"All right team, I think we should split up," Bumblebee the new leader of Titans East said, "we'll cover more ground that way."

We (Bumblebee, Aqualad, Mas, Menos, and myself[otherwise known as Titans East]) received a distress signal from Asia stating that there have been a large number of disappearances in this part of Asia going from the Himalayas to the Pacific Coast, from as far north as Mongolia to as south as Laos.

"Aqualad, you'll stay here in east China since you'll be close to the sea."

"Sure thing" Aqualad replied.

"Speedy, you should travel down to the Vietnamese-Chinese border and patrol the forests." She ordered

"Will do." I replied

She turned to the twins and said "Mas, Menos, since you two can run faster than I can fly, you'll sprint to the base of the Himalayas, and keep an eye out for anything suspicious."

"Los montanas?" they said in unison. I find it odd how they can understand English perfectly but not be able to speak it. Kinda like in that show where superpowered animals can understand human speech but can only say there own names.

"Uh... Si," Bumblebee replied "I'll head north near Mongolia, if anybody has anything to report call the rest of us immediately. Don't try to be a hero. This means you SpeedyI don't want a repeat of what happened in Italy."
Aqualad and the twins snickered at the memory.

"Don't worry I learned my lesson, I'll call in if things start getting to hot." I replied. Man, BB is becoming a real leader, she's starting to remind me of Robin

"Ok then,if nothing happens within a month we'll come back here, understand?" We all nodded. "Ok then, Titans East, Go!" She cried as she took flight with her insect wings. Aqualad patted me on the shoulder and dived into the South Chinese Sea, as the twins gave me a high five and shouted their battle-cry "MAS Y MENOS SI PUEDEMOS!" and they pratically flew through the town and within thirty seconds they were out of my line of sight.

I can't fly, run at supersonic speed, and I can barely swim so I guess I'm walking towards my destination. Good thing the Vietnamese-Chinese border is only about 50 or so miles away from here.

Despite it's size, Xinhuan was a very popular place for tourists and markets. I dodged hordes of people running through the bazaar. Streetvendors tried to sell me clothes, shoes, toys, animals and practically everything there was to sell. One elderly woman carried two baskets full of knives, she came up to me and said something in Chinese. Although I can't understand any language other than English, I knew she was trying to sell me a knife. She was persistent too, she would not leave until I bought a knife from her. I finally gave in and bought a dagger. Although I prefer my bow and arrows, I decided having a close combat weapon wouldn't hurt.

I thanked the woman and continued my way down the main road. I saw kids playing some kind of ball game, people trading and selling their goods, and now and then a few tourists taking pictures of everything from the plants to the scenery, to the people. I did notice one girl that stood out. She did look of Asian descent, she had black hair, and brown eyes, but her skin tone was different than the rest of the locals. It was a little more paler. She took notice of me as well, she examined me for about two seconds and returned to dipping some needles into a pale green liquid.

I took the practice as trivial and continued my journey out of the town. After about twenty or thirty minutes, I made it out of the town and onto a dirt road that winds into the rain forest covered mountains. The sky was azure and beautiful as I traveled down the dirt road. I traveled relatively light, my mask, my bow and quiver, my newly acquired dagger and communicator attached to my belt, and a knapsack containing some water, food, medical supplies, emergency gear, and a comb.(I decided to grow my hair out a little so I actually have something to comb.)

The walk was relatively boring, but I'm used to the silence. When I used to fight with Green Arrow, we trained in silence. Don't get me wrong he was a great teacher and he treated me like his own son,, however our attacks relied on accuracy, speed, and stealth. Green Arrow told me even the slightest whisper or movement could give away our position and compromise our mission. I can't help thinking how Robin and Batman had their training, or Aquaman and Aqualad. Their fighting styles sometimes DO involve stealth, yet they seem to have a closer relationship with each other. I started getting bored and remembered I had an ipod in my backpack in case things got boring. I considered this boring.

I passed only about five or so people, carrying vegetables and freshly picked fruit out to Xinhuan (probably to sell) and even then did i hardly make eye contact with anybody. Eventually I reached the edge of the forested mountains. The sky changed over the two and a half hour walk. The sky was covered by clouds, some were regular wisps, other seemed dark and ominous. Great, just my luck it's going to rain.

Meanwhile:
Aqualad was searching on the seafloor. Hmmm...Nothing out of the ordinary here. he thought to himself.

A school of fish suddenly rushed passed him followed by a few loner fish. Aqualad sensed the fish were in danger of something but couldn't sense any immediate danger. When a pod of dolphins also frantically swam past him. Aqualad tried to telepathically communicate with the dolphins.

HEY! What's wrong?
One dolphin stopped and swam back around making clicks and chattering sounds

Big storm coming, swim away quick now. Monsoon season it is. It jabbered frantically still fearing for it's life and the life of his fellow dolphins.

Where's the storm? Aqualad replied.
More clicks and squeals came from the mammal. Southeast, heading Northwest. It'll hit here as well as big islands and peninsula! The dolphin's pod called back for him and he quickly swam up to join the others.

Big islands and peninsula? Is he talking about Indonesia and Thailand? He said it'll hit here too, so it's as far east as China and as far west as Thailand. BB and the twins shouldn't be in danger but Speedy is. I have to warn him! Aqualad shot upwards onto the surface to use his communicator, however it for some reason couldn't contact Speedy or anybody else for that matter.

"Crap, I hope Speedy'll be ok..."

Meanwhile back in the rainforest:
Haven't I already been here? That tree looks familiar... The trees covered up the sky so I can't even tell where the sun is much less which direction i was going. On the bright side I found some safe berries and fruit so I don't have to eat all the food in my pack just yet. Other than the foreign animals I didn't see anything out of ordinary.

Eventually I lowered my guard, which was the precise moment I heard the twirl of knives heading in my direction. Instinctively I ducked and drew out my bow. The knives struck the tree behind me and were thrown with such force that they were halfway into the tree.

"Pretty good but you have to try harder if you want to kill me!" I taunted the unseen assassin.

I shot in the direction where the knives were thrown, not hitting a target.

I scanned the trees around me but I saw nothing, I heard a rustle in one of the nearby trees and shot at it, whatever was in it fell at the impact. Turns out it was just a stray cat, the cat shook off the blow and dashed out of the area. However the cat was a distraction, from the canopy a figure jumped down wearing a green kimono and a white cat like mask. She tried to shred my face with her claws attached to her wrists. I managed to dodge the fury swipes but she managed to tear the sleeve of my shirt. She barely managed to graze the skin but it for some reason it didn't just hurt it burned.

"Wait, I know you!" I said as she kept on trying to cut me open. She didn't say anything but continued with her attacks.

"Cheshire isn't it?" I stated once more in between her attacks. At which point she whipped her hair,at the moment her iron hair met my face, I saw those Asian hair needles women wear. I've seen those before too!

The force was enough to knock me back some feet away. She then ran towards me arms extended aiming for my neck. When I noticed something round and dark grey in the ground between me and her. Before I could warn her, she triggered the mine and a flash of light and fire erupted under her.

*******************
The sound of thunder and the flashing of lightning brought me back to my senses. Any sunlight that was coming through the trees had vanished and instead lightning illuminated the forest floor. I had burns on my arms and legs but they were nothing compared to the girl's. She flew about 10 feet in my direction, and the force from the explosion cracked her mask but it remained intact, but her hair was singed at the edges. Her kimono was burned and singed, and she was practically covered in burns. I pressed my fingers onto the side of her neck, her heart was still beating, that's a good sign.

I got up and tried to call in, but my communicator was severly damaged in the explosion. PERFECT It started to rain and winds began to whip around the trees. The smaller trees were being bent by the strong gale forcing itself into the forest. I stood up, but I fell back down, my legs were still in shock. However I just got right back up a little bit more slowly. I was about to leave when I turned to see Cheshire on the ground. I can't just leave her here Without medical help she'll be too weak to fend for her own, especially in this storm, and even if she manages to get out of here alive, she'll surely get ill and collapse again.

I moved towards her slowly and picked her up and carried her in my arms, I prayed to God she wouldn't wake up until we were in a safe place.

God must have heard me because the whole time running through the rain, lightning,thunder, and dodging falling trees, the path illuminated only by the flashing lightning, she stayed unconscious. We eventually reached a small cave big enough for a rhino or bear to fit in but not much bigger. I set Cheshire down on a slab of rock as I pulled out bandages and other medical items out of my bag. I treated her scorched arms and legs, but i was too uncomfortable to treat the torso, so I decided to see if her face was burned. As I tried to pull of her mask, she awoke and tried to get up, only to fall back down.

"Don't move. You're in no position to move around." I told her. She didn't say anything back but just gave a slight sigh of pain.
"Is your face ok?" I asked her.

For the first time ever, I heard her speak.
"If you mean if it's not burned then yes, my face is 'ok'." she muttered trying to hide the pain in everything but her face.

"Well that's good. If it's alright with you, I don't want to fight each other until we're both fully healed. Deal?" She gave a slight nod of her head.
"I already treated your hands, arms, feet, and legs but if there are anymore burnedareas here's the skin lotion, and painkillers" I said setting the bottles down next to her.

I ran out of the cave to quickly gather some "dry" wood and berries. Although most of the wood was damp and cold, I did manage to start a small fire. Cheshire winced as the spark lit up the branches. I ate some berries and my stocked food. I offered some to Cheshire but she refused. "C'mon It's good." I said to her.
Then she said her second complete sentence I heard from her.

"I already said no! Just leave me alone!" she screamed at me.

The storm didn't light up, if anything it got worse. So I decided I was stuck here with my would be assassin until the Storm was over. Eventually, Cheshire started to breathe normally, almost like a light snore. Despite her bad burns, she was shivering from the cold. I grabbed my blanket from my bag and gently covered her in it. She stopped shaking and continued with her sleeping.

I slept on the cold cave floor that night.