Chapter 3

Aggravating

Adolescences

"You failed me apprentice."

Slade paced around his dimly lit office, his metal boots clicking against the metallic floor with every step. He circled around his apprentice impatiently; Slade was very displeased with him. Slade was twiddled a computer chip between his fingers, gracefully passing it from one finger to the next

"You lost stealth, your objective was discovered and you were ambushed." Slade stopped and bent forwards so his mask was only a few inches from his apprentice's face. "I ordered you to retrieve the supercomputer," he said, his voice cold and unfeeling. "And what did you bring me?" Slade tossed the computer chip onto his desk and it rebounded off its wooden surface and fell onto a stack of papers. "This" Slade hissed causing his apprentice to flinch. Slade stepped away from his apprentice and leaned against his desk as he let out an annoyed sigh. "Tell me…what am I supposed to do with this single computer chip?"

His apprentice didn't respond he merely hung his head in defeat.

"That's right" Slade said as a sneer spread beneath his mask "nothing." Slade stepped away from his desk and picked the chip back up and began to twiddle it in-between fingers again. "Now because I've spent too much of my time on you just to give up on you so easily, I'm going to give you another chance." He tapped a button on a lone remote on the far edge of his desk and the screen behind him turned to static. An image of the city materialized onto the screen displaying schematics of the computer and shipping dates. "Tomorrow…you will go out and retrieve the computer, and this time…do it right."

His apprentice nodded, continuing to remain silent.

Slade looked upon his apprentice with satisfaction and reached into one of the six draws in his desk.

"Good…" Slade said, pleased that his apprentice understood that he was not going to tolerate another failure. Slade pulled out a steel mask from his draw, identical to the one his apprentice wore, and handed it to him. "And try not to break this one" Slade said with no hint of it being a joke.

His apprentice nodded and replaced his broken mask with the new one, hiding his face as he did. Slade nodded in approval and sat down in his leather chair and spun it around so he was facing the monitor behind him.

"Leave me" he said and waved his hand "I'm expecting a call from a more…competent apprentice shortly."

His apprentice nodded and left the room without a word, allowing his master to be alone in his office. Slade leaned back in his chair, making himself comfortable, and tapped another button on his remote to display the time. It was almost midnight; his other apprentice would be calling any second. The timer read 11:59:55, just five short seconds left. Four, three, two…

Jump City

Pizza Parlor…

"Alright I'm off Joe!" a brown haired waitress called.

Her manager grunted a reply and she gave him a perky smile as she left to try and cheer him up. The smile was more out of fear for being held later than anything else. She rounded the corner and headed down the stairs continuing to wear the smile as though it was plastered onto her face. She quickened her pace as she came to the street corner. When she saw no one was around she let out a sigh of relief. Her hair instantly changed from a dark brown to a long dazzling red and her eyes changed to back to their natural brown color. Her several earrings vanished and she began to brush out her hair that had tangled during the day while she began to lose a few inches off her height.

"I am never going into fast-food" she snarled as her miniature comb became tangled in her hair.

She pulled with unnecessary force and her comb snapped free taking a few locks of hair with it. She moaned as she saw her locks of hair dangling from her comb and she dug into her pocket for her mirror so she could see if it had done any noticeable damage. For a girl who dressed rather poorly, she was rather particular with how she looked at any given moment. Her hand brushed a small round object and her heart skipped a beat. She had almost forgotten to call. She quickly pulled it out; its dull gunmetal plating was almost invisible in the night. The only discernable feature on the object was the long sinister 'S' it bore on its cover. She flipped it open and it immediately began sending a signal. Almost instantly the screen was filled by an image of a man covered in shadows.

"Hello my dear..." the man said calmly, his hands clasped together "a little early aren't we".

"Like one second," the girl replied irritably "either way I called didn't I?"

The man let out an audible sigh of disappointment "Never jump the gun…timing is everything, if you ignore it you could get you killed."

The girl rolled her eyes and placed her free hand on her hip "Oh gee a simple phone call to dear 'ol Slade a second early," she then placed her hand on her hand and rocked back and forth "Why…I'm already starting to feel faint."

Slade tapped his fingers against one another; his patience with his other apprentice was wearing thin "Sarcasm will only get you into trouble my dear Mindcheat, I would have expected better from you by now."

Mindcheat, as she was called, rolled her eyes and answered rudely "Yeah well you ain't no picnic either."

"Indeed." He leaned forward in his chair and stared deep into her eyes "But enough of this, have you gotten a decent recon report?"

"Yeah same as usually: going out for pizza, hanging with friends, going on dates…nothing special."

"Then they are relaxed?"

"Very," Mindcheat replied, a hint satisfaction her voice.

A siren began to sound down the street and Mindcheat quickly ducked into an alley incase anyone had gotten suspicious of her. After all a teenaged girl standing in the middle of the sidewalk at the dead of night was pretty unusual and called for investigation. After several minutes Mindcheat poked her head and out scanned the street to make sure it was safe to come out. Mindcheat brushed a strand of red hair behind her ear and returned her attention to her communicator.

"Sorry about that, I thought someone was coming," her apologize, continuing to keep a look out for anyone who might decide to come down her way "Now am I done playing diner dash?"

"But my dear, I thought you liked running around in an old apron while slipping on random pools of grease" said Slade, a hint of humor in his voice.

Mindcheat huffed in annoyance and prodded her finger at her communicator as if trying to squash Slade's head "Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep that shroud around me while there are dozens of people looking at me at the same time…its exhausting".

"Indeed," said Slade, knowing that what she said was the true "your powers are impressive but…underdeveloped, tricking the human mind, let alone many, can be quite an ordeal."

Mindcheat let out a sigh of relief; at least he understood that she could only press her powers so far. Mindcheat wasn't an ordinary shape shifter; in fact she wasn't a shape shifter at all. Instead her powers could manipulate the human mind into thinking she was someone else or nothing entirely. But like Slade had stated, her powers weren't fully developed, there was only so much she could do with them now, but Slade had told her that with training that there were unlimited possibilities she could achieve. Sadly for her, he had yet to follow up on that offer.

"Do they know?"

Mindcheat stared at her master with a perplexed look "What do you mean they don't know, I don't even know."

From the way Slade tilted back in his chair gave Mindcheat the impression he was smiling. He picked up what looked to be a computer chip and began looking it over with great interest "Good, then everything is going according to plan."

Mindcheat sighed, annoyed she had no idea what he was talking about, and began tapping her hiking boot against the ground. "When are you going to tell me where all this leads?"

Slade chuckled to himself. "You're a smart girl, I'm sure you'll figure it out."

Mindcheat rolled her eyes. She was tired of going in circles when it came to Slade's plan. Obviously it was a very delicately laid plan that he didn't want just anyone to know, even if it meant that those who would be executing it would be kept in the dark. Instead of trying to pry even further she decided to change the subject to try and get him off guard for later interrogation. "So what do I do now…more recon?"

Slade put the computer chip down on his desk and turned his attention back to her. "I suppose you earned a night off, I'll expect you back here by tomorrow afternoon." Slade disappeared and with that the transmission ended leaving Mindcheat was left alone on the street corner.

Mindcheat sighed irritably and placed her communicator back into her pocket. As soon as her hand entered the pocket split open at the bottom and her communicator fell to the ground with a clang and her hand brushed against her exposed leg.

"And these were my favorite pants" She groaned as she picked up her communicator. She placed the communicator back into her other pant pocket, making sure it didn't split open before doing so, and began to walk down the street towards the mall. She hoped to find clothes there to replace the torn ones she was wearing, if only she had the money. As she walked an idea formed itself inside her head. One that swung her mood from annoyed to one of great pleasure.

"There's a thought," she said to herself, a smile spreading across her soft, delicate face "Maybe there's someone there who won't mind me being them for awhile?"

Titans Tower

5:00 Am…

"So we know what he's hit, now we just need to know where he's going to hit next."

Robin cycled through possible targets that Slade might attack next but none seemed to match what he had gone for the night before. He and Cyborg had stayed up all night trying to learn what Slade's motives were for trying to steal the computer. They had searched every database they could find trying to get information on what the computer was built for, or what it contained. So far they had ended up empty handed.

"Did you talk to Terra at all?" Cyborg asked, recalling that Terra had acted strangely after their battle with the drones. He tapped a few commands on his arm as he tried searching through his own selection of databases. His luck wasn't any better than Robin's.

"She didn't say much," Robin replied. He thumbed the mouse and the screen cycled to the next page. "Her story was kind of blunt."

"Want me to call her in?"

Robin let out a heavy sigh. "No let her sleep, as well as the rest of the team."

Robin felt Cyborg's hand on his shoulder and he looked up to his long time mechanical friend.

"You should get some rest to; it's been a long night."

Robin nodded in agreement and got up from his chair and headed to the door. His arms hung at his sides and he barely had the strength to walk up the steps.

"I'll let you know if anything comes up." Cyborg called; reassuring Robin he had everything under control.

Robin merely waved in reply and the door silently closed behind him. He made his slowly way to the end of the hallway and hit the button to call the elevator. He closed his eyes as he waited for the elevator to arrive, he was exhausted. It wasn't until now that the fact donned on him that his time of relaxation was over, and he was sad to see it go. Even though he enjoyed the thrill of the chase, he enjoyed time with his friends even more. This fact only dampened his spirits even more causing him to feel even more exhausted.

There was a small chime as the elevator came to a stop and Robin instinctively backed away from the door. The door opened and he found that someone was already inside the elevator. Terra stared blankly at Robin from within the elevator looking quite surprised to see him. There were dark circles under her eyes and her small shoulders were sagging. She hadn't had any sleep either.

"What are you doing up?" Robin asked, curious as to why she was wondering around the Tower so early.

"I could ask you the same thing" Terra replied, trying to get Robin to drop the subject. She backed up to the end of the elevator trying to put as much distance between herself and Robin.

"I asked you first" Robin countered. The elevator door closed and they began to ascend to the lower levels.

Terra racked her fingers along the side of the elevator and the sound reverberated off the walls. A strand of blond hair hung over her eyes but she didn't bother to brush it away. "Couldn't get to sleep, so I decided just to take a stroll" she answered in a hazed voice.

"I couldn't sleep either."

Robin and Terra stood quietly inside the elevator, listening to the sounds of the steel cables pulling them up. Robin noticed Terra looked saddened and he placed his hand on her shoulder comfortingly and said "You should get some rest; it might be easier to recall what happened last night."

"I already told you nothing important happened," she replied defiantly "I went after the drone, it attacked me and got away…that's it."

She brushed his hand off and stared at the wall so she wouldn't have to look at him. She feared if she made eye contact with Robin that he would see right through her.

Robin nodded. "Alright if you say so, either way you should get some rest."

There was a chime and the door slid open revealing the hallway that lead to Terra's room.

"Sleep in as much as you like," Robin said and helped Terra out of the elevator "we'll let you know if anything comes up."

Terra paused for a moment. She turned back to Robin; she had a worried look in her eyes. Robin could tell that she would prefer if he didn't investigate. "Sure, thanks."

Her words seemed hollow and Robin could tell she was hiding something. Whatever she had found had really frightened her and she was doing whatever she could to keep them from finding out. Whatever it was he hoped she would tell them before they learned of it themselves. And it they did, it might be too late.

Slade's Lair

6:29 PM…

The sounds of metal boots clicking against a metallic floor could be heard echoing down the hallway. Slade turned left and headed down yet another corridor in the seemingly endless maze that was his base. After several strides he came to a large, unmarked door. His ears, even beneath his mask, picked up mumbling from instead and he pressed his hand against the door.

The door silently slid open but Slade did not immediately enter. Mindcheat was busily staring at herself in a full sized mirror, one that she had acquired recently, while holding up various clothing to her body to see how she would look like in them. The outfits ranged from jeans, cargo pants, sweaters, tang tops, T-shirts, scarves and other various clothing that any teenaged girl would like. None of them seemed to satisfy her. She held a green T-shirt over her red shirt and pulled her hair back with one hand. Her hair changed to a dirty yellow but she still didn't seem pleased with how she looked.

Slade was disappointed at her error. He knew that the hair change was supposed to only be seen by her but Mindcheat's lack of control sent it to anyone in the nearby vicinity; he would have to do something about that later.

Her hair changed back to its natural red and she lazily tossed the shirt onto the piles of other clothes that littered her room. She bent down to pick out another outfit to try on, her shirt lifting up slightly exposing her back, and began mumbling to herself on what combination to try next.

"I see we did a little shopping while we were out."

Mindcheat spun around to see Slade standing in her doorway. Her face turned red as she dropped everything that she was holding and her eyes began darting around the room. "Slade…I uh…I…um…" she stuttered as she began fidgeting "Well…DIDN'T ANYONE EVER TELL YOU IT WAS RUDE TO ENTER WITHOUT KNOCKING!"

"It's my home," Slade replied, his voice remaining calm even as his apprentice continued to show disrespect "I don't have to."

Mindcheat glared at her master and kept her comments to herself. She pulled down the part of her shirt that had lifted up and leaned against the wall with her arms folded.

Good Slade thought. At least she has some self-control.

Slade turned back to the hallway and motioned for Mindcheat to follow him. She followed, making sure to drag her feet the entire way to show her defiance and soon she and Slade where inside a large open room.

"Come, sit down my dear" Slade said. He motioned towards a wooden chair in the center of the room. It looked old and worn but Mindcheat didn't dare complain over such a minor detail.

Don't call me 'dear' Mindcheat thought angrily. She sat down in the chair, its legs groaning from the weight but held. She slumped back in her chair and folded her arms and pursed her lips. "So what's the big deal?"

Slade gave her a cold stare from the corner of his eye and tapped a button on his wrist. There was a hiss of static and a large monitor came to life a few yards in front of them, bathing the room in light. "Why, the show's about to being, and I didn't want you to miss all the fun."

Special Thanks to M.C. Castle for the creation of Mindcheat.