A/N: Whew! This chapter was bit on the difficult side to write. I didn't want to write it in the first place because all I've been writing in my other fics is backgrounds. In this chapter, you get Gene's. I hate writing backgrounds for some reason. But I think it came out. It's not exactly what I wish it to be, but I'm satisfied. Read and don't forget to review!

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Teen Titans.

Chapter 13

The whip of the Bo Staff next to his shoulder made Robin flinch. He was still on the floor holding onto his communicator. He closed it up with a defeated sigh before throwing it across the room in a slight anger outburst. Slade let go of Robin's Bo Staff he had slammed on the floor next to the boy. He turned away from the teen leader, trying to calm his emotions.

"Did you pay Red X?" Robin asked Slade suddenly. "He wouldn't kidnap just for the heck of it. There has to be money in the deal for him to even think about stealing."

"I wouldn't pay that dense collage adolescent to do any of my work," Slade retorted. He rolled his eye at even the mention of the thief. Slade already knew exactly who Red X was from a short month of research. The kid was talented in his work, Slade would give him that, but he acted too much his age, which annoyed the man. He was like Robin if the boy never was brought up by Batman.

"Great," Robin muttered sarcastically after a long sigh, "He's just gotten into this mess because of his own selfish gain again. He's going to auction the kid off to the highest bidder."

"For all I know, he could be working for you," Slade said. "Lately, you two have become friends."

"Friends?" Robin shouted. "He has helped me out two times, but that does not mean we are friends!" Slade glared daggers at the teen as if trying to make him prove it. Robin defiantly stared back as he said quietly, "I wouldn't trust that thief with anything. Plus, we are even at this point. We don't owe each other anything."

One of Slade's eyebrows slightly rose in question before he dismissed the thought in his head. He twirled his Bo Staff to its compactable state and put it back in his belt. Robin was still on the floor as Slade gave him one last glance before walking steadily toward the doors of the gym.

The Titan thought fast as he scrambled to his feet quickly. He ran a gloved hand through his hair with a frustrated sigh before shouting to Slade, "I know how to find Red X!"

"I do too," Slade said behind his shoulder. He didn't stop walking.

"But my way is faster. My team will beat you to him," Robin said, his shaky voice told Slade he was torn inside about something. This time Slade stopped at the door and looked down at the padded floor, letting Robin explain himself. "We…uh…we could team up," Robin said softly, avoiding all eye contact with Slade.

"What's in it for you?" Slade asked as he turned around. He folded his arms in front of his chest and stared boldly at the struggling teen.

Robin looked up into Slade's eye and answered, "You tell my team and me everything about the kid."

Slade kept his eye on Robin as the teen did the same to him. The seconds ticked on as Slade thought it over and Robin waited for his answer. The man finally sighed deeply. "Deal," he said emotionlessly with a cold nod. Robin nodded firmly back, trying not to smile in his slight triumph. He picked up his Bo Staff and put it away while walking past Slade.

"You would still make such a nice apprentice," Slade said smugly, walking down the stairs next to the teen. Robin shot him a dark glare, which only made Slade smile under his mask. The topic would always make the teen squirm, and it was amusing to watch.

"You've improved a lot since the last time we fought each other," Slade continued, watching Robin closely. "I thought for sure you wouldn't last for more than five minutes."

"It's not like I just sit around here playing video games all day with Beast Boy," Robin muttered. He didn't want to admit that lately he had been doing exactly just that. Had he been slacking off just because Slade was gone? The question didn't go well with the teen's mind.

"Usually a compliment is returned with a thank you," Slade said sardonically.

"Usually you don't compliment," Robin pointed out.

"True," Slade said with a nod. "But you need not to worry, Robin. I'm not looking for an apprentice…yet."

Robin looked over to Slade with slight fear in his eyes. He then finally shook his head with a chuckle. "You're messing with me, aren't you?" he asked with a sly smile.

"Maybe," Slade answered just as mysteriously. Robin rolled his eyes under his mask with another chuckle. On the inside he was confused with himself, though. Why was he joking around with Slade suddenly? Slade had and always would be his biggest adversary. How come he was now asking to team up with him and unwisely joking around with the man who was the enemy? Who was the one changing here?

"This will be hard to explain to the others," Robin said after a pause of silence between the two. "They aren't going to except you into our plans right away. You're going to have to explain things…fast."

"You were the one who made a deal with the enemy," Slade said with a shrug, "You should be worried more about yourself." Robin ran a hand through his hair again in nervous habit. Maybe he should start thinking of ways to clarify his motives to his friends. This wasn't going to be easy. What had he gotten himself into?

The two finally got to the main floor which held the giant computer screen. Everyone was already there. Cyborg and Beast Boy were listening to Raven as she told them about Red X taking off with the kid. Starfire was sitting on one of the couches and looked guilty for letting the thief capture Gene so easily. The mood wasn't at its best when Slade and Robin arrived.

All at once the room was quiet. All four Titans looked over to the two in either shock or horror on their faces. Just as quick as the room had fallen silent, it dropped into chaos. Robin flinched as his team exploded into questions, anger, and confusion. Slade simply stood by the boy's side and took it all in with a narrowed eye of annoyance.

"Stop!" Robin yelled at his team suddenly. They obeyed with frowns, clearly showing their dislike of the situation. Robin looked all his teammates in the eyes before saying sternly, "I know all of you guys might not like this, but Slade has agreed to team up with us." He quickly added before anyone could speak up, "Only if he tells us everything about the boy. Just…trust me."

"We trust you a lot, Robin," Cyborg said, "But this is nuts! Why did you agree to let him team up with us?"

"Oh, you have it all wrong," Slade said, "It was your friend, here, that started the deal. I only complied because you all are now bound to find out about the boy's secret. I need the fastest way to the boy, and Robin assured me yours is the one I'm after."

"Enough," Robin snapped. "Talk, Slade, let's start with the boy's name."

"You never were the patient one, Robin," Slade said with an evil smile creeping onto his lips. Robin only folded his arms in front of him and glared coldly back at Slade. The room fell silent as the two stared at each other, battling out a personal conflict with only their eyes. It was like an intense game of who could stare the longest.

Slade was the one who stopped the short game by glancing over to the other Titans. He stood up straight and said emotionlessly to them all, "This story doesn't start with the boy's name. It goes all the way back to when you first met me. As you all found out the hard way, I was looking for an apprentice. When Robin didn't work for the first time, I decided…to make my own."

Everyone in the room was now focused on the man, eyes wide in dread they couldn't turn away from. Slade didn't stop to let their brains wander. He came straight out with it.

"I made the first two fused clones as an experiment," Slade said. "I was actually surprised that they were born with personalities. I planned on them being more like robots, where I could mold their personalities to my liking. So I gave them to two hired families and left them alone. But my third fused clone was perfect for my desired personality and also came with a…let's say a bonus."

Slade paused, giving the Titans some time to ask questions. They all stared at him. He guessed questions would come when he was done, and so he continued. "Then Terra killed me. I found out later that the small clone I had made ended up like my others. It was shipped out to a hired family, next to another one of the clone's family.

"When I came back alive and helped you with your Trigon problem, I realized my predicament with one of them. You see, the one that came out perfectly before, came out too perfect. This clone I made was a fuse of two genes." He paused again, trying to predict how the teens would act after he said who it was. It was now or never. "I fused Robin and Raven's genes together. The boy who is now with Red X is really a clone of both of you two."

Thud!

Everyone looked over to where Beast Boy had fainted. Starfire was already by her friend's side, trying to reawake the shocked to unconscious teen. Cyborg and Robin were down Slade's back in a flash. Cyborg had his fist raised, ready to knock the lights out of the man who he had pinned up against a wall. Raven closed her eyes with a grimace. Pillows and light bulbs exploded around her as she desperately tried to take hold of her now wild emotions.

"Is this some sick joke?" Robin was shouting at Slade. "How could you do this?" Finally Robin couldn't take it. He dropped to the floor and held his head in his hands. Confusion, anger, and despair welled up inside of him. He leaned his back against a couch and stared at the ceiling, trying to calm himself down. Hitting Slade right now wouldn't do anything, but he was very tempted to do just that.

"Like I told you before, Robin, the boy was a mistake," Slade said. "I was going to keep the boy on a down low. But just a few weeks ago, someone murdered his parents the same morning I picked him up. Besides him being upset about being captured, the boy was completely fine. Then he escaped. His two personalities were coming out, and his powers were barely starting to develop. It was his first Robin streak I had seen from him. I still don't know how he exactly got away."

"Wait, the kid is a clone of Robin and Raven?" Beast Boy asked, still on the last subject. Everyone glared at the changeling. He smiled sheepishly back but didn't ask anymore questions. Cyborg nodded to Slade to keep going.

"I didn't know at the time what kind of an error the boy was when I made him," Slade said more softly now. He leaned his back against the wall and stared at the ground emotionlessly. "I created him before I died. I created him before I made that deal with Trigon." He looked back up at the Titans and said, "I created him before I found out Raven was a portal to Trigon."

-Rose and Zach-

"Stop pacing, please, it makes me nervous," Rose told Zach. After being stuck in the Hive Five hideout for hours, the two teens were becoming extremely restless. Zach was so edgy that he couldn't stay still, and after a half an hour of pacing beside the couch, it was starting to make Rose fidgety as well.

"I really need to do something," Zach said. He ignored her request and kept walking briskly back and forth. "They've been gone for a little over an hour now. I see no sign of them coming back. We should get out of here."

"We can't get passed those robots," Rose said as she stood up. She shivered and hissed, "And it is freezing in here! We'll get frostbite before anyone gets back."

"Hey! We have superpowers! Maybe I can get past them with mine," Zach said, a smile brightening his face. Rose gave him a critical look as he walked up to one of the robots at a doorway. She sighed in annoyance as he started to yell at them. "Hey! Any of you barf brains know my power?"

"Don't tell me you just called them barf brains," Rose said with a small grin. Zach stopped his nonsense shouting and turned to face her with a wry grin.

"I did call them that, didn't I?" he asked with a laugh. Rose nodded with a small giggle at his foolhardy actions. "Well, I have no clue what powers I have," Zach said to her. "Maybe since I'm good with technology I'm like Cyborg. Then I'd have super strength!"

"No, Zach, think about…" Her warning was too late. Zach ran at one of the robots by the front entrance with his fist raised high. His battle yell was quickly turned into one of pain as the robot blocked the teen's attack. In a flash, the robot had Zach by his shoulders. The teen's eyes were wide in surprise as the robot lifted him off the floor and unexpectedly flung him across the room in one powerful throw.

Zach screamed loudly as he flew through the air. Rose gave a short scream as he landed on his back on the floor next to her. He was motionless. The girl kneeled over him, her face pale in fright that he was dead. But she didn't need to worry. The teen had only slightly hurt his back and bruised his high pride. He would feel the full affects of his foolish stunt the next morning.

"I'm never doing that again," Zach muttered to himself suddenly. Rose gave a sigh of relief and stood back up. The teen winced as he struggled to get back to his unsteady feet. "I'm fine, woman! I can handle myself!" He batted Rose away, trying to desperately hang onto some of his pride.

"You're pathetic, Zach," Rose chuckled as she had to hold onto his shoulder to prevent him from colliding with the floor again. She eased him over to the couch and let him drop into it with a smile. She was just glad he hadn't been injured in that toss.

Both teens looked up as the sound of a door sliding open came from the main entrance. "Move it!" Gizmo was saying to his team. They busted into the hideout in one great mess of hurry. They easily knocked the robots out of the way and paused as they flooded into the living room where Zach and Rose were.

"We're leaving in ten minutes!" Gizmo said to his team. "Get your crud and meet me here."

"What if Slade shows up?" Billy asked. They all shared worried looks.

"Then it's every kid for himself," Gizmo said finally. "Just…hurry!" Just as quickly as the team had showed up, they scattered. The three teens plowed their ways over the robots and to their rooms to quickly gather their things. They rushed as if they were literally timed.

"What's going on?" Zach asked the empty room.

"Something must have gone wrong," Rose said quietly.

"That can't be good for us or for Gene," Zach pointed out.

Suddenly a black hole appeared in the middle of the living room's floor. Kid Wicked came up out of it and stopped to catch his breath. He spotted the two teens and frowned. The teen started to briskly walk away, heading for a door that led to his room. He didn't make it far, though.

"Kid Wicked, stop!" Zach shouted to him. The dark teen obeyed and sharply turned around to face them. His black cape snapped behind him at his sudden movement. Zach and Rose ran up to him with hopeful looks in their eyes. "You gotta help us," Zach said. "We need to get to Titans Tower, but we can't get past these robots."

"Please," Rose said imploringly.

Kid Wicked glared at both of the teens. He could so easily help them with their problem, but what would Slade do to him when he found out he had helped the two? Even though the teen portrayed a well put together, dark, and emotionless person, the truth was that Kid Wicked feared a lot of things. Slade would be one of them. But then, being heartless was another. He didn't want to be all evil. He just wasn't that way. It wasn't exactly in his nature even when being a thief.

"At least do it for Gene," Rose said quietly. "We know you two were cool with each other. Helping us with this could maybe help Gene as well." Zach rolled his eyes at Rose's words. It baffled him how nice she would always be in a dire situation like the one they were in now.

Kid Wicked kept his hard glare as he thought about her words. But then again, Slade would find out. The teen had heard too many stories of the man. The Hive Five had talked about him, and dreaded every meeting with him. For some reason, Kid Wicked had developed a fear of the madman. That was why he lately had done everything he had told him to do. But he couldn't just leave these two here.

After a second of thinking it through, Kid Wicked was fed up with his indecisiveness. His fear of Slade had to be dealt with. The best way was here. He raised his hand high into the air, thinking of the location he wanted to take the two. Zach and Rose took an unsure step backwards right as Kid Wicked slammed the palm of his hand on the floor in between them.

"Hey! This takes us to the Tower, right?" Zach asked. He and Rose were quickly sinking into the black portal under their feet. Kid Wicked only smiled evilly back as he watched the two descend. Such little faith!

Zach and Rose suddenly found themselves standing right outside Titans Tower's doors. Even though it was around noon, the sun was nowhere to be seen. It hid behind thick, gray rain clouds that blocked out the whole sky above them. The land was covered with a thick mist that rose up from the ocean surrounding the small island.

"I thought for sure he would send us to the wrong place," Zach said.

"Me too," Rose admitted. They checked out their surrounds for a second. The Tower loomed over them, almost hauntingly because of the chilling mist and the luminous dark clouds floating above. Zach looked up at the giant T and hoped it wouldn't rain on them.

The door was locked and no one came to open it as the two pounded loudly on the chilly metal. Finally the two sat down on the cold gravel with tired sighs. They were surprised when a black opening appeared in front of them and another journal was delivered. Silently, the teens leaned closely together to warm themselves as they began to read the next segment of their friend's messed up life.

A/N: I'm finally going back to Gene's POV. It's going to be hard writing for Red X again. In my Switched Lives fic I actually created the real identity of the guy behind the mask. But in this fic I can't do that again. I can only keep him as Red X. Aw! But the next chapter should be fun! I should have it finished in maybe two or three weeks. I'm swamped with homework now that school started. Please review! Thanks!