Fan Fiction ❯ Three Way Mirror ❯ Chapter 8

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorrrrrryx10000 that I haven't updated all summer. This chapter isn't even beta-read (but the first 2 are, I'll be posting them up later).

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Three Way Mirror

Written By: Teno Hikari
email: teno_hikari@yahoo.com / tenohikari@cs.com

Summary: Takes place in the 'Aftershock' episodes. Slade has taken over the city, and all the Teen Titans, except Robin, has fallen. Can the boy wonder stop Slade alone? Or will Terra clip his wings? (Slade/Robin)

Disclaimer: Well you know what I'm gonna say, I own nothing. That includes the Teen Titans. ::walks off to go sulk in the corner::

Warning: Spoilers for the show - at least for the 2 seasons.
Slash, Yaoi, M/M pairings. Adult situations. Mature readers only.

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Chapter Eight


"Ahh! I love the smell of burning heaps of android trash in the morning!" Mammoth exclaimed. Cracking his knuckles, he absently tossed a severed arm over his shoulder. It landed in a pile of other robotic limbs that lay twitching on the ground. "It smells like..."

"Victory?" Gizmo offered.

"No, like burning heaps of android trash! Weren't you listening?"

The boy genius muttered one of his trade mark 'kludge-head' insults, turning back to his work. Aiming his flame thrower attached to his arm, he burned the writhing appendages to cinder. Spider legs lifted him upwards, jumping over a volley of assaulting laser fire, before landing onto the enemy shooters.

A few yards away, Jinx began to perform a series of amazing back flips as she gracefully dodged the shots fired at her. She grinned. The sorceress already began to weave her spell. Those shots ricochet off the steal beams on the bridge, blasting her assailments to bits.

She spun on her heel, delivering a roundhouse kick to the nearest mechanical opponent. As it went crashing down, she caught sight of the Boy Wonder, whom Jinx had been covering while he went to work planting explosives on one side of the bridge. Once he gave them the 'OK', they continued to move forward across the bridge.

They took out any obstacle that stood in their way with ease. It was almost too easy, and Robin hated it when it felt that way. In his mind he was already thinking of a contingency plan, just in case he had to activate the explosives sooner that he thought. Hopefully he could get the H.I.V.E members on the other side before then.

Using a grappling hook, Robin swung down and underneath the bridge once again. He could hear the fighting from above as he planted a few more explosive devices and secured them in place. Climbing up, the last Titan found a couple of armed soldiers waiting to greet him.

Before either could move, Robin saw a glimpse of a red mane and quickly ducked as androids went soaring above him. Hearing a loud splash from behind, he turned to look up at Mammoth who was dusting off his hands. Smiling, he pulled the smaller teenager up. Robin thanked him for the back up before they both turned to see their other companions fairing pretty well.

Gizmo was enjoying himself, kicking android butt immensely. Days of hard work perfecting his inventions had finally paid off. The Sorceress was backing her team mate, casting spells left and right. She was careful though not to inflict too much damage to the bridge, as her hexes lifted tidal waves from the sea, and swept the enemies away.

It reminded Robin of the first two times when the Titans fought with the H.I.V.E. The agents were nearly unbeatable now as they were then. Hard to believe this was the same team that had came close to dying while being hunted down.

"Huh... all finished?" the behemoth inquired, taking a look around. There were no more standing androids in sight.

Glancing at the remaining packs strapped to his arms, Robin shook his head. "Not quite. Four down and four more to go."

They also had more ground to cover. Reinforcements were sure to be on the way, he could bet his mask on it. Though, the Titan leader wasn't all that worried. Not even if the rest of Slade's army gathered on the bridge. Once all the explosives were in place, he'd take them all out at once.

'Killing two birds with one stone...' Robin inwardly frowned. He always did hate that analogy.

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Stifling a yawn, Terra left her room after being awakened by Wintergreen and changing into her Apprentice uniform. She had been up late last night, though not on patrol. Surprisingly she had been finally given the night off. Which Terra had spent watching old movies that were left behind at an abandoned video store.

Though she wasn't stupid enough to believe that the small break was a gracious act from Slade. As long as she prowled the streets with her platoon of emotionless droids, Robin remained in hiding. When it all came down to it, this was all her former leader's fault.

Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she saw the three super henchman of Slade flanked the entrance. They turned to regard her, but said nothing. Mindless puppets. She of course, ignored them and went in to see Slade standing by his control panel.

"You wanted to see me, Master Slade?" Terra's tone was a bit impatient as she folded her arms across her chest. Doesn't he ever sleep? She wondered bitterly. Normally he would scold her, but this time he paid her lack of patience no heed.

"Observe."

Glancing at the screen, she saw a fight taking place on land near the water. The Jump City bridge. The location was swarmed with guards and tight security measures. No one could get through all that. No one...

Her blue eyes widened slightly catching a glimpse of a black clad figure taking out the nearby guards. Wait. What was that? Static quickly filled the screen before Slade gave another command to switch to another camera. This time they were both able to see a profile of the attacker. Terra went cold all over, her surprise quickly turned to anger. Even with the costume change, there was no mistaking it was indeed Robin.

"Should have known," she mumbled herself as a bird-a-rang struck the camera.

Static once again, before several camera recordings were shown on the monitors. There was more footage of Robin taking out the spy equipment, even those that had been well hidden on the bridge. The last Titan, much to her surprise, also wasn't alone. It wasn't possible. Yet clearly it was. Fighting alongside the Boy Wonder were three intervals... threatening looking ones at that.

"Who are they?" she inquired. "More Titans? Where did they come from?"

"No," Slade answered, obviously annoyed. "They were former operatives and agents of the H.I.V.E organization."

His apprentice was striving to appear interested so as not to offend him. She obviously didn't know what he was explaining to her. Mercenaries? H.I.V.E? If they were his operatives at some point, why were they teaming up with Robin? Who in their right mind would for that matter.

"I don't know anything about them..."

"But I do," he cut in sharply, "and you will take them out just as you had the Teen Titans."

"Yes, sir."

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They just kept coming. More androids than Robin had ever seen in one place just kept charging forth, even as the four teenagers plowed their way through. Their was no strategy behind the robotic puppets' attacks. Merely keeping their enemy at back seemed to be the only objective.

'Unless they're stalling,' Robin thought irritably. Swinging his bo-staff at whatever stood in the way, he mentally began to count down the seconds. They were already a few minutes off schedule and his fingers itched to adjust the detonation time.

'No,' he stopped himself. 'Stick to the plan.'

Stepping over the mechanical corpses, Robin quickly caught Mammoth's gaze and nodded. Swinging back under the bridge, he began setting up another explosive, checking his time before, climbing back up. Quickly Dodging a punch to the jungular, the Boy Wonder reached out grabbed the android by the arm and yanked it down. He using the grappling hook again to ascend, watching the android plunge into the waters below.

Planting both feet on the ground, his eyes widen slightly at the mass number of androids streaming towards him. In the midst of the attacking crowd, his companions were still fighting. With no chance to rest for even a minute.

Dozens of them were piling on Mammoth, trying to pin the Behemoth down. Gizmo was being held down by the spider legs, cursing while trying to blast the ones that tried to jump at him. At the edge of the bridge, Jinx was backing further away, using hexes to cause small tidal waves to reach up and drag the enemy into the sea.

Robin helped Gizmo first, using his boomerangs and jumping in at the right moment to get Slade's henchmen to release their grip on him. Giving the boy genius a chance to revert the arachnoid weapon into a jet pack glider. Swerving back, Gizmo fired his beam cannon at the group of android henchmen after Robin leapt away and out of the blast radius.

Together they helped out their overwhelmed comrades and continued their long run toward the of the Jump City bridge. His bow staff held in one hand and several explosive disks in the other, Robin lead the mercenaries into yet another fight. The clock was ticking, nothing could be allowed to stop him now.

Jinx, like her fellow allies, were close to exhausted. In all her years at the HIVE academy, no training could equal fighting the inhuman army of a madman. The soldiers weren't exceptional opponents like the Teen Titans had been in their last fight, but the sheer number was overwhelming.

Had she been in charge, they would be running with their tails tucked between their legs. But, that was just it. Robin was in charge. The Titan leader had gotten them into this, leading them into a fight that could most likely kill than save them.

Had it been another Titan who proposed such a plan, Jinx could guarantee that she and her comrades would have turned away in a heart beat. The Boy Wonder was different. Jinx knew it, as did Mammoth and Gizmo. Whatever Robin got set out to do, it got done.

Living with the do-gooder these past couple of days, she saw a side of Robin that probably annoyed his former team mates. Whenever he wasn't eating, sleeping, or training - he was formulating scenarios for almost every contingency that may occur. A true leader, Jinx and the others had to admire that in him.

It was too bad, that he was a leader without a team.

She was about to give Robin the thumbs up to put the last bomb in place, when the ground shook beneath her feet. An earthquake? Now of all times? A strong arm caught her before she hit the concrete, and Jinx looked up to smile at Mammoth before the two turned their attention to the new arrival.

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Descending from above on a floating rock pedestal, Terra smirked down at her prey. Her cold blue eyes briefly scanned the battlefield that the bridge had become, before locking her gaze on to Robin. The Titan leader sneered back at her. The grief and hatred from their last confrontation was still present in his voice.

"I was wondering when he would send you."

She glared back down at him, resisting the urge to scratch the sudden itch on her face. Hidden behind a curtain of blonde hair, the slowly healing facial wound was starting to irritate her. Just like Robin was doing now.

"And I," she spat back at the Titan leader, "was wondering when you would crawl out of your hidey hole, coward."

The HIVE mercenaries looked back and forth between the two teens who stared one another down. Wondering which one was going to explode into sudden action. Neither of them moved.

"Hey, kludge-head." Gizmo approached on his slightly repaired mechanical spider legs. "What the heck is going on? Who's the bombshell?"

"Not now, Inspector Gadget."

Gritting his teeth, Robin took notice that the levitating pedestal supporting Terra wasn't just a hunk of rock. Arms and legs uncurled, and a stony face lifted to stare at them. This of course freaked the other teens out, watching the hulking form that was Cinderblock land. Sitting atop the stone figure's shoulder, Terra smirked at them as they momentarily lost their balance.

Catching himself quickly, the Boy Wonder caught sight of the electrical currents running up the bridge cables. In back of Cinderblock, the electrifying figure of Overload formed before them. To the right, Plasmus, the large gelatinous blob joined them.

"I also brought some new buddies of my own." Terra smiled, nodding to the three humanoid henchmen. "Four against four."


Slipping out a few more explosive discs from his utility belt, Robin sneered at Slade's new apprentice. "And I suppose the army behind you is just going to sit out?"

His eyes darted between the three criminals, remembering their old clashes with the Titans. What was Slade thinking, sending those three out to fight on a bridge over the sea. Overload would crash as soon as it made direct contact with H2O, Plasmus would probably disintegrate, and Robin doubted that Cinderblock would be able to swim under water.


"Of course. They'd just get in the way," Terra answered absently. With a gesture of her glowing hands, large slabs of concrete were torn from the ground. "After all, they were only here to make sure you chickens didn't runaway."

"HEY!" Growling, Gizmo aimed his beam cannon at the four newcomers.
"Who are you calling poultry?!"

Robin inwardly sighed. The boy genius who was short in size, had an equally short fuse to match. He half expected Terra to use her geo-moving powers to counter the blast. Much to his surprise, all she did was calmly sit there on Cinderblock's shoulder. Then the rock giant turned slightly and extended his arm. The shot harmlessly bounced right off the smooth surface of his palm.

Gizmo gaped in disbelief, "No freaking way!"

"Nice try, baldy. Slade told us all about you failures."

With a gestures of her index finger, Cinderblock hand broke off at the wrist and shot straight toward Gizmo. The impact knocked the small boy to the ground as those stone knuckles wrapped around his throat.

"Grroffamree!!!"

Mammoth was instantly at his side, wrenching the hand off before it crushed his teammate's windpipe.

Eyes narrowing into slits on his mask, Robin quickly thought about their options. Normally in confrontations with these criminals, Robin would have gestured for the Titans to attack together. But these weren't the same bad guys he had encountered in the past.

['Titans GO!']

It was hard to hold back from shouting out that command. Robin had to remind himself again - for the umpteenth time - that these teens weren't the Titans. Instead, he raised the trigger on his arm, causing the trio's eyes to bug out.

'Run.'

"H-Hey what are you doing?!"


Robin just met Terra's disbelieving gaze. Holding up the trigger in one hand, the other retracted the bo-staff and hooked it to his belt. He stepped forward as the three mercenaries retreated.

"It's too bad Slade isn't here to die with you." Robin lowered the trigger and showed the girl another one hiding in his glove. Terra was confused now and immediately commanded Cinderblock to grab the Boy Wonder with his other hand.

"You're bluffing!"

He didn't struggle as that fiercely strong fingers wrapped around his throat. Slowly, he counted down from twenty. Giving the others as much time to run to the other side as possible.

At the end of his countdown, he held up both triggers before her eyes and smirked. Robin pressed them both down.

"A-am I?"


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The mercenary trio stopped in their tracks in shock as they heard the explosion sound all the way back to the other end of the bridge. Mammoth nearly lost his balance, looking nervously to his teammates as he heard the ground shake underneath his feet. Turning his head, Gizmo's beady little eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as they caught sight of flailing bridge cables.

"What the freaking hell?! He wasn't supposed to activate them yet!"

Jinx gulped as another explosion went off. Followed by another. The teenage sorceress glance around the battlefield, wondering if Robin was all right handling the three. All she could make out over the smoke was the girl from earlier hovering on rocks, looking around wildly for her companions.

Another explosion. This was all happening too fast.

"Don't just stand there, Jinx!" Mammoth yelled over the eruption.

"Kludge head, get your ass in gear!"

Turning around, she noticed her teammates already had a head start. Hesitating a little, Jinx followed. Ignoring her nagging conscience that insisted she go back for Robin. The hero who didn't run away when they needed his help.

However, the internal struggle begin to die down as those thunderous sounds seemed to come closer and closer. The groan of metal splitting above her head, made Jinx quicken her pace. Noticing the concrete began to crack like thin ice under their feet as she raced to catch up with the others.

Up ahead, Gizmo adjusted his glider to carry more weight as he extended his long reach steel claw to pull Mammoth up. When a large chuck of the bridge broke apart under the giant's feet and plunged into the sea. He had to work fast though; inputting the right equations into his system to maintain balance. After he was certain they were stable, he looked for his other teammate.

"Jinx!" He called out worriedly, casting a glance over his shoulder to see the huge smoke screen behind them.

The Sorceress' speed and agility was being put to the test as she struggled to keep moving forward. Until she caught up to pace with them glider, taking the offered cable, and pulling herself without the glider slowing down.

Putting his goggles on, Gizmo accelerated the rest of the way. "Whatever you do," he instructed them over the collapse of the bridge, "don't look back!"

Mammoth while hanging on, groaned and turned sickly green. Feeling his breakfast try to "rise and shine". However the green color didn't last as he glanced upwards and felt all the color drain from his face.

"Holy crap!" he exclaimed, "the bridge is gonna fall right on us!"

The Boy Genius gritted his teeth. Mammoth closed his eyes as well while bracing himself for the impact. Gizmo continued to accelerate, ignoring the frequent warning that his jet pack overheating. At this moment he didn't care if his precious system crashed or was damaged beyond repair. Not with his and his friends' depending on it.

"Hey! What part of "don't" don't you get!?"

"You said 'don't look back', not don't look up!"

"Don't make me gauge your eyes out!"

Jinx squeezed her own eyes shut as the cables fell, nearly missing them by a foot. "Both of you - just shut up!"

The other two did just that. They finally made it to the other side just as the bridge went down. And Robin went with it.

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Author's Notes:

Finally! Sorry for the late, un-beta read, and cliff-hanging chapter. Writer’s Block is evil.

Feedback Responses:
(fanfiction.net)

SQOZ - I emailed you earlier after you posted the review; I have only posted 8 chapters so far, not 15.

Claire - I'm guessing Slade decided to let Robin go - for the time being - and settle with Terra because of her power and the fact she was at a breaking point. Terra was running from her past from the start, the fact that she couldn't control her powers had devestating consequences for those she tried to save.

Flick-chan - Again, I love your long reviews. As for Robin's costume change... to be honest, I really loved him as Red X. However, the black and symbolize the darkness forming within him ... it's not about stopping the bad guy anymore.

sailoryaoimoon - My Sorcerer Hunter stories are on hold.

Ghene - The city doesn't even look like Gotham... it's too colorful. It kind of looks like a cross between San Francisco and Tokyo. Other than Waaaaay out there OCC stories, I can't stand for "I want at least 10 reviews before I post the next chapter!" <- WTH?

ImperialRage - You can eat my legs, just leave me my arms ^_^