Teen Titans Presents – Robin; Torn Legacy of a Prodigal Son –
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Chapter 12: Funhouse Mirrors – Through a Mirror Darkly -
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Grant had been given a choice; go and do Slade's dirty work, or be dragged around a bit until he came to.
He never dropped for anyone.
A flying bat – plane made its landing a ways away from Titans tower, though it could have been closer…
Someone was standing atop the tower, busy with beach volleyball.
And that made sense.
Bats was still in mourning; he wasn't in his head right about now.
Ravager grinned and slipped away to get a trench out of his pack and to set up a thrill ride for the new visitor to "his" fair stomping ground.
Flicking on a switch as people moved out of the way to snap photos of the bat in his high flying endeavor, Grant had him on a lock.
A seeker took to the roof as the people screamed, buildings toppling as Bruce swung down to deflect the debris.
He came alone, seeking them. But there was no way he could go inside without first going after –
"It's a man bat! Whoa!" Grant called down from his perch befor hopping away into the shadows.
"I'm right here, "dark knight!" He grinned, flipping off to the next ally.
Bruce turned around. Two? Why w –
"Hey?" The third came out, the others gone as the world swayed around him.
"Are you the Ravager??" Batman held out his batarang, readying to send it flying.
"Am I? You tell me." Shrugged the kid as he walked back down an alley way while passerby got out of the way.
"Come and get me, bats!"
Echoing voices, he cackled as a mad man. Not, a child.
Ravager; an assassin created by the Hive through an unfortunate let down of scientific idealisms. Slade was Deathstroke back then, in that time…but was that kid the same one? He had bee killed! It was impossible –
But Slade, Wilson was still alive. He was still out there, pulling the strings on all of his man handled little puppets.
"Over here!"
Batman grunted and sent his rang flying, only to catch only a glass surface…
Wait….
He turned. The kid…. where did he –
"~ Na – nah!! ~" The boy stuck out his tongue as if to tease. "Can't catch me!"
A bola, but no. He'd evaded that too –
"Wait! –
"Quit wasting my daylight, Bats." Snorted the little snot - nosed killer. "Ain't got a lifetime to wa –
That was it.
A GUN.
Batman's eyes popped open, his arms grasping air.
Just before Grant shot himself in the head.
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"No!"
Bruce ran to the kid, but he was still on….
No…. he...he couldn't be…
That same cackling grew louder, and then….
Another.
BANG!
Bruce swung around to find –
"Ravager?"
No. Not, that same…
Shot in the forehead??
His pulse raced. Bruce was seeing red all over the streets, a dark backdrop in such a sun – kissed part of the world…
A world now forever lost.
Just like his parents.
Jason.
Dick's fight with Two Face…
"Drop the –
"~ Ah – ah – ah…~" Tutted the tyrant child with one hand up.
"PEW!"
A damned laser in his hand as the boy fired, too close. Bruce ducked, the glass shattering in chunks off of an office building.
A LAZER.
Was it…
The blaster from the news, it was.
Bruce shouted and flung himself at it.
The glass between them…it was a –
"Through a mirror darkly, and finally…. we will know it." Quoted what Bruce believed to be the real assassin in his ear as Ravager skidded past the rioting Bat.
"You stepped on my turf." Shot the merc's child to his foe. "There's nothin' for you here, so beat it. BeforeI go on an' fire the real last shot…."
He turned his arm to the alley.
A figure clambered over, clinging to one wall and holding its ribs as Bruce nearly lost his composure.
"Robin…"
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Terra brought Bb away from the farthest side of the tower when he perked up his ears. She'd do it.
Distract them long enough to get tem on her side, stopping Slade.
But how?
"Are there not fire works this time of the year on your planet, Cyborg?"
Terra gasped and ran up to see –
"Oh…just a bunch of kids playing hooky. I used to do that…. a lot. In the desert…." Joked the earth mover to he team.
"Dunno, T. That sounded like a big collision right in the city square ta' me."
"That's just because your frequency is probably too good, Cy."
"You, ok…Terra? You're all sweaty…. did we pound you too hard on the V – ball court?" Snickered Bb, who received a look from the older team members on his side of the net.
"Naw, wow! Is it that time already??" Terra gasped as her allies noticed the girl's concern for their mid – day events…. But which ones was the question.
"Starfire! Your "World of fungus" series is starting a new season, I just got an update online about it. It's on today in like, five minutes! Totally forgot to tell you at breakfast."
"Oh! Joyous viewing!" Star squealed and clapped her hands together excitedly. "Will any of you care to –
"No." Raven looked up from her meditating stance to huff back. "Did you have something to tell us too, Terra?"
"Umm…. only that Bb needs work on his aim more. I keep having to go save the ball! Ever heard a – a spotter, dude?"
"The heck I'm –
"Right, catch!"
She hit the ball hard, hardest as Bb in the form of a puppy was left to go fetch it right after Starfire down the stairs to their main tower halls.
Sighing, Cy and Raven were left to confront the blonde in private.
"Listen. We don't have much time…" Terra's mood flipped as Cy almost thought she wasn't being literal. "What room in the tower has the most security and has been checked for cameras, radio in –
"Say what?" Exclaimed the big bro Titan of the pack. "What are talkin' crazy for, T? Are they in tr –
"No." Raven levitated over to Terra, her hood up as she nodded to the blonde. "I know where. Cyborg? I need you to scan for anything that can pick up a signal. No computers, nothing at all. Terra." Raven gripped her ally's hands as she was certainly sure this could be for real.
"Tell us everything you know. Don't hold back, or we might all be in danger."
Raven squeezed the empath's into her own, her voice in a slight tremble.
"I…know…."
"Then, lets. Rae?"
"Come on."
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Slade was on his way, yet Terra had de – bugged her suit.
He was furious!
"Wintergreen; I'm sending my robots to infiltrate the tower."
~ Sir? What is the trouble now? Has something happened to your other –
"She needs to be punished severely, for treason against her master." Slade cut the other off as Will said not another word.
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Terra walked into a room she'd never see before, not until today that was.
The idea of being interrogated had her pale, but not as much as she'd be losing the color in her teenaged face if Slade caught on to her plan.
"There is a really big reason why I came back…" She paused as Raven beckoned the girl sit on any seat she could find. "I…it's because of him. About Slade, and what he did…He kidnapped me, tricked me and then told me to become a Titan."
"Whoa." Cy brought a hand to his skull and shook it in disbelief. "Are you hearin' this, Raven?"
"Why did you send Beast boy and Starfire away?" Raven let her hood down, seeing something in Terra's eyes that had the empath to be, far from curious. Though, hopeful.
"At first, I was mad at how Beast boy told you guys my secret and yeah, I wanted to do what I could to get better at controlling my powers. And Slade, I knew him…. like…before he was this bad. He was there when a bunch of scientists changed me…into…" She looked at her hands, gloves gripped as she bit back the faded memory of those painful days.
"You, got experimented on when you got those powers?"
"Are you certain that's not a l –
"No! I'm the youngest daughter…or was, of the king and queen of Markovia. Exiled…Princess Tara Markov."
She saw them gape. Ah, that was to be expected…
"And, I lost my memory, until I found you and Slade…and, somehow that helped it to come back…but this isn't about me!" She sputtered anxiously. "It's about what Slade is already planning and what he'll do to your leader and me…if he finds out that we aren't his property –
"You aren't a tool, Tara." Raven put a firm hand onto the earth mover's shaking shoulder. Tara bit her lip and shook her blonde scalp, still not getting what she wanted to say, directly across. "Bb…he was such a goof and you all know he wants me to stay…but if I end up getting you killed –
"Kill?" Cy frowned. "Are you sayin' Slade's been holdin' back on us?"
"Yeah. That's exactly what I wanted to say."
Raven felt it and turned to her teammates, the aura there. The image that Tara had shown…She shuddered.
"Because he's really, Deathstroke." The empath worded, her mouth dry at the thought of blood being spilt on the ground by their hands. "A mercenary that wouldn't mind blowing us all up to stay quiet."
"Which is why you cannot let him find –
"Rae?"
Cy saw his arm, and despite further warnings.
"We've got intruders, an' they aren't human." He said with a grim expression to the others.
Terra put her head in her hands, afraid to go outside of this room again.
"What do we do?"
She barely tried to weep into those same guilty palms.
"He's already found me!"
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Starfire hummed on her way to the tube in the main room, checking out her own news brief –
"Wait a moment! The next season of the glorious world of fungus is…not until –
"Star!! Run for your life!!"
Gar came bounding as a cheetah while jet packed Slade bots were getting in closer to the adorable fur ball.
"You may not come inside our home!!" She blasted with her eyes as onre bot went down, discarding the pack before pressing a button on its armored chest.
"Whoa! It disappeared…. ow! It's got me!"
" EEp! They will be impossible to destroy if we cannot see their every move!" Starfire yanked at her hair while one bot was cloaked well enough to get through security.
Beast boy was busy rowling at one he'd spotted through his other senses, until the emergency lights from the Titan's generator kicked in.
"They cut half the power?? What's happening, Star! Call Raven, we have ta warn Terra –
"She is with our friends …. I shall not let you fight alone."
"Then, call them! We don't have time to –
" Wah!" The bot had a throwing star or two to burn as Bb jumped out of the way of its nearly perfect aim. "Better spot me, Star!" Grinned the green hero. "I'm gonna cream Terra on that court once we send these guys back to Slade for parts!"
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Terra heard the rumble and wished this were just virtual reality. That they were playing Mega Monkies Saga while binging junk food after there was nothing left to do.
There was still so much she'd wanted to do, but now…like the first day he'd hit her without falling back.
She wanted to make him pay. For lying to her about what he'd been willing to do for her.
Absolute squat. That's what.
"Rave? Bb said we've got company; the whole place is stuck on lock down till they catch their target."
"I don't think they will."
Raven smirked at the heroes and had a plan.
"Terra wasn't a spy, just not to us. She was just talking a shower. She had her guard down, and I think they want proof that she's doing something Slade doesn't want. So?"
"We fake it." Terra gasped. "But, how? Is he gonna even see right through me? He's a monster AND a super genius with the math! I could be as horrible as some indie artist without formal training. How is…am I…"
"Just follow us, Mini – rocker." Cy clapped a hand over Tara's back, supportively. "You aren't getting to leave the team jus' yet."
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Raven got ready to try something, something that would be hard to push. Masking the presence of her magic to make it look like Terra was coming in from a day outside. To shower off the day, itself.
And that she'd been bugged if that was why, then the changing made it impossible to tell if Slade wasn't overreacting.
"I'll send you to your room's bathroom, act like you lost the game to the other team." Raven commanded her power as Terra slipped back up into the celling, her clothing dusty and in a pile as if she'd been romping on a field day.
"Whoo! Bb whooped me pretty hard, oh crap! My stuff. I need to clean my uniform…aww…. dude! Dig drool –
~ Terra. Report . ~
She jumped as the communicator kicked into high gear.
"Sorry, sir! Was soaking off the grime. Turns out, if Raven misses one zen session, she goes nuts."
~ That's fine child…were you there this whole time? I know you love to waste water…but you forgot your unit my child. ~ Slade chided the girl. ~ My robots are in the tower; I needed to get the heroes' attention. ~
"Wh…weren't you here to see me? Why, send them?"
~ For information that you can't hope to gather, my dear apprentice. ~ Slade said with a smirk below the mask. ~ You'll report first thing before you go to bed, and at five before the start of your day. ~
"I was gonna stay up for a bit." Terra bit her lip and wrung out her hair while now wearing a fluffy white robe round her slim frame. "Ah, but I can do some time to get some early shut eye. If you think it will help my performance."
~ That's my girl. Early to bed, but I can tell the empath really gets along with you now…even on the roof of their tower…~
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