"Okay, so I'm really rushing to finish this Teen Titans story before the end of June. Thus, I sorta went through this thing where I tried the write the whole script in a really vague prose format in order to get through the plot quickly. It worked really well, but I still have to clean it all up and convert it to script before it'll be done.
Oh, and if you don't want any huge spoilers before I put this up on DeviantArt, I'd hold off on reading this." -Casey
Duplicate leaned back against the couch and tired to
relax as Raven came up behind him. “Are you sure you want to do this?” she
asked him yet again.
“Positive,” he assured her.
Raven simply nodded and then put her hands on either side
of his head. She said her magic words and suddenly they were both standing in
the midst of a frozen scene from their earlier fight. Duplicate quickly walked
over to stand before the frozen image of Gemini in the midst of her attack. He
looked at her long and hard and then turned to Raven. “Are there any memories
in here connected with her?” he asked urgently.
Raven bowed her head and crossed her arms before her and
the whole scene flashed though various other encounters Duplicate had had over
the past few months; meeting the other Titans, fighting different enemies, and
finally back to when he’d first met Robin and the others. Then there was
blackness everywhere. Not a single person or object to be seen.
“I’m sorry,” Raven reported as she stood at ease.
“There’s still nothing to be found here.”
“No, you have to keep trying,” Duplicate persisted.
“There has to be something you missed. Maybe something in French?”
Raven only shook her head in response which frustrated Duplicate
to no end. He’d gained so many clues in a single afternoon and now he’d hit a
dead end. He couldn’t let it end this way, something inside his mind was
running like a ticking clock. Precious minutes wildling away. He walked up to
Raven to look her pleadingly in the eye. “Come on, please don’t give up! We
just need to dig deeper!”
As he pleaded with her, he put his hand to her shoulder
and suddenly they were transported to an entirely new place. Black skies with
red stars, jagged pillars of rock, a four eyed creature glaring from under a
red hood. Duplicate pulled away from Raven and then gasped as he found himself
back on the couch in the tower. Raven stumbled back from him as he got to his
feet, clutching her head as she shook it dizzily.
“I-I’m sorry!” the boy stuttered. “I didn’t mean to---”
“Its fine,” Raven assured him as she regained her
composure. “Not the first time that someone went poking around into my head uninvited.”
“I am really sorry. Will you please try it again?”
Raven sighed and looked at Duplicate with pity. “I told
you before; something incredibly powerful erased your memories. I don’t have
the power to undo it.”
Duplicate frowned disappointedly at her and then made his
way out the door hurriedly. Raven watched him go until the door slammed behind
him. Suddenly, a nearby wastebasket exploded with a burst of black telekinetic
energy. Raven draws her cloak over her face to shield herself from the
fluttering debris and then glances around the room in surprise. That was
clearly the result of her powers, but she hadn’t discharged them. Could that
have been Duplicate?
The words “Incoming call…” flickered across the large
display in front of Robin and he quickly pressed a button to answer it. Argent
appeared on the screen, her expression deeply troubled.
“Hello there, Rob,” she greeted with a failed attempt at
cheer.
“Argent, now’s not really the best time. What’s the
problem?” Robin asked, determined to stay on track with his investigation. Gemini was an important lead on the identity
of their new friend. He wasn’t about to leave such a break in the case to grow
stale.
“Well, I know we’ve been reluctant to phone back lately,”
she began. “And that’s actually because we’ve run across quite a problem.”
“Is it about the invasion we helped you fight off last
week?” he asked absently.
“Its Red Star,” she sighed.
This caught Robin’s full attention. Red Star was a friend
and a troubled one at that. He could only imagine what sort of horrors might
have taken place.
“He’s gone,” Argent admitted. “He up and left the team.”
“Why? What happened?” Robin asked.
“We hadn’t been seeing things eye to eye and then he got
into this huge argument with Kole and…he left, left without as much as a
goodbye.”
“You’re a new team; you’re bound to have trouble adjusting
to each other. Trust me; my team’s been through the same thing.”
“Well, we went looking for him, but he didn’t turn up.”
“Were there any signs of a struggle?”
“No, but he did leave this.”
Argent held up Red Star’s communicator up to the screen.
It sunk into Robin’s mind right then and there that this was a lot more serious
than some petty roommate argument.
“We’re in the middle of a case right now, but we’ll be up
there as soon as we can,” Robin nodded.
“Ooh, you bringing by the kid in the leather jacket?” she
smirked. “I wouldn’t mind seeing him again.”
“We’ll see. Robin over and out,” he said as he turned
dismissively from the screen; reminded suddenly of the case with Duplicate.
“Right-o,” Argent sighed. “Au revoir.”
Robin started at her farewell and turned back to the
screen just as it went blank again. He’d forgotten that Argent spoke French.
Was that a coincidence? It couldn’t be, there had to be a connection. Duplicate
probably could have copied her ability to speak a different language, but that
had been weeks ago. Could he have
unknowingly have retained it for that long? No, because he continued to speak
French beyond his power’s one use limit.
“Robin,” Duplicate called as he walked into the room as
if the boy wonder had conjured him up.
“I haven’t gotten any answers yet, she’s still asleep,”
Robin explained.
“Well, can’t you wake her up?” he prompted.
“First; I want to make sure that that glass can hold
her,” Robin replied, not bothering to hide the tone of doubt in his voice.
Duplicate glanced up at the girl asleep in her glass
prison, a confused and frustrated frown fixed on his face.
“You still bilingual?” Robin asked.
“Oui, frustant,”
he replied.
“And you really think it has something to do with your
memory coming back?” Robin asked as he walked across the room towards a
computer consul.
“What else could it be?” Duplicate sighed, his attention
still fully on Gemini.
Robin turned slightly towards Duplicate, his eyes
narrowing in suspicion. In one swift movement, he spun around and tossed one of
his birdarangs at the boy. Duplicate turned to see the weapon hurtling straight
for his face and then he caught it between his hands in mid flight.
He stood staring at the birdarang with a frozen look of
horror for a moment before lowering it and glaring at Robin.
“What was that for?” he snapped.
“How did you catch that?” Robin asked instead of
answering.
“What?” Duplicate said in outrage.
“It’s taken years of training for me to be able to catch
a birdarang in midflight,” Robin explained as he walked back over to his
friend. “Yet you did it on your first try. How?”
“We’ve already established that I can copy your martial
art abilities,” Duplicate sighed.
“You’re only supposed to copy abilities after you’ve seen
them in action,” Robin insisted. “You didn’t even glace my way before I threw
that.”
“What are you trying to say?” Duplicate asked, feeling
more confused then helped by the line of questioning.
“You’re using your duplicated abilities more than once,”
Robin replied. “Somehow you’re retaining them.”
“Of course he is,” interrupted a gentle muffled voice. “That’s
how his powers work.”
Both boys turn to find that Gemini is now awake in her
glass prison and staring up at both of them with an annoyed glare.
“And just what do you know about it?” Robin asked the
girl.
“Replication to retention,” she murmured. “Something like
that. Joshua was always better at explaining it.”
“Who’s Joshua?” Duplicate interrupted.
“That would be you,” she replied, looking directly at
Duplicate as she did so.
Duplicate was stunned silent so Robin stepped in front of
him to continue the questioning. “Why did you attack my team?”
Gemini glared at Robin for getting between them, her
attention still fully on Duplicate. “Because the Teen Titans are all that stand
in our way.”
“Last time I checked the Brotherhood of Evil was still on
ice. Who are you working for?” Robin asked. “Oh, she won’t be joining us tonight, but I believe that you know my other associates.”
The Teen Titans (C) DC Comics, Warner Brothers, and Cartoon Network
Duplicate (C) SuperheroGeek13
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