Ages: Cameron is 23, Artemis is 21.

And Into the Fire

Spring, Team Year 6

Here we go.

The door hissed open to a cavernous room with low lighting. Data terminals lined the walls adorned with various blinking lights. A main computer sat all the way towards the back with a comically large monitor. Manning the large screen - the only screen in the room, was a single man fervently typing on the keyboard.

As the door closed behind him and Kaldur, Cameron felt a small sense of relief at the sighting of the first actual human they'd seen since entering the compound.

"You're back early," the man said, clearly oblivious to the presence of intruders. "I told you the storm would make going out pointless, but honestly I'm surprised you even tried once you took a look outside."

Neither Cameron nor Kaldur responded. The second they said a word that didn't match whomever the man was expecting the gig would be up and some sort of alarm would likely be triggered. The question wasn't how to respond, but how to incapacitate the man before he could do anything.

Kaldur calculated a solution first, lurching water whips forward with extreme speed. Like tentacles, they grabbed onto the man's ankles, arms, and torso in the blink of an eye.

"What the-" the man started, but the accompanying electrical currents causing him to seize up. A few moments later and he was slumping down onto the ground, completely unconscious. Kaldur was at his side seconds later, releasing the water whips and slipping out more permanent restraints to bind his limbs, blindfold him, and gag the man.

Cameron looked at the giant computer screen, which seemed to be diligently running running some sort of program. Numbers and text kept moving on different pages on the screen even without the man typing on the keyboard, but they incomprehensible. It might as well have been alien text to him. "I'm guessing this is where all the good stuff is," he commented dryly.

"I would assume as well," Kaldur replied, approaching the computer. He placed a USB stick into one of it's ports, causing a prompt to pop up on the screen that indicated the start of a download.

"Team Alpha in position. Beginning download," he reported into the comms,

"Copy. Beta team is about to breach the potential hostage area," Nightwing replied quietly.

"Affirmative. Download should take five minutes," Kaldur said.

"Five minutes is a long time," Cameron noted. His eyes drifted towards the unconscious man, who now lay slumped against the wall bound and gagged.

He was expecting somebody else to show up.

He stepped closer to the man, something about his uniform catching his eye. Kneeling before him, he took in his features: Young, clean shaven, with a military style haircut and military-fatigue style uniform. Something about him didn't quite fit.

"He had an American accent," Kaldur observed, noticing Cameron's scrutiny. "That suggests he is not local military."

Recognition dawned on Cameron, as he glanced closer at the symbols on the military fatigues. I've seen these before.

"Mercenary contactor," he stated, voice clipped.

"That is probable," Kaldur answered.

"No. I know it. I recognize these fatigues. He works for a merc outfit that specializes in running joint ops with meta human teams," Cameron asserted. He glanced at Kaldur, who was giving him a quizzical look, so explained further. "For when you have a crime planned that involves fighting Shazam, but you need some professionalism because Black Adam is going to spend all his time leveling half the city instead of finishing the job. You usually never see these guys, even when you're working with them. Trust me, I'd know."

"Do they always work with metahumans?"

"Yes," Cameron answered tersely, turning his attention back to the door and the unspoken question of who exactly might be coming through it next.

Nightwing's voice cut through the comms, cutting off a continuation of their conversation. "Beta to Alpha, no hostages present. We are making our way to the exfil."

"Copy. Download is 35% complete. Be advised, meta-human adversaries may be present somewhere in the compound. We don't know more beyond that."

"Fun times. Thanks for the heads up."

The silence in the room took on a more sinister role, the tension ratcheting up as both men pondered the possibilities of who might come knocking through the door.

"He was expecting someone," Kaldur said off-comms, speaking directly to Cameron. "Any guess as to whom?"

"These guys worked with anyone from me to Count Vertigo to Gorilla Grodd. So no," came the answer.

Kaldur merely nodded in the affirmative, alternating his focus between the download in front of him and the unconscious mercenary, whose presence signaled further trouble. For his part, Cameron stayed focused on the door, which he had decided to pre-emptively reinforce with a thicker layer of interlocking ice from the inside of the room. Both men kept quiet, the silence only adding to the growing tension.

They didn't have to wait long.

A massive explosion went off somewhere in the compound, shaking the room and causing both men to almost lose their balance. Dust seeped in through the ceiling. They both glanced quickly on the prisoner, but the man was still solidly unconscious.

"Beta, report," Kaldur said. His inquiry was met with silence.

"Beta, report," he repeated. This time, static came over the comms. "There must be some sort of jammer now in play. A significantly advanced one to work on these comms."

"One that they just now conveniently turned on after the giant explosion? Convenient," Cameron said warily. "We should find Beta team and go."

"Download is 85% completed. We secure the information first and then we make our way out," Kaldur countered.

"Tigress and Nightwing could be injured, or worse!" Cameron protested. "We should prioritize them."

"We secure the data, and then we move out. There is no benefit to leaving now, when would be moving out blind."

"Mission comes first, huh?" Cameron asked testily. "Good guys, bad guys, somethings never cha-"

A second explosion hit, this time ripping through the door and sending chunks of steel and ice flying across the room. Kaldur ducked, grabbing their prisoner with him, while Cameron rolled in the opposite direction. His eyes tried to focus through the smoke to get a good view of whoever it was that had blown through the door without warning.

It was his ears that made the ID first: The pair of chuckles echoing through the room were familiar in an all too-unpleasant way, and his gut-twisted as he saw two towering figures step through debris, equally vicious grins on their faces.

Ah hell.

...

In his experience, Cameron found that fighting with the Terror Twins was never really fun. They were loud, destructive, immune to any sort of stealth, and you could never be sure they wouldn't throw a punch your way in the middle of a fight even when you were on the same side.

Fighting against them was just unpleasant.

Yes, he thought as he dodged a punch from Tuppence Terror, this really sucks. As if to emphasize that thought, he felt Tommy Terror's hands wrap around his arm and yank. Hard.

Suddenly he was flying across the room and into one of the walls, smashing into the mounted electronics hard enough that he could almost feel his bones rattle. There was no time to relax though, as Tommy ripped a data terminal off the wall near him and threw it right at Cameron.

He jumped to the side, avoiding the object and throwing ice shards at the man, ignoring his screaming shoulder. In his periphery, he saw Kaldur and Tuppence duking it out near the data terminal.

"Ya hurtin' ma feelings Junior," Tommy said mockingly. "An' here I thought we could catch up. For ol' times sake."

"Haven't you heard? I've dropped the Junior," Cameron retorted, forming giant ice spikes up from the floor towards the villain. Tommy bashed them away with his meaty arms, the spikes tearing into his skin but not going deep enough to draw blood.

"Went an' replaced it with a Justice League leash," he snarled, grabbing one of the spikes and throwing it back at Cameron. "Playin' hero, like you ain't done the same stints in Belle Revve like I did."

"I'm more of an independent contractor now," Cameron answered, using his powers to simply dissolve in the incoming ice projectile. "I know, those are big words for you Tommy."

The brother growled and started a run in his direction, only to suddenly turn towards Kaldur, who was extricating himself from the shards of the now destroyed computer monitor.

At first confused by Tommy's about face, Cameron quickly became aware that Tuppence was not in his field of vision. Instinctively, he jumped forward, moving away from his own sedentary location just as a pair of fists came smashing down where he'd been standing.

The smarter half of the twins, Tuppence didn't spare a moment to give Cameron the advantage of distance, closing the gap with quick steps. Cameron took the few moments he had to swing up with all his force, icing up a sledgehammer on the way up. His construct connected with Tuppence's jaw with force, sending her stumbling back a bit.

Years of fighting with bigger, stronger, angrier people had taught him that up close and personal was not the way to take on stronger opponents. He needed to create distance, and do it fast.

In that vein, he threw his sledgehammer at her and followed up the attack by icing the floor underneath hear, hoping that she would slip. Unfortunately, she was more agile than he remembered, batting the projectile away and quickly leaping off the ice patch and towards him. Cameron swiveled out of her way, letting her leap past him as he supersized an ice shield to counter the punch he knew she'd bring to bear.

The punch came as expected, shattering the shield but also drawing blood from her fists. Frustration showed on her face, and he tried to capitalize this with another ice hammer attack up at her lower chin. This time she saw it coming and parried the construct with her left fist swing. She swung for Cameron's face with her right, but he quickly dodged, putting several more steps between then.

Tuppence moved to follow, only to realize she couldn't.

Looking down, she saw ice surging up her legs and encasing them in place. Snarling, she started smashing at the growing ice cage but it was in vain. Cameron was too quick and the ice surged around her too fast, encasing her entire body sans her head in place. She resisted, struggling her arms against the ice and cracking it, but Cameron worked to heal the cracks as fast as they came.

"This ain't gonna hold," Tuppence growled, sill straining.

"I could freeze your head over and turn you into an ice cube. Bet it'd hold then," Cameron answered.

She just snarled in response, straining harder.

"Aquaman, how are you holding up?" Cameron shouted, hearing the sounds of Tommy yelling and things being smashed in the background.

"Download. Is. Complete," Kaldur replied in grunts, but the last one was followed by the sound of flesh on flesh contact and painful ground.

Cameron glanced quickly over and see Kaldur doubling down in pain, a victorious leer on Tommy Terror's face as he approached the recovering hero.

"Here's a hand," Cameron said, more to himself than anyone else. He briefly diverting his focus to form a giant fist over Tommy Terror's head and swiftly ram it down on his head. The weight of the giant creation sent the hulk to his knees in a daze.

Unfortunately, a moment was all Tuppence needed. Cameron heard the ice shatter and turned to catch her lunging his way. He iced up his left fist try and hit her head on, but once again she was too fast, dodging his attack and rearing her own punch. This time, it connected much better than her last one, hitting him squarely in the rips and knocking the breath out of his chest. She followed it up by grabbing him with both of her hands and tossing him to one of the walls.

This time, when his body hit the wall with force, he knew he heard something crack under his armor. He'd barely crumpled to the ground before Tuppence was on him, pinning him against the wall with a hand on his throat. He placed his own hand on her wrist, but she squeezed in warning.

"Ice, and I squeeze," she growled. Cameron didn't move his hand, but he didn't project any ice either.

"I heard 'bout you an' Tigress. Working together," she started, eyes narrowing. "Back on the sub, you knew. Asking all them questions. You figured it out 'bout Tigress, didn't ya?"

"What difference does it make?" he croaked. "That job was over. Manta's own son was working him."

"An' what, you think you one of 'em now? You a hero?" she asked, her tone genuine in it's disbelief. "The hell are you thinking boy?"

"I saw the writing the wall Tuppence. I've been doing this long enough to figure it out. Tommy? He's dumb as rocks, but you're smart. I bet you can see it too. What the end looks like for you and your brother in this line of work."

Something akin to recognition flickered in her eyes, but it left as quickly as it came.

"Shame. I liked havin' you around to bully," she said, before grabbing him and throwing him across the room with force. Cameron went barreling right in Kaldur, and the two landed several feet away in a heap.

"Time to go Tommy," Tuppence yelled, running past her brother to grab the bound mercenary - who was now conscious and visibly angry - and tossing the man over her shoulder. "Now!"

The male twin shook his head vigorously, sending a glare at Cameron and Kaldur before making a beeline to the exit, with Tuppence right behind him. She stopped right at the door, turning with a shit-eating smile. "Dont' worry, we left a little present for yer."

Cameron grimaced at the smile, but was distracted by the sound of a groan from Kaldur. Glancing down, he saw the hero reaching for his leg.

"You ok?" Cameron asked, getting off of him.

"I will survive," came the solemn response. Kaldur fished the USB stick out of his pocket to double check that it wasn't damaged. "The download is complete. It is time for us to make our exit."

"Status report?" Artemis cackled over the coms. Her voice was staticky and breaking up, but it was a signal, and Cameron couldn't fight the quick rush of relief at confirmation that she wasn't dead.

"Well," Cameron coughed, "Just got my ass kicked. But I'll live."

"Injury report?" Artemis asked.

"Nothing of significance," Kaldur said, only for the leg to almost give out under his weight. He looked at Cameron to see if he'd noticed, but he was preoccupied with his own burning chest. "We can do a check over any existing injuries on the Bioship. Be advised that the Terror Twins are in the compound making their way out. We are making our exfil with the data"

"Copy," Nightwing said.

Kaldur started limping towards the door, careful not to exert too much weight on the aggravated injury. "Will you be alright?" he asked Cameron.

"I've survived worse. And you?" he counted, pointing towards his leg.

"It shall suffice," Kaldur replied. "Let us depart now, before we learn of the Terror Twin's 'surprise'."

As if on cue, an alarm went off, dousing the room in red strobing lights. In the distance, another explosion could be heard going off, but with less force than the last one.

"I think we're about to find out," Cameron said.

"What's going on?" Artemis asked over the comms.

A new voice cut through, in a garbled mechanized tone: "Oracle to Alpha & Beta Teams. A self-destruct sequence has been activated, and local military have been alerted and will be en route. Evac now."

"Can you stop the self-destruct sequence?" Nightwing asked.

"Working on it, but there are layers here," came the reply.

"How much time do we have?" Kaldur asked.

"Unclear. Working on that too."

"Who the hell is Oracle?" Cameron asked, since no one else seemed bothered by the new voice in their ear.

"Infallible. We need to move," Kaldur answered cryptically. He tried to rush forward, willing his leg to take the weight, but it crumpled under him after a few steps."

"You won't make it out of here with any speed on that leg."

Kaldur thrust the USB stick at Cameron. "You go ahead, I will make my away out. If push comes to shove, I will be able to form a protective barrier with my water whips and you can extract me with the Bioship."

"Protective barrier with water whips?" Cameron said incredulously. "Water won't save you from falling concrete."

He crouched low in front of Kaldur. "Get on my back. I'll carry you out."

"You have neither super strength nor super speed. Even assuming no androids stand between us and the exit, you probably won't make it before-"

"Shut up before we both die and get on my back damn it," Cameron said, patience running thin. Kaldur stared at him for a moment, protests on tongue seemingly loading, before taking a sigh and complying.

Cameron cursed internally at the addition of nearly two hundred pounds of muscle on his back. Something in his chest, suspiciously close to where Tuppence punched him, screamed in pure agony. His shoulder wasn't exactly happy either.

He gave himself exactly three seconds to get his bearings, and then broke into as fast of a sprint as possible.

"Two minutes until the self-destruct sequence is down counting down," Oracle said.

"Beta Team is at the exfil point," Nightwing said.

"Keep moving. The blast is going to spread debris everywhere. You don't want to be in the vicinity," Oracle continued. If he wasn't so winded, Cameron would have demanded an explanation beyond 'Infallible' for who the hell is speaking in my ear.

"Can you stop the countdown?" Artemis asked, as Kaldur and Cameron reached the first closed door. It clicked green and opened up before they got even close to stopping at the door.

"No. There are too many fail-safes. I could trip something and bring the whole base down now," Oracle answered. The next door that Cameron saw opened before they were even halfway down the hallway towards it, and it stayed open.

"Oracle is clearing a path for us," Kaldur said, as if that was supposed to explain everything.

Cameron would be impressed if, again, his chest didn't feel like it was being ripped open with each jolt to his chest or deep breath.

"Alpha Team report," Artemis said.

"Working our way out via our infil point. Oracle, estimate our distance," Kaldur answered.

"90 seconds to the exfil point at your current pace. You have a minute left on the countdown."

"Is there a faster way out?" Nightwing asked. There was a pregnant pause over the comm's before Oracle replied with a mechanical "No,".

Cameron would have cursed if he could breathe properly. Instead he picked up the pace.

"We will not make it at this pace. You must leave me," Kaldur said.

Instead of sparing his breath on words, Cameron extended his ice armor to encase Kaldur's good leg and both his arms around his body. There wasn't any time to deal with suicidal heroic actions.

"I can escape these."

Not without knocking me out, which you won't you heroic bastard Cameron thought viciously.

"But, as I'm sure you've deduced, not without harming you," Kaldur added.

They rounded another corner to a long hallway. One more turn to the hallway that had the closet housing the enormous hole they'd carved through the wall.

"30 seconds left," Oracle said.

Cameron's legs burned from the exertion. The pain in his shoulder was spreading down his arm. His chest was on fire. He ran faster, making the next turn.

"We will make it," Kaldur said, as if it was a fact and not a matter of luck. As if he hadn't been making statements to the contrary a minute ago. Cameron grabbed the closet door and wrenched it open, welcoming the blast of cold air like a shipwrecked sailor welcoming land.

"Ten seconds."

He practically tripped over the concrete slab, stumbling outside and all but jumping forward into the snow. He rolled onto his back, purposefully piling Kaldur underneath him.

"Where are you?" Artemis asked, panic laced in her voice.

Using his last bits of energy, Cameron tried to encase the two of them in an ice dome, the snowflakes above his face barely connecting when he heard the boom of the explosion and felt the ground shaking.

He was trying his best to reinforce the ice when something smashed through it right on top of him, and everything went dark.

A/N: Back to back cliffhangers.