kuku," and with that the voice disappeared.
Then all of his emotion cried out, "He ate Rage,"
"Oh man."
"Let me kick his ass."
"Good riddance."
"I don't wanna die."
Blitz collapse on the floor grabbing and shaking his head.
"You okay?" Raven asks getting closer to Blitz.
"Yea my emotions are going nuts," Blitz said his head aching more, "I am going to lay down a bit in my room, call me if you need me." he got up and left the room, everyone's eyes on him.
The following evening, back in the chamber from before which had yet to be repaired, two of Jump's armored SWAT troopers stood guard around the recovered microchip, placed back in the suspension field. Things had been calm for most of the day since the Teen Titans returned, but that silence was broken when an alarm went off. Running to the next chamber out to investigate, the doors were suddenly shut behind them, leaving the microchip unguarded. It was at this time then that a new figure materialized; He was garbed in a skintight black outfit with a large red X emblazoned over his heart, the lower end of the upward stroke extended across his chest. He wore a long black cape over his shoulders, had a grey belt and gloves all of which were marked with red Xs, and a black mask covering his head with a white skull-like plate on the top, a red X on the forehead with the upstroke extended across his right eye. Plucking the chip from the field, the now-thief then whirled around to face the two guards as they had blown the door off its hinges.
"He's got the chip!" one of them shouted, the two opening fire only for the figure to leap straight up and disappear in a blur of movement. "Where'd he go?"
It was around the same time that the theft had occurred, that the others had arrived at the tech district of Jump, in response to the alarm that had gone off and the call sent. Robin had found a lead to Slade on the far side of town, leaving the other five to deal with the potential threat. When the connection was cut off, a skylight suddenly opened, and the same thief from before leapt out.
"You working for Slade, tough guy?" Cyborg asked, decking out his sonic cannon.
"Red X works alone," the figure said in a heavily distorted voice, obviously to conceal his identity. Holding out his palm that had his namesake on it, he then fired a red X through the air, which Cy intercepted with his cannon while the others scattered. As the cyborg continued to fire, Red X dodged with practiced agility before launching himself high into the air and launching more Xs out of both palms, sending the cyborg running for cover. Touching down, the thief was then charged by a green lion, responding by launching a scarlet cross through the air that became liquefied mid-flight and stuck the green feline's face like a glob of mud. Being brought back to the roof with a heavy splat, he tried to change back to a human, gorilla, hawk, and elephant, only for the glue to persist, clearly designed to stretch and contain the strength of whatever the changeling could transform into. When Star and Raven rushed at him, Red X nimbly avoided the green shots and the black hand that emerged from the ground, hurling two red Xs at the girls. The first tied Starfire up like a giant rubber band and dropped her to the roof, while the second had caught Raven across the mouth in the middle of her chant's second word, toppling over after she tried to tear it away. The next moment Cy rushed at him from behind, only for the thief to sidestep easily.
"Huh?" was his intelligent response as the thief dodged his attack before he felt something slapped onto his back. "What?" he cried as the panel on his back opened up, the thief's grey-gloved hands tinkering with his circuits causing Cy to flail about wildly. "Hey! Yo, who told you how to shut me down?" he asked before he was pushed lightly to the ground, landing in a heap. The thief was about to bug out by running to the next roof, only for a black clad electro-kinetic jump in front of him.
"My turn." Blitz said rushing at Red X, who blocked the first punch with his forearm and countered with another of his own, only for Blitz side-step before delivering a roundhouse kick to his head sending him back. When the two began fighting in a heavily heated martial arts battle exchanging kicks, punches, and counters, Red X's eyes widened at how equal the two were While he'd taken the others out easily, he and Blitz seemed to be operating on equal terms if not more so.
Finally Red X had gotten inside Blitzkrieg's guard and shot a red X to his chest binding him. "What the- Damn it!" he cried trying to free himself while Red X stepped away and teleported out. Blitz flared his powers frying the X, "Where is he?"
"Gone. The guy got away," Beast Boy said from his position on the ground.
"Master you have a transmission," Zero said from the computer screen.
"Put it one." Slade commanded from his throne.
-KSHHHHHHH-
"Rumor has it, you're interested in this," Red X said into the monitor, holding up the stolen microchip, currently situated in a dark room.
"I'm interested in many things, Mr..."
"X. Red X."
"Hmmm. Catchy. So, are you proposing a sale or a gift?"
"A partnership," the thief answered. "I give you the chip, you cut me in on your plans."
"Partnership. My, my, aren't we ambitious," Slade stated with a hint of amusement. "But, an alliance cannot be forged from one small chip. If you're going to win my trust, I'll require more from you."
"Just tell me what you want," the thief stated plainly.
"Straight to the point I like him," Zero said flashing flirty eyes at Red X.
The next morning, the group had returned to the command center to regroup and exchange info. Beast Boy had been freed of the red slime gluing him to the roof, but still had some of it in his hair, Raven with the red X slapped over her mouth. Blitz was currently in the kitchen working on something.
"I had no idea Red X would pose such a threat," Robin said addressing the other Titans, Starfire at the moment clipping red gunk out of BB's hair. "I should've been there," he said with a sigh.
"You bet you should've been there. Look at what the guy did to my 'do! I'm looking at two months of bad hair days!" BB cried out motioning to his gunkified hair. "Oh dear that is a tragedy," Blitz said from the kitchen spinning a wooden spoon, sarcasm simply dripping from his mouth, "Whatever shall we do?"
Raven was trying to say something from behind her gag, the changeling and Tamaranian smiling cautiously. "I don't know Raven. That's a good look for you," BB chuckled, the mage's glare and throbbing vein speaking volumes as to how pissed she was at the moment.
"Hold still," Cy suddenly said, he move to pull the X. When a hand grabs his.
"Wait," the owner of the hand, Blitzkrieg, said, "I know a better way to remove it." He moves towards the coach and indicated Raven to lie down on the towel. She complied with a raised eyebrow. Blitz removed his left glove and stuck two fingers inside the bowl, "This might smell a bit, but it will dissolve the stickiness."
Blitz began applying the solution. "Brother Blitz, what is this?" Starfire ask point at the bowl next him.
"A little solution that my mother used," Blitz explained not look up from his work, "my siblings are always getting things stuck in their hairs when they were younger". He didn't notice the blush on Raven's face. 'His eyes the ocean blue contrasting with the crystal white gives him….What in Azar's pants am I thinking, he is my friend that is it I shouldn't have the kinds of thoughts. Besides it could never be not for what my future holds.' Raven thought to herself.
"You have siblings?" Star ask smiling at the prospect of learning about her surrogate brother.
Blitz eyes fell, "Yea, here use this on BB's hair." He said passing the bowl to Star he then removed the red X, "You okay Rae your face is red? Do you have a fever?" Blitz places his head on Ravens forehead. In that moment one of the lights exploded. Everyone look at Raven and Blitz, who shrugged.
Raven grabs the towel that she was laying on and started wiping her face, "Even if you had been there, it would've have made any difference."
"Dude knew exactly how to bring each of us down. I guarantee he had a gadget with your name on it," Cyborg stated.
"Agreed. You need not feel guilt. We are undamaged," Starfire said happily.
"Hel-lo?" Beast Boy asked indicating his still mangled hair.
"Mostly undamaged," Starfire returned before she began applying Blitz's solvent to Beast Boy's hair.
"We are all eager to learn what you have discovered about Slade," Starfire said.
"Nothing... Lead was a dead end... I should get back to work," Robin said.
The next evening, the four Titans were suddenly called into the command center, only for no one to be there.
"Robin?" Starfire asked looking around. "Robin?"
"You mean Captain Research?" Beast Boy quipped dryly, his hair more-or-less back to normal. "Ah, he's probably filling out note cards at the public library," he said yawning expansively.
"I was," Robin said form the speakers, scaring the living daylights out of the changeling. "But then I spotted Red X pulling a robbery in the tech sector. Get here as fast as you can!" he said cutting off the transmission.'
"You got it, dude. We'll…be….there any..." was as far as Beast Boy got before nodding off, Cy grabbing a fistful of his clothing before yanking him away with a scream.
"There!" Cy said, he and the others downtown, as he pointed to Robin, who at the moment had dropped down from another building in pursuit of Red X. A few dozen yards, and the black-clad thief had thrown a red net at him, ensnaring the former sidekick and sent him rolling across the pavement to where he started. "Robin!"
"I'm fine! Get X! Go!" he shouted.
"That sounds…."
"Rehearsed,"
"Yea, lets worry about it later, you guys okay in there."
"Yea, you worry about X, I'll worry about your head."
Running down the street towards a subway entrance, Red X dropped down the escalator in a single bound, the others following him.
"I've adjusted my ocular implant to scan at multiple sub-harmonics in the EM spectrum," Cy explained as he began looking around, his red eye gleaming.
"Kay... Do you come with subtitles?" Beast Boy asked.
"I think it means that even if this Red X guy is cloaked, he'll be able to see him," Blitz inquired getting a nod from Cyborg. Cyborg was suddenly decked out of nowhere and sent several yards back. Blitz helped Cy up, who at the moment needed to clear his head from the hit he just took, X suddenly flying towards his back and slapping another red X there, only for Cy to maintain full control of his body.
"You gonna have to learn some new tricks, dog," Cy said as he fisted X's costume and threw him down the platform to the others, the would-be hacker landing in a crouch.
"Surrender! We do not wish to fight you!" Star shouted.
"Sorry. I'm not through with you yet," Red X said as he leapt high and threw another red X at her, one of Raven's barriers rising at the last second to stop it. Cy quickly tried to land a few punches, only to hit air before Star plowed into him, trying to low-altitude bulldoze the black-clad thief. BB and Raven quickly rushed him, X getting the better of both even when the prior turned into a bear, though the latter was sent into some crates. BB quickly caught Red X in the side as a bighorn sheep and resumed human form, only for Red X to catch hold of a pillar and swing around it, launching himself feet-first at Beast Boy who ducked, only to catch a punch to the jaw and was sent flying onto the tracks. Sitting up dazedly, the green teen snapped back fully when the glare of headlights fell across him as the train whistled down the tracks, just staring like a deer in the headlights about to snuff it on the grill of a pickup. The next moment Red X hurtled across the tracks and pulled the screaming boy to safety, both hitting the platform an instant.
"Dude! Did you just save me?" Beast Boy asked, Red X kicking him without a moment's notice a moment later and dashing to the exit only to stop when Blitzkrieg stood in his way, giving X a feral look his cloths losing their color. His eyes turning into a shade of red.
"You're going nowhere punk," Blitz said as he started blasting away with lightbolts.
Red X began dodging the bolts. He launches a red X which hit one of the bolts, and absorbs the bolt and continued on its path, hitting Blitz and knocking him into a pillar with a bang. The thief ran behind him and up to the exit. The other went to pursue him except Raven who stop by Blitz. "Damn it!" he cried, "That hurts,"
"There," Raven said as she rip off the X freeing Blitz, "You okay?" she asked readying her healing magic.
"Yeah...Thanks Rae," Blitz said as he rubbed his chest "Sorry for holding you up."
"Hey, I'm in no rush to get one of those things slapped on my face," she stated as the two got up and ran out of the subway following after the others. When they got back up to the street however, Red X had already escaped.
-KSHHHHHHH-
"Impressive, Red X. I tapped into the security cameras to catch the performance. You treated the Titans to quite the show," Slade said from the other end of the monitor a half-hour later, gesturing to Red X's suit which had some scorch marks across it, the namesake persisting.
"While I'm glad you enjoyed it, I had the entirety of the situation under control," Red X countered, "Is the audition over?" he asked holding up a blue microchip to accompany the red one he'd stolen prior, showing two in a set.
"Patience. Trust is easy to destroy, but it takes time to build," Slade said as his image shrunk toward the upper right corner of the screen, a green microchip on a white field appearing on-screen. "One last test. Prove yourself and we'll meet to discuss your future."
"Good," Red X said as the image disintegrated into static. "It's about time we meet face to face," Robin said removing the mask.
Getting back to the Tower after Red X ran off, the group was now trying to discern where he'd strike next. They'd already determined where he'd been, but after imputing the criteria for other high-end technologies departments, they ended up coming up with 23 potential theft sights. Not the best way to try and stop his next run.
"Robin!" Starfire cried when said ex-sidekick walked across the room, a box in his arms. "Wonderful! Our efforts to locate the Red X will benefit greatly from your help."
"It'll have to wait. I'm close to a breakthrough with Slade," Robin said as he continued to the door, Star gasping at the news.
"More wonderful! Perhaps we could be of assistance to... you..." she said hanging her head dejectedly as the Boy Wonder left.
"Let him go. Not like he's been much help lately anyway," Beast Boy stated. "If Robin wasn't always A.W.O.L., X would be K.O.'d by now."
"Y'all think maybe Robin's losing his grip?" Cy asked.
"Hmmm..." Blitz said,
"You have something?" Cy said.
"Maybe…but I don't want to sow doubts into you minds"
Starfire floated out of the room after Robin.
"Well, let here it anyway." Raven said.
"What if Robin is Red X?" he proposed, "Think about it, the entire thing could be a setup to get close to Slade. We all know how obsessed he is about catching him. It would also explain how he is able to take us down so easily."
"You have a point," Raven stated. "But let's not act on it until we have proof." Everyone nodded their head in agreement.
"Who's Slade?... You almost got hurt. Next time it could be worse... Nothing. Lead was a dead end... I'm close to a breakthrough... Sure you guys can handle this without me?"
These were the words that echoed through Star's mind as she entered the Boy Wonder's room, stopping at his desk and picking up the item one from the end; the blasted bird-a-rang from the sewer chase.
"Robin, where have you gone?" she asked before there was a flash, the Tamaranian girl dropping the weapon in her grasp and causing the small metal globe to roll off the desk and bounce across the floor. A moment later a beam of light shot straight up before splitting down the middle and folding towards the floor, a holographic image of Robin underneath Red X's net appearing.
"I'm fine! Get X! Go!"
"Huh? Robin?"
"I'm fine! Get X! Go!" Robin shouted, Star reaching out to him only for her hand to pass through his face. "I'm fine! Get X! Go!"
"If you were not really there, then where were- *gasp*" Starfire suddenly gasped before running back to the group.
Elsewhere, a green microchip spun around in a suspension field, Red X then plucking the item away before a spotlight shone down, a man stepping into the light. He wore the same thing as the Sladebots from before, but his mask was red-orange on the left side and black on the right, the latter side not having an eyehole.
"Excellent work," Slade spoke stepping into the light. "Honestly, I couldn't have done any better myself."
"So then, do we have a deal?" Red X asked.
"Indeed. You and I are so very much alike. It seems only natural that we should be partners?"
"What are they for?" Red X said holding up the three collected microchips. "I need to know what we're planning... partner."
"Patience. You can't expect me to trust you with such sensitive information right away... Can you, Robin?" Slade asked, Red X's eyes popping at the realization that his cover had been blown. The next moment a small net swept the three components from his hand and carried them to Slade, who caught it with practiced ease as a light suddenly came on. The darkened chamber was revealed to be oblong with several HIVE Drones –the white black-trimmed robots from the HAYEP reel- standing along the walls, the balcony packed full of Sladebots, the mechanical enforcers slowly closing in. As Robin got ready to throw down, the entire room shook from the force of an explosion, the ceiling being blown out with five figures leaping down into the room.
"Titans! Go!" Blitz shouted, Beast Boy, Raven, and Cyborg rushing forward. As Red X sprinted across the room, a green octopus suddenly yanked one of the robots out of the way, Raven levitating a second and knocking it away, Blitz blasting another one with a shock card.
"Gotcha!" Cy said grabbing Red X's cape and stopping his advance.
"Let me go! Stop him!" he shouted struggling pointing to Slade.
"No! Release him!" Star said flying down into the roof, only minutes behind the others. "He is-"
"-me!" Robin said pulling off the Red X mask.
"Oh, I was right." Blitz stated shocked, while the others gaped.
"Slade's getting away! Come on!" Robin shouted as he ran off after losing half his cape, leaping over two robots flaking the door before running through. The others tried to back him up, only for the swarm of robots to bar their way.
After a quick skirmish the Sladebots were defeated. The group then made their way to the roof.
"You want to yell at me too?" Robin asked as Starfire came into his room, the boy currently staring at the Slade robot's mask that was now hanging on the wall. The chase after Slade was short after leaving the oblong chamber, stopping at a set of girders set above a Chinese restaurant for future construction. The fighting was fierce, but at the end of it, the Slade he fought was nothing more than another robot, its words revealing that his own lack of patience was what truly gave him away. Had he been a little bit more so, maybe he would've succeeded. The group had gotten the chips back and handed them off to the tech divisions after the battle, but of course this didn't save Robin from everyone's yelling when he got home. "And I don't blame them," he sighed turning around.
"I do not wish to yell, merely to understand. Robin, why did you not tell us the truth?" Star asked.
"I needed to fool Slade. If you guys knew it was me under that mask, you would've held back," Robin answered. "Doesn't matter anyway. Slade figured it out, and I still haven't figured out anything about him."
"That is not true. Whoever Slade is, you and he are similar. Slade did not trust you... and you did not trust us," she said as he left the room, giving Robin a reproachful look before leaving, Robin alone with the mask and thinking how long it would take to regain the other's trust.
"She's right you know," Blitz said entering the room.
"Your turn now," Robin stated evenly.
"Yep," Blitz said spinning around taking in the room, "but I am not going to yell at you, Cy and BB did that already. I going to give you some advice." he placed a hand on Robin's shoulders, "you remember what you guys have told me countless of times; We are your friends lets us help you that is what we are here for." Blitz move to leave the room, "You also need to be careful when you are hunting your prey, make sure that the hunter doesn't become the hunted."
"How does that fit in to this?"
"What I am trying to say, which I probably failed at, is don't become what you are trying to fight."
(Elsewhere)
Slade was sitting on his throne drinking some tea while watching security films of Red X and the Titans his face was covered by the shadows. Just then Zero show up to his right.
"Did you install the chips," Slade said plainly
"Yes father."
Slade looks at Zero with his good eye, "Excuse me."
"My apologies Master." Zero said with a shudder avoiding the glare.
After a while Slade return his attention to the view screen, "So all we need to do now and wait, soon your brother will join us along with Robin."
"Fa-Master are you sure that Robin will join us"
"Zero, you can make anybody do anything you want as long as you have proper leverage."
There you go almost done with this Season or Arc.
You guys take a look at my profile and let me know via PM which fanfiction you would like to see next. Like I said at the beginning I am working on the details of a OHHC, HSotD, and a Love Hina Fic and I'll a small preview of one of them posted at the end of the next chapter of this story.
So until then this DR signing off.
