Chapter 14

The corridors and tunnels led out into a large area.

"An underground subway," Peter said in a mystified tone while Chuck almost squealed with glee. Neal was worried. They had moved farther than he had thought, putting them away from the warehouse where the target was staying.

"Now I know why he hasn't been stopped," he commented. "There's a chance the other teams were dropped in here."

"We should focus on regrouping then," Peter said. He looked for any ideas from them. Chuck shrugged while Neal just started walking. Their best option was to pick a direction and trust that everyone else's training would keep them alive.

They walked for a while, meeting no one and nothing. Chuck wondered out loud if there even was a way out of here. There had to be, after all, they doubted their enemies would have trapped themselves down here.

"Is that the exit?" Chuck asked when Neal stopped in front of a metal door. Neal kicked it and frowned.

"It's got an electronic lock," he said. He didn't have anything on him for hacking a door.

Chuck tried but he couldn't get anything out the lock. Peter questioned if it was real or if it was just a distraction.

"Careful Peter, you're starting to sound like Moz," Neal teased. Right at that moment, the door beeped and unlocked. "Nicely done, Chuck!"

Chuck was baffled. "I didn't do anything." The door swung open to reveal a rather frazzled Orion. Although, Orion often looked frazzled with his messy hair and tendency to wear oversized clothes.

Chuck recoiled in shock, eyes wide and body tense.

Peter stepped in front of the frozen nerd herder. "Who are you?"

"Orion," Orion responded, panting a little.

"What are you doing here?" Neal questioned calmly. He was the only one here who knew both who Orion was and that he was alive.

"Who's Orion?" Peter interrupted.

"He died," Chuck said in a strangled voice.

"So did Bryce," Orion said. "I was saved by forethought and Batman's planning."

"Batman does like to plan for everything," Neal commented. "But what brings you here?"

Orion cleared his throat. "Ah-hem. Well… I may have heard rumours that Frost was in town."

"Frost?" Neal questioned.

"Mum's here?" Chuck said. Neal hadn't known that. Frost was Chuck's mother?

"No wonder you didn't want us going after her when she started causing problems for Chuck," he grumbled to Orion.

Orion smiled. "Actually, I did tell your family. Maybe you should contact them more often?"

"If I contact them more often, I'll be on the phone to them every day," Neal said. It wouldn't be bad but it would cut into his time, a lot. As in, he wouldn't have any left.

"What about Mum?" Chuck asked.

Orion tapped away on his wrist computer, an updated version of the one which was popular among members of the Batman family. "She's helping Sarah out right now. It appears that someone on your team thought she would make good backup."

"Where are they?" Peter asked, determined to get out of this place.

Orion pointed down the hall. The rest of the teams must have fallen down here as well.

"Let's go," Chuck said. Neal grabbed his arm.

"Hold on. Our target might be using this time to escape. We go after the other teams and he'll be gone by the time we get up there."

Peter hated to agree, it was obvious that Chuck cared about what happened to his team, but, "Orion's the only one who seems to have any idea where they are."

"And I'm not about to let him walk around here without some kind of backup," Neal pointed out.

Orion and Chuck shared a look.

"Why not?" Chuck asked his father.

"His whole family is rather overprotective," Orion sighed. "And since I know their secret, they take no risks with me."

"You're a prisoner?" Peter asked. Because that's what it sounded like.

Both Orion and Neal instantly denied it.

"You once blew up a whole building to fake your death," Neal pointed out. "I think you can take care of yourself."

Apparently proving that you could take care of yourself to Neal's family involved either big explosions or faking your death, or a combination of the two. Neal certainly did that latter a couple of times.

"But, they do want to keep me safe," Orion said. "Which is why they sent Robin out here with me."

"And where is he?" Chuck asked.

Neal groaned and rubbed his face. "You ditched Robin? He's going to be a hissy ball of rage when we locate him, you know?"

"Since guarding me was 'beneath him', I don't think he'd mind," Orion commented lightly.

Chuck frowned and looked to Neal for why Robin might say that.

"Yeah, okay, he would say that. He was probably frustrated that people seem to be leaving him out of the fighting. But, even more frustrating would be losing you. Even if you walked off yourself."

"Aren't you the one who said that we should go after the target and that looking for anyone else would give him time to escape?" Orion countered.

Neal paused.

"He's got you there," Peter said, gripping his shoulder. Neal knew the little grin Peter was sporting, the one which said he was pleased that someone managed to out-talk him.

"That's what you think," Neal grumbled. He started walking up the stairs beyond the door. "I'm taking point."

"You don't have a gun on you," Peter pointed out.

"Don't need it!" Neal called back.

Chuck frowned as another criminal dropped from Neal's attacks.

"I think you made him mad," he said to Orion. He was still trying to wrap his head around his father being alive. It wasn't the first time that a spy had come back from the dead, but he had been there when his dad had died. He had mourned him. Sure, Ellie hadn't been able to believe it at first but they eventually accepted it and moved on.

"He's not the only one," Orion commented in that quiet way his important speech was said. It was soft but punctuated. When he had been a kid, Chuck had thought it was because his dad knew everything. Now he realised it was because his dad did know almost everything. Stupid spies.

"No, he's not," Chuck countered.

"I'm glad I ran into your first. Your sister would probably slap me," Orion said. "And your mother..." Chuck was relieved that his dad let it trail off there. He didn't want to know how that sentence would end.

A gun fired from behind them. Peter had shot a man who had been sneaking up on them. The injured man groaned, clutching his knee and fumbling for his weapon. A flying escrima stick knocked him out cold.

"Nice shot, Peter," Neal praised as he regathered his weapon. Orion quickly tapped away on his wrist computer.

"No alarms have been raised," he mused.

"Think they know where we are?" Chuck asked, worried. Was this all one big game to Brandon Newman?

No one could give him a definitive answer. They had climbed the stairs, only to come out at another set of corridors. At this point, they didn't know whether they were above or below ground, they had been so scrambled.

"I hate mazes," Neal commented with venom in his voice. "Orion, are you able to contact Robin at all?"

"I've been trying," Orion said. "There's interference but I can't be certain if it's on our end or his."

"Can I see?" Neal questioned. Orion presented his wrist and Neal tapped away for a couple of moments. "The Titans broadcast on a frequency which reaches all over New York. Ah, there it is. We have connection."

"How do the Titans do that?" Chuck questioned, rather interested in how they created and maintained a frequency like that.

"I'll tell you about it later, son," Orion said. Chuck pouted but dropped his question. After all, he could always ask Neal later.

Peter noticed Neal pulling something off the hidden belt he was wearing.

"It's a repeater," Neal said. It would extend their frequency, possibly reaching whatever black spot Robin had walked into. "I really should have been placing these things earlier." He tossed it and it stuck to the roof.

"It might be able to reach Robin. Or Frost," Neal said. "If you want to send a message, do it now." He didn't mention that he was monitoring the repeater and that someone carrying compatible technology was in range.