Chapter 12 - Apprentice (Part 1)

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Robin is chasing Slade across a rocky landscape under the starry night sky. The masked villain leaps across a deep crevasse, then to a rock formation. With Robin still close behind him, Slade bounds over another fissure and drops over the edge of a mesa before making a beeline for a high, flat peninsula studded with several tower-like formations. There is a narrow path leading to it, but he forgoes this in favor of a single long, high jump. Robin does likewise, landing in a crouch, and comes up for a wary look around.

Slade steps out from behind a rock. "Dangerous behavior, Robin. You must be very eager to see me. I'm flattered."

"I'm not here to see you. I'm here to stop you."

Slade steps closer, and they both start to circle around. "Hmm. But how can you stop me, when you don't even know what I'm planning?"

"Like this." The Boy Wonder rushes in with a savage kick.

Slade dodges easily, and the follow-up punch only smashes a chunk from one of the towers. The two spar for a bit, after which Robin finds himself on the defensive and tries a charging punch. Slade catches his fist and hurls him against a tower, but Robin rebounds quickly and tries a punch that pulverizes more rock.

One strike after another misses its mark but sends up clouds of stone dust. Slade's eye glows briefly during his opponent's string of attacks. At the end of it, he lands a powerful kick that staggers the Titan.

Robin is soon on his feet and fighting back, but his punches are blocked and he takes one that bowls him over again. When he gets up this time, he has a birdarang in each hand and lets them fly.

Slade stands his ground, arms crossed in front of himself. There is a quick flash and clang of metal on metal, with each weapon in turn smash into a tower. The formations begin to crumble, all toppling in a cloud of dust that covers the entire area.

Robin's silhouette appears within the haze, and he steps into the open to survey the place. His eyes pop when he looks off to his right.

"Excellent, Robin." Slade passes crumbled formations behind him. "We appear to be evenly matched and equally ruthless."

Robin eases around within the dust.

"Not surprising. You and I are so very much alike." As he finishes this line, the dust clears to reveal him standing behind the Boy Wonder.

The latter whirls to face him. "I'm nothing like you!" He throws an uppercut that connects squarely with the metal-covered jaw and sends Slade crashing to the ground. He pulls him up. "You're a criminal, a psychopath! All you care about is destruction!"

"And all you care about, you destroy." The masked villain gestures off to one side.

Robin looks in that direction and sees the shattered debris left from the brawl. The base of one smashed pinnacle is shaped like your face. The rest of the rubble are broken, likenesses of the other four Titans.

Robin widens his eyes, horrified. "No!" He looks back to Slade. "Who are you?!" He reaches toward the face.

The mask is flung up and away. The Titan stares in bug-eyed shock to see the face behind that smooth expanse of steel... is his own. The duplicate laughs heartily in Slade's voice as it echoes across the ruined peninsula.

In a flash of white, Robin is asleep at his worktable, but bolts upright with a gasp of terror. His face runs with sweat as he tries to catch his breath.

The door opens to reveal you standing at the doorway. "It's him. It's Slade."

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It is just before daybreak, the Titans are gathered before the window screen in the operations center.

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